Chapter 15
Ben's dad stayed in the hospital for several more days, as the doctors ran more tests and monitored him closely. The doctors determined it was indeed liver failure and that he would need to eventually have a liver transplant. Ben tried to focus on his studies, and not worry too much, but it was very difficult for him. He checked on his father every day, at least over the phone, but could not bring himself to go see him every day. He called his mother and she was very upset by the news, saying that she would come to NY as soon as she could. Felicity tried to get him to go to the hospital each night, but he kept insisting that the doctors had it under control and he did not want to see him like that every day. She understood it was hard on him and gave him her support.
Ben could not help but resent his father's intrusion into his life. He felt like he was a kid again, and he was waiting for the next blow his father would have on his life. He felt consumed by anger, but the worry he felt, reduced it some. He just wanted his father to be out of his life, and he did not want to have to think about it. But, at the same time, he was afraid to lose him. He knew Felicity meant well by trying to get him to talk to his dad, but he hated that she was worrying about him. He tried to distract her with going out to dinner or taking walks in the park, but she always brought the conversation back to his father. He told her finally that he just didn't want to talk about it, and that he would when he was ready. She seemed to understand and had been quieter since.
Before he knew it, it was time for them to move into their new apartment. And the excitement and chaos surrounding it definitely got Felicity focused on something else. She was brimming with happiness, and seeing her like that made Ben smile. It seemed as if, for a few days, all his worries disappeared.
"Ben! Ben, come on. We are going to be late. We have to get to the landlord's place in 15 minutes," Felicity cried impatiently.
"Hold on a minute, I am trying to pick up this incredibly heavy suitcase. What the hell do you have in here anyway?" Ben asked as he came out into the room.
"Sweaters," Felicity replied with a smile, as she looked around anxiously.
"Sweaters? You have got to be kidding me. How can sweaters weigh this much?" Ben teased, as he leaned over to give her a kiss on the temple.
"There is no time for that, we are going to be late. We can get the suitcases later. We have to sign our lease."
"I know, I know. You have told me that at least five times now, I know. Don't worry, we have time. I just want one more kiss in our old place. Can't you just give me that?" Ben snickered, as he leaned in to kiss her.
"No, you are not pulling that. We will be back here and you know it," Felicity said as she lightly pushed him away.
"Oh, I can see already how it will be living with you. I will never get any action any more, it will be all serious all the time," Ben joked.
"Stop it, that is not true and you know it. I just want this to be perfect, you know that."
"I know. And I love you for it," Ben said as he kissed her on the cheek. This time, Felicity did not push him away. They headed out the door together, hand in hand.
It was indeed perfect. They moved into their apartment on a Friday afternoon, all by themselves. They did not have much to move, besides clothing and personal belongings, as the apartment came furnished. Ben kept trying to take a break from unpacking by pulling the bed down from the wall. He would look over at her and say in his sexiest voice, "you wanna take a break?" But Felicity was firm, she would only reply, "we have to put all this stuff away, then we can take a break." Ben gave up for the moment, and went back to unpacking.
They ran into each other several times as they were moving things around. The apartment was small, and it was crowded with boxes as they tried to get things organized. Ben let her decide where to put the forks this time, saying adamantly they had did not care where they went. He smiled thinking about the last time they did this, and how much more comfortable he felt now. It just felt right to be moving in with her. And he loved watching her work so hard to make everything perfect. The way she was so serious, and concentrating so hard, made him realize yet again how lucky he was.
Felicity was working on hanging her clothes in the closet and realized quickly that they did not have enough room for all her stuff. She was not used to sharing closet space with someone and kept trying to move his stuff around.
"Hey! Stop moving my stuff to the side. You can't have this whole closet. I need room, too. How can you have so many clothes anyway? I mean, you never wear half of this stuff anyway."
"What? I love my clothes, all of them. I just wait for the perfect time to wear them. Besides, you don't have that many clothes anyway, so why do you care?"
"Huh? I don't have that many clothes?"
"No, you tend to wear the same ones over and over."
"What? I do not," Ben replied strongly.
"Yes you do! I mean, this one here, it has a tear in it, but you still wear it at least once a week."
"No I do not. And you are one to talk, with all these sweaters. I remember seeing you in these things freshman year, and thinking why does she hide herself in these things?"
