By their very nature, Garou are social creatures. The humans and wolves from which they are derived are both intensely social beings, craving the company of others of their kind and establishing extensive territories and hierarchies. From the lowest omega to the alpha pair, from social outcast to class president, they rely on these social strata to define themselves and their role in their respective societies. The strong in any given group would protect the weak and keep them in line, while the weak fill their roles as support for their leaders. In theory, the combination of the two would create a symbiotic relationship between packmates, built on respect and mutual devotion to the same cause.

In practice, Kathleen was a hairsbreadth away from sending one of them through a wall. Her packmates lack of self-censorship, the long days and longer nights she'd been putting in on patrol and on guard at the caern and Jason's strange behavior as of late was starting to push her too far. Mid-morning found her in the kitchen, brooding with her back pressed to the counter. She stared darkly into middle-distance, bringing her coffee cup to her lips with mechanical efficiency, sipping, then setting it aside again. He'd dodged her this morning-by the time she was out of the shower, he was out of the house. At the very least, they'd always shared the paper and a cup of coffee before he went to work, but lately, without explanation, that pleasant morning chat had been set aside.

She closed her eyes in annoyance, pinching the bridge of her nose as she sensed Lloyd waking up somewhere that wasn't his home. The first two times it had happened, they'd swapped barbs over their mental link. As she now knew, it was a regular occurrence. Fighting not to snap at him for his promiscuity and lack of a mental filter (already she was being unconsciously informed of entirely unnecessary details about the woman he was abandoning), she instead tried to block him out. She was only partially successful, and so as the Galliard replayed the 'highlight reel' of the previous evening for himself in an unfamiliar bathroom, she stalked out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her bedroom.

Off went the soft pastels and the tan slacks, the clothes that made her feel as though she should be going to PTA meetings and children's soccer games with a bottle of Xanax and a mickey of vodka in her purse. She needed to get out of the house, away from everyone, to take some sort of small break from the grind she'd created for herself. Purposefully ignoring the sight of her scarred body in the bedroom mirror, she pulled her jar of salve from the nightstand and began to apply it. One by one her marks of glory vanished into her skin, restoring her again to a masterpiece of moon-paleness. Now she looked at herself, touching the mark on her neck and considering whether or not to obscure it as well.

Opting for 'no', running her thumb over it one more time, the Silver Fang turned back to her clothing selection. Now she picked out a light blue Betsey Johnson ¾ sleeve dress. Accented with a sleek pair of Jimmy Choos and a tasteful necklace, the dress would look lovely. It had been so long since the last time she'd just...taken a break from the constant grind of patrols and training. She needed this, especially given the dim turn her morning had already taken. Nevertheless, she was still justifying the decision as she threw on a robe and padded barefoot to the kitchen to put together a lunch for two. Even once it was packed and she was back upstairs, freshening her makeup and smoothing the wrinkles out of the dress, she was having trouble reconciling with the idea that she was going to have a break. It felt quite irresponsible, though she'd already instructed her packmates to do her patrols and cover their guardian shifts. Jason would have no idea where she was, but he'd left in such a hurry that morning that she doubted he'd be home before she was. Still, she had her cellular phone, just in case.

Speaking of the infernal little demon, she flipped open the phone and dialed the Wilhelmina Agency. Though she wasn't much of an actor, authority came naturally. She bullied the receptionist into coughing up the location of the shoot Alexys was working on that day, promising hell to pay in Russian and in English if the woman lied. In all honesty, she had no intention of following through, but it really had been that sort of day. Calming herself with a final makeup check, finally accepting that she was, in fact, going to take some time for herself, the theurge ensured she had everything she needed. Address in hand, a genuine picnic-basket lunch loaded into the back of her hybrid SUV, she took off driving to the Roosevelt Hotel.

Alexys Temple was only a model but she knew the entire history of the historic hotel, in and out, from its conception to the many names and faces that had walked through its halls and corridors to the new up-and-coming starlets and Hollywood hopefuls who always seemed to be lounging prettily around the pool or under a cabana whenever a photographer or paparazzo happened by. To the devious deeds done in the themed suites to the lavish parties thrown on the roof to the secret overdoses and suicides… she’d been a fan from the very moment she’d laid eyes on the gorgeous retro-style establishment and spent a night in the posh Marilyn Monroe suite. She’d been less of a fan the first time she spent a sixteen hour day posing all over its surfaces. The second time she’d had to sit through a five hour awards ceremony and endure what seemed like an even longer after party in one of its suites. By the time she was done with the current photo shoot in which she’d had to pose in six different bikinis and bathing suites and three designer ensembles, all in the hot sun near but not in the pool, no less, she was certain that she’d never hated a building more than she did that one and she could not wait to be away from it and the half dozen other models and photographers and people who’d been involved. But, like the night before, it seemed that what she wanted mattered not at all.

“Alexys! Miss Temple! Stop right there!” the high-pitched girly squeal belonged to none other than Vincent Klein—no relation to the ones who mattered, she thought—who, like everyone else in Hollywood, promoted himself as a triple threat—agent, publicist, photographer. Lex rolled her eyes and made to keep walking but the tall thin man quickly caught up with her and cut her off. He was so tanned he was almost Hispanic though his eyes were a pale blue and his hair an even paler blond. He placed a hand on his nonexistent hip and stared her over from head to toe. Other models were still in their wardrobe but she’d changed into her own clothes—a simple knee-length white dress with a wide v-neckline, thin straps and a pair of standard silver sandals—the moment they called it a wrap. She’d gotten rid of the make-up but kept her hair in the lightly flipped style—in homage to one of Charlie’s Angels—the stylist had done it in.

“Alexys, Al—”

“Don’t call me that.” She cut him off, sliding her bag over her shoulder as she stared at him tiredly. It had been a long night and an even longer day. She was on the brink of exhaustion and starvation since she hadn’t eaten anything at all since the previous night. “Don’t call me that. It’s not my name.”

“Look, Alexys. Save the attitude, you are this close to making the leap to Supermodel and possibly becoming one of the most famous faces on the modeling scene. Now I know you’ve been through a lot lately, but there’s no such thing as bad publicity, if you just go with the flow.” He said in his best camp counselor voice. His only reply was a slow blink and sigh. “Wake up, child! This is your time if you don’t snap out of it you’re going to miss it! Half these bitches would kill to be in your shoes!”

“They can have them. My feet are tired.” She responded dryly. “I’m working, I am. I’m just… tired. There’s too much…”

“Know why? Because you’re fat! Or getting there and, honey, it don’t take too much to fall off the wagon. You ain’t too far from leaping to plus size either.” He said bluntly. “I want you on a diet. Tea and leaves. Tea and leaves—”

“Leave her alone.” A silky soft voice said and they were joined by another model, one who didn’t make Lex want to jump off a cliff. Elina (just Elina) was a brunette with bright amber eyes and sharp androgynous features along with a slender frame that no one could ever confuse as “plus size.” She was around Lex’s age and the two had developed something close to a friendship when they’d met on a shoot a year or so ago. They’d kissed once, behind the scene, but neither ever bothered to question what it meant. Lex already knew it meant nothing. “Go away, Vince. Give her a break.”

The man glared at the brunette cattily and stalked off without another word. Lex didn’t say anything as the model fell into step beside her as she headed for the lobby. They’d ordered her a room for the day and she intended to take advantage of it. The last thing she wanted was to go back home to Gert and Cass, who was still under the presumption that her “girlfriend” would be joining them for lunch on the weekend. Lex planned to conveniently not see or speak to the Silver Fang until the weekend passed.

“…dumbass. You’ve actually lost weight, it seems. You’re in great shape, don’t listen to him.” Elina yammered on completely unaware that she was only half listening. “Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner tonight?”

“Hmm? Oh… I would but I have… things. Maybe some other time? We can invite Haven, too.” She responded with what she hoped was a genuine smile as they entered the lobby. Elina stopped her short with a soft hand on hers.

“Alexys, I’m asking you out on a date.” She laughed.

“Oh. Well, I…” Lex turned to face her and spotted someone else in the vicinity. She was always stepping in her shots. Elina fixed that, however, when she leaned in and kissed her on the mouth. All of a sudden she was no longer quite so exhausted. She politely stepped away from the girl and the kiss, blushing furiously as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

“Think about it. I’ll call you.” Elina smiled and walked away. Passing right by the Silver Fang.

Lex exhaled and headed towards her as well, unaware of what she’d seen or possibly heard. Or thought. “Kathleen. What are you doing here…?” she asked hesitantly, genuinely surprised to see her. She realized a beat later how rude she must seem. “Not that I’m not glad to see you… I am. How are you?” she asked and managed a smile. “I’m sorry… I’m just… I just got finished, so… how’d you know where to find me?”

She'd arrived a little under half an hour ago. Her initial foray towards the pool had been deflected by security, unsurprisingly. Still, she'd been close enough to see assistants packing up equipment and to overhear someone telling someone else where to meet for drinks in an hour. The security guard watched as she left without a fuss, walking back to the parking lot and retrieving the picnic basket. She'd decided to wait in the lobby, the most-traveled path being the one where she'd be most likely to catch the blonde. She hadn't quite expected someone else catching her too.

There were polar ice caps warmer than Kathleen's expression as the brunette sailed past. Her eyes tracked Elina like a hunting hawk, through the lobby and out the front doors. The theurges lips were set in a thin, stern line, her neck and back straight, her arms crossed loosely over her chest. Her eyes glittered like sapphires by starlight, paying attention to every fidget and step the other woman took. If Elina was...unwise enough to turn back, 'hell to pay' would be a mild term. It was a high moon, and even with the sun in the sky, Luna was taking her toll.

When the kinfolk reached her, she turned her attention away from the dark-haired model's retreating head. Her ire was still piqued, by the kiss, the gall of the other woman, and the sting of a tiny injury to her ego. She acknowledged Alexys with the barest curve of her lips, nodding to her greeting and her flustered questions. That annoyance started to ease, looking into those liquid brown eyes, noticing the still-fading blush along her cheeks.

"I needed to get away from the house, so I called the agency. They told me where you were today. I brought lunch," she said, tapping her heel against the basket at her feet to draw Lex's attention to it. "But if you have someplace to be..." She fought and won against the urge to glance towards the parking lot. Even if the other model was still there, she didn't want to know.

"Who is she?" The cliche words tumbled out before she could stop them, and her arms tightened. She was surprised by how calm she sounded, nearly neutral. Almost immediately the theurge tried to recover, looking down and away to cover her embarrassment. "No...it's alright. I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me." Insecurities welled up, from recent days and further back. While she tried to fight them with logic, it was habit to fall into those old traps. "It's one of those days, I think," she muttered, mostly to herself.

Truth be told, her luck from the previous night had carried over to this day and she wasn’t in a very jovial mood herself, not after dealing with Cass, the photo shoot, and now an unexpected second kiss from someone whose first kiss hadn’t meant a thing, hadn’t even stirred the slightest bit of lust inside her. The second kiss had meant even less. Less than nothing. Except that, judging by the expression on the Silver Fang’s face, it had been seen by the one person whose kisses meant the world to her. The little bit of hope and happiness that arose when she spotted the Garou flickered out when she got a smile that was hardly a smile at all and certainly not one she was used to receiving.

She arched her brow disbelievingly at her response, deciding to ignore the slightly bothered aura surrounding her Kin. “That’s strange. With all the extra precautions I was under the impression that that information was classified. I hope you didn’t get anyone fired.” She said nonchalantly as she glanced down at the basket and, in typical Lex fashion, wondered what sort of edibles were inside it. She smiled then, unable to conceal the amusement and faint pride that came with the realization that the pack Alpha had likely bullied someone into giving up her whereabouts only to bring her lunch. On the heels of that she realized how she must have felt after doing that and then seeing her kissing some other female.

“I don’t. I was just heading up to my room, actually.” She said, chewing on a frown as she met the blonde’s blue eyes. “Thank you… for the lunch, I mean. And coming out here… you shouldn’t have, really, but I’m glad that you did.” When the question came she realized that she had been waiting for it all along. The answer was simple—“No one.”—but she couldn’t quite get them out. She was thinking about Jason. Her husband. Did either of them have a right to be jealous, if that’s what it even was? She shook her head, at the question and Kathleen’s contradicting comments and behavior.

Lex laughed and shook her head, “Her name is Elina, she’s a model. And if I had known she was going to kiss me I would’ve stopped her, whether you were there to see it or not. She’s not even a friend and not that good of a kisser either.” She grinned and stepped close, reaching out to run her hand along the fabric of the dress near her waist. “You know what you should’ve done? You should’ve marched right up to me and kissed me yourself instead of keeping all that passion locked up inside. It makes you dangerous. And… that makes you insanely hot. Very unmodel-like.” She smirked. “So… forgive me for my obliviousness and I’ll forgive you ever thinking for even a second that I would rather be kissed by anyone but you.”

She leaned in close thinking that perhaps the situation called for another kiss, a better one, but instead she stepped back and smiled. Tease. “So, what’s for lunch? Do I have to admit that I’m absolutely starving.” she said.

They were the words she needed to hear, and that secret smile slipped free as Lex touched her waist. She had seen, perfectly clearly, with her own eyes, Lex cutting off the kiss and stepping away. Nevertheless, the jitters remained, though she pushed them back as she slipped one hand into her purse. "I was very convincing," she explained wryly, working out some of that irritation with sarcasm. "They believed I was with the security company, I think. I'm not really bothered if one of them gets fired."

