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Keeper Ch. 01

By: Ardella



December 23

~~~~~~~~~~~

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

At the sound of the baritone request, coming from the vicinity of the freshly snow-plowed driveway entrance, Blue Waters jumped practically an inch. It wasn't so much that jumping an scant inch in startled surprise was a big deal, it was the jumping an inch while perched near the topmost rung of a ladder leaning precariously against a tree branch, in the dark, while trying valiantly to keep from becoming hopelessly tangled in a long length of cheerily glowing Christmas lights that was the danger. Not a good time to be sneaked up on, Blue nearly groused out loud as she whipped her head around to see who the culprit was. It was also not a good time to whip your head around, she discovered.

Blue let out a squeaky "Ahhk!", promptly got a mouthful of aforementioned hair when the wind gusted just right... or wrong... and grabbed onto a ladder rung with gloved fingers when she felt herself tip dizzily backwards.

"Whoa... hey!" Prince Charming came loping up the drive to save her, but Rapunzel steadied herself, swiping the strands of hair from her lips. Why she hadn't put her hair into it's usual braid before coming outside, she didn't know. Poor planning, she guessed.

"Mr. Keeper."

"John." John Keeper reminded her, stopping at the foot of the wooden ladder and laying a steadying hand on it, his head tilted up towards her, the glow of the Christmas lights shining down upon his face.

Ooooh. Pretty.

"John." Blue acquiesced, cursing herself when the words came out in a breathless mumble.

He smiled a little at that. Smiled as though he liked hearing his name being mumbled by a clumsy woman several feet above him on a ladder who's hair kept blowing in her face. Ha.

WOOF!

The awkward pause Blue just knew was about to occur, on her own part anyway, was dead-headed before it had a chance to bloom into something embarrassing by the animal that came tearing around the corner of the white clapboard house. Bounding through snowdrifts, tongue flapping comically, the shepherd mix 'woofed' again and galloped hell-bent straight for John.

Tensed for the inevitable crash of dog and man, Blue watched in awe as John calmly waited until the dog grew alarmingly close, then made a small gesture with his hand... and glory be, wouldn't you know it, but that darn crazy dog stopped. Stopped in his tracks, settled his haunches down, and just sat. Sat! Still as can be! Well, there was still a little thump-twitch to his tail, and his ears quivered forward. Little tell-tale signs that showed the dog was pretty darn excited.

"Huh. I didn't know he could do that." Blue's mumble was more of something akin to bemusement this time.

John flicked a quick look up to her before centering his attention on the waiting dog. Taking his time, he knelt to one knee, his calm face giving nothing away as he held the dog's gaze. The suddenly, with a wide grin, he made another mysterious hand signal and the dog leaped into action and was all over John as he held out his arms.

Sloppy dog kisses. Rump wiggling tail wags. Oh man, that dog was happy his master was home!

"Missed me, did you? Yeah. Good boy. Good boy, Abe."

Blue watched the touching scene for a moment, letting a smile slip over her lips. The smile faded just as quickly and she sighed and turned on the ladder towards the tree branch waiting for the string of lights she still held in her hands.

"Need any help with that?"

At the politely toned query, Blue realized the reunion had run it's course while she had balanced on her perch, lost in her own melancholy thoughts. She shook her head, both at the man who had asked the question and the dog beside him, just for the heck of it because they were both staring up at her now.

"No, thank you." She said, and winced inwardly. Really now, did she have to say it so primly?

He didn't look as if he believed her denial. Well, she didn't need help. Just because she had taken on a task that might be a little too much for her right now, especially on the evening of the funeral? What the hey was she doing this for anyway? Aunt Jean loved having the Christmas lights up every year, sure, but she was gone now. She would never see the pretty, festive lights again, and if anyone tried to get all 'Oh, Jean will look down from above and take such joy in the lights!'... well... whatever. Aunt Jean was gone and putting up the lights was probably silly, but Blue wanted to do it anyway. Just because.

But gone or not, Aunt Jean would have given her that look. That eyebrow thing. That look that said Blue was being difficult. Or rude. Rude, which she knew she was being right now. Mr. Keeper... John... was only trying to be nice. A good neighbor. "That John is the best neighbor to have, let me tell you!", Aunt Jean had more than once gushed to her, the first time not long after John had moved into the house he'd built down the road. Aunt Jean wasn't normally the gushy type, but with John? Well, John was the BEST neighbor, let me just tell you.

And here she was, being rude as heck. The least she could do was get on level ground with the man, Blue decided. Maybe easier said than done, as the light string, her heavy gloves, and the darned hair being wind-blown around her face made descending the ladder more of a trick than an accomplishment.

He seemed to think so also. "Wait... hang on... let me..."

Next thing she knew, John was up on the ladder with her, below her... oh man, his face was just level with the backs of her thighs, with her ass, and she wanted to giggle crazily at that... for Pete's sake how immature of her... and he was reaching up and taking the hopelessly tangled light string from her. He climbed down and as she followed she felt his hand on her arm, felt it even through the heavy coat she wore, to help guide her. Not that she needed steadying at this point, but after all he was the best neighbor, let me tell you.

The hottest neighbor, anyway, she thought as she tilted her head up now to thank him. Another lunatic giggle tried to escape as her brain compared John to her only other neighbor on this mile stretch of wooded road, Orley Green. Toothless old Mr. Orley, who looked to be 90, even though he was probably only... 85. Well, okay, he may be only in his early 70s, actually. It was doubtful even Orley Green knew how old he really was.

Suddenly realizing that these totally inappropriate thoughts and urges to laugh were only her mind's way of keeping her from crying, Blue pushed the hair out of her eyes, again, and tried to give John a smile, weak as it was. "You're here to collect Abe?" The dog glanced up at hearing his name, his tongue flopping out again.

"Ah, well, no. I mean yes, I'm here about Abe. And to see how you are doing." Before Blue could reply, John turned to look at the light display that she had managed to arrange around some of the bushes at the front of the house. "You know, I helped Jean with this whenever I was home this time of year. I'm going to miss her." he said quietly, his soft southern drawl feeling like a comfortable blanket. Turning back, he held up the light string. "You wouldn't mind, would you, if I...?"

"No, of course not." Blue shook her head. Before she had finished her agreement, he had already started up the ladder. Blue smiled at his little trick. She knew he had circumvented her refusal of help, finding a way around it. How could she say no to him now? And did she really want to refuse anyway?

Among all the people at Aunt Jean's funeral earlier in the day, small as it was, John Keeper was the only one that had quietly offered his condolences without taking her hand or kissing her cheek or hugging her and insisting that if there was anything they could do, just let them know. Oh, it wasn't that she thought they were all insincere, of course not! And she truly did appreciate the offers. It's just that, after a while, the small room in the only funeral parlor in town seemed to become more and more crowded and the air was stifling and Blue's hands wouldn't stop sweating and Lee, as good a friend as he'd always been, just wouldn't stop hovering with his hand constantly on her elbow or her shoulder and she just didn't want to hug anyone else...

It was just too much, and thank goodness it hadn't lasted much longer and she was able to come home... well, it was Aunt Jean's home, it hadn't been Blue's for several years now... and be by herself. Alone with her grief and her memories.

Blue absently studied John for a moment, then took up another strand and began arranging the twinkling lights across a snow dusted bush. Both worked in silence for several minutes.

"Thank you for coming to the service today. Jean would have appreciated it. She told me once that you were her favorite neighbor." Blue glanced at John.

"Between me and Orley, then?" John smiled fleetingly, if a little sadly. "Better not tell Orley that, wouldn't want him to be jealous." It was a small joke, and they both knew it, but Blue smiled back anyhow. "I wasn't sure I was going to make it back in time," John continued on, his hands busy arranging the lights, descending the ladder as he went. "Pure luck that I did. And it's partly why I stopped by." He paused and rubbed his hand across the back of his neck, turning to her. "I'm afraid I have to head back tomorrow. I'm leaving early in the morning." He looked at Abe, who was busy sticking his snout into a snow drift and snuffling. "It wouldn't make much sense to take Abe home just for the night, as early as I'll have to be leaving, and I was just wondering-"

"I'll keep him." Blue interrupted, knowing what he was about to ask.

"Of course Orley will take him whenever it's needed. Whenever you need to go back to California, if I'm not back by then, he'll take Abe off your hands. Or even if you don't feel as if you can handle Abe right now?"

Blue knew all about the arrangement that the only three residents of this stretch of wooded road had in regards to Abe. Officially he was John Keeper's dog, but seeing as how John was away, for business purposes, at long stretches of time, Abe's second home had been with Jean. And if Jean couldn't take care of the dog for whatever reason, then Orley Green took him in. It had worked out no problems at all, because the neighbors loved Abe and Abe loved the neighbors. Win/win.

"I'll keep him." Blue repeated, reassuringly. Abe seemed to sense that the discussion was about him and had wandered close to Blue, sitting at her feet and looking up expectantly. At her agreement to keep him, she could have sworn the dog smiled.

"He likes you." John said quietly.

Blue looked up to find his brown eyes... no, not just brown, they were amber, or topaz... topaz, for Pete's sake... trained on her face. A little butterfly fluttered in her stomach, out of no-where, and she put her hand over her coat above the trembling spot, as if that would quiet it.

"Well I like him too." She bent down a little to coo and pet Abe's head, a good excuse look away from John's eyes. "We're old friends, really." Not like she and John, who were practically strangers even though they did have neighborly ties. Somehow it had happened that most of the times she had been able to come visit her Aunt, John happened to be away. There had been one or two occasions when she had seen him drive by on his way to somewhere, and he had held his hand up in a wave and nodded his head to her through the window of his old black pick-up truck, but that had been the closest she had come to him all this time.

Aunt Jean had said that between being away so often on business trips, (he was some sort of consultant, whatever that meant), he was also home for long intervals, but she just could never pin him down with any kind of guesswork about a schedule, other than what he let her know about right before each trip. So, while he and Jean had been neighbors for practically ten years now and she talked of him often, today at the funeral and this evening, right now, were the first times that Blue had met John face to face. It was probably only because Aunt Jean chattered about him so much that he felt familiar to her. Almost like they were friends already. Yeah, that was it, surely.

Abe nudged Blue's glove and she continued to pet his head as commanded. "Aunt Jean had him here several times when I came home to visit, and we got to know each other. Didn't we Abe?"

Abe 'wuffed' a little, then whined softly and looked expectantly at John. Blue looked down at the top of John's head with it's close cropped brown hair as he knelt in front of his dog and ruffled the fur under Abe's jawbone. "Of course you can stay with Blue." John murmured, just as if he were answering a question the dog had asked. "I don't blame you one bit."

Before Blue could look away and pretend she hadn't been staring, John glanced up and caught her. He stood, towering over her 5'4" frame. Oh lord, the man had to be at least 6 feet tall... no, most definitely more. Maybe 6'2"? More? For Pete's sake how tall was he? Tall. That's all Blue knew. He was tall. She bit her lip to keep from asking just how tall.

"So, what are you thinking about doing?"

Blue's lower lip popped out from the nibble she'd had it trapped in, and she refrained from blurting out a stupid sounding 'huh?'. Good thing he didn't pause much before continuing.

"I know it's probably too soon to decide," he said carefully, as if she would break down into tears if she thought much more about Aunt Jean's passing. "But I know you must be thinking about what to do with the house and all." He paused and looked up at the charmingly quirky three story home, and she thought she heard him sigh. "Do you have plans? At the least, know how long you will be staying?" 

If he looked a little hopeful, she knew it was because of Abe. He needed someone to look after Abe while he was away. Well, of course there was Orley to do it, she reminded herself.

Blue looked up at the house also. She loved this place. It was her home, truly, even after living across the country for ten years, building a life for herself so far away. She had grown up here. Mostly, anyway. This was her home. Unfortunately, now it was missing the most important element. Aunt Jean.

Blue swiped self consciously at her eyes as her vision blurred. She didn't want to cry. She'd cried when she first came home two weeks ago and had been shocked at the sickness-ravaged appearance of the woman who had been a mother to her most of her life. She'd cried when she'd become angry at the realization that Aunt Jean had only called because John Keeper had convinced her that this was something that Blue needed to know about. And then she'd cried a little bit because she recognized Jean Water's stubborn independence and the near-hatred of the thought of being a burden as qualities within herself, and so she understood why Aunt Jean had waited so long to tell her she was dying. Whether or not she liked it, she at least had some understanding.

After those tears she hadn't cried, even once, during the two weeks that she had stayed with her Aunt, caring for her during her last moments of life, talking and laughing and remembering little things and big things, and just doing the best they could do for each other. Nor had she cried the morning she found Aunt Jean had slipped away quietly in her sleep, when Abe had nudged at her hand in the eerily silent pre-dawn until she had roused enough to follow the subdued pet to Jean's room. And no crying since then, not even today during the funeral. If she were going to start crying again she wanted to wait until she was inside, alone and safe in her third floor room of the house she grew up in, her personal sanctuary, until she shed any more tears.

She knew he was waiting for an answer to his question, and she angrily swiped at her eyes again, trying to make it look like it wasn't because there were any tears in her eyes, because she knew he was looking at her. She didn't look up to confirm it, but she could feel his eyes on her, and knew that if she looked up she would fall right into his concerned gaze and gosh damn it she didn't want to cry, so she busied herself with the lights again.

"What with the Christmas holiday and having another art teacher to fill in for me at the community college when needed, I'll be able to stay another two weeks." Out of the corner of her eye she saw John following her lead and arranging more lights. "But as far as what I'm going to do after that, I haven't quite decided yet, but... this is home. I can't imagine selling it, or anything like that."

"That means possibly moving back, here, to stay?" John asked after a long pause.

"I've got a lot to think about." Blue shrugged, and though she didn't look up she felt his eyes on her again.

Silently they worked on the cheery display, moving back to stand in the road when they were done to get a good view of their handiwork.

"It's pretty. Aunt Jean would be proud. Thank you, John."

John shoved his hands into his coat pockets and nodded, blowing out a puff of breath that turned white in the winter air. Blue felt like she should do something, like invite him in to get warmed up, have some hot chocolate. Something neighborly. Something polite. All she could do was stare at the Christmas lights making the snow covered house and trees and bushes glow. She thought she felt something move over the length of her hair that lay on her shoulder... the wind had at least died down now and wasn't blowing it willy-nilly... and when she turned her head John was pushing his hand back into his pocket, but she had probably just imagined... well, she didn't know what she had imagined. Nothing.

"As far as I know I'll be gone about a week." John broke the silence. "You've got my cell number." Yes, there was a list of important numbers on Aunt Jean's kitchen note board, and Blue knew that the second one down, after her own, was his. "And I've got yours." She was at first surprised at this, but then not, considering Aunt Jean had probably given it to him. "Call if... call for any reason. If you can't reach me right away, I'll call back as soon as possible. I promise."

He didn't really need to 'promise', Blue thought, but as she stood there tilting her head up to him, the way he said it and the way he was standing so close, like he was protecting her.

She took a step back, even though doing so made her feel suddenly cold. Chilled to the bone.

John made one of those mysterious hand gestures and Abe came trotting over instantly to sit at his feet. Leaning over, he said something only the dog could hear, then stood back up and nodded towards the house.

"Better get inside and warmed up. It's getting colder. Stay, Abe. Bye, Blue."

Blue and Abe watched 'the best neighbor to have around' walk away down the road until he turned the corner and disappeared.

~~~~~

John trudged home, the moonlight that reflected off the snow lighting the night enough to show him the way. Not that he needed it, having walked the road between houses so many times over the years he could have done it blindfolded. Even so, making his feet carry him home was an effort.

All he really wanted to do was turn himself around, go back to Blue, and tuck that woman into his arms. And keep her there.

Oh yeah, like that would go over well. Grabbed and hugged to within an inch of her life. She'd called the freaking cops on him.

Of course, he meant no harm. On the contrary. He only wanted to help Blue during this time of grieving. They were both grieving. Jean had been such a big part of his life these past few years, more than he'd ever expected. God, he was going to miss that feisty old woman.

John chuckled wryly as he waded through the snow to his porch, imagining Jean's reaction to him calling her 'feisty old woman'. Hell, he'd said it often enough, that very description of her having been spoken out loud during more than one of their lively conversations. The ones that almost always ended in snorted laughter and spilled beer.


Keeper Ch. 01



He had a lot of memories to wade through, and while he understood a person's need to sometimes be alone with their thoughts, he just couldn't shake the urge... no, the freaking need... to go share this difficult time with Blue. It would help him get through it, sure, but wouldn't it help her too?

He just wanted to help her, that was all.

"Sick bastard." John's inner voice piped up. "You know that's not all."

John climbed the porch steps and paused before opening the door, staring at his hand as it rested on the cold metal of the latch. The hand that had touched Blue's hair. The hand that he had snatched away just as she had turned her head and almost caught him. His fingers tingled now and he didn't think it was because he'd had no gloves to protect his hands from the cold.

Cursing under his breath, he pushed open the door and let himself into his darkened house, slamming the door closed harder than he had intended. "Shut the hell up." he muttered to the inner voice, yanking the buttons of his coat open. Throwing it carelessly over a chair he stalked to the kitchen without bothering with any lights, jerked the refrigerator door open, closed it without even looking inside, then retraced his steps back into the living room.

"It's a fucking - excuse me - freaking unnatural obsession you have there, Johnny." The voice taunted.

"Shut up shut up." John flopped down onto his sofa, sinking into the cushions, and covered his eyes with his forearm.

Not unnatural. Not at all, he wanted to argue with the voice, but really - how crazy would that make him if he got into an argument with himself?

And 'obsession'? Nah. He wouldn't call it that either. Nope. Well... not exactly.

Nearly ten years ago, fresh out of the Rangers and about to jump balls-first into his current job, John Keeper felt he needed a home base. Some place of his own to escape to between missions as a 'handler', or what his friend Blackie liked to call 'Secret Agent Babysitter Extraordinaire'. He'd found it here, several acres of wooded land offered by a crusty old gal named Jean, who, he'd later found out, needed the money to send her niece Blue to college.

He'd bought the land, built a house, had found not just neighbors in Jean Waters and Orley Green, but actual friends. Family. And if, over the years, he had found himself practically craving news from Jean about the girl he'd helped send away? If he found himself disappointed when very much time went by before Blue was mentioned in conversation? Well, so what? That didn't mean he was obsessed. It just meant... nothing. Nothing at all.

Nor did it mean anything when, finally meeting this girl... who definitely was not a girl anymore, oh hell no... after ten years...

John's thoughts tangled and twisted themselves into knots and he huffed a frustrated breath. Okay, so Blue Waters had always been someone of interest to him, he'd readily admit that now. But somehow he hadn't expected his first face to face with her to hit him in the solar plexus like it had.

At the funeral service earlier in the day it had taken all he had not to pull her hand out of that guy's grip, the tall blond that didn't appear as if he would ever let go of her hand, and sweep her out of that stifling little parlor. Take her somewhere quiet and safe, where she wouldn't look so uncomfortable anymore. Somewhere they could just share their thoughts about Jean without interruption.

And then tonight... oh hell... coming up on her, seeing her up on that ladder with the wind whipping that long long hair all around her. He'd never seen her with her hair down. In pictures she'd always, always had it pulled back into a braid and he'd come to think that she just probably never had it any other way. But tonight it was down, and wild, and longer than he'd thought it, and it was freaking gorgeous.

She'd come down from that ladder and it was all he could do to not stare at her. He could tell she'd been outside for a while. Her cheeks rosy. Damn, not just her cheeks but her lips red and full from the cold. Full red lips that thinking of now made him shift his hips, his cock twitching, the area beneath his slacks' zipper suddenly constricting.

Nope. He wasn't obsessed, despite the photo of a smiling young woman, her honey-colored hair pulled back and tamed in it's usual braid, that had resided in his wallet for he couldn't remember how long. The woman that had made him want to spout off 10,000 Reasons To Stay when she had intimated that she was considering moving back here. The woman that, even though they had only officially met just today, now made him think of home-made apple pie... and rolling around naked on a four poster bed.

"Sick bastard."

Oh, hell.



Keeper Ch. 02



December 24
~~~~~~~~~~

International Network of Defense and Intelligence Operations
(INDIGO)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


~~~~~

"You're back."

John looked up from the file folder laid open on his desk, raising a brow at the man leaning casually in his office doorway. "So are you."

"Ive been back." David 'Blackie' De Haven sauntered with a fluid grace into the room. "Got in a couple nights ago." White teeth flashed in an easy, familiar grin. "Where were you?"

"Home for a funeral. Neighbor passed."

Blackie paused halfway down into the corner chair, his smirk fading. "Neighbor? Which one?"

"Jean." John sighed. "She'd been seriously ill, so it wasn't totally unexpected, but still..." He shook his head.

"Aw, sorry, Keep. That's rough, man."

Subdued, Blackie settled into the chair and let the silence stretch respectfully. He, out of all the the people John worked with, was the only one that knew anything about John's life outside of INDIGO. Just as it was frowned upon, for safety concerns, to reveal the nature of their work to 'outsiders', family included, John also took it a step further and normally did not discuss his personal life with co-workers.

Blackie was the exception, and John knew the reverse was true with him too. Over time they had discovered that not only did they work together well as a team, but gradually a deep, mutual respect had turned into friendship. Add in being stuck together for a few long, boring stake-outs during assignments and they were bound to get to know one another at least a little bit.

"Jean was a nice lady." Blackie reminisced. "Made a mean pie."

John leaned back in his chair, making it creak, and eyed his friend. "That's right. When you needed to stay at my place a couple years ago. You said you had to have some time for yourself and you were hell bent against meeting Jean or Orley... next thing I know there you are sitting on Jean's porch and she's stuffing you with lemonade and pie." Pie.

Apple pie...

Blue Waters...

Sitting bolt upright and clearing his throat, John began shuffling the papers strewn before him with renewed importance, ignoring De Haven's curious expression.

"I've got nothing but piles and piles of paperwork to finish out the Michigan project, and then I'll be done with that."

"Sol wanted that yesterday." Blackie interrupted, playing along with the lightening quick change of subject. "He told me to tell you." His classically handsome face lit up with it's usual grin. "And he said 'Merry Christmas'."

John huffed out a quick breath as his only response. Both he and Blackie knew that working over holidays was par for the course for them, each being bachelors with no family ties. Still, it would have been nice for once. A nice quiet Christmas Eve in front of a cozy fire with a pretty woman. But not just any woman.

What is she doing right now? Is she spending the evening with Orley? By herself? She shouldn't be alone on Christmas, especially this one. Alone and lonely...

He flipped one folder closed and shoved it to the side, and opened another one stuffed full of documents.

"With Michigan out of the way and I'll start in more closely with Sophia this week, getting her prepped." John glanced up while he talked, knowing the mere mention of Sophia McKinney always made Blackie sit up and take notice. David De Haven had the biggest school-boy crush on the woman. Not that he would admit it. "We've got Dimitri Belicoff out of prison. Thank you for that." Blackie's nod was the only acknowledgment of the many strings he had pulled to get Belicoff released from the Russian hell-hole he'd been stuck in. "And he is showing all signs of co-operating."

"He'd damn well better co-operate." Blackie snorted. "Or he's going right back where he was. I'll see to that personally."

"He will." John glanced up when there was no response. "You don't trust Belicoff."

Blackie shrugged one shoulder. "Do you? You've had more to do with recruiting him than I have."

John considered his answer for a long moment. "I believe he was set up by someone that wanted him out of the way, and I believe that before he was set up he was being looked at as an important asset by more than one impressive organization. I believe four years locked away and forgotten in a Russian prison has been more than enough to ensure his loyalty to whoever gets him out- that being us." It was John's turn to grin, a quickly fleeting expression. "He'll be watched closely, of course. But the fact is, because of Dimitri Belicoff's family ties he's our best bet right now for getting Sophia in where we need her. This is the plan and I've gone too far with it already to back out and start at square one. So, trust him or not... and for the moment I do... Belicoff is 'it'."

Blackie said nothing, and John took his silence as reluctant agreement. John knew that his partner's real issues with this assignment wasn't working with Dimitri Belicoff. It was using the Russian to get to his cousin Udre- a known weapons dealer- but not to take Udre down. No, this assignment, contracted through the CIA, was only using Udre as a stepping stone. A necessary evil. An evil that, for whatever reasons (politics... undoubtedly), the CIA had forbidden anyone to touch.

This 'hands off' directive set John's teeth on edge, and he knew that Blackie felt the same way. So much so that he'd had thoughts of defying orders and going after the bad bad Russian anyway... to hell with the fall-out... but the straw that was stopping him was the fact that there was no way Dimitri would cooperate if he thought Udre would be harmed in any way. And John knew that as close as he would be watching Dimitri, Dimitri would be watching right back for any breach of promise.

He just had to keep telling himself that nailing much bigger fish than Udre Belicoff would be worth it in the end. Besides that, it was orders. And if there was one thing John was known for, it was following orders. John 'By The Book' Keeper, always reliably sticking to the Plan.

So he'd do what he had to do, get done, and then he'd be through with the back-to-back assignments that had landed in his lap and then he could go home for a much needed break. And maybe, just maybe, Blue would have made up her mind to ditch her California life and move home... where she belonged... and then he could...

What? He could what?

"Keep?"

"What?" John jerked his head up to find Blackie watching him, not even trying to hide his amusement and curiosity.

"What the hell are you thinking about so hard?"

Apple pie

"Dinner. You hungry?" He was. Damn straight.

"Thought you'd never ask." De Haven stood and stretched. "Now if we can find a good place that stays open Christmas Eve..." he ambled out the door.

