Name: Memories Bonded in SteeleAuthor: Magbeth
Summary: Two years after Bonds of Steele the subject of what comes next is going to arise. Also the questions of why Steele acted the way he did.
Disclaimer: Guess what? I don't know own Mr. Steele, Mrs. Holt Steele, Clarise or Mildred Krebs. Someone else owns them. Oh and I'm not making any money off of this.
Things hadn't been going well for employees of Remington Steele Investigations. Two years had past. Mildred was worried her two kids would end the one thing that made them both so happy. She was concerned for them. Their relationship was under a strain, had been for two weeks now. Every morning she would watch as they walked in, said their good mornings to her, and walked into their separate offices. No more touches, no more long glances and none of the teasing banter that she enjoyed listening to over the years. Something was wrong and she had a feeling it was because the two years of their unofficial marriage was coming to an end and they had no idea what the other one was going to do. It was so like them to not talk about their problems.It was 9 o'clock and the agency was now open and when the phones started to ring Mildred momentarily forgot about her previous concerns as she was caught up in answering the caller's questions.
Laura Holt Steele was sitting in her office staring at an open file on her desk. She had been doing a lot of that lately. Just staring that is. She couldn't concentrate on anything important when her life was about to fall out from under her once again. After Ireland things had gone back to normal for the most part. The only thing that changed was the fact that her and Mr. Steele were a "married" couple. They had gotten the hang of that pretty fast and as far as she could tell Mr. Steele was happy. God knows she was. But now that the two years were coming to an end was he going to suggest that they go their separate ways? Was he going to leave her like she always feared he was? They of course hadn't talked about it.
She sighed and rubbed at her aching eyes. The silence was frustrating. Not knowing what was going to happen was slowly killing her. There wasn't even any cases she could burry herself in. It was that time of the year when there seemed to be no one that needed help from a detective.
When Laura heard someone softly knock on the door to her office, she glanced up at the doorway and muttered a halfhearted "Come in". Mildred opened the door a crack and poked her heard inside.
"May I make a suggestion hun?" Mildred asked.
At Laura's confused look she continued. "Go and talk to him about it." She gave her a knowing smile. "It will make the both of you feel a lot better." Mildred silently closed the door behind her, a smug smile tugging at the corner of her face. There, maybe that would give Laura a little push in the right direction.
After Mildred had closed the door, Laura had laughed a little to herself. Only Mildred would understand what was going on.
Remington Steele paced nervously back and forth across his office. Things between Laura and him were fast approaching a disaster. And he didn't know what she was thinking. He knew Laura to well, and he would make a bet that her reasonable side was getting in the way of what her heart wanted. And that reasonable side was telling her to go ahead and take the divorce. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Laura loved him. And he was fairly certain that she knew he loved her. The thing he was most scared of was how she was going to react when he told her that their marriage wasn't as fake as he had led her to believe.
Remington stopped in mid stride when the connecting door to Laura's office flew open and Laura came breezing through.
"I can't take this anymore!" She bellowed. "We need to talk, and we need to talk about it now. What are we going to do?" There, she got it out. Now all she had to do was wait patiently for him to tell her that he was going to leave her.
Remington recognized that look her in eyes all to well. It was the defensive one, the one that read, I know your going to leave me so just get on with it. His shoulders slumped and he let out a small sigh of frustration. Laura for her part just stood there with her hands on her hips observing him.
He slowly walked up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. He peered down into her eyes, forcing her to look at him.
"Laura, "He shook her a little for emphasis, "I am not going to leave you, lets make that clear right now." He took her into his arms and hugged her tightly.
"I'm glad" She responded, her head barried in the crook of his arm.
His fear of her leaving him dissipated instantly, obviously if she was glad that he wasn't leaving it certainly had to mean that she wouldn't be leaving him, right?
"So we are going to stay with this fake marriage of ours?" Laura asked hesitantly. "There are still some things we never talked about that day, you know."
"Yes I know. There are something's that you need to know." He told her, gently leading her by the elbow over to the love seat. She sat down with him right next to her.
"Like what?" She asked.
"First lets get all of those things we never talked about over and done with, shall we?" He smiled, trying to buy himself some time.
"Okay, for starters why didn't you come to me in the first place? Why a hooker? Did I really mean so little to you back then?" She inquired, only slightly nervous about his answer. She knew he loved her, but exactly how far back did that love go?
