AN: Thanks for all the reviews guys, they meant the world! Fast update about that night spent together. Enjoy it!
8 PM, panic
While she was praying that his stubbornness wouldn't have won once again, she wandered around her apartment, hoping her presentiments were wrong. She searched for secret cameras, microphones, anything that could give her the confirmation of her worst fear, that someone was spying her in the security of her apartment, her personal shelter. She overturned everything with rage, determination, almost enjoying the alternative outburst, messing up her rational order, like she was doing with her personal life. She didn't find anything in the end but that revelation didn't diminish that sense of panic that was eating her slowly inside, since the moment she had opened that envelope just after have heard his reassuring voice through the phone. She loved Jane's voice, maybe that was one of the things she actually loved the most about him. His voice had the power to give her hope, in everything, and she was totally hypnotized by its infinite peace. Every time he had whispered something in her ear, she had felt hopeful again, she had felt that maybe happiness was really there, around the corner, waiting for her; his voice was like a call, an irresistible one and she just wanted to be pulled under by it; especially now, crouched on the carpet, between books, pillows and everything her reckless search had messed up. When the panic was starting to slow its grip on her, she felt someone knocking at her door and the first thing that she did was, despite everything, smile. She opened the door, finding him in front of her, an amusing and exasperated light in his eyes and she sighed in response, taking his hand and pulling him inside.
8.30 PM, stubbornness
"Pretend to not feel well to ditch someone, really Teresa? That's a little bit unfair, don't you think?" He said, once entered.
"I wasn't pretending." She replied, lowering her gaze and putting her arms behind her, looking like a schoolgirl just been caught.
"Liar." He said, enjoying her childish attempt.
"Why are you here, anyway?" She asked.
"Oh right, I'm here to pick you up and take you to my apartment where an incredible hamburger, the best in the whole world, because cooked by me, is waiting for you." He explained seriously.
"I'm not hungry." She tried to say, not really convincing.
"Please, I can hear you stomach grumbling from here." He said, amused.
"Really?" she asked, worried.
"No, I was kidding." He said, grinning at her.
"I hate you." She said, sounding even more childish.
"I hate you too." He replied, playing the same game.
"Why are you so stubborn?" She asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied.
"Why you keep insisting like this?" She asked again, a hint of exasperation in her voice.
"Because.." He started to say insecure, "because I've never wanted anyone so much in my whole life." He finished, staring deeply at her. She didn't know what to say but she was sure that her eyes had replied for her in that same moment, betraying her silence .
"I need to stay away from you." She replied eventually.
"Why?" He asked, approaching her.
"Because it's better." She replied.
"Ok, try again." He said annoyed, now close to her.
"Because anybody that gets close to me, bad things happen to them." She explained to him.
"What are you talking about?" He asked, confused. Then he looked around her apartment for the first time he had entered, he had been too focus on her beautiful face to notice that, apparently, a tornado had invested her house. "What happened here, Teresa?" He asked again, perplexed.
"Nothing, I was just searching for some stuff." She said, looking around, noting the envelope half opened on the table. She had totally forgotten about it and she was cursing herself, hoping to stop the unavoidable. He stepped in her personal space, noticing her strange behavior, and put his left hand on her shoulder while her right tilted her chin to make her look at him.
"Stop lying to me." He said then.
"I was searching for secret cameras and microphones." She replied eventually. "I think someone is keeping an eye on me or following me, whatever." She added, noting his confusion.
"Why do you think that?" He asked, trying to hide the anxiety in his voice. When she didn't reply, he looked around him once again, feeling that something was off. She noticed that his eyes were approaching dangerously the kitchen table, so she decided to reach it and take the envelope in her hands with some other random stuff that she could find around, to hide her real intent.
"I should clean this mess now, sorry." She said, trying to distract him.
"What's in there?" He asked, pointing at the envelope in her hands.
"Nothing important, advertising as usual." She replied, casually.
"Give it to me." He said firmly.
"Excuse me?" She asked.
"You heard me the first time, make me see it." He said again.
"You're crazy." She said, walking away from him. Then she felt his hand on her arm and they started a little physical scuffle for the possession of the envelope that she would have really enjoyed in a different way in other circumstances. He won at the end and she hold her breath while he was opening the envelope.
9 PM, revelation
His eyes changed, becoming cold, petrified, almost emotionless while she tried to take the situation in her hands.
"Jane?" She called him, uncertain.
"What.. what are these?" He asked, almost crushing the pics in his hand.
"A warning." She replied, hiding how really scared she was. "That's what I was talking about before."
"It's Charlie." He almost whispered.
"I know, I'm so sorry." She said, taking his hand.
