freedom, part 3/?
Title: Freedom 3/?
Pairing: Ana y Teresa, AETR
Rating: 18
Spoilers: To the end of Series 5 (Temporada 5˚)
Summary: Well, that would give it all away, wouldn't it? Basically though, it's a continuation of what happened after A & T leave for Santander in 1953.
Links: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or claim to own them. I make no profit or claim to make any profit, no infringement intended, this is all just for fun, etc., etc. standard disclaimer stuff.
Please ask before archiving elsewhere. Thank you! :)
Freedom 3/?
(Teresa)
I took a long time in the shower that morning, or afternoon I suppose it was, since we’d slept so long. The plumbing in the ancient villa had been completely modernised and I luxuriated in the seemingly endless hot water. When I was through, I dressed and went to Ana’s room. The tray of food had been cleared and Ana was nowhere to be found.
Assuming she’d be back up soon, I wandered into the guest room where that morning Dionisio and the men he’d hired to bring our trunks on the lorry from the train had left them. I giggled to myself. The 13 trunks filled the room. I supposed Dionisio had not assumed I’d be sleeping in this room that technically had been prepared for me, since the bed was completely inaccessible. A flash of nerves shot through me. Did he know? But then I realised if he did, he’d certainly demonstrated his loyalty by never leaving Ana’s side, and by the way he’d always treated me, with respect and kindness.
I’d packed a few things - some clothing, my important papers, and some photos - in the luggage I’d brought in the car but still, five of the trunks were mine. They were shiny and new, marked with my initials, and filled with a fabulous selection of dresses, shoes, hats, and other sundries Ana had insisted I’d need. I felt I needed none of these things and tried to discourage her, but she seemed so happy as I modelled each choice in front of her, I let it go, compromising by insisting on paying half.
Standing amongst the masses of baggage, at least half of it so outrageously oversized it was absurd, I decided that for the sake of image, even if I were to be sleeping in Ana’s room, this room should probably still be designated as ‘mine’ and I should make an effort to make it appear that way. I began to unpack and hang the new items in the large closet, fortunately located in an accessible part of the room.
It must have been at least 45 minutes before I heard the water from the shower running in the washroom across the hall, and when it stopped, I abandoned my project and went to find Ana, who was just emerging into her room wrapped in a thick terry robe.
“Buenos tardes, cariño,” I leaned forward for a quick kiss on her cheek, “I think we’ve wasted most of the day! I thought there was something you wanted to show me, but now it’s almost dark.”
“Oh no,” Ana smirked, “it’s not been wasted. You’ll see. Let’s eat first though. María and Martín have left for Bilbao, but they’ve left dinner for us.”
“Since I doubt you’ll be eating in your robe, should I meet you in the dining room?” I asked.
“No, wait for me. We can go together.”
I sat on the edge of the bed and watched as she pulled a silky nightdress and matching wrap from a drawer. Facing away from me, she let the thick cloth robe fall from her shoulders and slowly slid the nightdress over her head. It was all I could do not to reach out and stroke the bare skin she’d exposed so casually in front of me. I swallowed hard and sat on my hands. I wondered if this show were for or me or if I were just being oversensitive. The atmosphere, especially knowing we were alone, seemed charged with electricity. I felt as if all my inhibitions had flown from the window. I wondered if she had any idea what she did to me.
She turned and wrapped the robe tightly round her waist and reached out for my hand. “Let’s eat,” she said, I’m starving again!”
***
The long wooden table downstairs had been laid with a simple but full meal, roasted goose, vegetables, a lovely wine. A single candle sat in the centre of the table and we sat at one end with the candle burning between us. It was undeniably romantic. We didn’t speak as we ate, but our eyes barely left each other. It all felt so strange, yet so perfect.
“Should I clear?” I asked.
“You don’t work here.” Ana laughed. “Let’s leave it for the morning and we’ll do it together. Besides, did you forget I had something to show you? Now is the perfect time.” She reached across the table and laid her hand over mine. I turned my hand up underneath hers and her fingers began to gently stroke my palm.
“Now? But it’s dark.”
“This place is in the house. It’s special. I used to spend a lot of time there when I was a girl.” She looked at me expectantly as if she were preparing herself to be rejected.
“I always wanted someone to share it with….. I did change it around a bit, though” She added.
"Will you come with me?”
I let her gently pull me up, “of course.” I said.
(Ana)
“This was my secret room,” I said, as I led her behind me through the meandering corridors of the ancient house. “I used to come here and read, or sneak up at night and watch the stars when everyone thought I was asleep. It was so quiet and calm. Like a dream.”
The room was hidden at the top of a staircase behind an out of the way door. The set of narrow stairs led to a room at the far back of the villa, in a small wing no one ever used. It was cold in this area of the house, but I could feel it growing warmer as we ascended the staircase. I smiled. The fire I’d lit an hour earlier was still burning brightly behind its protective grate, and the light of the flames flickered against the walls, giving the room a golden glow.
“I brought some dessert up, and wine…..” I said, and then added carefully, “ I thought we might relax for a time after dinner.”
I kept an eye on Teresa as she followed along half behind me, her hand still in mine. I hoped with all my heart I hadn’t gone too far. The fire, wine, flowers, a pallet of stacked featherbeds and warm duvets and quilts on a thick Persian carpet to keep the cold of the stone floor at bay....I’d basically turned the room into a romantic retreat.
It was only our second day away from Madrid. I worried I was taking a risk, that my forwardness would scare her away. As soon as she saw the room she would know what I had planned. When we had made love before, it been spontaneous, rushed, nothing like this. Even in the quiet moments when we’d held each other after, the knowledge that any bliss was temporary hung over me. I’d wanted our first time here to be special though, different. We had no responsibilities here, nothing and no one in the world outside demanding an end to the magic I felt when I was with her, and I thought she felt with me.
