Old Time Rock and Roll / Danger Zone
The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart
Mercy stood looking at herself in the mirror wondering where all the years had gone, it felt like they'd just blinked and wiped out forty years finding them at nearly sixty already. There'd been lots of good times, some bad, they'd suffered loss, felt anger, nurtured children, grandchildren, and now they were at a place where they needed to find themselves again, she was eager to ignite a flame. She fluffed her hair pulled the cleavage of her cotton nighty down and decided she needed to bring some, hot, sexy, love making back in their life.
"Hey" she stood awkwardly nervous leaning on the bedroom door looking at Sam in bed reading a book, wondering why sex hadn't been on their radar for the past year or so
"Hey" his head jumped out of the book as he looked up at her, delivering the usual loving smile he always held when he looked at her "What's up?"
"I thought we could, you know…"
"What?" he took his glasses off to look at her again
"You know?" she smiled at him, rolling her eyes mysteriously
"Oh" he looked at his book, closing it before looking back at her "I'm not really feeling that right now love, I've been having problems with my back and.."
"It's fine" she smiled "It was just a suggestion"
"Don't be like that sweetheart" his book hit the covers "I really am in pain"
"Really it's fine, I'll give more notice next time" she smiled
"Sorry love" he put his glasses back on, picked his book back up and opened it to carry on reading
"I could…" she looked around the room "Do all the work"
"Work?" he looked at her puzzled
"For god sake" she snapped "You're acting as if we've never done it before"
"The fact that you still call sex it, amazes me" he smiled "But I really do have a bad back, I mean we can do other things if you'd like, but you doing all the work doesn't appeal to me"
"Define other things?" she looked at him with a smiling, puzzled face
"Come get in" he moved the sheets for her to climb into bed "I was just reading these autobiographies of some of my favourite rock stars, and it put me in mind of some events from our past" he opened the book for her to see "Keith Moon" he laughed pulling her closer to him
"Who?" she looked up at him "You know I don't follow that old time rock and roll stuff; I have no clue"
"Pinball wizard, The Who" he laughed "After all these years I'm still learning you stuff"
"After all these years I still enjoy you learning me stuff" she smiled reaching up to kiss his lips "So, teach"
"Okay" he smiled brushing her hair back off her face "So Mr Moon's thing was leaving destruction everywhere he went, throwing furniture out the window, throwing explosives around in bathrooms would you believe" he laughed "Kind of reminded me how we destroyed a bed on our honeymoon"
"Oh gosh yes" she laughed "That was all your fault"
"I think we were both to blame" he looked at her "If I remember rightly"
Flashback from Sam's POV
I wasn't a virgin when we met it wasn't something we'd talked about much before we finally decided to take our relationship to that level, and I hoped it really didn't show when we finally got there, but afterwards she felt kind of closed off. After that first time it wasn't something that happened regularly, I guess because I thought the fact that she never talked about it or asked for it, meant I hadn't lived up to her expectations in that department, I started overcompensating bending over backwards to get other elements of our relationship right.
We had other things going for us, there were fireworks when we kissed, excitement when we were together, lots of public displays of affection, even going for a coffee was filled with adventure, we made it that way. I'd grown so used to her being around I didn't even mind the fact that she constantly came to have full conversations with me while I was on the loo, that seemed to be her time to talk shop, I must admit I even created those times sometimes.
We just fit and there was never a question around that, so it was no surprise when after just eight full months of dating, I decided she was the one for me, it had never really been something I needed to think about, she was it, and I found it hard to explain that to my nagging family and friends. Six months after I proposed we got married, it was the longest six months of my life. We'd decided that we weren't going to have sex until we were Mr and Mrs Evans and because I thought I knew what was in her head I was using the time to perfect my bedroom routine via videos, magazine's, impromptu conversations with the lads, and practicing slowing down on myself.
Our wedding day was more than memorable, everything went to plan and eventually we left our wedding party and ventured off to Mexico for ten glorious days six of which I'd personally planned on being in our room. The night before the wedding I'd been to the local pharmacy and brought every type of condom there was to buy, in the hope that one of them might take her fancy. Thinking back, I must have looked like a complete idiot walking up to the counter with a basket full of contraceptives, or at the very least, boastful.
"You're sure you want all of these?" the elderly woman behind the counter asked me
"I'm getting married tomorrow" I smiled, giving much too much information about my soon to be wife to this stranger
"It is customary to see the sights too you know?" she smiled
"Oh, we will" I laughed, swiping my phone before walking away with my bag full of goodies, depositing them in my suitcase as soon as I got home.
