Warning: The first part of this chapter is rated M. It's not really that graphic, but still, if you don't feel comfortable with it, go ahead and just read the second part.

And again, I want to thank everyone who's been reading. Enjoy:D


Marta peered out of the window one more time, the rain still pouring heavily outside. She studied the street for a moment and when she finally saw a familiar shadow walking his way to the house, she let go of the curtain in her grip and sat down on the bed. She tried to steady her breath, she curled her hands underneath her legs to stop the tremor, but she failed miserably both times and she sighed in defeat, thinking that her heartbeat was probably louder than the thunders ripping the sky. Apparently, her brain and her body weren't working together anymore. Her mind was clouded with a thousand different worries, it was filled with words she knew she would have to say out loud once Aaron was back and it was utterly paralyzed by the fear of his reaction. But her body, well, her body was a complete different story: it seemed to have a life on its own, it seemed like it wasn't even listening to her rational reasoning and every muscle, every bone inside of her, every limb, was just trembling in anticipation. A familiar warmth had been raising in the pit of her stomach, a well known sensation had been brutally breaking throughout her. She hadn't seen him in two months: the prolonged absence of his firm hands upon her, of his hungry mouth against her skin, felt now like a physical, unbearable pain her body couldn't stand any longer.

After Aaron had taken down Dimitri's guys she had joined him back downstairs, still shocked by his appearance and by everything that had just happened. He had barely paid attention to her, muttering something about hiding the bodies and a delivery truck of fish departing from a gas station and he had disappeared almost immediately. Marta had just stared at the door open mouthed and it had taken her several minutes to finally put herself back together. She had wondered aimlessly around the house for awhile, her empty gaze travelling on the blood and the mess all over the floor, until realization had suddenly hit her. She had started cleaning, mopping, collecting broken glasses and pieces of furniture, but it hadn't been until she was safely in the shower, three hours later, that she had fully understood the situation: Aaron was there. Immediately, panic had settled into her: he was there and the moment to finally face reality had come along with him. She had dried herself somehow, her head spinning in search of answers, she had put a blouse on, uncertainty washing all over her: she needed to tell him, she had to tell him, before anything else they had to talk. Still, as her legs hadn't really been hers, she had walked towards the bedroom, the same bedroom she had never wanted to be in for the past two months: as soon as she had seen the untouched mattress, every rational thought had just gone down to hell.

And here she was now, sitting and waiting impatiently as she had never been with a man before. Marta closed her eyes for a second, she heard his footsteps on the stairs, coming closer and closer as a little voice in the back of her mind kept telling her how wrong this was, how much she was going to regret this. But she had no control over herself anymore and she knew that all too well: when it came to Aaron, she didn't have any kind of control, she didn't have any kind of self-preservation. And she blamed him for it, because he had thought her how to aim, how to shoot, how to hide, but above this all he had thought her how to rely upon her instinct. She blamed him, because he had made her fluent in his own language, a language where words were usually unneeded, a language where feelings were hardly voiced out loud: Aaron didn't talk, he acted upon his feelings. And she had learnt to do just the same.

Marta watched as the door slowly opened and a pair of amazingly blue eyes greeted her. She could still hear her brain arguing in protest, she felt her breath breaking in her throat. Aaron closed the door behind him and leant his back against it, his piercing gaze dancing above her as she was some kind of long lost treasure. Marta rose herself from the bed, she noticed his clothes soaking wet and she smelled the rain on him as she was just an inch apart. She closed her eyes as his hand came on her neck, his thumb stroking at her chin, she felt the heaviness in her chest as his finger trailed down leaving soft, wet traces of rain on her skin. He didn't say a word, he just looked at her, his intense stare devouring her while his hands suddenly started working at the buttons of her blouse, in slow, calculate movements. He took his time, touching every little inch of skin that was being exposed to him, he watched as she shivered, his fingers tracing softly the lines of her breast. He moved his hands slowly until they were on her shoulders and slid the shirt from her arms, looking at it as it dropped soundlessly on the floor. Finally, Aaron wrapped his arms around her naked waist: she bumped into him, her knees weak and her skin burning as his lips were crashing onto hers.

