MAGICAL DREAMS
Penn O'Hara     2006

UC Disclaimers apply.

oOo

Previously on "Magical Dreams"

"I’m a bastard, yes," Frank grated.  "I hurt you badly, but I want another chance."  He grabbed Mercury's upper arms and drew her closer.  "Can you give me that?"

Frank's fingers dug into her flesh and the anger blazing in his eyes frightened her, but she loved him.  She was damned to love him and be hurt by him and when he was away from her with his work, she would no doubt fear for him.  But could she bear to not have him in her life?

"You don't realize what you're asking of me," she said, her eyes snared by the violence in his.  "How can my heart feel safe–?" 

He pulled back his hands as if she'd burned him.  "Safe?  If you want safe, you're not going to get it here.  I can't guarantee anything–" Frank folded his arms across his chest.  "I'm not the one who's going to walk away this time, Mercury.  Not any more.  It will be your choice.  Go now or stay."

She could walk out, knowing he'd make sure she never saw him again; or be with him, taking what she could get.  Mercury wished Frank would somehow make it easier for her, but, except for his eyes, dark, alert and watching her, his face was a chiseled mask.

Mercury's next breath caught in her throat.  "I want to be with you."  She swallowed hard.  "Whatever that brings."

Frank groaned and folded her to him.  "Give me the opportunity," he said, tucking her head under his chin.  "To make this work.  For both of us."

She nodded against his shoulder and started trembling.  He held her closer and it felt so good to be in his arms.  So right, so safe.  Mercury smoothed her hands across his ribs and up his back, clinging to him, afraid to let him go.  Her breaths were short and erratic, and she silently prayed for the strength she would need to accept Frank on such terms.

His cell started ringing and Mercury felt him tense and pull back.  Reluctantly letting her arms fall, she watched Frank retrieve the phone and flick it open with one hand, not letter her go with his other.

"Donovan."

The arm that held Mercury locked into a steel band.

"Licia, calm down.  What's wrong?"

Mercury's stomach knotted and she went to pull out of his arms, but he held her tight.  Frank lifted the phone away from his ear so that she could now hear the unmistakably frantic voice of a heavily accented woman.

"Ciro's gone, Franco!  His bed is empty and his night-light is broken and…"  Mercury heard a loud sob.  "… he's gone!"  The rest of it was in Spanish and Mercury was unable to follow the conversation, but she watched Frank frown and his eyes harden.

He briefly conversed in the same tongue into the phone, then snapped the cell shut and stowed it.  Frank's eyes refocused on her face, agonized, wrenching at her heart.

"I have to go back to Washington," he said.

oOo

Continuing…

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The muted lighting within the Learjet was in deference to the early hour of the morning, the sky outside the plane window now lightening into dawn.  Swatches of countryside slowly segued below from earthy pattern to square town stamping as if on a relentless conveyor belt. 

Secure in the circle of Frank's arm, Mercury allowed herself to be lulled into a place that was safe and protected, knowing it would be shattered once they touched down in Washington.  Evidence indicated that two-year old Ciro Straayer had been kidnapped from Frank's home by persons unknown and the reality was Frank would be immersed in the safe recovery of the toddler and have little time or energy for Mercury.  She was excluded from most of his preparations and while she understood the 'need to know' mentality of the FBI, she was already feeling like an encumbrance.

The smooth and steady vibration of the jet engines encouraged Mercury to doze, but she fought it, not wanting to lose this closeness with Frank, convinced it would be far too brief.  She suspected the dash to D.C. was merely a taste of what it would be like to live with him.  Ciro was his – she couldn't bring herself to think 'son' – self-appointed responsibility, but this sort of situation was also his job.  She would have to get used to imagining him in dire hostage scenarios, other lives hanging in balance on his expertise as a negotiator. 

Burrowing into his side, Mercury was rewarded with a tightening of his arm around her.  She breathed in his aftershave, using his warmth to combat the air-conditioned coolness of the cabin and the solid feel of him to ease her dread of what Ciro must be going through.  Frank's other hand was curled around the jet's flight phone which he'd been constantly using since take-off, snapping orders, organizing personnel, and demanding explanations.  Mercury, exhausted from lack of sleep combined with anxiety, took in only snatches of it.  What little information was available to them was that Ciro had been taken but no one yet had made any demands.  Frank was now talking to Ciro's mother, calming her, reassuring her, sometimes lapsing into Spanish, but all the while implacable and steady and confident. 

"We need patience to get Ciro back, Licia," Frank murmured into the phone.  "Let me do my job."  He took a deep breath.  "We don't need a miracle."

