From Chi to Cali: A Henry Cavill Fan Fic

Part 16: Los Angeles

JANELLE POV

"Alright, sleepyheads."

I was almost awake anyway. I opened my eyes to see other people on the jet getting their stuff together.

"Our two little lovebirds--oh, you're awake," one of the players said. "Well, wake him up."

I nudged Henry. "Henry?" I scratched his chest lightly. "Henry?" It felt weird to say "Cav" now, especially since I had been saying his first name for hours last night.

"Hmm?" His eyes were still closed. We fell asleep facing each other.

"We're landing."

"Oh," he turned onto his back and stretched. He blinked a few times and looked at me. "Slept well?"

"As well as to be expected." I teased softly. "You?"

"Yeah," his blue eyes looked hazy with sleep. "Thanks for getting up and washing our clothes."

"Hey, they were already presoaked," I joked lightly. We literally left them in the shower. All I had to do was get them and drop them in the machine. His eyes sparked with humor. 

"To go," an attendant said, handing us covered coffee cups. 

"Thank you," we said in unison as she set down creamers, sugars, and stirrers in front of us.

We got our pastries to go, thanked our hosts with promises of updates and were gone.

"Where do we go now?"

A bald headed man stood next to a parked SUV. He had a fatherly look, like one who found his children after curfew. 

"That's Rand, head of my regular security detail."

"The one whose sister had surgery?"

"Yes."

"So where is he taking us?"

He smiles and exhales. "Home."

Within a couple of hours we were on an island, his island. He made sure we stopped for a bathing suit. When in Rome, I thought. Everybody out here is used to beach life. He quirked a brow at my suit.

He smiled as I got a huge sunhat,  full length sarong, dark glasses and slip ons. "Darling, we're in California."

"And this is me," I tweaked his nose. "in California." He raised an eyebrow at me and I mirrored his expression. "Don't worry, darling, you get to see everything." Seeing his eyes light with laughter, I made my way to change. I couldn't help but notice he didn't change into anything.

"I have to go make this statement."

I got up to get dressed. 

"You'll be safe here."

"No, I won't." I went to him. "Don't leave me here."

"Sweetheart, you'll be fine," he says softly. I saw Rand try to look deadpan, but he wasn't cutting it. "The only way on this island is by boat or chopper."

I began to get upset. Everytime we've separated since we met so far has been bad. I put my hands on his chest, begging him. "Henry."

"Janelle." He took both of my hands and kissed them. "You'll be fine. Besides, I'm the target."

"Yes, and I'm leverage."

He exhaled heavily. He knew I had a point. 

"Rand will stay here," he nodded. "He's my most trusted man."

"Then he should be with you!"

"Trust me this time?" He smiled gently.

"Don't do this, don't treat me as if I'm some damsel to leave locked up here--"

"You're being dramatic." His look hardened slightly. Okay, I officially don't like that look, I decided. He was not going to give in, I saw it in his eyes, felt it in the rigidness of his stance, heard it in the lower timbre of his voice.

"Please." 

"It'll be alright." he assured and turned to Rand. "Do not let her out of your sight, not even in the house. If she goes to bed, stand outside the door."

"Henry--"

"I mean it, Rand," he took a deep breath. "I need you to do this for me."

Rand nodded, but he gave me a look. He clearly did not want me around, or was opposed to what was happening between Henry and me. 

Henry kissed my forehead and let me go.  I saw the chopper take off minutes later. I went into the house and felt such a loss, worried.  I looked around.  "Where is the boat?"

"What boat?"

"Stop it, Rand, he said it himself. There is more than one way off this island."

"And you won't be using it." He took a deep breath. "Janelle, I'm sure you're very nice. But this isn't home. You're not staying."

"I have a home of my own, an ancestral one," I hissed. "Over a century old, been in the family for over half a century, built of brick and boulder and stone, and I assure you, it was built on hard work, sweat, and tears, not a flash of a grin or the flex of a bicep." I felt tears come to my eyes. "You don't know me." 

"Alright," Rand puts his hands up. "so you're not a gold digger or a ladder climber or scene stealer. But why you are here is about to end, I just want you to be ready for that."