emptynight | The devil may smile with an angel's face

There was waiting and then there was boredom and the stretch in between was never too long for Alice, even if Pandora and Bianca were amazing. She was jittery as hell and she couldn't just stand still for Vlad. Besides she definitely needed to wash the rest of that blood off her hands, probably burn the t-shirt dress she was wearing just to make sure she never smelled that again. Eugh.

She hadn't forgotten about Thomas but she hadn't exactly stuck to his side either. They'd been shellacked together for like, weeks, and besides it was Thomas, it wasn't like he was going to take offense or something, but yeah, there was some guilt that he'd gone all face the music while she'd put it way the hell off after their meet and greet with Dru. So when she caught his scent before going into their room she had to kind of brae herself for a second, sort her brain out before her head got achier, and definitely, definitely focus on the calm and good instead of dumping him with whatever.

"You look totally pleased with yourself like in a way I haven't seen in awhile and good, I mean good for you and hooray and all that, don't mind the smell it'll be gone soon if I have to like, scrub off a layer of skin." She waved quick and ducked into the bathroom, stripping off her dress and throwing it at the wall. Definitely bonfire material. "You end up having a good night?"

When Alice walked in, the business card got tossed somewhere between his bed and the dresser. Thomas wasn't worried. The thing had a habit of showing back up. Besides, he'd memorized the number. He followed Alice into the bathroom, ignoring the stale sour smell and the stain on the dress that ended up on a pile against the far wall. "If I answered that now with a yes, I'm sure something will blow up in my face before the night's over to change my answer," he replied, sliding an arm around Alice's waist.

There was definitely blood on her hands, but he ignored that for the moment, instead dropping a few light kisses on Alice's neck, drawing away just a tiny bit of the ever present, simmering energy. The burn was healing quickly. Now his lips were just a little oversensitive instead of in pain at a touch.

"But so far, good enough. Your brother's trying to buy my help with his forgiveness." Another kiss, pressed to the spot behind her ear. "I hope it was a private slaughter," he continued, hand gesturing to hers. "Should I be insulted that I didn't get an invitation?"

"I meant last night, I mean ok we technically spent half of it getting here but I kind of bailed before the fireworks, you know? Just needed to feel the wind in my hair before facing stuff down or whatever." Alice wasn't actually going after a layer of skin, but the blood was stubborn for sure. Thankfully it was mostly on her arms and hands and they were getting a good perfumey lather going.

And oh, she hadn't actually realized how bad the pain had gotten until Thomas started kissing her and it started getting better. So much better. Jasper was going to be on her ass about putting that off too long if she made a show of it, though. Probably even if she didn't, god knew what they were airing.

"Ok first off that sentence with Edward in it doesn't even make sense but I want a story anyway. And second I don't know where you were at when Vlad got all politely kidnapped but his demon escorts were like, begging me to teach them some manners and you know, they were stubborn students, but you're always welcome." She leaned into that lovely Thomas kiss, and not just for its painkilling properties 'cause, secondary and for some reason that jogged her memory.

"Oh, plus? You're an idiot."

Whatever had triggered that particular line of thought had a domino effect, reminding Thomas of other parts of his conversation with Edward. Still, he didn't speak until he had spent a few seconds nibbling at Alice's ear, smiling a little as she leaned into him.

"Three things," he said, pulling away so he could actually look at her in the mirror. "I'm pretty sure I was still dead to the world when that happened, sorry. Two, I'll tell you the story later. And three, you're the idiot. Empty night Alice, how are you supposed to help Edward if you keep pretending to do stuff that just gets him angrier at you?"

Thomas caught a glimpse of his own face in the mirror, actual anger starting to show in his eyes, and he stopped talking to force it away.

Most of the blue stuff was gone now, and if the smell was lingering it was pretty hard to detect but it was probably going to be just faintly there for a few days and she'd deal, so she started drying while Thomas made his list and got all frowny. Alice hopped onto the counter and repressed a sigh that would've come out way too giggly, which sadly just made it sound like she was laughing at him but tough.

