Ethan/Kristina: Near To You (3/?)
Author: sarahbell05
Fandom: General Hospital
Characters/Pairing: Ethan Lovett/Kristina Davis
Table: Relationship
Prompt: Rules
Rating: PG-13 for mentions of domestic abuse.
Warnings: Kristina is 17 and Ethan is in his early twenties.
Word Count: 1695
Summary: Ethan is forced to set some boundaries in his relationship with Kristina.
Notes: I started writing this story after the Thanksgiving episode so this is now kind of an AU fic (most soap fics are though I think) because of the Christmas-cookie Kristina/Ethan/Kiefer thing. :) I apologize again for the lateness of this chapter, the holidays kept me away from the computer for a while.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this fic. It makes my day to read your messages and really inspires me.
Rules
"Merry Christmas!" Kristina sings as she lets herself into his apartment. She somehow conned him into giving her a key a few weeks ago, and he decides it's probably for the best, considering how often she shows up. It's reached the point that he's the person Alexis calls when she can't reach Kristina, and he's still not sure how he feels about that.
"Merry Christmas." he replies from the couch, but perks up when he spots the white box in her hands. She smiles widely and wiggles the box in his direction.
"Pumpkin cookies?" he asks and she nods. When he reaches for the box she pulls it just out of reach and Ethan finds he's actually pouting.
"Nope, not until we get to the house. Mom almost didn't forgive me for giving you one of our boxes at Thanksgiving."
It was Christmas Eve, and Kristina had all but ordered him to come with her to the Davis house before he was allowed to go to the Quartermaines.
"I thought we could walk to the house together." she says, and Ethan knows his apartment was definitely not on the way from the bakery to the Davis household. But he's become used to Kristina's ways and says nothing. He stands up to follow her back out of the apartment but pauses when his phone rings. The caller ID flashes 'Lulu' and Ethan's soon pulled into a quick conversation about Luke losing his mind over yet another altercation with the code enforcer over the Haunted Star. He agrees to meet Lulu there and hangs up, immediately seeing the disappointment in Kristina's eyes.
"I have to go to the Quartermaines and try to keep Luke from getting arrested." he says apologetically. Kristina shrugs and Ethan immediately feels the urge to placate her. "I'll come by yours after I finish at the Quartermaines, yeah?"
"Sure." Kristina replies, the smile is back, and Ethan is relieved. He follows the young girl who has somehow become his closest friend out of his apartment and into the cold Port Charles air. He walks with her for as long as he can, listening to her ramble on about school, Michael, and her upcoming SATs. Even though he's only known Kristina for a few months even he can see the difference between now and when she was with Kiefer. The only way Ethan can think to describe it is that she shines, which makes him inwardly shake his head at himself for being so girly. They part with a wave and Ethan makes the rest of his trek to the Quartermaines alone, dreading the Spencer-Quartermaine eruption he knows he's probably walking into.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It takes four hours for everyone to calm down enough (and for Luke to sober up enough) for Ethan to leave. He also calls the code enforcer to apologize (again) and gets the man to agree not to press charges for Luke taking a swing at him.
It's a quick walk from the Quartermaine mansion to the Davis house, and he's surprised to find that Alexis' car is gone. He knocks on the door and is greeted by Kristina's surprised face.
"Hi! I figured that you'd forgotten about me." she jokes, and moves aside to let him in.
"Ah, never." he replies. "Where's Alexis? Her car's gone."
"Oh, she got called into work, some kind of emergency." Kristina replies and reaches for a plate on the dining table, where two pumpking cookies are resting. "I saved one for you."
Ethan smiles and takes the cookie, while Kristina takes the other one. He sits on the couch and Kristina sits beside him.
"Your tree looks amazing." he says after a few minutes of silence and Kristina smiles.
"Thanks. Mom did most of it. She's kind of controlling like that." she says, and Ethan smirks. "I like yours better though." she cracks and Ethan full out laughs at that. Kristina had somehow convinced him his tiny studio apartment needed a "real" tree and dragged him to the tree lot, the decoration store, and they spent an evening decorating a tree that took up a good third of his living area. It was messy and disorganized compared to the gorgeous red-and-gold tree resting the Davis living room, but Ethan had to admit he thinks his might be better too.
