Hey, I'm back. Anyone want some fluff?
Chapter 9: Perfect
In the early morning hours, Kate was lying awake in bed. Her eyes were closed and she didn't move, she only concentrated on feeling the warmth that spread out from Tony's body into hers. His breathing was even. She could hear it and feel it on the crook of her neck where his face was buried. This was totally different from the nights of the past week when she had been lying awake in the night for hours and hours, feeling lonely and sad. She had cried a lot, hating herself for how she had set up an ultimatum for Tony, and had desperately wished that he would finally come back. At the same time she had told herself off because she saw herself as a modern, independent woman and didn't think that waiting desperately for a man to come back to her to make her happy was consistent with this idea. But that was exactly what she had been doing. She had stared at the phone for hours, willing it to ring, and every knock on the door had made her jump to her feet because she had hoped it might be Tony.
And then the knock had come – at 1 a.m. admittedly, but it had come. Now she was happy. Completely, utterly, can't-stop-grinning happy. And it was only because of him.
Kate moved her right arm, which was lazily draped over Tony's waist, and ran her hand up his spine and over his shoulder. For some time she enjoyed the tautness of his biceps under her hand. Tony reacted to her touch by muttering some incoherent words in his sleep and by tightening his arm around her back so that Kate was gently pressed against his body. She smiled and turned her head slightly to be able to kiss his hair. Tony often spoke in his sleep, mostly his words had something to do with work. Kate found that irresistibly cute. Now she carefully maneuvered herself some inches down the pillow until her face was on the same level as Tony's. He was still peacefully asleep and she wasn't intending to wake him – well, okay, maybe she was. But why shouldn't she have fun doing it?
Kate snuggled closer and rubbed one cheek over Tony's, feeling his scratchy stubble that made her skin tickle. She leaned in further and kissed the side of his jaw, his neck, then his shoulder. He made a deep, content noise in the back of his throat, but still didn't seem to be completely awake. Kate smiled. Her hand that was still lying on his arm moved down his ribcage, over his waist and had just reached his hip when Tony suddenly bit down on her earlobe gently and whispered: "What are you up to, woman?"
Kate chuckled and brought both hands up to cup his cheeks. "Taking advantage of my morning-after-benefits?" she answered cheekily.
"You sure it's already morning?" Tony muttered. "Seems quite dark to me."
"I'd say that's even better", she whispered. She could see Tony looking at her in the faint light that was filling the room – more from streetlamps than actual daylight. He was considering her words and obviously came to a positive conclusion because he leaned in and kissed her. It was a soft kiss, a gentle touch of their lips, full of affection and warmth. Kate melted and accepted the realization that a lot of things that she had praised herself for in the past, like not needing a man in order to lead a fulfilled life, or always being able to keep her feet on the ground even when she was emotionally involved, were becoming completely obsolete in Tony's arms. She was already so high up that she didn't even see the ground beneath her. It didn't matter. Now that she had left behind some old values, she was eager to learn something new about life – even more so because she knew that Tony would have to learn it together with her.
When they broke out of the kiss, their heads were spinning and their insides burning. They stared at each other while Kate slowly started to remember how to breathe.
"If we found it necessary to set up rules for our relationship, my first rule would be to be woken up like that every day", Tony said.
"Which would mean that you would be late for work every day", Kate added, before she gave in to the burning in her abdomen and kissed him again.
"However", Tony whispered over her lips.
"Hi, Abs."
"Tony? Is that you?" the young woman shouted into the phone.
Tony winced and held the phone away from his ear. "Yeah. What's going on? What's that noise?"
"Uh … that's nothing. Wait a second."
The mixture of music and loud voices was becoming fainter, Abby obviously was moving away from the distraction. Then she spoke again: "Okay, what's up?"
"What are you doing this evening?" Tony asked.
"I have no plans, why?"
"Because I'd like to introduce you to somebody."
"Oooh! And that somebody isn't by any chance a woman named Kate?"
Tony smiled. Of course Abby had looked right through him. "She'd like to meet you", he said simply.
"Tony!" Abby cheered. "You did it! You made your decision!"
"Yeah, I did."
"When?"
"Yesterday."
"Ooooh! It's still fresh. What did she say?"
