With the greatest effort
Suffice it to say, it was a long day for everyone. Renton spent the entire day on the phone, working out the logistics of registering to become a trapar film technician, while simultaneous finishing up an emergency rush job. Axel had his hands full cleaning up the mess that the Gekko crew left in their wake.
The crew themselves spent a large part of the day talking about the possibility of taking off in the Gekko-Go, making it the new 'home base'. On the one hand, relocating back to the Gekko-Go eliminated the possibility of the military finding them and shutting them down. Having a ground base had always been a risk, but as long as the trapar was gone it was necessary. On the other hand, no one, including Holland, was relishing the idea of living the next [indefinite number of years] as sky pirates with little to no contact with the ground world.
Riku, Eureka and the kids spent the entire day in town. As Renton thought, Riku – despite lacking a single penny to spend – took Eureka through all her favorite clothes, accessory, food, media, and reffing shops, not to mention the High school, preschool, community park, and what used to be great, but now were only descent, reffing spots.
It was well past dinner when the girls and kids came back to the house. Eureka was exhausted. The kids were so far past exhausted that "exhausted" was a distant light that they could see only from a mountain top on a clear night with a telescope. Riku was perfectly energetic, and came in with a shout of "I bring the walking dead!"
"So hungry. . ." Linck whined from his position on Eureka's back.
"Can't. . .feel. . .my. . .anything," Maeter agreed from Riku's arms.
Maurice was silent – half way resenting that no one could carry him, and half way too tired to complain.
"Alright, let them down," Renton began, "I saved you each a plate. Will you stay for dinner, Riku?"
"Ooo, tempting offer, Thurston. But I've spent enough time here. I'll definitely be back tomorrow to help Eureka enroll before the new term starts. And we can still hit some hot spots on the way back from the school. Can you believe we didn't get to everything today! Haha, what fun! Bye kids! Bye Eureka!" And with that Riku was out the door.
Renton saw Eureka and the kids slump into the kitchen stools. The smell of the plates of food that Renton placed in front of them revitalized some look of life.
"Thanks for the food!" Chorused the four before they began to shovel the food into their mouths.
"Kinda of like a hurricane. isn't she?" Renton joked, though he knew the four wouldn't hear him over their ravenous hunger.
The rest of the night passed in relative calm, especially compared to the rest of the day. And before she knew it, Eureka was showered, dressed in Renton's old shirt, and putting the kids to bed. After a short story, the kids were asleep and Eureka was ready to sleep, herself.
"Do you need anything else, Eureka?" Renton asked as he finished laying new sheets on his bed, which Eureka would sleep in until other arrangements could be made.
"No, I have everything. Thank you so much, Renton." Eureka stood in a lent pair of panties from Gidget, and one of Renton's over-sized shirts.
As he looked at her, Renton wouldn't believe that make-up, beautiful clothes, or anything else could make this girl more perfect than she was right now. How lucky had he been? To fall in love with this girl– and that she had loved him back? It was a miracle.
"Ok. Goodnight, Eureka. I love you." Renton made to walk out and shut the door.
"I love you too, Renton." She said the words, but they didn't reach Eureka's heart. She was confused.
'Why is he saying "Goodnight"?' Eureka decided to push the thought from her mind, which wasn't hard. She was too tired to think hard. Lazily, she collapsed onto the bed. Her eye-line was level with the work desk; and on it she saw the clock display 10:10 pm.
'It seems later.' Eureka's eyes closed. The bed was so comfortable after the seemingly endless day. Eureka almost wanted nothing more than to let sleep take her, and, indeed, it seemed like the edge of her consciousness began to fade.
'stop. . .stop. . .Stop!' Eureka's eyes shot open again, but immediately began to close. The clock display read 10:30 pm. Eureka was even more confused. There was one thing she wanted more than sweet sleep.
'Where is he? He should be out of the shower and back by now. Maybe just a little longer.' Eureka refused to adjust her body, or pull the covers over her. She needed to be cold, to be slightly uncomfortable and sore – that way, she would stay awake– that way, she would be able to spend that sweet time before sleep with Renton.
Again and Again, Eureka's eyes slowly began to close, and she had to force them open again, to see the clock display 10:31 – 10:34 – 10:40 pm.
