Chapter Thirteen - Morroccan Bloom

Two months later

"But Megan-darling, I thought you would stay?" Peter questioned in a voice that grated on Megan's nerves. She had just had the worst sex in all her life and she just wanted to get out of Peter's bed, his flat in Islington and back to the haven of her own apartment.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go," Megan mumbled and slipped off the bed, groping for her discarded clothing on the floor. It had started out quite well enough, both having had a nice dinner, a bit to drink, but when it had come down to bedding each other, Megan had been in for a disappointment.

No fun, no laughter and certainly no light. Megan wouldn't have been surprised if he had covered her with a blanket and a hole in the appropriate place. But she had tried to give him time, had been the understanding woman, but enough was enough. Even telling him she needed a little bit more action then just a kiss here or a grind of the hips there, didn't make it any better. After the fifth time she had stopped talking, and now it had just been enough.

Shrugging into her jacket, she turned to see Peter still in bed, pouting.

"I'll see you at work," Megan said. She knew she sounded like a cold bitch, but she was just frustrated and angry with herself for wasting her time and didn't care much about his feelings anymore.

"Good night, Peter," she said quietly and made her way out of his flat.

Once outside, Megan fumbled for her cigarettes. Another point that made her frustrated. Peter hated smoking and he was nagging her continuously to toss the habit. She knew that it was a bad habit, that in fact it was lethal. She had tried to joke about it asking him 'couldn't a girl have just one vice?'

He hadn't thought it funny and had crumbled her package once.

Inhaling deeply, she made her way to the main road, from there she was sure to grab a cab.

"Hullo?" Megan breathed tiredly into the receiver. The phone had started ringing at 03:34 AM and now not a minute later she slumped against the pillow and rubbed sleep out of her eyes. "Who is it?" she inquired, dreading that a perhaps weepy Peter would gush into her ear.

"Megan?" a strangled voice came over the line and Meg frowned.

"Orli?" she asked and was wide awake in a second. "What happened?"

She heard Orlando sigh heavily at the other end of the line and she could hear from the shaking breaths he was taking that he had been crying. What is wrong? it screamed inside her mind, but at the same time she felt elated that he had called, even if it was so early.

"Meg, I think I'm losing it," Orli said and sniffed. He had awoken from a nightmare and he had trembled afterwards for over an hour. He needed to hear a friendly voice and the one person who had come to his mind was Megan. He had debated for over an hour with him if he should phone her or not. He didn't want to disturb her if she wasn't alone, yet he had needed to hear her voice.

"Calm down, Orli, and tell me what happened," Megan demanded softly while she sat up in bed and fumbled for her cigarettes.

"You smoking?" Orli asked. "Fuck, what I would give for a fag right now..." he sighed and she pictured Orli squeezing his eyes shut. It seemed to be pretty serious from the sounds of it.

He heaved another big sigh. "But that's not why I phone, love," he added and scratching could be heard as if he was scratching a beard stubble. "The last week we were on this night shoot where Todd, my character, is falling out of the chopper..."

Megan gasped. "Shit, don't tell me you have been talked into doing it yourself?"

"Yeah," came the response quietly.

Megan closed her eyes and drew in a shuddering breath. "Orli, that was stupid of you ..." she said and heard another sob at the other end of the line. "Hey, sssshhhhh, honey, it's okay ... are the nightmares back?"

There was a long silence and Megan could hear more scratching. "Orli?" she asked. "Come on, talk to me!"

"Yes, and they're driving me crazy, haven't slept for five days and it is showing. Scott complained already," Orli said.

"Oh Orli," Megan breathed, stubbing out her cigarette. "That was a stupid thing to do."

"I know," Orlando said in a small voice. "Meg, I'm so scared, I haven't slept for almost a week and I'm getting paranoid."

"Can't Jemma come over for a short break?" Meg asked sympathetically and squeezed her eyes shut.

"We broke up," came the response and gave Megan almost a heart attack. Not trusting herself to speak, she listened to Orli's voice. "Anyway I don't want to talk about this, not on the phone. Could you come over, Meg, please? I know there is a bank holiday on Monday and Tuesday in the UK and you don't have classes on Friday, so you could be here tomorrow at the latest for a long weekend," Orli pleaded. "But only if you are not ... ummm busy yourself... "

Megan chewed her lower lip. She had wanted to make her dreaded bi-monthly visit to her mother Jean over the extended weekend. A visit she had dreaded but had let herself be bullied into it by her mother and Peter.

