"Happy birthday Roisin." Josef stood over his niece seated cross legged on the couch in front of him, and smiled. "I said, happy birthday Roisin." Josef repeated and bent down to pluck the headphones out of Roisin's ears.
"Hey, I was listening to that." Roisin's brow furrowed in annoyance.
"What on earth are you listening to anyway?" Josef stared at the headphones in his hand for a moment and then placed them into his ears, his senses assaulted by a metallic wailing of guitars and the screeching of indecipherable vocals.
"Let Jesus fuck you." Roisin shrugged and snatched the headphones back off of her Uncle.
"Charming." Josef cocked his head and smirked at his niece, Roisin's ears once again plugged with the deafening roar of thrashing guitars and clashing drums, returning to her previous gum smacking, head banging reverie. "I thought you were supposed to become sweet when you turned sixteen."
Josef rolled his eyes skyward for a moment, before bending down to place an affectionate kiss on the side of Roisin's face; his efforts rewarded by a scrunch nosed look of distaste, and then wandered off in search of Mick.
The Legion's attacks had seemingly ended more than two years prior, almost as quickly as they had begun. There had been a few minor incidences since that time, more childish pranks and annoyances than anything, but for the most part they had been able to breathe a collective sigh of relief and get on with their lives.
They still lived in the safe house they had moved into all those years before, Josef having purchased the property from The Order for an undisclosed amount of money.
Roisin had been able to return to outside education. Not at boarding school as was originally planned, but at the School of Knowledge, the institute for mortal relations of known Vampires, run by Pierre Lamont. Pierre Lamont himself had become a regular fixture in the Kostan household, a relationship between him and Katherine not only blossoming but going from strength to strength.
Mick had caught several breaks business wise, and now found himself the first port of call for anyone needing the services of a good P.I.
As for Josef, he still spent his days straightening Mick's collars and adjusting the sleeves of Mick's shirt. Some things would never change.
"Just what on earth are you supposed to be?" Josef found Mick sprawled out on his stomach on their bed upstairs, dressed in a grey button down shirt and faded brown corduroy pants, a pair of fake horn rimmed glasses perched on his nose.
"What?" Mick looked up at Josef, forehead scrunched in momentary question. "I told you last week, I'm going undercover."
Mick shrugged and returned to the pile of books in front of him.
"As what?" Josef leaned against the frame of the doorway and arched a curious eyebrow. "The Nutty Professor?"
"A College student." Mick's eyes continued to track across the page laid out in front of him.
"Well my beloved." Josef stifled a laugh and then deadpanned. "You'll certainly be beating them off with sticks in that get up."
Josef shifted away from the door and over to Mick then, straddling Mick's thighs and tugging at the tails of Mick's shirt.
'Josef." Mick glanced over his shoulder and huffed in annoyance. "I'm kind of busy right now."
"No you're not."
Mick laughed and shook his head at Josef's matter of fact response. After sixty six years he really should have learnt by now, you didn't say no to Josef Kostan.
Rolling onto his back, Mick reached for Josef, drawing him into his space. Hands fumbled to remove layers of clothing, fingers worked deftly along lines of buttons and tugged at zippers until they had stripped one another of their respective material accoutrements.
"Lie on your stomach." Josef whispered to Mick then, nodding his approval when Mick obeyed his instruction without question.
Reaching into the bedside cabinet, Josef drew out a small bottle of pressed almond oil and poured some of the contents over Mick's back.
"Christ." Mick yelped as the cold liquid hit his skin. "You know you could've warmed that up first."
"Oh stop complaining, Mick." Josef rolled his eyes and slapped Mick once, lightly on the rear, and then slid his hands along either side of Mick's spine, fingers massaging away knots of tension, gliding across the muscles of Mick's oil covered back and shoulders.
"You're good at that." Mick settled his head on his forearms crossed in front of him and relaxed into the sensation.
"I'm good at a lot of things." Josef's tone bore a distinctly salacious edge.
And then Josef's lips and tongue were following the line of his hands, tracing their way along the ridges of Mick's spine down to the crack of Mick's arse.
Mick moaned, fingers digging into the mattress beneath him, when he felt Josef's hands spread his cheeks, and then Josef pressed his tongue against Mick's hole, rimming him.
