Caius D'Onofrio (poweroftheeye) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2019-08-22 11:40:00 |
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Entry tags: | #december 2017, caius, caius x reagan, reagan |
Who: Caius and Reagan (Ty cameo)
When: early morning, Friday, Dec 29th
Where: car, hospital, home
Warning: turns NSFW
Status: complete
It was the Obscurities that alerted Caius to the change when it came, a couple of minutes before the electricity came back on and the generators went off. It had been annoying to have to sit in the dim emergency lighting for hours on end, but they’d had heat, so Caius couldn’t complain too much. That was much more than a lot of people had all night, he knew that much. He’d seen it. He’d mostly stayed in his office, watching Reagan and the cop through the eyes of the Obscurities, driven slightly madder and madder that he couldn’t actually communicate with her. At least he knew she was safe, and he knew where she was. The huddling for warmth the two of them had to do didn’t even bother Caius. As long as Reagan survived, he didn’t care.
The fog finally began to lift, and the spirits rejoiced and showed Caius how clear it was getting. He unfocused on them long enough to find his phone and unlock it. There were no bars for a handful of frustrating seconds, but then they appeared, and he tapped the screen to call Reagan. “Come on, motherfucker, connect connect ...” It didn’t, it just went straight to voicemail. Caius cursed loudly and hung up. He gave it ten minutes and tried again. Still nothing. Caius looked through the Obscurities’ eyes again and saw that Reagan seemed aware that the fog was lifting, but they hadn’t gone anywhere yet.
Figuring her phone must be dead or destroyed in the wreck, Caius made himself wait a little longer. Those monsters could still be out there. The Obscurities hadn’t seen any in a while, but that didn’t mean they were completely gone. But in the end he was up and putting on his coat within a half hour. He had to get to her. He knew where she was, and now that he could see, he had to get there. Caius left his office in a rush, brusquely assuring the people still in his office foyer that he would be back as soon as he could, they were free to try to leave if they wanted, the risk was up to them. Then he was out the door and rushing to his car.
It took him much longer than it should have, with the remaining fog and the debris in the road, but Caius made it to the house where Reagan and Ty were without seeing a single monster. He parked as close as he could to the house, took a few deep breaths, then got out and ran to the front of the house. Nothing came for him, so Caius started knocking on the door. “Reagan?” he called through it. “Reagan, it’s me!”
Reagan was fairly certain things were going to go from bad to worse when the electricity died on them. She had candles at the ready in case it happened, but that didn't help in terms of heat, as the house she and Ty were hunkered down in hadn't had a fireplace. So they had huddled together through most of the night under a few blankets and Reagan had done her best to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't spike a fever. Her stitches held, but considering they had no idea what had attacked him, Reagan wasn't sure what to expect.
The chilly night had been uncomfortable and tense and Reagan hadn't slept much, too painfully aware of the unnatural sounds outside, some incredibly close to the house, others distant, but no less frightening. Eventually the noises faded and then disappeared and Reagan noticed as soon as the fog outside began to grow thin and she could see the outline of trees and other houses again.
She still didn't have her phone, but the power and heat kicked back on shortly after the fog began to life. Reagan's first instinct was to run outside and find Caius, but she had no car and Ty was still in pretty bad shape. He had been able to get in touch with another police officer, but that didn't help her much. Reagan knew he would probably be okay if she left, but the rest of the PPPD probably had their hands full now, and she knew she couldn't just leave him there. He needed a hospital. That didn't mean it wasn't driving Reagan crazy, ignoring her instinct to find Caius and make sure he was all right.
She was checking Ty's stitches to make sure his wounds weren't leaking blood or fluid when someone knocked at the front door, startling her. Caius's voice followed quickly and Reagan exhaled with relief even as she ran to the front door to pull it open. There was no hesitation or greeting as she launched herself into his arms and held him tight. He was alive and in one piece, thank god. "How did you find me?" Reagan asked, still clinging with her arms around his neck.
Caius didn’t think he’d ever been so relieved to be practically tackled. He fell back a step when Reagan’s body made contact with his, but not far. He hugged her back fiercely, burying his face in the side of her neck for a few seconds before he answered. It was one thing to see through the spirits’ eyes that she was alive and mostly unharmed, it was another to actually feel her in his arms. “The Obscurities,” he murmured to her. “They could get through the fog, so ... I’ve been watching you from my office.” Caius squeezed Reagan tighter, then pulled back so he could kiss her, starving for a proper greeting. He wanted to lift her off her feet and carry her straight to his car so they could get the fuck out of there, but he knew she’d gotten a bit banged up, and there was still the cop to deal with. But he could wait while Caius kissed his wife.
The Obscurities. Of course. Reagan hadn't even given them thought over the past forty-eight hours, and frankly, she still wasn't entirely sure how they worked. But Caius had been able to find her because of them. Reagan's hands delved into Caius's dark hair when he kissed her and she reveled in the contact. Yes, she was aware of Ty and the fact that he probably needed their help, but like Caius, she figured he could wait a moment or two. Being apart and not knowing whether or not he was all right had been slowly driving her mad, but now he was in her arms, solid and warm and alive. "Are you all right?" she murmured against his lips. "You didn't get stuck outside, did you?"
The kiss was wonderful, it was bliss to have Reagan back in his arms, but Caius couldn’t help but feel the lack of something between them. He’d been so tense and geared up to see her, and now that they were reunited his magic surged forward toward hers, all of him wanting all of her, and hit a brick wall of absence. He pushed that sense of loss down, because it didn’t matter. Reagan was Reagan and she was alive and safe and that was all he could care about. He smiled faintly into the kiss, arms wrapped tight around her waist. She must’ve missed the mention of his office. “No, I was at work,” Caius answered gently. “And I would’ve left to find you immediately, but there were still staff there with me, a few civilians.” He couldn’t explain to them how or why he was taking the risk to leave, especially not that nosy little bitch. Caius pulled back enough to really look Reagan’s face over. “How are you feeling? How’s your head? Any injuries? I couldn’t tell.”
