"THIS TIME AROUND"
By: gb
Chapter 6
Morning came softly and the golden sunlight shot through the window to find Ryan and Gillian curled in each other's arms on the floor burrowed under the blanket.
Gillian stirred first and looked at her still sleeping ex-husband. God, she loved watching him sleep, listening to his calm even breathing. She was always struck by the beauty of his features. Gently, she stroked his hair away from his face. Smiling to herself, she tried to move out of his grasp and get up. However, even in his sleep, his grip on her only tightened in protest.
She carefully lifted his arm off of her and rolled away and then sat up. Pulling down her pajama top, she rose and padded over to the window to stare at the street below. A new day, she thought. She could almost forget the turmoil of last night...almost. She was about to go to the shower and wash up and get dressed for ther shift at the hospital when she heard Ryan moving around on the floor.
He had been fumbling his arm next to him on the floor and realizing she was not there anymore, shot awake and scowled. His sleep interupted, he began scanning the room and locked eyes with her at the window. He relaxed, seeing she was still there with him.
"Come on back here,Baby," he said in a lazy, sleepy drawl. "Way too early to get up now."
"Good morning, Ryan. I have to get to the hospital. Sleep time is over."
"Good morning," he answered back. He was way too uncomfortable now that she wasn't next to him so he sat up.
"You all right?"
She smiled to him and nodded.
He declined her offer of the shower first, so she went towards it instead.
"Are those boxer shorts?" he asked surprised at her pajamas. The darkness had hidden much. Last night, he had not seen what exactly she was wearing.
"Hey, is that my undershirt?"
Gillian looked down at herself and then grinned, embarrassed.
"Yeah, so?" she asked. "I'm comfortable in all this one. And you said you didn't want it. I went out and got the shorts."
Ryan laughed out loud. "Why, Princess Andrassy Lavery. Dressing up in men's clothes. I never knew this about you."
"Just during the night," insisted Gillian, blushing beat red. She should have never worn this or at least jumped in the shower before he had woken up.
"This is none of your business!"
"I'm making it my business and so are you." His blue eyes twinkled mercilessly, holding her in their trance.
"Tell me, do you like to hang out in the men's department at the malls?"
"That's it!, Get out, Ryan Lavery!" she yelled and started for the door.
She had completely underestimated Ryan's speed. He was up off the ground, over to her, and had her around the waist and in the air before she had taken three steps herself!
"Ryan, I demand that you put me down this instant!" exclaimed Gillian as he carried her over to the bed.
"Absolutely, Gillian," he obliged and lightly tossed her on the bedspread.
Carefully, so not to bruise her, he got on his Knees next to her and leaning over her, pinned her arms to her sides.
She laughed in spite of herself. He was way too strong for her and they both knew it.
Smiling into her eyes, he asked, "Give up?"
"Never!" she determined.
"Good girl!" Ryan praised. "But you're still going to lose."
Her legs were flying all over the place, and she was using all the strength she had, but to him, she may as well have been a feather.
"You look just like a little turtle on its back!" Ryan teased.
Laughing together, he released her and he fell next to her on the bed and they both stared up at the ceiling, breathing hard.
"Did I hurt you?" he wanted to know.
"No," Gillian still giggled. "You know you never could. Not like that."
Turning to face her, she said soberly. "I wouldn't raise a hand against you, Princess. I know I hurt you in other ways...but never like that."
She was looking back at him now and they smiled and that same electric tension that had been there from the start between them was going off like skyrockets now!
"I think you look cute in your boxer shorts," he said quietly. "Like a million bucks!"
She reached out her hand and he grabbed it and pulled it towards him.
Ryan wanted to tell her that everything was alright now- that when he was with Hayley, he had been confused and his judgement had clouded beyond belief! He wanted to "save" her, therefore saving himself in a way, but he didn't see that whatever was going on with Hayley had nothing to do with him. He didn't need saving anymore- except maybe from himself. Gilli had shown him that. She had, for a brief time, protected him from the evil that was Ryan himself and all his self-doubts. He had just been too stupid to see that.
He would just have to show her because she wouldn't just take his word for it anymore. Gillian had changed- grown up-and wasn't going to take just pretty words that sounded right from anyone anymore. Instead, he gave her hand a quick kiss and got up off the bed.
"You want...you want to get together sometime today?" he asked her, hopefully, sitting on the edge of the bed now.
Gillian slowly rose. She smiled, but shook her head. "I can't today."
"Oh." Ryan nodded sadly. He should have known better.
"No, Ryan. It's not like that." she explained. "I've got nursing classes at the hospital and volunteering."
"Oh, yeah," he grinned. "You talked about doing that. That's great!"
"I think Dimitri would approve." she agreed brightly.
