Agent Melonie Rue, a tall blonde woman with silver-gray eyes, could
not remember the last time she had felt nervous as she adjusted the skirt
of her baby blue suit for the fifth time. The butterflies in her stomach
had somehow armed themselves with stone hatchets and were proceeding to lay
siege to the inner lining. The woman tried to breathe as she paced back and
forth in the small waiting room, the heels of her baby blue stiletto shoes
clicking. To most, the room might have seemed more like a prison cell since
it was completely white washed with no pictures, no furniture, or even a
half dead fern, but to the Technocrat, it was normal. She doubted anyone in
Psych Ops had much of a personality; interior decorating would not be one
of their skills. Besides, the white would stop other thoughts and worries
from slipping into her mind while she waited to be evaluated: some kind of
reminder of Room 101. Rue could almost kick herself for mentioning the
dream she had seen two nights ago. Closing her eyes with a sigh, she could
still recall every detail of it.
Fire, she had hated it since she was a child. She had watched her apartment burn to the ground without reason; since she had listened as her little brother had burned to death. His pre-pubescent screams still haunted her. Now fire surrounded her and even her extensive training could not stop the flames from compromising her mission.
"Rue!" One of her associates, a man by the name of Lexx, shouted to her through the flames. Rue could not reply, the fire was going to get to her hair, to her clothes, it would crisp her skin and she would die with the scent of her own flesh shoved up her nose. Lexx jumped through the flames and grabbed her. "Rue!" he screamed, smacking her across the face to break her trance.
And then the world exploded. Lexx and Rue were sent flying through the air as flames, smoke, and debris swirled around them like a hellish tornado. For a moment Rue saw the stars through the roof of the warehouse building and the soft light of the moon. She reached for it dumbly, as if she could grab a star to hold on to. Instead, she and Lexx fell into the inferno below them. Lexx pulled her close, and she clung to him as they fell.
Rue shook her head violently. She would have plenty of time to discuss the dream in a few minutes. Agent Simon Lexx was the reason she was in this room in the first place. She had told him, thinking that talking about the dream would make her feel better about it; instead it had made Lexx worry. Her fear of fire was something from her old life, something she should have forgotten when she became Enlightened. It did not matter what the dream was truly about, the fact she still feared it was a cause for concern. Her Conditioning might be coming undone and that was simply something that could not happen.
Rue jumped slightly as the far door opened and Lexx emerged. He wore his mirror shades, which made it impossible to tell what he was feeling. His dark brown hair was cut short on the sides and back, spiking slightly at the top. When he had first come to the New World Order, he had been highlighted blond, but had soon dropped the habit. There were more important things to worry about with Reality Deviants running around. His square jaw was firm and his Greek perfection lips were passive. His suit was cut perfectly to accent broad shoulders and a narrow waist. He walked to Rue as if he had learned to walk from a hunting cat.
"They're ready for you," he told her. She looked at him. Rue had thought it best to keep her mirror shades off, but now she was reconsidering.
"I guess it's pointless to ask what you told them."
"You already know. Go on, Rue. I'll be waiting for you when you get out." He touched her shoulder.
"Agent Rue," an Asian woman in a black pant suit snapped from the door. Rue nodded to Lexx and approached the woman.
"Agent Rue, reporting," she said dryly. The woman led her into a more comfortable looking room. It hosted a black leather couch and chair with a stainless steel and glass coffee table in between them. Beyond that, a stainless steel desk with a second black leather chair. A few paintings hung in the room, but they were black and white and post modern and Rue had always had a taste for landscape photos.
"Agent Rue, I am Dr. Yuni. Do you know why you're here?" Dr. Yuni sat in the chair, gesturing Rue to sit on the couch, which the agent happily did.
"Agent Lexx was concerned about a dream I had a few nights ago."
"That's correct. Agent Lexx is concerned that your childhood fear of fire will affect your field work. I don't have to explain to you why this is such a concern."
"He's suggesting I need to go back to Conditioning?"
