Chapter 21
"Marry you" Andie breathed, eyes widened.
Steff gently placed a finger on her lips, and smiled softly. "Now before you get all freaked out, understand, that was not a marriage proposal."
Andie raised one eyebrow. "Not…." her voice trailed off, confusion in her eyes.
Steff continued caressing her face, gazing adoringly into her eyes. "That was me telling you that before I make love to you the first time, you're going to have to consent to be my wife." He waited a second to let that sink in. "I love you, Andie. I want to make you mine in every conceivable way. Which means…" he paused to lift her left hand to his lips, kissing her ring finger, "you wear my ring…" Steff blinked slowly, his heavy lidded eyes boring into Andie, setting her blood aflame, "and you bear my name." He kissed her softly, his eyes never leaving hers, "Mine" he breathed. "My wife."
Andie was lost in the depths of his sapphire eyes, overwhelmed with love, awash in desire. "Yours" she breathed, nodding. Steff's; yes. Yes.
"I love you, Steff" she breathed. God, yes, it was coming off of her in waves.
Steff's heart was so full, it ached. That wonderful, awful, crazy, beautiful ache you get when everything you've ever wished for your whole life is about to be yours. Forever. "I love you, Kitten" he whispered, unshed tears gathering in his eyes. He kissed her deeply, gathering her in his arms, entwining his legs in hers, getting as close to her as he possibly could. They held each other like this for who knows how long; minutes or hours, it was never long enough. At last Steff pulled back, ending the kiss. He gave Andie a slow, lazy smile that did funny things to her insides.
Andie ran a finger down Steff's chest, stopping to play for a moment in his chest hair, which she loved. She glanced up at him shyly and said hesitantly, "So…. this policy that's in place…" she paused, "does that mean everything's off the table?" Her brow furrowed, even as her fingers continued their sojourn down Steff's chest, coming to lightly trail over and across his stomach. Steff inhaled sharply in reflex, a gap forming between his pajama bottoms and his hip bones, and Andie ran her fingers deftly under the waistband. "Because we've already had quite a bit on the table; I would really hate to see all that go away" she smiled seductively.
Christ, Kitten. You're killing me. Steff placed his large hand on top of hers, dragging it back up his chest, back to less turbulent waters. "We can always negotiate terms, Kitten" he said smiling. A brilliant smile lit up Andie's face. "Good!" she whispered, "I would hate to have to resort to coercive bargaining tactics."
Steff chuckled. "I'm pretty sure that I would fold like a cheap suit, so I'm gonna ask you to continue to negotiate in a spirit of fairness." He kissed her deeply. "Although I look forward to you unleashing the magnitude of your coercive maneuvers after you're Mrs. Steff McKee."
Andie smiled, love for him radiating off her in waves. "I promise to only use my powers for good" she said solemnly, before erupting in giggles.
They kissed goodnight (which took awhile) and at last Andie rolled over, Steff following, his arm wrapped snuggly around her, spooning her. Each fell into a deep, peaceful, sweet slumber, content in each other's arms. And so, so much in love.
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The next morning Andie made them breakfast, and Steff dropped her back off at her dorm room. She was going to spend the morning in the library, working on a research paper, while Steff was headed off for a few hours of work, making deliveries.
He saw her to her door and kissed her goodbye. "You got time to get together later, Kitten?" he asked hopefully.
"Another pajama party?" she asked excitedly, eyes flashing.
"Careful, Kitten. You may end up having to make an honest man outta me sooner than you expected" he smiled.
"But we still have all those negotiations to wade through" she said seductively, reaching on tiptoes to kiss her way up Steff's neck, stopping to nibble here and there.
Steff inhaled deeply, arousal rocketing through his veins, culminating in a painfully pleasant throbbing in his loins. He nodded mindlessly, yes, yes, yes, backing Andie into the door and kissing her silly. When at last he pulled back from the kiss they were both breathing heavily, arms wrapped tightly around one another, eyes dilated, lost in desire for each other.
"Are you two ever gonna get a room?" Hairball muttered as he walked past.
Steff whispered playfully in Andie's ear, "I'm gonna ask that guy to be my best man."
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Steff finished up with his deliveries shortly before lunch and sat in his car across the street from Traxx, smoking a cigarette and trying to formulate a plan to fix things with Duckie. Can't have the little dude wanting to jump me every time he sees me and Andie together, he thought. Gotta calm that crazy little ninja down.
Steff stopped in the coffee shop a couple of doors down and ordered a couple of cappuccinos. Almost as an afterthought, he grabbed a handful of sugar packets and shoved them in this pocket. Duckie looks like somebody who has a heavy duty sugar jones, he thought speculatively. As he approached the front door to Traxx, he could hear the Everly Brothers blaring from inside. He shrugged his shoulders back, and inhaled deeply. Here we go.
Duckie was behind the front counter, manning the register, singing along to "Cathy's Clown", doing a credible job with the harmonies, as he juked around a bit, dancing absent-mindedly. Steff walked up to the counter and slid the cappuccino across to Duckie. Duckie looked up at him, startled, but with an open, pleasant expression on his face. Until he recognized Steff, that is. Duckie's spine stiffened and he stopped dancing, his hands landing on his hips, taking Steff's measure. A wary, puzzled expression landed on his features and he took a step back, glancing from the coffee to Steff, and back again.
