The Moose, the Tree, and the Irish Writer

Just as they were filling their bowls the phone rang. Viggo looked at it a second and said "So help me God I am going to toss it into the yard."

Tabby just laughed and answered it the same as she had all afternoon. This time it was a teenager’s voice. "Uhhh is my dad there...Viggo is he there?" It was Henry the son Viggo told her about.

"Oh yes darling just a minute. Viggo, it's your son." She handed him the phone and continued setting the table.

"Hey you! Yeah, yes she is Irish...yes she is a friend...she will be here a while, Bob is working on her car she had an accident out from this morning. Oh Uncle Sean already told you huh?" He said rolling his eyes and Tabby began to laugh.

"Uncle Sean said she was pretty...is she?" He asked.

"Yes, yes, she is that." Viggo said smiling.

"Good...so you like her?" Henry asked teasingly.

"Yeah I think so." Viggo said smiling.

"Good...Dad I miss you." His son said softly.

"I miss you too, Henry." Viggo said sadly.

Tabby reached over and squeezed Viggo's shoulder and he put his hand on top of hers...it made him feel very good to have that connection with her at that moment. He hadn’t realized just how lonely he had been until she came into his life today.

"So what are you doing?" Henry asked.

"We are just about to sit down to eat dinner...beef stew. Oh and Tabby made brownies that smell like absolute heaven." Viggo laughed then and pulled the phone down slightly. "Henry said he wants some brownies." Viggo told Tabby.

She smiled. "Tell him I will email him the recipe."

He told Henry who laughed. "Good night Dad...I love you."

"Love you too kiddo." Viggo said softly.

She watched Viggo place the phone on the table gently.

"Miss him a lot huh?" She asked sitting down across from him.

"Yeah...we are used to it though." He said shaking his head and filling her bowl with stew and then his own.

They ate and talked about all kinds of things and then Viggo sat back staring at her as she talked. She was so lovely; she had stopped eating quite a while ago. She had her napkin in her hands and was twirling it around her fingers as she spoke. He watched her fingers and couldn’t resist wanting to feel them against his skin. He closed his eyes for a second and could almost feel it and see it in his mind. He felt himself starting to get aroused so he cleared his mind and tried to focus on what she was saying. Three years was way too long. He thought. Way too long.

It seemed it was his turn to talk; he was talking about filming in Montana last year. A movie about a horse, he loved horses it was why he bought this place. Tabby watched him talk watched his lips, and his eyes that sparkled as he spoke. Then she noticed she wasn't quite listening anymore and he may have asked her a question.

She sat up straighter in her chair and looked at him.

"Well?" He asked.

"Well what?" She asked.

"You must be tired...I don't think you heard the last few things I said." Viggo said smiling.

Oh that smile...she wanted to feel those lips against hers and trace the contours of it with her tongue. Good Lord, where did that thought come from?

"Uh...sorry guess I am still a bit addled from the wreck." She said trying to cover but not sure she did a good job...he was the actor not her.

They stared at each other for a few moments, the sexual tension seemed to hum between them, then the phone rang and she jumped. He slammed his hand down on it as he jerked it up and barked, "Hello!"

"Jesus Christ, Viggo...you ok?" It was Bob.

"Yeah, sorry...phone uh startled me, what do you need?" Viggo said sitting back further in his chair.

"I called because Miss O'Shea's Jeep is a bit worse off than I first thought...we need to order a number of parts...it's not enough to total it though so it's just going to take some time...may take a bit longer than I first thought though."

"How long?" Viggo asked.

"Close to a month...and that's conservative. Say hay have a schedule to keep so I thought I would call and let you know."

"I'll tell her." Viggo said, "Thanks Bob...goodnight...say hi to Kate and the kids for me."

Viggo hung up.

"Bad news about my Jeep huh?" She asked.

"Well good and bad, it isn't totaled and can be fixed but Bob has to order a lot of parts from out of state. He said a conservative estimate could be as long as a month." Viggo said softly.

"A month huh? I doubt you expected to have a guest that long Viggo...I will work on finding a place to stay nearby." She said pushing her bowl away from her.

"No." Viggo said softly.

"What?" She asked.

"No you can stay as long as you like, Tabby really its no bother to me. None at all. Bob and I just worried you needed to be somewhere else, home, or something… a month is after all a long time." He answered.

"Viggo I don't have a conventional job...as you well know writers can write anywhere...though I do need a new cell phone...other than that I my my laptop...if you don't mind me tying up your phone line a few hours a day I can dial in to the publishers server and feed them my chapters that way. I don't NEED to be anywhere in particular to do that...I just need to know that it won't be a bother to you." She said softly.

"Why do you need a new cell phone?" Viggo asked..."I thought you said you didn't have one?"

"I don't...well I did...well I don't have one anymore." She said quickly.

