Chapter Two – Jay's Teddy Bear
Jay was having a particularly good morning; he didn't plan for it to end soon. It was all down to the fact that he had developed a particularly uncanny ability to fool others that he was in an unbelievable deep sleep. He developed the ability as a child, when not wanting to go to school it had come in very handy, he'd taken his time to perfect it then and it was paying off well now. For all anyone knew he was the world's deepest sleeper. Things wouldn't wake him that would send lesser men flying from their beds. He had slept very well that night, not for very long, but it was the best most comfortable night's sleep he had got in months. He liked his sleep and Jay any sleep was good, but last night was one of the best sleeps he'd ever had and it was all thanks to the brunette in his arms.
It was his day off today after working the torturous Christmas shifts and he was going to enjoy it. The best way he could think of better way to enjoy the longest part of his day holding Ruth against him. He was going to do that for as long as possible whether she liked it are not, she wasn't going to run out of his bed again. He knew for a fact that it was going to take a rather large electric shock to drag him from his comfortable nest with Ruth. That or his Nan. She would only let him be lazy up to a point, asleep or not, and then she would be in pulling the covers from him and threatening him with the jug of ice water from her fridge. She had a skill for getting up him quickly, it had really helped to put him in Tess' good books at work, he hadn't been late for work in almost three months, and she had even praised him for being so reliable the other day. He had his Nan and her no nonsense attitude to thank for that. He just didn't want to experience any of that particular brand of attitude today. Although he had a sinking feeling that something was meant to be happening today, meaning that he'd be forced from his comfortable spot much sooner than he would like, but he just couldn't remember what. Whatever it was, it didn't matter, not when he was with Ruth again.
Jay was a lot more in tune with Ruth than she would ever give him credit for. She thought of him a lazy, liking to lie in bed for as long as humanly possible, but he'd found himself awake long before her each night he had spent with her. He'd developed a love for watching her sleep in that time, seeing her relaxed with her guard down, seeing her when she was truly herself. This morning had been no different he woke up to find Ruth's warm body in his arms and had smiled to himself happy that he hadn't just dreamt up her coming home with him. She'd been tucked up tightly into his chest so her face was out of his view, but he was grateful just to be with her. He had felt her stir not long before she had actually tensed and woken. He'd waited for her to move from his grasp and find something constructive to do or dress ready to leave but was pleasantly surprised when she didn't.
Ruth had stayed settled with him and even relaxed further into his embrace. Jay could tell she was almost ready to drift back to sleep and tightened his grip on her, planning on following her back to dreamland. He could have cried when he heard his Nan's alarm clock go off. It pulled Ruth back from the edge of sleep and her defences built back up. He knew a switch had flipped in her head and she was now more Doctor Winters than his Ruth. As his Nan got up and began her daily routine he felt Ruth tense in his arms again and begin to squirm uncomfortably in his grasp. He knew instantly that she wanted to get away. He heard his sisters get up one after the other and listened to them as they began clattering around the house to. In his arms Ruth was obvious attempting to get out of his grasp without waking him so he decided to play along, pretend that he was still asleep. Every time she tried to move away from him he tightened his grasp on her and closed whatever sized gap she had managed to create between them.
Jay had a plan. He decided if he could keep Ruth in bed with him long enough that his Nan and sisters would get on with their day, hopefully leaving the house, so that he have Ruth all to himself for a little longer. It was one of the rare times in his family life where there was nothing expected of the family unit and the rest of his family usually took advantage of the chance to take life a little slower than normal. There had to be a very good reason for them to be up so early during the festive period. All he could do was hope that it was something that involved them leaving the house. Thinking about it he had seen lots of shops with sale signs in the window, they might be planning a mass shopping trip, one that would keep them out all day. He knew one thing for sure nothing they could say or do was going to make him let Ruth out of his site for a moment today.
He had to smile at the position that he and Ruth and worked themselves into with his grasping and her squirming. She was now flat on her back, lying ridged on the bed while he was lying with his head on her chest and both arms wound tightly around her body. He was surprised that she hadn't ripped herself from the bed by now he wasn't used to her staying put when she very obviously wanted to leave. They must be making progress together if she was willing to stay with him, to let him sleep, when all her instincts were screaming at her to get away from a situation that she didn't want to be in. It made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. To him Ruth was like the teddy he'd had when he was younger, Sir Silky Button Nose the Third, he'd clutched that old battered teddy bear every night until he mysteriously went missing before he moved into his old flat. Jay had been devastated and had been sure that one of his sisters had bear napped him. He missed that old ball of fluff. But it was alright he had a new favourite teddy bear. He had a Ruth bear now, who also doubled up as a nice comfortable pillow even when she was rigged. A hard warm Ruth pillow was much better than an empty bed with no Ruth pillow could ever be.
He was very happy until he heard footsteps coming toward his room and saw the door handle turning. He groaned quietly and pulled Ruth closer to him. He wished that Ruth was still asleep or would at least have the common sense to fain sleep when someone entered the room. No one in the house had met Ruth before and he hoped that they'd have the common decency to be embraced enough to leave them pair of alone after finding him in bed with a stranger. He squeezed his eyes tighter than before and nuzzled into Ruth's chest praying that she looked like she was peacefully sleeping not being held prisoner by him. He listened intently as the person entered his room and he knew one thing for sure what ever going to happen next wasn't going to be good.