After that, Marta lost completely her grip on reality. She didn't even know what exactly they were doing, what he was doing to her, because the one and only thing she was aware of was how he was making her feel. Later, she would have probably not remembered how they were moving, how she was tasting and sucking him, how his tongue was darting all over her trembling body. And it didn't matter, it didn't matter at all, because the tiger was finally home and it was having her for dinner. She wasn't even sure how long they had been tangled in each other, when she absently realized the pain in her hand: she was lying on her stomach as Aaron was thrusting hard and deep into her from behind, his mouth ferocious against her neck, and she was gripping so hard at the headboard her palm was bleeding. But that didn't matter either, because the predator was finally home and he was destroying her piece by piece. And everything was just a blur and she had no clue how she had ended up straddling him, or how minutes later he was above her again, his craving lips sucking at her breasts, at her abdomen, at her sex as he was trying to suck the life away from her. Marta vaguely recognized her own voice moaning, screaming her release once, twice, she unclearly acknowledged nipping at his hair as he pushed himself harder inside of her, fast and desperately as his own existence depended on it. Only when Aaron looked her in the eyes, the flame in his gaze burning her soul to ashes, Marta was able to form a coherent thought. She bite roughly at his lower lip and then she was lying again on her stomach, her hands again on the headboard: she hated him. She hated him because he was a tiger, he was a predator, he was the boogeyman. She hated him because he was an evil who had been forged in iron and violence.

She hated him, because without him she was nothing at all.


Hours later, Marta laid exhausted onto Aaron's chest, listening as his steady heartbeat pounded in her ear and taking in the softness of his hands in her hair. She sighed deeply, her fingers tracing lightly at the lines of his muscles: none of them had yet said a single word and she wasn't really sure breaking the silence was such a good idea. She felt the panic starting to raise again inside of her and trying to calm herself a little bit, she continued her soft exploration of his torso. Her hand was almost at his hip, when she felt him flinching underneath her and she took a look at the spot her palm had been touching: stitches were covering what seemed to be a stab wound and a few of them had ripped open. Marta immediately raised herself, sitting between his legs.

"What's this?" she asked, concern clear in her voice.

Aaron didn't even open his eyes and just shrugged at her "A souvenir from Istanbul.."

Marta shook her head at his stubbornness, then studied carefully his entire body. When he had come back to the house, in the heat of the moment, she hadn't even thought he might have been injured and now she was examining him inch by inch. He had a fading bruise on his left arm, his knuckles were scraped in dried blood and he spotted a few cuts on his right leg. Marta frowned as she noticed a huge, fresh scratch on his chest.

"How did you get this?" She asked as her fingers gently brushed over it

Aaron laughed amused at her question and he opened his eyes to look at her. He raised an eyebrow at her in disbelief, a teasing smirk on his face

"Doc.. that was you half an hour ago.." and then, as he saw how she dropped her mouth open in surprise, Aaron added amused "Actually, I think I might have a few of these on my back too.." he laughed again, and now he was plainly mocking her "I'm not surprised you didn't notice.. It seems like you have really missed me.."

He winked suggestively at her, then laughed again as she playfully slapped his arm. Marta tried to fake a shame she didn't really feel, but in the end she could do nothing to stop the bright smile spreading on her lips. They stared at each other for a moment, then, the humor in Aaron's gaze disappeared and when Marta spotted a dark shadow replacing it, her own smile fell immediately. A shiver run down her spine, as she translated with no efforts what his gaze was telling her. He knew. He knew everything already, off course he did and Marta mentally cursed herself for her stupidity, because she should have known better: nothing could ever be missed by him. She tried to steady her shaky voice, while Aaron's fingers brushed softly against her wrist to reassure her.

"How long have you known?" she asked in a whisper.

"I figured it out in Mombasa.." he said, throwing her an apologetic look. He sighed, already aware what her reaction was going to be and he silently nodded to himself, as he saw the anger flaming in her eyes and Marta jumped up from the bed.

"You what?.." she blurted out, while reaching for her blouse on the floor "How? How did you even know?" she put the shirt on, her hands shaking "I had no idea until I came here..I.."

"I know, Doc" he interrupted her "You were so worried about us leaving you didn't even realized.." But Marta become furious at his words and threw her hand up in the air, shutting him up.

"And you didn't think maybe you should have told me? Really?" Marta had completely lost it by now. She was ranting out in disbelief, pacing back and forth through the room and Aaron sat on the bed, watching her quietly, trying to ignore the guilt he was feeling. He knew it was only a matter of minutes before she would get the entire picture.

