He knew this would happen. With his luck since moving to Europe it was only a matter of time before the only mode of transport they had died and they were forced to admit defeat. He glanced at the woman in the passenger seat; despite only knowing her for a few hours he knew that a little thing like a broken car wouldn't stop her. He looked out of the window at the snow swirling around, getting thicker by the minute and sighed. Selene might not be ready to admit that they were hopelessly lost and had nowhere to run but he certainly didn't mind accepting the inevitable.
"I'm going out." Michael almost jumped out of his skin when she spoke and before he could reply she was opening the door. He shivered at the blast of cold air and watched as Selene hopped out of the truck to investigate the problem. Michael knew what the problem was; it was too fucking cold! But instead of saying that and actually showing he was braver than Selene thought he was, he decided to keep quiet and hopefully stay alive.
"The engine's frozen; we won't be going anywhere soon." She sounded about as happy as he was at their situation and Michael thought he heard a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Well at least nobody will bother us here," he joked, looking around at the deserted road and trying to think of something, anything, to say. The tension between them was palpable, maybe even worse than it was before last night. Michael still wasn't sure if that had been pent-up frustration, lust, a moment of 'thank god we're still alive' or even actual feelings. Whatever it had been it didn't seem to have helped their relationship at all.
"Why did you come back?" Selene was frowning at him and Michael instinctively flinched away at the hate in her eyes. Of course she blamed him, hell, even he blamed him.
"I was scared," he replied honestly. "You helped me escape and you looked after me, I just-" he broke off with a sigh, "I needed to talk to someone."
"I should never have helped you."
He slumped in the driver's seat. Selene was hurting, lost and confused. Just as much as he was. She needed to lash out and he was the only person around, but it still hurt to hear her say it.
"I'm glad you did," he offered, a feeble attempt at making her feel better but he had to try. "And despite everything, I'm glad that I'm here with you."
Selene shook her head, "How can you be glad? You're a monster and it's my fault, yet you say you're glad to be here with me?"
"If we're going to blame anyone why don't we blame Lucian? It was his idea and he was the one that bit me first. I don't blame you Selene."
"If I hadn't bitten you-"
"I'd be dead by now." He finished, smiling slightly.
"I would never let them hurt you." She admitted. "You're innocent in all of this."
They fell silent once more and Michael noticed the temperature had fallen, they'd been talking, well not really but there was some talking between the awkward silences, for the better part of the afternoon and now it was dark. He had to admit that they'd chosen a nice place to break down. It was quiet, apart from the occasional bird flying overhead and they had a good view of the mountains. Okay so it wasn't Michael's first choice of places to stop but given that they had no choice it was better than anywhere else.
"We should get some rest; we can try and fix the engine tomorrow." Selene's voice brought him out of his thoughts and he looked around to see her already in the back of the truck, curled up on one side. "You're going to be uncomfortable sleeping there." She added, catching his gaze. "There's room back here."
"Are you sure this isn't violating some unspoken agreement?" he asked, clambering over the front seats and curling up against the opposite window. He tucked his coat around him and tried to stop his teeth from chattering.
"Michael." Selene didn't have to say anything else for him to get the impression she was laughing at him.
"Selene." He replied.
"I thought you were a doctor."
Okay that was unexpected. He expected some sort of jab at his cowardice, not a question about his job. "I am."
"Then why are you over there?"
"Uh, well," truth be told he had no idea what to say. Should he take that as a suggestion to move or as a proposition? Thankfully Selene's lack of patience saved him from having to say anything.
"It's cold. Come over here so that neither of us freezes to death." She snapped. He did as he was told, mentally berating himself for blindly following every order she gave him before realising that if he didn't then he'd quickly become a fur coat.
"Are you alright?" he asked as she pulled a heavy cover around them, it wasn't the most comfortable of blankets and it wasn't as though they could cuddle for warmth. He could see the tension in her muscles as she stubbornly refused to relax and decided he'd better take charge.
"Don't touch me." She warned as he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his chest.
"Do you want to freeze?" he said, "trust me." Gradually he felt her relax in his arms and he allowed himself a small smile. "See?"
"Shut up," she grumbled, "now get some sleep. We've got a lot of work to do in the morning."
Michael kept quiet as Selene drifted into sleep. They had a long way to go before he could class what they had as a relationship but with every tiny step forward she was defrosting toward him. He shifted to get more comfortable, pulling Selene closer before resting his head against hers and closing his eyes. Let the world throw everything at them, as long as they had each other it didn't matter.