maybe its the bags under his eyes, or the unkempt hair —— or oh, i don’t know, the clothes that don‘t match!
at
first, she’s not even sure how to properly answer because it’s so
blatantly obvious it doesn’t even deserve the question – so she
stares for a second, cup of coffee halfway to her mouth.
“
———- babe, are you okay? do you want some help getting ready or
… ? “
laughter. it’s caroline’s favorite sound in the entire world. she especiallyloves the sound of oliver’s laughter. so often it’s fleeting like if
you didn’t catch it the first time, you might have imagined it. but
once in a while it lasts. like right now, it has become less of a
sound & more of an entity all its own. it fills up the hallways
of their home, seeping right into the plaster of the walls. it makes
the sunlight that filters in through the windows soften around the
edges – almost dim in comparison to the light that comes to his
face. it spreads out from his wonderful smile right up to the shine
of his bright blue eyes. she didn’t know this kind of transformation
was possible. she was quite used to him taking surprises like one
would take medicine – with a blank face & a hard swallow just
to get it over with. but not this time. she didn’t know that two
words could incite this kind of amazing reaction.
in hindsight, it
would make sense. perhaps they’re both a little short-sighted but
they don’t always see the impact they have on each other’s lives.
he’s become everything to her – her shelter, her security, her best
friend, her tutor. he’s the hero she always wanted & the hero she
didn’t know that she needed. he’s given her the kind of love &
happiness that girls dream of. all she wanted was to give him
something in return. it wasn’t planned but it happened & here
they were. but she had no idea that she was giving him something he
never dreamed he would have. he keeps everyone in his life at an
arm’s length – for fear of their safety or for fear itself – but
she was so determined to climb or beat down every wall he built up.
riding on the coattails of their european adventures, she hadn’t even
imagined that it could get better than that. for once, it felt like
it was just them & the entire world – but now they were m o r e.
where there was two, there would soon be three & a million
possibilities.
caroline thinks she might cry from the look of sheer
joy on oliver’s face but this was no time for tears. suddenly he’s
grabbing her by the waist & she’s wrapped up in his arms &
he’s burying his face into her hair & she has to wonder if his
laughter is just a mask for unbelievably happy tears too. she lets
out a little scream of surprise when she’s suddenly lifted right off
her feet & in two strides of his, she lands on the mattress in a
plush heap. her laughing subsides a bit as she reaches for his face
as he hovers over her, tracing the wide smile on his lips as he combs
his fingers through her hair. then he’s kissing her & it’s so
passionate & deep, it takes her very breath away.
“ oliver, “
she gasps when he finally releases her to breathe, his mouth moving
on toward her jaw & throat. “ i have to make sure first.
sometimes the at-home tests can be wrong so i’ll need to go to the
doctor. wait —- i need to get a doctor. the right doctor. ” a
giggle returned when his beard scratched at a sensitive spot on the
side of her neck. “ maybe we need a second opinion. what if it’s
just a fluke? “
while she’s vocalizing all these options &
concerns, his kisses lead him downward, feather-light over the cotton
of her shirt do not distract until he’s open mouthed against the bare
skin of her stomach. then her breath catches in the back of her
throat & her eyes immediately tear away from the ceiling to look
at him. he’s rolled up her shirt just enough to expose the lowest
part of her stomach, just over her bellybutton. she can feel his
breath ghosting over her skin, his thumbs slowly running over the
curves of her waist but he’s not meeting her eyes just yet. it seems
like he’s staring at her stomach ( is that wonder in his face? ), as
if he’s solving some grand puzzle. she watches him as he places
another kiss, gentler this time, right about where she might start to
show. she honestly believed that it wouldn’t get better than spanish
mornings & midnights in the city of lights, but it was so much
better.
he tells her in the softest voice, ‘we’re having a baby’ &
it almost sounds like a question, like if she said the wrong thing,
he would s h a t t e r like glass. she stares at his face when he lifts his
gaze, a face she knows now as well as the back of her hand. she knows
she will never know another man like him – she will NEVER love
another man like him. she would give him anything & everything if
he asked it of her. he is her whole world. she nods & he kisses
his way back up toward her mouth, every kiss he lays down feeling
like a promise – promising to love her, to take care of her, to
nurture & protect their child, to be everything she needs. she
hopes that he is promising more laughter too.