"He was always proud of you, Princess," Ryan said of Gillian's favorite cousin. "I think he must be smiling now. Look at you- determined, sure and focused, every inch a woman."
"Thank you, Ryan. I needed to hear that from you."
"And yet..." he added. "Still my same silly, wonderful Princess who took my heart from the first moment I ever saw your face. No one else ever really had a chance after that. Don't ever lose that, Gilli. Stay always like I see you now."
"I'll try." she whispered, her eyes glassy with tears that threatened to come down.
They continued to look at each other carefully, both trying to memorize this...a moment in time. This second when the whole universe was for them the space between them and nothing and no one else existed.
Please, let it always be like this, prayed Gillian. Don't ever let this end. I promise to keep him on my special shelf and not reach for him until You say it's ok, but that shelf is in my heart and please just ask him be be careful with it so it won't break again.
Things were getting awkward between them again- always uncomfortable with how to deal with the physical closeness that they both wanted, but weren't supposed to want at all.
Gillian headed for the shower without a word and when she was done, she dressed while Ryan took his turn. They headed downstairs and had coffee and muffins and were walking out the door when Ryan reached out for her hand gently and she turned to face him.
"I just wanted to say...well I just- I'm glad that we talked about...you know, about Janie."
Gillian smiled in agreement. "I don't think we'll ever get over it, but well..."
She let it dangle and didn't finish- there was no need. Instead, she reached out and the two embraced warmly.
Still holding on to each other, he pulled back and asked, "Will I see you later? At SOS maybe tonight-you don't have to." he finished quickly, not wanting their moment to end.
"We'll see, " she told him. "Depends on whether I can get away or not after work."
Ryan let it drop for now and prayed she would show her beautiful self at the nightclub later.
"Thank you," he said quietly. "I...I enjoyed being here last night."
As the two walked out and went their seperate ways, they did not notice that Jake had been watching them both from the kitchen doorway...
Gillian had hardly been able to keep her focus on her studies. Usually, this was the one thing that kept her on an even keel. She enjoyed nursing and taking care of others- something she found she was good at when she looked after Ryan in the hospital when he had had pneumonia during the time he was mistaken for being a rapist. She still shuddered when she thought about how he almost had to go to jail for 10 years for a crime he didn't commit!
Today was different. She hadn't hardly heard a word of the lecture, her notes were suspect at best, and she kept scribbling Ryan's name over and over in her notebook with hearts around it. At the bottom of the page, she wrote:
GILLIAN ANDRASSY LAVERY
Looking up from her artwork, she saw that the others were already starting to leave and were getting up out of their chairs. Feeling silly, she rose automatically and picking up her things, filed out of the lecture room along with everyone else. She was so lost in her daydream that she collided with Jake out in the hallway next to the hospital sunroom.
"Hey!" called out Jake as he collided with her and gently held onto her forearms. "Is this a private daydream, Gillian?"
"What?" she asked, trying to right herself. "Oh, Jake, it's you. I'm sorry."
"No problem," he said. "You must've been so involved with flashing back to Ryan's sleepover with you, you didn't see me."
"Ryan?...What makes you think I was thinking about him?" she tried to avoid his eyes.
"Weren't you?" he asked. "I saw you two leave Myrtle's this morning and he was thanking you for last night."
Gillian hid her irritation at Jake's nosiness. They had no claims on each other!, she thought.
"It rained last night and I didn't want him out in that weather and I had room on the floor in my room." She didn't mention that she stayed on the floor with him.
"You mean he wasn't sleeping on the couch downstairs?" Jake asked pointedly.
"We didn't want Myrtle's couch to get wet."
"I'll bet." he muttered to himself, sarcastically.
She kept her gaze on him now, daring him to say something bad about Ryan.
Jake felt he was on a sinking ship here, so he wisely changed the subject. He wanted to tell Gillian that Ryan would just hurt her again with Hayley or someone or something else, but he knew she wouldn't listen. He didn't want to have to admit it, but Ryan and Gillian would always be connected in a way that couldn't really be explained- you could actually see it even when they were apart. There was a powerful lifeforce that drew them together and they took their strenght from each other that way.
"Look, Gillian, don't be mad." he said gently. "How about getting together later this evening?"
"I was thinking of going to SOS," she answered, more calmly, smiling.
"Great! How about I meet you there?" he wondered.
"Hmmm, ok," she said. "That sounds like fun."
He watched her walk away a few moments later and made a mental note to keep his irritation at Ryan more to himself. Gillian could sense it and he didn't want to give Lavery the upper hand by having her defending him all the time.
Gillian rounded the corner and was about to go go through the double doors that led to patient files to start her volunteer work, when for the second time, she collided into someone!
This time instead of Jake, Gillian smashed into one Mrs. Hayley Vaughn Santos....
To be continued...
(end of part 6)