Don't You Forget About Me
Title: Don't You Forget About Me
Author: eneumann
Disclaimer: Should be fairly obvious..
Rating: R to NC-17
Summary: River worries.
Author's Note: Um. This took a HUGE left turn while I was writing it (at work.. sh!). Turned into complete smut. First time writing it, so please gently point out ways I can make it better....Inspired by Simple Minds' Don't You Forget About Me.
Right foot. And then the left. Shoulders straight. Vague smile-the one he thinks is "creepifyin'"-in place. Something was wrong in her brain, though. Wronger than normal she reminded herself with a bit of a giggle. Broken bird. Blue hands took away normalcy.
She'd forgotten last night, that she wasn't a normal girl. Parts had functioned, words had flowed, she'd been looked at as a real girl.
She could smell Autumn on the breeze as it twined its way into the cargo hold. See the dust and the leaves in the air from where she was standing. She wanted to play in the leaves.
But Jayne was standing-leaning really-near the entrance, arms crossed, showing off his muscles. The delicious triceps and biceps bulging tantalizingly. River felt a quiver of awareness as she studied his arms. Too bad he didn't seem to want more than one evening's physical relations.
So she would walk right past him and play in the leaves.
Just as soon as her limbs were her own again. She frowned slightly as she studied her bare left foot, feeling the cold grating against it. She could feel it,s o why would her foot refuse to move?
"How many times I gotta tell ya ta wear yer gorram boots?"
River looked up into Jayne's blue eyes. He towered over her, the only one who had ever been able to startle her.
"Make me feel disconnected from where I am. Can't feel what is beneath my feet." She wondered why he was talking to her, after running so quickly last night.
"I don' care if it helps ya read chipmunks brains. ya ain't goin' barefoot outta this ship when it's late fall on this here moon." Jayne scowled. She liked how he scowled, brought out the strength in his face.
"I am an adult, perfectly capable of making my own decisions." River said, lifting her chin a bit. It wasn't mulish.
"Hell if I'm gonna let you make yerself sick," Jayne growled at her, before startling her further when he leaned forward and threw her over his shoulder.
She didn't bother fighting. Even though she could have knocked him down in two ways and gotten out of his grasp in another three. Would just lead to more power struggle.
He dropped her down in her room and closed the door behind him. "Put on yer gorram boots or I'll do it for you."
River frowned at him. Some little devil inside her decided being mulish was the right thing to do, because the next words out of her mouth were not precisely what she had intended. "Make me."
Jayne let out a garbled sound. And then his lips were on hers, frantic, nibbling, sucking, thrusting his tongue through her parted lips. River gasped slightly, fists curling against his chest, wrinkling his t-shirt. She could feel his huge hand tangled in her hair, the other one spanning her lower back, pulling her close into him.
"River?" Simon's voice came from just down the hallway.
"Gorramit," Jayne muttered, frozen, lips inches from hers as they stared at each other, wide eyed. And in that moment, it all came clear to her. Jayne was afraid. Afraid her brother would discover them, afraid he would be thrown out of the airlock.
"Wait."
"Can't go nowheres" he mumbled, hand lingering at her hip. River slipped around him with a small smile and darted to the door, slipping out and losing it behind her just as her brother came up to it.
"Simon." She smiled brightly at her older brother.
"I just wanted to see if you wanted to come with Kaylee and I to the town here to pick up supplies?"
"No, thank you, Simon. She will play in the leaves and listen to Serenity's babbling." River smiled vaguely.
"Alright, Meimei. You know where to find me."
"As always," she said with a smile, waving him off. When he finally disappeared from sight, she slid back into her room, closing the door and locking it again. Jayne was standing where she'd left him, tension and fear radiating off of him.
"That was a close 'un," he choked out.
River watched him, tussled hair, burning eyes, the perpetual worried frown between his eyes. "There is nothing to fear," she said calmly, looking into his blue eyes.
"I ain't a-feared." His hackles were up, causing her to smile a bit.
"I will not allow Captain Daddy or my overprotective geigei to harm you. Only I have that honor. And I do not wish you harm."
"Not sure you can control that kinda circumstance. Captain don't like being told what ta do." Jayne ran a hand through his short hair.
"He will if he wants me to pilot and be his surprise assasin."
"Yeh'd quit fer me?" Jayne looked at her wide eyed.
