is there somewhere

His lips curled in a smile, Grey watched his latest guests scoop up the key card he’d set down on the counter. Hunters. Like so many others in the town, ones who travelled in the sort of style most of their kind didn’t. He hadn’t been blind to it, not this time or the half dozen times they’d stayed with him before. Undoubtedly they’d been lured in by the hit list that had been circulating in this town for months, a guaranteed pay day if you could provide proof of a death. Well padded pockets afterwards that meant you could pay your pill on a place that cost you hundreds of dollars a night instead of the pay by the hour places they usually stayed in. ”Enjoy your stay,” Grey crooned after them, the smile staying in place until the elevator doors pinged open and they disappeared inside. He doubted they’d be too happy emptying to mini-bar or sleeping on the thousand thread count sheets if they had a clue who he really was and what he did but none of them saw the real Grey Maddox, only the one with the polite smiles who didn’t hover over them their whole stay.

None of them saw what was in the bag he lifted from beneath the front desk and slung over his shoulder as he turned away from it. He headed for the door behind it, opening it and offering his part time assistant manager another of those polite slanted smiles. ”The place is yours, I’m heading out. I should be back later tonight. If I’m not I’ll let the night staff know.” None of them were privy to where he was going, what he was doing. All they needed to know was how close he’d be if the need arose. It hadn’t since he’d been here, emergencies in a place like his far fewer and further between than this town usually managed.

Grey raised a hand as he was waved off, shoved it into the pocket of his jeans as he headed for the door. The bag swung heavy against his hip, the faint rattle of jars and other equipment inside familiar, reassuring, even with the sky black overhead. Glancing up as he tugged his keys free and thumbed the car doors open, Grey grimaced. Those boiling dark clouds were already flickering with lightning, the first spots of rain coming down to hit the size of silver dollars on the sidewalk and his shoulders. He hunched his shoulders against them, hurried the last dozen feet to get out of it. It wasn’t the night to be outside but it was the sort filled with power. It always crackled in the air, heavier when there were things at work here whose presence alone could bring on these electrical storms.

He dropped the bag into the footwell on the passenger side, started the engine up to thumb on the wipers and the radio. If this didn’t hold off a few minutes more he was gonna turn up at Destiny’s apartment for this training session wet to the skin, soaked in all that power. Voice humming along to the music he drove through that dark, visibility slowly shrinking as the rain went from those occasional drops to a downpour. Grey pulled up outside, squinting up at lit windows and the blue-violet flicker of a TV screen through the window. He was gonna have to brave it. Shit.

Bag in hand he bolted from the car to the front door, shoulders hunched against the downpour as he thumbed the buzzer. Come on Des, come on. Sometime before he melted like the one of the witches of Oz. The door buzzed finally, his hand slapping against it to get inside as one of those bolts of lightning lit the sky up bright as daylight just seconds before the thunder rumbled in after it. Standing in the hallway he’d once smeared handprints of ash down he tried to shake it all off. His phone was buzzing in his pocket though, the screen smearing with rain as he pulled it out to see Destiny’s message. She was prepared at least. Still shedding water Grey headed for the elevator. He was gonna get a reputation for leaving trails of stuff through the building whenever he was here. By the time he reached her floor he’d dragged his hands through his hair at least, slicking it back, shedding most of the rain that had soaked into it.

As she’d promised, the door was open when he got to her place, standing just ajar. Grey stepped inside, closed it with a quiet snick. She was twisting on the sofa to look over her shoulder at him. Lips curled, Grey kicked off his boots just inside the door, winked at her as he stripped off his jacket, trying to hang it somewhere it wouldn’t leave a puddle on the floor. ”Hey. We picked one hell of a night. Hey my man.” He set his bag down by the door, stooped long enough to scrub his hands over Berlioz’s head while Destiny thumbed off the TV. The smile took on that wolfish edge of a smirk as he padded towards her, blue eyes narrowing as he glanced at the muffins on the table. ”You baked for me? That’s … that’s sweet.” Fuel for the training, for what usually came during or after.

Or … a distraction.

