Adult-FanFiction.org : Games

In Sheep's Clothing	By : ParisWriter Category: +G through L > Harvest Moon Views: 2169 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 26
- 27
- 28
Chapter Twenty-Six

Klaus smiled to himself as he placed a few cubes of ice into a small hand towel and then ran the bundle briefly under some water at the kitchen sink, looking over to where Avery was sitting on her couch, gingerly holding her hand and whimpering. He'd been shocked at how she punched Rebecca, but it seems she had been just as surprised at her own actions as she'd kept tearfully repeating, 'I can't believe I just did that,' all the way back to her farmhouse.

"Here," he said, kneeling in front of her and gently taking her right hand in his. He placed the homemade ice pack onto her hand and she winced, pulling away instinctively from the cold at first before relaxing and allowing him to hold it there.

"They always make it look so easy," Avery said, looking from her hand over to the television nearby. Klaus chuckled.

"That's because they're not actually punching people on TV, love," he told her, reaching up with one hand to pull away a piece of her dyed hair which was stuck at the corner of her mouth. "Trust me, I know quite well how much hitting someone really does hurt."

"I can't believe I did that," she repeated herself once more, shaking her head. "Addie used to punch people all the time when I got bullied as a kid, but... I've never hit a person before in my life!"

"Maybe I've been a bad influence on you," Klaus mused with a smirk, winking at her, and Avery was the one to laugh this time.

"Thug life, thug wife, huh?" she said, shaking her head. "Sorry, sweetie, but I don't think I'm ever going to be doing that again."

Klaus continued to smile as he stood and placed a kiss to her forehead. "That's fine. I prefer to think of it as bad-assery by proxy, anyway, since I couldn't very well hit her no matter how much I wanted to."

Avery nodded. "I love you."

"I love you, too," he replied, giving her a curious look. It seemed like an odd thing for her to be saying so suddenly. He supposed she was still probably trying to explain to herself why she'd felt so compelled to hit Rebecca. It didn't sound much like an explanation, though. Something in her voice gave him the distinct feeling that there was more on her mind than simply the way her fist had made direct contact with another person's face. Leaning down, he cupped her chin in his hand and tilted her face up toward his, then kissed her softly.

"I'm going to go run you a bath," he told her once their lips had parted, still leaning over her. "Then I'll see if I can't get that dye washed out of your hair for you."

"I can wash my own hair," she quietly protested.

"I know, but doing it right now would likely cause you quite a bit of discomfort so I'm offering to do it for you... okay?"

He kissed her once more, lingering a bit as he hoped that once she was back to looking more like herself that she would start feeling better. He also hoped, for Allen's sake, that the dye washed out like he promised because – unlike Rebecca – Allen was a man and he had no problem with hitting men. He would certainly see to it that the hairdresser paid if he ruined Avery's chance to shine at her cousin's upcoming wedding, even if he was Marian's latest object of infatuation.

"Speak of the devil," Klaus muttered to himself as he saw a familiar head of dark pink hair outside the front window of Avery's farmhouse. She gave him a confused look and he went to answer the door before Marian even had a chance to knock, surprising him.

"Klaus, is Avery okay?" he asked, his eyes wide in concern. "I heard about what happened."

"She's fine," Klaus assured him, noticing he had his medical bag with him as he stepped aside to let him into her home. "Her hand's a bit sore, and she's a little shaken up by what she did, but otherwise she's fine."

Marian marched right over to where Avery was sitting and took a seat next to her on the sofa, placing his bag at his feet on the floor and holding his hands out to her.

"May I?"

Avery nodded and held out her hand, which had turned a bit red from the coldness of the ice she'd been holding on it. Marian took it in both of his hands and gently felt the bones of her fingers, causing her to wince a little. He then asked her to try linking the fingers of both her hands together and to make a fist. Satisfied, he nodded and leaned down to his bag, opening it and pulling two bottles out from inside – one a small pill bottle, and the other a much larger bottle of some sort of pale green cream.

"Your hand isn't broken," Marian informed them, looking up to Klaus – who had moved to sit on the arm rest of the sofa next to Avery. "She did quite a number on Rebecca, you know."

"I know. I was there," Klaus told him, smiling proudly.

"How bad was it?" Avery wondered, drawing Marian's attention back to her.

"Black eye and a fractured cheek bone. Don't worry, though. It won't have any effect on her career, since she no longer has one. Giorgio was already on the phone calling every designer he knows when I left to come up here and check on you."

"Is Giorgio okay?" Avery asked, wincing again even though Marian was no longer holding her hand.

"He's going to be just fine, sweetie," Marian assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "She's not the first person to use him. He'll probably be mopey for a few days, but then he'll bounce right back and be his old self again."

Avery nodded for a moment, then slouched down into the cushions of the sofa, looking frightened.

