FIC: Fifty-two Card Pick Up (Sequel to Two Cups of Coffee Short of a Full Deck)
General update - Still working on more Double Bluff, promise. But until I can get that posted, have some other fic...
Another pressie fic/snippet. This one's for Amycat who's prompt was "All things considered, it was a surprisingly GOOD holiday..." and since Amycat asked for more of this fic (DW/LJ links here) when it first came out and then asked for crossovers with her prompt... um, two birds, one time travel fic? I know it's not exactly what you were after with your prompt, darling, but I hope it still works for you.
Fifty-two Card Pick Up
(Also available on AO3)
(White Collar/Dr Who - please note, first one was gen, this one is not- though it probably still only rates a PG for kissin')
Beta credit to Monica, handholding/brainstorming/etc credit to alee_grrl, thank you lovelies!
“All things considered, it was a surprisingly good holiday, don’t you think honey?” Elizabeth threw the comment over her shoulder as she slid carefully down off a boulder onto the grass. She flopped to the ground reverently and glanced at Peter, her head tilted in inquiry, her mussed hair a far cry from its usual perfect style.
“I suppose it wasn’t... terrible,” Peter allowed, craning his neck down to see her from his boulder elevated vantage point, then turning back to see if everyone was still following them properly. The cliff face seemed to continue up forever, but Neal was just about ten feet above him, sliding down the last of the flat portion on rappel.
Just above Neal was Captain Harkness, who seemed to be paying more attention to Rose’s butt a few feet above him, than he was to his own safety and where he was going. Though, Peter had to admit after having spent some time with him, while distraction was often the impression the Captain gave, it was generally a false one. So, for all Peter could tell, Harkness could be absolutely focused on both his own climbing, Rose’s “assets” and be ready to catch her if she fell - all at once.
Peter shuffled forward and reached out a hand to guide Neal’s foot to an easy ledge. Grasping Neal’s ankle just below the slightly tattered cuff of what had, at one point, been a nice pair of vintage suit pants, Peter made sure Neal’s foot was resting squarely on the solid outcropping before backing away so that Neal could maneuver the rest of the way down the wall. When he was a few feet from the ground, Neal hopped down off the cliff face and landed cat footed next to Peter on the boulder top.
El’s sudden gorgeous peal of laughter caused both men to spin and look at her in confusion.
“El- what are you laughing at?” Peter demanded. She muffled her laughter with one hand, but the other was extended to flap uncoordinatedly in their general direction. Neal peered at her, then his gaze flicked to trail over Peter from head to toe, and then over as much of himself as he could manage to see. He blinked in sudden realization.
“Hehe. Peter, she’s laughing at us,” Neal said as he plunked down on his butt and slid off the rock onto the ground next to El. Elizabeth’s laughter just got harder. She listed slowly to one side and ended up curled on the ground, tears of mirth pouring from her eyes. Neal stood and made an Oscar worthy production of smoothing the lingering dirt off the seat of his nearly destroyed pants. With pronounced dignity, Neal then turned and with a showy bow, offered Peter a hand to assist his descent.
“What am I, a pretty, pretty princess? Thanks, Neal, but I’ve got this.” With that, the foothold Peter had been relying on promptly crumbled under him and he crashed to the ground.
“Peter! Are you okay?” Neal bent to inspect Peter’s condition.
“Peter?” El shot upright again, worry on her face as she scrambled to stand.
“‘M fine. Just... my pride.” Peter mumbled. He brought his head up and let it fall back against the stone behind him. “Ow.” He brought his hand up to rub the back of his head.
“Peter!” El admonished.
“I’m okay, Hon.” Peter looked her straight in the eye when he spoke, attempting reassurance even though his head and his tail bone ached. When he reflected (which he’d tried not to) on the past few weeks, it was hard to rationalize how he gotten from his living room to sitting on his ass in a field of wildflowers on another planet. Plus, his head hurt.
“How we doing down here, kids?” Captain Harkness’ voice swiftly cut into Peter’s burgeoning pity party. With a thump that Peter could feel reverberating through the ground he sat on, Harkness jumped down and landed next to him. He held his arms out and Rose lept off the boulder into them. With graceless abandon, the two of them landed, giggling, on the ground near El.
