It's starting to feel a lot like home Who: Marlowe and Lucius Where: Their new house When: Late afternoon
After having spend most of the day driving Marlowe sighed with relief when she was finally pulling the Impala up behind Lucius in his 69 Charger. "Looks like we're finally here." Marlowe commented ever so casually to the Shepherd sitting on the passenger's's seat who had driven with her most of the way from Nashville. Easing open the driver's side door Marlowe climbed out and took a step to the side to allow Roarke the space to bound out of the vehicle. The dog not waiting to be leashed as he immediately made a line for the car parked in front of the Impala.
Lucius hadn't been completely stoked about having to drive without Marlowe the entire way there, but at least they were at their destination now and didn't have to drive ever again, hopefully. He could use a nice sleep session and some food in his rumbling stomach. Driving all that way definitely wasn't his idea of an awesome time, but at least it was over. Hopping out of his car just in time to get practically tackled by Roarke he chuckled a little and rubbed the animal's ears. "We're home, boy." he said. "Thank god."
"Don't keep too overly thrilled with being here, babe." Marlowe started saying after closing the door on the Impala and walking over to the guy and Shepherd. "Talked to the movers on the way into town and apparently they won't be getting her until Monday." Which really sucked as most of their things were in that aforementioned moving truck. Reaching the pair Marlowe slipped her arms loosely around her guy's waist with a little peck give to his cheek.
Lucius arched a brow at her first statement and let out a breath of annoyance as soon as she said what she had to say. "So that means neither will our things. Wonderful. Well, at least we can hope the electricity is already on and transferred into our names right? Because candles, no matter how handy, just aren't gonna work in this house." At least not if she wanted him inside of it.
"We could always get a room at one of the local hotels." Marlowe suggested. The fire elemental though would rather "rough it" out in their new house as it would be just the two of them then without people on the other side of the wall. And the woman would never think of lighting the house with candles in lieu of actual lighting if the electricity, for some strange reason, hadn't been turned on. Marlowe had thought she'd taken care of all that before they pair left for Michigan.
"I think that we'll be alright here." Lucius said with a smile as he stood straight again and moved over to his wife. "I'm just glad to have my butt outta that car. Driving up apart sucked." he told her, slipping his arms around her body and pulling her against him. "But we're home now. How're you holding up?" He knew how hard it was for Marlowe to leave her family and the people she knew and loved. No doubt being here wasn't easy.
Home. Somehow that sounded all to strange to the woman as what she thought of as home was back in Tennessee. That would probably be the roughest adjustment she'd have to make here in Scarlet Oaks. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to see her family whenever she wanted to.
"I'm doing well, I think." Marlowe answered back as she leaned in slightly to the guy's side. "Helps to have the most handsome guy in the world going through all of this with me." Marlowe added with a smile.
"Oh you always were a woman with good taste." he smirked, kissing the top of her head and giving her shoulder a little rub. "Just remember that this big house would be perfect for little get togethers anytime that you want." he pointed out. "I bet your mom would just love a reason to come up here to see you."
"You should know mother better then that, Lucius. She doesn't need a reason to do anything. I'll just bet she'll be calling with some thought up excuse to come out here to visit before the next week is over and done with." Marlowe remarked with a little bit of a smirk to her husband. "I think though before we start planning any get togethers we should make sure the place is up to standard for a social gathering of any kind."
Lucius looked up at the house and back at his wife and shrugged a bit. "The outside could definitely use some work." he told her. "At least it doesn't look too bad from out here. Definitely needs some paint and I'm betting the porch has more than one loose and/or broken board in it. Guess we're gonna need a tour of the inside to see just what we've gotten ourselves into." he smiled. "Come on, let's go see what we've got here."
"I just hope none of interior is beyond repair." She commented softly with a slight motion of her hand to get Roarke to follow as she started up toward the house with her husband. "I mean dusting and sweeping the place out and giving the walls all a new coat of paint I could handle, but having the fear that the ceiling will come tumbling down on top of us at any moment. The place might not be worth the trouble." Not that the house was in such bad a shape, but the couple wouldn't know exactly what they had inherited until they actually toured all levels of the house.
