Backstory Log: Douglas and Sarah Characters: Douglas Cornfoot and Sarah Dawlish Setting: The Ministry Legal Department Christmas Party, 1968 Summary: Turns out that Sarah does have claws that come out on occasion - like when some drunk chick hits on her boyfriend. Rating: PG for Sarah calling that chick a TRAMP. OH SNAP.
Sarah Dawlish had been dating Douglas Cornfoot for the better part of three months now, and she was still wearing giddy smiles about it. She was practically walking on air, in fact, singing as she walked through the kitchen of her apartment and smiling even more than usual at the office. She was absolutely happily in love, and she was even getting the idea that he might feel the same about her.
She was officially his girlfriend, and the whole office was aware of that. Everyone knew that. Therefore, she was left to wonder just what the devil Mary Collins thought she was doing hanging all over him right in the middle of the Christmas party.
The woman was obviously drunk. She was draped over Douglas's shoulder, her arm hooked through his, and the stupid bint was batting her eyelashes at him. And Sarah, sweet little Sarah Dawlish was seeing red.
She hadn't even taken the time to look at what Douglas's reaction was, because all Sarah had made note of when she'd come out of the ladies room was that 1. Mary was all over her boyfriend and 2. Douglas had not extricated himself from her with the kind of haste that Sarah would have found satisfying. Therefore, Sarah felt that she would simply have to manage this issue.
Her jaw set, Sarah stalked across the room to stand right in front of them and give Mary by far the most evil expression she'd ever worn in her life.
"I'm sorry," Sarah ground out, "but I think David would really like to see you over by the punch bowl. Right now."
Despite whatever subtle hints Douglas had been trying to give Mary Collins, she either hadn't understood or hadn't listened at all. Douglas wasn't sure which one it was, but considering how much champagne the woman had consumed that evening, he was willing to bet that it was mostly the former, and probably a combination. She knew he had a girlfriend -- a girlfriend he was completely smitten with, at that -- and she knew he was at the party with Sarah too, but she seemed intent on groping him in the middle of the party. Douglas just hoped she didn't throw up on his dress robes. He'd purchased them new recently, had them tailored specifically and he thought he looked quite dashing. He didn't want them ruined.
And he most certainly didn't want to ever see that look on Sarah's face ever again.
Douglas shrunk back in fear, expecting to bear the full brunt of that anger, but she directed her comment at Mary instead. He exhaled finally, after what felt like ten minutes holding his breath. He should have tried something more obvious to get Mary off of him, he thought. He knew that now, but hindsight was almost always more clear.
Squinting in the direction of the refreshments table, Mary cocked her head to the side, her alcohol-laden brain still not understanding. "I don't see him over there," she slurred, not noticing Douglas looking frantically at Sarah over Mary's head, mouthing 'help me please.'
Sarah wasn't even looking at Douglas, not really. The fury was all directed at Mary, whom she grabbed rather roughly by the arm to pull off her boyfriend. Merlin, the girl positively reeked of alcohol! How could he even stand having her all over him?
"Come with me!" Sarah announced, her smile a bright mask that showed not a hint of her usually sunny nature. "I'll show you! Right this way!"
The hapless Mary was obligated to be dragged along and then deposited with another coworker. Once she was dropped off, Sarah promptly turned around and stalked back to Douglas - and she didn't look a bit happier than she had a moment before. "I'm going home now," she said flatly.
"What? No, you can't--" Well, she obviously could if she wanted to, and Douglas knew he couldn't physically restrain her. He didn't want her to leave, however. Up until Mary attached herself to him, he'd been enjoying the party, which was really saying something. He didn't often enjoy parties that involved a lot of small talk and mingling with colleagues, as good as he was at it. He had a feeling that most of his enjoyment was because he had Sarah on his arm, and he didn't want that to stop.
Douglas took a deep breath, composing himself silently. "What's wrong?" he asked instead, because it was obvious she was unhappy. "I don't want you to go," he added, his voice quieter.
"And I don't want to detach any more drunken tramps from your arm while you do nothing about it," Sarah said, her voice quieter and her tone deceptively conversational. She was not a person to air problems in public, no matter how upset she was, and she didn't want anyone else in the room to think there was anything odd about their conversation. "I don't want to act happy when I'm really not, either," she went on in the same style. "And I certainly don't want to talk about how absolutely furious and humiliated I feel in front of the entire department. So I am going home."