Taking our vows was so serious it scared me to be honest, but one look at her and I knew I was doing the right thing. I wished the rest of it away and the next event I remember was in our honeymoon suite stood facing each other, feeling like this was our first time. Usually on TV and such like it's the woman that runs off to the bathroom to do whatever it is they do in there, but that night it was me, I was in there for too long trying to work out which condom to use.
Eventually I walked out naked with two unopened packets in my hand "Sorry babe, I've been trying to choose for ages, any help?" I was mortified
"How about…" she walked over to me; boner on display "I try one of mine, I've been practicing" she grabbed an unopened packet out her beside draw "I want to be more involved" she smiled up at me "I got XL, from memory of course"
"Of course" I grinned at the fact that she'd taken the time to remember that about me, I stood watching her slide it on like a professional condom fitter
"I brought a plastic dick to practice if you're wondering" she chuckled
After the first time we were fully charged, take your pick on what the aphrodisiac was; the marriage, sex after so long, the new bed, being alone, the hot sun; whatever it was we were energised, instead of falling asleep after round maybe six or so, I tend to brag, we started jumping on the bed, giggling, everything dangling around, and we didn't care. Suddenly we heard a crack which stopped us in our tracks, wide eyed, guilty, giggly, and satisfied we fell onto the bed and laughed for as long as we wanted.
"Story for the grandchildren?" I asked as we finally felt the honeymoon suite with the broken bed
"Definitely not" Mercy snapped back at me
We tried to pay for the bed when we checked out, but they wouldn't have it, they did however send us a picture of the broken bed, for a keep sake
End of Flashback
"That was a good holiday" Mercy smiled cuddling into him
"The best" he kissed her forehead "You know sometimes I lay here wondering when that version of us stopped" he brushed her hair off her face "One minute we were all over each other and then it just stopped"
"The children I guess"
"Our Nikki Sixx moment I think" he smirked "I know you don't know who he is" he laughed
"I guess you're going to enhance my learning?"
"I am" he opened his book on the index page "Here he is" he found the page he needed "His song kickstart my heart, which I know you don't know, was written off the back of his real life experience"
"He died?"
"And they brought him back to life"
"I don't see the connection"
"The connection is December 23rd" he laughed "He flatlined on the same day, maybe at the same time we conceived the twins"
"Dead, I get it" she laughed
"It wasn't funny" he nudged her "We were three years in, three years of nonstop sex, it wasn't my fault I was exhausted by the time we started talking, for want of a better word, about having a family"
"You brought it up, or not, if I remember rightly" she lowered her head to hide the giggle
Flashback from Mercy's POV
We'd had the first Christmas with his parents, it hadn't been much past what we'd expected, they meant what they'd said six months earlier at the wedding, everyone was trying their level best to be kind. It wasn't what I was used to, it was very Christian like, they had family traditions that I needed to get used to. Sam sat looking perplexed for most of the week, watching out for the first mess up, with the intention of getting us the hell out of there, luckily it didn't come. In fact, we actually walked away with a serious lump sum towards our new home we'd been saving for, bringing our dreams much closer to home.
The second Christmas of course we ended up with my parents, the place was dripping in too much decoration, too much food, and of course too much family, which they really weren't, our blood family was quite small, most of us lived in Barbados, and some of the smaller Caribbean Islands. Rather than call Sam the white boy they all jumped on the blended family tip, which we knew was a dig, this time I wanted to leave, but Sam got into a bit of a holiday survival bet with my so called cousins, and we ended up staying the entire holiday, leaving with more money towards our home. We'd brought it as a renovation by then, we had big hopes and not nearly enough funds, so every penny helped.
It was only right that the third Christmas was ours, we'd got the downstairs done and one of the four bedrooms, so it was liveable, and we couldn't wait to get out of our one bed apartment and into our new home. Two days before Christmas we'd finally gotten around to buying a small tree, decorating it, and a bit of shopping, it was time to lock the world out and be us, I loved us time smut, laughter, and of course sex, lots of it.
"Babies" I smiled at him as we sat in front of the open fire eating strawberries I dipped in cream, he dipped in chocolate, we knew what was on the cards. We'd waited two and half years to start our family, vowed we'd get that on the cards as soon as the house was ready, and this was the night.
"Can we just get one night of fun before we jump into that?" he asked already knowing the answer
Since we'd been married he was like a red flag to me, we'd started in a strange place, I didn't know how he felt about our first time, he didn't talk about it, I thought because he wasn't a virgin he'd have notes, but he said nothing. I got a complex about the silence, even when we did get round to it there was no ease in my mind, I was always wondering who he was thinking about, wishing I was, all that and trying to please him and enjoy myself at the same time, it was exhausting. It got a bit better when he proposed, but I still felt like I could be replaced, and then the wedding just sort of opened things up for me, I was his and he was mine, we'd said so in front of our families and friends and it was real and that freed me.