"Do you have any idea what I've been through for the past months?"Marta kept talking "How terrified I've been, how scared I was?" as he wasn't saying anything, she snorted at him "Yeah, off course you do, you're a freaking enhanced bastard, you know everything.." she stop walking to look at him "And what I am supposed to do, uhm? Please, enlighten me, because I've been torturing myself trying to find an answer.." she trailed off, several thoughts racing in her brain. And when she finally realized what his reasons had been all along, she couldn't stop her tears from falling.

"This is why you've been doing this, isn't it?" she asked, her voice broken, her head throbbing. She sensed the nausea coming back once again and she bumped her back into the wall behind her, almost falling to the ground. She closed her eyes trying to stay on her feet as the entire room was spinning and her legs were trembling, when she felt Aaron strong arms picking her up and carrying her back to the bed. He laid her down gently, kneeling besides her as he softly stroked her throat to check her pulse. She was panting and her face was pale.

"Doc, look at me.." He whispered softly and she obliged, staring back at his calm and reassuring gaze "Breath.. C'mon, Take a deep breath for me" He watched her carefully, his hand still on her pulse point "Do it again.. C'mon, another one.."

Aaron looked intently at her for a few minutes, until her breath was steady again and her heart race was back to normal, a deep frown of concern on his face. He brushed her hair away from her forehead, his hand cupping her cheek.

"Have you seen a doctor at all?" he asked, even though he already had an idea about the answer. She didn't say a word, she just threw him a nasty look and Aaron sighed, trying not to lose his patience.

"Marta.. it's been quite a miracle you didn't have a miscarriage the night of the explosion. I don't need to be a scientist to get that.." he paused for a moment than he added "And you clearly have been far from fine. You have lost weight, Doc and the nausea has probably been killing you. I don't even want to ask when was the last time you eat properly.."

He stopped talking, realizing Marta wasn't even listening to him. She was too busy chasing her own thoughts and just to prove he was correct she asked him something else entirely

"How did you do that? How is it even possible that nothing freaks you out?"

He studied her for a brief second, sitting on the bed, then he answered "For your information, many things freak me out.. A Russian mobster looking for you? That's something that freaks me out. The stunt you pulled out in Maputo? That scared the crap out of me.." he shook his head trying to avoid the memory "you know.. for a moment out there I really thought you were dead.. I really thought that I killed you" He looked right into her eyes as he whispered the words.

Against her own will, Marta stroked his cheek tenderly. The pain in his expression, made her almost regret her anger towards him. But the moment passed and there were things she still needed to know.

"And this doesn't scare you at all? Because clearly we wanted a child.. " she snorted, a sad laugh on her lips "What was I thinking? It's not like we have a prize on our heads, I don't know why I am so worried.."

Marta adjusted herself on the bed, fully lying on her back and she stared at the ceiling to avoid his eyes. The last two months had been pure torture. She had spent her days trying to make sense of everything, ,fearing what he would have said, how he would have reacted, fearing she would have never seen him again. She had had no idea what she was going to do and she still hadn't figure it out. She took a deep breath, trying to find the courage to admit to him she had thought about solving the problem in other ways too. But Aaron stopped her from talking: he was getting tired of this game.

"No Doc, you wouldn't have done it.." he said and she wasn't surprised he had known exactly what she was thinking "And no, I didn't want a kid, I didn't want any of this.. I didn't even want you.. Have you ever thought about that? You didn't want me either, you do realize it.."

Marta frowned at him, not really understanding the point he was making. Aaron shook his head lightly at her.

"None of this is something we have ever asked for.. But I'll tell you something really funny, Doc.. I would fight wolves again, I would get shot again, I would do everything all over again. Because in the end, those things I never wanted in the first place, are the best things that could have ever happened to me.." he sighed deeply, staring at her. He took in the confused expression in her features and he understood she wasn't really following his logic. He started talking again, but this time his tone was different: it was challenging, it was almost cruel.

"You could leave, you know that right? You never wanted me in the first place, you had to stay.. But now you do have a choice, I'm giving you a choice..Marta Shearing is dead, no one would come looking for you, so.. you can go if you want to..you can go and get.." he paused, carefully choosing his words "you can go and solve all of your problems.." He smirked, seeing the horror sinking into her at his statement.