The security company had, after all, ruined their last brief meeting, which was intended to be drinks in the lounge at some downtown restaurant. The assigned guard/agent/whoever he was had gotten within ten feet of the Garou and had immediately become edgy and irritable. It was a typical, if problematic reaction from the mortal, and had ended the evening after only one glass of wine. Kathleen surreptitiously checked for guards as her fingertips brushed her prize. Exhaling to release the last of that problematic tension, the Silver Fang withdrew a snack-sized Kit-Kat bar from her handbag. Her other hand came to rest against Lex's forearm as she held up the candy for the younger woman to see.

"They wouldn't let me get close enough to throw this to you," she murmured, her cheeks flaring up slightly to match her chagrined response to Lex's words. The candy bar in her hand seemed perfectly normal, aside from a carefully placed red-lipstick impression over the 'Kat' part of the name. "Peace offering. I'm sorry for overreacting." Her thumb and fingertips travelled along the skin of the kinswoman's arm, trailing over the bend of her elbow and up.

When Lex moved back, the smile tipped slightly, then became a grin as the other woman asked the expected question. "You'll just have to see. I actually cooked, though." Leaning in, she brushed her lips against Lex's cheek, the hand on the kinfolk's arm drifting to catch her hand. "Just for you. And...packed a whole bag of those little candy bars. In case I needed to leave a trail."

Demurely bending her knees to dip and catch up the handles of the basket, Kathleen hoisted it over her free arm. Inside, there were curious rustlings and muffled clatter as the basket was settled. Then the older woman looked up towards the younger. "Please, lead the way," she suggested, giving the basket one final adjustment. "Before I tip over."

Now there’s my smile, Lex thought with a secret grin of her own that preceded laughter at Kathleen’s clever deception. Actually, there was a flaw so obvious that she wasn’t quite surprised that the woman had gotten away with it; it’s very easy to miss something that’s right in front of your face, after all. Anyone with half a brain would’ve wondered why the security agency didn’t already know where the model was located, especially if one of their agents was currently shadowing her, but she guessed that common sense was hard to come by with a determined Garou on the other end of the phone.

“One of them did get fired, which is why I don’t have a three-hundred pound man in black glued to my ass. They’re assigning me someone else under the assumption that I actually like paying someone to stalk me.” She said, rolling her eyes. She recalled that evening as well and the annoyance that had dimmed whatever spark that existed between them since the lake. Time was a precious thing for them both; Lex was either always on shoots in remote locations or doing runway shows and Kathleen was a pack Alpha with immature pack mates and a wife with a cyborg husband. Sometimes she wondered what would happen if one of his co-workers or buddies saw them together. They weren’t exactly shy about being together in public and after a while it became hard to ignore two gorgeous blondes staring at and touching each other. Sometimes she wanted to drag her out into the middle of busy downtown and kiss her senseless for everyone to see.

In any case, she was glad to have a free day without nosy guards who stared at her Kin as if she was a Trojan horse intent on getting close enough to do her harm. Although she was initially more concerned about what would happen to the receptionist she decided that she would be doing herself and every other Wilhelmina model a favor by reporting her. She could’ve easily been that Asian woman…

A light shiver ran through her at the thought, absurd as it was. That woman was almost certainly dead or in a torture chamber somewhere reaping her just rewards. She didn’t particularly like where her thoughts were heading, so it was a nice change when she glimpsed the familiar red packaging slipping out of Kathleen’s pocketbook. Her smile was lit by childish delight and delight of another kind entirely as the Garou’s hand slid up her arm. Her smile grew by watts as she noticed the kiss imprint. She giggled, “I have never been more jealous of a candy wrapper than I am now.” She said as she took the candy bar. This woman knew all the ways to her heart. She raised it to her mouth and kissed the kiss, “I forgive you.”

She dropped it into her bag and grinned, “Gorgeous, thoughtful, and she cooks… why aren’t you married again? Oh… right.” She laughed playfully, her cheek warmed by the kiss she received. It was nothing like the one she wanted, but a hotel lobby was no place for those type of kisses, she surmised. “A trail, eh? You know what also makes for a good trail…?” she grinned, squeezing her hand firmly. Why clothing, of course. “Don’t worry. If you fall I’ll catch the food.” She said as she obeyed and lead the way to the lobby elevator. She had no desire to walk up five flights of steps after the day she’d had.

She couldn’t quite keep the grin off her face as the doors closed them in. Alone. She almost pushed the Emergency Stop button, but that sort of thing only went unnoticed in movies. And she hated to think that she was becoming some sort of wild animal who couldn’t be in the presence of her own kin without wanting to touch and do things to her. She wasn’t a man, for heaven’s sake. …the elevator was barely past the fourth floor when she turned and backed the unsuspecting woman into the wall and kissed her deep and slow, the ding signaling their floor serving as a timer. She pulled away and grinned before leading her out of the elevator and halfway down the hall silently. A cardkey unlocked the room and she ushered her inside the room letting the door close behind them.

The room was smaller and less lavish than the one she’d reserved for Jake downtown but essentially the same, except that the sleeping quarters and living room were only separated by space. The windows encompassed an entire wall and displayed a pretty view of the horizon. To the right of the bedroom lay the bathroom and to the left a walk-in closet. The decor was a pretty array of royal blues, purples, and deep greens from the carpet to the bedding and drapes. Lex dropped her bag near the door and let go of Kathleen’s hand to take the basket from her and set it on the bed—a large Queen with an oak headboard and embroidered sheets and pillows.

“I like to eat in bed…” she offered as an explanation as she kicked off her shoes and walked into the closet. “Make yourself at… hotel.” She giggled from within, emerging a few minutes later wearing a large white t-shirt and blue terrycloth shorts that were shorter than the hem of the shirt. “Did I mention that I’m starving?’ she grinned as she hopped on the bed. “Feed me before I die.”

If the mention of her marital status bothered her, it didn't touch the smile one iota. Truth be told, she was basking in being so close to the kinswoman again. Lex's presence alone seemed to relax her, washing away all of those bothersome troubles and thoughts. She honestly wouldn't have objected if the model had decided to discard propriety and kiss her right there. The news that there would be no security guards swooping in to pull them apart made the thought extra tempting. She'd been invited, after all.

"I'll be fine, I'm certain," she joked dryly, regretting not slipping an arm around Lex's waist as she was lead along to the elevator. The closing doors captured the sweetness of the kinswoman inside of the sealed compartment. She was content with the silence, her smile curving amusedly as a thought occurred. Just as she turned to share it, those delicious lips pressed to hers. She was only a little surprised, and so instead of standing against Alexys, she yielded. She allowed herself to be pinned back against the wall, all of her attention on the taste of the other woman, and the teasing brushes of body and palm that went with that ambush.

When Lex drew away, she allowed herself a brief moment to catch her breath. She was surprised that the basket was still in her hand, certain that she'd dropped it when her back collided with the elevator wall. It didn't matter for long, as she followed the kinswoman into the suite and was relieved of her cargo. Removing her shoes and checking the lock on the door, she turned back to see...Lex gone and the basket on the bed. The other woman's voice called out from the closet a moment later, and Kathleen smiled. She'd want to change into something more comfortable too, after a long day surrounded by poking, prodding voyeurs. She had liked the dress, though, and considered calling out to tell her so as she seated herself demurely on the bed and started unpacking the lunch.

First came wax-paper packages of thick, still warm bread slices, baked with bacon, chicken, cheese and sundried tomatoes rolled up inside. Accompanying that was a sweet spinach and strawberry salad, some bite-sized homemade creampuffs and a small plate of cut up fruit and berries. Next came a small bottle of sweet white wine and a pair of glasses, wrapped in napkins. "Just in time," she said, setting the glasses on the bedside table alongside the bottle. "Help yourself to everything." Last of all was the package of candy bars and a pair of small plates and cutlery, then the picnic basket was set aside, off the bed. She tucked her knees, letting Alexys take first pick of the meal as she turned about to pour the wine.

Enticing sugar plum fairies danced in her head as she sat meditatively with her seemingly never-ending legs folded together on the bed and stared at the smorgasbord of nourishment and goodies that the cook had laid out. A dozen aromas, all of them mouthwatering and pleasant, invaded her nostrils simultaneously causing her stomach to ache with hunger and eager anticipation. She just barely resisted the urge to pick over and sample everything her eyes had already feasted on, a habit that more often than not got her banned from many kitchens and tables until the appropriate time. “I can’t believe that you actually made all this just for me… I’m really impressed. And extremely grateful since I only planned on coming up here and sleeping until the hunger literally consumed me.” She said. “I just got a lecture from someone who apparently thinks I should be dieting. On tea and leaves, whatever the hell that means.”

She laughed and shook her head at the recent memory. She didn’t diet. She either lost the weight or she didn’t, but no one, dead or alive, had ever been able to convince her to stop eating or doing the things that she wanted to do. She was hardheaded that way, but she honestly didn’t believe that life was worth living unless you were going to live it to the fullest and indulge in the things that make you happy. So, for her, that meant eating and doing whatever she wanted, and being with whoever she wanted to be with. Even if they just happened to be married…

“Ooo, wine. You wouldn’t… be trying to get me… inebriated, so you can have your way with me, would you?” she asked with a grin as she happily obliged and grabbed one of the cute little plates and placed one of the baked sandwich slices on it. “This smells so good, Kat. Reminds me of something from the Olive Garden.” She said with a smile. She used a fork to pile some of the salad on as well, though she’d never had anything like it before. “So, how’s Lloyd and Jeanette? And whatsherface.” She asked as she sat the plate in her lap and sampled some of the salad first which she found surprisingly… good. “Mmm, is this a Boston dish because I swear I’ve never…” she shook her head and chewed another forkful, picking up one of the tiny creampuffs and stuffing that in her mouth as well. “Mmm…”

“I could get used to this. The food, the bed, and you.” She giggled. Jason was a very lucky man, although she wasn’t certain that cyborgs were built with emotional capabilities to understand such a thing. But she did. She bit into the piece of sandwich and sighed closing her eyes, “I think I’m falling in love.”

"I'm a housewife, what else do I have to do all day but practice my baking and...hem shirts...and..." Kathleen took a sip of the wine then giggled, offering the other glass to Lex. "I should probably start reading magazines and watching The View so I know what exactly it is that I'm supposedly doing." She waited patiently as the younger woman took something of everything, shaking her head at the news of a 'diet'. She couldn't imagine the effort that would have to go into getting Lex to agree to a diet, much less stick with one.

"Believe what you want about the wine. I'd like to think it's..." She felt the blush bloom as she hesitated. "Unnecessary." Pressing her lips together, she wrestled with the grin that loomed imminent. Flattery, at least from the Fianna, could probably get her anywhere. Still looking a little bashful, she took a few pieces of bread and some of the salad first. "I saw the recipes on some TV show and they looked delicious. I'm glad you like them." The smile snuck free again, immediately sweeping into a grin.

Settling down, still as poised and unruffled as she ever looked, the Silver Fang took a bite of the salad. "The pack...I don't think I expected to be quite so...connected to them when we decided to join with the Lady. Sometimes it's like I can hear every little thought and urge. Lloyd's really concerned about these 'Sweet Tooth Murders', and Talisa is...herself. As usual." A sip of wine, another bite of salad. "They're starting to get used to the routine of training and patrolling. Once they get into a regular schedule, I'm sure it'll work a lot more smoothly."

She was about to ask about the campaign Lex was shooting for that day when the kinfolk took a bite of the bread and said a few things that summoned up a deeper blush. Kathleen couldn't help it-no matter how much she wanted to lean on her dignity, the fey woman's casually tantalizing attitude constantly swept that staid, traditional support out from under her. She stared intently at the bedspread, studying the intricate pattern that wasn't so easy to notice close up.

"You're going to overinflate my ego, and you've heard plenty about how oversized the Silver Fangs' egos are already, I'm sure," she commented when she could trust herself to speak again. "I just...wanted to do something nice for you. I know how much this...gets to you sometimes. And of course...I like the food, the bed...you...too." She looked down and away again, failing to suppress the smile any longer.

She spent a surprising amount of time wondering what Kathleen did when she was at home alone, coming up with endless and amusing scenarios of the blonde woman doing things to occupy her time until her Roboaccountant husband came back home. Unsurprisingly none of those things involved baking or knitting and sewing, although quite a few of them involved food and clothes, or the absence thereof. (One “scenario” in particular involved the Garou prancing around in a maid’s apron and nothing else as she attempted to clean the filthy, filthy house. Getting down on her knees and… bending over to get those hard to reach spots.) A very faint blush touched her face at the thought and the image that accompanied it. Halloween wasn’t particularly far away…

She swallowed and shook her head, “First Oprah then The View… if you start wearing flannel skirts and penny loafers I swear I’ll devote my life to the church. You don’t have to do anything, but I will never complain if you just want to bake me delicious food and shop for candy.” She grinned. “Although if you’re really bored you could always get connected to the net and take advantage of the useless but interesting stuff it has to offer. You could earn a degree online or join a frustrated housewives club or look up pictures of a certain disaster prone model… the possibilities are endless. Although I think I’m more comfortable with the thought of you coming to visit me at hotels in the morning…”

She giggled and shrugged innocently at the idea of the wine being unnecessary. It certainly was, but so was chocolate and whipped cream but she wouldn’t leave them unused if she had them at the moment. Besides, it was just white wine, which she’d read was less intoxicating than red wine and certainly less than the concoction she’d had to drink with Jake. “Mmhm, I love them. There are very little foods that I don’t like, but I’m sure that has nothing to do with it.” She said with a mouthful of bread and salad. She sampled more of the sweet creampuffs as she spoke about Lloyd and the redhead… Talisa. She looked up in surprise and thoughtful understanding at the mention of their mental bond. “You poor thing. I am… I wish I could do something about that. No one should ever have to have to glimpse into either one of their minds. How do you sleep at night?” she asked with slight amusement. There was no denying that Lloyd was sexual deviant and perv-extraordinaire, but she could only imagine what sort of thoughts must run through the redhead’s mind at any given moment. “Does that mean they can read your thoughts, as well?” she asked casually, chewing on a strawberry. “That might be awkward.”

