His senses were full of her after their first kiss—the taste of her on his lips, the smell of her in his nose, the warm presence of her gloved hands resting on his chest. He was drained, emotionally and physically; yet looking into her eyes gave him a renewed sense of peace and strength as she looked at him with trust and pride, her face bright in a smile.
"Thank you." She murmured.
"For doing what you wanted?" asked Dean with an ironic smile. He knew she was being serious, but sarcasm had always been his coping mechanism.
She rewarded him with a brief smile before the more serious look of warmth and trust returned to her face. "For doing the right thing even though you knew this would happen." she corrected him in her French accent, nodding her head briefly towards the office behind him.
Dean glanced over his shoulder at the room where he had just been verbally reprimanded for what had happened in Haiti. He had been informed there would be several in depth evaluations of his performance, not to mention possible suspension and most definitely a letter in his professional file. What made it worse was knowing he deserved every word. He had left one passenger's body in a violence torn country, and nearly caused the deaths of more than 200 other souls including his own crew. At this moment, Dean couldn't even remember why he had ever thought he deserved to be a captain in the first place.
He felt the soft touch of a gloved hand on his cheek as Colette gently turned his face back towards her until they were again staring into each other's eyes.
"You are a good man." She said slowly, sincerely, as though she had been able to hear his thoughts a moment ago. She was so beautiful looking at him that way. Why had he never fully realized how beautiful she was? How much he needed her?
Suddenly the air around him felt cold and empty, and he realized she was walking away from him. "Colette!" He called after her, taking two steps in her direction and hoping he didn't sound as frantic as he felt that she was leaving him.
As she turned around, he was suddenly at a loss for words. She quirked an eyebrow at him humorously, waiting for him to speak.
"Can I buy you a drink or something?" He asked lamely. After all she had done for him in the past 24 hours, he mentally kicked himself for not coming up with something better.
Colette smiled apologetically. "I can't. I have plans with the other girls."
"Rain check?" He countered. He refused to let her say no. Not after all they had just been through.
"I look forward to it." replied a beaming Colette, letting the warmth of her smile rest on him just a moment longer before she turned and walked away.
His eyes followed her until she was no longer in view.