sail with me into the dark (dichotomy) wrote in exodusprogram, @ 2010-10-06 23:20:00 |
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Current mood: | calm |
June 7, 2065: Halcyon
Who: Kieran and Allie
Where: their suite
When: evening
Kieran never would have thought he would've felt this way, given the state of apathy and ennui he'd fallen into in the past few months, but he found himself enjoying his classes quite a bit. Maybe it was simply the novelty of having something productive to do now that he and Allie were done with their week-long honeymoon. Well, technically that was what it was called, despite the fact that there hadn't been anything romantic or blissful about it. There wasn't much else you could expect when you were thrown together with a stranger, though, not to mention when you had a chip the size of Kieran's on your shoulder. He was fully willing to acknowledge that.
The only disappointment he felt today was that they were banned from going outside. He'd been looking forward to exploring the grounds of the Program's headquarters, maybe even exercising out there. It would've been a perfect thing to do after his classes were over. He couldn't, so he resigned himself to wandering around the hotel, eating dinner in the restaurant, wandering some more and then heading back to their suite for the night. He actually wasn't consciously avoiding his spouse; maybe it was just the fact that he could finally get out and walk around that had made him stay out for so long. He unlocked the door and stepped through, listening to make sure it slid closed behind him securely.
Allie was sitting on the bench in the bathroom, towel drying her hair. She'd eaten dinner in their suite as she went over some of the files of her newer patients, a little bit surprised that Kieran didn't come around for food. Then again, she knew he'd been going stir crazy. She finished her work when it was starting to get dark out. Instead of settling onto the couch, she'd gone for a shower but when she opened the door, he still wasn't home. She left the bathroom door open and wrapped her body in one of the thick terry cloth bathrobes (which were enormous on her) and set to drying her hair.
She didn't hear the door close, nor did she notice that she wasn't alone any more as her head was buried in a fluffy towel. Sleep was going to be nice tonight, if her husband ever came home. She had an idle thought that maybe he had tried to bust out in the confusion of the radiation storm. She didn't really think he was that dumb, but he might be that desperate to escape.
The entertainment terminal was dark, and the living room of the suite was empty. Kieran looked out at the stormy night for a few moments and then walked through the middle room, which was also empty, and then into the bedroom. Steam hung on the air, and he heard movement in the bathroom, which probably meant a shower. Not a bad idea, he thought. He toed his shoes off and kicked them in the direction of the closet; one of them missed and thunked against the wall. Ooops. He pulled his shirt off and flung it over the chair in the corner, then lost momentum and decided to sit down on the bed. He was tired and he hadn't even gotten his usual workout. Could be that the shake-up in the normal routine was affecting him. Who knew?
The thunk was a dead giveaway that she was no longer alone. Allie stuck her head back out into the bedroom. "Hey," she said, giving him a smile. "There you are." She crossed the room, on the way picking up his shirt and stuffing it into the hamper next to the closet. She hiked up the robe so she didn't trip over the hem and crossed to the dresser drawers. She slept in pajamas still, as their relationship hadn't really moved on to the point where nudity was a nighttime asset. She'd bought herself a new set and her fingers touched the silky slip for a moment before moving on to the more trusted cotton boxers and tank top. "How was class?"
"Here I am," Kieran agreed, leaning back to brace his weight on his hands and stretching out his long legs, crossing them at the ankle. He bit back a smile when she picked up his shirt and put it in the hamper; he'd noticed that she was constantly picking up his clothing. He'd be fine with it lying where he left it, but clearly she wasn't. He didn't care, as long as she didn't start bitching at him to pick it up. That got into nagging wife territory, definitely. When she asked how class was, he replied, "Not bad. Some pretty interesting stuff. Ya know." He flexed his ankles, listened to the bones pop. "You done in the bathroom, or should I go to the other one?"
"All done, have at it." She gestured for him to get out of her way so that she could dress in privacy. It was never far from her mind that one of these days she was going to have to make some sort of move on her young hubby. For some reason she was hesitant. Mostly because he'd mocked her when they first met. He'd said a few sour things about what they were expected to do. Something told Allie she'd have a hard time getting over it if he threw it back in her face. Kieran wasn't vibrating any sort of interest, anyway. No, the silky nightie was going to have to wait a while. Still, she was glad she'd bought it when she spotted it.
Kieran made a face at her for shooing him away, but there wasn't any real ire in it. He'd had a long day, and he was ready to relax in the shower. He pushed himself up from the bed and went into the bathroom, closing the door part of the way and turning on the water before moving to the sink to brush his teeth. Once he'd finished with that, he shucked off his jeans, briefs and socks and climbed beneath the hot water. He stood under the stream of water for several minutes before soaping up and shampooing his short hair, getting squeaky clean and then climbing out, shutting off the water as he did. A vigorous dry-off later, he realized he hadn't brought anything in here to put on. He wrapped the damp towel around his waist and re-entered the bedroom, breathing in the cooler air as he did.
