ikissdhimbck | OOM: Outside, Stables -- For Tommy Gavin

You see, Tommy, when you give her so many opportunities to start laughing you can't really blame her. She cackles insensitively.

Duncan sidesteps warily as Kate reaches for Tommy's waist, trying to steady him long enough to help him out of the stirrup.

"Lord have mercy, Tommy, hold your horses."

She makes herself laugh anew.

By the time she grabs the stirrup, Duncan's taken matters into his own hands. Chuffing, he starts walking away.

At this point, Tommy doesn't care that she's laughing at him, he just wants to get his foot out of the damn stirrup. Kate's trying to help, and he's trying to keep his balance (because hopping uncontrollably obviously makes things easier), but Duncan has had enough of him.

Just as he manages to wriggle his boot out of the stirrup, his grip slips from the saddle horn, his foot slips out from under him in the soft grass--

"Ah, fffu--!"

The expletive is cut off as he lands flat on his back.

"-ughhk."

Well, she tried.

"Are you all right?"

She's got that Southern no-use-crying-over-spilt-milk outlook, but she does feel bad for not catching him. Grimacing, she kneels beside him.

Duncan cranes his head around to eyeball him. His expression is decidedly less apologetic, but he is a horse.

"Fine."

A few beats pass, in which he doesn't move.

"Oh, great. I can feel my ass again. ...Ow."

She's honestly starting to feel bad about laughing now, but goddamn. She sits back, covering her mouth to stave off the snickers.

"Epsom salts. In a hot bath."

It'll help. See, she's helpful.

"You ain't the first t'fall off a horse on my watch, but y'are the first t'do it when the horse was already stopped."

She's also incredibly comforting.

"Oh, well, that's awesome." His voice is absolutely slathered with sarcasm. "Sure, I can get on a horse. Sure, I can ride the damn thing, and sure, I can even steer it. But gettin' off? Naaaaah. Listen, if you don't mind, I'll just lie here for a while until, y'know, I die of embarrassment. It shouldn't take that long. I'm sure you'll get back to the bar by lunchtime."

"Oh, stop."

There's not an awful lot she can do to save his ego now. He's already down, bruised literally and figuratively, and Duncan's off grazing. The best she can do is smile sweetly, touch his shoulder, and pretend like nothing's wrong.

Lots of folk lie in the grass after a ride.

It's practically routine.

Honest.

"I won't breathe a word of it to a soul. An' besides, you was doin' real well up until the, y'know, fallin' over part."

She bites the inside of her lip.

"An' look at it this way, at least y'didn't break your neck. Every cloud, right?"

Her simple touch shouldn't have that much of an effect on him. But he's still that petulant child who'll begrudgingly accept a placation, even if the grownup part of him wants more of it for entirely different reasons.

He snorts a chuckle as he stretches his legs out, wincing as the pins and needles start to take over. "Nope, not a broken neck, just a sore ass and a sore ego. And yeah, I think a lot of stuff that happened today shouldn't make it past-- well, this tree. Or at least you can lie about it all and make me look good."

He removes his sunglasses (knocked slightly askew but at least they didn't fly off), all the better to see the daylight filtering through the leaves and through her hair.

"Do you do everything with a hat on?"

"I ain't so bad at spinnin' yarns. Let's see — "

She leans back on the heels of her palms, chin in the air, watching bough and branch move in the breeze while she thinks up just how to make him look good.

"Should I tell the darin' tale of how you took t'the saddle like a fish to water; a proud visage against the sunrise, hero t'man an' beast. When the far-off cries of two beleaguered souls, caught in a nest of demon bunnies, reached your ears, you an' your faithful steed raced to their aid."

Duncan snorts. Loudly.

The question catches her off-guard.

"Beggin' your pardon?"

She'll finish her tale of intrigue and daring do another time. She's peering down at him again, a line between her brows, and the soft suspicion that he's asking with something particular in mind caught in her eyes.

He laughs gruffly at her way over-the-top story, and Duncan seems to have a similar opinion, although his snort has a distinct air of Not in a million years, Tommy.

But at Kate's slightly bewildered question, he raises his eyebrows at her, and he folds his arm behind his head and repeats himself.

"Do you do everything with a hat on?" He may be implying what he's always implying (because let's face it, this is Tommy), but his smile is also laced with a curiosity that's even sort of playful. "I know this's only the second time I've met you, but to me it's like we've been talking forever, so maybe that's why it feels like I should've seen you without your hat by now. ...Is that weird? I think it's a little weird. But maybe I hit my head when I fell. So."

