Her hands were shaking so badly that she dropped her phone onto dewy grass twice before she managed to type in the passcode. Face ID had failed her, unfortunately, and she supposed she couldn't fault the recognition software on her iPhone-if she could barely see herself under her swollen, soon to be black eye and split lip, how could she expect her phone to? She drew in a deep, trembling breath and tried her hardest to keep herself together as she scrolled through her contacts, pausing briefly before hitting the 'call' button underneath Cormoran's name and photo. She knew he was the one person she could call, no questions asked, day or night, any time. Besides that, he was the only person on the face of the earth that she wanted (needed) right now. She brought the phone up to her ear and listened as it rang once, twice, thrice before she heard his raspy and sleep-sluggish voice in her ear.
"Erm…'lo R'bin." He was silent for a moment as his brain processed who he was speaking to. When he spoke again, Cormoran was alert, and concerned to the point of barely repressed panic. "Robin? Where are you? Are you alright?"
Robin winced as she tried to form words with her sore, stinging mouth. She managed to whisper, "Corm," before she erupted into keening sobs. She gripped her phone tightly, as if it were a lifeline, as all the hurt, fear, and rage of the events of the evening were released in the form of tears streaming down her face. "Fuck," she heard Cormoran, her office partner and best mate (who had always felt like more than just a friend) mutter into her ear, followed by the sounds of a belt buckle clinging, and the hurried zip of jeans. "Robin, love, where are you?" The concern and care in his voice had her weeping once more. She heard him slam the door of his attic flat in the background, and the thought that he was coming to, for, her calmed her down enough to convey to him her location.
After assuring him that she wouldn't move and that she would stay on the line with him until he arrived, she closed her eyes and focused on calming her breathing. She, Robin Ellacott, had hit rock bottom. Despite seeing the signs, she had stayed in a relationship that had turned emotionally and verbally abusive. Tonight, when she had tried to end that relationship, 'physical' had been added to that list. Never again, she vowed to herself, as she pulled her sweater tighter around her and waited for the one reliable and safe person in her life to get to her.
"Can't you go any fucking faster?" Cormoran growled, heart racing and stump throbbing after he had jammed his leg into his prosthesis, forgetting the gel liner in his haste. Not trusting himself to drive in his state of sheer terror from hearing Robin cry brokenly into his ear, he'd hailed a cab whose driver was somehow managing to make what should have been a ten minute drive seem endless, even though the streets were virtually clear of traffic due to the late hour. The cabbie met his eyes in the rear-view mirror, looking irritated at first, but that disappeared when he saw the fear in Cormoran's eyes. The driver's mouth set into a determined line as he increased his speed, brushing away the murmured rush of thanks from the bulky man in the backseat. "Robin, I'm almost there," Cormoran said softly, his heart shattering once again at the sound of the woman who was everything to him sniffling and sounding so sad as she made a hum of acknowledgment, before she returned to the task of evening out her breathing. She hadn't wanted to speak anymore, once she'd been able to tell him where she was. When he'd heard her doing her breathing exercises, he had remained silent, other than a few softly spoken encouragements when her breaths stuttered out of rhythm. He wasn't exactly sure (although he had a pretty good fucking idea) what had transpired tonight, but he knew that it was bad, and that Robin was just narrowly holding herself together. Knowing her past trauma from when she was in university, Cormoran knew it was crucial to be free of any signs of anger or anything that could be interpreted as intimidating, so as not to trigger Robin anymore than she already had been. Too worried to even smoke, he fidgeted restlessly until the cab came to a stop in front of the grocery shop near the flat that Robin shared with her estranged wanker of a husband. Cormoran knew things between Robin and Matthew had been frayed for quite some time, even before the two had (in his opinion) senselessly married. Heaving himself out of the cab with a grunt to the cabbie to wait, he rushed his way over to the fiery headed figure sitting against the front of the shop building, noting even from this distance that she was hunched over and that her shoulders were trembling as if she were again crying. Ignoring the sharp throb radiating throughout his stump, which was quickly becoming chafed, he made his way to Robin as quickly as his body allowed, which was infuriatingly a good deal slower than he would have preferred. Finally reaching her, he inwardly cursed in frustration that he couldn't kneel in front of her as he so desperately wanted. His fingers reached out longingly to touch her, but he restrained himself, not wanting to scare her or upset her anymore. He tried to swallow the lump of emotion that had formed in his throat the second he'd heard her cries over the phone, and had continued to grow to an almost painful size at the sight of his friend, business partner-the woman he knew he had, without meaning to, fallen in love with-, folded in upon herself, looking so defeated and wilted in the dimly lit car park. Once he was sure he could speak properly, he drew in a breath and uttered just loud enough to be heard, "Robin, I'm here."