Oh no. Douglas prided himself on being smart and clever, on being able to talk his way out of most things, on knowing how to solve problems. He didn't know how to talk her into being happy or not humiliated, though. Like her, he didn't want everyone else to realise that they were having trouble. His eyes were wide as he realised what he'd done - or not done - but to anyone other Sarah, that wouldn't have given much of anything away.
"I'm sorry," he said quickly, reaching out for her elbow. "I'll..." It wouldn't look good for her to leave in such a fit when the party was still going on, but he could always make up a reason for her absence -- that she had a headache, wasn't feeling well, sincerely regrets having to leave, had a wonderful time while she was there. "Do you want me to see you home?" Maybe, he thought, he should come up with a good excuse for him to leave as well.
Sarah lifted her chin a bit, trying to retain at least some of her pride in this awful situation. "If you like," she stiffly replied.
Inside, she was still caught up in a tempest of trauma. Sarah had been having a wonderful time at the party up until she'd come back out of the ladies' room to find that blasted Mary Collins all over her boyfriend. Then her lovely evening had been shattered with a white hot bolt of rage, and some significant restraint had been required to not just pull her off, slap her, and tell her that if she ever touched Douglas again she'd break her stupid pointy nose. The fact that Douglas had let her drape herself on him like that (because Sarah was really not thinking clearly enough to notice his utterly horrified expression) added a healthy dose of hurt feelings and hurt pride on top of the anger, which was just making things worse.
Douglas sighed, but he obediently steered Sarah away from the crowd as she wanted, although he stopped her before they got anywhere near the apparition point.
"I don't want you to go," he admitted, once they were alone and well away from anyone else. "I am sorry, for upsetting you and for Mary and for not making her leave faster, and I swear it wasn't because I was enjoying it or wanted to talk to her. I was.. am... mortified. She wasn't there for long, I swear. It all happened so fast..." And although Douglas knew that it would sound like he was just making excuses, it was all true. "I'm sorry."
They were at least pretty good excuses, and when Sarah really began to think about it she could see that he actually looked very troubled by the entire mess. She still didn't like everyone in the office having seen that woman try to cozy up to Douglas and Douglas not putting her right off, but with her initial shock and horror passing she was at least able to react in something other than an entirely instant knee-jerk fashion.
"I know you don't like to cause trouble, especially in the office," Sarah said, managing a little of her normal patience for all that there was a distinct edge in her voice. "But there are some times, Douglas, when it is actually acceptable to be rude. Sometimes, in fact, it's a lot more rude to not be rude than to be rude!"
All right, so maybe she wasn't entirely over her snit or back into sense-making territory yet. She was trying, though.
She was right, Douglas thought. She was absolutely right. He should have been more forceful with Mary. He should have told her flat-out to let go of his arm, but he hadn't, and he'd hurt Sarah for it. He should have been thinking about her feelings instead of Mary's.
"I know," he conceded after a moment. It was difficult to find his voice when he'd been so thoroughly proved wrong; he wasn't yet confident enough in himself to recover as quickly as he wanted to. "And I'm sorry. Most of all for hurting you. I don't know what else to say about it except that I'm sorry and I hope you know I didn't enjoy a second of it."
For a long few seconds, Sarah was quiet. Douglas sounded so very contrite, and when it came down to it Sarah was a basically forgiving person. It was clear that he hadn't meant to upset her.
"...all right," Sarah quietly allowed, taking a single step in his direction. "You're forgiven." One more step, which would put her within easy reach of him if he wanted to do anything about it. "Just don't let it happen again, or I might actually claw her eyes out this time."
Almost immediately, a smile started to grow on Douglas's face, hesitant at first but quickly widening as he realised she really was going to forgive him. Maybe not all at once, but she would. "I won't, I promise," he insisted, taking a step of his own towards her. "Although you clawing her eyes out does sound like it might be entertaining. Gruesome, but..." He laughed lightly and shook his head. "I shouldn't find that funny. She'd be no match for you, anyway."
