Dr. Benjamin Linus (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} drlinus) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} valarlogs,@ 2012-05-08 16:39:00 |
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Who: Ben & Juliet
What: A bit of trouble in paradise?
When: A recent evening.
Where: The Linus residence in Irvine, CA
Rating: PG-13
Status: In Progress, Closed
It had been a lovely evening, an evening with enough wine that Ben was glad he’d had the forethought to take a taxi to and from the his wife’s favorite restaurant. Now they were home and the night showed no signs of ending.
Ben fell into the sofa as though he had tripped, which he sort of had. He had intended to take Juliet down with him. However, his hand slipped and instead he fell onto the armrest, which gave his back such a stab that he cried out in pain, followed by a rare, hearty laugh. He was happy. Wine happy. The book tour was vanquished, and things had every appearance of getting back to normal. He’d had enough wine to temporarily submerge his recent worries about his daughter and his troubling dreams--though whether or not Ben planned on keeping his recent firearms purchase a secret was impossible to be sure, for it had also slipped his mind.
Juliet was glad to have her husband back. The book tour had definitely taken it’s toll and while she had accompanied Ben on a portion of the tour, he was still so busy it was hard to really spend quality time with him. So, tonight was a celebration of sorts. It was a celebration of them starting the process of adopting a child, of the end of a successful book tour, of a good weekend spent with Ben’s daughter.
Wine was definitely one of Juliet’s weaknesses and she had drank just as much if not more than Ben had. When Ben sort of tripped into the couch Juliet gasp, but when she saw him laughing she couldn’t help but laugh herself. She sat herself down next to him and let out a content sigh.
“Congratulations, honey,” she told him with a smile.
“Your are the one who deserves commendations,” Ben said as he pushed himself up to a reasonable seated position. He removed his glasses and wiped the tears that had gathered in the corners of his eyes from laughing. “I just--” he sighed, “I hate those things.”
“Me?!” Juliet exclaimed with a shake of her head. “No, I don’t think so. I didn’t do any of the work. It was all you. You hate those things and yet you still do them so well.”
Juliet cuddled herself up next to Ben and rested her head on his chest. Moments like this were so rare she had to get them where she could. She would be back at work full time soon and Ben would be too. They would go back to being normal, or as normal as they ever were. She wanted to prolong the night as long as she could. “I had fun tonight,” she told him, her voice soft.
She was right. He was very good at playing the part, though he prefered to be sincere.
Ben hummed in response as he dropped an arm across his wife’s shoulder. He ran his fingers back and forth across a little patch of exposed skin and continued to hum his little made-up tune. It was a shame every night couldn’t be spent like this. Of course, then they wouldn’t have anything to celebrate.
“What shall we do next?” he asked, his eyes somewhat glazed.
Juliet couldn’t help but laugh and grin against Ben’s shoulder. “We should probably go to bed,” she said, even though that was boring. She was the responsible type, she always had ben. “We’re both too drunk to do much of anything.”
Well, not anything, Ben thought, amending it a second later when he realized that he was probably too drunk for that too. He sighed.
“It’s warm in here,” he said, sort of to no one in particular. He began to pull his arms through the suit coat he’d been wearing, struggling a little. Ben walked to the closet and plucked a hangar from the bar. Yes, the same closet where upon a shelf rested his recent firearms purchase, in a neat plastic briefcase.
Juliet pouted a little bit when Ben got up from the couch to put his jacket away. She knew she would need to get up and get ready for bed, but she didn’t want to. Instead she just watched Ben with a faint smile on her lips.
But that smile vanished completely when her eyes caught sight of the gun. Her eyebrows raised as much as her hackles did. Her hand went up over her mouth and she shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me about that?” Juliet said, her voice soft, but menacing. He should know better than to bring guns into this house. At least not without speaking to her about it first. Her sister had died at the hands of a gunmen.
It was the sort of question that ought to have sobered him right away, but it didn’t. Instead, he stared back at her blankly. Tell you about what? No. Ben had never tried playing dumb before, and he was certain he wouldn’t be very good at it. Despite what his dreams told him.
He looked upward, at the shelf overhead. “Because I knew you’d try to talk me out of something I needed to do.” His speech was still impaired, but his tone was grave. They might as well cut to the chase.