Reagan had been so acutely aware of her lack of magic over the past two days. Not only in her inability to protect herself, but her inability to help Ty properly. If he had died from in injuries, she was fairly certain she would have blamed herself, because her magical abilities would have been able to save him. Thankfully he seemed to be all right, though she knew he definitely needed to see a doctor. And even now, despite her elation at seeing Caius, Reagan could feel the lack of magic inside of her. It had always been able to recognize Caius's magic, reaching out for him and entwining them together. Now she just felt hollow. A pale comparison to what she used to be. Reagan wondered if he felt it too. How could he not? But he didn't show it, and she knew he wouldn't. "Your office," Reagan repeated, her eyes closing briefly as she remembered he had mentioned it already. Lack of sleep and fear had definitely fucked with her coherency. "It's okay, I'm just glad you're all right. I'm all right too." She motioned briefly to the bandage at her forehead. "My car got totaled and I hit my head, but I'm feeling fine. Ty got the worst of it. We need to get him to the hospital."
“Yeah, I saw,” Caius murmured, gazing at Reagan’s face for a moment while he stroked one hand over the side of her hair. Though he’d missed the main event, he’d seen the wrecked car through the eyes of the Obscurities, and he’d watched as the cop got himself hurt. Caius wanted to gut-punch the man for that, because if he’d died that would’ve just left Reagan more vulnerable. It already had; Officer Solomon had compromised himself. But Caius was self-aware enough to know that wouldn’t help anything. Not everyone put Reagan as their top priority. He nodded slightly and let her go so they could actually move into the house and get business taken care of. “Let’s get moving then, we’ll get him to the ER and get ourselves home.”
Reagan nodded, turning to lead Caius into the house. "You probably know my phone is gone too," she murmured. "It might still be out on the road, or in my car. But I need to find it." If it still worked, it would need to be charged first, but Reagan needed to contact her parents, and Nate, and make sure they were okay. If it got crushed or broke in the freezing weather, she would just have to buy a new one. Like her damn car. "We have a ride to the hospital," Reagan told Ty. "Do you think you can make it to the car outside?" He looked like he was still feeling like shit, and that didn't surprise her. He was probably in quite a bit of pain still too.
Ty had stayed on the couch while Reagan and her husband had their moment or five in the doorway, basking in his sense of relief. That meant the roads were passable again, the monster-fucks were probably gone, and he could get some medical attention. He sat up when the two came further into the house, wincing even as he nodded a bit. “Hey man,” he offered to Caius. Ty didn’t like the guy from the few encounters they’d had, but Caius was somewhat saving his ass now, so he would be nice. “Yeah, maybe with a hand ...”
“I got him,” Caius said brusquely as he approached the couch to help Ty up. He glanced at Reagan. “Go see if you can find your phone and purse and all that.” Even if the car was fucked, those were not things anybody wanted to leave lying in the street. There were always people who would take advantage of a crisis like this, and they didn’t need any more bullshit to have to deal with. Caius hooked an arm under Ty’s and got him on his feet, then started for the door again.
Reagan looked around at the house. They hadn't left a big mess behind for the owners and nothing had been damaged. She thought about leaving a note, but opted against it. Ty was the cop. He could deal with angry homeowners, if it came down to that. Reagan followed Caius and Ty outside and shut the door behind her. It was still cold, and somewhat foggy, but she could see. Her car was visible, or what was left of it, and Reagan sighed as she headed across the lawn and down the street to where glass glittered on the road. Caius could call a tow truck after they dropped Ty off at the ER. Kneeling down, she spotted her purse inside and Reagan reached in to grab it. It was zipped up so nothing fell out at least.
It took her a bit longer to find her phone. It had skidded out of the car at some point after the windows had been broken and was close to the curb across the street. It The screen was cracked to shit but Reagan wouldn't know if it was broken or not until she plugged it in to charge. Sighing, she headed for Caius's car. Once she slipped inside, she turned to Ty. "How are you feeling?"
Caius got Ty settled into the back of the car since there was a bit more room to arrange himself however was comfortable back there. He kept an eye on Reagan until she was on her way to join them, then he climbed in behind the wheel. He just hoped they could drop the cop off quickly and be on their way. He wanted to get Reagan home so he could put something on her head and make sure she ended up warm and comfortable so she could rest.
Ty was not feeling great. Everything hurt more than aspirin could touch, but they were free now and mobile, and that was all he could ask for. “I’ll make it,” he told Reagan with a wan smile. “Happy to be out of there, ready for some professional painkillers.” He huffed a tiny laugh.
Caius drove with a precarious balance between speed and caution, though the speed was often stymied by the vehicles left in the road. It was like an obstacle course in a lot of places. As they went, the fog continued to slowly fade, and they caught glimpses of more and more people emerging from their hiding spots. The half-collapsed carport in front of the ER was already buzzing with activity; he wasn’t surprised to see there were a lot of injured people, and this was just the first wave. At least the ambulances could get around now. They got Ty out of the car and into the ER to be admitted, and he thanked them both for their help and the ride.
Caius felt like they’d done more than enough and he was glad to get back into his car to start for home. He thought about swinging back by the office to check on the folks there, but hopefully they’d already left and locked up behind them. He could make sure later. Right then he just wanted to be with Reagan and settle so he could check on his family too. As he pulled away from the hospital, he reached for his wife’s hand and glanced over at her. “Sure you don’t want a doctor to look at your head?” he asked.
"I'm fine," she murmured. Even after the last bout of fog, when she and Caius had tried to kill one another, she couldn't remember the aftermath looking like this. Damaged buildings and homes. Abandoned cars, some of them completely totaled, like her own. Thankfully the ones they passed on their way back to Black Cove appeared to be empty. And she hoped Ty would be okay. Maybe she would check in at the police station later next week, just to see. Reagan shook her head, her fingers flexing in Caius's hand. "I can't even begin to describe to you how helpless I felt. And I know everyone probably felt that way, but there was nothing I could do. I couldn't stay warm. I couldn't protect myself. I couldn't help Ty when he got hurt. Not the way I should have been able to. He could have died if I hadn't known how to do stitches." Reagan's tone had grown increasingly frustrated. "I don't know how much longer I can do this."
Caius could only imagine what it had been like for her, and it made deep parts of him ache that he couldn’t help her more. His hand gripped hers tight at the last line, and the part of Caius that was already sleep-deprived and stressed by the last couple of days murmured that he could really lose her. He imagined coming home to Reagan lying next to an empty bottle of pills or something and it made him want to throw up. “I can’t begin to understand how you’re feeling,” he murmured after a long pause. “I know that. But I need you to hang on. We have to keep searching for a solution, and we won’t stop until we find one, no matter what it takes. I’m not going to quit on you, Reagan, I promise. Never.” He would find a way to give her his own magic, if it came to that. It at least wouldn’t be completely unfamiliar to her.