John grabbed his coat and followed. "As long as they have dessert."


~~~~~

Blue's feet slid on the ice at the end of Orley Green's drive, her free arm flailing to help her keep balance. Laughing, she turned and waved at the old man silhouetted in his doorway. When he lifted his cane in salute she hoisted the foil covered pan of half-eaten lasagna to show that there had been no casualties.

Orley had made a fairly edible lasagna for their Christmas Eve dinner together, and though she'd insisted that she was fuller than a tick, he'd pushed the leftovers into her hands as she was on her way out the door.

She would come by tomorrow to see about de-icing Orley's driveway and porch steps, she decided. She wouldn't take no for an answer. Orley had said that he'd been meaning to spread a layer of kitty litter from a stash he kept for that purpose, but he hadn't 'gotten to it' yet. Though the old man didn't say it out loud, Blue deduced that John was the one who normally did this small but important chore for their neighbor. When he could. When he was around.

Head down against the sharp wind as she and Abe walked home, Blue wondered what John was doing. If he was getting something to eat. If he was by himself. If he had someone to keep him company. When he was coming back.

Abe 'wuffed' and Blue looked up from her musings. They had just rounded the bend in the road that allowed her to see her own driveway and the SUV with it's Fire Marshall logo parked there. As she neared, a lean man with sandy blond hair opened the driver's side door and climbed out, an expectant look on his face.

"Lee! Hi." Blue greeted. Always happy to see her longtime friend, she was nevertheless wondering why he had stopped by. The closest city, Chaplin, where he lived and worked was twenty minutes away, and she had already agreed to have dinner with him on the 27th.

Lee Henry pursed his lips for a moment as Blue neared, his brows raised in question. "Where were you? I've been calling." He stopped at that, but the look in his eyes said 'I've been calling and there was no answer so I decided to drive all the way over to see if you were all right.'

Blue shrugged off any feeling of irritation, little as it was. Lee was a good friend, had been since high school. They had kept in touch since then, and she always got together with him whenever she was in the area.

"I spent the day with Orley." She looked down the road in the direction she had come. "I thought he was probably lonely... you know, Christmas Eve and all, living all by himself." Her heart skipped a beat as the light went out of Lee's eyes. She didn't think he knew his thoughts showed but she suddenly felt guilty, irrationally or not.

Of course, Lee would be lonely too, at this time of year especially. With his wife having passed away close to Christmas several years ago, and as far as Blue knew he hadn't found anyone who was more than just a fling since then, it had to be difficult for him still.

"Come on in." She chattered and burst into motion to hide the sympathy she didn't think he would want. "I have lasagna. I've already eaten, but there is plenty left and I'll warm it up for you if you like." She turned after unlocking the front door to find he had stopped short of her porch steps, examining the lights twined around the length of the wooden rail.

"Blue..." He looked up at her with a frown, and she felt like she was being scolded. She knew this tone of voice from him. "Jesus, how old are these lights anyway? Are they even up to code?" He touched a burned out bulb with the tip of his finger. Yep... she was being scolded all right.

"I doubt there was a code when these were made." She quipped back with her tongue firmly poking against her cheek. She tried not to laugh when he looked so alarmed before realizing she was teasing. "Come on in, Lee." She urged softly, holding the door open. "I've got a real live Christmas tree in there that is dying for a good watering before it dries up and poofs into flames, and you're just the man to do it."

~~~~~

"Hello?"

John felt his gut tighten at the sound of her voice. It sounded like she was smiling as she spoke, holding back some laughter even. He let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding as he'd waited for her to answer her phone.

"Blue. John Keeper here." He leaned back in his desk chair, the familiar creak giving sound to his relaxation. He also hadn't realized how stiff he'd kept himself until she had picked up. Really, he needed to stop this...

"Oh, John! Merry Christmas! I was just thinking about you."

Oh good lord, there was no stopping now, not after hearing her soft, feminine voice in his ear. So what if it was coming through his cell phone, and she wasn't actually here... not here, where she would be snuggled on his lap, her hair down loose and brushing his hands as she nuzzled his neck before tickling his ear with her lips with a whispered 'Ohhhh, John... I was just thinking about you.'

Sitting bolt upright in a hurry gave the chair a raucous squeak rather than it's comfortable creak. What the hell was he thinking?

"John? Are you there?"

John resisted the urge to clear his throat. Clearing his mind was enough.

"Still here. Sorry, bad connection I think. Sounds fine now, I think it's cleared." John rolled his eyes.

"Oh good. How are you? Traveling went well?"

He could still hear a slight smile in her voice. Comfortable. That's what it made him feel. Warm and comfortable. "I'm fine, thank you. Got here in record time. Looks like everyone is staying home for the holiday instead of traveling."

She made a small puff of noise. "I can't believe you have to work on Christmas. It must be some pretty important business you do."

"It is... believe me." Not exactly what you think it is, but it's damned important. "How are the lights holding up?" How are you? Are you thinking about me as much as I am about you even though you barely know me from Adam? Will you go out to dinner with me when I get home? Will you be there when I get home? 

"There was a couple burned out bulbs this evening, but my friend Lee helped me change them out. He held the ladder for me for the high up one, anyway. He's a little bit leery of heights, I'm afraid."

Her laughter tinkled softly through the cell phone. He wished he could think of something witty to say so she would laugh like that again... wait... her friend Lee?

"Hey, Blue?" A masculine voice came over the line, sounding like it was coming from another room, but strong enough to hear. "Got any rum? Eggnog is supposed to have rum in it, right?"

A shuffling sound, and then Blue responded to the voice, her own muffled as if she had put her hand over the receiver. "Sorry Lee. All I've got is beer." Another shuffle and she came back on the line. "I'm sorry, John." She sighed a little. "Where were we?"

I'm here and you are there. Way too far away. That's where we are. John shook his head and looked down at his file strewn desk. Well, what did he really expect? That Blue would be sitting beside her Christmas tree, twiddling her thumbs and waiting for his call with no one but Abe to keep her company?

"No problem. I won't keep you away from your company, but I called about Abe, actually." That wasn't a lie. Just not the total truth. "It occurred to me... Abe was mighty attached to Jean, and now that she's gone I was wondering if you have noticed anything in his behavior? How is he?"

"Well, now that you mention it, he did seem a little sulky today. I do think he's missing Aunt Jean. But he ate well. I think he's mostly okay, but I'll keep an eye on him and let you know if he gets worse. I don't want you to worry." Her voice was kind, and John let that warmth wash over him again.

"Thank you, Blue. I'll let you get back to your friend. Have a good Christmas."

"You too, John." She said softly.

John pushed the 'end' button to disconnect.

"Merry Christmas." he said to his empty office.



December 25
~~~~~~~~~~~

Blue stood at the small, paned window, looking out at the night. From her third story vantage point she could see the front yard with it's holiday lights, the seldom used road that wound past the house, and because of the lay of the land, the way the road dropped downhill, she could even see John Keeper's house through the trees.

Because he wasn't home, there were no lights on at his place, and so she couldn't see much beyond a vague moonlit outline, but she knew the house was there. She had looked out this window so many times she knew the view by heart. It was a familiar spot to look out from for her, from the time she was a scared, angry young girl, on through her teenage years, and up to adulthood for each time she came back for a visit.

She sat listening to the total silence until the faint melody of the grandfather clock on the first floor carried to the third as it played it's midnight tune.

Blue turned from the solitary window to say something about the time to Abe, but the dog was sound asleep, curled up in a corner on his blanket. Looking around the large loft room, she tried to let the ambiance of her favorite, unique corner of the world wash over and comfort her. Usually it worked to settle whatever mood she was in. This time it didn't.

She was restless. That wasn't so unusual. It was the loneliness that was unfamiliar. Without even a glance at her easel- something also unusual for her- Blue climbed onto her bed and slid under the heavy blankets. Burrowing to chase away the chill of the room she stared up at one of the skylights overhead. Aunt Jean had them put in several years ago, much to Blue's pleasure. With only the one little window at the end of the room there hadn't been much light let in. But with the skylights set into the steeply slanted roof, it had made for a much nicer place for Blue to do her painting, the reason Aunt Jean had had it done. The glass was covered in falling snow now, but as Blue lay in bed she looked up as if she could see the winter night sky through the white.

Lee had left for home an hour earlier. She enjoyed his company, but he had stayed long enough. She had found herself wishing that she'd had more time with John on the phone, even that Lee hadn't come over at all, but that felt like an awful, ungrateful thing to think. Lee was her friend. Someone who had always been there for her despite the distance, and she certainly didn't want to lose that. If she did move back here they would most likely see a lot of each other. As just friends, of course. Nothing more. Besides, this feeling of loneliness was more a result of missing Aunt Jean, she mused. Blue turned over onto her side and came nose to nose with Abe, who was resting his head on the edge of the bed. Staring. Pitifully.

"You sneak." Blue chided, but smiled. "Oh, fine. Come on up. Keep me company." She shifted across the bed enough to make room for the big dog, and Abe jumped up and settled with what could only be described as a dog-like sigh. "Just don't tell John. I don't know if he lets you get away with stuff like this."

Closing her eyes, she tried not to think, tried to settle her mind enough to fall asleep, but the mention of John had his image popping up, not necessarily unwanted, into her head. Tall... so tall... and handsome, really. Maybe not so much the type she usually was attracted to, although she couldn't pinpoint what about him wasn't something that she found attractive. Maybe it was his hair, the way it was cut short and no-nonsense. Blue preferred a little 'nonsense' in a man's hair. She chuckled softly at the thought, making Abe's ears twitch.

But he was definitely good looking. And big. My oh my, he was big. Not overweight big, but... manly big. Solid. Yes, that's it. John is solid. She wondered what he looked like without his shirt. Was all that 'solid' a result of bulky, bumpy muscle? Too much muscle wasn't something Blue was attracted to either, but somehow she didn't think that was the case with John. Why are you thinking about John half naked? Blue rolled over, found that wasn't comfortable, rolled back again. Why not? Why not think about John totally naked?

"Oh, lord."

Abe's ears twitched again in the darkness.

"Go to sleep, Abe."

~~~~~

Blue let the door slam behind her, almost catching Abe's tail. "Sorry." she muttered breathlessly. She thought of shaking off the snow that covered both she and the dog from their romp outdoors, but her cell phone was trilling from the kitchen table and she didn't know how long it had been ringing, and besides, it might be...

"Hello?"

"We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas..." Lee's voice sang over the airwaves, charmingly off key.

Blue laughed and worked on pulling off her hat and coat with the phone to her ear. "We wish you the same. What's up?"

"Come to my place today." Lee insisted without preamble. "I've got a turkey for dinner, you can bring the sides. We'll stuff our bellies and sing more bad carols."




Keeper Ch. 02



"Oh, Lee... I... I've got so many papers I have to go through. You know... from Aunt Jean's passing and everything." It was true. The kitchen table was piled with things Blue needed to get taken care of before she could even think of what would come next.

"I'm not taking no for an answer!" Lee still sounded chipper, as if he knew he was going to win this one. "I've already got the turkey in the oven. It will go to waste if you don't come help me eat it. And I don't want to be alone. You shouldn't be either. And it's Christmas."

Blue sighed aloud, not afraid to let Lee hear it. "All right. I'll be there."

"Great! I'll see you in an hour."

"An hour? No way! I'll see you-" she glanced at the clock, seeing it was only 10:30. "I'll be there around 3." That would give her time to take care of some of the business she wasn't looking forward to.

"Three? Come on, Blue."

"Three. See you then." She hung up without waiting for any more arguments.

Pouring a bowl of Abe's food for him first, and watching as he wolfed it down as if he were starving, Blue sat at the kitchen table. She could feel a whopper of a headache already starting to form just thinking about all the papers to sort through, dealing with insurance and inheritance and the will and the funeral... all the things associated with Jean's death. She knew there would be much more to come, but also knew it would be best not to get behind with it. Even so, her eyes fell on a small stack of cards and notes, and she picked them up, knowing that she was just delaying.

It was a stack of condolence cards and the little notes that had been with the flowers people had delivered for the funeral service. Blue had donated most of the flowers after-wards, but had kept the cards accompanying them. Flipping through them now, she smiled sadly at the short notes. Coming to one particularly short, hand written one, she paused.

"Home is where the heart is." She read aloud. Odd sentiment for a death in the family. Her brow furrowing, she flipped the small square of paper over, looking for a name or florist address. Nothing.

Shrugging aside the tingling at the back of her neck, she set the note aside and picked up a stack of medical insurance correspondence.

~~~~~

"So how come I'm not the one going to Hawaii? All those girls in bikinis and grass skirts will be wasted on you." Blackie lounged in John's doorway, his usual pose in his usual place, waggling his dark brows and grinning his usual grin.

John picked up his briefcase and his jacket and nudged his friend out of the doorway. He had a plane to catch. "You've got time off gathering dust, don't you? Take advantage of some of it and go rest on a beach some where. Find some little hula dancer. Get laid. Stop bugging me."'

Blackie smiled wryly as the two watched for the elevator door to open. This wasn't a new exchange, but John knew David 'Blackie' De Haven's outward carefree, playboy demeanor hid an inner seriousness. There were sometimes hints of a darkness, a turmoil, that no one, even John, was allowed in to view.

The men's eyes met in the mirrored wall of the elevator as the door slid shut and sent them downward.

"Dimitri Belicoff might not take kindly to you showing up and ruining his beach combing for sea shells. You sure you don't need me there for added security?"

John knew Blackie was joking. The assignment was already planned out. John was going this part of it alone. "I think I can handle it." he drawled lazily. "He's had enough vacation, or whatever it is Udre has been having him running around the states doing. It's time to reel Dimitri in and remind him of his debt to us. He's working for us now. I'm just going to make sure he knows it."

Blackie walked alongside until they reached John's car, resting his arm on the roof and leaning in with a grin when John slid behind the wheel. "Work or no work, I hope you packed your swim trunks. You know, the ones with the little red hearts on them. Wear those and show off your pasty-white gams, it'll drive those hula-girls wild." He laughed at his own wit, straightening to let John shut the door, then bending down again as something occurred to him. "And I hope you called her."

John's hand paused in the process of turning the key to start the car. "Her? Called who?"

One dark brow raised knowingly. "Whoever the 'her' is that had you staring at your phone all through dinner last night. Can't imagine you'd be looking like that over some guy... so call her." This time when he straightened he stepped back, letting John close the car door.

John sat with the motor running until Blackie disappeared back into the INDIGO building. His hand on the gear shift, ready to go, his eyes dropped to the cell phone on the seat beside him.

"Oh, hell."

Forgoing the shift into drive, he picked up the phone and pressed the speed dial button for Blue.

~~~~~

"Is that your phone I hear?" Lee asked over his shoulder as they carried their bowls of rice pudding dessert into his living room.

"Oh... it is..." Blue set her bowl down and scrambled through the tote bag she had thrown it in. By the time she found it, it had stopped ringing, but her heart did a funny little flip when she saw the call was from John. Now was not a good time to call him back, not here at Lee's as his guest. If it's important he'll leave a message. Or maybe he'll leave a message even if it's not important.

Lee handed her the dessert and continued their conversation, but she couldn't help but to keep one eye on her phone. And then she couldn't help but to be disappointed when the message light didn't flash.

Smiling anyway, Blue gave Lee her undivided attention for the rest of the evening.


December 29
~~~~~~~~~~~

Blue paused in mid-stretch while reaching for one of the higher-up Christmas ornaments on the tree, coming down from tip-toe to flat footed. The faint sound of Hawaiian music drifted through the cell phone she held to her ear.

"John?" she laughed lightly, disbelievingly. "Where are you?"

"Hello to you too." John's voice rumbled over the phone, amused. "And to answer your question, I'm in Hawaii. Watching a beautiful sunset off my room balcony, I might add. You should see it, it's amazing."

"Okayyyyyy..." Blue dropped down into her favorite overstuffed chair. "Here I was thinking the company you work for should pay you an exorbitant amount of money for you to keep the hours you do. Working holidays and all. But if you've got perks like that..."

His chuckle rumbled over the line, just as his voice had, just as she was hoping it would.

"How are you?" he asked after a pause.

She slipped deeper into the chair, letting his soft drawl and his quiet question warm her. "I'm okay. Been going to Orley's every day. Getting paperwork sorted out. And Abe has been good company. He's a great snuggler at night. That dog's a natural bed warmer." She laughed.

Silence. Then the sound of a breath being taken.

"Is he?" John's voice was odd now, a thick, strangled quality to it. 

Oh damn, was he mad? Had she put her foot in her mouth and let on about something that Abe wasn't normally allowed to do? Did he now think she was too irresponsible to take care of his dog? But then he was clearing his throat and softly laughing again. Blue relaxed back into her chair, wondering why she was concerned about what John thought of her anyhow. She couldn't help it. It just... mattered. That realization annoyed her slightly.

"Blue, I wanted to let you know, I'll be home for a couple days. I'll be coming in on the 31st. I'll have to leave again January 2nd, and I know you won't be able to keep Abe for me forever. Looks like I'm going to be gone quite a while this time. Longer than usual. I'll get in touch with Orley and let him know, and set Abe up with him."

Blue's heart had begun pounding the moment the words 'I'll be home' had been uttered. She had heard the rest, but 'I'll be home' was what her mind wanted to focus on. She told her mind to straighten up and fly right. She didn't think it was going to listen.

"Okay. Um... okay." She squeezed her eyes shut and smacked her hand to her forehead. Way to dazzle the man with your eloquence, Blue. You've surely got him hooked now! She opened her eyes to find Abe watching her with a tilted-head, quizzical look, and had to smile wryly at herself. "Actually, I'll be heading back to California on the 2nd also. I was going to call you about that, let you know, so arrangements could be made for Abe if you were still gone."

"Back to California? Is this going back for good, or... have you decided then, what you are going to do?"

"Actually, no. I have to get back there soon, take care of some things, but I'm still thinking on where I want to be now. It's just not an easy decision."

"I'm sure it's not." John commiserated.

"There's just so much to think about." She wanted to say more, but that would be putting her indecision onto his shoulders. She doubted this was something he wanted to hear about from someone he barely knew.

"Blue." his voice came low and even into her ear. "I guess all I can say is, listen to your heart. Let it tell you where 'home' is."

'Home is where the heart is'. The little note card from the funeral flowers flashed into her mind at his words.

"John? By any chance, did you happen to..." Blue paused, the question not forming to her lips. Did you happen to leave a weird note at my Aunt's funeral?

"Did I what, Blue?" John nudged.

"Ah... never mind. Nothing important."

"Ah, hell. That's all for the sunset. Damn good while it lasted, anyhow. I wish you'd been here to see it, Blue. I bet you'd do it justice on canvas, with all those pretty colors you usually use."

"You've seen my work?" Blue was a little surprised at that, but she supposed she shouldn't be. Aunt Jean probably had shown him some of her work. He confirmed that with his reply.

"Jean liked to show you off, you know. She was awfully proud of you, and your art. With good reason."

Blue felt herself blush, not knowing how to answer the unexpected praise, so she just murmured "Thank you."

"Well, I won't keep you any longer. I'll see you in a couple of days. Tell Abe I'm jealous. Bye, Blue." John hung up and there was silence, leaving Blue sitting with the phone to her ear, listening to nothing but hearing the last words. Words that sounded as if they had rushed out of his mouth before he could stop them.

'Tell Abe I'm jealous.'

Jealous? Of what? Of... the snuggling? She must have heard him wrong. Her fluttery heart told her she hadn't, but her brain insisted she had. Or she had misunderstood. Surely that was it.

~~~~~

John stood at the balcony rail, staring out into the ocean at the spot where the sun had gone down several minutes before. The wash of color had gone now, but as spectacular as it was, there was one thing on his mind that trumped the view.

'He's a great snuggler at night.'

Snuggling. At night. In bed. With Blue.

Damn lucky dog.

Tucking his cell phone into his pocket, he walked inside, only to find his thoughts of what he could do in bed with Blue cut short by the two people waiting for him. Dimitri Belicoff and Sophia McKinney were in an apparent stand-off. Again.

John blew out a frustrated breath. "Now what?"

Neither adults responded to his query, making them both look childish. John crossed his arms over his chest and waited. The dark haired Russian that he had brought Sophia to Hawaii to meet was the first to cave in, his green eyes flashing.

"She refuses to learn. She is too stubborn to listen." Belicoff spoke in a heavily accented and highly irritated tone. "I cannot work with one such as her." He stood over the woman seated at the table, looking down his nose at her.

She refused to look up, staring instead at a laptop open in front of her. "I learn just fine." Sophia countered mildly. "If he would stop staring down my blouse, perhaps I would be more inclined to listen."

Dimitri threw up his hands in a dramatic gesture and turned away, grumbling something in Russian. Swinging back around, he stood with his hands on his hips. "Why would I be looking down the blouse, as you say, when there is nothing to look at?"

John took a step forward, ready to come to Sophia's defense, but she held up a hand to stop him. Twin spots of color blushed high on her cheekbones, the only indication she wasn't as calm as she appeared to be. John didn't know if she was embarrassed, angry, or both. She took a deep breath, ready to say something, when Dimitri spoke first.

"I am to apologize. I do not say this thing to... to..." The dark Russian foundered, obviously not finding the proper English words.

Sophia turned from the laptop and spoke for him, a resigned slump to her posture. "Dimitri thinks that I will not fit in. That I am not... sexy enough." Her chin came up. "Apparently I need to be a sexpot to fix a criminal's computer security issues. Who knew?" Her eyes sparkled and John knew that she was doing her best to take this in stride.

"I am sorry." Dimitri mumbled, looking embarrassed himself now. "But you look like... how you say it... librarian."

John leaned a hip against the table and scrutinized Sophia with new eyes. He'd always thought her pretty, if a bit on the plain side, but looking at her now... the way she dressed and styled her hair, and the glasses she always wore... yes, librarian was the best description.

"Is this really going to be a problem?" He glanced up at Dimitri.

The Russian shrugged one shoulder, still looking apologetic. "I do not say that it is right, but da, in the circles that you wish me to introduce Miss McKinney into? The women, they are not... librarian." Dimitri walked around Sophia's chair, studying her with an intense scrutiny that would have made most women squirm. "But... da... I can see..." he murmured to himself. Nodding, he looked up. "I can make it work. If she will change her way of dress, and her hair. And listen to what I say of how to be like."

"Sophia?" John looked to the woman with the blush still shading her cheeks, knowing that she was, deep down, too much of a professional to let this affect the work they had to do.

She blew out of breath of frustration, then waved her hand. "Fine." She glared up at Dimitri. "Made over by a Russian oaf. Oh joy."

Sparks flew between the two, not the first time that John had noticed. He thinned his lips, determined not to let Dimitri and Sophia's dislike of one another worry him over the success of this mission. He'd handled worse problems than this before. Much worse. They would just have to get over it and do what they were supposed to do. Fly right, play by the rules, follow the Plan. That's how this always worked.

The two settled down and once again began coaching one another in English and Russian as they had been doing when John had left the room to call Blue. If not buddies for life, they were at least civil now, and John relaxed as he opened his own laptop to review some files.

In two days he would fly home for a short break, and then it was off to Russia. St. Petersburg and the new mission awaited.

Normally John couldn't wait for a new assignment to get under way. Doing his job buzzed his brain, gave him life. It was what he did, he believed in it, and he was damned good at it. He was always gung-ho to jump into the fray with both feet... Geronimo!

But right now? All he could think about was going home.  'He's a great snuggler at night.' Damn it all, why couldn't he get that out of his head?

Oh, hell.


December 31
~~~~~~~~~~~

"You have somewhere you have to be, Keeper?" Sol's pained expression voiced what his mildly curious tone didn't. As in, "You have somewhere you have to be that is more important than here? Which I know can not be the case, because right now NO where is more important than here."

Oh hell yeah, that's what his boss was really asking.

"No, Sir. You've got me mind, body and soul." John replied, a true respect in his answer despite the sardonic tinge. He knew that Sol knew that John was all about the job.

John forced the anticipation of his trip home after this meeting from his mind. Focus first, then home. Sol leveled his onyx eyed gaze on him for a few seconds more before nodding his head, apparently satisfied. The head of INDIGO turned his attention to the sole woman among the three men sitting around the large, burnished to a high gloss, mahogany table.

Abigail True hid a smile behind the ruse that her nose itched, Blackie stared way too studiously at an invisible spot on the table, and John had to wonder what the hell kind of gossip his friend had been spreading to the woman behind INDIGO's communications department. Blackie had been on his case unmercifully since Christmas Eve when he had guessed, rightly, that John had a woman on his mind.

A woman that he needed to get off his mind now. Focus first. Business first. Then home.

Abby tapped slender fingers against the keyboard of the small computer on the table in front of her, bringing the desired information to the screen. "We have uncovered, in part, Dimitri Belicoff's agenda for the time he has been traveling the States."

"Did he volunteer this information, or did you have to research?" Sol interrupted, a frown forming between his brows.

"He was tight lipped about it." John fielded the question. "He insisted it has nothing to do with our mission, and won't even discuss it. He's got to know that we would dig into it and find out anyway, but he's not talking."

Sol's heavy black brows raised. "So... what was he doing?"

Another tap of Abby's finger as she glanced at the glowing screen. "He spent most of his time searching out and meeting with several people in the health care business. Particularly, specialized mental health and child development fields. And then he apparently found two people that suited whatever criteria he had, because he bought them airfare to Russia and whisked them away. This was about month ago." She shrugged a delicate shoulder. "Why, we don't know. Now he is cooling his heels in the surf, Hawaiian style."

"The Hawaii vacation is a gift from his cousin Udre." John added. "Dimitri says it's so he can relax and forget about his prison time, but I get the feeling there is gratitude for a favor involved."  

Sol's scowl was back. It was practically ever-present anyway. He pierced John with a stare. "What's your intuition on his claim that it's nothing involving what we're about to do?"

John stared back levelly, confidently. "I can't back it up yet, but I think he's on the straight up about this. He wants to work with us, Sol. He may have his own agenda beneath it all, but doesn't everyone we bring to us in this manner? It would be naive to think otherwise."

Blackie crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. "He'll be watched. Closely. Same as we always do."

The head of INDIGO looked each of the three in the eye before standing. "All right then, it's a go. All ducks in a row." It was odd, but Sol made the duck comment every time a mission was given his final approval. No one would ever dare make a quacking noise, though. No way in hell. That didn't stop the silently amused glances between one another when Sol turned and signaled the end of the meeting by heading out the door.

John looked down at his watch and felt a prickle of irritation. The meeting had gone longer than planned. He had missed the flight he had hoped for. There would be another, but...

Abby patted his shoulder lightly as she passed by with her computer and files in hand. "Happy New Year, John." she sing-songed gaily as she exited the room.

John scowled at Blackie, who was gathering his own things.




Keeper Ch. 02



"What?" De Haven asked innocently. "Got big plans for tonight?"

"No. Just needing to head home for a couple days before Russia." He realized he actually didn't have plans. He had told Blue he would be arriving home, but nothing else was said about it. He hadn't asked her what she would be doing. Hadn't asked if she would go out to dinner with him. Hadn't asked if she would celebrate the New Year with him. He had no reason to think she would have accepted anyhow. "No plans. You?"

"Nope. Maybe I'll find the nearest bar and drown my sorrows. Who knows, maybe some babe in fuck-me heels and a tight skirt will take pity on me if I can get myself pathetic looking enough. I could get lucky." Blackie waggled his brows comically, but John saw through his friend's assumed humor. Unless he didn't know his often-time partner as well as he thought, David De Haven just wasn't the type to take strange women to bed with him for a quick fuck. Women practically fell over themselves to get to him, so it wasn't lack of opportunity. John just didn't remember ever seeing Blackie accepting the offers. 

"You know you're welcome to crash at my place. Anytime." He was serious about the invitation, and Blackie knew it, but his dark haired friend shook his head.

"Aw man, I know three's a crowd."

"There's no-" John began to argue, but Blackie held up a hand.

"Maybe not yet, but from the vibe I've been getting, there's someone on the radar. Am I right, or am I right?"

John shook his head and sighed, picking up his briefcase, anxious to be on his way. "Offer still stands if you change your mind." He didn't confirm nor deny Blackie's comment. He didn't need to.

The two men left the INDIGO building together, then parted ways, John to try to catch the quickest flight out of Philly, and Blackie to his own destination. 