Arm still around Marlowe's shoulder, Lucius shook his head. "Don't worry about it, babe. Doesn't matter what it looks like. I'll fix it." he assured. It didn't really matter how bad off the interior was, Lucius was firmly confident in his own abilities to fix anything that might have needed repairing. "Don't be worryin' that pretty little head of yours over some paint and nails that need to be bought."
"Not so much worried about that Mr. Handyman. Remodeling is, after all, your thing. Redecorating though, well that might be a whole nother story seeing as the house looks bigger from the outside," and who knew how'd it look from the inside, "which might make the whole redecorating thing a major project. Even after our things get here." Furniture and stuff which probably wouldn't even begin to fill half the house they were walking into.
Once they reached the door, Lucius shifted to move in front of Marlowe, catching her face in his hands and gave her a smile. "Don't worry so much." he told her, shaking his head. "It'll all be alright, okay? We've got plenty of time to figure out what to put where and what sorts of things you wanna do and you and me can redecorate this place together. Keep your head up, pretty girl. It'll all turn out alright."
"You always have me believing everything will be alright when you say the words." She smiled to him leaning in slightly to brush her lips tenderly against his. "Let's go see then just what needs to be done to this place to make it livable."
"That's because it's the truth." he told her. "You worry too much anyways." Kiss returned, he nodded and let her unlock the door to the new home - or rather the home that would be new to them. Upon stepping inside of said home, Lucius crinkled his nose. "Well... it definitely needs some airing out." he muttered.
"I think more then a bit of airing out, babe." Marlowe commented with a wrinkling of her nose as she stepped in after him with Roarke following behind. "This floor alone is larger then our apartment back in Nashville." Marlowe added on as she stepped further into the house with a grand sweep around the lower floor room.
"Yeah, it is." he nodded. That was both a welcome thing, because more room was always good, and an overwhelming thing. Lucius had never been in a house so large in his life and the fact that he was going to be living in this one was a lot to take in. "Doesn't look like the roof is going to cave in." he said. "But it could probably use some reinforcement, that's for sure. Definitely some paint."
"Well, at least the place isn't a total disaster." Well at least the first floor wasn't as the couple had yet to explore any of the rooms on the second level. "Though it'll probably take almost a week to get the inside all cleaned up and dust free."
"Well, guess it's a good thing that you've got me here to help you." he chuckled. "I think we'll need to make a trip to the nearest walmart and buy them out of household cleansers. Was your aunt always this wonderful a housekeeper?" he teased. He didn't mean to speak ill of the dead, but the house definitely needed a lot of TLC.
"Hey." Marlowe nudged him playfully for his comment. "It's been years since I've been here and from what I remember, yes, she was a person who liked to keep their house neat and tidy. No one really had any contact with her for the past couple of years except for the one or two phone calls a year that mother made. As far as we knew she was doing fine." Which if she actually had been Marlowe didn't think the house would have sunk to such a sad condition.
"Well, at least it doesn't look like it's got termites." he said. "That definitely is a good thing if you ask me because trying to rebuild stuff after termites have gotten in and messed up the inner workings. So we lucked out on that one." Lucius definitely did not want to deal with bug problems on top of all the work he was already thinking of doing to the place.
"That's definitely a problem I wouldn't want to find myself with." There was enough work to be done already without having to add a termite problem on top of all that. "We'll have enough to do all next week as it is without worrying about how sturdy the structural work of the house is." Last thing they'd need was for the house to fall down around them due to an infestation of termites.
"Seriously." he agreed. "But before we figure out where to start, let's go upstairs and see what sorts of stuff we've got waiting for us up there." Hopefully things wouldn't be too difficult to handle when it came to the second floor. "The place is huge."
"You wanna go on up ahead while I let Roarke out to have the run of the yard. I think he could use it after being cooped up in the car for what I am sure felt like hours on end." Marlowe told the guy with a brief glance given to the Shepherd who was sniffing his way around the room.
"Alright." he nodded, stealing a little kiss from his wife. "Meet you upstairs then." Heading for the stairs, he took the stairs carefully, watching each step to make sure they were all secure. Luckily they were.
Marlowe followed Lucius upstairs a couple minutes later with a couple steps creaking beneath her feet as she moved up the stairs. Roarke seemed safe enough outside as the wooden fence that encircled the yard seemed sturdy enough from her view to keep the dog within the perimeter of the yard.
"Lucius." Marlowe called out when she reached the top stair and turned into the hallway unsure of where on the second floor he might be.
