Shout outs:

Alex - Thank you for pushing me and supporting me even when I spiral.

Please let me know what you think :-)

He sat with me on the sofa again; he leaned against the sofa arm, his left leg kicked out across my feet, his right leg bent at almost a 90-degree angle. I focused on the crease in his trousers, it was perfect. How did this man keep his clothes so immaculate?

"Family secret," he said close to my ear, his voice was so soft, and it caused me to shiver. "Oh Sarah, here luv," he stood quickly whipping off his trench coat and putting it over my shoulders. My eyes rolled back in my head for a moment as the smell of John surrounded me. I think I moaned or made some kind of noise because I hear, "Need a minute?"

I laughed awkwardly averting my gaze, "Fuck," I hissed.

"Sorry if my teasing goes a bit too far," he said quietly, "again no need to be embarrassed, I'll keep the snark down."

I nodded slightly, "She was brunette, but not just any brunette; it was this deep honey brown that fell effortlessly past her shoulders in gentle and perfect waves. The hair that anyone would covet," I told him.

"That's a lot of detail," he said slowly, like he was about to hear every inconsequential detail.

I sighed, "Yeah, I know," I chuckled slightly, "I couldn't stop looking at her hair from the moment she checked in at the triage station. She moved over to the empty seat next to me after she caught me staring," I admitted sheepishly.

John chuckled, "Continue."

"After I admitted I wanted to scalp her and we laughed, we traded stories about why we were there, if we were with anyone, both of us had driven ourselves," I told him. "She introduced herself as Hailey, I gave her my name. We started talking about social media and what we did for a living, we had quite a lot in common, and we traded socials and numbers," I said looking for my phone and Constantine handed it to me, "Thanks," I said searching for her Facebook, "We texted and got together for coffee; she invited me to her apartment to hang," I looked at him handing over my phone and had this ashamed look on my face.

"Out with it," he told me taking my phone looking at Hailey's page.

"I had a weird feeling during coffee, but when she invited me back, I hesitated slightly but eventually said yes. I don't have many friends where I live," I admitted, "I was lonely."

"Nothin' to be ashamed of luv," he reached out and touched my cheek; "we all make mistakes about who to trust."

I nodded, "When I walked in," I paused trying to find the right word for what I felt, "the air was…" I paused, "dense," I explained using the only word I could think of, "wasn't heavy but it was thick."

"Like it took longer to move through?"

I nodded, "I thought maybe it was…" I shrugged, "I don't know," I shook my head.

"No," he said thinking, "That's good," he told me, he wasn't fully present, something had struck a chord. The room was quiet, I didn't know what else to say and John looked deep in thought. And as if on cue my stomach rolled loudly, I swear it echoed around the apartment. John chuckled, "If you were hungry, luv, all ya had to do was tell me."

"I think I already did," I laughed with him.

He looked impressed, "Not a shrinking violet are ya," he asked pulling me up and I left his trench coat behind. "Let's see what I've got in the house, if not much I'll order something." He opened the fridge and then closed it, "Fancy a Chinese?"

I laughed, "Sounds great."

We walked back to his couch while he dialed and ordered for the both of us. I sat down on the sofa and just sunk into the well-worn cushions just letting the seat envelop me. I felt my body relax and the twinge of soreness in my muscles and then exhaustion fell on me. My eyelids became heavy, and I could barely lift my limbs, my head rolled back against the frame of the sofa.

"Oh luv," John saw me collapse, "maybe you should have a lie down," he stood over me with this stupidly charming half smile stuck to his face as he outstretched his hands.

I took them and let him help me to the bedroom. He let me climb in his large bed to get comfortable as he got a blanket for me. John threw the blanket over me; he sat down on the side of the bed somewhat tucking me in.

"Thanks John," I said, the exhaustion in my voice was clearly obvious.

"Get some sleep Sarah," he said pushing an errant strand of hair behind my ear, "you'll be safe here," he leaned down but stopped, his lips hovering over my temple for half a second before he sat up then gave my shoulder a squeeze.

He got up to leave but I pulled on his hand, "John," my voice waivered squeaking out his name.

He quietly shushed me giving my hand a light squeeze in understanding, "I'll stay for a bit," he told me softly. He stood and kicked off his shoes then flopping down on the bed next to me.

He rolled to face me, and our noses touched and our eyes locked. His eyes were this dark blue and the premature worry lines on his face crinkled as his mouth moved. His skin was rather smooth considering what he did, and I didn't even mind the smell of old cigarettes on his breath. This was a strange situation and it was scary, but he made me feel safe.

His hand traced my jaw so lightly as if he was afraid to touch me, like I would break if he touched me incorrectly. His eyes just stared into mine for what seemed like hours before he uttered, "Your eyes," he whispered into my lips.

I tried to pull away from him, but he stopped me. I could feel tears filling my eyes, "John," I said my voice full of shame.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'll let you get some sleep." He moved off the bed and out of the room quietly. John shook his head, "Bollocks," he cursed somewhat loudly, "you're supposed to protect her, and you cock it up. When are you gonna learn Constantine," he chided. He would have continued but his mobile rang, "Yeah," he answered his voice was hard. "Ripper, what have ya got for me?"