CW: assault

"Have a good weekend, guys!" I called out to my colleagues before I got in the elevator. I was looking forward to a Friday off work - for no particular reason, just to have a bit of free time - and a weekend full of plans. Tomorrow night I'd be meeting Gabrielle and Rachel for Friday night drinks; then on Saturday my mom was coming to town for lunch and a bit of shopping together. On Sunday, Noah would return from a work trip and he'd invited me over to his house. I was grateful for the opportunity to do some more investigation. I'd wanted to dig a little deeper while he was somewhere abroad, but I had no idea how. There was no point in googling - I didn't know what to search for. A query for that Italian couple in the painting hadn't told me anything interesting: just a short Wikipedia page about their lives.

Of course, I realized I could try just asking Noah about the shirt, about the painting, maybe even about the passports. I could make up some excuse as for why I'd been in the study. But I felt like asking him would get me nothing but more avoidance, and I'd rather stay under the radar for a bit while I figured out what he was hiding than risk him preventing me from doing so altogether. Or asking me to stop it. For some reason, as long as he didn't know I was looking for clues and couldn't disapprove, it didn't feel like such a bad thing to do.

I'd barely crossed the street from the office into the crowd when a familiar-looking blond man wearing a baseball hat and dark sunglasses approached me.

"Hey, pssst, Emma." If I didn't know from that voice who it was, I would now, as he took his sunglasses off to reveal his cerulean blue eyes and quickly put them back on.

"Oh, Luca! Hey!" I said without thinking.

"Ssh! I'm trying to stay anonymous. Here, come with me," he whispered, and took me by the elbow to pull me into an alley. He let go and took off his sunglasses.

"How did you know where I work?" I asked.

"You told me."

"Oh. Right. What's up?"

"I'm here to talk to you about… Noah." He looked serious.

I frowned. "What about him?"

"He's been hiding things from you, hasn't he?"

What? How did Luca know that? Oh, right: Noah had stopped him from sharing things that night we first met. "Yeah…" I said, waiting for Luca to continue.

"So how do you feel about that?" He raised an eyebrow.

For a second, I debated whether to lie or just tell the truth - on the one hand it really was none of his business, but on the other… this was the entire point. "I'm kind of sick of it, to be honest," I admitted.

Luca nodded. "He's never going to tell you," he said portentously, accentuating his words with his hands.

"Yeah, no shit." As if I didn't know that. I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall.

"See, Emma…" he started, "It's not my place to talk about what he wants to keep for himself, but I think it's best if you two end it." He said it matter-of-factly, almost as if he was asking me to get some extra laundry detergent from the grocery store.

"Wait, what?" I uncrossed my arms, didn't know what to do with them, and crossed them again. "Why?"

Luca shook his head, his curls dancing around his face. "I can't say."

"No, Luca." I straightened and moved away from the wall. "You can't say something like that and then refuse to explain. What's wrong with Noah?"

He stared at me with narrowed eyes for a few long seconds, then sighed loudly. "Fine."

"Tell me," I urged when Luca paused, as if he was reconsidering his 'fine'.

"Look, I love my little brother, okay? But he's damaged. He's really damaged," he said, more compassionately now.

I frowned. That wasn't what I had expected. Noah always seemed so confident, so relaxed. "How so?"

Luca raised his hands. "No! Like I said, not my place." He lightly took my forearm. "I can tell you're good, Emma, you're a good human. You'll only hurt each other, and you don't deserve to be hurt. It's best if you break it off now, before you're both in too deep."

Looking down, I pulled away from his grasp. I could tell Luca meant well, but I wanted him not to touch me, I wanted out of this conversation. "How do you know? What if I can help him with… whatever damage he has?"

"I've known him for a long, long time, Emma. I know him well enough to foresee what he'll do, better than he does. You can't help him. I'm sorry, but you're not meant to be." His expression was almost pleading as he said it.

"I'm not sure I even believe in any of that. Luca, I appreciate the - the warning, I guess, but if it's gonna go wrong, I'd rather see that for myself than jump ship without even giving it the chance to go right." I felt my conviction growing - there was no way I was giving up on Noah just because his brother told me to. If we were going to break up, I could deal with the heartache.

