And another... We're getting closer. And I'm getting impatient. Expect at least daily updates, because the story is almost finished now.
34. San Francisco - Wednesday
Eli groaned as she walked into the kitchen, following the smell of fresh coffee and crisped up croissants.
Sara had opened up the huge glass front, sunshine floated through the whole ground floor and she sat in a deckchair on the patio, a woolen cardigan draped around her shoulders, sipping her coffee while she read a magazine.
After fishing her smokes out of a drawer, Eli poured herself some coffee, too, snatched a croissant out of the bread basket and joined Sara outside.
As she heard the padding of naked feet on the wooden floor, Sara lifted her head up from the pages and promptly received an upside down kiss as Eli bent down over her.
"Morning, sunshine."
"Mh, do that again."
Eli closed in again and as their lips touched Sara reached out and ran her hand through Eli's hair down to her neck, keeping her in place as she deepened the kiss.
"Good morning to you, too." She smiled as she let go and Eli rounded her, stood on the edge of the patio, looked out over her overgrown garden and lit up.
Sara grinned and patted the canvas chair beside her.
"Why don't you sit down?"
Eli turned and pursed her lips to a scowl as she looked into Sara's twinkling eyes.
"I'd rather stand."
Sara snickered, got up and as she approached Eli she pinched her girlfriend's pajama bottoms clad ass none too softly.
"Whoa!" Eli shrieked and swatted Sara's lingering hand away.
"Don't you dare do that again."
She rubbed the once again offended spot and puffed a small cloud of smoke into Sara's direction, knowing she hated that.
"Ugh, that's disgusting." Sara retreated a step.
"And pinching me was mean."
"How bad is it?" Sara asked while she softly and appreciatively ran her hand over Eli's backside.
Eli chuckled.
"It's fine, actually. There's a different reason why I can't really sit comfortably. I told you I was going to be sore."
"Eli, was that your first time with a-"
"My first time getting fucked that way? Oh, yes, it was. Me-" She pointed at herself. "-usually the one on the other side of that thing. Much more comfortable but also much less satisfying. You've done that before, love, and you sure know how to use it."
She stated with a sly grin that made Sara's heart beat faster.
Eli crushed the cigarette in a flower box as Sara embraced her from behind.
"What's the plan for today?"
"Other than taking you back inside and making you pay? How about a little gardening?"
Sara kissed Eli's neck just above the shirt collar and smiled as goose bumps started to cover the area.
"Your hair is getting kinda long."
Eli paused.
"Erm, wasn't I just talking about gardening?"
"Yeah, and those hedges and the grass made me think that you also need a cut."
Shaking her head at the strange mental leap, Eli snuggled back into Sara's arms.
"I thought I'd let it grow a bit. The short hair makes me look so hard. I'm not like that. I'm not a carbon copy of a butch."
"You're most certainly not. You're Eli Trent, hard-assed Detective, incredibly intelligent law enforcement professional, an amazing friend, a devoted, honest and caring partner, a beautiful, stunning, sexy woman and a firecracker between the sheets. And I like the short hair, it looks good on you, it suits you, so does the way you dress. Don't put any labels on yourself. I don't like any categorizations for people, everyone is supposed to be an individual, just sharing a sexual orientation and a certain form of appearance doesn't mean you're alike. And by the way, I also like it that for once you have bed hair, too, when you get up. It looks so cute. So maybe do let it grow just a little bit longer."
"Sara?"
"Yeah?"
"A beautiful, stunning, sexy woman? Really?"
"You do recall that a I fell for you before, huh? It's only now that I noticed how different those feelings were back then. You were the badass, the show-off and it was my privilege to be the only one to see a different side of you. That was what attracted me most. But I can absolutely not deny that I thought you were incredibly sexy. You had an ass that's to die for. And you were lean, but muscular, you played soccer, not football or basketball though you're that tall. Speaking of basketball, remember Jason Greenway?"
"The pointguard? Yeah I do, I had... Oh, I'm not going to tell you that, it's ancient history."
Sara laughed and bit softly into the nape of Eli's neck.
"You're not going to believe this, because I know what you were about to say. While you, my dear, distracted his pretty, but very boring trophy-girlfriend, I had a very fun time with Jason. Remember he studied Physics, too. He was smart, and not at all the sports-hunk he portrayed to maintain his status among his friends. He was such a geek and one thing led to another and suddenly... Well, I'm not proud of it because we went behind his girlfriend's back, but he was hot."
