Ren found her wandering a random hallway again the next day. She was still wearing the same enormous goggles and a top that looked about 4 sizes too big on her, with some sort of draped hood over her head. She trailed her fingers along the wall, seemingly ignoring everyone around her. From the waiver in her walk, he was fairly certain she was drugged again.
He considered leaving her. It would serve Hux right. He really needed to train his crew better… losing track of an intoxicated patient two days in a row? It was an embarrassment.
He decided it might be slightly unfair to let her potentially harm herself just to punish Hux. Somewhat begrudgingly, he went to her, "You have a way of sneaking around, don't you?"
She smiled, "Oh, it's you again. Ren? Kylo? Kylo Ren? How are you?"
"Wonderful." He said flatly. "How did you get out here?"
"I walked." She leaned against the wall coolly. "What am I supposed to call you again?"
He was glad the hallway was nearly empty. This wasn't something he wanted an audience for. "I don't care."
"Hmm…" She smirked in an almost disastrously mischievous way. He couldn't quite get clear feedback from her – for some reason everything coming off her seemed fuzzy. Probably the medication. But he didn't really trust her. He got the feeling she was up to something. "I like Ren, I will call you that. Would you like to know my name?"
"I couldn't care less what your name is, but yeah, Hux already gave that information out Mila."
"Ah, but that is not my name."
"I still don't care."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why don't you care?" She tilted her head, "Or at least, why do you act like you don't care?"
"I'm not acting. I really don't care."
"You don't find me even remotely fascinating?" The playful tone in her voice was irritating.
"The only fascinating thing about you is how you manage to keep sneaking away from your medics." He grabbed her arm, "Come on. They're going to figure out you're missing sooner or later."
"You take me too seriously, Ren."
"No, I don't take you seriously at all."
She laughed, "Oh, you are lovely."
He frowned, pulling her a little more forcefully, "I don't know what that's supposed to mean."
"Just that I appreciate your sense of humor."
Humor? Not many people found him funny.
"Where are you from, Ren? Kylo?"
"That's none of your business."
"It is just a question. I'm from Ysook."
"I could have guessed that."
"Yes, I think my accent is quite bad."
"Bad? No. Obvious is the right word."
"Hm. I do not speak your language as well as I should."
"You speak it just fine."
"Thank you. Can I tell you something you don't know?"
"I'm sure you could. And I won't care what it is."
"So moody… I am not who you think I am."
"I don't think you're anybody." He was getting sick of this game. "I don't care who you are."
She laughed, "No, no. You don't understand."
"Does anybody understand you? I get the feeling not."
She hesitated. "You might be right about that. But let me explain…"
"Like I said, I don't care."
Hux came around the corner just as they neared it. Ren stopped and shrugged at Hux as he grabbed her arm, pulling her away from him. "What you doing here? What are you doing with him? I told you to be discrete…"
"She's out of it again. I found her wandering around."
Hux waved a hand at him, "She's not drugged… She's…" He gave a very frustrated sounding sigh. Hux's feedback was entirely different around her today. There was no concern, just frustration.
"I was just about to explain to him…"
"No. No, don't do that. I told you…"
"Oh, you are so strict. I am just out for a walk, and if I want to explain to him I can. That is my business, not yours."
Hux scowled. "No. That was not our deal."
"I think you are embarrassed to be caught breaking the rules… I get the feeling Ren could care less. Actually, he may respect you slightly more for it."
Ren couldn't imagine any scenario that would make him have any form of respect for Hux. He was a little curious though. Hux breaking the rules… that was an interesting concept.
"Do you expect me to stay locked in that little room for two days and never speak to anyone?"
"Yes. I do."
She inhaled deeply and motioned vaguely at Ren. "As I was saying, I am not who you think I am." She grinned at him. "Mila is my sister. My name is Mika."
Ren thought for a moment. It would explain why her feedback was entirely different from Mila's. And it would explain why Hux's was different around her.