She wondered briefly about the murders she’d mentioned in relation to Lloyd. She’d only heard about them herself because she visited the Creamery every so often and she remembered the guy who’d been killed, but she didn’t see the connection to them. “They’re like rowdy teenagers, your pack mates, every time they get out of line smack them with a ruler and they’ll get it together.” She said. “Otherwise you are going to be dealing with a lot of drama. You’re their Alpha not their mother and you deserve a little time to yourself, as well.” If Lloyd could lay every blonde in the valley then there was no reason why she couldn’t find time to do the person things she liked.

She smiled and noticed the roses in bloom on the Silver Fang’s cheeks, not entirely sure which comment had inspired them to do so. “I have, but you’re not typical. I think your ego could stand a little inflation. And you’re forgetting that I only speak the truth. Or at least the truth as I see it.” She shrugged setting her plate down as she took her first sip of the wine. She smiled with the glass still to her lips, “Itis very nice, especially since it was unexpected. I really appreciate it and I love doing nice things for you, too.” She said taking another small sip. Wine wasn’t really her thing, either. “I like you, too. I just find it amusing that… a mighty Silver Fang such as yourself would have such a hard time looking into the eyes of a… little ol’ Fianna kinfolk such as myself.” She said with a slightly devilish grin. “What would your fellow Fangs think of such a thing?”

She giggled and plucked one of the berries from the fruit bowl. “We should do this more often. Like a maybe a weekend someday. You know, assuming the world doesn’t explode without you to watch it.” She said popping it into her mouth. “I would much rather you watch me.”

"Mm, I think I'd prefer doing things that have me out of the house. Computers and I don't get along very well," Kathleen replied to the kinfolk's suggestion, raising her eyes a few tics. "Paying you a visit when I can seems like it would be more interesting." She picked up a piece of melon and popped it into her mouth, finally looking the Fianna in the eyes again. "Assuming I'm permitted to be kept in the know about these things. I promise you, if I'd known where you were these past few days, you would have been seeing a lot more of me." There was a tinge of that almost-forgotten stress in her voice.

"Lloyd isn't so bad, really. He's terrified of even thinking that I might have any adult thoughts or encounters, and Talisa...I'm sure if she knew I was with you right now, she'd be trying to pry, but she doesn't want to...listen in at night." Speaking about those nocturnal activities warranted a gulp, rather than a sip of wine. "It's mornings that are the worst. I like to think I have decent control over my thoughts, but it's just boggling how much they...'share' with me without realizing it, and it's strange waking up in three places at once. It's not as though it's that difficult to restrict your thoughts to yourself."

She trailed off to a frown at how tired and stressed she sounded all of a sudden, then shook her head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be whining like this. There's...a lot of things we still need to work out. You should have heard the complaining when I asked Lloyd to do the night patrols today. He didn't stop until he remembered that I do every night patrol, and half the day, no matter what condition I'm-," she cut herself off abruptly, her gaze dodging Lex's again. "...and I'm complaining again, I'm so sorry."

Shaking her head, trying to rid herself of that negative attitude and quickly change the subject, she picked up a creampuff and bit into it, automatically sweeping away the overspilling whipped cream with a fingertip. Oblivious to any innuendo, she licked the finger clean, then popped the rest of the bite into her mouth. Picking up another, she gave it a contemplative look, taking some time for her cheeks to cool. She didn't want to worry the kinswoman unnecessarily. Getting hurt and carrying on was just the way they had to work-there wasn't much of an option.

She was sinking into a funk again, and that wouldn't do. This was her break, she had no intention of spending it whinging on about her pack. She thought about them far too much already, and not enough about her kin. Thoughts of Jason and his odd vanishing act distracted her, but only briefly. He would tell her what was going on eventually. It would do no good to bother about it now. She'd come to see Alexys, to get away from all of those concerns, and she was going to do just that. Banishing the frown, she looked up again, a tentative smile beginning again. The blush returned, pinking her cheeks. "Seeing the way I act around you would send them into a tizzy, though I am quite a rebel already, treating you like a person, letting you...take advantage of my occupied hands in elevators..." She took a bite of the creampuff, swiping away the escaping whipped cream again. This time she tipped her hand towards Lex. "Help?" she said, batting her eyelashes in one of the less-convincing 'damsel' impersonations ever performed.

“That’s not surprising. If I get frustrated and want to punch the screen every time it freezes I can only imagine what you’d want to do. I guess being a Warrior for Gaia doesn’t exactly mesh with being a computer geek. Not for the almighty Silver Fangs, anyway.” She giggled. It was an endless source of amusement to poke fun at the Silver Fangs, though technically Kathleen was the only one she knew, but if they were even more uptight and anal as she could be and Jason always was, then one Fang was more than enough. But the curly-haired blonde was making major progress considering the way she’d been when they’d first met on the pier. She knew that the Silver Fangs were supposedly the leaders and decision makers of the Garou and the Fianna slightly more than hippies, but there was a lot that could be learned and exchanged between them if allowed. She liked to think that she was rubbing off on the Garou and she hoped that she was learning something from her as well, aside from the usual “destroy all those who would harm you and your kin” mantra.

“Infinitely more interesting and definitely more beneficial,” she grinned with a piece of sweet fruit in her mouth, cantaloupe or the green melon whose name she could never remember. “Mm, I would have liked to have seen you as well, but I was st—” she swallowed and patted her chest as Cass’ face blazed in her mind, a hard to ignore reminder of their conversation the previous night. She nodded her head and tried not to overreact as the pack Alpha continued on unknowingly, discussing her pack mates; tweedledee and tweedledum. She listened closely enough to frown a little at the mention of possible nightly escapades which no doubt involved the cyborg. No, she wouldn’t have wanted to see or know about them either. Once more she could just imagine what sort of images she must have been receiving from both of them and… no, she wouldn’t have wanted to know about them either.

She finished the rest of her wine in one go and shook her head. “Just call me Dr. Lex, lay out all your problems and I promise to make snarky comments that won’t solve them but will at least cause you to focus on how much of a moron I am and thus distract you from them. And if that doesn’t work then rest assured that I’m also not above physical distractions.” She said with a small smile as she leaned over and placed the glass and plate with utensils on the opposite bedside side table. She was still thinking about her intrusive mother and whether or not she was actually going to bother mentioning her and her plans to the Garou, but without her actually sitting in front of her making demands she found it easier to focus on what she wanted instead.

“It’s not really whining and I don’t mind it. And… I’m not really surprised, either. The freaks come out at night and that’s something Lloyd must certainly know, so he might be better on morning or afternoon patrols. I know men like Lloyd and they’d rather wake up at the crack of dawn to do something they don’t want to do than miss out on something they do at any other time. He’ll bitch and moan, but come night he won’t even remember, most likely.” She said, thinking of the Glass Walker and the eternal playboy; Haven. She was trying not to cockblock but she was worried that the world might actually end if they got together. She looked at the older woman closely as she came close to mentioning her “condition,” a word which the model was beginning to hate. How many people had to ask their… Kin… “Are you in a good enough condition?” before actually asking them out on a date? Still, she was pleased to note that, like her own; any bruises that had marred the theurge’s skin were now long gone or concealed.

That thought made her think of Jake who was better than Cover Girl could ever hope to be and their newly budding business which was still… at a standstill. It was mostly her fault, she wanted to paint and get everything exactly right and he just wanted to design surfboards and actually start working. It was harder than she’d expected. She thought to mention it but somewhere along the way she got distracted by the creampuffs… okay, and the mouth they were entering. She thought of that impromptu kiss in the elevator and shook her head. It was becoming quite a nuisance to try not to think of touching her and the touches she wanted to receive in return. “Stop apologizing. It’s unbecoming of a woman of your stature.” She said just to have something to say. She wasn’t even sure what the hell that meant.

She giggled and grinned, “Woe is me. It must surely be a sign of the Apocalypse when a Silver Fang acknowledges another as an equal, non-Silver Fang though they may be. And I think that hardly qualifies you as a rebel. To really be a rebel would require complete submission and a little faith, I think. Or at least some leather and chains.” She grinned. “No, no. You’ve got it all wrong, I took advantage of your unoccupied mouth. Your hands had nothing to do with it and I’m frankly a little hurt that you’d mention them as if you would’ve pushed me away if they hadn’t been so occupied.” She tsked shaking her head. When she looked back she was being offered a cream topped finger. How very wicked.

She almost laughed, it was her most natural reaction after all, but instead she decided she would be helpful and inclined her head forward to suck the digit into her mouth before pulling back, letting her teeth very softly scrape her finger… just in case she somehow missed some cream stuck in a tiny crevice. Or something. “Hmm. You’re a messy eater. That makes you a little bit more rebellious.” She chuckled and chewed her lip for a moment in thought. “Wanna play Masters and Slaves? I’ll let you own me.” She asked coyly.

Whether she was serious or not was left unanswered because the next second she picked up a pillow from the head of the bed and swung it at the Silver Fang.

Jibes at the expense of her tribe weren't unfamiliar to Kathleen. She was more easygoing about them than most of her fellow Silver Fangs were. What would have earned a strike from a more traditionally-minded Fang sparked a smile and a shrug instead. She couldn't agree with every criticism of the tribe, but their anachronism was fairly well known. While she could in theory operate a computer, she found them impersonal and untrustworthy. Their spirits were so strange, infused with touches of personality from their owners and users, while at the same time so uniform. Matters of 'work' could be considered later, though. There were more interesting tangents to follow.

When Lex set aside her plate and glass, Kathleen moved the food and her own things off of the bed, leaving them some room to stretch out. She did so, smiling at the kinswoman as she got more comfortable, unfolding her legs towards the foot of the bed. A few tiny new scars aside, she was, for the time being, unmarred by her constant hunts. Something in the kinswoman's attitude nagged at her, some hesitation. She "I think you're right. He probably won't fight as much if I give him his nights free. I'll tell him he has you to thank," she said, smiling mildly.

The...'order' to stop apologizing raised her eyebrows, the surprise at being told so firmly to do something causing her to chuckle. "Oh, it is. I think that's somewhere between the prophecies about disco and poly-blends. I think the one about Silver Fangs submitting is just after it." Her cheeks colored again as Lex mentioned leather and chains. The theurge was very, very vanilla in that way, having never really had the inclination or knowledge of the...available options. "Mmhmm. With my hands occupied, you had no fear of reprisal. I would never push you away, but I certainly would have pulled you closer," she replied with a light smile.

She licked her lips when the kinfolk lapped up the whipped cream. A little shiver traced over her shoulders at the brief brush of teeth, and she moved her hand away with a bit of a tremble. She didn't have much time to savor the feeling-without warning, the kinswoman caught up a pillow and took a swing at her head. She swayed away from the blow, the reaction the product of all of that training. Laughing, she lunged for another pillow, stretching full length on her stomach to catch one and swing at Lex's back. "Hey!"

For a moment she did actually believe that she’d caught the Garou by surprise when she’d swung the pillow, just a little bit harder than she’d meant to, but her error was quickly made evident as she swiped the air instead and tilted forward in a fall that gave the older woman an advantage that she didn’t hesitate to act on. “Ay!” she shrieked laughingly as the pillow collided with her back and she landed on her stomach horizontally. She was up in a flash gripping the same pillow with both hands to bring it down on the sprawled blonde. “No fair, you have a biological advantage.” She laughed.

She grinned and scrambled to her feet, standing on the bed steadily with her pillow in one hand, her face flushed with activity. “Not to mention tactical advantages as well…” she said conversationally. “You know, it has occurred to me that this is the first time we’ve been alone under… normal circumstances. Neither of us are bruised or scarred up… there’s no pack mates… no body guards…” she said with a curved grin. “Having said that, are you sure that you want to spend this precious time engaging in some childish activity? Hitting each other with pillows when we could be…” she trailed off, taking a step closer to the Silver Fang as she lowered her pillow. “we could be… finishing what we started on the lake…”

She almost forgot that it was an act, she almost gave it up in favor of doing exactly that. It was really more of an unconscious gesture when she raised the pillow and swung it at her again, repeatedly. She purposely let the pillow go on her last swing, opting instead to tackle and pull the blue-eyed beauty down onto the bed with her. Long legs were only a slight advantage in this case as she straddled the Alpha and tried to pin her by the arms. “Oooh, what do we have here?” she asked, slightly out of breath but grinning. “The tables they do turn.” She giggled. “You landed the first blow. You shouldn’t have done that.”

She smirked devilishly as she shifted and squeezed her hips with her thighs, looking her over wickedly. “I like this dress…” she said with a grin. “You won’t push me away right?” she asked as she let her arms go and slid her hands down the front of her dress, over her breasts and down her stomach. “Um. We can… finish playing… or eating… food…” she blinked.

It was hard to think of tactical advantages and proper weapon technique when faced with an opponent one very much wanted to lose to. Though she instinctively gravitated towards strategy that would ensure a 'victory', she refused to adopt any that would lead her farther from the kinfolk. She tried to roll onto her side to avoid the pillow, but no such luck. She laughed as Lex brought it down on her back, batting an arm backwards haphazardly to try to catch it.

She rolled onto her back as Lex stood, admiring her bottom-up view of the tousled blonde. She was feeling a bit silly, and was more than willing to blame it on the wine. No one would believe this, even if proof existed. She was smiling, laughing, stretched out carelessly, without the usual sense of guardedness in her posture. The freedom and recklessness the kinfolk woman espoused was definitely infectious. Just as Kathleen was sitting up, prepared to give a more-than-definitive answer to the region of Lex's lips, she was swatted with the pillow once more. Laughing, holding up an arm to protect her head, she protested. "Wait! Hey! No fair!" she called.

