Rescue Me

"No. I just needed to make sure. I know you said that at the restaurant, but you might have just been making a point with our server."

"No, I was trying to make a point with you," he told with genuine seriousness. "Satisfied?"

"Yes. I'm satisfied. In every way, actually. And that's what I wanted to talk about. About...how happy I am."

He put his hand on her cheek and looked into her eyes as he said, "I'm glad. I want you to be happy. You deserve to be happy."

"I am," she assured him. "But...are you? Happy? With me?"

He smiled softly at her then said very quietly, "I've never been so happy in all my life. With anyone. Ever."

Again he asked, "Satisfied?"

"Yes. In every way," she also said again.

"Every way?" he asked with a gentle of raise of his eyebrows.

It took her a second, but when she got it, her eyebrows raised, too.

"Oh. That kind of way. Well, the phone variety was very nice, but if I'm going to be completely honest with you, and I always will, then the answer is 'no'. I'm not satisfied in every way."

"Then we should make plans to um...satisfy your every need. Or want."

Stephanie smiled happily as she held her arms around his neck.

"I know you're worried about rushing things and how that might affect us, but I can promise you I'm ready. And I can also promise you it won't have any negative effect on how I feel about you."

She smiled again, a very sweet smile as she added, "Satisfied?"

Shaun laughed quietly then said, "No. Not...in every way. But if you think it's okay, you know, with your mom here...."

"My mom never wakes up. And my door locks so...come with me."

Stephanie led him by the hand to her bedroom, closed the door and locked it, then said, "I haven't lit the candles in here in...wow...at least three years or so."

Trying to sound serious Shaun said, "Yeah. I wonder if they even still work."

Stephanie hit him playfully then found a lighter and touched the flame to each wick. After the first two were lit, she turned off the bedroom light then continued around the room until a soft glow filled the space.

"And now, to kill the romantic mood," she began, "I really need to pee."

Shaun laughed a little too loudly then told her he needed to, as well.

"Hey, it's a part of life, right?"

Stephanie laughed, too, and said, "That it is."

They took turns and when she came out, she said, "Do you want me to get undressed while you're in the bathroom?"

She was hoping he'd say 'yes' as she was extremely insecure about letting this hard-bodied, younger man see her undressed, but she felt she at least needed to ask.

"Don't you dare. I want to take everything off. Slowly. One item at a time. I want to drink in every inch of your beautiful body."

"I...I hope you don't throw up trying to drink it in," she said with a kind of 'wince' look on her face.

"Hey. Stop that. You're freakin' gorgeous. I love your pretty face, and I'm going to love your beautiful body just as much."

His hands were on her shoulders, and the way he looked at her convinced her he meant it.

"Okay. Then...go pee, and I'll wait for you."

"That's my girl," he told her.

"Girl," she thought to herself. "I'm 38 years old, and when I'm with him, I feel like a girl."

The thought was actually very pleasant as he made her feel protected and secure, and that was one of the nicer aspects of being...a girl. And were she to admit it, there were deeper feelings trying to float to the top of her emotional field. Love was perhaps too strong a word, but it didn't see too far away from possibly surfacing in the not-too-distant future.

And two hours later, after Stephanie had been satisfied in every possible way not once but twice, she saw the tops of the letters L-O-V-E bobbing on the surface. As she lay there, her head cradled in his neck, she couldn't ever remember feeling happier, more secure, or more...loved...in her life.

"Did you know you're beautiful?" Shaun asked quietly.

"You make me feel beautiful," was the best she could muster up.

"Well, you are, and I now love every inch of you."

"Hmmm. Every inch?" she asked as she raised her head to look into his eyes.

"Yes. Every inch."

"Same here," she said as she reached for him. "And you have a lot of inches for me to love."

Shaun laughed and Stephanie yelped as he roughly flipped her over on her back. As he looked down into her eyes, she knew. She wasn't going to say it, but she knew. What she couldn't know was that Shaun was thinking the very same thing.

She moaned softly as he entered her again, and she reveled in the feeling of being filled completely as he took her to the hilt and held himself deep inside her. She came two more times as he loved her, and when it was over, she knew her life would never be the same again.

Moments later, Shaun said, "This is the part where I normally leave. Or...ask the girl to leave."

Shocked by his comment, Stephanie asked, "Is that what you want to do? Did you want to leave?"

He turned over so he could look into her eyes then again touched her face before he answered.

"No. I don't want to go. I don't ever want to go."

"I...I don't want you to go, either," she told him, as a lump filled her throat. "Ever."

From that moment on, they spent as much time together as they possibly could. And that time included many evenings where Shaun sat and talked with Helen to the degree they could have a conversation. She was fading fast, but Shaun was often even more patient with her than Stephanie which was just one more reason why she loved him. And no less than once a week, and whenever possible twice, they went to visit Derek who always hugged Stephanie so hard she couldn't breath as he told her he loved her.

It was right at the two month mark since they'd made love the first time, and right after a visit with Derek that Shaun told her for the first time.

They were holding hands on the ride back to Seattle when she said, "I love how Derek always tells me he loves me."

"He does, you know."

"I know. I just wish he could experience the kind of...."

She stopped talking when Shaun said it for her.

"The kind of love you and I have?"

