I fixed the ending. Geez... a typo, some badly placed words, the fact that English is not my first language and me finishing the story at 3 am last night made the last sentence have mor than one meaning. I'm truly sorry for that guys. It was actually supposed to sound sweet. So hopefully it does now. Still open for ideas on how to fix the last sentence.
Thank you guys for all the nice reviews on "Love is not a victory march". You asked for more Ben and Kate and I had so much university stuff to do that i just had to procratinate and write another story to shorten our wait for next friday.
I'm actually not so sure about the rating. So if it's not T anymore give me a shoutout so I can change the rating.
Hope you enjoy the story!
Disclaimer: I own nothing ;)
Marshmallow-y Goodness
Around late afternoon she got a call from Ben, asking her to get him one of his spare shirts and a tie from the drawer in his office and to meet him at the Sun Motel just outside San Francisco. She didn't know why he needed another shirt, but she was surprised to find not one but several shirts and ties in the bottom drawer. She picked a striped blue shirt and a dark matching tie and hopped into the next available cab.
Arriving at the motel, Ben joined her in the cab and it became clear to her why he needed another shirt. His displayed a big brown stain of Beth's hot chocolate. Their last meeting must have been a blast.
Telling her what happened he started taking of his shirt. She tried to look away to leave him at least a last bit of privacy, but when he told her that he was now marshmallowy goodness, her eyes flickered to his naked torso on their own accord. And what she saw was not what she'd expected.
His body didn't scream gym, but she could see that he was working out. The muscles on his torso and arms were nicely defined and she just couldn't help her body reacting to him and her eyes roaming over his slightly tanned skin.
Marshmallowy goodness, indeed!
While buttoning his shirt he commented on them not having dinner the other night, wondering what he would have been covered in after her. That's when her brain kicked into overdrive and her mouth stopped working. Images of Ben lying naked on a king-sized bed, covered in whipped cream just rendered her speechless.
Fortunately for her, Christine's husband decided to knock on the car-window on Ben's side of the car at that exact moment, otherwise the whole situation would have led to a really awkward moment.
In the motel room it became clear rather quickly, that their plan of turning Christie in was going south. Justin called to tell her, that the pre-negotiation was off the table since Christie made a book deal Ben helped her with and Kate herself didn't know anything about. The police arrived and Christie and her husband had to flee out of the bathroom window to avoid being arrested.
When the police left empty handed about 15 minutes later, Kate shouted out all the miserable feelings she had about the situation at Ben. But when he didn't want to admit he made a mistake with the book deal, she blurted out that she had slept with Justin when she stood him up for dinner a few nights before. And to make things worth she just couldn't stop talking about it when she saw his hurt expression and started stammering more details about the reasons she didn't show up that night.
She regretted her actions at once, but the harm was done. Why in God's name would she tell him about that night at all?
She walked to his car, sat down on the passenger side and closed her eyes. It didn't help though. She could still see his face right in front of her. The bewilderment and the pain in his eyes. What had she done?
It took Ben several minutes until he stepped into the car, too, and drove them to the DA's office with an awkward silence filling the car.
At the office both of them plus Justin had to cope with the DA's raging fit because of what they had done. The situation seemed hopeless, but in the end it took a few drawn wings of angels and a little faith in Justin to set the whole thing right. It was a triumph for every party involved. Except the DA, but who cared about him anyway.
In the evening, back at her own office, she was exhausted from all the excitement the day had to offer. Sitting on her couch, finishing off some paperwork Ben walked into the room. She couldn't help smiling at him, showing him how much she appreciated his help for Christie.
They talked shortly about the pre-negotiated sentence she'd gotten, but soon another silence filled the room and she saw Ben's features saddening.
"At least she doesn't have to run anymore" she said in order to keep their conversation going and to keep him in the room.
"Ohh, I think running is much easier" he said with a smile which told her, that they weren't talking about Christie anymore. Those few words and his smile made her own smile widen. They told her, that he wasn't really mad at her anymore, that he understood why she stood him up for dinner. They also opened another door for them, a door she just had to approach and enter when she was ready for it.
She was about to ask Ben, if he would go out to dinner with her right now, when Justin walked in. Damn. She had totally forgotten that Justin wanted to take her out to dinner tonight. Without hesitation Ben turned on the spot, congratulated Justin on his success, turned again to look at her for a last time with a rather hurt expression and left her office.
She was torn between Justin, looking expectantly at her and running after Ben, who just a second ago was opening the door to his heart for her a little bit.
"Kate, you okay?"
Justin's words shook her out of her trance. She nodded sullenly and after he helped her into her coat he took her hand and walked her towards the elevator.
