Post by Michael Raymond Shepard on Jul 10, 2015 5:01:38 GMT 8
There's another world inside of me
That you may never see
There're secrets in this life
That I can't hide
That you may never see
There're secrets in this life
That I can't hide
That made two of them who’d found themselves not used to something on that job. He’d been working for Orlov for almost a year and up until the girl had descended from the ceiling and snatched the gem out of his hand he’d never had competition from anybody else before. What Michael had found most amusing later was the fact that if he’d found himself face to face with a male thief he likely would’ve let the guy get away and just track him to take the gem back later. It’d been that protective streak that had driven him to chase after her once he’d realised that the guards were chasing her down as much as they were chasing him. The instant antagonism between them had pissed him off, he wasn’t above saying it, but it had also shattered that tough mantle he’d had to build in the last year. Still looking at Ana through the shield of his lashes, Michael grinned almost proudly. ”To be honest I wasn’t used to looking out for someone either, not lately anyway.” The grinned turned into a chuckle as she asked him to pass on her thanks. ”I’m sure he’ll appreciate it. He might need all the gratitude he can get later.” That was once he walked into Orlov’s office and tried to explain away what had happened without mentioning the fact that he’d allowed himself to be seduced in that cave, and that he’d felt something more than seething hatred for the woman who’d beaten him to the treasure. That was one tale Orlov would never hear and if he was lucky the man would fall for the lies he was fed. If not, at least he would’ve died for a good cause.
Ever since it had been invented Hollywood had proven a fitting distraction for people looking for some sort of fantasy life to aspire to. You could watch something tragic, something that ripped your gut apart and think ‘at least my life’s not that bad’, or you could go for the romantic and dream that one day it would be you getting this amazing man or woman. In real life things were usually far more pedestrian, unless of course you happened to find yourself caught up in the sort of conspiracy that would’ve gotten Harrison Ford an Oscar, or you found yourself being torn apart from the inside out on the night you turned into a werewolf for the first time. Those weren’t the sorts of things they were considering now though and so Michael forced the thought from his mind as he made a thoughtful noise in his throat. ”Guess I’ll never look at a Julia Roberts movie the same way again,” Michael drawled, just a taste of wry humour in his words. Michael’s lips curved beneath Ana’s as she kissed him. Amusement had that trace of laughter returning as he glanced towards the doorway where he was pretty sure he’d tossed that Saints top she’d been wearing. ”It was pretty slow, although I’m sure at one point there was a little twirling over someone’s head before something was thrown.” In fact it had been just how Ana had said, a slow exploration, something almost delicate in mood. He’d been treating her like a china doll then, one he could break if he made too fast a move. He’d been acting like there would be time for fast later but as time had begun to move on Michael wasn’t sure they were ever get there.
The melancholy that thought could’ve brought to the proceedings was pushed away as he went from an attempt at being poetic to just showing Ana what she’d done to him. Things could’ve turned heart breaking as the words tried to work their way free of his throat but together they’d made it light hearted again, teasing in a way that allowed him to settle his mouth against her throat in a way that wrung that little groan from her lips again. Aiming for an echo, Michael moved his mouth an inch, kissing again. These were places he’d remember later, along with the warmth of her skin against his mouth. The memories would keep him going when he couldn’t be here, no matter much he wanted to be, no matter how much Ana wanted him there. They would have the night and come the morning, he would do as he had just promised and give her the sort of goodbye they deserved. If it hadn’t been for what he’d said about the memories he’d leave her with things might’ve taken on the sort of sad edge that would’ve been hard to shake. He didn’t want the time they had together to be coloured that way, didn’t want to leave her with the memory of all that grief for something they couldn’t have. The frown that creased Ana’s brow at what he said had Michael grinning in a way he hadn’t been only a few minutes before. ”It’s freaking out over one of your obsessions. Like going into a complete melt down at the thought of bowing at Hendrix’s feet. I guess it’s nothing something that was done when you were young enough to count as a fangirl.” Not that you were ever too old to be caught with that sort of fever for something. Tonight should really have proven that, what had started in that curving turning into the sort of itch that felt like it could never truly be scratched away.
For a year he’d been used to the sort of pessimism he never would’ve been sunk by before. There’d never been a thought of there not being a future until his parents’ death had been followed by the loss of Sara and Abi. All at once everything that had meant something had been snatched away from him and there’d been no hope for anything but maybe managing to get to the evil bastard behind all of this. Trying to set that aside, trying to think of a time when it might actually have happened just simply hadn’t been possible. Why would it have been when there was nothing to live for afterwards? By now Karen was probably imagining him dead in a ditch somewhere and there was no one else who gave a big enough damn to wonder where he was or if he was ever coming back. Michael stared back at Ana as she point blank told him no. He hesitated, wanting to laugh this off and tell her there he was too bruised where it mattered to be able to find that silver lining. It just wasn’t possible though, not when she was so vehement that it would happen. Finally Michael managed a nod. ”When,” he promised, knowing full well that there was a good chance it wouldn’t happen. ”Some day I’ll find my way back here and if you’re not here, then I’ll wait, for as long as it takes, I’ll wait.” Chances were she would be the one sitting in the window, waiting for him for years when he really was lying in a ditch somewhere. It wouldn’t be fair to let her carry on like that, but what was he supposed to do, have someone deliver a note telling her that he had been found dead in some ditch, his heart or head taken by Orlov or the man he was looking for. At least the other way she’d carry on having some hope.
