The Gaze and the Glance
Author's Note: So, there are a few things we need to discuss. The first being: Gaze and the Glance is now officially the longest thing I have ever written. I have to thank Kurt Wagner for being so inspiring I suppose. The second: This chapter is the main reason Kurt didn't have the Image Inducer earlier on, I have had scenes planned with it since I started writing this story, and so I waited until now to include it. Third: This is another of my favorite chapters, I think you'll be able to guess why. :) Fourth: Updates may start slowing down soon. I'm not writing as fast as I was, due to a combination of school and the fact that I was recently gifted a copy of Skyrim by dear friends. Those of you who have played know what this means. Also, I'm starting to get to the point where the plot has stopped writing itself...I actually have to start planning stuff. Be patient with me, and I promise we'll get through this together. :)
Chapter 13
Julia was woken, as usual, by her alarm blaring next to her head.
"Ugh...too early..." She grumbled to herself, pulling the pillow over head for a moment, and then throwing it away to shut the alarm off, knowing the longer she put off getting up, the harder it would be to get up and go to the Danger Room again. Scott's idea of her making up for her tantrum yesterday was a run through the previous morning's mission all by her lonesome. Of course, she was also on what he called "probation." That is, she wasn't allowed on any missions until Scott and the Professor decided she had resolved her "anger problems." It could be worse she supposed, she could have assigned to be Logan's sparring partner for the next two weeks or something equally as life-threatening; or maybe they could have just asked her to leave the X-Men all together. All things considered, she figured Scott was really letting her off pretty easy.
Honestly though, she was rather surprised to find herself in her own room, as she distinctly remembered falling asleep in Kurt's. He must have brought her home -and evidently had tucked her in and turned her alarm on for her- but had been too shy to change her clothes, as she was still in uniform from the previous day.
Considering they had spent nearly an hour making out like teenagers in Friday the 13th she wasn't sure what there was to be shy about exactly, not to mention she ran around in a skin-tight costume half the time. That said, any sort of intimacy between them was a little...convoluted. Most of the time she was unclear whether Kurt was even attracted to her in "that way" as Marcy had once put it, finger-quotes and all. She didn't doubt he cared for her exactly, but she was still on the fence about what kind of relationship he wanted to pursue with her, versus what she wanted with him.
Julia washed her face and twisted her hair up with a ponytail, figuring since she was going to the Danger Room anyway, it was silly to worry about changing her clothes or showering. She then headed downstairs for some coffee and breakfast, finding, rather to her surprise, that Kurt was at the table with one of his swashbuckling novels in his hands, and two matching cups of coffee.
"Hey, I think this may be the first time I've seen you up before me."
"Ja I...I didn't sleep."
"At all?" Kurt shook his head, Julia circling the kitchen to loop her arms around his neck and set her chin on his hair. "Why?"
"Just...dhinking." He shrugged, jostling her arms slightly. "And I vanted to make you coffee for a change." He set the book aside to lift one of the mugs up for her, which she took gratefully.
"Much appreciated babe." Julia loosed a hand long enough to take a leisurely gulp of coffee before setting it down again. "What were you thinking about?"
"The Professor heard back from Tony Stark last night. About de image inducer."
"Oh? Are they finally done?"
"Nearly...but...Jyulia, vhat do you think I should l look like?"
"What?" She very nearly choked on her next sip of coffee at the sheer oddness of the question.
"Dhey asked me vhat I vanted the hologram to look like. Und I didn't know." Kurt's tone had taken a turn towards the uncertain. "Vhat do you vant me to look like?"
"Me? Uhm...well, I'd prefer you to still look like you I guess. I mean, a little bit at least. I know you won't be blue or anything, but can you still have your own face?" This was a conversation she had honestly never expected to have. She had very nearly forgotten about the whole Image Inducer idea, and now, she wasn't so sure she liked it. She was fond of Kurt's blueness, and his tail, and his pretty yellow eyes. She tried to picture him looking..."normal," but couldn't quite conjure the image. If she managed to picture Kurt without his tail, his eyes would still be yellow, and if she succeeded to imagine him not being blue, he still had his unique hands or his pointy ears and canine teeth. It seemed, at least in her mind, that his appearance was fairly strongly tied in with his appeal. "I want you to pick an appearance you would still be comfortable in, that's all. But I also want you to promise me something."
"Vhat?"
