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XxCloudyEyesxX

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   "You did a good job in there," Dominic murmured as if we were old friends. Ex-lovers was a more apt description. "Ready?" I glared at him,
   "Actually, Officer, I think I'll catch a cab."
   "Don't be like that."
   "Like that?" I nearly screeched. "Oh, I'm so sorry. It's not like you betrayed me or anything, pshaw, what was I thinking? Oh, wait, YOU DID!" Now I was screaming and I didn't care if everyone in that courtroom thought I was crazy. No one had ever deserved an earful more than Dominic. He glanced at me much like a father would glance at a toddler mid-tantrum. That only made me madder. I stamped my foot, which was completely pointless on the wide marble floor, and crossed my arms.
   "You're not going to make this easy are you?"
   "I think I made things way too easy for you." He shrugged,
   "Okay." Just when I thought I had won, he picked me up and swung me over his shoulder. Amid shocked gasps, he carried me to the door, "It's okay, I'm a cop," he called out. I began pounding on his back, which in this position did virtually nothing, more furious than I can ever remember being.
   "You gigantic oaf!" I seethed through my teeth.
   "I suggest you start being nicer to me," he warned softly.
   "Why?"
   "Who do you think was assigned to transporting you to your new location?"
   "No," I gasped, in horror. He set me down next to, of all things, a police cruiser, and met my eyes.
   "Oh yes." He smiled in a way that sank any hopes I'd had of never seeing him again. "Now I'll have plenty of time to explain myself."
   "And if I don't want to hear it?"
   "You and me, in a car, for an unknown amount of hours, you'll listen."
I glared at him and swung the door open, trying to hit him with it on the way, he dodged. "Good to see you're being sensible."
   "Don't be mistaken," I warned, half turning. "The only reason I'm cooperating is because I can't run in heels. Once I get a chance I am gone."
   "Don't make me use these handcuffs," he warned walking around the back of the car.
I grunted and swung in, sitting with a thump. He sat beside me and I was immediately aware of his proximity. I clenched my fists for a second before reaching for my seatbelt. "Marie," he breathed. I didn't dare reply, knowing just how fast I would react and how fast things could turn into another romp between the sheets. "Ask me again."
   "Ask what? What could there possibly be to say?" I was extremely careful to look at anything but him.
   "Why, ask me why. Please, ask me again."
   "No, I don't want to hear," I denied, closing my eyes against it. There was silence for longer than I could explain in words. I sneaked a glance at him from beneath my lashes, he sighed and turned the key, starting the ignition. I nearly bit off my tounge, supressing the sigh that begged to climb through my lips. I stared out the window, trying to forget just who it was that sat next to me, imagining that it was someone else, anyone else at all.
   "Isn't there just one part of you that is curious enough to ask? Or, maybe, one part of you that cares enough?"
   "Never accuse me of not caring," I warned softly. "I cared more in the past few days than I ever had for a man before. It was not me who was pretending."

   "Can you not forgive me?"
   "You of all people should know that forgiveness does not come easily to me."
   "I forgave you." That sentence hung in the air, suffocating me.
   "Oh yes, for killing someone you didn't even know. Someone that wanted to die, someone who died less than I did that day."
   "Someone I didn't know?" Still, I could not bare to look at him, though I was dying to see his face, to know what he was thinking. "Perhaps I never met Amelia, but no one combed that file more than I did. No one, save you, perhaps, lost as much sleep as I did, not dreaming of her, calling my name. No one was so haunted by the mystery of who killed her. What her last thoughts were, her last words. So do not say that I did not know her, for I feel that I know her better even than myself." He then lapsed into silence, to let me chew on this new piece of information I suppose.

I suppose the question was whether or not to believe him. He could be telling the truth, but he could also be lying. I guess it was time to look at what he had to gain, or his motive. Feeling a bit detective like myself I tried to analyze him. By trying to gain my forgiveness, he would most likely be welcomed back into my arms and into my bed. But if he was lying than he would only visit once more, I knew that there was better out there than me. So him lying would not make too much sense, he could easily find another. This faced me with a realization that I was not ready to face. I shot back away from the thoughts that were terrifying, because they could cause me much pain, or much joy. But, they way things had been going so far, I didn't hold much hope for the joy. I couldn't let myself. I looked back out the window and saw a street sign that I had already seen. We were driving in circles!
   "You bastard!" I exclaimed. To this he only smiled ruefully.
   "Marie, such language," he tsked.
   "We are driving in circles," I informed him.
   "We are?" His feigned shock filled me with anger that only he could produce in me. "Calm yourself. I may have exagerated about our time. As soon as I explain myself, I'll take you to the station."
   "You're not driving me?"
   "I am, but after that, I have to leave you. They could use me to find you, and the department will not hide me as well."
   "Then why should I forgive you, why should we go back down this path already discovered? There is no happy ending for me, and tying yourself to me dooms you as well."
   "Will you for once be selfish? Do you want me?" I guess that was what it came down to, wasn't it? Love, what a word, what a concept. Separating each word, each syllable, he repeated himself, "Do you want me?" I looked at him then, but he only had eyes for what lay outside the windshield. His hands clutched the steering wheel, knuckles white as he waited for my reply. It was important, I realized then, what my next words were. I also realized that there was only one reply, only one answer. And it did not have two letters, for it was not no. Because, sappy as it sounds, that is what love is to me, forgiving what someone has done in the past. Grabbing their hand for all you're worth and holding out for better and brighter days. He kept begging me to ask why, to let him explain himself, but he already had. Staring at a file, a picture, for days, months, it will dive right under your skin and take hold of you. That's when you loose your sense, that's when you agree to any assignment, that's when you do whatever is necessary. Did he really require my forgivness? It was an understandable act, and, if he could understand that I had to kill Amelia, I could understand why he had to betray me. I looked back at him, and watched the man that I loved.
   "Yes."