Chapter Ten: Breaking the Gibbs-Cycle
"There. Good as new," Aislynn said, putting the final pillow in place. She and Tony had spent the better part of the night cleaning their hotel room. She flopped back on the bed in exhaustion. Lorry had been booked earlier that day, and Petty Officer Cardoza was safe. She had not had sufficient sleep.
Tony lay down beside her. She snuggled into his chest, and he kissed the top of her head. "Ace?"
"Mmm?" Aislynn mumbled into his chest.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course." She pulled away so she could see his face.
"Was Lorry right?"
"What?" Aislynn was confused.
"With what he had written on the wall. I think he's right."
"You mean that I'm too good for you?" Tony nodded. "Please, Tony. Of course he wasn't right."
"Then why do I feel like he is?"
"What do you mean?"
"You deserve so much more than me. You're so smart and I'm not."
"But-"
Tony interrupted her. "I don't know. I just feel like you deserve someone that can give you something more than… what I can."
Aislynn wrapped her arms around his neck. "Tony, listen to me. I'm not that great. I'm a bitch to most people. I follow too much in my uncle's footsteps." She sighed. "You're the first person I've ever met that I care enough about to break the Gibbs-cycle."
"The Gibbs-cycle?" Tony questioned, chuckling.
"Yeah. You know, the whole 'I'm alone so I'm going to make myself miserable and stay in my basement all the time' thing?"
Tony laughed. "Right."
Aislynn leaned toward Tony and kissed him. When they broke apart, he pulled her closer, enveloping her in a tight embrace.
"Tony? I have a stupid question."
"Shoot," he mumbled into her hair.
"Do you think you're too got for me?"
"What?" Tony asked, astonished.
"It's just... I-I understand if you don't, you know, find me attractive, but... I don't know," Aislynn stammered, attempting to put her thoughts into words. "I just don't get why you've led me on for four months if you don't want me."
Tony was silent for a few minutes, looking at Aislynn in utter confusion. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he was finally able to speak. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"Well... it's stupid, but I don't know, I mean, you slept with that woman in Ocean City, right?" Tony nodded slowly. "And you didn't even know her. Like, at all. And yet, we've been dating for four months now and nothing since after you got out of the hospital."
"Look, Ace," Tony started, moving a strand of hair out of her eyes, "I lo-" he stopped, almost as if choking on the word and restarted. "I care about you, really, I do. I don't want to push you, though. You mean a hell of a lot more to me than some silly one night stand with a model."
"You know, if I were just listening to you talk, I would have sworn that you were a teenage boy saying things just to get laid," Aislynn commented, half-smiling.
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," Tony chuckled.
"So, what you're saying is you're a teenager?"
"That's precisely what I'm saying," Tony whispered, leaning down to kiss her.