~~~~~

Blue looked out of the little loft window for the umpteenth time, knowing that it wouldn't make any difference how many times it had been. She couldn't see John's driveway from this view anyway. There was no way of knowing if his black pick-up was in the drive or not.

Turning, she met Abe's expectant gaze.

"What?" She asked, testily. She didn't have to explain herself to a dog, for Pete's sake. "He'll be here when he gets here. Nothing I can do about it. He's your owner."

Seating herself on the stool in front of her easel, she picked up a brush and absentmindedly swirled at the color in one of the little paint wells on her tray. She hadn't been planning to start any new paintings yet, not until she felt more settled. But since she had at last made up her mind to make the move and stay for good, and she was suddenly feeling that creative itch, she had gotten some of her watercolor supplies out of the cupboard and had gone at it. The flower painting wasn't going to be anything museum-worthy, but that was all right. The creativity filled her time, satisfied her mind, and made the day go faster.

It wasn't as if John had given her a specific time he would be home, she chided herself. It wasn't even as if he'd said he would be by, or call, when he arrived. Though she did figure he would at least want to come get Abe and probably keep him at his place while he was home.

She glanced over at Abe, who had settled down for a snooze. He wasn't antsy at all, apparently.

Since she had made up her mind that she was moving back to stay, she figured she would be seeing a lot more of the dog. That was fine with her, as she had already been fond of him, but had grown even more so in the past week. She knew Abe wasn't her dog, but deep down she did feel that way. The moment she had decided to stay she had voiced it out loud to Abe, and the silly dog had plopped his head onto her thigh and drooled. Blue took that as a sign of approval.

Who else would approve? She knew already that Lee would be happy. Good lord, the man had practically bugged her to death with arguments for staying. She knew that Orley thought it would be a good move. He had said as much, in his own brief and ornery way. So, what about John? He had given her that little bit of advice, about listening to her heart, but would he, did he, care one way or another what her decision was?

And why was she wanting him to be the first one, besides Abe, that she told? If he ever got home...

The cell phone she had tossed onto the corner of the bed jingled gaily. Abe's ears perked, though he didn't bother to open his eyes. Blue, on the other hand, nearly dumped her paints in her rush to answer it. Flipping the slim case open, she was disappointed to see an unrecognizable number displayed in the little window. But maybe it was John anyway, calling from a different number than the one he had given her?

Jeez, get a grip, would you?

"Hello?"

Silence met Blue's greeting. There was only a very faint crackle to be heard through the apparatus. 

"Hello?" Blue repeated, more insistent. Maybe they just hadn't heard her the first time.

Nothing.

"Hell-oo." She raised a brow along with her voice, annoyance quickly rising. Imagining that she could hear faint, soft breathing, she held her own breath.

A tiny prickle ran up the back of her neck. She shrugged off the vague feeling of unease, muttering "Wrong number, jackass." before snapping the phone shut. Scowling at some people's rudeness, she tossed the cell phone back to the bed, startled into a gasp when it jangled the brief text message notification melody the moment it left her fingertips.

Staring at the phone as if it were a snake with two heads for a moment, she looked to Abe, who was now watching her curiously instead of attempting a nap.

"I'm really not this weird all the time. I swear." Blue murmured to the dog as she picked up the phone and flipped it open once again to check her text messages. 

She read the words on the screen, blinked as if her eyes needed to focus, then read a second time.

"Home is where the heart is. You have a home, do you have a heart?"

~~~~~

Abe stood at the top of the stairwell, listened for a moment, then barked.

Blue set her brush down and stood to turn the knob on her CD player, quieting the music she had turned up since reading the odd text message earlier. She had turned the phone to silent and had ignored it after several long, tense moments staring at the text, trying to think of who would send a message like that. She had an idea... just an inkling, really, with absolutely no proof... but didn't want to think any more about it and so had turned the cell phone over onto the comforter and had buried herself in her painting. 

She glanced at the clock, surprised to see that had been several hours ago. Except for a short walk with Abe, she had been lost in the music and her art, just as she had wanted.

Abe barked again and looked to Blue expectantly. The moment she stepped towards him he headed down the stairs, obviously expecting her to follow. Halfway down the narrow stairwell she heard the knocking at her front door and quickened her descending.

Lee stood in the glow of the front porch light, his brows raised in question. "I was beginning to think you weren't home."

Blue stepped aside and motioned Lee inside. "I was up in the loft. Abe heard you knock, though." She closed the door against the blast of cold air and turned to find him closer behind her than she thought.

"Well?" he asked.

"Well what?" She hazarded, taking a step backward.

Lee stuck his hands in his coat pockets and raised his brows again. "Well... what did you decide? Are you staying?" He waited, looking completely hopeful. Blue couldn't keep him in the dark any longer, it just wouldn't be nice.

"Yes." A smile slipped onto her lips as she watched her friend's expression light up. "I'm moving home."

"WHOOOOO!" 

Abe barked at Lee's shout, but the warning growl didn't come until Lee had picked Blue up off her feet in a joyous twirl. 

"Stop that!" Blue chided both Lee and Abe at the same time, pushing at the arms holding her even while she laughed. "Abe, no." She was saved from figuring out a way to get the suddenly protective dog from backing down, as he had sat back on his haunches and quit growling the moment Lee had let her loose.

Lee hadn't given Abe a second look, though he had wisely stepped away from Blue. Grinning ear to ear, he looked like he was about to bust, Blue thought with a shake of her head. She knew Lee would be one to approve of her choice.

"We're going out!" Lee proclaimed cheerily, even as he warily rubbed a hand over Abe's head. Abe had calmed down and let himself be petted. "We need to celebrate. And it's New Year's Eve, we have to go out." he reminded, needlessly. The man was positively bursting with pent up energy.

Blue looked down at her worn flannel shirt and black leggings, her eyes stopping ruefully at the thick and fluffy neon green socks on her feet. "I'm not dressed to go..." she began to protest, until she realized that she did want to go out. She wanted to go out and have fun, not mope around the house by herself, waiting for... something. Besides, Lee was looking as if there was no way he was going to take no for an answer.

"All right." she gave in readily. "Let me go change, okay?" She skipped toward the stairway, looking forward now to this outing with Lee. "Hey, are you on call tonight?" She called over her shoulder. She remembered he had mentioned how there were often more fires on holidays. As a Fire Marshall, he kept his phone at his hip at all times, and was often called away even on normal days. "I'll take my car in case you have to leave." She paused on the first stair and looked back at him.  

Lee looked as if he wanted to argue about taking separate transportation, but he knew that was the best way. He nodded, then called up the stairwell after her as she rushed up. "How does Cuddy's Shed sound? I know it's a dive, but it's halfway between here and Chaplin. Easy for both of us." 

"Perfect!" Blue called back. Hurrying into the loft, she flung her closet door open and grabbed the first thing that looked as if it would be halfway presentable. No need for anything fancy at Cuddy's Shed. In fact 'fancy' would stick out like a sore thumb there. The 'Shed' was a dive, but it would still be fun. And that's what she wanted. Fun.

Dressing, slapping on some eyeliner and lip blush, and making sure her hair was re-braided somewhat presentably was all accomplished faster than she remembered ever doing. Grabbing her cell phone off the bed and a small purse, she rushed down back down the flights of stairs.

Lee was waiting in the living room, rising from the easy chair when she stopped breathlessly in the doorway.

"Okay, I'm ready."

He grinned, his eyes on her face. As he neared, his grin grew wider and his eyes sparkled. Lifting a hand, his thumb brushed at her cheek. "New kind of blush, Blue?" he laughed. "You've got paint... here..." His thumb rubbed at her skin.

"Oh, for Pete's sake." She raised a hand to brush at the spot, but he pushed her fingers aside.

"Hang on. Almost got it." More gentle rubbing. "There! All gone." Lee set his hands on her shoulders, turned her, and gave her a push towards the door. "What would you do without me?" he laughed.

~~~~~

John expelled an irritated breath as the airplane ascended off the runway that had finally been cleared of snow enough for take-off.

With Sol's meeting taking longer than expected, and then the winter storm that had delayed all flights out of Philadelphia for hours, he had begun to consider just staying in Philly. He'd find Blackie, they could both get drunk- maybe even find a date that had no aspirations beyond a one night stand- and celebrate the New Year that way. But that wasn't what he wanted. Not at all.

Then he had considered driving. With the airline delays it would have been quicker to get home that way- if the roads were clear. The asininely perky weatherman on the airport television assured him that they weren't.

Leaning his head back against the seat, he closed his eyes and made an attempt at relaxation. At least he was on his way, late or not. He had sent Blue a text earlier, a short one that explained the snow delay. She hadn't answered back. He knew because he'd checked way too many times while he was wiling away time in the terminal. 

There was really no reason for her to answer. It just would have been... nice. A connection to her, even through an impersonal text. Or probably, if she had texted back, he would have just gone ahead and called her, so he could hear her voice.

"When did you become so pathetic? Damn, Johnny, has it been that long since you last got laid?" That damn little voice again. 

"Shut up." John mumbled. Opening one eye he checked to see if the guy in the seat next to him had heard. The harried looking business man was already softly snoring, his mouth hanging open unattractively. Good. No need to have any witnesses to his insanity. 

Settling more comfortably in his seat, John let the gentle motion of the flight soothe him into a nap.

~~~~~

A rebel whoop rolled across the expanse of Cuddy's Shed, signaling the end of a crowd favorite song. Blue laughed and breathlessly stepped away from Lee's grasp, only to be pulled back out onto the wooden planked dance floor. Another rowdy song was starting and, and usual, Lee wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Blue smiled up at her partner, shaking her head. "Last one!" she shouted over the music.

"For now!" Lee yelled back, grinning, and swung her around.

Blue didn't mind. She wasn't much good with specific dance steps, she thought, but she did all right if she just let loose and had fun with it. Lee was a good dance partner, both graceful and wildly enthusiastic, not even minding when she stepped on his toes... which she did, again, laughing up at him when he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off her feet in a dizzying twirl. She shrieked and slapped at his shoulders, and he set her down and spun her around once more for good measure.

"You make me dizzy!" she chided, smiling. The song ended and another began smoothly, but this time Blue managed to pull Lee off the dance floor to the table they had claimed. "Oh my lord," Blue gasped. "I've never danced so much in all my life!"

"Hey, stick with me, sweetheart. I'm a dancin' fool."

"I'm not touching that, you silly." Blue laughed. "Whew, I'm outta breath. And thirsty!"

"I'll get us another drink. You hang tight and don't go stepping on any other fool's toes without me. Be right back." Lee pulled a chair out for Blue to sit in before heading to the bar.

Putting one knee on the chair seat before sitting, Blue stretched, arched her tired back, and ran her hands over the hair that was beginning to escape from it's braid. All the dancing and twirling had caused some unruly tendrils to go free and frame her face, some strands sticking moistly to her cheek. It was cold outside- freezing, actually- but with all the bodies and all the dancing, it was plenty warm in the old bar. Fanning herself with her hand and laughing quietly as she did so, Blue felt a tingle at the back of her neck. Automatically looking up and around at the crowd that packed the place, the tingle moved to her belly when a pair of topaz eyes met hers.

John couldn't tear his eyes away. He had been watching her for longer than he would ever admit, since he had come in and ordered his drink at the bar and turned his head and there she was. At least two dances worth. He had come to Cuddy's Shed on a whim, having arrived home to an empty house and at loose ends on New Years Eve. And since Blue's car hadn't been in the driveway and her house was all dark, and Orley wasn't likely to be awake for much longer, what else did he have to do? The Shed was somewhat familiar, and worlds better than brooding around his house by himself being lonely.

So he had come to Cuddy's Shed to brood instead. And found Blue. Blue, who was dancing and laughing and beautiful and oh, my god, so so sexy. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was coming loose, and the way she danced... John's gut knotted another notch tighter as he pictured her, not on the dance floor but in his bed, blushing with arousal, his fingers buried in her hair, her body 'dancing' against his as he pushed and withdrew, pushed and withdrew...

She was coming toward him. Looking down, away from her for his own sanity, he tightened his fingers around the cold bottle of beer and willed his cock to behave itself. The way things were right now, if he turned his body away from the bar things would get mighty embarrassing mighty fast. Down, boy.

"John! You made it after all." Blue's smile lit up the dimly lit room.

Damn, but she looked pretty. She had taken off her loose, long sleeved sweater to reveal a plain white t-shirt underneath. A very flattering white t-shirt. That, paired with curve-caressing snug blue jeans, a wide brown leather belt hitched fashionably low around her rounded hips, and plain brown western boots... taken one by one, everything could be called 'plain', but together, on her? Hell, she stood out more than any dressed up, man-hunting female in there. Hands down.

Hands... down, skimming over her curvy hips. His hands. Gliding down to cup her ass, so well displayed by those perfectly fitting jeans. His greedy hands, hungry to touch... everywhere... needing to feel the weight of her breasts in his palms...

Blue touched his arm and John looked up, praying he hadn't been caught staring at the generous swell of her breasts. 

"Did you get my note about Abe? That I left him off with Orley?" she was asking, sidling close to him against the bar to be heard over the people and the music. 

"Taped to your door, yes ma'am. Paid Orley a visit, wished him a good New Year. Figured I had nothing else to do this evening, so I came here. Weather delayed me every step of the way earlier. I left you a message." John left it as a question.

"You did? Oh..." Blue looked startled and fished a slim cell phone out of her pocket, dipping her head to watch as she pressed a button and the phone came to life. "Oh! You did. I'm sorry, I'd turned it off earlier and forgot to turn it back on." She shrugged apologetically. Then she smiled again and John's world tilted. "Weird we ended up in the same place, huh?"

A hand reached between them and placed a mug of frothy beer on the bar top. "Here you go, sweetheart. One big, cold drink to fortify you enough for at least four more dances with a fool."

John looked up to see the guy Blue had been dancing with when he arrived. He recognized him as the same guy that had held on to Blue so determinedly at Jean's funeral service. John nodded politely at the man, though his mood dropped a little as the guy's hand came to rest on Blue's waist. 

"Lee, I'd like you to meet my neighbor, John Keeper. John, this is Lee, a friend of mine."

Friend? How good of a friend? 

"Pleasure." John responded, and stuck out his hand for Lee to shake.

"Ah-ha, you're the neighbor. One of 'em, anyway, and I'm presuming you aren't the old one." Lee shook John's hand firmly, then returned his to Blue's waist.

"I'm old enough." John replied, trying not to let his eye wander to the arm Lee had around Blue. "But no, that would be Orley. I'm the other one."

"John, come join us. We have a table." Blue pointed over her shoulder at the crowd on and around the dance floor.

"I don't want to intrude." He didn't want to. He really didn't. Joining them looked to be potentially depressing. Were Blue and Lee a couple? He had been wondering that while watching them dance, beginning to feel like coming here wasn't a good idea after all.

"Hell, you aren't intruding!" Lee clapped his hand on John's shoulder. "In fact, you can help us celebrate!" Lee looked down at Blue with a wide grin. "Blue here has decided to stay. For good."




Keeper Ch. 02



John looked at Blue in surprise, wordlessly asking if what Lee proclaimed was true. Shyly she smiled back and nodded.

"I made up my mind this morning. You were right... I listened to my heart." 

"I'm glad, then." John said thickly, knowing his voice probably couldn't be heard above the noise. He didn't know what was making his throat tight; the knowledge that Blue would be staying, or the possibility that she already had someone in her life. Oh hell, it was probably both.

Well hell, if she was making the house next to his her own, then that was great. If she had something going on with Lee, that was great too. He had no say in her life and he knew it. Just because he was hot for her? No, he would step back without even having stepped forward. No way he would poach on someone else's territory. That wasn't the way he did things. He was 'by the book', and the book said no messing with another guy's woman.

But that didn't mean he couldn't celebrate with them. What the hell, why let the night go totally to trash? John followed the pair to their table, sat for a minute while they trotted out to the dance floor again, and then accepted a dance request himself from a tall, vivacious woman that had been eying him since he walked in the door.

~~~~~

Lee had excused himself and had gone outdoors, to take a call, he said. He needed the quiet of his SUV to hear. The patrons of Cuddy's Shed were quite noisy and getting more so as midnight drew near.

Blue dried her hands on a paper towel and looked at herself in the ancient mirror, the only one in the tiny ladies restroom. Giving up on an attempt to tame the loose tendrils of hair that had come out of her braid, she made a face at her reflection. Nothing to do about her looks now, the damage was done. Somehow she didn't mind Lee seeing her looking so unpolished, but John's unexpected arrival had her wishing she had taken more care with her clothing and all before she had left the house.That woman John had been dancing with, now there was a woman who knew how to dress. Self assured, sophisticated and chock full of sex appeal.

Everything that you are not. Blue's reflection taunted.

"Whatever. You're just jealous because that woman has been hanging all over John like wet spaghetti thrown on the wall." Blue taunted back. The image had her nearly laughing, and rolling her eyes at her own churlishness, she tossed the paper towel in the trash and pulled at the door.

The moment she entered into the too-dark hallway that housed the restrooms the music hit her ears and a vibration buzzed against the top of her thigh. Startled at the tingle, she quickly realized what she was feeling and slid her cell phone out of her pocket. This time a name popped up with the number, one that she recognized. Huffing out a breath, her finger hovered over the ignore selection. Another sigh had her answering instead.

"Jackson." Holding her free hand over her other ear to block out the noise of the bar, she clipped out the name instead of answering with her usual polite 'hello'.

"Blue, god damn it, where the hell are you?" The angry male voice railed into her ear.

"You know perfectly well where I am."

"I know where you're not. I've been by your apartment and you weren't there.  I can't believe you haven't come home yet. What the hell are you still there for?"

Blue clenched her teeth, a pulse beginning to pound in her temple. Staring at the filthy, shoe trampled carpet that had been installed in the tiny hallway, she held her body still and stiff. "I came for Aunt Jean. You know that. I buried her. You know that too. Not that it's any of your business."

A pause lengthened and she guessed Jackson Woods was composing himself in that way he had when he could see his anger wasn't going to get him anywhere. She guessed right. His next words were spoken soft and low. Blue used to like listening to that tone from him. Now she knew better and it only set her teeth on edge.

"Blue, sweetheart. I just miss you, that's all. Come on... come home and I'll make everything up to you. I swear. God, I'm so lonely without you."

You should have thought of that before you cheated on me and then told me I wasn't 'enough' for you when I found out. She wanted to say it out loud, but oddly enough she couldn't gather enough interest to care about putting in the effort.

"Come on, Blue." He tried again when she said nothing. "I made a mistake, I know it. Come home."

"I am home." She was mildly surprised at how sure her tone was. "And I'm staying here."

Jackson made a rude, laughing sound. "You're kidding."

"No, I'm not." Blue was ready to hang up, tired of this conversation the moment it had begun. But Jackson wasn't through, and she could tell his was holding on to his temper by a thread. She'd come to learn about that unpleasant, quick-to-anger side of his personality later than she would have wished, and had been planning to break things off with him anyhow... the cheating and insults had just come first, still hurtful even though she knew their relationship wasn't going to last.

"Jackson..." she sighed, suddenly tired, her fingers rubbing her forehead. "I'm staying here." She repeated. "I'd like you not to call me anymore. There isn't any point."

His control snapped. His voice screeched into her ear. "What are you trying to do? Tear out my fucking heart? Don't be so fucking heartless, just fucking come home!"

Heart... home...

Blue backed against the dingy, papered wall, leaning against it as she narrowed her eyes and spoke into the phone. She kept her voice as even as possible, though she had to raise it to make sure she was heard over the music coming from the other room.

"Jackson. Don't call me. Don't write to me. Don't... don't text me. Do you understand? Goodbye."

Snapping a cell phone shut wasn't nearly as satisfying as being able to slam a rotary phone to hang up on someone. Closing her eyes she let the wall behind her giver her support, taking calming breaths even as her fingers squeezed the phone as if she wanted to crush it. Surprisingly enough, she didn't jump out of her skin when she felt fingers touch the back of her hand. Slowly opening her eyes, she first saw John's boots, then the faded jeans he was wearing as she raised her gaze up and up, traveling up that tall, solid body... until she was looking him in the eye.

He looked concerned. A little protective maybe. She felt a blush heating her cheeks and wondered if he had overheard any of her words. She couldn't help feeling embarrassed to think that he had. She thought for a moment that he was going to ask if she was okay... somehow she knew the question was on the tip of his tongue, but his lips tightened into a thin line instead. Looking down at where he was still touching her hand, he gently loosened her fingers from her phone. She hadn't realized she still had a death grip on it and relaxed her fingers, letting him take the phone from her.

"Came to find you." He murmured, and she could hear him just fine because the music had stopped. "It's almost..." Voices yelling out from the main area of the bar "Ten, nine, eight, seven..." began counting down. John tilted his head in that direction, letting the  crowd's countdown continue with "Four, three, two, one!" before he finished with his own quiet "... midnight."

Revelers cheered happily, ringing in the New Year with joy. It sounded wild out there, but in the little hallway, lit only by some haphazard holiday lights strung along the top of the walls, Blue felt like time had stopped. John was close, so close, and she had to tilt her head up to look at him, but she didn't want to move away. Couldn't move away. She felt like she was waiting. Waiting for... something...

"Midnight." He said again, softly, as if to himself. His shoulder lifted up in something like a shrug and the furrow that had creased his brow smoothed out. 

The next thing she knew, his lips were touching hers. His eyes were still open, looking into hers... asking her permission? He must have liked the answer in her eyes, because his lips pressed harder, softened, parted too briefly in a small biting motion, then lingered softly again. It was too quick. Over with too soon, and yet her own eyes had had time to close. When she felt his mouth leave hers, she opened her eyes again and focused on her hand that had somehow found it's way to the middle of his broad chest. Lowering it, she looked away. His stare was so intense.

But it was just a New Year's Eve kiss. Right? Or maybe not, because it damn well felt like so much more than that. Be careful. Don't be reading too much into this. Smile. Do NOT melt into a puddle at his feet! "Happy New Year." She managed not to croak the words, thank goodness.

"Yes, it is." His mouth crooked up at one corner. One of the sexiest damn sort-of smiles she had ever seen.

This time, when she felt the touch of his fingers, she did jump, embarrassingly startled when he slid her cell phone into her front pocket. Or maybe it wasn't embarrassment, or from being startled at all. Maybe she jumped because the brush of the backs of his fingers near her hip bone, even felt through the denim of her jeans, had sent an electric tingle through her body, sparking outwards from that initial spot. 

And then he was turning, and she let out the breath she had been holding.

"Lee's been looking for you." The corner of his mouth crooked up again, but this time it gave him a different look. He cocked his head towards the main area of the bar and walked into the crowd.

Tossing her head and straightening her shoulders, she followed, and laughed as she was caught up in Lee's arms as he gave her a twirl and a smacking New Year's kiss. Over Lee's shoulder she caught the narrowing of John's eyes as he watched, and then he turned away, his dance partner's arms snaking around his neck.

A Happy New Year kiss. That was all.



