And We Danced
A/N: This will be a collection of stories featuring (can you guess?) Rhett and Scarlett dancing. Chapters will be of varying length, set in various timelines/universes. (I may even take requests!) No interweaving plots; just dancing! (Enough caveats? ) On with the show.
Swept away for a moment by chance
And we danced and danced and danced
—The Hooters
Atlanta, 1862
Dancing was surely the most divine activity on earth, Scarlett thought to herself as Captain Butler deftly moved them about the room. She knew this was scandalous, she knew Mrs. Merriwether and Mrs. Elsing, and—oh, everybody! were whispering about her even now. She knew Ellen would be as shocked as they were, but oh, just at this moment she could not make herself care. This was too wonderful, and she just wouldn't think about them. She would think about them all tomorrow. And a part of her, sifting to the light as Rhett's words shook away the dust, knew that she would not regret this even then.
For too long, she had been shut away, as if life was a vast banquet where she was not allowed to eat. Atlanta had been less stifling than Charleston, but she still felt as though she was caught in a pool of molasses, and if something did not break up the monotony of knitting bandages and wiping soldiers' fevered brows soon, it would close over her head and pull her under.
And just as she had been about to scream tonight, watching Fanny and Maybelle and all those less pretty girls wear color and have fun, that drawling Charlestonian voice had rung out. Without a second thought, or much of a first, she had cried, "Yes I will!" and sped from the booth to take her rightful place. And it was marvelous.
She thought of how Charles had held her when they danced. Captain Butler was quite a bit taller, and broad. She had to lean away from him to look up at his face. Funny, to think of Charles now. She almost never thought of him, for all that she lived with his family, carried his name, and had borne his son. She had been married to that boy! She resented him every morning when the black crepe touched her skin, but she did not really think of him. Life was so strange. Charles was taller than she was, of course—most any man was—but the top of her head had reached his chin, she thought. Oh, it was hard to remember. She knew his features, and saw them in Wade, but she couldn't exactly recall Charles' face. Except for his eyes, which had looked at her with such pitiable eagerness. Captain Butler's eyes, she noted, were dark, merry, and gleamed wickedly.
When they danced, Charles held her as if she would break. She had felt as if she would shatter at a touch in those days, but she also remembered from that baffling fog that had surrounded her then that even his hesitance had scraped against her skin. There was no such diffidence in Captain Butler's hold. In fact, on top of how very indecorous their dancing together at all was, his arm was about her entirely too close. She tried to make herself mind.
He danced exquisitely, and when he wasn't reminding her of her humiliation, it was almost as wonderful just to talk with him. He did talk so scandalously. She had realized just tonight that she did not care about the Cause, but her next comprehension was that she could never tell anyone. And now here was this man, this famous Captain Butler, who wasn't received, and didn't care that he wasn't received, and even admitted that the Cause was for fools. It was shocking, and it was like coming up for air after holding your breath longer than either of the Tarleton twins had been able. She smiled up at him, in genuine happiness—the first she had felt in ever so long—at this unexpected kinship.
He turned their bodies in an elegant, measured swoop, and smiled back. Scarlett quickly schooled her features back to some measure of gravity. Dancing was problematic enough, but it wouldn't do for the old hens to think she was enjoying herself quite so much. In response, Captain Butler's roguish smile beamed even wider, and he squeezed her tighter to him again. She blushed, but her mutinous eyes sparkled.