"I didn't hide myself," Felicity replied adamantly.
He took a sweater off the rack and held it up to her, giggling as he saw how serious she had become. "Look, it is so big, it practically swallows you."
"What? No it does not. This is my favorite one," she replied seriously, taking the sweater from him.
"Well, I think we should retire all these sweaters, and you should have to wear only tank tops, like this one," Ben whispered as he took his hand and touched the skin beneath the strap of the top she was wearing.
Felicity smiled and said, "There is no way I am retiring my sweaters, they bring back too many memories. Besides, I like them."
"Well, I still think you have too many. Look at this closet, there is practically no room for my stuff."
Felicity did have to admit when she looked at it that her stuff filled up at least two thirds of the closet. "We'll get one of those wardrobes at the store, we can put your stuff in it. That way I can have all of this space."
"Oh, I see. It's all about you, then is it?" Ben snickered as he put his arms around her.
"No, I am just trying to put an end to this conversation. You are making fun of me," she said with a pout as she looked down.
"Hey, I'm sorry. You know I am just having fun. Why don't we take a break now, so I can properly apologize," Ben said with a sexy smile on his face, as he leaned in to kiss her neck. Felicity did not resist as he led them away from the closet. She smiled when he pulled the bed down from the wall, knowing he would do this many times to come...... Later, they lay on the bed, their arms wrapped around each other. "I'd say we christened our new place rather well, "laughed Felicity.
"I thought you'd like that," giggled Ben in response. "But that was only practice, our real christening of the apartment is yet to come."
"What? What are you planning?" Felicity asked with a smile.
"Nope, you will just have to wait and see. I'm just disappointed that we don't have a living room bathroom like we did in our last place."
"Oh yes, so you could let some supermodel in here to use it," Felicity teased.
"Hey, I told you that was a mistake and I didn't mean for that to happen. I was overwhelmed that day."
"Yeah, that was obvious," she said with a serious look on her face. Ben looked down with slight embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."
Ben looked back up at her, "Nah, it's okay. I didn't handle that all very well. But I was just- I don't know, it was too much. It's not that I didn't want to live with you, it was...."
"It was too soon," Felicity finished.
"Yeah," Ben replied.
"And now?"
"And now, it's perfect. Really, I am so happy we are doing this. I am going to love living with you. Even if you do take up too much room with all your sweaters."
Felicity laughed and then turned more serious. "Ben, I really love this place. I know it's crowded and sort of small, but it is our own place. We have our own apartment, just the two of us. And I feel..." her voice trailed off as she thought about what she wanted to say.
"What, you feel what?" Ben asked gently, as he rubbed her shoulder.
"I feel like I am dreaming. I mean, I always wanted this and now it is here. And I'm just so happy," she said realizing she had started to cry tears of happiness. She looked down, only to have Ben take his hand under her chin and lift her eyes to his again.
"Hey, look at me. Felicity, I am happy, too. You are everything to me and living here with you, it's.... you have no idea how much this means to me," Ben said as he looked at her, turning her face so he could wipe her tears away.
Felicity smiled at him and kissed his fingers, wiping her cheek against his hand. "I love you," she whispered simply.
"I love you, too." They lay there together, with Ben gently stroking her back for quite some time. "So, do you want to get something to eat?"
"Yeah, that could be good. I am starving. You wore me out," she said as she looked at him playfully.
"Good, but be sure to save some energy, because I am not done with you yet," Ben replied with a mischievous grin.
The next day they decided to paint the apartment. Ben was slightly frustrated by this as they had finally got all the furniture arranged the way she liked it, and then she decided she didn't like the color of the walls. So off they went to the store to buy supplies. It was quite an adventure, he didn't think she would ever figure out what color of paint she wanted. And she talked the whole way home about how she was going to do some special brush strokes to give the room some definition. She was determined to make it feel more bright and airy, since it was such a small place. Ben stood back and let her take charge, as he didn't see any choice in the matter. He simply awaited her next command.
"Okay, now I want the roller brush. Can you hand it to me?" Felicity asked.
Ben only looked at her in response, smiling as he did. Felicity rolled her eyes at him and said, "What? We are almost done here. Can't you help me and stop smirking at me like that?"
