(A/N) Sorry for the lag between the last chapter and this one. I seem to have lost my notes (my new notes that is, as I misplaced the first set some time back) for the story, so from here on in I will write what I remember, and what I can't remember I will improvise…or something…so what unfolds will be a surprise even to me : O

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

…...

Sunil paced back and forth across the parking lot of the motel, his eyes never leaving the broad-shouldered figure of Hoffman. The detective was talking with great irritation into his mobile phone, the words 'obvious affair' and 'wild goose chase' sounding loud and clear despite the rumble of the passing cars.

Eventually he hung up and walked abruptly to where Sunil and Natasha were standing.

"Look," he shrugged as if the following excuse hadn't been devised by himself, "I've got other, more urgent cases waiting back in the States, I've been ordered back. I'm sorry to say it, and I know you don't want to hear it, but she's had plenty of chances to escape. I think she's doing exactly what she wants, and I can't arrest a man for stealing another's wife."

"What about assault?" Natasha asked, her nostrils flaring as she gestured to the wound on her head, "You can arrest him for that?"

"Look, from what you've said assault would be hard to prove. In fact, to some people it might seem like you forced your way into Mr Mehra's apartment and attacked him for sleeping with your wife," he held up his hands rather sheepishly as Sunil turned red with rage, "I'm not saying that's what I believe…"

"Fine," Sunil took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders. He had done it alone before, hadn't he? There was nowhere on earth that Rahul could run to, nowhere that Sunil would not find him. "I'll find them myself."

Hoffman studied him and then shrugged once more before heading off to his car, He opened the door and then looked back at Natasha, "You need a lift?" he asked.

She shook her head, "No. I'm going to stay until I know Kiran is safe."

Hoffman sighed, "Suit yourself."

…...

Kiran wiped her tears whilst staring into the cracked mirror of the diner's ladies' toilet. They had walked all night and she was exhausted. Every snap of a twig had been the possibility of Sunil being right behind them, and his voice echoed so loudly in her ears that she had turned around several times expecting to see him.

Rahul was waiting for her, ordering them both breakfast. Kiran yanked a brush through her curls and splashed her face with water. As she rifled through the small bag she had managed to grab in her haste a sudden realisation struck her cold.

The pills weren't there. She had left them behind, or dropped them. Either way, they weren't there. She almost laughed as she stared, laid out on the counter, at only her brush, purse, some loose change and a small packet of aspirin. Sweeping them back into the bag, she smiled nervously as the door swung open to admit a tired looking mother and daughter.

When she slid into the booth Rahul looked at her with unreadable eyes, "Did you pick up my…my…"

Kiran bit her lip and nodded. She popped two of the aspirin into her palm below the table, so that he couldn't see, and then placed them down beside his water. It was the first time that he was knowingly taking them from her, only this time they really were just aspirin.

As he swallowed them down she stuck a fork in her pancake and forced herself to eat. She was afraid again, but not of him, and full of guilt.

"I love you, Kiran," he said as the sun painted stripes through the blinds, "but you have to go back."

"Back to Sunil?" indignant tears stung at her eyes.

"Back to your daughter, to your life. You're not mine, Kiran. You never were. I know, I knew it before. Just saying something, someone, belongs to you doesn't make it true."

"I'm yours," she insisted, "I am. I've made my choice. I won't leave you."

He sighed and pressed his lips together, dimples appearing in his cheeks, "Then lets make a deal. One more week. Spend a week with me, just as perfect as the time when I was Raj and not myself. Let's have that and then…"

Kiran felt her stomach twist, "And then?"

"And then…we'll see. I'll make it up to you, everything, I promise. One week."

There was something about the finality of his tone, about the look in his eyes, that she wasn't getting. But there was one thing she was certain of; as long as they were both breathing, he would never leave her.

"Fine," she smiled, playing along, "a week."