"How am I gonna help Edward? Oh my god you seriously don't get it do you. Lacci was ready to lose her mind at whoever spilled about Wolfram & Hart which, by the way?" She thwapped him with her towel.

"She's not gonna stay pissed at me, and if you think Edward's not past counting reasons I'm the devil now you're fully not paying attention. I took a hit for you that I'm fully capable of taking and I shouldn't have had to if you were like, being a reasonable person and keeping confidences with girls who might be really upset at having them broken so don't empty night me."

Rubbing at the bridge of his nose, Thomas gave a long, deep sigh. "I don't remember being told by anyone not to say anything to Vlad in the midst of all the abuse yesterday," he pointed out.

He shook his head; that was not the right road to be going down. Thomas forced calm into his voice. "All I mentioned was the time Lacci decided to go on an all coffee no sleep schedule because Vlad looked like he was pulling the same thing. I thought I'd ask permission this time instead of randomly beating him over the head if he started raving. He put the rest of the pieces together by himself."

Which was more than Thomas could say for some people in this idiot house.

"Thomas I'm not your mom, I don't care why you blabbed what you did, Vlad needed to know at some point cause whatever conversation's going down with them right now is obviously a kind of necessary thing, I'm just saying don't freak out at me for taking your bullet." Alice quirked her head and raised an eyebrow.

"Besides it doesn't really matter who they think told, does it? I mean if it's out now? Plus I don't remember doing a whole lot of abusing last night so you're gonna have to fill me in." God, and she could take her own advice about the guilties, but they were there, a tiny thread underneath all the totally reasonable needed to take care of herself feelings, and anyway she didn't get why he was so pissed. Not at her. "Was it like, super awful?"

Another long breath. "It's the principle of the thing, Alice," he said, avoiding her eye. The anger wasn't at her, hadn't been since... well ever, if he was going to be honest. It was just harder to lash out at the man in the mirror without sounding like a raving lunatic.

"You dragged me across the country while I was too busy being an ass to take care of things. You just... shouldn't still be doing that now is all." He shrugged. "Whose definition of super awful are we using? Because it was pretty awful by my count. The next person to ask me about my feelings is getting shot."

It was real sweet that he thought she was going to stop taking care of things now that they were at the house, but she got the gist.

"Listen, you're a big boy and you can take your lumps, yeah? But I can take 'em too, at least while you get back on your feet with a couple of people, I mean trust me once this whole thing blows over you're gonna have to beg me to take the fall for any of your hijinks Thomas Raith, not that you will cause you're a manly man and everything." Alice kept smiling and hooked a stockinged leg around his waist, yanking him closer to the counter.

"So I'm hearing it was bad but you know, apparently Edward is talking to you and Lacci too from the sounds of it, so not too bad for one night." Plenty of bad could go down in one night no matter how it ended, but no use dwelling when she'd dragged a lot more out of him than two weeks. Pushy Alice was still taking her well-earned vacation. For as long as she could before she became Obviously Avoidy Alice.

"And Edward's trying to get something out of you in exchange for making nice? Poor Thomas." Her grin went kind of wicked, and she ran her other foot along his inner thigh. "How does that make you feel?"

Let him shoot.

The grin and the obvious attempt to poke at him would have made Thomas glare at her, six feet four of manly indignation, except Alice's legs were doing quite pleasant things. The look he shot back was pure wickedness for about half a second before he caught her lips with his.

He kissed her slowly, all lazy exploration, while his fingers dropped feather light touches all over her stockinged legs. "Right now I feel like I'm being made fun of," he answered in a soft teasing growl, lips moving down her throat as his fingers found the tops of the stockings and began sliding beneath them. "How does that make you feel?"

Blissful. Sigh-worthy. Pain-free. A real abundance of adjectives that Alice didn't feel were exactly the priority at the moment given Thomas' lips being back in play which was kind of like a star pitcher magically healing a shoulder or some other sports metaphor she was fully not qualified to come up with.