Mercury smiled at his choice of word.  She recognized her presence in the jet was a miracle, still marveling at the unexpectedness of her victory in New York.

oOo

"I'm going too."

Frank hustled Mercury out of the Hilton, holding her close as he hailed passing cabs.  Mercury could feel the leashed frustration within Frank's body and knew that he was suffering already from inaction and being so far away.  Shivering despite his protection, the wait seemed interminable until an empty cab finally swung into the curb.  He bundled her into the taxi a little too roughly but she didn't care.  It was warm inside and it was a step closer to getting Ciro back. 

Directing the driver to her apartment, Frank appeared to shut down, but watching his shrouded face, she guessed he was already playing strategic scenarios through his mind.  Although her hip butted his, and she rested her head on his shoulder, she knew that he was miles away, his thoughts in Washington.

"I'm going too," she repeated, knowing he would fight it, but determined to get her way.

"No."

"Did you not take note of what went down in the hotel, Frank?"  Mercury stared out the cab window, blinking at the street lights that jagged past.  She wouldn't let him see the desperation in her face.  "We committed to each other.  Both of us.  Me to you.  You to me.  Earlier today you asked me to marry you.  I'm going to Washington."

"This has nothing to do–"

"Think again, Frank.   What is important to you is important to me.  You just got an urgent call from the woman who lives in your apartment.  A boy who looks upon you as a father has just been snatched from your home.  And you asked me to hinge the rest of my life on yours.  This has everything to do with me."

"Dammit, Mercury!  There's no place for you–"

She straightened in the seat in time to see him clamp his lips over the cruel words.  He looked away, his jaw working with suppressed passion as she drew away from the emotional shield he erected.  Mercury took his chin gently in her hand and turned him to her, hoping he could see and recognize the love she felt.  "You're going to D.C. to be there for Ciro.  And for Belicia.  How many people will be there for you, Frank?"

He said nothing, but his eyes were alive in the muted light of the cab, their intensity making her breath catch. 

"Let me be there for you," she pleaded.

Closing his eyes over the pain broiling in them, Frank nodded.  Mercury let out the breath she had been holding, not quite believing how easily she had swayed him.   Frank bowed his head and she cradled it against her shoulder, her chest tight with wonder at his unexpected vulnerability.

"You'll get Ciro back, Frank.  I know you will."

oOo

Mercury leaned back into the cushioned headrest of the plane seat and closed her eyes over a sigh.  It was a bittersweet moment that she would cherish, to remember later when Frank was distant from her again.

"May I get you something, Agent Donovan?"

The flight attendant's softly spoken question roused Mercury from her thoughts.  She opened her eyes to see the interested gaze of the elegant woman bending toward them.

Can't you see you're disturbing us? Mercury thought, then berated herself for her small-mindedness.  Frank, still listening to the caller at the other end of the phone connection, withdrew the arm around her and shook his head. 

"Hot chocolate," Mercury said, even though she hadn't been asked.  The attendant smiled and left them, and Mercury felt cold and unsettled without Frank's embrace.

A murmured 'see you there' signaled the end of Frank's conversation with his caller, and before he could dial another, Mercury turned into him, her hands snagging his waist, lips searching and finding his mouth, demanding a few seconds of his time.  If it were inappropriate considering the gravity of the situation, Mercury didn't care.  She needed him too.  The newness of their commitment, the insecurity she felt around him, required something on which to feed.

His response was guarded, as she suspected it would be, but she wrapped both arms around him, straining to get closer still.  She would have this moment, if nothing else.

"I love you," she whispered, pulling back, determined he should believe in that love.  "Whatever happens, whatever goes down, I will be by your side."

Frank's eyes searched hers, flicking rapidly and with something that looked like amazement and disbelief.  "Mercury…" he groaned, and pulled her head to his with a fierceness that was in his lips, animated with a response that engulfed her.  The fever consumed them; the same need to be one flesh that had gripped them in the elevator of her apartment, then culminated against the wall of his.  With her body straining into his, Mercury wondered if the Learjet sofa would be wide enough to accommodate them.

The phone rang and Frank abruptly pulled away, snatching it from its cradle, but his non-committal confirmations indicated this was merely another check-in call.  Mercury lowered her head, chest heaving, feeling as if the world was blocking her finding happiness in Frank's arms. 

Stacey had been one such hurdle.

oOo

"You're what?!" Stacey demanded.

"I'm going to Washington with Frank." 

Mercury wished they could have let themselves into her apartment, packed and departed without waking her sister but five minutes through the door, a sleep-tousled Stacey, barefoot and wrapped in a dressing gown, was confronting them. 

"I've come home to pack an overnight bag,"  Mercury stated.

