Hotel hideaway (samuel)

Samuel greeted her at the door to te bathroom thankful she had not been held long. He had yet to receive the news of the aftermath and was in fact blind to those events. Her being here safe as she was he took as a gift. They would have to talk about their lifestyles soon enough. He wouldn’t always be there and she wouldn’t always be able to turn a blind eye to his highly illegal actions. He was not fool enough to believe such nor would he allow her to continue to bend for him sooner or later she would come to resent him if he did.



He held awash in relief dreading what would come a conversation that was growing nearer each day. Their honeymoon would end and they would have to set terms. In the now however he pushed those thoughts aside he held her as her tears streaked her face. Her precious tears the emotions to which he would rid her of if he could. However nothing to do now but hold her safe in his strong arms keeping this moment as long as it would last.



The knock at the door he ignored. They were safe and nothing would disturb this moment. Nothing not even the news the messenger slid under the door.

As her fingers probed he felt her go stiff. She tensed and sought to move away from him he was of a mind to hold her longer but instead did the opposite of what the self –preservation in him screamed. He let her go. And moved past her giving her a good view of the marks of his day grabbing first an undershirt then a blue oxford so pale it would in the right light seem white he slipped everything on foregoing a tie he went to the dresser slipping in cufflinks. He looked at the lamb skin gloves he wouldn’t completely suit himself in his armor. Not in this. But dressed he sat. Giving her another moment of silence.



Inhaling he exhaled slowly meeting her eyes. He sat so as to not tower over her. He sat and forced himself still. Not the lifeless stillness of a vampire but the stillness of thought and action. It was the place where he could fight best from. Not her never that. Fight his natural proclivities to do whatever was necessary to survive. To fight the years of self-interested survival that would stand between an open honest conversation.



Adjusting his cufflinks once he rested his hands on the chair arms. “I suppose we have to talk my beautiful detective. I was hoping we wouldn’t need to while here but I suppose we need to say the words and ask and answer the deep questions of ourselves.”

Samuel had long embraced the monster that he was. He hadn’t lost any sleep over it in years. Yet now he was of a mind to do anything to keep from allowing her to face it. That would be cowardly and he was anything but so he leveled his gaze and began at the beginning.


"I passed through New Orleans early on in my race for the brass ring of safety contacts and an empire that would keep me and mine safe. At the time I thought my brother a dead man. So I was filled with a rage I kept hidden behind the best clothes I could. I met Abel right where Storyville once was."



Nodding as if he was giving himself permission to go on. He paused then continued.

"The person who did this to me is in fact dead and soon to be buried where no one can find. Our time together started right here two weeks before I met Abel. That is how they were close enough to do me and the memory of them serious enough harm to leave scars that will last."



He knew she wouldn’t let her completely off the hook so he waited for the other shoe to drop. In the offing he asked her a question in return. “You could have not gone to the sight. You chose to put yourself in harms way. I know that’s your career but the choice to do so here… is that why the last lion was disappeared it wasn’t a marksman it was you wasn’t it?” Bob and weave he knew his way around setting terms and fought that urge to ‘win’ this wasn’t about winning it was about making it possible to leave the honeymoon period still together.

Samuel decided if she pressed he would give her everything and more. It would in his estimation be too much but he would trust her even as everything in him said this was a step too much. He spared a glance towards the door before answering. She put it to him and he would keep his word even as part of him knew it would be a mistake. He believed in her and so as loathed as he was to unmask himself he ventured forward into that bright harsh light of truth with the one person that could bring him low.



“Yes. She will trouble the city, the new Rex, the city as a whole and all of those she’d hurt over the years no longer. She won’t, she can’t. I felt that my allowing her to continue standing as a beacon of wrong was my mistake to correct. It had to be me that ended her reign.”



He knew she would understand duty even if it didn’t adhere to the strict letter of the law. She had to it would inviolate most of what she was if she didn’t but instead of continue down that road he again sought to change the tone to protect what little she knew of the monster he was.


"I followed you to the scene I arrived as you sent the security detail scurrying. I am sorry I was out of contact. They defaulted back to the SOP I established for them before we touched down. You are whats important the rest of the world can go hang itself. They filled me in on the situation and I concocted the plan on the fly as you all were preparing. I know you are closer to the other men in your life than you let on but how close would that be if it were not for my existing in your life."



