True to You

Unbreak Me

Elliot was confusing the hell out of him. It had been a long time since he'd been confused. Way back in his first couple of days in this place to be precise. Every time he mentioned her daughter she burst in to tears.

That was understandable. Or would be if they were someplace where it was possible to express emotions normally, but they weren't. The lack of heavy emotions was supposed to make things easier like a shot of painkiller for the soul. Even so, he'd seen Val's tears a time or two so he got that when the feelings were strong they sometimes bled through.

No, what had him mentally cringing was the way she'd burst in to tears after they made love. That was not a positive thing for a guy's ego. Had it been that bad? Even their first time as teenagers had been good as far he was concerned and he'd thought that it was the same for her. After all she'd been more than eager to get back on the – ahem – horse to consolidate their skills. But one minute he was cluing her in to all the bonuses when it came to sexing in the afterlife and then the next minute she was crying. What the hell was that all about? Unless...

"Shit Elli. Did you want to have more children?" Jimmy blurted out without thinking.

"What?" she sniffed blinking away the tears in her eyes.

"Well you know, I mentioned that this is a baby free zone and you started crying."

Elliot gave a watery laugh and pressed her fingertips to her eyes. "No Jimmy I'm not crying because I wanted more babies. I'm nearly thirty-eight – was nearly thirty-eight, this is still all so weird – having more children was definitely not on my agenda."

"So it was the sex. Sorry," Jimmy said and ducked his head desperate to let his eyes rove over her still naked form but not sure that it was entirely appropriate now considering Elliot's tears. "I thought it was pretty awesome but then it's been a while for me."

"It has?" Uncertainty played across Elliot's features.

"Since before I came here." He looked her in the eyes and hoped she could hear the sincerity in his voice.

It was impossible for Elliot to hide her shock although he could see that she tried. She cleared her voice. "Wow. That's...that's a long time."

Feeling naked and vulnerable Jimmy reached for the covers and drew them over their naked bodies. He could have thought them into clothes and on to a sofa for this conversation but he didn't feel capable. For the first time in a long while he felt strangely human. He hoped that she didn't notice the defensiveness in his shrug of agreement. He wanted to close his eyes so he didn't have to look at her expression. It had been a long time since someone had wielded that kind of emotional power over him. Not since, he swallowed hard when realisation hit, Elliot herself. She'd broken his heart and after that he'd been everything to everyone but never quite let anyone get as close as she had.

Elliot nuzzled into his side and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Okay, so you did try tell me that this isn't some kind of supernatural version of the Playboy Mansion, I guess I didn't totally believe you."

Jimmy shrugged again. Her lack of faith in him seemed to be a theme...

"So what else do you do here? When you're not hanging out with my musical idols that is."

"I write songs, play music. Watch over the people I care about." Jimmy said as he examined the patterns on the ceiling. He often wondered why, in a place that was essentially a creation of his own mind as the loft space they were occupying was, there were water stains on the ceiling. Had he created them in the place that only he, and now Elliot, could see. He'd never shared the loft with any one else, not even King who often got a different version of Jimmy's living space to the shag palace he shared when Val was around.