"Please, please, please don't be blonde. It's not that I don't like blondes, it's just...that would be waaay too much change for me."
"Alright. No blonde," He promised, tail wrapping around her waist and squeezing lightly in a parody of a hug.
"But anyway, it's really your choice Kurt. Just pick what you want, it's going to be your face after all. Thanks for the coffee, but I better go before Scott comes looking for me."
"Ja. Probably. Be careful."
"No tantrums today, don't worry." She leaned her head down to kiss Kurt's cheek and then headed downstairs to the Danger Room, fully prepared to have her ass whooped.
Police officer Luke Gram had always thought his secret was safe. Being a mutant had never showed on his physicals, and had never interfered with his work. Probably because he didn't have a power that was all that spectacular, nothing in league with the X-Men or Magneto or anything like that anyway. Officer Gram simply possessed unusually tough skin.
He had survived being shot three times, lived through a fire, and made a hell of boxer in his college days; and he hadn't a single scar to show for any of it. His mutation was entirely passive, he had never even thought he was actually mutated until the first time he had been shot; he had always thought he was just tougher than the other kids. But, fact of the matter was, you could try to slice him open with a meat cleaver and he'd hardly feel a thing. Every once in awhile, a rocky, scale-like growth would appear on his skin, especially his knuckles if he got into a particularly nasty fight, but it wasn't anything he found truly concerning, his wife Josephine knew about his little genetic quirk, and was completely accepting of it, he had earned too much respect from his fellow officers for it to be an issue in the work place, and his little boy Thomas was convinced his dad was secretly related to The Thing of the Fantastic Four.
There was nothing particularly amazing about Officer Luke Gram's powers, but that didn't make him any less of a target for those God-awful Purifier groups.
At first, they had just planned to make an example of him, to the other 'Mutie-Lovers' out there; but upon realizing that shooting Luke hadn't done anything besides knock the wind out of him and leave a hell of a bruise, the violence had taken a turn for the worse. Which was why he now found himself standing before a firing squad of Purifiers, bearing some sort of energy-based weapons that made Luke think of the Sci-fi movies his son was always watching. He wondered if he would survive a laser blast, or whatever it was those things fired; he hoped so, because the chain they had used to bind him to the door of their make-shift lock-up wasn't budging.
The weapons were charging, and Luke mentally started reciting the prayers he thought he had forgotten since he had grown up, closing his eyes. If his guts were going to get splattered along the floor, he didn't want to see it happen. All this, just because he hadn't arrested a loitering fellow mutant on the spot. His wife and son flashed through his mind when he heard the weapons discharge.
Strange thing was, he was never hit. Hesitantly, Luke cracked an eye open, then the other, and his mouth dropped open slightly. A pair of women stood before him, one looking like a walking shadow that had taken human form, and the other had the craziest looking armor encasing her upper half, which trailed down into a spiked, scorpion-like tail. He had seen them both on TV. X-Men. Or X-Women. He was never sure what the female members of the team would prefer to be known by.
"Scarab, try to get him out of here. I'll deal with these guys." The shadow spoke to the armored one in a voice that was surprisingly human, while jutting a thumb at the Purifiers. He had honestly expected her voice to have some sort of magical ethereal quality to it, but she sounded perfectly normal. As he watched, her fingers elongated into five-inch spikes that sparked in a rather intimidating fashion with black energy.
"Don't hurt them." The smaller woman with the armor warned, even as she turned and snapped the chain away from Luke's wrists with a simple twist of her own. Clearly the armored girl was just as dangerous if she needed to be. "Just incapacitate."
"Okay, okay. I'll go for the legs, I promise." Luke blinked, and in that nanosecond, the darkly sparking woman had vanished from where she had been, dissolving and re-materializing at the other side of the Purifiers who had been about to shoot him. Even as Scarab, or so he guessed by Shadow's reference to the smaller woman, began to lead him away and up the stairs to the main floor of the station, he could hear the screams of the Purifiers.
"Is she-"
"Eclipse will take care of them, don't worry. But we need to get you to safety." As she spoke, her tail lashed over her shoulder, knocking away a Purifier who had apparently escaped Eclipse's assault.
"She's not killing them, is she?"
"Oh, no, not to worry. She's only stunning them, we're the good guys." The little brunette smiled at him, and then cast a glance over her shoulder, looking worried for a moment. "On second thought, I guess I was told not to leave her alone with the Purifiers. She might get carried away again."
