Rumlow/Beth
Continues from Chapter 129, Tall Dark and Dastardly.
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If you need a refresher, basically it ended up with Rumlow turning up as the sheriff in Beth's Kansas hometown.
And though Frank Grillo did indeed play a police chief in The Gates, he looked far too young, pretty and clean-shaven. I'll put a picture of that in here, but here also are a couple of manips of Sheriff Rumlow, as he appears now, to help with your visualisation of the story!
Requested by shiniest-warboy, PrincessPrettyPants, QueenIsabella, Luanaks, SoupShue, MrsBlack27, Doc, hopelesslygeeky, Omoidashu, Elliesmeow, ashtreeowl, darklou91, mnemosynes_tears, Ellibell, Artemis_Day, bloominidiot, Shingalala, Maejae, Lvngd, Voldemort's Dark Lady, Isla_Singer, SoupShue and MintChipandBooks.
Brock was just bending his head to kiss Beth - and she was just preparing to melt into his arms - when the phone in his pocket rang. She jumped back, eyes wide, and he cursed and fished it out.
"Rumlow," he said curtly, listened for a moment, frowning, his lips tightening as he looked at Beth. "All right. Hold her there. I'll be there in ten." Hanging up, he slid the phone back into his pocket. "Beth, I'm sorry. I'm on duty. I stopped by because - well, because I wanted to see you, and Shelby was very insistent…" he looked slightly bemused, making Beth grin.
"She's trying to set you up with a nice local girl."
"Oh," he blinked, and then laughed. "Are you gonna tell her that we're soulmates? How will you explain the fact that you didn't know I was here?"
"I'll tell her I thought you wouldn't want to give up your big-city career, and that I knew I didn't want to stay. That we fought and I thought it was over. She'll assume you've made a grand romantic gesture, changing careers…"
"Well, technically, I did," Brock shrugged with a little smirk.
Beth hesitated. "It - your former career - you once said that you couldn't risk anyone coming after me to get to you…"
"Nobody will, Beth. There's nobody left to come after me." He took a deep breath, looked up at the night sky. "After we first met, I knew I couldn't carry on as I had been. I tracked down Nick Fury, the former head of SHIELD - who isn't dead, contrary to news reports. Turned double agent. Triple agent, I suppose, technically… anyway." He shrugged, looking back at her. "It's over. This," he swept a hand around, "is my version of the Witness Protection Program. I just got to pick where I went and what I did."
She nodded, understanding. "It's all right, Brock. I get that you don't want to talk about it, that you - used to work for bad people. Thank you."
"What for?"
"For changing sides."
He closed his eyes as though in pain, and then reached out to take her hand, lifting it to his lips, kissing her fingertips. "I should never have been on the wrong side in the first place, Beth. I've done my best to atone…"
"It's all right." Stepping closer, she lifted her free hand to lightly brush her fingers over his stubbled cheek.
They were staring into each others' eyes again, and this time Beth was sure he was going to kiss her.
The interruption this time came from her brother. "Elizabeth Ann Jackson, you better not be about to kiss that man on my front porch!"
"I'm going to fucking kill him," Beth muttered under her breath as Brock stepped back, laughing. He tipped his hat to Derek, who saluted him with a beer bottle, before heading down the steps and going to his police cruiser.
No sooner had the car pulled out of the driveway before both her other brothers and their wives were all over her, demanding to know what was going on.
"He's my soulmate," she admitted, laughing at their excited enthusiasm. "We met in New York…"
"And you didn't tell us?" Shelby screeched.
"I didn't think it would ever work out. He had a big-city career, and he's a New Yorker, from Queens - and I knew I didn't want to stay." She remembered that tiny snippet Brock had told her once when she was ill. He'd sung a lullaby in Italian, surprising her, and when pressed admitted that he came from Italian roots in Queens, though he had no close family still living.
"He threw it in for you, that's so romantic," Derek said, his tone mocking, and fled as all the women turned on him.
