The Morning After

They'd finally made it to back to the hotel, falling into bed to finally sleep locked in each other's arms a little before dawn.

It then seemed extra cruel when the speakers Indigo had left hooked up to his I-phone blared the upbeat tune of his incoming call ringtone loudly through the suite a little before 9:30.

He sat up suddenly, startled out of a pleasant dream, and glared sleepily at the speakers until the system quieted with a spark and a fizzle of static.

"Shit," he swore quietly, looking over at the woman stretched out next to him. The ringing phone could only barely be heard now from the far room of the suite. He sank back down onto the bed and sighed.

Ronnie moaned and rolled over, her eyes still closed. She curled her body against indigo, her hand moving to his chest.

"Mmmmm... Good morning... what time is it?" she asked with a sleepy smile.

"Mmmph." He pulled her closer. "It is evil o'clock. The time when evil people call me when I need more sleep. That would be..." Squinting blearily at the clock, he groaned. "9 something. Sleep more." He buried his face in her hair as the ringing from the other room stopped.

She grinned and opened her eyes slightly, putting her hand against his face. He was adorable in his groggy, half-asleep state, and the sight of him made her mind drift pleasantly back over the events of the previous night.

"Well maybe if someone hadn't decided he wanted to visit the bell tower on the way back we might have gotten some sleep."

She kissed him gently on the forehead.

"Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I don't think I'll ever be able to hear those bells again without blushing."

He smiled, laughing sleepily as he nuzzled her neck. How tired was he? He was about to make some surely witty comment when he heard the phone ring again - this time it was Geoff's ringtone, not Danya's - and he groaned instead.

"Waaaaaaaht do they waaaaant....."

Ronnie lifted her head to look at him and sighed sleepily.

"I suppose we should be thankful they didn't call last night. Are you always this popular?"

"No." He sat up, trying to rub the sleep out of his face. It was unusual - they'd usually give him until at least noon, especially if he'd been out late and especially especially if he had a performance that day. Which, of course he did. "I am not a morning person." Couldn't they just send a text?

Apparently not, and he started as the actual bedside hotel phone also rang. he stared at it in wonder for a moment - that *never* happened - before reaching out to pick it up.

"What the hell!" he answered, not even waiting to find out who it was. "Did somebody die?"

His face fell as Danya's voice on the other end told him what had happened - he felt like he's been punched in the gut, and reflexively put an arm around Esperanza.

"Oh," he managed after a minute. "Hell."

She gave hims some more information, some instructions on what to expect. "Okay."

Slowly, he set down the receiver, feeling mostly shocked, but with building undercurrents of anger, and despair.

It didn't take a trained psychologist to see that something was very wrong; but Esperanza WAS a trained psychologist, as well as a woman with an intuitive understanding of human emotions, and she could read the ones written across Indigo's face like a book. Before he had even hung up the phone she had entered damage control mode.

She sat up and put one hand on Indigo's shoulder, focusing her attention solely on him for the moment.

"What's wrong?" she asked calmly, "Is everyone okay?"

He shook his head. It was unfathomable... Only the chill in his spine told him that no, it wasn't, that somehow they'd let down their guard, that *he'd* dropped the ball somewhere, and someone else was paying for it. Again.

"Candace...." He only had the sparsest details - and it wasn't, shouldn't be, something that Esperanza had to worry about.

"I need to get dressed, or shower or..." He looked over at her again, but she was so beautiful, and the night before so incredible, that it just made everything too surreal, as though it couldn't be true.

Esperanza knew shock when she saw it, and as the color slowly drained from Indigo's face she knew that right now the best thing either of them could do was to try and stay calm.

"Right now what you need to do is breathe." she said, "And then tell me what happened. Whatever it is, we'll figure out what to do."

We? "No." Or was it too late? Was she already sucked in to something that shouldn't be her problem. He hugged her, taking a deep breath. "I don't know what happened. Someone broke into her room." He kissed her hair, mind still reeling, but able to repeat, at least, what he'd been told. "Danya is coming up soon. Then I have to talk to the police. Geoff and Irene can take you home."

