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If there was one thing of many that Doctor Ryland Grace had learned about Director Eva Stratt in the time they’d been together, it was that she very rarely tended to initiate physical contact.
It wasn’t that she hated it, he’d come to know. She didn’t go out of her way to avoid it, but she didn’t go out of her way to initiate it either. He liked touch, liked casual hugs or a brush of hands as they worked near each other, that kind of thing. It didn’t mean she refused to initiate a kiss here and there or would never approach him and lay a hand on his shoulder, nor that she’ll reject it when he decided to do so. It only meant that she began things less frequently than he did. It made it more special to him, actually. She wasn’t overly selective about it, it was just a different preference level.
There was one exception to that.
Nighttime.
Not like that, you freaks.
The first time she stayed the night at his, he was entirely unsure how it all might go. All things considered, he hadn’t even expected her to want to sleep in the same bed (despite the fact they’d been together for a good while now)! When he mentioned it, though, she just blinked at him with half a smile and mainly that expression of hers that said ‘I truly cannot tell if you are joking or not, and I hope it’s the latter because you are not that dumb.’
But maybe he was, darn it! Or maybe he was just going off of what he knew about her! In any case, he found himself vaguely floundering for what to do when they had both settled in bed. He laid on his back, one arm stiffly at his side, the other nearer her draped awkwardly over his stomach. Wasn’t it a common thing for couples to like… cuddle or something? Lay close to each other? Heck if he knew. She didn’t strike him as that type, so this was probably preferable…
He’d spent— well, probably way too long in his own head wondering about this, and finally had turned to look at her with the words at least semi-present…
But she was asleep already. There was really no surprise there. She was absolutely exhausted. That was why he’d offered her to stay there that night at all. It made things much more convenient for the both of them. She could sleep sooner, and he could enjoy her company longer.
He laid there for a moment, studying her face. She seemed oddly… younger somehow, as she slept. The creases of worry between her brows had softened, her eyes were closed and felt strangely gentle. No piercing gaze or authority, just content sleep. Ryland smiled a little, letting his head fall back to staring at the ceiling. If she was content and comfortable, so was he.
As he finally felt sleep start to pull at him too, there was a slight movement next to him. He wouldn’t have been surprised, people shifted in their sleep all the time.
But it was a movement closer.
How in the world did he know that? Because a moment later, he felt it again and realized Eva had reached out this time, lightly resting her hand on his upper arm. He froze, looking over at her. It was sweet, if a little confusing. Maybe she wasn’t fully asleep, and just awake enough to have done that. That was actually really nice. Just when he had gotten used to this though, more followed.
Eva Stratt, the woman he had known to so rarely initiate more contact than a brief kiss or light brush to his arm, now had her head nestled against his shoulder, one hand still lightly tucked around his arm and her body pressed against the side of his own.
Was she just… cuddling him in her sleep?
She was still asleep, that much was clear. Her breathing was even and steady, her expression hadn’t changed, save… perhaps the smallest smile at the corner of her mouth. She was asleep
And Ryland very much was not.
Actually, he stayed that way for a long time.
How the heck was he supposed to react to this? Instinctively, he really wanted to return the movement, shift a little so he was holding her, at least put an arm around her. He hesitated for three reasons. The first… his arm was rather stuck. She still had one hand curled lightly around his upper arm. The second, he knew if he did that he would wake her up. She was never someone who slept very heavily. Understandable with all the responsibility she held seemingly always and permanently.
The third, though, and the far more pressing one, was that she was notably not someone who did this while she was awake. This just wasn’t something that would happen. Taking advantage of this felt like taking advantage of her somehow, and he didn’t like that.
Surely it wasn’t something he should be that worried about, right? It wouldn’t be something he’d shy away from normally to turn a little and give her a kiss on the forehead or, hell, even a full hug. This was normal for them by now. She liked it when he did, and he knew that because she would have pushed him away if she didn’t. But it felt odd now. She couldn’t do that if she disliked it. But she was asleep…
So he laid there, staring at the ceiling, and yet focused entirely too much on Eva. He felt every small shift, every time her hand twitched or tightened around his bicep, the small adjustments as she moved her head almost nuzzling his shoulder, what?
But for all he was noticing, he failed to register his breathing slowly begin to match her own.
Finally, he did fall asleep, and her light shifting next to him didn’t pull him from it. That proved to be a good thing, because once he had begun to drift, she unconsciously pulled her arm away from his, instead draping it over his torso. His other hand had absently come up to cover her own before he dropped off to sleep entirely, and both of them had soft smiles on their faces.
There would be no nightmares for either tonight.
Eva woke first, the early morning sun drifting through the cracks in the blinds. She didn’t open her eyes yet, but she was awake. And she was incredibly comfortable. Vaguely, she remembered that she had stayed at Ryland’s the night prior, and assumed she was still there. Only now did she register the way she was laying. Her eyes opened and scanned what she could see.
She was still laying next to him, and he was still on his back, but she had rolled onto her side to face him. Her arm was thrown over him, her head was… entirely on his shoulder, almost over on his chest. She could tell she had gotten herself into this because she knew him, and he would never have started something like this while she slept, but more so because he really couldn’t have done this himself. His hand was still resting on hers, but it looked like that was the extent of what he had done.
If he had been awake, he’d have seen her go absolutely pink at this realization. But he wasn’t, he was still asleep, snoring lightly, and she was glad of it. Ideally, he would stay asleep and this would never come up again…
So, carefully, she began to extricate herself, hoping it wouldn’t wake him. Nothing seemed to, really, that man slept like a damned rock. His hand fell away to the side and she gently pushed herself off the bed, her hair lying half over her shoulder. For a moment she just watched him sleep, relaxed, without a care in the world. It pulled the smallest smile onto her face and she leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead. He melted into that when he was awake, every time, on the rare occasions she decided that was appropriate to offer him. Even now, a little bit of a smile twitched onto his expression as he slept.
“Ich liebe dich, Ryland…” she murmured, shaking her head a little and stepping out to make coffee. Two cups.
One for each of them this time.