Nanao woke up to the sound of soft voices. She glanced around her room and discovered that Boo had already vacated his normal spot on her bed. Her head spun a bit as she sat up and she was looking forward to taking some painkillers as she headed towards her living room. Mamoru was leaning against the kitchen doorframe talking to Rangiku who was seated on her couch petting Boo while he purred.
"Morning, sunshine," her brother called easily, causing Rangiku to turn.
"Oh good!" Rangiku called. "From the rumors I thought you were in about five different pieces. Given I knew that couldn't be true as Kyouraku hadn't ripped Kenpachi apart yet, but still it sounded bad."
"One solid piece," Nanao confirmed and then turned to whine to her brother. "Can I have my pills now?"
"On the table right there," he said with a laugh. "I figured you'd be up soon. I'm surprised you could sleep through the beating Matsumoto-san gave your front door."
"I had to see Nanao-chan," Rangiku said sticking out her bottom lip in an overblown pout. "She could have been bleeding to death on the floor for all I knew."
"I doubt Unohana Taicho would have let me leave just to go home and die on the floor," Nanao said rolling her eyes.
"Yes, but I knew something was already wrong because when I ran into Kyouraku on my way to the 4th and asked about you he said you were walking home with Shuuhei-kun, then I go and find Shuu and he says you're walking home with Ukitake-san, but I knew he was still in the 4th. You made my heart stop for a moment."
"Well, I'm fine, as you can see," Nanao said curling up onto the other end of the couch. Boo crept off Rangiku's lap and became a furry purring ball in her own. She glanced back over at Rangiku and saw the look the woman always got when she had some juicy gossip, although it seemed by far less joyful than usual. "Nii-san, would you mind terribly running out and getting us all something for breakfast? I don't have anything pre-made in the house. There's cash in the third drawer on the left in the kitchen."
"I think I can afford breakfast for us," Mamoru said rolling his eyes. "I'll be back. Take the painkillers and enjoy your girl talk. I know Rangiku-san's just been dying to get you alone and tell you how dashing she thinks your brother is." That said he gave them both a smile and a wink and strolled out the door.
"Well, what is it?" Nanao asked reaching for the glass of water and the medicine while being careful not to knock Boo out of her lap. "And it better not be that you are into my brother, because if you are I just kind of don't want to know."
"Honey, your brother is cute and all, but he looks just a bit too much like you for my comfort. Not to say your unattractive, but that would just make for some awkward sex. No, I wanted to talk about a rumor I heard," Rangiku started getting more serious. "And I don't know for sure if it's true, but I thought you'd better hear it from me." Nanao nodded feeling like she had a pretty good idea what was coming next and let Rangiku go on. "I heard Kyouraku Taicho moved the woman into his own quarters."
"I know," Nanao said softly stroking down Boo's back.
"You do? How?"
"He told me."
"That cheating bastard," Rangiku raged. "And after all that saying he still wanted you and he only loved you he goes to whatever easy tramp will open her legs. I'm going to kill him."
"It's ok," Nanao said cutting her off. "It's what I've been telling him to do from the start. He has to take care of them. We knew that."
"Nanao, you can't be ok with this," Rangiku said looking at her in surprise.
"It's awful as usual," Nanao said with a shrug. "But it is his child Ran. What else is he supposed to do?"
"We don't know that," Rangiku said firmly.
"It doesn't matter. I love him, but regardless of the baby we can never go back to the way we were," Nanao said honestly. "I can't just be his sweet pathetic side kick any longer."
"Nanao," Rangiku said haltingly. "He never thought of you as that."
"No, he didn't, but it's what I was," she said simply.
"So what are you going to do?" Rangiku asked.
"Once the painkiller kicks in I was thinking about lying around and reading and then taking a nap," Nanao said with a laugh. "I have a date with Hisagi-san tonight if I feel up to it." The shriek Matsumoto let out had Nanao wincing in agony and Boo on all fours at high alert. Then Boo had to scramble to avoid getting crushed in the suffocating hug that had Nanao's head spinning.
"We have so much to do," Rangiku cheered. "We'll make Kyouraku curse the day he cheated on you."
"Head, Rangiku, head," Nanao mumbled into the other woman's debilitating embrace.
"Oh right, sorry, forgot," Rangiku replied releasing her happily.
"I'm going to need more drugs," Nanao whined shifting gently back on to her couch.