"No," River said calmly, not quite meeting his eyes as she stepped closer, uncertainly.
"Huh? But yeh jes-"
"I would quit if Captain indicates he knows what is best for me, better than I do. I am an adult who is perfectly capable of making her own choices. And I choose you," River said, looking straight into his eyes.
"Well, that's almost as good, I guess," Jayne smirked down at her.
"That is," River said, frowning slightly. "I choose you if you wish to be chosen." She worried that all Jayne wanted was physical relations. That this was short term.
"Course I wantcha to choose me. I done chose you girly. Yer the first girl I kissed on the mouth since I was but a boy." Jayne grinned, but she could see uncertainty in his eyes. Nerves.
"I didn't know that," River said with a smile as she laid a hand on his bicep-which felt just as wonderful as it looked.
"Course ya didn't. I ain't toldja til now," Jayne argued.
River rolled her eyes. Her Jayne was something of a forgetful one. "I know many things about everyone. Except you. You surprise me."
"Ain't that hard," Jayne said as he sat on her bed and drew her down onto his lap. She snuggled in, looping her arms around him.
"Only easy for you."
"Iffen ya say so," Jayne said, shrugging-which made his muscles move in such fantastic ways.
"Kisses make me feel like a real girl," she admitted.
Jayne looked slightly perplexed at the change of subject before responding. "Yer a real girl, don't let nothin' tell ya different."
"Sometimes it's hard to tell." She flicked a piece of lint off his shoulder and traced the outline of his deltoid.
"Well, you remember this when ya feel like that," Jayne said, sliding his hand up to her left breast, cupping it and rolling her hard nipple in his fingers slightly. She gasped slightly. "Or this," he murmured as he bent to kiss her. "I on'y ever kiss'd girls I really liked on the mouth. Makes ya a real girl, I figger." River responded hungrily to his mouth's demand, opening to his tongue before responding in kind, tasting the whisky and cigars in his mouth, following him as he lay back on her bead. She snaked a hand down, tugging his shirt out from under his belt and gun belt. She brushed her fingers against his bare skin as she wrestled the shirt up and off of him, only breaking the kiss to pull the shirt over his head and off his arms.
As they collapsed back down onto the bed, she felt his hands travel down her back and land on her ass, cupping it and pulling her close, her core rubbing right up against his John Thomas. She bucked slightly, eliciting a moan from him just as a whimper escaped her lips. His hands moved, though, lower to grasp the hem of her dress and pull it over her heads. It too went flying to the floor and then his mouth was on her right breast, suckling and River was gasping, hands bracing herself in front of and above him.
It was like little streams of fire trailing along her body as he dragged his fingers over her bare skin, callous rubbing against soft skin to settle one of them on her left breast, kneading it slightly, while the other hand wrapped around her torso. He tightened that grip and River felt herself suddenly fly onto her back, under him as he leaned above her with a grin. She giggled and wriggled around, shifting to accomodate his weight. She could feel his leg between hers and his John Thomas pressing into her hip. It felt good. She rolled her hips against him, enjoying the pleasure it brought as she drew his head back up to kiss his mouth. She trailed her hands down, skimming along his belt.
"S'ok. Ya don' have ta," Jayne mumbled against her mouth.
"Want. Feel you, please?" River could feel the blush spreading across her face. She chided herself for it, for seeming the innocent that she so recently had been. In a manner of speaking, at least.
"Well, darlin, go fer it then." She smiled against his mouth as she fumbled with his gun belt, laying it on the floor carefully before lying back, drawing him into another kiss. She ran her tongue lightly along his lower lip, reveling in the hint of whisky and cigars. A bit reminiscent of the man, she noted. Hooking her foot arond Jayne's leg, she rolled them so that they were lying on their sides legs intertwined. She could feel him still, pressing into her stomach and she pressed closer, liking the sensation.
"Mm, baby girl," Jayne murmured, his head buried in her neck as he caused fluttery sensations with his tongue. She tugged at his pants, unbuttoning them and sliding them as far as she could before friction caused a halt to her efforts. It was enough though, he was free of his shorts in seconds, River's hand cupping him, and Jayne was groaning slightly, fisting a hand in her hair. He used that to pull her head up for another kiss, away from her careful examination of him. It didn't stop her from stroking his length, trailing her finger tips from the base to his sensitive head, circling it lightly with her thumb, enjoying the bead of creamy liquid that had formed. Jayne jerked his hips, a bit spasmodically. River smiled against his mouth.
