Long Slow Swoon Up Against a Wall -- Spiderbilt

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Title: Long Slow Swoon Up Against a Wall
Author: Spiderbilt
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Katie and Simon return from Malta ....

Part 1

Simon watched his wife warily as she danced into the bathroom, proclaiming her love for the plush towels, the bathtub, the hairdryer, and pretty much everything else she came in contact with. Katie loved everything. Apparently, even him. He shook his head at the thought. Why in the world did she love him? Simon just didn't get it. And, as Katie continued to waltz to and fro, he seriously doubted that he ever would. Katie was like a relentless ray of sunshine -- always smiling and upbeat and bright. Yet Simon knew that even sunshine could burn. After all she'd already put him through, he just didn't want to take any more chances. With a tired sigh, Simon pushed all thoughts away and lay back on the bed. It had been a long trip back from Malta and he just did not have the energy to brood any longer.

"Simon?" Katie called as she walked out of the bathroom. "How about a nice, warm bath for the two of us?" she asked happily. She stopped short at the sight of Simon sleeping and just about melted. Simon looked so sweet. Gone were the stress and worry that were permanent fixtures on his handsome face while they were in Malta. Now that they were home, Katie would make sure that he wouldn't have to worry about her, and especially not Lily Snyder, ever again. Katie pulled a blanket over him, then stopped to stroke his cheek lovingly. "I love you, Simon," she said softly as he slept. "And you love me, too. I know it." Katie smiled devilishly to herself. "So you better get your rest, because you're definitely going to need it. When I'm done with my bath, I thoroughly - and I mean thoroughly - expect you to fulfill your husbandly duties." As she left to go run her bath, Katie couldn't help but let out a little giggle at the prospect of having Simon all to herself tonight ... and always.

Simon opened his eyes slowly and stared after Katie in wonder. Contrary to Katie's belief, he hadn't been asleep at all. A slow grin made its way across his face. That loopy blonde never failed to completely and utterly bewilder him. There was no telling what Katie would say or do next. She was exasperating, yet endearing at the same time. Since marrying her last year, his life had become one surreal adventure after another. "Oh Katie, Katie, Katie, what am I going to do with you?" he muttered under his breath. With another shake of his head, Simon suddenly chuckled at the thought of his "husbandly duties." But, just as suddenly, he sobered at the realization that he did want her. In his bed. But in his life? That was another matter entirely. He eyed the empty spot in the bed next to him. Logic and hormones were instantly at war with one another. His brain shouted dire warnings, reminding him that Katie could end up hurt when their marriage ended; while quite another body part screamed for fulfillment, that it had been months since he got any real action and that he'd be giving Katie what she wanted. And his heart? Well, Simon didn't trust that particular muscle, so it kept conspicuously silent. Simon had a nasty habit of ignoring it anyway. He looked over at the doorway to the bathroom and then back to the bed. His decision was made. Katie, honey, he thought, finish up your bath already and come "wake" me up. Simon smiled satisfactorily. Hormones won every time.

Part 2

Katie sighed with contentment and sank deeper into the bathwater. It wasn't until now that she realized how weary her body was. The warm water and soothing bathsalts did wonders for her tired muscles. She took a deep breath, exhaled slowly and, for the first time in what seemed like months, relaxed. A lazy smile played about her lips as she thought about the incredible night she and Simon were going to have. Despite the heat of the water, her body shivered in anticipation.

Married life sure wasn't what she thought it would be. But so far it was the best thing ever. Despite the fact that they hadn't actually consummated their marriage and that everyone told her it was a big mistake, she loved being married to Simon. Katie would walk to the ends of the earth for him ... lasso comets for him ... steal every star in the sky to make up for his lost diamond. Until Simon Frasier came into her life, Katie had never known that it was possible to long for someone with one's whole being. But now she knew. She loved Simon completely. And she would love him forever.

