My thanks go out to a fellow Steele Watcher, as always, who volunteered to edit this story, while assuring that I keep the voices of Laura and Steele true to the characters. I couldn't do any of this without her!
This story takes place after the conclusion of Season 4's "Santa Clause is Coming to Steele" as dual investigations occur at Rossmore and the loft, while Laura and Steele come to terms with the nights events and the what if's that could have been.
Be sure to check out my other one-offs, that provide glimpses into what happened during several of the episodes off-screen, but that provide background to the larger stand alone pieces.
Feedback is always appreciated. If you have an idea for a storyline, please do not hesitate to drop me a line!
Steele Cold Relief
(At the Rossmore)
Working together, Steele and Mildred had managed to subdue Dancer. Mildred held the gun on the psychotic killer as Steele grabbed the phone from the couch quickly dialing the number to Laura's loft for the countless time. The phone continued to ring, unanswered.
"Where are you? Where are you? Come on," he mumbled, growing more distressed by the moment.
As Dancer had held him and Mildred hostage over the last few hours, Steele had made the bone chilling realization that it was not Dancer that had rigged the elevator in his apartment sending him plunging five floors to the ground below. With this knowledge in hand, Steele quickly realized that Laura's secret admirer was most likely the culprit. Following quickly on the heels of this revelation, he knew instinctively that his lovely, headstrong Laura had not lit out of his apartment simply because she had left the agency gun on the kitchen counter in the loft, but more than likely because she had figured out who the secret admirer was and had gone to confront him.
"Damn," he cursed, slamming down the phone.
He ran his hands through his hair then picked up the phone again.
"Fred, I need you to get to the apartment and pick me up straight away. Don't dawdle at the lights, we'll cover any tickets… Yes, yes… I'll be downstairs waiting for you."
Disconnecting the call, he picked up the receiver and dialed the LAPD. The desk sergeant answered on the second ring.
"This is Remington Steele, Sergeant. I need to speak with Lieutenant Benjamin straight away." Steele waited as he was placed on hold.
"Well, if it isn't the leader of the Wild Bunch himself," Benjamin greeted him, "What can I do for you, Steele? Calling because you've decided you don't want guard detail after all, tough guy?"
"Benjamin, I don't have time to play games. Send a squad round to my apartment immediately. Mildred has Delgetti at gun point, your officer is down. Send another squad round to Miss Holt's apartment. She left here hours ago and hasn't been heard from since."
"God damn it!" Benjamin bellowed. As Benjamin hung up on him, Steele could hear him yelling across the squad room to alert all cars there was an officer down at his place while commanding three more squad cars to head to Laura's apartment.
Steele hung up the phone, then glanced at Mildred.
"Mildred, if you need me to stay…" he began.
"Boss, go to Miss Holt's. I got this. Dancer's isn't going anywhere."
Steele nodded then crutched his way into his bedroom as quickly as he could. Grabbing a pair of tan dress pants from the closet, he ripped the seam of one leg up the outside to above the knee. Stripping off his pajama bottoms, he quickly maneuvered his cast into the pant leg then rolled the tattered fabric up above the knee. Tossing his robe and pajama top on the floor, he grabbed a blue and white striped shirt, buttoning it half-way and leaving it hanging out, as he rushed to get out of the apartment. Fred was waiting downstairs when he arrived and Steele slung himself in the backseat.
"Miss Holt's, Fred and floor it."
Fred gunned the motor and took off down the boulevard.
(At Laura's apartment building)
Laura's nerves were frazzled, although no one but Steele would know it by looking at her. She appeared calm and alert, the situation well in hand. The reality was she was scared to death. Having realized only a few hours before that her secret admirer was not Steele with another one of his elaborate ruses but was, in fact, her building's handyman, she had been held captive by him for the past two hours.
At first, she had been unable to hide her outrage at discovering he had been stalking her and taking pictures of her when she thought she was in the confines of absolute privacy of her home. She had realized that her agitation was only placing Wally on the edge further, so she had changed her tactic to convincing him she was flattered by his attentions. She had had to hold herself together when he confessed to rigging the elevator to kill Steele, and it had taken every bit of her acting talents to pretend that she did not like Steele at all. But she knew she had to put on the performance of her life, as Wally waved around her gun, considering using it on the man she loved.
