/
Mary was surprised and happy to see a familiar form walking toward her cell the next morning. She knew he had promised he would come, but she'd been told there wouldn't be any visitors allowed to the cells.
"Lou," she said quietly, as he was let through. She smiled as she realized there was no awkwardness over using his first name at long last. But then, he had been 'Lou' in her thoughts since yesterday evening.
"How did you..." she had to ask.
"Contacts. Favors. You know," he said quietly with a shrug.
"And you are using up your favors on me?"
"I promised," he simply said.
They stepped over to her bunk to talk. "Can I ask you about yesterday?" she ventured.
It wasn't just being in a jail cell that made Lou reluctant to discuss things. There was also the problem of Mary's cell mates. "Let's talk about it when I get you out of here in a few..." he began.
"I just want to talk about it enough to know if it was... Just one of those things," she whispered tensely.
"It was not 'just' anything. It was definitely a 'something.'" He stammered then. "Unless what you want is for it to have been 'just one of those things.' "
"No," she told him, "a 'something' is good." Mary stroked his arm as if to allay any worries.
A moment later, however, she found herself backing away in response to the "Awww," that both Sherry and Kim uttered.
"What?" Lou demanded of the two call girls as he spun around.
"I dunno what's happening," Sherry explained in her raspy twang. "Just that it's awfully cute."
"Awfully, awfully cute," Kim concurred. "Especially for a guy your age."
"Sheesh," a flustered Lou muttered. Sounding rushed and uncomfortable now, he tried again to speak to Mary. "The lawyer's filing papers and getting your bail set. We'll have you out of here this afternoon. Really."
"Okay," Mary said, nodding and forcing a brave smile.
He looked to the bars and saw the matron had returned to end their impromptu visit.
Lou sneaked a quick kiss to Mary's cheek then and ducked out the door the disapproving guard was holding.
/ / / / / / /
Late that afternoon he met Mary as she finished out-processing from the holding area. He moved as if he would scoop her up when she rounded the barrier separating them. But seeming to think better of such a display, he merely reached to take her hand then. His arm came around her as they walked from the building.
Mary decided to launch into the problem between them once they were in his car. "So, you only kissed me because I was going to jail?" she asked without preamble.
"I asked myself if that was it. But then I realized that this has been coming. Something was bound to happen that made me finally realize who you are to me. And what I wanted to do about it."
"You've told me before that ... Well, you've made me feel like you thought of me as being so young. Needing protection, being like a child..."
He cut her off. "I had to say things like that, Mary. I had to at least try to convince myself that that's who you were. I couldn't believe the attraction I began to feel for you would be welcomed. And I'll admit that before all this happened, I still sometimes saw you as that young, naive girl that came to me looking for a job. I was blind to this amazing woman you've become. This amazing newswoman," he told her, earning a smile.
She let him park the car at her building before she continued her questions. "So," she said with a teasing lilt to her voice. "Me getting a scoop and then having the Justice Department after me was some sort of turn on? Enough of a turn on that you were willing to forget what you used to think about me?"
"Don't make this seem weirder than it is," he begged.
"But?" she insisted, as she poked him in the ribs.
"Okay! But... You are incredibly hot when you are taking charge of things. And then when you ended up in trouble over the story, I just wanted to be that man that got you through it. Who fixed it. Who held your hand when you were scared or kissed you when you were crying."
"Hey, I didn't do that much crying," she objected strongly.
"You were great. Maybe that was just a fantasy on my part," he amended. "I am just trying to tell you, I've wanted to kiss you all week. But I know I have probably blind sided you. Complicated everyth..."
"Shhh," she told him. "I don't mind that you kissed me. It was wonderful. You are wonderful. I've always wanted you to see me as a grown up. As a real woman, an equal."
"But you didn't actually want me to kiss you."
"I didn't not want you to kiss me."
He shook his head, feeling no less confused about where things stood despite all the talk.
They got out of his car without any more said between them. He felt awkward at best as he followed her, carrying her case as they walked up the stairs to her apartment.
"I'm beat and I'm sore," she told him, sounding apologetic once they were inside her place. "I really need to lie down."
"You probably didn't sleep well last night."
"Not well at all," she agreed.
"I didn't sleep very well, either," he admitted.
She smiled and shook her head at him. "God, you're sweet," she finally said.
He pulled out the bed for her. She groaned and sunk to the covers as soon as he was finished. Cautiously then, he moved to sit next to her, and once he was settled, he began to rub her back. "Thanks," she told him. "For everything." She kissed him on the cheek and crawled past him to stretch out on the bed.
"Could I get more of that back rub?" she said hopefully, as she looked at him over her shoulder. He lay down behind her then, propping his head up with one hand and using the other to massage the muscles in her back.
"We are comfortable together, Lou," she told him without looking at him. "Even the physical part. It isn't that frantic, nervous sort of thing. It was a surprise when you kissed me, but then again, now that it's happened, it doesn't seem like such a big surprise at all."
"I'm just glad you aren't mad at me." He patted her shoulder then before he looked at his watch. "God, I'm sorry, Mary. I need to get back to work. Can I come back? Check on you later?" Lou asked.
"Sure. I'm going to shower and probably just go back to bed. Why don't you take my spare key from the hook in the kitchen, that way you won't have to try to wake me up to get me to answer the door."
/ / / / / /
When he returned, his knocks went unanswered, so he keyed himself in. Her place was nearly dark. He carefully picked his way across the floor toward her bed while he called her name.
He stopped for a second to rethink what he was doing. What was he hoping would happen? And he realized he didn't really know, not beyond wanting to see her.
