Impending Storm (Dorian)

[Christine Montgomery]

Christine woke from a nightmare, but instead of thrashing about as she had before she had more or less gotten used to the horrific images and woke up silently. It was early, just before dawn.

Lex and the other Aurors would be leaving today, the other Aurors back to their stations and Lex to prep the new safe house, leaving Christine and Dorian alone. Today was the day.

She had failed for several days to do anything but steal touches and send glances Dorian's way whenever she thought Lex wasn't looking, which Lex - bless her heart - pretended to do quite often. Christine wasn't even sure why they were all keeping the pretense up, but it didn't matter anymore, they were finally alone and Christine had to do something.

Thankfully he was feeling more like himself now. Dr. Montague had been by twice more to check on Dorian and each time brought powerful elixirs to speed up Dorian's recovery.

There was nothing preventing Christine from doing what she needed to do, nothing except heartbreak.

She laid there for a few more hours thinking how best to approach the situation. She realized she needed Dorian off the case, though she wasn't sure how to make that happen at all. He'd never leave her in someone else's care willingly.

She heard Lex shuffling, then muffled voices. Lex left soon after that, she could count the minutes until Dorian would appear.

[Dorian Humbert]

Three. He took three minutes after Lex had left to secure the hotel room, clean up the sitting room where he had slept, and put a plate together for Christine. Pushing the door to her bedroom open with his shoulder, he appeared in the doorway with a breakfast tray. Lex had made eggs and toast while Dorian made her a champagne cocktail with fruit juice. They would have the day to themselves and after everything he had put her through recently, Dorian intended to use it to spoil her as best he could.

"Good morning, darling. Are you hungry?"

[Christine Montgomery]

Of course he did. Of course he appeared with breakfast in toe. Of course he looked so handsome it was painful. She wanted to cry at the sight of him, instead she took a sharp breath. Then it hit her, this was the first time they had truly been alone in days and she was going to use it to push him away. That alone was enough to set her in a mood.

"Morning. No...I'm not really." she answered honestly. She couldn't eat a thing.

[Dorian Humbert]

Dorian frowned. She hadn't eaten much the last few days, not since he told her about the killer, the polyjuice, and the safe house. He turned and set the tray down on the dresser. "Very well," he said with a faint smile. He crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed beside her. She looked so sullen. It tore at him.

He brushed a few pieces hair from her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb. He found that he had trouble finding the right things to say to her lately. Their moments together, the few they were able to have, had been spent in relative silence. She didn't tell her stories anymore. She hadn't taken a picture of them in days. Dorian counted the ways in which she had changed. She'd become sullen and reserved. This was not the warm, energetic Christine he knew. Looking at her broke his heart.

[Christine Montgomery]

It was only fair as looking at him broke her heart as well. His wound, his career, his very essence, she had ruined the man and he was still blissfully unaware of who she really was. She had been so selfish, and now she felt so utterly guilty that looking at him hurt. If he touched her it burned. She felt dirty and vile, and for someone like him so noble and good to touch her, she felt like she was staining him further.

She lifted her chin from him and pulled back.

"Lex's gone to the safehouse?" she asked though she knew the answer.

[Dorian Humbert]

His hand hesitated then dropped to his side. He dropped his eyes.

"Yes," he answered. "I think you'll like it there. There's a small yard." He knew it was fruitless, but he tried anyway. Trying was better than waiting for the shoe to drop. 

[Christine Montgomery]

"I don't want to go." she said stubbornly with resolution.

His attempt to please her hurt her further. He didn't understand that she would happily live in a hovel for the rest of her life if he was with her. She'd happily live there alone if it meant she didn't have to hurt him. But he was so in love with her he would try and please her, and she was so in love with him the thought that she now needed to push him away made her furious. It hurt. She didn't understand it. How had it gotten so complicated?

[Dorian Humbert]

"I know," he answered. "But you can't stay here any longer, darling. It's not safe." He moved his hand to rest on hers, hoping for some change in her mood. Hoping against hope.

[Christine Montgomery]

She moved her hand from his.

"Excuse me." she said moving toward the bathroom and shutting the door behind her. Once hidden she took a few deep breaths and pressed her hands to her face covering her mouth as she tried not to cry too loudly. She cast a silencing spell on the room, then held her hand over her heart which was physically hurting. She didn't know how to do this. She had walked away from him a year ago to prevent this, and suddenly all the arguments she had made before came up before her. She was paying for the pleasure.

It took her a moment to charm her appearance. She needed something stronger and her acting skills weren't up to par with the task at hand. Instead her charms would give her the strength.

She came out of the room, "It isn't the room Dorian. I don't want to do this anymore. I've been locked up for a month. You say it isn't safe, but what am I to do? Hide in safehouses for the rest of my life? There's no guarantee that the ministry will ever catch this man."

[Dorian Humbert]

She moved to the bathroom and Dorian stood up. He found it quite easy to maneuver by himself now, he no longer needed the extra minutes to get in and out of a chair. That was the reason they were going to the safe house tonight. Dorian was good enough to move, which meant he was good enough to go back into the field and track down the sick son of a banshee.

She came out of the bathroom, looking somehow different. It was one of her charms. She thought he didn't notice when she used them. She never looked exactly like herself with them. They dulled her natural beauty.