Hux rubbed his face, "Ren, I hope I can trust you to keep this under wraps…"
"What? Your people don't want two unknowns running around the ship? I'm surprised you're allowing them on here."
Hux opened his mouth to say something, but she plowed right over anything he was about to say, "And he is being terribly kind allowing me to stay here for the next few days while my sister finishes recovering."
Hux looked supremely irritated.
Ren was starting to enjoy this. "So… off the records… you've allowed a random, unknown civilian onto the ship as we're preparing for war?"
A vein pulsed in Hux's forehead. "I don't have time for this. You…" He looked at the woman, "You get back to your quarters, and for the love of god please be discrete." He looked at Ren, "I suppose there's no use in telling you to keep your mouth shut about this."
"Probably not." He was doing his best to not laugh. This was so bazaar it was hilarious.
Hux crossed his arms, "Well… what do you want?" Hux looked like he wanted to vomit as he asked.
"What do I want?" Hux was trying to bribe him. He liked this. "I'll get back to you on that."
"Fine." He turned on his heel and strutted off.
"It is awfully easy to push his buttons, no?"
"Yeah, it is."
"I am sorry I didn't explain when we met yesterday… I have heard of you, Kylo Ren. They speak of you on the black market. Do you want to know what they say?"
"I don't really care what they say." It was a lie. He was slightly curious.
"Of course you care. Everyone cares."
He didn't reply.
"So this Kylo Ren… they say he is quite powerful. They say he is incredibly dangerous… Intimidating… Ruthless… tall…"
He almost laughed. Tall. Was that really what they had to say about him?
"You're not denying any of this so I assume it is all true."
"It is."
"Hm. Terribly confident in that aren't you?"
"None of it is wrong."
"They say you can use the Force."
"Yes."
"So you can?" Her eyebrows rose from behind the goggles. "That is an unusual thing."
"I suppose it is."
"Hm…" She put a finger on her lips. "Interesting. Will you talk about it?"
"No."
She was quiet for a moment. "Do you know what else they say about you, Ren? They say you're incredibly handsome. Do you think that is true?"
He hesitated for a moment, somewhat surprised by the comment. She popped up onto her toes and put a hand on the side of his face, her thumb brushing the scar on his cheek.
He jerked back quickly. "What do you think you're doing?"
Her grin disappeared. "Hm. Interesting. You are very interesting, Ren."
And on that odd, incomplete note, she left, her fingers trailing down the wall as she walked away.
Mitika looked at Hux with a somewhat pained expression. Not that it was much different from his usual expression, but Hux had come to recognize when the man was legitimately expressing distress.
Mitika pulled him to the side, speaking very quietly, "Sir, I've just received news of a small problem…"
"What would that be?"
"Your… er… guests…"
Hux felt his stomach sink. As one of Hux's most trusted men, Mitika was one of the few that knew of their presence on the ship. This news was not starting off well.
"They're in the prison cells on the lower level."
"What? Who put them there?" Hux turned to head to the cells and free the two, wondering who he needed to punish for this error. Mila, who just had a terrible experience in a cell, would not be happy. She was likely traumatized. Someone would be severely punished for this.
"No, I'm sorry sir, I wasn't clear. Nobody put them there."
Hux stopped, realizing this might be even worse news than he thought.
"They've locked themselves into Kylo Ren's interrogation room with one of the prisoners. Nobody can open the door, the code isn't working."
"How many people know?"
"Just myself and two other troopers, sir. I am sure they will keep quiet."
Hux nodded, "Good, thank you. Keep everyone out of the area until I give word."
He left quickly to go extract the two from the room. Just as he reached the end of the hallway, Ren stormed around the corner looking surly, "General!"
"Ren..." Hux tried not to look like he was in a hurry.
"What the hell are those two doing in my…"
Hux held up a hand to cut him off. Of course Ren already knew. "I don't know. I'm going to get them out now."
