"Swept away" written by VeGirl 2014 © All Rights Reserved

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Five days later Isa was on a flight back to New York again. Wilma had been devastated, but at the same time she was relieved that her friend took charge of her life and knew that this was something Isa had to do.

Being unemployed had been a nightmare, and nightmares Isa had enough off.

Most of her stuff was in a storage unit in Sweden, and the rest was being hauled over the sea. It had been almost six months since her last transatlantic journey, during which Isa had just been a wreck; nothing but a void. This time there was a feeling of promise humming, even if Isa dreaded this decision as well. She was worried about seeing Robert and terrified to see Morgan. Due to the arrival day being in the middle of workweek Isa didn't need to worry about meeting the guys, she was sure.

Even if Isa's mother did her best to be perky and welcoming, Isa noted the worried looks she casted her way, when Krystal thought Isa didn't see.

Isa's old guestroom was painful to stay in, it was filled with too many sweet memories of Morgan, so she stayed out of it as much as she could. The week passed quickly and she even made it safely through the weekend without any encounters to freak her out.

One week was through and Isa had survived.

Getting into the real deal at the gallery was easy and Isa was looking forward to get to work every day. Angela had full confidence in her abilities and right from the start she got to do some of the things she loved at work, even if Isa wasn't hired as a curator. Gary was thrilled to see her again even if he frowned as he studied her svelte body.

Her personal life did basically not exist though. Isa spend her evenings watching TV with her mother and David, just reading, or doing research for work in her room. She wanted to meet some of her old friends, but since everything Isa did when she was with Morgan was covered in the tabloids, she was worried she would have to explain herself to everyone she met. She didn't have the strength to do that, so she rather just stayed at home.

The only friend she talked to was Wilma; she knew about the crazy circus that was so desirable for many in the rest of the world. The two girls were still twin sisters and Isa wanted her here by her side every day.

The days flew by, Isa had soon got the hang of the work and was so grateful to have it. It was the one thing she could really dig into and give one hundred per cent in.

Angela would never ask questions about Isa's personal life, and Gary who was very perceptive, seemed to know not to ask anything, even if he knew something was very wrong. Some days Gary and Isa went out for lunch together, but often one of them hurried out to buy lunch for them to eat at the office.

This particular day was especially busy. They had a sculptor that was delivering his artwork with very specific demands and Isa was the one that had to pick up lunch with only fifteen minutes on her hand. She scurried around the corner and ran into somebody that almost fell over. Annoyed Isa brushed dirt off, straightened her clothes to glared up at...

Morgan.

It was like a sucker punch and both of them almost fell over again from surprise, Isa's head spun and she started to feel nauseous. None of them could get a word out; they just stood there staring wide-eyed at each other, ears ringing.

"Eysa..." he finally said, with a breathy voice. It almost made her toes curl.

Her stomach clenched in a way that she could hardly breathe through. "Morgan." Isa did her best to get any words out but her voice was cracked and raspy. Her entire being was clenching and she couldn't think. "Nice to see you," came out of her mouth without even consulting the brain for advisability.

He furrowed the brows over his widened eyes as if he didn't believe her. "Yeah you too," he said with the same puzzled look, and then it was as if he relaxed. "It's really nice to see you as well." It looked like he tried to smile. "You're back in the States?"

Isa swallowed even though her mouth was dry, and had to clear her throat to get any sound out. "I... yeah... I just got back three weeks ago..." She breathed hard.

He nodded.

"And you're in New York?"

"Being interviewed for our foundation," he said flat. "With Marina..."

"Oh..." Isa didn't know what more to say.

He glanced down at his watch. "I... I'm sorry but I have to go."

Finally Isa managed a weak smile. "We'll do coffee some other time," she said silent, recalling his reaction when they had met her friend a long time ago and Isa brushed her off with a similar sentence.

His expression changed and in his eyes a light started to glow and a sad smile showed. "Yeah, I'll call you..."

Isa watched him a fraction too long. "I'll be waiting by the phone," she said slow and looked at him through her lashes with a trace of a smile on her face.

Morgan's entire body was hampering in a flash of time and he wanted to throw her over his shoulder and walk away with her. He could feel his eyes widen. Her mere presence had always been like a freaking uppercut to him, and the last six months hadn't changed a thing. Amazed Morgan noted how it still looked like he had the same effect on her.

"Sorry, I have a deadline..." She started to move past him. "Take care Morgan."

