Who: Alecto Carrow & Danny Travers What: Ally is making sure Danny isn't hurt. No other reason. When: Thursday evening, Jan 21 (slightly backdated) Where: Danny's flat in Fleet Rating: PG-13-ish Status: Complete
His place was so much nicer than hers. Alecto wanted to stay for the entire time Danny was gone, but she didn't. She couldn't sleep in his bed for three nights. How would she explain that to Amycus? Or worse yet, to Alden, her boyfriend? No, it wouldn't be appropriate. So she stayed away until this afternoon, when she promised she would be there waiting for him, in case he was hurt. After all that was the only reason she would be in his flat waiting for him to come home. No other reason.
The wards recognized her, she'd been here enough times over the years. She felt a bit odd, being in his flat without him, but walked on in and made herself at home. She carried a few potions with her, just in case he did need some healing, and put them down on the kitchen counter. And then she didn't really know what to do with herself. Usually when she came over they were talking, eating dinner, drinking, or doing... other things. As she moved through his place, she looked carefully at everything. In all these years, she had never been in here alone. So she took the time to really look at most stuff she'd never paid attention to before, starting in the living room. Generally speaking, the place looked expensive. She was almost too nervous to snoop really, not used to being alone in a room with such nice things. So she went very slowly, opening cabinets and peering into drawers. There were few pictures of family members, and a few very nice things wrapped up and stored in the backs of cabinets, which Alecto guessed were either heirlooms or stolen items. Not wanting to disturb anything, she just looked, going through every room of his flat. She didn't find anything shocking, not that she was expecting it in the first place. Really, she wanted to pass the time waiting for him, and once she was finished her snooping, she went back down to the kitchen and made some tea. And then, finding herself idle yet again, she began going through his kitchen, pulling out vegetables and some chicken to make a quick dinner. Amusingly enough, the irony of her instinctively cooking him dinner while waiting for him to come home from a job completely escaped her.
It was just three days, but it was the longest three days. From Morocco to Japan. He spent the better half of his days working on how to breakdown wards, memorizing layouts and figuring out routes within those layouts. While late nights and early mornings were reserved for the jobs themselves, it left him little time to sleep. In total he figured he may have had nine hours of sleep in a seventy-two hour period. It eased him to know that he had her waiting for him in his flat... She was the one person he needed to see in the one place he longed to be.
Danny stood outside the door to his flat. He felt a flutter of excitement within the pit of his stomach as the thoughts of Ally being just on the other side of this door crossed his mind. A faint smile managed to cross his features and he quickly opened the door without wanting to waste any more time. As he stepped into the flat, he slung the strap to his messenger bag over his head and dropped it to the floor. The place was quiet and he began to wonder if she had come at all; that maybe she got stuck working yet another overnight shift at Mungo's. But there was a faint smell flooding his flat. It was the sweet aroma of food cooking... For a fleeting moment he reveled in the notion of coming home from a job to find that dinner was being prepared. Quickly he made his way to the kitchen and when he turned the corner he stopped dead in his tracks as a smile slowly crept across his features. He too did not see the irony in this situation -- Ally making dinner as she waited for him to come home. It felt nice...
"Smells good..." he said in a low and soft tone as he leaned one shoulder against the door frame.
Alecto jumped when she heard his voice, then immediately grinned as her face grew red. She shrugged. "I didn't know what else to do while I waited for you. I can't just sit around, you know." She turned her attention back to the stove and stirred the pot of stew she was preparing. Of course, she could have let the wooden spoon stir itself, but Alecto preferred to cook manually. She learned to cook before she learned magic, so it seemed natural to cook without charming everything to do the work.
Without missing a beat, she looked back up at him. Then quite suddenly, she cursed and rushed over to him. "What am I thinking? You aren't hurt are you?" Cursing under her breath for forgetting the reason she was here in the first place, Alecto quickly began to lift his arms up and pat all over his torso. "Sorry I forgot, I just got all caught up with the food!" When he didn't wince or anything, she stopped and looked up at him with red cheeks. "You're not hurt at all. Right."
Danny watched Ally from the doorway as she tended to the stew. He admired this quality in her. It was so rare for him to see anyone in the kitchen other than an elf preparing dinner. "I wasn't complaining," he said with a handsome smile.