"It is romantic, don't listen to him! Oh, I knew it, I knew you two would be perfect for each other," Shelby chattered, grabbing Beth's arm and steering her back inside. "Another wedding in the family, how wonderful, we can hold it at the homestead…"
"Whoa, whoa!" Beth laughed at her sister-in-law's jumping the gun. "That's a long way off, Shel! We really barely know each other. It still might not work out…"
"Elizabeth Ann, you better get a ring on that man's finger as soon as possible. I swear, every unmarried woman in town has been sniffin' round our new sheriff, and not a few married ones as should know better!"
Beth stopped laughing, a sudden pang of jealousy twisting her stomach into a knot. "Really?"
"Oh come on have you looked at him?" Charlotte scoffed. "Any woman alive would want to tap that. Not that he's shown the slightest bit of interest. And now we know why." Her smirk was the slightest bit vicious. "Josie Lamont was swearin' up and down that she'd catch his eye."
Her high school nemesis, and a large part of the reason she'd left Kansas in the first place. There was a nasty cold lump in Beth's throat. "I thought Josie married Barry Caulfield?"
"She did, and she divorced him not six months later. But I don't think you've got anything to worry about, sugar," Shelby hugged her happily. "I saw the way that man was lookin' at you."
"Yeah, like he wanted to eat you alive!" Charlotte giggled, and Beth flushed red with embarrassment.
"I think you've both been at the wine."
"It is a party," her third sister-in-law, Claire, the quietest of the three, smiled at her. "Your party. So come on, guest of honour. Now we've got your love life sorted out, let's get to having some fun. We've missed you, Beth."
She couldn't help but smile fondly at them and let them draw her in, Charlotte pressing a glass of wine into her hand. "All right, all right. Now tell me, when did Jacob Junior get so big, Clare? I swear he's all the way up to my shoulder!"
Her brother Jacob walked her home after the party ended. All three of her brothers had begged her to move in with their families when she told them she was coming home, but Beth had put her foot firmly down. She had a small legacy from their grandmother, had asked them to find her something nice, and had returned home to find a lovely little house, freshly decorated and even furnished, just a few streets from the town centre. She was fairly sure it had cost a whole lot more than her legacy had been, but none of her family would even discuss it. She even had a choice of jobs waiting for her when she was ready; Jacob's receptionist at his vet practice was leaving, and Thomas claimed he always needed more salespeople at the feed store.
"I'm glad you're home, Beth," Jacob said, startling her from her reverie. "And Sheriff Rumlow, he seems like a good guy."
"I hope so," Beth said with a smile. "It's good to be home."
Jacob gave her a hug, walked her all the way to her front door and saw her inside before setting off down the path again. Beth closed the door and locked it, smiling to herself, kicking out of her high heels and turning to switch the light on.
Brock was sitting on her couch.
She almost screamed, but managed to suppress it. "You have got to stop doing this to me!"
"Hey," he smirked at her. "I'm not pointing a gun at you this time."
"You ass!" Unable to help a grin at his cheeky reference to their first meeting, she walked over to him, straddled his legs and sat down on his lap. Brock's smirk widened to a proper smile.
"Sorry if I gave you a fright, beautiful."
"I might be persuaded to forgive you." Beth smiled at him - and suddenly noticed the lipstick on his neck, as he tipped his face up to look at her. She stiffened, even as his hands slid to her waist.
"What is it?" Brock, alert to her every expression, saw the suddenly wooden look on her face.
"Where did you go, from the party?"
"The police station. I told you I was. I just got off duty fifteen minutes ago, thought I'd come over here and see if you were still awake. When I realised you weren't back yet, I thought I'd wait for you. Beth, what is it?" She was withdrawing from him, and Brock didn't have a clue why. "What's the matter?"
Wary blue eyes studied him before she said "Brock, you've got lipstick on your neck. And I know I didn't put it there."
"What? Oh for God's sake, that stupid bitch," he slapped a hand at his neck, wiped ineffectually at the mark. "Beth, it's this silly woman, she's why I got called away. Got picked up DUI and told one of my men that she was a personal friend of mine."
