Selene was sitting on the couch in Ben's living room, staring at nothing. She was wearing pajamas as she had just taken a shower. She had a blanket over her legs, which were folded to her side. Ben walked up and put a cup of chamomile tea on the coffee table.
To her surprise, he got down on his knees and took her hands in his. He looked down and she could see tears at the corner of his eyes. Without looking up, he said, "I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so sorry." Then he kissed her hands.
She sat up and put her legs down, one on each side of him. Then she took him by the shoulders and gently said, "For what?"
He looked up at her, put his hands on her cheeks, and replied, "For not protecting you. I'm so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"
The look in his eyes broke Selene's heart. She could tell he had been wracked with guilt the whole time. For the first time since her rescue, she noticed the bags under his eyes and his overall pallor. Had he even slept these three days? She put her arms around him and said, "It wasn't your fault. There's nothing to forgive. I will forever be grateful that you found me. If you hadn't, I…If he'd…I'd never…." She started crying.
Ben got up and sat next to her, holding her as the crying turned to sobbing. He reached over to the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders as she let it all out. All the fear she'd been holding in, the constant thinking about how to escape that wouldn't let her mind rest for a moment, and all the sadness she'd felt wondering if she'd ever see her loved ones again. Through it all, Ben held her and tried to comfort her.
When the sobs died down, Ben lifted her up and carried her bridal style into the bedroom. Selene was still awake but very tired. He put her under the covers, stroked her cheek, and said, "I think you should rest for a while."
She nodded, but replied, "Can you stay with me?"
Ben gave a small smile and said, "Couldn't stop me." He went over to the other side and climbed in behind her. They lay there for a long time, with Ben's arm around Selene's waist as her back laid against his chest. Finally, Selene turned over, so she was facing him, with her head over his arm. He moved his arm, so he was hugging her to him, with his chin resting on her head. She let out a breath and said, "I love you."
He moved a little so he could look down at her face. She looked up. His eyes replied the same as he gave her a gentle kiss. Then he said, "I love you more," and hugged her to him more tightly. They stayed that way for only a few moments, but Ben could tell that Selene had fallen asleep. He held her for a little while longer and then gently moved away so she could get better rest. True to his word, he stayed with her though, keeping watch.
After about half an hour, he also fell asleep. They both awoke when Selene started stirring. "Hmmm," Ben said still half-awake. She was on her back and Ben was on his side, cuddled up next to her with one arm and leg over her.
Selene looked at him and smiled. She didn't want to wake him, but she also really needed to use the restroom. She tried to gingerly move his arm off her abdomen, but he only hugged her tighter and that made her want to giggle. After trying one more time, she was forced to put her hand on his arm and jostle him a little. She said, "Ben darling, I don't want to wake you, but I really have to go."
"Go where?," he mumbled.
She giggled and said, "To Mars, of course. Where do you think, silly? You know, the bathroom."
He moved slowly so he was on his back and said, "Oh, ok, funny," and rubbed his face with his hands, trying to wake himself up.
After Selene came back, she saw that Ben was sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for her. She walked to him and stood between his legs as he wrapped his arms around her waist. After a big sigh, he stood up, took her in his arms and kissed her.
Then he looked at her and said, "I know we'll have to talk about all this but, first, are you hungry? Thirsty?"
She nodded and said, "Starving." He took her hand and led her to the kitchen.
Ben wanted to make her something to eat but she insisted on helping because she was feeling restless. After they ate, they both went back to the living room.
They were sitting on the side of the couch that extended out so whoever was sitting there could lie down or stretch out. Selene was sitting with her back against Ben's chest, his arms around her. There was a blanket over both of them, even though it was pretty much summertime. The AC made the place nice and cool though.
Ben was playing with Selene's fingers when he said, "I know you don't blame me, but I really should have done more to protect you. I was going to ask you this right before…it happened…."
Selene turned her head to look up at him and asked, "What?"
"I want you to move in with me," he said.
"Oh," she said and looked down at her hands. She continued, "I mean…I probably would have thought about it…before. I don't know what I would have said to be honest. I know I would have wanted to. But I'm not sure. Now though, I'm scared. I don't want to be, but I am. I'm sure with all the money and connections he has, he can get out of being arrested so I'm just…" She stopped when she felt Ben stiffen. "What?"
Ben sat up a little and twisted a little so he could look at her. He said, "I'm sorry but we couldn't get the police involved."
"Why not?!," she exclaimed. "He fucking kidnapped me! He was going to take me out of the fucking country! What the hell are you talking about?!" The panic started to rise up in her chest and Ben could tell she was getting very anxious as she usually didn't swear like that so he held her close and tried to calm her down.
"You'll be ok. He can't hurt you anymore, I promise. Shhh. I'm here," he cooed. But then she cried, "How can you promise? That's what you said before." He froze. She was right. What right did he have bringing her into his world?