"Laura," he started, reaching across and gently taking her smaller hand in his larger one. "I fell for you the first day I met you. That's why I stayed. And the longer I stayed the more I fell in love with you. There were times I suspected that I would never be able to get through that wall you had built around yourself and at those times I would try to get your attention by making you jealous. That's not why I asked Clarise to marry me. I honestly don't know what was going threw my mind that day. At the time it seemed to be the only way out, finding Clarisa's number at the bottom of my nightstand drawer gave me the idea. So I called her up and explained why I needed her to marry me and that I was willing to pay. It was simply a way to keep me in the country, nothing more. I felt guilty about not telling you, but I didn't want you to worry, it was my problem and I was going to solve it." He paused, searching for the right words. But Laura interrupted him.
" I would have helped you know. After all it's the passport we gave you that got you into that mess." She told him, squeezing his hand.
"Yes well, I was determined to take care of it on my own, prove to you that I could do it. I should have known that I wouldn't have been able to keep something this big from a wonderful detective like Laura Holt. But I couldn't ask you to risk everything. I was trying to protect you." He explained. "If for some reason they had found out that we married just to keep me in the country it would have meant trouble for the both of us, more importantly…you. I couldn't allow you to risk it, the agency, your license, and even if I had been caught with my marriage to Clarisa I was prepared to take the fall, if only to spare you. And even though we did love each other, we would still only be marrying each other to keep me from leaving. If we were to ever take that step Laura, I wanted it to be for all the right reasons and not under those circumstances."
Laura's eyes grew moist at his confession, only now realizing the depth of his devotion to her. He quickly wiped away the tears threatening to fall.
"You do realize that I can take care of myself and that just maybe I did want to take that risk? I agree with you, it wasn't the marriage I always imagined us having but it hurt to think you chose a hooker over me." She said, glad that she was wrong, that he really hadn't chosen Clarise over her.
"There is another reason why I didn't go to you in the first place." He told her gently, looking straight into her eyes. "If I was so scared of you getting hurt why didn't I just let myself get deported? I asked myself that same question a million times and I always came up with the same answer. I couldn't leave you. I didn't want to put you into that kind of position yet I was going to marry Clarise and break both of our hearts. But the main reason was I was scared to go to you. At the time I didn't know where I stood with you. Why would someone as attractive and brilliant as you want an ex-con man like myself? To say the least, I took the easy way out."
"Of course I wanted you! I have always wanted you. I realize that some of that was my fault. I should have never have pushed you away so many times. I'm surprised you stuck by me as long as you did." She slowly scooted closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder and burrowing herself into him. He put his arms around her and held her close. He closed his eyes and inhaled her scent.
Outside the door Mildred listened intently. So far there was no yelling. She smiled to herself, thankful that everything seemed to be going well. A noise from the door caused her to turn around, she gasped when she saw who was standing there. Not now she pleaded. Not now when everything was going so well.
Inside Steele's office he was preparing to tell Laura the truth. He pulled her closer to him, praying that she would still be there when this was over.
She pulled back a little to glance up at him. "So now that I know why you did what you did what are we going to do about this two year deal? Do you want to end this fake marriage and proceed with the way things were before that day? Or would you care to take a real exchange of the vows?" she asked, smiling up at him through her tears.
"Laura, love, I'm afraid that those wedding vows couldn't get more real." He grimaced at the confused and wary expression on her face.
"What is that suppose to mean!?" Laura exclaimed. Her voice rising an octave.
Mildred heard Laura's raised voice and slumped in defeat. Things weren't looking so bright after all. She took a glance at the person who had just walked in. Tony Roselli had a smug look on his face. He obviously had also heard the shout.
"Is everything not going so well in paradise?" He asked. Smiling a sure smile.
"Everything is just fine I assure you. Now just crawl back into the hole you came out of!" Mildred's eyes were blazing fire.
"Not until I speak to Laura." He made a move toward the office door but Mildred effectively blocked his entrance.
"Now Laura…" Steele said, trying to calm her.
"Don't you now Laura me! What did you mean by that!" She was standing now, looking down at him from his perch on the couch. He better mean what she thinks he means by that.
"Laura just calm down." He tried to reason, standing up and grasping her shoulders firmly with both hands. "Remember what I told you about not letting you risk everything?"
"Yes"
"Well, once you found out about the wedding and stopped it, thank god, I still wasn't going to let you put yourself on the line like that for me. What if they had found out it was a fraud? And you would have never agreed to marry me by then. You were as mad as hell. So I did what I do best, I conned you into believing it wasn't real. I was surprised you didn't catch on. I mean, did you see anyone else manning the boat? It was the captain who married us. The certificates were real and so were the witnesses. In the long run I ended up with the kind of marriage I didn't want for us but I did manage to marry you. Everything was way out of hand. I'm not proud of what I did."
