Bit of a nod to Bazzie in this chap. He did, in my humble opinion, do a fine job with Bill's story :)
10: Subtlety
It had begun to rain, at first little patters against the window, then the full force of the clouds hit the city and drowned the streets. Evelyn had sat in front of the TV for a few hours, not answering Imhotep's calls, numbly watching the same footage over and over. Finally, she'd turned off the television, gathered her things, and taken a survey of the little room. It wasn't the honeymoon suite, for the Luhrmann Hotel was far too prominent to hide very well there. Vases of pink and yellow roses were scattered about the suite, and the rooms had a fuzzy romantic feel to them. It was a perfect little getaway, secluded, comfy. Or, it would have been perfect had she not been there alone.
Evelyn made for the door with her bags, still not sure what she where she was going. She wouldn't go the palace. She had moved past her grief quickly and was now pissed as hell at her cousin, and if she went home she'd just have to play the part of sad little princess and listen to her father drone on about how Richard Montague would pay. But she couldn't stay here a moment longer, not alone, wondering what might have been if she and Rick hadn't been so wrong for each other. She could try to go find him, she could search the streets unsure of what she was looking for, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. He knew how to hide and never be found. When he wanted to be found, he'd find her.
If he wanted to be found.
As Evelyn reached for the door handle her cell phone chirped a happy little tune, and the screen announced that the caller was Rick. She'd put a little digital heart next to his name. She pressed "accept" but didn't say anything at first. Finally, she choked the word from her mouth. "Rick?"
She could barely hear his answer. "Hi."
The single syllable flooded her mind with a million thoughts, none of which doubted him. "Rick, where are you?"
"You don't want to know."
"Yes, I do. Where are you?"
"You're going to call the cops. I'm going to tell my wife where I am and she's going to call the cops. Good for you, Evy, it's the right thing to do. Or I could just shoot myself right here and save your father the trouble of strangling me."
"No! No, Rick, please just tell me where you are, I'm going to come get you--"
"And then what? Tell me that, Evelyn. This can't end well. This isn't a normal relationship. It's supposed to be our wedding night. Instead I kill your cousin. What kind of a life are we going to have? Tell me, what happens now?"
His words had the impact of rendering her brain completely helpless, and she could only manage a weak, "It wasn't your fault."
"How do you know? What, did you see it on television? Is that what they're saying?"
"No, I know it." Suddenly she found her voice, drawing strength from his own vulnerability. He needed her right now. "I know it's not your fault. I know what Lock was. I know you."
"You don't know me. You've said it a hundred times. You have no idea."
"Yes I do." She swallowed the sob that choked her words, concentrating on the presence at the other end of the line. "I love you. I don't care about anything else. I love you. That's all I ever need to know. I know it wasn't your fault, I know you wouldn't have done anything like this if you'd... Look, Rick, I saw the tape, okay? Anybody with eyes can see what happened. But I don't even need to know that. I love you. I don't care, I love you. This is what happens now, okay? You tell me where you are, I will come get you, we get out of this city, and we figure this out. Together. Okay? Please, just tell me where you are."
Silence, lasting merely seconds, seemed to stretch into eternity as she waited for his reply, holding on to the faint scratchy sound of his breathing. "Evy..." he said finally, "open the door."
The cell phone slipped from her fingers, forgotten as it fell to the floor and bounced on the hard tiles. She threw open the door, and there he stood, cell phone to his ear, soaking wet and covered in cold mud, looking for all the world as if he was dead. His eyes asked her for forgiveness, begged, but in Evelyn's mind there was nothing to forgive. Only a moment passed between them, but in that moment a million things were said, a million lives lived.
Evelyn pulled him inside and locked the door, pried the cell phone from cold fingers and set it down. "I'm all muddy," he said, but she smiled and kissed him anyway, immediately washing away his vague logic as he kissed her back, pulled her closer, forgetting completely anything but the taste of her and the feel of her against him. Wet clothes were peeled away, piled and forgotten in the foyer in a muddy mess. Rick picked up his bride, light as a feather in his arms, and she wrapped herself around him, kissing him all the while as if she intended never to let him breathe again.
They sunk into the fluffiness of the bed, shedding more garments all the while. His skin was still chilled and almost damp from wandering in the storm outside, and the sensation of cold nearly made her gasp. She warmed him, massaged his icy skin, breathing life back into his frozen body. Her kisses set off little trails of fire in his skin everywhere her mouth dared to roam. He explored her, too, sprinkling kisses down her throat, hands wandering timidly over the curves of her body, then more possessively as she responded in kind. They savored each slow, sweet moment, learning by heart each inch of each other like they had all of eternity to stay in each other's arms.
At length the suspense became too much, and a silent agreement was eagerly reached by simple eye contact. Her shock quickly evaporated, replaced by the simple sensation of drowning inside her husband's touch. Reassurances, whispered softly into her ear, anchored her to him as they flew through a world that neither of them had ever truly realized.
What was it about those big fluffy white hotel robes, Evelyn wondered, that made you feel as though you'd been stolen away to some exotic location, free from responsibility and wrapped in nothing but a breezy, carefree existence? She found it very easy, in fact, to forget everything that was terribly wrong with her life. All it took was a fluffy white hotel bathrobe and the company of her husband. It was amazing how much she could forget, just lying in his arms.
Her fingers idly traced the outline of the locket he still wore, fidgeting with the chain. "What's in it?" he asked, and she shrugged.
"I don't really know. According to my mother, there used to be a picture of my father inside. I haven't been able to get it open since she gave it to me."
He picked at the lock but was equally as unsuccessful as Evelyn had been for the last eight years. "Here," he said, reaching for the clasp, "you should put it back on."