"I'm sorry, it's just you have this little bit of paint on your chin, and some on your nose, too. It's a whole new look for you," he giggled.
"What? Why didn't you tell me, I would have rinsed it off. Let me go look in the mirror," she said as she moved towards the bathroom.
Ben took this opportunity to take a paintbrush and dip it in the yellow paint and then snuck up behind her, saying "Wait, I think I can get it." As she turned around, he grinned and brushed the paintbrush across her nose, down to her mouth.
"Ben! Ben, stop it! I can't believe you," Felicity shouted, shocked at what Ben had done. "I will never get all this paint off of me now! Look at what you did."
Ben only laughed. He walked towards her and gave her the paintbrush. "Here, now it is your turn, you can get me."
Felicity looked seriously at him and said, "No, I will be the mature one. I am focused on our job here, while you seem to be unable to stop playing around. "
"Oh yeah? But it is so much more fun," he replied as he tackled her and started to tickle her. She cried out with laughter and before she knew what she was doing she had smeared paint all over his face and hair. Ben giggled in delight, happy to see her loosening up a bit.
Finally, they stopped laughing and Ben let his hands fall from her stomach. "See, I knew you could do it. Isn't this more fun than constant work?"
"Yes, yes, it is. Thank you. But now we both need a shower and I was not done with my painting."
"Well, I think you have done a beautiful job," he replied as he looked at the room. It was painted the faintest yellow, with a white lining that looked sort of like clouds. And around the window in back she had painted small green and blue flowers. It really made the room feel more like a home.
"Thanks, but I didn't do all this alone. You did help me some, though you did it begrudgingly," she teased.
"Hey! I was just trying to stay out of your way. You were on a mission and I was not going to mess it up."
"Well, thank you. And thanks for making me laugh," she stopped, growing more serious. "I know I take this stuff really seriously, I am sure you think me a nut case."
"No, I do not. I love how serious you are. I always have. It turns me on, "he replied as he leaned down to softly kiss her on the lips. "Now, I say we move this little party into the bathroom," he whispered.
Felicity laughed as she asked, "are we finally going to christen our place the way you had planned?"
"Yep, after we get all this paint washed off. We have a tradition to uphold." Ben led her into the bathroom, where they helped each other undress. Felicity laughed as she saw how much paint she had got in his hair. Once they were undressed, Ben leaned in to start the shower. The bathroom had a really large tub with a shower despite the small size of the rest of the apartment. Ben was very pleased with this as he led her into the tub.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her next to him. He captured her mouth with his and kissed her passionately. They both laughed under their breath as they tasted paint on their lips. He moved her head back and watched the water run down her hair, washing the paint from her face as it went. He rubbed his hand through her hair and saw that his motion made her smile the sweet smile that was his alone. She stood back up and turned so he was standing under the water. She returned the favor, washing his hair with her hands until all the paint was gone, washed down the drain. When he leaned back up, he looked longingly at her and moved until their bodies were firmly pressed together. "I was going to suggest a bath, but now I don't want to stop," he whispered as he licked her neck.
"Then don't, "she whispered huskily.
And he didn't. He moved so she was pressed against the wall. He moved his hands until they captured her breasts, circling her taut nipples with his thumbs. Felicity gasped with pleasure and kissed him on the neck, licking her way up to his earlobe. This elicited a moan from Ben as he moved his hands down her back to cup her butt. All the while he trailed kisses down her neck to her shoulder and then to her waiting breasts. When Felicity didn't think she could take it any longer, he moved his lips back to hers. She reached down and wrapped her hands around his firm butt. "Now, Ben, now," she whispered.
Ben moaned her name and lifted her so that her back was against the shower wall, and her legs were wrapped around him. He entered her slowly, and she groaned at the feel of him. He increased his movements, unable to quench his unending desire for her. As their movements became more passionate, Felicity began to say his name again and again. This sent him over the edge, and he kissed her fully on the lips as he felt himself explode inside her.
Ben let her legs fall to the floor of the tub, as they both steadied their breathing. He held her face in his hands as he looked at her "are you okay?" She opened her eyes and replied "better than I have ever been."
Ben smiled his crooked grin, "I'd say our place is properly christened now." They both laughed and then Ben wrapped her into his arms. They stood there for some time, enjoying the water as it massaged their spent muscles.