In a moment Destiny wasn’t meeting his eye anymore, glancing down at her hands as something half question, half statement, all concerning slipped from her lips. Shit. He moved in front of her, brow furrowed, his hand slipping into her hair to anchor her as she finally looked up at him. ”You’re not a bitch,” he told her honestly, his voice gruff. ”And you don’t have to apologise. You think I’m gonna be pissed because I schlepped across town in the rain to not spend a couple of hours tryin’ to get you to concentrate? Nah.” He shook his head, lowering himself down to sit on the edge of the coffee table, carefully avoiding those muffins. ”I’m stayin’,” he promised. ”’specially for those muffins … and an explanation. You alright?” It was a light way of putting it, she wasn’t. That much was obvious from the sheepishness on her face, the usual pixie dust brightness dimmed the way the light was in here.

Tagged: DESTINY BACCARI * Word Count: 1068

This was the only place they’d trained at first. Furniture shoved back against the walls half the time, him running her through the encyclopedic knowledge of what they were, what they were capable of, gleaned from his dad’s drunk ranting, what he’d picked up by himself since. Learning to save his own life, teaching to protect hers from what was out there in this town as much as it was in thanks for Destiny scraping him up off of the sidewalk, a dead weight of charred flesh and soot stained charming smiles. More often than not it ended up thanks in another way. One glance at the couch now as he straightened up from kicking off wet boots and scratching fingers through the short, coarse fur on her dog’s head was enough of a reminder to have Grey smirking. Not as plush or well-equipped as his own training ground but more comfortable in a way … especially on a night like this.

The storm continued to rage outside the walls of the building, the lightning a distant flicker of colour barely visible through the drapes pulled tight over the windows. It was the sort of night you blocked it all out … unless there was a reason you wanted to be drawn to all of that power or the things that were capable of creating it. Grey’s eyes weren’t on the window beyond a brief glance, they were on that wan smile that came and went on Destiny’s lips in an instant. Not the bouncy greeting he was used to, those awkward hugs having given way to something else during their sessions, a slow easing into this Pygmalion style relationship.

Blue eyes narrowed as he sank down on the edge of the coffee table, fine lies fanning the corners that he didn’t let his vanity extend to erasing. Definitely just an after-image of the woman who’d sat on that same couch, full of smiles and wonder as she laid hands on his charred chest and healed it back to soot smudged skin, unbroken by those raw wounds the wolflet had inflicted. The small voice had emerged then, almost small in the uncertainty braided through it, drawing the gruff words from his own throat as he worked his fingers through her hair, cupping the fragile curve of her skull beneath that chestnut tumble. She looked up at him then, those elfin eyes searching his life some ulterior motive he had was going to be visible in his eyes, a sign that he’d lash out, pissed that he’d gotten a little wet and cancelled out on in a way that was still gonna leave him here, feet up on her coffee table, one of those muffins dotting his lap with crumbs as he picked it apart.

The tension his question put in her had him wanting to hiss out a breath. Grey gritted his teeth, muscles rolling under the taut skin of his jaw as he felt her stiffening, the promise he wasn’t going anywhere rolling from his lips with vehemence but not that heat she was obviously expecting as she fixed on his mouth like she’d gone deaf in an instant. Martian words falling from a familiar mouth, strange or unexpected enough to take time to penetrate. Grey swept his thumb over her cheekbone she lifted a hand, curling those fingers around his wrist. ”You OK? You got me a little worried here…” he drawled, his chin dipping slightly as she finally met his eyes. Hitching his brows, he hoped the spell she’d slipped under would break enough for her to talk like she usually did. That cheerful babble of words that reminded him of the stream that’d run behind the house when he was a kid, almost human like in the sound of the water bubbling and chattering around the rocks, his conviction that there was some sort of nymph attached to the place that had his dad scoffing until the idea died a slow death in his head.

He didn’t know if it was the feel of his wrist, solid under her fingers that got her moving or the push of the echoed question. Grey’s eyes narrowed again, his mouth pursing like he was about to call bullshit on the lie that emerged from her lips. This wasn’t alright, not in Tinkerbell’s world. Neverland was never this electrically charged, Tinkerbell never this dimmer in his experience. Before he could ask if she was sure, pushing with a laugh to crack through that shield of white lies she’d thrown up the sky was erupting again. A flicker of lightning strong enough to penetrate the drapes and leave that after burn of light against the back of his lids as he blinked against it, a peal of thunder moments later that had Destiny shooting to her feet.

