AN: Just a drabble really, but I hope it's at least cute. ^.^ My first for this fandom; I'm only halfway through the show so I left it as detail-free as possible to avoid conflicts. There was just so little for these two and they are cute, 'cause he has totally had his eye on her since the start. Read and Review, please~!
Disclaimer: I disclaim.
It wasn't a surprise when Marti ran off to get a scholarship-funded law degree up in the north where people only spoke "Yankee-flat" vowels. She'd stuck to that dream all along; she'd left Lewis behind for it. Somehow, despite her certainty, Dan had been sure she'd waver, even just once. They'd grown up together; they'd known each other better than anyone until the Hellcats got in the way. He'd fallen hard for Savannah, but he couldn't shake that love he had for Marti.
He hoped beyond hope that maybe she only avoided a relationship with him to spite Wanda, the mother she lived to care for yet had to rebel against, but things with she and Wanda had gotten better when she'd learned to give her mom some room to fail—or succeed.
None of it had been enough.
They stayed where they were, grew apart, and he still loved her.
All that in mind, he was more than a little shocked the day she turned up on his doorstep—in the middle of the night, no less—and kissed him soundly (ignoring the catcalls of his little brother, who could see everything from his bedroom window). That was her style, his Marti's style. She couldn't talk about things to save her life, not things that mattered, so she covered everything in sarcasm and showed her true feelings through actions. It really was a marvel he hadn't noticed it sooner.
There was no way he could pull her into his house, a scary place full of heathen mongrels of children, so instead he dragged her out to his car and just drove. "Why?" he finally had to ask. The silence wasn't awkward—it never was with them—but he'd wanted to ask for so long and he had long ago learned not to let chances pass him by.
"Well…" She had been leaning her head on the passenger window staring at the stars, but she turned away now to look at him and the look in her eyes took his breath away. "I found something Chicago doesn't have that Memphis does."
He remembered that conversation, because it was etched in his brain for better or for worse, and his stomach dropped a little as he gave the right reply. Life for them was like a script, one giant play where they both knew just what to say, but it never stopped surprising him just how perfect their fit managed to be. Always entertaining, his Marti. "The ribs?"
She laughed. "Okay, two things," she allowed.
"And the other?" He tried to pretend his life wasn't hanging in the balance here, but she knew him too well to consider otherwise. His life was going nowhere, and without her he couldn't ever see that changing. He hadn't filmed anything worth a penny since she'd left. She was his muse, like it or not.
"You." No sarcasm, just that little half-grin that said she hoped she hadn't thrown her plans out the window for nothing.
He'd never waste a second again, not for the rest of their lives. Dan swore he'd prove to her that she'd made the right choice in coming back to him, whatever it took.
"I love you."
She didn't brush it off—he'd never been more thankful for Savannah's insightful speeches than in that moment—but told him that she loved him too. For the moment, it was enough.
Not too bad, I hope? Review please! ~Lynx