DISCLAIMER: The setting and characters belong to CBS, a production company or two, and pretty much anyone who isn't me; I do this for fun and not profit and I only really own any non-'Moonlight types and the story itself. Well, that and a new addiction to the show. ;O)
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
Summary: Samantha has decided to let her hair down with a few pals; who heard of grown women having a sleepover, and would she have been better telling Mick and Josef what she was up to?
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COMPLICATIONS
Chapter Three - Sleepover
Sam decided all work and no play was making her boring; not only boring, but cranky and decidedly tired. She felt it was about time she let her hair down again. Sam rang round her buddies and indeed they were all up for it; most thought it'd be a scream.
Ellie wasn't sure about the idea Sam had had, but as her aunt's friends (and by default some of the mothers of her own friends) wanted to go along with it too she felt she could hardly object. Thankfully with her own friends' mothers being involved at least they couldn't laugh at her about it.
Sam never told Mick or Josef; she merely said that Friday night at her place was out of bounds. She'd long got used to Mick suddenly dropping by; whether by his own choice or Josef's urgings she wasn't always sure. But either way it would not be this Friday.
Of course the more she reiterated neither of them could come, the more their curiosity was piqued.
In light of the conversation she'd had with Mick the night of the movie, he was particularly intrigued with her little cloak and dagger stunt.
Josef, knowing which way his friend's fevered imagination could go, pointed out she was not a vampire; they'd have noticed for God's sake!
The usual smell of decay; the not eating in particular would've been a little bit of a giveaway. Plus she now had….pets (he'd said the word with distaste; Josef really didn't see the point of animals in the home – well, not unless they were a snack).
A spaniel cross called Dopey and a Siamese mix called Mischief now resided with Sam and Ellie; rescued from an abusive owner who badly mistreated them.
Mick felt their names were very apt mainly because both were the exact match with their characters. Sam and little girl adored them both, and it was well known that vampires couldn't be trusted with household pets.
Mick had grudgingly agreed; but his instinct was telling him there was more to Sam than met the eye.
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So here he and Josef were standing at her door on the forbidden night (Mick had refused to face the expected wrath of Sam alone). They could hear music and loud laughter as well as…..singing.
Mick grinned at the disbelieving look on Josef's face; it looked as if Ellie was having another sleepover, which in itself would be an education for his friend. However, that didn't explain why he and Josef were banned.
Mick knocked on the door to find it opened by a dark haired woman in pyjamas; he spotted Sam standing in one corner of the room, also dressed in her pyjamas (as were all the other women in the small apartment he noted, slightly bemused).
Spotting him and Josef as they entered the apartment followed by the grinning greeter, the other women flocked over, as did Sam. Who was managing, Josef was impressed to note, to be both embarrassed and angry.
A blond woman rushed over "Hey the pizza guy!" then she spotted Josef "and he brought a friend!"
Sam couldn't stifle the smile as she answered her friend "No, Dana it's not."
"Oops, sorry!" Dana grinned; obviously not sorry at all.
Mick shrugged "don't worry, I get that a lot." Sam couldn't stifle the smile as Mick gave her a knowing look; they both remembered the first time they met at Ellie's sleepover.
Josef merely looked bemused by all the lecherous human females in one place, and kept glancing at the door like he was thinking of making a run for it.
This many strange women in one place was a little disconcerting even for him. The one thing he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was that all women were unpredictable, whether vampire or human; however at least vampire women had the wisdom of decades (if not centuries) of experiences on their side.
Another woman, a redhead, smiled at Mick in a way that didn't make him comfortable as she breathed "oh I bet you get a lot of things honey!"
Sam slapped her arm "Louise, behave! This is one of my bosses!"
The greeter looked impressed "the guy with all the money?"
"N-o, this is the PI boss, Alice; Mick St.John." She indicated Josef "this is the businessman."
"Oh" suddenly Alice didn't seem so keen to be friends with Mick.
"Sorry to disappoint you" Mick nodded.
"S'alright" she shrugged "she's says you're a bit friendlier than him anyway." She nodded at Josef, but then grinned at the older vampire before being dragged away by another blond woman.