Keeper Ch. 03



January 1

~~~~~~~~~

John twirled the tall brown glass bottle between his fingertips, the beer inside, only half gone, helping to provide a balance to the bottle so that it didn't tip over. Slouched back in the chair, long legs stretched out underneath the table, he looked completely relaxed to anyone that looked at him- unless they happened to notice the tick in his jaw, caused by clenched teeth.

Shouldn't have kissed her. What in the holy hell was I thinking?

He stared at his beer, but in his mind's eye he could see Blue and Lee as they were, right this moment, out on the dance floor. The raucous, honky-tonk music had smoothed into a love song, bodies crushed together, swaying and grinding unashamedly.

His own temporary dance partner, Vanessa, had already left. She'd sashayed out the door with another guy, someone who had looked to be a more promising prospect to spend the rest of the night with. That was all right. Didn't hurt John's feelings in the least.

You don't go laying lips on another man's property.

Not that John thought of Blue as property. And Lee better not think that way either. That was no way to treat a lady, and Lee had better treat Blue Waters the way she deserved. The way that he would treat her if...

He couldn't help himself. Without turning his head he shifted his eyes to the left, over to the swaying crowd. He found the pair immediately.

If Blue was his, he'd dance a hell of a lot closer with her than that. Show her that she was the only one in the room as far as he was concerned. Make sure that she knew who she was with; someone that wanted her and only her. He would hold her and sway with her like he was a man who had his mind on a long night of loving ahead... with her. Not dance together like brother and sister- which was the way Blue and Lee were dancing.

But hell, it was none of his concern. And secretly he knew that if he had to sit here and watch them, he totally preferred the arm's length position they had adopted.

The bar crowd was showing signs of thinning out, Vanessa had split to find whatever New Year's bliss she was searching for, and John decided it was time for him to take off also. Nothing to hang around here any longer for. When this song ended he would say his goodbye.

Setting his unfinished beer in the center of the table, he fished out his wallet to take care of the tab- his parting gift to the lucky couple- and glanced up out of an instinctual urge. Blue was approaching the table, Lee following close behind while concentrating on the cell phone in his hand.

By the time they reached John, Lee had put the phone away and was looking apologetic.

"Duty calls." Lee held his arms out wide in a good natured 'what'ya gonna do?' shrug. "There's a fire out on the west side of Chaplin. Practically shouting arson. That's my cue, I'm out of here." He turned to Blue ruefully. "Sorry, Blue. You know how it is."

"Of course. A Fire Investigator's work is never done." Blue quipped and smiled graciously.

"John." Lee stuck his hand out and John gripped it in a friendly shake. "Nice to have met you."

"Likewise. Good talking to you." The conversation with Blue's guy had been interesting, he had to admit. Whatever jealousies he was feeling towards him, John had to acknowledge that Lee was all right.

The two men shook hands, but when John began to loosen his grip, Lee kept hold while glancing over his shoulder to where Blue stood watching.

"Hey..." Lee began hesitantly. He released John's hand and leaned forward slightly. "Do me a favor?"

John raised a noncommittal brow and waited.

"It's snowing pretty heavy out there right now. Blue drove that old clunker of Jean's. You two are going the same direction anyway, so would you mind following her home to make sure she gets there okay?"

Follow Blue home? That had been on his mind anyway, unless Blue and Lee happened to go home together, in which case... hell, he hadn't wanted to think about that, but that was what he figured would happen. In fact, when Lee had said he was being called away for a fire, John had felt some of the unpleasant weight lifting off his chest with the thought that Blue and Lee would not be going home together. Not tonight.

But that wouldn't mean he would be the lucky one to go home with her. Nope. He was just the friendly neighbor guy, chivalrously making sure Blue made it back to her castle safely before heading on down the road to his own home. His own empty, cold, lonely home.

"You want her? Go for it! You know you can be more of a man to her than Fire Marshall No-Balls here, who dances with her like he's her freaking brother, for fuck sake!"

John clenched his jaw with the effort it took to keep from telling his inner voice to shut up. Instead, he nodded, pasted an understanding expression on his face, and told Lee that he sure would keep Blue safe and under his watch until they reached home. Lee could rest easy.

Damn it.

~~~~~

"You don't have to trail me home." Blue stood, feeling awkward after Lee had left. She had overheard Lee's request and John's reassurance. Nicely agreed upon, except they hadn't included her in the conversation. They had just decided for her that she needed to be... what? Watched like she was some fluffy-headed ditz who didn't know how to drive in the snow? She should feel insulted, she thought. And she did. Sort of.

The thing about it was, she was irked that Lee had thought to bring it up, but another part of her was fighting off something warm and fuzzy that John had accepted the request. How messed up was that?

John was just sort of staring at her, she noticed. And he didn't look particularly happy. As a matter of fact, he looked downright grim. Was he annoyed and regretting his agreement to follow her home? Had he been planning instead to stick with Vanessa tonight?

Blue didn't see the woman around anywhere and thought she had left already, but maybe John had been planning to meet her somewhere. The thought didn't set well with Blue and she pushed it away- along with the 'mean-girl' satisfaction that maybe she had ruined their plans. Shame on her.

John stared, not moving. Tiny creased formed between his brows when he spoke. "It's no problem. Do you think you're ready to go now, or...?" He left the question hanging.

Well, damn. What was the point of staying any longer when her only companion left was a suddenly sullen man who had practically ignored her after that kiss in the alcove? He'd seemed friendly enough but most of his conversation had been with Lee or Vanessa. He sure hadn't asked her to dance at all, prompting hesitance on her part to ask him to dance, even though she was wishing to do so more than she wanted to admit. Whatever feeling of mutual attraction she had been beginning to feel had rapidly waned. Her part was fine, it was his part that had sadly seemed to disappear. Perhaps it was for the best. Did she really need more going on in her life right now? Blue thought of the phone call from Jackson earlier, and the answer was a decidedly firm NO.

"I'm ready to go if you are." Blue answered as neutrally as possible.

John nodded, just a slight movement of his head, and moved ahead of her towards the exit. Skirting around between the dance floor and the tables was a little tricky, with the crowd that was still milling about the area, but John's stature and the way he moved so confidently cut a swath right through the mob. Blue had to smile at that, in spite of herself, as she trailed along in his wake. He could be handy to have in a crowd, for sure, if she stuck close.

Not following quick enough, Blue found herself jostled by a big, burly body, and reached out instinctively to the broad back in front of her. John turned at her touch, reaching out to lay a hand on her upper arm, a question in his eyes, when the burly guy tipped drunkenly into her again, propelling her forward. Straight into John.

His arms came around her to steady her and he looked over her head to glare at whoever it was that had caused her to fly into him, but either the drunk guy was gone or John became just as aware of their closeness as she had. Sucking in a deeply needed breath that had nothing to do with the crash but everything to do with the result, she found herself lost in a gaze of darkening, rich topaz.

Knocked off kilter in more ways than one, Blue took a step back. The large, warm hands closing over her upper arms stopped her, long fingers curving around her triceps. For a moment she could feel the movement of his fingertips smoothing against the soft skin of her inner arms, just below the hemline of her t-shirt sleeves.

She shivered. He released her.

Then it was his turn to get bumped by a wobbly passerby, and whatever 'moment' Blue thought they were having disappeared. The music had picked up once again, and Cuddy's patrons were taking full advantage of it before closing time.

"Looks like a good time to get out of here. I've never seen it so busy." John remarked, glancing around before taking her hand and hooking it into the crook of his arm. "Hang on!" He grinned devilishly and led her through the crowd. Blue found herself laughing as they wound through the dancers, John cutting his way through like the prow of a boat through water.

Donning their coats unfortunately meant letting go of his arm, but then his hand settled against her back as she was hustled out the door. It was a small touch, barely felt through her coat, but something she was grateful for when they saw the drunken riff-raff that had spilled out of Cuddy's and were gathered in a small group. One laughed raucously, some stared quietly through slitted eyes and puffs of cigarette smoke, a couple of them too far away from any light source to make out their faces. They most likely looked more dangerous than they were in reality, but Blue didn't argue when John put his arm around her shoulders and tucked her against his side, away from the shifty men.

It was snowing heavily, creating an eerie quality to the inadequate lighting of Cuddy's Shed's parking lot. The bar had been built onto what was once an actual old shed, and surrounding the graveled section for parking were skeletons of old farm machinery, scattered about randomly. Normally, in the daytime, the run-down look added to the Shed's ambiance. In the dark of night it just seemed spooky.

Their footsteps crunching loudly against the snow covered gravel, Blue pointed to one side of the lot. "There's my car." She shivered and pressed against John's side. "Brrr, it's gotten cold."

He didn't say anything, though she felt his arm tighten fractionally, snugging her to him even more. Pulling the key from her pocket as they neared the battered little car that Jean had driven forever, she turned to John with a 'thank you' on her lips. His face was in shadow, but she knew he was scowling again as he looked down at her.

He gestured to the nearby road. "Looks like the plow has been by. It shouldn't be too bad if we don't wait and go now. I'm right over there." He nodded to his pick-up parked nearby. "I'll follow you."

"Okay." She couldn't think of anything else to say, so she opened her door and slid behind the wheel. Watching John retreating into the darkness and swirling snow to his own vehicle, Blue sighed and inserted the key into the ignition. Boy howdy, it was cold! The sooner she got going the sooner the heater would crank up, though she doubted it would get her warm enough before reaching home. Anticipating a nice hot bath before crawling under the covers, she turned the key and... nothing.

Nothing happened at all, not even the sound of the engine trying to turn over. Frowning, she pulled the key out and reinserted it to try again. Again, nothing happened. Total, eerie silence. Not knowing what else to do but give the key another try, she wiggled it and turned it again, getting exactly what she expected. Nothing.

"Well that's just fine and dandy." she grumbled, leaning her head back against the headrest and closing her eyes. About to open her door, she gave a start as the cell phone in her pocket buzzed, letting her know that a call was coming in. Jackson. It had to be. No one else would be calling this time of night. Slipping her phone out and flipping it open, not to answer but just for the satisfaction of seeing that she was right, Blue sucked in a stingingly cold gasp of air as she noted the number. Not Jackson. The number that had left the texts. The one that had stayed silent when she'd answered.

Blue stared at the lit screen as she let it ring. Stared at it even when the ringing stopped and the screen went dark. Without the soft purr of the engine she had tried to start or the ringing of the phone, the snow-muffled quiet of the night closed in on her. Dropping the phone in her lap, her gaze darted up and out the passenger side window. Shadows shifted through the falling snow. Had one of those men they had passed by at the entrance moved closer? It was hard to tell, but it seemed as if...

The knock on her window nearly made her scream. Hand pressed to her pounding heart, she watched as the black shadow outside her door leaned down and tapped at the glass again.

Blue flicked the lock up with fumbling fingers, allowing John to open the door.

"What's wrong?" he asked immediately.

"It won't start." She decided to keep her answer at that. No need to let him know she had been over-reacting about a stupid phone prank and poorly lit parking lot. It was already feeling silly to her now that she wasn't alone.

"Try it again." he was telling her, straightening to full height and leaning toward the front of the car to listen to the engine.

She turned the key once more, getting the same result. Nothing to listen to. "Want me to pop the hood?"

John considered for a moment, glancing around the lot and up into the sky. "No." he answered at last. "Get your purse and lock it up. You can ride with me."

"Oh, but-"

"It's too damn cold out here, Blue." He took a step back, shoving his hands into his coat pockets and hunching his shoulders against a sudden gust of frigid air. "I'll give you a lift back here tomorrow and we'll take a look at it then, all right?"

She looked around. The area suddenly didn't seem as spooky as it had a moment ago, but she didn't have the option of AAA, and John did look too cold to be messing around with the engine.

"All right." She gathered her purse, pausing for a moment to drop her phone inside. There were no indicator lights flashing, so whoever had called again at least hadn't left another text or message. Probably just someone that was dialing a wrong number. Hopefully they would figure that out soon and leave her alone.

So was that note-card a mistake too?

Blue shook the sarcastic voice aside, shut and locked her door, and followed John to his black pick-up.

The roomy cab of the truck was already beginning to warm up when she climbed in, the heater working much faster than Jean's old car would have even if it had been working. John slid into the driver's seat and turned the heat to full blast, assuring a cozy ride home. Snapping her seat belt, she looked across the bench seat as he did the same with his. She liked this truck. It was clean, large but cozy, and it smelled like a warm combination of leather and a touch of light musk. 'Manly', Blue thought, trying to hide a smile. There was something else too. A faint hint of vanilla?

As John turned out of the parking lot onto the road, and as they at first made small-talk that faded into a comfortable silence, Blue kept her gaze out the window, trying, trying not to stare at the man driving. Trying not to watch as his hands curved around the steering wheel, guiding the pick-up over the snow covered road with deft sureness. Trying not to notice how the muscles of his thigh bunched and relaxed beneath the snug denim of his jeans as he worked the gas and brake. Trying... and failing miserably... not to wonder if, if she slid across the seat and pressed her face into his neck, just beneath his jaw... if his skin would smell like that delicious combination of leather, musk, and vanilla.

Telling herself to stop it, but sneaking a look at John in spite of herself, she noticed a tension in him. The cab was warm enough now, and the soft, low music from a country station was playing on the radio, the lights from the dashboard casting a faint glow into the darkness. It had all combined to make a calm, serene setting for her, so much that she even was feeling a bit sleepy and had let her mind wander. What she hadn't noticed was that after they had turned off the road that Cuddy's Shed was located on, the freshly plowed asphalt had ended and they were now traveling along a more heavily snow covered roadway. Though he still had control, John had slowed considerably.

Blue sat up straighter, keeping a better watch out the windshield at the road ahead. Snow swirled through the air, the speed of the vehicle, slower than normal as it was, making it seem as if the flakes were shooting towards them in the light of the headlights. It looked otherworldly, as if they were traveling through deep dark space that was full of millions of stars. She didn't offer any conversation, thinking he may need all his concentration on the road, but she was perfectly comfortable with the silence anyhow. But he was frowning slightly, and she saw his head move in a negative shake so small she almost missed it...

"I can't stop thinking about you."

Blue's head swiveled. He was still focused ahead, but were his hands clenched a little bit tighter around the steering wheel? She was sure she heard him right. What the hell was she supposed to reply with? She swallowed and said the first thing that came to mind.

"Oh?" Gah! For Pete's sake!

The truck swerved as the wheels hit a patch of hidden ice, and John mumbled a curse under his breath. Straightening and slowing another notch, he spared a quick glance her way. "Good thing your car didn't start. I don't think that little hatchback would have made it in this. I told Jean she needed something better, but you know how stubborn she was. Can't tell you how many times I had to come rescue her when the engine stalled out. I'm not too surprised it wouldn't start tonight. We'll take a look at it tomorrow, get it running for you. Probably a dead battery. It's happened before."

"John?"

He let out a breath and shot a look at her again, quick but full of an intensity that made her heartbeat skip. "Hang on. We're almost home."

Almost home. Blue liked the sound of that, something that served to confirm the rightness of her decision to move back here. She settled back into her seat and in a few minutes they were turning into her drive, the tires crunching on the snow.

John didn't turn the engine off. She didn't expect him to, since he probably wanted to get home himself. Despite that, though she had settled one hand on the door handle, she waited. An achingly romantic country song played on the radio. John reached to turn the volume lower. She heard the rustle of his movement as he unbuckled his seat belt and turned towards her, and she stared at the glowing radio dial where his hand had just been, not sure at all why she was nervous to look at him.

"Tell me about your relationship with Lee."

Blue did look up then, surprised at the request. "With... with Lee?"

John nodded and his eyes narrowed. "I'm usually pretty good at reading people, but I'll admit I think I need a little help here, because this is too important to me for guesswork. So... what exactly do you and Lee have going?"

"Lee and I are friends. We knew each other in high school, and have been in contact since I moved away." She shrugged. "Friends."

"Just friends? Nothing more?"




Keeper Ch. 03



"Just that. Why?"

"He wants more." John raised a brow.

Blue wanted to laugh at that. "I think your people reading skills are slipping, John. Lee was married practically right out of high school to the love of his life. Happily married until she died... a few years ago." Blue looked away, remembering that tragic, difficult time for Lee. The fire. Lee's devastation. She shook her head. "Anyway, you're wrong. He would have let me know if he wanted to be more than friends."

"Hmm. I think I'm on point about that anyway, probably why I was reading things wrong." He was speaking as if to himself, then his eyes caught hers and held them. "But you aren't interested in a different relationship with him." He didn't ask it as a question, but Blue thought he was tensed for her answer.

"No. Just friends." she repeated. Her fingers slipped off the door latch where they had been resting. She didn't want to get out of the truck and go inside. Not yet.

A slow, faint smile slid over John's face and he let out a breath as if relieved of a problem. Blue held herself still as he leaned toward her and reached across the seat to unbuckle the seat belt she had forgotten was still latched over her body. Resting one hand on the steering wheel and the other arm along the back of the long seat, the position angled his body towards her. His eyes... oh lord, his eyes... held an invitation even as his lids dropped to partially shutter their glow.

"C'mere."

Blue's heart took off running. He was watching her. Waiting. Waiting for her to slide over to him, or waiting for her to say no and make a break for it? Now, even more than a few moments ago, the last thing she wanted to do was get out of the truck. She never was very good at hiding her emotions, and this moment must have been no exception, judging the way his eyes glowed hotter as they searched her face.

"C'mere, baby." His voice was deep. Soft. Husky.

The smooth leather of the seat made a quiet shushing sound as Blue slid over, watching John's expression turn to a mixture of satisfaction and something akin to relief. There was pleased triumph there too, as if he had just won a prize. Those things flashed quickly, almost too quick to catch, and then he was moving to meet her half way.

His hand came off the steering wheel and settled on her waist over the thickness of her coat, exerting enough pressure so that she was tugged closer. He was staring at her mouth, and she licked her lips- she would have testified that wetting her lips was out of innocent nervousness, but the reaction in his eyes sparked something womanly inside her. Something decidedly sexual and, yes, wicked... a 'knowing' that she wasn't used to feeling, but welcomed with a spreading warmth that was centered low in her belly.

And then his fingers were tunneling into her hair, his palm hot against her ear and cheek as he slanted his head just enough to fit his mouth to hers. Blue let her eyes drift closed as she leaned into the kiss, his lips both firm and soft as they pressed, pulled back, brushed over hers, pressed again. It was sweet.

More.

As though he heard her thought, John's mouth pressed intently. Clearly happy when she raised her arms to wrap around his neck and shoulders, he curved his arm around her tighter and pulled her against him as far as their bulky winter coats would allow.

Blue opened her eyes when he broke the kiss and raised his head. "Midnight?" she teased.

His teeth flashed white in a smile, sexy and feral. "Hell no. This has nothing to do with midnight." he breathed, dipping his head for another kiss.

Soft and sweet. Then more. Suddenly, thrillingly, more.

"This." he murmured against her mouth, and she shivered as his teeth nipped at her bottom lip. "This." The tip of his tongue swept over her lips, then disappeared only to dart back out and repeat the action. Her lips parted... too late to catch his fleeting, teasing tongue. She felt he was smiling as he kissed the corner of her mouth, and she moved her head, aching for more... More... and she was on the verge of saying please, when he growled "This." and aligned his mouth with hers. His lips parted and his tongue, no longer teasing, pushed firmly for the entrance that she willingly gave. His tongue flicked slickly against hers and withdrew, flicked and withdrew, daring hers to follow and play along.

Blue's senses went into overdrive with an ultra-responsiveness to every little thing.

They way John's palm smoothed over her cheek and down to her neck. His thumb brushing back and forth over the jut of her jaw, and then pressing lightly just beneath her ear... the tingle it created as if he knew a special nerve to play upon.

The sound of the radio muted too low to drown out the sound of their mouths, their mutually deepened breathing, the heartbeat that was roaring in her ears. The feathery soft whoosh of John's breath as it rushed across her cheek from his nose. The inky blackness that the night had become now that it had stopped snowing, broken only by the still glowing dashboard indicators that she could see in her mind's eye even when her eyelids felt too heavy to lift open.

The feel of the short hair at the nape of his neck, a wish flitting through her thoughts that it was just a little bit longer so that she could thread her fingers through it better, but then that wish was forgotten when he made a pleased sound as she burrowed her fingertips into the hair anyhow.

The spot on her thigh that was facing the closest heat vent, growing warmer and warmer from the blowing air, and then his palm was there, smoothing over the heated denim that covered her skin. His fingers curved around and underneath until they slipped beneath her, between the back of her thigh and the seat... and she didn't know if it was because his large hand had trapped the heat or if it was making it's own, but it was like a burn that was spreading... a heat that traveled from the hand on her thigh to between her legs, and she reflexively squeezed her legs together against the hot tingling, but that only seemed to make matters worse...

Invite him in.

No! Too soon. Too fast!

Blue listened to the latter voice. Slowing the kisses, she pulled gently away. The heat in his eyes invited her back, but he let her go. Sliding back over to the passenger side, she looked toward the darkened house that waited for her. Turning her head back to John, she could tell what he wanted. It rolled off of him in waves.

More.

No, too fast.

Suddenly feeling a touch of claustrophobia, she knew that it was more because of the pressure her own needs were putting on her, warring with the voice of reason in her head. The voice that knew how she would feel in the cold light of the morning if she invited John in tonight. She liked him but... that just wasn't who she was.

He was watching her, quietly waiting. She tried to put on her best smile, not minding that it felt a little apologetic. "I'd... um... better get inside." She glanced away for a moment to get her bearings. "I'd invite you in, but... well, I know we are both adults..." Feeling her cheeks burn at how stupid she thought she was sounding, she embarrassed herself even more when an awkward laugh escaped her lips. "But I'm just... not like that." she blurted quickly. For Pete's sake!

"I know you're not." he said quietly, gently. Turning without another word, John opened his door and was halfway around the front of the truck before Blue even thought to open her own door. Pulling it open for her, he held out his hand and helped her down from the high cab. Before she could pull her hand free- not like she wanted to, mind you- she found herself surrounded by his arms and supported by his big, solid body in a warm hug.

"It's all right. Go inside and get some sleep." He bent his head and kissed her firmly, pulling away just when she felt it was about to become more once again. His arms tightened and she felt him press his mouth to the top of her head, his chest rising and falling with a big, deep breath. "Ah, Sweet Baby..."

Sweet Baby...?

John felt Blue stiffen, and knew the reason. He could have kicked himself, but he thought that first he'd better wait and see how bad the situation was. Maybe it wasn't really any big deal to her? One could only hope...

She pulled away and looked up into his face. It was too dark to really see her expression, but he was a pretty good people reader after all.

"How did you know?" Her voice was tight. He wanted to kiss her neck, nuzzle the spot where he knew the knot that made her sound that way was residing. He doubted the action would be welcome right about now.

"Jean mentioned it."

She was glaring at him, he could feel it. He thought she was really making a bigger issue out of this than it should be, but he didn't want to seem like he was downplaying her feelings. There were a lot of things that he knew about Blue, more than she probably would feel comfortable with right now, but there were still a lot of things he didn't know. He wanted to know her completely, with a passion he was still somewhat uncomfortable with, but he vowed to take things slow, knowing that was what she would be more accepting of also.

"Jean told you? Nobody knows... at least as few as possible. Jeez, how would you like a name like Sweet Baby Blue Waters?"

She was kind of huffy now, and he thought it was cute. He certainly knew better than to show it, so he stifled his smile and reached out to her again. He hadn't meant to take her in his arms again, she really needed to go inside before he got down on his knees and begged her to let him come inside with her, but he just couldn't seem to help himself.

"Ah, don't be mad. It's not so bad, is it?" He tipped her chin up for a kiss before she could answer, feeling her go soft against his chest. God, he wanted this woman. Bad. "Go inside, honey. Before I try to change your mind. We'll talk more tomorrow." he promised.

John stood by the truck, hands stuffed in his coat pockets so he wouldn't go after her and bury them in her hair like he so wanted to do, and watched as she unlocked the door, went inside, and then waved through the window after locking back up.

Driving the short distance home, he debated whether to take a freezing cold shower or to jerk off when he got there to get rid of the erection his coat had been hiding the moment Blue had slid across the seat. Either way, this looked like it was a damn good start to the new year.

Damn good.



Keeper Ch. 04



January 1
~~~~~~~~~

~5:23 AM~

John rolled over in his bed, onto his stomach. The moment his erection was sandwiched between his belly and the sheeted mattress, he woke.

Groaning face first into his pillow, he shifted his hips back and forth just enough to raise his frustration another notch- because that's the kind of masochistic bastard he was, he thought sarcastically- while he fought to keep the images of the wet dream he'd roused out of from fading.

Images of Blue. With him. In the truck. She'd been straddling his lap and, oh hell yes, she hadn't had a stitch of clothing on. She had been doing an amazingly sinuous lap dance, and stretching her arms up and over her head so that her back was arched and her breasts were swaying back and forth and... so what if there wasn't actually enough head room in the truck to both sit on his lap and raise her arms as high as that, this was his dream, damn it... and all he had to do was lean forward a little bit and he'd have his face nestled against Blue's generous breasts, his mouth over one of those pink, tight nipples, and...

"Oh, hell." John mumbled as he nearly suffocated himself. Shoving the pillow onto the floor, he rolled over and stared at the ceiling, completely awake now. Probably too early to get up, but that's what he always told himself, nearly every morning. He'd always been an early riser. Raising his head to glance downward, he barked out a laugh at the tented blanket halfway down his body. Yup. Early riser.

"God bless morning wood." he muttered, with only half the sarcasm as before, as he shuffled to the bathroom.

~~~~~

Blue pulled the covers over her head, drawing her knees up and pressing her thighs tightly together. Nope. It didn't help any more this morning than it did last night in John's truck.

In his truck, with John kissing the bejeezus out of her, better than she ever thought any man could kiss. Like he really really liked kissing. Somehow, Blue had come to think that most men weren't all that into kissing. That they only really did it because that's what they thought they were supposed to do. That they thought they probably wouldn't get any farther if they didn't do it. But not John. Oh no, he kissed like he meant it.

In his truck... kissing... and then his hand had slid beneath her thigh, the tips of his fingers mere inches away from...

Flipping the covers off her face so she could breathe, Blue glared at the glowing numbers on the clock radio. 5:26?? She had hoped to sleep in this morning. She had slept very well, tiredly climbing the stairs up to her third floor and falling asleep almost upon getting into bed. But now she was awake. And horny.

She was never horny in the mornings. Of course, she had been 'wanting' when she'd come to bed, and had been too tired to do anything about it, so maybe it shouldn't be a big surprise that she was now. It wasn't unpleasant or a problem, it was just different.

Giving in and letting her knees fall to opposite sides, Blue slid her palm down to the waistband of her sleep pants and let herself wonder what it would be like to wake up with John in the mornings. What did he wear to bed? Anything?

If she woke him with kisses and soft touches, if she was careful not to startle him as she slid under the covers with him and whispered her needs into his ear, would he wake slowly? He would be growing fully under her hand as she boldly caressed him... sleepily murmuring his surprise... pulling her down for more of those amazing kisses.

Blue sighed and let her fingers travel down past her waistband and beyond to play adeptly in the damp curls between her thighs... until the jingle of her cell phone broke the silence.

~~~~~

"I bet she wears a slinky negligee to bed." John's inner voice piped up as he stood in the bathroom, seeing something other than his reflection in the mirror above the sink.

"I didn't think you knew the word negligee, let alone what one looks like."

"Okay then, how about a tight, white, tank top- you know, the things rednecks named Bubba wear, except it would look a hell of a lot better on her than it would on Bubba-" 

John laughed out loud. "Shut up."

"Fuck yeah, a really close fitting tank like that, one that hugs her tits like it was painted on and you can see the shadow of her nipples through the material... ooh, and little white panties- no... no, a g-string, because it would show off that amazing ass that you were drooling over last night-"

"Oh... hell..." John leaned a palm on the sink top, gripping the edge as he fisted his cock with the other hand. Closing his eyes, his imagination deciding on white cotton panties instead of a g-string because that seemed more like what Blue would wear and damn but that's what would be sexy on her, he didn't bother with telling his inner voice to shut up.

