[He doesn't fight her taking the yarn from him, less the actions of a slave letting his master take control and more that he can't even pretend to focus on it, or that it matters to him right now.
He still doesn't really look at her though and that is a slave bowing to his master.]
[ Mako pauses at that, because what? Raleigh's not looking at her, and it bothers her more than she can ever admit, because when has he ever done that to her lately? She remembers how he used to do it during their early days -- before they became lovers.
She frowns. What is he doing? ]
Where is that coming from, Raleigh? What are you thinking?
[That she really doesn't seem to understand what's bothering him-- he's not sure if that makes him feel better or worse. It means that she's literally not trying to hide anything from him at all and that could mean that there's nothing going on with Ben.
Or it means there is and that she doesn't think there's anything wrong with what she's doing with him.]
You've been spending a lot of time with Ben lately.
[And he's jealous and entertaining thoughts of her essentially cheating on him, but it's kind of hard not to-- when she's out all night with the other man and she comes back looking like that.]
[ Mako is... momentarily distracted with the yarn, compulsively attempting to untangle it and getting nowhere until Raleigh speaks up. She stops at those words, staring at him in surprise and dawning realisation -- it doesn't take long to add it all up.
Their distance these days, the time she doesn't spend with him, the increased workload and her growing absence, and he thinks -- ]
That's because we've got a lot of projects going on. [ She sets the yarn aside, disinterested in it when she senses an inevitable storm brewing on the horizon. After a pause, she continues, testing the waters, wonders if she's right. Why isn't he looking at her? ] I told you that, didn't I?
[Raleigh is silent for so long that it really says it all. No, she didn't mention that she had a lot of projects going on, he's smart enough to have realized that she's working more. But there's still working like a workaholic and there's coming back to their room in the middle of the night, night after night, not saying anything, acting like it's fine, not acknowledging him.]
[ ...All right, so Mako forgot to tell him about that -- Raleigh's unusually perceptive, and she's always assumed that he'd know. But then he's looking upset right now even if he's hiding it, and she's gently tipping his chin up so that she can look him in the eye.
She's still getting a read on him, because for all his habits the man can be exceptionally elusive, and Mako is way too tired for it, especially at three in the morning. ]
How do I look right now? And what does it say? Come out and say it, please.
[Is that really what she wants? Raleigh is painfully blunt when he wants to be, when he's given the free license to say whatever he's thinking. So here it is.]
Your shirt's crooked. You hair is a mess. It's three in the morning. It looks like you've been having sex, Mako, and I've been here all night, that's what it says.
[ Mako stiffens at what he essentially spells out for her, and her hand falls away from his chin -- is that what he's really thinking? All along, she's never been one to deny Raleigh any opportunity to say what he's thinking; he's her partner, not her slave.
Leaning down, Mako makes sure that she's still looking back at him steadily. ]
I was sleeping at my desk, Raleigh. It's been a very long day, [ then, wryly, ] and I may have drooled on the blueprints a little bit. [ But more important is the need to reassure him, because Raleigh looks so miserable and tortured that her heart hurts just looking at him. ]
How can I possibly be having sex when you, as you said, are here?
[She's so... naive about it that he has to laugh, a low, harsh sound. That silly question takes an edge off, if she's asking that, then what does he have to worry about? To be jealous over? That doesn't entirely quiet the green monster that's taken up residence in his gut but he can actually look at her now and not just past her or at his lap.]
He's not an unattractive person. And he's a free man. No one would blame you.
[ Mako thinks about that for a moment, before she decides to crawl onto his lap, her thighs on either side of him because at least he's looking at her, even if he's starkly unhappy.
At least she knows what it is now, and understands it a little more. Raleigh's never really shed the fact that he's a slave -- and she can't blame him, not when their society never fails to remind slaves of what they are, and who they are beholden to. Their lives are not their own, and Mako always wants to deck someone when she hears it.
So she's on his lap, guiding his hand to the small of her back in a silent message: Mako belongs to him, and it's not Ben's lap she's crawling into tonight.
Cupping his face then, Mako looks back at him steadily. ]
Tell me; do you men all think that looks and status are what women look for in a partner?