She'd been kind of worried about the rooming together and the cabin fever of two weeks and awkward on top of awkward, but that all went pretty much out the window when she remembered normal Thomas, Thomas who was all smirks and kisses and playfulness, and ok so they'd sniped at each other for a bit but it was still all new. This was the part she knew for sure they were still both good at.

Alice made it real clear how it made her feel returning his kiss and arching against his fingers. "I'm not making fun of you, I would never." She sank a hand into his hair, traced his jawline, and it was nice, this sort-of familiar kind of thrill that anchored her to the house and the outside world. "I just got distracted cause I was making a list in my head of all the stuff I'm gonna like, make you confront before the end of the night, I was thinking we could get a shrink's couch in here, yeah?"

He couldn't help the pleased sigh as Alice's hand sank into his hair, and Thomas resumed his own motions. Slow, steady tugs at her stockings alternated with nips at Alice's neck, and he laughed softly against her skin. "Sure, as long as it's big enough for two," he answered, dropping a trail of kisses down her body as he sank to his knees.

Thomas looked up at Alice with a grin as he caught one stocking in his teeth, dragging it down her leg, trailing hot breath and kisses in its wake. "How's that list coming?" he asked innocently, tossing the stocking over his shoulder as he caught its mate and began the process anew.

"It got real boring all of a sudden, I don't know what happened." Any other cracks she had like was there a thing she should know about bathroom counters or what deep dark secrets she was going to drag out of him went completely out of her head too, 'cause Thomas' grin just did that, where every once in awhile she got reminded how unearthly-type gorgeous he was, and when it happened while he was taking off clothes with his teeth a girl could lose track of things. Like hopefully her own name.

"I'll make it later and just leave it on your bed for when you have time, yeah? That way you can get a head start." Her voice was already getting all breathy, damnit. He was fully back in fine form. "I don't wanna interrupt you while you're busy."

"I'm pretty good at multitasking." And there went the other stocking into the corner. More kisses back up Alice's leg, and he took a moment to press one to the inside of her thigh of nothing but lingering heat before Thomas stood up again. There was still a faint tingle at his lips, just a little more sensitivity than normal, but he could overlook that for the taste of Alice's skin, of soft lips and breathy laughter.

He kissed her again, slow and steady, as his fingers slid up her thigh, tracing the path of his kisses, until they slid past cloth and found warm flesh. Thomas swallowed her gasps as his hips rocked lightly against her, teasing as his fingers moved in her. He could almost predict Alice now, predict when breathy laughter would hitch into arching want, when desire would hum against his skin at the perfect pitch. The Hunger slid against her, a light velvet touch, unspooling emotion and all the threads of futures and possibilities. "You can leave whatever you want on my bed," he laughed, lips moving away from hers to trace the line of her jaw, up her cheek, to that spot behind her ear.

Featherlight touches , quick and fleeting, alternated with steady strokes against nerves on fire. "I hope you don't mind if I don't get to any of it tonight."

Thomas was even better once he knew you is what Alice figured. And if he ever really wanted to torture her he'd know exactly how and she didn't honestly know how she'd stop him, 'cause she'd probably be too busy wanting him to. It wasn't just the pain misting away like it'd never existed, or the practiced twist of his fingers pressing into her and against her exactly right. It wasn't even all the real affection she had for him. Thomas was just always going to make her lose her head a little, anytime he liked, and Alice was pretty ok with having signed up for that kind of heat.

She couldn't even get out the plan she had for getting to his bed right now, which would've been cute and all when she hauled him there, except she couldn't. She was already past breathy laughter and as much as she wanted to draw out this toe-curling pleasure and the warmth of his skin, this beautiful spinning alone in her head without noise or pain, her hands were kind of moving to undo his jeans without her explicit permission and she didn't really have the will to stop them.