The smell alone made his stomach growl and just as he was about to inspect the stove, Ally was suddenly rushed towards him. He found himself standing there as she lifted his arms and began to pat down his chest, stomach and sides. "Oi!" He called out to her laughing and trying to back away from her. "No! No! I'm not hurt! I'm not hurt!" He tried to grab her arms, but continually missed as he stumbled back still. When she finally stopped, he found himself with his back pressed against a wall opposite the kitchen door. All he could do was smile down at her and shake his head. "No... I'm not... But I am starving."
She laughed nervously and ran a hand through her hair. "Sorry, I got caught up... I mean, I was only here to make sure you weren't hurt anyway," she said as she rested two hands on his chest. "But you're hungry, that's brilliant. But it's not ready yet!" she exclaimed as she scurried back to the stove and busied herself with cooking again. Anything to keep her mind off him.
"So..." she started, casting around for something to discuss, "how was the job? I see you didn't get caught, so I assume it was a success."
Danny didn't bother to remove her hands from his chest. He liked it when Ally touched him, even it was something as innocent as that. As he looked down into her eyes, his smile grew and in that fleeting moment he forgot he was hungry. Then just as he was about wrap his arms around her... She ran away. He exhaled slowly and pushed himself off of the wall to follow her into the kitchen. "What're you making anyway?" He asked as he stepped up behind her and hovered over her shoulder to get a peak into the pot.
"The job went well," he replied as he reached around her and picked up a spoon. "It was bloody fantastic actually... The stuff we picked up!" There was a sudden level of excitement in his tone, his eyes lit up and his mind now focused on something else other than Ally. "You wouldn't believe it if I told you!"
Alecto watched him carefully as he came around to look into her pot. He was so close to her, she could almost feel him breathing, and it was about to severely distract her. "It's stew," she said trying to ignore him next to her and noting that he picked up a spoon to taste. "And don't even think about putting that into my pot, alright? No tasting until it's done, yeah?" With a smirk, she pushed him backwards using her hip, and continued stirring without the distraction of his body so close to hers.
Now that he was a bit further away, and not so painfully close, she could focus on what he was saying about the job. "Oh yeah? What all did you pick up?"
Danny was about to dip the spoon into the pot when Ally scolded him not to do so. He turned his head to look at her and let out a hearty laugh. "That's what you said the first time, but I always end up getting into your pot..." He joked, not at all talking about the soup. Again he laughed when she bumped him with her hip and he kept the spoon, waving it in front her and said, "I'll get into your pot before the night is over."
He turned around and leaned back against the counter, peering down over his shoulder to watch her as she continued to stir the stew. "Two wands," he started. "One was a thirteen inch poplar with a Basilisk skin core... And the other was thirteen and a quarter inch ebony with an acromantula web core..." he trailed off, watching her for her reaction.
Alecto laughed as he backed away. "Just keep telling yourself that, Travers," she joked as her face got red. She knew he was talking dirty, but she wasn't going to get hot just because he was using ridiculous puns. You are an adult, she inwardly scolded herself, and returned her attention back to cooking.
She turned towards the few spices she had pulled out of his spice cabinet, and began the process of sprinkling and tasting. As she was adding the fennel into her stew, she listened intently to his finds. But when he mentioned the acromantula wand, she almost dropped the bottle of fennel into the pot. "No!" she exclaimed as she gaped at him. "Do you still have it with you? Did you test it out? Was it really as powerful as they say? You know those are illegal!"
While Ally was bombarding him with questions about the wands, Danny saw this as a perfect opportunity. He reached over with the spoon and went right into the pot, scooping up a bite of the stew before she could protest. Knowing that the stew was hot, he brought the spoon to his lips and gently blew over it to cool the stew. "I know they're illegal!" He said with enthusiasm then finally tasted the stew. Puckering his lips, he quickly inhaled, the stew still too hot and he nearly burned his mouth as he vigorously nodded in response to her questions.
"Only one..." he mumbled with his mouth full. Quickly he chewed and carefully he swallowed. "But only the acromantula web..." He glanced into the pot and pointed at it briefly. "That's very good, baby," he interrupted himself before continuing about the wand. "When I got it back to where we were staying, I had to try it out and it was the strangest thing... Do you remember how you felt when you first picked up your wand? Like it was just right for you as if it were made specifically for your hand only? Well this... This was ten times better than that... That wand felt bloody perfect in my hands..." He trailed off, shaking his head looking almost disappointed that he had to let it go.
