Disclaimer: I don't not own the characters from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. They are from the genius of Beth Sullivan and the financing of CBS. I rewrote one scene from the 1st movie, using some of the original lines. Those word, obviously don't belong to me.
One of my favorite scenes of Michaela and Sully as a married couple occur in the first movie. In particular it's the scene early on when Sully is lacing up Michaela and they have a rather interesting conversation about corsets. Somehow, they seemed to tell us something, without really telling us anything, and so I began to wonder. What if what we took off the surface of the conversation was far from what actually happened?
Sully stood quietly leaning against his bedroom door. He didn't say a word, but his eyes glistened as he watched his wife before him. She was standing with her back to him, her hand very slowly pulling at the belt that held her dressing gown closed. Sully's breath hitched slightly as he watched the soft cloth fall from her shoulders, slowly exposing her smooth arms and the top of her back. After all these years, the very sight of her was still enough to make his heart beat faster. He knew every inch of her by heart; every curve, every freckle, every scar, and even now each time he laid eyes on her was like the first time he watched her step off that stagecoach. She still took his breath away.
Michaela stood staring into the full-length mirror quietly watching her husband's reflection with a slight smile. After she removed her dressing gown and laid it across the stool of her vanity, she looked up only to meet his gaze.
"Sully? Are you coming?" she asked quietly, raising her eyebrows and looking at him suggestively through the mirror. Her words jarred her husband into action, and he took several deliberate steps toward her, noting the playful smile that was playing on her face. Oh, this was going to be a long night. Too long for his liking.
"I'm here," he replied simply placing a firm kiss to the back of his wife's head taking the time to smell the feathery scent of her hair. His fingertips came to rest on either side of her waist gently moving up and down over the soft satin of her corset. He slowly walked his fingers up her sides- a sensation that made Michaela shudder slightly. Sully only smiled and moved to kiss a rather sensitive spot behind her ear. Michaela let out a breath she had been holding.
"Sully, you need to hurry."
"Why?" he whispered as he let his fingers tighten around the top most string of her corset.
"Because we'll be late," she laughed.
"Late to dinner… with each other?" He allowed himself to descend further down her neck, placing soft kisses as he went.
"Mmmhmm."
"Well, ya know we could skip dinner an' just go straight to the dessert."
"Yes, but I'm afraid that might be far too easy." She laughed leaning back into him before pushing away slightly. Sully chuckle softly in defeat as he straightened.
He firmly pulled on the crossed strings tightening all the slack from the thread above it. Michaela's upper body moved slightly at the harsh movement and he bent down to place another, tempting, kiss to her back before lowering his hands on her back. Another pull brought another kiss, and then another until soon he was halfway done.
"What?" He asked, having looked up and noted the faraway gaze and playful smile on his wife's face. Shaken from her reverie she caught his eye in the mirror.
"I was just thinking about the first time I saw you in a suit." Sully matched her smile lost in his own recollection.
"And I was just thinkin' 'bout the first time I helped you outta this rig." He smiled, wondering if she remembered too.
"Mmmm, if I recall, I believe bandage scissors were involved." She smiled. So she did remember!
"As I recall,it was your idea," he whispered in her ear giving her a look that only proved to make her cheeks turn crimson. How he did it, she never knew. The man could always make her
blush with nothing more than a look. He knew his mere suggestive tone could cause her to flush, and what's more is he enjoyed playing with her. She laughed off her embarrassment, and decided to take him at his own game.
"Well, thank Heaven for my medical training." With a final tug on her corset, Sully tied the laces tightly. Michaela leaned back and turned her head just so, in order to receive a tender kiss on her cheek.
"Yes, thank Heaven."
To the casual observer, one might think that their banter back and forth was from an intensely private moment shared by the two a long time ago. Sully's sultry gazes and suggestive tone would certainly indicate so, as would his wife's crimson cheeks and almost girlish grin. However the true story, was more of an inside joke shared between husband and wife. Only remembered in those late night discussions when reminiscing seems to fill the conversation and security is found in the future.