Hold My Silence (Chapter 8)
Title: Hold My Silence
Author: casy_dee
Rating: T
Characters/Pairing: Connor/Abby
Spoiler: Series 3
Warning: Angst
Genre: Romance, Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Summary: Abby has secrets in her past, but is it right to keep them there? Can Connor accept it? Set in the Cretaceous...
Part: 8/?
Chapter one is here, Chapter two is here, Chapter three is here, Chapter four, Chapter five , Chapter six, Chapter seven
Chapter Eight of Hold My Silence is Behind The Cut
Chapter 8
A/N: Well here she is… a little Connor emotional baggage, anyone?
If either Connor or Abby thought that there would be time for all the sweet niceties that new relationships usually had, they were mistaken. There was little time for hand holding or flirting, and there was certainly no chance for Abby to do 'the girl thing.' It would have been weird to do those things with Connor anyway… well, the girl thing would have been weird. She and Connor had known each other far too long for that, and she was determined that in this relationship she would be herself.
She needed it to work between them, now that she had agreed to try, and pretending to be something she was not was a sure recipe for failure. The hand holding and flirting would have been nice, she mused. Connor's flirting usually left her wanting to laugh rather than enticing her, but she had to admit that she liked that about him. A chat-up specialist he was not, nor would ever be. A proper date would be nice… with some Vindaloo for dinner and a cold Corona.
A strange sort of courtship had developed between them in the week or so since she had told Connor he could kiss her whenever he liked… and he had nearly set her afire with the resulting kiss. She couldn't help but remember it every time she looked at him, and it was just so weird to think of him that way… but now she did. Abby was a practical girl, not prone to flighty emotions or crushes, and she never would have thought that Connor of all people would be able to make her heart race and stomach flutter. He did, though.
Aside from a soft smile and almost chaste kiss from Connor every morning, or the times she would catch him staring at her wearing an expression that was decidedly more familiar than mere friendship warranted, he never acted as if she was anything other than his best mate during the daylight hours, and she reacted the same. They didn't have the luxury for anything else, not here. Just one second of inattention to their surroundings could mean death.
During the day they focused on survival, and lately, scouting farther and farther away in the hope they would see another anomaly. It was dangerous, and they had already had another close call with another group of juvenile raptors, but Connor was determined to get them home. He had grown increasingly frustrated with his efforts to fix the anomaly opening device; he had begun to give up the hope that he could ever fix it. Abby hated to see the ever optimistic Connor disheartened, but she was beginning to lose hope as well.
In the evenings near the security of their fire, it was different. They put the troubles of survival behind them and took comfort in each other. Abby wasn't sure she was doing or saying the right thing most of the time, but she was trying. It wasn't easy for her, and it became rapidly apparent to her that it wasn't always easy for Connor either. She still sniped and struck out blindly and lost her temper with him. She still spoke before she thought, most times… and Connor still took it. Most times.
She had been thinking a lot about Connor, and why he always seemed to accept her barbs as if they were his proper due. Connor had never brought up his past either, and Abby had been racking her brain trying to think of the best way to broach the subject. It had been one of the things she liked best about living with Connor; he didn't bring it up and she'd not had to worry about coming up with any plausible lies. Abby was an expert at avoidance, but intentionally introducing such a delicate subject was foreign territory. Tonight she was going to give it a go.
Connor had settled in next to her, his arm around her. He had gotten more sure of himself in that capacity in the past week. In the evenings, he would hold her hand or put his arm around her as they talked. It helped them both feel not quite so alone in a world that they didn't belong in. They had also shared a few more of those steaming hot kisses, but Connor never tried to press beyond that. She knew he wanted to, and he did his best to conceal how hard it was for him to stop at just a kiss. The all too brief interludes had left her wanting more, but she was deathly afraid of going farther.
She'd had a few boyfriends before she met Connor, but she always broke it off before they got anywhere near the stage beyond serious snogging. She'd gotten a reputation as a tease in college, and she had encouraged it because she would rather be a tease than a freak. She had gone through a phase where she had gone out almost every night, flirting and dancing with men in the clubs fairly indiscriminately. It took just one night where a man that had been chatting her up had tried to drag her out to an alley to put an end to those escapades. She decided to try to be normal instead, and so she gave the next guy she was interested in a decent shot at it.