He wanted to grab her, but could barely reply. He just stared at her, totally dumbstruck. "Yeah, you too," popped out of his mouth automatically and then she was gone. With his head in turmoil Morgan stopped just around the corner, leaning up against the wall.

Wow!

The way she said his name with that French sounding R, Morgan had almost forgotten how it sounded like a caress. He breathed hard, trying to get his bearings straight.

All of a sudden, a rage filled him, and Morgan pulled out his phone, flipping through contacts till he found the one he searched for. He tapped to call and started to walk as he heard someone answer. "Why haven't you told me she was back?" He snapped.

~ ~ ~

Isa stumbled forward in her heels, bumping into people, seemingly blind for a moment. She had to turn and walk back again, after having already passed the nearby deli where she was supposed to buy lunch. In a daze she remembered that she was in a hurry and looked down to realize that ten of her fifteen minutes had already passed. How could it not be more; it felt like an hour.

Hurriedly Isa grabbed the box containing Gary's and her lunch and headed back.

She was just about to reach the corner where she had bumped into the focal of her oblivion, when Isa heard screeching tires and it sounded like a car hit something. She didn't react much, but waited for the sirens to bounce off buildings around them. These things happened and her head was still spinning from her meeting Morgan.

Isa rounded the corner and walked almost straight into the scene of the crash. Someone had hit a pedestrian and Isa tried to walk to the side as she passed; she had her own chaos to deal with. She tried not to be in the way as a few people gathered around, made calls and did their best to help. Grateful for those who made a difference today, Isa promised to stop next time anything happened in her proximity. Today she was nothing but a rubble of a girl since that encounter. Isa glanced at the commotion as she passed it.

"Morgan!"

She froze for a split second until her heart started to beat again and then rushed over to the scene and pushed herself through the spectators to get to the man laying on the ground. "Morgan!" She called again and people turned to stare at her and let her through. Isa dropped to her knees next to him on the ground. Her shaking hands scanned the body carefully and focused on his face. The bottomless pits of dark amber that were his eyes, were closed and a man on the other side of his limp body informed Isa that the pulse and breathing was fine and that somebody had called the ambulance. "I gather you know him?" he deduced and Isa looked up at him with tear-filled eyes, without seeing anything.

The ambulance arrived and Isa hadn't even noticed the siren. "Miss, you need to step back!" a male in uniform says.

"No!" She barked with tears gushing down her face. "I will not leave him!"

He held his hands up in a calming gesture. "You need to step aside so I can help him." He used a calming voice, glancing to his colleague, who laid an arm around her shoulders, carefully helped Isa to her feet and forced her away from the unconscious Morgan, lying on the street.

"No, you have to take care of him!" Isa sobbed over and over again while the two men tried to communicate through her cries. The one with the arm around her lead Isa to the ambulance where he wrapped a blanket around her and put her on the edge of the ambulance. Suddenly there was somebody else by her side as the two uniformed men took out the gurney and after have putting a neck-collar on Morgan, carefully placed him on it to roll it into the ambulance.

"No, no, no..." Isa kept repeating like some mantra and she barely noticed them strapping her onto a seat in the ambulance before the doors closed and one of the guys was checking Morgan for pulse and put various tubes and needles into him while the other one was behind the wheel of the ambulance, firing up the engine.

Surprised, Isa found the ambulance guy turning to her and start to check her pulse when various machines monitored Morgan's pulse and breathing. Isa look puzzled at the guy and wanted to yell at him to take care of the injured Morgan instead.

"I'm gonna have to ask you to calm down miss. I need to put a needle in your arm and I have no room for two unconscious patients," he said in that calming voice and Isa looked at him without understanding anything.

"Your husband is okay for now; when we arrive at the hospital in a few minutes they need to check for neck injuries, but we can't afford for you to pass out from shock, so I will put a needle in your arm and get some fluid into you."

Isa still looked at the ambulance guy as if he was speaking a foreign language, even if she obediently gave him her arm to put a needle in, while she watched Morgan's pale face and this was the first she saw of his bleeding chest.

Her tears were pouring down.

They arrived at the emergency entrance of the hospital and Isa felt like everything happened in high-speed or in slow motion and she barely noticed that they put her on a gurney as well.

A dark-haired nurse checked up on a confused Isa who only noticed the hideous green eye shadow the nurse was wearing. Why would anyone want that kind of color? Isa looked unseeingly at the nurse but couldn't understand what she was saying. She looked like she wanted Isa to answer something, but all Isa could think of was that eye shadow and it made her think of green grass, and fields filled with wild flowers. There was a loud ringing in Isa's ears and then everything went black.

