Post by Lindsey on Aug 8, 2007 9:10:04 GMT -5
Next chapter--It would have come faster but I couldn't really divide it up so this one's longer! Both sections of this chapter have been in my head, playing themselves out since the beginning of my writing it. In fact, the first *scene* was written a while ago, and I only adapted it to fit the situation. The other scenes, well, I just wrote 'em how I saw 'em. They might be a little unrealistic but please imagine with me. 
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A hand brushed her cheek and Grace’s eyes flew open. Moonlight was streaming through her bedroom, illuminating a shadowy figure sitting on the side of her bed. Her heart pounding, she shrank beneath the covers.
Then she remembered the security guard, the tape recorder, the rain outside Yuki’s Diffusions. Everything began to make sense.
Apolo? Grace immediately relaxed. “Did you listen to it?”
He turned just enough towards her so that the shadows disappeared, revealing his face. Grace couldn’t help but notice the way the moonbeams were playing on his muscular arms.
“The tape recorder? Yeah. I heard it.” His voice was gentle.
“I knew you’d come,” she whispered.
“I should have believed you,” he shook his head. “I should have known better. I should have known you wouldn’t do that to me.”
Grace felt so happy she thought she was going to cry again.
“I’m so sorry, Grace.”
The remorse in Apolo’s voice overwhelmed her, and a tear appeared out of nowhere, trickling down her cheek. He quickly reached up to brush it away. Grace drew in a breath. She’d never felt a touch so tender in her life. She didn’t know why, but she almost wished she’d shed another tear so he’d do that again.
“Don’t cry, Grace. I’m here,” he said softly. “Everything will be okay,” he whispered. “I promise. Grace—I’m so sorry.” He bent over, so close to her face she could feel the warmth radiating from his body.
Grace couldn’t move. She’d never imagined him apologizing like this. And then, she felt his hand under her chin again, and he was tipping her face up towards his so she’d look at him. She saw that look in his eyes again. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what it meant, but whatever it was, it shook her to the core.
“Do you forgive me, Grace?”
“Of course I do,” she whispered.
He let his head drop in relief, and then looked back up at her, a hint of a smile on his lips. His hand reached up again to brush her cheek, and Grace couldn’t help but close her eyes. Why did she relish his touch so much? She couldn’t understand it. When she opened her eyes again, he was still looking at her, but his face was incredibly serious, and his eyes were penetrating hers. Her heart was pounding again.
He was close—intoxicatingly close. She knew he wanted to kiss her. And surprisingly, she wanted it, too. Grace’s eyelids fluttered closed, and she waited.
Suddenly, she heard someone banging on her door, and her eyes opened again. A chill ran down her spine, and she sat straight up in bed. Apolo was gone. And then the horrible realization hit her that he had never been there. Grief overtook her, and she almost burst into tears, but then the pounding on the door jolted her back into reality.
Maybe that’s him! she suddenly thought, and she threw back the sheets, bounding out of bed and rushing to the door.
The thought that Apolo might actually be at her door consumed her, and without thinking, she unbolted the door and swung it open.
The hallway was almost pitch-black, and all she could see was the dark silhouette of a figure in front of her.
“Apolo?”
Something hard hit her head, and pain like she’d never felt before shot through her body. She couldn’t even open her mouth to scream. Another blow—and then everything went black.
* * * * * *
Cold, hard cement. Grace’s fingertips recognized what was beneath her even before she opened her eyes.
Where am I? was the only thought that crossed her mind. She tried to open her eyes and sit up simultaneously. Pain shot through her, and she could feel her head throbbing. She slumped back down to the ground, clutching her head in her hands.
Thunder boomed outside, somewhere. Was it still night? Grace struggled to open her eyes, but all she saw was darkness. She felt around with her hands, but there was nothing. She tried to remember what happened—all she could remember was that dark shadow in the hallway. Fear threatened to grip her heart, but she shook it off. She contemplated calling out for help but decided against it. It wasn’t that she thought no one would hear her—it was who would hear her that concerned her. The only thing she could thing of was the death threat. Had they, whoever “they” was, found her? Were they going to kill her because they thought she leaked the story out?
Grace’s head was spinning, not only from the pain but also from the reality of it all. She hadn’t really thought something like this would happen. What if whoever had captured her was after Apolo next? Would they hurt him—or worse?
Suddenly, she heard a noise. Her heart leapt to her throat, and her fingers tightened up into fists as she struggled to stand up straight.
