Playing With Fire

+++++++++



"Brian?" Kelly questioned as the two singers exited the dressing room.



He gave an apologetic smile.



Kelly closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, fighting with herself to not tear up.



"The, um, the protestors are back?" Carrie asked, not really wanting to know the answer to that.



"I'm afraid so," he nodded.



"How many?"



"About the same."



"And is she...I mean, is my..." Kelly looked at him weakly.



"Sorry," he nodded again.



Carrie watched a tear escape from the Texan's eye.



"Can y'all...just give me a second," Kelly requested before turning back into the dressing room, closing the door behind her.



Carrie and Brian stared at the door.



"What do you think?" Carrie asked worriedly.



"I was never good with these situations," he replied. "You?"



"Just give her a few minutes," Carrie nodded, wanting nothing more than to go and there and hold her, but willing to do as Kelly asked, if that's what she needed.



Brian nodded, looking down both sides of the hall to make sure nobody was there that shouldn't have been.



"I never thanked you for last night," Carrie commented, leaning against the wall next to him.



"Getting y'all in here and onto the buses safely is just part of my job," he shrugged.



"Not that...well, that too, but I meant when I went after Kelly's mom last night," she corrected. "Protecting Kelly is your job, not protecting me, but you came after me anyway, so thank you."



He smiled, "Well, like you said, protecting Kelly is my job, and if you'd have gotten hurt that would've hurt her, so I really was just doing my job."



Carrie gave a soft laugh, nodding.



"Can I ask you something?"



"How we got together?" Carrie asked, sighing.



"No, that's not really any of my business. It's my niece--she's a really big fan of yours," he explained. "So, can you...?"



Carrie smiled, taking the pen and paper he offered, and signing it.



"Thanks," he grinned. "This is going to definitely earn me cool points."



"No problem," Carrie replied, watching the door thoughtfully. "You said that you were never good with these situations? You've seen her like this often?"



"I wouldn't say often," Brian shook his head. "Ninety-nine percent of the time she's, well, you know how she is."



Carrie smiled, thinking of that huge grin that Kelly always had, "Yea."



"But even KC has bad days."



"How long have you been working for her?"



"With her," he corrected.



Carrie raised an eyebrow.



"She hates it when somebody says we work for her, so she makes us all say we work with her," he clarified with a chuckle.



Carrie nodded, that was definitely something Kelly would do, "Ok, so how long have you been working with her?"



"Um, since before her second album was released. She had gone to Europe for some promo, and it was her first time over there. She didn't have any security back then, and she ended up getting swarmed, and after that Jason made her get a body guard.."



"So...you were there for the Addicted Tour."



"Yea," he nodded, his smile fading.



"That was one of those one percents, huh?"



"If you ask me and probably anybody else that was working with her at the time, she should've never gone on that tour. What Jeff did was wrong. But then again, I'm not in the music industry, so what do I know, right?"



Carrie nodded, "What--"



"We can't talk about it."



Carrie raised an eyebrow.



"She's never asked us to keep quiet about anything," he shook his head. "It's more of an agreement we all made amongst ourselves."



Carrie nodded, her eyes moving back to the door.



"You think a few minutes are up?" Brian asked, following her gaze.



"Yea," Carrie replied, crossing the small hall, and slowly opening the door. Her eyes scanned the room quickly, not seeing Kelly at first. Then, she looked down.



Kelly was sitting, leaning against the wall, her knees curled up to her chest, her head resting in her hands. Carrie motioned behind her for Brian to give them a second.



"Hey," Carrie said softly, sitting in front of her.



"Hey," Kelly replied.



Carrie studied her carefully. She hadn't been crying. "What's up?"



"Just thinking, I guess."



"About what?"



"Lots of things."



"Well," Carrie said gently as she stretched her legs out on either side of the short Texan, wrapping her arms around her. "How about, since it's Saturday, we go stay in the hotel room for once, that way you can have a nice hot bubble bath and just soak as long as you want, and then you can come snuggle with me in a big warm bed, and tell me about some of those things? How does that sound?"



"That sounds pretty good," Kelly admitted.



