Title: Sunday Morning
Author: A. X. Zanier
Status: Complete
Rating: R (Language, sexual situations)
Fandom: The Invisible Man (SciFi, 2000)
Disclaimer: a) The characters and basic story ideas of The Invisible Man are the property of others including, but not limited to Matt Greenberg, Studios USA, Stu Segall Productions and NBC Universal. b) The characters and basic story ideas of The Pretender are the property of others including, but not limited to 20th Century Fox Television, MTM Entertainment, Mitchell/Van Sickle Productions, and NBC Studios. Any additional characters or story ideas are mine. I make no money from this intellectual exercise. c) This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any opinions or views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the author and are used for story-telling purposes only.
Sequel/Series: Follows Leverage
Timeline: Sideverse that includes TGitC and Leverage
Spoilers: Probably. Does it really matter after all these years?
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Sunday Morning
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"You know what it's like to wake up in the middle of the night with a vivid dream? And you know that if you don't have a pencil and pad by the bed, it will be completely gone by the next morning. Sometimes it's important to wake up and stop dreaming. When a really great dream shows up, grab it."
.
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"Why are we looking for an apartment?"
It took a moment for the question to register, but when it did Darien felt his heart drop to the floor somewhere beneath the couch with the nonexistent dust bunnies given how much of a neatnik she had become. He looked over the top of the newspaper, to see her leaning back into the cushions, naked legs crossed, his long-sleeved pajama top practically covering her completely, only peeks of bare flesh revealed here and there, her hair swept up and held in place by a couple of pens. She had a mug of coffee in one hand and her other held out, fingers flicking to the side. He glanced over at the laptop sitting on the coffee table, the screen image changing with every flick. He recognized the pictures, in a general sense, anyway, as various apartment complexes and the info on them.
They'd been apartment hunting on and off for over a month now, with little success. Not a single place they'd checked out on their rare mutual days off had been even close to what they wanted. Due to their unique working conditions, they needed to have certain security measures, plus they were looking for some specific amenities - ones they had agreed on as musts - but most places hadn't even come close and those few who permitted upgrades had said 'no' to theirs even though they had offered to foot the bill.
The most promising place they had looked at, and both liked, required a nearly one-hour commute to work without traffic, so therefore two with, and that, while doable, put the place on the reserve list location-wise.
And that same work had been the biggest cause of them not having found a place yet. Both of them busy as shit and Alyx gone half the time and often on short notice, so when they'd been granted this particular weekend off (mostly) they'd decided to spend it on themselves and put in a real effort at finding a new place to live.
He hadn't expected to give up on the hunt quite so soon.
"Uh... this was your idea, remember?"
She kept flipping pages on the screen for a few more seconds then turned to look at him in confusion. "What?"
He flopped the paper down onto his legs, hiding the matching pajama bottoms to her top and the lack of shirt he wore. One eyebrow rose on her forehead as she allowed her gaze to rove over what he had revealed. The look caused him to flush in response and damn near make him forget what he'd been talking about. He swallowed, resisting the sudden need to pounce on her. "It was your idea to get a place together," he enunciated carefully, not about to allow the heated look in her eyes distract him.
"Oh," she stated with a laugh. "That's not what I meant. I'm just saying we don't have to get an apartment."
Darien blinked, still not getting whatever it was she was saying, or not saying as far as his confused mind was concerned. "Okay, still lost. Can you 'splain for us simpletons, please?"
"I mean, we both have more than a little money tucked away, why are we looking at apartments and townhouses when we could just buy a place." She set the mug down next to the computer and shifted so that she faced him directly, the web search forgotten for the moment.
"Buy?" Why hadn't he thought of that? Money most assuredly wasn't an issue, they had so much stashed away they could move to Beverly Hills and live more than comfortably. So, why were they looking at apartments? "Like what?"
She shrugged. "Like a warehouse and convert it ourselves. Or... or a house?" Her eyes lit up at that suggestion.
A house. That... that seemed far too permanent for her... for them. "Why?"
"Why what?" she asked.
"Why buy? What are the advantages to spending the cash?" He really was curious as to her reasoning. She'd pushed aside his blatantly dropped hints of living in sin for months prior to her suggesting it, though on the occasions they'd been forced to cohabitate for a time, it had always been pleasant even if the reason behind sharing accommodations rarely had been. But it hadn't been real. Yeah, they'd shared the place, but that had pretty much been it. In fact, she had not been going to work at all during most of her stays. So while bunking in the same locale, they hadn't been living together. This, what they were planning, he suddenly realized, was a really huge deal... for both of them. He'd never lived with a lover before, had always kept his life separate, especially, since they usually didn't know his chosen profession involved stealing and running cons.
