A/N: Ignore the 'fin' of the previous chapter. A couple of you mentioned the possibility of another chapter, so this is it. It's set immediately after chapter one. All errors are my own. I have an idea to make this into a longer fic but am still thinking about it. As it is, it's left at a place that it could be a longer fic. The character of Bobby Goren belongs to Dick Wolf et al but Eloise is my own creation. It's something or nothing but this is what popped into my head. Thoughts appreciated as always, errors are my own.
Two:
The smile lasts for a moment or two and then he thinks. He turns around and then he leaves.
He stands on the sidewalk and looks up and down the street. It's a cold night and it's starting to rain but he ignores it.
Where could she have gone? He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before opening them again. He turns to his left and walks.
Eloise. Where are you?
Expectantly he waits; he wants her to reply. Instead he's greeted by silence.
No matter, his apartment isn't too far away and the combination of cold air and rain will help to clear the cobwebs and give him time to muse over what just happened. He still finds it hard to comprehend, even harder to believe but somehow he does. It blows his mind.
She sees him leave the bar and she sinks back into the shadows when he stops walking. She hears him ask for her and a thrill drives through her. Then she slowly smiles. He begins to walk again. She looks up at the night sky and sees the rain drops fall. The cold wind doesn't make her shiver but he does. She watches him disappear into the night.
As usual his mail box is filled to overflowing and he spends a moment retrieving it and sorting through it. He should've done this earlier but he'd been called out before the sun had even risen. It had been the furthest thing from his mind when he'd left work. He sighed and tucked them under one arm and turned to the stairs.
His limbs are heavy as he climbs the stairs to his floor. He feels like he's a hundred years old. He pauses outside of his door and pulls his keys out of his jacket pocket. He stares at them resting in the palm of his hand for a moment before lifting his head and staring at the door.
He takes a deep breath and quickly unlocks the door, slipping inside and closing it behind him. He stops still and absorbs the silence. Usually he treasures his down time; he usually likes the silence, but tonight it irritates him. He feels lonely. He sighs and goes into his sparse living room. He drops his mail onto the coffee table which is threatening to be overwhelmed by the newspapers and other envelopes currently taking up residence there. He shrugs off his jacket and hangs it up before he forgets.
He's tired and feeling sluggish and he contemplates hitting the sack but thoughts of Eloise intrude. It lightens him up and he heads back into his living room and to his book case.
His selection of books is huge. He scans the titles. They cover every subject that interests him and that's a lot. He knows what he's looking for and in a second he finds it. Just as he begins to extract it, there's a quiet knock at his door. He pauses and frowns. Who's knocking on his door at this time of the night?
Open it and find out.
It's her again and rare excitement flares in his gut. He pushes the book back onto the shelf and goes to the door.
It takes him next to no time to undo the locks and open it up.
She's standing on his doorstep and the first thought that crosses his mind is that her eyes are green. They're a deep verdant moss colour that's almost unnatural. Her skin is porcelain pale and utterly flawless. He watches her slowly smile.
"Are you going to let me in Bobby?" It's the first time that he's heard her speak and her voice is slightly husky and sweetly seductive. Uh-Oh.
The answering silence is heavy.
"Are you turned on by a woman's voice?" Her tone is playful. His expression becomes intense.
"What do you think?" She smiles widely and then steals a glance downwards. It takes him all that he has not to follow her gaze; it's what she wants him to do.
"You have a beautiful voice" he tells her before she can answer. She shrugs.
"So do you" she tells him. They just stare at each other and the seconds tick by. After what seems like an eternity, he takes a small step backwards and cracks the door open a little wider and watches her slide inside.
"Don't you need an invitation first?" she looks at him over one pale shoulder as she goes into the living room.
"That's just a story. I was being polite" she informs him. He rolls his eyes behind her back as he closes the door and then follows her.
She's in his personal space and he experiences a sense of unreality. He stands still and watches how she slowly takes in her surroundings. She seems to be completely at ease bearing in mind that she's never been here before. She then pauses and slowly turns around to look at him.
"It doesn't pay to be ill at ease" she informs him and he resists the urge to squirm when he realises that she has read his mind.
Again.
He's going to have to work on that.
Please don't. You fascinate me.
"I wish you wouldn't do that. It's intrusive and …"
"Unnerving?" He just nods.
