HELLO ALL!
Thanks in large part to the lovely devoted readers and reviewers of part 1, I give you Alphabet Soup 2.
Suggestions for letters are welcomed, appreciated and encouraged as well as reviews. Constructive criticism or even just 'hey, i liked this' are perfect, while flames will be used to heat my dorm in the Great White North :)
Without further ado,
enjoy.
A is for Ache - inspired by 'Ache' by James Carrington
They relax quietly, sharing a moment of silence. The moon is shining brightly in the night sky, stars glittering in the inky darkness. They lay together in the hammock in their backyard, cool breeze whispering across any exposed skin.
He reclines in the hammock, legs spread out the length of it comfortably and she's curled up against him, head pillowed just under his chin, knees resting on his hip. His arm is wrapped loosely, but protectively, around her shoulders, the other stroking the pale arm warm on his stomach. He feels her sigh and presses a kiss to her hair, feels her do the same to his chest.
In the distance, somebody is listening to Sinatra; a baby cries and quiets; a pot bangs.
She shifts a little and a leg is now wrapped around his, a foot settling between his calves and she's molded to his side. A comfortably heavy weight, better than any blanket. He stretches over his head and grabs the blanket he'd been using as a pillow anyway and one-handedly settles it over them.
She snuggles into the warmth of him and the blanket, a smile playing over her face despite the fact he can't see it. She slips her hand under his t-shirt and rests her hand on his warm skin, feels him take in a breath and let out a low chuckle.
The hand wrapped around her shoulders begins playing with her tousled hair, pulling gently through the strands. Her eyes slide closed and she strokes his stomach once before leaving her open palm over his bellybutton. He grins to himself and lets his hand continue stroking her arm and her hair at the same time.
He rocks gently and the hammock slowly sways with his momentum and she chuckles now too.
They lay there and stare up at the stars. The sky looks infinite from here, open in every direction, endless and deep and empty and full at the same time. The imperfect symmetry presented so simply above them slips into her. Inexplicably, she's crying; soft gasps that he doesn't hear at first but eventually recognizes. He feels it too and also hates it when she cries.
He doesn't speak, just pulls the blanket up around them further until her chin touches the hem of it. Her hand doesn't leave his skin and she pushes up to look into his eyes, presses a salty kiss to his lips, settles back again. He resumes his stroking. Her tears stop.
Her breath evens out and he can tell she's asleep. Faintly, he can hear Jin and Miles coming towards the house, slam open the front door as they usually do, call for him and Juliet. He hears them each grab a beer and start towards the back door.
He knows there's no way to yell at them without waking his hammock partner, so he waits instead, glaring at the door he knows they'll come through. He's surprised though, when instead of bursting into the backyard, they quietly open the door and step through, nodding in silence and settling in the only two yard chairs.
Sawyer raises his eyebrows in question and Miles waves a piece of paper in the air as he takes a sip of beer. Jin sips his own beer and tilts his head up to look at the sky. Sawyer suddenly remembers Juliet taking an extra minute after he insisted they sit in the hammock earlier. She'd written a note.
He smiles a little settles back down.
A few minutes of silence and then Miles quietly asks a question, Jin answers, Sawyer contributes. They have a conversation of whispers as Juliet sleeps, and at that moment, the ache of wanting to go home, of wanting some piece of a normal life back, recedes a little more.
Juliet shifts in her sleep and he knows they've woken her up, but he feels her smile and squeeze his stomach. So he squeezes her back and keeps up his ministrations as she lays there and listens to her guys.
Above, a plane glides silently across the sky, blinking rhythmically as it passes. Juliet watches it fly over head and closes her eyes again, breathing deep.
and there's A!
Reviews, questions, comments, thoughts, concerns, suggestions are all welcome!
-jules :)