Lucius had inspected the upstairs and was currently in the master bedroom, just about to go into the bath to make sure that it was decently sized. He wasn't sure whether he'd have to make changes to the way things were set up after all. That would involve Marlowe's opinion on the topic as well. "In here, babe." he called. "Guess this'll be our room unless you're wanting one of the others instead."
Following the sound of his voice the woman soon found herself in the master bedroom, the largest of the three bedrooms, and the only one with a private bath. "I think you're right." Mar agreed when she stepped into the room and got a better look at it. Sure it was a bit dusty and had that slight musty smell, but once it was aired out and cleaned up it would be quite nice. "The kitchen doesn't look like it will need as much work as some of the other rooms might, though the pantry and laundry room, I think will need quite the make over." After leaving the dog out Marlowe had spent a brief moment in the kitchen checking things out. Of course Lucius would have the last word on that as he knew more about these things then she did.
"Yeah, I figured those two probably would." he agreed. "But I think that nothing is beyond repair. That's definitely an upside to all of this." Lucius smiled. "Besides, this room is huge." Stepping into the bathroom, he gave her a grin over his shoulder. "Bathroom is nice too. It's got one of those clawfoot tubs. Not that you take baths, but it's got a showerhead."
"You can have your clawfoot tub, I'll stick to quick showers thank you very much." Marlowe informed the man with a slight nod of her head, though she knew he probably guessed that'd be the verbal reaction he'd get for his comment. "Aside from that I think this room has much potential." The woman already getting ideas in her head as to how to decorate their room when the time came.
"Well you can always sit and watch me in my clawfoot tub." he grinned. "Unless of course that would turn you off or something." Lucius smirked. "It does have a ton of potential. I think that we can do a lot with this place. Shouldn't take too long."
"You stripped down to your birthday a turn off? Baby please," Marlowe grinned, "never has been, never will be. But that still won't be enough to get me into your clawfoot tub. So I guess you'll just have to settle with me watching you from a distance." Like in the doorway while he soaked in the tub. "I think so as well." Marlowe agreeing as she walked over to wrap her arms loosely around his waist with her head resting against his chest. "A whole lot of potential."
"Guess I'll have to settle." he nodded. "Or have to just make up for you not being in the tub with me once I get out." he smirked, waggling his brows at her suggestively. Sliding his arms around her body, he let his fingers run through her hair. "Lots of potential. We'll make it feel like home, baby." he assured.
"I guess you're just going to have to. Not that you've ever complained before with the whole settling thing." She grinned up at him. Her eyes fluttered closed momentarily then when Lucius stroked his fingers lovingly through her hair. "You're already making it feel like that, baby." Mars murmured back. Regardless of its condition just being in the house with him making plans of just what they wanted to do to the place was making it seem more like their own. The place they would grow old together in.
"I'm glad." he said, pressing his lips to her hair again. "I love you." he told her, as if she didn't already know that. "This I think is going to be good for us. All this space for us to fill up."
"You know," Marlowe kissed him in return, "this place is large enough to fill with more then just furniture." her eyes lifting to catch his as a soft smile played against her lips. Not that she was hinting it should happen in the immediate future, but once they got completely settled in and had their roots firmly planted in the town, Marlowe could see them starting a little family of their own. And she did know that he loved her as Lucius demonstrated just that over and over. It was nice, though, to hear the words spoken.
Lucius was a bit surprised at what his wife had to say. Not that he didn't want children. He did want children. He supposed he'd always wanted children. He wanted to be able to provide a better life than his father had ever provided for him. He wanted to be better than his father and be able to live up to his mother. "You're saying you'd want to have a baby with me?" he asked her.
"Maybe not right this instant, but yeah," she continued smiling up at her guy, "I wanna have kids. With you. I can see them in our future." Marlowe had come from a large, close knit family and it just seemed a natural thing for her to want children of her own. She didn't think it could be a consideration back in Nashville while they were living in a one bedroom apartment, but here in Scarlet Oak, in the house they now had ownership of there would be plenty of room to raise a family of their own. And it was something they, maybe, should start discussing.
