Oops, I meant to write a drabble but it turned into more.
Sunsets are a beautiful thing.
After everything they've been through, after the whole world changing around them, the sun setting in west has always stayed the same. A definitive closure to their day; a reminder that curfew is rapidly approaching or long past, depending on the time of year. But no matter what, the sun will forever set over the battered buildings.
Even long after they're gone.
Tonight they escaped the hell of the QZ and scaled their way up a crumbling building with no walls on one side, pulling and coaxing each other the whole way. A break was in order, just a moment of fresh air needed. It had been Tess's idea, but Joel was all too happy to join her.
Once at the top, they perched themselves on an eroded, but sturdy, over-hanging, dangling their feet over the edge without fear.
The view is breath-taking. They can see for miles due to the height of the building, all blanketed in the golden tint of the setting sun. Time passes and they sit there, quiet, but peaceful. Tess knows that Joel is entertaining memories from long ago by the way he touches his watch without knowing it. She knows the drill by now and lets him think it out. It's ok, the sunset is taking on a red tint and it's fascinating to her, somehow reassuring. It's important to continue to find beautiful things in the dump they live in.
Joel comes out of his reverie with a clearer head – something that doesn't happen too often. His gaze falls on Tess. It seems that she is lost inside her own head too. He thinks she's pretty like that, but worries at the same time. The last time he saw that far-away look on her face, he came back to the apartment to find the bottle of scotch gone and her retching uncontrollably into their toilet. She was so pale and so sick that he was actually surprised she was alive the next morning. That was years ago, but he'd never forget the terror of losing her.
"Hey. Tess."
It took a moment for her to answer him. "Yeah, Tex?" Her eyes never left the sunset, but he knew he had her attention.
"You doin' alright?"
"I'm fine." That little smirk crosses her face. "Not like you to worry."
Tough girl. Joel muses to himself. "I jus' know that look. S'all." Tess's eyes go back to that far-away place, so he tries again. "What're you thinkin' about?"
He doesn't even know what possessed him to ask. Even though they've worked together for years, prying into each other's troubled minds is normally something that's avoided – unless the insight has already been offered, of course. It actually comes as a surprise when she answers.
"I was just remembering when I was little. We had this great big hill behind my house, and my brothers and I would do exactly what you and I are doing right now." She sighs. Heavily.
This is the first time Joel's heard a word, let alone two sentences about her family. What could he possibly say? "You had siblings?" He asks gently, cautiously.
"Yeah," Tess laughs. "Two, both older than me, but Mom always used to say that she had three sons 'cuz I was always running around in the mud and dirt with them." She turns her eyes to him. Something her hazel irises actually sparkles. "You know, I haven't worn a dress since I was five and my mom made me. I always wanted to be like my brothers. It was never Barbie dolls and fairies – I wanted to be Indiana Jones or a Jedi."
The corners of Joel's lips crinkle into a smile. "That's a shame. I think you'd look mighty pretty in a dress."
Tess gives him an 'okay, what have you been smoking' look that shakes his composure. Now they're both laughing, Tess shoving at him playfully. "Very funny."
He doesn't tell her that he thinks she'd look pretty in anything…especially nothing at all.
Every time she touches him there are sparks. This time is no different. When he wants to lie to himself, he says it's a fluke, it means nothing, he's just over-due for release. If he wants to go deeper than that and actually acknowledge the feelings he's got for her, he admits that something's been stirring in his blood for her for a few days now, but it's just him being run down. However, in the few moments when he can afford to be brutally honest with himself, he can't remember a damn time that woman hasn't plagued his mind.
Now is one of those brutally honest times. To his horror, Tess seems to know that something's bugging him. What did he expect? They've worked together for so long, if they didn't know each other's expressions by now they might as well find new partners.
Somewhere over the course of the past few minutes, Tess has scooted closer to him. He doesn't know when, but she always has that way about her. A lump forms in his throat when she leans in close, lips almost to his ear. "Why does this feel like a date to me, Tex?"
For the second time that night, Joel doesn't know what to say. She's playing with fire, she has before, and he doesn't even know if she means it. Before he can stop it, he blurts out, "Do you want it to be?"
There are certain things that just can't be said. Yes, I want this, I want you, are words that can make a person weak. Not immediately, no. But eventually. Give someone the power to be your rock, your foundation, your heart, and what happens when they're gone? Save the sun rising and falling, nothing stays the same in this world. One day the person you love will be gone, leaving you with a landslide, a toppled building, a broken heart…and that's if you're lucky.
So, Tess can't bring herself to speak. Instead, she stands and holds her hand out to him. He accepts her grip and lets her help haul him to his feet, still unable to think until she says something. Anything. Without breathing a sound, Tess presses close to him and guides his arms around so he'll embrace her. Tess initiates the kiss, but Joel's the one who deepens it. His hands clench her shirt and pull her flush against him, crushing her breasts against his chest to destroy the space between them as he sweeps his tongue inside her mouth.
They kiss until neither can breathe and Tess's defenses falter. She takes a shaky breath, murmuring the words that she hopes won't damn her one day. "So are you going to be a gentleman and walk me home then?"
"Excuse me?" Joel replies, still drunk from the kiss.
"Isn't that what all good guys do after taking a lady out?" Her little grin amuses him.
"I thought you weren't a lady."
"Touché," Tess stares him down, a hint of lust smoldering in her eyes. "But you'll have to walk me home if you want me to invite you in for coffee."
Joel's eyes darken a little with want before he gives her another short, but deep, kiss. "Oh, I do love coffee. Let me take you home."