"Right now that's not your concern. The fear of fire is actually human, and there are some things that even Room 101 can't fix. That is what I am here to do. Right now, I am not recommending you go back to Conditioning and that's all you need to worry yourself with. I would, however, like to have a talk with you." Rue wondered if she could actually say no. "Would you like to tell me when you started having your fear of fire?"
"It was when I was still in grade school and still on the Front Lines. A fire broke out in our apartment building. My younger brother and I got separated in the chaos and the smoke. I managed to escape into the hallway and the firemen carried me out, but they never found my brother. They think he had tried to escape out of the bedroom window, but had gotten trapped. I've been afraid of it ever since. I can't even get near a candle without getting nervous."
"Interesting," Dr. Yuni made a few notes. "Was this addressed in you Conditioning."
"Briefly. It was explained to me that some Devients can throw fire. It was assumed that I would learn to keep my head through experience."
"And have you?"
"I have not encountered fire on the field yet. Most of my work so far has been simply research."
"I see. And you have not taken it upon yourself to rid yourself of this fear?"
"I don't know how, I thought I would grow out of it."
"For most people, this would be forgivable, but you are not most people. You are an agent of the Ivory Tower and must be stronger, better, faster."
"And that, gentleman is the goal. We have the technology!" Rue said, dropping her voice to sound slightly masculine. Dr. Yuni, if the joke was received, made no mention of humor.
"That is what I get paid to do. Right now I do not see a need for sending you back through Conditioning, they did not address the fear there and they will not again. Rather I would like you to report here weekly to work on this fear. We will start simply and work on ridding you of the fear or at least stopping it from paralyzing you."
"Does that mean what I think it does?"
"What do you think it means?" Dr. Yuni asked calmly, her dark eyes meeting Rue's gray eyes calmly.
"I think it means you're going to put me in a room full of candles and watch me panic." Dr. Yuni nodded.
"We'll start slow, one or two candles in front of you. It will teach you to get used to being around fire." Dr. Ynui made a note before going to her desk. "You are free to go." Rue suddenly found she had mysteriously lost her patellae. She remained frozen on the couch as Dr. Yuni raised a brow.
"The simple thought scares you?"
"I'll be all right. I have to get over this fear, don't I?" Shakily, Rue stood and left the room. Lexx, as he had promised, was waiting for her in the blank room.
"Well?" He asked, his voice was concerned.
"She wants me to come back once a week. She's going to have me spend time around candles to try and get me used to fire. She thinks it will break my fear."
"You don't look so sure."
"Does it matter? I'm not the one that was hired for my knowledge of the mind." Lexx hugged her gently.
"Want to head home?" he asked gently.
"Please." Lexx stroked her blonde hair gently and lead her out of the room.
The Psych Ops wing had been set apart from the rest of the P.R.E Complex (Paranormal Restriction and Elimination to other Technocrats and Plastic Renovations and Expansions to the outside world), which itself was relatively hidden by the soaring peaks of the Rocky Mountains. A gardened brick path was bathed in sunlight and the day was perfect outside. It was a pity that most of the agents that swarmed the complex were inside, looking for Reality Deviants who had not managed to rid the world of themselves. The sun soothed Rue's nerves, or maybe it was the fact that Lexx was beside her. She was not afraid to admit that she had feelings for Lexx: in fact the two of them shared their feelings frequently in private. The head of their team, Agent Greg Jynx, had made clear that he was not accepting of the idea of inter-office relationships, which made the relationship dangerous. There were rumors that he was simply bitter and that a woman he had cared for had been a Deviant and Jynx had been forced to destroy her.
No one was brave enough to ask him.
Rue suspected that Lexx wished they could announce the relationship, but both of them put the mission before their personal lives. Together they entered the main building of the complex, working their way to the exit across the marble floor of the main level. Upstairs the other agents and technocrats would be working on locating Deviants or creating clones, or messing with accounts, or any other number of things that Rue was not interested in thinking about. She, Lexx, Jynx, and the two remaining members of her group had just gotten back from a mission, and she was more than ready to relax in her apartment with a beer and romantic comedy. Control help Jynx if he thought for one minute she would rush to give him her oral report.
"Lexx! Rue! Wait up!"
