Author's Note, Aha! People do read this! Ok, so I am rewriting the last two chapters. I want it to be believable as possible, ha-ha. Thank you Ms. Super-six-one. :) I did not know that. Since my basement got flooded earlier today, and I spent 3 hours vacuuming up the water, I had some muses! Enjoy!
It had been a really bad day for Sanderson.
Not a little bad.
Or kinda bad.
But super bad.
It usually worked that way with Sanderson, he had gotten used to it. He was ready to kiss his kids goodbye for almost a month, he was even ready to say bye to Diana for almost a month. When he found out Diana would be joining him for the little trip.
At that he stormed to his boss's office.
Down the hall with plain walls.
There was a clean smell of the chemicals used to clean the floor.
While Sanderson knew his boss was in a meet with three new Delta's, he didn't care.
Everyone who knew him, and saw the look on his face, moved out of his way.
No one dared stop him when he opened the door of his boss's office, and stormed right in. His boss promptly stopped talking. The three new recruits looked up at Sanderson, who immediately demanded, "What the hell are you doing!"
His boss, Robinson, a older middle-aged black man, a very calm and composed man, was shocked. He was not a man who used profanity, "Jeff, language."
"You wanna hear language? I will give you fucking language! I will give you so much fucking language you won't know what the hell hit you! Now is NOT the time to be correcting me! Did you not think I wouldn't notice her on the plane? Or her bags at the house? How stupid do you think I am? She is not going! No way. You better find someone else!"
Knowing he wouldn't get rid of Sanderson, he looked to the three men, "Would you give us a minute."
"We're going to need more then a fucking minute," Sanderson spat.
The three men got up and walked out of the office.
Which had absolutely no personality.
No pictures on the walls, no awards or plaques.
The furniture was standard.
Not even a plant.
Almost clinical.
Sanderson didn't bother to take a seat, Robinson didn't ask him to sit down. He had worked with Sanderson for years. He knew Sanderson inside and out, he knew Sanderson was not going to be happy when he signed off on the form. He had even expected Sanderson to come storming to his office.
Once the door shut, Sanderson exploded, "You Can't Send Her Along Too! There Are Other Medics You Can Send!"
Robinson slid a folder to Sanderson, who snatched it and opened it up. "It's not up to me. I do not pick and choose the medical personnel. She was specially selected for this, Sanderson."
Sanderson looked over the forms, the letterhead had the insignia of Diana's corporation. A company that trained medical personnel for the military. She had worked with the company for years. Sanderson recognized the letterhead from the monthly check she got. He read the letter, which was nothing more then a request from a Dr. Wood, requesting a doctor Sanderson knew well and Diana to be shipped over to work with him, until the mission was complete.
Sanderson flipped the paper over and saw the request granted form.
Finally, he came to the paper full of signatures.
Robinson watched as Sanderson slowly brewed. Until the well trained Delta all but threw the file at his boss. "You knew when we moved in together, this is exactly why we did that! How the hell is my sister supposed to watch all the kids? We moved in together so this wouldn't happen!"
"Jeff, I know your upset," Robinson began, but Sanderson cut him off, "No! you don't! So don't start the psychological bullshit! You put your career over my personal life!"
It wasn't that Sanderson dared accuse him of it, but it was true.
Robinson fell silent for a few minutes.
Knowing Sanderson knew he had sold his friend out. Knowing Sanderson knew he had put his career over Sanderson's personal life.
It made him feel like dirt.
Quietly, without meeting Sanderson's eyes he asked, "You know?"
It was then Sanderson dropped into one of the chairs.
The kind with a metal frame. The cloth seating. The really uncomfortable kind.
"Yeah. Don't worry, I am coming home. I'll kill all the bad men. You'll get your promotion." Sanderson spat, more then a little pissed off.
Robinson looked over his desk, over the paperwork, the files, the pens. All kept in perfect order. Nothing was ever out of place. He was always a perfectionist. Ever since childhood.
"Look, Jeff," he began.
Sanderson cut him off, "I'm not stupid. Just because I don't sit behind a desk doesn't mean I don't understand office politics. If the mission you put together is successful, you get a prize. A nicer office. Bigger desk. Even a bigger paycheck."
There was nothing Robinson could say in his defense. Nothing at all. Nothing that would fix what he had done to his friend. Nothing that would make it better.
So Sanderson got up and walked to the door, he opened it before Robinson said, "Jeff?"
Sanderson looked over his shoulder and lifted a eyebrow.
For a second Robinson was going to apologize. When he saw his fellow coworkers in the hall, he nailed the last nail in the coffin when he instead said, "You have to go see Dr. Moss before you go."
At that, Sanderson slammed the door.
With a glare at the ranking men who stood behind him, daring them to speak. He made it five steps outside the door, when the stairwell door to his left flung open.
