Chapter Text
It was supposed to be an easy mission. Well, easy-ish. Sneak past security, crawl into the air vents, propel into Fisk’s office, find a flash drive with enough evidence against Fisk to lock him up until her great-grandbabies graduated from college, sneak out to get the drive to the police, celebrate with two dollar tacos from her favorite taco truck before they closed.
So far, Em had made it to step three without a hitch, and she was about to pick the lock on Fisk’s desk when she noticed that someone was crouched down and beating her to it.
“Can I uh...help you?” The leather clad man with prominent cat ears and a greyscale design asked, obviously amused by her blatant staring.
“You’re in my way,” Spider-Woman insisted, hands on her hips and glaring at him. “Who’re you supposed to be, anyway?”
“Point of the mask, isn’t it?” he answered, already going back to picking the lock and acting almost as if she wasn’t there. “I know who you are, Spider-Woman. Gotta say, you aren’t exactly living up to the ‘Friendly’ part of your moniker, and I think we’re a bit out of your neighborhood.”
“I’m only friendly to civilians and friends,” she answered, still glaring down at him. “And you clearly aren’t a civilian.”
He hummed, opening the drawer and standing to his full height, cocking his hip and arching a brow at her. She knew she was short, okay? Her best friend (who’d gone AWOL for a bit and still wasn’t returning her calls or texts, but she wasn’t talking about it thanks very much) called her the Itsy Bitsy Spider and it only halfway stung. She could definitely deal without the smugness people tended to throw at her just because they had a few inches on her.
“I could be friendly,” he purred, sliding up beside her and getting in close. He smelled like something soft and earthy, yet she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
She scoffed, rolling her eyes at his attempt at distraction, dodging his advances and swooping in to examine the contents of the desk while he was sidetracked. “No thanks, you’ve served your usefulness.”
“Ouch,” he chuckled, although he hardly seemed offended. “You treat all your partners like that?”
She furrowed her brow, not finding the flash drive immediately, moving knick knacks and files around. “We’re not partners,” she insisted.
He sidled up beside her, peering over her shoulder and said, “We are working together, aren’t we? One common goal - seeing Wilson Fisk behind bars.”
“What’s your gain?” Em asked, pausing as she tried to listen to her spider senses, which were being mysteriously absent.
“What’s yours?” He countered.
“Seeing a criminal behind bars where they rightfully belong is good enough for me,” she answered, groaning when she couldn’t find the damn thing. “Where is it?”
The man pressed into her, pinning her between the desk and himself, and Em got pissed. She was about to rear back and elbow him hard enough to break some ribs, intending to leave him in a bloody heap in Fisk’s office, when he plucked something from the underside of the drawer and offered it to her with a healthy dose of personal space on the side.
“Oh,” she mumbled, feeling her cheeks warm underneath the mask as she grabbed the flashdrive from his offered hand. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, gorgeous,” he insisted.
She scoffed, narrowing her gaze at him once more. “How do you know I’m gorgeous? I could look like anything under this mask.”
“Well, are you gorgeous?” he questioned.
“I’m a knockout,” she sniffed primly before feeling her spider sense act up, immediately turning towards the door as it began to open. “ Shi- ”
“Get down ,” the man insisted in a hiss, tugging her into a crouch beside him and cowering below the desk. Em glanced to the ceiling, cursing the open air vent she’d dropped in from. She should’ve gotten the flashdrive, zipped to the air vent, and left the stranger to his own devices. She wasn’t even sure how he’d gotten in, and she didn’t want to stick around and find out.
“I want guards at every entrance, exit, and air duct,” they heard Fisk demand, and Em looked again to the open one right in the middle of his office. “I want that damn cat found .”
She looked to the other masked man, who had his head craned around the side of the desk and his back to her. How the hell did he even get in Fisk’s penthouse office to begin with? So far he had yet to present any special “talents” that might’ve made his costume make sense. He began to edge to the side of the large mahogany desk, while she shook her head and looked past him and to the windows.
