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It happens on an ordinary Sunday.
She and Mike plan a sightseeing trip that will take them along the south coast of the country. It’s summertime and the weather is finally nice enough to go outside for extended lengths of time. And even though she’s lived in Iceland for years, she hasn’t explored much on her own, apart from going to Reykjavik and the nearby towns surrounding hers. With Mike by her side after years apart, she now has her perfect travel companion.
They pile their luggage into her car, taking turns driving down the winding roads along the coast, stopping at all the popular tourist spots along the way. The weather has been exceptional so far during their trip, save for the ever-present wind that seems to accompany living in Iceland.
They pull up the car and park at today’s destination, Dyrhólaey Arch and Lighthouse which according to their guidebook “is a nearly four hundred foot high peninsula surrounded by cliffs which offers panoramic views of Reynisfjara black sand beach, Reynisdrangar sea stacks, and the Atlantic Ocean.” El slings their camera over her shoulder on its long strap and takes Mike by the hand, leading him to the nearest path marked by signs, a steady stream of tourists both in front of and behind them as they walk.
They wander a bit, stopping to take photos and marvel at the scenery. When they reach the end of the peninsula, the view is breathtaking. About sixty feet to their right, a large group of tourists forms, using a large rock imbedded in the grass as a pedestal to pose for photos, using the stunning view as a backdrop.
“Look!” El says, taking Mike by the hand and pulling him in their direction. One person holds a video camera, repeatedly scanning over the panoramic view. The group seems to have formed a queue, each person waiting for their photo opportunity. Mike and El take their place in the back of the makeshift line, the man with the video camera and another woman quickly moving behind them. They laugh as the people in front of them pose dramatically for pictures, each one becoming more absurd than the last. By the time they reach the front of the line, a small crowd has formed behind them.
Mike hesitates, suddenly camera shy. “Are you sure?” he asks El. “You know how much I hate having my picture taken.”
“Come on, Mike!” she encourages. “It’s beautiful! Look around you! We need to remember this always.”
He sighs but turns toward the rock as she raises the camera, adjusting it so that he is in focus as he ascends the rock. He turns his back to the cliff behind him, raises both of his hands to give her a cheesy thumbs up, his face splitting into a smile.
Out of nowhere, in the second between his smile and her press of the button, a sharp gust of wind blasts her from behind, taking both of them by surprise. It hits Mike straight on, causing him to lose his balance atop the rock. He falls backward, disappearing over the cliff’s edge before El’s scream even leaves her throat.
“Mike!” her voice pierces the serene landscape, an audible gasp following from the crowd. Her mind surges forward, reaching for him, the constant tether from her to him stretched thin. She rushes to the side of the cliff and leans over, her heart pounding in her chest, her breath coming out in stuttered gasps.
The four hundred foot drop causes the bottom of her stomach to fall out from under her as she looks down, her sole focus the dark haired man clinging to the cliffside fifty feet below where she stands. He glances up at her, his voice shaking as he says to her, “Be careful!’
As if he isn’t the one who just fell off a cliff.
Using her powers, she presses his body to the side of the rocks, wanting it to look as natural as possible as he finds grips and footings, slowly making his way up toward where she stands. He grows more confident as he goes, moving quicker until he reaches her. A few onlookers grip his hands and pull him up to safety, and it isn’t until he’s back on solid ground again that she releases her hold on him.
She throws her arms around his neck, holding back as sob, but before she can even utter a word, she looks over her shoulder and sees the man with the camcorder, pointing it straight at them. She goes rigid in Mike’s arms, and he turns to see the man.
“Dude! That was so rad! I thought you were a goner, man. Wait ‘til my friends at home see this tape, they’re never gonna believe it!” the man says to Mike.
The woman with him approaches, linking her arm through his. “Seriously, how did you do that? There’s like, nothing to grab onto there.”
By this point, the crowd has formed a circle around them, many speaking in other languages, their faces reading of shock and relief.
Mike holds up his hands, waving and nodding at them politely. “I’m ok, I’m ok,” he says reassuringly, and some of the people begin to wander away from them, but the American couple persists.
