muses_w_remotes || 2.7 Catch Me If You Can
2.7. "Ah, people only know what you tell them, Carl."
| Catch Me If You Can
[Co-written with agentcampbell]
James slid off Ali’s desk as she stood up and unhooked her jacket from the back of her chair. He’d finished work about half an hour ago and in the absence of Izzy to keep him company, he had come down to haunt Ali. Izzy had something planned with one of her sisters that night, so James was left to his own devices. Mark was also out of the picture, being stuck putting in appearances at a dinner with his in-laws, which he was still more than certain were destined to become his ex-in-laws.
Ali swept her hair up in a ponytail and held it back with an elastic band she had pulled from her desk drawer. “Go harass Frank. Or Pierce,” she said with a frown, giving James a nudge in the arm as she brushed past him to turn the lights in the office off. She was exhausted. “I just want to go home, you snot.”
“Come for a drink!” James insisted, following her out and hovering in the corridor while she locked the office door. “My shout. We haven’t hung out in ages. In fact, the last time we technically hung out, you called me a selfish knob and stormed out. I still don’t get that, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll buy you a Cosmo.”
With a sigh, Ali shoved her hands in her pockets and fell into step beside him as they made their way out of the rabbit warren that was the lab floor towards the elevators. What she would give for a fucking Cosmo right then. “I don’t feel like a drink,” she muttered. She was ten weeks pregnant now and the only way she could describe it was ‘hell’. Good thing she decided to keep this sprog because she was adamant she wasn’t ever getting pregnant ever again. She glanced at James out of the corner of her eye and something clenched in her already unsettled stomach. Why did the shit have to look so much like his brother?
“You never turn down a Cosmo!” James argued. “Especially not a free one.”
“I’m turning one down now,” Ali said with a slight snap to the end of her words. “I don’t want a drink.”
James raised an eyebrow suspiciously as he hit the up button on the elevator. “We can just go to the pub then and you can drink Coke,” he suggested. He watched as Ali put her hand over her forehead and close her eyes briefly. This was when he noticed how tired and pale she looked. “Are you alright, Al?”
“I’m fine,” Ali said automatically and took her hand from her head. That was her mantra of late. She tucked her fingers into the strap of her handbag as she stepped into the elevator and selected the ground floor. It took all her effort not to lean against the wall of the elevator and close her eyes like she usually did of late after her shift. If she did, James would know immediately something was wrong.
“Are you sure?”
Ali threw hair hand up as the elevator arrived at the ground floor. She shot him a glare. “Fuck’s sake, James!” she snapped. “I’m sure.” She stalked through the attractive foyer of their large building, her heels clicking on the marble floors. It was mostly deserted, save for the security panel at the door who threw them a wave as they relinquished their guns and flashed their badges to pass through the metal detector. Ali collected hers and shoved it back in her bag while James re-holstered his under his jacket out of sight.
He eyed Ali as he held the glass door open for her and they exited out onto the busy street. “Al, you know you can talk to me if something is wrong,” he told her gently but hesitantly. “Right?”
No, I can’t! Ali screamed in her head. You brother-lookalike-uncle-of-my-sprog-that-you-have-no-clue-about! Outwardly, though, all she did was sniff and pull her sunglasses down from her head to her eyes. “Of course I know, Jimbo. You’re a regular night in shining armour, only with a nicer arse or more potential to piss me off.”
“Do you want a lift home, then? Or if you don’t feel like a drink, maybe we can go to the movies. I’ll even watch Sex and the City with you,” James offered. “Even if I still think it’s freaky you’re turning down a drink.”
Ali’s head was starting to pound. She knew James was only trying to help, even if he didn’t have any idea what he was trying to help with. She pushed her fingers through the front of her hair and left them there for a few moments. “I’m just tired. I want to go home and-” She couldn’t finish the sentence. Her stomach clenched, causing her to heave abruptly and lose her lunch spectacularly all over James’ no doubt very expensive and polished leather shoes.
Well, that was sudden and unexpected. James curled his hand around her arm to hold her up and held her hair back with his other. “Fine, huh?” he commented sceptically and shot a glare at a couple who walked by and decided to have a good gawp at Ali and her indiscretion. He pulled her against him and took her weight as she gradually stopped vomiting, rubbing her back in soothing circles. “Hey, it’s okay,” he assured her softly. “It’s not like I haven’t done this to anyone before.”
