Death To Chivalry

7

Hannah moved Lacy's book closer to her. It was Sunday night and Hannah was unsuccessfully trying to help Lacy understand her trig homework while Shanell was off with her boyfriend who had finally come around and told Shanell he loved her.

"No, to do this problem you have to – " Suddenly the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Lacy offered. She jumped up and stepped over the coffee table, scattering books everywhere. Hannah sighed and bent down to pick them up. From the living room she could hear Lacy's started gasp.

"Where have you been all my life? Please tell me you're here for me."

Hannah chuckled at that, not hearing the visitor's reply. With Lacy's luck, the guy probably was here for her. She straightened the stack of books and stood up. She could hear Lacy come in behind her. "Who was at the – " She turned and saw the last person she ever expected to be standing there. "Thierry? Thierry!" She ran over and threw herself into his arms.

"Hi Hannah," he murmured in her ear, burying his face in her hair, his favorite thing to do.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, still mildly surprised but completely elated.

"I decided that I couldn't wait for you to get to Vegas tomorrow. I wanted to escort you myself," he responded gallantly. "I have a surprise for you."

"Hannah, could I talk to you for a second? Thanks." Without waiting for Hannah's reply Lacy grabbed her arm and dragged her outside. Once there she retched her hand out of Lacy's death grip.

"Okay, what was that all about?"

"You never told me your boyfriend was Justin Timberlake's long lost twin," she accused loudly.

"What? I told you he was cute."

"Cute? Cute? The man standing in there isn't cute. He's drop-dead gorgeous. I mean come on Hannah, if your not having sex with him after being together for almost two years, there is something wrong with you. You're eighteen for God's sake."

"Excuse me?" Hannah was totally perplexed at her friend's attitude and a little offended.

"Hello! Reality to Hannah, come in Miss Snow. Here on Planet Earth there is no such thing as a perfect relationship." She swallowed heavily, then continued, "This is 1998 and in the real world you have to worry about your boyfriend cheating on you."

"Lacy, what are you talking about?" Hannah had no idea what brought on this little lecture.

"Is this guy a virgin too?" Lace asked distinctly.

The question made Hannah pause. She and Thierry had this conversation one night. Hannah had been a virgin in every single one of her lives, as amazing as that might sound. Maya had tricked Thierry a bunch of times so that she could sleep with him and he wasn't a virgin when he was turned so he had some experience. Albeit, for as old as he was and as much play as he could have gotten, Thierry had the disposition of a Catholic priest.

"Well, no, but I don't see your – "

"Think about it Hannah. He lives in Nevada. You go to school in Utah. You see each other about once a month. He's a teenage guy. He'd have to be a monk not to be cheating on you," she explained cynically.

Hannah had to smile at that. Lacy had no idea.

"Don't space out on me Hannah. Guys like that have extremely short attention spans. Just be careful. I don't want you to get hurt," Lacy cautioned.

"Don't worry Lace. Thierry would /never/ do anything like that. I love him and he loves me," she replied confidently. Then in a softer tone, "C'mon. Let's go back inside. It's kinda cold out here."

She wrapped on arm around her friend and walked inside with an amused smile on her face and a new understanding for her friend. The reason Lacy never stayed with one guy for very long wasn't because she was some kind of player, it was because she didn't want to stick around long enough to get hurt. As soon as she got back from Christmas Vacation she fully intended to have a nice, long chat with Lacy.

~ Uh, Hannah? Why are you thinkin' about me cheating on you? ~ Thierry asked as they entered the room.

~ I'm not. Lacy is convinced that guys like you take advantage of girls like me. ~ Hannah explained.

Thierry raised an eyebrow. ~ Guy's like me? ~

~ Guys who look like Justin Timberlake. ~ She clarified.

~ Oh. ~ He paused. ~ Who's Justin Timberlake? ~

~ Remind me to introduce you to the Wonderful World of MTV sometime. ~

Thierry gave a mental laugh and said aloud, "Would you mind if I borrowed Hannah, Ms. Lacy?"

"Not at all Mr. Thierry," she replied haughtily, going in to the kitchen.

"So. What's the surprise?" Hannah asked, ignoring Lacy's attitude as best she could.

"We are going to Lè Gour Monte," he answered grandly.

"Thierry! Lè Gour Monte? But that's in New York City," Hannah gasped.

"Ah, but you're wrong. They just opened another one in Salt Lake City, and that's where we're going."

"Seriously? I can't believe this, I've always wanted to go there." She looked down at her jeans and long-sleeved Gap shirt and then at Thierry's black Armani suit and tie. "Uh, I guess I gotta change. Will you hold on?"

"Sure, we've got three hours to kill. Take your time." Thierry answered grandly.

"Great. Be right back." With that she rushed into the bathroom, leaving Thierry totally at Lacy's mercy.

Thierry sat down on the couch and looked at his watch.

Twenty minuets later he stood-up to stretch and found Lacy glaring at him from the kitchen door.

"So," Hannah's roommate said from behind Thierry, hands crossed over her chest and a hardened expression on her face.

"So," He repeated, putting his hands in his pockets and rocking back and forth on his heels. They stood like that for a good ten minuets.

"Look, I think we can skip the small talk. Here's my point: You ever, and I mean ever, hurt that girl in there I will personally hunt you down like the dog you are and beat you so hard you won't be able to see straight for a week," she threatened, backing Thierry into a wall.

"I would never –" he started, hands up in surrender.