"And what if you can't?" Reagan asked. This probably wasn't the time or place for this discussion, but she had been suppressing her anger and feeling of helplessness over the past couple of days and it felt like the resentment from losing her magic was shifting from a soft simmer to a boil. She didn't blame Caius for it. She had willingly given the sacrifice to return his memories to him. But Reagan hadn't been prepared for how empty it would make her feel, and every day felt worse than the last. She was exhausted and acutely aware of how vulnerable she was to every damn thing in this town now that she had no way to protect herself. "What if you can't find a solution? What if there is none? What if you waste the next six months, or five years, or a decade, trying to achieve the impossible?" Reagan shook her head and licked her lips as she watched the car pass a house that had a car stopped in the middle of the front yard, it's front hood completely bent in from the tree it had struck. "I'm not going to do that to you."
It definitely wasn’t the time, but it was happening anyway, and it made Caius feel even more sick than the lack of sleep and food and all the worry had already done. The defeat in Reagan’s voice, the way she made it all sound so fruitless, made Caius hate what she’d done. He wanted to rewind time, stop her from doing the ritual, let himself go back to not really knowing who he or she was. He could’ve started over, they could’ve fallen in love again, rebuilt their lives. They would’ve done it with their magic intact, which could only serve to pull them back together again. Suddenly full of emotion that pushed hard against his cracked walls, Caius slammed his free hand against the steering wheel a few times as the temperature in the car dropped ten or fifteen degrees. The anger wasn’t exactly directed at Reagan, but their entire situation. “It’s not a waste,” he hissed through his teeth to avoid yelling it out loud. “And you don’t get to decide that for me. If you leave me, I will track you to the ends of the earth to give you your magic back when I’ve solved this, I swear to all the fucking gods there’ve ever been.”
Reagan's back tensed at the burst of emotion from Caius, but not because she was afraid. This wasn't the first time they'd had passionate arguments, or conversations, and given their situation now, it wouldn't be the last. But she believed every word he said. He was stubborn as hell, and it hurt her to know that he would waste the rest of his life looking for a solution, even if there wasn't one. Breathing through the chill, Reagan resisted the desire to tug her coat more firmly around her. "If there's a way to fix this, we'll find it," Reagan said, keeping her tone as steady as she could, even if the urge to scream was clawing its way to the surface. She hadn't been doing enough of that. Screaming. Beating something. Trying to eject all the frustration and pain she had been feeling. At least she knew that some semblance of fire still burned deep in her gut, because she didn't know what would happen to her if that flame was ever extinguished too. Losing control wasn't an option for her. She didn't have Obscurities to let loose and take her out of this reality for a while. "But if there's no way to get this magic, and that's a possibility, Caius, whether you want to admit it or not, then I don't..." Reagan inhaled deeply before exhaling through her nose. "There's something missing between us. I feel it, so I know you do too. We'll never be equals again. If we have children, you know there's the possibility that they won't have any magical ability. At all. I don't know what to do about any of this, okay? It feels like a part of me has been cut out and I don't know where that leaves us!"
Passion and high emotions were better than defeat, as agonizing as it felt to hear Reagan say those things. Caius had thought them already of course, they both had, but they hadn’t been discussing the worst possibilities yet. The most stubborn part of Caius insisted that he didn’t care if their children weren’t magical, but he knew that wasn’t the complete truth. It was more complicated than that. Of course he cared. He cared about it for both of their sakes -- Reagan’s family line was just as long and potent as his own. She deserved that legacy too. But on a more personal level ... “It leaves us in a shitty position, with a shitty, unfair, awful loss to have to bear,” he said, his tone still intense. “But we’ll bear it until we can fix it, one way or another.” The question of whether or not he would give up his own magic for Reagan had been plaguing him, because of course it had. With all of those what-ifs circling in his mind, he’d considered that there was one way to make them equal, even if they couldn’t restore Reagan’s magic -- he could give up his own. That would put them back on even ground, at least. They could build some other kind of life, somewhere else. Somewhere away from all this darkness. Caius looked over at Reagan, his expression softening a bit. “I love you, Reagan. More than anything. Whatever comes, we’ll deal with it, just like we always do,” he said, quieter. “You didn’t abandon me when I didn’t know anything, and I’m not giving up on you with this. There has to be a way, and we’ll find it.”
Reagan looked away from him, trying to fight back the urge to tell him there was no way. That this was all a waste of time. It sounded horribly pessimistic and she knew she would have been furious with him had he said the same things to her when his memories had been taken. Reagan hadn't wanted to give up on him, on them, and now Caius refused to give up on her. She knew he loved her, but she worried about how that love would evolve, or regress if the years passed and Reagan remained this way. She knew how important his magic was to him, and it was hard to imagine Caius being happy with a lineage that could die with him. Anthony had taken that chance, she supposed, and they had gotten lucky with their firstborn. But that wasn't a guarantee. Reagan looked down at the broken phone in her hand before glancing at Caius. "Do you ever wonder if... we didn't actually break that curse? If we're still suffering because of it? That this is going to keep happening, over and over, until we just give up?" Like every other thought in her head, it was a dark one, but lately, it had been keeping Reagan up at night. If, by some miracle, they were able to retrieve Reagan's magic, then what? What fresh hell was waiting for them then?
Caius didn’t think he could ever love Reagan less. A bit differently, maybe, but his feelings for her were so interwoven with his intrinsic being that he didn’t think they could ever be separated. He’d been a mess without his memories and love for her, a shell of a person. Caius had felt the pull toward darker and darker magic without Reagan’s influence, and he’d felt colder overall. She might have lost her magic, but she still had fire in her, that was just who she was. Caius needed that balance in his life. He needed his partner, something completely his to focus on. It killed him that he couldn’t fix this quickly for her, make her whole again like she’d done for him. Her suggestion made his chest hurt, though that wasn’t a new idea to him either. “Yes, I’ve wondered,” he admitted reluctantly. “But then I think back to ... didn’t you feel it when it broke? When my memories came back, I felt like I knew it was gone. And we can drive ourselves insane wondering if we’re still being manipulated by outside forces, but either way we have to keep pushing forward. Giving up isn’t an option, you know that.” Caius gave her a glance full of concern.