There was a lot to be said for desperation she guessed; Thomas seemed to drive her to it without a whole lot of trying even when she wanted to float there for ages. A hand snaked past his undone jeans to stroke the same kind of desperation into him, 'cause it was so much better when they went together.

Between Vlad and Alice, Thomas was becoming very convinced of the importance of practice. Even with the Hunger on his lips and fingers, tasting desire and leaving aching want with every touch, he gasped in surprise at the touch of Alice's hand, cool and skilled, against him.

His free hand moved to swat at hers, but then her hand ran right along a nerve, sending a jolt of pleasure straight up his spine. If his own fingers dug a little deeper into her, moved a little faster in response, it couldn't be helped. Thomas could only choke out a moan as the hand that had been about to swat at Alice's moved around her waist to slide up her back, undoing the hook of her bra only so that it wouldn't be in the way of all that lovely soft skin.

She was far too coherent, judging by her hand on him, and Thomas withdrew, easing Alice up on the counter slightly so he could ease the last scrap of cloth she was wearing off her hips and onto the small pile of lace on the floor. He kissed her again with a little hint of desperation, his hands running over her curves, thumbs running lightly over her breasts.

Feeding and playing became instinctive, and for the moment all Thomas wanted was to sink into her, to feel Alice's legs wrap around him. When he spoke again, his voice was breathless, wanting. "Please."

There was a certain pleasure in begging.

All these soft touches were driving her so completely insane she didn't hear him at first, hard as it was to focus on what she was trying to do, but there was a shock of pleasure when she did, and Alice's movements slowed.

For a second she wondered if her visions had come back even a little, 'cause she was sure she'd seen this, pressed panting against tiling and being begged for, but there was a difference between idle fantasy and visions and she'd have gone way crazier if she hadn't learned that difference a long time ago. Still it was kind of a nice bonus, fantasy or not, to go along with all the quick hitches of breath and the waves of need getting harder and harder to keep quiet. Not to mention the whole begging thing which almost ended it right there.

Alice was quick and strong and she knew this fantastic body she was pressing against pretty well, so it didn't take long to go from splayed against the counter to wrapping herself around him, legs brushing the small of his back and pulling him sharply forward to sink into her, and whatever moans and whimpers Alice couldn't keep to herself got muffled by Thomas' chest and everywhere else her mouth could reach, fevered and gasping and exactly the right kind of needy.

You could beg without actually begging was what she figured. She did it with Thomas all the time.

There had been plans. Thomas distinctly recalled making said plans while taking Alice's stockings off. There had been a plan to move them back to an actual bed, for example, but when Alice's legs wrapped around him, pulled him into her with a chorus of needy whimpers, those plans became a lot less important. His arms wrapped around Alice's slight frame, fingers digging into her back, as he tried to keep his hips still, to revel in the feel of being so thoroughly surrounded by heat and desire.

The touch of her lips left little trailing sparks of desire across his skin, and Thomas laughed, except it came out as a soft little groan of pleasure breathed into her hair. When he had gathered enough self control to move again, he did it slowly, rocking against Alice with deep, steady strokes, every movement spinning out a little more need, undoing another thread of tension.

His own breathing moved in ragged counterpoint to his hips as his hands moved over every inch of Alice he could reach, tracing the very nature of desire over her skin as the rhythm drove them inexorably to release.

Getting teased and touched and ultimately screwed senseless was the kind of thing a girl usually wanted to lose herself in, and it was a pretty tricky balance to strike, what with all the relief he was steadily giving her at the same time as making her crave more of him like she needed it to survive. Alice was trying to focus on the second one, wrapped around him panting and writhing being a spotlight stealer, Her hips were meeting his as hard and fast as they could without actually hurting him, an edge that'd been deliciously refined in the last two weeks.

But eventually it'd all become too much, relief from that much pain being almost on par with everything else he was doing to her, and her legs tightened around him while her whole body curved shaking with the waves of release, muscles tensing and slacking. For a minute the whole world was silence except for Alice in her own head, and both their cries echoing off the tile and porcelain.