"Really, Sara? So that's what you did all the times you said you had to study, huh?"
"Yeah, I always had really, really good sex with really handsome guys when I said I was learning. On astrophysics textbooks. Sweaty, hot sex with guys."
"Oh god, was it that good? No, don't tell me."
Sara snickered.
"Oh, he was good and there were several repeat performances."
"I knew you had guys in college. I just always thought you liked girls better."
"Oh, I did. That doesn't mean I didn't have men. I've never been very adventurous, but I'm no saint either. On the other hand I've always pegged you for the type who'd never sleep with a man. What changed when Leonard came along? Why did you two hook up? It seems so strange to imagine when I see the two of you together. You're like siblings. The thought of you and him having sex... Weird. Though he is a very good-looking guy."
"We already knew each other some years before it started. A lot had changed after Harvard. I was lonely, so was he, we knew each other like the back of our hands, we shared everything. It took him a while to get through to me, but once I trusted him, we spoke about everything. We never kept secrets from the other. The sex part came unexpectedly. It was a lot about loneliness and comfort. And he really is the only man I've ever felt physically attracted to. We were safe. We couldn't fall in love, we already loved each other. And we were in love with other people. Me, I had the memory of you, and he had-"
"Aurora." Sara finished the sentence. She knew the story from the other side, from Norah and Corinne.
"Yeah. It's strange how everything is connected. Anyway, one night I kissed him, it was a bet. I ended up crashing at his place and I was- I was horny as hell, I hadn't had sex in forever. He was- careful and so attentive. And he took his time with me, I never had a man look at me like that before. He, too, saw the woman that lay beneath the surface. It was so good."
"Hey!" Sara nudged Eli a bit.
"But it was! You know that sex is different when you really love someone. Nothing can compete with that feeling. But Leonard was a great lover. So it became a kind of a habit. Sometimes we just slept in the same bed, enjoying the safety and comfort of having someone in your arms. Other times we had sex. Until we noticed that we had stopped looking for something real. We'd never get over the past if we kept on with it. So we decided to try and find people who we really loved. Move on. I think if we had fallen for each other, I might as well have been married by now."
"You would've married him? Really, Eli?"
Eli just nodded.
"I guess so. I would have looked stunning in a white pantsuit, don't you think? I'd been thinking about that a lot then. It would've been so easy. No more heartache, no more regrets. Being with someone whom I trusted, knew and loved. But just not the right way."
"Thank goodness for that."
"Oh yes. I'd be filing divorce now."
"Because of me?"
"Of course. Even if it had gone differently, the moment I'd seen you again it would have been you anyway."
"But everything's just fine the way it is now. Leonard seems more than happy with Cath and I got you. And I don't intend to ever let you go again."
"Mh, I love to hear that. But this conversation started somewhere else, didn't it? I still want to hear why I was and am a beautiful, stunning and sexy woman. An ass to die for? Don't think I forgot."
"You know that you looked good in college. If I hadn't been so drunk and angry as we met again, that time at Sweets, I would have noticed how much you'd changed. You looked almost haggard if I remember right. Worn out."
"Whereas you looked incredible that night. Tanned, you had put on some weight, a bit more than today, more muscles. Really sexy. I had a hard time concentrating on what you were yelling at me."
"I was really happy at that time. I had a relationship that went well, I had just gotten the offer to become a CSI, I worked dayshift then, went surfing on my days off."
"I had a tough time. Police training, masters degree, I was working or learning, 24/7. I'd lost my appetite, I'd started jogging and stopped going to the gym. Leonard had to drag me out. And then I saw you and everything came back to me. Hit me like a ton of bricks. The guilt, the fear and you looking like you did, beautiful, but so full of hate. I would have let you punch me again. I would have done anything you'd have told me to do."
"But you played it so cool. Just wiped my comments off you and left. Having seen you like that was another reason why I was so stunned when I saw you next, in that suite at the Bellagio. All grown up, the clothes, your posture, you looked healthy and strong again with the additional weight, and being a Detective. I couldn't believe it."
"When was the first time you really looked at me again, Sar?"