Ben's dad stayed in the hospital for several more days, as the doctors ran more tests and monitored him closely. The doctors determined it was indeed liver failure and that he would need to eventually have a liver transplant. Ben tried to focus on his studies, and not worry too much, but it was very difficult for him. He checked on his father every day, at least over the phone, but could not bring himself to go see him every day. He called his mother and she was very upset by the news, saying that she would come to NY as soon as she could. Felicity tried to get him to go to the hospital each night, but he kept insisting that the doctors had it under control and he did not want to see him like that every day. She understood it was hard on him and gave him her support.
Ben could not help but resent his father's intrusion into his life. He felt like he was a kid again, and he was waiting for the next blow his father would have on his life. He felt consumed by anger, but the worry he felt, reduced it some. He just wanted his father to be out of his life, and he did not want to have to think about it. But, at the same time, he was afraid to lose him. He knew Felicity meant well by trying to get him to talk to his dad, but he hated that she was worrying about him. He tried to distract her with going out to dinner or taking walks in the park, but she always brought the conversation back to his father. He told her finally that he just didn't want to talk about it, and that he would when he was ready. She seemed to understand and had been quieter since.
Before he knew it, it was time for them to move into their new apartment. And the excitement and chaos surrounding it definitely got Felicity focused on something else. She was brimming with happiness, and seeing her like that made Ben smile. It seemed as if, for a few days, all his worries disappeared.
"Ben! Ben, come on. We are going to be late. We have to get to the landlord's place in 15 minutes," Felicity cried impatiently.
"Hold on a minute, I am trying to pick up this incredibly heavy suitcase. What the hell do you have in here anyway?" Ben asked as he came out into the room.
"Sweaters," Felicity replied with a smile, as she looked around anxiously.
"Sweaters? You have got to be kidding me. How can sweaters weigh this much?" Ben teased, as he leaned over to give her a kiss on the temple.
"There is no time for that, we are going to be late. We can get the suitcases later. We have to sign our lease."
"I know, I know. You have told me that at least five times now, I know. Don't worry, we have time. I just want one more kiss in our old place. Can't you just give me that?" Ben snickered, as he leaned in to kiss her.
"No, you are not pulling that. We will be back here and you know it," Felicity said as she lightly pushed him away.
"Oh, I can see already how it will be living with you. I will never get any action any more, it will be all serious all the time," Ben joked.
"Stop it, that is not true and you know it. I just want this to be perfect, you know that."
"I know. And I love you for it," Ben said as he kissed her on the cheek. This time, Felicity did not push him away. They headed out the door together, hand in hand.
It was indeed perfect. They moved into their apartment on a Friday afternoon, all by themselves. They did not have much to move, besides clothing and personal belongings, as the apartment came furnished. Ben kept trying to take a break from unpacking by pulling the bed down from the wall. He would look over at her and say in his sexiest voice, "you wanna take a break?" But Felicity was firm, she would only reply, "we have to put all this stuff away, then we can take a break." Ben gave up for the moment, and went back to unpacking.
They ran into each other several times as they were moving things around. The apartment was small, and it was crowded with boxes as they tried to get things organized. Ben let her decide where to put the forks this time, saying adamantly they had did not care where they went. He smiled thinking about the last time they did this, and how much more comfortable he felt now. It just felt right to be moving in with her. And he loved watching her work so hard to make everything perfect. The way she was so serious, and concentrating so hard, made him realize yet again how lucky he was.
Felicity was working on hanging her clothes in the closet and realized quickly that they did not have enough room for all her stuff. She was not used to sharing closet space with someone and kept trying to move his stuff around.
"Hey! Stop moving my stuff to the side. You can't have this whole closet. I need room, too. How can you have so many clothes anyway? I mean, you never wear half of this stuff anyway."
"What? I love my clothes, all of them. I just wait for the perfect time to wear them. Besides, you don't have that many clothes anyway, so why do you care?"
"Huh? I don't have that many clothes?"
"No, you tend to wear the same ones over and over."
"What? I do not," Ben replied strongly.
"Yes you do! I mean, this one here, it has a tear in it, but you still wear it at least once a week."
"No I do not. And you are one to talk, with all these sweaters. I remember seeing you in these things freshman year, and thinking why does she hide herself in these things?"
