North (A Robert Downey Jr Fanfic)

"What About Love?"

The shrill peal of his cell phone ringing ripped through the quiet tranquility of Vanessa's bedroom tearing her and Robert from their slumber.

"Hello?"
"What the fuck are you doing in Wisconsin?"
"What? How--"
"Doesn't matter Bobby. You're lucky whoever took a picture of you two nights ago came to me first. The press would have a field day with this."
"Who sent you a picture?"
"Someone named Jane Doe, imagine that. Jane wants money for the picture or it will be sent to a tabloid, so they say."

Vanessa's blood ran cold when she realized it was his publicist and what kind of conversation he was having with him. She got out of bed and paced the floor. Who had spied on them? Was she in the picture too? If she had been and the picture got out, it would be everywhere;her cover would be blown. She began to panic and considered leaving again.

She'd tell her daughter she'd get to go to a different school, a real school and in turn she'd be more willing to move. She'd sell the Lodge or maybe just give it to June and Henry the way Dorothy had given it to her. She had more than enough money stashed to get away. She'd done it before, she could do it again.

Her stomach felt sick so she scuttled to the bathroom to douse her face in cold water. She paused her panicked mind to look at herself in the mirror and after a moment, realized she'd gain nothing by running. Starting over and continuing the lie wouldn't do her any good and it certainly wouldn't be fair to her daughter. There had to be a way to fix things, a way to reconcile with her past.

"Hey," Robert said quietly, leaning on the door frame.
"What's going on?" she asked with a shaky voice.
"This," he said and held up his phone for her to look at. It was a grainy photograph from the Fourth of July in the park, the two of them dancing. There was a secondary photograph of Robert spinning her as well. He was easy to recognize but her face was either distorted or covered with her hair in both photographs and her mounted fears fizzled out. She sank to the floor and started to cry.

"What's the matter?" he sat down with her.
"I was going to leave again."
"What? In that short amount of time that I was on the phone, you decided to leave?"
She nodded, then reached for his hands with hers. He silently willed her to find steadiness and strength, her fear tore at his heart and he wanted to help stop it.
"I heard you talking and all I could think about was the people that would come looking for you once they found out where you were. I cannot risk someone finding us."
"Vanessa, if I've got anything to do with it, nobody will ever come close to you...except me," he ran a thumb across her cheek, swiping a tear away.

"You don't know that."
"I do. I will do anything."
"That's a lot to promise," she said as she pressed her fingertips to her hot cheeks.
"Again, there's not much that can scare me Vanessa. You told me your deepest and darkest...don't tell me that's not worth something."
She nodded and pulled him to her and he wrapped her in a tight hug. They sat in the doorway of the bathroom, entwined and he ran his fingers up and down her back.
"It's worth everything," she whispered.

***

"Thanks for letting me tag along, I just need a break sometimes," June said, patting Vanessa on the leg.
"Nice way to cool off too," Vanessa replied, motioning to the open frame of her Jeep. The sunlight forest whipped past them as they rode into town together.
"It's never been this hot for so long. When will it let up?" June asked, passively.
"Soon, I hope."

They pulled up to Dawn's house and something niggled at Vanessa, deep down. The two girls were sitting on the porch swing and Dawn was snapping a cell phone picture of them. Vanessa peered over the top of her sunglasses, trying to figure out what was bothering her but she couldn't place it. Before she had time to contemplate too much, her daughter spotted her, hopped up from the seat and bounded down the footpath waving over her shoulder at Taylor and Dawn. Vanessa waved and yelled a "thank you" before shifting the Jeep into gear and speeding off.