[ussbansheec] Matchmaker
- From: "Moria Grace" <bansheec@xxxxxxx>
- To: <ussbansheec@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 22:09:16 -0400
"Matchmaker"
Evelyn Hale, Joseph Swiftwind S'Ghaladriel, Moria McEntire-McKenna
"I'jol-au," Joseph murmured as he pulled back from another kiss.
"That's pretty, what does it mean?" Evy's eyes danced as she smiled at him and
slowly let all of her guard down. Moria was one of the very few people who'd
ever seen her do it. The others she could count on one hand: Victoria, Steven
and her father.
"It means I love you. It's Rihan." Tracing the line of her jaw, Joseph relished
the freedom to touch her. Finally tearing his eyes away from Evy's, he turned
slightly so he could see Mo. "I'jol-au too, Hummingbird."
Moria smiled as she came back into the living area. "I love you too, Hawk."
"D'you think Grace would marry us right this minute?" he asked on an impulse.
He kissed Evy again and pulled her to her feet. Swinging her around him, he
pulled her close and hugged her hard. "Right this instant?"
"She might but I don't think that would be a very wise choice." Moria replied
with laughter in her eyes. "You see what you have there is my Nanna's baby girl
and if you think your just going to elope with her your crazy. Besides, Grey
Wolf, Nightwalker, and your Ri'nanov would be heartbroken to miss your wedding."
"And, er, I kinda gotta say yes first, sweets," Evy pointed out as she felt her
heart turn over and she fell even deeper.
Joseph paused then looked down into her eyes. "Will you?"
"Will I what?" she said innocently.
Turning half his mouth up into a grin, he touched noses with her. "Will you
marry me?"
"Ooooo, um, dunno." Evy started giggling as she added, "Let me think about it."
Moria laughed. "Slow down, Hawk. She's not going anywhere."
Joseph raised his eyebrows at Moria, still squeezing Evy tightly. "I've gotta
have it all, you know that. All or nothing."
"Huh, really?" Evy said quietly. "So if I said no?"
"Just hold on the both of you." Moria sighed as she finished sitting things on
the table. Walking back over towards them she pointed at the couch. "Sit."
Pulling Evy to the sofa, Joseph sat with her on his lap and his hands around
her waist. When she tried to wriggle away, he turned questioning eyes on her.
"I ain't five," she said.
"No, you're not. Don't you like sitting like this?" he said carefully.
Evy huffed out a breath and shifted so she could see Moria, shooting her a
desperate look. It said, Help, feeling kinda trapped here, without actually
saying it out loud.
"It's a good thing I'm not the jealous type." Moria teased as she sat on the
coffee table across from them. "That's normally my seat. Hawk it's rather hard
to see your face with my cousin's head in the way."
Suddenly Evy felt that jealousy that Moria was teasing about so when Joseph let
her go, she actually didn't want to. Slipping off his lap, she snuggled beside
him and felt kind of lonely until he put an arm around her shoulders.
"Better?" Joseph said to both of them.
"I guess," Evy mumbled, her light blue eyes on his face.
Moria tried really hard not to laugh. "You know there's no rush to haul
yourselves in front of any kinda clergy or holy man just yet. What's important
is that you've told each other how you feel. Take some time to get to know each
other." She smiled at them both. "Cause trust me there are things about each of
you that is going to drive the other mad."
"The whole not liking it when I sit her on my lap," Joseph agreed.
"I didn't say I didn't like it as such..."
"Ahhhh, I see. Maybe the whole being butch when she doesn't have to be then,"
he teased.
Moria rolled her eyes. "Evy's not a girly girl but I'd hardly call her butch."
"You don't think I'm butch?" Evy said, huffing loudly. "Damnit, I try and try
but still I'm just a girl."
"Mmm, my girl."
"Yours?" Swiveling slightly so she could see Joseph's face, she frowned.
"Yup. All mine."
Moria couldn't help it, the same phrase kept coming to mind. 'Opposites
attract.' "And he's yours, Evy."
"And what the hell do I do with him now I've got him?" Her frown totally
disappeared when he pulled her even closer and cuddled her. A giggle bubbled up
when he set his head on top of hers. "I mean, what does one do with a man?"
He stop himself. With a light green blush, he asked innocently, "You don't
know?"
"I... err..." Her face exploded into all shades of red. "Err..."
