Aquarius – Chapter 7

As the cabbie drove him through the darkened streets, Charlie pulled at the plastic hospital tag encircling his wrist. He tried ignoring it but that didn't work. He wanted to cut it off, but they'd taken his knife along with his watch, wallet, et cetera at the hospital when they checked him in – or she had. She - being Dani Reese - his mercurial, currently irate and noticeably absent partner. That was one reason why when his cab crested the hill and pulled into his driveway he was surprised to see her small blue Toyota parked there.

"This the place, Mac?" the cab driver asked.

"Charlie, " he corrected softly, but the driver didn't care.

He only wanted the fare Charlie promised. Five hundred dollars if he took him straight home, no questions, no stops. It was what you had to do when you walked out of a hospital in a blue dressing gown open down the back and got a cab to actually even stop for you.

"Wait here," Charlie said quietly climbing from the cab.

He took a look into Reese's car on his way in. He peered into the window of her locked subcompact and could see her cell blinking missed calls – that was why she didn't answer he reasoned. That or she was still pissed – possibly both. He laid his palm against the hood of her car and felt the temperature. It was cool to his touch indicating the car had been parked awhile.

He walked to the front door, opened it and listened – silence greeted him and it was a sound he welcomed after the screeching and beeping of machines, the slamming of doors and the constant hum of people in the hospital. All he heard was the A/C unit on the back porch cycling and the breath of reconditioned air tickled his neck. He reached into the fruit bowl by the front door and pulled out the emergency cash he kept there for pizza deliveries and the odd thing. He folded five hundreds in half and returned to the cabbie.

"As promised," he said succinctly stating their agreement. The man nodded, but checked the bills anyway.

Charlie walked off, still dazed, but finally home. He'd fallen back asleep at the hospital after Reese stormed off, but again the nightmares of Pelican Bay came and this time she wasn't there to reassure him or to hold him in that moment or that place. He felt the panic in himself and knew he had to leave the hospital. Even if it meant sleeping on a park bench - he couldn't stay there. As he shut his own front door, he felt the peace of a comfortable surrounding permeate his body.

Reese was here, in his house. It didn't bother him that she was here; it did make him wonder why.

All answers to all questions come - in due time - he recalled.

He padded quietly on bare feet to the kitchen. He poured a tall glass of orange juice and glanced at the clock on the stove, which heralded the time as 4:39 in green numbers. He walked to his patio and stood looking out at the city, breathing deeply and drinking his juice. Twinkling lights in the darkened city below winked back at him.

A coyote slunk across the corner of the yard returning to its den, a small grey rabbit limply hanging from its mouth. Charlie regarded the coyote and it returned his stare before continuing on its way.

Calm returned and he was ready to find Reese. She would be angry with him, he knew this and he welcomed it. For Reese to be angry meant that she felt concern and under that he knew lurked affection and perhaps even something stronger.

He returned to the kitchen, carefully placed his glass in the sink and climbed the stairs to his room quietly. For a moment he considered it might be wise to call out and let her know he was there – then he realized it was his house and he was somewhat expected to be there. It was his partner who was the interloper; although he didn't mind her intrusion. It intrigued him; her reason for being here - almost as much as the woman herself did.

His bedroom door was open; the lights were off, except for the one in the closet and a small lamp by his bedside. Dani Reese was lying in his bed fully clothed with files and folders from his closet arrayed around her and a box from there next to his bed.

Mystery solved. He knew what drew her here. She was examining him the only way he'd permit. This was his fault. Out of habit, not from a lack of trust he kept her away from the darkness in his past. She was just beginning to escape her own dark path. Now he'd driven her to this…investigating him.

She was taking apart his pursuit and learning about not only his theories but himself in the process. He walk to the bedside and carefully collected the files, tugging the last one from under her arm gently so as not to wake her. He boxed the files and carried the box back to the closet, turned off the light and locked the door. Some secrets needed to remain hidden – at least for now, for this night.

Tomorrow would bring a host of new problems, but he was tired and his head hurt. He just wanted to forget his troubles and collapse into his waiting bed and leave harder decisions for the bright light of day. He stood looking down on her, his real dilemma, the only one that really mattered, the dark haired woman in his bed and firmly entrenched in his heart. He did love her, perhaps more than he'd ever loved anyone. But she also drove him slightly insane.

There were several options to confront this intrusion, none of them good. He wasn't angry. He was instead touched - that she cared enough to try to understand him – and she'd lied for him (again). He knew their bond was deep and unbreakable, but it didn't mean they'd agree on everything or anything. In the end, he elected not to follow his thoughts but his heart.

He sat on the bed carefully, and then he leaned back and rolled onto his left side. He fit next to her on the bed – just barely. He knew he'd fall off the bed if he rolled right in the night, so he nudged her gently and in a low voice told her to move over. He imagined her eyes snapping open - dark, black and angry; but she didn't wake. Instead she complied without comment, although she did grumble something unintelligible as she edged deeper into the bed's center.

He cautiously slid an arm under her pillow and wrapped the other around her waist spooning up behind her and tugging her into the contours of his body. She sighed contentedly as the warmth of his body penetrated her dreams. He buried his nose in her hair and exhaled his tension. There in the waning hours of the night, clutching each other, in some fashion holding close that which they most feared losing, they both fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.