Work Text:
It had been six months since the night when Neyra had visited Lauren in Kieran's cave and told her something she wasn't ready to hear. No matter how many times she replayed Neyra's words in her head, even after months, she still couldn't believe what Neyra said wasn't a lie…
"So what is it you wanted to tell me?" Lauren had asked her.
Neyra had remained silent for some time before raising her head to answer the question, they both were alone in the cave. It felt colder than usual. The silence creeping between them had raised Lauren's heartbeat and made her anxious about what Neyra was about to say.
Lauren had not heard from Kieran for a while. He had told her he was going out of Ardhalis for some work and that he'd be back in a week, he never told her what work he was leaving for and she was patiently waiting for his return to find her answers then.
"What is it, Neyra?" She had taken her seat on the chair as Neyra still stood silent in front of her.
"There's something you need to know Lauren…" Neyra had said.
"And what is it?"
A shiver of fear had run down her spine looking at the troubled expression Neyra’s face had possessed as her words left her mouth.
"Lauren… Kieran is …"
"Kieran what?" Lauren had asked.
Her words were calm but deep down the curiosity was killing her from inside and the fear rising in her had begun to eat her.
"He's dead"
Lauren paused for a few seconds. "What are you talking about?" She asked with bewilderment, letting out a lame laugh.
Neyra nodded with a grave and sad look at her face and lowered her face.
"You're kidding me right?"
" Kieran is dead, Lauren. He… died last night. They knew he was secretly working against the PS and last night… "
Lauren had felt her blood running cold and her chest suddenly unable to breathe. Neyra wasn't lying, all she'd said was the truth. She didn't hear any lies. Lauren's brain had ceased to process the information of her partner being dead. She had stumbled back and fallen onto the chair holding the edge of the table near to support herself.
How could he die, he was the Purple Hyacinth…
Lauren had taken her head in her hands, her gaze falling on the floor beneath her feet.
"This can't be true Neyra. You must be mistaken. He can't be dead. There's no way!" She had said after a long silence, her head running to its edges.
"I'm sorry Lauren,"
It was all the truth Neyra had told her.
There was not a single lie in her words.
Kieran was probably really dead and she was being told the truth.
The heat had emerged from her neck to the back of her eyes, barely able to control her eyes from tearing up. Her head was still in her hands. She had gone silent again, still processing all that she'd heard. Her eyes were wide open, hot from all the emotions running inside her and getting collected behind her golds.
"Where…" she broke the silence once again. " Where is he?" She had closed her eyes and raised her head to face Neyra who still stood in front of her.
Neyra had shaken her head in a no.
"What?"
"They burned his body." It was still not a lie.
A shiver went down her whole body. For the first time in her life, Lauren had wanted to hear lies and not the truth, in the first time in her life she had wished she wasn't listening to a straight wave of sound but a slight change in pitch that differentiated the lies from the truth.
A tear found its way down her cheek.
"He was called up by his Messen-"
"Leave!" Lauren had cut her in between.
"Lauren you…"
"Just leave, Neyra. I don't want to hear. I … I don't want to!. Please." Her voice had shivered, the whites of her eyes turning red as she had tried her best not to let her emotions flow free in front of Neyra.
"Just know that I am here and … and you're not alone."
Lauren didn't say a word.
Neyra had turned around and left. Leaving Lauren all alone in the cave that suddenly felt so lonely.
She had felt anger rising in her, ten years of rage building up inside her, the wounds getting open again and heat rushing from the top of her head to her toes. She threw her arms ferociously at the things near her, throwing things to the floor, disarraying everything and anything that came to her hands. Glass shattered and paper rustled, and things fell and crashed against the floor. Her hand hit a knife and blood gushed out of the crack it had made in her skin. She stopped her rampage, looking at her bleeding arm, blood dripped down her arm, tears rolled down her face and she fell on the cold stony floor.
The sight of her blood flowing out blurred as more tears took over her gold
.
How much did he bleed?
He must have bled a lot more than this.
Did they make it too painful for him?
He must have been all alone in his last moments.
A silent sob left her shivering lips.
He must have called out for help.
How much did he suffer before finally giving up?