"I can't get the door open! I set the damn code myself, they must have changed it."
"That wouldn't surprise me. Who do they have in there?"
"Why the hell would I know that? I could care less. I'm trying to gather important information but I can't even access my own chamber. You seriously need to get control of these two, General."
Hux was very well aware that any effort put into trying to calm Ren down was completely useless. The man was in a permanent state of anger. "You're sure you can't open the door?"
"Yes. I promise I tried twice. I really couldn't." Ren said in a mocking tone.
Hux rubbed his face. These two were almost making more trouble than they were worth. "I don't know what they're thinking. This is the stupidest thing…" He hurried off for the cells, trying to figure out how he was going to cover this up.
Ren followed him to the cell. Just as it came into view, the door opened. Mila stepped out and looked down the hallway. When she saw them coming, she closed the door quickly behind her and strode to the other side of the hallway, putting a code into one of the opposite cells.
When Hux realized what she was doing he broke to a sprint, but reached the door just as she sealed it. A small window gave a view into the cell. She looked at him through it, shaking her head and mouthing an apology he didn't believe. She turned away and he could see the prisoner – the guard from the ship. His hands were bound behind him and he looked meager; no doubt the Finalizer crew hadn't fed him much. He couldn't imagine his crew treated any of the prisoners acquired from the ship very well. His crew was loyal to him, and these thugs had dared to cross him. He would have been surprised if they were fed more than once every few days.
Cursing, he punched the door.
Inside the room, she loomed over the man, an odd feat considering she was possibly an entire foot shorter than him. He looked up at her, a scowl twitching on his face. There was fear in his eyes, though. He knew their roles had been flipped - she was the one in control now.
Ren was leaning against the wall near his interrogation chamber, watching casually through the small window on his door. "So… are they just exacting revenge on everyone from that ship?"
Hux shook his head, not really wanting to explain why Mila seemed to be taking a great pleasure in taunting the guard. "Not everyone. We had what? Twenty from that ship? How many does Mika have in your room?"
"Just one. It seems... pretty personal."
Mila circled her way behind the man. A small blade glinted in her hand. Hux looked away - there was no reason for him to watch. "Personal? How so?" Mika did seem far less emotionally stable than her sister. It was entirely possible she took her sister's kidnapping worse than her sister did. He went to the window and peered in. "Ho… woah." He stepped back quickly, looking away. It wasn't what he was expecting. He would have expected some blood or broken bones, but what she has going on in the room was an entire setup. It had clearly been painstakingly planned - the man, the captain of the ship, was strapped down onto Ren's interrogation table.
Ren watched curiously, running his thumb over his lower lip, "That's definitely not water she's using. Some sort of high pH acid, you think?"
Hux rubbed his face. It wasn't that this sort of thing bothered him, in theory. He just didn't want to have to look at it. "Yes, it would appear to be something like that."
"It's not terribly powerful… He'd have a hole in his forehead by now if it were. Must be incredibly painful."
Hux sort of hated that Ren seemed to be getting ideas from this. "Yes, he doesn't appear to be enjoying the situation."
"Hm." Ren had a dark glint in his eyes that Hux had seen a few too many times before. He was definitely getting ideas.
The door to the cell Mila was in opened, and she stepped out. She wiped her hands on a rag, a torn off chunk of the guard's prison uniform. She looked at the two of them.
Hux pointed at Mika's door, "Open this door. We need to stop her."
She tilted her head to the side, "I cannot do that."
Hux sighed, "Do you have any idea the mess you two have made? How the hell am I supposed to cover this up?! I can't have my own people running around the ship undermining my authority and killing whomever they please… But to have you two doing it? It looks awful, I don't know how…"
She shook her head, "No, you do not understand, I cannot open the door. I do not have access any more. That is the way we changed your prison door system. That door can only be opened from the inside."
"Fantastic. Completely fantastic."