“Hey, your nose is bleeding,” the woman tells El. El nods in acknowledgment, reaching into her jeans pocket for a tissue when the woman continues, “I think your man must be a superhero or something, the way he did that. I mean, it’s just crazy!”
El doesn’t respond, her eyes fixed solely on the camcorder, it’s red recording light blinking ominously at her. She senses Mike moving toward the man, her feet rooted in place.
“Hey, would you like a shot of both of you together?” he asks the man, extending his hand toward the camera.
“Oh, yeah,” the man replies. “That would be great, actually.” He hands the camera over to Mike, who turns it over in his hands a few times before pointing it at the couple. The man smiles, giving his wife a kiss on the cheek for the camera, her hair blowing in the breeze. After a minute of recording, Mike hands the camera back. The man thanks him, and Mike turns to El, taking her hand in his.
“We need to go,” he tells her. “Now,” he adds firmly. With a final wave at the American couple, they turn around and begin briskly walking back to the car. “Breathe,” Mike prompts her as they walk. “We’re almost there.”
They reach the car and Mike slides into the driver’s seat immediately, their seat belts clicking into place as he heads out of the parking lot and back onto the main road.
He drives until there is a safe place to pull over, unbuckles his seat belt, turns to her, and wraps his arms around her. A sob rips out of her, her body convulsing with the force of it.
“Oh, Mike!” she cries, her fingers finding purchase in his hair.
“I’m ok,” he murmurs into her hair. “It’s ok,” he says soothingly.
“The video camera! They’re going to show people!” she manages between gasps of breath.
“No, they’re not,” he replies calmly, reaching his hand into his pocket and retrieving a small cassette tape. He grins at her, raising his eyebrows.
“You stole the tape?” she gapes at him. “How?”
“I snagged it when I asked if they wanted me to film them,” he explains. “I knew we couldn’t let them leave with footage of us. That’s why we had to get out of there before they realize it’s gone.” He smiles proudly at her, puffing his chest out a bit as he says this.
She stares at him, the adrenaline still racing through her system, her heart thumping wildly in her chest.
“Besides, they were asking too many questions,” he says, still shockingly calm considering what just happened. He studies her for a beat, takes her hand in his, and presses a kiss to the back of her palm. “By the way, thank you for saving my life, again. I mean, how cool was that? I got to climb up that cliff like Spiderman!”
She manages a tight smile in return, and satisfied, he puts the car in drive and pulls back onto the road in the direction of their next destination. Her head is a wild mess of swirling thoughts, her body a bundle of nervous energy as Mike starts singing along to one of the CD’s they brought for the trip.
She stares at his profile as he drives, his eyes on the road, the vision of him plummeting over the cliff’s edge playing on a loop in her mind. The seconds of absolute terror before she knew he was safe. The idea that every sacrifice, every minute of separation they endured to get to this moment could have been undone with a single video cassette tape.
Did she make his rescue look normal enough? Did anyone suspect something was amiss? Were others filming or taking pictures of them? Will they tell their friends about the man who fell and the odd woman who saved him?
What if they find her?
Her eyes trace over his features. His long, dark eyelashes. The freckles sprinkled over the bridge of his nose. And suddenly, she feels as though she can’t breathe.
She knows what living without him was like, but even during that time, she knew he was safe and alive, constantly comforted by the fact that he existed somewhere in the world. He’s the only person on the planet who really knows her. Her history, her secrets, the hidden parts of her soul that she only lets him inside to see. The mere idea of losing him causes a visceral reaction within her depths, an implosion of all her senses and logic. She can’t breathe. She can’t think.
The sound of her gasping in the passenger seat beside him alerts his attention, and Mike turns to her, his eyes clouded with concern. He grips her hand across the console. “El? What is it?”
When he realizes that she is unable to speak, he jerks the wheel of the car sharply, pulling off the road and onto the shoulder. He places his hands on her cheeks, cradling her face in his palms. “Are you ok?’ he asks, even though the answer is obvious. Sheer panic rolls off her in waves, her entire body vibrating with it. “El! I need you to breathe. Deep breaths, like this,” he soothes, modeling a slow, deep expanse of his lungs.
