So here's the story. There is no story. These are actual snippets as oppossed to the last time I wrote a snippet and warbled on for 8000 words. These are wanna stories. They're either going to become fics or they're not. But they're all fragments that I needed to throw out of my head.

The song quoted at the end is West of her Spine by Bell X-1. Buy Music in Mouth. Seriously.

Anyhoodle. Away we go. Don't run too fast from the thread, I don't want any accidents at the exit.

She was asleep on his bed when he came home. Downstairs for a time and careless with noise, he'd been unaware of her presence. It hadn't disturbed her. He paused in the doorway surprised by her motionless form. The length of her hair spilled across his pillows, strands tangled wild around her face. She was curled in a ball. Tight and defensive. Her eyes scrunched against visions of the world.

She'd slept through his arrival. Concern more for that then any reason for her being there spread through him. He walked quietly to her side, crouching down in front of her. Fingertips stroked the length of her forehead, tucking her hair behind her ear with a feathered touch. She woke with a start, head shooting up, desperately trying to grasp her bearings as she struggled back into consciousness. His hand still held her head. His thumb rubbing slow circles against her temple.

"Shhh, Irina. It's just me." She blinked rapidly, her continued daze unsettling him. "Don't wake up." He leaned foreward to brush kisses across her eyes, his tone calm and soothing.

"I'm awake." Her voice was heavy with sleep. Dark lines under her eyes vicious against the paleness of her skin.

"Not even close." His whisper an army she could not fight. The battle against sleep lost. She lowered back down. Eyes closed. Expression relaxing. The exhaustion was almost tangible, wrapped around her frame and holding her still.

He frowned. Worried. He shrugged free of his suit jacket and tossed it on the floor and followed it with his shoes. He eased down next to her, face next to hers. He pushed her hair from her shoulder and neck throwing the long rope of it behind. His hand traced the curve of her side and come to rest on her hip. She unfurled at his touch, moving closer to his warmth. Incomprehensible murmurs slipped from her lips, words lost from sleep to the silence of the room. So much of his lifetime interwoven with the woman wrapped in his arms. He pulled her closer and followed her in to night.

See how her hair spills over

like frayed ends of twine

All wild and and wrapped around her

like these wandering arms of mine

Now careful not to wake her

I trace back along the twine

To where her never endings sing

of too much of my time