Topic: Moving In

Skyler

Date: 2006-12-26 22:42 EST
After his recovery from the fall, Skyler arrived at Jewell?s Villa for his first ?official? night living there on Sunday, December 24th. It was very late when he used his key to quietly enter through the front door. The only bag he carried was a black backpack with his pajamas and a toothbrush and some hair care items, hanging on his shoulder by one strap. He slipped off his boots by the front door and made his way through the house in his socks.

He assumed they would all be asleep, but as he started down the hall to Jewell?s room, he ran into someone else. Little Devyn was standing in the middle of the hallway in her pajamas, blinking strangely and sleepily at him. No telling what the girl was doing wandering the halls in the middle of the night. On her way to or from the bathroom? Sleepwalking? Who knew? She seemed to be unable to figure out if she was asleep or awake.

Skyler didn?t want to confuse or alarm the child, so he kept gliding silently across the floor in his socks, a soft, friendly smile on his face. He simply cupped her cheek affectionately as he passed by in the darkness and whispered, ?Goodnight, angel.? He then reached Jewell?s room, slipped through the door and closed it softly.

Inside, he dropped his bag on the floor and changed into his PJ?s in silence, gazing at Jewell?s sleeping body as he did so. Then, in series of motions that seemed very skillful and practiced, he slipped his slender body between the sheets and cuddled up next to her. He didn?t shake the bed or move the blankets much at all, almost like a ghost joining her there beneath her covers.

Skyler?s body pressed against hers, molding to the shape in which she lay. His form became like an outer protective layer of Jewell?s, his arm curled around her stomach, his face nuzzled into her blue locks. In this position he drifted away to sleep, deeply inhaling the scent of her, listening to her breathe, feeling her heartbeat.

JewellRavenlock

Date: 2006-12-29 11:56 EST
Jewell spent Sunday afternoon--usually a day to relax, play with the kids, or perhaps do some shopping--preparing the house for Skyler to move in. A little neurotic when it came to cleaning, she had ordered an early complete spring cleaning of the entire house (very early as it was just the beginning of winter).

As the kids rearranged their toys in their rooms and the playrooms, Jewell set about doing little things around the house to make it more welcoming--less like Skyler would be a visitor and more like this would be his home. Knowing that they were both slightly high maintenance, she rearranged her bathroom to make room for any stuff that he would eventually want to bring; the same was done for her closet, which she hadn't had to share in quite some time. Cleaning out her closet ended up being a good thing, she collected a nice pile of clothes she neither needed nor wore; bagging them up, she would have them delivered later to one of those woman shelter places she had heard about. Everyone deserved to wear pretty clothes like hers.

She helped Iona air out the other rooms, if they were cleaning they were going to clean thoroughly. Jewell spent some time examining the guest rooms, thinking to offer one to Skyler to do whatever he wanted with; everyone needed their own personal space, afterall, and Jewell had hers in her study downstairs.

Working so hard all afternoon, except Amanda who refused to help until Jewell got into a screaming match with her over it, the family retired fairly early in the evening. Bath time went quicker than usual and Jewell had all the kids tucked into bed, read to and or sung to before she could collapse into her own bed.

All the drama and action of late was taking its toll and Jewell was finally, after years, becoming a heavy sleeper. She only murmured slightly, contently, in her sleep as Skyler wrapped her up in his embrace; she snuggled as close to him as she could get, their bodies fitting together, and slept soundly that way all night.

When she woke, earlier than Skyler as she was not accustomed to sleeping late unless injured, she indulged in just watching him sleep. She tried not to bounce on the bed like an excited little girl but the idea that she could do this almost every day made her feel giddy. She placed a feather-light kiss on his cheek before slowly extracting herself from that pleasant cocoon of arms and bedsheets.

Before running off to take her shower, an absolute must first thing in the morning, to penned up a quick little note to leave in her place on the bed: Welcome Home, Love. Drawing a little crooked heart instead of her name, she set the note down and moved absolutely silently into the bathroom.