Plus, after everything with the shirt and the painting and the passports, I was intrigued, and Luca's warning only added to that. I had a feeling I was close to finding out what was going on. I realized, though, now that Luca had told me that Noah was damaged goods, that all his secrets might not be just dishonesty, mystery, skeletons in the closet - he possibly had a very good reason for hiding things from me. Maybe I should stop looking for answers… but then, on the other hand, maybe what I'd said was true, even though I'd really only said it to refute Luca's point - maybe I could help Noah. And in order to help him, I needed to know the problem in the first place. Right. Yes. Either way, I should just keep going.

Luca stared at me, seemingly perplexed that I wasn't going to follow his advice. He opened his mouth to say something, closed it again, and eventually nodded. "Okay. Fine. That's your call."

We looked at each other in silence for a long few seconds, then Luca took out his phone. "Oh, would you look at the time! I've got to go. Bye, Emma!" Without waiting for my answer, he gave me a breezy kiss on the cheek and turned on his heel to stride away.

I recounted Luca's warning to Gabrielle and Rachel the next night at the bar, and they were just as puzzled as I was - and yet just as convinced I needed to give Noah a fighting chance instead of running away. They didn't know about my quest for answers, though. As far as they knew, I had just resigned to the fact that Noah was an enigma and that everything else, everything good he gave me, made up for that.

"So, Gabrielle, I will see you next week at my birthday party," Rachel said as she was getting up. "You coming, Emma?"

"Yep." I finished my drink and grabbed my jacket.

"I can't wait, Rach! Twenty-six, wow. Have you found a gray hair yet?" Gabrielle teased.

"Ha, ha," Rachel answered sarcastically, but her eyes twinkled. "See you."

Gabrielle hugged us goodbye and we left. Rachel and I usually headed home together, since we both lived across the river. Gabrielle lived so close to the bar and in such a lively area that she could go home by herself.

By the time we arrived at Rachel's apartment, we were both yawning, even though we had ended our night out pretty early. We'd all had long, intense work weeks and although I'd been able to relax today, I'd had my nightmares sleeping alone last night and I was exhausted.

"Night, Em. Text me when you get home," Rachel said as she hugged me.

"I will. Sleep tight."

I was only two blocks away from Rachel's apartment complex, and three removed from my own, when a chill ran up my spine. I suddenly felt self-aware, as if I was being watched. I looked around, but saw nothing - even so, I quickened my pace and clutched my keys between the fingers of my balled-up right hand.

But then I heard footsteps speeding up just a split second after I had. I looked behind me. A man was walking there, some twenty steps behind me, and his gaze was fixated on me even as I looked at him.

Looking back ahead, I crossed the street and continued walking home. Only two more blocks to go... if I could just make it to my front door, I could feel safe.

I lost balance suddenly as a hand moved in front of my mouth and his other arm pulled me by the waist into a narrow side-street. I tried screaming, but he blocked my airflow and he pushed me against the wall with his hand on my right wrist. My attempts at kicking him only led him to push his pelvis against me, locking me in.

I braced myself, eyes closed, for whatever was coming, whether it was a punch or a kick or something much worse - but nothing came and I felt him being pulled away right before I heard the horrible sound of a bone breaking.

Noah! My eyes flew open - I couldn't believe it. Noah was there, and he threw his fist into the guy's face with so much force he fell to the ground, his arms reaching over his head to defend himself. It was no good: Noah seemed to fall down with him but landed smoothly with one knee on my assailant's chest, pushing into him so hard he gasped for breath. Noah looked bigger, more intimidating and stronger than I'd ever seen him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" the man sputtered but it was as if Noah didn't hear it - he was in a blind rage, hitting and hitting him with a fist that didn't even seem to bruise until the man's face was covered in blood running from his nose and his lips and I could barely see his eyes through the swollen skin.

"Noah! Stop!" I yelled when I found my voice. He didn't respond, he didn't so much as look up. "NOAH!"

Nothing. It was as if he had forgotten his name and as if he wasn't even aware I was there. He stood up and pulled the man up with him by his collar, slamming him against the wall. He'd just pulled his elbow back to deliver another blow when I grabbed his other arm, and it was as if I'd pulled him out of some sort of trance.

