A/N: I am so sorry for not updating in such a long time. I guess no one is really reading this anymore, but I guess I just wanted to kinda write more to this. I've been rewatching and screencapping some episodes of season one, and after thinking: Oh my god, how can Kari even be real? So perfect!... I thought: Aw... Auggie and Joan fit so well together!... Which is basically what I always thought, but I guess I need to be reminded of that every once in a while.
Chapter 7.
Auggie's POV:
A few weeks after I told Joan about Arthur, their relationship finally ended.
Of course the whole department felt bad for them, mainly because most of us had gotten used to them being a couple. In the end it had turned into more fighting than anything, so even Annie, who had been angry at Joan for a few more days, started feeling bad for her.
People started avoiding both of them. What do you talk about with your boss, who is just going into a divorce? What do you tell your boss' boss, who is a cheating idiot?
Making Joan feel better slowly became Annie and my responsibility. The two girls had made up over drinks, after I told Annie how Jai must have heard wrong, and that Joan hadn't intended to send her on that overly risky mission.
From that day on, Annie kept going out with Joan, trying to keep her from thinking about Arthur too much and maybe trying to meet a new man – I didn't really agree with that.
I tried to keep my distance, knowing how she still felt about me and knowing how I still felt about her. Since I couldn't tell Annie about that, she did not understand why I would not want to help my best friend feel better, so somehow that plan didn't work out either.
Against my will, Annie stuck me with Joan for a night.
There was a thunderstorm going on all over town and Annie was staying with her sister, so she thought since Joan and I were both alone, she could just drop me off at our boss' place to keep her company. If Annie had known what kind of consequences this night would have, she would never have sent me over there.
CACACACACA
The first hour we just sat there in silence, listening to the thunder rolling through the sky. She was still living in the apartment she had shared with her husband, while he had taken a room at some hotel. At some point she told me that everything still reminded her too much of him, that she still couldn't sleep in their bedroom. I had to agree with her. Even after a few weeks of living there alone, the whole apartment still smelled a bit like Arthur.
As the next bolt of lightning struck somewhere, followed by an incredibly loud thunder, Joan jumped slightly. I scooted a little closer to her on the couch, putting my warm hand over her cold one.
'It's just thunder. It'll be over soon.'
It took me a moment to realize why she suddenly tensed up. Back in Rome there had been a night when all hell broke loose. A thunderstorm that would even startle the toughest men and women. We had been in bed back then and the thunder had kept her from falling asleep, startling her every time. I had taken her into my arms, holding her close, telling her the exact same thing I had told her now.
I drew back my hand, turning away from her just a little bit.
'Sorry. Guess tonight was a really crappy idea.'
'Annie means well. What did you tell her, anyway?'
'Nothing. Told her that Jai heard wrong. Seemed less painful for her. Guess She sent you away, cause we once had something in Rome. would just have been weird.'
'Right.'
Silence followed that.
The next thunder startled her again, and my hand went back over hers. It seemed like a reflex, trying to calm her down, not wanting her to feel any bad feeling in the world.
She tensed up again, but I kept my hand on hers this time.
It was quiet for a moment. We were both lost in our own thoughts, and somehow she relaxed a little.
'I'm sorry, you know. I shouldn't have sent her on that mission. Was a childish reaction.'
'Yeah, well, she's back now. Nothing to worry about anymore. We all learned from it.'
Another moment of silence as I thought about what to say next. I knew she wasn't going to say something any time soon, but I felt like one thing needed to be said.
'You told me you still loved me. Why?'
The thunder startled her again, though my question might have had something to do with that, too.
'Because it's true. I guess I just didn't want it to be true until now. Well, I don't really want it to be true now either, but I think I'll just have to try harder. I'll get over it eventually. Don't worry.'
I chuckled slightly. I had tried the same thing. Denying my love for her, then trying to get over her as soon as possible, failing horribly in the process.
'If it helps: I'm still not over you either.'
I felt her tense up again, just for a moment, and as I was about to pull away my hand she put her other one over it, holding me there.
There was silence again and if there had been someone else with us in that room, they would have been able to hear our minds racing.
Should I not have said that? Had it been idiotic to believe that trying to get through this together would be a good idea?
As I heard the next thunder, she was not startled. Instead, her hands left mine and before I could protest her hands were on both sides of my face, keeping me there as she leaned in to kiss me.
TBC.
A/N: Okay... so this chapter was lying around my computer for a while – mainly because I wasn't sure if I could just end a chapter like this – but now I've finally come around to re-reading it, and I thought I'd post it.
Hope you like it :D