Evy's face was the same color red Moria's turned when her Mum and her had had
the sex talk, the same shade her face still turned everything her mother teased
her about sex. She didn't want to say it out loud so the look in her eyes as
she locked them with Evy's blue ones asked for her. You've never...
Eyes wide, Evy shrugged. "Of course I know," was what she said, where the look
she gave Moria said, Never.
Moria honestly didn't understand why this surprised her. "It all comes
naturally, Evy. Relationships aren't easy and each one is different, but you'll
figure each other out."
Joseph had been looking between the two of them as if he was watching a tennis
match. "How do women do that? You can all have one conversation out loud and
another as silent 'looks'. And how do I learn to interpret them?"
"Who said we wanted you to?" Evy said.
"Besides it's a cousin thing." Moria laughed. "We had to figure out someway to
let each other know what was going on without having our mothers over hear."
She winked at Evy, wanting her baby cousin to know she could come talk to her
privately whenever she needed too.
"Hmph. Guess I'll have fifty or so years to learn all of that."
Evy flinched. Fifty? "How's dinner looking?" she said desperately wanting to
change the subject.
"Every things on the table." Moria replied catching her cousin's deer in the
headlights look. Poor Evy, I hope she gets past the fear so she can enjoy the
excitement.
Beaming at Moria, Joseph pulled in a lungful of air. "Smells brilliant,
Hummingbird." Easing Evy up with him, he guided her to the table and pulled out
a chair for her. Even though she gave him an odd look, she sat. Kissing the
side of her head, Joseph waited for Moria to join them before sitting himself.
"Our Hawk's nothing if not a gentlemen." Moria smiled at Joseph. "I can't take
credit for the sauce. I guilt tripped my Nanna into making me some and putting
it in stasis jars for me." She took the lids off everything and poured the wine
while letting her cousins' to get their food.
That made Evy beam. "Mom made this?" Helping herself to a mound of pasta and
sauce, she grinned as she took the first bite. "Hell yeah, Mom definitely made
this."
Smirking at the look of sheer joy on Evelyn's face, Joseph started on his own.
"It's good."
"Of course it's good," Evy said as if it should have been obvious. "My mother's
the best cook in the family."
"And Evy is one of the few who has no issues with choosing sides." Moria
laughed. "The rest of us try to steer clear of placing a vote. The only thing
we all agree on is that Aunt Belle can't boil water and burns toast."
"And she ain't baking our wedding cake," Evy said with her mouth full.
"Wedding cake?" Joseph said, peering at her face.
"I didn't say that. Did I?"
Moria beamed. "Yes Sweetpea you said that. And if there's one thing Nanna and
Grandma Jo do well together is cakes. They did my wedding cake, the babies'
Christening cakes, and the cakes for their first birthdays."
From the wistful glint in Joseph's eyes, Evy pointed her fork at him. "And no.
No kids."
"None?"
"Not yet," she humphed.
"But eventually?"
"Damnit, this ain't fair. How d'you do this?" Turning wide but happy eyes on
Moria, she asked, "How does he do this?"
"He can do it because you want him too." Moria asked simply. "Your just scared
is all. It'll feel a lot less alien after awhile."
"And scary, does it stop being scary?" At Moria's nod, Evy asked another, more
frightened question, "And wonderful, does it stop being that too?"
Moria shook her head. "It never stops being wonderful, but sometimes, when
things seem hard, and you've been fighting, and the kids are in an uproar,
wonderful gets a little fuzzy, but it's always still there."
Evy nodded, silently turning back to her food. Three more forkfuls and she
found she couldn't stomach it any more so she pushed her plate away.
"Though, one thing that isn't so wonderful, is your tendency to do that,"
Joseph observed.
"Do what?" She'd been staring off into space and hadn't even really noticed
what she was doing.
"Not eating." Turning to Moria, he said, "Did you know that she only ever eats
about a tenth of any meal?"
"It use to drive my Nanna crazy." Moria admitted as she nodded her head. "At
one point when she was a teenager Nanna was scared to death she had some kind
of eating disorder."
"And she doesn't?" Joseph kept eye-contact with Moria. "Because I can see this
scaring me to death too."
"Of course I don't!" Evy huffed as she glared between the pair of them. "I just
don't eat all that much is all."
"But she doesn't have one, right?" Joseph pushed.
Moria shook her head. "Nanna took her to all kinds of doctors. At one point I
think she was taking a supplement almost like what JD takes." Looking over at
Evy she smiled. "There's gelato in the ice box."
Evy's face lit up but she stayed where she was. "I'll wait, I'm fine."
