Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.
A/N: Hey, everyone! It has taken me more than a year to write…but I have finally written Natalie and Keith's honeymoon! This is the sequel to "Times Infinity." However, for those of you haven't read "Times Infinity" I don't think it is necessary to read "Times Infinity" first. Hope you enjoy it!
Warning: There are a few scenes with sexual nature but it's nothing too graphic, I promise!
The Honeymoon Scene
Natalie Anderson woke with a smile on her face—she didn't think she could have been any happier. She was married to Keith. Rolling onto her side, she faced Keith. He was lying on his stomach, the covers kicked off so they were barely covering him from the waist down, exposing his bare chest.
Sitting up, she leaned over Keith to check the time on the digital clock; it was almost one in the afternoon. She felt excitement flood through her, in less than eight hours they would be on their way to London for their honeymoon.
Barely able to contain her excitement, she shook Keith. "Wake up," she said.
He didn't budge.
"Keith!" This time, he opened his eyes, glared at her, and then covered his head with the pillow. "Fine! Be that way. But I'm ordering breakfast." She didn't care if it was past lunchtime.
She leaned over him again, grabbing the room service booklet out of the nightstand drawer. A few minutes later, she decided what she was going to order for herself and Keith. She grabbed the phone and just as she was about to dial the number, Keith took the pillow off his head and mumbled, still half asleep and eyes closed, "Partner...waffles?"
"I know," she smiled.
"With strawberries…"
"Whip cream and syrup. Yes, sweetie, I know. And I'm getting coffee, too."
"Thanks, partner," he muttered, before his breathing got even. It still surprised her how easily he could fall back asleep.
After she ordered the food, she kissed Keith on the forehead, before making her way into the shower. Twenty minutes later, just as she had gotten out of the shower and washed her face, their food arrived. "Keith," she called as she began placing their food on the tiny table, hoping he would wake by the time she was finished. "Food's here."
He didn't wake up.
Getting aggravated, she walked over to the bed about to yell at him. However, just as she was about to do so, Keith's arm shot out, pulling her onto the bed. As soon as she tumbled onto the bed, he started tickling her. "Keith! Stop it!" she giggled. "Keith!" He didn't stop, and she tried to wiggle free. Gaining a moment of freedom, she pushed him off and onto his back, straddling him. Then, she proceeded to tickle him on his hips—his weak spot.
"N-Natalie! Don't—y-you know I can't stand—stop!" he said, trying his hardest to move her off the bed. "Partner, please."
Suddenly, she stopped, and instead bent down and kissed him full on the lips. "I love you," she said, pulling away. "Breakfast's here." Then she added, "We only have a few hours before we need to drive to the airport."
"The airport!" he said, eyes shining as he got out of bed. "I can't wait. I have wanted to fly on a plane since forever."
"I know you have," smiled Natalie, as she made herself comfortable at the table.
"What do you do on airplanes?" he asked, bouncing up and down in excitement.
"Well…me personally? I sleep."
"Sleep?" he asked dumfounded.
"Yes, Keith, sleep. We are flying at night."
"Why would you sleep when you're on an airplane?" He honestly looked confused. "I mean, yeah it's at night, but you're on an airplane!"
"'Cause…there's nothing else to do."
"Yes, partner, there is!"
"Like?"
He took a rather large bite of his syrup-soaked waffles before saying, "You'll just have to wait and find out."
"Should I be worried?" she asked.
Keith shrugged. "I dunno." Then, he grinned. "Maybe."
They spent the afternoon getting ready (and doing other things), before they drove to the airport. Once they arrived, Keith's eyes got wide like he was a kid in a candy store.
And the look on his face never went away. Luckily, he behaved himself through the checking in process and the security, but as soon as they sat down by their assigned gate, his behavior changed. He wanted to go looking around. Apparently, the stores looked fun.
Natalie let Keith go on his own, and he was gone for almost an hour. When he finally returned, arms loaded with stuff, Natalie inwardly groaned. "What did you get?" she asked, standing up and grabbing the tray of two coffees from him.
"Fun stuff," was all he said, practically falling into the chair next to Natalie.
Through curious eyes, she watched as Keith began showing her everything he had bought. Most of it was candy—gummy bears, skittles—it looked like he had bought the whole store. "You do know we get dinner on the plane, right?" she asked him.
Keith rolled his eyes. "But they won't give us yummy stuff." And then he asked, "Did you know they have like mini bookstores?"
"You hate books," said Natalie, wondering why he found these mini bookstores so interesting.
Keith grabbed something out of his other bag and showed it to her. "But not this one."
Squinting her eyes, Natalie grabbed the book from him. "A Book on Fun and Interesting Facts. Did you really have to buy this?"
"Partner," said Keith, shocked she had even voiced such a question. "It will increase our knowledge."
Flipping open the book, she glanced at a random page. "So, knowing fish can drown is increasing our knowledge?"
"Well," started Keith, "did you know fish can drown?"
"Well, no…"
"My point exactly," replied Keith, grabbing the book from her and looking incredibly proud of himself.
Keith proceeded to put everything in his backpack (expect a rather large bag of gummy bears), before grabbing his coffee from Natalie. He took a sip while opening the bag of gummy bears and handing them to Natalie. She grabbed a few, carefully picking out the white and red ones. While eating them, she watched Keith grab a huge handful and put all of them into his mouth at once.
"What?" he asked through a mouthful of gummy bears.
"Oh, I'm just thinking this is going to be a long flight." If he kept eating sugar and drinking caffeine he was never going to fall asleep.
"Well," said Keith, legs bouncing, "it is eight hours. But don't worry, we have plenty of candy and a book full of fun facts to keep us entertained."
"I wasn't referring to being bored. Far from it actually."
Keith looked confused, but then suddenly and randomly asked, "Can I have the window seat?"
An hour later, and with an extremely hyper Keith bouncing behind her, Natalie and Keith boarded the plane.
"Planes are so cool," said Keith as he plopped onto his seat, and immediately began looking out of the window.
It took thirty minutes for everyone to board the plane. Luckily, Keith was occupied looking out of the window and reading the magazines the airport provided, to have time to complain he was bored.
Once everyone was seated, a flight attendant, a tall slender blonde, with way too much cleavage (according to Natalie) began making her way down the aisle, checking to make sure everything was in its proper position before the plane took off.
Natalie wasn't sure if it was her over protectiveness for Keith that caused her to think the flight attendant was sneaking glances at Keith.
Natalie watched the flight attendant closely and when she stopped at their row, Natalie knew her suspicions were confirmed. The flight attendant acted like Natalie was invisible and said in a cute and cheesy voice directed towards Keith, "Sir, would you mind if I make sure your seatbelt is on correctly?" She gave him a sweet smile (it made Natalie want to throw up).
"Uh, sure," said Keith, completely oblivious.
The flight attendant leaned over and grabbed the end of Keith's seatbelt and pulled. It felt like hours before Ms. Barbie Doll (which Natalie had promptly named her) backed up. Natalie never wanted to see her hands that close to Keith's...ever again.
When she finally left, Keith leaned over and said, "Man, that was really nice. They're really concerned about safety, aren't they?"
Natalie huffed loudly. "What?" asked Keith.
"Seriously?" she said.
"Seriously what?"
"Nothing," she huffed. Why was her husband so stupid sometimes?
Keith behaved himself as the plane took off. Natalie suspected it had to do more with his excitement of watching the plane take off, than truly wanting to behave himself.
Natalie suspicions were confirmed as soon as they got high enough in the air that all Keith could see out of his window were clouds. When this happened, he bent down, opened his backpack, and grabbed out his book of fun facts and one of his huge bags of candy.
Natalie opened her mouth to tell him not to eat too much candy, or he'd get a sugar high, but she stopped herself: if she told him not to do it, he would do it.
While Keith busied himself with reading and eating, Natalie did the same. However, she had only read a few pages of her book when Keith turned to her and said, "Hey, partner."
"Yes, Keith?"
"Did you know cockroaches can live up to nine days after their head has been cut off?"
"Gross!"
Keith looked quite proud at her reaction, and grinned before going back to his book. Just as Natalie started to read her book again, however, Keith spoke up again.
"What?" said Natalie, getting aggravated.
"Did you know mosquitoes have forty-seven teeth?"
It went on like this for forty-five minutes, and Natalie's patience was beginning to wear thin.
"Hey, partner—"
"What, Keith?"
"Geez, someone's in a bad mood."
