The Morning After

The steam that had gathered onto the mirror distorted Anna's view of her tired features. She reached out, swiping away some of the moisture then wiped her hand on the white fluffy towel wrapped around her. The morning light spilled into the bathroom, cutting slices of warm orange light onto her skin. Her wet hair clung to her back, beads of water dripping down her skin and into the towel. Wrapping her arms around herself, she shivered lightly; that was her cue to get dried and dressed. That was until the door clicked open, and Stephen walked in. Anna stared at him through the mirror, clad in a pair of basketball shorts and white t-shirt. He was fresh from his early morning workout.

"Mornin'," Stephen shut the door behind him, stepping further into the room. Anna didn't stop watching him through the mirror. He rested his hands on her damp shoulders and kissed her cheek. "Yeh feeling alright?"

"Yes," Anna lied. She felt sick to her stomach, still unable to shake what she had seen him do. His hands were so gentle on her, lightly rubbing the tense knots in her shoulders. Yet just last night he'd had those hands wrapped around a man's neck, punishing and bruising.

"Ah didn't expect yeh to be up this early," she turned her head to look at his knuckles, all red and grazed. "Yeh have somewhere to be?"

Anna shook her head, allowing herself to fall back onto Stephen. She closed her eyes and let him wrap his arms around her. Settling into his embrace, she realised how tired she still was and wanted to crawl back into bed. She had tried to sleep, curled up in the huge bed waiting for Stephen to come back, but she couldn't. And even when he clambered into bed, wrapped his arms around her and mumbled 'I love you', she had been more awake than ever. Her mind worked overtime, replaying what she had seen him do.

Feeling Stephen's lips on her neck, Anna's eyes snapped open. "That message Stu left last night," she started, finding a way to ask if he had finished the guy without having to utter those words, "Was he serious?"

"Are yeh worried abou' that?" Stephen turned Anna around in his arms but still kept her tight against his body. "Ah'll always protect yeh, so yeh know yeh have nothin' to be scared of."

He skirted around her question, saying things she already knew. She didn't know what to say back, instead her fingers toyed with the hair at the nape of his neck. "Ah know when somethin' is wrong, yeh never this quiet."

"I'm fine," Anna smiled, trying to convince herself more than Stephen that she was in fact fine.

"Get dressed an' Ah'll take yeh fer breakfast somewhere." He kissed her forehead and let her go.

Anna quietly said, "Okay." She quickly made her escape from the room before she had to bite her tongue any longer. She wasn't sure what to do or say. She knew she'd slip up, she always did.

She heard the shower turn on and quickly dried her hair. Even with all the noise, there was no drowning out her thoughts. No longer did she have a firm grasp on life, she was trying her hardest to get through every day. Still exploring her relationship with her husband after only eight months of marriage, Anna was seeing things in a whole new light.

Stephen had two sides to him; personal and business, gentle and brash. His hot headed temperament only made an appearance with her once in a while, raising his voice to get his point across. She now wondered how often he intimidated or used his fists to get what he wanted; a lot, she guessed.

An hour later, Stephen was walking Anna out of the house and onto the side walk. She was a little bit ahead of him as he locked the door; eventually she stopped and waited for him, taking in a deep breath. The sky was cloudy and she could tell it was about to rain. She contemplated rushing back to get her coat, but the umbrella in her bag would have to suffice in shielding her from whatever kind of storm was approaching.

"What the hell have yeh done?" Anna's heart stopped and she felt short of breath as she heard Stephen's brash voice. Frozen to the spot she glanced over her shoulder, eyes locking with her husband's. "When did yeh do this?"

Anna glanced where he pointed at. The side of her car; the paintwork scratched off after her quick getaway.

"I went shopping," she started, testing his reaction. "The parking lot in the mall, I caught one of the columns. Guess I was too excited to get to that sale."

"Make sure yeh get it fixed." Anna nodded, feeling like she had just been told off. She scurried towards Stephen's truck as quick as she could, wanting to get out of cold and away from her car. She caught sight of herself in the window, eyes wide and a little disorientated. She needed to pull herself together.

"Can we go for pancakes?" She asked as soon as she was in the warmth of the car. She turned to Stephen as he sat in the driver's seat, starting the engine.

"Whatever yeh want." With that he pulled away, driving towards Elly's Pancake House. After a few minutes of silence, he eventually spoke up, "Ah have to go see Stu."

Anna's heart jumped at the mention of his name. She immediately wondered what had happened with Lara once she had gone home. She had to find out. "

"I'll go with you. I wanted to see Lara anyway."

Stephen didn't answer; he just nodded and carried on driving through the morning rush hour traffic. Once again Anna took a deep breath, reminding herself not to slip up or blurt out anything that would get her into trouble; but then again, trouble was her middle name.

