Chapter Six

He later awoke to find Linda gone and his cat in her place. For a moment he feared she had gone, but he heard her voice coming from the kitchen. She was singing.

Quietly he tiptoed into the doorway. She was standing at the stove cooking, clad only in one of his shirts, her hair pulled up into a messy bun on top of her head.

She was beautiful.

"Good morning," he said quietly, making his entrance. She looked up, and her smile lit up her entire face.

"Good morning! Are you hungry?"

"Starving," he said enthusiastically, sliding into a stool at his kitchen counter. "Whatever you're making….it smells wonderful."

"Just an omelet. Something my mother used to make for me as a child."

She scooped it off the pan and onto a plate which she took over to him. She handed him a fork. He took a bite. "Really good," he said, his mouth full.

She laughed, but then turned serious. "Did you sleep better? I didn't hear anything, so I thought you might not be dreaming."

She looked so concerned he placed his hand over hers. "I haven't slept so well in a very long time," he said truthfully.

She blushed and leaning in, pressed her lips up against his. "Me neither," she whispered.

His fork clattered to the table and it was at least another hour before Magnus made it to work.

In the weeks that followed, Magnus's nightmares became less frequent and less terrifying. Even when he did wake up in the middles of the night soaked in sweat and crying out in fear, she was there to stroke his hair and assure him she wasn't dead.

He told her of his shame when he had woken up to find he had wet himself and his terror of doing it again. He told her how much he missed his mother, and how difficult it had been to raise a young boy on her own. He told her all his most shameful secrets and she told him hers: how when she was sixteen she had lost her virginity to an older boy at a party and then the next day he didn't call her, and she found out he was with another girl; how hard it was to see her father's slow spiral of destruction and her fear that he wouldn't live to see her marry or have children.

They still hadn't told Kurt of their relationship, and neither had broached the subject of when they should do so. The nights she spent with Magnus, she told him she was with friends or at her mother's. It was almost too easy.

But easy things soon come to an end.

Magnus dropped Linda a couple blocks away from her father's flat, and after giving her a long and proper kiss, had driven to work. He said good morning to Ann-Britt and was just sitting down to check his email when he heard his name shouted from below.

"MAGNUS!"

Confused, he looked over and Ann-Britt, who shrugged. He got up, and was heading towards the shouting when he saw Kurt appear on the top of the stair looking angrier than Magnus had ever seen him.

It only took him a second to realize what it was about, but he didn't get to say anything, because the next thing he knew Kurt's fist had collided with the side of his face and he tasted blood.

"Kurt!" Ann-Britt yelled as Nyburg ran up and tried to pull him off Magnus.

"Dad, what are you doing?"

Bemused, Magnus looked up to see Linda standing in the doorway, white, an expression of horror on her face.

Kurt picked up the collar of Magnus' jacket. "What do you think you're playing at?" he growled into his face. "I asked you to check on her once, and then I find out you've been screwing her behind my back?"

"Dad!" Linda cried, her face flushing in humiliation. "Dad, that is none of your business!"

Kurt let go of Magnus then and whirled around to face her. "I want to hear it from him!" He snarled, pointing back at Magnus who was desperately trying to stem the blood pouring from his nose.

"I want him to look me in the face and tell me he's been fucking my daughter!"

"Kurt," Magnus said thickly. "It isn't what you—"

Kurt grabbed his shirt and hauled him up against him. "It isn't what I think, eh? Either you've been fucking her or you haven't! Which is it, Magnus?"

Magnus didn't answer. He had no answer, but he could feel a simmer of anger in his blood.

"Tell me wh—"

"What do you want me to say?" Magnus snarled, wrenching away. "Okay, Kurt. Not that it is any of your business, but yes, we are in a relationship."

"Oh, a relationship!" Kurt sneered. "Is that what you call it?" Then his face crumpled and he looked tired, sad, and old. "I trusted you, Magnus, and you betrayed me."

There were tears on his face and he looked devastated, but Magnus had had enough and didn't care anymore. He was tired of taking the blame for things, for always being Kurt's emotional punching bag.

"Betrayed you? I checked on her for you, when you asked. Where were you when she needed you? Why was I the one picking up the pieces, Kurt? Because you couldn't be bothered to take the time off and do it yourself! Your daughter needed you and you failed."

Kurt's mouth went slack and he turned white as a sheet.

"Why?" he asked hoarsely. Why did you do it?"

"It had nothing to do with you, Kurt, as much as you might like to think it does," Magnus said thickly through the blood. "Not everything I do revolves around you."

But Kurt wasn't listening. "You betrayed me, Magnus," he repeated. "Why? Why? WHY?"

His face twisted in rage and he lunged at Magnus again, but Magnus was prepared this time. He returned Kurt's punch, hitting him square in the face and shouted without thinking, "BECAUSE I'M IN LOVE WITH HER!"

The room fell deathly silent. As Magnus realized what he had just done, he slowly turned to Linda who was staring at him in shock. There was a flicker of disbelief on her face and then she turned and ran. Seconds later Magnus was running after her, ignoring the hands that grabbed his arms and the voices that followed him.

He pounded down the stairs just in time to see the tail end of her dress fly out the front door.

"Linda!" he shouted, not caring that everyone stared, not caring that he was covered in his own blood.

He burst out onto the sidewalk but she had disappeared. He stood there, bloody and feeling so terribly alone.

He chose not to go back up, but texted Ann-Britt that he was going home for the rest of the day. He didn't think his nose was broken, but it hurt.

Though not as much as his heart did.

He drove home fighting the despair that overwhelmed him.

