Raylan AU

[sluttylyingliar]

"Come on kid, up and at 'em, we're going to school."

They're late, as usual but whatever, Danny will get over it. She slings Jess up on her hip and grabs his bag, slipping sunglasses down to brace against the bright island sun and walks...directly onto a dirt road.

"No," she chokes, freezing as Jess starts to cry from the sudden shock. She whirls around, finding nothing but mountains and woods and where the fuck are they? She can't do this. She can't be by herself. Goddammit Danny. It was just her, she'd give up. She'd just curl up and die right here but Jess is crying and it's fucking winter and she's in shorts and what the hell are they going to do?

She walks for nearly an hour, having given up her summer scarf to Jess, now down to shorts and a tank and unable to feel her fucking face. The first thing she sees is a trailer. It looks bad but Jess is getting quiet and still and there's no other choice.

She knocks and nearly runs for it when a half naked, clearly drunk asshole answers, leering at her in a way that makes her skin crawl but for the fact that he offers a glimmer of hope. "What the hell do you mean, bitch? You're in Harlan." It takes twenty minutes of begging and letting him feel her up while Jess sleeps on the dirty couch before he'll call "that asshole Marshal, yeah I know him."

It might not even be her Raylan. He might not know who the hell she is but it's still Raylan. He'll get her out of here.

The phone rings as she presses herself against the corner of the trailer, eyes flickering between her sleeping kid and the man who keeps inching closer to her.

Comments

[angriestman]

"Givens."

He's on the road down to Harlan, more Crowder messes to clean up and he answers the phone through the steering wheel. "Hello?"

[sluttylyingliar]

Rachel hates the way her voice breaks and her tears immediately starts to fall, especially in front of this creep but she can't help it. It's been six months and it's her husband's voice.

"Raylan?" she manages, sliding down the wall to crouch on the floor. "It's Rachel. Do you, do you know me? Do you know who I am?"

[angriestman]

"Rachel?"

Thankfully, the highway behind him is all but empty, because he hits the brake when he hears her voice. "Jesus, Rachel. Where the hell are you?" Fuck the Crowders - he's got other things in hand.

[sluttylyingliar]

"I'm in Harlan in this...this guy's trailer," she sobs, relief and exhaustion and terror washing over her. "I've got Jess. I don't know how. I was on the island and you've been gone for six months, Raylan, and this guy his name is Bobby Dennard and.."

She drops her voice, eyes raising briefly to watch him watching her. "Raylan he felt me up. He's...come get me, please."

[angriestman]

Bobby Denard. Raylan knows exactly the place. He puts his foot down.

"I'm here now, darlin'," he says. "Lemme speak to him."

[sluttylyingliar]

Rachel nods, holding up the phone for Bobby to take before crawling over to grab Jess, ready to run if they need to.

"She's real pretty, Marshal," Bobby answers, eyes trailing Rachel. "Sounds like she might mean somethin' to you. I expect my due for taking them in and all. Mighty cold outside."

[angriestman]

"You touch her again, Bobby," says Raylan, keeping his voice level through sheer force of will, "I will shoot you in the balls, and that'll be the kindest thing I do. You hear me, Bobby? You listening to me when I talk?"

[sluttylyingliar]

"I ain't done nothing illegal," he mutters, sounding a little less sure of himself. Raylan's been one crazy asshole all his life and he's heard tale of everything he's pulled with the Bennetts and the Crowders.

"You got ten minutes to get this bitch and her kid off my property or I'm turning them out into the goddamn snow."

He snaps his phone shut, tossing it on the small kitchen table. Rachel watches him walk over, watches his hand come down to rub at his crotch. "Gonna think about you, tonight."

And that's fucking it, she grabs Jess up and hauls it out of there, stomping towards the road in her goddamn sandals. Raylan will come for them. He's coming for them.

[angriestman]

His headlights pick them out in the gloom and the snow. He slams the breaks on and he's out of the car, out of his coat, holding it out to her. Seeing her for the first time in six months makes him feel like his heart has stopped in his chest.

"Give him to me," he says, holding out his hands to her, the coat still dangling. "Get warm. I need to go pay that asshole a call?"

[sluttylyingliar]

Rachel nods dumbly as she hands Jess over, watching him fuss and mumble for her as she realizes he probably doesn't remember Raylan. He's almost two years old and he's bigger and talking and Raylan is just...here he is, right in front of her. Her Raylan.

"Not worth it," she murmurs, trying not to have a breakdown in the damn snow. "Raylan..."

[angriestman]

He's got this child, his child, settled on his hip and he leans down to brush and brief, fierce kiss against Rachel's mouth.

"Get in the car," he says. "We're going back to Lexington." The Crowders can wait for another day.

[sluttylyingliar]

She squeezes her eyes shut as they kiss, still not quite ready to allow herself the space to breathe. It's all too good to be true. She's lost Danny and her home but she's got Raylan again. It can't be real.

She stumbles into the car, stifling a hysterical laugh as she holds her arms out for Jess. "He's never been inside a car," she realizes. "Jesus, he's never seen a car. "I can't believe you remember us. Did you just show back up in Kentucky?"

[angriestman]

"I've been back about six months," he says, watching as she settles Jess in her lap. He starts the car, turns it around and heads back to Lexington. "And I have never stopped thinking about you."

[sluttylyingliar]

"I mourned you like you were dead," she admits, staring at the side of his face as he drives. She can't look away, trying to re-memorize every last shadow and line like he might just disappear again.

