The Road Home

[abrightboy]

Raylan's loose ends had been tied in Kentucky and Malcolm's were as tantalizingly close as they'd ever been. He and Raylan made the trip to New York with the intent of discovering the fate of the girl in the box, so they could head down to Miami without... baggage.

They would have to start with the revelation Jessica and Ainsley had made to Malcolm right before Raylan was shot, sending Malcolm back to Kentucky: that Eve had infiltrated the Whitly family to learn more about the Surgeon's victims.

Malcolm let them into the New York loft - a space he considered theirs now, more than his, since they decided they might weather the hurricane season there after moving to Miami - smiling as Sunshine tweeted greetings. Once the door was shut behind Raylan, he opened the door of her cage. Ainsley would have fed her diligently, but nobody would have let her out to fly. Sunshine took off across the loft and Malcolm grinned, watching her go.

He looked at Raylan. "We can still bring her with us when we leave, right?"

Comments

[tinstar]

Helpfully tilting his head back to both give Malcolm free rein, he watched his fiancée from under cracked eyes and hummed softly.

"Mm no, not really. They seem to have tapered off. Which I assume is a good thing. I'm gonna try to avoid gettin' hit in the head for a little while longer too, just in case all it takes is a soft rattle to set me back again." He understood how severe his injury had been and he was damned lucky to be alive with all his faculties.

"Gonna need to start going back to the range though. Keepin' myself sharp and makin' sure that nothings wrong when I'm firin' is important too. Once we've got the time though. Tomorrow's gonna be a busy day."

[abrightboy]

“Look at you taking care of yourself,” Malcolm murmured approvingly. He leaned up to press a kiss to Raylan’s chin. A reward. “Can I come watch you shoot?” he asked.

It wasn’t about the guns; it was about watching Raylan in his element, doing something he was passionate about.

[tinstar]

Raylan's teeth flashed in a grin at the praise, slipping back into a crooked curl of utter bliss at the kiss to his chin. He'd never been so spoiled with affection before, even in the throes of new passion and new love; there were still days where he had to remind himself that this was, in fact, real.

"'Course," he replied, brow twitching a fraction in. "If you want to. I don't mind havin' you as an audience. So long as you follow all the rules of trainin', which I doubt'll be a problem. Any particular reason?"

Not that it would change Raylan's answer.

[abrightboy]

“I want to watch your face when you do it,” he said in all honesty before steering Raylan back into the spray to rinse. Once the shampoo was out, Malcolm took down another bottle and started working conditioner through his hair. “I know shooting is something that you feel passionate about,” he adds, like there hadn’t been a break.

[tinstar]

Eyebrows pinching in a passing soft confusion, he cracked an eye to steal a glance of his lover before the water threatened to get where it wasn't wanted and he was forced to close them again.

"It is. One of the first and only things I remain pretty damned good at." Well, he knew it was more than that but Frances had raised a polite young man and bragging wasn't part of that.. Here.. where he didn't need to flex.

"Not the only thing though," he half purred, hands staying loose and heavy on Malcolm's waist, fingers gripping gently. "You didn't think I'd tell you no, did you?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm smiles down between them at the grip on his waist, then looks up at Raylan’s face.

“I thought it might be too personal; something you felt more comfortable doing alone. I wouldn’t interfere if that was the case, but… if you’re okay with it, I’d love to watch.”

[tinstar]

"Nah," he huffed as Malcolm finished clearing his hair of conditioner, letting Raylan open his eyes and take in the drop splattered, beautiful face in front of him. "It's onna my best skills," he rumbled, bending down to steal another kiss. When it broke, he was reaching for the soap and getting it wet so he could suds up Malcolm's back.

"Plus, it only fair. I get to watch you work and 'practice', insomuch as you do." The verbal battles were magnificent to get to listen to and Raylan did love watching Malcolm take someone apart without a swing swung. Most of the time, anyway.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm’s smile spread to a grin.

“Well, I do my thing to suspects and civilians alike. They don’t love it but it’s not illegal,” he joked, turning for his sudsing. “I really enjoyed shooting with you at your farm that time.” Though that had been a little overshadowed by the sex in the barn. “But I can’t wait to see what you do to paper targets on a range.”

[tinstar]

"It's not illegal no, but it is fun," he quipped, soaping more efficiently when Malcolm wasn't facing him. His hands slid around to the front, pulling Malcolm against him as he continued his dutiful work.

"Same thing I do to bad guys out in the field.. but I do need to make sure everythin's.. working right. Lining up the way it should be. Just promise me there won't be any pitty claps if I miss entirely."

[abrightboy]

Miss entirely? That doesn’t sound like Raylan. Malcolm looks at him over his shoulder with renewed concern.

“I promise, but… you’re feeling okay, right?”

Had he rushed them here, into this mystery?

[tinstar]

Raylan's face pulled in a smile, features pulling down faintly as he nods his head. He'd only been joking. (Sort of - he hadn't gone to the range since he'd gotten shot, though he had practiced his draw. First things first.)