She inhaled deeply, "Trust me when I say whatever she is doing to that man is very well justified."
"Justified or not, I can't have her doing this to my prisoners on my ship without my express permission."
She shrugged so casually it gave him a headache. "I am sure you have ways of making bodies disappear. If you do not, I do."
"That's not the issue here. The issue is the two of you have now made me responsible for containing this situation so my entire crew doesn't find out about whatever sick little… revenge plot you two are acting out here, or whatever this is."
"You will figure it out. We can help."
"The last thing I need is you two helping more."
She frowned a little, looking at her hands. The red stains wouldn't wipe away. "Do you think he deserved to die?" She looked up at him with a sort of frank intensity. "You saw what he did to me. Was I right?"
Hux did not want to have this conversation in front of Ren. He glanced to the other man quickly; he seemed focused on whatever was happening in the room.
"Was I?" She wasn't patient with his hesitation.
"If anything you were probably merciful. I don't want to discuss this now. Stop trying to change the subject."
"I am not changing the subject. He was mine to kill. Not yours. And that one." She nodded to the door Ren looked through, "That one is hers to kill, even more than the other man was mine." She tossed the rag onto the floor, "I cannot get this off my hands. Disgusting…"
It was late. Hux was tired, and this entire situation was depleting his energy even faster. "Ren."
"What?"
"Will you stay here and make sure that Mika gets back to her quarters when she's finished with… whatever it is she's doing?"
Ren frowned at him, "I'm not babysitting."
"Honestly, I'd rather have you put her in a cell, but they're leaving first thing tomorrow. So, please, just take her back to her quarters and tell her if she doesn't stay there…"
"She will not want to go anywhere after she is done. If you take her back to her quarters she will not leave."
Hux shook his head at her, "You honestly think I'm going to just trust that…"
"No, I don't think you will trust me. But it is true. She will not want to do anything else, other than maybe sleep. I can promise you that."
Hux did not trust this at all. But, he realized rather regretfully, he didn't really have any control over either of these women. "Just… do what you need to do, okay?"
Ren didn't even bother responding.
"You," He looked back to Mila, "Come with me."
She nodded and did as he asked, hiding her hands in her pockets. "Where are we going?"
"To my quarters."
"Oh…" she hopped alongside him, "Why?"
"Because we need to have a very frank, private conversation and I don't know where else to have one. And I don't trust you to just go back to your room and stay there."
She was quiet for a few moments as they made their way through the hallways. "We will not be trespassing anywhere else..."
"Don't speak of that public, please." He silenced her quickly. She didn't seem to understand he did not want to discuss this within earshot of anyone who could potentially spread rumors.
The door to his quarters slid open and she strode in before him. He sighed, feeling completely defeated by her.
Before he could get the door closed, she made her way into his kitchen area, clanking around in a cabinet.
"What are you doing?"
She appeared with two glasses and a bottle – his best bottle – of whiskey. A very rare bottle of Ysookian whiskey, 21 years old. "We should celebrate."
"What? No. That's disgusting. Don't touch that bottle before you wash your hands."
She shrugged and set the glasses on the counter, going to the sink to clean herself. He grabbed the bottle and went to place it back in his liquor cabinet, but she snagged it away from him and snatched the glasses again, making her way to his sofa. She curled onto the cushion and poured two generous glasses, pushing one across the table toward him.
With a smile, she held up her glass and toasted to him.
"We're not celebrating. There is nothing to celebrate."
"Maybe not for you. There certainly is for me." She drank. "You do not need to celebrate. But you probably do need to drink. Sit."
She was probably right. He did need a drink. He sat on the heavy leather chair across from her and took the glass.
"So… you want to talk."
"Yes. This sort of… undermining of my authority needs to stop."
"Yes?"
"Yes. I told you two to be discrete… You've done the exact opposite of that so far. I don't understand why you… Your sister… she's… well…"
Mila tilted her head to the side. She didn't understand.
