Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Shards To A Whole: Chapter 227

McGee-centric character study/romance. Want to start at the beginning? Click here.



Chapter 227: Rest



There are many things Tim McGee is very good at. And he quite enjoys a large percentage of the things he's very good at. (Cleaning. He's very good at it, doesn't much like it, but his mom made sure he knew how to keep a tidy house.)

And as the first weekend of pelvic rest dawned on them, he was ready to combine the fact that he loves pampering Abby with the fact that he's very good at it, hopefully producing something that is a lot of fun for both of them.

They're on call, but the phone didn't buzz, so they slept in.

Well, he slept in. She dozed and rested. She's hit the point where she has to wake all the way up to roll over, and she's big and uncomfortable enough she can't lie in one position for more than an hour and a half, so, not a lot of solid, deep sleep for her.


But when he did wake up, she was sleeping, so he quietly grabbed some clothing and crept out of the house in search of treats.

An hour later, he was back with her favorite breakfast goodies, stuff for lunch and dinner, more snacks, flowers, and some massage oil that smelled good.

He put breakfast on a tray with the flowers, tucked the oil into his pocket, and headed up. He's hoping that he can keep them in bed for a whole lot of the weekend. And he's aware of the fact that spending a weekend in bed without having sex is going to be… difficult, but still, resting is important, Abby's supposed to be taking it easy, so he's grabbing any and everything he can find to make her want to stay in bed.

When he got up there, Abby looked like she was still dozing, so the tray went on his dresser, the massage oil went on the bedside table, and he shucked off his clothing and snuggled back into bed with her.

"Where'd you go?" she sounded sleepy.

"Out, got some goodies."

Goodies.
She started the laborious process of rolling over to face him, and eventually got flipped over and asked, "What sort of goodies?"

"Food." He pointed behind him at his dresser. "Breakfast is over there. Got you hazelnut croissants and chocolate ones for me, some fresh berries, honeydew melon."

That got an excited look out of Abby. She levered herself up to look and smiled. He grinned, kissed her, and rolled out of bed to get the tray.



Cap and Natasha
With breakfast over, he moved onto part two of the plan, movies. Somehow they hadn't managed to see any of the Captain America movies (somehow means Cap is fine, but not either of their favorites, so watching his movies got booted to the bottom of the list, but Black Widow, who Tim does like and Abby really likes, is in Winter Soldier, so, anyway, Captain America movies.) and well, there was likely never going to be a better time to rectify that, so he was ready to swing into action.

But he also knew that right now, hours and hours of lying in bed really doesn't feel all that hot to Abby's back or hips.

So he had a plan, one he thought was a pretty good.

Namely, they don't have the greatest bathtub on earth, but it's big enough for both of them to sit in, especially if she's between his legs leaning back against his chest.

Granted he hasn't checked to see how much water displacement both of them in there with her pregnant will produce, but he's fairly sure they'll be able to get enough water in there to make her feel more comfortable, and that's all that matters.

Meanwhile, his Kindle doesn't have a huge screen, but it's really high def, and they've got a little rack that the soap and scrubby goes on, and that rack should work just fine for movie viewing.

So, he cleaned up breakfast and asked her to run a cool bath for them, which she did, and then surprised her with movies in the tub.



That got them to afternoon nap time. He wasn't feeling very sleepy, and had the sinking suspicion that she wasn't either. So instead of just snuggling up and snoozing he began gently nuzzling along the back of her neck, placing soft, wet kisses just below her hairline.

"What are you doing?"

He kissed her one last time before saying, "Making love." They hadn't been touching each other… Okay, that's not true, several hours of snuggling shows they've been touching, they hadn't been touching each other since the pelvic rest diktat. Part of that is just well, it's really frustrating to get into it and have to stop. But, he's missing the closeness of it. Cuddling is fine, but he'd like to take the time to make her feel good, as good as he can, and if that's not sex, well, it's not sex, but it's still making love.