~ ~ ~

The next minute that Isa was aware of, everything was calm around her. A blue curtain was closed around her and Isa wondered where she was.

The hospital!

"Morgan," she yelled and tried to bolt upright, but her voice was a mere squeak and she was still lying on her back.

The curtain opened and a friendly woman, dressed in blue appeared. "How are you doing, miss?" She smiled but Isa got annoyed.

"How is Morgan?" She croaked.

"Your husband has been x-rayed and the doctors are looking at the result as we speak," the nurse informed Isa in a calming voice as she monitored the instruments by Isa's side. She looked around to find an iv-cord leading up to an almost empty bag of fluids over Isa's head. A bed was rolled by them and anxiously Isa tried to see if it was Morgan.

She started to cry again.

"You better calm down, miss. We will let you know as soon as we find out, just calm down now." The nurse handed her some tissues and then she said that she would check in on her shortly.

Isa blew her nose and sobbed quiet. Oh God, let Morgan be alright, she prayed.

After an eternity the curtain opened and there on the bed next to her was Morgan, half sitting with his eyes open and the neck-collar was gone.

"Eysa, are you okay?" he asked worried and Isa started to cry again.

"Are you okay?" she replied while her eyes scanned his features.

There was a bandage wrapped around his head and around his chest, but there was a weak smile on his face. "Minor cuts and bruises, but no neck-injury." He smiled and carefully stretched his neck. "It's sore though."

Isa raised her eyes upward and said a silent pray to thank for the injuries that were minor.

"Just a broken arm."

Tears streamed down her cheeks from relief and Isa saw the concern in Morgan's eyes.

"Are you injured?"

"No, it looks like I just passed out," she admitted bitterly.

He took a deep breath. "Good!" He exhaled and they just studied each other in silence.

Isa's inner conscience was scowling her for leaving this man and it felt like she had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other who argued vividly about Isa's actions over the last six months.

A nurse checked in on them and said they were good enough to get discharged and that she'd be back with the paperwork. She unhooked Isa from the drip, and pulled the iv-needle out.

Morgan and Isa went back to observing one another as the nurse left. The E.R. seemed calmer than earlier, but Isa guessed that wouldn't be long.

"I got worried when they said my wife was in the E.R." Morgan said with a trace of humor on his face.

"Wife?" Isa could feel the blood leave her face.

"You, sweetie," he explained and Isa felt stupid. "Did you claim to be my wife?"

Her eyes got huge. "No." Then she recalled the ambulance saying something about her husband and she blushed. "I just kept shouting your name," she admitted quiet. "They must have assumed you were my husband, due to my panic attack."

"You weren't hit by the car then?" he asked relieved.

"No, I was about to walk by when I saw that you're the one that had been hit." Her voice was almost a whisper as Isa relived that horrid moment.

The nurse came back and interrupted their conversation, with a clipboard of forms to fill out. Isa's inside was a mess and she had some difficulties to write everything in the right place. Morgan had even more trouble with his right arm in a cast. Shortly thereafter two guys with wheelchairs walked up to Morgan and Isa and informed that they would take them to the entrance.

Wheelchairs, really? "I can walk! I'm not the injured one!" Isa objected.

"Sorry, hospital policy," one of the guys said and asked if she needed help. Isa snorted and sat down in the chair.

She saw Morgan wince as he carefully sat down in his. His eyes found Isa's worried once and he smiled bravely. "It's not that bad."

The drivers behind them started to wheel them out of there. "We've called a cab for you."

"Thank you." Isa mumbled and thoughts went through her head like some whirlwind.

"What time is it?" Morgan asked and Isa pulled her phone out to find several missed calls from work.

Work! She suddenly remembered ant tapped the phone to dial work. "Isa, where the hell are you?" she heard Gary yell. "I've been calling you all day."

"Yeah I'm sorry, love; I'm at the E.R."

"Are you hurt?"

"Not really..." Isa muttered, feeling a bit guilty. "But I'm going to have to head home, tell Angela I'm sorry." Isa heard him going on and on about what had happened, and she couldn't take his worry or sorrow so she just cut him off. "Of course I'll be back tomorrow. Bye, sweetie." Isa ended the call and kept starring at the phone. How could she forget about work, they had a shitload of stuff they needed to do today.

