When Elena walked back into Sophia's room an hour later, Anton was not there with her. The little brunette child was full awake and reading a storybook to the plush shark sitting in her lap. Sophia looked up from her page and said, "Hi, Elena."
"Where's Anton?" Elena asked her.
Sophia closed the book and set it aside and said to her, "He left."
"Oh?" Elena asked, walking over to the little girl. "Did he say anything to you?"
Sophia shook her head and said, "No."
Elena placed the back of her hand to Sophia's forehead and then to her cheek. "Your fever's gone down", she said. "You gonna be okay tonight?"
Sophia lowered her eyes and nodded her head slightly. "I guess so", she said, sadly. She looked up at Elena and said to her, "I wanna go home."
Elena sat down on the bed and stroked the top of Sophia's head and said to her, "I know, baby. I miss having you back at the house, too. But I promise, as soon as you're strong enough, I will bring you back home."
Sophia embraced Elena, who hugged her back in return and forced herself to hold back tears.
"Can I see Mr. Anton again?" Sophia asked her nurse, who was also her mother.
"I can ask him if he wants to see you again", Elena answered.
"Okay."
Five minutes later, Elena finished her shift for the day and left the hospital at 5:29. Sophia had informed her that Anton mentioned something about going to a bar, and because of this information, Elena knew just where to look for him. Walking into the bar she had entered not more than a few days ago, Elena found Anton sitting at the counter, a bottle of beer in front of him. She walked over to him and sat down next to his right side.
"I thought I'd find you here", said Elena.
"Did Sophia tell you where to find me?" Anton asked her, taking a drink of beer.
"Yes, she told me", Elena answered.
"How ya doin', Elena?" Said the man behind the counter, who was cleaning a beer mug with a dishtowel. He had blond hair and looked to be in his late thirties.
"Hello, Mr. Erikson", said Elena.
"What can I get ya?"
"Just a lite beer, please."
"Yah, you bet."
Mr. Erikson set the beer mug down and threw the dishtowel onto his shoulder, as he walked away for a minute to place her order.
Elena folded her arms on top of the counter and turned her head left to look at Anton, asking him, "So, what did you think of her?"
"She's all right", Anton answered, not looking at her.
Mr. Erikson returned and placed a bottle of lite beer in front of Elena, who thanked him and paid for her drink.
After the owner of the establishment walked away to attend to other customers, Anton looked at Elena and asked her, "Are you aware of Sophia's powers?"
Elena's eyes widen, as she looked at Anton with shock and asked him, "She told you about that?"
Anton said nothing, but turned his head and looked away from her, fearing the worst, but not letting it show on his face.
Elena looked over her shoulder to see if anybody was listening, before she looked back at Anton and asked him in a hushed voice, "What did she tell you?"
"She claimed to have looked into my past", Anton answered. "She said I had a terrible life and that I was lonely."
"Did you believe her?" Elena asked him, keeping her voice down.
Anton let out an exasperated sigh and tilted his head back, his eyes staring up at the ceiling. "I don't know, Elena", he said.
Reminiscing her own discovery about the Sophia child's gift, Elena looked away from Anton and opened the bottle of lite beer, taking a hard swallow. She shuddered and set the bottle down onto the counter and said to herself, "That's so strange."
Anton looked at her and asked, "How strange?"
Elena looked at him and explained, "Sophia doesn't like anybody knowing about it. She thinks people will see her as being-"
"Different?"
"Yes."
"She doesn't have any friends?"
"Yeah, she's got a couple of friends. Three, actually."
Anton paused for a minute and asked Elena, "How did she come to inherit this power?" He followed his question with another sip of beer.
"Natalia", Elena answered.
"Mmm." Anton set the bottle down and asked Elena, "When did she pass away?"
Elena lowered her sad-filled turquoise eyes and answered, "February 25th of this year. After that, I brought Sophia home with me. I only had her for about three weeks and then..." Elena paused herself, not sure whether to continue or not. She looked at Anton and decided to press on. "...A week after she was administrated to the hospital, Andrew attacked me in my own house. If Sophia had been there when he..." Elena felt tears starting to form in her eyes and lowered her face, avoiding his gaze.
