THE NEEDLE PART 4 - BACKSTITCH

Needle found herself rolling her good eye as she let herself into her apartment. She swore that Mouse was such a blonde in disguise. She had actually caught herself looking at the top of Mouse’s head from time to time to see if there was any trace of blonde roots showing, but nope. She shut the door quietly behind her, then frowned at voices. She instantly went into overdrive, ears pricked up, rising onto the balls of her feet slightly, sinking into her knees.

She padded up to the living room door... and straightened up, with a strange, soft smile. Lying along her sofa, illuminated by the light of the TV, was Joseph, his one hand hanging just above the floor, the controller clearly fallen out of his hand and lying on the carpet. Needle walked over to him and just looked at him, head slightly to one side. He was a long pale shape along her black suede monster of a sofa, she’d deliberately chosen a 6 footer in case she ever had to crash on it, lying on his front, one arm cushioning his head, which was turned to  the right, towards the TV, the flashing lights of the game making him seem that much paler, his sharp face somehow softened in sleep, long lashes resting on his cheek.

Needle’d told him not to wait up. He obviously had.

That strange smile still in place, she picked up the Xbox controller and saved and shut down the game, Mass Effect, the original, she noted, turning the TV and console off. He gave a sleepy mumble and turned over slightly and she straightened up, torn. He looked so peaceful she didn’t want to wake him, but he would be so much more comfortable in an actual bed. When Needle had bought the flat a while back, she’d done so for the quiet neighbourhood, the good positioning, the garage that she could store stuff in... she hadn’t really thought about the spare bedroom, besides the thought of maybe her nieces coming over to stay at some point. Besides last night, it hadn’t been slept in, and from the amount of pacing he’d done last night, she doubted that it that that had changed.

She sighed and crouched down, and gently stroked his neck... and with the strangest impulse, kissed him gently on the forehead. He gave the most adorable start, then opened one pale blue eye.

“I wasn’t asleep,” he mumbled. “Just inspecting the inside of my eyelids.”

“You were snoring,” Needle countered gently.

“Nope. I’ve worked nights, I know I don’t snore,” he protested, then gave a jaw-cracking yawn.

She stroked his hair gently.

“I thought I told you not to wait for me,” she remarked.

“Yeah well, Mass Effect,” he shrugged.

“I see,” She gave him a long look. “You had a nightmare, didn’t you?”

He sat up quickly, not looking at her, not answering the question, and Needle sighed and sat down next to him. She reached up... fingers brushing the plastic of her sunglasses, then sighed and snapped them off, tucking them into her jacket pocket. From where she was sat, he could only see the left side, the undamaged side.

“Joseph...” Her hand slid out to cover his. “If it...” She hesitated, then pressed on. “I know it never helps when some-one says ‘I know how you feel’, but I actually do know how you feel.”

“Really?” Joseph looked up at her, voice faintly cynical. “I don’t have you pinned down at the helpless type.”

Needle turned to look at him, and saw his eyes flicker to her blind eye, widen in shock, then quickly look away. She reached forwards and caught him by the chin, guiding his head back to look at her, making him look into her eyes.

“If I didn’t want you to see, I wouldn’t’ve let you,” Needle stated. “I’m not the helpless type Joseph, not naturally submissive, but trust me, the mighty fall. There was...” She swallowed. “A guy. I loved him above and beyond the call of duty, I’d’ve walked into the mouth of hell and stolen death’s golden teeth for him if he’d asked. But he... got greedy. He didn’t believe my sincerity, took my reticence for aloofness, my silence for distance; he didn’t get me. And so one day, he betrayed me and my friend, who he was certain I was having an affaire with. We were making a trade and he ensured it went tits, cut us out, and...”

Needle swallowed, wanting to look down, away, but forcing herself to look into Joseph’s eyes.

“I got shot,” She stated it flatly, baldly. “Then they hauled me off down into a basement with the dead body of my friend and locked the door on us. I was lying there in the dark, a shard of glass on the floor digging into my eye, certain that I was going to die, that that was it, that it was over. And sometimes when I dream, I’m still there, still immobilised in that bloody basement, the world shattered around me, time counting down until I just give in and stop breathing.”

Joseph saw her eye mist over slightly, go distant, then it sharpened, sparkling gold.

“By my other friend got there in time, and we burned the bastard,” She continued, then stroked his neck again gently. “Joseph, there’s always a choice. You can stay trapped in the cellar, or you can just say ‘enough’ and leave it behind. It’s hard and the door will always been yawning open, trying to suck you back in, you just have to be stronger.”

“I’m...” He shook his head slightly.

“Not strong enough?” She proffered. “Babe, every-one feels that way. When you’re just not strong enough to deal with the shit. But...” She took his hand and laced his fingers through hers. “You’re only alone when you want to be.”

Joseph looked at her, his eyes searching hers... then smiled slightly, squeezing her hand.

“Has any-one told you that you’re amazing?”

“Not today, no.”

He gave a low chuckle at her flippant quip.

“Well you are.”

She felt her cheek burn, very slightly and looked away. When she glanced back, Joseph was leaning towards her, gazing intently at her.

“And you’re freaking gorgeous,” he breathed, voice as intense as his eyes.

Needle opened her mouth to protest, to say that he needed his eyes checking, when his mouth was suddenly very firmly on hers. She tensed, then allowed her eyes to drift shut and leant forwards, her arms sliding around his chest, one hand pressed in the small of his back, the other tracing the long line of his neck. Joseph wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her on top of him, lying back, legs underneath her...

She sat up, propping her chin on his chest, giving him a sultry smile.

“So, you wanna take this to the bedroom?” She asked him conversationally.

Joseph reached up, pulling the pins out of her hair so that it fell loose, a long dark conker-brown cascade around her face and grinned.

“If you insist...” he purred. “But I’m quite happy here.”

“But, if we go to my bedroom, we don’t have to motivate ourselves to get off the sofa and into bed afterwards,” She observed.

“That is a valid point,” he considered it, a grin filtering onto his face at the ridiculousness of the conversation. “Wanna flip a coin?”

“Nope.”

She ran her hands sensuously over him and nibbled along his neck, teasingly lightly, feeling him jump underneath her. Needle swung herself deftly off him, standing upright, hand on hip, head cocked at a saucy angle, grinning.

“Come get me champ.”

He leapt at her. Giggling like a schoolgirl, she ran to the bedroom, Joseph in pursuit. He almost tripped over the bag she’d dumped by the door, and saw the soft silk of the dress she’d been wearing earlier cascade out of her bag. He glanced up to see her leaning against her bedroom doorframe, her shirt unbuttoned down to reveal a healthy dose of cleavage, long hair waving around that face with it’s brilliant golden eye.

“If you’re a very good boy, I’ll show you later,” She purred, then beckoned. “Oh lover boy...”

Joseph just grabbed her by the waist and escorted her, very firmly inside, kicking the door shut after them.