i've done it again (one year in every ten); we must give or take; truly, madly, deeply
Title: i've done it again (one year in every ten)
Summary: Too old for stockings and too young for cocktail dresses.
Pairing: Ilana/Richard
Rating: PG-13
Notes: For whatever.
Ilana digs at the scratchy wool of her plaid skirt, too old for stockings and too young for cocktail dresses. Jacob raises an eyebrow, a subtle gesture that commands her to sit still and breathe. She stops. The train screeches to a halt in London and they grab their bags quickly. Running is something Jacob has taught her to excel at.
A thin, worn out man meets them at the exit. Ilana, this is Richard. He's going to take care of you for a while. Ilana doesn't ask where Jacob is going, or why Richard isn't going with him. She'd never get an answer anyway. She nods and accepts the quick peck on the cheek her stand-in father offers her, their hands clutching the same beaten suitcase. Behave, he warns.
He knows he has to tell her this.
Ilana immediately ignores Richard in the long rented car he has for them. His questions fall on deaf ears and eventually he just gives up on her all together. But there's something calming about his voice, after the city begins to choke her, she starts asking him questions. Of course, he's as adept at avoiding answers as Jacob is. Should have known. He gives her a small room in his apartment and she locks the door, pulling off the tacky skirt and blouse and trading it for street clothes. When she's certain he's gone to bed, she pushes open her window and slithers down the fire escape.
Naturally, he is waiting for her at the nearest pub. Jacob warned me about you, he says, grabbing her arm and dragging her back to the apartment. You stay here. And if you do this again, I won't come looking for you. Then you'll be sorry. It's a threat made by a man who is not good at making threats, but it isn't empty. Frustrated and caged, she paces when he goes out, feeling suffocated by walls and bad furniture. She chain smokes the cigarettes she hit in the seam of her suitcases. When Richard catches her leaning out the window blowing smoke though her nose, he just laughs.
Once, a long time ago, I was young. Ilana doesn't have a hard time believing this. She sits on the counter and watches him carefully chop onions, stirring them in a pot. His hands don't give anything away. She doesn't know how old he is and she doesn't care enough to ask. He wouldn't tell her anyway.
Eventually, she gets enough courage to crawl into his bed. You know what this means, he says. And for once, it's something she didn't expect. Straddling his waist, she just nods, pretending like it all makes sense. Jacob said I couldn't touch you.
Jacob doesn't have to know. Richard laughs, but it is closer to a sob.
She stays anyway.
Title: truly, madly, deeply
Summary: It isn't about the past.
Pairing: Ben/Ilana
Rating: R
Notes: OMG I HAVE TO MUCH BENANA YES. ACTUALLY THE ANSWER IS NO KK GREAT THANKS.
It isn't about the past. It isn't about what he's done or hasn't done. Ilana reasons that she's only sleeping in his house because she needs a place to be and anything with anyone will do (but that's another lie to herself and another reason to be with him).
Whatever the reason, if he knows why she's there, he doesn't show it. Calmly, he lives around her, speaking with her only when necessary, handing her a cup of coffee in the morning, making her some lunch. She hates him (another lie) and she could leave anytime she wanted (if she had control) and he's just here temporarily (he's immortal).
There are nights when she listens to him sleep just to make sure he's still alive.
Why'd you take me in? she asks, staring into her wine glass. He chews on the question, staring out the darkening window and finally drawing the flimsy wooden shade. Outside, the frogs croak in his little bond and katy-dids flit over the little bit of light streaming into the yard. Ilana sets her glass down.
Because you asked. It's simple, really. A logical reason, an easy answer. Very Ben, very short. Because I didn't want to be alone anymore. He turns to face her, pulling off his glasses and setting them aside, watching her feet shift on the bad linoleum floor. She hates him (she lies again), but she understands him (understands what he needs), so she kisses him.
It is an unrelenting kiss, filled with everything she can't say. He speaks this language (the one of silence) and murmurs into her mouth over and over. I don't want to be alone. She nods because she doesn't want that either. She's been alone for a long time and she's been drowning in the shallow end for even longer. Pressed against the cold oven, he fucks her, hard and fast, breath coming in small bursts. She quivers on the edge and keens when he rakes his teeth over her jaw, coming hard and being blinded.
They right themselves and he serves dinner, like it didn't happen. They're good at that.
It comes and goes, the urge to try and own a part of him. Sometimes he's in the shed in the back, fixing something. Sometimes she slips into the shower with him. Sometimes they meet between rooms and it implodes between them and before she can say no he's buried deep inside her and she's hooked to him (he throws her back).
She counts the bruises he leaves and catches him doing the same.
Are you okay with this? she asks him one morning while watching him search for something in the fridge. He straightens up and raises an eyebrow.
She takes that as a yes.
Title: we must give or take
Summary: Someday, they'll both fly away.
Pairing: Alex/Boone
Rating: R
Notes: For LadyFest'10, requested here.
This is the first time anyone told her I love you that way. And because of who she is (who her father is) she doesn't believe a word of it. She takes off into the jungle, leaves whipping at her cheeks and tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. All of this she knows has been made up.
But she's afraid she's run him off, so she goes back and waits. He's there, same time as always. I'm sorry.
I love you, too, she blurts out, tossing a rock into the stream. She isn't supposed to feel this way. Karl loves her, Ben loves her, the jungle loves her. But she feels so alone when she's not with him, it hurts. Hurts so bad it must be love.
Boone tastes like salt water and something distinct and foreign and his hands feel like fireflies over her skin. He thumbs away the button on her jeans and looks quickly into her eyes. She nods. And he feels like pressure and then that pressure breaks and it hurts, god it hurts her. But he loves her and that's what matters. In the wake of it all he presses his fingers over her heart and his lips along her shoulders.
