The Most Wanted Woman in Town [Romance o/o] (Closed)

The cat didn't move, other than to cock its head off to the side. Ronnie had to chuckle.
"Not used to being smiled at, huh, kitty?" The poor thing was probably just naturally wary of people after all the chasing.
Without really thinking about it, Ronnie took a step towards the cat, with his hand outstretched. He intended to just pet it, but that's certainly not what it looked like.
I don't remember seeing many cats with that color fur… matches her owner. Funny.

(glad we're on the same page ;)

The cat dodged him, and Ronnie realized what he looked like from its perspective. He pulled his hand back, deciding he'd wait. The cat was on edge, as could be expected, and it was getting late. He could feel fatigue pulling at him, and he still had to finish his walk.
He gave a small smile, again, and walked away from the cat.
I can beat those idiots at this… just gotta plan.
…………………

The clock was showing 1 am when Ronnie sat up in bed, covered in sweat and breathing hard. He'd had another nightmare, and he didn't immediately know where he was.
It took him a moment to recognize the room, and he needed to get out to calm down. He grabbed his cloak and pulled it on, before heading down the stairs and back out into the night.
He'd finished his walk, memorizing the layout of the town, what was new and what was old, and had gone back in and fallen asleep.
Then the dreams had started.

There was a bench outside the Blondwood, and Ronnie plopped down on it heavily, rubbing his face with his hands, trying to keep from shaking.
The night was silent, the air cool, the town sound asleep. It was calm, peaceful.
Soothing.

Ronnie was staring at the ground, thinking, trying to clear his head, when someone said his name.
He looked up, startled, and was greeted by the sight of Eve, lovely Eve- barefoot in the snow, wearing a nightgown.
"Eve?!"
He stood up quickly and yanked the cloak off his shoulders in one fluid motion, draping it around her and fastening it in front. "Tulkas above, what are you doing?" He glanced down at her feet, and didn't think about what he was doing. His head was still slightly hazy from his nightmare, and he didn't realize that picking her up and carrying her back into the Blondwood might not be the best move.
It wasn't until he set her down and his hands settled on her waist that he realized exactly what he'd just done. His eyes widened, and he blushed so furiously, he was surprised his skin didn't burst into flame.
"I-I'm sorry, I just-… I was-… What are you doing out in the snow like this??" he asked incredulously.

Ronnie's concerned, blushing face immediately darkened, and something cold flashed in his eyes.
"Give me just a moment." He turned and sprinted up the stairs to his room, returning just a few seconds later. He was pulling on a set of fingerless gloves, and had something that looked suspiciously like a knife hilt sticking out of his pocket.
"Which house is yours?" he asked quietly. His voice had changed. It was as if much of the emotion had been sucked out of it.
For Ronnie, he was doing his best to clamp down on a vicious urge to kill something. Anybody who would dare come after Eve deserved-… well.

Ronnie nodded at her, some part of him aware he was probably scaring her, but…
Well. Better to be a bit scared of a friend than terrified of an unknown, intruding enemy.
"Stay here. I'll be back." There was no doubt in his voice. He would be back, and the threat would be handled.
He turned and headed out the door, making his way back down the street. He saw the house that matched the description, a window on the side open, the wind blowing in.
He went and climbed in, moving with quiet, lithe movements. He looked like some woodland predator, stalking its prey.
Bedroom. Like she'd said.
He heard a noise out in the hall and tensed.
Here we go.

The noise he'd heard was a bump, and then someone swearing. Slurred swearing. Ronnie stayed crouched, waiting, as the door pushed open. Whoever this idiot was, he was clearly drunk.
And clearly the vile kind of drunk. Because he went straight for Eve's bed. Stumbled over to it and leaned over, like he was planning on leering at her.

What he got instead was a flying elbow to the head.

Ronnie came out of his crouch, leaping across the bed, and driving the point of his elbow into the intruder's temple. The drunk dropped like a rock. Ronnie stared at him for just a moment, trying to calm his heart. It was racing, not because he was scared, but…
But because he wanted to finish the man. Right here. Right now.
Slowly, with some long deep breaths, he controlled himself, and fought down 8 years of soldiering.
He grabbed the man's collar and dragged him out the bedroom, out the front door, and into the snow. He dragged the guy all the way down the street, and left him in the snow outside the Blondwood. The drunk didn't stir, and Ronnie wasn't entirely sure he hadn't already killed the guy.
He stepped back into the hotel and gave Eve a small wave.
"Got him. Do you know this guy?" He tried to sound less dead inside, tried to look less cold, and turned so she could tell the knife hadn't left his pocket. Now that the threat was taken care of, he didn't want to scare her more.