"You're up early."

Alex froze mid-step as she heard his voice call out to her from the kitchen. There goes making a quick exit, she thought.

After being dropped off by Lara the night before, she had tried in vain to push the images of the violence she had witnessed to the back of her mind. She had tossed and turned in bed, the thoughts still plaguing her, until finally tiring herself out and falling into a fitful sleep. She snapped awake when she felt Tommy slip into bed beside her, chalking it up to a bad dream when he had worriedly asked what was wrong. With a kiss to her forehead and his arm thrown over her waist, he had quickly fallen asleep, leaving her to her thoughts well into the wee hours of the morning. Alex woke up after just an hour of sleep when Tommy had gotten up for his workout, and had decided that trying to go back to sleep will only be futile, opting to get ready for work and leave the house as soon as possible to avoid any confrontation that she was sure would prove to be uncomfortable.

She slowly made her way over, her eyes flickering over the impressive spread set on the breakfast nook. "Well you've been busy."

"Sit down," Tommy said with a smile, using the set of tongs in his hand to point towards the table. "I just have to crisp up the last of the bacon and we can eat."

"What's the occasion?" She asked, genuinely curious why he had turned domestic all of a sudden. "It's either I cook or you take me out. Now here you are playing master chef."

"Is it wrong if I want to do something nice for my wife? This was supposed to be breakfast in bed too."

Alex remained silent as he plated up the bacon, her eyes cast downward as he walked towards the table. She couldn't help how her eyes had widened when his hand came into view, the skin over his knuckles split open, angry red marks staring back up at her. "What happened?"

"Oh this?" Tommy asked nonchalantly. "My workout gloves were too worn and split on me. I didn't want to stop my momentum and just went on with the punching bag. Obviously it wasn't such a good idea," he continued, his calloused fingers grazing over the cuts on his other hand.

"I, uh," she stammered, greatly miffed that he could shrug it off just like that when a man could be dead. "I'll make a stop by the mall after work and get you a new pair," she continued.

"Thanks."

The rest of their meal was spent saying only a few things together, and she was certain even without looking to meet his gaze that he sensed that something was wrong with her, though she was extremely grateful that he knew well enough when to leave her alone. "Don't worry about cleaning up," he said quietly after noticing she had cleaned off her plate. "I'll take care of it. It must be an important day at work if you're leaving this early."

"Reports won't write themselves," she offered, a nervous chuckle leaving her lips. "I gotta go."

Tommy stood up from his seat, pressing a hand against the small of her back to walk her out to the garage. Alex finally turned to face him as she stood before the open car door. "I love you," she said, leaning her cheek into the palm he raised to cup her face. Raising her hand to cover his, she continued "Don't hurt any more punching bags, alright?" Her voice cracked when she realised the double meaning in her words.

"I think I've done enough damage," he said with a smirk, making shivers run up her spine when she saw the glint in his eyes. "Be safe. And I love you."

Anna gripped onto Stephen's arm, gently slipping her hand into his as he knocked on the door.

"Are you going to be long?" She asked as they waited for either Lara or Stu to answer the door.

"Ah don' know," Stephen cast his gaze upwards to the grey misty sky, then back down to his wife. "Is that a problem?"

Anna shook her head, startled by Stephen's sudden mood change. He had been the perfect husband during breakfast; pulling her chair out, holding her hand and stealing small glances at her. They had laughed and joked over a generous helping of maple syrup soaked pancakes. From the outside, everything appeared normal.

Hearing the door open, Anna tried to curve her lips into a smile. Seeing Stu made that difficult; she frowned at him, noticing the bruising on his face around his nose.

Stephen shrugged Anna's hand from his so he could greet his friend and business partner. "That's a right shiner yeh got on yeh. How're yeh, fella?"

"Not bad, come in," Stu smiled, slapping Stephen on the back with his large palm. "I didn't expect to see you, Anna. Shouldn't you be busy spending your husband's hard earned cash?"

Anna heard Stephen laugh along with Stu; usually she would join in with the joke, but she couldn't force a smile, let alone a laugh.

"No," Anna watched Stephen frown at her blunt response, "I need to see Lara."

"Something wrong?" Stu asked, carefully glancing between his two guests.

"Everything is fine." The Irishman answered for his wife, giving her a stern look. Anna was half tempted to give him a few choice words, but instead she bit her tongue and decided not to utter anything back. She was shocked and stunned at how calm and collected the two men were.

"Lara's working in the kitchen." Stu spoke up but Anna was already storming down the corridor, eager to get to her friend.

"I need help," Anna blurted to Lara who had her back to her, typing away on her laptop. Perched on the edge of a stool, she whipped around, surprised to see her friend and her unusual version of 'hello'.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ste's here," Lara's eyes widened and both of the girls shared a knowing look. She glanced behind Anna, seeing neither of the men. "It's funny how he can go from this amazing caring man to a pain in my ass in a split second."

