first_in_time | New Lives and Mourned Pasts

The trip was long but at least they had jobs to go to and somewhere to live even if it was small. They each had one suitcase half filled with clothes and a life they were leaving behind. Once they were left in the by the side of a dusty road on the outskirts of a small country town Barbara walked with Ian to their new home, unconsciously holding onto his hand as she had done so many times before. Their real estate agent waited at the door of their new home to hand them a set of keys. He wished the newly weds ever lasting happiness then left them to it.

"It seems I've missed my own wedding," Barbara said with a sigh as she put the suitcase down in the middle of the almost empty lounge room and chuckled a little. She was tired and felt dirty from all their traveling.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

splendid_roman

"You are," Ian agreed and leaned over to kiss her cheek.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara happily tilted her head up to receive the kiss, then smiled across at him and quickly finished the rest of the washing up. Once their mugs, plate and spoons were washed, she dried her hands on Ian's towel then wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"I'm glad that we don't have a lot to do for dinner," she said to Ian and rested her cheek against his back, "we can just relax and have an early night."

From:

splendid_roman

He stiffened for a moment when he thought about the sort of things married couples would do on an early night. But then relaxed because they'd had a long day today and school tomorrow and it would be good to get as much sleep as possible. "That would be nice," he said, putting his hands on hers.

From:

first_in_time

"I don't know about you but I am exhausted from all of that traveling and planning. I could almost sleep right here but I think I should shower first," she said and smiled before kissing the back of his neck.

From:

splendid_roman

He smiled too and turned round in her arms to look at her. "Why don't you shower and I'll heat up the pie for dinner?"

From:

first_in_time

"I think I can do that," she replied and kissed him sweetly. She liked how she was already growing in confidence when it came to kissing Ian. It would make pretending to be married a lot easier. Barbara left him to it.

From:

splendid_roman

Ian turned the oven on and let it warm up while he finished the drying up. Being domestic like this made it easier to believe they were married. And he couldn't deny that he liked being close to Barbara.

While the pie was heating he picked up the newspaper he'd bought that morning and started on the crossword.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara stayed in the shower until she felt clean and fresh. She brushed her hair, dressed in her only pair of pyjamas and, smelling faintly of her lavender moisteriser, went to find Ian.

"Which crossword is that one?" she asked as she sat beside him.

From:

splendid_roman

"The cryptic," he replied, moving it over slightly so she could see it better. "Which is why I only have two filled in and I'm not sure about those." He wasn't very good at cryptic crosswords, but it was the only one in the paper. He would have to get a different newspaper in future.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara chuckled. Not that she was much better at the cryptic but she had to be better than that.

"Did you often do cross words while we were on Earth?" she asked and reached out for his pen to fill in a word.

From:

splendid_roman

"I tried to do it most evenings. It was a nice change from marking. But I never could get the hang of the cryptic ones."

He looked over at what she'd written and then back at the clue. "Ah, of course."

From:

first_in_time

"But I thought you loved marking," she said with a grin and handed the pen back.

From:

splendid_roman

"I love it." He grinned back. "It wasn't so bad when I could do it at school," he said more seriously. "But I hated having to do it at home."

From:

first_in_time

Barbara wrapped her arm around his. "I'll be here. It will be just like it used to, only we'll be at home together rather than spending time in a science lab or classroom."

From:

splendid_roman

"That won't be so bad." He wouldn't mind marking at home too much if he could be doing it with Barbara. "There are more advantages to our pretend marriage than I thought." He smiled at her.

From:

first_in_time

"How many advantages did you think there were before?" she asked with a playful smile.

From:

splendid_roman

"I was mainly thinking of financial ones." Although he was sure that wasn't what she'd wanted to hear.

From:

first_in_time

"They are an advantage," Barbara agreed. It wasn't what she'd wanted to hear but it was early days, and financial advantages were probably more important at that stage. "Shall we have some dinner?"

From:

splendid_roman

"Yes." He checked his watch. "It should be done by now." He set the crossword aside and went to get the pie out of the oven. It was definitely done - plenty of steam escaped when he stabbed the middle of it.

"I was also thinking it was a way to keep you with me," he said bashfully, as he cut the pie.

From:

first_in_time

"The pie?" Barbara asked with a frown, not understanding what Ian had meant.

From:

splendid_roman

He shook his head. "The pretend marriage." Although he could see a joke in there, so he made it. "If I known you were anyone's for pie I'd have learnt how to make some."

From:

first_in_time

"If I was anyone's for pie, wouldn't you be worried I'd run off with our neighbours?" she chuckled and kissed his cheek. "As I said before, I'm happy to be here with you. If you weren't here I wouldn't be nearly so happy."

From:

splendid_roman

"Oh, yes." He frowned, but then grinned. "I'll just have to make sure I'm a more appealing prospect than our neighbours."

From:

first_in_time

"And how are you going to do that?" she asked and went to fill two glasses with water since they didn't have anything else to drink with their meal.

From:

splendid_roman

"By being a good husband," he replied promptly. Since one of her criteria for that involved kissing her at every opportunity, he distracted her by going over and leaning round to kiss her cheek.