Disclaimer: don't own them but enjoy very much doing as I please with them.
Sexually explicit, M chapter (the last for a while)
A/N: Thanks to all the reviewers, this chapter has something for everyone and ended up being quite lengthy. I encourage those who have asked me plot questions; I always enjoy the stimulation and challenge of explaining my character development or thought process. Thanks for your time and interest and as always, for reading. Although this chapter is long and rambling, I am indulging in my fascination for exploring the actual relationship between Booth and Brennan. Please let me know what you think.
He had seen it, a light flash in his peripheral vision and it drew his attention away from her for that brief second. His brain took in the image of the van, moving too fast toward the intersection to possibly stop; even from a distance he could glean the panic of the driver. His reflexes snapped and as she was speaking the adrenaline in him had already wiped out her voice, flooding him with the rushing sound of his blood, his heartbeat sounding in his own ears. He locked the brakes, slamming the car to the right, hoping to make the turn and keep the car on the ground, forcing the van to come up on his side of the vehicle instead of broad siding them. He heard her scream as the reality wrapped around her. He was struggling to hold on to the steering wheel, pulling the back end of the car around as the van came up beside them.
The tires all screaming, the metal screeching as the side of the car slid along the side of the van sending a shower of sparks between the two vehicles. She looked over to see the arc of fire behind his head, instinctually he leaned away from the door, his profile tense, his eyes wide in shock as he fought to hold on to the car. The side view mirror snapped off, the smell of burning rubber and paint filled their lungs as the two vehicles skidded down the street. It seemed like forever as they teetered together before the road bounced beneath them and the van tipped away from the car, separating and slowing. There was a final slide as the back end slipped to the right before he brought the car to a complete stop.
Neither of them spoke, there was smoke coming from the car and she didn't know if it was from the tires or the hood, heat was pouring in from the floor. She watched him try his door, but nothing happened, it wouldn't open. He looked to her and she opened hers, grabbing her bags and sliding out, waiting for him to follow before moving, unsure of what they were really doing. He took her hands and pulled her away from the car, past the parked cars and onto the sidewalk. She noticed that his airbag had deployed and didn't remember that happening, there was a burn on his cheek. Her face was warm and when she raised her hand she realized she was bleeding, she had at some point struck the side of her head on the window.
He was looking at her injury, "are you okay?" His voice shook slightly and he sounded far away to her and it struck her there was a ringing in her ears. She nodded yes to him and they both turned toward the tall man now standing in front of them. He was what Booth would call African American but Brennan could tell from his sculpted features, high brow and dark shining color that he was actually Nigerian. His lilting accent when he spoke confirmed this for her.
"Are you alright? I tried to stop; there were just, suddenly, no brakes." He was obviously in shock, eyes wide and dilated, his speech sounding vacant. He was in a white shirt and green work pants, trying to grab a late lunch when his brakes failed him.
"Booth nodded at him, accepting his expression of concern. "We seem to be fine, just some minor bumps and bruises. How are you?"
"I think I'm okay, if I can get my heart to stop pounding." His face split into a wide nervous smile that they returned easily within the relief that no one was seriously injured. The sound of the sirens caught their attention and they stood waiting for the local police to arrive.
He knew Temperance was unusually quiet, shock and fear had wrapped around her and in response she sank quickly within herself. She was squeezing his hand and it seemed to him that she was not even conscious of doing it. The police were getting out of their cars and he gently took his hand out of hers so he could produce his license, insurance and badge. A medic came to check them all over, assuring there were no serious injuries being masked by shock. Booth called for a tow truck to take the car to the shop the FBI used. Once they established that it was just an accident and there were no other factors, they cleared the scene quickly, letting them know where they could pick up a copy of the police report for insurance purposes. The emergency tech made Brennan sign a release after refusing to go to the hospital for a head x-ray. She felt the bone herself, she knew she was fine.
A police car waited to take them home, Booth wasn't sure if it was professional courtesy or standard practice but he was grateful. She was uncomfortable in the back of the car, the wired Plexiglas between the seats and the lack of door handles giving her the sensation of being trapped. She understood the security and intimidation aspects of these features but was affected none the less. His arm came around her and she leaned against him, closing her eyes to the confining surroundings and absorbing instead the feel of him next to her. In a matter of moments, she felt the bump of the driveway and she knew they were home.
