Secrets In Your Eyes
Secrets In Your Eyes
Chapter 10
Chapter Wordcount: 2599
Tayla was sitting on Ray’s desk, swinging her feet when Ray and Fraser emerged from their interrogation.
“What’s up Tay?” Ray grinned.
“You said you guys were slammed, so I brought you lunch.”
“You’ve got the best girlfriend on the planet, you know that Benny?” Ray winked, kissing Tayla on the cheek before immediately heading towards Welsh’s office, they were in fact, slammed.
Fraser smiled, coming to stand next to Tayla, arms crossed behind him.
“Thank you for lunch Tayla.”
“Eh, no big,” she shrugged, “I needed to get out of the shop anyways, been twitchy all day.”
“Are you alright?” he asked, suddenly concerned, reaching out to touch her elbow.
“Oh yeah, sure,” she drawled, looking at him sideways with a smirk on her face he was learning meant trouble.
“Just been… frustrated,” she finished, the last word spoken low and emphasized.
“You know… when I get in one of my moods… and you’re not around to help me.”
Fraser’s eyes bugged and he reached up to tug at his collar.
“Ah, yes,” he cleared his throat. “Understood.”
“Been driving me nuts all day. The truck’s parked right in front of my office window and all I can think is how big that bed is.”
Fraser fidgeted, glanced around the bullpen.
“Can’t sit still… all the guys are asking me what’s wrong… can’t tell them I just need my boyfriend to…”
“Oh dear,” Fraser coughed, straightening his already straight belt.
“You know... if the bullpen was empty,” she started, leaning towards him and dropping into a whisper. “I’d push you down to your knees and wrap my legs around that serge.”
He coughed, face burning as red as his uniform.
She relented, squeezing his arm and winking at him.
It took him a minute, but after he was able to find his voice again he leaned towards her.
“I would let you,” he said quietly, voice trembling and face flushing all over again.
She grinned, giving me a moment to collect himself, again.
“Don’t change before you come over tonight,” she said, hopping off the desk just as Ray was leaving Welsh’s office.
She winked at him when he seemed confused for a moment and then he smirked, just a quick twitch of the corner of his lips and he shifted to stand at parade rest.
“As you wish.”
***
Tayla had a bit of a nudist streak when she was at home, so it wasn’t much a surprise, but still caused his stomach to flip, when he arrived to find her sitting naked on the couch reading a book.
He hung up his hat, removed his Sam Browne and lanyard and cleared his throat as he entered the living room.
Tayla smiled softly at him as he fidgeted.
They had grown quite a bit. He felt safer and more comfortable with her than anyone else he had ever been with. Partly just because she was his longest relationship, giving him, giving them both, the time to relax and explore and learn and try new things, knowing they were safe with each other.
That didn’t stop the flutter of his heartbeat, the coil low in his gut or the tremble in his hands however.
She took his hand and he let himself be pulled down to sit next to her, leaning back into the cushions when she shifted to sit astride his lap and kissed him softly.
He let himself relax under her weight, her skin soft and flushed with warmth under his hands and kissed her languidly until his nerves settled.
He gripped her hips and shifted her off his lap, sliding himself off the couch and unto his knees in front of her. Reaching up he tugged the Velcro closure of his collar open and unhooked the first two buttons of his tunic, gratified by the hitch in her breathing and the flush that spread up her chest and throat.
Gentle fingers dug into her calves and up to her knees, tugging her to the edge of the cushions. He kissed her palm when she moved to cradle his cheek, closing his eyes when she tangled her fingers in his hair like she often did, something he had learned never failed to calm him.
“Jesus Benton,” she whispered and he smiled, kissing the inside of her thigh and proceeded to relieve the frustration she had playfully complained of earlier that day.
***
He rose up to kiss her as she came down from her high and she laughed softly against his lips, removing her hand from where she had covered her eyes and slid her fingers under the epaulette on his shoulder.
“I love you,” she whispered, kissing him again and obscuring his quiet echo of the words.
“Parade rest Constable,” she said softly, grinning at him when he started to pull away. “And lose the pants.”
That took him a moment to comply with, having to remove his serge before he could undo the suspenders that held his pants.