A irate Diana stepped out, as angry as Sanderson, but far more vocal. She looked around and spotted the uniformed men. With no shame or thought of her actions, she stormed over to them, still in her scrubs.
Her bloody scrubs.
Her dark hair hung down around her face, her green eyes glowed with rage.
Sanderson froze, he made no move to stop her, but watched.
Diana thrust her index finger at the men, then demanded, "Which one of you is Carl Robinson!"
The men shared looks of concern.
Sanderson then decided to take her outside before she got in trouble.
He walked to her and took her elbow, Diana turned and saw him. She then began to shriek, "Do you know where you're going!"
As he pulled her down the hall, he quietly answered, "Yeah."
She let Sanderson pull her towards the elevator, while she ranted, drawing looks from all around. "Who will watch the kids? Is he going to watch our kids? Your sister can't watch seven kids! She'll go nuts! I can't stand our kids sometimes and I'm demented. Where the hell is the Robinson man? Lets ship the kids over to his house!"
When Sanderson saw the elevator, Diana was then thrown into another fit, "And what's with seeing a fucking shrink! What the hell for? The last shrink I saw prescribed me Prozac! The stupid bitch said I was depressed! I was grieving for my husband, of course I was depressed! I am not seeing another shrink!"
Sanderson jammed the button and held onto Diana, "If I have to see the shrink, you have to see the shrink."
He looked at her and watched her explode.
Her green eyes widened as she lost it, then and there.
With a few people around, waiting to get on the elevator, Diana lost it. She just let out a scream that she had kept bottled up inside. A scream filled with all the emotions, pain, and anger she kept inside.
With a ,ding, the elevator doors opened.
Sanderson stepped inside with Diana behind him, no longer screaming.
No one else stepped onto the elevator.
So he hit the button for the bottom floor, and then looked over at her, "Feel better?"
Diana slumped against the elevator wall, she looked at him as the doors closed, "Yeah. I do feel a little better."
Neither of them looked away.
Unable to look away, both moved at the same time, it was mutual. They both moved toward one another without a second thought. Diana took his face in her hands as he kissed her, the kiss was just as consuming as their first. His hands moved down around her waist, pulling her to him the rest of the way. So there was no space between them.
His fingers found their way in her hair. Feeling the soft texture of it, while his other arm was wrapped around her back, holding her close.
It was a closeness neither had felt in close to a year.
She rose onto her toes and pushed him back into the elevator wall, her lips never left his. The kiss may have slowed, or even stopped, but she never took her lips from his. She pulled him even closer. Enjoying the touch and being touched. The way he responded told her he felt the same, it told her just how he felt. It both frightened and thrilled her to no end.
The elevator came to a stop.
Sanderson's arm shot out, he broke the kiss and hit the elevator stop button. When the doors didn't open, he looked back at Diana. He noticed how green her eyes were with her so close, pressed between her body and the elevator wall.
Diana traced her thumbs over his clean-shaven face.
Then she met his blue eyes, finding the confused and intense emotions that she felt in his eyes.
Before she could say anything, he kissed her again.
Every last voice in his head was telling him how wrong it was, how morally wrong it was, and to stop. Telling him he couldn't do it to his wife and Hoot. But he could not stop himself. He could not stop touching her, kissing her. When she returned his kisses with equal fervor, he couldn't be convinced of anything that would make him stop.
When her tongue brushed his, a wave of heat coursed through his body with a intensity that almost brought him to his knees.
Nothing compared to the feelings she made him feel at that moment. Not even during his entire teenage years. The years when any form of petting was seen as a gift from God.
The kisses he returned were anything but innocent, which was what she didn't want. She wanted him. She wanted the man, not a boy. She wanted to feel what he made her feel when he kissed her. The desperate yet intense and almost hungry way he touched her thrilled her, it excited her.
When he touched her, he touched her in a way they both needed. He wasn't afraid of her body. Which was what she had loved about Hoot. After him, she didn't want someone who she would have to teach and mold, she wanted a partner.
Physically, she was more then ready for a new partner, they both were and knew it. But emotionally, neither of them were sure. But, they both knew it. When she broke the kiss, he dropped his forehead to hers and took a breath.
In a ragged voice, he whispered, "What…what are we doing?"
She shook her head, "I don't know."
Softly, he kissed her, then spoke against her lips, "Ok. Well, if you figure out what we're doing, just let me know. Cause I'm…I'm curious."
She grew annoyed, and began to pull away. But Sanderson pulled her back to him. He quietly begged, "Don't shut me out….or pull away from me. I can't handle loosing you too."
Emotion clouded her eyes.
Then, she kissed him, deeply. Just as the elevator doors dinged, before Sanderson even thought to his the button again, a round, white, plucky woman walked in the elevator. At the sight of them she snorted, "Excuse me."
Diana pulled away from Sanderson, angered once again, she began to rage, "What is your problem woman! Do you mind…"
Sanderson looped his arm around her waist and drug her from the elevator.