[She could do that. She startles Raleigh when she does, he looks at her with wide eyes but doesn't stop her, not because he's her slave but because he misses her, and he's not mad at her enough to keep her away. It's been a while, Mako, in case she hasn't realized, since the last time they were like this, and he gets it, she was working, but he also thought she was finding comfort and release elsewhere and that stung.
Raleigh looks at her, tightening his arm around her waist. She's his. He hasn't got a single right to call anything his own, whatever he has, ultimately belongs to his master in the eyes of the law but Mako is his.]
Your father wants you to leave me. [Maybe status and looks aren't everything but he knows that Stacker Pentecost's opinion carries a lot of weight with her.]
[ Of course she damn well could do that. Mako could and does, because she's getting a better idea of where he's coming from. She takes a few moments to properly understand all of it, especially the way he's wrapping his arms around her.
Tight -- he's in a possessive mood, and the reason for it is clear enough in his next words. Mako doesn't look surprised, but she's perhaps angry that he had to hear all of it. She knows that the Marshal means well, but she's not going to leave Raleigh; not for anything in the world.
She's sorry, she's sorry that it seemed like she was rejecting him, that they hadn't been intimate in so long, and their close proximity reminds her again of how attracted she is to him. Her hands on his chest, she leans down to kiss the side of his mouth. She's his; she belongs to him without a doubt. ]
I'm not doing that. Raleigh, [ she sighs, leaning down to press her forehead against him. ] Raleigh, I'm yours. I'm not going anywhere. You're not going anywhere either. What else did he say to you?
[Raleigh's quiet, leaning his forehead against hers, listening to her words. She's here, right now, sitting in his lap and wrapping herself up in him and he likes that, but he just-- worries sometimes. Worries that she will come to her senses, that Ben will worm his way into her heart and there won't be fuck all that he can do about it.]
Nothing else.
[Just that he would consider hiring Raleigh again if he left Mako, if he gave her up but that's such a non option, that it doesn't bear repeating.
That was enough, really. I know what he means to you.
[ Raleigh worries far too much. Mako's almost tempted to tell him that, but she doesn't, not yet -- she wants to address his fears, not invalidate them. She is never going to 'come to her senses' when she's saner than a brick about something like this.
Raleigh is the man she wants, the one person she has eyes for. Ben and her might be friends, and they might have plenty to talk about when it comes to the project, but he's no Raleigh. She cradles the back of his head thoughtfully, leaning down to kiss his mouth once, twice, soft and sweet and gentle.
Stacker means the world to her, yes, and it upsets her that they have to disagree so vehemently on something like this, but Mako's always been as stubborn as they come and she's not about to budge.
Mako frowns, clearly not entirely happy about this. ] Do you? [ Do you know what you mean to her, Raleigh? ]
[In all fairness, he has a lot to worry about when it comes to her, if you asked him. Because she's got everything and he literally doesn't have a thing for himself, even if she tries to even that playing field with him, when she can.
He worries because he can't lose her. It's not an acceptable risk.]
[ Because there's only so much Mako can do to even out the playing field, and she can't do that when Raleigh doesn't put himself on that level -- not that she can blame him; he literally has spent years having it beaten out of him and Mako understands it entirely.
They've come a long, long way, and the journey had been rough -- because they are essentially two very different people from two very different worlds. Mako softens, regarding him. ]
[They really have come a long way from the day that Chuck tossed him at her with a laugh. They're not the same people but oh, sometimes it's just hard. Hard for Raleigh to shake what was beaten into his head and he reverts back to that same sex slave who keeps his mouth shut and his head down and does what he's told, pleases when he's needed.
Even right now, he struggles to meet her gaze completely head on, looking more at her cheek than meeting her eyes.]
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He still doesn't really look at her though and that is a slave bowing to his master.]
Yeah. I could say the same thing about you.
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She frowns. What is he doing? ]
Where is that coming from, Raleigh? What are you thinking?
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Or it means there is and that she doesn't think there's anything wrong with what she's doing with him.]
You've been spending a lot of time with Ben lately.
