Dark Mysteries (31 page)

He
stepped back, tucking the note into his chest pocket, and looking up
at her. “This will be... mutually beneficial,” he said,
nodding, and walked out of her room.

Faith
stood there and minute and Ellie could feel her heart slamming in her
chest. Full of an overwhelming sense of guilt. “Tell me I did
the right thing,” she told Faith.

Faith
took a deep breath, walking over to Ellie and placing her hands on
the bandages of her wrists. “You did what you needed to do,”
she said, her eyes seeking Ellie's, trying to urge her to believe,
“and that's the right thing.”

Epilogue

Xander's
place was cramped. She had spent a week in the bed, Xander laying by
her side but refusing to touch her. As if she might shatter. K slept
on the red couch and she heard Brian around in the front office.
Everything felt small and claustrophobic.

Every
time someone entered the room, their eyes went straight to her,
propped up in bed, slowly losing her mind. And they would smile and
offer her things, making her irrationally irritable with their
kindness.

All
three of them were mulling around in the kitchen. K putting coffee
on, Xander making her tea, and Brian restocking the fridge.

She
took a deep breath, preparing for the pain in her side, swung her
legs off the side of the bed and stood up.

“Hey,”
K's voice yelled, warning.

“You
need something?” Brian asked.

“Get
back into bed,” Xander said, shaking his head at her.

“Nope,”
she said, hobbling over toward the kitchen, her feet smarting every
time she stepped forward. But they would heal. Everything would heal.
“I'm tired of being treated like an invalid.”

“You
could puncture a lung with those broken ribs,” Xander objected.

“Yeah,
maybe,” Ellie said, walking up to him and planting a kiss on
his cheek.

“Go
back to bed,” he said, leaning his head down. He wanted her to
get better. He needed her to get better. Because sleeping next to
her, waking up with her all sprawled all over him, was driving him
crazy.

“Why
don't you... make me,” she suggested, her tone dipping low,
full of innuendo.

“Sweetheart,”
Xander said, snaking a hand around her hips and leaning down to nip
her lower lip. “When you are well enough to leave that bed, I
am going to take you back into it for three days straight.”

His
lips came down on hers, hard, full of all the longing he had been
feeling for weeks. Full of promises. She sank into him, bringing her
hands up to his neck, pressing her body to his.

“Oh,
gross,” Brian groaned.

“Yeah,
this is a communal kitchen,” K added.

Ellie
sank back onto her feet, laughing against Xander's chest.

“Don't
worry, K,” Xander said, his hands running through her hair,
“when that day comes, we'll get you some earplugs.”

“Christ
I need to get my own place,” K said, grinning at them over top
of his coffee cup.

K
was going to stay in the city. They had had that talk a few nights
before. About how he always wanted to branch out. That he would leave
his business back in Seattle in the hands of his office manager, that
any urgent needs from people like Ellie, people who needed help,
would simply be directed to his new place.

“Can
I spend the nights with you then?” Brian asked, winking at
them. “My poor, virgin eyes!”

“Yeah...”
Xander snorted, “like I haven't walked out to the office and
seen you all wrapped up with a different girl every night.”

Ellie
reached up, slapping Xander's chest, giving him a stern
'you're
supposed to be the grown up'
look.

“What?”
Xander asked, grinning. “I gave him condoms...”

“Oh,
for god's...” Ellie started, but there was a knocking on the
front door that had them all turning. Ellie rolled her eyes as Xander
pulled away from her to go answer. “Whoever it is, tell them to
go away. There isn't enough room for another person here.”

There
was some kind of exchange in the front, Xander and a female voice,
before she heard the door closing and Xander walked back in, holding
a box.

Everyone's
eyes were on here, excited, anticipating something. “What's
going on?” she asked, looking around, giving them a curious
smile.

“Get
your pretty little ass back in bed and you can get your surprise,”
Xander said, waiting beside it with a raised brow.

Ellie
laughed, tip-toeing back over and scooting into her spot, legs
propped up on a pillow. As per instructions. “Okay, gimme,”
she said, extending her arms out toward the box.

Xander
smiled, putting the box on the edge of the bed and reaching in. He
took the squiggling, purring little kitten and placed it in her
waiting hands, watching as her eyes went wide and disbelieving. She
pulled the kitten down onto her chest, stroking it's bald head, it's
stubby little legs.

“I
hope you like that hideous little thing,” Xander said, watching
her play with it, “because it cost a fortune. And Mary wasn't
even willing to give me the
'my girlfriend was just kidnapped and
tortured'
discount.”

Ellie
laughed, petting it's naked back. “We should call it Kitty K,”
she suggested looking over at K who had on a horrified expression.

“You're
not naming that freaky thing after me. Nuh uh.”

Xander
climbed onto the bed, curling up next to Ellie, reaching over to
touch the kitten's head. “I was thinking Mr. Rochester,”
he suggested. “You know... like from the quote...”

Ellie
looked up at him, a huge, happy grin on her face. “That's
perfect,” she said, leaning over and kissing him. “But
you know... we're going to have to get him a Jane Eyre then.”

Xander
looked at their strange little group, grinning to himself. More
strays.

The
End.

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