Alice was lying awake in his bed. She couldn't believe he helped her escape prison and therefore death row and was now letting her sleep at his place, in his bed, in his pajamas. She truly didn't know how she could ever make it up to him, even though thinking about it she didn't need to. He had done enough to her that this should just count as him making it up, yes that's what it was. She could hear a noise coming from the living room and even though she was positive Laurence would have taken care of it if it was a robber, she grabbed the nearest object that would work as a weapon, it was some sort of weird elephant statue, and walked towards the noise but what she saw wasn't what she had expected. Laurence was sweating and turning on the couch, having a nightmare. Just a minute ago she could have sworn that the man was a robot but this was… unusual.
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.
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She nudged his shoulder, trying to wake him up while at the same time not being too harsh, after all he was having a bad dream and she didn't want him to wake up to anything bad. She had gotten a glass of orange juice for him and was now trying to wake him up. "Laurence" her voice was quiet and soft but loud enough for him to hear. But when he only turned away from her, face still pouring with sweat and shaking, she became more stern and tapped him on the shoulder. "Laurence, it's me Alice, wake up," but again nothing happened and she started to lose her patience. She didn't want to be harsh but she also wasn't about to sit there for an hour trying to wake him so she decided to try another not so… nice method. "Laurence" she said a last time before harshly punching him in the shoulder, resulting in him jumping up and pinning her hands against her back, making Alice squeak.
"Avril what the hell?" His voice was louder than usual and just a tad harsher, if that was even possible. He didn't let go of her arms and hadn't seen her face but he would have recognized that mess of hair anywhere.
Alice tried to move forward or turn around to face him but his hold on her hands was too firm and quite frankly she had expected him to handcuff her immediately, so she could put up with this for a minute longer. He had just had a nightmare, she wanted to help him not annoy him. "You had a bad dream, I just wanted to wake you up but apparently you ignore me even while dreaming so I had to get creative."
"Creative meaning punching me?" He huffed. "You really don't have more than three brain cells do you?" Finally releasing her arms his hands moved to his head, trying to push his sweaty hair out of his face. He knew he had a nightmare, she didn't have to tell him that, the problem was he didn't know why he had had it and he was not about to go to a therapy session with the one person that was more of a mess than he was. Obviously he hid it better than her, but that was just because he had gotten more practice in it.
She spun around on her heels and was ready to lecture him or just walk out when she saw the look in his eyes, behind all the anger she saw something she hadn't seen before and it looked like sadness. She was caught off guard and stopped in her tracks. "Are you alright?" Her voice sounded soft, careful not to wake the beast in him that would most likely kick her out of his apartment.
"I'm fine Avril, now go back to bed before I change my mind about you staying here and put you back into that cell." He knew his words hurt her, he saw it in her eyes and he didn't like it. He couldn't explain it, he hated seeing her hurt but obviously he couldn't show that. It wasn't appropriate and it was stupid.
Alice turned around and walked towards his bedroom, the place where she was sleeping, which made her feel weird but she shook it off. She couldn't let herself feel things, it would end badly. Before entering the bedroom she turned around again and pointed at the small table in front of the couch. "I made you orange juice, it'll help."
He sank down on the couch, Alice had disappeared into his room, leaving the door open, he couldn't help but suspect it was in case he had another bad dream so she could hear him and help him. God, she truly was the loveliest parasite he had ever met. His gaze wandered around the room before landing on the orange juice on the table, he thought about just ignoring it or putting it away but he couldn't bring himself to do it, so he took a sip and surprisingly enough it did help with the headache. He never thought about his father. Why now? Why did it have to be such horrible timing? He didn't have the time to deal with it, he had a case to solve and not only one, but two parasites to save.