Someday, they'll both fly away.
Summary: Too old for stockings and too young for cocktail dresses.
Pairing: Ilana/Richard
Rating: PG-13
Notes: For whatever.
Ilana digs at the scratchy wool of her plaid skirt, too old for stockings and too young for cocktail dresses. Jacob raises an eyebrow, a subtle gesture that commands her to sit still and breathe. She stops. The train screeches to a halt in London and they grab their bags quickly. Running is something Jacob has taught her to excel at.
A thin, worn out man meets them at the exit. Ilana, this is Richard. He's going to take care of you for a while. Ilana doesn't ask where Jacob is going, or why Richard isn't going with him. She'd never get an answer anyway. She nods and accepts the quick peck on the cheek her stand-in father offers her, their hands clutching the same beaten suitcase. Behave, he warns.
He knows he has to tell her this.
Ilana immediately ignores Richard in the long rented car he has for them. His questions fall on deaf ears and eventually he just gives up on her all together. But there's something calming about his voice, after the city begins to choke her, she starts asking him questions. Of course, he's as adept at avoiding answers as Jacob is. Should have known. He gives her a small room in his apartment and she locks the door, pulling off the tacky skirt and blouse and trading it for street clothes. When she's certain he's gone to bed, she pushes open her window and slithers down the fire escape.
Naturally, he is waiting for her at the nearest pub. Jacob warned me about you, he says, grabbing her arm and dragging her back to the apartment. You stay here. And if you do this again, I won't come looking for you. Then you'll be sorry. It's a threat made by a man who is not good at making threats, but it isn't empty. Frustrated and caged, she paces when he goes out, feeling suffocated by walls and bad furniture. She chain smokes the cigarettes she hit in the seam of her suitcases. When Richard catches her leaning out the window blowing smoke though her nose, he just laughs.
Once, a long time ago, I was young. Ilana doesn't have a hard time believing this. She sits on the counter and watches him carefully chop onions, stirring them in a pot. His hands don't give anything away. She doesn't know how old he is and she doesn't care enough to ask. He wouldn't tell her anyway.
Eventually, she gets enough courage to crawl into his bed. You know what this means, he says. And for once, it's something she didn't expect. Straddling his waist, she just nods, pretending like it all makes sense. Jacob said I couldn't touch you.
Jacob doesn't have to know. Richard laughs, but it is closer to a sob.
She stays anyway.
Title: truly, madly, deeply
Summary: It isn't about the past.
Pairing: Ben/Ilana
Rating: R
Notes: OMG I HAVE TO MUCH BENANA YES. ACTUALLY THE ANSWER IS NO KK GREAT THANKS.
It isn't about the past. It isn't about what he's done or hasn't done. Ilana reasons that she's only sleeping in his house because she needs a place to be and anything with anyone will do (but that's another lie to herself and another reason to be with him).
Whatever the reason, if he knows why she's there, he doesn't show it. Calmly, he lives around her, speaking with her only when necessary, handing her a cup of coffee in the morning, making her some lunch. She hates him (another lie) and she could leave anytime she wanted (if she had control) and he's just here temporarily (he's immortal).
There are nights when she listens to him sleep just to make sure he's still alive.
Why'd you take me in? she asks, staring into her wine glass. He chews on the question, staring out the darkening window and finally drawing the flimsy wooden shade. Outside, the frogs croak in his little bond and katy-dids flit over the little bit of light streaming into the yard. Ilana sets her glass down.
Because you asked. It's simple, really. A logical reason, an easy answer. Very Ben, very short. Because I didn't want to be alone anymore. He turns to face her, pulling off his glasses and setting them aside, watching her feet shift on the bad linoleum floor. She hates him (she lies again), but she understands him (understands what he needs), so she kisses him.
It is an unrelenting kiss, filled with everything she can't say. He speaks this language (the one of silence) and murmurs into her mouth over and over. I don't want to be alone. She nods because she doesn't want that either. She's been alone for a long time and she's been drowning in the shallow end for even longer. Pressed against the cold oven, he fucks her, hard and fast, breath coming in small bursts. She quivers on the edge and keens when he rakes his teeth over her jaw, coming hard and being blinded.
They right themselves and he serves dinner, like it didn't happen. They're good at that.
It comes and goes, the urge to try and own a part of him. Sometimes he's in the shed in the back, fixing something. Sometimes she slips into the shower with him. Sometimes they meet between rooms and it implodes between them and before she can say no he's buried deep inside her and she's hooked to him (he throws her back).
She counts the bruises he leaves and catches him doing the same.
Are you okay with this? she asks him one morning while watching him search for something in the fridge. He straightens up and raises an eyebrow.
She takes that as a yes.
Title: we must give or take
Summary: Someday, they'll both fly away.
Pairing: Alex/Boone
Rating: R
Notes: For LadyFest'10, requested here.
This is the first time anyone told her I love you that way. And because of who she is (who her father is) she doesn't believe a word of it. She takes off into the jungle, leaves whipping at her cheeks and tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. All of this she knows has been made up.
But she's afraid she's run him off, so she goes back and waits. He's there, same time as always. I'm sorry.
I love you, too, she blurts out, tossing a rock into the stream. She isn't supposed to feel this way. Karl loves her, Ben loves her, the jungle loves her. But she feels so alone when she's not with him, it hurts. Hurts so bad it must be love.
Boone tastes like salt water and something distinct and foreign and his hands feel like fireflies over her skin. He thumbs away the button on her jeans and looks quickly into her eyes. She nods. And he feels like pressure and then that pressure breaks and it hurts, god it hurts her. But he loves her and that's what matters. In the wake of it all he presses his fingers over her heart and his lips along her shoulders.
Someday, they'll both fly away.