She had felt it, when the curse supposedly lifted. But what if that had been the plan all along? What if that was just part of it? False hope. Her gut told her that the curse had been broken, and that Caius's memories being stripped had just been Plan B. And they had beaten that too. Baron couldn't have known Reagan would summon her from the dead, or that she would sacrifice her magic for Caius. So rationally, yes, they had ended the curse when Caius got his memories back. This was just Reagan's sacrifice coming to fruition, and she had to deal with the consequences of it. Consequences she had willingly taken. But she Caius was right. They had to keep trying. But gods, she was so tired. And she felt like half a person these days, and it was only getting worse. Was this how Caius felt without his memories? Chaotic and scattered? That had been mental. Reagan was starting to feel it physically. But she hadn't wanted Caius to give up when they were trying to regain his memories, so she wouldn't give up on this. "I know," she murmured. "I know. I just... I need a shower. And some sleep. I need to shut my brain off for a while."
At least she’d said she knew they had to keep going. Caius was worried for her mental health. He wasn’t sure which would’ve been worse -- losing his memories or losing his magic -- but he knew she was in a lot of pain. Pain she stubbornly wasn’t showing him. But it wasn’t exactly the kind of thing you could work out on a therapist couch. He reached over to squeeze her thigh gently. “I know. It’s been a hellish couple of days. We’re almost home,” he murmured. Caius was more than good with dropping it for now. Neither of them were in any shape to have a real conversation about it, and he was exhausted himself. A shower for both of them and then clinging in bed and just safely breathing together for a bunch of hours would hopefully help. Caius would check on his family somewhere in there and Reagan would too, and then he could fully relax and finally get some fucking rest.
Reagan didn't know what good it would do to breakdown in front of him. He was trying his hardest, and she was sure he had kept a lot of his pain to himself when they were trying to get his memories back. He had the luxury of living elsewhere for a while, so he could lose control in private. Reagan rested her hand over his and did her best to clamp down on all of the uncertainty and frustration that swirled inside of her. She couldn't take it out on Caius, because none of this was his fault. And there were things to take care of. Her car. Calling their families. Once those were out of the way, she could shower and then crawl into bed for a while. If anyone needed her, they were going to have to wait. Reagan was silent until their house came into view. When Caius pulled into the driveway, Reagan reached for her bag between her feet before she looked at Caius. "No matter what happens, or doesn't happen, you know I love you, right? I know I haven't been... myself lately. But everything I feel for you is still there."
Had either of them been themselves lately? Not at the same time in a long time, it felt like. Caius’s stubbornness wouldn’t let him quit on Reagan, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t getting tired. Not tired of her, but of all of it. He knew she had to be even more exhausted, and he uselessly wished again that he had could just snap his fingers and make it all go away. As he tucked his phone and keys into his jacket pockets, he looked over at her, his expression solemn. “I know,” Caius told her. He snagged her closest hand and brought it to his lips to kiss her knuckles lightly. “And I don’t expect you to be anything but what you are in the moment, okay? I’m here for you. Freak out, get angry, mourn it, whatever you need to do. I’m here and I love you regardless.”
She believed him, but that didn't mean she was ready to show him those things. It wasn't like Caius hadn't witnessed her breakdown before, or lose her temper, or cry. She had done all of those things and more in the years they'd known each other. But this felt deeper than all those moments. Harder. She didn't want to become someone he didn't recognize, which was difficult because Reagan was starting to feel that way about herself. She offered him a faint smile now and nodded. "I know." She squeezed her fingers around his hand and then moved to open her door to get out of the car. Reagan was more than ready for her own home, and shower and bed. "I have to charge my phone and see if it still works. If you call your dad, will you check and see if he knows anything about my mom?"
Caius let Reagan go so he could climb out too. He was more than ready for a hot shower and a change of clothes and a shave. Two days of beard growth on him wasn’t a lot, but it was patchy and scratchy enough to bother him. There were multiple reasons he was always clean-shaven. “I will, and I’ll arrange for somebody to tow your car to a shop,” he told her as they got out of the car. He had no doubt the thing was totaled, but the insurance company would want a professional to declare that. There were going to be a metric ton of claims in this town, Caius felt sure. He gave the front of the house a glance over and didn’t see any immediate damage, but he would do a more thorough inspection once they’d rested. For now he just wanted to get inside.
From what Reagan would see in the lingering fog, her house looked to be okay. That was something, at least. And she was grateful to Caius for taking care of her car. Going shopping for a new one was going to be a massive pain in the ass, but it needed to be done. Walking with him up the stairs to the porch, Reagan reached into her purse for her keys, unable to remember if she had thrown them in there or not when she tried to leave her car the second time. They were there, at the bottom by her wallet and Reagan breathed a sigh of relief before using them to unlock the front door. It was warm inside and Reagan dumped her bag on the foyer floor, rather than hanging it up as she usually would. Toeing herself out of her shoes, Reagan turned to Caius as she unbuttoned her coat, getting a good look at him now that they were inside and safe. She couldn't help but smile a little as she reached out to scratch her nails a little through his facial hair. Not that there was a lot of it, but Caius was so meticulous with shaving. "You look kind of wild," she said, now that she was noticing his tousled hair too. Like he had spent days running his hands through it.
Caius pushed off his own shoes and slipped out of his coat, hanging it up and giving a faintly amused huff as Reagan scritched at his face. “I feel kind of wild, I guess,” he murmured with a soft smirk. “Gamey. And like I really, really want to brush my teeth. I’m keeping a better stock of things at the office from now on.” In spite of how they both smelled -- which honestly wasn’t terrible, it had only been a couple of days without showers -- he pulled Reagan in close and kissed her face. “Do you want company in the shower?” he asked softly. “Or want me to leave you be?” He would understand if she wanted some privacy, that was an impulse he was intimately familiar with, but if Reagan didn’t mind him staying close, Caius wanted to be right there with her.