Thoughts ran through her head, not being able to control the water running down her cheeks.
She had wrapped her hand over her bleeding arm, clenching it tightly, nails buried into the skin causing more pain, but she felt nothing, the pain her mind and heart felt was far more than her physical pain. She finally let a cry leave her and she wailed in her agony.
That night she cried at the loss of her partner. In the loss of someone she had begun to care for, in the loss of someone who was fighting along with her, in the loss of someone she wished would get a happy life, in the loss of someone who was always there for her, in loss of someone who made it easier to keep fighting, in loss of someone who proved her that he was the most human. She cried at the Loss of her hope, hope that she was not alone, that there was still a way she could be out of her years-long guilt. That night her sobs had filled every corner of the cave and marked the absence of its owner.
From that day, she visited the cave now and then, working all alone. She had started to look more worn off and exhausted. Kym and Will were worried about her situation. She ate less and had probably lost some weight. She hardly got into a conversation with anyone. At the precinct, people were told that Kieran had resigned from his archivist post and had shifted overseas. No one knew the truth except herself.
After that day, she never even cried for him, he was not going to come back for the sake of her tears. There was pain and agony filled her but she never let it come out of her. Every time she visited his cave she felt her heart sinking deep down into a void, she felt guilty for not being able to save Kieran. For not being able to be with him in his last moments. She hardly ever visited his apartment after accepting that he was never coming back. The ghost of her memories with her late subordinate haunted her and forbade her to ever return to that place lest she wanted to see the wall she was hardly holding up around herself crumbling down to nothing and finding herself wailing again in the loss of her partner.
One evening, She was walking home after her shift got over early that day when a sudden urge to go to the cave hit her from inside. It felt like she needed to go there or her mind would not let her rest. She took a turn and headed to the cave.
That place still felt so empty and silent. The sound of flowing water and the clock's ticking were the only things that were audible. She walked in and took her place at the chair by the table and looked at all the papers lying in front of her. Papers of the investigation she was now doing all alone; again.
Despite being hot all day long it was quite cold that late evening, the clock was hitting around eight. For the past six months she'd spent many nights here in the very cave, sometimes when she was too tired to walk to her home or sometimes when she had too many things to settle in their- her investigation or sometimes when… when she just missed Kieran's presence in her life, she'd spend the night there.
Tonight was just the same, telling herself that she just had a lot of work to do and lying to herself that she didn't just miss Kieran. She was tired and exhausted from all the things that were going on in her life… she wished she had someone she could rely on or just share the load of her life with, she wished she still had Kieran with her to be that someone in her life like he used to be.
She had worked alone for the past ten years of her life, searching for shreds of evidence that her lost childhood friend was maybe still alive and trying to ambush the Phantom Scythe but then she met Kieran and they began to work together and then all of a sudden she was told that she was again alone and the one who had made it easier for her to bear the weight of her thoughts was gone and was never going to show up in front of her out of the blue.
She was devastated and her head felt heavy. She folded her hands against the edge of the table and leaned her head over them, closing her eyes, when she heard the sound of the cave door opening and someone walking inside the cave. Sometimes, Neyra would visit her in the cave to check on her knowing that she'd only be easily found in the cave. Slowly Lauren raised her head, taking a deep breath to look at the figure approaching her, whom she thought to be Neyra. But before she could turn around to see who it was the figure spoke-
“Long time no see, detective.”
the voice said.
A spark ran down every inch of Lauren's bone, making her blood run cold when she heard the familiar voice. A voice that somehow she had been yearning to hear for all these months. With great astonishment taking over her she turned around to look at the source of the voice.
It was Kieran.
It was Kieran standing in front of her.
Her eyes widened, dilating her pupils, fixed on him standing in front of her, for a few seconds she could not feel her heart in her chest nor her breath leaving her lungs. Her mind had gone completely vacant and she could hardly utter a word. It was Kieran. Kieran was alive and he was back.
But how?
For all these past months she had believed that he had died and that he was killed by the PS. For all this time she had believed that he was never coming back. That he was gone forever, that she could never get to see him again not even for the last time.
there was no lie in what Neyra had told her so… how?
