In His Arms

Perma-note: In my playthrough, I renamed Hayden to Ben; so in this series, if you see the name Ben, that’s Hayden.

Summary: After everyone settles in from their narrow escape from New York, Maya has a nightmare and turns to Damien for comfort. Set during Ch 11.

She’d been running for about twenty minutes now, passing from one hallway to another in search of the way out. “This way!” She heard him call, leading them out a set of double doors. Maya heard police sirens in the distance and hope surged through her as they sprinted across the courtyard. They were going to make it! They were going to-

Suddenly, one of the guards jumped in from out of nowhere, blocking their path. She drew her gun, aiming straight at her.

Maya closed her eyes, waiting for the impact. Suddenly, strong arms wrapped sound her. For a split second, she locked eyes with him. Before she could protest, he whirled her around and pushed her behind him.

BANG!

The sound of a gunshot tore through the air and she felt him stumble. Her eyes flew open when his grip on her loosened and she looked to him, praying that that sick feeling she was getting in her gut was just her mind overreacting to a harrowing experience.

Her lips said his name once, twice; but no sound came out. She couldn’t hear anything above the sirens, which were growing louder as the police drew near. Maya could only look at him desperately; study his every feature for signs that he was okay.

He watched her with an impassive expression before looking down to the growing pool of red forming on his chest. Her stomach twisted and she grabbed his shoulders, trying to keep him upright when he collapsed to his knees.

“It’s okay, Maya.” His voice was hoarse as he grunted in pain.

Maya watched in horror as the light in his eyes faded. His head slumped against her chest lifelessly. It was then that she found her voice.

“Damien … ! No! DAMIEN!”

—————————————————————————————

Maya woke up with her breath coming out in frantic gasps. She knew that her eyes were wide, but couldn’t see anything past the tears spilling from them. She grasped at her chest as she tried to steady her rapid breathing. Just a nightmare. She reminded herself. It was just a nightmare.

After a few minutes, Maya finally got herself under control. She took a few deep breaths before sitting up and checking her surroundings. She was still in her room in the safe house. Her bedsheets lay crumpled around her from having pulled at them, tossing and turning all this time. She lay back down, but her mind refused to rest. All she could think about was him; that lifeless look in his eyes would not stop haunting her thoughts.

After a few minutes of this, she’d had enough. Maya tossed her sheets aside and swung her legs over the side of the bed. What was wrong with her? Her imagination had already overreacted once and now it wasn’t letting this go, no matter how much she’d tried to reason with herself.

Damien had only recently expressed his own fears of losing her before confessing his feelings for her. At the time, Maya’s focus had been on reassuring him and on the fact that she could freely tell him she cared for him too. What she hadn’t bothered to tell him was that the harrowing events of the last few nights had rattled her too.

Even though they were all in hiding together now, some part of her was still afraid of what could happen next. What if Eros discovered them? They knew Damien used to work with Interpol; what if they figured out the location of this safe house? What if Hayden had a failsafe option through which they could track him, and by extension, everyone else? Alana had let them stay with her for now but what would happen when she turned them loose? Where would they go?

These thoughts raced through her mind as she crept out of her room and into the hallway. It was unbelievable that of all the times to find out about Damien, it just had to be when they were running for their lives! Especially considering the fact that they’d had the last four years to do this. Who knew where they would be now? Damien had been right when he’d said they should do this right – going too fast in a relationship never usually ended well for anyone. But at the moment, Maya didn’t want to put this aside for another minute. New York could wait; right now, she needed to see him. She needed to see that he was okay so that these irrational fears would stop ruining her sleep cycle.

She came to a stop outside his room, staring at his door for a few minutes before closing her hand around the knob. She gave it a slow twist and pushed the door open. Once she was in, she pushed the door back all the way, restricting her wrist movement when turning the knob back to its original direction to make her entry as quiet as possible.

Damien was sleeping soundly in his bed. The rays of moonlight reflected through the window, illuminating the room and giving his features a handsome glow. Maya stood at the side of his bed as if in a trance, watching his chest rise and fall. The sight of it was enough to ease her mind; she couldn’t help the smile that came to her face.

Throughout the years she’d known him, Maya had grown accustomed to the dry sense of humor that had been characteristic of Damien. Whatever was being discussed, he was always ready with some sarcastic remark that highlighted his cynical attitude. But now he lay before her, completely oblivious to her presence. He looked so innocent.

Before she could stop herself, she reached out and lightly brushed a strand of his hair away from his eye. In the process, her fingers brushed against his face and his breath fanned against her skin. Damien made a contented noise in his sleep and turned to his side, leaning into her touch. He rested his head against her hand, effectively trapping it against the pillow. Maya bit her lip. Well that was unexpected. She tried to wriggle her hand away a little bit, pausing whenever Damien’s expression changed. Once it seemed safe to do so, she tried again.

She gasped when her heel brushed against something soft and slid on the floor. She’d been so fixated on watching Damien that she hadn’t noticed that lying near her feet was his tie that he had carelessly tossed onto the floor hours ago. She slipped on the cotton material beneath her and landed on her bottom with a THUD.