"What's wrong, love?" Klaus asked her, reaching over to stroke her hair.

"What if Rebecca presses charges?" she worried.

"She won't," he told her with a small chuckle, shaking his head.

"I broke her face, Klaus!"

"Rebecca may be a lot of things," Marian said with a sigh, "but she's not stupid. Klaus is right. She's not going to press charges."

"If she did, it would mean that you would have to give a reason for your actions," Klaus explained. "I'm sure she doesn't want the press getting wind of why you hit her, lest her next potential victim read the article and catch on to her scheme."

Avery nodded slightly and Marian reached out to take her uninjured hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Even if she does, it would be your word against hers and everyone here in town would back you up. And by that, I mean we'd all lie to protect you."

"She swung first," Klaus said. "You were only trying to protect yourself from her attack."

"But she never even got the chance to try to hit me," Avery corrected, looking up to him.

"I know," he said, giving her a wink. "I was giving you an example of what sort of story we might all use to protect you in the off chance she does decide to press charges."

"Oh," Avery simply said, looking at her hand and picking up the ice pack to place upon it once more.

"Here, take these," Marian instructed, holding the two bottles he'd removed from his bag out to her. When she made no move to take them, Klaus instead leaned forward and accepted both of them from him.

"Are these for her hand?" he asked, looking curiously at the larger of the two bottles.

"The one is medicine to help with the pain, yes," Marian instructed, picking up his bag from the floor and standing up. "The other is some special shampoo Allen asked me to give to Avery. He said it'll wash the dye right out of her hair, though it might take a couple of extra washings with as much as he put in. Don't mix them up."

Klaus chuckled. "Don't worry. I won't."

"We're going out to celebrate in a bit," the doctor informed them, referring to himself and the hairdresser. "Might take Giorgio with us, too, to help cheer him up after what happened. You two are welcome to join us, if you'd like."

"I think we'll probably stay in for the rest of the day," Klaus politely declined, still looking at Avery sitting silently on her sofa. "Thank you for the offer, though."

Marian smiled and nodded, then called a goodbye over to Avery. When she still said nothing, he gave Klaus a concerned look, and Klaus shook his head a little in return to let his friend know he wasn't sure what was wrong but that he'd get to the bottom of it. He then let him out before returning to her side, stopping briefly to set the two bottles on her dining table. He leaned down to kiss the top of her head, lingering for a bit, then went to her bathroom and started to run the bath he'd promised her before Marian's arrival.

After checking the temperature to make sure it was suitably warm and not too hot, he put the stopper into the tub and added some bubble bath he'd noticed when he was in there earlier that morning and left the tub to fill. He returned to her kitchen and got her a glass of water, then retrieved two of the pain pills Marian had left and gave them to her. She took them, thanked him quietly, and handed back the glass once she'd finished off the water inside it. Klaus set the empty glass down on the table next to the sofa and reached for her left hand, using it to pull her to her feet. She went with him without protest, allowing him to lead her toward the bathroom, and once they reached their destination he took the ide pack from her and set it in the sink.

"Think you can undress by yourself, or do you need my help?" he asked her, smiling a little.

"I can do it," she said flatly, nodding her head, and Klaus sighed a bit and kissed her.

"I'll be right back, okay? I'm just going to get the shampoo Allen sent up."

He waited for her to nod again, then went back to her kitchen. Instead of simply grabbing the shampoo and returning to her, however, he began looking about in the cabinets and drawers of her kitchen. When he finally did go back to the bathroom a few minutes later, he had the bottle of shampoo tucked under one arm, along with some candles he'd found, and a glass of wine in one hand.

"Here," he said, offering the wine to her.

"Is this safe?" she wondered, looking from the glass to his face.

Klaus nodded, "I checked the bottle. Mixing the two might make you drowsy, but just one glass shouldn't be dangerous. Don't worry, if you do end up falling asleep I'm not going to let you drown in your tub."

"Good to know," Avery said with little enthusiasm as she took the wine from him and began drinking it as he went about setting up the candles around the room. Once he had them all lit, he turned off the lights, allowing the room to become illuminated only by their soft glow. He then took off his coat and cravat, laying them over the side of her laundry basket just inside the door, and went to kneel at the side of the tub.

"Turn around, love," he instructed her, and Avery maneuvered herself until her back was to him, moving slowly so as not to send the water splashing out over the side and onto the floor.

Klaus pushed her hair to one side and kissed her neck, drawing a soft sigh from her lips, then continued his way across her shoulder. With each small kiss placed upon her skin, she relaxed a little more – though it might have also been thanks in part to the pain medicine and the wine slowly starting to do their job, as well. Once he reached the slope of her shoulder he sat back and cupped both hands into the water, then raised them above her and let the water fall down from between his fingers like a gentle rain on top of her head. He repeated the action several more times until her hair was thoroughly wet, then opened the bottle of shampoo Allen had sent and put some into the palm of one hand.

