Author's Note: There have been lots of Life stories on the site recently; most written far better than my meager offering, but I still write and I'd love it if you'd review so I can get better at breathing life into these wonderful characters. Thanks for visiting. ~~ Surf4
Sarah
It was the darkest part of the night. The time when he was on the inside that the demons came. This time, however, they weren't there for him. They were there for her. She thrashed and moaned in her sleep. A string of mumbled words frothed from her mouth, but the only clear word was "no." She repeated it over and over as if she was warding off evil.
He sat on the bed beside her and tried his best to soothe his troubled partner; the woman he loved, but couldn't touch. She eased at the sound of his voice and the warmth of his knuckles grazing along her cheek. He waited and her breathing resumed a normal rhythm. He watched her sleep.
Time seemed to stretch endlessly like a ribbon of light. A tiny sliver light cast by a low-slung moon made the room seem gilded but with silver instead of the golden cast that his beloved sun created. She seemed at home there in the shiny, soft, silver glow. She was as relaxed as he'd ever seen her, his partner. It made him feel proud that she trusted him that much.
The kind of pride he felt from gaining her trust was something that he hadn't experienced in a long time. It wasn't a win like solving a case, winning a fight in the yard or beating some thug at his own game. It wasn't like banging a long legged girl from a bus stop or a waking up after bedding a wild party girl. It wasn't even like the thrill of driving some sleek, new, impossibly fast car with an unpronounceable name or the looks he got when he climbed out of it wearing a three thousand dollar suit. He felt giddy and warm like he hadn't since he was a boy. It was a solemn sacred truth he'd discovered wrapped within the rustling paper thin trust of the woman he loved, but dared not touch – not yet, maybe not ever.
Two days earlier….
Roman was gone. Crews and Reese were back together, but not in the way they both secretly craved. Misperception, deep scars and a lack of trust held them apart thought they yearned and strained to be close. The air between them shimmered from the heat of their formless friction. Want warmed the car that sat in, but it was a fire they would not feed.
Bodner awkwardly offered to take Reese to the hospital. It was an offer Crews wouldn't have made because he knew she'd refuse and she didn't disappoint. She yelped, "no" so fast; Charlie twisted to look at her.
"Reese," he asked firmly, holding her with just his piercing blue eyes, "did he hurt you?" He sought confirmation from her guileless lies. Dani Reese had long been able to avoid him, even lie to him, but never with her dark brown eyes. And they both knew it. Her long pointed stare confirmed it. The talk they'd never had occurred there in those pointed looked and long stares.
She didn't look away and answered him solidly. "No," she replied, "he was too afraid you - of what you'd do." The smile in Crews' eyes, never reached his lips. It was a kind of pride, but not one he wanted her to see him wear; one he felt guilty for feeling, but that grateful it had kept her safe.
"Reese," he questioned more deeply with just her name and his eyes.
"Okay, yes," she relented. His eyes narrowed and darkened.
Charlie stared at her demanding more with his intense blue eyes.
"Not like that," she warned. She rolled her eyes, "not sexually."
They did not share their separate secrets, but they no longer lied either.
Charlie released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Reese parroted his action. They both noticed it; she scowled, he smiled. Crews rolled his shoulders to release tension.
Suddenly, Bodner realized their threesome contained one person too many. He left the car as soon as they reached a busy street, pronouncing he'd hail a cab. He left the keys in the ignition and leaned back into the car to tell Crews, "I'm going back to MY partner." His message was clearly, "don't waste your chance with yours."
Charlie climbed behind the wheel and turned to her and asked, "where to?"
The air contained unfulfilled possibilities, both good and bad.
"I don't want to go the hospital," she said strongly. "I don't NEED to go to the hospital." There was a long pause as neither offered a suggestion or idea. Slack tide, no air to fill their sails and a collective lack of desire to move beyond their now. Moments ticked by and internally they both considered their options.
"Everyone's been looking for you," Charlie offered neutrally.
"Everyone didn't find me; you did."
Charlie swallowed his doubt and divulged something he felt he had to, "Tidwell's looking for you." He didn't want to tell her that, but he felt he had to.
"I don't want to see him," she seemed upset about it. It wasn't Tidwell's fault she didn't love him, but it was still annoying. She frowned at the look Charlie gave her. "It's not that I don't want to see him, but I…"
"Don't want to see him." Charlie finished for her.
"Yes," she nodded. "Yep," she popped. "Wanna know why?"
"I know," he said in a low tone, but he refused to look at her.
"How can you know?" she was angry. "I don't know… what I know, so how the hell can you know?"
"One plus one equals one," his voice was just above a whisper.
She seemed to understand, because she asked for no explanation.
"We can't go home. Not to yours, not to mine," she listed their very limited options.
"Didn't you want to go lay on a beach somewhere? Mexico's only a few hours away," he teased with a sly smile.
"We don't have ID, passports," she listed the challenges they faced.
"I'll have them found and sent down to us," he explained. "We need time, to figure this out."
"Yeah," she said softly. "Let's go figure this out," she dared, "whatever this is." He turned onto the highway headed south and she was asleep the next time he looked over at her.
