RED

Chapter 12

Previously:

“Then please, have a dinner with us.” she insisted.

“I’d like to, thank you.”

“I’ll send you the address.” Red patted his shoulder and when Liz wasn’t within earshot he murmured to Alan. “Remember what I used to say about seducing a woman?” Red smiled knowingly as the fond memory crossed his mind; how he had taught his little brother to the art of seduction.

“Do to her what spring does with the cherry trees.” Alan smiled back. Good old times, he thought and watched as his brother left the courtroom.

“Tonight will be fun” Alan chuckled and approached the judge’s chambers.

###

After Red and Lizzie had visited Dembe at the hospital Red had made a few calls and within ten minutes they had a new penthouse with two bedrooms.

They went to their luggage to the hotel and Red’s car.

“So, where are we going to have dinner with my beloved brother?” Red asked as he drove.

“I thought we could make a dinner at the house.”

“We?”

Liz rolled her eyes while she couldn’t stop escaping the giggles. “Okay, you could make a dinner.” Of course, Red knew how terrible she could be in the kitchen after she had almost burnt down their apartment when she had been with Tom, even the firefighters had been sent by their neighbors. It had been really, really embarrassing. When she saw his hesitating gaze she continued with her sweetest but seductive voice “You know how I love your…meals.” and she placed her hand to his thigh, high but not as much as Red would have liked it.

“Okay, you convinced me. But you have to take care of the dessert.” his low voice tickled her skin.

“And what kind of dessert you’d want to eat?” Two can play the game, she thought and squeezed his tensed muscles.

He stopped at the red light so he had the chance to catch her wandering hand and kissed her knuckles as he pinned her naughty eyes with his intense gaze.

“Surprise me.” he paused for a moment and continued “But avoid the oven, please.”

She playfully hit his shoulders “It happened once and the firefighters were so nice!”

“Sweetheart, I don’t want you to stay away from the oven or any flammable thing because I’m afraid you’ll burn down the town” of course he thought that but yet it didn’t stop Lizzie giggling. She loved when Red was this playful. “I just want to challenge you because I know that you can make a wonderful no-bake cake. All I need is a proof. So…would you prove my right?”

“Okay, stop it!” she laughed and Red felt how the warmness from her beautiful laugh roaming through him and warming his heart as well.

While Red bought all the necessary items for dinner Liz stayed in the car and spoke with Cooper. They had won the trial but it was only the first step from the massive gap but she also knew that they would have to convince the FBI, too because they could have pushed her back and over to the edge.

Aware of the fact that she would have wings and she could fly – it made the whole things a bit easier, even with the thought that she could never step back to the ground again. At least she knew Red would hold her in the air.

When he returned, the drive to the penthouse filled with silent thoughts.

The penthouse was beautiful with large kitchen and big balcony and exactly looked like how she had imagined her home in her dreams. Silent and calm. As this thought struck her she froze and all the feeling of the last ten days returned; sadness, emptiness, happiness, desire, mortal fear, everything. She had felt that she would need time to order all the happenings where they belonged but she hadn’t had any time thinking in these days and all of sudden, the inability made her eyes filled with tears and when Red turned around to look at her, she just stood there, unable to look at him. She felt like a helpless little girl and his warm embrace with his comforting scent braced her to let it go.

He didn’t speak just let her hold on to him and cry out all the heavy thoughts. He was surprised, even amused that Liz had held it back this long.

It was all she needed; his presence, his soothing touch, his kisses. No more, no less.

They just stood there for minutes and when he felt her pull away but not releasing him completely he wiped the wetness away from her cheek.

“Better?” he asked.

“Yes.” she whispered and placed a kiss to his lips.

“Why don’t you take a nap? I’ll prepare dinner and don’t worry; I’ll wait with the dessert.” he winked and she let out a small laugh.

He led her to the bedroom and gave one of his shirts to change. Both of them knew that she had her very own night robes but Red would never miss the chance to see her in his shirt, neither Lizzie to feel his comforting scent on her. He tucked her in and kissed her temple as his large hand ran through her hair.

“Sweet dreams, darling.” he smiled at her and left the bedroom as her heavy eyelashes couldn’t tear her eyes open.

###

Two hours later her empty stomach woke her up. No wonder she was starving because the last time she had seen food was at morning and it was only two slices of toast with tea. Her nerves hadn’t let her eat properly in the last few days.

When she entered the kitchen Liz didn’t see Red’s face, only his pants-covered legs as he was standing in front of the opened fridge. A beautiful peach on the kitchen counter caught all her attention and she almost ran to get it. She washed then ate it like who hadn’t seen food for weeks.