Both agents froze and suppressed groans. The newest member of their team, Agent Darrel Wulf, was jogging towards them, black hair tied back in a ponytail. Wulf had not, like Rue or Lexx, been pulled from the Front Lines. He was a restored Deviant. He had once been a member of the Virtual Adapts, but a run-in with Jynx, Rue, Lexx, Smith, and Augustis had made him realize that the way for him to get ahead in the world would be to join the defenders of reality. It had been when Smith had died in the field that Wulf had gotten assigned to Jynx's team. Already he was a burr to Rue, the only female member of Jynx's team.
"Hello, Agent Wulf," Lexx said formally. Wulf nodded to him and looked at Rue.
"Hello," she said blandly.
"Where are you two off to?" he asked. Rue glanced at Lexx, who still wore his mirror shades. It was impossible to tell what he had planned, but from experience and his body language, Rue could tell he had not planned for others to be involved.
"Just back to relax and enjoy the luxuries of the P.R.E. housing," Rue answered. Wulf laughed too much at the bad joke. While the Complex did provide housing to the Techs on it, the housing was only a few steps above college dormitories. They were one room apartments with the kitchen, living room, and bedroom sharing one general area. The only privacy in the rooms was the bathrooms which, to Rue's happiness, since she still enjoyed practices like make-up and home facials and curling her hair, were private. There were narrow windows that sometimes had a good view and sometimes did not which did not have blinds or curtains. Rue, having grown up in crowded Boston, did not complain about the housing, but she heard others like Wulf express frustration.
"Mind if I join you? I just got out of a meeting with Jynx, and I could use a drink!" Lexx shrugged,
"All I've got is cheap stuff at my place."
"I haven't had a chance to do shopping since we got back. I think I have a mouthful of cranberry juice and that's it," Rue added.
"Well Lexx," Wulf clapped him on the shoulder. "You seem to be a generous host." Rue could not help but laugh at Lexx's flinch.
"Beer me!" Wulf cried out as he jumped over the top of Lexx's black futon and sprawled across the seat. Rue smiled encouragingly to Lexx as he removed his glasses. She stopped to admire his crystal blue gaze before helping him get beer and the few snacks he had. The kitchens of P.R.E housing were little more than aisles with stove and microwave above each other, a sink, a drying rack, and a refrigerator that was too large to be called a mini-fridge, but too small to be considered normal size. The rest was left to counters and cupboards. Lexx and Rue "accidentally" bumped into each other often in the scramble to get beers out and along with whatever random snack foods Lexx had around.
Wulf moved his legs only to let Rue sit next to him as she sat on the floor rug and handed him a beer. He took a swig and cringed,
"You weren't kidding. Cheap, cheap, cheap."
"You don't like it, go drink your own stuff," Lexx replied, sitting in the recently vacated spot. There was a moment of tense silence.
"So what is Jynx's deal?" Wulf asked. Lexx and Rue met eyes and Rue nodded.
"No on knows," she said softly. "There are rumors that before he was transferred here, he fell hard for a woman who turned out to be a reality deviant. The story splits here. Some say she rejected him, others that he had to destroy her, or he tried to get her into Conditioning and she failed. I've heard a few say she's still alive and well, and while she didn't reject Jynx, she moved on and he hasn't."
"Deep," Wulf said. "So does that happen often? Relationships between deviant and Tech?"
"Rarely, actually, and it's not allowed either. The woman Jynx fell for should have been one of ours. She held a PhD, was a logical thinker, so on, so forth. Jynx met her on accident when she was transferred for a teaching job to the town he was in." Lexx replied.
"Weird. I hated my teachers in school."
"I can guess," Rue and Lexx said together. There was another uncomfortable silence and then Wulf cleared his throat.
"Well, um, thanks for the drink, Lexx. I'll see you both later."
"That's 'be seein' you'!" they shouted together as Wulf shut the door. The moment the door was closed; Lexx and Rue were in each other's arms, their lips meeting passionately for a moment before they broke, their foreheads resting together.