“Not even going to greet your partner after seeing him after so long, huh?”
Kieran smirked teasingly, bringing her back from her thoughts.
Lauren still stood silent, her gaze still locked on Kieran, who looked at her with a soft grin.
Finally, she began to walk towards him and stopped not more than a few inches away from him. The glistening golds of her eyes still wide open and searching for something in the blue of his. She raised her arm gently and touched his face with her fingers as if checking if he was real or her brain was playing games with her.
Lauren turned her gaze to her cold fingers touching his warm face and then back to the person standing before her. There was astonishment and surprise spread all across her face, her eyes watering just enough to make them shine like small crystal balls.
“You don't seem pleased to see me,” Kieran whispered close to her.
“You- Neyra told me you… you… died,” she finally broke her silence, her fingers still tracing his face.
“And you believed it, darling?” his lips curled up and he held the hand caressing his face into his.
“But she didn't lie. She told me you were… killed,” she said softly, collecting the voice that she had lost a little while ago.
“Oh, I am the Purple Hyacinth, or I should say I was, anyway, they can't kill me so easily,” he smirked,” She didn't know the truth. nobody knew the truth. Even the PS thinks they killed me that night.” he sighed.
“What happened, Kieran?”
“ I will tell you everything, love,” he settled a hair strand behind her ear. “ First, come and sit. You seem like you have seen a ghost.” He took her by her hand and they both seated on the wooden chairs by the table.
There was something that Kieran had to do if he wanted to protect his favourite detective. He knew what he was going to do was going to hurt both of them but he must do it. After the lune cases, Lauren got her name on the PS doubt list and there had to be done something to clear her name before the doubt turned into a solid target for the leader. Amidst finding his ways to somehow dispel the interest in Lauren, there was only one thing that he could come up with- to prove himself a traitor to the leader and fake his own death to everyone. As per his plan, he would come up to be a traitor and prove his identity alone to be the lune, leading the leader to order his execution, clearing Lauren's name from the suspicion list. Getting things back just as they were before their deal.
The plan went just as he had planned it to. Everyone in the PS believed he was beaten to death and then burned by his messenger. That night he was beaten up to shit, but right before they set his body on fire he was saved by Belladonna, who was the only person aiding him in his plan. It was Belladonna who told Neyra about his brutal death.
Just according to his plan Neyra came to the cave that night and told Lauren about his death. Everything went just as he had expected and planned but what he didn't expect was Lauren's reaction to hearing about his death. He was right there in the cave when Neyra came and told her about his death. He was right there hidden in a spot where no one could ever find him and he saw everything, heard everything. He knew that the sudden news would pain Lauren but never expected how she reacted to it.
He saw when she asked Neyra to leave that night, not wanting to hear the details of his brutal death. He saw how Lauren's frustrated and furious screams filled the cave and made it shiver. He saw how she broke and wailed for him for hours. He was shocked and it pained him, even more, to see Lauren in that state because of him. The woman who always held her walls so firm and high was shedding tears for a murderer like him?
He wanted to run out of that hiding place and pick her into his arms, embrace her until she stopped crying and tell her that he was still alive, that he was alright, that it was perhaps just a joke and maybe ask for her forgiveness but he held back. Tears had rolled down his face as he heard Laurens cry that night.
Since that night, he always looked upon Lauren from a far distance, he saw how her friends were worried about her, how she grounded herself from all the people around her, how she walked to his apartment but never went in, how she slept in his cave with always that empty look on her face. He never thought his absence could affect her so much and he felt a dagger piercing into his heart each time his eyes fell on her.
He wanted to go to her and tell her that he was back but he waited for the correct time, for the time when it was all okay for him to come out of his long hide, and this was the day he finally broke his patience and decided to show up in front of Lauren. His mind had gone blank when he thought about how she was going to react on seeing him.
He walked in the woods to the cave, his heart crashing against its cage with each beat. He felt tremors all across his limbs and there was cold sweat on his neck. He stopped at the cave entrance and took a deep breath collecting all his courage before getting into his playful character and entering the cave. His heart fell into an abyss as he saw Lauren leaning against the table. It took him a million of courage to collect his voice and utter the very first words of his speech.