She was bone tired, and had to concentrate on staying alert. Wally was deteriorating before her eyes and several times the gun had been pointed in her direction. She was tense, waiting for an opening when she could escape or take him out, whatever it took to get away from him.
Wally was rambling now, about how his attentions had focused on Laura while he was in the mental hospital and what had landed him there.
(Flashback)
"That's what they let me do- when I wasn't answering all those questions. You know, the only thing that kept me sane those eight months was you?"
"Me? But, we didn't know each other then."
"I knew you. I saw your picture in the newspaper, standing behind that peacock, that was the first time I fell in love with you. You had the most beautiful face I had ever seen in my life. It reminded me of my mother."
"What a sweet compliment. Will I get to meet your mother?"
"Oh, no. No, you can't. You see, someone- cut her up into little pieces. And gift wrapped her and sent her to my Uncle Arnold. You see, he liked presents, too. But I guess he didn't like this one, because he sent it to the police. Anyway, when they released me, I found out where you lived, and I applied for the manager's position. So I could be close to you. That was good thinking, huh?"
Sirens wailed out in front of the building. Laura could tell that her earlier lie that the sirens were coming from fire engines was about to be uncovered. It was too obvious by the lights flashing in front of the window that the police were descending on the building. She just had to hang on .
"It's the police!" he ranted. "You lied to me! You don't love me! You're just like my MOTHER!" he screamed at her.
He pointed the gun at her.
Thinking quickly Laura grabbed Wally's camera from the table and hit the flash, blinding him. He fired, shot going wide and high unable to see her. Laura took the camera by its strap and swung it full force at his head. Wally went flying, knocked unconscious, he lay on the ground as Laura ran and retrieved the gun, holding it on him.
"Open up! Police!" an officer yelled, pounding on Wally's loft door.
"Great timing, guys!" Laura replied.
(End Flashback)
She walked backwards towards the door, the gun still trained on Wallly, then yanked it open. The police swarmed in the room, guns drawn, having heard the gunshot from outside. Placing the agency gun in an officer's outstretched hand, Laura swayed briefly on her feet as the adrenaline began to wear off and exhaustion started to set in.
Taking a deep breath, she straightened her back, lifted her shoulders and put on her business persona. She knew there would be questions that required answering, details to provide, and that the night could stretch on for hours more. The fact that many of those questions would revolve around pictures of her in her leotard or wrapped in a towel made Laura cringe. She had worked for years to earn the respect of local law enforcement, and she knew she would be fodder for gossip in the morning. The thought was equally humiliating and infuriating.
"Miss Holt," Detective Zweigenhoff stepped in front of her, trying to catch her attention.
"Detective Zweigenhower," Laura acknowledged.
"Hoff, Zweigenhoff," he corrected.
"Sorry. Detective Zweigenhoff, is there any way I can just come down to the station in the morning and answer any questions?"
"Sorry, no can do. You and Mr. GQ have the entire station hopping tonight. We'll be buried in paperwork for a month. Your little stalker," he waved his arm around the loft, "here, at least one dead over there…"
Laura's heart froze.
"What do you mean at least one dead over there?"
"Seems Delgetti paid a visit to your boss's place. All I know is that there's one dead and Delgetti's in custody. Miss Holt…" Zweigenhoff called to her, as she walked away from him.
Laura made a beeline to the phone, still sitting on the steps leading up to the bedroom in Wally's loft. Picking it up, she punched Steele's number in, then listened as the phone rang on the other end, unanswered. Feeling her knees going out from under her, she sank to sit down on the stairs. Disconnecting the line, she picked up the receiver and dialed his number again.
The phone continued to ring unanswered at his apartment.
"Where are you? Come on, come on, come on, come on," she said redialing again, ignoring Zweigenhoff as he kept insisting they needed to get her questioning underway.
Steele could see the lights from the multiple squad cars from a block away where Fred had been forced to park. Yanking his crutches out of the limo, he glanced towards Laura's building and saw someone being wheeled out on a stretcher and quickly loaded into the waiting ambulance, two officers climbing into the back behind the stretcher.
Steele stumbled slightly, as fear gripped him.
"Laura," he said aloud.
He took off as quickly as the crutches would allow, the ambulance pulling away before he could get to it. Glancing back at the limo, he nearly headed back to have Fred follow the ambulance. Instinct told him to continue to the building, even as his heart warred against it.