Another step closer, and Douglas was close enough to tough her again, so he reached an arm out, his fingers touching her waist lightly. "You look beautiful tonight, you know." His voice was low again, intimate. "I know I said that earlier, but it's worth saying again."
As if by reflex, her hand rested on his forearm and slid slowly upward. "Thank you," Sarah murmured, her eyes casting to the side a bit at the compliment. She was feeling better already, and when he took that tone with her it was difficult to deny him anything. "You're looking rather handsome, yourself," she added. And really, he did. Douglas was always a heartbreaker as far as looks went, but in the slightly more festive tones of a party he relaxed a little and became even more attractive. She almost couldn't blame Mary Collins for making a move - almost.
"I'm glad you think so." Because she hadn't shoved him away and was instead being receptive to his slight affection, Douglas placed his hand on her waist and moved it slowly to her back as he brought Sarah in closer. "Harris agreed with me. Said so, earlier, while you were off being your charming self with the women," Douglas told her, referring to the stout older barrister who had been something of a mentor to him over the last few months. "Said you were the prettiest in the room, and I told him I was very lucky." He leaned in to place a soft kiss on her cheek, testing the waters to see just how much she'd forgiven him. "Do you still want to leave?"
She paused, thinking about it. There wasn't really any need to go running off if she wasn't still planning on killing someone. David Entwhistle had probably taken up enough of That Drunken Bint's attention that Sarah wouldn't have to worry about her, either.
Sarah allowed her other arm to slip around his back and tipped her head up to lay a soft kiss just above his collar. "I suppose we could stay a little longer," she allowed. "But if that tramp Mary Collins tries anything else, I will not be held responsible for my actions."
"If that tra--" Douglas wrinkled his nose, stopping himself just before repeating Sarah's words. He might have agreed, but he didn't want to insult the woman so openly, even if Sarah was the only one who could hear. "If she tries anything else, you won't have to do anything about it because I will. She knows I'm all yours." He slid his other arm around her waist. His words were heavily laced with charm, but Sarah knew him well enough to know that he never said those sorts of things if he didn't fully mean it. "Perhaps you'll just have to avoid using the loo for the rest of the night? Just to be safe. And you can't leave me alone to get a drink either. You'll just have to stay right here forever."
Douglas was indeed charming - it was one of the things she loved about him. Moments like this one, though, were what separated him from any other charming young man she'd ever been out with. When he looked at her like that and held her close and promised he'd never let it happen again and he was all hers, she could tell somehow that they weren't just pretty words to placate her. He really meant it...and she even had an inkling that he really might mean forever, too - at least someday.
Sarah smiled.
"I suppose I will," she conceded, going up on her toes to give him a lightly lingering kiss. "Luckily that won't be such a great hardship, I don't think."
While he was still a bit miffed by Sarah's reaction to Mary, almost like she didn't trust him, Douglas knew it wasn't worth bringing it up all over again. Some might have chided him for not confronting her, or for not questioning her more, for not standing up for himself, but Douglas knew that wasn't necessary. Besides, with a bit more distance from the situation, he was starting to realise that having Sarah become that angry and possessive over him was actually quite exciting.
He glanced over his shoulder towards the party, considering how long they had before everyone else started wondering where they'd run off to and gossiping about what they might be doing. They probably had a few minutes before anyone came to find them. "Now I don't want to go back." Douglas pulled another face. He was ready to call it an early evening and relax with Sarah at his flat, instead of even more mingling. "You're rather intimidating when you're angry. I had no idea."
Sarah had sufficient grace to look sheepish over the comment, glancing to the side and biting her lip before remembering that she would ruin her lipstick doing that kind of thing. "It doesn't happen often," she apologetically replied, looking up at him again. "Really, I'm sorry I made such a fuss about it."
While she'd been embarrassed and angry and reacting badly because of it before, now Sarah felt rather bad about making a scene. (Though considering, it had really been a very small scene.) While she was glad that she wouldn't be put in a situation like that again, she also really hoped that Douglas didn't think too badly of her for it.
"It's fine, Sarah," Douglas told her, leaning in for another kiss. He was sure that had their roles been reversed, he would have reacted far worse. He didn't trust himself at all to keep his composure around a man hitting on his girlfriend. The mere thought of it, of a man flirting with her and Sarah not shoving him away or slapping him, made his stomach feel queasy. "Honestly, if it had been you in that position, I'm not sure I would have reacted any better. I fear I would have broken his hypothetical nose, in that case."
