A/N - revised 28Apr2013

Chapter 7

Lion Tamer

Having been awake for several hours already, Anise had exercised, showered, fiddled with makeup and hair, changed outfits several times, and generally acted like a teenage girl going on her first date. Anise was more than antsy for Buck to finish his morning rituals so they could leave.

"Come on, slowpoke."

"Chill out, your girl can wait while I brush my teeth."

"Gerald..." She whined.

He pointed his toothbrush at her sharply. "Call me Gerald again, and I'm going back to bed."

Anise pouted, "You sound like Rain when I called her pretty."

"Seems reasonable, she's kind of too badass to be called that."

"But she is."

"You're crazy. She's powerful, sexy, and damn gorgeous, not pretty."

"Whatever. Can we leave now?"

Buck shoved her from their shared bathroom. "Out! If you don't leave me alone for twenty minutes you're gonna wait another hour. Why don't you go do fifty pullups? I should be done by then."

She was full of enough nervous energy she did exactly that after exchanging her form fitting sweater and jeans for gym clothes. Her young friend was in the doorway to the gym before she quite finished. He had a coffee mug in one hand and tossed her a towel when she dropped down from the bar. "You should touch up your makeup, and I can finish my coffee."

Anise toweled her light sweat from her body and checked her makeup. The green eyeliner was fine, as was her mascara, she just needed to powder away her shine. Cosmetics adjusted, she changed out of her gym clothes and back into her cute outfit. For Rain's sensitive nose, she refrained from applying perfume. "Are you ready yet?" She demanded of Buck.

He nodded, and they collected the vampire gear packed neatly in a suitcase that rolled behind him. She draped her stuffed satchel over her shoulder, and they exited through the alley door and outside security gates. Several inches of snow made their short trek slippery and fun. They raced each other, sliding down the sidewalks and dodging other pedestrians. Anise hailed a cab several blocks from the labs and gave the cabby the location of a coffee house near the hotel that she had looked up online.

Buck picked up another coffee and a hot black tea for Anise. Together they covered the easy distance to the hotel in friendly silence. Anise glanced at the entrance to the stairwell and ignored her longing to avoid the elevator. Twenty-five floors was a bit much to lug Buck and all their gear up when zombies weren't chasing them. They tossed their empty drink cups while waiting for the car. When it arrived, they joined a man with a newspaper and coffee in the elevator. Their companion exited midway up, and Anise started to fidget eagerly. Buck nudged her playfully, "You look excited."

"Not at all. You have me mistaken for someone else."

"Yep. That must be it."

Ding.

Down the hallway they chuckled and stopped at door 2508. Anise knocked three times. "Vampires!" She called out before listening intently.

Carlos said something about sex in the air, and Jill was snarking about being stuck with hormonal teenagers, to which LJ guffawed. Feet padded across the floor. They paused at the door, and Anise could hear Rain's breath on the other side as she checked the peephole. Her smile threatened to split her cheeks open, even the sound of Angie's sweet, yet still creepy, Red Queen sounding, voice could not dampen it.

"Hey." Rain opened the door. She was wearing a simple outfit of jeans and a short sleeved shirt. No beard, thankfully, and her hair looked freshly washed and braided.

"Hi."

They stood there looking at each other.

"Anise," Buck whined. "You're staring, kiss her or push her out of the way."

Said woman tossed him a glare before she followed his advice and captured Rain's lips with her own. They unwillingly separated when the teen nudged Anise again. Rain invited them into the suite so the duo could strip off their coats and boots like proper guests this time.

Greetings were exchanged among the gathering of survivors. Carlos explained that he had just ordered two of everything on the breakfast menu figuring that their two Supergirls and a teenage boy could eat enough to justify the buffet. The news was playing on the TV, and the anchorman describing a robbery that had happened overnight. Anise looked around realizing that yesterday's mess had been cleaned up properly with the exception of the cracked wall. "You guys gonna get charged for all the stuff I broke?"

"Probably. Doesn't matter. We've stolen enough money from Umbrella to cover anything you could possibly break." Carlos waved the matter away.

"In that case..." Anise began teasingly.

Rain wrapped her arms around the spicy woman's waist and leaned into her back, her mouth next to her ear. "Break anything else and Jill will bitch at me for hours." She complained quietly.

Anise frowned slightly until she realized what she could do from that position. She relaxed into Rain's hold, tilted her head down, and captured soft lips. "Fine." She mumbled.

LJ started clapping, "Alright, breakfast and a show. A man could get used to this."

