This one’s messy and didn’t come out right at all, and I’m too tired to make it work right now. At least I made it through. It was a bit sticky. Also I’m too distracted by my Sith lady.

I made yellow belt in karate yesterday! : D

Chapter 6: When It Comes to You

Chapter 7: How Long

How long, how long baby
How long has it been
How long you gonna keep me wondering
How long before you see
Stallin’ me was wrong
How long

How long, how long you gonna keep
Slappin’ my hands away
How long you gonna keep my love at bay
How long before you’re sure
My love is strong
How long

How long, how long you gonna keep
Tellin’ me you like me fine
How long until I’m gonna make you mine
How long before you wake up
And find your good man gone
How long

She woke to find that at some point in the night, Arainai had rolled over and snuggled her, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist – there was only one bed in the guest room and it was none too wide. Now that she was awake, she should have moved away, maybe started getting up – what time was it? Was Rory up yet? But she didn’t.
She knew what she’d told Rory the night before, and she still held to it. But it had been a long, long time since she’d been held, even if the one holding her was asleep, and she wasn’t so jaded that she didn’t yearn to feel that warmth and comfort again. Even from someone like Arainai.
And she couldn’t help feeling something strongly towards him. Was it the danger they’d been through together? Was it his loneliness, her loneliness speaking to each other? Even his teasing and flirtation didn’t really bother her as much as she pretended it did, she just didn’t want to let down her walls, to be vulnerable. To anyone. She’d done well in her independence and reserved pride, and to let someone into her life… especially with such a tarnished past and unstable future… was just too frightening.
But right here, right now, his arms were around her, and his warmth was at her back, and she could feel and hear his breathing, and she would let herself enjoy that.
She shifted and he lifted his head. “Liz?”
Oh Maker, he hadn’t been asleep like she’d assumed. And oh Maker, his voice was sexy in the morning. “Don’t call me Liz.”
“As you command, mi amor. At least for the next thirty seconds.”
“Arainai-”
He raised himself to his elbow to lean over, to see her face. “I do wish you’d call me Zev. We’ve been through a lot together since we met, and you’re the only one I can even remotely trust… surely we’re closer than surnames.”
She glanced up at him. “All right… Zev.”
“Although it was cute when you first knew me and called me ‘Mr. Zev’.” He grinned widely, and she found herself smiling back. “Ah! So you can smile. I’d wondered. Miss Competent, Strong Detective isn’t allowed to smile about anything.”
“This case has not given me much reason to smile,” she said wistfully. “And no, I don’t smile much on the job anyway.”
“People don’t take you seriously if you smile? They see a pretty face and think there’s nothing deeper?”
“Frequently, yes.” She hadn’t missed the compliment, either.
He nodded. “Same here. That’s why I’m always smiling.” He smiled again. “Then they never see it coming.”
“Life is difficult enough as a female on the force without playing mind games like that,” she said. “But thank you for understanding.”
He looked at her, and there was something in his gaze, something tender and compassionate, that set her heart beating faster. “I should like to kiss you again.”
“Scandalous,” she said lightly. “We’re in a bed. You shouldn’t.”
His mouth smirked but the look in his eyes didn’t change. “Afraid I might try something? It’s true I’ve seduced many, many women. And some men. But I would never force anything on anyone. I might be a bad, bad man, but I’m a respectful lover.”
“Zevran…” She rolled a little to look at him more directly, pushed herself to sitting. He followed her. “It’s not that. We’ve only known each other for two days. Our future is completely unknown and uncertain, and for me that’s a barrier, not an incentive, for a… a relationship.”
He put his head on one side. “But you like me.” His eyes were mesmerizing. If she wasn’t careful, she’d forget what she was doing and kiss him anyway.
“I do,” she admitted. “I like you far more than I have any right to. You’re not just a pretty face and a quick wit. You’re cunning, and brave, and laugh in the face of trouble, and you’ve only supported me since I took you in…”
He reached out and touched her face. “Do you trust me?”
She couldn’t help leaning into the touch. “Shouldn’t that be ‘do you love me’?”
“I’ve found that trust is a far better measure of desire than love,” he answered, and it was like a light went on in her head, because he was absolutely right. “Especially on short acquaintance.”
