PERIWINKLE

A/N: This is for Marialisa, who said I should give my idea a try. Therefore, all mail should be addressed to her, as she said she’d personally deal with the consequences! For Shar, too, hoping it’ll lure away of the corner.

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The man was furious. It should have been easy, so easy, but it had all gone so terribly wrong. And now his brother was dead and the bitch had lived to tell the tale and the sonofabitch that had caused his family’s downfall was still happily lusting after her, following her around like a meek little lamb after his own Mary. If you want something well done, you have to it yourself; never truer words had been spoken and he intended to do just that.

He’d overheard the doctors saying she’d be released from the hospital in a couple of days, and that gave him plenty of time to figure out how to go about doing it. He’d waited three years for this moment; a few more days meant nothing to him.

Inside a hospital room, she kept on sleeping, regaining conscience for very brief periods of time. Whenever she opened her eyes, she’d find him there; the first thing she’d see would be his blue eyes, all seven shades of them. For she knew his eyes and she knew the emotions they betrayed even when the rest of him was shielded against external intrusion. And what she saw in his eyes on those brief moments of conscience made her heart sing.

He had stayed by his side, unable to move; patiently waiting for the moment she’d wake up and smile at him. In the last few hours his life had shifted in its axis: now all he lived for was that smile. He knew her smiles, all two dozen types of them, and he loved every single one, but specially the one she has reserved solely for him and him alone. So he waited patiently, hour after hour, for the moment where her eyelashes would flutter and see him, and the smile that would invariably follow… the smile that made his insides melt and his heart soar.

The next day she was alert most of the time, and by the third day she was all ready to go. Doctors had wanted to keep her in for just one more day, after all, she’d taken quite a blow to her head, but she’d have none of it. She refused medical assistance in her home, and grudgingly accepted to be released under his care. She had attempted to weasel her way out of that one as well, but he had been adamant about it: either she stayed with him or she stayed at the hospital. She knew it was pointless to argue with him when he’d made up his mind.

They had talked plenty those past two days, but always avoiding the issue of their feelings, and the drive to her place to pack was no different. He helped her get out of the car and climb up the stairs, and then he helped taking down a suitcase from the upper part of her bedroom closet. He drew a line, however, at helping her take out her clothes, deciding to give her some privacy. She asked him to fetch her shampoo from the shower and he went into her bathroom. He opened the curtain with certain trepidation, fearing a multitude of jars and bottles and other strange paraphernalia like all his previous girlfriends had had. He was more than relieved when he saw only three lonely bottles.

He picked up one and sniffed it. Neither fruity nor flowery, just clean and he liked that… it reminded him of her. The body wash had a sweeter smell, like ambrosia, and he was slightly ashamed of the sudden rush of blood inside his body. He popped the lid closed and intended to go back into the bedroom when he saw the medicine cabinet above the sink. His curiosity got the best of him and carefully opened it, not really meaning to pry, but eager to know more about her than he already did. Mouthwash, toothpaste, aspirins, band aids… no birth control in sight, but, then again, he didn’t keep his in the bathroom either.

She called his name and he quickly closed the door, his pulse racing as if he had been caught doing something that he shouldn’t. He thought that he was safe, until she asked him, given that he was already perusing the contents of her bathroom, to bring her the box of tampons. He felt his cheeks turn red as he grabbed the offending package, feeling embarrassed and yet chastising himself at the same time… he was too old to be acting grossed out by something as normal as a woman’s period, God knew there had been a couple of times in his life where he had eagerly awaited for it to show. She was gracious enough to try and hide her knowing smile when he handed her the object he’d brought from the bathroom, and she quickly finished packing.

He took the suitcase in one hand and hers in the other and led her down the stairs towards the car. She was pleasantly surprised by his gesture, and willed her heart to stop beating so madly, reminding herself it meant nothing beyond his fiercely protective nature. An independent woman raised among an all-boys family she had always known she was quite capable of taking care of herself, and yet appreciate the gentlemanly gestures some men showered her with, and him was no exception. He helped her into the car and drove towards his own home.

A couple of minutes later, a car that had been sitting in front of her building drove away as well, keeping a safe distance between the two vehicles. The driver of the second car was not worried about loosing them; after all, he knew where they were going and he could very well drive there using another route if he felt like it. However, since he knew opportunity only came knocking once, he kept on following them.

