A/N: See the intro for the standard stuff. Please R&R. It's freezing here. I need the warm fuzzies. Helps keep the bunnies warm too.
Meadow: Gold start for you. LittleCorinthian: Yeah. You just want to wrap the guy up in a big hug. Or something like that. RS: The line is there for a reason. Thank you all.
The glow of clock bathed the room in a greenish glow. Tess rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She could hear Don's slight snore and smiled. Tess shifted a little to prop herself up and looked at Don's sleeping face. She smiled again and ran her fingers over the stubble that darkened his chin.
"Yer staring at me."
"Got a problem with it?" His head moved slightly from side to side and he opened his eyes. Don reached up and touched Tess' face softly. She turned her face and kissed his palm. "Feeling any better?"
"Define better." Don played with a lock of Tess' hair. "I feel real good. Right this minute. Here with you. Doesn't change what's goin' on out there. What happened, what's waitin' for me."
"Do you want to tell me about it?"
Don shook his head and turned away. "Not really."
"Okay."
Don turned back. "No, it's not okay." He turned on his side so he was facing Tess fully. "I mean I jus' come in here and fuck ya."
Tess frowned and shook her head. "You didn't…"
"Yeah. I did."
"I wasn't an unwilling participant, Don."
He smiled just a little. "No. Far from it." He stroked her face. "But ya were an escape. I had a shitty day. A beyond shitty day and I came here so ya could take me away from it. So I could forget about it."
Tess sat up and pulled the comforter around her body. She tried to figure out what Don was thinking. She searched his face and wasn't getting anything. She frowned. "Are you breaking up with me? Because this is starting to sound like a break-up conversation and if it is I don't want to be lying here naked in bed with you."
Don rolled on his back. He lay staring up at the ceiling for several heartbeats. Tess started to slide out of bed, he caught her wrist. "Please come back here. I'm not breaking up with ya." He tugged at her arm and pulled her back next to him. Don rubbed slow circles on her back. He sighed. "This ain't easy for me, Tess. I don't want ya to feel like I'm just usin' ya."
Tess sat up, shook her head and smiled slightly. "Believe me. I'll let you know if I feel that way."
That brought a chuckle out of him. "I'm sure ya will. And may I point out it wasn't too long ago that I got drunk off my ass because ya went on a date with another guy."
"It wasn't a date.'
"Were ya gonna pay for dinner?"
"I didn't eat anything."
"I'm not fighting with ya over this again. Ya had a date, it made me sick."
Tess ducked her head. "Fine." She looked back at Don, trying not to drown in his blue eyes. "I didn't enjoy myself though."
"Good," Don growled. He placed a finger over her lips. "Now would ya jus' be quiet a minute? I'm tryin' to talk ta ya, which is no easy thing for me and ya keep interruptin'."
Tess smiled. "I'll keep my mouth shut." She sat up and made the motion of locking her lips. Then she snuggled back up into the crook of his arm.
"Yeah, right." He kissed her hair. "Ya came lookin' for me that night. Ya took me home, ya took care of me. And tonight ya just took me in an' didn't ask for anything in return. Didn't ask why I was here. Didn't push."
Tess shrugged. "That's not what you needed, Don."
He shut his eyes, trying to think of a different approach. "I wasn't exactly a monk before I met ya." Tess sat up to comment. "Tess…" Don gave her an admonishing look. She smiled and slid back down. "And my reputation isn't really the best."
"This is starting to sound like a break-up speech again."
"I'm not breakin' up with ya," he ground out through clenched teeth. "Jus' forget it."
Tess propped herself on her elbow. She ran her fingers over Don's cheek. "I'm sorry."
Don's eyes flickered away from Tess' "I said forget about it."
Tess smiled slightly. "I know you did. You're still churning it around up here." She tapped Don on his forehead. "And here." She tapped his chest. "And I know my joking with you has hurt you a little here." She tapped his chest again. "Don, you're the first guy I've given more than the time of day to since Alex high-tailed it to St. Louis."