Lara patted the stool next to her, "Come sit down." Anna moved across the room to sit next to her friend. The counter in the middle of the kitchen was scattered with papers around her laptop. "Do you really need help?"

"I'm just tired, couldn't sleep at all last night." She confessed, glancing around to make sure it was just the two of them still.

"You and me both," Lara sighed, eyeing the pot of coffee she was currently making her way through. "I can't get my head in the right place to finish this article."

Anna glanced at Lara's laptop, open on the 'Chicago Tribune' website. She caught sight of the weather for the day, cloudy with a chance of storms. Anna scoffed, she didn't need telling twice. She could sense it a mile off; a storm was brewing and it wasn't in the cloudy skies above Chicago.

Lara looked at the screen to see what Anna was looking at; her eyes roamed across the screen to the breaking news sections. The words brutal attack caught her attention and she couldn't help but scroll across the page to click on it.

"Oh my god," she turned to Anna, whose lips were parted in shock.

She shuffled closer to the laptop, invading Lara's personal space but she didn't care. "Is that...?"

Lara was too busy reading the article to answer her friend. She felt sick at reading the words, knowing what she had witnessed and who had done it.

A brutal attack occurred on the streets of Goose Island on Wednesday evening around 11pm. A man in his mid-twenties was found slumped in an alleyway of North Branch Street with serious injuries. He was immediately rushed to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital, after a local citizen contacted the emergency services.

"Do they know who did it?" Anna interrupted Lara whose eyes were still scanning the words on the screen; she skipped a few lines, trying to find an answer to Anna's question.

Authorities were in addition called to the scene, but there is yet to be any sign of the assailants and their subsequent arrests, or an official statement from the victim. They are also urging for any witnesses to come forward. More on this as the story continues.

"This is crazy," Lara dismissed, "Now I kind of hope they knocked the guy unconscious."

"What?"

"At least that way he wouldn't remember who attacked him."

"Maybe he's in a coma. The article said his injuries were serious."

"Quick!" Lara squeaked out, slamming her laptop shut as their husbands entered the kitchen from the garage. She lowered her voice to Anna, noticing her tapping her long nails nervously on the table top. "Act normal."

"And what are you ladies up to today?"

"We don't know yet, we're just figuring things out."

"Spendin' more o' me money probably, eh love?" Stephen laughed light-heartedly, nudging Stu in the arm as he joined in. The two women exchanged a look, smiles not once gracing their features. The look didn't go unnoticed. "What's the matter wit' yeh recently?"

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong with me." Anna defended, waving her husband off nonchalantly and turning her attention to the Englishman instead. She folded her arms across her chest and adopted a deadpan tone to her voice. "Your nose looks worse than usual."

Stu smirked, reaching up to trace over his bruised skin. Despite his minor injury he had still managed to fall asleep, his head propped up on three extra pillows to ease his breathing. "Cheers," he replied with equal enthusiasm. "Did Lara tell you some ridiculous story about how I got it?"

"No, I just assumed you tripped over your clown feet and face-planted." His smirk faded as hers formed on her glossed lips. She definitely got pleasure from annoying him. Lara picked up her laptop and the cordless phone, nodding at her friend to follow her.

"Excuse us for a minute; we need to make a phone call."

Anna looked at her, confused. "We do?"

"Yeah, we need to call Alex. Come on."

"Alex?" Stu inquired, his expression sceptical. "Lara, you need to quit disturbing her at work. She might get fired." His last sentence caused the two women to giggle. Stephen and Stu glanced at each other, dumbfounded as to what was so funny about what he had said. He figured what he had voiced was pretty sensible given the nature of their previous conversation. Lara scoffed when he questioned her.

"Doubtful that she would get fired, baby. Anyway, she's probably on her lunch break."

Anna carried on giggling, knowing that Phil would never want to let someone like Alex go from the company. Especially with how much of a creep he had been with her in the past. "Psh, like she'd get fired..."

"Anna, I said come on!"

One last look to their husbands and Anna followed Lara out of the kitchen and upstairs, leaving the two men completely confused as to their sudden skittish movements. Was it all innocent, or were they hiding something?

Hours passed by in a blur for Alex, her motions robotic as she threw herself into work, the events of the past night and that morning almost forgotten. But now, as her heels softly thudded against the carpeted floors of the offices of Brooks Shipping, she was dreading having to face those thoughts again more so than she usually was about having to face Phil.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, surprised by the scene in front of her.

With his office doors open and hearing no voices filtering out, Alex had thought that her boss was free and that she wasn't disturbing anything. But upon entering, she was met with the curious sight of Karen wrapped up in Phil's arms. The two jumping apart when they heard her voice, the redheaded assistant furiously wiping away at her tear-stained cheeks.

