fandomhigh | Library [Sunday]

And, of course, Adah was watching his hands now, listening carefully as the Eel spoke and moved them. There was a moment, reserved for a wry grin, before she let her eyes drift back to him. This Adah of the Notebook, she was starting to feel, had many secrets, and she almost felt like it was unfair that she should get to unravel them all like this merely for sharing the same body with her.

Her eyes on him were speculative, accusing, but playfully so. "Were you?"

He tapped his fingers, splayed them before resuming the slow movement on the desk.

"Yes," he admitted. "Not all the time but yes, I did. And if you watched, I wanted to see if you'd react."

Adah's cheeks were a little pink but she was trying not to bring attention to the as, her eyes a little wide but admiring of the supposed game that the Eel had pulled out on her. "And the verdict?" she asked, feeling like this new information renewed her interest in this Eel even more than before.

He tapped one finger against the desk, looking thoughtful.

"It was either a distraction," he said quietly, "or...or maybe you liked it. And maybe I did it because I thought you liked it. And maybe I wanted to see if you'd do something more than watch."

He wasn't sure where the boldness came from but it was there and, if anything, he could go hide in the aisles.

Adah's smile had a devious slant to it, as she quietly looked at the Eel to see if his expression afterward would give away anything more than his words, eyes dancing over him with a small fluttering in her chest. A fluttering that was easy to place, because she could remember it from this morning. "Something more?" she asked. "Like what?"

Of course, she had an idea, but she also had to decide if that was wishful thinking or actual suggestion. She wondered, again, about the relationship the Adah of the Notebook had with this Eel, just like she wondered about the relationship that she had with that River. That could have been a fluke, though, a new River. This was the same Eel; he remembered.... Her smile softened slightly, lip tucking nervously under her teeth.

Making new memories for herself; would they be new memories for him?

"Something more," he repeated, fingers still moving against the desk. He moved them a little closer to her, slowly and said, "Like making me stop moving my fingers. Or...or giving me something else to hold onto. Maybe."

Initially, the answer was confusing, until Adah allowed her eyes to drop again to his hand and, watching it inch in, it hit her hard. Her eyes widened and the red on her face could not be contained. He had been...it was so much different than where her thoughts were lying that it caught her off guard, her calm and collected control slipping right out of her fingers. "Oh! You....you want..."

Blinking a few times, she drew in a breath to shake that all away. She was biting her lip again, looking at their hands. Her brain seemed to be calculating their distances. "I see," she said, much more demure. "You want me to stop them..." The thought of something else that (she hoped) would certainly stop them still hung in the back of her head, but she put all her focus in the slow creeping of her hands toward those tapping fingers, her own fingers stretched, one of them lifting up to lightly brush against his knuckle. Her eyes wanted to drift to him to see his reaction, but, instead, they stayed on their hands; she was feeling like she'd get all the reaction she needed there.

If she'd looked up, she'd catch the quiet smile on his face. He glanced down at his hand, stilled his movements and watched her finger brush over his.

It was a small thing but it was affecting, nonetheless. He looked back up, watched her watched their hands and sighed quietly.

Adah's single finger moved lightly for a bit longer; all her attention was going into the movement over his hand. When she stopped, there was a pause, a light hesitation, before her fingers slowly spread until her hand was flat over his, thumb curling slightly, a small nudge toward holding it.

Such a simple thing, a small connection, but it was affecting, and it confused her why it made her suddenly feel like she did, why it caused the Eel to sigh like that. It seemed to mean something, something she couldn't remember, and she hated that she couldn't.

"You are very intriguing, did you know that?" she asked softly. One beautiful enigma after the next.

"It's the first time anyone's ever used that word about me," Lee answered, voice just as quiet. There was soft warmth over his own hand and it made him smile at her. "I could say the same for you though even moreso than me, I think. An adventure, so to speak."

"A good one?" Adah asked, hesitating for a moment before looking over at the Eel, peeking at him through a sparse thread of hair.

"Yes." He nodded, smiling at her. "I'd give up on boring adventures. This...it's not boring and I won't give up."

His metaphors needed work.

"Your hands are soft."

"Yours," Adah responded, returning his smile lightly, "are warm..." The look in her eyes on him were thoughtful, as if trying to decide something, tentatively shown in her expression thanks to the light biting of her lip. She wanted to say it, wanted to ask, but she found herself to be nervous, which was confusing. What in the world did she have to be nervous about? Perhaps not quite ready for her new memories to be complicated ones. Her hesitation left her quiet, silent, just looking at him and hoping he wouldn't mind as her hand curled a little more around his.

There were times when he would have said anything to fill a silence, talked just so he wouldn't have to think, wouldn't have to listen to the silence.

Now, though, he let the silence lengthen and, when she curled her hand around his, he turned his hand in hers, palm up so he could return the grasp, could curl his own fingers around her hand.

Adah dropped her eyes as the silence lengthened, and her hair couldn't fall forward quickly enough to hide the small smile when the Eel turned his hand to hold hers. She squeezed lightly, just allowing herself to enjoy the moment. Finally, she curved in a little herself, arching down slightly as she tried to pull their hands close enough for a light kiss on the top of his knuckles, lingering there in the closeness before pulling herself away.

It was probably the nicest, most welcome thing he'd experienced since he'd arrived on this planet and his eyes closed of their own volition, feeling not watching and he sighed again.

When he realized she'd pulled away, he opened his eyes, looked down at their joined hands and smiled. It was easy to mirror her previous movements, pull their hands close to him and do the same thing as she'd just done, brushing a light kiss over her knuckles and squeezing her hand gently as he did.

That was certainly not the reaction that Adah had expected, although she really didn't know what to expect. She smiled lightly, happily, not exactly sure to do with all the feelings going through her right now, the vague pink burning at her cheeks, the tightness in her chest, like her basic functions were trying to fail her again in favor of a cloudy head. It was almost feeling like too much, as if letting this go on was going to really cause a failure of systems.. Her whole body felt tight in anticipation for the returned kiss, and her breath decided to leave her when it finally happened. Her head was swimming, and she wondered if this was normal, or if it was just the fact that she had no remembrance of anything like this before.

As soon as the moment had passed, she very slowly, mostly reluctantly drew her hand away; it tucked up against her chest, curling slightly. "I..." she started softly like she'd forgotten how to speak, or that it just wasn't a natural things for her to do. "I believe that I...have some books to look for..."

"Okay," he said, just as reluctant as she to let go but smiling anyway. He nodded and had to clear his throat so he couldn't fumble anything. "Okay. You can...come find me if you need any help. I'm not going anywhere."

Library [Sunday]

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