CHAPTER 9

Andrew stirred and gazed lovingly down at his still sleeping wife, his heartbeat quickening just by looking at her. In sleep, she looked so sweet and innocent and nothing like the sexy little angel who had appeared in the doorway two hours ago with barely a nightgown covering her. Once they had come to their senses, they had retired to the living room and curled up on the sofa, contentedly watching the fire until they had fallen asleep in each others arms.

Her soft, warm breasts were pressed bare up against his chest, her head tucked just under his chin and he could just make out the tiny smile on her lips as she slept. It was one of those moment when he could sense nothing but peace coming from her heart and he silently thanked God for allowing them this time together, away from all the troublesome things that had been happening around them. She looked positively precious and he was unable to resist kissing her forehead tenderly, smiling when her lashes fluttered and she looked up at him with a sleepy-eyed smile.

"Was I asleep very long?" Monica asked with a tiny stretch and a little yawn.

"For a bit and so was I. The rest did us both some good, as well as what came before it," Andrew added with a twinkle in his eye.

She giggled and ran her hand up his chest, stilling it against his heart, feeling the familiar beat against her palm, "Yes, the prelude was wonderful," She smiled shyly and his heart fluttered, finding it adorable.

Cupping her face, he kissed her softly, his tongue tracing lightly over her lips, "The way I feel about you, baby…nothing else can even compare. You’re my world, angel. Other than serving God, my greatest goal is to make you happy."

Happy tears formed in her dark eyes as she gazed up into his, clearly able to see the love that they held for her and it took her breath away, making her wonder how at times she could ever doubt, "I want to do that for you too, Andrew."

"Sweetheart, you do. Every minute of every day. You always have," He pulled her to himself and held her tightly.

"You make me happy all the time," She said on a breath, before she chuckled ruefully, "Well, most of the time anyway."

Andrew grinned, knowing she was referring to the other day in the café and the words caused both a pang of regret and a feeling of relief. At the very least, she was teasing him about making her upset and it was much more honest then simply blaming herself, "Yes, well, next time, I’ll just have to take you in hand in a much nicer way," He informed her, his eyes flashing mischief.

A delightful shiver ran up her spine, "Sounds interesting and much more pleasurable. Especially as if you do anything like the other day and I don’t attack back. I’ll have Alex to answer to."

"Well, you thought about fighting back," He surmised with a chuckle deep in his chest as he quoted her, "Are you sure I can trust the driver?" Monica laughed, the sound filling the room, before his expression became more serious, "How about we just leave it at I want you to be safe, always. Forcing yourself to feel something that isn’t really there does not count, regardless of how it turns out," Andrew watched as she nodded her head solemnly and he cupped her chin in his hand, "I always want you back in my arms at the end of the day, in one piece, safe and sound. There is no other option that I can bear. Do we have a deal?"

"We have a deal," She consented, before a mischievous grin crossed her face, "But if I ever forget, you may need to remind me in that ‘much nicer way’."

"Count on it, angel," He told her with mock sternness, enjoying the second little shiver his words brought. Looking over at the clock on the mantle, he gave a disappointed sigh, "It’s nearly three ‘o clock and we should probably put things back to rights and head back. It will be dark by five and the ride is an hour."

"Andrew?" Her hopeful eyes flew to his face, startling him slightly.

"Baby, what is it? What’s wrong?"

The shy smile returned and she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, "Nothing is wrong…I just…would you love me one more time before we have to go?"

His expression softened and he forgot all about the time as he kissed her tenderly, "With pleasure, my little angel."

*****

"Ah, sounds like the kids are home at long last," Paul smirked, knowing his wife had been all but pacing the floor the last half hour since darkness had fallen. He watched in amusement as the woman who had been writhing beneath his touch, as well as her own earlier that day, sprang to her feet and he chuckled as he called out towards the kitchen, "Someone is gonna get grounded!"

It was true that Alex had a scolding all ready on the tip of her tongue, but at seeing the two angels, she nearly audibly swallowed it. Andrew looked more peaceful than she had seen him in some time, and Monica…the little angel was practically glowing. Her expression softened and a slow smile crept across her face. Yes, the old cabin must have been just what the doctor ordered.

"Did you have a nice ride?" She asked, directing her attention to Andrew as she winked at him. Ah, touche, he was nearly blushing.

"As a matter of fact, we did," He replied with a smile, "I noticed the seats on the rental cars are holding up all right. I assume you two stayed in today?"

