God's Gonna Cut You Down

Murphy stood in front of the bathroom mirror, his hands were on the edge of the sink. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, "What are you doing?" he whispered to himself. "You can't think about her like that, she's too innocent." He took a deep breath and started the defense with himself, "Then again, it was only a dream, and you can't control your dreams, right?" With those words of reassurance he stepped into the hallway and headed for the stairs. The smell of warm cinnamon started to reach his nose. He inhaled deeply, and walked into the living room, "What's being cooked," he asked.

"Your girlfriend is baking," Romeo said with a smile.

Murphy looked at him confused, "What? I don't-" he cut himself off when he seen the expression on Paul's face. Clearly there wouldn't be any intimacy between him and Eliza unless they were in a relationship as long as Paul was around. "What is she baking?"

"Cinnamon rolls."

"They smell incredible." He walked into the kitchen and seen her standing in front of the oven with her back to him. Her long hair was tied up to keep it from falling into the food, and she wore her black silk night gown with the white polka-dots and black lace trim that had been in his dream. He drew in a sharp breath as he thought about the dream, at the same time Eliza opened the oven and bent down to remove the cinnamon rolls, causing the form-fitting dress to slide up. "It smells delicious," he told her, startling her.

She jumped and dropped the pan. She tried to jump back in time, but the pan hit her foot anyways. She cried out and Murphy ran to her.

"I'm so sorry," he told her, picking her up and placing her on the counter next to the sink. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay," she told him, "I just burned my foot, that's all." She looked at the pan, "And at least none of the cinnamon rolls hit the floor."

He smiled and grabbed a bag, filling it with ice to place on the top of Eliza's foot.

"What happened?" Paul asked, entering the kitchen.

"I dropped the pan on my foot."

"Klutz!" she heard Connor say from the living room.

"Shut up!" she screamed in the same high-pitched voice she had used the day before to tell Murphy to kill the spider.

"Are you okay?" Paul asked.

She nodded, "I'll be fine."

Murphy placed the bag on her foot then grabbed the pot holders to pick the pan up and place it on the stove.

"Is the food okay?" Romeo asked, peeking through the door.

Eliza nodded again, "Not a single roll touched the floor."

Throughout breakfast everyone teased Eliza for her clumsiness. After awhile she blocked them out and quit paying attention to what they were saying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Let's just say I have some....friends," Theo said into the phone.

"You're sure that's where she went?" Tommy asked.

"Positive."

"Go find her then."

"What am I supposed to do once I find her? With her all over the news she'll never make it out of the airport without a police escort."

"Find a secluded place to stay, keep her there, and I'll hitch a ride on a cargo ship after I take care of business back in Orlando."

"Got it boss. I'll let you know when I have her."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's not as red anymore," Romeo said, attempting to cheer Eliza up about the burn on her foot.

"It still hurts though. As long as the ice is on it, it's not so bad."

"Speaking of ice," Murphy said, walking into the living room with a new bag of ice. She smiled and he placed the bag over the top of her foot. "I really am sorry," he said, looking up at her, "I didn't know I was going to cause you to drop the pan."

"It's okay," she smiled.

Murphy smiled back and out of the corner of Eliza's eye she noticed something glisten on Romeo's face. She looked at him only to see a tear roll down his cheek.

"Romeo, are you crying?"

"Shhh, he cries a lot."

Eliza chuckled and Romeo said, "I can't help it; it's just so romantic watching you two. And you know I'm really a hopeless romantic at heart."