Ali gave a cough of a laugh and pulled some tissues from her pocket to wipe her mouth. “Yeah, but your target fell in love with you. I’m not David, Jimbo. I don’t want your willy.” Your brother’s caused me enough trouble, she added silently. “And you’re right. I’m not as fine as I led you to believe…” She lifted her head to look at him, the tissues pressed over her mouth. She had an overwhelming urge to tell him everything as she looked into his attentive blue eyes. He was practically her brother-in-law in every sense but the wedding ring on his brother’s finger. What harm would it do telling him? “I…”
“Do you need me to take you to a doctor?” James asked, not realising she was fighting an internal battle of To Tell Or Not To Tell, that is the question.
His query slammed down on her confidence and she averted her eyes. “No, I think I just ate something bad at lunch. Been feeling like this all afternoon,” she lied, hating herself for not even flinching at the ease the untruth fell from her lips.
“Then why didn’t you just tell me that? I wouldn’t have kept harassing you to get a drink with me,” James replied and unhooked her bag from her shoulder to carry it for her. “Come on. I’ll go clean some of this up in the bathroom then I’m driving you home. Do you want to come back to mine? I can play nurse maid until it passes.”
The guilt coursed through Ali like a wave of hot lava… or vomit. She wasn’t entirely convinced she was done with the latter yet. Typical James; nothing but oblivious and maybe a little naïve in his caring. She vomits on him and the notion of pregnancy doesn’t even cross his mind. She hugged her jacket a little tighter around her, feeling vulnerable. She wanted to take him up on his offer. She would give anything to have someone take care of her and not have to go home to an empty and lonely apartment every night to sit and wallow over the fact she was pregnant and facing raising a child alone. She knew if James knew the truth, he - like Izzy - would step up and help her as much as he could.
But she just couldn’t bring herself to tell him. Every time she thought she could, it caught up in her throat when she realised he’d probably run straight to Mark and tell him. And she didn’t want Mark to know. She didn’t want anyone to know.
At least not yet. Not until she couldn’t hide it any longer…
Until then, she had some time on her side. Time for what, though, she wasn’t really certain of.
“No, I just think I’ll go home to bed. I won’t say no to a lift, though,” Ali forced out, her voice a little scratchy beyond the lump of emotion in her throat. When he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeezing hug against him, she closed her eyes and leaned into him. It was one of those rare times she let her feminist independence slip and allowed herself to be comforted.
The only problem was, as much as she loved him, James’ weren’t the Campbell arms she truly wanted to be in…
- isabelowens referenced with permission
Words | 1,474
| Catch Me If You Can
[Co-written with agentcampbell]
James slid off Ali’s desk as she stood up and unhooked her jacket from the back of her chair. He’d finished work about half an hour ago and in the absence of Izzy to keep him company, he had come down to haunt Ali. Izzy had something planned with one of her sisters that night, so James was left to his own devices. Mark was also out of the picture, being stuck putting in appearances at a dinner with his in-laws, which he was still more than certain were destined to become his ex-in-laws.
Ali swept her hair up in a ponytail and held it back with an elastic band she had pulled from her desk drawer. “Go harass Frank. Or Pierce,” she said with a frown, giving James a nudge in the arm as she brushed past him to turn the lights in the office off. She was exhausted. “I just want to go home, you snot.”
“Come for a drink!” James insisted, following her out and hovering in the corridor while she locked the office door. “My shout. We haven’t hung out in ages. In fact, the last time we technically hung out, you called me a selfish knob and stormed out. I still don’t get that, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll buy you a Cosmo.”
With a sigh, Ali shoved her hands in her pockets and fell into step beside him as they made their way out of the rabbit warren that was the lab floor towards the elevators. What she would give for a fucking Cosmo right then. “I don’t feel like a drink,” she muttered. She was ten weeks pregnant now and the only way she could describe it was ‘hell’. Good thing she decided to keep this sprog because she was adamant she wasn’t ever getting pregnant ever again. She glanced at James out of the corner of her eye and something clenched in her already unsettled stomach. Why did the shit have to look so much like his brother?
“You never turn down a Cosmo!” James argued. “Especially not a free one.”
“I’m turning one down now,” Ali said with a slight snap to the end of her words. “I don’t want a drink.”
James raised an eyebrow suspiciously as he hit the up button on the elevator. “We can just go to the pub then and you can drink Coke,” he suggested. He watched as Ali put her hand over her forehead and close her eyes briefly. This was when he noticed how tired and pale she looked. “Are you alright, Al?”
“I’m fine,” Ali said automatically and took her hand from her head. That was her mantra of late. She tucked her fingers into the strap of her handbag as she stepped into the elevator and selected the ground floor. It took all her effort not to lean against the wall of the elevator and close her eyes like she usually did of late after her shift. If she did, James would know immediately something was wrong.