"I seriously considered it," Sarah admitted, giving him a slight smile. "Luckily, my mother trained me from birth to behave myself in public - and equally lucky for Mary, she stayed where I put her." Sarah was fairly confident she'd be willing to slap Mary Collins (or anyone else who tried to put the moves on Douglas) silly if pushed much further than that.
She rather liked the idea that Douglas would break someone's nose over her, despite the fact that she recognized it as a teenage melodrama sort of thing to think. There was nothing anywhere that said one couldn't enjoy a bit of teenage melodrama in the realm of the hypothetical.
Her ability to stay in control of herself was one of the things Douglas loved about her. He loved basically everything, so far, from the way she smiled when he walked into a room to the smell of her shampoo to her laugh and the way her noise crinkled up. He loved that she was smart and that he could really talk to her, about anything. He loved that she would listen and offer her own thoughts on it, and he loved it when she thought of something he hadn't. He was mad about her, but like with many things, he didn't know how to say it properly.
Instead, he leaned in for another kiss, allowing the passion to build slowly, bit by bit. He was one of those men who found it easier to express himself through actions, at least when it came to anything emotional. His fingers pressed into the small of her back gently as he felt himself getting lost in her all over again. It was a shame the party hadn't ended yet. "Hope I didn't mess up your lipstick," he said after pulling away, though he didn't look at all apologetic.
Sarah didn't look especially worried about either her lipstick or the lack of contrition. While she hadn't wanted to ruin her makeup through biting her lip, she felt that kissing him in that way that made her spine shiver and her heart warm was a good enough reason for it.
"Lipstick's easy to fix," Sarah murmured. "But if you ruin my hair, I'm not going back in there." Of course, she didn't necessarily sound as if she'd mind that, either. Going back to Douglas's flat and snogging on the sofa instead wouldn't bother her in the least.
"Tempting," Douglas whispered as he leaned in for another kiss. He didn't dare touch her hair - not just yet, at least - but he did move one of his hands up to the middle of her back.
"Found 'em!" came a man's voice from the other end of the hallway, and before Douglas could turn to see who it was, a bright flash went off. "Told you they'd run off somewhere to--" Douglas turned his head, then, and narrowed his eyes at his coworker, getting the man to shut up in an instant.
"That'll go up on the board in the break room!" a woman, one of the other secretaries, said with a giggle. "You two are so adorable."
"Thank you," Douglas replied uncertainly. "We'll be right in. Right, Sarah?" He cast another pointed look towards the two wizards who had interrupted them, nodding his head in the general direction of the party, hoping they'd get the point and leave.
Sarah laughed even as she groaned at getting captured kissing on film. She had no doubt that Lysandra really would post it on the break room cork board, either - it was exactly the kind of thing she would do. It was a bit mortifying, really.
On the other hand, if such a picture managed to make it very, very clear that Douglas Cornfoot was hers and everybody else had better back off...maybe it wasn't so bad after all.
Sarah smiled. "Of course we will!" she chirped in reply, and waited a few seconds before their coworkers went back inside before lowering her voice a little. "What do you think? Half an hour before we can leave without comment, or can we squeeze it down to twenty minutes?"
Douglas watched their coworkers leave before looking back at his girlfriend. He tilted his head to the side as he thought it over, his brow furrowing slightly - a very Douglas-like expression. The only thing that was missing was him gnawing on the end of a quill or pen. "Let's make it fifteen."
Sarah loved that expression on his face; it was so quintessentially him that she simply had to smile when she saw it. The conclusion he reached was very smile-worthy as well, though, both because she was quite ready to go and because it was so rare that Douglas was inclined to quickly blow off anything work-related. Not that she thought he should; she had been brought up to believe that a strong work ethic and dedication to doing one's best were very important, and Sarah wouldn't respect or love him nearly so much if he weren't exactly who he was. It was just nice to really truly come first in his priorities on occasion.
"Fifteen it is," she agreed, and popped up on her toes to give him one more light kiss. "The only person I've still got to make sure I speak to is Mark Rigby, so if we take care of that one first then I can follow to anyone else you need to see."