"OI!" she let out as he took a bit of stew. She smacked his hand with her long wooden spoon before returning to issue of the spices. "It's not bloody ready yet!" With a sigh, she added a tiny bit of onion salt and smiled as when he called her baby. It was just a simple nickname, and he threw the word around like it was the most commonplace thing, but it made her heart flutter a bit. She pushed those thoughts away and focused on Danny's story. "Oh that kind of wand would be brilliant to own," she said almost wistfully. Then she shook herself. No use wanting what she could never afford. She learned long ago that that sort of thinking never got one anywhere. "Not that I'm not happy with my wand. But still a wand with that core must be brilliant!"
Danny wasn't phased by the whack of the wooden spoon upon his hand and merely laughed it off. "Hit me with that spoon again and you'll see what happens to you..." he trailed off threatening her jokingly. The word baby always slipped from his lips whenever he was around Ally. It came off so naturally when he addressed her. He only used that term with women he cared for most, but it was Ally that seemed to be the woman he constantly referred to as such.
Paying no mind to his own words, actually missing it completely, he went on about the wand. "I would have kept it for myself, but I had to deliver it... Without that wand we would collect nothing. Then the problems start."
Alecto immediately put her hands on her hips. "Don't you threaten me, while I'm here making you dinner, Danny" she scolded again, this time waving her spoon at him. She flicked her hair out of her face defiantly, and gave him a bit of a smirk as she tasted a bit of the stew herself. That would about do it as far as spices were concerned. Now it just needed to simmer for a while. She nodded and put the lid on the pot, gently adjusting the heat.
She brushed her hands off on a kitchen towel and shrugged at his last point. "That makes sense, a wand like that I'm sure will get your dad a huge profit. Though it is a shame that you had to let it go." With a sigh she put down the towel. "Well, that's done. I would have opened up a bottle of wine, but I didn't want to open a bottle without asking. Granted, I started cooking without asking.... But that's beside the point. You have any good whites about?" Of course, from snooping earlier, she knew very well what he had, but she wasn't about to admit that she'd spent part of the afternoon snooping.
Danny always admired that fight in Ally. It was a bit of turn on actually -- a woman who stood her ground against him, even if it was a simple tease. In that moment he could feel that arousal in him and his eyes instinctively made a quick scan of her body as he slowly licked his lips. As she kept the conversation on the wand, he was able to push his previous thoughts aside... For now. He gave her a shrug with his shoulder as he set the spoon down finally and unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt. "He can't do his job unless I do mine," he said as he rolled up his sleeves to about elbow length, revealing the Dark Mark on his left forearm. "And neither of us get paid. But I really liked that wand..." he trailed off, clearly still upset about having to hand it over. Perhaps one day he would be able to find it again.
At the mention of wine, he perked up a bit. Wine, he thought to himself. "Yeah, I've got some whites," he replied with a curt nod. He motioned for her to follow him as he began to make his way out of the kitchen when he suddenly stopped and turned to face her again. "You know how to pair wines and food?"
Alecto nodded in understanding about his father's business. "Course, it's a business. I understand that. Shame about the wand though," she said as she watched him roll up his sleeves. Merlin, he had the best arms, she thought as she watched him. Well, to be honest, Alecto obsessed over every part of his body. She smiled to herself before checking the fire one last time, and then followed him out of the kitchen.
"Yeah I know how to pair wines with food," she said a bit defensively. Alecto looked down and blushed a bit. Well, she wasn't exactly an expert, but she did know to put white with white, and red with red. Beyond that, her knowledge was lacking. "I can cook, you know. And while I don't know everything, I know enough to put a white wine with chicken stew."
Danny detected the defensiveness in her tone and he quickly threw his hands up in defense as well. "Oi! I wouldn't know the first thing about pairing wines," he told her with a smile as he began to backtrack into the living room. After a few steps he spun around and made his way to the wine rack in the far corner of the room. He crouched down to the whites at the bottom and pulled each bottle out, one by one to check the type and read them off to her. "Chardonnay... Pinot Grigio... Sauvignon Blanc..." He ticked them off, enunciating each name not perfectly, but at least he knew how to pronounce them. With his elbows resting on his knees, he looked up at her. "Which do you think will be best?" He asked, seeing her as the expert in this.
Alecto followed him and relaxed when he admitted his ignorance about wines. She assumed he knew how to do this as a society boy. It made her feel a bit superior that she had this one bit of society knowledge over him. Of course, all the knowledge couldn't make up for her lack of breeding and money.
"Umm.... Sauvingnon Blanc," she answered, not quite sure which would be best. Well, if Danny didn't know either, it didn't matter too much. She crossed the room and picked up the bottle, bringing it back over to the counter. She flicked her wand, and it opened itself, pouring two glasses. One was sent flying over to Danny, the other to her hand. "I don't suppose we should toast anything?"
