I thought I'd posted this before Christmas and was left wondering why I didn't get any reviews and thinking about writing the whole thing off. Then it occurred to me to check today (thanks Teebs) and I realised that I'd been a complete moron and hadn't put it up at all. So here it is, chapter four to be followed in a few days by five (provided I don't have another exhaustion fuelled brain melt).
John is driving through near torrential rain when he spots Madeline walking on the same side of the street. Her head is bent against the wind and the lashing water that seems to be coming in more horizontally than falling down and her arms are wrapped tightly around her. A heavy, and very wet, looking bag is slung over her shoulder and he slows to a crawl beside her. It take three blasts from the horn for her to look over at him and he rolls down the window.
"Get in, I'll give you a ride," he offers. His attention is half on her and half on the road and he is profoundly grateful that Virgil is out entertaining the woman of the moment and he is returning from the airport alone. There will be fewer questions. She shakes her head, brushing soaked hair that has stuck to her forehead out of the way. "It's freezing out there, Maddie," he points out.
"I'm wet anyway so what do you care?" She snaps and he sighs, knows he should not push this and also knowing that he will anyway.
"Because I don't like seeing you struggle, Madeline," he replies. "Please, it's just a lift."
He stops the car when she halts, leaning over to open the door. She stares at the car warily for a long moment, her hazel eyes barely visible through the streams of water that run down her glasses. After some thought, however, she gets in, folding herself into the seat almost nervously.
"Where to?" He asks as he pulls away. Out the corner of his eye he sees her face fall.
"I have nowhere to go," she whispers. "Adrian threw me out." Something in John does a dance of elation when he hears those words and he frowns as he firmly stamps on that part of himself. Instead he turns down the road that will take him back to the apartment he shares with Virgil.
"Okay," he says simply. There is still ten minutes, if they do not hit traffic, until they reach the apartment and it is passed in uncomfortable silence. "Come on," he says once he has parked, part of him wondering if this will turn out to be a massive mistake. He cannot help but notice the way that she is shivering, however, even though the heat in the car had been turned right up.
"Where are we?" She asks, staring at the building with something that John is sad to find looks like trepidation.
"Mine and Virgil's place. You can at least get dried out while you find somewhere to stay," the words sound hard but they are said with that kind softness that fills everything that the middle Tracy son says. He grabs the sodden bag from the back seat and concludes that the things inside will probably need to dry out as well.
She follows, her eyes downcast and her face shadowed with the kind of anguished emotion that John never wants to see on anyone let alone this woman. She is not arguing with him any more, however, and he has to wonder what it is that she is anticipating here.
The apartment is not exactly tidy when John opens the door and he sighs. Of the two of them he is the neatest and living with Virgil has been occasionally trying. Tonight, he decides, is going to be one of those nights. He sets the bag near the drier and goes into his room, emerging a couple of moments later with a clean pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. The clothes are going to be horribly big on her but it is the best that he can offer until he gets hers dried. He hands them to her with a small smile.
"The bathroom is the third door on the left and there's a spare towel in on the rack. Go and get a hot shower, you'll feel better for it."
She stares up at him for a moment before whispering her thanks and leaving him in the living room. As soon as he hears the shower start up he begins to gather the papers that Virgil has left on the table and couch, it would not be good for Madeline to find them. While he works a little voice in the back of his mind informs him that this is a very bad idea, that nothing about having her here when her emotional state is so fragile can end well. He ignores it, picking up the phone to order pizza instead, and allowing himself a moment to wonder if he really has done the right thing here.
While he is debating the wisdom of this evening's actions Maddie emerges from the bathroom towel drying her short hair and with the sweat pants gathered almost comically around her ankles. She makes her way automatically to the drier, placing her wet things inside and starting to go through the contents of the bag she brought with her. She sighs as damp clothes make their way into the drier and he feels a pang of compassion for her that is far stronger than he had thought it could be. When he hears the bell ring it startles him out of his thoughts and she flinches.
"Hope you like pizza," he offers, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket and going to the door.
"You didn't have to do this, John," she says once he has paid and placed the two boxes on the kitchen counter.
"I know," he shrugs as he fetches two plates from a cabinet. If it were just him and Virgil they would have just eaten the pizza straight from the box but with Maddie here he decides that plates are probably a good idea. "I want to, though," he smiles as he puts the plates down and flips on of the boxes open.
"You're a good man," she whispers, covering one of his hands with her own and giving it a gentle squeeze.
"My grandma raised me to be a gentleman," he tells her, loading his plate up. She smiles, helping herself to a few slices, and joins him on the couch to eat. It is a meal taken in silence but it is a companionable one.
Madeline is the one to take the plates and wash them when they are both finished and John flips the television on when she joins him back on the couch. Her cell phone is in her hands and he can see the way that she fiddles with it nervously. Empty platitudes fill his mind, the temptation to tell her that everything will be alright, that he will take care of her and that she is better off without Adrian. He has come to really like her over the months that he has known her, come to enjoy her company and the soft conversation that they share in the mornings. In some ways he knows her better after these few months than he has know any of his ex-girlfriends and that scares him a little.
"Stay here tonight," he tells her, "I'll make up the spare room for you." She stares at him. "I can take you to where ever you need to go in the morning," he yawns it has been a long day on the island, a long several months, and he is more than ready for an early night. It is rare to get an evening to himself and he had been looking forward to this one. He cannot begrudge Madeline's presence, however, not when he has wanted something like this for so long.
"You don't have to do that, I'll call my brother," she assures him. "He'll come and get me and I can stay there tonight. You've done so much already."
"Stay," he replies, "I don't mind." He sees the way that she hesitates. "Alright, but the offer's there, Maddie."
An hour later William arrives to collect his sister. His greeting to John is quiet and little more than a nod, but there is only gratitude in his grey eyes. Madeline flings her arms around John before she walks out the door, whispering her thanks and kissing his cheek before following her brother from the apartment. John sighs and watches from the window as the car she gets into moves away from the building.
Artemis