Home is where the heart speaks the truth

Ellie was discharged from the hospital after a week. Taking her home felt like drawing a line under the last horrible month. Watching her squat down to hug Bear, almost gave Brutus a lump in his throat; when they had called from the hospital to let him now about the incident, he had been sure he would never take her home again.

He followed her into the house with the suitcase. Ellie had already walked a round in the living room and the kitchen.

"Have my mom been here to clean?"

"Only the day she came. And the day she left. And a couple of times in between."

Ellie laughed. "Sorry. She gets restless easily."

"Just like someone else I know," Brutus smirked.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Ellie responded innocently and turned to walk upstairs.

"Can you handle the steps?"

She chuckled at his concern.

"Yes, mother hen," she said and took his hand, dragging him up the stairs behind her. "I'm not dying."

Brutus let her do it and trailed her into the bed room, her small hand in his. Her elbow joint was still bruised when they had taken blood for tests all week to make sure that her damaged liver still worked like it should. It did.

She is fine.

He felt silly, when the words made him all emotional again. For how long would he be such a blobby mess? Ellie let go of his hand, turned around at the end of the bed and laid down flat on the bedspread, arms above her head and eyes closed.

"I never thought I could miss our house this much," she sighed. Brutus put down the suitcase and ended up just looking at her and the way her chest calmly rose and sank in step with her breathing - lived. He couldn't remember ever seeing such a beautiful sight.

Ellie, sensing his glance, pushed herself up again and looked at him, head cocked slightly.

"But you know what I have missed the most?"

"No?"

She smiled significantly and held out her hands towards him. Brutus kneeled down on the edge of the bed, leaning over her, and Ellie wrapped her arms around his neck and placed a soft, longing kiss on his lips. When she pulled him down with her on the bed, his body was more than willing to just drop all the reins and he had a job trying to keep his balance, as he kissed her back, so he wouldn't accidently touch her surgery scar.

"We shouldn't be doing this," he muttered between kissed, when she cupped his face gently in both hands.

"Uh-uh," she breathed, but then she buried her mouth under his jawbone and his body betrayed him with shamelessly little hesitation. He kissed her hard, his free hand grapping her thigh and it required a huge effort from his side to regain control, when the voice of sanity protested, remember what the doc said!

"Listen," he murmured, as he pulled himself together. "I hate to be such a killjoy, but when the doctor told you to lay of 'strenuous activities' for the next month, I'm pretty sure he also meant this."

Ellie sighed heavily.

"Yeah, I know," she groaned, looking as though he had just told her he was going to take a vow of celibacy. "I know."

He laid down on his side next to her and cradled her against his body. Ellie nested her head on his chest and hugged him tightly.

"I love you like flaming hell, you know that?"

"I love you more," she whispered. "This is going to be the worst month in history."

Brutus laughed quietly.

"But it wouldn't be fair to the hospital," she muttered against his shirt. "For me to delay the healing. We are short of staff in E.R. as it is and they are expecting me back as soon as possible."

She felt an almost unnoticeable change in the way he held her, like her word made him freeze.

"What do you mean, they are expecting you back in E.R?" he asked.

Ellie wrapped herself out of his embrace and sat up. "What do you mean? Of course they are expecting me back. Did you think I was going to quit by job because of an accident?"

"An accident!" Brutus exclaimed with a huff of disbelieving laughter and bolted upright. "You were almost killed."

"It was a one time incident," Ellie responded, looking at him with a frown. "It could have happened anywhere."

"Yes, but it shouldn't have happened," Brutus said darkly. "And certainly not in a hospital, where people are suppose to be safe. What's gonna happen next? A murderous expecting mother trying to slid your throat?"

"Brutus, this is thick," Ellie said and got up from the bed. "And you know it. I'm not having this argument with you. When you come to your senses, I'll be downstairs"

"Ellie!"

She left the bed room. Brutus followed her down the hall, her doggedness triggering his anger.

"How's this thick?" he responded heatedly to her back, when she walked down the stairs. "Your damned job nearly killed you!"

"Are we really going to talk about dangerous jobs!" Ellie said irritably and turned around to face him at the bottom of the stairs. "What about E-block – prison revolts, shootings, sneaking condemned men out at night and bloody back again... I never once asked you to leave that place, even though your life was in danger several times, so how can you even consider asking me about the same?"

"But I did leave, remember?" Brutus said coolly. "And I worked there for years, facing danger everyday and I was never stabbed half to death. I wasn't even close, God dammit!"

"But you didn't leave on my account," Ellie pointed out. "And now you've just moved on to a similar place."

"Oh, come on – Boy's Correctional is nothing like E-block."

"No, not at all," Ellie said acidly. "Because those boys are gentle as lambs."

"These are the kind of things I can expect. I'm not a flaming banker!" Brutus called after her, when she stormed out into the kitchen. "And furthermore, I'm trained to deal with these kind of threats. You're not!"

"That's because mine was a once-in-a-million-times incident and you know that!" she yelled in a shrill voice from the other side of their dinner table. "Everything contains risks, Brutus: I could get hit by a branch while walking around the house, but that doesn't mean that garden work is hazardous. These things just happens. You pick yourself up afterwards and move on."

"Well, you can't really move on when some crazy bastard stabs you in the throat, so you bleed to death, now can you?!" Brutus bellowed back.

Ellie froze by the sink and turned around to stare at him. He was breathing hard – and then it hit her:

"This is because of Dean, isn't it?" she said quietly.

Brutus' face darkened

"No," he responded curtly, but Ellie knew he was lying.

"Brutus, I'm heartbroken about what happened too, but…"

"I told you, this has nothing to do with Dean!" Brutus cut her of harshly. "I just don't want you to work at that hospital anymore!"

"Do you have any idea of what you're asking of me?" Ellie exclaimed in disbelief. "I'm not going to give up my job, because you tell me to."

"You were nearly stabbed to death!" Brutus said loudly.

"And two month ago you could have been shot, by that boy at the Correctional, but that didn't stop you!" Ellie shouted, beside herself with anger. "And neither did I!"

"For crying out loud, Ellie, I just don't wanna loose you!" Brutus blurted out.

"You have a really funny way of showing your fondness, by forcing me to quit the job I love," Ellie responded bitterly. "Do you even remember what you promised me, when we got married: That I could continue working. Or was that just empty words?"

"Of course it wasn't and I'm not saying that you have to stop working.."

"No, I just have to work somewhere you decide, isn't that right?" Ellie said coldly. "Somewhere safe like a good, little wife."

Brutus ran a hand down his face, empty for words. Ellie strode past him.

"Where're you going?"

"I'm going to bed, if that's not to risky for you," she responded toneless from the hall. "I'm tired."

Brutus didn't move. He heard her stalk up the steps and slam the bed room door behind her. In the sudden silence he could almost hear the echoes of the fight; their anger flowing around in the air like sour smoke. He felt weirdly powerless. They had argued before, but never like this. Their arguments usually ended, when one of them realised how stupid it was and started laughing. Brutus didn't feel like laughing now.

He left the kitchen and walked into the living room without even knowing what to do in there. He found Bear hiding under the couch table, looking out at him with a miserable look in his dark eyes.

"She'll come around, don't you worry," he told the dog, but even in his ears, the words rang hollow.