oom, doc's room upstairs, for kate

[scurlock]

Even after ten years, not much has really changed about Doc's room. In the month since he's been back, he's moved a few things here and there, changed the sheets and blankets - no need for winter cover when it's a warm summer season, and so on - and added a good deal more books.

As Doc opens the room, he steps aside to let Kate in ahead of him. She's spent several nights here as well, over the last month. It's familiar territory.

Safe.

There's a few more shreds of that silk scarf on the bed, along with several other various cat toys that have been dragged out of the ridiculously enormous basket near the couch and strewn over the cushion.

The desk is covered with a ledger and the pages full of his handwriting, neat and precise. A book of Shakespeare is on the bed, closed with a book marking a particular chapter he left off on.

He moves to open the windows, to let the cool summer night's air in, after he's shut and locked the door.

Comments

[ikissdhimbck]

She smirks, before she bends and kicks her pants the rest of the way off. Covering her bare chest with one arm, she backs away from him and moves to settle face down on the bed.

"Suppose y'can always hope," she teases him.

[scurlock]

"Devious trouble makers they are..."

He moves to the bed to lift the book from the blanket, intent on setting it aside.

And then he pauses, cracking the spine open to the page he was reading - glancing over at the kittens - before he looks back at her.



"You ever read Hamlet?"

[ikissdhimbck]

"Mmm."

She stretches out against the blankets.

"What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason!
How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how
express and admirable! In action how like an angel!
In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the
world! The paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me."

She sighs, eyes gazing out on the far wall.

"My daddy used t'recite that passage. All the time."

She's silent and reflective for a long moment, before she sucks in a breath and resettles herself.

"Why d'you ask?"

[scurlock]

"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern," he says quietly, motioning at the two kittens, who are busy plotting the best ways to tear their current catnip mouse toy to pieces.

Doc closes the book and sets it aside on his desk.

"Troublemakin' courtiers who always go 'round in a pair."

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate smirks.

"And spies for the king," she adds, amused. "S'appropriate."

[scurlock]

"Have'ta give 'em nicknames, s'a bit of a mouthful. Roz and..."

He settles back down on the bed at her side, with that bottle of lotion in his hands - sweeping her hair off her back and moving it to one side of her head so it doesn't get in the way.

[ikissdhimbck]

The swish of her hair attracts one eager little fuzzball, and Kate laughs as a flash of orange and cream fur leaps up on the bed and streaks past her face.

"Goldie," she offers.

[scurlock]

"Roz and Goldie. I like that."

The lotion - lavender scent - goes into his hands and he rubs a bit in before he moves to leave a trail over her shoulders, his palms skimming over her shoulderblades as he starts to work on the tough spots.

[ikissdhimbck]

She sighs contentedly, her eyes slipping shut as his hands move over her bare back. She didn't realize how much tension she held in her shoulders until his fingers began to work at the knots.

She moans softly.

Goldie -- the smaller of the two kittens -- decides to help Doc out, and begins a very intensive session of kitteh!massage that involves grabbing up tresses of Kate's hair into his teeth and paws, and tugging fiercely.

Kate starts laughing.

[scurlock]

"Seems I got myself a personal assistant."

He eyes the kitten.

"I get the feelin' I'm the one that'll be brushin' that out later, brat."

[ikissdhimbck]

"I won't make you," Kate murmurs, gasping as Goldie tugs especially hard on a piece of hair attached to the soft spot of her head.

Rosencrantz joins the party, then, sitting on the edge of the bed with an expression that reads something along the lines of, 'What's up, guys?'

[scurlock]

"Don't ever have t'make me," he murmurs. "I like it."

He gives the kitten a stern look, as he adds more lotion to her skin and begins to work his hands down along her spine.

Don't you even think 'bout joinin' your brother.

[ikissdhimbck]

She sighs deeply, closing her eyes and concentrating on the way his hands slide across her skin. She doesn't know what to say that wouldn't spoil this moment, so she relishes it quietly.

'I love you, Kate.'

The expression on her face isn't exactly serene as her thoughts begin to wander, an empty regret gnawing on her insides, but her body slowly relaxes under his touch.

[scurlock]

Doc only pauses to shoo Roz away from attempting to knead Kate's elbow, but other than that he continues to work his fingers over her spine.

When he reaches her hips, he pauses for a moment to trace two fingers over her curves.



"You really are the most beautiful I ever been with."

[ikissdhimbck]

She shivers as he ghosts over her ticklish spots, smirking softly.

"S'a real compliment. I know that number ain't small."

[scurlock]

Doc exhales, quietly.



"I know I can't change it, now...but that bother you?"

It's an idle question - curious nature getting the best of him.

He bends at the waist to put a kiss against her ribs.

[ikissdhimbck]

She opens her mouth and almost says 'no', her knee-jerk reaction to dispel any negative atmosphere. But she closes it again after a second, debating on the honest route.



"Little bit."


She knows he can't change it, either. And that's okay.

[scurlock]

Doc smiles slightly - not because she said she was bothered, but because she was honest.

"It ain't really ever been a comparison."

[ikissdhimbck]

"S'just... not what I had envisioned for myself."

Any of this.

(She never knew she could be so selfish.)


"S'okay."

[scurlock]

That does give him a reason to actually pause, and he does, forehead resting against her skin.

"It ain't 'okay'. S'just...well y'gotta live with it. Can't hate yourself for it, you'll go crazy."



He closes his eyes.

"Y'know all those years out there, I used t'kick myself because I never found a way t'give y'what we'd planned for."

[ikissdhimbck]

She stares across the room distantly as he speaks, concentrating on the pressure and presence of his body resting against her skin.


"S'not your fault. Even if you'd done everythin' right, a lot the burden's my own."

[scurlock]

"Maybe so, but that don't change the way I feel 'bout how I did things."

He trails his hand down along her side, fingertips pressing lightly against her hip after they've trailed over her ribcage.

"Had plans. Dreams. Still do, actually...might be crazy, but y'gotta have somethin' t'keep you goin' when you're out there."

[ikissdhimbck]

"Dreams," she scoffs quietly, a frown pulling at her pretty mouth. "What's the point in ever havin' any?"

Jaded admissions like these make it ever more evident that the hope-filled schoolteacher has been changed, and likely forever.

[scurlock]

"Y'need somethin'. Even if it's just somethin' small. Or y'ain't got nothin' to hold onto."

He knows what she'd say if he told her that she needed something to live for - and he doesn't want to hear that.

[ikissdhimbck]

She perhaps wouldn't say much of anything, though the idea that Doc lives for her, among his other dreams, would likely scare the hell out of her.

"Maybe," she begins, slowly rolling onto her side, and then to her back, giving Doc time to adjust his position and any kittens that might be lingering to get out of the way. "All I want t'hold onto is you, tonight."

Laying there on her back, hair splayed out beneath her, her blue eyes peer up at him without reservation.