It hadn't taken Allie long to realize that Kieran wasn't the most self-conscious man she'd ever met. He had no trouble at all dropping his jeans next to the bed and climbing in, wearing nothing but a pair of comfortably worn briefs. Still, the towel was enough to bring a little bit of a rose flush up Allie's neck. It was just the timing, she told herself, that he was even less modest tonight, the night she'd started to think about eventually seducing her reluctant husband. It was Liam's fault, of course, asking her if she was looking forward to becoming a mom. She was looking forward to it. It was just that Kieran and his secrets were a considerable mountain in the way of those plans.
Kieran didn't see any reason to be self-conscious. He was well-sculpted and muscular, big but without any excess flesh on his bones. He might hate everything else about himself sometimes, but his appearance wasn't one of those things. He didn't notice Allie blushing as he padded across the room and excavated one of the dresser drawers he'd claimed as his for a pair of boxer briefs. Without thinking about it much, he stepped into the shadow of the open closet door and dropped the towel to pull on the cotton undershorts. If Allie was looking, she might catch a flash of his bare butt, but he didn't suppose she'd never seen such a sight before or anything. She probably wasn't even looking. He hadn't gotten the notion that she was into him that way, at least not at this point. Once he was done he kicked the towel in the direction of the hamper and pulled back the covers on his side of the bed to climb in.
Oh, Allie was watching as she pulled down her side of the bed. Not intently, but she was aware. She had been highly aware of his body since the day she'd first seen him. It wasn't until recently that she really began to consider him as a potential lover. She had seen most of his muscles work during their intense daily workouts. He had fine control over himself, which made her curious. He was also so much bigger than her, which made him a little intimidating. Allie didn't mind a little bit of risk, though. In fact, if she were to be telling the truth, she found risk the most alluring factor in a tryst.
This wasn't a tryst, though. This was her life, for better or worse. It was his as well. That kind of pressure was what held her in check. She slipped between the sheets before he joined her in the bed and settled onto her stomach. She watched her own personal Adonis climb into bed and felt a little bit of a flip flop on her stomach. She bit the inside of her lip to keep herself from sighing like a school girl. Okay, it was time to admit it. She was growing a bit of a physical crush.
Kieran reached over to turn out the lamp, which had been the only light on in the room right then, and then settled down on his side, facing Allie. The window was also in that direction, and he liked to watch the light filter through the curtains, which were open just a fraction. Not that there would likely be that much light tonight because of the storm. Yeah, that was a bummer. He happened to catch Allie's gaze and found himself unsure how to interpret it; he gave her a quizzical look and a slight quirk of his brows. "Something?" he asked. In all honesty, he'd been too busy having a bad attitude for the most part to think much about her physically, but looking at her now, he'd have to admit that she had pretty eyes.
Allie smiled at his expression. "No, nothing yet." She stretched under the summer weight quilt, pulling the pillow up under her chest. She could take this as an opening to discuss where they had to go with their marriage. Where they were at right now, though much warmer than it had started out, was still a long way from fiery. Allie liked fire. She didn't even know if Kieran was capable of real sexiness. "Maybe something sometime soon." Ok, so her ability to flirt was a little bit confusing this late in the day. Especially since the only think she could think of was to ask him the grade school questions. What did he like in a girl and all that. It was best to just bide her time.
"Well, okay," Kieran replied, sounding mildly amused. He readjusted the pillow beneath his head, thinking that Allie wouldn't recognize him as he'd been before his father had gotten sick. Women had gone for him in a major way, and he'd loved every second of it. Maybe it was just that all of that had seemed so trivial when faced with terminal illness, mortality and death. Still, he knew it was time for him to begin getting over it, as much as anyone was able to get over a vital loss. Life had to go on. He could actually imagine that that might happen now, at least. "Goodnight, then," he added. Morning would come early now that they actually had a schedule to keep.
Allie yawned into her pillow and reached across the great expanse of fluffy white bed between them. She found his elbow and patted it gently. "Good night," she said. She was fairly sure that she wouldn't see him until the evening again, given his lack of morning liveliness and her need to be at work early. So early, in fact, that she had drifted off to sleep before she even drew her hand back across the mattress.
Kieran didn't mind the brief touch. It was a bit of a novelty, because thus far they didn't really touch each other. Clearly not what the Program folks had in mind, he thought wryly. He didn't say anything else, because he realized that Allie had fallen asleep, just that quickly. He let his eyes fall closed and breathed in, then exhaled, working to clear his mind. It was easier now than it had been when he'd first gotten here. The quiet air of their suite was calm despite the storm outside, and he dropped off to sleep himself within a couple of minutes.