And Alyx... Alyx had been hurt beyond measure with the last man she had lived with, so her being willing to do this meant... meant a lot, to put it in simple terms. At the very least it proved she trusted him and that had not been an easy thing for her. Given this realization he would allow her to lead the search, wanted her to continue trusting him, wanted her to want to move in with him and stay... preferably forever.
"Well, for one it means we don't have to deal with the lease bullshit," she told him, "plus we'd be able to make any upgrades we want." She gave him a grin as she warmed to the subject. "You'd be able to put in a workshop," she suggested in a sing-song voice.
Oh, that wasn't fair. He'd been wanting a place to work on new projects closer to home, so to speak, but his storage unit still remained the safest place to keep his less than legal doings, even if he had been able to expand upon it since coming to the Agency, hell since meeting Alyx. He'd learned, after the fact, of course, that Kevin had used it to work on getting his DNA out of the gland... to give Darien his life back. He shook his head. "Tease."
"Not really. Granted a four-room bungalow won't do, but we have the funds to purchase pretty much anything we want. You could have that shop, me a-"
"But I own a house," he blurted out silencing her enticements.
"No rules that say you can only own one," she tossed back with a grin to ease his seeming concerns.
He closed the newspaper and set it aside. "Are you certain about this?"
"About what?"
About what indeed. Maybe he'd be better off not asking. Maybe not knowing would be safer than learning she was just saying these things to either placate him or manufacture a fight to get out of moving in together. And he wanted to move in with her, liked the idea of knowing when she came home she would be coming home to him, to their home... And an apartment wasn't really a home, not for them. She wanted to prove her commitment to him, and buying a place together would most certainly do that. Deeds instead of words. He had to keep reminding himself of that little fact.
"Certain that this is the level of commitment you want to make."
She smiled, a real smile that lit up her eyes. "Quite certain," she assured him. "We could even move those files and you could sell the house in Cold Springs if you wanted..." Something must have shown on his face at those words for she quickly added, "or keep it as a vacation house, safe house, getaway house for us, Bobby and Claire, whomever."
"I... I never wanted to buy that house, but at the time it was the only thing that made sense." He ducked his head and ran his hands through his hair. "I'm not sure I can give it up right now."
She leaned forward and set a hand on his calf. "And I'm not suggesting that you do so, but... you brought it up."
True enough, he just hadn't expected her to suggest that they upgrade from apartment to house quite so soon... okay, make that never. "Yeah, I suppose I did." He pondered the options and came to the only logical conclusion: if she were willing to dive in and make this commitment as permanent as her issues would allow who was he to argue with it, and a house was about as permanent as it got. "A workshop, huh?"
Her eyes twinkled as she absorbed that he'd been swayed. "If you like."
"And nothing for you?"
"Oh, I fully intend to have one impressive computer system installed. Only way to guarantee the security system is up to spec." She sounded so smug that it made him want to laugh.
"Please tell me you don't intend to hire ADT or something similar for our safety," he sneered.
She wrinkled her nose. "Do I look like an idiot? I plan to write the code myself."
Now he laughed, impressed with her audaciousness. "Of course you do." He scooted forward taking both her hands into his own. "Any other items on the shopping list?" He wanted to hear what she wanted in a place to live.
"A yard with a pool definitely."
Oh, he would love to have a pool, which had been one of the requirements on the apartment hunt. "How about a view?"
"Beach, cityscape, or nature?"
"Beach," he said with certainty. They both had a thing for the sound of crashing waves and if they were going to create a shopping list, they might as well make their dream one. "And, yes, still a pool."
"Oh goody. Basement and attic?"
"If we can find it, why not?" He glanced over at the computer when he caught the images shifting out of the corner of his eye and realized she'd been inputting their criteria while they talked. "Alyx, this is a wish list, the likelihood we'll find a match is pretty slim."
"I know that, but if we can find something close we can make changes after we own it," she pointed out with a grin.
