![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
asphaltcowgrrlTitle: Playin' With My Pain
Fandom: Code Red original fiction
Pairing: Ali Matson/Paulo Castelli
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,561
Summary: Even though seeing him goes against everything she believes, Ali can’t resist the pull of her old friend and sometimes lover. Maybe it’s the danger or maybe it’s something else.
Author’s Note: Written for the Say What prompt at 1_million_words for Friday, May 26, 2017. The prompt was: "To truly laugh, you must take your pain and play with it." – Charlie Chaplin.
She was about to do something exceedingly stupid. Ali knew that accepting his invitation was the wrong thing to do, but at the same time, she couldn’t resist. Hell, she’d never been able to tell him no. Not when she was sixteen and definitely not now at a lot older than sixteen.
“Fuck,” she muttered, pounding her hand against the steering wheel. Thank the gods that the kids were in Oklahoma with her ex-mother-in-law for the summer. On the other hand, if they were here, with her, she wouldn’t be taking such a dumb risk.
C’est la vie, she supposed.
An incoming text dinged, drawing her attention to her phone. Ali read the instructions and put her ancient Jeep into gear. The familiar rumble of the engine soothed her nerves and gave her something to focus on. Something other than her recklessness and the man waiting in the next state for her.
**
“Where are you,” her brother, Albert, asked over the poor connection. “And don’t tell me home because I’m in your living room right now.”
Chuckling, Ali maneuvered her Jeep into the driveway of a tiny cabin, parking next to a vehicle she didn’t recognize. “I took the kids and Martha to the airport this morning and thought I’d take a drive. I’ll be back Sunday afternoon.”
“Okay,” Albie said, drawing the word out in that way he did when he didn’t know what to say. “But where are you?”
“Um,” she said, looking around. “Some little town in West Virginia.”
“You don’t know the name of the town, Ali?”
Muffled laughter floated through the phone to her ear. “She knows where she is, idiot, she’s just not telling you.”
“Listen to Dave,” Ali grinned. “He’s smarter than you think. I’ll call you on Sunday.”
She hung up before her brother could ask any more questions. He had always been her protector and he hated it when she got evasive. If she was lucky, Dave would keep him from tracking her phone and following the GPS to where she now sat. But if she wasn’t, Dave himself might even suggest it. She couldn’t win.
“That your brother, little bird?”
Startled, Ali jumped at the sound of his voice. “Pelo amor de Deus, não faça isso,” she hissed in his native Portuguese.
“Sinto muito, meu amor,” he replied. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Damnit, Paulo,” Ali said, joy pushing through the adrenaline, “you scared the crap out of me.”
Without a word, he removed her bag from the backseat of the Jeep and headed into the house. Sighing, she got out and followed him. Come hell or high water, she was going to enjoy these two days she had before she was forced to return to reality.
**
Sunday morning dawned bright and furious with the sun shining in through the open windows. Stretching, Ali reached for Paulo, finding his side of the bed empty. It was as she had expected and yet, it still hurt like hell to have him slip out in the dead of night. Rolling out of bed, she found a t-shirt and pulled it on before wandering into the living room of the small cabin.
“It is about time you woke, my dear.”
“Holy crap,” she spluttered, heart thudding in her chest. “I thought you were gone.”
A sad smile lit Paulo’s face for a second before it settled back in his usual stoic handsomeness. “Our time together grows shorter every time we meet,” he said. Moving around the kitchen counter, he pulled her into his arms. “I have learned to buck my instincts and stay until dawn for fear that I’ll regret not saying a proper goodbye.”
It was one of her biggest fears as well. Not just for Paulo, but for everyone she knew. Paulie’s life was just a tiny bit more dangerous than everyone else’s. Dealing in stolen weaponry often resulted in lead hurtling towards your head at high velocity, but she tried not to think about it.
God, what had she gotten herself into? First Thé and then Paulo. Why couldn’t she have a normal boyfriend like everyone else? Did they all have to be psychotic criminals? Okay, so she knew the answer to that. Blake might have been a jerk, but he’d been clean as a whistle as far as criminal activity went. Maybe she ought to stick to dating the men she worked with and around.
Ah, hell no.
“I’m happy you stuck around, even if all you’re going to do is kiss me and disappear.”
