Face to face

It had been close to midnight when Steve was finally finished with all of his work. He looked at the now fully empty and dark office and leaned back in his chair as he let out a deep sigh. He was exhausted. He knew it would be a late night but he hadn't hoped it would get quite this late. With the time needed for closing up and the drive home, it would probably be half past twelve when he would reach the mansion and closer to 1 AM by the time he would find himself in bed. Considering what time he woke up this morning, this day had lasted far longer than it should have and his every fibre was screaming for some shut-eye.

Though he was tired, the feeling that was overpowering his overall emotion was disappointment from not having seen Maria all day. Especially after their reunion had just started. While staring out into space, he wondered about how her day had been. Whether she had already gone to bed and if she would be waking up early tomorrow morning as well. Despite the idea of another early morning sounding gruesome, the struggle was well worth it if it meant spending some time alone with Maria.

This was when he remembered the note he had written her today and he started to wonder if she had found his letter and what she thought of it. Did she find it funny? Endearing? Romantic? Or did she consider it horribly cheesy and not even worthy of an answer?

While Steve was wondering about this, Maria was fighting back her sleep as she wondered what was keeping Steve for so long. If he was close to being done and coming home or if she would have lost the battle with the sandman before he would enter the front door. Every few seconds she would listen to hear whether the door she was focussing on was being opened. Through barely opened eyes she peered to the gap between the door and the floor, looking if she could see the hall light being turned on, just in case she might have missed the sound of the door. Like that she kept fighting the urge to keep her eyes closed and give into the strong calling of her need for sleep.

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Almost forty minutes had passed when Steve had finally reached Noah and Laila's home. He gently opened the door and closed it quietly behind him. Once he had taken off his coat and hung it on a coat hanger, he tiptoed up the stairs to get to bed. By now Maria had fallen fast asleep. In her wait for him, Maria had been lying on her belly, hugging her pillow. In that exact same posture she had eventually fallen asleep. As she was lying on her bed, a sliver of drool was seeping onto her pillowcase through her opened mouth. Her bad posture had even caused her to snore a bit. But all of this was instantly cured the moment she heard him opening the door to his bedroom.

Startled and in a half-asleep state, Maria was up on the bed on all fours. She tried to look around, wondering if she had really heard something or if it had been another illusion. But all she could see by the way she was looking around, were the different walls of the room and the closet. It wasn't until she saw that the hall lights had been turned on, that she was certain that this time it was for real. Steve had finally come home. As she wiped off her drool, she reached out her hand for the nightstand. She grabbed her watch from it and glanced at the time. When she saw how the dials were pointing Maria was shocked to see how late it was and wondered how Steve had managed to work till such an hour. She would have lost focus many hours ago. Her respect for him grew from witnessing this side of him but it also made her wonder how often he returned home from work this late. Though she admired him for having such a dedication for his company and his friend, she did hope that working till so late wasn't a habit because that would be a problem. Both for her in terms of a relationship as well as for his health.

The best way to ease her worries and find the answers to these questions in her mind, was to go over and ask them. She was certain that Steve would give her an honest and upfront answer much like everything else he said and did so far. However, this was easier said than done. She knew Steve must be exhausted for work. Did he really want to be bothered by her at this hour? She didn't think it was fair to bombard him with these questions, when he was probably close to dropping on the bed without changing or washing up, just so he can close his eyes. She had felt that way when she had woken up hours after he had already gone to bed and she had fallen asleep just now as well, though that could only be considered a powernap, nothing more.

Slowly she walked to her door and opened it just a crack as she tried to peek into the hall and see if he was still standing there. Seeing that the hall was empty, she opened the door a bit more to look on both sides. That is when she noticed that his room door was open. So, Maria opened the door a bit more and walked out into the hall herself. She was walking on the tip of her toes in order to not make a sound and give herself away but just when she stuck her head around the corner of his door to see what he was doing, Steve turned around and they stood face to face.