~~~~~

Blue stared out the little window into the darkness toward John's house. Through the trees she could see light emanating from one window while the rest remained dark. His bedroom?

Somehow, thinking that he was awake at this early hour, the same as she, gave her a comfort. Like there was a connection between them. Of course it didn't mean anything of the sort, she reminded herself, but if she wanted to feel comforted by such a thought then she darn well would.

Glancing down at the cell phone in her hand, she wondered if perhaps it was time to contact the police. This morning's text- 'Are you home?'- had given her more of a jolt than the previous mysterious messages. Or maybe it was the build-up of all of them put together.

Resisting the urge to run around turning on every single light in the house, she had instead left them off and had calmly gone from room to room, pausing every few moments to just listen, wishing that Abe was there with her, knowing that he would be able to detect any sounds that she couldn't.

Even that was overkill, she thought now. Probably. As would calling the police be. What could the police do? The messages weren't threatening nor obscene. The feeling they gave her was upsetting, but she would bet the authorities would only pat her on the head and send her on her way, 'feelings' or no.

She could call Jackson and read him the riot act. Again. Maybe he would finally stop.

So what if it's not him? 

Blue frowned and leaned her forehead against the cold pane of glass. The thing was, she wanted it to be Jackson. If it was Jackson, then she would know, and this whole thing could be relegated to a minor annoyance from someone thousands of miles away. But if it wasn't?

A shiver traveled up Blue's spine.

~~~~~

John's head shot up as the ringing of a cell phone brought him back to reality.

"Ah... shit..." he grimaced, taken off guard. Any kind of solution to morning wood, and fantasies about Blue's nightwear choices would have to wait, because it wasn't his everyday phone that was demanding his attention.

It was his INDIGO line.

"Yeah." he nearly barked into the cell, not bothering with "hello", or "John here.". Anyone who called on this phone would know who would be answering, or they had no business calling.

"It is Dimitri." the heavily accented voice answered. "I have need to speak. Is of importance."

"Dimitri." John was somewhat surprised, though he knew the Russian had this number and was to use it whenever needed. "What can I do for you?"

"I am afraid I must change plans. Udre has called me, to ask me to return home, to St. Petersburg, as soon as is possibility"

"Why?" John snapped, quickly shaking off the sexual buzz of moments ago.

"Is... I am not completely sure the reason, only to say that it is personal matter that I am to look into."

John frowned. "Dimitri, that is not good enough."

"I can-" Dimitri added quickly, "give you my assurance that this is not-" There was a muffled mumble as the man on the other end of the line attempted to find the proper English wording. "This will not be interfering with our agreement. You are wishing that I make things to look as same... everyday... yes? If I refuse Udre's request, this would be raising suspicions. I-"

"Dimitri." John interrupted. "It's all right. I agree. We do need to keep matters as normal as possible, just as we have discussed. And since this only has you heading home a day or two earlier than planned, I see no problems that would arise. What I do ask of you, however, is that you keep me apprised of everything that is happening, personal or not. We have discussed this also, have we not?"

Dimitri Belicoff murmured an agreement to that, but John could not help but think, as he had all along since meeting this Russian who was to be an important piece of this mission, that Dimitri was holding some things close to the vest. Going by his gut feeling that trusting this man wasn't going to be a bad judgment call, John had decided to let it slide for now, but had vowed to keep an extra close eye on things.

"This is for Sophia's safety." John continued, pacing as he talked, the movement natural and familiar for him when he was in working mode. "Sophia's safety has top priority. You know this."

"Da. This is agreed. I will not let you down."

"I will hold you to that promise. Now..." The gears in John's brain turned, busily working out any kinks this small change in plans might bring about. "Do you have a flight yet?"

"Nyet. You were my first call."

"I will have one for you. The details will be sent via a text message to your phone." John would have Abby find the first flight possible. As good as she was at that kind of thing, she probably had been a travel agent in another life. "Sophia and I will take the planned flight, no need for us to be there early along with you. Expect notification of our arrival, and we will take things from there. Have a good flight and I will see you soon."

Disconnecting from the call, John paced to the window as he punched the speed dial button for Abby. It didn't matter what time it was, everyone who was worth a damn at INDIGO answered their phones, and Abby was worth a damn.

"Yeah."

John smiled to himself as Abigail True answered her line the same way he had.

"Did I wake you?" he asked with just a touch of apology.

"Um... no." There was a soft sound, a background rustling of sheets and a quiet creaking of bed-springs. "I'm awake. What's up?"

"I need an ASAP flight to St. Petersburg for Dimitri Belicoff." No need for anything but straight and to the point.

As John and Abby efficiently polished off the details of his request, he peered out the window into the predawn darkness, his eyes automatically homing in on what he could see of Jean's house... no, Blue's house now, he reminded himself with what could only be described as an odd sort of happy anxiousness... he noticed the faint light glowing from the third floor window. Her window. She was awake too?

As he set his work phone on the bedside table, John's hand moved the two inches toward his 'every day' phone. The urge to call Blue was automatic. Shaking his head, he left the cell untouched. Way too early to call her. She would definitely not appreciate it, even if she was awake.

Although he wasn't really sure yet where this thing with Blue was going-

"Don't be an idiot. You know exactly where it's going."

-he didn't want to scare her away. He thought maybe he'd done just that, last night when he'd called her Sweet Baby. Shit, it had just slipped out before he knew it, and she'd gotten all stiff and pulled away in more than a physical way. But he had a feeling that all was not lost, which was a relief, because... because...

"Because you KNOW. You know EXACTLY where this is going."

"Shut-"

"Yeah yeah, I know. Shut up. You don't really want me to shut up, do you? Hell no, you don't. Because I've got a PLAN. Except I don't think you're ready to hear it yet. Because you won't admit to yourself... yet... that you know where you want this to go."

"Her bed. That's where I'd like it to go." John padded on bare feet back to the bathroom, raising his eyebrows at himself in the mirror. "Or mine. I'm not picky."

His inner voice snorted rudely."Well fuck yeah. That's a given. We already knew that was a goal, didn't we? But that's not what I'm talking about."

John was quiet, reaching for his shaving gear, now avoiding his own eyes in the mirror.

"Johnny, Johnny, Johnny." his inner voice sighed. "All right. I won't say another word about it. For now. You just let me know when you stop denying and want to hear my plan. I'll be here."

Scraping off the dark, heavy growth of beard that had accumulated in the past twenty four hours, John continued to avoid his own gaze, working out the day's schedule as he shaved. He'd go get Abe from Orley's first. The early hour was no problem, even though it was likely the old man would still be sleeping. He had a key to Orley's house, just as he had one to Jean's... they all had keys to each other's houses. It had worked out well for each of them, looking after each other the way they did. So, he'd get Abe, do his normal workout that he did to keep in shape, grab some breakfast, and maybe by then it would be an acceptable hour to go get Blue and give her a ride to Cuddy's Shed to get her car.

Tonight was his poker game with Orley, something that had become a tradition with he and Orley and Jean, but he was also feeling the need to spend as much time as possible with Blue, especially since he was leaving again the next day. Leaving for quite a bit longer than usual this time.

It was odd, this feeling of almost... almost... not looking forward to starting a new mission. John reminded himself that Blue would also be leaving, to go back to California and get things settled there before she came back here. She would most likely get back before he did, according to the plans he'd heard her tell about last night, but he couldn't let that feeling that he would be missing something worm it's way into the pure enjoyment he had for his work.

Just recently met Blue, not even gone yet, and he was already missing her.

Oh hell, he was just horny, he lied to himself, the words 'shut up' on the tip of his tongue, fully expecting his inner voice to pop in with an opinion. But the voice was silent, as promised. Probably lurking in there somewhere, ready to break it's promise and pouncing in with something totally unexpected, irreverent, inappropriate.

A good run will help, he thought to himself as he wiped the remaining dampness from his face. Didn't matter that it was probably cold out there. He had no problem with it, and he knew that Abe loved it.

John dressed, his mind slipping from running to when he could go over to Blue's without it being too early. He didn't even realize he was humming the song that had been on the radio hours earlier, in his truck, when Blue had slid over the seat towards him.

He hummed it all the way out the door.

~~~~~

~8:25 AM~

Blue laughed as Abe leaned into her, pushing the weight of his big furry body against her arm until she gave in and hugged him to her side. Looking over the dog's head, she caught John's smile as he drove them back to Cuddy's Shed to pick up her car.

John had sent her a text fairly early, with a message saying he hoped he hadn't woken her, but wondering if she was up yet and willing to go. She'd seen the message just after she'd left the shower, relieved that it was from him, and so she had called him right back and invited him over for coffee and cinnamon rolls. He had appeared at her door so fast she'd burst out laughing.

She'd been a little bit nervous as she'd opened the door and let him into the house, not really knowing what to expect after that kiss in his truck. But Abe had come bounding in, all flapping tongue and flying snow, and when John had casually leaned in and given her a peck on the cheek, it had all felt so natural and comfortable.

In fact, in the moments before he had arrived, she had worried enough to nibble at her nails, thinking about how she was going to tell him that she wasn't looking for a relationship. Not right now. Not right after Jackson. And they had already established that she wasn't 'that' kind of woman, one who was interested in just falling into bed with a man right off. So what did that leave? It left friends, which she was hoping to be.

Except... when he had kissed her cheek and run his hand down her braid with a quick, playful tug on the end, smiling and looking so glad to see her... well, the words about no relationship hadn't come. So, a relationship may have found her whether she was looking for one or not. As they had chatted over breakfast, and now watching him as he was focusing on driving, she began to wish that the kiss on the cheek had been more.

But for now, she was comfortable. Comfortable chatting over cinnamon rolls and coffee. Comfortable in his big black truck with his big, sweet dog. Comfortable with him. Something that she realized now she had never really been with Jackson.

Maybe even... comfortable with the thought of falling into bed with him...

"What?" John broke into her thoughts, giving her a quizzical half-grin. "You're smiling..." he pointed out when she returned his curiosity.

"Oh. Just..." Blue laughed lightly. "Nothing." She turned her attention to petting Abe's neck, not missing that John's grin got wider, creasing his cleanly shaved cheeks.

Turning into the Shed's parking lot, John passed by two other vehicles that looked to be abandoned and stopped next to the little, dented hatchback that hadn't started for Blue several hours earlier.

Abe jumped down out of the truck behind Blue to sniff around, changing his course to remain close by when John gave a brief command.

"Try starting it." John told her as he stood near the front and she unlocked the door and slid behind the wheel. "I doubt it will do anything, but you never know."

Still the car wouldn't start.

"All right." John slapped and rubbed his hands together when no engine noise broke the quiet of the morning. "Pop the hood and let's take a look."

Blue sat in the open doorway and scratched Abe's head when he came looking for attention, while John tinkered under the opened hood. Only a few silent moments had passed when she heard John's muttered curse. Getting out of the car, she walked around to the front to find John standing with his hands in his pockets, scowling at the engine, his lips tightened into a grim slash.

His eyes flicking to her when she approached, he nodded his chin to the revealed engine. "There's your problem." He looked angry and concerned, and she moved curiously to look under the hood.

It took a moment, but she found what he was wanting her to see. "Oh! But..." It took her another moment to realize the implications of the car battery being completely unhooked. Taking a step back, she glanced around the quiet parking lot as if whoever had pulled the clips from her battery was waiting to jump out at them.

John leaned under the hood, gaining her attention back, flicking a finger at another area. "Distributor cap too. Gone." He straightened, his expression serious and downright scary. "Someone didn't want you to drive away from here last night, Blue."

She took another step back, almost falling over Abe, who had been sitting patiently behind her. "But I..." Blue stopped herself before asking if there was any chance that the distributor cap could have just 'fallen off'. Yeah, sure. And the battery cables had shaken loose... at the same time. Ha. She really didn't want to sound as stupid as she was feeling right now. "How did they get the hood open? I had the doors locked last night, I know I did. I remember."




Keeper Ch. 04



John watched her for another moment before lowering the hood and running his fingers over the edge, looking closely. Blue came to stand beside him, joining in the inspection. Not a mark to be seen on the painted metal, other than a little rust. She stepped back again, crossing her arms.

"I locked it." She said again, feeling irrationally stubborn and defensive.

"I know you did. I saw you unlock before I went to the truck." He shut the hood completely and looked at her again before crouching down, and before she knew it he was on his back, reaching under the car while he slid and inched his way under on the snow-packed gravel. After a pause the hood popped open again.

John stood and dusted the snow off his backside, shrugging the stuff off the back of his coat. "There's a cable. All you have to do is pull on it." He explained grimly. "A lot less noticeable than trying to jimmy the hood open."

Feeling a little dazed, she watched as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and moved his thumb over the screen.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling the police." He looked at her as if the question had been completely illogical.

Blue clamped her mouth shut, the realization beginning to sink in that this was a police matter. But as it turned out, calling the police wasn't necessary. Blue and John turned at the sound of crunching tires, as a black and white squad car pulled into the parking lot.

~~~~~

John tucked his cell phone back into his pocket. Another favor asked of Abby, though this time a personal one. He knew she would be discreet, looking into this Jackson Woods guy through her own impressive channels. He didn't want her to catch any crap from Sol about using INDIGO resources and had gotten her promise that she would be careful about it before letting her in on what he wanted.

Digging his hands deeper into his coat pockets, he let out a pent up breath and tried to relax, settling back against the seat, trying to tamp down on some of the anger at the situation before Blue came back to the truck.

Looking out the windshield at the car parked next to the Chaplin police cruiser, he could make out the shadowed outline of Blue's head as she talked to the detective that had come rolling in. After it was discovered that Blue's car was not the only vehicle that had been tampered with, and that all the cars involved were owned by women that had been at the bar last night, Detective Debra Banks, a no nonsense woman with ebony skin and a direct manner, had been called in. 

The first police on the scene would only allow that the vehicle tamperings were just a case of drunken New Years Eve hi-jinks, and they had asked only the rudimentary questions of Blue and one other woman that had arrived along with the police cruiser. But with Detective Banks' professional thoroughness, it hadn't taken long at all for Jackson Woods' name to come up, along with the revelation that Blue had been receiving some odd text messages and phone calls.

And now Blue was discussing the details with the detective in private while John waited. The engine tampering incident could be random. But it could have been someone targeting lone women, someone with something more sinister than vandalizing in mind. John knew that, and he knew that Detective Banks would not discount it.

John also knew that the car vandalism, Blue's odd texts, and Jackson Woods may all be totally unrelated to each other. Most likely were, in fact. But that hadn't stopped him from calling Abby and asking her for the favor, and though he guessed Blue might think he was overstepping his bounds, he refused to feel any guilt over it. Even if it had nothing to do with the car, if anyone... anyone... was threatening Blue's safety and peace of mind, then by damn he was going to know about it.

He had been lucky enough to overhear her mention Woods' name, but he wished he had the number that had been annoying her. He could have had Abby look into that too. Unless he could somehow sneak a peek at her phone while she wasn't looking- and that wasn't likely- he would just have to trust the police to track the number. If they thought it was important enough... which they may not. John blew out a frustrated breath, knowing also that it was most likely the caller was using a burner phone anyhow... a disposable cell phone. Just the thing that someone with something to hide could use.

Taking another deep breath and slowly releasing it, he eased his hands out of the tight fists that they had balled into. Every synapse in his brain was screaming PROTECT! PROTECT! PROTECT! but he knew he had to get a grip, to settle the hell down, or he was going to scare Blue away before he even had a chance with her.

He watched as Blue got out of Detective Banks' car, his eyes tracking her as she approached. He watched her so intently that he saw her shiver even before she opened the door.

"Abe, down." he commanded quietly, motioning for the dog to move down to the floorboard as Blue lifted herself up into the cab. "Scoot over." he told her, just as quietly.

She looked at him for a moment, her eyes somber, then slid over on the bench seat until she was nearly touching him, making room for Abe to jump back up on the seat next to the window.

Reaching over to turn the heat up another notch made John's arm brush against hers, and Blue fought the urge to lean into him when he sat back. She had caught a faint scent of that leather-musk-vanilla scent again. The smell that made her mouth water. She could feel him watching her, but continued to stare out the front windshield as Detective Banks got out of her car and strode over to one of the other vandalized cars where an officer was waiting.

Feeling the brush of fingers against hers, she looked down as John closed his hand around hers, then lifted it up to his mouth. After brushing his lips across the back of her fingers, he settled their hands down onto his thigh, giving a gentle squeeze. Just that, no words spoken, and Blue felt... safe.

"Well!" She tipped her head back and huffed out a breath. "That was more excitement than I really wanted." Sitting up and squaring her shoulders, she would have pulled her hand from John's, to indicate she didn't need to be coddled, but the thing was, she didn't want to let go. Luckily, he gave no indication of wanting to let go either. 

"Some types of excitement are over-rated." John commented wryly. "So, what now?"

"Lee called while I was talking to Detective Banks." John's question reminded her. "They know each other, even worked together a couple of times. He seems happy that she's handling this case. Anyway, since the police aren't done with my car yet, and I'll be leaving tomorrow, Lee has offered to deliver it to the house when he can. He's pretty upset about all this. I think he feels guilty that he had to leave early." Blue shook her head, negating that Lee should feel any kind of guilt at all. "He wanted me to tell you 'thank you', by the way. He's glad you were there to give me a lift home, and that the next beer is on him."

John nodded and lifted a shoulder. "I'm glad I was there too." His fingers tightened a fraction more, his palm warm against hers. Turning her head just enough to look at him, she saw he was still watching her. He looked outwardly calm, relaxed. But there was a heat to his gaze, and even though his lids were part way lowered, his lashes hiding most of those topaz eyes, she felt the electricity between them.

Her heart suddenly skittering crazily, Blue waved her free hand to indicate the incapacitated hatchback that sat forlornly several feet away. "So... um... I guess I'll need a ride home."

"Spend the day with me."

Blue's head swiveled back to John. He was smiling. There was cautious hope in that smile, a hope that made Blue's insides melt.

"Okay."

She didn't need to say anything more. His hopeful smile turned into a grin, and Blue found herself smiling happily back.



Keeper Ch. 05



January 1

~~~~~~~~~

~3.01 pm~

'Friends with Benefits'.

Blue had never given that phrase much thought before, but now it kept popping into her head. It was painfully obvious she wasn't much good at relationships- Jackson had pronounced her unfit anyway, in a variety of ways and a lot of not very flattering phrases, before he decided he wanted her back, and ha ha, that wasn't likely to happen in a million lifetimes- but the longer she spent time with John the more she wanted. Wanted more. Wanted John. And wasn't that what most men really wanted anyway, the 'Friends with Benefits' thing?

Blue glanced in the rear view mirror, catching a glimpse of John and Abe as they rode in the bed of the pick-up truck, along with the chunks of wood that had just been loaded.

John had insisted that the wood was some that he had chopped for Jean to use in her old wood stove. Aunt Jean had often used the old stove for warmth, preferring it to the central heating system. According to John, since he regularly kept a supply for his fireplace, it was no problem to keep Jean, and now Blue, supplied at the same time.

After lunch and window shopping together in Chaplin, and then taking a long, round-a-bout route home as they enjoyed the snowy scenery, they had spent the next part of the afternoon filling the bed of the truck with the firewood. When they were done, John had tossed her the keys and settled in the back with Abe for the short ride to Blue's house.

Putting the big truck into park, Blue turned off the ignition, but barely had time to reach for the door handle before the door was opened for her and John was there, reaching for her to help her down from the high seat. Any thought of objecting, of insisting she could get out of a truck on her own, became forgotten at the feel of his hands at her waist. And if there was any objection left at all, being pulled against his body when her feet touched the ground finished off that erasure completely.

He was grinning. White teeth, creased cheeks, sparkling eyes...

"Damn, if I'd known how hot you'd look drivin' my truck, I'd've given you the keys hours ago." he drawled, his southern accent more pronounced, making his words low, slow, and sexy.

With those words, and with her hands on his shoulders and his on her waist, it seemed only natural when he pulled her against him even closer. So natural that it felt as if her body floated towards him, and she found herself wishing they didn't have their bulky winter coats between them.

Blue tilted her chin up, saw the look he was giving her... hot and hungry... and when he dipped his head towards hers she closed her eyes... and felt his lips purse against her forehead for a brief second. And that was it.

A little kiss on her forehead and he'd released her. Quickly. She watched in dumb confusion as he turned away and released the back gate of the truck and began unloading the fire wood.

"Huh. Okayyyy." Blue mumbled to herself. Not that a kiss on the forehead was a bad thing. It was kind of sweet. But,come on, after what he'd said and that look he gave her...?? Shrugging, she slipped her hands into the heavy leather work gloves he'd given her and set to work.

John could feel her watching him. He could also feel a heat rise to his cheeks that defied the cold winter air. Piling the wood with more vigor than necessary, he tried to avoid her gaze.

He'd bet he knew what she was thinking. Probably wondering what kind of wuss she'd gotten herself mixed up with. Hell... there he was, making his move, helping her down from the truck, which was the perfect excuse to pull her in and lay one on her. And she'd wanted it too, he'd seen that clear as day. But, oh hell, his damned inner voice had chosen just that moment to tell him the PLAN. That big, god-damned, stupid, insane plan.

But it wasn't even so much that that had knocked him on his mental ass, not really, because at the very same time his inner voice was chattering merrily away, the realization had hit him. Smacked him right up-side the head with a shovel. Whomped him but good, and all he could do while he was reeling from the blow was stupidly kiss Blue's forehead and practically stumble away from her in his haste to make sense of what he was feeling.

He'd scared himself. Yeah, he'd admit it. Big, tough, ex Army Ranger had just about pissed his pants when the realization hit him that Blue was the one woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

Jesus, did it always happen this fast? He'd heard people proclaim love at first sight, but had never believed in it beyond being the stuff of women's romance novels.

"But this isn't first sight, and you've been drooling over her for years. Admit it."

Okay, yeah. That was the truth.

"What are you scared of?"

John furtively gave Blue a glance over his shoulder. She was silently hefting chunks of wood off the tailgate and piling them with careful, exacting precision into the small shelter built onto the back corner of the house. Leaning against the truck, he watched her openly now, a sudden calmness beginning to settle over him. Okay, maybe not totally calm, but better.

"She's probably going to be skittish. But that's where the PLAN comes in. You can do this, Johnny. You can DO this. HOO-AH!"

"Hoo-ah." John murmured, then had to turn away to hide a grin as Blue returned for another arm-load of wood.

One moment Blue was leaning over the tailgate and lifting a chunk of wood, the next moment it was pulled out of her gloved hand, tossed haphazardly over John's shoulder, and then it was she that was being lifted. John picked her right up with ease and sat her onto the truck's lowered tailgate.

And then he kissed her.

Not a peck on the forehead. Oh, hallelujah no. John leaned in, no hesitancy to his movement, just pure, male, take-what-he-wants going for it. And it just about knocked her boots off.

Standing to her side but pressed in against her, he angled his head and fit his mouth perfectly to hers. Taking full advantage of her lips being parted in surprise, his tongue plunged in, licking smoothly at hers, retreating, re-entering boldly. Before she knew it, her arms were up around his neck and she held on tight as she gave back as good as she was getting.

The kiss went on and on. Every time John's tongue swept against hers, jolts of arousal traveled down her body, swirling around her stomach before shooting down between her legs. Blue squeezed her thighs together, not sure whether she was trying to heighten the feeling, or contain it.

At some unknown point he must have taken his leather work gloves off, because when his hand traveled from it's resting place on her hip to burrow under her coat, then her sweater underneath, continuing on until his fingertips reached the sensitive skin of her back, she shivered delicately at the invading coolness of his skin.

He lifted his head when she shivered, and her eyelids fluttered open to his heated gaze.

"I've been wanting to do that again for... forever." The corner of his wide, sensuous mouth crooked up into a half smile.

"It hasn't even been twenty four hours yet." she felt like she needed to remind him, but the brush of his fingertips against her lower spine made any further rational thought difficult. Realizing his other hand had insinuated it's fingers snugly between her knees didn't help.

"Seemed like forever."

"Well, then, why didn't you?" Blue tilted her chin teasingly.

John chuckled, mirroring the chin tilt and looking down at her through his lashes. "I suppose I wasn't listening to my inner voice as well as I should."

"You have an inner voice?"

"Mm-hmmm." He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers.

"Well, I guess we all do." Blue closed her eyes as his lips traveled softly over her cheek.

"Mine's pretty vocal. But I find it's usually right."

She tilted her head as he nudged his nose against her neck. Feeling her shiver again, he raised his head and, sadly, removed his hands from their respective warm spots to settle on her shoulders. "Your cheeks are red." He brushed a finger against one of her cheeks. "You must be cold."

Blue lowered her lashes and turned her head until her lips feathered against the base of his thumb. "Actually, I'm very warm... now." she murmured, purposely speaking slow and soft.

His eyes flashed at her words and she felt a thrill, scary and exciting. This was completely foreign ground to her, such obvious flirting.

A movement from off to the side caught her attention, and both she and John turned to see Abe trotting from the shelter with a large-ish piece of wood in his mouth. The dog stopped mid-step, his head swinging towards them, looking comical as he realized he'd just been caught.

"Hey." John pointed to the woodpile. "Put that back."

Abe lowered his raised paw, his mouth still stretched around the firewood, lowering his head and keeping a careful eye on his master... and then took off like a shot.

"Hey!"

The confounded look on John's face when Abe completely ignored him had blue covering her mouth in a vain attempt to hold in her laughter. Turning at the sound, John smiled fleetingly before his expression morphed into one of dire seriousness.

"I see. You consider blatant disregard for authority amusing."