Entering the building, he quickly took note of the flow of the officers coming in and out, and followed behind one heading back in. Turning to the right in the hallway, the officer disappeared into a loft on the left hand side. As he approached the door he saw a half dozen officers processing the chaotic scene, with half of those pulling pictures from a wall up in the bedroom and individually packing them in plastic bags while making notes.
Zwiegenhoof stood in the center of the room, hands on his hips, clearly agitated.
"Miss Holt, put down the phone. You need to answer some questions, now. Miss, Holt!"
Steele worked his way into the room, and sagged against the wall when he saw Laura, safe, dialing the phone again while talking quietly to herself.
"Laura," he called softly, barely able to speak past the lump of fear that had been living in his throat since he had first realized she might be in the hands of her secret admirer.
Laura froze at the sound of his voice, then lifted her panic stricken face up slowly. She thought she was imagining him at first, but once the realization hit that he was really there, leaning against a wall for support, she stood and dropped the phone to the floor. She battled to keep her professional demeanor in place as she walked across the room to him.
She paused several inches in front of him. She could count on a single hand how many times they had displayed any indication of a relationship other than that of partners in front of professional peers. She hesitated only a moment before stepping forward and wrapping her arms around him and lying her head against his chest.
Let them think what they will, she thought to herself, but right now I need this and so does he.
The world that had been tilting on its axis for the past several hours suddenly righted itself. Dropping his crutches, Steele wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tight against him, his head dipping down onto her shoulder. They let out the breaths they had been holding at the same time.
"Zwiegenhoff said Delgetti killed someone at your place, wouldn't tell me who it was," she mumbled against his chest.
Lifting his head, Steele stared daggers at the cop, before he dropped a kiss on her forehead. Pulling his arms away from her shoulders, he reached up and took her face in both of his hands, tilting her head back so he could look into her fear glazed eyes.
"We're fine. Mildred and I are fine. Delgetti killed the officer that was guarding us, before taking us hostage. But we came out on top. We're okay," he assured her. "Are you okay, did he hurt you?"
"I'm okay now. My hands and wrists are bruised a little, but other than that I kept him under control until I got the gun away from him."
"Miss Holt," Zwiegenhoff nearly shouted, "Questions. NOW!"
"Go, get it over with. Benjamin's going to have my head tomorrow for taking off as I did. We don't need a second of LA's finest infuriated."
Laura nodded. They both took a deep breath and put their professional demeanor in place. Laura leaned down and grabbed Steele's crutches, handing them to him, then walked over to Zwiegenhoff and coolly answered his unending questions.
Steele made his way across the loft and up the stairs into Wally's bedroom to the wall where officers were removing pictures one at a time. About a half dozen remained: Laura in her leotard dancing, two of Laura walking around her loft in a towel, one of Laura lying in her bed, and two shots of her piddling around her apartment. Steele felt his blood boiling and had to move away from the wall before he put his fist through it.
How many days and nights had the bastard been peering into her windows? He knew Laura well enough that she would have felt violated when she found the photos and now, based on her glimpses up the stairs at the officers, mortified that she was on display for all of them.
Steele swept his hand through his hair. His emotions were careening about wildly from fury at her stalker, to relief that she was safe and relatively unscathed, to anger at her for taking off yet again on her own, to his remembered feeling of helplessness as he instinctively knew she was in trouble but he could not get to her. Then there was the guilt that only Monday morning quarterbacking can bring: Had he not assumed that Laura had invented a secret admirer in order to make him jealous, maybe they would have been more vigilant and would have discovered the off-balanced young man before he had the opportunity to hold her hostage.
Making his way back down the stairs, Steele perched himself on the edge of a table, leaning his crutches against it, then shoved his hands in his pockets, watching guard over her. His natural protectiveness of her had shifted into overdrive. He was helpless to stop it and, frankly, had no desire to.
Laura had been watching Steele since he had left her side, simultaneously drinking in the sight of him and subconsciously taking note of his body language. The subtle stiffening of his back as he had looked at the pictures spoke of fury, the sweep of his hand through his hair said he was trying to process multiple things at once, his casual pose as he sat on the side of the desk letting her know he was a tiger ready to pounce on the first person that upset her in any way. She also knew by the intensity in his bright blue eyes that he was reading her, as she was reading him.
