~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 3
Alyx stood outside the Avalanche Room -- you just had to love the names of the meeting rooms here
-- as security took their sweet time locating and slowly checking her badge. It wasn't like she was
trying to hide it. She had clipped it to her pants, by her left hip, but apparently they had to
spend several minutes making sure her cleavage was where it belonged before they were able to see
it. It was Darien clearing his throat loudly and glaring as menacingly as he could manage that
finally convinced them that she was really who she claimed. Other than making sure they wore the
badges, the security duo ignored both Bobby and Darien and let them in without incident.
Alyx slowed until Hobbes was close enough that she could easily speak to him by turning her head
slightly. "What first? Slow circuit of the room?"
"Works. I'll point out those you need to watch." Hobbes turned his head back to Fawkes, who was
looking over the sea of black-clad bodies, interspersed with those who were obviously the ones with
power. "Just pretend you're casing the place, Fawkes."
Darien rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension that was quickly building there. Walking
into a room full of people who would kill them in a heartbeat if the situation were different
seemed like the stupidest thing in the world to do. But it was working, he saw. With Alyx in front,
all eyes focused on her. Many stayed there, he noticed, even to the point of moving through the
crowd to continue watching her. Hobbes was two short steps behind her, letting her move the crowd
out of the way without blocking his view of those around them. Darien could hear Hobbes talking to
her, but was not really listening himself.
A couple of times someone tried to shove his way between himself and Hobbes, and Darien did what
was necessary to keep that from happening, ignoring the glares and less-than-polite commentary that
followed. Darien watched as Alyx made her way to the bar and ordered a drink, which she handed to
Hobbes as if she performed this duty every day. He leaned over to her and made a comment, to which
she nodded. Surveying the room, she struck off at an angle and they ended up at a table which she
claimed as their own after glaring at the small-fry sitting there and chasing him away. Pulling out
the chair that had its back to the wall, Hobbes slid into it and set his drink down with a look of
disdain. She then took up position behind and slightly to the left of Hobbes and crossed her arms
over her chest.
"Fawkes, sit." Hobbes gestured at the chair to his right and, after a moment's hesitation, he did
so. "It'll be a bit before anything interesting happens. Everyone is still feeling out the
situation and debating how much trust to fake."
"Hob..." Hobbes cut him off with a gesture and Darien remembered. "Uh, boss, trust? That's the
last thing I'd expect to see in this group."
"Neutral territory, Fawkes. The trust won't be real, but they'll pretend to make a sale or further
the cause." He waved his hand and Alyx leaned over in response. "Go get Fawkes something to drink."
"You sure?" She had an idea of what he was doing, but wanted to make sure now was when he wanted
to try this.
"Yeah, Fawkes here will keep unwanteds away." Hobbes assured her. She had to make her mark, and
early, if this was going to work at all. He had noticed a few other females playing the role of
bodyguard, but they were all the beefy wrestler types. The only dames had been hanging on the arms
of the men who could afford to bring their play-toys with them on this jaunt.
Alyx looked over at Darien, guessing he would need something stronger than beer. She lowered her
voice. "I may have to hurt one or two to get it through their tiny minds."
Hobbes chuckled. "I figured. Leave 'em able to work. I don't need their boss coming after me for
damages, ya know."
"Of course." Alyx straightened and gave Darien a wink that didn't do a thing to ease his tension.
Seconds later, she had moved off into the crowd with eyes following her.
"I don't like this, Ho... boss," Darien said quietly.
"It's necessary." Hobbes leaned back as if unconcerned and sipped his drink. "We're among the
newbies and we have to put ourselves in the pecking order. I want to be somewhere above the middle,
but not so near the top we piss off the big guys. And there are some big guns here." He'd been right
about Dante Thermapolye; he was here, with a dozen bodyguards and at least two girls to keep his
lusts sated. He also recognized Fatima Kin Grotzi, a notorious femme fatale who specialized in
assassinations. Today her hair was long and black, and Hobbes wondered if it would stay that way
through the entire conference. Then there was Dreyson Fredericks, a scientist of some infamy who
was expert at tailoring just the right killer bug to your every need. The kid's 'Mr. Biological.'
Hobbes knew of at least three attacks that could be traced back to him, with deaths in the hundreds.
"So how many are there here, really?" Darien asked, trying to give the appearance of casual
conversation.
