Two

Vic gave herself a hard mental shake. She could do this. It didn't have to get awkward. She did feel some responsibility for what she was pretty sure had just transpired in this room, because the only reason she'd been at Walt's that night and come between him and Lizzy was because he'd been helping her out. Because she'd been scared shitless that Ed Gorski had been in her house and in a moment of weakness she'd turned to Walt for help. So she owed it to him to deal with the aftermath of what she'd caused. He was looking at her warily now, and it almost made her smile.

She refused to let the sheepish smile come to her face. "You okay?"

He shrugged, leaning back in his chair and stretching his long legs out beneath his desk. She refused to notice, keeping her eyes firmly on his. "You need something, Vic?"

And wasn't that the question of the hour? For just a second, she let he mind wander. What would happen if she simply nodded her answer to that question, walked around his desk and sank into his lap in that big chair, shutting him up with her mouth until talking was the very last thing on either of their minds? As a matter of fact, I do, Walt. I need you. Unbidden, her mind flashed to the way he'd looked that night at his cabin, dripping wet fresh from the shower, with just a towel wrapped around his waist. Sweet Jesus, when would she ever get that image out of her head?

"Vic." She started, realizing that she was still staring at him inexplicably while that image had taken over. Hard mental shake. Again.

"I was hoping you could get Lizzy to listen to reason," she said quickly. "I feel bad for screwing up a good thing for you because I was weak. Scared," she bit out derisively. "You shouldn't have to pay for helping me."

And he was already shaking his head. "That isn't your fault. This doesn't have anything to do with you," he went on, while a voice that sounded suspiciously like his wife's laughed in his head. Liar, Liar. "She was right about one thing: I do still love my wife. But this isn't your fault. I won't apologize for helping a friend, and I'd do it again. Anything you need, you come to me." He almost winced at the possessive tone he could hear in his own voice. Hopefully she couldn't. Because he didn't want her going to Branch or Ferg for help, for reasons he refused to analyze right now.

He studied her, and he must have seen the indecision in her face, because he pushed back his chair and rounded his desk quicker than she expected. "I mean that, Vic. I don't like knowing that Gorski's in the wind. You hear anything, anytime, you call me."

Having him toe to toe was too much, too fast. His size and his heat and his nearness and his scent overwhelmed her in an instant, and she had to fight not to take a step back for her own self preservation. An image of him in the shower flashed in her mind and she fought it back, with effort. Don't go there. It was all she could do to stand there and hold her ground as best she could while she looked into his eyes. What in the hell was he waiting for again? Oh, yeah. An assurance she couldn't give him. With regret, she turned away from him, pacing the length of his office.

"You've done enough. I need to handle this myself. I don't want you—" ...getting hurt because of me. Sacrificing your happiness for me. Getting too close. There were too many ways she could finish that sentence, and she wasn't going down any of those roads. Better to stop while she was ahead.

When she turned again he was dangerously close again, smack in the middle of her personal space. "That wasn't a request, Vic." Staring down at her, he was as hard and implacable as she'd ever seen him. "I've done a piss-poor job of protecting everyone I care about." He wasn't about to list them all, but he didn't have to. His wife was dead. Cady and Branch had both been close to death recently. Henry was receiving daily beatings in jail. For a man like him, she knew how every one of those would seem to him like personal failures. She felt herself soften against her will.

"Walt—"

"I won't let anything happen to you. Promise me you'll call when you need me. No matter when or where or how small a detail." His eyes were so serious, boring into hers with an intensity she'd rarely seen, in him or in anyone. God, this man. He got to her on so many levels. She didn't want to lose her heart to him. Didn't ever want to make herself that vulnerable again, but how could she help it when he looked at her like that? She was pretty sure she could feel her heart melting in her chest right now. And he was still too close. She couldn't think with him this close.

Without thinking, she lifted a hand to his chest, flat on his shirt front, whether to push him away or pull him closer she wouldn't have been able to answer under oath. And it really didn't matter why she'd done it in the first place, because in the space of a heartbeat, his big, rough hand had covered hers and it was as if a circuit had been completed. Instant electricity. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't move. Could only see him.

"Say the words, Vic," he said, and his voice shot through her entire body with the force of another jolt of electricity, igniting every nerve ending in its wake. Dear Lord, this man was deadly when he wanted to be. Even when he didn't want to be, she imagined. And she could deny him nothing. Not when he was looking at her like that, touching her like that. Which was ridiculous, because it was completely innocent. All she could do now was hope and pray he never realized the effect he had on her, just like this.

And he was still waiting for... what? Words? Who could possibly be capable of words at a time like this? She nodded weakly, and his eyes narrowed until she let out a long resigned sigh. "Fine. You win."

He nodded, his eyes still so serious and blue on hers. There was no smirk, no satisfaction, no triumph there. So why did she feel like she'd surrendered something vital? Something she swore she'd never give to another human being, let alone a man?

The door opened and Ruby strode in, then stopped abruptly when she saw them, as if she'd caught them at something. "Oh." She looked from one to the other and then back again, and then gathered herself. "You have a call out."

Damn it. Walt dragged his eyes from Vic's, with effort, clearing his suddenly-dry throat. "Thanks, Ruby." He stepped back, dropping his hand from hers with extreme displeasure that he sincerely hoped didn't show, following Ruby to the door, only stopping to look back when he realized that Vic wasn't following. "You coming?"

Jolting herself into action, Vic strode after him, forcing her heart and her brain and her lungs to work again. What in the hell had just happened? And there was no time to analyze it now. They had work to do. Walt was already barking orders for Ferg and Branch as he clapped his hat onto his head and pulled on his jacket. His eyes met hers, unreadable as usual, and she breathed a sigh of relief at the reprieve. It was going to be a long day.

TBC...