Morning After
Who: Judson and Lucy Setting: His tent, Central Park
After messaging with Rez, Judson had finally fallen asleep next to Lucy. It had actually been a good sleep, a deep one, one that he hadn’t had in a long time. When he woke in the morning, it was before Lucy and he rolled and watched her sleep for a little while. After a while, he couldn’t lay there any longer and so he rose and started the generator so that he could get some coffee going. As he waited for it to brew, he sat and watched Lucy sleep. She was still here, which didn’t surprise him, but he wondered what would happen after this. Did he want her to go? He didn’t think so.
Lucy had slept hard, curled in a little ball as close Judson as she could manage. When she woke, it was slow, sore in some ways, but more blinking awake just to realize she had no idea where she was. She sat up a little, then realized she was naked and grabbed the sheet to pull up to her chest, looking around until she spotted Judson. Then it all came back, rushing at her at all once. Judson, them, what they’d done. She flushed bright red and ducked her head, not at all sure what to say to him.
“Good morning,” Judson said when Lucy noticed him. “I’ve made coffee, if you like. If not, there are a couple of oranges I managed to grab the other day. There is a place behind the tent for you to use the restroom and I have a wash bin right over there,” he said. “It’s not as fancy as up there, but we manage.”
She bit her lip, looking at him, not sure what to do. “You’re still…” He was still there. And he didn’t look like he wanted her to leave. At least not right away. “I don’t need fancy,” she said. She moved a little, looking around for her dress and grabbing it from where it had been left on the side of the bed.
“Here?” Judson asked with a small chuckle. “It is my place, after all,” he pointed out. As she dressed, he busied himself with making a cup of coffee for himself while also trying to get glimpses of her. Should he toss her out now? A gut feeling told him that would be wrong. He wasn’t the nicest person in the world, or so he tried to trick the world into thinking that, but he was starting to think that maybe it was just that.. A trick. He gave a sigh and sat back down. Was it possible that he really didn’t want her to leave? “Did you sleep well?” Because he had no idea what to talk about at the moment.
She fished some clean underwear out of her bag, then repacked the old things, looking back at him with a blinking face. “I did,” she said, then grabbed her bag, which yesterday had seemed sleek and well packed, and today it felt unwieldy. “I can...Thank you for letting me stay.”
“You can...what?” Judson asked, looking over at her. “Go freshen up, there is even a shower back there. It’s a bit...different, but you should get some warm water. Then come back and we’ll talk about what happens next. I’ll even make you some breakfast.”
It was hard to say it, because she didn’t want to, plus he was offering breakfast. “You don’t...want me to leave?” she tried, looking at him, not sure if she could walk away from him without knowing that he’d be there when she came back, that he meant it.
This was the moment. The moment that would change his life. He was sure of it. He could feel it in his bones. Judson took a sip of his coffee so that he’d have a moment to think, his stomach rolling. Did he want her to go? Or stay? Instead of answering her right away, to give him more time to try to iron out his feelings and thoughts, he asked her a question: “Where would you go if you left?”
Lucy shrugged her shoulder, looking at her feet. “Wherever. I mean, anywhere but here. If that’s what you want.” Which sucked. She...she’d thought there was something there, but she also didn’t want to assume. She fiddled with the bag.
“Is that what you want?” Judson asked, standing to his feet. He set his coffee down and pushed his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. He wouldn’t stop her, if that was what she wanted, but he realized then that it would maybe hurt a little if she chose not to stay.
Lucy shrugged her shoulders, running her fingers over the strap of her bag. “I don’t want to,” she said softly. “But I…” She didn’t know what to do. At all.
Judson let out a breath of air he hadn’t known he’d been holding and then moved towards her, his hands coming out of his pockets and resting on her shoulders. “Then you stay,” he stated. He told himself it was for the best, she’d be safe here until she figured out her life, but the reality was that he wanted her to stay. “Go shower and take care of business, I’ll have some eggs done by the time you get back.”
Stay. He wanted her to stay. She looked up at him, fingers finding his shirt instead, pulling him a little closer, seeing how he felt about that. Could they be close again? She’d been tipsy the night before, but now that it was an option, she wondered if it could be more, if they could keep being as close as they’d been. Now that she didn’t have it, she missed his touch.
Judson moved closer, his hands left her shoulders, one to go on her hip, the other to cup her face. His eyes met hers for a moment and he wondered if she could see how strange he felt to what was happening. He then lowered his head and kissed her; this time there was no alcohol involved, this time it was all him and all her and was just as hot as it had been the night before. “You’re staying. We’ll figure out everything else later.” And there was a lot to figure out.
Lucy pushed up on her toes to answer the kiss, smiling into it and holding him close. “Okay, yeah,” she murmured. “We’ll figure it out.” They would. They’d come up with a plan, one that helped them stay together, because he still seemed to want that.
This shouldn’t be happening. He’d just met Lucy not even twenty-four hours ago, and here he was telling her to move in with him. Sure, she needed a place to go and he very well could have found a place for her to go to, but he didn’t want that. He wanted her here, with him, and he would just have to figure it all out as he went. Too fast? You betcha, but he’d figure it out.
“Okay.” He smiled at her. “Now. Go do what you gotta do. I’ll be right here.” Rez and maybe even Arc were going to give him shit about this for awhile.