Hi again everyone! It's Deeny. Thanks to all the people who read the first chapter there have been quite a few of you in such a short time! More Ezio to come I promise.
Please be kind. Comment, review, be lovely, it's up to you! Enjoy. :) xx
DISCLAIMER: Assassin's Creed and its characters are owned by Ubisoft. Original Characters are of my own creation.
Grace wanted to do something to relieve this pressure she was under. She could have screamed, she could have trashed her hotel room. But those were both stupid ideas; she ended up in the shower with the warm water running over her now sore shoulders whilst repeatedly banging her head on the tiles. It was not such a good idea either on the account of the mountain sized headache she had. Grace stopped banging her head on the tiles and sighed heavily as she grabbed a bottle of shower gel she had hung on the metal shower pipes and began to soap herself up. She wanted her headache gone and that horrible smell of sweat and dirt she had accumulated in such a short time. Grace even lathered her hair up with the shower gel she was beyond caring what she was using she just wanted to relax. She stood in the shower a little while longer as she felt her headache begin to ease. The painkillers she took were starting to work. Satisfied she had calmed down she turned the shower off and stepped out, covering herself with a large towel she grabbed off a rail. Grace squeezed as much water as she could out of her hair over the bathroom sink before squeezing it again with a small hand towel. She glared at herself in the large bathroom mirror positioned over the sink. She frowned slightly and sighed as she did not like what she was looking at. All she wanted to do on this trip was what she did every year. Only this could ever happen to Grace. She had one of her orders most revered persons in the room next door and she was also waiting for orders from her own branch as to what to do with him.
They're probably all out getting lunch. Bunch of useless bastards. Grace thought. She sighed again as she opened the cap on a tube of tinted moisturiser she had left on the counter top. Grace smeared it over her cheeks and forehead before blending it around her face then adding a few coats of mascara to her lashes. She was done. Though in reality she could not be bothered with anything else. Grace hated being high maintenance. She had her dark mid-length hair cut every two months in to an easy maintainable style; otherwise she ended up looking like a bag lady. Her pasty skin was almost see through from not having any colour in it and if she ever did go out in to the sun she would burn without any sun block on within a quarter hour. Her height didn't bother her that much seeing as a lot of girls she had noticed were somewhat shorter than her and she was only 5'4". She was however happy that she was moderately healthy by working out several times a week and not eating so much junk. But that was a thing that come with being an Assassin who had to be on top form. Grace thought she had a decent figure, it was average. Full of ugly, vicious looking scars but average. This is why she enjoyed her real job so much as a fashion designer she got to design and make clothes that fit real people and they always praised her for it. But as Grace looked at her reflection again she sighed ever deeper than before as her hair had started to dry frizzy as she never used any of her good shampoo or conditioner. She simply grabbed another bottle off her counter containing a leave-in conditioner, sprayed it haphazardly around her head and hoped for the best. All she could do in the meantime was get dressed, wait for the return phone call from her Bureau and wait for the Assassin to wake up. If he was going to wake that is. Grace secretly hoped he would wake soon if anything to have someone to chat too. She was getting sick of sighing to herself.
Grace stepped out of the bathroom pushing the door open with yet another sigh. The sighing soon stopped when she felt something cold and somewhat sharp pressed against her throat.
'Qual'è il tuo nome?' The voice said.
Grace rolled her eyes and groaned as she raised her hands up slowly almost in surrender. The one language she never really got round to learning much of was Italian. Sure she spent weeks at a time in the country but even then at most of the big events she went to, everybody spoke English. Even when she was on her own she knew just enough to get by on and as not to seem arrogant or make a complete fool of herself. Grace widened her eyes and gulped slightly as she felt the Assassin's short blade move a tiny amount against her neck, she eventually managed to stutter a few words out she dragged from the back of her racing mind.
'Parla… Parla Inglese?' Grace managed to splutter out as she took a sideways glance at the Assassin. She could now see his eyes wide open concentrating heavily on her, with his short blade held horizontally rigid at her neck. Her face twisted in confusion as she thought to herself if she said it correctly. The further thought occurred is that she was possibly about to die dripping wet with a towel wrapped round her. Very classy indeed.
'Yes.' The Assassin confirmed. He didn't move his blade though. Grace knew she had to convince him that she was not a threat and had no intention of killing him or escaping or doing something equally as stupid.
'My name is Grace, Grace Harvey. I'm a member of the order." She said to the Assassin as she relaxed her shoulders slightly. Grace slowly brought her right hand down and held her arm over the towel covering her breasts to stop it from falling off. She noticed the Assassin glancing down at her chest with a bit of a smirk on his face. Ugh typical bloody man. She thought. Grace slowly then lowered her left arm and reached out to the smirking Assassin.