“God, it’s so juicy and sweet and…seriously, my tongue has an o****m right now.” she moaned, standing with her back to Red. She wanted to slow down, enjoy every bite of the almost illegally delicious fruit but her hunger destroyed it within two minutes. As she washed her hands and wiped it to the napkin she continued speaking to Red without turning around. “You know, now my tongue has had an o****m I think we should make the dessert.” she suggested seductively, waiting for Red to sneak his hands around her but when he didn’t she continued. “I saw you bought whipped cream and chocolate syrup so maybe we should test the qualities…” she wanted to continue but then Liz saw Red stepping into the apartment in his coat and fedora.

“Ah you’re awake. Good.” Red kissed her above the kitchen counter and went to the bedroom to pick up something.

She frowned; if Red had just appeared at the door… who was behind her? She got the answer soon as he approached her and leaned close to her ear.

“You bring the wiped cream, I’ll bring the chocolate syrup” said Alan with his incredibly low voice as he picked a piece of grape and eat it then all of sudden he stepped aside and continued his task.

Suddenly the room felt really hot or did she felt it because of the sudden rush of embarrassment?

The cheeky bastard hadn’t even stopped her!

Red brought her bathrobe and helped to put it on – because, yeah, it wasn’t enough that she had just invited Alan to the bedroom for some dirty s*x but she only wore Red’s shirt and her underwear

…if maybe she concentrated really really hard, the ground would open and swallow her…

“Thank you.” she smiled at Red, avoiding Alan’s penetrating gaze. Seriously, the guy had problems; she was HIS brother’s wife but it didn’t stop him hitting on her.

“The dinner is almost ready. Why don’t you take on some warmer clothes and if you still want to, you could make the dessert.” poor soul, Red had no earthy idea why Lizzie’s face turned into crimson when he had said the ‘d’ word. Since when was she so shy? Or maybe Alan said something?

“I’d happily help making dessert. My taste is quite sensitive so I could test the quality of the chocolate syrup.” Alan smirked mischievously at Liz who sent death glares toward him.

Seriously she would beat him up if he continued like this!

Red raised his right hand and stopped his little brother “Alan, please; stop hitting on my wife!” he ordered gently. He couldn’t say ‘f**k off, she’s mine’ to his log-lost brother, after all.

“Me? S…” before Alan could tell everything Liz interrupted him.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll be right back and we can make the dessert.” Liz soothed Red and placed her hand to his chest. Meanwhile she mentally dragged Alan to the balcony and threw him out.

While she changed her clothes she braced herself to this dinner because she knew how important it was for Red. She saw and felt the tense between the brothers and she also figured out that Alan was angry at Red but why he was angry… it was a mystery for her. Maybe because Red hadn’t appeared in his life for a long time or simply because – like Red said – they had never been good brothers…which she hardly doubted.

When she had talked with Alan for a first time on the phone and she had told that Red had been in trouble and needed his help Alan hadn’t asked anything he had just come here and helped.

On the other hand, she could tell that Red desperately wanted to be the part of Alan’s life again…which meant that in the past her husband had had a place in Alan’s life.

And they hadn’t been so different; not just physically but emotionally. Something was common how they express or hide their emotions…maybe they hadn’t had a good childhood or great parents which also explained why Red acted like Alan’s father and why Alan tried to be like his older brother and he had still looked up to Red like his secret hero – of course Alan didn’t want to show it but he couldn’t trick on her profiler eyes.

Yet, something wasn’t right between the two of them and as a hell-bent as they were she knew they would have to do or say something to push the problem into the surface.

When she returned to the kitchen she smiled; Red was chopping vegetables while Alan was chopping the fruits for the dessert. They stood at the opposite sides of the kitchen counter and didn’t speak with each other but they simply couldn’t deny that they were relatives; their movements, the way they drank wine from their glasses…now she wasn’t sure if she could deal with two Redmills tonight…

“Okay guys, what can I help?” she approached them and picked up a glass but instead of wine she filled it with orange juice. She wasn’t very fond of it but there were times when she could die for a big glass of orange juice – like now.

“I’m done but I think Alan needs some help there.” Red chuckled as he saw his brother’s clumsy movements with the knife.

“Would you give me the whipped cream please?” Alan smiled at Liz politely so Red didn’t have the slightest clue why the blood rushed to Liz’s face again. Red knew that she was holding herself back from killing his brother slowly and painfully so he just tried to ignore the situation.