"I'll get more, then you'll definitely be able to make your date. Oh, what are you going to wear? And we have to figure out what to do with your hair. It should be down, Shuuhei likes long hair," Rangiku rambled out loud.
"You plan silently," Nanao said scooping up a thoroughly irritated Boo as she stood up from the couch. "I'm going to take a bath. Let me know when the food gets here."
Nanao was not entirely sure how she survived the rest of the day. Between Matsumoto's scheming and her brother encouraging the woman Nanao barely got any rest at all except for a nap stolen in the middle of the afternoon. By eight o'clock she found herself in a red sundress with her hair down still feeling slightly off and really wishing she could crawl back into bed.
No such luck though as Hisagi was right on time, and Matsumoto enjoyed throwing the door open and squealing for a bit while her brother tried to look like a tough yakuza in the corner. Kami, sometimes she hated her friends and family.
"Hello, Hisagi-san," she greeted once he made it past the threshold of her door.
"Hi," he said looking a bit flustered by all the attention being focused on him. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm doing alright," she said watching as Boo crept up to Hisagi's legs to investigate. Everyone's attention focused on the cat who sniffed his pant leg, glanced up a him, and then turned his back on him, jumped up into a chair, and promptly went to sleep with great indifference.
"Well, at least he doesn't hate you," Rangiku giggled.
"Are you ready to go?" Hisagi asked clearly wanting to get out of the present situation.
Nanao didn't blame him. She gave him a weak smile and said, "Sure."
"Hang on one second," her brother said and Nanao groaned internally. "You see that smile my sister is wearing?"
"Er, yes?" Hisagi asked glancing back at Nanao who was now maintaining a strained smile.
"She better come back wearing the same smile," Mamoru said ginning viciously. "Or else you and I are going to have a talk."
"Yes," Hisagi agreed hastily.
Rangiku latched on to her brother's arm laughing and shooed them out the door saying, "You kids have fun now. Don't come back too early!"
Nanao and Hisagi walked away, and she could see him visibly relax the further they got. "Don't mind my brother," she said lightly. "He's all bark and no bite."
"Right," Hisagi said looking unconvinced.
"So where are we going?" Nanao asked trying to get them on a more comfortable topic.
"Oh, a restaurant in the 1st," he said looking happier. "I'm sure you'll love it. How's your head doing?"
"It's alright," she said with a shrug. "Feels like my brain got knocked around a bit, but I'll recover."
"If you aren't up to tonight," he started.
"No, I'm ok. Can't stand you up twice in a row," she said with a half smile. "Food always makes things better."
"Can I ask why you were fighting with Kenpachi?" he asked tilting his head to the side inquisitively.
"It was stupid," she said lightly. "He made me mad, I'd had a bad day, and then things went boom."
"Things often go boom around him," Hisagi noted.
Nanao laughed lightly and they walked on in silence for a while. It started to get awkward and she started digging for something to say. Unfortunately, like usual, the only things that came to mind were vastly inappropriate for the situation and were what often brought her dates to a crashing halt. She highly doubted Hisagi wanted to hear about the hairball Boo had brought up a week ago which had taken her an hour and a pair of scissors to get off of her rug, nor did he probably want to hear about the life cycles of the hell butterfly which was the topic of the book she was currently reading. Although she supposed the latter was still better than the former if you ignored the part where the dying hell butterflies become the food for the freshly hatched larva. It was a little known fact that tended to freak people out.
"So do you ever attend the sumo matches in the 1st?" Hisagi asked randomly, obviously trying to fill the conversation void as well.
"Um, I have a few times," Nanao offered. "I'm not really a huge sports fan." She knew quite a few in squad 8 had attended all the matches and enjoyed betting on them. She'd gone once when she was a teenager with a group of Rangiku's friends and another time with the 8th when her and Kyouraku had been begged into going. Kyouraku had never really enjoyed the sport though, saying he saw no reason to waste time watching two big men fondle each other, but that if it were women it'd be another story. Needless to say they hadn't been big sumo fans. Besides it was still generally looked down upon for women to attend the matches. "Do you go a lot?"
"A few times a year," Hisagi said nodding. The conversation stalled again and Nanao tried to think of something related to sports that might interest him. It was about then that she realized her knowledge of sports was pretty much limited to just the names of various ones.
