Title: Thank God for Beer with the Guys
Author: Jay-Jay and Sydney
Rating: K+ or T
Disclaimer: They are not mine, even though I wish they were.
Stephen didn't know what the hell he was doing going out for drinks with Miles and Frank. He had never been the kind of guy to hang-out with his co-workers, outside of Nat and Frank. But here he was, at some random bar, in the middle of some bar, surrounded by drunks, and all he wanted to do was go home, until he saw her.
He never pegged Nat for the bar kind of girl, but she was here. Sitting with Eva and drink what looked like a glass of wine, which could explain why she wasn't a bar kind of girl. He smiled at her and waved, but all she did was shake her head and turn back to Eva. He turned back to the bar and took a sip of his beer.
He stayed this way until he felt a pair of arms wrap around his neck. He turned around, expecting to see some drunk, half-naked woman behind him, but instead he came face to face with one Natalie Durant. Deciding that this was one way to get her attention he wrapped his arms around her waist.
She smiled when he stood up, planting a gentle kiss on her cheek. "Wanna dance?"
She shook her head and they mad their way to the dance floor. He put his hands on her hips and pulled her close.
"I'm glad your here." He said sweetly.
"Me too." She whispered.
He kisses her ear gently and then rests his forehead against hers.
"Stephen?"
"Yeah."
"What are we doing?" She runs her hand up and down his back.
"I don't know. Dancing?" He raises an eyebrow which causes her to giggle.
"Well, whatever it is, I like it."
He smiles and pulls back a little. "Me too." He kisses her gently before grabbing her hand and pulling her off the dance floor.
They make their way to their table in the back and he takes a seat. "Come on, sit."
He pats the space next to him and she does as he said. She takes a seat next to him and he wraps his right arm around her waist.
"You want something to drink?" She nods and he motions for the waitress and tells her to bring them two beers.
They just sit there for a few minutes. His arm around her waist and his other rubbing her thigh. She had her left arm on his leg and her right was playing with his fingers.
"You look beautiful tonight." He whispered in her ear.
"Yeah, Eva picked it out. I'm starting to think that she knew that you were gonna be here." She smiles as he kisses her neck gently.
"Yeah, well I think her and Miles conspired together to get us here."
"You think?"
She smiles sweetly and he kisses her cheek. "You wanna get out of here?"
"Yeah."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I just wanna be alone, with you, you know? No one else around?"
"Sounds good to me."
She gently slid out of the booth and he followed, wrapping his arm around her waist. He tossed a 20 on the table and waved to Miles to let him know they were leaving. Miles waved back and smiled, "Have fun." he mouthed.
Stephen just shook his head and walked Nat outside.
Miles watched them leave before turning to Eva who had her arms around his neck. "I think it worked."
"What?"
"Stephen just left with Nat."
"Oh really?" She smiled at him and he returned it.
"Yeah."
"Good."
Natalie let her legs dangle over the side of the ledge and smiled when Stephen sat down beside her. "Aren't you ever afraid of falling off?"
Stephen nudged her with his shoulder; she nudged him back and rested her head on his shoulder.
"You should see the sunrises here." He whispered in her ear.
Natalie smiled, "I'm sure they're beautiful"
He kissed her temple, "and the skyline is wonderful."
"You should write hallmark cards." She laughed.
Stephen nudged her again, "Hey."
"So do you always come and sit on your apartment building roof in the mornings?"
Stephen smiled down at her, "I need to entertain myself."
"Well, it is a very nice view."
Stephen looked at her, "Yeah... it is."
Natalie blushed and leaned her head back on his shoulder, "Only eight more hours till sunrise."
"There is plenty we could do till then." Stephen wrapped his arm around her waist.
"What could we do?" Natalie looked up at him.
Stephen kissed her forehead, "Well, we could watch a movie, play a really long game of monopoly, or just lie around."
"You choose." She traced the word 'hi' on his chest with her finger
Stephen's lips moved to hers, "Movie?"
Natalie slid her arm around his neck, "how big is your couch."
"Big enough to watch a movie." He said with a soft laugh.