Alice had gotten back to bed but she couldn't sleep, her mind wouldn't stop racing with thoughts. Thoughts about what would happen to her, what would happen if Laurence didn't solve the case. She would be in giant trouble and as much as she liked to think that he could protect her, he couldn't and quite frankly she wasn't even sure if he would try. It was obvious that he wasn't her biggest fan, she was still convinced that Marlène was the main reason that she was currently here, curled up in his bed, under his covers, in his pajamas, surrounded by his smell. That horribly amazing smell that she had grown to both despise and love at the same time.
His eyes kept wandering to the open door, thinking about just going in there and apologising, just telling Alice that he didn't mean it, that he didn't want her to die, not like this. Of course he knew she had nothing to do with the case, of course he believed every word she had said, even about her ex-husband, even though he was the logical suspect Laurence believed Alice. Which was the reason he helped both of them, in different ways. But he helped both of them which was the important part. Alice would have never forgiven him if he hadn't.
A few hours had gone by and neither of them were asleep. Alice was staring at the ceiling, silently singing one of her favorite songs which helped her to keep certain thoughts out of her mind and Laurence was staring at the empty orange juice glass.
It was almost morning, surely if he just tried he could get a few more hours of sleep. One was enough, he just didn't want to be awake anymore, but was afraid of falling asleep at the same time. It was a circle that he couldn't break out of. He didn't want to think anymore, his mind was clouded by thoughts about his father and Alice dying, the worst case scenario. He had failed to save his father, he couldn't allow himself to let the same happen to Alice. She had a long life in front of her and even though he hated to admit it, she was a decent writer and he wouldn't be surprised if she would actually become a successful journalist. Her need to snoop around in everyone's business, her undying, unbelievable irritating stubbornness and her talent for writing made her a decent journalist and a giant pain in the ass. One that he learned to accept and grew to love.
"Laurence." His head turned towards the voice coming from none other than the pain in the ass he was just thinking about. He sat up and with an annoyed undertone in his voice said: "What is it, Avril?" She obviously wanted something but he couldn't quite tell what.
She smiled when she saw the empty orange juice glass, pleased with herself and him because she had expected him to ignore it. "I can't sleep so I thought I could make breakfast?" The second the words had come out of her mouth she saw his eyebrows raise and she knew exactly why, so she replied to the comment he was about to make. "I'm not that bad of a cook!"
He shook his head. "I'm not about to let you burn down my kitchen you've already done enough damage." He meant the glass that she broke earlier while she had tried to explain him how hungry she was. He couldn't blame her, she had had nothing to eat for hours and she probably didn't eat gourmet food at home. So he stood up and shooed her away with a motion of his hand. "I'm gonna make breakfast, just don't touch anything."
Alice let out a sigh, she wasn't about to complain about someone making her breakfast but the least he could do was accept her help so she just trotted after him into the kitchen which was about twice the size of her apartment. "I could help you!" The redhead said while propping herself onto the kitchen counter which earned a mumbled 'not again' and an angry glare from Laurence. She ignored both.
"You could help by not putting your dirty being on every surface in my apartment," he said with a glare towards her while mixing milk with flour for the pancakes he was making. He would have prefered if she was as clean as he was, but judging from what he had seen in her apartment she was as messy as her hair.
Alice was too distracted by the pancake mix to simply acknowledge his comment. Her stomach started to growl just reminding her how hungry she was. She hadn't had pancakes in forever, she simply didn't have enough money to buy herself food she actually enjoyed eating. But now that she was staying at his place for however long it took him to figure this case out, she was eager to eat as much as she could possibly fit into her stomach.
His head turned towards her when she didn't make a snarky comment back at him, but turning around he could see that she was too busy staring at the pancakes cooking in the pan. He had to be careful not to let an amused sigh out at the expression painted across her face, she looked like she had never eaten pancakes before. Motioning for her to get off his workspace with his free hand, she jumped onto her feet and made space for him to put down a plate for the pancakes.