"Keith, you have been telling me random, stupid, pointless facts for the past freaking hour!"
"Have not!"
"Have too!"
"Have not!"
"Have too!"
"Have not! It's only been forty-five minutes," he said, his voice strangely calm. But that didn't last long and his eyes narrowed and in a fake hurt voice he said, "Random, pointless facts? Is that what you think?"
"Yeah, that's what I think."
Keith's glare got more intense. "Well," he said glancing down at his book. "Did you know jellyfish have no brains?"
Caught off guard, Natalie quickly responded, "Well, no," and regretted it immediately.
A content look spread across Keith's face. "Then how can these been random, stupid, pointless facts! You. Are. Learning."
"I don't think knowing jellyfish have no brains is really that important."
"That's what you think," he said. "Did you know—"
"Keith, I do not want to hear any more random, pointless facts for the next hour, okay?"
"Fine, I'll just find someone on this plane who wants to listen to me."
"Listen to you?" a sickly sweet voice spoke up, causing Natalie to close her eyes and take a deep breath. Ms. Barbie Doll. "I'll listen to you."
"Really?" spoke up Keith.
Natalie took this moment to turn glance at Ms. Barbie Doll. Natalie didn't think it was possible, but she was showing more cleavage than the last time she had stopped by to see if Keith needed anything. It seemed every time she came to check on Keith, there was one more button of her blouse undone.
"Sure. What's up?" she asked, pushing the drink cart she in had in front of her to get closer to Keith, even though she was practically suffocating Natalie, who felt like she was going to sneeze by the amount of perfume Ms. Barbie Doll had on. She really needed to tone down on the perfume.
"Did you know," started Keith, who gave Natalie a smug expression before asking Ms. Barbie Doll, "that a snail can sleep for three years?"
"No way!" exclaimed Ms. Barbie Doll. "That is so interesting." As Ms. Barbie continued to gush about how interesting the fact was (and how she was going to tell all of her friends) she pulled her cart forward and asked, with a slight glare at Natalie. "What can I get you?" Her voice had changed from sweet to cold instantly.
"Coke," Natalie said, glaring back. She hoped her voice held the tone of 'Keith is mine, don't dare.' But at the look on Ms. Barbie Doll's face, she either didn't notice or didn't care. When Ms. Barbie Doll handed Natalie her Coke, she didn't say anything; she didn't think a please was needed, given the situation.
Ms. Barbie Doll glanced over to Keith. "You, sir?" She ended her question with a stupid fake, annoying giggle.
"Um, Mountain Dew?"
"Sure," she said. She put some ice in a cup (something she hadn't done for Natalie), and poured some Mountain Dew in the cup before handing both the cup and the rest of the can to Keith.
"Thanks," said Keith.
"Anything else, sir?"
"Nope, I'm good."
She stared at him with a look like she wanted to pull him out of his seat, and take advantage of him, but it only lasted a few seconds before she said to Keith, "Let me know if you need anything else."
Okay, maybe, just maybe Natalie was overreacting, but it was obvious Ms. Barbie Doll wanted him.
Bad.
As soon as Ms. Barbie Doll was a few seats away, Natalie turned and glared at Keith. "What?" he asked, before taking a rather large drink of his soda.
"Stop it."
"Stop what?" asked Keith.
"Talking to Ms. Bar—the stewardess—"
"Oh, Monique?"
At this, Natalie let out a tiny aggravated squeal.
"Partner," whispered Keith. "I need to get up."
"Why?" she asked, her voice distant and she was trying to ignore Keith and focus on her book.
"Because," he started, and she could tell by the tone of his voice he had rolled his eyes, "I have to go to the bathroom. Why else do you think? It's not like there's a pool or store on the plane. Which," he started, "would be awesome."
"You just got up fifteen minutes ago."
"I've been drinking a lot of Mountain Dew."
"Well if Monique," she said sarcastically, "would stop bringing you more."
"She's just doing her job. It's a long flight. I'm thirsty."
Natalie raised her eyebrows. "Do you see her bringing me anymore Coke?"
"Well…no…" He stared at her, as if a thought had occurred to him, but then he shook his head, as if dismissing the thought. "Anyway, can you get up? I really nee—"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I want to finish this chapter! You're either making me get up, or telling me stupid jokes. Just let me read for a minute!"
"But—"
Natalie ignored him.
It couldn't have been more than a half hour when Natalie finally turned to look at Keith, glaring. "Will you stop fidgeting?"
"No," he said. "You haven't let me go the bathroom yet! I can't help it."
Natalie stared at him, trying to block out the bouncing of his legs. "Fine, go. But I'm not going to keep getting up every half hour."
"Okay," said Keith, already unbuckling his seatbelt.
Natalie let him go, and resumed reading. A few minutes later Keith came back with smile on his face, which worried Natalie. That was not a normal Keith smile—it was a mischievous one. "What is it?" she asked. He looked far too guilty.
"I just thought of something."
"What?" asked Natalie, worry in her voice.
He gave her a devilishly cute grin, before whispering in her ear, "God, Keith!" said Natalie, pushing him away, no matter how cute his grin still looked. "We are not having sex in the airplane bathroom," she hissed, hopefully sounding serious enough. "That is tacky and disgusting."
"You. Are. No. Fun," said Keith. He stared at Natalie for a few seconds before adding, for more affect, "At. All."
"I am too!" fought back Natalie. "Just because I don't want to have sex in the—"
Before Natalie could finish her statement, Ms. Barbie Doll appeared, as if out of thin air. It was kind of creepy. "Hello," she said in her too sweet voice. "What seems to be the problem here?"
"Nothing," said Natalie, her tone angry. Couldn't she just leave?
Making Natalie even more aggravated, though, Keith just smirked and said, "She is yelling at me because she doesn't want to be very…adventurous if you get my drift."
Mr. Barbie Doll's eye shined, trailing her eyes down to Keith's lap. "Hmm…yes, I get your drift. You know, I've been told I'm very…adventurous." She winked at him. Actually, winked at him.
Keith looked thoroughly shocked and this statement, and was opening and shutting his mouth, trying to find something to respond to this.
He didn't need to.
Natalie had had enough.
She unbuckled her seatbelt, and stood up, chest to chest with Ms. Barbie Girl. She thrust her the back of her left hand, in Ms. Barbie Doll's face, so she could clearly see the diamond ring on Natalie's hand. "Look here, Ms. Barbie Doll, you see this?" she hissed. "This is a wedding ring."
Ms. Barbie Doll took a step back. "And?" she asked, rolling her eyes.
Natalie turned around, pointing at Keith who was glancing at Natalie with a shocked expression on his face. "And," started Natalie slowly, "that is my husband." She turned back around to face Ms. Barbie Doll. "Stop hitting on him." Her voice was low and threatening. "If anyone is going to have sex with him, I am." Ms. Barbie Doll rolled her eyes again, but Natalie stepped forward and yelled, "GOT IT?"
"Fine," Ms. Barbie Doll hissed. "I've got it," she said mockingly, before turning back around and stomping away.
Natalie calmly got back into her seat, acting as if nothing had happened. She went to grab her book, but then she heard it. Clapping. When she looked up, every passenger was glancing her and clapping. Some even were saying commenting things like, "She deserved it," "Way to go!" "That was hilarious."
She gave them all a small embarrassed smile, before hiding her face behind her book. It wasn't long before Keith leaned next to her and said, "What was that all about?"
She looked at him. "What are you talking about?" she asked, feigning innocence.
Keith gave her a wry smile. "That little stunt you just pulled."
She looked straight back at him until she said, "I just wanted her to know where she stands. And that you are mine."
The corners of his mouth curved up. "It was pretty darn sexy."
"Really?"
"Yeah." He glanced into her eyes for a while, then lifted his hand and gently guided her lips to his. A few seconds later, he pulled away and said, with an adorable smirk on his face, "Oh, and Ms. Barbie Doll?"
The sky was cloudy and it was raining slightly when Keith and Natalie left Heathrow airport almost nine hours later. Immediately, Natalie began trying to flag down a taxi, when Keith said, "There's a bit of a chill to the air, don't you think?" Natalie huffed loudly. "What's wrong, darling?" asked Keith.
"No," Natalie said, giving him a stern look.
"No what?"
"Stop it."
"Stop what?"
Natalie wanted to slap him. "Stop talking in a British accent. It's annoying."
Keith bit his lip, and Natalie knew he was trying hard to not smile. "I have no idea what you're talking about. This is how I talk."