They walked inside and Temperance dropped her bags and keys on the counter as she moved to the sofa and dropped herself down. She looked at her hands with curiosity, they were visibly shaking. He came over and sat next to her, pulling her to his chest and she wrapped her arms around him. The need to feel him, to be close to him was still screaming within her and she didn't know how to make it stop. She kicked off her shoes and straddled his lap, curling herself against him and tucking her head into his shoulder so her whole body was against him. He tightened his arms around her, sharing the compelling desire to feel her, in one piece, breathing against him, unharmed.
Both of them were fighting the panic that arises after a close call, the drowning rush of fear that comes with the realization that death has reached out and gently stroked your cheek but left you unharmed. Temperance didn't need any more reminders about how fragile life could be, her sensitivity to that reality was reinforced every day by her work and by her own history. For her, life already seemed too fragile, too easy to destroy, too easy to be lost. Her body lifted with him as he drew a deep breath and slowly exhaled, trying to calm and center himself. She moved her hand up to his hair and began stroking her fingers through it, soothing and relaxing him. They sat like that for a long time, until everything within them both was settled again and the urge to whisper 'that was close' had dissipated.
"How are you doing?" She felt his chest vibrate as he spoke, a feeling she loved so completely it made her pause. She made a mental note to herself to be curled up against him when he read to her the next time so she could feel and hear his words.
"Better now. How about you?"
"Well, I'm trying to imagine how poorly Cullen is going to take it when I request my third FBI vehicle in a two month period." He felt her start to laugh against him and began to chuckle himself because no one else would understand how little the car really mattered, how relieved they were that it was the only loss. The laughter seemed to rinse the last of the fear off of them and they relaxed into themselves.
"By the way, that was some good driving. I've never been more appreciative of your quick reflexes." She lifted his hand in hers, curling her fingers between his, bringing it to her lips where she dusted kisses over the fingers and knuckles, moving delicately as though it was the most precious thing she had ever held in her hand.
Her fingers were cool against his hand but her lips were like fire over his skin. He closed his eyes against the sensation, allowing his desire for her to gather in the darkness. She tipped her head and he felt her breath skimming across his neck, then her lips attached, her teeth nibbling the flesh followed by small flicks of her tongue. His whole world was reduced to this one sensation. Her mouth pulled on his flesh and his penis stirred, his need waking, pressing its way between them. He briefly thought that he could orgasm from just this, her mouth pressed against him with such a singular intent.
She was kissing his fingers, recalling the look of them wrapped around the steering wheel as it vibrated under his hands, threatening to be torn from his grasp. Only this image and his profile haloed by the sparks were imprinted in her brain as memories of the accident. So she kissed his fingers and thought about the hundreds of things that his hands did in the course of a day that mattered to her. How he placed them on her hips to pull her against him in that sexually possessive way, claiming her, taking her breath away. She didn't know when she became this, a woman who wanted to be claimed, by him. She tipped her head, taking in the scent that was his alone, feeling her skin tingle in recognition. She leaned forward enough for her lips to graze the cord of his neck where it turned into his shoulder, intending on planting just a kiss but incapable of stopping as satisfaction and hunger filled her simultaneously. It was then that she felt him, pushing between them, up against the core of her, growing. It was the most erotic sensation she had ever known, a bolt of wet heat shot through her as her womb pulsed open with such force that her thighs tightened, her body reaching for him.
His hands moved to her back and she felt him pulling her shirt up, seeking the feel of her skin under his hands. His fingers moved down the length of her spine compelling her to arch into him. She moved her lips up his neck, brushing her cheek against his rough jaw line as shivers rained down her neck and shoulders. She took his earlobe between her teeth, biting softly and then sucking gently as a moan vibrated between them.
Her lips hovered over his ear as her hand slid up into his hair, "make love to me Seeley." It amazed him that the faintest whisper of her voice could carried so heavy a plea. He felt himself grow fully hard, and she pushed her hips against him in response, the subtle communication conveying more than their words were capable of saying. He opened his eyes, met by the flood of desire swirling in her pale blue gaze the sight of her sucking the oxygen from his lungs. His hands moved under her thighs and as he rose she wrapped her legs around him. She laughed softly against him and he smiled down at her, knowing.
"Go ahead and say it, I'd be disappointed if you didn't." He was laughing now too, enjoying this game that had become an intimate conversation between them.
"I can walk you know." She held him tighter as she spoke, emphasizing her intention to stay exactly where she was and amused by her ability to be so humored by a statement that she once spoke so fiercely.