"Oh shit." Mick moaned again, louder this time, and Josef reached a hand under Mick's hips and formed a fist around Mick's cock, encouraging Mick to thrust into his hand as he continued to penetrate Mick's arse with his tongue as far as he could go.
Mick's breathing fell ragged, sweat diffusing his skin, the movement of his hips becoming increasingly erratic. And then he was coming with a muffled cry of release and sinking his fangs into the flesh of his own wrist, flooding Josef's hand with his fluid as he snarled and growled his way through the climax that tore through him.
"When was the last time you did that?" Mick rolled over onto his back when the last pulsations of his orgasm were spent, and stared up at the ceiling, trying to catch his breath.
"It's been a while." Josef moved up to lie alongside Mick, one hand tracing absentminded circles over Mick's chest. "I thought I'd give you a treat."
"You're so generous." Mick snorted a laugh and wrapped his arms around Josef's shoulder, drawing him into an embrace.
"I am aren't I?" Josef raised himself up and flashed Mick a cheeky grin.
"What about you?" Josef heard Mick asking him then, Mick's face etched with genuine concern.
"You can take care of me when we got home." Josef shrugged and then quickly added, "Roisin's birthday dinner, remember?" when he saw the questioning look that had fallen over Mick's face.
"Ah, ok." Mick nodded his understanding. "Pierre's taking us out to some fancy restaurant, I'd almost forgotten. What time are we leaving?"
"In around another," Josef glanced at the watch on his wrist, "hour or so."
"Great." Mick arched a seductive eyebrow and shifted his weight to lie on top of Josef, hips grinding against Josef's in teasing, languid circles. "Then you don't need to wait until we get home, we've got plenty of time."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Up." Roisin's fist hammered against the plexiglass lid of the freezer. "Get up."
"Christ, what time is it?" Mick pressed the release button on the side of the Freezer and then struggled to sit up, scrubbing his hands over his face and stifling a yawn.
"Just past 7.30 am." Roisin shrugged, seemingly un-phased by the fact that her Uncle's were both lying stark naked in front of her. "Mum spent the night at Uncle Pierre's; one of you will have to take me to school."
"Oh, so he's Uncle Pierre now." Mick arched a teasing eyebrow and stifled a laugh at his niece's expense.
Roisin rolled her eyes and ignored her Uncle's pointed comment.
"Ok." Mick said then, brushing away more cobwebs of sleep. "Go and get dressed, I've got to be at work on assignment by 9 am anyway. I'll take you."
"I am dressed." Roisin screwed up her nose and furrowed her brow, regarding Mick with a tell tale look that indicated she did think he was both blind, and stupid at that very moment.
"Not like that you're not." Mick tried to adopt a stern expression, gesturing his head towards the microscopically short skirt, and far too tight cropped T-shirt Roisin was attired in.
"She looks fine, Mick." Josef stirred and rolled over, one leg draped across Mick's upper thigh. "Don't be so old fashioned."
"Josef," Mick drew the corners of his mouth into the parody of a smile and tapped a pointed finger against the side of Josef's face, "try actually opening your eyes and looking at what our darling Roisin considers appropriate school attire."
"Good lord." Josef sat bolt upright, layers of sleep suddenly torn away as he stared at the image of his niece standing in front of him. "Roisin, you look like a two bit whore."
"Well you'd know, wouldn't you, Uncle Josef?" Roisin cocked her head and folded her arms across her chest, attitude posed and expression defiant. "Wasn't that about the going rate back in your day?"
"The cheaper end of the scale." Josef matched Roisin's own defiance with a pointed smile, and then instructed her to. "Get changed."
"But I don't have…"
Roisin had been about to offer up a protest regarding a lack of clean clothing or so she was prepared to claim. Seeing the no nonsense looks on both her Uncle's faces, she backed down, choosing instead to wander off muttering something about the unfairness of life as a teenager, under her breath.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Josef, come on we don't have time."
Mick felt Josef's hands reaching for him in the confines of the shower, his body already responding to Josef's touch despite his formed protest.
"There's always time, Mick." Josef trailed a hand along Mick's torso, tracing rivulets of water.
And then Josef's fingers were clutching the sides of Mick's skull, outlining angles of flesh and bone.
"In over four hundred years, I have never loved anyone the way I love you."