“Sir,” some lackey said, halting Fisk’s further entrance into his office. “Nobody ever finds the Black Cat - n-n-not that we won’t try, it’s just - ”
“ Find. Him. ” Fisk growled, and she watched as the Black Cat’s ears laid back. “I want him dead at my doorstep by morning.”
Well, now she certainly couldn’t let that happen. Fisk wasn’t the type of villain to want his fellow villains dead, so whoever this Black Cat happened to be she decided to give him a hand.
Fisk’s office door clicked shut, and the lights flicked on, and all hell broke loose.
Fisk, seeing the air vent open, immediately stormed to the desk, breaking it with his bare fists.
Em, sensing that this would be imminent, took the extra second to kick Black Cat in the ribs, sending him away from the impact just before she webbed herself to the back wall.
“Oh, hey, Fisk,” Spider-Woman said, looking to the massive, bald-headed man as he seethed. “Seen any jail cells lately?”
Fisk roared, picking up half of the desk and chunking it at her, and she braced herself for that impact as it slammed into her. She webbed herself to Fisk himself, propelling herself towards him and slamming her feet into his collarbones before bouncing off. Any regular person would’ve been sent to the hospital, but since when did Spider-Woman ever fight regular people?
She landed near Black Cat, who’d appeared stunned by the turn of events as he clutched his ribs. She winced - she didn’t think she’d kicked him that hard, but then again she was used to teaming up with a rapid-healing mutant.
“You alright?” she asked.
“Watch it!” Black Cat answered, sweeping underneath Fisk’s legs as he charged, unfortunately tripping him at a bad moment that caused a large boulder of a fist to come slamming down right on her eye socket.
“Mother fucker ,” she cursed, clutching her skull and hissing, hearing the sounds of many goons rushing down the hall to their boss’s aide. Because of course. “That’s gonna leave a shiner, Jesus.”
“Window!” Black Cat ordered, running towards her and the window in question.
Spider-Woman ran after him, watching in slight awe as he broke through the glass with his shoulder before entering a straight drop to the open sky below him. She followed with a more graceful dive, watching him sail through the inky night sky to realize that he didn’t have a plan.
Not wanting to see if the Cat would really land on his feet, she shot a web to his back and yanked, sailing into him and gripping him tight.
“Oh thank God ,” she heard him wheeze, and she was beginning to really worry about his ribs before she began swinging the both of them through the city.
She brought them to a stop a safe enough distance from Fisk Tower, dropping onto a warehouse roof and letting him drop to his knees.
“Please tell me you’re okay,” she worried, listening to him gasp for air.
“That was awesome ,” he insisted, dropping onto his back and staring up at her. “You get to do that every time? Wow, you’ve gotta let me borrow that tech sometime.”
She snorted, glad to see that he was cracking jokes, and cocked a hand on her hip, “Fat chance. You get the flash drive?”
He froze, angling his head towards her, and stared. “I thought you had it.”
Em patted her suit down, praying she might’ve had the foresight to put it in a pocket, and cursed when she found both pockets empty. “Fucking fuck! Damn it, damn it, damn it!”
“I didn’t think heroes could curse,” Black Cat said in amusement, sitting up and looking perfectly at ease as everything went to shit.
“Oh, fuck off!” she shouted, watching the masks’ white eyes arch in surprise. She sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose before realizing that that hurt . “Sorry, just - I’ve been planning this for over a month, and I’ve got other shit going on in my personal life that’s - Jesus Christ, this is gonna be one hell of a black eye.”
“I’ll look back into infiltrating Fisk Tower within the month,” he said, finally standing on wobbly, adrenaline-filled legs and clutching his ribs again. “If he’s smart, he’ll get rid of the drive and we’ll have to find something else to pin charges against him. If he’s not, he’ll keep the drive and we’ll just have to redo everything.”
“I still don’t trust you,” she announced, crossing her arms over her chest and looking up at him.
He didn’t seem deterred by her statement, because he just cocked his head and narrowed the eyes of his mask - she could imagine a cocky grin in place. “ Buuut - ? ”
Spider-Woman huffed, and looked up to the sky. “ But - seeing as we have this common goal, the only reasonable way to go about it is to work together. Because I’m not about to trust you with this.”
