Splash

[Lovely]

September 7, 2010
6:20 p.m.


It was a job well done and one he ached to finish quite literally. If he was called Oz one more time he was ready to take down the whole department. He reminded himself it was only a job, one assignment, and a town that couldn't give a damn about him once the ring was busted let alone whle he was there to lend his expertise on the case. The case was now closed and the suit was off, ready for mothballs as far as he was concerned.

He only cared for a little fresh night air right now and a soak of sore muscles that hadn't seen that much rooftop mileage in years. He'd run a hot bath and had just propped open the window to let in the cool evening breeze before he settled into steam and bubbles with a frosty bottle he toasted himself with, taking a sip and reaching behind himself to set the bottle on the edge of the sink.

So far this week had been the most traumatic in her life, worse than being born, worse than her first hunt.. worse than that first kill on that hunt. This week Annia had seen the ground scattered with her kin and the mud turning red beneath their bodies, the sound of the dogs howling and the rapid fire of guns that destroyed whatever they hit. Her sisters and brothers, but worse the little ones...

The survivors had scattered and Annia had been running since, she could hear the echoes of the dogs behind her as the hunters followed. Several of the original group of men fell as her family fought back and the two groups broke away into smaller numbers, she took out one of the group that tracked her but it didn't stop them. She'd finally gotten ahead of them and made her way to a motel, she was exhausted after days and needed to sleep. She paid for the room, locked the door, then fell half over the bed, it felt like her eyes had barely closed when she heard them again.. voices and dogs.

"Damn it." She whispered as her eyes snapped open, she sprang off the bed and she shoved the dresser in front of the door. She had to think and act fast, her steps made hardly a sound as she ran and dove out the side window, the tumble to the ground and up on her feet again would leave a bruise on her shoulder but she hardly thought about it as she was running again. Her mind was working as she ran, looking for turns and places she could go to loose the hunters, she heard the door of the room she'd been in being broken open. Her eyes noticed an open window and a split second later she was diving through it, glass was shattering as she landed and she could hear the shouts of the hunters and the barking dogs, it wasn't the window that broke but a bottle. Her eyes were wide and breath heavy as her gaze fixed on the man in the tub, just as she had with the window, she reacted in a split second. She was in the tub with the man with hardly a splash, the men were close to the window and he was sure to hear them now. She took a breath and 'dove' beneath the surface of the water, counting on the bubbles helping to hide her pressence and him to keep quiet. Perhaps her face along with teeth being so close to his precious parts might make him think twice about ratting her out.. she could only hope.

[Lovely]

The short breath at the outside of the window before she dove in was his only warning before the clatter of his bottle hitting the floor along with the girl who was now very intimately involved in his bathtime. His breath caught for a moment. Who she was wasn't as important as what was after her that set his teeth on edge. Dogs? Why? He wondered and listened to the shouts that came closer above barking as the girl in the water stayed still. How long could she hold her breath? He moved only a little to reach for the bottle that was no longer there, having to grab his second one that rested, iced in the bowl of the sink, unscathed. He turned to see the faces peering in and he motioned to his obvious bath and private time. Glancing to the shattered glass on the floor as he opened the second bottle, he shrugged. "Must've been my singing," he suggested, implying that his sour notes had caused the bottle to break, not the intrusion of the girl they were likely chasing. He began to sing roughly and randomly, the popular song that most would recognize being horribly butchered. Lucky for her being beneath the water.

Above the water, his tones made one of the dogs howl and cry. Another hound bellowed at the first and soon the cacophony drowned out his notes. One of the men looked more perplexed by the soaking man than worried that their bounty had been lost. "What's he doing? Ain't taken a bath since I was six!" His partner laughed and he explained better, "I mean bath-baths. I showered this morning, but what's -he- doing?"

The other man who was struggling against the pained dog tugging on the leash to get away from the croaking sounds looked at the man with a puckered expression. "You hear that? It's cuz he's a Brit," he muttered. "They do things different over there." The dog tugged harder as if he'd just found a king-sized squirrel to chase and the man followed jerkingly after it with the other man right behind him.

He counted another twenty seconds as he listened to the hunters and their hounds fading away in their pursuit. Admiring the grace and skill of the disappearing lady under his bubbles, he stuck a hand under the water to signal an 'okay' to come up for air.

