Chapter Text
Two people, two armchairs, two books, two empty glasses, one half-empty bottle of sherry, one sleeping dog and one open fireplace with a dying fire.
It was late January, there was a storm building up outside, and the clock struck 11.
Siegfried Farnon clapped his book together.
"Ah, mrs Hall. I guess I have to check on the animals. Better bolt the doors if this wind is going to continue. Right now I am glad that the boys are in Scarborough for the weekend. It would have been hell having them out on calls tonight."
He went through the hallway and into the kitchen.
"Mrs Hall, I need the torch! Where is it?"
She muttered as she headed after him; "Where it LIVES. On the hook in the pantry."
"Ah, yes, there it is."
He took the tool and disappeared into the night.
She fetched the empty glasses and cleaned the living room for newspapers and books.
"Jess, do you need to get out before the night?"
The dog swagged its tail and went to the front door. But when Audrey Hall opened it, both she and the dog backed away. The wind was simply too strong. She took the dog through to the back door, only to meet Siegfried.
"Would you mind taking Jess out? The wind is terrible out front."
"Of course, of course. Come here, Jess!"
She rinsed some cutlery under hot water, and then they were back. Siegfried kicked off his boots and placed the torch on the kitchen table. She only needed to look at him, and he quietly went to the pantry and put it back on the hook.
She felt a little bad for being so strict, and tried to soften the situation a bit.
"Thanks for helping me. That was really nice of you. But we better go to bed now."
She blushed lightly because it sounded so intimate. He probably heard it too, because he got that slightly startled look on his face, and his mouth dropped open. Not much, only a few millimetres. He pulled himself together and headed upstairs with a short "goodnight".
She took away some crumbled sheets from the notebook by the telephone, found the pencil that had fallen on the floor, secured the coats hanging in the hallway and closed the doors to the living room and the dining room. Then she switched the main lights off, leaving only one little lamp on the wall by the telephone. When she heard Siegfrid getting out of the bathroom, she went upstairs and got ready for bed. It was a bliss to tuck herself into the warm, soft embrace of the bed. As usual, she needed to read for some minutes before actually falling asleep. Suddenly the lamp on her bedside table went black. She tried to turn it back on, but when she twisted the switch, nothing happened. It was pitch dark. She got up, opened the door to the corridor and spoke, rather loudly.
"Siegfried! The electricity's gone!"
After only a few seconds she heard him coming out of his room.
"Is it gone in the whole house? Or only this floor?"
She answered into the darkness. It felt like she was blind.
"I have no idea. But no light is coming from downstairs, so I guess the whole house."
He came towards her, on bare feet, from the sounds of it.
"The fuse box is in the cupboard in your room. Do you mind?"
"Of course not", she answered and held her door open. The very pale moonlight let her see his contours. It soon became obvious that they needed a torch to check the fuses. Audrey fumbled her way downstairs, found the torch and ran up again.
"There is no light from outside either, so I guess it's a power outage in whole of Darrowby", she said.
"Well, let's check the fuse box anyway, now we're at it."
She stopped abruptly when the light from the torch hit Siegfried. He didn't wear his shirt, or trousers with suspenders, which was what she had seen him being half-naked in before. He wore only his undergarments. Of course, it left quite a lot to the fantasy, large and rather baggy as it was, but she had never seen him so undressed before. It struck her that she was only slightly more dressed than him, wearing a rather small, knee-length night gown with bare arms.
They stood looking at each other for an eternity. His eyes were dark, and she felt his stare burning her skin. Then he slowly turned to the fuse box and paid attention to it. He examined the fuses while she was paralyzed. She held the torch in a way that the light fell on what he was doing, but she was mesmerized by him. His arms, very well-shaped, by the way. She had of course admired his underarms many times before, when he pulled them up because he was treating an animal, but this was different. His skin was a little freckled, not much, and very attractive. She could see some chest hair, but as she stood behind him, it was hard to really study it closely. But she had excellent view of his back. The neck, the muscles, the beautifully shaped spine, the lower back that disappeared in the white boxer. His hips, rather sharp, actually. Nice legs, she thought. His skin was rather pale apart from the freckles on his arms and neck.
She almost jumped as he suddenly turned against her and took the torch.
"I guess you're right. None of the fuses are black, so it probably is a power outage. Or maybe I've forgotten to pay the bill. We have to find out tomorrow morning. And strictly speaking, we won't need any light for our activities tonight, are we?"
He switched the torch off, and Audrey melted to a lump of lust. Her lips tingled and her ears were ringing. The pulse hammered hot through her body, and she was unable to move. What on earth was happening? What did he mean? Was he suggesting...?
"Pray tell me, mrs Hall - are you afraid of the dark? Shush, back to bed, it's almost midnight" he said and grabbed her by the shoulders, turned her around and led her to bed. She knew nothing before he had put her into the bed and put the duvet around her.
"I'll leave the torch on your night stand. We can leave the doors open, in case anything should happen. Good night, mrs Hall!"
She heard his barefoot steps in the hallway, and his mattress creaking lightly as he went to bed.
What the hell was that? Showing up half naked, almost naked, and tease her like that? Audrey almost rubbed her teeth in frustration. For a few seconds she had actually thought that he was suggesting they went to bed together. And she would not have turned him down. On the contrary. If he had asked, he would have had her. In every way.
There was a familiar pulsing, wet sensation between her legs, and her whole body was hot of lust. The doors were open now, and she could hear him turning around in bed, but she found it too tempting - and let a hand slither down between her legs. She came quickly and without a sound, but the feeling was not really satisfactory. She was simply a bit disappointed. This could have been so much more.