Disclaimer: If I owned them, I'd give Being Human US another season
Summary: Aidan finds out Cat might be his soul mate.
Author's notes:
1.""= dialogue ''= thoughts
2. Italics= phone conversation
3. Bold print: Flashback
Soul's Mate: Chapter 2:
"I can practically see my reflection in that spot on the floor." Aidan looked up to find Josh slouched in the doorway. He put the mop in the bucket leaning it against the wall. The linoleum floor gleamed in the sunlight streaming through the window.
"You might have to clean the rest of it to match." Aidan pictured what Josh would look, and smell like with a bucket of water over his head, then settled for cuffing him. Josh entered closing the door behind him.
"You compelled her right?"
"Yes. She remembers nothing after waking up on the floor next to me." He left the part about nightmares and Blake out.
"Then what's with the mopping? You were clearly off in your own world." Josh sat in the visitor's chair reclining with his legs propped up on the bed. He folded his hands across his stomach prepared to wait. Aidan paced the room gathering his thoughts.
"I love her. I love the kind of life I can have with her. She wants to go away with me on a trip; somewhere with a beach…"
"That's not happening," Josh dryly commented.
Aidan let himself get caught in the excitement. "I know, I'm trying to talk her out of it. Camping maybe? I can survive on animals." He groaned, starting again:
"I can't lie to her anymore Josh. I don't want to. I want what you and Nora have: A marriage, a life. Maybe we adopt children someday… I can at least give her a family that way."
"You have what? 10, 15 good years here before you have to leave. Before people realize you're not aging. What's that going to do to her? She is Boston born, bred."
"I won't fight her if she says no. If she decides I'm a total psychopath, I'll keep my distance."
Silence reigned. Josh took in his friend's defiant posture; jaws set, hands clasped. He'd stopped pacing and met his gaze from the opposite side of the room. Josh fixed him with a serious look:
"No talking you out of it then." Aidan shook his head.
Josh stood clapping him on the shoulder; "Good luck man." Aidan smiled: "Thanks." Josh shouldered the door open holding it for Aidan with his mop, and pail.
He saw Josh again after work as he finished changing. The other man sat on the bench regarding him, face lined with worry. Aidan rested his hands on Josh's shoulders emphasizing the point:
"Your secret's safe Josh. As far as she knows I'll be the only thing that goes bump in the night."
"How are you going to say it?" Josh asked. Aidan fixed his sunglasses on his face, and took out the leather jacket. He hadn't thought about it.
"Speak from the heart." He shut his locker, a note of finality. Josh gave him what he hoped was an encouraging smile:
"See you at home then." Aidan brushed past his friend, and left the hospital.
Cat knew he was there without looking up; she had to bite her cheeks to keep from smiling as she finished the lecture. Aidan was different from other guys she'd date; more serious, mature. They could laugh at the same corny jokes, and argue in the next breath.
"I'll drop my books in the office, and then I'm ready to leave." He readily took her hand kissing it before guiding her out. They walked side-by-side down the hall, Aidan attracting more than a few glances from female students.
"He's mine," she whispered as if talking to herself. He lifted her hand kissing it, his lips lingering.
She mocked him: "Not here Waite, there are rules. I have a reputation to uphold." Cat winked at him lapsing into silence.
"No comeback? I expected that would earn me another kiss on the lips. Maybe a trip to that janitor's closet back there."
They approached her office before he could reply, and she dropped his hand. "Be right back."
Aidan paced the hallway running through the possible conversations in his head. "Cat I'm a vampire," she'd laugh in his face… "Cat… I served in the revolutionary war, ran booze in the '20's, served in both world wars. I'm a vampire." Nope still laughter on her end.
She put a hand on a student's arm."Come back during office hours. We'll talk then," she rejoined him, and they linked arms.
"Penny for your thoughts," she asked as they turned the final corner towards her house.
His thoughts were everywhere, the main focus was he couldn't see life without her being much of an option.
"I love this... he gestured between them. "Waking up next to you every day, sleeping next to you. Being able to slip into the shadows and watch you work."
Her curiosity piqued; she stopped walking, turning to look up at him. "Where is this coming from?" A hand slipping into the pocket on the inside of his jacket. He held it with both of his own;
"Nowhere, I just wanted you to know. Whatever happens…"
She laughed, lightening the mood: "Whatever happens… It's like you're dying or something. Wait… you're not dying. Right?"