"Thank God he's gone," Lexx whispered, stealing another kiss. Rue nodded before she joined Lexx on the futon. Lexx's hands removed the blazer in a few swift movements. The thin material of her blouse did not stop the heat from his hands from reaching her back. She could taste the beer in his kiss, but it was pleasant to her. His lips moved from her lips to her neck hungrily, sucking just slightly. Rue closed her eyes as her fingers ran through his hair, enjoying the feeling of the gelled tips tickling her palm. Her nails dragged along his scalp and Lexx reacted by holding her closer. Tingles shot like electric up her spine as he did and her insides melted. Lexx kissed up her neck and along her jaw to her ear, his warm breath tickling her ear. He held her close enough that Rue could not tell which heart was beating faster, hers or his. "So beautiful," he whispered to her. Rue smiled warmly,
"It's so wonderful to hear you say that." She kissed him and he let his fingers tangle themselves in her hair.
"There's so much I want to tell you, Melonie." His beautiful blue gaze met hers and she was stunned by the intensity in them. The look was not wolfish, but there was a passion there that could not be denied. "I want to do so much with you-hell for you." Rue raised a brow and kissed him again, just briefly.
"What are you talking about?" She asked, letting her lips roam over his face and neck.
"There's this little cove near San Francisco," he explained. "The sunsets there are breath taking. I want to take you there, let you see the sunset and the waterfall and the whales." His hands slid over her hips, clawing slightly for just a hint of what was on his mind, but his eyes remained on hers. "Take you there besides a little, controlled, campfire." Rue's smile stayed on her lips, but left her eyes.
"You had to bring up fire now?" Lexx grinned and licked her lower lip.
"I happen to be an excellent eagle scout, I'll have you know."
"Then let me see your merit badges," Rue giggled before pulling him in for another kiss, just as her cellular phone rang. With a groan, she grabbed the discarded blazer and drew the phone from an inner pocket.
"Rue," she answered simply. No one called her on the phone but her fellow team members.
"Where are you?" Jynx, the man had perfect timing, or the worst, depending on how one looked at the situation. Rue rolled her eyes, but kept her tone even.
"I just returned from Psych Ops."
"That was fifteen minutes ago, Rue. Where is your report? Where are you to report in?"
"I am home." She hated lying, but telling him where she was would raise too many questions.
"I expect you here in five minutes or my directors will be angry, and you don't want that anymore than I do."
"Five minutes," Rue confirmed and hung up with an apologetic look to Lexx.
"That bastard," Lexx growled. "Will you come back tonight?"
"Yes," she replied, dressing and pulling her hair back in a ponytail. She gave him one last kiss before leaving with a regretful sigh.
Fire, she had hated it since she was a child. She had watched her apartment burn to the ground without reason; since she had listened as her little brother had burned to death. His pre-pubescent screams still haunted her. Now fire surrounded her and even her extensive training could not stop the flames from compromising her mission.
"Rue!" One of her associates, a man by the name of Lexx, shouted to her through the flames. Rue could not reply, the fire was going to get to her hair, to her clothes, it would crisp her skin and she would die with the scent of her own flesh shoved up her nose. Lexx jumped through the flames and grabbed her. "Rue!" he screamed, smacking her across the face to break her trance.
And then the world exploded. Lexx and Rue were sent flying through the air as flames, smoke, and debris swirled around them like a hellish tornado. For a moment Rue saw the stars through the roof of the warehouse building and the soft light of the moon. She reached for it dumbly, as if she could grab a star to hold on to. Instead, she and Lexx fell into the inferno below them. Lexx pulled her close, and she clung to him as they fell.
Rue shook her head violently. She would have plenty of time to discuss the dream in a few minutes. Agent Simon Lexx was the reason she was in this room in the first place. She had told him, thinking that talking about the dream would make her feel better about it; instead it had made Lexx worry. Her fear of fire was something from her old life, something she should have forgotten when she became Enlightened. It did not matter what the dream was truly about, the fact she still feared it was a cause for concern. Her Conditioning might be coming undone and that was simply something that could not happen.
