Who: Alex Morgan and Paul Shrewsbury. What: A reunion/first meeting. When: Monday, late afternoon. Where: The Agency HQ, Lobby.
The ‘week’ away had left everyone shaken. No, not shaken. That was an understatement. Everywhere, people were on edge. They were upset about who they had been, or who they had known, or just what had happened while they all took a break from reality. It didn’t seem like anyone had come back happier. No one had experienced anything completely good. Even Alex, who had spent the first half more content than she could remember ever actually being. It had all ended badly, though. Very badly. When she’d woken up, she was screaming, still expecting the slash of a knife, to see Paul’s horrified face while she tried to tell him that it would be okay, that she loved him. But she hadn’t been injured. There wasn’t a mark on her. She’d been in bed, alone, and the shock of it had her sobbing until her brother had come to find her.
Days later, and she still wasn’t completely back to normal. She was still grieving, not just for her father, but for a man she had never even met. There was no doubt in her mind that he had died as well, which was bad enough. But the worst part was not knowing who he was, or where he was, or even if he was the same Paul. Her Paul. Having the baggage of a reincarnate who had loved and loved well was bad enough. Now she had a whole separate fantasy that she didn’t think the real world would live up to. So many people had been different. What if he wasn’t the person she remembered?
She’d already confirmed that he did actually exist. That had been one of the first things she’d done after she woke up. He worked at the Agency. That meant he couldn’t be too crazy, right? Or some kind of super villain. After a lot of deliberation with herself, she finally decided that she had to go to London and see him. She might end up disappointed with what she found, but anything was better than not knowing. She had to see him. She had to know.
Her search was far more hindered than she expected it to be. The Agency was in lock down, and the woman at the reception desk was being a complete bitch. A name wasn’t enough to get her to anyone’s office, nor could she page him. Apparently, they were worried people who had been upset during the break might come looking for revenge on various Agency workers. It took every ounce of willpower Alex had not to flaunt credentials and demand an audience. Not that it would have done much good. The woman didn’t look very charitable toward anyone, and being the youngest Morgan probably wouldn’t have mattered at all.
After a long string of cursing under her breath, she turned away from the desk defeated. So much for just marching up and seeing how he reacted. She’d have to figure out another way to go about this. She was halfway across the lobby when she saw a very familiar yet completely unknown head of dark, unkempt hair. Tossing propriety to the wind, she ran toward him (as much as she could in heels), clattering around other office workers. “Paul. PAUL!”
---
Paul had been walking around in a daze ever since the break. He'd hardly talked to anyone at the office. He was even quiet with Joanie, after they'd reassured each other that they were both okay and that the horrible things they remembered weren't real, or at least not real for them in the here and now. He hoped some of it was real though. It had to be. He'd woken up screaming, and the images in his mind in that horrifying instant had hardly faded, but he could almost live with that, if he could just remember everything about Alex. That was all he needed. Her eyes, he smile, the way she looked when she was laughing. Everything but the way she looked when she died. That he wished he could forget, but he didn't think he ever would.
It was unfair, that he felt this way about a girl he didn't even know. He knew she was real though. He worked for the Agency Media Department, of course he'd heard of Alex Morgan. He just didn't know anything about her. Was she the same? How was he supposed to get in touch with her? Camelot was on a heavier lock-down than the agency was. Even if he did find her, what would he say? 'Hi, I'm totally in love with you and I'm almost certain we were murdered together in some other world. Want to go for coffee sometime?' He knew everyone had gone crazy after the break, but that was even more crazy than most.
He'd tried to contact Camelot, but so far it was a lost cause. He was certain they thought he was insane and possibly dangerous. They may have been right about the first part. He wasn't giving up, but he hadn't thought of anything better. If he had to he'd call her out publicly over the boards, or abuse his position and do something on the radio. That was a last resort though. There were people whose attention he didn't want, for himself or for her. The fear and pain he'd felt in those last hours was real and it lingered. If Alex was real and out there, then so was the woman who'd killed them.