"I didn't hide myself," Felicity replied adamantly.
He took a sweater off the rack and held it up to her, giggling as he saw how serious she had become. "Look, it is so big, it practically swallows you."
"What? No it does not. This is my favorite one," she replied seriously, taking the sweater from him.
"Well, I think we should retire all these sweaters, and you should have to wear only tank tops, like this one," Ben whispered as he took his hand and touched the skin beneath the strap of the top she was wearing.
Felicity smiled and said, "There is no way I am retiring my sweaters, they bring back too many memories. Besides, I like them."
"Well, I still think you have too many. Look at this closet, there is practically no room for my stuff."
Felicity did have to admit when she looked at it that her stuff filled up at least two thirds of the closet. "We'll get one of those wardrobes at the store, we can put your stuff in it. That way I can have all of this space."
"Oh, I see. It's all about you, then is it?" Ben snickered as he put his arms around her.
"No, I am just trying to put an end to this conversation. You are making fun of me," she said with a pout as she looked down.
"Hey, I'm sorry. You know I am just having fun. Why don't we take a break now, so I can properly apologize," Ben said with a sexy smile on his face, as he leaned in to kiss her neck. Felicity did not resist as he led them away from the closet. She smiled when he pulled the bed down from the wall, knowing he would do this many times to come...... Later, they lay on the bed, their arms wrapped around each other. "I'd say we christened our new place rather well, "laughed Felicity.
"I thought you'd like that," giggled Ben in response. "But that was only practice, our real christening of the apartment is yet to come."
"What? What are you planning?" Felicity asked with a smile.
"Nope, you will just have to wait and see. I'm just disappointed that we don't have a living room bathroom like we did in our last place."
"Oh yes, so you could let some supermodel in here to use it," Felicity teased.
"Hey, I told you that was a mistake and I didn't mean for that to happen. I was overwhelmed that day."
"Yeah, that was obvious," she said with a serious look on her face. Ben looked down with slight embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."
Ben looked back up at her, "Nah, it's okay. I didn't handle that all very well. But I was just- I don't know, it was too much. It's not that I didn't want to live with you, it was...."
"It was too soon," Felicity finished.
"Yeah," Ben replied.
"And now?"
"And now, it's perfect. Really, I am so happy we are doing this. I am going to love living with you. Even if you do take up too much room with all your sweaters."
Felicity laughed and then turned more serious. "Ben, I really love this place. I know it's crowded and sort of small, but it is our own place. We have our own apartment, just the two of us. And I feel..." her voice trailed off as she thought about what she wanted to say.
"What, you feel what?" Ben asked gently, as he rubbed her shoulder.
"I feel like I am dreaming. I mean, I always wanted this and now it is here. And I'm just so happy," she said realizing she had started to cry tears of happiness. She looked down, only to have Ben take his hand under her chin and lift her eyes to his again.
"Hey, look at me. Felicity, I am happy, too. You are everything to me and living here with you, it's.... you have no idea how much this means to me," Ben said as he looked at her, turning her face so he could wipe her tears away.
Felicity smiled at him and kissed his fingers, wiping her cheek against his hand. "I love you," she whispered simply.
"I love you, too." They lay there together, with Ben gently stroking her back for quite some time. "So, do you want to get something to eat?"
"Yeah, that could be good. I am starving. You wore me out," she said as she looked at him playfully.
"Good, but be sure to save some energy, because I am not done with you yet," Ben replied with a mischievous grin.
The next day they decided to paint the apartment. Ben was slightly frustrated by this as they had finally got all the furniture arranged the way she liked it, and then she decided she didn't like the color of the walls. So off they went to the store to buy supplies. It was quite an adventure, he didn't think she would ever figure out what color of paint she wanted. And she talked the whole way home about how she was going to do some special brush strokes to give the room some definition. She was determined to make it feel more bright and airy, since it was such a small place. Ben stood back and let her take charge, as he didn't see any choice in the matter. He simply awaited her next command.
"Okay, now I want the roller brush. Can you hand it to me?" Felicity asked.
Ben only looked at her in response, smiling as he did. Felicity rolled her eyes at him and said, "What? We are almost done here. Can't you help me and stop smirking at me like that?"
