Amazing Part 13

The castle was huge and ancient, but despite the lack of modern amenities like air conditioning, the inner rooms were cool and dry with filtered light and comfortable furniture. Annie noticed some of the rooms had twin beds, but Gwen led them to a room with a single larger bed, not quite a queen size bed, but big enough for the two of them to sleep comfortably.

"Half of you are on this floor and half up above, there are two full baths on each floor, private, first come first serve. Dinner will be at 6:00 for everyone who makes it by then, your lamb will be served," Gwen winked.

"Oh God, I forgot about the lamb, it's in the back of the vehicle," Annie made to go get it.

"It's OK, I'll send someone for it," Gwen smiled, "enjoy the quiet, take a bath."

Annie nodded and Gwen left them alone. They dropped their packs and Annie instantly was in hers looking for something cool to wear. She had a very light weight sundress that wasn't too much of a wrinkled mess. She also had a tiny bit of bubble bath from the hotel in Munich.

"Private, gender-neutral bathrooms, care to join me," she opened the bubbles and ran them under his nose.

"I can't think of anything I would like to do more," Auggie smiled and kissed her gently.

Annie led them through the halls peeking into different rooms as they went.

"This place is amazing," she whispered in awe.

Finally she found one of the bathrooms, a full-sized room like the one they would be sleeping in. Here were the only signs of true modernity she had seen in the building. Beautiful fixtures, a large glass stall shower and a huge sunken stone bathtub.

"This will do," Annie said with humor in her voice.

"Nice?"

"Oh yeah," she assured him as she went and began filling the tub with tepid water and the rest of the bubble bath from Germany.

While the huge tub filled she led Auggie to the sink and they both brushed their teeth and stripped their clothes, soaking them in the basin. She then led him to the shower where the washed the bulk of the dirt off before sullying the pristine bath water.

"Come on," she whispered, "there is a step up and then it is a very high lip," she instructed as she got in first and held Auggie's hand as he navigated himself into the tub.

She turned him so his back was to the proper end and he sat down in the refreshing water. Once he was settled Annie sat as well, grabbing a washcloth on the way. She began facing him, using the cloth to rub soothing circles on Auggie's chest.

"You did the hard work today Walker, let me," he took the cloth from her and nudged her until she turned around.

He ran the cloth up and down her strong arms, along her graceful neck and collar bone and down over the front of her chest. He followed the cloth with his lips both soft and warm against her shoulder and collar bone.

"Do you know how much I admire you Annie? How much you impress me every day?" he spoke against her skin and a shiver ran down her spine in the best possible way.

***555***

By the time they emerged from the bathroom they could hear voices of other teams in the castle. They were glad to see a line hadn't formed for the bathroom yet though, they would have felt mildly guilty. They padded barefoot back to their room and Annie brushed out her wet hair and braided it. She tried to stifle it, but a huge yawn escaped.

Auggie felt his watch face and smiled. "It's only 4:00 you should take a little nap before dinner," he suggested.

"Maybe a quick one, don't let me sleep too long though or I won't sleep tonight," she was already moving toward the bed.

"Half hour tops, I'm going to explore a bit," he found his cane in his pack and she heard the telltale click of it opening through her already closed eyes.

"Have fun," she murmured as she slipped beneath the cool sheets.

Auggie closed the door quietly behind him, certain Annie was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. He tapped his cane on the stone floor and moved toward one end of the hall. He could feel the heat of the day and felt an opening out to what he assumed was a courtyard in front of him. He could hear the water of a fountain and the pages of a book turning.

"Oh, hey there," Gwen called.

"Gwen, that you?" he asked with a smile.

"It is Auggie, care to join me for some tea?" she offered.

"That would be great, Annie is napping," he hooked a thumb behind him to indicate where he came from, "she was beat, didn't want to distract her."

"That was nice of you," Gwen smiled and led Auggie to a seat on the edge of the fountain and handed him a small cup of tea.

"We spend a lot of time together, but this has been nearly two weeks of solid togetherness," Auggie shrugged.

"Is everything OK?"

"Everything is great, but I don't want to forget how to get around on my own," Auggie indicated the cane.

"I have seen a lot of couples do this event, couples that have been together for decades and new couples and everything in between. You guys are so clearly in love," Gwen blurted it out and then felt bad, "Sorry, not my place to comment, at all," she backtracked.

"It's OK, I bet you get to observe all kinds of things in your job," Auggie mentioned casually as he sipped his tea appearing unfazed by her comments.

"Yeah, the world is a remarkable place, I am really lucky to get to see it the way I do. I heard about your interaction with the little girl in the Bedouin camp, you handled that well," Gwen was so curious about Auggie.

"I met a lot of kids in Iraq," Auggie started, "I don't know a whole lot about kids, but they seem to be universal to me, give them a ball and a smile and some candy and they are happy."

"That's been my experience too," Gwen assured him.

***555***

Auggie slipped into the room, 40 minutes after leaving, and he could tells he was still asleep by the steady soft breath. He moved to the bed, his cane tapping lightly against the stone floor. Once there he felt along the soft blanket and assessed there was enough room for him to join her.

He slipped off his shoes and tucked them under the bed, leaned his cane against the wall near the head of the bed and slid onto the mattress spooning her in his arms.

"Time to wake up," he whispered in her ear and felt her body tighten and then relax in his arms.

TBC…