Thank you for all of the reviews! In answer to a few inquiries I received, I unfortunately don't take requests at this time. I'm having a hard enough time keeping up with this one story! But I may in the future - we'll see. Sorry! Hope you enjoy the chapter all the same.
Daisy paced the room for the majority of the day, watching the sun burn bright in the sky before sinking down into the pale glow of early evening. She considered using the shared facilities located at the opposite end of the long hallway, her skin still hidden beneath a thin layer of grime that only a proper bath could obliterate. But then her memory would drift towards the lustful gazes of last night's saloon patrons, and her skin would crawl with something darker and more foul. In moments such as those, the four walls of Daisy's cell felt more like four arms of protection, sealing her in safety.
As the black hands of night clawed upwards into the sky, Daisy tried to sleep, but her rest came to her in fitful bouts of aggravation and embarrassment. She dreamt of the pure elation she had felt as she stood in the forest clearing across from that mother bear, comprehending every decibel of life that breathed in and around her. But somehow, the image of Thornton stomping through the trees always wormed its way into Daisy's subconscious. In one short dream, the bear and its cub evaporated into nothingness so that only Thornton remained. He came towards Daisy angrily, wrapping his thick hands about her small neck. She screamed, the echo of the sound sending her upright in the waking world. She clutched at her chest, heaving into her palm.
The room was dark save the flickering of a single candle set atop the desk. Cap sat on the edge of the bed closest to Daisy. He was watching her intently.
"That'll happen," he said softly, his eyes glued to Daisy's face. She reddened under his contemplation, flustered by the violence of her dream.
"What?" Daisy asked between her slowing breaths. The bed was large enough to afford a good distance between the two of them. Daisy longed for Cap to close that gap. She pulled herself further upright, resting her back against the headboard.
"You'll get those nightmares at first, the ones where the only thing you see is the man you've wronged." Cap studied Daisy's face in the candlelight, admiring the way her skin flushed flawless and golden in the dark.
"How did you know I was dreamin' about Thornton?" Daisy asked in a whisper, her eyes disbelieving.
"Because I've been through the same thing," Cap answered. Daisy scooted forward on the bed until her legs dangled off the side in the same fashion as Cap's.
"How do you mean?" she said, and Cap weighed her countenance before looking away. He was chewing over his prospects, considering the appropriate manner in which to educate Daisy without frightening her.
"This feud between our Pa's," Cap started slowly, "it teaches you things, things you might not wanna know but need to know. Like how to hurt someone, maybe even kill them. And then after the fact, how to deal with the way that makes you feel, or the way people look at you 'cause your name is Hatfield. I guess that's why I liked you so much…" Cap's words trailed off. His brow furrowed as he regarded his hands.
"Why?" The word fell from Daisy's mouth in hushed anticipation. She felt that she was leaning on the cusp of something significant, her body shifting towards Cap's. He swallowed the lump in his throat and looked up, meeting her eye.
"Because when you look at me, I feel like you're seein' more than my name," he admitted to the dark.
Daisy sighed into Cap, her desire for proximity erasing the inches between them. She had spent the last several hours in silent servitude to her thoughts, to the things that she dare not say to any other person. With the adrenaline of her crime finally wearing off, Daisy had thought of her family, of her sister, of the people she had loved in what seemed to her like a previous life, wholly detached from the one she lived now. The idea made her feel lonely, as if she were the last person left on Earth. Cap was her only salvation from all of that.
"Where did you go, Cap?" Daisy asked suddenly, unable to contain herself. She needed to tear down every wall that stood between them.
"I had to take care of some things," he answered freely, looking away again into a darkened corner. "I had to pay some people off, especially that barkeep, to keep quiet about us. And then I sat in the saloon, and I listened."
"Listened for what?" Daisy wondered.
"Listened to the men talk, to see if anyone had caught word of what we done," Cap paused to remove his hat from his head, setting it beside him on the bed. He wiped his brow with his wrist as if he were dying of heat, even as a chill hung in the air.
"And did anyone say anything?" Daisy asked, praying that the answer would be a solid no.
