#4 – Lost Scene

Harry liked Sanctuary.

Ash knew that. Knew that Harry liked the busy chatter, the ability to either be part of the crowd or an outsider looking in. He liked the people who frequented there and he liked the people who worked there.

He had even adhered himself in the maternal instincts of Mama Peltier – and any who knew the matriarch could testify as to how difficult it was just getting into her good graces.

Ash wasn't quite sure how Harry had managed it (though it filled him with a certain sense of dread whenever he found himself under the narrow-eyed gaze of the bear-swan, and he had the strangest urge to treat Harry like spun glass).

Harry also liked the music, the food and the drink that was served there.

Ergo, it was a pretty done deal that Harry would say 'yes' if Ash invited him to an evening out at Sanctuary.

But that didn't explain why whenever Ash thought about it his heart started to race and his skin felt too tight. It also didn't explain why whenever he built himself up enough to ask, his throat would suddenly clog and he'd be left opening and closing his mouth embarrassingly as Harry tilted his head in confusion.

Ash groaned and thumped his head back against the backrest of his throne; ignoring Alexion's rolled eyes as he sat watching the TV next to Simi.

Ash groaned again.

"You know," Alexion cut across his inner-confusion "that's the thirty seventh time in the past two hours that you've groaned. Either you need to see a doctor, or you need to get a room and deal with your problem."

Ash scowled at Alexion's unrepentant expression.

"You need to see a doctor?"

Ash started violently at Harry's clear voice coming from behind his chair, enough so that he almost fell to the floor.

"Er, what? No! No, no, I'm fine." Ash blustered as he stood quickly to face Harry.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked slowly.

"Yes! Yes, completely and utterly fine!" Ash laughed awkwardly – which probably didn't help any.

Harry stared at him suspiciously, his gaze raking over Ash's form and Ash would never, ever admit to what that gaze was doing to him.

Alexion's cheshire-grin wasn't helping any and Ash had to restrain himself from taking a step back when Harry stepped closer to him to get a better look – as if he could see under Ash's clothes to any phantom ill's that Ash had.

And the thought of Harry seeing him naked wasn't helping either and Ash had to close his eyes to centre himself enough so that he wouldn't do anything mortifying.

Eventually, he gained enough control of himself to open his eyes and clear his throat.

Harry hadn't come any closer to him in the time it had taken him to do this and Ash was both relieved and extremely disappointed.

"If you're fine, then what did Alexion mean?"

Ash opened his mouth to explain when "Would you like to go to Sanctuary with me? Tonight. For drinks?" came out instead. He snapped his mouth shut in disbelief at what he'd just done.

Harry looked startled at the abrupt change in topic and out of the corner of his eye Ash could see Simi looking at him in curiosity as Alexion stared at him incredulously.

"Yeah, sure. That sounds great."

Ash's attention was ripped back to Harry and he spent a moment floundering as his brain worked to process what Harry had said. When it finally clicked he blinked.

"Really?"

Harry smiled at him in bemusement, his head tilted to the side. "Yeah." He repeated, "Drinks with you sounds good. When do you want to leave? Do I need to change?"

Ash let his eyes trail over the old red polo top (that was as soft as air to the touch) and the blue jeans (washed so much that they had faded to a blue so pale it was almost white) that Harry was wearing.

"You look perfect." He said, and then mentally cursed his mouth as it once again said exactly what he was thinking.

Harry flushed slightly and tugged self-consciously on the hem of his shirt. "Um, yeah. Thanks." He mumbled. "So, um, how we getting there?"

Ash cleared his throat, his face feeling warm as he held out his hand for Harry to take, swallowing sharply when Harry tentatively gripped him and interlocked their fingers. He couldn't help the small squeeze he gave just before they disappeared.

Alexion stared at the now empty space for a few moments, trying to sort out everything he had just been witness to.

"Are they going out on a date?"

Alexion turned to Simi with a smirk at her question. "I believe so."

Simi nodded, looking thoughtful. "And then Akri and Matera will have sex."