Mick no longer questioned Josef's occasional outbursts of emotion, his seeming need to almost force heated declarations of feelings down Mick's throat. As if he didn't quiet believe Mick truly understood, and needed to be reminded of the fact. Mick did understand though, Josef was as obsessive as he was passionate when it came to his partner of more than sixty years.
"I know, I love…"
Mick's planned response was halted by Josef sliding down Mick's body, kneeling on the cold floor of the shower in front of him, his lips encircling Mick's erection.
"Oh Jesus, christ, fuck."
Exactly twelve point eight seconds later, Mick was clutching the tiled wall behind him with one hand, needing to brace himself against it as he exploded into Josef's mouth, and reaching for Josef's wrist with the other. Sinking fangs into flesh as his orgasm ripped through him hard enough for him to see stars.
"Told you we had time." Josef was on his feet then, arms drawn around Mick's neck, and mouth seeking contact.
Mick returned the kiss, tasting himself on Josef's lips, tasting Josef.
"I love you." It was Josef who broke away first, carefully disengaging himself from the embrace and then pressing his lips against Mick's ear, repeating his previous declaration.
"I know, ditto."
Mick paused for a moment and then wrapped his arms around Josef's waist once again, briefly drawing Josef back into his space, and placing another kiss, more tender, less needy this time, on Josef's lips. Before taking a step back and positioning his body under the direct spray of water overhead.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Guess who?"
Josef came up behind Mick, seated at one of the tables and benches that surrounded the expanse of the Paris-Sorbonne University, and placed a hand over Mick's eyes.
"Gee, let me think?" Mick rolled his eyes and put on a display of tiresome annoyance, his pretence belied by the teasing smile playing across his features. "Because you know, it's not like I didn't scent, or hear you coming a mile off, Josef."
"Hey, sarcasm's my department, remember." Josef arched an eyebrow, and pretended to scoff. Taking a seat on the bench next to Mick, he drew an arm around Mick's waist and placed an affectionate kiss on the side of Mick's face.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Mick's brow furrowed in a question as he returned Josef's affections.
"I missed you, I wanted to see you." For a moment it almost looked as if Josef was going to pout.
"Josef." Mick shook his head in disbelief, lips drawn in an exasperated smile. "I left the house at 8 am. It is now," Mick quickly checked his wrist watch, "just past 12 pm. I've been away from you for a fraction over four hours."
"So?" Josef shrugged, the expression on his face indicating he saw nothing wrong with his behaviour.
"So, are you stalking me now?" Mick taunted Josef good naturedly, brow arched, and another teasing smile on his face.
"It's not stalking if you love someone, Mick" Josef huffed and compressed his lips in an expression of indignation.
"No, of course not." Still teasing, Mick reached out a hand and patted the side of Josef's face, receiving another indignant, pursed lipped look, for his efforts. "Stop being so touchy." Mick snorted a laugh and quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching, and then tilted Josef's face towards his, and placed a brief tender kiss on Josef's lips. "You know the feeling's mutual."
"What, are you worried someone's going to see us together, and think we're a couple?" Josef rolled his eyes, a mock indulgent grin turning up the corners of his mouth. Mick's quick sweep of the area, before kissing him, had not gone unnoticed.
"Josef, I am working at the moment." Mick shook his head, his patience starting to wear thin. "I'm supposed to be undercover, not attracting attention to myself. Besides," Mick gave Josef another scrunch browed questioning look, "I thought you were supposed to be working today as well, didn't you have some deals to close off?"
"I closed them." Josef smiled casually and waved a dismissive hand. "Lost a million, made five."
"Just another day at the office, hey Josef?" Mick laughed and reached for Josef's hand, getting to his feet and pulling Josef up with him.
"Come on." Mick swept another quick gaze across the expanse of grounds that surrounded them, before drawing an arm across Josef's shoulders. "I don't think my target's going to show. We can head to one of the local bars and grab a drink."
"Not with you dressed like that we're not." Josef arched an eyebrow, and gestured towards the geekish ensemble Mick was attired in.
"Oh for the love of…" Mick raised his eyes skyward and then gave Josef a mock indulgent smile of his own. Removing the fake horn rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, he scuffed a hand through his hair, quickly un-tucked his shirt, and then undid the top three buttons. "Better?"
