Hi again! I've written this for Ieyre, because she wasn't written a story in the ficathon and I was approached about doing so. So I did! The sentence I was given was: "Rhett regretted teaching Scarlett how to shape snow into spherical weapons almost immediately." So… here's my take on it, I hope you all like it, especially Ieyre! I apologize in advance for any errors, I was struck with a bolt of inspiration while I was in Atlanta this weekend and had to post while the feeling was still fresh in my mind. Peace, love and happy reading!… and reviewing!… tehe… :)
Scarlett climbed into bed and settled down between her pillows, too exhausted to stay up and talk, as she and Rhett usually did at night. A few minutes later Rhett came in, his footfalls soft against the carpeted floor. She heard him change his clothes in the dark, the buckle of his belt as it fell to the ground, the rustle of his jacket as he hung it in the closet. With the agility of a panther he slid in beside her and snaked an arm around her waist. His hand spread out across her stomach where the tiniest bump was beginning to form and he smiled.
"Amazing, isn't it?" he asked softly, shattering the silence.
"I think it's awful," Scarlett said flatly into the darkness.
"Awful?" He chuckled.
"I can feel myself getting thicker by the minute. Why, soon I'll be as big as Mammy!"
"I doubt that."
"Well, you're not the one walking around with a baby," she shot back, pouting.
Quiet fell and she shivered involuntarily. Damn it for being so cold this time of year! If it hadn't been for the snow she could have kept her secret much longer…
"Oh Rhett, do be serious," she admonished as she watched her husband leap through the snow, looking rather ridiculous.
"My dear, I've found that seriousness is sincerely overrated."
It had snowed. Snow in Atlanta, what was next, everyone wondered? All the matrons were in such a tizzy that they didn't know what to do with themselves. They had gotten word that Aunt Pitty had fainted straight away when she'd looked outside, and that Mrs. Elsing and the other ladies were equally shocked, unsure of what to do.
Scarlett herself had woken up late that morning and vomited violently. Thankfully no one had heard, but when she looked out the window at the several inches of snow that skirted the ground, she knew that today was not going to be a good day. And so far she had been proven correct. Rhett wanted nothing other than to play in the snow all day just like a child.
A child!
Her stomach turned at the word, and she wasn't sure if it was from the morning sickness or just the mention of the concept. What did she need with another child? She already had Wade and Ella, who were a handful by themselves. Imagine adding a baby to all that mess! Chaos, utter chaos! Not to mention the complete destruction of her figure. She put a hand over her stomach, where her stays were laced too tightly over her thickening middle and winced as the intake of breath burned. Tight…
Something white and fluffy exploded against a column on the back porch, right next to her head. Scarlett looked around in dismay to see that Rhett had just thrown a snowball at her and missed. His hands were wet with snow and he was grinning up at her on the porch. Damn him and his infernal games!
"Don't be a fool, Rhett, you're going to hurt someone," she reprimanded tiredly, suddenly exhausted. Great balls of fire, pregnancy drained her! Imagine being Melanie and feeling this weak all the time! She shuddered at the thought.
"Hurt someone?" Rhett laughed deeply. "I sincerely doubt it. It's just crystallized water."
"I know what a snowball is," Scarlett said haughtily.
"Ah, but do you know how to make one?"
She shifted on the floorboards of the porch. Why did he always make her feel like the littlest things were important? "What does it matter?"
"Are you telling me, Mrs. Butler, that you've never made a snowball before?"
"Well I've lived in Georgia all my life, we don't usually get enough snow to make snowballs, Rhett," she shot back, patching her wounded pride.
He smiled warmly and joined her on the porch. "Here, I'll show you."
He stood behind her, both of them looking out to their sprawling back yard. "We'll use this." Rhett placed his large, dark hands over hers and guided them towards the snow on the porch railing. "See, it's very tightly packed and very thick. This is good snow."
"It's cold snow," Scarlett sniffed, recoiling a little as it touched her fingers. She pulled her wrapper closer.
Rhett gave another booming laugh and she felt it reverberate through her body. He was so close to her, pressed right up against her from behind. His strong arms and hands commanded hers and his breath was warm on her cheek. She could feel the hard muscles of his chest against her back, so masculine and powerful. She blinked a couple of times, clearing her head. What silly things to notice…
"This is good snow," Rhett repeated. "All you do is push some of it together, between your hands…"
"Like this?" Her voice sounded breathier than she'd intended, but it went unnoticed.
"That's right. Now cup your palms around it and make it round. There you are! A snowball!"
Scarlett looked down proudly at her work, feeling a small sense of accomplishment in rising to meet his challenge.
"What are you going to do with that, my dear?"
Her first instinct, of course, was to throw it at him. Then she would get him back for trying to hit her, and for wanting to run around in the snow like a fool in the first place. But he was being so nice to her now… It was one of the hardest decisions of her life, but a few seconds later her mind was made up. She spun around quickly in Rhett's arms and shoved the cold snow right into his unsuspecting face.
He was stunned for a moment, and she ran down off the porch, grinning madly. Oh, she'd gotten him, she'd gotten him good! And she could do it again! She stopped in the yard and stooped down to pick up more snow, making another snowball. She hurled it at her husband, who was quickly regaining his senses, and it narrowly missed. She might not have been a good shot at a distance, but he knew one thing for certain: Rhett regretted teaching Scarlett how to shape snow into spherical weapons almost immediately.
"Well are you going to throw one back or are you just going to stand there all day?" she called to him, throwing another snowball and hitting his leg.