Rue jumped slightly as the far door opened and Lexx emerged. He wore his mirror shades, which made it impossible to tell what he was feeling. His dark brown hair was cut short on the sides and back, spiking slightly at the top. When he had first come to the New World Order, he had been highlighted blond, but had soon dropped the habit. There were more important things to worry about with Reality Deviants running around. His square jaw was firm and his Greek perfection lips were passive. His suit was cut perfectly to accent broad shoulders and a narrow waist. He walked to Rue as if he had learned to walk from a hunting cat.
"They're ready for you," he told her. She looked at him. Rue had thought it best to keep her mirror shades off, but now she was reconsidering.
"I guess it's pointless to ask what you told them."
"You already know. Go on, Rue. I'll be waiting for you when you get out." He touched her shoulder.
"Agent Rue," an Asian woman in a black pant suit snapped from the door. Rue nodded to Lexx and approached the woman.
"Agent Rue, reporting," she said dryly. The woman led her into a more comfortable looking room. It hosted a black leather couch and chair with a stainless steel and glass coffee table in between them. Beyond that, a stainless steel desk with a second black leather chair. A few paintings hung in the room, but they were black and white and post modern and Rue had always had a taste for landscape photos.
"Agent Rue, I am Dr. Yuni. Do you know why you're here?" Dr. Yuni sat in the chair, gesturing Rue to sit on the couch, which the agent happily did.
"Agent Lexx was concerned about a dream I had a few nights ago."
"That's correct. Agent Lexx is concerned that your childhood fear of fire will affect your field work. I don't have to explain to you why this is such a concern."
"He's suggesting I need to go back to Conditioning?"
"Right now that's not your concern. The fear of fire is actually human, and there are some things that even Room 101 can't fix. That is what I am here to do. Right now, I am not recommending you go back to Conditioning and that's all you need to worry yourself with. I would, however, like to have a talk with you." Rue wondered if she could actually say no. "Would you like to tell me when you started having your fear of fire?"
"It was when I was still in grade school and still on the Front Lines. A fire broke out in our apartment building. My younger brother and I got separated in the chaos and the smoke. I managed to escape into the hallway and the firemen carried me out, but they never found my brother. They think he had tried to escape out of the bedroom window, but had gotten trapped. I've been afraid of it ever since. I can't even get near a candle without getting nervous."
"Interesting," Dr. Yuni made a few notes. "Was this addressed in you Conditioning."
"Briefly. It was explained to me that some Devients can throw fire. It was assumed that I would learn to keep my head through experience."
"And have you?"
"I have not encountered fire on the field yet. Most of my work so far has been simply research."
"I see. And you have not taken it upon yourself to rid yourself of this fear?"
"I don't know how, I thought I would grow out of it."
"For most people, this would be forgivable, but you are not most people. You are an agent of the Ivory Tower and must be stronger, better, faster."
"And that, gentleman is the goal. We have the technology!" Rue said, dropping her voice to sound slightly masculine. Dr. Yuni, if the joke was received, made no mention of humor.
"That is what I get paid to do. Right now I do not see a need for sending you back through Conditioning, they did not address the fear there and they will not again. Rather I would like you to report here weekly to work on this fear. We will start simply and work on ridding you of the fear or at least stopping it from paralyzing you."
"Does that mean what I think it does?"
"What do you think it means?" Dr. Yuni asked calmly, her dark eyes meeting Rue's gray eyes calmly.
"I think it means you're going to put me in a room full of candles and watch me panic." Dr. Yuni nodded.
"We'll start slow, one or two candles in front of you. It will teach you to get used to being around fire." Dr. Ynui made a note before going to her desk. "You are free to go." Rue suddenly found she had mysteriously lost her patellae. She remained frozen on the couch as Dr. Yuni raised a brow.
"The simple thought scares you?"
"I'll be all right. I have to get over this fear, don't I?" Shakily, Rue stood and left the room. Lexx, as he had promised, was waiting for her in the blank room.
"Well?" He asked, his voice was concerned.
"She wants me to come back once a week. She's going to have me spend time around candles to try and get me used to fire. She thinks it will break my fear."
"You don't look so sure."
"Does it matter? I'm not the one that was hired for my knowledge of the mind." Lexx hugged her gently.
"Want to head home?" he asked gently.