Bare thighs in front of him that usually would’ve had him giving in to the temptation, taking advantage. Curling his hands round the backs of them, pulling her into him. She was moving this time though, her hand falling from his wrist as his own hand slid down to her hip, fingertips curling into the springy clutch of woollen fabric. ”It’s raining out there,” he snarked, his mouth tugging up at the corner as though it was gonna be that easy to break through to see whatever had her spooked. ”You tend to get wet in that … then you get dry again. You don’t have to apologise, Destiny, come on, in a minute I’ll be…” Fine.

All it would’ve taken was a little power and he could’ve done it the really old fashioned way but she was already gone. Fingers dropping away from his hair, his stretching her sweater for a moment like he could tow her back with it but in the end he had to release her. Grey huffed out a breath, leaning forward to prop his elbows on his knees and scrub his hands over his face. This was about as far from fine as he’d been when she’d appeared over him, an angel of mercy.

She was coming back as one now. Towel in her hands she slipped back in, something approaching a real Tinkerbell smile on her lips as she leaned into him. His hands lifted this time, curling around the back of her legs as she slipped back in, knees parting to let her closer. She pressed the towel to the back of his neck as she chuckled and tried to segue into whatever they were gonna watch, touched it to his hair like she could plot the rain out of it that way. ”What did I tell you about the apologies?” he asked, not an ounce of recrimination in his tone. His brows rose, breath snorting out of his nose. ”That’s a thing? Drinking games over Batman and his total lack of manners? I’ve got a feeling you’d be bladdered and sprawled all over me by the time we’re half an hour in. Might be quicker if I just drag you down and pour it into you. What else have you got movie wise? Psycho, Ghostbusters, that thing with the amnesiac assassin?” He hadn’t seen any of them. Hadn’t exactly had a Disney upbringing but he wanted to draw this out until she spoke to him instead of instantly slipping from this antsy version of Destiny into drunk Destiny who lured him into something far more physically fun than playing heart to heart.

Tagged: DESTINY BACCARI * Word Count: 1247

Full on seemed to have been Destiny’s default state since he’d come to with her leaning over him, concern filling her big blue eyes before they’d lit up. It hadn’t stopped since, that Tinkerbell energy radiating from every pore whenever they were together. It should’ve been too much, the sort of thing that should’ve had him throwing up a hand to block himself from all that luminescence that threatened to tear through the dark clouds he’d willing wrapped himself in. This … this wasn’t that.

Grey stared after her, blue eyes on the doorway she’s disappeared through, peeking over the fingers he’d scrubbed over his damp face. She was only gone for a minute but the Destiny who returned wasn’t quite the same one who’d slipped away from him all antsy and on edge. He got his hands on her again as she slipped back in, his thighs bracketing hers, fingers curling around the bare skin under the hem of that jumper she was wearing. Grey tipped his hand back as she started to dab at his hair. ”That’s more like it,” he said roughly, his thumbs skimming the curve of her hips, back and forth over that warmth. The giggle was back, that was something, even if she wasn’t looking at him anymore. ”Plastered, sloshed, three sheets to the wind.” A million ways to say it, only one way he could imagine it ending with her. Destiny drunk, the tension of whatever this was – the storm, nerves, some world ending cataclysm that was about to hit – all bled away until she was Tinkerbell again. Giggling, wrapping herself around him as they tipped the way they always did.

She was still silent for now, industriously blotting at his hair with the towel, wicking away the rain while he blabbered away for once. He was far more out of his depth with that sort of thing – the films, the drinking games, the sort of stuff he might’ve gotten around to if his bitch of a half-sister hadn’t decided to rid the pack of the anchor weighing them down. Grey’s brows rose as he saw Destiny’s gaze finally drop to his, his lips curling faintly as she dropped her gaze to them. Concern still clouded his eyes though. That normally would’ve been a segue to something. Her bending those scant inches her standing necessitated, lips finding each other’s, that hunger igniting with a sizzle the lightning that lit the world up behind those curtains again couldn’t compare to. It wasn’t though. There was a lifetime of hesitation in that pause, the stirring from it molasses slow.