"I'd say fifty or so. Nice variety. There are a few who will be coming to speak to us based on the
info posted at the desk." Hobbes was having fun. It had been a long time since he'd had the chance
to go undercover this deep. He wished the Official had told them sooner so he could have had more
time to get into character, but given the nature of how this 'convention' was run, there really
wasn't any way to warn. The boss had probably only gotten confirmation for the invite the day
before they'd left.
He saw the look on his partner's face. It wasn't blatant; in fact, only having known him for so
long allowed him to notice. If Fawkes knew how well Bobby could really read him, he'd probably work
on that poker face. "Just relax, Fawkes. Watch your back and don't challenge anyone you know you
can't handle. Not that I think you'll have a problem. The kid, on the other hand..." A scream of
pure pain echoed from across the room. "Ah, I've been waiting for that."
Alyx made it all the way to the bar before encountering any real trouble. The bartender gave her a
wicked smile when she placed her order, and then proceeded to take his time filling it. She
suspected that he knew exactly what was coming, the same as she did. It took less than thirty
seconds for one of the group of bodyguards who had been watching her to find his tongue and begin
this little dance.
"So, you're with Battaglia. Hope he's paying you well, 'cause, at a guess, you're worth it."
Alyx turned slightly to look up at the owner of that voice. He was one of those linebacker types
who had more balls than brain and who'd had his nose broken at least twice in the past. She looked
him over, sniffed in disdain, and turned away.
"Apparently she thinks she's too good for you, Jinx," a different voice spoke up, taunting the
owner of the first.
"Doubtful. She's just like all the rest as soon as she's horizontal with her legs spread wide." He
stepped forward and ran a hand down Alyx's back to rest casually on her ass. "You just play at
bodyguard 'cause your boss likes the tough types, now dontcha?"
Alyx turned just her head, hoping to avoid any actual damage to the semi-humans gathered about her.
"I am Mr. Battaglia's bodyguard and nothing more, and I would reccomend that you remove your hand
before I do it for you."
Those that had closed in around them broke out in harsh laughter, not believing her for a moment.
He removed his hand, but only to place it on her shoulder and force her to turn about and face him.
He held her in place with the one hand while the other came up to run along her face making its slow
way lower until her was cupping her breast. "See, it's what you all want."
"Oh, you are so right." She lowered her voice, sounded husky and slightly out of breath. She
brought her hands up to lay over his. With a practiced motion she grabbed the middle finger of his
hand and snapped it back as hard as she could, breaking it at the third knuckle with a wet snap
that was audible to those around them and causing him to scream and drop to his knees. Two of his
buddies -- they were dressed identically -- moved to intercept her. She handled one by snapping out
a kick that connected with the side of his kneecap hard enough to knock it out of alignment and send
him to the floor holding his leg and moaning in pain. The third guy she simply glared at and he
stopped, his hands coming up slightly to show her he was backing off.
"Now," she had leaned down to speak into the ear of the gentleman whose finger she was still slowly
forcing backwards. "Do I really need to continue this demonstration by demonstrating my castration
technique, or do I have you convinced that I'm not a whore?"
He whimpered. "C...c...convinced."
She released him and watched as he curled upon himself cradling his hand. Convention security
showed then and surveyed the goings on for a moment before turning to leave. Alyx turned back to
the bar and was handed the drink she had ordered. Moving away, the path cleared quickly and she had
no problems getting back to the table. She set the drink down in front of Darien, who had a look of
combined terror and relief on his face.
Returning to her spot behind Hobbes, she said, "Expect a visitor shortly."
Hobbes was forced to chew on the inside of his cheek to keep the grin off his face. "Fawkes, get
that damn poker face up," he hissed, and was pleased to see it appear after a moment's struggle.
"I'm fine, Dare," Alyx said quietly. "They're a little worse for wear, though."
Darien picked up his drink and downed a fair sized portion. He nearly gasped in surprise. Tequila.
He should have known, but once the burning sensation had passed, he found that it was just what he
needed. A beer would not have been nearly strong enough. Picking it up again, he sipped at it this
time.
It took ten minutes, but a group eventually made their way out of the crowd to stand before the
table. The group included one who was limping heavily and another with a hastily bandaged hand.
"Mr. Battaglia."
Hobbes waited a moment and then slowly lifted his head to look at the gentleman standing there. It
wasn't anyone he immediately recognized, but it was obvious he was the one in charge, and based on
his entourage he was one of those at the top of the pecking order around here. "Can I help you?"