"It's chamomile," he informed her of the scent as he began working the shampoo into her hair, thankful that Allen hadn't sent something perfumed with lavender, instead. Then again, Marian knew Avery had a sensitivity to the flower and likely would have made sure Allen sent something which wouldn't trigger her to go into a sneezing fit.

"You're awfully quiet," he said after a moment. "What's on your mind?"

Avery continued to remain silent for a moment longer before finally speaking. "I heard what Rebecca said... about me. And about how I measure up to the women you used to date."

Klaus' hands stilled in their gentle massaging of her scalp, and he leaned down to kiss her bare shoulder once more before he resumed his previous actions.

"Are you really worried I don't find you attractive, Avery?" he asked her.

"No, I... I know you do," Avery replied, sliding down a little into the water to hide herself beneath the mountain of bubbles upon the surface.

"She's right that you're not like the women I dated before," he told her, causing her to tense a bit. "That's not a bad thing, though. Yes, you're probably the shortest woman I have ever dated, but I didn't really notice it until it was pointed out to me, today."

"You're almost foot taller than me," Avery said with a small laugh. "How do you not notice that?"

Klaus chuckled, pulling the ends of her hair up and piling them on top of her head in order to lather the shampoo into them, as well.

"That's not what I meant. Obviously I noticed there's a significant height difference between us. What I mean is that I never realized before today that you're the first woman who I can fully fit against me when I hold you in my arms. I know it might seem sexist, but I like that because it makes me feel that I can do my duty as a man and protect you – not that you need protecting, as you proved today."

Avery laughed again, shifting in the water with a content sigh.

"I also have another reason I adore your smaller stature, though it might seem a bit odd or creepy to you."

"What is it?" she asked, turning her head slightly to look at him.

Klaus blushed a little. "I'm sure you noticed the way I tend to kiss you on top of your head. It's not meant as a wholly affectionate gesture, but it's also not some sort of belittling gesture, either. It's... a covert way of getting to smell your hair."

Avery chuckled at his admission and turned away from him again to hide her own blush. "Coming from anyone else, that would be kind of creepy. With you, though, I think it's sweet."

"Also, for the record, you're not 'chubby,'" Klaus assured her, recalling the other things Rebecca had said about her in their conversation. "By modeling industry standards, yes... You're a bit on the plump side. But those standards are so ridiculously out of touch with reality that I refuse to hold any woman to them."

"At least my breasts aren't fake," she added, and Klaus reached one hand down into the water and grasped one of her breasts, gently squeezing it and drawing a soft gasp from her.

"No, and you're already fully aware of how much I love them, I'm sure," he said. "Just like I love all the rest of your curves. Including that little belly of yours you were so desperately trying to hide last night."

Avery sank back down into the water once more, and Klaus slid his hand up from her chest to rest under her chin, then used one finger to tilt it upward until her head was arched back and he was able to look into her eyes.

"I love you, Avery. All of you. I don't mind if you gain a few pounds eating all those sweets Raeger likes to give you. I would never change a thing about you. And even when we're both old and grey and all wrinkly I will still think you're the most beautiful woman in the world."

"Sweet-talker," she said, her voice trembling a bit, and Klaus got up from where he was kneeling and sat on the edge of the tub in order to lean over and kiss her. His hand slid back down to her breast and continued farther down still, but the combination of the awkward position and the way he was precariously perched caused him to loose his balance and he ended up slipping into the tub next to her.

Avery squealed as the water splashed about and sloshed over the edge of the tub to the floor, then laughed at the way Klaus looked. His eyes were wide and his clothes were soaked and covered in bubbles. He quickly recomposed himself and smirked as he splashed some of the water at her, causing her to let out another surprised squeak, then he sat up and pulled her to him for a more proper kiss.

She dropped her wineglass into the tub and wrapped her arms around his neck, sliding closer to him in order to make the position a bit less awkward for them both. Klaus helped her into his lap, and she giggled a bit into the kiss when she felt the wet wool of his trousers brushing between her legs as she straddled him. He nipped at her bottom lip to silence her laughter, then swept his tongue back into her mouth to resume kissing her deeply as he adjusted his long legs over the side of the tub in a way which was more comfortable for himself and also helped to support her in his lap.

Avery's hands soon began wandering, searching for the buttons of his shirt and working each one open in succession – along with those holding on the waistcoat he was still wearing. Her hands met with his skin, and she trailed them up along the length of his torso, sliding them up under his open shirt to part it and expose more of his body to her touch.

"Slow down, love," Klaus told her, his voice quiet and a bit breathless from their kissing. "We still haven't washed that shampoo out of your hair, yet."