"I suppose I can understand this sort of behavior from your sister. She seems… capricious." There was no kinder way for him to say it.
"I do not know that word."
Language barrier, he reminded himself. "It means… sort of unpredictable."
A smile twitched on the edge of her lips, "Ah, yes I suppose that might be a good word for her then."
"But to my point, you seem much more... er… rational." He took a drink, feeling like he might be digging his grave with his own words. "I can't understand why you are behaving like this. I understand you wanted that bastard dead, but you should have gone through me."
She frowned. "So you wanted me to do it on your terms rather than my own?"
He drank again. "That's not… no. That's not it at all. Do you understand that I now have to hide all this from my crew? I'm working hard enough to keep your presence under wraps, and now I have bodies to deal with."
"We can help you dispose of them. As I said, I make people disappear."
"And I can't have your sister sneaking around the ship randomly. She has a bad habit of doing that… I found her wandering around the third level a few days ago. Kylo Ren came across her and thought she was you…"
"He is a… capricious one as well, isn't he?"
Hux shook his head. "No. That's not the right word for him. Your sister is harmless. Kylo Ren is not."
She looked at him. "Did you not look in the room to see what she was doing to that man? My sister is not harmless."
He drank, trying not to think about what he had seen. "That's a fair point. But… it isn't the right word for him." A question had been scratching at his mind for awhile. "How does your sister know the man she had in that room?"
"Hm…" She thought for a moment, swirling the liquid in her glass, then set it down and refilled his glass for him. "I cannot tell you that. It is my sister's matter."
"I figured you couldn't. I take it her matter with him is… very personal?"
"Yes. It is."
"Is that how you ended up on that ship? Were you trying to track the captain down?"
"Yes, something like that." She shifted a little, looking uncomfortable. "I cannot talk about this."
"Considering the way you and your sister have been behaving on my ship, you probably owe me answers to at least a few of my questions. You won't even bother giving me your full name for a background check, yet you go murder two of our prisoners like it's your right."
"I do owe you an apology for our behavior and I have given it. And I owe you for saving my life. But please try to understand, this is not my information to share. It is my sister's. I cannot violate that."
Hux didn't have siblings. He'd never quite understood that bond. It seemed strange to him. "I suppose I can respect that. That is, only if you're serious about this behavior coming to an end now."
"Thank you. I am. Mika and I are finished."
"Good." He sighed, leaning back in his chair. "If I can be frank, you completely deserved to kill that man. I just wish you had come to me first, so I could figure out something more discrete. This is going to be difficult to hide from my crew."
She was quiet for a few long moments. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course. I'm not saying I'll answer, but you can ask."
"Do you like your job?"
"My… yes. Yes, I do."
"Why?"
He considered for a moment. "More than anything I think it's the satisfaction of having created something… something efficient, powerful, and right."
She nodded very slowly. "You like your crew?"
"Yes. I have the best crew in the galaxy, I'm quite sure of that. They're highly dedicated, well trained…"
She shook her head, "I would have never thought of the infamous General Hux as a compassionate leader."
He wasn't sure if he hated being described as infamous or compassionate more.
She laughed, "You… you are very interesting to me. You cannot begin to imagine how surprised I was when I realized who you were. You know I watched your speech?"
"Really?" He hadn't really thought about it, but it occurred to him that many, many people probably watched his speech.
She nodded, "I never would have recognized you in that cell." She paused for a moment. "I wouldn't even recognize you now, honestly. You are not so… terrifying in person."
"Terrifying?" He'd been wondering how came across during the speech. Terrifying wasn't quite what he was aiming for.
Her mouth twisted, "It might not be the right word. I don't know what is. I thought you seemed… fearsome. Powerful. Unforgiving."
"Hm. Thank you." That was a little closer to what he was aiming for.
She watched him closely for a few moments. "What did it feel like?"
