Axiom Ch. 06

"I was thinking of doing an Aladdin and showing you a whole new world, but I couldn't get a magic carpet on such short notice."

He nodded gravely. "The mileage on those things are terrible. Plus, they don't come with seatbelts."

She laughed out loud as she slid into the car with him. Aidan's eyes were twinkling with interest as she leaned over and discreetly gave the driver an address, but he didn't question her when she reclined back against him, settling into the cradle of his arm. A warm glow of happiness began to diffuse inside her, especially when he hooked her close and brushed his lips against her temple. Tonight was going to be good.

After about 20 minutes they arrived at a quaint Spanish restaurant in Greenwich. It wasn't a big establishment, but it was probably one of the most precious jewels she'd stumbled upon since moving to New York. They settled into their seats, comfortably tucked away in the warmth of the cosy interior. The owner, Ruiz, was no stranger to Gwyneth and was more than happy to lavish them with special attention. He was a rotund, jolly man who threw out jokes freely as he took their orders, making Gwyneth blush when he made a quip about her and Aidan.

"So many times she come here, this is first time with boyfriend. Always busy working, working, working," Ruiz's hands rolled in a gesture.

Gwyneth hastily shooed him off with their orders, suddenly feeling flustered. That B-word, that dreaded, dreaded B-word - had Aidan noticed? She took a sip of water to avoid his gaze, but when she looked up, there was an unmistakable glint in his eye. Crap. So he had heard. Well, she was going to avoid talking about that for as long as she could.

"How was your day?" She opted for the safest alternative. "You were thundering about like some angry Norse god, billowing steam out of your ears and all. I think you made an intern cry."

"Only one crying intern? Damn, I'm losing my touch. I used to have hordes dropping out of law school."

"Tell me about it. Back in Columbia you were some kind of urban legend amongst us. Oddly enough, you were kind of a life goal as well. We both feared you and wanted to be you."

"And here you are, taking me out to dinner. I suppose that's the natural order of things, after all the fearing and wanting to be me."

"Ha-ha. You know, now that you really think about it...blimey. If the college me could see us right now, she'd probably have a coronary."

"I think the college you would be more concerned about what we were doing this afternoon."

She slapped him lightly on the hand and he chuckled in response, taking her hand in his and running his thumb across her smooth skin.

"But seriously," she asked in a softer voice. "How were things today? Heard your father's back in town. Everyone on my floor is up to their eyeballs with stress."

Aidan grimaced. "Things are a little tense," he admitted after a slight pause, a guarded expression on his face. "Gwyneth, I don't mean to wreck the mood, but I think it's time we talked about Ceres."

The lump in her throat was back. Between talking about Ceres and discussing their relationship, she wasn't sure which one was going to be more uncomfortable and awkward. It looked like they were going to have to deal with one of the two issues tonight, at least. She just nodded without saying anything. Thankfully, they were in a relatively secluded corner of the restaurant - God bless Ruiz for giving her the perfect table.

"Officially, Ceres will be settling out of court with the plaintiffs with a payout of 56 millions dollars." Gwyneth's eyes widened in surprise, something Aidan noticed and acknowledged. "Yes, it's very early, but they're very anxious to put an end this whole fiasco. I'm not going to beat around the bush - they're paying these people off because they're guilty. It's all very hushed up, and judging by your expression, I'm guessing there are very few people who know the truth."

"They released a chemical crop modulator a few years back named Biophane. Nothing special about it, if you look at the surface. The plaintiffs are a family of farmers somewhere in Wisconsin who claim that since they've begun using Biophane, there have been three deaths in the family due to cancer."

Shock reverberated through her face. Her lips suddenly felt so dry. "Are they - did they -" she stammered, but she couldn't finish her sentence.

"Ceres is as guilty as it gets. Julian managed to dig out classified internal memorandums confirming that Biophane has a highly carcinogenic potential and was thus deemed unfit for market use." Aidan sighed, looking as grave as ever.

"Everything, from the scientific report rejecting Biophane to the product's approval for release, was completely confidential. Only the upper management knew - even Julian wasn't aware of it until the plaintiffs made contact. Gwyneth, these people knew that they were selling a lethal product to people, but they didn't care. As far as they were concerned, the upper echelons of Ceres decided that too much money had already been spent on R&D, and they sure as hell weren't going to let it go to waste."

