After about an hour, Aries sat up and looked at the clock.
"I need to get going." She said softly.
"Why don't you stay?" Marco asked softly.
"Marco…" Aries started but her voice trailed off. For once, she didn't know what to say.
"Nothing has to happen but two people enjoying each other's company and sleeping together. It's not like we haven't done it before!" Marco said seeing her hesitancy.
"I know that. I just don't want to push this relationship too far, too fast." She responded softly.
"Neither do I." He said and turned her head so that he could look into her eyes. What he saw there stunned him more than anything else in the world could have possibly done. He saw fear. He immediately pulled her into his arms and held her not saying anything.
They sat there that way for a few minutes before Aries pulled away. "I really do need to get going though."
"Ok." He said not pushing her into anything just yet. He was trying to figure out why he saw fear in her eyes. She had no reason to fear him. He stood up with her and walked her to the door.
"When should I be ready in the morning?" Aries asked softly when they were standing at the door.
"How about you give me a call when you wake up and we'll decide then?" He asked wanting to make sure that she got a full night's sleep and it was already very late. She deserved a chance to sleep in which she rarely got.
"Sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow then." She said and then leaned in for a kiss, which he gladly placed, on her mouth. She left carrying all of her purchases out to the car.
***
Aries reached her room and flopped down onto the bed. She knew that he'd seen the fear in her eyes and it bothered her highly. She laid there wide-awake for a few minutes thinking about it. She tried to shake the thoughts off and was unsuccessful so she grabbed one of her favorite romance novels and headed into the bathroom. She drew a nice hot bubble bath and settled into it trying to focus her mind on the book. When she failed at that, she sat the book down on the floor outside of the tub and closed her
eyes. She just let the thoughts run their course.
She had to have been in the bath for about 45 minutes when she finally climbed out and wrapped her robe around her body after toweling dry. She went into the bedroom and climbed into the huge bed feeling the loneliness of it. It took her a while of tossing and turning to finally fall asleep.
***
Marco paced back and forth across the apartment trying to figure out exactly why he'd seen fear in Aries' eyes when he'd looked into them. Could she be hiding something from him? Could this whole thing between them be a test by Section? He couldn't think of anything that he felt fit. He downed a few beers but those didn't help him any either so he went upstairs and took a long hot shower and climbed in bed. He decided that he'd try to talk to her about it the next day when they were together and fell into a sound sleep.
***
The next day, Aries called bright and early and he was surprised at the early hour that she was calling at. It was only 8:30am!
"Hey sunshine! Ready?" She said brightly into the phone.
"You can't be serious!" He groaned.
"What?" Aries asked confused. She thought that he wanted to spend the day with her.
"What did you do? Set the alarm clock?" He groaned out.
"Nope. Internal body clock I guess." Aries responded. "Since you're still sleeping, I'll just go to my office and catch up on my e-mail and what's been going on around CLHQ and you can call me when you get up." She offered.
"Nope. I'm awake now and I'll be there in a half an hour." He responded sounding a bit more clear-headed.
"Don't rush just for me!" Aries responded quickly.
"I'm not. I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep anyway. And besides that, I'd rather see you in person rather than my dreams. I'll be there." Marco said and she could tell that he was now wide-awake.
"Ok, if you're sure…" Aries said feeling bad that she'd woke him up so early.
"I'm sure! Now let me get off the phone and dressed so I can come over there!" He said teasingly.
"Ok. See you soon!" She said cheerfully and they got off the phone.
It didn't take long at all for Marco to get himself dressed and over to Aries' apartment. She was surprised that when she opened the door, he was wearing the first suit that she'd picked out and talked him into buying the day before.
"What's wrong?" Marco said upon seeing the expression on her face.
"Nothing. You look great!" She said brightly and let a huge smile spread across her face.
"Are you sure?" Marco asked still concerned.
"Oh, believe me, I'm sure! It just caught me by surprise that you wore that particular outfit." She responded and grabbed her purse quickly. "I'm ready to go."
"Well, then let's rock and roll!" He said and they left CLHQ all together for another day out on the town doing one of the things that Aries loved most, shopping.
Aries and Marco's first stop was for breakfast at a small café that Marco knew about and wanted to introduce Aries to. They both ordered and enjoyed the meal carrying on a light conversation of things that both of them would like to do that day. By the time they'd agreed on a finalized itinerary, they'd finished their breakfast and ordered an additional cup of coffee to take with them. Carrying their cups, they exited the café hand-in-hand.
They walked along peacefully going in and out of shops picking up small trinkets and ordering larger ones that they'd have to send for transport later for the redecoration of Aries' apartment that she still hadn't managed to accomplish yet. They spent most of the morning purchasing things for her apartment when she finally requested that they stopped for lunch because she was starving.
"Where would you like to dine my lady?" Marco asked graciously.
"Hmm, let's see…" Aries said thinking about it. She'd obviously thought about it too long because Marco grabbed her hand and escorted her to a lovely steakhouse not far from where they were located.
"Does this suit you?" He asked when they entered.
"Everything smells delicious! Good idea!" She said and then they were seated. They each looked at the menus and ordered. After their drinks arrived, Marco decided that he couldn't wait any longer to ask Aries about the previous night.
"There's something that I need to talk to you about." He said softly and watched her reaction closely watching as a resemblance of fear crossed it and also saw as she quickly masked it from him.
"What's up?" She asked fully composed.
"It's about last night when I asked you to stay…" He said still watching her reaction but saw no trace of what she could be feeling or what was going through her mind cross her face.
