Darkness Series
Part 7: ...Into The Light

"Were you intending to wake up today, Nicole, or did you want to sleep for the whole of it?"

 

She yawned and opened her eyes to see him standing at the end of her bed. "What time is it?"

 

"Almost ten,” Jarod told her. “I only ask because otherwise I'll eat breakfast on my own."

 

Eyes narrow, she scrutinized him closely. "Why do I detect a hidden meaning in that sentence?"

 

Jarod laughed, leaning down to pick up a basket that had formerly been hidden by the end of the bed. "How could you tell?"

 

"What on earth...?"

 

"I might add that it's hard to eat lying down, let alone being bad for digestion."

 

Listening as she sat up in bed, he bent down to retrieve the tray that she had used when he was unable to get up and held it out.

 

"Do you want to set that up while I get the rest?"

 

She raised an eyebrow. "The... the rest?"

 

Jarod laughed. "Just a sec." He handed her the basket and left the room, only to reappear with a bag, from which, as he sat down and arranged his crutches, she extracted various items. "Bread's a little boring without things to put on it."

 

She pulled a smaller basket out of the larger one, turning back the cloth on top to inhale the scent that rose from it.

 

"That's the normal bread,” Jarod told her, recognizing the smell. “As you like the cinnamon one so much, I made some of that, as well."

 

"Do I get invited to this feast too?" queried a voice and Ann poked her head around the door.

 

"Well, I don't know." Jarod arched an eyebrow, turning at the sound of the voice. "You just helped me cook. I don’t know whether assistants usually deserve to eat..."

 

Ann picked up a pillow and hit him with it as she sat down on the bed. A smile on her face, Nicole reached over and grabbed her gown, pulling it on. "If I'd known this was going to be a community affair, I would have worn better pajamas."

 

Jarod grinned. "You look fine to me."

 

Ann laughed and hit him with the pillow again. "Behave yourself in the company of ladies."

 

"Well, I can understand how Nicole fits into that category,” he retorted quickly. “But you..."

 

Nicole picked up a roll, broke part of it off and put it in his mouth. "Stop talking before you get into more trouble than you can get out of."

 

Jarod laughed and chewed before swallowing. Nicole pulled a tightly sealed jug out of the basket and filled a cup, which she put into his hand. "So you don't choke..."

 

"How truly considerate," he commented around the crumbs in his mouth.

 

"Always."

 

He grinned and ate the rest of the roll in silence.

 

* * *

 

Jarod scrubbed the bread tin and, after feeling to check that it was completely clean, rinsed it and laid it, steaming, on to the sink. Reaching into the water, he took out the last teaspoon, shook off the suds and placed it onto the draining rack.

 

"I should kidnap you one night, take you to my house and keep you there forever as a slave," said an amused voice from just inside the room.

 

"What would your husband say?” he laughed. “Besides, I'm an expert at escaping. I'd be gone as soon as you turned around."

 

"Ah, but I know where you'd go," Ann reminded him.

 

"I'd sneak back here, grab Nicole and the two of us would disappear over the horizon, never to be heard from again - and, in addition, I wouldn't pay you back for the clothes you bought."

 

"My God, you're cruel!"

 

"I know." He grinned. "But I can be very charming as well."

 

Nicole came into the room to find Ann speechless. "What did he say?"

 

Ann repeated the conversation and, unable to help laughing, Nicole leaned against the bench as she eyed the man. "So where would we go?"

 

"I'll tell you when she isn't around to hear it. Where's the pursuit factor if I just tell people where I am when they're hunting for me?"

 

Nicole laughed again and picked up a dishcloth. "Do I get no say?"

 

"None," he told her firmly. "But," Jarod added after a moment of thought, "I'll give you ten minutes to pack."

 

"Well, that's generosity!"

 

"I've told you before, sarcasm is not becoming." He reached down to pull out the plug, listening as the water drained away. Nicole watched him go to pick up the bread-tin, seeing the consternation in his eyes as his hand brushed empty air.