+++++++++++



Carrie wrapped a warm towel around herself as she stepped out of the shower. She walked over to the tub where Kelly was soaking in hot water and bubbles up to her chin as she rested her head against the back edge of the tub, her eyes closed. Carrie bent down, kissing her forehead softly. She saw a soft smile grace the Texan's features.



"You need anything?"



Kelly shook her head, taking a deep breath.



"K, I'll just be in the room if you need."



Kelly nodded.



+++++++++++



Kelly lay on her back, her eyes closed in bliss, as Carrie's lips caressed her neck, her teeth softly grazing her skin. She ran her hands up and down the country singer's back soothingly. She had to admit, it had been slightly easier passing through the protestors this time. It was still hard, but at least they had known what to expect.



Carrie pulled back, to look at her. Kelly's eyes opened, and she smiled.



"You wanna talk about it?" Carrie asked.



"I just...I wish she'd stop," Kelly said softly.



"Your mom?"



"I think I've come to terms with the fact that she's against us. I know there's nothing I can say to change her mind. I just wish she'd stop shoving her discontent in my face."



"She probably thinks she's trying to help."



"How is she possibly helping? She's my mother; she should want me to be happy and healthy, right? Nothing else. That should be the only two things that matter, and right now she's compromising both of them."



"Baby," Carrie sighed, sitting up on her legs, her hands resting lightly on the Texan's bare stomach. She couldn't help but smile.



But Kelly shook her head, "Can we talk about something else?"



"Sure," Carrie nodded. "What's up?"



"I found your note you left in the dressing room before the show."



Carrie's smile grew, "Just wanted to let you know how I feel."



"You are so amazing," Kelly smiled.



Carrie laughed, "Well, I try."



"So, how's rehearsals going?" Kelly asked, running her hands over Carrie's pajama-clad legs. They hadn't really had time to talk much during the week. Usually by the time Carrie got home, both were too exhausted to talk much. "First week was ok?



"Yea, I really think it's gonna be great," Carrie nodded.



"So, am I allowed to come watch now?" Kelly grinned.



"You really want to?"



"Well, yea, of course. You know how much I love watching you sing. Besides, you've had a week, it should be past the embarrassing stage by now."



"Alright," Carrie sighed playfully. "But, I'm not promising anything special."



"Awesome," Kelly smiled, broadly.



"Kell," Carrie began gently. "Everything's gonna be ok; I really do believe that."



Kelly's smile faded, but her eyes gazed back at her, trustingly.



Carrie's hands ran over the Texan's bare sides, "It may not be how you want, or expect. Your mom...I hate to say this because I know it hurts, but she may never come to her senses. But that doesn't mean it won't get better because eventually it will hurt less, I promise."



"Care," Kelly shook her head. "I honestly don't know how that's possible."



"I know, but that's just how it seems right now," she assured her.



"I'm gonna miss you next weekend," Kelly admitted softly.



"We have all week," Carrie laughed.



"I know, but you have no idea how much it helps to be able to lay in your arms at night."



"It helps me too," Carrie nodded.



"What if there are more protestors? Who's gonna cry with me?"



"All you have to do is call."



"I know, and I know we have all week, I'm sorry."



"No, it's ok," Carrie replied. "I like hearing how you feel, and what's going on in that head of yours."



"But I don't want you to think that I don't want you to go out on tour and enjoy yourself. I want nothing more than for that to happen."



"I know."



"But, I'm just gonna miss you."



"You too," Carrie smiled. "But, hey, we have all week, right? That's a lot of time to be together. Then we're only apart for three days, then we'll be together again. It's not gonna be as bad as when you went on tour, don't worry."



"I'm not. I'm just thinking. I'm gonna have to get me one of those long body pillows, that way I have something warm to snuggle with."



Carrie laughed, "We'll pick you up one this week when we get back to Nashville."



Kelly yawned, her arms stretching, her nails sliding up Carrie's legs.



"You ready for some sleep?"



"Yea," she drawled, her eyes growing heavy.



"Ok," Carrie giggled, unstraddling her, and lying down beside her.



Kelly turned, snuggling into her warm body, wrapping her arms around her tightly, "Love you."



"Love you too."



++++++++++



Carrie watched with a lazy smile as Kelly walked out of the bathroom in only a towel. She always found it funny how the Texan had to take a shower in the morning, even if she took one the night before. She watched as Kelly slid her jeans on beneath the towel before removing it and bending over to grab a shirt from her bag.