"Jess can talk, Raylan. He can say all kinds of things and he likes the water now and...I don't know if he'll know who you are," she says, smoothing Jess's hair down as he falls back asleep. "And I have not moved on even a little. You're still my husband, to me. Are you...single?"

[angriestman]

"I'm sorry for that, sweetheart," he says, glancing across at her, the baby in her arms. "If I could have stayed, you know I would've moved mountains to make it happen." He holds eye contact for, perhaps, a moment longer than he should. "There's nobody but you."

[sluttylyingliar]

Rachel nods, tilting her head back against the seat as she closes her eyes. She knows he didn't want to leave and she knows he loves her. But she just wasn't sure if she was worth staying alone for six months.

But God knows she'd never want anyone else.

"What are we gonna tell people?" she says with a huff of laughter. "You can't tell your fucking boss we were married but only on a magical island. And Jess...I don't know. You don't have to tell people he's yours if it's too complicated."

[angriestman]

"We'll figure that out," he says, looking across at her. "We'll figure all of that out, I promise." God, just seeing her again is making it feel like his heart is trying to peel its way out of his chest. "Not tonight. You sleep, if you can. I'll get us home safe."

[sluttylyingliar]

"I love you, Raylan," she murmurs, tilting her head to look at him. She reaches out with a free hand to rest on his leg.

She closes her eyes, trusting that he'll get them to whatever the hell he's calling home and that he'll still be there when she wakes up.

[angriestman]

"I love you too."

He drives in silence, periodically glances across at them, as if to make sure that they're still there. He's finally moved out of the motel, taken an apartment, and he drives them there, doesn't wake them until he's parked up.

"C'mon," he says. "Lemme take him."

[sluttylyingliar]

Rachel blinks awake, handing Jess over without a thought as she pushes herself up out of the car.

"God, I'm so glad you're not taking me to the motel," she sighs, shivering as she follows Raylan inside. It's starting to dawn on her that everything she had is back on the island. No clothes, no baby stuff, no Danny. "Raylan, can you put him in with us, tonight? He's not going to sleep well without his blanket and his stuff. I'm going to shower. Meet me in there?"

[angriestman]

He just can't stop looking at him. The little boy favours Rachel a lot, in the shape of his mouth and the colour of his hair. Raylan settles him in the middle of the bed and then he lies down next to him, still entirely dressed except for boots and belt and hat. He traces his little profile with the tip of his finger.

[sluttylyingliar]

She watches him for several long moments before turning away, giving Raylan that moment. Not to mention she doesn't think she could stand to watch it any longer without crying and that's not what she needs right now. She sheds her few remaining possessions on her way into the shower and stands under the hot spray, hoping he comes to her soon. It's been six months. Her life was just uprooted in a way that stops her heart if she thinks about too hard. She needs her husband.

[angriestman]

He can't stay where he is, not when she's in the shower, not when he keeps picturing her in the shower and it's been so long. He pushes up off the bed, walking into the bathroom, leaning his shoulder against the doorjamb.

"Room in there for one more?"

[sluttylyingliar]

Rachel pushes back her wet hair, leaning against the cold tile and opening up the glass sliding door.

"Only if you're coming in here to fuck me. Because it's been six months and I haven't really come in a goddamn long time."

[angriestman]

She is a sight for sore eyes, and Raylan can't help but stare at her for a moment. He pulls his tie undone through sheer muscle memory. Unbuttons his shirt.

[sluttylyingliar]

"Goddamn Raylan," she breathes, fingers trailing down her wet stomach to touch herself. She's already so fucking sensitive and all he's done is take his shirt off.

"I'd try and picture you, when I did this to myself. I'd try and think of every detail and scar and I was starting to forget some of them."

[angriestman]

Pants quickly follow and then he's stepping under the shower with her, the warm spray across his shoulders, her slick skin against his chest when he pulls her closer.

"Well, here I am," he says, with a faint smile. "Time to relearn."

[sluttylyingliar]

She rises up on her toes, pressing herself close as she pulls him in for a kiss. It's just the second kiss she's had in six months and she hears herself groaning.

"I need your hands all over me. I need to feel claimed, Raylan."

[angriestman]

That's a challenge that he's pretty sure that he can rise to. He leans into the kiss, skimming both hands up her sides to squeeze her tits, rubbing his thumbs across her nipples as he nips at her bottom lip.

[sluttylyingliar]

Rachel wastes no time in sliding her hand down to wrap around his cock, moaning into his mouth as his rough hands slide across her skin.

"I'm already so wet for you," she breathes. "God, Raylan, no one has touched me for so long. Make me yours, okay? I need it hard."

[angriestman]

"Tell me more about that, darlin'," he murmurs, mouthing across her skin, pressing kisses against her jaw. "Tell me all about it."

[sluttylyingliar]

"Goddammit, Raylan," she complains, trying to tug a down in between her legs. "Six months feeling like I wasn't married, anymore. Like I didn't have a husband. Feeling like I'd go the rest of my life without ever being touched. I need to still feel it tomorrow morning when I wake up."

[angriestman]

He lets her direct his hand, slipping it down between her legs, brushing his fingers against her clit, rubbing firmly.

"I can arrange that," he murmurs, bending to kiss her and, this time, it's rougher, more emphatic.

[sluttylyingliar]

"God, fuck," she moans against his mouth, pushing against his hand. It's fucking slippery in this shower and they have to do this here and now. She twists, trying to turn around and brace herself against the cold tile.

"I can't wait. We'll do slow tomorrow, baby. I need it now."