I was the instigator in all things sexual, let's try this, let's do that, let's use this, anything to see that want in his eyes before he'd take control and ravish me, hard, fast, slow, deep, gentle he knew when to deliver every mood. That night I'd brought the romance, I'd dropped such heavy hints there was no mistaking what I wanted from him
"I expect fun babe, but I want our babies"
From the living room floor, we moved to the kitchen, the stairs, bathroom, and finished up in the bedroom, I remember Sam laying on the bed having performed a record amount of times in the name of fun, he could barely keep his eyes open when we got in the shower
"I'm exhausted" his head flopped under the gushing water as his hand rested on the tiled wall
"Babies babe" I warned
"You're fucking insatiable" he looked into my smiling eyes "Seriously, I'm dead babe"
"Lucky for you, I'm that shot of adrenalin you need to breathe life back into that" I nodded at his flopping dick
"Babe" he moaned as I slid down his body, kneeling in front of him smiling as his moans turned to groans
"Adrenalin" I smiled standing up to take what I'd prepared
It wasn't one hundred percent confirmed medically, but when we got the positive pregnancy test the following week we smiled knowingly that our perfect first night in our new home had ended with us creating the new life inside me.
End of Flashback
"I think that was one of my better performances" he laughed
"It was a marathon" she smiled up at him
"I guess we won that race"
"Are you trying to tell me I've had enough over the past forty years to not be angry about tonight?"
"I thought you weren't angry?" he looked at her confused
"Angry might be the wrong word" she snuggled her face into his chest, not wanting to start anything "Worried maybe?"
"About?"
"Us"
"There's nothing about us to worry about, is there?"
"No" she looked up at him "I just felt a little rejected, but you made me feel better already" she looked at his book "Tell me about another old time rock and roller"
"I'm going to go with that option" he flipped the book open, laughing as he looked down the index page "Slash" he laughed "Guns and Roses, you know them?"
"Sweet child of mine" she laughed "That might be the only rock song I know"
"Misspent youth" he laughed
"Karaoke fix" she corrected him "So what's his story?"
"He used so many drugs once he started seeing monsters all over the place, apparently he claimed to be living in an alien verses predator kind of world in his own living room" he laughed "Got so real for him he literally put his fist through a pane of glass thinking he was killing one of the beasts, that didn't end well for him"
"You're talking about the attic?" she looked up at him "That wasn't even funny"
"Come on, it was in the end" he laughed
"I could have died if I'd have fell harder"
"I told you not to go up there alone" he raised an eyebrow at her "Curiosity"
Flashback from Sam's POV
Business was good, and at seven years old the twins had more than settled into their routine, that week they were spending the end of term holidays with their grandparents Evans. Mercy had gone back to work too, so by year nine of our marriage we'd finally managed to create our perfect little world, we had the dream house, a back yard that looked like an adventure playground, and the family we always wanted to go with it.
We'd had the attic modernised when we done the renovations, initially it was meant to be a kind of indoor activity hive for us all in the winter, when outside was out of bounds, but it turned into a massive memory room, where all the children's things we couldn't part with, and our memories lived.
We'd been up there doing some work the night before Mercy's thirtieth birthday, sorting out all the children's toys in preparation for our grandchildren, early I know, but it's best to be prepared, and with them out the way it was the perfect opportunity. We'd also started putting our record collection up there on the shelves we'd recently had specially built, so most of the early evening was spent reminiscing on old albums, as we sat playing songs of our memories and bringing them to life.
After an intimate dinner we'd decided to stop with the memory lane trip; our tummies were full, and we'd got that well into the evening slouch feeling, to be honest I was welcoming the rest before another one of Mercy's marathon birthday night sessions, she'd decided on a seven day countdown, taking advantage of the children being away, and to be honest I didn't mind, she kept me guessing and I loved it.
Birthday morning, I was up bright and early taking a delivery before getting ready for a morning of work "You're going to be late home this afternoon, I know" she leaned up in bed making me jump, she usually didn't wake up until at least two hours after I left home
"You scared me" I walked over to kiss her "Happy birthday, why am I going to be late?"
"You've got to get my present" she grinned
"Oh" I looked at her as if I'd forgotten "Yeah"
"You're messing with me" she giggled pulling the covers over her head "Have a good meeting babe"
"You get back to sleep" I had to smile to myself she was never going to guess what I was buying her this time, I'd usually get her jewellery, take her to dinner, and spend the whole evening looking forward to my two hours of being in charge in the bedroom. I was sat in the boardroom with three of the most important businesspeople in Los Angeles, who, by the way, were too important for me to cancel on, even for my wife's birthday, and all I could think about was how I was going to spend those two hours.