"Oh I bet Mick's a friendly boy!" Louise crowed. Sam punched her arm this time and for two reasons; one because she didn't think her friends should be talking like this to the men who employed her.
The second was because she did not want Josef thinking she didn't like him. He was an extremely enigmatic man; someone who definitely played his cards close to his chest. But she felt a lot of his disinterest was feigned to ensure people didn't get too close.
Despite all this she genuinely liked him; she didn't want him to think otherwise.
"OUCH!" a tipsy Louise glowered at her friend "What? I'm just saying is all!"
"Well don't – don't say anything; in fact don't speak at all, not until they've left anyway." She glared at both men once more "which is what they're doing right now."
Before either she, Mick or Josef could move, Louise had grabbed Mick's arm; intent on revenge, she knew that last swipe would leave a bruise in the morning, she thought it only fair she got her own back.
Sam knew how to use her fists; but Louise was too drunk to care "oh no pal 'o mine" she leered at the three before her "if both your bosses have come all this way for a little….cha,t the least we can do is let them stay."
Sam closed her eyes and both Mick and Josef could hear her counting to ten under her breath. Finally she looked at Louise with a glare that would curdle milk "I swear you will neverdrink another margarita as long as you live! Honestly, it brings out the devil in you!"
"More like the slut!" Alice giggled "and to think you're on Megan's school's PTA!"
"Hey I resent that!" Louise retorted and then giggled "I'm more a naughty little flirt!" she waved a hand "PTA, meh, who cares BOF's the lot of them!"
"BOF's?" Josef arched an eyebrow at Sam, utterly enjoying her discomfiture. She rarely let her guard down with him at work, and he was a little jealous of the camaraderie she'd developed with Mick.
Sam tried desperately to will away the blush she could feel burning it's way across her face "boring old farts" she muttered.
"Sorry?" Josef managed to keep a straight face, but would never know how "I didn't quite catch that."
Sam gave him a look that would quell an army, and he was momentarily glad he was a vampire; otherwise the look would've struck him down on the spot.
"BORING.OLD.FARTS!" she all but yelled at him.
Before either could say more, or Mick could stop his friend from tempting fate with her temper, Louise sallied forth again "come on over here, big boys – I'm just a naughty little flirt!" She batted her eyelids at both men.
"You're going to be a dead one in a minute, I can guarantee you that!" Sam grumbled as Dana led the drunken reprobate away.
She turned on Mick and Josef "what?! What is it now that couldn't wait until the morning? It had better be something good – a dead body, Godzilla on the loose, Josef not knowing what colour shirt goes with his new Armani suit…..?"
"Hey!" Josef retorted "I resent that! I have impeccable taste thank you very much – I do not need your help in dressing!"
"only undressing and get a cond…….." Louise didn't get any further as Dana slapped a hand over her mouth.
"I don't think Sam here would appreciate what you were about to say, Louise!" she grinned ruefully.
Sam threw her friend a grateful look and arched an eyebrow at Mick and Josef "so, come on; who died?"
Mick knew this wasn't going to go well: Josef seemed keen to leave him to it having now defended his dress sense "no one."
"Then why are you here?" Sam's voice had gone very quiet and he figured maybe she wasn't thatangry anymore.
Until Janey, Sam's best friend, chuckled "uh oh Mick, head for them thar hills; when our little Sammy goes all quiet like that it means she's saving her strength to kill you."
"Yeah, and she don't mean the jokey type of kill you" Louise nodded as she freed herself from her friend's grasp "she means literally take your life."
The irony of what they were saying was not lost on Mick and Josef who couldn't stifle the smirks as they shared a look.
"This is funny to you?!!" Sam suddenly bit out "gate-crashing my girls night party, when I had expressly asked you both not to, is funny?!"
"No!" but Mick couldn't lose the grin "well, yes" he saw the killer glare, took in her fists twitching "but only your pyjamas!" he added quickly.
She glanced down "oh yeah I can see why a pair of shortie pyjamas is hilarious" she pointed to herself "look at me, I'm hysterical!"