The smile that spread across Lu's face said that he was completely in agreement with her statement. "Me too." he said, tucking her hair behind her ear. It didn't matter if it was this instant or in another couple of years. He knew that forever was going to be with Marlowe and forever included babies eventually. They had all the space they needed and if they had babies they'd have rooms of their own. That meant something to him. "Guess I'll have to get to work on this old house so that we have somewhere to raise them."
"And the first place to start is with this room here. At least get it aired out and clean to make it sleepable." Marlowe definitely wasn't wanting to spend their first night in their new home in a stale smelling and dusty room. "Think there's a Wal-Mart or something still open?" With the house being as vacant as it was Marlowe wasn't thinking that there'd be any cleaning supplies tucked away anywhere, especially seeing as the place hadn't been cleaned for a couple months or longer.
Lucius nodded. "I think there's a Wal-mart probably open." he said. "There are probably plenty of people needing fourth of July supplies last minute. Let's go see what we can find and then we can get started with cleaning up this mess." he told his wife. "Airing it out and stuff. Guess it'll be the air mattress and our blankets from the trunk tonight and until the movers get around to arriving."
"And maybe pick up some dinner on the way back." Marlowe suggested to the guy since they hadn't eaten in the past few hours. "And baby, I'm all you'll need tonight to keep you warm." She grinned mischievously with a soft press of her lips to his.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Lucius said. "Dinner on the way back and you keeping me warm sounds like the best way to spend the night if you ask me." He knew that Marlow keeping him warm would be a just fine way of spending the night.
"I'll let Roarke in then and meet you out at the car." With night closing in she didn't want to leave the dog outside, even if he was penned up in the yard. And really how much trouble could he get into in the house. He'd always been fine being alone in their small apartment, so Marlowe figured he'd do just as well in the larger living space.
"Alright." he agreed. Leaving the master bedroom, he opted for climbing into Marlowe's car as it was the last in the driveway. Settling into the driver's seat, he waited for his wife to climb into the car. Giving her a little smile, he reached over once she was settled into the car and gave her thigh a little rub. "I think we were supposed to do this." he said. "Supposed to be here."
"It feels right, doesn't it." Marlowe voiced with a glance and smile to her husband once she was settled and buckled beside him in the front passenger seat. She couldn't explain it, but it felt like this was where they were suppose to be. A feeling that washed over her the instant the couple stepped inside the house. And she knew that as long as Lucius was at her side this would be her home until the day she passed on.
"It does." he nodded, leaning over to get a little kiss from his lady. "Sucks that your aunt died for us to have this house and everything, but... everything happens for a reason. And I know it's far from what your used to. Far from your parents and everything, but we'll fix it up and before you know it, it'll just be something we couldn't imagine living without, ya know? Home for us."
"I know you didn't have a good relationship with your dad growing up, but I've always had a good and close relationship with my folks and brothers, so yeah, I kind of feel the separation thing, but this is our home now and I'll adjust. Just be prepared for frequent visits from certain family members once this house of ours is fixed up." Marlowe wouldn't be surprised if her mother flew out there for a couple days to help Marlowe with the task of redecorating the interior of the house.
"I'm pretty close with your folks too." he said with a nod. "It wasn't easy leaving them for me either." That was really an understatement. Marlowe's parents and her brother's were all the family, besides his uncle, that he really had left. It had been a difficult goodbye, but he knew in his heart that it was for the best. They were going to be together and they were going to be able to start their life a new. "I don't mind if they come up every other weekend."
"Well, I don't know about every other weekend, but I'm sure. at least mom and dad, will visit as often as time allows them. For now though I'm just going to enjoy having you all to myself." Marlowe smiled lovingly over to the guy.
"At least for a little while." he said. "Before I head off to make a living." he teased. Leaning back to his side of the car, he cranked it up and pulled his seat belt over his lap. "But before we can get to enjoying each other, we've got some cleaning supplies to buy and some cleaning to do."
"I think I'm going to enjoy watching you work for it, babe." Marlowe teased as Lucius backed the vehicle out and away from the driveway. And it was kind of an amusing thought pictured in her mind of her standing there in the doorway watching her husband cleaning what would be their bedroom. The woman though wouldn't put him through that, she'd join in with the cleaning as two would get it done quicker then one and then they could get to the enjoying each other part.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." he chuckled, shaking his head a little as he pulled off onto the road. "Now, let's see if we can find that Wal-mart." Luckily they managed to do just that. An hour or so later, cleaning supplies in hand and food in bags from a local fast food restaurant for the pair of them. Heading into the house once more, they went up to the bedroom again and Lu scrunched his nose. "Alright. I guess we need to go ahead and eat and stuff first. Then we can get our hands dirty."
