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Vivian's New Start
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by
Ji Mei , The Meticulous Secretary
(new)
Jul 22, 2013 06:15PM
"The Tempest?" Joeri's eyes were bright with excitement. "Do you think we'd be able to go and see it?"
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"I could try and get us tickets tomorrow morning while you're with Anne," Vivian suggested."Gosh," she remarked, mostly to herself. "It's been ages since I went to the theatre."
"Well, I've never been to the theatre. It would be wonderful to see a play, especially a Shakespeare one," he commented. Joeri smiled to himself, remembering the time he was talking to Samuel. It was just his luck that if he were to fulfill that goal in his life.
"I'll try my hardest to get tickets, then," Vivian promised, resting her head back against his shoulder. "Joeri," she said after a long moment, "do you...do you think it'll always be like this? I mean, do you think we'll always be this happy and love each other this much?" She knew that she thought so.
Nodding thoughtfully, Joeri felt that they would, and surely hoped it would be like this. It would pain him terribly if they ever were to have something happen between them that he couldn't fix. "I think so. At least I think we can love each other this much. The happiness part might get rough at times, but we can pull through, you and I."
Vivian nestled against him, pulling the book out of his hands so that she could in turn pull his arms around her. She held his hands with hers, and nuzzled his real bicep, his strong arms and legs making a comfortable circle around her."O you - so perfect and so peerless, are created of every creature's best," she told Joeri softly, quoting Ferdinand.
Embracing her closer, Joeri closed his eyes as he enjoyed how she fit in his arms. A small smile came to his face. "You stole my line," he said, jokingly.
"Oh, there's a billion more where that came from," Vivian teased. She shut her eyes and nuzzled his arm. "I'm so glad you're still here."
"Me too. I'm glad you had your birthday as well, or else I wouldn't have an excuse to come home," Joeri replied.
"When is your birthday?" Vivian queried, suddenly feeling very silly that she didn't even know.
"October 7th," he answered, surprised he hadn't been able to tell her yet.
Vivian nodded, the date already committed to memory."Will you have leave again by then, maybe?" she asked, shifting in his arms so that she was curled up with her shoulder against his chest.
"Perhaps. By this October, it would make it ten years since I enlisted," Joeri said. He couldn't believe how long it has been since he first entered the military and he wondered how long he'd go before he would leave.
"Ten years already?' Vivian exclaimed, looking up at him. Then her heart ached a bit when she realised that for most of those years he'd been alone, and she hugged him around his neck.
"Probably time to have a break," he wondered out loud. Then smiling, Joeri gave her a kiss on the forehead. "If I could, I would stay here with you."
"Don't give it up just for me," Vivian chided gently. "Ten years is a long time. It's all you've known as an adult."
"You're right, and I won't give it up easily. It's just that I don't know how long I will continue. I've never considered when I'll leave the military," he explained.
"Oh. I see," Vivian murmured, playing with his tie. "I hope you remember to take off time for our wedding," she teased, tugging on his tie.
He felt a thrill of excitement at the idea and grinned. "Of course I remember. But when shall we have our wedding?"
"Oh, gosh."Vivian fiddled absentmindedly with his tie. "I...I'd like to wait until Geoffrey and Kitara are back from Boston, for good I mean," she told Joeri truthfully. "Geoffrey said that'll probably be in June or July," she clarified quickly.
"And maybe that's enough time for your case to be fully sorted out," Vivian said brightly. "That way your family can be there too."
Joeri nodded. "Yes, Geoffrey said he wanted to be there. And they should be there anyways," he commented. "But that leaves us plenty of time to prepare."
"Agreed." Vivian nuzzled the underside of his chin and reached up to push his hair off his forehead.Vivian realised just how small their wedding was going to be, and she found that she actually preferred that to the awful, gaudy, grandiose affairs that had been Bertrand and Lenora's weddings. Well, Bert's hadn't been so bad because Amelia was in charge of its planning, and she was the classiest lady Vivian knew. Lenora's wedding however...
Vivian shivered at the memory. "I'm not going to be a horrible demanding bride," she promised Joeri by way of explanation.
"I can't imagine that happening," he said with a smile. "It would stress us out, but I'm sure it would be worth it in the end."
Vivian gave him a squeeze and leaned back against his upright knee, slinging her legs over his other knee as she looked up at him. In her absentminded fiddling she'd undone his tie, but neither of them seemed to notice."Do you want to go out for dinner tomorrow before the show?" she asked.
Unconsciously, he leaned closer to her. "I would like to. I think a proper date would be nice before I leave would be wonderful," Joeri replied.
"A proper date indeed," Vivian laughed, pressing her nose against his chin. "We haven't yet really had one of those."She played with the buttons on his shirt absentmindedly, wondering where they could go eat.