“Long time no see, detective.” his heart was about to jump out of his chest.
Lauren turned to look at him. Her face showed the amount of surprise she was in and how stunned she was to see him. Her face had turned red from all the emotions building inside of her as she walked towards him. She didn't say anything for a while looking just into his cyan eyes. He did the same, for all these months he had yearned to see directly into her golden eyes, just to look at her from close. Kieran was hardly controlling himself from rushing to her and holding her in his arms and when she touched his face to check if it was really him, he almost wrapped his arms around her instead of just taking her hand into his. Heat flushed inside him from that touch and he had to take her hand into his own before she could notice the excess warmth of his burning face.
He took her to the chair and they both settled down. Lauren held his hand firmly caressing it now and then, trying to believe that he was there, that she wasn't seeing any dream that he was back.
“Tell me Kieran what happened? Her grip tightened around his hand. “ Why didn't you tell me anything?” her eyes demanded an answer, filled with agony.
“I am sorry, Lauren. I didn't tell you anything, things were just so messed up that I had to…”
Lauren's eyebrows fell to the opposite sides as she looked at him.
“You had gotten your name on the leader’s doubt list and they were probably keeping a close eye on you,” he let out a deep breath. “...and sooner or later he'd have ordered to execute you. Lauren, this was the only way I came up with to protect you,” he caressed her hands.
“But you could've at least told me!” she said, her voice a little louder, pulling her hands back.
“I know and… and I am sorry for that.” he pleaded, softly.
“You know nothing, Kieran. You know nothing!” she raised from her seat, the brows over her eyes shrinking at the centre of her forehead. “We were partners and we swore to work TOGETHER,” she continued.
“Lauren-”
“For six months!” her voice shivered as she looked at Kieran.”for six fucking months i believed that you really died, and now you decided to show up in front of me? How very nice Kieran.” she clapped her hands.
“Lauren, I am really sorry. I should have told you.” he rose from his chair. “But it's not too late, things have cleared up now and we can start again, like the old times.” he forced his lips into a curve.
“Start again?” Lauren let out a laugh hysterically.
Wrinkles appeared on the top of Kieran’s eyebrows.
“You died, right?” she looked down, breaking eye contact. “You died, so stay dead. I will believe I just had a dream and forget that I ever met you again tonight.'' No sooner than when her words left her mouth, did she pick up her coat and leave, not even turning back to look at Kieran who was left standing in the middle of the cave, astounded by her reaction.
After seeing her so changed and affected after knowing about his death all these months, he thought she'd be at least glad to see him but this was how she reacted. He felt cracks appear at the walls of his heart and he fell back in his chair, disappointed and hurt. He felt guilt flow through him for hiding all these months but he knew it was just to protect her and if he'd ever get a chance again he'd still make the same choice all over again, just for her. He let out a long sigh as the feelings struck him, making his shoulders fall.
Maybe she's just hurt because he didn't tell her about this all.
Maybe she's just too tired to react to his return.
Maybe… she meant all what she just said.
Maybe she's…
After a long while of letting his breath blow out slowly in the cold breeze of the cave that still held her scent he raised his head to have a look at his cave. All this time, he hardly ever got a chance to visit his apartment or this cave in a nicer way. He felt aback. He felt a little alive. Like he was really raised from the dead. All this time he's been nothing more than like a ghost, silently keeping an eye on his people, on Lauren, never letting anyone know, not even for an instance of his existence. Even if Lauren was furious about everything he did, somewhere in the back of his head a feeling sprouted that he'd somehow make things up with her and they would be back as they were before he left six months ago.
With a maze of thoughts crossing his head from one end to another he put on his coat and left the cave.
Lauren had left the cave in rage. She was angry at Kieran for not telling her anything, for suffering all these months all alone. But more than anger there was pain and her own suffering messed up inside of her. She had walked too far from the cave to return back now, and lost in her thoughts she didn't even realise when her legs led her to her mansion.
