Original: Best Friend (Joe/Delilah) PG
Title: Best Friend
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Joe and Delilah (mention of Cordy and Spencer)
Rating: high PG
Summary: He's wonderful with pillow talk...
Warning: *Written for Round Three of love_bingo, at bizarra's request. Prompt: best friend Original titles are wholly unoriginal.
Disclaimer: For the first time, I can say that EVERYTHING about this one is MINE, ALL MINE. Mwahaha!! Inspiration comes from tvrealm, Team Chiller and the Team TV Show challenge, with thanks.
Joseph Bennett let out a heavy sigh as he pulled his suspenders off his shoulders. "I'm not saying she shouldn't have friends, Delilah," he told the brunette sitting at the dressing table. "I just don't want her associating with the wrong kind of people."
"The wrong kind?" Delilah replied with a raised eyebrow. "Do you mean my kind of people?" she continued, rising from the bench seat and moving toward him with a graceful elegance. "Or the kind of people who frequent-" She stopped when Joe's hands caught her arms and pulled her close.
"I never said anything of the sort," he told her in a graveled tone. Watching her for a moment, Joe let his fingertips lightly graze her china-white skin before he let go and continued to remove his shirt. "In fact, knowing those kind of people," he added with a slight edge, "I know that I'd rather have her raised by the drunks downstairs than half the uppity society types in this town."
Unfortunately, Cordelia Bennett was from a society family, back East. The same family he'd come from, before giving it all up for the rough and tumble Wild West. He should have enrolled his niece in a proper school; introduced her to the proper people. Instead, he left her daily care to a madame, her girls, and her barman.
He was a much worse influence than Spencer would ever be.
Other than the fact that Nathaniel Spencer was an absolutely evil, scheming snake who had murdered Joe's wife, that is.
"You're worried she'll take up with Spencer's people," Delilah announced a moment later, as she flipped up the edges of her dressing gown and sat down on the edge of the bed. Joe gave her a look but said nothing as he removed his tie and chucked it toward the chair.
He didn't have to.
Delilah pushed up and moved toward him, making no effort to adjust the now-fallen strap of her camisole. "She's a smart young woman, Joseph. She knows better than to believe anything that odious man or his kind has to say." Delilah now took Joe's arms in her hands, as he had done to her.
"He won't steal her away from you," Delilah assured him. "Cordelia is no china doll, Joseph," she whispered. "You can protect and prepare her all you like, but you have to let her see the snake in the grass for herself." Delilah turned him around and nudged him backwards, toward the bed. "You can do no wrong in her eyes. Even if you are a stubborn fool of a man," she added, giving him a playful shove.
"A fool?" he asked with a gasp, smirking as she pushed him down to the mattress.
"Well," Delilah replied, climbing onto his lap and flipping her hair over one shoulder. "You have let the child grow up in a house of ill-" Her sentence was cut off by Joe's hand covering her mouth.
"I've trusted her care with those I trust most." Giving her a look, Joe added: "My friends." His hand moved to her neck and he pulled her close. Delilah closed her eyes as she melted into his hold. She had missed his arms around her, his lips on her skin, the feel of his hair under her fingers.
Pressing a light kiss to her neck, Joe whispered: "My family."
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Joe and Delilah (mention of Cordy and Spencer)
Rating: high PG
Summary: He's wonderful with pillow talk...
Warning: *Written for Round Three of love_bingo, at bizarra's request. Prompt: best friend Original titles are wholly unoriginal.
Disclaimer: For the first time, I can say that EVERYTHING about this one is MINE, ALL MINE. Mwahaha!! Inspiration comes from tvrealm, Team Chiller and the Team TV Show challenge, with thanks.
Joseph Bennett let out a heavy sigh as he pulled his suspenders off his shoulders. "I'm not saying she shouldn't have friends, Delilah," he told the brunette sitting at the dressing table. "I just don't want her associating with the wrong kind of people."
"The wrong kind?" Delilah replied with a raised eyebrow. "Do you mean my kind of people?" she continued, rising from the bench seat and moving toward him with a graceful elegance. "Or the kind of people who frequent-" She stopped when Joe's hands caught her arms and pulled her close.
"I never said anything of the sort," he told her in a graveled tone. Watching her for a moment, Joe let his fingertips lightly graze her china-white skin before he let go and continued to remove his shirt. "In fact, knowing those kind of people," he added with a slight edge, "I know that I'd rather have her raised by the drunks downstairs than half the uppity society types in this town."
Unfortunately, Cordelia Bennett was from a society family, back East. The same family he'd come from, before giving it all up for the rough and tumble Wild West. He should have enrolled his niece in a proper school; introduced her to the proper people. Instead, he left her daily care to a madame, her girls, and her barman.
He was a much worse influence than Spencer would ever be.
Other than the fact that Nathaniel Spencer was an absolutely evil, scheming snake who had murdered Joe's wife, that is.
"You're worried she'll take up with Spencer's people," Delilah announced a moment later, as she flipped up the edges of her dressing gown and sat down on the edge of the bed. Joe gave her a look but said nothing as he removed his tie and chucked it toward the chair.
He didn't have to.
Delilah pushed up and moved toward him, making no effort to adjust the now-fallen strap of her camisole. "She's a smart young woman, Joseph. She knows better than to believe anything that odious man or his kind has to say." Delilah now took Joe's arms in her hands, as he had done to her.
"He won't steal her away from you," Delilah assured him. "Cordelia is no china doll, Joseph," she whispered. "You can protect and prepare her all you like, but you have to let her see the snake in the grass for herself." Delilah turned him around and nudged him backwards, toward the bed. "You can do no wrong in her eyes. Even if you are a stubborn fool of a man," she added, giving him a playful shove.
"A fool?" he asked with a gasp, smirking as she pushed him down to the mattress.
"Well," Delilah replied, climbing onto his lap and flipping her hair over one shoulder. "You have let the child grow up in a house of ill-" Her sentence was cut off by Joe's hand covering her mouth.
"I've trusted her care with those I trust most." Giving her a look, Joe added: "My friends." His hand moved to her neck and he pulled her close. Delilah closed her eyes as she melted into his hold. She had missed his arms around her, his lips on her skin, the feel of his hair under her fingers.
Pressing a light kiss to her neck, Joe whispered: "My family."