Wish You Were There...First Line Challenge

There were no visible traces of the events which had transpired, except the ground Zero. Looking outside the window, Joe missed something which sunk like a pile into the bedrock. He had experienced that malicious sensation of falling  Twin Towers. A valley of death, full of dust and fire was infront of his eyes, when he opened the same window and saw the most haunted scene. Joe's building was just a few feet from the main entrance of the Bridge. Wrapped into new dreams, he had chosen an area of Brooklyn, just over the Manhattan Bridge.

Drowned in throbbing sounds, Joe's whole body shuddered again. Every Incident in life leaves a lesson, realizing this; he closed the window and turned to his present. Callie was sleeping sound when Joe woke. He observed a clue of color on her cheeks and was gritty to see that it stayed there. The stroke of his hand to her hair was tender but proprietary.

What she had given him, was a night, offered with complete freedom, without shadows of the past, with none of the bitter taste of regret. It was something else that intended to keep constant. No, he wasn't going to permit her again to withdraw from him. Not an inch. He had lost her six years ago, or perhaps he had never really had her---not in the way he'd adored, not in the way he'd taken for granted. But this time, Joe determined, it would be special.

He needed to take care of her in his own way. Her frailty drew that from him. In another way he needed a partner on equal terms. Her potency offered him that. For reasons, he never entirely understood, Callie was exactly what he'd always wanted. Clumsiness, egotism, immaturity, or perhaps a combination of all three made him lose her once. Now when he had a second chance, he was going to make it the best season of her life.

Rising, Joe's dressed in the shaded glow of the bed-room, and then left her to sleep.

                                                      xxxxxxxx

When she woke slowly, Callie was reluctant to surface from the simple pleasure of a dream. The room was soft; her mind was foggy with sleep and fantasy. Sharp intermittent spasms of pain in her leg, and more or less constant pain was not surprising for her. With a sigh, she reached for Joe and found the bed empty.

The haze vanished immediately, as did all traces of sleep and the pretty edge of fantasy. Callie sat up and though the movement jolted the pain in her leg, she stared at the empty space beside her.

Had that been a dream as well? She marveled. Cautiously, she reached out and found the sheets cold. Her fantasy brought on by medication and confusion? Insecure, tremulous, she pushed the hair away from her face. Was it possible that she'd imagined it all------ the softness, the lovability, the passion?

Callie needed Joe desperately. That hadn't been a dream. Even now she could feel the dull ache in her stomach that came from need. Had the need caused her to fantasize all that bizarre, emotive beauty during the night? The bed beside her was empty, the cool sheets. She was alone. She wanted to cry, but found she hadn't the energy for tears.

"So you're up."

Joe voice made her whip her head around. Her nerve was strung tight. Joe walked into the bedroom carrying a tray, wearing an easy smile.

"That saves me from having to wake you up to get some food into you." Before he approached the bed, he went to the window and drew up the shades. Light poured into the room and the temperate gust that had been trapped behind the shades rushed into ruffle the sheets. Feeling it, she had to control a shudder, "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine." The clumsiness was unpredicted.Callie folded her hands and sat completely silent."I want to thank you for everything you've done."

"You've already thanked me once. It wasn't compulsory then or now." Her tone had put him on guard, Joe stopped next to the bed to take a good long look at her."You're hurting."

"It's not bad."

"This time you take this pill." After setting the tray on her lap, he walked to the cupboard and picked up a small bottle." No arguments," he said, anticipating her refusal.

"Joe, it's really not bad." When had he offered her a pill before? The struggle to memorize brought only frustration. "There's barely any pain."

"Any pain's too much." Joe sat on the bed, putting the pill into her palm curled her hand over it with his own. "When it's you."

With her fingers curled warmly under his, she knew. Elation came so inaudibly .She was afraid to move and chase it away. "I didn't dream it, did I?" she whispered.

"Dream what?"

"Last night, when I woke up, I was afraid it had all been a dream.

Joe smiled and touched his lips to hers.

"If it was, I had the same dream." He kissed her again, with humor in his eyes."It was wonderful."A smile played at the corners of her mouth. She'd never been pampered in her life and thought it might be entirely too easy to get used to it.