"Think that's a good plan?" Because she knows how frustrating this might be, too.

"Yeah. Wanna make you feel good. Doesn't have to be sex. We can still kiss and pet and cuddle. Got some new massage oil, though I'd rub you all over, ease the sore bits. It's every woman's fantasy, right? Hours and hours of cuddling. No sex, no having to have sex, just lots of cozy adoration."

She laughed and tugged on him enough to get across the idea that she wants to be facing him, and these days it's just easier for him to scoot to the other side of her than it is for her to roll over. So he did, and she smiled, saying, "Baby, you're good at sex. That's the fantasy of women who hooked-up with men who are bad in bed."

He laughed at that. "We'll get through."

"We'll? I didn't notice Dr. Draz saying you couldn't get off."

"She didn't say I needed to cut caffeine out of my diet, either. I did that. I'm doing this, too. You don't get to get off, I don't, either."

"You're going to give up sex? For twelve days?" Abby looked stupefied by that.

He grins his sexy grin at her. "Unless you want me to give you a show, yeah, I am."

She closes her eyes and seems to be thinking about that, then sighs, and says, "No. Too much temptation, too frustrating." She's quiet for a minute. "Why?"

"Why?" He's not getting why this isn't self-evident.

"Yeah. Why? Last I checked you really, really like sex, and you don't have to do this."

He strokes his palm across her cheek, tangling his fingers in her hair, then trailing his fingers down her throat to her shoulder. "Last I checked, you don't like it any less than I do, and you're right, I love sex! But if you don't get to have it because it's necessary to keep our baby safe, then I don't either."

She smiles at him, sweet and warm, and then kisses him, gently. "You think you can go twelve days?"

"Fourteen really, and two down, twelve to go, and we'll find out. I mean, just because I haven't since… God… 1989 doesn't mean I can't. You think you can make it?"

"I have to. And I have done this before, that one Lent."

"Let me guess, that was a really good Easter for you."

She smiles. "I remember enjoying it."

He laughs at that. "Look, I know exactly what I'm doing that first shower after Kelly's on the outside, but… You're already going through a whole hell of a lot more on this make-babies thing than I am, so, well, I can do this."

She kisses the tip of his nose and then grinned. "Eight days."

"What?"

"That's how long I think you're gonna last."

"I'm not going to cheat!" He looks mocked appalled. He knows that mostly they're kidding around. Though he is going to do this, because he can, and because it matters, and just, well, it's really not fair and it really sucks that she has to do this, so she shouldn't have to do it alone.

"Sure. You're going to sleep naked, cuddled up against me every night, and not jerk off when you're alone."

"That's the plan."

"Uh huh." She's not buying it.

"Your faith in me is overwhelming," he says dryly.

"Hey, you're the one telling me you haven't gone more than a week since you were eleven."

"Well, okay, yeah. But I haven't had any reason to not go more than a week. I've got a reason now."

"Okay."

"So, massage, kissing, petting?"

"Definitely massage. Play kissing and petting by ear?"

"Fine by me."



He hasn't really made out, just messing around, no expectation that sex would result since… high school. And he's never been a jerk about it, basically his set of rules for sex go something like this: she sets the boundaries, I follow them, and if she set the line at no sex, then he took what she was willing to give and didn't push.

But since high school, he's pretty much dated girls who followed the first-two-dates-expect-kissing-and-if-things-are-going-well-sex-on-the-third rule, and just making out wasn't really part of the experience.

Pretty much, if he got to second base, he was going to slide into home, too.

And for the most part that made him awfully happy.

So, this is different.

And it's not like he and Abby aren't affectionate in non-sex ways. Not like there isn't plenty of kissing and cuddling and petting and it doesn't result in sex.

Or maybe it's like all of it results in sex. Like for them sex is just an ongoing constant with highs and lulls, but all of it is sex.