"But what about the show tomorrow night?  Hell, tonight?  Do you realize it's nearly four in the morning?"

"Yes, and it's not unusual for me to still be up at four in the morning after a performance.  What is odd is that you're awake.  As for Magical Dreams, my understudy–"

"Roberta Toulouse is not the star, Mercury.  It's not her responsibility to carry your show."

Mercury decided not to tell her that she still had to contact John Kremzow and let him know that Roberta might need to step in indefinitely.  That was an obstacle she would overcome on the phone.  If Stacey wasn't going to be easy, John would be a nightmare.

"I'm going," Mercury said simply, determined not to be drawn into an argument.

"Why?  Just tell me why," Stacey tried again.

Meeting Frank's gaze, Mercury understood she couldn't divulge the reason.  It wasn't her story to tell.

Seeing their silent communication, Stacey rounded on Frank.  "This is all your fault."

"I'm sure it is, Mrs Murchison," he said equably.  "I was as adamant that Mercury not accompany me as you seem to be, and for the same reason.  However, I'm wise enough to recognize a battle I can't win."

"Why does she have to go?" Stacey asked frantically.  "What's in Washington that's so important for both of you to be there?  Worth throwing away her career?"

"Frank has a… personal crisis he needs to attend to," Mercury explained, giving her sister some reassurance.  "I want to be there for him."

"What?!" Stacey scoffed.  "The big brave G-man can't handle his personal affairs himself?"

Frank's cell rang and he walked away to answer it, but not before directing an arctic look at Stacey.  Mercury was glad for the interruption, uncomfortable with her sister and her future husband at loggerheads. 

"You don't know what you're talking about, Stacey," Mercury said quietly, "so please don't say anything."  She took so much on faith when it came to Frank, she knew that it would be even harder for her sister.

oOo

Frank replaced the flight phone, then pulled Mercury closer to his side, chasing away the unpleasant memory of their quarrel with Stacey. 

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.  "I didn't mean to lose control like that."

"It was not you that lost control," Frank said, his voice an almost unintelligible rumble as his lips brushed the top of her head.  Mercury knew by the thickening of his accent how deeply disturbed he was.  She glowed a little, this time secure that she was the cause.

"Your chocolate, ma'am."  The flight attendant offered a steaming cup on a tray to Mercury, her eyes flicking to Frank's arm around Mercury's shoulder.  Mercury wondered if the woman, witnessing their embrace, was disappointed she hadn't prepared the drink in time to interrupt them herself.   Mercury smiled at the uncharitable thought, not in the least remorseful. 

"How is it?" Frank asked.

"Nice," she said, sipping the beverage, then decided to lighten the situation in any small way she could.  "Not as nice as you taste though."

His arms tightened around her.  "I do not deserve you."

"Don't talk like that."

"It is true.  Giving up your career is a huge price to pay–"

"For love?  Not really, not if it's returned.  I've only given up my old life, Frank.  I want to make a new one.  With you."  She put her head against his shoulder again, staring into the creamy swirls of her drink.

She had burnt her boats with her career.  John was as difficult as she predicted.  When she rang him from the taxi on the way to the airport to inform him she was leaving New York indefinitely, he was at first incredulous, then cajoling and finally damning.  He reminded her of her obligations, her contract, and the effect this would have on her career.  Refusing to give John any details, she held fast to her belief that a boy's life and Frank's peace of mind was more important than a contract.  She was more than willing to face the consequences when she returned.

"Things are not going to get any easier for you," Frank said, breaking into her thoughts.  "My work demands…  The hours are relentless and chaotic.  I have to go where I need to be–"

"As long as I have your love and your loyalty, Frank, I don't need easy."

"You have–"

The flight phone rang and Frank lifted it before the second ring.  "Donovan."

Mercury watched his hand tighten around the receiver as he listened to the caller.  "I told you to patch it–"  Mercury pulled upright at the urgency in his voice.  "I see," he said, not pleased with the interruption.  "Whatever they demand, it will be met unconditionally."  He lifted his wrist to check his watch.  "Our plane will touch down in just under ten minutes."  Frank hung up the phone, his mouth grim.

"What is it?" Mercury asked, fear growing at the hard look on his face.

Frank seemed to pull back from somewhere distant and finally looked down at her.  He traced her face with tender fingers, his thumb caressing her lips.  "The abductors have made contact."

"So I gathered.  And?"

Never taking his eyes from her face, his silence grew until her nerves felt like snapping.

"Frank!  Ciro?  He's okay, isn't he?"

"He's still alive."

"Thank God!  And the ransom?  What's the ransom?"

He traced her face again, as if taking in every detail and committing it to memory. 

"I am."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Magical Dreams – Chapter 28