Don stiffened. "I don't really want to talk about Flower Guy."
"I know you don't, but he was my boyfriend for two and a half years." Tess took a deep breath. She knew she had to tread carefully here. "And he is the guy I thought I might be spending the rest of my life with."
Don frowned at her. "Now yer starting to sound like a break-up speech."
Tess smiled and kissed him lightly. "I would not be lying in bed naked with you if I was breaking up with you, Donald Flack Jr. So you can just kill that thought."
Don smiled back and touched her cheek. "Jus' checkin."
"Nothing wrong with checking. I'm going to try to keep us on the same page here. I don't know what's going on between us besides some really good sex."
"Just really good?"
Tess blushed. "Don't be getting your ego all in an uproar." Don started to open his mouth. "And I'm not going to feed it either. I think you're pretty aware of what you do to me." Tess blushed harder. "Stop looking at me like that. Do I have to get dressed to finish this conversation?" Tess pinned Don with her best teacher gaze. Don did his best to look contrite and failed miserably. "I'm scared to look too closely. I thought I had a pretty good idea about how things were going in my last relationship, and I was utterly, completely wrong." Don started to say something again. Tess put her finger to his lips. "My turn to talk. I want you to know that when I was sitting in the restaurant with Alex…" Tess shook her head and opened her entire hand over Don's mouth. "Just let me finish. All I could think about was how soon I could ditch him and find you. I wanted to be with you." She took her hand off Don's mouth.
"Do I get ta talk now?" Tess smiled, shook her head and then nodded. "Are ya sure?" Tess' smile deepened and she nodded again. "Okay, then." Don flipped her so she was underneath him. "Only really good sex?"
Tess giggled. "I said..."
Don shook his head and kissed her hard. "Yer not letting me finish. My turn and there ain't gonna be no talkin' involved." He slid his hand between them and smiled as Tess arched against him. He trailed his lips to her ear. "I think I can get a better grade than really good," he whispered.
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Tess sat knitting, pausing once in a while to sip her soup. She reached up and rubbed at her eyes. She smiled remembering just why she was so tired. She smiled again and shook her head. Tess had just picked up her knitting when a phone started ringing. She recognized the ringtone, but ignored it. The song stopped and then started again. She started to hum along. One of the other teachers gave her a pointed look. Tess frowned a little. She dug in her cardigan pocket and pulled out her phone. It was ringing. She shook her head and flipped it open.
"Touché."
"Just a little sample. That's not the payback."
Tess rolled her eyes. "I'll keep that in mind. That's…" Tess cleared her throat. "That's a pretty heavy song, Don."
"I know."
"I said I didn't want to look too closely."
"Ya said that. I didn't."
"I know that." Tess sighed. "Don…"
"I need your grace, to remind me, to find my own."
Tess' head fell forward. "Oh, God. You're singing to me. Where the heck are you that you're singing? Don…" Tess dug a fist at her eye. "Are you trying to make me cry?"
"No, Sweetheart. Just showing ya I can be full of surprises."
Tess bit her lip and smiled. "I kind of figured that out last night."
"Hmm. That crackling sound scared ya, did it? Okay. So, I did earn a better grade." Tess could hear the grin in his voice.
She shook her head. "I am sitting in the middle of the teachers' lounge. Do not start."
"Hmm. I think I've given you the same warning. Ya never listen."
"Donald Flack Jr. Don't even."
"Don't even what, Teresa Nagy? Don't even ask what grade ya'd give me now? Maybe I could use some private tutoring. Got any suggestions on how I could bring it up?"
Tess leaned her head back. "Don," she squeaked.
"Maybe ya could give me some pointers on my technique."
"Stop. Please."
Don grinned and decided to let Tess off the hook. "I took back my jacket by the way."
"I noticed."
"I left ya the t-shirt. I like how it looks on you better."
Tess took a deep, shuddering breath. "I'll talk to you later."
"See ya, Tess." Don snapped his phone shut.
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