Alex/Gina - Gamma theme set
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#01 – RingThe original arrangement, with her coming in half-days and mostly to tidy up and answer the phone while he was with a patient, didn't last long once she proved herself calm, level-headed, attentive and sensitive to the patient's needs, and as competent with the creation and administering of medicine as her boss.
#02 – Hero
Of course Jack was just like a fairytale hero, she agreed solemnly when he asked, a little tense, what she thought of him; but fairytale heroes were only for helpless princesses, and she preferred someone who needed her.
#03 – Memory
She has a hard time figuring out how a man who could barely remember to put on his pants half the time could possibly remember not only her birthday, but the beautiful gold ring set with coral and tiny golden pearls she had admired at Lyla's gift shop, but, as she shows him with an uncharacteristically ecstatic hug, she's very grateful that he did.
#04 – Box
When he finds out from an off-handed comment of Dia's that Gina has been too busy at the Clinic to finish unpacking all their boxes, he makes a point to pay his nurse a visit that evening and help her finish the job, because he knows that his suggestion that Dia could help her with it fell on deaf ears.
#05 – Run
She lost track of time on her walk in the mountains to gather the herbs he needed, so she had to run to make up for it; he peeked out the window when half an hour came with still no Gina, and stared, amazed, as a little blue-haired shape sprinted toward the Clinic, her skirt held up around her waist.
#06 – Hurricane
"Well, you can't leave now," he told her, kindly exasperated, hurrying to fetch her a towel, when she reeled through the door, dripping wet from the violent summer storm she'd braved because she had promised to finish up a task from yesterday that had taken longer than she'd expected.
#07 – Wings
She's been such an angel about long hours and increased workload through the flu season, tending unrestingly to others even through her own bout of fever and chills, that he's amazed she doesn't actually have a pair of pristinely white feathered wings.
#08 – Cold
When she can't find a sweater to stave off the shivers he's been wracked with for most of the afternoon, she hesitates briefly, then wraps her arms around him from behind, rubbing vigorously to warm him up.
#09 – Red
And when Martha returns to find them with their arms around each other, snuggling contentedly, she blushes sweetly pink as he turns bright red and finds that suddenly, he's not so cold anymore.
#10 – Drink
She keeps it very carefully a secret from him that she doesn't generally approve of excessive drink, but does enjoy a grape soda every now and again, because she's certain he wouldn't approve.
#11 – Midnight
When she notices the lights in the Clinic still burning in the middle of the night, she throws on a robe and slippers and hurries over to tell him very firmly that that's enough for one night.
#12 – Temptation
But of course, he's very stubborn when he wants to be, and before long she ends up joining him, because at least they'll be done before morning; when she throws off her robe absently and he stares, mesmerized, at subtle curves through thin white cotton, he doesn't even try to resist the urge to trail his hands gently over smooth pale skin and make her gasp softly as his lips catch one dark rosy velvetsoft nipple
#13 – View
The next morning, he awakes to the thought that he could get used to this sight, her lips curved up in a peaceful smile, silken blue spilling over her bare shoulders; and when she wakes up to find him smiling gently down at her, she feels like they've been this way all their lives.
#14 – Music
"She's very good, isn't she?" Gina notes aloud as the sound Dia's violin drifts down from the top floor of the Sanitorium; Alex nods and smiles before catching her around the waist and pulling her into a dance.
#15 – Silk
"It used to be Dia's; she said the colour was better on me," she admits blushingly, twirling in place just to hear the beautiful pale rose-pink skirts rustle again, and then asks how he likes it, even though his smile and the intent look in his eyes and the feel of his hands tracing her waist and hips beneath the lacy white corset top tell her quite clearly.
#16 – Cover
By the end of the Festival, she's shivering in the chill night air, so he settles his coat gently around her shoulders, and pulls her into his arms, just to be very sure she's warm.
#17 – Promise
When he hears the Mayor ask if they'll promise to love, protect, and honour, and then hears the girl's soft acceptance behind a layer of misty tulle veil, he can feel his heart swelling with happiness.
