Dated 6-11-2014

[starchilde_lost]

Rachel had decided that she was just going to do it. She was going to officially ask Aidan to move in with her. After all, they'd been together for a long time, well, by her standards at least, Aidan might have had longer relationships but it wasn't fair as he was a couple of centuries old and the scales were different. And they practically lived together anyways, she couldn't really remember the last time she'd spent a night alone.

Well, except last night. But a stopover in the clinic didn't count.

Smoothing the skirt of her sundress down, she took a deep breath before entering the clinic with the bunch of flowers she'd picked up and a few books and magazines. You know, normal visiting the boyfriend in the hospital things. She tried to put everything else out of her head. She'd get to it, she knew, but she wanted to focus on her injured boyfriend for a little while before she emotionally went off the rails.

Did normal people have this much trouble trying to figure out their relationships? People who hadn't dated aliens, seen the loves of their lives killed by mutant-hunting robots. People who hadn't done and seen the things she'd done. Or was it just her particular quirk of inherited emotional issues and her own paranoia. Did she even have the right to ask him, because she knew she didn't want to get married and have kids, not here on the island, and was that even fair to him to go so far and just draw a line in the sand? Or was she just leaving herself and him an escape hatch if it gets to be too much?

Those were the thoughts she was trying not to dwell on as she walked over to the bed. "Hey, punching bag, how are you feeling today?"

Comments

[likesthestooges]

Doctor's and nurses usually made exceptionally horrible patients and Aidan was no exception. He didn't want to be in observation any longer even though he realized he needed to be. All he wanted was to get out of the clinic, where he spent so much time working, and rest up somewhere else. The longer he stayed here the more he wanted to kill that stupid robot for putting him here.

Just was he was about to contemplate sneaking out though, a distraction arrived in the form of Rachel.

"I want to borrow one of your giant guns and go robot hunting."

[starchilde_lost]

"I can get behind that." She was still pissed as hell that the thing existed and completely mystified about why Starkiller was so adamant about having the thing around. If someone had designed a robot specifically to kill her, she'd deep-six that before you could blink twice. "But I think the Jedi might freak out."

Setting the flowers and reading material on the bedside table, Rachel leaned over and kissed her boyfriend hello. "You're looking a little better today, how do you feel?"

[likesthestooges]

Aidan smiled and kissed her back, already feeling quite a bit better now that she was here. No matter how bad he was, seeing Rachel made him considerably better. He was still sore as hell, but he was happier.

"Stir crazy," he told her with a sigh, not walking to discuss the homicidal robot that had put him here. "I'll be sore for a while but I'm still tired of being here."

[starchilde_lost]

"Maybe..." She took a seat next to the bed and leaned forward to brush the hair from his forehead. "Maybe if you stay with me, the docs will let you go early. I don't mind taking care of you for awhile." Or longer if she could work up the guts to actually ask him. She knew she wanted to, but the words weren't going to come easy.

[likesthestooges]

"That's a better idea than you staying here with me. Once the doctor's know how serious you would be about making me take it easy they'd probably agree," he said. Aidan hated having to rely on someone else for anything, even if it was Rachel, but he knew he needed to let it happen. That wasn't a good instinct to give in to, not when it came to Rachel.

"Maybe we can search the clothing box for a naughty nurse uniform for you before we head back to your place."

[starchilde_lost]

Chuckling, she shook her head, "Nope. Not until you're all better." If he was gonna rehabilitate at her place, she was going to make sure he did it right. Which led to a very interesting opening if she played it right.

"And I might just make you earn any sexy costumes anyway."

[likesthestooges]

"Well, before you had my attention, now you have my interest," Aidan said, doing his best to sit up in the bed without wincing. He was only mildly successful at that though so he probably hurt his case more than helped it. Maybe it would be best to take it easy for a few days before he tried anything too physical.

"What did you have in mind?"

[starchilde_lost]

"Well, what I had in mind involves lost of boxes and some manpower." Standing for a moment, she pushed the pillows behind Aidan's head around to hopefully make him feel better. "You, know the normal moving in with your girlfriend things. If, you know, you'd be interested."

Wow, that had been a lot easier than she'd anticipated. Like, it almost did itself. Sure it was a little abrupt, but at least it was done, right? Now she just had to sit and wait for his answer, not that she had many doubts about what he'd probably say.

[likesthestooges]

"Who's moving in with their girlfriend?" Aidan asked. He couldn't think of any of Rachel's friends that would need any help moving. Besides, there were probably a lot of people on the island that could help someone move. As much as Aidan would have liked to help out, he wasn't in any shape to do it.

"I don't know if I could really help much but if it will put you in a skimpy outfit then I'll give it a shot. Is one of your friends moving in with someone?"

