Aurora shifts uncomfortably in her chair. Things had been going pretty well with the team since she had taken command. Even Neil seems to have accepted her leadership well enough.
She mulls over their latest mission in her mind and smiles to herself at just how remarkable Alfred truly is. He said that she doesn't want his memory but what a gift!
To never forget anything! Ever! She supposes some things are best forgot but in terms of the resistance there is no time or place better to have such a skill as in war.
He intrigues her and she finds herself more and more attracted to his softness and the way he feels things so deeply. When he tells her that she tastes different when she speaks she doesn't know how to respond.
He speaks so passionately that she hardly knows what he means by it and whenever she asks for clarification from him they are almost always interrupted.
Now that they are holed up in the safe house in Vichy and could be there for days depending on when Neil, Tom and Harry all arrive; they have time to talk. Not that they have spoken much since they'd arrived. There had been too much to do. There had been equipment to set up for Harry, and scanning the entire place for any trace of a problem had taken most of the afternoon. They would be stationed here for sometime until further notice, as things were in motion and it was best they were in position well in advance of their upcoming instructions. This was all that they knew of their mission.
Alfred had been checking out the cans in the cupboards for something to eat, whilst she arranges rooms and works out sleeping arrangements. Not having much of an appetite herself, she encourages him to keep moving as he seemed to become too pensive when left to sit and think.
Before she knows it Alfred is approaching her with a bowl of chicken soup, smiling slightly and gesturing to sit with her.
She smiles up at him. He is kind, she thinks to herself.
"You've been really quiet since we got here," Alfred mumbles not looking at her.
Aurora looks up from her bowl of soup, "I guess I am just tired or something," she shrugs thinking of the three rooms and wondering where they will all sleep once more.
"Have I made you uncomfortable," Alfred asks, looking down and away, embarrassed.
"What? No, no, not at all," she exclaims in surprise.
They maintain eye contact for a long moment and then Alfred looks away again.
"I thought maybe," Alfred pauses not knowing how to articulate exactly what he is thinking.
"You thought, what, Alfred," she maintained an uninterested look about her but desperately wanted to know what he was thinking, especially if it involved her.
"Something is different," he tells her frowning, and does not elaborate.
She looks at him slightly alarmed but not worried enough to stop her mouth from saying, "Yes", and continues to eat her soup.
He seems surprised that she admitted so easily that something was different. He wonders if she knew what it was. He wasn't sure he knew himself.
She feels it too, whatever it is. This driving force that has made her want to know him, truly know him. She can't help feeling excited when they are undercover and civilians remark on how well they are together. As though it some how validates thoughts she doesn't want to admit she has had. Also because of how embarrassed he gets.
"Do I hold the team back?" He asks suddenly.
Aurora wasn't ready for the question and it was certainly left field from where she thought their conversation was going. He hasn't got a clue, she realizes.
"Of course not, Alfred. You have been an asset to the resistance movement. You're skill set is remarkable; we could not have done half as much without you. You're great undercover, and have never compromised a mission, as others including myself, have done," she tells him quietly.
"So you don't feel like you're babysitting me then? I'm always with you and not the boys; I know you're worried that the Germans will capture me. I know that you can't let them take me alive, that you can't trust the others to kill me when the time comes," he tells her sadly.
"Alfred, that is not why you are always with me, not at all. You and I we pose well together don't we? I mean, I think we do. Would you rather I posed with Tom? Certainly he has more field experience than you but he and I, we could not stand long periods together like this. No, your job is most important and I am a woman and therefore being with me is not suspicious, it is an easy cover. Do you not want to be teamed up with me?" Aurora asks curiously.
"I think we work great together," Alfred states simply.
"Than why do you ask if you're holding us back?"
"Because, something is different, you said as much just now!" Alfred starts to work himself up, tired of trying to figure her out.
Aurora stands and follows him to the kitchen where he has escaped from her. She isn't sure what he is feeling, and she knows that his unusual senses tell him things that she could never feel. Perhaps he is as lousy at understanding his feelings as she is.
"Alfred," she speaks his name and it is like music to his ears. She slowly moves a hand towards him and he steps back and his back collides with a cupboard.
Trapped and with nowhere to go Aurora asks him the question. The one that she has been wanting to ask for awhile, the one that she knows will tell her how he feels in a way that she can understand.
"What colour am I"? She whispers and he closes his eyes.
She keeps hold of his wrist not willing to leave this moment unfinished like so many others before.
Slipping her hand lower, she slowly moves her thumb in a soothing motion on top of his hand never letting her eyes leave his face for a second; he lets out a shaky breath and opens his eyes.
She is much closer to him than he had realized and looking into her eyes, large and innocent, open to whatever he has to tell her.
"Blue," he tells her.
She remembers that blue makes him feel safe, that it feels like home. She smiles at him, squeezes his hand and turns and goes back to the lounge room to her soup.
Alfred doesn't know what it means.
Aurora is not sure either, but she knows it is a good start. He is comfortable with her. He doesn't dislike her.
When he finally returns to his own soup and seats himself next to her, he notices that he never thought of sitting in another chair; they were good at this cover thing. So much so that he did things naturally. That being close to her came easy, even though he had the constant fear that it was dangerous somehow.
"Alfred," She frowns and waits for him to look at her.
"Yeah?"
"I don't want you to be dissatisfied with your job and as commander of this unit if it would be more desirable to you to work some of our jobs with one of the boys, I guess I can step back sometimes," she says stoically.
He nods his head but looks pained at the same time. Aurora notes this and realizes that he doesn't really want to work with them.