"Three thirty." Isa heard someone say behind her and Morgan said thanks.

Isa looked over at him and realized that he had asked for the time. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Morgan didn't say anything, he kept looking forward. Sweetie? Love? Morgan thought about the phonecall he had overheard. Confused thoughts kept running through his mind. Of course she had moved on! It had been six months since she walked out on him. It's only sappy old me that couldn't, Morgan thought. He took a deep breath and saw her watching him through the corner of his eyes.

"Didn't you have an interview?" she asked soft.

"Yes, that's tonight, so that'll be fine." Morgan managed to flash her a weak smile.

They arrived at the door and once outside, they were allowed to get out of the wheelchairs. Morgan's arm hurt like hell as he got on his feet. He saw Isa reach for him.

"I'm fine!" He almost snapped at her and saw her hurt face. "Thank you, but I'm fine," he added with a weak smile to milder the harsh words.

Just as the guys said, a cab waited for them and Morgan motioned for her to get in first and then clumsily got in after her.

"I'm fine," he said again as she tried to help. He closed the door on his left and tried to pull the phone out from his right jeans pocket with the left hand. "Are you staying with Krystal and David?" Morgan asked and she looked at him with those intense blue eyes, almost glistening turquoise that seemed to look right into his soul. He couldn't look into them and averted his eyes.

Morgan saw her nod and gave the cabdriver the right address, and then he looked down at his phone; several missed calls and angry messages from Robert. Morgan thanked for upgrading to iPhone instead of those small digits on his former blackberry as he redialled his friend and co-actor. "Hi."

"What the hell do you mean by calling..."

Morgan cut the angry tirade off. "Sorry, I was in an accident; I'm fine, but that's why I didn't return to you."

"What happened?"

"I'll tell you later." He lowered his voice. "I was supposed to meet Marina at six, so I'll call her."

"Can you do the interview?"

"Yeah, I'm fine; lucky it's a podcast. I'm all wrapped up in bandages." Morgan tried to chuckle, but his head hurt and the broken rib shot pain through him. "I gotta go."

The cab pulled up and stopped outside Isa's parents building. "Are you okay?" he asked her. "Do you want me to walk you upstairs?"

"No Morgan, you're hurt!" Her eyes were filled with concern. "I'm the one that should be helping you. Are you sure you'll be alright?"

He smiled at her; a genuine smile and nodded.

She opened the door and stepped out, but in the last minute she leaned her head. "Please call me." Morgan's inner core jerked at her words. "And let me know that you're alright."

Of course! She only wanted to be Florence freaking Nightingale, he thought bitterly. "Yeah, I'll call, perhaps we can do coffee."

"I'd like that," she said with that adorable soft and humble voice that Morgan had missed so much.

They said goodbye and Morgan could feel her eyes follow the cab as they drove off. He had to force his eyes forward, to not give in and turn to see her standing there, looking like a million bucks even if she was a wreck. It was funny that the times where she felt really low and bad, were the times he found her absolutely stunning.

With make-up and hair done, everyone could look good, he had seen it a million times at work, but it was the fragile vulnerability in her that made her stand out in a crowd, preferably au natural.

Oh get a grip Morgan!

Just because she was back, didn't mean she was back with him.

~ ~ ~

Isa was feeling almost giddy as she got in the elevator up to her mother's home, and her temporary refuge. She had seen Morgan again and had survived!

His phone conversation had been painful to overhear, but Isa had to get used to that there was somebody else in his life by now. God knew she had seen him in the press with various women, she just wondered which one this was. Had he finally hooked up with Marina? Jealousy ripped its big ugly claws through her, but she had to remind herself that she was the one to walk out on him. Isa had no one to blame but herself.

What had she done?

Next day at work Isa felt Gary's watchful eyes on her, when her temper suddenly started acting as a rollercoaster. She was bubbling upbeat and low and cranky the next minute; basically even more of a mess than before. Everything peaked two days after the encounter, when Morgan texted and wanted to meet her.

What did he want?

Isa was late since on this particular day, she had those late customers that would never leave; whom she couldn't very much tell she had a date. When they finally did leave, Isa scurried over to Momofuko where Morgan and she had agreed to meet. The bar was where Isa had been with Robert when Isa had feelings for him. She rushed in through the door and cursed herself for not having the time to fix her hair and glide in there all cool and fresh; now she was flustered and her hair was just a bundle of mess. Luckily Isa at least had a nice set of work clothes and her good looking leather jacket.