"Meg? Please, I need you here. I'll pay the ticket and you'll stay with me, please? You can bring your boy-friend, too."

Something tugged at her heart, and for a moment Megan swallowed. "Orli ..." she started, then drew in a shuddering breath. 'I can't do this!', she told herself. 'He is hurt because Jemma left, he needs you!', said another voice inside her mind.

"I'm sorry, Megan ... I know ... it must be strange ... I'm sorry."

"Okay, I'll come. But only for the weekend. I need to be back at university on Wednesday morning, and I come alone."

"Meg, you sure, I mean I understand if you want to bring .. ummm Peter is it?

"Yes, it is Peter and no, he won't accompany me. You'll have my undivided attention over the weekend," Megan said, trying to ignore the fluttering in her stomach.

"You are the best, you know that, don't you?" Orli said, but the tiredness in his voice had not yet gone.

Meg chuckled. "I know, in fact you are not the only one who said that this week. Got a call from Lij the other day."

"He should go and find himself his own bestest friend," Orli replied and sighed. "It is good to hear you, Meggie..." Megan could hear him breathing out loudly, disguising a yawn. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too, Orli," Megan answered softly. "You should catch some sleep, you must be tired."

"Sleep with me?" Orli asked sleepily and Megan had to smile, remembering their long phone sessions before Jemma when they had fallen asleep on the phone.

"It will cost you a fortune, Orli," she started but was stopped by Orli's voice.

"Hey, this shooting job is paying for it, it brought back the nightmares, so it is ample payback. Don't worry, love. Just stay on the phone okay?"

"All right," Megan conceded.

"Meg?" Orli's sleepy voice asked after a while.

"Hmmmm?" Meg opened her eyes.

"Love you," his voice was husky and slurring sleepily.

"Love you too, Orli," Meg replied softly. A lengthy silence ensued both only listening to the other's breathing and she was slowly drifting off to sleep again. About ten minutes later she was woken up by the sound of an alarm clock blaring through the receiver and she cursed underneath her breath.

"Orli?" she asked and heard mumbling on the other end of the line then sudden silence as Orli had cut off his alarm clock.

"Yes, I'm awake, love," he answered her and even through the line he could feel him grin. "Morning, honey."

"Well that was a short slumber," Meg commented and laughed when Orli made smacking noises onto the receiver. "Stop that, that sounds disgusting."

"Awww, spoilsport," Orli retorted and laughed. "It's quarter past four and I need to get a move on. Okay, I'll phone BA today and get a flight over for you tomorrow. I'll let them phone you with the particulars and they'll send you the tickets. Need to dash, Ewan is probably already waiting in the lobby."

"Sure, Mr Actor, you do what you have to do," Meg replied and smiled.

"I'll try to pick you up from the airport tomorrow and I book a room in a hotel. Love you, Megan," Orli replied and before Meg could answer he had disconnected the call.

With a daft smile, Megan cuddled back into her pillows. So she was going to Morocco in two days.

True to Orlando's word, British Airways had phoned her midday the following day and now that the door bell was ringing, she got up and opened the door.

Peter was standing on her doorstep holding up an envelope. Megan groaned inwardly but she should have known he would come over instead of talking to her on the phone.

"The mail woman gave that to me, sweetie," he greeted her and bent forward to plant a kiss on her cheek. Megan's head jerked away and she quickly side stepped him.

"Thank you Peter, these are my tickets." Ushering him in, she opened the letter and grinned when she saw the tickets. They were first class and she shook her head. "Oh Orli, you stupid, sweet idiot," she whispered under her breath and looked up to see Peter frown.

"Tickets?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Yes, that's why I wanted to talk to you on the phone, but you insisted on coming over," Megan said and walked over to the kitchen. "I'll be off to Morrocco tomorrow for the weekend."

"What?" Peter asked and turned her towards him. "I thought we wanted to visit your mother? She is expecting us."

"I already phoned her, Peter," Megan said and looked pointedly at his hand which was still gripping her arm. "I explained to her that this is an emergency."

