Glitch in Time

by W. J. May

  Devon’s head snapped up curiously, and for a moment he paused in his efforts to help. He hadn’t said any names, but it was clear Rae already knew who he was talking about. Although she had certainly added a little twist…

  “Gabriel and Alicia?” he asked in surprise. Rae glanced up at him, but the longer he thought about it the more he seemed to warm to the idea. “She would be good for him.” His voice dropped to a low murmur as he slipped another pillow behind Rae’s back. “At the very least, she would get him out of the house.”

  At that moment the doctor came back, armed with a pharmaceutical supply for an even heavier dose of meds. She programmed a few numbers into a machine by Rae’s head, and a few seconds later Rae’s entire body relaxed with a sigh of relief.

  Devon followed each movement with a critical eye. He even reluctantly allowed himself to be moved so the doctor could come around to the other side and check Rae’s IV.

  “There,” Doctor Dani stepped back when she was finished, “that should feel better.” She gave the chart a final glance before staring down at Rae with a stern smile. “Now, have you thought any more about what I said? About where you might go when you get discharged?”

  An image of Beth’s face floated through Rae’s mind, and she clammed up. Of all the times to need a support system. A caretaker. Of all the moments to be forced to rely upon someone else.

  “Actually,” a voice tentatively piped up from the corner, “I had some thoughts about that as well…”

  * * *

  The rest of the night turned into a terrible, slow-ticking time passage. A living nightmare. One in which Rae was unable to stay awake, but at the same time was unable to sleep due to the pain.

  Devon stayed by her side the entire time. A silent pillar. One who didn’t seem to need to sleep himself. One who always greeted her increasingly distraught profanities with a calm smile.

  The two of them faced the endless hours together, and by the time the sun finally peeked through the window they were more than ready to leave.

  Rae was discharged against Doctor Dani’s recommendation. One of the good things about having a mother who currently had no idea who she was, Rae could get away with these sorts of things.

  “Just take it nice and easy,” Devon coaxed, holding her hands as she stepped carefully out of his car and onto the curb. “Go as slow as you need to.”

  Rae forced first one foot, then the other. Gritting her teeth all the while. Every few seconds, she’d glance up at the house. If anything, it seemed to be getting even farther away. “Okay… here’s fine.” She collapsed against the walkway railing with an exhausted sigh. They were still a good twenty paces from the house, but she couldn’t go a step farther. “If you bring me out some blankets from the house, I can build a little fort. It’ll be just like camping.”

  Camping on cobblestone with a dwindling supply of morphine. Sounds awesome.

  Devon laughed softly, and slipped his arm beneath her legs. “May I?”

  Rae didn’t even answer. She just automatically wrapped her arms around his neck, dropped her head on his shoulder, and closed her eyes. A second later, she was airborne.

  It was a testament to the grace of his tatù that, even with a broken leg, Rae couldn’t feel a thing on the journey inside. He set her down on the living room couch without disturbing her position in the slightest, and quickly covered her with a blanket from his own bed. An array of different drinks was placed on the table before her. Along with books, games, movies, and anything else she could think of to occupy her time. Last, he placed the little bottle of pain pills on a coaster within easy reach from the couch.

  “That should do it.” He knelt on the floor beside her with a look of great satisfaction when he was finished. “A lot better than that hospital, at any rate…”

  Rae chuckled quietly, reaching for the pills. “The medical staff was great.” She struggled to remove the lid. “You had no business terrorizing them the way you did.”

  He took the bottle from her hands and popped the top off easily. “Hey, I would be the first to admit if they were even competent. But let me tell you, for those eleven minutes last night that you were able to sleep, I did a little recon. You know what I saw? Nothing.” He tipped two pills into her hand, and passed her a glass of water. “Casual snacking at reception. Mindless gossip in the breakroom.” He shook his head darkly. “Inactivity. The place is a sinking ship.”

  “You are such a drama queen,” Rae replied, swallowing down the pills, half hazed and the other half of her drugged. “You said the exact same thing about Doctor Roscoe over at the Abbey, and she ran the place like a prison. You just don’t like hospitals. Admit it.”

  “I will not admit…” He paused suddenly, gazing down at her in alarm. “How did you know what I said about Roscoe…”

  They locked eyes for a brief moment before looking away. He went upstairs to get her some of Angel’s pajamas, and she made a concerted effort to wake the hell up.

  The pills had softened her. Like having too much to drink. She was speaking more openly than she should. Admitting things that were better kept to herself. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to accidentally say the real reason she got hit by a taxi the other day.

  At that moment, Devon breezed back into the room. He lay the clothes onto the lamp stand beside her, propped her up with another pillow, and switched on the TV. “Alright. I’m heading out for a just a bit, but I’m on my cell.” He adjusted the screen so she had a better angle, and without seeming to think about it added yet another blanket to her pile.

  She tried to straighten up, struggling a bit under the suffocating weight of them all. “Where are you going?”

  “Just to the grocery store. It’s only a few blocks away.” He gently pressed a cellphone into her hand. “If you need anything, I mean anything, just call me and I’ll come right back. Oh, quick question: do you like paella?”

