RC.

Ch8 .......... J

Read Slowly... ...

Time seems to stop. A strange impression envelops me. It's as if I'm living the last moments of my life.

My breathing stops, the world seems to alter around me as if I was watching the scene in slow motion.

All of sudden I feel large familiar hands wrap themselves around my arms as I'm propelled backwards.

I hear a gunshot, my head spins, I feel disorientated.

Did I get shot? I can't feel anything. It's as if my body was plunged into a cottony state, like in a trance.

Ryan holds me firmly in his arms. I feel his breath on my forehead and his muscles taut to their maximum.

I put a hand on his chest to make sure he's okay.

T: "Ryan..."

I whispered this, distraught and trembling.

Ryan is holding me firmly against him. I'm clinging to his shirt, my heart beating like mad.

R:"Tayla! You're crazy, don't stay here!"

I examine him as if I were discovering him form the first time and my body relaxes.

I see Jake; He's swooped down on the creep. He's already disarming him! Other agents rush up to him.

T:"Ryan ... You ... You're not hurt ..."

I stagger, the emotion dies down. I feel totally emptied of my energy.

He's supporting me, scanning over my body, making sure I'm alright.

R:"What got into you? He could have killed you!"

In his eyes I see for the first time anxiety, but ... there is something else.

A spark, a particular emotion that you can only find in the eyes of someone for whom you're important.

(Ryan is the one that matters to me..)

I realise how much I care about him in spite of everything!

T:"My God Ryan ... I thought that ..."

I don't finish my sentence and huddle up against him.

R:"When I saw you scream, alone , in front of that guy, I thought I was going to go crazy. Tayla, why did you do that?!"

I look up at him, my eyes filled with tears.

Does he really have to ask? Does he really have to make me admit it? Do I have to make a fool of myself?

T:"I didn't care what could happen to me. I only thought of you ..."

This time he hold me even more tightly up against him. I close my eyes stifling a sob.

He runs a hand through my hair and kisses the top of my head. I breath in his smell and everything becomes calm again.

I slowly come around. I open my eyes and I see Ryan glance over at his aggressor, now under control.

Then he lift my chin up, fixing his gaze in mine.

R:"I'm so sorry ... I never meant to hurt you ... I ... I don't deserve you."

I want to believe him. I want to believe that what we had can continue. That the last sequence of events was just one horrible nightmare.

The agitation around us is still at its height. The aggressor is still here, close by, the security teams are on the alert, but it all seems so secondary!

We are both safe and sound, and that all that's count.