He Stole My Cab (Benedict Cumberbatch Fanfiction)

Chapter Twelve

I let the kiss last a few glorious seconds before tying to say “Bene-dict, we need – to talk” between the kisses. He sighed and pulled away, looking slightly sheepish and then looked down to see the saucepan in my hand and I dropped it blushing. I took his hand and lead him through my apartment to the living room and sat down on the sofa.

We sat there for a few awkward moments, I sat crossed legged facing him and he sat tall, with one leg tucked under the other so he was facing me too, and I let the silence continue, not wanting to say anything because I knew once I explained everything he wouldn’t think of me the same way ever again. He took both of my hands and covered them with his, trailing his thumb in circles over my skin.

I sighed and took a deep breath before I started talking. I told him how I had met Jamie in university, how we had fallen in love and I saw something flash in his eyes when I said that but ignored it and continued, I told him how everything had changed, why it had changed, and then I told him about the abuse; the bruises the scars, both mental and physical. His grip tightened on my hands as I spoke and it wasn’t until he wiped a tear from my cheek that I realised that I was crying, the tears flowed silently and steadily.

I finished and looked down, looking at his hands instead. I don’t know how I felt, it was a mixture between sadness and humiliation and I felt dirty and broken. I waited for him to leave, to decide that I had too much baggage for him to be dealing with, but he sat still.

Then he lifted my hands to his face, and kissed my palms then the back of my hand. He kissed up my right arm then took my face in his hands and kissed my forehead. He then picked up my left arm and kissed all the way down that. He moved aside the material of my dressing gown to kiss down my leg to my foot and then back up the other leg. He kissed my stomach through my pyjamas, right on the bruise that lay there like a dark demon. Then he looked into my eyes and as I tried to look away, he took my face in his big hands and made me look at him.

“Theresa, nothing that you have just said has made me stop caring for you, it hasn’t made me think that you are a bad person, that you are broken or that you are damaged. If anything it has made me realise even more how much of a strong woman you are. I kissed every part of you to show you that you are beautiful, that you are wonderful and that you, above all things, deserved to be loved. And I only hope that I am worthy enough to be that person to love and care for you, because I am not going anywhere. Because I need you Theresa, I need you more than you can ever imagine, I want to make you laugh, and smile, I want to be the person you kiss to make everything go away, and I promise you that I will protect you and that I will be there for you not because you need someone to rely on or someone to ‘fix’ you, but because I want to be, because you are the most wonderful, funny. beautiful person I have ever met.”

His voice was enchanting as he spoke, and I couldn’t help the smile spread across my face, and when I smiled he smiled too, those perfect lines appearing by his eyes and the dimples deep in his cheeks. He gently pulled me forwards, so that I sat there in his lap, my head against his strong chest and his arms enclosing me. Slowly he leant backwards so that he was lying down, me still on his chest, his head on the edge of the sofa, like a pillow, and I breathed in his cologne, mixed with a comforting smell of fresh laundry, and I felt my eyes begin to drift close as he rubbed his hands soothingly over my back and kissed the top of my head. I felt his breathing begin to slow as well, and his arms go slightly limp and carefully I leant up and placed a kiss on his cheek, and watched as a small smile crossed his angelic face, his eyes remaining closed, and I lay back down and closed my own eyes and felt more at peace than I had in a very long time.