Thinking In The Dark.
Laura was almost home when she realised she had left her purse at the office. Sighing, she turned the car around and headed back.
She went straight to her office and grabbed the purse, then she heard a sound from Steele's office. Picking up an umbrella as an impromptu weapon, she quickly opened the door and went in.
Steele had been sitting in darkness. He leapt to his feet and moved so that the desk was between them. He raised both hands. "I realise I must have done something unspeakable, but do you really think violence is the answer?"
She put the umbrella down on the desk. "I heard movement, like someone was working in here. Naturally, I assumed someone else had found their way in." she said.
"Laura, that wounds me." he said. He turned on the light.
"So what are you doing here, after hours, in the dark?"
"I was thinking." he said.
"About the case?" she said hopefully.
"No, that I leave to you. Why keep a dog and bark yourself?"
"Do we need to go over it again, who is keeping whom?" she said.
"Bad choice of words." he said. He sat on the desk.
"Something's wrong, isn't it?" she said. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she felt he was talking like that to distract her and maybe himself from something else.
"Sometimes I think too much." he said, "I know that may be something you'd dispute, but I do."
"Me too." she said, sitting on the desk beside him.
"Life used to be so simple."
"Really?" she said.
He smiled. "No, I suppose not, but some things were easier."
"Women?" she said.
"I didn't mean it that way, but yes." he said.
"You do know that Los Angeles contains many, many women who would gladly fall into your arms without a moment's thought?" she wondered, even as she said it, why she was putting that idea into his head.
"Yes, but their timing is all wrong, because I'm sort of in the middle of something."
"What kind of something?" she said.
"That's what confuses me." he said, "In many ways, it feels like a relationship."
"And you don't like those, do you?" she said.
He looked at her briefly, then quickly looked down. "I don't trust them."
"Because of your past?" she said, wishing she knew more about it.
"Because of my past." he confirmed, offering no further information.
"Do you ever think maybe opening up a little about your past might help to bring us closer?" she said.
He looked at her and smiled. "You know my past is full of things you wouldn't like."
"I like you." she said, "You're in there somewhere."
He seemed surprised. She wondered whether he didn't know she liked him, which seemed unlikely, given how often she made it clear, or whether he was just not expecting to hear her say it.
"Laura, I have never been more tempted to tell the whole sorry tale, if necessary, with a couple of plaintive violins playing in the background, but right now, I can't."
"Because you don't trust me?" she said. It hurt to think that he didn't.
"If I didn't trust you, I'd tell you any story you wanted to hear. I can invent a past you'd believe, tell you anything and make it so convincing."
"I have been afraid you'd do that." she admitted.
He put his arm around her shoulder. "The truth is that I do trust you, enough to stick around when you know what I am and the kind of things I've done, enough to mostly tell you the truth when I do talk about the past and enough to be honest with you that it is mostly, but not entirely the truth."
"Do you have any idea how attractive I find honesty?" she said.
He kissed her. She closed her eyes to enjoy the moment and then opened them to enjoy the view. "I don't suppose there's anything easier that you find attractive?" he said.
"I always like not having to cook." she said.
He got off the desk and grabbed his jacket. "Dinner and a movie, Miss Holt?"
The End.