El fell back down to the grass and joined in the giggling. Neal looked down at Peter and shrugged.
“If you can’t beat ‘em...?” Neal asked.
“Join ‘em.” Peter replied, lurching to his feet. In tandem, they marched the last few steps to where El, Jack, and Rose all lay on the grass, and flopped down on either side of El. It had been a long two weeks. Neal rose up on one elbow to look across where El lay, locking eyes with Peter.
“You know what disappoints me the most?” He asked, his tone earnest. “I never even got to meet Leonardo da Vinci!” Peter couldn’t help it, he didn’t even try. His face went from solemn and understanding, to flat out ear to ear smiling instantly. El reached a hand over, grabbed him by what was left of his shirt collar, and dragged him in for a swift kiss.
Peter enthusiastically kissed her back until she let her grip on his collar loose slightly. She gave his shirt front a conciliatory pat and then shot her other arm out to nab Neal’s jacket lapel and reel him in. Peter’s smile turned into outright laughter at the look on Neal’s face right before his wife planted what could only be described as ‘a big wet one’ on his favorite conman’s lips.
Yup. It had been a long few weeks. But El was right, as she most often was, all things considered, it had turned out to be a pretty good holiday. Peter leaned over his wife, who was still rather intent on her task, and tucked his head into hollow created by both their necks. Breathing in feel of them both, he was ready when they broke the kiss to steal Neal’s lips for his own moment.
Of course, the moment was broken a few minutes later by a grating sliding noise from the base of the cliff wall.
“Oi! What are you all doing mucking about down here for? I told you to meet me in the base of the cliff, not outside it!” Here the Doctor paused a brief second. “Also - you may want to look up right about now and RUN!”
As a quick glance over his shoulder revealed what looked like an entire village worth of angry people carry pitchforks and torches, Peter was inclined to agree. He helped El and Neal hurriedly to their feet, checked to make sure Jack and Rose were with them, and all together they rushed through the hidden door in the stone the Doctor had disappeared into.
Peter’s last thought as they slammed the door shut was ‘Huh, still not a bad holiday.’ And then they were off and running.
__________________________________ This entry was originally posted at http://riazendira.dreamwidth.org/66429.html, where there are
comments. Please comment on either journal as you please.
Another pressie fic/snippet. This one's for Amycat who's prompt was "All things considered, it was a surprisingly GOOD holiday..." and since Amycat asked for more of this fic (DW/LJ links here) when it first came out and then asked for crossovers with her prompt... um, two birds, one time travel fic? I know it's not exactly what you were after with your prompt, darling, but I hope it still works for you.
Fifty-two Card Pick Up
(Also available on AO3)
(White Collar/Dr Who - please note, first one was gen, this one is not- though it probably still only rates a PG for kissin')
Beta credit to Monica, handholding/brainstorming/etc credit to alee_grrl, thank you lovelies!
“All things considered, it was a surprisingly good holiday, don’t you think honey?” Elizabeth threw the comment over her shoulder as she slid carefully down off a boulder onto the grass. She flopped to the ground reverently and glanced at Peter, her head tilted in inquiry, her mussed hair a far cry from its usual perfect style.
“I suppose it wasn’t... terrible,” Peter allowed, craning his neck down to see her from his boulder elevated vantage point, then turning back to see if everyone was still following them properly. The cliff face seemed to continue up forever, but Neal was just about ten feet above him, sliding down the last of the flat portion on rappel.
Just above Neal was Captain Harkness, who seemed to be paying more attention to Rose’s butt a few feet above him, than he was to his own safety and where he was going. Though, Peter had to admit after having spent some time with him, while distraction was often the impression the Captain gave, it was generally a false one. So, for all Peter could tell, Harkness could be absolutely focused on both his own climbing, Rose’s “assets” and be ready to catch her if she fell - all at once.
Peter shuffled forward and reached out a hand to guide Neal’s foot to an easy ledge. Grasping Neal’s ankle just below the slightly tattered cuff of what had, at one point, been a nice pair of vintage suit pants, Peter made sure Neal’s foot was resting squarely on the solid outcropping before backing away so that Neal could maneuver the rest of the way down the wall. When he was a few feet from the ground, Neal hopped down off the cliff face and landed cat footed next to Peter on the boulder top.