"Despite the years I've been away, there was a decent restaurant I've heard about and always been wanting to try. Perhaps you can try it with me," Joeri commented.
"Oh?" Vivian shifted a bit so that she could look up at him, her head tilted curiously and her curls falling haphazardly over her face.
With his gentle fingers, Joeri brushed the hair away from her face so that he could give her a quick kiss on the lips. "You can leave the worrying to me. It'll be my treat to serve you," he told her, his blue eyes meeting hers.
Vivian arched her eyebrow at him in her trademark expression, but didn't question it. She liked surprises, especially nice ones that came from Joeri, and her brilliantly green eyes shone. "Alright." She pulled his head down to kiss him again.
He kissed her back, a small smile playing on his lips. It made him feel proper, at least, if he was the one for once doing something for Vivian.
Vivian broke their kiss but held his head close to hers, nuzzling his cheek with her nose. Shakespeare's puppy-snoring from somewhere far away told her that he was napping in the hallway where the cross-breeze was strongest coming from the back windows at the end of the wall and the front windows here in the room.She looked up at Joeri with a small smile. "Did you have a good time last night, despite all the bricks I dropped on you about my past?"
"I did. You've opened my eyes to a whole new world I didn't know," he replied. Playfully, he rubbed his nose against hers. "And I wouldn't mind if we happen to do it again," Joeri added.
Vivian smiled. "Well, we have tonight," she said with a grin. "Tomorrow night I just want to be with you, and only you." "Or we could wait until your next leave," she added quickly, tapping the tip of his nose with a delicate finger. "You know what's fun? The morning market."
"The morning market?" He looked at her with a raised brow. "What wonders does the market hold?" he asked, genuinely interested.
Vivian slid out of the circle of his limbs to lie flat on the bed with her hands clasped behind her head and her legs over Joeri's knees. Her skirts spread over his legs, almost completely hiding them and she thought for a moment."There are the fishmongers who bring in the catch of the day, and the dairy farmers who travel in from the countryside with cheese and cream and butter," she began, tapping one foot idly against the mattress of the alcove bed. "And the bakers and butchers - oh, Joeri, the bread! If you get there early enough it's still warm and when you break it open it steams."
"There's this one market stall that puts fried sausages in fresh rolls and you can eat them on the go," Vivian continued, everything coming out in a rush, "and you can sample fresh fruits and vegetables and buy all sorts of jams and jellies and preserves."
"Sounds wonderful," he said, leaning back so his back was against the wall. "Fresh bread is a rare commodity at the barracks and it would be great to have a good taste of it, though the pastries you sent were like manna from heaven."
Vivian grinned. "I shall keep sending them, then, to feed my poor soldier love and his comrades," she promised. "It's really all Bridget, though. She only lets me hull the berries and measure things out. She won't actually let me do the baking itself."She looked up at him, propping herself up on her elbows. "Would you like to go tomorrow?" she asked. "We would have to be up very early, though."
"Why not? Waking up early is something I can handle," he said with a shrug and a smile. "Perhaps we can ask Bridget if she needs anything and buy things if needed."
"She'd appreciate that," Vivian told him. "You could figure out what you want to bring for Anne and she can put it all together."Vivian reached up and ran her fingertips over his jaw.
"You know what that means, though?"
"No gallivanting the streets at night around London?" he asked, taking a shot in the dark.
"We still could but we would be very tired for the next day for sure," Vivian laughed. "It means we get less time alone together, here, where it's nice and quiet," she clarified, reaching up again and pulling him down to her.
Joeri laughed, then gave her a kiss. "Then we should make the most of it," he murmured before giving her another kiss.
Vivian sat up and closed the curtain that covered the entrance to the alcove bed. Turning back to Joeri, she pushed him flat on his back. "Yes, I think you're right," she said thoughtfully before kissing him. "It would be a shame to waste the time."She smiled at him and let him pull her completely into his arms.
((End scene, skip to market?))
((Sounds good to me.))*END OF SCENE*
Joeri knocked before entering, feeling excited, but still tinged with the sadness from the news. It was hard and almost surreal, thinking his mother was gone, but after a quick stop at the cemetery, reality hit him. He didn't have any flowers with him, but he did pay his respects. Looking around, he called out, "I'm back."
Wrapped in a fluffy towel with her hair hanging around her face in damp ringlets, Vivian leaned over the banister railing from the third floor. "Up here," she called down.
Smiling up at her, he asked, "Am I interrupting something?"
"No, not at all. Come up! I want to hear about your afternoon with Anne."She smiled down at him before disappearing into her dressing room.
Climbing the stairs, Joeri didn't know where to begin. So his thoughts fell back to the basket he brought. "I gave Anne the basket Bridget packed. She liked the pastries as well."