She heard a sound like a door opening, and then light flooded her eyes from outside the windowless room. She squinted in the brightness, and then looked up into the face of a man with a ski mask on his face. It was just one man—surely she could take on just one man. She needed to get to Apolo—she needed to warn him they were coming for him.
Fists flailing, she dove at the man, pummeling his chest as hard as she possibly could and screaming her head off. It was a desperate, futile attempt. He wrestled her off him and struck her in the head again. The next thing Grace knew, he was gone and she was left alone in the dark again, her tired body heaving against the cold cement floor as she tried to catch her breath.
It seemed like hours before she heard anything again. There was scratching at the door, and then it opened again. She could see the masked man coming down the outside hallway towards her, but this time he was dragging someone else with him, a person with a bag over his head. His hands were tied with rope, but he was doing as much as he could with his feet to make it difficult for the masked man to haul him. She never knew why, but she looked at his bare legs. She instantly shrank back in horror.
“Apolo!” she called out to him, scrambling to her feet and rushing towards the open door.
He stopped struggling immediately. “Grace?” She could hear the anxiety in his voice. “Grace?”
As she made it to the door, another masked figure stepped out from behind the door, blocking her escape with a sharp blow to her mid-section.
Grace cried out a little in pain as she fell to the floor.
“Grace! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she managed to call back to him. He was closer now—she was sure they were bringing him to her, and she felt somewhat relieved.
Moments later, the man had flung Apolo onto the floor a few feet in front of her. Despite Apolo’s muscular body, the masked man was easily twice his size in height and bulk—Grace had discovered that when she’d attempted to attack him before. The man ripped the bag off Apolo’s head, and his eyes immediately found hers.
Instead of seeing fear in his eyes, she saw anger. Towards whom, she didn’t know, but she was praying it wasn’t her. His head whipped around as he looked for his capturer, but all they saw was his retreating back and the door slamming shut on them, leaving them in total darkness.
Grace’s heart beat even faster now that they were alone than it had when she’d first discovered she’d been captured. Is he angry with me? What’s going to happen to us? Above all that, she was ashamed to think it, she just wanted to collapse into his arms, hoping he’d protect her from whatever was going on. But she was afraid to even say anything, afraid of that look she’d seen in his eyes just now. Why isn’t he saying anything?
She heard him moving and then heard him breathing. She knew he was close to her, and she drew in a sharp breath.
In an instant, his outstretched hand had found her face, and she could feel the warmth of his body almost touching hers.
“Apolo,” she breathed. The tension was killing her inside.
The next second, his arms were around her, and he was enveloping her in a great bear hug. “Are you okay?” he was asking her. Relief washed over her. He wasn’t angry with her.
“I’m okay.” She wished he’d never let go over her, but she could feel him releasing his hold on her.
“I went to look for you—they found me at your apartment,” he said.
“So you listened to it?”
“Listened to what?”
“The tape recorder—Apolo, you didn’t find the tape recorder?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Grace.”
“Then how—what do you mean? Why did you come to my apartment, then?”
Apolo was silent for a moment. “I don’t know. I guess I just had to see you, to talk to you. I don’t know about what. I guess I should still be mad about the article, but none of that matters now. All that matters is that you’re okay. I thought they’d come in and killed you when I saw your door open. You have no idea how panicked I was.”
Grace shook her head in disbelief. She couldn’t even organize her thoughts. “The article? My door? You were panicked?” she sputtered.
“Of course I was. Grace—I care about you, no matter what you did to me.”
Grace slammed one of her fists into the floor. “You didn’t listen to the tape recorder?”
“What are you talking about—a tape recorder?” Apolo sounded confused.
“Ahhh---” Grace let out a frustrated sigh, trying to piece it all together. “I found that security guard quoted in the story—he told me he talked to some blonde chick—she’s the one who wrote the story. But I still don’t know who she is. Anyways, I got it all on tape to prove it to you—and I left it on your doorstep.”
“At the studio?”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you just knock on the door and give it to me?”
“I was afraid.”
“Why?”
Grace couldn’t think of anything to say. The way Apolo sounded—it was like he was hurt that she didn’t trust him enough to bring it to him.
“Apolo—”
“Shh,” he quieted her. “Don’t try to explain. I understand.” Then he grew silent. A few moments passed, and then he slipped an arm around her and pulled her with him as he slid back in the direction of the wall. “What did they do to you? How did they get you?” he finally asked.
Grace felt the wall behind her and rested her head against it. “He was beating on my door. I thought it was you, so I opened it and then, I guess, he just hit me on the head. That’s all I remember.”
“You’ve been hit in the head?”
