Talk Nerdy to Me

Chapter 33: Epilogue

The sound of waves breaking on sand was soothing on her jangled nerves. She lay in bed, staring at Chris' sleeping face, his lips softly parted in repose. For once in her life, a beautiful scene lay before her, and she did not seek to capture it. Her hands did not itch to recreate it. She wanted this moment to last forever, this moment to make an impression in her memory so deep, she didn't need a photo or painting to recall it with exquisite detail. She felt like her hands simply could not capture it well enough.

Chris often woke now in the middle of the night, seeking her, pulling her tightly into his chest. When he would relax and sleep again is when she would relax and rest. Both were exhausted following her ordeal on the boat. Both were further exhausted knowing that the work was far from over, that Chris would be entering comeback season with most of his vacation time in Australia taken up with the rescue. Ra would need to jump back into the paintings soon as well.

But now. Here. Here in this brief time, Ra could see him relaxed, resting, and take him in. Ra wanted nothing more than to stay right here, forever, and not let the outside world in.

Berry had other plans. The little dog leapt into the bed next to them, pulling Chris from his sleep. He chuckled when he saw who had woken him.

"Berry! Berry, hi, how are you? Yes you're such a good dog. Good girl." He made silly kissy faces at Berry, laughing when the dog licked his face excitedly.

"Hi, Berry," Ra said, holding her hand out to the little dog. The dog forwent the proffered hand, electing to jump up and kiss her face too. Ra giggled, playfully demanding the kisses to stop. If anything that only excited the poor dog more.

"I guess we're up for the day," Ra murmured softly, lying back down into his warmth. She felt chilly most of the time after her brief time in autumnal Australian open water, and Chris ran so warm... She felt like she couldn't ever get enough of how it felt to feel that warm, comfortable embrace.

They only had the rest of today here in Australia, with his parents and siblings and Berry. The plan was one more day at the beach, right outside their rental cabin, more time in the sun.

It was still relatively early, though, and both were content to stay in bed a little while longer. Ra tentatively glanced at the closed door. No one was awake, or at least no one was making any noise in the rest of the cabin. They were in a bedroom apart from his family. She chewed on her lower lip, deliberating, carefully weighing the consequences of any actions she took, and choosing the one that would make her happy in this moment.

"Chris..." She said softly. "Can I... can I do something? Please?"

He had his eyes shut, and murmured almost half to himself. "Of course you can, Ra. Your pace."

"My pace."

She had heard that from him before, and knew that they had a song by that title.

A lyric had stuck out to her, roughly translated to, "it's okay to run slowly." It hadn't really sunk in at first when she'd heard it. The song had an energy, a vitality that ran in lines like sweet cinnamon rolls on her legs, the sound itself not doing too much to her so she was able to appreciate the music itself without the interference of her auditory-tactile.

And so Ra made the decision to run slowly.

She leaned down into his warmth, letting his tank top ride up a touch. The soft part of her belly felt like liquid heat when her hand ran almost too lightly over his hip. She kissed him experimentally, not on the lips where she had done so before but on the column of his throat.

The quick intake of breath Chris took startled her, and she drew back. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, no," he looked up at her. "I wasn't expecting it. It felt good."