"If it keeps you alive, then yes, Christine, you do it as long as it takes." He was becoming annoyed. He had worked hard to keep her safe. Hell, he had almost died to keep her safe. And for what? For her to turn into the morose shell of the woman he loved?

[Christine Montgomery]

"I can't!" she yelled, frustrated. The charm prevented her from looking sad or broken, not from being angry.

"I can't live like that Dorian! I can't continue to live in fear of this man who has stolen my identity and threatened to come after me. I have let him control my life already, and if I must keep that up then he owns me whether he takes my life or not. Only it is worse, he has taken your life and Lex's as well."

[Dorian Humbert]

He listened, growing more and more impatient with her temper tantrum. "I'm not about to send you out to him like sheep to the slaughter, Christine. You're going to fight to stay alive, and if you won't fight for your life then I will. But you are going to the safe house."

[Christine Montgomery]

"I don't expect you to send me to him Dorian, but neither do I intend to sit around and wait for someone who may or may not come for me. I am fighting for my life, but there is more to life than just existing, I'll shrivel and die in another way if I have to live like this."

She was fighting, and a part of her believed what she was saying, the other part had been completely content living in her private heaven with the man she loved.

"You've already fought for my life and it almost cost you yours. And you promised me Dorian, you promised me you'd be alright! But not a week ago you were dying in the living room!"

[Dorian Humbert]

He wanted to shout at her. Tell her she was being childish and foolish. Tell her that the killer was watching her and that he wouldn't have to leave her with a sign that said she was unprotected for the killer to know. Just leaving her anywhere, the killer would know. He would find her. He would take her.

Christine kept on, and Dorian soon felt himself moving towards her. "It's my job, Christine. My job is to protect you. Sometimes I get hurt, but I knew that going in."

[Christine Montgomery]

"Well I told you before," she said matching his step toward her with one of her own toward him, " I couldn't handle it in Egypt. I can't handle it now Dorian. This isn't how I want to live my life, and I can't be with a man who lives this kind of life. I can't worry about when you leave me if you're going to make it home. I can't worry that you've been stabbed by some crazy person who looks like me! You let your guard down because it was me!" she yelled at him.

"No more than you can bear the thought of me getting injured, how do you think I feel? But I'm not allowed to lock you up in a tower and protect you am I?"

[Dorian Humbert]

"What do you want me to do, Christine? I'm doing everything I can. I can't make this man turn himself in. I have to track him down. I have to catch him." Dorian had finally lost it. A week of her sulking and shying away from him. She wasn't herself. He didn't love this Christine. He pitied her. And that made him angry.

"You don't have to bloody be with me but you have to go to the bloody safe house if I have to carry you kicking and screaming the whole damned way!"

[Christine Montgomery]

But I love you. She thought silently. I love you and I want to be with you.

Her heart was aching, but the charm held. She wanted to be with him even if it killed her, but not if it ruined him.

"Then go! Go track him! Go catch him! Bring him to justice and then go after the next piece of scum that comes along! Go and do it without me! I'll go to your bloody safehouse. I'll stay with Lex and whoever else you want. But I won't go there with you! I won't wait for you to come home every night wondering if it's our last night together, if some evil thing won't kill you the next day. I won't wait anxiously at the door to hear your footsteps and keep falling more and more in love with you just to lose you whenever some big bad gets the drop on you. I distract you. I put you in more danger. I always have. Even in Egypt."

She was yelling at him, terrified and hurt at the same time. She couldn't be the reason he died.

[Dorian Humbert]

"Of course you distract me! I can't do my job when I'm worrying about you! But this is what you do, Christine. You go off on adventures and you think it's fun and when you get into trouble you need someone to rescue you. Well you rang me and this is how I'm doing it! If you want to be rescued some other way, ring one of the other idiots you've made fall in love with you."

He wasn't sure of what he was saying. The words were coming faster than he could process them. He realized only after they had left his mouth, the insinuation his words carried.

"Christine, I..." He didn't have a way to fix this. He was meticulous in his conversations for a reason. He didn't enjoy the feeling of being out of control. He planned things. Everything. He usually knew exactly what he wanted to say before he said it. But Christine distracts him. 

[Christine Montgomery]

It must have shown on her face how his words affected her, confusion, bewilderment, incredulity, and finally anger.

"Idiot is right." she said cutting him off, "You think this is my idea of fun? This was some big adventure for me? How could you even think that there are other..." she shook her head as if the thought were truly mind boggling, " But you're right-" she sobered zeroing in on the one part of his argument she agreed upon, "You can't do your job when you're worrying about me. So let someone else worry about me. Someone who can do their job without getting killed. I won't carry your blood on my hands Dorian."

[Dorian Humbert]

His emotions warred internally. He was remorseful. But still furious with her. He wanted to take back what he had said. He wanted to apologize. But then they might fall back into their pattern and wind up in the same place in the future. Their relationship had always been fueled by danger. It was how they met in Egypt. It was why they were together now. But clearly prolonged coupling was not in the cards for them. Dorian had gotten sloppy and Christine had become faint-hearted. This was not who they really were. They had soiled each other.

His jaw tensed and his fists tightened. He stood in the silence of their anger, contemplating what to say. Taking the time to make sure he said it correctly. "When Lex gets back you will go to the safe house with her. You will wear your necklace. Always. Even when you sleep, you will wear it Christine!" He stopped himself, regaining composure. "I will have the Ministry put someone else on your case. You won't see me again."