Suddenly, Luke found himself glad that he hadn't developed an ability like these two women. Lord knew he wouldn't want to have enough power to kill a man, he had enough qualms with people shooting at each other; throw mutant powers into the mix and it was a whole new ballgame. Some mutants could level whole cities or play God they were so powerful.
Luke was perfectly content to work on the smaller scale of justice as a police officer.
Exhausted, all her mutant energy spent on multiple matter transports as she had cleared the Purifiers out, Eclipse sat down on the curb with with a heavy sigh. Her muscles ached enough that she groaned a little, a sure sign she had pushed herself a little too far. Transports were easy when she had energy around to absorb, but the single blast she had absorbed from the make-shift firing squad hadn't lasted long, and she had expended quite a bit of energy moving around the building as much as she had. She hadn't really gotten much from scrambling the nerves in their legs either, seeing as none of the Purifiers, obviously, had possessed any sort of energy powers she could feed off of. Coffee. She needed coffee, and food, and then maybe a nap. Caffeine, sleep, and carbs were the next best substitute for concussive blasts of bio-energy, lasers, electricity, or psionic power...the list went on. Either way, she hadn't been able to absorb anything to fuel her powers, and had been made to rely on her own internal supply of energy, which got quite tiring quite quickly. She crossed her arms over her knees and laid her head on them, her hair falling over her head like a mop.
"Are you feeling alright?"
"Fine Hank. Just worn out. Do you think we can get some Starbucks or something before we head back to campus? I could really use the caffeine, I feel like I might pass out."
"Well, seeing as your quick work of the Purifiers did cut about a half-an-hour off the schedule, I suppose we have time for a leisurely latte," Beast quipped.
"Excellent." The blue-and-yellow clad mutant pulled herself off the curb again, and after gathering Scarab, the three headed off to the nearest Starbucks, getting stares from all directions; though it didn't occur to any of them to mind much. Besides, they got the Starbucks almost entirely to themselves when they showed up in-costume.
"So, I've been wanting to ask..." Marcy began slowly, while Julia was very intent on smearing cream cheese on her bagel.
"Ask about what?" She glanced up, Hank returning from the counter at that moment with three varied cups of coffee. Latte for Hank, white mocha for Marcy, and triple-shot cafe au lait for Julia. She was really desperate for caffeine. "Thank you, Hank."
"You and Kurt."
"Okay. What about us?"
"Well...it's just...are you guys...things have just seemed really...distant. That's all. We all kind of noticed, but no one wanted to say anything..."
"Oh," Was all Julia had to say for a moment, sipping at her coffee.
"Are you guys even together at all? I mean, that's what the rumors are anyway..."
"It's a little more...blurry than that." Julia shrugged. "But I'm not fighting with Kurt or anything, I'm trying not to anyway."
"But there's something bothering you that you're not speaking up about," Hank interjected. "He spent an hour in my lab asking me if I knew what was wrong."
"Did he...? Uhm...see, the thing is, it's the whole...Image Inducer thing." Julia confessed, sipping her coffee again. For obvious reasons, she hadn't wanted to tell Kurt about her apprehensions about the Inducer, but she had been desperate to tell someone and get a second opinion. Marcy and Hank asking had apparently opened the cathartic gates, because her concerns abruptly began to spill into the conversation. "I mean, obviously I want whatever's best, I want Kurt to do what he wants to do. But the whole idea is a little...weird to me. I think part of me is afraid he'll use it all the time, and I'll never get to see his real face again. It's just...I mean, Hank, you're out here in the open, and you seem pretty comfortable."
"Let's not forget I'm also a world-renowned scientist and doctor. Also, I look a little less like...er..."
"The Devil?" Julia filled in bluntly.
"Unfortunately, yes, that is also a factor. Kurt and I may have a lot in common in terms of physical appearance, but the circumstances are very, very different. And I do still wear a large hat and coat when I feel it prudent."
"And see, I'm trying to understand that, I really am. I can handle the whole disguise thing, I don't like it, but I get it. But this thing, it's going to give him a whole different face, it'll be like talking to a total stranger. And...and I just like him blue okay? I like Kurt the way he is just fine, but I won't tell him not to use it just because it makes me a little uncomfortable. That's totally unfair of me. I mean, I'm not the one who has to deal with threats every time I leave the school grounds. It just makes me feel...weird, like maybe I somehow gave Kurt the impression I want him to be somebody else, but if it's what he wants...you see what I mean? I'm really uncertain about this whole thing, I don't know how I feel about it at all."