"You have to be an optimist now of all times?" he questioned, finding this situation highly amusing. She just wagged her eyebrows in response. He looked over the initial results of the search, trying not to flinch at the number of zeros on the prices underneath the pretty, pretty pictures. "These places are huge." And he wasn't referring to the aforementioned prices. The smallest square footage he saw was well over two-thousand, humongous compared to his tiny place. Alyx's studio was huge compared to his place and was still less than half the size of that particular house.
"Yes, so?"
"So, we don't exactly need three bathrooms and four bedrooms for just the two of us."
"Nope, you are correct we do not need them for the two of us," she responded enigmatically.
Darien blinked, literally and metaphorically. "What... What are you saying?"
"I'm not saying anything, D. Just keeping my options open."
"Alyx, we ain't moguls or stars so we don't need useless space. Even you can own only so many computers." She didn't say a word, just met his eyes as if waiting for him to figure it out for himself. Great, just great. He knew she wanted to do the live together thing to prove she meant her commitment to him, but that could be done anywhere including in his tiny shithole of a place. Yet, she was looking at frickin' palaces in comparison to the apartments they'd been perusing for the last several weeks. So, she wanted something else. Apartments were transient. They'd sign a contract and either renew or move on after a year or two. They'd keep the storage place for the stuff that didn't fit or that they didn't need. Would head up to Cold Springs now and then for a weekend; enjoy the hammock and the porch swing. But if they bought a house they could have everything in just one place.
She didn't just want a place to live, but a home.
That he could understand. Yet... yet, they still didn't need more than a single spare bedroom for guests that would probably be few and far between anyway. "Is there a reason you're looking at places with multiple bedrooms?"
She sighed softly, turning away for a few seconds before answering, "Hope."
Hope? That was not the answer he had been expecting. A huge house with multiple rooms would allow them to get away from each other while still being in the same building. That he could understand, for while they had been working on their relationship there were still times they each needed to be alone and on those occasions it remained useful that they had separate residences. So why hope? Hope for what? A place that big, with a yard and a pool and all this extra space would be perfect for a family.
Oh.
Oh.
But, unless something had changed in the very recent past that would not be happening anytime in the near future. "Alyx, you already have a family, I don't-"
She cut him off with a look. "Darien, I want to make a life with you, but that changes nothing when it comes to my existing family. No matter how new."
An obvious reference to Jarod and the recent discovery that she was far more than she seemed and that anyone could truly understand. "I know, I just don't want you to feel... pressured into anything."
"Pressured? Holy crap, D, you asked me to marry you before you said you l... loved me. Tell me that isn't pressure." She did her best to laugh it off, but behind the humor was the lingering pain, though from the use of the word love, or their recent personal issues he was unsure.
Now it was his turn to sigh. "That's not what I meant... exactly. You buy a place like this for a family, not a couple. Do... do you want more kids?"
She gave him a shy smile. "I'd be honored to have your children, Dare, thus the hope."
Darien rubbed the back of his head wondering where this conversation was going. "You thinking adoption?"
"That would be an option," she agreed, "but not my preference."
"You're gonna make me work for this, ain't ya?" He reached out and tweaked her nose as a way of assuring her that he didn't mind. He liked that she pushed him to discover truths on his own, liked that she didn't permit him to get away with being lazy, liked that she made him stretch his mind and earn the results, whatever they may be. She just ducked her head, not willing to meet his eyes for a long moment. "Are... are you still fertile?"
She didn't visibly react, which surprised him given how touchy this subject should be. He knew she couldn't have any more children, but had never been told the details of why.
"Yes, still have all the parts, but thanks to a beating and miscarriage there's so much scar tissue that I cannot... I can't..." She stumbled to a verbal halt and he set a hand on her knee to silence the remaining words. "I've been checked a couple times since coming here, but the damage hasn't been reversed along with my appearance."
"Alyx, I am so sorry. If you don't want to talk about this-"
She set fingers over his lips, silencing his words. "You have every right to know, and more, to ask. The details, that might take some time on my part, but those are my issues." She moved then, settling her tiny body atop his thighs, hands trailing lightly along his shoulders. "This is our life. I'd like to think that if I had questions for you that you'd answer, or at least give me a really good reason why not. We both have touchy subjects we're going to be dancing around now and then, but so long as we actually talk about it, I think we'll be okay. I... I don't want to hide anymore."
