Never Thought I'd Say This... (Attn: Annia / Open)

[Lovely]

May 24th, 3am[/u]
Montgomery Inn

He'd once told Annia, sat in this very same spot, that should she ever need well, anything, to call for him. He'd never thought then that he would be sat here in her bar, hoping for something from her. Hoping for her prescence, more than anything. She had the most incredible soothing effect on him.
He'd whispered through the shadows hoping she'd hear and come, not wanting to go to her and disturb her life.
He'd even dressed nicely - a smart, white shirt open at the collar and black jeans in place of his usual leather pants - just in case.

It was a strange sensation, a feeling she hadn't experienced in such a long time that for a moment she wasn't sure what it was. Annia had returned from her nightly feeding and was drawn toward the bar within the inn. At this time of the morning it was empty, except for the man who's appearance made her do a double take. "Ace." She whispered his name like a soft breath and rushed toward him with a surprised and delighted smile on her face, her arms reached to pull the shadow lord into her embrace.

"Hey," He grinned like a schoolboy at the mere sight of her. "Forgive my intrusion, but it's good to see you." He moved into her embrace and wrapped his arms around her, grinning all the while.
"Should I start begging forgiveness for not coming to see you sooner? Although it's almost worth the welcome."

"You should.. beg forgiveness for letting me think you were dead or dissipated or whatever it is your kind does.." She kissed his cheek and was still smiling. "Then you can beg my forgiveness for not coming around since you've been back!" She pulled back just enough to give him a cute little pout before smiling and kissing his cheek again. "I'm delighted that you're here now."

"Kisses as well? I most definately shall come and see you more, Oh beautiful, sexy, gorgeous, intelligent and forgiving Annia... Especially when you pout like that. Add corrupter of Shadow Lords to the list as well, shall we? Putting ideas into my head like that, all sweet and cute-looking."

"I would be very happy to have you visit more, you know how I adore you're company and you never complain if I have a bite to eat when you're around." She grinned, her cheeks slightly flushed from the recent feeding which of course had her chanrged up with the satisfaction of the hunt and kill. "Mmmm Corrupter of Shadow Lords.. that has a nice ring to it. I may have to sit for a painting and have the artist call it that.. posed naked of course.." She giggled softly, rubbing her hands together in anticipation. "I'm not sure it would go with the decor at your club.. hmm whatever would you do with it?"

"O... Oh my." His jaw dropped a little. "I really should get to work on that slinging you over my shoulder and carrying you off plan." He swallowed, looking her over as best he could. "And learn to paint." He nodded to himself. "Oooh, actually... I could rent-an-artist, and let you eat him afterwards. Might stop you teasin' me so much with your gorgeous self."

"Ooooh! That sounds like so much fun. A painting and a dinner.." She hummed softly with her approval and the images of the beautiful painting and the delicious treat of the artist afterward.. and of course Ace's company. He was such a dear friend, though the carrying her off part would likely upset her boys. Galen and Keller didn't much like sharing her with each other, neither would want her carried off by Ace. "Consider it a date." She placed her hands on either side of his face and leaned up to kiss him softly on the lips.

"Can't let a Lady starve now, can I? Posing's hard work." He allowed himself to return her soft kiss, but left it at that and nothing more. "So... say I came here with an ulterior motive? Other than dinner and a movie of course... Would you be mad?"

"A Shadow Lord with an ulterior motive!?" She pretended to gasp in shock but was teasing him of course, she shifted her hands down to take his. "Whether or not I'd be mad depends on what the ulterior motive is, of course. You know I don't get mad very often.. so tell me what you need."

[Lovely]

"Your advice as a girly-thing? Try as I might, I will never be a girly-thing... Don't know how you cope with the underwear, it's just impossible to put on yourself." He tried, eyebrows raised slightly as he pouted a little, trying his hardest to look completely pathetic and in need of desperate help. "Not that I need help with my underwear, although your free to help if you wish."

"Darling.. women are skilled enough to put on their own underwear, it's merely fun to have a man help take it off. Some of us just enjoy teasing you all by making you help and not giving you the treats beneath." She smiled sweetly, sighing with a certain superiority at being female. "You do know that they say the female is the more deadly of the species.. I believe there is good reason for that claim." She shifted to his side and rubbed his arm as she nudged him toward one of the plush couches. "Now tell me what you need advice on and I'll do my best to give you the proper bit."

"I absolutely agree with you on the deadlier thing... Especially after two of them trashed my club between them a few nights ago." He flashed her a smile. "Would you believe I stayed out of it? No getting between two fighting females. Ooh, couch." He grinned, sitting and offering his knee should she wish to sit there.
"So, say I messed things up big-time with a girlie..." He grimaced a second. "Actually... I've been a total Ass."

