Chapter 12: Chapter 11
" Well, who'd have thought?"
" Well, bless my soul!"
" Well, who'd have known?"
" Well, who indeed? And who'd have guessed they'd come together on their own?"
" It's so peculiar! Wait and see!"
" We'll wait and see, a few days more. There may be something there that wasn't there before!" ~ Something There, from Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Francesca
After I had finally gotten the contractor, Mr. Caird, to believe that it was not a wild animal that had destroyed the room, he started working on the room. I told him to first work on getting all the office supplies off the walls and repairing the holes in the drywall that were far from few. Then after that, we would talk about what else we wanted to be done to the room. Scott stayed silent throughout my conversation with the man, but he had adopted a more put together stance in his seat. Couldn't let another man see him weak I guess. Though he did allow me to help him back to his living room to let the man get to work.
I gave him his laptop and set him up with all the files he had in his room. He got to work and I disappeared to gather more of my things from my room. The blandness of my temporary room made it hard to get comfortable when I would inevitably wake in the middle of the night. My colorful comforter and sheets would solve that problem.
I would also need to continue my work on Victoria's wedding dress if it was to ever get finished, but I couldn't be that far from Scott right now, not with the fear that he could hurt himself worse. I transferred my mannequin and all of my sewing supplies using one of the discarded maid carts. Then I put all of our dirty clothes to wash and started to do the dishes from earlier in the day. The blissful mundaneness of cleaning and organizing gave me time to think about everything that had happened.
Scott had almost suffocated because of me and I had seen a side of him that I didn't even know existed. His moods were so confusing though...one second he's fine, nice even and the next, he is colder than the arctic circle. It's like he can't make up his mind about how to treat me or whether I'm friend or foe. And then there's Claire. Whoever she is, she is definitely part of why Scott is the way he is. I just want to… no, I need to know who he is.
By this point, I had stopped doing anything productive and my mind was running around in circles about Scott and how Claire fits into any of this. I can't help but think of going back into his closet to look at the boxes. There has to be something in them that could give me a hint at who she is. I could also just as easily look at her file from his desk. But that would be breaking the sliver of trust that I made with Scott and it would put me back at square one with him. I can't be there again not after I've gotten this close.
Why am I obsessing over this man? He stole me from my boyfriend and my home. Why is it every time that I'm alone, I think of him? His eyes, his scowl, the way he smells- Whoa, whoa wait! This is not who you are. You aren't the stupid girl who falls for her captor! But why does he make me feel so alive?
I sat down at the kitchen table and tried to clear my head. I needed to keep a straight mind for a few more days and then I will go back over to my side and he won't need nor see me anymore. I threw down the towel I was using to dry dishes and peaked in on Scott as he worked. I stood in the door frame for a moment just watching his fingers as they whipped across the keys. He looked so in his element with the bright screen and a file open across his lap. He was concentrating solely on his work, but I could see the cogs turning in his mind. There was something going on up there if only I could figure out what. This was what he was made to do, I guess.
I moved to go back into the kitchen, but the floors creaked under my moving feet. Scott looked away from his computer and to me, but surprisingly, the face of hostility that I had gotten used to was softer. He didn't look like he wanted to eat my guts like he had every other day I had spent with him. I smiled sheepishly and turned quickly to go back into the kitchen.
" Francesca, wait."
I stopped in my tracks and spun to look at him. He closed his computer screen and the file he was working on. I took that as a cue that he wanted to talk to me. I glanced down at my clothes and scoffed silently at how horrible I looked, but nevertheless, I sat down in the armchair adjacent to him. He said nothing for a moment but then he turned to look into my eyes and began to speak.
" I wanted to...apologize for how difficult I have been. I know that you are just trying to help, but as I'm sure that you noticed, I don't take kindly to people trying to help me. It's not in my nature. But until I get better...I will do my best to not make your job any harder than it already is."
I was stunned into silence. This was definitely not what I expected him to say, but it was nice to hear. I thought about my next words carefully before speaking.
" I accept your apology, but it's really not needed. You have been through a… trauma and I understand that this is a difficult position you're in. You barely know me but Spencer expected you to just trust me enough to take care of you," I cursed myself for how formal I sounded but I couldn't find any other words to say what I was feeling.
" Thank you for doing this for me though. As you've said, we barely know each other yet you took responsibility for me when I wasn't able to do it for myself. I promise that in the future I will try not to be such a jerk," he said.
