Title: Jealous

Author: SneetchesToo

Rating: Mature(ish)

Pairing: Ethan/Rox

Summary: Rox didn't understand why Ethan didn't seem to think that this was a big deal.

Author's Note: Nothing really to report here. Just some silliness between our two favorites.

—

Rox wasn't entirely sure why she went over to Ethan's the next night.

She was still mad at him. Very, very mad at him.

But she wasn't used to spending the night alone.

And as much as she loved Emo, her company wasn't quite as enticing as Ethan's.

So instead she had gone home the next day and showered and changed. And then she had headed to Ethan's to wait for him to get off work.

She had been thankful when his father hadn't been around. The silence of the small house almost comforting to her after the past few days.

She knew she shouldn't be so angry at Ethan over something like this.

But she couldn't help it.

Her insecurities were in full swing and they were constantly reminding her of just how amazing Ethan was, and how not amazing she was.

She didn't deserve him. No matter how many times he tried to tell her that she did.

She would never be good enough for him.

And she knew that the day was coming when he would realize that and he would leave her alone.

Just like everyone else in her life always did.

She had crawled into his bed after eating lunch and snuggled herself against his pillows. His scent was overwhelming and she felt herself starting to tear up.

She knew she should get a grip. She knew she should stop acting like this was normal.

But then she had faded off to sleep and that had been the end of that thought process.

—

When she awoke a few hours later there was a warm body snuggled against hers.

An arm around her waist, a leg tucked between hers, a nose nuzzled against her neck.

She let out a soft sigh when she felt his lips press against the skin of her shoulder.

She had missed his touch.

"Are you still mad at me?" He whispered into the silence.

"Yes." She whispered back.

She really didn't know why she was so mad at him.

She knew her reasoning made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

And yet she couldn't help herself.

"Are you ever going to stop being mad at me?" He let his fingers wander under the material of her t-shirt, running softly over the skin of her stomach and she let out a sigh.

"I don't know." She shrugged her shoulders at her words and she heard him let out a sigh.

"Are you ever going to tell me what I did wrong?" She rolled herself over then, her eyes connecting with his in the dark light of the bedroom.

She still wasn't used to it being dark at 6:00pm.

Just like she wasn't used to it being so chilly outside.

Ethan said it was nice that weather had been seasonally appropriate the last few days.

She thought he was crazy.

"You really don't know?" She raised an eyebrow at him and he shook his head.

"No Rox. I have no idea." He dropped his head against the pillow and eyed her softly. "You're jealous of something, or someone I should say, and I don't get it."

"That patient from Tuesday night..." She could feel herself starting to panic.

This conversation was stupid.

She really should have just been able to let this shit go.

"What patient?" His fingers moved to settle against her hip, daring to run under the waistband of her pajama bottoms.

"The blonde." She spat out.

"The woman with the broken arm and the blood alcohol level of a small liquor store?" The look that came over his face said everything she needed to know.

She was being ridiculous.

"Yes." She whispered.

That had been the one. The woman who had made her suddenly question everything about her relationship with the man beside her.

"What about her?" His question was soft as he moved his hand from her hip, his fingers trailing up her arm as he spoke.

"You were flirting with her." She knew that Ethan was just being nice. It was just the kind of person that he was. But she didn't have to like it.

"I offered to hold her hair while she puked all over the back of your rig." She had thought the woman was ridiculous. Getting that drunk in public and then falling down a flight of stairs because her heels were six inches higher than they should have been. "How is that flirting?"

"I saw you with her. At the hospital, after we dropped her off." She knew she shouldn't have been spying on him. "You stuck around just to be with her."

"I stuck around because Leanne asked me too Rox." She was pretty certain there was more to it than that. "They were in Code Black. I figured the least I could do was to put a cast on the woman's arm and keep her out of their way."

"You flirted with her." She really shouldn't be making such a big deal out of this.

It wasn't that serious.

"I did not." She could tell that he was getting slightly defensive and she hated herself for it.

"You were smiling an awful lot." He had been smiling at the woman an awful lot.

More so than he did with most other patients.

"You know why I was smiling Rox? Because she started asking me about you." That was bullshit and she knew it. "Not because I was flirting with her. Besides, she wasn't the least bit interested in me. It was you who seemed to have caught her eye."