Both women flipped him the bird and burst out laughing at their own unplanned, but synchronized actions.

"I don't think I've ever heard you laugh so nicely before." The young girl spoke up from her seat by the large bay window.

"Angie's right." Added Carlos, "Anise, you're hired. Make Rain laugh at least twice a day, and I think the woman might let her hair down."

Reaching behind her, she plucked Rain's braid up to look at it. The glossy hair was soft and smelled of shampoo. "I accept."

Their easy banter continued until Anise piped up. "Room service is here."

"What?" Carlos asked.

Knocking sounded from the front door. "Room Service!"

"Shit like that is either incredibly creepy, or insanely pimp." LJ laughed. "I'll let ya'll know when I figure out which."

Carlos moved to get the door while Rain hid in the bedroom since she was not in disguise. Anise moaned at the smells that drifted from the laden tray the attendant rolled into the suite. While the dishes were laid out, Buck and Anise occupied themselves by arguing about what superheroes were better. LJ jumped into their discussion with his take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and how Splinter could totally take Professor X. To their surprise, Jill did as well. She had a thing for the most recent incarnation of Ironman. Angie and Carlos mostly watched the show and the room service attendant spoke up about his favorites as well. Only Anise could hear Rain's comments about Witchblade, which she modestly chose not to share in the company of young ears.

Eventually, the food was set out, the attendant tipped and dismissed. Rain emerged from hiding and joined them at the table, taking the empty seat next to Anise. There really was a massive amount of food on the table. "Shit, Carlos. I think you might have ordered enough." Anise joked.

"Have you seen yourself eat?" He retorted. "Besides, you'll be here all day. There's lots of things that'll keep for a few hours so you and the other two garbage disposals can graze until lunch."

She was blushing and knew it. Her only consolation was that her blush made Rain's nostrils flare and the woman hissed. "Stop teasing her, fucker."

Damn, that husky voice. Anise almost moaned out loud. Rain's nostrils flared for a whole new reason, and the dark woman gave her an appraising look.

"Hey, LJ, you gonna go first?" Their resident cheerleader disrupted the sudden tension.

"Hell, no. I don't like needles to begin with. I'll let her stab one of ya'll first to see if she can even do it right. Then we'll see if I let her play vampire on me."

"Come on, LJ, don't you trust the lady?"

"Nope." He said around a forkful of scrambled eggs.

"Why the hell not?" Rain demanded.

LJ stalled his next forkful to answer. "There must be somethin sadistic about Anise if you like her." He chewed his eggs. "Or masochistic, either way, fuckin freaks me out." The man offered Anise a grin. "No offense."

Rain looked ready to detonate, Carlos was smiling around his own mouthful of food, and the others seemed to be waiting. Anise started giggling at the scenario around her. The people around her felt like family. A crazy dysfunctional, criminally inclined, slightly homicidal family, she amended. Add in a dangerous badass with an attitude problem that had the hots for her, and an infected little girl that was the spitting image of a nightmare, it was unreal. Her laugh was catching and quickly spread until the whole table was in an uproar. She laughed until she could not breathe anymore and just wheezed for a while longer, her smile aching on her cheeks.

"I like this one, Rain. She's as crazy as you are and has a better sense of humor." LJ got a biscuit thrown at his head and breakfast settled into light topics again.

Playing vampire could wait while their meal settled in their stomachs. Anise made herself comfortable in Rain's lap when the soldier planted herself in an armchair. Warm and comfortable, she closed her eyes for a catnap, ignoring Rain's amused grin.

"And then she jumped out of the third story window..."

"Buck, stop telling that story." Anise grumbled from her sleepy position with her face buried in Rain's neck.

"Into the heated hotel swimming pool."

"Buck!"

"Her hair was frozen before she made it to the car..."

"Dammit." She gave up and let him finish the true story about running from an Umbrella hit squad. When he finished his dramatic retelling, Rain whispered something in Spanish and refused to translate it. Carlos shrugged, as he didn't speak the language. Anise sighed and asked how long she had been asleep.

Buck told her it had been forty minutes and that Rain had slept almost as long. The men were lounging on the couches, and Jill was at her computer again. A small digital camera popped in front of the women's faces, held by small hands. The screen was lit and showed a picture of the two sleeping together. "Will you print that out, Angie?" Anise smiled winningly at the girl.

Angie was already moving toward Jill's desk. "OK. Do you want one too, Rain?"

Voice husky from sleep, Rain replied. "Yea. I'll stick it in my wallet with all the other women I've slept with."