"Oh god, what's wrong?"

Karen opened her mouth to say something, only for a choked sob to bubble up from her throat, stopping her from getting anything else out as a new batch of tears started rolling down her cheeks. Alex watched on as Phil gently tugged her back into his arms, his hands going up and down her back in a soothing manner.

"Can you do me a favour, Alexandra?" He asked, flicking his eyes to the brunette still standing in the doorway.

"Anything," she replied.

"Just leave the reports on my table," he started. "I can go through them myself. But, if it's alright with you, do you mind driving Karen to Northwestern Memorial? I don't feel quite comfortable if she drove by herself in this state."

"It's no problem. I can do it," Alex said.

Phil gently pushed Karen away from his chest, tilting her chin up with the tips of her fingers, whispering a few words to her that Alex couldn't decipher. With one last squeeze of her shoulders, he gestured for her to leave.

"Go grab your stuff," Alex said softly when the redhead reached the doorway. "Just let me drop these off," she continued, waving the papers in her hand. "And I'll run to my office to grab my bag so we can go."

Karen nodded her head, pursing her lips into a thin line, no doubt trying to stop any more tears from falling. "Thank you."

Alex turned around to find Phil sat down behind his desk, his elbows propped up on the table as he massaged his temples with his fingers. "Just leave the papers and go, there's no time to waste." he said tiredly. "She'll tell you what's going on."

She did as he asked and left without another word, walking briskly to her office to fetch her things before meeting Karen back at her desk. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," she replied with a nod.

The trip to the hospital was spent mostly in silence, the only sound coming from them were the quiet sniffs Karen was making and Alex's fingers tapping against the steering wheel. Once in the elevator riding up to the trauma ward of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the brunette finally found the guts to ask what was going on, her heart immediately going out to the redhead as she was informed of how her boyfriend was in bad shape after an apparent mugging gone terribly wrong.

"They wouldn't tell me much else over the phone," she said. "That's when I ran into Phil's office asking to get out early and, well, you know the rest."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Alex replied, her voice coming out in a hush. "I just, I don't really know what to say."

"Driving me here is enough," she said. "Thank you again."

"I'll be right outside the room if you need me."

She looked on as Karen took a steadying breath, her hand latched around the doorknob in a vice grip. "Alex?" She called out tentatively. "Do you mind coming in with me? I ju –"

Karen didn't have to say more as Alex walked right up to her, an arm gently slung over her shoulder in a show of support as the redhead finally conjured up the strength to turn the knob and push the door open.

A curtain shielded the beaten man from their immediate view, giving both ladies just a little more time to prepare for what they were about to see. The sight they were met with once the flimsy sheet was pushed aside was nothing either of them could ever be ready for however. The strangled sob that escaped Karen's lips was barely enough to cover the gasp of shock that Alex let out.

"Oh my god," the redhead said, leaving her colleague's supportive embrace to walk over to her boyfriend's bedside. Her hands hovered over the bandages wrapped around his torso as her eyes scanned the many contusions on his face – both eyes seemed to be swollen shut, his jaw sporting varying hues of blue and purple, stitches on the left corner of his lips and staples holding a deep gash on his forehead closed.

With Karen preoccupied, Alex made her way out of the room, shutting the door as quietly as possible. She fell onto one of the plastic chairs lined along the opposite wall, a hand clamped over her mouth as she took in ragged breaths, eyes squeezed shut as dark thoughts flooded her mind.

She jumped when she heard the ringing of her phone, digging through her bag for the device. Seeing Lara's name flash across the screen only made her heart beat faster, nervously looking around before finally answering the call.

"Hello?"

"I have you on speaker phone. Anna's here," she said.

"What's going on?" Alex asked.

"We found some stuff about what happened last night," Anna piped up, the words rushing right out of her mouth.

"Are Stu and Stephen there? What do you think you guys are doing?" Alex asked harshly. "You guys can get caught!"

"Don't worry," Lara said calmly. "They've just gone into the garage and we're upstairs, with a perfect view of the backyard so we know when they're coming back inside."

"So about the guy," Anna started. "It's all over the news, Alex."

"What?"

"I was searching for stuff when I noticed it in my newsfeed," Lara explained. "Someone found him just lying there, with no effort of trying to hide him. He's alive but in really bad shape. We can try to find more about him, they gave his name."

"Drew McIntyre," Alex said, her voice taking on a grave tone.

"How do you know?" Anna asked.

"Because I'm standing outside his hospital room."

A/N – Thank you shakeitsalome, Blackhat, ThatGirl54, xj0j0x and xFindTheEnigmaWithinx for the lovely reviews. Katie, Mox and Lou x