Have You Seen My Phone?

[Alex Cross]

Munin made her way up the concrete stairwell one echoing scratchy step at a time. She honestly hated these stairs, but didn't quite trust the elevator. Why in the world Alex refused to find a new apartment since he insisted on having one was beyond her, but it was what it was. So she finds herself making the trek up the miserable poorly lit stairway with a large paper bag in one hand, and a coffee cup holder in the other. Wondering why she was in the stairway at 6 a.m. instead of sleeping off her jet lag like any sane person would be. Love she mused, obviously makes a sucker of us all. She was happy that she had at least showered and changed when dropping off Travis. The smart boy was fast asleep, and not likely to wake up till the afternoon.

"Finally..."

Setting down her bag for a moment, she quickly opens the door to the 7th floor apartments. Worrying her bottom lip slightly as she finally lets herself think of the possible upcoming confrontation. Idly picking up the bag she makes her way down the hall to Alex's door and after a small juggle of objects unlocks the door and pushes her way in. The room was furnished sparsely but nicely in all black and grey with little to no light making its way through the closed curtains.
The room was gloomy there was no way around it. Other than the plaid of Alex's boxers was Munin, her royal blue leggings and cut off t-shirt horribly out of place despite the light grey undershirt and shorts.

Taking a moment she observes the handsome man sprawled across the couch wearing nothing more than the aforementioned boxers, and his pants hanging off one leg. Getting undressed while drunk was obviously not one of his many talents. Shaking her head at him and his snores she kicks the door closed behind her and places her cargo onto the small counter in the kitchen. She wastes no time in making her way to the curtains, and yanking them open. Allowing the bright rays of early morning light to pour through the window.

"What the fuck!?!?!?! Who turned on the sun?!?!"

The former dual champion shoves his face into the cushions.

"Fuck me!"

"Tempting my dear, but they say angry sex never solves anything."

"Nor does waking a drunk person with sunlight."

Moving away from the window Munin can't help the small smile of amusement that graces her face. Alex grabs one of the couch pillows and wraps it around his head as he screams into the couch cushions. It's difficult to understand his words but it's obvious they aren't of a PG manner. The former dual champion reaches for a nearby bottle only to find it empty. He turns and looks back at Munin who is busy unpacking her bags.

"How the hell did I get here? How long have I been out?"

He looks down at his watch before looking back at Munin.

"Is Obama still president?"

Thankful that her back is turned to him she rolls her eyes.

"Yes Alex, Obama is the president."

"Damn it, didn't sleep long enough."

A water bottle joins the Tylenol, sports drink, and sandwich on the table.

"I'm guessing that you crawled or stumbled your way here, and by the looks of it you've been drinking for the past few days."

She eyes the bag debating whether to take out his clean clothes and toiletries now or shove them and him into the bathroom later. Getting an unpleasant whiff of her surroundings she opts to just drop everything in the restroom and let him deal with it.

"You reek."

Alex shakes his head as he sits up on the couch and stretches out the cramped muscles.

"Nice to see you too. No sorry for overreacting, no sorry for running off to stay with my enemy, just a simple you reek. Very nice, very nice."

Setting down the empty bottles in the sink, Munin turns around with a sigh. She knew this confrontation was inevitable.

"I do not feel like I did over react, and I did not run away from anything. Try checking your voice mail if you can find your phone."

The clang of the bottles in the sink is loud in the otherwise silence of the room.

"As for your enemy as you so quaintly put it...He happens to live with my best friend and god children."

Alex ran both his hands through his hair as he reaches for a shirt hanging on the back of the couch and slips it on.

"First off I have no clue where my phone is which is why I asked you what day it was. Second of all please put down the megaphone because your voice is rocking my head even more."

He forces himself off the couch and walks over to the small island where a bottle of water and Tylenol wait. He sticks a couple of Tylenol into his mouth before removing the cap and drinking the water. Alex turns and looks at Munin.

"No offense Munin but why are you here right now if it's not to apologize?"

Munin arches and eyebrow at him.

"Well if you would prefer me to not bring you the Tylenol you just took, the water you're drinking, and everything else I brought to make your morning easier I can leave."

She pushes away from the counter.

"Silly me I thought just because two people get into an argument doesn't mean they stop loving each other."

Her voice was rough with annoyance and a trace of hurt.

"I can see you are doing just fine on your own."

Alex looks at the bottle of water and shakes his head while sighing to himself. He takes another drink before looking at Munin.

"You want to hear something funny? Some might even call it a coincidence but I don't really believe such a thing exists but I digress. Within less than forty eight hours I talked to two people who both came to me with interesting information."

