The Motel [2]

[Isabella Delancy]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45757295@N00/133164880

Rien Spéciaux-Le Motel

Nothing Special's motel is about as appealing as the bar below. The only difference is that it is slightly cleaner considering people are expected to sleep there, but the pillows are flat, the blankets are thin, and the rooms are big enough for a bed, a small bedside table, and not much else. The only real attraction these rooms, that are for rent by the hour, is the hefty, solid deadbolt lock. It is not meant to attract all sorts of revenue, or an abundance of tourists, as it is almost certain that in this part of town, the intent would fail. The idea of a motel was originally created by the owner, who was lending his spare storage rooms to his friends who were hiding from the law. Word spread, and soon the owner began charging everyone who wasn't a friend, or someone he owed, and he kept it up as it pulled in more revenue. Hence, the "no questions asked" policy. Also, the owner did not care who was doing what, with whomever they happened to find out on the streets, so long as he got paid upfront, and no one brought any police around. He never got around to naming the motel, because as far as the government knew, it did not exist.

1. No spamming and follow proper RPG rules.
2. For the time being you may be in more than one thread at a time.
3. When this thread reaches 200 a moderator will start the new thread.
4. Have fun and enjoy!


Last post from the other thread:

Talin Chase

Talin's mind was in overdrive. He felt like he was watching a fan go back and forth and if you tried really hard you could focus one spoke of the fan and catch glimpses of it every now and again. Right when Talin focused on a thought or plan of action another whirl of possibilities flooded his mind. He knew the first thing he had to do was assess the condition of the mother and child, no longer referring to them mentally by their names. He needed to think objectively he couldn't let prior attachment get to him as he worked. There were extenuating circumstances and things that could happen that required him to think objectively rather then with personal motives involved. He didn't want to admit it but in this situation he might have to make decisions that could cause harm to the mother or to the child, he would only do it as a resort but if it came down to it he was going to have to make a call and not let his desire to make this as quick and as painless as possible a major priority. His first priority was to get both mother and child out alive.. second was to do it while causing the mother as little pain as possible... but at this point with the way things looked and the lack of anesthetic he wasn't sure if his second priority would be met.

He instructed Cara after trying to get her to respond to him that she needed to let him know when contraction started then the next one. He needed to judge how far apart they were so he had some kind of information to go off of to figure out how dilated she was, which was rather difficult without all the typical equipment they would have in a normal hospital setting. Her hands twitched again and he started to count to himself. When she cringed again he checked his watch. The contractions were about seven minutes apart. He cursed under his breath.. if they got under five minutes he was going to have to act fast. He assured Cara in an attempt to comfort her that he and Mark were right there and that if she helped him soon their daughter would be here too. A look of fear seemed to flash across her face when he said that and Talin couldnt' fight the curiosity that flared up at her expression.. he was pretty sure she was delirious but what kind of world had her mind taken her to? "N...n...no" she cried softly and Talin had to lean forward to hear her. "Can't, not down here. I want my husband please, I beg you." she pleaded and Talin checked her pulse, pressing his two fingers against her wrist, counting quietly to himself, paying now attention to what was being said between husband and wife.

Talin wrote down her pulse on a blank chart that he'd brought.. not that it really mattered but he needed some semblance of order and routine in the midst of all this quiet chaos. "Stay away from me...S..s...stay away." she cried and Talin knew that if she didn't cooperate it would make things a lot harder for him. "C...c..can't do this...n...not strong enough." she whispered and Talin glanced at her but said nothing as he set the remainder of his tools out on the towel. He looked up in time to see her face cringe with another contraction and Talin bit his lip... six and a half minutes... they were getting closer. "Mark? Is that you, I feel so alone, somethings wrong with me I can hardly breath, stay awake must make awake." At the sound of that Talin clenched his hand into a fist. He knew he had to remain calm but if she wasn't breathing that well he only had a certain amount of time before the lack of oxygen started to affect the unborn child as well. She cringed again and Talin checked his watch... six minutes exactly... he started to get the mask ready that would pump the anesthetic into her system so that he could get the baby out of her.

Talin checked the pressure in the machine... the last thing he needed was complications with the machines and the anesthetic. "Yes Cara it's me, I'm right here." he whispered to her and Talin pretended not to listen but now he was hovering close to Cara's had, readying the machine... he tried to remain calm, not wanting to let the pressures of the situation go to his head. "I'm not going to leave you, I would never leave you. You have to do this darling, you have to bring Skyla into the world, I know you can do it." he said softly. Mark met Talin's gaze and the doctor gazed steadily at the man as he glared at him. Talin knew that the man was annoyed with the way Talin was doing things but there were protocols and routines that had to be carried out and Talin wasn't about to cut corners, especially in a situation as delicate as this no matter what kind of threats Mark held over his head. "Do something. Now." Mark demanded and Talin gave the man a glare of his own. Sometimes he hated having family members in the room when their loved one was a patient of his. He knew how to do his job.. now people like Mark just needed to step back and let him do it.

Talin didn't say anything. Instead he moved over to the night stand where he'd set his tool covered towel and carried it over to lay it on the night stand closed to her head. He grabbed the machine and set it as his feet. "I only have enough anesthetic to get her through the c-section.... but that means she'll have to be awake for recovery..." he muttered more to himself then to her as he connected the mask to it and stuck over her nose and mouth as he instructed Mark to lift her head for him. "Cara I want you to start counting down from 100... can you do that for me?" he asked her, not sure if she heard but he watched her closely and checked her pulse in a few minutes until it slowed.. her breathing seemed to become normal as well which he was relieved of and the moment he was certain she was completely under. He began to move. "You're going to have stay out of my way..." he told the man as he moved around to the other side of the bed and began to hook her up to a makeshift IV. "We only have about an hour an a half..." he explained as he pulled the blanket off of her and began to sterilize the area that he would have to make his first incision in.

OOC: If you guys want me to add more I can... I can't quiet remember what you wanted me to do with this. BIC:

[witch]

Cara Blaze Andovea

Breathing was getting harder, the pain was getting worse her mind still playing tricks for she still felt she was all alone in a cave.

With weakened breath she told then both to stay away from her fearing who they where her gaze not seeing the truth but a lie of the nightmare that still beheld her, the weakness of it stronger then ever coursing her to tell the people around her that she wasn't strong enough and not just over the fact she had to bring her child into the world a fact soon proven as she stilled.

For a moment her breath seemed to return along with the real world her pain filled eyes turning to see her husband though she couldn't be sure of it asking if it was truly him of other curl trick telling herself to stay awake, that she must stay awake forcing herself to take hold of his hand squeezing it for all she was worth for more then one reason.

A gentle touch of formula lips brushed upon her forehead words soon filling the otherwise silent room.

"Yes Cara it's me, I'm right here."

A gentle squeeze on her hand proving it.

"I'm not going to leave you, I would never leave you. You have to do this darling, you have to bring Skyla into the world, I know you can do it."

How was it that she thought it to be a lie?

Inwardly she shook her head, already so weak, so tired and yet somehow she knew there would be a way to go yet for Talin was still seeming to cheek her breathing, her pulse knowing that both had to be a worry to him and her husband.

"Do something. Now."

It was only by chance that she heard footsteps her head turning slightly to the right seeing the doctor hovering over her.

"I only have enough anesthetic to get her through the c-section.... but that means she'll have to be awake for recovery..."

She felt something being placed over her noise and mouth then, her breath suddenly becoming easier but made her head feel heavier for a moment making her panic for she knew that feeling all to well thanks to the drugs the dancer had pumped into her.

"Cara I want you to start counting down from 100... can you do that for me?"

100? Why 100 but before she could get an answer she was out of it dreams now filling her head calling to her ever so sweetly.

In her minds eye past, present and future all threaded together her parents playing with their grandchild as Cara lend back into her husbands arms all of them laughing, a place she didn't want to leave.


OCC: Angel if you need a reminder of what's to happen send me a P.M and I'll tell you.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

OOC: Rachel and Santiago continue their misadventures! BIC:

Santiago Ortiz

It was a good thing Santiago had a sidecar. He put the body in the motorcycle’s sidecar and wrapped Señorita Day’s arms around his waist. It had been a while since he’d ridden with someone, so Santiago strapped his own helmet on Señorita Day’s head. It was a little big, but it was better than nothing, he supposed. His head bandage was getting soggy in the rain which had lightened up a bit. He’d slipped his second pair of gloves on and handled the bag with them. The Ignacio’s body now lay in some dumpster in an abandoned alleyway. It would be left to rot with the other garbage and, if Santiago was honest, it was probably better than the man deserved. When Santiago remounted his bike, he drove and drove down the dark, familiar alleys of La Zone Foncée to the only place he could think of that was truly no questions asked.

Rien Spéciaux was a run-down looking bar-motel combination that Santiago had visited more times than he cared to remember. Santiago could see the dim, yellow lights shining eerily on the corner of the street. It was not a place where a gentleman took a lady. But Santiago had never fooled himself by believing he was a gentleman, and Señorita Day’s delicate sensitivities would have to be sacrificed in favor of her safety. There really weren’t very many options. And the ones Santiago could think of weren’t particularly pleasant. He bypassed Rien Spéciaux to park his bike somewhere else, just in case. They’d walk back to the hotel.

He could feel Señorita Day’s arms wrapped around his waist tightly. And as the motorcycle came to a stop, Santiago pushed the kickstand down with his foot and, with his hand, pried Señorita Day off of him. He was a little hesitant to leave his bike unattended on the forlorn looking curb, but it was better than leaving it as a clue for anyone who might have been trailing them. Santiago dismounted and lifted Señorita Day from her seat onto the ground beside him. He took one of her hands and began walking, tugging her along in tow. She wouldn’t know where she was when he took the blindfold off of her, but Santiago figured it was better that way. They reached the steps to the bar-motel and Santiago released her hand so he could untie the bandana.

“We’ll be safe here. Just follow my lead, chica,” he assured her quietly as the bandana fell from her eyes into his hands. He stuffed it in his jean pocket and took her hand again, because he didn’t want her to run off and because it would raise less suspicion when he bought them a space or two in the motel. Not that Santiago thought the owner would much care. Weirder, shadier people than Santiago Ortiz and Rachel Day had passed the night in the space above the bar after committing worse crimes than they had.

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

From the bandanna being tied around her eyes back at the Populaire office, to the moment Santiago's gruff grasp tightened around her, helping her off the bicycle- Rachel Day had been completely clueless of everything around her. She had held onto him for dear life the entire ride, feeling the crisp wind hit against her face, her body shivering against him. Afterall, all she had on was a skirt & jacket. This was so not her cup of tea right now. She just, wanted to crawl into her familiar bed, with her teddy bear she had since she was two, & just stay there forever. The not seeing thing was nice, though. She didn't feel as guility about it now that she didn't have to help or look at it. It was the gentleman thing to do, but calling Santiago a gentleman after tonight- well, people would have thought she were completely insane. Still, the title stood. Apart of her hoped that he were doing this because he wanted too. Not just because she would go tattle tell on the cops, or whatever. Not that she would now. Anyways, his caring about her shouldn't have mattered. It was just a nice thought. She needed some sort of support right now, & Rachel would just take what she could get really. She was quiet the entire time. She couldn't believe what they had just done. She didn't think, she ever would.

Rachel staggered slightly onto the ground, as he set her down. She could hear nothing, so she still had no idea where she was. Her complete trust was in him, as it would be for a couple weeks now. Just as she was about to loose all balance, his hand snatched hers up. She tugged it tightly, her stomach twisting into all these uncozy knots. Keeping the jacket closed with one hand, and holding onto his with the other- Rachel walked blindly along with him, beginning to hear a few noises she couldn't make out though, but knowing she was getting close to somewhere.

“We’ll be safe here. Just follow my lead, chica." Santiago's voice was low, his hands fumbling with the bandanna, removing it.

Her sight was given back to her. The entire ride felt like forever. Rachel sucked in her breath, her eyes shooting in all directions around them. They were standing before the entrance of some really shady, grunged up-like motel. It was someplace she would never imagined staying, but after all that she had been through that night, she was not going to complain about it. If this was what it took to not get killed, then so be it. She would sleep in a gutter. (Yeah, maybe not.) Still, it was like being introduced to an entirely different part of Paris. It didn't even seem like Paris anymore- or the Paris she knew for that matter. Everything was just... scary looking. Music was heard from far off somewhere- not the pretty music she was use to at the Populaire or the show tunes she usually played. Bottles crashing down the streets made her jump a little, biting her lower lip. They were running away from death, but who was to say they couldn't die here either? Rachel Day knew that she would not be getting any rest that night.

Santiago had grasped her hand again, & Rachel hadn't even noticed how much she had been squeezing it this entire time. Her hands were slightly shaking from how nervous was, but her entire body was burning up. Follow his lead... Did they have to talk to people? Of course, they had to check in. Oh goodness. If it were up to her, they would just grab a key, & take a room. Well, also if it were really up to her, they would not be here. Then again, Santiago knew what he was doing. Which, when thought about, could be real creepy. So, if he said this was the best- it had to be the best.... Um, right?

A cackle errupted just behind the little actress. Rachel jolted in reflex to Santiago, her fingers grabbing ahold of the fabric of his shirt, and grasping it tightly. A make-up smeared woman was leaning all her weight onto a man who had a leather jacket unzipped revealing his chest hair & beer belly. They smelled real bad too. She assumed it was alcohol, although she had no idea really what it smelled like that much. The woman smooched the man right on the cheek, & in return, a loud slap was heard that connected with her rump. Rachel was completely horrified at this. How could people let themselves be like this in public?

That was when they stopped in front of the pair. Rachel could feel her fingers digging into Santiago's stomach, her body pushing up against his. The woman's eyes scanned over Rachel for a long moment- looking her up & down. The man wiggled his eyebrows at mister Ortiz too. "Why so scared babydoll?" The woman cooed, approaching her- flashing her brownish teeth. "Don't you worry, we don't bite."

After largely & in chargely laughing- the man threw his arm around the woman's waste, winking over at Santiago."But I'm sure your man will be tonight!"

The couple roared in laughter- making Rachel wince at how out of tune their voices were, & how awful it sounded together. Bite her? Ouch. Her man? She gulped, watching the two enter the Motel. Oh goodness. So that was what went on in there... people like them, biting, & other..stuff.

Rachel's breath became heavy, realizing that she was holding onto Santiago for dear life. He probably wasn't appreciating that- but she didn't care. Wide-eyed, she backed up from him, shaking her head. Fumbling with words for a moment, she looked at the Motel door, & then back at him. "I-I don't think we're going to be any more safe in there." She said to him, holding the jacket tight to her body. "I mean, can't we just-" She looked around, trying to find another option, but looking around- the scenery didn't get much better. "Can't we just.... Can't we just..." Her voice was lost & her thoughts too. Along with some dignity.

"Just don't bite me, okay?" She whispered, looking down at the ground nervously.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

It wasn’t a far walk to their destination. A few more steps and up some stairs. Señorita Day looked positively terrified, though. Santiago supposed he could see why. The noise, for one thing, wasn’t exactly inviting. Raucous laughter from some bar or another; breaking bottles; the occasional fight. Santiago was unfazed by it. To him, it sounded like home. The smell, for another. That was the one thing Santiago had never quite gotten past. Alcohol, grime, and disease hung in the air of these slums. Santiago didn’t much mind, but there were moments when his gag reflexes tickled as if to make their disgust known.

Santiago opened his mouth to reassure Señorita Day, when a cackle erupted behind them. It wouldn’t have startled Santiago, but Señorita Day dug her nails into his stomach. Santiago looked at her in mild irritation and surprise ; he stopped in his tracks. He cast a glance in the direction she was staring at. Like the motel, the couple was nothing special. Rien Spéciaux wasn’t exactly famed for attracting Paris’ beautiful people. And judging by the leer on the fat Frenchman’s face, Señorita Day was the best thing that the he and the bar had seen over the years. The man’s eyebrow wiggle told Santiago all he had to know about the man’s assumption. To him, and all other observers, Santiago and Señorita Day were just another lost tourist couple looking for a place for a nice quickie. Santiago supposed that would do as a cover story. Even the cops wouldn’t be imaginative to come up with a better excuse for a Spanish stage hand and American girl to check into a place like this. Santiago’s eyes flicked to the woman that was eyeing Rachel. He could definitely understand why the Frenchman was ogling Señorita Day like a particularly good cut of meat if that was what he went home to every night.

"Why so scared babydoll?" The woman cooed, approaching her- flashing her brownish teeth. "Don't you worry, we don't bite."

."But I'm sure your man will be tonight!"

The man winked at Santiago, which elicited a small smile from the Spaniard. He pulled Señorita Day in closer as though claiming her. It was no less than the French pair expected and they roared with laughter. Santiago had to suppress an eye roll. Some people would believe anything if you presented yourself the right way. It was all an act, really. Santiago had no intentions of fooling around with Señorita Day in a dingy motel room. Or at all, really. He watched as the couple resumed interest in one another and made a frantic dash for the door of the motel. Santiago snorted. Just as he suspected. They were probably headed to the motel for a night of drinking and sloppy love making. They really weren’t a threat; there was no reason for Señorita Day to be so scared. He relaxed his hold on her. Señorita Day, however, still clung fiercely to him.

"I-I don't think we're going to be any more safe in there." She said to him, holding the jacket tight to her body.

Santiago shook his head exasperatedly. They’d be fine. He still had his gun and he knew that each room came with deadbolt locks and fire escapes. They’d manage.

"I mean, can't we just-" She looked around. "Can't we just.... Can't we just..."

Just what? Check into Le Meurice off the Rue de Rivioli?

"Just don't bite me, okay?" She whispered, looking down at the ground nervously.

Santiago laughed. It wasn’t loud and hearty like those he and Señorita Day had heard already. It was a low chuckle, not quite warm, but definitely not sinister.

“Don’t worry, chica. If I haven’t already, I’m not going to bite you,” he joked as the laughter died down. “Come on.”

Santiago and Señorita Day walked up the steps and Santiago pushed open the doors to the bar-level where they would have to check in. He looked around. Rien Spéciaux was the most crowded he’d seen it in a long time. Two men smoked cigars in the corner. Another man sat at the bar, his hands fumbling clumsily over one of Paris’ many overly-dolled-up prostitutes. The barman-concierge was slicing up limes for cocktails, ignoring it all as usual. Santiago sighed and sauntered up to the bar. The old swagger in his step was back. He wasn’t doing his rushed, stage manager shuffle. This was Santiago, the gangster and assassin. This was Santiago after hours. This was the only way Santiago could command respect in places like Rien Spéciaux. The only thing that might not show his street cred, was the frightened young woman glued to him. Santiago didn’t let go, but he didn’t look at her, either. He squeezed them between an empty barstool and the nearby couple that Santiago assumed was too absorbed in each other to notice them.

“I need two rooms,” he said to the man behind the bar.

“You and everyone else. We’ve only got one tonight, mon ami,” the barkeep-concierge said matter-of-factly.
He wasn’t about to haggle. They didn’t have the time and this would probably work out better. Less cost. Less hassle if something went wrong. He reached in his wallet and swapped Euros for the old-fashioned key.

“We’ll take it.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

The Spaniard mister laughed, his chest bumping against her with each low chuckle. It sounded nice. It sounded refreshing from all this intensity. Rachel titled her head up, & grinned ridiculously at her own comment; because, well, it was ridiculous. Wow. It felt real good to laugh, & actually hear an emotion come out Santiago other than, well, other than what she had seen tonight. It was funny how so frightened she could be of someone & what they did, but how protected she felt being with him.

“Don’t worry chica. If I haven’t already, I’m not going to bite you.” Rachel snorted at the comment. “Come on.” No! Couldn’t they just stay there, & laugh?

Mister still had his hold on her, from where she had frightfully fallen into him. Thank goodness too, because as soon as they walked up the steps, & opened the doors- Rachel could feel every bone in her body tense up. He had opened a door to like, an entire different lifestyle. She scanned the place, as he pushed her along. So many half dressed women & so many creepy men. Smoke filled the air, & she did her best not to cough up a lung or something; that would certainly draw up attention & indicate she didn’t belong there. Rachel didn’t, but for the night, she would have to act like she did. Act. Huh. Something began mustering in her mind.

She noticed how mister Santiago’s stride changed. It felt more… dominate. Like he owned the floor, & would own anyone who got into his way. Rachel hadn’t known him for too long before tonight, but from what she did know, she could definitely see the two sides to him.

Rachel made eye contact with one of the women at the bar. Her long black tendrils tossed into a face belonging to a man sitting at the bar. It looked as if she were giving him a lap dance. Mmkay, gross. Rachel didn’t look away, though. It was women like that, her edgy look, her mischievous smile, & devilish glint, that belonged in places like this. Not terrified out of their mind, want to go home & cuddle a teddy bear type girls like herself. The woman winked at her, & instantly, something snapped in the actresses head. It was complete inspiration that she needed, as odd as that sounded. They needed to blend in, not draw any attention. If she were glued to Santiago’s side, shaking out of her skin, how would that not draw attention? People came here to release their inner… their inner sass! Sure, she wasn’t educated in any of it, but she had studied enough movies to understand exactly, how to give off that certain vibe.

“I need two rooms.” The two were at the bar now, speaking with a man who looked entirely immune to everything, including someone like Santiago. Not to toot his own horn for him, but he was mighty intimidating. Rachel didn’t like the idea of them not being in the same room. It didn’t have to do with her liking him, or wanting to cuddle it up- because she so did not want to with him by any means, & just ew- but she did not want to be alone tonight. He kept her safe. Anyways, that thought was pushed back. Why? Because this character Rachel was playing didn’t care. She could sleep anywhere. Who’s to say she would be sleeping anyways?

Now, she was totally transformed. Rachel clicked it on & off- and oh baby, was it on. She took the time of their chatting to complete her act with a few changes.

“You and everyone else.” Rachel’s hip tilted to her left, her muscles relaxing. Her weight swaying slightly & flirtatiously side to side. “We’ve only got one tonight, mon ami.” Her eyes glinted at the bartender, licking her teeth slowly, tapping her fingers alongside the bar wood, impatient.

“We’ll take it.”

They made the exchange. She could feel her body jolt with this exciting new, sexual energy.

The bartender looked at Rachel probably for the first time in that conversation, as he flipped through the money in his fingers. He licked his thumb, but did this slowly, his eyes taking her in. “Oh, Monsieur, you’re telling me you are not brute enough to share a room with this little number?” It did seem odd, & a little suspicious.

Rachel Day took over.

Flipping out he edges to her jacket, revealing apart of her crimson bra, teasing him with her eyes, she leaned in close, breaking herself free from Santiago’s grasp. Everything that was Rachel Day- was gone. She was someone entirely new. She was just another broad in a cheap motel, trying to release some tension.

“By the time I’m done with him, baby doll-“ She purred with a wicked smirk. (Obviously inspiration from the woman outside) “He’s gunna’ need that extra room, if you know what I mean.”

The bartender’s cheeks turned something red, noticing himself leaning in too. He staggered backward, releasing a howling cackle. “Well, by all means- you enjoy your night then.” People joined in with a couple whistles.

Rachel wasn’t done, though- because- they now had an audience.

Spinning around, she came face to face with Santiago Ortiz. Even when she looked up at him, she showed no sign of little miss chica. In her mindset at the given time, he was hers for the taking tonight.

"Shall we?" She huskily asked, tossing her hair around, her eyes sparking something exciting into his. It could have been frightening if someone new Rachel Day- she was not Rachel Day anymore.

Rachel reached down, her finger snagging in between his belt & one of his lips, craning herself closer to him. Interesting. This character she was, seemed to have a great attraction to Santiago Ortiz. She began to lead the way out of the bar, or so she wanted too- but the bartender's voice stopped them.

"Drinks on the house." The bartender called out, clanging two mugs onto the wood, some fizzy like liquid dripping out. He winked at the pair. "You will be needing it with the night ahead, no?"

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Santiago watched the barman count the money. He seemed to be taking his own sweet time to do so. Santiago was not in a patient sort of mood tonight.

It’s all there, mi amigo.

But it dawned on Santiago very quickly that it wasn’t the money that was holding the bartender up. It seemed that Señorita Day had caught every man’s eye tonight… Save Santiago’s. He followed the Frenchman’s gaze and tried to see what everyone else was seeing.

She was… Cute. He’d give her that. Wide, dark eyes were nothing new to Santiago though and it took more than a giggle to turn his head. Her lips were full and pink; the sort most men would be burning for. And within two times of meeting her, Santiago had been given displays of what Señorita Day had to offer. It’d be a lie to say that he hadn’t looked when her skirt had ripped. And he hadn’t lied when he’d called it “a nice ass”. But Santiago knew that there was more to her than just a body. There was also that fragile, terrified, naive little girl spirit she had. The one that called him “a jerk in tin foil” and was scared of thunderstorms. Remembering this made it hard for Santiago to get all hot and bothered by her presence.

