SPOILER: WHOSE WOODS THESE ARE
RATED: PG13 FOR NOW
This is a possible continuation of the episode "Whose Woods These Are"… Adam struggles to find a cure for Shalimar and his feelings as well.
DISCLAIMER:
Although I wished I owned these characters, alas, they are not mine and they are purely used for my pleasure of writing for them but in no way are they owned by this lowly writer. THESE CHARACTERS ARE OWNED BY TRIBUTE ENTERTAINMENT, ETC…
AUTHOR NOTE:My muse of late is towards Adam and Shalimar… Hope you enjoy… Reviews are greatly appreciated… Lets me know if I am making the characters believable, and if I should continue.
CHAPTER 2
"Adam… Adam… Adam" Emma said as she gently shook him awake.
"Huh, Emma?" Suddenly, he bolted up in bed. "Is ever…"
"Adam, it's okay. She is okay," Emma said reassuringly. "It's eleven o'clock, and her readings are just fine. In fact, a little better than when you last saw them."
Adam sighed in relief. "Thank, God. What time did you say it was?" He glanced at the clock resting on the nightstand. He saw it was eleven o'clock. His gaze turned to her.
"I let you sleep," she rushed on to prevent him from speaking, "You needed it." She showed no remorse. "Here is a cup of tea," she says as she reached it to him. "Earl Grey. Two sugars and a little cream."
"Thanks," he said gratefully as he took a sip. "How are the others?"
"Well, I talked with Jesse about four a.m., and Brennan about five a.m. Brennan insisted we all should not stay awake. We drew straws and he drew the short straw. Jesse and I woke up just about thirty minutes ago." She replied. She curled up in his comfy chair, and tucked her feet underneath. She set sipping from her cup as well.
He started to get up and then realized he was nude. He blushed and she grinned. "Well, I guess I should going to go do… something," she laughed mischievously, and he blushed more.
"I would appreciate it," he encouraged her.
She arched one eyebrow, "Sure… no problem…" but remained seated.
He could tell she was enjoying this, "You little tease!" He threw a pillow at her, and she ducked easily out of the way. She raced out of the room laughing as she went.
He shook he's head as he joined her in a laugh.
A shower and a shave later, and Adam felt more human. While the warm water revived him, he had come to a decision. Right or wrong, he was going to tell Shalimar how he felt and more importantly find out how she felt. He needed to know. It was long passed time to see if there was a possibility for them- him and her. He absently whistled as he left the room; ready to face the new day.
'Today, I tell all,' he thought quietly to himself.
Many hours passed as he sat at her bedside holding her hand. He had tried to work, but found himself too distracted. The only solace he could find was being near her. He gently held her hand. It looked so fragile. She looked so fragile, but not as pale as she had been yesterday. For the umpteenth time, he scanned the monitors' information and found nothing amiss. Even thing had returned to normal some time while he slept. At least normal for her.
She tossed her head, and a tress fell across her face. She looked so peaceful. And he loved her. He reached up, brushed the errant lock out of her face, and tucked it behind her ear. Just like he had watched her do so many times. He tenderly kissed her hand, and stroked his face against her hand. It felt so cool to touch.
"Come on, Shalimar. Please, wake up. Wake up so I can finally tell you how much I love you," he whispered.
Before going to the lab this morning, he has stopped in his office. From the safe, he took his mother's engagement ring. It was an emerald ring encrusted with diamonds. It wasn't too big, but it was very precious to him. Lovingly, he gazed at the ring before returning it to its case. He had tucked the case it in a pocket.
He checked once again to be sure he still had it. He had kept it to bolster his courage as he waited for sleeping beauty to awake. "My beautiful, beautiful, Shalimar. How I have loved you. Since that first day we met in the parking lot outside of Genomex." He chuckled as he remembered that day as if it was yesterday. "I was such a geek, and you were an angelic vision." He felt like he was rambling to feel the silence. But on the other hand, he wanted her to hear a friendly voice… a loving voice… a voice that could guide her back to this world and him.
Adam grinned as he thought about that first meeting. "You blushed when I flirted with you. I loved you all the more for that. You took my breath away that day, and you still do. I had nearly given up hope of ever finding you again, and then, there you were- a much younger version, but you nonetheless."
As he continued to speak, her heart rate increased slightly and her head moved towards him. He was so lost in his thoughts, that he didn't notice the changes. "…You don't know how jealous I was when you started dating. I wanted to take them all on, and prove to you that they were no good for you. But, I knew I needed to give you space, and time to grow into the woman you were to become. So, I had to take a lot of long, cold showers." He chuckles to himself. "I knew I had to be patient and wait. Wait until you saw me in the same light as I saw you. Something more than a father figure. But, some days it was just so hard to keep my feelings to myself. Then, I was afraid to tell you for fear you wouldn't feel the same way. I didn't want to risk the close friendship we had developed."
"I love you, too, Adam," Shalimar whispered as she reached up to stroke his face.