She scanned the room and found Morgan sitting at a table by himself with a cup of coffee on the table in front of him. He already had his eyes on her and Isa had butterflies in her stomach when she hurried over there.

"I am so sorry for being late. I got some late customers and I couldn't just kick them out." Isa rambled on and on and he just sat there, all cool. She took a deep breath. "Hi," she said and sat down opposite him.

"Hi." He smiled.

She raveled clumsily out of her jacket, blushing. "How are you?"

"I'm clumsy," he muttered sourly and Isa couldn't help but to smile.

"Now you know how the rest of us feel." She tried to joke, but regretted the harshness as soon as she said it.

He just smiled and raised one of the eyebrows. "You don't have a clumsy bone in your body."

Suddenly Isa felt breathless. How could his mere presence have this effect on her. "Can I get you something?" she asked in her breathy voice.

"I'm not a cripple."

Surprised Isa looked up at him. "What happened to plain courtesy?" She saw him flinch. "Can I get you something?" she repeated slowly, happy to find she wasn't the only one affected by the close proximity. "How about some crack pie?"

He puckered his eyebrows and looked at her, doubtfully.

"Trust me," Isa said and walked over to the clerk, ordered and balanced the tray on her way back to him a moment later; trying to hide her awkwardness, pretending to be smooth and cool.

Morgan watched her the entire time. "So what is this? You trying to nurse me to health?" he said, again with the grumpy attitude.

Isa lost her patience. "Knock it off; I wasn't the one that hit you with the car," she snapped. "If you didn't want to see me, why did you call me over here?"

Once again, Morgan was taken aback by her temper. They were both walking on eggshells. "You said you were okay. Why would I want to nurse you back to health, grumpy?" Isa mumbled quiet.

"What did you say?" He seemed honestly surprised.

"I don't know what you're trying to do here, if you're trying to push me away? But talk about mixing signals," she snapped and looked around. "I just wanted to see you; I get if you're in pain, but if you don't want to see me, just go!"

Morgan stared at her and Isa got the feeling that they were two raging bulls.

What was his problem, really?

Isa exhaled slowly, looked down at her coffee and pie. She took a piece of it, put it in her mouth and chewed it mechanically with her eyes closed, not feeling any taste at all. It had been too long since she had been here. She had mostly been cooped up in her room, basically hiding from the world and here she was exposed to the ultimate pain.

She sighed and opened her eyes to find Morgan's bottomless pits of eyes studying her intense. Isa almost jerked and so did he when she looked back at him. Their annoyed expressions just washed off them and they were suddenly naked in front of each other; both still hurting.

Quickly they broke off eye contact.

"They caught the one responsible for sending those photos."

Isa felt her eyes widen.

"It was only two weeks after you left."

Two weeks? Isa had been miserable for months. She felt like crying and needed to draw a deep breath to stop herself.

"I have a good team of security," he continued sternly. "You could have trusted me, you know."

By now, Isa felt like a trembling mess inside and couldn't even look at him. None of them said anything for a while, and the silence was killing her.

Say something; anything!

"So... are you seeing anyone?" Isa held her breath while his expression changed.

"Really, you're asking me that?" his tone was sharp.

Isa felt stupid; he was right, she had no right to ask. "Sorry!" she looked down.

None of them said anything for a while and it felt like Isa would tremble into pieces and cry her heart out and she couldn't break, not in front of him.

"I hope your arm heals." Isa pressed out and got on her feet. "Take care." The last words were only a whisper, due to the fact that tears had a chokehold on her. She turned and got out of there, with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Morgan just sat there, like paralyzed, unable to say or do anything, but to see this woman walk out on him again.

How would he survive?

Morgan could see she was an even bigger mess than he was and he regretted being so harsh on her, but she couldn't sit here and talk about him seeing anybody else. With her, Morgan couldn't even make up a fake girl.

The shock of running into her the other day was still reverberating through him. She was looking as good as always that day; well except the size of course. She was just skin and bones. Her cheekbones was more visible and her clear blue eyes, those eyes that always had the ability to see right through him, stood out even more. She didn't look like she was ready to fall into his arms and kiss him though, Morgan thought. He had to accept that it really was over between them.

He simply sat there and stared at the door she walked out through for a long time. Finally Morgan got on his feet and walked out of the place, out of the neighborhood and booked a late night flight out of that state.

.