His voice was getting more annoying the more he talked. It had started out quiet and low, but now it was getting higher pitched and more fake with every word he spoke. "Keith, really, stop it."
He ignored her and instead said, "Where is the bloody taxi?"
As Keith continued to talk—about the weather, the view—anything and everything so he could keep talking in the annoying fake accent, Natalie couldn't handle it anymore. She turned to him, as a taxi pulled up to pick them up and said, "If you keep talking like that you can forget sleeping in the same bed."
Keith's eyes got widened and while the taxi driver put their suitcases in the back, they got into the back of the taxi and buckled up. "Where would I sleep, then?" asked Keith.
"I don't know. On the floor. Outside in the cold. I don't care."
At this, Keith pouted. "You're no fun." She must've scared him enough though, because this time he was talking in his normal voice.
"You might want to take that back."
"Why?"
She leaned up as close to him as she possibly could. She started, running her fingers down his cheek, before she whispered into his ear, "You might just find out later tonight."
Thirty minutes later, they arrived at their hotel, a small Bed and Breakfast. The check-in process was easy; it was dragging their luggage up the five flights of narrow stairs, as the hotel had no elevators, which was difficult. Luckily, Keith was quite the gentleman and carried up Natalie's for her. When they arrived on the fifth floor, with a heavily breathing Keith, Natalie opened the door.
They stood there for a few seconds, starting into the room shocked. "Oh my God," said Natalie.
"It's so small," finished Keith.
"Way small," agreed Natalie.
As Keith dragged their suitcases into the small room, and tried to figure out where they were going to store them, Natalie checked out the bathroom.
She had a mini panic attack for a few seconds. How was she going to get ready in here? She could barely move, and the shower—it was so small! How was she going to shave?
Natalie was so shocked at the small bathroom space, she didn't notice Keith had squeezed behind her until he said, "How're we going to shower together in there?" he asked.
"God, Keith! Do you always think about sex?" She turned to glace at him.
"Uh, yeah," he responded, not sounding ashamed about this at all.
They spent the next few minutes unpacking their clothes. However, Natalie didn't get very far. When she exited the tiny bathroom after putting away her makeup she found Keith lying on the bed, half asleep.
"Oh, Keith," she said, shaking her head at how cute he looked. She tossed the now empty suitcase on the floor, before walking over to him. Grabbing his feet, she dragged the rest of his body onto the bed. Then, she toed off her shoes and pulled back the covers before falling asleep herself.
"What time is it? Is it tomorrow?" was what woke Natalie up some time later.
Blinking, Natalie opened her eyes to see Keith propped up on one elbow. He still looked half asleep, and his hair was all over the place.
How long had they slept?
Waking up more, Natalie sat up and checked her watch. Doing the math in her head, she finally said, "It's eight o'clock."
"We slept almost four hours!"
"I know," said Natalie. She sat up in bed, giving Keith a kiss on the lips before she said, "Wanna go get some dinner?"
Keith, not surprisingly nodded. "Yeah, can we go to a pub?"
They went to The Builders Arms just down the street from their hotel. The first thing Natalie noticed was that it was loud. And crowded. Keith went to find a table while Natalie ordered drinks. After she got their drinks, she found him in the back by a corner. She was glad he was able to find a table a little away from the crowd, which was mostly surrounding the bar. As Natalie sat down, he glanced up from his menu, narrowing his eyes at the drinks Natalie had placed on the table.
"What did you get?" he asked, glancing at the pink liquid in a beer glass.
"Something yummy."
"You got me something yummy? I don't want a shitty girl drink."
"It's not shitty and it's not girly," said Natalie, taking another sip. It was so good. "Try it."
Keith lifted the glass hesitantly, before taking a sip. Natalie did not expect what happened next. Keith spat the drink out, spraying liquid all over their table. "What the hell is this?" He looked like he had just drunk sewer water.
"It's Fruli."
"And?"
"Well…it's strawberry beer."
"You got me strawberry beer?" She gave small shrug. "It's disgusting." He pushed his glass towards to her. "You can have that one. I'm going to go get a real beer."
Twenty minutes later, Keith and Natalie were busy eating their food (fish and chips and shepherd's pie). Natalie started to like the pub, after getting used to the noise and smoke. That was until she noticed a group of girls staring at Keith.
What was it with her husband getting hit on all day? It was driving her crazy.
"Is something wrong?" asked Keith.
"Those girls are staring at you." She used her fork to point at them.
"No, they're not." He rolled his eyes.
"Yes, they are!"
"And what makes you think this?"
"Because I just know, okay?" She pouted. "It's pissing me off. Why do they keep staring? What is it with you and women today? It's like they want to attack you or something."
"I just have that affect on women," said Keith, quickly moving away from Natalie to avoid her slapping him. Laughing Keith said, "Partner, just ignore them."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"They—I-I just can't!"
"Why are so jealous of them?"
"I'm not jealous…it's just…they should know."
"Know what?"
"That you're mine."
Instead of replying, Keith leaned forward and gave Natalie a long and hard kiss on the lips. "What was that for?" she whispered, feeling momentarily dizzy at such an intense kiss.
"Showing them I'm yours."
After they both had another drink (Natalie had decided Fruli was her favorite alcoholic beverage. Ever.), Natalie decided having Keith kiss just her wasn't enough.
She wanted more.
She wanted him.
She practically dragged him to their room. "Ow," said Keith, hissing as he rubbed the side of his head where she had accidentally rammed him into the door. "Slow down."
"Will you just shut up?" She said, before pushing him against the closed door, and slamming her lips to his.
"Wh—" Keith mumbled against her lips, but Natalie couldn't understand him, not that she wanted to. There were more important things to do than talk right now.
Continuing to kiss him, and making sure their lips didn't part, she quickly fumbled with the belt on his jeans, getting them off in record time. Then, at the same time, they took off each other's shirts.
Keith's kisses were making Natalie dizzy and weak in the knees and she wanted—needed—to lie down. So, she curled her finger on the band of his boxers and dragged him to the bed. When the back of her knees hit the bed, she fell onto her back, Keith falling with her.
In no time, they had taken the rest of each other's clothes off, and supporting himself on one arm, Keith hovered above Natalie, their lips almost touching. "Partner," was all he whispered, before gently kissing her, so soft it felt like on a feather. Their kisses got more intense after that.
Soon, they were moving as one. Wrapping her arms around Keith, Natalie moved with him. It wasn't until a few minutes later she realized something was wrong.
Really wrong.
She was sinking into the bed. It was like the bed was separating. Because of this predicament, her attention began to away from Keith and instead to why the bed seemed like it was breaking separating in two. They weren't having that wild of sex. Actually, it was quite tame, considering. So why was the bed like falling apart?
The more she complicated this, the more the bed separated. Her head was now between the crack, and it seemed to be sinking at a rapid pace. "Fuck!" she screamed, as her head fell deeper between the crack.
This was not fun.
"I am!" grunted Keith in between gasps, and at this, he thrust harder, causing Natalie to fall yet again, deeper into the crack. How was he not noticing this? She was being swallowed by the bed!
Taking a deep breath, Natalie tried to tell Keith what was happening, but at Keith's new increased speed, it was getting harder to concentrate on being swallowed by the bed, and instead to how incredibly good he was making her feel. But if she didn't do something soon, she was going to be eaten.
"Keith!" she screamed. Screaming his name did nothing but get him more into it. "STOP!" she screamed this time; however, the request came out rather weak, as she didn't really want him to stop, because now he was now kissing her neck. In the place that drove her wild.
This got his attention; although, not enough that he stopped what he was doing. "What? Why?" he said, his breath coming out in shaky gasps. She could tell he was close, just by the way he was shaking and moving slower. "Not now," he added, as he let out a low deep moan. "Please."
Not really wanting to stop herself, she turned her attention back to Keith (it wasn't hard). Gently, she grabbed Keith's head and kissed him; he let out a low moan and speed up, tensed, and slowed; his head fell onto Natalie's chest, as he caught his breath.
Still catching his breath, Keith rolled off Natalie, facing her. It was then Natalie knew she was in serious trouble. The bed had swallowed her to the point where she couldn't get out of the crack.
"Keith, I'm stuck!" she said, wiggling frantically.
"Stuck? What do you mean stuck?" The question was answered for him as he sat up in bed. "Oh, wow! You are stuck!