Reggie was her serious boyfriend in college… her attempt at normalcy. He said he'd secretly fancied her for a long time, and was fine with going slow. She had found out much later that it was because he was getting plenty from other girls. It figured… she always dated the worst guys. She'd liked him a lot, but she didn't love him, and that was truly a blessing. Their relationship ended in disaster. Abby had finally allowed their snogging to progress into some heavy petting… she thought that with Reggie it would be alright. He'd never pushed her to go farther than she wanted, and her body said to go farther, so she tried.
The night had ended with Abby in embarrassed tears after she had belted him one, kicked him in the crotch and then screamed for him to stop touching her. The opportunity to work at the zoo had come soon after, and Abby was more than happy to leave school and all the bad memories of her time there behind to take her dream job. She looked back on Reggie as a learning experience; she'd not make the same mistake again. She'd briefly entertained the idea of trying again with Stephen, (who ended up being as bad as Reggie, apparantly) but aside from him, there had been no one she'd even been willing to try with. That is, until Connor.
Connor had said he would just stop if she asked him to, and she believed he would, but a little part of her was deathly afraid he would react like Reggie had. He'd called her a crazy bitch and told her not to come near him again. She didn't want to see that look of disgust on Connor's face; she couldn't bear it from him. She was scared to go any further. He would have to initiate it, she couldn't bring herself to... She couldn't even figure out how to tell him.
It was confusing, this thing between her and Connor. It was unlike any sort of relationship she had ever been in. She wondered if it was that way for Connor, but he never spoke of other girls, or past relationships, or much of anything personal beyond a few little anecdotes from his childhood. Anything in his teen years seemed to be off-limits.
Like most evenings, Connor rambled on through the majority of their conversation. She teased him that he even talked in his sleep… but again Abby was noticing that he shied away from anything that had to do with his past every time she tried to gently steer their conversation in that direction. Fine. She'd lost patience with gentle. If he didn't want to tell her, she'd deal with it, but she would start asking the questions.
"Do you have a family, Connor?" Abby asked point-blank; subtlety had never been her strong suit.
He gave that nervous laugh and smile, shifting uncomfortably, "Yeah. Of course I do, or I wouldn't be here, would I?" he joked.
"Don't be more thick than you already are, Connor," Abby snapped, her patience with his sidestepping worn completely through.
Connor visibly flinched at her harsh words; the verbal lashing had taken him unawares. He swallowed hard and nodded obediently. Abby felt her chest constrict as he smiled to hide the pain. She was a horrid person, she berated herself.
She drew in a deep breath and tried to mitigate the damage done by her thoughtless words, "I'm sorry, Conn. I didn't mean it to come out like that. I just want to know a little more about you, and you never give me a straight answer."
He gave a short bitter laugh as he stood and paced away from her.
"S'alright. Kind of reminds me of home, actually. Is it sad that it makes me a bit homesick?" he asked cynically.
"Oh," Abby replied, at a loss for how to answer.
"I just don't like to talk about me family, I'm not trying to hide it," he explained.
"Like I did, you mean?" Abby replied tightly.
He spun to face her, "No!"
"I didn't mean… I just…" he sighed and shook his head, frustrated, "I can't ever seem to say the right things," he added under his breath, but she heard it.
"You'll not want to hear it, anyway," he continued, his gaze firmly fixed on the ground at his feet.
"Come here," Abby ordered, but her tone was gentle.
As usual, he obeyed her. He sat down next to her again, but he didn't take her hand or put his arm around her. Her fingers twitched restlessly; her hand shook a little as she reached out to take his hand in hers. Connor started, turning his head to stare at her. If she had seriously entertained the thought that he would overlook that she was reaching for him for once, she was mistaken. Despite the cloud of oblivion that Connor was perpetually in when it concerned himself, he didn't miss all that much where she was concerned. A fleeting smile crossed his face as his fingers curled around hers.
"I want to hear it, but if you don't want to tell me-" Abby began.
"No. I… I want to," Connor interrupted.
"I have a mum, back in Blackburn. We don't talk much anymore. Me father died when I was twelve," he said softly, fingering the ring he wore on a leather thong around his neck.
"How?" Abby asked, hesitant to interrupt for fear he would stop speaking.
She laughed to herself at the thought; she'd never thought she would ever be able to say that about Connor, but his soft halting words seemed to come from a place inside of him that he was not used to sharing.
"He was on a dig in Columbia. He was a respected archeologist, you see. He used to take me along on some of the closer digs," Connor stated proudly, "He's why I decided to study Paleontology in the first place," Connor paused, his dark eyes unfocused.
