Isabella Margaret Delallo (bad_ass_babe) wrote in btvsal, @ 2010-03-30 15:35:00 |
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Entry tags: | isabella delallo, place: la, rebecca stone, sin stone |
Date Night
Who: Isabella and Rebecca
Where: Rebecca's, then Isabella's
When: Friday night, March 26th
To quote her daughter... this SUCKED. Rebecca Stone hadn't felt this nervous in close to fifteen years. She'd changed her outfit SIX TIMES, until she'd finally settled on the backless, knee-length green dress and matching heels. Her hair done up immaculately, and just enough makeup to look pretty but not... trampy, she fidgeted a little, pacing back and forth, waiting for her date to arrive...
If it was any consolation, Isabella hadn't been on a date in a while, herself. The thing with Meeghan… well, they were never really like that, so consider Isabella nervous as well. She arrived outside in her little mini Cooper and gradually made her way to the front door. Isabella wasn't what you'd call a 'dress' kind of woman, although she did make a bit of effort, wearing her favourite powder blue pantsuit (purely because it matched her eyes), with a white dress shirt open just enough at the cleavage, and her hair in waves down her shoulders. She randomly thought she should get it cut before knocking on the front door.
Probably a little TOO quickly, Rebecca swung the door open, smiling so brightly that it was almost too cute for words. She wanted to say something witty, something profound, maybe even something sweet.... but all that came out was "....Hi..."
"Hi," Isabella replied, smiling softly as she took in the other woman's appearance. “You look…” she blinked and smiled again, almost hesitantly, "lovely. Are you ready to go?"
"I am... where are we going, anyway? I... sort of realized I never thought to ask." She asked sheepishly.
"Are you opposed to Italian food? I found a place not far from where I live. I'm… not much of a cook," she admitted, "but I find the best restaurants… and take-out." Hey, that was an important skill!
"Well, I think that..." she was cut off then by a LOUD clearing-of-the-throat, as Sin came walking down the steps, looking garish as always in multi-colored leggings, a baggy Duran Duran shirt, and her hair a bright, almost neon orange. "Ok. Ms. Delallo. You and I are gonna have a teeeeeensy chat."
"'Teensy'?" Isabella repeated, raising an eyebrow. She nodded agreeably, however, since... well; it probably wasn't the best idea to piss someone off with the comparable strength of an elephant. "All right."
"Yeah. See, I'm all progressive n' shit. So I'm totally ok with my mom being all rainbow. God knows enough of my friends are." Seeing this tiny thing trying to look intimidating? Priceless. "You know what I'm NOT ok with? My mom hurting. And while you may be all GRRRRR! and scary as a watcher? Yer on MY turf now, lady. So be good." Then she gave that goofy smile again. "Have fun!" And she was gone. For her part? Rebecca looked positively mortified.
Isabella blinked a few times and watched Cynthia leave, before looking back at Rebecca, a smile slowly spreading on her face, "I choose to take that positively." And she did. It meant that Sin seriously thought that Isabella meant something to Rebecca, and that? Was good to know. "Do you have everything you need?"
"Except for my pride? Yes." The blonde replied, still mildly horrified. "I'm so sorry about that."
"No, don't be. If anything, it shows that she cares about you… and she would do horrible things to me if I hurt you." She reached for Rebecca's hand and smiled again, "Which isn’t a plan."
Rebecca squeezed the other woman's hand once, smiling a little more then. "Dinner, then?"
"Yes, right. Ahem." She led Rebecca to her red mini-Cooper and opened the passenger door for her, before circling to the driver's side and setting them off. "I think the awkward moment's passed. …How have you been?"
With a little giggle, Rebecca got into the car and felt herself relax a little. This all felt so fresh, so new to her after all these years. She looked over at the driver's seat, just admiring Isabella for a few moments before answering.
"...better than I've been in a long time."