"Giving Jayne pleasure." She murmured.
"Gorram, girl," Jayne muttered back. "So much-" he broke off, resting his head against her. "Feels so good."
"Successful?" River drew back to look at his eyes.
"You keep on an' I'm gonna pop. My turn now," Jayne smirked at her as he drew his hips quickly away from her light touch. River felt herself blush as he looked at her body, nearly naked in front of him. The only barriers were her panties and his pants and shorts-which were practically off at this point anyways.
"Ever toldja how pretty y'are, baby doll?" Jayne said, stroking a hand down her side to rest on her hip briefly.
"I do not recall such an event," She said, smiling a little.
"I'm tellin' ya now. Yer the purtiest girly weapon I ever did see."
She couldn't resist, not as part of her wondered if he just saw this as a free sexin' scenario. "I'm the only girly-weapon you ever did see."
"That ain't so. An' b'sides, er the only girl I ever wanted to kiss on the mouth. Oughtta count fer somethin'"
It did River found. She smiled up at him as his hand trailed down stroking her lower stomach, the smooth skin of her inner thighs. "Now lessee, How's I wanna go 'bout this?" Jayne murmured with a wicked smile. He nudged her into lying back as he leaned over her, brushing his fingers lightly against her fabric-encased curls. He curled a finger around the panties, pulling on them and she obliged as he had not, by lifting her hips and allowing him to slide them down.
His hands returned quickly though, brushing over her curls and almost delving to her core. She jerked her hips up, keening slightly. "More. Please, Jayne."
"Mm, baby girl, yer a screamer ain'tcha?" He grinned as she stared up at him, eyes slightly wild.
"Do not have all the facts, so unable to properly assess."
"Ya screamed last night. Stands to reason, all this ruckus yer makin, yer a screamer."
"You-" River said, breaking off as he slid a finger into her, sliding in her juices. He brushed his thumb across her clitoris and she shuddered at the tightening pressure. "Can't-Jayne, please," she begged.
"Me too, baby doll." Jayne said with a grunt, taking his hand away to which River bucked slightly. "Gotta take m'pants off though. M'boots are still on," he said with a rueful smile.
"I help," River sat up, untying his boots before he even got to them. He grinned at her before shucking them off with his pants. They sat there for a moment, staring at each other before Jayne was kissing her, frantically, drawing her into his lap, his John Thomas pressed up against her stomach. He had his hand down there again, flicking at her and River keened. He guided himself to her center and she wriggled slightly, adjusting as he pressed slightly inwards, sliding into her inch by excruciating inch. She gasped, loving how full he made her feel. She sat down slightly and drew more of him in and he sighed.
"Gorram," he murmured. "River -"
"Sh, she is concentrating." He snorted as she closed her eyes, opening herself to her senses, feeling his muscles in his arms as they wrapped around her, his fullness in her, the twinge in her knees from kneeling slightly above him, his heartbeat pounding through his chest into hers. She lowered herself until she was full, and rose slowly again, before sliding down again establishing a slow rocking rhythm. As the pace quickened, she scrabbled at his shoulders as he kissed her neck, scraped her nails down his back as he stroked hers, kissed his neck as he fingered her, bringing her ever closer to the elusive release of pressure. It was close, almost time and she bit into his shoulder just as the orgasm came over her, falling into the abyss. She vaguely noticed him stiffening, burying his face in her neck and then they were lying still, side by side, having collapsed sideways as they finished. She curled into his side, as he threw an arm around her.
"Mm, baby doll, yeh'd be a screamer if we weren't livin' in such close quarters."
"Not. I did not scream."
"Are too. Heardja scream, loud as day."
"Didn't. Screamed in my head." River shook her head into his chest.
"Heardja an' I ain't psychic" he said, pausing before adding "Am I?"
"Not psychic. Would've known before. Think we have a connection. Just you and me."
"Well that don't seem so bad. Yeh can scream loud as you like, s'long's it's in our heads." Jayne tightened his grip around her waist. "Like how ya feel 'gainst me, all soft an' boneless."
River kissed his chest as she snuggled in, allowing exhaustion to pull her down into the abyss, towards dreams filled of the man at her side.
