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A Thick Line
#5
Nicholas hated mornings. Getting out of bed was the worst part of the day. Still, after a few minutes spent delaying the inevitable, he clawed his way to wakefulness. The windows remained blessedly tinted, but he could faintly see the sun high in the sky. Smoke rose from a dozen fires, settling over the outlying buildings like a haze. He'd have to snap a picture later; the juxtaposition between war zone and luxury was thought provoking. A few more moments spent on idle thoughts, and he mustered the willpower to look over at the clock.

"2 o'clock?"
He muttered. How in the hell had he slept in that late? He slid over to the edge of the bed and sat up. It was about then that he realized what room he was in. And that he was naked. He didn't exactly need the hazy memories that were slowly flowing back to figure out what had happened. Putting two and two together was kind of his job.

Holmes-level detective skills notwithstanding, he was still a bit numb to what had happened last night. He wasn't exactly sure what it all meant for the two of them. Would Reed even acknowledge it? Even after all the time he'd spent with her, Nicholas had barely even scratched the facade. He could figure that out later. She probably wasn't even in the suite. He figured he might as well go take a shower; a day spent running around the desert and a night spent mashing meaty bits together wasn't exactly conducive to a clean scent.

After a short stumble on a still-slumbering foot, and a nice morning stretch, he was up.

---

Reed put a hand over her earpiece, muffling the sound coming from the other end of the line. "Wait, a second,"
she said, voice clipped, and focused on the other room. Soon enough, the sound of the curtain being opened on its tracks confirmed the suspicion. "He's awake. Check in later."


She pulled the device from where it looped around one ear and dropped it inside her handbag. A few moments later, she was enjoying a great view of a pasty white Nicholas, stretching in front of the window. She leaned on the door frame, smirking. "Feel better?"


---

Well, that was one question answered. She certainly was straightforward. Knowing her, she probably hoped to catch him off guard. He turned around and headed her off with a smile of his own. "No complaints, Reed. How about you?"


---

Reed was obvious that she was looking him up and down. He wasn't bashful, she'd give him that. Shocker, given how sweet and tender he was the night before. One would think drunk sex would have roughened him up a bit, but apparently Trano liked to do everything the exact opposite way his profile suggested.

"Looks like you've forgotten about the dead guy already."
She lifted her arms, waving up and down herself. "One night with me, you're welcome."


---

It was a bit strange standing naked in the middle of the room while she stood there completely clothed. Being mentally undressed was one thing; being already undressed was another. He'd have liked a bathrobe or something, but then again she'd probably just laugh at him. So he stayed put. Her comment did wipe the smile off his face, though.

"I haven't exactly forgotten, no."
Although she was certainly a welcome distraction. "But I'm definitely not going to sit around feeling sorry for myself all the time."
He really was more than a little uncomfortable standing there. It was a weird power balance thing. Then again, he was a god damn wizard. That counted for something, right? He made sure he wasn't shy about looking at her, and brought back the smile. "But thank you. Forgive me for the skirt yet?"
Some ruined scraps of his own clothes lay in the corner.

---

Her gaze shifted to the skirt in question. Wizard scissors had their effect, and others. He could kill someone with a thought, so long as that thought was a weapon, but what about sheer force of will? Within those powers could he hide a latent instinct to wish someone dead and it suddenly was so? What about controlling their mind and action? Reed bit back a cringe. She was dancing a deadly line with him, which was quite the statement for a defected agent.

It would be so fucking easy. Reed had to sigh to herself, and did, as she crossed to join him. She didn't care about modesty, and after showering him off her legs, full frontal was hardly cause for averting one's gaze. "You should be much more careful in who you trust, Trano. Do you have any conception of how easily I could have killed you a dozen times last night?
" Her rhetoric flattened her own expression into poignant accusation.

---

That one didn't kill his amusement one bit. It actually made him laugh. "You could have killed me the first day we met, when you had a Custody agent at your side and I didn't know I could shoot lasers from my eyes, Reed. Actually, I distinctly remember you putting a gun to my chest a few weeks ago."
If she ended up killing him, well, it wasn't his fault she'd been so incompetent as to lull him into security beforehand. "If I spend my entire life distrusting everybody I meet, I'll probably live a very long time. And I'd be miserable."


---

Reed shook her head, agitated, but there was little else she could do. Stripping a man of his naivety was harder than it sounded. She stepped closer. With her heels she nearly matched him for height. The stubble of his beard looked as though it would burn like sandpaper beneath her palm, but his eyes were bright and awake. "Will you go back to Moscow now? Or have you had enough of the CCD?"
It didn't bother her a single iota that he was still naked as the day he was born, and likely just as white, for a conversation that was probably best after a shower. She had plans to arrange, and needed an answer.

---

"My schedule's clear for at least a few more weeks, Reed."
As to whether that was because of her, or his desire to see a little more of the evil empire before he had to stand against it, he wasn't sure. "Besides, I'd like to see more of Moscow. It's interesting that the richest city in the world has millions of homeless people living in its sewers, don't you think?"
She'd probably kill him if she caught him sneaking out to explore, but he was curious to see just how many people in the Custody could use the power. He'd gone his whole life without seeing one, and the second he crossed the Atlantic he'd found three.

---

"So now you're a humanitarian?"
Reed shook her head, but it was mocking. Homelessness and poverty would exist until the sun went supernova and the universe disintegrated. "But its good you're going back. I have plenty more work for us to do once we get there. For instance, you have yet to break me into the Kremlin like you promised."
She smiled.

---

He ignored her barb. But the other thing was a bit of a surprise. He didn't remember promising that... did he? And even if he did, at the time she was pretending to be a solely American agent. "Really? I figured that little miss Russian spy could just walk right in. Besides, that was a campaign promise."

---

For once, her smile grew proud. And looking down the front of him, he was proud of something too. She stepped closer still, ran her fingertips along his chest and pinched the back of his neck, and pulled his lips to hers. A Russian spy, just like in the movies. After having her way with his tongue, she shoved his cheek away and turned to go.

"Take a shower. You smell like cock. I'll make sure our flight is booked."
She threw open the curtains on her way out. The scene beyond seemed innocent, but trained eyes knew better. "It's shit out there, and only one of us is a CCD citizen. Foreigners are hitting roadblocks everywhere, and you missed the press corps flight this morning."


---

He blinked back the shock after she turned away. Reed - kissing him? She didn't seem the type to... he really needed to work on peeling back those layers. He almost missed what she said on her way out the door. Nicholas sniffed the air around him. He didn't smell that bad, did he? He sighed, and went through the door. He needed a shower, and a shave.


Edited by Nick Trano, Apr 22 2014, 08:18 PM.
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Messages In This Thread
[No subject] - by Nick Trano - 04-19-2014, 09:58 PM
[No subject] - by Ninacska - 04-20-2014, 02:11 PM
[No subject] - by Nick Trano - 04-20-2014, 09:14 PM
[No subject] - by Ninacska - 04-21-2014, 08:10 PM
[No subject] - by Nick Trano - 04-22-2014, 08:12 PM

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