Gwyneth's stomach clenched in anger. She was no stranger to capitalism, and she'd been long accustomed to the dirty machinations of the soulless, monolithic corporations. But this was different. Intentionally releasing a cancer-causing fertilizer crossed a thick line by far. In the name of profit, an unsuspecting family paid a price far greater than they could have ever afforded. She thought of her own family, of how much she loved them, and the sheer injustice of it sent forth a fresh wave of rage. She opened her mouth to say something, but Aidan help up his hand.

"I'm not finished. Now here's the tricky part - I don't know how to tell you this without sounding like some antiestablishment punk, but I pray you bear with me. While LSA will continue to represent Ceres on an official front, Julian, Marty and I have been building a case against Ceres in secret."

He stopped talking for a while to observe her reaction. He could see the understanding flicker in her eyes, the idea igniting and expanding in her head. "We have been gathering the necessary documents, compiling all the evidence, and if all goes well, a dossier should go to the FBI in 48 hours."

Gwyneth was still reeling from shock of the first statement when he said those words. She was told that some of the world's most powerful lawyers were on an illicit mission to take down a massive, multimillion dollar company. The very same company the firm had been hired to defend. It couldn't be. For a minute she wondered if she had died on the way to the restaurant and had been magically teleported to some warped and twisted parallel universe.

They were interrupted by Ruiz, who served the tapas with a flourish, pronouncing each dish's name in a singsong. Gwyneth smiled blithely at Ruiz's chubby, friendly face, still a little taken aback by what Aidan had just told her. Aidan thanked Ruiz, who waddled away, leaving the two lovers alone. He turned to face her, looking her directly in the eye.

"So what do you think?"

Gwyneth just blinked at him and shook her head in disbelief. "Oh...my...god. Aidan, what you're doing - what the three of you are doing - is absolutely fantastic. Oh. My. God. I can't even let it sink in just yet - holy crap - Aidan, this is phenomenal." She smiled half in excitement, half in disbelief. She genuinely loved what they were doing, in fact, she was thrilled by it - and at that moment, she craved so badly to be on the team. If only she could persuade him to let her fight the fight with them...

"So that's the plan, or the gist of it, at least." He leaned forward and laced his fingers together, eyebrows furrowed. "Now, the reason I took you off the case is because this...thing we're trying to do can blow up in our faces if we're not careful. If the people over at Ceres find out about what we're doing, there's no telling what exactly they'd do to us. It could be something as trivial as a lawsuit or corporate slander - but risk is still risk. I'm sorry, but I think it's my decision to make - I can't have you exposed to chances like that. I know you want to do this. Believe me, I know. Especially now that you know of the true circumstances."

He reached out for her hand, gripping it tightly in his, wincing a little as if he was displeased at what he was about to say. "And I'll admit, if it were anyone else, I would have given them the chance. Yes, you deserve a chance to do this. You're a very talented lawyer, Gwyneth, and there's no denying that you will excel at this. Booting you off the case was stupid and brash. I shouldn't have done it."

Aidan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and there it was again, the look of tired resignation on his face. "But I can't. I'm sorry, but I just can't. Not with you." He sighed and opened his eyes, and her heart almost broke at how bleak he sounded. "Truth is, all you have to do is ask, and chances are if you want this badly enough, I'll relent. Try as I might, it's very hard for me to say no to you." He tried a small smile, but his eyes were serious and a little sad.

"Please, all I'm asking is for you to trust me on this. And now that my father is involved..." His jaw hardened. "That's entirely another issue on its own, and I'll tell you about it later. It's unfair for me to ask, especially after you've given me so much. After all that you've done, and all of my crap you've put up with. I have no right to ask any more of you," he said quietly. "It's your call. If you really want to do this, I won't stop you...but it would mean the world to me if you didn't pursue this matter."

She looked back at him, meeting his frank, honest stare, and that stubborn part of her subdued a little. He was right. She really was inches away from pleading with him, but now that he'd said that...she sensed that his desire to protect her stemmed from a very vivid and very real fear, one he had yet to talk about. One involving his father.