[starchilde_lost]

Rachel took a deep breath, smiling ruefully. That was what she got for trying to be subtle. But then nothing in their relationship had ever been subtle so she might as well out with it. "I was kinda hoping I could get you to move in with your girlfriend. As in me. As in I have a pretty good-sized hut right next to the perfect skinny dipping place and I was thinking you might want to actually live there instead of just sleeping over almost every night." She was pretty sure she couldn't be any plainer if she'd drawn him a map and handed him a key with a bow on it.

"I know that it sounds kind of abrupt, but I was thinking if you stayed with me while you recuperated, would there really be a point to having you leave after? And then I realized that I just... I want you there. I mean, if you want to be there."

[likesthestooges]

"Oh."

It was a really poor response to everything that she said, he knew that it was, but he felt like he had to say something to all of that. To be honest he had been hoping they would move in eventually but like with most things in their relationship he wanted it to be on her time table so that she wouldn't freak out. It was unfair, maybe, but he thought it was for the best.

What she said made sense though. Henry had been gone for a while now and Josh could take care of himself. Aidan loved Rachel, he was crazy about her, and he hated the nights when he didn't fall asleep next to her.

"I would... really like to be there too."

[starchilde_lost]

After his first comment, Rachel's heart sank. Had she really misread things that badly? Like, they'd been together for what seemed like forever now and wasn't that the next move? Or at least the next one she was willing to make? Wanted to make? Did he not want to move in? Was it because of his roommate? She knew they were pretty close, and with Henry having disappeared it made sense that he'd want to stay with his own for longer.

She was so focused on how she felt like she'd screwed up that she almost missed his actual answer. "You mean that? Like, you're not just saying that, because it's totally okay if you want to keep your place with your friend, I mean..."

[likesthestooges]

"Come here," he said, tugging at her hand so that she would get in bed with him. There wasn't a lot of room but neither of them were all that big and he could easily ignore any discomfort from his injuries just to enjoy being close to her. That would be better than any painkillers. Well, almost better than any painkillers. Also this way he could just hold her there until he had convinced her he really meant it.

"I absolutely mean it. We don't spend much time apart but when we do I hate it and it seems pointless. Why should I go through the displeasure of not being with the woman I love when we can move in together? Besides, there's a scary droid out there that's trying to kill someone that looks like me and I need by bad ass girlfriend to protect me."

[starchilde_lost]

Being very careful, Rachel slid into the bed next to Aidan, tenderly wrapping herself around him as safely as she could. She'd had broken ribs and all the things that went with it and she knew how badly it could hurt to be jostled. But it was clear he wanted to cuddle and she sure as heck wasn't going to deny him when she wanted to just as bad. Heaven only knew how big her bed always felt when he wasn't in it with her. "Badass girlfriend, huh? Badass girlfriend who fell into a puddle of freak-out when she found out her boyfriend was in the clinic."

[likesthestooges]

"Well that's because you know how fragile I am," he said with a bit of a laugh, doing his best not to wince at how much laughing her. It would still be a few days before even little things like that weren't agonizing but if it helped lighten the mood he didn't mind a joke or two. Besides, she was here curled up with him so it couldn't be all that bad.

"And how badly did you freak out and in what way?"

[starchilde_lost]

"I may have threatened the droid with the scrapyard. And I made Starkiller promise to report the damn thing to the ITF so they're aware. I wanted to go get one of my guns and blow the damn thing up." She had spent most of the last two days trying really hard not to think about it too much. Seriously, she wanted the thing in pieces. Who knew what it was capable of, really? And with all the ways the island liked to play with them, she was just waiting for the next incident.

"But I was a good girl, I didn't actually attack anyone. Yet."

[likesthestooges]

"Well thank you for not blowing up my friend's robot. Apparently they're friends. And if Proxy does murder Starkiller, I become his new master. So that's fun."

Still, it felt nice to have someone so concerned about him. The fact that it was violently so made it all the better, it made him feel less like there was something wrong with him for wanting to react the same way. If it had hurt Rachel though, he would have destroyed the robot without hesitating.

"I promise to reward you as soon as I can for your good behavior."

[starchilde_lost]

"Yeah?" Scooting up a little, she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I gotta say I look forward to that, but we're gonna make sure you're really healed before either of us does any rewarding, okay?" She loved the way they played with each other, she'd never really had that kind of fun in a relationship. Intensity, sure, attraction, hell yeah, but this was... sometimes she imagined this is what it would have been like if Franklin had survived. If they'd ever managed to get out of the hell they'd ended up in.

It was how she remembered her parents' relationship being, once upon a time when she was little and everyone was happy. Hell, it was how she remembered Scott and Jean's wedding.

"I love you and I don't want to break you. I am kind of a badass, apparently."