She tossed the whipped cream to Alan then when Red put the meat to the table she grabbed a knife and held the edge toward Alan warningly “Seriously if you won’t stop these little comments…”

“What comments, dear Eliza?” he grinned at her. He really liked her maybe that was the reason why he teased her. It was so much fun to see the ice in her beautiful blue eyes…for a brief moment he imagined her having dirty and rough angry-s*x…then mentally slapped himself…she was forbidden for God’s sake! And yet he couldn’t help; he had always been hungry for sexy dominant women like Liz…or Shirley…or Lorraine…or most of his partners.

She saw that she wouldn’t win unless she played his game, too. She looked at Red and put down her knife then she stepped closer and lowered her voice “On the first day I met with your brother he ended up in hospital because I stabbed a pen into his neck.” she smirked when she saw him slightly dropping his jaw. “And he didn’t even tease me like you do now. Guess what I’m going to do if you push me further.” she winked and stepped back, continuing her task.

Alan couldn’t speak for a minute because he had already seen that he would tease her all night and he would have the upper hand. He was wrong, oh so wrong.

“Now, I’m pretty sure that Red has some masochist attitude.” he chuckled and Liz laughed as well.

Two minutes later when Red returned Liz and Alan were chatting like they had been buddies since ages.

“Are you married, Alan?” Liz asked as they took their seats at the table.

“Yes.”

“Wow. I didn’t know that.” Red said as he filled his glass with wine again. “I mean after Diane’s death…” Red stopped when he saw Alan’s grimace at the name of his dead wife.

“What’s her name?” Liz led the conversation away from this woman, Diane because she clearly saw that Alan didn’t want to talk about it and maybe she just imagined it but the way Alan looked at her lovingly as a sign of his eternal gratitude she was sure that it was a really hard thing in Alan’s heart.

“Denny Crane. And his name.” he grinned when Red and Lizzie stared at him with disbelief; Liz almost choked her orange juice while Red stopped eating for a moment. “It’s not based on romantic relationship; he has Alzheimer and it’ll be easier to take care of him when he will be unable to do it.”

“So you two don’t…you know…” Red asked, gesturing with his hands slowly, not sure if he wanted to know the truth. It wasn’t like he had problems with homosexuals, no… but it was hard to believe that his womanizer little brother could be gay.

“No, we don’t. We’re both heterosexuals. Like I said it will be easier in the future.”

She knew what he was referring to so she didn’t ask any further. “Next time you could bring him, too. I’d like meet with him.” she smiled and from the corner of her eyes she saw that Red nodded.

While they were eating Red’s incredibly delicious steak with grilled vegetables they talked and laughed. Liz happily noted that Red and Alan started to act more naturally with each other, however Alan still had some uneasiness with his brother.

The dessert was simple fruit salad with different syrups and whipped cream. Liz was grateful when Alan didn’t say anything about them anymore.

As if Alan just heard her previous mental note he suggested to Red to try out one particular fruit “Try the peach. It’s delicious; juicy and sweet…you take a bite and your tongue’ll have orgasm.” of course he couldn’t let it go.

She was embarrassed again and accidently hit her glass which smashed into pieces on the floor. “Shit.” she jumped from her seat and tried to pick up the bigger ones but one of them broke the skin on her right palm.

Alan felt a bit ashamed because he hadn’t wanted literally hurting her so he stepped next to her and gently took her hand. “Let me help.” he wiped away the blood when his eyes travelled to her scar. It was familiar…he knew he had seen it before… “When did you get this scar?”

“When I was four. There was a fire in our house, my parents died and if a selfless hero hadn’t arrived in time I would have been dead as well.” she smiled at Red knowingly who gently took her hand from Alan and wiped it with wet napkin.

In the mean time Alan tried calm down his anger; she was the girl! Eliza was the little girl who had turned his brother’s life upside down and why Red abandoned his family as well as himself, too. Truth be told he wasn’t angry at Liz; she was only four when all that had happened but the realization caused an implosion in him and all his anger and pain and sadness burst out. But he couldn’t throw it out in front of Liz, she would think at the end that he hated her for it which wasn’t the truth, moreover he actually liked the girl. It’s going to be hard pretending that he didn’t panic…

“Everything all right, Alan?” Liz asked when she was his pale face and widened eyes as he stared her palm.

…And when the anxiety visited Alan, it brought something else, too.

“Guadalupe.” he nodded. Liz furrowed her brows while Red looked at Alan curiously.

“I beg your pardon?” Liz asked.

“I laugh guadalupe.” when Alan saw the shock in her face he turned around and drank the wine from his glass. Word-salad, great!

Liz looked back and forth between Alan and Red, still didn’t know what the hell was going on.

“Alan?” Red approached him slowly and put his hand to Alan’s shoulder.

