Shameless Nancy/Ned fluffiness based on a challenge over at livejournal. Enjoy!
Stretched out on a grubby sunlounger, Nancy shifted uncomfortably, her skin already burning under the unrelentless midday sun. The heat was sufforcating, the climate unforgiving and her surroundings desert-like, a vast series of burnt oranges and red. Nancy hated it here. She hated the constant tortorous blaze from the sun, the shabby state of the motel that wouln't be out of place in some low budget horror movie but most of all, she hated Vanessa, their ever smiling blonde bartender, who even now, was flirting madly with Ned as she served him a beer. The bright pink of Vanessa's dress irritated Nancy as did the ample display of cleavage she had on show, no doubt chosen for Ned's benefit.
It's not her fault, Nancy had to remind herself as she repressed the almost irrisistable urge to stalk angrily over to bar and drag Ned from the girl's overly made-up clutches.
For months Nancy and Ned had been planning a vacation to the Caribbean to celebrate Ned's graduation from Emerson and Bess suspected, their possible engagement. If Bess's predictions were right, Nancy would never know because a last minute offer of a case meant that their trip was postponed and Ned was so pissed, he was barely talking to her, much less considering the crazed notion of spending the rest of his life with her.
Now instead of romantic, candlelit dinners on the beach and sweet, brightly colored cocktails by sunset, they got this rundown hellhole of a motel and of course seperate bedrooms to maintain their cover as two lone holidaymakers using the place as a stopgap on their travels.
The plan had been simple; Nancy was going to snoop around the hotel and dig out anything suspicious she could find on the suspected drug runner, Rick Donavan, while Ned was to work on Rick's girlfriend Vanessa, who conveniently bartended by the pool. Nancy evidently hadn't thought the plan through to it's obvious conclusion because seeing Ned with Vanessa now, she wanted to scream.
Though it was true Ned was supposed to be flirting with Vanessa, Nancy didn't see how that necessitated his hand to almost fixed on her ass. And of course, Vanessa was loving the attention, her blue eyes eagerly absorbing every word he said. Reaching for her overly strong margarita, Nancy took a long angry sip, her drinking getting progessively faster as Ned's flirting intensified. It didn't help that Vanessa was pretty and sweet and seeing her smile up simperingly at Ned, stirred up memories of another auburn-haired girl and the sheer overwhelming jealousy Amanda Syms had stirred up in Nancy when she'd smiled at Ned, with that same lovestruck gaze.
Rubbing sunscream onto her skin furiously, Nancy forced herself to relax, unwilling to attract any unnecessary attention to herself. Her investigation of Donavan was progressing well and it would be foolish to jeopardize all that, for the sake of a jealous spat. But suddenly seeing Vanessa run her hand playfully over her Ned's bare chest made Nancy feel sick.
Fuck Ned. Fuck Vanessa. Fuck the case. She had had enough of this.
Fumbling angrily with the ties of her striped blue-and-white bikini, Nancy grabbed her canvas beach bag, her eyes flashing as she stomped seething back to her room.
Overburdened with lilos and brightly colored armbands, their children long run ahead, an older couple eyed Nancy curiously as she wrestled furiously with the awkward lock, the key almost breaking in her desperation to get inside her room and escape their prying looks.
That the hotel was called Paradise was laughably ironic, Nancy's room a depressing, little hell hole. The shower operated at best at a mediocre trickle and damp had crawled up the walls, bestowing the yellow room with an ugly black-grey mottled heat in the room was unbearable, the sun beating in the grimy window unrelentlessly since early morning. Flipping on the switch for the airconditioning, Nancy rolled her eyes in annoyance as the familiar noisy rumble of the unit failed to materialise.
Typical, she cursed, practically firing her beach bag onto the chair and slumping resignedly onto the still-unmade bed, a loose spring on the mattress poking unpleasantly into her back.
There would be no point reporting the matter to room service, they barely cleaned the room as it was.
Tears of frustration prickled at Nancy's eyes as her thoughts wandered unhappily to the Ned and Vanessa situation. Maybe he really does like her, she pondered uncertainly, staring resignedly at the ugly yellowing ceiling. Ned was still furious about their vacation, he hadn't so much as looked at her in days. Maybe he's had enough of all this. Maybe someone like Vanessa is what he needs.
A loud series of knocks roused Nancy to her senses, and turning over on the narrow bed she eyed the door warily. "Open up, Nan," she heard Ned's voice demand of her impatiently, Nancy's earlier feelings of doubt and guilt quickly fading as anger and resentment took over.
"What do you want, Ned?" Nancy sighed irritably as she pulled the door open, both relieved and annoyed to find her boyfriend standing outside gazing at her sheepishly.
"Why did you run away like that?" he asked softly, his eyes seeking permission for Nancy to let him into her room. Arms folded resolutely and still angry as hell, Nancy stood squarely in front of the door, blocking access to the room.
"Because," she shrugged in exasperation, too frustrated with Ned to put voice to her feelings.
"Let me in and we can talk," he pleaded with heartfelt conviction but Nancy wasn't touched, only the thought of Donavan or Vanessa stumbling upon them, forced her to stand aside and reluctantly allow Ned into the room.