Laura was glaring at him. She roughly pulled out of his grasp and stalked over to the window. "You did what! I can't believe you would do that to me! Then again what else could I have expected from you. You were always trying to work angles. Trying ways to get to me! How would you know I wouldn't have married you?" She turned to stare out the window. Her back ram rod straight, stubbornly refusing to look at him.
"You said so yourself for one thing. And it wasn't just another way to get into your bed Laura. You weren't going to let me marry Clarise but your weren't going to let me really marry you either. At the time it looked to be the only way to ensure you didn't loose everything you worked for. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you had."
Looking back at him she said, "I was angry, I didn't mean it." She told him truthfully. She turned away from him and continued to stare out the window. "And you can't honestly stand there and tell me it was a purely unselfish reason for conning me into marrying you" The edge had returned to her voice.
"I realize that now. Everything was so messed up. I don't have any real excuses. And no, there are some very selfish reasons. I can only hope that you will forgive me, understand that I love you and that you won't leave me." As he said this he walked up behind her but made no attempt to reach out for her.
She turned around and gave him a sad smile. "Well, on the one hand what you pulled was deceptive and I should be mad at you, which I am. But then on the other hand no one has ever done anything like that for me before, no one has ever been that desperate. Some of it is still my fault I guess. I understand more than you think I do. I don't hate you, I just need some time to think." She reached out and squeezed his arm. She gave him one last smile and headed for her office. She went in and grabbed her purse, opened the door to the outer office and stopped in her tracks.
Mildred had positioned herself between the door to Mr. Steele's office and Tony.
"There is no way I am going to let you interrupt them." She said firmly.
"You can't keep me from talking to her Ms. Krebs." He responded. They both turned at the sound of Laura's office door opening.
"What are you doing here?" Laura asked suspiciously.
"I came to rescue you from that con man you call a husband." Tony said, moving in her direction.
"You picked a bad time Tony." She said, holding up a hand to keep him at bay.
"Didn't sound like it to me." He told her smugly. The two years are up, he will leave you and I will be here to pick up the pieces."
"He isn't going to leave me. For right now we are still married and even if we did divorce I certainly wouldn't come running to you." She said angrily. "I suggest you leave before you start some serious trouble."
"Laura…" Steele called, pushing the office door open. His eyes narrowed at the site of Tony. "What the bloody hell are you doing here!"
"I was just leaving. See you around Laura. It was nice talking to you Mildred." He waved his hand and disappeared through the double doors. They hadn't heard the last of him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Laura had left Remington filled Mildred in on what had happened. She couldn't believe what the chief had pulled. Inwardly she wished someone would love her as much. She had watched with a heavy heart as he walked back into the office. He was afraid she wouldn't take him back. Tony showing up hadn't helped either. Mildred busied herself with her work, trying to forget for a moment what a mess things had become.
Laura drove around for a couple of hours before pulling up in front of the house they had shared for the past two years. She had done a lot of thinking. She knew she would never have the courage to send him packing. And to be truthful, if she hadn't been so persistent at keeping them at a professional distance then maybe he would have had enough trust in her to come to her with the marriage issue. She just couldn't believe that he would con her of all people. Cant live with him and cant live without him. Making up her mind to forgive him, she had climbed out of the car and went inside. She decided to cook them up a dinner. Contrary to popular belief, she did have some cooking skills.
Half hour into making their dinner a knock sounded at the door.
"Coming" she called. She wiped her hands off on the dishtowel she had been holding and hurried to answer the door. The smile she had been wearing vanished as she saw who was on the other side.
"I thought you were gone." She said, disappointment evident in her voice.
"I'm hurt Laura, you don't sound happy to see me." Tony replied, holding a hand to his heart acting like she had truly wounded him.
"I'm not. Now go away. I don't want to see you. I thought my silence after that phone call we shared might have proved that." She answered, not moving to let him in.
"Quite the opposite actually. You made no move to dissuade my feelings for you." He made a gesturing sweep with his hand. "Aren't you going to let me in?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Nope, I am going to stand here until you talk me out of loving you." He said, the smug smile once again gracing his features. Laura sighed and reluctantly allowed him entrance.
Laura gestured for Tony to have a seat on the couch while she headed to the kitchen to pour some drinks. She checked on her dinner and headed back out.
"He can't make you happy Laura. Not like I can." Tony wasn't wasting any time. "We had something back in Ireland Laura. There was chemistry between us. I felt it and I know you did to."
"You only felt what I wanted you to, Tony. I used you. And I'm not proud of myself for it either." Laura answered, handing Tony his glass and taking a seat as far away from him as possible. "I wanted to make him jealous. In a way I wanted to hurt him. And I suppose I liked the attention."
"I don't believe you."