Steff adopted a very relaxed, casual posture, leaning on the counter, sipping his coffee. They stared at each other silently for an awkward amount of time, to Steff's mind, but he wanted to give Duckie an opportunity to adjust to his sudden presence.
At last, Steff gave a hint of a smile and nodded, "Duckie."
Duckie stared at him guardedly, his hands still on his hips, but thrust his chin in the air and defiantly replied, "Steff."
Steff reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved the handful of sugar packets and placed them next to Duckie's cappuccino. Nodding toward the collection he said, "That's for you. I hope you like cappuccino."
Duckie's brow furrowed, his lips slightly pursed, staring at the coffee. He glanced up at Steff, briefly considering, then nodded, taking the lid off, and began compulsively dumping the contents of the sugar packets into the cup, one after another. Steff's eyes widened slightly when he got up to the eighth packet with no signs of stopping, but he said nothing, smiling into his coffee. Called that one right.
After Duckie had emptied all the sugar into his cup, and the counter was littered with the shredded remains of the packets, he vigorously stirred it before taking a sip. Meeting Steff's eyes at last, he said, "Thanks. Needs sugar."
Steff chuckled. "Next time I'll fill both pockets."
Duckie set the cup down on the counter and crossed his arms. Jerking his chin at Steff, he asked, "So what brings you in, Steff?"
Still in his relaxed pose against the counter, Steff bobbed his head in time to "Cathy's Clown" for a moment. Blanca had loved The Everly Brothers, had played their records all the time. Steff was therefore a big fan of a lot of music that had been recorded before he was even born. "Great tune" he commented. "You can really hear how much The Beatles ripped them off in their own early work."
Duckie was taken aback, his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You like The Everly Brothers" he said, disbelievingly.
Steff nodded, as though this should be obvious. "Oh yeah. I love anything with harmonies in it. The more intricate, the better. The Beatles, ELO, The Beach Boys… The Bee Gees" he continued nodding, "I could listen to that all day."
Duckie blinked, nonplussed.
"However, my secret ambition is to one day be able to sing like Smokey Robinson" he admitted.
Duckie's eyes clouded over, "Smokey" he agreed reverently, nodding. "Tears Of A Clown!" he said enthusiastically, bobbing up and down on tiptoes, pointing at Steff in emphasis.
"Yes" Steff smiled, agreeing. Duckie gets it. "You'll have to spin some Jackson 5 for me next time I'm in."
Duckie smiled in agreement, then seemed to remember that he and Steff weren't exactly the best of friends.
Okay, here we go. Steff continued in his easy, laid back conversational cadence, "So, I wanted to come by and apologize to you Duckie." Duckie's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I was a total ass to you back in school, and I wanted to tell you in person that I'm sorry. Really." Steff straightened and extended his hand, "I hope you'll accept my apology. I don't expect your forgiveness, but I wanted you to know that I'm sorry for the way I treated you."
Duckie automatically shook Steff's extended hand, the habit having been ingrained in American men for generations. However, his mind was reeling from Steff's declaration.
"I also wanted to thank you for what you did on Andie's behalf." Duckie raised an eyebrow, puzzled. Steff continued, "You know, jumping my ass in school and going all Chuck Norris on me."
Duckie gave a disbelieving bark of laughter.
"I would kick any guy's ass I ever heard talking about Andie like that, and I'm grateful that she had you there to defend her" Steff concluded.
Duckie blinked slowly, comprehension beginning to dawn.
A piercing voice broke through his newfound realizations, "Hey Hon! Who have we got here?"
Steff and Duckie both turned towards Iona, who was strutting up to the register, today wearing a mini-skirted blue sailor suit, complete with matching blue hat and a pink pageboy wig. Adorable.
Steff smiled, turning on the full wattage of his charm. "Iona" he nodded. The way Andie talked about her, he would know her anywhere.
Iona walked right up to him, gazing up into his gorgeous blue eyes, inhaling him delightedly, her eyes flashing, drinking him in. "Steff", she cooed, nodding in certainty. The way Andie talked about him, she would know him anywhere.
Duckie's gaze ping-ponged back and forth between them comically. "You two know each other?"
They both nodded, saying "no" simultaneously.
Iona continued to smile at him dazzlingly, leaning in and searching his eyes. "Oooooh, Andie was right. You are beautiful." She flashed a glance at Duckie, who was standing there in shock, his mouth agape. "Hon, when you get finished here I need to see you in the back for a minute, okay?" She turned to Duckie, patted his cheek, and gently closed his mouth, kissing him on the corner of his lips.
She turned to walk away and looked back at Steff. "It was nice to meet you Steff. I expect to see you and Andie real soon, okay?"
Steff nodded, smiling. The whole interaction had taken like, ten seconds, tops, but Steff felt like he had just been introduced to a force of nature called Iona. Like he was just stepping out of the eye of a storm.
As he turned back to face the thunderclouds gathering on Duckie's face, he realized, And straight into Hurricane Duckie.
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A/N: Thanks for reading! All reviews are greatly appreciated, so let me know what you think!