"It'll do." Josef cocked his head and grinned, and then wrapped his own arm around Mick's waist, drawing him close.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, did her majesty get off to school alright then?" Seated across the table from Mick, Josef snorted a laugh, and then threw back a draw of the fine malt Scotch in his hand.
"If you can call spending the entire car ride refusing to speak, and staring out the window like the sky was about to fall down around her ears, then yes she did."
Mick scrunched his brow, and rubbed a hand over his chin, his concern for Roisin's sullen behaviour apparent.
"I think you should probably take a look at this." Josef's own disquiet was evident as he drew out a sheet of paper from the pocket of his suit pants, and pushed it across table towards Mick.
"Crap." Mick let out a frustrated sigh as he scanned the report card in front of him. Roisin was failing all but one subject. "Did Roisin give this to you?"
"Nope, I found it." Josef swallowed another quick mouthful of Scotch. "Stuck down the back of her wardrobe, under a pile of clothes."
"Wait." Mick shot Josef a sideways look. "You were snooping in her room?"
"No, not snooping, looking." Josef rolled his eyes and huffed with affront. "I couldn't find the shirt I wanted to wear with this suit; I thought it might have gotten mixed up with some of Roisin's clothes."
"Of course you did." Mick offered Josef a patronising smile, indicating he didn't believe what Josef had just told him for a moment. "Have you shown this to Katherine yet?" Mick's expression fell serious then.
"I thought we might have a quiet word with Roisin ourselves first." Josef swirled the glass in his hand, and then drained the last dregs of the malt liquid.
"Why, because we're her 'cool' Uncles?" Mick rounded a pointed eyebrow, lips drawn in a knowing smile.
"Exactly." Josef's tone was serious, devoid of the sarcasm that might have otherwise been expected.
"Over indulgent Uncles more like." Mick laughed and shook his head, raising another pointed eyebrow in Josef's direction.
Josef chose to ignore Mick's remarks, brushing them aside with a dismissive wave of a hand, and a forced conciliatory smile.
"Look, she's an intelligent girl; she's not failing subjects because she's stupid."
"You think there's something bothering her?" Mick's expression fell serious. "She's not having those nightmares again, is she?"
The nightmares had developed shortly after Roisin's thirteenth birthday, the house resonating with the chilling screams of a terrified child on an almost nightly basis. They had gradually abated by the time Roisin had just past the age of fourteen. As far as anyone knew, there had been no recurrence since that time.
"I don't think so." Josef chewed on his bottom lip and looked thoughtful for a moment. "No, I don't think that's it, but something's not right, and I intend to find out what that something is."
Josef brushed his hands together in a gesture of final resolve, and then shot Mick a suspicious, raised brow look when he saw the Cheshire cat grin plastered across Mick's features.
"What?"
"Nothing." Mick stifled a laugh and cleared his throat. "I was just wondering exactly when you turned into me?"
"Last Friday, 2.57 am." Josef quipped back, brow raised, and a smirk on his face. "I could have sworn I sent you a memo."
"Nope, sorry, must have missed that announcement." Mick tilted his own glass of a Scotch towards Josef in a mock toast, and then swallowed back the remainder of its contents.
"Anyway." Josef trailed another dismissive hand through the air, attempting to brush aside his concerns for Roisin, for the time being at least. "Enough doom and gloom."
A sly smile crept over Josef's features then, one eyebrow arched in a salacious expression. Taking a moment to quickly check the length of the starched linen cloth covering the table, he instructed Mick to "Act casual," and then ducked beneath it.
"Act casual? What the….Oh shit!"
Mick gasped, eyes widening, and breath hitching in his throat as Josef unzipped his pants, releasing Mick's cock from its constraints, and began to work his lips and tongue over Mick's length.
"Josef." Mick hissed Josef's name through clenched teeth, sharply prodding Josef's kneeling form with his foot. "What the hell are you doing, people are going to notice."
Mick reached a hand under the table then, intending on putting a halt to proceedings. Instead he found himself almost unwittingly gripping Josef's head; fingers digging into the top of Josef's skull, guiding the pace of Josef's attentions.
Mick lowered his head, fist pressed against his mouth in a desperate attempt to stifle the moans of pleasure that were threatening to burst forth, silently hoping his ever increasing arousal would pass unnoticed.
