The Fine Print: Daniel Knauf and HBO own Carnivale and, unfortunately, Justin and Iris.

Minutes Like Hours

By twinb80

Chapter Thirteen: Reality

Iris awoke the next day to find herself in Justin's arms. She had fallen asleep with her head resting on his chest and he had wrapped his arms around her nude body. She heard the birds outside start to sing their morning songs and looked over to the clock on the nightstand. It was almost seven in the morning and Norman and Rose would be getting up soon. Justin was still asleep and Iris did not want to wake him. That wasn't how the game was played. She gentle removed his arms from her body and got out of bed. She found her nightgown and underwear and quickly threw them on. She then quietly open the bedroom door and peered out into the hallway. No one was up yet and she made her way to the bathroom at the end of the hallway. In the quiet of the bathroom she ran a bath and grabbed two towels from one of the cabinets. As the water filled the tub she removed her nightgown and looked into the full-length mirror at her reflection. Her hair hung down her back damp from their love making the night before. She traced the marks he had left on her body. The marks were spread across her breasts and her neck. They signaled his claim on her. Norman had never left marks like these on her. She hadn't allowed him to. It wasn't his play to lay claim to her body in such an intimate manner. Iris turned from the mirror and turned the water off. She quickly did away with her underwear and climbed into the tub. The water was hot and had already the steam from the tub had filled the room. She welcomed the heat to her sore body and began to wash herself. Her body was bruised and ached all over but she was happy. She quickly washed her hair and got out of the tub. As she wrapped the towel around her body she heard Justin open his door. She knew that he was disposing of the bed sheets and would put clean fresh ones back on as not to arise suspicion of what had taken place. She heard him close his door a moment later as she wrapped her hair up in the other towel. Clean and refreshed she went back to her room and got ready for the day to begin. Her nightgown and underwear lay in the bottom of the bathroom hamper. And Iris knew that Rose would not be going through their laundry. Iris would later clean her nightclothes. When a night like this happened Justin would take his soiled clothes back with him to school and clean them there. Nights like last night rarely happened between them. They did not go to each other's rooms unless on of them had a bad dream. He had not come to her room and been in her bed since the beginning of that year. Her going to him was only the second time that they had made love that year. Iris left her room and headed into the kitchen. As she walked down the hallway she heard the shower running and knew Justin was now in their bathroom. She began to prepare breakfast and turned the radio on to fill the silence. She was standing in front of the stove when she heard Justin come into the room. She did not turn around but instead listened as he walked over to the refrigerator and got something out of it. She assumed it was either milk or orange juice. He closed the refrigerator door and on his way back to the table he passed by her. His lips found her check in a chaste kiss and he then sat down. They said nothing to one another about last night. No words were spoken of how they had clung to one another delirious happy to be together again. Once again made whole. The words were never spoken the next day or any day that followed. To speak these words out loud would shatter the fantasy they had made. The fantasy was never spoken of or acknowledge in any form and manner. To speak the words would be to bring their true selves into the bright harsh light of reality. And at this time it was not possible. It wasn't an option for them. So their time together was unspoken. Iris liken the situation to saying their true names to another person or hearing another person use their true names as if it belonged sole to them. They would never allow anyone to do such a thing. Their names were sacred only to each other. Their true names in a way strengthened and intensified the bond they had created and no one was going to break that bond.

The song changed as Norman and Rose came into the kitchen. They said good morning to their children and sat down at the table. Iris finished preparing the meal and she sat down next to Justin. They said grace and everyone soon began to eat. It had been decided that Norman would take Justin to the train station so he could return to school. Rose was planning to go shopping for a baby shower. Iris let her know that she had time before going to work if Rose wanted company. Rose accepted her offer and soon the dishes were being put away. Norman and Justin said goodbye and Rose hugged Justin and told him to do well in school. Then it was Iris's turn to say goodbye to her brother. They were still the kitchen and Norman was waiting in the doorway. She hugged her brother and whispered a goodbye in his ear and then he was gone. The rest of her day went by in a blur and Iris soon found herself at home again. Rose was upstairs so she took the opportunity to talk with Norman. She found him in the parlor room reading a newspaper. He looked up as she entered the room and walked over to him. She stood in front of him calmly and in a soft voice informed him that their affair was over starting from that moment on. His eyes had widened at her words and he found that he couldn't find the words to reply. Instead he nodded his head and watched as she turned and left the room. There had been no sorrow or remorse in her voice as she spoke to him. Her words had been clean and to the point. And just like that their affair was over as abruptly as it had began. Norman didn't know what to think or feel about this. His one constant thought was how ironic it was that she had told him their nights were over in the very same room that their affair had began in. He went back to reading his paper and soon Rose joined him and began reading her latest novel. Iris, he had found out, had gone to bed earlier. The days that followed appeared like a dream to Norman. He hadn't realized how much he had come to look forward to his nights with Iris. Even though he knew he knew his actions with her were wrong. She had been his blessing and his curse. Now she was gone. He sometimes wondered if he had dreamed the whole affair but the memory of her face and the touch of her body against his always came back to hauntingly remind him that it had been real. The rest of that year went by and Norman filled his days with the Church and reconnecting with his wife. His relationship with Iris went back to that of a friend and guardian. Neither of them spoke of those passion filled nights. And gradually over time those nights became a distant memory that Iris made herself forget. Forget that she had been her guardian's lover and how she had ran from the past. Instead she choose to remember that period in her life as a dark cloud whose only silver lining had been remembering her mother and their life before the train accident. Justin had continued with his schooling that year and his involvement in the Church. They did not speak of that night of heated forbidden passion as they lay in each other's arms. Instead they spoke in private of their mother Plemina. Iris shared the memories she had of their mother before he was born but they did not speak of the river. The river was something that Iris did not want Justin to remember yet. The time wasn't right and he was not ready to learn and accept what had happened that night. He still needed to be protected and she was not about to break the promise she had made the day he was born. Besides he was her world and she was his. They both knew this. Norman and Rose continued to care for them until the day came that Justin was giving his own Church in a town called Mintern. The Balthus were proud of Justin but Iris was the proudest of them all. All of her hard work at the Inn was beginning to pay off and soon they would have a home of their very own. His destiny lay in the not so distant future and Iris knew that she would do anything and everything to see him fulfill that destiny. She alone knew what and who he was. She alone understood what was waiting for him. And she would be by his side when that time came. They were in this together and nothing would change that. Her Alexei would rise and meet his destiny, as he was intended too. She promised herself this. After all she wasn't just some person to be pushed aside. She was Iris on the outside but on the inside she knew who she was. Who she had always been and always would be. Irina Belyokav. The lion not the flea. The protector of Alexei Belyakov and older sister of Justin Crowe. He was the other half that made her whole. She belonged to him and him alone. He only had to ask her and she would appear. The lion. The protector. The friend. The sister. The lover. The confident. The companion. The one who made him whole. His Irina.