'Here if you want proof that I'm one of you then take a look." She continued as she wiggled her fingers. The Assassin moved closer to her hand and looked at her ring finger. There was a large, wide silver ring adorning her slim finger. Cautiously he pulled the ring off revealing angry looking raised scarring encircling her finger right up to her knuckle.
'Now do you believe me?" Grace huffed. It took a few seconds before the Assassin relaxed and lowered his blade.
'I apologise for the misunderstanding." Said the Assassin as he bowed his head. "My name is…"
'Ezio Auditore da Firenze. I know." Grace stated matter or factly as she crossed her arms. Ezio's face had shifted from apologetic to confused.
'How do you, know my name?" He asked.
Grace ended up sighing again. She was sick and tired of sighing it was pretty much the only thing she had done since she woke that morning. She rubbed the bridge of nose as she shook her head.
'Well, I guess I can safely say that it's a long story. But the real question is how the hell did you get here? We're in 2012 Ezio.' Grace stated. Ezio's face had not changed after she said that. He still looked as confused as ever possibly even more so.
'2012?' He quizzed.
'Yes Ezio 2012. I'm grasping at straws here, but I think something may have happened to you that brought you here to this time. And judging by your expression you probably don't remember it.' Grace stated. Ezio nodded.
'All I can remember was I was chasing a courier messenger through Firenze." The Assassin began to pace with his short blade still in his hand. 'It was rumoured that he was delivering something of great importance to its recipient and I was to retrieve this item and interrogate the man."
'So, you caught him then?' Grace asked as she leant against the bathroom door jamb.
'That I did. I took his satchel and that is all I can remember." Ezio finished his story. Grace tapped a finger on her chin as she tried to think about what had happened to Ezio and what to do now in this situation. She shook her head as the thinking had got too much for her. Grace knew though that she needed to sort herself and Ezio out as quickly as possible, but even then it would have to wait till the London Bureau called her back. Which could be any time. She sighed again for what seemed like the millionth time that day. This was all getting beyond a joke. It was about time she got everything organised.
'Right then." Grace exclaimed as she clapped her hands together. 'I've got a plan for the time being, at least till the London Bureau get back to me. First of all I'm gonna get dressed then go out and buy you some clothes we can't have you wandering around in what I found you in.' Ezio opened his mouth to protest. What was wrong with his clothes exactly? He never got to interject though Grace was on a roll.
'Secondly, while I'm out I suggest you explore the room or go have a soak in the bath or something and relax.' Grace thought that suggesting Ezio have a bath and relax thing was quite funny. He had been nothing but calm and collected the whole time he had been awake. If anything she was the one that was panicking. To say Ezio had been thrust in to 2012 out of nowhere he appeared to be taking it all rather well. But he was from a completely different time plus he was one of the most prominent Assassin's in the order. Grace doubted he would show any panic considering the situation he was in. It didn't matter much anyway Grace was panicking enough for the both of them.
'Then I guess when I get back you can try on your new stuff and I can order us some dinner I dunno about you but I'm starving.' Grace exclaimed. 'How does that sound Ezio?' She beamed at him. She was quite proud of herself for coming up with all that in such a short amount of time.
'Va… bene.' Ezio answered after a slight pause. He wasn't quite sure of what she just said but he was not in a position to argue or debate. Though he did like the sound of a hot bath right now.
'Perfect.' Grace smiled. 'I'll be two minutes." She hurried over to the bed with all her clothes laid out on it and picked up some random items. Clean underwear, jeans and a t-shirt would do her for now so she rushed in to the bathroom with her clothes in one arm and the other holding up her towel; elbowing the bathroom door shut. She couldn't believe she had been held at sword-point, released then been stood chatting to the man who did it who she rescued in the first place for so long. All whilst in a towel. She shrugged off the thought and quickly got dressed; nearly putting her shirt on the wrong way round in the process. A quick glance in the mirror and she was ready, her hair was not as frizzy as she thought so she left it alone. It was nearly dry already and had set in to some mad looking waves but she was on a mission now. Grace flung the bathroom door open seeing Ezio still stood where he was before. He could've sat down or something. Grace thought, but he obviously didn't. He looked up at Grace as she motioned for him to come over. She spun around and turned her attention to the bathtub where she set the plug in and turned on the taps, the tub beginning to fill quickly from the powerful water pressure.
