Work Text:
Author: Lucinda
Rating: pg/pg13
Main character: Dennis
Disclaimer: Dennis and his mother are the creation of Joss Whedon for Angel: the Series. Amanda is a character from Highlander the series, a Davis/Panzer production.
Distribution: Mental Wanderings, Jinni – anyone else ask first.
Note: 20 minutes with Dennis, set decades before Angel moved to LA.
1:16
He still found it hard to believe that he'd ever met such a wonderful woman. Amanda was everything that he'd ever dared to hope for: beautiful, charming, interesting, she'd traveled and seen the world, and she had this way of looking at him that made him feel just... It made him understand how knights had been willing to die for their ladies in the Middle Ages. She was wonderful.
"Hey tiger." Her arms slid around him, and he could feel her lips brush against his shoulder.
"Amanda... You look great." he smiled, turning so that he could see her eyes taking in the ivory sundress that skimmed over her body.
"Why thank you, Dennis." She smiled back, tucking her dark hair behind her ear.
"You always look great." He leaned forward, kissing her cheek.
"Such a gentleman.... Here I thought that gentlemen were an extinct species." She looped her arm through his, pulling him along to walk beside her.
"Ahh..... But Amanda, you always look beautiful. Only a blind man wouldn't notice it." He could feel himself blushing.
"Charmer."
Dennis didn't argue, but he felt anything but the polished charmer. He was shy, he'd never had much luck with dating, and it just didn't quite seem real that he'd met Amanda, that she enjoyed his company. She was smoothly graceful, and lovely, and he just felt all gawky and awkward.
"Only with you, my lovely lady." He finally managed.
She giggled, and for a while, they just walked in the park, enjoying the fresh air. Robbins and sparrows fluttered over the ground, hidden songbirds chirped in the trees, and grass was growing into hide all the bare patches. Here and there, flowers struggled to sprout from the ground.
"Isn't spring grand? The fresh air after a long, stuffy winter?" He asked, watching as she watched everything. Amanda was much more interesting than the park.
"It's nice not to be cooped up anymore." Her lips curved into a mysterious smile. "I like to be able to get out and go places."
"Yeah." He could still feel her hand on his arm, warm and wonderful.
"Dennis? Do you think that it's time to meet your family?" She seemed almost nervous, glancing away and then not quite back to his eyes. "Unless you're trying to hide me away for yourself..."
"Well..." Dennis floundered, uncertain how to answer. "I kind of like the idea of having you all to myself. Picture it... you, me, the ocean, an empty beach..."
"Fruity drinks with paper umbrellas in them?" She teased, one eyebrow lifting.
"Why not? If you like that sort, I mean..." Dennis smiled at her, his mind already picturing her in a swimsuit, lounging beside him on a towel.
"I like that image." Her words were soft, almost as if she wasn't certain they should be out loud. "How did I find such a nice guy?"
"Luck?" He offered, feeling flattered and vaguely embarrassed by her high opinion of him.
"You're sweet." she kissed him, her body pressing against him as her arms slid around his shoulders.
"Dennis held her, kissing back as his mind went delightfully blank.
"So, when should I meet your family?"
Her words broke the pleasant fog. "uhh... family... meeting. Right. It's just my mother... Father died years ago."
"I think I should meet her. After all, I am planning to steal her son away to take to a nice, secluded beach." Her smile was filled with temptation.
"Maybe I should break the news to her first? Tell her that you want to meet her?" Dennis smiled. "I'm sure that she'll love you."
"Why? You're her darling boy." Amanda sounded almost worried.
"Well... because I do." He stammered.
"Ohh..." Amanda kissed him again.
That night, Dennis looked at his mother, feeling a bit of worry. How could he bring his sweet Amanda home to meet his mother? She ran things like a tyrant, and kept trying to run his life.
He thought that she might be unhappy, or frustrated that he was tying to make his own life, one away from her control. Maybe some shouting, the accusation of 'how could you leave me all alone?'
The idea that she might seal him up into the wall never even occurred to him.
Of course, if it had, then many things would have unfolded very differently.
1:36
end Spring Walk