RP for dark_desert_hwy: John/Alice
WHO: John & Alice.
WHAT: Meeting up again.
WHERE: Alice's room.
WHEN: After John meets Izzy.
WARNINGS: Nah.
Alice had felt John's absence. It had stung at first, but she comforted herself with the knowledge that he was working on a dossier of everyone in the Hotel. It was a large endeavor, so she didn't fuss too much. She saw the logic in it.
Instead, she took the time to read old books that she'd always meant to read, things like Lolita and Crime and Punishment. She watched old movies. She jolted up off of her bed every time she heard something that sounded vaguely like a knock. She was laying on her bed, idly flipping through the channels when she heard what sounded strongly like a knock. She jumped up and barely missed stubbing her toe as she flew to open it.
This time, it was a knock. He knew he hadn't talked to Alice about anything so small as the weather in a long while, and it was starting to bug him. More than he'd have been willing to admit, honestly. He just hoped she was in.
When the door flew open, he blinked a little - hadn't expected it so fast - but still, he managed a small smile when he saw her. "Hey."
She grinned broadly, moving to open the door a little bit more. She'd wished the other day for a shirt that wasn't a t-shirt, a wifebeater, or her work shirt, and had been surprised to find a very pretty peach colored silk v-neck on her bureau. She shifted a little in her jeans, moving so he could come in. "Hi. Did you want to ...?"
She looked small and lonesome, and it bugged him. "Yeah. Thanks." He walked past her doorway, trying consciously to muster a smile at her. It was weird, the way all this was messing with him. "What's been going on?" Smooth, idiot.
She shut the door behind him, biting the inside of her cheek when he smiled. It was gorgeous, and she couldn't help staring a little. "Not a whole lot, what's been going on with you?" She walked past him, laying down on the bed and stretching her legs out.
He dropped into the chair next to her bed, putting his feet up after sliding off his shoes. He knew her by now. "Working on the dossier. Met a few other people lately. One today that was ... yeah, well." He shook his head.
"One today that was what?" She cocked her head to the side, turning off the television. She rolled onto her side, facing him, head propped up onto her arm. She loved when he talked. It was more than his voice, which was already sexy. It was how he held his body, the way his eyes were hooded. The twist his lips took when he thought something was funny, or the dark moss his eyes took when he was sad. She was always enthralled.
He chose his words carefully; he didn't want her to think he was an asshole. " .... Strange," he finally managed. "A girl. Really skittish and scared. I almost think she knows something." He looked over at her, curious if she had any idea who he meant. He trusted intuition, and women's intuition was possibly some of the best of all.
She grinned a little. "You mean River? What do you think she knows? She's so sweet." She rolled onto her back, her toes curling around the cotton duvet as the air conditioning kicked on. Somehow, it was colder than she thought it had been.
"Yeah, that was her name." John nodded, taking his feet down, hunching forward so his forearms rested on his thighs. "You met her? I didn't get a damn word out of the girl. Just kind of squeaked like a scared rabbit."
"You probably scared her! You can be sort of... intimidating." She laughed at that, reaching out to poke him with one red toenail. "Funny you call her a rabbit. That's sort of how I met her. I was reading Peter Rabbit in the library, and I read it to her."
John snorted. "I did not scare her." Humph. "I just said hi. And she got real wide-eyed and mumbled something, and I asked her what her name was. She said River, and I asked her where she was from. She just shook her head and ran." But then the second part of what she'd said sunk in, and he raised an eyebrow. "Peter Rabbit?" Was the girl brain-damaged, then? She didn't look that young.
"... because that doesn't sound like you scared her." She nudged him again, smiling indulgently but not laughing. "And... I was reading it, because it calms me down. She'd never seen it before. She says she's from the future." Considering Alice had met and believed Severus as well as The Doctor, she was sure River was telling the truth as well. "She liked it."
"The future?" John raised an eyebrow again. "I'd say how is that possible, but I guess I'm not surprised that it is." Still, he shrugged. "I didn't mean to scare her. You talk to her at all?" He was genuinely curious, in addition to wanting to know. Alice didn't miss much.
"We did a little. She's... different, but she's not stupid. She's very smart, actually. But she's... damaged somehow. I don't know how to say it." She crossed her legs, looking over at him. "You're curious about her?"
