“Hey, there, stranger,” she said as she walked over to sit beside him on the couch, groaning in pain before stuffing a pillow behind her back.
“Hello to you, too,” Gage said softly, reaching forward to put his hands on Fiona’s shoulders, finding them as tense and stiff as he expected.
“I need to sleep for like ten days straight,” Fiona sighed, leaning back into Gage’s touch. She whimpered a little as he dug his fingers into her skin, reaching under her shirt to get to her shoulder-blades.
“You deserve it,” Gage said softly, leaning forward to press a soft kiss to the top of Fiona’s head. He could practically feel her smile, even though he couldn’t see her face. He’d never felt this connected to her before, but there was still one thing nagging at the back of his mind, preventing him from relaxing fully.
“What were you going to say, in the woods, before I restrained Cash?” Gage asked.
“You already know the answer to that question,” Fiona said shyly, leaning forward to grab a mug full of water off the coffee table in front of the couch.
Gage bit down on his lip, rubbing at Fiona’s shoulders a little harder than before. “Still…” he whispered. “I mean, I know it’s asking a lot of you. You’ve been through enough today, but I’m…selfish, I guess. It’s who I am. You know that about me.”
“I do,” Fiona said, not disputing his own diagnosis of his personality. That made him smile a little, knowing that Fiona would always call him out on his flaws. “But I guess I can give you a pass this one time.”
“Yeah?” Gage prompted her, feeling his heart pick up in his chest as he sat completely still.
“Yeah,” Fiona said, her tone as light and casual as can be. “Because I love you. Always have.”
Gage couldn’t help himself, he had to crush Fiona into his body and wrap his arms around her waist to keep her as close to him as possible. “Jesus Christ, I fucking love you.”
Fiona turned her neck to kiss him, pressing their mouths together firmly before letting Gage’s tongue inside, massaging it with hers until he was moaning into her mouth. But she pulled back a minute later, probably wanting to avoid getting overly excited. She obviously wasn’t in any position for their usual rough sex tonight, but that was okay. Gage could wait.
“I wasn’t even sure you were coming back, you know,” Gage said, thinking out loud as he traced his fingers over Fiona’s, dragging his nails gently over her skin.
Fiona shook her head and lightly smacked Gage on the thigh. “Nah. I couldn’t leave you. You should know that by now.”
“But…I mean, a year ago, you said you couldn’t take it anymore. I figured you meant me. How we met, working on that case years ago…I figured it’d be impossible for you to ever move past that, and that was why we couldn’t be together.”
“I’m not going to lie to you. We’ve got some tough roads ahead,” Fiona said. “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know we’ll face it together. I can’t…I can’t be without you. It’s just not how I work. I hope that’s okay with you.”
“Of course it’s okay,” Gage said, hugging Fiona closer. “More than okay. But…if you need to leave the city, if you need to go somewhere else to feel better, to feel safer, we can do that. My job is wherever you want it to be.”
“What about the Bandits?” Fiona whispered, grasping back at Gage’s hands.
“They’re my club, my brothers,” Gage admitted. “But you’re my family.”
They were silent for a long moment, hugging each other tightly, before Fiona spoke again.
“I’m not ready to leave the city yet,” Fiona said. “There’s some stuff I got to work through, and I’m not going to be able to do it by running away. At least not yet.” She tapped her fingers on Gage’s hand, making his skin cells prickle with pleasure. “Will you help me? Work through all my shit, you know?”
“Of course,” Gage answered immediately. “Whatever it takes. I’m here for you, you know that.”
“And the opposite is true for you. I’m here for you. I know the past isn’t in the past, for either one of us. And we’ll face it together.”
“What do you mean?” Gage asked, even though he had a suspicion he knew what Fiona was going to say next.
“Abby’s diary,” Fiona whispered, turning around in Gage’s lap to face him, staring up at him with wide sincere eyes. “We’ll have to face it one day, sooner or later. I want to be there for you when you’re ready.”