scurlock | oom: milliways library

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oom: milliways library

There really isn't a specific layout to the place, but every time Doc's been up here, it's been a little different. He passes it off to Bar trying to keep things interesting. This time there are long rows of shelves, full of books. Some are sorted by date published. Others, by subject. Some shelves are mixed in all together. There are stacks around on end tables and next to chairs and desks. There is a comfortable couch or two, somewhere. Ladders to reach high. It always changes and there's a few too many corners and nooks to really make it work from a layout standpoint, but it's quiet and full of anything someone could want to look for to read.

Doc opens the door and steps in, then glances at Kate.

"I promise, I ain't never..." a chuckle, at himself. "I haven't ever," he corrects "Been lost in here."

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Katherine chuckles, having the grace not to look at him as his cheeks redden.

"You think? I could do worse for friends," she smiles. "And I have a way with animals. Don't know why, but I always have. Horses are especially dear."

Pause.

"You don't have to do that, you know."

Doc shrugs a bit. "Don't think it's proper to be swearin' 'round a lady, that's all." He offers her his arm again after the horse decides that they don't have any more sugarcubes. "And then I suppose we'll have t'go out sometime and see the grounds a bit better with horses when you've got more time to spare."

And she's more properly outfitted, but that's what bar is for.

She smiles. "I appreciate it.

"I grew up on a farm, though. My father raised all sorts of livestock: chickens, pigs, goats..." She pauses, giving the Bay one last affectionate pet and taking Doc's arm again; "So I was a bit rough around the edges as a girl. ...I ain't always talked so purdy, m'self."

She blushes scarlet, and looks toward her feet as they walk. "But I would love the opportunity to come back sometime for a ride, when I don't have my children to worry about back home."

"Then when you get back, we'll do that, I promise."

He leads the way out of the barn and away from the stables, points out the forge as they pass it, and then as they continue on down the lake path, the air grows a bit cooler, the breeze a bit more fresh...the pines into palms.

"Y'might want to slip off those fine heels, Miss Katherine. Wouldn't do to ruin them walkin' in the sand," he says quietly.

A smile.

"I intend to hold you to that, Josiah."

Katherine is so preoccupied with the palms--the strange, tall trees that sway ever-so-gracefully in the wind--that she fails to notice the changing terrain.

"Oh. A-all right," she says, her cheeks a little rosy. She politely requests Doc's hand for support as she removes her shoes and stockings, and stands again barefoot in the soft sand.

Smile.

This is new and different.

Doc gives her that hand for support, than kneels to fetch her shoes and stockings and place them carefully on a large, flat rock for safekeeping once she's finished.

"Heard it's part of the tropics. We get a ship in," he says. "The Flying Dutchman, actually. Ain't seen it around in awhile, though."

"Is that so? My, who would have thought! The tropics. I teach my students about it, but I never expected to experience it in any form."

Her toes squish in the sand. The sea breeze catches her hair and lazily whips it about her face. She turns to Doc and simply beams.

"...I think I love it here." The sea, the beach, Milliways... all of it.

Doc grins, a bit of a lazy, easy smile. One that comes from being relaxed and content.

"I think you'll find, Miss Katherine, that the more you come t'visit the more you'll love it."

And his smile is met easily by one of her own.

"Then I hope Miss Bar will be so kind as to let me come back often."

"I hope so too," and he blushes just a little as he sticks his hands into his pockets and glances out at the horizon to hide it, but it's obvious enough, even with his hair falling into his eyes a bit.

And Katherine is glad as he glances away, because the blush has crept back into her cheeks as well. She, too, looks away, out towards the wide expanse of water.

"After all," she says after some time, smirking, "You owe me a trail ride. And a poetry recitation."

She bites her lip to keep her smile from growing too wide, not taking her eyes from the ocean.

"Soon as you're back," he promises, rocking on his heels a bit on the sand, glancing over at her. "I keep my word to friends."

His word is really all he's got left, sometimes.

She turns back to him and catches his eye. "I'm very glad to hear it."