"No. Keep it." She slid the clasp to the back of his neck, ignoring his protest. "Please. I like knowing you have it. I like knowing you have something of mine."
"Is this going to be like in all those Shakespearean plays where the woman makes her husband pledge never to part with their ring, and then trick them into giving it away while in disguise?"
"Dear no," she said, a demure smile lighting upon her lips. "I would never trick you like that."
"Uh huh."
"I wouldn't," she pouted. "I can't believe you'd think that of me."
"I think the world of you." He punctuated each sentence with tiny kisses along her collarbone. "I think you're beautiful. I think you're sexy. I think you're the most amazing woman I've ever met in my entire life."
Evelyn sighed dramatically, turning her face away. "Is that all?"
"You know what I like most about you?" She shook her head, caught suddenly by his eyes and the passion with which they stared into hers. "I like that you're mine," he said. "And I like that I'm yours. I like that I belong to you."
She couldn't meet his eyes in that moment, for if she did she was certain she'd cry. She'd cry over everything she saw when she looked at him--the promise of happiness, of love, of a life actually worth living. She'd cry over what she might soon lose. He'd have to leave soon, no matter how much they kept putting it off. Evelyn decided, against her will, to broach the subject. She buried her head into his shoulder and mumbled, "Where are you going to go?"
It bothered him how she wouldn't look at him. Everything made sense when he could see her face. "I don't know. There are ways to get out of the city."
"What about the temple? You could stay with Imhotep..."
"Too risky. I'd get caught."
"Oh." She risked unburying her head, looking up at him through lowered lashes. "Where to then?"
He shook his head helplessly. "I don't know." The thought that had been floating around his mind for hours, the certainty, hit him full force as he looked into his wife's eyes. "Come with me."
"What?"
"Come with me. I don't want to leave you again. It could be forever before... It could be never." She didn't react, so he pressed on. "I can't leave you. I know this is stupid, and terrible of me to ask you, and I know you have--"
"If you say 'responsibilities I'm going to divorce you. Of course we're going together. I'm not going to let you leave me."
Relief, mixed with the ever-present anxiety, swept over him. So did a plan. "We'll go to Ra City. I know a guy there, we'll be safe."
Evelyn nearly laughed, the sheer angst of their situation strangely vanquished by the simple fact that they were together. "We should probably get going, then."
They dressed quickly, and Evelyn left most everything behind. Arm in arm, they strolled out of their room, trying to look as natural as one can checking out of a hotel at four in the morning. After what seemed like an interminable walk, they'd reached the elevator. Rick hit the "down" button and squeezed Evelyn's hand tightly. "Everything's going to be okay," he mumbled, barely audible. She heard him.
Finally the elevator arrived, but so did something else. Rick ushered his wife into the elevator and as he stepped in, the corner of his eye caught something he really did not wish to see. Policemen. Several of them, heading this way.
He jabbed at the "door close" button as Evelyn looked on, confused. "What?" she asked, as the doors closed with a soft ding. "What's wrong?"
"They're here." Rick hit the button for the sixth floor, then the lobby. "We have to find another way out."
"What? Who's here?"
Rick reached for Evelyn as the doors opened onto the sixth floor, pulling her into the hallway. "Cops. There has to be another way out."
Evelyn's stomach plummeted to her feet as they hurried along. "Stairs?"
"There must be a service elevator around somewhere...ah ha!" Indeed, around a darkened corner there was another elevator. He punched in a code on the little keypad as Evelyn looked on.
"How do you know the code?"
"I have access to every electronic code in this city. Never know when you might need an override code. There are advantages to being my father's son."
They got inside and the elevator doors closed again, and Evelyn stepped closer to her husband. He wrapped his arms around her as they watched the little lights click down the floors, drawing closer and closer to the little "B."
"I won't let them take you," Evelyn whispered. "They'll listen to me."
"If anything happens, just stay back. I don't want you getting hurt."
"And I don't want you getting killed."
"They're cops, I'd be fine. Just stay back, it'll be okay."
They both held their breath as the elevator reached the basement. The doors opened, revealing a well-lit, deserted storeroom. "Thank Osiris," muttered Rick. "Let's find the exit and get out of here. We'll take alleys, there's no way they can--"
"Ding," went an elevator behind them, and the couple whirled around to see the guest elevator apparently also went to the basement. Seven, ding, six, ding...
"They're coming," said Evelyn.
"Let's go!"
But Evelyn was rooted to the spot. "No," she said, shaking her head. "No, you have to go without me. They'll never catch you if you're alone. You have to go."
Was she insane? He couldn't do that! "I'm not leaving you."
Five, ding, four, ding...
"Rick, listen to me." Evelyn choked back her tears and placed her palms on Rick's face, memorizing his eyes. "You have to go alone. They'll just find us faster if I go with you. Your only chance is to go alone."
"No!"
"You know I'm right!"
Three, ding...
Never in his life had he felt so helpless. He couldn't leave her, she'd made up her mind to stay. And she was right. No matter what he'd said to her, if the cops found him he would probably end up dead. She was terribly, terribly right, and he had to leave her...
Two, ding, one, ding...
"Everything's going to be okay," he repeated, kissing her one last desperate time. "I love you."
Ding...
Her husband disappeared into shadow, and she watched the darkness for a moment before turning to the policemen. Confusion flickered across their faces before they cautiously lowered their weapons, the princess clearly the last thing they'd been expecting to find on the trail of a suspected felon.
"Hello," she said, slipping into the regal role of future queen. "I hereby order all of you to leave this hotel and escort me home. You will find nothing here."
Except, perhaps, broken dreams.
~*~*~*~
Feedback is goooooooood. :):):)