Slamming the door shut, Nancy paced the worn, carpeted floor angrily, while Ned sank down onto her bed, the mattress creaking worryingly under his weight. "You wouldn't want to get up to too much in this bed," Ned pointed out jokingly in an attempt to coax a smile out of his girlfriend.
It didn't work.
"How would you know?" Nancy spat out furiously, her chest heaving in annoyance as she glared at him red-faced. "You haven't so much as looked at me in days, now that you have Vanessa," Nancy's emphasis on the girl's name doing little to disguise her utter disdain for her.
"How the hell can you say that, Nancy?" Ned demanded, raising his hands to his head in frustration. "You asked me to do this. You wanted me to flirt with Vanessa, for the case. Remember?" His voice was rising by degrees until he was almost shouting, Ned's patience with his girlfriend growing rapidly thin.
"I didn't ask you to put your hand on her ass," Nancy retorted angrily, the tears stinging her eyes threatening to fall at any moment. "Or to stare at her breasts she so willingly shoved in your face. God only knows what would have happened if she invited you back to her room." she snorted irritably, swiping a hand impatiently at her damp eyes. "That girl is such a slut."
Sighing resignedly, Ned took her hand and pulled her down onto the bed beside him, Nancy only resisting for a second before allowing him to wrap his arms around her. "Did you ever, for one minute think, that Vanessa wasn't the girl I wanted to be flirting with?" he whispered softly in her ear, Nancy shaking her head slowly before turning to face him.
"You look so sexy in that bikini and and all I wanted to do was go over and kiss you. But I couldn't," he reminded her with a pointed look. before untying her bikini top and tracing his fingers longingly across her chest. "Because according to your genius cover, we don't even know each other."
"Well, no one can see us now," Nancy managed with difficulty, her eyes closed as she gasped in pleasure at his touch.
Gently unpicking the knots in her bikini, Ned kissed her softly, his face brightening appreciatively as her top came away in his hands and fell lightly to her floor. "That's true," he murmured, their kiss deepening as Nancy pulled off his sweat-dampened shirt, and brushed her hand over his bare chest fervently.
Pushing Nancy down onto her back, he gazed at her longingly for a moment, his hands resting possessively over hers.
"It's been torture having to stay away from all week," Ned admitted softly, before leaning in and kissing her long and deep. "When all I've wanted to do is this."
Pressing kisses down her stomach, Nancy's back arched in pleasure as he softly traced his finger over her bikini bottoms, his finger hooking into the knot of her bikini tie until it opened, the material slipping silently away.
Her hands trapped beneath his, Nancy could only moan in sheer exhilaration as Ned entered her, the sensation of him inside her made all the more sweeter by their few days apart.
Afterwards, lying sated and exhausted on the crumpled sheets, Nancy curled away from Ned, the room so hot and airless that a thin sheen of sweat was already glistening on their skin.
"God, I hate this hotel so much," Nancy moaned irritably, her bare limbs sprawled out awkwardly across the bed. "First the shower and now the air conditioning. Why does nothing work around here?"
"I may have a solution," Ned offered with a mysterious smile, Nancy turning to him almost immediately, her wide-eyed expression demanding an explanation.
"What? Tell me, now!" Nancy pleaded with him insistently, knowing from past experience that Ned would undoubtably enjoy teasing her and drawing out the inevitable until Nancy would be practically forced to beg for an answer.
"I may have booked a room for us in a nicer hotel, closer to town, where there's airconditioning that actually works and a really sweet hot tub where I can get aquainted with more of those bikinis you've been wearing all week," Ned replied with a sly grin, earning him a playful shove from his girlfriend.
"That would be perfect," Nancy enthused happily, pressing her lips to her boyfriend's gratefully. "But what about the case?" she added, a resigned expression spreading across her face. "I still haven't got anything concrete linking Donavan to the deals."
"You mean like this?" Ned replied knowingly, reaching for his shirt and pulling a worn notebook from his pocket. "It's Donavan's and it contains all his contacts and transactions from the past eighteen months. There's enough evidence in here to get him put away for a long, long time.
"But how?" Nancy asked him in shock, snatching the notebook from Ned, her eyes widening in disbelief as she realized the significance of the find.
"Vanessa," Ned replied softly in answer to Nancy's questioning gaze. "She's not all bad you know. I think she figures if Donavan is put in prison, it will finally give her the fresh start that she needs."
"Once she doesn't think she'll be making that fresh start with you," Nancy was unable to resist adding slyly before composing herself and smiling sweetly at Ned.
"You know, you're so cute when you're jealous," her boyfriend declared teasingly, pulling Nancy into his arms and squeezing her affectionately.
"I am not jealous of Vanessa," Nancy retorted with wide-eyed seriousness before finally conceding defeat at Ned's disbelieving glance. "Okay, maybe just a little bit," she relented with a slow smile, her fingers entangled in his. "But that was just because she was all over you, touching you and showing off to you, when I'm the only one who's supposed to be allowed do that." Rising to her knees, Nancy kissed Ned tenderly, her arms twined possessively around his neck. "I love you," she murmured, pulling back for a moment and gazing softly into his eyes.
"I know," Ned smiled, leaning in for a long, heated kiss before pushing her back down onto the bed. They never made it to the other hotel.