"Please." Lexx stroked her blonde hair gently and lead her out of the room.
The Psych Ops wing had been set apart from the rest of the P.R.E Complex (Paranormal Restriction and Elimination to other Technocrats and Plastic Renovations and Expansions to the outside world), which itself was relatively hidden by the soaring peaks of the Rocky Mountains. A gardened brick path was bathed in sunlight and the day was perfect outside. It was a pity that most of the agents that swarmed the complex were inside, looking for Reality Deviants who had not managed to rid the world of themselves. The sun soothed Rue's nerves, or maybe it was the fact that Lexx was beside her. She was not afraid to admit that she had feelings for Lexx: in fact the two of them shared their feelings frequently in private. The head of their team, Agent Greg Jynx, had made clear that he was not accepting of the idea of inter-office relationships, which made the relationship dangerous. There were rumors that he was simply bitter and that a woman he had cared for had been a Deviant and Jynx had been forced to destroy her.
No one was brave enough to ask him.
Rue suspected that Lexx wished they could announce the relationship, but both of them put the mission before their personal lives. Together they entered the main building of the complex, working their way to the exit across the marble floor of the main level. Upstairs the other agents and technocrats would be working on locating Deviants or creating clones, or messing with accounts, or any other number of things that Rue was not interested in thinking about. She, Lexx, Jynx, and the two remaining members of her group had just gotten back from a mission, and she was more than ready to relax in her apartment with a beer and romantic comedy. Control help Jynx if he thought for one minute she would rush to give him her oral report.
"Lexx! Rue! Wait up!"
Both agents froze and suppressed groans. The newest member of their team, Agent Darrel Wulf, was jogging towards them, black hair tied back in a ponytail. Wulf had not, like Rue or Lexx, been pulled from the Front Lines. He was a restored Deviant. He had once been a member of the Virtual Adapts, but a run-in with Jynx, Rue, Lexx, Smith, and Augustis had made him realize that the way for him to get ahead in the world would be to join the defenders of reality. It had been when Smith had died in the field that Wulf had gotten assigned to Jynx's team. Already he was a burr to Rue, the only female member of Jynx's team.
"Hello, Agent Wulf," Lexx said formally. Wulf nodded to him and looked at Rue.
"Hello," she said blandly.
"Where are you two off to?" he asked. Rue glanced at Lexx, who still wore his mirror shades. It was impossible to tell what he had planned, but from experience and his body language, Rue could tell he had not planned for others to be involved.
"Just back to relax and enjoy the luxuries of the P.R.E. housing," Rue answered. Wulf laughed too much at the bad joke. While the Complex did provide housing to the Techs on it, the housing was only a few steps above college dormitories. They were one room apartments with the kitchen, living room, and bedroom sharing one general area. The only privacy in the rooms was the bathrooms which, to Rue's happiness, since she still enjoyed practices like make-up and home facials and curling her hair, were private. There were narrow windows that sometimes had a good view and sometimes did not which did not have blinds or curtains. Rue, having grown up in crowded Boston, did not complain about the housing, but she heard others like Wulf express frustration.
"Mind if I join you? I just got out of a meeting with Jynx, and I could use a drink!" Lexx shrugged,
"All I've got is cheap stuff at my place."
"I haven't had a chance to do shopping since we got back. I think I have a mouthful of cranberry juice and that's it," Rue added.
"Well Lexx," Wulf clapped him on the shoulder. "You seem to be a generous host." Rue could not help but laugh at Lexx's flinch.
"Beer me!" Wulf cried out as he jumped over the top of Lexx's black futon and sprawled across the seat. Rue smiled encouragingly to Lexx as he removed his glasses. She stopped to admire his crystal blue gaze before helping him get beer and the few snacks he had. The kitchens of P.R.E housing were little more than aisles with stove and microwave above each other, a sink, a drying rack, and a refrigerator that was too large to be called a mini-fridge, but too small to be considered normal size. The rest was left to counters and cupboards. Lexx and Rue "accidentally" bumped into each other often in the scramble to get beers out and along with whatever random snack foods Lexx had around.