Too late, the manager of the establishment was already making his way towards the table.
"Sir." The manager cleared his throat, his tone, and manner politely professional. "I'm sure you are aware that this establishment does cater to a certain clientele..."
"I know. Sorry, we'll just be…" Mick had been about to say they would just be leaving, quietly and without fuss, but the sentence caught in his throat, and came out sounding more like an incoherent snarl.
"…however, we do expect certain standards of behaviour. Perhaps you and your gentleman friend might care to finish up, and then vacate the premises, immediately."
Breath ragged, the corner of the table cloth bunched in his fist, Mick tried to offer another apology, the words punctuated by a series of staccato pants and growls erupting from his lips.
"We will…straight…away, I'm…I…Oh God, Fuck!" Without thinking Mick grabbed hold of the man's wrist, biting into flesh and muscle as he exploded into Josef's mouth.
Eyes averted and expression mortified, Mick carefully extricated his fangs when his orgasm was spent, and muttered a hurried apology, hand fumbling under the table, working on adjusting himself back to a more respectable state.
"Were leaving, now." Mick gritted his teeth and hissed at Josef, seated once more across the table from him, casually dabbing at the corners of his mouth with a napkin.
"Yeah alright, keep your fangs in." Josef grinned, and raised a cheeky eyebrow.
"Now, Josef." Mick repeated, louder this time, a furious look directed towards his husband still grinning at him across the table.
"Ok, alright." Josef rolled his eyes and pursed his lips, glaring back at Mick with a pointed look of annoyance, before getting to his feet, and quickly shoving a couple hundred Euros into the top pocket of the manager's shirt.
"A little something for your trouble." Josef offered with exaggerated politeness, and then turned just in time to see Mick's retreating form storm out the door.
"Mick." Josef caught up with Mick outside, grabbing his arm and spinning Mick around to face him. "What the hell's up with you?"
"What's up with me?" Mick stood hands on hips, jaw thrust forward and expression incredulous. "One minute we're discussing the very real possibility that our niece may have a problem she needs help with, and the next you decide to just slip under the table and randomly blow me? And you don't see anything wrong with your priorities there, Josef?"
"Look, I didn't mean…well you enjoyed yourself, didn't you?" Josef stepped towards Mick then, drawing his arms around Mick's neck, a puppy dog look of contrition on his face.
"Well it was a bit hard not to." Mick rolled his eyes and snorted a quick laugh, his anger already starting to abate. "I really don't know why I put up with you sometimes?" Mick wrapped his own arms around Josef's waist and drew him close.
"Because I'm adorable and you love me?" Josef quipped helpfully.
"Asshole." Mick muttered out the corner of his mouth with a teasing smile, as they began to move off down the street together.
"Rat-catcher." Josef shot back, the corners of his mouth drawn upwards in a teasing smile of his own.
"Rat-catcher?" Mick halted in his tracks for a moment, regarding Josef with a tilted head look of bemusement.
"What?" Josef shrugged. "It was a popular insult back in my day."
"I'm sure it was, Josef." Mick laughed and shook his head. "C'mon," he said then, placing an affectionate kiss on the side of Josef's face. "We should be getting home. We need to have that talk with Roisin." Mick gestured a hand towards the Hotel over his shoulder. "And I need to pay you back for that little performance of yours back there."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You were snooping in my room." Roisin hissed the words across the table, teeth clenched and expression fuming.
"Not snooping, looking." Josef leant forward and hissed back at Roisin, a pointed, snakelike sound. "What?" Josef shrugged, and then sat back and grinned when he saw the eye rolling look of contempt Roisin had given him. "I thought we were having a hissing contest."
Roisin shot another eye rolling glare across the table, lips pressed together in an indignant line, and then glanced down at the report card in front of her.
"Where's Katherine?"
"You mean your mother?" It was Mick's turn to speak, brow scrunched, and expression marked in a question.
"No, Mick." Roisin folded her arms across her chest, emphasising her Uncle's name when she spoke it. "I mean Katherine, my sister, remember. I don't have a mother anymore, and I don't have Uncles, I have two brothers now."
"So that's what's bothering you." Josef ignored Roisin's refusal to call Mick 'Uncle', and tried to offer his niece an understanding smile.
