Sunday, March 30th, 2008 Who: Duncan and Adora Where: The Infirmary, then Duncan's place When: Sunday, late morning What: Adora gets released from the Infirmary now
Her legs were sore. Of all the things that Adora could possibly be complaining about right now, it was that her legs were sore and a little weak after the last few days of being physically strung out. Jang-Geum had warned her of this, and so when she brought a change of clothes for Adora, it had been... not at all what she normally wore. Adora found herself in a long, powder blue, flowing peasant skirt with a white peasant top. The skirt wasn't form-fitting obviously, but the top suited her well. She just didn't wear things like this, and apparently, Jang-Geum did.
"I look liked a goddamned hippie..." Adora whispered to herself as she yanked the top down over her head and down over her midriff. She felt the sharp pang of muscles protesting the movement in her stomach, though, and she winced, letting out a low, frustrated puff of air as she forced herself to be gentle and slow as she finished getting dressed.
The sooner she could get out of this hellish room, the better.
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Duncan knocked twice before entering, just in time to see her pulling the shirt over her head. "Oh!" he said, softly, and put up his hand to shield the side of his face as he did a robot-dance style turn to the side, crab walking through the entrance.
"Sorry. I should have waited for a response. Idiot."
---
Adora chuckled a little and turned to look at him, brushing her hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. She looked... deceptively sweet and... wholesome at the moment. She would easily blame it on the clothing, but part of it as also her nature. She was very vulnerable and still feeling weak, but her little smirk betrayed her true nature.
"Duncan, how many times have you seen me naked? Come to think of it, how many times have you helped to take my clothing off?"
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He laughed, turning around again when it was safe. "Yes, but, that's in context nudity. This is out of context nudity. Completely different thing." He crossed toward her bed, grinning again.
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"Either way, I don't think we need to stand on pretense. Besides, I hardly feel... y'know, modest." Adora chuckled, then made her way tenderly over to the bed, picking up the duffel bag and slowly, gingerly moving it to her shoulder. Her stomach didn't like that, but she was one of those 'no pain, no gain' people. Some part of Adora simply thought that if she worked out the muscle pain, that would somehow make it go away faster. "The campus is a ghost town already, I'm guessing."
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"Uhp uhp," he said, in the tone you use to get Rover to stop sniffing at the counter top, and took the bag from her with two fingers and lifted it onto his own shoulder.
"Pretty much," he replied, moving away from her should she decide to try to take the bag back.
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"So what now?" Adora chuckled as he took the bag from her, and she made her way over to him slowly. "You're gonna treat me like fine china indefinitely now? Because I'm telling you right now, handsome, you're gonna have one hell of a fight on your hands." Of course, as she said that, Adora had looped her arm around his waist, using him for grateful support.
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"Not forever, just... for a little while." He looked down at her with a warm smile. "What now? Ehm.. well, now we go.. wherever you like. My place, your place?" His smile grew a little wider. "My place?"
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Adora rose an eyebrow at him, giggling a little, slowly taking a few steps with him. "You're... hilariously excited about the idea of me staying with you for a week. Are you sure you're not gonna go crazy with me being around? I could have some weird morning habit that you'll be driven nuts by. Like, I can imagine your eye twitching already."
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He grinned. "I just.. figure you would prefer it, that's all." It was true. He wasn't that excited. Maybe.. a little. He wasn't sure why.
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"It'll be much better than... my apartment. For now. Yeah." Adora sighed a little and held her arm around him a little tighter. "Keagan was spinning some yarn about how I should look at getting off-campus..." She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like I'm gonna want to do that right now."
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Duncan chuckled gently. "No? You don't want to look for a place, pack, organize movers, tape boxes, make a thousand phone calls, move, unpack... no? Not right now?" His sarcasm was even warm.
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Adora gave him a little hug again as the two of them stepped out of the infirmary and into fresh air. She took a deep breath, but it didn't quite bring her the joy she was hoping for. "I think I'm going to spend most of the day snuggling you and watching movies... if that's okay with you."
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Duncan wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "That sounds fine. Whatever you need."
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"Okay. As long as you don't have a problem with that, then I think we have a plan." Adora didn't necessarily feel like she needed to fill the silence at the moment, which was odd, but it was probably because she was trying desperately to think of anything other than the baby, or why she would be staying with him. "Maybe we can watch Monty Python all day. Start with Holy Grail, then onto Meaning of Life, then Life of Brian?"
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"Oh ho ho, I'm not sure I could stand to watch Monty Python all day, so I find your tenacity admirable. Though if we are to start with anything, Meaning of Life first." He walked her back toward his apartment slowly, going at a pace she should be comfortable with.
"I bought a lot of junk good. Good junk food, though, like popsicles and sorbet. This will be fun."
Most of all he didn't want her to worry. He didn't want her to have to cook, or clean, or think about anything. He just wanted her to gather her thoughts, decompress, then compress, and realize that things could return to normal.
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"You're a Meaning of Life fan? I'm not sure, I may have to take your friend card from you if that's the case." Adora chuckled, taking the chance to look around and just focus on anything else. "Even though I really do love that song about every sperm being sacred. I die of laughter every time."
Adora felt her stomach pull in an odd way, and she suddenly stopped, her breath catching. She had to force herself to let out a slow, groaning breath, and she held onto Duncan tightly as the pain passed. "Mother... fucker... she warned me about cramps and pain, but..." She let out another deep breath. "Fucking hurts..."
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Duncan jumped a little, then turned to attend to her despite being so close. "Are you alright?" he asked, a little panicked.
