Raylan Givens stretched, and rolled onto his stomach, burrowing into the pillows and cushions on Elsa's daybed. Turned his gaze towards his new girlfriend working hard at pinning up a shirt on the dress-making form and smiled. Thinking how much his life had changed in just three short weeks.
It was strange and unexpected, he'd never really felt like this before. Secure. Elsa was simply different. Unlike Winona she didn't need or want to be endlessly entertained, or reassured that he was going to come back. If he had a hard day she didn't push to know all the details, or give him a hard time. Unlike Lindsay, Elsa cared, she would wrap her arms round him, hug him tight and charm him back to smiles. It was like having a heavy load lifted away. It was strange too because Elsa felt like a friend not just a lover. Raylan wasn't used to being friends with the women he dated.
"I can feel your thinking all the way over here."
He loved the sound of her voice, smooth and sweet.
"Jus' thinkin' I must be th' luckiest man alive." He watched her eyes crinkle at the corners. She placed the last of the pins and sat down on the edge of the bed. Reached out a hand to run it through his hair. Raylan grinned, and nuzzled against the cushion he was cuddling. Elsa was the only one who never nagged him to get a haircut. He knew he really did need to get a cut, his hair was far too long, but even though he was getting tired of the comments, his naturally contrary nature dictated that he wasn't going to do anything about it just because people were telling him to do it.
He was almost tempted to push it until there was some kind of official notification about it. Maybe.
"Why would you be thinkin' that?" She was imitating his accent, and he reared up to tug her all the way down next to him. Elsa squeaked in surprise, which turned into a sexy little giggle as he swept her beneath him, catching his weight on his forearms he stared down into her face.
Gentle, sweet, loving Elsa. He leaned in then, brushing his lips against hers. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled him down on top of her, until they were nose to nose, and his full body weight was pressing her back into the pillows and mattress.
Her green eyes stared into his. She smiled, and tugged him down for a kiss. Raylan relaxed into her, knowing that she could take his weight, and loved the feel of him pressed up against her. She was a contrary thing, his Elsa… strong, confident and sexy, yet shy and modest.
In the eight days before Christmas, he had fallen in love.
His new love was nearly perfect. He could even have suspected her of being too good to be true if it weren't for her cooking.
Whilst Winona, Ava and Lindsay were domestic goddesses, Elsa could have burned water. Raylan didn't care. He put out the fire in her frying pan, swept her up in his arms for a big sloppy kiss and they went out for chicken and biscuits while the vent worked overtime to clear the smoke and the smell from the whole house.
Her arms were wrapped around his neck, one of her hands cradled the back of his head, her beautiful green eyes looked up into his, warmth and love in their depths, and Raylan abandoned the sweet memories and let himself sink into the pure joy of loving and being loved in return.
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Tim Gutterson hunched down in his chair, and pretended to concentrate on paperwork. It was Friday, and the whole office was invited to Art's to christen a new barbecue, even if it was February.
Normally Tim would feel a certain reluctance, however fond of his boss and his co-workers he was, spending time with them all outside of work was not his favorite pastime. But somehow Art's wife had found out about Raylan's new girlfriend, and an invitation had been issued.
Neither Tim or Rachel had missed Raylan's sudden discomfort, when Art had mentioned said invitation. This was going to be simply too good to miss.
It had begun with Raylan's now infamous shopping trip just before Christmas. Suddenly Raylan was disappearing for lunch every day at the same time. Attempts had been made to follow; Tim blushed at that thought, looked up from his paperwork and caught Rachel's eye, her discomfort over that particular episode as keen as his own.
Almost two months had passed and no one even knew her name. Just that Raylan was very deeply smitten and this was really serious.
Tim had to admit that he was puzzled. Raylan's romantic adventures were noisy, messy, ill-thought out and invariably ended in disaster, and the whole office had witnessed enough of Raylan and his beautiful ex-wife to know that that particular fish was never going to fly. Even if they did have a child between them.
He sighed, tonight they would meet the mysterious new woman in Raylan's life and get some answers to those nagging questions.
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Art Mullen prided himself on caring about his deputies, and never playing favorites. But even Art had to admit that Raylan Givens was the exception. He had known Raylan for ten years, seen the sad combustion of Raylan's first marriage, watched in horror and trepidation as Raylan screwed up the barrier between work and play, slept with a witness, moved over a bar and slept with the bartender who robbed him and hurt him and left him in another emotional melt-down mess. So he had to admit to himself that he really feared what Raylan might have dug up to destroy himself this time.
Rachel, Nelson and Tim had arrived one after the other with ten minutes to spare, as he looked around at the anxious faces, anxiety that they were all attempting to hide, Art realized that they feared for their friend and were there to protect him if they could.
It would have been funny, only it was so damn sad and sweet, the Chief almost teared up.
The knock on the door almost made him jump.
Art pulled himself together and opened the door.
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Tim and Rachel were trying not to stare, and failing miserably. Elsa was very, very different from Raylan's usual choice in women. For a start she was not leggy and blonde.
Petite and pretty, brown hair, green eyes and a sweet smile, she was also smart, it didn't take Tim five seconds to work that one out. Perhaps a little shy, but she was also socially adept, and Tim found himself warming to her. Just maybe this one was not going to chuck Raylan's heart in a blender and hit frappe.
As the room began to fill up, Tim noticed that wherever Raylan and Elsa were in the room, they would gravitate back together at regular intervals. Like magnets. They didn't seem to even be aware that they were doing it.
Rachel watched Raylan for a while. With Elsa by his side, Raylan was relaxed and happy, when they were split up, his eyes would track her wherever she went. It was clearly subconscious, and Rachel really hoped that this time Raylan had found someone who could put his needs high on her list of priorities. It seemed as though Elsa really did speak Raylan.
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"You were amazing tonight." Raylan tugged his girlfriend closer. Elsa rested her head against his shoulder and blushed.
"Amazing, huh?" She turned in his arms, "I don't think I was amazing. I think the people who you work with are pretty amazing though." Elsa placed her hand over his heart. "You realize that every last one of them was ready to show me the door if I was going to be bad for you."
Raylan held her gaze for a long moment, she could read the shock in his eyes, the sudden brightness, the muscle that flickered along his jaw line as he tried to contain the wave of emotion. He didn't do obvious emotions, kept it all bottled inside, but Elsa seemed to know instinctively how to reach him.
She encouraged him too. Told him to swallow his pride and make up with Winona. Raylan had his doubts, but Elsa's advice worked. To the extent that Winona wondered aloud how Raylan had actually managed to do something right and get a girlfriend that she found acceptable in the context of their daughter.
He pulled Elsa closer. Articulating his feelings was not one of Raylan's stronger points, but this time it just came out. Unlike his victim impact statement in court when Dickie Bennett had killed his aunt, this one wasn't a disaster.
"I love you." He said.