They only lingered long enough for everyone to marvel at Alexis's quick rescue. After ten minutes, Alexis was able to plea exhaustion and ask Nigel to bring her back to the hotel.

They didn't say a word until they walked through the door of her new, complimentary penthouse, and she pulled him onto the couch and sat down next to him.

They sat silently for a time, side by side, only their shoulders touching. After a moment, however, she turned her bruised face to him and cried, 'Oh, Nigel…' Nigel ran his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to his chest as a torrent of tears burst forth from Alexis's hazel eyes. 'Oh, Nigel, oh, Nigel…' she chanted, tucking her legs beneath her so she was curled wholly on his lap. Suddenly, Nigel realized how small and delicate this girl was. He wrapped his arms firmly around her, and kissed her hair. 'Nigel, thank you. Thank you so much… you really saved me. I… I, um…'

'Don't. Don't mention it, Alexis, please.' Nigel held her gently, but far enough away so he could look into her wide, tear-flooded eyes. 'I was thinking. Before. When you called, actually…' He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers for a moment, and leaned back again. 'This may not be the most opportune moment, luv, but I wanted to tell you something…'

In the moment he paused, the corners of Alexis's mouth turned up, and she leaned in to softly plant her lips onto his. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, and pressed harder into him, her tongue running against his lips. For a moment, Nigel was frozen, afraid to do the wrong thing, to scare her. But when she pulled back and gasped out, 'Please, Nigel?' it was everything he could do to not devour her right there on the spot.

Nigel wrapped his arms tightly around her delicate waist, and let one run gently up her back to push her head forward, to intensify the kiss. She pushed harder with her tongue, and when he allowed her entrance, she variably assaulted his mouth.

For a moment, Nigel was lost in her lips, and in the feeling of her kiss. She seemed to realize this, because she used his weakness to her advantage. She pulled him down on top of her, and entwined her fingers in his ebony hair.

Nigel couldn't help but become engrossed in her scent, and he began kissing lower, deeper. He strayed away from her mouth, and kissed along her jaw, he neck, her collarbone. Her nails dug in through the back of his flimsy sweater, and she cried out his name.

'Nigel –' she gasped, curving her back to move her body closer to his. 'Oh, Nigel.'

He ran his hands up her skin beneath her silken pyjama top, and made his way slowly to her beautiful, ample breasts.

'Oh, Nigel, please. Please, Nigel, please!' she cried, throwing her head back and her chest out.

Suddenly, he came to his senses, and lifted his lips away from her neck to scrutinize her features.

What he saw was a battered girl, glowing with lust and passion – and fear.

'No.'

That one syllable was almost impossible for him to mutter. Here he had the woman he loved practically begging him to have sex with her, to be her first… but he couldn't do it. Not like this.

'Nigel – Nigel, please.' Her voice came out as a squeak, and her arms tightened their grip on his neck, her nails pressing into his skin.

'No.'

'But – but Nigel…' He could hear a slight panic, almost hysteria, behind her words, and that only solidified his resolve. 'Nigel – please. I – I need this.'

'No,' he repeated a third time. 'What you need is sleep. And food. I swear to you I won't leave your side, Alexis, but I refuse to sleep with you now.'

'But you want to. I can tell you want to.' She lifted her leg gently, and ran it up his.

Nigel closed his eyes momentarily, and took a deep, rattling breath. 'No.'

He was still lying on top of her, and he saw her features contort into frustration, the bruises from Tyler becoming more predominant with time. 'But why?'

'Christ, Alexis! You were just kidnapped! You were almost raped! You were beaten and hurt and you're running on empty! You've barely slept in days, you had your head bashed on a coffee table, and you've eaten nothing but a bite of bagel since Friday night! Not to mention that I refuse to take the virginity of a women when she so obviously is not ready to give it away!' Nigel jumped up and took a step away from the couch.

'But I am ready! I want to –'

'No, you don't, Alexis! You think you want to, but really it's because you're scared. Right? You've come close to having your virginity stolen twice, and now you want to make sure that when you do lose it it's on your own terms. But this isn't on your own terms. Not really. Believe me, luv, I would like nothing better than to proceed with ripping off every stitch of clothing you have on right now and taking you right here on the floor, but I'll only let myself do that if that's what you really want me to do!'

'I'm thirty years old, damnit!' Alexis cried, standing up to meet him. 'I'm thirty years old and a virgin for Christ's sake! I think I can handle the loss of something I've been meaning to lose since high school!'

'No, you can't!' Nigel replied. 'You don't understand the seriousness of it, Alexis.'

'You're treating me like a child!'

'You are younger than me!'

'By eight years! We've been through this already! Plus, I've been this age ever since I can remember, and I haven't been able to get past it! What I need right now, Nigel, is sex. Take me now, or by God I'll go somewhere else!' Her voice was reaching hysterical levels.

'You wouldn't.' This time, his voice was serene. It wasn't a challenge, but an assurance.

'Oh, really?' she shrieked. 'And how the hell would you know?'

'Because,' he said, 'you waited fourteen years for the right man to come along. You're not just going to throw that all away because I refuse to ruin your first time.' He stepped forward, and held her arms gently to her side. Boring holes into her eyes, he said quietly, 'Alexis, I love you, and I would never, ever, do anything to hurt you. I would rather die than have you hurt.'

She stood, mouth gaping, eyes wide, face red, for many moments. Nigel, sensing the slacking of tension in the atmosphere, let go of her shoulders and opened his arms. She took no time to engross herself in his comforting embrace. She wrapped her arms around his narrow waist, and clung on hard enough that Nigel was sure he would find bruises later on. He ran his around her petite shoulders. 'I'm sorry,' she cried softly. 'I-I just…'

'I know.' He half led, half carried her into the bedroom, and, after unfastening her from his waist, tucked her under the covers. He then slipped off his shoes, and, fully clothed, joined her. He held her frail form next to his chest as she cried, her face buried in his neck.

And just before he heard her breathing slow into a dreamless sleep, he heard her murmur, 'I love you, too, you know,' into his chest.

And that's how Nigel Townsend - charming, debonair, happy-go-lucky soldier-turned-criminalist extraordinaire Nigel Townsend- cried himself to sleep with the woman he loved asleep in his arms.