a/n: So for those of you who are reading this, THANK YOU! I appreciate all the views (and any feedback you might have). Enjoy! (:
It's so strange, how his office is so identical to the ones on Earth that I remember. There's a secretary, sitting at her desk, speaking into her wi-com in clipped, uninterested sentences. She's dressed in the same suit I am, the one we all wear, but it's got the emblem of the city on it, and her name sewed into the skintight fabric.
I look down to my own jumpsuit, slightly jealous of her curves and straight hair and pretty face. I'm not insanely self-conscious, but I'm nervous about this meeting. My jacket has a few wrinkles in it, and I begin to smooth them out just as a door slides open across the room.
A woman steps out, looking prim, proper, and very business-like. She's wearing a lime-colored shawl over her jumpsuit, and I feel under dressed all of a sudden. "You're the lead researcher of the Psy unit?" she asks, and she sounds so bored and impolite that I wrinkle my nose in distaste.
"Amy Martin, yeah," I correct her, and she shrugs before disappearing through the doorway again. I assume I'm supposed to follow her, so I do. I'm lead through a series of tight hallways, every so often passing large conference rooms and offices. Everything is so sleek and elegant here, and the floor plan is efficient and simple.
Eventually I'm led through a huge set of shiny double-doors that open into a large room full of research stations, cubicles, and busy workers. The woman points vaguely across the floor, towards another pair of doors that I assume go to Elder's office.
How strange that we've been here for only two years, and already there's an orderly business system. It's so likened to the buildings on Earth that it's almost uncanny. Men and women speak into their wi-coms, watching monitors and brushing their fingers over touch screens every so often.
The double doors open automatically as I approach them. Inside isn't Elder's office but an elevator, and I step into it uncertainly. It moves quickly, making my ears pop with the uncomfortable speed, and I'm glad to stumble out of it when the doors slide open with a blip.
"Sorry for the delay, I had a meeting with the police force that carried over into your time," Elder says, and I stare at him from across the room, completely unsure what to say. I look pretty brain-dead, standing there and watching him shuffle items around on his desk impatiently.
He's changed so much in two years, so much that it's like a completely different person. He's grown his hair a little bit, and the curls bop and twist as he moves, still not looking up at me. He's taller now, as if he wasn't a giant before, and despite the apparent office work, has certainly…built up.
I am a turtle, awkwardly stuck on its back, flopped over and desperate to get back on its feet. Even after so much time, he's still able to take my breath away, and it's a little ridiculous.
"Anyway," he says, clearing his throat, and I do the same thing, feeling stupid and hormonal and young, even though I'm older than Elder is.
He finally looks up, and I'm struck by his eyes, frex, and the spark in them and the memories of kissing him and staring into those irises, and dear God, I've forgotten how to breathe again.
He blinks, and I try not to grin at the way his eyebrows knit in slight confusion.
"Amy?" he says, and this time I do smile a little bit.
I have gone over thousands and thousands of things I want to admit to him, things I want to gush and gossip about with my best friend. There are so many sentences and words bubbling to the front of my mind, balancing on the tip of my tongue, and I'm worried that if I open my mouth I'll babble like an idiot. I take a moment to shift through them, figure out one that sounds perfect, classy, funny, flirty…something that makes me seem grown-up and sure of myself.
In the end, though, I settle with:
"Hi."
I feel like this should be a moment from those romance novels where the hero and heroine run into each others' arms, in slow motion, before embracing and having an amazingly sweet reunion. I guess we're not cut out to be the heroes of a novel, so we both settle for staring. Awkwardly.
"Hi," Elder says finally, breaking the silence, and then starts walking towards me, "hi, Amy, hi."
I wonder if he's lost it or something, because he repeats that phrase over and over until he's standing in front of me. I have to crane my neck to meet his eyes because gosh, has he gotten tall, and is that annoying or what because I'm older!
"So, uh, other than the obvious, what's new?" I say, a little too softly and timidly, in my humble opinion.