  Rae stared down at the phone: it was one she didn’t recognize. Then she stared up at her fiancé. At this point, she hardly recognized him as well. “I’m sorry…what?”

  “Paella,” he said again. “It’s a Spanish dish. Vegetables, seafood, pasta…?”

  She blinked up at him, convinced the meds were getting on top of her. “How the… freakin’ A do you know that?” she asked incredulously. But that wasn’t even the half of it. “And since when do you know how to cook? I didn’t think you even knew where the store was.”

  “I took a cooking class when Jules and I were on assignment in Barcelona. We had some time to kill waiting for this arms dealer to set up a meet.” He mistook her expression completely and blushed as he looked away. “It’s no big deal. We can get take-out if you’d rather—”

  “No,” she said quickly, hiding her smile, “paella sounds great.”

  He looked back cautiously, then brightened with a grin. “I’ll see you soon. Don’t go anywhere when I’m gone.”

  She snorted and looked down at her casted leg. “Oh yeah…I had big plans for going out.” He chuckled and waved over his head, but she stopped him at the front door. “Devon?”

  He turned around.

  “…This phone?”

  That blush was back. As adorable as ever.

  “Oh, that.” He shrugged it off, trying very hard to act casual. “I got that for you the other night. A little more durable than the burner you’d been carrying around.”

  A little more durable indeed. It was the most expensive brand on the market. Coincidentally, it was also the exact same model he’d purchased for her a few months before.

  She opened her mouth to reply then closed it again, not trusting what she’d say. In the end, she merely waved him off with a smile and settled back on the couch to think.

  Too much had been happening, at too quick a pace, and she had too many drugs in her system to adequately keep track of it all.

  I need to have a power-house brainstorm session. Yes, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll just sit here until I come up with so
me sort of plan as to what to do about…

  But all that would have to wait. Because that was the precise moment that the medication kicked in. A second later, Rae Kerrigan was fast asleep.

  Chapter 13

  Rae woke up a few hours later to the sounds of a fire crackling cheerfully beneath the mantel, and the makings of paella popping and sizzling on the stove. A bottle of wine had was already open on the coffee table, and the smells coming out of the kitchen were blowing her mind.

  “Hey, you’re awake!”

  Only Devon could be in the next room and still know that for certain. He abandoned the kitchen and crossed over to the sofa with a wide smile. In one hand was an empty wine glass. In the other was a carefully balanced serving spoon containing a bubbling sauce.

  “Try,” he said, before anything else. He held the spoon carefully to her lips, and she took a tentative sip. A burst of flavors exploded in her mouth, and his smile turned smug. “Good, right?”

  She reached for the spoon and tried some more, unable to believe it. “You made this?”

  “It’s ready whenever you are.”

  She was ready now. In fact, she was suddenly ravenous. A rather shy smile danced around her lips as she handed back the ladle. Suddenly, this didn’t feel like dinner at her future house with her fiancé. Suddenly, it felt like a first date. “I could eat.”

  “Awesome. Glad you’re hungry.”

  She kept her eyes on him as he swept back to the kitchen, watching as he pulled dishes from the cupboard and sprinkled on last-minute garnishes. There was a song playing in the background that she didn’t know. A song that he apparently knew very well. Every so often she’d see him absentmindedly mouthing along with the words as he bustled about in the kitchen.

  Sometimes in the inked world, it was hard to live in the moment. To see what was right in front of you. They had all grown up so focused on the supernatural side of things that they sometimes missed the normal, everyday occurrences. Those little quirks and eccentricities that made them who they were. The precious details that defined them more than their ink ever could.

  Rae had seen Devon on the battlefield. She’d seen him undercover. In training. Throwing his body in between her and a hundred angry gunmen.

  But she had never seen him in the kitchen.

  Is it possible to fall even deeper in love with this man?

  Devon returned a minute later, completely oblivious to her tender realization. Two steaming plates were balanced in one hand, and his own glass of wine was in the other. He set everything down on the table, then helped prop her up before settling himself on the floor.

  “I know you’re not strictly supposed to mix this with your medication,” he admitted as he poured her a small glass, “but you are a hero, after all. I think you’ve earned the right to bend a rule or two.” He handed her the glass and held his up.

  The two of them clinked glasses.

  “To cheating death,” he toasted.

  Rae’s eyes sparkled at him over the rim. “…for however long we can.”

  They drank deeply, then tucked into the food. It was better than anything Rae could have imagined. Better than anything that could have possibly come out of this house. It was also the jolt of energy she needed to finally pull out of her chemical stupor and shake herself awake.

  And not a moment too soon.

  Because, not only did Devon apparently like to cook, but he liked to talk. The second they set down their drinks, he was off. Babbling on about anything and everything. Things she never knew he was interested in. Things they’d never had the chance to talk about before. Things they had already—unbeknownst to him—talked about many, many times. Throughout the entire course of the meal, she doubted there was even a second’s pause.

  Not only was Rae able to keep up, but she found herself eagerly joining in.

