Fandom: Milliways: Beth/Spike/Junior Word Count: 500 Location: Before New York
It's so... quiet and he's almost afraid to breathe: the last fucking thing he wants is to wake up the baby. While he's had plenty of moments of solitude, moments of solitude with Beth have been so much more precious because they're so damn hard to come by.
Especially at night: someone's always on watch, always making the rounds. It's good and smart and he doesn't see a single damn thing wrong with it but it means he has to be really careful around the camp at night. When Junior cries he wants to hold her so bad, but... he can't. He can only steal moments, seconds at a time and only when he's sure everyone else is asleep. Wouldn't do at all for Hero or Natalya or Ciba to see Beth Junior suspended in mid-air by a pair of invisible arms.
Tonight, though, Junior's sound asleep, smacking her lips softly like the most contented baby in the whole damn world and Natalya, who's on duty, has just set off on a two-mile perimeter hike and Ciba and Vlad are asleep and Hero... well, Hero always sleeps with one eye open but she's way the hell on the other side of the camp, her compromise for letting Natalya go that far out of sight. Sometimes he catches her talking to herself, but she doesn't know he's there and so he can't say anything. Every now and then, she mentions someone named Victoria.
It's none of his damn business. What is his damn business is the way Beth looks around furtively, mostly at the last place she saw him. He's moved, but not too far because he can't risk scaring her now that everyone's settled down. So he lets that cloak fall away from his head, catches Beth's eye, smiles, and winks.
When she crooks her finger and gestures him over, he doesn't waste any time. Time with Beth is the most precious time of all these days and sometimes he regrets not taking Hero into their confidence, but it's Beth's decision and this is her world, and if she says it's unnecessary, hell, he's not going to tell her differently.
Not yet, and in a moment he's by her side so quietly. He never used to be able to move so silently but months under this cloak have sure as hell taught him how to get by without making a single damn sound. There are things he'd love to do, but it's night and sounds travel and they can't risk waking Junior, never mind Ciba or Hero and so he does what he can: sits behind Beth, wraps his arms around her, and rocks her silently in the night somewhere near... wherever the hell they are: Pennsylvania or New Jersey, somewhere around there.
Having Beth in his arms is the best damn feeling he can imagine. And a few inches away in her makeshift cradle, Beth Junior sighs happily into the night air.
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Date: 2008-04-19 06:02 am (UTC)Word Count: 500
Location: Before New York
It's so... quiet and he's almost afraid to breathe: the last fucking thing he wants is to wake up the baby. While he's had plenty of moments of solitude, moments of solitude with Beth have been so much more precious because they're so damn hard to come by.
Especially at night: someone's always on watch, always making the rounds. It's good and smart and he doesn't see a single damn thing wrong with it but it means he has to be really careful around the camp at night. When Junior cries he wants to hold her so bad, but... he can't. He can only steal moments, seconds at a time and only when he's sure everyone else is asleep. Wouldn't do at all for Hero or Natalya or Ciba to see Beth Junior suspended in mid-air by a pair of invisible arms.
Tonight, though, Junior's sound asleep, smacking her lips softly like the most contented baby in the whole damn world and Natalya, who's on duty, has just set off on a two-mile perimeter hike and Ciba and Vlad are asleep and Hero... well, Hero always sleeps with one eye open but she's way the hell on the other side of the camp, her compromise for letting Natalya go that far out of sight. Sometimes he catches her talking to herself, but she doesn't know he's there and so he can't say anything. Every now and then, she mentions someone named Victoria.
It's none of his damn business. What is his damn business is the way Beth looks around furtively, mostly at the last place she saw him. He's moved, but not too far because he can't risk scaring her now that everyone's settled down. So he lets that cloak fall away from his head, catches Beth's eye, smiles, and winks.
When she crooks her finger and gestures him over, he doesn't waste any time. Time with Beth is the most precious time of all these days and sometimes he regrets not taking Hero into their confidence, but it's Beth's decision and this is her world, and if she says it's unnecessary, hell, he's not going to tell her differently.
Not yet, and in a moment he's by her side so quietly. He never used to be able to move so silently but months under this cloak have sure as hell taught him how to get by without making a single damn sound. There are things he'd love to do, but it's night and sounds travel and they can't risk waking Junior, never mind Ciba or Hero and so he does what he can: sits behind Beth, wraps his arms around her, and rocks her silently in the night somewhere near... wherever the hell they are: Pennsylvania or New Jersey, somewhere around there.
Having Beth in his arms is the best damn feeling he can imagine. And a few inches away in her makeshift cradle, Beth Junior sighs happily into the night air.
It sounds like family.
Like love.