Beth studied him a moment before taking the handkerchief he'd fished from his pocket and wiping the fuschia-pink smear away for him. "And is she?"
"No, I've met her all of twice before! Silly bitch. Anyway, the moment I walked in she practically threw herself at me. Slobbered all over me." He made a disgusted face.
"And?"
"So I booked her for the DUI, added a charge of wasting police time, and left her to sober up in the cells."
Beth grinned at that, relaxing a little bit. "I don't suppose her name was Josie Lamont?"
"Yes! How could you know that?" Brock looked startled.
"Charlotte told me she'd been makin' a fool of herself over you." Beth ducked her head a bit sheepishly. "That girl made my teenage years a misery. And I'm quite sure she wouldn't balk at stealin' another woman's soulmate."
Suddenly understanding, Brock smiled. He reached up, put one big hand to Beth's cheek. "She never had a chance with me," he told her gently. "There's never going to be anyone else but you for me, Beth. Not ever."
Beth melted at the sincerity in his eyes, his voice. She swayed towards him unconsciously and he pulled her close, one strong arm wrapping around her, his other hand tangling in her thick blonde hair. He said her name once, hoarsely, just before their lips met.
He'd dreamed of this moment for so long that he could hardly believe it was actually happening. Beth, his Beth, on his lap, in his arms, kissing him back just as hungrily as he kissed her, her slender fingers running into his hair and gripping tightly. She was feeling possessive, he realised suddenly as she wrapped herself around him like a clinging vine, and gloried in the feeling.
She'd also had a little too much to drink. He could taste the wine in her mouth. And while he wanted nothing more than to take her to bed, make her his just as much as he already was hers, she was almost certainly past the point of informed consent. With an inaudible, resigned sigh, Brock tugged Beth gently off his lap and snuggled her into his side, petting her hair and talking inane nonsense to her until her deep breathing and softly relaxed muscles told him that she was fast asleep.
Beth woke up in her own bed, quite alone, and with a pounding headache. Groaning, she rolled over and squinted at the clock, only to find it obscured by a glass of water with a folded sheet of paper propped up against it.
Shoving herself upright, she smiled to see the Tylenol packet beside the glass. She washed two down with the water before unfolding the note.
You look beautiful when you sleep, angel. I'll see you later on. B.
Smiling to herself, hugging her pillow, Beth snuggled down into bed - before suddenly deciding that she'd like to go and surprise Brock at work. Maybe take him something. Cookies…
Five minutes later she was in the shower washing her hair while the oven heated up, and an hour after that she was walking into the police station with a spring in her step and a pan of still-warm brownies in her hands.
Just as Brock was escorting Josie Lamont out.
"Brock, this is all a misunderstandin'," Josie was claiming. "Do let me make it up to you. Come around to my place this evenin', I'll cook you dinner. I make a mean pot roast." She fluttered long eyelashes up at Brock, put a hand tipped with clawlike, garishly painted false nails on his arm.
Beth saw red. "Proposition my soulmate again and I'll turn you into pot roast," she snapped.
Josie's mouth fell open as she saw Beth. Brock grinned and stepped forward, pulling his arm away from Josie. "Darling. You made it," taking the pan of brownies from her hands, he passed it to the gaping desk sergeant, seized Beth by the waist, bent her back over his arm and didn't stop kissing her until long after Josie had stormed out of the building.
By the time he let her up for air almost the entire police department had turned up to watch and were cheering and clapping loudly. Scarlet-cheeked, Beth hid her face against Brock's chest, but he only laughed, pulling her past the cheering crowd and into the back, into his office, where he closed the door and locked it.
"Thank God you turned up, beautiful. I had the terrible feeling that she was about to turn into the Mother from Alien and bite my head off."
"She's the only person who's ever tempted me to violence," Beth confessed.
"I can see why." Brock grinned down at her, edging her back against the wall. "Don't think I'm only glad to see you because you got rid of her once and for all, though." His eyelids drooped, giving him a hungry, sensual look, his voice lowered to a smoky rasp.