Wow. Just... wow. That admission had been hard for her, he could feel that through her touch, but it had also been honest. They'd cheated their way through the relationship up until this point, relying on her empathic ability to handle the emotional aspects. And that had not been a solid enough base for either of them, him especially, so they had resolved to tell each other, as much as she could handle anyway. She still had inappropriate reactions to the word love, but he was happily still working on creating new, better memories to go with the verbal expression of his feelings for her. He hoped he could manage to pull that off today as well.
"So, you can't carry to term? Is that why you don't... don't get your monthly visitor?" Man, there was no chance that question couldn't be awkward... for either of them.
She snorted. "Jeez, what are you ten? But you are correct, my uterus is technically non-functional, which is to your advantage since it means you never have to worry about wearing condoms."
Darien felt the blood rush to his cheeks, causing her to chuckle softly. He had never worn a condom with her. Admittedly stupid, but he had always just assumed that since she'd never even suggested it that she must have dealt with the pregnancy risks on her own. Not unusual in this day and age, but he'd been male and simply not worried about it. "Well, I haven't minded so far," he admitted leaning forward to place a delicate kiss on her lips. "So, that means we could use a surrogate?" If she still produced eggs, then it should be possible, unless there were harvesting issues... and never in his life had he ever thought he'd be having this discussion.
"Yes, we could." Her hands had shifted to play with the curls at the back of his neck, making him want to shiver in pleasure. He settled his on her hips, wanting to draw her in closer, but also wanting to finish this conversation. Sex was going to happen, no ifs, ands, or buts; it would just have to wait for a little while longer.
"What other options are there?"
"Right now, none," she answered, leaning forward to bite him on the side of his neck, causing him to groan and allow his eyes to slip shut. It hadn't been intended as a distraction, just a need of hers that she chose not to deny at that instant. The intent may have been one thing, the result, another. He gave in for the moment, allowing her to have her way with him, hands roving across his torso even as her tongue and teeth left hot trails along his throat and shoulders.
When she finally pulled back, eyes drowsy with pleasure, it took him several minutes before he found his voice. "And in the future?"
She shrugged. "Let's just say I have some very smart people working on the problem."
It didn't take him long to connect the dots this time, even with her playing distraction to the hilt. "Your lab."
She nodded. "My lab."
"But why? I mean, it seems almost... selfish, and that isn't you."
"Selfish? I'd share the results if there is any success. And I hate to say this, but the reason I built that lab was selfish."
"And what reason was that?"
She tapped him on the forehead, her fingernail sharp enough to hurt, if only slightly. "Getting that gland out of your thick skull, duh."
"Oh." He felt like a blithering idiot. He reached up to cup her cheek. "Thank you. For that. Just in case I've haven't said it enough times already."
"One more time never hurts," she responded even as her eyes closed and she rubbed her face against the palm of his hand. "I told you I'd get you out if I could."
"And yet, I stayed."
"Glutton for punishment."
"If this is punishment, then I have no plans to go anywhere for a very long, long time," he told her, dead serious. He took her right hand into his own, rotating the ring adorning one finger. "I'm sorry I didn't listen, didn't understand exactly what you were trying to tell me when you decided to wear this."
She shook her head, prepared to argue the point, but he cut off her words with a kiss.
"At the time this was your way of saying you wanted to be with me and… and it wasn't enough. For that I am sorry. You couldn't tell me and I refused to really listen."
"It doesn't matter," she told him, not allowing him a chance to cut her off this time. "We're here, now, and we're moving forward... together. That's what is important. Yes?"
She looked so pitiful, so... hopeful that he couldn't deny her anything. "Yes. Oh hells, yes." He reached behind her and removed the pens so that her hair fell down in a flowing wave of fire, then buried his hands in the soft locks. He pulled her close and kissed her, just let himself fall. Their emotions bubbling up and over until it became difficult to determine where he ended and she began, and he loved it. Knew he would find nothing like this melding of mind, body and spirit with anyone else on the planet. Good damn thing he was in love with her because she had quite literally spoiled him for any other relationship.
He pulled back, reluctantly he had to admit, but they had a conversation to finish. "So, a house."
"Yep. A house," she agreed.
"And, maybe someday, a family?" Treading on shaky, dangerous ground, he knew, but he wanted to make certain they were on the same page and stood together, side-by-side moving into the future.
She smiled and nodded. "I hope."
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So this way smarter than me doctor once said, "A sailor without a destination cannot hope for a favorable wind."
We had a destination, we had hope, now we just waited on the winds of change.
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finis