“Likewise,” he chuckled, taking a few steps towards the edge of the roof. “Well, it looks like this is where our night together ends. Unless you’d like to take off the masks and - “
“ Bye ,” she insisted gruffly, shoulder checking him as she passed, although it only made him laugh. “Check back in two weeks from now, here, 11:30.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed, and she nodded before she proceeded to swan dive off of the roof before following up with a swing.
She could hear him as she swung further and further away, cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting “What, I don’t get a lift home?”
He definitely couldn’t see the smile on her face, and she definitely wouldn’t be telling anyone about it either.
Em pried herself from bed with a loud groan, shuffling to the bathroom only to groan again as her suspicions were confirmed. Her eye was swollen, dark, and looked like it was about to start singing Jonas Brothers songs at any moment. She’d grown a sentient being straight from her eye socket, and it was going to go on to become a worldwide celebrity singer.
Okay, so she might’ve also had a concussion. But she was a college student, and didn’t have healthcare, so she ignored that possibility and got ready for class.
Walking across campus got her a lot of worried stares, but she waved them all off and made a joke about falling down the stairs.
She finally made her way to the arts building, climbing up the stairs and stifling a groan at all of her joints protesting. Of course, she’d forgotten having half of a desk thrown at her last night. She retracted her step, and instead wound around to the elevators.
Someone stepped beside her as she punched the button to call the elevator, glancing to him and recognizing the model for her drawing class. With dark hair and a pretty face, there weren’t many in Em’s class that had escaped having a crush on the young man. He had a great facial structure normally, but that morning his brow was pinched and he had a scowl on his face. In one hand was a large cup of coffee, yet the other was pressed against his chest and rubbing small circles.
“Rough night?” Em asked, because the man looked like the textbook definition of hungover. It wasn’t entirely out of place in college, and he had the easy part for class that day, so she didn’t really hold it against him.
“Something like - Jesus Christ, your eye ,” he answered, blinking at her in surprise and full-on gaping.
“Oh,” she scoffed nonchalantly, flapping a dismissive hand. “You should see the other guy.”
He looked a bit flabbergasted, so she cracked a smile even though that hurt her face. “It’s a joke. I’m kidding. I just fell down some stairs really hard last night.” He continued staring, so she stuck out a hand for him to shake. “I’m Em.”
“Silas,” he mumbled, taking his hand from his chest and shaking her hand, still staring at her like she’d grown a second head. Which, alright, that was fair. She had a massive black eye, it was worth staring at. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, releasing their hands and moving for the open elevator. He followed, pressing the correct button for their floor and leaning against the railing as the doors shut. Silas continued staring at her, like he was analyzing her, so Em stood ramrod straight and continued staring at the doors.
“How’d you fall?” he asked.
“Oh, I was - uh - carrying something. Wasn’t watching my feet, so I tripped and fell.”
“What were you carrying?” Silas questioned, narrowing his eyes at her.
Em narrowed her eyes as well, “A box of art supplies.”
“What sort of - “
“Sorry, is this the Spanish Inquisition or something?” Em snapped before sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose. She hissed and retracted her hand. “Sorry, sorry.”
Silas suddenly softened, practically melting into the wall, and cracked a grin. “Rough night?”
She scoffed, nodding absently, and admitted, “Rough month, actually. Super rough night.”
He hummed, regarding her carefully, studying her again. “Want to...talk about it?”
Em faltered. She obviously couldn’t mention her failed attempt at throwing Wilson Fisk behind bars, meeting the damn Black Cat and trying to figure out what or who’s side he was on, and that her mercenary mutant best friend had skipped town due to a creepy organization hunting her down. “We’ve got class, and I - ”
“After class,” he insisted with a shrug before wincing, rubbing his chest again. “Grab coffee with me.”
Em tried not to do her fair share of gaping, and found it a bit difficult but did manage to keep her outward surprise to a minimum. It helped that her grapefruit of an eye didn’t let that side emote much. Instead, she pointed to the cup in his hand. “You’ve already got one.”