Paul slunk out of the office slightly early. He was far from his usual joking and energetic self. He wondered if anyone would notice if he went to the pub to drown his sorrows instead of going home. He wondered if there'd even be any room at the pub, or if everyone else had the same idea. He wasn't halfway across the lobby when he heard someone calling for him. For a second, he wondered who the blond woman was who was shouting at him. It all clicked in an instant though. The woman he couldn't get out of his head had had dark hair, but everything else was the same. Her face, her eyes, her smile, even the way her voice sounded when she'd given up on acting all proper. "Alex?"
He sprinted across the lobby, nearly bowling over several of his coworkers and not caring in the slightest.
---
It occurred to her, a little belatedly, that she was racing across a very public place after a man who may not want anything to do with her. After all, it was kind of her fault that he’d been killed. No, it was completely her fault. He may have been alive now, but if he hadn’t been protecting her then, he wouldn’t even have been there when the enemy had come for her. He must have had the same horrible memories as she did. What if…
When he turned and said her name, all those worries disappeared. He looked the same. Not just his face, the way he looked at her was the same. That was what really mattered.
She swung around another baffled person in a suit before colliding with Paul. It wasn’t the most graceful reunion, but they were both in a hurry. Framing his face with her hands, she stared at him hard for a long moment. “You’re really here. You’re okay.” He looked okay. Exactly like she remembered, which should have been so wrong. It wasn’t though. Everything inside her felt like it had before she had died. How was that possible? She knew, logically, that this was the first time they’d ever met, but she didn’t care.
Just like she didn’t care that she’d started crying. It was all too much for her to even attempt to hold in. “Oh god. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
---
Paul slid on the slick tile floor of the lobby as he tried to stop. It was not the most graceful scene ever, and they practically ran right into each other, but that didn't matter at all. He had never been so glad to see someone in his life. She was okay. She was real. "You're alive." He touched her face, her cheeks, her hair, making sure she was real, that she wasn't some figment of his imagination. "You're here. What are you..."
He didn't get a chance to finish his question before she broke down. He understood, he felt a lump in his throat, pure emotion that he could barely contain. Without a second though, Paul pulled her into a fierce hug, holding her like he might never let her go again. He never wanted to lose her again. "It's okay. It's okay, I'm here. We're safe." They were making a scene, but they were safe.
---
All she could do was nod along as he took his turn pointing out the obvious. The fact that he was standing in front of her and touching her like that almost made up for all the terrible things they’d gone through to get there. Maybe what they’d experienced wasn’t real, but it still felt real. At least it did to her.
Alex buried her face in his shoulder, her arms going around him tightly. It was hard, at that moment, to block out her ‘final’ memories. She sobbed in to his shirt, clinging to him for dear life. She’d never expected to be able to do this again. Or at all, depending on much their break had counted. But they were alive, and they were together. And for reasons she couldn’t quite describe, she still loved him.
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she tilted her head back. “I really hope you’re not some kind of madman.” What was it he had said, you couldn’t just walk up to a girl you fancied and snog her? Well, at least this wasn’t a training session. Completely ignoring the people who were going about their business around them, she pressed her lips against his.
It was exactly like she remembered.
---
It was exactly like he remembered.
He kissed her back, desperately, passionately. The fact that he technically hadn't said twenty words to this woman yet didn't even occur to him. He'd known her for thirty seconds and his life was completely changed. Someone in the lobby cheered and a smattering of slow applause broke out. He recognized the voice of the first cheerer, it could only have been his sister. It was a good thing he wasn't the sort of person who was prone to embarrassment.
Eventually he had to pull away, to catch his breath, and to look at her again. She was the same. She was his Alex, alive and beautiful and absolutely perfect. He didn't know how so much could change and yet they could be the same, but he was glad that was true. They'd been robbed of everything in that other world, when they'd only just begun. Maybe they could pick up where they'd left off. A slow smile spread across his face. "Sorry, I'm the same kind of madman I always was. I hope you weren't counting on an upgrade?"