Damn him! Even Monica was suppressing a giggle and the angel had lowered her head to hide a smile, "Yes, we did. Did a bit of cleaning and a little work on the nursery."

"Of course you did," Andrew’s voice was subtly patronizing, "Oh and we found your cabin. It really is equipped with all you and Paul could ever need in the event of an… emergency."

As Alex narrowed her eyes at him, Monica, with an amused grin, slipped from Andrew’s arms, which were wrapped around her waist and headed for the safety of the living room.

"Hey there, sweetheart," Paul greeted her with a smile, "You’re lucky you got back. Alex was about to notify the National Guard."

"Yes, well right now she’s a bit occupied with other things. I believe Andrew has thrown down the gauntlet," She saw Paul’s questioning look and she giggled and simply shook her head just as their spouses came into the living room. Alex was looking rather smug and Monica had a feeling that her friend had come up with something a bit racier once she had left the room, but she was fairly certain she didn’t want to know.

Taking her place beside of her husband, Alex watched as Andrew sank down on the love sofa and tugged Monica along with him, "So are you two hungry?" She asked sweetly, ignoring the confused look on her husband’s face, "Surely you worked up an appetite this afternoon."

Paul, completely oblivious to where the two angels had been was further perplexed when poor Monica blushed from the roots her hair and all the way down her neck. He was just opening his mouth to question them, when Andrew interrupted.

"Looks as if you did too," The angel replied evenly and Alex followed his eyes to the little niche between the wood bin and the recliner.

Fuck. Her bra.

"Okay, tell you what," Paul announced, rising to his feet, "I’ll tend to dinner. You three tend to whatever…whatever you want to call this."

Monica was half laughing, half still completely embarrassed as she looked up him helplessly, "Paul, please, let me help. This…whatever has nothing to do with me."

Paul reached for her hand and the two of them headed into the kitchen leaving Andrew and Alex engaged in a battle of smug looks. Surprisingly, Alex was the first to back down as she burst into laughter and retrieved her bra from the floor, twirling it around her finger before shoving it under the sofa cushion for later retrieval.

"So," she said, deciding to change the subject, at least slightly, "Monica seems better… and even you look more relaxed. You’re earlier worries put to rest?"

Andrew gave a little shrug but he smile remained in place. "Definitely better… at least for the moment. As for my worries… let’s face it, they’re never going to completely go away. Right now I’m just trusting that she’ll tell me what’s on her mind if something is really bothering her."

"Well that sounds like a plan. At least it isn’t affecting your love life any," she had to get that last little teasing remark in, but Andrew’s very satisfied grin left her on the verge of laughter.

"Nope… that seems to be in good shape," he smirked. "Of course we have stiff competition in you and Paul," he cocked one eyebrow.

"Okay, okay, truce!" she held up her hands in mock surrender. "I still can’t believe you told Monica about the car," she continued, wagging her finger, "and don’t tell me you didn’t! I saw the look on her face a minute ago when you mentioned the car seats."

Andrew’s reply was a loud laugh. "Actually, she figured that one out all on her own, and trust me, I was just as surprised as you that she caught on! Apparently it was your hair that gave you away."

"Damn sex hair! Remind me to put a comb in the glove box." She was shaking her head and rolling her eyes to the ceiling in exaggerated annoyance.

Andrew chuckled and leaned back, stretching his arms along the back of the loveseat. "This weekend was a perfect idea, Alex. I can’t thank you and Paul enough. Without your support…"

"Don’t be silly! Sheesh! I’d need all my fingers and toes to count the number of things you two have done for us. Believe me, this is the very least we can do. Anyway, I think I needed to get away for a bit myself. This whole case is affecting me more than I want to admit." Her playful expression had turned more serious and she idly tossed a few more pieces of kindling into the already blazing fire.

"That’s not exactly surprising," Andrew commented gently, remembering how Paul had told him that she had been suffering from nightmares.

"I know… the baby… and everything that goes with that…" She let out a long sigh as she sat down again. "It’s not that this kind of case is ever easy, but this time…" She shook her head sadly. "Maybe after seeing everything Monica went through I’m even more sensitive about it than I used to be anyway, and thinking about our baby just makes it that much harder."

"Sounds very normal to me, and I’ve never thought that feeling more sympathetic towards people is a bad thing," he reassured her.

"Yeah… I’ve gotten more understanding about a lot of things since I met you two and Paul," she said with a soft smile.

