Disclaimer—see chapter one
A/N: As promised, the next update! Sorry this one is a bit short, but it just begged to be ended at a certain spot… Please let me know what you think!!!
House of Dreams—chapter eight
"Shal?" Brennan called as he tapped his knuckles lightly on the bedroom door.
Shalimar glanced up at him from where she lay listlessly on the bed. Brennan's rash was almost entirely healed, but hers was still visible. It had never gotten as bad as his, but still left a nasty red rash all around her mouth, and her normally sensuous lips were quite swollen. He had never thought of Shalimar as being vain, but she refused to go out in public and avoided the mirror as much possible, choosing instead to lounge around her bedroom, like an injured animal in hiding really.
"Brennan," she whined, "I'm so bored."
He smiled fondly at her. "I know, Shal, I'm sorry."
She pushed herself up to a sitting position, cocking her head as she studied him. "What?" she suddenly asked.
He raised his eyebrows.
"I can tell you have something on your mind," she explained, "What's up?"
He bit his lip as he lowered himself down beside her, staring nervously at his hands.
"So serious," she teased him, studying him some more. When he stayed silent, she felt a flutter of apprehension. "What, Brennan," she bluntly asked.
"Shalimar, we need to talk about before," he started, looking up to gage her reaction. He didn't have to wait for long.
"No," she stated adamantly, rolling over and presenting him with her back.
He sighed heavily, and scooted over so he was sitting next to her on the bed. Leaning over, he put his arm around her waist and planted his hand firmly on the other side of her, trapping her between his arm and his body. He could feel how tense she was and his heart broke. Silently, he reached his free hand over and brushed her golden hair back behind her ear, tenderly tracing the outline of the rash marring her features.
"Shal?" he prompted softly. She didn't answer, so he continued. "Before, you said something about seeing me do something that seemed—seemed to have hurt you." He winced at the brief flash of open hostility in her eyes. "Please tell me what I did, what you saw."
"It was nothing," she growled in a low voice, averting her eyes downward.
"No, Shal," he insisted, "Not again. We have to talk about this, whether you want to or not. I can't just leave this—this thing between us, especially when I still don't know what I did in the first place," Brennan argued, frustration evident in his voice.
"You seemed just fine the past few days," she challenged.
Brennan nodded his head in acknowledgment. "True, but I think that's an argument in my favor," he returned.
She ignored him, so he gently turned her face towards him. "Even with this unspoken wall between us, we've still been there for each other the past few days. Hell, we've even laughed," he reminded, a small smile playing around his lips.
Shalimar fought his grip on her face, pulling free and pressing her face into the pillow, hiding the tears that had sprung to her eyes. She didn't want him to see, and she hated herself for being so emotionally weak still.
"Brennan," she whispered, "please, let it go."
He heard the tears in her voice, and knew she was hiding them from him.
"Shalimar," he firmly stated. "I know you can be content just being friends and ignoring this thing between us, but I can't. I-I want more." He confessed, watching her intently.
She froze for a moment and then slowly rolled over on her back. Brennan made sure to keep his arm firmly in place across her. She stared up at him, eyes large and luminous.
"You're beautiful," he spontaneously whispered, staring at her longingly.
She looked surprised at that. "I'm a mess," she shook her head in argument, one hand fingering her swollen lips, dropping her eyes from his.
"Never," he fiercely whispered, "Not to me."
Her eyes darted back up to his, visibly shaken. "How do you do that?"
His brows rose in confusion.
One hand rose up to cup his face and smooth the wrinkled brow. "You always get to me," she agonized.
"And that's a bad thing?" he smiled softly.
"You want to be with me?" she suddenly asked bluntly, as he eagerly nodded. "Then you'll have to prove it." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You speak the words I want to hear, but you have to prove it with actions," she challenged.
Brennan's hand rose up to capture hers as it was about to drop from his face. "Anything," he breathed. They stared at each other, jumping slightly when both of their rings went off at the same time, breaking the moment.
Brennan cleared his throat, releasing her hand and raising his own close to his mouth. "This isn't over," he whispered to her before answering the call.
"Yeah," he spoke into the ring.
'Hey Brennan," Jesse greeted, "Is Shal there with you?"
Brennan glanced over at Shalimar as she pushed herself into a sitting position, pushing his arm off of her. 'Yeah, we're both here."
