At First Sight

I Love You

Michael knew she was there before she even reached out and knocked the door. The sound of her tiny attempts reverberated through his apartment and through his bones as he stood just behind the door. He reached out and turned the handle, letting the door swing open slowly to reveal her tear stained face and forgiving body. He kept his eyes on the ground before him. He couldn't look at her right now.

He released his hold on the door and walked away from her into his apartment and she followed, clicking the door closed behind her softly. A silence hung between them and neither spoke for a long time. The only sound was the ticking of Michael's clock and some faint hums from a riverboat party below his apartment's balcony.

"Nothing happened between us," Sara half lied with a shaky voice. Michael still did not look at her, a sarcastic laugh bursting into the room.

"You were having lunch with him Sara," he swung his head to hers, taking a step towards her. "Forgive me for not believing you considering what happened between us before we got to lunch" he spat towering above her. Sara closed her eyes and dropped them to her feet, a tear dropping onto her shoes.

Michael took his jacket off and threw it into an untidy heap on his couch. The expensive black fabric clashed horribly with the pine framework of his deep red corner group. He inhaled with a sigh and rested a hand on his hip, his other hand rubbing his temple. His arm left his temple and extended out, pointing outwards over the river and into town.

"He's my brother Sara. I know what he is like," he shouted at her but with a sympathetic tone. He didn't want to scare her, just try and make her see what he was seeing. Try and explain to her why it was so difficult for him to see her and Lincoln together. After all, he did know Lincoln better then she did and he was more then capable of cheating on Veronica with a beautiful young woman like Sara.

Sara narrowed her eyes at him, her own rage building within her body. "Do you?" she stepped towards him, her voice jumping an octave. She positioned herself in front of him so he could not escape her gaze. "Do you even know yourself?"

Michael heaved a sigh for her but did not move any closer. Her words rang true in his ears and she was right. He didn't know himself. He had never felt like this about anyone in his entire life and she had no idea what she did to him. His bruised knuckles itched on his hand as he recalled his outburst towards his own brother. Never in his life had he struck another human being, let alone his only family.

"Sara..." he began in a whisper but she cut him off with furious words.

"No Michael, you listen," she began turning from him and pacing across his apartment. The hardwood flooring beneath her shoes was spongy to walk on, well insulated and inviting. Her flat shoes clomped with every step, making dull slapping noises on the floor.

"You came into my life and it was good. It was more than good, it was amazing." He looked up into her face as she spoke but she held up her hand telling him not to interrupt. "And you made me feel like a goddess while you showered me with affection and made love to me," her breathing increased and her words turned to a sigh as she tingled with feelings. "You made love to me Michael, and I never wanted to come back from where you took me. And then you left," her voice broke, "And I was lost."

"I was gone for two weeks," Her sorrow gained no emotion from Michael as he stood stoic and unrevealing to the spot. She ran a trembling hand through her hair as she paced, and she tasted her tears on her lips. The skin on her face felt taught from the water stains and she scratched at them lightly.

"I'm sorry. Lincoln reminded me of you so much," she laughed lightly. "Now I know why." His face remained unchanged and his blood boiled at her brother's name on her lips. "Lincoln found me that night at the bar and for a second I thought he could be you but he wasn't. He was Lincoln." Michael's hand came up to rest, open palmed next to his ear. He pressed his eyes closed.

"Stop saying Lincoln," he told her, his voice a mixture of anger and tired sorrow. He processed her words carefully before dropping his hand to his side and turning to face her with a wrench of heartache in his chest.

"I'm sorry," she told him again, her own heart twisting in her chest.

"And stop saying you're sorry if nothing happened!" Michael's voice rose above talking level and made her jump. It roared through the apartment, drowning out the small sounds of the clock and the riverboat party. Sara's eyes flooded once more and she turned away from him. She couldn't lie to his beautiful face. Michael cocked his head at her action and took a step towards her.

"What?" he demanded hearing her weep. She was silent and took a step away from him, an action that made Michael flush with fright, the pit of his stomach burning with fear. "Dammit Sara, Tell me!" he insisted, his tone one of irritation.

"We nearly kissed!" She cried at him, spinning to face him. "We nearly kissed because I was drunk and wanted to feel your lips on mine and you were not there and Lincoln was," her incoherent babble flowed from her mouth in a string of high pitched squeaks. Michael stared at her dumbfounded before he tore his eyes from hers and clenched his jaw shut tight.

"Get out," he breathed in a husky voice. His eyes fixed on a broken image of Lincoln on the floor before him and it made his blood bubble beneath his skin. "Get out," he repeated, snapping his head towards her and quickly moving to grab her roughly by the arm.

"Michael, please!" her cries ricocheted through his soul as her tears fell and she fought in his grasp. He dragged her towards the door and yanked it open, pushing her into the terracotta hallway and slamming it closed behind her. His own tears threatened to come as he rested his forehead against the door, eyes squinted closed trying to block out her bawling.

"Michael!" she called as she beat against the door weakly, her body shaking as she wept. She pressed her own forehead to the door and her cries filled the corridor. "I love you," she breathed into the door, her tears soaking the wood.

Michael's heart sank when he heard her whisper. He stood for a long time, contemplating the rest of his life without her. The way he would feel each and every morning as he awoke to an empty bed. How he would never feel her lips on his skin and touch her again if he didn't make this right. He had been jealous and jumped to conclusions that could ruin his existence.

The sounds of her hitching breath slowed as the door latch clicked in its hole and the stained door opened. She stood taller, wiping her face and gulping down a lump of air that had formed in her throat. A silence between them came to an abrupt end when he raised his head and stared longingly into her eyes. "I love you too," he murmured back and she rushed into his arms.

Michael held her, never wanting to let go. He crushed the side of his face to her auburn covered head as she cried against his chest. His shirt became soaked with her tears and his lungs burnt with the regret of his earlier words. He rubbed her back lightly, calming her erratic cries and he hushed her with a trembling voice.

Hauling his body from hers, he took her face in his hands and kissed her hard. Her mouth tasted like salt on his tongue and he brushed her stray tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. He pushed the door closed behind her and backed her into it, pressing his entire body to hers, missing the feel of her beneath him. His arms caged her in as they landed on the door on either side of her, his mouth hungrily devouring hers.

Sara gasped as he lifted her from the floor, and her thighs instinctively wrapped around his waist. Their kiss was broken when he dropped his head to her neck and planted feather light kisses in a line towards her shoulders. Her head began swimming and she wrapped her delicate arms around his neck as he carried her towards his bedroom.