He grinned, a slow Cheshire grin that lit up his eyes. She tried not to notice, but it was hard not to. She spent every class period staring at his face and trying to get his eyes right, and she was just now realizing that there was a certain light in it that other people just didn’t have. It kind of scared her, but less in a way she was used to most days. This made her think of high school. It made her think of Ben.
“Everyone could always use more coffee,” Silas pointed out, ruining her train of thought and taking her mind off of sadder things.
“I dunno…” Em hedged, stepping out of the open elevator and letting him follow.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I find coffee and conversation between friends a great way to get over a rough night,” he said, halting them in the middle of the hallway to continue their conversation. It was smart - she’d been planning on running into the classroom so the conversation could end.
She paused. Since Abby had taken off with a left-behind note and nary an explanation, Em had been back to square one in the friend department. Square one, obviously, being alone and with no one to talk to day in and day out. And, well, she needed to unpack a whole mess of things before she went on any dates, but this was fine. She could handle being friends.
“Well, I don’t have a class after this one for a few hours…” she ignored the fact that she’d wanted to go back to her dorm and pop a few ibuprofen and try to sleep the pain away. “Coffee sounds good.”
Silas grinned again, nodding and making his way towards the changing room for models, “Great. See you in class, Em.”
Em nodded in return, scuttling into the classroom and having to repeat the story of her graceless fall off the stairs to the rest of her classmates.
Throughout class, Silas had positioned himself to continuously face her, which was lowkey annoying because she still had no idea how to draw his eyes. Most days, he would stare off into the distance, never landing on anybody for too long before his attention would drift off again. Today, however, he was focusing on her, watching her draw and studying her. By the time class had ended, she was ready to punch him, but that was something only Spider-Woman would do and could get away with.
Once class was over, she was ready to scream. Instead, she smiled up at Silas and nodded when he asked if she was ready to go.
Settled at a small, homey cafe table with the largest coffee she could find in hand, Em felt her need to scream and punch things dwindle.
“So, tell me about yourself,” Silas prompted once he was seated across from her, his own equally large coffee by his side.
“Well, I’m an art major,” Em answered. It was an easy topic, safe to talk about. Common ground - she could handle school. “You?”
“Business, currently,” he said with a blinding grin, as if it were a punchline to a joke he hadn’t told yet. “I change it quite a bit.”
“Sounds fun,” she said, even though she had certain opinions of people who did big business. One had given her a black eye and thrown a desk at her just last night.
“Not as fun as you would think,” he scoffed, taking a sip before moving on without missing a beat. “So - what brought you to New York?”
Em quirked a brow, “How do you know I’m not from here?”
Silas settled in his seat, leaning across the table with his elbows splayed out. He looked like a cat taking a nap in a patch of sun, he was so comfortable as he grinned lazily up at her. “You have a very distinct non-accent. It means you’re trying to lose the old one, and haven’t lived anywhere long enough to acquire a new one.”
Em chewed the inside of her lip - she hadn’t known that about herself. She’d have to pay attention to how native New Yorkers talked and try to fix it.
“It’s fine, by the way,” Silas said, sliding back to press against the back of his chair, still grinning, “It’s cute.”
At this she snorted, hiding the roll of her eyes as she turned her head to look out of the window, sipping at her coffee and nearly sighing once it hit her soul. “Well, what about you? You have a very distinct non-accent yourself.”
He shrugged, gliding his hand through his hair as he looked around, “Moved around a lot as a kid. New York is the longest I’ve ever stayed somewhere.”
“I’d like to travel,” Em said, still looking out the windows up at all of the skyscrapers, thinking of all of the people who needed her every day. Well - all of the people who needed Spider-Woman, anyway. “One day.”
“It’s...nice, in a way,” Silas decided, staring out of the window with her. “When it’s your idea.”
She conceded the point to him, and resumed their conversation.
