WARNING: This chapter contains an explicit dance sequence with strong sexual connotations. Please read at your own discretion.

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"Stop scowling," Kitty admonished as Thea stared at her reflection in the mirror critically.

"This is a very bad idea," Thea said, feeling an impending sense of doom.

"You're being melodramatic. It doesn't suit you," Kitty countered. "You look great."

Although Thea's face held an expression of uncertainty, the rest of her body looked like she knew exactly what she was doing. After much debate, Kitty and Thea agreed on Thea wearing a light pink form-fitting floral top. It had no plunging neck line but instead had the horizontal cut of a tube top but with thin pink satin ribbons that came up around the neck and crossed at the back. Thea had picked out her dark blue boot-cut jeans and black boots to accompany the top. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail because she knew the club would be hot and crowded, and she had no desire to feel sweaty hair on the back of her neck. Kitty had insisted she wear some earrings, and Thea reluctantly agreed on some dangly silver ones. Kitty had wanted to put some make-up on Thea, but Thea adamantly refused. That created another mini fight, but Kitty finally threw her hands up and said something along the lines of "Warren probably thinks you're hot when you look like a slob." Although Thea won the fight, Kitty's comment only made Thea more aware of her appearance.

Thea's time of hating her body and wanting to be skinny and wishing she had a flat tummy and all those other stupid things advertised in women's magazines ended after her first quarter at Stanford. During the months in Wothington Labs, she had plenty of other things on her mind, such as escape, that drowned out any self image woes. And when she came to the mansion, she had zero interest in men and did not have all the self-consciousness accompanied by wanting to attract the attention of men. Warren was the first person Thea had romantic feelings for in years.

And now, once again, Thea had the luxury of excess energy to hate her body but the experience to know it was a waste of time. But just because she knew it was a waste of time didn't mean she had no doubts about her appearance. Her hair was showing its dark brown roots, and she hadn't bothered to re-dye it purple yet. Her cheeks were chubbier than she would have liked, her thighs a bit too bulky, her stomach a bit too round, her arms a bit too big, and the list went on. Luckily, she knew that in the end a person liked you because of all that lovely sappy stuff on the inside since all that exterior stuff would eventually turn into flab and sags anyway.

And besides, Warren had already seen her with just her bra and panties on, and did not seem repulsed at all.

"Okay, enough with the narcissism," Kitty teased. "It's time to go."

Thea and Kitty met the rest of the group by the front door of the mansion. The guys, Bobby, Peter, and Warren were already there, along with Marie.

"Woah," Warren said quietly as Thea and Kitty greeted them.

"Thea, you look great," Bobby praised.

"Hot," Peter said. "And you look really hot," he added, addressing Kitty. Kitty was wearing a green top with thin straps and a deep neckline along with black pants and black sandals.

Kitty smiled goofily and thanked Peter.

Thea tried very hard not to snicker at the antics of the new couple. "Thanks," she said quietly to Bobby and to an already distracted Peter.

"Ah love tha' top on you," Marie said to Thea.

Thea was beginning to blush from all the praise. "Kitty got it for me. But you look stunning."

It was true. Marie was wearing a black tube top dress that fell to her knees and black heels. She was showing a lot of skin, and Thea guessed that was the intention. Undoubtedly Marie's feet would hurt like hell after an hour, but she looked damn good regardless.

"Hey everyone," Jubilee greeted.

Thea felt her small bit of confidence diminish at the sight of Jubilee. Dressed in knee-high boots, fishnet stockings, black skirt with wide pleats, a tight black tank top, her signature yellow jacket, and large silver hoop earrings, Jubilee looked smashing.

"Jube, you look great," Warren said easily.

A round of compliments went to Jubilee and the girls commented on how dashing the boys looked, and then it seemed everyone was ready to leave.

"So I'll meet you in the parking lot," Warren said, handing over a duffle bag to Bobby, who was going to be the driver.

"Yeah, we'll be there in about twenty minutes," Bobby said.

"Why aren't you coming with us?" Thea asked.

"The car can cram six, so I'm going to fly," Warren explained.

Just as Thea was going to say that she wanted to fly with him, he said knowingly, "It's too cold out there for you to fly with me."

Damn.

The group got into the car and Warren made his way to the rooftop. On the ride over, conversation started out with past clubbing experiences. None of the other people besides Thea and Jubilee had past clubbing experiences. It was an eye-opening revelation for Thea because although Bobby, Marie, Kitty and Peter went out saving the world from certain doom, they did not have typical young adult experiences.

"I went clubbing when I was like fourteen. I got a fake ID and I thought I was so cool to pretend to be eighteen," Jubilee said.

The group laughed as Jubilee told stories about times she almost got caught being underage.

"Thea, if you've gone clubbing before, how come you were so difficult when I was helping you dress?" Kitty asked.

Thea shrugged. "Clubbing, frat parties, drinking, all that stuff, it seems so long ago. I'm a different person now."

There was a polite silence until Bobby asked, "So how are frat parties?"

Thea entertained the group with stories from various frat parties she went to at Stanford during the rest of the trip to the club.

The club, it turned out, was in the mall Kitty and Thea had gone Christmas shopping in. It took up a large part of the second floor, and it was an eighteen and older club. Bobby parked the car and the group clamored outside. It was a very chilly night, and Thea was happy they were all wearing their winter coats.

Warren swooped down beside them as they got out.

"Hey guys," he said, smoke coming out of his mouth in the cold air and his cheeks red from the cold.

"Hey. Here you go," Bobby said, tossing the duffle bag to Warren.

"Thanks."

"What's going on?" Thea asked.

"I'm changing," Warren explained.

"What's wrong with what you have on?" Thea asked. Warren was wearing a blue sweater with the back cut to expose his wings and black pants.

"My wings show," Warren said, reaching behind his back to undo the snaps.

Thea frowned. "Is this club anti-mutant?" she asked.

"No, it's just a normal club. This is just a precaution," Warren said pulling his sweater off quickly and reaching for his bindings that he had in the duffle bag.

"Precaution?"

"Drunk people can get ugly. There's no telling what some random drunk asshole would do if my wings show. It's an unnecessary risk," Warren said, shivering in the cold and fumbling with the clasp of the bindings. "Shit, it's freezing out here, can you help me?" he asked Thea.

Thea frowned and backed away. "You shouldn't have to hide who you are," she said indignantly.

"Thea, I always do this when I go out anywhere in public. No matter what the laws are regarding tolerance towards mutants, people are scared by what's different, and I'm the poster child for different," Warren said irritably, still fumbling with the clasp. "Fuck," he muttered as he shivered.

"Here, let me help," Jubilee said, pushing Warren's hands away and using her warm hands to fasten his bindings. "This is a pretty cool contraption," she added as Warren pulled out a white tank top and put that on.

"Thanks," he muttered. He took out a black trench coat and shoved his sweater into the duffle bag. He put the trench coat on, effectively hiding any evidence of his wings. He tossed the duffle bag into the car.

Thea watched as Warren treated the whole experience like it was nothing. Why was she the only one who seemed pissed off? She understood his reasoning and she knew that he had a good point in binding his wings and hiding them from the public, but at the same time, the world shouldn't be a place where he felt compelled to do that! She was so pissed at…not at Warren but at…she didn't even know.

"Sorry for keeping everyone waiting," Warren said cheerfully, looking odd without his wings behind him. Thea knew he should have looked more normal this way, but to her, he just looked awful.

"No worries," Kitty said easily, trying to diffuse the obvious tension in the group.

By the time they got inside the club, it was around ten-twenty in the evening. The hip hop music that had been muffled outside as they had waited in line was loud and intoxicating. And, for a moment, Thea felt like she never left college.

"This is awesome!" Kitty screamed over the music as the group weaved through the crowds of people standing near the numerous bars.

Thea smiled at Kitty's enthusiasm. The club was thankfully not stuffy or humid; perhaps it was due to a combination of the cold outdoors and air conditioning. Peter led them successfully through the throngs of people and up a set of stairs to an empty table with a curved booth they could crowd around.

"Does anyone want anything to drink?" Warren asked. Warren was the only one old enough to buy the alcohol and had no qualms buying things for the rest of the group. They were, after all, ridiculously responsible people.

"I'd like a beer," Peter said. "It's stupid how I can't order it myself."

Peter, being Russian, could drink alcohol like it was water and had complained earlier in the car about how he had been drinking alcohol (responsibly, of course) since he was a young teenager.

"One more year," Kitty said encouragingly.

Peter smirked at sat down at the table, dragging Kitty down with him.

"Can I have a sex on the beach?" Jubilee said to Warren.

"Sure," Warren said. "Do you want anything?" he asked Thea.

Thea, who had been ignoring the entire conversation, turned to look at Warren. He seemed uneasy and wouldn't look her in the eyes. "No, thanks though," she said courteously. As he left to get drinks, Thea scolded herself on screwing up and making things awkward between them. She couldn't help it if she had strong opinions about things. She couldn't help it if she hated seeing Warren hide himself. But she should have kept quiet about it.

The group talked, or rather yelled, about their first impressions of the club. It was a pretty big place, but the fact that it was New Year's Eve probably made it more crowded. The lighting was dim and thankfully there was not too much strobe lighting, which was irritating in Thea's opinion. There was a bar stationed at one side of a large dance floor and another one upstairs where the seating was located. The DJ was in a corner mixing the latest hip hop tracks and screaming at the dancers to make some noise. The dance floor was packed with groups of girls dancing together, guys on the perimeter scoping out possible girls to dance with, and couples grinding to their hearts', and other bodily parts', content.

Thea thought grinding was stupid. She had occasionally done it during the frat parties at Stanford but she was always disgusted with the smell of alcohol on the guy's breath. It was always the same deal: the guy would approach Thea from behind, say she looked 'hott', touch her, and either she would consent to dancing with him or completely blow him off. Usually the guy would want to dance with her back against his chest, and Thea thought this position was so impersonal. Granted, dancing with drunk boys at frat parties did not lead to the expectation of something personal, but to Thea, dancing was personal. Grinding bodies against each other was personal. But Thea had walked away from each frat party feeling like she was selling out her beliefs, and she had gotten to the point where she no longer wanted to dance with boys. When she went to the club with a couple of girlfriends, the experience was much more fun.

"Here you go," Warren said as he returned with Peter's beer and Jubilee's mixed drink.

"You're not drinking anything?" Peter asked.

Warren shrugged. "Not in the mood," he said, sitting down next to Jubilee and across from Thea.

"I want to dance," Kitty said, nodding her head to the music. "C'mon girls, let's dance."

"Jubilee, we can wait for you to finish your drink," Marie said.

Jubilee shook her head and smiled. "It's totally fine. I'll see you out there in a bit," she said.

"Okay, sounds great. C'mon Thea," Kitty said, pushing her friend to get off the booth and onto the dance floor.

Thea relented and grabbed Kitty's hand as she led the way towards the dance floor, looking for an open space. When they finally got to an area where they could move around freely, the girls danced. Since she hadn't gone clubbing or partying in so long, she didn't know any of the songs the DJ was playing, but it didn't really matter. The beat washed over her and it was like the two year break from dancing never existed. It felt good to move like this again. When she finally felt settled into dancing to the hip hop music once again, she saw Kitty and Marie looking at her.

"Thea, you've been holdin' out on us," Marie said above the music.

"Yeah, Thea, you're a great dancer!" Kitty added.

Thea laughed. "Thanks, guys. You guys are really cute dancers," she yelled.

Marie and Kitty had very girlish styles of dancing to the hip hop music. Their arms hung loosely at their sides or were raised as fingers ran through their hair. There were small hip movements, lots of delicate swaying, and big smiles. Thea's dancing was more 'street', following the beat of the music with strong hip action and body rolls. She was putting it all out there because she didn't know when the next time would be when she would be able to dance like this again. Despite the air conditioning, the sweat eventually dripped down her forehead, her body was hot, and she felt so alive.

"This is so much fun!" Thea said happily.

Marie and Kitty beamed. "Aren't you glad I dragged you here?" Kitty said with a cocky smile.

Thea hugged Kitty spontaneously before continuing to dance. After two songs, a guy, probably in his mid twenties, asked Marie to dance. He was decent looking but obviously that didn't matter since Marie was with Bobby.

"No, thank you," Marie said politely.

"Aw, c'mon," the guy said touching her arm.

Marie recoiled from the touch, probably due to a combination of the fact that this guy was a stranger and because she was still adjusting to the fact that people could touch her without getting their life literally sucked out of them.

"No, Ah don't want to," Marie said, looking a bit scared.

"It's just one dance," the guy said. He was annoyingly persistent.

"Look, she said no," Thea said protectively, stepping between the guy and Marie.

The guy frowned. "What, are you guys lesbians?" he asked.

Thea almost laughed in his face. "Just go find someone else," she said dismissively.

The guy scowled and mumbled "Bitch" before stalking off.

Thea turned back to Kitty and Marie and rolled her eyes. "Clearly we're lesbian because who wouldn't want to dance with that jerk," she said sarcastically.

Marie and Kitty laughed. The girls continued dancing together, and Kitty got hit on as well. When the guy wouldn't get the hint that Kitty didn't want to dance, Thea pulled her close and started dancing rather erotically with her. The guy looked miffed and walked away, and the girls had a good laugh.

Later on, Kitty started making furtive glances over Thea's shoulder, and Thea turned around to see what Kitty was looking at. Jubilee and Warren were dancing together, a mixture of playful dancing and explicit grinding. Warren was smiling the entire time and Jubilee would whisper things in his ear that would cause him to laugh. He would say something in return that would make Jubilee laugh.

They looked so happy together.

"Thea, it doesn't mean anything," Kitty said encouragingly.

Thea smiled weakly at her friend. "It's okay, Kit," she said, feigning indifference. But Thea had a hard time tearing her eyes away from Warren and Jubilee dancing together in their own little world. At the same time, it hurt to see them like that. "I'm going to get some water," Thea said, deciding she wasn't going to be an angst-ridden, masochistic girl pining for a stupid boy. She was going to have fun dancing – screw boys.

"Good idea," Marie said.

After getting their waters, the girls went back to the table where Bobby and Peter were talking.

"How was the dancing?" Bobby asked as Marie scooted next to him.

"Great. This guy was hassling me, but Thea shut him down," Marie said.

"Yeah, she can dance up on girls really well too," Kitty said jokingly.

The boys looked quite intrigued. What was it with boys' interest in girl-on-girl action anyway? Marie and Kitty entertained their boyfriends with the full stories and the boys were very amused and thanked Thea for protecting 'their girls.'

"You girls probably looked too hot for your own good," Bobby said jokingly.

"Thea did, that's for sure," Kitty said.

"No one was hitting on me," Thea pointed out.

"Yeah, because your dancing prowess probably intimidated them. They wouldn't know what to do with themselves," Kitty said.

Thea loved her friend for praising her. Kitty knew just the thing to make her feel better when the majority of her thoughts were unfortunately consumed with the images of Warren and Jubilee dancing.

"That good huh? I'll have to see," Bobby said.

"Anytime," Thea said with a smile. She didn't like dancing with random drunk boys, but Bobby wasn't random nor was he drunk.

"You should dance with her," Marie said.

"You don't mind?" Bobby asked.

Marie shook her head as she gulped down some water. "I'm exhausted. Go dance," Marie said.

Thea felt oddly flattered that Marie trusted her with Bobby. Granted Thea and Bobby had no romantic feelings for each other whatsoever, but most girlfriends would not want their boyfriends to dance with other girls regardless. It was an obvious testament to the security Marie felt in their relationship now.

"Thea?" Bobby asked, inclining his head to the dance floor.

"Sure," Thea said, taking a final sip of water and following Bobby down the stairs.

Thankfully Thea could not see where Warren and Jubilee were dancing. Thea and Bobby danced to the music with a decent amount of space between them because she felt it was a bit weird to grind on another girl's boyfriend even if it didn't mean anything. Bobby was a pretty good dancer, fully capable to follow the beat. They had a fun time dancing together for a few songs.

"We'll have to go clubbing more often. You look so happy," Bobby said as he watched Thea dance.

Thea blushed. "I had forgotten how great dancing is," she said.

"May I cut in?" a male voice said.

Thea was about to tell the guy off until she realized it was Warren.

Bobby's grin was huge. "Sure. Have fun." With that Bobby vanished into the crowd.

Thea would have to remember to scold Bobby for ditching her like that when he knew damn well things were weird with her and Warren at the moment.

"Let's dance," Warren said over the music.

Where was Jubilee? "You think you can keep up?" Thea asked with a smirk.

Warren shrugged and smiled. "I can try."

Try. There was that word again. Thea should try to…what? Try to get over her feelings for Warren? Try to encourage him to try with Jubilee? Try to encourage him to try with her?

Thea smirked and began dancing, placing a good amount of distance between her and Warren. His presence was distracting in of itself, so there was no telling what would happen if they got closer. As Warren danced, Thea observed that he could follow the music well and he did not hide the face that he was watching her dance at all times.

"I meant to tell you earlier…you look amazing," Warren said.

Thea looked up at him with a skeptical expression.

"I mean, you already know I think you're beautiful but it's just…tonight…"

"Thanks," Thea said, grateful that the dim lights did not show her blush.

"You're welcome," Warren said with a shy smile.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I wasn't upset at you," she said, still dancing with a generous space between them.

"Don't worry about it," Warren said with an easy smile.

After two songs, the distance between her and Warren was significantly smaller, and Thea didn't know if she was moving closer to him or if he was moving closer to her. She suspected it was both. They were still facing each other and dancing, but they weren't really touching other than the occasional accidental brush of the arm. However, Warren's arms occasionally would extend of a second and then fall back down, as though he wanted to hold her but wasn't sure she would want that.

Try, right?

Thea stopped thinking and stepped forward. Just as she stepped forward, Warren slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her against his body, placing his leg between hers. Thea wrapped one of her arms around his neck while the other one rest against the side of his chest. The whole thing happened so quickly, showing they had been thinking the same thing. They began moving to the beat of the music together.

With the first bump of his leg between hers, Thea felt sparks of pleasure travel throughout her body that she wanted to feel over and over again. She also felt a sudden vexation at Warren for pulling her into this position because he must have been an experienced dancer to know what dancing like this would make her feel. He wanted her to feel those things in his presence. Thea felt manipulated and oddly thankful. She never danced with anyone in this position or this intimately.

Because Thea's boots gave her a few inches of height, her forehead was now parallel with Warren's lips. Warren used that to his advantage and kissed her forehead. Instead of telling him off for kissing her, she found herself grinding shamelessly against Warren's body seeking the pleasure he had instigated. He dipped his head to the side and rested his forehead against her shoulder, holding her tightly and grinding with her.

Thea's mind was in complete conflict with itself. This was Warren, and neither of them could chalk up this behavior to drunkenness. And she hated grinding, right? But at the same time, didn't she want something like this to happen?

"Althea," Warren breathed against Thea's neck. Thea could have sworn she felt his lips against her bare shoulder. She only pressed herself closer to him, if that was even spatially possible.

Warren grunted in her ear, and this time Thea knew his lips were touching her skin. It was just a peck, on the top of her shoulder no less, but it was enough to make Thea want more. She held him tightly and tilted her head to allow him access to her neck.

He kissed her again and again as they moved to the music. She could feel his tongue occasionally on her skin as he kissed her. God, that was Warren's tongue! And crap, that was just Warren's teeth! Her hand that had been around his neck was now encouraging Warren to continue kissing her by running her fingers in his hair. Her mind went hazy, and rational thought was suppressed by flagrant desire that Thea had no idea she was still capable of feeling.

"Warren," she whispered.

She didn't know if he would hear her above the volume of the music, but it seemed like he did. He stopped kissing her neck and looked into her eyes. She couldn't tell if it was his eyes that were dark or it was just because of the room. Either way, he wouldn't stop looking at her. His eyes looked down at her lips at then back up at her. Oh, he was good – signaling that he wanted to kiss her but letting her decide if she wanted it. Then again, she should expect no less from him. And yes, she wanted to.

But damn it, she couldn't. She wasn't quite that swept up with hormonal need to forget everything – the consequences. She pulled away from him with the purpose of walking away and clearing her mind from whatever dance-sexual-tension-thing they just engaged in, but Warren had anticipated that.

"Don't," he said, perhaps a bit desperately, as he grabbed her hand firmly and pulled her back flush against his chest.

Thea thought about pulling away again, telling him she just couldn't do this, but she rationalized away that option. She told herself this position, where her back was to his chest, was a familiar, less intimate position. This position did not shoot sparks of pleasure through her body with every contact like the other position did. This way of dancing was mostly to turn the guy on; she wouldn't get all hormonal again dancing like this.

And so she stayed, moving with the music against Warren's body. Warren clasped their hands together as he snaked his arms around her torso and pulled her close. He buried his head in the crook of her neck and sighed with contentment.

While Thea had anticipated feeling less intimate in this position, it was simply not the case. She soon realized what mattered was the person you danced with, not the position. This was Warren, after all. This was the guy who knew more about her than she cared for someone to know. This was the guy who had seen her nearly naked and who called her beautiful and who had spent so much effort on a gift for her. This was the guy she had feelings for.

And, oh dear, he was hard. Instead of being mildly amused or completely indifferent like she was when other guys would have the same response as she danced with them, she felt very pleased to have gotten that reaction from Warren. Granted it was a physical response to physical stimulation but she was still the cause.

"Althea…I'm…uh…" he started to say with uncertainty, apparently to warn her about his present condition. Like she wouldn't know. Maybe he thought she would be disgusted. Hardly.

Thea only pressed herself more against him and grinded. She heard him moan as he pressed forward. Her mind was swarming with the blaring music, the awareness that they were dancing explicitly for everyone to see (but not caring), and the intoxicating feeling of surrendering all inhibitions to enjoy just a bit of time with what she wanted - Warren. The realistic part of her brain told her this would end at some point, the magic was going to be broken and they would have to deal with the consequences of what they were doing, but Thea recklessly didn't care at the moment.

For once she was feeling free. And she wanted more.

Thea reached behind her to run her fingers through Warren's hair.

"What are we doing?" Warren murmured in her ear, his voice husky and confused.

Thea turned around to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt new determination from the knowledge that he seemed to want what she wanted too.

"Trying," Thea said.

Warren's eyes flicked to her lips and back to her eyes. She smiled and tilted her head up as she pulled Warren down. When their lips met, there were no bells or whistles or knee pops. It was hot and sweaty and a bit salty. But she loved it. The rest of the world drowned out – the music was muffled, there were no other people around, and she had no idea if they were dancing still or not. It was just kissing, lots and lots of kissing. He was a confident kisser, which was certainly helpful because Thea hadn't really gotten enough experience to perfect the art of kissing. She was perfectly happy following Warren's lead after she made the first move.

Suddenly, Thea felt Warren jerk against her before staggering back. She fell out of Warren's grasp off balanced, but quickly righted herself. Her brain was still foggy from the kissing, but the music was once again loud and she was jostled against some random bodies.

"What the fuck?" someone shouted from behind Warren.

Thea looked to see that Warren, still dazed, had broken his wing's bindings. The outline of the wings standing perpendicular to his shoulders was evident under the trench coat. What had happened? She went to him immediately and placed her hand on his arm.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Warren frowned and looked thoroughly embarrassed.

"Yeah, fine, we should…"

"Get the fuck out, you freak," a tall, black-haired guy said, stepping in front of Thea and Warren. His eyes were bloodshot but he didn't stagger.

"And get the fuck away from her," the man added, pulling Thea protectively away from Warren and towards him.

Thea easily broke the man's hold on her wrist with a twist. "Look, back off," she warned, stepping back towards Warren.

The tall man frowned. "So you're with this mutant?" he asked above the music. The way he said mutant sounded like it was so…dirty.

Thea looked around to see that a circle of people had formed around her, Warren, and this drunk guy. People were whispering and pointing to Warren. Thea could feel herself getting angrier by the second. She looked at Warren who hadn't said anything. She expected him to look upset or offended, but he just looked distant closed-off.

"Yes. Back off," she said assertively.

The man snorted and looked at Warren directly. "You mutants need little whores to defend you?"