“Put the jacket back on,” she said quietly and he felt his face and chest flush but he swallowed hard and put the red wool back on after removing the bottom half of his uniform.
When she didn’t give him any other orders he finally set his feet apart and crossed his arms behind himself, standing straight and staring towards the kitchen, breathing hard through the open front of his tunic.
He couldn’t stop himself from groaning aloud and closing his eyes when she slid off the couch to rest on her knees in front of him.
Absurdly his first thought when she took him into her mouth was how certain it was he would be reprimanded if he was actually standing sentry, because he was in no way in control of his reactions.
***
“You okay?” she asked, curled against his chest, head resting on the breast of his jacket and her hand slipped underneath it where it still laid unbuttoned against him.
“More than,” he chuckled, shifting deeper into the couch.
She propped her chin against him and smiled up at him and he reflexively smiled back, sweeping his hand up and down her back.
“The serge had some memories attached to it,” he said quietly, barest tremor to his voice.
“You should have told me,” she said simply and he was quietly grateful that she didn’t ask for details. “I wouldn’t have…”
“Don’t,” he cut her off, “I’m glad… better memories now,” he smiled and she smiled back and settled back down against his chest.
***
The next morning she woke slow and lazy, wrapped up warm in blankets and Benton. Only took her a moment to notice the rhythmic shifting he was doing in his sleep, pressing himself unconsciously against her backside.
She grinned to herself and arched into his body, waited for him to come awake as he mumbled and tucked his face into her neck.
Didn’t take long, and she knew the moment he was conscious enough to notice, his actions immediately froze and he incrementally started to shift backwards, unaware she was already awake.
“It’s okay,” she chuckled and he stilled again.
“My apologizes,” he whispered.
“No need,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him with a grin before shifting herself backwards and back into his arms.
“It’s alright, you’re kinda allowed.”
He could hear the smile in her voice and knew she was teasing him. Didn’t move away from where she pressed herself against him.
He contemplated rocking his hips against her again, the press of her skin and the warmth between them was incredibly tempting, knew that like she said, he was allowed, that she would respond willingly. But he found himself content to just turn his face into her neck and hold her tighter, tangled together in the warmth of her bed. Both of them relaxed enough to fall back asleep.
They were awoken a little while later by the trill of Tayla’s cell phone going off on the nightstand. It took her a moment to drag herself from the comfortable sanctuary of the covers and she reached over to check the caller ID.
“It’s Ray,” she told Benton, just as the phone stopped ringing.
“We need to get you a phone.”
He hummed behind her, pulling her back under the covers.
A chime a moment later told them that Ray had left her a voicemail.
“He must need me,” he groaned, finally rolling over and accepting the fact that he needed to face the day.
“Why don’t you take a shower, I’ll make breakfast,” she offered, turning over and resting on his chest, his arm settling around her waist.
Still, neither of them made a move to extract themselves from the bed.
“Reminds me of home,” he said quietly. “Huddled in the warmth of a tent while the world is quiet outside.”
“You miss it don’t you,” she said after a beat of silence, shifting to look up at him.
He just gave her a small, and she could tell, sad smile.
“Will you take me sometime?”
He looked down at her and gave her a genuine grin at that.
“I would love to,” he told her, bending to kiss her.
Dief whined at the closed bedroom door and Fraser laughed.
“He must need to go out.”
“I’ll let them out, make breakfast. You take a shower and call Ray back.”
Still neither of them moved.
“You’re not the only one reluctant to get up you know,” he admitted, smirking at her.
She grinned, kissed him again and forced herself to extract herself from his arms.
***
She was just about to go to bed, was in the kitchen putting away the clean dishes from the dishwasher when she heard Jolene whining by the door.
Normally she would assume she just needed to go out, but Jo wasn’t at the back door, she was at the front door.
The living room as dark and she silently crept her way towards the door, wondering what had caught Jo’s attention. As she got closer she could arguing muted through the door, she looked through the peep hole and was somehow not surprised to see Benton and Ray bickering back and forth standing on her porch.
She snapped the light on and snatched open the door, causing both of them to freeze and look at her with wide eyes at being caught.
“What are you…” doing here, is what she started to say, only to abruptly change course and finished with “What the hell happened?!”
