Having to keep so many people at arm's length and it still not being enough to protect them. No matter what she did, it would never be enough. She was the curse, the target on so many people's backs. If she was the cause of Dallas or her father's deaths, she would never forgive herself.
Without a word, she slams her hands on the table before storming out of the conference room. Amelia didn't want to speak about what had just happened, because she was not ahead of this little game. Her confidence was now shattered, replaced with anger and disappointment in herself. She was cornered like a little mouse, hands tied.
How would she get herself out of this situation, would she really have to go into a deadly scenario alone?
Death never scared her, not after being surrounded by blood and death her entire life. It was the repeating of events that scared her, losing the people she had left who she loved. That thought alone, the images have her eyes filled with tears. Amelia walked to grab her coat off the rack, beginning to put it on. She had to leave the agency, she needed a clear head.
"Amelia." She hears Dallas' voice, but ignores it. Getting her coat on, she heads for the door.
His footsteps follow her, "Amelia!" Dallas shouts, tightly gripping onto her arm.
Amelia whips around, "What?!" She shouts back, tears already spilling onto her cheeks. The sight of her tears brings a look of surprise onto Dallas' features. From surprise, to empathy.
"Amelia, you don't have to meet whoever this is." He was wrong, she knew she had to.
Amelia shakes her head, sighing, "He's going to find people I care for and then murder them Dallas. My father could be the first this man sends his message to."
She pulls her arm away from Dallas, yet her eyes keep onto his stare. "I'm going alone." Amelia says firmly, turning away from her lover.
Dallas scoffs, "Like hell you aren't."
His words have her steps stop, looking back at him. He stood with his arms crossed, eyebrows furrowed over his purple hues. Dallas looked serious in his statement, yet Amelia's face stretched with confusion.
"You.. just said."
He shakes his head, "Yes, I said no. Fucking no." The one time he could say no, was not now.
Amelia frowns, crossing her own arms over her chest. "You can say no anytime else, but this."
Her partner sighs, walking towards her to stand face to face with her. Although looking down at Amelia, they were equals in this moment. He believed she wouldn't go alone, while she knew she had to.
Dallas puts his hands on her shoulders, a serious glare in his eyes. "Amelia I dont give a d-"
She pulls away from his grip, shouting: "I don't give a fuck Dallas, I am going alone!" A scoff leaves her lips. "What has gotten you so assertive to make sure I don't meet whoever the fuck this is?"
An echoing silence falls upon the hallway. No answer from him was going to be given, she could tell by the way he looked at her. He cared, she knew he did but now was not the time. Dallas had to put his personal feelings for her aside and let her do her job. Amelia would rather have herself end up dead, then an innocent soul.
Amelia sighs, running her fingers through her hair. "And you can't even tell me that.."
His eyes avoid her stare now, looking to his side. "Dallas I'm-"
"If you're going.. Don't tell me you're leaving. I don't want to know." Dallas mumbles, "I just.. Want to imagine you happy and smiling in your room. Or somewhere pleasant."
Dallas was being so raw to her, so emotional. It hurt her to see him like this because of her. Amelia wished she could make the pain of her existence disappear, let the emotions that plagued him heal and flourish. Yet here he was, worried for her with something she couldn't control.
She sighs, placing her hands on each side of Dallas' cheeks. He's warm as he always had been, but now was entirely different. Rather than a comforting warmth, it was something that enveloped her. He could only do so much for her at this moment, he couldn't stop her decision.
One of the things that she loved so much about him, he treated her as her own woman, Never confiding her to a single area, a love that was equal. Amelia finally felt like someone's equal.
The pads of her thumbs rub against his skin, Dallas leaning his head forward into her touch. His eyes fluttered shut, shallow and soft breathing.
"You're all I'll ever want in a man.. Please." Amelia breathes out, "Be safe, for me." That's all she wanted him to do, nothing more.