  Given everything the two of them had been through over the last few years, she had almost forgotten what it was like to have a normal night with the man she loved. She’d almost lost sight of what it actually meant to have that future they’d been fighting for.

  She would not let herself forget again.

  The two of them laughed, and teased, and talked until the early hours of the morning. No detail was too small to go unnoticed. No subject was too random to discuss. It was as if they’d taken a page from Molly’s book before they started. They didn’t need to stop. They didn’t need to breathe.

  Truth be told, they wouldn’t have anyway.

  It was one of those pivotal evenings. The kind of ‘fated’ moment that sparked budding relationships, and fanned them to an even bigger flame. The kind of night where you’d look back in twenty years of being with the same person and think, “Yep, that’s when I knew.”

  Of course, they did have their share of obstacles.

  Devon was still completely unaware that he and Rae had shared a bottle of wine too many times to count. That she’d been in this house a hundred times before. A house that he’d bought specifically for the two of them to share once they were married.

  There was still a sixteen-year-old psychopath out to break them up. Hiding somewhere in the shadows. Licking her wounds. Biding her time.

  And Rae was still on a great deal of hospital-grade medication.

  “I think that’s enough excitement for one day,” Devon said fondly as her eyelids began to droop shut. “Shall we get you up to bed?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Rae set down her empty wine glass with a sleepy grin, and wrapped her arms around his neck as he leaned down to pick her up. They locked eyes briefly, then looked deliberately away as he lifted her gently and carried her up the stairs.

  The smell of wine and Spanish seasonings drifted off his clothes, and she pulled in a deep, contented breath. Tucking her head beneath his chin so that he wouldn’t see.

  It had become an unofficial assumption that whenever the two of them were to be staying in the house together, Rae would sleep in Devon’s room, and Devon would sleep on the couch. They progressed through their nighttime ritual in silence, a stark contrast to how effusive they had been just moments before. Brushing their teeth. Dressing down—a little awkwardly on her part. Taking the last of the day’s pain medication.

  When she was ready, he picked her up again and carried her over to the bed. Her bare legs draped over his arm as he shifted her to one side and pulled back the heavy comforter. The curtains were already drawn, and the lights all about the house had long since gone out. He set her down as carefully as was possible, and pulled the sheets up to her waist.

  She watched him the entire time.

  By now, the silence was unbearable. The tension was so thick you could slice through it with a paella knife. Movements were intentionally slow and deliberate. Hands lingered a second longer than was allowed. The tips of his hair brushed against her forehead as he slipped a pillow behind her head. Their eyes locked again, and after a second of breathless hesitation he kissed her on the cheek.

  “Goodnight, Rae.”

  Try as she might, she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

  Half his face was hidden in shadow. The other half was lit silver by the brilliant glow of the moon. It wasn’t until he was pulling away that she reached out and caught the front of his shirt.

  “Devon?” she whispered.

  He froze dead still, eyes dilating all the way black as he stared down at her. “Yeah?”

  She waited a moment, stricken with sudden fear. Then she took a deep breath and gazed up at him with open, trusting eyes. “Will you sleep in here tonight?”

  There was a split-second pause.

  Then his face melted into the most beautiful smile she’d ever seen. Without saying word, he nodded quickly and took a step back. He peeled off his shirt, but left on his pants. Even in the darkness Rae could sense the nervous energy radiating off him, but he stayed outwardly calm.

  A second later, he slid under the covers beside her. For a split second they both just lay there. Then,
ever so tentatively, he slid an arm around her waist.

  The gentle touch brought tears to her eyes. This was the kind of moment she was terrified she’d never have again. The kind of moment she thought had been stolen away forever.

  A little shiver ran up her skin and, as best she could with the cast, she shifted onto her side and rested her cheek on his chest. There was a hitch in his breathing as she trailed the tips of her fingers along his smooth skin, following the curve of every muscle that lay beneath.

  There wasn’t a single sound in the room. Just the soft whisper of their quick breathing.

  Then, as it drifted down the carved lines of his stomach, Devon suddenly caught her hand.

  He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. He just lifted himself onto one elbow and, with extraordinary care, lowered his body gently on top of hers.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” he murmured, glancing down at her cast.

  Her eyes followed his, but the medication was rushing fresh through her system and there wasn’t a thing in the world that could hurt her anymore. It would only hurt if he went away.

  Without a second’s pause, she stretched up on the pillow and kissed him. His eyes shot back to hers, and a moment later he was kissing her back.

  Then all that caution went right out the window.

  It was a battle—as frantic as when they’d kissed before. Grasping, pulling, ripping at each other’s hair. Anything to keep close. Anything to hold on for just a moment longer.

  Their lips, which had grown so accustomed to each other over the years, discovered each other anew. Their bodies, which had become so familiar, explored each other for the first time.

  In a lot of ways, it reminded Rae of Heath Hall. When the two of them had sex for the very first time. Time might have passed, but that burning intensity was exactly the same.

  And Rae had a little better idea of what she was doing this time around…

  * * *