(no subject)

She's his woman, dammit, broken ribs or not, and it's been too fucking long since he did more than hold her in his arms and rest his head on her shoulder and that might be okay for kids on a first date but it's not good enough for him. And yeah, he knows he's supposed to be taking care of himself and she's supposed to be taking care of herself, but fuck this: he hates feeling like she has to babysit him. Hell, in another month and a half they won't have any alone time at all and it would be so fucking stupid if he didn't take advantage of that now.

Things have been tough since she got back and he's not stupid enough to pretend they haven't. Shit, they both had so much happen to them: how could there not be cause and effect? But he'll lay down and die before he lets circumstance get in the way of his feelings for Beth. He misses her, and she's here, and that's no way to feel and he's out of patience for it. He wants her fingers curling in his hair, and he wants to hear that hissing sound coming out from between her lips, and he wants to see that flush on her face. He wants -- no, needs -- to know she still wants him for that.

Fuck caution. There are so many things he can do that won't endanger his ribs.

One sheaf of wheat is the whole wheat field
One feather is a bird alive and singing
A man of flesh is a man of dream
Truth is indivisible
One clap of thunder proclaims the acts of the lightning
One dreaming woman gives us the form of love forever
The sleeping tree speaks all green oracles
Water talks ceaseless never repeating a word
Judged against certain eyelids, sleep is nothing
Judged by a mouth, a tongue that is crying out
The tongue of a woman saying Yes to life
The bird of paradise opening his wings

Fuck it all: he loves her, he wants her, he needs her.

He reads her the poem.