OOM: Movie

[the_gene_genie]

Room 6620 is a pretty generic sort of place. It looks like a basic hotel suite - double bed, table, a couple of chairs, a sofa. There are a few suits hanging, dry-cleaned, on the back of the bathroom door (he frowns at them, there are a couple there that he’s never bought so his future self must have been around again) and a number of half-full bottles of Scotch and Firewhiskey on the table. The only thing that shows this room is really reserved for one person’s use are the posters hanging framed up above the bed. Two, cinema-size vintage prints,one from The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and the other, Gary Cooper in High Noon.

He aims Kate towards the bed.

‘Here. Lie down before you fall down.’

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[ikissdhimbck]

She blinks heavily, trying to keep her focus on the movie.




"Thank you."

[the_gene_genie]

‘...normally that comes later an’ after a whole lot more activity.’




Just sayin’. Because he can’t see what there is to thank him for, really.

[ikissdhimbck]

There's a hush of fabric moving as she reaches over and mercilessly pinches his side.

"For bein' here for me."

Her arm stays as it is, fingers ghosting just under his ribs.

"You jackass."

[the_gene_genie]

‘Ow,’ he intones, without inflection, when she pinches him.

And then...and then she’s touching him and it, at last, removes doubt from the equation.So he turns his head to look at her and he’s tipping her chin up without thinking about it.

‘You’re welcome,’ he murmurs, as he leans down to kiss her.

[ikissdhimbck]

He maneuvers her easily while she's caught up in the roughness of his fingers, the gentle scratch at her flushed skin. When she opens her eyes it takes her another half-second to wrap her mind around what's happening.


Suddenly, she is very awake.


His lips are brushing hers when she pulls back with a start, letting out a startled puff of air. Her blinking eyes shift from his mouth to his eyes, and back again.





She isn't sure what to say.

[the_gene_genie]

Gene pulls back too, in surprise. But not far. He’s sure he hasn’t read this wrong. And her eyes are all over his face and he’s also pretty sure that means she wants to kiss him back.




‘Wha’s wrong?’

...of course, it occurs to him that if he has got this wrong, he is going to feel like such a twat.

[ikissdhimbck]

She inches back, bringing her hand to her face. Her fingers tremble at her lips.

’No no no! Please, god, don't kiss me!’

"Oh my god."

Her words are barely audible, lost inside a horrified gasp. She pulls even farther back, one hand on his shoulder -- but it's almost as if she's trying to put an arm's length of distance between them.

’She only kisses the men she kills.’

Oh my god.

It's okay, right? He barely even touched her, they weren't...

[the_gene_genie]

He frowns just a touch.



‘...normally that bit comes later an’ all.’




He can take a hint. He pulls back too, so she can have the space she’s obviously just decided she wants.

‘Well, all right. You don’ have t’look quite so disgusted.’

He’d normally face away in a huff right about now but her reaction is a bit odd, to say the least. He’s beginning to think he should have waited until she wasn’t on pain drugs to try that. For more reason than one.

[ikissdhimbck]

The raucous soundtrack of the movie creates an odd backdrop to what's going on in this room. Kate feels utterly stupid. How could she have missed all the hints? He wasn't exactly being subtle about it.

"No!"

She turns to him, shaking her head wildly despite the fact that it makes her vision swim.

"No, no, no, it wasn't -- it's not--"

She even reaches out to touch his cheek -- disgusted? No, that's not it at all -- but pulls back shortly thereafter, as if she's afraid she'll somehow burn him.

"I wasn't... wasn't expectin' you to... Aren't you married?"

[the_gene_genie]

Definitely odd.

And the question pulls him up a touch short. He’s never made any secret of his marriage but he thought he’d been just as clear that, in his mind, that didn’t mean he was unavailable. But he’s not sure how to answer without just saying that outright, so he ignores it.

‘How the bloody hell can you say you weren’ expectin’ me to?’

Did she honestly think he was joking all those times?

‘An’ you haven’ exactly been tellin’ me ‘no’, have you?’

[ikissdhimbck]

"I'm--"

She chokes on her words, feeling vaguely ill. With someone is not a way she can describe herself anymore. She hasn't thought about moving on. She doesn't want to move on. Even if she has been living life like he's going to come back through her door at any minute, when she knows damn well he's not.

She clutches her chest, willing her heart to stop racing.

"No. I haven't."

It's hard to tell what she's feeling with how quiet her voice is, whether it's contrition or realization... or something else entirely.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't takin' you seriously."

[the_gene_genie]

‘Obviously.’

And if he were the type to think deeply about such things, he might admit that he hasn’t given her much reason to really think him serious. Except that, back home, that’s just the way things are done.

He sits straight and stares at the TV.

‘Forget about it. It were jus’ a thought.’

[ikissdhimbck]

"Don't be like that."

Of course, she doesn't know how he should be. She imagines, if nothing else, she's wounded his pride.

[the_gene_genie]

‘I’m not bein’ like anythin’.’

She is, after all, just another bird, right? When it comes down to it, they’re all the same and not all that much use, apart from with the obvious.

‘I said forget about it. I’ve ‘ad a few drinks. You’re on drugs an’ tha’s obviously why you can’ keep your hands to yourself. It’s fine. Jus’ watch the film an’ then you can go t’bed.’

He is not pouting. Really. It’s a trick of the light.

[ikissdhimbck]

She sits there and looks at him for a long time. Not saying anything else, not moving, just watching his profile with a look on her face that suggests she could burst into tears at any moment. She won't, of course.

What can she say to set this right? There isn't anything that comes to mind. Even if she told him about Doc, about Sam, about the curse she's been living under, and even if he didn't think she was just having him on or spouting nonsense, she doesn't know if she could honestly say she's interested. Her heart's still tied up with someone else, and he's married. There isn't any kind of future there. None at all.

But she cares about him. And that's gripping at her heart.


Eventually, she looks away. Just watch the movie, and go to bed. She starts to settle back, and freezes awkwardly. She scoots herself into the corner of the couch again. He probably doesn't want her anywhere near him now.

And that's a good thing, right? Safer that way, for both of them.

(Still, she hugs her arms around her middle, manufacturing a missing warmth.)

[the_gene_genie]

He can feel her watching him and it’s horribly uncomfortable. He feels under no compulsion to speak any more of it - she made her feelings perfectly clear there, to his mind. But he does like her so, after another few minutes of silence, decides to help her out.

‘I can bloody hear you thinkin’ nonsense over there. I said don’ worry about it, didn’ I? I’ll go home an’ give th’ missus one instead. S’no hardship.’

Seeing as she brought up his wife, he can too. And while he didn’t really mean to infer that Kate would just be another shag - because he does think more of her than that - this just seems easier all ‘round.



This is the first time in his life he’s been glad that High Noon is not a long film.

[ikissdhimbck]

It's quiet again, for perhaps the longest minute of Kate's life.






"That's probably a good idea."

Her voice is tight and affectless.


Stupid, arrogant, ill-tempered son-of-a-bitch, goddamn asshole...


She uncurls her legs, and shifts herself off of the couch.

"You're right. M'on drugs. An' I'm tired. I'm gonna go lay down, now."

She walks away.

And doesn't look at him again.

[the_gene_genie]

‘OK then.’

He doesn’t look at her either. Gary Cooper is far less complicated. But because he is making a pretence at being unbothered, he does add,

‘’night,’ to that. And he even turns the volume on the TV down.

It’s fine, see? He doesn’t care.