Under the water the sounds were muffled but Annia knew they were talking, she waited tensed and ready to spring into a fight if she had to. It was pretty clear that she was agile and flexible with how neatly she'd gotten into the bath and folded herself down around the man who occupied the tub. When he signalled, she reared up gasping for breath and making the snarling, hissing, low whine of a very unhappy kitty. Her eyes, nails, and teeth were probably the most defined changes as she was on the verge of shifting and none too thrilled to be drenched, or to have been that close to the hunters and the dogs. She crouched and flattened back against the opposite side of the tub, her eyes darting between the window she hissed and growled at and staring at the man who had not turned her in it seemed. Her claws scraped at the sides of the tub where she gripped it, for a few moments she made no move to retreat from the room or aggression toward this man. She didn't say a word but the low growl like a feral cat when cornered was probably more than enough to express her feelings.

"Cheers. Can I get you a drink?" He raised the bottle to her now and took a sip, undaunted by the reared and hissing display. He watched her carefully, though, not sure she wasn't about to take a swipe at him regardless.

[Lovely]

Her head tilted slightly to one side and then the other as he didn't freak out, panic, or ask questions - other than if she wanted a drink. Her lip curled up and her nose twitched as she tried to get his scent around the water that dripped down her face and the bubbles. Her anger wasn't toward him, he'd just bought her some time when he could have turned her in. Annia watched him as carefully, if not more so than he did her. Her snarl relaxed though the changes didn't completely revert, she looked less threatening and probably a little more frightened. She shook her head slightly to his offer of the drink and her gaze moved around the room, working back to the window and then to him. "I need to get out of here.. now." She spoke in a quiet but urgent tone.

"Might as well stay and rest a while. They haven't gotten very far and they're still looking. They smell fear, you know," he said, rising slowly out of the tub. He threw out the larger pieces of broken glass and set a towel over the rest to clean up later then stepped around the corner to the low mini-fridge in the closet to get a couple more bottles anyway since he was already down one.

She wasn't blind and allowed herself the enjoyment of watching his every move, for her safety of course.. not because he was at least six feet of rippling gorgeous muscle. Her eyes hadn't been closed beneath the water but this was a much clearer view. "Stay and rest?" Her head shook a little as his words took a few seconds to get past the simple lust she felt watching him.. cats and their mood swings, back to the matter of the dogs. "I'm soaking wet.. it's not exactly comfy for resting or in general.." She pointed out quietly, her eyes only left him to glance to the window and then her gaze went back to watching for him to come back around the corner. She shifted a little to try and see into the rest of his room.

"Robe on the hook, there. Better that your clothes are wet," he said, pointing out the robe as he hung a crisp shirt that would cover her under it and held out the beer to her. "Mask your scent for a while and they'll leave you alone. Dry off and put that on if you're that modest, but you might as well wash those and let them dry before you dart off. What's the hurry?"

She'd written off ever trusting anyone outside her family again yet this man was quickly winning her over with his charm and cool demeanor in the face of such an unusual situation. He had clothes and seemed willing to share, but why? "Smart man.." She murmured, looking toward the hook with the robe and the shirt he'd offered. She started to wonder more about the man but remained wary, her eyes darting around the small room, lingering on the clothes and on him. She was still sitting in the tub, because she and her clothes were soaked, she was tempted by the robe but needed to know more. "Why would you help me?"

"Some reason I shouldn't?" He shrugged a little and watched her as he drank another sip. "The tile is a little cool. You might as well make the best of it. I was done, anyway," he said, grabbing a towel off the rack for himself and turning to leave her with the warm water and a little privacy.

[Lovely]

Well that was an easy question to answer and she smiled faintly. "Because they will likely kill you if they find out you helped me." She thought about that a second and then reconsidered taking his offer of any sort of help. "Do you have a set of clothes I can.. have? .. and a plastic bag.." She would take her wet clothes and dump them somewhere or hope to find somewhere to dry them.

"Only likely? Then my odds must be pretty good that they won't," he said, tucking his towel around his waist. He shook his head to her request as he leaned at the doorway. "I don't. Shirt's on loan while you're here, though. They've checked me and cleared me already. I never met you, don't know you, don't have a name or a history. Maybe someday I will, but you're probably safest here at least until check-out time. I could drop you off a few towns away which is better than getting there on foot."

