"Amen, amen! but come what sorrow can,
It cannot countervail the exchange of joy
That one short minute gives me in her sight:
Do thou but close our hands with holy words,
Then love-devouring death do what he dare;
It is enough I may but call her mine."
Romeo, Act II Scene VI
Hoffman turned over again and tried to make Amanda suddenly materialize in front of him. It didn't work. Where the fuck was that girl...?
Sighing, he lay back and stared up at the bare concrete ceiling, almost indiscernible in the almost absolute darkness. The heat wave which had lasted for most of the Summer already made the dark nights uncomfortably sauna like, with no wind or cloud; a hell-like calm. It didn't take much a scientist or weatherman to realise that a pretty violent thunderstorm was on its way...
For the past few weeks, there had been a strange kind of tension in the air. Michelle had caught on that her relationship between herself and John was being threatened, and she already knew who was threatening it...
Amanda meanwhile kept on making her 'mistakes' and made very sure to bring Michelle down a thousand pegs whenever she and John were around, hoping to prove a point to him. She loved Hoffman, but still...
John had observed the way that Amanda kept pushing Michelle down like an insect ready to be squashed and was saddened and disappointed with Amanda. He hadn't wanted her to turn out like this, but it seemed that there was no stopping her...and when she preyed on him, he knew that he couldn't stop her. But he never gave in to her advances, at the same time never telling Michelle the affirmative to what she suspected...the thing that scared John the most, however, was what Hoffman might do if he ever found out...
Hoffman himself, however, was completely oblivious to the atmosphere as heated as the steaming vacuum outside; he had his own problems...
It was becoming more and more obvious each day that Perez still wanted him and try as he might he couldn't escape her forever; she seemed to be everywhere he went, the sad, wistful expression on her face making things even more awkward.
Strahm wasn't helping at all; in fact, he was making things worse. From the moment he'd seen Hoffman he'd taken an instant dislike to the man, but the fact that Perez – the woman he was falling for – was falling for the bastard galled him. His loathing increased and the tension between the two men couldn't be erased – it had gotten to a point that people actually breathed a sigh of relief when either of them left the room.
Tonight, Hoffman wanted more than anything to forget the stress he was going through at work. But it was a bit difficult to do that when the person he needed to help him forget wasn't there...
As he gave up waiting and tried to fall asleep in the stuffy darkness, he felt something cool click closed around his wrists, first one then the other. A slight tug confirmed his feelings of deja-vu, and he smiled.
Amanda suddenly loomed in front of him, his only knowledge of this the sudden comforting weight on his chest. "I told you I wanted to do this again..." She breathed.
Hoffman laughed. "Only because it's the one chance you get at getting yourself one over me." He casually scanned the darkness in front of him, hoping to get a glimpse of her face, her body. "Although I thought we were going to do this for our anniversary..."
"You make us sound like some kind of married couple!"
Hoffman grinned and leaned forward as far as he could, hoping to brush his lips over the soft skin of her cleavage and the peachy curves of her breasts. He had calculated her position perfectly, and felt her breathing hitch. "You wanna give it a try?"
He felt her slowly peel the thin sheet that partially covered him – the only thing he could bear against the heat – back from his lower torso, and shivered expectantly. "You know me," Amanda said slowly, teasingly. "Uncontrollable..."
"Point taken..." Hoffman whimpered as Amanda ran her tongue down the length of him. She began her very slow torture of his body; the almost exact routine of the very first time. "'Mandy...it's too hot...I can't take..."
Amanda paused in her activities and smirked at him through the darkness, the taste of him still on her tongue. "And isn't that that the point?" She whispered.
And then she really got started.
Afterwards they both lay there; unnecessarily hot and unable to fall asleep, despite the fact both of them were tired out.
"Y'know, I don't think I was all that depressed before..." Amanda said suddenly.
Hoffman chuckled quietly. "Bit random, 'Mandy...so, what exactly was your turning point? Me?"
"No hope in hell, mate!" Amanda laughed, then laid her head back and idly traced her fingers over Hoffman's upper torso, remembering. "It was just after I'd got fixed up for carrying drugs. I was set up, I swear I was...I was 16, my whole future in front of me...and then I got a criminal record for something I hadn't done." Somehow she knew Hoffman was nodding sympathetically, and she smiled. "Then again, I hadn't been being very good to myself anyway. I'd started cutting two or three years before that to take my mind off the fact I was ostracised by everyone, even my own mother. My life was a pretty massive superblackhole at that point, but I'd always hoped that once I'd got a good career...well, that plan collapsed, and I pretty much broke down in the police station.
"No-one was really listening to me, it was all, 'Well, you shouldn't have done it then, should you?' I was just sitting there, crying so hard I actually couldn't see...and then someone put their arms round me and gave me some massive hug. Usually it was only my stepfather did this, but that was only when he was drunk and wanted...something out of me. I was shit-scared, punching him so hard. I don't know how he did it but he just kept hold of me, and in the end I just didn't have the energy left.
"So I blurted it out, the whole sob story of my crap excuse of a life. I still couldn't see him, but I...I just knew he was properly listening, not judging me or anything. After I'd finished he didn't say a word, he was just...there, if you know what I mean. A while later he left. I asked who he was, but all I found out was that he was still a trainee...I guess he was pretty young then, 20 or 21 or something like that. Anyway, I'm around his age now...I don't think I'll ever get to thank him properly for what he did."
"But he didn't do anything." Hoffman murmured.
"He did the best thing possible...he showed me that someone actually cared...no-one ever did that for me. Ever."
Hoffman paused, and then said abruptly, "Can you undo my handcuffs now?"
Startled by his tone of voice, Amanda unthinkingly obeyed.
Hoffman slid his arms round her waist and pulled her tightly to him. "Any deja-vu yet?" He whispered.
The penny dropped. "Mark..." Amanda tried to see his face. "Thank you." She heard her own timid voice and winced, but Hoffman just laughed.
"You don't need to say that."
"I do!" She rested her head against his chest, muzzily remembering every single detail.
"Yeah well, I told you I had something to do with your U-turn! Admit it, I'm awesome!"
"Yeah, right." She muttered, but she wasn't really listening; something had just struck her hard.
Their bodies were both different from that time all that time ago, and the truth was that they were both aging, slowly and steadily.
And ageing usually led to death.
And she didn't want to live without the arrogant but sexy detective.
Hoffman was on the same track of thoughts, but a sudden sense of inexplicable dread overcame him. He gripped Amanda – if possible – even tighter. "'Mandy?"
"Yeah?" She mumbled into his flesh.
"Please...don't leave me, yeah?"
Amanda kissed him. "I said I was never going to leave you," She said softly. "And I meant it."
But as they both succumbed to their fatigue, Hoffman's apprehension was right, because – although they didn't quite know it yet – it was the beginning of the end.
I know I haven't got the ages right, but still...
The storm breaks next chapter...