She went in and Lucy greeted her at the door, Lauren just nodded her head unlike greeting her back like everyday and headed straight to her room. She locked her room and threw herself on the bed, burying her face in the soft sheets of her bed, letting her thoughts spill on the mattress like water. Letting herself rest for some time and letting her anger wash away, she realised how poorly she treated Kieran after seeing him after so many months. Kieran’s sad face displayed in front of her closed eyes as she recalled the moment those harsh words left her mouth. She squeezed her eyes tightly clenching on to the sheets realising how wrong her actions were and how bad they must have made Kieran feel.
She sat up, hugging her knees and resting her chin over them. There appeared moisture in her eyes as she softly whispered to herself, “ he was back..” a tear rolled down her face. “ he was finally back.”she snivelled.
I could have treated him better
He is back.
He is safe and… alive.
I should have asked him how he lived all this time.
I should have held his hand for a little longer.
I wanted to see him once again all this time but… “stay dead”... that's what I told him… how could i do that!?
He was back to me. Unlike all the other people I have lost, he came back.
She let out a sob.
Getting up from her bed in haste she wiped off her dripping eyes and went out in the blue to see Kieran. She had to see him.
She had to tell him that she was sorry for all that she said and that she didn't mean it.
She wanted him to know that she had missed him like crazy all this time, that she had yearned to see him for one last time.
She wanted to make sure he was fine and no danger lingered over his head.
She wanted to … to wrap her arms around him and take a long breath in his scent, in his presence that she missed so much.
She almost ran back to the cave. She entered, calling his name but there was no one in there. The cave was empty, left with the same cold emptiness that she had felt in all these past months.
He was gone.
A current of terror struck her bones and made her shiver, had she lost him again? She left the cave in a hurry and headed for his apartment expecting to find him there. Walking through the dark alleys of GreyChapel she reached his apartment. Standing in front of his apartment door she froze for a few seconds before reaching out to knock at the door, tremors travelling back and through all across her body.
At last, taking a deep breath, trying to relax herself a bit, she knocked on the door, drums beating inside her chest.
No one opened the door.
Her heart lost its beats, falling into an abyss.
She knocked again.
Still no one came.
In her disappointment she pulled the apartment keys from her pocket and unlocked the door. Stepping inside, she was met with the old smell of Kieran’s house, the faint smell of charcoal and dust along with moisture and dust as the apartment was closed for such a long time. She walked inside, her eyes searching for traces of him.
The apartment was empty. There was no one there. Her throat felt heavy and heat emerged from her neck to the back of her eyes, when she heard the sound of keys jingling against the door knob she turned around to see Kieran opening the gate. Her eyes froze on him and his on her.
Kieran was surprised to find the first thing in his apartment to be Lauren.
“Lauren you… what are you doing here?” he asked in his utter shock.
There were many things she wanted to say, all the questions and everything she had thought she would tell him but now as she stood in front of him no words found their way out.. She felt her throat getting heavy, her words getting stuck somewhere between her tongue and her lips. She could not utter a single word as she looked at Kieran, the image of him in front of her, got blurred with all the tears collecting on the edges of her shivering eyes and when she could no longer control her tears and inability to speak she bursted into tears. Lowering her head and crying.
“Kieran, I….” her tears held her back from speaking, still not able to look at him.
Kieran grimaced, a frown finding his way on his forehead, as he looked at the crying figure in front of him. His heart shattered into a million pieces. Lauren was crying, and probably he was the reason behind that. Somewhere in the back of his head he was sure the reason he was seeing Lauren standing all alone in his apartment and bursting into tears as soon as she looked at him. He knew it was no one but himself.
He paced to her in haste, putting his hands gently over her shoulders.
“Hey," he lowered himself to look at her face softly tilting her face up by the chin. "What happened, darling?"
“I’m sorry Kieran,” her words were muffled by her heavy throat and overflowing tears.
Lauren’s words travelled through his ears straight to his heart, piercing its already broken pieces. A lump found its place in his throat. He could not let himself break, not when Lauren was already on her most vulnerable side. After so long it was finally the time he was there for her, when he could comfort her without any barrier stopping him. He held himself and collected his words.
“You don't have to be, love. It’s okay,” he felt heat forming in the back of his eyes. He whipped off the dampness from her cheeks that had now turned red out of the overwhelmedness she felt.
