Summary: A good idea doesn't quite pan out. Skinner. Sharon. NC17.

TITLE: A Lot To Pin On A Haircut
AUTHOR: Rev Anna (feedback:ataylorsweringen@yahoo.com)
SUMMARY: A good idea doesn't quite pan out.
RATING: NC-17
DISCLAIMER: Walter and Sharon Skinner are the property of 1013 (even
when shelved forever)
SPOILERS: Minor ones for Avatar
ARCHIVE: Sure, anywhere

A Lot To Pin On A Haircut
by Rev Anna
Rating:NC-17

Sharon had just sat down to eat when Walter walked through the door.
He had come home unexpectedly so there hadn't been a place set for
him at the table. He just shrugged it off.

"I guess I should have called."

She quickly set a place for him and pushed the food closer to him.

"Thanks."

They didn't even try to make small talk these days. Only the sound
of their forks scraping their plates filled the silence between
them. It hadn't always been that way. How had they gotten to this
place when they had started with love forever?

"Your hair looks nice."

His voice startled her and she found him looking at her. Was that
love she saw behind the wirerims?

"I got it cut last week."

Silence filled the room again.

"Sorry I didn't notice before now."

"No reason why you should. You leave before I get up and I'm in bed
when you come home."

More awkward silence. Walter pushed the plate away from him, the
meal barely touched.

"You finished?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

He got up and went into the den, softly closing the door behind him.
She put his plate on top of hers and hurried into the kitchen, barely
able to see for her tears.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she chided herself inwardly as she put the
plates in the sink. "He's trying."

She turned on the water and started cleaning up. The sound of a door
opening and closing caused her to turn the water off.

"Walter?"

She stepped out into the living room, looking for him. The door to
the den was open now. She looked toward the couch and saw his coat
was gone. With a painful sigh she bit her lip and went back into the
kitchen, glad he was gone. There would have been no way the water
running would have covered the sound of her sobbing.

"Why couldn't you just say 'thanks for noticing'? Or more to the
point why couldn't you tell him the truth? That you cut it hoping he
would notice, hoping he would remember the first time you had cut it
like this. That the memory would warm his heart and bring tears to
his eyes just as it had yours. What difference does it make when he
noticed, so long as he noticed?"

She picked up her wedding band and read the inscription. "Love
Forever. Walter." His ring said the same thing only with her name
inside. She put it back on and started to cry in earnest now.

Damn it! Why couldn't he have noticed a week ago? When the joy of
trying to do something to rekindle the flame between them was still
strong, not extinguished by a week of waiting, or hoping.

Sharon looked at her reflection in the window, her disembodied head
floating against the darkness of the night sky. Her eyes ran over
the short pixie like cut, remembering how scared she had been the
first time she had done it, not knowing how he'd react.

He had so loved her hair, running his fingers through it whenever
they were together. Feeling those large strong fingers on her head
always startled her at first, but she soon closed her eyes and
relaxed into their absent-minded massage, eagerly anticipating the
moment when he'd move her to her back and make love to her.

He had liked how it felt gripping her head tightly by the hair when
they made love and holding her in thrall as he came.

"I like to feel like you couldn't get away from me, even if you
tried," he had told her in husky, masterful tones. His words had
scared and thrilled her at the time. The thought of him holding her,
refusing to let her go even if she wanted to made her feel so safe.

When had she stopped feeling like that? One night in anger she had
complained of feeling like a horse being reined and ridden when he
held her hair like that. So he had stopped. And it wasn't too much
longer that he had stopped touching her hair too. And then he had
stopped touching her.

She hadn't meant to make him feel bad and had come up with the hair
cut as a way to make amends.

It was a week before Christmas and she had smiled nervously that day
when she entered his office yesterday with the scarf covering her
entire head.

"What's with the scarf?" he had asked.

"I got my hair cut," she had answered nervously.

"What!? Why?"

"Well, I remembered how much you liked Audrey Hepburn's short hair in
Sabrina that I thought ."

Her voice had trailed off as his raised eyebrow must have confirmed
that she had thought wrong.

"You thought what?"

