Waiting on you

Ellis lit her cigarette with great satisfaction, inhaling deeply as she leaned against the edge of the four story walk up over looking an empty courtyard. All a familiar scene, she reflected as she flicked her cigarette ashes over the side. Halloween night, a nice night for surveillance and gun smugglers...a pleasant evening. Right where she was standing, in fact.

The scuff of shoes behind her caught her attention, but did not alarm her. They were familiar - they would have to be after a thousand years of listening to them. Ellis let her cigarette dangle from her mouth as she turned around and rested an elbow on the edge of the rooftop ledge. The smoke got into her eyes and she squinted as Simon slowly approached her, the sun finally setting behind him. She watched him, from head to toe, his hands swaying gently at his side and his hip length jacket draped across his broad shoulders. He was still as handsome as the day she met him - that dusty, dirty fall evening a million years ago. A weary constable - the flawed human...the man of many sorrows.

Should she have killed him when she had the chance? Probably. He had meant to kill her - had really wanted to leave her for dead and had taken everything that had belonged to her away. Her love included. Or maybe that was her fault. Maybe she did... Ellis eyes narrowed at Simon as he closed the distance between them, her thought cut off by the scent of Carol that lingered on him still. Life was full of maybes but more importantly - second chances.

Ellis reached up and took the cigarette out of her mouth, flicking the ashes again. Maybe the next chance she gets to kill Simon, she might actually do it. Yeah. Maybe.

'Waiting on you,' Ellis said in her thickest brogue. 'Waiting on you.'

Simon pulled the fire escape ladder down and climbed up to the first landing. He ran his hand along the rail as he took the steps, rounding the corner of each landing, taking his time. With each step he considered the events of Halloween night - how precariously close Duibne Industries came to self destruction and destroying the entire city. Thankfully Carol helped Marthinus' son, his great grandson, facilitate the chore of double speaking their way out of that, blaming the entire event on terrorism. They were lucky.

Simon reached the rooftop and saw her standing there, smoking her cigarette, casually leaning against the ledge. Standing in the shadows of the skyline, she still managed to catch a bit of the setting sun's rays, causing a soft mist of smoke to rise up from her exposed skin. She took the pain effortlessly and probably without notice. Simon looked down and saw the same for himself. Still, he wondered what she would have looked like in the full orange glow of the sunset. As the sun completed its descent, Simon walked quietly towards her when she finally took notice of him.

She turned and gave him a look of half annoyance, half casual familiarity. That wasn't the woman he had met so many years ago. No she was fresh faced, still a little vulnerable and ethereal almost. There wasn't a trace of what he had spent so long coveting. But he didn't know her to hesitate about anything - betrayal, murder or sex. As she stood there, her curves were accentuated by the tightness of her outfit - the tight fitting cat suit she had come to so love for her outings, such a far cry from her usual day to day designer couture. In an age where smoking was out, she still made it look appealing and sexy. She held the cigarette with her lips, letting the smoke rise up out of her mouth with a dismissive look of disdain on her face.

What did he need her for, anymore? Why was he allowing her to stay alive in a city that hated her in a world that hated them. Why did she stay and why didn't she kill him when she had the chance? Simon wondered if maybe Ellis was capable of regret, capable of wanting forgiveness. She had spent her entire lifetime not allowing anyone to have either around her - himself included. Was it no wonder that his life was inevitably full of one and needing the other - pushing him to make a life altering decision to kill the only woman he loved. Maybe still loved.

Simon closed the distance and stood beside her, breaking his stare and looking out over the courtyard. They were there again on reconnaissance only - picking up from where they had left off. With a sigh he reached up and touched his lip, tugging it thoughtfully.

'I hate it when you say that.'

Ellis smiled that gloating smile again. 'I know.'

((OOC - Simon and Ellis out))