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Adora nodded quickly, trying to calm him down. She felt bad, making him worry like this, but a little part of her was really, really grateful to have someone do that. "I'll be fine... it's... muscle soreness." She breathed, standing up straight slowly and breathing through the pain. "Jang-Geum said they'd go away in a few days, once my body's back to normal."
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"Ahh, yes," he said, in a tone that implied more than an agreement with the doctor. Familiarity.
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Adora heard that tone of voice and gave a little guilty sigh. "Sorry. This really isn't fair to you..." She groaned, looking over at him with a clearly guilty look on her face. "Are you sure you want to put up with me like this?"
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He furrowed his brow at her, momentarily confused, before understanding dawned and he smiled gently. "What? No, I.. Adora.." he reached up to put a hand on her shoulder. "It's not unfair to me at all. I'm glad. I've.. been there. I can offer .. whatever I can offer. I'm not ..." he pushed at the air with his hand.
"It was a long time ago."
---
For a second, Adora looked like she was going to fight him on it, but then the realization that if that fight went badly and he agreed to leave her alone, that would be the exact opposite of what she wanted. So... instead, she simply nodded and reached up to put her hand on his. "Okay... okay, I will... let it go. I just want to make sure. I'm already upset. There's no need for both of us to be bummed out."
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"I understand. I .. want to. Sometimes there were times I couldn't help Brigid because I didn't have the energy, because I... " he wasn't sure how to explain it without sounding callous. After carefully gathering his words, and noticeably rethinking it, he trailed his hand down her arm to take her fingers up.
"There is enough.. distance.. in this situation that leads me to believe I can really help you get through this because of my own personal experience. There is not enough distance to prohibit me from really, really wanting you to get through this." He canted his head. "Am I making sense?"
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With a little grin, Adora nodded and squeezed his hand gently. "Yes. You make sense. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to make things harder. But... thank you. For all of this. I'd be a lot worse off if I didn't have you around."
---
He released her and went back to his original position, walking slowly alongside her so that if she needed him as support, he was there. "Good. So no worrying. I have Bagel Bites, popsicles..the works. It'll be fun. And then when you're ready I can help you settle back into a routine."
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"Bagel Bites. You have... Bagel Bites?" That was a little surprising, even for Adora, but mainly because she'd never really eaten them. They'd just never crossed her path as a snack food. "Did you buy them for a specific purpose? Because I'm not so sure about them..." She gave him a look as if he was a little crazy.
--
Duncan returned her expression two-fold. "What do you MEAN you're 'not sure' about them? It's... pizza.. on tiny bagels. They have no plot to destroy the world, I assure you."
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"Ooooh, now you're telling me that because you're trying to make me <i>think</i> that they're not trying to destroy the world, but that's really what they're for!" Adora was clearly teasing, but it felt so so good to be able to joke around with Duncan. That made everything seem better.
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He gasped theatrically. "You are absolutely correct. In fact, I am a double agent for Bagel Bite, Inc. I'm afraid I've said too much already...And now...." he began fishing in his pockets, muttering. "Bloody cyanide pill...where did I put it..."
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Adora found herself laughing again before she had a chance to realize it. She reached over, tickling him in the ribs in retaliation. "No, no cyanide! You're not gonna get rid of me <i>that</i> easily! No taking the easy way out, because you're stuck with me!"
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"Is that what you're going to put in your vows when you marry?" He asked, laughing, "--'til death do us part -- but don't you be getting any ideas, mister!" His laughter trailed off naturally; though his smile didn't waver, he wondered if he should be tasting the leather of his own shoe at having made such a joke.
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"Y'know," Adora smirked, trying to keep it good-natured, although she almost got the feeling as though they were treading on very shaky ground. Uncertain ground. But, she would have rather joked around, as that made things much easier to deal with. "You're going on the assumption that I would ever marry in the first place. Do you honestly think there's a man out there who can tame me?"
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He laughed again, soothed, and wrapped an arm loosely around her waist as they walked. For support. Of course.
"You make yourself sound like a symbolic horse in a 19th century heroine novel."
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Adora grinned at the comment, then blew air through her lips, as if making that typical horse noise and shaking her head, letting her hair go crazy for a moment. "Wait a second and I'll stomp my hoof for you. If I could, I'd take off at a sprint just to really get in character." Adora shot him a sideways glance with a smirk. "But wait... you're the actor."
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"Yes. In this production I will be portraying a man who is too tired to run after a horse woman." He grinned.
"Its good to see you smile."
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For some reason, Adora's smile turned a little shy and, wow, she was actually blushing a little. She hadn't realized how she must have seemed the last few days. "It's good to be smiling. Because of you." She squeezed his waist a little and kept walking, glad to see the staff building in sight. "Sorry if my need for your sense of humor has exhausted you, though."
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"Exhaust me? Hardly. You forget my impeccable endurance," he said, with a suggestive eyebrow waggle. Then he cowed, only slightly, and once again tasted leather and idiocy.
"Sorry. That was..." He sought for a suitable word, but then fell back on a less impressive vernacular of a modern day fellow. "...Lame."
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"It may have been lame..." Adora smiled and leaned close, kissing his cheek. "But it was exactly what I needed." She sighed and paused for a moment, realizing she probably needed to explain where she was coming from. "Because you're just... talking to me. Like everything's fine. And not like I'm damaged goods."
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Duncan's face softened. Damaged goods? Hardly. He swallowed, readying a speech that would inform her she was anything but 'damaged' before remembering such speeches often fell on deaf ears until time could heal better wounds. So he nodded, quietly. "I understand."
---
At the more sensitive look, Adora couldn't help but try to make things a little more light. Less... serious. "Don't look at me like that." She chuckled, reaching up to tug his ear playfully. "I know Adora giving compliments is a rarity, don't make me regret it."