"What about it Marco?" She asked wishing that he'd just ask her what he wanted to ask her and get it over with. She avoided his gaze and looked out the window wishing that this wasn't happening.
"Well, I thought I might have seen fear in your eyes when I looked into them." He said softly trying to figure out exactly how to talk to her about this. "I was wondering exactly why you would be afraid to spend the night with me. I would never harm you."
"I know that you wouldn't hurt me Marco. At least not physically." She said and quickly took a sip of her water and then excused herself to go to the ladies room. She needed to compose herself quickly and that was the best way to do that.
When she returned, their meals had arrived. She sat down and placed the napkin across her lap.
"What's wrong?" He asked not touching his food. He was more worried about her than hungry.
"Nothing. Why do you ask?" She responded picking up her fork and poking it at her baked potato.
"Because I just tried to talk to you about something and then you just disappeared. This is important." He said and took the fork out of her hand lying it down on the table and took both of her hands into his. He used his right hand holding her left hand to nudge her chin up so that she was looking him in the eyes.
She sighed knowing that he wasn't going to let her put this conversation off like she'd hoped. "I know it's important."
"Then talk to me about it! I certainly don't want you to be afraid of me!" He said seriously.
"I'm not afraid of you." She responded honestly.
"Then what is it that you're afraid of?" He asked pressing.
"Do we really have to talk about this right now?" Aries asked trying to avoid the question.
"Please Aries, tell me what it is you're afraid of. Are you hiding something from me?" He asked her. He saw the shock run across her face and wasn't quite sure what it was that she would be shocked about.
"Why would you say that?" Aries asked him.
"Well, you don't want to talk to me about it. What else am I supposed to think?" He asked her.
"You could just think that I'm not ready to tell you just yet and that when I'm ready, I'll tell you." Aries responded feeling a bit angry that he didn't think of that first, he'd just suspected her of something. That was one of the downfalls of being a Section operative, it was hard to form open relationships because you're always looking for an angle from that person.
"I'm sorry. I just hate thinking of you being afraid of something. If there's something that you're afraid of, I want to eliminate it." He said softly meaning every word. "When you're ready, tell me. I won't push anymore."
"I'm sorry I got upset. It's just hard being in Section and I have a hard time believing in open relationships in there." She said so softly that he almost missed what she said.
"You have an open relationship with DeLeah don't you?" He asked her softly.
"Yes. But it's harder because you never know when that person could be used as a pawn against you for some angle or another." She responded softly. He was beginning to gain understanding of the fear he'd seen in her eyes. She was afraid of getting hurt.
"That's true. It's worth taking the chance though." He said and kissed her hand softly.
"Is it?" She asked softly. She'd been hurt many times in her short life and she wasn't eager to put herself in the position for more pain.
"Yes, it is. Loving you is what gives me motivation to get out of bed each morning and not cancel myself. If it came down to you having to choose between me and Section, I would fully understand because I already know." He said looking deep into her eyes knowing that he had to be making some sense to her.
Aries sat there not saying a word, thinking of what he'd said to her. Just then the waiter came up to them.
"Is everything ok?" He asked confused that neither of them had started their meals.
"Yes, sorry, we just got involved in a conversation. Could you please bring out fresh dishes to us and I'll gladly pay for these as well if it's an inconvenience for you." He said and the waiter nodded picking up the plates and carrying them away.
"You're awfully quiet." He commented softly.
"Sorry. Was just thinking." She replied not revealing anything going on inside of her head.
"About what I said?" He asked.
"Yes. It's just going to take time." She said and he knew that she was sincerely trying to get over her fear.
"Well, I'll be here through all of it." He said and squeezed her hands lightly.
"Thank you." She said. They sat quietly for a bit and the waiter brought fresh plates of their orders. They ate quietly talking about different ideas for decorating her room, anything but the conversation that had just taken place.
When they finished eating, they exited the restaurant paying their bill and leaving a rather generous tip for their waiter and Aries began on clothes shopping again. Marco was a bit more open to trying out different styles of clothes and actually found that most of them that Aries showed him and he tried on were quite comfortable and to his liking. Rather quickly, they were rebuilding his wardrobe with fashionable items. Aries wasn't quite ready to touch on the subject of getting rid of the clothes that he already owned that were hideous just yet. She'd let that one be for a little while. She was
making excellent progress right now.
By the time they reached his apartment to unload everything that he'd purchased, he bought several Armani suits as well as Guess, Brioni, Gucci and Calvin Klein. Aries was quite satisfied with her progress as she helped him hang the clothes up in his closet. Aries had made sure that they bought a pair of shoes that matched each outfit perfectly. Once everything was placed where it was to go, they sat down on the couch and cuddled for a little while.
"I'm guessing since we're practically buying me a new wardrobe that you'd like for me to get rid of some of the clothes that I already have?" He asked her after a while.
Aries looked up at him a bit surprised. "What brought that question on?"
"It just makes sense." He said simply. "Well, what's the answer to the question?"
"It depends." She answered vaguely.
"Depends on what exactly?" He asked getting curious.
"I'm not going to force you to get rid of your old clothes. That's your decision." She said letting him make the final decision for himself.
"Well, there's some stuff up there that I don't even wear anymore, I think we can start there and see what happens. What do you say? Care to help me out?" He asked knowing that she was avoiding saying yes but that yes was what she really wanted to answer him with.
"Sure." She replied and they stood up and went up to his room. They had a lot of fun pulling out his various horrid clothes and piling them up in the doorway for disposal. It wasn't long before most of his old wardrobe was in that pile discarded by one or the other of them.