"Curious ... yeah, you could say that. I just want to know what we have here." That was diplomatic enough. It still bugged him, though. "She's brain damaged?"
Alice shook her head, then shrugged. "I don't really know. She doesn't think like anybody else I know, that's certain." She sat up on her elbows, looking at him. "Something about her has you really really interested. Why?"
John shrugged. "I don't know. I think it's because everything's weird here already, but she's ... weirder." She was the only one he had no frame of reference for. He knew there were other aliens here, but he hadn't met them. He would deal with those when the time came.
"Yeah. She's the only one... wait! The Doctor said he was from space or something too. I'm not totally sure. There's a lot of people here that are from places so different from ours." It made her wonder if they all hadn't been brought together for some higher reason. To learn from each other.
John shook his head. "Haven't met them yet. Apparently I still have a lot of work to do." And he was already tired. It grated on him, really - he shouldn't get so damn winded.
She could tell that he was tired. It was the lines around his face, the way he sighed a little. She sat up and reached for one of his feet. She wordlessly rubbed the arch, digging her fingers in. She didn't say anything, as there was nothing that really needed to be said.
He hadn't expected that, and it actually made him smile. Alice always said she was nothing special, but she had an intuition that surprised even him. "Thanks." He didn't say anything else; somehow it felt like if he did, he'd upset whatever was going on at the moment.
Her lips parted in a grin. "You're welcome." She used both hands, moving up to rub the ball of his foot. She scooted over a bit so she was closer to him, and didn't have to reach so much. She watched as he relaxed a bit in the chair. It was a heady thing, being able to make him do anything.
Man, she was good at this. He wondered if she'd developed the skill with past boyfriends, then mentally kicked himself. That's unworthy of her. And does that make you a fucking boyfriend?
He would have said something more, but she was doing something to make his whole body relax. He sighed quietly, feeling most of his legs go limp.
"You looked like you were about to say something." She didn't stop rubbing, but she let her eyes meet his. He was making it really difficult to not climb into his lap and kiss him until he couldn't breathe.
John shook his head. "Nothing important." Say something nice to her. The honesty thing seemed to work. "I didn't mean to, uh, ignore you lately." It felt like he had been, even if she didn't take it that way.
She shook her head. "It's okay, you've been busy making your dossier." She switched feet, then her eyes lit up. "Oh! I met someone right as they came into the hotel. His name's Jack Harkness. Be careful. He's a flirt." She tried not to laugh at the idea of Jack flirting with John. John was handsome, but not much like the Doctor. John was as rugged as the Doctor was wan.
"A flirt ..." John echoed, but then he got it. "Oh." Well, hell. "Did you talk with him a lot?" Had he flirted with her? The guy could bat for both teams; he had no clue.
"Not a ... lot. He pretty much flirted with me straight away. Then the Doctor came in, and they knew each other, but there was some sort of complication." She switched feet, rubbing just as hard at the other. "I honestly don't know what to think of him. I'm not scared of him, though. Just don't know much about him yet."
"Oh, okay." Hrmph. He tried not to look too crabby about the guy flirting with her. Whatsisname ... Harkness ... was new. He didn't know yet.
He stopped himself, blinking. Know what? That you're hung up on this girl? For Christ's sake.
She grinned. "You just made a face. What face was that?" She tried to mimic it, scrunching up her nose and squinting. Her fingers moved up a bit to massage his ankles. "I'm glad you came over. I missed you." Alice was gutsy, and didn't shy from saying what was on her mind.
It was fair of her to say, but it wasn't fair of her to do that at the same time. "You hit a nerve," John lied, sitting back a little. "Felt good. And I felt bad about going awol lately on you." Well, that much at least was the truth.
"Oh, let me see if I can do it again." She went back down to the ball of his foot, rubbing contentedly. "And you couldn't help it. It wasn't that long. I know you'll tell me if you get sick of seeing me. You're honest. You're one of two honest men. I just don't know who the other one is." She laughed a bit at her own joke.
Oh, Goddamn, that felt really good. John closed his eyes again, mouth curving upward a little bit in both contentment and amusement. "You're good at that." It was all he could think of to say. This was kind of nice, relaxing with her like this.
