Disclaimer—see chapter one
A/N: Thank you so much everyone for the wonderful reviews!! I'm having such fun writing this—sorry I'm a bit slow with updates! It's hard to find time during the work week to write. Thanks again, everyone, I hope you all enjoy!!
House of Dreams—chapter five
"Hey Brennan, you there?" Jesse's voice rang out from the comlink. Brennan debated ignoring him for a moment, but then sighed, lifting his hand to his mouth.
"Yeah," he spoke into his ring unenthusiastically.
"We've got a lead from your stolen note. Can you and Shalimar get back here as soon as possible?" Jesse returned.
"Sure," Brennan snorted sarcastically, "If I can find her."
"Marital problems already?" Jesse mocked.
"Never mind," Brennan's tone voiced no room for questioning. "We'll get there as soon as we can." He cut the connection abruptly, cutting off Jesse's next sentence. He lifted his ring back towards his mouth.
"Shal, are you there?" he paused, "Come on Shal, I know you're angry, but Jesse's got a lead for us. He needs us back at Sanctuary." No answer.
Brennan groaned out loud. "Shalimar," he demanded, "Where are you?" Silence greeted him still.
"Where is she?" he growled to the air, frustrated.
"Right here."
He jumped at the voice behind him, whirling around to see her standing in the doorway, hands in her jacket pockets. He sighed in relief. He didn't want to admit it, but he was afraid she had been gone for good this time.
She seemed to read his mind.
"I told you I wouldn't leave." She hunched her shoulders at his look. "Actually, I came to apologize."
"Apologize?" Brennan questioned.
'Yeah," she sighed as she circled the room toward him and slouched down into a corner chair. "I told myself I wouldn't get angry anymore, that I would be satisfied being your friend, but I lost it again. I'm sorry."
Brennan eyed her apprehensively; the wall seemed to be firmly in place. Her words were rushed, almost cold in their utterance. He didn't believe her for a moment. She seemed to read that sentiment too.
"What's this about a lead?" She quickly changed the subject.
"Yeah, Jess wants us back at Sanctuary for an update." Brennan studied her. "But that can wait, I think we should—"
"We should get going," she interrupted him, refusing to discuss her emotions further until she had them firmly under control.
Brennan shrugged, knowing by her look she wasn't about to give in. "Fine," he crossed his arms.
"Fine," she crossed her arms back. They stubbornly held their glare for a moment more and then as one, turned towards the door and headed out.
A few hours more found them shivering in the park just after the sun had set.
"I'm cold," Brennan complained grumpily.
Shalimar couldn't help but smile at his tone. She knew he hated being outdoors, and as wrong as it was, she took small pleasure in his discomfort. She on the other hand, was in her element.
"I love the smell of this park," she exclaimed cheerfully, just to annoy him. "It's so peaceful and refreshing."
"I think I smell a skunk," he wrinkled his nose.
She rolled her eyes at him. "And it's so calm and quiet," she continued her praise.
"It's unnerving," he countered.
She ignored him. "The moonlight has such a soft glow."
"It's gloomy," he grumbled back.
She had to laugh. "Brennan!" she smacked him on the arm.
"What?" he defended himself, "It's true. And I'm cold," he repeated, crossing his arms and hunching over.
"Well, Jesse told us to wait here, so we wait here." Shalimar reminded.
Brennan snorted. "I hardly call freezing our butts off in same park that the last mutant disappeared in a valid lead or a good use of our time."
Shalimar shook her head. "It's the same park on Carrie's note and not coincidentally the same park that the other two missing mutants were last seen in. There's got to something here," she rationalized. "And this is the time on the note." She bounced lightly on her heels, "I for one am more than ready for action." Her eyes gleamed at the idea.
Brennan felt miserable standing around waiting in the slim possibility that something might happen, but he was relieved at the improvement in Shalimar's mood. He enjoyed watching her; in fact, it was his only entertainment on this otherwise long night. He leaned back against a tree, studying the way her small, curvy figure was enhanced by sleek black leather as she turned and paced away from him. Back and forth she went, his eyes keeping pace with her. Another long hour passed.