Damien shot up in bed and kicked his bedsheets aside, his hands in a guarded position and ready to unleash hell on the intruder in his room.

“Wait! Stop!” Maya called as softly as possible. “It’s just me, D.” She stood up and dusted herself off.

“Huh?” Upon hearing her voice, he lowered his hands and groaned, throwing his head back on the pillow. “Jeez Maya, it’s the middle of the night.”

“Oh so that’s why the moon is out and the sky is dark.” She then looked down guiltily. “Sorry.”

“No worries.” Damien rubbed his eyes tiredly as he propped himself up on his elbows. “I always appreciate a good heart attack when I’m half asleep. Keeps things interesting.”

“I said I was sorry.”

A smirk played at the corner of his lips. “Couldn’t stand being away from me that long, huh?”

“Damien …” she warned.

“Hey don’t get me wrong, I’m flattered. I’m just saying if you were that eager, we could’ve easily set aside some time before breakfast.”

“That’s not what I-” Maya held up her hands. “You know what? Forget it. Sorry I woke you up, I just wanted to … uh, check on you.” She then turned to leave.

“All right, hold up.” Damien reached over to turn on his lamp. He squinted briefly to adjust to the new lighting and then fixed his gaze on her, scrutinizing her every feature. “You do realize that knowing when people are hiding something is part of my job, right?” When he noticed the faint tear streaks on her face, he frowned. “Have you been crying?”

“I …” Maya hastily moved to wipe her face, mentally kicking herself for not doing it sooner. “I might’ve. Doesn’t matter now.”

I really must be out of my mind, She sighed. I just tried to lie to an ex-cop.

“You sure?” He kept his tone neutral, but continued to watch her expectantly. When she didn’t answer, Damien grew concerned. “Come on Maya, talk to me. What happened?”

“I … had a nightmare.”

Comprehension dawned on his face. “Let me guess. It involved me?”

“Yeah.” She nodded, suddenly feeling very vulnerable in front of him. “I only came to make sure you were okay.”

Damien watched her fidget nervously. “Come here,” he said, lifting his blanket and moving back to make room for her.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” She gave him an uncertain look. “I thought you wanted to take it slow.”

“Don’t worry Maya, I can control myself. You on the other hand …” He winked at her. “We’ll have to see.”

She rolled her eyes. “In your dreams.” Maya climbed into bed and settled into the spot he’d made for her. Her long amethyst hair spread out behind her like a wave.

Damien wrapped his arms around her and began to stroke her hair softly. “So … how do we do this? Wanna talk about it?” Maya leaned into his touch, feeling more relaxed at his soothing ministrations.

“The short version of it is … we were chased by Eros and you took a bullet for me.” She snuggled closer to him, holding him more tightly. “I saw you die.”

“Oh Maya …”

“I know it’s crazy. I guess …” She thought for a moment. “The last few days have been pretty scary for me too. We fled the country in the nick of time, there’re still no telling what could happen and how safe we really are. And now that we’ve told each other how we feel, I really don’t want to lose you.”

He grimaced. “This is what I meant when I said it was the worst timing to bring this up. I’m so sorry Maya, I never wanted to burden you with this.”

“No Damien!” She looked at him sharply. “You did the right thing in telling me. And if you hadn’t brought it up, I would’ve. It was there in your file.” Then she grinned. “Come to think of it, it’s because of Eros and their snooping into our love lives that you were forced to grow a pair and tell me how you felt.”

“Hey I can say the same for you!” He laughed. “Seriously though Maya, don’t worry yourself sick. We’ll be fine. Haven’t we always had each other’s backs?”

“You didn’t sound so sure today at dinner.”

Damien winced. “Yeah, sorry I was so on edge. That was years worth of tension blowing over. But I think we can work this out, complicated relationships aside. You said it yourself, we should just focus on taking Eros down. Then we can go back to life as usual.”

“Four years, Damien,” She sighed. “There’s so much we could’ve done in that time. We really are idiots for missing out on all that.”

“You’re both right and wrong on that,” Damien said thoughtfully. “It’s true I definitely should’ve said something sooner, but I was worried that if it didn’t work out or if you didn’t feel the same, things would be weird.” He kissed the top of her head. “I meant it when I said you were the one good thing in my life then. And I wanted you around no matter what, whether it was like this or even just as a friend.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that yeah, maybe we missed out on dating sooner, but we didn’t miss out on being with … each other …” A few seconds passed as they locked eyes. Then Damien smiled bashfully. “Okay you can say it.”

A smile played on her lips. “Damien Nazario, that may be the cheesiest most sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.” She then kissed his cheek. “Thanks.”

“Really? That’s it? I thought you’d never let me hear the end of it.”

“Oh I won’t. But I’m traumatized and vulnerable tonight and this helped, so consider yourself lucky.”

“Glad to hear it,” He laughed. “Feel better enough to go back to sleep?”

She nodded. “Yeah. But I’m not sure if I’m up to going back to my room.”

“Then don’t.” Damien brushed his lips against hers in a tender kiss that she returned wholeheartedly. Then, he rested his chin on top of her head and held her more closely to him. Maya smiled contently, closed her eyes and leaned into his chest, allowing the sound of his heartbeat to lull her back to sleep.