Her hands are clasped together to keep her fingers from nervously fiddling with her skirts, her hair, her sleeves...

"Perhaps it's time I did get back to my students, though," and she regrets the words even as she speaks them.

"It's only my first week in town, and already I'm shirking my responsibilities," she chuckles.

"I'm quite certain they won't even have noticed you've been gone."

Though it would be hard to miss when she wasn't around.

Doc smiles a bit, then nods and offers her his hand after he fetches her stockings and shoes. There's a flat rock nearby that she can sit on to replace them.

"We'll be sure to pick your books up from the bar."

"I do hope not; they can be quite impossible when they feel they've got the upper-hand. Miss Barlow leaving them to all the work would definitely give them leverage," she snickers.

There's a warmth in her belly as she takes the hand offered to her, carefully picking her way through the warm, soft sand to the flat rock. She stands after her shoes are laced, tucking the hair the sea breeze had whipped free back behind her ears.

"I do appreciate it. I've more than enjoyed my morning with you, Doc."

"As I've more than enjoyed it with you, as well, Miss Katherine."

Doc gives her another one of those honest smiles.

"And I'm sure you'll be quite able to set them straight, a fine teacher like yourself," he offers her his arm as they make their way back towards the bar, past the lake and the forge, the stables and greenhouse.

It's the honest smiles she likes the most; the ones that reach his eyes.

"I can be firm when it's necessary."

But she breaks into a bashful smile then. "Though I admit, I spoil them something awful."

She takes in everything Milliways has to offer, making mental notes of the things she needs to explore when she comes back.

If she comes back.

She hopes she comes back.

She's a little sad when they finally reach the door leading back into the bar.

Doc doesn't want to watch her go. He's not sure why -- he's only just met her -- but he's seen enough people walk out that door that haven't come back.

(His heart hurts, he's not sure why either but he's got a guess.)

"Well I've heard 'bout a trick," he mentions with a bit of a smile as they approach the bar and he asks for those books of hers. "If y'take something back, sometimes Bar makes it easier t'return it, so," he picks up the book he snagged out of his bedroom earlier and adds it to the top of her pile. "I want y'take this."

Katherine beams, first of all because Doc somehow knew what she was fearing and set her mind at ease, and second of all because of the new addition to her ~~hopelessly tall~~ stack of books.

"What is it?" she asks, turning the book so she can look at the spine.

"I was lookin' at yours earlier and it's one of Poe's you don't have yet," he says quietly. "Fraid there might be a few marks in the pages here and there but guess that gives it character..."

Doc smiles a bit.

"So hopefully it might help y'get back sometime right soon as you're ready."

"You're quite right!" she exclaims, genuinely excited to see an edition she does not own. She flips a few pages and turns to him brightly.

"Oh, I don't mind the marks one bit. Perhaps you'll allow me to make a few of my own, 'long as I promise to return it to you in good condition."

Which she will. She cares for her books the way one might a pet.

"Go on ahead," he smiles a little bit more. "Don't mind at all."

After all, teachers are good with books. It's just an unwritten rule. Doc nods his head. "I'll help y'to the door," he insists.

"Thank you," she says, smoothing her hands over the cover of the book tenderly. "Honestly, thank you so kindly. I promise to return it to you someday."

Soon.

She shuffles the books into her arms, laughing as she tries to balance the--now even taller--stack. She's glad for Doc's assistance; doorknobs can be tricky things sometimes.

Doc makes sure to steady the stack as they make their way over to her door.

"You've gotta open it, don't think y'want t'be goin' back to New Mexico instead of Texas," he laughs a little at himself, though it's true. Doc doesn't want to go out that door.

At all.

"Oh, of course," Katherine smiles, shifting the books in her arms. "Though, I imagine New Mexico would be a bit of an adventure."

She manages to get her hand around the doorknob before she pauses. She looks up at Doc. "Thank you again... Josiah. You're quite the gentleman."

One last smile, and then...

Her children are laughing and singing as she opens the door.

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scurlock - 2008-07-30 03:58 (UTC) - Expand

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