Verity (jokeshopgirl) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-10-10 07:04:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, obi-wan kenobi, verity |
Who: Obi-Wan and Verity
When: First week in October (Before Grumpy Cat)
Where: Her place
What: Painting the Nursery
Rating/Warning: Low/None
Status: Complete
Verity was lounging on the sofa with Netflix on in the background. She was watching Scandal. Good show! Why didn’t she get into it before? Oh, that’s right. She was so busy working she didn’t sit back and watch too much television. Now that she was being forced to sit back, she had time to catch up on some of the shows that had slipped her by.
She was a few episodes in when she heard the bell. River was out, so she climbed up off the sofa to answer it. God, she felt like a house. Huge like a house.
Thinking bedrest meant Verity would be in bed, Obi-Wan was surprised to see her answer the door. His smile was wide-eyed. “Oh! Hello there. I thought you’d be laid up.”
"It's modified bed rest," Verity explained, giving him a smile. "I'm allowed to answer the door." She turned to let him into her home, leading the way back into the living room where the tv was paused. "Come in, please."
Obi-Wan was already in his paint clothing, which consisted of splattered cargo shorts, an ancient graphic t-shirt, and a New York Yankees baseball cap. He was actually coming from another job. “So what can’t you do?”
"Leave the house," Verity said, shrugging. "Stand for more than a couple minutes. Chores. Carry anything heavy." She lifted the remote and turned off the television, then turned to him and mustered what she could of a bright smile. There was obviously something on her mind, but she was glad to have him there. "The paint is already in the nursery," she said, then led him down the hall.
The nursery was nearly finished. All the furniture was finished and sitting in the center of the room under a tarp. The walls were half painted, and it was obviously an amateur job. She'd been doing it herself.
Obi-Wan could sense there was more amiss than the inconvenience of bed rest. More importantly, he knew what had happened between Verity, Roland, and Charlie. Or at least he knew that something had happened, something very unfortunate.
He walked with her to the nursery, preparing himself for the pang of longing that was sure to arrive when he set foot in the little room. “You’ve gotten a lot done already.”
"I want to be ready in case she decides to come early," Verity explained, moving to sit in the rocking chair. "I'm already thirty six weeks, it could be any day now." She looked tired, but excited at that idea. "I... I'm looking forward to a distraction. I know it's a lot of work, but I also know that it's a new focus in my life. Something to throw myself into." She won't have time to pine all day, won't be be obsessed over Charlie and Roland and how much of a mess her social life had become.
He offered her an understanding smile. In addition to the stress that was no doubt surrounding whatever had happened with Charlie, her fatigue was palpable. She might not have been fully ready for the baby to arrive, but she was clearly ready for the pregnancy to be over. “...You know,” he began slowly. “I can sense emotions, Verity.” If she wanted to talk, that was her in.
Verity took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. The emotions she wasn't doing a good job of hiding came flooding out full force. It was a relief, actually, to finally say something about what'd happened. "Oh, Obi, I think I may have messed everything up," she confessed in a rush, suddenly fighting back tears. "Charlie won't talk to me and Roland's distant. I don't know what I'd say if I did have a chance to talk to either of them..."
Obi-Wan gestured to the rocking chair, knowing it would be wise for Verity to sit down. He wasn’t so good at drying tears, but he had grown into a good listener. He could offer that, at least. “If you feel comfortable telling me what happened, I promise it won’t leave this room.”
Verity took a seat. She didn’t need anyone to wipe her tears, didn’t need a shoulder to cry into. At least, she felt like she didn’t. She felt guilty, felt like she deserved this agony. It was her own fault she got herself into this mess. Both of her hands moved down and over her belly, a little wince crossing her features as Christina moved inside of her.
“...After you introduced Roland and me, well… we hit it off. Sort of. He’s not very… emotionally available. Which is fine. I didn’t need emotionally available. I needed a physical connection.” She went rather pink at those words. “He gave that to me. Willingly, and with great enthusiasm. I knew that my life was about to change so drastically, I didn’t want to get all entangled with someone new, even though I kept having all of these feelings. And then Charlie came along and charmed me. I mean, really charmed me.” She wished she had a water bottle. Her mouth was so dry. “...I told Charlie that I was seeing someone else. I asked him if we could go slow. I thought I’d pull back from both Charlie and Roland so I could figure out who I wanted to be with more, y’know? That way I wouldn’t… I don’t know. String either along, I suppose. I spent the night at Roland’s place--just sleeping. It’s gotten to the point where spooning is pretty much the only comfortable way to sleep, so I don’t get a lot of good rest when I’m home on my own--and Charlie was there. Charlie and Roland are roommates.”
It took a great deal of Obi-Wan’s concentration not to turn pink as well. He didn’t want to further embarrass Verity.