"Well..." Marcy began quietly, staring at her coffee as she spoke, "-I agree with you that if using the Image Inducer is really what he wants, then you should let him. But I also understand how uncomfortable that would probably make you, seeing as he'd look like someone else whenever he uses it. But I don't think you're the reason he's doing this Julia, at least, not entirely. I think he's always fancied looking human."
Julia nodded, but internally was still mulling it over. Even if she wasn't the cause, the idea still made her feel uneasy. The Image Inducer, however clever it might be, was still just a more advanced version of hiding, and she certainly didn't want Kurt to hide from her. Not ever. She really was worried that he would somehow fall in love with looking 'normal' and would always be hiding behind a hologram, that she was never going to get to see the real Kurt, the one she knew, and, more-or-less, loved. She had been attracted to Kurt the way he was, she didn't want him to change, even if it was only on the outside and temporary. That said, she had also found herself indulging in the idea of being able to walk down the street holding Kurt's hand and not have to deal with insults, threats, or violence; though she honestly wasn't sure how selfish a wish it was.
She wanted Kurt to make the decision for himself, but she also didn't want him to think that she wanted him any way but blue. Julia rested her chin in her hand, looking out the window and thinking. Should she tell him that? Or would he take it to mean that she didn't want him to have the Image Inducer at all? It was so complicated...
She knew that Marcy was probably right, it had always been one of Kurt's fondest dreams to be able to leave the mansion and have nobody stare at him, nobody be afraid of him. She was only concerned that he would think he couldn't be accepted unless he was behind the hologram; even by her.
Realistically, all of this internal debate was probably why she had been avoiding him since yesterday when the Image Inducer had come up. She didn't want to influence his decision, because she was never certain whether it was for herself or in his best interest. She would never be able to tell whether she was helping him make the right decision or not; so perhaps it was better if he made it without her and she tried to cope with it in the aftermath.
Or maybe not. She had no freaking idea.
Julia could honestly say her favorite thing about the School was the seemingly inexhaustible supply of hot water. She had always loved hot showers, but most of the apartments she had lived in the last few years had either had a very limited supply of hot water, or plumbing so shoddy showers could only last five or so minutes before a pipe exploded somewhere. But ever since she had arrived at Xavier's she had definitely been taking advantage of the fully-functional water heaters.
Julia shut the water off at the twenty-minute mark, feeling she was probably over-indulging herself and knowing her skin would get pretty lizard-like if she stayed in much longer, and yanked her favorite fluffy towel from the rack. Not surprisingly, she had spent most of her shower thinking about Kurt, and various related things. The Image Inducer was still niggling in the back of her brain, and she was still uncertain how she wanted to handle the issue. Not only that, but rumors had now started spreading that she and Kurt had broken up -due to the fact no one had seen them speak in the last couple days- though they had never really aired the fact they were in a relationship in the first place.
Julia, for her part, simply didn't feel the need to broadcast her personal life to anybody, even Marcy. Though they had discussed it a little she didn't go around bragging and sharing all the juicy details, if there were any. She just didn't feel comfortable parading it around, though she guessed Marcy, Hank, and probably Logan knew they were more than friends at this point. Kurt, on the other hand, seemed to want to keep it a secret, though she couldn't guess the reason; when she asked he had only changed the subject.
Taking the towel to her hair, Julia continued to ponder the subject. They had been friends for a quite awhile, and pretty close friends too. Would it really seem so strange that they opted to take it a step further? Maybe they weren't supposed to have inter-team relationships in the X-Men? But then, Jean and Scott and Marcy and Hank were fairly well-established couples, so why not add Kurt and Julia to the list? Or was that even the issue? Maybe Kurt was just a private person when it came to romance. Seeing as they didn't discuss the matter, she didn't really know.
She wrapped the towel around her torso, and stepped out of the bathroom into her half-lit bedroom, the reading lamp the only one she had left on. It was odd to think that this little guest room had so quickly become home. So much so, that she had actually declined to leave it for a bigger room closer to the rest of the team. She had just gotten rather attached to it. Julia pulled open her dresser drawer for a pair of panties, but upon getting a leg through them, she heard the distinctive balloon popping sound behind her, and her nose picked up a tinge of sulfur.