She didn't respond immediately, but he saw the quavering of her shoulders cease before increasing tenfold. Without realizing, his eyes had filled with tears that spilled over when Robin, face filled with shame, lifted her head, and he saw her face, her beautiful face, swollen, bloody, and bruised. "Oh, honey," he choked out, somehow keeping his voice steady even though all he wanted to do was punch the shit out of the brick storefront he faced. She wouldn't, couldn't? meet his eyes. "Robin, please look at me," he implored, voice breaking before he could finish his sentence, no longer able to hide his emotions. "Corm," she winced as she forced the words from her throat which was raw from all the screaming and crying she'd done. Her eyes rested on him the best they could, being that the left one was turning an angry shade of purple and was swollen almost completely shut. Her eyes welled up again, but the tears this time were ones of relief. Robin was about to say more when Cormoran reached his hand out to her. "Come here. Please."
Wrapping both of her dainty hands around the immense one he offered, she pulled herself up. Standing before him, staring into the warmest, kindest eyes of anyone she had ever met, she knew that she could now safely fall apart. Knowing that she would never face judgment or criticism from him, she wrapped her arms around herself and whispered, "Cormoran, he hurt me. I tried to end things and-and-"
Robin's eyes slid shut as the events of earlier she had been so determinedly keeping out of her mind came rushing back in, and it took every single ounce of inner strength she had left to not to break down again. "The things he said to me. What he said he wanted to do to me. I've never been more scared, not even when I was stabbed. Not even when Rafael was pointing a gun at me."
Her face crumpled and Cormoran stepped forward, longing to take her in his arms, but not willing to cross that line without her consent and when she was in such a traumatized state. "What do you need me to do, love?" The term of endearment once again slipped off his tongue without him meaning it to. "I think we need to get you A&E and notify the police." Head shaking vehemently, Robin refused. "No. No. I don't want to. Please don't make me. I just want to stay with you, please don't leave me." She took in his shocked expression, and sensing that he was about to argue the issue, spoke again before he could. "I know I have to do those things. I know. It's just that…"
"It's just that what?" There was a vulnerability in Cormoran's eyes that she hadn't seen before. It was in this moment that she knew she wasn't the only one who had been feeling what she'd been feeling developing between them. Normally, she wouldn't ever be so bold or forward, but after suffering through the hurt she had tonight, she was done. Done hiding her feelings behind her pathetic facade of a marriage. It wasn't the time or place to make any grand declaration of feelings, so she kept it simple. "It's just that you're what got me through."
His blue eyes widened and what she saw in them told her all she needed to know. He loved her. Whether as a best mate or more, he loved her. Suddenly, words began pouring out of her. "You're what got me through tonight. Think up an excuse to get out the door and then call Strike, I thought, everything will be okay if you can just get to him. And…honestly, the last few years…you are what has gotten me through. And right now, all I want is to be with you. Can you please take me to yours? At least for a bit?" She knew she was begging but she didn't care. He slowly, gently, carefully brought his hand to her face, watching for any flinching or fear. Seeing none, he softly brushed his rough fingers across her face, assessing the damage. He ignored the skip of his heart when her eyes fluttered closed and she leaned into his touch. While Robin's skin was marred by bruises and a few abrasions, her bottom lip was slightly split, and she had one hell of a shiner, it didn't appear that she immediately needed to be seen by A&E. Cormoran was accustomed to getting these kinds of injuries on a regular basis, and he had all the supplies needed to treat them. He reached his decision easily, but he had a few conditions. "Promise me," he said, "that you will talk to police tomorrow. I'll go with you, if you like."