She couldn't help but smile softly when he kissed her face, and she brought both hands up to cup his, her thumbs brushing along the stubble. "I haven't seen you in almost two days, so I would rather you stay close for a while if that's okay." Reagan had the urge to cling to him in the shower for a bit, if he would let her. They probably needed to get things taken care of sooner rather than later, but she was feeling selfish and needy and it was hard to allow herself to feel those things and give into them. Hopefully Caius wouldn't mind. "You wash my back, I'll wash yours?" She could only imagine how much better they would feel clean and somewhat refreshed after everything that had happened with the fog.
That was the answer he wanted, so the ‘if that’s okay’ made him smile a bit. “You drive a hard bargain, but I think I can manage that,” he murmured, then grinned briefly and kissed her lips. Caius was mindful of the dragon breath, so he didn’t make it a deep one, but it was tender nonetheless. He ran his hands down to cup her ass briefly, then patted it and let her go. “After you, then. Once we’re cleaned up I’ll find something to put on your head, too.” They could heal that cut up quickly and be done with it, then Caius could go about making the necessary phone calls and make sure his family was okay. He was concerned for them, but he also trusted his father to protect them, and Reagan always came first and she wanted him with her.
Reagan was more than ready to get rid of the bandage on her forehead and clean up. She wondered if Ty's stitches had been okay, and if he would have to stay in the hospital overnight. Either way, he was in capable hands now, so that was the important thing. Reagan hung up her coat and headed up the stairs, thankful to be in her own home again. She needed to check in with her family, and make plans to drive to Belladonna to see if it had been damaged. Had Emma been stuck there? It felt like there was so much to do now, but all she really wanted was to stand in a hot shower for a while and then curl up in bed. Reagan turned on the water in the shower before stripping out of her clothes. She left them on the bathroom floor, kicking them to the side and out of the way. Her hair was a mess, she had some dirt smudged on her face, and her head still throbbed a bit where she had banged it in the car. But she was alive and more or less unhurt. While Caius did the same, Reagan stepped into the shower, sighing contently at the feel of the hot spray hitting her body.
Caius was extremely relieved to take off the clothes he’d been in for the past two days. He was fastidious about hygiene under normal circumstances, and when he couldn’t be, it bothered him deeply. He pitied the poor idiots who’d gotten stuck somewhere without running water or a proper restroom, that was for sure. He gave Reagan a couple of moments to enjoy the hot water to herself while he brushed his teeth in the sink, then stepped into the steamy shower stall with her. She looked beyond gorgeous with the water running down her body, and Caius reached for her, gently running his hands down the curves of her sides. It was peaceful in there, with the warmth and the white noise and his wife within reach, fucking finally.
Reagan was already feeling better now that she was wet. She ran her hands over her hair, smiling a touch when Caius slipped into the shower with her. As much as she adored him clean shaven, the scruff at his jaw was pretty cute. She slipped her arms around his neck, her fingers delving into his dark hair before she tucked her face against his throat, just to feel him. Sometimes she wondered why they stayed in this town. Why they haven't talked about packing up and moving away, preferably to the other side of the country. But she also knew they would probably never be able to leave. Not with their ancestry here, and the pull Point Pleasant had on its natives. Sighing softly, she pressed a kiss to his skin. Reagan wanted to talk, to pour out every iota of emotion she was feeling, but at the same time, she just wanted silence, to revel in the feel of Caius's arms around her. She had been away from him only a day and a half or so, but it felt so much longer.
Caius slipped his arms around Reagan’s waist and held her close gently, closing his own eyes to relish the feel of her body against his. It was more emotionally intimate than sexual at the moment. Being separated against their will for any length of time was too long, and all the helpless worry had been difficult to bear. Not as difficult as what Reagan had endured, of course, since at least Caius could see her and know she was alive and mostly unharmed, but still. If she had been harmed, he would’ve been helpless to do anything about it. Holding onto her now was soothing, and he didn’t try to force any conversation, just swayed them slowly back and forth while the hot water warmed their skin.
Reagan closed her eyes, comforted by Caius, as well as the hot water beating against their bodies. They were both okay, at least in terms of what had happened in the fog. How many times had they held onto each other like this after going through something? There was no better feeling than having Caius's arms wrapped around her, whether they were dancing, or fucking, or just needing the physical contact after a stressful day or moment. When she felt like this, it was hard to remember the brief moments of her life when he hadn't been a part of it. Not directly, anyway. After a few minutes of swaying with Caius, Reagan brought her arms down to slip them around his waist. She left her cheek pressed against his chest, but allowed her hands to wander, fingertips tracing and pressing into muscle and skin. Reagan would have given anything to be able to touch his magic with her own in that moment, just to feel that bonding experience. As it was, she had only her hands, and that would have to do.
Reagan had always been able to give him physical comfort in ways that he’d never gotten from anyone else. He was affectionate with his sister, and his mother on occasion, but he’d never been a touchy sort of person. He and his father shook hands far more often than they hugged. Reagan had come along and slipped behind that wall and now feeling her hands on him and vice versa was soothing in ways he couldn’t describe. Caius could feel how it was different now, less fiery, of course, but that didn’t stop him from enjoying it, especially today. Very slowly, the tension he’d been carrying started to leave him. He slid one of his hands up her back to gently rake fingers through her long dark hair, and turned his head slightly to kiss her temple. “We can just live here, right?” he murmured quietly.
She hummed a positive response to that, nuzzling his jaw as her hands splayed against his back and slid upward to his shoulder blades. "I'll happily live anywhere you are," she said. Like Caius, Reagan had never been overly affectionate with people. Her mom had never been that way either. What little physical affection Reagan did get as a child came from her dad, but he had even grown a bit standoffish in that sense after Reagan entered high school. But she never had any trouble with Caius. Her hands, her body, were always drawn to him when he was near. It still amazed her, the depth of feeling he provoked inside of her. Whether she wanted to grope, or caress, or even slap, depending on the moment, Reagan would quite happily spend the rest of her days entwined with him somehow. And she knew how cliche and cheesy that probably was, but nobody else could quite understand how connected they were, even now, without her magic present to bind them more tightly together. Reagan pressed a kiss to his jaw and then back underneath his ear. Her nails pressed into the muscle of his back and she nipped him with her teeth then before sighing. "There's so much to do right now, but I don't care about any of it. Is that wrong?"
