Summary: Allie makes an emotional decision and gets a surprise visitor. This is set immediately after the engagement tour ends, and assumes the traitor is caught.
Note: Not canon.
Maxwell and Bertrand insist they’ll ride with her to the airport in the morning. Allie protests half-heartedly, telling them they don’t have to, but she’s so physically and emotionally exhausted that she doesn’t have the energy to argue too much. She packs her bags methodically, checking the bathroom and the closet one last time, then sits on one of the chairs on the balcony outside her room at House Beaumont, staring out at nothing, the previous few days running on repeat through her mind.
Her name had been cleared, but before she could even let herself be happy about that, Liam had almost been taken out by an assassin after announcing that he and Madeleine were no longer engaged. He’s fine, thank god, but she wonders if the nightmares about losing him will ever go away. She hasn’t seen Liam since then, and now, with her flight home in eight hours, she’ll likely never see him again.
That thought makes the tears start to fall, noiseless sobs escaping her mouth. Liam is alive, her name is cleared, and everyone involved is in prison or has been removed from court, but Allie doesn’t know any more if she can live like this, forever afraid of some nameless, faceless enemy hell-bent on taking one or both of their lives.
There’s a sudden quiet knock on her door, and even though she feels safe here, she’s still a little on guard, since it’s after midnight. When she opens the door, swiping at her tears, she’s convinced that she’s hallucinating in her sleep deprived state, because she swears Liam is standing there and then walking into her room. But he can’t be. Liam is at the palace, under heavy security, so she doesn’t understand how she can hear him saying her name and feel him cupping her cheek in his hand.
“Allie,” he says hoarsely, then, when she just stares at him and doesn’t answer, a questioning, “Allie?”
“You’re not here. How can you be here? You shouldn’t be here,” she finally manages to say, rambling and confused at how real this hallucination seems.
“I‘m here,” Liam assures her.
She takes a shaky breath, gently resting her hand on his chest, feeling his heart pounding underneath her palm. He’s warm and solid and she realizes that he’s not a figment of her imagination.
“I’m here, baby,” he says softly.
“Don’t say that,” Allie chokes out. “Don’t say baby. How am I supposed to leave when you’re calling me that and looking at me like that?”
She sinks onto the chaise lounge, hands shaking, and tries not to cry again as Liam sits next to her.
“Don’t leave,” he says, his voice so soft she can barely hear him.
“I have to. I can’t do this,” she says, taking shallow, shuddering breaths, then blurts out, “You almost died.”
She finally turns to look at him, and the sight of tears shimmering in his eyes almost makes hers start falling again.
“You almost died, Liam,” she whispers.
“I know,” he says, his voice thick with emotion. “I know.”
There’s nothing else to say. He can’t promise it won’t happen again, or that it won’t be a very real threat for her if she stays.
“I don’t want to lose you all over again,” Liam says quietly, and that does make a fresh wave of tears fall.
“I can’t do this,” Allie says shakily. “I can’t live every day worried that someone’s going to try and…and…” She can’t even bring herself to say the words, now that they’ve been a reality.
Liam drops to his knees in front of her, holding her hands and looking at her earnestly. “I love you. Please, Allie. I know you’re scared. I’m scared,” he admits. “But we can do this.”
He leans in, bringing his hands up to her face, softly tracing over her cheekbones and brushing her tears away. His lips hover over hers, and even though there’s a little voice screaming at her to say no, telling her this will make leaving him harder, she can’t bring herself not to touch her lips to his. The man she loves. The man she tries to tell herself she’ll be able to leave come morning.
A goodbye, she thinks.
Liam’s lips are soft and gentle for a minute. “We can do this. Stay with me,” he whispers, then presses his lips harder to hers, a sense of desperation behind it.
“Mmm,” she whimpers, bringing her hands up to run through his hair.
Liam groans against her, his arms wrapping tightly around her waist. His kiss is simultaneously breaking her heart and reminding her of everything they had, everything they could have.
“Allie,” he whispers against her mouth.
His voice forces her back to reality, and she wrenches herself away, her hands on his shoulders. She can’t imagine her life without him, doesn’t want to, but she also can’t imagine living every day afraid for her life, afraid for his life.
“I can’t,” she says, swallowing back a sob. “I can’t, Liam.”
Liam’s face drops, the most defeated she’s ever seen him. He runs his hands down her arms, resting his forehead against hers for a minute.
When he pulls back, she feels the loss of his warmth acutely. “I wish things were different,” he murmurs. “That I could just take you away from here, and love you the way you deserve with nothing in our way.”
Liam’s lips brush over hers one last time, feather light, and she can feel his sadness, his regret. He smiles faintly as he stands, and her heart pounds as he reaches for her door knob. He stops, though he doesn’t turn around.
“Allie…if you change your mind, I’ve told my guards to let you in to the palace.”
And then he’s gone.
~~~~~~~~~~
She doesn’t sleep at all that night, her thoughts consumed by Liam and second guessing if she can actually leave him now that the time has come. The limo is silent as it travels down the now familiar roads. Sometimes Allie is grateful for Maxwell’s tendency to chatter and break the silence, but this morning, she appreciates the quiet. She stares out at the Cordonian countryside and wonders how long it will take for it not to be so deeply ingrained in her mind. The palace appears in the distance after a little while, and Allie feels a distinct ache, thinking about Liam.
It’s early, but she knows he’s probably awake, wonders if he’s sitting down for breakfast yet, or still buttoning up his shirt, or sliding his dress shoes on. The palace grows steadily closer and Allie suddenly has a flashing glimpse of her life back in New York, alone, without Liam, and she bolts upright.
“Wait!” she gasps.
Bertrand and Maxwell both jump.
“What-“ Bertrand starts to ask.
“We have to stop. I can’t do this. I can’t leave,” she says frantically.
“I thought-“
She interrupts Bertrand again. “I was wrong. Stop. Please,” she begs.
Bertrand frowns, but he instructs the driver to stop, then takes another look at Allie and tells the driver to head into the palace. It takes a few minutes, but once the guards hear her name, they’re allowed entrance. She manages to control herself as they walk in, though she all but bursts into Liam’s office when his advisor tells her to go in, her heart racing.
Liam just manages to catch her around the waist as she nearly throws herself at him. She’s half-sobbing, half-laughing as he holds her, running his hand through her hair.
“Allie? What is it?” he asks.
“I was wrong,” she says, her voice muffled as she buries her face into his shoulder. “I was wrong, Liam. I thought about going back to New York, and not being with you, and I realized I can’t do it. I don’t want to do it.”
She tilts her head back. “I don’t want to leave you,” she murmurs.
“Then don’t. Stay here. Stay with me,” he says imploringly.
“You make it sound so simple.” She smiles faintly as Liam lovingly strokes his fingers over her cheek.
“I know it’s not,” he sighs. “I want you to stay, Allie. I want to spend my life with you, loving you. But I want you to be sure. I know this life isn’t exactly what you thought you were signing up for when you came here.”
“No. It’s not,” she admits.
Tears well in her eyes as she looks at him and quietly says, “I don’t want to worry about your safety, your life, every day. But I can be here with you and worried, or halfway around the world and worried. And I’d rather be with you. I want to be with you.”
Liam leans forward, pressing his lips to hers reassuringly. Allie sighs into his mouth, can feel her racing heart finally calming at being back in his familiar embrace. “I love you,” she whispers.
“And I love you,” he whispers back.
He smiles against her as they kiss slowly, tenderly. “I’m glad you’re staying, baby.”
“Me too.”