"Not about that," Cap replied. "Although you made quite the impression on one or two of them. I should have knocked their teeth out, the things they were sayin'…" the words fell away, Cap unable to meet Daisy's eyes. She furiously wrung her hands in her lap, suddenly ashamed of the response she conjured in certain men.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, and Cap's head snapped towards her.
"Don't you ever be sorry 'bout what you can't control," he stated firmly, like a sergeant reigning in his troops. He waited until Daisy met his eyes. "You hear me, Daisy? You can't spend your life cleanin' up everyone else's messes. That's why you shouldn't be sorry about what you done to Thornton, neither. Either he died or you died, and I'll be damned if I live another day in a world where that sonofabitch walks free. I know you're tough – there ain't no way 'round it. I need you to be tough."
"How do you know I'm tough?" she asked quietly. The most rational part of Daisy knew that Cap was right, knew that she had killed Thornton in nothing more than self-defense. But she couldn't understand where Cap found all of this shining confidence in her.
"Well for one thing, you put up with me," Cap joked, and Daisy smiled. "For another, you been through Hell and back without a single complaint. Even after all that ridin' you didn't say nothin'. I don't know many women who can do that – Hell, I don't know many men who can do that."
"Is that so?" Daisy teased, her eyes softening.
"Yes," Cap answered, the amusement draining from his face. He was suddenly serious. "And I reckon any one of us who grows up in this feud of our families oughta have a thick shell." Daisy was taken aback by Cap's change of tone. How many nights had she spent awake wondering if anyone found this constant quarreling and killing as foolish as she did?
"Do you ever think the whole thing is just one big mess that no one can remember the start of so they just keep pilin' on the bodies?" The question spilled forth from Daisy with a comfortable ease. Cap was silent for a long moment before he nodded.
"All the time," he said softly. Daisy's eyes met his in a shade of understanding that only the children of Randall McCoy and Devil Anse Hatfield could comprehend.
"Don't get me wrong – I love my Pa," Cap continued. "But sometimes I wonder if I'm myself, or if I'm just a shadow of my father's hate."
The room was quiet. Here sat two young people who hardly knew each other in terms of social respectability. But underneath, in their truest of natures, they were so alarmingly similar that one's interpretation of the feud could be deemed the thoughts of the other. After a few calming minutes of silence, Cap reached behind him to a parcel that sat on the far side of the bed. It was wrapped in brown butcher's paper and tied with twine. Wordlessly, he placed the solid object between the two of them, and Daisy instantly knew it to be a book.
"I felt guilty for leavin' you in here all day," Cap said shyly. "So I bought this for you. Open it." Daisy did not need to be told twice. Like a child on Christmas morning, she tore into the paper, her face brightening as she found the solid binding underneath. The leather of the cover was blood red in the dark, embossed with gold words that glittered in the candlelight. The title read North & South, and as Daisy smiled down on the book in adoration, her next question escaped her mouth absently.
"Do you remember that first time we saw each other?" She said without looking up. "At the courthouse?"
"Like it was yesterday," Cap answered immediately, his eyes stuck to Daisy as she turned the gilded pages of the book.
"What were you thinkin' on that day?" she asked bashfully, and Cap leaned further into her.
"I was thinkin' you were the most beautiful thing I ever seen," he replied, and Daisy's head shot up. Their eyes locked, both sets dewy in the dark, both sets open and giving. "Still are."
Daisy dropped the book to the floor where it landed with a solid thud. The sound echoed in her chest, her heart hammering away as Cap inched his way to where she sat. They stared at one another, each drinking in the fine features of the person across from them. Cap's eyes rested on Daisy's swollen lips, and slowly he dipped his head into hers until their mouths connected. It was fireworks and sparks; the same electric jolt that Daisy had felt when Cap first saved her from Thornton in the woods. She did not know the semantics of kissing; she knew only that the sensation was pure and real and right, and she easily followed Cap's lead.
His lips worked over hers, slow at first and then feverish and hot. His hands came up around Daisy's face, his palms cupping her cheeks reverentially. His lips pressed harder, coaxing a soft moan from Daisy. She felt his tongue gently slide into the cave of her mouth, exploring and wondering, and she returned the gesture, nibbling at the delicate skin of Cap's bottom lip. He emitted an animal growl of pleasure as his hands slowly slid down Daisy's face, over the delicate curve of her neck, to rest on her breasts, cupping and squeezing them lightly.