The pillow-assault lasted for only a few blows. Kathleen was just about to grab for it, to try to pull the taller blonde down to her level when it sailed past her. In a hurried descent, Alexys was over her, the Silver Fang's forearms firmly pinned in her hands. Instinctively, the Garou grabbed for the younger woman's knees, planted on either side of her hips. "Hmm, you got me," she observed, watching the other woman with something akin to hunger. It was an appetite, at any rate.

When her hands were released, she wasted no time running them from the kinfolk's knees to her waist, not bothering to pretend she was going to be 'good' and keep her hands over the other woman's clothing. She'd laid her palms against Lex's waist on the ferris wheel, and though the other woman's skin was cooler now, it was no less soft under her fingertips. "I won't push you away. I'm a woman of my word," she murmured, her heart thundering in her chest. Dare she risk moving her hands higher? She slid her palms along the younger woman's sides, pressing her palms into Lex's lower back and sitting up slowly. "I'm...not very hungry," she murmured, pressing a kiss to the kinfolk's stomach, wondering if she was the only one who could hear her heartbeat thundering, threatening to overtake everything else.

The change was like winter to summer, almost drastic but not quite. Or maybe like playful fun to sensual fun… she couldn’t really describe it or begin to figure out how she’d gone from pummeling the blonde with a pillow while giggling and laughing to climbing on top of her and pinning her down with adrenaline and rising heat pulsing through her body. It was difficult to stay on track and remain focused when every time they touched she realized that they were touching and being in such close proximity to her was like a dog being in the same room with a bone. It wasn’t that it was hard to resist touching her, that would suggest that she actually put serious effort into trying not to, but that she simply couldn’t see why she should want to.

It wasn’t and never had been enough that she was married; the fact that she was in an arranged marriage with an I, Robot made it all too easy to ignore that fact. And she was not in love with her husband the way a wife was supposed to be, she wasn’t even into men. The fact that she was older had no weight at all and wasn’t even worthy of mention. Likewise for the fact that she was an Alpha and Silver Fang… she had one counterargument for every reason why she shouldn’t be so drawn to the Garou: it doesn’t matter. None of it mattered. She didn’t care.

Her thoughts ran in the opposite direction as she thought about Cass and realized that there was no need to fear their meeting because she already had her feelings in check and nothing was likely to change them anytime soon. Of course there was the off chance that the Silver Fang would be scared off by her adopted parents, but somehow she doubted that too. She knew from the moment that she saw her that it wasn’t an everyday thing for the Garou to open up and put herself out there, but she was doing it more and more each day and Lex wasn’t foolish enough to chalk it up to a fling. Although what that meant she had no idea.

She trembled lightly as the theurge slid her hand up her legs and under her t-shirt, placing her hands against her waist. “I’m… don’t.” she said, licking her lips which suddenly seemed dry. She was responding to her not quite promise that she wouldn’t push her away. Don’t. She was silent and thoughtless for a moment as the blonde’s hand gripped her sides and then slid around her back for leverage as she sat up. The model slid her own idle hands around her shoulders and back, aching slightly and sighing as she kissed her stomach. She could. She could feel the other’s heartbeat, a mirror of her own. “Kathleen…” she sighed, running her hands up through her wavy golden tresses.

“…is now a good time to mention that my parents want to meet you…?” she asked quietly.

Kathleen dared another kiss, then another, enjoying the smell of Alexys' shirt and the warmth of her underneath. She settled her arms around the kinswoman's waist, sitting up straighter. She had to tilt her head to look up at the other woman, her smile softening. It was strangely comforting that the other blonde was taller than she was, more graceful and willowy than Kathleen's well-balanced, evenly proportioned build. As tremors raced under her hands, she pondered Lex's litheness, the word 'fey' rising to the forefront of her mind again. Of course, like every theurge, she'd heard the stories of the Fianna's origins, their dalliances with the Fair Folk and the old treaties and magics they traded. Looking up at her beautiful face and those entrancing eyes, Kathleen believed every last word.

She was working up the daring to trail her hands up the kinswoman's back, considering a kiss to go along with the gesture. She hadn't heard the 'don't', having been too engrossed in the younger woman's shivers. Lex's hands twining through her hair, her name on the kinfolk's lips, those things did focus her. The question that followed made her freeze. Parents?

She was a little chagrined that she hadn't asked about them earlier-her estrangement from her own parents generally kept the concept out of mind when it applied to other people. The change that had come over them when she Changed and underwent her Rite of Passage alienated her further than the upbringing they'd given her already had. They had gone from overbearing perfectionists to servile yes-men overnight, and her teenaged self was unable to cope. She hadn't met Sherry's parents, and the less said about Haagen Allen the better, but of course someone had raised the kinswoman. She hadn't grown up in the woods, no matter how much of a dryad she seemed to be sometimes.

Feeling a little ashamed of herself for her lack of prior curiousity on the topic, the theurge swallowed, considering how to answer. "I can think of worse times," she began, offering a slight smile to reassure the younger woman. "I...I don't mind. What have you already told them? Nothing to break the Veil, right?" She rubbed a thumb against Lex's lower back. "What do you want to do, cher?" she asked, the French term of endearment unintentionally sneaking its way into the question. Distracted by considering the implications of 'meeting the parents', she didn't notice her slip.

Every kiss along her abdomen elicited a delicate shiver which pooled out from her midsection like ripples in a pond, soft sighs rising to meet the air like cool mist. She toyed with the fine strands of the woman’s hair, rubbing curls between her fingertips for the texture. She was thankful that at least some of the Silver Fang’s former apprehension and timidity was gone, at least now she didn’t seem so hesitant to touch her, which was a very good thing since Lex enjoyed her touch, simple as it was. She wondered if the other female was even aware how rare that was, that she was paid outrageous sums of money to pretty much expose herself and allow others to touch and make her up, dress her, and then pose her—often times provocatively—with other models. She’d done numerous shoots with both male and female models where they were practically on top of each other naked, but she had never really been much of a physical person.

In her twenty-two years she’d been with only one guy and three girls “seriously” and even those “relationships” tended to expire pretty quickly, the exception being a pretty brunette by the name of Chloe, who she’d dated for about a year while she lived in Houston. But even that had ended once the wanderlust set in and she decided that what she’d felt was really platonic all along. She’d left Chloe in Houston with barely a goodbye. Ironically, she’d been the most physical with the guy—whose name she didn’t care to remember—since he was the one to take her virginity, although she had shared more kisses with the girls. It all amounted to the person she was now; a young woman who’d never been in love and was perfectly content without physical or emotional distractions in her life. She hadn’t been properly touched in close to a year and had only recently discovered that there was more to passion than just Art.

She tried not to look so much like a deer caught in the headlights as she blinked at the Gaian, her smile slightly lopsided as that question lingered in the air. She wasn’t really mindful of their differences in height so much as she was aware that they were still touching. Besides, the position that they were currently in made it only a slight difference, not that it was ever such a distraction before. What was distracting was the silence; it had never been so distracting in her life. She almost shook the woman by the head just to get a response, but that didn’t seem like the polite thing to do. She didn’t want to make it any more obvious that she wasn’t actually Silver Fang Kin.

She had more than enough time to consider what was so wrong about it and rethink ever bringing it up. “I’m such an idiot. I don’t… I’m sorry. You’re like… pack Alpha dealing with other Garou and protecting… stuff… and I don’t know what I was thinking.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to slap herself on the forehead. She shook her head trying to convey that she’d made a mistake and that it wasn’t necessary for her to pretend not to be horrified by the idea of meeting the human parents of someone she’d really just met… she was so frazzled for a moment that she completely missed her last question. She felt a brief irrational flash of anger at the mention of the Veil and slid her hands back at her sides. “I… of course not. No. I didn’t even mention you or… any of you… let alone that.” she said. “Haven’s the only one and only because he was at the club and he wants to do Lloyd… he was suspicious at first, but not anymore. Cass… Cassandra, she’s the woman who found me, is a junior detective when it comes to my life. Except she’s never really had to be until now, I’ve never kept anything from them. She knew that something was up, so she confronted me. Last night. Slapped me pretty hard, too.” She grinned as if it was amusing. “Anyway, it just… slipped out. I told her that I was… seeing someone… a woman. I mean, I don’t think that we are, that’s just what I told her to get her off my back… instead it just made it worse and now… she knows how you look because of the photographs I took… and that you’re a little older… and…”

“…youusedtobeamarriagecounselorandpilot.” She said quickly. “She wanted to cook for you at the house, but I talked her out of it… so she suggested lunch this weekend somewhere else… she’s relentless. She would’ve discovered something sooner or later, it was just the best I could do on the spot. I was… planning on… not seeing you until things cooled down, but they’re sleeping in my guest bedroom and… you don’t have to. You don’t. “

She sighed. “I could always just pass Jeanette off as my girlfriend to keep up the illusion that I’m just a normal girl..”

When Alexys drew back, Kathleen did the same, her hands settling at the other woman's knees again. Her eyes left the kinfolk's face, skipping nervously to stare at a spot on her shirt. "I'm sorry. I've never had to do this before. I don't want to scare anyone, or make them hide you away even more...you know how normal people react to us." Her palms smoothed against Lex's legs as she tried to keep herself calm. She didn't want to pull away, it had been an automatic reaction to the other woman's withdrawal. Hesitantly, she raised her gaze. "Lex, it's okay. If they want to meet me, if you're okay with it, I'll meet them. If they react badly, we'll figure out a way to handle it. I'll...just have to work on my marriage counsellor impression."

Exhaling through her nose, she closed her eyes. "And I trust you. I know you wouldn't let anything slip, I know. It's just...habit to ask, I'm...It's just a habit," she said, stopping herself short of another apology. She opened her eyes again, the smile returning a touch. She rubbed her hands up the outside of Lex's thighs, settling them on her hips this time. "So...it's alright. If you want them to meet me, that's fine. I promise I won't shed on the carpet," the smile became a smirk, though her eyes remained away from Lex's face. "And if you really do want to hide me, I can stay away. I'll find a way to occupy my time. Maybe some more baking."

Taking a deep breath, she craned her neck and leaned up, kissing the corner of the kinswoman's lips. "How did you come up with marriage counselor, anyway?" she asked, the smile growing further. "Interesting choice, but...sort of random. Most people guess 'librarian'." Now she met Lex's eyes again, silently apologizing for her brief retreat. Her chagrin lingered, some tension in her shoulders and legs clinging. Her unease was no fault of the kinswomans-lack of experience had left her uncertain about how exactly to handle this sort of situation. Meeting your Mistress's Parents 101 wasn't exactly a course offering at the Academies.

“…you know how normal people react to us.”

She flinched as if she’d been backhanded, as if that statement alone, spoken so plainly—so obviously—actually hurt to hear when the truth was that it had just caught her so completely off guard in its obviousness. She felt like the moron oblivious to the elephant in the room. Now she did smack herself on the forehead, groaning and slumping her shoulders just a little dejectedly. “Oh my God! I am so stupid! I feel like the biggest ass on the planet especially after talking to Lloyd about how you can’t do those homeowner’s meetings and bills… and… oh my God!” she covered her face with her hands briefly before lowering them at her chest still together as if in prayer. “I’m so sorry. I completely forgot about the whole…”

She shook her head and trailed off. Words didn’t come to her, instead she got a series of images: the people in the nightclub, the bodyguards, even in the lobby Elina had swerved slightly to avoid actually brushing against the Garou—although she had probably just felt the effects of her Rage-turned-jealousy, in which case it was the best thing she could’ve done. Most people reacted to them the same way a person would react to a homeless person or a bum on the streets. It wasn’t that she had forgotten it, really, just that she was so comfortable around Kathleen and the others that she half expected everyone else to be as well. Haven certainly didn’t seem to be afraid of Lloyd, but then again Haven might’ve been attracted to him even if he’d been teen wolf in a gym suit. She groaned and covered her face again.

“I didn’t think that… that would be an issue. I guess I still sort of think of myself as “normal” as well as this. And I’m so comfortable around you guys… I didn’t even take that into consideration. I’m… sorry.” She said after lowering them again. For once she wasn’t even consciously aware of the blonde's hands on her. “No… no. You shouldn’t have do something like this… you’re a Garou. If they had been my real parents…” she trailed off. If they had been her real parents then there was no guarantee that they would’ve ever even met, let alone taken the time to get to know each other. Sometimes it was tempting to wonder what her life would have been like if she’d been raised in Garou society with her birth parents, but she also felt that doing so was unfair to Cass and Gert whom she did love as if they had given her life. But now that she knew what she was and had connected with her real Kin, it was hard to connect the two.

“No. It’s okay, really. I feel really foolish for even suggesting it now. Gert might give you the benefit of the doubt, but Cass already has it in her mind that you’re some kind of heathen for not introducing yourself sooner…” she sighed. Finally she did slide her hands around the Silver Fang's waist, shaking her head with a very subtle pout touching her lips. “I don’t want to hide you. I don’t even want to hide us from everyone else. I don’t want to wait until we’re alone to kiss you and show you more than friendly affection… and I’m well aware that that means that this is more than us just being Kin… for me, anyway. But I also don’t want to worry about labels and terms when we could just be together.” She said.

“And… I almost told her that you were married. That’s how I got marriage counselor.” She said, biting the corner of her bottom lip almost nervously. Long after the fact she finally realized that she had been kissed.