I got home a few hours later, smiling at the productive meeting then shocked to hear screaming coming from the house. I don't remember if I actually stopped the car before I rushed into the house, leaving everything, shouting her name through the house in total panic
"Babe" she screamed, I followed her voice and walked up the stairs, I could hear her crying, I remember breathing heavy to build adrenalin, ready to face whoever was in the house, I got to the top of the landing and saw her sat on the floor, alone, rubbing her knee "I think I've broken my knee"
"What were you doing?" I walked towards her confused and concerned
"We've got giant rats in the attic" she pointed frantically at the attic door
"Giant rats?" I asked shocked
"Giant freaking rats, I saw them with my own eyes" she shouted "They were maybe five feet tall near the back wall"
"You're sure they were giant five foot rats?"
"Ghost rats maybe" she looked at me refusing to smile, even though she knew what she was saying was ridiculous
"Ghost rats?" I asked "Really?"
"Get someone in to sort it, I can't sleep here tonight, we need an exorcist" she cut her eye at me, frustrated, at me repeating everything she said, I knew she could see the slight smile on my face "It's not funny" she snapped
"Let me see what we're dealing with" I helped her up, wiped the smile off my face, and made for the stairs
"Sam" her voice full of concern
"I'll be fine"
"Here" she handed me a fly swot "You don't go into a danger zone unarmed"
"With a swot?" I laughed "It's probably a mouse, the shadow from the light can play tricks" I laughed again "I'll be fine" I went up the stairs and came back down a few minutes later with a bundle in my arms "Caught it" I announced
"God Sam" she backed away from me as I walked towards her
"Happy birthday babe" I opened my arms to reveal a Welsh terrier puppy "The rat" I announced, I enjoyed seeing her get attached to the new family member, we all got attached, fast.
End of Flashback
"Funny you should have thought her a rat" he laughed "Her characteristics and all"
"I miss Trixie" she smiled at the memory
"We're on Trixie three now" he squeezed her smiling "Giant rats in the attic" he laughed
"I remember some other giant that was woke that night" she grinned at him
"That giant sleeps tonight"
"Really, I can' tempt you?"
"My back love, I wasn't joking" he frowned "That performing giant was some thirty years ago"
"That performing giant was ten months ago"
"Flattery will get you everywhere" he laughed "But honestly, I can't"
"That's fine" she smiled up at him "But you should know, I too have some old time rock and roll stories up my sleeve"
"Like?"
You must understand, though the touch of your hand makes my pulse react
That it's only the thrill of boy meeting girl, opposites attract, it's physical, only logical… 'What's Love Got To Do With It' by Tina Turner
"Sexy wife" he laughed "You're not playing fair Mrs Evans" he cocked his eye at her "And love's got everything to do with it"
"I'm not playing at all Mr Evans" she giggled "Just looking at my options" she sat up to talk "I mean that rock and roll icon launched arguably the greatest comeback in rock music history, after being abused by her husband for many years" she frowned at him "I'll admit, there are no similarities on that level, but we both topped the billboard one hundred while we were in our fifties" she smiled "And that lets me know that, for me, anything is possible" she got off the bed to bravely dance in front of him as she enticingly sang along to 'A Fool In Love' by Tina Turner
You know you love him you can't understand (tell me about it), why he treats you like he do when he's such a good man
"And you are such a good woman" he laughed
"Now listen" she stopped him talking to carry on the song
He's got me smiling when I should be ashamed, got me laughing when my heart is in pain
"My back is the thing feeling the pain" he reminded her
Oh-oh no, I must be a fool, cause I do anything he wants me to, now how come?
"I think we've got that the wrong way around"
"I think we're heading towards a danger zone in our love life" she sat on the bed "I'm fine with the bad back thing honestly" she smiled "I just think we might have forgotten sex isn't all about actual penetration, I think we need to get back to our naughty forties, get that box of tricks from the attic, what do you think?"
"That's one of your options?"
"One" she skipped to the next suggestion quickly "Or we could revisit our mouth marathons from our energetic thirties?"
"Thirties?" his mouth dropped open at the thought
"Or…"
"Please don't mention our twenties" he sat up sharply feeling the twinge in his back "I'm sweating already" he laughed nervously "How about we agree to think about settling into our sixties, maybe stories about old time rock and rollers wasn't the right move tonight" he frowned
"It was" she grinned "You called me sexy" she flicked her hair off her shoulder "And that gave me all the feels I needed for now"
"I don't know how you still do that"
"Do what?" she looked at him puzzled
"Make me feel like the luckiest man in the world"
"That's why they call me Mrs Evans love"