“Yeah, twice on the head, once in the stomach. I tried to escape or something, I think.”
“Are you okay?” Apolo’s hands were feeling around her head for bumps. “Ooh…here’s an big egg. You think you had a concussion?”
“I don’t have a clue,” Grace said. “It just hurts a little.” She paused. “Okay, it hurts bad. Really bad. I don’t think I can keep my head up anymore.”
Apolo slid closer to her and reached around her to bend her head towards him. She felt him moving it to his shoulder and tensed slightly. He sensed it, and stopped. “Does that hurt?”
“No,” she said quietly and allowed him to bring it to rest on his broad shoulder. Oddly enough, in that position, the throbbing that had been plaguing her since she’d awoken began to ease, and she let her whole body relax. It was then that she realized how close she was to his side. She felt his cool skin against hers as their arms touched—he must have been wearing a cut-off shirt, and she was only in a tank top—and it gave her a little thrill. She tried to ignore it, but it was there nonetheless.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
Had she shivered? Grace couldn’t remember, but she realized she was cold, now that all the adrenaline had worn off. “Yeah,” she responded.
He pulled his arm back, leaving his shoulder in its original position as much as possible, but Grace was a little disappointed. She’d rather enjoyed the feeling of his skin next to hers, for whatever reasons she couldn’t think of. But then she felt his arm behind her and his right hand on her waist, pulling her even closer. His hand on her like that—the closeness of his body to hers—Grace didn’t know what to do except let him do what he was doing. It was so surreal in the darkness. The fact that she had no idea where he was, what he looked like, or what he was going to do next made her heart race.
“Don’t think I’m trying anything,” he said. “I just want you to be comfortable.” It would have sounded like a lame excuse from any other guy, but from Apolo, it sounded sincere.
Grace knew then and there that Apolo did really care about her. Why else would he have gone to her apartment without even knowing about the contents of the tape recorder? Why else would he hold her like this? She didn’t know what kind of care it was—her thoughts drifted briefly to the dance in the garden—but whatever it was, it made her feel secure and safe, even in the midst of all the stuff that had been happening.
“What is going to happen to us, Apolo?” she thought aloud.
“I don’t know, Grace. We’ll just have to wait and see. We’ll get out of here.”
She opened to her mouth to say something, but it turned into a yawn. She did feel comfortable like this. Sleep threatened to overtake her, and since Apolo had also fallen silent, she finally gave in.
-------------
A hand brushed her cheek and Grace’s eyes flew open. Moonlight was streaming through her bedroom, illuminating a shadowy figure sitting on the side of her bed. Her heart pounding, she shrank beneath the covers.
Then she remembered the security guard, the tape recorder, the rain outside Yuki’s Diffusions. Everything began to make sense.
Apolo? Grace immediately relaxed. “Did you listen to it?”
He turned just enough towards her so that the shadows disappeared, revealing his face. Grace couldn’t help but notice the way the moonbeams were playing on his muscular arms.
“The tape recorder? Yeah. I heard it.” His voice was gentle.
“I knew you’d come,” she whispered.
“I should have believed you,” he shook his head. “I should have known better. I should have known you wouldn’t do that to me.”
Grace felt so happy she thought she was going to cry again.
“I’m so sorry, Grace.”
The remorse in Apolo’s voice overwhelmed her, and a tear appeared out of nowhere, trickling down her cheek. He quickly reached up to brush it away. Grace drew in a breath. She’d never felt a touch so tender in her life. She didn’t know why, but she almost wished she’d shed another tear so he’d do that again.
“Don’t cry, Grace. I’m here,” he said softly. “Everything will be okay,” he whispered. “I promise. Grace—I’m so sorry.” He bent over, so close to her face she could feel the warmth radiating from his body.
Grace couldn’t move. She’d never imagined him apologizing like this. And then, she felt his hand under her chin again, and he was tipping her face up towards his so she’d look at him. She saw that look in his eyes again. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what it meant, but whatever it was, it shook her to the core.
“Do you forgive me, Grace?”
“Of course I do,” she whispered.
He let his head drop in relief, and then looked back up at her, a hint of a smile on his lips. His hand reached up again to brush her cheek, and Grace couldn’t help but close her eyes. Why did she relish his touch so much? She couldn’t understand it. When she opened her eyes again, he was still looking at her, but his face was incredibly serious, and his eyes were penetrating hers. Her heart was pounding again.
He was close—intoxicatingly close. She knew he wanted to kiss her. And surprisingly, she wanted it, too. Grace’s eyelids fluttered closed, and she waited.