The feel of Alice's legs tightening around his waist as her entire body seemed to shake and convulse with release sent Thomas over the edge right along with her, pulling her tight against him, arching hard into her as strength flooded every inch of his body. He cried out then, a raw note of inarticulate release, and stilled against her, pressing light kisses to Alice's forehead as their cries echoed and faded to silence.

Thomas didn't say anything, having learned that particular lesson over the course of two weeks. Instead, he ran a hand through her hair, slowly, continuously, and waited for Alice to catch her breath.

Jasper could call him Thomas Tylenol all he liked, there was no way there was any little pill that did that or she'd have heard of it. And a pill could never be this warm and sweet, all holding her and petting her while she rested her head against his chest. Plus people would never leave their houses and human civilization would collapse or something.

And in the mist that she got to float in when she was wrapped around Thomas like this, the only sour note was realizing how much she'd really needed it just to get her head cleared. It might not always be like that, there had been lots of stuff going down but then there always seemed to be. Easiest if she didn't worry about it until the next not-angry-why-do-you-ask phone call from Jasper. Way easiest to smile, contentedly tangled up with him. She didn't even have to say thank you 'cause he'd get the gratitude coming off her in waves.

When she finally moved to untangle them, Alice pulled him down for a long, soft kiss, a counterpoint to the frenetic everything she usually did, and smiled. "You're gonna have to remind me to take my medicine more often I think. I mean not that it's your job or anything, but I'm obviously not great about remembering how good it is." Or how much better it made her.

((Desquish with mirrors!))

It wasn't until Alice moved, pulled him down for an uncharacteristically calm kiss that Thomas noticed how much strength flowed through his veins, how much lighter her presence was against his awareness. "Clearly I'm not doing my job if you're not remembering how good I am," he joked, letting his hands fall to Alice's waist and setting her back on her feet as if she couldn't reach it on her own. No wonder Harry liked to needle Murphy about being short. It was fun.

He moved back, out of smacking reach, as soon as she was on the floor. "And it's a deal. As long as there are no sexy nurse costumes involved. Well, not on me, at least."

"That's fully unfair, you have fantastic legs in a skirt and you should show them off more often, yeah? At least that's what Vlad said, and before you get all kissing and telling it was totally within the realm of Truth or Dare rules, completely allowed." Alice stuck her tongue out at him for being all lifted around just because her feet didn't come anywhere near the floor, and grabbed another comfy t-shirt dress (http://pics.livejournal.com/manicpixydream/pic/0001w3sh) out of the box nearest the bathroom. Either she'd get to the stockings eventually or they were going to be like, awash in a sea of mess before they were there even two days.

"I'd say you're doing a pretty good job overall," she said over her shoulder, getting dressed again. "I'm just a scatterbrain right? Plus plenty to get distracted by in this house and that's not even counting people I'm trying to avoid." Setting her hair to rights, she quirked her head at him in the mirror. "That's all going like, ok and stuff, yeah? 'Cause there's me being here and then there's me being here."

It made perfect sense to share a room except where it didn't, but she was nowhere near ready to give up the big comforting shield that was lovely Thomas.

"At least tell me you got dared to do something scandalous like run around outside naked chasing Pandora with a pillow?" Thomas asked hopefully, ignoring the face she made at him in favour of putting himself to rights.

He caught her look and shrugged nonchalantly, slipping past Alice and flopping back into his bed. "Aside from the inherent gag reflex of 'hey I'm sleeping with your sister'? It's going alright. Like I said, he came to apologize. To soften me up so he could ask for help." It was to his credit that he sounded about average on the Thomas Sarcasm Scale of Sincere to Edward.