“Oh, Monsieur, you’re telling me you are not brute enough to share a room with this little number?”

Santiago’s nostril s flared. Oh, he was man enough. He didn’t have anything to prove to the people of Rien Spéciaux, but for one wicked instant, Santiago actually considered grabbing Señorita Day and pushing her up against the bar for a little demonstration to anyone who dared question his manhood. Just as the smirk flicked across his lips and Santiago moved half an inch to start his little display, Señorita Day pulled herself from his grasp and approached the bartender.

What the hell…?!

“By the time I’m done with him, baby doll-“ She purred with a wicked smirk. “He’s gunna’ need that extra room, if you know what I mean.”

Santiago was almost convinced that Señorita Day meant every word of it. He couldn’t say that the thought made him particularly comfortable, either. Santiago, who prided himself on his poker face, could feel his heart begin to pound, pumping blood to his extremities and his breathing become heavier. Santiago leaned in towards Señorita Day instinctively. She smelled like antiseptic and… something else. Something sweet and unfamiliar. It made Santiago’s brain go a little on the fuzzy side—a sensation that even he had to enjoy in spite of himself.

The bartender’s cheeks turned something red, noticing himself leaning in too. He staggered backward, releasing a howling cackle. “Well, by all means- you enjoy your night there.”

Señorita Day turned around to face Santiago and a lopsided grin spread across his lips, exposing his teeth. He raised one eyebrow at her and couldn’t help but notice that she had pulled his jacket open just enough to flash him a view of her bra. In the bar light, he could see a bit of crimson peeking out. It wasn’t what he’d expected, but Santiago couldn’t say he minded so much…

"Shall we?"

“Anytime you’re ready, mi amor,” Santiago heard himself say.

Snap out of it! Get it together!

Okay, so maybe it was possible for Santiago to get a little hot under the collar around Señorita Day after all. Santiago shut his eyes and instead, thought of Ignacio’s glassy dead eyes. That cooled him down faster than a cold shower could have. What he really wanted was to punch himself in the face right now.

"Drinks on the house." The bartender called out, clanging two mugs onto the wood, some fizzy like liquid dripping out. He winked at the pair. "You will be needing it with the night ahead, no?"

“We thank you, but, I want her to have her wits about her, if you catch my drift,” Santiago said, a little cryptically.

To the bartender and any other observers, it sounded like Santiago was looking forward to a night of ecstatic pleasure. To Señorita Day, Santiago hoped it meant something else entirely. The night would be a long, vigilant one for them both and he didn’t need her drunkenly giving away their location. Santiago snaked his arm back around Señorita Day’s waist. He pulled her in tightly and bent as if to nuzzle her ear and neck. Instead, as he pulled her along to the stairs, he whispered, “I don’t know if this all just a big game to you or what, but I can’t deny that whatever that was back there was impressive.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

The bartender hollered at them, bribing them back with two alcoholic beverages. Rachel Day looked over her shoulder, licking her lips. She had never had a sip before in her life, but whatever it was that was unleashing inside of her, wanting to chug that bad boy down real bad. This new emotion had her thirsty for something! Though, it could possibly be her literal thirst; being dehydrated from tonight. Nevertheless, it didn't seem to appeal to Santiago.

“We thank you, but, I want her to have her wits about her, if you catch my drift." The comment shocked & ripped something through her she never felt. Arousal. Right now, she was completely lost in this facade, totally enjoying everything about this moment. The attention, the freedom of getting to toy around with whatever she wanted, & the thought of Santiago Ortiz. Looking up at him- she couldn't help but smirk like some little devil. He was ragged, dark, mysterious, & knew what he wanted. At the comment, & to everyone else in the bar watching- it was obvious it was her.

Rachel felt his arm snake around her waist gruffly, & she let out a devious chuckle, still having a few audience members compelled to how this scene would end up. His face nuzzled in close, feeling his lips carress her bare skin. She learned that it was difficult walking when this occured, as he began leading them toward the stairs, away from everyone. It was like exiting the stage, & as soon as that happened- the character the actor was potraying turned it off & they were themselves again. This should have happened to Rachel Day, but feeling Santiago's hot breath, & his velvet whisper in her ear, it was difficult too. That... wasn't good, & she didn't want too. She couldn't control it.

“I don’t know if this all just a big game to you or what, but I can’t deny that whatever that was back there was impressive.”

She couldn't help but grin now, as they approached the stairs. Rachel took one step, spinning around to face him, her hands grasping both sides to the banister. Her hair tossled in front of her face- her features still carrying that look she had given him at the bar, but the little confident actress peeking through. "Well, Senor Ortiz, you really need to start giving me a little more credit, now don't you?" Rachel smirked huskily with a raised eyebrow.

Rachel had an idea of what he thought of her- it was what many people thought of her. She was just a little immature girl, who needed her mommy when she got a boo-boo. Yes, that was what her first impression was, but first impressions could be very misleading. There was so much more to Rachel Day than just her over reactions, & mindless little dramas. All honestly, she was just figuring that out herself. People didn't look at it this way- she raised herself, & had been practically all her life. As far as she was concerned, she was doing alright with it too.

"There are many sides to me," Rachel revealed to him. Tonight's side being one that she newly discovered. The statement didn't mean to sound all- sexually charged, but at the current moment everything was. So it did.

Damn, he was sexy.

Alright. That was just an odd thought. She didn't use that adjective ever or use a vulgur word, but the thought felt so good to admit! It made her uncomfortable, though. She thought he was, nice looking- Rachel would offer that up. She had thought that from day one. Even though she complained enough about it, she didn't mind being caught in those strong biceps of his, alright? Even if he... did drop her to the floor. Now, this was more than thinking he was 'nice looking' & a jerk in tin foil. Whatever she was feeling, needed to stop.

It didn't stop here, though, mostly because people began filing in- a few eyes on them. She could feel what she felt at the bar coming on again, & her body squirmed slightly upward with it. "Ready for a grand finale?" She whispered, releasing one of the banisters, & craning in close to him, her hand wrapping around his neck- thinking he could be a big boy & lead them into this one. They needed to play along until they reached the room, where no one could see them. It was all about staying in character.

As insane & wrong as it was- Rachel Day liked this character.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

It had been far too long since Santiago had been this close with a woman. His body ached fiercely as he realized just how much he missed it. But Santiago knew full well he’d just have to keep on missing it, at least for tonight. Rachel Day was not a spoil of gang warfare. She was not his reward for killing Ignacio de Lorca. She was his accomplice in the deed and she was under his protection. What kind of guardian could he be if he couldn’t even protect her from himself?

Christ, that sounded melodramatic.

But it was true. If Santiago couldn’t maintain control of himself, he had very little control over the situation as a whole. And Santiago needed to take all he could get. He clenched his teeth down against the inside of his cheek, trying to draw blood as if it would help him refocus.

"Well, Señor Ortiz, you really need to start giving me a little more credit, now don't you?"

Santiago laughed throatily. Touché.

"There are many sides to me," she continued in the same husky voice.

And I look forward to exploring each and every inch of them all…. ¡Maldígalo!

That was not he meant to think. Santiago feared shutting his eyes now, because he knew what lay behind them was anything but innocent. And although he, too, wasn’t exactly flawless, the images racing through his subconscious disturbed even Santiago. Pretty though Señorita Day was, on edge as Santiago was, they were technically on the run. And it wasn’t like Santiago really wanted to make love to the young American woman. This was all an act to get them through the bar and to the safety of a motel room. An act. Santiago had gotten quite good at “acting” or, if you wanted to be more honest, lying. But he seldom had a co-conspirator. And when he had, it had typically been Lorenzo or Morales or Vargas… Somebody from the gang. This experience was a bit foreign and Santiago couldn’t tell if he liked it or not.

"Ready for a grand finale?"

Señorita Day slipped an arm around Santiago’s neck. The stage manager was suddenly acutely aware of the audience they’d drawn. Grand finale, indeed! He had never much cared for the limelight, preferring the relative anonymity and control that came from being the stage manager. There, he could call the shots, unseen. He couldn’t do that here. Here, he had a young woman relying on him while trying to seduce him, it seemed. Santiago looked down at her. Señorita Day seemed to be waiting for him to do something bold. He arched forward, his lips drawing close to hers, before he pulled back hastily.

Don’t you dare!

Santiago was her protector. Her guardian. Her savior. He was also an ex-convict, who suddenly didn’t trust himself to do anything right.

“Querida,” he said, his voice shaking almost imperceptibly, “We’ve only just begun.”

With that, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her up the stairs. So much for avoiding theatrics. Personally, Santiago thought that this all was rather unnecessary. They could have just blended in, told the barman they needed an upstairs room, no questions asked. But nooo. The trouble magnet he was holding in his arms just had to pull him to center stage. Santiago was just glad he didn’t see any opera employees in their “audience”. He had a reputation to maintain, after all.

Setting Señorita Day on her feet once they were in front of their room, Santiago turned to the door quickly and began to unlock it, grumbling in a stream of Spanish to himself. Had tonight really began as a routine lock up for the night at the opera house?

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

She regretted passing over the spotlight to him.

This is an act… It’s just an act…

The space was closed in between them; their chests, hitting against one another with their uneven breathing. Rachel could feel her muscles tensing, but she liked the edginess in the pit of her stomach. It felt so wrong, but it felt so right. Without even thinking of the act, her lips parted as if they had a mind of their own, gravitating toward his. She could feel him drawing in closer, feeling his hot breath against her chin.

Santiago ripped away suddenly. She wanted to be taken back by this, but there was no time for that; they still had a scene to finish. She was relieved, yet not satisfied at all. So, would kissing him really satisfy her? It had to be just the character, & her getting too much into it. Had to be, but Rachel knew it wasn’t true. These were real emotions, getting provoked by this little game.

“Querida.” Funny how a word she couldn’t understand could sound so mischievous & wonderful. “We’ve only just begun.”

Rachel let out a devilish squeal, feeling his strong arms lift her right off her feet, & carry her up the stairs. Her hand waved behind his head back to their little fan clan they had going on. It was funny how frightened at first she was of all those people, but act a certain way with a spice of sass, & shortly she became quite the entertainment. It had gotten her thoughts off what occurred at the Office only a couple hours ago- but she didn’t know if she likes these thoughts either. The… Santiago Ortiz charged thoughts.

As soon as he set her down, & her feet connected with the floor- Rachel Day began to feel all bothered & just wanting to get into the room. She nervously looked around, tossing back her hair, & twiddling her fingers. Santiago was speaking his Spanish again, & beginning to look a teensy bit flustered. They were still onstage. There was no breaking character as far as little Miss Day was concerned. Leave it to the Spanish mister to loose his temper or something, & ruin everything they worked at to getting up here.

With a quick graceful move- Rachel slid in between him & the door, her back against the wood, arm pinned up over her head. Her body grinding upward, rubbing up against him, (& she probably enjoying that a little too much) and her hand found the knob, the key already in the hole. Within seconds she had the door open; falling backwards into the room.

Wow. How was she so smooth at all this?

Rachel Day blinked wildly, feeling herself become… herself again. Aggressively, out of pure tension from back at the stairs, she took a hold of Santiago’s shirt, pulling him into the room along with her, & slamming it shut behind them.

End Scene.

Her fingers frantically locked up each lock that she could on that door. With an exasperated breath, Rachel turned to face the room, her body falling back into the wood, slowly feeling herself slide down. Ugh. What was this feeling? She felt nervous, frightened, but tingley inside, & energized in a new way she had never experienced before. All because of…

Rachel looked over at Santiago Ortiz, panting. She then took in the room. A small bed in the corner, A lamp giving off that yellowish tint of light, One real uncomfortable looking wooden chair in the other corner, & a bathroom over to her left she not dare explore.

She was frozen in place against the door, not knowing what to do next. Mostly because she was suppose to be fully out of character by now- but Rachel found it hard to shake the sensations & thoughts she had out there. Now, they were alone. In a motel room. All night. It was suppose to mean absolutely nothing, but that was obviously not the case. Rachel knew he felt it too- which is mostly why, she couldn't make eye contact with him at the present moment.

"We should...." She swallowed hard, finding something, anything to keep herself occupied. "We should close this."

Rachel brushed past him, going to the window that was near the bed. Peering out the window, she saw another building, an alleway seperating them. With both hands, she grabbed ahold of the curtans, pulling them in close together- closing them out of the outside world.

When she did, her hands stayed on the curtains, and she just stood there for a moment- her thoughts synching in. Rachel would be closed for the outside world from awhile now.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

They were done. No one could see them in the hallway and it wasn’t like anyone had to hear them. He shut his eyes and turned the key, which stuck. He opened his eyes and instead of seeing the door, he saw Señorita Day. Before he could even ask what she was doing, he felt friction and pressure in his groin area. Santiago inhaled sharply, clamped his mouth shut and pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth to suppress any sounds. His eyes rolled ceiling-ward in a miserable attempt to hide how he was feeling. God, it really had been too long…

The door gave way behind them and Santiago stumbled forward for half a step before catching himself. Just as he found his balance, Señorita Day seized hold of his shirt and pulled him inside so she could slam the door shut. It was enough to jolt Santiago from his nearly-intoxicated state.

Well, almost.

The stage manager bent to rest his hands on his knees for a breather. Inhale, exhale. His breathing was still heavy with some sort of expectation. But there was nothing to expect from Señorita Day. And, really, Santiago knew it was for the best. Impulse was not something to base action on in a time like this. But how many times had Santiago celebrated a successful mission with a pretty girl in his apartment? Enough for this to feel both wrong and right. Breathe in, breathe out…

Behind him, Santiago heard the door locks click. He stood up straight and turned around just in time to see Señorita Day flip around and fall into the door. Their eyes almost met. Santiago flexed his shoulders and licked his dry lips.

Estoy bien. No problema.

He started to look around the room he’d just purchased for the night. It wasn’t the worst he’d seen, but it came pretty close. He didn’t want to chance the bed, but the chair didn’t look sturdy enough to hold a person’s weight. And the floor! Santiago could just imagine the cockroaches that made their homes there. But, as he had realized a long time ago, his options were limited. He’d check his belt and jacket for any tools to fix the chair up. It would give him something to do and maybe a place to sit and sleep if the situation permitted it. And, yet, Santiago discovered that he couldn’t quite move his feet or find his voice.

"We should.... We should close this."

“Si… Yeah… Sure….” Santiago mumbled.

She brushed past him, their bodies accidentally making contact. Santiago took a quick step to the side and steadied himself against the wall so he could watch Señorita cross the tiny room and snap the curtains shut. Flurries of dust flew into the air and fell to the ground like snow. Santiago made his way to the bed. To his surprise, the linens looked passably clean.

“I think I’m going to risk the chair,” Santiago said softly. “You’re welcome to the bed. It looks safe.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

The tension consumed the small motel room, making it all the more uncomfortable. All the more hot. All the more heavy. It was an icky feeling, but one the little actress knew would pass once she could snap herself out of character. It all seemed real easy, & usually for Rachel Day it was, but she had finally found her match. Not only was it making her flustered, but at a loss. Nothing & no one could match what she lived&breathed for. She had found what could break through her years of classically trained acting. He was standing in the room with her.

Santiago Ortiz, what are you...

"I think I'm going to risk the chair."

The chair, really? Rachel turned around from her standing position to face him, but quickly looked to the chair instead of his eyes. Anything but his eyes. The chair. It looked as if it were going to topple over any second. She could just imagine the stories on that chair. Mkay, ew! Well, this whole room could be disinfected, but princess prissy ways was the last thing this night needed.

"You're welcome to the bed. It looks safe."

Rachel looked over at the bed, & was slightly surprised. The bed seemed like the only object that had been cleaned in the past month. Ugh, just looking at the bed made her knees want to buckle over, & just lie like a sloth. She wanted too, but the Spanish mister with her probably needed it more than she did. He was, afterall, the one who had done the... heavy lifting that night. As comfortable as it looked, (she was very desperate), & as bad as Miss Day wanted it; she would feel guilty to take it. Then again, they could both take it.

Because that would help their current case...

"No...no..." Rachel murmured, shaking her head. She waved off the bed, making her way to the other side of the room where he was not. Yes, even still she was flustered. "You take the bed."

Coming at the chair, she shrugged, her expression playing it off like it wasn't a big deal, but Rachel could sware there was some sort of disease(s) floating about on that wood. "I'll...I'll take this!" Her voice squeaked slightly, still, trying to act cool about the situation.
Without even thinking of the consequences, or the shape of the chair, Rachel Day twisted around as if it were no thing, setting her rump on it. She forced a smile, looking over & finally making eye contact with Mister Santiago... & that's when she lost it.

BAM.

The entire chair collapsed, bringing Rachel down with it. The wood collected under her bare bum underneath her skirt, and her head fell against the corner, her hands slapping against the wall. She grunted, shutting her eyes tight. Leave it to Rachel Day.

"Tonight is reaaaallly not my night." She growled. She was getting flustered & tired. Shutting her eyes tight, she let her body fall into the corner, still ontop of the diseased wooden pieces. That's when, she spat out a bark of a laugh at herself. (She wasn't much of a giggler) She couldn't resist. The moment was too golden! Sure, she just lost her bed for the night, & should be all 'grr, Rachel messed up again', but the humor of it really over powered it all. All she had left in her was a laugh. It felt so good.

She continued to laugh, putting her hands over her face, beginning to just laugh about everything! Its all that she had left. Rachel Day had lost it.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

"No...no… You take the bed."

She had moved to the other side of the room and Santiago couldn’t help but feel that Señorita Day’s bravado was unneeded. He wasn’t exactly being chivalrous here, but he was pretty damn close. Besides, it wasn’t like Santiago actually planned on sleeping. His adrenaline had yet to wear off; Señorita Day hadn’t exactly given it a chance to, what with her grabbing him suddenly as if they were lovers. His senses had been heightened since Ignacio broke into the opera house and now even the slightest sensation put him on pins and needles. Santiago was definitely not getting any sleep tonight, so why not let the young woman get her rest?

"I'll...I'll take this!"

Her high-pitched tone didn’t match her words and when Santiago finally caught her gaze, he realized that her face matched neither. His lips parted, but the ‘Don’t do that!’ died in his throat as Santiago watched in horror. Señorita Day sank into the chair. It moaned under her weight for a split second before crashing down into a splintery pile. Santiago stared, waiting for the dust to settle. Even before it stilled, Santiago could see a Rachel Day shape leaning up against the wall.

"Tonight is reaaaallly not my night," she growled.

Before Santiago could even attempt to offer words of encouragement, he heard a loud, barking laugh. Santiago took a step back and ran into the bed in surprise. They’d killed a man. There was nothing funny about that. But Santiago supposed that treating the situation with a little graveyard humor and irony wasn’t the worst way of coping. It was just the fact that the laughter wouldn’t stop. Santiago stared at his companion as if she were loca before deciding that it really was a matter of her being overtired. He walked over to where she sat on the floor, kicking splintered pieces of wood away with his thick boots. Then, for what seemed like the hundredth time tonight, Santiago lifted Señorita Day into his arms. He pushed down any prickling sensations he felt and plopped her onto the bed as unceremoniously as he could.

“Like I said,” he said, smirking a little bit, still standing beside the bed, looking down at Señorita Day, “You can take the bed.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

Familiar arms lifted the hysterical Rachel Day from the pile of chair she had managed to destroy. She laughed even harder, feeling the Spanish Mister's large & in charge arms wrap around her. Laughter just was simply the best cure right now. Of course, she looked wildly insane, & sounded like a hyena- but she just didn't care.

Her fit of laughter was interrupted when Santiago, like he was taking out the trash, let Rachel plop onto the bed. Her body bobbed up & down from the force, and she rolled her eyes shut, letting her arms & legs spread out, so every inch of her body could share the cozy lovin'.

"Like I said, you can take the bed." Ugh. The little actress knew he was smirking without even having to open her eyes. Mister Santiago always did that 'I told you so chica' thing. He thought he was just oh-so witty in his minority ways. Hmph.

Rachel's features cringed. With her eyes still closed, she lifted her finger into the air, pointing at where she had heard his voice coming from. Which was, pretty close. "If you're doing your little half grin thing that you always do, when I do something mortifying, that you think is morbidly entertainting, I sware Mister Santiago," she threatened in a drawl, her finger circling in the air. "I will smack it off."

[With my lips!

Ugh. No. Down Rachel Day. Yeesh, she was tired. These thoughts... needed to go.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Santiago stared down at the young American. She sprawled out on the bed like a cat on a warm windowsill and Santiago’s smirk softened. Even with the garish, yellowish light casting funny shadows over her, Señorita Day looked… Santiago couldn’t find a word. Well. He could.

Bonita. Linda. Preciosa. Hermosa. Como un ángel.

Santiago’s smirk-turned-smile faded all together. It was lucky for him that Señorita Day’s eyes were still shut and she couldn’t see him now.

"If you're doing your little half grin thing that you always do, when I do something mortifying, that you think is morbidly entertaining, I swear Mister Santiago," she threatened in a drawl, her finger circling in the air. "I will smack it off."

Santiago laughed softly, still feeling uneasy with himself. “Of course you will. Get some sleep, chica, you’ll need it.”

He hovered at the bedside for a moment more before stalking off quietly to turn off the light and look out the window. He pulled the curtains open so he could rest his cheek against the cold, dingy window. The storm had passed and now the remaining droplets that clung to the window slid slowly down the pane. Outside, a muddy puddle shone dimly under the single streetlight. Santiago sighed; his breath fogged the glass. He pulled away and swept the ground with a wary foot to clear himself a spot to sit. When he was sure it was safe, Santiago sunk to the ground, leaning heavily against the wall. Now all he had to do, was wait for the sunrise.

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day


“Of course you will. Get some sleep, chica, you’ll need it.”

Rachel Day smiled to herself, assuming that he had left her bedside so he wouldn't see it. Chica ... It had a cute ring to it. Mostly when he said it though, because those Spanish soap operas, ugh! They just make it all sound ugly! His light laughter made her feel accomplished too. Not that she had been around Mister Santiago for months, but it seemed like it would take a lot to even put a smile on that man's lips. Mmkay, enough of this thinking, because once she thought of his lips, she would never return to reality.

It was time now, to sleep!

....

....

Ugh, Rachel Day was restless. Fluttering her eyes open, she twisted on the bed, giving the pillow a good slug, and turning over on her side. Perhaps sheets would be comfortable, but she was not taking the risk of wrapping herself in those things. Who knows what was lurking in there. Alright, so fetal position now, she was going to try this again. With an exhale of breath, a squirm of her nose- the little actress shut her eyes again.

"Now who is this breathtaking little chica, Santiago?"

She met eyes with his. Wide. Open. Bloodshot. Lifeless. Rachel's mouth opened, nothing coming out. He was... The room felt so much smaller to her. The struggle was over. He was dead.

"Put the gun down and get cleaned up. I'll take care of the mess."

"If word gets out that either of us were here when he was killed—and believe me, the police aren’t always reliable when it comes to keeping records private—neither of us will likely live to see Christmas."

"I can clean you up quickly, dispose of Ignacio’s body, and keep you safe. Take it or leave it.”

Her eyes jolted awake. Rachel Day gasped, feeling her hands beginning to shake, digging into the sheets beneath her. She could feel the perspiration roll down the side of her cheek, her hair sticking to her clammy skin. The little actress had fallen asleep only for five minutes, but so much happened in five minutes. She took a moment to relax, keeping her eyes open, frightened of what would happen if she shut them again. She assumed this would be happening a lot, though. Yeesh, she got nightmares from just watching scary movies, & now she was apart of one.

Gulping hard, Rachel sprang up in a sitting position on the bed, her eyes finding it hard to adjust to the darkness. She almost called out for his name, but once her eyes were well adjusted, using the outside moon as a light, she could see him over at the wall across the room on the floor. He was in the same room with her, yet she still needed him closer to her. Goodness sakes, she needed to brave up or something because that was just pathetic.

"Um, are you comfortable?" She asked, not caring if he were sleeping or not, because he couldn't tell. Rachel didn't want him sleeping unless she was sleeping. He had the gun.

Finding some sort of excuse to be up, without having to reveal she were having terrors in her mind, Rachel twisted behind her, grabbing the pillow. In one graceful move, she was on the floor, making her way toward him. "You can have the pillow. I have the mattress so its only fair." She told him breathlessly, squeezing the jacket shut with one hand, & wiggling the pillow in front of him with the other.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Santiago leaned his head against the wall and groaned softly. Now that he was holding still, now that the room was quiet, his adrenaline was wearing off. The first thing to hurt was his head. Santiago didn’t dare remove the bandage around his head for fear of making things worse with god-knows-what debris hanging in the air. Besides, it was a minor injury, easy as a typical headache to ignore. When his arm began to ache again, Santiago had trouble maintaining stoicism. He shifted around on the floor, trying to find a way to keep his arm from hurting. But Santiago realized that as his adrenaline disappeared, moving around took more of an effort. Exhaustion would soon hit him and knock him out if he wasted his energy. A gasp from the bed kept Santiago’s eyelids from fluttering shut and the Spaniard sat bolt upright.