The Watcher pulled the car to a stop at the lights and turned to look at Rebecca, that small smile still on her face. That sadness Rebecca noted when they first met had almost faded entirely. "Me too," she admitted.
"Good." She said simply, temporarily feeling her capacity for speech pretty much MIA. "Maybe... this is what both of us needed. Some proof that good things CAN happen to us."
Without warning, Isabella leaned over and kissed Rebecca. It was a surprisingly sweet kiss, not hurried or needy, just… sweet. The lights changed and she drove along again. "I… don't disagree with that," she said, followed by a brief laugh.
To say she was surprised by the sudden kiss would be an understatement. But it was a nice surprise, and somehow, she decided right then and there that Isabella was a good soul, and worth putting her trust into. She actually fidgeted in her seat a little and laughed. "How terrible is it that I feel like dinner is a necessary evil before the part where we can be alone?"
"Not overly so terrible," Isabella replied, biting her lip. "But as much as I want to say 'come home with me, I can order take out', I also feel like… a proper date would be more," she chuckled, since the word that she was going to use hadn't entered her vocabulary in a while: "Appropriate. I leave it to you, however. You set the pace and I'll go with it."
Rebecca just gave a slightly embarrased laugh and hid her grin behind a hand. "Well... I think I'm mature enough to go home with you without that guaranteeing anything inappropriate happening..."
At another stop light, Isabella faced Rebecca again, her eyebrow rising slightly. "You're sure?" She teased. Although a more relaxed atmosphere wouldn’t be out of the question. She did have Bethany to think about, however. Hrmh.
"I am." She decided as she said it. "I want to get to know you better. In an environment where we can be ourselves, and not worry about how we're talking or acting in public."
There went that faint smile of Isabella's again and instead of turning one way, she drove the car straight down the road. "I, uh… I like that idea more," she admitted.
Rebecca smiled gratefully, as she didn't want to have to skirt around topics like Isabella's career, or what her own daughter was, and those aren't exactly things one talks about in a crowded restaurant.
"I've really been looking forward to this, you know," she said with an embarrassed little smile. "I wasn't sure if you were actually going to call."
Isabella, honestly? Wasn't against talking about those things in public, since most people didn't take those things seriously, anyway. Or, thought they were code for something else, ludicrously enough.
"I don't ask for a number unless I plan to call," the English woman replied, curiously honest as she pulled her car to the curb.
"It's just been so long since I've been anything but a mother to anyone..." She just shook her head slightly, feeling a little silly. "I suppose I have a hard time imagining anyone ELSE thinking of me as more.
"I suppose it would take a little adjusting," Isabella murmured as she killed the engine. She gave Rebecca's hand a small squeeze, "Erm, don’t mind the mess?" She chuckled. Sure, she cleaned since asking Bethany to move in, but the place was still a little messy.
"Oh, sweety..." Rebecca giggled cutely, eyes crinkling up as she smiled. "I'm raising a teenaged girl. I *know* about messes. This isn't even BAD." She said as she walked in.
Isabella laughed as she led the blonde into the apartment, flipping on light switches as she went along. She slipped off her jacket and draped it around a chair, before heading into the kitchen. "I suppose I got used to living alone." She made a face.
"That's... not something anyone should have to get used to." Ut-oh! Time for the suddenly more common introspective!Becca. "I think every one of us wants to be loved, have someone to make our house feel like a home..."
"You're not wrong, it just never ... worked that way," Isabella shrugged, before opening the fridge. "Do you want a drink?"
"Maybe that's why you found ME..." Rebecca added with an adorable smile, reaching over to take her hand. "You're far too beautiful to live without love."
Isabella looked down at their joined hands, then up into Rebecca's eyes. "Maybe it is," she murmured, smiling faintly. She stepped forward slightly and brushed hair from Rebecca's face before kissing the other woman.
Oh dear. THERRRRRE we go again. That blush, sweetly like a teenager being kissed for the first time. She was practically floating on feathers there. "Oh my." She laughed, fanning herself a little.
