See? Miracles do exist!!! I'm still alive!!! I still have fics to post!!! LOL!!
This is to Deyse and Kim, still waiting for me to do this!!!
You all know this: TBAA is as mine as it is of every other single fan around here… Sadly. And please, flames will simply be blown off…
CHAPTER 6
Monica felt herself leaving this world when Andrew's lips finally touched hers. She had never imagined a kiss could imply such a perfect expression of love and of a feeling that went way beyond words. After a long moment of feeling his mouth over hers, she just did what her heart told her to do and reached to circle his waist, pressing herself closer to him at the mere moment when she opened her mouth and allowed Andrew to deepen the kiss a bit more. She was relieved his free arm was holding her firmly because she was sure she would faint in any minute only for the sensations that were invading her.
Only a long minute later, did they part. And it was then when they realized it. They met each other's eyes and saw something had definitely changed between them. And it was forever.
*
In Monica and Andrew's suite, later that night…
"Monica?" Andrew asked joining Monica in the balcony of the suite. It was almost midnight when they came back from Santa Monica and after that, they only bid good bye to their friends and headed to their room. Andrew had gotten into the dressing room to change his clothes, but the little angel had headed straight to the balcony, her eyes fixed on the few stars she could see looking for the answer her heart so needed. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine, Andrew…" the Irish angel replied, but her tone of voice speak of her troubled mind. "Just thinking…"
He knew it was too obvious to ask, but he couldn't help it. "About…?" Monica turned to face him, her answer written on her face without the need of saying a word. He looked deep in her eyes for a long, long minute, reading all that was in her mind, and finally he gathered all his courage to cup one of her cheeks tenderly, brushing her skin with his thumb. "It meant the world for me, Monica… I have never experienced something like that…"
The monotonous movement of his hand on her face had her in something close to a trance. But also, his eyes spoke volumes of the truth he was telling her. "Neither have I…" she heard herself replying, not really sure of what to say. She reached to cover his hand with hers, leaning slightly against it. "What are we going to do now, Andrew?"
His eyes were fixed on her lips, so rosy and so inviting. He still couldn't believe he had kissed her and had felt so many things that he had trouble in voicing them out loud. He knew what he wanted to do now, he wanted to feel her again as he had done earlier, but a part of his mind had started to question if they hadn't gone too far in this couple thing. "If I only know, Monica…" he murmured.
"Andrew? Monica? Are you here?" Rafael voice broke the moment and they sighed deeply. "Over the balcony…" the angel of death replied and stepped back away from Monica.
"How was your day, babies?" Tess asked coming to take a seat on the garden set that was there. "I had never been this tired in years!!"
"Edward is so demanding!" Rafael joined her. "He's in big trouble, but…"
"But we will have to work faster or this whole thing will go out of control!" Sam appeared at the time too. "Did you find enough proves to beat Stuckey in court, Andrew?"
The blond angel sighed. "I don't think so… They are too weak."
"Dear lord…" Sam whispered. "And I take it, Vivian is not doing better, is she, Monica?"
"Oh… No…" the little angel replied obviously caught mid-thought. "She learned today her mother is very ill. She wants to go back home and visit her, but she won't tell Edward… She feels he has problems in the office but no one is speaking to the other and that distance is growing and growing between them…"
"Why is it that married couples stop talking to each other?" Rafael asked leaning against the wall.
"Let's start since the beginning, boy… They are not a "married couple"… if we say so…" Sam added. When Rafael and Andrew looked clueless, he continued, "Monica knows what I'm talking about…"
The Irish angel sighed before she replied to her friends. "They are not married… And that's what bothers Vivian the most… She feels Edward doesn't want to marry her anymore…"
"I don't want to sound too cold or materialist, but I think right now worrying about this wouldn't help Edward a lot now…" Rafael said.
"But he does need Vivian at his side during the hard times," Andrew replied. "He says she taught him to see there were more things in life than just to make money, and I truly believe him. He is in love, I have no doubt about it!"
"But then what is stopping him from fulfilling a promise he did four years ago?" Monica asked. "It means the world for Vivian as she has found such a different life with him! She loves him so much…"
"That's what you two are supposed to find, Monica…" Sam stated and stood up from the chair where he was sitting. "And now, if you excuse me… I want to have some rest for tomorrow… I think that polo match will not be the easiest day of this assignment…"
"Polo match?" Monica asked clueless.
"Ops… I guess I didn't mention…" Andrew replied.
"You didn't mention what?" she asked again.
"Edward organized a Polo match and a camping day tomorrow for the employees and we have to go…"
"How am I supposed to think of a way to talk to Vivian if you don't tell me where we're going?"
"Oh huh…" Rafael murmured and looked at Tess.
"I thought you knew we would be leaving everyday with Edward and Vivian, we are supposed to be with them as long as we can!" Andrew continued.
"But I have to think about many other things before we go out! Like what you and I will be wearing!" the Irish angel argued again.
"That's not important!"
"It is if you do want to look like an important business man! That's part of what I have to do for you this time!"
"You are supposed to do other things than to take care of my clothes!"
Monica looked at him with a hurting look. "You know what? Just forget it… You can take care of yourself…" She walked away without saying good night to her friends and entered their bedroom.
Andrew, Tess and Rafael saw her leaving and the last two turned to face the angel of death. "Gee… That was too real, too 'married-couple' like…" Rafael tried to joke, failing miserably at the scolding look in Tess' face and at Andrew's totally mad one. "Sorry… I-I… hum… I shall see you tomorrow, ok?"
"What's going on, Angel boy?" Tess asked in a serious tone when they were alone. "This was just too out of way!"