"Noah," I tried again, softer this time.

He let go of the man's collar and he slid down the wall - it would have been comical, had his face not been so thoroughly beaten up.

"Emma," Noah said, his voice sounding even deeper than usual and full of some emotion I couldn't exactly identify.

"What - How did you... Is he okay?" I looked at the man, who didn't move but, judging from how he looked back and forth between us, was still conscious.

Noah followed my gaze. "Do you care?"

"I don't know!" I grasped at my temples, barely able to think. "I don't know, okay? Yes. I care. He... we need to find a cop. Or a hospital... or... I don't know. Can he walk? Are you gonna get in trouble for this?" And shouldn't Noah get in trouble? It was all hazy - I was nauseated by what had just happened but I was also so grateful for Noah coming to my rescue.

Noah shook his head. It looked like that crazed fury was seeping away. "I'm not."

"I… okay." I felt an urge to pace back and forth, or to run away as fast as I could, or to pull my hair out, throw something, anything to relieve this insane energy that was coursing through my body - but I was rooted to the spot.

"Now…" Noah started, calm now - businesslike, even. He grabbed the man's collar and pulled him up, leaning him against the wall. He looked him straight in the eye. "You are going to go to the nearest police station. It's three blocks to the east. You're going to turn yourself in, and you're going to tell them exactly what you meant to do here. You're also going to tell them everything about the other women you've assaulted." He spoke softly, but in its softness his voice sounded intimidating and threatening.

Other women? What other women? Had Noah seen this guy before? Did he make a habit out of rescuing damsels in distress? Wait… was I a damsel in distress? I certainly didn't want to be. I could take care of myself, thank you very much - or so I tried to tell myself, despite what had just almost happened, had Noah not swooped in.

The man nodded feebly. Noah wasn't convinced, apparently - he pushed against his throat. "I'll know if you don't."

"How the fuck would you know? You don't even know me!" the man snapped, the words only barely intelligible.

Noah finally dropped his hand. It didn't make much of a difference - I couldn't imagine the man not feeling threatened with Noah towering over him. "I know your name is Daniel Beck. I know what you did to Stephanie Thomas, to Lauren Gonzalez, and to Alexander Miller. I know what you were about to do to Emma."

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm the person who will find you if you ever lay your hand on anyone else again. If you ever so much as look at Emma, I will hunt you down, and this will only have been the beginning of what I will do to you." He was still staring Daniel down. He barely even blinked - I could see, and hear, a ferocity building again.

"Fuck you! You think you're scaring me? What the fuck would you do?" Daniel spit in Noah's face. Noah didn't even bother to wipe the slimy blood off his chin - his glare just intensified.

"Noah…" I said softly, almost scared to say something. I wasn't afraid of him, per se, but I had never seen him like this (I had never seen anyone like this, period), and I had no clue what to do.

Noah lightly tugged at my arm and pulled me behind him. His touch was gentle, so gentle that I barely believed my ears when he spoke again. His voice sounded furious, but calm - as if he was working hard to keep himself steady. Was that just because I was there? Or - no, because if he didn't want me to know what lengths he could go to, he wouldn't say what he said next.

"I will break your arms and your legs. I will shatter the bones in your feet, in your hands. I will bash your face beyond recognition. I will fuck up your jaw and have you lose all your teeth. I will make you beg for mercy and crawl to the hospital in pain. I will take your sight. I'll hurt you, and you'll beg me to kill you, but you won't deserve a swift ending."

Daniel considered that for a moment, but then straightened himself and glowered at Noah. "That's all talk. If you could do any of that, you would do it now."

I couldn't see Noah's face, but I suddenly saw Daniel's eyes widen in bewilderment.

"You know I can do all of that. You know I can do much more," Noah said. "Consider this a warning. If you do not heed it, I will know."

Daniel's adam's apple moved as he swallowed and then nodded in silence.

"You know where to go."

After nodding once again, Daniel hesitantly took a step - then, when Noah didn't stop him, he turned on his feet and ran away.