“ yes, “ she
whispers against his smiling lips before he can kiss her breathless
again. “ we’re having a baby. “
he should remind her that room service was going to bring their champagne at any moment & that he should at least, keep his shirt on so he doesn’t answer the door semi-naked. last time they answered the door, he met the hotel attendant in his boxers — thankfully, the suite he was paying for had several rooms & the bedroom wasn’t in direct view from the door. it isn’t surprising that he doesn’t protest when she removes his shirt, sliding it off his shoulders in a smooth movement. his eyes though, immediately land on caroline’s body when she tosses her shirt off & instead of prolonging the process of clothing removal, he flips them over, hovering over caroline as he captures her lips in a wanton kiss.
’ Yes. ’ he reassures she said the word correctly, but oliver’s lips are traveling down her neck now, gently nibbling on her skin; his hips meet her’s in a smooth movement, careful not to put all of his weight on top of her. ’ —— baiser ’.
nearly
all of the playful humor they had been toying with was lost on
caroline as soon as oliver turned the tables & flipped their
positions around. that’s generally how things work with her when
she’s inebriated – very hot & cold, the switch coming at any
unexpected time. right now, she was feeling very much the former,
enough to lose her sense of time since five minutes didn’t really
mean a thing to her when he was kissing her like this. she sinks into
the mattress a bit more, her short nails scratching his skin lightly
as she ran her hands up his arms & down his back in an attempt to
bring him closer. it’s only his phrase that pulls her back in trying
to remember what the word is & why it sounds so familiar. once
she realizes its meaning, she’s seized by another fit of giggles, her
head falling back against the bed with the force of them.
“ oh,
that’s what you want to do to me right now? you want to f — “
of
course, she’s interrupted by a knock at the door, meaning their order
had arrived. a serious dilemma pops up in her mind because on the one
hand, her drop-dead sexy boyfriend is speaking french shirtless but
on the other hand, champagne. the decision takes her two seconds to
make & she’s pressing an apologetic kiss to his cheek before
pushing herself off the bed, snatching up his shirt to put on &
straightening her skirt as she jogs off to answer the door. a few
moments later she returns juggling two glasses, the bottle & her
box of cherries – then jumping on the bed, wasting no time in
handing oliver the champagne to manage while she rips open the box of
cherries before she stops in her tracks, grinning sheepishly.
“ —
b a b e, we can pause for half a glass, right? because I really, really
want you to – baiser me. “
he was definitely not expecting that kind of reaction from her; typically, he would’ve believed caroline would’ve passed his comments as a joke, but he can’t deny he had never been curious, or had allowed his mind to wander when he realized there was something more between them. right now however, he wasn’t thinking of the confusing & strange array of sentiments that had risen for caroline — he wasn’t feeling, he didn’t care, he wasn’t worried about any emotional consequence. she felt nothing, he felt nothing; it was almost the perfect arrangement. it had been a long time since he’d experienced sex without any emotional attachment, without any kind of repercussion, without the possibility of developing an emotional connection.
so he pulls over; the tires screech on the pavement as he takes a turn in a lone, dirt road away from the main highway & incoming traffic. the car comes to an impromptu stop as caroline undresses & tosses her jacket on the floor. stefan raises his eyebrows; he’s curious, but amused at the same time, & he also tosses his jacket in the backseat. but then she’s asking him to show her — there’s no hint of hesitation when he slides the driver’s seat back & reaches to pull caroline on his lap. it happens in a blur; the killing of the engine, his lips on her’s, his hands on her waist, sliding down to the contour of her thighs, & the unbuttoning of her jeans.
’ i don’t have a public indecency crime. ’ he teases, chuckling as his lips leave a trail of open mouthed kisses along her neck. ’ —— yet. ‘
there
had been a definite spark between them before, something almost
tangible. when he vanished, she had felt that connection all too
strongly, only then realizing how deeply her feelings for him had
ran. now she can remember that, she remembers what it felt like but
it no longer affects her. all stefan means to her right now is a
companion – a companion that can seemingly have more benefits than
just someone to cause trouble with. everything is different now.
before she can be caught off balance, her hand hits the dashboard to
stop her from flying forward as stefan brings the car to an abrupt
halt. their surroundings aren’t exactly private but they were at
least off the highway. then she lands in his lap in a hurry & she
can’t help but be wildly amused at his speed & determination –
obviously stefan without his emotions is very open to suggestion,
however illicit they may or may not be. the fevered way he’s kissing
her ignites a heat that’s all her own & she doesn’t hold back on
it either. she kisses him back with eagerness, somewhat careless with
her flat teeth on his lip as she arches into him.
