From Coals to Flame 6: Flame
Title: From Coals to Flame: Flame
Author: cherimorton
Rating: there's kissing, does that make it pg?
Pairing: Ville/Evie (OFC)
Disclaimer: puh- lease
Summary: Ville and Evie spend time
A/N: this is it...
A while later, she heard him shuffling around and head to the bathroom. She heard the shower turn on and lost herself in her book again until he came down the stairs, hair still damp and that amused grin on his face that she loved so much. “You have a laundry chute. That’s awesome. Your house is really beautiful,” he said, stirring her from her novel. She smiled up at him and thanked him.
“So, what would you like to do? There’s still a while before dinner, so…” she said sitting up.
“I don’t know… what would you like to show me?”
She thought for a minute and said, “Let’s take a walk. I’m only a block from the river, and it has a path that runs alongside of it.” Ville nodded his approval, and Evie went upstairs for a jacket and her favorite beanie. “You still have it,” Ville noted with satisfaction.
“Of course! I have everything you’ve sent me… well, except the Swiss chocolate,” she said sheepishly and indicated to the framed wrapper.
Ville laughed and said, “I bet you get a lot of questions about that one.”
“Not exactly. Everyone who comes in here knows me really well, so nothing surprises them anymore… I don’t let strangers in my house,” she said.
“I’m glad I’m not considered a stranger,” Ville said smiling.
Evie grinned back and handed him his jacket. “Here, it’s chilly,” and the two went out the door, Evie pocketing her house key after setting the alarm. They walked the block to the riverside path and set on their aimless course to nowhere, just enjoying each other’s company and talking about their various experiences with life and their hopes for what the future held. Evie didn’t say anything about what she really wanted her future to look like, just that she knew she loved her life the way it was, and appreciated all of it, and Ville didn’t push her. He told her about what he wanted; he wanted to have a family one day, which surprised Evie. “You do?” she asked incredulously, “So why don’t you have one?” Ville shrugged his shoulders and said, “It’s hard finding a soul mate.”
Evie considered this for a minute and said, “But… you’re… wonderful. Women would be absolutely nuts not to want to give you what you want,” I should know, she thought to herself. Ville laughed lightly and said, “It seems that once they realize that this life I have isn’t so glamorous, they don’t want me anymore. You’re actually the first woman to stick around once touring started; that’s the worst, because regardless of how we try, we don’t get to see or talk to the ones we miss the most. Most women can’t handle that kind of stress. Or loyalty for that matter.” Evie stopped and stared at him.
“You’ve been cheated on?! What deranged mental patient would do something like that?” she exclaimed.
Ville turned to look at her, chuckling again, and said, “Like I’ve said all along, you’re perfect. Not everyone is. Time away, absence, doesn’t usually make the heart grow fonder. It makes the heart colder, and it seeks out warmth in anything close. At least, that’s how Jonna explained her affair with the neighbor,” he finished dryly.
“And that would be why you threw the flower pot at their door,” Evie stated. Ville looked down, guilt showing on his face. “You know about that.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. Evie leaned toward him and said, “I Googled you,” making Ville laugh and his dimmed eyes brightened again. “Great. That’s what comes up when I’m googled.” It was Evie’s turn to giggle, and said, “Well, not on the first page… I dug deep when I first heard your music. I wanted to know absolutely everything about you. It was on the second page,” she said, answering the surprise on Ville’s face. “Oh, Ozzy…” he said, reaching over to lace their fingers together. They spent the rest of the afternoon wandering along the river, occasionally skipping rocks and enjoying each other.
Around four thirty, they’d been walking for about an hour, and decided it was time to head back and start dinner. When they walked back on the porch, Aysha was in the hammock seat waiting for them, or Evie rather. “Hey,” she said, “I need Chris’s clothes… gotta pack him for out of town. The big baby. Hi, I’m Aysha,” she stuck her hand out to Ville and flashed him a huge smile. “Hello, Aysha, it’s nice to finally meet you,” he said as the three of them went into the house. “I know! It’s nice to finally meet you too. Evie has told me a lot about you,” Aysha said.