The man shook his head. "I wish to tender my apologizes to you and your employee." He looked at
Alyx, who stared stoically ahead. "My employees were a bit overzealous in their efforts to
ascertain the legitimacy of her position." His hand twitched, and a bottle of very expensive
scotch appeared and was placed on the table before Hobbes. A gift obviously intended as an apology.
"Kid," Hobbes said quietly.
Alyx relaxed her stance slightly and looked at the gentleman who was offering the apology. "Perhaps
you should teach them manners. What I do for Mr. Battaglia does not matter. I am a lady and should
be treated as such."
There was a sharp intake of breath from several of those with him, as well as others who were
not-so-subtly eavesdropping on the conversation. The man she was addressing, however, merely tipped
his head in acknowledgment. "You are correct. My apologies."
She gave a slow nod in return, showing that she accepted the apology. He then refocused on Hobbes.
"Perhaps we could discuss a bit of business tomorrow."
"Of course," Hobbes said in agreement.
With another moment to take each other's measure, they broke eye contact and he turned to rejoin
the party at large. Darien let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and Hobbes
chuckled quietly. "Jeez, kid you don't pick the small ones, do ya?"
"Boss, he picked me. I don't appreciate being felt up, and I made sure he knew that," Alyx
explained, hoping she hadn't screwed this up for them.
"I'm not complaining, kid, you did good. And...." He slid the bottle of scotch over to where he
could get a better look at it. He was impressed; the bottle was damn old and worth a small fortune.
It had probably come from the gentleman's private collection. "This is a true attempt at an apology.
He wants our business, and was afraid his people had screwed it up for him."
Alyx turned to Darien, from whom she could feel an overriding anger. "Fawkes, I'm fine, really. I
expected something like this. Hold it together until we're back in the room, please?" She had kept
her voice soft. She wasn't angry at him or anything -- in fact she was touched that he was upset
over this -- but this wasn't the time to appear weak or soft. That would get them beaten down.
Darien nodded and then downed the remainder of his drink. They didn't have any real time to discuss
it, anyway. The ice having been broken, so to speak, people began stopping by the table for
preliminary discussions about the products they were offering up for sale. It was several hours
before Hobbes finally decided they had made enough progress to leave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They didn't get back to the room until well after two, and by then Alyx was a walking popsicle.
She'd done her damnedest not to let it show, but was more than thankful to get back to the room and
change out of her working clothes. They looked impressive enough, but they did little to keep her
warm. The room situation being more than a little awkward, she grabbed what she needed, took over
the smaller half-bath off the sitting area, and changed there. She came out with a pile of clothes
and jewelry, her hair hanging loose, and wearing a pair of dark blue leggings and a pale blue,
long-sleeved flannel pajama top. She wrapped herself in a blanket and waited to be allowed back
into the bedroom.
It wasn't that the three of them hadn't bunked together before, but this time it was for a longer
than typical period and some adjustment was needed. They'd been forced to share cheap motel rooms
before, but this was the first time the stay had been beyond an overnight. Other things had changed
as well: she was no longer the sullen, closed off, scared, and angry woman she had been in the past,
and it made things different for her. Plus, she knew Bobby would be embarrassed as hell if she
walked in on him dressing or even just walking around in whatever he wore to bed. That thought made
her grin.
A few minutes later, Darien poked his head out. "What are you hiding out here for?"
She stood and picked up her stuff, walking past him into the room and turning off the lights as she
went. "Oh, I don't know. Figured Bobby wouldn't want me to see him wandering about in his
skivvies." She moved over to the closet to hang her clothes, then tossed the jewelry into a drawer.
"Got that right, kid," Hobbes commented from the far bed where he was attempting to get
comfortable. "Get some sleep. I want to hit some of the meetings tomorrow morning."
"Morning being ten or later. I like the way these guys think," Darien added around a yawn. He was
wearing a faded pair of striped pajama bottoms and a long-sleeved thermal top. He sat on the edge
of the bed, watching Alyx as she moved quietly about the room. She looked so young in that getup,
and cold. She shuffled about with the blanket wrapped tightly about her.
"You wouldn't if you knew what they were really thinking." She shuddered at the mental reminder of
what had been running through that one guy's mind before she broke his finger; he'd had every
intention of following through on his commentary. She had gotten a bit more than she bargained for
when grabbing his hand, though not quite as much as she usually got. It was, however, more than
enough to cause her to come very close to actually castrating the bastard. He liked his women to
put up a struggle, and didn't really care if they were willing or not.