"What happened to knocking on a lady's door?"
"Ach!" Was the only response she got for a moment, added to by a shuffle and a slight thud, followed by "Verdammt!" which she gathered it was a swear word in German, and she guessed that he had attempted to spin around and had managed to hit something. She finished with the underwear business, then turned around and found her assessment had been fairly accurate. Kurt stood by the bed, rubbing the knee which appeared to have had a slight collision with the bedpost. "Es tut mir leid, I vill leave-"
"My uniform leaves less to the imagination than the towel does Kurt," Julia chided, smiling slightly despite herself, and sitting on the foot of the bed near him. "I don't mind."
Golden eyes darted in her direction, but quickly returned to the floor, whether out of politeness or shyness, she wasn't sure. Probably both. "I really am sorry-" He started again, but Julia shook her head.
"I don't mind," She repeated, though he still kept his eyes averted. Something about the fact he wouldn't look at her hurt Julia a little. She glanced at her hands folded in her lap, feeling suddenly incredibly awkward. "Kurt, are you attracted to me?"
"Vhat? Of course I am. Jyulia, you're very, very beautiful-" He seemed somewhat aghast, as though not believing she had needed to ask such a thing.
"That's not what I mean. I mean, do you...want me?"
"I...uhm..." He was looking at something on the other side of the room. "I...I do. More dhan I think I can put into vords. But..." He trailed off, still staring very hard at whatever he was using as an excuse not to make eye-contact.
"But...?" She prompted.
"I don't vant you to feel...veird," He finally confessed, twisting his hands together. "It vould not be the same vith me as it vould be vith...someone normal."
Julia's heart twisted in the most painful way possible. Of course, that's what it came down to. Kurt thinking he was abnormal. Thinking even though she kissed him, hugged him, slept beside him, that there was still something about him she couldn't like. Some part of him was still hesitant to believe that she could feel the way she did.
With a rush of boldness, Julia stood and tugged the towel off her torso, tossing it intentionally onto the bed where Kurt wouldn't miss it. She saw his eyes widen, and his tail suddenly began it's nervous habit, thrashing around in an extremely agitated fashion. Julia took a step towards Kurt, and though he held perfectly still, she guessed his first instinct would still be to bolt if she gave him a chance. She touched his shoulder lightly, and felt him tense.
"Kurt."
"Er...yes...?"
"I want you to kiss me."
"You should really put somedhing on-"
"I want you to kiss me." This time, she placed a hand on the side of his face and turned his mouth towards hers, swallowing whatever had been on the tip of his tongue. For a moment, they both stood stark still, barely breathing, their lips only gently touching. She had promised she wouldn't force him into anything, so she was trying her hardest to let him make the next move. After several seconds passed in this same position however, she began to wonder if he would react at all, and she should just swallow her pride on the matter. But as she began to debate pulling away, Kurt's hands suddenly flattened on her back, and he bent his head to angle his mouth more to hers and Julia loved every toe-curling second of it.
"I'm going to end up taking advantage of you liebling." He muttered a moment later when they were forced to breathe, holding her face in his hands now, kissing her forehead and nose in between words.
"It's kind of hard to take advantage of me when I'm throwing myself at you." He chuckled in response, his lips moving to her jawline, then slowly, almost shyly, a little lower to her neck. Julia practically wanted to throw her hands up and cheer.
Finally, finally the barriers were starting to go down. Though he fairly often let her have her way and crawl into bed with him and would usually go along with some fairly naughty kisses, Kurt very rarely made any sort of advance on her; this was a note-worthy occasion, even if she had still needed to initiate it, and it had been horribly lacking in tact. His hands slid down her shoulders almost timidly, trailing down her sides until they settled at her hips, and then Kurt seemed to suddenly get caught up in staring at her.
"What are you looking at?" She questioned after a moment, setting her hands over his.
"You." He kissed her chin, her neck again, tangled his fingers around hers and brought the back of her hand to his lips. And while Kurt's hands were perfectly polite, his tail was apparently having other ideas, as it was currently coiling around Julia's waist, the point sliding under the elastic of her panties just enough for her to notice.
"Is that intentional?" She questioned, eyes darting down.
"Er...vill it be vorse if I say yes or no?"
"That depends."
"On...?"