He went into the bathroom for his first aid kit and pulled off his soiled shirt, tossing it into the shower. He had just gotten out the antiseptic when there was a knock at his door.

Anger surged up inside him, and slamming the bottle back onto the counter, he went out to answer it. It was probably Mrs. Myrdal. Trying to keep his temper in check, he pulled open the door roughly and was stunned to find Linda there staring up at him, a strange expression on her face. After a moment he opened the door wider.

"Your face," she said. "Does it hurt?"

"Not much," he lied.

She followed him into the bathroom which, almost too small for one person, was entirely too small for two.

She gently pushed him down onto the toilet as she began to administer to his face, first wiping away the blood and then placing a bandage over the bridge of his nose. Her touch should have given him comfort, but somehow it only left him aching for something he could not define.

After she was done, she leaned back onto the sink and that was when she finally spoke.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"No," he sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have surprised you like that. Especially not—"

"Did you mean it?" she interrupted, looking as though she were going to cry. "I know that you like me, and the sex is...amazing—"

She blushed and he felt his own face heat up as he remembered how she looked when he made her come.

"— but it's not just because we're lonely, is it? It isn't just because you saved my life?"

"No," he replied. "I—I thought about that, but it isn't that."

He got to his feet, frustrated at all the words inside him that wanted to come out. He had never been one for eloquence.

"Before I met you, I was lonely but it didn't bother me until you came into my life. I knew you existed Linda, but I didn't really see you until that day. When you put your hand on my arm and stayed with me. You were so frightened, but you stayed with me, and you cared. The party….I'd never been to anything like that before, and it was like waking up to life. Everyday I'm surrounded by death and anger, but then I come home and you are there, so passionate, so full of that life I was missing. And I fell in love with you. It was just…that simple. Perhaps me saving you is what brought us together, but it isn't what is keeping us together. At least not me."

Closing the distance between them, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. Joy bubbled up inside him as he felt the heat from her body as it molded against his. He never wanted to let her go, but suddenly her nose hit his too hard and he gasped in pain.

"Oh, your poor nose!" she cried, pulling away and clapping her hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry he did that to you!"

"No, its fine," he said grasping her hand. "I would have probably done the same thing."

"No," she laughed. "No you wouldn't. You are much too kind."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You really think that?"

She laughed, but then turned serious.

"Of course, Magnus. You are the kindest man I have ever known."

He touched her cheek affectionately. "If I am so kind, I should go speak to your father."

She sighed. "Yes, me too. I should have told him sooner."

"I'm afraid he'll never forgive me," Magnus replied. "Work will be difficult to say the least."

"No, Magnus. You saved my life and he'll never forget that."

"I would do it again," he murmured, drawing her back to him. "Always."

"I know."

Magnus found Kurt hunched over his computer, his mouth drawn into a thin line and his skin tinged grey. He did not look well.

"Kurt," he said hesitantly. "Can I talk to you?"

Kurt didn't look up from the screen.

"Kurt, please," Magnus said again.

Reluctantly, Kurt looked up, a scowl on his face.

"I wanted to tell you I was sorry," he said. "Not for being with Linda, or for loving her, but for not telling you sooner that I did."

Kurt didn't say anything.

"I know you and I have our…differences," He continued, struggling to find the right words. "Our relationship is not always an easy one, but I do respect you."

"If you respected me, you would never have done it," Kurt said coldly.

"That's unfair," Magnus protested. "I didn't tell you because I was afraid you would act like this. Yes, I should have told you sooner, much sooner, but I'm not going to give up the woman makes me happy because she happens to be your daughter. I don't understand why this is so difficult for you."

"It's difficult," he said between clenched teeth, "because she is my daughter. And you are a detective in my department."

Magnus let out a frustrated sigh. "It's because she's your daughter, and you wouldn't like any man who wanted to be with her. That's it, isn't it?"

"No, Magnus." Kurt stood up abruptly. "It's because you work for the police. You are constantly placed in dangerous situations, and if you were to die, you would leave her alone and in pain. I don't want that life for her."

Suddenly Linda appeared by his side, startling him.

"But dad," she said softly. "It's my life."

His face softened as his eyes fell on his daughter.

"I know. And see what it did to your mother."

He paused painfully.

"And to you."

Linda's expression grew sad and she put her hand over her father's. He gripped it.

"That's a choice you made," she said, her voice faltering slightly. "And I'm not going to live my life making up for your regret. It's not fair to ask that of me."

Kurt let out a heavy sigh. "No," he said. "It's not. I'm sorry Linda."

"I love you, dad," Linda said, pressing her lips against his rough, unshaven cheek.

"Love you too," Kurt mumbled letting go of her hand.

"Magnus," he said gruffly. "We have work to do." And with that, he turned and went out of the room.

"Right," Magnus said as he watched him go. "I'll be right there." He turned to Linda who was watching her father retreat, her brows drawn together in worry.

"Was I just forgiven?" Magnus asked slowly. "Or was that something else entirely."

Her brow smoothed out and she gave him a small smile. "I think it was something else entirely, knowing my dad."

Magnus's disappointment must have shown up on his face since Linda brushed her knuckles against his cheek.

"It's a start, Magnus. He'll come around in time. It just might be a few—"

"Years?" Magnus interrupted sardonically.

Linda laughed, and the sound filled Magnus with warmth, pushing the disappointment away. He took Linda into his arms, smelling her hair, its musky floral scent comforting and enticing all at the same time.

"Perhaps," she murmured into his chest. He didn't see the smile leave her face and the worry return. She hugged him tighter.

"Perhaps."