He was kind of cocky and with him standing there in only his towel it was pretty appealing, especially to the animal within her but she had to warn him. "It wont take them long to figure out the trail is gone and come back looking around here.. mind closing the window and the shade?" She sighed, pulled the plug so the tub would drain, and started stripping out of the wet stuff she was wearing. He hadn't been shy or turned away or asked her to and now she did the same, keeping him in her gaze as she peeled the wet clothes off.

"Worried about me? That's sweet. Though, I think they're too scared I might sing again," he grinned, closing the window and shade as she'd asked. She didn't wait for him to leave, so he leaned by the window, listening for the dogs, but paying more attention to her as she got out of his bath.

She dropped the wet clothes in the bottom of the tub and reached for a towel to dry her skin before putting on the borrowed robe. "Maybe.. more like I've seen enough people die lately.. I don't want your blood on my hands." She explained quietly as she stepped out of the tub and faced him, the honesty of her words and the pain shone out in her eyes. "I'm sorry I missed your singing.. and interupted your leisure time."

"I missed it, too. I don't do it often and probably with good reason. I'm sorry for your loss, but you don't need to worry about me. I've got other plans tomorrow that don't involve mobs, dogs or getting myself killed. They're not the sheriff's boys, that much I know. I spent half the day with them. So.. who are they and why would they be after a bit like you, hm?"

"Well don't worry about sparing me from your singing, I won't be here long enough to be bothered by it." She avoided answering his questions about the men and her gaze turned down for a moment, she caught sight of the scratches in the side of the tub from her clawing. How much had she revealed in those moments? How much had he noticed? He seemed to watch her closely, to take in everything. Did she trust him by default because he'd covered for her and she'd shown part of her other side already or did she leave him questioning what he'd seen? "They're assholes." She shrugged, as if that said everything, still only watching him indirectly.

[Lovely]

He chuckled and took another sip of his beer as she dodged him now. "Most men are. Alright, don't tell me that part. I'd say you're not running from a shotgun wedding and it's not about something you've done or the department I just spent the better part of two weeks arguing with would have been circling the block already looking for you, not the poor excuses for Hunters Weekly with those dogs. Simply put, they haven't a real clue and you're giving them too much credit. You're a special breed, certainly, and in a very nice package. Complimentary only, not trying to distract you," he clarified, coming away from the window he hoped she'd opt to open before bursting through it again. "Now, if you don't want to tell me about the scuba act or the diamond cutters on your fingertips, then don't. I've seen plenty of strange things to top them, but none of them ever jumped in my tub with me before."

Her narrowed gaze fixed on him and for a few seconds she couldn't control the warning growl that came out, her nose twitched and she took a slow step backward. He hadn't done anything but that was the problem, how could you trust someone who didn't care if you told them or not? Her fingers flexed and the growl stopped, there was only one way to find out if she could really trust him and that was to trust him. "Fine then let me borrow a tee shirt and a pair of sweats or boxers and a plastic bag.. then I'll be on my way and this can be just another weird story you have in your collection. You already figured out I'm not in trouble with the cops so you don't have to worry about getting arrested, right?"

Growling? He looked at her and the marks again, placing the hissing and arching in the mix. "Button down and boxers will have to do and I don't have a bag. I'm out here on business, not a camping trip. Wait, hold a mo', the bag from the store," he remembered suddenly, moving past her to the small refrigerator again to get the bag and check it. It had the logo for the store on it, but she could have found it as easily in the trash herself and using it wouldn't necessarily implicate him for anything. He brought the bag to her. "Bag. Boxers will cost you, though. Come in here away from the window at least."

She let him pass without trying to swipe him and let out a relieved breath as he went to get the plastic bag, only to turn to him with a questioning expression as he told her the boxers would cost her. She toyed with the bag in her fingers and chewed at her lower lip, thinking over whether or not to give in, with a soft sigh she headed out of the bathroom. She took only a couple steps into the other part of his room. "How much?"

"The pleasure of your company. I was going to order some pizza and watch a movie - everything a normal, non-involved man might do when he has nothing at all to do with a mysterious woman. Not sure I qualify as one of those now, but why ruin a good thing? If you're going to charge off again into the night, really, I can't stop you. I can at least be sure you won't starve if you do, hm?" He gave the explanation as he went to the bed to stretch out and prop the pillows behind his head. He didn't reach for the phone yet for his order, but picked up the remote to turn on the television to a level that would make it hard for anyone to hear their conversations.