"What? The speech?"
"No. Giving the command to fire the weapon."
He thought. "It was… satisfying. You know I designed it?"
"Really? So you are an engineer?"
"Yes, at least… I was. I developed the concept years ago. It took almost a decade to go from concept to the day we fired it. We had thousands of people that worked on it over the years… engineers, mechanics, physicists, builders… The logistics were utterly astounding. We had to develop an entirely new method to harness the energy…" He was suddenly aware that he was rambling.
She looked at him with a little smirk. "You become even more fascinating to me every time you open your mouth."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ramble."
"No, no. You were not rambling. You were being passionate about something. It is a good thing."
He didn't feel like any less of a fool for it.
"Does it bother you? After you gave the command, after it is all done with. Do you think about it?"
He looked at her for a few moments. He should have expected that would be her next question. "No."
"Liar." She pointed at him playfully. "That is a lie."
"It was a necessary step. I have no regrets."
"Mm. I think the necessity of it is irrelevant."
"Irrelevant? No. Absolutely not. It was not a… a pretty thing to have to do, but it needed to be done. It doesn't bother me because I know it's what had to be done to stop…"
"You're absolutely lying. You want to know how I know?"
"Enlighten me, please."
She pointed to the coat closet, "Every hanger in there is perfectly spaced, like you measured the distance between them."
"What does that have to do…"
"Every book on your shelf is alphabetized. You know that piece of art that hangs on the wall of my med bay room? I always turn it just slightly crooked and you fix it every time you visit."
"That…" He frowned, "That was you?"
Her dark eyes sparkled deviously as she set down her drink, standing and walking around the table to him. "It was." In a fluid movement, she crawled onto the chair, straddling his legs between her knees.
He put a hand on her waist and tried to push her off, irritated that she would purposefully torment him in such a way. She didn't move. "What does any of this have to do with my sense of guilt - or lack of?"
She smirked, "I thought nothing of it until I saw your whiskey collection."
"What? What about it?"
She started to undo the top buttons of his uniform. "You are missing three bottles. Not just missing. You have not even bothered to realign the remaining ones."
She wasn't wrong, but he didn't appreciate the observation. He grabbed her hands and pushed them away, "It's none of your business."
"It is not my business, that is true." She didn't seem to be fighting her way back to his uniform, so he let her hands go. "When I figured out who you are, I could not figure out why you would save me. You could have let me die in that cell, and you had no reason to do otherwise. Even more than that, the look on your face when they dragged me back to that cell - when you realized I would die without help - you were very concerned. It has bothered me every day. Until I saw your whiskey collection, just now. Now it makes sense."
Hux hadn't been able to figure it out himself, but he was irritated that she seemed to think she understood him so well. "Well, enlighten me. How does my mind work?"
"You had just wiped millions of lives from the galaxy. Millions of innocent lives…"
"Like I said, it was necessary."
"Necessary or not, that is not something that any sane person takes easily. You kill millions of innocent people and have to carry on like you have never doubted that was the right thing to do. Somewhere, in the back of your mind, that was eating away at you. And then I happened… I was right in front of you and I desperately need help…" She'd somehow undone the rest of the buttons on the front of his uniform without his noticing. "You saw me as some sort of… some tiny sliver of retribution. Something you could save rather than destroy." He pushed her hands away again, but she moved them down, between her legs, resting on his thighs, and leaned in so he could feel her lips against the edge of his ear, "I am more experienced than you would know when it comes to guilt. These things are familiar to me."
She'd maneuvered her hands free of his grasp again and was undoing his trousers. He stopped them. "Don't… you don't need to…"
Her hand snaked up to the back of his head, her fingers weaving into his hair. It made him shiver. She grabbed a handful of his hair and jerked his head back a little violently, so he could see her face.
