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 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."

[ikissdhimbck]

She hears the tightness in his voice, and has to fight back tears of her own on instinct.



"...Well I'm not leaving right now."

Despite it all, she smirks a little, before nuzzling deeper into his chest, hands turned to small, shaking fists underneath his own.

[scurlock]

He laughs quietly, and shakes his head.

Don't matter when you go, don't matter, still gonna miss you like hell.



"No, no you ain't."

Doc clears his throat lightly, then brings her fists up to his mouth again, closing his eyes as he kisses at her knuckles. He trusts these hands, and she's still here. Maybe just for tonight, but she's here.

[ikissdhimbck]

She unfurls her hands, caressing his face again. Her fingertips play over his lips, then fall to his beard, gently fingering the rough facial hair.

She tips her face into his skin again, kissing a path up to his throat.


"Thank you."

Reaching back into his long, blonde hair, she nuzzles up underneath his chin.

[scurlock]

"Just get back here in one piece, s'all I ask."

Don't die out there where I'll never know what happens to you, please.


Doc wraps his arms around her and holds her tight, focusing on the beat of her heart and the sound of her breathing, putting the little details to memory.

[ikissdhimbck]

"Okay."

She shifts atop him until she finds a comfortable spot, letting him hold her for as long as he likes, her heart rate slowing back down again at length.

[scurlock]

After a few minutes, he relaxes the hold he has on her and sighs.


"You're welcome."

[ikissdhimbck]

She slowly pulls her fingers through his soft hair, the motion concentrated and methodical. She is hot from head to toe and trembling all at the same time.

"I'll be okay. Jus' gotta... git to Refugio. I can... can make it better. S'all I gotta do."

She shivers a little, nuzzling a little deeper into his embrace.

"Things'll be okay then."

[scurlock]

"And if they ain't...you'll tell me, right?"

Just hope Refugio ain't her version of 'Ol Mexico'.

Doc adjusts the blankets, pulling them up loose around their bodies, settling them in the middle of her back.

[ikissdhimbck]

"I'll tell you."

She sighs when he settles the blankets around their bodies, letting her heavy eyes fall shut, and her shoulders relax.

"...Not runnin'."

I'll come back.

[scurlock]

"Good."

Then I'll be all right.

He lightly interlocks his fingers, hands folded over the thin cotton of her chemise, resting gently against her back. She weighs practically nothing, in his option, and he's quite comfortable with her stretched out on top of him.

He leans his head down to gently kiss her hair.

"Love you, Kate."

[ikissdhimbck]

It won't be the best sleep she's ever gotten; her hair is sticking to her neck and forehead, and there's a deep, unyielding shiver in every muscle. But she'll sleep, lying with him, his warmth blanketing her, his heartbeat and the steady rise and fall of his chest lulling her. And that's something.

"Mmm," she murmurs, slowly letting her body go heavy, inch by inch relaxing into a long overdue slumber. Her hands go lax in his hair, her leg still curled over his.

Hopefully, her fever will break sometime during the night, and tomorrow will be a better and brighter day.