Marta stared at him, shocked and terrified just by his suggestion. Aaron nodded knowingly at her

"Yeah, that's what I thought.." he shook his head slightly, his fingers brushing on her chin " And that's how I knew you were just going to keep the baby.."

Marta tried her best to keep her sob unnoticed, but she didn't really succeeded. She stared at him, his blue eyes filled with sorrow and anger and she thought she just wanted to drown into them.

"So.. what are we going to do?" she said, her voice husky and desperate. Aaron sighed and nodded at her.

"Tomorrow, you'll go to see a doctor.." he saw her trying to protest, but he shut her up immediately, his tone serious "Don't make me drag you, you know I will if I have to.. Because I'm not doing all of this just to have you bleeding on a floor somewhere, on your own.." He watched as Marta nodded in defeat, then he kept talking "I'll stay a couple of days here. I have to make sure they found Smirnov's body.." He paused for a moment, then he added "And you're going back to Mombasa in a couple of weeks.."

"What?" she asked, her surprise clear in her tone.

"I could have let them find us in Kenya, but I didn't, because I wanted to keep the place safe for you to go back" He shrugged as he noticed her reaction: it was a mixture of astonishment, affection and gratitude "I know you love the place, Doc. I can't really offer to you a castle or a big house with the white porch, but this, this is something I can do. And I know you'll be fine there, you won't be alone.." he stopped, seeing as Marta was openly crying and shaking her head at him. He reached out to her face, wiping her tears away with his thumb.

"And in the meantime" she finished, her voice bitter "everyone will be so busy trying to kill you that they won't even remember my name.."

Aaron nodded sadly at her. She sat on the bed, framing his face with her hands. He tried to speak again, but she closed his mouth with her fingers.

" You do know.." she said, her voice nothing more than an unsteady whisper "than in five, six years from now, a kid with your wonderful blue eyes is going to ask me where his dad is?" She swallowed hard "Have you thought about that too?"

As she said the words, everything became finally real. In the past weeks Marta had been so busy with her worries she had never really lingered in the idea of what was coming next. She was having a child, his child. Marta couldn't stop the tremor as realization sank into her brain: Aaron didn't freak out, because he always had a plan and the plan was just to do everything in his power to let her be safe, to let them be safe. And no, he probably hadn't thought about the future, because he knew the chances he had to see his own kid were slim to none. He just didn't care: he loved her, he loved them and in his mind it didn't matter how or where he would be, as long as he knew they were all right. Marta couldn't help the proud thought in her head: he wasn't an assassin, he wasn't a spy. Aaron Cross was one hell of a man.

Aaron closed the distance between them, his forehead touching hers. For the first time in years, he was actually losing control over himself and he could sense the tears in his eyes. He felt the words she wasn't saying to him, he felt the heavy pain in his chest.

"I know that kid is going to be just fine with you. That's the only thing that I think about. And he'll be the luckiest child on earth to have you as his mother.. As I've been the luckiest man on earth to have you as my wife"

Marta kissed him deeply, slowly, his emotions hitting her like a slap in the face. Aaron laid them both back to the bed, resting his head against her breast, her hands holding him in a protective grip. They stayed in silence for a few moment, until he heard her voice, the plea unmistakable in her words.

"You'll come back.."

"Doc.." he whispered, trying to stop her, but Marta put a finger on his lips and looked down at him, her gaze begging him.

"Let's say you come back..Let's..let's dream.. just a little.." She was crying "We can still dream, right?"

He sighed and he buried his head in her soft skin. Maybe she was right, maybe dreaming was still a luxury he could afford, after all. He decided to play along.

"I'll build an house for us.. You know, in the church street..You'll be closed to the ambulatory and we could have a swing on the porch.."

Marta felt as the entire room was crumbling on her, as his tears were finally streaming down, soaking her own skin. She tightened her hold on him, as his arms were gripping at her waist as she was his only salvation.

"You are going to teach him sports.. " She said, voicing her own hope " And he's going to be good at it, as you are.."

Aaron shook his head against her "It's going to be a girl.."

When he spoke the words, he regretted their little, hopeless game immediately. He desperately clung at Marta, looking for support and he remembered why he had never, ever wanted to dream: dreams hurt too much, dreams could break a man down in pieces.

Dreams were never supposed to come true.