"If you come over tonight, you can ask her yourself. What do you say? Pizza at my place, around seven?"
"Sounds good. I'll call you later for directions."
After Tony had ended the call he took the now full pot out of the coffee machine and filled his mug, then added sugar and cream. He heard the sound of the shower end and some minutes later Kate came into the kitchen wearing a bathrobe and toweling her hair. Tony handed her a mug of coffee with cream and a half spoon of sugar and got a quick kiss in return.
"I phoned Abby", he said.
"What did she say?"
"She's coming to my place tonight. It was strange though, it sounded like she was in the middle of a party."
"At ten a.m.?"
"Don't ask me." He shrugged.
Kate sat down at the kitchen table and took a sip from her coffee.
"Do you know that you don't have any food in your kitchen?" Tony asked her.
Kate smiled apologetically. "I was working a lot last week. And yesterday I came home from a double shift and was too tired to go grocery shopping."
Tony joined her at the table and watched how her wet hair fell on her shoulders in soft curls. He reached out a hand and touched a strand of it, fascinated by its texture. He bent closer. Kate smelled of soap and shampoo and she looked gorgeous coming fresh from the shower. He brushed her hair aside and kissed the side of her neck, licking away the small droplets of water that had fallen from her hair. Kate cupped his cheek to bring his face up to hers and kissed him softly.
"We could go shopping together", Tony suggested when he was sitting on his chair again. "And then we cook an early dinner."
"Sounds good." Kate smiled, then lifted her mug. "But coffee comes first", she said.
"Of course it does."
They went to the grocery shop at the corner that Kate frequented regularly. Kate had made a list of what she needed, but on the way there Tony kept listing other things that he said she needed, junk food, mostly.
"Tony, I don't eat chili enchiladas", she said, when they entered the shop.
"Why not?" he asked incredulously.
"Because that stuff does terrible things to your body. It's unhealthy."
"Then what about Snowballs?"
"That's colored sugar", she said.
"Yeah, but it's tasty colored sugar", Tony replied, unimpressed.
Kate sighed. "Go on, buy your junk food. But don't come complaining to me when you suddenly weigh two hundred and fifty pounds."
"Ha!" Tony exclaimed. "The men in my family can eat anything they want and they don't put on weight."
Kate gave him critical look with raised eyebrows and pinched him in the ribs with her right index finger. "Hmm", she hummed thoughtfully. "Are you sure this was already there when we met?" she asked.
"What?" Tony started pinching his ribs with his fingers – until he saw the mischievous glint in Kate's eyes. Glaring at her he stepped towards her, but Kate only giggled and vanished behind a shelf filled with pasta. Tony grinned. Since when was Kate willing to play childish games in public? Hehe, the hunt was on!
Tony went around the shelf the other way, but Kate was already gone. He looked around for a sign of her and heard hasty footsteps in the next corridor. He took a shortcut through the vegetable section to cut off her escape way and caught her behind the freezer. She was now caught between milk and yogurt on the left and soft drinks on the right. With no way out she lifted both hands in shoulder height.
"Truce?" she suggested, smiling sweetly at him.
"Uh-uh", Tony replied, approaching her step by step. When he was standing right in front of her he reached for her and pulled her body against his. "Gotcha", he whispered, before his lips descended upon hers.
When they finally managed to get the shopping done, they had spent more than half an hour in the small shop. The employees were already throwing annoyed looks their way because they were making a lot of noise and wouldn't stop chasing each other around the shelves. Kate felt childish, but it was a good feeling. She hadn't had so much fun in ages.
On the short way back home they calmed down a bit. They were carrying one bag each and were walking in comfortable silence. At home, Tony started preparing his mother's famous pasta sauce while Kate took care of the salad. All the while she was stealing side glances at Tony. She couldn't help herself: she had always found that men who could cook were sexy – even more so when they were willing to help with the washing up afterwards, but she wasn't sure if she could bring Tony to do it.
But then they didn't even get through to washing up because lunch ended when Kate playfully let her hand wander up Tony's thigh. He reacted by pulling her to him for a fiery kiss and she ended up straddling his lap while Tony's hands were sliding under her shirt. They soon left the table and spent the rest of lunch time in the bedroom.