"Oh, I almost forgot." Kristina says and reaches behind the couch, pulling out a a small square package wrapped in vibrant Christmas paper and covered in bows. "Molly wrapped it." she adds, handing it to him. He fights the urge to rip open the packaging like a five year old and gently pulls it open. The wrapping comes off to reveal a book, the Sydney Opera House on the cover and the word AUSTRALIA emblazoned on the top.
"I'm sure you've seen all of those places in person, but I thought, you know, it could be a little reminder of home.
"Thank you." Ethan's ashamed when his voice cracks a bit but quickly covers it up by flipping through the book. Since his parents' deaths, he hasn't received many presents and he's moved by how important Port Charles and its residents have become to him. He sets the book down beside him and reaches inside his jacket for the small wrapped box resting in there. He's not sure what posessed him to buy the present several weeks ago, but he had seen it while shopping for his family and couldn't stop himself from purchasing it for Kristina.
"Happy Christmas." he says as he hands it to her and watches her eyes light up. She takes the long thin box and opens it much more quickly than he had opened his, unencumbered by the dozens of pieces of tape and six bows Molly had attached to his.
He hears her quiet gasp when she opens up the box and looks inside. Resting inside the box is a simple silver necklace, with a small blue sapphire pendant.
"I, uh...noticed you like to wear blue." he says, suddenly uncomfortable with the whole situation.
"It's beautiful Ethan. Thank you." she says, and Ethan relaxes slightly. She stands up and moves toward the small mirror resting on the mantle above the fireplace.
"Can you help me put it on?" she asks, and Ethan stands and takes the necklace from her while she pulls her hair up, exposing her neck to him. He sets the necklace around her neck and moves to fasten the clasp in the back. As he does so, his fingers brush the back of her neck and Kristina gasps. He's startled when a shock seems to run from his fingers and out into the rest of his body.
The clasp done, he lets the necklace fall onto Kristina's neck and she turns to face him. Her eyes are wide and he reckons his face looks fairly similar. She's close to him, close enough that he can catch the sweet scent of her perfume. They've never been this close, not since the night in this very room that she had broken down over Kiefer in front of him. This is different though, Ethan can feel the difference in himself and in the air around them. They're still staring at each other and Ethan's body refuses to move, mostly because he's not sure if he wants to move away or move closer to girl in front of him.
The dilemma is solved for him when headlights shine through the windows, signaling the return of Alexis. The spell is broken and Ethan steps away.
"I should go." he finally says, grabbing his book off of the couch and moving toward the door, his eyes looking everywhere but at Kristina. "Thank you for the book."
Alexis walks in as he turns for the door and he suddenly feels extremely guilty under her gaze.
"Ethan, what a surprise."
"Hello Ms. Davis." he replies and moves to slide between her and the door. "Merry Christmas." he adds and slips out before Alexis can reply.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He practically jogs back to his apartment, his mind racing with thoughts of what had happened during those few moments. He knew Kristina had a crush on him, sure, but she never acted like she expected anything and had never been more than friendly toward him. He recognized that Kristina was a beautiful girl, sure, but he also knew she was far too young for him and still too raw after Kiefer for anything more than friendship yet.
The thought stopped his whirling mind in its tracks. He shouldn't even be thinking about having anything more than frienship with Kristina ever. But was he? After all, he always went after the dark and mysterious rebel type - hence his attraction to Rebecca. He didn't do cute and bubbly, much less teenage cute and bubbly. Then again, he usually wasn't friends with cute and bubbly and Kristina was probably at this point the best friend he'd ever had. He knew his time in Port Charles was changing him in more ways than he realized - giving him roots, a family, friends. He had been sure though that it wasn't changing who he was at a base level - a con man and a general 'bad boy.'
The thought of any romantic feelings for Kristina had never even occured to him, but now he couldn't help but think of the spark of electricity he had felt when his hand had brushed her neck. He'd never felt that with anyone - but what was it? What did it mean?
He arrived back in his apartment and collapsed onto his bed, willing his thoughts into order. The truth was, it didn't matter what he had felt in that moment. Kristina was a child compared to him, it was wrong and on top of that any kind of romantic feelings would do nothing but ruin his closest friendship. By the time he finally gave in to sleep he felt more at ease with what had happened and decided it was just a fluke brought on by the touching gift she had given him. It wouldn't happen again.