"What is it that you're not saying Alfred, I can't understand you sometimes," she smiles sadly.
"Are you and Neil going to pose together then?" He asks as though it must be fact.
Aurora laughs heartily at this and can barely look at his earnest expression without losing herself again in laughter.
"What?" Alfred smiles, her laugh infectious.
"Nothing, nothing, its just that, well, when Rene and I would play the part of the couple Neil would get cranky at us because he thought that we would," she stops and looks up embarrassed.
"He thought that you and Rene weren't fully focusing your efforts on the mission?" Alfred recovered for her and says nothing else.
"Yes, though we never," she stops again not truly wanting to divulge or talk about her relationship with Rene.
"So, you never posed with Tom or Neil?" he asks her surprised.
"No, Rene didn't like that," she smirked.
"I don't think that I would either," he frowns, confused again.
"But you know Rene and I were never really playing though either," she whispers, heart beating fast.
They had both finished with their soups and were having a serious conversation that didn't dare share a lot of eye contact. Trying desperately to understand their situation and not truly wanting to at the same time.
"You loved him," Alfred whispers, knowing it to be true.
"Yes, I loved him back then. We'd been friends before the war, though you know this already," she sighed, the weight of his death no longer having the same melt down effect that it once had.
"Do you think," Alfred looks keenly embarrassed by whatever he was almost asking.
"Do I think what?" She smiles at his bashfulness.
"Do you think that Neil thinks that we aren't fully focusing on the mission," he looks up at her.
"I ah, no. I don't, well perhaps, that is to say, it's not, he doesn't always agree that my being in charge for the best," she stumbles.
"I think sometimes he doesn't trust me, I guess I'm asking if he is upset with the mission or if its personal," Alfred concedes.
"You think that Neil is jealous, of us," Aurora clarifies.
"I don't know, I just know that I feel awkward, and strange and I sense that Neil feels there is something too," he admits.
Aurora had been aware of the boys mumbling about them for weeks. The little looks they sometimes gave her after watching her speaking with Alfred was a clear message that they believe that there is more than friendship blossoming.
"Forget them Alfred, they are silly boys and it is none of their business," she mutters distractedly.
"I didn't mean to upset you, especially about Rene, I know that's none of my business," he whispers trying to find her eyes.
She touches his hand again and his senses are on overload.
"It is okay Alfred," she smirks. "My bijou," she giggles.
He laughs with her but doesn't feel like she really answered any of his questions.
He reads and old book that he finds within the confines of their small safe house for hours after nightfall, listening for any signs that they've been discovered.
Aurora fell asleep hours ago, and slowly over time came to rest her head in Alfred's lap as he read. He placed a cushion under her head and thought nothing more of it. Now he was sleepy himself and thinking about bed but he didn't want to wake her up.
He gently slips his hand beneath her neck and raises her off his lap, enough to slip out from under her. He turns to look at her sleeping form but doesn't think that it looks at all comfortable.
There are three beds in the safe house so he takes her to the closest one. She is lighter than he had expected. Or he has become stronger, though that is most unlikely, he thinks to himself.
Aurora stirs at the movement before opening her eyes and looking up at Alfred who is focusing intently on making his way to the room. She briefly thinks that he is stronger than he looks. Surprised that he would actually attempt to move her, she is his superior officer after all.
She could only deduce that perhaps without the others here that he is still playing the role of protective husband. Though of course there is no need, no need at all. If it was anyone else she'd have been upset but she likes the way that he holds her. Too tired to consider it in much more detail she closes her eyes and relaxes her body, feeling safe enough to go back to sleep.
Alfred places her atop the covers. She looks like a doll, in her little blue dress. He takes off her shoes and moves to the other side of the bed to pull back the covers. Than rolls her to the other side bring the covers over her. Sitting on the edge of the bed a moment too long, she takes hold of his hand in her sleep pulling it towards her face to snuggle into.
He knows that he can't stay here without so he forcibly removes his hand and goes back out to the couch. He figures he will leave the remaining beds to the boys, they'll be tired when they arrive.
It is after midnight when Aurora wakes with a shiver. She wonders if Alfred is asleep and decides to check if anyone has arrived yet. She finds him sleeping on the couch the remnants of a smile on his face. He was exhausted and she is glad that he is finally getting some rest, although she can't work out why he didn't take a bed.
There is a quiet tap at the door, and she waits for the whistle that should follow, when it does, she opens the door with a smile. The boys are here!
"You made it!" Aurora cheers quietly ushering them all in.
"Yeah, only just, Tom couldn't take out the guard sufficiently enough for us to escape unnoticed, we had no option, there are more casualties than we planned for," Neil tells her disapprovingly.
"The documents?" Aurora queries.
"With the unexpected interruption there wasn't time. You were right not to send Alfred with us, we couldn't have pulled it off," he says taking off his German soldier attire.
Harry and Tom follow him in looking dejected that they had not been successful in obtaining their goal.
"It is alright, we knew that it was risky and a long shot at that. We'll just have to come up with another way in," she tells them.
"Can we sleep now?" Harry asks yawning. It had been a long night.
"Of course, go on, there is a bed for each of you," she smiles and ushers them through the house.
With everyone asleep Aurora decides to sleep next to Alfred on the couch, it was too cold to sleep in the chair and the idea of curling up next to some warmth seemed much more delightful than shivering somewhere else.
She lays down beside him careful not to wake him and reaches for the blanket that rests on the back of the couch, covering them. He seems to subconsciously realize she is there as he curls on to his side to spoon around her and his arm manages to secure her to his chest so she doesn't fall off. She sighs and closes her eyes, feeling safe and content.