"Oh this must be serious for you to stay out of a fight and to admit you've been an ass.. most men wont admit that unless they feel really terrible and even then sometimes they don't." She perched on Ace's knee and wrapped on arm around his shoulders, he hadn't done anything to her so she had no reason to be cross with him. "So you've been an ass and messed up.. are you going to tell me what you did or how you did it?"

"Damn, am I not meant to admit to being an ass? Im not used to this whole emotion-rubbish." He frowned and shrugged. "You know I went away a while... Well, I didn't realise I was gone years and when I got back she's got a whole little family and..." He paused, frowning. "You're not the only one who thought I dissipated or whatever... And she can't help still loving me, but... I put her in a real bad position and then I got really mad and somehow ended up sorta-seeing her sister in the repeated one-night sorta way and the whole things just one huge bloody mess." He looked at Annia, hopeless. "And it's all my fault. How do I fix this?"

"Well.. to your credit you are very irresistible. You don't make it easy to not adore you." Annia smiled gently and stroked her finger over his cheek. "When you like someone you can be quite doting and warm.. don't worry I won't blab and ruin your reputation." She shook her head with a slight chuckle but didn't want to distract from the seriousness of the situation he was in. "I assume your speaking of Kiefer?" She knew of the relationship they'd had in the past. "Of course she can't stop loving you.. it goes against everything she is and she was so in love with you.. I don't know if you can fix it." Annia chewed at her lower lip in thought. "Do you have any feelings for her sister.. besides the one night stand a few times type?"

"Besides the 'she's pretty' male-kinda reaction... I don't think so." He paused a moment. "It was them two fighting... Kiefer and Pharz. I wanted... I thought I'd make things worse so I stayed out of it. Does this mean I'm growing up or something? Don't much like it."
His head dropped to rest on Annia's shoulder.
"Ok, can't fix it, so how about just making it so... Uhh... So she's not... So she doesn't hate having to be anywhere I might be?"

[Lovely]

She reached with the arm wrapped behind him to stroke her fingers over the back of his neck and tilted her head down a little to 'cuddle' him. Who would have thought she'd ever be cuddling and consoling him? "Growing up? Maybe.. I think it mostly means you really care for Kiefer.. but I could have told you that a long time ago. You really screwed up Ace and Pharz didn't help matters, not that I blame either of you, it just complicates things. There is this rule about dating your sister's ex.. apparently it applies to goddesses as well. You never ever go after your sister's ex, even if she tells you it's okay.. because it's not." Annia kissed his forehead and sighed softly. "I think your best bet is to talk to Kiefer and stop seeing Pharz.. speaking from a woman's perspective, Kiefer might actually be more upset with Pharz than with you. There is a certain loyalty that is supposed to between sisters."

"Maybe I should just ask you before I do anything at all, that involves another person." He nodded. "Anything bigger than a 'hello'. You think she'll talk to me? I mean... I understand if she wont.. but would you talk to me if you were her?"

"Yes, you should definitely consult me before doing anything that involves another person." She chuckled softly, teasing him just a little. "I wouldn't talk to you if I was me, but if I was her.. yes, I would. She's different from most other beings because of what she is. Of any woman she is the most likely to understand and forgive if you talk to her. Though i warn you, she may still be upset at first, she may have some things to say to you about hurting her and carrying on with her sister but those are things that she'll need to say in order to get past the anger and hurt."

"So keep my stupid mouth shut if I ever want her to talk to me again?" He suggested hopefully. That he could manage, just about. "Do not provoke or taunt - however tempting, the Love Goddess, right?" He remembered the wording from a sign at the zoo, hung outside the lioness' cage.

She sighed, dramatically so he wouldn't miss it. "No Ace that's not what I said. I said talk to her and listen to what she has to tell you even if she tells you you're a stupid ass!" Annia laughed and shook her head, playfully swatting at him. "Do you need to write this down?"

[Deleted]

"Yeah, stupid-ass." He nodded. "About fits me. Don't think I need to write it down... you can just slap me everytime I get it wrong till I get it right." He grinned and winked at her for a moment before his face fell. "What if she doesn't want to see me? Not that i'd blame her..."

[Lovely]

Annia was smiling at Ace's suggestions, until his face feel - she'd never seen him like this before and it upset her to know her dear friend was so upset. She touched his cheek softly and gave him the only answer she could, an honest one. "There is a good chance she won't want to see you, maybe not for awhile but you won't know until you try. If she doesn't want to see you right now, you wait and the next chance you get, you talk to her then."