Grey made a low sound, one that tumbled into a chuckle as the smile that started to grow into that distant expression rolled into a spoken truth that there was no denying. His hands flexed on her hips, sliding forward til his thumbs were brushing the more tender skin of her inner thighs instead, tracing the line of the muscle and the spot where her pulse thudded close to the surface. ”You planning on passing out on me halfway through Zuul making an appearance?” One dark brow winged, his chin lifting slightly as he peeled one hand away to give the sweater a tug.

Sensation sparked warm across his scalp, drifted down to his neck as she scooted in closer. Or whatever had wrapped Destiny up in that strange, moody shroud since he’d walked in would slither down to the floor with that sweater. Grey tugged lightly on her thighs as she sank down towards him, her cheek brushing his as Destiny pressed in. He was turning his head, ready to nuzzle his mouth into the hollow of her throat to try and speed the loss of that shroud when there was an almost audible click. Darkness slipped down, the light from the lamp that had just about illuminated the room gone.

She was lifting her head immediately, just enough to study the room. Grey sighed, a huffed breath that clouded warmth between them for a moment as her lips brushed his ear. Shit indeed. Although maybe this would mean Destiny didn’t have a chance to hide behind that feigned busyness. ”Gotta warn you, I’m a bad loser,” he crooned. His hands slid back to her thighs again, up to her rump to settle her down on his thighs. Grey trailed one hand to the small of her back then, extended the other to scratch Berlioz on the head and allow the dog to draw into their side. ”Just … stay put a minute … you don’t gotta keep rushing off. Destiny, what’s going on? And I don’t mean the storm.” He lifted his hand from the dog for a moment, reaching up to cup her jaw and turn her head towards him. His lips found hers, but just for a moment, like a kiss touched over a band aid, a momentary comfort. He wasn’t drawing back though, just looking into those big blue eyes like he could get in her head the way he had the squirrel when he’d been pushing her towards another ability.

Tagged: DESTINY BACCARI * Word Count: 857

He’d questioned it since that night. Those broody moments sprawled in the penthouse, chair angled to the large windows that gave a view over Mystic Falls. A glass in his hand, wondering how the hell he’d gotten himself snared in Destiny’s orbit. Something snapping tight when she’d brought him back. A tether? Some sort of exchange of power that softened the sharp edges that would’ve once drawn enough blood to have her scurrying away. Darach or not he wouldn’t, shouldn’t have cared, unless there was something contained in that elfine package that would benefit him. He sure as hell shouldn’t have gone offering to play tutor, nudging what was buzzing under her skin out into the world, cajoling, teaching until she could stand up against whatever came. Tinkerbell against the world here in Mystic Falls while he moved on, following that trail to the Druids out of town, where it would inevitably lead like it had always done before.

Here, hands on her hips, drawing her into him the questions had slithered in another direction, laced with concern as the woman he’d found balled up on the sofa hadn’t been her. Destiny he knew, had mapped with hands and the shrewd judgment that had kept him alive this long. Grey had let her sideslip his questions, drawing him in to what he was sure were distractions until he’d reeled her in. Those hands mapped her again now, the warm spread of her hips, the curves that filled his palms as he slid them beneath that drape of a sweater. He huffed out a breath as she shifted, allowed herself to be drawn closer. ”Not unless you’ve been totally worn out by all that training.” The sort they were meant to do tonight until that plea that had only set the alarm bells ringing harder.

Maybe if he’d paid more attention to them he’d have gotten the truth out of her before the storm hit hard enough to kill the power, leaving the only electricity in the clouds outside, the ones that burst with light periodically. The glow of the lightning enough to still see the lines of her face as she’d settled down on him, his hands curling over her thighs, holding her there as he’d warned about how bad he’d get with the board game. One peeled away for the dog, comfort he wasn’t used to getting, let alone giving extending to the animal quaking against his side. All jokes were aside when she went to bolt, that seriousness back, tugging at those lines inside of him in a way he didn’t know how to quantify. Grey spoke hoarsely, trying to cut Destiny off before she tried to squirm away again, finding a delay in pushing back that darkness.

Nothing. Shit.

Usually she could distract him from anything, hands, those lips on him cutting short his focus. This time he was the one doing the same, dropping a road block in the way of what he was sure was panic with lips taking hers, gentle, without the demand that usually sparked in an instant. Lips still practically grazing hers as he inched back just enough to meet her eyes again. Her hands were roaming, his neck, her thumbs working over the hinge of his jaw, over his ear, another gentle touch. Meant to soothe him? He huffed out a breath, it was meant to be the other way around right now. Grey smoothed his hands down her sides, back under that sweater to span her hips and draw her in as she rested her forehead against his, just settling.