Outside the office she caught sight of Ben again, who was standing at Leo's desk and watched her walking away. She couldn't help herself and looked back at him. His sad puppy-face broke her heart, but nonetheless she stepped onto the elevator with Justin.
Out on the street Justin walked her to his car and she sat down quietly.
He had been her husband for long enough to know something was up, so he asked her what was going on. She told him she wasn't feeling well and though she wasn't sure if he believed her or not, he offered to drive her home and to postpone their dinner.
She told him that it was probably a good idea and was glad when he stopped the car in front of Lauren's place about 15 minutes later. Justin asked her if he should come inside with her, make her some of her favourite tea and a hot-water bottle, but she refused. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and left the car without another word.
Inside the house she pressed her forehead against the cold glass door. What was going on with her? All she could think about were Ben's sad eyes, his hurt expression.
She shook her head to get herself out of her reverie and walked to the fridge, hoping she would find something eatable in there. Opening the door she only found several boxes of Tupperware with Lauren's overly healthy food in them. Closing the door again, about to call the pizza service, she looked a last time at the inside of the door and seeing a bottle of whipped cream, another picture of Ben crossed her mind. A thought she already had earlier when Ben was changing his shirt in the car. That moment seemed ages away now.
In the blink of an eye, without really thinking about it, she grabbed the whipped cream, walked out the front door and practically ran to the next major street two blocks away to find a cab.
Against all odds she was lucky and found one immediately. The driver sped away with her in the back seat and in about 20 long minutes they reached her destination in Nob Hill. She paid the driver, giving him way too much tip and walked up to the front door of the white condo building in front of her.
His flat was on the second floor. Reaching his door she stood in front of it, looking at his name plate, unable to go the last few inches and unable to knock on his door. Standing there in a daze, she only realized what she was doing when somebody walked down the stairs behind her.
She turned and saw an old lady with a friendly face looking at her. The old lady smiled at her, nodded her head and kept on walking.
Still standing in front of the door she looked down on her feet for a last time and finally knocked on his door. For a few seconds everything was quiet but then she could hear a rustling behind the door.
When the door opened she was sure her heart stopped for a moment. She knew Ben would be opening the door of course, but she hadn't imagined him standing there, with wet, ruffled hair, barefoot, only wearing a pair of dark sweatpants.
"What are you doing here?" he asked after staring at her with disbelieve for a few seconds.
"I brought some whipped cream" she stuttered, holding up the can she was still clutching. His gaze went from disbelieve to confusion.
Not knowing what to say or do next she stormed past him into his condo, shoving him into the wall in the process. Though she had never been inside his four walls, she instinctively went for the living room and sat down on the couch in a rather stiff manner.
Closing the door he followed and came to a halt opposite her, waiting for an answer.
Not able to sit still, she stood up again and looked at her feet. After another moment of silence she looked up at him and started talking quietly.
"I couldn't go out with Justin tonight. You were right, I was running away from all of this". She pointed aimlessly around the room. "But I don't want to run anymore. I'm damaged goods, that's out of question, but I wanna start fresh. I want to try this." She finally looked him straight in the eye. "I want to try us."
Looking at Ben she could see the wheels in his head turning. He was damaged goods, too. The whole Beth thing was showing it plainly. And she had just stood him up for dinner. But then again, she was here, standing in the middle of his living room.
To help him process, help him making a decision, she walked two tentative steps towards him.
He looked her in the eye, all his conflicting feelings written in his features. Closing his eyes just a little longer than normal, he took the last step keeping them apart and grabbed her face.
Looking into her eyes, or rather looking into her soul, he closed the gap between their faces and slowly, tenderly started kissing her.
She responded eagerly, clutching her free hand into his still wet and ruffled hair. With the other one she touched his naked torso just above his breast.
Feeling the cold metal of the whipped cream can on his skin he jumped a little and broke the kiss.
He took half a step back and asked, looking at her lovingly: "Why did you bring the whipped cream?"
Smiling one of her small smiles she answered "Well, you wondered earlier what you would have been covered in if we had gone out for dinner the other night. I couldn't find any marshmallows at Lauren's, but I thought whipped cream would suffice."
His face broke out into a big cocky grin. He grabbed her again, hoisting her up on his hips. Kissing her madly he walked slowly towards his bedroom, careful not to bump her into anything.
Placing her cautiously on his bed he kissed a beeline from her mouth to her right ear. Feeling her shudder under his touch he nibbled her earlobe and whispered playfully "I won't be the only one covered in whipped cream tonight" thinking that whipped cream would look and taste awesome on her tanned skin and smiling at her he started kissing her again.
Awww :) Hope you liked it.
I actually have a question for you guys. Is there a shipper name for the two of them already? Ken and Bate sound kinda weird to me, but probably you are more creative than me :)
Don't forget, reviews make me happy!