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Bella Donna Boudreaux is a cheerful assassin (petitmort) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-09-29 17:37:00

Who: Belle Boudreaux and Nicholas D. Wolfwood
Where: Wolfwood's place
What: discussing dreams and Scandinavia
When: recently
Warnings/Rating: PG-13
Status complete

Belle hummed as she got the last vestiges of dinner prepared and in the oven to warm up. She liked to cook, and having someone to cook for was always a treat. She had a lunchbox waiting on the counter to be packed and taken to Vanille, and she’d spent some time picking up the apartment while she waited. She’d have to swing by her place in the morning to pick up new clothes. She was wearing her last emergency outfit.

Her handler was a thing of the past as of that morning at 11am. Her psychiatric evaluation had gone off without a hitch, and as long as she promised to attend one any time they asked she was free to do whatever she wanted.

Now she just had to figure out what that was.

Wolfwood ended his shift later than Belle did, so he’d given her his key. Aside from a gentle note from Mr. Frost to not fraternize at work, the day had gone well, and he came home in a surprisingly good mood.

He stuck his head in the door, smiling at the smell. “Hey, Belle, sorry I’m late, Mr. Frost kept me to tease me a little.”

“He’s like that.” Belle said with a laugh. She bounced over to kiss him. “But you’re home now, and we know better than to think Mr. Frost isn’t paying attention to us on the network. Dinner’s all done, if you wanna get settled I’ll set the table and get dinner out on it.”

“Yeah, I’ll call you or something if there’s something I have to bring up.” They did actually have real work-related business to discuss sometimes. Wolfwood smiled, returning that kiss. “I can help with the table if you want.” It was just so damn nice to have someone who bothered to cook for him.

“I’d appreciate that.” She said, smiling brightly at him. “Other than that, how was your day? Not too tiring after bein’ on your ass, I hope.”

“Nah, it was all right. I’m just glad to not be on my ass.” Wolfwood started to go for the dishes. It was weird on one level, that this was so domestic, but on another level, he loved it. He hadn’t had this since ... well, his parents’ house, really.

Belle pulled the food she’d made out of the oven. “I thought a meatloaf might be nice, since it’s gettin’ a little cold at night. And after the month we’ve been havin’ some comfort food seemed like a good idea.” She carried it out to the table, being careful not to bump Nicholas. “I was runnin’ around all day. I’m goin’ to Rome with Mr. Frost Friday night t’ Saturday night, so that’ll be a little stressful.”

“That sounds incredible.” Wolfwood said with relish. “Thank you.” Comfort food definitely worked for him. “You’re going to Rome, really? That’ll be amazing.” He’d never been to Europe unless you counted army bases. “Kind of a shame it’s so short, though.”

“Business trips are almost always all work. It’s not really all that awesome, actually.” She sighed a little. Steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes finished off the meal, and Belle took her seat. “Maybe you could go and travel a little on your own? Europe’s pretty nice. I spent three months in France once.”

“I’d prefer being with someone if I travel.” Wolfwood sat across from her, smiling. “You, or one of my friends.” She was more than a friend, even though they hadn’t decided they were boyfriend and girlfriend or whatever.

Belle smiled sweetly. “I’ve heard it’s better with company, and I’d be delighted t’ go with you.” She couldn’t imagine anything more fun than exploring some little town where neither of them spoke the language together. Seeing a new place was always wonderful, and she thought he’d get the same glee out of discovering new things as she did. “I imagine I’ll be travelin’ a lot to make up for staying in one place.”

“That settles it; we can save our money for trips.” Wolfwood had to be honest. “I worry you’ll get bored with me, you know. I’m not that interesting, compared to what you’re used to.” He smiled, but it was still true, even if he was making light of it.

Belle tilted her head, genuinely confused for a moment. “What? No. That’s stupid. I’m not dating you for excitement or kicks, I’m dating you because we work well together, even when things are the bad kind of exciting. We’ll make our own excitement, ‘cause that’s how it works. The most important thing to me is that we can get along and enjoy each other’s company.” She laughed a little, wryly. “Honestly I’m a little worried I’ve forgotten or never learned how t’ be a real person, and I’ll mess it all up in the end.”

“I guess that’s why we just need to not bullshit each other. It’ll work out that way.” Wolfwood chuckled. “Just been thinking about it all a lot. Especially after talking with Vanille. But I’m glad that seemed to work out.” He took a bite of the meatloaf and made a happy noise. It was good, even by Belle’s standards. “That’s really good, and traveling with you would be fun, by the way. It might sound weird, but after so much fucking time in the sandbox, I kinda want to go someplace cold.”

Belle couldn’t help but laugh. “I bet! Probably no sandy beach either, huh?” She grinned playfully at him. “I’ve never been t’ Norway or Finland. Most of Europe actually, unless one miserable day in London counts.” And of course the time in France.

