Once a Soldier…..

By Bridgid and M

The shower felt good but the cool tile wall felt better as Terry rested his forehead against it. The only thing that bothered Terry was the smell of whatever M used to clean. She was fastidious and tended to be over zealous at times but to Terry it was all a part of her charm.

After a deep sigh, he turned and shut the water off. Terry blindly reached for a towel just outside the shower but all he felt was an empty rack. She must have been doing laundry the moment she got in.

Instead of going to the linen cabinet for something to dry with, he padded his way downstairs mother naked and dripping. When he got to the kitchen he opened the drawer that was full of tea towels, grabbed one of those and he began to dry himself off. At least the cracks between his legs wouldn't chafe if he tended the area.

Dropping the towel to the floor, he reached for another. The water dripping from his hair into his eyes was annoying. He could live with the rest of it.

Maybe she wouldn't mind too much if he came to the table in his boxers and a tee shirt.

"Well, don't you look cute." She said smiling at the obvious effort he had made.

Deciding to dispense with the first course, she served the steak. Rare the way he liked it with baked potato and salad.

"So, tell me all the news." Where his eyes closing or was it her imagination? 

He turned the plate several times to find a place to cut into the steak. Let's put it this way, after a half dozen pints and a plate of Lancashire hot pot at Millie's, he barely had the room to swallow his own saliva let alone this wonderful , perfectly seared , massive side of beef on his plate. The baked potato alone scared him.

"News?" he queried as he sliced off a minute piece of meat and slipped it into his mouth. Allowing it to wallow a bit, he swallowed without chewing.

"Mmm, good, love. As for the news..." Terry reached for his serviette on his lap and it fell to the floor. He bent down to pick it up and the lack of support below caused a severe pinch to his balls. Screeching something in Thai, he rose up quick but slammed the back of his head on the table. The poor man hung there for a moment, bent over in his chair like a kid with a belly ache.

Moving back, he sat up slowly. "I sure hope I don't get a call to work tonight. You were saying, love?"

"What is wrong with you?" She asked sharply. "You know what Terry if you would rather be somewhere else just say so, you obviously aren't hungry....... We said this would be a new start for us, and I'm sorry that means I have to be away a lot right now.."

She looked directly at him and although he was smiling at her his eyes were almost closed.

"I'm going to bed." She declared standing up and taking her plate to the bin. "Maybe we'll get to talk in the morning if you don't get a call to work!"     

As she passed him in a huff he grabbed her arm and stopped her in her tracks.

"Listen to me, M. I had no idea you'd be home tonight. So, I went out, had a few, made friends with one of the blokes at Millie's."

Letting her arm go, he pushed away from the table and stood to face her. "What do you expect me to do? Sit at home watching the telly every night, pinning? I was not up to anything nefarious if you're thinking in that direction. Cut me some slack, love. I'm tired of being alone. I miss you."

His expression softened and his shoulders slumped. "..and I love you, M. Don't you know that? My heart hurts when you're always gone."

"What do you want me to do? Sit here and wait for patients who don't know me and don't trust me? I hate being away from you too but work is work Terry. I'm sorry I came home too early, I'm glad you have a friend, pity I've been working so hard for us that I haven't made any.

She grabbed her wine and moved off. She was bone tired now, why was she bothering? Coming to The Glen didn't seem to be working for them and as she climbed the stairs tears fell from her eyes.

She loved him, no doubt about it but, she loved her work too. Did she have to choose?  

There was not a moment of hesitation from him. He was in pursuit so fast he almost beat her to the top of the stairs.

"M, Mystery!" he shouted

Stepping in front of her he threw his arms up. "I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do. I understand your work is important. So is mine but once in a while, just once in a while do you think we could slow down a little bit. Fuck's sake, love, we only get one life. Can't we live just a little bit of it?"

"That's what I was trying to do Terry. I left the conference early to get home and cook dinner, I dressed up, cooked what I thought would be good for you why do you think I did that?" She didn't wait for an answer,

"Because I love you, that's why and I understand that you need friends and a life beyond me but..."

She could not deal with this now, not now, she wanted to sleep and pretend they weren't fighting.   

They stood there looking at each other for a moment before he took a long blink. If he opened his eyes he was sure she would weave her way around him. He couldn't bear it so he kept his eyes closed and said "If we go to bed angry then we have no hope. I'm tired, you're tired but we have to work this out."

"Your're tired, I'm tired and the difference is, you are drunk and I'm not. We can't work it out tonight. Sleep in our bed and I'll sleep in the spare room, we'll talk in the morning."

"I am not drunk and we will not sleep in separate rooms. M, we have to sort this out or I'm afraid to even think what the consequences will be."

Putting his arms up to herd her away from the spare room door, Terry finally caught her in a bear hug. "Reckon we could have the makeup sex first then discuss this?"

His sense of humor may have been misplaced at the moment.

"What? One night with both of us here, in this house and one night apart and you are afraid of the consequences?"

"Terry, I love you but I don't know if this is going to work."

Worry affected the shape of his brow. "Do you mean what I think you mean, love? Are you about to give up on us?"

"I'm not ever going to give up on us, you light my life, I adore you but right now, this"

She reached up to kiss him. "Go to bed Terry, we'll talk tomorrow"

He conceded. Letting her go he took the spare room and left her alone in the master bedroom but there was no way he could get to sleep. It had to be three AM when he found himself sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. None of this felt right and he'd had enough. He didn't bother to turn a light on as he got up and made his way to the master bedroom. One bruised shin later he was slipping under the duvet to snuggle up against her. He did his best not to wake her. Draping an arm over her waist, Terry finally felt the sandman punch the clock. If his movements didn't wake her, his snoring would.