[likesthestooges]

"That's true, you're completely incapable of being gentle," he said, smirking at her. It was half teasing, half a challenge but he liked joking with Rachel. Out of all his relationships over the centuries, this one was the most healthy and the most fun. That's not to say it wasn't passionate and heated and wild at times too, because it was. But it was the fun and had the sense of being healthy for both of them that he loved the most.

"An utter bruiser."

[starchilde_lost]

Poking his cheek, probably the only place she could be reasonably certain he wasn't bruised or broken Rachel tried to sound indignant. "I can be totally gentle if I want to be, you just seem to like things a little more active. Must be a vampire thing." As if that explained everything about him. Which it didn't. She'd seen enough over the few days he'd gone back to that to know exactly how hard it must have been.

[likesthestooges]

"No, that's definitely my bad ass girlfriend being so aggressive she'd break me in my current state," he said, turning to bite at the offending finger. Not that he didn't really love it when Rachel was aggressive and he had to admit being a vampire had probably colored his idea of what was considered rough vs too rough.

[starchilde_lost]

Pulling her finger away before she could be bitten, she instead caught his lips in a kiss, because what else was she supposed to do? It was crazy, how crazy she was about him. Half the time she couldn't think straight. The rest of the time she kinda didn't want to. "You're horrible. I love you, but you're horrible. And I thought we were done with the whole biting thing?"

[likesthestooges]

Aidan deepened the kiss, humming happily at the feeling of her lips against his. Automatically his body flushed with heat and need as well as the sense of completeness he got from being with her. As cliche as it was, Rachel made him feel complete.

"Horrible? I don't know what you're talking about. And we're done with feeding, not biting."

[starchilde_lost]

Snuggling in closer, Rachel really wished they were already back at her place. Then she wouldn't have to worry about anyone looking in or shooing her away. But for now, this was pretty awesome. "Speaking of food, do you have any requests? I brought you books and things, but I can smuggle food in here, too."

[likesthestooges]

"I've got everything here that I want," he told her, deepening the kiss. He was scared and excited by the near death experience, unable to stop from reveling in it and being terrified by it. It made him feel absolutely alive as well as appreciative of everything he had, namely Rachel. Rachel meant everything to him and he couldn't get enough of her.

[starchilde_lost]

She melted a little, giving a happy sigh as he kissed her and snuggling up as tight against him as she dared. Pulling away slightly she chuckled, "Keep kissing me like that, Mister, and the doctors are going to have to kick us out for being indecent." Not that it would bother her, but she really didn't want Aidan exerting himself too much until he was healed. "We can save all this for when I get you home." A word that meant so much more now that she realized it was going to be his, too.

[likesthestooges]

"We can," he said, although he kissed her again, suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to kiss and touch and feel and just connect with her. Aidan always did best with a purpose and Rachel was his purpose. She was his reason for just about everything and he wanted her to know that, wanted to show her just how badly he needed her.

[starchilde_lost]

Rachel let him keep kissing her for another minute before she pulled back to look at him seriously. "As much as I enjoy this, and believe me, I do, we really do kinda need to stop before you hurt yourself." It was the last thing she wanted to do and she contented herself by running her fingers through his hair and down his face. She really wished that they a) were somewhere a little more private and b) he was actually able to do something with all these feelings, but she was determined not to cause him any pain.

[likesthestooges]

"What if I said this is definitely making me feel better?" he asked, leaning in to nibble at her neck. As grateful as he was for Rachel's concern and she was probably thinking far more level headed than he was, Aidan needed this, needed to feel close to her in every way he could. Even if all she did was kiss him he would take it.

"I bet you can be gentle enough if you want to."

[starchilde_lost]

"We are in the clinic. A nice public clinic." Giggling, she shivered a little at the feeling of his lips on her neck. He knew damn well how sensitive she was there and how much she liked it when he teased her there. "Don't make me climb out of this bed to get away from you."

[likesthestooges]

"I guess you'll have to be gentle and quiet then," he said, biting down a bit harder. The point wasn't to get Rachel to actually give in (although that would be a nice bonus) but to rile her up and give her a hard time. She was giggling and laughing and generally not worried about him anymore, which is what he really wanted.

[starchilde_lost]

She wanted to tickle him back so much her fingers itched, but she refrained. Tickling bruised ribs was probably not the brightest idea. And while she was fairly certain he wasn't really trying to get her to have sex with him in the clinic, she knew he was enjoying teasing the heck out of her just the same. It just didn't seem fair, so she turned her head to catch his lips so she could get them off her neck for a moment.

"Silly vampire, you're not really all that indestructible right now, you know."

[likesthestooges]

"Mmmmmm, trust me, I know just how true that is right now," he said, kissing her back, just as happy to have his lips on hers as he was to have them on her neck. Besides, he was very vulnerable and delicate right now so he might as well take advantage of that. She might make him pay for it later but he'd take his medicine when it was time.

