requests; response five
Who: Haylie Collins, Jane Worth
Where: New York
What: Following a bit of a disaster, Haylie takes steps to bring Jane back to himself.
Rating: PG
For: notouchpolicy who asked for '"Now, just because someone sees, you know, two naked people asleep in bed together, it doesn't necessarily prove sex was involved. It does, however, make for a very strong case." -Velvet Goldmine {Haylie & Jane}'.
He’s not exactly aware of anything that’s going on right then. There’s this sort of blank screen over his vision that’s pretty much blocking everything out. He’s able to follow directions; stand, come on, step up, mind your head, sit down, drink this. It’s all just autopilot, but it’s probably a good thing that he still understands the English language or something. He doesn’t protest when he’s pushed onto the edge of a mattress -bed, he tells himself, probably the hotel. There’s not a word out of him as his boots are pulled off, socks next and thrown somewhere.
His feet feel like blocks of ice, but that’s probably par for the course. His entire body feels like a block of ice. It probably has something to do with plummeting into the Delaware River stuck inside a car. “Arms up.” The plain, soaked and cold t-shirt is tugged up over his head and Jane hisses slightly at the pull of the muscles in his shoulders. A soft, warm hand runs over his collarbone -broken earlier but now in one piece and hell if he knows how that happened, because it’s not part of his mutant power and it’s not part of hers. It’s probably the same reason as why he’s alive right then. “Stand up again.” Her hand grips his elbow to help him stand, even as she unfastens his belt and something tells him that maybe he should actually move or something.
But three hours ago he drowned. Actually drowned, completely gone, lungs with no air and filled with water. Disgusting, freezing cold, Delaware River water. And then, suddenly, he’s not. It doesn’t make sense and he’s still freezing and his brain hasn’t caught up with anything yet. His cargo pants are on the floor and he’s buck naked and his brain is still switched off, possibly rebooting like something from the 90’s. “C’mon,” he’s horizontal and swaddled in blankets just as the shivers start and Jane has to clench his jaw just to stop his teeth clattering together.
There’s shuffling and the click of a light and then the bed dips behind him and there’s this warmth along his back, like someone just lit a fire down his spine. He’s slow to realise that its Haylie pressing to his back; her breasts against his shoulder blades, cheek to the nape of his neck, arm sliding around his waist, her legs tangling with his just to spread the warmth. He’s so fucking grateful and just as terrified. Because he’s shivering, he’s cold and numb and the possibility of this resulting in the cold to end all colds is completely possible. He just can’t articulate it at all, that she should probably not lie so close, or something to the same effect. Instead, his eyes start to droop and his breathing levels out and he feels everything relax backwards into that heat as he drifts off and just completely turns off.
--
Consciousness is like a stab to the neck and Jane’s awake in a second, body rigid and brain firing at a million miles a second.
“Hmm, Worth?”
Haylie is still right there behind him, still this furnace of welcome heat along his spine, but the pain is just excruciating. “Yeah, s’rry, jus’,” fuck he hasn’t felt like this since his lung collapsed when his chopper was shot down on his first tour of duty. “Little bit sore.” Understatement, but he’s not really trying to worry Haylie at this point.
His hand moves up to rub his face, but the muscles protest and the ache of the broken collarbone is there, even if the bone is no longer broken, so he can’t hide the hiss of pain or the uncomfortable shift. Haylie moves back, shifting up and away from his side just a little and the warmth is instantly missed. “Here, move back a little.” Her hand is firm, but gentle, pushing his shoulder until he’s lying on his back and then she just rearranges herself against him.
With an arm pinned under her body, sliding around her waist, Haylie settles to his chest, sprawling over him and the heat just seeps into his body. It’s a little weird; he’s never done the whole ‘lying naked with a friend just for the sake of it’ thing before. When he’s naked, in bed, with a hot chick, it’s usually for some far more biblical action. But it’s sort of nice, comforting in the sense that he had been dead and now he’s sort of calmed and definitely warm. So he just goes with it, staring at the ceiling, letting his mind just drift. Haylie’s head resting on the shoulder that doesn’t hurt, her thigh resting through his, arm over his hip, it’s sort of reassuring in a way. She raises a hand to run over his collarbone, fingers tracing it up to his shoulder. “Do you remember?”