"That's not all that's gonna get dirty, babe," Marlowe started saying with that playful grin of hers as she stepped into the room after him carrying their drinks, "but then that'll be after we clean this room up."
Lucius smirked at his wife, chuckling a little and shaking his head. Setting the cleaning items on the floor, he settled in the center of the room with the fast food bags. "Come on, baby. Let's eat up and get started."
Marlowe bent down to set the cardboard carry tray with their drinks, napkins and straws in it on the floor before the woman settled down on the floor beside her husband. "After we eat and clean this room so it's livable we can finally bring our stuff in from the cars." Mentioning that little fact while she reached for one of the bags and opened it up to distribute the wrapped food inside between the two of them.
"Exactly." he said. "Then at least we'll have the one room sanitary and can move on to the next in the morning. Bright and early, I'm expecting. Getting things situated. Just getting the caked on dust off will be a massive improvement, don't ya think?"
"Most definitely." She agreed reaching for her drink and one of the paper wrapped straws. "One or two rooms at a time and I think we should have the whole place done by the end of next week." Or earlier depending on just how much they tackled each day, and whether or not one or both of them found employment in the upcoming week.
"I think so too." he nodded, unwrapping his own straw and pushing it through the top of his drink cup. "I don't think it's going to take that long, honestly. The outside will probably take the longest. And the pantry and stuff and adding shelving and what not. Replacing appliances, but it can be an ongoing project."
Unwrapping her straw and then sliding it in through the cover of her drink Marlowe set it aside for the moment. "Come here," Marlowe crooked a finger at Lucius to motion him closer as a soft smile curved the edges of her mouth upward. And once Lucius leaned on over she kissed softly at his lips with a soft murmur. "I love you so much."
Lucius sat his drink down and leaned over towards his wife. "I love you too, baby." he grinned. "But I have the feeling you already know that." He'd packed up his things and moved with her after all. That certainly was a testimony to his love for the girl. The fact that he knew she was a fire elemental and fire was his biggest fear was obviously another reason to believe that he loved her more than anything else in the world.
"You prove that to me every single day, Lucius." She smiled stealing one more kiss before settling back and reaching for her wrapped sandwich. He'd been the love of her life practically from that first day they had met, though that wasn't quite realized at the time. And that he had stayed with her even after learning she was capable of igniting the one thing he feared most. Well that spoke volumes and made Marlowe love him even more then she felt she possibly could love another person.
"Good. Guess I'm doing my job then." he grinned. Picking up his own sandwich, he unwrapped it and took a bite, eyes flicking around the room. Their room. It was at least twice as big as their bedroom back in Tennessee and he couldn't help but think that their double bed was going to look like it was out of place in the big space they had now. "We might need a bigger bed." he muttered.
"Or maybe two beds." Marlowe grabbed then for her drink to take a drink and keep the grin from curving along her lips after speaking the teasing words. In actuality that idea would be completely out of the question as she would forbid having two beds in there room. One was perfectly fine and ideal for the two of them, especially with them being husband and wife.
"Right." he said with a chuckle, shaking his head and taking another bite of his food. "I doubt you'd last very long in a different bed than me. You've been sleeping next to me for way too long, babe."
"And loving every second of it." She smiled back grabbing for her sandwich which was unwrapped and taken a bite of. "Maybe that should be the first order of business tomorrow. Go out and find a replacement bed." The double bed they had was in no way going to work now with the size of their bedroom. Something bigger would be more sensible.
He grinned at her and nodded. "I think that's an idea I can get behind. We should get a king size." he said. "We probably won't know what to do with all that bed space." he chuckled. "We'll still end up in the center of it."
Marlowe smiled over at him taking a couple bites of her sandwich, which were then swallowed down with some of her soda. "I think we should buy our bed new, but with other stuff we might want, maybe go the resale or garage sale route." She knew, though not brand, spanking new, that stuff sometimes found at those places looked almost brand new and cost a lot less then if the went shopping at a regular store.