Wondering if Simon was still sleeping, Katie cocked her head towards the door and listened for sounds from the bedroom. All was quiet. Although her growing impatience was tempting her to go jump him, Katie decided to let him rest for a little while longer. Besides, the bath felt so good and she really wanted their first night as true husband and wife to be special. "Mmm, husband and wife," she murmured softly. Katie definitely liked the sound of that.

If she were completely honest with herself, Katie really didn't know why she loved Simon. She loved him for many reasons and for no particular reason. It wasn't exactly quantifiable. All Katie knew for sure was that Simon was definitely it. Sure, there was a high swoon factor involved. The man was beautiful. With a slight frown, Katie knew that any woman in her right mind would leap at the chance to have Simon. Lily had him, but realized what a treasure her own family was ... thank god. That cha cha chick from Brazil clearly wanted to get her claws into him. No problem, Katie could kick her ass anytime. Hell, even Lucinda probably had a raunchy dream or two about him. Ewww. Katie cringed at the thought. Way too icky. But all that didn't matter because Simon was with her now. And he would never ever want to be with anyone else. Katie was going to make sure of it.

No, she didn't love him just because he was so handsome and sexy and strong and adventurous and alluring and, well, the list could go on and on. And it wasn't just that he was caring and protective of her. It was all that and more. Katie just loved Simon because he was who he was, even when he was being boorish and bossy and impatient and stubborn and stupid and ... oh, this list could go on and on, too.

Out in the bedroom, a pacing Simon was going crazy with impatience and need. What the hell was taking Katie so long? He sat down on the bed only to get back up again and resume his pacing. This was ridiculous. He should just go in there and join her. After all, she did intend the bath to be for both of them. And she was his wife. Simon marched over to the bathroom door, but then stopped before opening it. He couldn't just go in. He started pacing again. "Oh hell," he muttered and reached for the knob.

"Katie?" he called softly, not wanting to startle her. He peered around the door. "Hey, Katie?" He slowly moved his eyes from the bathroom floor, up past the edge of the tub, and finally to Katie's face and was met by the sweetest, most amazing smile he had ever seen. Simon literally had to take a step back from the sheer force of the love in her eyes. As many times as he'd seen it, he didn't think he'd ever get used to the way Katie lit up at the mere sight of him. It was all too much to handle. "Uh .. sorry, um ... " he stammered. "I didn't mean to ... ah, what I mean is ... oh, just finish your bath," he finished lamely and started to back out of the room. Oh great, Simon, he thought miserably, what the hell happened to all your ultra smooth moves. His wife somehow had the uncanny ability to throw him off kilter.

Katie started to laugh. It was funny seeing Simon so flustered. "Oh Simon, it's about time you got in here. Where are you going? Stop blushing and come back. You know you want me to bathe you." She flashed him her best come hither look.

Simon rolled his eyes in that adorable way of his. "I was merely checking to see if you drowned. You've been in here a long time."

"Oh, you missed me." Katie sighed rapturously. "And you want me." Water splashed to the tile floor as she reached up and took hold of his hand and pulled him towards her. Without another word, she took his face in her hands and kissed him deeply.

Lightning bolts streaked through his body and Simon lost himself in her kiss. Her fingers were like butterflies fluttering at his shirt as she struggled to unbutton it. "Katie, Katie, what are you doing?" Simon mumbled as they continued to kiss. "I'm getting all wet."

She flashed him a siren's smile. "That makes two of us."

Part 3

Before she could even form a thought, Simon captured her mouth with his lips. Katie kissed him back with her very soul. God, she loved him. Her heart started pounding -- not only from the earth shattering effect of Simon's kisses, but from the realization that her dream was finally coming true. She and Simon were finally discovering true wedded bliss.

But then Simon broke off their kiss. "Katie... wait," he said breathlessly, his voice a bit ragged. "I want you. And I know you know I want you."

"And I want you," she replied simply. She framed his face with her hands and started to pull him towards her.