"Do you have any idea how sexy you are?" Carrie asked, surprised by how thick her own drawl was. She must've really slept hard last night.



"I'm one hot momma, let me tell you," Kelly rolled her eyes, tugging the shirt on.



"You are," Carrie nodded in agreement, smiling wider as Kelly slid into bed next to her.



"Good morning," Kelly grinned, kissing her sweetly.



"Good morning," Carrie sighed in content. "What time you want to head back?"



"Never," Kelly laughed, kissing her again.



"We can stay here all day if you want, but I have to be back for rehearsals tomorrow," Carrie replied.



"I was just joking," Kelly smiled. "This is nice though."



"You're the one that doesn't like staying in hotels."



"Because it takes away from the experience."



"Of what? Playing scrabble at two in the morning?" Carrie teased.



"Yea, yea, whatever. You know you've enjoyed staying on the bus with me."



"With you being the key term. We could stay anywhere, and I'd enjoy it as long as I was with you."



"You're sweet," Kelly replied, linking their hands together.



"No, you're just really good in bed...and I enjoy that."



Kelly laughed hoarsely as Carrie wrapped her arms around her, blowing a raspberry on her neck, "Care!"



"I love the sound of that," Carrie smirked, as Kelly pushed her away playfully.



"Nerd."



"What?" she smiled. "You know you love me."



"That I do," Kelly nodded, feeling their feet brush together under the blankets.



"Good," Carrie replied. "Because there's something I want to talk to you about."



"What's up?"



"The other day when I was being interrogated by Reba--"



"She was not interrogating you," Kelly laughed.



"Close enough," Carrie smiled. "But yea, I said something to her, and I thought I should probably say it to you too."



"It's my cold feet, huh?" Kelly nodded, pulling her feet away. "That's it, I'm just gonna start wearing socks to bed."



"Kell," Carrie laughed. "I'm trying to be serious, come on."



"Sorry," Kelly smiled. "I just love hearing you laugh."



Carrie felt her heart melt.



"So, what's so important that you feel you have to share it with me?"



"I love you."



"Really? Cause I couldn't tell."



"Kell..." she fussed.



"Ok, sorry, sorry," Kelly giggled. "I'll stop. I'm totally serious."



Carrie grinned as she watched the Texan struggling not to smile, "Ok, so I love you--"



"Is this something you rehearsed?"



"Ugh," Carrie groaned, rolling onto her back.



"Care, I'm sorry. I am. I'm just..." Kelly smiled as she climbed on top of the country singer. "You know how you just have these moments where everything is just so amazing, and you're just giddy, you know? With all of this happiness bubbling inside of you. It's hard to keep that in."



"Even with everything that's happened this weekend?"



"The only thing I'll remember is this moment right here," Kelly replied sweetly.



"That's not true."



"It's the only one worth remembering," she corrected with a smile, kissing her.



"I want to spend the rest of my life with you," Carrie whispered as she pulled away.



Kelly's jaw dropped, "Are you...are you..."



"No, no," Carrie quickly shook her head. "I'm not proposing. I promise."



Kelly let out a sigh of relief as Carrie sat up, causing her to fall into her lap. "I mean, not that I don't want to, it's just..."



"Someday," Carrie nodded,. "I know. Neither of us are anywhere near ready for that, career rise, or just us wise. I know. I know. Didn't meant to scare you like that."



"Not scare, just caught off guard."



Carrie smiled, cradling her cheek affectionately, "I just wanted to let you know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You're the one for me, and I know it may be too soon to even think that--we've barely been dating half a year, although it seems like forever. I just...this is it, you know? The real deal. The kind of love you think you'll only ever read about."



Kelly could feel herself tearing up.



"Baby," Carrie sighed, wiping the tears away.



"I want to spend the rest of my life with you too," Kelly sniffed.



"Even after everything that's happened. I mean, we finally got a chance to see what it's really gonna be like out there from now on for us. You still want this?"



"I just...I love you so much."



"No, no, no. Kell, please don't cry," Carrie soothed as the Texan cried harder.



"It's your fault," she hit her softly. "You know I always bawl during romantic movies."



Carrie laughed, pulling her forward so she could kiss her.