Hard Alcohol, Blood Ties (Henry/Vicki)
Title: Hard Alcohol Author: shiegra Rating: PG13
Prompt: Blood Ties - Henry/Vicki - heartache, angst - "It's not like you to say sorry/I'm always waiting on a different story/This time I'm mistaken / For handing you a heart worth breaking" Nickelback - How You Remind Me
Coreen would tell her it was too late for her to be in the office.
It was entirely likely that, if Coreen was here, she would tell her it was also too late to be this depressing, but Vicki just tipped the bottle back, feeling the alcohol burn down her throat, and winced as the motion pulled on the wound at her shoulder. "Fuck," she blurted, and leaned back against her desk, propping one hip against it. "Too old for it, too," she said, hearing her voice echo in the empty room and feeling the macabre tilt to her own smile. She toasted the empty air and raised it to her lips.
The only warning was a bare whisper of air before fingers plucked it from her grip. Henry took her chin in one hand and watched her face, eyes inscrutable. "Coreen called me."
"Congratulations," she drawled, this time hearing the bite in her own voice. "The cliche question is whether or not you're a hallucination, but this time it might be the proper one."
"No," he said, and a strange smile tilted his mouth. "Not quite." He set the alcohol down; she made a half hearted grab for it and he raised one eyebrow. "Let me see."
"I don't think my body's really your business anymore," she answered, and the sharp edges cut them both.
"Was it ever?" He asked coolly, and took her arm, fingers cool and hard. He peeled down the edge of her shirt, baring the white bandage, already darkening. "You'll never learn to stop pushing yourself," he said, the hint of a smile touching his mouth.
"I'd say don't hold your breath, but I guess that's not a problem" Vicki leaned back to meet his eyes. "Is there a point to this visit?"
"Concern," he said quietly, his gaze lingering on her face. "Surely I'm still allowed that."
She considered this. "Why the hell not."
"Are you drunk?"
"Getting there." She captured the bottle this time, but with his too-intent stare couldn't make herself drink it. "Long drive for concern. It wasn't even near-fatal."
That got a strange and familiar smile; the hard twist of reminiscence. "Any wound can be fatal."
That brought some memories of her own. "I don't doubt it."
He caught her wrist as she raised the bottle and she put her hand on his, wincing faintly at the pull on her injured shoulder. "Just a toast," she said to him, and his dark eyes were fixed on her face as he allowed her to finish the movement. "To all the casualties."
She took a hard shot before he could say anything and then offered it to him. His eyes flicked between her mouth and the bottle's, and then he put his hand over hers and guided it to his lips. "To the lost," he said, voice low enough for a caress, and Vicki closed her eyes and let the moment stay.