Dream One, Chapter Two

(Anything in asterisks is supposed to be italicized.)

It had been seven months since I'd heard his deep, rich voice with the unplaceable Old World accent that I found so incredibly sexy. A weight lifted from my heart and shoulders at the sound, and then settled back down a little again at his greeting. It meant he was upset with me, but I didn't care all that much.

"Oh, you did *not* just 'Ms. Lane' me. *Jericho*." I found it impossible not to grin. I had so missed him. I knew he could hear it in my voice and I still didn't care.

"I believe that's exactly what I just did. *Ms. Lane*." We were both silent for a moment. I could see him sitting in his study at the Old World desk, the corners of his mouth twitching ever so slightly.

"Did you find my letter?" I found myself asking when he didn't speak, my grin starting to fade.

"Yes." His voice was tight. It was almost a hiss. He was not happy.

"Did you talk to Ryodan?"

"Not yet." His voice was soft and I shivered because soft from the Nine is a warning. "Dani happened to blow in as I finished reading it. She was so excited that she hugged me."

"She promised to keep an eye on my bookstore until you got home. Actually, she volunteered to do it. Said the place is Hogwarts to her Harry Potter." He was silent. "What did she tell you?"

"More or less what your letter said. That you were bored."

"That is not remotely what my letter said, and I'm certain that's not what Dani said, either," I snapped. Although it was kind of true. I took a deep breath. "You were right, okay? It's the wondering. I hate it, too." He trashed the bookstore and my room the first time I vanished without a trace for a month. The second time he had merely told me in that mocking way of his that it was the wondering that pissed him off. He hated it and told me to do something about it.

"Now do you understand why I was always so pissed when you disappeared on me?"

"I never disappeared for as long as you just did," I coolly reminded him. "It was a month and a half at most every time. I was going crazy, okay? I even tried to get Ryodan to let me bartend at Chester's but he didn't think it was safe."

"Because allowing you to go thousands of miles away by yourself was safer."

"I'm not by myself. He sent Lor and Fade with me." He went silent again.

"You were in that room for years. I haven't been gone that long."

"That doesn't count. You knew exactly where I was and why I was there. Plus, you're the one who put me in that room." We both went silent. We'd had this argument many times.

"When are you coming back?" he eventually growled.

"When I'm done here," I sighed resignedly. We'd had this conversation thousands of time in my head. It was actually going better than I had expected.

"And how long until you're done?" I didn't answer; I didn't know. He exhaled softly. "Come home, Rainbow Girl." There was subtle longing in his voice that spoke volumes. I wouldn't have heard it if I didn't know how to listen for his subtleties.

It was like a dagger through my heart.

"That is not fair," I told him with a catch in my throat. "You know it undoes me when you call me that."

I could hear the slight mockery in his voice when he said, "Did it ever occur to you that's why I call you Rainbow Girl?"

"It did, actually." I chewed my lip when we both went silent again. The silence went on so long that I thought he'd hung up.

"Mac."

"I want to see this through, Jericho. I have to see this through. I need to see this through."

He didn't reply.

"Dani offered to fly you here when you got back," I told him. "You should take her up on it."

"You're not afraid I won't try to force you back to Dublin?"

"I know you won't. You've always let me be independent. You've always let me make my own choices." I paused. "I've always loved that about you." He went silent, but I knew the corners of his mouth were turning up again.

"Dani said you annoyed Ryodan into sending most of the Nine out looking for me." His tone was light, but there was an edge beneath it.

"Just because you'll always come back doesn't mean I still can't think of a thousand reasons to worry about you," I told him stiffly. My heart fluttered as he laughed. I loved that laugh. When he went silent, the question I had been suppressing finally blurted out. "Are you okay?"

I was half expecting him to mock me for such a human question because of course he's okay, but he growled, "I'd be a lot better if your ass was in my bed where it belongs." That was his way of telling me he appreciated that I worried about him because he knew it meant I loved him. It was also one of the many ways I anticipated him trying to talk me into coming home.

He knew that just the sound of his voice got me wet and ready. It was an aftereffect from when I was *Pri-ya* and he quite literally fucked me back to my senses. I heard his voice or felt his presence and my body immediately expected incredible pleasure. Sex with him also had become a cure-all for me.

I smirked and said, "Maybe it's time for *your* ass to come be in *my* bed, Barrons." I got a full-on laugh from that one.

"If you tell me what you missed most about me, maybe I'll take you up on that." I could hear that wolfish smile.

"You're impossible."

He snorted. "And you're not?"

I sighed and switched the phone to my other ear, turning towards a wall so I hopefully wouldn't be overheard as I graphically detailed what I'd missed most about him.

When I was done, he was silent for a long while before he softly said, "Fuck."

I wet my lips and said, "Come see me and we can."

"Christ, woman."

"You're the one who wanted to know."

"I should punish you in some way for that."

"Because seven whole months without you wasn't painful enough?" He laughed softly and I knew he had already decided to come see me. It was just a matter of how quickly he'd go find Dani. "I've missed you like crazy."

"I've missed you, too, Mac." That one caught me by surprise. He doesn't like words. I was surprised I'd gotten this much out of him. I felt a grin spread across my face as I preened.

"So when can I expect you?"

"As soon as bloody fucking possible," he said huskily. I could hear the lust in his voice and I was aching to be near him. I told him what time I got off work and he told me he needed to finish the tattoo that would bring his beast to me at a moment's notice in case I was dying before he grabbed what he needed and went to find Dani and check in with Ryodan. Dani knew where to find me and I'd be waiting.

Eagerly.