milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Sitting in a chair, reading, is Ryan. The cigarette in his right hand explains why he isn't doing the same thing in his flat.

The book is his wife's copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War. He's read the book more times than he can count so instead of reading it through again, he's just flipping around for his favorite parts.

Distract at will!

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Elaine sits on the arm of the chair and drapes an arm around him, kissing the top of his head.

"There are two FBI agents in the bar now."

He looks up, grinning because of the kiss. "Really?"

Elaine nods, fussing a bit with the collar of his shirt. "One seemed fascinated and one seemed rather horrified at where they were. It was strange to see them play off each other. Agents Mulder and Scully, I believe."

The people she meets on her shift...

Blink. Blink.

"Mulder and Scully," he says slowly, wondering if he's who they think they are and knowing instinctively that they are. "The FBI Agents?"

Elaine nods. "You sound as if you recognize them."

"They're tv characters." Ryan's stunned by this. "The X-Files. Chris was a big fan of the show as a kid."

"Oh. Well." Now Elaine is blinking. "Well, you do get everyone in here."

She sighs. "I suppose one world's television show is another world's real life."

"Yeah, I guess," he says, remembering that he's on a television show somewhere.

"Do you think everyone in here is...fictional?"

Elaine thinks. "I felt that way a lot when I first started reading all the stories about me."

She chews on her lip. "I try not to think about it too much. Everyone here is real to me."

It actually does bother her a little.

Mostly because someone might have created her to be that tormented.

Ryan nods. "That's probably the smartest way to handle it."

"There isn't much to be done about it, anyway." She shrugs. "At least I'm happy here, with you, and that's more than could be said for where I came from." She leans her cheek against his head.

He snakes an arm around her, the one without a cigarette in it, obviously. "So what have you been up to?"

"Nothing much. Talking to people. Reading more of those mystery novels Bar has given me."

Elaine covers his hand with hers.

"Oh yeah? Did you finish the last one you were reading?"

"Yeah. It was really neat how it came out. I'm reading Gaudy Night now."

University for women, fancy that!

"I haven't read that many mystery novels." Seems odd, doesn't it?

"Niether have I," she laughs. "But I like these. They're written by Dorothy Sayers. They're very good."

"How many of her books have you read so far?"

She sighs. "Only one other--though I did read her translations of The Divine Comedy months ago. I still don't read very fast."

He shrugs. "Well, reading quickly isn't that important."

Easy for the man who's been averaging two or three books a week since he entered Milliways, to say.

"What did you think of her translation?"

"Certain parts touched me. And I liked the liner notes, though some of the poetry was a little beyond me. The liner notes were very interesting and impressive."

Sometimes the worst part is knowing that if she had had schooling her whole life, the poetry wouldn't have been beyond her.

"Poetry was never my strong suit. Anything not literal was a challenge."

Ryan grins wrly. "Cliff's Notes came in handy, often."

Elaine grins back. "Who was Cliff? A friend of yours?"

And almost as soon as Ryan said that he realized that reference would go over Elaine's head.

"No, uh, it's a study guide. Sold like a book, they have one for almost every famous piece of literature and other subjects to like physics. They explain things like the meaning and symbolism the author used and other things that help it make sense."

He smirks a little. "The guy who founded them was genius. I think they recently celebrated their 50th anniversary and I know my kids made good use of them when they were in school."

Elaine laughs a little. "Oh, all right. I don't often miss references as much as I used to, so that was a new one."

She sighs happily, takes the book out of his hands and deposits herself gently on his lap, putting her arms around him.

Bar? What bar?

Ryan doesn't see a bar!

The book is happily abandoned as he wraps his arms around her, smiling. The feeling of her body against his was comforting. It didn't matter if they were lying together in bed or just sitting together like this, he was just happy to be close to her.

"Love you," he whispers, brushing back her hair to lay a light kiss on her neck.

She sighs. "Love you too."

She's happiest when they're close. She leans her head against him and kisses his temple. "I remember," she says softly, "the first time I kissed you." And there's another kiss to his cheek.

She's been thinking about it a lot lately. After all...it will be a year since it happened in just a few weeks.

He smile at that memory was a little self-concious.

"If you hadn't kissed me we might still be dancing around each other," Ryan teases.

The truth of it was, he wasn't sure if he would have made a move. It wasn't that he hadn't had feeling for her, he did. But admitting how much she meant to him, how attracted he was to her, would have taken a while.

It had taken her a little while to get over her restraint, but it had been frighteningly easy once she'd made the determination that he should know her feelings.

"It is lucky that I tend toward the impulsive when I'm attracted to someone, then."

She kisses him softly, lingering there for a while.

"Yes, it is," he says softly, brushing his lips against hers.

It's still amazing to him, always will be, that Elaine fell in love with him. He's not sure what he did to deserve her.

Elaine only knows she's far happier and more settled and easy in her mind since she's been with him.

And this long winter has been much warmer with him around. She relaxes against him again, lapsing into comfortable silence.

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