Both of them were beat to hell. Benton was holding his arm against his side, like maybe it or his ribs had been hurt. There was blood streaked down one side of his face and he was blinking one eye more than the other like he was having trouble keeping it open.
Ray stood next to him, Fraser’s handkerchief wrapped around one hand, busted lip and both eyes rimmed in what would no doubt be impressive black eyes come the morning.
“The station was pretty empty… kinda thought we’d crash here,” Ray said with a shrug, which just caused him to wince.
“Holy shit,” she whispered, finally looking over at Benton who stood silently, watching her from under his lashes like a child that had just come home from a school fight.
“You have a key you idiot.”
“You have a stinking key?!” Ray shouted. “We’re out here in the cold and you’re lecturing me about how we shouldn’t wake her up so late and you have a damn key?!”
Fraser shifted his Stetson in his hand and pulled the singular key from under the inner band and held it up, glancing between both Ray and Tayla, chastised.
“For the love of Christ,” she groaned, “Both of you, get in here,” she snapped, grabbing Fraser’s hat from his hand and hanging it up on her coat rack herself.
She drug two chairs out from under her dining room table and pointed.
“Strip. Sit. Both of you.”
“Hey now, I love both of you… but that’s not what I’m here for Tay,” Ray chuckled, smirking at Fraser.
Fraser actually laughed, stopping short and wincing at the pain that shot across his ribs, but he smiled at Ray as he sat down carefully in his chair.
Tayla glared at him.
“Hey… if I ever did flip the coin, it’d be for you Benny,” he winked.
“Jesus Christ,” Tayla sighed, rolling her eyes and walking off.
Fraser chuckled, undoing the buttons on his uniform.
“Me too Ray,” he grinned.
They could hear Tayla banging around and muttering in the laundry room. Followed by the slam of cabinet doors in the downstairs bathroom.
By the time both of them managed to wrestle their shirts off she came back with blankets that she must have thrown in the dryer for a couple minutes as they were warm where she wrapped them around their shoulders and she dumped a pile of first aid supplies on the table.
There wasn’t much she could do for Fraser’s bruised ribs or Ray’s black eyes, but she tended to their injuries with as much care as she could.
The blood on Fraser’s face was mostly just from a gash above his eyebrow and he would probably have a shiner to match Ray’s come the morning. She handed them both ice packs for their eyes while she cleaned up the rest.
Ray told most of the story, some of Zuko’s lackeys catching them off guard. By then he had just made the split on his lip worse and Fraser took over the telling while she cleaned up Ray.
His eyelids were starting to droop by the time she finished and she kissed him on the forehead.
“Take the guest bed hun.”
“Thanks Tay,” he mumbled, patting Fraser’s shoulder as he headed upstairs.
“C’mon,” she smiled, taking Fraser’s hand and leading them upstairs.
She helped him finish getting undressed and crawled in carefully next to him.
“Sorry,” he groaned when he winced in pain.
“It’s okay,” she said quietly, finding a way to curl up next to him that didn’t put pressure on his ribs. “Kinda sucks, I worry about you… both of you… being cops. But… it’s also something I kinda love about you.”
He grinned and closed his eyes as she kissed him.
***
For a split second the next morning she panicked, hearing banging coming from downstairs but when Benton groaned next to her, also being woken up from the noise, she remembered the night before, he and Ray showing up on her doorstep.
“If he fucks up my kitchen I swear to God I’ll kill him.”
Fraser chuckled and grinned at her when she looked over at him.
***
“Hey… I was gonna make you guys breakfast,” Ray offered, spatula in hand when Fraser and Tayla came down the stairs.
“In bed?” Fraser asked.
Ray froze, wide eyed look at his face.
“Did you… did you just make a sex joke?”
Fraser met Tayla’s eyes where she was pouring them coffee and smirked, sitting down at the table.
“Wow… she’s really rubbing off on you,” Ray said, waving the spatula towards Tayla and turning back to the stove.
“Well… technically speaking… I rub off on her,” Fraser shot back, deadpan.
Tayla giggled and tried not to snort her coffee.
“Oh my god!” Ray said, throwing the spatula and clapping his hands over his ears.
“We rub off on each other,” Tayla winked.
“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” Ray shouted bee-lining towards the living room. “Make your own damn breakfast you pervs!”