'That's it. Get up, Eureka. Off the bed– one foot in front of the other. He's probably in the garage.' Without putting on a single piece of clothing, Eureka walked across the hall, down the stairs, out the door into the cold night, and opened the garage side door.
Renton was in, what had become for the past few days, his regular sleeping spot. Well, in truth, he had relocated to another junker. He had put some astroturf on the back of a sorry-excuse-for a trunk, and made a descent bed. He couldn't say it was comfortable, but at least this way he could lay out, while in the back seat of the car he had developed an awful crinke in his neck.
He wasn't exactly asleep, but the noise from the compact drive – which he had taken to sleep with out of some sense of nostalgia – kept him from hearing Eureka approach the truck.
"Renton. . ."
'I must be half asleep. I'm already starting to hear Eureka. This will be a good dream."
"Renton. . ."
"Hhmm?"
"I'm cold."
"Huh!" Renton shot up and saw Eureka standing at his feet. "Eureka, what are you doing!" Immediately, Renton went to put the blanket over her, but Eureka was already crawling onto the makeshift bed. Before Renton realized what had happened, she and him were laying down together – Eureka was so close he could feel her breath on his neck.
"Eureka," Renton's voice was pleading to understand, "what's the matter? Why did you come out in the cold like that?" Renton's voice had already started to drift away as Eureka readjusted her body, so that her feet rubbed slowly against his.
"My feet are cold." Eureka's voice was barely audible.
It wasn't a big deal, but– 'Why was Eureka so quiet? Why isn't she answering me? What was she thinking, coming out like that? Why isn't she in bed? She should be asleep– she's still not well, I know it. Today was too much for her, I shouldn't have let Riku drag her around.'
A million other thoughts were swirling around in Renton's head: some about Eureka, some about himself, or Riku, or the kids, and some about random things which were annoying him at that moment. The confusion pushed all consideration for the girl next to him out of his head, and caused him to say in a quiet, yet harsh shout, "Eureka, you're acting like the kids– stop being so spoiled and answer me!"
Eureka's head shot up to meet his eyes, and Renton saw them quickly swell with tears. Without a word, Eureka spun herself around and pulled away from Renton's body. "Stupid, it's your fault."
For a long time Renton couldn't say or do anything. He knew he was in the wrong: he shouldn't have yelled at her. But what did she mean, "your fault"? He didn't want to ask, for fear that he should already know the answer, and asking would just make her angrier. But he wasn't getting anywhere like this, he had to ask.
"Eureka, I'm sorry. . .for talking to you like that. . .and, for whatever I did to make you come out here. I'm sorry, but I don't understand. Eureka, please talk to me – tell me what's a matter."
Eureka's anger melted. She told herself it was too cold to be mad. She moved immediately back to Renton and wrapped her body around his, placing her head below his so that she spoke into Renton's chest.
Renton was almost straining his ears to hear what she was saying. "I'm the one who doesn't understand. You left me alone. Why did you have to do that? We've been apart for so long and you don't act like a day has passed. You send me away for the whole day, and it doesn't bother you that I'll be gone most of the time when school starts. And. . .you won't even sleep with me! It's the only time we could really be alone together, and you come out here to sleep in the cold. Who doesn't sleep in their own bed? And...and, you're just so. . .stupid, Renton!"
Eureka wasn't crying this time. Despite herself, being this close to Renton was the happiest she felt since she had first understood how much they loved each other.
Renton was able to catch every word, and with each one his guilt and frustration grew. Magically, Renton's body was doing what words never could – conveying to Eureka something she desperately needed to be reminded of. He had lifted Eureka's head and began kissing her lips to convey every emotion he was feeling – but overall, that he loved her more than he could say.
Several times Eureka tried to pull away with cries of "Renton–", "wait–" but Renton would kiss her once more and her protests died away. All the while, the heat between Eureka's legs was growing. As she reached down, almost mechanically, to satisfy her urge to relive the experience, her brain told her to stop.
Instead, her hand travelled from Renton's hair, down, till it found his hand; and she gently placed it upon her thigh. With the greatest effort, she pulled away and placed her other hand over Renton's lips.
Looking into his eyes, she begged, "Renton, please. . ."
Note: I'm trying to keep to weekly updates. Feel free to scold me mercilessly if I don't.