Chapter 4
"Close call." He says, smiling triumphantly.
"Too close." She reprimands him angrily, punctuating her sentence by smacking him on the arm. "You should have listened to me Pete, and waited for the..."
"Relax." He cuts her off. "Just chill out for one second. We got the artifact. Job well done. Can't you just leave it at that?"
"That thing...almost..." Her voice trails off. The anger vanishes from her eyes, and in it's place a troubled, almost child-like expression. Something like fear mingled with sadness. She doesn't finish the sentence. She doesn't need to.
He sees the thing in her eyes. Every now and then he sees it- that haunted vulnerability. It troubles him, that glimpse into her deepest darkest place. The intensity of it makes him uncomfortable. He wants to drive the sadness from her. Wants things back to the normal light hearted way they always interacted with one another. He wants to see her smile. Because, she lights up the room when she smiles. Though he would never tell her so.
For a moment she regrets losing her composure, certain he is about to tease her in some way and tell her to lighten up and get over it. But instead he places his hands on her shoulders, looking deep into her eyes and telling her sincerely. "Nothing bad happened. We're ok. Ok?"
"It touched you." Myka tells him, shaking her head trying to dispel the image in her mind. "For a minute I thought..."
"I know." He acknowledges, looking away from her. There had been a moment he thought he was a goner too. "But everything turned out fine. We got the artifact. Happy ending. And we still have all afternoon to enjoy ourselves in sunny Hawaii!" He smiles at her enticingly.
"We should head back. Artie said as soon as we had the artifact we should come straight back to the Warehouse." Myka reminds him.
He looks at her quizzically, "Come on Myka. You're not serious." He protests, wondering how anyone could be thinking about Artie or the Warehouse when they had a whole free day and night in tropical paradise.
"Artie was very clear with his instructions. Get the artifact, and come straight home." It really was that simple in her mind.
"Oh man, you are serious." Pete sighs. "Come on Myka, We're here in Hawaii . Artie won't know the difference. We never get any vacation time. Ever. What's one more night? We'll fly straight home in the morning. Just one night. Please ? What's the harm?"
Thing is, it was impossible to resist that pleading look on his face, impossible to resist him. And she had caught his glance a moment ago, hated the way he looked at her as if she didn't know the meaning of the word 'fun'. So she plasters a smile on her face and agrees with him. "One night." She concedes finally. After all, what's the harm?