"Don't patronise me, Josef." Roisin snipped at her Uncle, her teenage defiance shining through clench teethed glares.
"And don't you speak to me in that manner, Roisin." Josef stabbed a pointed finger towards Roisin.
"Josef." Mick placed a hand on Josef's arm, and then looked across at Roisin. "Why didn't you come and talk to us about this?"
"I don't know." Roisin shrugged and scratched at an imaginary spot on the table with a distracted fingernail.
"Roisin." Josef spoke then, voice low and concern evident. "Look, we know it's not easy for you being the only human in a household of Vampires, but…"
"Not easy for me?" Roisin was suddenly on her feet, hands splayed on the table in front of her, leaning across and shouting the words in her Uncle's face. "Try damn near bloody impossible."
Both Josef & Mick raised simultaneous, shocked eyebrows at Roisin's outburst.
"I'll age, you won't." Roisin railed on unabated. "Am I supposed to eventually pretend my own Mother is my daughter, and then my granddaughter? And I suppose you'll eventually become my sons and grandsons." Roisin threw up her hands in a gesture of utter frustration then. "It's not fair; I just want a Mother and two Uncles."
With that Roisin turned heel and stormed away from the table, heading upstairs to her room, and slamming the door shut behind her.
"That went well." Josef arched an eyebrow at Mick, lips pressed together in a sarcastic line.
"She's a teenager." Mick reached for Josef's hand, and tried to offer a smile that was a lot more reassuring than how he actually felt at that moment. "She'll probably move onto another crisis all together by next week. What?"
Mick arched a questioning eyebrow when he saw the look Josef was giving him, a mixture of adoration and the stifled urge to laugh out loud.
"You're so naively charming sometimes." Josef snorted a laugh, and then leant over to press his lips against Mick's in a brief, affectionate kiss.
"Well isn't that why you fell in love with me in the first place?" Mick tilted his head, brow furrowed in a teasing expression.
"Something like that." Josef's expression fell serious then. "I'd better have a word to Katherine."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Am I a bad mother?" Katherine looked down at Roisin's report card in her hand, and then looked at Josef, expression helpless.
"No." Josef shook his head, and smiled at Katherine, concern for his childe apparent as he drew his arms around her neck and kissed her forehead. "Am I a bad Sire?" Josef leant back and regarded Katherine with an arched brow, teasing look.
"Yes. You're horrid, simply dreadful." Katherine pretended to pout for a moment, and then laughed, glad for the momentary break in tension.
"I'd better go have a word to her." Katherine glanced upwards, a reluctant sigh escaping from her lips, and then moved off to speak to her daughter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How'd it go?" Josef glanced over his shoulder as Katherine descended the stairs.
"Did you wear him out again?" Katherine grinned and pointed to Mick, curled up asleep in Josef's lap.
"Not this time, no." Josef snorted a laugh, and then arched a pointed eyebrow in Katherine's direction, one hand stroking the back of Mick's neck. "And don't change the subject."
"It went about as well as could be expected." Katherine slumped into the armchair opposite, shoulders hunched under a weight of concern, and a note of defeat on her face. "She's pretty upset, and very, very confused. Poor little mite."
Katherine worked her teeth distractedly over her bottom lip, fingers drumming against her chin, lost in thought for a moment.
"Lestat knows people in theatre, doesn't he?" She asked Josef then, leaning forward in her seat, eyes widening with clarity of vision.
"Yes, why?"
"No reason." A smile beamed across Katherine's face. Shifting over to where Josef sat with a sudden rapidity of movement, she placed an affectionate kiss on the side of his face. "I've just had an idea."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Just because it bears repeating," Josef tipped the stemmed glass of Blood Wine in his hand, towards Katherine, "This idea of yours is ingenuous; I only wish I'd thought of it myself."
Brushes were dipped into pots of powders and paints, layers of colour and shade were applied to Katherine's skin. The man who had introduced himself as 'Henri', tilted Katherine's face more towards the light in the room, and continued to work his artistry, aging her by at least fifteen years.
"Thanks." Katherine managed to make a noise, akin to a muttering of gratitude, through pressed lips.
Trying to remain as still as possible, Katherine felt stickiness daubed over her skin. And then pressure, more bristled dabs and sweeps of a brush, and thin sheets of flesh coloured latex were applied to strategic areas of her face.