"Yes." Blue pressed her lips into a thin line, trying not to snicker. She lost the fight when Abe returned, tearing past at top speed, his teeth still clenching the wood.

John's firm expression didn't change, except for a raising of his eyebrows, his eyes trained on Blue even though he had to have known that Abe had run by him again, missing him by barely two feet.

"Hmm. Are you always this flippant?"

Blue gasped in mock indignation. "Me?! What about him?" She pointed towards the dog now running in tight circles behind John, as if taunting him.

John glanced over his shoulder, uttered a low, firm, "Abe.", made a quick hand gesture, and just like that, Abe stopped in his tracks, dropped the wood, and sat at attention.

John turned back to Blue, a self satisfied look settled onto his handsome face. Two seconds later he burst into laughter, making another gesture that released Abe from his pose. Blue watched, amused, as Abe trotted off with his prize.

"That is one happy dog." Blue gripped the edge of the tailgate and began to slide off, holding onto John's arm as he reached out to help her before her feet even hit the ground.

"Happiest I've ever seen him. I know how he feels." he murmured. Blue looked up and found his gaze focused intently on her.

He smiled and lifted a finger to her cheek. "Either you're cold or you're blushing." he observed, way too knowingly. "Come on, how about we get this load finished, head to my place, and..." He glanced at his watch. "Hey, you like football?"

John laughed at the face Blue made. "I'll take that as a no."

"Sorry." Blue shrugged, but smiled.

"Okay, no football for Sweet Baby..." He broke off at Blue's expression, this time one that wasn't teasing. He cleared his throat and started again. "Okay... no football for Ms. Blue Waters. How about we relax for a while and watch a movie? We've got plenty of time before dinner together, then heading over to Orley's for poker."

Blue's eyebrows shot up. "Poker?"

"Didn't I tell you? You've been drafted into the neighborhood poker game. All residents of our little area must play."

"All three of us." Blue said wryly.

"Yup." John smiled, and she swore she saw a hint of devil in it. "No getting out of it. No excuses. Do you play?"

"Um... no. I've never played in my life."

John's eyes narrowed. "Unfortunate. For you. I trust you have plenty of cash to bring with you tonight?"

"Plenty of..." Blue sputtered.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." John said quickly, holding up a hand. "We don't play for money. We switched to strip poker years ago. It'll be fun having a novice join the game... I was getting tired of seeing Orley in his skivvies."

The tip of John's finger gently pushed up on Blue's chin, helping her mouth close.

~~~~~

John held his cell phone to his ear, watching through the kitchen doorway so he could track Blue's movements as she wandered through his living room. They had just gotten through his door and had taken off their coats when his cell rang. Prepared to ignore it, he had instead excused himself when he saw it was Abby on the caller ID.

"Jackson Hubert Woods." Abby snickered softly before continuing. "Thirty-five. Lifelong resident of California. Born in the Bakersfield area, moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18 where he went to school to become a-"

"I'm not being a dick here, Abby. I'm really not. But what did you find on Woods?" John spoke quietly and watched Blue pause at the fireplace, touch the stonework lightly with her fingertips, then look up at the painting that was hanging there.

Abby 'tsked' over the line. "Patience, Grasshopper..." she said in a truly bad imitation accent. "And you shall be rewarded. Woods was in Los Angeles for two years before he moved to Modesto. But just before doing so, he was served with a restraining order, requested by his then girlfriend."

John grunted, but made himself smile at Blue as she glanced at him over her shoulder. Turning, he walked to the far end of the kitchen to stand just inside the mudroom. Blue wasn't even trying to eavesdrop, but he didn't want to take any chances that she might accidentally overhear something he said and become curious.

"He spent the next five years in Modesto," Abby continued. "where he apparently kept his nose clean. And then, we have another move and another restraining order, but this one was served after the move. It seems your Mr. Woods had followed his latest paramour after she had, probably wisely, made a break for it. Woods then got into some unwelcome mischief... public nuisance and a couple other piddling charges like that, all relating to the case... charges were dropped or not bad enough for anything to come of them... blah blah blah, he moved yet again and has been a good little boy ever since. Oh, and the details in both restraining orders are your mainstream, everyday kind of stuff. Nothing that really stands out and sets off any big, clanging alarms, although of course just the need for a thing like that is worrisome enough. But you know what I mean."

"Yeah." John leaned his back against the doorway, rubbing the bridge of his nose between finger and thumb. "Yeah." he sighed. "No getting caught with a knife in his girlfriend's shower while wearing a wig and a dress. No alarms like that."

Except knowing that wasn't really making him feel much better. John thanked Abby and finished the call, then returned to the living room, where Blue had seated herself at one end of the sofa. Abe's head was resting on her knee as he sat at her feet, begging for the petting that she was giving him.

John crossed the room to sit with her, trying to look more casual than he was feeling at the moment. She smiled at him, making his heart take a ridiculous leap.

"So you're the buyer. I didn't know."

John tore his eyes from her face to follow the point of her finger. Above the stone fireplace mantle hung a large, unique landscape painting, sign with a tiny, flowing script in the corner- 'Blue Waters'.

"Aunt Jean only said that someone saw it during that little local library showing that was still running it's course when I'd moved to Cali for school. She'd given me the impression that it was a tourist passing through. That was what, almost ten years ago? And it's been here all along." Blue said with a mild tone of wonderment, looking at him curiously.

John looked at the painting and remembered when he first saw it. He'd had to have it, barely paying attention to whatever price it'd been. He hadn't even been finished building the house, living out of a small camper while the work had been going on, and he'd already known exactly where he'd wanted it to hang.

And it had hung there in it's spot ever since, and every time he walked in the door, whether coming home after an assignment or just coming in from getting the mail from the box by the road, his eyes automatically landed on it. It was part of his home. It was part of him. And it was part of Blue.

"It's my very favorite of all your paintings." he downplayed- greatly- what he felt about Blue's creation. "So, how come you aren't rich and famous by now?" he teased, knowing instinctively to lighten the conversation from the deeper path his thoughts were taking. For now.

Blue laughed lightly, looking slightly self conscious with an adorable pink tinge coloring her cheeks.

"Thank you for the compliment, but I know my talents and limitations. I enjoy the 'doing', but teaching art is my strong point. It won't make me rich, but it makes me happy." She smiled, making John's breath catch in his chest at the sheer, simple, beauty of it.

Right at that moment was when John's biggest goal in life became not only to have Blue in his life, but to be the one to ensure her happiness.

"What about you?" She was asking, and he had to blink and breathe to bring himself out of his thoughts. "I'm guessing you are satisfied with what you do? What exactly is it that you do, by the way?" she asked curiously before he could answer her first question.

John cleared his throat and shrugged, settling himself comfortably into the sofa as he gathered the words, sticking to his usual answer when someone asked him that question. "Well, I guess you could say I tell people what to do." he chuckled. "I guide them, offering professional consultation for businesses having issues..." 

"...sic the good guys onto the bad guys... leap tall buildings in a single bound..."

Blue was smiling interestedly, and John had to bite his cheek to keep from saying 'shut up' to his faintly sarcastic inner voice, at the same time feeling like a bit of a heel for giving her the damned cover story about his job, even though it wasn't completely a lie, he did guide people and tell them what to do.

"Hey," he stretched his arm over the end of the sofa to grab the television remote off of the end table. "I promised you a movie, didn't I?"

Blue lifted a shoulder and cocked her head as if considering. "Mmmm, yeah, but I like talking to you. I don't need a movie to entertain me right now... I have you."

And oh, hell, but didn't those completely innocent words from her lips go in through his ears, past his brain, and straight down to his groin, where things were getting, um... tight... never mind that she was talking about talking. Besides, spending time just talking to Blue was right up there on his list also. Hell, if they just sat here staring stupidly at each other, he'd be okay with that too.

"All right." John flipped the remote blindly over his shoulder, getting the laugh he'd wanted out of Blue. "Conversation it is. So, Ms. Waters, seen any good movies lately?"

"As a matter of fact, I have..." Blue settled herself sideways onto the sofa, facing him, and he relaxed into the soft brush of her voice, knowing this was something he wanted to always come home to. 

Glancing over at the painting above the fireplace before returning his gaze to the woman next to him, John let himself dare to hope.

~~~~~

"Move your hand lower. That's it. Now curve your fingers around. Perfect. Wait for it... okay, now."

Blue gestured with her hand and immediately Abe bowed down, his snout resting on the floor between his front paws. His hindquarters remained raised up in the air.

"Oh my gosh!" Blue laughed, delighted with yet another successful trick.

"Remember, he'll hold position until you say he can quit or give the signal to stop. You remember that one, right?" John grinned, clearly enjoying himself as much as Blue.




Keeper Ch. 05



Blue nodded and motioned, watching as Abe raised himself up to sit at attention, waiting for praise and the next trick. "Good boy." she cooed, smoothing her palm over the dog's head.

"It's pretty much your basic sign language." John explained. "If you practice every day he's with you, you'll get it in no time. And he loves doing it. It's a big game for him, and he never turns down the attention."

"Will you show me some more?" Blue beamed up at him, and that moment he knew he would forever have trouble refusing her anything.

"Sure." he promised, stepping closer and taking her hand. The touch was unecessary, but there was no way he was going to pass up a reason to touch her in any way he could. "We can do a simple 'roll over'. Just move your hand like this..."

~~~~~

"Aw, no. NO! Son of a... beanpot!"

Blue glanced warily at the man perched on the very edge of the sofa cushion, somehow magically transformed into an exciteable little boy after only ten minutes of televised football.

She cleared her throat delicately. "Son of a beanpot?"

John's attention left the TV screen and slid ruefully her way. "I'm, ah, trying to quit swearing." Shrugging, he shook his head. "It was a New Year's resolution." He looked sidelong at her. "So, I'm going to guess that these last few minutes haven't done anything to help you suddenly discover a deeply buried prediliction for the great sport of American Football?"

There was a teasingly hopeful quality to his voice that made Blue grin. "Nope. Sorry."

"Hell, don't be sorry." John pressed the remote to turn off the television.

"Oh, but wasn't that an important game? Really, you don't have to turn it off on my account."

"Trust me, your company ranks way above football." Holding both hands out, palms up, John looked up to the ceiling as if he were considering something of utmost importance. "Let's see now. Football..." One upturned palm rose. "Blue..." The palm lowered and the other hand rose higher. "Football... Blue..." The 'scale' swung highly in Blue's favor and John turned his head to wink at her. "No contest."

Suddenly his smile faded. His eyes held hers and he shifted from his position to lean towards her. Reaching over to pick up her hand, he let his thumb brush over the inside of her wrist, sending a tingle up her arm.

"Blue, I..."

A metallic 'ding' from a timer came from the kitchen, barely one second before Blue's cell phone began to jingle from her pocket. John stopped mid sentence, sliding his fingers from hers.



Keeper Ch. 06



January 1

~5:50 P.M.~

"Pizza's done." John said absently as the kitchen timer went off at the same time Blue's cell phone rang. He stood, looking down at her as she fumbled the tiny phone from her pocket. "Do you know who it is?" he asked when she hesitated with her phone in her hand, thinking about the odd calls and texts she had been receiving. 

"It's Detective Banks." she murmured before pressing the answer button and holding the phone to her ear.

John watched her warily for another second as she answered, then went into the kitchen to make sure their dinner wasn't burning.

As he slipped on the oven mitt and pulled the hot pan out of the oven, he frowned. It wasn't nearly the type of dinner he wanted to treat Blue to, certainly not showing off any of his cooking skills, but it would have to do. They had already discovered that neither of them had much in the way of food, considering they were both leaving the next day. They'd both already rid themselves of anything that was going to spoil. And when the question of going out to eat had been raised, Blue had voted for staying put and John had wholeheartedly agreed, and so John had pulled a frozen pizza from the freezer.

He could hear the murmur of her voice coming from the living room as she talked to Detective Banks. Of course he would provide her with the same privacy that she had to him when he was on his phone earlier. Not that he wasn't itching to know everything that was being said. He concentrated- hard- on getting the pizza dished onto the plates he'd pulled from the cupboard, a bottle of wine and two glasses ready, and two tapered candles stuck into holders.

Since he'd planned to set the seldom used dining room table for their meal, he had to leave the kitchen to carry the items out and past where Blue was standing and still talking. She didn't turn away from him as she talked, like someone wanting to keep their conversation private would have.

On his second trip from the kitchen to dining area, Blue was ending her call and setting her cell phone on an end table near the couch. John raised a brow, indicating his curiosity.

She crossed her arms-and damn but he loved when she did that because it plumped up her already generous breasts underneath the soft looking sweater she had on and had the power to distract him from whatever it was that was going on at the moment, and Jesus, if she did that without the sweater...

He may have been distracted by her chest, but she was distracted by the table, judging by the smile on her face and the glow in her eyes as she watched him light the candles.

"John, you didn't have to do this." She laughed softly. "But I like it. Pizza and wine by candle light."

She moved to where he was standing by the chair he had pulled out for her. Instead of sitting, she surprised him by slipping her hands around his waist and tilting her face up to his. He felt her breasts brush upward against his torso as she raised herself up on her toes, her intention perfectly clear. It was an invitation he wasn't about to turn down. Obliging, he bent his head and leaned into the soft kiss that was waiting for him.

"I guess I'm a bit short for this." she whispered, smiling against his lips. He straightened to his full height and looked down at her through his eyelashes.

"I'm not complaining. But we could get you a box to stand on." he teased.

Blue sat down and watched, bemused, as John gallantly poured the wine.

"I've never had pizza by candle light." she told him as he took the chair opposite hers. "Come to think of it... I don't think I've had any dinner by candle light."

"Seriously?" John was somewhat taken aback by this, but thinking it could work to his favor. "Well obviously the past men in your life were severely lacking." He was only half kidding. Really though, what kind of idiots were they that they didn't treat this woman to something so simple yet elemental to romance as a candle lit dinner?

Blue blushed at his comment, looking everywhere but at him. She looked uncomfortable with his teasing, and he began to wish he hadn't said anything, until she spoke.

"Detective Banks... you know, the phone call just now?" 

John nodded and began on his slice of pizza, silently encouraging her to continue.

"She said she doesn't think the tampering of my car has anything to do with Jackson... um, my ex... or the strange texts and calls I've been getting. The police are following a different lead. It seems one of the other women who's car was broken into has a jealous boyfriend, who was at Cuddy's with her last night, and they were heard arguing about his supposed cheating. He was witnessed stomping out, in a rage, without her when she tried to make him jealous by threatening to leave to go see an ex boyfriend... well, they think he was the one who disabled the vehicles. He wanted to keep her from leaving. Anyway, this guy disappeared. They're looking for him."

John glanced up from his meal. "Why'd he damage more than just this woman's car? Were there any witnesses?" He couldn't help asking. There was just something that didn't set right with him about it.

Blue took a sip of her wine and shrugged as she set the glass down. "Throwing suspicion off of himself by vandalizing random cars along with his girlfriend's? I don't know. Detective Banks didn't tell me much else. Except... though she doesn't think it's enough now for official police involvement, she suggested that I should keep a log of any new texts or calls that worry me, and call her personally if I need to. If my 'situation escalates', she said."

John was quiet for a long moment, staring down at his plate. Blue was about to ask him if he was no longer hungry when he looked up at her, his eyes reflecting the flame of the candle nearest him.

"This Jackson guy. Is that who was on the phone last night at Cuddy's, when I found you in the hallway? You were upset by a phone call."

Blue lifted a shoulder, her turn to look down at her plate, until he reached across the table and rested the tips of his fingers on the hand she had lying there. 

"Yes, that was Jackson. He... I guess he was drunk. He was just... angry. It was really nothing." She slipped her hand from beneath his fingers, instantly regretting it but not willing to put it back.

"Drunk and angry." John said the words condemningly. "Was he often drunk and angry?"

Blue looked up, a little bit startled at John's tone, but his expression was carefully blank. "No, it wasn't a usual thing. But I've learned that when he is, it's a bad combination for him."

John's eyes narrowed. His jaw clenched. Definitely no longer carefully blank. "Has he ever hurt you?"

"No, no. He had never once raised a hand to me. He's... not the hitting type..." Blue trailed off weakly. John's expression told her he didn't completely believe her.

But it was true, Jackson never had hit her. There was the tell-tale bruising on her upper arms for a while, after he had grabbed her and held on too tightly when she had told him she didn't want to see him any longer. He hadn't really hurt her. But then there was the words he had spoken. Words that, yes, did sting.

"Blue?"

She realized she had been just sitting there, staring blankly at John's chest. Avoiding his eyes and his questions.

"Look, it doesn't matter. He cheated on me and I caught him and after I listened to his 'excuses', I told him it was over. In fact, it gave me an opportunity to end it, because I had been thinking of doing so already, even before the infidelity. I was surprised he wanted to stay together anyhow, considering some of the things he said about... well, it just wasn't working out." She looked away as if embarrassed that she had said that much, then back at John with a raised chin and tightly shut lips.

After a moment, her face relaxed and she picked up her wine glass. "So, what time is this poker game?"

John took the change of subject, if reluctantly. He raised his own glass and lightly touched the rim to hers. "We've got an hour. Anxious?"

"To lose?" Blue laughed. "No. Not particularly anxious to see Orley in his underwear, either." A sudden devilish urge came over her, and she held her glass to her lips. "Now, you, on the other hand... say, if I were to get lucky and win a hand or two against you..."

"Well, I'll tell you, darlin'..." John drawled, holding her gaze. "That would be lucky for you. 'Cause I'm not wearin' any."

Blue choked on the sip of wine she had just taken, while John leaned back in his chair with a raised brow and a smile. 

~~~~~

"What kind of music do you like to listen to?" John raised his voice so Blue could hear him from the kitchen.

She looped the damp dish towel over the bar on the wall next to the sink, the last of the dishes now dried, something she had insisted on doing as John washed them. While they worked they talked casually, comfortably, and as she was finishing, he had gone into the living area. Blue watched him now from the doorway as he stood in front of an impressive stereo system.

"All kinds, really." she answered.

"Gangsta rap?"

"Well... no. Not that so much."

"Eighties hair bands?"

Blue laughed, loving the boyish sparkle in his eyes as he looked over his shoulder at her. "Um. No. Not that either."

"Aquacrunk?"

"You're making that up-"

"Gregorian chant?"

"Yes, sometimes."

"Kabuk- what?"

She laughed again as she walked closer to stand at his side. "I've been known to listen to Gregorian chants. Depends on the mood I'm in, but you never know what kind of music will go best with a painting or other type of art project I'm working on." She shrugged, amused by the look on his face. "I like much of the contemporary stuff that's out there now. I like Nineties Alternative. All kinds of rock. Some classical. Symphonic. Psychedelic sixties. A bit of country. A bit of folk. A bit of metal. A bit of-"

John held up his hand. "I get it, I get it." he surrendered jovially. "Sweet Baby Blue Waters is a woman of diverse musical tastes. I like that." He turned back to the stereo, missing the purse of her lips at hearing him use her full name. Or perhaps he'd meant to miss it.

She watched as he flipped through some musical selections. "What kind of music do you like?" she asked, just before the soft strains of a country love song flowed around them. She recognized it as the song that had been playing in his truck, just the night before, when they had kissed. Her heart gave a thump at the thought that he had remembered and chosen it purposely.

He turned and held her gaze for a moment before taking her hand. "I like music that will let me do this-" he answered, guiding her to the middle of the room and pulling her close. Holding her hand against his chest, his other hand found a home at the small of her back, and he began to lead her into a slow sway, moving gracefully along with the music. "Mmm... let's see." he murmured. "I like modern country. Classic country too, if I'm in the right mood." He spoke quietly above her head, and she felt his breath stir the hair along her forehead, as if his mouth was nearly close enough to kiss her there. "Classic rock, definitely. That's a staple. Oh, and Springsteen."

"Springsteen isn't a type of music." Blue said to the small open v of his shirt, where she could actually see the faint beat of his heart at the base of his neck. Crazily, she wanted to touch the tip of her tongue there. The skin, in that little dipped section between his collar bones, looked so warm and smooth and...

"Lady," John rumbled, making his Adam's apple jump, and of course she noticed that because it was right above that lick-able spot, a signature of manliness so close in proximity to a spot that had a vulnerability to it. "The Boss is a musical genre all his own."

She wanted to giggle. Oh, good gravy, she was reverting to a giggling teenager around him...

The music swelled on an upbeat and he swung them into a turn. The movement caused his hard thigh to nudge slightly between hers, and he took that opportunity to bring her closer, the large, warm hand at her back gently snugging her against him. Her giggle turned to a soft gasp that stuck in her throat. No, definitely not a teenager. Woman. All woman. 

They moved together silently until the song ended, and when the music switched seamlessly to another slow tune, John released her hand to settle both of his at the back of her waist. Immediately she raised her arms to curl them over his wide shoulders and around his neck. The action made her body fit even closer to his. John's breath rushed out as her soft, generous breasts pillowed firmly against his torso. Blue sucked in a breath as she felt his hardness against her stomach. He was aroused, and completely unashamed of it.

The thought of pulling away only briefly crossed her mind, and even then she ignored it. Even so, John's hands moved... one to the upper curve of her buttocks, the other slipping up and underneath her soft sweater to sear the skin of her back with it's warmth... fingers spreading and palms flattening to hold her, as if he was afraid she was going to move away.

"No coats."

At the sound of his words, Blue finally looked up from the dark, checked flannel material of his shirt. His head was bent towards hers, the topaz color of his eyes glowing like fire. She knew what he meant. Didn't she, just that afternoon, wish there were no heavy layers of their winter coats between them? Swinging her gently still in time to the music, his eyes closed briefly as the movement made his hips push and brush closer. 

Blue nodded in silent agreement about the coats. Words didn't seem necessary. Turning her head, she settled her cheek against his chest. That seemed necessary. She could hear his heart beating, his breath entering and exiting his lungs. When he spoke again a moment later, she heard his voice rumble beneath her ear, even though it was in reality only a breath of a whisper.

"You're so soft."

His fingertips made exploratory little circles on the skin of her back, palms still flat.

If she was soft, he was just the opposite. Hard plains and slopes of muscle, in addition to the obvious erection against her belly. Blue felt a rush of sensation between her thighs as she let her mind wander, the slick wetness telling her that her body was ready for what John was definitely ready for.

Opposites, yes. Soft and hard. But fitting. Complementary. So perfectly. How would they fit together if yet another barrier of clothing was gone? If they were skin to skin, warmth against warmth, soft and hard...

They moved slowly through two more songs, traversing at a snail's pace around John's living room. He kept them pressed together seamlessly. All the while she was aware of his arousal branding itself against her stomach, though he made no demands on her other than keeping her close.

The music stopped. So did they. He only held her, and she could feel his breath flutter the hair at the top of her head, hear and feel the heavy thud of his heart. She'd had her eyes closed for several minutes now, and was reluctant to open them.

"God Almighty, Blue... I want you so much, baby." he breathed.

Blue shifted and leaned her upper body back to look up at him, the movement drawing a low grunt from his throat as her belly pressed tighter into his groin. Instantly she was concerned about his comfort.

"Sorry..." she began, pushing her hands against his rock solid chest so she could move away from him, give him room.

Hands on the upper slopes of her hips, he brought her right back. "This isn't a complaint." he growled. He searched her eyes, looking for any sign that she was offended. Finding nothing of the sort, his hands slid down her buttocks to grab her rounded cheeks and lift, at the same moment his mouth took hers.

Blue found herself on her toes, her arms back up around his neck, wound tightly. Several long, breath stealing moment later, John lifted his head, tilting it back to look at the ceiling.

"Ohhhhh... hell." He puffed out a sharp breath, drew a cleansing one in, let that one out. "Orley."

"I'm not Orley, I'm Blue. I'm surprised you can't tell the difference." she joked, purposely, trying to break the spell that had her still throbbing between her thighs.

He barked out a laugh and released her, his fingers lingering with hers before reluctantly letting her go entirely. "Sweet Baby, if I ever get you and that old coot mixed up, I'm in deep trouble." Settling his hands on her shoulders, he turned her and marched her to the door. Abe came running when he whistled a short, sharp note, and pranced impatiently while John helped Blue on with her coat. "We're already five minutes late, but how about we walk over?" He smiled wryly. "We'll walk slow. The cold air will do me good. Can't have Orley see me hobbling bowlegged, he'd never let me live it down."

Blue blushed hotly as she buttoned up, watching John shrug into his own coat. "Maybe the cold will... um... help me too." she found herself admitting softly.

That stopped him. He stared at her, one arm in his coat sleeve, one out, and then he was reaching for her again, only to be stopped by the overly happy dog that jumped between them.

"All right, all right, we're going." he groused, but grinned and swung open the door, letting a blast of cold winter air in. 

His hand at her back, he led her outside and down the porch steps. The night was silent and still, the cloudless sky sparkling with brilliant stars. As they turned onto the road toward Orley Green's house, Blue looked up at her companion.

"I'm not so sure about this. Are you sure you want me along? I really don't know how to play poker, I've never done it before. Not even those on-line games."

"That's okay. I don't mind if you lose."

Blue flipped a hand toward him and smacked his shoulder. He retaliated by catching hold of her hand and tucking it into the crook of his arm. A retaliation she could live with, she decided.

"Be prepared to lose your shirt, Ms. Waters. And your shoes. And then your pants. Ooooh... and I can't wait for when you lose your bra..."

Blue's laugh trilled into the night air. "You just don't quit, do you?"

