Work Text:
The radio silence was broken suddenly, almost three weeks later, when Ella was at work in the afternoon. It had taken her the better part of a week to realize he just didn’t want to talk to her. She tried calling a few times, but she got the hint eventually. She had considered calling in sick every single day during that time, but made herself get out of bed, dress and go to work. At work, Noa, with her natural chattiness, had always managed to make it better. She was a wonder, that woman. She made the days go by faster, she listened, she told, she was one of the nicest people Ella has ever met. She was the reason Ella never did call in sick.
Her phone rang. Ella looked at the caller ID and blinked, a lump immediately forming in her throat. She picked it up and answered.
“Hey…?”
“Ella. Hi,” there was so much noise in the background. “It’s really fucking hot in your country.”
“I’m-What-?” Noa turned to look at her when she heard her tone, a question in her eyes. She only had one. Ella had a million, and no idea where to start.
She could hear the recorded announcement from the terminal. She knew it well from her own visits there, she could recognize it in an instant. He was here. He was at the airport.
“Where are you?” he asked, “I need to give the taxi driver the address.”
“Are you insane? That’s gonna cost you a fortune! Take the train,” she took a breath and added, “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you.”
One after the other, arguments filled her head. A line-up of them, all the things she should have said to him. Instead she said “I’m at work.”
“I’ll come there. What’s the address?”
For almost two hours she did nothing but fidget and munch on chocolates. Noa made them both tea and tried to chat her through it, but Ella’s nerves didn’t allow for chatting. He was coming. He was on his way. He’d be here any moment. He hadn’t said a word to her in three weeks and now he was here. Flew all the way just to see her. The nerves were making her stomach hurt. She sipped the tea, tried to do some work while she waited. Failed.
She heard him coming through the lobby. Heard the tell-tale roll of the suitcase. Heard his voice – although not his words – and Victor’s directions to her office, just down the hall and to the right, then down the hall again.
“I’ll be right back,” she said to Noa and walked out of the room into the hallway, just in time to see him turn the corner towards her.
Her breath caught. Tom. He was really there. Tall and haggard, with a reddish stubble that looked odd now that his hair was dyed black, and bags under his eyes, in dark jeans and a slightly crumpled T-shirt, he was the most beautiful thing she’d seen in a very, very long time. He paused for a moment, then kept walking, dragging the little carry-on suitcase behind him. Ella stood frozen until he reached her. He let go of the carry-on and looked at her.
“Hi,” he whispered.
“Hi,” she said just as quietly, letting go of the breath she’d been holding.
She stood on her tiptoes, hands reaching up and before she could even finish the motion, he had wrapped her in his arms. He smelled of traces of cologne, sweat and shampoo, but most of all he smelled like him. Like home. He was warm and solid and holding her so tight it almost hurt. She squeezed him tighter.
“I’m sorry I’ve been acting like a twat,” he said into her hair.
“It’s okay,” Ella said.
“No it’s not.”
“No it’s not,” she agreed. “But you’re here now.” And so she didn’t care. Not right now. Maybe she’d care again later, when he was gone.
Tom stepped back, breaking their hug, but kept one hand around her, “Is that your office?” he motioned towards the only door down the short hallway. Ella nodded. He took the handle of his suitcase again and started walking there, leading her with him.
She made the short introduction, motioned Tom into an empty office chair and set out to make tea for all. She kept her hands busy, placing the plastic cups, measuring the sugar into each cup, remembering both how he liked it and how Noa liked it. She added milk to his cup, placed the tea bags, poured the hot water. In the background, she could hear Tom and Noa talking. Noa in a somewhat broken yet understandable English, Tom in his quiet accent. They were talking about the length of his flight, and Noa was surprised to hear he came from a film set. She had no idea who he was. Shortly afterwards, before they even managed to finish their tea, a sort of pilgrimage began.
The first to arrive was one of the employees who just came in to ask a question. He started talking then stopped mid-word, eyes widening, when he realized who was sitting in the chair next to Ella. The trouble with working for a hi-tech company was that it was full of geeks, and some of them were bound to be the kind of geeks who’d recognize Tom Hiddleston if he suddenly materialized in their office building. After that first employee, another two came down, with completely made-up reasons. She heard them on the phone in the hallway as they were leaving a few minutes later, telling someone that she had stashed Loki in the office. One turned to two, two turned to a whole group of them that came down a few minutes later. They didn’t stay long, just long enough to take a photo, which Tom was happy to do, and ask a few questions, which he was happy to answer.
“Efo mazat oto? Where did you find him?” asked Roni while some of his friends were busy drilling tom for information on the next Marvel movie.
“London,” she answered simply.
Noa finished her shift not long after Tom had arrived. She wanted to stay but couldn’t, she needed to pick up her daughter from daycare. She bid a smiling, hasty goodbye and left. The time passed quickly with the sudden activity of people stopping by to see Tom.
