AN: Welcome to chapter two! Glad to see you! Well thanks again for taking a look! This time we get to see some of Valeriyas thoughts and feelings! Once again, I don't own tiger and bunny or any of its amazing characters. Another thank you goes out to my beta reader! Please make Miss Echo happy with reviews! Thanks, and thanks again!
As the day ended, Val opened the door to her shared apartment and walked in. Her large Gucci purse and keys landed on the glass coffee table with a thud. With a heavy sigh, she plopped herself down on the couch and relaxed for a few minutes. Closing her eyes, she laid her head back and let herself relax. The office had been brutal today, seven clients that all had serious mental health issues.
Having a degree in psychology and psychological counseling, she worked at one of the offices here in town.
Her moment of relaxation was soon ended by the obnoxious buzzing of her phone in her purse. Fishing through the bag, she pulled out the white device. Val smiled on the picture on the screen, a snapshot of Barnaby that she had taken when he wasn't looking. She hit the green button and held the phone to her ear.
"Hello hun." She said tiredly
"Hey Val, you sound tired." Barnaby responded with a small chuckle.
"Yeah, had some real tough clients today." She said, a small smile playing on her lips.
"well you just sit and relax, I just wanted to see if you wanted me to pick up anything specific for super tonight."
"no, anything's fine."
"Alright, I'll be home soon. Love you."
"Ok, see you in a few, love you too." And with that she brought the phone down and ended the call. Picking herself up off the couch, she dragged her body to the bathroom and turned on the hot water before stepping in.
She let the hot water run over her body for a few minutes before grabbing her shampoo and squirting some into her hand. She scrubbed her hair and moved on to the rest of her body, using her favorite cotton candy flavored shower gel.
When she stepped out of the shower, her feet hit the fluffy rug that lay in front of the tub. When she was finished drying off, she stepped into her pajamas.
The white pajamas had red bunny faces all over them. The long sleeves went past her wrists and touched her knuckles. Next, she slipped on the red bunny slippers from a few nights earlier.
She walked through the apartment to the kitchen and got out all the ingredients to make a cup of tea.
While the water boiled, she got out the lighter and lit Barnaby's favorite candle. She knew he loved aromatics and so she always had a candle lit for him when he got home.
When the tea was finished, she took the mug in one hand and picked up her favorite book in the other.
Valeriya curled up on one side of the couch reading her book and sipping her tea for a few minutes until she heard the sound of the door unlocking.
"Hi honey." She called softly to him as he entered the apartment.
"Hey. I picked up some cabbage rolls and beef stroganoff on my way home." He set the two bags of food on the kitchen counter before shuffling into the living room and sitting on the couch. He moved so he was lying on the couch and his head lay on her lap. He looked straight up at the ceiling with his legs hanging off the side of the couch.
She closed her novel and sat it on the table next to the couch where they were seated. His eyes fluttered shut and a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. Her hand reached out and she stroked his long blonde hair gently. With her other hand, she propped her head up on the arm rest.
"Long day?" she asked and was answered with a small nod.
Both just sat there for a few minutes longer, their eyes closed, just taking in the smell of the candle and the feel of their significant other so near them.
"I'm going to set the table while you shower ok?" she asked when he started to get up and head for their bathroom. She heard a muffled "hm." From him as he shuffled into the bathroom and peeled his clothes off.
Barnaby stepped into the running water and breathed in the steam from the hot water. He grabbed the soap and began washing his neck first, as he always did.
When Val had finished setting the last glass on the table, she stepped into the open doorway of the bathroom and lifted herself to sit on the counter.
Hearing the padding of slippered feet on the tiled floor, Barnaby wiped his face with the washcloth and peeked out around the shower curtain. He saw her sitting on the counter with her knees pulled up to her chest. Her chin rested on her folded arms and her eyes were closed.
When Val heard the rustling of the shower curtain, she opened her eyes and Barnaby noticed the tired look in them.
"so what happened at work today to make you so quiet?" she wondered out loud. Sure, he was a generally quiet person, but there was a deep silence in the apartment.
"The usual, saving kotetsu, putting up with his horrible jokes." He sighed as he ducked his head back under the water to rinse out his shampoo.
She heard the water turn off and saw him step out to grab a soft white towel. He toweled off his torso and wrapped the white fabric around his hips. They looked at each other for a few silent minutes before he took two steps over to her and briskly wrapped his arms around her, burying his face into her neck.
She reciprocated the hug by placing her small arms around his waist and breathing in his scent. When he let go she looked at the warm look in his eyes.
She smiled and pecked his cheek. "Come on, get dressed and let's go eat, then we can relax for the night." Her feet landed on the floor when she hopped down from the counter. She walked back into the kitchen while he slipped on his red striped flannel pants and plain white t shirt.
When Barnaby stepped into the kitchen with his own slippers on his feet, the table was ready for him to sit down and eat.
The two sat opposite each other while they dined. There was only small conversation as they ate due to the tiredness they shared.
When the meal was finished, Barnaby saving his favorite food s for last as usual, they rose from the table and cleaned up, placing the dishes in the dishwasher and throwing out all the garbage.
With another sigh, Barnaby walked slowly over to the couch and plopped down yet again. Looking at his tired fiancé, he patted his lap and the seat next to him simultaneously.
She smiled knowingly and dragged herself over to the seat, sitting next to him and dropping herself down letting her head lay on his lap. Rolling onto her side, she brought her knees up and curled up on her makeshift pillow.