And perhaps this is a redefining of sex. Abby moaning breathily while he rubs her calves, taking the time to really get into those sore muscles and work on helping the swelling go down certainly feels good to him. And it's not the same sort of good as hearing her moan like that when he slips into her, but... it's not precisely different, either.

It's all pleasure and love and the bond holding them to each other no matter what might come.

He smiles up at her, looking away from her leg, and asks, "When you were in school did they have those lists of like 100 ways to show love that aren't sex?"

She gives him a very perplexed look. "You know, California and Louisiana really aren't the same place at all."

"I'll take that as a no."

"Why would you need something like that? When I was in school they didn't think we needed help to figure out how to express affection without sex."

"Supposedly to help cut down on teen pregnancy and combat STDs or something."

"Did it work?"

"I remember us mocking it viciously, and those of us who could more or less running out to get laid as quickly as possible out of spite."

That gets a laugh out of Abby. "And the next two weeks has you thinking about that?"

"Yeah."

"Any good suggestions on the list?"

"I remember making cookies together and buying diamonds was on the list."

"I'm in favor of cookies. And really, buying diamonds? Because sixteen-year-olds always have that kind of cash laying around."

"I'm not sixteen anymore, got some cash now." He smiled at her on that, and then added, "And yeah, mocked it viciously! It did appear to have been written by people who had never had sex or had never been teenagers, let alone teen males, but, the main idea, that sex wasn't the end all and be all of love, I was thinking about that."

She nods. "And…"

"And maybe there's not really a line. Maybe that's what they got wrong, and why that list felt so stupid. Maybe it's all sex, or all love, or… I don't know." He's having a hard time coming up with words for the nebulous concept bouncing around in his head. "I know this is going to be frustrating, but pulling completely away, not touching at all, not making love, it'd be so lonely." He ran his hand up her leg, rippling his knuckles along the belly of her calf, coaxing another happy moan out of her. "That's so good. And okay, it's not the same good, but it is the same good, right?"

"Different branches of the same tree."

He smiles, liking that idea. "Yeah." She'd been sitting, back against their headboard, and he'd been sitting cross-legged at her feet, one foot in his lap, the other leg bent at the knee as he worked on it. He gently took her foot out of his lap, and scooted around so he could sit next to her, right arm and leg behind her, cuddling her close, left hand on her face, left leg stretched along hers.

"My body craves yours." He stroked his hand along her shoulder and arm. "But it's not just that, not just this," and the way he's touching her leg gets across the idea that "this" means her body, "I wouldn't crave it, wouldn't need it, if you weren't in it. But since you are, I do, all the time."

She traced her fingers over his face, feather light touches across his cheek and jaw, thumb trailing over his lip. He's not a lot taller than she is, but most of the difference is in torso length, so her face is a good two inches below his, but light pressure on the back of his head got across the idea that she wanted to kiss him, so he lowered his face to hers, and she did kiss him, soft and slow and thorough.

And like anytime they really touch he feels it, the gathering of pleasure, the desire for more, the electric joy of her skin on his, the comfort of another heart that cherishes his, all of it is there.

And it is frustrating, because limits are frustrating. But the sweetness of making love to each other is worth the frustration.



Foot!
"You're staring." Abby says, not opening her eyes. It's hours later, post dinner, post cookies (and yeah, it wasn't sex, but it was fun and awfully tasty), they're lying in bed (again). She's trying to sleep, but the small squirming person inside her is making that difficult, and the feel of Tim's eyes glued to her stomach (he had been writing) isn't helping.

"She's moving."

"I know, I can feel it."

"Yeah, but I can see it, and that's new." His hand lands on her stomach, resting gently. Then his finger traced down the outside of her stomach as Kelly kicked or stretched or whatever at the same time from the inside. "She's really in there."

Abby smiles a little, filing this under things guys don't really get because it doesn't happen to them, and says, "Yeah, she is."


Next

No comments:

Post a Comment