She was hungry and pizza was sure as heck easier than hunting while trying to hide from hunters, but why did he want to make sure she ate? Her hand rested over her abdomen and her eyes followed him to the bed, staying fixed on him in his towel and relaxed pose. "What do you get on your pizza? Why do you care whether I starve?.. and while I'm asking.. why aren't you freaking out about all this?"

[Lovely]

"The works, sometimes anchovies, no onions. Pick off whatever else you don't like. It's just something about me. Family tradition, never let a guest leave hungry. What's to freak out over? You haven't told me anything and no one's fired any shots. Not yet - I get that," he said, rolling his head on his arm a little to watch her. He patted the bed beside him. "Have a seat, or the chair over there."

"You're not like other... people I've met." Her eyes moved over him and she started to slowly drift closer to the bed, almost like a cat who acted reluctant when called only to pounce and be all cuddly once they got there. The bed looked inviting, it was probably softer than where she'd recently slept.. the man on the bed more inviting and the offer of pizza - possibly with anchovies was a bit much to resist and she reached to untie the belt of the robe as she climbed up onto the bed. She stopped then and asked, "Do you mind?"

"If I invited you up here, why would I mind? You truly are a timid creature - or are you?" He reached his arm out to her slowly.

"I meant.. me taking off the robe.." She chuckled softly and shook her head. "Not usually timid.. but perhaps a little wary of strangers.."

"I don't mind that either," he said, hooking a finger around the robe's belt. "You're right I'm not like other people. That's why I tend to avoid them, myself. I could be at the bar or at a nice quiet table somewhere, but this is what I prefer. Pizza, beer and some show I'll never know the name of."

"Good.. I like anchovies, by the way." She chuckled, tugged gently at the belt he hooked and slipped the robe off her shoulders to curl up next him. She probably didn't seem timid at the moment and in truth wasn't but she wasn't usally quite this bold with men she'd just met. "I can relate to liking a more quiet evening at home."

"How far away is home?" He asked carefully, not asking specifically where it was, knowing she wouldn't tell him. He found himself wanting to know that too, though. He let go of the belt to reach out to her. "And how soon do you want the pizza to get here?" He was considering many reasons not to be interupted at the moment.

She curled close to him as if seeking comfort when he asked about home, her pout was soft and she pulled his arm around her. "Home is gone.. they destroyed that too." She touched his chest with one finger, letting it drift a little. "The pizza should come sooner rather than later.. though we don't need to eat it until later."

[Lovely]

He watched her but reached behind him to the nightstand for his phone, dialing the number he'd called several times in the past couple of days. She could hear the pizza place in the background as he held the phone close to place the same order he had before, apparent by the 'thanks mister A' from the boy on the other end who reckognized the caller and location for the delivery. That bit of business was over with quickly and the phone forgotten again at the bedside. "Ordered and we have ten minutes to kill before I fight you for the anchovies."

Annia listened to every word of the call, he was somewhat of a regular at the pizza place it seemed, they knew him by a name even if it wasn't his real one. "I'll win." She smiled a little at his teasing about the anchovies. "But.. you might convince me to share them." She continued to drift over his torso with her one finger. "Mister A?"

"It's not for Anchovy," he teased, wondering what she thought it stood for, though it wasn't a common name she was likely to guess. "Just call me Jack. So you're saying you'll win and get my anchovies and my shorts? I seem to have a distinct disadvantage here."

"Yes, that's what I'm saying.. I could take your anchovies, your shorts.. and anything else I want." She shifted up to lean on one arm, holding her finger in one spot against his chest. "I'm humoring you.. I believe is how you say it... and.. I'm curious about you."

"What else is it you might want?" He asked cautiously though he grinned. The diamond tipped fingertips had clawed into the tub and now one was pressed against his bare chest.

"I don't know what I want.. other than staying alive.. that's all I've been thinking of and trying to do since those men attacked my family.. being hunted tends to make everything else unimportant." She admitted with her gaze going distant for a moment. "But then I jumped through your window and into your tub.. and I really wish I had time to be curious and do something other than keep running." She shook her head and sighed, her eyes coming back to meet his. "I want.. " She leaned forward to kiss him.