3.
~ It was too late in the day to try and return to Blue Rivers. Ariadne decided to rent a room at a hotel in Town and leave in the morning.
Eames started to have a bout of shaking he couldn't control.
"It's from the drink, ma'am." Maggie said. "I've seen it before."
Eames let out a groan as the two women helped him to bed.
"Maggie, run a hot bath. I'll give you some money, and I want you to buy some clothes for him to wear." Ariadne said as she tried to get Eames to sit up.
"Why did you come back for me?" Eames complained as he focused his unsteady eyes on Ariadne.
"What was I supposed to do? Leave you there? You're lucky that Mr. Fischer took you in. You could have died." She snapped at him as Maggie ran a tub full of hot water.
"I wanted to die. I wanted to die like a dog in the streets." Eames said bitterly.
"Why?" Ariadne asked as she helped him to stand.
"You don't care for me." He said pitifully.
She looked worriedly at Maggie, who carefully excused herself from the room.
Ariadne helped Eames to the tub for a bath, and slid off his hospital gown.
She was shocked to see his body had changed so much. Half healed or poorly healed scars littered his body. A road map of self loathing and abuse. Gone was the tanned, well built man from that day at the pond. His body looked ravaged and older now.
"Oh Eames." She whispered as her fingers grazed over a roughly healed scar on his once flawless chest.
"I never said I didn't care for you, Mr. Eames. I'm here now, aren't I?" She whispered as she helped him into the tub.
"What does your husband say about you coming to get me?" Eames asked as he relaxed in the hot water. Steam curling over his body as she stated to wash away the smell of the charity hospital.
"Arthur is in New York. There was a strike in a few factories and he has to attend to it. He left this morning." Ariadne told him.
She dipped a sponge into the water, ran a bar of clean smelling soap over it and started to wash Eames' back and chest. He allowed her to clean him and wash his hair. He even let her cut and trim the scraggly beard off his face.
"You'll have to go to a barber in the morning." She told him. "Get a proper shave and cut all this long hair off your head."
"You don't like the beard?" Eames asked with a little smile.
"No. You'll feel better, more like yourself, once it's gone." She told him.
She had been kneeling beside the tub as her friend relaxed in the scented water.
"Eames, promise me you'll never do this again. I would have been heart broken if you had died." She told him.
"Would you?" Eames asked as she rinsed out all the soap from his too long hair.
"Of course I would have." She told him.
"After you told me to leave, I thought you didn't really love me." Eames whispered as she washed under his arms and made another pass at cleaning his scarred chest.
"I never said I didn't love you, stupid." She said with a laugh. "I just... I don't want you. Not like that."
"Yet, you came to get me. You could have left me to rot on the streets. It would have been more convenient."
"Nothing in my life is convenient, Mr. Eames. Why should you be any different?" She teased.
Eames smiled and gazed at her. His hand leaving the cocoon of warm water and touching her hair.
"I almost forgot how lovely you are." He whispered.
"Eames." She said and pulled his hand away from her face.
She collected herself.
"Maggie is getting you something to wear. They had to throw away your clothes, they were so ragged." Ariadne told him.
"I kept your picture in my breast pocket." Eames said.
"What picture?"
"When you were expecting Olivia, last Christmas. I took a picture of you. Kept it with me all through Asia and when I left again. I guess it got thrown out." Eames explained.
Ariadne didn't know what to say to this.
Eames looked troubled.
"I'm ready to get out." he said and suddenly found the strength to stand out of the water.
Ariadne wasn't ready to see him so totally naked and hadn't time enough to divert her eyes away from the sudden exposure to the raw maleness of her friend.
"Mr. Eames." She said, getting to her feet and turning away.
"I'm tired. I need to sleep." He complained.
Ariadne tried to fight the blush that was coming to her cheeks.
"We have a room ready for you." She said handing him a towel.
"Ariadne? I don't want to sleep alone." He said as he begrudgingly took the towel from her and wrapped it around his hips.
"Eames." She breathed out.
"I'm scared to be alone. Just stay with me. Nothing will happen. I'm too sick for any of that. You told me you don't want me. That's fine, but don't make me sleep alone in a strange place." He said pitifully.
"Mr. Eames." She started to say as he stepped out of the bath water and was still shaking.
Her heart broke at the sight of him. He was so thin and needed good food and time to heal. His body was scared and bruised. He looked like he hadn't slept very well for a long time and it was clear he was in no shape to be her lover tonight.
"Alright." She agreed.
~ Maggie returned an hour later with a serviceable pair of pants, shirt, jacket and shoes.
"Had to guess at the size. Might be too big. Better too big then too small." She explained.
"Thank you, Maggie." Ariadne said as she took the carrier bag into Eames' room.
"Miss?" the maid questioned.
"Mr. Eames is not feeling well. I'm going to attend to him tonight. You get some sleep. We're going to go back home in the morning." Ariadne told her.
"Miss, are you sure you don't want me to see to him? I've taken care of the sick before." Maggie offered.
"No, Maggie. He trusts me." Ariadne snapped.
She didn't want to explain about her and Eames to the maid.
~ Eames was waiting for her in his bed.
He had cast off the towel on the floor and watched her strip to her underthings from his spot in bed.
"All this time of fantasizing about this moment, and I can hardly keep my eyes open to enjoy it." Eames said as she crossed the room, picked up his errant towel, and carefully climbed into bed with him.
She flushed hot as her eyes betrayed her and she caught a gimps of him, naked, in their bed.
Eames suddenly chuckled.
"I'm far to weak to trifle with you, darling." Eames said.
"I wish you wouldn't call me that." Ariadne whispered as she folded the heavy coverings over herself and Eames.
"Why not?" He asked.
"It's what Arthur and I agreed he would call me." She explained.
"Agreed?" Eames laughed.
She turned to him questioningly.
"I'm sorry. I still have difficulty understanding this marriage you have." He told her.
She moved away from him slightly. Making sure their bodies didn't touch.
"You have to agree upon endearments." He added. "Do you still have your own rooms?"
"No. Arthur and I are hoping for another baby." She told him.
Eames said nothing.
"How... how is Olivia?" He asked with some difficulty.
"Into mischief." Ariadne said as she suddenly missed her daughter very much. "She's walking now."
"I can't wait to see her." Eames said. "How is Aunt Percy? The old bat still giving you trouble?"
Ariadne sighed.
"Lady Percy had a fever right after you left. She was sick for a long time. We didn't think she would make it. She recovered, but her mind is gone. The doctor called is senility. She thinks she's a little girl again." Ariadne explained.
Eames said nothing.
"I'm sorry, Ariadne. Sorry you had to deal with that." He said at last. "Aunt Percy isn't yours or Arthur's burden."
Ariadne didn't respond. She stared up at the ceiling for a long time. She was about to ask him what he had been doing in the time he had been away when a soft snore floated up.
Mr. Eames was already asleep.
