For certain enablers
Title: Sensible Sensitivity
Rated T
Carson/Hughes
300 word Cottageverse
“Did you ever want to kiss me?” Charles quietly asked as Elsie continued to wrap the wound on his hand.
“Before we were married,” he elaborated.
She tied the ends of the bandage together with a jerk. “Not in 1905,” she replied sourly.
“1906?” he asked with a chuckle, proving he wasn’t the least bit intimidated by her temper.
“Do you want me to move back into the second bedroom?”
He visibly tensed. “Do you want to?”
“For the last few months, I’ve never felt so alone,” she finished with a wan smile.
She met his gaze then, and saw her own sadness mirrored in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he finally murmured. “I thought I should be sensible.”
“Yes, sensible,” she repeated bitterly, standing and crossing the kitchen to stare out the window over the sink.
“I know most people think I’m a joke,” he continued to her stiff back, “but there was a time in my life when I wasn’t sensible, and it brought me no happiness. And each time I’ve deviated from sensible ever since, things have not turned out well.”
“So, sensibly, you married your friend the housekeeper,” she remarked with more than a trace of sarcasm.
“At my age--”
She swung around. “I didn’t ask to be your one great passion. I know we’re at the age that not everything works as it should--"
“I think you’ll find I can still now and then rise for the occasion,” he spluttered. He stood and approached her.
“Yet surely you know there are other things I can do.”
She gripped the sink behind her.
“With my hands..."
She closed her eyes.
Suddenly his mouth was close to her ear, his hands loosely resting on her hips.
“With my mouth...”
“No, I don’t know,” she confessed with a shiver.
Link to the next chapter
Rated T
Carson/Hughes
300 word Cottageverse
“Did you ever want to kiss me?” Charles quietly asked as Elsie continued to wrap the wound on his hand.
“Before we were married,” he elaborated.
She tied the ends of the bandage together with a jerk. “Not in 1905,” she replied sourly.
“1906?” he asked with a chuckle, proving he wasn’t the least bit intimidated by her temper.
“Do you want me to move back into the second bedroom?”
He visibly tensed. “Do you want to?”
“For the last few months, I’ve never felt so alone,” she finished with a wan smile.
She met his gaze then, and saw her own sadness mirrored in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he finally murmured. “I thought I should be sensible.”
“Yes, sensible,” she repeated bitterly, standing and crossing the kitchen to stare out the window over the sink.
“I know most people think I’m a joke,” he continued to her stiff back, “but there was a time in my life when I wasn’t sensible, and it brought me no happiness. And each time I’ve deviated from sensible ever since, things have not turned out well.”
“So, sensibly, you married your friend the housekeeper,” she remarked with more than a trace of sarcasm.
“At my age--”
She swung around. “I didn’t ask to be your one great passion. I know we’re at the age that not everything works as it should--"
“I think you’ll find I can still now and then rise for the occasion,” he spluttered. He stood and approached her.
“Yet surely you know there are other things I can do.”
She gripped the sink behind her.
“With my hands..."
She closed her eyes.
Suddenly his mouth was close to her ear, his hands loosely resting on her hips.
“With my mouth...”
“No, I don’t know,” she confessed with a shiver.
Link to the next chapter