weapons † hs [two]

21. hanger on the door

🔪
so... this manip is a little different ;)

As the days have passed, Caroline has become a bit more optimistic and highly attached to me, as if she's had some personal epiphany. The four of us have spent these several days in Paris adjusting to this new, unpredictable lifestyle that we've had to assess as time goes.

Our first issue arose when on our third day, Caroline, whose slightly more languid and exhausted as her pregnancy develops, pleaded that I simply cuddle with her on the sofa that morning after we had breakfast. Despite her mood change from being depressed to glass-half-full, the pregnancy has made nine o'clock her bedtime, and she needs at least eleven hours of sleep.

That quiet, tranquil morning we cuddled like a couple of free, unwanted people without worry, listening to the background noise of the only English news station broadcasting on the tv, the streetcars honking about below us as people went to work, and murmurs of Caleb and Ryan talking over something in their room.

We laid on the couch in each other's arms, her back pressed to my chest to steal my warmth that I happily lent to her. I had woken her up a little earlier than she cared for that day, so she was dozing off in my arms as I played with her soft waves of blonde hair that were sprawled all over the both of us, my other hand holding her tummy where our baby lies.

The sound of my name on the television halted my loving actions and interrupted her reach for sleep, both of our ears and eyes perking up to pay attention to the breaking news report about us, a surreal moment to witness.

The minute I turned up the volume, I heard the rustling of Caleb and Ryan's feet that met us in the living room with the same wide-eyed expression, all four of us engrossed in the screen.

"...Not only has this British fugitive escaped yet again, but those FBI agents we mentioned that were after him have disappeared too," the French reporter announced, my headshot bearing a big red question mark over it next to her head.

"Agent Caroline Forbes, the woman previously involved in Styles' case, and partner Agent Ryan Baker were sent to recapture Styles over a month ago by the head of Styles' case, Agent Wilson. The two were last heard from as they were heading back to America with the guilty fugitive, though never arrived on their plane home and have vanished along with Harry Styles."

I flickered my gaze to Caroline's unreadable reaction that studied the screen, finding that Ryan is responding the same way as he gawks at the tv.

"In a recent interview, Agent Wilson spoke firmly his beliefs of what occurred," the reporter introduced a video taken just a day ago of Caroline's boss, and my love flinches as if he was really right in front of us speaking.