Rhett grinned and started toward her, grabbing a fistful of snow as he went. She yelped in delight and ran away, shrieking. She felt a snowball hit her skirts from behind and scowled good-naturedly over her shoulder at him. He was getting closer, and it was hard to run in this snow! Her feet were getting cold, and she was getting out of breath… Damn this baby, she thought maliciously. Momentarily distracted, Scarlett turned around to pick up some more snow--and was greeted with a snowball to the face. She could do nothing but splutter in surprise. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rhett running towards her and got an idea.
"Oh!" she cried, and put her hand to her stinging cheek, though in reality she was virtually unharmed.
"Scarlett!" Rhett called out. "Are you all right?"
"I--I'm…" She gave a good impression of fumbling for her words as if shocked.
Rhett finally reached her and took her by the shoulders. "Darling, are you all right?"
"Well Rhett, I…" Suddenly, she shoved the handful of snow right against his chest and grinned up at him triumphantly. "I think I win," she finished.
To her surprise, Rhett took her joke lightly and laughed aloud. "My dear, I should have known that snowball fights would be to your liking."
"How you do run on," Scarlett sighed, but she was smiling.
Again, she found herself in Rhett's warm arms and looked up at him through her snow-covered lashes. His dark face smiled down at her warmly, almost lovingly, and a chill went through her body that had nothing to do with the cold winter air. He loved her, she knew he did. He loved her so completely and fully.
It scared her. She certainly didn't feel that way about him. The only man she could ever love was Ashley. But as she looked up into her husband's face, Ashley's was completely erased from her memory. In that moment, there was Scarlett and there was Rhett and there was only the cold winter air swirling around them. Their hot breath mingled in the small space left between their mouths. Scarlett felt breathless and dizzy and it was no longer because of her stays. It was because of the warm hands at her waist and Rhett's commanding presence before her.
This seemed a good a time as any, and out of the blue, she said softly, "I'm going to have a baby."
Rhett's lips stopped inches from her own and his brow furrowed. "What?"
"I--I'm going to have a baby," she repeated, and looked away this time, blushing, although she didn't know why.
Rhett took her chin between his fingers and turned her to face him. "Are you sure?"
"Dr. Meade confirmed it yesterday."
He was angry, she was sure of it. So it came as a total surprise when his lips crashed down on hers and the world swam before her. Damn his debilitating kisses, she would never get used to them… she didn't want to get used to them. She wanted them always to be a surprise, to catch her off guard and let them lurch her stomach a little until her lungs begged for air and she had to breathe.
"Rhett," she said quietly, tenderly. Why had she done that? It had just slipped out, like breathing.
"I love you, Scarlett," he said, his eyes swimming with emotion, and he kissed her again. Darkness and warmth…
…"I wish you wouldn't do that," she snapped irritably. Rhett was kissing her neck behind her earlobe, and while she usually enjoyed that, she was feeling particularly grouchy this evening. Pregnancy hormones be damned!
Rhett stopped but didn't take his hand off her stomach. "You're a brave woman, Scarlett," he said, "having a baby."
"Fiddle-dee-dee, women have babies all the time. And besides, I've done it before." She didn't know what he was getting at.
"And I'm sure she's going to be a wonderful baby, too," Rhett continued, almost to himself.
"What makes you so sure it's going to be a 'she'?" Scarlett asked. "I can have boys! Why, I had Wade, didn't I?"
"Who wants boys? I want a baby girl. A little princess of my own to pamper and play with."
"You'll get whatever I give you, now hush up and let me go to sleep," she said huffily.
Scarlett had almost drifted off to sleep when Rhett whispered in her ear, "What will we call her?"
"Great balls of fire," she muttered drowsily, "we've got months till the baby comes, we can think about that tomorrow."
"Did I ever tell you that if I was a girl my mother wanted to name me Frances?"
"What a silly thing to say!"
"Well, it's true," Rhett said, grinning, and clearly with no intention of going to sleep any time soon. "I would have been baby Frances Butler."
Scarlett laughed aloud at the thought of Rhett as a baby. He was one of those people who was always going to stay the same age. He had never been younger and he was never going to be older; he would forever be just as he was now. And for some reason, Scarlett took comfort in that fact.
"Scarlett, she's going to be a beautiful baby," Rhett said. He was close to her again, his breath in her ear. "She'll have your nose and your little mouth."
She yawned sleepily. "Yes, yes, I know she will, now goodnight."
Rhett apparently wasn't done. "She'll have your soft skin," he murmured, and brushed a hand over her cheek. Scarlett mumbled weakly in slumbering protest and turned over, but he was all around her. He was left, right, up and down, his lips were on hers and even in her drowsiness her senses were afire. Rhett had the power to become all-consuming almost instantly… and at the moment she didn't mind very much at all.
His hands, warm and strong, caressed her breasts through the thin veneer of her nightdress and she whimpered weakly, half in frustration. Damn him for being able to rearrange her priorities in a heartbeat! One minute ago the only thought on her mind had been getting a good night's sleep, but now… Her thoughts strayed far from slumber as Rhett kissed her again, and she had no choice but to return the gesture with as much ardor.
Lovemaking with her previous two husbands had been awful experiences that she'd rather forget, but with Rhett it was almost enjoyable, if it was proper to say such things. Why, she'd say it even if it wasn't proper! One thing was certain: Rhett knew how to treat a woman.
She, Scarlett was going to have his baby, and as she looked up into his dark face that was absolutely consumed with love for her and their child-to-be, she thought that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all.