[Deleted]

"I see why my... 'ancestors' used to carve out their hearts." He smiled a little and hugged her tighter for a moment. "I'm glad I... You're here. You wont blackmail me with my weak moments too much - not that I have these little... uhh, major... pathetic moments. Not often anyway."

[Lovely]

"I don't think carving out your heart is any better.. personally I think it makes them sound weak, that they could not deal with their own hearts and took the 'easy' way out rather than face it." She kissed the top of his head and decided it was good she didn't need to breathe and her form was strong, with as tightly as Ace held her. "I don't think your pathetic.. I think your brave to face this and to deal with something that you don't have full control over."

[Deleted]

"I don't do well with things I can't control." He frowned, looking up at her. "If you happen to find me sat here when you rise tomorrow, you know it went badly." He paused a second. "And not to let me drink."

[Lovely]

"Ace.." She started and looked over his face, her fingers trailing over his cheeks. "Whatever happens it's not going to be easy on any of you. I know what it feels like to be in her position.. It's surely tearing her apart. To love you both and.." She sighed softly the pain was clear in her eyes. "I went through the same thing with Galen and Keller. I had thought Galen dead and I fell in love with Keller, I turned him and one evening Galen walked through my door... after the years that had passed I was still very much in love with him.. and it still hurts me to know I have hurt them."

[Deleted]

"But it works though, right? You can love two guys... at the same time?" He shifted to kiss her cheek and wrap his arms around her a little more. He didn't like the thought of Annia in any pain any more than he did Kiefer... although Annia was more of a hot adopted sister that you could flirt with, since he'd met Love.

[Lovely]

"It's hard.. I'll never stop loving Keller but.. I realized that I couldn't keep them both and make either of them happy. They tried to accept it and share but it was hard on them both and on me. I was selfish, I didn't want to choose, I didn't want to lose either of them. Eventually I realized that I had to let one go.. I chose to be with Galen and I still have a piece of Keller but I've told him I want him to be happy and to find someone who can be fully devoted to him and not split between two." She paused, her eyes looking to the distance and her expression sad. "I'm not Kiefer.. she is love, it may be different for her because of what she is."

[Deleted]

"But really... what are the chances of that? Job and mystical influences aside, she's just a woman and she loves a guy who has given her something I didn't think I was capable of." Ace smiled a little sadly, not letting go of Annia just yet but moving to press a kiss to her temple.
"You should let me take you dancing sometime." It was almost a change of subject, although his voice didn't differ in tone any. "If you ask really nicely, I might even keep my hands above waist height. At least when people are watching..."

[Lovely]

"She's not just a woman Ace.. if she was.. well I don't think you could fall in love with someone who wasn't less than incredible." It was a compliment to him and to his selective tastes but also a caution that he was not dealing with a normal woman. "What is it that he's given her that you couldn't? You loved her.. " Her head tipped to the side and she smiled sadly, wondering if what she was thinking was right. "Is that why you stayed away for so long..?"

[Deleted]

He frowned, his entire face darkening. "She's got a daughter, Annia. Another small thing on its way... The woman drives me insane. She doesn't even have to do anything and I'm falling over myself to make sure she's okay... even though I know she loves him." He sighed softly. "Frankly, even I think I'm pathetic. I hoped it would go away you know... I remember existing before her... I remember being fine before I met her, and I know I'll be fine without her, but I don't want to be."

[Lovely]

"Yes.. her daughter.. you ought to watch out for her." Annia laughed though there was only a little amusement in it. She sighed and reached to brush her fingers over his cheek, wishing she could comfort him but she knew there was little she could say or do to make things any better. "Once you love someone one.. truly love them.. You don't want to be without them. It's selfish but .. I know how you feel.. more so I know exactly how she feels. I can't offer you a simple solution to make it all better. I wish I could."

[Deleted]

"I bet she's a right little firecracker." He smiled, "Just like her mom." Ace leaned into her touch for a moment, more for comfort than anything else. "I wish you could too. Maybe after I talk to her and find out she never wants to speak to me again, I'll see if I can't get that third club in Russia I always wanted. Don't worry, I wont leave without telling you."

[Lovely]

"I wish you wouldn't leave at all... I missed you so much when you were gone. I haven't had anyone I could talk to the way I can with you. No one else understands the way you do.. and you never judge me for being wicked or naughty.. it's very endearing." She smiled a little more now and kissed his temple. "Kiefer isn't the only one who loves you, you know. If I were to put a label on you.. I would have to say you're my best friend.. you're family to me.. but if you tell anyone about this mush fest I will bite you."