Author's Note: Getting towards the end… Will Chris and Merri figure out what they want by the end of Twelvetide?

Ten Lords-a-Leaping

Merri made a happy-sleepy noise as she wriggled down into the couch further, throwing her legs up across his lap. Her hair was messy and she was wearing a pair of his sweatpants and his Crimson Tide t-shirt. She was downright adorable all casual and cuddly, even if this whole scene hadn't turned out as he'd planned. And he didn't just mean for the day.

But he wasn't exactly lamenting that fact, now was he?

Still, maybe it hadn't been the right thing to do. He had only meant to cheer up his friend, and here they were skirting something that was much more than a close friendship. He hadn't had the courage to just straight-up confront the issue with the woman. But who could blame him for finding it difficult, when she was so goddang beautiful and affectionate. As he fell asleep holding her in his arms after making her gasp and sigh his name in pleasure, willing down his own unsated lust, he thought he might just be able to broach the topic in the morning when all parties were more level-headed.

Unfortunately for his vow to be responsible, Merri hadn't been in a somber mood that morning. Instead, he'd woken to her kissing his chest. She'd managed to unbutton his shirt without waking him somehow. And also the fly on his slacks, her fingers burrowed inside and- God forgive him, he hadn't stopped her.

"I'm sorry, Merri," he said, causing her sit up a little, blinking away a little bleariness to pin him with her big, brown eyes. He chickened out. And apologized for his failure to give her the gift he'd wanted to for that day. "I had wanted ta get some tickets ta a game, but there wa'n't any local ones taday."

She shrugged.

"I know yer not much inta basketball..."

"Ten Lords-a-Leaping," she said, chuckling lightly. "It definitely works."

She settled back in as the basketball game played on the TV.

"I thought ya might enjoy the crowd, though," he said, earning another confused, brown-eyed expression from his friend-lover-would-be-girlfriend? God, he'd made a mess of things. And yet... he couldn't see his way to regretting it. Merri was not only extremely sensual, smart and funny, but quirky and fascinating as all get-out. "I know how ya love ta people-watch."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, her eyes betraying her absent tone.

"I seen how yer always watchin' people, tryin' ta figure out what their story is."

"That's our job," she said. Were her cheeks turning a little pink with embarrassment? Like it wasn't something an inured 'tough agent' would do, watching other, everyday people enjoying their lives.

"Nah," he said. "It's more'n that. I think ya like ta tell yerself happy stories 'bout them. Remember people ain't all bad."

She looked away until he took her hand and squeezed it.

"I get it, Mere." And he did. They had a lot in common, a lot more than he'd ever thought when he'd first met the reserved, refined transplant from the Great Lakes. For one, she wasn't nearly so stoic as she'd originally tried to be. She always liked people more than she let on. She was just afraid of being hurt, of having her heart trampled on yet again. "After Savannah... It was diff'cult ta see the good 'n the world anymore."

She didn't say anything, only nodded as she stared at him with her big, brown eyes looking a little damp.

"You were just trying to forget the pain with all those women," she said. "Just have a fun time without any of the baggage that comes along with relationships."

Chris had never cared to explain himself to anyone, not even to King. But he presently found himself immensely relieved to discover that Merri truly understood.

"Is that what this all is fer ya?" he asked, finally approaching his misgivings in a roundabout way. "Somethin' fun ta remind ya that life is good?"

"What?" She seemed generally alarmed by this proposal, pulling away, her expression shutting down in defense, as if it had been an accusation and not an observation.

"Don't get me wrong, Merri," he said. "I'm likin' this whole thing we got goin', even wi' the confusin' turn of events o'er the past coupla days."

He'd never seen such an uncertain expression on her pretty face before. It was both reassuring and disconcerting. Apparently she was as confused about what they were doing as he was.

"Yer sister's death might not be jus' a tragic accident." He pressed onward while he still had the guts to do so. And since she was barefoot, dressed in some of his clothes and currently had her legs draped over his lap, tangled up with him on the sofa, she couldn't make a quick getaway to avoid this issue. "An' havin' no answers is troublin' nough. But it also makes the world seem ta be a darker, crueler place, don't it?"

"I just... I just miss her so badly sometimes," she said, making his heart ache in sympathy.

"It ain't only the mem'ries." He began to massage her leg, just above the knee in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. "It's wishin' she was here. Wonderin' what it woulda been like ta talk wi' her jus' one more time, ta hug her, ta celebrate Christmas wi' her."

Her hand, soft and warm settled over his, and he stopped caressing her leg, turned his hand palm up to entangle his fingers with hers.

"Savannah was a good woman," she said, her voice quiet but even. Her big eyes were a soft, brown, melting like milk chocolate as she stared at him with what wasn't sympathy, but more empathy. "I'm sorry for everything you'll never have with her."

"An' I'm sorry fer everythin' you'll never get ta do wi' Emily." Just as she knew what it was like for someone to break your heart, even though James himself had been responsible, not some murdering bastard, Chris knew what it was like to think you might never see a sibling again. Never be the shoulder they needed to cry on, never tease them about their crazy new hobby, or their latest love interest. Never stand up beside 'em on their wedding day. Never hold a brand new niece or nephew. He'd gotten his sibling back. Merri hadn't. And the pain of the loss of a loved one being due to someone else's malice was all too familiar to him as well.

He looked into her eyes, saw the same revelation in hers. They understood one another. And not just on a cerebral level, but knew intimately the shape and form of the other's pain.

And now, the other's joy.

"But I'm happy for everything we can have, Chris," she said, and he felt a warm spot sprout in his chest. "Even if it's just for Christmas."

"What if...um..." He cleared his throat, ducking his head. He knew he shouldn't feel so shy with her. He'd already shared so much of his feelings, more than he'd ever intended. And he knew how she mewled like a kitten when she was tightly wound with sexual desire . "What if it's more than jus' these last few days?"

He dared glance at her, saw her smiling, her dark brown eyes warm and inviting.

"I'd like that," she said, pulling her legs off his lap so she could shift position, kneeling beside him on the couch, leaning in and studying him intently. He now knew the almost-predatory look all too well. She wanted to kiss him. Or for him to kiss her. And damn, he really wanted to do precisely that.

And so he did. It was as invigorating as the first on New Year's Eve, and the ones the previous night and that morning. There was a complexity to Merri Brody that made him think each kiss, each touch, each conversation, each sexual encounter would always feel novel, exciting and unexpected in some way.

The basketball game continued to play out on the TV, but faded entirely to the background as he made out with the woman who was older than his own 33 years as if they were smitten teenagers.

And he supposed he was rather smitten with her. She was good people. She proved that the world wasn't a terrible place. And she made him happy. He could only hope that he made her happy, too.

By the sounds she was making as he kissed her neck and delved his hands beneath his t-shirt she was wearing, running his fingertips across her smooth, flat stomach... He made her quite happy.

A/N: Our lovebirds are finally admitting there's something between them…