"Have you ever been horseback riding?" Nanao asked.
"No," Hisagi said with a laugh. "I was too poor to own one when I was a kid and didn't have much need after I learned shunpo. Why?"
"Oh, I just find it fun," Nanao said with a blush. "I learned when I was younger, and now sometimes I go riding in the Rukongai. I was just curious."
"Could be fun," Hisagi said scratching the back of his neck. "Maybe we can go sometime?"
"Yeah, that'd be nice," Nanao said nodding. She briefly wondered how the Higurashi would react to yet another shinigami in their midst and winced. It probably wouldn't go well.
"Is it just me or is this incredibly awkward?" Hisagi asked with a sigh.
"I don't think it's just you," Nanao said honestly.
"What's wrong with the two of us?" he asked. "We're just fine when we're practicing together."
"Well there's no implied meaning when we're just knocking practice swords around," Nanao said with a shrug.
"And now there is?"
"Well, dating implies romantic interest, which implies intimate contact, which generally implies some sort of long term commitment, which implies a whole slew of other responsibilities," Nanao said feeling more and more uncomfortable as she thought about it.
"What if we just call this dinner than instead of a date and it can just imply that we're both hungry and enjoy each other's company?" he offered.
"That would remove some of the more bothersome aspects," Nanao agreed.
"Would it negate the intimate contact?" he asked suddenly.
Nanao rolled her eyes instantly more at ease and said, "Maybe. Depends on if I still enjoy your company at the end of the eating part."
He laughed and the weirdness was broken as they slipped into a conversation about food and restaurants. It wasn't until they were being seated at the table that Nanao realized the reason she'd suddenly gotten so comfortable was because his semi-suggestive comment had been familiar and reminded her of being with Kyouraku. She still had a ways to go.
The dinner passed uneventfully with comfortable small talk. Most of it revolved around the Gotei 13, the SWA, and then eventually The Seireitei Communication.
"Your column is still doing well," Hisagi said as they waited on dessert. "We always get tons of advice request letters."
"Its nice to be able to help occasionally," Nanao said modestly. "People really underestimate the power of the pen. Do you ever want to write for the paper and not just edit?"
"Er, I did once," he said rubbing the back of his neck and blushing lightly. "It didn't go over so well."
"Oh! I'd forgotten that," Nanao said struggling to hold down a laugh. "Didn't Ran spend like a week trying to get you to come out of your office?"
"It was only three days!" he defended and Nanao finally did laugh.
"It couldn't have been that bad," she said grinning.
"I suppose writing is just not one of my talents," Hisagi said with a sigh.
"Perhaps you just aren't good at editing yourself," Nanao said with a shrug. "You should try again. I'd be happy to read over it for you."
"Well I did have a few ideas," he said looking pleased.
"I'm sure they're great," Nanao said comfortingly. "They couldn't be worse than 'The Rose Colored Path'."
"Didn't it upset him how badly it was received?" Hisagi asked sounding like he obviously tried to avoid saying Kyouraku's name.
Nanao snorted and shook her head. "Kyouraku-san very rarely cares what other people think of him. I just thanked kami every day that he wasn't encouraged to write more. I spent months trying to avoid him in the office while he tried to think of synonyms for turgid, staff, and penetration."
"I'm kind of surprised smut like that didn't do well," Hisagi said as the waiter put down their dessert.
"Which just shows you didn't read it," Nanao said rolling her eyes. "He ended up using so many vocabulary words it was almost hard to figure out what was going on. It also didn't really have much of a story. It pretty much consisted of a man starting a quest and then having so much sex that he only got about three miles out from his village."
"Isn't that all romance stories?" Hisagi asked raising an eyebrow.
"Trust me, this was bad," Nanao said as they ate. "You spent so much time trying to figure out what was going where that there was no time to get turned on."
"Why'd you read it then?" Hisagi asked.
"Not by choice, trust me," Nanao clarified. "Our secretaries took great joy in reading each chapter out loud in the office with every edition. Not to mention Kyouarku-san reading me excerpts whenever I was stuck at my desk filling out forms."
"The 8th sounds like an interesting place to work," Hisagi said.
"What? You mean you don't force your subordinates to read badly written porn?" Nanao asked mock seriously.
"Well, there is that one night a month," Hisagi joked.
"Now I know you're lying, because if that night actually occurred Rangiku would have already dragged me to it," Nanao said simply.
