The Adventure Continues

[abrightboy]

For thatsfascinating.



The villa Malcolm rented was in the Languedoc, not far from Marseilles, south of Avignon. It was a very historic region, though Malcolm was particularly not interested in visiting Marseilles again. There was a charming village nearby the villa and if they were going to go to an historic city for a day, he'd rather make the trip over to Montpellier, where he'd never been at all, much less with Dr Whitly.

The villa had six bedrooms. As the driver brought their luggage inside the bright and spacious main room, Malcolm handed him some folded Euros and thanked him and shut the door behind him.

"First choice of a room is yours," he told Edrisa with a smile. "But you might want to explore first."

Comments

[thatsfascinating]

She sighed, then did the same, bringing his hand to her mouth and kissing it in return.

"You told them I'm your wife," she said quietly, with a bit of a smile. Then she frowned faintly.
"Or they assumed...I guess that's possible..."

[abrightboy]

"Did I?" he said with the start of a smile.

"...It's going to be disappointing that I don't remember whether I did or not, isn't it?" he asked with a wince.

[thatsfascinating]

"I don't expect you to remember," she said with a small shrug. "We could ask them." She raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Do you think you would have told them I'm your wife?"

[abrightboy]

"...Maybe. If only so they wouldn't give you a hard time about coming in here. But I was possibly dying, so I could have been sentimental," he pointed out.

[thatsfascinating]

"I thought of them not giving me a hard time. I almost corrected them when they called me Mrs. Bright, but managed to restrain myself." She thought about it for a minute. "Huh. Actually, that wasn't the only time she made reference to me being your wife! Later on she said that you had asked for your wife to be brought it. I guess you did tell them after all." She smiled. "Whether for practical or sentimental reasons, who can say."

[abrightboy]

He smiled drowsily. "So I'm forgiven for ruining your vacation?"

[thatsfascinating]

She shook her head, reaching up to gently brush a lock of hair back from his face.

"You didn't ruin our vacation," she said softly.

[abrightboy]

"So you're going to keep me?" he confirmed.

[thatsfascinating]

"Of course!" she said. "Always. Even if you had ruined our vacation, I'd still keep you." Her eyes sparkled. "I'm your wife, remember?" she teased.

[abrightboy]

He smiled, but his expression sobered as his eyes fell to the torn bodice of her dress.

Hands around her neck, her face turning purple. Her feet barely on the ground.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

[thatsfascinating]

She frowned, squeezing his hand.

"Bright? What's wrong? What did you see?"

[abrightboy]

He heaved a breath and opened his eyes and considered not answering, but he couldn't do that to her.

"Every time I turn around," he said, pained, "he's killing you."

[thatsfascinating]

Her brow creased in worry and she shook her head.

"But he didn't," she said. "You saved me. We took him down."

She squeezed his hand again.

"I'm not like the girl in the box," she said softly. "I'm right here. I'm alive. You rescued me, more than once."

[abrightboy]

"You rescue me every day," he whispered.

His own mind was more cruel than most killers and he couldn't escape it ever.

[thatsfascinating]

Her heart ached at those words, filled with sadness for the things he struggled with every day, as well as with a desperate love that would move heaven and earth to protect him.

"I will be with you every day," she whispered back, a firm promise. "Now and for the rest of my life."

[abrightboy]

He wiggled over from the edge of the bed closest to her, squishing himself up against the rail behind him, then patted the space he made.

"Stay with me a little bit?"

[thatsfascinating]

"Of course!" She climbed into the bed, settling against him, nestling her head on his shoulder.

"Are you comfortable?"

[abrightboy]

He pressed his face against her hair. There was still a faint scent of dust and gunshot residue, but mostly she smelled like her and it was comforting.

"Yeah." He lifted his left hand, holding up his restraint. "Was this you?"

[thatsfascinating]

"Yep! They are so nice here. The doctor listened to me about not giving you sedatives and using restraints you can get out of yourself."

She nuzzled against him gently, a thought beginning to formulate in her mind.

[abrightboy]

"That's a relief," he told her. "Thank you. I don't know if I was even capable of telling them that and I can't remember whether I did."

[thatsfascinating]

"The doctor said you didn't. It's okay, I told her. She didn't push back at all. It was such a relief."

She reached up to brush her fingertips against his cheek.

"So," she said. "Would I be correct in thinking your mother is going to insist on a big wedding?"

[abrightboy]

"Oh. I don't know. I guess so. She kind of insists on big everything," he admitted.

[thatsfascinating]

"She'd probably want it to be a huge social event," she mused.

She tapped her fingers lightly on his chest.

"How upset," she queried, "would she be if we got married here?"

[abrightboy]

"...What... you mean, if we just did it without telling anyone?" he clarified.

[thatsfascinating]

"Well. We'd have to tell the officiant. And I think we'd need a witness. But other than that?" She shrugged a little, looking up at him. "Yeah."