It became a new normal, between them. After the drawing class, they’d go out to coffee together until Em’s next class - or if there was an emergency that needed a web slinger. It turned into grabbing dinner at the cafeteria together so they wouldn’t have to sit alone, or making a midnight convenience store run, or a late evening where Silas would grumble about a last minute paper and Em would struggle to finish an art piece in time. For the first time since Abby had left, Em had a friend.
Meanwhile, the Black Cat and Spider-Woman had done more digging into Fisk. According to the Black Cat’s source (“It’s me,” he informed, “I’m the only source I trust.”) Fisk had yet to destroy the flash drive or any of the information on it, but he had definitely hidden it in a secure location.
“Like it was so easy to find last time,” Spider-Woman sighed, hands on her hips and staring out at the flickering lights of Manhattan. “Alright, so step one is figure out where he’s hiding it. Step two is figure out how to get to it.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Black Cat scoffed, coming up to stand by her side.
“No matter where he’s got it hidden, he’ll have a ton of guards,” she hummed, tapping a knuckle to her chin in thought.
“Why don’t you call up your merc friend and have her handle them?” he asked, unaware that Em had gone frozen at the mention of Abby. “Word on the street is that Deadpool is basically immortal anyway.”
“Doesn’t mean I like seeing my friend die,” Spider-Woman snapped, sighing as he held up his hands in appeasement and took a step back. “Besides, she’s...AWOL. I can’t get a hold of her.”
Black Cat huffed as well, crossing his arms over his chest and staring out at the city, “Then it’s just us.”
She nodded, chewing her bottom lip as she wondered just what had happened to her friend anyway.
Black Cat sighed, stretching his arms over his head, and groaned. “Go home, get some rest - we’ll come at this again in a few days.”
“Sounds like the only plan we’ve got right now,” Spider-Woman shrugged, shooting a web and getting ready to swing away before a hand clasped her other wrist.
“Hey, do you…” Black Cat paused, the white eyes of his mask portraying nothing as hers did the same. “Do you have any friends you can talk to?”
“About Spider stuff?” she scoffed, nearly snorting in amusement, and shook her head, “No. Why? Wanna be pen pals?”
“I just...you seem like you’re not the type who likes to bottle things up, is all,” he said with a shrug, releasing her wrist and stepping away. “If the merc with the mouth is AWOL, then I imagine you’re low on friends.”
Em stopped, thinking back to the chain of memes that Silas had been spamming her with that afternoon as he sat in his history class, and found herself smiling beneath the mask. “Nah, I’ve got one.” She tugged on the web, taking one step off of the ledge, and nodded to the masked man. “See ya later, kitty cat.”
“See ya, webhead,” he responded, waving over his shoulder as he turned to leave and she dropped off of the building.
Em barely crawled through her dorm window before her phone went off, a series of buzzes that grabbed her attention.
“Hello?” she asked, tugging off the mask as she brought the device to her ear.
“Hey,” Silas answered on the other end.
“Hey,” Em echoed, her brows furrowing as she glanced to the clock on her desk. It was nearly two in the morning. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“What?” he asked in amusement, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just...couldn’t sleep. Wanted some company. Are you at your dorm?”
“Yeah,” she said, already zipping out of the suit and stashing it under her mattress, diving for a clean t-shirt. “Uhh - I’m in McGuire Hall, seventh floor.”
“Cool, I’m already in the lobby,” he answered, and she could hear his footsteps on the echoey stairs.
“I-I’ll buzz you in, just - uhh - gimme a minute,” she said, panicking as she tried to find pants.
“No rush,” he chuckled, just missing her quiet shout of victory as she found a pair of gym shorts. “I’ll be right outside the door.”
“Great, I’ll be right there,” she promised, ending the call and grabbing her key card.
Em held her breath as she crept down the hallway, ghosting past the door of her RA’s room and slipping to the key swipe at the end of the hall. She cupped the speaker to muffle the beep as she swiped the card, toeing the door open so Silas could catch it with his hand.
“I brought food,” he whispered, holding up the plastic bag that smelled delicious.
“Good man,” Em whispered back, letting him slide quietly in before they worked together to shut the door. She silently motioned for him to follow her, and they crept down the hall, past the RA’s door once more, and made it safely into her dorm.