"Perhaps we should instate one," he said. "Give the division members a real chance to connect."
"Could you imagine the Soutaciho's face when he found out?" Nanao asked smiling. "I think only Kyouraku-san is allowed to get away with stuff like that."
"Yeah, can you say favoritism?" Hisagi griped good-naturedly.
"You don't know the half of it," Nanao said. "One time he and Ukitake-san gave a lecture at the academy and convinced them it was a time honored ritual to cross dress during the last day of Academy exams your senior year. You know the ones that are administered at the1st? As all the other tests for all the other years are given at the Academy itself no one had any proof that older graduates hadn't done it and most of them showed up in the opposite sex's uniforms that day."
"Did they get in trouble?"
"I believe the Soutaicho told them not to do it again and that was the end of that," Nanao said lightly.
"So unfair," Hisagi pouted. "The rest of us would have gotten in tons of trouble for something like that."
"Yes, well since when is life fair?" Nanao asked laughingly, reaching for the check as the waiter set it down. Hisagi pushed her hand away and handed the waiter cash. "You don't have to get the whole thing," she argued.
"Yeah, well life isn't fair, you'll get over it," he said with a smirk and a shrug.
"Thank you," she said finally.
"No problem," he said as he got to his feet and she followed.
The room twisted around at a dizzying angle and she clutched the back of her chair to keep herself upright.
"Are you ok?" he asked noticing her pause.
"Fine," she lied as her head pounded lightly. She had to avoid head trauma in the future. It was absolutely no fun to get over.
"Do you want to grab a drink at the bar down the street then?" he offered taking her words at face value. She would have laughed if she didn't think it would make her queasy. It'd been years since she'd been around a man who couldn't tell when she was lying.
"I don't know that I'm allowed alcohol with the medication I'm on," she said.
"Oh right, stupid of me," he replied frowning.
"No, it's alright, we can go. I'll just be lame and get water," she said with a smile. "It wouldn't be the first time."
"I don't want to force you," he said unsurely as the waiter brought their receipt.
"You aren't forcing me," she said. "Let's go." Really at the moment she just wanted to get into the fresh air to make the queasiness in her belly even out. Stupid concussion.
They walked to the bar slowly and Nanao was glad that Hisagi seemed content to talk about how he'd discovered this restaurant and bar years ago with little input from her. The air was helping though and with each step she felt less woozy although perhaps a little more tired. Maybe coming out the first night following a fight with Kenpachi hadn't been her wisest decision. They walked into the bar and Nanao was happy to sit down again and not have to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. They chatted a bit more about their favorite restaurants before they were interrupted by another group of shinigami.
"Hisagi Taicho," one called approaching the table confidently.
"Kudo-san," he greeted. "How are you?"
"Doing fine, me and the boys were about to start a game of pin, pon, pan," he said easily. "You and your lady friend want to join?"
"Er, we really can't," Hisagi said smiling weakly.
"Oh come on," another man joined in. "Are you really willing to lose your title as the pin, pon, pan king?"
"Yeah, come on, Arata-san's been aching for a rematch since you drank him under the table last game," a third man ribbed.
"I really can't," Hisagi said shooting her an embarrassed grin. She didn't really see what he had to be embarrassed about. If drinking games bothered her she certainly wouldn't have dated Shunsui.
"It's no problem," Nanao said with a shrug. "You should. I need to go anyway. I'm a little worn out."
"Aw, now we didn't mean to drive you away," the first man said. "You're more than welcome to join. Hisagi Taicho's last girlfriend even made it to the finals."
"Kudo-san," Hisagi started to chastise.
"It's really ok," Nanao said with a laugh. "I'm tired and you have a title to defend." She stood up and found herself excited to be going home to sleep. She was more exhausted than she originally thought.
"At least let me walk you home," he offered standing with her.
"I'm a big tough girl," she said with a smile. "I'll be fine."
He followed her out the door all the same and stopped off to the side of the bar with her. "I'll take you home," he repeated.
"And miss the first round?" she asked easily. "Don't worry about it. Sorry I'm bowing out so early. I'm just really tired."
"My friends are idiots," he grumbled.
"They seem like nice idiots," she comforted. "Come on, it's not like I was going to invite you in anyway."
"I did that lousy?" he asked and she laughed.
