TITLE: "Bodies at Rest"
AUTHOR: Kathmak (Kate)
SUMMARY: Sometimes she counts his eyelashes instead of counting sheep.
CATEGORY: Doggett/Reyes Romance (DRR)
DISCLAIMER: John Doggett and Monica Reyes don't belong to me, blah, blah, blah.
NOTE: Another in a series of 500 word ficlets. Thanks, dlm!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I count your eyelashes, secretly,
With every one, whisper I love you"
She likes to watch him sleep. She takes a great deal of comfort in seeing him at peace without the weight of the world on his shoulders. No one would dispute that he has sturdy broad shoulders, but even the strongest man needs a brief respite now and then. It is not often that she sees him with his guard completely down like this, so she treasures these glimpses and locks them away deep in her heart for future reflection.
Sometimes she counts his eyelashes instead of counting sheep. He would blush if he knew, though. For all his confidence and self-assurance, he was modesty incarnate when it came to things like that. It was one of the countless things that made him so beautiful to her.
"I take pride in my modesty," he had dead-panned to her once when the subject had come up. It was only when she burst out laughing that he cracked a smile. She loves that smile--the one that makes her think of a little boy who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar--the slightly crooked smile that never fails to send her heart racing.
It turns out that John Doggett has a wicked sense of humor. Who would've guessed? Certainly not anyone who sees him when he's in his "no nonsense 'just the facts, ma'am'" mode at work. He can make her laugh like no one else. And she derives a certain pleasure in knowing that he chooses to reveal this side of himself to her and her only.
But for as much shared laughter they have shared, she has cried with him, too. She has held him many, many times when it seemed to him that all hope was lost. With loving hands, she has wiped those sorrowful eyes when they shed bitter tears for the child who would never live to see his eighth birthday.
Such a long journey for the two of them. At times she wondered how long it might take for them to get here. And yet, she never doubted for a second that they would end up together like this: arms, legs and hearts entwined. The first time she looked into his haunting azure eyes, she knew. He was her destiny.
She watches as he opens his sleepy eyes and smiles that crooked smile. She gets that familiar flutter inside her when he calls her name. She feels him even more than she hears him.
"Monica." He calls her name again and pulls her closer to him. She burrows into his arms, the place she always goes to seek refuge from the world. It is only in the warmth of his cocoon-like embrace that she finds true peace.
"I love you," they whisper to one another. They are two souls joined by love and fate.
He strokes her hair and kisses her closed eyelids as she drifts off to sleep.
End