Ronnie schooled his features to keep from glaring. He still didn't want to scare her.
"I'll drag him down to the police station." It had occurred to him as he was dragging the drunk down the street that they should have alerted the police force, but… it was dealt with. "If you wait, I'll make sure you get home safe." She still didn't have shoes, and he wasn't going to let her traipse through the snow barefoot.
He walked down to the police station and deposited the drunk in a cell. The night watchman didn't question him, especially not when Ronnie described what had happened. He quietly locked the door and thanked Ronnie for bringing Treavor in. He'd asked if Ronnie could come back in the morning and file a report, to which Ronnie had agreed. He'd hurried back to the Blondwood afterward, feeling more and more like a jackass. The guard had looked at him with fear, and he realized how he must look to these folks. To Eve.
She's got to think I'm crazy… some loony psycho with killer tendencies…
He stepped back in the door, head down, and didn't look up.
"So, I can, uh, give you my other pair of boots, or I could just, uhh… well, you know… I could just… carry you…"
He trailed off, feeling too many conflicting things to be confident just now.

The hug caught Ronnie completely off-guard, and he did the first thing that instinctively went through his mind.
He wrapped his arms around her with the same intensity.

He'd nightmared, which always left his body wired. Then his adrenaline had kicked up again as he'd tried to control his urge to end the drunk who dared violate Eve's privacy this way. Then he'd walked back, feeling shame and frustration and so many other things and-

And Eve was soft. Soft and warm and gentle, and soothing to his jumbled mind and his overstimulated body and now he didn't want to let go and-

At some point in the hug, he'd dropped his head onto her shoulder, and the realization of exactly how intimate a position that was snapped him out of it. He stepped back, just a little, moving his arms from where they'd landed around her waist, to the more neutral position of cradling her arms. Friendly. Less like he needed her, needed her so badly his breath froze in his chest as he pulled away, needed her so much his skin crawled is it lost contact with her…

"Of course." he said quietly, the smile coming easily to his face. He wasn't sure what else to say, though another idea came to mind.
"Like I said, I could walk you back… or you could just stay here with me. My room is open." He paused, then realized what that sounded like. "I don't mean 'with me', but like with me here, in the Blondwood. I'll sleep down here! I'll be down here, and you can have the room, and you'd be safe, and-… yeah… that's what I meant…"
Had he ever stammered this much before? Had he always been this bad with women? It was hard to remember just now.

Eve squeezed his arms, and Ronnie managed to glance up. She wasn't flinching from him, so that was a good sign.
"You wouldn't be displacing me, I'm offering… but if you'd really prefer to be home, then of course. Give me a minute, I'll have those boots for you." He lingered for just a moment, not wanting to let go of her entirely, before turning and heading up the stairs to his room. He was wearing his combat boots, but he had a set of warmer, fur lined snow boots. He only wore them when the weather got really bad.
Back down the stairs to Eve. "Put these on, they'll at least get you to your house with warm, dry feet. And I'd be happy to help fix your window. I can work on it while you're at work tomorrow." He was running through some of the latch mechanisms they'd used for bunker windows during his tours. There were several that were easy to operate from inside but impossible to break from outside.
He could even start putting them together tonight, and just install them tomorrow. After this, he wasn't going to be able to sleep. It was 2am, which meant he'd probably crash midafternoon tomorrow if he wasn't careful.

Ronnie nodded gently at her, before stepping back out into the snow. He escorted her back to her home, glad it was so early in the morning, nobody was up. He wouldn't have wanted her to feel mocked.
They got to her house, and he stayed just outside the front door initially.A sudden thought occurred to him.
"Your cat! I didn't see it… is she out and about? He might've done something to the little critter."
That would be a bad situation. On a couple levels.

Ronnie accepted his boots and cloak, part of him feeling like he should just let her keep them.
"If you're sure about the cat." he said quietly. Making too big a deal about it might make her uncomfortable, given what the cat represented, so he left it alone.
"Well." He glanced at her from where he'd been looking around, and froze, for a just a second. Standing there, in her home, in her nightclothes, Eve looked-… vulnerable. And soft. And Ronnie found himself having to make a purposeful effort to tear his eyes away. "Try to get some sleep. Let me know if you need anything."
He gave a small wave and turned to head back to the Blondwood. There'd be no sleep for him tonight, so he may as well get some things started.