"Um, are you comfortable?" Señorita Day asked. In the dim moonlight, Santiago could see her sitting on the bed.

“Yes,” he lied, trying to better focus his eyes in the dark.

He could see her more clearly now. She looked so small on the bed, which wasn’t exactly huge to begin with. He watched her fidget and grab something from behind her. She then slid to the floor beside him.

"You can have the pillow. I have the mattress so it’s only fair."

Santiago studied her before taking action. She was back to clasping the jacket shut, even though it was only the two of them in the room. Her voice was a breathless whisper and after her sudden gasp, Santiago could only imagine what sort of hellish thoughts had been racing through her head. He didn’t want to flatter himself into thinking that Señorita Day wanted to be near to him, but Santiago allowed himself to be touched by her thoughtful gesture. He accepted the pillow and smiled. It was dark, so Santiago figured it didn’t count.

“You’re a sweet girl,” he said quietly, looking at the pillow he held in his hands.

What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this? he thought wryly. Then, he remembered, That’s my fault.

It seemed to Santiago that good girls like Señorita Day were hard to come by, which he supposed was lucky, because every time he got too close to someone decent, something bad happened.

Gisele.

It was Santiago’s fault that Gisele was dead. It was Santiago’s fault that Rachel Day was hiding in La Zone Fonecée. He may have deemed Señorita Day a “trouble magnet”, but it was obvious to Santiago who the real troublemaker in the room was. And somehow, he didn’t think that admitting it would make the situation any better. Even if he hadn’t pulled the trigger on Gisele; even if he had only killed Ignacio to defend Señorita Day, that everything always seemed to be his fault was no comfort.

The pillow though… That was comfort. As he slipped it behind his neck, Santiago felt some of the tension in his muscles evaporate.

“Thank you,” he said softly, unsure of how to reach out and thank Señorita Day or to offer her some sort of comfort. “Are you… Are you alright?”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

For a moment, Rachel was unsure if Mister Santiago were going to accept the pillow or not. Well, it was just a pillow, but he would be the one to reject it just because of the way he was. He was a do it himself man, a man of action, & a tough Spaniard. (Not that being Spanish had to do anything with it, the little actress was just infatuated with the fact he was of different culture) If he were completely uncomfortable, she bet he wouldn't even tell her. He even tended to his own wounds & her own. Well, of course probably because he had more experience than she did when it came to those kinds of wounds, but still. She could still feel her stomach twisting from pained exhaustion, & her arm still sore, but Mister Santiago probably had gotten it way worse than she did. After all, he was the one who did the... yeah. So, chances are, him being on the floor, was not comfortable for him. & well, the little actress liked when everyone was happy, so it made her on edge. As well as, the nightmares.

“You’re a sweet girl."

Rachel watched him gently take the pillow from her hands, in complete shock. Mostly because, well, she wasn't expecting a compliment & such tenderness she supposed. Not that, he had been beating her all night, or calling her vulgar names, (at least out loud) but it just was a change of pace & tone from their night. She didn't know if she should enjoy this & test the waters, or take it for what it was & hop back into bed. Bed. Ugh. She couldn't imagine even attempting to get any rest at this point. It made her think too; did Mister Santiago go through this still too? The fact that he had done it more than once made her shiver in thought, but she wondered if he was feeling anything right now, or was he immune to murder? Wow. Rachel never thought she would be questioning someone she knew about that, let alone a man she was spending a night with.

He slipped the pillow behind his neck, & she didn't even know if that was enough, but it was all she could really think of. “Thank you." Rachel nodded & smiled politely, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Soooo, was this her cue now to leave him be?

“Are you… Are you alright?” Another slight shock. He was just full of all sorts of surprises tonight.

Rachel pursed her lips together, slowly making her way down to his level, kneeling in front of him. She folded her clammy hands in her lap, looking down at her twiddling thumbs, the jacket undoing itself a bit, & the cool air feeling nice against her steaming body. She shrugged, knowing that she sortive' wasn't, but not wanting to complain or anything. What use was it? They had a long day, & the last thing anyone needed to hear was about her dumb night terrors. "I'm not dead." She responded, her eyes leaving her hands to look over at him. The statement was suppose to have a humorous flair to it, but her voice just toned it all wrong. It sounded pitiful. The statement was true though, all thanks to him. Really, looking at it from the extreme side, she could be dead too... so she really was alright. Just alright.

"It's difficult to sleep..." Rachel revealed, but to him that could have been simply because, well, look at where they were. When really, it was so much more than that.

Her eyes looked over his at the bandage on his head. Rachel squinted, not really having a good view to make sure if it were healing or it was infected. "Does it hurt still?" She inquired with concern. She gulped, the moon making his eyes even more piercing brown then they were before & his features more brooding. He was.. something.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Señorita Day slid onto the floor beside him. Santiago would have been surprised that she so much as touched the filthy ground, but all things considered, Santiago knew better. He remembered the first time he’d seen someone murdered. He remembered feeling scared and alone. There hadn’t been anyone for Santiago to reach out to, not that he could have even if there was a person there. It was bad form for a Garduña to cry or talk openly about feelings. Hell, it was bad form for any man. Santiago had learned from an early age not to cry when bad things happened to you and how to play the hand you’d been dealt without griping. But… Well… Rachel Day wasn’t a Garduña. And she certainly wasn’t a man. She’d seemed so frightened, so fragile, so restless that Santiago supposed she needed an ear to bend or a hand to hold or something. He was a murderer, but he wasn’t heartless. Especially since it was his fault she was in this mess.

His desire had cooled and now, Santiago was looking at Señorita Day with clear eyes. She was just a frightened young woman. To her, he was the only thing keeping the outside world and its monsters at bay. It wasn’t a role Santiago had played before. But there was no way that Santiago was about to become her my-size teddy bear for the night.

"I'm not dead," she said, looking up at him.

It was a sentence Santiago had uttered so many times over the years that he knew it was meant to lighten the situation. But from the sound of her voice, Señorita Day made being dead sound like the more attractive option. She sounded so sad and scared… So much like a little girl. Which, Santiago supposed with his newfound clear-vision, she was still more girl than woman in a lot of ways. Santiago had inadvertently forced her to grow up tonight. For that, he was sorry. Because the same thing had happened to him years ago at the hands of a man he now called a friend: Lorenzo Reyes. Santiago seldom wasted time wishing about what might have been, but the one thing he knew for sure was that his life would have been a lot more average and a lot easier had he never crossed Lorenzo’s path. And while he wasn’t inducting Señorita Day into the gang, Santiago couldn’t help but think that her life, too, would never be the same again.

"It's difficult to sleep..." she admitted in the same plaintive tone.

Santiago nodded. It would be for a while and then things would get better for a while… Until the nightmares or screams or memories came flooding back when you least wanted them to. He wasn’t much a believer in ghost stories, but Santiago knew one thing: once you saw someone die, you were haunted. Not by the deceased’s spirit, but by your own, troubling thoughts.

"Does it hurt still?

“Hmm?” Santiago realized she was looking at his head and that he had been staring into space. “A little, but I’ve had worse.” Then, smiling a little, repeated, “I’m not dead.”

It was true. He wasn’t dead and he had had worse injuries. White, pink, and red scars in various states of healing lined Santiago’s back, chest, arms, and legs. He’d been shot, cut, and beat; he’d also been a stage hand for a number of years and hammered his own thumb, sliced his leg on a sharp piece of set, and whacked with heavy pieces of furniture that careless coworkers were carrying. In the right light, you could see them clearly enough to count.

“You know,” he said, sobering again, “The sleeping thing will get easier if you give it time. I can’t promise you’ll magically forget about tonight or that you’ll never have a nightmare or two, but it’ll fade eventually.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day


“A little, but I’ve had worse." Rachel swallowed hard. She was sure he had. "I'm not dead."

Mister Santiago was smiling lightly, but she couldn't even return it; couldn't even fake one. Now that the night was dying down, all the questions she had about him were consuming her mind, making her feel uneasy. It wasn't that she was scared of him, because if he were going to do something to her... well, she wouldn't have made it this far into the adventure. What truly was gnawing at her mind, was how did he get into all of this? Everyone had a back story to them, & his seemed, well, a little more interesting than most. She had so many questions for him. It wasn't unlike her to not have asked them already either. Rachel Day was a nosy little thing, & when something was on her mind, it was bound to come out. This was different. These were questions that had answers she knew would frighten her. Maybe, it was best if she didn't know? No. That was silly. She needed to know. She needed to know how tonight, which started off with a dumb thunderstorm, a simple lock of the Populaire doors- & now she was here. In this motel room. Hiding away from the world, because if she stepped out into it, she might not make it tomorrow. Rachel deserved to know about the man, who had her life in his hands.

"You know," She perked up from her thoughts, having been staring at him the entire time, so it wasn't obvious her mind was someplace else. "The sleeping thing will get easier if you give it time. I can't promise you'll magically forget about tonight or that you’ll never have a nightmare or two, but it’ll fade eventually.”

Tonight. Rachel would never forget tonight. She had been through things tonight, that she would never dreamed that would be put through. So many life obstacles, so much emotion, & new depths to herself she didn't even know about. It was exhausting. It was the beginning of a change for Rachel Day, & she didn't know what to think of it all. Truly, she felt like a felon. She felt disgusted all over. Sleep would be a complete stranger to her now.

At her intense thinking, Rachel Day sucked in her breath, swallowing hard. She was mustering up something inside, & it was obvious the way she was preparing. Not that she was scared of Santiago, but she was frightened of what she was demanding. "I don't want to know tonight." She spewed out, acting as if someone had to punch her gut to even get it out. Of course, the Mister sitting in front of her had no idea what she was talking about, but the least he could do was give her some time to... spit it out. "I don't want to know tonight," She repeated, finally finding her voice, & shaking her head. "& I don't even know if I want to know tomorrow, but..."

Her intense piercing eyes found his. Rachel took a breath, her voice stern & shaky. "I want you to sit me down. I want you to sit me down one night, and tell me how... how.." Her voice grew into a whisper, her eyes glazed."how you know how to clean up messes."

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Santiago’s head sank into the pillow. It was surprisingly and refreshingly soft. Probably worn from years of use by various customers. Santiago didn’t really care about that bit. Soft was soft and soft was nice. His head cocked to the side so he could look at Señorita Day even more comfortably.

"I don't want to know tonight," she sputtered.

Santiago raised an eyebrow. Didn’t want to know what, exactly? That the nightmares wouldn’t last? Santiago thought he’d been comforting.

Guess not…

"I don't want to know tonight," She repeated, catching Santiago off guard. He hadn’t expected her to continue. “And I don't even know if I want to know tomorrow, but... I want you to sit me down. I want you to sit me down one night, and tell me how... how.." Her voice grew into a whisper, her eyes glazed."how you know how to clean up messes."

Santiago swallowed hard and pulled his gaze from Señorita Day’s. Her eyes had gotten too intense and her request, too personal. On the one hand, she deserved to understand some things about tonight and about Santiago. But just enough to earn her trust. Santiago knew that his past wasn’t exactly spotless or even all that trust-encouraging. There were things he had done that he hadn’t even forgiven himself for and to share it with a relative stranger…. No. Just no. He couldn’t do it. Not now and not tomorrow. At least she was smart enough not to expect that much from him.

“Why?” he asked, his voice rough and sarcastic. “You want to learn or something?”

He sat up and the pillow fell from behind his neck to the floor. He ran hand through his black hair and sighed. He looked back at Señorita Day, slightly embarrassed by his outburst, but not entirely apologetic.

“Maybe one day, I’ll tell you. I can’t make any promises, that you’ll like what you hear or that it’ll be any time soon.” He sighed again. “Thank you for the pillow. Have a good night.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

"Why? You want to learn something?"

Wait, what? Rachel's head tilted straight, her eyes narrowing, her cheeks burning. Mister Santiago's gruff & sarcastic ways had returned. Just when she thought that ... Mmkay. What did she expect? Rachel Day knew never to expect anything from anyone- hence why she was so overly independent a lot. Well, maybe not tonight, but that was just a totally different story. Gruff & sarcastic. Ugh. Something she did not need at this moment. She was being serious too; she deserved to know everything. After everything that happened tonight, he had least could grant her that.

“Maybe one day, I’ll tell you. I can’t make any promises, that you’ll like what you hear or that it’ll be any time soon.” He sighed again. “Thank you for the pillow. Have a good night.”

Just like that, the Mister excused the actress. Rachel Day gave him a good look for a moment. A look that entwined pure anger with pure hurt. He was never going to tell her. Rachel didn't like the word, 'maybe'. Maybe one day I'll tell you. Maybe one day you could live up to my expectations & standards, Rachel.

Whew! Mommy issue flashback. Not. Okay.

Anyways, so with that Mister Santiago was saying, pretty much ruining the moment, (not that there was like, that sortive moment..) Rachel had no problem going to the other side of the room. In fact! She was even willing to draw a line, telling him that that was his side, & the other was hers. He couldn't cross it, touch it, or even look at it. That would be dramatic though, wouldn't it? Rachel Day was not into that. (if this was a sitcom, the fake laughter would erupt)

"Goodnight, mister." She said huskily through tight lips, getting up quickly, & making her way the bed. Rachel crawled into it, laying her head on the mattress, her eyes looking up at the ceiling. How was she suppose to sleep now? Rachel was too terrified to close her eyes. She wasn't going to sleep. She was going to stay up the entire-