"The bed has swallowed me!" she said. It was beginning to get really confining and she really just wanted to be lifted out of the stupid crack. "Help me up," she said, after a few seconds and Keith had yet to move.
He shook his head. "Not until I take a picture. This is too funny."
"You are not going to take a picture of me!"
"Oh, yeah? What, are you going to do? Try and stop me? Oh, wait, you can't, you're stuck."
"That is not funny, you jerk!
Glaring at him, Natalie watched as Keith grabbed their camera. Then, he proceeded to take about fifteen million photos of Natalie being swallowed by the bed; no matter how much Natalie threatened him, he wouldn't stop taking pictures.
Finally, after he got bored, he placed the camera on the nightstand, grabbing Natalie's arm and trying to pull her out; it took a few minutes.
As soon as she was free she said to him, "I hate you."
He chuckled as she began taking off the covers on the bed.
"What're you doing?"
"I'm trying to see how the bed swallowed me!" It didn't take her long, and as soon as she lifted one corner of the sheet off, she realized it was two twin beds put together, and having sex must have caused the beds to separate.
"Hmmm," said Keith thoughtfully, as Natalie remade the bed, "I guess we can put that session on our Weirdest Sex List. You getting swallowed by a bed."
"We have a Weirdest Sex List?"
"Yeah." He sounded surprised she didn't know this.
Slowly she asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer, "What is exactly on this list?"
"That one time in back of the taxi."
"We never had sex in the back of a taxi!"
He ignored her. "That one time in the elevator."
"We haven't done that either!"
"That one time on the amusement park ride."
"Or that! You do realize you have not checked off anything or you so-called list."
"Oh really?" he asked. She nodded. "How about: on my desk at work."
"Nor that," said Natalie quickly. He glanced at her, and she averted her eyes guiltily. "O-Okay fine! That may have happened…once," she admitted, looking back up to him. But at the expression that was gracing his face he said, "Okay a few times, God!"
"How about that one time on my porch when we got locked out?"
"That may have happened, too…but I was bored!" She huffed. "Will you stop? I get the point. We have done some stuff on your stupid list. However, you do realize most of those have not happened."
He shrugged. "Hey, what can I say? It's a work in progress."
For their first full day in London, Natalie decided to let Keith pick what they were going to do. After reading thorough some of the London travel books they had bought from back home Keith decided he wanted to go to Camden Market
"Camden Market?" repeated Natalie, almost sure she hadn't heard him right.
"Yup." He looked at her. "What's wrong with Camden Market?"
"Nothing," said Natalie. "I was just surprised you didn't want to do something more…traditional on our first day." She had expected him to say something like Big Ben or The Tower of London.
"Partner," started Keith, "we're going to be here for two whole weeks. We have plenty of time to do traditional. Plus, doing traditional is boring."
"Of course it is." She smiled, before sitting next to him on the bed and mapping out how to get to Camden Market.
An hour later, they made their way to the Gloucester Road Tube Station. As they walked inside, Natalie pointed toward a small window where an old lady was sitting. "We need to buy Oyster cards first," she said, leading Keith towards the old lady.
"What's an Oyster card?" asked Keith.
"It's just the card people use to get on the Tube so they don't have to buy an individual ticket everyday. I read if we were staying for more than a few days, it's the cheaper way to go."
"Oh."
"Don't you remember me explaining this to you?"
"Uh. No."
Natalie stopped walking to stare at him. "Do you remember anything we went over?"
"No," he said bluntly. "It was boring."
"Why am I not surprised," said Natalie. Keith grinned and they proceeded to pay for their tickets.
As they waited for their train, Keith walked around, glancing up at the pigeons that had made a home at the Tube Station. A few minutes later, as he started making his way back to Natalie, a group of three girls stopped him. In any other circumstances, Natalie would've walked over to Keith and dragged him back to her side, where he belonged. But at the sight of the girls, and the knowledge of how incredibly naive Keith was with certain things, she just had to watch.
Natalie was close enough to them to hear one of the girls, a tall, skinny blonde say, "Hey there." She brushed her fingers gently across Keith's hand, but he didn't notice.
"Hey," said Keith. "What's up?"
"Oh, he's American!" another girl, a redhead, whispered to one of her friends.
"And he's bloody gorgeous," her friend replied, not taking her eyes off Keith.
The blonde girl smiled at him. "So," said Keith, obviously trying to come up with some small talk. "Where are you girls headed?" he asked again, clearly getting nervous.
"Wherever you are," spoke up the redhead.
"Oh! Camden Market?"
"Well, if that's where you're going. We'll go there, love."
"Um…"
"If you don't want to go there," said the blonde, "we can go anywhere you like. Are you staying near here? We could do anything you wanted." She didn't waste any time and grabbed Keith's arm, causing him to almost trip as she pulled him to her. "Anything," she repeated. "We can give you some special deals, since you're American and you're gorgeous."
"Deals?" Keith said. "Do you own a store or something?"
The blonde girl turned around to her friends and giggled before saying, "He's just too cute!"
Natalie knew if she didn't intervene soon, Keith was going to get himself into some serious trouble. As soon as the girl caught sight of Natalie grabbing hold of Keith's hand, the blonde said to her, "And you are?"
"Natalie."
"What are you doing?"
"Taking him with me."
All three visibly huffed, before narrowing their eyes at him. "What makes you think—?"
Biting her lip to keep from laughing, she said, "He's my permanent pimp." She held up her left hand as she spoke so the girls could clearly see the ring on her finger. At the sight of it, complete looks of shock appeared simultaneously on their faces. Smiling to herself, Natalie turned and walked away, dragging a very confused Keith behind her.
As soon as they were far enough away from them, Keith asked, "Who were those girls?"
Natalie laughed. "You really don't know, Keith?"
He shook his head. "What were they selling? It's weird they try to get people from the Tube station to go to their store. Maybe they really need business or something. What do you think they were selling?"
Sometimes, he was just too cute. "I think what they were selling, Keith, was underneath their clothes."
It took him a few minutes, but suddenly understanding crossed his features, as well as a deep blush. "Oh, shit."
Close to an hour, and a very interesting Tube ride later (with Keith almost flying into the seat in front of him at a very sudden start), they arrived at Camden Market. Natalie had read Camden Market was an outdoor market that had its own distinctive styles. It had a variety of stores such as one that sold vintage clothes; one that sold modern to vintage jewelry; and one that sold just random items. It seemed to Natalie, as soon as she had walked by a few stores, the market was going to be different than anything she had experienced before.
They walked down the street for a while, stopping and checking out booths or stores that had interesting displays. It wasn't until they got farther into the market that Natalie's eyes got wide at a certain booth her eyes caught sight of. "Clothes!" she exclaimed, running over to the outdoor store. There were white peasant shirts that had lace on the bottom, some short dresses with different designs such as polka dots and stripes, and cute strappy high heels.
Clothes off all different styles and colors hung on racks with no apparent order to them. The designs kind of reminded Natalie of Hooked on Books; she made a note in the back of her mind to take a picture for Melanie. But first she needed to try on the clothes.
"Are you gonna be here for awhile, partner?" asked Keith, already looking bored.
She gave him a distracted nod. "Yeah," she said, as she started taking some clothes off of the racks and using her other hand to hold them.
"Okay," he said, "I'm gonna go to the other store over there."
"Just meet me back here when you're done," she said. She couldn't imagine what would happen if she lost Keith in London. Where they had no phones to contact each other, and could easily lose each other.
Twenty minutes later, as Natalie paid for two lacy vintage shirts (one in white and one in black), a pink tank top, and a cute grey dress with pink polka dots, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Turning around, she was face to face with Keith. "What are you wearing?" she asked him.
"Sunglasses." He said this like it was the coolest thing he had ever worn. "Aren't they cool!"
The sunglasses were neon yellow. In front, instead of the usual shaded lenses, there were thin plastic bars across the front. These were also neon yellow and the spaces in between them were the only way that one could look through them.
"How can you see?" Natalie asked.
"Um, I can't." He grinned at this, clearly pleased with himself.
"How're you going to walk around?"
He rolled his eyes. "Geez, partner, do you have to analyze everything? I'm just going to wear my sunglasses and shop like a normal person."
This was much better said than done. For the next hour, Keith was adamant about keeping his sunglasses on, but by doing so he kept tripping and walking into things.