Suddenly, she heard someone banging on her door, and her eyes opened again. A chill ran down her spine, and she sat straight up in bed. Apolo was gone. And then the horrible realization hit her that he had never been there. Grief overtook her, and she almost burst into tears, but then the pounding on the door jolted her back into reality.
Maybe that’s him! she suddenly thought, and she threw back the sheets, bounding out of bed and rushing to the door.
The thought that Apolo might actually be at her door consumed her, and without thinking, she unbolted the door and swung it open.
The hallway was almost pitch-black, and all she could see was the dark silhouette of a figure in front of her.
“Apolo?”
Something hard hit her head, and pain like she’d never felt before shot through her body. She couldn’t even open her mouth to scream. Another blow—and then everything went black.
* * * * * *
Cold, hard cement. Grace’s fingertips recognized what was beneath her even before she opened her eyes.
Where am I? was the only thought that crossed her mind. She tried to open her eyes and sit up simultaneously. Pain shot through her, and she could feel her head throbbing. She slumped back down to the ground, clutching her head in her hands.
Thunder boomed outside, somewhere. Was it still night? Grace struggled to open her eyes, but all she saw was darkness. She felt around with her hands, but there was nothing. She tried to remember what happened—all she could remember was that dark shadow in the hallway. Fear threatened to grip her heart, but she shook it off. She contemplated calling out for help but decided against it. It wasn’t that she thought no one would hear her—it was who would hear her that concerned her. The only thing she could thing of was the death threat. Had they, whoever “they” was, found her? Were they going to kill her because they thought she leaked the story out?
Grace’s head was spinning, not only from the pain but also from the reality of it all. She hadn’t really thought something like this would happen. What if whoever had captured her was after Apolo next? Would they hurt him—or worse?
Suddenly, she heard a noise. Her heart leapt to her throat, and her fingers tightened up into fists as she struggled to stand up straight.
She heard a sound like a door opening, and then light flooded her eyes from outside the windowless room. She squinted in the brightness, and then looked up into the face of a man with a ski mask on his face. It was just one man—surely she could take on just one man. She needed to get to Apolo—she needed to warn him they were coming for him.
Fists flailing, she dove at the man, pummeling his chest as hard as she possibly could and screaming her head off. It was a desperate, futile attempt. He wrestled her off him and struck her in the head again. The next thing Grace knew, he was gone and she was left alone in the dark again, her tired body heaving against the cold cement floor as she tried to catch her breath.
It seemed like hours before she heard anything again. There was scratching at the door, and then it opened again. She could see the masked man coming down the outside hallway towards her, but this time he was dragging someone else with him, a person with a bag over his head. His hands were tied with rope, but he was doing as much as he could with his feet to make it difficult for the masked man to haul him. She never knew why, but she looked at his bare legs. She instantly shrank back in horror.
“Apolo!” she called out to him, scrambling to her feet and rushing towards the open door.
He stopped struggling immediately. “Grace?” She could hear the anxiety in his voice. “Grace?”
As she made it to the door, another masked figure stepped out from behind the door, blocking her escape with a sharp blow to her mid-section.
Grace cried out a little in pain as she fell to the floor.
“Grace! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she managed to call back to him. He was closer now—she was sure they were bringing him to her, and she felt somewhat relieved.
Moments later, the man had flung Apolo onto the floor a few feet in front of her. Despite Apolo’s muscular body, the masked man was easily twice his size in height and bulk—Grace had discovered that when she’d attempted to attack him before. The man ripped the bag off Apolo’s head, and his eyes immediately found hers.
Instead of seeing fear in his eyes, she saw anger. Towards whom, she didn’t know, but she was praying it wasn’t her. His head whipped around as he looked for his capturer, but all they saw was his retreating back and the door slamming shut on them, leaving them in total darkness.
Grace’s heart beat even faster now that they were alone than it had when she’d first discovered she’d been captured. Is he angry with me? What’s going to happen to us? Above all that, she was ashamed to think it, she just wanted to collapse into his arms, hoping he’d protect her from whatever was going on. But she was afraid to even say anything, afraid of that look she’d seen in his eyes just now. Why isn’t he saying anything?
She heard him moving and then heard him breathing. She knew he was close to her, and she drew in a sharp breath.
In an instant, his outstretched hand had found her face, and she could feel the warmth of his body almost touching hers.
“Apolo,” she breathed. The tension was killing her inside.
The next second, his arms were around her, and he was enveloping her in a great bear hug. “Are you okay?” he was asking her. Relief washed over her. He wasn’t angry with her.
