Perfect Imperfections

Chapter 14: HAPPY

Archer winced as Emilia cleaned the blood off his knuckles. She applied some disinfectant from the first aid kit she had found in one of Rosalia's cramped drawers.

Emilia had watched Archer hit the mirror in his room sending shards of glass flying. The maid had had to come in and clean up the pieces of glass in the room. Archer was once again studiously avoiding Emilia's gaze.

Shame.

Archer was ashamed of himself. He had allowed his mother to get to him again and he had lost his temper and almost killed her. The last time he had lost his temper someone else had died but that person had deserved to die.

"You should get a Tetanus shot." Being a doctor, she had to give him such advice even though she was sure that Tetanus was the least of his concerns at the moment.

Archer simply nodded

Once Emilia was done cleaning his wound, Archer went downstairs to prepare their dinner.
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Archer cleared their plates when they were done eating. The spaghetti and meatballs had been truly delicious. He had even included peach cobbler for dessert. Archer had skills and not for the first time did Emilia contemplate what a life with him would be like. A man who could cook. A girl could dream right?

"You have had a long day. You should get some rest." Archer finally said when he came back to the room. Understanding completely well how Archer was feeling, she didn't put up a fight. She agreed to sleep in Rosalia's extremely soft bed. She tested the bed first to ensure that she would not be sucked into another dimension. When she was sure that the bed would not suck her in, she lay on the bed till she slept off.

Archer watched her surreptitiously until her breathing calmed down then he went to bed to battle his demons.

Now alone in his bed, he allowed himself to think back to the kitchen incident in all it's glory. What had he done? Abigail always knew how to tear apart his wires with her sharp tongue. Archer recalled Emilia's face when she had seen Archer in the process of strangling his mother. It wasn't the panic and her frantic shouts for him to stop that had made him stop. It was the fear that had taken over her features. For a few moments, Emilia had been scared of him. Archer would never forget that look.

Damn it.

He lay on his bed awaiting sleep or even death to come free him from the millions of thoughts running through his mind.
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Emilia woke up in full on combat with the air. She was punching and kicking at everything and nothing at the same time. Pillows were sent every which way, the bed covers flew off and she awoke from her nightmare-induced stupor. This time she had dreamt that the person whipping her on the cinder block was none other than sweet, handsome and now short tempered Archer. She extricated herself from Rosalia's wretched bed and walked towards Archer's room. She stood there watching him sleep for one long minute until his bedside light snapped on scaring the shit out of her.

"Can't sleep?" He asked. The bedside light cast a yellow spotlight on his face and from the alertness in his eyes she could tell that he had not been sleeping.

"Yeah. Bad dream." Emilia replied. "I am scared that if I sleep again I will have yet another bad dream."

Archer stroked his day old beard as he thought then he said, "If we both can't sleep then let's work." He pulled out his computer from the bed side drawer and pushed the sheets aside indicating that she should sit. This setting was a little too intimate for Emilia but after winning a debate with her logical self, she took a place next to him.