"You okay?" Darien asked quietly.
"As I ever am." She added the blanket she'd been wrapped in to the pile on the bed, pulled the
covers down, and slid under them, curling up in a little shivering ball of wakefulness. She wasn't
really tired yet, but figured she could at least try and get some rest. "Night, you two."
"Night, kid," Hobbes voice was a bit slurred as he drifted off.
"Good night, Alyx, sweet dreams." Darien laid down and watched as the lights turned themselves
off. He suppressed a wry grin. He still hadn't gotten used to things like that. It wasn't long
before Hobbes was snoring softly next to him, but he found himself wakeful, as sometimes still
happened. He had slept on the flight here; maybe that was why, at least tonight. Maybe it was fear.
He did not like this 'vacation' at all. Going undercover he'd done for the Agency, but here he felt
like he'd walked into a den of lions carrying around the carcass of a dead zebra and was just
waiting for someone to shout 'free meal' and wake the entire pride.
He tossed and turned for a while, alternately staring at the ceiling, the curtains, or the lighted
numbers on the clock across the room. His side ached, though not nearly as badly as yesterday. When
he'd checked it while getting ready for bed, it actually looked like it might be healing. He'd
followed the directions Claire had given him and then done some slow stretches to loosen up. He
really wanted to keep this one from scarring. He'd managed to get through prison without collecting
any major physical reminders, and he didn't want to start now.
He looked over at Alyx as she lay in the other bed. He could just make out the lump that was her
body, and wondered if she was still awake.
Alyx stared at the door to the room and debated getting up and going out to the sitting room to
zombie in front of the television for a while. It's not like it was the first night she'd had
trouble sleeping, but between being cold and the things running through her mind that just refused
to stop, she was even more awake than usual. She could feel Hobbes sleeping peacefully, and
Darien's mind was a calming presence, though she wasn't entirely sure he was asleep. She tried to
avoid reading him at all costs; that stupid connection fed her too much information as it was, even
through her shields. She had hoped that by gaining the control she needed that it would fade or even
become nonexistent, but no. It crept in even past her shields and she was still trying to adjust to
it.
Huddling in closer, she tried to convince her body to warm up -- hell, to generate the heat it was
supposed to -- instead of pretending to be a walking popsicle. Closing her eyes, she tried to
convince her body to relax by doing one of her meditations that was supposed to help process
information. She'd been doing this one a lot lately, but it had yet to offer the help she needed.
It was the sudden presence of heat about her chilled body that snapped her out of it. She attempted
to jerk away but the arms only held tighter.
"Alyx, it's just me," Darien whispered. Hobbes would have a fit if he knew he'd crawled into her
bed, even for noble reasons. The lecture he'd gotten after their first mission had burned his ears
for days.
"Dare, get the hell out of this bed," she hissed at him.
"No. I could hear your teeth chattering from across the room, and you're freezing cold." He
shifted his legs, entwining them with hers, at least until he bumped her feet. "Jeeze, have you
been like this the whole time?"
Alyx shivered. He was beyond warm, practically hot. "Yeah. Are you that warm 'cause I'm cold, or do
you need a shot?" Alyx knew he didn't like Hobbes and the Keeper bugging him about it, but they
were kind of out of reach right now and there was only so much she could do if the worst were to
happen.
"I'm fine. Claire gave me partial before we left. Provided she's not late, we'll be all set. You're
just a fricking ice cube." Darien rested his chin on the top of her head and felt her shake in
place. She just wasn't warming up at all. "You tired?"
She wasn't sure how to answer. In some ways she was utterly exhausted, but her body wasn't really
ready for sleep. Not yet, anyway. "Not really. Why?"
He chuckled, not all that surprised at her answer. He'd lost count of how many times he had stopped
by her place after midnight to find her awake in recent weeks. He knew she slept, just not as much
as the rest of the universe, and he was still a night owl at heart. Having someone to hang out with
encouraged him to pick up old habits he'd been trying to break for the Agency. Not that he minded
going back to his old ways, not at all. "Thought you might like to talk. We've been so busy lately
we haven't really had time for our late-night chats." True enough -- stopping by lately had
usually just involved coffee and staring at the television, trying to decompress from another
hellish or mind-numbing day of work.