"Damn right I did," Beth agreed breathlessly. That look. She felt as though she was about to melt into a puddle at his feet. "You're mine. She's not getting anything from you."
"Except in handcuffs if she gives me any more trouble."
"No!" Beth said, before her brain caught up with her mouth.
"Hmm?" Brock arched an eyebrow at her curiously. She looked away, cheeks burning a dull red again. "Wait. Are you saying… you'd be jealous if I put my handcuffs on her?"
She couldn't make a sound come out.
"Well, well, well," Brock purred against her neck as she kept her face resolutely turned away from him. "That's an interesting tidbit."
Beth could feel just how interesting he found it. Considering how firmly he had her pressed against the wall with his body. That hard, magnificently muscled body which had been haunting her dreams ever since their first meeting. She whimpered in her throat as he nibbled on her neck.
"I like the idea of having you handcuffed and at my mercy," Brock murmured in her ear. "Shall I put them on you now?"
Beth heard the clink as Brock pulled the cuffs from his belt. Her knees went weak and she clutched at him for support, only catching hold of his shirt as he moved back. A moment later the cuffs snapped onto her wrists and she looked up at him wide-eyed.
"Any time you want me to take these off, all you have to do is say so, sweetheart," Brock reassured her. "Okay?"
A little nervous, Beth nodded; but she could already feel herself beginning to bubble between her legs. Brock glanced around the office, tugged on the cuffs to draw her over to his desk. Closed the laptop on it and shoved it to one side before sitting down in the big office chair and drawing Beth down to sit on his lap, facing away from him.
"Hands on the desk, Miss Jackson," he ordered, and she shivered at the note of command in his voice, obeying him hastily. "That's it. I'm gonna pat you down now. Make sure you aren't carrying any concealed weapons."
Beth sucked in a shaky breath as his hands smoothed down over her shoulders lightly. It was a hot day; she'd worn only a little strappy sundress that buttoned all the way down the front, so it was bare skin his firm palms were sliding over. Goosebumps sprang up in the wake of his touch, especially as he began to kiss the top of her back at the same time, warm lips pressing slow heated kisses from her nape working down her spine.
"No weapons, officer," she said, her voice high and shaky.
"I don't know about that. These are some pretty dangerous curves," his hands landed on her waist, moved up and forwards to cup her breasts. Squeezed gently at her nipples through the thin cotton.
Beth whimpered helplessly as Brock's deft fingers flicked open a button. Then another, and a third, spreading the top of her dress open, baring her breasts, since she'd forgone wearing a bra. He pulled her back against his chest, looking down over her shoulder as he rolled both nipples between finger and thumb.
"Fuck but you're beautiful," Brock muttered brokenly against Beth's neck as she relaxed into him, gave herself trustingly over to him. Her nipples were plump as cherries, stiff and raspberry-pink against his tanned fingers, obviously sensitive since she was writhing and gasping as he played with them.
"Is… is that a gun in your pocket, officer, or are you just pleased to see me?" Beth gasped out, writhing in his lap, wiggling her hips against the rock-hard erection she could feel through his pants.
"Oh, I am very fuckin' pleased to see you, sweetheart, don't you ever doubt it." He wanted to taste her too badly, lifted her up and turned her around despite her cry of protest, seating her on the edge of his desk and scooting his chair forward to seat himself between her thighs.
"Ohhhh…" Beth gasped as his heated mouth closed over one aching nipple, drawing it deep into his mouth for a long hard suck, even as his fingers plucked and pinched at the other. "Brock," she panted his name, hooking her cuffed hands behind his head and holding him to her. "Hnnn. Ahhhh!"
"Lay back," he ordered suddenly, reaching behind his head to grab her hands, pulling them up. Standing up, he tipped her steadily backwards until she was flat on her back on the desk, hands above her head.
Beth looked utterly stunning, wanton, breasts revealed by the open top of her dress, her blue eyes heavy-lidded, golden hair spilling around her. She looked like Brock's every wet dream come true. He just stared at her for a long moment, gazing his fill, until she lifted a small foot and poked him in the chest.