It was easier to make that promise now, to settle his hand over her heart as she kissed him and the bright sound of the trumpet erupted from below again. A little hope for both of them and maybe when the time did come to meet his end, either with the shadow’s heart already in his hand or at least its face floating in his vision, he could say at least he’d tried. ”Next year,” Michael whispered, holding on harder to that dream than he had anything in so long. ”We can make it like this, one night again. Maybe by then I’ll be able to stay. It’ll happen one day, we’ll get back here and it’ll all be over.” And until then just one day in three hundred could be a time out from what they were both dealing with. Orlov wouldn’t be able to track him unless the pattern became obvious and he could be careful enough about that to have him breaking his word about staying away to make sure the people he cared for were safe. The smile that came for him as he opened up about his sister should’ve been echoed on his own face but Michael was still worried enough that his expression remained grim. ”That’s why I need to stay clear. Someone who was pissed enough about me digging into their operation to kill a woman and child won’t hesitate to go after some professor somewhere.” And Karen would never see it coming. His sister had a happy life, one that wasn’t populated with lurking shadows and things that went bump in the night. ”You never will,” he assured her. Turning his head into the touch, Michael pressed his lips to her palm. There would be a time when he’d be entirely grateful for today’s heart ache, when he could hang on to those brief glimpses of home like a life vest.
Turning the tide from dark and mournful to something vaguely teasing was easier than Michael had expected it to be when this had kicked off tonight out in her living room. He could play guileless with her, could smile and laugh and completely lie his ass off about being the one who’d grown grabby in that cave. Feigning absolute innocence, or rather forgetfulness now, Michael screwed his face up for a moment, pretending to rewind to exactly what had happened between them. He honestly could’ve replayed it detail by detail if she asked him to, so he knew exactly whose hands had been where and just who had turned it from chaste to a teenaged boy’s wet dream. ”Right,” Michael murmured as he waggled his brows at her. ”The tongue was most definitely me. It was too tempting to avoid.” As a matter of fact she’d undone every bit of control he’d possessed and it was likely that if the guard hadn’t closed in on them what had happened tonight would’ve gone down 2 days ago in that cave. It was a good thing it hadn’t done really, last thing either of them would’ve needed was a concussion from getting carried away. Tonight was all about that drift away from reality though, with Ana lying against him, pressing kisses against his chest, it was easy to talk like this was all going to have a happy ending. ”Name me one that’s not,” Michael murmured, jokingly narrowing his eyes down at her before a hint of challenge entered his voice. ”Name me one that’s not.” He hoped that the dare to find something would take that look out of her eyes. She’d been smiling a moment before but then something seemed to change just a little in a way that left him worried.
The morning should’ve been a sad affair, but pre-empting would could be from the start Michael jumped straight into something tender, something funny as Ana began to rouse. She didn’t need to know that he’d stayed awake all night, that he’d watched and worried. All she had to know was that he was still here, still holding her when she woke and snuggled into him that way. The lazy smile turned wicked as Michael raised a brow. ”That wasn’t you snoring in my ear? Must’ve been someone else in the bed.” There was a sound of disappointment as his teasing got an unlikely result. ”Hey, no fair,” Michael argued. His voice trailed off when she started in on his neck though. ”OK, maybe a little fair.” Michael allowed his hand to trail up her back to start brushing her hair from her shoulder as she stretched, both of them comfortable with the state they were in. A year ago that question would’ve been a simple one, he would’ve found his stomach rumbling by now and after a morning like last night would’ve offered to be standing out in the kitchen, spatula in hand. Now there was so much more to it, a sort of intimacy that felt a little strange. ”A little,” Michael finally explain, his brow furrowing slightly. ”I fed … last night … while I waited. I should make something else too though, something for both of us.” Given what they both were Ana’s fridge wasn’t likely to contain much other than blood bags but the offer had been made. This wasn’t just going to end with the two of them awkwardly standing in the kitchen sipping from the vampire version of a juke box. Selfishly he still wanted more than that, he wanted the life he was supposed to be living now.
So hold me when I'm here
Right me when I'm wrong
You can hold me when I'm scared
You won't always be there
So love me when I'm gone