“And you trust me,” she said slowly, softly.
“That’s right.”
“Why?”
“It isn’t obvious to you?” His smile was a mix of warmth and teasing, but she shook her head. She was a bossy, cranky detective who kept distancing herself from him. “Then I will tell you. You’re a strong, fierce, brave woman, and that’s not mentioning how beautiful and sexy you are, but you’re… the only person to… believe in me… in a long time. Even with the short time we’ve had, there’s only been one other person in my life to believe in me so much, and she’s… not here anymore. Even if destiny and I haven’t given you much of a choice, you still made that choice to take a chance on me, and I appreciate it. …And you are a damn fine driver. And a skilled workaholic.”
She closed her eyes. It was an overwhelming answer. But she could let herself be vulnerable. Just a little. “Then… I trust you, too. At least enough to kiss you.”
“That’s enough for now,” he said, smiling, and his arms were around her and his lips were pressed against hers. She put her arms around him, tangling her fingers in his silky golden hair.
He was a very good kisser. If he wasn’t lying about seducing many women, that was accounted for. She, on the other hand, hadn’t kissed anyone since Rory five years ago. But it wasn’t difficult to remember, and now that they’d begun, she responded to him passionately.
She ended up on her back with Zevran leaning over her, locked in each other’s embrace. It was difficult to think, especially when all she wanted was more – more kisses, more closeness, more physical and emotional intimacy.
She wanted it now. And she knew from experience that was a bad idea.
Also probably bad idea: hooking up with a man in her ex’s house, especially after her ex had repeatedly accused her of hooking up with said man and she’d repeatedly denied it.
Definitely an absolutely bad idea: wasting time making out with her witness – becoming emotionally compromised, her brain whispered to her – when it was highly likely the Crows knew where they were. They wouldn’t be idle while she was lying here enjoying herself.
He was getting a bit more handsy, but she pushed him off abruptly. “We need to get out of here.”
He stared at her in hurt confusion. “What are you talking about? I thought you liked and trusted me?”
She began gathering her things, completely business again. “The Crows. Aren’t they coming? We can’t be wasting time while they gather. And we have to get Rory out of here, too, at least temporarily.”
“He’ll be off to work soon, and then he’ll be in little to no danger,” Zevran said dismissively. “You worry too much, mi amor. We have time enough.”
“He’s in relative but dubious safety until he comes back from work, at which point he is in as much danger as we are,” she snapped.
“At which point they’ll have searched the house for us, found us gone, and come after us again.”
“That would be stupid and I don’t buy it,” she said. “You don’t think they’ll lie in wait in case we told him where we go? Or that we’d tell him something of what we know, and that they wouldn’t silence him?” She turned on him. “Your complacency, the posturing, kissing me in his house – what do you have against him?”
His face was hard and serious. “Only that he tried to keep down a wonderful woman from fulfilling her dreams. But the kissing was all for your sake.”
“Is that all?” she demanded. “It’s not jealousy? I think you’re jealous, Arainai.”
He flinched as if the renewed formality was a slap in the face. “It’s not jealousy. I don’t want him dead! I’m an assassin, not a murderer, Cousland.”
His formality was definitely a slap in the face. “From my end, there’s not much difference,” she muttered, grabbing her coat. “Are we leaving?”
“I’m leaving,” Zevran said, his voice hard and angry. “You may do as you please.”
For a moment, her face slackened in surprise. She hadn’t realized she’d pushed him so hard. But yes, he was stomping to the door, pulling on his coat and overcoat with short, sharp movements, and jammed his hat on his head.
For a moment, he paused while she stared at him, shocked that he was actually walking out, and for a moment his face betrayed his own conflicted emotions. But then his defences slammed down again. “If I learn anything, I’ll contact you. Goodbye, Detective.”
“Y-you’re going to be in danger on your own,” she stammered, wavering between fear and concern, and her own anger at him.
His amber eyes met hers for an instant, flashing with bitterness. “I can take care of myself, better than you can. And what do you care? I’m a murderer, after all.” He shut the door firmly, and a moment later she heard the front door shut equally firmly.
She was speechless, unable to process what had just happened.