"You aren't stupid," Kathleen said, settling her arms around Lex's waist again, not quite so daring as to let her hands drift under the shirt again. "You're really not. It's just not something you're used to handling. I'm sorry I'm so...difficult. I wish I could, I don't know, switch it off or do something to make it easier on them, but short of getting into a big fight, I can't." She canted her head slightly. "And I know you don't want me getting into a big fight, don't worry, I won't." The Curse was certainly aptly named-things wouldn't be nearly so complicated without humanity's instinctive reaction to the Garou. Even a theurge was too much for most people to handle, and Kathleen's Rage was stronger than many of her fellows.

"I'm sorry for being so reserved. I'm trying to do better. I would love to sweep you off your feet in the middle of a hotel lobby. I would love to just...not care, and I am so close to being that way with you. I have never met anyone who makes me want to be carefree the way you do. You've been more than 'just Kin' to me since I found out you were 'just Kin'." The words came out in a burst, the Silver Fang dodging the kinfolk's eyes again as she bared another bit of herself. It was a struggle not to think of hot blood on her hands and the nasal intonation of the rite building around her. "It's not...labels anymore. It's just me. My damage. I'm sorry that it has to affect you, and I promise, I am working on it."

Sherry's death wasn't a fresh wound, but the spectre of it continued to rear its ugly head. It was a challenge sometimes to remember that this was safe, Lex was kin and was in no danger of execution for being seen in public with the theurge. As easy as it was to think it was so, it was harder to put into practice. Defense mechanisms so long held weren't so easy to shed, after all.

She took a deep breath and shuttered her eyes, then shook her head, leaning in to place a gentle kiss on Lex's lips. "I would rather just be, with you. We can handle your parents, my pack, everything outside of this hotel room when we have to. Right now, there's a locked door between us and the rest of the world, a beautiful horizon out the window, a bottle of wine that's only half finished, and you, tasting like strawberries and chocolate. That's all I want to think about right now. I want to try living in the moment for once...if we can."

“No, I am. I am. I shouldn’t have… I just have a tendency to not think sometimes…” she said apologetically as the other woman’s arms slid around her waist as well, touching cloth and not skin. She wondered distractedly if it meant that she didn’t want to actually touch her anymore. She wouldn’t know what to do if that was the case. She realized that even without labels and mass approval she had become attached to the Garou and a lot of that was because she was someone that she didn’t mind being so close to, physically and emotionally, as well. She didn’t just not mind, she craved it sometimes. And just the thought that she might not want to be with her that way was enough assurance to let her know that she wanted it enough to not want anything else from her. They were Kin and she wasn’t even sure that it was possible to go back on that, but if she could not touch her… if she wouldn’t touch her anymore… then she couldn’t be around her period.

“I know I’m not…no, you’re not difficult at all, you’re wonderful. It’s me. I don’t want you to… I don’t want you to change and no, I don’t want you to fight… not my parents…” she said, quite rude in her attempt to reply to every word out of the Silver Fang’s mouth even before she was finished. “No, stop apologizing for being you. I don’t want that, I like you as you are… and you are doing better and… I didn’t mean that I’m unhappy with the way things are, just that sometimes… I like you. Don’t change.” She said, lightly scratching the dress fabric on her back. “I know… about labels… and you’re not damaged. You don’t have to work for me.” She sighed. She didn’t understand that bit about her. Instead of any possible other relationships she immediately blamed it on Jason for being a dispassionate robot.

She kissed her back and nodded her head softly, “I can handle my parents and no matter what eventually happens it doesn’t matter because I have accepted everything else about you and no one else’s opinion matters but mine. And I am… I love spending time with you and not even just… physical stuff. I like talking to you and I do like hearing about your day and the things that bother you because I’m your Kin and because it means something to me that it means something to you. And the only thing I want you to change is your horrible habit of apologizing for the things that make you you. Because I’m not here with Jeanette or Lloyd… and… I’m yours.” she said. She paused and nodded her head again. Living in the moment had never been a problem for her, she didn’t know why she was letting such small things, really, get to her. Because the truth was that they really didn’t matter.

“Okay. Fine. I say we can, so we can. I don’t…” she didn’t even know where that sentence was going, it could’ve been harmless, but she didn’t want to take the chance. Instead she leaned in and kissed her on the mouth again, wrapping her arms tighter around her waist. She didn’t want anything more than what she had at that moment.

She listened quietly, her hands slowly smoothing up and down Lex's back. Though her expression was thoughtful at first, that secret smile faded back into being. How could she hold it back, when the younger woman was speaking so sincerely? It was impossible to keep her dour mood, much less be brought down by her tragic memories. Her fingertips fluttered against Lex's shoulder, venturing onto some of her exposed skin as she nodded agreement to everything that was said.

When the kinswoman leaned in and kissed her, she responded gently at first. Her hand slid higher, laying across the back of Lex's neck as she parted her lips to deepen the kiss. Her other arm pulled the younger woman bodily nearer, if it was even possible in the position they were in. She wanted to make up for her retreat, erase any doubt that may have arisen. She needed her near, for the easy invigoration of her company as well as the physical comfort of her.

"You have no idea how much all of that means to me," she murmured at a break in the kiss. "It's so wonderful to know that all you want from me is for me to be myself. No one else's opinion matters to me as much as yours does. And I know you don't exactly hide away," she kissed the tip of the taller woman's nose, "I want you to be comfortable, Lex. I want to be your escape whenever I can." Brushing a light kiss across the kinfolk's lips, she smiled again. "Tout ce que je veux c'est pour vous d'être heureux, mon cher. Vous êtes le soleil à ma lune. Vous êtes beaux," she said softly. All I want is for you to be happy, my dear. You are the sun to my moon. You are beautiful.

Kissing was truly an art form and who better to understand Art than an Artist? Only time would tell how accomplished she was at other forms of physical expression—she was also vanilla in many ways, surprisingly—but she understood the basics of the Kiss the way toddlers understood crawling before attempting to walk. Her mouth sought and found joy and enlightenment in the other woman’s. It was cliché and said many many times, but women overshadowed men entirely when it came to the softness of their lips and the skill of their kiss. And Kathleen seemed to have the softest lips she’d ever had the pleasure of sampling and even her simplest kisses were a cut above the rest. It… helped that every time their mouths met she tasted as sweet as candy. Literally.

Her palm seemed just as soft and sweet as it rested on the back of the model’s neck, cool and light as the Alpha was the first to part her lips and up the sensuality of the kiss, the kinfolk quick on the uptake as she opened her mouth just enough to take it deeper as her fingers very lightly grazed up and down the Silver Fang’s clothed back. She didn’t know what to call the weird feeling rising to a crescendo in her belly… butterflies? No, that seemed too cliché and corny and not nearly enough. What she was feeling was not the delicate flutter of butterfly wings but… tiny hummingbirds, perhaps. Wasps might be more accurate because there was something almost stinging about it, something incessant and demanding to be noted and noted well. And noted it was as it swelled to a pitch as their embrace tightened and her mouth tasted and memorized the other’s.

She smiled brightly with her entire face it seemed as they parted and breath rose between them. She didn’t have the words to convey that everything she said meant a lot to her as well, that at the moment—since she’d met her, actually—her words were the only ones that mattered. As much as she may have loved and cared for everyone else she had never wanted nor needed approval, never cared what anyone thought of what she said or did, never wanted to be what someone else wanted except for her. And Gaia. She grinned when she kissed her on the nose, thinking that it was an odd but amusing thing to do to someone who wasn’t a child. “I’m more comfortable with you this way than I’ve ever been with anyone else before you. Have been since the Ferris wheel. And you are… that’s why I’m here instead of the dozen other places I could be.” She smiled.

It was a lovely moment. And the French language was one of the most beautiful and romantic languages to her, though she couldn’t speak a lick, but she hadn’t known that her kin could so when she did it caught her offguard. And so… she laughed. Giggled quite a bit actually until she covered her mouth with one hand and shook her head. “I’m sorry… that was lovely even though I didn’t understand not a word you said. I had no idea you could speak French.” She said removing her hand and placing it back against the blonde’s back. “It sounds so pretty coming from your mouth, it just surprised me…” she smiled and kissed her on the mouth again briefly. “Might I just add that I love French toast and French fries and… French kisses.” She grinned and tilted her head slightly as she leaned in for one of those French kisses she claimed to love so much.

Kathleen's eyes danced with a touch of mirth at seeing her purpose achieved. It was comforting to have such a rapport, to know that any slight or misstep would be easily forgiven. Her tribe and Lex's both were known for carrying grudges across centuries - breaking the trend was a relief. Of the thousands of lessons Alexys was teaching her, learning to accept acceptance was the most difficult yet. In spite of the Fianna's endless forgiveness for every quirk and ingrained habit, Kathleen was ever certain that the next (or the next, or the one after that) would see the finish of that patience. True, she had so far spared the young woman from her harsher secrets and more difficult coping mechanisms, but so often it seemed like the 'other shoe' dropped at the worst possible time, and over the least significant thing. And yet... in the joy of the model's brilliant smile (too often underused by her employers, in Kathleen's opinion), it was so easy to be optimistic and see the bright side.

Je t'aime, je t'aime, je t'aime. She wanted to murmur it over and over, tease Alexys with more pretty words she didn't know but would certainly understand. Instead, she allowed her lips to convey the meaning. Je t'aime, je t'aime, je t'adore. Impulsively, she slid her hand along Lex's back, supporting her firmly as she rose up on her knees, then began to tip the kinswoman backwards. Her strength, normally kept tastefully concealed by her feminine charms, was briefly evident as she held the other woman steady and close. When gravity took over, she slowed their tumble with her free hand.

She continued the kiss, her eyes tight shut, her breathing threatening to just stop. Though their fall had been short, she still felt as though she was tumbling away. Risk, again, had her nerves twanging in spite of all of the reassurances she'd just given herself. It was nothing for her to press her pack forward into battle or to feint and parry to draw a blade to herself. Her confidence was perfectly sound when it came to alphaship and command, but in closed quarters her heels were still dogged by her fear of loss and rejection.

She tried, but couldn't help the tension that stitched its way up her spine. Now she couldn't catch her breath, though her lips stubbornly carried on the impassioned kiss. In lieu of breathing she clung to the kinswoman, impetuously trying to have her fill of her before she was struck or shoved away for her daring. Fragments of potential outcomes, most of them bad, sprang to mind and she snarled one hand in the bedding in anticipated frustration. Russian pessimism locked to French passion, the discourse between the two halves of her heritage played out behind her eyes.

Those brilliant blues blinked open and her face flared blazing red as she suddenly drew back. It was a scant few inches, just enough for eyes to meet, some part of her recalling her previous retreat and 'freezing' her before she escaped too far. Helplessness and worry were writ large on her aristocratic features. Not quite able to speak, she begged forgiveness with her eyes alone. She was quite the pretty mess, her perfected makeup gone, her hair mussed and tumbling freely as she tried to find a way to apologize for a sin she wasn't sure she'd actually committed.

Though there were a great many crucial differences between Kathleen and Jennifer—her first “girlfriend”—and her first and only “boyfriend” (whose name was irrelevant) and Chloe and the scarce others she had allowed to get somewhat close enough to indulge in, and though she thought and sincerely wanted to believe that the shapeshifter would be a part of her life for a long time to come, she wasn’t completely blinded by her emotions that she was forgetful of those people and the way things had—always—ended with them. There were things that the Gaian didn’t know about her as well. For instance, she didn’t know that in the model’s pretty blonde head lay all sorts of interesting information on diverse subjects from massage therapy to undertaking and space exploration. She was diverse and she liked to learn about new and interesting things, definitely, but the problem was that her interest wavered from one subject to the next whimsically and that was certainly the case when it came to people.

She liked to think that it was different between them. And it was. For one, she was attracted to the housewife on multiple levels, each interesting and complicated in just the way that she liked. And they shared many common interests, the biggest being Gaia, of course. And she was her kin and she shared a bond with her that was completely foreign compared to anything she’d ever known or experienced. But she was aware that she was notorious for picking things up and then abandoning them when the mood hit her. She couldn’t really explain it, she didn’t understand herself how a person could seem so captivating one day and completely forgettable the next. She used to worry that something was wrong with her and when she had discovered she was Kin she thought she knew why, but now she understood that it was something else entirely. It was like Cass said: “Alexys goes anywhere the wind blows.” And who could predict the wind?

The fundamental difference between them was that Lex didn’t let the knowledge of her shortcomings and past taint the moment or what she felt for the woman. Perhaps that was what made it so bad, that when she was with someone she was with them wholly and fully until the moment she wasn’t any longer. But… in the Roosevelt Hotel in a suite she hadn’t paid for sitting on the lap of one of the most gorgeous women she had ever beheld she knew that it also didn’t matter and she didn’t want anything more from whatever they were than for it to just be for as long as it was allowed to be.

Her kiss was more addictive than nicotine and chocolate and any other vice in the world. She couldn’t, she couldn’t, she couldn’t stop. Her mouth was warm and sumptuous, ripe like fresh strawberries. She wondered how a kiss could satisfy a craving so much like hunger, but that wasn’t entirely true because the pressure she put behind it, the sneaky way her tongue brushed her lip every time she delve in only made her crave more. Idle hands are the Devil’s playground, this she knew, but for the life of her she could only hold on and clutch her other half as if she was afraid of her escaping. She felt only a little silly as the Garou clutched her and effortlessly tilted them backwards until she was lying on her back with the Silver Fang still on top of her, still kissing her. Her eyelids fluttered prettily, dark brown irises barely discernible from the pupils as she moaned softly and straightened her long legs beneath the other blonde’s body.