Simon caught her wrists and forced her to look at him. "Look --"

"Now Simon, I know what you're going to say," Katie interrupted. "But if you think you're going to weasel out of your feelings for me then think again. Listen up, hubby. I. Am. Your. Wife. And it's about time you started treating me like one. I mean, how many other wives would put up with husbands that don't give them the you know what for months and months? And don't even think that I forgot about our three nights. You agreed and you can't take it back now. And, I'm sure you realize by now that I am the greatest thing to ever happen to your life and that you need to pamper me and kiss my feet because you love me." She ended with a smug, but sweet smile.

He smiled back at her wryly. "You finished yet? Wait, no, don't answer that, otherwise we'll be here forever."

"Well, that's the general idea, you know."

Again, Simon was torn. He could easily sleep with her right now and appease her, but then what? How would he feel afterward? He definitely wasn't ready to face the consequences. Katie was looking at him with such raw, but innocent desire and longing. He couldn't take the chance of unintentionally hurting her, or worse, using her. As much as it pained him, especially with Katie outright seducing him - she was naked in the bathtub for goodness sake - he decided that he would not, he could not, sleep with her tonight. They both had to figure things out.

"Look,," he began again, "I already promised you our three nights. We will have them. But we can't do this right now. It just doesn't feel right for some reason."

Katie wanted to scream in frustration. No, she wanted to throttle Simon for being a clueless dolt. Words couldn't even begin to describe the myriad of emotions running through her. Couldn't he see that he was merely delaying the inevitable? And she didn't just mean sex. It was all about Love, with a capital 'L.' It was about becoming a true couple. Why couldn't he see that?

She took a deep breath to steady herself. "What's not right, Simon? We are married. We've been through a lot together and it's brought us closer. Something real happened between us when we were locked up in that freaky opera house. I love you. And however you define it, you love me, too. There is nothing more right than making love to me right here, right now." Katie looked at him almost defiantly. The look in her eyes practically dared him to refute everything she just said.

The moment grew long and heavy as Simon remained silent. The truth was he really didn't know what to say. Katie always seemed to have an answer for everything, whereas he always felt at a loss as to how to respond to her. In Malta, the adrenaline and element of danger almost made it easier to be with her. Now that they were back home there was no business to take care of, no one to save, nothing to stop them from having to deal solely with each other.

Katie sensed the brooding that had overcome Simon. Striving to lighten the mood, she splashed some water all over the front of his shirt. "Hey, I'm turning into a prune here. Now be a good husband and kiss me already."

"That's just it, Katie, I'm not a good husband. We can't just start playing house."

Katie thought she detected a note of sadness in his voice and decided to take full advantage. "You're wrong, Simon," she said softly before kissing him on the corner of his mouth. "You're a wonderful husband. I'll show you."

Simon reveled in her touch for a few moments before abruptly pulling away. "Katie, don't you listen to anything I say? Look, I've ... I've got to get some air. You should get some rest or something, okay? I'll be back later." He turned and stalked out of the bathroom.

Splashing water all over the bathroom tiles, Katie shot out of the tub. She hurriedly wrapped her robe around herself as she chased after her wayward husband. "Simon! Where are you going?" She grabbed Simon's arm and turned him to face her.

"I'm going to find myself," Simon replied sarcastically, though in all honesty, it wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"Well, just where are you going to find yourself?" she asked, exasperated. "At least tell me where you'll be. Better yet, don't go anywhere at all. Stay here." A scowl came over Katie's pretty face as a thought occured to her. "You're not going out to look for some young thing in faux leather hotpants, are you? Besides being tacky, that's just mean. If you are... I swear, Simon, there are limits to even my love. You won't like it."

Simon couldn't help but smile. Katie was so full of fire, so full of life. Yes, she was definitely a handful, but at least she had spirit. And she was looking so pretty with her hair wet and her cheeks flushed with anger. "You know, being a shrew doesn't become you, Kathryn," he said playfully.

Katie wanted to stomp on his foot. "Shrew!" she shrieked. "I am not a shrew!"