When we entered the room, I turned quickly to judge her reaction. As she took it all in, she gasped and her eyes widened, with shock or wonder I wasn’t sure, but my fears were quickly quelled as a smile broke over her face.
“Dios, this is beautiful!” She said. I could see tears coming to her eyes “You did this for me? No one has ever done anything like this for me….”
I clasped her hand tighter and led her to sit on the feather bed.
“You’re not angry?”
“Why on earth would I be angry?”
“Because it’s….”
“It’s beautiful,” she repeated, “perfect.”
***
In my summers in this house, in this room, as a young girl, I’d lain back on the cold stone floor to peer out the long window that looked out over the tops of the trees in the orchard and gave a perfect view of the black night. Now, lying on the thick, soft bed I did it again. Teresa leant back with me, her hand still in mine.
“Oh!” she exclaimed quietly, “you can see all the stars here. It’s always something I missed from the village, a moonless night lit by stars.”
She turned onto her side and propped her cheek on her hand. “I never imagined I’d be lying next to someone like you admiring it though.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” I asked, teasingly, but not without the tiniest bit of fear.
She answered by leaning over me and pressing her lips softly against mine. “Te quiero. Estoy enamorado de ti,” she whispered, when she pulled away, her mouth still so close to mine I could feel her warm breath as she spoke. “It isn’t what I imagined, but it’s so much better than anything I’d ever dreamed of.”
My heart and stomach leapt with her words. It wasn’t as if she’d never said she loved me before, but never like this, and she’d never before said that she was in love with me. I’d waited to hear those words for so long, thinking it was a hopeless dream, that they would never come.
***
Teresa’s mouth tasted of chocolate and wine, and we lay there in the glow of the fire and the stars holding each other tightly, bare legs and arms entwined, kissing for what felt like hours, delicious, divine hours.
Eventually Teresa sat up halfway, took the pins from her hair, allowing it to fall in soft waves around her shoulders, then brushed it aside and turned her back to me. I knew instinctively what she wanted and slowly unzipped her dress, brushing my fingertips and then my lips along her spine, making her shiver. She pulled the dress over her head and tossed it aside, then leant back over me.
Every time we’d made love it had been amazing to me, but just as I’d hoped, this felt different. I didn’t want to think or hope though, I just wanted to feel, feel the indescribable luxury of her silken chemise against my silk gown, of the fabric and my fingers gliding over her equally silky smooth skin, of the amazing moment when there was nothing between us, that first touch of nothing but bare skin. And I wanted to feel love.
(Teresa)
The first time I had kissed Ana, impulsively in the Almacenes lift, and she’d tenderly kissed me back, I’d been mortified with myself, terrified I’d committed some unforgiveable sin. When we’d made love the first time, and even the second, all my inhibitions had disappeared for a few short, beautiful hours, but I’d emerged from both experiences overcome with guilt.
None of these things even seemed to exist anymore. Fear, guilt, confusion, nothing could be further from my mind. I was lost in the softness of her mouth, of the gentle swirl of her tongue against mine, of her slender fingers trailing up and down my back in that feather light touch she was a master of, the one that sent chills through me even as I felt the fire of passion rising inside me, starting deep in my belly and spreading like flames through my chest and limbs.
I didn’t want to break the kiss, but I was desperate for more. My mouth found the curve at the side of her neck and she arched toward me, her breath catching in her throat in a way that only enflamed me more. I moved lower, slowly, holding myself back, wanting to make this last though for once I knew we had all the time in the world. Ana’s smooth, soft skin grew damp under my caress, as my lips lingered at her breasts, at the sensitive place below her ribcage, the spot just below the tiny swell of her growing belly.
When I moved lower I heard her inhale sharply. She had given this particular intimacy to me, but I’d never reciprocated in the same way. Now, I was almost desperate to, to give her the pleasure she’d given me that way. I let my instincts lead me and when with my hands resting on her smooth thighs I stopped for a moment to look up and judge the reaction on her face, her anguished, pleading cries of “no, no, please don’t stop, don’t stop,” reassured me I was doing at least a passable job.
When at last she shuddered beneath me and clutched at my shoulder to pull me up over her, I pressed as tightly as I could to her. She buried her face against my neck, her ragged breathing hot against my own already overheated skin. Her heart was pounding beneath her breast and I could feel it reverberate through my own body.
After a few minutes we pulled slightly apart and lay facing each other. I stared at her, memorising the look of surprise in her beautiful almond shaped brown eyes and shock in her slightly open mouth.
“Was that….?” I left the sentence open
Curling her hand gently around the back of my neck, she answered with a soft kiss, and I leant to the side and whispered into her ear, “Well, you were a wonderful teacher.”
She pulled back and looked into my eyes, “you mean no one else ever….”
“Only you.”
She half rolled her eyes and though she said nothing I could practically hear her thoughts, ‘men can be such fools.’
***
I woke up a few hours later to find Ana lying on her side facing me, smiling sweetly. “You fell asleep on me cariño, but you looked beautiful when you did.”
“If I recall correctly, you fell asleep on me yourself last night. I didn’t even get a good night kiss.”
Ana’s fingers began their tender stroking of my cheek, my neck, down across my collarbones. The heat began to rise deep in my belly again.
She rolled over me and slid her hand down along my side to my hip. Her knee slipped between mine, gently pushing my legs apart. “I think I can make up for that,” she smiled.
*
End of Part 3
link to part 4