As he looked down at her, he noticed the red rings under her eyes. They were faint, but they were there. He wondered why he hadn't noticed them at dinner, perhaps because he was closer to her now. She closed her eyes and her breathing began to steady.
He began to run his hands through her soft black hair, the silky strands running through his fingers like water with each stroke.
"Love, do you want to talk about it?" he knew that something had to be bothering her, and he wanted to know what it was.
"No, it's just a client at work that's all." He didn't' buy her story whatsoever.
"What else is bothering you?" She would never tell him that she was worrying so much about him, that she laid awake for most of the night to make sure he didn't find his way to the balcony again.
"Really honey, that's all" she tried to convince him. It wasn't a complete lie; there was a female client who had come to her today that had a story that hit home for Valeriya. She laid one of her hands on his knee and his large free hand covered her own.
"You know you can talk to me about it." He attempted to comfort her, his thumb running over the length of the back of her hand repeatedly. His other hand was still running through her raven locks.
"I know, it's just, this woman came to see me today, and she was telling me about how her child had been killed. It took all I had to not cry." She held back the tears as long as she could, but a few escaped while she was talking.
He moved the hand from her hair to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
"I can't even imagine what that must be like, to lose your child, no mother should have to bury their son like that." At this point, she was nearly sobbing and Barnaby couldn't keep up with the flow of tears.
"No, no mother ever should, but she had to, and she came to you for help. That's what you do Val, you send these poor, hurting people in the right direction, you help them get their lives back. Without you, who knows what would happen to them. "
She used the back of her free hand to wipe at her eyes and roll over onto her back to look up at him. She was surprised to see him smiling down at her.
"Thank you." She whispered to him and he cupped her cheek. Tilting her face into his hand, she closed her eyes. His smile was full of warmth and love as he felt her breathing slow and watched as she rolled back over onto her side. He took the remote in one hand and turned on the TV while his other held tightly to one of her smaller ones.
The channel was flipped to the news and he lightly rubbed her back while she drifted into a small nap. He watched the stories roll by on the news and the hours began to roll by with each story.
Two hours passed and her eyes fluttered open once again.
"Bed love?" he asked when he noticed her beginning to wake. She nodded and got up, going to the fridge and pouring two glasses of milk. He drank his down and waited for her to finish hers. Taking the glasses to the dish washer, he quickly made his way back to the living room.
A yelp escaped her lips when he placed one hand under her knees and another firm hold on her back, lifting her up and off the couch.
"Wh-what are you doing?" she asked surprised.
"Carrying you to bed." He answered with a faint smile. She clung tightly to him for fear of falling even though she knew he would never drop her.
Soft sheets touched her skin as he gently set her down on the bed and brought the covers up to her chin. He took his time to walk around to his side of their bed. While he was walking, his eye caught the metallic object on the shelf. With the covers still in his hand, his eyes lingered on the toy robot, the memory of his parents flooding his mind.
The things that Valeriya had talked about earlier had really hit home for him. He knew what that was like, to lose someone was so close to you, or that you thought was invincible.
"Honey, are you getting in?" her smooth voice jolted him out of his memory and he shook the memory from his head.
"Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking." He crawled into the bed and scooted closer to her. They met in the middle of the mattress and his strong arms wrapped around her waist. Her back was pressed firmly to his chest.
Barnaby pulled her closer to him and he buried his nose into her hair to breathe in her scent. This action made her smile as she got comfortable and found his hand, intertwining her fingers with his.
She opened her eyes, looking at the wall across from her. "Barnaby?" she asked, hoping he heard the whisper that had escaped her lips.
"Hm?" he answered with his eyes still closed.
"I love you." Her voice was just above a whisper and she felt hot tears stinging her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her tighter and his thumb stroked the back of her hand.
"I love you too Valeriya." A kiss was placed on her temple and they relaxed back into their positions, both falling asleep.
In the morning, Valeriya slipped from his arms when she heard her phone vibrate. Catching it just in time she answered it and held it to her ear.
"Hello?" she said between a yawn.
"Val? It's kotetsu!" the chipper voice on the other end snapped Val out of her tired stupor. She walked out into the living room area and leaned on the wall.
"Hi kotetsu, what's up?" her voice was kept low so as not to wake Barnaby.
"Hope I didn't wake you and bunny! Listen, Kaede is coming into town and she's gonna stay with me for the week, but I was planning on taking Fitz on a mini vacation this weekend, I hope I'm not asking too much, but I was wondering if you and bunny could watch her, I'd only be for two days, we'll be back on Monday morning."
"Of course Barnaby and I will watch her! It'll be great!"
She heard a sigh of relief from his end. "Oh thank you so much Val!"
"Hey, no problem! What are friends for right? So what day will you be bringing her by?"
"On Saturday morning hopefully, but really, I can't thank you enough."
"It's no problem, so see you Saturday morning then?"
"Sure thing! Bye Val!"
"Bye!" she hung up the phone and set it back on the coffee table before walking back into the bedroom and crawling back under the covers, wrapping herself around Barnaby once again.
"Who was that?" she jumped at the sound of his voice.
"It was kotetsu. We're going to have Kaede for the weekend." She waited until her heart rate steadied.
"Oh. Ok." He said still half asleep. She giggled and fell back into sleep, wondering if he would remember this small conversation when he fully awoke.
AN: hope everyone enjoyed chapter two! Thanks for taking a look! Do you think Kaede will enjoy spending time with the couple? And how will kotetsu and Fitz's mini vacation go? Find out in chapter three, coming soon! Hope to see you all there! Remember to leave some reviews, for Miss Echo's sake! Thanks!