"Like hell you are. If you eat ice cream then ice cream is what I'll feed you."
Joseph pushed away from the table and started rummaging around in said ice box.
When he came back, he had a bowl of gelato, which he swapped for Evy's plate of
barely touched dinner. "Eat," he ordered.
Shaking her head at him, Evy picked up her spoon and did as she was told. "You
know, Vix has threatened to put me back on the supplements. I think it kinda
worried her when she found out that I'm almost a stone and a half under weight."
"It wouldn't hurt, Sweetpea." Moria said carefully. "You know Andy's likely to
take you off duty if you drop any more then that." Turning to Joseph she gave
him a warm smile. "Don't fuss so much, Hawk."
"You know, between the pair of you, I'm beginning to feel put upon." Evy
laughed as she polished off her bowl. "But I'll go see Vix in the morning. The
Cap ain't gonna take me off duty."
"Oh, for Andy you eat but not for me?" Joseph asked in a wounded voice.
"I ate the ice cream, didn't I?"
"Don't you normally?" When Evy just shrugged, he looked at Moria. "Doesn't she
normally?"
Moria shook her head. "She eats about half then offers the rest to her sister,
and if Miranda's not around she gives it to the dog."
"And you're sure she's not got some kind of disorder?" Joseph said skeptically.
"I'm sure, Hawk." Moria told him firmly.
"Now are you done talking about me as if I'm not here?" Evy said as she
wandered over to the freezer and got herself some more ice cream.
As he watched her, Joseph felt slightly smug but totally relieved. In a low
whisper so she wouldn't hear, he said, "You ever seen her go back for seconds?"
As Evy walked by Moria reached out and grabbed her, pulling the younger woman
to her and wrapping her arm around her waist in a hug. "Only once, when Grandpa
John took us Miranda, and Vix to Rome. First time she had real gelato."
Evy grunted slightly in shock and then hugged her cousin back. "I like real ice
cream," she shrugged. "And what's with the hugging? I'm not a teddy bear, ya
know."
"Since when do I need a reason to hug anyone?" Moria asked with a smile as she
let her cousin go. "Besides, I didn't mean to talk about you as if you weren't
here."
"I'm used to it. The way my mom goes on sometimes, you'd think I was never in
the same room as her." Slipping back into her seat, she shuffled it a bit
closer to Joseph's.
"You don't get on?" Copying Evy, he moved closer to her and slid an arm around
her waist. "You and your ri'nanov."
"Not exactly. She thinks I'm too hot headed and impulsive. She ain't what you'd
call proud of me, let's put it that way."
Moria frowned as she thought about the way her Nanna and Evy use to get into
it, but something told her Evy's statement was only half true. "Evy's a Daddy's
girl." She said before asked. "And have you ever asked her?"
"Why bother? That woman lost faith in me a long time ago." Waving her spoon to
emphasize her words, Evy said, "I'm the only one of seven kids to not follow
their parents into Starfleet proper. To this day, I swear she thinks it was to
spite her and Daddy."
"Making assumptions about what another person thinks or feels can lead to a lot
of unnecessary pain, Evelyn." Moria said softly, her eyes flickering a glimmer
of pain as she cleared the table and headed off towards her small kitchenette
area.
"What the hell..." Evy frowned at Moria's back. Moving up behind her, she said
softly, "I'm sorry. You know it's a long standing feud. It's never bothered you
before, hun. What's different this time?"
"It might be a while before we see them again, Evy." Moria answered. "Mine
thinks she's pushed me away cause we had a fight and I walked out of the house.
Yours is to damn stubborn, like you are by the way, to tell you that even if
she thinks your a hot head she's still proud of you."
"I ain't stubborn and she ain't proud of me," Evy said as a little pain
flickered through her eyes. "Your mama will know, the moment she sees you
again, that she hasn't done anything of the sort. Mine... well, since she's
already told me how ashamed she is of me, I guess she's not gonna miss me all
that much."
Moria turned to look at Evy and blinked. "She said that?"
"Her exact words were, I believe, 'Demoted again, Evelyn? I don't know how a
child of mine can be such a disappointment.' So yeah, she said that." Evy
hugged her arms around herself but shrugged. "S'no big deal, I guess. I mean, I
knew already, I just never expected her to say it out loud."
Moria actually flinched. "You know she doesn't always think before she says
stuff and that she's sorry about saying it when she does think about it."
Reaching out Moria wrapped her arms around Evy. "Talk to her when we get back?"
