Fic: Golden Hours (Di Radfield/Miss G, Cracks)

[fembuck]

This story has been laying around on my hard drive weeks.  I apparently left it unposted because I couldn't think of a title for it when I wrote it, and then I promptly forgot that it existed.  So, I've now given it a title and ... here it is!

Title: Golden Hours
Author: Janine
Fandom: Cracks
Pairing: Miss G/ Di Radfield
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don’t own them
Summary: Radfield can’t sleep and goes to Miss G, hoping for a bedtime story.
Note: The poem Miss G recites in the story is the Saddest Poem by Pablo Neruda.

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Di closed her eyes, and with a small smile fell back against the plush pillows Miss G had laid out on the floor for them to lounge on. 

She had shown up at Miss G’s door a few minutes before claiming to be suffering with a bout of insomnia, but the truth was that Di hadn’t even attempted to fall asleep that night.  About a month before she’d actually had some trouble sleeping and had sought out Miss G hoping to be lent a book to read to pass the hours until sleep claimed her.  Miss G had surprised her however, and to Di’s immense pleasure the teacher had invited the young woman into her room and offered to read to Di until the girl thought she might be able to sleep. 

That night had been magical, one of the best Di had ever had, and she had spent the weeks since then trying to get up the nerve to make another late night visit to Miss G’s room.

“I can write the saddest poem of all tonight,” Miss G recited softly but powerfully, in her raspy, cultured voice.  “Write, for instance: "The night is full of stars, and the stars, blue, shiver in the distance.”

Di shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, squeezing tightly as she imagined an endless onyx sky stretched high above her and blue stars twinkling majestically as Miss G lay beside her in tall grass holding her hand while they gazed up at the bleak, cold expanse of darkness together.

“The night wind whirls in the sky and sings. I can write the saddest poem of all tonight.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.”

With Miss G’s voice in her ear, it was easy for Di to imagine them wandering through the night side by side.  With Miss G’s voice in her ear and her head snuggled against pillows that carried the teachers scent, the two of them hidden away together in secret, it was easy for Di to imagine that Miss G loved her too.

After all, Miss G took her – and her alone – for boat rides on the lake.  Miss G bent down and whispered into her ear more than she whispered to any other girl at the school.  And it was her hands that Miss G secretly slipped pieces of paper into during class or after practice.  She was the one Miss G knew would understand and be amused by the humorous doodles the teacher had made.  Di was the one Miss G would recommend books and poems to that Miss G knew the other girls wouldn’t appreciate. 

Miss G let Di into her room at night and fixed pillows for them to lounge together.  Miss G gave her a tumbler of brandy and read to Di – and Di alone – in the dead of the night.  When the world outside was silent and still, Di was the one Miss G wanted to spend the golden hours of night with.

“On nights like this, I held her in my arms.  I kissed her so many times under the infinite sky. She loved me, sometimes I loved her.”

Miss G’s lips were always painted red during the day, and Di often found her eyes traveling towards them and staring at them for long intervals.  Miss G had a nice mouth, full lips, but strong.  She smirked more than she smiled, but when she did smile those lips would part and it was all Di could do to stop herself from flinging herself at Miss G, and wrapping her arms around her waist. 

At night, when Di was certain that the other girls were sleeping, she would sometimes think of Miss G and her lips.  She would wonder what they would feel like pressed against her own, she would imagine, and her hand would drift beneath her blankets to touch between her legs.

“How could I not have loved her large, still eyes?

I can write the saddest poem of all tonight. To think I don't have her. To feel that I've lost her.”

Di’s heart spiked in her chest, and her body tensed.  She thought back to the breakfast that morning and the announcement Miss Niven had made about the Italian Princess coming to the school. 

Di didn’t know why Miss G’s words made her think of the new student, Fiamma, only that they had, and that the spike of fear that coursed through her made her loathe the Princess even more than she had after hearing the announcement. 

They didn’t like aristocrats at the school, let alone royalty, and Di really didn’t like anyone who might be interesting enough to take Miss G’s attention away from her.

“What does it matter that my love couldn't keep her.
The night is full of stars and she is not with me.

That's all. Far away, someone sings. Far away.
My soul is lost without her.

As if to bring her near, my eyes search for her.
My heart searches for her and she is not with me.

The same night that whitens the same trees.
We, we who were, we are the same no longer.

Someone else's. She will be someone else's. As she once
belonged to my kisses.

Her voice, her light body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, true, but perhaps I love her.
Love is so short and oblivion so long.

Because on nights like this I held her in my arms, my soul is lost without her,” Miss G finished, her voice dropping so low that it was almost inaudible as her keen blue eyes observed Di across the sea of pillows separating them.

“Radfield,” Miss G said placing the book she had been reading from on the floor beside her.  “You’re crying,” the lovely brunette continued, her silk robe parting slightly revealing the swells of full breasts to Di’s eyes as Miss G began to crawl towards her over the pillows until she was crouched before Di.