Rachel Day fell asleep.

~~~~~

"Thank you girls!"

Rachel Day smiled to herself, after waving to her friends from down below in the lobby. This place wasn't all that bad in the daytime. Everyone seemed, well everyone seemed glowing & refreshed. Why was that? Anyways, a few of the women who worked there, had helped her out this morning- she carried bagels & muffins in her hands, having downed some milk. For a shabby motel, this place really had things to offer!

She had a restless sleep. Her eyes jolting up every hour, awaking her from her night terrors that didn't seem to go away, even after she had spoken with her grumpy roommate. The thoughts, the words, sounds, smells, eyes, kept haunting her the entire night. So, when the sun finally peeked through, even a little bit, Rachel knew that it had to be close to morning & she was getting out of that bed. Out of that room! Apart of her was almost tempted to just take off, but... she had no idea where she was. & she couldn't drive a motorcycle. Plus, Rachel could hear it now: 'Chica! You were (insert Spanish rant here). ' Then again, even if she could- Rachel didn't think she even wanted to leave Mister Santiago's side. She was, enjoying it. It pained her to admit it, but it was truth, & she didn't lie. Well, alright so last nights episode of her life, made that statement sound like she was a hypocrite. Well, before last night, Rachel Day was not a liar.

Expecting to just step outside in the hall for a moment, one of the ladies from the other night- the 'baby doll' lady, had the room next to her. To the little actresses surprise, she looked... well, she was naturally pretty. She looked normal, in comparison to last night when she wanted to bite Rachel's head off or something. Anyways, so of course, her being the social butterfly, she struck up conversation.

Once Scary now Pretty Lady: Sweet thang, how'd last night go?

Beautiful Actress Lost in Another World Rachel Day: Umm .. Umm ...

Once Scary now Pretty Lady: Yeah. My man didn't deliver either. Damn. You look like the orphan train dropped you off here. Lets get you cleaned up.

& that was the chat that had gotten Rachel Day to this point. She had a clean shower, which the woman purchased some sort of suite- so it wasn't too bad. She also gave little Day a change of clothes (http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/4327424/Lea+Michele+18046_Eyedea_ga858328_13_122_7.jpg). It smelled of some really deep fragrance, which the lady said could seduce any man, so Rachel didn't mind; as long as it didn't smell of like mold or body sweat. She had even hooked her up with some breakfast! Which, her stomach growled for. Even though he was a crab at the end of the night, Mister would be hungry too. He couldn't protect her on an empty stomach.

"Take me babaaayy or leave me..."

Rachel belted Rent to herself, going to the motel door, taking the key that she had slipped into her bra last night, & stepped into the sun lit room. Not even looking around or spotting Santiago, she turned around, her hands full, & began to close the door...

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Santiago didn’t do regret. Or at least, he tried not to. But he regretted last night, especially the tail end of the night. He didn’t have to justify himself to anyone, but there was no need for Santiago to have gotten defensive with Señorita Day. It wasn’t the murder that played time and again in his dreams, but their time spent at the motel that cropped up in had him tossing and turning in his sleep. One minute, Santiago was attracted to the girl; the next, he’d never been more irritated with anyone in his life. One minute, she was this fragile thing under his protection; the next, Rachel Day was anything but helpless. Ugh. And Santiago had probably earned a Jackass of the Year Award for the note they’d left off on.

What would you have said to Gisele if she had asked you the same thing?

That’s not fair. I loved Gisele.

Santiago awoke from his unpleasant thoughts with a start. It was blasphemy to compare any woman to Gisele, including Señorita Day. In ten years, Santiago had been with several women: girlfriends, lovers, and the rare one-night stand. And though comparisons happened every once and a while, Gisele’s memory always won out.

Santiago didn’t remember falling asleep, but he had been exhausted. Santiago almost wished he had found a different position to sleep in, though. From sleeping sitting up, slumped against the wall, Santiago’s joints and muscles ached. He massaged his neck and turned his gaze upward.

“Buenas días, chica,” he said softly. “Listen, I’m sorry for snapping at you last night. I knew it was the wrong thing to do when I said it. I’ve just never had to explain myself to anybody. Never had to justify myself or anything and I’m not really used to having… ¡Oye! ¿Chica? Are you ignoring me or are you still sleeping?”

Santiago pushed himself to a standing position and saw an empty bed with slightly tousled sheets. Santiago felt as though his stomach dropped from his gut down to the floor. Gone. Señorita Day was gone.

Santiago could remember how painstakingly she had locked each one of the doors. Nobody was getting into that motel room. Which could only mean one thing.

Señorita Day bailed. Jumped ship. Ratted him out.

She left of her own free will and the only reason Santiago could think of for her to do that was to tell the cops.

Santiago swore under his breath. She was gone, he was about to become a wanted man in Paris, and the girl had taken his leather jacket. Santiago checked his jeans pocket immediately for his keys. At least he could still make a getaway on his bike… Or catch up to her and ensure that she couldn’t tell the police or any other living soul what Santiago had done.

From the other side of the door, Santiago heard a familiar voice, singing far too cheerfully in English.

Perfect timing, he thought darkly.

The door swung open and immediately, the American girl turned around to do up the or close the door. Santiago placed a firm hand just above her head and slammed it shut for her.

“Good morning," he said, though his slick, sarcastic sounding voice sounded as though it was about to be anything but a good morning. “I just want to thank you for waking me before you vanished. It was so very thoughtful of you.”

His eyes flashed for a nanosecond as Santiago latched up the door and slammed his other palm on the other side of Señorita Day’s head.

“Where the hell were you?” he hissed. “Do you have any idea what could have happened to you? It was incredibly stupid of you to just waltz out of here like we’re staying at a five star hotel on the Rivioli. I thought you ran out on me or could be dead in some ditch somewhere! Would you like to be dead in a ditch somewhere? Because that is exactly what will happen to you if you wander these streets alone dressed like that!!”

He had no idea where Señorita Day had come by the dress. It was a white sundress that, when the light hit it just right, the silhouette of her body could be easily seen. Maybe she could get away with wearing that around the opera or at the Bois, but not in La Zone Fonecée.

“You are either incredibly stupid or absolutely insane to just slip out of here without… Without…!”

Santiago was at a loss for words. He made a guttural growling sound and pounded his fist against the door. Couldn’t she understand what she had just done? Didn’t she know why Santiago was afraid of her just up and leaving?

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

"Annnnndddd if you give a- WAH!"

Rachel Day's musical singing moment was interrupted by the door that she was closing, closing by itself. Through her shock, the little actress came to realize that doors, in fact, do not close by themselves. Holding the bagels tight, she swallowed hard, turning around to be face to face with-

"Good morning." Her eyes were only inches apart from Mister Santiago's. His hand was just right next to her head, his voice back to that seething cold tone. “I just want to thank you for waking me before you vanished. It was so very thoughtful of you.”

She shut her eyes tight, as his other hand went on the other side of her, pretty much having her pinned against the door. Thank goodness she had the food, because it was the only space between them.

Where the hell were you?” he hissed. “Do you have any idea what could have happened to you? It was incredibly stupid of you to just waltz out of here like we’re staying at a five star hotel on the Rivioli. I thought you ran out on me or could be dead in some ditch somewhere! Would you like to be dead in a ditch somewhere? Because that is exactly what will happen to you if you wander these streets alone dressed like that!!”

Wait a fine second! What was wrong with Rachel's dress! It was cute! It was white & the brightest thing in this dump! Obviously, he was no ray of sunshine. Ergh. His insults, comments, & complete cruelty she could usually take. Now, that she had been with him for this long, putting up with so much in one night- Rachel Day was going to loose it if he kept it up. Oh, & he did.

“You are either incredibly stupid or absolutely insane to just slip out of here without… Without…!”

Santiago's fist pounded into the door, but this time, she didn't jump. She didn't flinch. She didn't anything. Oh no. This little diva was angry. Beyond angry. Something that only happened once in awhile to this peppy princess. The Spanish Mister was about to see an entire new side to her. He probably wouldn't like it.

Rachel Day released a low growl, taking a blueberry bagel, & attacking it at his face; ferociously shoving it into his talk hole. "Will... you.. SHUT THE HELL UP!" Her light voice was deep- her expression piercing like a dagger- & the vulgar word, a rare thing. She could feel her cheeks burning, & her fingers dug into the remaining breakfast foods in her hands. "First off, I left because I brought you breakfast." She hissed at him, throwing the food onto the floor, snapping up at him, & stomping on it, crushing it with her foot. "Enjoy."

The rage was taken to a new level, remembering how last night had ended too. What made him so superior? What made him think he could boss her around & talk to her like that? He was, in no way, an adult figure to her. Rachel Day was her own adult, & was an adult. Just because she was laying low with him, all thanks to him, didn't mean she had to take his orders or listen to him be all 'Oooh, I'm an angry Spanish jerk'.

With force, Rachel shoved his chest, giving her space to breathe! She was heavily breathing through her nose, her hands rolled into fists. "I look pretty!" She stated through gritted teeth. "Oh, yeah, this is sooooo bad, because prancing around in a bra and skirt last night, was so much better!" She spat at him sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "And the only way I'd be dead in a ditch somewhere, is with what happened last night, thanks to your buddy ol' pal! So the only real danger around me, is you!"

Rachel Day was getting unduly upset now. She didn't know if it was all his doing, or just the fact that she woke up knowing that her life would never be the same. Nevertheless, it was all coming out now. Her eyes were welling up, her jaw cleaning, her fists wanting to pound on his chest. It was quite a different look for her.

"Do not talk to me like I am some idiot girl, because I am not. Maybe you can talk all sassy to the people who work for you back at the Opera House, but you have no right to talk that way to me." She gulped. "Do not mistaken me for just a helpless little drama queen, because I assure you, Santiago Ortiz, I am more of a woman than you know, & more of a woman than you will ever get."

Rachel cooled down, stepping back for a minute, & realizing what had just happened. Well, it was going to be quite the day, & it was only beginning.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Before Santiago could find the words to say, something was in his mouth. His eyes bulged and he sputtered for air. It took Santiago ten seconds to realize that what was in his mouth tasted good. His tongue passed over whatever it was and it hit him. Bagel. Rachel Day had just shoved a bagel into his mouth.

"Will... you.. SHUT THE HELL UP!"

If he hadn’t had the bagel in his mouth, Santiago would have followed orders anyways. He had heard Señorita Day yell at him, but nothing like this.

"First off, I left because I brought you breakfast." She hissed at him, throwing the food onto the floor, snapping up at him, & stomping on it, crushing it with her foot. "Enjoy."

Santiago swallowed hard and coughed as the bagel in his mouth went down. Oops. He’d jumped to the wrong conclusion.

“Chica—”

He took two steps forward before he was met with a shove from Señorita Day’s hands. He stumbled backwards in surprise. Santiago was easily ten inches taller than Señorita Day. He hadn’t expected that much force to come from such a small woman.

"I look pretty!" She stated through gritted teeth. "Oh, yeah, this is sooooo bad, because prancing around in a bra and skirt last night, was so much better!"

Actually, Santiago wasn’t so sure. His open mouth went a little slack as Señorita Day stepped into the sliver of light shining through the grimy window. He had been right about the fabric. In the sunlight, the curve of Señorita Day’s body was easily seen. He floundered for a snappy retort, but found himself at a loss for words. Evidently, Señorita Day saw that and seized opportunity.

"And the only way I'd be dead in a ditch somewhere, is with what happened last night, thanks to your buddy ol' pal! So the only real danger around me, is you!"

That closed Santiago’s mouth. His arms folded across his chest.

“Listen, chica—"

Ungrateful little *****… If not for me, she would be dead in the opera house right now.

"Do not talk to me like I am some idiot girl, because I am not. Maybe you can talk all sassy to the people who work for you back at the Opera House, but you have no right to talk that way to me." She gulped. "Do not mistaken me for just a helpless little drama queen, because I assure you, Santiago Ortiz, I am more of a woman than you know, & more of a woman than you will ever get."

Okay, that last bit was completely uncalled for. Santiago gritted his teeth and counted to three behind closed eyes.

“Feel better, Rachel?” he asked in an even tone, opening his eyes and meeting her gaze. “Because, I want to get one thing straight with you.” He closed the gap between them and took hold of her wrists to get her attention. He didn’t yank; he didn’t squeeze. He just held. “I’m not the bad guy. I was worried about you. And when you worry me unnecessarily, I will talk to you however I damn well please.”

He let go of her wrists and went to clean up the bagels. He picked them up and tossed the crushed pastries into the motel room’s wastepaper basket.

“Now, let’s go. Work starts in an hour.”

[xXphantomaddictedXx]

Saphira Anne Kingsley

Saphira sighed as the door closed behind her. What was taking Victor so long to arrive? She had never known him to be late for anything, and if he didn't show in the next few minutes, maybe she'd just go on a date with one of the males in the lobby downstairs! That'd show him.

There came a knock on the door, and Saphira was jolted out of her thoughts. After spying through the peephole to make sure it was really Victor, she flung the door open and gave her beloved a death glare.

"You're very late!" she yelled. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for you to get here?"

Saphira turned on her heels and flounced into the room, still sulking over Victor's tardiness. She was more than ready to unleash her fury on him, but as she saw him in the doorframe with a sad look on his face, she just couldn't do it. Saphira made the 'c'mere' signal instead.

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

Oh goodness, oh goodness. Santiago was going to completely just shoot her in the noggin right then & there. Rachel Day hadn't a clue what had gotten into her just now! She had just... snapped. She had never felt like that before; literally like a stick that someone just broke in half! It was something the little actress had never really done before, & for some reason- it felt oober refreshing afterward. Huh. He must feel refreshed all the time.

“Feel better, Rachel?” Santiago's usage of her name, caused Rachel to freeze in her breath; his tone surprisingly collected. It wasn't that it was shocking he said 'Rachel', that was her name. It just wasn't, Señorita Day. It meant something, but she just couldn't place her finger on what.

He moved toward her, & she felt the urgency to move away, but she didn't. "Because I want to get one thing straight with you." Rachel couldn't keep her eyes off of him, as he closed the space between them, his hands taking hold of her wrists. She had missed his touch. It was what she had needed last night. Somehow, she felt all this tantrum was from... well, from the lack of what she needed. Ugh. Why weren't emotions just simple!

“I’m not the bad guy. I was worried about you. And when you worry me unnecessarily, I will talk to you however I damn well please.”

Rachel didn't move, even though he done & it seemed like he was finished. What just happened? Why hadn't he yelled at her, or threw a bagel at her. Something! The fact that he was just... worried, made her feel like the worse person ever. Ugh. He was protecting her, taking her in probably unwillingly, & what did he get? A bagel in the face.

“Now, let’s go. Work starts in an hour.”

She swallowed hard, not wanting to apologize. Apart of her didn't feel like she even had too. Although, there was another part of her that was mortified & nervous too. Now, she had to go back to the Populaire, & act like none of this happened. This, not only meaning the murder, but everything else. Everything, meaning, Santiago. She didn't know if she liked that, but she knew she would have to get accustomed to it. A man like her would only be close to her, protect her, & want to spend time with he if... well, if a murder happened & she needed to keep her trap shut.

"You think it's safe?" She inquired breathlessly, feeling herself become on edge & nervous about going back there. "Can I have a gun or something?"

Psh. She knew the answer to that. She couldn't even point the object up straight. Still, Rachel was desperate. She needed to know she was protected, & having something on her helped.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Santiago was surprised with his own explanation. Worried? Worried? Since when did he care about the well-being of others?

When they are you’re responsibility.

The idea of being responsible for someone else’s well-being wasn’t entirely foreign to Santiago. But being responsible for a relatively helpless, relatively innocent young woman… That was new. Santiago did his best to disguise his surprise, but he instead, spotted something on the floor.

His leather jacket lay beside the bed. So Rachel hadn’t stolen it or lost it after all. Santiago had just overlooked it while panicking. Spectacular. He walked over to it, picked it up, and brushed the floor grime off of it. He was determined not to look at Rachel now. Partially out of his own embarrassment, but partially because he could only suspect what she must have been feeling for her little temper-tantrum… Not that Santiago hadn’t earned a tirade…

"You think it's safe?"

Santiago’s head shot up at her timid, breathless tone. He knew Ignacio de Lorca’s type of people. They wouldn’t strike in the same area twice. The opera was about as safe as they were going to get. He nodded and began to put his jacket on.

"Can I have a gun or something?"

Santiago shrugged the jacket over his shoulders and shot Rachel a sharp glance as if to say: Are you high? You couldn’t even hold it properly when you wanted to shoot me.

“You won’t need one,” he said in a tone that was softer than his gaze. “I’m good enough with a gun for the both of us. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

OOC: FIN BIC:

[IamErik771]

Victor David Santos

"You're very late! Do you know how long I've been waiting for you to get here?" Victor turned around to see his beloved Saphira glaring at him, and put on an apologetic expression. That seemed to work; the next moment, his girlfriend beckoned for him to approach. He did.

"Sorry, darling," the baritone murmured, a mischievous glimmer in his eye. "But anyway . . . what were your plans for this charming evening?" He gave the brunette a gentle peck on the cheek as he awaited her response.

[xXphantomaddictedXx]

Saphira Anne Kingsley

Saphira smirked. "Oh, I think you know very well what my intentions are. After all, why else would we be in such a sleazy place as this?"

Sauntering up to Victor, she began to trail kisses up his neck. He coughed and tried his hardest to push her away, but she would have none of it. She glared at him and pouted while playing with a few strands of his hair. After a few minutes she sighed and released him.

"Sorry, Victor," she apologized. "I don't know what got into me tonight."

[IamErik771]

Victor David Santos

"Oh, I think you know very well what my intentions are. After all, why else would we be in such a sleazy place as this?" Saphira asked, smirking. Before Victor could reply, she was all over him, kissing him on the neck as he, startled, reflexively tried to push her away. After a while, she let him go. "Sorry, Victor . . . I don't know what got into me tonight," she apologized.

"No problem, love. But do try to give me some warning next time," he chuckled, snuggling his beloved and then kissing her on the forehead. "Or I might have to get revenge," he added with a mischievous smirk.

[xXphantomaddictedXx]

Saphira Anne Kingsley

"Revenge, hmm?" Saphira giggled. "We'll just see about that!"

Finally deciding cuddling was the best option, she draped her legs across Victor's lap, stroking his left cheek. Now, she didn't have a clue what it was, but there was something appealing about Victor's left cheek. He gave a sigh of complete happiness and wrapped one arm around her waist, jolting poor Saphira out of her reverie.

Victor noticed the way Saphira was touching his left cheek. He looked at her with one raised eyebrow, as if to say, You're really attached to my cheek, aren't you? Care to explain?

"I'm sorry, my love," she murmured. "I just can't explain what is so attractive about that cheek of yours!"

That seemed to satisfy Victor well enough, and he went back to enjoying the feel of Saphira's fingers on his cheek. A moment later, she looked into his eyes -- which was kind of a mistake on her part since they made her drown.

"Victor," she whispered. "Stay with me...forever?"

[IamErik771]

Victor David Santos

"Revenge, hmm? We'll just see about that!" giggled Saphira, who then began cuddling with Victor and stroking his left cheek. The baritone raised an eyebrow at this. The brunette murmured, "I'm sorry, my love. I just can't explain what is so attractive about that cheek of yours!" Victor grinned, and the two of them looked into each other's eyes once again.

"Victor," whispered the chorus girl. "Stay with me...forever?"

"And always," replied Victor, snuggling her tightly. "I'm not going anywhere; don't you worry."

[xXphantomaddictedXx]

Saphira Anne Kingsley

"Promise," murmured Saphira, pouting a bit and pulling on Victor's hair.

Though she would never admit it to anyone other than Victor, Saphira also had separation anxiety. Her biggest fear was that everyone she loved in the world, especially Victor, would up and leave with no intention of returning. This was why Victor did his best to make sure Saphira would never have to experience the loss of their relationship.

After a silence you could cut with a knife, Saphira finally spoke up again. "I love you's not enough; I'm lost for words."

[IamErik771]

Victor David Santos

"Promise," asked Saphira, putting on her best pout as she tugged a bit on Victor's dark hair. The baritone chuckled at this, and they continued cuddling in silence for a while.

At last, the brunette spoke up again. "I love you's not enough; I'm lost for words," she murmured. Victor nodded. "Well . . . who says everything has to be spoken?" He nuzzled her neck and kissed her shoulder, neck, cheek, and lips in rapid succession, craving the closeness they shared.

[xXphantomaddictedXx]

Saphira Anne Kingsley

Catching Victor's lips in a searing kiss, Saphira closed her eyes and let feelings of ecstasy wash over her body and into her very soul. After twenty seconds (or thereabouts), she pulled away and tried to regain a normal breathing pattern. Just when Saphira felt like her breathing was stablizing, she went in for another kiss. Now, she didn't know how it was possible, but the second kiss felt more steamy than the first. Saphira twined her fingers with her beloved's and broke the kiss just long enough to steal a quick glance into his eyes. The third kiss was warm and comfortable. It made you think of things that made you feel safe.

"Who says, indeed!" Saphira confirmed.

[IamErik771]

Victor David Santos

The pair kissed again, once, twice, three times before Saphira gave her answer: "Who says, indeed!" Victor chuckled and cradled her head gently. "I love you," the baritone whispered. "So much."

Suddenly, Victor embraced the brunette tightly and began kissing her with abandon, as if he couldn't control himself. After what felt like several minutes, he finally calmed down. "Whew," he sighed. "Sorry 'bout that, love . . . I don't know what came over me."

[xXphantomaddictedXx]

Saphira Anne Kingsley

After Victor's little show, Saphira's lips were rather swollen, but she could have cared less. As she scooted a bit closer to him, an uncontrollable urge washed over her. They kissed again and again, and could not seem to pull their lips apart. Neither of them, it seemed, was able to get enough of the feeling of the other's lips. Furthermore, both of them were drunker than the most insane lunatics on the feelings of being in love. Saphira thought the urge to kiss Victor would never leave her alone!

"I do," Saphira sighed. "You just can't resist me!"

[IamErik771]

Victor David Santos

Noticing that Saphira's lips had become swollen, Victor chuckled a bit; he could only imagine how his own looked. Without warning, Saphira was once again upon him, kissing him senseless. The baritone relished the closeness they shared. He felt completely intoxicated by love, and to him, it was the most wonderful feeling in the world.

"I do," sighed the brunette, responding at last to Victor's question. "You just can't resist me!" The young man grinned up at her, gazing into her deep, ocean-blue eyes. "I'd say you're right about that . . . but you know you can't resist me either!" he replied, nuzzling her neck once again.

[xXphantomaddictedXx]

Saphira Anne Kingsley

Unfortunately -- or fortunately, depending -- the feeling of Victor's stubble on her neck sent Saphira into peals of hysterical laughter. And it wouldn't stop, even when she pinched her nose a few times. Taking a deep breath to try and calm down, Saphira looked into Victor's eyes -- and started giggling again! Furthermore, she wondered if this fit of unwanted laughter would ever subside. To be honest, Saphira was beginning to have a strange feeling that the motel -- or maybe just certain rooms -- were filled with laughing gas! What a way to kill the mood, she thought, as the laughter finally subsided.

"Guilty as charged; I really cannot resist you," Saphira smirked. "But I think someone put laughing gas in the room!"

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

The glittery streets of Paris’ high society faded into middle-class neighborhoods. Somewhere in suburbia, they lost the paparazzi. Their high-speed chase became an almost leisurely jaunt down neighborhood streets of houses they’d never own together now. They’d been talking about a new place just before things fell apart. Something less one-man-shack and more lovebirds’-nest. That dream died on the Populaire’s catwalks. Now, watching little brownstones whir by Santiago couldn’t help but wonder which one they would have picked out, or if they would have opted for an apartment, after all. He was not an overly sentimental man, but there were things he and Rachel had wanted. Sueños que ellos quierian alcanzar. Dreams they’d wanted to achieve, but never had. Would they have slipped into a suburban coma like so many other couples? Would that really have made them happier? Santiago couldn’t say, but as the porch lights went on in the neighborhoods they passed through, he wondered if it would have been worth sticking with it to find out.

The further Santiago and Rachel rode, the more dilapidated the picket fences got and the fewer street lamps there were. The headlamp of Santiago’s Harley didn’t illuminate too far into the distance and once the lamps were sparsely scattered over the blocks, Santiago knew they were headed out of suburbia and into the poorer quarters of the city. No matter what they were doing, he and Rachel always seemed to return to La Zone Fonecée. For all the murders and disappearances that went down in the shady streets of Paris’ worst neighborhood, it was the safest place Santiago could think of. He had a new gun clipped to his hip these days and no one ever thought to look here for a stage manager and Broadway actress. Never mind how well the pair could blend in with the hoodlum denizens. He was at heart a gangster and in times past, Rachel had been his girlfriend. She knew the routine. She also knew where a miracle bakery was among the tenements and by-the-hour motels.

“There’s a bakery around here, yes?” he asked, pulling up to the curb beside Nothing Special. He parked the bike and dismounted. “Cheap, quick, easy and best of all… No paparazzi. No one’s going to look for you here, chica. You’re safe.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day (http://www.lea-jon.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=419&pid=12881#top_display_media)


The cool night breeze had sent goosebumps over Rachel Day's entire body, her head having calmly rested against Santiago Ortiz's back, and the high speed adventure chase with the demonic paprazzi, had come to an end. For the rest of the way, she just let herself drift into this daydream. Where, her and Santiago were just on a usual motorcycle ride, she had no worries, and nothing else mattered in the entire universe. All that daydreaming, she had not realized where they were going, and she hadn't really cared. Because, Rachel Day trusted him. Goodness, that's the one thing she would never loose for that man. Trust. For so many reasons. She would mentally go into those reasons, but that would quickly turn her getting all emotional, and they had an entire night together that she needed to prep herself for. Oh, goodness. She just couldn't have had him drop her off somewhere, couldn't she? Well, no. Because, she was hungry. Alright, so maybe that was the truth, but it was beginning to become more of an excuse than the truth. Rachel Day wanted to spend time with Santiago Ortiz again. To not take advantage of this night, would have been silly, and she would have beaten herself over it the entire evening alone in her hotel room.

“There’s a bakery around here, yes?”

Well, first Rachel Day had to awaken from her haze, and realize just where they were. The bike came to a hault, and rising up from her position, she blinked with glazed exhausted eyes, looking around. She should have known he would take them here. They had come to this shady side of town plenty of times in the past. Rachel did not mind though. Although, her first time he had taken her, she was pretty freaked out. Of course, she had just finished aiding in murder. Oh, goodness. The things she had done. The things they had done. This place certainly had a lot of history. From hide outs, to acting like a sexy minx in front of everyone. Rachel Day hopped off the motorcycle, hearing a few bones crack in the process, and giving her arms and legs a good stretch out. Whew, it had been a long while since she had been on that thing! But, there was a bakery and there was a bar. Enough to satisfy their needs.

“Cheap, quick, easy and best of all… No paparazzi. No one’s going to look for you here, chica. You’re safe.”

Rachel Day knew she safe from the moment she felt Santiago's hands on her shoulders.

Removing the helmet from her head, Rachel whipped her hair from out of it, whipping it, before placing it on the bike. Her eyes blinked up at Santiago, and she could feel her cheeks get all hot. Alright. This was going to be a long night. It was just, she knew she had thanked him, but did he really know she meant it? Alrighty, she could not play the desperate squeaky thankful thing here.

"Well, I could buy you something from the bakery, or a drink?" She offered lightly, nodding. "I mean, it's the least I can do."

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