"I know." He carried her to the bedroom, the knowledge of what would rise between them carrying as much anticipation as those early days of exploration. He sat on the edge of the bed, pulled her body away from his and began to slowly unbutton her shirt. She watched him undo the button she had sewn back on just a few hours before and smiled at the link between them of which he was not aware.
He moved slowly, his hands working the material, he whispered as though his voice would be absorbed into her skin, "you know I think about this all the time, how I will undress you, each button, the sound of the zipper on your skirt, pulling your lab coat off your shoulders, how I will untie the knot in the belt of your robe. I know the path I'll take with everything you wear, the way I'll take it off of you so I can touch you." The thought of touching her consumed his thinking, he had to restrain himself from shredding them from her body, intentionally prolonging the moment
"I haven't worn my lab coat…" she realized he was talking about how he had always undressed her in his head, long before his hands found her. "So that's what you were doing all those hours in the lab when you were watching me so intently, undressing me?" He pushed her shirt off her shoulders and down her arms with the reverence of unwrapping something priceless.
A small smile tugged at his mouth. "Sometimes, yes, other times I thought about kissing you and then I would look at the body on the table to control my 'state of arousal' and to refocus myself on the case. For the record, I did spend a good deal of time watching your hands as you worked, imagining how they would feel moving over me." He was blushing, as much from the memory as from its telling. His arm moved around her side and with a flick of his hand he unhooked her bra. The brilliant smile he wore so well appeared and a quiet laugh escaped her. He slid the bra down her arms and off, a satisfied sigh punctuating the garments fall to the floor. Her breasts grew heavy with the weight of her desire for him to touch them.
He had been watching her, while she was anxiously analyzing how she felt about him; he had taken the time to study her. It's no wonder he was so good at loving her, he had been practicing all this time.
She kissed him, pulling his shirt up over his head and moving her hands down the front of him, her nails dragging a path, "and when you thought about my hands moving over you, what exactly were they doing?" She had moved her mouth to his ear and her fingers were deftly undoing his pants. She slid her hand inside, her palm caressing down the length of him, fingers curling around the width of him, taking in the now familiar landscape of his erection. A moan uncoiled from within him as she pumped her hand in a slow steady rhythm.
"Temperance…you are…far bolder…in real life…than I ever…had the nerve…to hope…or imagine." His speech was broken by small gasps as her hand worked over the taunt solid flesh of him. His hands were tightly gripping her hips and he reached for her wrist, stopping her movement and turning to lay her on the bed. He pushed off the remains of his clothing and turned to her, sliding her jeans and underwear over her hips and off before joining her on the bed.
His hand stroked down the center of her body, a languid motion speaking to the luxury of having time. He trailed his fingers over the rise and fall of her, ribs to belly, belly to hip, hip to thigh. His flattened his hand against her thigh and she moved her leg, turning beneath him, encouraging his touch. He felt like a savant, his history strung out behind him in a line of off pitch performances and suddenly this, pure harmony, a symphony flowing from his hands. He played over her skin, stroking, kissing, waking every cell, lighting every nerve until she was wreathing with yearning. She was whimpering his name when he finally entered her, causing the rest of the world to recede; she is whole in a way she will never have the words to explain to him. As he moves within her, her whole body tingles and as the first orgasm shatters over her she arches into him, still rocking from the shock of it as a second tears through her body, taking him with her.
She wondered what time it was, estimating early evening but unwilling to move and risk waking him. How will she manage next week when this habit of lengthy afternoon sex becomes impossible? His head lay on her abdomen where he had crawled up from between her legs and drifted off to sleep, one hand curled across her thigh, the scent of them together laced through every breath he took. She liked the feel of him against her, as if in response to her thoughts he stirred. She ran her hand through his hair and down his back, stroking gently until his body settled. Her stomach growled in hunger, the hours they spent in bed triggering her body's need for refueling.
"Let me guess, you're starving." She jumped at the sound of his voice.
"I thought you were sleeping." His lips kissed her belly and his hand squeezed her thigh before he moved up next to her.
"I was, but your stomach was protesting loudly in my ear. What would you like to do about dinner?" She was just about to answer when he heard his cell phone ring and groaning he leaned over her plucking his pants from the floor and pulling it from his pocket.
He was still leaned across her as he flipped it open. "Booth." He felt her begin to lazily scratch his back so he relaxed, propping himself up on his elbow so the expanse of his chest was not crushing her thighs.