Lauren still couldn't find her words and nothing but sobs left her. She wanted to say more, much more than just the sorry, she wanted to say so much more than that to him. She felt relieved that he was there, holding her close. In her emotional breakdown she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulder, settling her face in the crook of his neck. His faint scent filled her with the smell she had yearned for. Her tears marked their place on his shirt.
A current travelled all across his body as Lauren made her move. Soon he could feel the dampness over his shoulder, his heart skipped several beats and he forgot to breathe for the friction of seconds, Kieran froze in his place before finally letting himself free and allowing himself to wrap his arms around her waist. He buried his face in her shoulder, closing his eyes. He felt all his worries and fears vanishing as he folded his arms around Lauren taking her into his grip.
He was finally holding her in his arms.
He was finally back to his favourite detective
He was… finally back.
As Kieran’s arms wrapped around her, tears flowed more freely. In that moment, there in his arms, Lauren felt safe. The safest she had ever felt. She never realised how much she depended on Kieran and how he had become an important part of her life, before this day. She’d found him again. After believing in his death for all this time he had come back to her. And now there was no way she was letting him disappear from in front of her eyes. She didn't try to talk anymore; she just embraced him with all her strength.
Kieran could feel Lauren's knuckles dig into his shoulders and she could feel all ten of his fingers pressed against her back as they both held each other. The world seemed to stop, the clock made no sound and there was complete silence around them. All that could be heard were Lauren's subsiding sobs into Kieran’s shoulder and the sound of their deep breaths.
“I am sorry Kieran for all that I said in the cave. I am sorry,” she finally collected her words, her throat feeling lighter.
“It's okay. I know you didn't mean them. It's fine, don't think about that now.” his head was still buried in the crook of her shoulder, tightening his grip around her waist, he adjusted his arms.
Lauren let out a deep breath of relief and closed her eyes. “I missed you, Kieran. I missed you a lot.”
“Me too, Lauren. '' he said. “ I missed you like crazy.”
“I thought you were really … gone,” she pulled away from the hug, shifting her hands from around his neck to his waist. “Do something like this again and I will put a bullet in your head.” she sniffled.
Kieran let out a light chuckle, his hands locked at the back of her waist holding her close. “You know, you need to find some creative ways to threaten me, officer.” his lips curled up into a smile and they both let out a chortle.
Lauren lowered her head, her smile again turning grim.
“What happened?” he asked, his cerulean meeting the golds of her still wet eyes.
She shook her head in a no.
” It's … it's nothing.” she forced a smile. “ All this… just feels like a dream. One of those dreams I often have where everyone I have lost is still alive, with me and then suddenly I wake up and real life feels like a nightmare. A haunting nightmare,” her voice shivered. “If this is all nothing but a dream, Kieran, I don't want to wake up from it. I don't want to add one more person to my nightmares.” silent tears rolled down her pleading eyes.
A painful frown made its way to the centre of Kieran’s forehead. “This is not a dream, love. You are not dreaming,” he pulled her into another hug, caressing her head. “I am sorry I made you go through all that. I am not going anywhere now and I promise I won't ever be, till my time has come for real.”
“You promise?”
“I do.”
There was no lie in all the things he said. He was being the truest of him right then.
They held each other for a little longer before pulling away and looked each other in the eyes with a soft smile spread across their faces.
“This place looks haunted. Perhaps it needs some… cleaning.” letting out a sigh, Kieran pursed his lips.
“Okay, so you can do the cleaning, I will come back later.” she teased with a grin, walking towards the door.
Kieran looked at her with a sideways glance and stopped her by wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, lifting her up in his arms. Lauren shrieked, chuckling and they both let out a laugh.
“You are not going anywhere; not until you help me make this place livable again.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah.” he said with a nod.
“Okay. But put me down first.”
He put her down and after a tough work of a few hours the apartment was shining as new.
They both plopped onto the sofa, sitting side by side, letting out a deep sigh.
“I am tired.” Lauren said, resting her head on his shoulder. “…and sleepy.”
“Yeah, me too.” Kieran tilted his head and rested it over hers.
Letting out a deep breath Lauren closed her eyes, “If this turns out to be a dream, Kieran, I am never forgiving you!”