She held his gaze and nodded in agreement. "When we get back to mine, we need to take photos of your injuries. The ones I can see, and any that I cannot. I hate to force the issue, but in order for Matthew to be charged as he deserves, we need the photographic evidence."
Robin nodded again, with less enthusiasm. He gave her a small smile. "After we take pictures, I'll doctor you up the best I can. Then you can clean up, borrow some clothes."
The thought of a shower and fresh clothes brightened her visibly. She inched closer to him, needing to be closer to his warmth, to him. He faltered for a moment, forgetting what he had been about to say. He opened his arms, silently offering what she had wanted since she called him. She walked into his arms, and Cormoran carefully pulled her into him. She wound her arms around the reassuring thickness of his waist, and felt, for the first time since she had left the office that afternoon, that she could breathe again.
"Please take me home." She burrowed into his chest as much as she could without hurting her face. She knew he would take that to mean that she thought of the office as her home, but Robin had come to learn that home was anywhere he was. Cormoran led her to the waiting cab and made sure she had gotten in painlessly before sliding in next to her. She was pressing her bruised cheek onto the soothing coolness of the window glass, but she reached out the hand closet to him, seeking. He took her hand into his, head spinning. He knew that when she was okay again that he was going to replay what she'd said to him in his mind over and over again. For now though, he banished those thoughts, and just held Robin's hand. One step at a time, he told himself. Get her to mine, take photos. She showers and changes, and then hopefully sleeps. And while she did, he would begin relentlessly building an airtight case against her piece of garbage husband. It was the best thing he could do, although he desperately wished he could pummel the motherfucker. That would hurt and scare Robin though, which meant that it was out of the question. While he couldn't prevent her from ever getting hurt again, he could sure as hell make sure he wasn't the one doing it. Fifteen minutes later, he paid the cabbie, tipping him generously. Then, he and Robin slowly made their way to his flat upstairs. Once they were inside, he locked the door behind him, watching Robin in concern. Silently, she unbuttoned her blouse, easing it off her shoulders, and stood before him in her camisole. Her lips trembled as she watched him take in the angry, dark fingerprint-shaped bruises covering her slender, delicate arms. "Christ, Robin," Cormoran was gutted. "Did he hurt you anywhere else?" She shook her head. "Did he…erm, force-"
"No. He didn't try anything…sexual. He was quite horrified at what he had done by the time I convinced him to let me leave. I think," her voice wavered and she took a moment to steady it. "I think he knew that that would be taking it too far."
"Taking it too far?!" He hissed. "All of this is too far, I can't believe what he did to you. Robin, I-" He appeared to be on the verge of tears, and she wished she could comfort him. This was too much for her to handle. "Strike," she said, quickly getting his attention by using his surname, "I know, and you're right. Please just take these photos so you don't have to look at me like this anymore. So I can get clean and cover myself up. Because I don't want to look at it either.
"Hopefully I can get some sleep, and then tomorrow, we go to the police and go about taking his ass down."
He stared at her for a minute, then took his phone out of his pocket and began the somber, difficult heartbreaking task of documenting her injuries snapping photo after photo of the damage Matthew had inflicted upon her.
He didn't allow himself to lose his shit until she was in his bathroom, finally washing away the grime that had accumulated between then and now. He quietly made his way out the door and hobbled down to the office. Once inside, he flew into an emotional frenzy-he wanted nothing more than to punch or break everything in the room, but even on the verge of losing control, he didn't. It would hurt Robin, (and himself, obviously, as his entire working life was contained in this room) he refused. He fucking refused. Instead, he sank into Robin's desk chair and gave in to the sadness swirling inside of him. He buried his face in his hands and cried like he hadn't ever cried before- not even the death of his mother or Charlottes lies and games had invoked this visceral of a reaction in him. He was many things, but Cormoran Strike was not stupid. He had been in denial about his feelings for Robin for years now, but after tonight, there was no fooling himself. The most important thing in his life was her. And from tonight forward, he was going to make sure she knew it. Whatever she needed him to be, he would be. Right now, that would obviously be by being her friend. Everything else, he could deal with later. Wiping away the lingering wetness on his cheeks, he grabbed the tin of office biscuits and a handful of Robin's favorite tea bags and made his way back upstairs. One step at a time, he told himself.
