Nothing Gets By Me

I woke up early on Sunday morning, and slid carefully out of Brody's grip to go to the bathroom.  When I came back and got back into bed, he opened his eyes and quickly snaked his arms back around me.  "Don't go back to Denver," he murmured into my hair. 

"I wish I didn't have to," I replied.

He sighed and his arms tightened around me.  "It was so nice to have you here.  It was a good distraction from all the shit that's going on.  It sucks that you have to leave and I have to get back to fixing the mess that my dad made."  I rubbed his arm.  "What do you want to do today?" he asked.

"Nothing," I replied.  "I want to be completely lazy and have all our meals via room service and stay in bed until I absolutely have to get up to get ready to go."

"That sounds like a perfect plan," he said, pressing his face against my neck.  We fell back asleep for a little while, and when we woke up we ordered room service and had sleepy, lazy sex while we waited for our breakfast to be delivered.

We passed the rest of the morning laying in bed, and after Brody hung up the phone after ordering lunch at about 12:45, he frowned.  "We should probably get you to the airport a little sooner than you'd usually get to DIA," he said.  "The Miami airport sucks."

I groaned.  Flying back to Denver was the absolute last thing I wanted to do today.  And pretty much the only thing I remembered from my childhood trip down here was how much I hated the Miami airport.  "I guess I can at least shower while we wait for our food," I conceded grumpily.

I showered slowly, as if that might prolong my time left here.  When I got out of the shower, our food hadn't yet arrived, so I got dressed and started to pack my stuff up while Brody showered.
 When I was finished, the food was still wasn't there, so I sat on the couch staring at the TV.

A couple minutes later, Brody came out of the bedroom dressed casually.  "What are you going to do after I leave?" I asked.

"Jack texted me, so I might go see his place and hang out with him for awhile," Brody replied, sitting down next to me and putting his arm around me. 

I was about to answer when there was a knock on our door.  Brody got up and let our food in, bringing it over to the couch.   "This should probably help," he said with a grin.  "I know how cheerful you are when you're hungry."  I mock-glared at him and took the plate.

When we were finished eating, Brody looked at his watch.  "It's 1:55," he reported.  "We should leave in about an hour."  I nodded and settled against him, pulling his arm back around me.   We found something stupid to watch on TV and the hour flew by.  Too soon we were walking out the door of the hotel room.

"Call me when you get home," Brody said, hugging me tightly against him.

"I will," I promised.

"I'll let you know as soon I know when I'll be coming back," he continued.  "I know I'll be here this whole week for sure, but hopefully I'll be back by this time next week."

I pulled back and smiled.  "Thanks for flying me down here.  I'm really glad I got to come see you."

"Not as glad as I am," he replied.  "You'd better get going.  Have a safe trip, I love you."

"I love you too," I said, kissing him one last time before walking into the airport.

As Brody had predicted, it took me forever to get through security, even with having checked in online ahead of time.  I barely had 5 minutes to buy a snack and go to the bathroom before they began boarding my flight.  At least, sitting in first class, I got to get on right away and get settled.

The flight was uneventful and I was thankful that I hadn't checked a bag and could walk straight out of the airport to my car when I got off the plane in Denver.  I drove myself home and dropped my bag and purse right inside the door before flopping on my couch and calling Brody.

"Hey, you make it?" he greeted me when he picked up.

"Yup, flight was good.  Took forever to get through security though."

"Always," Brody sympathized.  I heard a male voice in the background. 

"Still at Jack's?  I can let you go," I said.

"Yeah, but I need to head back soon or I'll be sorry in the morning.  I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" I agreed and said goodnight.

I laid on my couch, pondering what to do.  It was only 8pm here but I was all screwed up after spending just a couple days on Miami time.  I decided to throw a load of laundry in and go to bed after.  I watched a DVRed show while I waited for the wash cycle to be done, and got sucked in.  I didn't make it up to bed until almost 11.  As I was climbing under the blankets, my phone vibrated.  It was Brody, so I answered.

"Hey," he said, sounding surprised.  "I didn't think you'd still be up."

"I was just about to go to bed," I replied.  "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to say goodnight," he said.  He sounded weird though.

"Brody?" I pushed.

"My dad called me," he said, the words rushing out so fast it took me a minute to process them.

"Oh no," I responded.  "Is he...what did he say?"

"Not much," Brody said miserably.  "He just wanted to tell me he was okay and that I should do whatever I need to do to stay out of this mess."

"Oh Brody, I'm sorry," I replied.

"I already called that FBI agent.  They can't do anything with it, but at least my ass is covered.  This just sucks.  My dad spent my whole life making me hate him, and now I don't know how I'm supposed to feel with all this shit going on.  And..." he paused, and I could hear him suck in a deep, shaky breath.  "I don't know, I might not ever see him again.  At least when he was here I had the option to see him if I ever wanted to. And the last time we saw each other was so shitty."