She hissed at him. "You think I am hurt… damaged. I am not half as delicate as you think I am." Her other hand pushed beneath the waistband of his trousers, and wrapped her fingers around his already hard cock. She forced his head to the side so her lips were against his ear, "Let me tell you something: Saving me, it will not free you of the guilt. Nothing you do ever will. People like you and I… we do not get that privilege. The best thing you can do for yourself is try not to think about it… and drink. It will completely…" Her voice cracked and she gave a small gasp as she stroked him, "completely consume you."
He couldn't imagine she was actually enjoying rubbing his cock that much… she must be acting. Not that he particularly minded. At all. He didn't wanted to put her in this position after what she'd been through so recently, but she'd initiated, and it had been far too long since he let himself have any sort of physical release. So she could fake all she wanted - he was taking far too much pleasure in this to stop her.
"Let me tell you the most maddening part." She had completely messed up his hair. It was tickling against his ear with every little gasp. "You actually did save me, you did something genuinely good, but you keep punishing yourself because you know it can never make up for what you've done. You…" She pulled his hair again and he grabbed her hip, using every ounce of effort he had to stop himself from pulling her onto him. He didn't want to push her too far. "You do not even have the balls to ask me my name just because you want to know my name. You just keep insisting your crew needs to know, for a background check." Her hand paused for a moment, shaking, as she gasped into his ear.
She was not acting. There was no way faked that.
"It is so odd to me, I do not understand, but I have wanted you… wanted you so badly… and you are afraid to touch me." Her lips connected with the base of his jaw and she bit lightly at the skin. He felt her lips turn up into a smirk against his skin, "Oh… You're almost there aren't you?" Her tone teased him a little closer.
"Fuck…" He pulled her closer and pushed his face into her neck, nibbling at her skin. Her fingers dug into his hair and she let out a small moan that finally put him over the edge.
He was left gripping her tightly, breathing heavily into her neck as he tried to gather himself. She was frozen on top of him for a moment, before she jerked his head away from her and pulled her hand out of his trousers. She looked at her come-covered hand with a slightly repulsed expression, and wiped it clean on his undershirt.
He was still trying to gather his thoughts when she stood, still not bothering to make eye contact with him, "I hope that was good for you. You seemed like you needed it."
He was a little confused by her closing statement. She was about to step away but he managed to catch her arm just in time, and pulled her back onto the chair, taking her face between his hands and kissing her, greedily, wanting as much of her as she would permit him to have. He was completely disheveled and really wanted to shower and change into undergarments that weren't covered in his come, but it could wait a few moments.
She pushed herself away, glaring at him, "No. Do not kiss me like that when you…"
"Your name." He wove his fingers further into her dark hair, appreciating how it felt wrapped around his fingers. "Please."
"No." She tried to shrug his hands out of her hair, "No, you cannot…"
He pulled her closer, forcing her to look at him, "I want you to stay. Here, in my room, for the evening. But I do not want you in my bed if I don't know your name."
She finally made eye contact with him, looking at him quietly for a few moments. She looked a little sad, almost afraid. He hoped he hadn't come across too strongly, "I'm not asking you for sex." He paused. "Though if you want that, I wouldn't be opposed. Just… Stay. Please stay tonight. Who are you?"
"I… I have not used my family name in many years."
"I don't care." He kissed her again, "I just want to know."
In some odd balancing act, she snatched the bottle of whiskey from the table behind her. "Do you know why I chose this bottle?"
"Because it's the best one I own, I assume. And it's from your home."
"Well… yes. But also, it is mine." She rolls the label to face him, running her finger across the gold lettering of the brand name, "It has my family's name on it."
Volkov. It was an old name, made famous by a now extinct ruling family from her region. Or at least, thought to be extinct. Records were that the entire lineage was wiped out in a hostile takeover about a decade ago.
She shrugged, still looking nervous. "We both have our secrets."
He kissed her. A million questions crowded into his brain. But they didn't really matter at the moment. The only thing he cared about was her lips. And a shower.