"Well, I Have Been Here And By The Looks Of You, I Might Have Failed. So Don't Put Too Much Faith In

"Well, I have been here and by the looks of you, I might have failed. So don't put too much faith in me. I can only try." There was a moment there where she wanted to insist. Make him believe that he was a good man but didn't. Everyone needed to accept and believe things in their own time.

"Your report?" She asked, her own head tilting to the side, trying to surmise the answer she wanted to give to this. A part of her wanted to comply and tell him who it was, but she knew all too well what it was like to be the caged bird with nothing left to do but sing. Deciding that it wasn't important to his report, why would something that happened to someone not on their payroll matter? "Don't worry about him. It's not like he knew that I had boundaries, he's just doing the part that he needs to do to survive, Wal's. I'll just make sure that when I step out of here to expect anything. Just, let it go. I have."

Laughing with him, she added. "I'll shove you into the car if you need me to." Watching him get into the bath, she waited another moment. Still concerned about him getting hurt or passing out. When he looked up at her, institing that he'd be okay, she nodded. Her hand absentmindedly tucked the hair behind his ear, so she could see both his eyes. But then rolled her eyes at his comment. "God, you must feel better already to be so bossy." But inside she was glad that he was starting to some what resemble the man she knew before this. "Yes, sir. Right away." She replied over her shoulder as she made her way back to the other room where her things were.

Taking a quick shower, she felt better about washing the long day away. Everything played over and over in her head trying to figure out where she could have done something different, what else could have been done. Accepting that there probably wasn't, she tied her wet hair up, as best as she could at its new short length a lot of it remained out of the ponytail, and grabbed an oversized cartoon t-shirt of the latest thing Orion was obsessed with and a pair of shorts before going downstairs to get them food.

Looking through the fridge and the cupboards, she made a note of not to grab anything he might be allergic to. Making turkey sandwiches with whatever was there and reading labels to make sure that garlic or peppers weren't in anything. After making sandwiches, gabbing some yogurts, and a bottles of water, she found a tray to bring it all up on. It would have to do for now, baking something or trying to cook something would just take too long and she still worried about him being able to get out of the tub alone or hurting himself some how.

Making it back to the room, she called out. "The missuses has returned from the kitchen. Ready to eat?"

..

He blinked as she took his hands and the corner of his lips automatically started to curl up into a smile. Though he did try to hide it. Her hands were soft which was a nice surprise to him. He could feel his thumb itch to rub over her index but refrained and concentrated on her words and laughed. "I won't argue with that. If you saw who I work with you'd know you nailed it." His eyes showed surprise and it glazed his emeralds over in an emotion not yet categorized. A silent head nod at that he smiled. "Sounds like I'll definitely be less injured with you watching my six." A joke he hoped landed well enough. "I don't know about that." He wasn't looking for pity but he didn't feel like he was a good man somedays. Not when he had red in his ledger even if the means were justified. More so if he chose himself over them in an attempt to ensure his sister's and niece's safety. "But thank you." The moment didn't lend itself to tell that story just yet. He didn't want her to look at him differently.

A soft chuckle escaped him as he brought his hands together. "Tell me about it. Feels like it was the day that never ended. Hey, when you get a chance, would you show me what the guy who crossed your boundary looked like? I need it for my report." He tilted his head and stared at her. Wondering if he should call her out on it or leave it. As he debated he didn't drop his gaze and then decided not to say anything. Finally dropping his gaze he laughed softly. He'd give it her way tonight.

That expression was one he'd often get and it made him laugh. Leaning half of his weight on her he let out a sigh. "This is gonna go great when Lennox has to make his presence known at the Grand Prix. Well, at least if I can get into the car, I can do it." One of the reasons he took point on this was because he was the only one who knew how to drive stick shift and knew the way around a track. It was the only thing he and his alias of Lennox had in common.

He sputtered out a small laugh, "I think meant to be. Just hope no repeats of earlier. Or no last minute communications come in." Quickly shaking his head he waved her up. "No, please. Go change. You need to be comfy. Scouts honor I'll not move." He got a little more comfortable and let his body finally relax in the water. The temperature was just right and he felt the soreness fade away. His leg had started bothering him but he knew if he stretched it then it'd be better. As he looked down at himself he started to scrub at his wrist having dried blood on them and that had his long bang cover one of his eyes. "Seriously, I'll be fine. I'll save you a seat." He looked up bang still hiding one eye and smiled. A genuine smile for the first time since they'd arrived and gotten into this mess. "The longer you take the longer the wait to eat is."

WE LIVE IN TIME (2024) dir. John Crowley

There were too many things still running through her head. Thoughts that didn’t feel hers. Dark. Chaotic. Was she really alive? Was this real? Was she hallucinating this all as her consciousness slipped? Why was she so angry at Sage? The thought of Sage alone made her angry. Where did that come from? But as Rafe kissed her, touched her, loved her, those all seemed to vanish for now.

Awaking some time later tangling in sheets and Rafe, she carefully slipped out of bed. Not wanting to wake him. Her body ached in more ways than one as she got in the shower and began to wash away everything that had happened. The blood, the dirt, the sand. As she began to scrub her body her hands stopped on her abdomen, the memory of the knife tearing through her flesh coming back, but here she was. No wound to be found.

It was starting to sink in truly now. She had been dead. They had brought her back. Her hands came up to her face as the thought of what she had seen while she gone came to mind. Crying into her hands so she couldn’t be heard over the sound of the water. After a collecting herself, she got out and dressed. Hungry now.

The only words in Rafe's mind now were that he loved her and that he would do anything to protect her. It just kept repeating. His usually sexcapades were hot, fast and rough. But not with Elizabeth, no he wanted to take his time, wanted to cherish the feel of her skin beneath his hands, learn what she loved, pleasure her, worship her until that was all she could think about, all he could think about. He never wanted to imagine her dying again, let alone relive it in his mind as it had on their way back here.

He wanted to hear every little moan, feel how she reacted to his body and hopefully she would see, would believe him that he loved her. And as a man that had never really loved anything before he knew without a shadow of doubt that he loved her as his fingers traced down her sides to rest at her hips, fingers gripping oh so lightly.

ASHER ADAMS & JAYMEE AQUINO ALL AMERICAN | 6.11 "The Next Episode"

It had taken months of planning, coordinating, and having the others sworn to secrecy for this to go perfectly. There was nothing he was more sure of in his life than wanting to spend his life with Ashley.

Charlie spared no expense or charm to make this happen for them. Had Ashely paid attention to the faces in the crowd, she would have seen their friends standing at the back, trying their best to not spoil this. Sage and Charlie had dressed as Lara Croft and Indiana Jones, while Rafe and Elizabeth were dressed as James Bond and Dr. Madeleine Swann, all four dressed to impress. All four of them with their phones up recording every moment of it.

Mark laughed but then spoke. "Now, now, I think we should let him say what he wanted to say. Here, son." He held the mic out near AJ's face so he could speak and be heard. "Ashley, will you do me the honor of being my wife?"