"Well ok not so much Truth or Dare as I Have Never, but same ballpark, yeah? Same blabbing rules apply, and it was totally scandalous, obviously. It was me." God, was Pandora like, everyone's standard for amazing or was she just that obvious? Probably both. Alice followed him out of the bathroom and flopped stomach-first on her own bed thank you very much, and listened to his answer. She thought she did a really excellent job hiding the twinge of hurt when she sorted out Edward was really talking to him, like, already, and not in yelly outside voices from the sounds of it.

"And you know, Dru? Everything's- ok?" She sidestepped the Edward thing neatly 'cause for the time being it was more important that she find out how things were going on that front, no matter what kind of glare he threw her, and for the record she thought, she was only asking one question. But he was in way better spirits than he had been a couple of days ago. She could get away with it.

"This is highly unorthodox pillow talk, Alice," Thomas complained. He didn't miss the twinge of hurt that came off her, couldn't have, not when her presence still lingered against his mind. But that was for later.

For now he played along. "Dru's... complicated," he said. It was a mark of just how much Dru was bothering him that he hadn't immediately reverted to the 'I don't want to talk about it' voice. A few seconds ticked by, and Thomas shrugged. "It'll be okay. Don't worry about it."

He turned his head and looked at Alice. "I'm serious, you know," he said quietly. "He's only talking to me because he wanted something."

"It's not pillow talk at all except I'm kind of like approximately near some pillows." She could fix that pretty easy though, should really, and hopped over to his bed without much trouble, dropping a kiss on his forehead and running fingers through his hair.

So Dru was complicated and that was not exactly news, but she reminded herself Dru was all I'm not going to hurt you and how she should have known and everything was fine dammit, she'd worked to hard to get things here for it not to be. But it was kind of up to him from here on out, at least with Dru. There was no helping Alice there.

"Oh come on Thomas do not be that guy." Edward wanting help was one thing, but Edward sucking up to someone he was pissed at was a totally different story. "Have you met Edward? What's so like, vitally important that he'd break his own stubborn angry spine to come get it from you?"

The kiss was very much appreciated, and Thomas grinned in response, dropping a quick kiss at the little hollow of her throat in return. When he pulled away, there was a knowing smirk on his lips, and an almost undetectable edge of bitterness in his eyes.

"Lacrimosa, of course."

Edited 2009-11-05 01:45 (UTC)

"Oh right, of course, Lacrimosa." Alice couldn't even remember the last time she'd heard anyone on the show call her that except for maybe Dru, which didn't count for a million reasons starting with the way Dru sounded saying anything.

"I don't know why I didn't see it before, this whole time he must've been like floundering without your help with Lacci, what are you even talking about?" As far as Alice knew the whole thing had gotten fixed anyway, whatever Vlad's nefarious plan had involved, and anyway it didn't seem fully likely that Edward would tag Thomas in for some advice to the lovelorn.

"Look if Edward came to see you and like, acted like he could stand you, I think you're in better than you thought, yeah?" She kept up running fingers through his hair, brushing imaginary strands away from his face. "Silly boys."

"He's asking for help with Wolfram & Hart, Alice," Thomas said, it finally occurring to him that she might not know. "On what planet would Edward come to me for relationship advice?"

He tried not to lean into her hand running through his hair, but it felt too good. "After Vlad put one and one together and got two, he apparently decided to go gunning for the lawyers. So now Edward needs a hired gun because he's desperate for help figuring out what happened to Lacci." He raised an eyebrow, lips quirking into a humourless smile.

"After what?!" Alice sat straight up, not bothering to take in the whole your brother the jerk look and whipped the door open to run to Lacci's room. Her door wasn't even closed and Edward wasn't there, but neither was Vlad, she could tell that from the scent and besides Lacci was pawing through her wardrobe and looked all puzzled that Alice had even come back. "You and me, Lacci, later with the talking." Her return to Thomas wasn't quite as hasty pants but goddamnit.

"God, Thomas! I can't see stuff anymore, you have to tell me! Vlad is gone?" Alice sank back next to Thomas, looking a hell of a lot more concerned than relaxed. "Some bodyguard I make, what the hell is wrong with you- masky types you can't say goodbye? And where did he go, anyway?" Edward and his outstretched hands could wait, she needed to hear this out loud to know for sure.

