Finally, I got a few hours of sleep last night. After leaving Eames at the hospital, I went straight to my apartment and fell asleep the moment I stepped inside the door. All I had to do was stumble from the doorway to the bedroom and collapse on the bed, and I pulled it off-with a couple of bruises on my knee where I banged into the kitchen table.
The apartment is oddly quiet as I get up this morning, and so am I. After all the stress of those hours at the hospital, after all the rage and grief and pain, my emotions are just as worn out as I am. If I tried to cry or scream now, it wouldn't work. I've given up feeling anything, at least for a little while.
So it is in silence that I dress, absently eat something, and wander out the front door. I'm not feeling yet as I step out into the bright sunshine, not thinking... just absorbing. I walk a couple of blocks in a daze before I reach the courtyard, and my heart stops.
This is it. This is where it all began. And it was just like today: the sky was blue, people were sitting at tables scattered across the courtyard, the hot dog stand was standing right over there...
And there. By the coffee stand where Paul is working with a small smile on his face, dusting his orange hair out of his eyes. Eames is waiting for me, the same smile, the same sparkle in her eyes. "Goren!" she calls out, taking a few steps towards me as I stumble down the stairs.
"Eames?" I croak. "Aren't you...?"
"Oh, they got sick of me and threw me out," she grins. Then she puts her hand on my arm, and her eyes hold me captive. "Goren, about what happened at the hospital... I just wanted to say thank you-for everything. You mean a lot to me, and having you there helped me to get through it."
No words of bitter blame for the shooting, just this quiet sweetness. I have to swallow a couple of times before I stutter it out-my big moment, and all I can do is stammer like an idiot, "I love you, Eames."
She stares at me, her eyes wide, and I feel myself crumble under her shock. So much for not feeling, but it's impossible not to feel anything when I'm around her. "I'm sorry, I just... I needed to tell you for the longest time, and then when you were in the hospital I was afraid I would never get to say it..."
But then she is leaning close to me and then her lips are on mine-and let me tell you, Alexandra Eames kisses like nobody else I have ever met.
Paul is whooping and whistling, and I flip him the bird as I draw Eames closer. He howls with laughter and goes back to work, and Eames and I-well, time doesn't really exist for the next few minutes, but then we reluctantly break apart.
"Can you imagine what Deakins is going to say?" she murmurs in my ear, laughing softly.
Of course, I have to kiss her again, and the thought that occurs to me as I do so is that things are definitely going to be all right.
And they live happily ever after (well, except for the guy Bobby arrested, who gets convicted and is handed down a life sentence in prison)! Thank you to everybody, for your support and encouragement-your reviews and feedback have meant the world to me. See you next time around... *grin*