"When did you know that your maintenance man was your, uh, secret admirer, Miss Holt?"
"When we were discussing the situation at Mr. Steele's," she answered Zwiegenhoff, averting her face from Steele's.
"And you returned to your loft to secure the agency gun that you had left there, is that correct?"
"Yes, I had left it on the kitchen counter."
"And when you came home and found it was gone, you assumed your maintenance man had it, why?"
"Because I had left him in my apartment alone when I found out Mr. Steele had been hurt."
"Had he been there working on repairs?
Laura glanced at Steele, then away.
"No. Delgetti had called and threatened me. Mr. Steele and Mildred were late. I heard someone, something on the fire escape and didn't want to be there myself. I figured if Delgetti saw yet another potential witness he would wait until another time. So, I called Wally."
"Which is when he brought up the…." Zwiegenhoff consulted his notes, "teddy bear."
Laura sighed. "Yes. How many times are we going to go through this?"
"Just a couple more questions, Miss Holt. You said you realized at Mr. Steele's apartment that Wally was your stalker. What made you realize that?"
Laura refused to look but even so could feel Steele tensing across the room.
"When we figured out the secret admirer was not who I thought it was, some things Wally had said to me while I was on the phone with the hospital started to….compute."
"What did he say?"
Laura cringed. Closing her eyes, she let out a deep breath.
"There isn't anything I wouldn't do for it if you asked me. I'd be happy to spend the rest of my life with you…taking care of you…loving you."
"Thank you, Miss Holt. I'll contact you tomorrow with any follow up questions."
"I'm sure you will," she told him drolly, before walking towards Steele. "Can we get out of here?" she asked him.
Steele hauled himself up on his crutches. "Right behind you, Miss Holt."
As they exited Wally's loft, Laura headed towards the end of the hallway where the rear stairs were located.
"Give me just a couple minutes. I need to go up to my loft and grab a couple things," Laura told Steele.
Steele shoved a crutch between her and the stair case, effectively blocking her unless she crawled under.
"You're not going up there alone, Laura."
"Mr. Steele, may I point out that both Wally and Delgetti are under arrest?"
"And if there's a nasty little surprise waiting for you, like the bit with the elevator? What then, eh?"
"I've already been in the loft since leaving your apartment. Everything was fine."
"Nonetheless, I don't want you up there by yourself until it can be checked top to bottom."
"I think you're being ridiculous."
"Humor me," he requested, his blue eyes piercing her own brown eyes.
Laura rolled her eyes, but Steele saw her relenting, reluctantly. Looking over his shoulder at one of the police offers in the hallway, Steele called him over.
"Could you please escort Miss Holt up to her loft so she can grab a few things?"
The officer agreed and Steele waited at the bottom of the stairs until Laura and the officer returned. When the two returned, Laura carried an overnight bag as well as a garment bag. Steele took notice but made no comment. She walked, he crutched their way a block down to where Fred waited in the limo. Steele climbed in first to allow his broken right leg to stretch across the length of the floor board in back, while Laura climbed in after.
When Fred pulled away from the curb, Laura had hoped Steele would take her in his arms, and instead found icy cold blue eyes on her that were accompanied by a hot streak of anger.
"What the bloody hell were you thinking, Laura?" he demanded, his voice sharp and raised.
Closing her eyes, Laura lifted her hand and rubbed her fingers up and down the outside of her left brow, resisting the temptation to snap back.
"How many times have you told me that we don't go running off by ourselves? How many times have I had to listen to you rasping in my ears about this very thing? Yet you continue to run off and put yourself at risk. Do you have any idea how damned lucky you were to get out of there tonight? The man had been stalking you for bloody sake! Am I getting through to you, Laura?"
"I know, I know," Laura replied softly, her fingers still rubbing at her brow.
Steele, took a deep breath and let it out. He watched her working her brow – a sign that she was stressed to her limit. Seeing the slight shake in her hand broke Steele's determination to make her see that once again she had violated her own rule regarding their personal safety. His entire countenance softened.
Steele held his hands up towards Laura.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Laura. I didn't mean to go on."
"I know," she told him, continuing to rub her brow. "The whole night – Dancer, Wally - has me off-balance too."
Steele shifted in his seat, then reached over and gently took the hand Laura was using to rub her brow into his own.
