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Cooper Crazy
(7/10/05 12:37 am)
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Giving In - Chapter 12
Early the next morning, Gus stirred and finally woke up with Harley in his arms, still fast asleep. He pulled her closer to him and kissed her shoulder before he laid there for a few minutes, enjoying the feel of waking up next to her. Eventually, he slid out of the bed and into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and went downstairs to make some arrangements for the rest of the day, leaving Harley asleep in the bed.
“Did you sleep well?” Gus asked as he stripped off his clothes and crawled back under the covers with her.
“Very well. I had this great dream,” she replied.
“Oh yeah? Was it a sexy dream?” he teased.
“Very sexy. So sexy, in fact, that I’m thinking of asking the guy in my dream to spend the rest of the day in bed with me,” she suggested, kissing his neck.
“Hmm, well I’m sure that guy would love nothing better than to grant your every desire, especially that one, but I’m afraid I have already made some fun, romantic, sexy plans for the day. I guess this dream guy will just have to wait,” Gus said.
“I guess so. Well, at least I know I’ll get him back tonight,” she replied as she climbed on top of him and kissed him deeply. “So when does this romantic, sexy day start?”
“Definitely not for a few more hours,” Gus answered.
“Good, because I’m not ready to leave this bed yet,” she replied as she laid her head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her as they both fell back to sleep.
They woke up three hours later to someone knocking on their door and Harley moaned as she shifted in Gus’s arms.
“Don’t answer it,” she mumbled as Gus got out of the bed and slid on a pair of jeans.
“This is a good interruption. Stay here,” he replied and kissed her quickly before he went to answer the door.
He returned a few moments later carrying a tray full of food, “Are you hungry?” he asked, setting the tray on the table while got undressed again.
“Famished,” she nodded and he rejoined her in bed with the food. “What do we have?”
“A lovely assortment of croissants and French bread with some butter and jam, coffee, and some fresh fruit. What would you like?” he asked.
“Coffee first,” she answered and he passed her a cup then offered her a croissant which she took.
“Thank you,” she smiled and kissed him. “So what exactly do you have planned for today?”
“I thought we could start out at the Louvre, because you can’t be in Paris and not see the Mona Lisa,” he answered.
“Have you been there before?” she asked and he nodded. “So I get my own private tour guide?” she teased.
“Absolutely, I’ll have you running through the wings of the museum in no time. Actually, we can only spend a few hours there, so it will be a quick tour of the really big stuff. And then I thought we would go to Notre Dame…”
“Do you really think we should be in a church today?” she teased as she kissed his neck below his ear and he laughed.
“We have to go see it!”
“I’m kidding, we will go. Then what?”
“A lunch cruise down the Seine River,” he answered and Harley ‘ooh’ed. “Then we have a few hours to do whatever we want until dinner. I thought maybe we would go shopping,” he suggested.
“That sounds good, what’s up with dinner?” she asked.
“Well, my plan is for us to get all dressed up, and I made reservations for us for dinner, actually it’s an early dinner, which is all that was available and I only got that because of a cancellation, but we got a table by a window at Jules Verne on the second level of the Eiffel Tower. And we should be there right at sunset, so I think it will be pretty romantic,” he replied and pulled her close.
“It sounds amazing, Gus,” she breathed as she laid her head on his shoulder.
Four hours later, they were boarding a small riverboat for their lunch cruise on the Seine. Gus had almost literally run her through the Louvre, but they did squeeze through the crowd to get a good look at the Mona Lisa, making Harley wonder what all the fuss was about such a small painting compared to the huge murals that shared the Denon Wing with it. They were running a little late, so they just stood outside of Notre Dame, bypassing the crowd that surrounded the doors.
“Finally, we can sit down,” she said when they were shown their table shortly after boarding.
“Am I wearing you out?” Gus laughed.
“Oh no, I always race through Paris museums on my day off,” she teased. “No, seriously. This morning was fabulous. Thank you,” she added with a kiss.
“I just wanted you to be able to remember Paris for something other than a mob shootout,” he replied.
“I will always remember Paris,” she said. “Actually though, there are some things we really need to discuss, important things.”
“I know,” he nodded slowly, “Look, I…”
“No, let me talk first, okay?” she asked and he let her talk. “I know that we haven’t really overcome the Santos issue, and I’m not saying that it’s okay with me, it’s not. I don’t want you to continue this vendetta, I don’t want to see you hurt anymore, I want you to be able to live your life for something more than revenge. But I’m not going to write you off because you’re not ready to give that up yet. I love you, Gus, and I want to help you get through whatever you need to deal with to make yourself happy.”