"No thanks, I'm more than tired of talking to my mother. It always goes the
same way: I start the conversation, she starts to lecture at me, I get pissed
and start yellin' then she gets pissed and tells me to get out." It was all
said in a sad, quiet voice that only Moria could hear.
Joseph had been watching the two women talk but when Moria put her arms around
Evy, he frowned. Sticking your great nose in it, Hawk, he thought as he shoved
to his feet. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly. When he saw tears glistening in
Evy's eyes, he started to panic. "What happened?"
"Ask Morning Star, Hawk. Every girl understands the issues between mothers and
daughters." Moria rubbed Evy's back as she looked over at Hawk.
"I'd love to but Jada's not here and you two are and my e'lev is crying and I
seriously don't like it and it's worrying me and I suddenly want to make it
better and I can't and..." Joseph scrubbed a hand through his hair and blew out
a heavy breath. "And I don't like it when my e'lev is hurting."
"E'lev?" Evy said quietly.
"My love, my light, everything beautiful in my life." Pulling Evy out of
Moria's arms, he squeezed her tightly. "I'm gonna take care of you and make it
all better."
"How?"
"Umm..." He lifted worried eyes to Moria. "By... Um..."
Moria smiled. "By making my cousin happy and by letting a little hummingbird
take care of Lindsey Hale."
"That sounds like a fair trade." Joseph smiled as he kissed the side of Evy's
head. "She's a bit of a dragon then, my mother-in-law to be?"
"Hey now," Moria huffed. "that's my Nanna your talking about."
"And my mom," Evy piped up.
"And the person who made you cry. Something," he said as he tilted her head to
look into her winter eyes, "that you rarely do, am I right?"
"Well there was the time she thought she'd gotten me and Vix in trouble and she
started to cry when she thought we were going to get punished. And there was
the time Steve hit her in the ear with a snowball that had ice in it. And she
cries at weddings, and when babies are born, though she tries to hid it." Moria
smiled and took a breath.
"Oh no!" Clamping a hand over Moria's mouth, Evy glared at her. "Enough, okay,
he gets it. I'm a cry-baby, we know." Her colour rose and she almost stamped
her foot when Joseph pulled her hand away from Moria.
"I'm not entirely clear on that point, wanna give me some more examples?"
Joseph said, his eyes dancing.
Rolling her eyes, Evy turned in his arms and buried her head in his neck.
"Brilliant, just brilliant. Any other totally embarrassing things you wanna
share, cuz?"
"Hmm, let me think." Moria teased. She could dish out hundreds of things, but
she knew that she didn't like it went she'd been teased around Sam and Joe, so
she wasn't going to do it any more to Evy.
Drawing Evy's head back, Joseph smirked at her. "You know, each thing is just
going to make me love you more, don't you?"
"It is?"
"Mm-hmm," he murmured as he kissed her. "Everything new I learn about you makes
me fall deeper."
Moria beamed. "Does that mean I can tell him about the time you took Miranda's
bra and..."
"NO!" Turning beetroot red, Evy cringed and glared into Joseph's eyes. "I'm
gonna kill her, actually throttle her until she stops talkin'."
"Hummingbird? Stop talking? Never!"
Moria stuck her tongue out at both of them. "Fine fine I'll stop, though I
think he'd find the time you lost your bikini top in the waves that time all us
girls went camping, particularly amusing."
Smirking and giggling, Joseph shook his head. "Maybe you could re-enact it for
me, e'lev."
Evy groaned and once again hid her head against him. "When we get home, I'm
askin' your mama all the really embarrassing things from when you were little."
"Ask Tabetha, she was nine when I was born, she'd be able to tell you all sorts
I'm sure. And be happy to." Joseph chuckled and cuddled her. "Which reminds me,
I need to introduce you to my cheeriest, sunniest sister." Looking up at Moria,
he asked, "Did you ever meet Tab? I don't remember."
"Once right after... after Sam's funeral so I don't really remember much."
Moria answered.
"We can head over now, if you like. She's more than tired of hearing about you
but not meeting you and now's the perfect opportunity. You fancy?" Joseph said
easily.
Moria smiled and nodded. "Evy, you mind sharing him a little longer tonight?"
"Not at all," Evy smiled between her cousin and her boyfriend. "I think I'd
like to meet her."
"You think?" Joseph said.
Chuckling, she stuck her tongue out. "I know."
Other related posts:
- » [ussbansheec] Matchmaker
