Author: SilentG
Title: In Vino Veritas
Fandom: LO:CI
Pairing: B/A
Rating: T/M
Spoilers: Post-Loyalty, but no real spoilers, unless you absolutely know nothing about that episode.
Archive: Anywhere – no need to ask – just attribute, and let me know if possible
Disclaimer: Not mine
Summary: Drunken confessions then falling into bed, kinda. Who knew that she would be the one to finally crack?
A/N 1: Don't know why I've been craving writing from Goren's POV of late. Maybe it's because Eames has been looking so pretty lately, I want to enjoy him enjoying her.
~.~.~.~.~
CHAPTER ONE: IN VINO VERITAS
She showed up at his door looking so beautiful she took his breath away.
o.o.o.o.o
Alex had been on a date that evening – that much he knew, because she'd told him so when they'd spoken on the phone that morning.
He talked to her pretty much every day, now that – yeah. They hadn't figured out their job situations yet, but – yeah. Every day, he thought about bringing up the small little issue of him being in love with her, and pretty sure she was in love with him, and the whole thing about them not needing to be alone any more, but he was afraid of it being weird. Which he should be used to, except being jobless and weird is different from being gainfully employed and weird. Yeah.
It was a bit after midnight, and he'd just come back from showering and brushing his teeth, after spending the whole night on the sofa wondering. What was she wearing, where did he take her, what was he like, what did she think of him? Would he kiss her, would she go home with him? Would she think of him? Bobby him, not nameless date him.
He'd asked her to call him when she got home, on the pretence of being concerned about her safety. She just laughed. He'd held his cell phone in his hand all night anyway.
o.o.o.o.o
When he opened the door after her soft knock, her visage actually literally took his breath away. He stood there staring at her, and trying not to gasp for air.
Her hair was up, and diamond studs twinkled in her ears. Her tiny diamond pendant nestled in its usual place in the hollow of her throat. She was dressed in a Chinese red shot silk cocktail dress with three-quarter length fitted sleeves, a fitted bodice with a low cowl neck (that revealed black lace and the curves of her creamy breasts when he leaned over ever so slightly), an A-line skirt and a kerchief hemline. Her shoes were black patent open-toed Mary-Janes with high, square heels. Her skin and eyes were glowing. She was wearing a subtle floral scent; lilac, rose and gardenia, with a hint of lavender and musk.
She was also very drunk.
"Hi Bobby," she said, softly and slightly slurred. She had a wide, beautiful smile on her face, and she seemed almost to be leaning into him as they stood close to each other in his doorway – he couldn't resist reaching out and grasping her forearms. She had a diamond tennis bracelet on her slim wrist. Her skin was so soft, and she was so beautiful! As she tottered into his apartment, he kept his hands on her arms, leading her.
"What are you doing here, Alex?" She inexplicably veered away from the sofa where he thought they were headed, and he started following her until he realised her destination was the washroom.
"Just a second, Bobby," she shouted unnecessarily loudly through the closed door. He couldn't help grinning. She was here, radiant, happy to see him, not in bed with her date. He chuckled at her inebriation as he closed and locked the door and straightened up the living room. After the toilet flushed, he thought he heard the sound of brushing teeth.
When Alex came out, her face was washed, and she was dangling her shoes from the fingers of one hand in a desultory way. She stepped very close to him and looked up. "Can I stay with you tonight?" Her face was hopeful and vulnerable.
Suddenly a hundred horrible thoughts flew through his mind. "Alex, are you alright?" He asked, frowning. "Did – you didn't – was your date OK? He, didn't, uh, hurt you or anything?" This last he said to her back as she moseyed into his bedroom, and even as he fretted about all the things that could have brought her to his door after a fancy date, he felt his body respond to the mental image of her in his bed.
"No," she said wistfully, "I just had him drop me here at the end of the night instead of at my place." She seated herself opposite his side of the bed, and did his heart actually skip a beat, watching her casually (if somewhat clumsily) remove her jewellery and drop it into her small beaded clutch? This is how it should be every night. Her skin seemed dewy and touchable as she unpinned her hair and shook it out.