His dark eyelashes fluttered, then closed. Paulo took a deep breath and held her tight. When he turned his melted chocolate eyes on her again, she could read the sadness in them. “I thought to feed you breakfast first.”
It wasn’t much, but she would take it.
**
Her longtime friend Andrew Young was sleeping on her couch when she arrived home. Dropping her bag loudly she moved into the living room and stood over him. “Wake up, jackass.”
Grinning at her from where he lay, Andrew blew her a kiss. “Missed you baby.”
“Can’t say the same, honey,” she lied. He’d always been one of her favorite people and he was always the last to judge, no matter how idiotic she was being. “You been here long?”
Andrew shook his head. “Nah, just an hour or so. Your brother had to leave town on assignment and he wanted to make sure someone knew whether you made it home or not.”
“I’m happy he didn’t send Dave then,” she groaned. Ali liked Dave. Scratch that, she freaking adored his goofy self, but having him alone in her house for any length of time was not a good idea. Dave liked to blow things up and her son had any number of items that would explode in a most spectacular fashion.
“I volunteered,” he said, sitting up and putting his feet on the floor. “I kind of had an idea of where you went. Well, maybe not where you went but why.”
Yeah, she’d been dumb enough to tell him about Paulo. In her defense, her marriage had just ended and she’d been pretty trashed at the time. Honestly, so had Andrew and she was surprised he even remembered their conversation that night. “Guilty,” she said.
“’Nuff said.” Andrew stood and hugged her, giving Ali a loud kiss on the side of her face. “He’s gone again for the duration, I suppose?”
Ali nodded, unable to say the words aloud. Paulo had told her he didn’t know when he’d be back or even if he’d see US soil again in his lifetime. Things had changed in the nearly thirty years they’d known each other. Every day it was harder and harder for him to get across the border. In either direction.
“You want some company,” he asked. Andrew had always been good at that, simply being there when she needed someone.
“Yeah, if you don’t have anything going on.”
“Nothing that I can’t put off for you,” he grinned.
“Well then, where’s the pizza and beer?” She gave him a squeeze before moving out of his embrace. “Order food and let me shower. I think I might have a movie around her somewhere. One that’s rated higher than G at that.”
“Yes ma’am,” he teased, saluting her higher rank and high stepping into the kitchen where she kept her take out menus.
Ali shook her head and headed into her room, stripping off clothes as she went. Every time Paulo came around, she swore she wasn’t going to let him in. Seeing his face, hearing his voice, it brought back too much. All the hurt and anger and betrayal her first husband had laid on her, everything that her second couldn’t fix. In the end, it never mattered because she put her pain on display and Paulie took it out, played with it a bit, and put it away leaving it neater than it had been before. Weirdly, the pain of her past lessened each time Paulo appeared even though that hurt flared a little brighter when he left. When it finally settled, however, she always moved another inch forward. Progress, she told herself.
“Ali,” Andrew said, sticking his head into the bathroom, but resisting the urge to peek behind the shower curtain, “dinner in fifteen.”
She flicked soap bubbles over the rod at him, laughing at his nerve. Although, when you’ve slept in a cave with a man, boundaries kind of evaporated. “Got it, but if you don’t leave me alone, I’ll be eating wet and naked.”
A hearty, fully male chuckled filled the small room. “And that’s supposed to get me out of here? How long have we known each other?”
“Considering you’re in my bathroom while I’m in the shower, I’m going to say the answer to that question is too damn long.”
His laughter followed him out of the room. Rolling her eyes at his antics, she rinsed the soap from her skin and shut off the shower. The nice thing about Andrew is he wouldn’t even bat an eye when she came out in her raggedy pajamas. Hell, he’d probably prefer it, to be honest. It was one of the best things about him.
“Okay, crazy ass, I’m dressed,” she called down the hallway. “You’d better have food!”
Fandom: Code Red original fiction
Pairing: Ali Matson/Paulo Castelli
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,561
Summary: Even though seeing him goes against everything she believes, Ali can’t resist the pull of her old friend and sometimes lover. Maybe it’s the danger or maybe it’s something else.
Author’s Note: Written for the Say What prompt at 1_million_words for Friday, May 26, 2017. The prompt was: "To truly laugh, you must take your pain and play with it." – Charlie Chaplin.