"And what kind of emergency is this? You are going to see them again, aren't you?"

Megan rose an eyebrow at Peter. Ever since they had slept together, an experience she didn't want to repeat ever again if she was honest with herself, sweet introverted Peter had turned into a jealous man, always asking for her whereabouts.

"Them?" Meg inquired. "What do you mean by them?"

"Those actor chaps, the two who took you to Scotland. I'm still mad at you for leaving like this, you could have killed yourself with that sport of theirs."

Megan tried not to roll her eyes. The old argument. Peter didn't approve of extreme sports, didn't approve of anything that brought some excitement into her life, like bungy jumping, her motorbike ... sex.

"No, the tickets aren't from Billy and Dom," she answered his initial question and went over to her desk where her passport was stored. Checking that it was still valid, she was expecting Peter grabbing and whirling her around.

"Then they are from him, that fairy guy, right?"

"If you mean Orli, yes, he sent me the tickets," Megan answered, trying to calm herself. "And he played an elf, not a fairy!"

"He is inviting you to come to Morrocco and you are just going?" Peter inquired. "At the snap of his fingers?"

"Yes, he is a friend and he needs me," Megan replied.

"I don't want you to go, Megan," Peter said and straightened up.

"I beg your pardon?" she inquired and crossed her arms over her chest. "He is my friend, he helped me through a very bad patch in my life and I'm not going to abandon him just because you say so."

"How many male friends do you have? First these two actors who go bungy jumping with you and now this guy. We are not doing anything together anymore," he said and tried to caress her neck. "Let alone being together."

Megan stared at Peter, biting on her lower lip. It was true, she had tried to distance herself slowly but steadily from him. And last night had been the last straw, she didn't want to continue this relationship. She just couldn't, on all levels it made her cranky and unhappy and it had been unsatisfactory to boot.

"Peter, I think you should get something straight," Meg said and stepped away from him. "We are not engaged, married or otherwise tied to each other and if I want to help a friend I bloody well do so."

Peter stared at her, "But I thought ... I thought we were together ..."

"Peter .." Megan started but she was cut off by him.

"It's one of those actors right?" His voice held an harsh accusing tone. "Did you sleep with one of them? Or with all?"

Meg stared at him, his words hurting her especially when she recalled something Orlando had told her once. 'Well I can live with that, I have been called worse.' She snapped out of her reverie when she heard Peter's next words.

"You have probably slept with them all while you were in New Zealand, and then shared your little bed stories with that queer uncle of yours, right?"

"What did you just say?" Megan shouted and shoved him angrily away from her.

"You probably slept with them all, Lord, Megan and I thought you were a nice girl not a slut."

"OUT!" Megan yelled, and pointed to the door, "I really don't know where you got that notion from but if you insult my family, and my uncle at that, then you bloody well get lost!"

The dry heat was stifling her when Megan stepped off the climatically regulated airplane. She had been prepared though, wearing a soft loose fitting man's shirt with a tank top underneath and soft fitting chinos she had once pinched from her uncle. After she had retrieved her small bag she stepped through customs and was looking inquisitively at the persons waiting for their loved ones.

Meg frowned when she didn't see Orli straight away and turning on her heels, she looked around full circle. No Orli, and she was musing about going to the information desk.

She had walked towards the main entrance when Megan spotted Orli. He was wearing his leather hat again, with a bomber jacket and jeans, looking like a GI on leave, and when he spotted her, he rushed forward at the same moment as Megan sprinted towards her friend.

Taking her into a bear hug, Orli laughed when Megan closed her arms around his neck, her luggage easily forgotten at their feet. Sweeping her off her feet he turned her around a few times, before he just hugged her tight, his hands hoisting her up so that the only thing she could do to keep her balance, was to wrap her legs around his waist.

"Fuck, Meggie, I missed you," Orli whispered near her ear and squeezed her tight.

"Missed you too, Orlando," Megan whispered and leant slightly backward to look into his face. He looked tired and for a moment she touched his cheek gently, trailing the dark patches beneath his chocolate brown eyes.

They stared at each other for a short moment, then Orlando after a last hug, put her down on her two feet. "You look good," he whispered while he nuzzled his face in her neck, squeezing his eyes shut.