Author: eneumann
Disclaimer: Should be fairly obvious..
Rating: R to NC-17
Summary: River worries.
Author's Note: Um. This took a HUGE left turn while I was writing it (at work.. sh!). Turned into complete smut. First time writing it, so please gently point out ways I can make it better....Inspired by Simple Minds' Don't You Forget About Me.
Click to viewRight foot. And then the left. Shoulders straight. Vague smile-the one he thinks is "creepifyin'"-in place. Something was wrong in her brain, though. Wronger than normal she reminded herself with a bit of a giggle. Broken bird. Blue hands took away normalcy.
She'd forgotten last night, that she wasn't a normal girl. Parts had functioned, words had flowed, she'd been looked at as a real girl.
She could smell Autumn on the breeze as it twined its way into the cargo hold. See the dust and the leaves in the air from where she was standing. She wanted to play in the leaves.
But Jayne was standing-leaning really-near the entrance, arms crossed, showing off his muscles. The delicious triceps and biceps bulging tantalizingly. River felt a quiver of awareness as she studied his arms. Too bad he didn't seem to want more than one evening's physical relations.
So she would walk right past him and play in the leaves.
Just as soon as her limbs were her own again. She frowned slightly as she studied her bare left foot, feeling the cold grating against it. She could feel it,s o why would her foot refuse to move?
"How many times I gotta tell ya ta wear yer gorram boots?"
River looked up into Jayne's blue eyes. He towered over her, the only one who had ever been able to startle her.
"Make me feel disconnected from where I am. Can't feel what is beneath my feet." She wondered why he was talking to her, after running so quickly last night.
"I don' care if it helps ya read chipmunks brains. ya ain't goin' barefoot outta this ship when it's late fall on this here moon." Jayne scowled. She liked how he scowled, brought out the strength in his face.
"I am an adult, perfectly capable of making my own decisions." River said, lifting her chin a bit. It wasn't mulish.
"Hell if I'm gonna let you make yerself sick," Jayne growled at her, before startling her further when he leaned forward and threw her over his shoulder.
She didn't bother fighting. Even though she could have knocked him down in two ways and gotten out of his grasp in another three. Would just lead to more power struggle.
He dropped her down in her room and closed the door behind him. "Put on yer gorram boots or I'll do it for you."
River frowned at him. Some little devil inside her decided being mulish was the right thing to do, because the next words out of her mouth were not precisely what she had intended. "Make me."
Jayne let out a garbled sound. And then his lips were on hers, frantic, nibbling, sucking, thrusting his tongue through her parted lips. River gasped slightly, fists curling against his chest, wrinkling his t-shirt. She could feel his huge hand tangled in her hair, the other one spanning her lower back, pulling her close into him.
"River?" Simon's voice came from just down the hallway.
"Gorramit," Jayne muttered, frozen, lips inches from hers as they stared at each other, wide eyed. And in that moment, it all came clear to her. Jayne was afraid. Afraid her brother would discover them, afraid he would be thrown out of the airlock.
"Wait."
"Can't go nowheres" he mumbled, hand lingering at her hip. River slipped around him with a small smile and darted to the door, slipping out and losing it behind her just as her brother came up to it.
"Simon." She smiled brightly at her older brother.
"I just wanted to see if you wanted to come with Kaylee and I to the town here to pick up supplies?"
"No, thank you, Simon. She will play in the leaves and listen to Serenity's babbling." River smiled vaguely.
"Alright, Meimei. You know where to find me."
"As always," she said with a smile, waving him off. When he finally disappeared from sight, she slid back into her room, closing the door and locking it again. Jayne was standing where she'd left him, tension and fear radiating off of him.
"That was a close 'un," he choked out.
River watched him, tussled hair, burning eyes, the perpetual worried frown between his eyes. "There is nothing to fear," she said calmly, looking into his blue eyes.
"I ain't a-feared." His hackles were up, causing her to smile a bit.
"I will not allow Captain Daddy or my overprotective geigei to harm you. Only I have that honor. And I do not wish you harm."
"Not sure you can control that kinda circumstance. Captain don't like being told what ta do." Jayne ran a hand through his short hair.
"He will if he wants me to pilot and be his surprise assasin."
"Yeh'd quit fer me?" Jayne looked at her wide eyed.