Ronnie was stunned. At that moment it hit home just how little she knew the man sitting next to her. She knew that part of it was shock, and part of it was concern for her, but hearing him dismiss her so summarily after what they'd shared... to say it didn't sting would be a lie.

"No." she shook her head, "Indigo, I can help. I'm not going anywhere."

Whatever had happened, from the way he was acting it was more than a simple break-in. Someone was hurt, maybe badly, and there was no way she was leaving until she knew there was nothing she could do to help.

"She's dead." Beyond help. This trip was supposed to have been a break - a chance to get away. How naive...

Ronnie felt as though she had been hit in the face with a bucket of cold water. Her skin prickled and her mouth opened but no words came out. She wanted to ask what had happened. How she had died. But she already knew the answer to that.

She put her hand on Indigo's arm and squeezed gently. At least she could still help him.

"I'm so sorry." she said finally.

"It's not you." He shook his head, thoughts getting lost in the worlds of meaning there. He couldn't sit still, couldn't let it settle, though the urge was string to just curl up around Esperanza, to hide away with her a little longer. Or forever. Instead he hugged her again, twisting as he did to let one of his legs slide off the bed.

Esperanza hugged him back and sighed. This was not the way she pictured the night ending, but Indigo had given her so much... she had to help him.

"Let me get dressed and I'll call my friends. They can help. We'll figure it out together." she said as he pulled away from her.

She didn't want to let go of him. He needed her now, and she still needed him. But she knew that it had been too good to last. Their time was over for now. Maybe forever.

And now the real world was calling them both back.

"Shower." He said, because he needed the time to think, and wanted to steal the extra moments with her before facing up to the real world. It was selfish - it pushed away his memories of Candance.

She nodded and kissed him again on the forehead. He was stalling, but that was ok. He needed time to deal with things, and it would buy them at least a few minutes to clear their heads.

He pulled her with him to the bathroom, not saying anything. It was fairly spacious, and strewn with clothes and other remnants of having prepared to go out the night before. He kissed her once as the cool water shed its rivulets across them, grateful that she wanted to stay, that she was still here. He didn't know if it would, or should, continue, but for now he wasn't alone.

As the water fell over them Ronnie hugged him, feeling his skin press against hers, but somehow things were different now. There was a wall between them that hadn't been there a few minutes ago.

She kissed his back as he washed himself. She felt so helpless again, as though she'd been fooling herself all night and now the dream was over. Maybe it was.

His instincts held no guidance for him in these sorts of situations: death was not his element. Guilt hung from him like a stone - one more person he'd failed. His passion felt poisoned.

He wanted to sit with Esperanza to tell her all of this. He felt like he was failing her, too that *their* passion was poisoned too. It shouldn't be - it wasn't fair.

But Danya was coming, and he didn't know what she would have to say. He should get dressed. He should say something - he settled for "I'm sorry."

She forced a small smile and looked up at him.

"You have nothing to be sorry about." she said, "It isn't your fault."

"Its just.... all kinds of not how I wanted things to go. For anyone. I don't know - maybe you do know what its like? Things happen. Maybe its not your fault, but it is still because of you."

He didn't know what had happened - he realized he was already making assumptions, but it was too much for a coincidence.

"I do know" she said, "Or at least I'm starting to. What we are... who we are... things like this follow us. No matter how hard we try to avoid them."

She sighed and reached for a towel.

"We didn't get to choose this life. All we can do is try to do the best we can with what we have. You're a good person, Indigo. A good man."

She pressed herself against him and kissed him again, not knowing what else to say.

The comfort offered was appreciated, and he took it gratefully. There was a stirring of some emotion - different than last night, but still running deep. He didn't want to send her away, but wasn't sure whether he should.

"Thank you." He hugged her again before taking the towel, and sighing. "There's a robe, if you wanted. I don't remember where your dress is, but we can find you something."