You Wanted To?

Writers: Devin, Bree
Date Posted: 31st May 2007
Series: Saving Each Other

Characters: N'vanik, Talryne
Description: After leaving Trae, N'vanik goes to Talryne, who is a bit surprised to see him so soon.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 3, day 21 of Turn 4
Notes: Follows "Drifting"

N'vanik

Talryne

The knock was almost as uncertain as his voice. "Tal?"

Silence stretched out for almost too long before the door opened,
showing Talryne looking at him in confusion. "I thought you had
company."

"I did."

She still hovered in the doorway, looking almost guilty. "I'm all
right."

"I figured you would be." He tilted his head. "Are you gonna let me in,
or are you gonna make me stand out in the hall all night?"

Without speaking she stepped back and pulled the door open enough for
him to come inside, closing the door quietly behind him and taking a
moment to retie her robe. It wasn't one of the pretty, revealing ones
she usually wore around N'vanik, but a thick, warm garment that was two
sizes too big for her and covered her from her neck to her toes.

Entering the weyr, he saw the bottle of alcohol on the table and
frowned. "Where did you get that?" he asked, his voice dangerously soft.

She winced and moved to put more fuel on the fire she'd been using to
keep warm. "I've had it for two turns. It was in that bag I never
unpacked when I came here from River Bluff." And she'd forgotten about
it until she'd gone digging through the bag trying to find her nice warm
robe.

"And what were you planning to do with it?" He knew he was being a
sharding hypocrite, but he couldn't help it.

Her voice sounded far too defensive when she finally spoke. "I didn't
drink any."

"But you were going to." Why else would the bottle be open? And the
defensiveness--he was all too familiar with that. Oh, yes. "Why?"

Talryne moved past him and carefully put the cork back in the bottle. "I
just wanted to get to sleep," she said finally, taking the bottle and
moving towards the sleeping room.

"I told you I was coming back," he said, following her.

She tucked the bottle on the bottom shelf of her small bookcase, feeling
terribly self-concious and wishing she could take a drink without having
N'vanik get angry at her. "You had a guest. I didn't know how long it
would take."

He sighed, wondering how much longer it would have taken for her to
start drinking. "Do you really think you need alcohol to fall asleep?"

Talryne finally had to turn to face him. "I wasn't sure. I just..."
**Wasn't sure you were going to come back to me.**

"What?"

"I wanted to get to sleep," she said finally, knowing what an inadequate
excuse it was. She'd thought to prove to N'vanik that she didn't need
him tonight and instead had probably convinced him she was going to
start drinking if he so much as left her alone for a few candlemarks.
The awkwardness that had grown from her desperate moment of need was
hardly going to be helped by that.

He moved closer and took her hand. "Well, we can go to bed now."
Pressing her was only going to make her more uncomfortable, and he'd had
more than enough awkwardness tonight.

Her fingers curled around his tightly for a moment before she moved
closer, sliding her other arm around him and resting her cheek against
his shoulder. "I'm sorry if I interrupted your evening."

"I came back because I planned to." He kissed the top of her head.
"Because I promised to."

Talryne traced absent patterns on his back with her fingers. "It wasn't
because you were worried about me, was it?"

"I wouldn't have slept well knowing you were alone. And it would be . .
. weird sharing the bed with someone else," he admitted.

Her hand stilled for a moment, her entire body tensing slightly as she
asked the next question. "So you wanted to?"

"Yeah, I wanted to." N'vanik tightened his arm around her just a bit.

"Oh." She turned her face into his neck and finally relaxed. "Good."

"So you won't worry next time?"

Her breath tickled his neck as she laughed a little self-consciously.
"You weren't supposed to notice."

"I've been living with you for three months. Even I'm not _that_ dense."
He pulled her over to the bed so they could sit.

"I don't think you're dense," she protested automatically as she untied
her robe and then scrambled under her quilt, hoping N'vanik would follow
her example. If nothing else, having him with her at night was proving
to be an excellent cure for Dragonsfall's wretched winters.

He laughed softly. "Well, thank you." Moving to his side of the bed, he
stripped off his tunic and his pants soon followed. He slid in under the
covers and reached over to pull Talryne against him.

"Mmmm. You're warm." The rest of her tension slowly dissipated as she
shifted around until she was comfortably snuggled into his side with her
cheek on his shoulder and one hand resting lightly on his chest. She'd
curled up like this every night in the beginning, feeling soothed by the
slow, steady sound of his heart. Recently she'd been so interested in
remembering the feeling of sexual pleasure that she'd almost forgotten
how nice it could be to just be held.

He ran his fingers through her hair, an action that was almost as
familiar as the feel of her resting against him. Half a turn ago, he
never would have believed he'd be in this position. He even found it
hard to believe now. He'd just left _Traelyn_ and his own weyr to go
cuddle with a woman he had previously considered nothing more than the
chance for a good time. "You're soft," he murmured, continuing to stroke
her hair.

Talryne laughed and kissed N'vanik's chest sleepily. "Is that good?"

"Mmm-hmm." He closed his eyes.

Her breathing slowly evened out, and the fingers on his chest stilled. "Wake me up before you leave for drills," she murmured, her voice muffled against his chest.

A brief smile curved his lips. "Okay."

Last updated on the June 2nd 2007

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