"And you look awful, Orli," Megan whispered and tried to ignore the tears that suddenly welled up in her eyes. Hugging him again, she wiped at her eyes awkwardly.

His hat fell backward and when Megan looked up she had to laugh. "Oh gosh, Orli," she managed to say and looked at the very short crew cut he was sporting. Orli laughed at her dumb-struck face and moved his hand over his almost non-existent hair.

"Different from the mohawk, huh?" he asked and Meg nodded.

"Come on, we're already drawing a crowd," Orli said when he spotted a photographer taking pictures of them and picked up her bag while he slung his other arm around her shoulders. "I don't want to get busted for violating some Islamic Law."

During their ride to the hotel, Orli told her about the set and that it was off-limits to outsiders. "But you will love the hotel, Meg. I came down with Ewan McGregor as his wife Eve arrived this morning," Orli ended and turned into a stately drive that was leading towards a typical dream come true thousand and one night fairy tale palace. He stopped the car in front of the huge stair case leading up to the glass and wood door.

Megan stared at it then shot Orli an incredulous gaze. "You could have warned me," she said and tried to pick her jaw off the floor again. "Wow this is great ... you sure we are in the right place?"

"What? This coming from the woman who took the info of staying at the same hotel as Ewan McGregor in stride, but is intimidated by the hotel itself?" Orli laughed at that and handed over the keys to a page that had rushed out. Grabbing her bag, he led her past the fountains up to the stair case.

"Oh do shut up, GI GQ'ed," Megan retorted exasperated. "Besides, I met Ewan when I was fourteen, he is a friend of Ian's. This is great!"

"Glad you like it, Meg," Orli said and made a mental note to ask Ewan and Eve to have dinner with them.

Megan inspected the room Orli was inhabiting with wonder, the blend of Morroccan and Western furniture as well as the decoration really reminded her of Sheherazade's tales. Orlando watched Megan as she walked around the room, a goofy grin on his face. He remembered he had walked around this room awestruck as well when he had arrived last night.

'It was a good idea to book here,' he congratulated himself silently, a frown suddenly appearing on his face. 'Strange I never thought about booking here when I was together with Jemma ...' shrugging off this line of thought, he willed his thoughts back to the woman in front of him.

"So what do you want to do?" he asked, leaning against the door frame. "Ewan meant there is a beach nearby, unfortunately no surfing."

"Awww poor Elfboy," Megan snorted mockingly and turned to face him. "We could explore the city a bit, I think there was a market down the road..."

"Okay, and I think there is a mosque or something we could visit, Ewan said as much that his wife wanted to visit it."

"Sounds great," Megan replied and rummaged around in her bag to retrieve a rumpled straw hat. Shaking it out a bit she got it into form again and Orli just sat on the bed laughing. Megan scowled at him and put the hat firmly onto her head.

"What is it?" she asked, and came over so that she came to rest between his outstretched legs. Orli who was still laughing, tugged at the thick braid and grinned up to her.

"It was just funny that you punched your hat to get it into form," he said and stood up, his chest brushing against her. For a moment, they stared at each other, then Orli took her hand. "Let's go, Meg."

After their visit to the bazaar as well as the scrumptious dinner in the hotel's restaurant, Megan and Orli made their way back to their room. If Megan had found it strange that they were sharing a room again, after what had happened the last time in New Zealand, she had not commented on it and Orli was glad for that.

Ever since he had phoned her he had mused about whether or not to book two separate rooms, but he needed her close, like the time when she had still be in a cast over a year ago, holding him at nights.

Of course, Orli had berated himself for being a selfish bastard, but they were friends and friends could spent the night together without getting into trouble, or so he hoped.

The silence of their room was somewhat calming and disturbing at the same time. Megan had prepared herself for the night, donning a pair of PJ bottoms and a crop top. While being in the bathroom, she had seriously mused about wearing her long sleeved PJs to bed after she had remembered the last time they had shared a bed, but had decided against it. It was just way too hot.

'I can keep my hormones under control. Besides that was last year, so much has happened since then,' she had told her image in the mirror silently and had gone back to the bedroom. Orli was already lying on his side of the bed and stared at the ceiling. Only a few rays of the setting sun came through the intricate shutters and slanted over his still figure.