“Same here; I think I know where Chris put your birthday present, FYI,” Ville said with a laugh.
Collecting her boyfriend’s clothes from Evie’s laundry room, Aysha somewhat awkwardly managed to hug Evie long enough to whisper, “Let. Him. In.” and with a wave and a brilliant smile, was out the door.
Evie studied Ville for a minute while he got water from the faucet and decided that he would set the pace. He would determine what would happen between them. She’d already put too much of her heart in him to be rejected.
“Ok, dinner,” she said, opening the fridge and pulling out the ingredients for stir-fry. They ate over candlelight in the dining room, laughing and talking for the rest of the night before Ville stretched his tired limbs and said he needed a nap. He and Evie walked up the stairs, each going for their own rooms and snuggling into their feelings of comfort and contentment.
Evie felt someone watching her through her sleeping mind and opened her eyes slowly to find Ville leaning against the open doorway, coffee in hand, and eyes on her. She smiled and said “Hi.” He grinned and walked over to her bed, pointing at a cup next to her on the night table. “Oh, yay. I’m keeping you,” she said sleepily, eliciting a happy smile from him. “I didn’t want to wake you; you looked very peaceful. How did you sleep enkeli?” he asked. “Good. Sound,” she said, “and you?”
“Amazing. I really love that bed, you know.”
Evie giggled and said, “It’s a mattress… don’t they make those in Finlandia?”
“Not like that,” Ville said, small smile on his lips.
“Bummer. I’d give you mine…”
“But then where would I sleep when I visited?” he asked.
Evie stumbled over her answer a bit. “I’ll get another one… that way you could have two!” she said brightly.
Ville chuckled and asked what was on the agenda for the day. “Well,” Evie said, “I wanted to take you up on the Parkway and let you see where you are. Maybe a picnic?”
“That sounds wonderful.”
“Great. Let me grab a shower and we’ll do that,” she said.
30 minutes later, Evie skipped (yes, actually skipped, much to Ville’s amusement) down the stairs and past Ville, sitting on her sofa. She grinned widely at him, walking in the direction of the kitchen.
“I’m in love with you.”
Evie stopped in her tracks, frozen by Ville’s simple statement in his velvet voice. She turned slowly to see him staring at her. Suddenly, he looked nervous, and looked down at the hem of his shirt, which he’d begun to fiddle with. “I have been since that first night in Sydney. You’d just finished saying that I was perfect, and you turned around, noticing that I wasn’t beside you. I couldn’t move. You’d just said that you couldn’t fall apart, and all I wanted to do was hold you and chase your demons away. Never in my entire life had I wanted something so badly than to take you in my arms and kiss you. So I did. Then you told me you were broken. I made a split decision to stick it out with you, and show you that you could trust me and believe in me. And you managed to prove to me that it was the right decision, because just your faith in me held my spirits up and your readiness to lift me up no matter how far down I was told me that you could love me too, good and bad. I know-“ and he was interrupted by Evie, who’d, in a flash, moved in front of him and sat herself down on his lap.
“You heal my soul,” she said, placing his hand on her heart, “I’m not afraid of anything with you. I thought for sure I wouldn’t be able to give you what you deserve, and even now I’m unsure, but more than anything in this entire universe, more than anything I want from life, I want the chance to try and give it to you. Your touch sets my blood to fire in my veins. Seeing you blurs out everything else around me. Hearing you speak is like falling into a bed of velvet. Breathing your scent comforts me, lets me know you’re near. Tasting your kiss is tasting the sweetest nourishment. I love you, too.” And in a very uncharacteristic move from Evie, she placed her arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep, loving kiss.
And time stood still for both of them as the flames of their love licked their wounds clean.
~~Fin~~
1: Sparks
2:Warmth
3:Steady Heat
4:Coals
5: Catching Embers