They both looked up as Monica poked her head into the room. "Paul says if you’re done snipping at each other, dinner’s just about ready," she said, eyes shining playfully.

"We done," Andrew told her as he stood and gave Alex a hand up as well.

"Let me guess, he made pasta and sauce," Alex joked, knowing that although Paul was a very good cook he always fell back on the easy bachelor favorites after what they liked to call ‘busy afternoons’.

Monica looked at her with surprise. "How did you know?"

"Wifely intuition," Alex grinned.

They passed into the kitchen and Paul was already busily dishing out the food. "I hope everyone is hungry. I think I made more than we actually needed…"

"You always do," Alex teased. The phone rang shrilly but with a smile on her face she went to answer it. "Hello?" she said cheerfully. Her expression changed almost immediately and the others watched her as she spoke. "Has anyone been in to see her?" she asked, and then, "Well is there any indication of when that will be?" and finally, "No, of course not. Yeah, we’ll be back on Monday. Thanks for the update." She hung up the phone and looked at the three pairs of eyes trained on her. They had all been having such a relaxing day, and she hated that she was the one to spoil it.

"I assume that wasn’t just a courtesy call," Paul said flatly.

"I wish," she replied. "Krista woke up." She watched as Andrew protectively circled his wife with his arms. "One of our people was allowed to talk to her briefly but she really didn’t give her much. Obviously her parents are worried about pushing her, and with all the medication she’s on, she’s still pretty out of it. They’ve offered to let one of the Bureau psychologists try to talk to her, but not for a few days. Right now they just want her to rest."

Alex’s face was a mask of frustration and grief and Paul moved to her side and gently gripped her shoulder. "At least she’s awake now," he said. "She’s getting better."

"I know," she said lowly, not trusting herself to say anything else. The words of anger and disgust were close to the surface but they wouldn’t help anyone.

"I want to go see her." Monica’s voice was quiet, yet strong and determined.

"Baby…"

She tilted her head upwards. "I need to see her again. I can help her. I know I can."

He closed his eyes and pulled her closer. Of course she could. He had no doubts about that.

"Now?" Paul asked. He had seen the look in her eye before and he knew better than to take it lightly.

Monica looked at him, and at Alex and shook her head. "No… I don’t want to make you leave so soon, and Alex already said her parents don’t want her talking to anyone right now."

"I don’t think you’re just anyone," Alex said. "We’ll leave tomorrow morning."

*****

Andrew sat down on the edge of their bed that night, facing Monica who was already curled up and waiting for him. She looked up at him questioningly, clearly able to see that there was something on his mind, but she waited for him to speak.

"I want to come with you," He finally said, his tone not allowing for any discussion, though he hated sounding that way, "When you go to see Krista, I’m coming with you. I’ll stay out of her room as I’m sure she won’t want to see any strange men lurking around, but you aren’t going alone."

"All right," She replied softly, sitting up as she reached tentatively for his hand and was surprised at how strong his grasp on it was when he took it.

"I’m not doubting your ability to help her, sweetheart," He continued, his gaze steadily meeting hers, "I know you’ll be able to. I’m just afraid…I don’t want you getting hurt by doing it. You’re still healing, Monica and you’ve worked so hard at it. I don’t want you expecting too much from yourself. You have a tendency to do that, baby, and I don’t want you pushing."

Monica squeezed his hand gently, still resolved to not allow him to worry so much about her, "I’ll do my best not to. I just want to see her…to see if there is anything I can say to her to make it better. Only someone who has been there knows how horrible it is and how badly it hurts." She saw a brief flash of hurt in his eyes and she backpedaled gently, laying her other hand against his face, "You understand as much as you possibly can, Andrew. You saw how badly he hurt me and because you love me, you’ve been able to empathize with me so very much and you’ve been perfectly wonderful. I couldn’t have come this far without you," Reaching up, she kissed him softly, "But some of the emotional stuff…the things that continue to go through my mind…they are so hard to explain. They are the things that happened when he raped me.. the things he made me feel. Even if there were words to explain them to you, I don’t think you’d be able to…not fully."

Andrew sighed heavily and took her hand from his face, kissing her palm, "I suppose that no matter how much I think I understand about you, there are some things that are just not meant for me to comprehend…that as you said, no matter how hard I try, I just would not be able to. But here is what I do understand. I understand that son of a bitch hurt the most precious soul in my existence, in the worst way he could. I understand how hard you’ve worked to get to this point and I want you to understand that I am going to be there every step of the rest of the way down this road; right beside you, angel, always."