Sitting down on her side of the bed, she braided her hair into a tight long braid before lying down. They did not move nor speak for a long while both were too aware of the other's presence. Megan raked her mind for coming up with the right opener to broach the subject of Jemma, but try as she might everything she came up with was just sounding corny.

"Meg?" Orli's voice sounded eery in the darkened bed room.

"Yes?" Megan replied.

"Did you get Viggo's present?" Olri asked all of a sudden and for a moment Megan couldn't follow him. Then she remembered the framed photograph Viggo had sent her for Summer Solstice. 'Trust Viggo to celebrate some archaic festival,' she thought and she nodded.

"Yes I remember, it was a beautiful photograph of you and me ... how do you know?"

"He sent me the same photo," Orli breathed. "For Summer Solstice. Jemma saw it."

"So? It is just a photo, it was taken what? Over a year ago and you helped me with my leg." She said but closed her eyes for a brief moment. She remembered their last day in New Zealand together, their easy banter and their fooling around in Elvish.

"Jemma ... didn't believe me..." Orli broke off and he started to twirl one of her curls around his finger as he turned to face her. "She smashed the picture ..."

Then it dawned on Megan, propping herself upon her elbows she looked down into his face. "Do you want to tell me, Jemma Kidd, designer and model, is jealous of me?" she asked incredulously, then snorted. "Please, Orli tell me, you told her she is being ridiculous?"

There was a pause, then a mumbled, "Yeah, I did, she didn't listen."

"Oh Orli I'm sorry," Meg said. "Do you want me to talk to her?"

"No!" Orli's answer came quickly, then more hesitating he said, "No. We went through some rocky patches already in the last couple of months. I guess it wasn't meant to be. When she arrived here a month ago the first thing she told me she had cheated on me back in LA but wanted to make up again. It wasn't the first time either. She is that way and I tried to ignore it too long. I didn't even feel angry ... just relieved ..." He hugged her close. "And she knows we have been ... ummm ... involved."

For long moments they stayed like this, in each other's arms, breathing in deeply each other's scents. Orli was nuzzling his nose at her neck when he felt Meg stiffen. Moving out of her arms, he rolled onto his back and stared into the darkness.

"Sorry," he whispered and started when he felt Meg's hand on the side of his face. Squinting his eyes he tried to make out her pale face in the gloomy room. "Why did it never work out with us, Meg?" he asked suddenly, his voice soft and tired.

He could feel Meg shrug beside him. "There were a lot of reasons, for one, you were still in love with Joanne."

For a moment or two, Orli tensed, then after another second he slowly exhaled and turned his head to look at her. Megan met his dark brown gaze with a steady one of her own. He looked so young and vulnerable with the crew cut and yet it gave him a hardness that he had lacked when she had first met him.

"You were never a rebound girl, Meg ..." Orli breathed and she punched him softly on the arm.

"Sure, Orlando," she said and shook her head. "Go to sleep, it's late." She moved to get off the bed, but Orli's hand shot out and kept her back, so that she fell across his chest.

"Why did you leave?" Orli asked, his hands almost digging into the soft flesh of her shoulders.

"Orli, you need your sleep ..." Megan replied but Orlando shook his head.

"Why did you leave that morning?" he inquired again, this time his voice urgent, demanding. "Why did you up and leave after such a wonderful night?"

Megan closed her eyes, trying to fend off the pain that had settled into the pit of her stomach ever since he had whispered his ex' name on that morning. Slowly, she pushed her hands against his chest to get up but Orli's arms went around her back and hugged her close.

"Answer me, Megan, why did you leave?" Orli's voice whispered near her ear, sending shivers down her spine. Her mind registered warm soft skin beneath her fingertips as she struggled to push herself off, and for a moment, she was tempted to just remain in his arms, remain there and perhaps indulge in the fantasy that he might love her.

Meg frowned at that. 'Love ...', she thought and a warm feeling washed over her which she quenched with a vengeance. 'Love is for fools and I was only foolish once ...'

Gathering her strength, she pushed upward, then onto her knees and out of his arms. ' ... never again and especially not with an actor.'

Orlando flinched when she distanced herself from him and he hugged himself tightly. But he could not hold it against her.

'After all, she has to consider her boy-friend now. I'm glad she didn't as much as flinch when I asked her to share the room with me, but I need her close, just feeling her arms around me will probably calm me more than anything.' Giving her a pleading look, he closed his eyes when he saw Megan avoiding to look at him.