Her mouth bloomed hot against the other woman’s as those once idle hands crinkled fabric on their way up her back, clutching her just as tightly as she spoke the only French she was really good at. She didn’t know what happened or why but the next moment her pursed lips were airily light and she opened her dilated eyes to look up at a completely different woman. This was not the same woman who had just scant moments ago spoke of living in the moment. She looked like the woman on the pier and all of a sudden they were back at square one. Yes, she noticed the worry and expression of “Sorry” written on her face but she was more concerned with concealing the disappointment and slight… hurt? on her own. She turned her head and inhaled.

She was thinking of the time on the Ferris wheel when she had advanced and had been met with retreat. At the lake when she had assumed that it was hesitance that kept her from touching her. And now… was she only interested in kisses? Was this just a little spice to combat the bland that was her husband Jason? She felt a little bit of anger at that. Who was on top of who, after all? For once she hadn’t been the one to press the issue and she was still getting the same results. She exhaled and turned to looked back up into those blue eyes. So pretty. “You can get off me now.” She said slightly out of breath. Realizing how that sounded she looked a little apologetic herself for a moment. “I mean… you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. I’m not the one on top of you.”

Damn. Wrong again. She opened her mouth, most likely to put her foot in it again, but she was saved by the room’s telephone. She jumped in surprise and turned her head again to stare at the ringing phone on the nightstand. Had to be the agency. She didn’t make any attempt to move herself or the blonde as she let the sound of ringing drown out the voices in her head and the horrible tension that she could clearly feel bearing down upon her.

If shooting yourself in the foot was a competitive sport, Kathleen would be the undefeated world champion. As she'd just proven, she could screw up a sure thing unlike anyone else. At self-sabotage, she was a master. The pessimist defeated the optimist, the ideals couldn't hold against the reality of her battered psyche. She could taste bile in the back of her throat, a bitter compliment to the heavy crash of her heart straight to the bottom of herself. She'd risked, and before reward or retribution could come, she'd taken it upon herself to decide the outcome. Where had 'je t'aime' gone? All of her beautiful words, the things she wanted to say and the things she had spoken out loud, shot to hell.

Her heart, still recovering from its plummet, slammed into her ribs once more as she saw the upset she'd caused. "Oh god..." she murmured. Drawing away from Alexys hurt, more than she'd thought it should. "I'm sorry," she apologized, quiet against the background howl of the phone as she rose to her knees and wrapped an arm around her own waist. "I...I wasn't thinking. I should have...asked. I should have told you what I was going to do, I'm sorry. I..." she stammered, covering her mouth with her other hand as she paled. "I've screwed this up so terribly..."

The person she wanted, the person she needed, lay before her, telling her to make up her own mind, and she was rapidly coming to the realization that she really hadn't done so once in her entire life. The strength and confidence so often attributed to the Silver Fangs was a lie in her. "I...need a minute. Please...just...just a minute," she said, looking at the phone. She had never felt so lost and exposed-she would have given anything for the fade to begin, to make her forget everything that had just happened. She couldn't even manage to retreat, instead remaining in place, staring vacantly at the bed.

It was her that stood in her own way. Her obedience, her desire to do well, that A+ student mold that she'd been forced into from her earliest days. She'd been trained to believe that acceptance was unimportant-she craved approval, shallow and insincere as it may be. She'd done what was expected for so long that she had no real idea how to do anything else, and stepping outside of those carefully drawn lines was terrifying. Freedom, horrible freedom indeed. Chances had been taken-if they hadn't, she wouldn't be in this room, feeling the effects of the wine draining out of her-but they'd been successful calculated risks. She had failed this time, and badly. She had pushed too far, gone too fast, and she had no idea how to turn it around. One hand reached for the kinfolk, coming to rest on her knee. The Silver Fang stared at her hand, still without a clue how to proceed.

Instead of her breathing slowing down and evening out now that the embers had been doused with icy water it began to pick up, her chest rising and falling more rapidly as the cacophony of the telephone mingled with the Silver Fang’s apologies which weren’t quite low enough to go unheard and thus served as the nail on the coffin. Disbelief, that after making a clearly irrelevant speech about how she liked and appreciated the woman for who she truly was and that the only complaint she had was that the Garou tended to apologize too much for unnecessary reasons was met with even more apologies for reasons that the model could not even conceive of at the moment. Disappointment, that she’d rather back off as she was currently doing and continue muttering unexplained apologies than let the kinfolk in on whatever the hell was going on in her head.

Her words and actions went from being crystal clear to erratic and misleading and confusing and quite frankly a little bit aggravating. For the love of Gaia, she didn’t understand! She was acting as if the Fianna had slapped her or shoved her away, had turned her head away during a kiss instead of after she freaked out. Lex wanted to yell and scream herself, but respect and some form of devotion held her tongue when others would’ve been delivered an earful. Subconsciously Lex was also expecting her to black out, actually hoping for it in a weird way. If she blanked out and came to then she could pretend that this nightmare had never happened and start over.

As the phone finally stopped ringing and silence filled the room she realized that she couldn’t take it anymore. Not with her kin sitting there clutching herself and looking as if she’d just destroyed the sun and now the entire world would die. The blonde bombshell sat up on her elbows and fixed the blue-eyed neurotic Princess with a steady gaze that was neither cold nor warm. “What the hell is wrong with you? I don’t understand anything about what just happened or why in Gaia’s name you’re apologizing. Did I… am I blacking out as well? Did I blank and somehow shove you away or do anything to make you think that… you know what? I don’t even know what the hell you think. You should’ve asked? You should’ve warned me? Kathleen, do you realize how completely ridiculous that sounds to me?” she asked. “What were we doing other than kissing? And what did i do to make you think that I wasn’t okay with it?”

“When I was eighteen one of the photographers tried to jump me after a shoot. I’d be surprised if he can still have children. I’m not a child… I’m not naïve… and I’m certainly not afraid to ask or take what I want and make it perfectly clear what I don’t want.” She sighed and shook her head. “If… don’t make it about me if it’s really about you. This is… not the first time that you’ve done something like this, do you realize that? And… I’m beginning to wonder if you’re even really into me that way… if you’re not that’s fine. Completely fine. Just don’t climb on top of me and then retreat as if I repel you or something.”

“I just don’t understand you at all. But I don’t want you doing anything that makes you freak out every freaking time we get close to each other…” she shrugged. “We don’t have to do anything.”

Kathleen was still frozen, trying to think her way through her paralysis. She knew she'd just wasted her last chance. She knew she'd eliminated all of the goodwill and patience she'd earned. She knew a lot of things, but while she was certain of what she knew, her foresight was completely at a loss. She was unprepared to be confronted so bluntly, Lex's first question causing her mouth to drop open and her head to jerk up. In another life, as another Garou, the kinswoman's brashness would have earned her a broken jaw, but the idea didn't so much as occur to the Silver Fang. Here and now, her eyes only got wider as she was flat-out challenged to explain herself. No one questioned her with such unceremonious boldness, not Jason, not Talisa, not even Lloyd on his stupidest days.

What the hell was wrong with her? Not to put too fine a point on it, she was a Silver Fang, complete with all of the associated baggage and neuroses. Neurotic might even be too mild a term for it. A tear nearly escaped as she tried to put herself back together again-she caught it as she ran her hands over her face and into her hair. She blinked rapidly, trying to repair the cracks in her composure as she started to find her words again. "Lex...please...I..." she exhaled, her chest throbbing. She had stopped breathing, somewhere along the line.

Taking a deep breath, she knotted her hands together. "This is not about you. I'm...I want to be closer to you, I want to..." Red bloomed on her cheeks as her knuckles went white. "I want to be with you. I don't...I'm too used to being the ice queen. I'm too used to being obeyed because of what I am, and I don't want that from you and...Gaia, I know, I know, you don't even know what that means." She made a vague, fluttery gesture, rubbing her other hand over her face again. "Dammit! I grew up, trained and lived around kinfolk like...like Jason. People who lived their lives to serve us, who would drop their own children to fix a stray hair on one of our heads. They were so stupidly servile, so bloodless...and when you're used to that, someone like you...you're like a bomb. Like leaving a dying greenhouse to walk into the rainforest. You don't work the way you're supposed to, and I love that about you. It just...what I know and what you are is so different, and I get...I make the wrong choice."

She settled her hands on her lap again. "I told you I'm damaged. I don't want to be, but I am. And I don't want to damage you...or us. So...I'm sorry. I...I let myself go too far. It's not your fault at all, and I will try harder to keep my head...no matter how difficult that is around you." It could have been a flirtatious joke, but she spoke softly, weighting the statement with gravity.

She understood that being a Silver Fang was something akin to being a member of the Royal Family according to Garou tradition, she understood that kinfolk were merely second-in-charge (second-class citizens, some of them) when it came to Garou society as a whole. She understood that there were even levels of hierarchy amongst the actual shapeshifters and that “lower ranking” Garou probably wouldn’t dare to question a Silver Fang Alpha the way that she just had. But she also understood that Kathleen was far from the typical Silver Fang, no matter how often she was reminded that she indeed was one. But, perhaps more importantly, she understood that she wasn’t the typical kinfolk herself. No matter how many lessons from Jake and Lloyd, no matter how much time she spent around them, no matter what the blood running through her veins said… she was just as much human as she was kin. There was no denying that she was a Fianna through and through, but she had been raised by humans to be independent and self-reliant and confident above all. The discovery that she was kin didn’t change that and just as she wouldn’t defer to another human she also wouldn’t cower for any Garou.

That being said, it wasn’t that serious. For all the woman’s doubts Lex had never felt as if it was necessary to be submissive and deferring in front of her. She had never felt second rate or less than important, compared to any of them. That had a lot to do with the fact that she was completely in control and unwavering when it came to her own self worth and was literally untouchable in that way, but also because though Kathleen came with tons of baggage she had never taken notice of Lex’s own. She couldn’t comment on her relationship with robo-Jason, but she just knew that she’d never felt like anything less than an equal with his wife. And as equals it didn’t make sense to do anything but speak her mind, as she hoped would be done to her if ever a time came when she was the one flipping out for no good reason at all.

The certainty that her query wasn’t mean or rude gave her legs to stand on in face of the woman’s shocked expression. She resisted the urge to ask her what the hell she expected since that might’ve crossed the line into rudeness and some questions were just better left unsaid between friends who still wanted to be friends. She was completely in control of herself until she realized that those blue-eyes were glistening in addition to the sorrowful mien they were conveying. Fuck. Irrationality crept back in like a vandal in the night as she wondered if she was being mean and hurtful, though some steadfast part of her also wondered if it wasn’t just a product of the Silver Fang’s contagious neurosis.

Lex inhaled long and deeply, shutting her eyes for a moment to block out the unpleasant image of a Silver Fang looking all too human and fragile, the Garou’s words chipping at the solid block of confidence that she thought she had. She didn’t want to make her cry, for heaven’s sake. She didn’t want to add to whatever insecurity and hurt the woman was already feeling… even if it was unwarranted. At this point she was more willing to believe that she actually was doing something wrong than to believe that the theurge was doing it to herself. She opened her eyes to look at the blonde as she spoke shakily and unsurely, the mention of the term “ice queen” making her think of Lloyd and the threat she’d made to him when he referred to her as an ice bitch. Then she got to the heart of it and the Fianna understood just a little better what she was so worried about. But only a little.

She sighed and nodded her head when the Silver Fang was done speaking. Silently she sat up and reclaimed her legs, sliding off the bed she headed towards the closet, turned and headed back towards the foot of the bed where she stood staring at the Gaian for a moment. Lloyd would have recognized this Lex, she just barely managed to keep from pacing incessantly. “I don’t care that you’re damaged, I care why, which is a question that has yet to be answered. Only I can damage myself, so that doesn’t concern me either. You keep apologizing and saying it’s not my fault, but I still don’t know why or even what…” she shook her head. “I’m not obeying you, I’m obeying myself. I don’t care what title or rank you hold, if you told me to do something that I didn’t want to do I wouldn’t do it. I’ve fallen out of trees and off runway stages… if not giving you what you want means incurring your ‘wrath’ then so be it. I would rather die than ever give up my freedom or let another person dictate my actions or feelings.”

“I mean… I’ve known Cass for almost twenty years and I just told you that I don’t care what she wants for me if its not you. And she's my mother. So… why is it so hard to believe that you can do the things you do to me because I want you to? And that’s it, Kathleen. Because I want you. Because I like you. I don’t care what line you come from. And… if you can’t get that through your head then… I don’t know.” She shrugged. “If you being a Silver Fang meant anything to me… if I felt like I didn't have a choice in the matter… then we would not be here.”

She was suddenly grateful that she'd never been able to call on her ancestors' help. The others she'd known, of all auspices, spoke of those long-dead alphas and rulers as frequent advisors, occasionally able to bodily possess their descendants in order to enact that advice. Kathleen wasn't sure if she would be able to cope with some ancient Capetian or D'Est, or Gaia forbid a Brabant (womanizing scoundrels one and all, by her understanding) bellowing at her to lash out, put the other woman in her place, or even snarling at her for being such a weakling as to have shed a tear in a private room, facing only her kin. She at least had that under control now, though as an acknowledgement of their relationship thus far, she did not adopt the usual ice-perfect expression that she should have concealed her emotions behind. She was still chagrined, but thoughtful rather than sorrowful. Her breathing was even, and there was no wobble to her lip or glitter of tears in her eye.

Lex had to ask the hard question first. How could she even start to explain everything that had made her what she was? Decades of training before and after her rite, her months at the academy in Boston, and the life that followed. Having to do what she was told, stealing away what little personal time she had to spend with Sherry, her lover remorselessly executed and herself banished. The expectations laid on her ranging from flawless perfection to bearing an heir. She considered her answer, watching as the kinswoman paced.