'Please feel free to use anything you like.' Grace said as she pointed to various bottles of soaps and creams she had laid out on the bathroom counter. 'I shant be out long, I've got a good idea of what clothes size you are. And your shoe size.' Grace continued as she looked down at Ezio's feet. She noticed his boots were rather snug fitting but looking at his feet she would probably put him round a European size 46. Oh the perks of being a designer. Grace thought. Her thoughts were interrupted as she felt something touch her hand. Ezio had taken her right hand in his and planted a quick kiss on it.
'Grazie il mio caro. I cannot thank you enough Grace for taking me in. And I apologise again for the misunderstanding earlier.' Said Ezio as he bowed his head. Grace was blushing slightly. Why weren't men like this nowadays?
'It's no problem at all." Grace stuttered and let out a smile. She glanced down at the bath tub and noticed the water was just over hallway so she reached over and spun the taps shut. 'I'll be about thirty minutes at the most. Please Ezio whatever you do, do not leave this room or answer the door. I'll knock three times before I come in just so you know it's me.' Ezio nodded in reply. I guess he does know the situation he is in then. Grace thought. She didn't think he'd be the type to take advice or orders like that. 'I can fill you in later on when I get back about what's going on, I'm sure you have a lot of questions." Grace said as she turned to leave. What to tell him though cropped up in her mind. If he did by some chance end up back in his own time, would his being here in 2012 effect anything?
And with that, Grace left Ezio to take his relaxing bath whilst she hauled herself through her room grabbing her bag, phone and keycard on the way, then back down in to the square she found him in. Grace's brain was put on the back burner for now as her feet were working overtime. She knew exactly where she was going. Straight in to the H&M store she had seen on the other side of the square. Grace loved that store she could spend forever in there buying stuff for herself but it wasn't about her today. She'd look in the other few shops that were around before heading back to see what they had but she was in a hurry and wanted to get back to Ezio as soon as she stepped foot outside the hotel. On the power walk over she spied a few designer stores advertised on a department store building which she just had to go in to on the way back. The fashion designer in her wouldn't allow her just to walk on by. But H&M is where she bought eighty per cent of what she was after. The other customers thought she was like a bull in a china shop the way she zoomed around the mens section. But in reality she was just a scary looking English girl on a mission, who could barely see over the huge mound of clothes she had piled up in her arms. T-Shirts, underwear, socks, Henleys, sweaters, pj's, jackets, jeans. Almost every item of clothing imaginable was somewhere in that mound. Almost three hundred and eighty Euros worth of clothing crammed in to 3 huge bags which were making Grace unbalanced as she walked over to the haven of shoes that is Foot Locker. More bags were added to her already massive collection as she bought several pairs of Puma's, Nikes and the odd pair of Converse. A leather goods shop took care of a pair of smart dress loafers just in case they were needed and the department store Grace made herself walk in to; took care of a few other designer bits and bobs. She couldn't resist a few pairs of Diesel jeans, Ralph Lauren shirts and a rather fetching Dior hooded long sleeve shirt; so they had to be bought. Grace's reasoning behind this was that Ezio was a handsome Italian so in her eyes he had to look good, after all he was from the country who spawned some of the world's best designers. But she knew the real reason she bought everything she laid her hands on, she was a woman and like all women she loved shopping. She probably didn't even need to buy as much as she did, but Grace often got carried away, not just with shopping but many other things too. Grace had been running around all the shops like a maniac and was about to leave the department store until the most beautiful thing in the world caught her eyes; a black and grey leather Prada handbag with gold buckles. The bag was calling to her "Buy me Grace! Buy me!" but she had other things on her mind. She had to get back to the hotel. A quick mental note was made to go and buy the bag when she had a spare five minutes.
A person who was leaving the hotel was kind enough to hold the door open for Grace as she unsteadily bustled her way through with her armfuls of bags. The elevator call button was a bit tricky though. She didn't want to put the bags down because it would take her forever to pick them all up again and get the momentum going she had. So she banged randomly on the buttons with her elbow; doing the same to the button for her floor when she finally got in the elevator. It was a quick unsteady shuffle along to her room door where she decided she could actually put some of the bags down. Grace needed to get her keycard out of her bag. She had a quick dig about in her bag before finding the card in some corner of it. Grace ended up thinking about that lovely Prada bag she saw and wondered if it had separating compartments. The bag she had now didn't so everything that went in there was lost, found, turned out to be something else, emptied out then found somewhere else instead of the bag. Glad she did find the card so quickly, Grace tapped on the door three times before swiping the card through the lock; the door beeped signifying it was open. She nudged some of the bags she put on the floor through in to her room with her foot and carried the rest in. Ezio was nowhere in the room so Grace thought he must still be in the tub. She arranged all the bags on the closest bed before walking over to the TV to switch it on. She wanted 5 minutes sit down with some background noise before she did anything else.