Josef finally spoke "Well you have to admit a pair of black pyjamas with the slogan "if I wanted your opinion, I'd just study your entrails" written on them in" he leant forward to inspect the words "what I hope is red paint."
He smirked at Sam, who rolled her eyes "No Mr Konstantin, it's human blood; I'm really a vampire!" The other girls all laughed.
Mick couldn't stop the smile at the irony of the situation 'if only they knew' he thought.
Josef grinned as he waved a hand at Sam "oh come on Sam, after seeing you in your pyjies I think you can call me Josef."
Janey, sensing her friend's temper was about to get the better of her usual rigid control, darted over and grabbed Sam's fist just as she was about to take a swing.
Giving her friend a warning smile, she dug up an excuse to separate her from the two men she apparently wanted to kill "Sam come over here and make some coffee I think some of us could do with it" she nodded her head at Louise, who was now draping herself all over Mick "lotsof it."
Sam sighed deeply as she tried to reign in her temper, flexed her hand and wandered over to the kitchen area. Josef followed "we seem to have upset you with our presence. I'm sorry." He didn't soundsorry at all.
Sam glowered at him, which merely seemed to amuse him more as he smirked. Then she noticed his eyes flick to her hand; Mick too appeared suddenly beside her.
"You alright?" he sounded concerned.
Sam was confused "why wouldn't I be?"
Alice, seeing that Sam wouldn't bury them…for now at least, wandered back to the rest of the motley crew; who were mainly muttering about what a "lucky stiff" she was working with twos such "stud muffins".
The 'stud muffins' concerned studiously ignored the comments whilst they devoted their attention to Sam.
Josef lifted her hands and turned them over "you dohave a temper don't you?" nodding his head at the little cuts in her palms from her fingernails.
"How did you know?" she asked but before either man could think of an excuse, her eyes suddenly widened "oh my God!"she hissed "you smelt the blood; you're vampires!"
Josef and Mick exchanged shocked looks; how in the hell did she work that out?
Josef's grip tightened on her wrist "how do you know?"
Sam gave them a shaky look "I just do." She took a deep breath "you should go; my friends are here for a girls night, not Halloween. Leave."
Josef, wary about humans knowing their secret, was not about to let it lie at that. He tugged her close and muttered in her ear "I want the truth – how do you know we exist?"
Sam wriggled away, as the other girls whistled and cooed at them. "My secret; yours is just as safe with me. I've known about vamps a long time and told no one, I'm not about to start now."
Mick pulled him away and headed for the door, plastering a smile onto his face "ladies – I'm sure we'll meet again."
"In my dreams tonight, if I'm lucky!" cooed Louise.
Josef grabbed Sam at the door "I want to know, if not tonight, then soon."
Sam shrugged; her eyes turning arctic "my secret – not yours. Not telling. Live with it."
She shut the door in his face. He turned to Mick "well?"
"You said she wasn't a vampire like us – so right back at you." He sighed "I don't know."
Josef paled slightly "you don't think she's a…..hunter, do you?"
Mick shook his head "no, I don't think so. She'd have twigged sooner; but there is more to this than we're seeing."
Josef shook his head "why is life so damn difficult?"
Mick patted his shoulder with a rueful shrug "because the longer you live the more complicated it gets?"
Josef shot him a wry look "oh gee thanks, that's a comfort!" then he sighed "what was it she said about a curve ball?"
Mick nodded "we certainly got a doozy tonight."
"Wanna come back for a drink?" Mick nodded.
As they climbed into Josef's town car both men knew sleep would be a long time coming tonight.
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Back in her apartment; Sam leant against the door, pushed down the feeling of dread that everything was about to get a whole lot more complicated and plastered a smile onto her face.
She turned to her friends "right girls; let's get some coffee down Louise before she tries to jump the real pizza guy when he arrives!"
She wouldn't worry about her bosses; tonight was for fun. She been tossed a curved ball, but she mustn't drop the bat.
She'd cross the bridge that was the wrath of Josef tomorrow; even if it was on fire. She smiled at the bad choice of words. Fire; it changed a lot of things didn't it? It also killed vampires; she knew that for a fact.