Her eyes sparkled with tears as she smiled, "I wouldn’t want it any other way."

He kissed her tenderly as he swiped at a tear that had escaped, "Now that we got that settled, you need to get some sleep. We’re leaving early tomorrow and if you are going to see Krista, a good night’s rest will help."

Her face formed into a little pout, "No nightcap?"

"No," He told her, but he chuckled at her expression just the same, "It’s late and we had a…busy day."

"But we had a nap," She protested, a twinkle in her eye, but seeing his stern expression, she sighed, "Okay, fine. You want to sleep, we’ll sleep." Lying back down, she waited for him to turn out the light and join her.

Andrew was hiding a smile as he switched off the bedside lamp and laid down on his back, staring at the ceiling for a moment, wishing that the return to Washington tomorrow wasn’t going to change the peace his wife had been feeling since coming to the farm. He could pray that it would not, but his heart was already telling him that he knew almost exactly what would happen. And there was still the matter of what her assignment was to consider.

He started to roll over, but before he could, he felt a warmth overtop of him and Monica’s lips against his chest. Amused, he ventured a little swat to her backside, chuckling at the startled yelp that escaped her, "I thought we decided to sleep?" He already knew he had lost the battle that he had never really wanted to partake in anyway.

"No, you decided," His wife replied playfully, giving her hips a little sway over his chest, "And don’t start something you don’t intend to finish."

Andrew nearly choked on his laugh at her words, but he was quickly learning she was one for games at times when it came to intimacy between them and obviously, his little swat had made some kind of an impact. Leaning up, he kissed her softly, before startling her as he flipped her over his lap and she gave out a little squeak. Somehow she had shed her nightgown while he had been deep in thought, and now he had an easy target.

Monica was giggling, trying to keep it quiet, lest Paul and Alex were still awake, and she squirmed temptingly over his legs. She knew he would never hurt her and that fact was further driven home, when his hand fell gently. It was only the tiniest of stings, and he immediately rubbed his hand over it, kneading the soft flesh and making her squirm in an entirely different way.

He continued on, trying to contain his own laughter, alternating between light smacks on her bottom and rubbing the area, listening to her little squeaks and when his hand moved down a bit lower a few minutes later, the squeaks turned to moans. His own arousal pressed hard against her stomach at feeling how wet she was and he continued to stroke his fingers through her folds, watching as she raised her hips to allow him access.

"Now will you be good and sleep?" He asked her playfully, removing his hand and hearing her impatient sigh of protest.

"Andrew!"

Flipping her back over with one swift movement, he laid her back and plunged into her, unable to contain himself any longer, "You are such a little imp," He growled, his eyes shining with adoration for her. She was completely lost in the moment, his strong and steady thrusts all she was aware of as he fully ignited the fire he had started. She met each stroke, matching his rhythm as she struggled to contain her cries of passion. Reaching between them, Andrew ran two fingers against her and sent her plunging into oblivion, capturing her scream with his kiss, continuing to move within her as her body shuddered and her silken walls constricted against him. He followed soon afterwards, spilling into her, even as she tumbled once more with a sweet smile on her face.

Still straddling her, Andrew reached up and smoothed his fingers through her hair, completely intoxicated with her openness today. It could only leave him to wonder the things they would share once everything was more or less completely behind her.

"That was wonderful," She purred, opening her eyes to gaze up at him, pleasant shivers still running through her body.

"You’re the one who is wonderful, angel. I’m so very blessed by your trust in me." He replied softly, kissing her forehead.

"I’ll always trust you with every part of me, Andrew, just like I’ll love you with every part of me as well." She gave a little yawn and then grinned, "Sleepy now…I’ll be good."

Laughing softly, her husband moved back against the pillows and pulled her into his arms, "Dunno. I may prefer you being not so good." He winked at her, enjoying the magical sound of her giggle.

"Is this what you meant about taking me in hand in a much nicer way?" Monica teased, nestling her head up against his chest, seeking out the familiar heartbeat.

"Nooo," He grinned, with a shake of his head, "Though it could be food for thought. Now go to sleep, baby."

Hearing his teasing tone, the little angel smiled and closed her eyes.

Still grinning, Andrew gave her a little squeeze before closing his own eyes, opening one a moment later as he felt her hand snake down between his legs, "Monica…"

Returning her hand to his chest, she stifled another giggle and closed her eyes once more, "Just testin’."