In the afternoon Tony went back to his apartment to clean up before the two women would get there in the evening and Kate stayed behind at her place to do her laundry before the next working week started.
When he was gone she went into the bedroom to get the basket with her dirty laundry, but then she noticed that the bed wasn't made. Kate went over to it to straighten the duvet and put the pillows in order. But then the scent of Tony's cologne that was still lingering on the sheets made her stop what she was doing. She sat down on the bed, hugged one of the pillows and buried her face in it. It was enough to make the butterflies inside her stomach flutter, and a silly grin appeared on her face. God, she missed him even though he had just left through the door five minutes ago. Was that normal? Or was that what all the people were constantly talking about – what movies and songs and poems were about?
Still smiling, Kate put the pillow down and ran her hands over its surface. One week ago, before she had sent Tony away with her ultimatum, she had come to the conclusion that she couldn't go on with their relationship as it had been. Her feelings for Tony had become stronger and stronger, but she had known that she couldn't let herself get in too deep without having some kind of security. Of course, there never was absolute security when feelings were involved, but at least she'd had to know if Tony was serious. Now she knew he was and she finally was able to really live out the feelings that were already filling every fiber of her. It still was a huge step and there were no guarantees that it would work, but she wasn't afraid any more. On the contrary, she was so happy and felt so at ease that she would have liked to shout her feelings out into the world.
Putting the pillow back in its place she finally stood up from the bed to get her domestic chores done. Strange, even house work suddenly appeared enjoyable to her.
Kate got to Tony's place shortly after seven. While she waited for him to buzz her up in front of the door to his apartment building someone came up behind her and looked over her shoulder at the names next to the intercom. Kate only had to look at the other visitor once to know that she had just met Abby. The woman was wearing her black hair in pig tails like Tony had described it to her, her T-shirt and jacket were black and her belt buckle had the form of a skull. The best indication, perhaps, was the spiked dog collar around her neck.
Kate smiled and turned around to the other woman. "You must be Abby", she said.
"Oh, then you are Kate!" Abby said excitedly, held out a hand to her and shook it enthusiastically when Kate took it. "I'm so glad to meet you!"
"Me too", Kate replied. "I've heard a lot of stories about you."
At that moment Tony finally pressed the buzzer and Kate pushed open the door, then held it open for Abby.
"I'm so glad that things are okay between you and Tony", Abby said while they were waiting for the elevator. "But I know you'd finally work it out."
"I'm glad, too", Kate sighed. "And I'm really grateful for whatever you did or said to Tony. I think he really needed someone to talk to."
When the doors of the elevator slid open, they both stepped in and Kate pressed the button.
"It was easy", Abby said, grinning at her. "The way he's talking about you I'm sure that you are the perfect woman for him. He's really in love with you. All he needed to do was realize it – and he did that alone."
Kate smiled, but was pretty sure that she had blushed slightly. Tony in love with her? After what had happened the last time when she had asked a sign of commitment from him, she had definitely decided against pushing him into saying the words to her. After the things he had said last night she didn't need any more proof of how important she was to him. But still, Abby's words – being the judgment of a neutral person – made her kind of giddy.
They reached Tony's floor and walked down the corridor to his door. He was already waiting and smiled when he saw both of them arrive together.
"I guess you already introduced yourselves", he said.
"We've already had a nice talk", Kate replied and smiled when Abby pulled Tony into a tight hug and congratulated him for his good decision. When Abby had let him go, Kate stepped in front of Tony, lay her hands on his shoulders and kissed him lightly on the lips. He encircled her waist with his arms and playfully nibbled her bottom lip, which didn't help at all to get rid of her giddyness. But he soon let her go and they followed Abby into the apartment.
Over pizza and beer – Kate held back her comment about healthy food – they all got to know each other better by talking about their past and recent happenings in their lives. Kate would have never thought that she would learn to like the young goth so much in such a short time, but after one hour already she felt like she could tell Abby anything. The young woman was just the right amount of crazy and yet "normal" enough to do ordinary things like going on shopping trips or just hanging out with her. Also, Abby's mother sounded just like Kate's and they had a lot of fun comparing some embarrassing childhood experiences that had to do with their mothers. Soon most of the conversation was taking place between Kate and Abby and Tony kept repeating that he should have set up the meeting only between the two of them so he could've spent the evening playing pool with his friends. The third time he said that, Kate showed him why his friends could never be as good company for the evening as she by snaking one arm around his neck and placing a burning kiss on his lips. He was silent after that.
