2019-10-13 - Shadow of the Season

It's cold, and the threats of rain are starting to gather at the horizon of the mid-autumn Washington skies. It blotches at the stars and low hanging moon. She is awake at this hour, sprawled out on the bed in her bedroom. Kevin had stayed the night, and he might very well be asleep, but Magnolia Jones has gone a full 180, and has her feet on her pillow and head at the foot of the bed, staring up at the ceiling with a blank, unfocused expression. She's in a pair of simple PJs -- polkadot pants, loose t-shirt with SOUNDGARDEN flecking and dulled on the black fabric. She has her arm draped across her stomach, fingers rubbing at the hem of the t-shirt, while her other arm is tucked around and under her head. She is singing softly under her breath, "Black hole sun... won't you come... and wash away the rain. Black hole sun, won't you come... won't you come."

Kevin isn't expecting to wake up to old-school grunge, even sung under her breath. He peels open one eye, looking at the feet in front of him, and then down to the other end of the bed to the pillowed blonde head and the faded shirt. Leaning forward, he presses a quick kiss to the top of her foot, "Morning, Lia. You're looking toe-tally lovely this morning." Sitting up, he forces a faux blink, "Oh there you are. I thought you'd taken off your face overnight." His smile softens, and he gives her shin a caress, "Hey, babe."

Kevin's teasing has her rolling her eyes a bit, but there's a smile on her lips as she rolls her head in her arm to look at him. Then she glances to the window which still holds the last hour or so of night, so it is technically morning. She must have lost track of time. With a breath, she looks back up at the ceiling. "No. Just wanted to look at things from a different angle." That's a PI thing -- no, that's a cop thing. "You know, my dad was killed on October 23rd." It's October 13th for those keeping track. "They told my mom that there was no way, with the amount of blood they found, that he could have survived. They never found his body though, so there was not much they could do."

"And you haven't been sleeping," Kevin chides gently, "So you're looking for an altered state too, aren't you?" But there's the heavier matter, and he lets out a breath, pulling himself out of the covers, wearing a t-shirt and sleep-shorts for Lark's sake in case they run into each other in the middle of the night. He shifts around so that he's laying next to her instead of opposite her, although his attention is focused on her rather than the ceiling or the window. "So there's always just a little bit of hope, since the body just disappeared. Especially with how weird things are here in town, yeah? There anything I should know? I mean, I'm sure it's a rough time for you, but do you need a Luke Danes-style Dark Day or anything, Lia? I can totally watch the munchkin."

"Sleeping is for the weak and the dead." It slips of her tongue unconsciously, and then Magnolia's expression becomes disquieted. She rubs slightly at the side of her jaw, and then she looks over toward Kevin as he settles beside her. "No. I let that haunt me for years after Dad disappeared. He's dead, Kevin. I don't want to play that game. Then I start slipping into darker places that ask questions like where has he been for the last sixteen years, why haven't I found anything to suggest he's still alive." Which means that Magnolia has looked, she's dug around, and nothing. Then Kevin is referencing Gilmore Girls, and the woman huffs out a short laugh. She shakes her head slightly against the bedspread. "No. Charlie and I will go to the graveyard, visit their graves... and then probably get really drunk." There's no joy there despite how she smiles. It's that flippant nature of Magnolia Jones. Then she's staring up at the ceiling again. "Oliver always gravitated toward Mom. But me? I was Dad's kid from the start. Didn't mean I didn't love Mom, or anything. Just that Dad and I clicked more."

Kevin arches an eyebrow at the quote, "Really, Badass McGee?" Then both eyebrows rise up, "Wait, that wasn't... never mind." Nodding slowly at her brief history of grief, his smile fades away, drawing in a slow breath and letting it out until she's laughing -- and then going back to her no-joy smile. "You want me watching Lark or drinking with you guys?" Then he winces, adding, "Or, you know, butting my nose right out." The description of the family draws another nod, "Pretty sure that's usually how it goes, when Mom doesn't run off." There's some flippancy from Kevin as well. "I'm happy to make sure Lark gets dinner and hold back your hair. I'll even drive you both so that nobody gets arrested for a DUI -- or, you know, anything worse happens." There's also less than flippancy. Or more, depending on your point of view.

Magnolia tips a look at Kevin before she goes back to staring at the ceiling. "I usually give Lark over to Mom for the day because she likes to take Lark somewhere and pretend it isn't the 23rd of October. I usually hate leaving Lark alone with her, but Oliver usually shows up to help manage that, and Lark likes seeing Uncle Liv." Then she glances over toward Kevin again. "Being our DD sounds like a good idea though." Now she sighs, and both hands rest against her stomach as she stares up at the ceiling. "Sometimes I wish Mom had run off. You don't know what it's like to just watch your parent retreat so far into herself that she's basically a shell."