"Yeah, you would never hurt her because you're so in love with her, blah, blah, blah. I don't believe anything your kind says," she spat.

"My kind?" Thierry asked, momentarily alarmed. How could she have known he was a vampire? That would mean she was either a former lost witch or working for the Night World. –

"All men are the same. You all think with your dicks."

Oh. She didn't know. But still.

"Whoa, down girl. I don't know why you think I'm some jerk out to get Hannah and I don't really care, the point is I'm not. I swear to you if I ever hurt Hannah you won't have to hunt me down, I'll be in a Las Vegas cemetery six feet under." Or more likely mummified with a stake in the heart, he added silently. He looked at her solemnly.

So solemnly in fact, that she backed down. "Well, um, as long as we're clear. I'm gonna go now. Tell Hannah I went to the Union. Bye," Lacy announced, flustered, and flew out the door, grabbing her coat on her way.

"Thierry, I envy your people skills," Hannah said from behind him. Thierry turned… and lost his breath.

Hannah had on a not-too-short short black skirt, a velvet gold short-sleeved shirt, matching high-heeled black sandals with black soles and gold straps. She bent to adjust her sheer pantyhose Thierry leaned over to look at her butt but upon realizing what he was doing, he quickly looked away. She stood and smiled innocently at Thierry, not having a clue what her presence was doing to his head, not to mention his body.

"How do I look?" she asked self-consciously.

Thierry couldn't answer, he had somehow lost the ability to make his mouth work in the time it took her to bend down and straighten up again.

Mistaking his momentary brain-freeze for silent disapproval, her hands went immediately to her hair, which had turned gold in reflection of her shirt. She had curled it and left it down, ringlets framing her face. Even her skin had a golden quality about it.

He finally found his brain again and stepped closer, with eyes full of nothing but perfect love for his soulmate. He followed the barely perceptible trail of Hannah's birthmark with one hand and used the other to open Hannah's palm and placed a kiss in it, then turned that hand over to place another on the ring he had giver her when they first met.

"My sweet angel," he whispered softly, closed his eyes, and lowered his head to press a gentle kiss on her lips.

Thump.

Thierry whipped around, only to find a slightly embarrassed girl kneeling to pick-up some fallen text books.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt. I – "

"Nell! Here let me help you." Hannah cried, and hurried over to help the girl, who Thierry could only assume was her other roommate, Shanell.

~ Another kiss interrupted. I should make a chart of all the ones I missed and have you repay me at the end of the month. ~ Thierry joked.

~ Very funny Thierry. This is a relationship, not community service. ~

~ I would never think otherwise. I love you only for what's inside. ~ Thierry said amiably and truthfully.

~ Thierry, don't give me that. I saw you checking-out my butt. ~

Whoops, he thought, strike one. Oh well, it was worth it. She has a nice butt.

~I heard that. ~ She warned, leaning down to pick up some of the papers.

Strike two. He groaned and looked down.

~ Hey, stop looking at my butt! ~ She cried irately and pulled down her skirt.

Strike three, he added with a sigh. I have some major schmoozing to do.

~ You got that right. ~ Hannah agreed.

"That's Thierry, isn't it?" Shanell whispered to Hannah, who was kneeling in front of her, arranging some loose papers.

"The one and only," Hannah whispered back.

"He's a fine in a major way."

But horny as a toad.

~ Hey, am not! ~

~ No more reading my thoughts, or you won't get another kiss until I graduate. ~ she threatened. Immediately Thierry pulled himself out of her head and she was alone.

"Sorry I ruined the moment. I saw you guys and tried to creep. It didn't work."

"It's okay."

She was secretly relived Shanell had come when she had and saved Hannah the embarrassment of flinging herself at Thierry. Sometimes when he looked at her with those bruised eyes full of love and tender aching for her she lost herself and she wanted to do anything she could to take the hurt out of his eyes. She had used a wall of annoyance at him looking at her butt, which really didn't make her to mad-he was a guy-to cover-up her libidinous weakness. She could keep her calm when facing life-and-death situations, but not her soulmate.

She and Thierry finally got out the door of her campus apartment and headed outside, Hannah with a matching black purse and wrap in hand. "Thierry, you brought the limo?" It was fun riding around in the sleek white limo, but what Tara said kept nagging at her. That reminded her that she still hadn't talked with him about her. She shrugged it off. There was always later.

"Everybody rides in a limo to get to Lè Gour Monte. It's tradition. I even had a some sent over for the rest of the crew." He opened to door of the limo and pulled a box out. "I have the perfect thing to match your outfit." He opened a box to exhibit the most beautiful tulip she had ever seen, in any of her lives.

It was a flawless tulip with translucent petals but when she picked it up the outside of the petal's turned black, while the inside turned gold. It was both real and surreal at the same time. Mind boggling.

"It's a witchy trick Blaise cooked up so her dahlia would always match her dress. When Thea called me to ask if Blaise could come to the restaurant she asked if I had any idea what color dress you were wearing. I said no so Blaise made me one of these in tulip form, ya know, for humans," Thierry explained, slightly embarrassed.

Since all the other people in Circle Daybreak had flowers the organization had adopted tulips for humans. They were going to go with carnations but they decided it was way too Mafia.

"Thierry I love it. It's exquisite." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him softly. He closed his eyes and put his arms around her waist and they wrapped each other's minds in a blanket of love.

When they finally broke off Thierry smiled and whispered, "I think that more than makes up for lost time."

Hannah smiled in silent agreement. Thierry gently took the flower from her and slid it into her hair.