"Want to try that from the beginning?" Viggo said sitting back smiling at her.

"Oh alright...my agent called while I was driving through Nevada a few days ago...she was complaining about my skipping out on some promotional things. I told her I needed time off...she argued with me, and well I had my window down...I got mad and well I tossed the phone out the window. She is probably still cursing some poor lizard out in the desert for all I know." Tabby said quickly.

Viggo began to laugh. "Wish I had thought of that one. You and I are quite a lot alike I think."

"So it's ok if I stay until the Jeep is fixed?" She asked..."I promise if you come to Taos I will let you sleep in my guestroom all you want."

Viggo laughed. "You live in Taos, New Mexico? Very pretty there."

"Yes, I think you and I are a lot more alike than we first thought." She agreed with his earlier statement and nodded her head.

Viggo reached across the table and took her hand in his and squeezed. Then he stood up and started clearing the table. She got up to help and soon they had the kitchen back to normal. Viggo opened the fridge and grabbed milk. "Can't have brownies without milk."

She started to laugh. They sat down in front of the fire in the living room listening to the wind howl outside and ate their brownies.

"These are wonderful." Viggo said reallaninaning it too. He had never had brownies quite that rich.

"Yes...very rich though." She smiled.

"Henry, Orlando, and Elijah would be in heaven with these." He said laughing.

"Were all of these people well aside from Henry in the Tolkien movies with you?" She asked.

"Yes...we really did become a fellowship, and Henry did get a bit part in one of the movies." Viggo smiled fondly.

"I think I would like to see the movies...they did three right? I remember reading about that and thinking how appropriate." She said after some thought.

Viggo smiled and said, "Yes you might enjoy them, we did stray some from the book...but for movies you sorta have to."

She smiled.

"Actually I do have the movies on DVD. Peter gave them to all of us and there is a little TV and DVD player in Henry's room. That's the only thing we fight over really...I don't like him watching too much TV. I tell him it rots the brain." Viggo said laughing.

She laughed. "Do you feel weird watching yourself on screen?" She asked.

"No because it's not me, not really, it's my character in this case it's Aragorn not Viggo. I am what they call a method actor I guess...I sort of live inside my characters and try and figure out who they are, try and understand them. It's not always easy though...and most people think I am a little nuts because of it." Viggo admitted.

She laughed. "You are a little nuts...but I think that's why I like you so much."

He smiled at that. "Well then come on. Let's go watch Fellowship, I can point out everyone to you and give you a bit of commentary on it.” He pulled her up and walked over to the bookshelf, grabbed the DVD case and headed for Henry's room.

They sat down in the floor leaned against the bed and put the movie on. Tabby commented on the music and visuals...the cinematography was amazing she said.

"Here, they are going into the Prancing Pony...this is where Aragorn appears for the first time." Viggo points out for her.

She watches. Then she smiles. "Those are most definitely your eyes Viggo...Aragorn or not...I know those eyes."

He pulled her closer to him, it made him feel good to hold her close like this and watch the work he had done over three years ago.

"Here this scene was the first one I shot...I had only been there a few days...never used a sword before...but we managed to pull it off I guess." Viggo explained. She even jerked a bit when Aragorn threw the torch into the Ring wraiths face.

They continued to watch and she cried when Gandalf died and then again when Boromir died. Viggo just squeezed her shoulder and told her about how hard he and Sean laughed during that scene over unruly wigs.

She turned to him when it ended. "I think it lived up to Tolkien."

"Thanks...Peteuld uld love to hear someone like you say that I think." Viggo answered and kissed her forehead.

She looked up at him then. God he was so handsome, and those damn lips...her forehead burned where he had touched them to her. Like he had branded her...she wanted them to brand her lips. She turned toward him a bit more and leaned toward him a bit. Her eyes flickering from his eyes to his lips. He got the message she was trying to send but it seemed to head straight for his lap. He closed the distance between them and brushed a kiss against her soft lips. So soft and warm. He pressed closer then slid his tongue along her bottom lip. She moaned in the back of her throat and that was his undoing. He slid his tongue inside her mouth and kissed her until they were both breathless.

Then he sat back. "Well." He said softly.

"Aye." She practically breathed the word.

Viggo stood up then and pulled her up.

"We uh...we better get some rest it's two in the morning." He said softly as he turned off the TV and turned back around. Her face was flushed and her lips were still red from the kiss they had shared.

"Aye...I really do need some rest." She said quickly and raced out of the room back to hers. Once inside she leaned against the door. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." She thought.

Viggo walked by her room and could see she was still standing by the door from the shadow. He stopped and almost knocked on her door but decided it was too soon. They only just meday.day...it was just because both of them hadn't been with anyone in ages. That's why...that was all. Yeah right he thought. He knew he was more attracted to her than he had been to anyone in a very long time if ever.

He just went to his room and crawled into bed.