Maybe in time, he would share it with her, but now all she really wanted was to see him smile again. She just covered his hand and squeezed it reassuringly, nodding her silent approval. His face visibly relaxed when she did so and his shoulders sagged back as he breathed out with relief. Then the easy smile returned to his face and he was his normal confident self again. Brightening up, he decided to change the subject. "We should probably get started on the food - everything looks delicious, by the way."

Gwyneth beamed back at him, trying to suppress a pang of dismay. As much as she wanted to let it go, the matter didn't quite feel so settled yet. There was still a lot she wanted to discuss, but now wasn't the time for it - so she decided to shake it off her mind. Maybe he was right to change the topic. There were only so many issues they could tackle at a time. Plastering on a wide smile, she swept her hair back and pointed at the plate of clams with her fork. "Wait till you actually take a bite. Oh, you absolutely have to try this..."

The food was out of this world, and she could tell that he relished every bite. It definitely helped that the restaurant had a great ambience, all warm and homey and welcoming. That, added to the fact that Ruiz kept plying them with endless jugs of sangria made for a merry night. Between mouthfuls of paella, they talked about office gossip and surprisingly, Aidan knew a great deal about the ongoing scandals in LSA. So much, in fact, that he let her in on the dirty details involving some high-ranking partners, and Gwyneth's jaw almost hit the ground.

They laughed and talked, the alcohol and food lulling them into a blissful euphoria, and by the time they got up to leave they were in a very giggly mood. He helped her with her coat, pressing his nose into her neck to breathe in her sweet scent before they walked out of the warm restaurant into the crisp, cool night.

"Thanks for tonight, love." He murmured into her ear, putting an arm around her as they walked side by side. "I had a really amazing time."

"I'm glad you did," she nuzzled him on the cheek. "We could still go for drinks, if you want. I know a good place just around the corner."

"I'm up for anything as long as I'm with you. Honestly, Gwyneth - it's really been one of the best nights I've had, ever. Thanks for everything."

His words made her blush from within. "It's just a simple dinner, Aidan. Not exactly what I'd call life-changing."

"It's more than that. You've been the highlight of my day for a few weeks now, and today would've been a crappy day if it weren't for you. So yeah, I wouldn't call it 'just a simple dinner'. You make me happy." He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. "And believe me when I say that making the berg happy is quite the accomplishment." The warm, teasing tone was back. "So, are we still going for drinks?"

"Okay, to be honest, I'm a little tipsy right now," she admitted. She really was feeling quite buzzed, and while Aidan still appeared dead steady she could have sworn he looked a little more bright-eyed than usual. "If experience serves me right, I should probably call it quits for the night."

"Fair enough." He was interrupted by her pressing her lips on his, her arms looping around his neck to draw him in. He closed his eyes and clutched her waist, never wanting the kiss to end. When they pulled away he could see the haze clouding her eyes. "God, you're adorable when you're like this," he growled.

She giggled and buried her face in his chest, breathing in deeply to take in his scent of his Truefitt and Hill aftershave, mixed with the woodsy tang of his leather jacket. "We could always go back and find a way to entertain ourselves."

"Motion seconded. I'll call for the car."

They didn't say a word to each other on the ride back, having found a better use for their lips. Unable to keep their hands off each other, they suddenly felt like teenagers again, caught up in a giddy whirlwind of affection, allowing themselves to lose all inhibitions. These were two people who had invested so much time and effort in segregating their feelings, choosing to abandon their personal life in favor of work. After all the avoiding and hiding, tonight came as a much-needed reprieve. Almost like finally, they were allowing themselves to be happy. Genuinely happy.

By the time they tumbled into his penthouse, their fingers fumbling around each other's clothes, all worries evaporated from Gwyneth's mind. So what if she had questions? Of course, they still had yet to talk about the exact definition of what they were right now, but she saw no urgency in it. They were still the same two people who were inexperienced at talking about feelings, and it wasn't going to magically change overnight. She took his hand and led him to the usual bedroom, but he stopped her silently, his eyes looking darker than she'd ever seen them.