If Ally said Sauvingnon Blanc, then it was Sauvingnon Blanc. After handing it to her, he followed her back to the kitchen; his eyes scanned the backside of her body this time. Danny admired every inch of her body and his mind began to play games with him... It flashed various images of her in the various positions he had her, picturing her naked body and everything he admired about it. From her breasts to her stomach, her hips and those legs--
Suddenly he found himself with a glass in his hand filled with wine and she was asking him a question. "Er... I toast to getting into your pot," he joked, hoping that the friendly banter would clear his mind of these thoughts.
Danny's toast made Alecto blush considerably. She was not a fool, and his pun, uttered again, was anything but subtle. Well, what had she expected? They'd been sleeping together on and off for years now, and rarely did they have an innocent dinner together. "Right...." she said nervously, simply raising her glass and muttering "cheers," before taking a large gulp. Normally, she'd have been fine with a little sexy banter, knowing that it always led to them waking up together. But they were both with other people this time, and even though they'd already cheated together, they shouldn't keep up the bad behavior.
With a huge amount of resolve, she took another sip of wine and put the glass down on the counter gently. "Look Danny, perhaps I should go. Just give the stew another thirty minutes or so, and it'll be ready." Alecto stood up straight and checked the fire once again. "Sorry I made you open a bottle of wine...."
Danny easily downed the wine, leaving the glass empty and set it down on the table beside him. He wasn't much of a wine drinker, but he needed the drink. Her nervousness became more apparent to him and he knew it was because of the things he was saying and doing to her. His words and actions were nothing more then simple subtleties, just playful flirtation. It came so naturally to him to be this way with her. These thoughts and feelings he had for Ally suddenly brought up Cora. And the more he thought of Cora, the more he disliked her. Then there was Alden... While Danny knew that he had a better connection with Ally than Alden did, it still bothered him that she was that man's girl.
"No," he told her in a firm tone as he shook his head. "You can't go..." He didn't want her to. "I mean, I'll burn it somehow..." A half truth. "Besides, there's too much here for just myself..." That was a lie. He could eat the entire pot in one sitting.
Alecto looked down again and shook her head, biting her bottom lip nervously. "If I stay..." she trailed off. They both knew perfectly well what would happen if she stayed. While she cared for Alden, he didn't light a fire in her like Danny did. But Alden wasn't pure, and he wasn't nearly as good in bed as Danny was. As she stood there looking at Danny, she started to wonder why she was even with Alden in the first place. He had seemed like a bit of fun at the time, but now he was her boyfriend. She had to remember that. He was her boyfriend, even if she did prefer the man in front of her, asking her to stay. "I really should go. You won't burn anything. Think of this as my welcome home gift to you..."
Danny was beginning to feel a mix of emotions and it confused him. He was frustrated that she insisted on leaving him. He was angry that she would come here and make his flat seem so much more welcoming than it normally did then leave just as he was feeling comfortable. He was afraid she would indeed go. And he was jealous of the fact that she may leave his flat to go see Alden.
"It's not much of a welcome home gift if you're not here. What the fuck am I supposed to do? Have dinner and a bottle of wine by myself?" His jealousy was coming out in a subtle form of anger. "Then it's not worth it. I may as well have made myself a bloody sandwich and call it a night."
Alecto shut her mouth quickly and stared. "I'm sorry," she stammered, upset that he was having this reaction. "Look, I just wanted to do something nice for you," she said, trying to back peddle the best she could. They were having such a nice night, and she hated ending their evenings with a fight. "Alright, fine, I'll stay," she said as her eyes darted all over his face. "But after dinner, I should leave. I mean, I should go home. You know, I have an early day tomorrow."
Awkwardly she returned to the kitchen, and compulsively checked the fire on the stove again and refilled her glass of wine.
Danny watched her as she tried to back away from him. It always looked like this with them. He wanted her so much and yet she pulled back. He had nothing else to say when she agreed to stay, but only for dinner. In a way he felt guilty for letting his anger and jealousy get the best of him in that fleeting moment and he figured that was why she changed her mind. An awkward silence fell between them as his eyes followed her. He let her be for a bit, not bothering to say anything more as he hated it when this would happen. All he could do was stand there and watch her, his mind running through all the rights and wrongs, but he chose to act on instinct. Slowly he stepped up behind her and wrapped an arm around her then pressing his palm to her stomach he gently pulled her back towards him. With his free hand he reached for her glass of wine and took it away from her, setting it down on the counter next to the bottle. He buried his face into her neck and closed his eyes, softly inhaling her scent then muttering, "I didn't mean to..."
