'I pull you in to feel your heartbeat
Can you hear me screaming, "Please don't leave me!"?'
When: A couple of weeks before the Winter Ball.
Who: Ceren Celik-Montgomery and William Hunztberger @itsceren
Summary: William finds Ceren after a drug overdose facilitated by long-term enemy 'Slater' and he nurses her back to health.
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William Huntzberger liked to believe that he was rather calm in a crisis. After all, he’d been in countless entanglements himself and lived to tell the tale. Lived. The word stuck in the back of his throat as he stared out of the bedroom window. She was breathing gently in the bed behind him.
Breathing. Another word that stuck.
The empire that William had constructed in the underbelly of this city was vast and fragile. He ‘played in the street rat’s game’ as Atticus Bass had put it. Among his many sins included procuring and providing drugs. These days, he indulged less and less but there were still a few clients who had his number.
The last person he had expected to approach him was Ceren Celik-Montgomery.
Everyone has their vice though and hers was to be perfect. To do more than your average overachiever. To excel above and beyond everyone else. To keep moving, to stay awake. Because she needed them.
That much was beyond clear now. William didn’t have time to dwell. He didn’t have time to feel guilty. He should have taken more time to feel guilty. Even then, in the beginning, he’d had his doubts. She was just using it to study, right? No big deal and besides… Why did he care? Ceren Celik-Montgomery was not his concern.
He looked down at his hands. They’d finally stopped shaking.
William closed his eyes and went over the events that had led him here, again…
There had been an emergency back in L.A, unhappy clients and vicious rumours. William had long since suspected long-term adversary Slater was making a move against him. He even had the scars to prove it. He hadn’t thought about his phone, had left it on airplane mode. There were too many fires to put out, too many hands to hold and egos to soothe.
He’d forgotten.
He did this to her.
By the time he’d picked up his phone, it was too late. The unread messages came flooding in, more desperate than the last. She’d even called – they never called. In the pit of his stomach, he knew that something terrible had happened. He was racing to her before he had time to register what he was doing. William didn’t need confirmation to know, he just knew.
This was Slater. She couldn’t get in touch with him, so she’d gone to the next, worst, thing. And William knew Slater would have jumped at the opportunity. He also knew that he was dangerous and taking anything from him was a gamble. William Huntzberger didn’t jump to conclusions, he didn’t catastrophise when it came to business. He kept a cool head.
This wasn’t business. This was Ceren.
From there, the memories started to blur. The way he’d stormed in there, whatever he shouted before all he could say was her name. The feeling of his heart hitting the floor when he saw her there… When he thought she was…
But she wasn’t.
William pressed his head against the glass of the bedroom window now as if he could press that reality into his brain. She was alive.
Adrenaline had taken over from there. William ran on autopilot. Even then, he knew that she would want to keep this under wraps. Secret. He paid off the doctors, kept her here – an apartment he used for vacations, a place only he had a key to. He didn’t sleep, he didn’t eat. He didn’t move until she was given the all clear.
His hands shook, the colour drained from his face. Whatever was keeping him standing… he didn’t know.
Everything was silent at last. Only the sound of her breathing filled the room. He did this to her.
William turned then, barely able to breathe himself at the sight of her. She looked miles better than she had on that floor where he’d held her in his arms. William looked away. He’d thought about leaving, about calling someone else. Someone she loved, someone she could trust. But he hadn’t.
She wakes first and just watches him sleep. Her husband. A man she never thought she would lay eyes on again. The fact he now sleeps beside her, on his back with his arms crossed over his chest, like almost every other time she has shared his bed, is miraculous to her. She wonders if he still~ thinking, she reaches out and just touches his face. His answering smile causes her heart to leap. He is happy.
He wakes slowly. Stretching his arms over his head. Nude with the covers thrown off his constantly heated body, he is a joy to watch. She still wants him, a state of being she prays never changes, but this morning she needs to get to know her step-son, to see him through his father’s eyes.
“Good morning Sassanech.” His voice is hoarse from lack of sleep and the ever present desire.
“Good morning my love. Would you tell me about William.”
He laughs in surprise. It wasn’t what he expects her to say. “I expected another topic of conversation.” Said as he rolls to face her.
“I told you about Bree. Well I would like to get to know her baby brother.”
“I wish I could tell you some of the earlier things. If he crawled, when he first held his head up, that kind of thing.” He sits fully up and rolls his shoulders stretching his back out more. She sits up with him and, he is temporarily distracted by her breasts.
“I am sorry. Just tell me what you can.”
“Aye. Well, the first time I held him was the day he was born. His mam had just passed and his step-father and legal father was threatening to kill him. I shot the bastard and caught him as he fell. His eyes were a strange mix of his mam and I's, brown with a hint of blue. They are fully hers now. His hair, I was concerned, ye ken, that it would be red. A relief to find it dark. The curls, well they are in his mam's side too. I wished to unwrap him. To fully see him but his grandmother was there, pulling him out of my arms to see him alright. I couldn’t blame her. His grandsire, who passed six months ago, was thanking me. I couldn’t tell them why I shot him. It dinna seem to matter to them.
The next time I held him was on his first birthday. I caught glimpses of him, wrapped in his blanket, his hair or eye peaking out. I keep a close eye, fearing and hoping to see parts of me in him. Now that I have him, I do. Not just in his features but in his personality. That stubborn streak, it must be a Fraser trait.”
“Imagine that.” She lifts her eye to him and he laughs.
“Stubborn he is. Strong willed. He fights getting his clod changed but hates to be wet or dirty. He has an appetite but is picky about what he eats. Hates coos and loves chicken. I offer him green things because I recall what you said, that it is needed for his health. He eats some. Loves bread of all types. He has a sense of humor, has the sweetest laugh. His temper is like mine and Jenny's. He can walk holding my hands but no steps alone yet. Crawls all over the place. He babbles and sometimes I think he is about to say a word.
I am blessed, I ken. I will see his first step, hear his first word. I have the honor of raising him. And the honor of raising him with his sister and you. A triple blessing that I couldn’t imagine a year ago.”
“I know. I came here expecting to just see Jenny, Ian, and the babies. To have you and your son..”
“Our son.” He insists.
“Our son and our daughter raised together with both their parents. It is amazing.”
“Aye it is. I imagine they are awake. Shall we go see?”
