Mindful Beauty

27) His Past

Lifting herself completely to go get it, Hope opened the door to reveal Damien. "Is Ella here?" He looked behind Hope to see Ella on the bed.

"Yeah," Hope moved to the side to invite Damien in. "She kind of knocked out, though."

"Oh, did she?" Damien stopped walking deeper into the room. He had come with a notebook and pen in hand in hopes that him and Ella could sketch out a plan for the Parker case. Ever since three weeks ago, both of them had gotten caught up in their own personal schedules and could only see each other or call each other for brief amount of times, sometimes even only to wish each other a goodnight.

"Hope!" Barnes called from downstairs loudly, and Hope winced, closing the door a bit. "Hope!"

"I'll go. She probably wants help with dinner. See you later." Hope rushed out, quietly shutting the door behind her before her footsteps scurried down the stairs and her voice responded to Joselyn.

Damien sighed, deciding to just stay in that room since he had gotten to room with Oliver, and Damien was sure that if he spent one more minute with that adult-sized baby, then Damien would lose it. So he went to sit in a corner of the room, using the quiet of the room to work until Ella began stirring with how loud the downstairs area was.

Ella moved to her side, her back to Damien, unknowing of his presence as she gently slipped her shoes off, curling back into a small bundle of warmth. It had been a while since she had slept so soundly but that was thanks to her exhaustion. She would work herself to the bone just to sleep without any problems at night. While she could go for days without nightmares, sometimes, they still resurfaced, especially since she was a light sleeper. Any sound would alert her immediately.

"Good sleep?" Damien's low voice rumbled in the silent room, scaring Ella tremendously as she flinched back, quickly sitting up which caused a dizzy spell for her. "Sorry, Ella, it's just me." Damien closed his book, approaching her carefully so that she could see that it was just him.

"Hi," Ella whispered, out of breath. She pushed her hair back, feeling how it had quickly gotten sticky against her skin when she had heard the unknown and deep voice. "What," her voice came out hoarse and sore, and she winced, clearing it. "What are you doing here?" She tried again, still tense since she couldn't see his face in the dark room. Now with the cold weather, the sun would set much earlier, so it was completely dark inside.

"Oliver." Damien thought one word would suffice as an explanation.

Ella, however, instead of laughing, quickly moved off the bed once she felt a heavy weight fall on it. She headed towards where she had seen a lamp earlier and turned it on, finally sighing once she was able to see Damien's face.

"I'm sorry. I know it was you, but," Ella swallowed, unable to verbally explain her angst and concern.

"Do you want to come closer?" Damien offered, itching to pull her closer to hug her, but he didn't know if she would be comfortable with that.

"I... let me wash up first. I'm sweating a bit." Ella admitted with a small and bashful laugh. Damien smiled, relieved to hear her more relaxed.

"Take your time. I'll be downstairs." Damien promised, leaving Ella to comfortably shower. While he waited downstairs, he mostly just sat to himself, ignoring the bickering between Hope and Oliver until Oliver began egging Damien on, hoping to get a reaction out of him.

"Come on. How did it start? Did you just fall in love at first sight?" Oliver nudged Damien with his elbow. Damien only sent him a panned look. "I mean, I can understand. She is very beautiful."

Damien couldn't disagree with that, so he just looked away. He didn't necessarily feel the need to share such private moments.

"I'm sure he fell for Ella the same way we all came to adore her." Barnes, the more motherly figure among the group, calmed Oliver's nagging, motioning for him to calm down.