He felt big and awkward, almost an intruder, standing in the doorway of his own bedroom, but he found her presence so alluring that he couldn't tear himself away. "Would you undo me?" She asked, standing with some difficulty and meeting him halfway. As she turned, she looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. "Tim was fine, but I wanted to see you. I thought about you all night."
Oblivious to the bombshell that almost stopped Bobby in his tracks as he unzipped her, she stepped away and allowed the gown to drift to the floor, revealing a fitted black lace and satin slip with deep slits up the sides. She reached up under the hem and awkwardly stripped the stay-up stockings from her legs, and kicked them almost comically into a pile with the dress before crawling into his bed. She laid on her side with her hands folded under her cheek and smiled at him as she watched him pick up the dress and stockings and carefully shake them out before draping them over the back of the straight-backed chair in the corner.
She was bra-less. Was she wearing panties? Oh God!
o.o.o.o.o
It never occurred to Bobby to even offer to sleep on the sofa. No, she had been thinking of him, she'd come all this way to see him, he was going to stay here with her.
That seemed to be Alex's plan too, because when he crawled into be next to her, she rolled over to face him and took his hand. For a while they just rested quietly, looking at each other. He wanted to touch her smiling face, but he was too shy. When her eyes finally started to drift shut, he leaned back to turn the light off.
"Everything I want, everything I love is here," came her sleepy voice in the darkness.
"What?" He'd been close to nodding off, and he couldn't even be certain he'd heard her correctly. Had she really said that?
"That's what I was thinking, all night. On my date."
Oh.
She didn't seem to expect an answer, which was good, because he had no idea what to say.
o.o.o.o.o
"Bobby?" She whispered. He had been lying quietly beside her, listening to her breathing and drinking in her presence. That she was here with him, enjoying him as he enjoyed her, he almost couldn't wrap his head around it. But yet, it felt so right. Normal, as if this was just another day in their happy life together. It was surreal.
"Yeah?"
"I've missed seeing you every day." She was still drunk, but her words had a ring of truth. They were like a key in a lock, and he feared that as it turned, something would burst open that would be wonderful but also overwhelming. He wished he could see her face. He needed to touch her, at least. So he reached out and easily drew her closer. She didn't resist – in fact, she seemed to welcome the gesture, and began to caress his chest and shoulders clumsily and innocently with both hands.
"Me too, Alex," he said with feeling. For a while they were still and silent, just enjoying each other; him with his hand on her waist and her fingering the stiff cotton of his tee. Up close, her scent told the story of her evening; her lovely fragrance, a heady blend of perfume and her own essence; sweat and a hint of smoke from wherever she spent her evening; lime, strawberries and tequila… she must have spilled a bit of margarita on herself… and the teasing tendrils of nascent arousal.
Alex's wistful, soft voice broke the silence again. "Would you like to try it? Seeing each other… every day?" He knew exactly what she meant. Yes! was his emphatic answer, but he was so moved that he couldn't get the words out. She must have mistaken his silence for reluctance, because her next words were more hesitant. "I know I'm not your type, but – you love me, don't you?" Bobby allowed himself to envision the depth of feeling that prompted her words. Their hearts and souls had been reaching out hesitantly towards each other for years, but in the end it was her, courageous Alex, who had bridged the gap. With the help of liquid courage, yes, but still…
"Oh Alex." He leaned over and buried his face in the crook of her neck. This was not a romantic moment – that time would come when Alex was sober and they'd both had time to digest this. But he knew she was in earnest… the booze had loosened her tongue and led her on the path. To his door, his heart, and now, to his bed.
He laughed, eager to re-assure her. "Alex. You are my type, I just didn't realise it at first."
She sighed and nestled into his chest. "Me too."
"And I love you too," he added for good measure.
"Me too," she whispered.
For a few moments they were silent, just holding each other.
"And I absolutely would like to try it – seeing each other every day."
"And every night?" Her voice bubbled with laughter.
"Yes, yes, YES!"
Soon, they slept. They hadn't kissed, or even caressed each other intimately, but that time would come soon.
~.~.~.~.~
A/N 2: Smut coming next. There should just be one more chapter.