He wouldn't let it happen again.
Fandom: General Hospital
Characters/Pairing: Ethan Lovett/Kristina Davis
Table: Relationship
Prompt: Rules
Rating: PG-13 for mentions of domestic abuse.
Warnings: Kristina is 17 and Ethan is in his early twenties.
Word Count: 1695
Summary: Ethan is forced to set some boundaries in his relationship with Kristina.
Notes: I started writing this story after the Thanksgiving episode so this is now kind of an AU fic (most soap fics are though I think) because of the Christmas-cookie Kristina/Ethan/Kiefer thing. :) I apologize again for the lateness of this chapter, the holidays kept me away from the computer for a while.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this fic. It makes my day to read your messages and really inspires me.
Rules
"Merry Christmas!" Kristina sings as she lets herself into his apartment. She somehow conned him into giving her a key a few weeks ago, and he decides it's probably for the best, considering how often she shows up. It's reached the point that he's the person Alexis calls when she can't reach Kristina, and he's still not sure how he feels about that.
"Merry Christmas." he replies from the couch, but perks up when he spots the white box in her hands. She smiles widely and wiggles the box in his direction.
"Pumpkin cookies?" he asks and she nods. When he reaches for the box she pulls it just out of reach and Ethan finds he's actually pouting.
"Nope, not until we get to the house. Mom almost didn't forgive me for giving you one of our boxes at Thanksgiving."
It was Christmas Eve, and Kristina had all but ordered him to come with her to the Davis house before he was allowed to go to the Quartermaines.
"I thought we could walk to the house together." she says, and Ethan knows his apartment was definitely not on the way from the bakery to the Davis household. But he's become used to Kristina's ways and says nothing. He stands up to follow her back out of the apartment but pauses when his phone rings. The caller ID flashes 'Lulu' and Ethan's soon pulled into a quick conversation about Luke losing his mind over yet another altercation with the code enforcer over the Haunted Star. He agrees to meet Lulu there and hangs up, immediately seeing the disappointment in Kristina's eyes.
"I have to go to the Quartermaines and try to keep Luke from getting arrested." he says apologetically. Kristina shrugs and Ethan immediately feels the urge to placate her. "I'll come by yours after I finish at the Quartermaines, yeah?"
"Sure." Kristina replies, the smile is back, and Ethan is relieved. He follows the young girl who has somehow become his closest friend out of his apartment and into the cold Port Charles air. He walks with her for as long as he can, listening to her ramble on about school, Michael, and her upcoming SATs. Even though he's only known Kristina for a few months even he can see the difference between now and when she was with Kiefer. The only way Ethan can think to describe it is that she shines, which makes him inwardly shake his head at himself for being so girly. They part with a wave and Ethan makes the rest of his trek to the Quartermaines alone, dreading the Spencer-Quartermaine eruption he knows he's probably walking into.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It takes four hours for everyone to calm down enough (and for Luke to sober up enough) for Ethan to leave. He also calls the code enforcer to apologize (again) and gets the man to agree not to press charges for Luke taking a swing at him.
It's a quick walk from the Quartermaine mansion to the Davis house, and he's surprised to find that Alexis' car is gone. He knocks on the door and is greeted by Kristina's surprised face.
"Hi! I figured that you'd forgotten about me." she jokes, and moves aside to let him in.
"Ah, never." he replies. "Where's Alexis? Her car's gone."
"Oh, she got called into work, some kind of emergency." Kristina replies and reaches for a plate on the dining table, where two pumpking cookies are resting. "I saved one for you."
Ethan smiles and takes the cookie, while Kristina takes the other one. He sits on the couch and Kristina sits beside him.
"Your tree looks amazing." he says after a few minutes of silence and Kristina smiles.
"Thanks. Mom did most of it. She's kind of controlling like that." she says, and Ethan smirks. "I like yours better though." she cracks and Ethan full out laughs at that. Kristina had somehow convinced him his tiny studio apartment needed a "real" tree and dragged him to the tree lot, the decoration store, and they spent an evening decorating a tree that took up a good third of his living area. It was messy and disorganized compared to the gorgeous red-and-gold tree resting the Davis living room, but Ethan had to admit he thinks his might be better too.
