Nightcall

The winter wind howled through the half-decorated bedroom. The storm which had been gathering momentum all evening now reached it's peak, breaking upon the house like rolling waves upon a soft shore.

The little white house stood detached from its neighbours, with rear windows that looked out on to rolling hills. It was an old house dripping in character, but on a night like this its very foundations seemed to quake.

On a night like this.

She loved this little house because of it's charm. She loved it because it stood so close to the city, yet with the offer of peace from the hills behind.

He loved this house because it reminded him of home, of Ireland. And because she was here.

With the both of them often travelling due to work, this house was their anchor. This year should have been their first christmas spent together in their new home. Yet once again work had called for one of them, this time for Aidan.

At first Raychel found it easy to amuse herself. She caught up on the tv shows she'd missed and reading and hammering out the details of some of the fifty or so writing projects she was working on alongside the day job. But with all the holiday festivity still in the air she couldn't help but wish she had stayed with her family for a few extra days instead of returning home right before New Years eve. At least when she was surrounded by her family and friends her heart didn't ache so heavily for Aidan.

The wind whistled through the house once more, with a quieter lull this time around, as though the storm was finally subsiding. Raychel turned over in the bed. She had been trying - and failing miserably - to get to sleep for nearly an hour. The storm shushed for a few moments and it was then that she heard it, the noise from below, and with a sickening feeling suddenly churning her stomach she realized it sounded like the rattle of the back door handle being tried rather forcefully.

Her hopefully mind jumped to the possibility it might be Aidan returning home a few days early. A comforting thought, if he hadn't called from set that morning to warn her with an apologetic voice that he might have to stay an extra day or two for reshoots.

'It's just the wind.' Raychel told herself as calmly as she could.

The noise stopped, but any relief was short lived when she heard the unmistakable creak as the back door fell open. Raychel gathered her courage and switched on the bedside lamp. She made a decision and swallowed any fear. Trying not to make a noise she pushed off the sea of blankets and climbed from the bed. She knew she was about to commit a horror movie no no. That if she really were certain of what she had heard she should lock the bedroom door, call the police and arm herself. Raychel was certain. She had complained enough in the short time they had been here about the creaky backdoor to place the sound.

Raychel reached under the bed and fumbled around for the hockey stick, only hoping she'd be around long enough to tell Aidan he was wrong for teasing her about keeping the thing under the bed in the first place. She took her phone from the bedside table, but froze, hearing the second to last floorboard as it groaned under someones weight. Without contemplation she hurried to the door, turning the key in the lock and moving back.

Time seemed to stand still as she waited for further noise, clear evidence of an intruder. A shiver ran through her as she witnessed the door handle turn, and the intruder finding it locked, attempted to turn the handle the other way with more force.

"Raychel, are you awake?" Even in a voice close to a whisper the charming Irish accent rang clear.

Raychel ran to the door and turned the key, throwing it open to find a slightly bewildered man. Aidan looked tired. His dark curls had been tousled by the wind and there was stubble shadowing his chin and jaw, but still he smiled at the sight of her. Even in this weather he wore his favourite beaten leather jacket and as usual it wasn't done up to the neck, so the collar of his blue checkered shirt peaked out underneath.

Raychel punched his arm, but with only a hint of true force. "You scared the shit out of me, sneaking around in the middle of the night when you're supposed to be on set."

"Oww!" He frowned, rubbing his arm as though she had really caused injury. "I missed you too."
Wordlessly she dropped the hockey stick and wrapped her arms around his waist. Aidan chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "I wanted to surprise you."

"You certainly did that," she sighed, leaning in to his chest. She took in the comforting scent of his cologne, mingled with the fresh rain from the storm. She looked up at him. "I love that you're here baby, but I don't understand. You're supposed to be halfway around the world hidden beneath a prosthetics and fake hair."

"I pulled a few strings," he shrugged with a sly smile. "It's New years eve in..." Aidan looked over Raychel's head and to the clock on the table to see that it was already 1.03am on New Years eve, leaving less than twenty four hours till countdown. "Well, today, and I can think of nothing I'd rather be doing than kissing you at midnight."

"You always know how to charm the ladies Turner."

Aidan smirked, looking her over. He caught her off guard when he suddenly lifted her from the ground and threw her over his shoulder. "There's only one lady I want to charm, and right now she's wearing too many clothes."