Awakening

by Mel

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Tonight promised to be the first snowfall of the season. Thanksgiving eve. The air was cold enough, and not a cloud to be seen in the sky. Jesse always waited to see the first snowflakes, she'd done that since she was a child, camping with her parents. A chilly cabin, a cup of hot tea, the faint, dull echo of voices in a nearly empty room, watching pinprick snowflakes gently cover the brown and fragile fallen leaves lying on the forest floor.

Her first Thanksgiving as a married woman. Funny how strange that seemed sometimes. Sometimes she found herself thinking "...when I get married..." planning some inconsequential detail of an event that'd already passed. She stood at the window of the bedroom, and stared out at landscape. No snowflakes to be seen yet in the glowing moonlight.

She shivered in her flannel nightgown and wool socks, and turned to get back into bed. Her first Thanksgiving as a married woman, and they were spending the night in a guest room at a friend's house. Jesse slid under the covers and in his sleep, Vin automatically reached to pull her close in his arms. She turned under the blankets to face him, and rested with her head tucked under his chin, one arm wrapped around his waist.
Asleep, or on the edges, Vin nestled down so that his cheek rested on the top of her head, and one hand lightly brushed up and down her arm. His body was warm under the blankets, and Jesse pulled herself as close as she could get. He slept in heavy wool and cotton thermals, and she slid her fingers under the shirt to feel the heat of his skin on her hand. Funny how a man who lived to be outdoors liked to be warm when he slept. Jesse was inclined to have the window open a crack, even on the most frigid night; Vin liked the room warm, as long as the air didn't get stale. They usually compromised by having the window shut and the thermostat turned almost all the way down. Cold air made it easier for Jesse to sleep - and made Vin more likely to snuggle, asleep or not.

Jesse lightly brushed her fingers across his back, and listened to his soft heartbeat. Vin responded by tightening his arms around her and breathing a soft sigh that tingled past her ear. Jesse would've preferred to spend a night like this at their own house, but Chris had invited the ‘gang' over for Thanksgiving weekend and she'd known Vin long enough to know he liked being with his friends at holidays. For all the quiet and calm he liked having around him the rest of the time, Vin reveled in the noise and bustle that a houseful of the Seven brought to every holiday and birthday.

Birthdays. The fellas hadn't spent a holiday at their house yet, Jesse was planning that as a surprise for Vin's next birthday. Three times now, in the three years she'd known Vin, she'd seen him watch the oncoming day like a condemned man, making plans for himself, or for the two of them, as though he didn't know - maybe didn't believe - that his friends would never let the day pass without a celebration. Then they'd get him to the party on some pretext, and he'd end the day tired and happy, warmed inside and out by their company and thoughtfulness. So, with her own family a thousand miles away, Jesse didn't begrudge Vin his family, his brothers.

Vin shifted in his sleep and Jesse turned with him, ending up across his chest with his arms still secure around her. She slid her hand off his back and brushed it up and down his side, and let it rest on his hip. She was nowhere near tired, too busy lying in the arms of her darlin', and enjoying every second of it, to want to close her eyes.

The room was dark except for the moonbeam that reached through the window and reflected in the mirror over the old fashioned dresser. A nice room, "Vin's Room" Mary called it the first time she'd shown Jesse to it, and it warmed her now as then that Vin had friend who made a place for him in his home. Left to himself, left on his own, Vin was a wanderer. But he stayed with Chris and the others. Four years now he'd stayed in one place, in one job, he'd even gone and got married, much to the dismay and heartbreak of nearly every woman who knew him, married or not. And Jesse was the lucky woman, laying right now in his arms, letting her hand roam where it would on his skin, turning her face up to gently kiss the corner of his mouth, before settling back comfortably across him.

Vin stirred a little at the touch, and mumbled something she couldn't understand. He gave her a gentle squeezing hug and breathed another contented sigh. There were pieces of his life that he hadn't shared with her, she knew. Oh, he'd offered the facts and details little by little, but never the pain that she knew must've accompanied them. Except for one or two comments tossed off bitterly when he'd been tired or frustrated about something, all of Vin's stories about his past were told at his own expense, bent so that they seemed funny stories.

The path Vin took through life was never the easiest. Shy as a child, isolated in school with very few friends, and a family life he couldn't trust, he chose work over education at a young age. But all that got him was dissatisfaction at a string of jobs that required nothing from his intelligence and kept him on the fringes of poverty for too many years. So he wasted himself on drinking too much and fighting too often. Still isolated. Still not trusting.

Larabee had been his friend a whole lot of years, going on seven now, wasn't it? Drinking buddies at first, Chris had gone sober first, then gradually coaxed Vin to come along with him, keeping constant contact with him as he moved from job to job, from one disintegrating dump of an apartment to another. He helped Vin get his GED, get a better job, move into a decent neighborhood. He introduced him to his other friends, the rest of the Seven, guided him out of the fear that had been his protection his whole life.

Four years now Vin was a different person - bright, outgoing , happy with himself and his life. Jesse wished she could've seen the transformation, the before and after. But maybe it was better that she couldn't. Guess it didn't matter though. They were here now, together. If laying in this man's arms throughout the night wasn't all that mattered in the world, it came a real close second.

Vin stirred again, turning more onto his side toward Jesse, mindful even in sleep to keep her gently secure against him. Her hand found it's way against his skin again, soft and warm under her touch, and her body thrilled at the nearness of him. His thermal shirt was open at his neck and she kissed her way down the buttons, one by one, treasuring the feel of him against her lips. Her touch brought Vin out of his sleep, but barely. He kissed the top of her head. "Missed you today at work." he mumbled. "Sorry I went to sleep so early...time is it?"

"Middle of the night babe. Still got a long time to sleep." She kissed her way further down his chest, through the softness of his shirt, and her hands started their own exploration.

"Tired?" Vin asked.

"Not especially..."

He pulled her close to himself again and kissed her. Outside the window, in the moonlight, snow began to fall.

END