"I'm not a first date kind of girl," she said with a smile. "Besides my brother might still be there in which case you'd be damaged, or Rangiku might still be there in which case all sorts of weird things would probably occur. It's better left for another night."
"But there will be another night?" he asked hopefully.
"That depends on you," she said. "I'm also not the type of girl that asks a boy out."
"So old fashioned," he said with an overdramatic sigh. "Guess I'm going to have to."
"Guess so," she said with a shrug.
"I'm going to kiss you," he said simply and when she didn't protest he did. It was nice and warm and not in the least bit slobbery, which Nanao appreciated, but it didn't make her lose her mind. Actually she should probably count that as a benefit. Shunsui's kisses had talked her into doing some stupid things. Here it was, all the feel good without the loss of control.
It broke off slowly and Nanao couldn't help kissing him again if only to get out some of her pent up hormones. It felt good to have big affectionate hands on her neck and lower back again. She ran a hand through his hair and didn't get caught in a tangle even once, which was a change. Maybe leaving early wasn't such a good idea. The kiss deepened and Nanao took a step back to regain her balance and made contact softly with the wall. It was still enough to make her headache known again and she sighed as they broke off.
"I should go," she said quietly, his face still centimeters from her own.
"Yeah," he agreed before kissing her once more. Nanao let her hands wander again and enjoyed his reactions to her. Shunsui seemed to be always capable of keeping in control, slowing the process down. Not that she had complaints. That made for some extra long almost tantric sex more often than not. But she couldn't say it wasn't nice to not be the only one desperate for more. Hisagi pressed in closer and she could practically feel how fast this would be if she gave in. Not bad, just needy and frantic, and different. His kisses had migrated from her mouth to down her neck and she knew she should be telling him to stop.
"Get a room," someone snickered as they entered the bar and saw the couple in shadows, and that was all it took to have them springing apart.
"Right so I should be going," Nanao said.
"Are you completely sure?" he asked, hand still on the juncture of her neck and shoulder.
"Yes," she lied, again surprised when he didn't catch it. "Go defend your title."
"See you soon," he said with a warm smile and one more lingering kiss.
They said their goodbyes and Nanao shunpoed away as he re-entered the bar. Every impact made her feel slightly like she was going to throw up, but she didn't think she could take the long slow walk home. It was over quickly, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she made it in her front door without getting too ill. A minute later she wasn't sure her grand accomplishment would last when she was smothered in an overpowering hug.
"Where's Shuuhei-kun?" Rangiku asked looking around the front entrance as if he would magically appear. "I was going to do a double bear hug."
"He's at the bar with some friends. Can you please get off?" Nanao asked with a groan. "That or get me more medicine."
"He's what?" Rangiku demanded releasing her. "I'm going to kill him!"
"What, why?" Nanao asked although she loathed potentially giving up the sweet relief from her suffocating embrace.
"He just ditched you for his old drinking buddies?" Rangiku asked.
"Oh no, I told him to stay," Nanao said waving her off. "I was ready to go home and they looked like they were going to have a good time so I didn't see any reason for him to leave with me."
"So it was a bust date?" Rangiku asked rhetorically with a sigh as she followed Nanao into her living room.
"What? No," Nanao defended.
"How is him staying with his drinking buddies and you wanting to come home a success?" Rangiku asked confused. "I think Shunsui may have been doing something wrong if that's what you classify as a good date."
Nanao rolled her eyes. "It was fun, we ate and talked. It's not his fault I have a head injury and didn't want to stay out late. Besides what did you think was going to happen? We'd both come back here, rip our clothes off, and go at it like dogs in heat?"
"I'd kind of hoped."
"Ran," Nanao said exasperatedly.
"What? You need to get laid. It'd get you out of some of your melancholy funk, and maybe take out some of your aggression so you don't go about beating up boys who are bigger than you."
"Rangiku, I'm going to bed. Go home," Nanao said lightly heading into the kitchen to pop a pill.
"Come on! Nothing happened at all?" Rangiku whined and trailed after her.
"We kissed and that's it," Nanao said figuring it'd be better to get this over with fast or else she'd never get to sleep.
Rangiku gave a little squeal and bounced around her. "How was it?"
"It was nice," Nanao said with a shrug, swallowing the painkiller and heading towards her bedroom.
"Nice? That's it?" Rangiku asked with a frown.