"Are you implying something?" She nudged his nose with hers.
"Be careful or you'll fall off the building."
"Come on, let's go." She said lightly. Standing up, Natalie held out her hand.
Stephen took it and stood up, "go where?"
"Watch a movie."
They walked hand in hand to his apartment, neither saying a word. Once there they both kicked off their shoes and plopped down on his couch.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him tightly. She snuggled against him and smiled when he kissed her hair.
"I thought we were gonna watch a movie?" She whispered quietly.
"We can watch a movie later. Right now I just wanna hold you." He kissed her shoulder and pulled her into his lap.
She rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck.
They sat like this for a good ten minutes when Nat yawned, bringing Stephen out of his thoughts.
"You tired Hun?"
"Getting there." She yawned again and he kissed her ear.
"You wanna sleep?"
"Not really." She gently slid out of his lap and stood up.
"Where are you going?"
"To the bathroom. Then to get something to drink and eat. Okay?"
He smiled at her as he stood up next to her. "How about you go to the bathroom and I'll make us something to eat and drink okay?"
"Sounds good."
He placed a gentle kiss on her lips before watching her walk down the hall to the bathroom. He made his way into the kitchen and turned the light on so that he could see better. Walking over to the fridge he noticed a note taped to the front. He picked it up and smiled at what it said.
Dad,
Going to dinner with Jimmy before the party tonight, I'll call when I get to Mom's. Oh, by the way. Miles told me to tell you that you're welcome. Not sure what he means by that, but ok.
Later, Jack
He smiled and opened up the fridge just as he felt two arms wrap around his waist from behind.
"Hey." She whispered in his ear. "So where's that food you promised me?"
"I don't know." He turned around and wrapped his arms around her
She smiled before kissing him gently on the lips. "I'm kind of in the mood for pizza."
"Pizza? Why pizza?"
"I don't know. I'm just craving it."
"Well, I think I have a frozen one around here somewhere."
"Good." She smiled as she gently moved out his arms.
He opened the freezer door and pulled out a frozen supreme pizza. "This work?"
"There aren't any anchovies on it are there?"
"No."
"Good."
He walked over and turned the oven on, before turning to her. "You want anything to snack on before this is ready?"
"I'm good." She smiled at him as he pulled two cans of soda out of the fridge. "I do have one request though."
"And that would be?"
"Can I get out of these clothes? Please. You know I hate wearing skirts."
"Yeah, I'm sure I can find something for you to wear." He headed towards the bedroom with her behind him. He walked over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of flannel pajama bottoms and tossed them to her. "You need a shirt too?"
"Nah, I have a tank-top on under this."
He turned to look at her and smiled. "Oh really?"
"Yes, really." She kissed his nose gently before pulling back to look him in the eye. "And don't get any ideas Connor."
"I won't." She glared at him and he continued. "I promise."
She smiled and kissed him gently on the lips. "I'll change in the bathroom. You can change out here."
"Who said I wanted to change."
"I said." She threw over her shoulder as she walked into the bathroom, leaving a speechless Stephen standing there.
Natalie came back out of the bathroom to see Stephen in flannel pajama pants of his own and a nice baggy shirt that would have been like a dress on her, "You're looking better already."
He flicked her noise softly, "So are you."
"Liar, I saw the look on your face when I asked to change out of the skirt."
He pulled her to him, "Yeah, but now you look like you belong to my home."
"Hmmm," She said lightly, "I could live with that." Standing on her tippy-toes she kissed him softly, "Now, let's go eat our pizza."
They walked the kitchen side by side, bumping into each other lightly. Sitting down at the table, Natalie laughed when Stephen pulled the pizza out of the oven, "Jack might kill us for taking the last one."
Stephen cut the pizza then set two plates with two pieces each on the table, "Well, it's not the best dinner ever, but I can live with it."
Natalie started eating slowly, "Hmm, its good."
"I'd hope," Stephen said lightly, "It took me twenty minutes to cook this."
Natalie kicked up under the table, "You're the best damn cook I know."
They finished their pizza silently, occasionally looking up to gaze at each other.
