Work Text:
“In your eyes
Love, I don't like to see so much pain”
(In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel)
"Tag, have you seen m'tie, love?"
The shirl sound of birds singing that engulfs the Priory is shattered by a hoarse voice belonging to none other than Declan O'Hara, as he rummages through his drawer, mumbling a few incoherent curses here and there.
Taggie shifts uncomfortably, awaken by her father's voice in her bed, her eyes slowly opening as she registers her surrounding. She quickly stands and opens up her curtains, as she lets the sunlight in her room, breathing life back into it.
"Tag!"
Her father's demanding voice forces her to get dressed as quickly as she can and runs down the stairs as she approaches her father. "What is it, da? She asks him when she finally calms her breath down. Without even glancing her way, he snorts. "What took you so long to come here, love? You usually wake up earlier than us, already preparing everything."
Does he really have no clue at all, Taggie thinks, and almost opens her mouth to respond but Declan's voice interrupts her yet again. "Now that you're here, please help me find the tie, love. I need it for our first deal meeting today. You know how important that is, right?" Taggie frowns but brings herself to answer. "It's already in your office, Da, right on your desk. You told me to put it there last night, remember?"
"Really? Must've not crossed my mind. Thanks, love. See you later." Picking one roly-poly from the plate, Declan immediately leaves after pressing a kiss on Taggie's forehead, leaving her alone in the house, as usual. As soon as he leaves, silence settled inside the house, once again, stillness surrounds the room.
...
Taggie breathes out a sigh she doesn't realize she's been holding since helping her father earlier. Looking around, Taggie's eyes are immediately focused on the unwashed pile of dishes in the kitchen. Right. Dishes, she thinks, and quickly grab her apron from her room. But suddenly she catches sight of the spot close to the sink and pieces of memories of something that happened just a month ago clouds her brain and her heart clenches inside her rib.
She's not you, Tag.
I can't breathe without you.
Those words rings loudly in her ears, even after a month, the trembles haven't find their way to leave her body by just hearing his voice saying those words inside her mind. Taggie's tried so hard, so hard, to ignore the painful dull in her heart ever since Rupert professed his undying love for her, only for him to leave her hanging there alone, right after he's gotten that phonecall from Cameron.
Since then, they only see each other whenever he's on a business meeting with her father. He no longer talks to her unless necessary. It hurts her, of course. But she dismisses it as exhaustion, nothing more. But then, he no longer sneaks glances towards her, no longer staying to make sure she's okay, and that tears her heart apart.
Taggie tries to forget. To move on. Dates with Seb, hangouts with Lizzie or Daysee. But nothing seems to work. It seems that her love for him even grows each day, even when they're apart, even when he's slowly breaking her soul.
So, she decides she'll wait. She'll wait until he's ready, until he's finally free of whatever problem he's carrying and she's gonna wait until that time comes, even it take her heart breaking all over again and again.
The sound of wind breezing through the window reminds Taggie of her undone course, the dishes. She tightens her apron and begins to walk to the sink, but as she takes her first step, darkness suddenly clouds her vision and she doesn't even register thecreaking sound of the front door opening and footsteps approaching her as her body slowly falls down to the floor. Last thing she remembers is someone shouting her name loudly and a pair of warm, calloused arms catching her before she totally blacks out.
...
The feel of warmth engulfing her left side causes Taggie to shift. Blinking her eyes and slowly opening them, she's immediately met with the view of no other than Rupert Campbell-Black, asleep on a low chair next to the bedside, his bedside, as she concludes after looking at her surroundings, with his right hand holding a cloth pressed to her forehead.
She blinks, again and again, just to make sure she isn't dreaming, and when she realizes that Rupert is really there, water begins to pool at the corner of her eyes. She tries, really tries, to hold back her sob by running her soft fingers through his face.
With her fingers, she slowly traces the delicate features of his face, frowning when she sees panic, vulnerability and tireness etched from the creak of his eyebrows.
She wonders quietly.
Did he feel miserable without her too?
Did he ever think about her once?
Did he really worry that much about her he stays beside her like this?