Intimacy of a sort had been there from the start but it wasn’t the sort where they probed each other’s lives. There was shit there, had to be to have turned them into what they were but they’d left each other’s scars alone, not dragging that truth out of each other unless something happened. Her pause that night they’d been together, the explanation of ‘asshole’ slapped over her ex as she’d given him just enough to temper the snap of confusion and frustration as she’d flinched away from him. ”Destiny…” Her name spoken on a whisper, his head tilting just slightly, his brows drawing together as she inched back to meet his eye.

Grey’s lips pressed together, the instinct that he wasn’t going to like this beginning to bubble inside. He was right, the blow torch of heat was there instantly. Conviction. Appeal. An asshole possibly on his way out and on his way here – cause how couldn’t you be even if something was fucked deep inside your head. ”On your own.” Hoarse words again, no accusation but an observation. She hadn’t called, hadn’t wanted to put any of this on him until whatever she’d seen had left her trying to draw back from what they’d planned to do. A lesson to a distraction, something to take her mind off of him. Grey swallowed, wet his lips as he was left pulling his hands back, cupping her face to skim those tears away from her face with his thumbs. ”Still waiting to know if we’re going,” he warned with conviction. ”You honestly think I’d let you go racing off to … wherever he is … without me?” Without him there to make sure the asshole didn’t get his hands near her again. He’d break them, right before the garrot ended up around his throat and his death gave something back to her that he’d obviously taken.

She wasn’t. Grey sighed as he heard the insistence in Destiny’s tone but he was already shaking his head. He turned one hand, the backs of his fingers working their way over her cheek before his thumb found the corner of her mouth. Not calling her on it, mashing that button down until she self-destructed. ”They’re not gonna. This guy’s that bad … they’re not gonna fall for his shit, Des. It comes to it …” A stop would be put to it one way or another before then. Grey cradled her face in his hands, brushing at her cheeks until she locked eyes with him. ”You wanna kick my ass at Monopoly instead? Leave me bankrupt and all my hotels in your hands? Just promise me no wall to wall faux fur when you decorate. Come on.” A softness to his tone now, tempering the burn of what was down inside. ”You got a set of cards?” He jostled his thighs beneath hers gently, a smile touching one corner of his mouth. He hadn’t learned much as a kid but poker was something he’d picked up since.

Tagged: DESTINY BACCARI * Word Count: 1103

On her own. As he’d been.

The echoes that had been there since he’d gasped his way back into life to find her hovering over him. Hands spread, like the power that had raced through them and into his body was still there, fine threads of connection woven between them even before the truth had spilled out on her couch as she’d used that same power to heal the flesh seared by the wolflet he’d underestimated. This was another, his hands the ones curled against his now, trying to offer something that Grey wasn’t entirely sure was healing. Support? Definitely. More? He didn’t know, wasn’t sure he would’ve recognised it even if it was there.

There’d been something in that kiss though, that unlocked what she’d been keeping locked away in her throat. A silent plea that sent it spilling out along with the tears that spilled down Destiny’s cheeks. Grey let out a slow breath, his thumbs brushing lightly over cheeks silvered with those tears in the dark. The offer had slipped out just as easy, unexpected, but he wasn’t about to snatch it back as she questioned him over it.

A curl of one corner of his mouth, blue eyes springing lines at the corners as he narrowed them faintly at her. Surprise there in her voice the way it had been before, but without that bright, glittery edge she’d always had. Tinkerbell always surrounded in that cloud of fairy dust and positivity … ‘til now. ”In a heartbeat,” he promised, with a conviction that surprised him. ”You’re not getting near him on your own.” If he did there wouldn’t be enough left of him for anybody to worry about putting back in a cell. A dark hole in the ground, something far more fitting for the man who’d hurt her. The curse that had wrapped around his own family centuries ago had put a pall over them that had cost them almost everything but it hadn’t hollowed him out to the point all the rest of them had reached yet. A hand still reaching out for that fairy dust, trying to make sure he didn’t end up over his head and drowning in that madness.