"Then do it and take me to bed," she instructed him, her lips brushing against his as she spoke.

Klaus groaned and kissed her briefly, then helped her up out of his lap and awkwardly climbed out of the tub, sending more water onto the floor. Avery watched him as he pulled off the top half of his clothing, and he laughed a little as he dropped both articles to the floor, creating a sloppy, wet sound.

"I think we're going to need to clean up this mess before we do anything in bed, love," he told her, smiling and kneeling on his shirt and waistcoat amidst the large puddle of water covering her bathroom floor.

"Fine," she acquiesced, pouting a little as she turned her back to him once more so he could more easily rinse out her hair. "After that, though."

"With great pleasure," he agreed, gesturing for her to tilt her head back as he reached into the water and searched for the wineglass she'd dropped. Once he located it, he used it to scoop up the water out of the tub and rinse her hair. The lather easily washed out, and – to his surprise and relief – most of the deep purple dye came along with it. Her dark blonde hair still had a very slight tint of the color remaining, but Allen had said it might take a couple of washings to remove all the dye.

"How does it look?" she asked him once he finally set aside the wineglass.

"Use the shampoo Allen sent tomorrow morning, and that should take care of the last of it," he informed her, kissing the top of her head as he stood up, enjoying the scent of chamomile lingering on her hair. He then retrieved two towels from the cabinet next to the door and handed one to her before removing the stopper from the tub to drain out the now-purple water.

Avery stood and began drying her hair with the towel Klaus had given her, and Klaus used the one he still had to wrap around her body before he swept her up into his arms. Avery let out a yelp of surprise at the sudden action and he chuckled as he cradled her in his arms and carried her out of the bathroom and over to her bed. She sighed happily and rested her head against his shoulder as they traveled across the space of her small farmhouse's single floor, one of her hands resting over his heart while the other played with the hair at the nape of his neck.

"I love you," she whispered to him, and Klaus smiled at her.

"I love you, too, Avery," he said as he gently placed her upon her bed, then kissed her before standing upright. "Get yourself dried off while I clean up the bathroom."

"Okay," she told him, nodding, a blush creeping across her cheeks.

"I'll be back soon," he promised her, leaning down to kiss her once more before retreating back to the bathroom, picking up the towel she'd been using to dry her hair – which she must have dropped as he was carrying her – and taking it with him.

Once he reached the bathroom, he deposited her towel into the laundry basket, then picked up his items of clothing which were on the floor and tossed them in, as well. He then grabbed two more large, fluffy towels from the cabinet and used them to mop up the rest of the water off the floor. Once those towels had also joined the rest of the wet articles in the basket, he blew out all of the candles he had set up around the room and made his way back out to Avery.

He smiled as he saw her lying on the bed, waiting for him, and he sat town at her dining table to remove his boots so that they wouldn't have to pause later in the middle of things to worry about getting them off. She remained quiet and unmoving as he sat there, and he laughed a little.

"Nervous?" he asked her, but she didn't answer, and the smile on his face briefly faltered when he lifted his gaze to look at her once more, only to be replaced by an even bigger grin.

He'd been mistaken before when he thought she was watching him, as he found her eyes were very much closed, her chest rising and falling slowly. It appeared she had laid herself out upon her bed in a manner which was meant to entice him, and she had succeeded in spurring his desires, but in the few minutes it had taken him to straighten up her bathroom the combination of the pain medicine and the wine had kicked in and she'd fallen asleep.

Klaus stood from the chair he had been sitting in and crossed the rest of the room to were she was sleeping, then carefully lowered himself to sit next to her on the mattress. She rolled over a little in her sleep, reaching out blindly and placing her hand on his thigh but not waking up. He leaned over her and kissed her softly, brushing her wet hair back away from her face, and chuckled a little to himself as he recalled Marian's comment from that morning about how it seemed like they were never going to have sex. He knew if he wanted to her could probably rouse her from her sleep and, judging by how eager she'd seemed, she likely wouldn't protest to his reason for having awakened her. However, he didn't have the heart to disturb her when she looked so peaceful. It had been a trying day for both of them, after all, and the longer he watched her sleep the more tired he felt, himself.

He stifled a yawn and laughed a little, then leaned down and kissed her one more time before removing her hand from his leg and standing up. He then retrieved the blanket she kept across the back of her sofa and used it to cover her naked body so she wouldn't catch cold and returned to the bathroom to collect the rest of his clothes. After redressing, he quickly wrote a note to her to explain to her why he left – to go home and get into some dry clothes, mostly – and tell her he loved her and would see her later in the week, then placed it on her bedside table where she would be sure to see it as soon as she woke up.

"Soon, love," he promised her sleeping form as he pulled on his coat over his wet shirt and waistcoat. "Next time, I'm not stopping."
- 26
- 27
- 28
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

In Sheep's Clothing