She immediately took one of them and ripped off a bite-sized piece, stuffing her mouth with it. Before Laurence could help himself his eyes followed the trail of her hands to her mouth, his eyes glued to her lips before he shook himself out of it and with an annoyed voice he said, "Manners Avril, ever heard of them?"
The redhead just rolled her eyes and continued to rip off small pieces of the food and stuffing them in her mouth. She had to admit these pancakes were amazing but that was probably just because she hadn't had them in forever and didn't remember how they were supposed to taste.
A knock on the door pulled them both out of their thoughts and back into reality, both weren't sure what to do. They could get in a lot of trouble if it was the police, but when the knock was followed by ten more small knocks they were both sure of the fact that it was Marlène who was on the other side of the door. Alice let out a relieved sigh, continuing to eat while Laurence went to open the door.
"Something terrible happened, Commissaire," she belted before even entering. Marlène was standing in front of the door, as always dressed perfectly with makeup on already, even though it was very very early. Her face had the expression of terror painted across it.
It wasn't hard for Laurence to guess what was happening: Robert had taken the pills he had given him. He hadn't been sure if he'd do it when he gave them to Robert, but it seemed like his plan was working out perfectly. Opening the door more, he motioned for Marlène to come in.
Alice appeared behind Laurence. Seeing Marlène, she smiled at her and within a second Marlène was standing right in front of her having taken both of Alice's hands into hers, making Alice's smile fade into a confused frown.
"Oh Alice." Marlène cried before turning her head towards Laurence and continuing. "I knew you were gonna help her!" Marlène smiled brightly, she had always had faith in the commissaire, she knew he had a good heart.
Alice looked up at Marlène, she could see something was seriously wrong and she started to get worried, surely everything was alright, what if she was in trouble? "Marlène what's wrong?" She asked, her voice filled with worry.
Marlène turned her head back to Alice. "Robert, he tried to kill himself, they couldn't transport him to Paris, he's in the hospital."
Her smile faded, how was that possible? Why would he do that he was innocent? "What?" Alice sank down onto one of the bar stools, she had the feeling her legs were gonna give in if she didn't. "Why?" She cried out. He had a messed up life sure, but why kill himself? She never doubted that he was innocent, sure he was an ass but not a murderer, never.
Marlène hurried to Alice's side, rubbing her arms while trying to find encouraging words, but the only thing she could come up with this early was murmuring "It's gonna be fine" over and over again. She hated seeing Alice this upset, especially over someone like Robert, Alice didn't seem to like him that much and Marlène was sure she had a reason for that.
Laurence huffed and looked at the two women sitting there, crying over someone that neither of them really liked. Well at least that's what it seemed like. He wasn't actually sure if Alice still had feelings for him. "Calm down Avril, he didn't actually try to kill himself, even though that might have been better. No, I gave him the pills, let's just hope he took the right amount."
Both Marlène and Alice stared at him, Marlène in shock and Alice filled with rage and confusion. Before Marlène could say anything she was interrupted by Alice's loud voice. "You what?"
Marlène could tell what was gonna happen next and she also knew, from experience, that she couldn't stop them fighting so she decided the best option was to leave, for both them and her sanity. She was sure that Laurence wouldn't kick out Alice and after all it was very early and she had to get to work so she quickly leaned down to kiss Alice's cheek and waved to the commissaire. "I will see you later, goodbye" and after that she closed the door behind herself.
Alice's eyes started tearing up on their own accord. She didn't want to cry, didn't want to feel sad because of that damned idiot, but she did. She knew it was stupid but she was done, done being there for everyone without getting anything back, done being the nice girl, done with having no one.
"I just- why did you do this? Why didn't you tell me? I was worried! I know you don't know how it feels to be worried about losing someone but at least try to understand!" She was close to losing it but she felt too weak to even move, she was tired, both physically and emotionally.