“I’m okay.” She wished he’d never let go over her, but she could feel him releasing his hold on her.
“I went to look for you—they found me at your apartment,” he said.
“So you listened to it?”
“Listened to what?”
“The tape recorder—Apolo, you didn’t find the tape recorder?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Grace.”
“Then how—what do you mean? Why did you come to my apartment, then?”
Apolo was silent for a moment. “I don’t know. I guess I just had to see you, to talk to you. I don’t know about what. I guess I should still be mad about the article, but none of that matters now. All that matters is that you’re okay. I thought they’d come in and killed you when I saw your door open. You have no idea how panicked I was.”
Grace shook her head in disbelief. She couldn’t even organize her thoughts. “The article? My door? You were panicked?” she sputtered.
“Of course I was. Grace—I care about you, no matter what you did to me.”
Grace slammed one of her fists into the floor. “You didn’t listen to the tape recorder?”
“What are you talking about—a tape recorder?” Apolo sounded confused.
“Ahhh---” Grace let out a frustrated sigh, trying to piece it all together. “I found that security guard quoted in the story—he told me he talked to some blonde chick—she’s the one who wrote the story. But I still don’t know who she is. Anyways, I got it all on tape to prove it to you—and I left it on your doorstep.”
“At the studio?”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you just knock on the door and give it to me?”
“I was afraid.”
“Why?”
Grace couldn’t think of anything to say. The way Apolo sounded—it was like he was hurt that she didn’t trust him enough to bring it to him.
“Apolo—”
“Shh,” he quieted her. “Don’t try to explain. I understand.” Then he grew silent. A few moments passed, and then he slipped an arm around her and pulled her with him as he slid back in the direction of the wall. “What did they do to you? How did they get you?” he finally asked.
Grace felt the wall behind her and rested her head against it. “He was beating on my door. I thought it was you, so I opened it and then, I guess, he just hit me on the head. That’s all I remember.”
“You’ve been hit in the head?”
“Yeah, twice on the head, once in the stomach. I tried to escape or something, I think.”
“Are you okay?” Apolo’s hands were feeling around her head for bumps. “Ooh…here’s an big egg. You think you had a concussion?”
“I don’t have a clue,” Grace said. “It just hurts a little.” She paused. “Okay, it hurts bad. Really bad. I don’t think I can keep my head up anymore.”
Apolo slid closer to her and reached around her to bend her head towards him. She felt him moving it to his shoulder and tensed slightly. He sensed it, and stopped. “Does that hurt?”
“No,” she said quietly and allowed him to bring it to rest on his broad shoulder. Oddly enough, in that position, the throbbing that had been plaguing her since she’d awoken began to ease, and she let her whole body relax. It was then that she realized how close she was to his side. She felt his cool skin against hers as their arms touched—he must have been wearing a cut-off shirt, and she was only in a tank top—and it gave her a little thrill. She tried to ignore it, but it was there nonetheless.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
Had she shivered? Grace couldn’t remember, but she realized she was cold, now that all the adrenaline had worn off. “Yeah,” she responded.
He pulled his arm back, leaving his shoulder in its original position as much as possible, but Grace was a little disappointed. She’d rather enjoyed the feeling of his skin next to hers, for whatever reasons she couldn’t think of. But then she felt his arm behind her and his right hand on her waist, pulling her even closer. His hand on her like that—the closeness of his body to hers—Grace didn’t know what to do except let him do what he was doing. It was so surreal in the darkness. The fact that she had no idea where he was, what he looked like, or what he was going to do next made her heart race.
“Don’t think I’m trying anything,” he said. “I just want you to be comfortable.” It would have sounded like a lame excuse from any other guy, but from Apolo, it sounded sincere.
Grace knew then and there that Apolo did really care about her. Why else would he have gone to her apartment without even knowing about the contents of the tape recorder? Why else would he hold her like this? She didn’t know what kind of care it was—her thoughts drifted briefly to the dance in the garden—but whatever it was, it made her feel secure and safe, even in the midst of all the stuff that had been happening.
“What is going to happen to us, Apolo?” she thought aloud.
“I don’t know, Grace. We’ll just have to wait and see. We’ll get out of here.”
She opened to her mouth to say something, but it turned into a yawn. She did feel comfortable like this. Sleep threatened to overtake her, and since Apolo had also fallen silent, she finally gave in.
Lindsey, you did a fantabulous job on this chapter. ;D I can't wait for the next chapter, but I will wait patiently. 