“Don’t worry, it’s not a dream, darling.”
Neither of them noticed when they drifted deep into sleep leaning against each other on the sofa. The events of that day had exhausted them both, physically and mentally. And here they were now, resting in each other's presence. Happy and relieved that they were finally back to the person they had so much yearned for.
Having slept for a decent hour of time, Lauren woke up to find herself laid on the sofa with a blanket covering her. She sat up, her eyes searching for Kieran, but he wasn't in the paths of her gaze. A knot formed in her stomach, fear emerging from its depth, fear that maybe that was really a dream, that all she was recalling in her mind was just her own imagination.
But she was in his apartment.
Sleeping comfortably. That can't be a dream or her imagination.
She was getting anxious with every thought crossing her head and with every breath leaving her frame.
She had to see him to make sure she wasn't really going crazy.
In her trepidation, she began her search in the house in haste and agitation. She opened each and every door ajar, in the apartment searching for him, but he was nowhere to be found. He was not in the apartment. She called out his name midst her search but he wasn't there to answer it. Adrenaline rushed in her, sweat forming all over her and she felt faint tremors rising across her body.
Kieran unlocked the door to his apartment, his one hand completely occupied with huge paper bags containing things of his living for his stay in the house. The door set ajar and he found Lauren standing in front, at a little distance.
She was sweating, a tension had taken all the portions of her countenance. His face turned grim as he realised what was in her head.
With the opening of the door, Lauren turned to face the person standing at the threshold. Her heartbeat settled as her eyes met the cyan of Kieran standing there. She looked at the contents held between the grip of his arm. She felt weak at her knees, she closed her eyes, taking deep breaths and held the table near to support her.
Her anxiety subsided when she saw Kieran standing there. She wasn't dreaming or going mad. He was really there.
"Lauren, are you okay?" He walked up to her, putting the bags on the table, standing close to her and putting his hand over her shoulder.
She nodded her head, letting out a deep breath before raising it to look at Kieran, with a faint smile amidst the subsiding worries of her face.
"You sure?"
"Yeah… I just woke and didn't find you here…" she looked away. "It's nothing Kieran, where did you go?" she forced her lips into a curl and looked back at him, who was staring at her with a little crease in his brows.
"Ah… I just went to buy something. There's nothing here. The kitchen and bathroom need to be filled again."
"Oh yeah," she looked at the bags on the table, her face still displaying traces of her restlessness. "What did you bu-"
Understanding what she went through by the look on her face, when he wasn't there, Kieran cut her in between before she could complete what she was about to ask and wrapped his arms around her, taking her small frame into his big one.
Lauren stood still for a second before slowly raising her arms to hold his torso. Closing her eyes, she buried her face into his chest. Her mind went silent of all the thoughts she had in the past few minutes, relieving her of her fears.
"I am not going anywhere, love." He gently stroked her hair, gently resting his chin over her head. "You don't have to worry. You know that right?"
Lauren nodded into his chest.
"Okay so what do you want for breakfast?" Kieran said with a grin, pulling back from the hug but Lauren stopped him, still holding onto him.
"Stay like this for a few more seconds." She said, holding him tight.
"What's gotten into you, detective? Clinging onto an Ex-assassin." He chuckled.
"Shut up, Kieran," a smile found its place over her lips, making her ears feel hot. She raised her head to look at Kieran's smiling display, "Not everyone I have lost has come back to me." She freed her hand from around his waist and raised it to his head, stroking light fingers through the hair strands over his forehead.
The grin over Kieran's lips softened into a smile. He leaned in, closing his eyes and planted a gentle kiss on Lauren's mouth.
Lauren's hand fell onto hIs shoulders as Kieran made his move. More heat rushed across her frame, brows raised high and eyes wide open. He was kissing her.
She clenched his shirt over his shoulder and closed her eyes, letting her lips blend with the soft touch over them.
They pulled back, their heads still leaned against each other and their frames held into an embrace. Looking into one another's eyes, the corners of their mouths quirked into smiles.
"Thank you Lauren, for missing me."
"Thank you, Kieran, for coming back to me."
- The End.