No Regrets, Only Memories

Breaking the Code

Daniel

When I thought that Maeve was recovering from whatever had happened in Monaco, I was wrong. While she had mindlessly agreed to come to LA with me, she hadn't been much more responsive than a few muted words since we arrived on Tuesday morning. Pyrita had come with us at her own request, stating that she had to keep up with Maeve's training. The only thing she really did was her daily training with Pyrita. Michael and I would take the two women on hikes and she wouldn't say a word. The only emotion I really saw from her was the first night we were in my house in LA. I had set everyone up in a guest room and thought that everything was ok. Around one, I couldn't sleep and had to get out of bed for some water. I was surprised to see my backdoor open instead.

Maeve was sitting on the edge of the pool with her legs in the water and leaning back on her hands as she stared out at the water.

"Do you come here often?" I joked as I stepped up next to her.

She didn't say anything as I sat down next to her and dropped my legs into the water.

"You know, you're gonna have to tell me what is going on at some point while we're here. It's gonna be a long month if we aren't even talking...." She nodded a couple of times before suddenly leaning her head over onto my shoulder.

"Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do to help?" I looked down at her, hoping for a reaction. Only for her to stare up at me.

"Time. I need time."

That was almost a few days ago and I had spent every single night with her laying awake in my bed. Both of us were seriously lacking sleep and were leaving for Montreal in just 24 hours. I had to do something and that started with getting Michael and Pyrita out of the house. Which was easier than expected when I handed over the keys to my car for them.

Maeve was sitting out by the pool again around 9am when I walked outside with coffee and some fresh fruit. I put the plate and two mugs down next to me as I sat down to her right. She didn't seem to react as I handed a cup to her.

"Come on Maeve, you have to eat as well...." She looked at me finally before taking the mug.

"Thank you." Was her quiet reply as she wrapped her fingers around the cup.

"We're gonna have to talk about this before we leave for Canada..." She nodded, sitting forward to hold the cup with both hands.

"I know..." She sighed, looking over at the pool before putting the cup down to her left.

"Did you want to do that now?" I asked as I held out the plate of fruit for her. It was a relief to see her just reach out and grab a slice of watermelon without much of a fight.

"No, but I feel like if I don't then I won't." She sighed again before taking a bite of the watermelon.

"Don't push yourself. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to. I'm just worried about you Maeve..."I placed my left hand on her knee and she looked down at it before putting her hand over mine.

"I know Daniel. I'm sorry to worry you. It's just.... I broke down... I just need a little bit more time..." I nodded, knowing that was extremely true based on her current state.

"That's fine, but if you need more time this week then I suggest we call Angela. You have press and a race that you'll have to be 100% there for mentally. I don't-"

"I'm aware Daniel." She snapped, cutting off my sentence.

"Sorry, That's just part of the problem. I need a little bit of time. I'll speak with Angela when I see her, but I'm not going to cancel anything. Can we just not talk about it?"