"You're not going to start crying in public, are you?" Anton asked her, almost threateningly.
"No, I'm not going to start crying", Elena told him, looking away as she dried the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath. "It's just that Sophia is my responsibility now, and if anything happens to her, I'd rather put a bullet in my brain."
With having those words being spoken from her own lips, Elena took another swig of lite beer and set the bottle down, sighing to herself.
Anton looked away from her and said to himself, "Entonces Dios los ayude a los dos, porque no puedo", and took another drink of beer himself.
Elena looked at him and asked, "What was that?"
Anton shook his head and said, "Nothing."
"Since when did you start speaking Spanish?" Elena asked him.
Anton looked at Elena with a little smile on his face and reminded her, "You don't need to know everything about me."
Elena smiled at him and picked up her bottle of lite beer and asked him in a friendly manner, "Is that a challenge?"
The next day, Elena went to work, same as always, while Anton decided to stay home. Once she had left, the hitman stood out on the front porch of the house and sat down on the swinging bench, pondering himself, as well as the decisions he had made throughout his life. Ever since the night his parents were murdered, Anton Chigurh only looked to one thing to give him guidance, which was fate, but over the last twelve hours or so, he had started to question his belief in it. There was something about the way Sophia reminded him about his past, reminded him about the hitman he once was. He had always thought himself a Godlike individual among men, an incarceration of violence and death. And while he still held no shame or remorse for his actions, Anton realized now that it was a stupid thing to do. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that had he not committed those murders in the first place, the hands of fate would never have brought him to Elena. His thoughts of continuing his life of contract killing grew less and less each day, and focused more on the brunette woman with the turquoise eyes, the woman he was in love with.
Later that evening, as he was sitting in the living room on the couch reading a romance novel, Anton heard Elena open the door and walk into the house. Once he heard her close the door, Anton looked up from his page and turned his head left and saw Elena standing next to him. She had a huge smile on her face and was holding something behind her back.
"You wish to tell me something?" Anton asked her.
Elena showed him an album sleeve with an image of a dark-skinned man wearing a straw hat and glasses. "Look what I got", she told him in a singsong tone.
Unamused, Anton returned his attention back to his book and asked her in a flat tone, "Why should that interest me?"
"I got my paycheck today", Elena told him, walking over to the phonograph and opening up the sleeve. "I stopped by the record store before they closed and asked if they had any Spanish music. After hearing you speak it yesterday, I thought a little culture might be good for a change." Elena took out the record and placed it in the center of the phonograph, bringing the tonearm over and setting the needle down gently onto the vinyl. She turned to Anton and said to him, "I almost decided to skip the idea and just go with the Eagles, but let's face it, nothing is better than John Denver...What was the name of that general guy that led the Third Army into Germany in 1944?"
"You are referring to General George Patton?" Anton asked her, not looking at her as he turned a page of the book he was reading.
"Yes!" Elena exclaimed, beaming with excitement. "Jesus Christ, General Patton, and John Denver. Those are my top three favorite men in the whole world." With that said, Elena turned on the switch and let the music start to play.
As the exotic sounds of Cuban voices filled the house and sang in a language she had no idea what they were talking about, Elena started bobbing her head to the beat of the music. She then decided to partake in a series of random dance movements, and even though she had no sense of rhythm or grace, Elena did not seem to notice, or even the fact that Anton was watching her. Cute as it was, or so he thought, the look on his face showed that he did not understand the concept of her waltz. How could she not grasp the idea that she was making a fool of herself in front of him? Did she know nothing about the meaning of humiliation?
"Do you have any idea how ridiculous you look?" Anton asked her, looking slightly irritated.
"No, but that's the point", Elena told him, whirling around in a spin. She then looked at Anton, moving her shoulders to the feel of the music, and asked him, "Would you care to dance with me?"
"I don't dance", Anton told her. "I don't sing either."
"Your loss", said Elena.
"It's not a loss", said Anton, tilting his head slightly to the right. "I just prefer not to."
Elena stopped her random dancing and looked at him with a disappearing smile.
Anton returned his attention back to the book and said nothing.