"Ow!" said Keith for the umpteenth time as he bumped into a rack of clothes which all had different pictures of London on them, or sayings like 'I Love London,' or 'My Sister Went to London and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt," (this Natalie grabbed off the rack, knowing it was the perfect gift for Zach) or 'London=Love.' After righting the rack, Natalie told Keith she was going to buy Zach the shirt. The problem was after the she paid for it and turned around, Keith was gone.
She was just starting to get mad when Keith came running into the store, a huge grin on his face. Before Natalie could ask where he had been Keith said, "Partner, guess what I just found!"
"What?" she asked, trepidation in her voice.
Grabbing her hand he said, while dragging her out of the store, "A secret door!"
"A secret door," Natalie whispered, repeating Keith. If she would've been with anyone else, this statement would've surprised Natalie, but with Keith, well, really anything was possible.
"Yeah," he nodded vigorously in his excitement. "C'mon, I'll show you."
Before Natalie had the time to tell Keith she wasn't sure this was such a good idea, he was already dragging her down through the market, past streets, and then suddenly, he stopped. Glancing around, Natalie didn't see any secret door. "Um…"
He placed both his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face a brick building. "There," he whispered, pointing to a door.
It took Natalie a few seconds to see the door since it blended so well with the brick building, yet it was there. It was pretty cool, but Natalie didn't want to admit this to Keith yet, since she was still a little wary about the whole thing. "Keith," she said, turning around to face him while he kept his hands on her shoulders, his shining green eyes stared into her brown ones. "I'm not sure about this. I mean it's…someone could live in there."
"I just want to check it out!" he said. "I mean, who knows what could be in there. Living."
"Exactly," breathed Natalie. "There could be a family in there."
"Yeah, like a family of hobbits!" he said. She could tell by his face he was going to try his hardest to get her to agree with him. "I tried the doorknob, it's not locked."
"There's a doorknob?"
"Yeah," he said, nodding. "It's really small, though. It took me a few minutes to find it, but it's there."
Natalie let herself be dragged again towards the door. While Keith searched for the barely-there doorknob, Natalie continued to glance behind her. What if they got caught walking into someone else's house? What if they got arrested? In a different country. They might never make it back home.
"Keith," she started, ready to tell him what a bad idea this was. But when she turned back around the door was open and all she could see were stairs leading downwards, before fading into the darkness. "Woah," she said.
"I know!" said Keith.
Now, too interested to turn around, she followed Keith down the stairs. The stairs went down for a while, but luckily there were tiny candles lighting their way. When they got to the bottom, there was a long, thick emerald green curtain in front of them.
"Now this is creepy," whispered Natalie, her voice so low Keith had to lean towards her to hear what she was saying. "What kind of person lives down here?"
"I don't know," he whispered back. "But we're going to find out!" The way he said this made Natalie worry—like no matter what they were walking through the curtain.
"Keith," said Natalie, her voice rising in her worry, "you can't be serious. This is someone's house!"
He looked at her for a few seconds as if he was really considering turning around, but then he turned back to face the curtain. Before Natalie could say anything, he pushed it to the side just enough for him to walk through it.
As soon as they walked through the curtain, Natalie expected to hear someone start yelling at them, but the first thing she noticed, other than the strong smell of incense and the subsequent fog because of them burning at the same time caused, was the room was smaller than expected. In the corner of a room sat a small table, with a tablecloth seemed to match the curtain and three chairs were placed around it.
Placed all around the room was random stuff. There were glass balls sitting on the various shelves, figurines of dragons and fairies and books such as Spell Binding Palmistry, Palmistry for Life, Tarot Experts, Mind Reading Tricks for the Sane, Divination for Lovers.
What did these people do? The whole place was filled with all kinds of magic looking things. Every wall was covered in some type of dark looking fabric, and even the ceiling had figurines hanging from it.
Natalie was just making her way to another shelf that had a bunch of interesting looking figurines on it when she heard it. A loud bang sounded as a door in the in the small room opened, causing both Natalie and Keith to jump and turn around, only to be face-to-face with an older looking woman with long silver hair that flowed past her shoulders and ended at the small of her back.
She was wearing what Natalie could only identify as robes in dark purple. "Hello," she said, her voice was soft and low. "I had a premonition today that I would be have customers today. I am never wrong."
"Um, hi," said Natalie, inching towards Keith and grabbing his hand. "What—"
Before Natalie could finish her sentence, the old lady said, "Let's not waste our precious time making small talk. Come, come. Sit." She led Natalie and Keith toward the small table Natalie had first seen when entering. Once they were sitting she glanced at them expectantly. "So, what will it be?"
"What?" breathed Natalie. "I-I'm sorry, we're lost. We just…we accidently came down here and—"
The old woman gave her a small smile. "One is never lost."
At this, Keith let out a tiny cough, which Natalie knew was because he was trying to stop himself from laughing. Natalie wasn't sure the old lady noticed he was laughing, but she did direct her attention to him instead. "So, what will it be?"
"Um," Keith started, still trying hard not to laugh. "Whatever."
The lady brightened up at this, and said excitedly, "Oh, good! Then we'll do some palm reading. It's always been my favorite. Let me just go get the supplies."
She stood up quickly, walking to the other side of the room. Keith took this moment to scoot as close to Natalie as possible. "Why does she need supplies for a palm reading?"
"I have no idea," whispered Natalie. "If we didn't have to come down here, we wouldn't be in this position we're in now. Why do you always get us into these situations?" The old lady came walking back, her arms filled with a few books and more incense, and Natalie stopped berating Keith.
As she began lighting more incense Keith asked, after sneezing a few times, "Do you really need to light another one of those?" he asked.
The old lady glared at him. "Yes," she said, "and you obviously need it. You're sneezing out all of the bad things that are inside of you. You should probably take a few of these home."
"I think I'm just sneezing because—"
"Anyways, let's get started," she said, grabbing Keith's hand and laying it palm facing up on the table. "First, what's your name?"
"Uh, Keith."
"Keith?" Keith swallowed nervously as the old lady began lightly running her finger across his palm.
"Yeah."
She took her time accessing the lines on Keith's palm, and then finally said, "Ah, oh, dear." Her voice was sad.
"What?" asked Natalie, suddenly.
"It's his health line," she said, glancing up at Natalie before glancing back down to Keith's hand. "Did you deal with a serious illness? Possibly when you were younger?" She glanced up at him, waiting for confirmation.
Keith looked a little wary at the old lady's comment, but finally he answered, "Uh, yeah, I did." She nodded, as if she already knew his answer. "How did you know that?" asked Keith, his curiosity getting the better of him.
She pointed her index finger toward a small line that was towards the right side of his left hand. "See that line there?" When both Natalie and Keith nodded she added, "It's the health line. And you see that break there?" she added, pointing a little farther up on the line.
Natalie could see it; how the line suddenly broke apart before starting up again. "Yeah," she commented. "Interesting."
"It's more than interesting," said the old lady. "These lines here show your future! Your life! Your fate!"
"Uh, okay," said Natalie, getting a little worried at how worked up the old lady was getting. "So," she started after waiting a few seconds for the old lady to calm down. "Even though his health line is like that…does that mean he's okay?"
The lady looked quite excited to be answering a question, like it never happened before. "Oh, no, the health line is different from how long one will live." She glanced back down at Keith's hand, taking his right hand in hers and tracing her fingers over the line before exclaiming, "It looks like, even from a mad knack for getting in trouble and adventure, you'll be living a long life."
For the next hour, the old lady went over every line on both of Keith's palms, as she explained each hand told different things. Apparently, the left palm told more of what one was born with, while the right hand told more of their future. Natalie had to admit, some of what the lady talked about was interesting, but mostly, she just thought she was plan insane.
Which was why when it was her turn, Natalie hesitantly placed her hands on the table. She felt like she was showing this woman her entire life. Which she guessed in a way, depending on what she believed, she was.
The lady explained a few of the basics like what her love line meant, what her health looked like, but then she got to one line and sucked in a tiny breath, before glancing over to Natalie and staring at her. "W-what?" Natalie stuttered.
This couldn't be good.
Either not noticing or electing to not pay attention Keith said excitedly, like it must not be something wrong, "What is it?"
"This is excellent," said the old lady. "It looks like you will have a very large family."
"Really?" asked Keith.
"Oh, yes, at least six children."
"Awesome!" said Keith.
Natalie pulled back her hand. "You are completely insane. I am not going to have six children. No way."
The lady, surprisingly, didn't seen hurt by her comment. "It's always the same."
"What is?" said Natalie, glaring.
