Author's comments: I know it's short, but I wanted to at least put out something to hopefully keep you guys satiated.

Better Days

Chapter Six

Part One

She awoke with a start at a sound in the other room, and for a brief moment she forgot that Elliot was in the other room and started to go for the gun in the night stand next to her bed. But she remembered then—he was in the living room, standing watch. Not that it would do any good against a murdering kingpin like Wheatley.

For a few brief hours, she had forgotten all about Wheatley while lost in a blissful sleep that had escaped her for days on end. But now she was back in this world, the one where the Wheatleys and Lewises always seemed to find her. Rubbing her eyes, she realized darkness still enveloped the sky, and she knew that she was far from being caught up on sleep.

She got up to use the bathroom and glanced over to find Elliot wide awake, lying shirtless on the couch, staring at her. "You up already?" he said.

"Bathroom break."

He nodded with that tight smile of his that always made the lines in his forehead deepen. She went into the bathroom thinking that it was nice to have someone else here, someone else to guard her home, especially since that someone else was him. She exited the bathroom and froze for a moment. She should probably go back to bed, but she glimpsed him watching her in the darkness and felt a familiar magnetic pull.

What kind of magical hold did he have on her, anyway?

She'd desperately tried to hold onto her anger with him, knowing she was right about everything. He'd never given her the respect of at least admitting the bond between them, even if he couldn't act on it. He'd even given her a letter written by his own wife, denying said bond, even though he'd written the confusing ending that contradicted the rest of the forgery. And he'd come to her for comfort and help in his worst time of need, even though he hadn't bothered to ask her about her life.

And yet, there he sat now, penetrating her with his eyes, dragging her into his sordid, selfish universe once again. Some things never changed.

She thought she had changed, at least, but here she was, ready to wander to his side again, knowing full well that the results wouldn't likely be any different. And so she plodded to the couch and plunked down next to him, ready to accept the same crumbs she always had.

"Wanna talk?" he said softly.

"I don't know. Depends."

"On what?"

She was too tired to answer right away, but then she thought of a response that wouldn't lead to territory too dangerous. "On whether it's going to make me feel better or worse."

He folded his hands into his lap. "I just…wanted to apologize."

"For what?"

He sighed, but she didn't care that this was hard for him. The past decade had been brutal at times for her, even though it had changed her life for the better. But she let him voice his piece now. "I know I've already said it, but I'm really sorry that I wasn't here for you when all those things happened with Lewis."

The words gripped her insides like a vice, and now she felt tears welling up and couldn't understand why. Like he said, he'd already told her this. But he had a look of deep sincerity on his face that she couldn't ignore. "I know I've been selfish at times, and I heard you when you said it really hurt you when I left. Not to take anything from your experience, but it hurt me too." He tentatively grabbed her hand, and she didn't pull away. He kept looking at her like he really wanted to say something but it was too hard. Finally, he whispered, "I missed you so much. I wish I could have told you sooner."

Now a few tears loosed themselves from her eyes, and she tried to staunch the flow before it became a river. "Elliot—"

"Wait." He squeezed her hand. "I'm not quite finished yet. I just wanted to tell you, I can see how much Wheatley hurt you. And I know why you said what you said last night—"

"Elliot, I didn't mean—"

"No, it's okay. I'm sure there is a large part of you that wants him dead. And it's all my fault, because if I'd been here when Lewis got ahold of you—"

"El, it wasn't your fault—"

"I would have killed him, Liv. I would have." He let the words hang between them and settle into her, soaking her with his vengeance. "Just thinking about what he did to you…I would have probably done something similar to what you did, only I would have made sure he was in pain until the minute he stopped breathing. I hate him, even in death, for what he did."

She closed her eyes and imagined Elliot beating Lewis with the metal bar instead of her, burning him, torturing him in ways that she never grew balls enough to do. For a moment, it was satisfying. But then she remembered that beating Lewis hadn't really done anything to assuage her own pain, and it had cost her in the long run.

Maybe she should let her obsession with Wheatley go.

But Elliot continued, "I feel the same way toward Wheatley, and he's still alive. I have this urge to hang him upside down and shove that cattle prod right up his ass." She laughed internally at the thought. "But I know you, Liv. I know that if you told me to flat out murder him in cold blood, I would do it. You know I would. And then you would feel guilty for the rest of your life for ordering a hit on him. You get that, right?"

She bit her bottom lip. "Yeah, I know, El. But I didn't really mean it. I was really tired, and upset, and it was just a slip of the tongue, okay?" He nodded, and she warmed at the admiration in his eyes. "But thank you for saying that you would do that for me."

He touched her face. "I would, you know." Their eyes met, and she saw a twinkle of hope in his that sparked something deep inside her. "I care about you. But it goes deeper than that, Liv. When I said I love you to my family…I really mean that I love you. I don't know why it's so hard for me to say, but—"

She couldn't help herself any longer, and she pulled him to her and kissed him full on, throwing away every reservation she'd ever had. He tensed for a second, as if it was the last reaction he expected from her, but then he gave his mouth to her and opened his lips to deepen the kiss. Sparks flew up her spine, and then he put his hands on her center and she shuddered in delight.

She kept kissing him, and he let her, and his moist lips on hers drew her in until she felt like she might burst at the seams. He stroked her hair, eliciting a soft moan from her. Every time she softened up to pull away, he renewed the kiss, and she floated away on clouds of contentment.

Finally, when it got hard for both of them to breathe, the pulled away from each other as if on cue. He had a dreamy smile on his face, his eyes half open, and she knew he enjoyed every second of it just like she had. "Oh, it's all over now. I will do anything for another one of those."

"Yeah?" she said, still lost in some ecstatic part of heaven. "How about right now?"

His smile widened, and he put his hand on the back of her head and pulled her in for another kiss. Their lips probed one another, and his hand tousling her hair made heat rise up through her center. She pressed into his bare chest, causing a new wave of sparks through her core.

They kept at the kiss for what seemed an eternity, taking short breaks to breath so that they didn't suffocate on the fullness of each other. She wanted to keep going all night, but she felt her energy waning, and she knew she would pass out mid-kiss if she didn't get some more sleep. She halted, resting her head on his shoulder, smelling the pheromones on his neck. He clutched her tight, holding her in his arms like he might die if he let go.

"You're tired," he said softly. "Let's get you back to bed."

"Lay next to me?"

He hesitated for a second, but she knew he wouldn't take advantage of her so soon after her ordeal, or she wouldn't have asked him. "Sure."

She led him into the bedroom by his hand, and he let her get comfortable and then lay behind her, spooning her. He didn't press hard into her, so she couldn't feel if he had an erection or not, but if he was on the same high she was, he was probably stiff as a board. Still, he stroked her arm gently, sending chills through her nerve endings. She pulled his arm around her and held onto it with a vice grip.

But she had one last thing to do before she fell asleep, and so she turned to face him, lying with her face just a breath away from his. "El?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you too."

She couldn't see his face in the dark, but he squeezed her so tight that there was no question about how he felt.

"I promise, Liv, I will always be here to protect you now."

With those words, and his muscled arms encasing her, she could finally sleep.