"Come here, Laura."
Laura slid across the seat and folded herself into his side. Steele's arm came down and wrapped her firmly against him, as his other hand crossed his body to weave under her hairline and lay against her neck. Two fingers stroked the back of her neck, as he dropped his head down and kissed the top of her head.
"Damn, it never gets easier," he told her softly. "I thought I might lose you tonight. I felt so bloody helpless. Dancer had us at gunpoint, you'd been gone for hours without a word, and the phone in your loft just kept ringing…"
"I didn't know. When I went back to the loft, I didn't know. I had figured out he was my secret admirer, but I didn't know he was dangerous. He seemed so harmless."
Laura maneuvered her left arm between their bodies and began working the brow again before continuing.
"The gun was gone. The kitchen was clean. I knew he had to have taken it. I went down to his loft. When he didn't answer, I went in and found that wall of pictures. My God, how long had he been watching me?"
She pulled away from Steele, and dropping her hand, averted her face from his. Humiliation washed over her again, along with a healthy dose of self-doubt mixed with anger.
"He had pictures of me," she explained, voice barely a whisper, "Dancing, walking around my apartment in nothing but a towel, in my bed. How many more are there that he didn't put on that wall?"
She fairly growled in frustration.
"I pride myself on being a great detective and I never, not once, suspected I was being watched. Maybe I'm not as good as I think I am."
Steele reached out and gathered her close to his side again, one arm around her, the other stroking her hair.
"Laura, we both have missed things from time-to-time. We rely on each other to pick up what the other is overlooking. This is not about you, or your skills as a detective. You have proven time and time again how superior those skills are. It's about a sick man, demented and twisted. Nothing more. He's taken enough from you, don't' give him more."
She nodded against his side.
"The looks a couple of those officers were giving me while looking at the pictures…" she shuddered.
His body stiffened under hers and his hand stilled.
"What do you mean?" he asked, an edge to his voice.
"Looking at the pictures, then looking me up and down. One of them even leered at me. It was… humiliating. I have worked so hard to be seen as a professional, and I was reduced in an instant to just flesh to be ogled, and seen as just a sexual…thing."
Steele closed his eyes, battling his anger, the need to put his fist in the face of the officer that had subjected her to that pulsating through his body. He knew that his anger would only feed her feelings of being violated, and willed his body to relax. With concerted effort, he forced his voice to take on a light, playful tone.
"Pity for him…" he drawled, plastering a lazy smile on his face.
Laura leaned her head back to look up at him, her eyes reflecting her confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"To be so stilted as to not look beyond that flesh to the intelligent, witty, skilled and stubborn woman underneath. Bigger pity still to want what he cannot have, as the entire package has already been committed to me," he smiled down at her, while brushing her hair away from her face with the back of his fingers.
Laura quirked a half-smile, pleased by his response. Reaching up, she laid her hand on his cheek, and brushing her thumb against it told him, "You always know just what to say."
"Because I know you," he told her quietly, his eyes capturing her own, before his hand cupped the back of her neck, pulling her towards him. "Come here," he mouthed silently to her.
She did, her eyes on him, soaking up the need for closeness reflected in his eyes. He bent to kiss her gently, her lips soft under his. Under the gentle touch of his lips, she found herself nestling against him. When the kiss ended, he pressed his lips tenderly to her cheek, before shifting both of them, so his back was now against the car door and she partially reclined across the seat, her head resting on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her, his left hand moving to link his fingers with her own.
He suddenly shifted them both again, moving them apart after his hand had brushed across the watch on the way to joining their hands together. Laura turned, confused by the sudden space he had put between them, then followed his eyes to the watch on her wrist. She visibly shuddered, having forgotten about the proof of Wally's desire linked around her wrist during the chaos of the night. She jerked her right hand towards her left wrist, wanting to rip the offensive object off of her.
Steele, seeing her reaction, took her hand in his and gently removed the watch. Opening the window to the limo, he tossed the watch onto the road and watched with satisfaction as the car following behind them ran over it. Laura's eyes were closed, as she nodded, silently thanking him.
Closing the window, Steele shifted to pull Laura back against him once more. He held her until Fred pulled up in front of the Rossmore. Noting the squad cars still parked in front of the building, he patted Laura on her hip and nodded towards them.