"Denial. When I tell wives this, they go into such denial. Such a pity. What is real is that you will have six children." She smiled at this. "At least."
"Oh please," said Natalie, standing up. This woman was crazy. Sure she wanted to have kids with Keith, but six? Please. It was obvious this woman had no idea what she was doing. Okay, some of the stuff she knew must've just been coincidence.
Six kids? No way.
"C'mon Keith, we're going," she said.
Keith looked a little confused, but did as Natalie said.
The old lady acted like she had seen Natalie's kind of behavior before and calmly said to Keith, "Don't forget your books and incense."
"Uh, thanks," he said, grabbing the book and incense and following a still flustered Natalie.
"Oh, and dear?" she called, using her sweetest voice yet. Natalie continued walking. "I would be careful if I were you, looks like something might already be sprung."
Natalie sputtered, and didn't respond only quickened her pace out of the building. As soon as they were both out of the building, Natalie said, "Sprung? Already sprung? Is she serious?" She huffed. "Oh, and six kids? What, is she like crazy or something?"
Keith was trying to keep a straight face but suddenly started cracking up. "Oh, partner, you should see your face."
"That's all you can say?" she said. "Seriously?"
"Oh, c'mon, partner, it's funny!"
"Funny? You found that funny?"
"Yeah," he said. "It was hilarious. I mean we randomly walk into this room and what do we find? A crazy lady who's obsessed with palm reading. It's funny and it was fun!"
"You're just saying that because she didn't tell you were having six kids."
"Well, if that happened, I would be seriously concerned."
She hit him—hard—on his chest and yelled, "SHUT UP," before stomping away.
That Saturday, Natalie and Keith took a tour to Stonehenge. When they had planned for their trip, Keith had only been adamant about one thing:
Going to Stonehenge.
In reply to why he wanted to go so much, he had only mumbled something about his mom. At the emotion emitting from his voice, Natalie hadn't asked for more information until now.
They had arrived at Stonehenge a few minutes ago, and were now making their way around it. There was a rope indicating how close people were allowed to get, which Keith was not happy about, Natalie could tell, but for some reason he didn't voice this (which was extremely unlike him); instead, he was strangely quiet and seemed to be in deep thought.
After they walked around the Stonehenge once, Keith wanted to go look walk around it one more time. When they got halfway around, Keith stopped suddenly. Taking this moment to take more pictures, Natalie aimed the camera at Keith, but at the expression that was gracing his face, she lowered the camera worriedly. "Hey, you okay?" she asked.
He nodded, but at the tone of his voice, Natalie knew otherwise. "Yeah, I'm all right," he said. "It's just…" His voice shook, "before my mom died, she was always talking about going to London for my high school graduation; she just loved it so much. She couldn't wait to come here with me…and then I had to go and get in an accident and get her killed. And now she's dead and she'll never be able to come here ever again."
Natalie wondered why this emotion had suddenly surfaced here and now, but Keith answered her the question before she could ask. "The one place she loved the most, though, about coming to London was the Stonehenge. She thought it was the most amazing experience ever."
He turned to look at Natalie, and she noticed his eyes were a bit red. "And you know what?" He grinned, even though it was a bit forced. "I agree with her."
"Me too," said Natalie, giving him a grin.
"My mom always told me," he started, his mood getting brighter, "when we came here we were going to ignore the boundaries and get as close to the Stonehenge as possible. She had never tried, and wanted to do it with me. " He smiled. "You can't said I didn't get my adventurousness from someone."
Natalie's grin got wider, and without really thinking about what she was doing, she grabbed Keith's hand and ran, right over the boundaries toward the stones.
They didn't get far before a guard started running towards them yelling to, 'get behind the rope or they were going to get into serious trouble.'
But Natalie didn't stop; she just kept running, pulling Keith with her. The guard was too slow anyway. They ran through the stones, and right into the gift shop, hiding amongst the mass of people where they would hopefully not be discovered.
When they found a secluded corner, Keith, chest heaving and cheeks flushed, rested his forehead against hers. "There are so many reasons why I am in love with you, and that was one of them."
Pulling apart she said with a grin, "Love you, Keith."
"Times infinity?" he asked.
"Times infinity."
For the next week, Natalie and Keith explored London. They visited Big Ben, toured The Tower of London, went to Kensington Palace, and were Groundlings at The Globe.
However, after a week in London, Natalie woke up with one thing on her mind.
Shopping.
While Keith slept, Natalie dug through her pile of stuff before she found her notebook. Grinning, she sat up and leaning against the wall, and began to plan which stores she wanted to go to.
She found the page she was looking for quickly and began reading it over. Fifteen minutes later, she had narrowed her list down to five stores. Any more and she thought Keith might go crazy. That was, if he didn't already. She figured she'd leave the other stores for another day. With Keith with her, she had to shop in short sessions. That way, he might not notice how much she was actually shopping.
Satisfied with her plan, she tossed her notebook on the floor near her purse, and lied down on the bed scooting as close to Keith as she could. "Keith," she whispered. "Time to get up." She ran her fingers through his soft hair.
He made an annoyed grunting sound, before grabbing his pillow and placing it over his head. Use to this behavior, Natalie pulled the pillow off his head. Being half asleep, Keith didn't have enough strength to keep hold of the pillow. "C'mon," she said. "We have things planned today."
He let out a long yawn before saying, "Like what?"
"Um…nothing really."
At this, Keith rolled over to face her and opened his eyes. "You sound way too guilty. What do you have planned?"
"Nothing!" she said, knowing she sounded incredibly guilty. At his look she finally said, in an extremely quick, but low voice, "Wearegoingshopping."
"What?"
She ignored Keith's question and instead glanced out the window. "Can you believe it's still raining?"
"Partner," said Keith, "Did you just say shopping?"
"No," she said, her voice squeaky.
"You did!" he said, waking up considerably. "I don't want to go shopping! We can do that at home!"
"No we can't," she said, getting defensive. "We don't have the same stores."
"Don't they sell the same crap?"
"For that comment we're going to six stores!"
"Six stores? Are you flipping crazy? Do you want me to die a painful, bored death in a pile of clothes?"
"Do you always have to be so dramatic?"
"That is not dramatic. Just ask any guy out there. They would agree."
"Look," she began, "we spend today shopping and you get to decide whatever you want to do tomorrow."
"Wow," said Keith his voice monotone, "that's just great." But, suddenly, a thought occurred to him and he said, "If we go shopping today, we can do anything I want tomorrow, right?"
"Yes, anything."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Okay," he smiled. "I want to go to Madame Tussauds!"
"Keith!" said Natalie. "You're only saying that 'cause all those wax figures freak me out."
"You promised!"
"Keith, it's creepy!"
"No, it's not. It'll be fun! We'll take really funny pictures!"
Natalie started at him, contemplating. If this was what she had to do to go shopping then… "Fine."
"My feet and head hurt, I'm tired, and I'm thirsty," whined Keith.
It was mid afternoon. They had spent a little more time shopping than Natalie had planned. They had gone to H&M, Accessorize, and a bunch of other stories that had caught Natalie's attention as well. But, really, it wasn't her fault. The stores…they called to her. Now, they were headed towards the last place Natalie wanted to stop at, Harrods.
Natalie choose to ignore Keith's whining, as he had been doing it most of the day. They spent an hour shopping in Harrods before Natalie walked into the shoe section and caught sight of rows and rows of shoes. "Oh my god," she whispered. She glanced at a pair of black strappy high heels by a designer she had never heard of. "I need to try these on."
Keith picked them up, and when he glanced at the bottom his eyes got wide as saucers. "Holy shit," he said, putting the shoe back on the shelf as if he was afraid he might break it. "That shoe is six hundred pounds! Th-That's like twelve hundred dollars."
"Oh," said Natalie brightly. "You'll buy me them, then?"
Keith looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack. "You're not seriously planning on buying a pair of shoes here, are you?"
"No," she said, and at Keith's relaxed face she added, "At least two."
She proceeded to ask the sales person to get her size in a bunch of shoes. In reality, she wasn't planning on buying any pairs of shoes, but she couldn't pass up trying some on. After she spent an hour trying on shoes, Natalie dragged Keith towards a chair in the clothes section where she told him to wait while she tried on clothes.
It wasn't until Natalie went to get his opinion on what shirt she could get (she was letting herself splurge on one item of clothing) when she realized he wasn't there. She called his name softly, but when he didn't answer back, and she saw no sight of him she whispered under her breath, "I am going to kill him."