I didn't know what to say, and I cursed my therapy training for still leaving me without a good response for the people I loved.  "Shit," I muttered.  "I wish I was still there with you.  What can I do?"

"Nothing," he replied.  "It's okay.  I'm glad you were still awake.  I just needed to tell someone.  Besides the FBI, I mean."  He paused, then muttered, "Jesus.  The fucking FBI," and laughed bitterly.  "I'm going to wrap this stuff up this week.  I already booked a flight for Friday.  They'll have to work with me to get it done by then because I can't stay here any longer."

"That sounds like a good plan," I said.  "Just tell me when to pick you up."

"I think my flight lands around 7, but I'll double check tomorrow and let you know.  I need to go to bed, thanks for listening."  I said goodnight and hung up.  I wished there was something I could do to help.  The whole situation was mind boggling for me.  I didn't realize that people actually fled the country when they committed crimes.  I felt like I was stuck in some awful movie.

I tossed and turned for close to an hour before I finally fell asleep.  When my alarm went off in the morning I felt groggy and disoriented.  I stabbed at my phone, trying to make it stop.  When I finally focused enough to actually dismiss the alarm, I saw I had a text from Brody.  "Thanks for listening last night, hope you're not too tired today.  Flight gets in at 7:12 on Friday.  I'll talk to you tonight, I love you."  I texted him back and dragged myself into the shower.

I had dinner with Lauren and Kinsley after work.  "How was Miami?" Kinsley asked, after we had ordered.

I made a face.  Lauren cocked an eyebrow.  "It was mostly really good, and a little really bad," I said.  I told them about Alexa first.

"She sounds like a peach," Lauren sneered.  "Terrible judgment, College Brody, what the hell."

"She sounds like Savannah on crack and steroids," Kinsley agreed.  I cringed at that visual.  Lauren laughed.

I continued, telling them about Brody's dad.  "I don't know what to do for him," I confessed.  "I feel like an awful girlfriend because he was so awesome when Lynn got in her accident and when Nadine called, and I just...don't have any idea how to return the favor."

"I don't really think you have to do anything," Kinsley said, frowning thoughtfully.  "I mean, just be there for him.  Don't expect too much out of him."  It didn't feel like enough, but I shrugged and let Lauren change the subject.

My phone vibrated shortly after and I saw a text from Brody.  I was reading it when I heard Lauren say, "Wow, that's a big deal."

I looked up, confused.  "What's going on?" I asked.

Kinsley rolled her eyes.  "Damien and I planning to go on a trip together once tax season is over."

"Wow, that is a big deal," I agree, grinning.  "And awesome."

She smiled, then frowned.  "I just have to make it through tax season first.  Speaking of, I should get back to the office soon, I need to do one more return before I can go home tonight."  We finished our dinners, paid, and were heading out about 15 minutes later.

I drove home and called Brody.  "Hey, sorry, I was at dinner with Lauren and Kinsley," I greeted him when he answered.

"No problem," he replied.  He asked about my day and and then asked a bunch of questions about Lauren and Kinsley.

"Are you avoiding talking about your day?" I finally asked.

"Nothing gets by you," he quipped sarcastically.  I was surprised by his tone but didn't say anything, because I knew he was super stressed.  After a short pause, he said, "I'm sorry, that was shitty of me.  Yes, I'd rather not talk about my day today."

"It's okay," I assured him.  "I get it."  We talked about my day and random things for awhile longer.  Brody yawned several times.  "Do you want me to let you go so you can sleep?" I asked gently.

"No, not really," he replied stubbornly.  "I'm sorry, I didn't sleep well last night.  But I don't want to go yet." 

I struggled to find more things to talk about.  I took a chance and asked about Jack and Brody talked about him for awhile.  I ended up brushing my teeth and getting into bed while he talked. 

Nearly an hour after I had called him, he said, "I'm sorry, I've kept you on the phone forever.  You probably have things you need to do."

"Nope, actually I'm laying in bed being completely lazy and it's perfect.  We can talk as long as you want," I assured him.  I had never met a guy that enjoyed long phone conversations, and Brody usually didn't, but I assumed it was better than sitting in his hotel room stewing on what was going on. 

"Okay," he said hesitantly.  "Oh, hey!  This weekend is when you meet Nadine and Jonathan, right?  Are you nervous?"

"Yeah," I replied.  "And yes, I am.  Super nervous.  I have no idea why, though."  We talked about that for awhile, and finally Brody was yawning more than he wasn't.

"Okay, I guess I really should try to sleep," he admitted.  We said goodnight and I was about to hang up the phone when I heard him say, "Hey, wait."

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Thank you.  For talking for so long, I mean.  It helped."

"Good," I said smiling.  "I'm glad I could do something."