He smiles then, a sunshine-bright grin that gives me gooseflesh, that spreads a warmth from my fingers to the tips of my toes. I feel like I'm staring at Centauri-Earth's biggest sun (which is dangerous because it's so much brighter than Earth's sun), because this warm glow comes off of him. I feel like smiling back but I'm just too shocked to do anything but sit there and stare at him.
"Well." I say, because I'm not sure any other words will form correctly at the moment.
Elder steps forward, fast as lightning, and kisses me. I have to focus every single molecule of willpower to keep my knees from buckling. Oh, I think, this is nice. It's been a really, really long time since we've done this, way too long now that I think about it. I've almost forgotten how naturally good at kissing he is, but I'm pretty sure I won't forget again because sweet Jesus is this refreshing.
I can feel the strength of his arms because he wraps them around me, tugging me closer so fast that my feet forget to move with the rest of my body and I end up slumping against his chest. I recover pretty quickly, stumbling forward to even the playing field, and my arms float up of their own accord and grab the collar of his jumpsuit.
He's gotten a lot better at this, I notice blankly. He's almost desperate to be closer, which makes me feel pretty awesome, so I grin against his mouth and push myself into him. There's practically no space between our bodies now, and I really wouldn't have it any other way.
I break off the kiss as soon as I can, breathing like I've just run fourteen miles. He groans when I pull away and leans forward, gently tugging me in for another kiss. It's not like he has to convince me all that much. I go pretty willingly, this time threading my fingers into his dark hair and pulling whenever he does something I particularly enjoy – which is about every second, so I imagine his scalp probably hurts.
"Missed you," he gasps against my mouth, coming up for air. I don't answer because he tongue dances across my bottom lip thanks to the close proximity of our lips, so I'm on him again in a flash, biting and nipping and trying not to let this get too out of control but enjoying this crazy, impulsive moment.
"Amy," he groans, mouth close to my ear. His voice is deep and brooding and needy – I've never thought of my name as sexy, but the way he's saying it – God. "We have to stop, please," he chokes out, still teasing the skin of my neck with his lips.
"Doesn't sound like you want to," I say, and he laughs quietly.
"I mean, if we don't stop, you're not leaving for a very, very long time."
Whoa. I shiver; spastic little rhythms in my muscles that make me tighten my hold around his neck. So, maybe I am trembling a little. I reminding myself of Chihuahua, but, in my defense, Elder has never used that tone of voice with me. It is rough and low, teetering on the edge of a groan, and filled with a promise that we've never fulfilled but might end up completing in the next few minutes. It, really, doesn't seem like such a bad thing, to be stuck with him for hours, so I tell him this.
I'm not surprised that he's gotten more confident since the time he became "mayor," or whatever people are calling him. I am, however, surprised at his new sexual fearlessness.
Elder slips his hands down to my hips, flexing his hands palms open and then squeezing me closer, latching onto my lips once again. I don't have any complaints (who would?) so I go along with it.
We stop again, though, a few minutes later. I realize that I have been plopped down on his desk and have wrapped my legs around his thighs. I stare at him for a moment before jumping away and attempting to straighten my jacket and jumpsuit, the zipper of which has been pulled down slightly.
Elder watches me, which is slightly nerve-wracking. "It's probably good that we stopped," he says whimsically, and there is a familiar, mischievous tone to the words, one that I have come to miss in two years. "I would hate to have to get a new desk."
If my heart hadn't been flipping out of control before, it sure was now. I wave my finger at him, mocking seriousness and trying to zip my jumpsuit with my freehand.
"You are so unprofessional," I say, and he shrugs a little, smiling softly at me. I feel like a chocolate bar that's been in the sun for too long – I am literally melting at the ecstatically happy expression on his face.
Elder steps forward to hug me, wrapping his arms around my back and almost crushing me against his chest. He rests his chin on the top of my head, damn him for being so tall, and I smile into his shoulder, breathing in that familiar scent.
"I missed you," he says, and I nod, at a loss for words, against the soft material of his jumpsuit. I can't help but speak up again.
"But seriously, you better not start all of your meetings like that."