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]

"Hang on a minute," he murmurs, reaching down to his wrists and tugging the cuffs of the thermal down, before he sits up a little and peels out of the thick shirt, dropping it behind his head near the pillows as he settles back down.

A slight smirk.

"Was gettin' a little warm, myself."

[ikissdhimbck]

"S'it 'cuz of me?"

She simply means the body heat, of course.

Her chin falls back against his breast, and she sighs when his skin feels cool against her own. Her fingers, however, move away from that scar, and start absently playing with his chest hair.

[scurlock]

He settles on his back, one arm folded behind his head, the other wrapped around her body. His fingers are settled lightly at the small of her back, and he starts rubbing slow circles over the muscles at her hips, working at the tension.

"Bed's warmer with two in it, but it ain't a bad thing."

His eyes are open, staring up at the ceiling.

[ikissdhimbck]

She shifts against him, sighing, when his hand moves over her hip. Burrowing a little closer to him, she keeps at the slow play of her fingers over his chest.

[scurlock]

"Y'should try and get some rest," he says quietly.

[ikissdhimbck]

She nods, closing her eyes and settling down close to him (half of her body is practically on top of him).

Her fingers don't stop feathering across his chest, however, which is the only way you can really tell she's still awake. Even after several long, quiet minutes.

[scurlock]

Eventually Doc catches that hand in his own and brings it up to his lips, kissing each of her fingertips before he kisses her palm and at her wrist.

"Love your hands."

[ikissdhimbck]

She shifts again, arching against him and shivering a little, despite the heat pulsing off her body.

She sighs deeply, tilting her head so she can peer up at him. Eyes keenly focused on his mouth.

[scurlock]

"Make me feel safe, knowin' I got you at my side. Knowin' I got these hands at my side."

He kisses from her wrist back down to her fingertips - that trigger finger - and lightly traces the tip of his tongue over the lines in her palm, eyes closed.

[ikissdhimbck]

The muscles in her hand twitch and she moans quietly as she watches him.



"Doc."

She swallows back the sudden thickness to her voice, dropping her face to place a lazy kiss on a spot of warm skin just below his collarbone, teeth scraping across his flesh gently.

[scurlock]

"Yeah?"

His voice is a bit heavier, that quiet whisper only she can get out of him.

[ikissdhimbck]

She moves that hand he had been kissing, fingertips lightly following his eyebrow, across his temple, outlining his ear, and sinking into his hair, nails dragging softly over his scalp.

"You're making me..."

She shifts again.

"Feel like my belly's doin' cartwheels."

[scurlock]

"S'cause it feels good," he replies. "I like makin' you feel this way."

He shifts a little beneath her and then leans his head up so that he can kiss at the bare skin on her neck, tongue flickering out over that pulsepoint.

"Meant what I said, 'bout we was in this for the haul together."

[ikissdhimbck]

Her breath catches.

"Meant it."

It's not so much a question as it is her synapses misfiring and clinging onto the last thing her brain processed.

There's still no ring on your finger.

She swallows, curling her fingers deeper into that mess of blonde hair.

[scurlock]

He groans when she tightens her grip on his hair.

"Meant it."

It's a statement, a promise, a swear.

"You want t'head back out soon, don't you."



One hand slides up her spine, lips still assaulting her neck.

[ikissdhimbck]

She gasps, breathing heavy, one leg slowly sliding between his.

It takes another solid minute of misfiring before she can rightly process the question.

"W-what?"

[scurlock]

"Back out your door."

He groans again, but it's almost a growl as she slides her leg between his, shudder running down his spine and heat sinking down from his chest.

"T'head for Refugio."

Doc tips his head to the side to recapture her mouth and kiss her.

[ikissdhimbck]

She moans into his mouth, but this time it doesn't take quite so long for the words to catch up to her.

'T'head for Refugio.'




Yes.

She places her hands on either side of his face, brow furrowed, and pulls away from him. There's a long moment after they've parted, gasping to refill her lungs, where she just studies him.


"What do you want?"

[scurlock]

"I want you to be safe."

He swallows, throat dry and heart pounding like a piston in his chest, trying to focus. He shakes his head.




"If you get hurt out there, I'd have no way of knowin', if the law catches up with you...I wouldn't be able to do nothin' to stop it. But I know I can't ask y'to stay here if you need to go for awhile."

Need, not want.

"I won't dare fence you in."

[ikissdhimbck]

She quietly examines his eyes for a long while before she sighs -- it's different, resigned -- and lowers her head back down to his chest. She settles her body low, ear pressed over his heart.

"I can't stay, Doc. This ain't home. Neither is your world."

She closes her eyes tight, wrapping her arms around him best she can, given the position they're in.

"I'm gonna have to go back eventually. But it's okay.

"I'm not afraid anymore."

[scurlock]

"I know you ain't afraid."

He sighs quietly and wraps his arms around her, and he leans his head back and looks up at the ceiling.

"It ain't about you bein' afraid. I know you gotta go back, I just..."

I want to go with you. We can be together.

Don't rush things, Doc. Don't push her.


"...I don't want to lose you."

[ikissdhimbck]

There's a quick stab of guilt to her stomach.

She chews on her lips, trying to think of something to say. If her brain wasn't so foggy...

"You said you trusted me. 'N you said you felt safe with my hands. These hands."

She smooths her palms over his chest, pressing a firm, lingering kiss against his breast.

"You'd be lyin' if you didn't trust me to be okay on my own."

[scurlock]

"I want to go with you."

He reaches for her hands, covering them with her own, before he brings them to his lips, kissing her palms once each before he places them back over his heart.

"But I trust these hands."

Once you get in, you can't get out.




"You'll be alright on your own."

[ikissdhimbck]

I don't want you to come.

Without lifting her head, she nods.

"I'll be all right."

She knows that's a lie, but for all intents and purposes, she'll be okay.


"I endure."

She curls herself around him a little tighter.

[scurlock]

"You're the toughest woman I know. I don't expect anything less."



He's quiet for some time after that, just holding her in the dark. He doesn't have to ask her to promise to tell him when she leaves - he knows she will. He doesn't have to ask her to stay a little longer - because he knows that she needs to go. He won't fence her in. He can see her, in his mind, fifteen and riding hellbent for leather, flying over fences and glaring at him because he's leaving and she doesn't want him to go.

His throat is so tight he's not sure if he can speak, but he tries.


"So will I."