Alexion choked, his smirk changing to a look of absolute horror. "What?"

Simi cocked her head to the side, studying him like he was a pet that had just done something unexpected and she was unsure whether or not to scold him for it.

"Matera? Sex? Matera?" Alexion seemed to be stuck. There was something so disturbing about the way Simi had just come out with it – and yeah, inwardly he knew that she was eleven thousand, but she was still looking like a six year old and it just felt wrong.

Simi seemed to have made a decision and was looking at him pityingly. That felt wrong as well.

"You can't just come out and say…how do you even know…?"

Simi patted him consolingly on the arm and turned back to the TV. "The Simi has cable."

Ash and Harry arrived just outside of Sanctuary in a shadowed area that hid them from any wandering gazes.

He strode forward, Harry trotting behind him to keep up, and nodded to Dev on the door. Dev glanced at him and Harry with a raised eyebrow but nodded them through.

The heat hit them immediately and Ash felt something inside him relax, even when the music changed from a generic rock song to the first guitar chords of Sweet Home Alabama.

Spying a table free at the edge of the room he made his way over to it. He could feel Harry pressed close to his back as he followed but it wasn't until he actually arrived that he realised that their hands were still intertwined.

He quickly let go, but pulled out a chair for Harry so that he didn't give the impression that he hated touching him or anything.

Harry smiled as he sat down, reaching for the menu.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Ash asked.

Harry shrugged and grinned, "Why don't you surprise me?"

It took a moment for Ash to come back to himself, caught in Harry's smile, but he smile back, nodded, and made his way over to the bar.

Harry perused the menu until a glass clinked down on the table in front of him. He looked from it to Ash in question.

Ash shrugged as he sat down, taking a sip of his own drink, "Vodka Martini." He said in reply, "Thought you might like to try it. If you want I can get you something else."

Harry traced a drop of moisture down the stem of the glass with his finger before lifting the drink and taking a sip. He turned back to Ash (who was doing his best to not act as nervous as he actually was).

"This is really nice!"

Ash sighed in relief and leant forward with a smile, "So, is there anything you wanted to eat? We could get a something to share?"

Hours later, Ash was sitting back in his seat listening to one of Harry's stories. He would have liked to say that he was paying avid attention, but he wasn't. Not really. Not when he kept getting distracted by Harry's hands whenever he gestured or Harry's lips whenever he smiled or the sparkle that appeared in Harry's eyes whenever he remembered something amusing.

The chatter of people had quietened to a hum – most of the tourists having left earlier on in the night, leaving only the hardcore drinkers and were-hunters. The lights had dimmed, throwing a golden glow over everything and darkening the shadows, creating a lazy intimacy that Ash enjoyed.

Their tabletop was littered with empty glasses and Ash knew – could tell by the way Harry's pupils had dilated – that he'd perhaps passed tipsy a long while ago and had headed into drunkenness. But he couldn't bring himself to care. Harry was enjoying himself and there was an openness to him at this moment in time that had heat coiling through Ash's stomach.

Their legs had become intertwined under the table sometime during the evening and neither one seemed to find the need to move. Ash could feel the heat sear him through the leather of his trousers.

Harry came to an exciting part of his story as he reached forward and gripped Ash's arm, his fingers curling over the sensitive skin on his inner-wrist as he gestured with his other hand, his whole body leaning forward towards Ash, his voice lowering.

Ash smiled.

This.

This.

This is what he had missed.

Here. Now. It was easy to pretend that this was all that there was. Him, Harry, the table between them and the atmosphere that whispered silent promises in his ear.

He could forget his past. Forget everything that had been done to him. He could just be the twenty-one year old his appearance made him out to be.

He twisted his wrist so that Harry's hand fell naturally into his grasp, Harry not even faltering at the change, and let this lost scene from a life that never existed keep playing.

For some reason I really love that last section.

And I know quite a lot of you are wondering about the WW and Teddy – I can safely say that you'll find out in chapter 22 :)