"No," River said calmly, not quite meeting his eyes as she stepped closer, uncertainly.
"Huh? But yeh jes-"
"I would quit if Captain indicates he knows what is best for me, better than I do. I am an adult who is perfectly capable of making her own choices. And I choose you," River said, looking straight into his eyes.
"Well, that's almost as good, I guess," Jayne smirked down at her.
"That is," River said, frowning slightly. "I choose you if you wish to be chosen." She worried that all Jayne wanted was physical relations. That this was short term.
"Course I wantcha to choose me. I done chose you girly. Yer the first girl I kissed on the mouth since I was but a boy." Jayne grinned, but she could see uncertainty in his eyes. Nerves.
"I didn't know that," River said with a smile as she laid a hand on his bicep-which felt just as wonderful as it looked.
"Course ya didn't. I ain't toldja til now," Jayne argued.
River rolled her eyes. Her Jayne was something of a forgetful one. "I know many things about everyone. Except you. You surprise me."
"Ain't that hard," Jayne said as he sat on her bed and drew her down onto his lap. She snuggled in, looping her arms around him.
"Only easy for you."
"Iffen ya say so," Jayne said, shrugging-which made his muscles move in such fantastic ways.
"Kisses make me feel like a real girl," she admitted.
Jayne looked slightly perplexed at the change of subject before responding. "Yer a real girl, don't let nothin' tell ya different."
"Sometimes it's hard to tell." She flicked a piece of lint off his shoulder and traced the outline of his deltoid.
"Well, you remember this when ya feel like that," Jayne said, sliding his hand up to her left breast, cupping it and rolling her hard nipple in his fingers slightly. She gasped slightly. "Or this," he murmured as he bent to kiss her. "I on'y ever kiss'd girls I really liked on the mouth. Makes ya a real girl, I figger." River responded hungrily to his mouth's demand, opening to his tongue before responding in kind, tasting the whisky and cigars in his mouth, following him as he lay back on her bead. She snaked a hand down, tugging his shirt out from under his belt and gun belt. She brushed her fingers against his bare skin as she wrestled the shirt up and off of him, only breaking the kiss to pull the shirt over his head and off his arms.
As they collapsed back down onto the bed, she felt his hands travel down her back and land on her ass, cupping it and pulling her close, her core rubbing right up against his John Thomas. She bucked slightly, eliciting a moan from him just as a whimper escaped her lips. His hands moved, though, lower to grasp the hem of her dress and pull it over her heads. It too went flying to the floor and then his mouth was on her right breast, suckling and River was gasping, hands bracing herself in front of and above him.
It was like little streams of fire trailing along her body as he dragged his fingers over her bare skin, callous rubbing against soft skin to settle one of them on her left breast, kneading it slightly, while the other hand wrapped around her torso. He tightened that grip and River felt herself suddenly fly onto her back, under him as he leaned above her with a grin. She giggled and wriggled around, shifting to accomodate his weight. She could feel his leg between hers and his John Thomas pressing into her hip. It felt good. She rolled her hips against him, enjoying the pleasure it brought as she drew his head back up to kiss his mouth. She trailed her hands down, skimming along his belt.
"S'ok. Ya don' have ta," Jayne mumbled against her mouth.
"Want. Feel you, please?" River could feel the blush spreading across her face. She chided herself for it, for seeming the innocent that she so recently had been. In a manner of speaking, at least.
"Well, darlin, go fer it then." She smiled against his mouth as she fumbled with his gun belt, laying it on the floor carefully before lying back, drawing him into another kiss. She ran her tongue lightly along his lower lip, reveling in the hint of whisky and cigars. A bit reminiscent of the man, she noted. Hooking her foot arond Jayne's leg, she rolled them so that they were lying on their sides legs intertwined. She could feel him still, pressing into her stomach and she pressed closer, liking the sensation.
"Mm, baby girl," Jayne murmured, his head buried in her neck as he caused fluttery sensations with his tongue. She tugged at his pants, unbuttoning them and sliding them as far as she could before friction caused a halt to her efforts. It was enough though, he was free of his shorts in seconds, River's hand cupping him, and Jayne was groaning slightly, fisting a hand in her hair. He used that to pull her head up for another kiss, away from her careful examination of him. It didn't stop her from stroking his length, trailing her finger tips from the base to his sensitive head, circling it lightly with her thumb, enjoying the bead of creamy liquid that had formed. Jayne jerked his hips, a bit spasmodically. River smiled against his mouth.