Previous: Chapter Nine
Chapter 10
Chapter Wordcount: 2599
Tayla was sitting on Ray’s desk, swinging her feet when Ray and Fraser emerged from their interrogation.
“What’s up Tay?” Ray grinned.
“You said you guys were slammed, so I brought you lunch.”
“You’ve got the best girlfriend on the planet, you know that Benny?” Ray winked, kissing Tayla on the cheek before immediately heading towards Welsh’s office, they were in fact, slammed.
Fraser smiled, coming to stand next to Tayla, arms crossed behind him.
“Thank you for lunch Tayla.”
“Eh, no big,” she shrugged, “I needed to get out of the shop anyways, been twitchy all day.”
“Are you alright?” he asked, suddenly concerned, reaching out to touch her elbow.
“Oh yeah, sure,” she drawled, looking at him sideways with a smirk on her face he was learning meant trouble.
“Just been… frustrated,” she finished, the last word spoken low and emphasized.
“You know… when I get in one of my moods… and you’re not around to help me.”
Fraser’s eyes bugged and he reached up to tug at his collar.
“Ah, yes,” he cleared his throat. “Understood.”
“Been driving me nuts all day. The truck’s parked right in front of my office window and all I can think is how big that bed is.”
Fraser fidgeted, glanced around the bullpen.
“Can’t sit still… all the guys are asking me what’s wrong… can’t tell them I just need my boyfriend to…”
“Oh dear,” Fraser coughed, straightening his already straight belt.
“You know... if the bullpen was empty,” she started, leaning towards him and dropping into a whisper. “I’d push you down to your knees and wrap my legs around that serge.”
He coughed, face burning as red as his uniform.
She relented, squeezing his arm and winking at him.
It took him a minute, but after he was able to find his voice again he leaned towards her.
“I would let you,” he said quietly, voice trembling and face flushing all over again.
She grinned, giving me a moment to collect himself, again.
“Don’t change before you come over tonight,” she said, hopping off the desk just as Ray was leaving Welsh’s office.
She winked at him when he seemed confused for a moment and then he smirked, just a quick twitch of the corner of his lips and he shifted to stand at parade rest.
“As you wish.”
***
Tayla had a bit of a nudist streak when she was at home, so it wasn’t much a surprise, but still caused his stomach to flip, when he arrived to find her sitting naked on the couch reading a book.
He hung up his hat, removed his Sam Browne and lanyard and cleared his throat as he entered the living room.
Tayla smiled softly at him as he fidgeted.
They had grown quite a bit. He felt safer and more comfortable with her than anyone else he had ever been with. Partly just because she was his longest relationship, giving him, giving them both, the time to relax and explore and learn and try new things, knowing they were safe with each other.
That didn’t stop the flutter of his heartbeat, the coil low in his gut or the tremble in his hands however.
She took his hand and he let himself be pulled down to sit next to her, leaning back into the cushions when she shifted to sit astride his lap and kissed him softly.
He let himself relax under her weight, her skin soft and flushed with warmth under his hands and kissed her languidly until his nerves settled.
He gripped her hips and shifted her off his lap, sliding himself off the couch and unto his knees in front of her. Reaching up he tugged the Velcro closure of his collar open and unhooked the first two buttons of his tunic, gratified by the hitch in her breathing and the flush that spread up her chest and throat.
Gentle fingers dug into her calves and up to her knees, tugging her to the edge of the cushions. He kissed her palm when she moved to cradle his cheek, closing his eyes when she tangled her fingers in his hair like she often did, something he had learned never failed to calm him.
“Jesus Benton,” she whispered and he smiled, kissing the inside of her thigh and proceeded to relieve the frustration she had playfully complained of earlier that day.
***
He rose up to kiss her as she came down from her high and she laughed softly against his lips, removing her hand from where she had covered her eyes and slid her fingers under the epaulette on his shoulder.
“I love you,” she whispered, kissing him again and obscuring his quiet echo of the words.
“Parade rest Constable,” she said softly, grinning at him when he started to pull away. “And lose the pants.”
That took him a moment to comply with, having to remove his serge before he could undo the suspenders that held his pants.
“Put the jacket back on,” she said quietly and he felt his face and chest flush but he swallowed hard and put the red wool back on after removing the bottom half of his uniform.