Isabella grinned then, the smile crinkling her eyes. That was, by far, the sweetest thing she had ever witnessed. "Can't say I've ever had that reaction before," she laughed and bit her lip.
"Yes. Water would be lovely..." Rebecca said, trying her damnedest not to blush yet AGAIN. "I never used to be THIS skittish. I think... fifteen years out of the dating scene just really... made me forget what MOST of it is like."
Isabella poked her head into the fridge and produced two bottles of water, handing one to Rebecca before uncapping her own and taking a sip. "Well, I suppose it's like riding a bike. You don't really forget how, it just takes a few tries to get it right."
"So you're comparing dating to riding a bike." Now, see? This? She couldn't help. "Planning on doing some riding, are we?"
Isabella spluttered, practically choking on her drink. Clearly, she hadn't expected that. She gave Rebecca a wide-eyed look, then grinned and fell back to teasing the poor woman: "Maybe."
Now clearly, Rebecca was relaxing. Because she was starting to let some of that cheekiness show, that clearly Cynthia got from SOMEWHERE. "Good luck. At this point? You'll need a dustbuster to clear out the cobwebs."
"Mmhmm, I doubt that will be a major issue," The Watcher teased. It was funny; really, how strong the urge was just to touch the other woman. She smiled faintly, and took the other woman's hand, leading her to the couch.
"Out of curiosity... how did you get into your... line of work? I admit, I know nothing about this stuff. I have a vague idea of what Cynthia is... but I don't know how it works. Are you... born to it like she is?" Aw. This was Rebecca trying to understand what the two most special women in her life were.
Isabella kicked off her shoes and sat on the couch, curling her feet under her. She made a face, "It's a bit complicated. Not long ago, it was just one Slayer, per generation, but… something changed that. It's not so much about 'born to it' for Slayers. There are, were… a lot of girl's who had the strength capable, but only one was Chosen. Now, of course, they're ubiquitous. Watchers, well… it's more of a 'family' thing. I'm not sure what's worse, being expected to save people, with no prior experience, or… being told from an early age that this was what you had to do. Your lot in life."
"That had to be hard for you..." She felt a little ache for the woman. Who only knew what dreams she'd had dashed by this 'career'. "Maybe we have more in common than I thought. For the last sixteen years, I put aside every dream, every want I had, because I felt I had to put my responsibilities before anything I could have wanted."
Isabella nodded slowly; it wasn't like she wasn't in the same boat, after all. She rested her elbow against the back of the couch and curled her fingers in her hair. "What did you dream? Or want?"
"Likely nothing as interesting as you would say. I wanted to be a mother, obviously... but I wanted a family. A real family. And I tried, SO hard, to be a typical 'wife and mother'. For everyone else. And I stayed in a marraige I wasnt happy in for four years until he finally cheated on me and I felt like I had a reason to get out." Wow... did she really just admit all that?
Isabella nodded slowly. Yes, that was a lot to take in. "I think it was a good decision. Perhaps belated…" She shrugged in a 'que sera sera' kind of way, "I suppose you have to ask yourself if you're happy now."
"In some ways, no... but in the important ways? Yes. I have a beautiful, well-behaved daughter, I'm at least comfortable monetarily, and now I have you." She backpedaled a little, not wanting to seem clingy. "I mean, in a figurative way."
"I, uh…" Isabella murmured, before pursing her lips together. She wasn't that fantastic expressing her feelings. "I'm still a little broken. Not as much as before, but… give me time? Then I will be. Yours, I mean."
"No rush. Believe me, please. Thats why I added that piece at the end." She placed a hand on Isa's knee, speaking in a soothing tone. "What is meant to happen, will happen. I'm not one of those people who's going to pressure you into doing anything."
"No, I didn't think you were," Isabella murmured, smiling faintly. "I just wanted to be honest with you. As much as I want this, there's still a part of me that aches. I don't want you to think that I'm, for lack of better phrasing, jerking you around."