"I know, Tess…" the blond angel sighed burring his hands on his pockets and turning away. "This whole assignment is so strange and hard…"
"That's what I feared when it started…"
"Was it really necessary for us to be married, Tess?" When Andrew looked at his friend, the older angel felt tenderness invading her heart at how shaken he looked. "Things are getting out of control, and I'm not talking only about Edward and the company! I-I…"
"What, Andrew?" Tess asked when he remained silent for a little while.
"I'm confused, Tess," he confessed. "I'm feeling things I cannot point out and that I haven't felt ever before… And all of them have to do with Monica…"
Tess was just expecting that confession as the little angel had already told her about what she was feeling. If this was part of God's plan, she just expected for him to feel the same. "I know, baby… I can see it in your eyes…" She walked to his side and hugged him.
"What do I do, Tess?" he asked a minute later.
"Listen to your heart, Andrew… and talk to the Father. He's the only one Who can tell you what's all this about…" He nodded. "But I guess that first of all you have to talk to someone more…" she looked at the closed door of the bedroom, "… and I hope you can find your way with her…"
The blond angel sighed. "Good night, Tess…"
***
Andrew lost the track of time he stayed at the balcony just looking over the darkened city. His mind seemed not to be working properly right now for as much as he tried to focus on his assignment, he just seemed to go back to think about his dearest friend and about their argument. Not that she wasn't right… He should've had told her they were going out together, as she had been the one taking care of those "details" since everything had started and, truth to be told, she had always made him look good. But what was surprising him was the fact that he had loved to see her that mad as her cheeks had gotten deep red and her eyes shone with anger. He knew now how soft her cheeks were and he longed to feel her all the time he could, he wanted to hold her tight and protect her from the rest of the world, even from the slightest blow of wind.
Finally, he decided to get into the room and talk to her, but the image in front of him just made his heart swell with love. She had fallen asleep on the bed, without undoing it. It was obvious she had cried more as her eyelashes were still shinning. Very careful of not to wake her up, he took a seat on the bed and reached to stroke her cheek. "I'm so sorry, angel…" he murmured drinking in all her features lovingly. "I'm so stupid… and I'm so lost when it comes to you… You just take all my senses away, Monica…" He leaned on his elbow so he would be right by her side, her sleeping face just inches away of his. "You are so beautiful… so perfect… I was such a fool for not looking at you like this before… Now I just feel I can't control my heart for it now belongs to you and only to you, my angel…" He was still grazing her skin, tracing her jaw line with his index. "We will figure out what's going on with us, baby… I wouldn't want it any other way…"
Careful not to wake her up, he stood up and opened the blankets on the opposite side of the bed. Then he gently took Monica's sleeping form in his arms and placed her there. She was still wearing the tiny dress she had bought and when the skirt went a little up to reveal her leg, Andrew gulped. But he controlled himself and just reached to take her shoes off, so he could put her feet under the covers. He leaned again to kiss her cheek and then left the room. He never noticed she had opened her eyes to follow him leaving.
***
In Monica and Andrew's suite, the following morning…
Monica stirred in bed the next morning and moved slowly. Little by little she remembered what happened the previous night and the same sadness she had felt when arguing with Andrew filled her heart again. It was horrible. She felt an emptiness that only the memory of the blond angel could complete, and it was due to the fact that she felt him so far from her. She had felt him tucking her in bed, yet she hadn't heard all he had told her when she was sleeping.
She sighed deeply knowing that for as bad as she felt, they had an assignment to fulfill and she had to put her feelings aside for Vivian and Edward's sake. She turned to the other side of the bed and then she discovered something that was waiting for her.
Lying by the side of her head there was a single red rose with a note hanging from it. She leaned on her elbow to reach for it, her heart racing wildly. She smelled it, its perfume causing her throat to close in a tight knot. She opened the note and read it, knowing in advance who was it from.
"Monica…" she read. "I have no words to say I'm sorry. I was so out of line yesterday and guilt is washing me as a giant wave that I don't know how to stop. These days with you have been so different… but I would give half of my eternal life just to live them again and see you sleeping by my side in the early morning, when your image fills my heart with nothing but peace and the deep love you've always inspired on me. Never before I had felt it more intensely than yesterday by the beach… No matter what happens next, I will love you forever. Please, forgive. Andrew".
"Andrew…" Monica murmured, her eyes once more wet with tears. She jumped out of bed, just to see the big bouquet of roses from where the other rose had come from set on the nightstand table. Her heart beating with joy, she wrapped her robe over her nightgown and opened the door to enter the living room almost running. But she controlled herself when she saw Edward was there.
"Good morning, Monica," he greeted, obviously amused with her sudden arrival.
"Oh, good morning Edward…" She then found Andrew looking at her, his eyes shining with love and tenderness. She regained enough to walk out of the door normally and went to get a glass of juice from the table that was ready for their breakfast. "I'll be ready in a minute…" she said, realizing both Andrew and Edward were already dressed. Nevertheless, she stopped by Andrew's side and wrapped her free arm around his neck. "I'm sorry too," she said in a low voice, her eyes also shining. "Thanks a lot." When they just held each other's gaze for a long moment, she murmured, "I love you…" and reached to kiss his cheek. Before she could leave, Andrew kept her hand and kissed it. "My angel…"
Edward cleared his throat obviously trying to mock his friends. "If it was too early, I can come back later, you know? Perhaps you have some… hum… things to do first…"
Monica felt color rose up to the very roots of her hair and couldn't hold Andrew or Edward's gazes anymore. "N-no, no!" she heard Andrew stuttering. "It's ok…" When she finally looked at him out of the corner of her eye, she realized he too was blushing.
"I'll be back in no time…" the little angel tried to excuse herself and almost ran into her bedroom again.
