Norman and Crystal returned home only in the morning, and she deferred the subject of talking to him until they both had slept some hours and had a clear mind again. He was fast asleep on the couch, still in his clothes, no wonder after all this beer and Bourbon at the Pelletier's dinner. Crystal was very tired, too. Nonetheless, she knew she wouldn't be able to close her eyes until she had at least spoken to Mikael! She had not even called. Probably, he would think she'd left him and preferred to sail the known, even if unhappy, waters with Norman!

She sneaked into the kitchen and dialed Mikael's number. No response. Shortly, she considered getting some sleep, too, and try it again later. He usually stood up only in the afternoon. However, then she decided otherwise. She did not want to spend more hours separated from him, and perhaps nurturing a misunderstanding! There were only a few steps to go. A few steps and she could be in his arms again! The thought let her tiredness vanish, and the just felt frustration changed into a comfortable warm feeling of anticipation. Hastily, she grabbed her jacket and was out of the door a moment later.

She had no idea that almost simultaneously with her, Mikael left his house to which he had only returned some minutes earlier himself. He had been running the last steps into the house, sure to find a message from her on the answering machine. The realization that there was no such thing had been a cold harsh blow. For some moments, his thoughts had been blocked, only a nasty subconscious feeling crept through him and manifested in a silent whisper. Betrayal! No, he did not want to hear that! He would go and see for himself! He would force the jealous demon inside him to fall silent! The next instant, Mikael had been on his feet again and on his way.

He missed Crystal because of a bus driving by and shielding his view in the decisive moment. Shortly after, he pushed the doorbell of the little old house near the beach. It took a while, then Norman opened. Thinking, the man standing outside might be a sales rep or religious missionary, he barked: "Sorry, I'm tired and I have no time right now, pal!" and wanted to shut the door in front of him again.

Mikael's foot was fast enough to prevent this. "Good morning. My name is Mikael Gant. I would like to see Crystal."

"What?" In Norman's head, an ugly hangover started to spread, and so he wasn't in a particular welcoming mood, the more when it came to people like… What had he just said?! The name let his temper automatically rise even more.

"What dealings do you have with her?"

"I love her," he answered plainly. Mikael wasn't the kind of man to play hide and seek in this matter.

"Do you rich people," Norman had grabbed him, "think you can buy everyone with your money? Buy and corrupt and destroy?"

Mikael felt confirmed his previous opinion about Norman. That guy was a narrow-minded, self-centered blighter. And Crystal… had obviously told him nothing! "Let go of me."

Norman called for Crystal. Getting no answer only heightened his dark suspicions. "What have you done to her?" Far from easing his grip, he swung Mikael around and pushed him against the wall. "Did you use her in some of your sick porn vids? Answer me, you lousy—"

The punch came totally as a surprise. Norman did not expect the rather frail-looking man to have such strength. Now he did not only lose his grip but his ground, too, and stumbled backward. Fuming with anger, he attacked again. Mikael went down, taking a flowerpot with him, but was on his feet again a moment later.

Already from afar, Crystal heard the unmistakable sounds of a fight in her home's garden. She turned around, thinking Norman might have surprised a burglar. When she pushed open the wooden gate, her eyes fell indeed on Norman, standing next to the staircase leading to the entrance door, with torn, stained shirt and breathing heavily. And down on the ground, another man whose hair and face was half-covered with blood dripping from a wound at his head and his nose was just about to struggle to his feet again. Mikael!

For a second, Crystal froze in shock. Then she stormed ahead, closed her arms around her lover, steadying him into a sitting position. Her gaze graced Norman, who still stood at the door, staring, in disbelief.

„It is true? You're hanging out with this... "

„You could've killed him!"

She ripped off her scarf and pressed it against Mikael's bleeding head. Norman said something, but she didn't want to hear anything from him at all! „Mikael, what have you been doing here?"

„I was searching for you," he answered, touching her cheek with a dirty and shaky hand. „Where have you been?"

„On the way to you! I'll get some bandage material! Then I'll bring you home!"

In the door, Norman tried to grab her. „Crystal! Listen to me! I—"

„Leave me alone!" she cried. She knew she was becoming hysterical, but the mental stress of the past 24 hours was just getting on her, and she couldn't restrain herself anymore. „Leave me alone or I'll call the police!"

She stormed past him, into the kitchen, where she fumbled for the first aid box, hands trembling and view blurred because of tears. Norman was entering behind her. She did her best to ignore him. She had not wanted it to turn out this way, the worst possible way! A package of bandages in one hand, she ran upstairs, grabbed her passport and her credit card, and ran down again.

„Crystal, wait! Please! Let's talk!"

But the time for talking was over - at least in her opinion.

…

Crystal had helped Mikael to the couch in the living room downstairs, considering the way up to the second floor a too dangerous endeavor in his present condition. If he passed out on the stairs, she would not be able to hold him... Now he lay there, while she checked the extent of his injury and tried to clean and bandage it again.