She shrugged a little. "I practiced on all of my exes." She finished rubbing, and reached up to his ankles, scratching small circles at the base of his calves. "Are you relaxed a little?"
"Don't I look it?" Why did she look uncomfortable all of a sudden? It bugged him.
She rubbed a bit on his lower calf. "A bit. As much as you ever do." She looked up at him, smiling shyly. Sometimes, he did that to her. She wondered if he knew the sort of effect he had on her. "I could do your shoulders. Do you have a lot of stress there?"
John raised an eyebrow. "I've pretty much got stress everywhere." He'd always held his neck tight, even back in Nam.
She moved a little bit, climbing into his lap without letting herself touch his legs. It was something she'd done hundreds, if not thousands of times. Only this time, she let her hands rest on his shoulders just below his neck, rubbing gently. "Christ. You'd think you were Atlas."
He blinked as she took his lap with such ease, but then her little hands were on his shoulders and pressing. He took a shallow breath, expelling it loudly, closing his eyes again. That felt really good. And hell, he'd been Atlas for a long time.
She rubbed harder, gritting her teeth to keep herself from leaning in and kissing his cheek. Her fingers knew just where to go, discerning knotted muscles from ones already at ease, and working those the most. "You poor thing."
She took him by surprise - John couldn't stop a quiet sigh as she locked in on a knot right at his shoulderblade, yanking it hard. "Goddamn, that's - right there."
She'd be damned if that wasn't hot as hell. She felt her breath hitch a bit, but didn't stop rubbing. Her legs gave a little, and she felt more of her breath rest on his legs. Oh, God, he's going to push me off.
He ignored her sitting on his lap more, in favor of his shoulders slowly becoming unknotted. He didn't know what to do with his hands, though; eventually he rested them kind of awkwardly on his thighs, near the backs of her knees, but not touching them. That was just fucking asking for trouble.
She closed her eyes. She would say, if pressed, that she was doing it so she could focus. In reality, she just couldn't trust herself with looking at him anymore. He was too close, too achingly attractive. She just let her fingers find where he was stressed and dig.
Eventually, her hands slowed, and John smiled. He could do it now that he was more relaxed. She was fucking talented. " ... Thanks," he finally managed, coming back to himself a little. Realizing where she was sitting.
She opened her eyes and nodded. "You're welcome." She loved how polite he was. She couldn't help but let her fingers splay over the back of his neck before letting her arms drop to her sides. She imagined that was where she'd put them when he finally kissed her. If. If he ever kisses you.
He gently put his legs down, guiding her off his lap. "I should probably get going ... need a damn shower." He was still tired, and it was warm in here. At least it damn well better be warm in here. "You wanna get dinner later?"
She couldn't help grinning and nodding enthusiastically as she stood up. "That'd be brilliant, actually. I should shower too." She bit her lip and looked up at him. Sometimes, she wondered if he was still hesitating because he was still doubting how much she liked him. Men were needlessly complicated.
"Okay. I'll just knock in a little while?" He headed for the door, hearing her follow behind.
"That'll work. I'll just wear this again, I guess." She liked her new shirt, but greatly missed having a closet full of things to choose from. She watched as he opened the door, and waited for him to leave, admiring his ass. She couldn't help it.
Before he opened the door, though, he paused. He wasn't sure when he'd become comfortable enough with this kind of stuff to touch her, but he did. One hand curled around her left shoulder, the other around her right. He bent his head, kissing her on the cheek. But it wasn't a peck. He held it for a few seconds or more.
She closed her eyes, audibly sighing. The gesture was familiar. Comfortable. Good. She smiled, not moving until she could feel him standing erect and above her again. Only then did she let her eyes open, one lid after another. "Give me about an hour. I shower slow."
That hadn't been awkward, and John let the breath he'd been holding escape. "Okay, I'll come back then," he finally said, nodding as if it was a command plan to be agreed on. It was weird. But it had worked.
Alice tiptoed up a bit, planting a similar kiss on his stubble. "See you then." Her lips tingled a bit, and she couldn't help giggling a little as she waited for him to walk toward his room.
John didn't react until he'd closed the door, but once he did, he smiled a little bit. He'd been wondering if she was getting sick of waiting around, but apparently, she wasn't. It was a far more comforting thought than he'd ever let on.
