Sensory Memory

Fanfic100 Prompt: 036 - Smell
Word Count: 690

Laura woke up and knew that he had already left that morning. She reached across to the other side of her small bed and felt that the sheets were already cold, signaling that she had been alone for quite awhile now. It was amazing to her that he never woke her up when he left her bed. She was trained to be alert but he was so careful when he left early in the morning that she never even budged.

He told her once that he thought that she slept like the dead. The first night he had to leave early on in the morning he said he’d fumbled around her room looking for his clothes and actually tripped on one of his boots. She didn’t believe it but he said he’d even given her a kiss goodbye and was surprised himself that he didn’t wake her.

When he left the second time, she believed him. Not waking her once could be written off as a fluke but twice was a little more than coincidence. She’d had to accept the fact that maybe she was just that comfortable with the man. That maybe she just trusted him enough that when he was with her at night she could rest easier. It wasn’t an easy pill to swallow, that he made her feel safer at night, that just knowing he was there made her sleep deeper. It was the truth though and it gave her a good feeling. Back in the beginning, that was all she needed.

She rolled into the middle of the bed and buried her head in the pillow and taking a deep, relaxing breath and smiled. He’d been gone for hours but she could still smell him on her pillow. Somehow that just made her day start off a little brighter.

Laura remembered the first time she’d gotten close enough to him to actually notice his scent and she’d been a bit surprised. She’d expected a sterile, plastic smell to permeate his every article of clothing, his very being because of him being a doctor but that wasn’t the case. He smelled like citrus and sandalwood. Earthy, grounded. Really, really good.

She wrapped her arms around the pillow and hugged it to her chest as she lay in bed and thought about him.

When they went on their first date he had been wearing a dark blue sweater that made his eyes pop and a pair of jeans that made it hard for her not to check out his behind. Casual, but nice.

They’d gone to the mainland, had a pick-nick on the beach and ended up going back to the Puddlejumper with spray from the surf dampening their bodies. She hadn’t brought anything for cool weather since it was a warm day and he’d given her his sweater while he was stuck in an undershirt.

She’d never given it back and he never asked for it.

As she got up from bed she tried to think of something to do that day. It was one of her free days and she usually spent those with him but he had to go off-world with Sheppard so she was stuck without him.

Suddenly feeling like she might be getting a chill, she went to her dresser drawer and grabbed the sweater. She pulled it over her head grinned. She had washed it a couple times but the scent of the ocean and Carson still clung to it and it gave her a great feeling.

Sensory memory was a wonderful thing.

In fact, they hadn’t been to the mainland lately for personal purposes. She grinned as she plotted. It probably wouldn’t take much to shanghai him when he got back and once she let him in on her nefarious plan she had no doubt that he’d find a ‘jumper in no time at all.

She went to find a pair of pants. If she wanted to get anything good for their pick-nick she’d have to get to the commissary before the lunch crowd hit.

Laura smiled as she went out the door. Sometimes she was such a great girlfriend.