Meg then moved over to the bed stand, grabbing her cigarettes, and walked over to the window. The intricate wooden shutters in front of her smelled faintly of sandal wood and where still warm from the glaring sun. Lighting a cigarette, she stared out without seeing.

"It's okay, Megan ... sorry ..." Orli whispered into the darkness and then propped himself up on his side. He watched Megan's dark silhouette silently, admiring the shiny pale skin from her shoulders in the moonlight.

'Shit, Orli, she is your first real lady friend, don't fuck this up. She might not want to remember our night together. She is a friend, my friend, and she is taken,' Orli told himself firmly, but he could not repress the longing he had for her. And their last encounter in New Zealand had not quenched that feeling. He didn't know what had happened to him but that night, that one night had changed him. He had tried to ignore the faint tugging at his heart, had tried to pick up his normal life style again, but any woman compared to Megan was just shallow and artificial.

'And too blonde,' he added in his mind when an image of Jemma appeared. But now he had to consider her boy friend as well. He couldn't just tell her that he loved her and wanted to give it a try, not so soon after Jemma when it looked as if he wanted to use her as yet another rebound girl.

Megan could hear him stirring on the bed and for a moment she closed her eyes while she rested her head against the shutters. She knew even without seeing that Orli was stepping behind her, her mind keeping close tabs on him like his presence was a beacon that called out to her.

When his arms slowly came around her waist, Megan threaded her fingers with his that rested firmly on her tummy and leant back. She was afraid she would loose what little comfort she was getting if she would tell him why she had left. She didn't want to tell him that she had foolishly assumed that that one night had seemed to mean something to him, that she had so foolishly indulged in thinking he could be the one. She didn't want to lose him as a friend, just because of some spur of the moment hormonal urge over a year back.

'He is an actor after all,' she told herself silently. 'They are like butterflies who flutter from one flower to the next, never certain where they stay the next day.'

With a sigh she closed her eyes again, while Orli took the cigarette from her and inhaled several long drags, with his chin resting on her shoulder. They stood like this for what seemed to them like an eternity.

Megan shivered against his touch, she couldn't suppress the flutters she felt in her stomach, and for a moment she held her breath. 'Friendship is enough, I can't trust an actor - not after John. And my friendship with this man is more important than a relationship that is all wrong. Besides, I think I'm not relationship material. I failed with John, I failed with Peter.'

'And with Orli..' she wagged her tongue at herself silently. 'Better not go there, he was in love with Joanne, then Jemma, I would be the rebound girl again, and we both know it. I can't handle this. I just can't, even if he is not in love with one of these women anymore.'

Orli held her close, content that they could share a silence that could have been awkward to say the least. She still hadn't told him why she had left him but at least she had not screamed at him. With a sigh, he rested his chin on her shoulder, looking down at their entwined fingers. It soothed him to see them like this and it made him wish that he could always stay this way, their hands intertwined, belonging to each other. He stiffened at that thought.

'Somewhere along the way I have fallen for her, hard,' he thought and couldn't keep his lips from twitching into a sad smile. 'Perhaps it happened when she did not reject my soy milk outright, or when she lay in my arms sleepily on that plane.' SHaking his head slightly, he buried his nose in her hair, inhaling softly. She still smelled of strawberries and something that was uniquely her, a heady mixture that transported him back into a time and place where life seemed more uncomplicated, where he had been happy ... with her.

He stiffened noticeably at this line of thinking and shifted his weight.

It had darkened considerably when Megan felt Orlando shifting behind her. "Let's go to bed," he whispered into her ear which sent shivers down her spine but she quickly suppressed the feeling. "Tomorrow we'll go to the beach and you can work on that suntan of yours."

"That would be nice," Meg replied softly, and turned into his arms. Resting her hands against his bare chest, she smiled up to him. "Thanks for inviting me, Orli."

"My pleasure, after all I couldn't be without my own cuddle bear, right?" Orli shot back and Megan laughed at that, not seeing Orli's sad smile.

After they had settled into bed, close but not too close, Megan drifted off to sleep, her mind musing about the what might have been's of their strange, yet comforting friendship. But Orlando lay awake long afterwards. The moment he had seen her looking around at the airport, he knew that what he was feeling for her was surpassing that of friendship.