She quickly gathered that it was Rebecca and that she wanted him to take Parker tonight for some reason and keep him through tomorrow. He glanced at Temperance and she nodded at him, letting him know she approved but unsure of why we was seeking her consent. She heard him tell her that she didn't need to drop Parker off, that he would be happy to pick him up from her instead. Temperance realized it was because he didn't want to explain why she would be dropping her son off at Temperance's place and wondered if he was not ready to tell Rebecca or if he was avoiding the mess the conversation was sure to cause. She was a little sad that the complications of the real world were already creeping into their lives. They hadn't seen Parker since he had colored her cast and she felt badly that she had not been herself that day. He had been sitting so contentedly with her it was as though his own intuition had told him to be careful with her. Like father, like son.
Booth had snapped his phone shut and was humming sounds of pleasure as her hands continued to move over the smooth skin of his back.
"I can't remember the last time someone sat and scratched my back. It feels so,…good."
"What time are we picking up Parker?"
"In about two hours, she's going to give him dinner and his bath now since I said we would pick him up. Because Angela went and got him when we couldn't drive, I realized she had never been here and I just didn't have the energy to get into it with her right now." He could feel her stiffen slightly beneath him, just the slightest tug in her thighs warning him that she had drawn herself up against some emotion she didn't want to feel. "Temperance, stop thinking, this doesn't have anything to do with me not wanting her to know about us. I'm proud of having you next to me, I'd tell everyone if you would let me but I know you have your own pace and so do I. I want her to be in a good mood when I tell her so she doesn't take it out on Parker, or me for that matter. I'm not hiding you, I'm taking you with me and if she asks, I'll be honest. I just didn't feel like stirring things up right now, I'm too content." He turned to look at her, "okay?"
"Okay." She held his gaze for a moment, deciding whether or not to continue. "Seeley, how did you know that's what I was thinking?" It amazed her that he addressed things she had only been thinking and had not yet expressed.
"I could feel you tense against me and I knew something was wrong and because I know how you think, most of the time any way, so I can hear you in my head. I know what's going to bother you because it's usually something that would bother me. Then there are times I know just because my gut tells me that's what you're thinking." He couldn't get out the last sentence without laughing. He jumped as she firmly smacked him on the toned cheek of his ass that was so conveniently close. He surprised her by quickly grabbing her wrist, a flash passing across his darkening eyes, "don't start something we don't have time to finish."
She arched her brow at his response and settled on asking the easier question, "don't have time?"
"Shower, dress, eat and drive, as it is we'll have to hustle a little, your stomach was just growling in hunger."
She leaned down to his ear, her hand now caressing the warm stinging print she had left just a moment before, "we'll shower together and eat on the way there." She bit his earlobe, punctuating her statement. A growl escaped him that she knew was hunger of a different kind and he pulled her to him.
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Temperance gripped the steering wheel tightly, she was suddenly nervous as they began the drive to Rebecca's house. Unsure of her role here and not comfortable with her minds attempt to label her as Seeley's girlfriend, her thoughts began to wander. Girlfriend was a term for teenagers, she had not thought of herself as a girl since she was fifteen. She thought of herself as his lover but would never use such an intimate term with a stranger. If they decided to move in together she would be his room mate, his live-in, neither of which felt in the least bit appropriate. There was the new term, significant other. Other what? It made no real sense. The world was so full of labels, titles, categories. Temperance liked when things fit, when there was a name for an item and that's just what the item was, nothing more. Your femur is always your femur, your tibia is always your tibia, this she could understand. Why did this all have to become so difficult? When they arrived was she supposed to wait in the car? Go up to the house with him? She liked to be sure about her place in every situation. It had been a long time since she had been anyone but Dr. Temperance Brennan. She had been Angela's friend and now and then someone's date but this fell into that grey zone of social delicacies that she had neither the time nor the inclination to learn.
"Booth, do you expect me to get out with you and go up to the house?"
He glanced over at her, her eyes were fixed on the road but she had a look of agitation. He knew that look; something was stirring in that beautiful head of hers.
"Well yes, I thought we would just walk up and get him, why?" He was watching her carefully, looking for clues.
"I'm just trying to figure out my place here. How are you going to introduce me to Rebecca?" Her voice had risen just slightly and he knew she was getting to what really mattered.