She tries, oh, she tries, but seeing the love and concern in his eyes only makes her cry harder. She clenches her eyes shut, her hands gripping the front of his shirt tightly.
“El? Baby, please. I need you to come back to me,” he presses his forehead against hers. “Sweetheart,” he intones, “I love you, please come back to me.”
His rare use of the endearment causes her eyes to flutter open. He kisses her temple, the shell of her ear, and then her lips, lightly, his simple touch bringing her back to reality. His eyes dart between hers, reading her like he always does, before pulling her into his body, as close as is possible within the confines of the small car. He waits, knowing it will take her some time before she can formulate her thoughts.
“I’m here,” he whispers.
She pulls back slowly, her hand reaching to cup his cheek as she inhales and exhales deeply, trying to steady herself. “I thought I’d lost you,” she says after a minute. “And it was the worst moment of my life. What if I couldn’t stop your fall, Mike? I’m the one who made you take that picture!”
Fresh tears fall from her eyes as she continues. “You’re everything to me. I can’t lose you. And then when I thought those people were going to show the video of us to everyone, I thought it was all over. That somehow people would find out where I was. And that all that we’ve gone through would have been for nothing.”
His face crumples in response. “Oh El, I’m so sorry. That’s why I took the tape. The last thing I want is to risk exposure or jeopardize your safety.”
He says this with such sincerity that it tears right through her, gutting her.
“I couldn’t handle the thought of losing you for seconds, Mike. You did it for years. And I’m the reason why,” she begins sobbing again.
“El, no,” he returns. “We’ve been through this. You did what you had to do for me, for us.”
“How can you be so calm about this? You fell off a cliff, Mike! You nearly died. And you’re talking about it like it’s nothing! Like it wasn’t my worst fear come true!”
He bites down on his lower lip, a determined look in his eyes. “I wasn’t afraid because I knew you’d save me, the same way that I know the sky is blue. I’ve already lived through my worst fear. I watched you die, El. And I had to learn how to live with that. Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, scares me more than that.”
She tries to turn away from him, but he tilts her head back to face him. “And I still feel that way sometimes, this crippling fear that you’re not really here. That I imagined all this. Because I love you more than anything in the world. But I don’t want to waste another second being afraid. We’ve already lost so much time.”
“Oh, Mike,” she reaches for him, kissing him deeply. “I love you so much.”
They kiss until their lips are swollen, their hands beginning to wander, only breaking apart when a passing car blares its horn at them. Mike presses another kiss to the tip of her nose before pulling back onto the road, keeping up with the flow of traffic.
She finds herself unable to take her eyes off him the whole way to the inn where they’ve booked a room for the night, arriving there in the early evening. He carries their bags to the room, closing and locking the door behind him before nearly collapsing on the bed, the earlier adrenaline rush taking a toll on him as well. She kicks off her shoes and moves beside him, her body curling into his. For a long, life sustaining moment, there is only them.
He’s the one to break the silence. “You know, it’s kind of a shame that I can’t tell anyone the real truth,” he says, and she can hear the smile in his voice. “I mean, how many people can say they fell off a cliff twice and survived.”
“But you didn’t survive because of you. You survived because of me,” she corrects.
“Way to ruin it for me,” he jokes, and she laughs. He leans up on his elbow so that he can look at her. “You’re incredible, you know that, right? Those fools with the camcorder today, all the good people who have ever crossed your path, and the whole world is safe because of you. And they don’t even know it.”
“Mike,” she says softly. He’s told her this many times already. “I’m safe, because of you.”
He knows she isn’t just talking about today. His eyes flit across her face before he leans over to kiss her, and suddenly she feels she can’t get close enough to him, needing to feel his skin on hers, needing a physical affirmation of his presence.
There will always be a part of her that fears exposure, of the US Government finding out that she’s still alive. But it’s only in his arms, even while being the most powerful person on earth, that she feels truly safe.
He is her home.