OOM: Room #100 - for Doc Scurlock

[ikissdhimbck]

[following this:]


It's been a while since Kate has spent any considerable amount of time in her own room, so it has remained rather tidy. The only real exceptions are a stack of clean laundry on her desk chair she hasn't gotten to yet, and the bedspread, which is a little disheveled from stolen naps here and there between checking on and being with Doc. On her desk is the book of poetry she had taken from his room, along with the little orange paper crane that marks her place. The poetry and favors from the wake are spread out, including several little steel green cranes, which sit awkward and deformed in some small way ('first attempts' at origami that weren't so bad as to throw away). There's also a rather extraordinary little music box, and a half-eaten box of chocolate. On the table in the corner, there are a few newspapers and posters, handmade notes about Cuero, and the like.

The real focus of attention, however, is the bathroom; complete with all its fancy little soaps, and relaxing scents, and nice, hot water. That's Kate's focus, at least, once she unlocks her door and steps inside.

.

Comments

[scurlock]

He sighs happily as she begins to stroke her fingers through his hair.

"He just thinks he's the top dog, s'all. Wants t'be famous, more famous than the Kid. S'not somethin' smart t'wish for."

Doc reaches up to settle a hand at the small of her back, fingers grazing the fabric of her robe.

[ikissdhimbck]

"'Specially not if he's gon' be messin' with my man."

'Tenderfoot.'

Really.

She sighs as his touch sends shivers down her spine, letting her fingers curl around his ear as they leave his hairline, carving a featherlight path across his jaw. They double back, and repeat the motion.

"If he don't know the kinda man y'are by now, he's liable t'find out real quick next time y'see him, 'cuz I fully intend t'be on your arm when that happens."

[scurlock]

"If I ain't mistaken, I do believe he thinks I'm dead," he quips. "I remember up at the cabin, him and Billy arguin' 'bout who was gonna run out first through that door..."

He tips his head into her touch, as his fingertips slide up her spine.

[ikissdhimbck]

Her hand pauses briefly.

Right, of course. He's dead. Just as dead in his world as the other Doc is dead in Colorado. That's all the notoriety his name will ever have, like words on a tombstone. She forgets, sometimes, when his body is real and warm and breathing next to her. She forgets the way the story always ends.

"Guess you showed them."

There's a subtle quaver in her voice, a telltale tightness that wasn't there before. But her hand is moving through his hair again, back arching into his touch, and she's trying not to let the distant look in her eyes show.

[scurlock]

He can feel the barest hint of a tremble in her fingertips, and the way her breath pauses in her lungs is a dead giveaway to exactly why her voice sounds the way it does.

Doc shifts underneath her as he opens his eyes, taking her face in his hands, running his thumbs over her cheekbones.



"I'm still here. They may think otherwise, but...but m'still here. With you. S'no matter what they say, because m'alive and m'here."

[ikissdhimbck]

"I forgot."

She sounds like a child to her own ears, standing in the kitchen in muddy boots while her daddy frowns at the mess she's made.

She shrinks, tipping her head against one of his hands to kiss his palm, body sliding down his until she has him wrapped up tightly -- arms snug around his middle, head on his chest, leg looped over his thigh.

"Jus' wanna hold you for a lil' while."

She squeezes her eyes shut, nuzzling as close to him as humanly possible.

"If that's all right. I jus' wanna hold you."

[scurlock]

"Darlin', you can hold me just as long as you'd like to."

He wraps his arms around her, hands splayed against her back, keeping her as close as possible.

She'll be able to feel and hear his heartbeat, strong and steady beneath his ribs.

"M'here."

[ikissdhimbck]

"I missed you."

She's chilled everywhere his body doesn't touch her. Even heated the room is a little cold, and with the way she's been shifting about, her robe has hiked its way up to mid-thigh. But his arms wrapped around her shoulder blades are, not only a warm comfort, but a solid, firm reassurance of his presence.

"You're not a tenderfoot. We would've never made it t'Colorada if y'was. You're the bravest man I know. The most fool-hearted, but the bravest."

That's either a sniffle or a chuckle there in her last sentence.

"And I love y'so much."

[scurlock]

"M'glad t'hear you say that y'love me so, because I'm tellin' you now that you are stuck with me forever, darlin'. M'yours and I'm gonna be here, come hellfire or high water or whatever gits thrown at us."

He leans down and kisses the top of her head.

[ikissdhimbck]

She breathes quietly.





"Whatever gits thrown at us?"

[scurlock]

"Good or bad."

He nods, slowly.

"M'with you."

[ikissdhimbck]

Her fingers curl against his sides.

But she doesn't speak for a long while.




Eventually, she relaxes.

"Okay."

Beat.

"Why don't y'git some sleep? 'Parently we have all the time in the world t'talk."

[scurlock]

"You should try'n sleep too, I love wakin' up here in your arms, like this."

He smiles gently.

"Safe."

[ikissdhimbck]

"Okay."

Maybe she'll sleep -- later. She's too keyed up right now to close her eyes and even think about not thinking, but she's not about to tell him that.

She snuggles into his bare chest, ear over his heart, watching over him.

"Next time y'start a snow fight, you better prepare yourself for war."

That's a promise.

[scurlock]

Doc laughs under his breath.

"Next time I start a war?"

[ikissdhimbck]

"You did start it!"

[scurlock]

"I did, y'just distracted me so much that I...had other things on my mind."

He offers her a small smile, a little bashful in his expression.

[ikissdhimbck]

Pause.




She smiles crookedly, fingers twitching at his waist.

"When was this?"

[scurlock]

"When we was wrasslin'."

[ikissdhimbck]

'Wrasslin'.'


She giggles, amused.


"That all?"

[scurlock]

"Well...when y'was..."

He blushes a deeper hue of scarlet, voice trailing off.

"When y'was kissin' me all over, felt like heaven, didn't care that I was lyin' in a snowpile."

[ikissdhimbck]

She, of course, knows all this already. But she can't resist the opportunity to tease him some.

"T'be honest," she whispers, tipping her head to leave slow, wet kisses across his breast, "when y'had me in your arms in the washroom, I thought I was gonna burst into flames. An' hearin' y'moan my name..."

Her hands curl into fists at his waist with the memory.

[scurlock]

He swallows down a moan as her hands curl into those fists; aching for her fingertips against his hips, wishing that she'd touch him.

"Yeah, I know the feelin'," he rasps.

Kind of how he's feeling right now, actually.

[ikissdhimbck]

Her mouth stills over his collarbone. She stills for a long moment, just breathing in his scent.

"T'be honest..."

She sighs, laying her cheek flat against his breast again. Her thumb is feathering his waist.

"...I'm relieved."

[scurlock]

"Y'are?"

Doc smiles and reaches down, his hand coming to rest against the small of her back, fingers trailing along her spine.