Си Паради - Dancing With Shadows

It didn’t make any sense. The guy that fell into her said he was pushed. But everyone on the platform was pushing and shoving. It would have taken a powerful shove to cause him to lose his balance. Why would anyone be shoving that hard?

When she got out of the shower and dried herself off, she was no closer to making sense of the events of the evening. Shaking her head, she decided it was probably one of those fluky things that sometimes happened.

After donning a sleeping shirt, Tony walked to the kitchen limping slightly. She eased herself down into one of the chairs, taking care not to aggravate her leg.

Megan had put the peroxide and cotton squares on the table and was waiting for her. Picking up a cotton patch, she thoroughly dampened it with peroxide.

"Let me see your arm." Looking at the scraped skin, she frowned and said, "You really got your arm good, didn’t you?" and started cleaning the wound.

Tony flinched when the peroxide came into contact with the raw area on her arm.

Megan looked up and said, "Sorry… I know it hurts. I’ll be done in a minute."

Once Megan had applied the peroxide to Tony’s arm and hands, she said, "Let’s go into the living room. You need to lay down so I can put the ice on the worst of that bruise," Megan said.

Tony laid down on the couch on her side watching her partner. She grimaced when Megan laid the cold ice against the warm angry bruise.

Looking into her partner’s sympathetic eyes, Tony wondered for what was probably the millionth time how she had ever gotten so lucky.

Taking a hold of Megan’s hand she said, "I love you."

Megan bent down kissing Tony on the cheek. "I love you too." Standing up, she placed a hand towel over the ice bag and said, "Hold this in place. I’m going to take a shower," pausing a moment, she added, "and keep the ice on ok?" giving her partner a warning look.

Tony grinned at Megan. "Ok."

Megan insisted she keep the ice on for twenty minutes. Even though her skin was protected from the ice by a thin cloth, after about ten minutes Tony decided her leg hurt more from the ice than the bruise. When Megan returned to the living room, she removed the ice bag.

When Tony started to get up, she said, "You might as well stay there. In twenty minutes it goes back on again."

"I think we should just go to bed." Tony suggested, smiling.

Megan returned the smile. "We will after the next time. Tomorrow you’ll be glad we did this," she said before taking the ice bag back into the kitchen and putting it in the freezer.

Tony wasn’t so sure about that, but Megan sat on the coffee table right next to her the whole time, and when her leg began aching from the ice, looking into the caring hazel eyes somehow made it hurt a lot less. But she was still glad when Megan finally removed it, allowing them to go to bed.

The fresh smell of rain wafted through the window, carried across the room on the cool breeze. Megan’s eyes slowly opened, the morning light brightening the room through the curtains. Her head was resting against Tony’s chest, the steady heartbeat echoing a soft cadence in her ear. Her arm lay across her partner’s midsection, and she could feel Tony’s arm resting across her back.

Sensing Tony was still asleep, she slowly lifted her head and looked at her lover. This was a rare opportunity. Her partner was usually always awake before she was. She is so beautiful. All the tension from the night before was gone and her face was relaxed and peaceful. The corners of her mouth were turned up and Megan smiled at the sudden thought that Tony must be dreaming about something good and she hoped she was in it too. Very slowly raising herself up so as not to wake her partner, she got up from the bed. Looking at Tony one more time, she leaned over and kissed her on the forehead before saying, "I love you," her voice no more than a whisper.

When Tony woke up, the first thing she noticed was Megan wasn’t there. She must have been more exhausted than she thought not to hear her partner get up. Moving, she realized she was very sore. Sitting up slowly, she eased her legs over the side of the bed favoring the bruised one.

Gingerly standing up, she tested it before putting her full weight on it. It was stiff and complained angrily when she put weight on it. Ignoring it, but compromising a little, she favored it slightly while walking to the bathroom.

Megan was in the kitchen cooking breakfast. "Morning," she smiled at Tony. "How does your leg feel?"

"Not bad. Still a little sore," Tony said, underplaying her discomfort.

Megan looked at Tony pointedly. "Just a little? You have remarkable healing abilities then, because it should hurt more today than it did yesterday."

You’d think I’d know better by now. Tony drew her eyebrows together and with a questioning look on her face, she said, "What? You didn’t know that?"

Chuckling, Megan walked over saying, "You’re incorrigible," before reaching up to kiss her.

Megan unobtrusively watched Tony ease herself into the kitchen chair and decided another ice treatment was in order.

After they finished eating, she filled another bag with ice and handed it to Tony saying, "I’ll clean up out here. Go put this on your leg."

"Megan, it’s fine. I don’t need any more ice." Tony said, in her most convincing voice.

Looking her partner in the eyes, Megan said emphatically, "No it’s not fine. It shows every time you move." Softening her voice, she said, "It really will help."

Tony was not the least bit happy about the prospect of putting the ice on her leg, but seeing the concern on Megan’s face, she took the bag of ice from her partner. Knowing Megan would be watching her, she walked into the living room trying not to favor her leg, grumbling under her breath, "This is really getting old."

Megan shook her head while watching Tony try to walk without limping. She had been through this with her partner before. For some reason, she seemed to think acknowledging pain was a weakness, and if you ignored it, it would just go away.

When she was finished in the kitchen, Megan went to the bedroom and changed out of her nightshirt and into a pair of shorts and a pull over top.

Tony had turned on the TV and was flipping channels with the remote. Finally settling on the Discovery Channel, she looked up when Megan walked in. Megan said, "Another five minutes and you can take it off. I’m going to do the laundry."

Oh no you don’t. "It’s my turn to do the laundry," Tony reminded Megan, although she was quite sure Megan didn’t need the reminder.

"Yeah, I know. But I’m not doing anything so I figured I’d just do it," Megan said, knowing she was pushing it, but hoping Tony would agree.

She wanted Tony to take it easy.

Tony thought quickly. She knew Megan was only thinking of her, but she had no intentions of being treated like an invalid just because she had a bruise on her leg. "Ok. While you’re doing the laundry, I’ll go grocery shopping."

Megan almost rolled her eyes. Grocery shopping entailed a lot more walking than doing the laundry. The laundry room was only three doors down from their apartment.

Shaking her head, and smiling at the innocent look on Tony’s face, she said, "You win. Go ahead and do the laundry. I’m going to do the grocery shopping."

When Tony smirked, Megan walked over and planted a kiss on her mouth. "Just remember what they say about pay backs."

Tony sat up and took the ice off her leg. Walking with Megan into the kitchen she said, "How about picking up some peaches? Maybe a peach pie too?"

"Didn’t we just have that last week?" Megan teased. One of the reasons she had changed to the peach scented shampoo and bubble bath was because of how much Tony loved peaches.

Tony cocked her head to the side, and with a winning smile said, "Please."