Chapter Three

Caden sighed loudly and slammed her laptop closed. Who the fuck was knocking that loud, this late at night? She didn't even know anyone in England. Her sister would never travel outside of the states; she was scared of the oceans, and of planes.

Eames was the only person she knew, and he had a key. She had given it to him two weeks ago, and he had given her a key to his.

She marched to the door, pulling her sweater tighter around her chest. She wasn't wearing a bra, and she looked a mess, having just fucked off all day, typing and taking calls. She peeked through the hole, and stepped back in shock when she saw Eames standing there, looking over his shoulder and holding onto his arm.

The locks were quickly opened and she pulled the door, staring out at him.

"Where's your key?" She asked, touching his arm lightly, the one he wasn't holding onto. He grimaced and then smiled.

"Got knicked." He answered, and she moved out of the way, letting him in, her eyes still wide with shock. His shirt was torn and his unmatched jacket was disheveled.

"Knicked?" Caden repeated, following behind him quietly as he walked to the bathroom, pulling his coat off slowly on the way before clamping his hand back over his shoulder and tossing the jacket onto the couch, and Caden realized that the inside of his jacket sleeve was coated in blood, and his entire shirtsleeve was deep red.

"I dropped it." Eames said simply, unbuttoning his shirt with one hand, the other still clamped over his shoulder. Caden came around him and undid the buttons for him, pulling it carefully away from his bloody arm.

"We gotta get out of town, babe." He said to her, pushing her slightly aside and turned the sink on, splashing the cold water over his arm before peeling at the strip of fabric he had wrapped around his bicep, a handkerchief.

"Why?" Caden asked quietly, still staring at him. "Baby, what happened?"

"I got attacked, Caden." He mumbled, looking at her and leaning against the counter now, just holding his upper arm. She came to stand next to him, and he pulled her to him with his good arm, and held her there against his warm naked chest. She looked up at him quietly and he stared back, his dark blue eyes roving over her face. She could see the gears in his head turning, and he bit into his bottom lip.

"Why did you get attacked, Eames?" Caden asked him, leaning away from him and reaching to touch his bloody arm. "This is a bullet-hole, isn't it?" She asked him, touching the open wound. "Did the bullet come out or is it stuck in your arm?"

"I dug it out already." He said, staring at her quietly. She leaned up to him and kissed him lightly and he pulled her against him, kissing her deeply. "Run away with me, Caden." He mumbled, stroking her cheek. She frowned at him and he just stared, frowning back, now.

"Why?"

"Why what? I love you. Run away with me." He said, making it sound simple. He was still holding onto his arm, and she stayed quiet. In the three months they had been in whatever type of 'together' they were, they had never said 'I love you'. Now didn't seem like a good time to change that, not with a hole in his arm, not with blood practically pouring onto her floor.

"Baby, tell me what's going on? Why do you have to leave? Why do you have a bullet-hole in your arm? Just... Why everything?" She said in slight exasperation, pushing his hand away from his bulky arm, his huge muscles. She pushed her hand over it, and just stared down at the blood, knowing she had nothing to patch this up with; she rarely got injuries that needed anything more than a Band-Aid or an ice pack and some Advil. "You need a doctor..." She said after a long silence of his thinking.

"You think so...?" He answered, smiling softly at her.

"Doesn't mean you get to avoid my questions." Eames gave her a quiet look and sighed, nodding.

"I won't." She nodded softly and found a ratty towel in her drawer, pushing it over his arm.

"Tell me when we get there." She said simply.

"I think we'll need coffee after." He answered her, pulling lightly on her chin, making her look at him before kissing her. "Its probably gonna take a while."

"I didn't expect it to be simple." She answered, kissing him back.

***Caden sat quietly in the waiting room, waiting for the doctors to finish putting blood into Eames and to stitch him up and whatever else needed to happen.

She already knew who had attacked him and why, but for some reason she wanted him to tell her. Was it a trust issue? She wished she had her computer. She couldn't think unless she was writing.