“This your first time sneaking a boy into your dorm?” Silas teased, grinning at her light scoff as he went about setting the food onto the spare desk in the room.
“That’s for me to know, and you to never find out,” she quipped, although it definitely was. But he didn’t need to know that.
“Ooh, look who’s got her sassy pants on tonight,” he laughed, sitting down in the unused desk chair and propping his feet up, already eating out of a takeaway carton as Em rolled over her own desk chair. She grabbed another takeaway container, nearly beaming when she saw orange chicken, and eagerly dug in.
“So,” she began once they’d eaten in silence for a few moments, “Not that I’m not thrilled by your presence, or that of free food, but I am curious as to what you’re doing here at 2 am.”
“You let me in,” he muffled around a mouthful of noodles, chuckling at her unamused stare. “I dunno,” he said once he swallowed, shrugging and leaning back in his seat. “I just...didn’t want to be alone tonight.”
Em regarded her new friend. He seemed more worn and tired, like the weight of something was sitting on his shoulders, and like he just needed an escape for an hour or two to get his mind off of it. “Do you...wanna talk about it?” she asked.
Silas chewed on the inside of his cheek, staring into the carton of lo mein as if it would give him answers. “You first,” he insisted.
Em sighed, staring up at the ceiling, wondering what she could say that wouldn’t be too telling. “Alright…” She looked into her own carton of food, finding that it didn’t have any more answers than the lo mein did, and sighed. “My friend Abby, she kind of...I don’t want to say that she ditched me, but that’s what it feels like.”
“Do you know why?” Silas questioned with a blink.
“I’m sure it’s something important,” she admitted, and wound up losing her appetite, “It’s been eating at me a lot lately, because I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but….”
“Still hurts?” he asked.
Em nodded.
“My...dad…kind of did the same,” Silas said, looking like he had a bad taste in his mouth even mentioning him, “Growing up. But he did it alot. And that made it...not okay. But your friend, this Abby…I’m sure this is gonna be a one time thing, and she’s gonna be sorry she even did it in the first place.”
Em blinked, staring back at him, at a loss. “How do you know?” she murmured.
He shrugged, still digging through the noodles, although he seemed to have lost his appetite as well. “You don’t pick bad people for friends,” he said with a sad quirk of his lips, like he knew something she didn’t.
Not liking the look on his face, she reached across the space and gripped his knee, the closest body part of his that wouldn’t be weird for her to grab, and surprised him into looking up at her.
“No, I don’t,” she insisted with a smile.
Silas weakly returned it, and it seemed that a little of the weight had left his shoulders. Then he took a big breath, and steeled himself, and looked up at her. “I’ve been interning at Fisk Tower for nearly a month. I think… I dunno, Em, but something’s wrong .”
Em felt her heart plummet to her stomach and could do nothing but watch as Silas sat his carton on the desk and wheeled closer to her, their knees nearly touching.
“There’s guards everywhere ,” he insisted in a whisper, as if he were afraid someone else would hear. “Every hallway, every office, they do hourly walk throughs. They even check the bathrooms. Why would there be that many guards there?”
“Silas, listen to me,” Em whispered, setting aside her food to grip his hands and look up at him, trying to will him to understand just how much danger he was in, “You need to quit that job. You need to quit that job immediately, okay? It’s not safe.”
“What do you know?” Silas wondered, blinking back at her.
“Wilson Fisk is...he’s a bad man, okay?” she insisted. “He’s a dangerous, bad man, and you don’t want to be caught working with him.”
Silas nodded slowly, trying to calm his breathing, and looked back at her, “I’ll quit tomorrow. Will you come in and check on me?”
Em nodded, already thinking of using it as a cover to sneak in and get that stupid flash drive, if only she knew where Fisk had hidden it. “You...wouldn’t happen to know where the most guards are, would you?” she questioned, flashing a nervous smile at his curious look. “So I know not to wander off there.”
“There’s a lot at this random door on the eleventh floor,” Silas said, pursing his lips, “I don’t know what’s so important about that door, but only Fisk and a handful of scientists go into that room.”