She sighed as his hands slowly moved across her body; stomach, hips, sides, arms. Trying to get her
blood flowing again, but careful not to cross any of those lines. While they did have feelings for
each other, she still couldn't allow it to go beyond friendship. There were days she regretted
she'd allowed herself to open up as much as she had, but there wasn't any way she could go back
easily, not without causing far more problems. She just couldn't bring herself to not care again,
though she still didn't entirely trust. At least not they way she should. Some things were still
out of her reach, thanks to the life she had led before. "I guess. Should we move? I don't want to
wake Bobby."
"Nah, just roll over." He felt her stiffen. "We'll do the sleepover thing and pull the covers over
our heads. So long as we're quiet, he'll never hear us." He shifted to whisper directly into her
ear. "I promise to behave." She started to shake again, but he realized it was with restrained
laughter and not another attack of shivers.
She did as he asked and she could feel his surprise and pleasure. She stretched out alongside him,
her hands curled in front of her, against his chest, and her feet stuffed between his legs and
making him hiss at their temperature, or lack thereof. He slid his hands under her pajama top along
her back, increasing the contact and making her want to melt into his heat. If she weren't so damn
cold and Bobby weren't just a few short feet away, she might be tempted into having a little fun
with him. His first innocent question shoved those thoughts right out the proverbial window, though.
"So what did you do for Christmas?" He had pulled up the blankets a bit before snuggling closer.
She was still shivering, and if he didn't know better would have guessed she was covered in
quicksilver she was radiating such cold. Her question about his state of sanity didn't seem so very
odd now. He must feel like he was burning up to her.
Alyx swallowed hard and closed her eyes. "I worked."
Darien's hands stopped moving for an instant in surprise, and then picked the motion back up again.
"Ummm, I know I got the day off. You didn't?"
"I asked for work." Sensing his confusion, she decided to explain. "I really didn't want to spend
the day sitting around my apartment wondering whether or not my kids were having a good day, if
they had gotten what they wanted, if the dinner was okay." She paused and tried to push away the
pain that surged to the forefront of her mind. "I couldn't even make the obligatory familial phone
calls to my brothers. So yeah, I asked to work."
"Sorry, I didn't realize... None of us did." He actually felt a bit guilty. They had been working
their butts off in the weeks leading up to Christmas, so when the Official had given them Christmas
Day off, he'd taken advantage of it and gone north to visit his aunt Celia. He, Hobbes, and Claire
had gotten together one evening after work a few days before and exchanged small gifts. It hadn't
really been planned or anything, things had just fallen into place on that day. He couldn't even
remember if they'd even mentioned Alyx that day once work was over. No wonder she still felt alone.
Not that he had forgotten her completely; there was still the package sitting on the night stand
next to his bed, wrapped and everything. He had just never found the right time to give it to her.
"Not your fault," Alyx said softly. "What did you do?"
"Not much, visited my aunt up north for a few hours and then had to fly back home." He tried to
play it down. He was able to visit family, and it had been nice to see her, even if it had cost a
small fortune to arrange. He thought it was worth it. "New Year's?"
"I watched some fireworks from the roof of my building. I spent the day trying not to think. The
'Fish didn't have any work for me to do." Alyx shivered, still feeling more than a little cold
even with him coiled sweetly about her. "My apartment got clean."
Darien sighed. "You could have said something. I'd have been glad to take you out." Maybe he
should have known, but he'd made plans with Bobby, and Claire had decided to join them at the last
minute. Alyx had been more distant than usual, so they all just assumed she wouldn't be interested.
They'd been doing that a lot recently, but Alyx never commented or seemed interested in what they
did after hours. In fact, the only time he saw her after work was if he showed up at her place or
ran into her down at the beach. It wasn't that she was unfriendly so much as solitary. This entire
holiday season had gotten overrun with work. Hell, they'd been busy since before Thanksgiving, and
just before that had been the trip across country to bring Alyx back. Apparently the holidays were
a big time for the bad guys of the universe.
Alyx was kind of surprised by his comment. "You had plans with Bobby. I didn't want to be a fifth
wheel."
"Claire came along, too. I would have liked to have you there," Darien said in a very soft voice.
"Why? No one for you to kiss at midnight?" Alyx regretted the words as soon as they were out of
her mouth. The surge of emotions from him was not what she needed right now. She wasn't likely to
forget how he felt about her, even though he did try awfully hard to hide it for her. She just
couldn't deal with it right now. "Please ignore that last statement," she mumbled.
Darien waffled for a moment and then decided not to ignore it. "Actually, Bobby got the kiss. On
the cheek," he amended. "How about you? Any handsome strangers show up to kiss you at midnight?"
