Author's Note - this chapter (a prologue) written for Raising Hell prompt no. 19 : secret (way back, in the mists of time... :P )
Secrets – a Prologue
They didn't plan it this way.
In fact, if you had told them three months ago that this would happen, they would have laughed. And there may have been violence.
Max glanced at her companion, tied in the chair next to her. It was strange to think how much he had changed, in the short time she had known him. How short a time she had known him, for someone who was now such a constant part of her life.
And how well did she know him, really? It wasn't like they'd ever sat down and had a proper chat. They'd exchanged some specific details of history, but he always brought the smart mouth out in her, and she seemed to only ever provoke him to inappropriate acts.
Max took this opportunity to look at him, despite the awkward angle of their current positions. Really look at him...
He was beautiful. It was a fact that she always found hard to admit, always tried not to acknowledge – because it made her feel weird. His hair had grown long but despite the way it hung in his eyes, it wasn't enough to hide the bruises on jaw and cheek. A cut in his eyebrow had bled a thin trail down his face, a compliment to the split in his lip – swollen but already beginning to heal.
They'd really worked him over, and for some time – judging by the fatigue in his eyes. Max wondered if they'd kept him from sleeping to give him shadows that dark, ringing the sockets, making him look hollow. Although given the wince as he shifted in his chair, maybe they'd starved him too, lowering his pain threshold, taxing his natural gifts.
And that had to have hurt the worst – that he could no longer rely on himself, his strength, during this unwanted experience.
Just as Max was beginning to wonder what the two of them were here for, what new and nasty form of torture the Conclave team would hand out today – and wasn't that disconcerting, that after weeks of keeping them apart, they were not only in the same room but sharing the same air as they sat tied to their chairs, close enough that Max could feel the heat rolling off his body and the tension that was slowly growing in him – he swallowed thickly and spoke.
"They say you're pregnant." His voice was rough, it cracked as though he'd said nothing for a long time.
She nodded, suddenly feeling shy. But she held his gaze as she told him,
"It's your baby, Ames."
And to her surprise, he grinned.