"Bitch." Anise bit her ear lightly. She drew her teeth from the upper cartilage to the lobe and pulled gently. Hearing Rain's breath catch and her heart start to race, she paused before nipping the earlobe again. The woman's body shivered lightly. Anise had found a hot button. She grinned wickedly. "Thank you for volunteering, Rain."

Still out of it from her nap and Anise's teeth, Rain blinked glazed eyes. "What?"

"Buck, will you bring me the gear?"

"Sure," he offered.

Anise put her lips back to Rain's ear, "You get to be my first." She drew her tongue along the edge.

Rain's pupils dilated wonderfully. Her breath coming in shortened rasps prevented a very intelligent answer from her "O-okay."

Purposely keeping the woman off balance was delighting Anise. She quickly forgot that she had an audience as Rain's nose twitched. Anise knew she was wet again and so did her willing companion. "You're delicious, Ms. Ocampo." She drew out the 's', letting her lips brush the shell of Rain's ear. Buck was setting out the equipment so she continued teasing the woman under her. Trailing a hand from olive skinned wrist to sensitive elbow and over a twitching bicep, Anise had Rain completely vulnerable. It was delicious and intoxicating. Her hand continued over the covered shoulder to Rain's exposed neck and settled on her jaw. She traced the strong lines of it and ghosted her fingers over delicate cheekbones. Her soldier was a contrast of conflicting adjectives.

"Ready, Anise?" Buck had the gear ready to go, and had an iodine soaked swab held up to her.

The confident woman pulled on gloves as a mere formality and massaged the sensitive area inside of Rain's elbow for a promising vein. Finding one, she marked it with a pen. She plucked the swab from her assistant and rubbed it on the skin. Its cool touch roused Rain, and her eyes started to focus again. "What're you doin?"

"Prepping you."

"I...What?"

Anise taped the tubing to Rain's forearm and brushed her lips to Rain's jaw. Her teeth grazed the skin, and she followed with another kiss. Rain's heart was pumping furiously, exactly what Anise wanted.

"Never thought drawing blood could be so damn sexy." LJ whispered, reminding Anise of her audience, which she now could care less about.

Rain was putty under her ministrations. Best experience ever, Anise thought. Sadly, slipping a needle into a vein from her current position was impossible, and she had to stand up. As she did so, she planted her lips to Rain's then licked them. "Yum," she whispered against her supple mouth. Rain trembled.

Now beside the chair, with needle in hand, she found the vein again and slipped the needle in on the first try. She taped it in place and connected the tubes, checked the seal, and removed the clamps on the tubes to release the blood flow. Buck handed her a stress ball which she placed in Rain's outstretched hand. "Squeeze." She ordered the woman and placed a kiss to her temple.

The young assistant nudged an ottoman under Rain's feet. Anise directed Buck to manually massage the packet collecting the blood. She also filled several already labeled test tubes and rubber banded them together. By that time, Rain had regained her senses and was watching her efficiently prepare the blood samples. Anise took over massaging the blood bag, feeling suddenly strange at the warm fluid in her hands. This was a process she had been taught by Belst and had performed many times at both laboratories as everyone's blood was useful for experiments. But this blood was Rain's. That made it far more precious than anything else before and not just because of the blood's unique qualities.

Soon enough, the bag was full and Anise moved to clamp the tubes again and disconnect the equipment from Rain. She wadded a gauze pad and held it at the insertion point before removing the needle. Putting Rain's other hand over it, she told her to keep pressure on it. Anise peeled the tape and tubes from her arm. "Hold your arm up." The collected samples were stored in the cooler that Carlos had helpfully added ice to. Anise retrieved a cool glass of OJ from the breakfast table and put it in Rain's free hand. The woman sipped on it, her eyes fixated on the working woman.

"You can put your arm down now." Anise wrapped an adhesive bandage around the elbow to hold the gauze in place. "That's probably unnecessary, given how fast you heal. Oh well, take it off when it starts bugging you." She stripped off her gloves and tossed them in the trash.

"You have a strange skillset, Anise. Lion tamer, comedienne, and phlebotomist, what else can you do?" Carlos spoke up into the quiet room.

Anise sat on the chair's arm and draped her legs across a languid Rain. Her hand picked up and fiddled with the long braid of silken hair while Rain's dark eyes followed her every movement. "I can whip Buck's ass on Mario Kart, and I make some mean pancakes."

A light beep drew Anise's attention to Angie, who held the camera in her hands again. "That was just way too cool."