Safety was all that mattered when it came to the people she loved, she would rather risk her life for them than lose them. On the outside she could handle these things just fine, but on the inside she was close to a never ending fall.
Five years had gone by and yet, she felt there was barely any progress, Running away, starting over in a new place with her past scrubbed clean. Had a portion of it been for nothing at all? Were efforts failed the moment she stepped into new territory? Pieces began to appear that didn't fit, missing others that would help her understand the puzzle put together.
Amelia was out of her element, at the whim of someone else.
She gets on her tiptoes, gently places her lips on Dallas'. His arms wrap around her waist, kissing her back with longing. Not a hungry kiss of lust, of touch. He kissed her as if it would be the last, filled with his desperation for her. She too felt the passion of his kiss, gripping tighter onto his cheeks.
Neither seemed to care if anyone roaming the halls saw them, something this extreme had never happened to them before. Practically being forced apart, unable to help one another. Not sure of what the outcome would be, if the other would come back alive. It was the worst feeling Amelia had ever experienced, she could feel her stomach tying in knots.
Amelia pulls away, eyes fluttering open to meet the beautiful eyes of Dallas. There's a pause between them, a tightening silence with the unknown.
"I love you." Amelia mutters, pulling her hands away from his cheeks. She fixes her jacket, Dallas giving her a light smile. "We have to get home.. I have some paperwork now to file for this meeting."
He nods, "I love you too." Dallas turns her towards the door, both of them walking together. His hand on the small of her back. "I'll make sure to take care of anything you need during this time. Even after it."
Dallas stops to grab his coat, putting it on his shoulders. Amelia watches him, before he's looking back at her. Her expression is clearly sad, she can't hold in the way she feels anymore. It's as clear as day on her face.
"Don't worry about me, Amelia."
She sighs, "I'm going to worry about you, because I know you would jump in front of me to take a bullet."
"I would," Dallas says sternly, taking one of her small hands into his own. He squeezes it in his grasp, her eyes flicker between their hands and him. "Without a second thought I would do such a thing for you. That's not something you should worry about, however, you should be worried about yourself."
Amelia protests, "But Dallas you don't–"
He raises his hand to her, "I know I won't understand the situation you're in, I know." He pulls her closer to his side, "I will be here when you return, you will be okay. Worry about your safety, prepare yourself for what will be ahead. "
Lips meet the top of her head, kissing her gently. She stares up at him, a slight smile pulling on her lips. "Trust in me, because I believe in you."
She nods, "I trust you Dallas, now let's go home."
It almost felt as if her fingers were crossed behind her back. Lying through her teeth to his face, she didn't believe in herself to defeat what was ahead. Even with all the training, the classes, the sleepless nights of cases and arrests: she wasn't ready. Mentally, she could crumble at the softest touch to who she was inside.
A single crack could have her falling at the hands of the man with the beak. Perhaps the curse was catching up to her again. Amelia had not prepared for it to come back behind her so quickly.
Shadows always followed behind their hosts, a blood trail was no different. A blood trail was much more terrifying.
Everyone had a shadow, only a shadow.
If the truth of her past were to surface, only time would tell how those around her would react. She would be shunned again, forced to run away to another place. Somewhere no one knew her name, possibly having to change her entire identity to escape who she was. A life she no longer could keep.
"The car is out front, let's get going before it gets too cold." Amelia snaps out of her thoughts, feeling Dallas guide her with their fingers intertwined.
Opening the door for the both of them, met with the dark sky. Filled with twinkling stars, streets illuminated with street lamps that were dimly lit. A simple sight she saw every night before leaving the place she worked, the team she created.
Would she lose all of it, to a stranger?
Instead of a blood trail, it felt as though it had become an ocean. A tsunami, overtaken by the wave of the red liquid. Unable to escape from the events of so many years ago, times passed she wished to keep behind her.
Someone possibly knew all of it, she would get five steps ahead of him. Even now, she was cornered in his claws.
Natural instincts would kick in, predator versus prey.
Only time would tell who was which.