Chapter 1.5 ~ Hold my hand, and I can do Anything

We met the next day, after  my difficult sneak out. I woke at an hour that I don't care to remember. I know the sun had just risen over the mountains, washing the town with a red glaze of light. He slept soundly after partying, so I was good to go as soon as I left the house. I wandered around the streets, until I found a place matching the quick description I had been given the night before. I walked to the top of a hill, where he was waiting. I tugged at the sleeves of my shirt, desperately trying to hide the bruises that had developed seemingly from no where again.  He took my warmly into his arms on sight, and I noticed his piercing eyes were tired, and bloodshot. He really had been here since early.

We spent a majority of the morning pretty much care free. We both knew we should have been talking, discussing my fate, and how we should deal with it, but we didn't. I had the most fun that Id had in months, frolicking around the field with him, like a baby deer, catching butterflies of every colour, size, and shape. It almost helped me more then planning, just being able to forget the pain, and the tears, and be a sim again, the person I was before I met Laurence.

Using a spare keyboard that Damien had in the back of his white pick-up truck, I played him a song that I had only just learnt before I started my career. It was complex, to say the least, and I think  thoroughly impressed him. (You can get an idea of what I played here.) The song was beautiful to me in my early days of playing, and now meant a lot to me. It touched my heart. I wanted to touch Damien's heart so badly... so, so badly. He was trying to save mine, after all.  

As The day flew by, we stopped messing around, and started to speak of why we met, although neither of us truly wanted to ruin just a picturesque morning with such a dismal subject. The clouds came further and further down to Earth, bringing our mood down with them.

"So, we are supposed to be solving my problems. How to we intend to do so?" I asked, trying hard not to get lost in his eyes.

" I Googled your..issue.. last night. I'm pretty sure that with sufficient evidence we can get that idiot out of your house with one quick call to the police."

"The house.. it's not mine. He bought it." 

"And the law will care about that after he's locked up for domestic abuse, with a restraining order on his head? I don't think so."

I paused. This all seemed so simple. 

" And how will we get evidence? He will never touch me when another person is around, drunk, or otherwise. He's got a devious mind on him, and he won't slip up."

"I'll hide out. At your house. In the yard, or the attic, the basement, SOMEWHERE. I'll get what we need to see. I just don't know if I can watch him hit you, without knocking a few teeth out myself."

I rested a hand on his, smoothing my thumb over his knuckles, willing them to relax from their tense, white state once again. 

"If it fixes everything, I'll take 1000 blows."

He finally let a deep sigh out, and his stance sunk back to a level of normality. He turned to me, and our eyes met. I stopped the twirling of my thumb, and froze, savoring the opportunity  of just looking into his eyes, like mystical whirlpools, a purple colour I'd never seen before.

It grew colder as the clouds once again rose to the sky, and we saw the sun set on the water. I stood, and brushed my jeans off in the back. 

He  stood also, and moved to take  my hand in his, and pulling me close to his body.

I let him pull me into his arms again, trying with every will of my body not to fall in love again. To just move on in life as a single career woman, I couldn't let someone in to hurt me again.

I was close to him now, my face clearly showing the turmoil that plagued my mind. I wanted to run and hide, but I also wanted to throw myself at him, a tornado of emotion, and to finally give myself completely to someone like him. To someone special. But I did neither. I froze. But he didn't.

His mouth hit mine, and sparks flew. I'd never felt anything like it. It wasn't rough, or painful, it was gentle, but without being reluctant. I savored his taste, like something I'd never had in my mouth before. I couldn't get enough, my fingers through his hair, his hands on the small of my back, letting emotions run wild, as they liked, through both our bodies.

And so like this we stayed, locked in each other, but a willing prisoner on both sides. He let me go after a while, but was of course, too soon for my liking. The sun washed away as the stars took over, and we said our goodbyes. He was almost sheepish with his impish grin passing his mouth as we parted, and Im sure my body made an impact on him also, just not as much so as his to mine.

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The next day I sneaked  out again. Its amazing what a sleeping pill mixed into a six pack can do to a man. I ran straight to the library, where we had planned to meet to do some research. Again, he was there before me, sitting in a room off to my right, with books on all sorts, and files out on the table.

"THIS!" He cried as he saw me walk through. A chorus of 'Shh's' quickly muffled his outburst, but I hurried over just the same. 

" This, is what we need. This case is so similar to yours, and this man got arrested instantly. Its older then I'd have liked to find, granted, but still, the law holds true! We just need evidence, and I can get you out of that place, and into a better world, where you deserve to be."

I beamed, and gave him a peck on the lips, speechless. His face flushed, and he obviously remembered our passionate goodbye from the night before. He took my hand, and spoke in hushed tones, right to my ear.

" I'm gonna have to do something now Lexi. Im gonna have to send you back into that house to face him again. Im gonna have to ask you to provoke him, so he hurts you, even though I know how much it hurts. I - I hate myself already, but we need the pictures."

I nodded. " We have to. This isnt on your conscience. Be at peace, Damien. We can go now, and have pictures for tomorrow morning. Got a camera?"

He nodded, and we headed to my house. I was in for a rough night, and I knew it.

___________________________

I spent that night in pieces. I cried for hours, pain wrecking my body. He was much angrier tonight, more so then ever. Probably those sleeping pills.

But we got what we needed. Evidence.

The next day brought winter in full swing. The snow danced through the air, and landed on the floor melting at first touch. Winters here rarely got snow, but no one really wanted that to change.

We stepped into the waiting room together. Fingers entwined, and hearts the same. I had fallen for his rapidly, as him I. soul mates, I think the term was. I would take a bullet for him, and he was already doing so for me.

When we were paged through to an officer, we handed over the pictures. None were too pretty.

It showed what the officer wanted to know though. He paged through a superior, who paged someone else, and someone else after him. After about a half an hour, a man with an unfortunate jaw line, but welcoming face walked in. He was young, younger then me. 20 at most. He had an awkward look about him, and we soon found why.

".. I urm....eh..I.. Im here to.. uh... strip search you Ma'am. Its procedure for cases like these. Evidence of recent injury and all...If you'd prefer I could---"

I stopped him there, poor lad. It was obviously his first time with this, and I had to but him some slack. Id have preferred a woman, and so would Damien, by the looks of it, but we weren't ready to loose this chance.

I stepped into a white room, and the young mad ran a thorough check of my body, looking for cuts, scratches, bruises, and such.

Damien watched through a glass window, and saw the policeman's reaction to the worser bruises up my arms, or spine.

I soon was redressed, and I walked through to Damien again, slipping my fingers back into the perfect gaps between his, that fit mine. We sat together, drinking dirt cheap coffee, and mumbling about nothing when the Deputy Head of Law walked in to the room, holding a file with our pictures poking out the top, among other  papers.

" Sir, Ma'am. Can you please come with us? We have collected all the evidence, and decided what to do."

Looking each other in the eye, Damien and I followed him into a grey room with a door thicker then others in the building. This was it.

A/N: All song credit goes to my favvie composer: YIRUMA.