Ella was amazed at his patience with everyone. They weren’t too overbearing, but she was sick of them long before he showed any signs of annoyance. “You’ve got nerves of steel,” she said when everyone had left. She wondered whether this was it, or more were coming.
“No, they’re just nice people,” he smiled, and she could see the tiredness written all over that smile.
“You’re exhausted,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’ll be off in another hour and we can go.” She paused, a question suddenly occurring, “Did you book a hotel?”
“Um,” he looked awkward. She couldn’t remember the last time he seemed awkward to her. “I hoped I could stay with you…?” half a statement, half a question.
“Of course,” Ella said. “If you’re not scared of my mother, that is.”
Tom laughed, “I think I can manage.”
“Alright then,” she said, and he smiled, evidently relieved.
“Oh!” Ella turned to her computer, opened a new tab and logged into her Facebook page, “check this shit out,” and she opened her ‘other’ messages.
He didn’t even look, groaning, “They found you.”
“Yup,” she said. “I’ve ignored them all and upped the privacy. Same with my Twitter. These people are resourceful.”
“They are,” he agreed. “It’s a wonder it took them this long.”
“Oh no, they’ve literally found me the day after your birthday. Somebody snapped a photo of us at the dance bar.”
“And you’re only telling me this now?”
Ella shrugged, “It didn’t matter. It still doesn’t. I just think it’s hilarious.”
He sighed, “It’s really not.”
She drove her ancient Mitsubishi home, with Tom’s suitcase on the backseat and him in the passenger seat next to her. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she was going insane again. She kept her eyes on the road, afraid that if she looks away even for an instant, she’d get distracted and kill them both. She had no intention of killing them both.
They stopped at a red light and he spoke, breaking her concentration, “I’m sorry I disappeared.”
Ella dared a turn of her head. He was looking at her. “Please don’t do it again.”
He nodded, took a breath, looked away from her, “I told my mum.”
“S’okay, I told mine.”
“I thought you said not to tell anyone?”
The yellow light joined the red one, Ella put the car in gear, started driving as soon as the light turned green, shifted gear and only then spoke, “Mothers don’t count obviously. I just meant not to spread it around. And not tell Luke.” She wasn’t ready to deal with that yet. Everything he might say, he’d have a point. He’d be entirely wrong about her, but he’d still have a point. About Tom, about Tom’s career. About how it’s going to look when the fans find out there’s a girl somewhere that’s carrying his child, and no matter what he does to deal with this situation, he’s still going to come out in a bad light from it. And as for her? Well, she’d forever be that slut that got herself knocked up by Tom Hiddleston for one reason or another. She blinked. Now was not the time for tears. Now was the time for driving. She blinked again, took a deep breath. Happy thoughts. Tom was here. He was coming home with her. She blinked once more, the road blurring.
“Ella?” she heard his voice but didn’t turn, tried to stay focused on the road. “What’s wrong?”
A breath, “We really fucked up,” she said.
“We did,” a hand on her knee, soft, long warm fingers squeezing her knee lightly. “We’ll sort it out.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I came.”
She drove, looking straight ahead.
Another red light. For the first time in forever Ella was glad for them. Glad for this particular one, that had the tendency to last forever and a day. She turned to Tom, took a breath to speak and couldn’t. His mouth was against hers, his hand at the back of her neck, pulling her closer, lips searching, asking, getting their answer. Tongues dancing. It lasted just a few moments. It lasted a lifetime. It lasted not nearly enough.
“Sorry,” he said, pulling away, “I’ve been waiting to do that.”
A green light. Ella had completely missed the yellow. She hurried to put the car in gear and started driving before the drivers behind her got angry. Looking straight ahead, it was easier to say what she wanted, not to ignore it and push it away, like all other confrontational things that crossed her mind when he was around. She didn’t want to fight with him.
“You know it’s not always going to solve our problems.”
“I know,” he said. “But it does help,” he added with a chuckle.
“It does,” Ella agreed.
She turned into an empty parking spot, put the car in neutral, pulled the hand brake. Home. She’s made it home. And Tom was with her. She had no idea how they’d sort this mess out. He was here, so he wanted to be involved. In a way, it just made everything more complicated. She was grateful and relieved, but it was all more complicated. She couldn’t just up and leave, follow him around. A part of her wanted to. A part of her knew that’s what she always wanted – travel, see everything and have someone to share it with. All she ever wanted. But putting aside the PR disaster it would be for him if they did that – if it looked like she’d gotten pregnant just to attach herself to him, use him – it was impossible under current conditions. Bureaucracy. It was the root of all evil. The eater of dreams and sucker of souls. The force standing between her and the freedom to go where she wanted at will, even if it was the worst possible thing to do. Damn it all to hell.
“We’re here,” she said. Later. Later they’d think about it. Figure it out. Together. For now, they were home.