"Time to put your game face on, Miss Holt. Looks like there will be more questions tonight."
Laura nodded and sat up. She ran her hand through her hair, smoothing it down, then stepped out of the limo, looking the epitome of the professional that she was. She waited for Steele to extract himself from the limo then they moved across the lobby to the elevator together.
When they arrived at his flat, Mildred was sitting on the couch, clearly at her wits end with Lieutenant Benjamin. Seeing Laura enter the apartment with Steele, Mildred jumped up from the couch and hustled to Laura, wrapping her in a hug.
"Miss Holt! We were so worried about you!"
Pulling out of the hug, Laura smiled fondly at Mildred.
"I'm fine, Mildred. From what I have heard, the two of you had your own trouble to contend with around here."
"Yeah, it was dicey there for a bit. But the Boss and I managed to subdue the slime ball," Mildred told her proudly.
Benjamin approached them, interrupting.
"Well, well, well. Decided to join us Steele? You're lucky I don't throw you in a cell right now for failure to cooperate in a police investigation."
Steele sighed.
"I'm here, aren't I?" he asked, annoyance dripping from his voice. "Let's get on with it, shall we?"
Laura, laid her hand on his shoulder, before he followed Benjamin into the living room.
"I'm going to go get a shower, okay?"
Steele's eyes caught hers, knowing that she needed to wash the feel of Wally's hands off of her. His heart constricted at the thought of how she was feeling. He nodded his head.
"I'll be out, afterwards. Remember, Mr. Steele, icy calm."
"Icy calm," he repeated back at her, a lazy smile on his face.
He watched as Laura entered his bedroom and shut the door before moving to join Benjamin and Mildred.
For nearly half an hour, Steele answered Benjamin's questions patiently and calmly, fighting the irritation that was threatening to take over, as he answered numerous questions repeatedly.
He knew the moment Laura came out of the bedroom, as the soft scent of the honeysuckle shower gel and shampoo she used wafted into the room. Hair still damp, she joined him on the couch, keeping appropriate distance between them. A quick glance showed she had dressed in a pair of chamois colored dress pants and a matching plaid, button down shirt, her hair damp and curling from the shower. He almost failed to squelch the smile of appreciation that showed in his eyes.
"Delgetti confessed to shoving the x-ray machine on top of the doctor?" Benjamin asked, continuing his questioning.
"Yes, yes," Steele sighed.
"And you believe he was not responsible for rigging the elevator?"
"I know for a fact he did not. He was completely unaware of what had happened and took immense pleasure in pointing out if he had rigged the elevator I would be dead."
"Wally confessed to rigging the elevator," Laura interrupted.
"Your secret admirer?"
"Yes."
"Why? What purpose would he have in taking Steele out?" Benjamin inquired.
"He…. Uh… Felt Mr. Steele was a threat to his affections," Laura explained, uncomfortably, not wishing to share the nature of her relationship with Steele with the detective.
"And why would he feel that Steele was a threat?" Benjamin persisted.
Seeing Laura's discomfort, Steele broke in.
"Who knows why unstable individuals think how they do, Detective. Aren't we supposed to be focusing on Delgetti here?"
Benjamin took a moment to glare at Steele's dismissive tone towards him.
"I think between Ms. Krebs and yourself, I have enough for the evening. I expect you both to be available for further questions as they arise. Understood?"
Steele and Mildred both assented, then Benjamin stood. Clearing the other officers from the scene, Benjamin walked through the front door, then turned back around.
"We lost a good officer tonight, a good man. If the three of you had taken the protection offered in the first place, this could have been avoided."
Steele could not tamp down his irritation this time around, especially when he saw the look of guilt flash across Laura's face.
"You don't know that Benjamin. You don't know that at all. Perhaps more than one officer would have been injured or killed. Delgetti was a determined man. I'll thank you not to put this on us. We've all had enough for the evening. Call me if you need anything else."
Benjamin shot daggers at Steele, but turned and left, closing the door behind him.
Laura stood up and walked into the bedroom, while Mildred yawned deeply where she was sitting.
As Laura reemerged from the bedroom carrying a pillow, sheets and blanket, Steele was baffled. For months now, they had been sleeping in the same bed sometimes in comfort, but more often than night, simply because they felt the need to share that intimacy, to be close. Why, then, was she relegating herself to the couch? Laura caught his look and just gave a brief shake of her head, silently telling him to leave it alone for now.
