I Guess We'll Have to Share a Bed
(Gale/Madge)
(Hawtsee's Updated Birthday Fic)
A/N: Hawtsee, girl, I hope this is way better than the first one I wrote, because let's be honest it was crap. I didn't even like the first one! And since I'm finally on spring break and finally have time to write a new one, here you go! Better late than never!
If Gale's day could get any shitter, he thinks he'd shit himself right there in the airport's shit, plastic chair that made his ass go numb hours ago. He's already surrounded by a bunch of horny college students that he was in charge of taking to Greece for a summer field trip for his class. There are many reasons as to way he could immediately list off how this day is shit, 1) there's a group of girls on this trip who won't stop staring at his ass or making comments about his "beautiful, scruffy beard," 2) he's been sitting in this shitty plastic chair for 6 hours now because the damn thunderstorm won't disappear, 3) he's already spent $15 on shitty, too expensive Starbuck coffee that wasn't anything like a good cup of Joe from his hometown's finest, 4) he has to time these damn kids when they go to bathroom to make sure they're not doing anything inappropriate (like come on, guys, he wasn't born yesterday), and 5) his beautiful wife that he hasn't seen in a month is all the way in New York in the sunshine and he's jealous as hell. Here he is in rainy Greece, and there Madge is in a bikini on the beach. Ugh.
Madge Hawthorne:
Has it stopped raining?
Gale Hawthorne:
In my damn dreams, Undersee. I'm withering away on shitty coffee and vending machine food that has enough calories and sugar in them to kill me just looking at it.
Madge Hawthorne:
Hawthorne,* I'm a Hawthorne now, dork. We have a marriage license to prove it, babe. And oh, stop it. You won't die from eating one candy bar. You're turning into a health freak. Do you know how long it will be before your flight takes off? I miss you…
Gale's heart pangs a little in his chest. God, he missed her. His entire body ached just thinking about her.
Gale Hawthorne:
I think I'm dying of Madge Deficit. WedMD says if don't take off soon I'm going to die a horrible slow death from the inside out. I miss you so much and I swear the rain is not stopping because it wants to me die right here in this shit chair.
Madge Undersee:
Oh, stop it, you're being ridiculous.
Gale Hawthorne:
Don't laugh at me! This is a very serious condition! Only one person in the world has this and it happens to be me! You should be weeping on the floor because I'm dying in Greece without my beautiful love!
Madge Undersee:
Oh, I'm weeping…truly weeping, Gale. I got to go…drinks with the girls. I love you and miss you and GET HOME SOON BEFORE GALE DEFICIT KICKS IN!
Gale smiles at his phone. He leans back deep into his chair, his head resting on the rim, sighing. "I'm going to go get more coffee." He says as he pops up.
"Damn, isn't that like your fourth one!" one of his students shout after him.
"Don't judge me!"
"Too late, professor, I'm already judging! But hey! Pick me up a piece of lemon cake!"
"I'm not paying for you!" Kevin, the student, sighs and Gale smirks without looking back over his shoulder. Over the course of a month, Kevin has become his favorite students, by far. He's funny and light hearted and definitely excited to take Gale's class – which is like icing on the cake for Professor Hawthorne.
Gale ordered his crappy coffee and Kevin ordered his lemon cake (on Gale's ticket, of course). They made small talk and short, little Kevin made an offhand comment about Gale's wildly fast gait. They discussed the upcoming semester and Gale's class. But it wasn't until Kevin asked about Madge that Gale questioned his relationship with Kevin.
"How's your wife?"
Gale pauses and shallows quietly, "She's fine, warm in the sun." he laughs under his breath, "Why do you ask?"
"No reason." But there was clearly a reason. Gale nudges Kevin, while he keeps his features nonchalant. "I'm serious, just small talk."
"Mmmhmm, sure."
"Cross my heart and hope to die, Professor…but, I have to ask for the girls because they've been bothering since the beginning of this trip…You are married right?"
"Affirmative."
"Exclusively?"
"Another affirmative."
"So they have no chance?"
"Not at all," Gale laughs and shakes his head at Kevin and smirks at the blushing boy. Of course the girls put him up to this, Kevin was too easy to influence.
"Thank God…" he sighs. Gale couldn't tell if it was because the barista handing Kevin his lemon cake or because Gale was off the market. Kevin moaned into his first bite of lemon cake and nearly melted to the floor.
"Get yourself together, man!" Gale chuckles as they begin to walk back to the waiting area just as the overhead speaker came on to tell that their flight was finally boarding.
Yes, Gale thought, I can finally go home to see Madge.
…
Madge stands by the escalators impatiently. She hasn't seen Gale in so long that she doesn't even know if she knows what his face looks like anymore! She hardly remembers what his abs feel like under her fingers, and that was saying a lot since her fingers visited there quite often. She bounces on the balls of her feet and stretches her neck to see over the sea parents' heads. Sometimes she hated being short. But Gale loved it.
"Who's your kid?" A parent beside her asks.
"Not kid, husband's the professor!"
"Oh, I've heard a lot about him!" the parent giggles beside her. Madge smirks. She was sure the mom had heard a lot about Madge's husband; especially the mom had a daughter. Madge wasn't blind to Gale's universal good looks, nor was she unaware of multitudes of girls who ogle her husband every semester. It annoyed Gale for the first month of every semester ("I should have been an early childhood educator instead of a college professor; the pay cut would have so worth it!"). But Madge didn't mind showing a little more affection toward her husband for the first month of the semester to remind him that the pay grade was so worth it.
Madge nearly screams in pure joy the second Gale's rugged good looks and scruffy beard that he never grows out pops out of the terminal. A similar smile spreads across Gale's own face and Madge swoons like a teenager at the sight of it. His smile was the greatest thing Madge had ever seen in her life and it made the butterflies in her stomach take flight. She thought after marriage the butterflies would disappear, but they only become worst because she got to see a whole lot more of Gale that the butterflies liked just as much as she did.
Madge ran into Gale's arms and pulled him infinitely closer to her. Their ribs grinded against each other's painfully, but neither seemed to mind the pain. "I've missed you!" she whispered into his ear.
"God, I missed you!" he says huskily into her ear, pulling her even tighter to his chest. He pulls back awkwardly to look at her without releasing his grip on her and smiles even boarder. God, how she lived for that smile.
"Shall we go home?"
"If home means the bedroom, and by bedroom I mean between the sheets." He winks at her. She swats at his chest.
"If I can wait that long." She winks and his mouth falls open.
"The taxis better quick for my girl!" he says before dragging her off toward baggage claim. So maybe he was annoyed by the long layover, but he was so damn happy to be home. He has been separated too long from his beautiful life and he was about to make up for all the lost time.
"I guess we'll have to share my bed."
"Your bed! Jesus, I have been gone too long!" Madge smirks and smacks his butt.
"Then reclaim it."
A/N: Thanks all for the comments, favs, and follows from Alwaysreading25, Gadgerlover, Daeb, bahjcb, calh, pharm555, kassyana, AprilSpirit, jehoel1990, and ElizabethandDarcy! Also anyone I missed! I love you all and thanks so much for reading and dealing with my sporadic, random updates!