"Alexys," she said, looking up to the younger woman's face as the kinfolk came to face her again. "I do believe you. As hard as I make it seem, I believe you. I..." She closed her eyes briefly. "The people who raised and trained me expect perfection in all things, and they trained that expectation into me. I don't know if you understand the lack of control I've had over my own life. Since I was a child, my tribe has been preparing me to be what I am. I wanted to be a pilot, but instead of learning physics and geography, I learned french, russian and world history. When I was thirteen, I Changed and my parents became my servants. My elders told me which spirits I would speak to and which rituals I would learn. I was seventeen when my elders decided I was ready to be a mother and ordered me to find a mate. I stalled until I was twenty and the spirits chose Jason. I spent five years lying to him about who I was and how I felt about him and...he forgave me. I..."

She abruptly stood up, walked to her glass and unceremoniously refilled it. Taking a sip, she looked into the drink contemplatively. "I...'rebelled' once. My mentor suggested that if I was so unhappy with my mate, I should take a lover. I...did." She sipped again, looking at the floor. She had so little practice telling the story that it was still hard to keep her emotions in control. "She was human. Just...human. That was...a mistake. I should have found kin." She took a drink this time, hardly noticing the taste of the wine. "Her name was Sherry. She was a physiotherapist. She was...quiet. She liked to cook." The glass shivered in her grip as a lump started to form in her throat. "I wasn't careful enough. She found the estate the caern was located on by following me one day...she thought it was a relatives' house. She didn't go back, but...a philodox named Seven-Dead found out. I don't know how." She looked into the wine again, her other arm wrapped around her waist, her fingers bunching up the fabric. She couldn't look up if she wanted to, not at this point.

"They put me on trial. I couldn't fight hard enough." There was another pause as she tried to force herself to say the words. It was easier when there wasn't so much at stake. She wanted to finish the wine, drain the glass, then the bottle, and possible cut her own throat with the broken remains. Anything to avoid telling Alexys the story. Taking a breath that shuddered unexpectedly, she spoke in a dead tone. "They killed her. Because I wasn't...perfect."She expected to burst into tears, for her back to bow and her will to give out, but all that came over her was a sudden, horrible exhaustion. "Because he...he needed the scandal to earn his rank," she added as an afterthought as she turned away to set the glass down. She was suddenly numb and lost again, and still the darkness remained at bay, keeping the tears with it. It was too much all at once-even the curse of her tribe couldn't break through that dead non-feeling.

She was momentarily distracted by the sound of her name coming from the starry-eyed beauty’s perfect mouth, that mouth which made her world just a little bit better by smiling and laughing and speaking French and, above all, kissing. Kisses that seemed Heaven-sent and precious, each one of them. Kisses that stopped the world and made her heart speed up, kisses that were more like Kisses. And that same mouth which spoke her name unlike any other, turning those three simple syllables into something like a lyric or rhyme. Like music. It was distracting, alright. Her lips… distracting to want to kiss them again, to set them aflame. To want to make her world a little more better by tasting them. It was even more distracting because the situation had changed, had turned against them, and she wasn’t sure when the next kiss would be coming.

She had expected as much concerning the Silver Fang’s upbringing and strict tutelage. She couldn’t help but think of the prep school children who came from well-off families and were born with their lives already plotted out for them by their parents. They were always the worst, prisoners of their high status had they but known it. Public school hadn’t been a walk in the park itself, but she was eternally grateful to both Cass and Gert for putting her through it. She loved that though they had the means to give her the moon they still kept her grounded. So, she understood Kathleen’s story and yet couldn’t relate to it at all. She honestly felt a little sorry for her, not to have been Silver Fang but to have it supersede everything else in her life, including her heart’s desires. Lex could not even fathom that… to have wanted to create art but be forced into creating alliances and… children? She blinked almost comically and muttered a barely audible, “Oh.”

It didn’t get any better, though she listened more intently than she ever had in her entire life. She wanted so desperately to understand, but what she was coming to understand only added to the inner turmoil she was feeling. Children. And Jason. Strangely enough she had never even thought that... she hadn’t even considered that they might’ve done the things that normal husbands and wives did. Like have sex. Unprotected sex. Children… she felt a little like a drink herself, but she remained rooted to the spot as the Garou got up to pour herself a glass, apparently to help with the telling of the story she clearly did not want to tell. It… did not get any better. She listened to the story about a secret love, a woman, a human, and she couldn’t help noticing the parallels, at least in her mind they were. A physiotherapist… she was a pilot who was married to an account who’d had a lover who was a physiotherapist… if it wasn’t irony that she was telling all this to a young wannabe artist, a damn model at that, then she didn’t know what it was. What sort of conversations must they have had? She felt safe to assume that they had nothing to do with candy apples and photography.

For a moment she thought: What the hell are you doing with this woman? You have nothing in common. She’s as much out of your league as you are hers.

But only for a moment. Still, she didn’t know how to take the story of the wonderful physiotherapist who was quiet and liked to cook, and apparently a little bit nosy as well… she sensed the turn the tale was about to take before it was revealed and when it was she was… stunned. To say the least. Finally she understood. Too much. Well, her initial hesitance and the concern about the Veil being broken… and the entire “damaged” bit… and… a lot. Her first thought had nothing to do with present company; she thought about humans and the penalty for letting them in on the big secret. And she worried. Because she hadn’t told Cass or Haven, but… what if? And if she told Kathleen did that mean that she’d kill them herself? Would she be disowned? And, more importantly, why? The fact that she existed, a kinfolk, meant that the Garou and humans must have lived together at one time or another to have mated and had children. In any case, death seemed such a harsh punishment for knowledge. Barbaric, even.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and shook her head. She didn’t know what to say. “I don’t. I’m… wish that… I am so sorry that you were ever hurt. I am so sorry that someone hurt you and the person that you cared about. I can’t imagine what that must have been like, I can’t imagine the profound effect that must have had on you… still has on you… and… I want to say that it wasn’t your fault and a million other things to somehow make it better, but I can’t. I can’t erase that hurt… I can’t undo it… I would give so much if I could. Honestly.” She said, just barely able to keep her voice steady as well. How could they have done something like that? And how… what could she do to possibly make any bit of difference in comparison?

“I don’t know what to say and I don’t want to say the wrong things… and I feel so out of my league right now. So… young. I don’t... I don’t know how to give you what you need. I don’t know if it’s in me… I don’t know if I’m wise or mature enough… if I’ll hurt you again.” She said softly. “I don’t know if this… after everything that you’ve been through… maybe I’m not what…” she shook her head. “I don’t know. You can’t go through life afraid of making decisions for yourself because of one… mistake. It was more than that, I know, but… it’s different. You’re different. This is different. But maybe this isn't what you’re ready for. And I can’t force that and neither can you. So…”

“So.” She sighed. “I don’t know.”

Kathleen continued to ponder the wine bottle, noting that there were two glasses left. She could easily drain the whole thing-she had the constitution for it, but not the will. That was currently being consumed by another craving. The need for a cigarette, a battalion of cigarettes even, was sudden and harsh. Each breath seared with the need for the comforting scorch of nicotine. She'd neglected to put on the patch that morning amidst the confusion of Jason's sudden exit, and now the remnants of the last pack she bought taunted her from her purse. She carried them as handy sacrifices for the spirits, but she had a feeling that this particular ghost would not be laid to rest regardless of how many she smoked. It hadn't worked yet.

As Alexys spoke, apologizing for things that no one else would think to, Kathleen pressed her hand flat to the bedside table. That was her one exterior concession to her emotional state-that and the few tears that escaped to slip down pale cheeks dashed with red. Like Lady Macbeth, she could see, feel and smell the blood on her hands still, though she knew it wasn't there. Though she wasn't so culpable as that guilty party, the weight of the judgement hung on her. Her shoulders wanted to slouch, her body to give in to that horrible guilt, but she'd dealt with the feeling before. She bore up well, even as Lex aired her doubts.

Those words, "I don't know", sapped at Kathleen's remaining strength. Why couldn't the curse have stolen her thoughts in the middle of the kiss? She would rather forget again than hear Lex consider aloud the possibility that they should just walk away from one another. More tears slipped and she let them fall. She was still half-turned from the kinswoman, taking advantage of the cover and the drape of her hair to mostly conceal her eyes and the trails of salt water leading from them. In spite of their whole conversation, she still did not want the kinswoman to see her any weaker than was necessary. Even Jason had seen her as a complete wreck only once.

In a slow, graceful movement, she stepped back from the bedside table and sat on the edge of the bed, finally showing the other woman her face. Forcing herself to breathe evenly and slowly, she folded her hands on her lap. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Lex," she breathed, waiting for the tears to come. They didn't, the flow of them ebbing as she concentrated on finally speaking. "You are wise, you are strong, and you are...you can be what I need. I need..." She bowed her head, looking at the tremble of her fingertips, closing her hands around one another to stop them. "I need cotton candy and carnivals. I need whispered conversations under the stars. I need confrontation. I need challenges. I need someone who...who isn't content that I made it through the day okay. I need someone free and eccentric and different."

She looked up, making herself seek out the kinfolk's eyes. "But I know I am not stable. I have problems that run deep and obligations that I can't escape. I am not an easy person to care about and-" Her voice choked off, her eyes spilling over as Jason and his recent coldness sprang to mind. She swiped at the tears quickly, banishing the thought with a clench of her jaw. "And you could have anyone you want. I...I know that." She steadied herself, pressing her hands onto the bedspread. "But I do want you. Even if we...step back, stay only as kin," she offered, her voice quieting as she made the discomfiting offer. "I will abide by that."

As much as those words may have caused her untold hurt: I don’t know. The ones that weren’t said were somehow even worse, stuck inside her head. I don’t know… and I don’t want to know. I don’t know and maybe I’m afraid to know. She recognized a hypocrite when she saw one, the only problem was that she wasn’t facing a mirror. She had just advised the Silver Fang to not let fear stop her from making decisions and so quickly was she committing the same sin herself. She supposed that it was a lesson the half-woman had learned bitterly from her lover’s death, a death which she still believed her hand—or rather, her love—had caused. But for Lex it was bittersweet knowing that she wasn’t above such things as indecision, especially when it came down to such a simple thing, really, as whether to fight or flee.

She had never been the type to flee, to turn tail and run, but this situation was wholly new to her. And it wasn’t even really the decision that she feared: to stay or to go—although she didn’t have any real idea what either of them meant—but the consequence of actually making a choice. She was afraid of actually trying to have more than a kin relationship with the self-proclaimed “damaged” woman and fucking up. She was afraid of trying to end what had already begun and fucking up. All she knew was that things could not be at a standstill for long, especially when emotions were involved. Especially when Garou emotions were involved.

She felt a hypocrite in other ways as well. Seeing Kathleen’s unyielding profile, rouged cheeks tinted with tears that her bouncy curls and forward face couldn’t completely conceal reminded her of something not quite like a promise she had made to herself not so long ago; that she would only make her smile and laugh, only bring her happiness. She could not deny that she was partly the cause no more than she could deny the existence of her tears. It felt like proof, that she could not even figure out how to respond to the tears that she had helped create, so how could she possibly figure out what she needed, let alone be what she needed? It felt like more than she was capable of, or at least more than she was capable of even considering at the moment. Was that selfishness or shallowness?

She considered them both, she was unfamiliar with them equally, and decided that it didn’t matter. Nothing in Alexys Land seemed to matter in comparison; she had never felt so irrelevant before. Her entire world was naught but inaction as the blonde finally moved and sat on the edge of the bed, facing her with slightly quivering hands. For once it was she who wanted to drop her eyes but she managed not to just barely by twisting and twirling strings of her own pale locks with her fingers. She shook her head just slightly, the way she used to when she was a child and Cass would question her about something seemingly important. “Wise enough to know that I’m not and strong enough to know that some things are beyond my capabilities. And… that can’t possibly be all that you need. I want to be… I would like to be…” she shook her head. “Is the only problem with Jason that he’s a man? Is that your only qualm with him? Or…”

She didn’t even know how to finish that thought. If Jason had been born a woman instead… would that have changed things? She wanted the answer to be no, if only because she and Jason were light-years apart in personality, in everything. But suppose that he had been a woman… would she have sought another lover? No, probably not. She wouldn’t have met Sherry and Sherry wouldn’t have been killed and she wouldn’t have been on trial and essentially exiled… and she never would’ve come to LA and they never would’ve met. And if wishes were horses… kinfolk would ride.

She laughed softly and without humor, “The problem is that you’re too easy to care about, despite your problems and obligations…” finally she did lower her gaze as the Garou’s voice broke off and fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. It really wasn’t fair. She nodded her head softly and sadly in response to her words, amused at the irony considering her earlier thoughts, something along the lines of: if she wouldn’t touch her anymore… then she couldn’t be around her period.

“All I want is you… and I don’t want to make this about me. I don’t want to let you down and I don’t want to disappoint you… and… I’ve never even… I have…relationships? I’ve never even met someone I like as much as you… and the few people I have been involved with I’ve always… left. Some might even say abandoned… I’ve just… I’ve only been in LA for less than two years… before that was Houston and Las Vegas and… every time I just picked up and left without warning, without a goodbye. It’s hard to explain… I get the urge to move on and I just do. Without question. I am free and eccentric but even that has its disadvantages, like a tree with no roots or a leaf… Cass says I go where the wind blows. And… I feel like I’ve always been searching and that’s partly why and now… I don’t feel like I have to search for anything else…” she said. It wasn’t a lie exactly, but not really the truth. Whatever it was when it came it came without warning. “But…”

She inhaled and closed her eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you. But I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep.” She exhaled. And opened her eyes. “Complicated things bother me deep down. That’s why I like drawing and painting and photography… it’s so simple. Capturing and expressing what’s already there, what’s inside you… hell, I only got into modeling because I thought it’d be easy as pie. Except if you can’t cook even pie is complicated… am I making sense? I feel like I’m speaking riddles, but I’m just trying to say that complicated things annoy me, but when it comes to people… if someone had to set a trap for me, a person to ensnare me… you’d be it. You’re it. You’re so completely you, flaws and all, and I can’t even force myself to promise you that I’ll try to be what you need, but I also can’t pretend that I’m fine with just… I guess that makes me selfish.”