"I thought you'd like to go to bed with, make love to and wake up
with Audrey."

"I like going to bed with, making love to and waking up with a long
haired Sharon."

Sharon let out a heavy sigh.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"So show me," he had said, clearly more upset than he would have
thought possible. He had gotten up and come over to her, reaching to
take the scarf off.

She shook her head no, backing away, pressing her hands on top of her
head.

"I'm really scared you won't like it now."

Walter had stopped, seeing how closely the scarf hugged her head. He
could see a wisp of a bang, but not much else.

"Let me see," he had said gently, smiling as he pulled her hands away
from her head gently and untied the scarf, pulling it slowly away.
He had smiled at the sweet "Sabrina-esque" hairdo she now sported.
He had taken her face in his hands and kissed her softly.

"I love it."

When they had made love that night, instead of gripping her locks, he
held her head in his large hands and held her in thrall with long
deep wet kisses instead. When she opened her eyes, his loving gaze
was touching her face.

"You know," he had said, combing her bang in place as he spoke. "I
didn't think it possible, but I like your short hair better than your
long hair."

Then he had leaned in and kissed her, holding her head immobile in
his hands, letting his tongue roam wildly in her mouth until she was
gasping for release. He kept her head still with his left hand while
his right pressed between her legs and his fingers pushed in and out
of her vagina, coaxing a warm wet response to his ministrations in no
time. His thumb began circling her clit as her practiced hand
stroked his member quickly swelling it. She rolled a condom on it,
readying it for entry. He had smiled when he saw it. It was green.

"Green?"

"Tis the season to be jolly," she had said.

He had gasped into her mouth as she placed a hand at the small of his
back, pulling him toward her as her other hand guided his penis home.

He let go of her head, placed his hands on her ass, then pulled her
hard against his groin and thrust long, short, long, setting the
rhythm only their bodies knew.

She could tell by his moans he was as close as she was to coming. He
pulled back and thrust in harder, faster until she was screaming and
he was too.

With a contented sigh, he had slipped to his side, letting his arm
drape across her chest and his leg across her pelvis. A shy
embarrassed laugh had escaped from her lips.

"I should have gotten my hair cut a long time ago," she had whispered.

Walter had leaned his head on his fist and turned her face toward him.

"Look at me."

He had searched her face for what she didn't know.

"I love you, Sharon. You're the only one I want to go to bed with,
make love to or wake up with. Long hair, short hair, or bald as me.
Clear?"

"As crystal."

"Good."

She had nodded and smiled, suddenly taking his hand and pulling him
back into a hug.

"Thank you," she had whispered.

Sharon gripped the plate now in her hand as the cherished memory of
that night slipped away.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid," she said out loud. "That was six years
ago."

She put the plate down quickly and bowed her head. Had she hoped for
some kind of repeat performance this time? That was a lot to pin on
a stupid hair cut. And he hadn't even noticed anyway.

"Hi."

With a jump she turned on her heel and saw Walter standing in the
kitchen doorway, his coat still on, a videotape in his hand. She
wiped her face, trying to hide any signs of tears.

"Feel like a movie?"

She nodded.

"Sure."

She dried her hands and followed him into the living room. He took
off his coat then placed the video in the machine. He came and sat
very close to her on the couch. Her eyes widened as she watched the
credits for Sabrina appear on the screen.

Suddenly she felt the familiar absent-minded massage of his fingers.
She closed her eyes and relaxed into the familiar rhythm, longing for
another familiar, forgotten rhythm. Her heart beat hard in her
chest. She let the tears flow down her face.

"I love you Sharon. Long hair, short hair or bald as me."

"Oh Walter," she cried, as he turned her on her back and began to
kiss her. "When you didn't say anything I was afraid you hadn't
remembered."

"I did notice last week," he said quietly. "I was too scared to say
anything. I was afraid maybe you hadn't done it for me. I came home
early today hoping to set things right."

"And I blew it because I had pinned all my hopes on you noticing this
stupid haircut last week."

"That's a lot to pin on a haircut," he said with a smile, pulling her
beneath him as he turned off the VCR.

END