---
There was some cheering and applause, which would probably embarrass her later. Especially if it got back to her brother. That could all wait to be deal with after she finished kissing him, though. Right then, it might have well just been the two of them. Everything else faded to the background as they kissed for the ‘first’ time.
His smile was as contagious as before. She returned it, even as she melted a little on the inside. It shouldn’t have been possible to feel this way about someone she had literally only just met. Luckily, being a reincarnate meant dealing with a lot of impossible things. Like falling for a guy in an alternate universe/dream/whatever that had been, then finding him again after they woke up. The fact that they had both died horrible was currently overshadowed by how happy she was to see him again.
Alex laughed, the rare laugh that he’d been so good at teasing out of her. “No, I wasn’t. I preferred you just the way you were.” As far as she could tell, she was no different now than she had been. There were vastly different circumstances, sure, but at the heart of it, she had still been Alex. “I guess this means you don’t mind me coming here and chasing you down like a crazy person...”
---
"No, I don't mind at all." He laughed, the easy joyful laugh that was so much a part of who he was and that begged other people to join in. "It saves me some trouble. You, uh, might want to tell the Agency liaison at Camelot that I'm not a crazy stalker, by the way. Or that I am, but you don't mind it. Something like that." They were doing this all backwards. He'd woken up two days ago miserable and heartbroken. Now he was deliriously in love. Next he was going to have to get to know this girl.
"I was just heading out. We could maybe go somewhere? Catch up?" The spark of mischief that had been missing since Sunday was back in his eyes. There was no way to make this normal, but he was going to give it his best try. They should clear out of the lobby eventually, and wherever she wanted to go, he wanted to go with her. Now that they'd found each other, he didn't ever want to let her go.
---
That left her momentarily confused. The Agency liaison? Then she realized it was because he’d probably tried to find her, and had had just as much luck with Camelot as she had navigating the Agency. It was very lucky that she’d managed to find him here, with no one standing in their way. Otherwise, their reunion might have taken forever. “Oh, right.” Alex grinned up at him. “I’ll let them know that I don’t mind.” She didn’t mind, not at all. If he wanted to stay around, she would encourage it. They were finally together. There was no way she was letting him leave. She’d already lost him once.
She stepped away, running a hand down his arm and linking her hand with his. It was such a familiar gesture that she didn’t even think twice about it. “Sure. If you don’t mind.” She smiled, way too content with how this was playing out. It was odd, sure, but this felt great. Exactly like it had before…god, she didn’t even want to think about it. Maybe they would be able to ignore how everything ended, and just focus on the good. “I’d like to…get to know you better?”
---
"I'd like that too." Holding her hand and walking next to her felt perfectly natural. The truly odd thing was, before, even the other him might have been a little bit awkward about that. They didn't have that much of a head start, it was just that they'd been through so much together. "We didn't get nearly enough time for that last time."
Paul guided them towards the glass doors of the lobby. Fortunately their audience seemed to have thinned out. "We can go back to my flat, if you want. It's tidy for a change, and I'm sure the iguana is in it's cage and the proper color and everything." He cringed. Even in this bizarre situation, his moves were leaving something to be desired. "I swear that's not any sort of a euphemism."
---
“No, we really didn’t.” She smiled up at him sadly. Even though she knew that none of that had been technically real, she couldn’t help but think it was massively unfair that it had ended that way for them. At some point, they would probably need to talk about that. But not now. Now was the time for them to just bask in the fact that they were both alive and they’d gotten a second chance to pursue all the good things that had happened in their alternate universe.
In any other case, she would have been a lot more apprehensive about going to a stranger’s home. But this was Paul. They’d practically lived together, and she doubted that his sister would have neglected to mention if he was a serial killer. “Sure.” Alex stared at him as he kept rattling on, laughing when he cringed. “I hope not. That would be a terrible euphemism.” As they walked side by side, she leaned her head against his shoulder.