She pulled on the edge of her t-shirt and shifted on her feet, looking down at the carpeted floor nervously—childishly, too. “All of a sudden I’m craving red velvet cake… chocolate chip cookies hot from the oven… do you think I’m one of those people who eats their troubles away?” she asked softly. She laughed. “It usually works.”

Once again the 'husband' issue reared its head and Kathleen's gut burned with uncertainty. It would be easier to talk about Jason if he wasn't so distant at the moment. He was spending more time at work, more time locked in the office and more time away from her, period. He had never avoided her so much, even on the higher moons. "If Jason were a woman...I don't know. I might have been able to find some connection with him, some way to make it work properly. He is my best friend in the world, my rock, and I love him for that. The things he puts up with, the things he's given up and lost are staggering. I have to respect that but I don't know what I would do. There are a lot of things that would be very different."

She nodded slowly as Lex spoke, watching the changes in her face and the direction of her eyes. As she finished, the Silver Fang slowly got to her feet. She felt drained, as though she had nothing left to fight with. Unarmed, naked of the layers of armor she normally bore, she straightened and took two very precise steps towards the kinswoman, a tired smile curving at her lips. "Alexys..." She trailed off, folding one hand around the other again. "You are like the wind. You change, you move, you are restless, you refuse to settle. But..." She looked up, her breathing quickening with fear at the precipice she was setting herself on the edge of. The dead feeling was starting to lift, leaving her raw with fear of what came next.

"I have my wings. Metaphorical and not, I fly." She unfolded her hands. "The pilot isn't the master of the wind, just a companion along the way. The wind comes and goes, the pilot adjusts, it doesn't work any other way. I wouldn't want it to between us." Turning her right hand palm up, she looked down at it, weighing the possibilities. "I think I'm ready to be a little selfish. I'm willing to take the risk of chasing you, Lex. No one could be as vexingly enchanting as you. I can't think of any other...sylphs who crave cookies and cake, who I would rather spend my time with." The edge of fear still held her in its sway-the tears were gone for the moment, worry over the thought of rejection making them inconsequential. Regardless, she took the chance, offering her hand. "So...what do you think, cher?" She risked the nickname, shuttering her eyes briefly as she said it. The same anticipation she felt at the beginning of the runway or in the clasp of a spirits' talons overtook her, a twinned energy of excitement and fear.

She nodded her head softly. Of course she would’ve found a reason to connect with him because he was actually born a Silver Fang kin and because he was her best friend, her rock, his only flaw was that he had also been born with a penis instead of a vagina. She wanted to throw a tantrum then and swing another pillow at her much harder than she had before. It all amounted to a paradox that made her head want to explode. She honestly didn’t want the Silver Fang to be anymore unhappy and unsatisfied in her marriage than she already was, but at the same time it stung just the tiniest bit to consider the fact that all that truly kept her from belonging to him was his manhood. Which meant that his personality was perfect… his demeanor… his everything. He was just a man.

And she was just the wrong type of kin with no experience whatsoever and way in over her head. And, okay, maybe it was jealousy, but her kisses were special because they were hersalone. Those secret smiles and laughter that meant so much only meant so much because they were because of her. She was being selfish and unfair and she knew it and because she knew it she was able to take back control of her thoughts and push those irrational thoughts aside. Maybe, probably there would come a time somewhere down the line when her feelings would ripen and become much more than what they currently were and then she would allow herself the luxury of jealousness, but for now it was undo and undeserved. They had really just met and were only just beginning to get to know their true selves, now was the time to savor and indulge not rush.

She looked up with content resignation in her eyes as the only person who seemed worth having stood and took measured steps towards her. Everything was a journey with this woman. The thought made her smile; what was life but a journey itself? Her name again, spoken so much like a caress, followed by analogies that she had heard before. “You’re never truly here… I’m going to wake up alone one day, aren’t I… you can always come back…” Except such offers were useless because unlike the runways she frequently walked their was no turning back once she moved on.

“You do. You fly. You soar.” she smiled wistfully. She thought about planes and wind and how neither really needed the other, how they were oftentimes counterproductive to each other, but sometimes they worked in complete harmony. “I wouldn’t want it to be any other way either…” she sighed, tugging on her shirt continuously. She smiled thinking that it was about time the woman exhibited some selfish behavior, although she was certain that that sort of thinking had nothing to do with her being the object of said selfish desire. “Cookies and cakes are not all that I crave… there’s ice cream and soda and… you, of course. Cher.” She smiled as she took her hand and pulled her in as she took a step towards her, wrapping her arms around her waist for a tight embrace as she kissed the side of her face, inhaling the sweet scent of her hair. She kissed the hollow and nape of her neck, “Don’t chase me yet. I’m not running. I don’t want to be anywhere else.”

Lex's smile spited her melancholy again, making that false curve to her lips a truth. She was powerless against it, at least here. Arise o sun and kill the envious moon, indeed. Though she wasn't slain, the knot of panic had been cut away by Lex's decision not to chase her out or leave. It was a relief that she hadn't, in fact, lost the kinfolk with the start of the revelations of her past. Though she felt drained by the emotional toll of coming clean, she was lighter, practically floating on air as the kinswoman drew her into a tight hug.

Any remaining tension and doubt drained away as she burrowed her nose against Lex's neck, hiding her tearstained face in the kinfolk's hair. She wrapped her arms tight around the other woman, breathing her sweet scent, feeling warmth bloom through her in the wake of relaxation. She didn't want to be anywhere but here either, caught in the moment, curled up close and with no reason to leave. She smiled, starting to seek out that sensitive spot behind Lex's ear as the kinfolk murmured about soda and candy and her. The grin spread wider at the term of endearment, though her reply died in her throat as Lex's lips pressed to the Silver Fang's throat. For a second she stopped breathing, wordlessly listening to Lex's request. Her answer was a slight tilt of her head, further exposing her neck.

She flattened her palms on Lex's back, rising to tiptoes to reach that tender pressure point and press a kiss there. Nuzzling her nose against the younger woman's ear, she lowered herself back to flat feet. "I think I need to teach you more French. You're a natural," she murmured into Lex's shoulder, closing her eyes and smiling broadly as she pressed a kiss to the shirt. A turn of her head and it was a simple thing to brush her lips against Lex's jaw and along the side of her neck. "Thank you for..." She tried to finish the sentence and couldn't, amidst the scent and the warmth that now surrounded her. It had been a long time since someone had just held her without expectation. Instead, she pressed close again, running her hands along the kinswoman's back to bring her nearer, possibly just to prevent her from slipping away too soon.

She gave the quiet a moment to settle, then her smile spread again. "I'm going to requalify again soon, to fly. When I do, we should go gliding. I think you'd have fun. My first passenger, ever. If...you want to. No dropping anything out the window." She spoke in a low murmur, the smile turning a little silly. Along with fairs and candy apples, she'd never shared her sojourns into the sky with anyone, but...she smoothed her hands over the kinswoman's back, bemused by the lack of panic as she thought, What was life without risk?

The heat radiating from the smaller blonde was a welcome distraction from unpleasant thoughts and paths that would lead them farther apart, the feel of her was like finding breadcrumbs leading back to the safety and warmth of physical embrace. A sliver of a smile graced her features at the thought; she had more in common with Hansel, the greedy little Dutch boy, than she did with any make-believe princess or damsel-in-distress by far. The fact that that would’ve made Kathleen Gretel, Hansel’s sister, did not even cross her mind. Besides, she seemed so much more like the tempting gingerbread house instead. Sweet and inviting and heavenly. And probably so bad for her in the end, but so much more than worth it.

She half expected to taste candy cane and gumdrops as she licked the seasoned woman’s tanned neck, twitching with a warm sigh as the not-quite-gingerbread woman rose to place a kiss on the exact spot where her adopted mother liked to dab a bit of perfume at times. She giggled and shook her head, “French is the last thing I want you to teach me. And… I’m a quick study.” She smiled, closing her eyes for a moment as well to enjoy the light kisses against the side of her face and neck. She laughed softly as her hold tightened, thinking that they both ran the risk of cutting off each other’s circulation, although even that seemed a sweet way to go.

Her smile blossomed against the Garou’s shoulder at the unexpected good news and offer that followed. She released her at last and looked into her face which still shone prettily after the tears. “I would love that. I think it’s a wonderful idea and it’d give you something to do other than bake… I’m sure you can fly and still find time to make me food and sweets.” She grinned and laughed at the idea of dropping water balloons on unsuspecting victims from hundreds of feet in the air. “I can’t make any promises. After all, I did throw myself out of plane once.” She smiled and reached behind to grab her hands and hold them in her own in between them. She thought of a photograph of Cass and Gert standing similarly in front of an awning during a ceremony and grinned. Huh. “But I do promise not to distract you too badly and cause an accident that would probably kill us both… unless the thought of exploding with me by your side turns you on or something…” she grinned.

“Wanna know what I’m craving now?” she asked with a devilish arched brow as she leaned in and kissed her on the mouth briefly. “I’ll give you a clue: it’s blue and blonde and has Lex all over…” she giggled, ever the child, and attempted to pick the Garou up by the legs. She got her an inch off the ground and fell backwards with a thud. She shrieked and burst out laughing as she rubbed the back of her head. “You’re not fat… I should just plant my feet before trying to sweep someone off theirs…”

She laughed, eyebrows rising with disbelief as Lex claimed to have thrown herself out of a plane. "Were you skydiving?" she asked, smiling as Lex linked hands with her. "Or...a shoot?" She squeezed, rubbing her thumbs over the backs of Lex's hands. "I promise you, my baking output won't be reduced at all. If there's anything in particular that you want, cher, just tell me. And you can bring it up, if you like. No rules against eating and flying, though I will have to say no to the explosions. Landing safely is much more of a turn on," she giggled, shaking her head.

The kiss stopped her cold for a moment, giving the kinswoman the advantage of surprise. When Lex scooped her up, she had only enough time to cling to the younger woman in surprise with both arms and legs. She could feel the instability as Lex started to tip over, laughing as she knotted one hand into the shirt. It was no surprise when they fell over, and Kathleen threw out an arm to attempt to deflect any damage. "Are you okay?" she laughed, running her hand along the back of Lex's head, kissing her quickly on the forehead.

She untangled herself only enough to leave herself straddling the kinswoman's lap, resting there as she checked to be sure the younger woman hadn't bumped her head or otherwise been injured. Her hands ran over Lex's arms, neck and head quickly, and she rewarded the lack of bumps and bruises with a brief, smiling kiss. "This is a little easier, Lex, you're not so tall," she murmured, settling her hands on the kinswoman's waist. Her fingertips continued making small circles as she decided whether to stay or move away.

Adjusting her skirt before it pulled up above her knees to preserve her modesty, she leaned in for another brief kiss. "Be careful, you need those ankles." She backed away slightly, still deciding whether to stand or remain as she was. Her eyes roamed, lingering here and there on the kinswoman's face and body as she continued her dedication to memorizing the woman.

“Sky-diving. Quite recently, too. Before I met you, though. Me and Haven and… a few other free spirits went out to Anaheim for fun at Disneyland and ended up sky-diving over a large field. It was… the scariest most exhilarating experience of my life next kissing you on the Ferris wheel.” She smiled up at her, remembering both events quite clearly. “I’ve bungee jumped, parasailed, and attempted—and failed—to climb a mountain. Photo shoots are pretty tame, if you can count public nudity as tame, although sometimes I get the feeling that some people at the Agency wouldn’t mind tossing me out of an airplane. With no parachute.” She grinned. “I’m not particularly shy when it comes to asking for what I want, especially when it comes to food. You can count on that. However, you should know that red velvet is my favorite cake and chocolate chip will always defeat other kinds of cookies. Especially sugar cookies. I hate those.”

“And I’m fine. I was always told that I have a hard head.” She said, enduring her physical check-up with silent amusement. On second thought, she could not imagine how Cass could not love her. She kissed her back on reflex, enjoying the soft pressure of her wandering touch and even her weight on her midsection. “Another inch and I’d be six-feet even. Even in the industry I’m something of a giant. I’m considering having all the bones in my legs broken and resculpted to make me shorter.” She joked. “Everyone says I’d be perfect for a remake of the 50-foot Woman.” She chuckled. “I personally prefer Splash, not that I can swim. That’s one thing I don’t do, even though Jake is supposed to give me lessons.”

She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes after another quick kiss. She wondered if she and Jason actually kissed and pushed the thought out of her head before it stuck. “I fell fifteen feet from a tree when I was younger. I shattered a lot of bones in my leg and my ankle, fractured my hip. I can’t tell you what I was doing, just that I was so sure that I was a nymph and meant to live in trees… I was nimble as hell. Cass wouldn’t let me get far, but Gert let me climb as high as I liked. I only fell that once, too. Probably because I was banned from climbing any other trees after that.” She laughed. “I wanted a pet squirrel so badly. I was going to name him Chip… I didn’t really know the difference between a squirrel and a chipmunk back then.” She laughed.

“Stop staring at me, freak.” She said as she opened her eyes and grinned, staring comically at the lady in her lap. She slid both palms up her legs, gripping the hem of her dress and pulling it down. “Honestly. It’s like you want me to be tempted or something, woman.” She playfully chided.