She was about to do something exceedingly stupid. Ali knew that accepting his invitation was the wrong thing to do, but at the same time, she couldn’t resist. Hell, she’d never been able to tell him no. Not when she was sixteen and definitely not now at a lot older than sixteen.
“Fuck,” she muttered, pounding her hand against the steering wheel. Thank the gods that the kids were in Oklahoma with her ex-mother-in-law for the summer. On the other hand, if they were here, with her, she wouldn’t be taking such a dumb risk.
C’est la vie, she supposed.
An incoming text dinged, drawing her attention to her phone. Ali read the instructions and put her ancient Jeep into gear. The familiar rumble of the engine soothed her nerves and gave her something to focus on. Something other than her recklessness and the man waiting in the next state for her.
**
“Where are you,” her brother, Albert, asked over the poor connection. “And don’t tell me home because I’m in your living room right now.”
Chuckling, Ali maneuvered her Jeep into the driveway of a tiny cabin, parking next to a vehicle she didn’t recognize. “I took the kids and Martha to the airport this morning and thought I’d take a drive. I’ll be back Sunday afternoon.”
“Okay,” Albie said, drawing the word out in that way he did when he didn’t know what to say. “But where are you?”
“Um,” she said, looking around. “Some little town in West Virginia.”
“You don’t know the name of the town, Ali?”
Muffled laughter floated through the phone to her ear. “She knows where she is, idiot, she’s just not telling you.”
“Listen to Dave,” Ali grinned. “He’s smarter than you think. I’ll call you on Sunday.”
She hung up before her brother could ask any more questions. He had always been her protector and he hated it when she got evasive. If she was lucky, Dave would keep him from tracking her phone and following the GPS to where she now sat. But if she wasn’t, Dave himself might even suggest it. She couldn’t win.
“That your brother, little bird?”
Startled, Ali jumped at the sound of his voice. “Pelo amor de Deus, não faça isso,” she hissed in his native Portuguese.
“Sinto muito, meu amor,” he replied. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Damnit, Paulo,” Ali said, joy pushing through the adrenaline, “you scared the crap out of me.”
Without a word, he removed her bag from the backseat of the Jeep and headed into the house. Sighing, she got out and followed him. Come hell or high water, she was going to enjoy these two days she had before she was forced to return to reality.
**
Sunday morning dawned bright and furious with the sun shining in through the open windows. Stretching, Ali reached for Paulo, finding his side of the bed empty. It was as she had expected and yet, it still hurt like hell to have him slip out in the dead of night. Rolling out of bed, she found a t-shirt and pulled it on before wandering into the living room of the small cabin.
“It is about time you woke, my dear.”
“Holy crap,” she spluttered, heart thudding in her chest. “I thought you were gone.”
A sad smile lit Paulo’s face for a second before it settled back in his usual stoic handsomeness. “Our time together grows shorter every time we meet,” he said. Moving around the kitchen counter, he pulled her into his arms. “I have learned to buck my instincts and stay until dawn for fear that I’ll regret not saying a proper goodbye.”
It was one of her biggest fears as well. Not just for Paulo, but for everyone she knew. Paulie’s life was just a tiny bit more dangerous than everyone else’s. Dealing in stolen weaponry often resulted in lead hurtling towards your head at high velocity, but she tried not to think about it.
God, what had she gotten herself into? First Thé and then Paulo. Why couldn’t she have a normal boyfriend like everyone else? Did they all have to be psychotic criminals? Okay, so she knew the answer to that. Blake might have been a jerk, but he’d been clean as a whistle as far as criminal activity went. Maybe she ought to stick to dating the men she worked with and around.
Ah, hell no.
“I’m happy you stuck around, even if all you’re going to do is kiss me and disappear.”
His dark eyelashes fluttered, then closed. Paulo took a deep breath and held her tight. When he turned his melted chocolate eyes on her again, she could read the sadness in them. “I thought to feed you breakfast first.”
It wasn’t much, but she would take it.
**
Her longtime friend Andrew Young was sleeping on her couch when she arrived home. Dropping her bag loudly she moved into the living room and stood over him. “Wake up, jackass.”
Grinning at her from where he lay, Andrew blew her a kiss. “Missed you baby.”
“Can’t say the same, honey,” she lied. He’d always been one of her favorite people and he was always the last to judge, no matter how idiotic she was being. “You been here long?”