“God, fuck the beach.” Wolfwood laughed. “Even if it would mean you in a tiny swim suit. Scandinavia might be nice. They’re supposed to be really nice people there, too.” Going someplace snowy and cozy with her did sound good. Relaxing, even.

Belle chuckled. “You’ll just get the fun of bein’ surprised about my underwear choices.” She didn’t mind, she could go to the beach here anytime she wanted. “You wanna do that after Christmas? I don’t wanna take you away from your mom for a major holiday, but if you want cold we should do it right an’ go when it’s real cold.”

“Should be able to afford it.” Wolfwood nodded. “That sounds great.” He smiled over the table at her, but something occurred to him. “Speaking of going places, did you have your thing? I didn’t see any annoying SUV parked outside when I pulled up.”

She grinned. “Yeah, I did it this morning. I’m officially retired now, and I’ll be more or less left alone if I keep my head down and don’t say nothin’ to no one.” She smirked a little. “Which is a shame, since I don’t really intend to do that. Though Shepard says she’s official, so I guess I’m still playin’ by the rules.”

“I’m glad they won’t be driving you nuts.” Wolfwood was glad to see the back of that shit too, if only because it brought back such nasty memories for him. He was interested when she spoke about Shepard, though. “You thinking of taking her offer? She told me she was going to give you the same one she gave me. I mean, we couldn’t be on the same team” - talk about being emotionally compromised - “but we could be on the same schedule.” It wasn’t as though there would only be one surgical strike going at any given time.

Belle smiled brightly at him. “God I love you. I said almost the exact same thing t’ her when I accepted her offer. There’s no way I could be clinical in a situation where you might be hurt.”

“Hell, no.” Wolfwood chuckled. “We could be operating in the same location, but different quadrants or something like that. But I admit my inability to remain professional in the face of the woman I love getting shot.” It felt a little sappy putting it like that, but at the same time, that was how it was. He did love her, and her getting hurt before his eyes would quickly put an end to any kind of focus he’d have had on any mission.

She nodded. “I’m sure she understands. She said that was fine.” She reached across the table for his hand. She would worry about him, but she trusted Shepard to see him home safe when they went out. “I’m curious to see who we’re dealin’ with. She didn’t say what organization, or even who else would be on the teams.”

Wolfwood squeezed her hand gently. “I’m sure she’ll tell us when we need to know. I have to admit, it’s weird to think that she’ll be my superior again.” He smiled a little. “She was only my superior for one or two ops, but she made an impression.”

Belle laughed. “She does that. I’ll be interestin’ working for someone period. I’m used t’ a fair amount of autonomy.” She didn’t think she’d have an issue. She hoped she’d be in charge of her team in the field, but she could give directions as well as take them. Probably.

“I don’t think Shepard will have you do anything you can’t do.” Wolfwood shook his head. “I mean, she knows how you operate. She’d be stupid to try and get you to go another way, and she’s not stupid.”

“I still need t’ figure out if I can do everything I expect to be able to do.” Belle noted, letting her irritation with the concept show in her expression for a moment. “Still don’t have the telepathy back, so I gotta make sure I didn’t lose nothing important.”

"I assume she'll try your skills before sending you out." Wolfwood was diplomatic; he had no idea what she was capable of on a good day.

"Have to practice with my team a little before we go into the field anyway. Been goin' in cold the last couple times." It worked out ok, but she thought they could do better.

“You have a team already?” Wolfwood asked between bites of food.

She shook her head. “If I did, I’d be workin’ with ‘em in our downtime. I don’t know who else is in but you, I wasn’t sure when I talked to Tyra face to face.” She wasn’t too bothered. If she couldn’t trust Shepard to put together a team she couldn’t trust the jobs she’d get, either. “Do you know who you’ll be workin’ with?”

“Nope.” Something pinged in his mind, and he decided he’d risk showing it to her. “I do have a pretty interesting weapon I could use, though. Probably too flashy, but I’ll see. I was going to show it to you right after it appeared, but you weren’t remembering me.” He could almost say that without any outward reaction at all. Hey, it was getting better.

Belle’s expression only faltered for a moment as well. She hoped to never go through (or put others through), something like that again. “Oh? Did my Christmas present for you show up early?” Her tone was sing-song, to show she was teasing him.

“Trust me, this would be a weird present.” Wolfwood smiled at her, wanting to reassure her. He was still scared, deep down, that it would all happen again, but he couldn’t let it rule his life. “Remember how I said I was a priest in my dreams? Well. I got a big ... cross thing. Well. It’s a cross, but it’s ... more.”

Belle laughed in surprise. “Okay, I am not nearly as hungry as I am curious.” She set her fork down. “I gotta see whatever this is.”

“It’s in the back room, in the closet.” Wolfwood got up.

They went down the hall to the apartment’s tiny spare room, which Wolfwood usually just used as a dumping ground for random stuff. Opening the door, he went to the closet and pulled the Punisher cross out into the light.