Kevin looks a little concerned at the mention of Magnolia's mother watching Lark, but he nods at her reassurance. "Okay. I'll make sure you don't run into anything important." Or anything at all, since he's going to be driving. He starts to say something as she stares up at the ceiling, but then subsides for a moment. His lips tighten, and then he reaches out to touch her arm, then more surely grasp it, "Yeah, I do, Lia." The words are quiet but firm as he squints just a little at her without his glasses. "I know exactly what it's like to have that happen."

Now, she looks at him. Magnolia's eyes search his in this closeness, and then she sighs; her expression deflates into something apologetic. "Of course you do. I'm sorry." She rubs slightly at her brow. "We all think that our pain is unique, but I forgot that you've had your own parental woes." Now she starts to roll up, curling in her knees. At least she's giving the ceiling a reprieve from her stare. "I'm sorry about your mom. And... I'm sorry about your dad."

Kevin reaches out with his right hand as she sits up, not to stop her, but just to keep the connection as he pushes up onto his other elbow. "You don't have to be sorry, Lia." His fingers tighten on her arm a moment, "Just, I'd like it if you didn't use family to push me away." Sitting there on her bed after having slept curled together -- at least as long as she slept -- he draws in a breath and squints up at her, "Unless you're trying to push me away. Then it'd be nice if you'd just tell me."

The blonde bows her head down against her knees, rubbing at the back of her neck. She tightens her hands together, lifting her head to look down at him. "I'm not trying to push you away." She scratches and rubs gently at her neck again as she looks away. "Chaz and I would go out every year to their graves, and Edgar always left me alone. I don't know what to do with someone who loves me and actually wants to support me." Oops, she said the 'L'-word, but in a weird kind of deflective way. She winces, looking back to him with a furrow of her brows. "Not that you love me or anything."

This is where Kevin gets awkward too, shifting around and then straightening up a little more so that he can sit upright beside her, the hand at her arm dropping away but the other hand coming up to stroke at her back. "I can leave you alone too. I mean, I don't really want to if you're going to be drinking, but I can." It's way, way safer than getting into the rest of it. But after the shortest of pauses, he's got to. "I don't know," with his glasses off, somehow he looks younger, more vulnerable, "maybe I do." He assays a little smile, shrugging a little helplessly. "Is that scary to you, Lia? Because it's kind of scary to me."

Magnolia keeps her chin resting on her arms, turning slightly into his hand as he keeps up the gentle touch. "I don't want you to leave me alone. I want you to be here with me." The confidence in those words should dash away any hesitation Kevin has. Her next words come with a sigh, and then there's a smile. She reaches up to curve her palm into his cheek, and then she tugs him in so she can press a kiss to his lips. "Yeah. Terrifies the shit out of me. But that's kinda the point, right?"

Kevin lets out a breath at her confident words, relief sagging his shoulders. He turns his head into the kiss, his mouth opening and his tongue just touching her lips as he pours in the fear and the finer, sweeter emotions behind that fear. His free hand comes up to touch her cheek, and he grins a little goofily as he straightens away from the kiss, "Oh good, we can be scared together." He pauses, and then makes it quite clear, "Magnolia Jones, I think I might love you." Well, mostly quite clear.

The depth of the kiss warms her, and she leans into it with a tilt of her head. Her own emotions pour into it until she's leaning into him, and her forehead comes to rest comfortably against his own. Then at his words, a little chuckle starts to build in her throat, and she leans back enough to look Kevin in his blue, perfect eyes. "Yeah. I know." Her lips quirk up with her Han Solo-ing, and she leans in again to kiss him.

Her response draws an honest, easy laugh to Kevin's lips, and he shakes head in amusement. He grins against her lips, pressing back into the kiss and then straightening back, "You think I'm going to protest about being the Leia Organa in this relationship? She's clearly the awesome one. She starts out a Princess and ends up a General. Han starts out a smuggler, becomes a General, and then slumps back into smuggling. Sorry, Team Leia all the way." His hand curls at her hip, aiming to draw her close against him, "So come here, you scoundrel, come here and kiss me like you mean it." Again, clearly.

Magnolia's brows arch as Kevin does his pro-Leia thesis, and then she starts to laugh with a warm and light roll of amusement. Her fingertips curl under his jaw, rubbing gently at the facial hair at his chin. "Yeah, okay. Team Leia." Then she is curling in toward him, letting him take the upper position in their sprawl, and she arches up into the kiss. She means it, and the emotions fill that embrace as her arms tighten up around his shoulders.

Kevin starts to just curl above her, but the arch into him draws him over even further, and he tips, his knee grounding down between her calves as he rolls more fully atop her. The motion incites a little sound of surprise in the midst of the kiss, but although his hand has to come away to brace that sprawl, he doesn't dream of lifting away from the kiss. Instead he falls into it, swept away like an unwary swimmer by a riptide, exhilaration and fear both speeding his heartbeat. He doesn't come up for air for a good long while, until his head spins, a touch of laughter bubbling to his lips, "Team who?" Great, she kissed the brains out of him.