He doesn’t really, snaps of things and a few blurry images, but it’s mostly just a haze of pain and cold and panic. “Not really,” he’s fairly certain that he’ll be given a degree of leeway with his report for this one. “Remember the car going off the bridge, remember Nitro bailing out.” He got rattled around in the car when it hit the water, no time to push the door open or kick open a window, it filled up too fast for him to get his bearings and by the time he’d managed to smash through the sunroof he’d lost too much oxygen and blacked out before he’d even reached the top.
The bone had broken before then though, when Pulse had blasted him through the diner window, it had cracked and split then, making one arm and hand completely useless. It was just as well that Haylie took Pulse out when she did or they’d have been well down the shitter. “What happened after that?”
She’s not looking at him, and he doesn’t really mind, she’s just staring at that place where his shoulder and throat connect. “Coast guard pulled you out, no pulse, CPR didn’t work. And then there was this kid, he pushed through to the docks and promised he could help.” Her fingers start that slow, soothing stroke along his bone again. “He just pressed his hands on your chest and then,” he feels her shrug against him, feels the turn of her lips against his skin, “you spluttered and coughed and everything was normal. Some strange guy in a leather suit picked up the kid, his name is Josh, by the way, Josh Foley.” Jane makes a note of it, since apparently that’s how he’s alive, because some kid named Josh played hero for a day. “Kinda scared me.”
“Yeah, sorry.” He’s pretty sure she’s not the only one he scared, since he’s still not managed to wrap his head around it all. “I think I’ll make a point on not drowning again.”
“Good plan.” Since it’s sort of clear that he’s no longer in danger of freezing to death after being saved from drowning, Jane almost expects Haylie to shift away so that they both, at least, have their own side of the bed. Instead she sort of nestles down, still resting on his chest and shoulder, still sharing the unbelievable body heat she has, and still stroking along his collarbone.
It’s the thump of her heartbeat, the steady reverberating of it through his chest that eventually pushes him back over to sleep, arm curved around her back to hold her close. He’s still too tired to really deal with anything, and it’s sort of nice to just share the heat and have that contact, so he doesn’t bother shifting away himself.
--
Where: New York
What: Following a bit of a disaster, Haylie takes steps to bring Jane back to himself.
Rating: PG
For: notouchpolicy who asked for '"Now, just because someone sees, you know, two naked people asleep in bed together, it doesn't necessarily prove sex was involved. It does, however, make for a very strong case." -Velvet Goldmine {Haylie & Jane}'.
He’s not exactly aware of anything that’s going on right then. There’s this sort of blank screen over his vision that’s pretty much blocking everything out. He’s able to follow directions; stand, come on, step up, mind your head, sit down, drink this. It’s all just autopilot, but it’s probably a good thing that he still understands the English language or something. He doesn’t protest when he’s pushed onto the edge of a mattress -bed, he tells himself, probably the hotel. There’s not a word out of him as his boots are pulled off, socks next and thrown somewhere.
His feet feel like blocks of ice, but that’s probably par for the course. His entire body feels like a block of ice. It probably has something to do with plummeting into the Delaware River stuck inside a car. “Arms up.” The plain, soaked and cold t-shirt is tugged up over his head and Jane hisses slightly at the pull of the muscles in his shoulders. A soft, warm hand runs over his collarbone -broken earlier but now in one piece and hell if he knows how that happened, because it’s not part of his mutant power and it’s not part of hers. It’s probably the same reason as why he’s alive right then. “Stand up again.” Her hand grips his elbow to help him stand, even as she unfastens his belt and something tells him that maybe he should actually move or something.
But three hours ago he drowned. Actually drowned, completely gone, lungs with no air and filled with water. Disgusting, freezing cold, Delaware River water. And then, suddenly, he’s not. It doesn’t make sense and he’s still freezing and his brain hasn’t caught up with anything yet. His cargo pants are on the floor and he’s buck naked and his brain is still switched off, possibly rebooting like something from the 90’s. “C’mon,” he’s horizontal and swaddled in blankets just as the shivers start and Jane has to clench his jaw just to stop his teeth clattering together.