"Then don't believe me Tony! In the end it won't matter. I'm married. And happily married at that. Leaving with you was never an option. My heart belongs to Mr. Steele. It always has and it always will."
Steele was just pulling up into the driveway when he noticed the blue Ford Taurus parked out in front. "Oh great" he muttered to himself as he got out of the car and walked up to the front door. He quietly unlocked the door and stepped inside un-noticed.
Tony's back was to the door but Laura was facing the doorway but she was to caught up in what she was saying to notice that her husband had just walked in.
They both jumped at the sound of his voice. "And my heart belongs to her, and I will stop anyone who tries to take it away from me." Steele declared, his expression turning to ice when it met Tony's shocked gaze. "Now I suggest you make a quick exit mate, unless you want to have an impromptu meeting with the south American government. I am sure they will be happy to know where their former number one agent is."
"This is my last offer Laura. Come with me now. I wont be back."
"Then the sooner you leave the sooner we can both move on." Laura answered.
Tony gave one curt nod and stormed out of the house. The couple stood staring at each other until they heard the screeching tires of the Ford Taurus leaving the property.
"Did you mean what you said? About your heart always belonging to me?" Steele asked, uncertainty glistening in his bright blue eyes.
"Yes."
"Does this mean you aren't kicking me out?"
"Yes" Laura said. Smiling as she took a small step towards him. "And you do realize that we haven't seen the last of him? Despite what he said?"
"Yes." Remington replied, taking a step of his own towards Laura. "If he does return, we will handle it. Together."
Laura walked the last few remaining steps and rapped her arms around her husband's neck. "These past two years have been wonderful. I don't want to throw them away."
"And neither do I." Remington replied, his head descending to capture her lips in a gentle kiss. "Not to change the subject or anything, but what do I smell burning?"
Laura's eyes grew big, as she too smelled something burning. "MY DINNER," she cried, untangling her arms from around Remington's neck, she made a mad dash for the kitchen. Remington was close behind her. "I cant even manage to make spaghetti." Laura whined, close to tears.
"How about that wonderful little Italian place down the street? I hear they have wonderful Italian cuisine. " He said, a teasing smile playing across his face. He wrapped his arms around her waste as he awaited her reply.
"Indeed Mr. Steele. Indeed." Hand in hand they took their first step towards a new future. One built on memories of a wonderful past and hopes of a wonderful future.
Two weeks later, after their heartfelt discussion and their meeting with Tony, Remington awoke to the smell of eggs frying and the soft sound of sizzling bacon. He heard his stomach growl and threw a quick glance to Laura's empty side of the bed. 'I better get in there before she burns down the house,' he thought to himself. He threw back the blankets and grabbed his robe. He was almost to the kitchen when he heard a muffled curse.
Laura had been up early this morning, unable to sleep. Not wanting to wake Remington, she had dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans and white shirt and sat down in the living room to read a book. At around eight thirty she got a craving for eggs and bacon. 'Why not surprise him with breakfast?' She thought. So there she was now, up to her elbows in grease and doing a pretty damn good job at not burning the eggs. The bacon was looking absolutely scrumptious. She went to flip some of them over when some grease popped out of the pan and landed on her hand. She jerked her hand back, a muttered curse slipping past her lips.
"Remington! Breakfast is ready!" She called.
"So I see."
She gasped and turned around to find him leaning up against the doorframe, hunger for her blazing in his eyes.
"You scared me. How long have you been standing there?" She turned back to her task of preparing the plates. She picked them up and headed for their dining room.
"Not long. Are these edible? Or do I need to put them under scientific testing?" Remington teased.
"I am perfectly capable of making eggs thank you very much!" There was anger in her voice but the light in her eyes betrayed their intent. She set the plate down in front him and took her seat beside him.
Mr. Steele carefully put one spoonful of eggs into his mouth and chewed. "Well, they taste like eggs. I must say Laura... I am impressed. Never knew you had it in you."
"There are a lot of things you still don't know about me Mr. Steele."
"Yes, but I am going to spend the rest of my life finding them out Mrs. Steele." Steele replied. 'And for once in my life…that doesn't bother me.' He said to himself, a warm smile spreading over his handsome features as he gazed at the love of his life seated across from him.
Notes: This narration takes place two years after they were married. And yes, in this fic they were actually married. I am half borrowing and half creating my own little tale. I remember a fan fic somewhere some place about Steele faking their already faked marriage if that makes any sense… I used that because I had also thought about it and always believe that Steele would have never put Laura in that position. To me they will always be Mr. and Mrs. Remington Steele… and I have no clue what that hookers name is, and I really don't care, does anyone? Any suggestions you might have would be beneficial