“Are you sure?”
Ali threw hair hand up as the elevator arrived at the ground floor. She shot him a glare. “Fuck’s sake, James!” she snapped. “I’m sure.” She stalked through the attractive foyer of their large building, her heels clicking on the marble floors. It was mostly deserted, save for the security panel at the door who threw them a wave as they relinquished their guns and flashed their badges to pass through the metal detector. Ali collected hers and shoved it back in her bag while James re-holstered his under his jacket out of sight.
He eyed Ali as he held the glass door open for her and they exited out onto the busy street. “Al, you know you can talk to me if something is wrong,” he told her gently but hesitantly. “Right?”
No, I can’t! Ali screamed in her head. You brother-lookalike-uncle-of-my-sprog-that-you-have-no-clue-about! Outwardly, though, all she did was sniff and pull her sunglasses down from her head to her eyes. “Of course I know, Jimbo. You’re a regular night in shining armour, only with a nicer arse or more potential to piss me off.”
“Do you want a lift home, then? Or if you don’t feel like a drink, maybe we can go to the movies. I’ll even watch Sex and the City with you,” James offered. “Even if I still think it’s freaky you’re turning down a drink.”
Ali’s head was starting to pound. She knew James was only trying to help, even if he didn’t have any idea what he was trying to help with. She pushed her fingers through the front of her hair and left them there for a few moments. “I’m just tired. I want to go home and-” She couldn’t finish the sentence. Her stomach clenched, causing her to heave abruptly and lose her lunch spectacularly all over James’ no doubt very expensive and polished leather shoes.
Well, that was sudden and unexpected. James curled his hand around her arm to hold her up and held her hair back with his other. “Fine, huh?” he commented sceptically and shot a glare at a couple who walked by and decided to have a good gawp at Ali and her indiscretion. He pulled her against him and took her weight as she gradually stopped vomiting, rubbing her back in soothing circles. “Hey, it’s okay,” he assured her softly. “It’s not like I haven’t done this to anyone before.”
Ali gave a cough of a laugh and pulled some tissues from her pocket to wipe her mouth. “Yeah, but your target fell in love with you. I’m not David, Jimbo. I don’t want your willy.” Your brother’s caused me enough trouble, she added silently. “And you’re right. I’m not as fine as I led you to believe…” She lifted her head to look at him, the tissues pressed over her mouth. She had an overwhelming urge to tell him everything as she looked into his attentive blue eyes. He was practically her brother-in-law in every sense but the wedding ring on his brother’s finger. What harm would it do telling him? “I…”
“Do you need me to take you to a doctor?” James asked, not realising she was fighting an internal battle of To Tell Or Not To Tell, that is the question.
His query slammed down on her confidence and she averted her eyes. “No, I think I just ate something bad at lunch. Been feeling like this all afternoon,” she lied, hating herself for not even flinching at the ease the untruth fell from her lips.
“Then why didn’t you just tell me that? I wouldn’t have kept harassing you to get a drink with me,” James replied and unhooked her bag from her shoulder to carry it for her. “Come on. I’ll go clean some of this up in the bathroom then I’m driving you home. Do you want to come back to mine? I can play nurse maid until it passes.”
The guilt coursed through Ali like a wave of hot lava… or vomit. She wasn’t entirely convinced she was done with the latter yet. Typical James; nothing but oblivious and maybe a little naïve in his caring. She vomits on him and the notion of pregnancy doesn’t even cross his mind. She hugged her jacket a little tighter around her, feeling vulnerable. She wanted to take him up on his offer. She would give anything to have someone take care of her and not have to go home to an empty and lonely apartment every night to sit and wallow over the fact she was pregnant and facing raising a child alone. She knew if James knew the truth, he - like Izzy - would step up and help her as much as he could.
But she just couldn’t bring herself to tell him. Every time she thought she could, it caught up in her throat when she realised he’d probably run straight to Mark and tell him. And she didn’t want Mark to know. She didn’t want anyone to know.
At least not yet. Not until she couldn’t hide it any longer…
Until then, she had some time on her side. Time for what, though, she wasn’t really certain of.
“No, I just think I’ll go home to bed. I won’t say no to a lift, though,” Ali forced out, her voice a little scratchy beyond the lump of emotion in her throat. When he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeezing hug against him, she closed her eyes and leaned into him. It was one of those rare times she let her feminist independence slip and allowed herself to be comforted.
The only problem was, as much as she loved him, James’ weren’t the Campbell arms she truly wanted to be in…
- isabelowens referenced with permission
Words | 1,474