[starchilde_lost]

"You're not allowed to go anywhere near that thing anymore. I don't want to get in trouble for what I'll do if you ever get hurt like this again." Or worse, which was something she really didn't want to think about. Not that Rachel could stop thinking about it if she tried. She'd almost gotten used to the idea that there was no one out to get her or those she loved anymore. No Shi'ar, no anti-mutant militias, no radical mutant groups. None of that was here. Just a homicidal droid.

[likesthestooges]

"I thought I'd try to reason with it and be its buddy. Isn't that what we should do, find peaceful solutions to violent situations?" he asked, keeping a straight face for just a moment before grinning at her and kissing her lightly again. Aidan knew how useless it would be to argue anything with Proxy. He also knew Proxy wasn't much of a danger anymore.

"Kidding, if it tries to hurt me again, please shoot it with one of your giant guns."

[starchilde_lost]

"You can reason all you like, I'm in a grudge-holding mood right now." She ran her finger along one of the bandages on Aidan's chest and found herself frowning a little. She couldn't get it out of her head, the idea that something thought, even for a moment, that Aidan was something to be killed. Even when she'd seen him a a vampire, she knew he was... well, not harmless, but certainly not something to be executed.

And as far as she could tell, neither was the man the bot thought Aidan was. He'd seemed nice enough when she met him, Jedi and all. It was just too much a reminder of the life she'd left behind.

[likesthestooges]

"That's because you love me so much," he said, turning to kiss her softly as she frowned. He didn't want that from her, for her to be upset right now. Aidan just wanted her to feel relieved that he was safe and there was no permanent damage. If he allowed himself to think what might have happened... those were dark thoughts that he didn't want to visit. He wanted to be in the moment, thinking of Rachel and how happy she made him.

[starchilde_lost]

Change of subject. Rachel needed a change of subject. "We're going to have to figure out furniture and stuff. Like what I need to move out of my place to make room for your things." As much as she didn't want to change a thing, after all, it had been her mother's place and that was still something of a big deal for her, she waned Aidan to feel like it was his, too. After all, it would be. She really wanted it to be.

[likesthestooges]

"Maybe we could get some sort of love seat," he said, smirking just a bit. He had noticed the change in subject and while he was fine with switching he wanted to let her know he absolutely knew what she was doing. He only wanted to tease her a bit though.

"I don't really have a lot though. Kind of force of habit, I guess. Maybe we can hunt down a few new things though? Stuff that's not necessarily yours or mine but can be ours?"

[starchilde_lost]

"Pretty sure anything we put in there will eventually be a love seat knowing you." Aidan really did have a way to make her lose all inhibitions and her clothes at almost a moment's notice. Blushing a little, she nuzzled at his neck, just enjoying the idea of having thing that were theirs more than they were hers. "Maybe we talk to the building crew about making us a few things? Maybe a new bed?"

[likesthestooges]

"Oh, knowing me, huh?" he asked, arching an eyebrow at her. As if he were entirely responsible for all the sexual advances in their relationship and it was such a hardship for her to give in to them on occasion. He was fairly certain that she gave just as good as she got.

"And yeah, we can see what it is that they're able to make. At this point they might like a challenge."

[starchilde_lost]

"A challenge? What kind of bed do you think we need that it would be a challenge?" She was laughing out loud, trying to imagine what that conversation would be like. Good lord, she could almost picture it and she probably wouldn't be able to look at a member of the crew for a solid week without giggling.

[likesthestooges]

"That is not the sort of challenge I meant. You need to get your head out of the gutter," Aidan said with a laugh. He could see how it could be construed as that but he couldn't resist giving her a bit of grief about it. It was good to hear her laughing though.

"I meant the challenge of just making something new. That haven't had a lot to do lately."

[starchilde_lost]

"And who's fault is it that the gutter's such an attractive place to be?" Not entirely his, but seriously having a regular boyfriend had certainly skewed her perspectives on a few things. And it was nice to have those things to joke about and think about.

Besides, she knew damn well he'd baited her. Even if he didn't want to admit it.

"Maybe we can think about some additions to the hut, too?"

[likesthestooges]

"Alright, maybe I'll take some of the credit for that," Aidan said, kissing her temple. Rachel made a lot of hings attractive to him, one of them being the idea of living together. Aidan liked the idea of being domestic, he always had. But more than just the concept of it he wanted to live together with Rachel, to be that much closer to her.

"A library. I think we should add on a library."

[starchilde_lost]

"A library. Are we going to raid the bookshelf or are you expecting a bump in your production?" Rachel was actually pretty proud of Aidan's little printing gig. Not that there was a lot to be printing on an island like this, but it was nice that he had something like that. God only knew she hadn't touched any of the jewelry stuff she'd acquired the first couple of years she'd been here, maybe she just hadn't found her thing yet. Her way to contribute to the island beyond teaching its residents how to beat each other up in sparring matches.