He smiled offering her that much assurance. They closed the remaining distance to the house, moving to single file as they walked past the hedge, Cat in front. Aidan glanced around for any sudden movement.
"That's kind of creepy. First the whole act like you're dying, then the look around as if we're being followed or something. Aidan what is the matter with you tonight?" She pushed open the door flicking on the inside light. He followed her into the kitchen opening cupboards for a wine glass, and getting the bottle out from the fridge.
"You want some wine?" He poured it anyway and she took it moving into the living room. He remained standing as she kicked off her shoes stretching out her legs on the glass-top coffee table. Distance would be easier for what he had to say.
"Feels really good to get those off." She sipped some wine, savouring it then set it down on the end table beside her.
"Have you ever wondered why I know so much about history?" He asked.
"No." She hadn't thought of it, just figured that he'd read a lot or studied it in college or something.
"I've lived it." It was out. A crinkle of a smile, Cat was quiet willing to play along for a while.
His voice lapsed into a muddled accent: "I was called to war, and after a particularly bloody battle someone found me. He was unable to say Bishop's name. "Drink son, and be stronger." They forced me to drink blood as I died. I awoke… better. Stronger than I had ever been in my life."
A snort of disgust from Cat. "What you're saying is impossible. Vampires… don't exist Aidan." He sat on the table in front of her taking both of her hands in his. She'd never noticed how cold he was.
He took her silence as permission to continue, his accent remaining. "I have no heartbeat, or reflection." Cat stood leading him back to a full-length mirror in the hallway. She leaned against him; his presence solid. She reached up tentatively tracing the area his chest would be… nothing.
He turned her in his arms; "I'm here. I'm real." She put her head against his chest listening for a heartbeat. There was none. She broke away from him backing towards the couch, she sat down drinking a gulp of wine. Vampires are real. The next gulp emptied the glass. She put it on the table next to her, and he picked it up without a word and moved behind the island to refill it.
After one sip: "You drink blood?" He nodded, the island still between them.
"How many people have you killed?"
Trust her to get to the point. "Too many to count. I've been alive for 200 years Cat." She stood slamming the glass down on the table. The stem broke in her hand forcing her to find a first aid kit.
Aidan was hypnotised by the smell of her blood as she approached.
A command: "Move." She shoved him out of the way long enough to get a tea towel to stop the blood. He fought the urge to help her. She stalked back to the bathroom for a first aid kit, and he heard her ripping bandages open.
She emerged a few minutes later.
"Have you ever taken any from me?"
"No. But I've wanted to." The vein at her throat taunted him. He wanted to rip it open and drink.
"Just a minute." He left her groaning in frustration as he moved to outside fangs extending. He tore into the blood bag polishing off its contents, then threw it in the sewer.
"Sex." It was equal parts question and statement, and drew a surprised look from him.
"You hold back Aidan, I can tell. I figured it would be better as our relationship progressed, so I didn't mention it.
"It's a part of the experience yes."
"I need more wine." He poured it, and she took it resuming her seat.
One sip: "My boyfriend's a 200 year old vampire who served in the revolutionary war, and is more qualified to teach my class than I am." Hysterical laughter. He watched from his perch on the counter letting her laugh it out.
She wiped tears from her eyes as silence took over. He took it as a sign to leave his perch behind the island perching on the far end of the couch. His hand reached out to rub her back in soothing circles. She turned in her seat facing him, and he let his hand drop.
"How have you lived?"
"I've moved around a lot. Usually every 10-15 years when people realize I don't have gray hair, can still drink like a thirty year old, when everyone else has a pot belly, and kids. There's a network in place to help us re-settle, and close off old identities." He'd learned to cut the sentimentality out of the answer.
"Is Aidan Waite your real name?"
"Yes. When I moved back to the area a few years ago I resumed the identity." His hand lay on the cushion between them; he bit back a smile as she reached for it
"A farmer… I could see that. Were you married?"
"Yes. We had a son Isaac. I had to give them both up."
"Why are you telling me this?"
He raised her hand again: "honesty." The fine hairs on the back of her hand stood up when he said it. She yanked it back from him;
"I think you should go." He expected the dismissal. Without a word, he grabbed his jacket from the hook in the entryway.
A shaky smile: "I'll call you, I promise. My mind's just… moving a mile a minute right now dealing with it. I need some time."
"Okay." He agreed, no pushing. She shut the door behind him.
Worth continuing? Thinking of using Susannah at some point. Let me know what you think.