"I don't really know. It wasn't like one could overlook you when you were around. And I really tried to ignore you. I think the day before you got shot I caught myself staring at your ass. And thinking something along: for all that it's worth, that backside has never, ever looked better."
"So you don't think I should lose some pounds?"
"Don't you dare. I love your curves."
"Flatterer!"
"Just telling you the truth."
"So both times you fell for my softer side and my ass?"
"No, that was in college. This time I fell for the whole package, Detective! That ass is a bonus."
"I'm never taking an elevator or escalator again. Gotta keep that thing in shape as long as possible."
Sara laughed and pressed closer into Eli's back.
"I'll remind you of that when you try to take half of Jenny's bakery back to Vegas."
"Oh, but who knows when we're gonna be back? I ordered a bunch for Monday morning. You can freeze those brownies and warm them up in the oven, put some vanilla ice cream on top-"
Sara rose one eyebrow, turned Eli in her arms and smirked at her.
"Vanilla, huh? I thought we were past that taste?"
Eli paused, let go of Sara and glared at her girlfriend in surprise. She seemed so relaxed about it today. Had she already made up her mind? It sure seemed that way.
"You, three seconds headstart. And when I get you, I'll show you what other kinds of workout are on my mind. You'd better skip a salad for some cake, too, I'll wear you out."
Eli caught up with Sara on the threshold of the bathroom. The drum of the water couldn't drown out the sounds that proved Eli made good of her warning.
A couple of hours later Eli carried bags and bags of potting soil into the garden while Sara fueled the lawn mower up.
"You sure we'll come back soon enough to take care of the garden before it's turned jungle again?" She asked Eli as she wiped the sweat off her brow and brushed it off on her cut off jeans shorts.
"I sure hope so. Anyway, if we don't make it I'll hire a gardener this time."
She turned, shook her arms by her sides to drive a bit of the stiffness out of her sore muscles and smiled at Sara with the grease stain on her cheek and her hair in a messy ponytail.
"Are you sure that you want to spend two days of our precious time here potting plants and digging in the dirt?"
Sara pushed her sunglasses up her nose, slowly sank down to the ground and lay on her back on the fragrant, freshly cut grass and blinked up into the sun.
"I love it. The fresh, salty air, the light breeze, the smells, the sunshine that doesn't threaten to blister your skin, bringing all this back into shape. It's the best holiday I've had in forever. I could stay here forever. Thank god it's only Wednesday."
Eli crouched down beside Sara and let the condensation from the two ice cold beers she'd just snatched out of a portable cooler drip down on the patch of skin exposed between Sara's shorts and tank top and made her squeal.
"Beer?"
"Oh, perfect."
"We'll have to do another run to get some plants. A lot has dried and died."
Sara took a large gulp from her bottle and looked over to the driveway.
"And how are they supposed to fit into that car?"
"There's something called 'delivery'. We just have to drive to the garden plaza, pick'em out and tomorrow morning, they'll be carried right into our backyard."
Sara swallowed beer with a little too much air and tried to avert burping loudly as she quickly turned her head away from Eli.
Our backyard. We will pick out plants.
"Eli, when did everything about this house become a question of us?"
"The moment you stepped over the threshold."
Eli said that sounding absolutely casual, stretched out on the grass beside Sara, drinking beer and letting the afternoon sun warm her face.
"Sara, would I still scare you if I said something incredibly corny?"
She blinked and stared at Eli in disbelief.
"I think it's definitively too late for that."
Letting her empty bottle fall beside her into the grass, Eli rolled onto her side facing Sara, motioning her to be still with a finger pressed against her own lips before she spoke.
"I wanna grow old with you here. I wanna be an old tattooed woman, planting vegetables, feeding you fresh strawberries with cream on the patio one late August day while the sun is beaming down on us, we've both turned grey and wise and I wanna hold you in my arms in the haddock and kiss that lovely spot on your neck that will still make you shiver as we watch our grandchildren play in a pool with the dog."
Sara slowly took her sunglasses off and leaned in to kiss Eli gently. They looked each other and let their eyes do the talking.
Finally Sara leaned back and rested her head on Eli's shoulder.
"You're absolutely, undeniably crazy."
"But you love me for it."
"Oh, yes, I do. Grandchildren. You're nuts."
Two more to go...