He turned his head from the door that Marlène had just walked out of to Alice, the sobbing mess in front of him. How dare she tell him he didn't know what it felt like to lose people? He knew, maybe even better than her. Her tears were streaming freely now, was she really that upset with him? He didn't mean to do that to her, didn't mean to scare her like that. He had assumed she didn't love Robert anymore but what if she did? The thought made him want to throw up, that maggot wasn't worth her love. "Avril calm down it wasn't that bad."
She couldn't believe her ears. Had he really just said that? She huffed and threw her hands in the air. "Of course you wouldn't understand, how could you? You have a heart of stone and that's only if you actually have one." She saw that it affected him as his shoulders dropped slightly but she didn't care. He hurt her, over and over again, it was her time now. He didn't have the right to play with her emotions whenever he pleased.
Laurence's face fell, he had a heart how could she think he didn't? He lost his father, he knew how it felt to lose someone, but he still put her through that, why? He didn't know, but he knew he had to make it better and he tried to. He walked towards her and before she could walk backwards, he took her in his arms, her small frame pressed against his bigger one. He didn't fully hug her, wanting to give her the chance to walk away from him. He wouldn't blame her but when he felt her head resting on his chest and her arms closing behind his waist, he pulled her closer whispering that he was sorry in her ear while rubbing her back, it felt right.
Alice was surprised by his actions but she wasn't mad, she needed a hug and she needed him. His breath against her ear made shivers run down her spine that she chose to try and ignore. She wasn't sure why he was being this nice and open but she assumed it had something to do with his nightmare and that was confirmed when he next opened his mouth.
"I know how it feels to lose someone, I lost my father when I was very young, I know how hard it is. I know how you felt, I'm sorry Alice, I promise you'll be fine." He knew what he had said and he didn't care, he just wanted to make her feel better, just wanted to make her feel safe, wanted her to stop crying and go back to her usual annoying self. He hated to see this side of her, the broken side, the side that he desperately wanted to fix.
She pushed him away slightly so she could look at him, he had called her Alice, he never did that. "You- you called me Alice." Her eyes were searching for answers in his. Her tears were drying and her arms were still around him, still holding on and she could feel his arms around her, she felt better, she felt safe.
He smiled down at her, her surprised face from him using her first name made him realise how often he was mean to her and that he never really appreciated her, or at least never told her that he did. "I know." His voice was softer than usual, there was a hint of amusement in it which matched the small smile planted on his lips.
Her eyes were automatically drawn to his smile, something she didn't see often and something she had grown to love dearly, especially when it was meant for her. She was drawn to him, it felt like a magnet in him was pulling on her, north and south, dog and cat, opposites truly did attract. Her hands wandered from their place on his back to his chest, pulling on his shirt but he didn't move, didn't come closer to her. "I'd really like to kiss you but I can't reach you so can you get down here?" Her voice wasn't more than a whisper, weirdly enough she didn't feel nervous about him not wanting her. It isn't felt mutual and in less than a second she knew why.
His lips crashed onto hers, hands automatically moving to her waist and pulling her closer, his arms being the only reason she didn't fall over. Squeezing the sides of her waist he slowly moved her backwards until they hit a wall, he was careful not to hurt her while doing so.
Her hands grabbed onto his shirt even tighter, pulling him down to her size while also standing on her tiptoes. One of her hands found its way into his hair while the other one was still holding onto his shirt. Her instincts were taking over. Had she expected their first kiss to be slow and sweet? No, but this was better than everything she had ever been able to imagine.
Hands roaming around exploring each other, his found their way under her shirt, his pyjamas. As much as he looked forward to seeing her in all her glory he wasn't gonna speed this up. He enjoyed this part, his fingers painting patterns against her skin making her both giggle and sigh. He enjoyed the sound so much he decided to put his lips to better use, moving from her lips to her neck.
Her body worked on its own accord, having lost all control at this point. The wall behind her and his hands on her back were a welcome support. A moan escaped her lips and she could feel him smirk against her neck. She lightly slapped him on the shoulder, breathing out a not very believable "stop".