"Giving Jayne pleasure." She murmured.
"Gorram, girl," Jayne muttered back. "So much-" he broke off, resting his head against her. "Feels so good."
"Successful?" River drew back to look at his eyes.
"You keep on an' I'm gonna pop. My turn now," Jayne smirked at her as he drew his hips quickly away from her light touch. River felt herself blush as he looked at her body, nearly naked in front of him. The only barriers were her panties and his pants and shorts-which were practically off at this point anyways.
"Ever toldja how pretty y'are, baby doll?" Jayne said, stroking a hand down her side to rest on her hip briefly.
"I do not recall such an event," She said, smiling a little.
"I'm tellin' ya now. Yer the purtiest girly weapon I ever did see."
She couldn't resist, not as part of her wondered if he just saw this as a free sexin' scenario. "I'm the only girly-weapon you ever did see."
"That ain't so. An' b'sides, er the only girl I ever wanted to kiss on the mouth. Oughtta count fer somethin'"
It did River found. She smiled up at him as his hand trailed down stroking her lower stomach, the smooth skin of her inner thighs. "Now lessee, How's I wanna go 'bout this?" Jayne murmured with a wicked smile. He nudged her into lying back as he leaned over her, brushing his fingers lightly against her fabric-encased curls. He curled a finger around the panties, pulling on them and she obliged as he had not, by lifting her hips and allowing him to slide them down.
His hands returned quickly though, brushing over her curls and almost delving to her core. She jerked her hips up, keening slightly. "More. Please, Jayne."
"Mm, baby girl, yer a screamer ain'tcha?" He grinned as she stared up at him, eyes slightly wild.
"Do not have all the facts, so unable to properly assess."
"Ya screamed last night. Stands to reason, all this ruckus yer makin, yer a screamer."
"You-" River said, breaking off as he slid a finger into her, sliding in her juices. He brushed his thumb across her clitoris and she shuddered at the tightening pressure. "Can't-Jayne, please," she begged.
"Me too, baby doll." Jayne said with a grunt, taking his hand away to which River bucked slightly. "Gotta take m'pants off though. M'boots are still on," he said with a rueful smile.
"I help," River sat up, untying his boots before he even got to them. He grinned at her before shucking them off with his pants. They sat there for a moment, staring at each other before Jayne was kissing her, frantically, drawing her into his lap, his John Thomas pressed up against her stomach. He had his hand down there again, flicking at her and River keened. He guided himself to her center and she wriggled slightly, adjusting as he pressed slightly inwards, sliding into her inch by excruciating inch. She gasped, loving how full he made her feel. She sat down slightly and drew more of him in and he sighed.
"Gorram," he murmured. "River -"
"Sh, she is concentrating." He snorted as she closed her eyes, opening herself to her senses, feeling his muscles in his arms as they wrapped around her, his fullness in her, the twinge in her knees from kneeling slightly above him, his heartbeat pounding through his chest into hers. She lowered herself until she was full, and rose slowly again, before sliding down again establishing a slow rocking rhythm. As the pace quickened, she scrabbled at his shoulders as he kissed her neck, scraped her nails down his back as he stroked hers, kissed his neck as he fingered her, bringing her ever closer to the elusive release of pressure. It was close, almost time and she bit into his shoulder just as the orgasm came over her, falling into the abyss. She vaguely noticed him stiffening, burying his face in her neck and then they were lying still, side by side, having collapsed sideways as they finished. She curled into his side, as he threw an arm around her.
"Mm, baby doll, yeh'd be a screamer if we weren't livin' in such close quarters."
"Not. I did not scream."
"Are too. Heardja scream, loud as day."
"Didn't. Screamed in my head." River shook her head into his chest.
"Heardja an' I ain't psychic" he said, pausing before adding "Am I?"
"Not psychic. Would've known before. Think we have a connection. Just you and me."
"Well that don't seem so bad. Yeh can scream loud as you like, s'long's it's in our heads." Jayne tightened his grip around her waist. "Like how ya feel 'gainst me, all soft an' boneless."
River kissed his chest as she snuggled in, allowing exhaustion to pull her down into the abyss, towards dreams filled of the man at her side.