The next two days were mostly routine for them both: she wasn’t allowed to go into active duty until the stitches were removed, and he was assigned mostly simple cases so he could spend as much time possible at the precinct. For the first time in months, they both clocked out after merely 8 hours of work, which felt even stranger than living together… or not acknowledging what was going on between them.

The man with the glasses had not been idle. He now knew seven different ways to get to his apartment and had already planned four different escape routes. But when he was done with the planning, he began to grow restless. The opportunity he had been seeking had not presented itself yet and it was slowly driving him crazy with anticipation. Impatience made him feel bolder, and he’d gone as far as walking inside the precinct and coming face to face with not just one, but the two of them. She had a beautiful face, with doll-like features; he had an imposing presence; and they were both absurdly in love. Had circumstances been different… but the man wasn’t one to go for sentimentalism… if anything else, their feelings only reinforce his determination.

Saturday morning he drove her to the hospital to have the stitches removed. She joked the whole time, and he cringed on the inside, his hand absently holding his side, phantom pain of his own past stitches haunting him for a moment there. Doctors checked her over and finally signed her release for active duty. They both had the weekend off, and neither one of them was in a big hurry to get her back to her own place.

They rode back to his home in silence, but this one was different from the other silences they had shared in comfort. It was a pregnant silence, waiting for one of them to finally approach their pending conversation. They stopped to pick up some Chinese and a couple of movies, all fragile pretensions of normalcy, and arrived to his place without having exchanged over a dozen words. The meal was eaten with a half heartfelt discussion of which movie to watch first; his choice or hers, and she gave in to his logical explanation that an action packed movie would keep them awake after stuffing their faces silly whilst a heavily packed drama would certainly put them to sleep in ten minutes flat.

Less than twenty minutes into the movie he had lost all interest in the action taking place on the screen and she was pretending to watch it as well. She had had no heart to tell him that she’d already seen it and he had been too stubborn to admit that he didn’t really felt like watching a guy blow up a gazillion innocent people while trying to escape form the police. Real life was more than enough for him, but the romantic comedy she had chosen was bound to kick open many doors and he was not yet ready to face what lay behind them.

So she pretended to have her gaze fixed on the screen and he stopped pretending to watch everything but her until it became far too obvious for both of them. She turned her head to face him, her dark eyes silently demanding an explanation. He opened his mouth to speak, his blue eyes shining uncertainly. She held up her hand, her fingers pressing against his lips and something inside of him simply snapped in place.

He had wanted to apologize for having taken advantage of their friendship. He had meant to apologize for almost taking advantage of her. He needed her to listen to his confession about how blind he had been and how he had finally realized just how deeply he cared for her. He wanted to do all that, but in the end, he didn’t do any of it.

He simply took hold of her hand and kissed her palm.

Her sharp breath intake was far more audible to him than the explosions taking place on the screen. Gently holding her arm with his other hand, he pressed another soft kiss on her wrist. He could feel her pulse beating wildly there, and he licked it, bringing another gasp from her. He continued to slowly kiss and lick his way up her arm, and by the time he’d reach her shoulder her eyes were closed, her breathing labored and she was biting her lips to suppress a moan.

He stopped his ministrations and she opened her eyes, questioningly. He let go of her arm and got off the sofa. He quickly crossed the room to turn off the TV and the lights on the ceiling, leaving only the end table lamp on before returning to the couch and kneeling in front of her.

Down below on the street, across from the building, a man wearing glasses was sitting inside his car. He saw the lights dim and couldn’t help but smile. In his opinion it had taken those two damn fools long enough to reach this point. It was a waste, really. They had waited too darn long, wasted to much precious time. But, then again, neither one of them actually knew that their time was up.

He had continued to kiss her arms, her neck, her face… everything but her lips. She had tried to touch him, to kiss him back, but he’d not have any of it. He held her hands prisoners between his, and he continually moved away from the reach of her lips until she finally surrendered control. His face hovered over her less than an inch away. He was dying to kiss her, dying to show her just how she made him feel, but he wouldn’t do anything without her approval. His eyes sought hers, desperately looking for a clue, an answer. Her eyes spoke clearly, but she voiced her sentiment just the same.

“Yes…”

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A/N: One more chapter, ladies and gentleman. Remember to check out the Fanfiction Awards over at the Forum section!