"I'm sorry, it's just you have this little bit of paint on your chin, and some on your nose, too. It's a whole new look for you," he giggled.
"What? Why didn't you tell me, I would have rinsed it off. Let me go look in the mirror," she said as she moved towards the bathroom.
Ben took this opportunity to take a paintbrush and dip it in the yellow paint and then snuck up behind her, saying "Wait, I think I can get it." As she turned around, he grinned and brushed the paintbrush across her nose, down to her mouth.
"Ben! Ben, stop it! I can't believe you," Felicity shouted, shocked at what Ben had done. "I will never get all this paint off of me now! Look at what you did."
Ben only laughed. He walked towards her and gave her the paintbrush. "Here, now it is your turn, you can get me."
Felicity looked seriously at him and said, "No, I will be the mature one. I am focused on our job here, while you seem to be unable to stop playing around. "
"Oh yeah? But it is so much more fun," he replied as he tackled her and started to tickle her. She cried out with laughter and before she knew what she was doing she had smeared paint all over his face and hair. Ben giggled in delight, happy to see her loosening up a bit.
Finally, they stopped laughing and Ben let his hands fall from her stomach. "See, I knew you could do it. Isn't this more fun than constant work?"
"Yes, yes, it is. Thank you. But now we both need a shower and I was not done with my painting."
"Well, I think you have done a beautiful job," he replied as he looked at the room. It was painted the faintest yellow, with a white lining that looked sort of like clouds. And around the window in back she had painted small green and blue flowers. It really made the room feel more like a home.
"Thanks, but I didn't do all this alone. You did help me some, though you did it begrudgingly," she teased.
"Hey! I was just trying to stay out of your way. You were on a mission and I was not going to mess it up."
"Well, thank you. And thanks for making me laugh," she stopped, growing more serious. "I know I take this stuff really seriously, I am sure you think me a nut case."
"No, I do not. I love how serious you are. I always have. It turns me on, "he replied as he leaned down to softly kiss her on the lips. "Now, I say we move this little party into the bathroom," he whispered.
Felicity laughed as she asked, "are we finally going to christen our place the way you had planned?"
"Yep, after we get all this paint washed off. We have a tradition to uphold." Ben led her into the bathroom, where they helped each other undress. Felicity laughed as she saw how much paint she had got in his hair. Once they were undressed, Ben leaned in to start the shower. The bathroom had a really large tub with a shower despite the small size of the rest of the apartment. Ben was very pleased with this as he led her into the tub.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her next to him. He captured her mouth with his and kissed her passionately. They both laughed under their breath as they tasted paint on their lips. He moved her head back and watched the water run down her hair, washing the paint from her face as it went. He rubbed his hand through her hair and saw that his motion made her smile the sweet smile that was his alone. She stood back up and turned so he was standing under the water. She returned the favor, washing his hair with her hands until all the paint was gone, washed down the drain. When he leaned back up, he looked longingly at her and moved until their bodies were firmly pressed together. "I was going to suggest a bath, but now I don't want to stop," he whispered as he licked her neck.
"Then don't, "she whispered huskily.
And he didn't. He moved so she was pressed against the wall. He moved his hands until they captured her breasts, circling her taut nipples with his thumbs. Felicity gasped with pleasure and kissed him on the neck, licking her way up to his earlobe. This elicited a moan from Ben as he moved his hands down her back to cup her butt. All the while he trailed kisses down her neck to her shoulder and then to her waiting breasts. When Felicity didn't think she could take it any longer, he moved his lips back to hers. She reached down and wrapped her hands around his firm butt. "Now, Ben, now," she whispered.
Ben moaned her name and lifted her so that her back was against the shower wall, and her legs were wrapped around him. He entered her slowly, and she groaned at the feel of him. He increased his movements, unable to quench his unending desire for her. As their movements became more passionate, Felicity began to say his name again and again. This sent him over the edge, and he kissed her fully on the lips as he felt himself explode inside her.
Ben let her legs fall to the floor of the tub, as they both steadied their breathing. He held her face in his hands as he looked at her "are you okay?" She opened her eyes and replied "better than I have ever been."
Ben smiled his crooked grin, "I'd say our place is properly christened now." They both laughed and then Ben wrapped her into his arms. They stood there for some time, enjoying the water as it massaged their spent muscles.