When he was done, Henri took a step back, and surveyed his handiwork.
"How long does it take to…?"
Henri pre-empted Katherine's formed query with the raise of a hand, and a polite offering of. "Not that long, we can speed the process up."
"What time did Mick say he'd be back with Roisin?" Katherine asked Josef then, as Henri blew warm streams of air over her skin, from the nozzle of a hairdryer.
"He didn't. I'm supposed to ring him when you're done." Josef turned to Henri, his question asked in the form of a quick hand gesture.
"Give me another five minutes, and I'll be finished up."
"Great." Josef nodded his understanding, the corners of his mouth turned up in a polite smile. "I might as well go and phone Mick now then."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How long did he say they'd be?" Katherine stood up, hands fidgeting nervously, fingers smoothing the crumpled lines of her dress.
"Ten minutes, give or take. Relax, you'll be fine." Josef shifted to stand alongside Katherine, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, and drawing her into a quick, reassuring embrace. "I'd better go and take care of the financial arrangements with Henri. I do believe he actually expects to be paid for his work."
Josef's expression fell mock incredulous. And then he was tossing Katherine a cheeky, raised brow grin over his shoulder, and moving off to take care of business.
Roisin in tow, Mick was walking through the open doorway just as Henri was making his exit.
"Well, and?" Josef cocked his head and arched a questioning eyebrow at his niece. "Did you have a nice time at your friend's place?"
"It was alright, I guess." Roisin shrugged her reply, and affected a disinterested expression.
"Nothing impresses you anymore, does it, Roisin?" Josef quipped, flicking his head, and then offering Roisin a patronising smile.
Again, the same shrugged, disinterested response, and for a moment Josef had to seriously bite back the urge to call his niece a brat to her face.
"Come on." Josef forced a smile instead, and placed a hand on the small of Roisin's back to guide her. "Your mother's got a surprise for you."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hello, darling." Katherine was on her feet, arms extended, and an expectant smile on her face, as she saw her daughter approach.
"Mum?" Roisin stared at her Mother, eyes wide
and mouth open. Katherine looked like…She looked exactly
like…
"She looks like my Mother."
"What have you done?" Roisin spoke those words out loud, her voice hesitant, and expression uncertain.
"It's just makeup sweetheart." Katherine moved to reassure her daughter then. "Do you remember Lestat?" Assuming her daughter did, Katherine continued on without waiting for an answer. "A friend of his did it for me. I thought this way we could actually spend some time together as Mother and Daughter, and you won't have to pretend we're sisters."
Roisin suddenly appeared very shamefaced.
"You didn't have to do this for me, Mum." Roisin averted her eyes, looking down at the ground in front of her.
"Oh, I know." Katherine smiled and moved closer to her daughter, draping a motherly arm around her neck. "But I wanted to. Come on," Katherine said then, giving Roisin's shoulder a quick squeeze. "I've booked us in for a Mother Daughter Day Spa package, you interested?"
"Yeah." Roisin pressed a hand to her mouth, and stifled embarrassed laughter. For a moment the years were peeled away, and she looked how she was as a child of twelve. "I'll just go grab my coat."
With that Roisin planted an excited kiss on her Mother's cheek, and rushed upstairs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You know we've got the house to ourselves now, for the next five hours at least." Josef rested his knees against Mick's, and leant back against Mick's arms drawn around his neck, brow arched, and mouth turned up in an expectant grin. "You want to get up to some mischief?"
An overly eager expression fell over Mick's face. "Ok, you bring the eggs; I'll grab some toilet paper, and meet you outside in five minutes."
Mick couldn't suppress the bubble of laughter that welled from his lips, at the indignant, eye rolling looks Josef was giving him.
"Not what you had in mind?" Mick stifled another burst of laughter, and pretended to look perfectly innocent.
"Not exactly, Mick." More eye rolling indignation, and then Josef was drawing Mick close, mouth and body seeking heated contact. "I was thinking of something a little more pleasurable."
"Upstairs?" Mick arched a suggestive eyebrow and grinned at Josef.
"No, right here's fine by me."
Josef's reply was deadpanned, and for a moment Mick couldn't be sure if he were joking or not.
Until he felt Josef's hands pressing against the top of his shoulders, and pushing him down to the floor below.