No one else’s hands had ever felt like Reagan’s, even when he’d been trying to drown their conflict in the flesh of another woman. She knew exactly where to touch him and how, for every occasion. Caius supposed that was what happened when you essentially grew up with a lover, but it always felt like more than that. Deeper. They were meant for one another, and they would defy all odds and every obstacle that tried to get in their way. This latest round of trauma just solidified that for him even more. He would be a liar if he said he hadn’t thought about leaving Point Pleasant for good, even outright daydreamed about it. Part of Caius knew it would mean giving up a lot of what he’d always assumed his future would be, and he feared it would cut him off from some of his power, like the town itself was a source. But he also knew that whatever forces lurked underneath the surface wanted to keep the people here. If they left, Caius didn’t think they would be able to stay gone. None of that was worth thinking about at the moment though. They needed to rest. The feel of Reagan’s nails and teeth sent pleasant little shivers down Caius’s spine that made it much easier not to think about anything but her. “Not wrong,” he murmured, and pulled his face back to brush his lips against hers. “And even if it was, who gives a shit. I don’t care about anything but you right now.”
Point Pleasant often felt like a cage, and even those who managed to escape it often returned, caught by the town's tendrils that stretched and snaked across thousands of miles until it found them and latched on to drag them back. In her darkest moments with Caius, she sometimes felt like they were prisoners as well, not only to Point Pleasant, but to each other. They were bonded through history, and magic and Reagan had realized at a fairly young age that they would end up together, no matter what distractions or pain presented itself as a roadblock. It had been so easy to walk away in the past, when things got too hard, or they found themselves on different paths. But they couldn't do that now. And Reagan didn't want to. Maybe no one else understood the intensity in which she loved him, but no one else needed to. Only Caius did. Her hands continued to roam, smoothing down to his hips and then up to his abdomen and chest. She knew she needed to get the soap and wash them both, but it was difficult to pull away from him. "What did you do?" Reagan murmured, watching the shower water fall over and under her hand pressed against his chest. "When you lost your memories, and you were alone. How did you cope with that?"
Caius didn’t mind them taking their time getting washed. The hot water felt good and he knew the temperature would last a good long while. He just wanted to be close to his wife now, with the person he was bonded to, body and soul. The one who made him believe in souls in the first place. He at least felt that their ties were bigger than any curse or family history or magic or physical chemistry could explain. He stroked her with his hands as well, slowly tracing the curves of her body that he knew so well. While Reagan petted his chest, Caius cupped the bones of her hips and stroked his thumbs over her wet skin. He drew in a slightly deeper, unsteady breath at her question, hating that she was suffering as much as he had. Worse. “Not very well,” he murmured over the rush of the water. Caius gave a huff that wasn’t really amused. “I drank too much, tried to throw myself into work. Obsessively looked at pictures of you and us. Felt insane. Tried to find a fix.” He’d also tried to dig deeper into his magic, and slept with another woman, two things that Reagan couldn’t do and didn’t need to know about. Caius felt guilty about Alice off and on sometimes, but he’d been so preoccupied with Reagan’s problem that it had faded to the back of his mind. He hadn’t been himself, there was no need to upset her. “If there’s anything you need me to be doing differently to support you, please tell me. If you think of anything.”
"You're doing everything you can," Reagan said, because she knew that much to be true. "Sometimes I feel like I need to get used to living without magic, that I need to accept it and work on becoming whoever I am without that as a part of my life. I feel like maybe it's something I can do, and be happy with. But then I'm with you..." She placed both of her palms against his chest now, feeling his heart beating under one of them. "... and I remember how it felt when we could connect that way, and I don't know that I can bear going without it." He already knew this of course, because she had said something similar in the car. But it was the truth, and he needed to know it. "There's nothing you can do about that, I know. I'm just trying to find the new normal." Because if they couldn't retrieve her magic, she needed to learn to live without it, if that was even possible.
Caius understood the loss, to the extent that he could feel it too, but he couldn’t imagine being the one on the other end of it. When he’d lost his memories of Reagan, most of his sense of self came from his magic. He would’ve been completely empty without it. Caius ached for her as she talked in a painful way that he’d never experienced with anyone else. Even though he’d known it somewhere inside, it hurt him to hear that his presence made it worse for her. Caius swallowed thickly and nodded a tiny bit before he pressed his forehead against Reagan’s again and shut his eyes. He didn’t want to discourage her from trying to find a ‘new normal,’ because what else could she do at the moment? But he also didn’t want her to give up. It was hard to know what to say. Words couldn’t help this, only action could. “If you ... need some time to yourself, I’ll understand,” he told her, his hands gripping her hips tighter for a moment.
Reagan should have known he would offer to leave, and she brought her hands up to his hair, sliding her fingers into the wet strands with their foreheads pressed together. "I just got you back," she murmured. "Do you think I could send you away? It doesn't hurt, having you here. I mean, maybe sometimes it does, but only in a way that reminds me not to give up. I went crazy without you here, and I don't think I could handle it if you left again, even to help me. I need you." Reagan had no idea what the future held, or if this would all end badly, or if they would manage to do the impossible and get her magic back. But right now, she needed and wanted Caius with her. Reagan felt like she would unravel so much more quickly without him there to ground her.
That was good to hear, especially the part about not giving up. Caius knew he would completely lose himself if he lost Reagan, the ties to most everything that still made him reasonably human. Work was a thin thread, and he could very easily see himself spending all of his extra time and energy on darker and darker magic, without Reagan there to connect to him and bring him back into the world like she did. There was a reason they needed to be with each other, there was no balance otherwise. “I need you too,” he whispered, then tilted his head in to kiss her softly. “I’m so sorry you’re hurting. I want to make it stop, every second of every day.”
"I know." Reagan nuzzled her nose against his and kissed him again. "And I don't want this to be our life now. I don't want to hurt, and I don't want you to feel responsible for making everything better. I just... I need time where we can be normal, even if it means putting away the books for a day. We've been married since September, and it seems like we've been thrown into chaos ever since we got back from Anguilla. I never thought I would wish for boring married life, but here I am." Her lips twitched softly before she let go of his hair to run her hands down his back to his ass and hips. "I know that's not really us though. But I would take it over all of this."