" Thanks, I could really use not-a-jerk right now," I said playfully, trying to lighten the mood a little bit.
Other than a slight chuckle, I didn't get any other response from him. I got up to go start dinner for the two of us. He caught my hand right before I cleared his couch.
" Whenever you come back, can you bring me an icepack? My back hurts," he said.
Was he showing...vulnerability? I looked at him shocked for a moment before nodding and disappearing into the kitchen once more. I brought him a large ice pack before I started on dinner unable to wipe the smile off my face. This was a big step in our relationship and I hoped that it meant good things were coming for us. It would be nice not to despise the man I have to spend the rest of my life with.
For the next week, our days went by simply and true to his word, Scott was making a conscious effort not to be as mean to me. We had an established routine for every day so no one was ever surprised by the plans. Get up, shower, change bandages, get dressed, breakfast, meeting with Mr.Caird, he would work in the living room while I did other things, lunch, more working, dinner, and then sleep. Not that either of us got much of that anyway.
We had regular disputes about what to do with his office; one of us would concede before it got too out of hand though. See we're both making progress… His wounds had begun to heal and his ability to walk on his own had progressed quickly. He could go short distances on his own and the dizziness had cleared mostly. As much as I wanted him to get better, I had begun to enjoy his company. His short quips and sense of humor had started to grow on me despite my efforts. I'd learned that he liked to read, back when he had the time, but our taste in the topic was vastly different. He liked the more brutal stories while I enjoyed a good romance once upon a time. We could actually talk to each other now, mostly about meaningless things but we could still talk for hours. Leaving our pasts neatly out of anything that we talked about. I had gotten a lot of time to work on Victoria's dress recently so my vision was actually starting to come together.
" Francesca, can you come here for a second?" Scott called loudly from his room.
He still had yet to realize I was staying in the room next to his, so he probably thought I was meandering somewhere or downstairs in the kitchen.
I pulled the pins from my mouth and put them in my pincushion that adorned my wrist. I put away all of the things I could to eat up the time it would take me to get to Scott if I wasn't right next door to him. When I was sure that it wouldn't look suspicious, I tiptoed to the door and opened it silently.
He was sitting in his bed doing some work on his computer like usual. He looked up and closed the lid of his laptop when he realized that I had come in. He pulled some paint swatches from beside him and I realized why I had been called in.
" So I was talking with Mr. Caird and he said that you told him to paint my office turquoise, what happened to the other blue?" he asked.
" I don't know. I thought the turquoise would look nicer,"
" But it's such a girly color. Tell Mr. Caird to change the color to the blue we agreed on earlier," he stated, going back to work.
" Ok, but if I do that then you have let him stain the bookshelves lighter."
" No, that would mean I'd have to get a new desk,"
" That's perfect...I already have a few picked out, you just have to pick which one you prefer," I say.
" But I like my desk...I don't want a new one," he said, closing his laptop again and putting it to the side.
" The room would look better without that huge, Dracula desk though. It makes the room feel small," I said sitting down on the bed.
" But it's ultimately my office, so I want to keep my Dracula desk," he stated.
" Come on, Scott, compromise is a good thing. I promise if you let me do those two things, the room with look soooo much better,"
" Fine...but the couch stays," he says, I open my mouth to argue, but he cuts me off.
" Come on, Francesca, compromise is a good thing," he mocks.
" Ok, the sixties couch can stay. Is there anything else you need?"
" I'm fine, goodnight Francesca,"
" Goodnight Scott," I said.
I closed the door and tiptoed back to my room hoping that he didn't hear me. I wasn't as scared of him anymore, but there was still a side of him that I didn't know. I knew he could get angry, really angry but I had no idea what he was capable of in that state. I had seen his office...so I don't know what a person would come out looking like...if they'd come out at all. I also knew that lying wasn't ok with him. He wanted the truth no matter how harsh it was and this...what I was doing... was flat out lying. I was doing it for his safety but who knows if that would change how he saw it.
When I got to my room, I put my pin cushion back on my wrist and continued my work. I wanted it to be mostly pinned by the time Vic came back to work so she could have the final say on the design. My sleep patterns hadn't gotten better, so at the rate, I was going, it would definitely be pinned by then. I'll probably even have begun the surprise for her too by the time she's back. They've only been gone for a few weeks, but I miss them immensely. My time was occupied by taking care of Scott and the house, but it was times like these, when my mind was idle, that I'd really miss them. Their banter and their company were something I had grown to be very fond of and I can only hope they'd feel the same way.