 

"Hey, what the...?" He turned and held out a hand, the other on his hip. "Give it."

 

"No. It's nearly done."

 

For a moment he paused, head tilted slightly to one side, and then snatched the cloth out of one hand and the tin out of the other, feeling it over before wiping it one last time and putting it on the bench. Nicole looked over to find Ann staring at him.

 

"How on earth did you know where she was?"

 

"I listened, of course." He lifted an eyebrow. "Did you think I got my sight back when nobody was around or something?"

 

"You could tell where she was…by listening?"

 

He picked up the teaspoon, wiping it dry. "I have a map of the kitchen in my mind. When anything changes, I make the necessary adjustments, so I’ve got a pretty good idea of where everything in it is - and how far away it is." He reached out one hand and opened the cutlery drawer, dropping the spoon inside without bothering to feel for the correct position. Grabbing the cloth he wiped the inside of the sink and then rinsed it out and hung it over the tap. Turning, he gave a bow, grabbed his crutches and made his escape.

 

* * *

 

"You forgot to put the bread-tin away after you dried it."

 

Jarod lifted his head and turned to face her, a book in his hand and enjoying the sunshine as he sat on the back veranda. "It was still slightly warm and I doubt you want to harbor germs in your saucepan cupboard."

 

"Okay, good point."

 

Jarod grinned, letting his fingers slip over several lines before speaking again. "Is Ann still here?"

 

"No, she left in a huff because of how insulting you were."

 

He raised an eyebrow. "She thinks that was bad?"

 

"I have no doubt that you are capable of worse, Jarod, but I'm not sure either of us wants to hear it."

 

"Okay, okay." He was about to read again when a thought struck him. "So where do you want to go?"

 

"If you kidnap me, you mean?" She grinned and then leaned against the veranda railing with both arms folded over her chest, facing him. "Somewhere warm."

 

"Hawaii?" he suggested, his eyes dancing with laughter as he remembered his last visit there.

 

"Only if we can go to some high-quality hotel."

 

"I'll send the Centre broke, just to keep you happy," he promised.

 

"You'd steal from the Centre? That's horrible!"

 

"That's justice. They owe me thirty-three years back-pay."

 

She grinned. "Ever bothered to work out how much exactly?"

 

"That would depend how much they got for selling my sims." The humor was gone from his voice and Nicole saw that his eyes were now glittering like steel. Sitting beside him, she took his hands in hers and gently unclenched the fists into which they had formed, speaking soothingly.

 

"Jarod, you don't have to worry about them anymore. You're safe now."

 

"I can't help it, Nicole. I can't forget everything they did to me."

 

"I didn't say you had to forget, Jarod. I don't ask impossibilities. But until you try and deal with all the things that happened there and as a result of them, those nightmares won't go away."

 

He looked suddenly sheepish. "I guess I didn't wake you up just the once, huh?"

 

"It's happened a few times, yes," she admitted.

 

"I'm sorry," he murmured automatically.

 

She looked up into his face, her voice soft. "No, Jarod. You don't have to apologize for things that aren't your fault."

 

A tear escaped from his unseeing eye and slowly began to slip down his face. "I don't... don't like showing that part of me."

 

"But it is a part of you, Jarod, and you can't deny that. You have to deal with it."

 

"I… I can't!"

 

She rested back against the outdoor sofa that had been brought out to replace the deck chairs on both front and rear verandas, eyeing him. "Jarod, you know the difference between physical and metaphorical, right?"

 

He shrugged carelessly. "Of course."

 

"So you understand me when I say that your metaphorical death gave you the chance for a whole new life?"

 

His head lowered, he took several deep breaths. She continued softly.