Something in the way he looked at her made her heart pound hard in her ribcage, and as he pulled her towards another door she realized exactly where he was taking her. His real room. She blinked in astonishment, utterly humbled by the simple but profound gesture. When she was inside she didn't bother looking around, didn't care about their surroundings. His room could've looked like a circus for all she knew.

The only thing that mattered was the man standing shirtless in front of her, wearing a gentle expression on his face. This man wasn't going to tell her that he loved her. That just wasn't the kind of thing he did. He was going to show her, to speak with his actions, voicing the truth in caresses and kisses that would go on all night. She'd had enough talk. Enough discussing. Enough thinking, enough analyzing. Because tonight, all she wanted to do was feel.

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The ketchup, which had initially refused to so much as drip out of the bottle, exploded in a giant pool on Dylan's plate all over his fries.

"Ah, fuck." He tried, in vain, to push off some of the goopy red sauce with his knife. "Why does this kind of shit always happen to me?"

Gwyneth rolled her eyes at the melodrama and offered to swap plates with him. They were having a quick lunch at one of the diners near the office. When she tried to pull his plate away and exchange it with hers, Dylan's face wrinkled in irritation and he batted her hands away.

"I can eat my own damn burger, thank you. It's just fucking ketchup, and you don't have to baby me."

She set down her own plate with a little more force than was necessary. "What's with the attitude?"

Dylan glanced up at her, looking very cross for absolutely no reason. "Nothing," he said darkly, and resumed shoving food into his mouth.

Now she was pissed. All she'd tried to do was be nice and accost him, but he had to be all prickly, didn't he? Well screw him, then. She just pulled a face and turned her attention back to the food, and for a while the both of them ate in silence.

Except that she hated awkward silences. Dylan was obviously upset about something, and if there was one thing she knew about him, it was that he was as male as any man could get. The problem would grow like a cancer inside him until he let it out in a cataclysm of swear words and binge-drinking sessions. Sensing that something was simmering underneath the surface, she tried to reach out to him.

"What did you do last night?" The neutral, mundane question seemed like a perfect foil for the undercurrent of anger at the table.

"Nothing much," he grunted. "Finished up with work, played some Call of Duty, then bed. You?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing much either. Went out for dinner, had a few drinks..."

"With Mr. Mystery, of course," he cut in in a snarky tone.

She would've given him a piece of her mind for being so bitchy, but she bit her tongue and just gave a vague shrug.

He huffed with displeasure. "Still won't tell me who he is, eh?" He dragged a fry through the ocean of tomato sauce and popped it into his mouth, his eyes burning with scorn. "Which means that either the sex is really, really good, or you've gone soft in the head and fallen for this dickwad."

That did it. "The fuck is your problem?" She could hear her own voice rising, the accumulated frustration over the past few weeks threatening to fizz over. She was done with being patient, of always being the bigger person. Fuck that. No more being the nice guy. She'd tried it - first with Aidan, now Dylan. It felt like every man around her was intentionally trying to be as choleric and volatile as possible.

"The fuck is my problem?" Dylan stared at her incredulously. "Oh, so it's my problem now? You get to sneak around with some random dude and lie to my face, and you're asking me what's my problem?"

"Sneak around with some random dude? It's called privacy, you idiot, and if you had any semblance of it in your life, you'd understand."

"Oh, shut the fuck up." They stared at each other in anger for a few seconds. In all their years of friendship, they rarely argued, but when they did, it was always explosive. Explosive...and completely uncalled for. The last fight they had ended in them not speaking to each other for a month. The reason they'd fought? She couldn't quite remember, but she was pretty sure it involved halloween costumes.

"Don't pretend you don't know why I'm so pissed off about this." He had the same edge in his voice that he usually had when he was at court. "This whole...thing has been going on for a while now, and it's obviously getting quite serious. Either that, or it's ended a while ago, and you just don't want to tell me why. Former's more likely, if your happy-clappy demeanor is any proof." He rested his elbows on the table.

"So this fling still going on, and let's say things are progressing well. You don't want to tell me," he pointed an accusing finger at her, "which can only mean one thing. You don't want to tell me because you know I'm not going to approve. Which means I know this guy," he narrowed his eyes at her, "and you know it's a terrible idea, but you're doing it anyway."