It had been habit leading Santiago to La Zone Fonecee. Though he lived in Le Marais, the back alleyways here were more familiar. What was more titillating than zooming through the streets of Paris with your ex-lover grasping you tight? Ending the night in La Zone Fonecee was the only way they could have gone. It just made sense when it was him and Rachel escaping the scene of a crime. Albeit the “crime” had been a multitude of traffic violations; Santiago’s adrenaline was still pumping, though. This was being alive. Not the pitiful, solo bar-crawl he’d initially had in mind for the night.

"Well, I could buy you something from the bakery, or a drink?" She offered lightly, nodding. "I mean, it's the least I can do."

Santiago still did want that drink. He was breathing hard and parched. Nothing was better on a hot spring night than a cold beer. It just felt so weird having Rachel buy it for him. When they were dating, Santiago had been a gentleman. Borderline chivalrous. Maybe not Prince Charming, but he always paid either in full or for half of whatever they did. He didn’t like having others pay for him. But this was payment. And that was what made it unbearable. His girlfriend… Ex-girlfriend… paying him for something he would have done anyways.

“All right,” Santiago agreed, biting the inside of his lip. “One drink couldn’t hurt.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day


It was gas money, it was a payment of thanks after saving her from what could have been a terrible event. It was gratitude. Rachel Day kept running through her mind justifications of her offering to buy Santiago Ortiz a drink for some reason, when months ago, it would have been normal behavior. But, this was different. Now, buying a drink was this huge production. She missed the normalcy of life sometimes. With Santiago, a lot.

"All right." He agreed. "One drink couldn't hurt."

Rachel rose her eyebrow, "No, silly," She said in a casual voice, smoothing her hands over her thighs, "a drink couldn't hurt. Especially a free one."

Breathing in the fresh cool air, she sighed. "So order yourself something, I'll go to the bakery and meet you in there."

With that, Rachel Day trailed off confidently by herself to the bakery, to not only cease this growling stomach, but get some comfort food. Emotions were high. Hell-o dessert!

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Just one, Santiago told himself. You’re driving. Don’t use this as an excuse to get crazy.

It was tempting to go into that bar and order drink after drink until he was bold enough to tell Rachel how he’d been feeling in the past months. Santiago was never a great communicator, but he also had never been a particularly interesting drunk. He didn’t make tearful confessions; he didn’t dance around like a college boy on spring break. Only a handful of times had Santiago woken up somewhere he didn’t want to be or with a woman he would never have been with otherwise. Alcohol did little to him and that was frustrating on nights like tonight when he wanted to at least take the edge off. But there was no reason he couldn’t pretend alcohol loosened his tongue a bit. He could order a beer or two and pretend he was so easily sauced so that he could tell Rachel how he really felt without her by his side and blame it on the alcohol if things went awry.

So tempting.

"No, silly," Rachel said coolly. "A drink couldn't hurt. Especially a free one. So order yourself something, I'll go to the bakery and meet you in there."

With that, she made her way towards the bakery. For a long moment, Santiago watched her walk away. The sway of her hips drew his eyes. Adrenaline and testosterone ran high after a car chase, that’s what Santiago told himself. But he knew better. It was unfair to dismiss his distraction to something solely chemical. He’d loved Rachel once. Maybe he still did. He was just so tired of watching her walk away, no matter how good she looked doing. He sighed and turned to the steps of Rein Speciaux and made his way inside to the motel’s street-level bar.

The drab brown-and-grey interior was too-familiar a sight. Santiago had spent plenty of nights here in the company of his good friend Jose Cuervo since Rachel left. The burn of tequila distracted and dulled. And it was strong. Other nights, he ordered a pitcher of sangria and slowly, but surely worked his way through the liter with Cam. That was a fun drink, to be shared and relished. But when drinking alone and trying to look neutral, Santiago chose a beer. He strode to the barstool and slid onto it.

“Voll Dam,” he ordered to the grizzled bartender.

He sighed and looked around. In a few moments, Rachel would be joining him. Until then, he’d people watch as the poor, criminal, and outcast drank the night away. Rachel would look out of place in this crowd; she always did. The only women to come in here were usually low-quality prostitutes. Santiago knew that first hand. His shins still stung when he thought about running into Chianna Mimieux here and turning her down. He didn’t regret saying “no”. He just hoped she wouldn’t turn up tonight. And then there were the men. Santiago’s age and older, it seemed. They were all either too scrawny or too thick. None were very handsome. Most were downright ugly.

The clink of a bottle against the bar got Santiago’s attention and he nodded to the bartender in thanks before picking up his beer and taking a swig. It was a normal crowd for Rein Speciaux. And the only thing making tonight different than all the rest would sweep through the door soon and Santiago better not get caught pining over Rachel when she got here.

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day



Rachel Day held the cupcake in her hands as she made her way toward the bar, her tongue licking her lips, preparing herself for this moment of ending her starvation of the day. Yes, a cupcake was exactly the cure for right now, with, not to mention, colorful sprinkles. I use to put sprinkles on everything I baked, when I baked at Santiago's apartment... Delicious, was the only word she could think of at the moment. And also the name, Santiago Ortiz... It was oozing with the fluffy vanilla cake- His pillows were always so fluffy ... The white frosting, looking like freshly fallen snow- We had a snowball fight when the snow was freshly fallen back at Christmas time... Oh, for goodness sakes! Could Rachel Day not enjoy a simple cupcake anymore without her mind going absolutely insane! It was a cupcake, Rachel Day! Eat the cupcake! Santiago Ortiz is total polar opposite when it came to cupcakes and bright things. Eat the darn cupcake! Looking down at the cupcake, her round eyes examined it for a moment. Even the cupcake was beginning to look like Santiago Ortiz. The two chocolate sprinkles were staring at her- Santiago's chocolate brown eyes were staring at her. I love the color of his eyes ... Oh her goodness, this was absolutely ridiculous! Suddenly, Rachel Day had lost her appetite.

Giving out a growl to herself, Rachel tossed the cupcake into the waste basket before entering the bar. She really needed to calm down her racing mind. Entering the bar, her eyes looking directly at Santiago with his drink, she stood in the entrance for a moment longer than usual, and realized, there wasn't going to be any calming of her racing mind. Her eyes examined him for a moment, and stole this time of him not noticing she was in there. He looked, different. Well, no, scratch that, he looked the same as usual, but something about him was different. Something was missing? Something had changed? Rachel Day could not quite put her finger on it, but she could put her finger on how handsome he was. Well, not literally put her finger on.. him. But, not even handsome right now. This atmosphere, his dark eyes- it was sexy. She could feel her cheeks getting a little tingly. But then, she realized, he wasn't hers to have anymore. Ouch, that was a hurtful thought. Okay. Gazing time was over with. It was time to take a breath, and get on with the show...

Swallowing hard, Rachel Day ignored the people around her- whether they were looking at her or not, because goodness knows that she did stick out there, and the drunken men playing pool, all that jazz, and plopped down at the stool next to Santiago. Plopping down, she faced him, her eyes meeting his, her face dropped a little, and all that bravery, slipped away.

Spinning to the bartender, she slapped a hand on the bar.

"Could I have a glass of alcohol please?"

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Santiago felt at home here. The people in tonight’s crowd were nothing like opera denizens. They were not well-dressed or wealthy. They were not perfectly sculpted and overly ambitious. They competed for places to sleep and food to eat; not solos in the limelight and richer patrons to go home with. In La Zone Fonecee, people were real, visceral. The backstabbing was literal; not petty little squabbles. There may have been no honor among thieves and criminals, but at least there was none of that fake bourgeois “morality” that gave free passes to the rich and the beautiful. It was gritty, it was tough, but it was equal. That was something. No one questioned you or threw racial slurs your way while you were just trying to keep your workroom in running order. No one expected better than jeans and a ratty t-shirt or asked you to put out your cigarette. And for the right asking price, you would only hear the things you wanted to.

Ever-watchful, Santiago scanned the dimly lit room again. Chances were, he wasn’t the only one armed here tonight. He doubted if he ever was. And Rachel wasn’t going to be the only woman in the hole-in-the-wall bar. She would be the prettiest. By the pool table, a cheaply-dyed woman with garish lips and nails clung to some lean and scraggly basset-hound of a man. There would be more, as time wore on, and Rachel would stand out against their backdrop of pleather and lace looking too-innocent and too-beautiful for her own damn good. It happened before and chances were, it could happen again.

You won’t have to protect her from this crowd, though, Santiago thought, a little moodily. She’s not your girl, Ortiz. And you already gave her a gun. If she’s as smart as you remember, she’ll have it on her.

But Rachel hadn’t known that they would end up in La Zone Fonecee. Santiago hadn’t even known. He was just perpetually loaded. It was too dangerous not to be. At least for him. What sort of misfortune could befall a Broadway actress, beyond the little showdown they’d had with the paparazzi? Santiago didn’t know, but he didn’t like how long it was taking the American woman to buy something from the damn bakery. She could be hurt or kidnapped. She could be dead. And Santiago had had enough nightmares about all of that to make the possibilities seem real.

The bell above the door rang half-heartedly and Santiago’s gaze shifted to it. His chest relaxed. He watched her walk across the dirty barroom floor with hawkish eyes and he took in her surroundings. A few of the men—still sober enough to notice a new person—looked up from their drinks and pool game. The prostitute dug her nails into her client until he yelped. Santiago clearly wasn’t the only one who thought Rachel to be the best looking in the room. But for the most part, the patrons of Rein Speciaux lost interest after the first three seconds. You got all types in a place like this. Even types like Rachel. She plopped into the barstool beside Santiago and she looked at him. Something dimmed in her eyes and Santiago knew she probably wasn’t happy that he’d actually stuck around to wait for her. He was her ex-boyfriend, after all. And though he didn’t like to think about it, he was probably part of the reason she’d gone back to New York. If Rachel was the reason Santiago had been completely bent out of shape in the past few months, he at least hoped he’d put a small dent in her self-worth the same way. It was cruel; he knew it was. And he didn’t wish her ill. He just wished, in some small, vengeful part of him, that she understood how he felt to watch her walk out of his life for her own good.

"Could I have a glass of alcohol please?"

“A woman who knows what she wants, I see,” Santiago said sarcastically, grinning from over the foamy top of his beer. “I like that.”

He shook his head and leaned against the bar.

“You’ve got to be specific,” he told her quietly. “There are plenty of people who would take advantage of indecisiveness.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day


This place was smelly. This place had strange people in it. This place was where people went if they were looking for trouble. Sure, this place had it's perks. It wasn't crowded with overly elegant people, who put Rachel under a microscope, or were constantly seeking attention, and it wasn't a fancy hotel that she could not pronounce. Plus, it was very much people watching central. In the beginning, Rachel Day hugged herself tight to Santiago Ortiz, because of how frightened she was of it. Now, it was just, not that terrifying to her. They were people. Some were people who needed a bath. Some, had weapons. But, guess what, so did Rachel now. She was not afraid of this place, and the image it was trying to uphold or whatever. Just, a different style. Rachel could appreciate it. As long as she stayed confident, and didn't start anything, then nothing could go wrong. Rachel felt safe. That could be for many reasons, and mentally, she did not want to admit that a reason could be because of Santiago Ortiz. Because, she did not need him, and he made her realize that just suddenly on the spot a few months ago. Rachel Day felt safe, because, well, she could handle herself she would like to think. Well, no, she knew she could. Rachel had come to Paris alone, walked the streets of New York alone at night. She had been incredibly independent her entire life, except, well, for a few months ago- but that was just a lesson, that Rachel Day could only fend for herself nowadays.

Fending for herself, meant she could order herself a drink.

“A woman who knows what she wants, I see,” Santiago chirped in, causing Rachel to look over her shoulder from her leaning position against the bar. He was grinning and she could tell his usual Ortiz sarcasm. “I like that.”

Okay, was that suppose to be a compliment, or was he making fun of her? Rachel Day scrunched up her face at him, the bartender doing a confused double take, but quickly put his attention elsewhere.

“You’ve got to be specific. There are plenty of people who would take advantage of indecisiveness.”

Rachel glared at him, and just stared at him for a moment. If she needed tips on how to behave at a bar, she could take a class or something. Surely, he was probably right; she never hung out as much as he did here. But, she could order herself a drink! Well, alright, to be honest, she had no idea what anything was. Alcohol was alcohol. Simple enough. But, she knew that wasn't it. There were all these fancy names, and whatnot. Rachel Day was not a drinker, at all. In fact, she had never really drank an entire drink. She had too many priorities and such to get drunk, or tipsy- or whatever. But, tonight was different. Because, she was there with Santiago. It was a rough day, and rough company to deal with mentally. So, why not?

Smushing her lips together, Rachel Day rose her eyebrows, as to say she could totally do this. "I can play this part." She told him matter of factly.

Spinning her stool back around to the bar, Rachel slammed a fist onto the bar, the bartender jumping at the sound. "Excuse me!" She sang out. "Yes! Hello there," She continued, as the bartender approached them. "I would like-"

Rachel Day froze for a moment. She had no idea what things were called.

Smoothly, she cleared her throat, smiling- "the finest of wines that you have, in a glass, with three ice cubes and a straw."

How's that for decisiveness!

Giving a wink, she nodded her head toward Santiago, "And for this gentleman, anything he orders, put on my tab for the night."

The bartender walked out, and Rachel Day moved her shoulders up and down in victory, grinning.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Rachel was the only girl Santiago ever dated who didn’t really drink. Santiago wasn’t one to be drawn to party-girls, but drinking was common place ritual in Spain. You did it with your friends, with your family, with your coworkers. A pitcher of sangria, a couple beers, and—¡bien hecho!—you had a normal night in Spain. It wasn’t in excess; most everyone knew how to hold their liquor. Even Gisele had been French. The French knew nothing if not how to put away champagne. Santiago wracked his brains to recall seeing Rachel drink. Maybe a glass of wine at a gala. Maybe. Santiago had never really seen her drink. He didn’t really want to. She may have been of age, but it ruined the image Santiago preferred to have of her. Hell, it ruined a lot of what Rachel stood for. Regardless of whether she intended to or not, Rachel exuded the origin of some vestal virgin. Big, doe-eyes. A bright, innocent looking smile. She may have been anything but angelic in the bedroom, but everything else about her put her closer to naive end of the spectrum. It was best if she stayed there. Santiago regretted selling his own innocence to Las Garduñas. If Rachel had managed to keep hers despite all the sh*t surrounding her, she ought to hang on until an actually respectable man asked her hand in marriage.

But if she was going to drink like some common guttersnipe, she at least better be smart about it. Asking a bartender for alcohol in a glass was anything but smart. You either knew exactly what you were ordering or you mixed your own damn drinks. Strangers weren’t to be trusted, especially in La Zone Fonecee. Drugs would have been easy enough for someone to slip her here and if Santiago so much as took his eyes from Rachel for half a second, the worst could happen. Especially if she left herself open.

"I can play this part,” said Rachel in a prim, tight tone.

Santiago lifted an eyebrow, biting back the ‘yeah, right’. She was a good actress—great, even—but she really ought not to put so much stock in her acting. This wasn’t a stage. It was a bar. And the other players might have very different ideas for the script. Rachel spun around and slammed her fist into the bar.

Christ, chica! Don’t be rude about it.

"Excuse me!" Rachel sang out. "Yes! Hello there," She continued, as the bartender approached them. "I would like-"

Santiago waited in anticipation.

Don’t order some embarrassing cocktail.

"the finest of wines that you have, in a glass, with three ice cubes and a straw."

Santiago groaned a laugh and shook his head. The finest wine they had here was exceptionally cheap. Disgustingly so. If this was Rachel’s first real drinking experience, she would be left cold by the retch-worthy quality of Rein Speciaux’s “finest of wines”. Besides, where did she think she was? Some posh, swanky wine bar on the Rue de Rivioli? As if Santiago would be caught dead there.

"And for this gentleman, anything he orders, put on my tab for the night," she requested as the bartender walked off.

Santiago rolled his eyes, disliking the image of a kept man, and took a deep swig from his beer. This was going to be a long night. Longer than Santiago wanted.

I’ll come out for round two after I drop her off, he thought. God knows I’ll need it. Maybe I’ll haul Cam along for the ride.

“It doesn’t need to be a big production,” Santiago pointed out flatly. “I appreciate you covering my drinks, but we could both do without the theatrics tonight.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day



Ta-Da! Thus, the alcohol beverage was ordered in a precise fashion, covering all the ice cubed and container bases, along with the polite fashion of paying for the drinks tonight. Rachel Day felt a swell of accomplishment in her chest. It was that swelling that said, yes, she could roll with the people of La Zone Finances! Not that, she wanted to make this a routine outlet, but she just wanted to be able to be somewhere, and take care of herself. Goodness, wine? Rachel Day only ever sipped. That was her thing; she sipped. After Gwendolyn's drunk stupor for so many years, Rachel was a proud non drinker. Sure, something twisted in her stomach when she ordered that drink. Something, being, her morals. But, why not? It was a drink. She was of age. She was allowed. Still, it was making her nervous. It was a big deal to her. Rachel Day never drank before, and it was something she had always been curious about. Her cast went out for drinks after rehearsal; Rachel Day went back to the hotel room alone, and watched old classic movies with Mr. Snugglesworth. It all made her feel immature. Not having plans to toss out Mr. Snugglesworth anytime soon, though. He had feelings, that would be murder. It was just, sometimes, she felt, like she needed to experience these things. She did not have a mother, or father to have the 'sex talk' with her. Rachel read a book, and asked her friends, who turned out to be so wrong. She never had anyone to talk to her about the pressures of the world, or what was truly out there. Rachel Day figured it out for herself. Huh, maybe she was more experienced and mature than she thought? So. This was okay, right? Rachel Day was mature. She had been making decisions her entire life on her own. Wow, this was her first alcoholic beverage! With... Santiago Ortiz. Again, life worked in the strangest of ways. Yeesh, it was like he was with her for her first everything. Her first... alrighty. She was not going to think about that; Rachel's cheeks would totally turn crimson.

“It doesn’t need to be a big production."

Rachel Day blinked from her leaning position on the bar, and looked over at him in a confused way.

“I appreciate you covering my drinks, but we could both do without the theatrics tonight.”

Ouch.

"Oooookay." She drawled out quietly, clearing her throat, attempting to smile and brush it off, but something still nipped at her about it. Maybe she should apologize for offering to pick up his tab for the night? Perhaps, she should be a little more depressing and monotone when she spoke with the bartender? Rachel Day stared at him for a moment, hurt managing to pass it's way through her eyes, and she suddenly felt foolish for being ... hurt? But, she couldn't help but feel insulted. Alrighty, so much for this being a fun adventure? Swallowing hard, she slowly sat her rump all the way in her seat, straightening up. Big production? Theatrics? Rachel knew she was in theatre, knew she was a drama queen at times- but did not appreciate it just being flatly said like that. She felt like she was a kid or something, and he was talking down to her. It hurt her feelings. Rachel swallowed, her jaw clenching tight, and she continued to look at the bar. Surely, she could have been over reacting, but she was not. This was who she was. She was not one of those timid little forest creatures. If that was what he wanted to surround himself with, then he could go find an incredibly dull chorus girl or something. But, Rachel Day was not going to change herself. Not that he had said that she should it was just-

Goodness, Rachel. Stop making excuses for him. He hurt your feelings with a couple sentences, just be hurt. It's okay.

"This is my first drink, Santiago, it is kind of a big production for me." Rachel Day told him in a hoarse murmur, still not looking at him. Being completely honest, she turned to him, and quietly said in a cool tone, "I wouldn't expect you to understand. It probably does seem silly to you."

The bartender set down the drink, and she stared at it for a long moment.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

They’d already been chased down by paparazzi. Did they really need to draw attention to themselves at the bar, too? With their luck, the wrong sort would mosey over to them, cause a fight and tomorrow’s headline would read “Broadway Actress Witnesses Murder” or something. They needed to keep eyes off of them tonight. Inconspicuousness was key.

"Oooookay."

Rachel looked at Santiago, quiet hurt permeating her fawn eyes. Santiago couldn’t imagine why. They were laying low. Making a big deal out of anything wasn’t laying low. It wasn’t even close. Santiago didn’t like seeing Rachel look upset, but she just needed to understand: tonight was not the night for making a scene.

"This is my first drink, Santiago, it is kind of a big production for me." Rachel’s voice was hoarse and she wouldn’t look at him. She sounded like a sullen child, told that she couldn’t go outside and play right now. Santiago understood. First drinks were ceremonial. But her timing couldn’t have been worse.

She looked up and something shifted.

“I wouldn't expect you to understand,” she said coolly. “It probably does seem silly to you."

“Not completely ‘silly’,” Santiago said quietly. “But after the night we’ve had, I’d rather be low key.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day



“Not completely ‘silly’."

Rachel Day blinked, looking over at Santiago.

“But after the night we’ve had, I’d rather be low key.”

Point taken. Point very much taken. Rachel Day nodded in agreement with tight smile. She needed to get use to this playing low key thing again. She needed to wrap her mind around the fact that that paparazzi were interested in her now

Looking back at the drink, Rachel swallowed hard, and stared intensely at it.

"So, this is the... finest wine." She sheepishly laughed.

It looked... not that appetizing. It was three ice cubes, and had a straw on it. It was what she wanted. Taking a breath, she plucked the glass from the bar, and studied it, sniffing it. She crinkled her nose. It smelled, strong. Like, a science experiment or something. Why had she even ordered this-

Wait, why had Rachel Day ordered it? Why tonight? Why this particular moment.

Over the brim of her glass, her eyes looked over at Santiago Ortiz. And then, she realized why. No. No, she would not drink over problems. She would not drink over the emotional stress over a man, even though it was so strong. How could Rachel Day stoop so low to wine to try and set the ease in? That was how people turned into alcoholics. She was not. She did not need a drink to make her mind at rest. She could control herself. Rachel Day had never felt so, upset at herself. But, it was a rough day. Being with Santiago, having him save her once again, wrapping his arms around him, and being back at this place- it mustered up so many feelings. So many thoughts. But, this wine, with three ice cubes and straw was not the answer.

Rachel Day felt like she was holding a hairy spider.

Quickly placing the drink on the bar, she cleared her throat. "Monsieur!" She called out to the bartender. "I'm so, so sorry- but may I just have a water?"

Her cheeks turning pink, she put a piece of hair behind her ear, looking back to Santiago Ortiz, and shrugged, afraid to tell him that she completely chickened out. But, Rachel would not be shocked if he read her mind. "Water is low key."

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

OOC: Apologies in advance if Santiago is b*tchy. I love you and am writing to blow off some steam. I’m writing this OOC before I write ANYTHING… just in case. BIC:

Santiago Ortiz

Santiago didn’t want to handle a high-speed chase followed by come-ons and taunts from the ruffian crowd in La Zone Fonecee. He knew he could—he wasn’t dead yet, after all—but the last thing he wanted was to run from one high-velocity activity to the next with Rachel in tow. It would only link her more intimately with Santiago’s double-life. She was already twined with him in ways he didn’t think any other woman would ever be. No need to further their connection. They were broken up for a reason. She hadn’t loved him enough. He hadn’t communicated effectively. Santiago didn’t want to fan dying flames, since they wouldn’t quite ignite when needed.

"So, this is the... finest wine."

Santiago looked at the glass sitting before Rachel. It was roughly clean, but a buildup of what Santiago assumed to be soap scum discolored the glass. A blush wine, sort of like the ones served at receptions after all the party-goers were too drunk to care about quality, it cast a pinkish shade onto Rachel’s hand. She picked it up and sniffed it; disgust unfolded on her features. She looked up over the rim at Santiago. Within seconds, the glass was back on the counter.

"Monsieur!" She called out to the bartender. "I'm so, so sorry- but may I just have a water?"

Santiago chuckled quietly. There was his Rachel. The one who gave him the hairy eyeball at Myron’s Christmas party for pulling out his flask and who Toddy St. James failed to get drunk because she thought it was gross. Santiago shut his eyes and shook his head.

"Water is low key."

He opened his eyes and looked at Rachel’s flushed face.

“I should have taken you out for a real drink,” he said, sounding a little strained. “Somewhere…”

Nice.

“…Else. You know, back in the day.”

Santiago bit down on the inside of his mouth. He didn’t want to think about “back in the day”. Back in the day with Rachel, they’d been dating. They’d been in love. That was all gone now. Now, they were coworkers and ex-lovers; nothing else. He shook his head.


“Should have is a useless phrase,” he said dismissively, picking up his drink again. “I didn’t. Maybe next time you get chased by crazy cameramen, I’ll take you for a drink in a better part of town.”


Ay Dios, this is awkward, Santiago thought, swishing back more beer. Did you just ask your ex out?


He was half-joking. But if the opportunity presented itself, Santiago didn’t think he’d let it pass him by.


F*cking sap, he chided himself. Get a new girl like you told Myron you would. Then you won’t make clumsy half-passes at your ex. At least get yourself together for tonight.

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day


She sang in high key, lived in high key, and if personality were to be place upon the notes on a piano- Rachel Day was the prime example of high key.

Low key just a new world for her, but an oldie too. She had lived it with Santiago Ortiz, but that did not count. Because, she was in love with him and got to spend her days with him. That was a high key.

It would all be different now.

“I should have taken you out for a real drink,” He told her, “Somewhere...else. You know, back in the day.”

Rachel Day sipped her water, suddenly feeling old. Back in the day is a phrase that the young actress felt she needn't use until she was at least of grandma age. She had not even had her first drink yet. But, she had mentioned the predicate of that sentence, now it was about the subject.

Him taking her out for a drink.

And, the subject did not stop there ...

“Should have is a useless phrase, I didn’t. Maybe next time you get chased by crazy cameramen, I’ll take you for a drink in a better part of town.”

Rachel set down her water, with her eyebrows she could feel almost grazing at her bangs. Which, was a descriptive way of saying they were high, and caught off guard.

Should she mention how she would now make sure she was chased by crazy cameramen again? Should she inform him that it did not matter what side of town, it was a good town, if he was with her?

Hmm. Somehow, it just didn't seem like the right thing to say.

"You should have." Rachel Day told him, her eyes glinting at him with a pixy smirk. Shrugging, she sadly looked at her water. "You... would have.." And with a final smile, she finished. "And you certainly could now."

Rachel Day was very good at English, and she sometimes liked to show it off.

"But for now, it's H20."

And with that, Rachel Day gulped her water.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Santiago squeezed his eyes closed. He had just asked his ex-girlfriend out in a roundabout way. To anyone else’s ears, it wouldn’t have sounded like that. It would have sounded like sarcasm or jesting. But Rachel knew Santiago better anyone else alive. She would look at him and know he was dead serious.

Really? She misinterpreted your attempt to tell her something important last time. Tonight’s no different.

He opened his eyes and took a swig from his beer. When he looked at Rachel again, her eyebrows had disappeared into her hairline.

"You should have,” she said, eyes bright and smile coy. But then her face fell almost instantly. "You... would have.." And with a final smile, she finished. "And you certainly could now."

Santiago cocked his head, blinking in surprise. If he were a more emotional man, he would have pumped a fist into the air and ordered a round for the whole bar. Rachel Day had just agreed to go out with Santiago. But Santiago Ortiz never counted his chickens before they hatched. She could have easily been yanking his chain. Trying to gauge where they stood. He eyed her guardedly, the ghost of a smile flickering in his eyes.

"But for now, it's H20."

Santiago was thankful he hadn’t done anything rash. He shrugged, grinned his trademark-grin and leaned against the bar, examining Rachel from over his glass.

“For now,” he agreed quietly. “But if this becomes a regular thing, you might actually want to try something stronger.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day