He stared into the fire for a few long moments, the light flickering and casting strange shadows over his face. He ran a hand through his hair in a nervous gesture. Abby saw the muscle in his jaw tick, and she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.
"He was supposed to be safe in the village the team was staying in, but a renegade group of guerrillas overran it. Terrorists. He wasn't worth enough ransom to bother, so they killed him," Connor related, his voice steady and even until it cracked on the last word and gave away his distress.
"I'm sorry," she said simply, her voice laden with sympathy.
Connor nodded, but didn't speak. She saw his throat working as he swallowed back his tears. Abby let go of his hand and put her arms around him, easily giving into the urge to comfort him. First and foremost, Connor was her friend, and he needed a hug.
The silence had stretched for so long she assumed he was done speaking. It was hard for him, and she understood that. She wasn't going to attempt to drag more out of him tonight. He settled in against the wall of the cave with his arms around her, and she relaxed back into him, closing her eyes. She jumped a little when his voice, pitched low and soft, began again.
"Mum took it hard. She got a little… protective. She wanted me to study computers… said Paleontology was not an option," Connor stated.
"She doesn't approve of your career choices, I take it?" Abby guessed.
Connor snorted derisively, "Not at all. And if she found out I was doing fieldwork now? Not a good thing." He gave a short laugh, but like his earlier smile, it was a cover for his pain, "She said I 'wasn't suited for it.' I had a 'weak constitution,' whatever the hell that meant, and that I was meant to be doing something safe where I wouldn't be hurt. She said I should be responsible for once and study something worthwhile."
He grinned at her, his dimple coming out in full force, but it didn't fool her. She saw the shine in his eyes; she saw the bone deep anguish, carefully hidden under an easygoing nature and ready smile. Poor Connor. Bad childhoods came in all shapes and sizes.
"I did it anyway, din't I? No matter what I do, I am a disappointment to her, so I decided to take the scholarship and study Paleontology. She loves me anyway, she said, but every time I talk to her-," he broke off, shaking his head.
"I send her money, and that helps. Dad left a lot of debt behind; I used to give her m' pay when I lived at home. She wanted me to stay, but I had to go… I love me mum, but I-," he broke off again, and this time he didn't continue.
"I see why you don't like to talk about it," Abby admitted ruefully.
"Yeah. Could be worse, though. I could be like Danny… living with me mum at age forty," Connor smirked.
"You're joking," Abby replied.
"No. In his file, even," Connor laughed.
"I wonder if he made it back," Abby mused.
"I dunno, hope so," Connor replied softly, all traces of humor gone from his face.
She wished she hadn't said anything. She wanted more of Connor laughing and smiling, he'd had enough of sadness and bad memories today. As poignant as his story was, she appreciated the insight it provided into Connor. She understood him better, she believed. She would try harder to rein in her tongue, and she would make an effort to tell him the good things about himself to help counter all the bad. For him, she would try. He deserved it.
"Connor… I think you are very good at what you do. You're brilliant, and I think your father would have been proud of you," Abby said, turning his chin so she could look into his sorrowful dark eyes.
He smiled briefly, "Yeah."
"And there is nothing weak about you, alright? I happen to think you are the smartest, strongest, sweetest guy I have ever met, so stop with the self-doubt," she insisted, poking him in the chest with a two fingered point.
"Ow! Okay!" He replied, laughing and blushing furiously.
Abby smiled back at him, her heart tripping and doing a curious little melting sensation to see him so pleased by her heartfelt words.
"And sexy, as well, yeah?" he asked with a cheeky grin.
She rolled her eyes. What the hell, she thought, "Yes."
Once again, he lost his smile, but this time it was replaced by a look she didn't mind seeing on his face. His dark eyes grew serious and soft, his lips parted as he leaned in close to her slowly… always slowly with him. Always gentle and careful. She leaned in to meet him halfway; she saw the corner of his mouth lift in a small smile of acknowledgement before she closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his.
TBC
A/N: Lovely to end on a kiss, isn't it? So they are getting better at this, slowly but surely. I think I am beginning to make a game of how many plausible yet incredibly messed up childhoods I can give these two. I quite liked this one, and it will come out a little more as we progress. So what did you think? Like it? Hated it? Please review and tell me what you think? Feed the poor little muse?
Musical inspiration for the relationship between Connor and his mother: Tool, 'Pushit.' Yeah, I know it's meant to be about a relationship, not a mother/son, but that's the beauty of music. Interpretation. I have a wee little one-shot plot bunny of a story dealing with this. Anyone interested in reading it if I wrote it?