"Some people find it fascinating" she tells him. He folds his arms tightly across his chest.
"I'm not some people" he informs her. She just regards him and then softly smiles.
"So I see" she replies.
"You have a really nice place here…quiet and solitary. It suits you" she walks towards him and transfixed, he watches her. She stops just in front of him, not quite in his personal space but close enough.
"Do you have anything to drink?" she asks.
"Apart from me?" the quip just slides out of him and she cocks an eyebrow in surprise and a nanosecond later she bursts into laughter. He allows himself a very small smile. Her laughter subsides and she just shakes her head, those brilliant green eyes alive with merriment.
"Not unless you want me to?" she teases, at least he hopes that she's teasing.
A few minutes later she's nursing a glass of deep red wine. He watches her take a sip. She notices his lack of a glass.
"Aren't you joining me?" she invites and watches as he shakes his head. He has a feeling that he will need his wits about him tonight.
"I had beer…before…" his words stumble over themselves and she gives an elegant shrug and takes another sip.
"You don't mix your drinks…that's very wise" she tells him as she carefully places the glass onto the kitchen bench.
"What are you doing here?" he asks her.
"You asked me to come" She watches him frown.
"You followed me" he corrects but she shakes her head, sending her flame coloured hair rippling.
"No, you asked where I was. I just chose not to answer that's all" He watches her face.
"You hung around…"
"Because I knew you'd follow. After what you just witnessed…I didn't believe for a second that you'd just let it go like that"
She's right. I wouldn't leave it at that.
That she would know that sits uncomfortably with him.
"But why me? There were a hundred other guys at that bar…"
"Maybe. None of them are as interesting as you"
"You don't know that. You don't know me" he tells her just a little more fiercely.
"Don't I? People go out to a bar to socialise Bobby…to make friends, make eye contact and talk. You were in there for over an hour and you did none of those. You're like me" This revelation makes Bobby's eyes open wide.
"Pardon me...Uh… I'm like you? How exactly?"
"For the reasons I've just explained. You are alone…you choose to be alone and I'm absolutely fascinated as to why" she takes a step closer to him.
I think I liked it better when we held our conversation in my head
Not a problem.
By now she's all but pressed up against him but he doesn't touch her. He wants to but he doesn't.
"You don't trust me" She watches him frown.
"I don't trust myself"
The confession is swift and stunning. They stare into each other's eyes and the silence is heavy.
"You can trust me" She watches him; his eyes are heavy lidded and she can hear the slow, but steady thrum of his heartbeat.
Want to play Bobby? She doesn't quite touch him but she makes her intention plain. As she hopes, the steady thrum begins to pick up speed. She can hear his breathing quicken slightly.
"Okay. That's…now that's enough" and he moves away from her in a move so quick and so unexpected that she blinks in surprise. She watches him. He's still breathing a little heavier and as she listens, his heartbeat remains somewhat accelerated.
"Would you prefer it if I left?" she asks him. If he tells her yes, then she'll leave. It's not often that she's wrong about someone but it isn't unheard of. He swallows. He's seriously uncomfortable and she prepares herself for his rejection.
"No…" his reply is so soft that even with her hearing, she almost misses it. He clears his throat.
"Please…stay…" he invites instead.
She moves towards him and touches his hand. She slips her fingers around his. They feel cool to him and he opens his hand and allows her hand to slide over his and hold on.
"What are you so afraid of Bobby?" she enquires.
"Why…uh… why do you think that I am?"
"The question with a question. I won't hurt you" she's disappointed that he would even think that she would.
"I know" he replies huskily.
"You do?" he inclines his head just the one time. Her stomach does a funny little dip. All the time he has said this, he hasn't once broken eye contact. His eyes are a deep dark brown, some might even say fathomless. There are secrets buried in them, she can almost sense them.
"Yeah…it wouldn't be up for discussion" Plus he senses it about her. He's out of his comfort zone but somehow he knows that she wouldn't hurt him. He shakes his head slightly at the thought, he's a full six inches or more taller than her but she can hurt him in more ways than one.
I won't.
Damn it, he's going to have to learn to throw up some kind of mental barriers, he doesn't like how she can just dip into his mind like that.
Sorry.
He looks at her and then retrieves her wineglass from the bench. He holds it out to her.
"I want you to stay"
tbc?