He didn't hit his head. He just shrugs and keeps smiling up at her.

"C'mon. Take your hat off."

It's an out of the ordinary request.

For a time, she simply blinks at him; confusion turns to surprise, surprise to bewilderment, and bewilderment to wary amusement. She's been bold all morning, but it's possible there's a touch of shyness in her chortle, and in the way she reaches up to swipe the hat off her head.

She rarely thinks too hard on the 'tan line' across her forehead, or the way her hair inevitably looks flat-ironed — but not in the attractive way. In this moment, however, she finds herself pulling her hand through the loose curls, trying to give them a little more life.

"It's not — Women my age an' station don't typically wear their hair down," she offers, by way of explanation. "I don't do everythin' with a hat on. I take it off indoors when good manners demand. But I work an' ride so oft I don't go t'the trouble t'pin my hair up most days."

The shyness, the self-consciousness -- that's what charms him the most about the bold ones, when he can get them to show it.

"Mm. I think I'd like your hair down better anyways. Looks more, y'know, natural. Suits you."

A hint of slyness returns to his smile, giving a lazy twist to the corner of his mouth.

"Do you do everything with your guns on?"

Any time he wants to see her self-conscious, all he's gotta do is give her a compliment. The flirting, the coyness, and the charm she can handle; she takes it in stride, like the men doing so are only at it to get a rise out of her. It takes her a while to recognize genuine interest.

"Thank you."

Telling her that her hair looks nice isn't just deviling her.

One corner of her mouth rises, slow and subtle. She glances at her hips.

"Wouldn't you like t'know."

"You're welcome."

Manners are weird, but he's trying.

His smile spreads, toothy and wolfish again as he utters a low chuckle.

"But I would like to know. I can keep a secret."

She side-eyes him.

She figures he's probably not asking to find out if there's particular times when she'd be less protected. Still, it's something of a sensitive question even for two people just teasing each other.

Well, hell. After everything they've already told each other this morning, what's one more thing?

"Remember what I said 'bout my bad luck with men? Almost three years ago I had a beau. I was set t'leave my world behind, an' be with him the rest of my life. We came out here one mornin' t'get our horses an' leave, an' a fella I'd managed t'get on the wrong side of followed us an' opened fire. I took a bullet here — "

She touches her right bicep, and then her left thigh.

" — an' here. An' one in the back, but I'd been wearin' a protective vest. My beau caught a bullet in his lung, an' didn't live."

That numbness from earlier returns. Her eyes lose focus; from time to time, she punishes herself by reimagining it.

"The rules here don't mean shit. Y'figure that out after a while. Sometimes I get cold sweats when I'm workin' an' I hear a noise behind me. So yes, I do everythin' with my guns on."

Tommy's expression is wiped from his face and he feels like a jackass again.

He blinks up at her, pained and apologetic, the revelation so unexpected and shocking that he's speechless for a moment.

"Shit," he murmurs, barely over a rasping whisper. "'M sorry."

No words for this sad story, either.

For lack of a better thing to do, he raises himself up and shifts back to sit beside her, close but not crowding her.

"Jeezus, Kate, I'm really sorry. I didn't-- I wouldn't've asked that way-- I was only..."

Trailing off, he falls silent.

Suddenly she looks so bare and vulnerable. He'd rather not see her that way, with her wounds reopened because of his stupid questions. So he reaches over and picks up her hat where she'd set it on the grass, and offers it to her. He doesn't know why, exactly. It's not like it's going to help. To give her something that's already hers.

He can't give anything of himself except a few I'm sorrys, but when has that ever taken away the sadness and the anger?

She doesn't cut him off. Mostly, she tells herself, because it's not polite to do so. There's also the fact that she doesn't know what to say either, and she finds herself morbidly curious as to what he's going to say.

It isn't until she's holding her hat in her hands, rubbing the brim absently like she's working at a copper penny, that she cracks a wry smile and finds her voice.

"Y'were only playin' around? S'all right."

The closeness is uncomfortable, but only because she finds she likes it so much. Her gaze falls somewhere closer to his shoulder. She's slightly unhinged. He won't be able to miss it. But she works on that smile, pulling out a dry laugh.

"I'm jus' one big sad song, Tommy. Y'hang around me long 'nough an' you'll start t'feel a whole lot better 'bout your lot."