Though said lightly the implications were clear. If he wouldn’t hide in the dark what he was she wouldn’t be able to as well they both had to see what the other was what each individual was in order to continue so therefore he would put a question to her that he was sure would come up later if there was to be a later.

The urge to go to her was so strong he had to grip the chair Samuel listened waiting. Waiting on a change of honesty a change that would show that she was not invested yet all he found was truth honesty and open communication. He felt his eyes begin to well but he choked back that emotion with an iron will that had seen him through most things in his life.



"So there it is. We might not come home at the end of the day as many steps as I have taken and take to insure that I will; I have taken even more to insure should I not what I have built will continue to care for those near and dear to me. Honestly no matter what steps I have taken it is always a very real possibility that one day because of what I am that I will not be there to great tomorrow. Due your profession and drive the same can be said for you. I would risk all of the tomorrows granted me to insure that you do; However there is a chance that I might miscalculate. If I do and draw breath after I can promise you that the cause of you losing tomorrows grace will be sorely tested and will join you in the hereafter."



He breathe deeply through his nose exhaling as what he said showed more of what he was. He’d felt his eyes go dead as he thought of that day. He would end everything and everyone that had a hand in making it possible he would paint the streets red with their blood and he would unleash hell in his wake man woman beast that would take her form this world. Even if what they were ended now he would avenge her as if he were the angel of death incarnate. She didn’t need to see how very truthful he was being in that statement nor the full scope of what he meant. So he again changed subjects a warmth seeping back into his eyes.



"Do tell my detective what solution to her would suit?"



She was gone, if in death she could do some good he was all for it. He was sure had she’d known this conversation had taken place she would have done something horrific to insure some small monkey wrench was thrown.

He raised a brow as she spouted Jay-Z as one New Yorker to another it was akin to binding what was theirs in blood. And there would be blood if any including death himself would harm her. He allowed her the full vent of her thought his went to the forensic material on Estelle’s corpse. No that wouldn’t do solely because he didn’t want to disturb her body. He didn’t want to revisit the cooling lump of flesh that was once Estelle. The fact was he for all of his composure had not dealt with what was there and it was not a lodestone but there was a mass that he carried his sense of guilt for having allowed her to become the monster.



But in the end this moment and those he would remember would be about Monica. His detective so despite himself he used his falsetto voice and sung the first bars of Beyonce’s portion of the song. The dichotomy was not lost on him. In fact he while he only sung the opening of her portion he did rise. This thing they were building and rebuilding this thing of theirs was unlike any other and no matter what happened going forward he would always be indebted to her for bringing him this and these moments.



Offering his hand he helped her rise taking her wholly into himself he stepped in falling into a tango with her as he spoke. “Do tell how we might go about vindicating your friend Del clearing your involvement framing Eric and doing all of this while obfuscating my interactions and involvement?”

She was smart talented and perhaps too much like him. She hadn’t even assumed that he’d used one of MVM’s cars or there help. She assumed unconfirmed that he’d have stolen a car and used that to transport Estelle wherever she was. Which was one hundred percent correct as well as the right thing to have done. Samuel knew better than most that for a secret to remain so only the dead and he could ever know all of the details. He however wouldn’t shoot holes in her plan. Namely the forensic matter under Estelle’s fingernails. The transfer errata from him having been so close. He hadn’t wanted to involve Abel but it looked as if he would have to. Abel was while not a friend to Estelle knew her from their shared pasts and his time in the city.



He knew what he would have Abel do. "If that is what you suggest we need then…It will be done. I am sure Abel can be here in a few hours the flight is only three his drive shouldn’t take long he knows or at least knew these streets like the back of his hand. I will call him after we eat. Estelle isn’t going anywhere and if the coroner or M.E. are worth their salt they will place time of death during Eric’s flight period. The car is well a bit more difficult. It won’t be found for at least five days without help. Its parked in a long term parking lot and paid for through the week." He smiled knowing that his cleverness could prove a small issue. While wiped down of incriminating information it was a step most would not have taken. So the car would have to be moved to a place it could be found easily.