Elena let out a breath of a sigh and turned down the volume. She walked over to Anton and sat down on the edge of the coffee table, placing her hands on either side and leaning back a bit. She then turned her head left and looked at him.
"You know what your problem is, Anton? You don't know how to have fun."
Anton looked at her and said, "There's more to life than having fun, Elena."
Elena sighed dreamily and gave him a slight smile. "Maybe so, but at least I'm not afraid to express myself."
Anton set the book he was reading aside and stood up from the couch. He walked around to stand himself in front of Elena, who sat up straight and stared up at him with a meek and mild look in her eyes. She had almost forgotten how intimidating he was the way he towered over her like that. And yet, in a strange way, Elena felt herself being turned on just by the way he was looking at her. His dark brown eyes, which were usually cold and filled with disdain, seemed genuinely warm and gentle for a change. If it weren't for his broken left arm, the brunette nurse would have let him have his way with her right there, right now.
"You know what your problem is, Elena?" Anton questioned her. "You need to find yourself a man."
"I already have one", Elena told him, smiling again. "And he's standing right here in my living room."
"I meant a real man", said Anton.
"But you are a real man", Elena insisted. She paused for a minute, her smile dropping, and asked him, "You're not a queer, are you?"
"If I was, do you think I would be standing here right now?" Anton questioned her, sounding snarky.
Elena was silent for a minute. She lowered her head in shame, wishing she hadn't asked him that, and spoke in a low, soft voice, "I suppose not."
Anton shook his head and said to her, "No, I wouldn't."
Elena said nothing and avoided his gaze.
Anton knelt himself in front of her and placed his right hand under her chin and brought it up for Elena's eyes to meet with his. He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and brought his hand around to the back of her head, freeing her ponytail and letting her long hair flow down past her shoulders.
"What you see is a man, but what you don't see is the man behind the mask", said Anton, as he stroked his hand down her left arm and moved his palm onto the flat surface of her stomach, pushing Elena back gently as she lied herself down against the coffee table.
"Oh, I'm sure", said Elena, breathlessly.
Anton placed his hand on his knee and stood up and slowly walked around to her right side. Their eyes never broke contact. A minute of silence stood between them, despite the low volume of Cuban music playing in the background. The hitman knelt beside the nurse and lightly traced his fingers along the inner portion of her right leg, to which Elena closed her eyes and allowed a soft moan of pleasure to escape from her parted lips.
Anton smiled at her in the most terrifying way possible, though she did not see it. "You have no idea what I'm capable of doing to you."
Feeling his hand trailing further up toward her thigh, Elena moaned louder and turned her head left and brought her hand up next to her face, still keeping her eyes closed and desperately resisting the urge to squirm underneath his touch.
Anton chuckled to himself, a mischievous look on his face, but quickly reverted back to his serious self and leaned his face closer to Elena's. He halted his caressing of her inner leg and brought his hand up to place it around the pale of her neck.
"You wish to know what it feels like, don't you?" Anton asked her soothingly, running the pad of his thumb slowly against her lower lip. "To surrender what is yours and have your barrier walls broken?"
"Yes", Elena whispered, longing for more.
"To know what is feel like to be a real woman?" Anton tempted her.
"Yes", Elena moaned, feeling his hot breath brush against her lips.
"To be overpowered by a man who would fuck you senseless to the point where you would willingly submit yourself to him?" Anton asked her, almost growling.
"Yes!" Elena groaned in sexual frustration. The heaviness in his voice was driving her mad to the point where she could almost feel the hot-blooded rush of arousal seeping between her legs, her heart fluttering inside her chest.
Just when he was about ready to take advantage of the situation, Anton stood up again and said to her, "Perhaps we should do this some other time."
Elena opened her eyes and turned her head right. She sat up at once and watched him cross the living room. "What are you saying? You don't want to?"
Anton turned off the phonograph completely and looked back at Elena. "I just don't want you to get any menstrual blood on me", he said.
Caught off guard by his unimaginable choice of words, Elena raised her eyebrows at him, looking offended. She stood up and walked over to Anton, eying him angrily, and said to him, "This conversation never happened. And now if you'll excuse me, I need to take a shower."