[And he's jealous and entertaining thoughts of her essentially cheating on him, but it's kind of hard not to-- when she's out all night with the other man and she comes back looking like that.]
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Their distance these days, the time she doesn't spend with him, the increased workload and her growing absence, and he thinks -- ]
That's because we've got a lot of projects going on. [ She sets the yarn aside, disinterested in it when she senses an inevitable storm brewing on the horizon. After a pause, she continues, testing the waters, wonders if she's right. Why isn't he looking at her? ] I told you that, didn't I?
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How you look right now says enough.
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She's still getting a read on him, because for all his habits the man can be exceptionally elusive, and Mako is way too tired for it, especially at three in the morning. ]
How do I look right now? And what does it say? Come out and say it, please.
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Your shirt's crooked. You hair is a mess. It's three in the morning. It looks like you've been having sex, Mako, and I've been here all night, that's what it says.
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Leaning down, Mako makes sure that she's still looking back at him steadily. ]
I was sleeping at my desk, Raleigh. It's been a very long day, [ then, wryly, ] and I may have drooled on the blueprints a little bit. [ But more important is the need to reassure him, because Raleigh looks so miserable and tortured that her heart hurts just looking at him. ]
How can I possibly be having sex when you, as you said, are here?
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He's not an unattractive person. And he's a free man. No one would blame you.
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At least she knows what it is now, and understands it a little more. Raleigh's never really shed the fact that he's a slave -- and she can't blame him, not when their society never fails to remind slaves of what they are, and who they are beholden to. Their lives are not their own, and Mako always wants to deck someone when she hears it.
So she's on his lap, guiding his hand to the small of her back in a silent message: Mako belongs to him, and it's not Ben's lap she's crawling into tonight.
Cupping his face then, Mako looks back at him steadily. ]
Tell me; do you men all think that looks and status are what women look for in a partner?
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Raleigh looks at her, tightening his arm around her waist. She's his. He hasn't got a single right to call anything his own, whatever he has, ultimately belongs to his master in the eyes of the law but Mako is his.]
Your father wants you to leave me. [Maybe status and looks aren't everything but he knows that Stacker Pentecost's opinion carries a lot of weight with her.]
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Tight -- he's in a possessive mood, and the reason for it is clear enough in his next words. Mako doesn't look surprised, but she's perhaps angry that he had to hear all of it. She knows that the Marshal means well, but she's not going to leave Raleigh; not for anything in the world.
She's sorry, she's sorry that it seemed like she was rejecting him, that they hadn't been intimate in so long, and their close proximity reminds her again of how attracted she is to him. Her hands on his chest, she leans down to kiss the side of his mouth. She's his; she belongs to him without a doubt. ]
I'm not doing that. Raleigh, [ she sighs, leaning down to press her forehead against him. ] Raleigh, I'm yours. I'm not going anywhere. You're not going anywhere either. What else did he say to you?
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Nothing else.
[Just that he would consider hiring Raleigh again if he left Mako, if he gave her up but that's such a non option, that it doesn't bear repeating.
That was enough, really. I know what he means to you.
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Raleigh is the man she wants, the one person she has eyes for. Ben and her might be friends, and they might have plenty to talk about when it comes to the project, but he's no Raleigh. She cradles the back of his head thoughtfully, leaning down to kiss his mouth once, twice, soft and sweet and gentle.
Stacker means the world to her, yes, and it upsets her that they have to disagree so vehemently on something like this, but Mako's always been as stubborn as they come and she's not about to budge.
Mako frowns, clearly not entirely happy about this. ] Do you? [ Do you know what you mean to her, Raleigh? ]
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He worries because he can't lose her. It's not an acceptable risk.]
Do I what?
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[ Because there's only so much Mako can do to even out the playing field, and she can't do that when Raleigh doesn't put himself on that level -- not that she can blame him; he literally has spent years having it beaten out of him and Mako understands it entirely.
They've come a long, long way, and the journey had been rough -- because they are essentially two very different people from two very different worlds. Mako softens, regarding him. ]
Do you know who you are to me, Raleigh?
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Even right now, he struggles to meet her gaze completely head on, looking more at her cheek than meeting her eyes.]
Course I do.