a/n: wow has it been awhile since I've done any writing. I apologize once again for a) changing the second chapter for what I believe is the third time now and b) for not updating sooner. This is somewhat a/u, and by that I mean that everything up to season three happened. After this it's all a world of my own creation, except for the typical disclaimers.
Summer part one
The air was hot and sticky, almost palpable against ones skin. She was wearing a slip dress of the lightest silk, the soft fabric sticking just a little to her slightly damp skin. She was standing in the middle of a large group of people, mostly men, as she recounted some anecdote or another. She effortlessly held the attention of her entire audience as they were mesmerized by her beauty, words and grace.
Her appearance had not radically altered over the years, and so at a shallow glance, she seemed to be surrounded by an air of innocence. Look deeper though and one could see a woman who understood the darker sides of human nature, a woman who had been hurt by some and in return had hurt others. Where once she was naïve and believing in the goodness of others, now there stood a woman who was as calculating and manipulative as all those whom she had once despised. Her eyes, which had shone with a pure and untainted spirit once, now looked on the world with cynicism and disdain. A girl who had been warm and loving had been corrupted by the big bad world and was now as cold as ice, maintaining a perfect social manner. The only trace of heat was in her eyes, where if one looked beyond the cool and collected demeanour, one could see a simmering passion and if one listened could hear the promise of pleasure in the darkness of night.
He was never sure how it came to be that she had changed so much. Over the years he had heard rumours, stories, of who she had become, but had dismissed them as impossible, a case of mistaken identity. When he returned home that summer, he heard that she was to be there as well, spending time with her maternal family. The first time he had bumped into her he instantly knew that the rumours had been true. One look with his well trained eye and he could see past the veneer of seeming innocence to who she really was. Although briefly disappointed at the loss of a teenage fantasy, he was secretly pleased with this new woman. For in her he had found a worthy adversary; someone who, by all accounts, a female version of himself. From their first meeting, their mutual attraction had been obvious, but neither was willing to be the first to give in. So for the whole hot, long summer, they had been playing, teasing one another, trying to make the other be the one to break. It was getting harder and harder not to do it, but pride demanded that she be the one to succumb to him.