"Never." John murmured, tightening his arm on hers. "Quitting isn't part of the plan."

~~~~~

~8:20 pm~

Keeping her face oh-so-carefully blank, Blue glanced around the worn, wobbly card table at the two men seated with her. Orley stared back at her, his thin lips moving around the chewed-on cigar in his mouth as his yellowish teeth worked the unlit stogy. The only expression on the old man's deeply creased and lined face was one of faint daring. So did that mean he had a good hand, or was he bluffing?

Attempting to size him up while still appearing casual, Blue lifted the cigar she held in her own hand and placed the end into her mouth. A second later she was removing it and poking her tongue over her lips, barely resisting the urge to spit out the taste. She glanced up just in time to catch John quickly arrange his expression from amusement to casual disinterest, his own cigar stuck into the corner of his mouth.

Tradition. That's what she was told it was. Tradition to have the cigars during this neighborhood poker game. And the hats? That too. Of course Orley's ratty old brown felt pork-pie hat was something that was always on his head. It was the same one, Blue was nearly positive, that she had seen him wear back when she was a kid. Judging by the condition of it, he probably bathed and slept with it on.

John had a hat too. He had insisted on detouring by his house on the way to Orley's, and had run in and come quickly back out, carrying a black Stetson cowboy hat and a plastic sack full of something unknown. He sat at the left hand corner of the rickety table from her now, his hat settled firmly on his head, the brim pulled low to shadow over his eyes and damn, but he looked amazingly sexy.




Keeper Ch. 06



When he had put it on, Blue had teased him about his latent cowboy tendencies coming to the fore, and he had only nodded, touched a finger to the black brim, and drawled "Ma'am."... and that was that. Blue secretly knew she was now in for some brand new cowboy fantasies.

Her own hat was an old, fringe-edged straw thing that had seen better days. When she had sat herself down at the game table, Orley had plopped it onto her head, proclaiming gruffly that it was the one that Jean had always claimed on poker night. Then he had briefly taken off his own hat, held it to his chest, and had dedicated the night's game to Jean's memory.

The third tradition was what John had brought with him in the plastic sack. Candies. Several flavors of hard candies now sat in the pot at the center of the table, as well as in front of each of them. Instead of playing strip poker, as John had teased her about, or playing for money, the betting was done with various flavors of jewel colored hard candies.

Blue had started out slow, often having to ask the order of winning hands, or if cherry drops were worth more than root beer barrels and peppermints, but she caught on fairly quickly. Now, two hours into the game, she studied the cards in her hand, holding them possessively close. Peeking up through the straw fringe of her hat, she met John's steady gaze as he watched her from beneath the brim of his own hat.

Or rather, she almost met his gaze. His line of sight was focused a bit too low for that, zoned in on her chest as it was. Blue hid a smile, and sat up straighter, purposely moving the cards in her hand away from her body, giving him a clearer view.

When they had arrived, he was still teasing her about her lack of poker knowledge. As they started the game, he was kind enough to help her through the first few hands, until gradually she could play on her own. And then, the further they had gotten into the game, the more ruthless John had become.

It was obvious that John Keeper played to win, and was not at all ashamed to use teasingly distracting tactics on her. Whenever Blue lost a hand he would catch her eye, give her a scorchingly heated look, and silently mouth the words for whichever article of clothing she would have just had to forfeit if they were actually playing strip poker.

He was purposely driving her to distraction. And she was going to get him back.

While Orley 'harrumphed' and made his bet, Blue arranged her face into a frown and looked again at her cards as if she were unsure of her next move. In her hand was three fours. Among the cards laid on the table was the fourth. Four of a kind.

She flicked a look up at John, and yep, his attention was right where she was hoping it would still be. Blue's chest expanded as she took a deep, deep breath to let out in a sigh. Oh yes, John definitely enjoyed that. Hesitantly she pushed several hard candies into the pot.

"Um... okay..." She 'indecisively' held onto the candies, giggled a little... oops, was the giggle too much? Too obvious? Probably so, better reign back on that... then sighed again and let go of the candy to make her bet a real one. Leaning back in her chair, she looked up at John with wide eyes and shrugged her shoulders, making sure the movement helped bring his attention back to her chest. "Your turn." She smiled angelically.

John blinked. And stared. Orley had to clear his throat to get the game rolling again.

Blue won two more hands before John seemed to catch on. He didn't seem to mind, though. Especially when she mouthed "Your shirt." and "Your pants.", copying his earlier teasing. His grin absolutely sizzled. But since he had figured out what she was doing, Blue decided to up the ante.

Abe brushed against her leg as he moved from beneath his spot under the table that he had claimed for most of the game. Wandering off in search of other amusement, his tail thumped against Blue's calf, giving her an idea. Before she thought about it too much and lost her nerve, she carefully toed off her shoe.

John picked up a red colored candy from the pot that Orley had just added to and held it between finger and thumb. "Orley," he intoned warningly, narrowing his eyes. "You betting cough drops again?"

Orley pursed his thin lips, ducking his head to peer myopically at the red drop that John held. "Well, I'll be damned. How'd that 'un get in there?" he asked innocently.

John shook his head and raised a brow. This wasn't the first time, and wouldn't be the last. It had become somewhat a game within the game for Orley to try to sneak in a cough drop at least once every game. He probably would be disappointed if John didn't catch it. And John would be disappointed if the old man didn't try it.

Hiding a grin, John set the cough drop to the side and waited while Orley chose the proper candy to bet with, sliding Blue a glance to see if she was giving away whether or not she had drawn a good hand. Okay, so he was giving her chest a glance first and foremost.

John had always had a thing for breasts. He liked everything about them, and he liked doing everything to them. He liked touching them. He liked squeezing them. He liked nuzzling, stroking, tasting, pinching, soothing, licking, suckling...

"Are ya gonna bet or what? I ain't gettin' any younger, here." Orley groused.

"Hold your water, old man." John grumbled back. He tore his attention away from Blue's absolutely mouth watering assets- because he knew that she had been trying to use them to get the upper hand, and while he wasn't embarrassed to admit it had worked for a short while, he'd be a sucker to let it keep happening. 

Fanning his cards in one hand, he decided he had a fair chance at winning this one, if he was careful and watchful. Stacking his bet of three butter scotches and a lemon drop, he made sure he avoided even the vicinity of Blue's chest with his eyes. He'd be alright, he was sure, if he just concentrated.

John's leg jerked, and he nearly dropped the candies when he felt something softly nudge his ankle. It couldn't be Abe, he had just seen the dog vacate his favorite under-the-table spot a few moments ago... and oh, hell, no it surely wasn't Abe, because Abe wouldn't be sliding slowly up his shin like that...

Blue was looking at her cards, innocent as can be. But she had shifted in her chair and was now turned toward him more than she had been, and oh yes... that was definitely her toes that brushed down the side of his calf from his knee, her sock making a soft rasping sound as her foot moved against the denim of his jeans. Or maybe he was imagining the sound, as quiet as it most likely was. Just as his breathing probably wasn't as suddenly loud and his heartbeat wasn't as audible to anyone else as it was to his own inner ears. 

By the time the betting was done, John certainly didn't feel like a loser, even though Orley had one the hand. How could a man consider himself a loser when Blue's foot was settled between his knees, her heel resting on the edge of the chair while the ball of her foot methodically pressed and massaged the inside of his thigh?

He pulled the brim of his hat down even lower and resisted the urge to shift his hips forward in the chair. By her position, he guessed she was stretched to her limit, and could reach no further without sliding practically under the table. His cock was hard as stone now, throbbing and straining against his fly, yearning for just one little stroke and press of that little foot. How would Blue react if he did shift forward enough, cradling his erection into the curve of her arch? He nearly groaned out loud at the thought. 

The next two hands were torture. Or near Heaven. Hell, just a few more inches...

Blue uttered a tiny, surprised squeak when John suddenly grabbed her foot, his long fingers wrapping firmly around and gripping tight. Her eyes widened when she read his mind, sure that he was going to yank her closer, which would pull her out of her chair. Her bottom was already scooted to the edge as far as she could safely go.

His eyes sparked with devilishness. She quickly shook her head no. He grinned and began pulling. She gripped the arms of her chair and held on.

"You're evil. Evil!" Blue hissed nearly soundlessly, glancing quickly at Orley to make sure he was focused on his cards, thankful for the moment that her friend was increasingly hard of hearing and stubbornly refused to wear his hearing aid most of the time.

"And you are bad." John returned in a whisper. Suddenly his grin turned even more devilish.

Blue covered for a full body quiver as the tip of John's finger traced a line over the bottom of her foot from heel to toe with his fingertip by reaching for the cards that Orley was in the process of dealing. When he wouldn't allow her to pull her foot off from his thigh, she shot him the best scathing look she could muster, but he only picked up his cards with his free hand, ignoring the arrows.

She needn't have worried about being tickled again though. His touch became firmer, and this thumb began a rhythmic massage that continued on through the poker hand. Blue pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, biting to hold back a moan of sheer pleasure. Who knew a thumb pressing and pushing against the sole of a foot could be such an erotic experience? Apparently John was well versed in the matter, because he seemed to know all the key pressure points for maximum results.

Blue barely remembered what cards she was betting on and why. The breadth of John's large hand covered the front of her foot, warming her skin through her sock, and that busy, talented thumb made that warmth travel up her limb to settle and heat between her thighs.

Feeling John's eyes on her, she looked up. He had pulled the brim of his had down about as far as it could go, and still she could see his eyes locked onto her mouth. She realized that at some point she had parted her lips. Her mouth suddenly feeling dry as a bone, she poked her tongue out to wet her lips, and watched as his own wide, sensuous mouth twitched in reaction. His thumb paused it's massage on the ball of her foot, then resumed to slip up and nestle against a formerly unknown ecstatically sensitive spot between her toes, which shot an electric charge up her calf, her thigh...

"HAH!"

Jumping nearly out of her skin, Blue's foot jerked reflexively off of it's perch on John's muscled thigh at Orley's triumphant shout. Her old neighbor was raking the large pile of betting candies towards him with both gnarled, liver spotted hands. 

"Yer gonna have to come play with us all the time, Blue-girl." Orley cackled. "Yer the best defense against Johnny, here. I ain't won this big in a coon's age!"

Blue laughed, blushing. John tipped his hat back on his head and grinned as he tossed the last two of his candies onto Orley's winning pile.

"I'd be glad to, Orley." Blue conceded. "But just you wait. I'll brush up on my strategies and then I'll be the big winner."

"Blue-girl," Orley nodded, using the name he'd been calling her since she was a girl. "You do that. I'd rather lose to you than this ugly puss here." Orley cocked a thumb at John and cackled once more.

"I'm not a kid." John proclaimed in lofty pretense, ignoring the 'ugly' part. He stood when Orley did, pushing his chair back and leaning towards Orley when the other man wobbled slightly upon rising. "Hey, Orley, you need anything before I take off tomorrow? I'm going to be gone longer than usual this time, don't forget."

Orley waved him away and scowled, but Blue detected an underlying fondness. "Eh. Don't need nothin'. Just you behave yourself over there, you remember that. Russia. Huh." He shook his head.

The men shook hands and patted each other on the shoulder. Blue stepped away to put on her coat, letting them have a moment to talk to one another in low murmurs. She knew that John had wanted to talk to Orley about a long overdue doctor's appointment that he had convinced the recalcitrant older man to go in for, and was willing to bet that Orley was reluctant to talk about it in front of her. It was just the way he was.

"I'll walk you home, Blue." John called out to her, taking the sack of candies that Orley had divided up even after winning them all.

"Blue-girl, you have a safe trip tomorrow too." Orley admonished.

"I will, and I'll be seeing you in about a week." she reminded her neighbor.

John shrugged into his coat and motioned for Abe to join them. "I'll bring Abe by tomorrow before I head to the airport."

"Fine, fine." Orley waved his hands in a shoo-ing motion. "Now get outta here, and close the damn door, yer lettin' all the cold air in."

~~~~~

"Come in."

"You sure? Aren't you tired, baby? It's been a long day."

John meant that in the best of ways. It had been a long day spent with Blue, her company more than he could have hoped for. Blue nodded, the movement making the side of her nose brush against his. She stood on the first step of her front porch, giving her enough height so he hadn't had to lean down so far, the last few minutes filled with slow, sweet kisses as a light dusting of snow fell around them in the darkness. He smiled against the coolness of her cheek.

"Was that a yes, you're sure, yes, you're tired, or yes, it's been a long day?" A warmth spread through his chest when she tightened her arms around his neck and nuzzled near his ear, laughing lightly.

"Yes."

They didn't move, except to align their mouths for more kisses. 

"I have hot chocolate." she murmured when he released her mouth enough to allow speaking.

"Temptress."

Blue tipped her head back to laugh at the night sky. He leaned in to lick at the snowflake that landed on her chin, even though it had quickly melted before his tongue reached for it.

"Come in."



Keeper Ch. 07



January 2

~3:22 AM~

Three twenty two. Jeez, it was three twenty two in the damned morning.

Blue blinked owlishly at the glowing light of the clock at her bedside, wondering what it was that had caused her to wake. The answer to her question came in the form of a low growl. Abe lay at one corner of her bed, head up, ears perked, and tense. The quietly rumbling noise made the hairs on Blue's arms stand up.

Sitting up in bed, she held the covers in a fist against her chest, her eyes darting around the darkened third floor room. Seconds ticked by. Abe seemed to relax, enough so that he laid his head down on his paws and sighed the way dogs sometimes do before falling asleep.

"Hey." Blue whispered. "You can't just do that and drop it. What were you growling at?"

Abe rolled over for a tummy rub.

Slipping her legs out from underneath the warmth of the heavy covers, Blue blindly felt for her favorite fuzzy socks with her toes. Finding them beside the bed where one usually kept slippers, she slipped them on, gave Abe a look that was ignored, and padded softly to the window.

Peeking outside showed her that it had stopped snowing, but a snowplow had come by at some point and had cleared the road in front of the house. Maybe that was what had caused Abe to growl? Leaning close enough for her breath to fog the cold glass, Blue peered from side to side down onto the snow covered lawn as far as she could see. Nothing moved. A quiet, muffled stillness that often came with a blanket of snow and late night-early morning hours had settled in. 

"Well." Blue whispered still, making Abe's ears flick back and forth. "No more growling at snow plows at three in the morning, okay?" 

A flip of a tail was the only response. Blue walked toward the bed, hoping the warmth was still trapped under the blankets. But instead of climbing in, she surprised herself by grabbing the robe that was hanging over the back of her overstuffed chair and continuing on to the stair well.

The old wooden stairs creaked in their usual spots, the only sound as she descended. Pausing in the hallway on the second floor in front of Aunt Jean's bedroom, she tilted her head and held her breath to listen. There was nothing to hear but the usual, familiar sounds that one often takes for granted until forced to hear them. Before she continued on, the soft clicking of Abe's nails on the stairs told her that the dog had decided to join her. Abe paused in the darkened hallway and looked up at her expectantly.

If there was anything hinky going on, the dog would be telling her, Blue was sure. Even so, she continued on to the next stairwell and down to the first floor. She could go back to bed, or she could keep going on downstairs. Judging by the restlessness now flowing through her body, she knew she would have a tough time getting back to sleep. 

Before she took the next step down, she paused. Standing at the top of the stairwell, her stomach quivered. She knew what she would find if she went down. Taking a deep breath to shore her nerves, smelling the faint musty scent of the ancient wallpaper due to her oddly sharpened senses, Blue moved out of the comforting glow of the little night light plugged into an outlet along the baseboard and stepped down into the dark stairwell.

By the time she reached the bottom, a faint, flickering light welcomed her, growing brighter as she moved on fuzzy socked feet toward the living room. Stopping at the entryway, she saw him. He was still asleep, the light from the muted television casting itself onto the form of his body with a soft, lazy strobe. Pressing a hand to her fluttery stomach, Blue took her time and looked her fill of the man stretched out on her sofa.

He was still here. She'd half expected him to have awakened. To have gone home sometime during the night. But there he was.

She had been half disappointed, half relieved when he hadn't pressed for sex after they had come inside. She'd invited him in, yes, although she had been somewhat bemused when he had suggested she go make that hot chocolate she had tempted him with while he scrolled through the TV listings to find a movie. 

They had snuggled on the couch, sipped at the frothy mugs of hot cocoa, and watched the movie that he had chosen, occasionally making quiet, companionable comments. It was wonderful.

She wasn't sure who had fallen asleep first, but she was willing to bet it had been her. He had brought her up close beside him for movie watching and soft, absentminded touches, and the next thing she knew, the movie was over and she was tucked snugly into his side, the solid chest under her cheek rising and falling regularly in his own deep sleep.

Though she'd tried not to wake him as she extricated herself from the warm, heavy arm around her shoulders, he had come awake enough to mumble something about how he should go home. She ignored that, and by the time she had brought a blanket to him, he had stretched his long legs out along the sofa and was sound asleep. She'd covered him and trudged drowsily up to her own bed, Abe following along after a moment of hesitant indecision about who to stay near.

John was still stretched out, one leg bent at the knee, the other straightened so that his foot hung over the arm of the sofa. He had snugged himself cozily against the back cushions, and had one arm flung above his head, the other hand resting on his hip bone. The blanket she had given him had slid off sometime during the night.

Realizing she was staring, she moved forward to lift the blanket off the floor. Her mind's intent was to re-cover him. Her eyes had other ideas. As she stood over him clutching the soft blanket, her gaze traveled from his face, his features still intensely masculine even when relaxed in slumber, to down over his torso. He had, at some point, unbuttoned the checked flannel shirt he wore to expose the snug white t-shirt underneath. Even in the dim light from the television, or perhaps because of the shadows the light created, she could see how the thin, well worn cotton material lovingly molded to the solid form of his chest and stomach.

Her eyes skimmed lower... and stopped. His hand rested, relaxed, thumb and fingers spread in just the right position on his groin to frame the very male bulge there. The snug fit of his jeans helped greatly, and Blue swallowed against the sudden watering of her mouth.

"Stop staring at the man's crotch." Blue mouthed to herself soundlessly.

She allowed herself one last appreciative glance, though. Thinking it a shame to cover up such a nice view, she lay the blanket as gently as she could over his legs and up to his waist. Her careful attempt at not waking him was for naught. When his hand closed over hers, her gaze flew up to his face to find his eyes, heavy lidded from sleep, trained on her.

His stare remained steady, trapping her, daring her, as his hand tugged gently on hers, bringing her palm flat onto his abdomen, edging under the blanket. When she didn't pull away, his half closed eyes glittered in the dim light. The large hand engulfing hers guided her fingers lower.

When her palm curved over the bulge of his cock, his eyes drifted closed. A low 'mmmm' rumbled up from deep within his chest. Blue settled onto the edge of the sofa at his hip. John's hand still lay across hers, but not insistently, only following along as she pressed and tested, rubbing her hand back and forth experimentally. All the while she watched his face, saw the corners of his mouth tighten, his jaw clench, his tongue dart out to wet his lips.

Inside his jeans his cock swelled and hardened, and she traced the impressive ridge with her fingers. Just as she was about to search out the zipper of his jeans, he moved her hand away, settling it on his thigh. John's chest heaved with a gust of breath and he opened his eyes, more awake now, to look up at the ceiling.

"Dear Diary." he murmured in an exaggeratedly wistful voice. "You'll never believe the awesome dream I had this morning..." He caught her eye and winked teasingly.

Blue wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh or just be confused that he seemed to want to stop when her own body was telling her go, go, go.

John rubbed his hands over his face and groaned. "Oh, hell. What time is it?" He grabbed onto her hand when she stood. "Uh-uh. Don't go away." His thumb brushed back and forth over the back of her hand.

"It's about three-thirty. Quarter to four, probably. You've got time to sleep a little longer. I was going to wake you around five." She had set her alarm to get John up in time to make his flight. Her own flight was later in the day.

Keeping hold of her hand, he leaned up on his elbow, looking drowsy and sexy as anything she'd ever seen. 

"Well, honey, what are you doing up at this hour? Something wrong?"

"Abe woke me. He was growling at the snow plow going by."

John suddenly appeared more awake, and swung his legs off the sofa, his feet flat to the floor. "He growled at a plow?" His brow creased and he looked to the dog curled up next to a chair across the room, halfway asleep. "No. That's not something that would alert him. You sure?"

"Well, no. I don't know." Blue shrugged and looked over her shoulder at Abe. 

"Abe?" John got the dog's attention. Abe lifted his head, licked his chops and gave his owner a dog smile, then settled his snout back down between his paws, not a care in the world. "All right." He rubbed his fingers over the dark stubble that had grown on his jaw since he'd last shaved, his now sharp gaze flicking to the nearest window. "If there was a problem right now, Abe would still be alerting." He spoke as if he were talking to himself.

Rising from the sofa and releasing her hand, John walked to the window and stood looking out into the darkness beyond. After a moment he turned, sat on the edge of the nearest chair, and began pulling on his boots.

"You're leaving?" 

"No, not yet. I'm going to take a look around. Just a look-see." He rose and she followed him to the entryway where his coat was hanging on a wall hook.

"But... it was probably just the plow." Blue fully admitted to herself that she was glad he was here, that he wasn't leaving yet, even though she thought going outside at quarter to four in the morning to check out what was basically a little dog grumble was an over-reaction.

John shrugged into his coat and slipped out the door, letting Abe follow when the dog nosed through to join him. Blue stood at the window for a minute and watched as man and dog stood silently for a moment, Abe sniffing the air, and then moved slowly out of site.

Unsure of what to do with herself at first, Blue then came to a decision and made her way on restless, fluffy socked feet to the kitchen. She could at least make some coffee...

Close to half an hour later, she stood at the old, battered but still reliable stove that Aunt Jean had used since way before Blue was born. "It's ugly, but it works. The damn thing's going to outlast even me", she'd said. Flipping a pancake to brown on the other side, Blue heard the front door open, and Abe's nails clicking softly on the linoleum flooring as the dog trotted into the kitchen 

"What are you doing?"

She glanced over her shoulder. John was standing in the wide entryway. She refrained from giving him her best 'well, duh' look before she turned her attention back to the pancake. "Making breakfast." she murmured, sliding the spatula under the flat, round circle and lifting it onto a teeteringly high stack of pancakes.

He was silent, and she didn't turn to look at him. Carefully, she dipped a ladle into the remaining batter in a bowl beside the griddle and poured the mix onto the hot, oiled surface. "Did you find anything out there?" she asked, staring at her handiwork. 

"No." He paused, then, "Blue, I don't want to fuck and run."

She dropped the ladle with a clatter, the rounded metal bowl of the spoon end making it bounce as it hit the floor. Turning, she found John still in the doorway, his hands shoved and fisted into the pockets of his jeans.

"Ex... excuse me?"

"Abe, no. Go sit." Blue followed John's eyes to see Abe stop just before licking the splatter of pancake mix on the floor.

"Are you telling Abe to sit, or me?" Blue raised her brows. Abe obeyed and backed off, lowering his haunches to sit.

"Why did you get up so early?"

"I told you. Abe woke me when he growled." She shook her head as if to clear it. "And... if you're trying to confuse me you're doing a bang-up job."

"I know. Sorry." He pulled his hands out of his pockets and leaned a shoulder against the dark-stained wood of the entryway. When he was done rubbing a hand over his face a sheepish smile appeared. "Sorry."

Blue shook her head and waved her hand dismissively in a gesture that said 'forget about it'. Grabbing a hand towel she knelt down to wipe up the splotches of batter from the worn linoleum. When she stood, he was right there, taking the ladle from her hand to set it on the counter top. When his hands were free he framed her face with his palms, forking his fingers into her hair. A second later his mouth was slanting over hers, taking and giving. Covetous and generous.

When she was properly breathless and giving back enthusiastically, he lifted his head, his own lungs getting a workout. Keeping her head tilted up, he remained leaned in close.

"You've gotta know I want you." He took a moment to swallow against his thickened voice. "And I'm thinking it's mutual." Blue nodded, dazed. "But not much more than twenty-four hours ago we established that you aren't the type to just jump into bed with someone-" When she opened her mouth to say... well, she wasn't sure what she was going to say, but he slid his thumb over her cheek to lay it over her lips, effectively hushing her. "Which is fine, and a trait that sits good with me. Real good. So then we spend an amazing day getting to know each other, and that's good too, but still it's only a day."

He took a breath, narrowing his eyes. "Fast forward to three thirty in the morning... I'm willing to bet that when Abe stopped alerting after he woke you, normally you would have gone back to sleep. Except you didn't. You got up and came down here... because maybe... you were needing. And now you've made an Eiffel Tower of pancakes, because you didn't know what else to do, because you're still needing." Clear topaz eyes bored into hers. "Now, if I'm way off base, please stop me now because I'm going to be real damned embarrassed-" Relief was plain on his face when she made no denial.

A thin, ribbon cloud of white, wispy smoke wafted between their faces, causing Blue to wrinkle her nose and rear back in surprise. Pulling away from John, she looked down at the stove beside them, alarmed to see pancake and cooking oil on the hot griddle smoking, seconds away from bursting into flame.

Quickly, she flipped the burner knob to the off position, then reached out to move the griddle onto an unused burner. A split second later she cried out, having forgotten that it was Aunt Jean's ancient relic of a griddle, the one that required an oven mitt to protect one's hand from the hot handle. With a loud clatter she dropped the pan immediately.

Just as quickly, John was there, pushing the griddle away with a towel and grabbing Blue's stinging hand.

"Jesus, Blue..." He pulled her toward the sink, holding her by the wrist. 

"I'm fine, I'm fine." she objected, yanking away from the stream of cool water that he had turned on and plunged her hand under. "I didn't get burned." she insisted, wetting a towel and holding it against her palm.

When he scowled skeptically, she held her hand up in front of his face, palm out.

"See? Fine. Just a little red. Won't even blister or anything." Blue shrugged carelessly. "I've been burned before, anyway. This is nothing. absolutely nothing. Okay? I'm fine."

She snapped her mouth shut on the last word, hearing her teeth click together. He stared at her, waiting to be sure she was done. When she began to lower her hand, he took hold of her wrist and brought her palm up to his lips, kissing the sensitized flesh softly.

"Are you?"

"What?"

"Are you really fine?"

Blue blinked and stared at the man before her. 

"I'm not going to fuck and run, Blue."

"You said that already. And you've also said you made a resolution not to swear. Looks like you didn't get very far with that."

"Why don't you like to be called Sweet Baby?"

It took a moment before Blue could respond with anything at all. "Am I having this conversation in the Twilight Zone?" She shook her head and made a move to turn away, but John stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Blue Waters, I'm going to court you."

The proclamation dumbfounded Blue nearly as much as the fuck and run announcement.

"Are you?" was all she could think to say. 'Court' her? How... how... old fashioned. 