Wulf moved his legs only to let Rue sit next to him as she sat on the floor rug and handed him a beer. He took a swig and cringed,
"You weren't kidding. Cheap, cheap, cheap."
"You don't like it, go drink your own stuff," Lexx replied, sitting in the recently vacated spot. There was a moment of tense silence.
"So what is Jynx's deal?" Wulf asked. Lexx and Rue met eyes and Rue nodded.
"No on knows," she said softly. "There are rumors that before he was transferred here, he fell hard for a woman who turned out to be a reality deviant. The story splits here. Some say she rejected him, others that he had to destroy her, or he tried to get her into Conditioning and she failed. I've heard a few say she's still alive and well, and while she didn't reject Jynx, she moved on and he hasn't."
"Deep," Wulf said. "So does that happen often? Relationships between deviant and Tech?"
"Rarely, actually, and it's not allowed either. The woman Jynx fell for should have been one of ours. She held a PhD, was a logical thinker, so on, so forth. Jynx met her on accident when she was transferred for a teaching job to the town he was in." Lexx replied.
"Weird. I hated my teachers in school."
"I can guess," Rue and Lexx said together. There was another uncomfortable silence and then Wulf cleared his throat.
"Well, um, thanks for the drink, Lexx. I'll see you both later."
"That's 'be seein' you'!" they shouted together as Wulf shut the door. The moment the door was closed; Lexx and Rue were in each other's arms, their lips meeting passionately for a moment before they broke, their foreheads resting together.
"Thank God he's gone," Lexx whispered, stealing another kiss. Rue nodded before she joined Lexx on the futon. Lexx's hands removed the blazer in a few swift movements. The thin material of her blouse did not stop the heat from his hands from reaching her back. She could taste the beer in his kiss, but it was pleasant to her. His lips moved from her lips to her neck hungrily, sucking just slightly. Rue closed her eyes as her fingers ran through his hair, enjoying the feeling of the gelled tips tickling her palm. Her nails dragged along his scalp and Lexx reacted by holding her closer. Tingles shot like electric up her spine as he did and her insides melted. Lexx kissed up her neck and along her jaw to her ear, his warm breath tickling her ear. He held her close enough that Rue could not tell which heart was beating faster, hers or his. "So beautiful," he whispered to her. Rue smiled warmly,
"It's so wonderful to hear you say that." She kissed him and he let his fingers tangle themselves in her hair.
"There's so much I want to tell you, Melonie." His beautiful blue gaze met hers and she was stunned by the intensity in them. The look was not wolfish, but there was a passion there that could not be denied. "I want to do so much with you-hell for you." Rue raised a brow and kissed him again, just briefly.
"What are you talking about?" She asked, letting her lips roam over his face and neck.
"There's this little cove near San Francisco," he explained. "The sunsets there are breath taking. I want to take you there, let you see the sunset and the waterfall and the whales." His hands slid over her hips, clawing slightly for just a hint of what was on his mind, but his eyes remained on hers. "Take you there besides a little, controlled, campfire." Rue's smile stayed on her lips, but left her eyes.
"You had to bring up fire now?" Lexx grinned and licked her lower lip.
"I happen to be an excellent eagle scout, I'll have you know."
"Then let me see your merit badges," Rue giggled before pulling him in for another kiss, just as her cellular phone rang. With a groan, she grabbed the discarded blazer and drew the phone from an inner pocket.
"Rue," she answered simply. No one called her on the phone but her fellow team members.
"Where are you?" Jynx, the man had perfect timing, or the worst, depending on how one looked at the situation. Rue rolled her eyes, but kept her tone even.
"I just returned from Psych Ops."
"That was fifteen minutes ago, Rue. Where is your report? Where are you to report in?"
"I am home." She hated lying, but telling him where she was would raise too many questions.
"I expect you here in five minutes or my directors will be angry, and you don't want that anymore than I do."
"Five minutes," Rue confirmed and hung up with an apologetic look to Lexx.
"That bastard," Lexx growled. "Will you come back tonight?"
"Yes," she replied, dressing and pulling her hair back in a ponytail. She gave him one last kiss before leaving with a regretful sigh.