Well, so much for good medicine, she was getting tense again. Thomas draped his arm around Alice's shoulders. "Good byes are tough," he said needlessly. "Edward said Wolfram & Hart might have been taking advantage of Vlad, letting him think he's working for them." In the time he'd spent thinking, Thomas was starting to work out some idea of what Vlad might have been doing with them.

"They knew a lot about Lacci. About how to play her. You don't get that without knowing how someone's brain works." His words were detached, eerily cool. "Vlad apparently has some sort of connection to Wolfram & Hart. He went to go gunning for the lawyers because he doesn't think they'll expect it."

"They probably won't, not after I killed the goons they sent after him, well ok Pandora got one of them but I would've if she hadn't shown up, damnit I didn't know I had to protect him from himself or I would've stayed!" There was tense and then there was psychic tense, and Alice was going to be fine there for awhile she figured, which meant she was free to worry about idiot boys and their idiot plans all she liked. Why'd she bothered knocking a demon's head off if he was just going to fly back to them in the first place?

"I knew his story about getting hauled out for an unapproved visit was bull but I needed time to work on it, or well ok, me and Bianca and Pandora together I mean who's gonna withstand that for five minutes? Now I know and he's gone." She bit her thumb and buried her head against Thomas' shoulder for a minute, 'cause she could stand to calm down a bit for his sake at least.

"So wait, what does that have to do with Edward faking nice at you? I mean I get that Lacci's been getting screwed with but so's he obviously, so's Dru. What does he want you to do?" The whole bribery buying affections give and take spin Thomas was putting on it was crap, but she could point that out when she had all the facts.

His hand ran through Alice's hair, and Thomas tried to soothe the spikes of anxiety that were forming. "Vlad going Lone Ranger on everyone spurred Edward to action," he answered, trying to remind himself that this was all new to Alice.

"So now Edward wants to go knocking lawyer heads in, and he wants me to figure out a way for him to do it." Thomas laughed a little again, and kissed Alice's forehead. "Vlad can take care of himself, you know. Not that it makes you feel any better, but he can."

"I know he can, but is he gonna 'cause it doesn't sound like it so far, I mean- god." It was kind of amazing they hadn't all gotten killed with their whole propensity for dumb ass moves, but she counted herself on that list so, sheepish, plus Thomas was just soothing even when he wasn't making any sense. It would've been a lot more infuriating if he hadn't already soothed that away too.

"Just so I have the whole thing clear, you think Edward is like, pawning his good graces so you'll help him go after the bad guy lawyers? Is that for real what I'm hearing 'cause Thomas, you have said some stupid stuff and I'm totally ready to be wrong about this, but come on. You don't really think Edward could fake that kind of thing at you, do you?" He was kind of an open book to Alice, and ok she'd known him a long time and been wrong a bunch anyway, but Thomas knew him and felt other people's feeling's for god's sake.

Unless something had changed a lot more than she'd bargained for since she'd left- "Is that what he gave off?"

He knew Alice was going to push it, because Alice always pushed it, and he knew what he had to say to make it convincing, to make the watching lawyers think he was bitter and open to talking. It didn't make the doing any easier, even though some small part of him felt intensely alive at the thought of the game.

"I don't kiss and tell, Alice. You know that," he said, putting enough bitter disgust in his voice to make it clear what in fact he was feeling. Even so, Thomas bent to kiss Alice's forehead again, whispering against her hair. "No."

Edited 2009-11-05 05:18 (UTC)

Oh, god. Thomas had A Plan. This was going to give her a bigger headache than trying to find Vlad on her own, and yeah so Alice could stand to get used to a house that was always bugged but this kind of wink and nudge crap really didn't help.