 

"That part of you - the part connected to the Centre - doesn't have to go away, but you can't move forward properly until you let go of the feelings that you associate with it. Right now, it's like you're carrying heavy sacks, full of the emotions from that place, around your neck, and they're dragging you down. Your freedom from the Centre has only ever been half-physical anyway. It’s got hold of you up here," she gently tapped the side of his head with her finger, "and in here," she placed her hand flat against his chest, "and until you let that go, you won't be able to take full advantage of the opportunities your new life gives you. But it's going to take both time and hard work. You can't just throw something like that away as easily as you did with the clothes you wore before you got the new ones."

 

Jarod reached up and covered her hand with his own, several tears slipping onto her fingers. His words were hardly audible.

 

"Help me."

 

"I'd like to, Jarod, but I can't. I don't know and I can't possibly understand what you went through - and what you're going through now. All I can do is be there for you when you need it."

 

His fingers slowly tightened around her hand, his voice strangled, emotionally fighting against the place she was trying to take him. "I can't deal with it..."

 

"So you'll do what? Run away again?" She put her other hand under his chin and forced his head up. "No matter where you go, you'll never get away from this until you make the effort."

 

"It's... like a nightmare..."

 

"And it's one you have to wake up from, Jarod." She released her hand from his grasp and placed it and the other on his shoulders. "I know you can. It's taken a lot of inner strength to get through the past few weeks and for the most part you laughed in the face of everything that's been thrown at you. Now you just need to do the same thing to your past."

 

"How do you face your past," he muttered, turning away, "when you can't see your future?"

 

"Have you ever been able to?” she challenged him. “Did you leave the Centre in 1996 thinking 'I'll help people for three years, get recaptured, escape again, help a couple more people and then I'll go into a building with a bomb in it, and…'?"

 

She stopped as he smiled weakly.

 

"I don't even know where to start..."

 

Nicole gently stroked his cheek. "You'll find the right place." She stood up. "I'm going to get a few things we need from the supermarket and I'll return some of those books. I'll be back in a couple of hours."

 

He nodded, listening to her footsteps walk back into the house, hearing the front door softly close and knowing himself to be alone.

 

* * *

 

She quietly let herself into the house, silently closing the front door, and then put the basket down on the floor. Opening the door of his room, as she expected, she found him on his bed. He lay on his stomach, his head on his arms and turned to one side. Traces of tears were still evident on his cheeks and his breath came in ragged gasps through his parted lips. She came over, picking up a blanket that lay, folded, on the foot of the bed, and gently spread it over him. Jarod moaned softly as she did so and she bent down to brush his cheek with her lips before she left the room.

 

Picking up the basket, she went into the living room and put the small pile of books onto the table before going into the kitchen to unpack the rest of its contents. It took almost twenty minutes to do all that and then she returned the basket in its normal spot beside the front door before looking in on him again. His face was calmer and he made no sound as she watched from the doorway, but she could tell that he was still asleep. The expression on Nicole’s face was a tender smile as she pulled the door almost closed behind her and returned to the living room.

 

* * *

 

Jarod sat on the edge of the bed, his face turned to the floor. His hands held tightly to the edge of the mattress as if afraid he would fall off it, and his head still throbbed painfully from the emotion that had finally sent him to sleep earlier.

 

"Hi."

 

He turned his face to the door as he heard her speaking softly.

 

"How are you feeling?"

 

Shrugging, he turned away. He could hear her footsteps walking softly over the carpet and it was no surprise when the mattress next to him bent and Nicole was beside him, her arm brushing his.

 

"Jarod, when I said I wouldn't help, it’s not because I don't want to. I don't think I know enough..."

 

"I understand."

 

His words were barely a whisper. She turned to face him.

 

"Is there anything I can do?"

 

Jarod felt the words rather than hearing them, a drop of peace in a mind that had been in turmoil for hours. Abruptly he turned, lowered his head until it rested on her shoulder and burst into tears. Nicole wrapped her arms around his shoulders and felt his work their way around her back as his tears soaked through her hair and her shirt, finally running in warm trails down her neck. Silently, she rocked him, wishing that she could understand what he was going through.