Cap pulled away from the kiss first, breathless, panting, and pressed his forehead to Daisy's. His hands fell away from Daisy's chest as if he were ashamed of his passion, but Daisy boldly took hold and placed them back again. She purred at the feel of his palms rubbing the fabric of her dress deeper into the sensitive skin of her nipples. With her approval apparent, Cap first undid one button, and then another, and another, until the front of her dress gaped, revealing the lily white skin hidden underneath. Soundlessly, Cap eased Daisy back onto the bed so that she lay flat, staring up at him in awe. She reached a hand to his cheek, feeling the rough comfort of his stubble.
Delicately, Cap opened the folds of Daisy's dress so that her chest was exposed to the night air. He stilled, his eyes glossy, as he looked down on her. Her breasts were lush and full, the nipples a rosy hue that contrasted with the pale of her skin. Cap waited, his eyes searching Daisy's as his fingers gently kneaded. She nodded once with a slow and seductive smile and Cap's head descended on her chest. He hungrily sucked one nipple into his mouth, tugging and nibbling until Daisy cried out in elation. Slowly, he worked his mouth towards the other nipple, planting tiny kisses in the canyon between Daisy's breasts. His tongue circled lazily around her soft pinkness, his mouth sucking intently until both peaks were glistening in the candlelight.
All the while Daisy wrapped her arms tighter and tighter about Cap, holding on for fear of slipping underneath the depths of her pleasure. He worked back and forth between her chest and her mouth, showering her with kisses in every space in between. He was paying worship to her body, admiring the small bones of her clavicle, the tender skin behind her ears, the coyness of the few freckles dotted across her nose. Cap drank in all of this and became dizzy with amazement, so much so that he at first did not notice the southward trek of one of his hands. It rubbed greedily at the fabric between Daisy's legs, and she mewed like a kitten, even as her eyes held the smallest bit of fear.
Cap stopped, drawing his hand up and away from Daisy. He fell onto her, resting his head in the curve of her neck. She easily enveloped him in her embrace, both of them panting with a sort of worn passion. Cap's breath came out hot and comforting across Daisy's chest.
"We should slow down," Cap whispered, even as Daisy felt the persistent press of his manhood against her leg. She had been momentarily lost in the sea of Cap's affections, drowning in the feel of his mouth against her skin. Part of her had wanted to go on forever, existing solely in the realm of this bed and this man. But another part of her was unsure and afraid of the mechanics of such a task, and she was glad for Cap's self control.
"Come on," Cap said softly as he lifted them both to sitting positions on the bed. "We need some sleep." His fingers worked effortlessly over Daisy's buttons until she was wholly covered again. He planted one gentle kiss upon her forehead before bidding her to crawl into bed on top of the blankets. Daisy did so, scooting to the far side of the bed, thinking that perhaps Cap wanted space away from her. But as he crawled in after, he wrapped one arm about her waist and dragged her to him so that her back was flush with his chest. Daisy felt Cap's breath above her head, felt the press of his lips against her hair, and she fell asleep nestled deep within his arms, a smile playing freely upon her face.
X X X
Daisy dreamt not of Thornton and his horribleness, but of Cap and his gentleness. She saw his eyes, one good, one mysterious, as he laid her down in a bed of flowers and made love to her. She could smell the violets, the roses, all of the sweet and familiar scents that reminded her of home and a time before time, when she had not been a McCoy and Cap had not been a Hatfield. Rather, they were two people thriving off of their passion for one another.
Daisy woke to Cap shaking her arm, and she thought that it must be morning. But as she cracked open her weary eyes, the world outside was still dark, the stars twinkling undisturbed in the sky. Cap was jostling her more violently now, frantically whispering her name until she turned towards him. His eyes darted back and forth between her face and the door.
"We gotta go," he said, pushing her up and off of the bed. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked about the room, wondering if this, too, was a dream. Before she could ask Cap what was happening, she heard a thunderous crash from downstairs, followed by the stomping of many feet upon the stairs. The noise was headed in their direction, and Daisy's eyes met Cap's with a fresh sense of urgency.
"Now," Cap demanded, and the world fell into chaos as he shoved Daisy towards the window.