"Hadn't you better finish your search, Officer?"
He smiled, catching her foot in his hand. She was wearing pretty tan-coloured sandals, strappy with a little kitten heel. Unfastening the strap, he eased the shoe off, let it fall to the floor.
"Could be something lethal hidden in these. Definitely have to confiscate them."
"Indeed?" Beth let him take the other foot, remove that shoe as well. His fingers glided up the inside of her calves, making her shiver. "Surely you don't think I could be dangerous."
"I think you're lethal - to my peace of mind." He stroked the back of her knees lightly before smoothing his hands up the outside of her thighs. Her skirt pushed up ahead of his questing hands, and Beth let out a moan as he leaned forward and warm breath played over her knees.
"Definitely some very dangerous weapons here," Brock rasped out, stroking Beth's thighs. Her skin was silky-soft under his roughened fingertips, and she smelled fresh and clean, like summer rain, a balm to his senses. "Very. Dangerous. Yeah."
His eyes were glazed with need as he stared down at her, strong hands shaking a little as he reached to undo the rest of the buttons on her dress, spreading it open and gazing down at her worshipfully. She wore only a pair of pale blue cotton panties under the dress, a damp spot already showing at her core.
"Oh sweet merciful God." That spot, that evidence of her arousal, broke Brock utterly, and he bent to bury his face between Beth's legs. She moaned, hooking her thighs over his shoulders and pressing her heels against his back to pull him closer.
Her panties ripped like paper under his strong fingers, leaving nothing to shield her from his attentions, from his eagerly questing tongue. Not that she would have wanted that; she wanted nothing between them, and he was still wearing too many clothes.
"Brock," she whimpered as his tongue dragged over her clit, teasingly slow. He reached up to squeeze and roll her nipples in his fingertips, the cotton of his shirtsleeves dragging over her sides, rough to her inflamed senses. "Shirt. Please. Shirt."
Face buried in soft golden curls, eagerly lapping at Beth's slick flesh, it took him a moment to realise what she wanted. Taking his hands from her breasts but keeping his mouth busy, he fumbled at the buttons of his shirt, almost dragging it off, before pulling back briefly to yank the T-shirt he was wearing underneath off over his head.
Beth groaned as he returned to her, heated skin against her legs now. She wanted to see him, see the thick, defined muscles she knew had to be underneath his clothes, but she couldn't even get her eyes to open right now as his agile tongue lapped and slurped. A thick finger probed for entrance, gathering slick before jabbing inside her, thrusting in a quick motion, rubbing over the ring of sensitive nerves at the mouth of her vagina.
"Holy fuuuuck," Beth arched up off the desk with a gasp, and Brock chuckled against her and added another finger, crooking them up and flicking them in a beckoning motion.
She had to bring her cuffed hands to her mouth and stuff one fist into her mouth to muffle the wracking screams. While the police station was a sturdy, modern brick building, she somehow didn't think the office was likely to be soundproof, and she really didn't need the whole department to hear them.
Brock hummed with pleasure, tongue swirling around her labia as Beth's inner passage clenched on his fingers. She was wet, and getting wetter with his ministrations, but so tight. Just thinking about having her clenching around his cock like that made his already-hard cock twitch with need.
The delicate squeezing ripple of her internal muscles slowed and he gentled his strokes, easing her down from the orgasm. Lifting her down from the desk into his lap, her cuffed hands around his neck, her dress hanging uselessly behind her, he held her close. She laid her cheek on his shoulder and sighed against his throat, her whole body gone soft and supple with release.
"Mmm," Beth hummed against Brock's neck, "thank you."
He laughed quietly. "No need to thank me for that, angel. My pleasure, I assure you, to see you come like that. You are glorious."
She lifted her head, cast an appreciative look down his bared, thickly muscled torso. "Likewise. Get your pants off."
"Something you want?" he chuckled quietly.
"Yes, and your gunbelt is digging into me."