"Oh, I almost forgot." Kristina says and reaches behind the couch, pulling out a a small square package wrapped in vibrant Christmas paper and covered in bows. "Molly wrapped it." she adds, handing it to him. He fights the urge to rip open the packaging like a five year old and gently pulls it open. The wrapping comes off to reveal a book, the Sydney Opera House on the cover and the word AUSTRALIA emblazoned on the top.
"I'm sure you've seen all of those places in person, but I thought, you know, it could be a little reminder of home.
"Thank you." Ethan's ashamed when his voice cracks a bit but quickly covers it up by flipping through the book. Since his parents' deaths, he hasn't received many presents and he's moved by how important Port Charles and its residents have become to him. He sets the book down beside him and reaches inside his jacket for the small wrapped box resting in there. He's not sure what posessed him to buy the present several weeks ago, but he had seen it while shopping for his family and couldn't stop himself from purchasing it for Kristina.
"Happy Christmas." he says as he hands it to her and watches her eyes light up. She takes the long thin box and opens it much more quickly than he had opened his, unencumbered by the dozens of pieces of tape and six bows Molly had attached to his.
He hears her quiet gasp when she opens up the box and looks inside. Resting inside the box is a simple silver necklace, with a small blue sapphire pendant.
"I, uh...noticed you like to wear blue." he says, suddenly uncomfortable with the whole situation.
"It's beautiful Ethan. Thank you." she says, and Ethan relaxes slightly. She stands up and moves toward the small mirror resting on the mantle above the fireplace.
"Can you help me put it on?" she asks, and Ethan stands and takes the necklace from her while she pulls her hair up, exposing her neck to him. He sets the necklace around her neck and moves to fasten the clasp in the back. As he does so, his fingers brush the back of her neck and Kristina gasps. He's startled when a shock seems to run from his fingers and out into the rest of his body.
The clasp done, he lets the necklace fall onto Kristina's neck and she turns to face him. Her eyes are wide and he reckons his face looks fairly similar. She's close to him, close enough that he can catch the sweet scent of her perfume. They've never been this close, not since the night in this very room that she had broken down over Kiefer in front of him. This is different though, Ethan can feel the difference in himself and in the air around them. They're still staring at each other and Ethan's body refuses to move, mostly because he's not sure if he wants to move away or move closer to girl in front of him.
The dilemma is solved for him when headlights shine through the windows, signaling the return of Alexis. The spell is broken and Ethan steps away.
"I should go." he finally says, grabbing his book off of the couch and moving toward the door, his eyes looking everywhere but at Kristina. "Thank you for the book."
Alexis walks in as he turns for the door and he suddenly feels extremely guilty under her gaze.
"Ethan, what a surprise."
"Hello Ms. Davis." he replies and moves to slide between her and the door. "Merry Christmas." he adds and slips out before Alexis can reply.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He practically jogs back to his apartment, his mind racing with thoughts of what had happened during those few moments. He knew Kristina had a crush on him, sure, but she never acted like she expected anything and had never been more than friendly toward him. He recognized that Kristina was a beautiful girl, sure, but he also knew she was far too young for him and still too raw after Kiefer for anything more than friendship yet.
The thought stopped his whirling mind in its tracks. He shouldn't even be thinking about having anything more than frienship with Kristina ever. But was he? After all, he always went after the dark and mysterious rebel type - hence his attraction to Rebecca. He didn't do cute and bubbly, much less teenage cute and bubbly. Then again, he usually wasn't friends with cute and bubbly and Kristina was probably at this point the best friend he'd ever had. He knew his time in Port Charles was changing him in more ways than he realized - giving him roots, a family, friends. He had been sure though that it wasn't changing who he was at a base level - a con man and a general 'bad boy.'
The thought of any romantic feelings for Kristina had never even occured to him, but now he couldn't help but think of the spark of electricity he had felt when his hand had brushed her neck. He'd never felt that with anyone - but what was it? What did it mean?
He arrived back in his apartment and collapsed onto his bed, willing his thoughts into order. The truth was, it didn't matter what he had felt in that moment. Kristina was a child compared to him, it was wrong and on top of that any kind of romantic feelings would do nothing but ruin his closest friendship. By the time he finally gave in to sleep he felt more at ease with what had happened and decided it was just a fluke brought on by the touching gift she had given him. It wouldn't happen again.
He wouldn't let it happen again.