Author: casy_dee
Rating: T
Characters/Pairing: Connor/Abby
Spoiler: Series 3
Warning: Angst
Genre: Romance, Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Summary: Abby has secrets in her past, but is it right to keep them there? Can Connor accept it? Set in the Cretaceous...
Part: 8/?
Chapter one is here, Chapter two is here, Chapter three is here, Chapter four, Chapter five , Chapter six, Chapter seven
Chapter Eight of Hold My Silence is Behind The Cut
Chapter 8
A/N: Well here she is… a little Connor emotional baggage, anyone?
If either Connor or Abby thought that there would be time for all the sweet niceties that new relationships usually had, they were mistaken. There was little time for hand holding or flirting, and there was certainly no chance for Abby to do 'the girl thing.' It would have been weird to do those things with Connor anyway… well, the girl thing would have been weird. She and Connor had known each other far too long for that, and she was determined that in this relationship she would be herself.
She needed it to work between them, now that she had agreed to try, and pretending to be something she was not was a sure recipe for failure. The hand holding and flirting would have been nice, she mused. Connor's flirting usually left her wanting to laugh rather than enticing her, but she had to admit that she liked that about him. A chat-up specialist he was not, nor would ever be. A proper date would be nice… with some Vindaloo for dinner and a cold Corona.
A strange sort of courtship had developed between them in the week or so since she had told Connor he could kiss her whenever he liked… and he had nearly set her afire with the resulting kiss. She couldn't help but remember it every time she looked at him, and it was just so weird to think of him that way… but now she did. Abby was a practical girl, not prone to flighty emotions or crushes, and she never would have thought that Connor of all people would be able to make her heart race and stomach flutter. He did, though.
Aside from a soft smile and almost chaste kiss from Connor every morning, or the times she would catch him staring at her wearing an expression that was decidedly more familiar than mere friendship warranted, he never acted as if she was anything other than his best mate during the daylight hours, and she reacted the same. They didn't have the luxury for anything else, not here. Just one second of inattention to their surroundings could mean death.
During the day they focused on survival, and lately, scouting farther and farther away in the hope they would see another anomaly. It was dangerous, and they had already had another close call with another group of juvenile raptors, but Connor was determined to get them home. He had grown increasingly frustrated with his efforts to fix the anomaly opening device; he had begun to give up the hope that he could ever fix it. Abby hated to see the ever optimistic Connor disheartened, but she was beginning to lose hope as well.
In the evenings near the security of their fire, it was different. They put the troubles of survival behind them and took comfort in each other. Abby wasn't sure she was doing or saying the right thing most of the time, but she was trying. It wasn't easy for her, and it became rapidly apparent to her that it wasn't always easy for Connor either. She still sniped and struck out blindly and lost her temper with him. She still spoke before she thought, most times… and Connor still took it. Most times.
She had been thinking a lot about Connor, and why he always seemed to accept her barbs as if they were his proper due. Connor had never brought up his past either, and Abby had been racking her brain trying to think of the best way to broach the subject. It had been one of the things she liked best about living with Connor; he didn't bring it up and she'd not had to worry about coming up with any plausible lies. Abby was an expert at avoidance, but intentionally introducing such a delicate subject was foreign territory. Tonight she was going to give it a go.
Connor had settled in next to her, his arm around her. He had gotten more sure of himself in that capacity in the past week. In the evenings, he would hold her hand or put his arm around her as they talked. It helped them both feel not quite so alone in a world that they didn't belong in. They had also shared a few more of those steaming hot kisses, but Connor never tried to press beyond that. She knew he wanted to, and he did his best to conceal how hard it was for him to stop at just a kiss. The all too brief interludes had left her wanting more, but she was deathly afraid of going farther.
She'd had a few boyfriends before she met Connor, but she always broke it off before they got anywhere near the stage beyond serious snogging. She'd gotten a reputation as a tease in college, and she had encouraged it because she would rather be a tease than a freak. She had gone through a phase where she had gone out almost every night, flirting and dancing with men in the clubs fairly indiscriminately. It took just one night where a man that had been chatting her up had tried to drag her out to an alley to put an end to those escapades. She decided to try to be normal instead, and so she gave the next guy she was interested in a decent shot at it.