He pauses for a moment.

"I spoke with Hugins and he told me the only reason you were with me was because you were playing a game, that this right here was just a game to you. So I blew him off as just talking out of his ass and defended you. But then..."

His voice trails for a moment, probably wanting to make sure he hadn't dreamed the interaction.

"But then I spoke with Mongrel and he asked me if you might be the reason why I haven't won the World Title. That in just a few short days I've got one of the biggest main event matches in my life and yet you're beating me down mentally and metaphorically speaking physically just a short time out. He asked if I thought perhaps you were in cahoots with the GZW to make sure I didn't beat a man that I'm clearly better than inside the ring."

"At first I told him you would never do something like that because what we had was true love. How I loved you with every fiber of my being and wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. How I wanted to make a family with you and call Travis OUR child and not just yours. I wanted to make both of you a permanent part in my life. But now with Hugins words ringing in my head I have to ask you something."

He points at his eyes with his right hand.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me this isn't a game. Look me in my eyes and tell me you love me! Tell me their lying and I'm overreacting!"

Munin walked up to him quietly with a fluid grace. Her steps were unhurried, and to the rest of the world she would be the epitome of calm. When she stops in front of Alex however he can see the pure fury in her eyes. When she speaks her words are cold and precise, as if each word were cut from ice.

"This.Is.Not.A.Game..."

Her eyes narrowing slightly her voice turns dangerous.

"Hugin said this was a game to me? That sounds like too much of a stretch for Hugin. He specifically said I am playing a game with you now?"

Turning away sharply she walks back into the kitchen with her fist clenched.

"Why would I make something like that up Munin?"

"Tell me do you think I am a bad mother?"

"No! Why would I think that?"

He runs his fingers through the gruff on his face.

"That's kind of an odd question if you ask me. What brought that on?"

"Do I seem the type of woman that takes sharing my body with someone lightly?"

Munin turns her head to the side slightly as she studies him.

"Would I let just anyone live with me? Share my life with them?"

"I would think not. Like I said, I told Hugins he was full of shit and I told Mongrel the same thing. I simply found it odd that both men would say the same thing in less than forty eight hours."

He turns his back on the young woman and leans against the island.

"Alex, when I first met you you were a game to me everyone is, but things quickly changed when you became my friend. I would never take someone into my life...into Travis's life unless I loved them. I sure as hell would not be standing here when I could be sleeping off jet lag!"

She paces away from him with all the agitation of a caged tiger.

"More than that do I ever do what anyone else wants me to do over what I want to do? No!"

"Munin I love you more than anything. So why..."

His voice trails off for a moment.

"Why are we going back and forth over something that should be a non issue? What I did was inside that ring and part of my job, and I can't take it back nor would I. But I would never do anything even close to that outside the ring, especially to you."

Picking up a nearby bottle she chucks it into the sink with enough force to make it shatter.

"We aren't going back and forth Alex. I do not agree with you and you do not agree with me. So fucking what? We can leave the dispute in the damn ring!"

Alex turns around to see shards of glass littering the floor in front of Munin's tiny feet. He looks up to see the anger in her eyes.

"So we're done talking about what happened between Eva and I?"

"Outside of the ring yes, have you heard me bring it up?"

"Didn't you? No, that was me. I guess you haven't said anything about it, just me."

His only answer to that obvious statement is a glare.

"By the way I am here to drag your sorry ass out of the bottle and into the gym. You have a World Title match that seems to have slipped your mind."

"I haven't forgot anything! I'm sorry if the only thing I could think about is you running off and leaving me!"

"If you could find your damn phone you would know that I didn't."

Alex walks to the other side of the island and grabs his sweats.

"I haven't the foggiest idea where that damn thing is. Probably at the bar on the counter where I left my pride and most of my money."

Watching him miserably move around the apartment, Munin releases a resigned sigh. God help her, but she couldn't stay agitated with the man for long.

"You have clean clothes and things to clean up with in the bag."

Alex smells the shirt he has on.

"Is it really that bad in here? I thought it just smelled lived in."

"...Alex lived in shouldn't be a smell"

"So shower first then?"

"I would normally suggest coffee first, but in your case I'd go with the shower."

"Fine. Shower, then coffee, then sunlight."

Alex looks around blindly before reaching into his sweats pockets. He looks up at Munin with a puzzled look on his face.

"Have you seen my phone?"

Munin grabs the nearest thing she can find and throws it at Alex as he ducks down the hallway towards the shower.