"Mmm-hmm." John's lips had landed on her cheek and were busy working their way to her ear, so apparently they couldn't be bothered to move in actual response. Somehow, Blue found the strength to push against his chest, however weakly. He pulled back, but kept his hands on her shoulders, where his fingers were doing some sort of magical movements underneath the collar of her robe.

"I have a plan. When I get back from this trip, I want to take up where we're leaving off. I'd like to court you."

"A plan." Oh, still so articulate. But really, it was hard to think when his mouth was back against her skin, leaving little kisses along her neck under her ear, and his hands... sneaky hands... had pushed the robe off her shoulders without her realizing it. The tie at her waist, and the curve of her breasts kept the robe from falling, so she was still covered from robe to fuzzy socks, but the way he was looking at her made her legs tremble with arousal.

"A plan." he echoed, pulling back to look into her eyes. "I think you probably have some abandonment issues, and it's difficult for you to trust-" At her raised brows he laid his thumb over her lips. "I want to earn that trust. I'm going to earn it. So, I am not going to seduce you into sleeping with me this morning before we have to leave each other, even though I've a feeling it wouldn't be too difficult at this point to do so."

Torn between huffing at John's arrogant belief that seduction would be so easy, and the urge to beg him to please, just go ahead and take her, Blue chose to stay quiet and let him continue.

"You aren't the type for a one night stand, and that's not what I want anyhow. I want you to wait for me, and when I get back... well, that's the plan. If you can wait for me, I promise you, you won't be sorry." Not giving her a moment to respond, John's arms wound tightly around her. "In the meantime," he whispered into her hair, "Baby... I know you're needing... I can take care of that, if you'll let me." He lowered his body enough to wrap his arms around her hips, and when he stood he lifted her, holding her against his body. The moment she felt her feet leave the floor she put her arms around his neck, clutching his shoulders.

She knew she was no lightweight, but he'd lifted until her feet were dangling, and was holding her as if she was light as a feather. Should she protest? Did she want to? 

"John..."

"Hush." he mumbled, his face buried into her chest. He breathed heavily, hotly, between her breasts through the tank top uncovered by the partially open robe. Even through the material it was an exciting and heady feeling. "We don't need any more pancakes."

John nuzzled, and the room spun. Blue grasped John's head, fingers trying to find hold in his short hair, and realized the room wasn't spinning, but he was moving, headed toward the living room.




Keeper Ch. 07



A loud, jarring scrape echoed through the kitchen. John stopped, sidestepped the chair he had run into, and continued on his path, all without lifting his face from the pillow of her breasts. Fingers brushing over his hair, Blue looked down at the top of his head and smiled.

"John?"

"Hmm?"

"Where are we going?"

"Liffing woom." was what the muffled reply sounded like. "Ow." he added on in a mumble when his foot kicked the leg of another chair.

"John?"

"Mm-hmm?"

"Maybe I should drive?"

His laugh 'wuffed' into her cleavage, the heat warming her through the thin cotton tank. He raised his head and she saw his eyes sparkle with humor before darkening again with desire.

"I'm drivin' this time. You're just going to enjoy the ride. Don't you worry." he murmured as he bore her through the entryway and into the living room. "I'll get you there."

Blue's toes curled.

John stopped when they reached the sofa. One last dip of his head... a nuzzle with his nose into the soft valley of her breasts... and then he loosened his hold enough so that she slid slowly down the hard plane of his body. First her toes touched the old, worn-to-softness area rug, then the balls of her feet, and finally her heels, until she stood on her own.

When he stepped back, his hands lingered at the tie around her waist, fingers resting lightly resting on the loose knot. Looking earnestly into her eyes, he stayed very still. "What do you say, Blue... do I keep going? Do you trust me enough to make you feel good?" 

A nervous thread jittered through her body, blending with the waves of anticipation and growing desire. She wanted to question him about it. Just what exactly was he planning to do? But the words wouldn't rise past the tightening of her throat, and she was afraid her voice would have escaped with a high pitched squeak anyhow. It wasn't that she was afraid. She knew that. It was just that.. "Oh hell", she thought, using one of John's favorite phrases. "The past is the past, and now is now. If you don't reach out once in a while, you'll never catch anything good."

Moving John's hands away from the tie, Blue pulled on one end, making the knot slide loose. The robe parted. "What do you want me to do?"

Tongue darting out over his lips, John's eyes flicked down her body, and back up again. The corner of his mouth twitched up. His eyes gleamed topaz fire, burning into her.

"I want you to come for me."



Keeper Ch. 08



January 2

~4:17 AM~

Blue didn't know what to say.

Well, that wasn't exactly true. She knew what she wanted to say, but leaping into John's arms and yelling out a heartfelt 'YES PLEASE!' would probably put her on John's Borderline Crazy, Run From This Woman As Fast As You Can list- (every man had a list like that, didn't they?)- and she really, really wanted him to stick around and follow up on what he had just said to her.

"I want you to come for me."

He'd said it in that slow, low, southern-tickled drawl of his, making Blue's breath stop somewhere between her lungs and her throat. And now he was watching her, his eyes narrowed as he read her expression... probably even reading her mind, oh lord... and his mouth formed such a sensuous smile that her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth and she wouldn't have been able to form any words that made sense anyhow.

"You're blushing." He seemed so pleased by it that she didn't mind him seeing that tell-tale reaction. She minded it even less when he placed his palm on her chest, just below her neck. "Even here. It's sexy."

Blue swallowed, and his fingers traced her throat where they had felt the movement. Placing both hands curved around her neck, his fingers pushed into her hair at the back of her head and began rubbing in small, comforting circles.

"What..." Blue had to clear her throat against the rasp and begin again. "What do you want me to do?" she repeated her question from a few moments ago.

John leaned in and pressed his lips to the top of her head. "I just need you to relax, let me take care of you, and..." A puff of breath stirred her hair. "Talk to me a little." She felt his cheek rub down the side of her head, smoothing against her hair. 

"Talk to you... about what?"

"Hmm." It was more of a vibration than anything, and Blue moved her head forward the fraction of an inch that it took to lay her forehead against his chest, wanting to feel the sound. "About yourself, baby. About yourself." The words rumbled quietly. When he tucked her hair behind her ear so he could brush his lips over the exposed shell, she shivered. "Tell me, Blue..." The whisper brought goosebumps. "Do you masturbate?"

Surprise stiffened her body. But what was even more surprising was how she answered him so readily. Breathlessly, yes. But honestly.

"Yes, I do." Blue nodded for good measure. All the same, she was glad her face was hidden against his chest. She snugged a little deeper, burrowing between the open edges of his flannel shirt to the worn-soft cotton of the tee underneath. Taking a deep breath in, she was instantly heady with the warm, unique smell of the man who was wearing the shirt so well.

John's breath rushed past her ear. "Good." he whispered. "When?" His fingers slid into her hair and pulled. Gently, but firmly enough to tilt her head back, giving him access to her neck. "What is your favorite time of day to do it, Blue? Morning?" Firm lips softened and brushed along her jaw. "Do you like to pleasure yourself in the middle of the day?" He paused his questioning to trail his tongue down her neck. "Or at night, maybe? When you're all warm in bed, just before you go to sleep?"

Blue gasped, as much from the eroticism in John's voice as the feel of his teeth nipping at the tendon at the side of her neck. "At night, mostly. Sometimes... sometimes in the evening... at sunset. I don't know... I just..."

"There's something about that time of day, when the sun is going down."

"Yes. But at night too. Usually."

"Lights on? Or off? Laying on the bed? Do you slide down under the covers?" He was back at her ear, his words humming through her.

"Um... lights off, usually. Under the blankets. I don't know, it makes me feel..." She was at a loss for words, and bumped her forehead to his chest, her olfactory senses needing another hit of musk and leather and John. "I guess, it makes me feel... hugged?" Blue laughed a little, resisting the urge to make fun of herself before he did.

He didn't poke fun at all, and the tension left her shoulders.

"While I'm gone-" A kiss to her shoulder, and then he was leaning away, watching his hands bring the long, heavy length of her hair around to the front to lay over her breasts. "I'm going to think about you. Your hair down. Lying in your bed at night. Touching yourself. Making yourself come." His eyes met hers as he took a step back.

Missing the warmth of his body, Blue looked down and realized she was still holding the ties of her open robe, her fingers trapping the length of fabric in a death grip. While she watched, his hands closed over hers and eased her fingers loose. The robe was already hanging off her shoulders, but he smoothed his hands down her arms, taking the robe down a little farther, to her elbows. Lower, more revealing, but not off.

His eyes quietly intense, he drank her in. Blue would have wished she had chosen to wear something sexy... if she even had something sexy, which she was sure she did not... but the appreciation in John's expression banished that bud of insecurity before it had time to bloom.

He licked his lips, a gesture that made her thighs tingle. He was focused on her breasts. She knew he could see clearly how her nipples had tightened, obvious through the snug, thin material of the white ribbed tank top she wore. He wet his lips again, and her nipples hardened even more in response. He shook his head and smiled, and she wondered what he was thinking, but then his eyes drifted down.

When his eyes stopped in the vicinity of her hips, he cocked his head. Blue read his mind.

"Boy shorts." she answered the unspoken question. She palmed the soft, stretchy cotton hugging her hips and thighs, her fingers fluttering over the leg-line. They're called 'boy shorts'." She shrugged. "They're comfortable. I like to wear them to sleep in." she explained further, needlessly, almost defensively.

"Is this what you usually wear to bed?" His eyes held a smile when Blue nodded. His hands covered hers where they lay over the front of her hips. John's fingers took over the territory where the hemline curved over her thighs. "I like it. It's sexy on you." he breathed, looking down at her through his lashes. "I'll remember this too, how you look right now."

He stepped closer to bring their bodies together once more, his hands sliding around and over her hips. Gripping the cheeks of her bottom, he pulled upward, crushing her stomach into the thick ridge his cock had become. A low growl rumbled from his chest, and his hands moved on as though he couldn't keep them still, couldn't decide where to stop and touch, and then he was kissing her, his mouth as hungry as his roving hands.

Standing up on her toes, she leaned in, throwing whatever little bit of prudish caution that came to mind to the wayside. The moment his tongue slipped past her lips, her hands found their way underneath his t-shirt. His lips formed to her mouth; her palms conformed to the curve of muscle alongside his spine. His tongue communicated with hers; her hands mapped the breadth of his back.

Blue felt as if she could spend hours just exploring the solid wonder of John's back, but when she felt his hands slide under the hem of her own shirt, rising up her ribcage until his thumbs brushed against the sides of her breasts, she knew there was so much more to come. Resting her hands at John's waist, she eased her body back, allowing room for him to continue further.

Ending the kiss, John raised his head to look down, his eyes flaring as he watched the movement of his hands under her shirt. Though his wrists bunched the material up, the snug top conformed to his fingers as he cupped Blue's breasts, causing an unexpectedly erotic image.

"I have a confession to make." John's voice was thick, husky. He was touching her breasts, pressing and palming, stroking and smoothing his fingers over and around, as if he was learning and memorizing the feel of them rather than attempting to excite her. Somehow just that thought itself excited her anyhow. The look on his face was enough incentive for Blue to raise the hem of the top, exposing the large, male hands that were nearly, but not quite, big enough to completely cover the round, womanly weight they were cradling. The warmth of his gaze turned to fire, rewarding her for the action.

"A confession?" Blue prodded, a flush of feminine pride rushing through her when he seemed to forget what he had been saying. Then his thumbs moved, circling her nipples, and she practically forgot what he had been saying too.

"Mmm... hell..."

John lifted her up, the way he'd done in the kitchen, except this time when he pressed his face to her chest there was no barrier of cloth between his mouth and her skin. His lips brushed over the tops of her breasts, as soft as the whisper of his breath against her skin. He nudged his nose into her cleavage for a moment, then raised his head. Blue set her hands on his shoulders and arched back. She would have laughed at the dazed look on his face, except the pure desire that went along with it had her stomach clenching, and the warm, silky dampness between her thighs increased.

John nodded, just a small movement of his head. "I've got a thing about your breasts. For these." He ducked his head and nuzzled. "Can't seem to stop thinking about them." A kiss from his lips pushed one side of a soft mound in slightly, and then his mouth wandered to the other one to test it in the same way. "Want them." he murmured distractedly. "Just a taste..."

His tongue, wet and warm, traced a curve just under her nipple. It was just as if he did as he'd said, taking 'just a taste'. But then one little taste turned into another. And then another. Blue made a tiny sigh of both desire and frustration, loving his mouth and the little licks and sips it was taking, but she wanted more. Lifting her shoulders, her arms wound around his head, doing what she could to maneuver herself so he would take the hint... and then her sigh turned into a gasp when his lips at last pursed over the waiting bud of her nipple and pulled it into the warmth of his mouth with a soft sucking action.

Blue's toes curled and her legs bent at the knee, a reflex from the pull, lick, pull, release of the mouth at her breast. Each brief suckle had a line of communication that went straight to her clit, making the little bud between her thighs pulse in time to each pull of John's mouth. Pressing her thighs together convulsively, she hung on around John's neck, held in his strong arms up off the ground, against his body.

She arched her back, this time to get closer instead of to lean back. John met the challenge by latching his mouth even more firmly over the achingly hard nipple and drawing on it with a growing intensity that had Blue dropping her head back, a soft-pitched groan escaping her throat.

The world spun. Blue felt like she was falling and clutched in alarm at John's shoulders. When her eyes popped open she realized that he had just moved them to the sofa, and had dropped down onto it, taking her down with him. He sat slouched against the back, the hands that had been holding her up a moment before now gripping her thighs and guiding them apart until she straddled his lap.

Not missing a beat, he slid one hand up to cup the breast that had been neglected, his mouth honing in and latching onto the nipple. Blue wiggled reflexively, discovered how their position and her movement pressed her pussy against the really impressive ridge beneath the zipper of his jeans, and wiggled again with purpose.

Thrusting his hips upward, John groaned against her breast. Leaning his head back against the cushion, he gazed up at her. She felt his fingers twitch against the back of her thigh before he moved his hands to her waist.

"This isn't going to work."

She blinked, not certain she'd heard him right.

"God, what a picture you make right now." John said before she could process his first statement. His hips lifted, grinding between her spread legs, lifting her up along with him before he relaxed his hips back down. "Do you know how sexy you look right now?"

Blue shook her head, but the way he was looking at her, she felt sexy. She knew she probably looked disheveled... her hair down and probably a wild mess; the ancient bathrobe half hanging off; silly, fluffy orange socks covering her feet; wearing the 'boy shorts' underwear she habitually wore to bed; and her tank top pushed up over the top of her breasts, bunched under her armpits. If she thought about it, she would probably would be running off to hide. So she didn't think. She just felt.

"Well, then..." she breathed, surprised at the huskiness of her own voice. "What's not going to work?" Shifting her bottom, she rubbed herself teasingly against the rock hard, irrefutable evidence. "It certainly feels like everything is in working order."

Blue bit her bottom lip and willed herself not to blush. Had she really just said that?

Levering himself up from the slouch he was in, John pressed his mouth to hers, licking at the lip she had released from between her teeth and sucking it into his mouth for a moment before releasing it. Before she could recover, she found herself being lifted up, flipped around, and dropped back down before she could even draw a surprised breath.

John settled himself into a corner of the sofa, drawing her with him until she was sitting between his legs, her back against his chest. "That's just it." he said against her ear as he wrapped his arms around her. "It's working too well, and if I don't keep with the plan, I'm going to lose it. And I don't want to do that. This is for you, baby."

"But-"

"You." he whispered. His hands covered her still exposed breasts, warming them from the cool air of the living room with the heat of his palms. "Okay... where were we?"

"Uh... I don't know... oh..." She couldn't think. Not when his fingers were circling, tickling, teasing her nipples the way they were. Especially not when he began to lightly pinch them between thumb and forefinger.

"Like that?" John murmured into her neck, and she knew he was looking over her shoulder and down her body to watch what he was doing to her.

"Yes. It's... it feels..."

"Tell me." His fingers tightened... twisted gently... pulled lightly... testing. When she arched her back and made a soft noise during a certain clever twisting-pulling motion, he continued with that. "You like this?" She nodded, closing her eyes. "Rest your head back, Sweet Baby. Uh-uh, relax." he added when she tensed slightly at the name.

Giving in, Blue lay her head back against his shoulder, breathing out on a sigh as his hands molded and smoothed over her breasts.

He grunted softly into her hair. "I got you with my whiskers." He brushed his fingers over several reddened spots marring the creamy skin surrounding her nipples. "Sorry."

While a part of her brain picked up on and was heartened by the promise of a 'next time', she raised her hand to lay her palm along his jaw, turning her head to press her lips to the stubble on his face. "You don't have to. Actually... I like the way it feels." She rubbed her hand against the scratchy beginnings of a beard, remembering how it had begun to make an appearance by the late evening before. "I liked it, lightly, on my... skin." she said simply.

She could feel his cheek crease with a smile.

"All right. Duly noted. Let's find out what else you like." His hands left her breast to smooth down her ribcage and over her belly, stopping here and there to track a curve, to circle and dip into the tiny indentation of her navel. His fingertips came to rest over the waistband of her underwear. She tingled when he angled his head to whisper into her ear, waiting in anticipation for his next words. When he spoke, the tingle intensified and flowed to every erogenous zone.

"When you masturbate, do you take your panties off?" John's fingertips slipped underneath the waistband they had been tracing.

"Usually." She hesitated, gathering herself to elaborate the way she knew he was hoping for. "Most of the time I take them off, and... lay under the covers. But sometimes, if I don't really think about it, if I'm only using my fingers, then I'll just leave them on... and..." Blue stopped, both because of the intake of John's breath and because of one of his hands inching further and encountering silky curls.

"And..." he cleared his throat. "If you only use your fingers? Blue, honey, are you saying you have toys to play with?" The tips of his fingers played through the hair covering her, advancing downward with maddening slowness.

Her cheeks blazed hotly, but she was beginning to love the way he caused it.

"Not every time, but once in a while... I have a vibrator thing, it's my favorite... it's, um, shaped like an egg." She could feel him waiting, and didn't disappoint him. Covering his hand with her own through the fabric of her panties, she traced the ridges of his knuckles and fingers. "I turn it on, and..."

"Tell me."

"I use it... you know... on the outside first, over my lips and... then my clitoris..."

Though her thighs were pressed together, he managed to insinuate his hand downward, until he was cupping her, trapping the damp heat.

"Tell me..."

"Then I push it inside, and let it vibrate inside me." She felt his fingers press inward, not trespassing between the closed lips of her labia, but the pressure so exciting nonetheless. His fingers pressed and released, pressed and released in a massaging motion, rewarding her when she continued. "And with the vibrator in me, I circle my fingers on my clit..."

"Until you come."

"Yes."

"Someday I want to watch you."

A pressure from his fingers, and release. Press and release. Press and release.

"Baby?"

"Hmmm?" Blue hummed on a breath through her nose. John's massaging hand had stilled, though continued cradling her pussy. His left hand had found it's way further and was burrowing between her thighs.

"Do you do it with your legs closed like this?"

She caught a thread of amusement in his voice.

"No." She held her breath.

"Well, then, how about-" The fingers tunneled further. "You spread your legs for me-" His arms tightened around her. "And I'll make it good for you." His lips found a sensitive spot where neck met shoulder. "C'mon, baby. Do it the way you like. Open for me?"

If his words, or the softly burrowing hand between her two thighs didn't convince her, the middle finger that somehow found enough room to move in the tight confines between her closely pressed legs and under her panties would certainly have been enough. The finger wiggled ever so slightly, the tip finding it's way between the closed lips of her pussy, just enough to tease.

Blue's legs moved apart. John's satisfied rumble of "That's my girl." encouraged further separation. Fingers stroked soft lips, and then first one, then two slid between the lips to become covered in the slick evidence of arousal.

Surprised that she could feel his heart beating so strongly against her back, Blue raised her hips against his hand. He murmured his approval. She could feel his cock at the base of her spine, a hard bar of iron. Wiggling her bottom, she was satisfied to hear him emit a low grunt. And then a finger found her clit and she jerked upward again with a gasp of her own.

"How far?" The finger dipped to tease at the entrance of her vagina, circled maddeningly at the opening, then drew the gathered cream upwards to spread it around the hard little nub.

"What?" Her clit throbbed in impatient ecstasy. He was making it difficult to think.

"How far do you spread your legs, when you play with yourself? Just enough, like this?" John's left hand rubbed gently over her now exposed inner thigh. "Or..." Maneuvering his legs along the length of the sofa, he hooked his feet around the inside of her ankles, and she found herself being spread further apart, his knees guiding hers until she felt the inner muscles of her thighs stretching with a delicious burn.




Keeper Ch. 08



She felt wide open and exposed, even though she still had her panties on. She felt wicked. And wonderful.

"Yes... wide... like this..."

Blue's word ended on a gasp as John circled over and then plucked at her clit between three fingers, slipping over the bud methodically, over and over as if he were carefully milking it. She could feel his breath, hot against her shoulder, as he gazed down the length of her body and watched as his hand moved under the covering of her panties.

He asked no more questions, letting her just feel. She began to arch in time with the rhythmic pulling, when the hand on her thigh abandoned it's place to return to her breast. When his fingers began copying the twist-pull motion of earlier, both to her nipple and her clit in synchronized motion, she cried out and grasped his wrists in response, not to pull his hands away, but to hold on the best she knew how.

Just as she tensed, about to reach a plateau, he changed tactics. Nearly groaning in frustration, Blue instead gasped in pleasure when one long, male finger dipped into the tight, warm opening of her pussy. It slid easily, aided by her wetness, twisting slightly as it withdrew, repeating and repeating and repeating until it was joined by a second finger.

John took her higher and higher, his voice in her ear urging her on, praising her responses as his thumb joined the play, quickly and deftly flicking back and forth at her clitoris while his fingers continued their licentious invasion.

Finally, Blue felt all the pleasure rushing through her body begin to center itself in her clit and deep inside her pussy, the pressure bursting back out again in waves that had her holding her breath for the first seconds before gasping it out with the throbbing explosions as she orgasmed. John held tight against her spasms, murmuring words of enticement and encouragement, his knees holding hers open when she would have closed her legs involuntarily against the pleasure.

She came back down, sighing as her body relaxed languorously against his. Her back felt hot against his chest, the warmth comforting and welcome. He hand remained where it was, his fingers still gripped inside her, having stayed to take in each and every spasm that had hugged them. Several moments later, he tugged her top down over her breasts, caressing them gently before resting his hands over her stomach.

When she recovered well enough from the after-orgasm lethargy, she sat up and twisted around to look at John. He was sprawled and leaning into the corner of the sofa, and he looked damn proud of himself. With good reason, Blue thought to herself. Something of the other things she was thinking must have shown on her face, because John laughed a little bit and cocked an eyebrow.

"What? You looked surprised." He raised both brows as he practically read her mind. "Don't tell me this is like no one ever treating you to a candle-lit dinner. None of the men... if they can be called that, and I'm beginning to have my doubts about it... that you've been involved with have ever-?"

Blue shook her head quickly, tucking her legs up to her chest and leaning over to snuggle herself against his chest. John tugged playfully at her hair. "No, they've not 'ever'." she replied a bit defensively.

"Huh. Well." She felt him shrug, and when she tilted her face up to his he was smiling. "John Keeper; One. Blue's previous loser boyfriends; Zero. My advantage."

Blue punched John lightly, her fist landing playfully against rock hard pectoral. Noticing the bulge pressing into her hip as she sat nestled between his legs, she grew serious. Trailing a finger down his chest to his stomach, she looked up at him questioningly. He took her hand and raised it to his lips, kissing her fingers and giving a negative shake of his head.

"But... what about...?"

"I'm fine, honey." He set her hand away, laying it on her hip. With a rueful grimace, he shrugged. "Well, maybe that's exaggerating... a lot. Okay, I'm lying. But, like I said, this was for you."

"But what about you?" she pressed.

"Hey." He leaned to her and brushed his lips against hers. "I said that I'd like it if you waited for me. I want to court you, Blue, when I get back in a month. That hasn't changed. Hey," he said again, rubbing her back, "if you can wait for me... I can wait for you."

John looked at her questioningly, and she ducked her head, avoiding his eyes while she re-tied the robe around her waist.

Pushing her up off the couch before him, John shot to his feet. Tilting her head up with a finger curled under her chin, he kissed her hard for a few seconds.

"Damn, I'm hungry!" he exclaimed after lifting his head. "I could eat a stack of pancakes tall as the Eiffel Tower. Don't suppose you could help a guy out, huh? I happen to know there's a pile of flapjacks sittin' on your kitchen counter. If my dog hasn't eaten them all, that is."

He grinned down at her, and Blue couldn't help but to answer him with a smile of her own. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she hugged him tightly.

"Yeah, I think I can fix you up." Taking his hand, she led the way to the kitchen. "Pancake tower, it is. Come right this way."

~5:30 AM~

John stepped off Blue's porch into the snow, cursing the early flight schedule that would keep him from shoveling Blue's driveway. But the Chaplin police still had her car, and he had spent part of the huge pancake breakfast listening to her day's itinerary, which included her friend Lee picking her up and taking her to the airport. He would have much preferred that he could take her himself, but their flights were hours apart and he didn't want Blue to have to hang around the airport by herself for that long. 

He had gotten Blue's plans out of her, given her the key to his truck just in case she needed it when she returned, reminded her that she had the key to his home and had made her recite his alarm code until he was sure she'd remember it, answered any questions she had as to Abe's care, and had given her the phone number he would be calling from while in Russia, telling her that she could call him any time, and to leave a message if he couldn't pick up, explaining the time difference and how he would be swamped with meetings and functions at odd hours, and...

Hell, he was pretty sure they'd gone over everything. Why was he feeling there was something left? Taking a deep breath of crystallized winter morning air, John shook his head and reluctantly turned for home.

The creak and slap of Blue's screen door opening and shutting had him turning around in time to catch the little streak of disheveled woman leaping toward him. He automatically lifted her off her orange socked feet to keep her out of the snow.

"Okay." she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Okay?" he echoed dumbly.

"Okay. I'll wait for you."

John kissed her, a gust of wind brushing her long hair softly against his cheek. 

She would wait for him. Now he could go.