"Dare, be nice or I'll stick one of these ice cubes that used to be hands somewhere
uncomfortable." Alyx wasn't sure whether to be amused or angry.
"Hmmm, depending where exactly that was I might not mind all that much." He intended it to be
playful, but it came out far more serious than he had planned.
"Don't," Alyx snapped at a whisper. "It's time for you to go." She tried to push him away, but he
only held on tighter. "Please," she pleaded, not wanting to deal with this.
"I'm sorry. Let me get you warm and then I'll go." Darien was contrite. He didn't think she'd
react quite like that. "Promise. Scout's Honor."
Alyx relaxed slightly. "You were never a Boy Scout."
"Funny, I have a shirt that says otherwise." He failed to mention that he'd picked it up at a flea
market like half of his other clothes. One of his hands slipped back out from under her shirt and
moved to tip her head up. "Friends?" He searched her eyes for a few seconds and then kissed her
gently, not expecting anything in return. He was surprised when she responded for a moment, before
pulling away and burying her face against his throat.
"Ah, hell, Dare." She curled into him, trying not to shake. "Thank you."
"Anytime. Try and sleep." His free hand curled against the back of her neck, which managed to feel
just as chilled as the rest of her. He didn't like how sad she still seemed to be. With the holidays
it was understandable -- he hadn't had much reason to celebrate his first Christmas after joining
the Agency, either. Had pretty much blown it off, in fact, even if his reasons were a bit
different. With his family, Christmas had been more a struggle than anything else, and once he was
out on his own he'd celebrate it or not depending where he was and who he was with. The last
Christmas he really remembered enjoying was with Casey. His life had changed a whole hell of a lot
since then.
There were other days during the year that bothered him the way Christmas and New Year's had
affected Alyx. Mostly they revolved around his brother. He closed his eyes, not really in the mood
to think about such things. Not when he had an armful of dozing woman who was finally beginning to
thaw. He listened to her sigh as his warmth began to sink in and her shivers eased. He could feel
her breath blowing lightly across his neck. Her hands were resting over his heart, which had begun
to pound unexpectedly.
"Ah, crap," he muttered softly, trying to convince his heart to slow down before he did something
that would cause her to end up cold again. Sometimes being around Alyx was worse than his few
encounters with Kate Easton. Working with Alyx on a daily basis allowed him to keep his unconscious
and uncontrolled reactions to a minimum, usually. Then there were times when she did or said
something and, forget it, his body was in control, and it often took all his willpower to not go
see-thru in front of her.
Tonight he was fast losing the battle. He'd wanted to have her in this position for a while now,
though not for the sole purpose of warming her up. He was quickly learning he liked her a lot, even
beyond the attraction he had first felt. He was hoping to earn her trust and maybe something more in
the future. He was hoping to end up in this position again someday, only with far fewer clothes.
That was the wrong thing to think about, though, as certain parts of his anatomy reacted, neither
of which he could control.
Giving up, he closed his eyes and pulled her close as the quicksilver flowed and quickly coated the
two of them. Alyx grumbled a bit as the chill passed over her, but never actually woke up, for which
Darien was eminently thankful. He really didn't want to have to explain either of his current
problems. It took a couple of minutes and a lot of mental arguing with himself, but he was
eventually able to drop the quicksilver.
"Fool. Idiot," he chastised himself under his breath. Deciding she was warm enough, he tried to
slide away, only to be stopped by her.
"Dare? Problem?" She was only half-awake at best, enjoying feeling warm for the first time since
arriving here.
"Uh, just need to shift. Ummm, my side hurts a bit." Well it was the only thing he could think of
that didn't involve the real problem.
"Oh, sorry." Alyx moved away, feeling a bit foolish since he'd been lying on that side for who
knew how long at this point. He released her reluctantly and shifted to lie on his back. "You can
go now if you want. I'll be fine."
Darien considered it but, in truth, he didn't want to. "Nah, don't need you doing the Mr. Freeze
routine again." He grabbed her and pulled her closer. His side wasn't aching nearly as much now
that his weight was off it. "Besides, I kinda like this. We should have sleepovers more often."
Alyx chuckled sleepily and settled with her head resting gingerly against his shoulder. His arm
curved around her as she sighed and moved her hand to lie on his stomach. "Ummm, maybe," she
mumbled. "If you can behave."
Within moments she was asleep again, and Darien was staring at the ceiling wondering just what the
hell he was doing this time.