When she didn’t give him any other orders he finally set his feet apart and crossed his arms behind himself, standing straight and staring towards the kitchen, breathing hard through the open front of his tunic.
He couldn’t stop himself from groaning aloud and closing his eyes when she slid off the couch to rest on her knees in front of him.
Absurdly his first thought when she took him into her mouth was how certain it was he would be reprimanded if he was actually standing sentry, because he was in no way in control of his reactions.
***
“You okay?” she asked, curled against his chest, head resting on the breast of his jacket and her hand slipped underneath it where it still laid unbuttoned against him.
“More than,” he chuckled, shifting deeper into the couch.
She propped her chin against him and smiled up at him and he reflexively smiled back, sweeping his hand up and down her back.
“The serge had some memories attached to it,” he said quietly, barest tremor to his voice.
“You should have told me,” she said simply and he was quietly grateful that she didn’t ask for details. “I wouldn’t have…”
“Don’t,” he cut her off, “I’m glad… better memories now,” he smiled and she smiled back and settled back down against his chest.
***
The next morning she woke slow and lazy, wrapped up warm in blankets and Benton. Only took her a moment to notice the rhythmic shifting he was doing in his sleep, pressing himself unconsciously against her backside.
She grinned to herself and arched into his body, waited for him to come awake as he mumbled and tucked his face into her neck.
Didn’t take long, and she knew the moment he was conscious enough to notice, his actions immediately froze and he incrementally started to shift backwards, unaware she was already awake.
“It’s okay,” she chuckled and he stilled again.
“My apologizes,” he whispered.
“No need,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him with a grin before shifting herself backwards and back into his arms.
“It’s alright, you’re kinda allowed.”
He could hear the smile in her voice and knew she was teasing him. Didn’t move away from where she pressed herself against him.
He contemplated rocking his hips against her again, the press of her skin and the warmth between them was incredibly tempting, knew that like she said, he was allowed, that she would respond willingly. But he found himself content to just turn his face into her neck and hold her tighter, tangled together in the warmth of her bed. Both of them relaxed enough to fall back asleep.
They were awoken a little while later by the trill of Tayla’s cell phone going off on the nightstand. It took her a moment to drag herself from the comfortable sanctuary of the covers and she reached over to check the caller ID.
“It’s Ray,” she told Benton, just as the phone stopped ringing.
“We need to get you a phone.”
He hummed behind her, pulling her back under the covers.
A chime a moment later told them that Ray had left her a voicemail.
“He must need me,” he groaned, finally rolling over and accepting the fact that he needed to face the day.
“Why don’t you take a shower, I’ll make breakfast,” she offered, turning over and resting on his chest, his arm settling around her waist.
Still, neither of them made a move to extract themselves from the bed.
“Reminds me of home,” he said quietly. “Huddled in the warmth of a tent while the world is quiet outside.”
“You miss it don’t you,” she said after a beat of silence, shifting to look up at him.
He just gave her a small, and she could tell, sad smile.
“Will you take me sometime?”
He looked down at her and gave her a genuine grin at that.
“I would love to,” he told her, bending to kiss her.
Dief whined at the closed bedroom door and Fraser laughed.
“He must need to go out.”
“I’ll let them out, make breakfast. You take a shower and call Ray back.”
Still neither of them moved.
“You’re not the only one reluctant to get up you know,” he admitted, smirking at her.
She grinned, kissed him again and forced herself to extract herself from his arms.
***
She was just about to go to bed, was in the kitchen putting away the clean dishes from the dishwasher when she heard Jolene whining by the door.
Normally she would assume she just needed to go out, but Jo wasn’t at the back door, she was at the front door.
The living room as dark and she silently crept her way towards the door, wondering what had caught Jo’s attention. As she got closer she could arguing muted through the door, she looked through the peep hole and was somehow not surprised to see Benton and Ray bickering back and forth standing on her porch.
She snapped the light on and snatched open the door, causing both of them to freeze and look at her with wide eyes at being caught.
“What are you…” doing here, is what she started to say, only to abruptly change course and finished with “What the hell happened?!”