Brows still furrowed with that concern, thumb still tracing, brushing the corner of those lips that normally curled in joy. Skimming gently, back towards her hair as he felt her start to shake against him, circling at her temple as he leaned in that inch to press his lips against her forehead to try and ease them. Lingering there until he she inhaled slowly and he drew back for those big blue eyes to meet his. Grey nodded slowly, curling his hand around a lock of her hair to skim it back lightly from her face. ”Then there’s more chance of him staying there, it’s not just on you.” An easier charge for him to slide on though, technicalities fought over without the weight of her words on what had happened. Grey made a sound low in his throat, nodding. ”You’re gonna be okay too.” He’d see to it, turning all that seethed inside of him towards the ones who’d carved his own life apart in the guy’s direction.

Not at a distance though. He had no chance of it from here, even if he could set all this aside and turn that hatred on him now. No chance at all with her still in his lap, the storm raging outside and leaving both the dog and his owner shaking under violence no less brutal than what nature was bringing on.

That’s it. The words had her laughing as he’d hoped it would, the uncharacteristic humour bringing a warmth back. Grey felt her hands press back into him, saw her tilting her head to press her cheek into his palm. He skimmed his thumb over it, feeling the change as much as seeing it. Mock shuddering, he shrugged his shoulders heavily beneath his shirt. ”Please tell me it’s not gonna be purple,” he groaned. ”Or pink. Somethin’ classy at least.” Not that the polyester monstrosity could ever be that. Maybe a small room would be worth sacrificing, if that darkness slipped across the country to wrap around her again. It was held at bay now, even in the dim space of the apartment. His fingers gripped lightly as she leaned in to kiss him, only slipping free as she rose. A little unsteady now but better as she bent to kiss the dog.

Grey shifted as she moved away, eyes following the two of them as she headed deeper into the apartment. He sank down on the couch, reaching for one of the muffins as he listened to Destiny puttering around, getting what she needed. Good, even if they’d just been baked out of nerves. Hungry, he’d demolished one and started in on another when she came back, candles, cards and the box he half recognised from the battered version that had been in the pack house. Blue eyes ticked up to her, his head tilting slightly as he pursed crumb spotted lips. ”We’ve got all night, and trust me … it’s not gonna take that long for me to have you bankrupt. Businessman remember?” Dark brows furrowed as he straightened up, knuckling the crumbs from his lips. ”Go Fish?” Not even questioning the name of it as she admitted to butchering. He shook his head, half baffled. ”That’s one you’re gonna have to teach me.” Deprived childhood didn’t exactly cover it. Weird, twisted, nightmarish, anything but the normality the pack had always touted.

Nose wrinkling, Grey sniffed at the air. Something even sweeter than the muffins, a far cry from the simple white candles he had in the penthouse. Everything utilitarian in comparison to Destiny’s apartment … this was a home, somewhere that already had roots set deeper than his own had ever been. Scooting forward, Grey set down what remained of his muffin on the edge of the coffee table. He slithered down between the table and the couch, angling himself with his legs stretched out beneath it before he snagged the cards from the table. ”Definitely not opposed. ‘Specially if you’re down here too.” Flipping the box open with one hand he let the cards slither out into his palm as he started dragging cushions down with the other, building a little nest next to him. ”How’d you play this anyway? I’m guessin’ it’s nothin’ like poker.” Another game he’d learned late but he’d built enough skill there to put money in his pockets, and to keep his clients entertained when the foolish thought got into their heads that he was someone they could play. Not a damn chance.

Tagged: DESTINY BACCARI * Word Count: 1120

Promises made in the dark. Whispered vows that he wouldn’t let him go free, that he wouldn’t let her go to try and make that happen alone. He’d never thought he’d say it, to even consider putting aside what had crushed his own family for centuries for someone else. Years of selfishness, of his survival being the only thing that mattered, suddenly slipping away. Not gone from his grip entirely yet but Grey could feel it in somewhere in his chest, subtle but undeniably there. He’d have said it was the resurrection that had done it, death, however temporary, altering something in his DNA. Wasn’t it though, wasn’t even close to what Destiny had done to him since.

