Title: Toy Boats
Author: alianora
Rating: PG
Summery: 4th in the Carnival series.
Follows
Cotton Candy,
Ring Toss, and
Carousel.
You really shouldn't ride the merry go round eight times in a row.
The girl was leaning over him, big eyes full of concern.
"Are you dying?"
He grunted and shut his eyes.
"Would you like to hold Turtle?" A soft head was shoved under his hand.
"Just let me alone, girl. I don't feel good." He tried to sink deeper into the table he was laying on.
"She is sorry. She did not mean for you to get so dizzy." Her voice was awful little. "She should have let you take her somewhere else."
He opened his eyes and shot her a halfhearted glare. "She should have, and I never shoulda gone on that gorram thing in the first place."
She scooted a little closer and patted his head gentle-like. It almost felt nice. Like she was normal. "She did not know you would get sick." She patted his head again. "Thank you for not throwing up on Turtle."
"That thing cost me enough trouble. I ain't gonna destroy it, cause you would cry, and then I'd have to get you a new one." Her little fingers felt good combing through his hair like that.
"Has the world stopped moving?" Her hair fell down around his face, blocking off the world around them as she eyed him hopefully.
"Not yet."
They sat for a few minutes, her cool hand sitting on his forehead, and him trying not to lose his lunch. Turtle was tucked under his arm still, which probably looked all kinds of funny to people walking by. But he didnt think he should sit up just yet, even to move the stupid thing. So, for right now, the big bad mercenary was cuddling with a stuffed animal.
He weren't really caring, to tell the truth.
The girl sighed mournfully. She was taking this awful hard. She had hovered over him as they was getting off the gorram ride. She had even scared away a whole family from the picnic table they was at, so he could lay down.
"The man is at sea," she said softly. "Drifting and bobbing, like a little boat." She was leaning down closer, cause her hair was tickling his face.
"Do we gotta be talking about boats?" he grumbled, spitting hair out of his mouth.
"Boats and water and diving down, like turtle at sea." She was whispering right in his ear now, and the feel of her breath was giving him the shivers right down his back.
But the queasy feeling was being pushed back as she was talking, so he didn't stop her, even though her hair was sliding across his neck and she had her head right up against his shoulder.
Her voice got even softer, and he opened his eyes when she touched his cheek. She was looking right at him, and humming a little.
"He has taken care of her today. Played games, gave her Turtle, took her around the world many times on a plaster horse. Now, he needs to rest." She smiled at him from where she leaned on his shoulder. "She and Turtle will watch over him."
He studied her, trying to figure out if the weird feeling he had now was the seasickness from that gorram ride, or was just her.
He had done fine when he was watching her while they was on the merry go round. But then she started watching him back, and smiling like she was smiling now, all soft and gentle, like he was something special. It made him all manner of uncomfortable.
So, he had concentrated on the people passing by, instead. Should've remembered he don't do well on rides that go 'round and 'round.
"Should've kept his eyes on her," she agreed softly. "She can keep you safe, in your boat on the water. Instead, you tried to drown, and she had to pull you from the ocean."
"We ain't going on no water rides, so you just get that out of your head."
She patted his cheek comfortingly. "No more hurricanes either."
Jayne hauled himself to a sitting position, grabbing onto Turtle to keep it from falling in the dirt, and the girl to keep her from overbalancing.
She clutched his shoulder and searched his face anxiously. "The boats have stopped?"
"Yep, no more spinning."
The crazy girl beamed at him happily. "Time for another game."
"Oh yeah? What am I winning you this time?"
"She is going to win him a goldfish to keep him company."
END
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