Notes: no spoilers. Written for the 2015 round of unconventionalcourtship on dreamwidth and based upon the summary for the Mills & Boon romance novel Safe Harbour by Marie Ferrarella. Thanks to dhampyresa for the title. Any mistakes are my own and unintentional. Posted this to Dreamwidth and AO3 ages ago.
In the weeks since Shane found Oliver lying injured in the road and refusing medical assistance. She had taken in him into her home and her life, nursing him back to health with a little help from Rita and Norman who were just as worried about him as she was. They knew that his injuries weren't from a hit and run as he had kept telling them whenever they asked him what happened to him.
He snuck downstairs in the early hours of the morning, glancing around the darkened rooms before entering the kitchen to leave a note for her. He roped it against her favourite coffee cup, hesitating for a beat because he didn't want to leave her but he believed that the three of them would be at risk of repercussions from the people who left him in the road to die that fateful night, if they were, as he often suspected, watching the house.
A couple of hours later Shane made her way downstairs to the kitchen. The solemn expression on Norman and Rita's faces telling her something she had feared. She carefully took the letter from Rita's hands, reading the now familiar cursive writing, her fears were confirmed when she got to the final line: You'll be safer if I'm not around.
"Oh Oliver," she uttered gloomily while accepting a cup of coffee from Norman.
Rita and Norman felt just as lost as Shane looked, they too had come to see Oliver as a friend and a welcome addition to their quirky dynamic.
"We have to find him," Rita said.
"The letter doesn't tell us much, we don't have anywhere to start," Norman surmised.
Shane had continued to read through the letter gathering clues to Oliver's possible whereabouts when a repeating sentence caught her eye. I must retrace my steps. "That's it! That's where he's going, back to the road where I found him."
Leaving Rita and Norman at the house in case Oliver decided to return of his own volition was turning into a bad idea for Shane as she had been driving around the same route from that night for several hours now, only occasionally pulling over to stretch her legs and check in with the others. Heaving a sigh, she started the car again, quickly stopping when she spotted a familiar figure crouching in the field just off the roadside.
She pulled over a little further along from where there was a small crumbling building in the field to her left. Taking a moment to glance out of the window at the figure of a man in the distance with a similar build to the missing man going back inside.
She went to check the building out for herself. When she eventually approached he looked up at her with the blank expression fixed on his features telling her so much more than words ever could. "Oliver," she gently greeted, "Why did you leave?"
He didn't answer her and left the scene of his personal horror to stand in the field while Shane continued to inspect the building, noticing the blood spatter on the walls as well as the broken chair, ropes, knifes and a discarded ransom letter.
A few minutes later she came out and stood beside him while the enormity of his ordeal became clear to her. "In there," was all he shakily said before she guided them back to the main road and into her car.
"What were you doing?" she gently probed.
"My job," he snarled. "I came across a note in a bin that was destined for the dead letter office and rather than following procedure I decided to check it out for myself."
Once they were back in the car Shane watched Oliver and for the first time in weeks he allowed himself to cry, letting go of his pent up hurt and anger. Shane tenderly rubbed his back while he gripped onto her arms for extra support and reassurance.
"It was a ransom note wasn't it?" she asked although she already knew what the answer would be. She'd come across some in her time with the postal service but had never followed up with one beyond passing it on the local police and in some cases the FBI.
"Yes," his reply muffled by sobs and cloth. "I thought it might have been a hoax but it wasn't."
A tap on the window momentarily halted the breakthrough she'd been hoping for since rescuing him. Shane saw the muzzle of the gun and before she even realised it Oliver had already started the car from the passenger seat and attempted to drive away from the gunman.
Once Shane had regained control of the car from Oliver she grabbed her phone from the dashboard and quickly dialled for the police giving the operator all of the requested information and explained that she would like someone to check on her house in case the man had gotten there already.
Hours had gone by since Oliver had been found and the police had finally caught up with his captors, taking a statement from him about the note as well as the events of the night he had been left in the road.
Although it was still a hard thing for him to talk about the feel of Shane's palm against his gave him a sense of strength to carry on and he managed to slowly give a detailed discretion of the men and of all of the injuries he sustained.
When the police left Rita and Norman came into the sitting room with a selection of drinks and snacks for them all to share. They were still curious about Oliver but Shane had reminded them to not ask any questions they had until he gave them the okay to go ahead.
The four of them talked about their work, other friends, family and Oliver's plans (if he had any) because they all liked him and wanted him to stick around but only if he had nowhere to go.
Shane was almost asleep when Oliver entered her room crossing the space to her bed. His silence was intriguing for brief moment before his lips were on hers. Pulling back he said, "I've wanted to do that since we met."
Shane patted the space beside her, quickly removing her t-shirt and resuming the kiss, bringing him on top her reaching between them she gave him the signal he needed to go further with her. She rolled them until she was on top. Her mouth trailing a path down his torso, taking time to tend to the scars that were still healing. When he let out a soft grunt she paused. "Sorry, I should have..."
Oliver reached up and caressed her cheek, "Nobody have ever paid attention to my imperfections."
"We all have imperfections Oliver," she countered before she was on her back again with him settled between her legs. She didn't need to give him any cues before they were in sync with one another.
Oliver took advanced of the early morning sun as it shimmied through the gaps in the blinds to take in Shane as she slept beside him, the blissful post-coital smile from the previous night still etched on her lips.
As he watched her he realised that he wanted to have a relationship with her but it would mean starting over, working through their respective issues and getting to know each other properly by doing it the way his grandfather had taught him when he was younger.
"You're still here," Shane sleepily remarked.
"For a while," Oliver instinctively drew her closer to him. "if you'll have me."
Shane lightly pecked his lips. "Of course."