Reggie was her serious boyfriend in college… her attempt at normalcy. He said he'd secretly fancied her for a long time, and was fine with going slow. She had found out much later that it was because he was getting plenty from other girls. It figured… she always dated the worst guys. She'd liked him a lot, but she didn't love him, and that was truly a blessing. Their relationship ended in disaster. Abby had finally allowed their snogging to progress into some heavy petting… she thought that with Reggie it would be alright. He'd never pushed her to go farther than she wanted, and her body said to go farther, so she tried.
The night had ended with Abby in embarrassed tears after she had belted him one, kicked him in the crotch and then screamed for him to stop touching her. The opportunity to work at the zoo had come soon after, and Abby was more than happy to leave school and all the bad memories of her time there behind to take her dream job. She looked back on Reggie as a learning experience; she'd not make the same mistake again. She'd briefly entertained the idea of trying again with Stephen, (who ended up being as bad as Reggie, apparantly) but aside from him, there had been no one she'd even been willing to try with. That is, until Connor.
Connor had said he would just stop if she asked him to, and she believed he would, but a little part of her was deathly afraid he would react like Reggie had. He'd called her a crazy bitch and told her not to come near him again. She didn't want to see that look of disgust on Connor's face; she couldn't bear it from him. She was scared to go any further. He would have to initiate it, she couldn't bring herself to... She couldn't even figure out how to tell him.
It was confusing, this thing between her and Connor. It was unlike any sort of relationship she had ever been in. She wondered if it was that way for Connor, but he never spoke of other girls, or past relationships, or much of anything personal beyond a few little anecdotes from his childhood. Anything in his teen years seemed to be off-limits.
Like most evenings, Connor rambled on through the majority of their conversation. She teased him that he even talked in his sleep… but again Abby was noticing that he shied away from anything that had to do with his past every time she tried to gently steer their conversation in that direction. Fine. She'd lost patience with gentle. If he didn't want to tell her, she'd deal with it, but she would start asking the questions.
"Do you have a family, Connor?" Abby asked point-blank; subtlety had never been her strong suit.
He gave that nervous laugh and smile, shifting uncomfortably, "Yeah. Of course I do, or I wouldn't be here, would I?" he joked.
"Don't be more thick than you already are, Connor," Abby snapped, her patience with his sidestepping worn completely through.
Connor visibly flinched at her harsh words; the verbal lashing had taken him unawares. He swallowed hard and nodded obediently. Abby felt her chest constrict as he smiled to hide the pain. She was a horrid person, she berated herself.
She drew in a deep breath and tried to mitigate the damage done by her thoughtless words, "I'm sorry, Conn. I didn't mean it to come out like that. I just want to know a little more about you, and you never give me a straight answer."
He gave a short bitter laugh as he stood and paced away from her.
"S'alright. Kind of reminds me of home, actually. Is it sad that it makes me a bit homesick?" he asked cynically.
"Oh," Abby replied, at a loss for how to answer.
"I just don't like to talk about me family, I'm not trying to hide it," he explained.
"Like I did, you mean?" Abby replied tightly.
He spun to face her, "No!"
"I didn't mean… I just…" he sighed and shook his head, frustrated, "I can't ever seem to say the right things," he added under his breath, but she heard it.
"You'll not want to hear it, anyway," he continued, his gaze firmly fixed on the ground at his feet.
"Come here," Abby ordered, but her tone was gentle.
As usual, he obeyed her. He sat down next to her again, but he didn't take her hand or put his arm around her. Her fingers twitched restlessly; her hand shook a little as she reached out to take his hand in hers. Connor started, turning his head to stare at her. If she had seriously entertained the thought that he would overlook that she was reaching for him for once, she was mistaken. Despite the cloud of oblivion that Connor was perpetually in when it concerned himself, he didn't miss all that much where she was concerned. A fleeting smile crossed his face as his fingers curled around hers.
"I want to hear it, but if you don't want to tell me-" Abby began.
"No. I… I want to," Connor interrupted.
"I have a mum, back in Blackburn. We don't talk much anymore. Me father died when I was twelve," he said softly, fingering the ring he wore on a leather thong around his neck.
"How?" Abby asked, hesitant to interrupt for fear he would stop speaking.
She laughed to herself at the thought; she'd never thought she would ever be able to say that about Connor, but his soft halting words seemed to come from a place inside of him that he was not used to sharing.
"He was on a dig in Columbia. He was a respected archeologist, you see. He used to take me along on some of the closer digs," Connor stated proudly, "He's why I decided to study Paleontology in the first place," Connor paused, his dark eyes unfocused.