“Teddy bears?” Alan asked back.

“What’s going on?” Liz asked as she sat next to Alan who concentrated really hard to say exactly what he wanted to say.

“Nothing! Spinach!” and he failed so he just buried his face into his hands.

“It’s word-salad.” Red stated as he filled Alan’s glass with wine. “When he’s suffering from anxiety or something is disturbing him he can’t say the proper words, like now.”

“Which caused it now?” she had heard about this but she had never seen anyone before.

“Frankly? I don’t know. But if it appeared that fast…something extremely disturbing is the problem. Do you still have night terrors, Alan?”

“Boom!” Alan nodded still avoiding his face. How he hated when his emotions took the control over his words! He felt like a helpless little child, screaming in the middle of the stormy night but nobody heard his scream.

Before Liz could ask Red had explained. “In non-REM sleep he’s hearing voices and sometimes he’s running. Once he jumped out from his window when he was twelve and his only luck was that I woke up in time and grabbed his wrists so he didn’t fall down.” Red hated seeing his brother in this state and he was afraid that tonight Alan would have night terrors again. “Alan, I want you to stay here tonight, okay?”

Alan violently shook his head and jumped from his seat.

“Alan, please! I don’t want you to get hurt.” Red tried to calm him down; he didn’t know that it was only fuel on the fire.

“Oh, sneak?!” Alan snapped angrily.

Finally, the elephant appeared in the room, Liz thought. “Uhm, I’m going to dress my wound.” she said quietly and silently left the room because she knew that Alan and Red had to discuss it without her presence. The only thing she still didn’t understand that what made Alan angry and anxious.

She opened her little bag where she had held the bandages and her pills but of course what she had been looking for was at the bottom of the bag so she just threw everything to the bed when her eyes caught a half-empty bottle and she nearly fainted “God…god, god, no!” she took deep breaths and after she put everything back, not caring with her still bleeding wound she picked up the car keys and stormed out.

“Lizzie, where are you going?” Red arched his eyebrow.

“Uhm…Cooper wants to see me.” she pointed with her thumbs toward the door.

“Now?”

“Yes, it might be important. I’ll be right back.” with that she closed the door behind her. She hated lying to Red but first she had to calm herself down.

Red slowly turned back to Alan and put his hands into his pockets. “Alan, what the hell is going on?”

Alan was still angry and his heart ached as the years of sadness and pain filled him completely. He wanted to hurt his brother as Red had hurt him. “Is Eliza the girl?” as soon as Eliza left the room he felt the he didn’t have to hold back himself so the word-salad disappeared.

“What girl?” Red tilted his head.

“Whom you saved twenty years ago.”

“Yes. Is she bothering you?”

Alan stood up and fixed his tie. “Not at all but…you saved her twenty year ago and now she is your wife…it’s a bit…”

“Yeah, I know. Strange, right?” Red chuckled and turned around to bring some wine to him but Alan stopped him with his words.

“No…it’s rather sick.”

Red turned around and saw Alan’s serious expression. “What did you say?” he approached him slowly, trying to calm down.

“I said that you’re a sick twisted, even p*****t man.” Alan stepped closer to his brother while he pushed him further. “Did you think about f…” Alan couldn’t finish his disgusting remark because Red’s fist shut him up.

God was his witness he didn’t want to hit Alan but he had to stop his filthy and unbelievably inappropriate words which were unworthy for both of them. “What the hell is your problem?!” Red yelled.

Alan fell down on the couch and after he wiped the blood away from his mouth he slowly stood up and he just looked Red with slight tears in his eyes. Here was the hero of his childhood; the only person who had taken care of him, the only person who treated him properly. The man who had taken him to school, who had checked his homework, who had wished him good night. The man who had just disappeared when he had been only 18, leaving emptiness behind him. From at that point there had been nobody who asked Alan about his day or his studies. Nobody who braced him to ask a girl to a date.

How could Red even ask it? How could Alan tell him?

Red’s anger disappeared as he saw the pain and sadness in his brother’s eyes. They just stood there and studied each other, neither of them dared to speak…

…Meanwhile…

Liz killed the engine and wiped away her tears. How could she forget that? What was she going to do?

She slowly got out of the car and stepped into the little hotel where she knocked at one particular door.

After a minute an elder lady in her bathrobe opened the door. “What are you doing here, dearie?” Mr. Kaplan asked as she put on her glasses.

“Sorry for the disturbing but…” it was the point where she couldn’t hold back her tear anymore. “I didn’t know where else to go.” she avoided Mr. Kaplan’s eyes.

“Come in, dearie. I’ll make you some tea.”