What was normal anyway? Caius knew what she meant though -- it felt like everything had been nonstop stress and fear for months. He was tired too. He just wanted to curl up next to Reagan and let her keep stroking his hair like that and sleep for a couple of weeks. There was work to be done ... but they could take a break, couldn’t they? “So ... you want me to come home from a long day at the office and expect a cocktail and slippers ready?” he murmured, half-smiling a bit. Those ‘happy marriage’ cliches from the fifties were ridiculous, of course. “It’s probably sad that I don’t even know what normal married life looks like for us yet,” he added. Caius kissed Reagan’s cheek slowly. “But I agree. We can rest for a couple of days. I just want to be with you.” As long as nobody in their families had been hurt or killed with all this fog nonsense, that was.
Reagan's lips twitched at the mental image of Caius actually expecting anything remotely domestic from her. She attempted to cook from time to time, and she kept the house clean between visits from a cleaning crew she hired monthly. But that was all she had the patience for. "I want to be with you too," she told him. "Assuming this town doesn't try to kill us in the process." Sometimes she wondered if this would have all happened if they hadn't gotten married. But if they hadn't, maybe they would have just continued their cycle of drama for the next few years, and this would have happened eventually anyway. It was too complex to give much thought to, so Reagan did her best to distract herself. Having Caius naked and wet with his arms around her certainly helped. She kissed him softly. "I promise our normal married life will never be boring. Just in a less cursed way."
It was funny to joke about sometimes, but Caius had never wanted a subservient wife. That kind of woman was too weak for him; he’d known most of his life that he could never be happy with some meek mouse of a woman. Reagan was the antithesis of that, even without her magic, and Caius was grateful for it. He’d been about to reassure her that the town would never kill them -- it could try all it wanted, they would come out on top in the end, but the last thing she said was more intriguing. Caius turned them a bit and gently pushed Reagan’s back against the tiled wall, running his hands over her sides with a bit more purpose now. “Oh I knew that already,” Caius murmured, his lips quirking up just a bit. “Nothing about you is boring.” He kissed her again, lingering in it this time.
Despite the heat of the shower, the tile of her shower was still cool against her back. But that was quickly forgotten because Caius's hands were on her body and his lips were pressed to hers. As leisurely and lazy as the shower had been so far, Reagan could feel a spark of arousal deep in the pit of her belly that felt needy and restless. She pressed her fingertips into his hips and drew him closer still, wanting to feel his body flush up against hers. Reagan parted her lips to deepen the kiss, hungry for more now, if only to shut down her brain and forget the past two days. She always missed Caius when they were apart, but when they were apart and dealing with potentially traumatic experiences, there was something inside of her that always feel desperate to be with him, as if physical intimacy was the only way to reassure her that everything would be okay.
Other women might have been upset with him, accuse him of being insensitive to their ordeal or trying to change the subject or something. But Caius knew that Reagan connected to him through their physical relationship just as strongly as he did her, and he knew they both took comfort in it. Words came cheap, but their bodies had always been in good sync and they communicated better than Caius and Reagan’s brains did sometimes. The way Reagan pulled him in against her made him think she needed this distraction -- this connection -- as much as he did. He kissed her deeper, hands firm on her hips as he pressed his growing erection against her wet skin. His body was always quick to respond, even when he was tired and wrung out. Being with Reagan was an energy boost rather than a drain, and gods knew they could both use it.
There was a time for talking, of course, but more often than not, Reagan was more than happy to let her body communicate with Caius instead. The shower water was still steamy and comforting and Reagan sunk into Caius's kiss, her hands sliding over his wet skin. Every inch was familiar to her. Every muscle and scar. The exhaustion from the past two days was still felt bone-deep, but the arousal Caius's touch invoked began to overwhelm everything else. Already she felt achy and warm between her legs. More than anything else, Reagan loved feeling his cock pressed against her and Reagan slipped a hand between them to wrap her fingers around it where she began stroking, coaxing him to full hardness.
Something was missing, of course, and Caius couldn’t deny it ... but he did think he could make peace with it. At least as long as it took to fix it. Reagan was still Reagan, delectable and sexy, and they still knew every centimeter of each other and how to make it feel hot and throbby. Caius knew his wife’s body just as well as his own, and as she stroked him, he reached down himself to return the favor. Caius slid his fingers over her mound, then gently started to rub her sex, delving his tongue deep into her mouth. She already felt so hot, he knew that she wanted to lose herself in him just as much as he wanted to do the same. He nipped at her lips, letting the passion that was always humming between them grow in intensity.
Like Caius, Reagan could feel what was missing as well, though she opted to shift how she felt about that into what they were doing. She needed this to forget about the worries plaguing her, and she was desperate for Caius, needing the physical reassurance that nothing had changed between them. Reagan hated that she felt needy about it, but it was either this or push him away, and she didn't have it in her to do that. Gasping softly against his mouth, Reagan slipped her free hand over his between her legs, encouraging him to rub her harder. Maybe the magical element had left her, but Reagan still felt like she was on fire, with heat and tension coiling deep inside of her as Caius overwhelmed her senses.
Caius applied more pressure at Reagan’s encouragement, stroking her clit and lips firmly. As well as they knew each other, he still loved it when she gave him direction. Loved that she was a woman who knew what she wanted and that he would do anything to give it to her. It was getting harder to breathe as his arousal ramped up, so Caius gave them space for air, but kept his mouth close to Reagan’s. He loved feeling her start to pant as pleasure took over, and being close to the delicious sounds she made. He licked at her bottom lip in a quick swipe as he pushed two fingers up into her, rubbing at her clit with his thumb.
As soon as Caius had broken their kiss Reagan gasped softly for air. Now that he was applying just the right amount of pressure to her clit, Reagan stopped pressing against his hand, but kept hold of him anyway. She loved that he was always responsive to what she wanted from him. Caius had never let ego get in the way of giving her pleasure, unlike some of the other men she had been with in the past. These days Reagan only had to ask or encourage once, because then he knew exactly what to do and how to do it. Her fingers continued to stroke his cock, though the movements were slightly more distracted now as Caius slid his fingers into her body, making her moan loudly in the shower. Her hips began to move with his hand, her eyes closed as she let the pleasure take over everything else.