"Who did this? Volker?" He asked.
"Probably yes, He threatened me this afternoon but, I don't have any evidence about the pics." She explained to him. He didn't react at her words, staring at the pictures in his hands, then he took the phone out, dialing a number. "Pete? Yes I know, I'm sorry, l should have been there thirty minutes ago but I can't tonight, there's been an emergency at work, look, say Charlie I am sorry and tell her I'll pick her up tomorrow for the hamburger's night, ok? And Pete, stay safe, lock the door and everything, you know, in time like these... ok wait, I've changed my mind, Let me talk with her." He explained confused, to his friend. She listened to his phone call and her heart melted a little for his sweet attempt to make Charlotte safe and the fact that he had promised her a double cheeseburger with chips the day after.
"Don't you want to stay with her tonight?" She asked him, once finished the call.
"I would like but it's better this way, I mean, if someone is following you or us.. with Sam and Pete she's safer, it's better to keep her away from me, maybe." He said logically to her.
"Away from me, Jane." She corrected him.
"It's the same." He said softly.
"Look, nothing will happen to her, ok? I promise you." She said, taking his hands, her eyes lucid.
"Teresa, you need to stop promising things you can't control." He said sweetly to her.
"No please, this is important, you need to believe me, you need to trust me." She said, not stopping the tears at the corner of her eyes.
"I believe you and I trust you." He replied, raising their clasped hands to wipe her eyes.
"Thank you." She said, between tears, bringing her arms around his neck. He tightened the embrace, pressing her against him, his arms on her back. He tried to calm her but it wasn't easy when he was the first to be totally upset by that news.
"I should probably go now." He said, resting his forehead against her.
"Stay with me tonight." She asked immediately, almost begging him.
Like he needed to be begged.
10 PM, tacos and confessions
"Meat." She ordered.
"Here." He said.
"Cheese."
"Done."
"Beans cream."
"Here it is."
"Guacamole."
"Yes."
"Chili pepper."
"that's it."
"Ok, here we are, first taco done." She said, satisfied.
"God you're the lord of the tacos." He said, amused and the comment made her laugh.
"My father taught me." She explained, preparing the second one.
"Sweet! Let's hope that you won't poison me, though." He said jokingly, then he looked at her, shaking his head a little.
"What?" She asked him.
"You look adorable, making tacos while a psychopath is threatening your life." He remembered her.
"What else should I do? I'm safe here and the most important thing is that people around me are safe too.. Besides, until I'll stay at my place, nothing will happen but I wanna continue the investigations anyway, so, I need to find a way." She explained to him.
"Denounce him." He said.
"With which evidence, Jane?" She asked to him.
"I don't know, let's follow him, we could try to frame him." He said, a hint of excitement in his voice.
"We?" She asked perplexed.
"Yes, let me help you." He begged her.
"Jane, you're not a cop." She explained amused.
"I don't care, you have a gun, you will protect me." He said logically.
"I don't know, I could be very tempted to use it to shoot at you at the contrary." She said, making fun of him.
"Why? It's because I'm illegally handsome?" He asked serious.
"Oh please, shut up!" She said, laughing. She directed him toward the living room then, where they could find a place to eat, even if the room seemed basically a battlefield due to her search. She was surprised when he took a pillow, he put it on the floor and seated on it, then he fixed another pillow next to him, patting the same spot like he was inviting her. She smiled, reaching him. Sometimes she forgot that he was a very rich man, used to travel around the world, to date supermodels and drink champagne at the parties. The truth was, he was different, he sat on the floor with his Armani suit without any problem, he went to the supermarket to find the right bread to cook hamburgers for his daughter, he had invited her on a balloon ride and he had made her find a basket of grapes the day after.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked her.
"You." She answered immediately.
"What about me?" He said, eating his taco with gusto.
"I was thinking that you're a simple man, despite everything." She explained.
"Thank you, I guess." He replied.
"Where did you grow up?" She asked him.
"Here and there." He replied, evasive.
"What does it mean?" She asked again.
"I grew up in a carnival." He explained to her. "Nobody knows it, not even my wiki page." He said, chuckling.
"Why not?" She asked curious.
"I don't know, I didn't have a great time in there, my mother died when I was little, my father, well, wasn't exactly the father of the year.. the only thing that I liked was to travel around and see new places. I think it's where my passion for photography was born actually.. I was a lonely kid, I just needed something to do in my free time that, believe me, was a lot.. so I started to make drawings of the places that we visited, then eventually, one day, a girl gave me her photo camera as a gift.. it was a polaroid, I remember it like it was yesterday and then everything started. " he said casually.