It was ridiculously difficult hiding away a shocked, giddy, nervous, awestruck, and a combination that really made her feel like she were in a Woody Allen musical, with the rim of her glass of water. But Rachel Day was an actor, thank goodness, or the effect of Santiago Ortiz asking her on a date and she accepting it would have tugged at her expression for sure.

Though, she felt it tugging away at her heart strings.

Throwing in a little slice of information- Going back to the theory that Rachel Day's life should be a Broadway musical, this would be the part where she would burst out into a ballad on the bar; the bar rats having a particular smokey rasp to their helping harmonies.

Just a thought.

Rachel's eyes stared at the water glass, licking her teeth, as if she were staring at it because, it was the most fantastic water she had ever tasted. In reality, it was her ignoring from the side of her eye, a grin from a man that she found body melting, and a stare that she was certainly not going to meet.

"For now." Cue the chills down her back from his soft tone. “But if this becomes a regular thing, you might actually want to try something stronger.”

Wobbling a finger at him, she nodded her head in agreement. "You are absolutely right!"

With a slam of the glass on the bar, she leaned into the bar too, resting her head on her palm, leaning toward him, and singing out in a thinking cap fashion. "How aboooouuuut..." Flashing her eyes deviously, she swiveled her shoulders dangerously.

"Water... with lemon."

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Rachel wagged a finger at him and nodded. Santiago’s grin deepened. He almost wanted to punch that grin off his own face. He hated it when his body betrayed him like that. If Santiago could have his way, he would never lose his composure; not even a little bit. For the most part, he didn’t. But Rachel had always had a way of knocking him slightly off balance. Drinking around her was a stupid idea. Alcohol impaired judgment, which meant Santiago couldn’t help but loosen up just a little.

"You are absolutely right!"

Rachel pounded her glass into the bar and swiveled to look at Santiago. She propped her head up and leaned forward. Santiago instinctively leaned forward, too. They were way too close—not yet touching or dangerously close to doing so—but it wouldn’t have taken much to remedy that fact.

"How aboooouuuut..." Flashing her eyes deviously, she swiveled her shoulders dangerously. "Water... with lemon."

Santiago chuckled softly and shook his head.

“Not quite what I had in mind,” he confessed. “But I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

He made her feel pretty. When Rachel Day was with Santiago Ortiz, all of these wonderful things were like, spewing from her! She swore, it was like, fireworks. The way he looked at her, made her feel like the most beautiful and only woman in the room. He had a way of making her bark of laughter come right in her gut; sometimes it hurt, but it hurt so good. Around him, Rachel really had no barriers up, or felt like she had to put on some act. Maybe it was wrong to feel this way, right now, right here, under the conditions of what they were, but Rachel Day hadn't felt so good in a long time. In New York, she had acted most days, and even to the outside world. She had to put on this, professionalism, or get along with everyone- be mature. But, somehow in this dingy part of town, with Santiago her ex-boyfriend, Rachel felt beautifully herself and... whole.

Yeesh. She wished that the water was some sort of alcohol, so she could excuse her thoughts and feelings.

“Not quite what I had in mind,” Rachel blinked, realizing how, close, they were. “But I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

Rolling her lips in, Rachel's eyes fell onto his, humming a laugh in between her lips. Letting her knuckle fall on the bar, she tipped her head sideways, "Well, you do know me best."

And then, her eyes fell. Her lips formed into a sad pout, and her body sat up straight in the stool. Blinking, Rachel Day formed her thoughts, her eyes lingering onto his chest. This felt- this felt right. They were sweet talking, they were leaning into one another, and yet so many things were still unspoken. About them. Well, about him and her. They were not a them. Goodness, that was, well, how it was suppose to be. Yet, tonight... Was it going to go unspoken what was happening here? Rachel gulped. That would be just falling back into the not communicating problem area. She would speak. She would muster up the courage to point out-

"Is this suppose to feel this good, Santiago?" Rachel Day piped quietly, her eyes boring into his.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

"Well, you do know me best,” Rachel said with a laugh.

He was done. No more drinking tonight. Santiago’s beer was only half gone, but he knew—knew—it had to be the reason he was pulling this close to his ex-girlfriend and smiling at her and flirting with her and wishing this was a real date. As Santiago had tried to convince Myron, he was fine and he didn’t need Rachel Day waltzing back into his life. He was at peace with his lot. He wasn’t supposed to want more. He had a damn good career. He could keep the nightmares to a dull roar. And maybe if he wasn’t so hard on his body, he could find a new novia among the throngs of Frenchwomen he encountered daily. Someone who didn’t have crazy ambitions that kept her out all night and took her across seas. Someone who didn’t drive him mad with lust one minute and make him want to ram his head into a window the next. Someone who would actually wait around for him, if not forever, then long enough for him to get his sh*t together. If he kept drinking tonight, Santiago would forget all the maddening things about Rachel and do something incredibly stupid… Like close the gap between their lips. That would only earn him a slap. Maybe a ‘how dare you!’. No good could come of impulse tonight. Santiago needed his inhibitions. Rachel already made him feel funny without being intoxicated. He did know her best and it was beyond unhealthy.

Rachel’s words didn’t just affect Santiago, though. Quickly, her full lips drew into a pout and she withdrew from him, sitting up ram-rod straight. Santiago watched Rachel’s doe-eyes blink slowly and flick to his chest. Suddenly, he felt very uncomfortable. He pulled himself away, but still leaned heavily against the bar. He almost hoped he could just bury himself in it and become part of the woodwork so that Rachel wouldn’t stare at him like that.

"Is this supposed to feel this good, Santiago?" she asked.

Her eyes met his and for an uneasy moment, Santiago hesitated. Because wrong too often felt right. Because Santiago didn’t feel good. He felt awful. He hadn’t meant to run into Rachel or take part in a high-speed chase or take her to a bar or flirt with her or feel much of anything other than betrayed familiarity around her.


“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Probably not.”

She was supposed to go off and make it big. That’s why she left Paris. It was why she was here. She wasn’t here for Santiago and he needed to avoid deluding himself into thinking she was. She was supposed to find someone better for her. He was supposed to stay here. He was supposed to carve a life for himself and fake content until he either embittered and died alone or melded into the perfect model of the suburban dream and put his gang-ridden past behind him. Santiago shook his head. He didn’t know. He probably never would.

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day


"I don't know. Probably not."

This was Rachel Day's first heart break. She had no idea how this was suppose to feel, or if tonight was even appropriate under the circumstances. Was she suppose to feel good being in his presence again? Was it so awful to find him so unbelievably wonderful still? It was such a rush, every time she was with him. Even from how long it had been since they had spoken, or been with one another in the same room, Rachel felt so many things for him. She felt good with him here, but then, remembering what they were, it felt awful.

"Yeah..." Rachel murmured off, nodding slowly. Probably not. But, then again, Santiago didn't know, no offense to him. He did not know what was suppose to feel good or bad. After all, he had made it clear that he was one confused person. She had respected that, to an extent. But, she was not going to keep her life on hold while he went out finding himself. Rachel Day felt guilty, but she knew that New York would not have been forever. While he found whatever he needed to find, Rachel did what she needed to do for her.

"Well, I don't think feeling good is such a terrible thing, so-" Awkwardly, Rachel lifted her glass, and tipped it over to him, and chugged a whole lot, to keep from this moment she had created.

Setting the water down, Rachel let out a soft burp. "Excuse me."

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Maybe Santiago had a bias against satisfaction. Maybe he clandestinely enjoyed feeling the masochistic ache of unfulfilled desire. Or maybe he was being smart about this. Sitting beside him was the girl who had broken his heart. She’d refused to stay with him, refused to give him the time needed to recollect himself and deferred their relationship in favor of Broadway dreams. Even if she genuinely felt good in his company and he in hers, she was only here for a few months time. Then what? She’d pack up and leave him for the stages of London, Munich, Budapest, Milan, and Prague. She would then be asking him to wait on her and what was he supposed to do? Nod meekly? Hand her back the same bullsh*t about not being able to wait around forever? Santiago had really loved Rachel once upon a time. Maybe he still did. He wasn’t going to let her hurt him and he wasn’t reducing what they’d had to a continental booty-call whenever she deigned to be in Paris. It felt good now, but Santiago would have rather looked back at their romance and called it a “beautiful whirlwind affair” than be strung along for years or to do the stringing.

"Yeah..." Rachel murmured.

Rachel nodded. Santiago’s beer was looking awfully good right now, but he wasn’t about to take another shot of liquid courage and try this again. What was he supposed to do? Look her in the eyes and say, ‘Querida, I don’t know what’s wrong or right, but let’s find out together’ and plant a passionate kiss on her lips? It sounded so cheap, like a paper-back bodice-ripper on sale at the supermarket check-out line. Santiago couldn’t bring himself to reduce his feelings for Rachel to that.

"Well, I don't think feeling good is such a terrible thing, so-"

She half-toasted his way and chugged the water down. Then, with an almost dainty burp, finished off the rest of her drink.

"Excuse me."

Santiago shrugged.

“Feeling good isn’t terrible,” he agreed softly. “But let’s be honest. You’re leaving when your show is done. That puts us back where we left off. I’d rather feel bad now than feel worse later.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day


Rachel Day would feel the effects of terribleness after this whirlwind adventure of today. Just like every other night, when she lied awake alone on her hotel room crunchy mattress of a bed. Sometimes, well, most of the time, okay, all the time, Rachel would lie on her side in the bed, shut her eyes, and just wrap her own arm around her stomach. And in the darkness of her eyelids, she saw Santiago behind her, felt his strong masculine arm around her. Just like old times. Just how it should be. Because, in those moments of imagination, it felt right. Her loneliness was gone, and her teary cheeks were dried. Then, she could finally sleep. But, it was just a pathetic substitute. There really was not a substitute for what that felt like; Santiago Ortiz. No arm around the stomach, no other man, no Broadway gig- nothing could compare to what Rachel Day felt like when she belonged to Santiago and he belonged to her. But, what had she done? What had he done? What had they done? Everything was gone. It was the only thing that actually made her cry during her Christmas song jams at night time. 'All I Want for Christmas' seemed like the most heart wrenchingly sad, no matter how much Mariah strived to make it peppy. But, this moment felt good. Because for this moment, she was with Santiago Ortiz, after all the nights of wishing he was with her. Soon, he would be gone, though, and Rachel would be alone on that crunchy mattress. With, her own arm wrapped around her.

“Feeling good isn’t terrible."

Santiago agreed, and Rachel nodded along with him. Especially when feeling good happened rarely nowadays. Goodness, she was sounding depressing...

“But let’s be honest. You’re leaving when your show is done. That puts us back where we left off. I’d rather feel bad now than feel worse later.”

"What? No!"

Rachel's body jolted in her stool, her hand reflexively grabbing at Santiago's jeans, and her round eyes looking into his. Well, that was quite the passionate freak out. Gathering herself, she backed away, setting her hands on her lap, and twisting them so they would not, by any means, no matter how much she wanted to, reach out to touch him again. No matter how much she needed it, or how good it felt. Because, sometimes feeling good, was not what could happen at that given time. No matter how terrible it hurt.

Her eyes seriously staring into his, Rachel's expression scrunched something stern, "Santiago, I'm not leaving again," She explained, being completely open and honest. "Paris is home to me." Why did this matter, telling him? Did she really think that that would change everything, and they could just, be together? Rachel Day would work the Europe tour from Paris, taking trains, getting transportation- but there was no possible way she could endure leaving what she viewed as home again. She was job searching. Because, who said someone could not be a equivalent to a Broadway star in Paris?

Looking at her lap, Rachel watched her finger dig into her thumb skin as a nervous tick. "I left, because..." He didn't love her anymore. He had pushed her away without saying if he would come back to her. She had nothing left in Paris, she thought.

Rachel let the sentence die out, and she shut her mouth.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Santiago didn’t mind feeling queasy and desirous and dizzy and betrayed now if it meant that a couple years down the road, he would be better off because of what he learned from his relationship with Rachel. He’d learned how to open up, but also that too much reliance on anyone other than yourself left you alone in a catwalk, wondering where you went wrong. He was already a wiser man because of her. And he was wise to put up with the dull ache down the center of his body now instead of fulfilling his threat of suicide in a few months time when she had no more use for him.

"What? No!"

Rachel lurched forward and her hands grasped at Santiago’s thigh. His lower lip dropped in surprise that he tried to mask as protest. He didn’t want her touching him. It felt too much like the old them. She wasn’t allowed to jet off to New York after ripping away from him when he needed her and then run her hands all over him. She wasn’t allowed to turn him on, even a little. Santiago’s eyes widened, narrowed, and resumed normal size all by the time Rachel retracted from him. She looked up at him with wide eyes, perhaps just as shocked by her actions as he was, but soon scrunched her face in thought.

"Santiago, I'm not leaving again," she said candidly. "Paris is home to me."

He couldn’t help the small “hmph” sound forming in the back of his throat. Home? His apartment had once been her home, but it wasn’t as though Rachel was beating down Santiago’s door since her triumphant return. She stared into her own lap, finally pulled away from him.

"I left, because..."

“Oh, I know why you left,” Santiago said quickly. “You made that very clear, Rachel.”

I’m not going to stop loving you, his mind mimicked in the high-pitched voice he would have used scathingly outloud. But I can’t wait around for you, Santiago, because I can’t put my life on hold for a f*cking month before I up and leave for New York. Yeah, chica. I know. And that’s fine. You’re happy and I’m happy for you. This would just be a lot easier if you were still an ocean away.

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

“Oh, I know why you left, you made that very clear, Rachel.”

It was almost like a slap on the face how quick he had snapped that at her. Rachel Day's squinted eyes looked up from her lap at his face. Wait, was he blaming her? Was he putting her leaving for New York City on her? The statement surely did not sound warming or of comfort. Santiago, the one who had initially left her, caused her to leave, and made it oh- so clear that he needed to be apart from her, was putting this on her? And then, that hidy-ho so-called, 'good' feeling, fizzled off. And then, Rachel Day became angry. Her cheeks became hot, her hands scrunched up the material of her jeans, and her jaw jutted out. This could not be happening right now. Rachel suddenly knew what this was about. He had this, angst, against her leaving. Well, wake-up call, Mister Ortiz, she was the second to make a leaving move! He left her. Randomly. Without warning. Without any explanation, or communication of how they could work on it. Nope. Ker-splat. He was done with her. Yeesh, he didn't even fight for her when she told him he was leaving! So obviously, it did not matter that much to him, that she was leaving. Ergh! This was so- frustrating!

"I think you made it very clear, Santiago," Her voice was low and it hit every word with a boiling crisp enunciation. "That you-"

Left me. Didn't want me.

Rachel's eyes hurt. Like, they were not wet with tears- they were painfully getting stung with tears. No! Goodness, not in here! She felt herself squiggle in her seat, not really having any escape. Her lips rolled together, not being able to control what was boiling inside of her. After all these nights, all this pain, all this uncontrollable depression- she was finally talking to him about it. About what he said to her. About why she had left. About why her entire world was thrown into New York City. She loved him. She would never stop loving him; she couldn't. Santiago did not love her anymore, and she had tried going down that path too. But, she could not. It was impossible. But it hurt Rachel- killed her- to know that it was an easy little walk for him to not love her anymore.

Without breath, Rachel looked down at her feet, a few tears splashing onto the fabric of her jeans, and her hair hiding away her face so no one else would see her in the bar, beginning to cry. She felt ashamed. She felt hurt and in pain. He had just told her on the catwalk. That night. It was so fast. Everything was so fast. Santiago did not love her, he did not want to be with her. He hadn't told her anything was wrong, because only people who loved one another, had them help them through their rough patches.

Rachel Day had tried so hard to keep it in. She had told herself that she needed to accept it, because no one ever loved her in her life. She just, wasn't lovable.

She needed to contain it, but it could no longer help itself.

But, it all blurted out in one, magically audible, pained, raspy murmur, and a hard twisted stare into Santiago's eyes.

"That you didn't love me anymore."

Rachel Day lowered her head. She needed to get out of this bar, she was going to be a mess. But her body was frozen on the stool. She was like a prisoner to her own self. She couldn't get up and leave- because she felt like her body would just collapse onto the ground, or the sobbing would become clear and audible. Right now, it was just frozen tears. Her body wanted her to face Santiago. Because, she had stated what he felt, what she knew, and what was killing her. She wasn't expecting him to be friendly about it. He didn't love her. She expected him to agree with the statement, say something in a Santiago brooding manner, and maybe get up and leave. Or, tell her it was time to go, and just take a silent motorcycle trip back to her hotel room. Rachel Day shut her eyes tight, wishing this moment had never happened- this day had never occurred- and resented the fact that she loved Santiago Ortiz more than anything in this world.

Because, he did not love her.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

A sneer toyed with Santiago’s lips. Rachel clearly didn’t understand that love was meant to be “patient”. Love meant being around. She’d been neither of those things. She had been so narrowly focused on her career and so expectant that Santiago could just magically keep them going after running on empty for weeks—maybe even months. Who had been the one endangering them in the first place? Who’d gotten them out of it? Who held her when her mother died and played Mr. Sensitivity when need be? Who introduced her to Myron “Star Maker” Bolitar, which launched Rachel’s career? Who was running an opera house and making apartment payments and losing touch with some of his nearest and dearest to accommodate his girlfriend’s schedule? Who had restructured their life around this relationship? Santiago knew the answer. Sometimes, he wondered if Rachel ever noticed. It might not have been fair to think that in the early days she hadn’t, but as work sucked up all her time and Santiago was the one expected to be supportive when Rachel got up at dawn and crept in long after the stars came out, the give and take just stopped and what used to be done willingly felt too much like obligation. Santiago couldn’t help but wonder if this was how his past flames used to feel about him. Too unavailable. Too committed to a job they knew little of. Too busy to settle down and build a life. Not that building a life with Rachel was all that sensible. Santiago knew—deep down—that even as he hurt from her apparent withdrawal, that it was better this way. He would never say “no” if she came to his door, but she needed him gone. To be successful. To be normal. Santiago could only imagine the life they would have led together. Las Gardunas would be an omnipresent force in their lives, whether in the forms of Santiago’s overdeveloped sense of paranoia or of a former friend threatening their livelihoods or—traitorous thought though it was—their family to get Santiago’s support. Santiago had known that since day one. He’d known it was a matter of time before reality sank in and he’d rather call it quits than watch Rachel be held at gunpoint on his account in a year or five. She had dreams. Aspirations. And they were so important to her… Important enough for her to leave Santiago behind. He could let her go to reach those goals. He could push her away so she would. And she would be happy in time. And he would be some form of content. Never mind that this was normal. Santiago’s relationships burned bright before going up in smoke. That was the way he was. That might have been the way love as a whole was. The only difference between before and now was that he still wished Rachel the best, even as he struggled to make sense of their new normal.

"I think you made it very clear, Santiago," Her voice was low and it hit every word with a boiling crisp enunciation. "That you-"

Santiago bristled. That he what? Needed time to gather his thoughts? To assess where they’d been headed? That he wished she would have just stayed home for a couple nights a week? Before he could blurt any of these things out to fill in Rachel’s blank, she did something Santiago hadn’t expected.

Rachel started to cry.

Santiago’s eyes narrowed in concern, but before he could focus solely on her, his gaze darted around the bar to make sure no one was watching them too intensely. He was a thirty-one year old gangster sitting in a bar with his sobbing ex girlfriend. It was uncomfortable and potentially damning. It would be equally embarrassing to throw his arms around her and hold her. In part because it would ruin his street cred, but mostly because she was his ex girlfriend. She did not want him touching her. And even if she did, it was probably only to get a small amount of satisfaction in knowing that under the cool exterior, Santiago was a mess.

Does she really want to know about that night in Myron’s apartment? he thought, studying her with wary compassion. Does she really want to know about the days you worked through a hangover because of her? Or that you don’t wear your helmet because she isn’t there to remind you to? She doesn’t love you as much as she claimed. She doesn’t need to know.

"That you didn't love me anymore."

“What?” Santiago couldn’t help it. He laughed. It wasn’t funny or amused. It was a breathy bark of a sound—disbelief taking vocal form. “You got that from ‘I need some time to think’? Ay Dios…”

He shook his head and looked Rachel seriously in the eye.

“Next time a man says that, chica,” he said softly. “Don’t tell him you won’t wait around. It means ‘give me a goddamn minute to get my life together before you freak out and move to another country’.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day


A sortive' laugh, scoff thingy noise, a sound that Rachel Day did not know how to describe and was surely not expected, made her flinch a look over at him. It was like he was almost in disbelief. The, 'what?' that came after it, told her that Santiago was taken back. Oookay, what was this shocked little game? Rachel blinked confusedly through her tears. Did he not know that she could not figure it all out; take the hint. Santiago Ortiz did not love her anymore, and what scared her, is that she had no idea when that started. The catwalk, of course, but how many days before? Weeks? Months? The thought made her stomach tie into knots, because, Rachel Day was hopelessly in love with him. That still had not changed, and it bugged her in a sense. If he loved her, he would have never broken up with her. With love, there aren't breaks. A person could not just be in a relationship full of love with someone, and the call a time-out. That's not how it was suppose to work. Work. Yes, that was the word- the verb, that Santiago should have taken action too. They could have worked on whatever he was going through. Whatever- it was such a vague word. But, he had made it that way. Santiago had never told Rachel what was bugging him, when it started, what she could do to help it, what they could do as a couple to work through it- it was just a conversation, and boom. It was done. Finished. She was completely blindsided and thrown off guard. She was left dazed and confused, and now, having to figure her own self out. But, she already had apart of her figured out. That she loved Santiago Ortiz. If that was figured out, then why did something so amazing have to end? If Santiago had loved her, and he had that figured out, then he would have kept her. He couldn't just tug on someone's heart strings like that. Rachel Day loved him. Didn't he understand that? The first time she had not called the police on him? The time she accepted him for the better person he was presently. All the, running around, hiding out. Same for him, he had done so much for her. They had done so much for eachother. It was hard to believe that Santiago could just end it like that. It scared her. He scared her. But, Rachel loved him.

“Next time a man says that, chica,” Santiago began gently. “Don’t tell him you won’t wait around. It means ‘give me a goddamn minute to get my life together before you freak out and move to another country’.”

Rachel's head twisted into a snap sideways at him. Her tears came to a standstill, and her lips rolled back. She was, angry with passion. She was so frustrated that he had just said that. That Santiago Ortiz had found some way to make this look like she was the bad guy - rather girl - in this situation. Her eyes stared at him with hurt, with wanting to explain to him her views, but he was just, so stubborn sometimes, that she did not even know if it was going to be worth it. Was it worth fighting for them t this point? Hadn't he already made up his mind? But, then again, he had not said he did not love her. It was actually making the anger subside. Was this, hope, she was feeling? Rachel Day swore that that man did not love her anymore, yet, he interpreted just now, in a way that she never thought about. But, still...

Shaking her head slowly, Rachel shut her eyes, and took a deep breath, speaking lowly to him, and looking seriously into his eyes.

"Santiago, you broke up with me." She reminded him, emphasizing who was the breaker upper and who was the breaker up...ee? She let out a huff laugh, shrugging, "Without, any, talk about what was bothering you, or what was going on- or working it through together. You needed to get your life together you said.

Rachel Day's eyes never left him.

"I went to New York, to let myself do the same thing. To let you do whatever it was you needed to do. It was never going to be-" Rachel shut her eyes, swallowing, "I could never be away from here forever." Because of you, Santiago.

Then, she felt her eyes stinging again.

"I told you," Her voice rasped in a whisper, her body slumping in defeat. "I would never stop loving you."

'I'm not going to stop loving you.'

Rachel bit her lip hard. So hard, that she could taste blood.

'I'm not. You can take as much time as you want, you can never talk to me again, but I'm not going to stop.'

Blinking the tears that streamed down her cheeks, Rachel slipped out the money from her pocket, to pay for the night's drinks. She gulped, looking over at him, and her eyes...

The were full sick of love. Because, Rachel loved Santiago. What was the point hiding it right now? She was at her weakest.

"I'm a woman of my word."

Sliding the money onto the bar, Rachel Day felt herself losing composure completely. Here was not the place to cause a scene. Not this kind of scene at least.

"I need to get some air," She told him softly, "I'm sorry. Excuse me."

Rachel Day spun out of the stool, and went out the door.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Instantly, Rachel looked rabid. Santiago was—fleetingly—very glad they were no longer together. He’d hate to be her boyfriend now, knowing that the rest of the night would probably be spent on the couch or sucking up profusely. It was a shallow, temporary thought. But Santiago didn’t know what he’d done to prompt bared teeth and serious eyes. He told her the truth. He’d needed time; not abandonment. But he’d taken what he got from her and had been piecing his life together bit by bit over the last several months while she had her freedom and career.

"Santiago, you broke up with me,” Rachel said clearly, as if talking to a slightly slow child. She laughed in that same, disbelieving way Santiago just had. "Without, any, talk about what was bothering you, or what was going on- or working it through together. You needed to get your life together you said.”

That wasn’t a break up though, was it? It was a request for time. For space. For regrouping. Rachel could have granted that without pressing for why. He didn’t need her to be burdened by his almost-irrational fears. She didn’t need to know that he’d spent the nights since she took her job at the Rouge—and after she left—haunted by memories and nightmares about what could happen to Rachel without him there and, more importantly, what could happen to her because of him. He needed to find a way to completely sever ties with the gang before really, truly committing. Or just not commit. He hadn’t realized that until the smoke settled and things were normal. How long would normalcy have lasted them anyways? A couple weeks? A year?

"I went to New York, to let myself do the same thing. To let you do whatever it was you needed to do. It was never going to be-" Rachel shut her eyes, swallowing, "I could never be away from here forever."

Santiago tilted his head, studying her. So Paris was home to her, then? Paris. Not him. It was a weird twist of luck he was still here when she returned. There was never a guarantee that Santiago would stay in one place for too long. He plucked up his beer again and took a swig.

"I told you," Her voice rasped in a whisper, her body slumping in defeat. "I would never stop loving you."

Then say what you mean, Santiago thought. Don’t say we’re over. Just agree. It was a break. Not a break up.

They could just stop blaming each other and move on. They could— No. Santiago knew that he had weighed Rachel’s career down—or could at any rate. They couldn’t just pick back up. They were committed to different worlds now, weren’t they? Worlds that intersected, but not completely. Not enough. The slam of Rachel’s hand against the bar as she pushed euros towards the barman focused all of Santiago’s attention.

"I'm a woman of my word," she said. "I need to get some air. I'm sorry. Excuse me."

Santiago bit his lip and watched as Rachel walked from the bar and out the door. Woman of her word? Did that mean the beer or that she loved him still? Santiago stared at the money on the bar for a moment, then chugged the rest of his beer and pushed off the barstool and out the door. He wasn’t just going to let Rachel roam the streets of La Zone Fonecee and risk her life because he’d done something stupid.