Her eyes closed when he touched her, feeling her body immediately relax. She exhaled slowly when he pulled her towards him, and his breath on her neck made her smile slightly. This was exactly why she had to leave, but now that she was in his arms she really didn't want to be anywhere else. "Danny..." she scolded in a whisper as she placed her hands on top of his. A tiny moan escaped her lips as she breathed, and she immediately thought of pulling away, but didn't. He made her weak. Alecto could resist pain, but she couldn't resist Danny, not when he put his arms around her. She spoke up again, offering a very weak argument. "The stew..."
He could feel her body relax as he pulled her close, the tension leaving every muscle as he breathed hot air against the delicate skin of her neck. It felt so good to hold her and touch her like this that it only made him want more of her. Although he could hear the demand in her whispers, he paid no attention. His eyes flashed open and they scanned over her side profile, slowly trailing down to her neck. With a quick lick of his lips he leaned in and kissed the soft skin of her neck, sucking on it gently to let the rush of cool air wash over the spot. He let the kiss linger for a few moments then grazed his warm lips further down to press yet another kiss to her shoulder. Danny choosing to ignore her protests...
Alecto sighed and reached a hand up to caress his face as he kissed her neck. I shouldn't be doing this again, she thought. But she didn't move. She stayed put, unable to leave his embrace. And we're not even drunk, she thought again, her rational mind demanding that she pay attention to it. It was true, half a glass of wine was no where near enough to impair one's judgment. But think about Alden, her brain said again, but she argued back But I don't really care for him, and Danny feels so good. She was still inwardly arguing with herself as Danny trailed a kiss from her neck to her shoulder. Her impulsive nature took over, and she moaned loudly and leaned her head back against his chest, choosing to shut down her brain once and for all today. She wanted this, wanted him, regardless of who it hurt.
His inhibitions had long since left him. From the moment he laid his eyes upon her in his kitchen cooking dinner, he lost all sense of what was socially acceptable. This was not a battle of right and wrong because he knew in his heart of hearts that he was doing the wrong thing with the right woman. All thoughts of Cora didn't dare to cross his mind. Only his desires for Ally flooded him and there was nothing more he wanted in this moment than to make her feel so good that he could force those sounds out of her. And when she moaned loudly as she did, it pushed him to take them further.
Danny slowly smoothed his palms up her sides, pressing them against her as he did so, passing over the sides of her breasts before finally reaching her shoulders. Hooking his fingers into the straps of her dress, he carefully slipped them off her shoulders and down her arms all the while trailing kisses lower still. Everything about her was intoxicating to him and he needed to taste her skin. With each kiss he pressed, he darted his tongue out and flicked it against her warm skin. "Mmm," he moaned softly into the kiss.
As he continued to touch her, Alecto's face got red and her body became hot. Her breathing became more labored as he pushed her dress down her shoulders. Each kiss pushed thoughts of her boyfriend further and further away. He didn't matter, he could never make her feel like this. Not like Danny could. Suddenly, she turned quickly in his arms to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. In this moment, she knew exactly what she wanted, and she couldn't stop now. She placed a quick kiss on his lips then pulled back a bit, and whispered against them, "Take me to bed."
That was all Danny needed to hear. He suddenly dipped down to hook her knees and lift her into his arms in one swift motion. He stood there a moment and gazed down into her eyes as a smile slowly crept across his face. Forgetting all about the stew on the stove, he turned and carried Ally out of the kitchen, through the living room then up the stairs then into his bedroom. Despite him living alone here, he kicked the door shut behind him anyway. He brought her over to his bed and gently laid her down upon it and crawled on top of her on his hands and knees. His lips immediately found hers and he kissed her slow and deep.
"I need you, baby," he whispered against her lips before kissing her again.
Alecto gasped when he lifted her up, then returned his smile. She was blushing considerably as he carried her up the stairs to his room. Men usually didn't sweep Alecto off her feet. They usually treated her badly and used her. Or, like poor Alden, they just bored her to death. All except for Danny, who was the one man she continually went back to over and over again. She was so lost in the romance that she too forgot all about the stew on the stove and just paid all her attention to Danny.
As he laid her down on the bed, she answered his kiss with one just as deep as her legs wrapped around his body. "I need you too," she breathed, meaning every word as she kissed him again. For the time being, everything in the world was just fine. They were both just lovers, all their other troubles just went away.