Taggie seems to be lost in her deep thoughts as she doesn't realize Rupert's eyes are already opened, and now he's staring deeply into her ocean eyes.
"Am I that worthy to be looked at that way?"
His voice startles her from her train of thoughts as she tries to pull her hand away from his face, but Rupert's hand quickly puts hers back on. "Don't. I like the feel of your fingers on my face, angel." There it is again. The nicknames. Enough to melt and wash all anger, disappointment and bitterness within her this past month, and instead warms her cheeks.
At the softness and tenderness of his voice, Taggie can't hold back her tears and lets out a loud sob. Rupert, panicked that he's somehow hurt her, swiftly pulls her into his warm embrace, welcoming her into his arms as he tries to calm her down. "Hush now, darling, breathe with me, come on Tag, please don't cry, I-I'm sorry if I crossed the line, darling. You need to breathe, sweetheart, you just fainted, I don't want you to stress yourself even more." He holds her close, tight, and slowly but surely, by the sound of his calming voice and from warmth oozing from him, Taggie finally finds calmness and relaxes herself into his touch.
Once she's truly calm, he cups her face with his two hands. "There you go, sweetheart. "That's a good girl. " Butterflies begins settling comfortably in her stomach at that nickname. "Now, answer me, Tag. Are you really okay? Don't you dare lie to me, because when I find you nearly collapsing to the floor this morning, you have me worried sick, angel."
Worried sick? Funny. Where have you been this past month? Taggie thinks. But what she doesn't realize is that she'd said her thoughts out loud, making Rupert's body freezes entirely beside her.
The moment she realized, she quickly mutters a panicked apology to him. "Oh my god, Rupert, shit I don't mean to say th-" He cuts her off, stopping her mid-sentence, caressing her arms tenderly with his calloused hand. "No, angel. You're right. I have no right to ask that. I really don't and I know you probably will never forgive me for being such a colossal shit, darling. But Tag, please, please just let me explain myself to you, okay? I promise I'll tell you the truth and once I've finished, if you still decide that I'm unworthy of your kindness, I can leave, alright?"
"I'm so, so sorry for everything, angel. I know I've been such a colossal shit, such a complete coward this past month. I've been ignoring you. You may not believe me, but I did all that to protect you from this disaster of a man, Tag. I don't deserve you, your love, your unwavering kindness. I don't want to drag you down with me and I want to honor your father's warning to me, staying away from you. So, I did all these, but what I don't count on is you getting hurt by all of it. I'm really sorry, angel. I know I probably might never get your forgiveness. Hell, I know I don't deserve even an ounce of your mercy, darling. But please know that I will try my best to make it up to you, if you ever forgive me, Tag."
Taggie wants to say something bad, anything, to him, to be angry at him. But, surprised etched her face by the genuine love and regret that shone in his eyes as she lifts her face to look at him.
She then cups Rupert's face by his chin, forcing their eyes to meet. The moment she looks deep into his eyes, she tries to hold back her tears from falling by the devotion, love, sincerity, regret, and sadness pouring out of them. She then does the only thing she could think of at that time, grabbing his face with her hands and closing their distance, then pressing her lips to his.
Rupert's whole body and mind go still for a moment before he responds to her clumsy kiss, returning it with all regret, all pent-up emotions he's been holding within him. He takes control of their kiss by pushing his tongue inside her warm mouth, in, desperate need to have a taste of her, drawing a trembling moan out of her throat. The feel of her gets his whole brain dizzy with need. Rupert's hands begin wandering all over her body, exploring her, tightening his hold on her like he would totally disappear back to ash if he doesn't touch, doesn't get a feel of her even for a second longer. Taggie is no different, as she moves to straddle his lap, grinding her hips onto his, coaxing an animalistic groan out of him.
"Oh, Tag...Fuck, angel..You're gonna undo me if you keep doing that, darling." His hoarse voice unravels the deepest knots of desire Taggie doesn't know she have in her, and to know that it is her that cause him to look like this, turns her on even more, and she decides that she wants to keep hearing this kind of voice and see this Rupert more. She keeps rolling her hips, seeking her pleasure and Rupert encourages her, hands around her waist, whispering sweet words to her ear, guiding as she uses him to find, to reach her pleasure.
