"What is?" Jamie asked as he shut his own car door, firing up the Mini and carefully pulling back onto the road into the increasing darkness of the evening.

"You had to pay for dinner." Juno said quietly, hanging her head and surreptitiously pocketing the receipt for the dinner they had just shared. "I feel bad."

"Don't feel bad. Even if you weren't lost and pathetic and destitute, I still would have bought you dinner." Jamie teased with a grin thrown her direction. "I'm just that sort of man, you see."

Juno giggled at his words. "Gee, thanks." She paused. "And thanks for reminding me of my dire straits here. I really appreciate it."

Jamie patted her knee, sending a shiver of electricity up her spine. "I'm just teasing. Don't worry about it, Juno. Honestly."

She took a deep breath and tried to erase the feel of his hand on her leg. "Thanks, Jamie. You're just swell." She said sarcastically, but with a small smile.

"Perhaps you can just write me into your first award winning novel. I can play the handsome rogue that saves the day, and ends up getting the girl in the end. I'd make a fabulous character, no?"

Juno looked at him, considering. "Handsome?"

"Dashing?" He tried again.

"Hmm. I'm not sure…"

"At least roguish, right?" Jamie shot back, looking defensive. "I'm definitely roguish."

Juno shook her head. "Driving a Mini and delivering prescriptions to old men in plaid pants?" She paused and tried not to laugh. "Maybe if you were a pirate or a member of Braveheart's merry band, you'd be roguish, but otherwise…" She trailed off and bit her lip to try and not laugh at his hangdog expression. "Maybe you can be the sidekick who gets all the great lines, but never saves the day in the end."

"Cruel. You are an absolutely cruel woman." Jamie smiled at her, taking the sting out of his harsh words.

Juno looked out the window again, then up to the sky. "This is really weird. No streetlights, no porch lights, nothing. I never get views like this in the city."

"You like it here?" Jamie asked, sounding a bit uncertain. "You could learn to love this?"

"Oh, definitely." Juno breathed. "Even in the dark, this is beautiful. I'm so glad I'm here – all things considered, that is."

"I'm glad." Jamie said. "Oh damn…" He said a few moments later, and Juno came back to earth and looked around with apprehension.

"Oh damn?" She repeated. "What's wrong?"

"The fog is rolling in." Jamie replied, slowing the car as they approached a curve in the road. "A hazard of living this far north in Scotland. We're going to have to stop before much longer. I was hoping we'd make a bit more progress up the coast tonight, but I don't think we will."

"Ah." Juno said, watching as the tendrils of fog slowly encroached on the car and enveloped the car completely. "Wow. This is bad. Can you even see?"

"I know the road well enough. I know a place to stop a few miles up the road. We're not to Nairn yet, but we're about halfway there. We'll definitely get there in the morning." Jamie explained, slowing the car even more as the fog thickened around them. Juno shivered at the sight of the white fog, and felt colder just watching it roll off the water towards them.

A few miles further up the road, Jamie signaled and pulled off the road into a small parking lot next to a motel where several cars and a huge touring bus were parked. "I'm sorry, Juno, but I don't think we can go much further. Welcome to Lossiemouth." He said with a rueful smile, killing the ignition on the car and squinting out the windshield.

"Lossiemouth?" Juno giggled. "Who named these places of yours, anyway?"

"Some drunken Viking from a thousand years ago, probably." Jamie grinned. "I'll get a couple of rooms for us. Why don't you wait in the car?"

Juno nodded her assent, and sat quietly in the car, listening to the absolute silence of the countryside until Jamie returned a few minutes later, an apprehensive look on his face. Juno climbed from the car and walked over to meet him halfway across the parking lot. "What is it? You look… concerned."

"Well, it's a small motel." Jamie began. "And there's only one room left for the evening. Apparently a squadron of tourists descended a few hours ago and booked all the rooms. Bloody Frenchmen." He muttered to himself, making Juno want to smile, despite their crisis of the night. "I'm sorry, Juno."

Juno nodded, thinking quickly. "No problem. I'll… I'll stay in the car, and you can stay in the room. No worries."

Jamie cocked his head and looked at her. "This is the first time you've been to Scotland, right?"

"Right." Juno confirmed. "Why?"