She bought both shirts just to get revenge on him and went looking for him. What felt like five hours later, Natalie was on the verge of a panic attack. Where the hell was he? Did he get kidnapped? What if she never found him? What if they were separated forever?
Just as she was about to go into a full fledge panic attack, a thought occurred to her, and she knew exactly where he was.
The food area.
Wondering why she hadn't figured it out before, she hurriedly made her way to the food court. It was big—bigger than she expected; she wondered how she was ever going to find Keith amongst the people. He wasn't as hard to find as she feared, ten minutes later she found him in the candy section, already with an armful of candy.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" she asked, walking up to him.
He caught sight of her and at his shocked and guilty expression she took her purse and started hitting him with it. She didn't care she was catching the attention of a few people. "You ditched me, you jerk!"
Keith finished chewing something before saying, "Chill out, partner. I was just enjoying the food. I was going to come back. Promise. But I was about to pass out with starvation."
"Did you think I'm physic? Did you think I knew you were coming to the food section? Did it not occur to you to say, 'Natalie, I'll be in the food court.' No, you just randomly decide to walk off. You. Are. So. Stupid. We could've been separated from each other forever!"
He stood there silent, facing her, as he dug his hand into one of the bags and pulled out a handful of candy that looked similar to Sour Patch Kids. "What are you eating?" she hissed, getting mad her yelling didn't seem to be affecting him at all.
"Oh, these?" He held up a bag that was filled to the brim with tiny little candies with a white looking powder on them shaped as babies. "They're called Jelly Babies. Try one."
He handed her the bag and Natalie reluctantly took a red one and put it in her mouth. It was good, but she didn't want to admit it to Keith. She was still pissed. "You think giving me a piece of candy is going to make me less mad at you? You do realize that I—or you—could've been kidnapped, right?"
"Well you did get either of us get kidnapped?"
"No," she said. "But that's not the point!"
"Then what is the point?" he asked.
"The point is," she said in a huff, "that you ditched me! God, you are driving me insane right now!"
"I think there's only one thing we can do right now," said Keith, while chewing on another piece of candy.
"What?"
"Go back to the hotel and have some great makeup sex. That always makes you happy."
Twenty minutes later, after Natalie made Keith buy her a bunch of chocolate for ditching her. (Keith denied ditching was the correct term; he preferred wandered off) they were sitting in a tiny café waiting to get their tea.
As Natalie waited for a waitress to come get take their order, she glanced around the café. They were sitting in a small room, with only a few other tables, which Natalie liked; it felt intimate and comforting, an atmosphere that wasn't very common in restaurants in America. The room itself was decorated with pink wallpaper that had flowers on it, and shelves hung all throughout the room with different designs of teapots everywhere.
"You know," said Keith as he looked at the room, too. "This room reminds me of something."
"What?" asked Natalie.
"Of your parents guest room. You know the one I lived in for like a year. All the flowers..."
"Hey," said Natalie, "stop making fun of my mom's decorating skills!"
He looked at her. "I'm not making fun. I'm just stating a fact."
"She's fixed that room now! It's—It's not so flowerily."
"Thank God."
Natalie glared. "I heard that."
"You know, you shouldn't be defending her. I know you thought that room was horribly decorated."
Natalie blushed, guilty. So she only mumbled, "Shut up." Keith smirked adorably.
The waitress came and took their order. They got a traditional English tea, which consisted of a pot of English Breakfast tea, a variety of small finger sandwiches, fruit and plain scones, and a variety of pastries.
Their food arrived less than ten minutes later. The tea came in a pot that resembled the teapots around the room. Then, on a tall three-tiered tray was their food. The bottom tier had two different kinds of scones, and the middle tray had cucumber sandwiches and tuna sandwiches. Lastly, the top tier had four different kinds of pastries.
Natalie started with the scone first, and taking her time added clotted cream and jam on it. Before she had even taken her first bite, Keith had already eaten two sandwiches and one scone.
"Slow down, will you?" she said, before she took a bite. He was going to get sick at the rate he was going.
He took a huge bite of a pastry before saying, mouth full, "But it's too good."
"You're going to get a stomachache."
"No I'm not," he said, taking another bite of a scone.
"Keith, seriously, how many times do you complain of a stomachache after we eat because you eat too fast?"
He wouldn't look at her. "Um, never?"
"No, it's more like every night."
At this, Keith looked up and glared.
An hour later, the waitress took their empty tray and teapot away (Keith had been done eating way before Natalie). As soon as they exited the café, Keith grabbed Natalie's hand and dragged her down the empty street, and when Keith turned them around the corner, Natalie said, "What're we doing?"
Keith halted, pushing her gently up against the wall and whispering, "We're going to get in trouble."
"Trouble?" she whispered back, feeling herself shiver with excitement. "What kind of trouble?"
"You'll see," was all he said, before grabbing her hand again and pulling her with him.
They ran down the mostly empty streets before suddenly stopping near a tiny fountain, which had a bunch of flowers around it. "I see trouble," said Keith, glancing at Natalie with a mysterious glint in his eyes. Then, he gently hit Natalie on the shoulder and screamed, "You're 'it'!" before running away.
A thought occurred to Natalie, and instead of chasing after Keith she crossed her arms against her chest and pouted. A few seconds later, Keith saw her and said, from across the fountain where he was hiding, "Partner, you're supposed to chase me!"
Trying not to laugh she said, in what she hoped was a sad voice, "Why do I always have to be 'it' first?"
At this, Keith walked over to her, and just as he got close enough, Natalie quickly tagged him before running away. "Hey, that's not fair," he screamed.
Natalie giggled and jumped onto the tile around the fountain. "You're too gullible," she said, gently walked around the fountain, making sure Keith couldn't reach her. For now the water was separating them.
Keith glared. "You know, I was trying to be the a proper husband and make sure you were okay. Look where it got me now."
"Now, you're 'it,'" said Natalie.
"Not for long," said Keith, and suddenly he was leaning across the fountain, trying to tag her, but she was farther away than he thought, and he started to slip.
Natalie watched in slow motion as he began to fall. As he was falling, however, he grabbed onto to Natalie to catch himself. This didn't stop his fall, only caused her to fall with him into the water.
"You idiot!" she screamed, as she sat up, hair dripping. They had landed right underneath the fountain so water was falling straight onto her, completely soaking her.
Keith was still lying in the water, a shocked look on his face. He sat up slowly, and while Natalie began to stand her, her clothes wet and heavy, Keith said, "You're 'it' now!" before he got up and ran to the other side of the fountain still in the water.
Figuring she was already soaked now, she chased Keith (if she could call it that; it was almost impossible to run in the water with soaked clothes). She chased Keith around the fountain a few times before she grabbed a hold of his shirt, causing him to fall in the water again.
She was just about to get out of the fountain and make good distance from him when she heard someone clear their throat. Looking to her right, she saw a cop staring and her with a questioning look his face.
"Hi," she said, voice squeaky.
"Hello," said the officer. "May I ask why you guys are in the fountain? In case you can't read," he said, pointing to a sign to the right of him, which read, 'No swimming in fountain.' "The fountain is off limits."
"Oh," said Natalie, trying to come up with a proper excuse. She glanced at Keith for help but he was still lying in the water. "Get up, will you?" she whispered.
He did.
"You see, officer," she started, "I lost my-my…"
"Her special penny," started Keith. "Yeah, and we were looking for it. Really, sir, you don't want to see her without her penny. It. Is. Scary."
"Yeah," agreed Natalie. "Penny. Lost. Um, I really need to find my penny."
At this, Keith began glancing down into the water. "Oh, here it is!" he said, bending down and placing his hand in the water, and grabbing at an invisible penny. Luckily, the officer was far enough away Natalie didn't think he'd be able to tell if there really was a penny. "Darlin', I found your penny." He faked putting a penny in his pocket.
The officer didn't say anything, only glanced at them as if they insane. Then he finally said, "Now that you found your special penny, I think you need to get out of the fountain, go to your hotel, and change out of those clothes."
"Right," said Keith. "We'll do that."
With that, the officer walked away. Natalie swore she saw him roll his eyes at them as he turned around.
Once the officer was out of sight, Keith turned to her, water dripping down his face, and gently hit her shoulder. "You're 'it'!"
Natalie had refused to continue playing Tag. She was soaked and cold, and just wanted to go back to their hotel and change. It took a lot long to get there, since Natalie didn't think they should take the Tube in soaked clothes. She was extremely relived when they arrived; she had been getting really annoyed of the strange looks people had been giving her and Keith.