"On how much attention the rest of you is going to pay to me."
Kurt gave another low chuckle, and cupped his hand at the back of her head. "All of it." Her head dipped back to accept his kiss, tongues playing a teasing little game of tag, though hers was significantly more cautious. She had learned, very quickly, that skewering her tongue on his fangs was not entirely sexy, and getting blood in her boyfriend's mouth tended to be more awkward than erotic. Still, practice made perfect.
They progressed now from standing awkwardly in the middle of the floor to Kurt sitting on the edge of the bed, Julia across his lap, and still totally engrossed in kissing one another. Julia loved being held by Kurt; it made her feel like he thought she was the most precious thing on the planet, she felt cherished and protected and...well, loved. However, as much as she felt safe and secure with Kurt, knowing he would never push her, she wouldn't be above a little physical gratification either. Emotionally, she was probably the happiest she had ever been, physically, she was one hundred percent frustrated, bordering on desperate.
As such, she made her intentions perfectly clear, she wriggled just the tiniest bit closer to Kurt, straddling his hips, and taking his hand by the wrist, transplanted it from her hips to her chest, dead-center on her left breast. Time and what had moments ago been passion screeched to a halt as Kurt completely froze. Worried that she had gone too far, Julia released his hand and pulled away slightly, his hand and mouth sliding away from her.
"Sorry, I only...uhm...too much? I'll just-"
"Nein." He interrupted her, watching her face intently, as though looking for some tell-tale sign in her expression. She stared back, confused as to what he had been saying 'no' too. "If you are sure...if you know dhis is vhat you vant. If I'm vhat you vant..." She grabbed his hand by the wrist again, essentially forcing him to cup the swell of her breast.
"You say that like I give you mixed signals," Julia answered, rolling her eyes and leaning into his palm. "Just let me love you, Kurt. Would you do that?"
"I...ja." Apparently unable to communicate what he was trying to say in words, Kurt kissed her again, and it was all the yes either of them had needed to hear.
Love. She had said love. And somehow, she was fairly certain she had meant it too, and not just the immediate implications. She wasn't sure she had ever meant it before. Of course, she had never pictured herself wanting so desperately to make love to a man with a tail and blue fur before either.
His other hand joined in exploring her, fingers skimming around her bare back, her legs, her stomach, and ever so delicately over her breasts; while her fingers were attempting to find the hem of his shirt.
There was a knock which they both deliberately ignored, and Kurt's shirt flew over Julia's shoulder onto the floor. She had never realized how intensely sexy fur on bare skin was until that moment as she leaned into him to push him back on her bed. She supposed he was right then, it wasn't really the same as it had been with past boyfriends. It was so, so much better. Exciting. And the tail really was quite a unique feature, that was probably going to get real interesting.
The knock sounded again.
"Julia? Fenris is threatening to blow up the Wakandan embassy, we need you!" Scott called through the door.
"Dammit!" Julia hissed vehemently through her teeth, pushing herself up on her elbows only far enough to shout back to the door: "Do you really need me?"
"Julia," Ororo's voice sounded through the door now, "-you have the best chance against their powers. We must go now!"
"I...fine, okay, I need a couple minutes. I'm kinda naked." She sighed and dropped her head down onto Kurt's chest until she heard them walk away. "Goddamn it all," She muttered, "-what's a girl got to do to get laid around here?"
"Save the Wakandan embassy," Kurt answered, obviously quite pleased with his little joke.
"Jerk." She propped herself up on her elbows again, finding herself smiling anyway. "You just hold all these sexy thoughts until I get back, okay?"
"I von't be able to think of a single other dhing," Kurt promised solemnly.
"Good." She sat up, trailing a finger down the center of his chest. "I'm going to hold you to that. I'll see you soon." She leaned down to kiss him, but knew better than to trust herself with anything more than a quick, chaste peck.
After she had gone, clad in uniform, Kurt realized suddenly that he had never shown her the image inducer, which had been the whole reason he had been too excited to bother to knock on her door. Not that he was arguing with the consequences of course.
He supposed it would be just as nice a surprise when she returned from the embassy.
Second A.N: So, sorry about that somewhat awkward little tid-bit from "Luke Gram's" point of view. I was getting entirely too frustrated with trying to write that scene from the usual character's perspectives, experimented, and ended up with that. Which I actually kind of liked, so that's what you get. :) It's a one time only thing though.