FALLING ! Lungs burning as the air was forced out the air around him burning and abrading his skin, crashing through layers of clouds, the ground looming before him ...

FALLING - IMPACTING!

HARD!

Orli's strangled scream was loud in the room, and Megan was immediately wide awake. Turning over, she cradled the panting young man into her arms while she rocked him to and fro.

"Ssshhhh, Orli, it's okay," she soothed, caressing his face gently while Orlando stared wide-eyed at her.

"Fuck," he breathed after his heart rate had gone down and he had caught his breath sufficiently. He turned into her arms, almost rolling on top of her as he clutched her to himself. "Megan ... please make them go away ...." he pleaded.

"Let's get you freshened up first," Megan murmured, feeling his sweaty skin beneath her fingertips. Disentagling herself from Orli, she ushered him over to the bathroom. At first she had thought that she should just put him under the shower but seeing that the bathtub was fitted with massaging jets she ran the faucet.

"Come on, get in there," she demanded after she had checked the water. Orli, still shaking from his recent nightmare, shook his head.

"Ummm... Megan ... " he started then actually blushed.

"What?" Megan asked and when she saw his reddish complexion, she grinned. "Now don't be so prudish, Orli," she said and hid a giggle. "I have seen you naked before ..."

They shared a grin when they remembered him telling her exactly the same thing over a year ago. WIth a shrug, he hooked his thumbs into his tight fitting boxers.

"No peeping," he said sternly and Meg laughed at that, waving him on with one hand while the other was securely clamped over her eyes. She heard water splashing, then a contented sigh and she sneaked a peep. She was grateful that the bubbles form the massage jets obscured his lower half from her view and after getting a wash cloth, she settled beside the tub and started rubbing his still sweat soaked skin.

After a while he relaxed, and laying back in the bubbling water, he closed his eyes and sighed contently. Megan watched his drawn face. He had lost a couple of pounds over the last months, if due to the boot camp or just his excessive life style she was not sure. His face looked both very hard and drawn and yet so young and vulnerable and for a short moment Meg ignored the warning voice inside her head and caressed him. Fingers danced lightly over his eyebrows that were like black slashes above his eyes, over his nose, his jutting chin, his high cheekbones. When she traced the lines of his lips with her thumb, his eyes opened.

Holding her gaze with his own they just stared at each other, two pairs of brown eyes that were so different, one a deep chocolate brown the other with gold and green dots in them. Reaching out his own dripping hand he mirrored her action his thumb tracing over her full lips, the lush lower lip felt soft beneath his touch and soft breath was caressing him.

For a moment, Orlando hesitated, then he drew her closer, his hand snaking around to the back of her neck. He felt Megan resisting, saw the fear that crept into her eyes as her hands came up to ball into fists against his chest. A whimper that came from the back of her throat was heard and Orli's heart almost broke in half at the sound. It sounded like that of a kitten... afraid, shocked ...sexy.

He drew her nearer, but instead of kissing her fully on the lips he then planted a soft kiss on her cheek. "Thank you for being here, Meg," he whispered against her ear. "It means a lot to me," He felt her nodding and he exhaled, relieved. He had almost done something really stupid but then again he was only a man, and stupid things were about as natural to him as breathing and drinking and eating.

Closing his eyes, he slumped back and he listened to Meg's soft stirrings as she stood up. Orli heard as she padded back into the bed room and he sighed a sigh of relief. He just hoped he had not chased her off again.

It was about ten minutes later when he felt her hand on his shoulder and looking up she held out a fluffy hotel bathrobe up and one of his underwear.

"Orli, come on out," she said, her voice having a hint of rawness in it. Letting her pamper him like a small child he let her help him into the bathrobe and rub his arms and shoulders dry through the material, careful to avoid the most sensitive areas. He smirked at that. How could she know that where Meg was concerned his whole body seemed to be one erogenous zone and he was glad when she left him to get into his boxers.

When Orlando felt calm enough to face her in the bedroom again, he saw that she was already in bed. Slipping beside her, he cuddled up to her and when she slung her arms around him, holding him close, all he could do was closing his eyes with a whispered "Thank you," on his lips as he slipped into the first soothing sleep for days.