El’s sudden gorgeous peal of laughter caused both men to spin and look at her in confusion.
“El- what are you laughing at?” Peter demanded. She muffled her laughter with one hand, but the other was extended to flap uncoordinatedly in their general direction. Neal peered at her, then his gaze flicked to trail over Peter from head to toe, and then over as much of himself as he could manage to see. He blinked in sudden realization.
“Hehe. Peter, she’s laughing at us,” Neal said as he plunked down on his butt and slid off the rock onto the ground next to El. Elizabeth’s laughter just got harder. She listed slowly to one side and ended up curled on the ground, tears of mirth pouring from her eyes. Neal stood and made an Oscar worthy production of smoothing the lingering dirt off the seat of his nearly destroyed pants. With pronounced dignity, Neal then turned and with a showy bow, offered Peter a hand to assist his descent.
“What am I, a pretty, pretty princess? Thanks, Neal, but I’ve got this.” With that, the foothold Peter had been relying on promptly crumbled under him and he crashed to the ground.
“Peter! Are you okay?” Neal bent to inspect Peter’s condition.
“Peter?” El shot upright again, worry on her face as she scrambled to stand.
“‘M fine. Just... my pride.” Peter mumbled. He brought his head up and let it fall back against the stone behind him. “Ow.” He brought his hand up to rub the back of his head.
“Peter!” El admonished.
“I’m okay, Hon.” Peter looked her straight in the eye when he spoke, attempting reassurance even though his head and his tail bone ached. When he reflected (which he’d tried not to) on the past few weeks, it was hard to rationalize how he gotten from his living room to sitting on his ass in a field of wildflowers on another planet. Plus, his head hurt.
“How we doing down here, kids?” Captain Harkness’ voice swiftly cut into Peter’s burgeoning pity party. With a thump that Peter could feel reverberating through the ground he sat on, Harkness jumped down and landed next to him. He held his arms out and Rose lept off the boulder into them. With graceless abandon, the two of them landed, giggling, on the ground near El.
El fell back down to the grass and joined in the giggling. Neal looked down at Peter and shrugged.
“If you can’t beat ‘em...?” Neal asked.
“Join ‘em.” Peter replied, lurching to his feet. In tandem, they marched the last few steps to where El, Jack, and Rose all lay on the grass, and flopped down on either side of El. It had been a long two weeks. Neal rose up on one elbow to look across where El lay, locking eyes with Peter.
“You know what disappoints me the most?” He asked, his tone earnest. “I never even got to meet Leonardo da Vinci!” Peter couldn’t help it, he didn’t even try. His face went from solemn and understanding, to flat out ear to ear smiling instantly. El reached a hand over, grabbed him by what was left of his shirt collar, and dragged him in for a swift kiss.
Peter enthusiastically kissed her back until she let her grip on his collar loose slightly. She gave his shirt front a conciliatory pat and then shot her other arm out to nab Neal’s jacket lapel and reel him in. Peter’s smile turned into outright laughter at the look on Neal’s face right before his wife planted what could only be described as ‘a big wet one’ on his favorite conman’s lips.
Yup. It had been a long few weeks. But El was right, as she most often was, all things considered, it had turned out to be a pretty good holiday. Peter leaned over his wife, who was still rather intent on her task, and tucked his head into hollow created by both their necks. Breathing in feel of them both, he was ready when they broke the kiss to steal Neal’s lips for his own moment.
Of course, the moment was broken a few minutes later by a grating sliding noise from the base of the cliff wall.
“Oi! What are you all doing mucking about down here for? I told you to meet me in the base of the cliff, not outside it!” Here the Doctor paused a brief second. “Also - you may want to look up right about now and RUN!”
As a quick glance over his shoulder revealed what looked like an entire village worth of angry people carry pitchforks and torches, Peter was inclined to agree. He helped El and Neal hurriedly to their feet, checked to make sure Jack and Rose were with them, and all together they rushed through the hidden door in the stone the Doctor had disappeared into.
Peter’s last thought as they slammed the door shut was ‘Huh, still not a bad holiday.’ And then they were off and running.
__________________________________ This entry was originally posted at http://riazendira.dreamwidth.org/66429.html, where there are
comments. Please comment on either journal as you please.