#18 – Dream
It's going to take her a while, before waking up next to him each morning and listening to his soft breathing as he falls asleep each night, and cuddling him just a wee bit when she wakes up at two in the morning doesn't all seem like just a beautiful dream.
#19 – Candle
When she exclaims in delight over the box of pretty aromatherapy candles, and then takes two of the lavender-scented ones upstairs to have a bubblebath by candlelight, he wonders, watching her purr delightedly as warm water and frothy bubbles cling to her body, gleaming wet in the low light, if this was a present for her, or for him.
#20 – Talent
He never would have imagined she'd have such a gift for artistry, he thinks, flipping admiringly through the little sketch-pad he found on the dresser.
#21 – Silence
When Martha asks her newly-acquired roommate, since her move into the Sanitorium, after all, how she's enjoying the notion that her best friend is a married woman now, Dia ponders this for a few silent moments, and then responds with startling venom, that Gina had no right to leave her for some man.
#22 – Journey
It was a few months before they managed to make time for their wedding trip, and of course Prague was beautiful, but they both agreed that the nicest part was coming home.
#23 – Fire
"Dear, would you like me to do that for you?" she asks anxiously as another spark shoots out of the frying pan and burns a tiny hole in his sleeve.
#24 – Strength
Despite two years of knowing her, and three seasons married, this girl will probably always surprise him; for instance, by effortlessly lifting and carrying a box of supplies he spent fifteen minutes trying to budge.
#25 – Mask
"Y-yes, but I'm not really much for cosmetics," Gina admits when Eve stops by for some cough drops for her grandfather, and pulls out a tube of pale pink lipstick – too pale for her taste, but just perfect for the nurse's delicately fair skin and shimmery hair.
#26 – Ice
"You're lucky Jack was up riding in the mountains today," Alex tells her, borderline stern, as he settles an ice pack over her ankle, sprained on an herb-gathering expedition and badly swollen; "Please be more careful next time, Dearest."
#27 – Fall
Her favourite season used to beFall, because of the changing leaves and the crisp, cool air, but she thinks it might be Spring now, because that's when his birthday is, so it's sort of as though the Spring gave him to her.
#28 – Forgotten
Even nurses need their routine check-ups, he told her cheerfully one morning, and set about examining her body in a very different manner than he had just got finished doing two hours ago when it was time to get up for work; as he notices something, a little tidbit of information that she's been waiting for the perfect moment to tell him, about their family expanding by one some time in the fairly near future, the rest of the check-up becomes ingnominously forgotten, and Martha, once again, walks in to find the two little newlyweds tangled snugly together.
#29 – Dance
"It really isn't as difficult as it looks," he assures her, before pulling her out into the middle of the floor and taking her through the steps of thefox-trot.
#30 – Body
It seems that, even with her body swelling with pregnancy, he wants her more and more each day, and sometimes he can hardly wait for nightfall to touch her, run one hand down over the curve of her lower back, pull her back against him and press both palms to her stomach, tongue flicking gently at the back of her ear as she moans softly in his arms.
#31 – Sacred
"I like it; I think there's a certain beauty in ceremony," she replies whimsically when he asks what she might think of taking their daughter – for they're both certain that the child will be a girl – down to the stream and christening her.
#32 – Farewells
She knows that lots of the girls in town like him, and even though ost of them like her too, a few certainly don't, because they think an ugly little four-eyed troll like her isn't good enough for him, and that's why, though she would trust him with her life, she feels a cold little chill at the thought of saying good-bye, even for a short trip into the city with Dia.
#33 – World
They don't travel much, because Alex had enough travelling in his youth before returning to Flowerbud to begin his practice, and Gina has no particularly fond memories of her travels with Dia and her family.
#34 – Formal
Martha laughs a little whenever she hears Gina calling Alex Doctor during the day, and laughs even more whenever Gina explains very seriously that she feels it's important to draw some very clear lines between their roles as husband and wife, and their roles as employer and employee.
#35 – Fever
This week has been quite a disaster, with the doctor, Martha, and Dia all coming down with the same fever at once; and by the time she had finished making them all comfortable enough to get better, Gina found herself feeling chilled and achy.