His head snapped up and he looked at her. Really looked at her. She was awake. It took a second for that realization hit him. Delicately, he asked, "How much of that did you… hear?"
"All of it, my love," she said. She squeezed his hand reassuredily. "I have loved you for so long, but I could never tell if you felt the same way or not." A single tear slid down her cheek. "I, too, didn't want to lose the friendship and trust we had built."
He reached up and caught the tear on his index finger, "Shoo. Don't cry, my little minx."
More tears began to fall. She could tell they were upsetting him. "They're happy tears, my love, happy tears," she said.
Adam started to speak, but she silenced him by placing her fingers against his lips.
"It wasn't until we went back in time, that I found out you had seen me before," she continued, "and you flirted with me." She laughs, "I didn't know what to say, or do. So, I hurried away to find Gabriel."
"I tried to flirt with you, but failed miserably," he recalled laughingly. "After that day, I searched and searched, but it was as if you had disappeared into thin air."
"What matters most is, now, we have finally found each other," she said. She tugged her hand out of his, and reached over to pull his face closer. Softly, she kissed him. When their lips met, it was bliss for each of them. When she moved to deepen the kiss, he pulled away. She groaned at the lost of his touch. She opened her eyes and looked at him disappointedly.
"Shalimar, we can't do this," a look of confusion crossed her face. He hurried on to explain, "You just awoke from a three day coma; still recovering from that blasted feral retrovirus, and your injuries. The last thing I want to do is to be the one to cause you to have a setback."
"Adam!" Angrily, she pushed up off the bed, and sharp, burning pain ripped into her abdomen. She fell back against the bed as she held her abdomen, and groaned in pain. All color faded from her face. "Maybe, you're right!" she said through gritted teeth.
When she paled, Adam ashen. He stepped out of her line of vision for just a moment. When he came back into view, he had a hypo spray. Before she could protest, he rested it against her neck and injected. She looked at him with a look of questioning and hurt.
He answered her unspoken question. "It's a painkiller and a muscle relaxant … give it a few minutes to kick in." He took her hand once again. "Squeeze my hand, my little minx," he whispered near her ear, and kissed her forehead. He brushed her tresses out of her face, and mumbled words of comfort until the pain decreased. It broke his heart to see her in pain; especially, since her love for him had caused it.
She turned drug-glazed eyes at him, "Promise me that you will tell me this is not a dream and that you..."
"I love you, now, and always, minx," he said with as much love as he had within him.
"Kiss me before I go to sleep," she demanded with a pout.
It was a demand that he didn't mind following, not in the least. "Your wish; my command." His lips lightly brushed against hers. Slowly, he flicked his tongue against her lips. When they parted, he broke away. She moaned at the loss.
"Sleep now. I will be here when you wake." He promised.
She pouted for a moment. "Alright… alright. But after I wake, you promise to get some sleep, too," she asked.
"I promise," he agreed. He would have promised her anything if she would just sleep.
For long moments, they stared into each other's eyes. He found himself drowning in the depth of love reflected in her brown eyes. He found he needed to taste her lips once more just to be sure this wasn't a dream.
She smiled knowingly as his head lowered towards her. 'He must have read my mind,' she thought. 'Just one more kiss before I sleep.'
Slowly, he moved his lips towards hers. Her lips felt like warm velvet beneath his. The kiss was soft, and gentle but fleeting. When he lifted his lips from hers, he watched her give in to the medications, and her heavy eyelids fell shut. A sly smile remained.
Emma stood at the entrance of the lab, and smiled through her tears. She was so happy for them. She hadn't meant to overhear them. She had innocently gone to the lab to check on the both of them.
She had sensed the hefty emotions emanating from the both of them, before she heard them. She silently waved her fists in the air. She was ecstatic that two members of her family had finally been honest with each other. She had begun to think she was going to have to break her oath of noninterference if they didn't overcome their own self-doubts, and profess their love to each other soon. Their kisses just completed the moment.
She took a few steps back, wiped her face, took a few deep breaths to shake of the emotions she felt from them, and then went into the lab noisily.
"Emma! Shush! I just got her back to sleep!" Adam whispered loudly. She could see the protectiveness in his glance and posture.
"Sorry," she faked her remorse as best as she could. But, it was a battle she was quickly lost as her smile expressed how she felt at the news that Shalimar had been awake. "I felt she was in pain, and just wanted to come check on her… to see if I could be of any assistance."
"Oh, I see," Adam posture relaxed as he rested back in the chair. "I gave her a hypo, and she went back to sleep."
"Is there anything I can do for you?" She asked trying to change the subject. She hoped he didn't figure out that she had saw and heard.
"Another cup of tea would be nice?" He held the empty mug up.
"Sure, I can do that," she accepted the mug. "I'll tell the boys the good news as well."
"Thanks. Be sure you tell them she is asleep and I will call them when she wakes again." He was protective again. She found it so touching.
"No problems," she said, and left to go in search of the guys.