After they were done Stephen took their plates over to the sink and dropped them into the water. He began washing them off and Nat jumped up on the counter next to him.
"You wanna know something funny Stephen?"
"What's that?" He looked up at her as he placed her now clean plate in the sink to dry.
"I don't think I've ever been more comfortable in my life."
"What do you mean by that?" He placed his plate in the tray next to hers and dried his hands off before moving to stand in front of her.
"I've just, I've never felt comfortable like this before." She looked down as he took a hold of her hands. "I feel safe, and domestic. I feel like I'm where I should be." She moved her head back up to look at him and her hair fell in front of face, causing Stephen to push it back, leaving his hand on her cheek. "I like it, a lot."
"I do too." He gave her a soft smile which she returned. "What do you say we watch that movie now?"
"Sounds good to me." She got ready to hop down when he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her down; she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and smiled. "You sure you wanna watch a movie? I could think of better things to do." She whispered in his ear before she gently nibbled on it.
"As much as I like the sound of that I don't wanna rush things." He kissed her neck gently as he carried her into the living room
"I didn't mean that we had to do that." She grinned at him sweetly. "But we could, you know, make out at least." She whispered the last part in his ear as she kissed it.
"Now that sounds good too." He said as he gently laid her down on the couch. She turned onto her side so that he could lay with her. Once he was beside her and she was snuggled against his chest he pulled the blanket down over them.
She kissed his lips gently before pulling back to look him in the eyes. "Are you happy Stephen?"
"Happier than I've ever been." He smiled and kissed her nose gently
"Same here." She gave him a shy smile and he ran his hand over her side and under her tank-top, stopping when he get to her breast and heading back down to her hip. "What's Jack gonna say?"
"You have nothing to worry about. He's been telling me to ask you out since Lisa kicked us out."
"Really?"
"Yeah, he'll be happy, I promise." He smiled down at her as he ran his hand back up her side, this time he didn't stop at her breast, but continued all the way up to her shoulder.
"Good." She smiled slightly as she snuggled against him even more.
They just lay there for about fifteen minutes before Stephen's cell phone rang, causing him to let go of Nat so he could answer it.
"Connor." He said sharply.
"Hey dad."
"Hey. You have fun at the party?"
"Yeah. It was a blast."
"Good."
"Well, I'll let you go Dad; I just wanted to let you know that I got to mom's ok."
"Alright. Don't stay up to late, and I'll see you Monday after school, 3:30 right?"
"Yeh, 3:30."
"Okay. I'll see you then. Have fun."
"I will." Stephen got ready to hang-up when Jack continued. "You have fun too Dad, you deserve it."
"Thanks pal. And I don't even wanna know how you know what's going on."
"Miles squealed."
"Figures. Ok, well I'll talk to you Monday. And you call me if you need anything ok." He said as he stressed the "anything".
"I will. Bye Dad."
"Bye."
Stephen hung-up the phone gently and turned to look at Natalie, who had sat up and was playing with the side of Stephen's pants leg.
"You okay honey?" He asked as he sat up next to her.
"Yeah. Just tired, that's all."
"Why don't we go to bed? We can watch the sun rise another time."
He ran his hand over her back gently and she yawned. She nodded her head and stood.
He stood up behind her and wrapped his arm around her tightly and led her to the bedroom. Once there he pulled the covers on his bed back and watched as she slid in and curled up. He turned the lights off and put his cell-phone on silent before climbing in next to her.
"Night, Nat." He kissed her shoulder gently and then moved up to her cheek.
"Night Stephen." She placed a kiss on his lips and wrapped her arms around him, snuggling against him. "Thanks for tonight."
"Your welcome." He kissed her head before wrapping his arms around her tightly. "I love you Nat."
She smiled up at him and he kissed her nose. "I love you too Stephen."
He smiled widely at her as he kissed her deeply. They gently pulled back slightly before smiley at each other. He kissed her nose again and she giggled, rolling over and pulling him down on top of her. And that is how they spent the rest of the night.
Who know that going out for beer with the guys could end so good?