„I should bring you to a doc, Mikael! You might have a concussion. "

„No. I want to be with you."

His fingers caressed the backs of her hands and then moved upwards over her arms. Despite her tiredness, she felt sparks dance over her skin, and her heart beat faster. It was some kind of magic in his touch...

„I'm going to make us tea. Do you have some herbal tea?"

„Yes. The first cupboard to the right, in the upper half," he answered.

„Good." Crystal bent down for a kiss and almost got lost in the flames of desire when his tongue slid into her mouth. It cost her some effort to get up again. „I'll be back in a moment!"

Picking their dirty and blood-stained clothes from the floor to stuff them all into the trash bin, she hurried into the kitchen. She filled some water into the stylish metallic electric kettle and opened the cupboard to get some tea bags. Out of the large assortment she discovered there, Crystal chose a cinnamon-rooibos-blend and went on to take two cups from the board on the other side of the kitchen.

On her way there, her eyes fell on a paper thrown carelessly on the table; a paper bearing the seal of the police and looking highly official. Now she took a closer look.

It was a release certificate! With Mikael's name on it! Issued this very morning! She was embarrassed, and the calm relaxation which had just begun settling in her, the relaxation to have finally found out of the mess, was swept away. She was used to seeing similar stuff because Norman tended to get in all kinds of trouble with his environmental activism. But Mikael?! She could barely wait for the tea to be ready.

He smiled at her, when she entered, and cautiously sat up. This time, Crystal couldn't manage to return the smile. She put the tablet with the teacups on the glass table next to the couch.

„I found a release certificate in the kitchen."

He sighed and irritation flickered over his face while he turned away.

„What is this about, Mikael?"

He would've loved to keep these things from her; he had been resolved to. But now, that he had forgotten the damned paper he had thrown onto the kitchen table this morning, there was no way to hide the truth.

„Some delusional detective arrested me," he said, eyes closed and head leaned against the back of the couch. „I didn't want to tell and worry you."

„He arrested you? Why?"

He sighed again. „They think…" His hand went up to the bandage around his head, where suddenly an awful headache began to spread. „Think I … I had murdered someone… a woman… The police is harassing me for months, even back in L.A."

Crystal was too terrified to react. The accusation was that - absurd! How on earth, the police could suppose Mikael would even have hurt someone? Seeing him suffer visibly, she felt her heart cramp as well.

„You think I may have done something, too?" he asked, eyes still closed and a tortured expression on his features.

Crystal leaned in and embraced him. „Of course not!" Gently, she caressed through his hair. „But why does the police hold you for suspect?! This is awful!"

„I don't know… They had caught the killer back in L.A... I just don't know!" He tried to probe his mind further, tried to find something, but at a certain point, everything seemed to dissolve into blurred blackness, and the hard he tried, he could not get through. There was this frightening darkness he could not illuminate. But something was hiding there, eluding his grasp… „I don't know."

As Crystal heard the painful tone in his voice, she whispered „I'm sorry. You should have some rest!" She laid him back into the cushions. „Do you want an Aspirin?"

„No, it's okay. Just stay with me. I need you."

"We must do something about that police affair," she said. "That's just horrible what they do to you."

"My lawyers will take care of it." Mikael reached out for her hand and took it. "Don't worry!"

She was drowning too fast in his soft grey-green eyes for noticing the slight uncertainty coloring his voice and the delay of his smile.

"Let's not think of this now!"

...

Originally, Mikael and Crystal had planned to work further on the 'birds'-sculpture. But when one of the carving tools broke, it turned out they had no replacement and would have to get a new one in town. As she did not want him to drive yet, he decided to show her some more techniques for the work on stone, instead. The still not finished decay-themed sculpture was the perfect training piece because he would erase large parts and treat the surface with a sandblast anyway.

"Use a bit more force with the hammer, yes… and the angle shouldn't be that wide," Mikael guided her. "That was better! Now, once again!"

He watched Crystal and her attempts intently. She had her beautiful lips pressed to a tight line in concentration, and little pearls of sweat glinted on her forehead. Again, she pushed away some unruly hair, and paused.

"This is lava stone," he explained, putting his hand next to hers, as she felt for the surface of the unusual material. "Imagine how it was created! What force needed to be unleashed to form it! And now, it is here, under your fingers, waiting to be something new…." His hand moved upward the seam between the different parts of the statue, that still separated them like a deep cut. Suddenly, he felt an unreadable, ungraspable gloom almost emerging from the cold stone under his hand. Appalled, he flinched back, gasping for air to calm his racing heart.

Crystal grabbed him by the shoulders. "Mikael? You're okay?"

His hand closed tightly around her arms and he inhaled deeply. "Just a bit dizzy …" He blinked. "Dehydrated, probably."

"C'mon, sit down! I told you, you might have a concussion. I'll get you something to drink! And afterward, we'll rest a bit, until you feel good enough for work, okay?"

"Yes, you're probably right."