Later Kate and Abby decided to have lunch together one day of the following week and they exchanged their cell phone numbers.
"And when we meet I'll show you some of the motifs I chose for my next tattoo", Abby said excitedly. Half an hour ago she had been going on about her problems to decide what her next tattoo should look like. "I absolutely need your opinion."
An interested "Hmmm" came from Tony's direction and both women looked at him. "You know", he said slowly. "I've always thought that tattoos look extremely sexy on women – if they are in the right places."
"And these places would be?" Kate asked pointedly.
Tony grinned. "Anywhere you normally can't see it – so you have to go on exploration to look for it." Saying that he trailed one hand down Kate's back and let it rest on her hip.
Shaking her head amusedly, Kate leaned into him and relaxed against his side. "I'd like to see the motifs you've chosen so far", she said to Abby.
"Why is my opinion not being asked?", Tony now wanted to know.
"Because telling Abby that she should have your name tattooed on her body wouldn't help the matter", Kate replied dryly and twitched when Tony pinched her side.
When they walked Abby to the door later to say goodbye, Abby hugged Kate tightly and they exchanged kisses on the cheeks. Tony also got another hug and then Abby left with Kate's promise to call her the next day to arrange their lunch.
"I told you she's great", Tony said when he had closed the door behind Abby.
"And you were absolutely right", Kate said, smiling as she stepped into his open arms and leaned her cheek against his shoulder. With a deep, content sigh she closed her eyes and loosely put her arms around his waist. She felt Tony kiss the top of her head and one of his hands gently massaged the back of her neck, making her sink deeper into him and moan silently in pleasure.
After some time he put the thumb and index finger of his left hand under her chin to tilt her face up to him. When she looked into his eyes and saw the emotion in them, her breath hitched in her throat and her heart did a painful thud. She saw him come closer and her eyes fluttered shut right before their lips met. It was a soft and almost careful kiss at first but then Tony's tongue brushed over hers and she had to tighten her hold on him in order to keep her knees from giving in. She wrapped one arm around his neck to hold her up and felt how one of his arms went around her back to pull her more tightly to him.
She wanted the kiss to go on forever, but at some point she had to come up for air – feelings were making her chest so tight that she felt she couldn't breathe anymore. When Tony touched his forehead to hers, she smiled and cupped the sides of his neck with her hands. "Today was perfect", she whispered. "Everything about it."
"Yeah", Tony sighed. "Perfect days have kept coming along ever since I met you."
Kate took a deep breath to calm down her overreacting heart. How could one single man be so damn charming? For some time he only held her close and swayed her softly as if he could hear a song playing in the distance, but then he squeezed her gently and spoke again:
"I need to tell you something", he whispered into her hair and Kate nodded silently, biting her lower lip. "I want you to know that you've changed everything for me", Tony continued. "And that you made something special out of my ordinary life. And that's amazing since I never even believed in it."
"In what?" Kate asked softly.
He pressed his lips to her forehead and didn't speak for a long moment. Then he gave her a whispered answer: "Love. I didn't believe in love."
Kate held her breath, but didn't interrupt him.
"I didn't doubt that it existed, I just never believed it would happen to me – or if it happened, that it would change anything. But it does change things. It makes my life feel more important."
"It makes everything feel right", Kate added in a whisper.
Tony stroked her hair and she could feel him nod. Then he leaned back slightly and looked at her, stroking her cheek with one hand. "I love you, Kate", he said solemnly. Then he bent closer and whispered into her ear: "And I'm totally crazy about you."
Kate smiled at his boyish expression when he said these last words. She lifted a shaking hand up to his face and had to lick her dry lips before she could give him an answer.
"I love you, too", she said, and his faze lit up in the most radiant smile she had ever seen on him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground in a hug that almost squeezed the air out of her lungs. She laughed and when they kissed she stopped bothering whether her feet were on the ground or whether she was able to breathe. He loved her. And this fact made modern, emancipated Kate the happiest she had ever been.