He stared into the fire for a few long moments, the light flickering and casting strange shadows over his face. He ran a hand through his hair in a nervous gesture. Abby saw the muscle in his jaw tick, and she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.
"He was supposed to be safe in the village the team was staying in, but a renegade group of guerrillas overran it. Terrorists. He wasn't worth enough ransom to bother, so they killed him," Connor related, his voice steady and even until it cracked on the last word and gave away his distress.
"I'm sorry," she said simply, her voice laden with sympathy.
Connor nodded, but didn't speak. She saw his throat working as he swallowed back his tears. Abby let go of his hand and put her arms around him, easily giving into the urge to comfort him. First and foremost, Connor was her friend, and he needed a hug.
The silence had stretched for so long she assumed he was done speaking. It was hard for him, and she understood that. She wasn't going to attempt to drag more out of him tonight. He settled in against the wall of the cave with his arms around her, and she relaxed back into him, closing her eyes. She jumped a little when his voice, pitched low and soft, began again.
"Mum took it hard. She got a little… protective. She wanted me to study computers… said Paleontology was not an option," Connor stated.
"She doesn't approve of your career choices, I take it?" Abby guessed.
Connor snorted derisively, "Not at all. And if she found out I was doing fieldwork now? Not a good thing." He gave a short laugh, but like his earlier smile, it was a cover for his pain, "She said I 'wasn't suited for it.' I had a 'weak constitution,' whatever the hell that meant, and that I was meant to be doing something safe where I wouldn't be hurt. She said I should be responsible for once and study something worthwhile."
He grinned at her, his dimple coming out in full force, but it didn't fool her. She saw the shine in his eyes; she saw the bone deep anguish, carefully hidden under an easygoing nature and ready smile. Poor Connor. Bad childhoods came in all shapes and sizes.
"I did it anyway, din't I? No matter what I do, I am a disappointment to her, so I decided to take the scholarship and study Paleontology. She loves me anyway, she said, but every time I talk to her-," he broke off, shaking his head.
"I send her money, and that helps. Dad left a lot of debt behind; I used to give her m' pay when I lived at home. She wanted me to stay, but I had to go… I love me mum, but I-," he broke off again, and this time he didn't continue.
"I see why you don't like to talk about it," Abby admitted ruefully.
"Yeah. Could be worse, though. I could be like Danny… living with me mum at age forty," Connor smirked.
"You're joking," Abby replied.
"No. In his file, even," Connor laughed.
"I wonder if he made it back," Abby mused.
"I dunno, hope so," Connor replied softly, all traces of humor gone from his face.
She wished she hadn't said anything. She wanted more of Connor laughing and smiling, he'd had enough of sadness and bad memories today. As poignant as his story was, she appreciated the insight it provided into Connor. She understood him better, she believed. She would try harder to rein in her tongue, and she would make an effort to tell him the good things about himself to help counter all the bad. For him, she would try. He deserved it.
"Connor… I think you are very good at what you do. You're brilliant, and I think your father would have been proud of you," Abby said, turning his chin so she could look into his sorrowful dark eyes.
He smiled briefly, "Yeah."
"And there is nothing weak about you, alright? I happen to think you are the smartest, strongest, sweetest guy I have ever met, so stop with the self-doubt," she insisted, poking him in the chest with a two fingered point.
"Ow! Okay!" He replied, laughing and blushing furiously.
Abby smiled back at him, her heart tripping and doing a curious little melting sensation to see him so pleased by her heartfelt words.
"And sexy, as well, yeah?" he asked with a cheeky grin.
She rolled her eyes. What the hell, she thought, "Yes."
Once again, he lost his smile, but this time it was replaced by a look she didn't mind seeing on his face. His dark eyes grew serious and soft, his lips parted as he leaned in close to her slowly… always slowly with him. Always gentle and careful. She leaned in to meet him halfway; she saw the corner of his mouth lift in a small smile of acknowledgement before she closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his.
TBC
A/N: Lovely to end on a kiss, isn't it? So they are getting better at this, slowly but surely. I think I am beginning to make a game of how many plausible yet incredibly messed up childhoods I can give these two. I quite liked this one, and it will come out a little more as we progress. So what did you think? Like it? Hated it? Please review and tell me what you think? Feed the poor little muse?
Musical inspiration for the relationship between Connor and his mother: Tool, 'Pushit.' Yeah, I know it's meant to be about a relationship, not a mother/son, but that's the beauty of music. Interpretation. I have a wee little one-shot plot bunny of a story dealing with this. Anyone interested in reading it if I wrote it?