Thanks again as always for the reviews! This ch. is a little shorter than the last couple have been. Hope you like it though.
(Joanne's POV)
Even though I didn't set an alarm last night, I still woke up around the same time I do every morning to get ready to go to work. I rolled over to see Maureen still sound asleep, not a surprising sight at all. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful laying there asleep. I just laid there and watched her sleep for awhile. She was being so great through all of this, even if she didn't think so herself. I know she doesn't think she is helping me but she's helping me so much just by understanding and attempting to her best; which is completely enough for me. I so much wanted to reach over and wrap my arms around her and just hold her. But I couldn't. Something inside of me was holding me back from doing so. I understand that I was almost raped and that surely would instill some fear into anyone, but this was my girlfriend, someone I truly loved and have never been threatened by. I keep telling myself just to give myself time and it will go away, but I'm starting to wonder now if that is logical. Will this scared, timid attitude of mine ever really go away? Will Maureen and I ever really get to have the relationship we had before all of this happened? I just laid there, starring at her, rerunning these questions through my mind. I loved her so much and I hated seeing her in pain, no matter the cause of it. She had her pain to deal with, now the pain of trying to help me; our lives were so messed up right now. I reached over and gently ran my hand down her soft curly dark hair. A small grin slowly crept across her face. Her eyes never opened though. After laying there for quite sometime I went ahead and got out of bed.
I had decided to go ahead and start a pot of coffee. After last night I figured Maureen might like a cup or two this morning. I went ahead and poured a cup for myself, grabbed a blanket from the couch, wrapped it around me and went out on the fire escape. The morning air was crisp; the sky clear blue…it was a beautiful New York morning. From inside I could hear our phone ringing and ran back inside hoping to answer it before it woke Maureen up.
"Hello," my voice cracked from having not spoken yet this morning.
"Hello, Joanne is that you?"
"Yes it's me dad. What do you want?" It was early and I really wasn't in the mood to talk about anything having to do with the firm. I figured that was why he had called, I was wrong though.
"They found Steve last night." Ever since my encounter with Steve he had been missing. I'm sure hiding out knowing that he was in a heap of trouble. "He's in jail right now. Judge Andrews called me and told me that they would not being releasing him on bond either, flight risk you know."
"Well that's good," I was completely relieved to hear this. I had figured since it was a lawyer they would actually go ahead and post bond. "So when is the hearing?"
"They haven't set a date yet for it. I just wanted you to know that they found him and he's in jail now. Sweetie you don't have to worry because I'm going to make sure he stays there too." My dad was very protective of me. I was his only daughter, so it was only natural for him to be so protective. I could hear my mom in the background mumbling and bitching about something. It wouldn't surprise me if it was something to do with it being unfair how they weren't setting bond for Steve.
"Thanks daddy. Let me know when you hear anything else please."
"Of course sweetie. You tell Maureen I said hello and thank her for taking care of my baby for me." Unlike my mom, my dad had always liked Maureen. As long as you are happy is what he always told me; and I think he knew that Maureen did truly make me happy, so he was happy. We said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone returning out to the fire escape. This time I took the phone with me so that I wouldn't have to go running back in after it if it rang again.
Sure enough about ten minutes later the phone was ringing once again. When I answered the phone I was completely shocked to hear Roger's voice on the other end. It was only about 8 in the morning and Roger was awake and awake enough to make a phone call. This was totally out of character for Roger. However, he said that he was calling of course to see how I was doing; figured the earlier he called the less likely it was for Maureen to be awake and potentially get pissed. He also wanted to call and let me know that he was going to take Mimi out for her birthday tonight and wanted all of us to come with them. There was this little bar that he wanted all of us to go to, he said around ten and of course I told him that Maureen and I would be there. We talked a little while longer, pretty much about nothing, before hanging up.
"Care if I join you?" I turned around to surprisingly enough see Maureen making her way out on the fire escape.
"I'd love if you did."
She made her way out and went and stood away from me. I'm sure this was a conscious effort due to her promise she had made me. I could see her body shaking from the cold. Only thing she had on was what she wore to bed; a pair of boxers and my NYU t-shirt. I could tell she was trying to hide the fact of how cold she was.
"Come here," I quietly told her as I opened up the blanket.
I could see the question in her eyes, "are you sure?"
"Just come here. It's too cold to be standing out here without a blanket." It was surprising to even me that I was saying this. It had been so hard for me lately to even let her touch me in any way, now we are wrapped up in a blanket together on the fire escape.
She slowly walked over to me and moved into the blanket. I wrapped my arm around her, draping the blanket around her. She was standing there making an effort not to cuddle her body to close into mine. But without even thinking about it, I pulled her body closer into mine. She latched her arms around my waist, her head resting on my shoulder. This was nice.
"My dad called earlier he said hello and thanks." I was trying to ease my way into the topic of Steve.
"Thanks, for what?"
"For taking care of me," I squeezed her a little tighter.
"Is that all he called for?" She knew that even though my dad loved me and didn't object to our relationship, he typically only called for business reasons.
"Well," I paused for awhile gathering the courage to bring up the topic, "they found Steve last night, they have him in jail. No bond."
"Good, I hope he rots in there." I could tell that the mention of him had made her pissed off. She hadn't moved though, I'm glad she didn't. I wasn't sure once I let go of her when I'd be able to hold her like that again. Even though we were holding onto each other now, I could still feel the nervousness inside of me.
"Also, Roger is taking Mimi out to the bar on 12th street tonight, he wants us to go. I told him we'd meet them there, hope you don't mind." I never really thought she would, but then again she has really been into this just the two of us thing lately.
"Well no I guess that's fine." I could tell she'd rather not, but there she was again trying to help me, knowing that this was something I wanted to do.
"Thanks baby," after saying this to her I smiled realizing that it was the first time I had called her baby since this happened to me. Maybe everything was going to be ok.
She must of realized that I had finally called her baby again too because her head was soon off of my shoulder and she was gazing into my eyes. She then leaned over and kissed me. I tried, but I couldn't. I quickly pulled away and went back inside. I left her standing outside with the blanket alone. She must of stayed out there for about ten or fifteen minutes before she came back inside. Thankfully though she didn't even mention what had happened. I think she just understood. I knew though that this was getting hard for her, it was getting hard for me too.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Maureen and I pretty much just sat around the apartment. We watched a movie and some television. We talked some, but not about anything that had happened recently. Just about life in general I guess. We also pulled out some old photos and looked at them. That may have been my favorite part of the day. We were curled up beside each other on the couch looking at photos from our past couple of years together. Maureen would occasionally find ones she thought everyone needed to see, so she'd pull them out laying them aside. It was a nice day we got to spend together. Never did our lips meet or our hands wonder over one another's body, but it was nice to just sit with her, talk to her, and hear her laugh again. It was just what I needed.
We eventually got ready, heading out the door to grab some dinner before going and finding something for Mimi's birthday and heading over to the party. I'm sure this was going to prove to be one memorable night.
Ok so how was it...let me know what you thought. As always I'll try to post the next ch. asap. Trying to make it more on the funny side...a lot of drama and tension going on lately, figure I might lighten up the fic a little with the next ch. After all it is Mimi's birthday. Please review...thanks for reading!