"I bet that girl had a crush on you." She said sweetly.
"Well, she married me some years later." He said, looking at her.
"Oh, that's sweet." She said, a little embarrassed.
"No need to feel embarrassed, Teresa." He said sweetly, reading her reaction, "you know, I've never told it to anyone else before."
"I didn't mean to press you." She added immediately.
"You didn't. And, honestly, you are not the pressing one in this relationship here, Teresa." He said, smiling bitterly.
Midnight, lists
"Why are you so stuck on me, Jane? There's nothing special here." She said, gesturing toward her.
"Seriously? Are we playing this game?" He asked exasperated.
"I'm not kidding, you could have every girl you want." She said.
"Apparently no since the only one that I want keeps distancing herself from me even if I'm pretty sure she has a big crush on me, thing that makes everything even more absurd, if you ask me." He told her.
"I'm not distancing myself from you now and I do not have a crush on you." She lied to him.
He grinned in response, throwing a napkin toward her, "I tell you three things you love about me right now, if you want."
"Ok, shoot." She said, challenging him.
"Only three is a little difficult, but I'll try anyway." He said, winking at her. "Leaving out the fact that you're obviously physically attracted by me, number one: you love my voice, especially when I use that seductive low tone that makes you melt on the spot or when I whisper in your ear, giving you thrills everywhere. Number two: the way I look at you, because I bet no one has never looked at you with the same intensity, like you were the most attractive and desirable woman on the planet. Number three: you love the fact that I was able to look immediately into you, into your soul, behind your sad eyes because you were tired to face the spectrum of your sufferance alone, but you couldn't even admit it to yourself. Do you want me to continue it?" He said, smiling mischievously at her.
She sighed in response, then she took the pillow under her, putting it upward on the floor so she could lie down and put her head on it. He looked amused at her and then he mimicked her position, resting on his belly to look at her. She smiled at the picture that they were making, enjoying their childish behavior.
"You know, Teresa, I have another list for you." He said, resting on his elbow and looking down at her.
"God, help me." She replied, rolling her eyes and making him chuckle.
"You will thank me later dear, so, since you said there's nothing special in you, even if you were just fishing for compliments, I'll tell you the things that I like the most about you." He explained to her.
"I wasn't fishing for compliments." She said in an high voice.
"Whatever. Ok, let's start with the important stuff.. I like your butt." He said seriously, gaining a slap on his arm in response. "Ok, I was kidding." He said, laughing. "I mean, not really kidding, I do love your butt but.. well, I love the fact that you don't realize how beautiful you are and I love to think that if I were your man I'd like to start every day reminding you that.. I love your complexity, in your mind, your soul, your heart, everything about you is complex, intriguing, nothing foregone. I love the way you hug me, standing on tiptoe, crushing yourself against me like we could become the same thing. I love the fact that you cried in front of me, showing me your precious weakness that I bet you haven't shown to nobody else.. I love your eyes, without makeup, because they're even more translucent than usual.. I love them with makeup because that smokey effect makes you even sexier if it's possible. I like to touch you." He said, caressing her stomach until his fingers traveled under her blouse to caress her skin without barriers. " Yes, especially at the beginning, when I start to touch you, because I can see you holding your breath at the first contact. And then, I love the fact that you're too proud to admit that you're falling for me the same way I'm falling for you."
"I'm not falling for you." She said, interrupting him.
"See?" He smiled at her. She smiled back while his fingers were still wandering on her skin, making a perfect dance. She sighed, putting her own hand on top of his, under her blouse. Then she started to guide his hand above, slowly, her eyes in his, until he could feel the fabric of her bra under his fingers. He was the one now, holding his breath, then, bravely, he raised the edge of the garment, caressing her breasts with the lightest touch. She closed her eyes, abandoning herself to the pleasure, until gaining back a little bit of good sense, she stopped his movements, hating herself in the same instant.
"Sorry." He said immediately to her, looking adorable.
"I've started it." She said shyly. "I need to fix some stuff before, ok?" She explained, eventually.
"Seems right." He replied, stretching down and taking her with him, making rest her head on his chest.
1 AM, sleep in an uncomfortable position, once again
"We're about to fall asleep on the floor, Jane, we should move." She said, adjusting her head under his chin.
"Ok move you first." He mumbled, already half asleep.
"In five minutes." She replied, closing her eyes.
He smiled against her hair, remembering he had indeed forgotten something on his list, he loved to fall asleep, holding her, in unconventional and totally uncomfortable positions.
AN: Ok guys, so I can already hear some of you complaining about Pike but I promise, things will be solved next chapter! I hope you like this one anyway, please let me know in your reviews.