Survivor - Connor x OC

Speechless

Lady Gaga - Speechless

"It's been a long week." Connor watched Taylor's shoulders hunch forward as she bent over, speaking into the phone. She was facing slightly away from him, her blonde hair gathered messily over one shoulder so that he could see the sun-kissed skin at her throat before it disappeared beneath the collar of her coat.

"I'm waiting to meet the stylist." Her head tilted slightly, elongating the line of her neck. The faint pattern of bruises left by her stepfather were still visible, the edges a soft yellow, the middles still tinted blue where his fingers had dug into her flesh. Connor swallowed. The arm not holding her phone was wrapped around her middle, and he could see the knuckles of her fingers blanched white from digging into her side.

"I'm okay." Four days. Four more sessions with Congress, and though the week had started on a high note, the constant back and forth was starting to wear on her. He could see the stress eating at her and had done what he could to help, to relieve some of that stress, to prepare her for the day to come. It felt like less than nothing, looking at her now.

"He's here. You talk to him." Taylor turned suddenly, her blue eyes finding his brown. She shoved the phone out in the space between them, gesturing for him to take it. "Here, it's Alex."

Connor blinked. Reluctantly, he accepted the device, pressing it against his ear. Those blue eyes were still on his when he said, "Hello?"

"Connor," Alex's voice on the line was strained. Frazzled. Taylor kept watching him, her lips puckered into the smallest frown. Her brows were scrunched, anxiety lining her brow. "How is she really?"

The hint of shadows played under the hollows of her eyes. He tried not to think of how little she was sleeping. A few fitful hours before she was up, pacing, writing countless notes. The more he watched her trying to hold herself together, the more he resented Markus for sending her here, an island in a storm.

"She's okay." He forced himself to say it. The grateful smile it earned him was the brightest expression he'd seen on her face in days. Almost worth the precarious sense of dread he felt at the deception.

"Do you remember what I told you before I left Detroit?" Alex didn't bother trying to push further. Resignation colored his tone. The conversation came back to Connor. Taylor being a good actress. Taylor burning everything she'd ever owned and lying effortlessly over the phone.

"I do."

"Just look after her, please." Alex sighed again. "I still don't like this. I won't feel any better about it until she's back home."

Connor felt himself frown, but Taylor was already reaching for the phone again, tugging it easily from his fingers. She pressed it against her ear again as she turned away to wrap up her conversation. Those two words kept echoing in his head. Back home.

"Thank you." He glanced up, the subject of his thoughts before him again. She had come closer while he was distracted, a small smile touching her lips, her phone tucked away. Stepping into him, she slid her arms around his middle, squeezing. His hands came up to her waist as he buried his nose in her hair.

"You acknowledge I was lying for you, then?" He murmured just above her ear. She pressed her forehead against his shoulder.

"I'm doing the best I can." Her voice was barely a whisper. His fingers tightened on her waist.

"I know. That's why I lied." He felt compelled to reassure her that Alex was just worried for her wellbeing, but he didn't think it was something he needed to tell her. It was going to take him a long time to figure out the dynamics of Taylor and Alex's relationship, if he ever did.