Steele stood, propping himself up on his crutches. Moving next to Mildred's chair, he leaned down and offered her a hand up.
"Mildred, you're exhausted. Take the Auburn, go home and get some sleep."
Mildred watched as Laura made up the couch Steele had just vacated.
"I will, Boss. As soon as we get you back in bed. You heard the doctor. You aren't supposed to be up and around for the next couple of days, to give you time to heal a little."
"Mildred, I'm fine."
Steele sighed, hating to be coddled as much as Laura. Well, except when that coddling was at Laura's hands, which was not very often, he reflected.
"Perhaps a cup of tea then, while I get myself situated?"
Mildred nodded and headed off to the kitchen to warm the water.
Steele turned to his bedroom, pausing in front of Laura to lay the back of his fingers against one of her cheeks.
"I thought, the way you were dressed, that we were one separate pages about you staying here tonight."
"Not a chance," she smiled at him.
The smile he sent her set her heart to fluttering.
Steele made his way into his room, used the facilities, and changed back into his pajamas before sitting down on the edge of the bed. Maneuvering onto a bed with a leg in a heavy cast was about as difficult as it was trying to get Laura in a bed with him the past several years, he reflected.
He was pleasantly surprised when he realized Laura had come in the room and was pulling back the covers to the bottom of the bed.
"You're going to have to help here, Mr. Steele," she smiled at him, placing her hands under the foot of his cast.
Steele grinned at her, as he began pulling himself up on the bed with his upper body, while Laura lifted his casted leg onto it simultaneously.
"This is not quite how I've pictured you getting me into bed across the years, Miss Holt," he teased.
"Funny, this is exactly how I've pictured it, Mr. Steele: you stuck in bed until I decide to let you out of it," she laughed in a rare moment of sexual banter.
His eyes lit up immediately with desire. Laura didn't notice as she was pulling the sheet and comforter up around him. When she tucked the bedding around his chest, he reached up and laced a hand around the back of her neck, drawing her eyes to his.
"When?" he asked simply.
"When the time is right, no doubt," she smiled at him, echoing the words he had said to her that morning back at him. Seeing the look of disappointment flash across his eyes, she leaned down next to his ear and whispered, "Soon, I think."
His body hardened instantly at her words. Forcing his body to relax, he looked up at her, his hand still behind her neck. Staring at her lips, he had just begun to pull her head towards his when Mildred walked in. Laura quickly straightened up.
"Mildred, see if you can get him to take a pain pill. He'll probably fight you."
"Oh, believe me honey, I know."
"I'll be right back."
Laura walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Grabbing her overnight bag, she pulled out a pair of silk pajamas that sported a pair of light blue, striped Capri pants and matching camisole top. Yanking them on, she grabbed Steele's robe from the back of the door and slung it around her, tying it in the front.
When she emerged from the bathroom, Mildred was smiling triumphantly.
"Got the Boss to take a pill," she crowed.
"Only because you threatened to stay here all night until I did," he sulked, crossing his arms across his chest.
"We only want you to get better, Boss."
Steele smiled at her.
"I know, Mildred. Go home, get some sleep. And Mildred?'
"Yes Boss?"
"You were great tonight."
Mildred beamed at the praise. "I'll see you in the morning," she promised, watching Steele start to sulk again.
"I hate this," he mumbled to himself as Mildred left the room, Laura following her.
"Thanks for everything tonight, Mildred," Laura told the older woman, laying her hand fondly on her arm.
"Anytime, Miss Holt. I'm going to stop by the office on my way here tomorrow and see what I can find on this Wally character. Do you need anything from there?"
"Any information you can pull is more than enough. I'll see you in the morning."
Laura held the door open, then closed and locked it after Mildred.
Laura walked around the apartment, making sure all the doors were secure. She glanced at the now boarded up patio window and shook her head.
I could have lost him tonight, she thought to herself. And Mildred.
The thought chilled her to the core.
Laura turned off the lights, then by-passing the couch all together, went into Steele's room and slid into bed next to him. Steele sighed, and wrapped his arm tightly around her, while his other hand covered the one she had laid on his chest. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
They lay in silence for a long time. Steele finally broke the silence, his voice thick as the pain medications Mildred had given him began to take effect.