#36 – Laugh
He thinks her laugh is very beautiful, low and sweet and silvery; she thinks his smile is very beautiful, warm and inviting and kind.
#37 – Lies
He can tell it's a lie right away, when she assures him that nothing's wrong, because something about Dia's visit must have made her look pale and drawn and despondent, and when he finds out from Martha that it's because the frail dark-haired girl told her snidely that he only married her because he thought she was ugly, and would be too grateful that someone actually had to try to stop him from having other lovers, he thinks it might take him a very long time before he'll knowingly leave Gina alone with her again.
#38 – Forever
"Please tell me you didn't believe it," he murmurs against her hair as her tears soak into his shirt at the thought of losing him to someone prettier; "You know that you're beautiful to me, the most beautiful woman in the world, and that won't change; that's a promise."
#39 – Overwhelmed
They gaze together down at the tiny baby girl snuggled into Gina's arms, completely floored by the strength of their love for each other and for little Siobhan, with her big amber-brown eyes and little fuzz of downy-soft dark hair all over her head.
#40 – Whisper
When he finds her leaning reverently over their little daughter's cradle, singing a sweet old lullaby in barely more than a whisper, he leans against the doorframe, smiling gently at her beauty in the moonlight that reminds him so much of her, pale and ethereal and soothing.
#41 – Wait
When she gets a glimpse of him stepping out of the bath, it makes it very difficult to be patient until he slips into bed next to her.
#42 – Talk
Most of the time, when Siobhan cries at night, he'll get up with her, and after the baby falls peacefully back to sleep, snuggling the soft blue and pink and yellow blankets that line her cradle, they'll talk about everything and nothing until they drop back off to sleep again; they're usually exhausted the next day, but it's worth it.
#43 – Search
Even though they spend an awful lot of time looking for things that he's misplaced because, after all, she doesn't always see him putting them there, she thinks she would be sorry if he did learn to put things back in the right place, because she loves everything about him and doesn't want to lose any of it.
#44 – Hope
She would like to see Siobhan grow up to be a famous violinist, just like her Aunt Dia – because the sweet, cheerful little girl managed to unknowingly mend a rift between lifelong friends – and he harbours secret hopes of seeing their daughter on a woman's volleyball team.
#45 – Eclipse
Over time, her fear of losing him to a prettier girl has been completely overshadowed by her love and trust for a man who would never hurt anyone that way, let alone someone he said again and again that he loved dearly, until even the mocking and scornful glances and words from other women in the village just...don't matter anymore.
#46 – Gravity
Siobhan doesn't know why her Mommy and Daddy smile like that when she announces, very solemnly, that she wants to marry Uncle Kurt and Auntie Dia's little girl, Sylvia, when she grows up, because she always heard that other people didn't like that.
#47 – Highway
"So, where would my two favourite girls like to go on holiday this year?" Alex asks, pulling Gina down onto one knee and lifing Siobhan, now five and tall and lanky for her age, onto the other.
#48 – Unknown
When he brought up the idea of moving to a city because he suspected that both of his special ladies were bored to death in Flowerbud Village, Gina protests almost as frantically as Siobhan, and Alex drops the matter very easily, because he hates the idea of leaping into a new life as much as they do.
#49 – Lock
Whenever she makes a point to lock the door before slipping into bed next to him, he feels his pulse speed up a little bit, even before her hands and lips move soft and achingly sweet over him.
#50 – Breathe
But other nights are just as good, when they snuggle very close, arms around each other, lips barely touching and breath mingling, and drift easily and peacefully to sleep.
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End Notes: O-kay! That's Gina and Alex done! And it was just as much fun as I knew it'd be.
I don't know if the bit about some of the other women in the village being horrible to Gina because they decided that she "wasn't good enough" for Alex was believable or not, but since it is mostly a reflection of how incredibly tired I'm getting of wittle teenybopper asshat authors with no sense of grammar, let alone characterization, bashing her for no reason, I suppose it doesn't matter. But heavens, would I like to see his reaction if he were to see some of these assessments of the woman he loves as an ugly, jealous, possessive bitch! I suspect we would see a sudden and terrifying end to his constant good nature. XD