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

Everything around her, everything inside of her, was intensified. Rachel Day could not find her own heart beat, could not even see the outside world around her, and she couldn't wrap her mind around anything in a coherent sentence. She was completely losing it; the mask, that she had worked so hard on builing in New York City, the emotions she bottled up and put in the pit of her stomach that she could only reveal onstage or in her alone time at night. This night, was too much for her to deal with in the, trying to pretend like she did not love Santiago Ortiz, or trying to act like they were just old exes- maybe-turning-friends who were sitting down for a drink. The awkward jabber, the stares, the crisp clean statements that stung her chest. Rachel could not take it. She could not take it anymore. All she thought about, was Santiago. All she thought about, was that night when he had put this wall in between them, and she had lied in defense, saying she would not wait forever. Because, she was literally, going to wait forever. In the sense that nothing and no one looked better to her out in the world. Nothing could compare to what she felt for that man. He had literally stolen a piece of her, kept it. It was apart of her heart. Santiago Ortiz had her heart. Rachel Day wanted it back, but only if he came with it.

"Oh my goodness..." Rachel cringed in a dry sob, running her hands along her knees, and bending over for a moment. The cold air didn't feel like anything against her bare arms. She was sweating. She was ragged with emotion. Rachel felt so dizzy. It felt like walls were closing in on her, but, there really weren't any walls outside, so that was just odd. If she went back in there, things would happen. Things were happening inside of her, that were always there, that she could no longer control and deny anymore. Was this night a dream? What was she going to do? Standing up straight, her shaking fingers brushing the hair out of her face, her eyes rolling up into the night sky, not really concerened about who was around her in the streets, what side of town it was, or anything like that. Just, Santiago. The man that-
Was walking right outside.

Whipping around, a panting Rachel Day faced him, her cheeks burning with dry tears. She had never felt so vulnerable in her entire life staring at him right now. But, there she was. Here she was. Was this what he wanted? Rachel Day could not even find the strength to gulp at this point. She longinly looked at him, letting her hands die to her sides. Why was he out here? Because he had to, because he was her ride, or because, he wanted to follow her out here? Because, he cared? It was so up in the air what was going on with him. Santiago Ortiz scared her, because he was the only person who she could not pin point what was going on in his mind. He once told her that she was a mystery to him, and the same went for him. That was one of the many, many reasons she loved him.

But she needed to know what was going on with him right now. This moment.
Rachel Day stared at him after a silent moment, and weakly, begged in a whimper.

"Just, talk to me, Santiago."

That was all he had to do. That's all she wanted.

Whispering, she sniffed,

"Don't push me away."

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

Everything around her, everything inside of her, was intensified. Rachel Day could not find her own heart beat, could not even see the outside world around her, and she couldn't wrap her mind around anything in a coherent sentence. She was completely losing it; the mask, that she had worked so hard on builing in New York City, the emotions she bottled up and put in the pit of her stomach that she could only reveal onstage or in her alone time at night. This night, was too much for her to deal with in the, trying to pretend like she did not love Santiago Ortiz, or trying to act like they were just old exes- maybe-turning-friends who were sitting down for a drink. The awkward jabber, the stares, the crisp clean statements that stung her chest. Rachel could not take it. She could not take it anymore. All she thought about, was Santiago. All she thought about, was that night when he had put this wall in between them, and she had lied in defense, saying she would not wait forever. Because, she was literally, going to wait forever. In the sense that nothing and no one looked better to her out in the world. Nothing could compare to what she felt for that man. He had literally stolen a piece of her, kept it. It was apart of her heart. Santiago Ortiz had her heart. Rachel Day wanted it back, but only if he came with it.

"Oh my goodness..." Rachel cringed in a dry sob, running her hands along her knees, and bending over for a moment. The cold air didn't feel like anything against her bare arms. She was sweating. She was ragged with emotion. Rachel felt so dizzy. It felt like walls were closing in on her, but, there really weren't any walls outside, so that was just odd. If she went back in there, things would happen. Things were happening inside of her, that were always there, that she could no longer control and deny anymore. Was this night a dream? What was she going to do? Standing up straight, her shaking fingers brushing the hair out of her face, her eyes rolling up into the night sky, not really concerened about who was around her in the streets, what side of town it was, or anything like that. Just, Santiago. The man that-
Was walking right outside.

Whipping around, a panting Rachel Day faced him, her cheeks burning with dry tears. She had never felt so vulnerable in her entire life staring at him right now. But, there she was. Here she was. Was this what he wanted? Rachel Day could not even find the strength to gulp at this point. She longinly looked at him, letting her hands die to her sides. Why was he out here? Because he had to, because he was her ride, or because, he wanted to follow her out here? Because, he cared? It was so up in the air what was going on with him. Santiago Ortiz scared her, because he was the only person who she could not pin point what was going on in his mind. He once told her that she was a mystery to him, and the same went for him. That was one of the many, many reasons she loved him.

But she needed to know what was going on with him right now. This moment.
Rachel Day stared at him after a silent moment, and weakly, begged in a whimper.

"Just, talk to me, Santiago."

That was all he had to do. That's all she wanted.

Whispering, she sniffed,

"Don't push me away."

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

The dirty April breeze brushed against Santiago’s face. The air smelled like mud and garbage and too many people shoved into too small of a space. In a perfect world, Santiago would sweep out of the doors into fresh, cool air before wrapping Rachel into his arms and carrying her to his motorcycle so they could ride off into the night to sort out the rest of their lives. But Santiago’s life was not picturesque. He was a little sweaty and a lot nervous, looking at the girl he still loved as she was bathed in neon red and flickering off-yellow. The eerie light of the mostly abandoned street highlighted the tearstain tracks on Rachel’s cheeks and made her cheeks flame-red. She cast him a doleful, longing look and something in Santiago cracked. He’d just pulled himself together mere weeks before Rachel’s return. And his super-glue job wasn’t holding up very well any more.

"Just, talk to me, Santiago," Rachel whimpered. "Don't push me away."

Santiago hesitated visibly. He paused and stood like a pointer on the hunt—stiff and tall and wary. Talk? She wanted to talk now? Here?

You might not get another chance.

“I didn’t want you to leave,” Santiago said honestly, shoulders sagging a bit. “What I wanted was you to stop pulling crazy hours at the Rouge and…”

Notice me again.

That sounded so dumb. Like a petulant six year old who broke his mother’s vase for her attention. Santiago shook his head.

“Do you remember that trip to Malaga Myron wanted us to take?” he asked, raking a hand through his hair. “It… Well it didn’t scare me. It just… brought up a lot of stuff. Bad stuff. I didn’t want to talk about it—I still don’t know how. Just trust me when I say my mind wasn’t all there on that catwalk.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

This was it. Rachel Day felt a swelling in her chest, what was left of all her nerves building in her throat, and this moment of mere silence seemed like a decade. Santiago did not have to talk to her. He did not have to say anything to her. He could just get on his motorcycle and pretend like this day never happened. But, it did. Rachel had this theory- and it was pretty cliche', mind you, but it stuck. Everything happens for a reason. Today happened for a reason. This moment, that she was hanging on, felt like it would prove it wrong or right. This moment felt like it would prove everything.

“I didn’t want you to leave."

Rachel released a breath, and was left standing breathless.

“What I wanted was you to stop pulling crazy hours at the Rouge and…”

He did not even have to say anything else. Rachel Day shut her eyes for a moment, feeling something ache in her. This was apart of it? She could remember how crazy she had gotten with that. But, she was passionate. She was passionate about her work, but she was more passionate about him. Rachel felt awful. She felt, guilty. She felt like she wanted life to be like, this clicker, and she could rewind it, and show Santiago in so many ways that he was more important to her than some Rouge gig, or her career in general. But, it was too late for that. Rachel should have known. Santiago could have told her. Maybe he shouldn't have had too. When was she going to this all right? But, that was then. This was now. She had to keep telling herself that, or she would never move on in life...

“Do you remember that trip to Malaga Myron wanted us to take?”

Rachel opened her eyes, watching him dig into his hair, and she nodded.

“It… Well it didn’t scare me. It just… brought up a lot of stuff. Bad stuff. I didn’t want to talk about it—I still don’t know how."

It clicked. Something inside of Rachel Day clicked. Malaga was Santiago's home, and home for him, had much complexity to it. His past. The people in Malaga that- Well, yes all of that. Was he focused on that? Was he focused on all the badness that surrounded him and that what was keeping him from her? Rachel Day wanted to scream. Not at him, but like, all the bad stuff.

"Just trust me when I say my mind wasn’t all there on that catwalk.”

Rachel took a step mindlessly forward, blurting out-

"Mine either."

Then, setting back in a non-blurting composure, Rachel swallowed, staring at him in the eyes. She shook her head slowly, "I just, felt so- blindsided by all of what was going on-" She tried to explain, her voice breaking the words in odd places in mid-word, but she trudged through, because this could be the only oppurtunity she would get to say these kind of things. What she had wanted to say all along. It was like, her last hope.

Her eyes formed into the most serious and genuine she could ever try and make them be. Because, what she was saying next- Santiago Ortiz needed to understand Rachel Day was being as open as ever.

"When I said I wouldn't wait for you for-forever-" She quaked, her eyes burning, she squeaked, "I was- I was lying to you. I knew the moment I said it. I just..."

Had no idea how to protect, react, or do anything in that kind of situation. It was dumb. But, Rachel Day was scared of him. Not in the sense of- he was going to hurt her- he protected her for so many years. But, he could hurt her. He hurt her when he did that on the catwalk. Sure, he had his reasons, but Rachel Day went through- a lot. Not that he didn't. But Santiago Ortiz was capable of a lot of things with her emotions.

Tears rolling, she muttered through cry formed lips-

"You were always more important than my career."

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

His mind had been in a bloodstained alleyway. It had been on a boat in the middle of the night as he and Morales sunk bodies for Lorenzo. It had been in an airless apartment with a sullen, gaunt father who hardly said a word to Santiago since his mother’s death and who never asked questions about why his son came home smelling like sweat and alcohol and blood. Santiago’s mind had been anywhere but on that catwalk with Rachel the night they ended.

"Mine either," Rachel blurted, stepping towards Santiago.

He stared at her in guarded surprise. He didn’t expect understanding from the girl who broke his heart. But, then again, Santiago didn’t expect to be here. The dirty breeze was cool and too heavy against Santiago’s skin. In a perfect world, the air would be sweet and cool and the stars would be shining brightly. But Santiago’s life was anything but picturesque. He was, after all, standing and staring at his ex-girlfriend on the wrong side of town, wondering whether he had ruined all hopes of patching their broken relationship up again. Rachel stood beneath the off-yellow glow of a streetlamp and the flickering neon of the bar’s sign cast fiery red over her skin. It highlighted the prominent contours of her face: her strong nose, full lips, and chiseled cheekbones. Santiago studied her, still a little wary. The quickness and conviction of her voice told him Rachel wasn’t trying to trick him. But just because she, too, admitted fault, didn’t mean she loved him still. Or that she even had that night on the catwalk when she said she’d love him forever. Her dark eyes found Santiago’s and they held each other’s gaze quietly.

"I just, felt so- blindsided by all of what was going on-" she continued brokenly with a shake of her head. "When I said I wouldn't wait for you for-forever-" She quaked, her eyes burning, she squeaked, "I was- I was lying to you. I knew the moment I said it. I just..."

Santiago held his breath. A rush of heat spread through his chest quickly. He could feel his pulse begin to thud too hard and a dopey smile overtake his usually so-composed features. And he remembered. This was what being in love with Rachel used to feel like. The excitement at every word, the desperate clinging to her movement. And he knew that it felt right.

But it couldn’t.

It shouldn’t.

He was bad for her safety. He’d brought her too close to death and danger already. Whether it was his former gang that threatened her or a joking push into the river, Santiago was a threat to Rachel’s physical well-being. He was bad for her career. If he kissed her now, confessed all he felt it almost didn’t matter if Rachel reciprocated his feelings. She didn’t need a shadowy, camera-shy boyfriend who rightfully belonged behind bars. She didn’t need to date the stage manager of the venue she performed in—and all the rumors that would go with it. Santiago would mess up, one way or another, all Rachel had worked for. And Santiago knew that, no matter what, Rachel’s career came first. It had then, it would now. Maybe it even would forever. Now sobbing, Rachel looked at Santiago with wet eyes. He could see tears clinging to her eye lashes and wet tracks streaking her cheeks. He bit his lip. He wanted to hold her and let her tears soak into his skin until he was sure she wasn’t going to cry any more. But he was bad for her. So bad. They both knew he could be the death of her or of her career—

"You were always more important than my career," Rachel cried, as though reading Santiago’s mind.

And that settled it.

If he was so much more important than her career, then what he did next wouldn’t—couldn’t—be bad. Santiago’s eyes softened and his mouth hung a little slack. But he was smiling. It was a lopsided grin forming on his lips. In two quick strides, he closed the gap between them and scooped her into his arms. A look of relieved anguish and desire burned through his gaze.

And then Santiago kissed Rachel.

For the first time in months, he pressed his lips to hers.

They still melded together perfectly.

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

For a moment, Rachel Day had wanted to see if someone was behind her. But, nope. Santiago Ortiz was grinning at her. She felt her feet scuff into the ground, and her body stay still, scared that if she made a sudden movement, that infamous grin of his that she had missed so much, would go away. She felt his eyes change in flicker. Her heart began racing.

When he quickly closed the between them, her heart pounded.

Breathless, Rachel could feel her entire quake. Her eyes, rose and met into his. He burned into her eyes what she had only dreamt she would ever see again. She felt it swell in her chest how he was looking at her. Then, she literally felt it.

Rachel Day gasped when Santiago Ortiz scooped her in his masculine arms, feeling his strength hold her tight. Her body, in reflex, melted against him.

Then, he kissed her.

Rachel Day shut her eyes, and felt her world suddenly coming together. She felt his lips move against hers, and this warmth come over her, that made every inch of her feel all tingly. Butterflies in her stomach. Her leg popping up. Jolts of electricity shooting up. It was them again. It was them back together again.

Letting out a soft moan, Rachel pressed herself against him, her fierce shaking hands grabbing at his shirt, kissing him more passionately, more in needing. Rachel Day needed him. She felt for him. So many days, so many nights without him- so many things she could not take back, and things unsaid; things said that should not have been. But, it was all being sealed up in a kiss.

The entire world did not matter. Just, one singular person.

Both hands at the sides of his face, Rachel Day daringly scooted an inch away from his lips, her breath hot, and her entire body on fire. Her chest heaved against his, feeling this moment in a whirlwind, and it all became urgent, like he could just slip away through her fingers at any moment.

"I have to have you." She huskily told him, aggressively throwing her arms around the nape of his neck. "Santiago, I have to have you in my life, and I don't know how to figure out everything-"

Rachel gulped, boring into his eyes.

"But I already figured out that I love you. And that's enough."

Rachel Day pressed her lips onto his once more.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Santiago tried to brace himself for a slap across the face. He’d deserve one, just kissing her out of the blue. But as the kiss lingered on, Santiago’s mind became nothing but misty orange haze behind his eyelids. Rachel tasted the same—it was a flavor the Spaniard hadn’t been able to forget or find since losing Rachel in January. Beneath the salt-tears coating her lips, there was a sweet, organic taste that was just Rachel. And she didn’t resist. Her body clung to his, curving against him like perfection. Rachel moaned into his mouth and Santiago’s lips parted at the vibration so that their kiss deepened. His breathing went ragged—for a moment he didn’t breathe at all. The orange in his eyes shifted to red which swirled to purple and then rotated back dizzyingly as Rachel’s hands snaked to either side of Santiago’s face. He could feel her soft, slightly sweat-dampened palms against his cheeks. A soft guttural ripped through his throat as he leaned into her touch.

"I have to have you," Rachel murmured, aggressively throwing her arms around the nape of his neck. Santiago’s eyes flashed open and he studied her, not unhappy that things were moving just a little too fast.

"Santiago, I have to have you in my life,” she clarified. “And I don't know how to figure out everything. But I already figured out that I love you. And that's enough."

Faster than Santiago could pant out a ‘Te amo, tambien’, Rachel pressed her lips to Santiago’s again for another kiss. One hand slid down her back, finding a home at the small of her back. The other twined into her hair, grasping at the base of her skull to hold her in a deeper kiss—almost bruising in its neediness and intensity. It had been too long… So long…

God, Rachel was magnificent.

Pulling away from the kiss Santiago still maintained firm hold of her so that she had no choice but to look him in the eyes as he spoke.

“I love you, too, Rachel,” he told her fervently. His chest rose and fell with each heavy breath. “It’s been hell here without you since January.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day


It was electrifying. It was a hazing husky delusional high. Something, that Rachel Day had not felt in such a long time. She had not felt Santiago Ortiz in a long time, and now it was them. Just them. Only them. His hands, groping against her light head, and supporting the bottom of her back. Her hands, shaking with the adrenaline of pure steaming of a tensioned coming back together that she had longed for for so many months now. Rachel Day could not wrap her mind around this moment, so she stopped. She stopped thinking. She stopped wondering what was going to happen. Stopping the thoughts of just seconds ago, as she broke down in front of him. Because, now, it was real, it was them, and it was love. Rachel was feeling and doing. And all that, was all about Santiago Ortiz.

When he pulled apart, Rachel moaned in such lustful agony, her eyes beaming into his, and her lips parting as their hot, heavy breaths entwined. His firm hands kept her tight in his grasp, and she loved the feeling of being under his grasp.

“I love you, too, Rachel."

It was a good thing he was holding her, because Rachel's legs went numb.

“It’s been hell here without you since January.”

It was everything she needed to hear, to drop everything.

"Santiago." Rachel moaned breathlessly, attacking him with a fierce open-mouthed kiss, her hands groping against his chest. She shut her eyes tight, feeling his body against hers, and wanting to feel Santiago Ortiz in every which way. Emotionally, mentally, and physically. There was so much tension. So much built up. So much explosion inside of her that she could barely make out what she was doing.

But, she was walking forward, taking charge suddenly, and with this lightning of power, pushed against his chest until a few steps and Rachel Day had Santiago Ortiz pinned up against the wall of the motel. Her mouth dove into re discovering his, her body slowly heaving against his, arousing her senses even more, and pushing her groin against his. Hiking up a leg, and giving way to her tip toes, Rachel's lips trailed downward to his neck, breathing him in, taking his scent in, and feeling her eyes roll to the sky, grinning devilishly under her kisses. This was him. That was what it all felt like, as she remembered.

"Hey-" Rachel Day smooched his neck, heaving a groan- "Baby?" Her hands twisted against the fabric of his shirt, one hand sliding underneath to grasp against the tip of his pants, speaking in a peppy matter of fact voice. "I am about to rip your clothes off."

Rachel Day would probably not remember she ever said that out loud. It was probably a good thing.

Rachel Day had never thought so on her feet before, because she could not spend another second not getting to what she needed. She needed Santiago Ortiz. Right now. Right then. Tonight. No doubt about it. She needed to feel the man that she loved, and feel his body against hers. Rachel Day needed to move with him, and have him take her to the places they use to go together, to know that they were back.

Rachel Day wanted to make love to Santiago Ortiz.

"Lets make love."

Bringing her face to his, she was panting, her eyes sparking, and nerves going

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Rachel moaned Santiago’s name against his lips before devouring them again. Her hands clawed at his t-shirt and Santiago felt the cotton stretch and groan under Rachel’s fingers. She pushed him until Santiago’s back collided with something rough and hard. Each one of Rachel’s hard breaths pressed her chest against Santiago and he synched himself to her so that when she exhaled, he inhaled and they shared the air. Her hips collided with his and as Rachel hiked her leg up to steady herself, Santiago could feel heat emanating from her. Excitement tugged at him and he growled softly underneath Rachel’s lips.

"Hey-" Rachel kissed Santiago’s neck. "Baby?"

“Mmm?”

Rachel’s hands grasped Santiago’s shirt and again, he could feel the cotton go taut. Then, her fingers, warm and sensation-inducing, reached for Santiago’s waistband.

"I am about to rip your clothes off."

She sounded so blithely matter-of-fact about it that Santiago couldn’t help but chuckle. As part of him heated up for need of her, he also hoped Rachel wasn’t literally going to rip his clothes. She’d done so once during a fight and he’d been madder than hell for that. Now, he merely worried about getting back to civilization with Rachel in tow if she tore his clothes to shreds. The moment of passion was broken for a moment, giving way to amusement as Santiago grinned lopsidedly at his…

Girlfriend. Just say it. You’ve been thinking it since she got back in town.

"Let’s make love," said Rachel, panting.

Santiago’s grin deepened. He kissed her again, losing himself in the white-hot moment of desire before pulling back to look at Rachel with shining eyes.

“C’mon,” he said throatily. “We’ll get a room.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

The sun filtered through her eyes, and she did not even have to bat a single eyelash to know where she was, think a single thought to remember what had happened, because the bright smile was an automatic. Rachel Day woke up with her eyes closed, with her body still. She woke up with a genuine smile. Because, she was in a position of complete bliss. A position of having a night that she will never forget. A night of complete passion, that was her back to the man that she loved more than life itself. The man, that had made steaming love to her all night, for long hours. The hours that brought them into morning, where she had never felt so warm, so safe, so right in those arms of his. And she was waking up. Not alone. No, she could feel the warmness of him from her still position. She was waking up with Santiago Ortiz. Rachel could feel her cheeks tingle. Because, she was beginning a day with the man that she loved.

It did not even matter that they were in a motel room! With everything, the motel room felt like a castle.

Alrighty, so she could just not resist any longer! Rachel Day poked one eye open, her head nuzzled into his shoulder, and she cocked her head up, opening both eyes to see him still asleep. His bare chest against her, heaving up and down. It was the perfect picture. Rachel's smiled brightened, and she just watched him. Watched him, and regretted absolutely nothing. Why would she? Rachel loved him. It all happened so fast. This morning had come so fast. She did not feel a pinch of awkward, or thinking that they had made a mistake. Because, they had recognized the mistakes they had made last night. And that was letting go of mornings like these, nights like those, and each other in general. Rachel Day would never allow it to happen again.

Rachel bit her lip down from almost squealing or barking out a laugh at the thought of it all. There she was, in bed next to Santiago Ortiz, in just her pink panties and a blanket wrapped around her chest, with her crazy curled hair- and his bare chest right up against her, his face looking such in slumber. This moment was beautiful. Everything about Santiago was beautiful.

Goodness, this looking at him thing was making her antsy! Rachel Day inched upward, pressing the sheet against her chest, until she slowly brought her chest on top of his, her chin resting. She began breathing with him. Her fingertips grazing the sides of his chest, Rachel could not help it anymore.

Placing both hands on the pillow on the sides of his head, Rachel held her head above his, and dipped low, smooching him for a passionately sweet morning kiss. Because, he was hers. And he was there finally. And she could.

Rachel Day breathed next to his ear with a smile,

"Good morning, lover."

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

For months, Santiago hadn’t slept well. He’d close his eyes long after the sun had set and lie—still awake—in the bed he’d once shared with Rachel until sleep claimed him and dragged him into his dark subconscious. So many mornings, Santiago jolted awake, convinced he heard a gunshot outside his window or a scream, only to find he was in Le Marais and as safe as safe could be. Alone, but safe.

Last night, he hadn’t been alone.

Last night, he had spent much of his time making love to Rachel Day for the first time in months. The sounds of her sharp gasps and the weary springs of the motel mattress were the only things Santiago could remember hearing all night. Her murmuring his name; him purring back in adoring Spanglish replaced the gunshots and screams. The look of pure, uncorrupted love and desire on Rachel’s face overtook glassy-eyed corpses in Santiago’s mind. And when they’d reached their respective peaks and finally worn themselves into exhaustion, Santiago slept through the whole night, arm wrapped around Rachel—and had yet to jolt awake frantically.

Until Rachel’s lips made passionate contact with Santiago’s.

His eyes opened instantly to make sure he was really kissing Rachel and hadn’t imagined the whole night—or worse, gotten drunk and created the night with a stranger he pretended was Rachel. But she tasted like Rachel and she felt like Rachel and she looked like Rachel.

"Good morning, lover."

She sounded like Rachel. Santiago, happy this wasn’t a dream, rolled onto his side so that he and Rachel were facing one another.

“Morning, mi amor,” he mumbled back. “How did you sleep?”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

Rachel Day bit her lip to keep from grinning, but it did not do any good, when Santiago rolled onto his side, and his eyes looked at her. Does it mean that Rachel would be an easy gal if she already felt like she wanted to melt?

“Morning, mi amor."

Spanish never felt more English to her. In that instant, Rachel knew that everything was real, none of it was a daydream that she usually had during- well, most parts of the day, and Santiago Ortiz was still with her on this. Last night was wonderful, and this morning was even better. There really was not a negative thought Rachel could have at this moment. They were back!

"How did you sleep?"

Rachel Day fluttered her eyes at him, smirking. "Well..." Her finger tips did a walk up Santiago's bare arm. "I slept heavenly." With a genuine smile, her hand landed against his chest. "And that's a giant step for Rachel-kind."

Because, she did not wake up alone and scared. She did not have to imagine an arm around her, or someone behind her keeping her warm. Rachel did not have to pretend she was loved. Santiago was here now.

"You?"

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Rachel smirked and Santiago smiled sleepily at her. It was too early for grins and smirks, still. He hadn’t woken up fully and he almost didn’t want to. Santiago could hardly imagine a more perfect moment than this.

"Well..." Her finger tips did a walk up Santiago's bare arm. "I slept heavenly.” She placed a flat, firm palm against Santiago’s chest and his smile deepened. "And that's a giant step for Rachel-kind."

Santiago chuckled quietly.

"You?"

“I slept,” he assured her. “A definite improvement.”

He shook his head at his own joke. But it was true. Since Rachel left, a full night’s sleep was rare. Santiago spent most nights trying to sleep, but waking up every couple hours from a too-vivid, too-lurid dream. Last night, once asleep, he’d stayed asleep until morning light.

“So,” he started. “I’m thinking we should get dressed and—“

Santiago paused and studied the morning-splashed face of his lover. And slowly, Santiago began to realize what had just happened.

Sh*t.

The night had been beautiful and the morning sight before him was breathtaking. But as Santiago began to make proposals for the day-- breakfast, going home, anything—he began to realize what he had just done. Firstly, he had made love to his ex-girlfriend. Which either meant they were back together or were too weak to resist each other after a four-month dry-spell. Secondly, he had made love to Rachel Day. The woman he’d been driving to safety from paparazzi. A tryst on the wrong side of town would have given them more fodder for gossip than her merely getting dinner at the Café de Roses. Santiago had complicated a situation he’d been trying to remedy.

“—Figure out what we do next,” he murmured, biting down on his lip.

He didn’t regret sleeping with Rachel. He couldn’t. But he had just gone from solution to problem in a matter of hours. Never mind he’d sacrificed his principles about ex-sex, which would complicate his own life further if Myron and Cam found out. Santiago slammed his head into his pillow. They still had a long way to go, no matter what they did.