Andrew shook his head. “Nah, just an hour or so. Your brother had to leave town on assignment and he wanted to make sure someone knew whether you made it home or not.”
“I’m happy he didn’t send Dave then,” she groaned. Ali liked Dave. Scratch that, she freaking adored his goofy self, but having him alone in her house for any length of time was not a good idea. Dave liked to blow things up and her son had any number of items that would explode in a most spectacular fashion.
“I volunteered,” he said, sitting up and putting his feet on the floor. “I kind of had an idea of where you went. Well, maybe not where you went but why.”
Yeah, she’d been dumb enough to tell him about Paulo. In her defense, her marriage had just ended and she’d been pretty trashed at the time. Honestly, so had Andrew and she was surprised he even remembered their conversation that night. “Guilty,” she said.
“’Nuff said.” Andrew stood and hugged her, giving Ali a loud kiss on the side of her face. “He’s gone again for the duration, I suppose?”
Ali nodded, unable to say the words aloud. Paulo had told her he didn’t know when he’d be back or even if he’d see US soil again in his lifetime. Things had changed in the nearly thirty years they’d known each other. Every day it was harder and harder for him to get across the border. In either direction.
“You want some company,” he asked. Andrew had always been good at that, simply being there when she needed someone.
“Yeah, if you don’t have anything going on.”
“Nothing that I can’t put off for you,” he grinned.
“Well then, where’s the pizza and beer?” She gave him a squeeze before moving out of his embrace. “Order food and let me shower. I think I might have a movie around her somewhere. One that’s rated higher than G at that.”
“Yes ma’am,” he teased, saluting her higher rank and high stepping into the kitchen where she kept her take out menus.
Ali shook her head and headed into her room, stripping off clothes as she went. Every time Paulo came around, she swore she wasn’t going to let him in. Seeing his face, hearing his voice, it brought back too much. All the hurt and anger and betrayal her first husband had laid on her, everything that her second couldn’t fix. In the end, it never mattered because she put her pain on display and Paulie took it out, played with it a bit, and put it away leaving it neater than it had been before. Weirdly, the pain of her past lessened each time Paulo appeared even though that hurt flared a little brighter when he left. When it finally settled, however, she always moved another inch forward. Progress, she told herself.
“Ali,” Andrew said, sticking his head into the bathroom, but resisting the urge to peek behind the shower curtain, “dinner in fifteen.”
She flicked soap bubbles over the rod at him, laughing at his nerve. Although, when you’ve slept in a cave with a man, boundaries kind of evaporated. “Got it, but if you don’t leave me alone, I’ll be eating wet and naked.”
A hearty, fully male chuckled filled the small room. “And that’s supposed to get me out of here? How long have we known each other?”
“Considering you’re in my bathroom while I’m in the shower, I’m going to say the answer to that question is too damn long.”
His laughter followed him out of the room. Rolling her eyes at his antics, she rinsed the soap from her skin and shut off the shower. The nice thing about Andrew is he wouldn’t even bat an eye when she came out in her raggedy pajamas. Hell, he’d probably prefer it, to be honest. It was one of the best things about him.
“Okay, crazy ass, I’m dressed,” she called down the hallway. “You’d better have food!”
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2017-05-27 12:55 am (UTC)Nice job, which means I have to get my ass in gear tonight and write...lol
no subject
Date: 2017-05-27 01:17 am (UTC)YES! You can do it! And my weekend challenge prompt is going to be used to screw with Zayne so I cannot wait. James might get roped in as well.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-27 02:34 am (UTC)Is Jay gonna be doing the metaphorical and physical screwing??? Enquiring minds want to know.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-27 03:35 am (UTC)Um, according to the cards I just drew for James I'm thinking that's a yes. Holy moly. Yeah, this is going to be interesting.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-27 12:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-05-27 02:16 pm (UTC)One of the phrases I learned this morning was "She has his pants" and I couldn't stop laughing.
no subject
Date: 2017-05-27 05:57 pm (UTC)Have fun with the boys...lol
no subject
Date: 2017-05-27 07:27 pm (UTC)Thanks! Hopefully after lunch I can take them out and give them hell. :D
no subject
Date: 2017-06-23 07:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-06-23 08:10 pm (UTC)