Log: Doug and Laurie

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Backdated to 7th May 2016




Laurie hummed lightly to herself as she placed wine in an ice bucket near the open fireplace in the living room of the suite she cohabited with Doug. He was working late tonight but should be home any minute.

She'd spent the day asking Marie-Ange and Wade advice on various points from food to music choice but she had to say it was worth it.

Laurie loved Spring, there was just something so perfect and new about it, from the new animals to the new plants and crisp spring breezes.

She planned on sharing a late night romantic dinner with her partner, in part to celebrate his birthday but also simply because they'd both been working so hard and needed the time together to reconnect.

There was something about curling up on a couch with a loved one with the warmth and quiet crackle of a fire. Even in Spring. So Doug had already been looking forward to settling in with Laurie when he came in to discover that she'd anticipated him. "You're the best," he said as he dropped his laptop and phone next to the suite door. This looked to be the sort of evening where electronics would be strictly verboten, and that was fine with him.

Laurie smiled as she moved across the plushy carpeted floor of their living room, only pausing to give him a particularly serious hello kiss, before taking his hand to lead him to the little island of calm she'd created while he'd been away.

"Wine?"

"That sounds fantastic," Doug said, accepting the glass Laurie gave to him before encouraging him to settle down into the couch. "So, any occasion I'm missing, or is this a 'just because'?" Laurie took her self-appointed job as caretaking reminder for him, Marie-Ange, and Wade seriously. All four of them were subject to overworking tendencies in their own way, but Laurie was the best of them at remembering self-care.

"Well, your birthday but also just because, and maybe a touch of anything could happen at any time and so taking a random day to tell you how special you are to me as often as possible has always seemed like a good idea," Laurie replied, settling down next to him with her own glass of wine and a soft sigh of release. She'd been on her feet for most of the day between physical therapy and her rounds at the hospital that kept her from thinking too often on darker parts of her mind. "But also a little for me too, because it's been ages since either of us was still for any length of time."

Doug could feel the low-grade tension of his work sloughing off - apparently he'd needed this more than he'd realized. "How did I get so lucky?" he asked semi-rhetorically. He still felt like he needed to pinch himself some days, because even just a few years ago he wouldn't have imagined where he was now.

"Maybe you were nice to ducklings in a past life?" Laurie mused, taking a sip of her wine and toeing off her shoes with something akin to glee. "Or you could have done a huge favour for a Jin and this is its way of repaying you. Ooor, it could just be that you're a great guy and being you was enough, no luck required."

Despite the semi-rhetorical nature of Doug's question, Laurie had always been quick to answer any questions put to her - whether they required answers or not. It was just her way, over-achieving urges and all.

Doug leaned into her as she sat down next to him. "Not complaining at all," he clarified. "Just feel like an awkward teenager at times still," he admitted. "So, at the risk of sounding terribly suburban and cliche, how was your day, dear?" he asked with a grin.

"Surprisingly uneventful, considering recent events." Laurie murmured, curling her legs up under her and shifting her weight to allow Doug to lean more fully on her. She turned and lay a kiss on his shoulder before taking another sip of wine. "I get the feeling that our new batch of students will, given time, rectify that."

"Students are good at that." Doug chuckled. "I know I was, back when, speaking of being an awkward teenager." He leaned into her, pressing an answering kiss into the top of her head. "So...we have wine and a cozy fire, any other plans for the evening?" he asked with a twinkle, fairly certain that the answer was yes.

"Well, I have wanted to catch up on my reading,"

Laurie's words trailed off thoughtfully but the teasing gleam in her eyes and the upturned corners of her mouth indicated that she had other, somewhat more interesting plans.

Doug raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to match the angle of Laurie's. "It seems like an awful lot of setup to just catch up on your reading," he observed with an answering upward quirk of his mouth.

"I suppose I could be persuaded to pursue other avenues of pleasurable entertainment given the correct amount of motivation," Laurie murmured, running the fingers of her human hand lightly across Doug's arm, before tangling her fingers with his. "Do you think a certain spy of my acquaintance would be up for such a task?"

"I doubt he'd need much persuading to be...up...for any task you set for him," Doug murmured, the quirking of his mouth moving into a full-on smirk. 'Wordplay' was only a few letters off from 'foreplay', after all. "I'm pretty sure he's...into...that sort of thing."

“Oh?” Laurie replied, her voice lowered into what was almost a purr. “Do you think we should ask him?”

Laurie dropped her hand to Doug’s thigh, shifting her fingers upwards as she leaned forward to suck softly at his neck.

"Mhm..." The aggressive move caused Doug's intent playfulness to skip for a moment - he tended to enjoy letting Laurie take the lead, as she was one of the few people he could trust and be that way with. The White Knight had appearances to maintain, after all, and needed to be the assertive and confident sort generally. "You definitely seem...on top of things."

“The view from on top is always preferable,” Laurie replied, gently pushing him backwards into the couch cushions as she took the lead and straddled his lap. “Now, I do believe it’s time for this pawn to take my knight.”