 

Finally the tears ran out and Jarod felt his eyes dry. He remained still, feeling that he had found a source of comfort and not wanting to let that go. Her hand gently stroked the back of his head and the other arm was wrapped around his shoulders, holding him close to her.

 

"Is the hardest part over now, Jarod?"

 

She made no move, knowing he would hear her question. There was a silence lasting for several minutes before he spoke.

 

"I don't know. Maybe."

 

"I think it's a start, anyway. The walls you built around those emotions needed something to give them a good whack, and I think we've done that today."

 

"How did you know?"

 

She smiled. "You never asked me what my specialty was before I learnt optical and neurological medicine. Can you guess now?"

 

"Psychiatry." It wasn't a question but he could feel her nodding in response.

 

"Rather an appropriate combination, don't you think?"

 

Nicole laughed, her hand moving from the back of his head, down his cheek and onto his chest to the place where it had rested earlier that day. She could feel his heart beating in his chest.

 

"Is the pain still as bad here as it was, Jarod?"

 

"Not as bad,” he admitted quietly as he lifted his head. “But it's still..."

 

"It'll take more than that to get rid of it, but we'll work on it. Together, I know we can beat this. The Centre has no chance against both of us."

 

"They have no idea what they're facing." Despite the words, his voice was still emotionless.

 

"They should be terrified." She spoke in a light tone. "They should be shaking in their shoes - and not because they forgot to pay the heating bill."

 

He smiled faintly, his eyes still blank, and slowly pulled out of her grasp, shivering, as the warmth seemed to stay behind with her. She picked up the blanket that he had thrown aside, gently wrapping it around him, her tones understanding.

 

"It's getting late, Jarod. Do you want something to eat or maybe just a drink?"

 

"I'm... not hungry...” he admitted slowly. “But..."

 

"Maybe some coffee?"

 

He nodded and she got up. "I think it might be a good idea if you go to bed and try to sleep soon. You've been through enough today..." Her voice died away as she bent down, gently kissing the top of his head before abruptly leaving the room.

 

* * *

 

She looked at the clock, her eyes fixed on the face, but her mind not taking in the information it was receiving. She had tried to read, too, but gave that up as a useless task. A CD had finished more than three hours ago, but she hadn't bothered to get up and change it. Had anybody asked, though, Nicole would have found it impossible to say what she was thinking about. Her mind seemed to be a complete blank. But she was remembering, almost reliving, the way it felt to hold him and how it had felt to have him hold her. And the emotion of it was building up in her so much that it almost seemed like an waste of time to breathe.

 

Yet she wasn't certain, had circumstances been different, whether he would have done it at all. It was that doubt that was stopping her from going in to see him now. And it was the same indecision that meant she scarcely looked at him when she went in to the room with his mug, to find him already curled up in bed. Nicole had kept out of reach, almost afraid of what he might do.

 

But more afraid of what she wouldn't be able to stop herself from doing.

 

"N... Nicole?"

 

Starting at the sound of his voice, she turned to see Jarod came out into the dark room, using one hand to wipe the sleep from his eyes as he hesitated in the doorway, the other hand gathering the blanket around his shoulders while also keeping hold of his crutches.

 

"What are you doing up?"

 

The query came from them both simultaneously and they laughed together as he sat down on the sofa next to her, pulling the blanket tightly around him. She looked at her watch in the dimness of the room, finally taking in the time and shocked to find that it was already after three. Raising her head, she visually examined the features of the man beside her as he stared straight ahead into the never-ending darkness.

 

"Couldn't you sleep?"

 

"I have been, but I couldn't stay there any longer. I had to come out here." Jarod turned his head in her direction. "Have you slept tonight?"

 

"Not yet," she admitted.

 

"It's lucky you don't have work today."

 

"I'd probably operate on the wrong end."

 

He laughed again and she thrilled to hear the emotion that had seemed, a few hours earlier, as if it might never be there again.

 

Unable to suppress his curiosity, he raised an eyebrow. "What were you thinking about, Nicole?"

 

"The person I'm looking at," she told him quietly.