Selene looked up at him and saw the expression on his face. She immediately regretted her words. "I'm sorry. Oh my God, Ben, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it. I swear I didn't mean it."
"No, you're right. Maybe it would have been better…," Ben started saying as he pushed the blanket aside and got up. He was running his hands through his hair with his back toward Selene. He started shaking his head, lost in his own self-recriminations.
She hugged him from behind and said, "No, no, I said I didn't mean it." Then she pulled away and said, "Look at me." She tried to move him and when he wouldn't budge, she walked over to face him. With hands on his waist, she said, "Look at me. I don't regret having you back in my life. Something must have gone wrong but that doesn't mean it will in the future. We just have to be more careful."
Ben looked at her, putting his hands on her arms. He wanted to believe her, but he was torn up. He shook his head again and said, "I just don't know what went wrong. We had so many eyes on you. You have to believe me, Selene. I had my best people keeping you safe. And then you got that text from Lucy, but it turned out not to be from her. She said she never sent it so..."
"What?," asked Selene, with a shocked look. "But I saw the message and it was from her. And then when I got to her building, there was even another message that said she was running late and to just park in the underground parking. Actually, there were two messages. One said to go in and wait by the elevator and one said to park. It was when I parked…wait, no. There was a third message, I think. That one said to come up and it was when I got out that someone came up from behind and put something over my nose and mouth that made me pass out."
Ben looked angry thinking of what they put her through. He said, "None of those messages were from her. They must have been sent by whoever took you, Drakos's people." Selene was still finding it hard to believe. He continued, "But that still doesn't explain how they could do it, unless they have some new technology that's not on the market yet."
"How would one normally be able to send a message as if it was coming from someone's contact?," she asked.
"One way is by installing something on that person's phone, but that would require having access to the phone, or anoth…," Ben explained but stopped when he saw her face go white. "What is it?," he asked, taking her by the arms.
Selene shook her head and said, "I'm so stupid. I can't believe I am so stupid."
"You are not stupid, baby. What's wrong, what happened?," Ben insisted.
She sighed and said, "We should sit down."
Ben was even more worried.
"I didn't want to tell you until and only if it actually turned into something, but Victor Drakos actually contacted me a while back asking to meet about potentially partnering with the university on a project," she explained, while looking down. "This was even before our rooftop dinner, Ben, please understand. If it involves funding for the university, I have to take it seriously," she implored, taking his hand, and looking at him in earnestness. What she didn't realize is that he was not recriminating her but blaming himself again.
"I just didn't say anything because I figured it would upset you because of your business rivalry. I had no idea about everything else. Oh my God!," she said as she came to a realization. "I haven't even told you what he told me. I don't even know where to start. Ok. One thing at a time. So, anyway, I ended up meeting him and…"
Ben cut her off and said, "Where? When?" He shook his head again wondering how all this happened without him knowing about it. Drakos had outsmarted his team, and he could not let it happen again.
She continued, "He asked me to meet him in the Hybrid Information & Technology Solutions building because he said he was having a meeting there before our meeting and it would just be easier. So, anyway, while there, his assistant accidentally…well, now I think it wasn't an accident, but he spilled coffee all over my bag. He offered to clean it for me, and I stupidly let him. That's when they must have done something to my phone. Oh Ben, I'm so sorry! It's all my fault!" She started crying.
Ben held her and said, "No, it's not. Please stop crying. It's my fault. I should have told you about Drakos from the beginning. If I had warned you, then you would never have trusted him, and you never would have met him alone. Don't blame yourself. Oh God, what a mess."
She wiped her tears and shook her head, "I don't think we should blame anyone but him. He's the psycho asshole who did all this. I mean, you tried. You didn't tell me because you thought you were protecting me from it, right?" Ben nodded. "See?," she continued. "And I love you for that."
He sighed but he knew he still had more to tell her, so he said, "Baby, there's one more thing I have to tell you about Victor. I didn't want to tell you until I thought you were ready and until I had some more safeguards in place, but now that he's pulled this, I have to tell you."
"What?," she asked, looking scared.
"I don't even know how to begin," he said looking straight at her, holding her hands. "But please believe me when I say that I was always going to tell you. I just wanted to make sure the time was right. And I didn't want to keep anything from you, especially with everything from before.
Selene took her hands from his and said, "Ben, you're scaring me."
"No, baby, I don't mean to scare you," he continued and took her hands back in his. "It has to do with you, your biological mother, and how it's all related to Victor. It's why he kidnapped you."
She stood up suddenly, put her hands to her mouth and exclaimed, "You knew?!"
Ben put two and two together, shut his eyes, and sighed. Opening his eyes, he said, "Drakos told you."
Selene pursed her lips and then said, "Yes. Yes, he did. And I can't believe you knew. All this time?"