The waitress plonked down a pot of tea and then snapped her gum before handing them the bill. The clock on the wall read seven am. There was barely anyone else around, only two families who looked liked they had been driving all night.

"What if Sunil finds us before the week is through?" she asked, "what then?"

Rahul laughed, "He won't."

…...

That night they chose a motel so far off the beaten track that it had taken them over an hour to locate it, even with directions from a passing car. It wasn't rundown, in fact it was the opposite. Walls that would have been white shone silver in in the moonlight. The doors, all painted yellow, had polished brass numbers embellished with little swirls and stars. The carpet was soft and fluffy underfoot and there were tiny mints on the pillows.

Kiran stood under the hot spray of the shower, her head tilted back and her hands kneading the knots in her neck. The shampoo provided smelled of lavender and vanilla and she inhaled it, allowing herself to relax.

For a moment she recalled the long luxurious baths that she and Sunil took together long after Priya had been safely tucked up in bed. She loved placing pretty flowers and candles around the sides and Sunil always managed to knock at least some of them over. She smiled, remembering the time he had set the bath mat on fire and then stood on it to put it out, resulting in a burnt foot.

If Rahul had meant what he said, and she had only one week with him, what would it be like to return home after that? How could anything ever be the same again now that she knew that she loved them both? Now that she felt it too.

When she stepped back into the bedroom, wearing Rahul's shirt, as her clothes dried over the heater, he was staring into space. She coughed gently, but he neither saw nor heard her.

"Rahul?" she crawled onto the bed, careful to keep her legs together, and took his hand, "Rahul?"

She tried not to blush at the fact that he was wearing only jeans. They had no other clothes, not any more. He blinked, his eyes focusing warmly on her face. There were dark shadows below them, she noticed, and the finest of lines. The slightest stubble, flecked with grey, covered his chin. Without hesitation she did what she had wanted to do the previous night, and kissed him.

########

Kiran tucked her curls behind her ear, pulling a stray hair out of the loop of her earring. Her bangles tinkled as she moved- the soft, sweet breeze, blowing her scarf out like wings behind her back.

"Kiran!" her friend Anjali exclaimed, running over to her and dragging her to meet an assorted collection of new classmates, "This is Maya - she's originally from Delhi, you know, her cousin Neha was at my sister's wedding, you met her, and this is Anita and Aesha, they're twins you know, and this is Deepak, he's the smartest boy in school…"

Kiran nodded and smiled at everyone, listening as intently as she could to the multiple introductions. More students drifted over, one by one, until she was quite literally surrounded.

There was only one boy who hung back, lurking underneath the trees. She couldn't see his face, but his shoulders were hunched.

"Who's that?" she inquired, pointing discreetly when another boy, who had cockily introduced himself as Prem, tried to answer her.

"Oh him," he laughed, "That's Rahul. He's shy…or something…"

"Or something!" Anita laughed loudly, "last week he was supposed to read his work out loud - we all did - and he couldn't even get through the first word…just 'Th…th…th…th…th…th…' for like 10 minutes until finally Mr Joshi told him to sit down."

"It was embarrassing," Aesha joined in.

Kiran frowned, gazing at the poor boy with compassion. Her Bhabhi, and her mother before her, had always taught her to be kind to those in need of it, and as she looked at his solitary, small, figure, she couldn't help but feel sad.

"Don't bother with him, sweetheart," Prem grinned, "he wouldn't know how to talk to a girl if he was one himself. I, on the other hand, am excellent company."

"Don't bother," Anjali giggled, taking Kiran's arm, "she's got a fiance, already - superhero Sunil!"

Kiran laughed alongside her and allowed herself to be led away to the female housing so that she could unpack and see her room. On her bed she placed the little toy bear Sunil had won for her a few months before, and on her bedside table she proudly displayed, in a silver frame, a picture of them both smiling brightly - covered in coloured powder after Holi.

She was excited to be at school, but she knew that she would miss him every moment they were apart.

###########

TBC…