She had a point and Lucius wasn't above going to garage sales. "I think that's a good idea." he agreed. "The bed I think should be new because like... well, I wanna be the first one sleeping on it, but other stuff, like appliances and stuff like that, cheaper is definitely the route to go. We could find some really decent stuff at yard sales."
"Sleeping on it wasn't exactly what I had in mind for that first night we have it, but if that'd be your choice, babe... "Grinning Marlowe worked on finishing off a bit more of her sandwich. "So we'll do it pretty much room by room then. Clean and fix one up before moving stuff in and then move onto the next?" That of course would exclude the kitchen as they would be needing a place to eat unless they wanted to have all their meals in the bedroom.
Lucius was used to Marlowe's fiery nature. She was a fire elemental after all. And he was a guy so her teasing about the goings on behind the closed door of their bedroom were definitely welcome. "I'm pretty sure there will be a lot more done than sleeping." he agreed, leaning over to press a kiss to her temple. "How else are we gonna start on those babies?" he teased. "Room by room is fine. Then at least when one gets done, we'll feel like we're accomplishing something."
"And then there's the whole christening thing when each room is finished and up to our standard." The woman nodded smiling back to her husband. And yes it was true, she had a fiery passion that burned as deep and as hot as the fire she was able to produce. A passion and lust that Lucius could ignite with just a mere glance her way. "Then I suppose it'll be onto the yard, unless you wanna hire a gardener or something to take care of the lawn and such." She concluded with drinking more of her soda. Marlowe didn't have anywhere near a green thumb, so unless they brought in a gardener or landscaper, there'd be no bushes of flower beds to decorate the outside of their house.
Smirking at his wife, Lucius finished off the last of his sandwich and sipped a bit of drink to wash it down with. "Christening." he agreed. "I think I like that idea too. Guess today is your night for coming up with good ideas." he teased, crumbling up the wrapper to his sandwich and tossing it into the empty food bag. "So where do you want to start?" he asked. "I'm betting some sweeping and mopping and cleaning up all the windows and shelves. But the windows need opened to get some air in here. We should work on the bathroom too." he sighed. "After all this dusty mess we're going to need some showers. Even if yours are quick ones." he teased.
Marlowe stuck her tongue out at the guy for his shower comment. "I'll start with the dusting and sweep out of the room if you'll fix a bucket of water for mopping after getting all the windows open to start getting this place aired out. I can clean the windows after we get a bit of fresh air in here." Marlowe answered her husband. And once that was all done they could move what few things they had in their cars before getting to the mentioned showers. And then finally it would be bed time, which would be welcome as both would most likely be exhausted after the long day of traveling and cleaning.
"I can do that." he agreed, getting up from the floor and offering a hand out to his wife. "Lemme toss this stuff out and I'll get the water bucket filled and we can get this out of the way. Then we can get onto more important things." he smiled. Leaning in and brushing a soft kiss to her lips, he gave her fingers a little squeeze before releasing them. "I'll be back in a few."
Marlowe finished off what remained of her sandwich and bunched up the wrapper which she dropped into the paper bag, then holding her soda in one hand slipped her other into her husband's offered out hand to make a slow rise to her feet with his assistance. "And I'll be here getting all dusty." She teased before he left the room. Not waiting for him to return Marlowe set her drink on one of the window sills and then found herself a duster to start dusting down the shelves and ledges in the room.
Upon leaving the room, Lucius did as he said he would, discarding their trash and returning with a mop bucket full of hot pinesol filled water. "Alright." he said, mop in one hand, bucket in the other. "Lemme get to sweeping this crazy mess." he muttered.
"Babe, you're not going to sweep out the room with a wet mop, are you?" Marlowe questioned her husband as she turned to look his way when he returned to the master bedroom and she saw he had a wet mop and bucket in each hand.
"No." he chuckled. "The broom's over there." he explained, pointing to the corner where he'd left said broom. Setting the bucket down and putting the mop in the bucket. Reaching for the broom, he moved to the far side of the room. "Going to hold the dustpan for me when I'm through?"
After getting the two rooms pretty much spotless after all the dusting, sweeping and mopping the pair managed to accomplish, the windows left open to continue letting the room air out, Marlowe and Lucius headed downstairs and outside to start bringing in their things that had made the long trip with them in their cars.
