anything in italics is the thought of the person
Chapter 1.
Shalimar leaned back into the frothy mass of jasmine scented bubbles and sighed in contentment as the hot steamy water went to work loosening the taut muscles in her back.
"Never again," mumbled the blonde as she closed her eyes and slid further down under the water, "Never again will I trust Brennan when he says it's a great house. It just needs a little tender love and care." Tender Love and Care my ass..
Fumbling she found the remote control to the cd player on the long low bench beside the porcelain tub and turned the soft Celtic music up until it filled her senses. Rest. Good Old Fashioned Rest. As her body unwound she slowly fell asleep reliving the painful experience of the last few days.
===============================================
Flashback:
"Damn it Brennan get the hell out of the bathroom! There is no way you can still be doing your goddamn hair! It's less than a tenth the length mine is and I have to go pee!"
"Look if you got up earlier then I wouldn't have you complaining every single morning now would I Lexa? Why don't you just wait your turn? If you don't want to wait then next time you can do this weird thing by trying to wake up before me."
"GET OUT OF THERE BRENNAN!"
"NO WAY LEXA."
- -
Across the room, to the right, behind a closed door, a pair of hazel eyes fluttered open. The moment they registered the reason for their being awake a look of annoyance flashed across the face of the owner of the eyes which quickly lighted up bright gold for a few seconds and then dimmed back down to their original color and state. Not again. Tawny blonde hair slid down over the girl's face as she stood up and reached for the doorknob that led to the interruption in her sleep. I'm going to kill those two.
After pulling on a pair of boxers and her tank top she followed instinct and got ready to battle. Why they had to fight over the shower every single day was beyond her considering cleanliness really didn't matter in this rat-hole. Just as her fingers grasped the doorknob, the pounding of Lexa's fists started against the door, and Shalimar could feel the beginning of a headache coming on.
- -
At the sound of a door creaking open Lexa turned to see who it was. Damn it! Lexa spun quickly and headed for her room before she got caught for waking up the non-morning happy feral. I'm not getting blamed for it this time. Brennan can take the heat. Hell, he'll probably enjoy it. Her black hair whipped around her face as she found safety in the doorway of the so called kitchen where Jesse was attempting to smear jelly on a piece of toast with out dropping either the bread or the jelly jar onto the unfinished floor. I'll shower later.
- -
The feral slipped around the corner and smiled as she saw the dark haired girl try to slip into the kitchen without being obvious. I'll take care of her later. Smiling Shalimar sidled up to the bathroom door and used the master key she had made the day before when she went to work to open the lock and step into the steam filled room. Brennan was still in the shower. Good. It would make it easier for her to get back at him in the worst possible way.
- -
Brennan smiled as he turned his back to the shower head and let the water work on his taut shoulder muscles. Lexa must have finally given up. Good. At least we didn't wake up Shal this time. He shuddered. Last time they'd woken up Shal early in the morning by yelling over the shower she'd broken at least three of his ribs before letting him apologize. Brennan smiled. It'd hurt like a bitch but afterwards it was kind of nice to have Shal tape up the very ribs she had just broken.
Brennan was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the slim golden arm sneaking into the shower and turning the temperature knob for the water all the way to freezing. He did however, realize his mistake when he leapt out of the shower, fully nude, after the first swish of ice cold water had hit his back.
"What the hell!" he shouted as he looked around the tiny room until he saw the tawny haired female leaning against the door. "Shal, that was so not right honey. You do realize that you will have to be punished for that right sweetheart?", he said with a waggle of his eyebrows and a suggestive smile as he held out a hand to her. Still laughing the blonde walked into his arms and allowed herself to be completely soaked by his wet body walking back into the shower.
Brennan grinned as he covered Shalimar's face with tiny kisses in the shower. They'd had so little time together lately. It seemed like theywere always just saying hello a minute before they had to say goodbye. All of them were managing to hold down two jobs each just to be able to pay for this dump of a hotel room. There had to be something better. Somewhere they could call home again. Somewhere where Shal wouldn't have to hold down two shitty jobs in order to pay part of the extremely high rent; and dammit he was going to find it.
"Brennan! Come on. We have ten minutes to get to the worksite or we're late again. And if we're late again you know what Johnny is going to say..." Jesse's voice trailed off from outside the door; with an apologetic kiss to the top of Shalimar's head Brennan climbed out of the shower and threw on his work jeans and t-shirt. "Alright man, I'm coming!"
-----
continued in chapter 2...