"Talk to me, Laura."
Silence lengthened between them once more before Laura breached it..
"It's my fault. You could have died tonight. I could have… Mildred. I had to be in control, I had to be right. I'm sorry."
"Laura, you aren't responsible for two lunatics setting themselves upon us."
"Aren't I? I refused police protection for all of us. Then Wally? I was so busy trying to get you to confess to being my secret admirer, to prove that I was right, that I opened the door up for him to walk through it and try to kill you."
"We had police protection when Dancer came after us, if you recall, and he killed the officer before coming through that window."
"Yes, but…"
"No 'buts', Laura. Delgetti killed the officer, you had no control over that. Delgetti held Mildred and I hostage, you had no control over that. If you had been here, it would simply have meant that he had three hostages instead of two. You couldn't have stopped him from coming through that window any more than Mildred and I. Taking responsibility for Delgetti's actions is only giving him the control, even when he is not here."
He felt Laura beginning to relax against his side.
"As for Wally, you're not the only one that made assumptions. If you recall, I thought you were sending everything to yourself. If either of us had paid attention instead of being determined to prove our beliefs correct, we might have seen the clues that were being left. If there is responsibility to be had, it is shared, between you and I. I won't have you taking on all the blame."
He felt the tension leave her body, as her hand squeezed his tightly in her own before releasing it and moving to his side. Automatically Steele's hand crossed his body to lay on her upper arm, stroking it.
Laura leaned her head back to look at him, noting the glazed and heavy lidded eyes that indicated he was battling against his pain medication in order to stay awake.
"Go to sleep, Mr. Steele," she whispered to him.
Closing his eyes, he pulled her closer to his side as Laura moved her hand back to his side to continue stroking it. When she felt his body go lax against her own, she snuggled more closely against him, bringing a leg up to lie, bent at the knee, on top of his own before surrendering herself to sleep as well.
As dawn began to break outside the apartment, Laura was awoken when she felt Steele's arm flinch. As she glanced up at him through the shadows in the room, she saw the frown that crossed his face. She recalled how he had jolted awake crying out her name after the Shane case, when he had been consumed by the thought that he might have lost her. Placing her hand on his chest, she felt the rapid beating of his heart underneath her hand. Laura reached up and gently shook his shoulder.
"Mr. Steele," she called to him quietly, then gave his shoulder another gentle shake, before propping herself up on an elbow and leaning down to place her lips on his.
Steele's eyes fluttered open, his arm wrapping around her, as her lips left his. Laura laid her hand against his cheek, holding his eyes with her own.
"I'm okay. We're okay," she assured him quietly.
Steele nodded as his body began to relax under hers.
"Do you need another pill?"
"Hate the bloody things," he answered, shaking his head no.
"Do you want a glass of water? Some tea?"
Steele shook his head no again. Reaching up, he swept her heavy hair back behind her shoulder before his hand pressed gently against the back of her head, until her lips were just millimeters from his own.
"The only thing I need is you, here, with me," he told her softly, before he brought her head down further so her lips touched his. "Let's get some sleep, Laura."
Laura nodded, then shifted back against his side, sighing when he wrapped his arm around her again.
"Sweet dreams, Mr. Steele," she whispered to him.
She waited until he had drifted back to sleep before extricating herself from his arms. Returning to the living room, Laura lay down on the couch and pulled the blanket around herself, wishing it was his arms wrapped around her instead. Yet, it wouldn't do to have Mildred arrive, and it being all too clear that the two of them had spent the night together, if for no other reason than the knowing looks and questions would never end.
Laura shook her head and sighed. Standing back up, she mussed up the covers on the couch, then turned and went back to Steele's room. She was growing weary of constantly denying what she wanted, what they wanted. Sliding back into bed with Steele, she tucked herself back against his body, smiling as she felt his arm wrap back around her even in his sleep. Grasping his hand in her own, she pulled both hands close to her body.
The rest of the world and their opinions could go to hell for all she cared. This was about the two of them, and that was more important than everything else.
Exhaling deeply her eyes fluttered closed and she slept until she heard a knock at the door a couple hours later, signaling Mildred's arrival. Pressing a kiss against Steele's whiskered cheek, she climbed out of bed. Wrapping herself in a robe, she went to the door and opened it, letting Mildred, and the world at large, intrude back upon them.