After taking showers, they went to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner. When the left the restaurant, everything was pretty much closed and it was drizzling slightly, so they couldn't walk around the park like they had planned. It looked like a good night to stay in and relax.
"I think we should just stay in tonight," said Natalie. "What do you think?"
"Okay," said Keith. "But I have idea on something we could do tonight."
"Like what?" asked Natalie.
"It's a surprise."
Natalie let him lead the way, and they found themselves entering a smile store called Boots a few minutes later. Keith quickly bought a deck of cards. "We're going to play card games tonight?" asked Natalie, excited.
"Partner, you'll see."
She huffed and let Keith take her to a small grocery store where he bought a two-liter bottle of Strongbow (a cider beer that tasted almost like candy) for Natalie, and some beer for himself. Natalie opened her mouth to ask Keith again what he had planned but he placed a finger on her lips to silence her.
Twenty minutes later, they were in the hotel room and Natalie was anxiously waiting for Keith to tell her what he had planned. She had to wait until he made their bed. The room was so small, they were going to use the bed as a table. He then grabbed the candy he had bought at Harrods, and the drinks before looking at Natalie and saying, "We're going to play Strip Go Fish."
"Strip Go Fish?" repeated Natalie, not sure if she heard him right.
"Yup," he said, nodding his head excitedly.
"Where the hell did you hear about that?" This had not been what she thought Keith had planned.
"I made it up!" He looked incredibly proud at this.
"Okay," said Natalie, sitting down on the bed. Keith followed suit and leaned up against the window. "How do we play?"
"Every time one of us get a match, the other has to take off an article of clothing."
"I should have assumed whatever you planned would involve us getting naked in the end."
"Would you expect any less of me?"
"No," answered Natalie truthfully. She watched Keith open the deck of cards and mix them before he dealt out seven to each of them.
"Okay, you can start," said Keith as he grabbed a handful of Jelly Babies; the candy he had been eating at Harrods when she had found him after he had ditched her.
Natalie glanced over her cards, before she looked up to Keith to ask him if he had an ace, when she realized something. She could see his cards reflecting through the window. Glancing back down to her cards, she found one she knew Keith had. "Do you have a queen?"
Keith frowned, as he took one of his queen cards, handing it to her. Natalie happily put the match down, before saying, "Strip."
"Hey! That's not fair. A match should be all four."
Natalie shook her head. "I have decided I like it this way more, and because I am your wife you have to do as I say. So strip."
He took off a sock.
"Seriously?" said Natalie. "That is lame." She took a drink of her Strongbow before sneakily glancing out of the window. "Do you have a four?" He handed her one.
He took off his other sock.
After another round, she didn't have any more cards Keith had like hers, so she had to 'Go Fish.' She drew a five, she knew Keith had a five and hoped he didn't…
"Do you have a five?"
Natalie was about to hand him her five she just grabbed, but then a thought occurred to her. She was already cheating; why not go all the way? "No. Go Fish."
The game continued like this for a while. Natalie didn't want it to see too out of the ordinary, so she had let Keith guess some right. He was already down to only his boxers and she had only taken off her socks and sweater.
Natalie glanced at her pile, knowing if he had a matching card, she would win the game. The problem was, Keith had moved slightly, and she couldn't see his cards as clearly as before. She scooted forward a little, squinting her eyes at the window. Keith noticed, and turned around to see what she was looking at, when he saw it.
His reflection.
"You've been cheating!"
"Have not!" said Natalie, too quickly.
He turned back to her. "You've been able to see my cards the whole time! No wonder you've been winning so much!"
"I was not cheating!" she defended, but she knew by the look on his face he didn't believe her. Knowing what was going to happen next, she jumped off the bed, just as Keith went to make a grab for her. Some of the candy fell onto the floor as Keith jumped over the bed to try and catch her. "You are in so much trouble, partner," he said.
She tried to make a run for it, but the room was too small and he caught her around the waist. She let out a high-pitched scream as they both tumbled to the ground. "Keith! Let go!"
"You little cheater," he said playfully, and he went to tickle her. But luck was on her side, and having her hand free, she pulled Keith's boxers off, throwing them across the room. Leaving him momentarily distracted, she jumped up and ran out of the room.
She heard the door to their room open seconds later, and while she was running down the stairs, she turned around to see Keith chasing after her, a sheet wrapped around his waist. "Partner, you are so dead!"
He was faster than she was, and made up their distance quickly. Just as she began going down the second set of stairs, Keith made a lunge for her. Not wanting to have him catch her, she jumped out of the way.
Natalie watched in slow motion as Keith tripped on the sheet. Not expecting her to have moved, he was let completely off guard. She watched, hand covering her mouth, as Keith tumbled down the stairs.
He landed on his back, the sheet falling mostly off of him. "Are you okay?" she asked, running down the stairs to check on him.
"Ow," he said, trying to catch his breath.
The sound of him falling down the stairs had caught the attention one of the residents as Natalie heard a door open and they stepped out. An old lady, who looked to be half asleep, glanced down at Keith who only had a little bit of the sheet covering him. He hadn't bothered to put his boxers back on, so nothing was left to the imagination.
Blushing, Natalie grabbed the sheet and covered him more with it before she helped him up. "Sorry," said Natalie, giving a forced smile to the woman, "We were…just…we're going."
Natalie let a still stunned Keith up the stairs and to their room. He sat down on the bed, glaring at her. "You are in so much trouble, missy," he said. "You just made me show off myself to the whole hotel!"
"It was just an old lady," said Natalie. "It's not like it wasn't something she hadn't seen before."
He glared. "You owe me."
Natalie bit her lip, before running her tongue across the bottom of her lip. "Okay," She whispered; she walked over to Keith, her hand finding the zipper of her dress and slowly unzipping it. "I think I can come up with something."
Keith watched with glazed eyes and Natalie unzipped her dress, before it fell off of her, leaving her exposed in only her bra and underwear. She then straddled him, wrapping her legs around him. She began kissing him on his neck; she felt him shiver as she kissed a particularly sensitive spot on his neck. "How's this?" she asked, kissing the same spot again.
His breath picked up as she put her hand underneath front of the sheet was still wrapped around him. He said, through a moan, "God, I'm so fucking glad I'm married to you."
It was their last night in London and Natalie and Keith had been planning to do the London Eye on their last night. They had debated whether to go on it during the day or at night, and had both decided they would rather see the city of London at night.
The plus side for going late, they realized, was it wasn't nearly as crowded as they had seen before. There was only one other couple in their cart with them. The London Eye was kind of like a Ferris Wheel, but it was enclosed and was clear all around so people could look out in any direction they wanted to. They were quiet for a while, just taking in the beauty of London at night. The London Eye was slow enough they were able to take in every sight and not feel rushed.
After a few minutes, Natalie rested her head on Keith's shoulder as they stared out at Big Ben. Natalie had expected to be sadder than she was that this was their last night in London; the last night of their honeymoon.
The thing was—she was almost excited to go back home, because she was going home as Keith's wife and she couldn't have been happier.
What could be better than that?
"This was the best trip I've ever taken," she whispered, finding Keith's hand and squeezing it.
"Mmmm," Keith agreed. A few seconds later he asked, "What was your favorite part?"
Natalie thought about it, but it was too hard to choose just one moment that could be called her favorite. So, just to annoy him she answered, "Probably when you got hit on by those hookers."
"Seriously?" he said, his voice high pitched. "Out of all of the things we did that was your favorite?"
Not wanting him to get too worked up she laughed and said, "I'm joking. Although, that's pretty high on my list." She bit her lip and thought for a moment. "Honestly, I can't think of my favorite. Too many."
"I agree," said Keith. "Although, I will always hold a special place in my heart for the night the bed swallowed you. Oh, and the look on your face the entire time we spent at Madame Tussauds—your face, it was so funny."
She slapped him. "Keith, it was creepy!"
"Na. It. Was. Awesome."
They stopped talking after that, and continued to stare out at London. Just as their ride was ending Natalie asked, "Are you sad to go home?" She knew how excited he had been for this trip.
"Na," he said. "We'll come back. As long as I get to bring you home with me, I'm happy." He was quiet for a moment before he added, "Plus, you and I have got a future ahead of us together, and nothing but opportunities. What could be better than that?"
"Nothing," she said. "Absolutely nothing."
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading!