You Never Gave Me a Reason

Disclaimer: I don't own Revenge or its characters.

8) A Kiss for Keeping Up Kindness

A sudden change of heart, Victoria had been told. He is perfectly willing to display his art in your gallery, Mrs. Grayson.

She didn't believe a word of this statement. Donovan couldn't have had a change of heart - he would first have needed to acquire a heart, and this in itself was highly unlikely. She had never known a single man to change his mind overnight, as they were all stuck in their stubborn ways, no matter the person nor the circumstances. The only exceptional man that had managed an about-face in his recent behavior was her enigmatic husband, who was lately stopping at nothing to comply to her every wish and appeal to any and all of her weaknesses. Even this rare case of masculine kindness seemed ambiguous in its transparency.

Victoria wasn't sure of what had changed in Conrad months ago. She had naturally assumed that she was merely comparing his recent actions to his horrible treatment of her during their divorce, and that, in reality, nothing had really changed since their first marriage. However, this excuse was quite a weak attempt to explain away his everyday behavior: complimenting her, holding her hand, defending her... If Victoria hadn't known better, she would have jumped to the conclusion that he actually cared about her.

This instantaneous turn of events in her battle to obtain and display James Donovan's art was more than likely to be another of Conrad's many confusing gestures. This egotistical, but nevertheless talented artist was completely uninterested in the opinions or business dealings of a woman, no matter how rich or powerful - only a male influence would have swayed Donovan, and there was no question as to whose influence this was.

Conrad had been home for twenty minutes already; Victoria waited for him to approach her, as she knew he would if this was truly his doing. He was always watching for her reaction with this hopeful expression on his face, as if he was expecting something in return. Multiple times she had asked if he was attempting to achieve some sort of goal in whatever he thought he was doing, but he consistently denied her claims. This baffled her.

As if on cue, he strutted out of the kitchen and into the living room, pretending not to notice her where she sat on the couch. She was torn between addressing him and waiting for the fish to bite, but she eventually decided to remain focused on her tablet, equally-experienced in the waiting game. He was the first to speak.

"I hope you've had a pleasant day," he remarked nonchalantly as he stepped into the room. She hesitated to look up at him.

"A fortunate day," she corrected him, scrolling through her list of emails and selecting one of interest. "That pig-headed artist I've been chasing has suddenly consented to a business partnership." Turning her tablet around to show him the apology sent from Donovan, she glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow.

Conrad leaned on the back of the couch and scanned the email, acting as if he hadn't expected this to happen. "It's certainly surprising," he decided quietly, his voice playful, "the way people change."

Victoria narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't understand why you're doing this," she stated in a low voice. He blinked at her, feigning innocence; she continued, "I'm fully aware that you are the reason this deal went through. I'm just puzzled as to why."

He seemed amused by her paranoia and stepped around the couch, taking a seat beside her. "Until I'm reassured that you aren't angered by this good fortune, I won't take any credit for it. I will say that anything I do for you, my dear, is not in the expectation of kindness in return."

This comment was indistinguishable between honesty and insult, but Victoria allowed it to pass and instead addressed the real issue. "I mentioned my issue with Donovan twice at the most. What could have possibly compelled you to intervene?"

Conrad seemed annoyed by her questioning and sighed. "Is it so hard for you to believe that I simply want to help you?"

"Why would you?" she asked, sitting up to level with him.

"Because I care about you!" he admitted accidentally, and this completely derailed the entire conversation.

Victoria was silent - eyes wide, perplexed at his announcement. Her mouth opened as if to reply, but she didn't speak. She simply stared at him, trying to process something so ridiculous while attempting to muster up her own response; but she could think of nothing.

The pair of Graysons were engaged in a staring match for seemingly forever, while Victoria's mind raced and Conrad's began to blank. He knew that he should have been amending his claim, but the influence of her stare was adding an enormous amount of pressure and he found himself unable to think of anything... with the exception of how remarkably beautiful her brown eyes were as they blinked straight into his.

His eyes wandered from hers after a moment in an attempt to regain mental consciousness, but his vision landed on her hair, which he noticed was longer than she usually kept it - brushing against her cheeks, which were pink despite the pale tone she took on at his statement. These cheeks appeared quite kissable, but not so much as her lips, where they remained two dark red seas, parted and temptingly so. All of her was beautiful; though he rarely had the chance to examine this beauty without receiving a deadly glare, but on the rare occasion that he sneaked a peek, he was reminded of just how lovely she was.

Victoria was confused both at his confession and at the way he stared at her - the look in his eyes not at all venomous or hostile, nor teasing nor sarcastic. She felt his eyes on her lips, and her heart skipped a beat. What was he thinking?

Soon, however, she realized that she was thinking the same thought, as her eyes traveled downward from his and her breath grew shallow. The room was silent; half of her felt that this was a mistake, and the other half knew that this was a mistake. Still, to save herself either from this killing urge or from the words that were not coming to her mind, her hand wandered up to settle on his jaw and she slowly leaned in his direction, making certain that he was in the same realm of thought as she.

She wasn't sure when along the way her eyes had closed, as she had initially resolved to leave them open in case of any trickery, but she didn't have to look to remember where her lips fit and how well they did so. Although the kiss was tentative on both parts, Victoria wasn't afraid to reaccustom herself to old territory - she dove right in, and found herself doing the majority of the work. He must have been stunned for a moment before his body kicked in and responded in kind. His hand rested behind her head, fingers slipping into her hair gently, and he remembered to inhale his lost breath.

After the longest possible moment, Victoria pulled back enough to open her eyes. She eyed him carefully, waiting for his reaction, or her own, or anything at all... His expression was unreadable and she felt self-conscious, wondering if that had been a welcome action.

She was mentally sorting through a thousand entirely-awkward responses when she felt a hand curve around her waist. Before she could say anything, Conrad pulled her into another kiss, deeper and more affectionate than the first. He played a larger part in this kiss, hand moving up her back to support her. She subconsciously rested her back against his hand, and he guided her down slowly, lying on her back. Victoria was surprised at how fervently he kissed her this time; her hand fell from his jaw and crept under his shirt, sliding up his back as he leaned over her...

Neither of the two were pleased to hear the front door open and a voice call out, "Mom?"

As soon as this sound registered in their minds, the two shot upward, separating instantly. Victoria was still pulling her hands out of his shirt when Charlotte Grayson appeared in the doorway of the living room, purse swinging in hand.

A look of horror crossed the girl's face as she stumbled upon her two parents - her mother discreetly tugging the neckline of her dress upward and her father straightening his shirt; both apparently unaware of the red smudges around their mouths and the flush of their faces.

Mortified, Victoria cleared her throat and managed to greet her daughter. "Charlotte."

Her daughter blinked wide eyes at them and swallowed. "I... I needed to talk to you about something, but it can wait, if you need to, um..."

"Actually," Conrad interrupted, standing up, "I have to make a phone call, so I will leave you ladies to it."

There is no more accurate way to describe his exit than to say that he fled the scene of the crime.

After watching him leave, Victoria turned to her daughter. "Come in, Charlotte. What did you need to talk about?"

Charlotte was hesitant to enter the room, but she eventually walked over to a chair and sat down. "It's about college..."

And Victoria spent the rest of the hour in an intense battle to stay focused on Charlotte, though her mind was filling with questions as to what had just occurred in Grayson Manor. She felt terrible to have only half-listened to her daughter, but she was sure it was Conrad's fault somehow. It was only later that she could truly consider the emotions behind this kiss, and how, exactly, she felt about it. The logical part of her mind determined that there had to be some angle behind it all, but the ridiculous part was perpetuating the butterflies in her stomach as she stared into her vanity with a napkin in hand, repairing her lipstick and allowing her mind to re-explore the places it had ended up. All her sensible side could manage was to wonder why he had said that he cared about her... and why she had responded the way she did.

CAUTION: SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3 FINALE AHEAD!

...

What the heck have those idiots done to my ship?! This is simply unacceptable! I'm still living and writing in denial.

Haha, I just got messages with people asking where I've been and realized I went dark on you guys this week. I've been so busy preparing for this audition that I completely forgot I hadn't updated yet. No worries; Conrad's untimely end hasn't affected this story (although the sequel may be a little slower-coming while I deal with all this backlash of old Vivid feels). Somebody reviewed and mentioned Victoria should have been injured in last chapter's storm - which made me laugh, because that was my second draft before I realized it wasn't working and changed my mind. I have something intense coming up soon, though, and I wanted to build up to that. Have you noticed any foreshadowing yet?

Thanks for reviewing, following, and favoriting! You guys are the best ever, so I'm just gonna leave this here and hope you guys enjoy. Let me know what you think!

And yes. They just kissed. Twice.