Of course, her outcry only made Simon laugh and egg her on even further. "Yeah, well you sure sound like it."

Katie calmed down long enough to enjoy his flirty banter. "Well, maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't be such a shrew if a certain stubborn Aussie would stop holding out on the good stuff."

"Oh, c'mon, you're impossible to tame." Simon rested his hands on her shoulders and smiled down at her.

"Yeah, but you want to try anyway," she said with a knowing gleam in her eye.

A kiss hung in the air between them, but neither made a move toward the other. Katie wondered what he could possibly be thinking. He seemed so hell bent on not facing his feelings for her. She just couldn't understand why. They could be so happy if he would just be honest for once. But, no, instead things supposedly didn't feel right. If he was willing to have their three days in the honeymoon suite, then why didn't he want to be with her now? Simon made no sense whatsoever.

"Yeah, well, so okay then..." Simon said to fill the silence. He kissed Katie sweetly on her forehead. "I'll be back in a bit." Katie frowned at him. "Now Katie, stop looking at me like that," he said as he reached for the door.

"Like what?" Katie replied. "Like you're a big, dopey Aussie who doesn't know what's good for him?"

Simon merely shook his head and muttered, "Crazy American wife," as he headed out. "I said I'd be back, dammit," he yelled before the door closed behind him.

Katie leaned against the door and sighed, half in disappointment, half in amusement. "Oh, he so loves me," she said to herself. If there ever was a time to be machiavellian, it was now. Energized by the thought of coming up with a new scheme, Katie began plotting.

Part 4

Simon got as far as the Lakeview lobby before running into Oakdale's grand dame herself, Lucinda Walsh.

"Darling, hello!" Lucinda exclaimed as she practically glided over to where he was standing. "Let me buy you a drink in honor of Holden, Luke and Lily's homecoming. You are a hero you know, darling. Come come," she said taking his arm and steering him towards the bar. "I want to thank you."

Simon struggled to keep his expression from betraying him. Having a drink with Lucinda Walsh was not on his list of things to do at the moment. "Ahh, Lucinda," he said with a slight smile, "as always it's a pleasure, but I'm actually on my way out."

She looked at him as if she didn't understand. "But ... Simon," she sputtered, "darling, I came out here just to see you and thank you. Now let us go into the bar here and celebrate." Lucinda refused to take no for an answer. She smiled winningly at Simon as she led him to a small table for two.

Sitting down with a small sigh and a slight roll of the eyes, Simon resigned himself to Lucinda's company. He had managed to get on her good side. While Lucinda's opinion mattered not one bit to him, he might as well milk it for what it was worth. Hell, a free drink didn't hurt either. "Speaking of homecomings, how is everyone?" he asked nonchalantly. Simon hadn't seen Holden or Lily since Malta. Lily had wanted to stay behind for a bit to make sure everything was fine with Damian, so he and Katie had headed home first.

"Oh good ... good. They arrived not too long ago. Now they're all out at the farm reuniting. One big happy family," she said pointedly.

He chose to ignore her little jab, but answered honestly. "As they should be. Now -- "

The waiter interrupted as he arrived to take their drink orders.

"I will have a glass of chardonnay and Mr. Frasier here will have?" Lucinda looked at Simon inquiringly.

"I'll have a beer, thanks."

"So what were you saying, darling?" Lucinda asked, but before giving him a chance to answer she spoke again. "So where is Mrs. Frasier? I came to visit both of you, you know. I heard that she was very helpful in Malta. That Katie," she shook her head, part in wonder, part in bewilderment, "she sure is a ... " Lucinda paused in search of the right word, "a plucky little thing, isn't she?"

Simon nearly choked, he started laughing so hard. Katie would rather rot in that Maltese dungeon than be referred to as plucky. Plucky seemed infinitely worse than plain old perky. He couldn't wait to tell Katie just to see her reaction.