Belle followed behind him, peering into the room curiously. She’d never had a reason to poke around in here, but a closed door always got her curious. She whistled when she saw the cross, frowning as she moved closer, stroking the fabric that covered it. “That thing’s taller’n me.”

“Hell, it’s almost taller than me.” Wolfwood nodded. “It’s called a Punisher cross. The part that makes it a weapon is here.” He undid the wrappings from two of the sides, pointing at the muzzle. “One side here is storage, for handguns. There’s about eight of them in there.” At least, last he’d counted. “The other side is a rocket launcher.”

Belle whistled, her eyes wide. “Christ, it must weigh a ton.”

“Gets better. The other side is ammo storage and a machine gun. I have no fucking clue how my dream self holds this thing up.” Wolfwood smiled, but he wasn’t entirely sure if he was amused or repelled by this thing.

Belle shook her head. “That’s just. . . what the hell kinda priest are you in your dreams?” She worried a little, because if he lived such a dangerous life that he wanted to keep a rocket launcher, machine gun, and a bunch of handguns on hand at all times his dreams were even more messed up than hers.

“Basically an assassin.” Wolfwood hadn’t told her about the dreams after there, either. “I’m a crack shot, and at one point I dreamed about a shooting competition with that guy Vash. Just ... it’s about hunting men. And using faith to mask that purpose. I’m not even religious and it kind of sits the wrong way with me.”

Belle nodded as he spoke and stepped around the cross to put her arm around his waist. “That must be hard. You’re not the type t’ take that kinda work lightly, and not without some greater purpose.” She didn’t like that at all. If her dreams could feel so real and frightening, and even make her lose her memories, what would his do to him?

He appreciated her closeness. “I think - though I don’t know, I haven’t dreamt it yet - that my target will wind up being Vash.” Wolfwood sighed. “He’s been nothing but friendly to me. Kind, even.”

She knew the name, but it was just a name to her. “You like him?” Because that made it a lot harder. She didn’t quite know what to say, really. This was a pretty crappy thing deal with.

“He’s the most annoyingly optimistic person I’ve ever met, asleep or awake.” Wolfwood sighed again. “That kind of person who’s like, ‘Tomorrow will be a better day!’ I don’t even know what he might have done yet. I mean, I could be wrong, but somehow, I don’t think I am. Just ... leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

She nodded and squeezed him softly. “I hope it works out okay, cheri. These dreams. . . they’re more than that and what happens in ‘em still hurts in the real world.” The dreams were really good at getting under people’s skin. She hoped that whatever happened wouldn’t be too bad, for his sake.

“You’ll laugh that I thought of this first, but honestly, my dream self is like some kind of John the Baptist type figure. Wandering. Killing, allegedly in the name of faith. It’s like the most chaotic good thing I ever saw.” Wolfwood wrapped his other arm around her, smiling a little. “I can tell you, Belle, if nothing else, I’ll never become a priest in this life. I’m too fond of you.” He winked, hoping she laughed.

She did snicker. “You better not, but at least I know you’ll keep your hands off the little children.” She kissed him softly. “Let’s go somewhere else. Maybe get your mind off those dreams.”

“Works for me.” Wolfwood sighed, closing his eyes. “I mostly wanted you to know this was here, so you wouldn’t be freaked out by it, but I’ll take that, too.” The dreams just all-out scared him, if he was honest. Shepard’s were horrible. Belle’s weren’t fun. And his own were getting uglier.

“I’m kinda freakin’ out a little, I’ll admit.” She said with a nervous laugh. “But only ‘cause I’m worried about what’ll happen in your dreams and what it’ll do to you. There’s very few people I’d trust with a freakin’ arsenal in their spare room, but luckily you’re one of ‘em.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Wolfwood did smile a little bit. “It may sound cynical, Belle, but even if, God forbid, something happens, my dream self kills assassins. Regardless of what you may or may not have done in your former capacity, you never killed anyone on the planet Gunsmoke.” He couldn’t deal with the thought of hurting her, especially when the spectre of her own dream-amnesia might come back one day.

Belle laughed. “I love you, Nicholas, but if you ever try t’ hurt me I won’t even turn up t’ say somethin’ nice at your funeral.” She drew her arms away and took one of his hands. “I’m gonna clean up the table and make a lunch for Vanille. After that you wanna have a beer or two and talk about anything but the dreams?”

“I actually have no doubt that you’d be a match for me.” Wolfwood chose to smile. “And that sounds good to me. Let’s talk about seeing if we can make that trip actually happen.”

“Oh, yes.” She grinned brightly. It would likely be an interesting fight, but it was one she hoped never to have. “We should pick which country we wanna visit first.”

“You might have to educate me. I know what Scandinavia is, and where it is, but you lose me sort of after that. My European travel is limited to army bases.” Wolfwood kissed her once more. He just enjoyed the fact that he had this kind of opportunity to be domestic. Nothing had changed, really - they still might be torn apart at some point, so he was going to enjoy it as best he could.