 

He turned his head in several directions, amusement in his eyes and a smile on his face. "There's someone else here?"

 

"Not anymore."

 

Jarod raised an eyebrow, the amusement gone. "Can I guess who you mean?"

 

"Probably." She looked down at her hands. "Definitely."

 

His response was both soft and understanding. "So there's only the two of us now?"

 

"I think so."

 

"You don't know?"

 

She paused. "It's too early to be definite, but I think..."

 

He could feel her trembling as she sat beside him, his arm occasionally brushing hers. Gently he reached out one hand, placing it on her knee.

 

"You're cold."

 

"That, too."

 

"Are you scared of me, Nicole?"

 

His blind eyes appeared to search her face with such intensity that she was grateful, both that he couldn't see her and that it was almost totally dark in the room. As he raised his hand, the blanket slowly slipped off his shoulders, and his fingers came into gentle contact with her face. Jarod held his palm against her cheek for a second and then moved his hand slightly so his fingertips slipped into her hair. Slowly, he came closer, waiting to feel if she would pull away, but she never moved, and he finally brought his lips into gentle contact with hers.

 

There was a second of hesitation on both sides before she responded, her hands lifting to link behind his head as she relaxed against him and the kiss slowly deepened. Jarod curled his other arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer to him and moving his right hand so that his fingers were tangled in the curls at the back of her head.

 

As their first kiss ended, Nicole lowered her head so it rested on his shoulder, one hand stroking the back of Jarod's head and the other slipping down to lie flat on his chest. There was a moment of silence before he spoke.

 

"Are you scared of me?"

 

"Not anymore."

 

"But you were."

 

"I was more scared of what I'd do - what I couldn't stop myself from doing."

 

Jarod raised an eyebrow. "Did I do it for you?"

 

"Yes," she admitted.

 

He smiled into the darkness, his hand moving to pick up the blanket from where it lay on the sofa and pulling it around both of them, holding it and resting his arm around her shoulders, fingertips of his other hand stroking the hand on his chest. Nicole broke the silence.

 

"I… I want to say something."

 

"It doesn't sound like it'll be easy."

 

She shook her head slightly. "It won't. Not for me. I'm not used to..."

 

"I love you, Nicole."

 

Lifting her head, she stared up at him. "How did you know?"

 

"I thought it might be easier if you knew that before you said anything at all." He brought down his mouth so that it touched hers gently once more.

 

"Jarod?"

 

He ran the backs of his fingers down her cheek. "Mmm?"

 

"I love you, too."

 

* * *

 

He moved his hand gently up and down her arm, feeling her close to him, both by desire and from the limitations imposed on them by the small size of the sofa. She lay virtually on top of him, filling the space between his body and the back of the piece of furniture. Jarod knew Nicole was asleep, but he couldn't rest. There were too many emotions swirling inside him - conflicting emotions that wouldn't settle. But the most overwhelming was also the most recent. She loved him. He’d known for what seemed like forever that he loved her and it had purely been the nagging uncertainty that had prevented him from saying it to her earlier. Nicole suddenly shivered and nestled close to him but whether from a scene in a dream or from cold he couldn't tell. Jarod wrapped his arms around her, holding her close and thrilling at her nearness. After a moment, he felt her tense, and knew that she was awake.

 

"Hi."

 

She moved the hand that lay on his chest to his face and gently stroked his cheek. "You okay?"

 

"Fine,” he murmured. “You?"

 

"A little cold."

 

"Do you want to go to bed?"

 

"Not if you're going to yours."

 

He smiled. "I'd suggest you come with me, but it's a bit small."

 

"Do you want...?" She stopped and he waited, guessing what she would say but unwilling to push her faster than she wanted to go. There was a long pause.

 

"Jarod, help me here."

 

He chuckled. "You know what you want to say. Say it."

 

She raised herself on one arm and Jarod could tell she was glaring at him. "That wasn't helpful at all!"

 

"Sure?"

