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

[scurlock]

"Hollow?"

He can see the sweat on her skin in the faint light in the room.

[ikissdhimbck]

"Numb."

She shifts her arm so it's resting on top of his, curled around her middle. She buries her face in the mattress.

"'Cept for.... regret."

[scurlock]

"Numb 'cept for regret," he repeats.

A moment's consideration.

"Ain't nobody suggestin' that's anything than what you should be feelin', right now."

[ikissdhimbck]

"I hurt people."

She squeezes her eyes shut tight.

"When I sleep. When I'm awake. Always."

[scurlock]

"You've never hurt me."

He shakes his head.

"I know you never will. No matter what you're seein' in your dreams."

[ikissdhimbck]

She opens her eyes slowly, and stares at the wall.

[scurlock]

He rises up on his elbow to look down on her face, bracing his weight on his side as he reaches up to wipe the sweat off her forehead.

"You want to take somethin' for the fever or let it try and break on its own?"

[ikissdhimbck]

"Doc?"

[scurlock]

"Yeah?"

[ikissdhimbck]

"No one's ever gonna hurt you 'gain. Ever."

[scurlock]

"I know that."


He does.

She will never hurt him.

"You will never hurt me."

[ikissdhimbck]

"No--"

She turns until she's on her back, blue eyes staring up at him oh-so-seriously.

She reaches a hand out and gently caresses his face.

"I mean anybody. Nobody. I don't want to see you hurt--"

Her voice goes a bit tight.

"Ever."

[scurlock]

"I know."

He swallows, hard.

"Because I got you at my side, Darlin'. There ain't nobody else I'd want watchin' my back. I trust you."

He's looking down into her eyes, those same brilliant blues with that spark that he saw all those years ago (but it wasn't really that long ago, for him) and he knows he can trust her.

"We're in this together. Nobody's gonna hurt you, either."

[ikissdhimbck]

She is looking up into his eyes, those gray-green orbs that shift and sparkle with emotion like whitecaps on a choppy sea, and she thinks back to that boy all them years ago. The one that rode off for Denver. For land.

'Calamity Jane has a hat. You should have one too, darlin'.'

She lifts her head up off the pillow, threading her hand around the back of his neck, and kisses him.

"You'd tell me, right? If you ever needed help... if there was ever... you'd tell me, wouldn't you?"

The words are hissed against his mouth, because she can't bear the thought of pulling away.

[scurlock]

The fingers of his free hand slide into her hair, keeping her close, because he doesn't want her to pull away from him, his thumb brushing against her cheekbone.

"If I ever need help, I will tell you. I swear it."




Doc nods slightly, then leans in to seal that promise with a deep, solid kiss.

[ikissdhimbck]

She is crying a little now -- mostly because the fever is making everything in her brain hot, and the exhaustion doesn't help. But there is relief in there, too.

"Good."

She presses her mouth to his again.

"Good. I-I couldn't bear it... if..."

You're not going to die because of me.

In lieu of finishing her statement, she just continues to kiss him.

[scurlock]

"I promise."





And then after that, there's not much he can say, because he's too busy with that kiss.

[ikissdhimbck]

Her breathing is coming a little quickly now, so she threads both hands up into his hair to keep herself from falling away from his mouth and back to the bed.

She shifts her body closer to him, her bare feet slipping among his.

[scurlock]

He's the first to break the kiss, pulling back a little to look into her eyes, catch his breath, trying to gauge what she wants.

What she needs.


"I promise."

[ikissdhimbck]

She lays back to catch her own breath, eyes a little dark. She swallows hard, blinking slowly.

"Thank you."

[scurlock]

He doesn't move from where he's resting for a moment, until he sinks back down into the mattress, pressing his lips against her neck.

"You're welcome."

[ikissdhimbck]

She moans a little when his lips caress her flushed skin.

Shifting her body slightly, she curls up to him, fingertips at the skin of his waist where his thermal just barely separates from his pajama bottoms.

[scurlock]

Another shudder runs down his spine.

She needs to sleep, to rest. She's fighting off a fever.

He skims his hand down to cover her fingers at his waist with his own.

"What do you want?"

[ikissdhimbck]

She reopens her eyes, tilting her face up so she can rest her chin on his chest.

"Mmmwhat?" she murmurs, not understanding the question.

[scurlock]

He smiles slightly.

"Jus'thinking out loud, s'all."

It's a whisper, and he reaches up with his other hand to brush her hair back, feeling her temperature while he's at it. She's still hot against his touch.

"You think you can manage to take a couple pills, just t'try and knock that fever back a little?"