"I thought I would tell the truth, Rebecca, this is Dr. Temperance Brennan, the woman I love, my partner, my friend, brilliant anthropologist, gifted writer and amazing lover or mind blowing fuck depending on her mood. How do you think that'll go over with her?" He was chuckling in that deep sexy way he had, enjoying his knowledge of her sexual self and watching the blush bloom in her cheeks.
"Very funny, I'm being serious, what do you consider me?" She was flattered by his words and a bit surprised by the flutter in her belly at his use of the term 'mind blowing fuck'.
"I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you have already thought about every relationship term ever used and disregarded them for one reason or another so let's not waist time. Why do I have to call you anything? For right now, why can't I just introduce you, as you?"
She was quiet for a moment, turning it over in her head, seeing how it felt. He was giving her the last of the directions and she realized this was going to be an ongoing issue with all the people they met. It was frustrating to her to have something she could not define. She tried to relax as they pulled in front of the house. Seeley popped out of the car and came around to open her door. She glanced at him as she climbed out, but didn't bother telling him she could do it herself.
The small white house was a suburban cut out of the outer D.C. area and although the neighborhood was a good one, Temperance had always thought the homes and landscaping lacked imagination. Every house was a carbon copy of the next one, she thought Angela's term for it was interesting, vanilla. This was a very vanilla place. She almost started to laugh when the door opened and Parker came rushing down the walk toward his father, an excited squeal of 'daddy' coming from him as he ran.
Seeley scooped the boy into his arms, spinning with him before they both settled into a crushing hug. "Hey bub, how is my little man today?" The smile he wore when holding Parker was like no other, it was a look of love and pride and fear and such genuine happiness that it was impossible not to smile in response to just seeing them together.
"Good. I have my pajamas on but not cause I'm going to bed, I'm going with you, right?" He was obviously anxious to have confirmation that his father was indeed picking him up and taking him home.
"Yes, we're taking you right now." Booth nodded toward Temperance at the mention of we and Parker turned his gaze to her.
"Hi Dr. Bones, are you coming home with us too?" Parker's dark eyes were so much like his fathers that Temperance sometimes found it disarming.
"Well I can't wait to hear the answer to that question." Rebecca's voice from the doorway drew all of their attention.
Booth jumped in right away, "hi Rebecca, this is Dr. Temperance Brennan. Temperance this is Rebecca Porter." He watched as both women took a half step forward and politely shook hands.
"It's nice to meet you. I assume you're the bone lady with the dinosaur at work. I've heard a lot about you." She smiled tightly and Temperance could see the underlying hostility and insecurity swirling within this woman.
"It's nice to meet you too. Parker is such a beautiful, well behaved child, you must be so proud of him." She could see that Rebecca was caught off guard by the compliment as she nodded her head in agreement.
"He is a very good boy." Before she could continue Booth jumped in, seizing the opportunity to get them out of there.
"If you want to grab his duffle bag and back pack we'll get out of your way. What time do you need him back tomorrow?" He was trying not to sound rushed.
"It won't be until late in the day but if I'm running too late I may leave him with you until Wednesday instead. If that's okay with you, then I'll just keep him Friday instead. I may as well tell you, we're going up north for the weekend with Jack. He has a cabin on the water, you know fishing, swimming and all that, it should be fun for him."
"Rebecca, I need his information and the location of the cabin in case something happens, you know the deal." She ducked quickly into the house and Temperance could feel the tension emanating from Seeley. Rebecca reappeared and handed him the bags, which was going to be too much. As he went to set down Parker, the child put his arms out to Temperance, seeing an opportunity to continue to be held. After just a second of hesitation she took him, setting him on her hips as his small arms came around her neck. He hugged her and Temperance suddenly understood that although Parker didn't understand the adult implications in the conversation he could feel the tension between his parents and Temperance was a safe comforting set of arms.
She turned to Seeley and smiled softly, "Parker and I are going to go wait in the car so you two can get yourselves figured out." With that said she turned and walked toward the car, with Parker's head tucked comfortably against her shoulder, both parents watching with matching expressions of shock.
Parker was a big boy to be carried but she managed to get him to the car and inside without a problem. Despite her statements to not wanting children, they always responded well to her. Temperance knew what it was like to be a child that people talked down to, a child that people assumed didn't understand what was going on around her when in fact, she was usually way ahead of them. She always kept that in mind when dealing with them. She got down to their level when she spoke to them, she was always honest when they asked her a question and she listened when they spoke to her. She knew that developmentally, they were survivors, moving through the day just trying to get their immediate needs met, not much differently than most adults really. Her sincere and honest approach to them usually ended in an immediate attachment, by instinct they trusted her.