“ well, let’s
make it a fun addition to your nearly flawless record, “ she
answers, her hands dropping between them to push up his shirt,
pressing her palms into his warm, bare skin.
its instinctual how his arms wrap around her when she holds onto him desperately. whatever was bothering caroline was probably bad enough that she needed him to come over & comfort her. he knows its dangerous ground, to actually come to her house & spend time with her when tyler could return any minute & find him comforting his wife. he wants to feel guilty at the moment, but he’s so concerned for her & so angry at the way tyler treated her that he finds no possibility of remorse in him. she deserved better. perhaps he wasn’t the best candidate, but caroline needed someone comprehensive, loving, someone who’d try to give her the world & look out for her.
scott’s hands slide up & down her lower back, holding her tightly against his body. he could never deny her. but they can’t stand outside in the porch for long; she has neighbors, people talk, this town was small enough that gossip traveled in a matter of days & this was definitely gossip he didn’t want tyler to overhear. his cheek is gently pressed up against caroline’s, but he takes a few steps forward so he can actually walk through the door & close it behind him. when he pulls back, his arms remain on her but there’s that distinct expression of worry on his face.
’ —— caroline, what happened? what did he do this time? ‘
as
much as she likes to lose herself in the comfort of scott mccall, she
knows very well that he’s not going to be one to give it blindly. now
she’s been weak enough to show that she’s hurt & he wants to know
why. it’s a natural question – she can see the profound concern in
his deep brown eyes. he deserves an answer. no – he deserved so
much more than a simple answer. what he actually deserves is someone
who can give him all of themselves, not just on part-time basis
dependent on circumstance. & she detests that. she hates that she
can just so easily be torn away from scott by one word from tyler, if
he were to ever find out how close they were. she’s not willing to
risk it. even if she may never get a chance to truly be with him, she
will take this secret to her grave. scott means the absolute world to
her, more than any other person in her life.
she notices the definite
lack of humidity in the air & realizes that he’s guided them
inside of her house, away from whatever prying eyes might be lurking
around the corner. as friends, they’re safe — but if there was even
a whisper of something more between them, everything they had would
be destroyed. she takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself enough
to explain in a way that won’t incite scott’s anger. she’s aware of
how delicate a thing that its.
“ he told me that i couldn’t go
home, at least not without him. i just wanted to see my mom & my
friends. i think he’s mad at me. “
optimistic isn’t exactly the word he’d use to describe himself. maybe before the island, when he was still a playboy, a kid driven by the lust for money & every single luxury he had grown up around — he always believed in the best outcome, despite every single horrible thing he had done to other people. lian yu had put his life in perspective & for a while, he had forgotten what optimism was, always driven by the need to discover the worst possible outcome in every situation. oliver always believed he would die saving the city, perhaps in the hands of deathstroke or any of his enemies & he hadn’t cared about his inevitable fate. now? he wanted to do everything he could to stay alive —— for caroline, because she was the person who matted the most to him, the only person he’d give up this life for.
every time they embraced each other, oliver found comfort he hadn’t experienced with anyone before. he didn’t believe in things like fate & soulmates (for a time, he was made to believe laurel was his), but if he did believe in people who belonged together, oliver had no doubt in his mind that caroline was that person for him. they were so different, yet they kept each other at balance. it was her optimism & her charisma that had attracted him in the first place.
’ —— well, i believe it was eight months ago — give or a take a few weeks — that i met this incredibly gorgeous blonde at a fundraiser & she smiled at me. & then i don’t know what happened, but it was the single greatest moment of my life. so i learned to smile back. ‘
she
has to smile at the picture that he paints for her. it sounds like
more of a bedtime rhyme that an actual retelling of events. then
again, she figures that if she put everything that had happened to
them down on paper, it would sound very much like a bedtime story.
girl meets a handsome & charming man who happens to be richer
than her wildest dreams, girl falls for said man, man turns out not
only to be the prince but also the knight. it sounds a bit ridiculous
even in her own head but it’s more or less the truth. well — on a
superficial level. what she actually fell for was neither fame nor
fortune but the person he keeps under wraps, maybe even more so than
the arrow. the guy whose heart is so BIG it could fit an entire city.
now she feels it’s her duty to make sure that that heart s t a y s
protected.
as much as it scares her, she knows how important he is to
the people of starling. they need him too ( but she may be too
selfish to say they need him more than she does ). for that reason
alone, she’s prepared to put on a brave face & support him in
whatever he does. to be honest, she doesn’t want him to think that
she’s against this – she should be but she’s seen the sincerity in
his face & just maybe he needs to be this other person as well.
“
you’re a really good learner then, “ she comments before her head
tilts backward in order to see his face but she doesn’t move from his
arms in the least bit. her lips purse slightly, trying to mask the
tugging of a teasing grin as she went on to say, “ – you mean i
didn’t even have to buy you a drink? all i had to do was smile? “
