August 2, 2006

"Is it too soon to be thinking about when we'll ask Scarlett to watch the girls again?" Deacon asks as Rayna is still straddling him, slumped against his chest, both of them naked in the back of the dim-lit SUV.

"I'm thinking sometime in a very near future," she says with a smile he knows well.

"Sold."

One hour ago, he was pressing her against the wall behind the cafe they had just left, his hand under her dress caressing her thigh and playing with the hem of her panties. Between kisses, smiling and her breath short, she whispered, "It's nice being just the two of us for a change." He grinned. "We should take a room." Somewhere on the way there, she slid her hand on the back of his neck and started rubbing her thumb lightly under his ear. After one look at her, he pulled the car off onto a dark deserted side road and they never made it to the inn. They laughed while trying to remember the last time they had undressed each other in the back of a car.

Rayna kisses him before she slides off him and moves to sit besides him.

"Babe, do you remember our first date?" she asks as they each try to find their clothes and get dressed.

Of course he remembers and she knows that. "Why are you asking, baby?" he inquires, curious about the real question behind this sudden wave of nostalgia.

"I was just thinking how we were... so young. I wasn't that much older than Scarlett." She pauses before she continues, "It's been almost one month and if your sister doesn't reappear soon, we're going to have to parent a teenager for a while. Are we prepared for that?"

"It's Scarlett. She's the opposite of the rebellious teenager cliche."

"I know, but... I want to be sure not to screw this up."

He knows where her fears come from, it's an age at which she was deprived of a parenting example to base hers upon.

"It will be fine, Ray." She doesn't look the least convinced. "It will be fine," he reiterates. "Do you trust me?"

"Sometimes."

"Ouch." She smiles though and he knows she trusts them. "Alright, I'm officially missing one sock," he says, trying to keep looking around.

"Good news is that it's somewhere in the car."

"I don't know, if it's like the washing machine, we may never find it again."

She chuckles.

"Hey, baby," he says looking at her with sudden seriousness, "it sure is really nice being the two of us."

She grabs the front of his shirt, pulling him for a long kiss.

"Time to go home."