"I thought I told you to stay inside?" Brazen spoke playfully to hide the worry. Susan desired to yell at him for refusing to rest but she knew he would react poorly to it.
"Yeah." He responded but turned away to look to the tents beyond. The restlessness bled from him as he shifted on his feet. Brazen didn't know what to do with him and his stubborn desire to be up and about.
"Snake?" Brazen knew she needed to get his attention or he would never acknowledge her.
He glanced over his shoulder with that look she hated to see. He wanted to go and do something, anything probably.
Brazen smiled. "Will you come over here?"
The disgruntled sigh was audible even from where she sat. The sound forced Susan to stifle a giggle as he turned and started to limp toward her. Opening the bear skin she had draped around her she glanced up at him with an expectantacy in her expression. Plissken turned away again toward the rest of the tents. She'd never seen him so anxious to be up and moving. Susan cleared her throat and his attention came back to her.
Snake let out a long sigh before he tried to sit with her. It took him a long time to get to the ground beside her. By the time he settled she noticed the shivers starting. It was hard to tell if it was from pain or the fact he'd come out without a coat on. Susan pulled the large fur up and over his shoulder allowing him to rest heavily against her. He needed to relax.
Susan paused and then reached into the pack she'd brought out for cooking. Snake always kept a bottle tucked in the inside pocket. Pulling it she uncorked the bottle to pour him a drink. His eye was locked on it with a faint smile on his lips.
"Why don't you lay down here and have a drink?" She candied the words just enough to convince him to comply and cover her own emotions. The deep purple bruises seemed to have spread in areas especially on his face. While her thoughts strayed Plissken had maneuvered himself down to the ground. She watched him stretch out on his back and pull the fur across his body leaving just his boots sticking out of the far end.
Susan handed him the drink content that he was resting even if it was outside. She smiled down at him and ran her fingers through his tousled hair. The grey in his hair seemed more noticeable in the afternoon light but to Brazen it seemed to suit him. It wasn't that he looked old per say but the dignity and the sense of having been places and lived that made the grey seem so suitable. She let her fingers twist in the loose curl of his hair while she tended the food.
Feeling him close was a comfort. She had become accustom to his presence and more than that she needed it though there was still that part of her training inside that tried to remind her to hate him. He was supposed to be her enemy. Brazen wrestled with the contradictions. Cop, criminal, good, bad, did that even matter out here? Brazen let out a deep breath feeling the hand running up her side beneath her open jacket.
Her hand left his hair and trailed down to his chest above the injuries. It was the natural reaction to his touch. He touched her and she wanted to return it. Susan fought the feeling that what she was doing was wrong. It was by some standards she supposed but there was something that always prevented her from falling back into the Force's mentality. It was one moment that she barely remembered. It was that image of Plissken's face filling with worry when he pulled her out of the snow. She couldn't get over the fact he had saved her. She was a cop. He hated cops and still he'd saved her life. Brazen could never figure out why he had come to her rescue.
Her thoughts brought her eyes down to look at Plissken. He was relaxed there with his head propped on her knee and his hand running a slow, random pattern over her back. The drink was gone and he held the glass up to her with a smile. Obliging his addiction she poured another glass from the bottle.
"I love you baby." He murmured it against the edge of the glass before taking another swallow. Brazen remained stunned unsure if he had said it and more so if he had meant it. Susan just stared at him; wide-eyed and slack jawed.
He grinned playfully. "Yeah."
Susan blinked a few times but there was a serious expression in his eyes something that assured her those words were more than an offhand whisper. Susan looked away feeling her cheeks heat up to a glaring red. She had never heard any man, besides her father, say those words to her and mean it. Her stomach felt fluttery. So many things made sense now but she couldn't help but wonder how long he had been feeling that before he said it. She knew he kept his thoughts to himself. Is that why he had saved her or got so angry when she wouldn't kiss him? Farther back even, was that the reason he let her come along in the first place? All these questions flooded Brazen's mind while she stared blankly at the fire. Her cheeks felt as hot as the red center.
She didn't even notice him shifting beside her. All of her thoughts were lost in those words. Something came to Brazen and her heart jumped. That day he'd rode off after their fight when she had told him he ruined her life by making her his wife, it was only now she realized what had happened. He had done it for more than her life. Though she imagined that was part of the reason. Susan felt tears welling up when she realized how much it must have hurt him when she said those things to him. Guilt pounded down on her for the stupidity. How could she have missed it?
Tears streaked her cheek and a hand touched it gently
smearing the wetness across her face. She couldn't look into his eye
when her face was turned toward his. His lips brushed against hers and
she looked up to meet his eye. It was such a beautiful blue like the
winter sky and she was lost in it momentarily. The kiss pressed harder
and she fell into it wrapping her arms around his neck. Susan smiled
against his lips finally admitting to herself that it didn't matter
that he was a criminal. It hadn't stopped her from feeling the same as
he did. Maybe she would tell him. Maybe later.