“Harley, I meant it when I told you that this wasn’t about them. Even since I found out they could be involved, it hasn’t been about them. I’m going to tell you that I’m not bothered by that family or that I don’t hate every single one of them, because I do and I’m not going to lie to you. But I know what I can lose by having that obsession and I don’t want that to happen. If we find out that the Santos family is involved in these kidnappings, I’m going to make sure they pay. If they’re not…then they’re not and I can accept that. I’m coming to Springfield, and I am going to spend my life spoiling you, making you happy, taking care of you and your children and just loving you. I want nothing to do with that family I’m not going to let them run my life anymore, because it’s not just me. It’s you, it’s Zach, and Jude and your family, and nothing is more important to me than that. I’m not going to do anything to mess that up,” he rambled on until Harley covered his hand with hers.
“I believe you,” she assured him. “But I want you to know that I am here for you. I want you to be able to come to me and talk to me about this, okay?”
“Okay,” he nodded and she leaned over to kiss him softly.
They spent the rest of the afternoon shopping, picking up a few souvenirs for the boys and Harley’s family before they had to go back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
Their table at Jules Verne overlooked the Trocadero Fountains in front of the Tower. They were seated just as the sun was disappearing from the horizon, casting a pink and orange glow over the landscape. By the time they were on their main course, the night grew black and colored fountains and sparkling tower created a romantic backdrop to their dinner. After they had stuffed themselves with dessert, they rode up to the top of the tower and looked down over the city.
“I can see why so many men bring their girlfriends here to propose. It’s gorgeous, I can’t think of a better backdrop,” Harley said and Gus smiled over at her. “What?” she asked.
“If I say that I’ll have to remember that, would it freak you out?” he asked.
“Probably,” she nodded.
“Okay. Then I won’t say it,” he replied and kissed her deeply before they rode back down to the ground.
“Peut vous laissez-nous au loin ici?” Gus asked and their taxi stopped and let them off at Place de la Concorde.
“What are we doing here?” Harley asked as Gus took her hand and helped her out of the taxi.
“That,” he replied and pointed up at a large lighted ferris wheel that sat in the center of the Jardin de Tuileries. “Are you up for it?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” she smiled and he led her into the garden.
“You know what you said earlier about spoiling me?” Harley asked when they got to the top of the Ferris wheel and saw the city from a view different from the Eiffel Tower. “Well, it’s too late. Today has been amazing Gus. Thank you,” she whispered and he pulled her closer in the car.
“You’re very welcome,” he replied and kissed her cheek.
“We are going back to the hotel next, right? Because I think it’s my turn to spoil you,” she said, her eyes sparkling.
“We are definitely going back then,” he nodded.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Harley yawned as the captain came over the speaker. "Good morning everyone, this is Captain St. John, we're next to take off, so we should be in the air relatively shortly. The skies are partly cloudy, so we may have a bumpy take off, but once we reach altitude, it should be pretty smooth. Our destination this morning is London, where the forecast shows a slight chance of rain showers, but nothing that should delay us. Flight time is one hour and thirty minutes. Just a reminder that this flight is non-smoking and please keep your seat belts fastened until I turn off the lighted sign. Thank you and enjoy your flight."
"You know, if I sleep the whole way to Rome, I'll still get more sleep than we got last night," Harley said.
"Sleep. We have lots of time in the air today. London to Springfield will be even longer at least," Gus said.
"Yes, at least this time we have first class seats. Nice job on that by the way. I guess it pays to be sleeping with an FBI agent,” she teased. “So did you tell them you were quitting yet?"
"No, I figured I'd take a few days off then give my notice."
"A few days?"
“Well I thought I would go back to Chicago on tomorrow, then to DC the next day. Is it okay if I stay with you tonight? Or I could get a room somewhere."
"No, you can stay with me."
"But the boys…"
"They'll be fine," she assured him as she rested her head against this shoulder. "I hope you don't mind if I sleep on you, since you're the reason I've gotten no sleep the past two days," she teased.
"You weren't complaining then," he laughed.
"No, I wasn't,” she smiled and kissed him.
“So how do you think your family and friends will take our news?” he asked.
“I think that when they see how happy I am, they will be happy for us,” she replied.
“I hope so, because I don’t want to be a problem for you. I want to make your life better, not worse.”
“You do,” she assured him. “Don’t worry about everyone else, okay? We are all that matters.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"I'm meeting Rick at Company at six to get the boys, so we have some time. Do you want to go to my place until then?" Harley asked as they waited for a cab at the airport in Springfield.
"Yeah, let's go to your place," he replied as a cab pulled up and he opened the door for Harley.
"You know, since we're taking our luggage upstairs to my bedroom anyway…we might as well stay up there," Harley said as she unlocked her front door.
"You got a TV up there?" Gus joked, but sounded serious and Harley looked back at him.
"I hope you're kidding," she said.
"Of course I am. Now open the door or we'll never make it to your bedroom," he said as he kissed the back of her neck and she pushed the door open and pulled him inside.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 
GusH Fan Fic & Slideshows
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