"That's it, angel. Use me. Seek your own pleasure. I'm here. Always gonna be here. " Those words completely undoes her and brings her to the edge of pleasure as she comes into her trousers, soaking her knickers, and just by hearing her melodic moans, Rupert follows her as he empties himself into his boxers, drenching his own trousers. Taggie collapses into his chest, and he brings her closer and closer to his body, sharing their warmth, as he bends a little to press a tender kiss on her forehead. They just stay there, holding each other as close as they can, when Taggie's finger starts moving to unbutton his jeans, but as he feels it opening, Rupert stops her.
"No, darling. You're still exhausted, remember? You just fainted and came on my thighs. You need to rest, alright? Let me just run you a bath first now, okay? Stay here, darling. It'll be just a quick minute."
She pouts, and flashes him her puppy dog eyes, weakening him in the knees. "But I want more.." She says, seductively, hoping he might cave in at last, but seeing his determined expression, she quickly settles, obeying him.
...
Standing up, he presses one last kiss to her nose before heading out to the bathroom to prepare a warm bath for her. "I promise I'll be quick, sweetheart, and when you're feeling better, I'll make sure to give you more than you've ever wished for." Feeling satisfied at his words, Taggie finally lets out a contented giggle as she waits patiently for him.
Not even a moment later, he returns and carries her soft, tender body slowly until they reach the bathroom and with a gentle tenderness, he strips both of them of their clothes and gets her inside the bathtub, then following her to sit right behind her. He wordlessly untie her hairpin. Then, with quite tenderness, his fingers move through her hair, washing them slowly. He massages her scalp, giving kisses in between her shoulders, earning a satisfying moan from her, to which he smiles. After washing her hair, he makes a quick work of washing her body feverishly, giving each part of her gentle squeezes, making sure she feels good, all while humming sweet lullaby to her ears.
He then quickly works on himself too, and after they both feel contented and satisfied, he carefully carries her back to the bedroom, and with slow movements, he puts her on her pajamas, alongside himself too. He combs her auburn hair, too, and braids it with
perfect ease, running his hands through her hair gently.
Taggie's tears threaten to fall again and he notices, slightly panicking as he looks at her through their reflections in the mirror. "Angel, what's wrong? Do I do something wrong? Does it hurt anywhere?"
She melts, again at the worry and genuine concern in his tone, and wraps her hand around his wrist, "No, n-no. It's just..N-nobody has ever taken care of me this way...this is too much for me , Rupert. Are you sure that I'm not a burden to you?" He runs his fingers down her cheeks, wiping away her tears. "You will never be a burden to me in any way possible, Tag. If else, I think I'm the one that could be a burden to you."
She elbows him, shutting him up. "Shush. Stop with the self deprecation. You don't get to say that, you don't get to dictate what I do or don't deserve, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, angel, loud and clear." She giggles and pecks him on the lips, surprising him.
His little angel, being such a menaceful minx. A menace he's willing to sacrifice himself in any way, he thinks.
Finally finished braiding her hair, he takes some medicines from his emergency cabinet and gives it to Taggie, alongside a glass of water. "Drink these. Hopefully, it will make you feel a lot better, darling. No more faiting scare, please. Give my old heart a break." He then caresses her hair while she swallows the pills. "Good girl.", he whispers, igniting a blush on her cheeks. Making sure they both are already safely tucked inside his bed, Rupert quietly hums a soft lullaby while tenderly stroking her hair. As sleep begins to lull her in, Taggie murmurs. "Thank you for taking care of me, Rupert. I love you, so much."
Happiness soared within his heart at her words, as a single tear escapes his eyes. "Sweet dreams, my darling, I promise you, that I'm gonna try my best to make it up to you, and love you the way you deserve to be love, angel." With a contented sigh, Taggie then falls asleep in his warm embrace.
Rupert can't quite predict what's going to happen tomorrow, and in the future that awaits them, but if there's one thing he's sure of, is with Taggie by his side, he'll be able to overcome anything.
She really is his salvation.