"What are you thinking?" Marlowe whispered with a slide of her arms around her husband's waist, resting her chin on his shoulder when she slipped up behind him as he stood at one of the windows looking out after having taken a quick shower, she had let Lucius go first since he generally took longer then she did.
Looking over his shoulder at his wife, Lucius gave her a little smile and lightly shrugged the shoulder her chin wasn't touching. "Thinking that this room looks a lot better without the dust and grime." he smiled. Turning to look at her, he smiled again and let his arms wrap around the woman. "Guess you look better without dust and grime all over you too." he teased, pressing his lips in a brief kiss to her forehead. "Feel better now that you're all clean?"
"Much." She smiled standing there within the circle of his arms barefoot and clad solely in a white over-sized t-shirt that just grazed her knees. "And happy." She declared with a soft, loving kiss given to his lips.
That gained a smile from the man and he kissed her back, hands brushing her wet hair behind her ears. Tipping his forehead against hers and parting their lips, he smiled again. "Tired?" he asked. He was, but not too tired to want more of those kisses.
"A bit." She answered back, though not wanting to retire for the night just yet. Marlowe was enjoying those kisses as well and the way Lucius felt standing so close to her. "You?" Questioning with a whisper and a slow fluttering closed of her eyes as her forehead rested still against his.
"A little." Lu admitted. "But I think I still got some time left to be awake." he murmured. There was something in the way that a little whisper from his lover could set the mood for kisses and touches, warm bodies close together. The chemistry that had started all those years ago hadn't dwindled in the slightest. "Come to bed?" he asked her quietly.
"With you anywhere, anytime." She whispered back with another kiss taken as her hand found his when she slipped free of his arms, Marlowe then made a slow turn to lead her husband over to their makeshift bed. They'd need no blankets that night as their body heat would work well enough to keep the couple warm.
Lucius followed Marlowe, taking a moment to leave her briefly to switch off the light. Returning to their bed for the evening, he settled in beside Marlowe. The warm summer air still filled the room, windows remaining open. Pulling his shirt up and over his head, he tossed it aside and moved his arms around his wife's body from behind. "Already feels like home." he smiled, pressing his lips to her cheek. "Guess home is wherever you are."
"They say home is where the heart is," finding one of his hands Marlowe laced her fingers through Lucius's before lifting his hand to her lips to kiss it lovingly on the backside, "and you are my heart," and soul, "so this is definitely feeling like home." Marlowe smiled softly edging back a bit further into the guy. She knew anywhere Lucius was would be home for her.
Smiling at what Marlowe had to say, Lucius nodded. "You're right." he told her. "Home for me is wherever you are. We can do this. We can make this home. It already is home." Eventually it would be home to not only themselves, but their children as well and Lucius was looking forward to that more than he even realized at the moment. The goodbyes had been hard, but in the end, he knew that this was for the best. He and Marlowe were meant to be here and eventually he was sure he'd understand why. "I love you, Mar."
"Love you too, baby." Murmuring back as she snuggled closer into him so the warmth emitted from her body would work in helping to keep him warm during the night. Leaving her family had been hard, and though unsure when they first arrived in Scarlet Oak, Marlowe was now accepting the place as her new home. The place she was destined to be with her husband. the man she knew deep in her heart she couldn't live without, nor would she want to.
Arms twined around Marlowe's waist, Lucius let his head rest against her shoulder. The warmth from her body, Marlowe having always been warmer than the average woman, would be more than enough to keep him from being too cold in the night. "We've got a long day tomorrow." he murmured. "All that christening we have to get to."
Marlowe smiled at his words with her eyes fluttering closed. She felt safe and loved enveloped within those strong arms of his, like nothing from the outside world could touch them. "Definitely gonna need all the rest we can get if we're gonna be doing all that "christening" you mentioned." Marlowe grinned with a slight turn of her head to catch the edge of his mouth in a kiss.
Lucius returned the kiss, a little smile curling his mouth up just a bit once he parted his lips from hers. "Get some sleep, baby." he murmured. "Maybe we can get to the downstairs tomorrow."
"Maybe." She agreed shifting a bit within his arms as her eyes closed once more when Marlowe was fully facing away from him. "Love you, Lucius." She breathed out to her husband as the weight of the day finally started taking it's toll on her and Marlowe soon found herself drifting off to the feeling of the faint beat of the man's as he laid up close to her and the gentle sound of his breathing.