Disclaimer: I own nothing; all Dead Like Me characters/trademarks belong to someone else. I'm just borrowing them to play with. No profit is being made from this story: it's for enjoyment purposes only.

Author's Note: First DLM story… Please be gentle with the feedback. Mason was incredibly hard to write but I tried my best to stay in character with him. Constructive criticism always appreciated!

Timeline: Set during "Always" while George is at work.

Summary: What if Mason had gone to beg Daisy to let her live with him earlier in the day without George?

Spoilers: Last few episodes of Season 2; pretty much beginning with Ray's introduction.

Title: You Love Me

"Daisy?" Mason called as he beat on the door again, the third time in the last two minutes.

He can't believe that he's here, can't believe that he's actually doing this. He's never been the type to do the right thing, he's the fuck up; half the time he's too drunk or too high to even spare a thought for what the right thing might be. He leaves that sort of thinking to the other reapers, the ones better equipped to deal with it.

Groaning at his abnormally serious thoughts he beats on the door once again.

"Go away, Mason!" Daisy calls from inside the house, trying as hard as she's able to keep the slur out of her voice. There's nothing that Daisy Adair hates more than showing weakness, and getting drunk out of fear or regret (or maybe a combination of them both) definitely counts as a weakness. She simply couldn't bear for anyone to see her like this, not even Mason.

Her acting ability came in handy as she managed to sound perfectly sober to a normal ear. But unfortunately for her, Mason had an unusual affinity with drunkenness and somehow managed to catch some small difference in her voice. "Oi, are you drunk darling?" he asked in disbelief.

"Damn it," Daisy whispered. "No, I am not drunk!"

"Well, can I come in then?"

"No! Just go away." Daisy sighed with relief at the silence that followed, grateful that he had listened to her for once.

She really should have known better.

The door swung open, and in stepped Mason, a smug grin on his face, a grin that slowly faded as he took in the sight of the usually so put-together Daisy lying on the couch holding a bottle of booze to her chest. Even without makeup he still thought she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

"God, Mason…" Daisy said helplessly, letting the bottle slip from her fingers onto the couch as she stood up, pulling the blanket tightly around her with fingers that had somehow gone numb. "Why can't you ever listen?"

He shrugged as he grabbed the booze and took a big gulp from it, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "I still need a place to stay."

"Well you can't stay here, I've already told you that," she repeated for the hundredth time in the last two days.

"Why not?" Mason whined. "George said I could!"

"This is not just George's house, Mason."

"Well it was my fucking house first. Please Daisy? Please please please?" He stuck out his lower lip in a pout and gave her his best puppy dog eyes.

"No, Mason."

"Please, Daisy? Let me move in. Let me move in. Let me move in. Let me move in," he began to repeat in a strange rhythm that could drive a person absolutely insane. After mere seconds of being on the receiving end of it Daisy certainly could understand why Roxy had shot him at Der Waffle Haus that day.

And that was how Daisy explained to herself what happened then. She had only wanted to shut him up, to make his extremely annoying rhythm of words stop. Yes, he had driven her temporarily insane. That was the only logical explanation for why she would reach up and pull Mason's head into a kiss. It was also the only reason for why she enjoyed it.

Yes, despite everything, Ray, the murder, the way things were getting royally fucked up because of what she and Mason had done, Daisy Adair enjoyed that kiss.

They parted after a moment, both breathing heavily and smiling a little. Daisy looked down as she tried to collect herself and catch her breath. She looked up into Mason's eyes with a small smile on her lips and a confused mixture of happiness and anguish in her eyes as she confessed, "I don't know why I just did that."

"Because I'm fucking irresistible," Mason replied with a grin, running his finger along her cheek like a lover's caress. "And because you love me."

Just like that, the almost romantic moment was broken and they retreated into their comfortable, familiar banter. "Oh, I do not!" Daisy protested, pushing away from him and taking a few steps back, smoothing her hair down. "I was just... overcome with emotion, that's all."

"You were overcome with an emotion all right… Love. You love me," he insisted smugly.

Though she continued to protest his declaration of her feelings and possibly always would, Daisy couldn't help but thinking that maybe he was right.

~FIN