Perception

XCVII

"So, what did they actually say?"
Eli had grabbed her hand the second they had left Sarah's studio and was holding it tight now. They were walking the streets of Amsterdam again, heading back towards the ferry. He had seen her face, of course, as she had hung up with the hospital, but he hadn't said a word, leaving it to her whether she would share or not.
She had decided to keep quiet in front of James.
She looked left and right and sighed deeply as they crossed the street.
"The receptionist said that they couldn't give out that information unless I was family, but when I pressed a little she was willing to say that there was no one admitted on Thursday by the name of Rose."
She could feel him still under her hand.
"Shit."
She nodded. "Yep. So basically I have no idea if she's been discharged already, or maybe she's gone back to somewhere safe, but I'm guessing... I have no choice to wait and see if she contacts me. She has my number..." Her voice trailed off as she blinked at the red brick of the ancient building they were passing. The receptionists words over the phone had been like a punch to the gut, and she still felt that punch now. Where was Rose? Was she okay, wherever she was? She wanted to know her so very desperately, she wanted so much to have family, real family at last... and yet, right now, there was nothing she could do but wait and see if Rose would call her. The whole thing made her head swim, and she shivered in the cool early evening air.
Eli let go of her hand and put his arm around her shoulders.
"I'm so sorry, Anna. I know you were hoping..."

They were making their way back to Anna's studio. They hadn't even discussed it as they had gotten up from the circle on the rug, they had just started walking back towards Central Station.
"One day soon I'm going to look for her, Eli." she said quietly, hoarsely.
"One day soon I'll come with you, then."
Suddenly he stopped in his tracks, his arm still around her shoulder.
"Hey. How about some pizza quattro formaggi?"
She arched her eyebrow as she looked around at him.
"You're inviting me to a date? You know I won't have any hope of finding that place without the Bernard sense online, right?"
He grinned. "Yes. I am. And you don't need to find it, I know exactly where it is."

The restaurant looked just the same as it had last time they were here. She remembered that reddish brown awning so well, she remembered how he had hugged her under it, how she had melted into him for the first time that night, a lifetime ago. She followed him in and sat down opposite him at the same little table in the corner by the window. She smiled as she traced the patterns in the laminated fake wood of the table with her index finger. It was nice, here. It was warm, too.
"Buona sera signorina, signor!"
The same waiter they had seen before appeared next to their table. Was he always here? She looked up at his pleasant beaming face.
"Buona sera." she tried then.
To Eli's credit, his lips twisted only slightly. She couldn't help but grin back at him.
"Hi." he said to the waiter. "Could we have two pizzas ai quattro formaggi and a bottle of the house red?"
A bottle of the house red.  Well, maybe wine was just the thing she needed right now? A little Montepulciano d'abruzzo was sure to dull the punch in her gut.
She looked around her at the restaurant's homely decor. It was so weird, everything was so very weird, but yet... she felt strangely okay, here. It was a full circle moment, being here again with Eli at this table, the storm behind them, waiting for their pizzas to come. So maybe, right now, everything was just as it was supposed to be?
God, how she hoped that everything was just as it was supposed to be. She looked out at the street beyond the awning, still full of tourists of course, and she softly pressed her foot up against Eli's under the table.
He gave her a broad grin and then he took both her hands in his. Hers cold still, his warm - of course. Everything about him was warm.
He rubbed her chilly fingers softly and smiled at her over the table.