Disclaimer: If I owned Blood Ties, do you think it's fate would still be in limbo?
"I'm sorry…you did what now?" Vicki stared at him, flustered and angry and, frankly, more than a little bit annoyed.
"Painting? Of man being eaten? By dogs?" Each phrase was a question, waiting for confirmation on Henry's part.
"Yes…"
"I take."
"And you put it in Mike's apartment?" Stephan looked rather confused.
"Mike?"
"Yes. Tall, blonde – "
"Dull." Henry finished for her. Vicki chose to ignore this. She would have to just lock them in a room one day and then she'd eventually she'd only have to deal with one.
"Adversary?" Vicki looked to Henry.
"How does he know words like 'adversary' if he can't even conjugate verbs?" He shrugged helplessly.
"Did you give it to someone else?" Stephan shrugged.
"Adversary."
"What adversary?!" Vicki cried before flinging herself on the couch in front of Stephan, who was not amused by this. He narrowed his eyes at her.
"I believe he's talking about Mike." Vicki sighed and pulled her glasses off of her nose. The last thing she needed to strengthen the Henry And Mike Chasm was a Russian dwarf. That had evidently learned English from a page-a-day calendar.
"Did you tack the painting up?"
"Dead man needed to learn!" Stephan whined.
"Learn what?" Henry looked a bit angry. What did a domovoi know that he hadn't learned in four hundred eighty years?
Stephan shot him a look. "Dead man. Needed to learn." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously before once again taking on the form of a dog ( a process too fast for human eyes) and diving under the couch.
"Did that seem a bit…off, to you?" Henry asked, shaking his head to clear his thoughts.
"'Off' is putting it politely." Vicki groaned and pressed her forehead into Henry's shoulder, tired and exasperated and generally wishing the day would get itself over with.
"Why, oh why does the world hate me?" She chuckled. Henry was speechless, and a good thing it was, too.
"Come on." Vicki abruptly released Henry from her forehead grip and headed out the door in one fluid movement. He, however, had yet still to cease adjusting to the original situation of Vicki's forehead on his arm.
"Oh."
XXX
"Vicki?" Mike asked, trying to act surprised that she'd shown up at the station near eight o'clock.
"Have you seen a little furry man in your house recently?" They stared off for a few seconds before Mike dragged her into a corner.
"Shut up! Don't say things like that out loud!"
"So, what, I'll just think it and you'll know?"
"Vicki."
"Michael." He grimaced at the use of his full name.
"No, I have not seen any…furry little men, Vic?" She smiled and patted him on the arm.
"Good to know. Thanks!" She headed for the door before he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"Okay, you are NOT leaving without an explanation." She regarded him coolly for a minute.
"I'm thinking it." She placed her fingers on her temples and screwed up her face.
"Are you getting anything?"
"That's not funny." She smirked.
"Vicki. What the hell is going on?"
"Well, obviously it doesn't concern you."
"Excuse me, but I think it concerns me very much."
"Excuse me, but bye." Mike snorted angrily in a manner not unlike that of a bull.
"Vic, can you just tell me? Please?" His voice was like acid over gravel, as it was a shout condensed into a whisper.
"What, Mike Celluci, begging? Such a travesty of justice!" Mike glared at her, and, fully content that he knew she'd won, she relented.
"The thing that's bothering Henry is a domovoi. Sort of like little mini housekeepers."
"So, set out a little mini housekeeper trap. Use a Mr. Clean sponge or something." Vicki snorted.
"Only if you let me borrow one of yours."
"To catch this little furry man?"
"One of them."
"What?"
"Problem is, we don't know which one."
"There's….there's more than one?"
"Every house has a domovoi. You have one, Henry has one, I guess even I have one…" Vicki tried not to think about some things she'd done in the privacy of her own home being watched at every moment by a man. A small, furry, mythical non human man, but nevertheless, a man.
"So, what, they all got together to bug their human tenants?" Vicki rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, something like that." It wasn't worth explaining. Too open for jokes on his part.
"And that's why my ceiling is permanently ruined?" Mike hadn't been able to sleep for days, 'content' in the knowledge that that painting was always. Right. Above. His head. Silently mocking him.
"As far as we know."
"So…"
"So, if you do happen to see any furry little men, dogs, cats or rats, give me a call."
"And you'll what, exterminate them?" Vicki bounced her eyebrows, not saying anything, before heading back out the door.
A/N: Once again, sorry for the wait…but, I'd rather write because I want to write than because I want attention. Not saying I don't want to attention, mind you. Attention and me are friends. How much do I love attention?
-------------------- This much.
Reviews feed the plot bunnies! Tell 'em, Alejandro!
(\ /)
(0.o)
(o o)
(")(") tHe BuNnY
You know you want to.