“It’s a lovely poem, Miss G,” Di responded sniffling as she looked up into her teacher’s beautiful, concerned eyes.  “To love so much … so deeply … even after your heart has been broken … well it’s terribly romantic, isn’t it?”

Miss G observed her silently for a moment, her sharp blue eyes studying Di’s face, and then a gentle smile touched her lips and she reached out for Di and ran the backs of her fingers across the girl’s cheek.

“It is terribly romantic,” Miss G breathed out, still smiling gently at Di as the girl’s eyes closed and she leaned her head into the warmth of her teacher’s hand.  “But, perhaps it was not the best poem to read.  I do so hate to make beautiful young girls cry before bed,” Miss G continued, her smile widening as Di blushed at her words.  “Come now darling,” Miss G went on, her robe parting further as she leaned towards Di and pressed her lips against the girl’s forehead.  “Let’s get you to bed.  I shan’t be able to carry you if you fall asleep and I suspect that Miss Niven would not find it charming to discover you in my room come morning.”

“Oh, can’t I stay a bit longer?” Di asked, lifting her hand to cover the one Miss G had pressed against her face.  “Isn’t there time for just one more poem?  I’m still not tired at all.”

“Your yawns tell another story my dear,” Miss G said pointedly as Di’s lips parted and her eyes squeezed shut as a yawn took her over.  “There’ll be time for more poems, many more poems,” Miss G promised, using her thumb to stroke Di’s cheek once more.  “But not tonight.  Up we go,” the teacher continued, flowing up gracefully onto her feet before holding her hand out to Di.

When Di was on her feet again, Miss G’s hand moved around her waist and, heart pounding madly in her chest, Di let herself fall against Miss G’s side until they were pressed quite firmly together.  She could feel the swell of Miss G’s breast against her and she could see the curve of the other one through the split in the robe Miss G hadn’t seen fit to fix.  So, when Di wrapped her arm more tightly against the teacher’s waist she didn’t have to fake feeling faint.

“Look at you,” Miss G breathed out, her warm breath ruffling Di’s hair as they began to make their way towards the door.  “You can barely stand and you wanted one more poem!  Come, come, Radfield.  I’ve got you,” Miss G continued opening the door before ushering Di out into the hallway.

Di knew that sleep had nothing to do with why she was so faint and clinging to Miss G so tightly, but she kept her mouth shut.  It was better that Miss G not know how much she enjoyed the contact between them.  If Miss G knew the types of thoughts Di had about her, she might not touch her again, and Di lived for Miss G’s touches.  They were food, water, oxygen, the sun to her!  She would simply die without them.  She would simply wither away like a used up flower and die.

“I shall tuck you in,” Miss G went on leaning close to Di as she spoke so that the girl could hear her softly spoken words.  They were in the hallways now and it was necessary to keep their voices down so as not to wake anyone.  “And you shall sleep the sleep of Angels,” Miss G continued, intimately resting her head against the top of Di’s as they made their way up the stairs.

---

Di lay still as Miss G bent over her prone body and reached for the blanket bunched at Di’s knees.  Carefully, with an aching tenderness that made Di’s heart swell and beat so quickly beneath her breast that she was afraid Miss G would hear it, the teacher drew the blanket up and over Di’s body before settling it just under her chin with a soft smile.

“There we go,” Miss G whispered, her fingers brushing a few unruly strands of hair off of Di’s face as she spoke.

“Miss G,” Di breathed out, her eyes wide and desperate as she gazed up at her teacher, silently pleading for her not to leave.  She was so warm and happy at the moment, but she would be cold and sad when Miss G left again.  Miss G was the sun, and the school was the dead of winter.  She needed Miss G.  She needed her with her.

“Ssh, darling,” Miss G whispered leaning down to place one last kiss on Di’s forehead.  “Sleep now.  Morning is only hours away and we shall see each other again then.  Sleep now, and dream of blue stars.”

Miss G stepped back from the bed then and turned towards the door.  Di watched her lithe figure sashay towards the faint light from the hallway.  When Miss G reached the door she turned and looked back into the room.  Di knew that she would have been nothing but a blob to the teacher that far away and in the dark, but Miss G seemed to be looking directly at her, and when she smiled and pressed two fingers to her lips before extending the digits in Di’s direction, Di’s heart stopped and stayed suspended in her chest for so long that she thought it might never start again.  She wasn’t scared by the thought however, she knew that she would have died happy and loved if that were the case.

A moment later Miss G disappeared through the door and the large, hulking, wooden slab swung shut sending the dorm room into darkness once more.

The air around her still smelled faintly of Miss G’s perfume and Di breathed in deeply, taking Miss G’s scent into her lungs as her eyes fluttered shut.  She hadn’t been tired when Miss G was there, her desire to be near her teacher and her excitement at their closeness had kept her alert, but with Miss G gone she found exhaustion coming quickly upon her.

Di closed her eyes and quickly fell into a deep sleep where she dreamed of icy stars and full red lips.

The End