Both of them were beat to hell. Benton was holding his arm against his side, like maybe it or his ribs had been hurt. There was blood streaked down one side of his face and he was blinking one eye more than the other like he was having trouble keeping it open.
Ray stood next to him, Fraser’s handkerchief wrapped around one hand, busted lip and both eyes rimmed in what would no doubt be impressive black eyes come the morning.
“The station was pretty empty… kinda thought we’d crash here,” Ray said with a shrug, which just caused him to wince.
“Holy shit,” she whispered, finally looking over at Benton who stood silently, watching her from under his lashes like a child that had just come home from a school fight.
“You have a key you idiot.”
“You have a stinking key?!” Ray shouted. “We’re out here in the cold and you’re lecturing me about how we shouldn’t wake her up so late and you have a damn key?!”
Fraser shifted his Stetson in his hand and pulled the singular key from under the inner band and held it up, glancing between both Ray and Tayla, chastised.
“For the love of Christ,” she groaned, “Both of you, get in here,” she snapped, grabbing Fraser’s hat from his hand and hanging it up on her coat rack herself.
She drug two chairs out from under her dining room table and pointed.
“Strip. Sit. Both of you.”
“Hey now, I love both of you… but that’s not what I’m here for Tay,” Ray chuckled, smirking at Fraser.
Fraser actually laughed, stopping short and wincing at the pain that shot across his ribs, but he smiled at Ray as he sat down carefully in his chair.
Tayla glared at him.
“Hey… if I ever did flip the coin, it’d be for you Benny,” he winked.
“Jesus Christ,” Tayla sighed, rolling her eyes and walking off.
Fraser chuckled, undoing the buttons on his uniform.
“Me too Ray,” he grinned.
They could hear Tayla banging around and muttering in the laundry room. Followed by the slam of cabinet doors in the downstairs bathroom.
By the time both of them managed to wrestle their shirts off she came back with blankets that she must have thrown in the dryer for a couple minutes as they were warm where she wrapped them around their shoulders and she dumped a pile of first aid supplies on the table.
There wasn’t much she could do for Fraser’s bruised ribs or Ray’s black eyes, but she tended to their injuries with as much care as she could.
The blood on Fraser’s face was mostly just from a gash above his eyebrow and he would probably have a shiner to match Ray’s come the morning. She handed them both ice packs for their eyes while she cleaned up the rest.
Ray told most of the story, some of Zuko’s lackeys catching them off guard. By then he had just made the split on his lip worse and Fraser took over the telling while she cleaned up Ray.
His eyelids were starting to droop by the time she finished and she kissed him on the forehead.
“Take the guest bed hun.”
“Thanks Tay,” he mumbled, patting Fraser’s shoulder as he headed upstairs.
“C’mon,” she smiled, taking Fraser’s hand and leading them upstairs.
She helped him finish getting undressed and crawled in carefully next to him.
“Sorry,” he groaned when he winced in pain.
“It’s okay,” she said quietly, finding a way to curl up next to him that didn’t put pressure on his ribs. “Kinda sucks, I worry about you… both of you… being cops. But… it’s also something I kinda love about you.”
He grinned and closed his eyes as she kissed him.
***
For a split second the next morning she panicked, hearing banging coming from downstairs but when Benton groaned next to her, also being woken up from the noise, she remembered the night before, he and Ray showing up on her doorstep.
“If he fucks up my kitchen I swear to God I’ll kill him.”
Fraser chuckled and grinned at her when she looked over at him.
***
“Hey… I was gonna make you guys breakfast,” Ray offered, spatula in hand when Fraser and Tayla came down the stairs.
“In bed?” Fraser asked.
Ray froze, wide eyed look at his face.
“Did you… did you just make a sex joke?”
Fraser met Tayla’s eyes where she was pouring them coffee and smirked, sitting down at the table.
“Wow… she’s really rubbing off on you,” Ray said, waving the spatula towards Tayla and turning back to the stove.
“Well… technically speaking… I rub off on her,” Fraser shot back, deadpan.
Tayla giggled and tried not to snort her coffee.
“Oh my god!” Ray said, throwing the spatula and clapping his hands over his ears.
“We rub off on each other,” Tayla winked.
“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” Ray shouted bee-lining towards the living room. “Make your own damn breakfast you pervs!”
Previous: Chapter Nine