"Whaaaat?" She was confused now.

"She asked if the 'pretty paramedic lady' was seeing anyone." She rolled her eyes as his hand moved to tangle in her hair, tugging her head so that her eyes were locked with his. "I told her that you were, that you were seeing me. She said she was jealous. That you were beautiful. I couldn't help but agree with her."

"Ethan..." He was really good at filling her head with lies and she hated it.

"True story. She asked me how long we'd been together." He ran his thumb along her cheekbone and she closed her eyes. "If we had kids, if we were getting married, if our sex life was any good."

"And what did you say?" She was curious as to how he would answer questions like that.

They had never really discussed their relationship status before.

"I told her that we'd been together 3 months." She couldn't believe that it had been 3 months already since they had said 'I love you' while laying in bed in the mountains. It felt like it was just yesterday and yet, at the same time, it felt like it was years ago. "That we didn't have any kids and that we weren't thinking about marriage, yet."

"And our sex life?" Their sex life was amazing, of that she knew.

"I told her I didn't kiss and tell." He winked at her and offered her a soft smile.

"And what did she say?" She didn't know why she was so concerned with what this woman had to say about their sex life.

What happened in their bedroom was their business.

"She said she bet it was hot as hell." That was an understatement if there ever was one. "I told her it was and then I left."

"So she wasn't flirting with you?" She felt like an idiot. A really, really big idiot.

"No Rox, she wasn't flirting with me." He leaned in and pressed a kiss against her cheek then.

She didn't deserve him.

"Would you have flirted back with her if she had?" She really didn't understand why she couldn't just let this go. Surely Ethan had had enough of her.

"Not intentionally." She raised an eyebrow in his direction and he let out a soft sigh that sent her heart into overdrive.

Everything about this man drove her crazy. And everything about this man sent her mind for a spin.

She had never been so in love.

"What does that mean?" Her question was whispered as she closed her eyes. She didn't even want to imagine what his answer would be.

"Look, Rox, you're the only girl for me okay. That's never gonna change." He ran his thumb along her cheek and nudged his nose against hers. She reluctantly opened her eyes but all that was staring back at her was a look of love. "Not today, not tomorrow, not next week or next year. You're it for me, you hear?"

"But..." She wanted to argue with him so badly.

"No, no buts, not on this one." He pressed a soft kiss against her lips then, his fingers tangling themselves back in her hair as he moved to hover over her. "I love you and only you and I'm not looking for another woman. I don't want a side piece or a mistress or any of that shit. I want you and only you for the rest of my life. Do you understand?"

"I guess..." She still didn't understand.

"You guess?" He looked down at her with soft, yet questioning eyes and she choked back a sob.

"I'll never understand what you see in me." She whispered.

"You're beautiful and funny and smart. You have a huge heart and you're the gentlest person I know." He pressed a kiss to her forehead as he spoke.

"You're determined to make yourself better and you never stop trying and you never give up. You make me smile without even trying and I laugh more when I'm with you than I've ever laughed before." Then a kiss to her nose.

"You keep me grounded and you keep me sane and I thrive off of the constant love and support you offer me. I live for your hugs and your kisses and having you in my arms is the most exotic and real and comforting feeling I've ever known." Then his lips pressed against her cheek softly.

"I'll never get that with anyone else. And frankly, I don't want to even go looking for it. I want you, and only you." And then he kissed her lips gently before pulling back and offering her the most genuine smile she had ever seen.

"And one day I will make you my wife and then you'll be stuck with me for all of eternity." His words sent her heart into a panic.

She couldn't imagine being anyone's wife, much less Ethan's.

She thought the idea sounded amazing, and yet terrifying all the same.

"You're crazy. None of those things are true." She closed her eyes as another round of tears threatened to fall.

"They're all true. Every last one of them." She felt the fingers of his left hand leave her hip and start to creep upward, pushing her pajama shirt aside as he made a move to cup her breast.

She shook her head then, her mouth unable to speak.

She would never understand what he saw in her.

Or why he seemed to love her so fiercely.

"I love you Roxy." He whispered against her lips.

"I love you too." She whispered back.

She forced her eyes open and locked them with his.

They were full of so much love and passion and she just wanted to get lost in his touch for days.

So that's exactly what she did.

*Don't forget to comment.