"It gets rather nippy here, darling. You take the room." Jamie tried to hand her the key, but Juno refused it with a shake of her head.

"You take it." She pressed.

"No, you."

"No, you."

"No, yo… This is ridiculous." Jamie scoffed. "Take the room, Juno. I'll be fine."

"No way. I'm the freeloader here. Maybe…" She straightened and tried to think like an adult and not like a teenager run away from home with a rogue pirate. "Let's look at the room – maybe there's two beds."

Silently, they walked to the room and unlocked the door, flicking on the light to reveal an enormous king sized bed, a desk, and a tiny settee in the corner of the room. "Huh." Juno grunted. "Well, I can sleep there, and you sleep there." She pointed first to the tiny sofa, then to the bed.

"Absolutely not." Jamie argued.

"Jamie, you're seventeen feet tall. Your legs won't even fit on that couch." Juno shot back.

"Well, I'm not about to let a lady sleep on a couch." Jamie said, crossing his arms and looking at her sternly. "I might be a rogue, but I was raised to treat a lady with respect."

Juno sighed, and closed her eyes for a moment. "This is silly. We're both adults. We can share a bed. Right? Right." She said, trying to convince herself. She looked at Jamie after a beat. "Do you snore? Do you hog covers?"

"No. And no." Jamie replied, watching her carefully. "Juno, really, it's not a problem for me to…"

"This is fine. This is great – it'll be like camp." Juno said brightly, walking further into the room and looking around. "Do you Scottish people camp?"

"I never went to camp." Jamie replied, following her into the room slowly, looking around with obvious unease.

"You should have gone to camp, it was great." Juno said, her voice still bubbly and bright.

"I heard." Jamie grinned, resigned to the odd twist of their evening. "This will be fine. Good. Fantastic. Let me run to the car and get a few things. I always have an overnight bag packed, just in case I get caught up when I'm on the road."

Juno nodded, and in a flash he had disappeared back through the door. She sat down heavily on the bed and tried to slow her rapidly beating heart. This was not a big deal, she reasoned. They were adults, and this was just a couple of exhausted people crashing for the night. This was not a sexy situation, and this was not a dangerous situation, this was just…

Oh god, Juno suddenly thought. What was she going to wear to sleep in? And she didn't have a toothbrush, so she had to make sure not to breathe on him. And then there was the whole showering situation in the morning…

Juno yelped as Jamie reopened the door and came back in. "Sorry. Did I scare you?" He asked, closing the door carefully and looking at her as though she were a highly breakable doll.

"No. Just…" Juno shrugged and didn't answer for fear of blathering on about her unfounded fears. "I… um, I don't have…"

Jamie held up a hand to silence her mutterings. "Good news. I have a spare toothbrush, and some very stylish bedclothes you can borrow." He dug into his small knapsack and pulled out an enormous wrinkled shirt proclaiming him a fan of Arsenal's football team. "It's not fancy, but I thought it might work for you."

Juno giggled and took the shirt and toothbrush gratefully. "Thank you. This is great. Really. What a great room. This bed seems really comfortable. Um, do you want to use the bathroom first, or do you want me to? Which ever you prefer…" She trailed off in a valiant attempt to stop babbling like an idiot.

Jamie took a step towards her, putting down his bag on the bed and laying a hand lightly on her shoulder. "Juno, relax. You're safe with me." He said softly, giving her shoulder a squeeze then stepping away from her a bit to give her some breathing room. "Why don't you go ahead and freshen up, then I'll follow, alright?"

She nodded shakily. "Sure. Okay. Yeah. Thanks." She hastily retreated to the small bathroom and got ready for bed, grateful for the chance to wash her face and brush her teeth. She smiled at Jamie as she emerged from the bathroom, and quickly crawled into bed after he had shut the door to brush his own teeth.

She tugged the covers up to her chin and closed her eyes, figuring she'd never manage to fall asleep with Jamie bedding down next to her. She tried to blank that thought from her mind, and shifted slightly on the thin pillow in an attempt to get comfortable and not take up too much space.

It was all too weird and fast, and this whole sharing a bed thing was just odd, and she just couldn't even imagine how they would look each other in the eye in the morning, and had she remembered to hang up her towel, and what about…

Before she could even complete the last of her racing thoughts, Juno fell fast asleep.

1722 / 8850 / 50000

before . after