You've Only Just Arrived (a Tom Hiddleston fan fiction)

Part 47

You manage to coax Tom back into bed twice before he finally leaves for work. He ends up having to hurry from the room while cupping his hands over his eyes like blinders while you grin wickedly at him. He pops his head back into the room, still with his hand covering his eyes, to leave you with a parting remark. "Don't forget to talk to Richard today about the tulips. I love you. Call me when you get back, please." He risks peeking at you between his fingers to see you nod and then he's gone from the room again.

You take your time packing up your things. Richard is impatient to get breakfast and head back. The second text that comes through makes you laugh.  You'll have to come down eventually.

Yes, yes. I'm on my way. There's time for waffles? Bacon?

Unless you take all morning, yes.

You stick out your tongue at his message and throw your bag over your shoulder. You'd briefly considered leaving something of yours in the hotel room for Tom to discover but then couldn't decide what... Another trip, perhaps. Richard has coffee waiting for you when you finally make it down to the reception area where the hotel has breakfast waiting for their guests. He's clearly been there awhile, a nearly empty plate sits beside several sections of already refolded newspaper.

He waits for you to take a sip of your coffee before speaking, "Tom and Bruce left at least half an hour ago. They were a little... rushed."

You smack your lips after swallowing your mouthful of caffeine. "Oh?"

Richard nods sagely. He tilts his head towards the breakfast bar, "Grab your bacon and I'll tell you who won the bet."

Bet? You raise your eyebrows at Richard. You return with your plate of food and are judiciously pouring on the syrup but Richard still hasn't resumed his thought. You have to prompt him to get him to comment further, "Ok... the bet?"

"When Tom didn't appear on time Bruce and I started to entertain ourselves." He plucks a piece of bacon off your plate and you rolls your eyes at him. You watch pointedly as he takes a bite and chews. He had breakfast already, why is he stealing your food? "I won – since you're not asking."

You use your fork to sever a bite of waffles off from the whole. "I'm trying to decide if I want to ask..."

Richard watches you dip the segment of waffles in the puddle of syrup on your plate before bringing it to your mouth. "Could you have used a little less syrup? We'll be in a confined space for the next few hours." He shakes his head.

"The bet?"

"I won because part of the agreement was not to meddle. Otherwise Bruce would have been knocking and announcing the time through the hotel room door. We thought the pair of you were going to be joining us for a run before breakfast. Wasn't that the plan?"

You smile between bites of food. You hadn't realized how hungry you were for focusing on other things. "Well, you know Tom and plans..."  

Richard just smiles at you.

Remembering your promise to Tom you wait until you and Richard have some privacy in the car before bringing up the tulips that continuously appear in your dressing room. You can't quite remember the exact date it started, and you ended up having to throw away one or two because they had started to wilt, but if you count the stems when you get back you'll have an approximate time to give him...

Now you just have to broach the subject.

"I'm not that hard to look after, am I?"

He gives you a curious look. He's mostly concentrating on the traffic surrounding the hotel but your segue wasn't the smoothest. "I've had worse jobs. Where's this -- I was just joking with you this morning, ______."

"No, yes. I mean, I know that I could do things to make your job easier. But I do try to listen..."  So much for a smooth transition. Could your words be any more elusive right now? You smooth your hands over the tops of your thighs

He's trying to figure out where you're trying to go with the conversation. He's still frowning though his expression is directed at the road rather than at you. "Give yourself some credit. You do listen when it counts. If this is about the skipped run this morning don't worry about it. Bruce would have retrieved Tom if it looked as though he'd be late and we're still on the road with plenty of time to spare."

You wave your hand to acknowledge him. "Yes. Look what I mean is that – when we get back... You were concerned over notes I've been getting to my dressing room," you bow your head sheepishly, "Yes, I overheard your conversation with Mark. If that's something you're worried about, then you should look into the tulips I've been getting, too."

It's a good thing the traffic hasn't let Richard get up to speed. He applies the brake so suddenly both of you jerk forward a little bit. "What? The ones on your dressing table? What about them?"

"They're not from Tom, like I thought. I asked him last night and he didn't know what I was talking about." You're watching him carefully. He's recovered from the sudden application of the brakes and his frown of confusion has morphed into a glare.

Recovered maybe isn't the proper word. He's turned now onto the highway and he's increasing his speed, more than the posted limit. You try not to watch the speedometer. He doesn't raise his voice, or turn to look at you either. He just keeps scowling at the road. "Why didn't you mention the tulips to me the day you started getting them?"

Didn't you start with that? "I thought they were from Tom. He'd sent roses to the apartment so I thought... I don't know, that he'd switched... places and flowers. I don't know. I mean the building has security so I figured..."

At your tone Richard has at least stopped glowering. His reply is stern, "Anything that arrives that seems questionable should be brought to my attention. What did the note say that made you think it was Tom's doing?"

You don't immediately reply. "Er..."

"______, tell me there was a note. I know we've talked about you receiving gifts without notes." He sighs.

It's your turn to scowl. "Speaking of notes. Want to tell me about the notes that have you and Mark concerned? Yes, I overheard that conversation the other day. Seems like that is something that should be brought to my attention."

Richard puffs out his cheeks. You've turned his words around upon him. You aren't wrong and he knows it. If they were concerned you needed to be in the loop too. "Mark noticed a few notes that were being sent to you that were – questionable." There's that word again. "And initialed rather than signed with a full name."

The letters that you've been getting in your stack of mail lately pop into your head. All signed: -MC.

He takes your silence for confusion, or a desire for further explanation. He maintains a firm grip on the steering wheel with one hand while using the other to better articulate his point. "Initials suggest intimacy – that you should know who the notes are from without it being expressly spelled out for you." He checks your expression to find you scowling. "We'll let the site security team know to screen your mail more closely... And to stop anyone trying to deliver flowers to you. They know better than to deliver things without notes. Are you sure you didn't just overlook it?" He's switching from talking to you, to muttering to himself, to talking to you again.

Something slipped past the security team. That's a bit unsettling.

You bite your lip. Because you'd assumed the flowers were from Tom you never really bothered to look for a note. Or had it been the other way around? In not finding a note you'd just assumed they were from Tom?

Richard presses a sequence on the dashboard to dial Mark. The rest of the ride is devoted to establishing a plan to deal with this newly discovered issue. Security will hold everything until Richard can review it. No exceptions.

Rather than head back to your place, Richard wants to stop by the set to examine the tulips for himself. Maybe you'd increased everyone's stress levels for no reason. Yes. He would take one look and discover a note tucked down between an overly large leaf and the stem to one of the tulips. Everyone would laugh about the paranoia.

You stop short walking into your dressing room which nearly causes Richard to walk into you. Now there is a red tulip amongst the mass of white flowers.