"Yeah, it felt good," Nanao answered. "What do you want me to say? I'm not going to tell you every intimate detail of my life. I didn't with Shunsui either."
"Yeah, but then you didn't have to," Rangiku explained. "Even if you just said something as boring as, it was nice, you had this stupid love struck look on your face that lasted forever and implied it was not only nice, but mind blowingly amazing."
"I did not," Nanao argued. She had worked quite hard to keep emotions she didn't want made public off her face over the years.
"You did, always," Rangiku said with a laugh. "You aren't as great at being an ice princess as you think."
"Rangiku," Nanao snapped starting to lose her patience. She didn't feel well and she certainly didn't want to think about Shunsui right when she'd had a pleasant night out with no thought of it at all.
"Sorry," Rangiku said wincing. "It just seems like something is missing."
"Well, I'm not in love with Hisagi-san, am I?" Nanao said tiredly slipping into her bathroom to change. Given the choice she didn't particularly like stripping in front of people. "It was fun, it felt good, but I'm not some schoolgirl with a crush."
"So why don't you just go back to Shunsui if you're this hung up on him?" Rangiku asked sourly through the door.
"It's not like I asked for any of this," Nanao growled tugging one of Shunsui's old shirts over her head, and so help her if Rangiku said anything snarky about it she'd tell Hitsugaya where Matsumoto had hidden half a month's worth of paperwork. "It's not like we fell out of love with each other or even really had a fight or any preparation for breaking up. We just were and then we weren't. Excuse me if it's taking me some time to adjust and move on."
Nanao stepped out of the bathroom and got smothered again. "I didn't mean to be harsh," Rangiku said contritely. "I just hate seeing you unhappy. You're right of course. You really didn't get anything like closure. Especially not with Shunsui still hounding after you and professing undying devotion if you only give him another chance."
"Glad we understand each other then," Nanao said tiredly wiggling away from the woman and crawling into bed. She didn't care that she hadn't washed her face or brushed her teeth. It would keep for one night. She also didn't protest when Rangiku crawled under the covers with her.
"That's what you need you know," Rangiku said as Nanao reached out and flipped off the light. "Closure."
"You tell me how," Nanao said with a yawn.
"Well as Shunsui isn't going to help you out by backing off completely, I'm thinking sex would do the trick," Rangiku said thoughtfully.
Nanao snorted. "Is that how you solve everything?"
"No hear me out! It'd be like the final nail in the relationship right? Moving on. You've never been with anyone besides Shunsui. It'd probably be good for you, and it doesn't have to be Shuuhei. If that's not working for you there are plenty of shinigami in the afterlife."
"Shuuhei is working just fine," Nanao said with a laugh. "So I'm not crazy in love with him. I'm fond of him and that's a start. It isn't like I fell in love with Shunsui overnight. Just give me time."
There was silence for a few minutes and then Rangiku said quietly. "Just don't get yourself killed trying to forget."
"What?" Nanao asked sleepily.
"I get the training, I do," Rangiku said. "I've been there. Where you wonder if you'll ever feel like really living again. But if you could not get in death matches with Kenpachi I'd appreciate it. I'm worried about you."
"Oh Ran," Nanao sighed rolling over and slinging her arm around the other woman's waist. She remembered feeling the same about Rangiku after Gin's death. Only she'd been more afraid the woman would drink herself to death. Shunsui had helped her collect Matsumoto off a bar floor on a particularly bad night and tend to her when she was released from the 4th the next morning. Nanao had spent most of that morning fighting down tears and had worried when her Taicho had decided to talk to Rangiku privately. She had no idea what he'd said to her, but you knew it was bad when Kyouraku was performing the intervention. Whatever it was it had worked. Rangiku hadn't stopped getting drunk, but she'd at least kept it in human quantities and it'd started to taper off over time. Yes, she new the fear of losing a friend to themselves. "I'll be ok. I promise. Fighting Kenpachi had nothing to do with my love life. Thank kami."
There were a few more minutes of silence and then Rangiku spoke up one last time. "I still say sex would help."
"I'll take it under advisement," Nanao said with a laugh. "Now let me sleep."
A/N: I know, I know, I'm late :( Hopefully you haven't all abandoned me for my tardiness. I got some writing done on a long plane flight I just had though so that's good. I swear I'm not giving up and pushing through the writer's block. Hope all the Americans out there had a wonderful Thanksgiving!