"I'm not sure that's just my gunbelt, angel…"
She laughed at his wicked grin. "Sounds like a variation on the old joke. Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?"
"My gun ain't in my pocket, and I am very pleased to see you." He stood, necessarily pulling her up as well, since she couldn't unlink her arms from around his neck. Not that Beth was objecting to that in the slightest as her breasts were pressed against his hard chest. His hands slid in between them, worked the buckle on the belt before he unzipped his pants, toeing his boots off at the same time.
"Just take a step back, angel," Brock murmured as his pants and shorts fell to the floor. "My wallet's in my desk drawer."
She frowned, puzzled.
"Condom. Gotta protect you."
"Oh," the soft, adoring look in her eyes absolutely destroyed him. He had to kiss her, loving the way she kissed him back eagerly, uncaring that his mouth tasted of her. He lifted her to sit on the edge of the desk, fumbling for the drawer and his wallet and the condom he knew was in it. She hooked her legs around his waist, looking down at his cock, jutting eagerly towards her - drawing in a soft breath as she saw the words written on his stomach.
Oh.
"Maybe you should lie back again. Or turn over," Brock suggested, realising that she almost certainly wasn't ready to bond with him yet, and if he took her like this there was no way they'd be able to avoid the marks meeting.
Instead of lifting her hands to bring them over his head, she gripped two handfuls of his thick black hair instead, tugged hard to bring his mouth to hers.
"Not unless you really want me to," Beth whispered after she let Brock up from the kiss. He looked a little dazed, one hand resting on the desk by her hip above the open drawer, the other at the small of her back. "Because I want the bond. I want to be yours."
It was his turn to make an inarticulate, needy sound, his dark eyes fiercely loving as he gazed at her. Quickly he glanced down, scrabbled in his wallet for the condom.
Beth moaned needily, hooked her ankles around his waist as he rolled the condom on hastily. Brock was a little disgusted to note that his hands were shaking a little, like a teenager with his first crush, he thought ruefully, trying to pull himself together. Feeling Beth clinging to him, trying to pull him into her, wanting their bond, would have broken any man, though, he thought. He finally got the condom on securely and put his hands to her hips.
"You sure?"
For answer she only tightened her hands in his hair, pulling him greedily in for another kiss, even as her slender legs tugged him closer, hips rolling against him as his cock slid easily in her soaked channel.
Beth sighed with pleasure, hitching her legs further around Brock's lean hips, ankles crossing as she pulled him slowly into her. He stilled, letting her set the pace at which she took him, watching her flushed face as she bit down on her lower lip, eyes closing with pleasure as his cock sank deep inside her.
"You are so beautiful," he said wonderingly, hardly able to breathe with how good she felt wrapped around him. "God, Beth, what the hell did I ever do to deserve you?"
She laughed breathlessly and shook her head, unable to talk just then. Rocking her hips forward to take him the last little bit inside her, she cried out as their soulmarks met and a bolt of pleasure rippled through her - not her pleasure, she realised, but Brock's.
"Yes, oh Jesus! Beth!" Brock shouted, every muscle tensing suddenly, his hands clenching on Beth's ass, holding her tightly against him as he surged, hips snapping up hard in short, brutal thrusts. The handcuff chain scraped at the back of his neck, her nails clawed at his shoulders, but he felt no pain, only the pleasure that overwhelmed them both.
"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Beth panted against Brock's neck as they came slowly down. His hands were like an iron clamp on her hips, holding her utterly still, tightly against him. He kissed her brow tenderly, hands slowly unclenching, one of them moving up to stroke her back in a slow, gentle sweep. She sighed and relaxed against him, letting her weight fall against his chest.
Brock chuckled softly as he felt Beth slump against him, took her weight easily and stepped back, glancing behind him for his chair and sitting down in it. "You okay, angel?" he petted her hair gently.
"Mmhm," she mumbled into his neck, "so very much more than just okay."
He hummed in contended agreement, kept stroking her hair, breathing in the clean, summery scent of it. Until she lifted her head and gave him a cat-got-the-cream smile.
