A/N: This is part II of The Pleasure and the Pain trilogy, Sara's POV. The third should be up soon. If you haven't read the first one, they could all be stand alone stories, but work well in this little thread.
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, if I did, they'd be living the happily ever after I so desperately want for them.
The Pleasure and the Pain: A Different Kind of Pain
Pain was not a new concept to her.
Not by a long shot.
For years it was all that she had really known--all that she could count on.
The cool exterior she wore fooled everyone.
Everyone but him.
They figured she was trying to keep the pain out. He knew that she had been harboring it. Granted, he hadn't known what that pain was exactly --until she was almost fired for it. But he didn't hold it against her. No, he allowed her to open the floodgates-as it were—and offered himself as consolation.
As she lay on her side in another non-descript hotel room she felt a different kind of pain. She couldn't numb herself to this pain. Couldn't turn from it. This pain, at times physical, was a burden brought on when she opened herself up to him. When she opened herself up to pleasure. And right now, she was physically aching.
She tried using her hands only to find them completely and utterly useless.
They weren't him.
Her entire body shuddered as she sobbed uncontrollably. Her hardened façade broken at the mere thought of him.
For days she had returned to her hotel room after long emotionally draining days and sobbed like this. She felt very much like a deflated balloon. But this pain that she was feeling now was different than the pain that she had come to rid herself of.
This pain was unbearable. And thinking how much pain he must be in only added to what she was feeling. This was a pain she could not hide from or ignore.
As her breathing slowed and her tears diminished she realized that she had brought this pain upon herself.
She sucked in a determined breath and rose from the bed. Having dealt with the pain of her past she knew that it was time to do something about this pain.
A/N: Please review. It's nice. (and I need it...)