Work Text:
‘Ready for some breakfast?’
‘Is it morning already? MMMMM, I slept so good last night.’ She pulled the sheet over her head until her eyes could adjust to the light streaming through the window.
He waited until she woke up a little. As she sat up in bed he set a tray across her lap. It was laden with croissants, flavored waffles and a glass of apple juice. He’d already had his own breakfast with coffee while she slept in on a Saturday morning. He enjoyed watching her eat. She knew this, but she handed him the plate anyway.
‘Share,’ she insisted.
He grinned and took a waffle.
‘They look almost like cookies,’ she said enthusiastically, as she bit into one. ‘Oh my God, they’re so good! I taste strawberry… and banana… how do you make them?’
‘It’s one of my secret ways of keeping you interested. Seems to be working.’
‘Damn shame.'
'What?'
'Secrecy. Everything has to be a secret. I gotta admit, sometimes I wanna shout it to the rooftops.’
‘Sometimes you do, when we turn it up a notch,’ he grinned at her. ‘Besides, this secrecy thing was your idea. Not mine, remember? I was perfectly content to watch you just walk away.’
‘You weren’t content. You felt it as much as I did. It’s just that you had the strength to walk away. I thought I did…’
‘But you did.’
‘Huh?’ she looked at him quizzically, biting into another waffle.
‘Walk away from me.’ His face was serious.
‘But not for long. I surprised the hell outta you when I showed up here. C’mon, admit it. You had no idea I’d change my mind.’
He glanced down with a sigh. ‘Not sure if I like what it’s become.’
‘Look, Hon, we agreed that in order for me to keep my job and for you to continue your unique quest for justice, we were gonna have to keep it clandestine. And by that, I don’t mean illicit. I just mean we have to keep it to ourselves. We can enjoy what we have, in private.’
‘My penance.’
‘Penance? What are you talking about?’
‘Sweetie, I know your job. I know your history, or most of it. I know your life. I’ve assumed your role myself enough times to know how you think; how your job makes you think. But you haven’t got a clue about me. Not really. And it has to stay that way. I can never let you inside any more than I already have, because then what we have would end - badly. I’ve been trying to seek redemption, and I know I’ll never achieve that goal. And I’ve made peace with that. All it means is that whatever good I can find in this life is a penance because I’ll never be able to be free enough to enjoy it.’
She sat thinking a moment. ‘Well... what if you joined the service?’
‘I did that when I was eighteen.’
‘No, I mean the Marshall’s service. With your skill set...‘
He burst out with loud and hearty laughter, something she rarely saw him do. ‘With the kind of microscope they’d put me under, do you really think I could get in? Honey, I couldn’t get a job as a meter maid, if they still have those things.'
‘Shame, I’d like to see you in a skimpy uniform,' she teased, raising the corner of the apron he wore and peeking beneath it.
‘You’re being ridiculous, you know that, don’t you?’
She shrugged. ‘I guess I am… but somehow when I’m with you, my senses take the next flight out. But part of me is very serious. I want to be with you. I want to be yours. I could vouch for you. I could get you in. We could have something better than this covert, closeted...’
‘Think about it,' he broke in. 'You’d have to lie. You don’t do that. I don’t do that if I don’t have to. I’d have to live the rest of my life being somebody else. I’d be stifled. Shackled by the law. What I do now would have to end.’
‘Is that so bad?’
‘Yeah, for one thing, I don’t wanna leave it. Because what I do with my team is to skirt the law - work outside the law to get way better results.’
She made a move to get out of bed. ‘OK, if you’re gonna insult my line of work, I’m leaving.’
He pushed her back. ‘I’m not insulting your line of work. We agreed to keep this between us. Between two layers.’
‘Layers? Did you say layers?’
‘Yeah, the sheets. I’m sorry, Honey, but that’s where we are. Where we have to be. We can exist here, alone with each other, between those layers. We’ve managed fine for months now. Let’s keep this treasure for as long as we're allowed to have it.’
‘All right,' she sighed. 'Layers.’ She rolled her eyes at him. ‘Come get between the layers with me.’
‘Let’s use a duvet tonight, though, ‘cause a cold front’s comin' in. Feel it?’
‘Yeah. But don’t turn the heat up. Just get your ass in here.’
Grinning behind his brown cascade of hair, he took the tray, set it aside, and opened a folded duvet from the closet over the bed. He whipped off the apron and got in bed beside her.
‘Good breakfast,' she said, smiling. 'Is it too early for a thank-you?’
‘Never too early,’ he said, tangling his hands in her long, thick hair. ‘I’ve got all day.’
‘So have I.’ She kissed him deeply, hungrily as her hands explored him, provoking a groan of passion from deep within his throat.
He broke the kiss, breathing heavily. ‘See, I knew you didn’t give me that thumb drive for nothin'.’
‘Oh, not for nothing, Teddy Bear. You’re about to earn it. For about the tenth time.’
The End