"Do you think your officers left us any of those brownies?"
He couldn't help but laugh. "I doubt it, angel. Why, are you hungry?"
Beth widened her big blue eyes at him innocently. "I seem to have worked up a bit of an appetite, somehow." Deliberately, she wiggled a little in his lap, giggled as he groaned.
"I think we'd better go find you some food then, honey." Brock grinned, lifting a protesting Beth's hands over his head and then her off his lap. "You're gonna need the energy," he advised, with a wicked pat to her bottom.
She looked back over her shoulder at him and winked. "So are you," she sassed, pulling the front of her dress back together and starting to button it. "Are you gonna let me out of these cuffs?"
"I'm tempted not to," he confessed, stepping back into his pants and pulling them up, "but I really don't need to give my subordinates any more gossip fuel than we already have."
Beth grinned up at him, holding her wrists out towards him as he fished the handcuff key from a pocket. "I really, really hope these walls are soundproof."
The cuffs clicked open and he smirked down at her. "Well if they ain't, at least the gossip will be all over town in five minutes!"
Picking up her ruined panties Beth arched an eyebrow at him before tossing them in the bin and turning to sashay out of his office while he was still pulling his shirt back on. "Looks like you're getting used to small-town life in Kansas, Brock Rumlow!" she called over her shoulder.
"Darlin', I'll get used to anything at all as long as it's with you," he caught up with her in the middle of the bullpen, caught her round the waist and spun her into his arms for another thorough kiss.
"All right, all right, think you've marked your territory well enough, chief!" someone called out amidst laughter, and Brock let Beth up with a smile.
"And don't you lot ever forget it," he directed a mock glare around at his officers.
"Yes, sir!" came the laughing chorus in response.
"Should we start calling her Mrs Rumlow now, sir?" one wag called.
"Anderson, you cannot propose to my soulmate for me, you imbecile," Brock shook his head, but Beth could see the teasing smile at the corner of his lips. "Besides, I have to brave her brothers first!"
"We'll just arrest them all and cuff them to the church benches sir!"
Beth couldn't hold her laughter in any longer. She leaned against Brock, cackling helplessly as the good-natured banter continued, Brock giving as good as he got, completely unembarrassed. At last he called a halt with an upraised hand and a broad grin.
"Fun though this has been, ladies and gentlemen, I need you to get back to work because your sheriff is about to play hooky. I'm taking Miss Jackson to lunch."
As he ushered Beth outside, he murmured "Though we might need to stop by your place for you to get some more underwear or I'll get completely distracted."
She smiled lovingly up at him. "Darling. If we stop by my place we won't end up going out for lunch."
Brock tilted his head consideringly. "Well, I do make a mean grilled cheese."
"I love grilled cheese." She hugged happily close to him as he walked her to his car.
"I love you," he responded, his voice low and deep, and they stopped to kiss yet again in the middle of the parking lot.
Next up to be written is Bucky/Bobbi, as voted for by SwifteForeverAndAlways, TZF59, BuckyBarnes4Evah, MCUFan34, MockingJayBird, kingofnightmaresanddragons, BirdieBird, rockstar382, , FNLfan, miss_moonstone, Lia, Kat, AssassinsCreeder, Ducky Barnes, 8ucky8arnes, redheadeddevastastion, Prudii_Aden, Greennonmonster, I'mAWizard, TribunalWill, 300Fans, Jocasta Silver, Jimpix, RunawayArchivist, CM200, superhero_heart, Kristopher, PnkGrnYllwBlu, TreeOfLifeFruit, yapper444, BurningHouse, PsychoPurple, AlekWalker, BoatsBoat, BoyMan, WinterBird4Life, BlueLightening, Kittens, AvengersFan83, paksiegurlie, DestinedTime and BetOnit. Wow, looks like there are a lot of Winterbird fans out there! I'm amazed this ship doesn't have more fics yet, but oh well, give it time!
As always, PLEASE check the next chapter for the voting list and make sure you haven't already voted for the ship you choose next!