"There's been another disappearance," Jesse explained. "A man this time, named Simon Winters, another mutant."
Shalimar looked over at Brennan, "Jess," she interrupted him, "When did he disappear?"
"Ah, let's see," Jesse paused, "four nights ago."
Brennan straightened up, "The night we were in the park," he added.
"Lexa's sources say he was supposed to be meeting someone," Jesse finished.
"So we saw him and didn't know it," Shalimar turned stricken eyes on Brennan. "We let them take him."
"Shal," Jesse jumped back in, "It's not your fault."
"Jess is right," Brennan added, "He went with them willingly. We don't know if he's in danger or not."
A knock on the front door interrupted further conversation.
"Gotta go, Jess," Brennan let him know, "We'll get back in touch." He ended the transmission and headed out of the bedroom, stopping to glance back at Shalimar as she didn't move.
"Come on, Shal, you look fine." He shook his head in amusement as her hand wandered self-consciously to her mouth.
She glared at him, then jumped off the bed and walked after him.
"Ready to resume roles?" he smirked as he snaked out an arm and pulled her up against his side as he reached for the door.
She fixed him with a pointed look before pasting on a sugary smile as the door opened to reveal the very distraught Martins.
"What's wrong?" Brennan asked them, seeing their fearful looks, pulling Shalimar aside with him to allow them room to enter the apartment.
Mrs. Martin turned distressed eyes on Shalimar, grasping her hand in both of hers.
"Please," she cried, lips trembling, "You have to help us."
Shalimar glanced at Brennan before looking back at Mrs. Martin. "Of course," she soothed, confused. "Come on in."
They walked into the living room, Mr. Martina raising his eyebrows at seeing the blanket and pillow spread out on the couch. Brennan had forgotten to put away his bedding from the night before.
He quickly shoved them aside and shrugged sheepishly. "We, ah, we had our first fight," he quickly concocted an excuse, looking at Shalimar for help.
"Yeah," she stepped up beside him, "But we've made up already," she played along, wrapping her arm around Brennan's waist and leaning her head on his shoulder as they sank down onto the couch.
The Martins smiled briefly as they sat in adjoining chairs. "We, ah, we didn't quite tell you the whole truth before," Mr. Martin confessed.
"About what," Brennan asked.
Mr. Martin reached over and grasped his wife's hand. "Our daughter, Carrie, did not go on a business trip; she was secretly meeting with someone."
Mrs. Martin bit back a sob, looking at Brennan and Shalimar in desperation. "But now she's missing," she agonized, clutching her husband's hand tightly.
"I'm sorry," Shalimar gently sympathized. "What can we do to help?"
Mrs. Martin closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them again, looking directly at Shalimar. "We--we know about you," she paused and waved her hand indicating herself and her husband, "We know that you're a new mutant."
After a few hours discussion, Shalimar escorted the Martins back to the front door. After bidding them good-bye, she turned back around and leaned against the door, studying Brennan from across the room.
"Don't say it Shal," he shook his head in determination. "I know what you're thinking, and no, absolutely not. There has to be another way."
Shalimar released a long breath, "It's the best thing," she reasoned, looking down at the floor. "I'll have to go undercover and meet these guys."
Silence weighed heavy over the room for long moments until Shalimar dared look back up at Brennan, watching as he raged an internal battle of wills, before finally nodding in resignation. As his eyes dropped shut, and he clenched his jaw in futile anger, Shalimar continued to watch him.
At Sanctuary two days later, Brennan paced back and forth in nervous energy, swearing under his breath as he whirled and hit the wall in frustration. He never should have let her do it alone. Going undercover was her idea, and he had agreed reluctantly to the plan, not wanting her to think he doubted her abilities. But she was walking blindly into an unknown situation, and none of them had known what to expect. They tried to plan for the worse, but it had crumbled to way beyond that point.
Shalimar sagged against the chains holding her to the damp, moldy wall, heaving a ragged breath as she felt every muscle in her body screaming at her in agony, as the sub-dermal governor made its presence known to her. She weakly dropped her head to her chest, her limp hair hanging filthy and tangled over her face and irritating the infected rash around her mouth. She moaned as her eyes rolled back and she desperately fought to keep consciousness. She could not afford to black out again, not after what happened last time.