But the little bit Charlie had texted him on the matter appeared to fit. He could sense that the young woman was telling him the truth, especially about the fact that she wasn’t blameless. She had feelings for both men, but she’d let Charlie fall for her under false pretenses. Obi-Wan scratched his beard. “Obviously, you didn’t expect to run into him? I didn’t know they were roommates either. Neither of them mentioned it, I suppose…”
“I don’t know if it would have changed things if they had mentioned it. It might have made the awkward moment come a little earlier… as it was, Roland woke from one of those horrible Dreams with his fingers chopped off. There was so much blood, Obi, it was terrifying.” Verity felt a little queasy just thinking about it. “I woke up in a pool of it, absolutely terrified that it was Christina. My screams must have woken Charlie, because he came in to help. And he saw me in my pajamas in Roland’s room, with both of us covered in blood. God, what a sight it must have been.”
There was really no preparing Obi-Wan for the visions that flooded him, although it was only in his mind’s eye. Emotional spikes hit him hard. His hand remained close to his mouth as he tried obscure his flinch. “So you all woke up to…” He swallowed and decided not to finish. “And Charlie hasn’t spoken to you since?”
"We sent some text messages back and forth, but... I don't know if he's ever going to speak to me again." A bubble of emotion came up into her throat at that thought. She tried to swallow it down, but the little sob came through. Her eyes closed, forcing or a couple of tears that rolled down her cheeks. The thought that she'd really lost him was painful. Pain she'd been sitting on and trying to ignore.
Obi-Wan felt his back arch against the wall, pushing him forward, nearly involuntarily. It was an instinctual movement, but he put on the breaks. He had no gift for comfort, especially the physical sort--in fact, contact made him very uncomfortable. Still, he knew what he ought to do. Part of him even wanted to do it. He stepped forward and placed his hand on Verity’s back, giving her a gentle pat.
Verity appreciated the movement and comfort none the less. She was even more of a physical person now she was so far along in her pregnancy, and she could tell it made him feel awkward to touch her so. But she appreciated it. "Thank you," she said, softly. After a moment she collected herself, and turned to give him what she could muster of a smile. "I just... I don't think I can lose more people. I already lost Oliver, and I already like Charlie so much."
“Did you tell him that?” he asked, continuing to rub small circles between her shoulderblades. Something a little paternal was kicking in. “Though I know Charlie can be… hard-headed.”
The contact helped. Verity closed her eyes and let him massage her back. It felt good. Not distracting from her current problems, but good none the less. She sighed softly. “I don’t know if I told him that. I don’t remember what I told him. I’m hormonal and stressed out, and I just…” She just didn’t want to lose him. Maybe that should have been a hint to her, some sort of a sign to help her get to the bottom of what she felt. “I didn’t want things to get serious before I explained to him what was going on with Roland.”
“And what is going on with Roland? Are you and he still speaking? When I suggested the two of you meet up, I didn’t imagine all this would happen, or, er what you needed. Em, physically.” He paused, because his ears were heating up. “Also, may I ask if he’s alright? That all sounded very grisly.”
"I... Don't know." Verity said, quite honestly. "I haven't spent any time with him, but we texted. I mean, I'm more worried I'm going to come between them. I thought I'd give him space." She swallowed. “They're fitting him for a prosthetic, last I heard."
He’d have to contact Roland as soon as possible, without giving away that Verity had divulged the information. It was easy enough to claim the Force had told him, although in this particular case it hadn’t--Obi-Wan wasn’t exactly above telling the truth from an askew point of view. “Do you want me to see if I can get Charlie to come around? Sometimes he needs a little push.”
Verity took a moment to consider it. She didn’t want Obi to… what? Make things more awkward than they were? She didn’t think that was possible. After debating it for a moment, she couldn’t think of any downside to Obi talking to Charlie. Maybe the other man would be able to get through to him in a way that she wasn’t so far. She nodded.
“Do you think you could talk to him for me? I’m so sorry. I just want him to know that. I never meant to hurt him. That’s what I was trying to avoid.”
Obi-Wan moved to crouch down in front of her, still keeping a hand on her shoulder. “I know. In some situations, it seems like there’s no right answer. And your current situation is unique and difficult to navigate.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze and offered a smile. The awkwardness he usually felt had faded to something very minimal. “I’ll talk to Charlie.”
Verity took a long moment, staring at him. Then she nodded, breaking into a very soft, tentative smile. "Thank you, Obi." She thought if anyone could fix this, Obi could. Or at least he could help speed things along.
"Now. Can we finish painting?"
"Now, I can finish painting," said Obi-Wan as he straightened up. "You can go back to watching that Sandal TV show, or whatever it's called."
Verity looked like she might start to cry again. The outpouring of love, affection, support, nurture… it was almost more than she could handle. She knew that arguing with Obi would do no good. He would insist upon helping her without her lifting a finger, and her OB/GYN would agree with that. So instead of trying, she gave a little nod. “If you insist. But I insist that I’m buying pizza when it’s finished.”
“Well, I insist upon that, as well,” he said, at last crouching down to open the first can of paint. It felt quite good not to run from someone in need of human contact for a change.