Eames wandered out of a random hallway, not the same one he had gone into, and she stood up, handing him a clean shirt, as the t-shirt he was wearing now had also ended up covered in blood, and she had seen it coming. He smiled at her and thanked her quietly before taking her hand gently, and pulling the shirt from her fingers. He tucked it under his arm and pulled her hand now.

"Is everything okay?" She asked, and he nodded, taking her arm and leading her forcefully through the door and outside into the cold. "Are you sure?" She asked him, staring up at him now.

"We have to go. Now." She continued to stare at him.

"Go where?" Caden asked, being dragged behind Eames as he walked briskly down the block, and onto the next. "Baby, my car..."

"Leave it." He answered, looking over his shoulder suddenly and raising his arm up. A taxi pulled up to the curb and he opened the door, urging Caden in quickly. The cabbie looked over his shoulder at the two of them, and Eames pulled the shirt on over his bloody arm, and buttoned it up. "Airport." He mumbled.

Caden stared at Eames, pressed against her arm tiredly in the back of the cab.

"Baby, I'm not going to the airport with you, I need to get my shit if I'm going anywhere,"

"Caden, love, you have to come with. I'll explain it on the plane, but right now you really don't have a choice but to trust me and come with me." Caden's mouth dropped open, and she quickly closed it back up, shooting a halfway glare at the tired man next to her in the disgusting seat. It was better than the New York cabs, cleaner at least, but it was still coating in at least a months worth of crap. Why couldn't she just drive?

"What plane, Mr. Eames? Where are we going?"

"I don't know yet." Caden frowned at him angrily. "Whatever one is leaving, Love." Eames sighed in quiet anger and leaned back against the seat to glare up at the ceiling, breathing calmly. She stared at his profile quietly before reaching to touch his chest. He ignored her and she turned forward to pout, crossing her arms determinedly over her chest.

He sighed loudly and turn to frown at her. She stared straight ahead, her lips stuck out in their cute pout. Eames cupped a hand around her cheek and forced her to look at him. She stared up into his dark blue eyes and pouted on, and he pressed his lips against hers.

"Hey," he called up to the driver, sliding an arm around Caden's shoulders. "Take us back to Olive and main." He mumbled. The driver growled a response and pulled an illegal U-turn. Eames leaned back and pulled Caden against him.

"So you can pack." He said, very simply. She continued to watch him, his fingers tangling through her curls.

"Why do you have to leave, Eames?"

"We." He answered. "We both do."

"But why."

"Because of... My work." He said, quietly. Trying to keep his answers vague and short. It wasn't like she didn't know what he did, just she wanted to know what he would say. She didn't know the full details. Was something gone wrong? Had he tried something new and failed? Had someone found out what he did? Had he stolen from the wrong person?

"You never told me what you do." Eames was quiet. "So, saying its because of your work doesn't help me any. It just makes me wonder if you do something that isn't legal."

"I do." Caden stared straight ahead, at the back of the seat in front of her, trying not to let him see her non-surprise. "But my telling you what it is that I do, doesn't really change anything... because you know. Right, Love?" She stayed quiet.

"The guy who put a bullet in my arm told me. I know, dear." Again she stayed quietly. "I know everything. Which is why you're coming with me." He pulled on her arm gently, turning her to him, and he kissed her mouth again. "None of that matters right now, though. What does matter is that if you don't leave the country with me, one of us is going to get hurt or killed." He said in a low tone.

"But why do I have to?"

"Because I love you." She looked up at him, a look of confusion on her face. He just smiled lightly. "Please come with me."

"I'm going to. I just don't understand why," Caden answered. He touched her cheek gently and grinned as the car pulled to a stop in front of Caden's apartment complex. He shoved a wad of bills into the drivers hand and thanked him, telling him not to wait. The cabbie growled again angrily, and Caden wondered if he talked to his wife in that same grumble.

"I told you already, darling." Eames said, pulling the door open and sliding out before offering Caden his hand.