She hummed, making a mental note to get a message to Black Cat and inform him of the plan in the morning, when Silas grabbed her hand. She watched as he stared into her palm, tracing the lines of it tentatively.
“Can I ask you something?” he asked, his brows furrowing in thought.
“You just did,” she teased, smiling when he shot her a playful glare. “Yes,” she softly corrected.
“Why did you move to New York?” he asked in a hush.
Em looked into his eyes, looking at the light sparkling there, making a note of the myriad of colors laced into his irises, felt the warmth of his hands as his fingers traced her own, felt the way her heart sped up and her stomach jumped to her throat whenever her eyes just happened to land on his mouth, and before she knew it she was talking about the very thing she did not want to talk about.
“I-it was...two years ago...I lived in a very, very small town. I...we…” She cleared her throat, blinking back tears, and gave the tiniest smile when Silas squeezed her hand in support. “I...Ben, his name is...was...Ben.”
Silas stayed silent, his attentive gaze and quiet support all she needed.
“Benjamin Parker,” she continued, watching his hands against her own. “W-was the best thing that ever, ever happened to me.”
“What happened to him?” Silas questioned.
Em sniffled, knowing that tears were rolling down her cheeks, yet made no move to wipe them away. They needed to be there for this conversation. “He was killed. In front of me. I - I held him while he died.”
Silas’s hands clamped over her one in a vice, and his face contorted into pain, his own eyes glistening. He opened his mouth to say something, no doubt words of comfort, when she talked over him.
“The love of my life, and I watched him die,” she cried, smiling back at Silas as he watched her. “I’ve never told anyone, not since I came here.”
“I shouldn’t have asked,” he insisted, his brows clouding his eyes, “Did they ever catch the guy who - ?”
“No,” Em answered, dabbing at her eyes with the pad of her thumb as she sniffed once more. “The police were worried he’d come back and try to finish me off, because I’m the only witness who got a good look at him, but - “ she gave a watery laugh, flashing a grin even as more tears streamed down her face, “ - I’d like to see him try.”
“Jesus Christ, Em, I’m so - ”
“Don’t tell me you’re sorry,” she said, gripping his hands tight in an effort to silence him. “I didn’t tell you so you would be sorry for me.”
Silas blinked, smoothing his thumb over the back of her hand, and the small action nearly made her cry all over again. “Then...why did you tell me?”
Em looked at the lines of his face, the slopes and planes and the softness, looked at the messy hair and strong jaw and furrowed brows, and quirked a smile at it all. She took her free hand, brushing the hair away from his brow, and found it settled at his jaw, her thumb gliding along the short stubble that resided there as he drew in a breath and held it.
“So you would understand,” she said, taking a breath and retracting both of her hands from his space, settling them in her lap and breathing a bit of renewed distance between them.
Silas regarded the change, nodding as he put in just an extra bit of distance, yet he continued to lean towards her, looking like he wanted nothing more than to reclaim her hand. “I do,” he said, still studying her. “Take your time - I’ll still be here.”
It startled a laugh out of her, and she blinked back more tears. “Ugh, would you look at me?” she asked, swiping her hands down her face and using the collar of her shirt to wipe tear tracks off of her jaw.
“I am,” Silas said, his teasing returning full throttle. “You look gorgeous,” he flirted, throwing in a wink to show that he was kidding. Mostly. Unless she was okay with it.
She snorted, standing to find something to wipe her face, “Oh yeah, I’m a knockout.” She paused, wondering why that felt like deja vu, and turned to see Silas holding a napkin out to her.
“Well, at least you don’t look like you were knocked out,” he grinned, watching as she cleaned her face before he nodded to the unused bed. “Any way I can crash here?”
“Yeah, let me grab you some blankets and a pillow,” Em said, already moving to the drawer where she kept them as he went about cleaning up, the conversation tidied up and set aside for later.
Silas drifted off silently, his quiet and steady breathing the only thing she could hear across the room, the noises of the city a whisper in comparison as Em stared up at her ceiling, afraid of whatever was to come.