There’s shuffling and the click of a light and then the bed dips behind him and there’s this warmth along his back, like someone just lit a fire down his spine. He’s slow to realise that its Haylie pressing to his back; her breasts against his shoulder blades, cheek to the nape of his neck, arm sliding around his waist, her legs tangling with his just to spread the warmth. He’s so fucking grateful and just as terrified. Because he’s shivering, he’s cold and numb and the possibility of this resulting in the cold to end all colds is completely possible. He just can’t articulate it at all, that she should probably not lie so close, or something to the same effect. Instead, his eyes start to droop and his breathing levels out and he feels everything relax backwards into that heat as he drifts off and just completely turns off.
--
Consciousness is like a stab to the neck and Jane’s awake in a second, body rigid and brain firing at a million miles a second.
“Hmm, Worth?”
Haylie is still right there behind him, still this furnace of welcome heat along his spine, but the pain is just excruciating. “Yeah, s’rry, jus’,” fuck he hasn’t felt like this since his lung collapsed when his chopper was shot down on his first tour of duty. “Little bit sore.” Understatement, but he’s not really trying to worry Haylie at this point.
His hand moves up to rub his face, but the muscles protest and the ache of the broken collarbone is there, even if the bone is no longer broken, so he can’t hide the hiss of pain or the uncomfortable shift. Haylie moves back, shifting up and away from his side just a little and the warmth is instantly missed. “Here, move back a little.” Her hand is firm, but gentle, pushing his shoulder until he’s lying on his back and then she just rearranges herself against him.
With an arm pinned under her body, sliding around her waist, Haylie settles to his chest, sprawling over him and the heat just seeps into his body. It’s a little weird; he’s never done the whole ‘lying naked with a friend just for the sake of it’ thing before. When he’s naked, in bed, with a hot chick, it’s usually for some far more biblical action. But it’s sort of nice, comforting in the sense that he had been dead and now he’s sort of calmed and definitely warm. So he just goes with it, staring at the ceiling, letting his mind just drift. Haylie’s head resting on the shoulder that doesn’t hurt, her thigh resting through his, arm over his hip, it’s sort of reassuring in a way. She raises a hand to run over his collarbone, fingers tracing it up to his shoulder. “Do you remember?”
He doesn’t really, snaps of things and a few blurry images, but it’s mostly just a haze of pain and cold and panic. “Not really,” he’s fairly certain that he’ll be given a degree of leeway with his report for this one. “Remember the car going off the bridge, remember Nitro bailing out.” He got rattled around in the car when it hit the water, no time to push the door open or kick open a window, it filled up too fast for him to get his bearings and by the time he’d managed to smash through the sunroof he’d lost too much oxygen and blacked out before he’d even reached the top.
The bone had broken before then though, when Pulse had blasted him through the diner window, it had cracked and split then, making one arm and hand completely useless. It was just as well that Haylie took Pulse out when she did or they’d have been well down the shitter. “What happened after that?”
She’s not looking at him, and he doesn’t really mind, she’s just staring at that place where his shoulder and throat connect. “Coast guard pulled you out, no pulse, CPR didn’t work. And then there was this kid, he pushed through to the docks and promised he could help.” Her fingers start that slow, soothing stroke along his bone again. “He just pressed his hands on your chest and then,” he feels her shrug against him, feels the turn of her lips against his skin, “you spluttered and coughed and everything was normal. Some strange guy in a leather suit picked up the kid, his name is Josh, by the way, Josh Foley.” Jane makes a note of it, since apparently that’s how he’s alive, because some kid named Josh played hero for a day. “Kinda scared me.”
“Yeah, sorry.” He’s pretty sure she’s not the only one he scared, since he’s still not managed to wrap his head around it all. “I think I’ll make a point on not drowning again.”
“Good plan.” Since it’s sort of clear that he’s no longer in danger of freezing to death after being saved from drowning, Jane almost expects Haylie to shift away so that they both, at least, have their own side of the bed. Instead she sort of nestles down, still resting on his chest and shoulder, still sharing the unbelievable body heat she has, and still stroking along his collarbone.
It’s the thump of her heartbeat, the steady reverberating of it through his chest that eventually pushes him back over to sleep, arm curved around her back to hold her close. He’s still too tired to really deal with anything, and it’s sort of nice to just share the heat and have that contact, so he doesn’t bother shifting away himself.
--