WHAT: Meeting up again.
WHERE: Alice's room.
WHEN: After John meets Izzy.
WARNINGS: Nah.
Alice had felt John's absence. It had stung at first, but she comforted herself with the knowledge that he was working on a dossier of everyone in the Hotel. It was a large endeavor, so she didn't fuss too much. She saw the logic in it.
Instead, she took the time to read old books that she'd always meant to read, things like Lolita and Crime and Punishment. She watched old movies. She jolted up off of her bed every time she heard something that sounded vaguely like a knock. She was laying on her bed, idly flipping through the channels when she heard what sounded strongly like a knock. She jumped up and barely missed stubbing her toe as she flew to open it.
This time, it was a knock. He knew he hadn't talked to Alice about anything so small as the weather in a long while, and it was starting to bug him. More than he'd have been willing to admit, honestly. He just hoped she was in.
When the door flew open, he blinked a little - hadn't expected it so fast - but still, he managed a small smile when he saw her. "Hey."
She grinned broadly, moving to open the door a little bit more. She'd wished the other day for a shirt that wasn't a t-shirt, a wifebeater, or her work shirt, and had been surprised to find a very pretty peach colored silk v-neck on her bureau. She shifted a little in her jeans, moving so he could come in. "Hi. Did you want to ...?"
She looked small and lonesome, and it bugged him. "Yeah. Thanks." He walked past her doorway, trying consciously to muster a smile at her. It was weird, the way all this was messing with him. "What's been going on?" Smooth, idiot.
She shut the door behind him, biting the inside of her cheek when he smiled. It was gorgeous, and she couldn't help staring a little. "Not a whole lot, what's been going on with you?" She walked past him, laying down on the bed and stretching her legs out.
He dropped into the chair next to her bed, putting his feet up after sliding off his shoes. He knew her by now. "Working on the dossier. Met a few other people lately. One today that was ... yeah, well." He shook his head.
"One today that was what?" She cocked her head to the side, turning off the television. She rolled onto her side, facing him, head propped up onto her arm. She loved when he talked. It was more than his voice, which was already sexy. It was how he held his body, the way his eyes were hooded. The twist his lips took when he thought something was funny, or the dark moss his eyes took when he was sad. She was always enthralled.
He chose his words carefully; he didn't want her to think he was an asshole. " .... Strange," he finally managed. "A girl. Really skittish and scared. I almost think she knows something." He looked over at her, curious if she had any idea who he meant. He trusted intuition, and women's intuition was possibly some of the best of all.
She grinned a little. "You mean River? What do you think she knows? She's so sweet." She rolled onto her back, her toes curling around the cotton duvet as the air conditioning kicked on. Somehow, it was colder than she thought it had been.
"Yeah, that was her name." John nodded, taking his feet down, hunching forward so his forearms rested on his thighs. "You met her? I didn't get a damn word out of the girl. Just kind of squeaked like a scared rabbit."
"You probably scared her! You can be sort of... intimidating." She laughed at that, reaching out to poke him with one red toenail. "Funny you call her a rabbit. That's sort of how I met her. I was reading Peter Rabbit in the library, and I read it to her."
John snorted. "I did not scare her." Humph. "I just said hi. And she got real wide-eyed and mumbled something, and I asked her what her name was. She said River, and I asked her where she was from. She just shook her head and ran." But then the second part of what she'd said sunk in, and he raised an eyebrow. "Peter Rabbit?" Was the girl brain-damaged, then? She didn't look that young.
"... because that doesn't sound like you scared her." She nudged him again, smiling indulgently but not laughing. "And... I was reading it, because it calms me down. She'd never seen it before. She says she's from the future." Considering Alice had met and believed Severus as well as The Doctor, she was sure River was telling the truth as well. "She liked it."
"The future?" John raised an eyebrow again. "I'd say how is that possible, but I guess I'm not surprised that it is." Still, he shrugged. "I didn't mean to scare her. You talk to her at all?" He was genuinely curious, in addition to wanting to know. Alice didn't miss much.
"We did a little. She's... different, but she's not stupid. She's very smart, actually. But she's... damaged somehow. I don't know how to say it." She crossed her legs, looking over at him. "You're curious about her?"