Brennan found himself no longer able to resist the urge to close his eyes. He dropped his eyelids and slouched his way down the tree. "It's been a long day," he mused to himself, fighting another yawn. He pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around himself in an effort to keep warm and braced his head back against the tree trunk. A few more moments, and he was comfortably drowsy, entering the realm of half sleep. "Nothing wrong with resting my eyes a bit," he reasoned to himself, "besides we're wasting our time out here anyway." He relaxed even further.
Shalimar glanced at him as she paced past and smirked as she saw his head nodding up and down, glad she didn't have to deal with him at the moment. She needed this time to get a firm reign on her emotions.
Brennan's head jerked upright suddenly as his body caught himself about to fall completely asleep. He groaned as he became aware of his stiff neck, rolling his shoulders a bit to ease the numb, tingly feeling from sitting in one position for too long. "This tree isn't half bad," he thought dozily, "it blocks the wind, and gives me something to lean against, plus Shalimar hasn't yelled at me for three whole hours, except my nose itches," his mind continued the mental rundown. "I'm still cold, but we can probably get out of here soon, and these leaves keep getting in my face, and damn, my nose really itches." He wriggled it around for a moment, half awake, catching his head as it was about to drop down again. "I gotta figure out what's up with Shal though, I don't know how much longer I can take this, and this tree bark is poking me in really bad places, and these stupid leaves keep hitting me, and I'm still cold, and now my whole face feels itchy, and—"
"ARGH!" Brennan suddenly screamed, pushing abruptly off the tree and frantically swiping at his face with both hands.
"Brennan!" Shalimar whirled around from her pacing and ran back towards him. "What's wrong?" she exclaimed, stopping just in front of him. He continued his mad attack on his face, not answering her. She reached up and grasped both of his hands in hers.
"Brennan?" she inquired again, "what happened? Stand still and let me see." She tugged his hands down and peered up at him in concern, gasping suddenly as she saw the angry red rash dimly in the moonlight.
"Oh, oh no," she covered her mouth to hide her smile, "Oh Brennan, poison ivy," she couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped her at how pathetic he looked.
He glared even as his lip sported a generous pout. "I hate this park," he groused. "And stop laughing, it's not funny."
"Sorry," Shalimar shook her head amusedly. As upset as she was with him, she still couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "We better get you home and cleaned up," she patted him on the shoulder in sympathy. "Poison ivy doesn't usually show up this fast, you must really be allergic."
"Oh great," Brennan's lip pushed out even further in his misery.
"Come on, I think we've waited here long enough already," she stated, studying the rash on his face before staring at something over his shoulder.
He noticed her distraction and
wanted her attention back. If nothing
else, at least this horrid itch had them talking again.
"Shal," he whined.
She suddenly braced both hands on his shoulders. "Don't take this the wrong way," she hissed at him.
"What?" he began to ask as she roughly pushed him up against the tree and launched herself at him, wrapping both arms around his neck and kissing him deeply. Brennan stood frozen in shock for moment, then felt a pleasant tingle work its way through his body, the itch forgotten. He locked both arms around her, pulling her tight against him and hungrily returned her kiss, greedy in his want. The air hung heavy around them, their kisses and short gasps of breath the only sound until the faint sound of nearing footsteps echoed in night. Two shadows stopped abruptly in their approach before chuckling lewdly and passing on. Brennan was oblivious, but Shalimar's ears heard them take leave, and she dropped her lips down to nibble on Brennan's ear. She waited a moment more before pulling back and looking at his dazed expression.
Brennan slowly opened his eyes and found her eyeing him. "I take it I'm forgiven?" he breathed, focusing again on her mouth. He leaned back down towards her, but Shalimar's hands on his chest stopped him. They stared at each other a moment, before he sighed heavily.
"Ok, what?" he gritted, finally realizing something else was going on as her eyes again focused on a point beyond his shoulder.
"Two men," she gestured past him with her chin, "they have the look of ex-GSA. I think we finally have our lead," she whispered excitedly, grabbing his hand and pulling him along after her as she took off down the trail.
Brennan couldn't stop his smirk as he stumbled after her, itching with one hand and hanging on to her with the other. Finally, things were beginning to get interesting.