"Yeah," he assured warmly, hugging him with a gentle tightness from behind before slipping the soap into Malcolm's palm. "And if that changes, believe me, I'll say somethin'. What I do is too important and if I can't do it right, I need to take the time to get back in form. For everyone's sake."

And if tomorrow brought him a situation where he had to test it all out sans practice? Well. He'd deal with that bridge when it came up.

"I'm okay."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm breathed out relief as the soap hit his hand and he turned to face Raylan so he could start spreading lather all over him, too. But first he leaned up for a gentle kiss. Sitting in that hospital room felt like years ago and also like yesterday. He was acutely aware, there, how much was still not done. Like their wedding. Like their perfect house on the beach. Like their life in it.

“I bet you can still put a bullet right through the target’s paper eyeball.”

[tinstar]

Humming into the kiss, Raylan chuckled at the confidence, eyebrows lifting unevenly and in amusement.

"Put money on it and I might double it." If it came down to keeping someone safe, Raylan was sure he could hit enough of a target to matter. He downplayed his skills all the time and for a very specific reason, but Raylan had confidence in himself and his ability with his weapon.

"But for now, I'm ready to order that takeout, watch something while I shove my face and then take you to bed. Soap me as yours Malcolm or leave me forever," he said dramatically, smile spreading into a grin. Before he realized Malcolm might not know what he was talking about.

"Top Gun, its.."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm smiled at him from under his brow as he ran the soap over Raylan’s hips with the utmost care.

“I’ve seen Top Gun,” he says. “Though I can see why you might think I wouldn’t have,” he laughs.

[tinstar]

Raylan grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. But also good. It's a classic." Clearly.

Once they were done with their shower, dried off and Raylan wrapped himself in a towel to pad around the apartment as he browsed the delivery options for the area.

"You sure I can't get you anything more than the soup?" he asked with a worried look from under his eyebrows. "Somethin' for tomorrow maybe?" Nothing wrong with frontloading a little and having something to come back to the day after.

[abrightboy]

“For tomorrow?” He considered that. “Do they have anything that’s mostly rice? Maybe with a bit of chicken and vegetables?” he asked, then quickly added “Not all mixed in it, but, like… on the top or on the side?”

[tinstar]

"They've got a sides menu," he confirmed with a nod, hitting a few buttons and looking over with a smile. "It'll be here in about half an hour. Now we just gotta figure out what to do with ourselves."

[OOC: Wanna jump to the next day?]

Yep!

[abrightboy]

After his night terror, Malcolm curled back up against Raylan’s side. Normally, it wouldn’t have been too long before he got up and started puttering around his routine, taking his meds and making coffee and doing his yoga. The previous day’s events and what his gut told him it would lead to were weighing on him, though, and he stayed there in the warmth of Raylan’s body and the comfort of his scent, fingers fidgeting at his ribs as the sun started filtering in the windows and he needed to get up to take his meds but he didn’t want to.

[tinstar]

3:30 in the morning meant that, screaming that he'd gotten half used to or not, he was falling back asleep. But it wasn't a deep sleep, more akin to a heavy doze, arm securely wrapped around Malcolm and the warm solid presence against Raylan's chest in the peaceful dark of the too early morning. He couldn't have said what it was that pulled him up out of the deep sleep but up he was, judging by the way his thumb started drifting over Malcolm's back, back and forth.

"You awake?" he asks, rough and ruffled with sleep but aware that Malcolm's breath was too deeply drawn to be sleep rhythm.

[abrightboy]

“Yeah,” he answers, fingers less frantic in the wake of the calming stroke of Raylan’s thumb along his back. “Never went back to sleep.” But still strapped in, just in case.

[tinstar]

"Mm," he hummed with another deep breath. "Was it that bad or did you just not wanna leave?"

[abrightboy]

He breathed out a self-deprecating laugh.

“Maybe both today. The phone hasn’t rung, so they haven’t found Eve. My father says the girl in the box was never dead, and that might be true, but she also never resurfaced. Staying in bed with my fiance felt like a better morning than getting up and facing all that.” His fingers drifted up Raylan’s sternum. “It’s warm here. I can think about Miami. I can feel like I can see it, just coming over the horizon.”

[tinstar]

Raylan lifted his off arm just enough to drape it over his center and let idle finger pads drift along Malcolm's skin as he shifted and moved around to different parts of Raylan's body.

"We're close. I can't wait to pack up half of this place and Sunshine and drive you down to forever. We'll find her, darlin'." And for now, they could linger right here as long as Malcolm wanted.

"What else are we packing up besides the bird?" It would give Malcolm something nicer to latch onto.

[abrightboy]

It does visibly lift his spirits to consider that and he gestures over Raylan’s chest with a jingle of his restraints.

“My clothes… my weapons… some of my books.” He points to the far end of the room, adjacent to the weapons cases. “Those two paintings down there.” He glances around. “That’s probably it.”

[tinstar]

He smiled and as he thought about that weight, chuckled. "We might have to rent something more substantial than my town car. Maybe an SUV. Something with room and heated seats. Do your weapons have boxes or are we gonna have to improvise?"