Her heart began pounding in her chest when he said those words. She'd wanted to tell him for several days, but needed to know he felt it, too.

"Is that what we have?" she asked with more hope than she could ever remember.

"From where I sit it is," he told her.

And that's when he said it.

He squeezed her hand then said, "I love you, Stephanie."

She turned to look at him as her eyes misted up. He glanced over and smiled then said, "I do. I really love you."

"I...I love you too, Shaun. I really do," she replied, using his words.

Her heart was so full she feared it might burst as they rode home in silence the rest of the way for the first time. For now, nothing more needed to be said. He loved her and she loved him back.

Three months later, he surprised her when he visited the call center for the first time. He stopped by unannounced, and when she saw him, Stephanie felt self conscious in her jeans, a sweatshirt, and her very-outdated glasses. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail and she wasn't wearing any makeup. But the way he looked at her told her he thought she was just as beautiful as the day she'd surprised him at work.

He'd called ahead and asked her supervisor if Stephanie could take 15 minutes off. When Shaun explained why, the woman was happy to say 'yes' hoping one of her 911 operators would, too.

"Shaun! Oh, my goodness. What are you doing here? I look...awful!" she said when she saw him.

Her supervisor tapped her on the shoulder then said, "Take a break. I'll cover for you."

"What's going on?" she asked as Shaun offered her his hand to help her stand up.

"I've never seen this place, but it's actually kind of where we met. In a sense, anyway."

"Yeah. I guess so. I never really thought of it that way. But you should have let me know you were coming. I could have worn something nicer or at least done my hair."

"Why? You look beautiful just the way you are," he told her as he reached for her hand.

"You see, that is why I love you," she told him with a very happy smile.

"I love you, too, Stephanie, and that's why I'm here."

All of the women working there who weren't on a call were openly staring. They'd heard about her young Adonis, but had never seen him. Now they knew just how gorgeous he was, and couldn't take their eyes off of him.

And then when he got down on one knee, they all stood up to keep watching, as Stephanie covered her mouth as her whole body began to shake. He opened the tiny box in his hands and after telling why he loved her so much and how happy she made him, he asked her to be his wife.

When she said, "Yes!" through tear-stained eyes, the other women began quietly applauding. Even Stephanie's supervisor had turned around to watch.

She put her arms around her fiancé's neck as one of the women indicated she needed to see the 'rock'. Stephanie waved it and showed it off as they 'ooh'd and awe'd'.

"Well, now that I've surprised you, I suppose I should let you get back to work. There are lives needing to be saved, and they're depending on you."

"No, they're depending on me to call you so you can rescue them, but I love that you said that. And I love you," she told him.

"I have a romantic dinner in mind tonight," he said.

Before she could remind him she couldn't leave the house, he said, "It'll be catered. At your house."

The women were still watching and listening, and one of them said, "Does he have a twin brother?"

She was older than Stephanie and another woman said, "Don't you mean, 'Does he have an uncle as handsome as he is'?"

The first woman shook her head, then just like the woman in the movie, said, "Uh-uh. I'll have what she's having!"

Stephanie looked her way then said, "Oh, no you won't. This one is all mine!"

Everyone quietly laughed again before Shaun told her he really did need to be going.

Stephanie walked him out and as they kissed goodbye she told him, "I was so down and discouraged before we met. I love my mom, but it's, well, it's a full-time job. I never dreamed I'd be happy again let alone in love, and then you came into my life."

"Well, I never dreamed I'd even fall in love let alone want to marry that woman. And then you came into my life."

She looked at her ring again then said, "I love you more than life itself."

Shaun put his arms around then told her, "To me, you are life itself."

That evening, they talked about different wedding venues, but in the end, the only place that made sense was Stephanie's home. Her mom could no longer leave the house, and many days now, was barely functional.

But four months later, for an hour or so, she sat there quietly as her daughter married the love of her life. No one knew whether or not she understood, but Stephanie was sure she saw the corners of her mom's mouth turn up when she and her new husband turned to face those who'd gathered to celebrate their union.

Unlike most couples with large differences in their ages, Shaun and Stephanie only mentioned it to each other a handful of times. Once the other person assured them it didn't matter, that was all that mattered.

Over the next year, life, or the universe, as Shaun had once said, handed the new couple its fair share of ups and downs. Stephanie's mother passed away eight months later, but new life was on its way as she learned she was pregnant just three months after that.

While she would never be able to share the birth of her child with the mother she loved, she hoped that those who'd gone before really did 'look down from above'. If so, her mother would have seen her daughter give birth to a beautiful baby boy they named Derek, after the brother Shaun so dearly loved.

After their marriage, Shaun began taking his job even more seriously, and occasionally, he even earned Joe's praise. Five years later, when Joe finally retired, Shaun was deeply touched when the man who'd mentored him told him he was one of the finest people who'd ever worked for him.

Above all, his advice had been invaluable as Shaun lost other people he couldn't save. At those times he saw the faces of the living; those he had been able to save. And when it got really bad, all he had to do was look over at his beautiful wife who'd come along to rescue him at a time when he'd needed it most.

Whenever he told her that, she'd just smiled and say, "No, honey. You've saved the lives of so many people, but nothing means more to me then the day you came into my life to rescue me."