oom: room 25, saturday night

[scurlock]

Ever since Katherine had sprinted out of bed on Thursday night, Doc has been sleeping alone, and spending more time upstairs than he usually did.

Katherine was around on Friday - he knew that much because Beaut's been gone from the stables for periods of the day and back at night - but she didn't come upstairs at the end of the day. He left the stables for his staff to attend to on Saturday afternoon, claiming a need to get some paperwork done.

And in all reality, he has gotten a good deal of paperwork done. He spent a few hours going over the stock record and copying things into a fresh ledger, working out how to organize the list, and taking care of numbers and figures for costs and staff salary. Bar could have done it for him, but he doesn't mind the work.

It's late, now. There are sketches of barns and floorplans littering his desk, those small peach seedlings in his windowsill have grown a bit the last few days, thanks to a hint of a nudge they got, showing their familiar sawtooth shaped leaves starting to form. The lamps are turned down low, but he's not sleeping, sitting on his couch in the near-dark with a glass of whiskey sweating on the coffee table.

He's sketching on a notepad, lines and dimensions, occasionally sipping from that glass.

Comments

[ikissdhimbck]

She is warmer to the touch now than she had been the last time they were together, and her eyes fall shut at the contact. His fingertips feel cold against her flushed skin.

She sighs softly, nodding a little.

[scurlock]

He frowns slightly at the heat radiating from her skin, and places a hand against her forehead.

"You're runnin' a bit of a fever," he says.

Probably from bein' out in the cold and not sleeping.

He brushes her hair back and leans in, tenderly kissing her on the forehead before he settles his head on the pillow next to hers.

[ikissdhimbck]

"I'm burning."

She doesn't reopen her eyes, or offer much else by way of explanation for her words. They seem to make sense in her mind.

[scurlock]

She's worrying him, just a little.

"Lemme git you somethin' to help," he replies, kissing her forehead again before he slides out of bed.

It's another quick trip to the bathroom to grab the Tylenol (Guppy mentioned they were fever reducers in addition to minor painkillers) and a washcloth soaked in cold water, wrung out to leave it damp.

He snags a glass of water on the way and then drags a chair over to use as an informal bedside table, water and bottle of pills going on it as he climbs into bed with the cool rag, sliding back under the sheets and curling up beside her again.

[ikissdhimbck]

When he dabs at her face with the cool rag, she recoils just a bit, a shiver skating down her spine.

"S'cold," she mutters, trying to sound threatening.

[scurlock]

He nods slightly.

"It is."

He doesn't linger too long, patting lightly at her temples before he brushes lightly over her neck.

Then the cloth is set aside and he leans in to kiss a spot on her throat.

"Will make you feel better, though."

[ikissdhimbck]

She shivers when he takes away the rag, cold air hitting her moist skin, and then he presses his warm mouth to her throat.

Her fingers move up to thread in his hair, the only gesture she makes to suggest she likes the attention.

"I feel bad."

[scurlock]

"What about?"

It's different than if he were asking 'why'. He doesn't need to know the why, he wants to know the underlying problem so that he can try to figure out how to make it better.

His lips are lingering against her neck.

[ikissdhimbck]

She sighs, eyes closed, letting her head fall back so she can savor the feeling of his mouth on her skin.

"Lots of things."

She slowly pulls her fingers through his hair.

"Me. You."

[scurlock]

He kisses his way up her throat to trace a slow path along her jaw.

"You haven't hurt me."

[ikissdhimbck]

She doesn't say anything for a moment. She simply concentrates on breathing, the fine hairs on her arms standing on end as he moves.



"I will."

She doesn't open her eyes or move her hand from his hair, but, lifting her arm, she makes a gun with her free hand.

"...Bang. bang. bang."

[scurlock]

"Kate. I know you."

He lifts his hand up and traces his fingers along her bare arm, then interlocks their fingers, making a gun with his own hand rather than pull her hand down.




"You would never draw on me."

[ikissdhimbck]

"Twice."

She gently runs her thumb along his, holding their hands in that position for as long as he'll let her.

[scurlock]

Twice.

He's not sure what she means. Neither option is one he wants to linger on. Either she's drawn on him, twice...or she'd only ever need to draw on him once.

He keeps their hands there.


"I trust you."

[ikissdhimbck]

She goes quiet, not sure what to say.

Eventually, she releases his hand, brushing her fingertips along his arm until they meet his chest. She smooths her hand over his heart.

Her brow creases in thought.

[scurlock]

He stays quiet awhile himself, before he covers her hand on his chest.

"What're you thinkin' about?"

His fingertips are tracing the delicate bones in her hand.

[ikissdhimbck]

"Nightmares."




She tucks her head away under his chin, returning the earlier favor by pressing her lips down the column of his throat, stopping only when she reaches his collarbone.

[scurlock]

He exhales gently at the contact, tipping his head back slightly.



"They gettin' worse?"

[ikissdhimbck]

"Not gettin' better."

She nips gently at his adam's apple when he tips his head back, before sighing and burrowing her face into his chest, nuzzling up to the warm folds of his white thermal.

She is quiet for a moment, eyes barely open and blinking.

"Know what they tell me?"

[scurlock]

He has a few guesses, but she's talking to him and not about to hamper that progress.

(Plus that nip just sent a shiver down his spine.)


"What do they tell you?"

His hand settles at her waist.

[ikissdhimbck]

"'It's what I was born to be.'"



She laughs quietly.




"...You 'member the last time we sat together, 'fore you went home and got all shot up?"

[scurlock]

He's quiet a moment.


"Call it for luck."


"I remember what you said that woke me up in the infirmary when I got back."

"Some luck."

[ikissdhimbck]

'Some luck.'

She nods carefully.

"You almost died."

You should have died.

"I came back from school. There was this schoolhouse. Abandoned. Needed a teacher. So I left home to look. Told him I'd see him soon."

'You be safe, Katie.'

'I will, daddy. Promise.'

"Kissed him goodbye.




"That was it."

[scurlock]

"Your daddy got shot because someone didn't like that he had the stones to stand up for what was right. Sam got shot because there are some people in this world who don't believe in equality."

He leans in and nuzzles at her face gently.




"I got shot because I chose to go first out that door. Not because you kissed me."

[ikissdhimbck]

"I'm tired," she murmurs, changing the subject.

He doesn't like what she has to say, and she isn't going to argue with him.

She shifts until she's laying with her back to him, curling her body away from his embrace.