 

He raised a hand, running it up the length of the arm that held her above him and along her neck, finally cupping her cheek in his palm once more. Nicole let herself down, her lips brushing his and her eyes slipping closed as she relaxed against him again. He spoke as his mouth was in contact with hers.

 

"Are you sure that didn't give you your answer?"

 

"Well... maybe..."

 

* * *

 

Jarod pulled himself upright in bed, feeling that she was no longer there. With an impatient hand, he flipped up the cover of his watch and ran his fingers over the raised dots. It was already almost eleven, but, running a hand over the place where she had slept, he felt that it was still warm, and quickly calculated that she could only have been gone for a few minutes. Suddenly he felt his skin crawl with the feeling that he always had when he was being watched and held his breath to hear the faint sound of breathing in the doorway. He turned his head sharply in that direction.

 

"Nicole? Are you there?"

 

"Mmm hmm." Nicole came over to sit beside him, placing a hand on his. "Were you missing me?"

 

"Just so as you'd notice, yes." He stretched out his arm and slipped it around her waist, gathering her to him before relaxing back against the pillows with her in his arms. She looked up at him.

 

"Were you planning to spend all day here?"

 

"Do you have any objections?"

 

"Only on grounds of hunger, thirst and all other necessities. You haven't had anything to eat since breakfast yesterday, remember, which might explain your current behavior."

 

He laughed, kissing her again. "There's only one thing to explain this and it has nothing to do with hunger. Can you guess what it is?"

 

She couldn’t help smiling. "Tell me."

 

Jarod moved his mouth to her ear and lowered his voice to a whisper. "I've been in love with you almost from the first moment I heard your voice."

 

* * *

 

He propped his legs up on the footstool and felt her lie back against him. Jarod lowered one hand so that it rested on her hair and used the other to hold the book open on his lap.

 

"Okay, now I'm in trouble."

 

"Why?" He could hear the smile in her voice.

 

"I need a third arm," he explained with a grin.

 

"You can have my two," she offered.

 

"That is a wonderfully sweet gesture, but I need it connected to my brain."

 

She laughed. "That's just asking way too much."

 

He grinned again. "I knew you wouldn't be that self-sacrificial."

 

Nicole took his hand from the top of her head, squeezing it gently before she let go. "I don't need you to always be holding me to show how much you love me. I know it now."

 

"Not even if I want to?" He raised an eyebrow and she laughed.

 

"Well, if you really wanted to, I wouldn't deny you that chance..."

 

He smiled and returned his hand to its former position. "It feels right there."

 

"For me, too."

 

"And I'll have to learn to read Braille without holding the book."

 

"Well, perhaps I can remove that necessity, at least temporarily."

 

"Ann!" Nicole sat upright and stared at her friend, turning when Jarod put out one hand past her, his voice stern.

 

"Give it."

 

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

 

"Give me back the key I gave you and which you never returned."

 

"Gee, darn," Ann grumbled, but pulled the key ring out of her pocket and placed it into the palm of his hand. "Couldn't you have found someone less quick to have here that I could steal… borrow a key from?"

 

As Nicole laughed, Jarod narrowed his eyes. "I'll have the duplicate too, thanks."

 

"How the...?"

 

He grinned as he felt the second key being placed in his outstretched hand. "I was waiting to hear what your main complaint was. If you complained about no longer having the chance to sneak in and out whenever you wanted to then I would have believed that you didn't have a copy." Jarod shrugged. "You didn't."

 

"You're too smart for your own good."

 

He smirked and closed the book, placing it on the table in front of him. "I've been told that before."

 

"Oh, go and put your keys away."

 

Jarod laughed, bent down and picked up his crutches, leaving the room without another word.

 

"I won't ask," Ann stated, the moment he was gone.

 

"Good,” Nicole retorted abruptly. “Because I won't tell."

 

"Except..."

 

Nicole put a hand over her friend's mouth. "No exceptions. I'm very happy. He's very happy. Isn't that enough for you?"