He wanted to respond, he really did. To say "you're welcome" or "of course" or "anytime" or something like that.
Instead, Ronnie found himself standing there with a dopey look on his face as she kissed his cheek. It took him a second to realize he should formulate a response, and by that point, the door was closed.
He stood there, for a just a moment, before turning and making his way back to the bench outside the Blondwood. His cheek tingled where she'd touched it, so gently he might have imagined it if not for the burning blush it had ignited across his face. Part of him was internally leaping up and down, giggling like an idiot.

And part of him was stuck.

He sat down on the bench, feeling several confusing, conflicting emotions. He was glad he'd been able to help, but… he'd slipped back into kill mode so quickly… he'd hoped he'd left the soldier behind, but he clearly hadn't at all.
She was likely just being nice, like ladies were. It didn't have to mean anything. But Ronnie wanted the small touches and the little smiles and that quick peck to mean something. And that was bad. Because she'd already pledged herself to someone. To whoever could catch that cat. And if it wasn't him, that would break him, and even worse, if he'd somehow gotten her wrapped up in this, it might hurt her as well.
Though it probably doesn't mean anything…
A nice, gentle girl like Eve probably wouldn't feel anything other than revulsion for him, honestly. A guy like him, with blood on his hands and monsters in his mind… guys like him weren't meant to get the nice girl.
But… But I want the girl…

And so his thoughts went, as he stared into the snow.

A soft meow was the first thing that snapped Ronnie out of his staring and thinking. He glanced up, to see the cat standing there looking at him. He gave a small smirk.
"Hm. Hey Kitty." He'd have to ask Eve its name at some point. "You're quite the little troublemaker, aren't you?" He wasn't angry, just… well, without the cat he'd have a chance at wooing Eve properly.
On the flip side… "I guess I should thank you for keeping her single for so long. For giving me a chance at all. But…" he gave the cat a long look.
"But maybe I'm not the guy. Maybe I shouldn't be the guy." A rueful smile replaced the smirk. "Spent so long fighting-" he shuddered involuntarily as the images leapt to his mind unbidden… "Spent so long fighting those shapeshifting monsters that sometimes I wonder if I became one. If I've learned to look more appealing to normal folks, while something sinister lurks under the surface." He shook his head, looking down, before he glanced back up.
"Not like you, Kitty. With you, what we see is what we get." He smiled at the cat, a tired smile, a smile that let more sadness than happiness leak through.
"I don't know if I should try to catch you anymore… don't know if I'm right for her. But do me a favor? Don't let anyone else catch you either…" He realized how ridiculous, how cruel even, that sounded, but he stuck with it.
He sat there, just looking at the cat, his thoughts swirling.

Ronnie watched the cat step closer. It was purring, and he had to chuckle.
"Enjoying your night, with nobody up to chase you, huh, Kitty?" The cat meowed at him, and Ronnie meowed right back before he could stop himself.
He was tired, though not sleepy, he was a bit emotional, and he was fighting a strong urge to go drink until he could sleep again. The cat was standing close, and purring at him, and he could see the key glinting, and-…

Eve's beautiful smile popped up in his head, and the urge to make a grab for the key immediately disappeared. She didn't deserve his mess.

"Well. I'll bid you good morning, Kitty." He grinned at this conversation, at the situation, at the inquisitive little cat. "You seem to understand, so I'll take your blinking as a farewell. Scamper along and maybe I'll see you later."
He stood up and went back inside the Blondwood, intent on getting a start on that latch for Eve's window.

The morning came, and Ronnie had been up, working out the details of his window latch. He'd stepped out a few times and gotten just close enough to look at Eve's window jamb, without being weird. He figured he had the design largely worked out, and would just need the materials in order to get it started.
He'd not been able to sleep, like he thought, and once the details were figured out, it was just a matter of waiting. So he'd gone out to the stable and sat with Teben for a while, until the sun was properly up. He listened as the townsfolk began bustling around, and soon shops were open. That was his cue.

He made his way over to the woodwright's shop, and bought what he needed. The man was new in town, and had bought the shop from the old owner, who'd been someone Ronnie had known.
Once out of the shop, Ronnie started towards Eve's place, only to remember he wasn't sure she was gone yet. Best not to show up before she leaves. So he headed back to the Blondwood to check.
He came in the front door, with his arms full of tools and small pieces of wood, and glanced at the desk while stomping the snow off his boots.