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“It’s not because of you,” he said sharply, hoping to pierce Lorelai’s barrage of words. It didn’t seem to get through though, and she continued to waffle on and disappear into insecurity and self-deprecation.

When Lorelai stepped back, he found himself frowning. She was begging for forgiveness basically and had she been anyone else, he probably would have punched her by now. It was weird how he reacted, but at the same time, totally understandable. There was a lot of blame floating around the kidnapping and of all the people involved, Lorelai was the one least responsible. In fact, the chance of it being in anyway her fault was less than miniscule and practically non-existent. It wasn’t her fault he’d dragged her into his ****. Nor was it her fault that he’d come in shooting and had gotten himself injured in the process. At the end of it all, this was Levi’s fault and even if he couldn’t explain the details, he still wished she’d understand that because it wasn’t helping his pride any to be told that he wasn’t in control of his own actions.

Levi let go of a heavy sigh, watching her stewing in her own misery. He tried not to get angry, but rage was an all too familiar emotion for the Italian. There was nothing he could say to bring her out of it and any small gesture like running his fingers along the velvet of her hands wasn’t helping either. It would take a bold physical action to shake her free of her brooding, but at the same time, he had to protect himself. He didn’t want to kiss her and have to answer why because he wouldn’t have the right answer. Levi was suspicious of women and their motives, which is exactly why he did all he could not to engage with them on a personal level. All this intimacy between himself and Lorelai was bound to get out of hand if he allowed it, so he had to be disciplined.

Levi slipped one hand out from a tangle of fingers and stroked the side of her face. Most of his affection concentrated on her cheek, his thumb gliding across the soft arch in a short sweeping pattern until he pawed at the edge of her mouth. Umber eyes divided their attention between her eyes and her lips and despite how determined he was not to kiss her, he sure couldn’t stop himself from thinking about it. He had to do something. Quickly.

“Let’s just get you home,” he breathed. The hand that had been somewhere between her chin and lips disappeared behind the back of her head and he pulled her into a quick embrace. With one quick kiss to her forehead, the close atmosphere was dispelled and Levi returned to his normal aloof self.

Almost immediately after his words had hit the air, the elevator hit the ground floor. The doors slid open and Levi looked down the long corridor that led to the exit where Caro and Barzetti awaited them beside the car. Once again it didn’t really occur to him to leave by use of the tome and by the time it did, he quickly brushed it off. There were security cameras everywhere and no doubt Gino’s beady eyes were on them even now, so disappearing into thin air was simply not an option. They’d arrived by car and now they had to leave by it. It might have been inconvenient, but keeping up appearances was necessary. He figured Lorelai would understand and even if she didn’t, Levi didn’t expect her to protest too openly – not now. She was begging for forgiveness wasn’t she, for a chance to make amends for a crime she hadn’t committed, and Levi had given her nothing but a faint command to go home. Her home, that is, not theirs. Levi might have acted like he lived there with her, but he had to be clear that it wasn’t his apartment and certainly not a home for him. No hollow shelter had ever felt as comfortable and safe as his childhood house in Verona after all.

Long years separated him from his home land. Levi still recalled how different the sky used to look, how it blushed with a rosy, healthy hue that he hadn’t found in Boston even on the warmest days. Levi often wondered what Harper Rock looked like in daylight, but he didn’t hold out hope that it would ever match up to Italy. Darkness often put an ugly spin on things and Levi had a penchant for romanticising the **** he couldn’t have. Since he was a kid too back when he was living in Italy, it was perfectly possible that he had an inflated sense of just how beautiful the place really was – not yet dulled by his adult cynicism. Still, Levi remembered fondly how the sun used to set in Verona, burning the sky tangerine; the same colour as the rooftops of almost every building. He remembered the dark times too, and the cold, with winters that always came too quickly, but in those winter nights, their stone house was warmed by a fire – even though they had central heating and could easily afford it. There was a basic, wholesome bliss in the scent of black pine as it burned, prompting memories of stolen Christmases secreted in their loosely Jewish household. His family weren’t all that intimate with one another, so these rare moments left their mark on him – for better or for worse.

Brooding aside, Levi escorted Lorelai out of the building and into the car where a short and quiet journey carried them to Lorelai’s apartment. Chivalry wasn’t lost on the Italian and Levi let her out of the car, as well as letting her walk a few steps ahead of him as he turned back to the pair of hired muscle and muttered to them their orders for the night. He kept his voice low, his words short and concealed by what he suspected was a foreign language to most, but there was nothing wholly suspicious about telling them to go back to work and keep an eye on the comings and goings about the building. For security guards, that was pretty regular duty, but Levi was feeling on edge which pushed him to be overly cautious. He waited until the look of understanding and compliance crossed their features and then he continued his marching pace with Lorelai, escorting her back into her apartment.

It felt almost natural to be back here again, like they’d made their circuits for an ordinary night and it would end as ordinarily as it always did with him sleeping on her couch and her sleeping in her bed. It almost felt normal, but for the buzzing ache of his wounds. The pain wasn’t as bad as it was, but he couldn’t forget them and as they walked into her living room, Levi eyed the couch realising just how tired he was. His injuries left him feeling like a weakling and growled a little under his breath before umber eyes made their way back to the blonde. Instead of leaving her to do what she wanted, Levi made the bold decision to approach her, take her hand and guide her to the room he now knew to be her bedroom. Of course, she might get the wrong idea by his actions tonight, but Levi wasn’t in any kind of mood to be romantic or sensual with Lorelai. He needed rest – they both did – and he knew he wouldn’t get any sleep if he wasn’t at least in eye shot of her tonight. He’d sleep on the floor if he had to.

“Come on,” he said in gruff encouragement. He wanted to say something else, but every thought that came to him just resounded absurdly in his head. Levi kept his focus on marching her to bed.