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

[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."

[abrightboy]

He thought about that. He hadn't asked her yet. He'd been plotting a romantic proposal in New York.

Every romantic event he'd planned in the last little while had gone horribly wrong. Usually courtesy of his own malfunctioning brain.

They didn't have anything - rings or clothes or anything - but they could get them.

"We could." He looked at her. "Is that what you want? You don't want your family there? I mean, I can understand not wanting my family there...."

[thatsfascinating]

"No, I would love to have your family at our wedding," she said. "I would love to have my family at our wedding. And we can plan a big party when we get back, invite every member of both our families...obvious exception excluded...and every single member of high society in New York. But this is for us. I want to be your wife. I want you to be my husband. I want to make it official."

[abrightboy]

He mulled that over and then looked at her.

"I think I'd like that. Every time I try to make something elaborate happen, it goes wrong."

[thatsfascinating]

"Awww, Bright..." She kissed him gently. "I love it when you make elaborate things happen. Like this trip. It's been amazing. The fact that something unexpected happened doesn't ruin that, at all. Things don't go to plan, life is just like that. I'm sure your proposal would have been perfect, and we would have had a big, beautiful wedding in New York. That's not what this is about."

[abrightboy]

He returned the kiss and nodded.

"I think it's a good idea. I just... hadn't considered it."

[thatsfascinating]

She smiled at him, pleased he thought it was a good idea.

"Ask me," she said softly, her eyes shining.

[abrightboy]

He looked at her.

"You still want me to?"

[thatsfascinating]

"I promised," she said. "And yes."

[abrightboy]

Well, if he couldn't even get down on one knee, he was sure as hell going to at least sit up. He struggled to push himself upright, dizzy as soon as he was somewhat vertical, but he didn't care. He almost got her arm tangled up in the strap from his restraint when he tried to take her hand, but he managed that in the end, too.

"Edrisa Tanaka... will you marry me?" he asked, with an earnest that suggested he didn't even really believe the answer was a given.