 

Ann smiled. "Unless I was hard to please, it should be. And it's a big difference from the way you were a few days ago."

 

"No comment on your first sentence. I'll ask the staff about that. But I agree with the second."

 

Ann raised an eyebrow. "And is he in love with you?"

 

Nicole smiled. "You don't honestly expect me to answer that, do you?"

 

"Not now that you've just removed the necessity of it, no."

 

"Have you deserted your husband or something?"

 

Jarod reentered the room in clothes that made Ann whistle in admiration before she even realized that he had asked her a question.

 

"Did I buy all that?"

 

"Most of it. A couple of additions are mine from my last pretend before my time in demolitions."

 

"What were you - a fashion model?"

 

Jarod grinned but didn't comment and Ann laughed. "Well, for somebody who can’t see himself in the mirror, I think you did a pretty good job."

 

He sat down on the sofa. "Can I get an answer to my question?"

 

"Roger's been busy at work for the last few days, to prepare for a vacation we’ve got planned in a week's time."

 

"And your purpose for today's visit is...?"

 

Ann looked at her friend and laughed. "Now that's downright incivility! But as you asked so nicely, I was going to invite the two of you out for dinner tonight with the two of us. I've miraculously still got tonight off work and Roger finishes at six."

 

"Sounds good. Shall we meet at your place and go from there, or...?"

 

"Unless you want me to cook and the two of you can come around here," the man offered.

 

"There's an offer I can't refuse. If your dinners are anywhere near as good as your breakfasts..." She glanced at Nicole. "Are they?"

 

"I have no idea," the other woman shrugged. "He's never made me any. I'm the person who does dinner."

 

"What a waste of talent!"

 

Jarod laughed. "Are you trying to make my head swell?"

 

"Not intentionally, but you don't make a bad breakfast."

 

"What condescension!"

 

Nicole laughed at the tones in his voice. "Come around at seven and we'll eat... when?"

 

She looked up at Jarod, leaning back against him as she did so, and he wrapped one arm around her waist. "Eight."

 

"Okay, I'm looking forward to it." Ann's eyes lighted on the scene in front of her for a few moments before she glanced at her watch and stood up. "I should be going."

 

Nicole looked somewhat startled. "Already?"

 

"Well, you didn't seem to want me here when I arrived!" Ann protested, laughing.

 

"Besides Nicole, I need you to take me shopping,” Jarod put in.

 

"I did that yesterday,” she reminded him.

 

"But that won't be enough to satisfy the chef," Ann laughed, about to turn away when Jarod spoke again.

 

"Can you write down the total of those clothes for me somewhere and I'll pay you back tonight?"

 

"Why? Planning to vanish like a phantom in the night, taking Nicole with you, of course, and don't want to leave outstanding debts behind?"

 

He choked back a laugh. "Yeah, something like that."

 

* * *

 

Nicole shut the front door and came back down the hall into the kitchen to find Jarod bent double, sweeping crumbs into a pan.

 

"You know," she began conversationally, watching him straighten up immediately. "I could almost swear that that was expressly forbidden."

 

"Maybe I'm selectively deaf and didn't hear it said."

 

"Deaf and blind.” She tutted sympathetically. “What a terrible combination."

 

"Hey, I said selectively deaf." He allowed her to take the items out of his hand and finish cleaning up.

 

"So what can you hear?"

 

"Anything you choose to tell me,” he laughed.

 

"So if I choose to tell you not to bend over..."

 

"Sorry, what? I didn't quite catch that."

 

He turned his head in her direction, one hand cupped behind his ear and his features alight with amusement.

 

"I said your dinner was great."

 

His face became serious. "It was better when I could see."

 

She put down the pan and went over to him, slipping both arms around his waist. "You don't have any regrets, Jarod? Not anymore?"

 

"Just one, Nicole."

 

"And that is?"

 

Jarod kissed her before responding but his voice was full of sadness. "I don't know what you look like."

Part 8

 

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