Warren snapped out of whatever trance he had been in and lunged at the man, but Thea held him back firmly.

"No," she ordered Warren.

"Oh, I see how it is. You mutants like to take orders from whores," the man egged on.

Thea still had a firm hold on Warren, but he sidestepped her and advanced towards the man. He punched the guy in the face and the guy stumbled until his back hit the ledge against the wall where some empty glass beer bottles were. The man grabbed a beer bottle, broke it against the wall, just like in those stupid bar fights in movies, and lunged at Warren. Warren tried to evade the attack, but the sharp glass scraped across his t-shirt covered torso in the process. The man then stumbled, ready for another attack, but Peter was behind him and grabbed him. Bobby was soon at Warren's side and pulled him out of the club.

"Are you okay?" Kitty said to Thea.

What the hell just happened? "Yeah, yeah, let's follow them," Thea said.

Marie, Kitty, and Thea swerved through the crowd, trying to avoid eye contact with all of the people staring at them.

When they finally got out into the cold night, the girls saw the guys by their car. Warren was leaning face forward against the side of the car, his torso bare. The bloody muscle T and trench coat lay abandoned on the ground so that Warren's wings were fully exposed now. Bobby and Peter were giving him a lot of space, but both looked concerned.

Thea put her hands on Warren's torso, signaling to him to turn so she could look at his wound.

"Leave it," he said, his voice emotionless.

"Warren, he scraped you. I need to see," Thea said, her voice actually quite gentle. She didn't know what was wrong with him both physically and emotionally.

"Goddamn it, Althea! Fucking leave it, okay?" he snapped angrily.

Thea flinched, never hearing him talk to her like that. His eyes were cold and angry and Thea had no clue what was going on.

"Look, he was a jerk. But don't be pissy at me when I didn't do anything," she fired back.

Warren snorted. "Oh, yeah, you didn't do anything," he said sarcastically as he looked at her coldly.

Thea never knew the meaning of a verbal slap until that moment. She easily remembered the dancing and the kisses and all that sexual tension between them that had had a momentary outlet. She did something wrong? No way.

"I didn't do anything you didn't want, so don't you dare start with that. Let me just…" she said as she touched his torso softly again.

He shrugged her off violently and something in Thea broke. Just moments ago he was leaning into her touch. He stepped away from her and would not look at her. She at least got to see that his chest was marred by ugly jagged scrape marks. But he wouldn't let her heal him.

"Fine," she said, feeling as though things were over before they had even begun.

Without a reply, Warren jumped into the air and flapped his wings, rising high in the air.

Thea watched him fly away. "Asshole."

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Author's Note: First off, I'm leaving in a week for a 3-week study abroad program, so I need to prep for travels and may not have internet access while abroad. I may not be able to update abroad but I will try to.

To address some things in the reviews: Thea is my own creation, so no one knows her deep dark secrets, but there have been strong clues throughout the story, especially during Thea's melt down when Kitty left for Alcatraz and during her conversation with her parents. Also, Warren is not perfect (but pretty awesome) and hopefully this chapter showed that.

And finally, I feel hurt when people complain about waiting four days for an update. Perhaps I should feel flattered because it means people are eager to read my story, but I don't. It feels like there's pressure on me to produce at a rate that I cannot satisfy, and that's not what writing fanfiction is to me. I want to be happy with what I write, and if that takes longer than the readers would like, I cannot help that because I want to produce a story that I am proud of rather than one that's just spit out in a timely fashion. As fun as writing fanfiction is and as much as I love this story, real life takes precedence. Updates, if anything, will be occurring less frequently because I haven't written the next chapters and because of my studies abroad. But hopefully my consistent updating in the past has been proof enough that I am very devoted to this story and I hope you guys will stick with me.

Anyway, I'm sorry if my mini tirade offended you, I don't mean to offend but merely present my situation and thoughts. I am very grateful for your support and honored by your praise, but I need to express my feelings. Hopefully I'll be able to get one more chapter out before I leave, but I can't guarantee anything. You guys know I will try my hardest though. This chapter has been the most challenging to write so far, so I would really appreciate your comments on it. Thanks so much for your support, as always!