With a smirk and a sigh he detached his lips from her. Smirking down at her, he said "bedroom?" He hadn't expected her to say no, but her excited face and her quick nod made him smile and he picked her up without hesitation, making her squeal and hold onto him even tighter. Entering the bedroom, he continued with the task he had so sadly stopped a few seconds before. Not letting go of her hips or lips he quickly closed the bedroom door with his foot.
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.
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Looking behind her she let out a small giggle, she knew it. Behind her was a sleeping Laurence, his hands still holding onto her but fast asleep. She could swear he was even drooling a little but he would never admit to that in an awake state. Trying to move his hands away from her stomach, Alice tried to slip out of the bed but his hold on her was weirdly strong resulting in her having to just slip out of his arms.
Putting on the shirt he had previously worn, because let's be honest there was nothing else lying around, the man was a damn clean freak, Alice buttoned the three middle buttons and rolled up the sleeves, the shirt could have probably worked as a dress on her. She trotted towards the kitchen searching for the pancakes they still hadn't gotten around to eating.
Alice was on the couch, sitting with her legs folded and the plate of pancakes in the middle. She was listening to some of his records and had multiple books layed out in front of her, not being able to decide which one to read, mostly because half of them were about crime scenes and would probably have descriptions of dead bodies which Alice had never been a fan of.
His eyes fluttered open, expecting to see Alice laying next to him, but she wasn't there and for a moment his heart sunk down. What if she left? Was this just another one of the ways she amused herself? He knew she wasn't opposed to those things, but then he heard his favorite record playing and he let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding. She didn't leave.
Picking up the pieces of his suit and picking out a new shirt to put on, Laurence headed towards the living room where he found Alice on his couch, with a plate of pancakes that was almost completely finished.
"Could you not eat on my couch?" Alice's head snapped up, and she smiled. She felt happy even though she was being scolded, it wasn't like usual, he didn't look grumpy, he looked happy. Swan Laurence, the man that was basically known for being grumpy, looked happy.
"Pardon." She stuffed the last bit of pancake in her mouth and put the plate on the table in front of her, which earned her a scolding look while he reached for the plate. "Why does your apartment always look like no one lives here?" Alice was truly curious, she had never seen anything out of its place, never seen a speck of dirt.
"I like it that way." It wasn't a long winded answer but even though he trusted Alice, he didn't want to bring up all of his ticks and issues, maybe just because he wasn't ready to face them all.
She let the topic drop, after all she wasn't researching a story and she didn't want to pressure him. "Great so what's for lunch?" Alice smiled up at him, having completely forgotten that they still had a case to solve but quite frankly she had forgotten everything bad.
His eyebrows rose. "You just had food Avril, and besides I still need to make sure that you're not gonna get killed, if anyone has that right it's me."
Eyes fixed on him she stood up and walked towards him "Oh and why is that?" Her voice was daring and had a playful tone
"Because I have been putting up with you for years and it hasn't always been a pleasure." His voice echoed hers, facial expression barely changing.
Alice was barely a foot away from him, trying her hardest to maintain a serious face. She raised her eyebrow and pointed towards the door. "Well I can just leave if you please."
Laurence leaned down and planted a kiss onto her lips, his hand buried in her hair. He slowly let go of her lips, being able to feel her smile before he fully parted. "Don't you dare," he breathed into her ear and then let go of her completely, grabbing his coat to head towards the investigation that was waiting for him. He turned around one last time to see a smiling Alice and after closing the door behind him he couldn't get rid of the image all day.
Okay so this is my first Lpm fic and if you couldn't tell already I'm not french so I'm sorry for that I guess? anyways I hope you enjoy this and if you have any suggestions of how to get my writing better or just any comments, reviews are alwasy greatly appreciated.
Also big thank you to Emily who read this fic like 20 times and proofread it, I appreciate it.
Enjoy and have a good day, or evening, or night, or morning.