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

“I slept, a definite improvement.”

Rachel Day felt like she had just missed her life being in a musical. All this time, all this heart ache, it had been those songs where the characters are on different parts of the world, or town- wherever- but were still singing the same ballad. That was what they had been doing! Santiago's sleep was an improvement, and for Rachel it was the same. They had both still been mindlessly in love with one another, both could still make a night of it, and he was glowing. She knew she was glowing. They had never left the stage, and were still writing a musical. Or, something profound like that.

"So, I'm thinking we should get dressed and-"

She smiled bright. And go get some breakfast, go for a little walk, and make love again. Hop on the motorcycle, go back to his apartment, talk for endless hours as she whore his big shirt in just her underwear, give him a massage, and make love again.

Santiago realized something.

Rachel features fell.

She just realized it too.

His eyes remained on her, and Rachel looked back at him, her smile fading, and shifted in the sheets. No. Nothing was suppose to ruin this. Not, an after math of anything. But, there was so much of it. Santiago bit down on his lip, and she gulped. They had work. They were exes, turned- Well, Rachel hoped back together. But, that meant so much. There was so much still to figure out what had happened, and trying to calm down Santiago's thoughts of all the bad, and her being scared- and- meanwhile, deal with everyone else? The paparazzi? The gossip? The friends exploding on them? The worst part, was, the question. Would Santiago want to put up with everything? Put up with... her?

Rachel Day felt a heavy weight on her resting shoulders.

“—Figure out what we do next."

"No." Rachel protested, shaking her head against the pillow. "Nope, no-no-no." She sang out.

Twisting in her sheets, she spun around so her back was facing his. She bunched up the fabric of the sheets with her fists. "Just-" Blindly, she threw back her hand, feeling for Santiago, and her hand landing on his hair. Groping with her back still faced to him, her fingers tapped against his face and cheeks, then returning it back into a fist to her chest. "Just go back to sleep!"

Rachel Day bit the sheets, her eyes round and suddenly worried.

She began fake snoring.

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Did they own up to their one-night stand and dismiss it as a mistake? Did they embrace it as the start of a second chance at romance? Did they ignore it and go about their lives as per usual? There were a million possibilities and Santiago feared all of them to some degree. It might have been a mistake, but it was too early to judge it as such. Starting again would be beautiful, but riddled with complications. Ignoring it was next to impossible. Santiago could do it on the surface, but his inner life would again be plagued with what-ifs and why-nots. He needed answers. He needed them now. At least, he needed them before he and Rachel walked out of the Motel and back into the real world.

"No." Rachel protested, shaking her head against the pillow. "Nope, no-no-no."

That’s good, Santiago thought sarcastically. Just go ahead and freak out. Muy guay, chica. Well played.

Rachel flipped over and faced her back to Santiago. He rolled his eyes. Maybe this was why they’d broken up. Santiago had both feet in reality. Rachel only had one there. The other was in this lovely, fantasy world where things turned out all right and there were no natural consequences. Sometimes, it was endearing. But when things got serious, that act got old really fast.

"Just-" Rachel thrust her hand back and smacked Santiago in the head, ruffling his hair a bit. She tried to stroke his face, but Santiago felt more like she was poking him and coming too close to his eyes for comfort. "Just go back to sleep!"

She fake-snored, as if that would convince Santiago to do the same. He shook his head and pried her fingers from his face. He pulled closer to her.

“Look,” he said simply. “We slept together. We can either accept that in front of everyone or keep this between us. Either way, we can’t just pretend it didn’t happen.”

His stomach knotted at his next thought.

“Unless you’d rather put this behind us,” he said, trying to keep dejection out of his voice. “I mean, I’m flexible.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

When he took away her hand, brought her closer, and didn't really seem amused at her little, 'lets stay in bed' forever act, Rachel Day shut her eyes. Oh, great ...

“Look, we slept together. We can either accept that in front of everyone or keep this between us. Either way, we can’t just pretend it didn’t happen."

How did he get that out of that? Rachel rolled her eyes. Leave it to Santiago to take a little playing to the next level. She was not going to not pretend it was happening. Goodness, she wanted to stay. She did not want to deal with anything or anyone else but them.

“Unless you’d rather put this behind us, I mean, I’m flexible.”

"Are you kidding me?"

Rachel burst out, shooting up from her lying position, the sheet falling off of her chest- but, it did not cross her mind. She glanced over her bare shoulder at him- "Santiago, last night happened." She told him, "We happened. We are happening. I'm not letting you go this time, I'm sorry, but your stuck with me."

Sighing, her eyes went to the window. "I just wish we could take care of us, before getting the universe involved."

She snorted, "They annoy me."

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Santiago could already imagine it. Rachel saying a hundred times in horrified realization that this was a mistake. Maybe crying. Maybe yelling. Or maybe just calmly slipping from the bed and into her clothes. They would part ways and at work, hold their heads high and make civil talk, while avoiding each other’s gaze. In a few months time, she would be gone and Santiago would have a small window to decide whether to fight for her. She seemed so dejected last night that he hadn’t in the first place, but if she pulled away from him again, Santiago wouldn’t try to ruin her life by pining after her visibly. He chewed his lower lip. It wasn’t exactly the prettiest of imaginings, but Santiago knew that if Rachel wanted to put them behind her for good now, that it was because it was best for her. He resisted the urge to burrow into his pillow pathetically.

"Are you kidding me?"

Santiago propped himself up with a smirk. Oh, good.

"Santiago, last night happened," Rachel said firmly. "We happened. We are happening. I'm not letting you go this time, I'm sorry, but you’re stuck with me."

His lips twitched with silent laughter and he studied her. The dirty window let enough sunlight in that he could distinctly see the contours of her shoulder blades. He contemplated coming up behind her and rubbing them, as if to assure her that being “stuck” wasn’t such a bad thing. But before Santiago could do much of anything besides stare, Rachel turned to look out the window with a sigh.

"I just wish we could take care of us, before getting the universe involved." She snorted, "They annoy me."

Santiago groaned and sat up behind Rachel.

“But the thing is, they don’t just disappear because they annoy us,” he pointed out, rubbing her shoulders. “So, we have to find a way to work on us quietly enough for the rest of the universe to not snap paparazzi pictures every five seconds.”

[WanderingChild<3]

Rachel Day

When Santiago groaned too, she realized they were on the same ship.

The world outside of Rachel Day and Santiago Ortiz are what caused all the problems. That goal called a career, the bad people in Santiago's past- Just, all of it in general. Rachel knew that there was no possible way they could live in their own little world, because wonderful things like that just did not happen. But, right now, they needed to take care of them, and their oldish, newish blooming improved coupledom. She could not have anything getting in the way, or anyone. It was stressful to even think about having to tell everyone they were back again. Of course, there would be expressed concerns, questions, comments, and whatnot. Then, the paparazzi, her new friends. Then, they would have to go through issues they were having before- Alrighty. Rachel Day's brain was hurting.

But she let out a moan of pleasured relief when Santiago Ortiz read her stressing mind, and came up from behind her, rubbing her bare shoulders. He better watch it. Last time she got aroused and also fell asleep.

“But the thing is, they don’t just disappear because they annoy us,” He told her. "So, we have to find a way to work on us quietly enough for the rest of the universe to not snap paparazzi pictures every five seconds.”

Rachel Day nodded, humming in thought, and also in delight from how good his hands felt. Tapping a finger against her chin. "So, secret lovers." She put simply, having said it out loud, finding it a bit thrilling. "No one knows about us, but us. Like, absolutely no one."

She smirked deviously, "So we can work on whatever we need to work on," Rachel Day, stopping his massaging fingers, threw her back against his chest, and wrapped her arms behind her to his neck, looking up at him. "And be all stealthy with our rendezvous."

With a serious face, she quirked an eyebrow and asked lightly, "Do you think it's best for our relationship right now?"

[Mrs Nadir Khan]

Santiago Ortiz

Santiago didn’t actually have a plan. When he left work yesterday, he hadn’t planned to drive off with Rachel in tow. Once he got her to safety, he hadn’t planned to sleep with her. So anything that happened as a result had no agenda. Nothing. Just Santiago desperately wishing for normalcy and thinking last night wasn’t a mistake in the usual sense of the word. His heart didn’t regret it, but his logical side did. Not because he didn’t love Rachel, but because Santiago did not love consequences. He didn’t love facing reporters or well-meaning-but-nosy friends or the waves of guilt that he couldn’t restrain himself for just a little longer. And sleeping with Rachel and telling people about it all came with those side effects. He wanted as much as she to crawl under the covers and pretend there was no real world waiting for them. But Santiago was thirty-one years old. He’d faced unfriendly gangsters and high-handed police officers. He’d had a gun pressed to the back of his skull and knives slash at him too closely. For a man who didn’t fear death, Santiago was scared of a lot of things. Particularly what would happen if he and Rachel went public too soon.

"So, secret lovers," Rachel said, taking his words and giving them concrete form. “No one knows about us, but us. Like, absolutely no one."

It sounded a little crazy, but other than walking away or telling the world, Santiago saw no other viable option. He chewed his lower lip and kneaded at Rachel’s shoulders a little harder.

"So we can work on whatever we need to work on," Rachel continued, brushing Santiago’s fingers away and leaning against him so that she could look up into his eyes. "And be all stealthy with our rendezvous."

She had a knack for making “low-key” sound dramatic. Santiago smiled weakly at her word choice. He may not have liked the way she said it, but he was glad they understood each other.

"Do you think it's best for our relationship right now?"

“As long as you don’t give us code names, I’m in.”

[MystMoonstruck]

OOC: Kasim/Dorian and Bella Grace's encounter continues after their meeting at the Rouge Bar. BIC:

Kasim Nikolos
aka Dorian Grayson (http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k76/cynsemele/Dorian%20Grayson%20Eduardo%20Verestegui/DorianatMoulinRouge.jpg)

Dorian thought he might have dozed or perhaps lost consciousness during the cab ride. It was so quiet and peaceful after the raucous Moulin Rouge. He could focus on the warmth of her and breathe in her fragrance without seeming to be aware of her. He was curious about where they were going to end up, still half-expecting her to dump him somewhere or simply to roll him for whatever money he had left. What he had was hidden in one of those less-suspected places. But, he doubted that she was planning a mugging. So, he sort of cuddled against her~he hoped without seeming to be doing anything.

When the cab stopped, he had to resist the urge to peek, continuing to pretend the drink had gotten the best of him. He conceded that it had, as they say, taken the wind out of his sails. That should make her proud of herself. He made fitful noises, as if he was struggling to wake up.

"W-where are we?" he murmured, lashes fluttering before lifting just a peek. His thought processes were slow enough that he wasn't at first certain where they might be, just that this did not look like part of the City of Lights. "Frishka?" he asked in a throatily drowsy way.

OOC: I apologize for the brevity. Do you need more added, Natalia? BIC:

[witch]

Bella Grace

The darkness that surrounded them did not lighten as they finally reached their destination, the motel at the dark side of town. It was not a place Bella herself really liked but it would do, after all what was a bed but a place to sleep at what was the need of a five star restaurant when all you were going to do was eat?

As the cab drove along the widening roads of Paris Bella kept one eye on the driver and the other on her seeming sleeping... friend? He seemed rather out of it a fact that Bella wasn't to sure about as he seemed to cuddle a little closer with each right turn of the car.

'I'll have to remember to lock my door tonight' she thought to herself with a sigh.

Okay so once again he wasn't that bad looking, and he wasn't one for taking no for an answer... she liked that however, she had to remember that love, friendship and kindness where things that a soul could do without. The very things that made you weak and the things that more often then not wound up getting you hurt.

A man who fears nothing, loves nothing. It was a line from a movie and one that had stuck with Bella ever since she had seen it but were the knight didn't came back with an answer to the king Bella had... the fear OF love.

"W-where are we?"

The words suddenly cut through Bella's mind making her ever changing eyes realize that she was home.

"Frishka?"

"Does it really matter?"

She handed the driver her money and helped Kasim out of the car then through the door and up to her room.

"You can sleep here" she told him dropping him onto the sofa. "And the bathrooms through there. I have work tomorrow so I'll say goodnight now."

And with that she headed for her room, change (http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/witch016/clothes/Night%20Wear/Every%20Night%20Wear/Bp67dQwmkKGrHqYH-DIEug86SOnTBLtfnuVy3Q_351.jpg) and then realize he'd need a blanket or at least a pillow.

Going back out into the man room she thought she heard the gentle breaths of sleep. Quickly, quietly she made her way over to a chest full of just what she was looking for and pulled out a pillow along with a blanket.

Walking over to the sofa things in arms she was about to place the blanket over him only to freeze when she saw eyes watching her.

"Umm... Here."

[MystMoonstruck]

Kasim Nikolos
aka Dorian Grayson

"Does it really matter?" she had returned somewhat icily when he had drowsily asked their whereabouts. Then, they were on the move, and he managed not to stumble too much or hang too heavily upon her as she did what he should if he was any sort of gentleman: pay the cab, see her to the door, leave. But, she had gotten him drunk. Sooooo, perhaps he had challenged her. Still, she did not have to sledgehammer him, did she? He realized that he was in an apartment of some sort but definitely in a not-so-good part of town, territory he knew rather well. He wasn't certain if he was surprised or not. It's not as if he had expected gingham curtains and porcelain plates painted with kittycats~not from this female.

"You can sleep here," she stated as he was deposited on the couch. "And the bathroom's through there." He thought he'd caught the general direction but supposed this place was so small that there weren't a lot of possible locations. "I have work tomorrow so I'll say goodnight now."

At that, she left the room, and he stretched out as best he could before drawing up one leg so that he could take off a shoe, which he dropped to the floor before repeating the movement just before his body and mind gave out, dropping him into the slumber of the inebriated. Then, sounds reached through his ears and tickled his brain, urging him to open his eyes just to be certain that she wasn't going to slice and dice him with a cleaver. Instead, he found himself looking up into her troubled, troublesome eyes, and she looked as if she had been caught doing something like his mind had suggested instead of merely covering him with a blanket.

"Umm... Here."

"Thank you, Frishka," he murmured sleepily and yawned hugely, settling back down before he saw the pillow. "Is that for under my head or over my face?" he quipped, chuckling deeply in his throat, a drowsy sound as his lashes drifted lower and lower.

[witch]

Bella Grace

She wasn't to sure what stopped her as she was about to place the blanket over him. Maybe it was the fact that he had surprised her by still being awake enough to open his eyes, or maybe it was the fear of doing something as simple as laying a blanket over him taken the wrong way... or maybe, just maybe it was the fact that behind the blanket and pillow she was wearing less then she had let any man see her in before.

He seemed to have a look in his almost dead eyes that she couldn't read, when it came to men it was all guess work. She merely handed him the blanket and pillow and was about to turn to leave when:

"Thank you, Frishka,"

She nodded turning her head back over her shoulder, sending her long hair flying.

"Is that for under my head or over my face?"

The corner of her mouth rose and for a moment she pretended to think about it.

"I haven't really decided yet." she told him in truth "Night"

With that said she walked back to her room and shut the door falling into bed and pulling up the covers, sleep quickly taking her over.

A few hours later

Tossing, turning, the laughter filled her head.

"No" she mumbled to herself hardly enough to be heard. "Stay away from me. STAY AWAY."

The nightmares played throughout her mind and she bolted upright with a start unseeing the room around her only seeing the shadow that had fallen over her.

[MystMoonstruck]

Kasim Nikolos
aka Dorian Grayson

He was being played. He was certain of that. Why else would she get him so drunk that she had an excuse to bring him home, where she shows up wearing something just begging for a pass? He wasn't going to fall for that, wasn't going to step into that trap~whatever she had planned. So, he hadn't commented on the costume, which might have looked at home at the Rouge. It certainly would improve her tips, he mused. So, he had made the joke about the pillow, actually able to picture her trying to put him out of his momentary misery.

At last, she withdrew to her room, and he expected it to be quiet for the rest of the night. He certainly didn't intend to interrupt her rest~or his own from now on.

How much time had passed before he heard the sounds he could not guess, but it may have been soon after they began that he was awakened. In unfamiliar surroundings, even with liquor in him, he tended to skim just under the surface of sleep. It seemed the lady was subject to nightmares and talked in her sleep. He tensed as he heard her say something that carried: "Stay away from me. STAY AWAY."

So, what was he to do? It was just a nightmare, wasn't it? If he got up and went through that door, he just might get himself shot, right? She seemed the type to have a gun under her pillow or maybe a knife. No. A gun. Although... That red number could get a guy close, then she could move in with a knife a la Basic Instinct. All they had to do was fall for that helpless, troubled routine, and she had them.

So, he would stay exactly where he was and pretend that he hadn't heard a thing.

However, now that the image of knife and gun were implanted in his brain, he was beginning to wonder if he shouldn't clear out of this place. Kasim Nikolos would disappear into the darkened streets of Paris~until the next time he popped up at the nightspot. By then, so many customers would have passed before her eyes that she'd never know him, or perhaps there would be fleeting recognition. Don't I know him from somewhere? But, that would take picking up his shoes, sitting up, donning shoes, sneaking to door... That was about the point he fell asleep once more.

[witch]

Bella Grace

The dreams were getting worse with time, not better and becoming more real so much so infant that sometimes she thought she was back in those times. Pinned down under strong hands that seemed to reach out from everywhere and the pain... she remembered the pain along with the laughter which was the one thing that wasn't her own.

She had shot upright sure she was awake but seeing a shadow still over her.

"What do you want from me?" she managed to force through her lips. "Who are you?"

To anyone else that might have heard surly it was pasted as a dream but to Bella, they were memories of times not to long ago now coming back to clam her once again.

"Wake up" she whispered to herself but her eyes didn't open, instead trapped in the land of nod. "Leave me alone."

Again and again she forced herself to wake until finally she did looking around the room and remembering she had a man there.

Climbing out of the bed she made her way out and over to the bathroom stopping half way across the floor and seeing herself in the mirror.

Marks, what looked like fingernails ran down her face, her lip was bleeding and her arms had marks of black and blue.

"Oh god, what happened?"

[MystMoonstruck]

For some reason, an unfinished scene posted. Please delete this.

[MystMoonstruck]

Kasim Nikolos
aka Dorian Grayson

Dorian managed to sleep through most of the commotion in the next room, but when the door opened, it was enough to snap him awake though he continued to lie very still, not giving in to curiosity. He would pretend that he was dead to the world.

"Oh god, what happened?" The words came from very near, and he felt that they were aimed at him mainly because there was no one else around~that he knew of. Perhaps she hadn't grown out of her imaginary friend.

Sighing heavily, he finally gave up the pretense, opening his eyes to look her way. The moonlight through the windows was enough to reveal the damage to her body. Was this one some sort of lunatic? She obviously had done all of that to herself. He certainly wasn't going to take the blame! With a second sigh, he tossed aside the covers and began slipping into his shoes. The sleep had helped~what little there had been, and he managed to stand, weaving slightly. "Thank you for trying to help. Now, I must go, and you~you should perhaps find~eh~help?" The touch of a question there told him that he was in an uncomfortable situation. His hand was on the lock now, undoing it, just inches from escape. He wasn't frightened by any means, but he was ill at ease, not liking the situation he was in and hoping to escape without histrionics. All he needed was for her, dressed like that and marked like that, to shout one word: rape. Oh no!

"Frishka, you are too much for me. You are a very beautiful lady, but this... I am sorry for your troubles, but I really must go now."

[witch]

Bella Grace

How was it that this was happening again? She had thought she had left those days behind, those memories. Locked them in a box, put it in a draw and thrown away the key, as they say. Now... now the draw was open and the box was lying right beside her.

She had made her way to the main room her eyes falling to the mirror, her face was not how she remembered falling asleep nor where the marks that covered her body.

Words fell from her lips, even though she knew the answer. Her past was coming back.

"Thank you for trying to help. Now, I must go, and you~you should perhaps find~eh~help?"

"It didn't help before" she mumbled her eyes turning away from the mirror.

"Frishka, you are too much for me. You are a very beautiful lady, but this... I am sorry for your troubles, but I really must go now."

"Please, please wait. I... I know it wasn't you who did this to me and I didn't either though that maybe what you think, it's..."

She couldn't stand to explain herself, couldn't stand the pity she thought she heard in his voice at his 'sorry' but she also couldn't stand him not knowing.

"It's just something I haven't been able to deal with and please, please don;t ever say those words to me again. They said it enough time as they..."

[MystMoonstruck]

Kasim Nikolos
aka Dorian Grayson

Dorian was half-out the door when he heard her plea: "Please, please wait. I... I know it wasn't you who did this to me and I didn't either though that maybe what you think, it's..." He wasn't certain what to make of that unless a disgruntled lover had entered an exited via the bedroom window. But, he would give her the benefit of the doubt~while remaining exactly where he was: almost gone.

"It's just something I haven't been able to deal with and please, please don't ever say those words to me again. They said it enough time as they..."

"What words?" He was truly puzzled by all of this and feared that he had been brought home by a madwoman. "For you to get help?" he guessed. He was still reeling from the effects of that drink combined with the partying he had done beforehand. He wanted to be someplace quiet to sleep it off. However, he wanted it to be someplace reasonably safe, and he did not believe he was where he should be.

[witch]

Bella Grace

The words of a mad women would surly be the same as the ones that slipped from Bella's lips. She knew the scares and marks could only be explained as self inflicted though that was not the case but what else would one call the marks that hadn't been there when she fell asleep?

As Kasim went to leave she almost begged him not to, the memories of years ago flooding her mind which should have made her throw him out.

There were reasons why she mistrusted men, hated them really and these lead to the reasons of her seeming madness and strange words.

"What words?"

Bella only sighed, running a hand over her blood covered lip.

"For you to get help?"

"That... that doesn't trouble me, it was the words after that, that I was... t..to much for you, that I'm a beautiful women."

Her arms wrapped around her self, her eyes started to water as her body shook.

"Have you... have you ever seen someone, photo's of a person beaten and...and taken? Do, do you know what they sound like and what goes through their heads?"

Taking a deep breath she looked at him, dead in the eye.

"Do you know how it fells to not even be worth love, from anyone? To be worthless?"

[MystMoonstruck]

Kasim Nikolos
aka Dorian Grayson

"That... that doesn't trouble me," she denied, clarifying, "It was the words after that, that I was... t..too much for you, that I'm a beautiful woman." Dorian fought the sigh that wanted to escape as he watched her comfort her trembling self. If he was the right sort of fellow, he would fall for that, rushing to her to enfold her in protectiveness. But, this still was not beyond the potential rape scenario, and he was not about to close the distance between them. "Have you... have you ever seen someone, photos of a person beaten and...and taken? Do, do you know what they sound like and what goes through their heads?"

Wearily, he rested his head against the doorframe. What was she going on about? Perhaps there had been someone in that room. Perhaps she was someone who craved such treatment. Perhaps he had made a very big mistake in entrusting himself to her.

"No, Frishka, I do not," he lied, which seemed the wise thing to do, a better path to freedom. He would not be drawn into whatever scenario she had in mind.

But, she persisted, looking him in the eye and asking, "Do you know how it feels to not even be worth love, from anyone? To be worthless?"

The sigh did escape then. "I suppose not. Besides, everyone has some worth. I am no philosopher. I live, Frishka, from day to day as everyone must. I am not the one to help you here. I make a very poor shoulder to cry on, especially after that drink you prepared. I really, truly cannot help you." No, he would not say that he wished he could because, to do that, would mean becoming involved to a degree that likely was beyond his capability. He had no problems being shallow or being hardhearted when necessary. "I must go."

At that, he stepped through the door and began walking down the hall, occasionally putting out a hand to the wall when he felt unsteady. The night air would help. Perhaps he would risk the apartment again. He knew that he would not feel at ease till he was out of this building, away from the beautiful but crazed young woman.

OOC: Is something wrong with the site? It's taking a long time to get here, to post and to move from thread to thread. Is it just me? At least it didn't zap THIS post! BIC:

[witch]

Bella Grace

It was not something Bella spoke of, her past was just that, the past and she'd rather leave it there but at times like this. The proof was showing on her face and body, she could see it in Kasim's eyes as he thought her crazy. She mostly said what she did for his sake all turning back to the fact that she knew he wasn't to blame.

She asked him if he knew what it felt like to be worthless and to be loved by no one. A question she knew he could only answer truthfully less he was to be known as a lire.

"I suppose not. Besides, everyone has some worth. I am no philosopher. I live, Frishka, from day to day as everyone must. I am not the one to help you here. I make a very poor shoulder to cry on, especially after that drink you prepared. I really, truly cannot help you."

"I'm not asking" she pointed out with force but at lest knowing he spoke the truth.

"I must go."

She said nothing and instead watched him go at lest up to a point. She knew the drink would get to him sooner or later and so far he had done alright.

Steeping out of the shadows of her room she followed him.

"I am not asking for your help but at lest take mine until your in a cab, like I said, it would be on my head if anything happened to you and though I may not like it... I fell like I owe you that."


OCC: it's not just you, the forum is running slower.

[MystMoonstruck]

OOC: That's a relief! BIC:

Kasim Nikolos
aka Dorian Grayson

Dorian was not far enough away it seemed, for he heard all too clearly, "I am not asking for your help but at least take mine until you're in a cab, like I said, it would be on my head if anything happened to you and though I may not like it... I feel like I owe you that."

Turning to face her, he leaned against the wall, unable to hide the weariness. "Not dressed like that," he informed her, nodding at her less-than-dressed state. "Besides, should something happen to me, who would know? There is no one to look for me, to expect me home. You think you are the only one in the world alone, Frishka? Some of us do not mind so much. I do not mind at all. Now, go back to your room, take care of your wounds, and sleep for a very long time. Next time, pass up the company."

He continued his way, doubting that she would want to accompany him, not in her condition. Besides, he was fully capable of finding a cab if some driver would risk cruising this district at this hour. If not... If not... If he couldn't catch a taxi, there was that building, the wreck of a mansion with many rooms in which to crash for the night. It seemed strange to consider that setting safer than a beautiful woman's apartment.

[witch]

Bella Grace

More and more Bella felt like she was being seen as what she truly was, nothing. Her mother had said it to her often enough along with the... no best not think about that.

She tried to offer her help but it come to none anyway.

"Not dressed like that,"

For the first time that night Bella truly looked down at the clothes she was wearing, realizing to someone who didn't know her how it would look and be taken. To those who did... well it was a whole other side of the forced story.

"Besides, should something happen to me, who would know? There is no one to look for me, to expect me home. You think you are the only one in the world alone, Frishka? Some of us do not mind so much. I do not mind at all. Now, go back to your room, take care of your wounds, and sleep for a very long time. Next time, pass up the company."

Saying nothing she watched as he walked away. It was clear he wanted to get away from her, no longer the man that wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.

"I'd know." She said at last after he was out of sight and turning back into the hotel Bella could only guess what the next day would bring and if she ever saw Kasim again.

OCC: I think this thread is now ended.