if you’re feeling like it: hand-holding 30 or 34 for Helen and Dale? :3
Oh, I had fun with this one! I think my heart wants to believe that year between seasons 1 and 2 was a good time for them. Went with 34–holding hands while driving.
Thanks for the prompt!
Touches Ask Game
…
Windows down, music blasting.
That is the way Helen likes their drive to Bendigo for Christmas. Val has a turkey in the oven and has promised clean sheets on the bed in Dale’s old room. As they cruise down the freeway, Helen tips her sunglasses back over her eyes, fighting the hot rays of early summer in Victoria.
Dale is in the driver’s seat, bopping his head along to Helen’s choice of heavy rock. He’s the most relaxed she’s seen him in months. Since he took over the desk last autumn, he’s on edge, constantly trying to prove he belongs where he’s at and isn’t simply a filler for Geoff—a substitute until someone “better” comes along. His change in energy for this holiday is refreshing, and Helen is grateful for a stress-free trip.
This isn’t the first time she’s been to his mother’s, and their little trip back in the winter had been…well, it had been less than desirable. Dale had spent the entire time on the phone, listening to the radio—anything for updates on what he initially believed would become a huge story. He had been convinced they would have to pack up any minute and return straight to Melbourne, and not only had it left Helen unnecessarily antsy, but she’d watched him deflect and miss every single one of his mother’s attempts to enjoy their company.
Helen and Val had reached an understanding and appreciation for one another that weekend.
For this visit, however, they’ve had a talk. Dale is not to think about work. He is not to turn on the telly outside of the usual Christmas specials. And he sure as hell is not allowed control of any radio. Hence, Helen packing a shoebox of cassettes for the ride.
The current tape ends, and she sifts through her box for a new one. It needs rewinding, but the second Pat Benatar blares through the speakers, Dale is on cloud nine.
Helen can only giggle at his antics—at his exaggerated pitch and his enthusiasm as he drums on the steering wheel. He’s lucky they’re on a long stretch of road with few cars, or his swerve might have dire consequences.
“Watch the road, or I’m telling your mother to bust your arse when we get there,” she threatens with a chuckle.
But he keeps going. “We belong to the light, we belong to the thunder!”
He grasps her hand and holds it up victoriously, and she nearly chokes with laughter. “Dale!”
“We belong to the sound of the words we’ve both fallen under!”
He keeps up his dramatic performance, hand still holding hers. “Okay, Dale, really—”
“Weeeeee belong! We belong, we belong together!”
He stops and turns the volume down, both of them in fits of hilarity. And as she sees the smile on his face—a genuine smile for the first time in weeks—she thinks…this can work.
“Ladies and gentleman, that was the musical stylings of Dale Jennings,” Helen narrates, putting on her camera voice. “Tune in next time…if he doesn’t crash the car.”
“I’ll be here all week,” he gives a little bow, planting the hand holding hers back on the steering wheel.
“You know, we should see if Lindsay will let you turn this into a bit. Really put a bug up Geoff’s arsehole.”
“Oh, I’m sure the ratings will soar.”
“It’s what the people want—to be dazzled and entertained, right?”
Dale only laughs and shakes his head. “I bloody love you, you know that?”
Helen reaches for his hand again, offering him a sweet smile. “Yeah, I know.”
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