“I thought she was different,” he muttered to himself, the pain of emotional betrayal poisoning his heart. “I thought she actually might care about me, even a little. But ha! Who could ever care about an assassin- a murderer? Who could ever care about someone who’s taken a life? Like lives don’t end every day. I suppose she’s never fired that gun she carries in her life.”
He was marching swiftly down the street, hands in pockets, hat pulled low over his face. He didn’t have much of a plan, and he didn’t care, he didn’t care about anything…
That wasn’t true, and his steps slowed, though he didn’t stop, not yet. She had put her life on the line for him, without hesitation, without even the certainty that he could deliver on his end of the bargain. She’d been shot in the arm, her apartment had been invaded, her car ruined, she’d been forced into hiding, all because of him. He still owed her, even if she’d suddenly assaulted him with her ignorance and lack of understanding.
And even if she was ignorant and judgemental, wasn’t she only acting harshly because she was worried? The way she had pulled away from his embrace and jumped up, she’d thought of something that scared her, and everything else she’d said only stemmed from that fear. He was a blind fool to have taken so much umbrage, run away so fast. The shock and hurt in those light blue eyes still struck him in his carefully guarded heart. He should go back… They still needed to work together to solve their case…
“Zevran.”
He stopped in his tracks. It was not Liz’s voice. He would have loved for it to be Liz’s voice. But it was not. It was a smooth male voice, and not one he wanted to hear for a long time, if ever again. “Taliesin.”
“Imagine my surprise to hear you’d abandoned the Crows, Zev. When they told me about the assignment, I knew I had to take it – to see if it really was you. And now here you are in Highever! What brings you out here? And where’s your little friend?”
He turned to face his former partner, former friend, former lover. “What do you want, Taliesin?”
“So cold, my love. I want you to come back. I want it to be like it was in the good old days.”
“It can never go back to the good old days,” Zevran said bitterly. “Not after what happened to Rinna.”
Taliesin spread his hands disarmingly. “You’re as much to blame as I. That’s why you left? To take up with the other side, to try to bring us all down in revenge? You’re more heartless than I thought. Or was it the lady detective who got to you? Her feminine wiles pierced your defences and stripped you of all sense of family, of loyalty, of logic?”
“Don’t you dare speak to me of loyalty. You leave her alone,” he snarled. “She still doesn’t know anything that could harm the Crows or their clients.”
“You come with me, darling, and we’ll leave her alone,” Taliesin said smoothly, his eyes like ice.
He wavered. He didn’t trust Taliesin farther than he could throw him, if even that. Chances were, if he went with him, Liz would still be attacked. On the other hand, if he didn’t go with him, Liz would definitely be attacked, and he wasn’t around to help her. She’d be caught as flat-footed as last time, and she’d barely made it away with his help that time.
A proper hero he was now, going to certain death on the slight chance of saving the woman he sort of liked a lot. He did owe it to her…
What nonsense.
“You’ve always been a liar, Taliesin,” he said heavily. “You should know better than to lie to me. You know I know you.”
“Then you know it’s too late to help her anyway, and you should just come along. Save yourself some pain, my love.”
One last try. “Taliesin… haven’t you ever wanted… even once… to be free?”
“No one escapes the Crows, Zevran.”

Rory knocked, then poked his head into the room where she still sat staring at the wall. “Where’s the elf, Arainai? Did he leave already? Aren’t you going after him?”
“It seems we’re splitting up for a bit,” she forced herself to say through frozen lips. She hadn’t meant to call him a murderer. Only that both murderers and assassins killed people and their cases ended up on her desk either way. “Perhaps permanently. But you and I, we should leave for a while as well. I know you’re going to work soon, but go stay with my parents for a few days. I don’t want any reprisals to come to you while I’m still a target.”
Rory frowned. “What about afterwards?”
“If I’m not a target, you won’t be a target, don’t worry.” She managed a smile. “Just be careful for a few days-”
The doorbell rang. Zevran, back again?
No, wait, it was probably-
Rory was already going to answer it.
“Wait!” she cried.
The door opened and the sound of a gunshot obliterated all of her senses.

Chapter 8: You and Your Friend