"Curious ... yeah, you could say that. I just want to know what we have here." That was diplomatic enough. It still bugged him, though. "She's brain damaged?"
Alice shook her head, then shrugged. "I don't really know. She doesn't think like anybody else I know, that's certain." She sat up on her elbows, looking at him. "Something about her has you really really interested. Why?"
John shrugged. "I don't know. I think it's because everything's weird here already, but she's ... weirder." She was the only one he had no frame of reference for. He knew there were other aliens here, but he hadn't met them. He would deal with those when the time came.
"Yeah. She's the only one... wait! The Doctor said he was from space or something too. I'm not totally sure. There's a lot of people here that are from places so different from ours." It made her wonder if they all hadn't been brought together for some higher reason. To learn from each other.
John shook his head. "Haven't met them yet. Apparently I still have a lot of work to do." And he was already tired. It grated on him, really - he shouldn't get so damn winded.
She could tell that he was tired. It was the lines around his face, the way he sighed a little. She sat up and reached for one of his feet. She wordlessly rubbed the arch, digging her fingers in. She didn't say anything, as there was nothing that really needed to be said.
He hadn't expected that, and it actually made him smile. Alice always said she was nothing special, but she had an intuition that surprised even him. "Thanks." He didn't say anything else; somehow it felt like if he did, he'd upset whatever was going on at the moment.
Her lips parted in a grin. "You're welcome." She used both hands, moving up to rub the ball of his foot. She scooted over a bit so she was closer to him, and didn't have to reach so much. She watched as he relaxed a bit in the chair. It was a heady thing, being able to make him do anything.
Man, she was good at this. He wondered if she'd developed the skill with past boyfriends, then mentally kicked himself. That's unworthy of her. And does that make you a fucking boyfriend?
He would have said something more, but she was doing something to make his whole body relax. He sighed quietly, feeling most of his legs go limp.
"You looked like you were about to say something." She didn't stop rubbing, but she let her eyes meet his. He was making it really difficult to not climb into his lap and kiss him until he couldn't breathe.
John shook his head. "Nothing important." Say something nice to her. The honesty thing seemed to work. "I didn't mean to, uh, ignore you lately." It felt like he had been, even if she didn't take it that way.
She shook her head. "It's okay, you've been busy making your dossier." She switched feet, then her eyes lit up. "Oh! I met someone right as they came into the hotel. His name's Jack Harkness. Be careful. He's a flirt." She tried not to laugh at the idea of Jack flirting with John. John was handsome, but not much like the Doctor. John was as rugged as the Doctor was wan.
"A flirt ..." John echoed, but then he got it. "Oh." Well, hell. "Did you talk with him a lot?" Had he flirted with her? The guy could bat for both teams; he had no clue.
"Not a ... lot. He pretty much flirted with me straight away. Then the Doctor came in, and they knew each other, but there was some sort of complication." She switched feet, rubbing just as hard at the other. "I honestly don't know what to think of him. I'm not scared of him, though. Just don't know much about him yet."
"Oh, okay." Hrmph. He tried not to look too crabby about the guy flirting with her. Whatsisname ... Harkness ... was new. He didn't know yet.
He stopped himself, blinking. Know what? That you're hung up on this girl? For Christ's sake.
She grinned. "You just made a face. What face was that?" She tried to mimic it, scrunching up her nose and squinting. Her fingers moved up a bit to massage his ankles. "I'm glad you came over. I missed you." Alice was gutsy, and didn't shy from saying what was on her mind.
It was fair of her to say, but it wasn't fair of her to do that at the same time. "You hit a nerve," John lied, sitting back a little. "Felt good. And I felt bad about going awol lately on you." Well, that much at least was the truth.
"Oh, let me see if I can do it again." She went back down to the ball of his foot, rubbing contentedly. "And you couldn't help it. It wasn't that long. I know you'll tell me if you get sick of seeing me. You're honest. You're one of two honest men. I just don't know who the other one is." She laughed a bit at her own joke.
Oh, Goddamn, that felt really good. John closed his eyes again, mouth curving upward a little bit in both contentment and amusement. "You're good at that." It was all he could think of to say. This was kind of nice, relaxing with her like this.