Once he was strapped in, Temperance climbed into the back with him, settling comfortably so she could glance up and see how things were going with his parents. She could hear the feint sound of their voices being raised so she turned her attention back to the child.
"So Parker what have you been up to lately?"
"I went to pre-school last week and we painted a picture of a flag, there are a lot of stars on the flag and there are stripes. We had red and blue popsicles for a snack and it freezed my brain. Eddie dropped his in the sand outside and Miss Kelly made him throw it out. I got to play with trucks and we sang the song about the hole in the bottom of the sea. We had ciminon graham crackers and we had to lay down and nap but I didn't like that part. Is my daddy coming?"
"He'll be here in a minute, he's just talking to your mom and getting your things. Are you hungry? Because your dad and I haven't eaten yet and we thought we would stop somewhere on the way home." She forgot how talkative he could be, he was certainly a child that took everything in as he looked around.
"I'm hungry, I could have some ice cream because I had my dinner and I ate all my peas and I don't even like peas very much. Does the restrant have ice cream? Where's your cast?" He reached out and patted her arm where the cast was when she saw him last.
Temperance looked up as she answered him and saw a very angry Booth headed to the car. "The doctor removed my cast last week because my bone is all healed so my arm is better." Booth climbed into the drivers seat of the car, tossing the bags into the seat beside him and glancing at her in the rear view mirror. He held out his hand for the keys.
"Seeley we've had enough excitement with cars today." She was staring at him in the mirror, not wanting to say anything about the accident in front of his son. "Parker and I were just discussing the possibility of him having ice cream at the restaurant since he has already had dinner, peas and all." She slowly handed Booth the keys, and watched him take a deep breath, calming down and settling himself to drive, her message to him loud and clear.
"Okay, dinner for two adults and ice cream for one boy, coming up right away." He pulled out and tried to adjust his mood to match his playful tone. In the back seat he heard his son giggle and then cheer for ice cream.
"Do you like ice cream Dr. Bones?"
"I do Parker but I still have to eat my dinner before I can have desert."
"You should have macaroni and cheese for dinner, that's what I had and it's good, you would like it. I don't have school tomorrow so I can stay up late. It's not late yet, it's still light outside. I have a bike. Sometimes we go to the park for me to ride it."
He listened to them discuss everything from bikes to Bob the Builder, a long conversation in which his son explained all the characters, shocked that Dr. Bones didn't know who they were. She was patient in a way that he rarely got to see, focused on the conversation as though it was as important as a case. His son reveled in the attention, talking all the way to the restaurant.
Dinner went smoothly, Booth having talked Parker into a chocolate shake to minimize the mess. He was surprised at how often his son turned to Temperance with a question, having learned quickly she would take the time to answer him. He had crawled back and forth between them and had fallen asleep with his head on Temperance's lap mumbling even as he drifted off. Seeley bent to lift him from her lap, pausing to place a kiss on her lips as he passed and they went home.
Temperance sat sipping a cup of tea as Booth put Parker to bed. The domestic feel of the evening did not escape her. She thought back to the moment she carried Parker to the car, her automatic instinct to protect him. He attached himself to her so easily, loved and trusted her so openly that she felt fear for him. She remembered what is was like to wander through the world unaware that your life could change, that the people you loved could disappear. It was a hard lesson and one that she realized she was still felling the effects of even now. That must be why she felt so insecure when Seeley was gone, for her loving anyone would always be linked with the knowledge that she could loose them. She could see how Seeley was protective of his son, trying to shield him from the realities that awaited him, protecting not just the child but his childhood as well. A man, a child, this was not her life. It felt as though for the last few weeks she had been in someone else's life, it just happened to have her in it. Could she live this life every day, with so many emotions, worries and things to think through? It made her head spin and she wondered how her mother had done it. She must have loved and worried about them all the time, she must have known every time her father left the house that there was a real possibility he would not be coming back. How did she cope? Did she have it in her to trade the live she knew, the safe solitary life she knew, for this whirlwind of complicated emotions? As she thought about all these changes she looked up, there leaning against the door frame was the man that represented the eye of the storm.
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Okay, press the button and like a cyber net intercom I'll hear you…
how he tucked an errant hair behind her ear, how they curled around his coffee cup in the morning, how they danced through the air when he was discussing something about which he was passionate