Those promises had shifted something more, leaving her pressing in. Destiny’s cheek warm against his own, tender skin against the rasp of day’s end stubble. His hand skimmed back into her hair as his lips curved. Teasing better than the fear, a balm for everything that left a rumble in his own chest. Hot pink, possibly enough that he should’ve shuddered but it was all just window dressing to cover the elephant in the room, the fear that had been gripping Destiny when he’d arrived, that threatening future he wasn’t going to let come true.

All night to keep that pushed away. Another dark beyond the one the lightning kept cutting through out there.

Still half listening for her as she’d slipped back out into the apartment to get what they’d need, Grey had slipped down do the floor. The muffin and a half going down fast before she’d gotten back, partially filling that hollow that had developed inside of him when he’d seen the state of her on his arrival. Crumbs still on his lips when she’d come back and started lighting the candles he’d brushed them away. ”Not a chance,” he promised, teeth flashing in that candlelight. He dipped his chin, clucking his tongue. Ruthlessness would’ve had him cheating if necessary to beat anybody else but not with her tonight. Wins like this didn’t give you anything but a temporary reprieve but sometimes you needed them as much as the air you breathed.

He tugged the cushions down on the floor, waiting for Destiny to settle down next to him, the grin on her lips a relief. He’d even take that gasp over his lack of fishing knowledge over how much she’d concerned him. Grey pursed his lips, his grin still plucking at the corners of them. ”We weren’t exactly playin’ many games when I grew up.” That pall already settling over the family by then. Lightly he shuffled through the cards, fingers deft even as his eyes rose to meet hers. Dark brows furrowing as followed instructions. ”And what if I lie and say I don’t?” he asked, a slight dare in his voice. Grey dealt out the seven cards anyway, flipping them face down in front of her on the cushion, his own going on his thigh until there was seven in each pile. The rest went on the table, right along side the remains of his second muffin. ”Alright, gimme your …. Queens …” Blue eyes narrowed, lips curled in that dare edged smirk he held his fingers out and wiggled them.

The tension that had reached a peak with the arrival of the lightning melted away like the candle wax, borders between the two of them on the floor giving way as the game went on. The dog warm against his leg, Destiny slowly slithering her way into his lap. One of his hands dropped from time to time, settling over her ankle, drawing slow circles on her skin, patting lightly when the game didn’t go his way. Mock growls rumbling between his teeth, satiated with another of those muffins, a complaint going up as Destiny stole a bite. He sighed with the next, handing over half before he’d torn into the soft sweetness of it. A little stack of crumpled paper wrappers building as he lost again and again, a final win on the horizon maybe…

Grey had been focused on it, brows furrowing, muscles in his jaw twitching as he saw victory right there. Just a couple of sevens was all he needed … ”Hmm?” That sound distracted as Destiny had shifted. He looked up, dark lashes screening his eyes as she curled right against him. Tossing her cards aside already, on the couch. Grey pressed his own against his chest. A hand holding them splayed there for a moment as she leaned in, one hand on his chest, the other on his cheek. ”It’s cheatin’ if you see my cards, you know?” Not a bad loser, just a slip into something else as the candlelight held them in that little pool of light, everything else left to lie fallow in that darkness they’d pushed back. ”Bad loser?” His voice a rumble against her lips as she started to shift again.

No. Just that pall finally lifting altogether, leaving them in that hazy light. Moving slow, the warmth shrinking down to just the two of them as Destiny tugged her sweater off. Grey was pulling his own t-shirt away before he shifted, tipping them both down onto those cushions, lips finally finding hers again. That final coat of balm for the night, the Tinkerbell he knew right there beneath his fingers and lips again.



The candles had burned right down when he sucked in a deeper breath. A weight curled against him, thin covers pulled around the two of them, Berlioz visible still beneath the table. Grey looked around, eyes flicking up to the window and the faint light of dawn peeking around it. They’d not made it to her bed, hunkering down here with the candles, the dog and the cushions on the floor as the night and the storm had slipped away behind the curtains. Shifting, he curled back in, fingers gathering the covers closer around the two of them before he slipped an arm back around her waist, tightening when it looked like Destiny might’ve been stirring. Lips skimming the nape of her neck, between her shoulder blades as he settled in. ”Dawn’s almost here…” he murmured against her skin. Still a couple of hours to sleep before those curtains were thrown back and that world out there they’d held at bay all night was allowed back in.

Tagged: DESTINY BACCARI * Word Count: 1090