Caius had perhaps an unhealthy dose of ego, it was true, but it had never gotten in the way of making Reagan feel good. It was like magic -- the details made the difference. Maybe he wasn’t threatened by it because he and Reagan had done most of their sexual exploration on each other, or maybe he just wasn’t a selfish asshole about everything. He loved to turn her on and make her squirm and get her off, and he already felt lost in her pleasure more than his own. The way she started to hump his hand made his cock throb with need, and his patience started to fray. Reagan’s body felt so hot and tight around his fingers, he wanted more of him inside of her. He waited for another couple of minutes, working his hand against Reagan to make sure she was good and ready, then nipped at her bottom lip. “Turn around,” he said, his voice low and gravelly.
She was definitely more than ready for him, even in the shower water his fingers moved quite easily in and out of her body. Caius never failed to turn her on, even after a decade of having sex together. Reagan might have started grinding against his hand to get herself off but then he was directing her to turn around, and she knew her orgasm would feel a hell of a lot better with his cock buried inside of her. Even now her pussy seemed to throb and ache in anticipation of it. Panting softly Reagan turned to face the shower wall, one hand braced against the tile, the other reaching back to grip his hip. "I want it hard," she instructed, knowing exactly what she needed in that moment to feel good. They could be lazy and gentle with each other later, after they've rested. Right now she needed everything he was willing to give her.
Caius tilted the showerhead so the spray wasn’t directly on them while Reagan turned around. Water and bodily fluids didn’t mix well during sex. The back of her looked amazing, and he took the time to run his hands down the curves of her body, landing at her hips, which he pulled back toward him a little to get the angle he wanted. If Reagan wanted it hard, he would need leverage. Caius didn’t waste any time or words, guiding his cock to the right spot and pushing into Reagan’s body with a firm thrust and a grunt. The squeeze of her pussy around him was exactly what he needed too, and even though Caius was tired as hell, he dug deep to find the energy to give his wife what she wanted. Gripping her hips tight, he started to fuck her hard, his rhythm ramping up quickly as the pleasure of it flooded his system.
Reagan knew Caius wouldn't disappoint her, but she still gasped at that first initial thrust. Her palms pressed hard against the wet shower tile and she moved her body back to meet his, closing her eyes as those first few slivers of pleasure began to snake their way through her, overwhelming the exhaustion and bad feelings that had sunk in deep over the past couple of days. She wasn't thinking of the fog, or the creatures, or her lack of magic. She was completely enveloped by Caius, how he felt against and inside of her. They were alive and had survived another attempt by this town to drive them apart. In the moment, Reagan clung to Caius's belief that they had to keep fighting, even when things felt hopeless. She needed to stay present with him, and it was easy to do that when her body felt this alive. Resting her forehead against her hand, she slipped the other between her legs and began to rub frantically at her clit, wanting to explode sooner rather than later. She had no patience to draw this out. Not now.
After a couple of days of solid worry and stress, it felt incredibly good to let go of all rational thoughts. They weren’t needed here, and Caius was honestly sick of his own internal monologue. All that was needed was their bodies and their love for one another. He just needed Reagan, nothing else. He knew this wouldn’t last long for either of them, not at this pace, but that was okay too. Caius held onto Reagan’s hips and pounded his cock into her, able to feel her fingers brush against his shaft every now and then. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, memories drifting through his head of times he’d fucked the hell out of her in other places, away from all of this bullshit, just the two of them. Caius groaned as his pleasure notched up, and he slid one hand up Reagan’s back to get a grip in her hair and pulled her head back a bit.
No, this wouldn't last long for her. Her clit was swollen and slick and Caius knew just how forceful she needed him to be to get her there like this. Reagan moaned loudly when she felt his grip in her hair and her entire body trembled as it sent a fresh surge of heat between her legs. There were nothing but the two of them now, their breathing harsh and loud, the sound of their bodies slapping together as the shower water beat against the wall where Caius had moved the head. She wished she could live in the moment forever, nothing but mindless fucking pleasure. "Gods, Caius." Reagan could feel it then, that delicious climb to the peak that began deep in her belly. "Please..." Please what? She didn't know. All she knew was he couldn't stop, even for a second. Reagan's cries grew in her throat, her fingers firm and frantic against her clit. And then she was there, and it was nothing but throbbing ecstasy, strangled curses and shaking knees as she pulsed around his cock. It was exquisite, and if she still harbored any magic, she might have tried to draw it out as long as she possibly could.
Those vague pleas always amped up Caius’s pleasure, signs he was doing his job of fucking Reagan senseless. He definitely had no desire to stop, so he kept pumping hard as Reagan started to peak. The extra tightness and listening to her delicious sounds pushed him closer and closer to his own edge, and when she started to throb and clench around him, Caius fell right over. His thighs were burning as he got in the last few shuddery thrusts, a sound that was almost like a growl emanating from his throat as he pulled harder on Reagan’s hair. His cock swelled and pulsed inside of her as he came without even an attempt to hold it back, and Caius’s body shuddered behind her as he pushed in deep. Once the most intense pleasure was over, he eased up on Reagan’s hair and slipped a supporting arm around her, breathing hard and feeling tingly all over.
Reagan never got tired of this. Never got tired of how he touched her, and the noises he made when he couldn't help himself. There was something carnal about it, but also familiar and loving. Sometimes she thought Caius could get her off just by talking to her. Once she had realized that, years and years ago, she knew no one else would ever come close to matching how Caius made her feel during sex. She hissed softly between her teeth until he loosened his grip on her hair and then she relaxed, leaning back against him, though not with all of her weight. She didn't want to send them both toppling to the shower floor. Reagan hummed softly in her throat, more than satisfied, and also ready to curl up with him in bed. "I love you," she murmured, her eyes closed as she simply enjoyed the pleasurable aftershocks that continued to pulse through her. "Thank you."
Still buried and twitching inside of her, Caius ran his hands up the front of Reagan’s body. He shifted one foot back to keep them upright as he caressed her breasts. Humming softly, Caius kissed at the top of her shoulder and the side of her neck, enjoying the sated feeling that spread warmly through him. “I love you too,” he said softly next to Reagan’s ear. He understood the thanks, even if he didn’t think it was necessary. It benefitted Caius too, whenever they came together. He nuzzled her and squeezed her gently against him, then started to reluctantly let go. There was still washing to do, and then he wanted to be in bed. Wordlessly, he reached for the body wash and loofah to start getting the grime off.