"Fine, so Edward's a douche, newsflash. I'm gonna talk to him if it kills me which, by the way still a total possibility, 'cause if he's lowering himself to bartering forgiveness for help he's gotta be pretty desperate." Alice hoped the look in her eye said exactly how much she liked this whole subterfuge deal and exactly how much headache relief she was going to totally rightfully require as a result.

"You're both stubborn jerks." She didn't even have to lie to say that with a smile. "A thing of which I get you're like, stupidly proud so I won't even try to talk you out of it, besides it's kinda worked to my advantage once or twice I guess." Alice straddled him playfully and gave him a proper kiss, just enough irritation left that he'd taste it she figured, but no harm in going along with it for now. Especially if she didn't want any more of that disgusting-smelling blood on her hands.

Alice's Look was met with a smirking grin, the kind Thomas excelled at that was equal parts Don't Worry Babe, I'll Take Care Of It and Yes I'll Sleep With You If I Must. Her irritation came through loud and clear, and he nipped playfully at her lip as she pulled away. The sex and the feeding everyone understood; they made him the Thomas everyone knew and tolerated. The need to play games, for subterfuge and to guide the dagger in the night, well, it was hard to be the irrepressible playboy if everyone thought they needed to watch out for a knife up his sleeve.

"Well, what else am I supposed to be stupidly proud of?" he asked. "Because I'm fairly certain I'm actually that good in bed." The grin came easier that time, unrepentant and pure smartass.

He tried hard not to think about how good it felt to be playing the game, how the Hunger reveled in it and made his mind feel so utterly alive. If he could control it now, the Hunger's urges to feed, surely he could keep the upper hand in any game they played?

Between the look and what he actually said, he was lucky he actually was that good in bed or she might have had to smack some sense into him. Not that there was any hope of that, but she still rolled her eyes. And hey, while she was doing stuff... Alice snatched a pillow and bopped him with it, just hard enough to count as revenge for all the crap she had to guess at not saying out loud.

Headache wasn't even going to begin to cover it.

"You're amazing in bed and all the girls want you, Thomas. All the boys want to be you! Or the other way around, or something, you're lucky I'm one of those in there somewhere." She bopped him again, grinning. "And that I like you so much. I guess."

"It's about time you noticed," Thomas answered, throwing his arms over his head in a completely useless attempt to shield himself from the pillows. When she pulled back for another bop, Thomas reached up and caught the pillow, kissing her on the jaw as distraction. Taller, longer arms, etc etc.

"And since you're so kind to have noticed, how about I take you out for dinner one night? There's that place in the mall with all the vampire safe food. Or we can get takeout. The place is so busy you can barely hear yourself talk."

It occurred to Thomas belatedly that he was banking a lot on Alice's ability to take hints being better than her brother's. And that she'd even want to be involved in the first place. Still, if nothing else, she deserved dinner for putting up with it.

Edited 2009-11-05 21:34 (UTC)

"I can always hear myself talk Thomas, I have an excellent ear and a voice that never quits as you could totally testify under oath if you had to, right? Besides I like feeling like I'm not the only one chattering all over the place, the mall it is." She kissed him mostly to avoid letting it spill that he was so exactly like Edward in places she was wondering if she was going to have to come up with coded notes for them to pass, which not only would've made it all moot but wasn't totally conducive to keeping everyone happy and sane. Boys and their games. And here she was starting out with a major handicap.

"Nice to know you're still gonna take me out places now that I'm in for the long haul." If he could drop hints then so could she, dammit, and he better pick them up 'cause she didn't have the whole ability to rifle through what exactly to say anymore.

Thomas smiled, her hint coming through loud and clear. She was no Lara, who had him looking for death in two words uttered in passing in the hallway, but Alice wouldn't give him away. It was good to know someone was going to be on his side.

"You're stuck with me, I'm afraid," he said. "How will you ever survive with someone this gorgeous around your neck?" He squirmed out from beneath Alice and nodded at the door. "Didn't the crew mention something about you having a date at Starbucks tonight that you should be primping for for the next hour or so?"

The devil may smile with an angel's face

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