Lucinda's eyes widened with shock and amusement. "Was it something I said? Oh, nevermind, darling, nevermind." She puncuated her words with a wave of her hand. "It's good to know that little Miss Katie is good for something, especially since she and Craig swim in the same gene pool. Poor Lyla!"

Simon's laughter abruptly faded as he spoke to Lucinda slowly and forcefully, "Katie is nothing like Montgomery. Craig looks out only for himself. Katie risked her life to help save Luke and Holden. Yeah, she can be as crazy as a loon sometimes, but she's a good loon."

With a knowing eye, Lucinda peered at Simon thoughtfully. Very interesting ... it seemed as though Katie was actually winning Simon over. Bravo, she thought, albeit a bit patronizingly. Lucinda gleefully decided to push some more of Simon's buttons. It was too much fun to pass up. "Yes, but who would want to be married to such a creature? You know, Simon, there are ways to make your troubles with the INS disappear."

The very mention of the INS took Simon by surprise. He hadn't thought of that in so long that he had forgotten about it. Now that he was faced with it once again, Simon wished he could forget all about it. Still, he didn't trust Lucinda. There was something just a little devious in the way she was looking at him. "Oh no, Lucinda. You tried to buy me off before. It didn't work then and it's not going to work now." He shook his head for emphasis.

"But darling! I thought -- " she broke off as the waiter placed their drinks on the table. She continued once they were alone, only this time she spoke more calmly. "Who said anything about buying you off? I certainly didn't," she said sounding a tad huffy. "I was merely suggesting that you don't need to be so saddled down if you don't want to be." Lucinda leaned in close and whispered conspiringly. "I know the type of man you are Simon. You're a man of the world. You live for freedom, for adventure. I would even go so far as to say that you are a loner. Now Katie, she's an altogether different sort of bird." Lucinda couldn't help but enjoy her little play on words.

"Hmph...," Simon mumbled softly to himself, the corner of his mouth turning up in a sort of smile. "...birds of a feather."

"What are you talking about, darling?!" Lucinda asked, completely perplexed.

Simon shook his head as if to clear it of his thoughts and took a large swig of his beer. "Don't you worry about me and my plucky little wife," he said as he stood up. "Thanks for the drink." And with that, he left.

Confused, Lucinda gaped after Simon. But as she watched him leave the bar area, her eyes narrowed as a splendidly cunning idea occurred to her.

"This is it! This is it!" Katie squealed to herself, barely able to contain her glee. She jumped up and down cradling the phone to her ear. "Operator? ... Yes, hi, this is Mrs. Katie Frasier and I'd like to be connected to Australia ... Australia, you know the land down under? Home of Barbie shrimp and Crocodile Dundee? ... Oh, I'm not sure. It's a small sheep town ... Well, can't you just connect me to Sydney? Alright then, that's all I needed thanks."

Katie rolled her eyes in annoyance and waited for her long distance call to go through. "Hello? Hi, I'm trying to reach someone in the sheep town of Willy Willy or Walla Walla or something something ... Wagga Wagga? Yes! That's it! Oh, I just love Australia. You're so much more helpful than these American operators. I'm actually married to an Australian. Once you go Aussie, there's no going back, you know. Anyway, I'm trying to reach a Mr. Frasier. Mr. Richard Frasier, my dearest darling father-in-law. Do you have a number? ... Really!!! Oh, thanks!" She hurriedly scribbled the number on a post-it pad.

Katie hung up the phone and let out a long slow breath. She stared at the number she had written. Feeling shaky with pure excitement, she reached for the phone again and dialed the number slowly and methodically. Katie's heart seemed to stop with each ring. Finally, after eons and eons had passed, someone picked up. "Yes, hello?" answered a gruff male Aussie voice.

For a second, Katie lost her voice. "Mr. Frasier? Mr. Richard Frasier?" she managed to squeak.

"Yes."

Katie cleared her throat and smiled into the phone. "Hi, it's me, Katie!!! Your daughter-in-law. Simon's wife. I'm sure he's told you all about me...."

To Be Continued ....