Self-deprecation, teasing, joking — these are the ways we hold the seams together, when the whole world wants to split. She sets her hand down next to his, nudging him ever so slightly.

"I guess if y'wanna find out if I really ever take off my guns, you're jus' gonna have t'stick around."

How many funerals had Tommy attended...how many wives, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children had he tried to comfort...with a hug, a handshake, a He was a good man, a He was a hero.

It was never enough. But Tommy always seemed so goddamned solid. They found some reassurance in that. He kept it together for them, even as he ignored the way he was falling apart.

Sitting still, with one knee drawn up a bit, he keeps quiet, until Kate finds it in herself to respond. And he's glad that she can still manage to smile, faltering and uncertain as it may be, and even laugh a little. He would help her do at least that -- hell, he'd been making her laugh almost all day, and if that's all he can do, then he'll do it. Tommy may be a complete mess on the inside, but sometimes, sometimes he can put that aside for the sake of someone else.

He glances down at their hands, the grass poking through their fingers.

With a sigh, he gazes back out toward the lake, and as he shifts slightly, he presses his shoulder against hers.

"I could probably try."

It's as noncommittal a statement anybody could ever make, but when he turns to look at her, she'll see it's an honest one -- and that he's a bad idea that's destined to fail.

But nobody can ever say that he doesn't try.

It's strange, seeing so much in someone else's eyes that hits so close to home. It's undefinable, and so she doesn't try to work out just what it is. She figures if he holds to that statement, she'll figure it out sooner or later.

The corner of her mouth curls, a specter of her earlier amusement.

"With your luck, I guess we better keep you away from horses if y'wanna live t'see the end of this week."

He has to give that one a nod and a chuckle. "Yeah, you might be right..."

His eyes inevitably land on the curve of her lips. So close, so right there.

He manages to stop himself from leaning in.

"But we've still gotta make it back to the stables, and I think you mentioned something about going at a canter. So."

He slides his sunglasses up onto his head. With the sensation back in his feet and legs (and ass), he gets up, brushes some grass and dirt from his jeans. He then holds out both of his hands toward Kate to help her up.

"Y'think you'll live?"

She's very quietly pleased — at least, by her estimation. She doesn't realize she looks like a kitten in cream, smug and happily sated. She would have been prepared to lead the horses back to the barn, but it looks like Tommy's more resilient than she thought.

For a city boy.

She grasps his hands, grip strong for such a deceptively small woman, the act of levering herself up betraying power a simple handshake does not. Though she be but little...

"I'll round up the boys if your lower half is awake."

"Oh, I'm golden, honey," he insists, cocky and overconfident as ever. Whether or not it lasts until they reach the barn remains to be seen. She'll most likely look even more smug by then.

When she gets to her feet, his grasp on her hands lingers, and for a second they look as if they were caught in a dance, before he lets her fingers slip from his palms.

At her statement, he tilts his head, biting his lower lip in a sharp grin. She's saying these things on purpose. He's sure of it.

"My lower half is...just fine."

That's the enigma of Kate. The outlaw and the schoolteacher; the woman and the innocent girl. If she doesn't keep you guessing, she's probably just under the weather.

She pulls her hands away at the same moment he does, lips pursed.

"Good."

She bends to fetch her hat, but after another pause she decides to leave it dangling at her back by the stampede string. Some of her smile breaks free, but she's already turned toward the horses where Tommy won't be able to see.

"'Cuz your second time swingin' into the saddle's harder than the first."

"...Wait, what?"

She's almost out of earshot anyway, and as he wanders over to the edge of the trail, he's left to ponder why the hell it would be harder the second time. That doesn't make sense to him. If he's done it once without screwing up, he can totally do it a second time without screwing up, which is more than he can say about getting off, but he'll get to that when he gets to that.

Whatever, he's got this.

She tosses a grin over her shoulder.

The marvelous thing about riding a horse is you use muscles you don't use for anything else. Muscles you don't even know you've got. The bowlegged stiffness you feel coming out of the saddle is nothing compared to when you wake up the next morning, or when you rest those muscles long enough they feel the twinge of being spread again.

Tommy wouldn't understand.

Kate clucks her tongue, and the horses start ambling towards her. Duncan almost instantly goes for her pockets.

"You'll be all right. It's not long back t'the stables."

Once led to Tommy, feeling dejected by the lack of treats on Kate's person, Duncan decides to let bygones be bygones. Which is to say, he noses at Tommy's pockets hoping to get lucky.

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