She shrugged a little. "I practiced on all of my exes." She finished rubbing, and reached up to his ankles, scratching small circles at the base of his calves. "Are you relaxed a little?"
"Don't I look it?" Why did she look uncomfortable all of a sudden? It bugged him.
She rubbed a bit on his lower calf. "A bit. As much as you ever do." She looked up at him, smiling shyly. Sometimes, he did that to her. She wondered if he knew the sort of effect he had on her. "I could do your shoulders. Do you have a lot of stress there?"
John raised an eyebrow. "I've pretty much got stress everywhere." He'd always held his neck tight, even back in Nam.
She moved a little bit, climbing into his lap without letting herself touch his legs. It was something she'd done hundreds, if not thousands of times. Only this time, she let her hands rest on his shoulders just below his neck, rubbing gently. "Christ. You'd think you were Atlas."
He blinked as she took his lap with such ease, but then her little hands were on his shoulders and pressing. He took a shallow breath, expelling it loudly, closing his eyes again. That felt really good. And hell, he'd been Atlas for a long time.
She rubbed harder, gritting her teeth to keep herself from leaning in and kissing his cheek. Her fingers knew just where to go, discerning knotted muscles from ones already at ease, and working those the most. "You poor thing."
She took him by surprise - John couldn't stop a quiet sigh as she locked in on a knot right at his shoulderblade, yanking it hard. "Goddamn, that's - right there."
She'd be damned if that wasn't hot as hell. She felt her breath hitch a bit, but didn't stop rubbing. Her legs gave a little, and she felt more of her breath rest on his legs. Oh, God, he's going to push me off.
He ignored her sitting on his lap more, in favor of his shoulders slowly becoming unknotted. He didn't know what to do with his hands, though; eventually he rested them kind of awkwardly on his thighs, near the backs of her knees, but not touching them. That was just fucking asking for trouble.
She closed her eyes. She would say, if pressed, that she was doing it so she could focus. In reality, she just couldn't trust herself with looking at him anymore. He was too close, too achingly attractive. She just let her fingers find where he was stressed and dig.
Eventually, her hands slowed, and John smiled. He could do it now that he was more relaxed. She was fucking talented. " ... Thanks," he finally managed, coming back to himself a little. Realizing where she was sitting.
She opened her eyes and nodded. "You're welcome." She loved how polite he was. She couldn't help but let her fingers splay over the back of his neck before letting her arms drop to her sides. She imagined that was where she'd put them when he finally kissed her. If. If he ever kisses you.
He gently put his legs down, guiding her off his lap. "I should probably get going ... need a damn shower." He was still tired, and it was warm in here. At least it damn well better be warm in here. "You wanna get dinner later?"
She couldn't help grinning and nodding enthusiastically as she stood up. "That'd be brilliant, actually. I should shower too." She bit her lip and looked up at him. Sometimes, she wondered if he was still hesitating because he was still doubting how much she liked him. Men were needlessly complicated.
"Okay. I'll just knock in a little while?" He headed for the door, hearing her follow behind.
"That'll work. I'll just wear this again, I guess." She liked her new shirt, but greatly missed having a closet full of things to choose from. She watched as he opened the door, and waited for him to leave, admiring his ass. She couldn't help it.
Before he opened the door, though, he paused. He wasn't sure when he'd become comfortable enough with this kind of stuff to touch her, but he did. One hand curled around her left shoulder, the other around her right. He bent his head, kissing her on the cheek. But it wasn't a peck. He held it for a few seconds or more.
She closed her eyes, audibly sighing. The gesture was familiar. Comfortable. Good. She smiled, not moving until she could feel him standing erect and above her again. Only then did she let her eyes open, one lid after another. "Give me about an hour. I shower slow."
That hadn't been awkward, and John let the breath he'd been holding escape. "Okay, I'll come back then," he finally said, nodding as if it was a command plan to be agreed on. It was weird. But it had worked.
Alice tiptoed up a bit, planting a similar kiss on his stubble. "See you then." Her lips tingled a bit, and she couldn't help giggling a little as she waited for him to walk toward his room.
John didn't react until he'd closed the door, but once he did, he smiled a little bit. He'd been wondering if she was getting sick of waiting around, but apparently, she wasn't. It was a far more comforting thought than he'd ever let on.