Scott
Compromise? Had I really just agreed to a compromise? That word wasn't even in my vocabulary before I met Francesca. It was always my way or the highway, but I guess that's changed too. I'd changed with every passing day that I'd spent with her. Her teachings, more like demands, were making me have to bend in ways I'd never had. I tried to hold onto the things that my Father beat into me, but with each moment I've spent with her, those habits have slipped away. I was becoming...I was returning to who'd I'd been when my mother was alive.
I shook my head, trying to clear these thoughts from my mind. I had a lot of work that I needed to finish tonight, but I couldn't with my head so jumbled. I tried typing in analyses of the files that Spencer had sent me, but I couldn't focus on the words on the pages. My mind couldn't stop going back to everything...everything that she had done for me the last couple weeks. I think I'd spoken more words with her then I had with Spencer our whole partnership. In the courtroom, of course extremely verbose, but outside, I kept to short words or meaningless shrugs. That wouldn't fly with Francesca, she'd said that if I didn't use my words to tell her what I wanted or what I was feeling then she would leave. She had left a few times when I still didn't want to comply with her rules.
I closed the lid of my laptop and collected my files. There was no way I was getting any more work done tonight. I slowly stood from the bed and hobbled over to my desk where I put my stuff down. I stumbled back to my bed, got under the covers, and switched on my tv to put on a movie. I settled for Avatar and began to let my mind be filled with the fictitious world that would, hopefully, keep me awake. Sleep wasn't a safe place for me. It was supposed to be the only place where no one can touch you, but every time I closed my eyes, I was harassed by the memories that I couldn't keep buried.
I had gotten almost to the part when Neytiri protected Jake from the Na' vi when I heard screaming. I muted the TV thinking that it must be a part of the movie, but a few moments passed and I heard another. I pulled the covers off my legs and struggled to stand from sitting so long. I stumbled over to the door when another gut-wrenching scream came from somewhere nearby. I pulled open my door causing it to slam into the wall beside it. A scream bellowed down the hall and I followed it. I pulled open the door that was the focal point of the sound and saw Francesca tossing and turning in the bed. I shuffled my way over to the bed and sat down next to her. She was sweating and gasping for air, but her screams just continued.
What was she doing here? She shouldn't be on this side of the house. She should've told me that- My pompous thoughts were cut off by another scream coming out of her mouth. I put my hands on her shoulders and shook them slightly.
" Francesca, wake up. It's just a dream, wake up," I said hoping to get to her.
She continued to fight in my grasp and was whispering incoherently. I grabbed around her arms firmer and shook her again.
" Francesca, wake up," I said more forcefully as I leaned closer to her ears. It still didn't work.
" Francesca, please wake up!"
Her movements stilled and her screams stopped, so I let go of her arms and leaned up, away from her. Her eyes opened just the slightest like she hadn't totally woken up yet.
" Why won't they just go away?" she asked weakly. "Why can't they just leave me alone? I...I didn't want to leave them but my parents...they forced me to do it," she mumbled with a tremble in her voice.
" Why can't they just leave?" she choked out as she began to cry.
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to my chest, ignoring the pressure it put on my healing ribs. The only thing I ever wanted after one of my nightmares was for someone...to hold me. Not tell me that they'll go away or that I should go back to sleep...just hold me and make me feel safe, I guess. I let her cry into my chest and hoped that my embrace brought her something. She'd saved my life. I hoped I could at least do this for her. Her body shook convulsively as her tears poured out into my chest. I rubbed my hands up and down her back, staying silent throughout the whole thing.
When her tears and sobs stopped, I pulled her away from my chest and saw that she had fallen back to sleep. I laid her down as gently as I could and I brushed the tears off of her cheeks. I got up from her bed, pulling the comforter back up her shivering body, and walked over to her couch. I pushed her sewing supplies over and sat down on its white leather, where I would stay for the rest of the night. Dreams like these didn't usually just happen once, so I would be here if...more like when the next one would strike. I couldn't save her life like she had mine, but this...this I could do.
As I stared at her form in the moonlight, one thought came rolling through my head.
What did she see to make her scream the way she did?
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