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She doesn't understand why he's embarrassed but she's grinning at him, loving the fact that he is.

"How would a vampire test that? Get all coked out on a fairy and then run out into the first crack of dawn?" A pause as she reflects on all the drugs she's taken, or seen others take. "Actually, I guess I could see that. ...I'm guessing you haven't bitten one? Or does the sunlight thing only work for a little while?"

"Oh I have before. But I was not enough of an idiot to try walking in the sun," he laughs. "I was in bed by dawn, as I should have been."

He leans back, shifting so he can lie on the couch, his head in her lap. It's a reversal of their usual positions, but he wants the comfort this time.

"But Sweeney smells like that, Annie. I could have put my teeth in his wrist and it would have been so easy." He lets out a sigh.

Not his neck, though. Never his neck.

"He smells really fucking good to me, too," she admits. "I figured it was just the whiskey and cigarettes, or my mood 'cause Bobo set me off, too. But now I wonder if it's not the same for me."

She strokes his hair, lingering just above his ears and along the hairline where most people are more touch-sensitive. There's a low, very nearly inaudible note in her voice that isn't human, but is deeply, unmistakably protective of Godric even when she isn't speaking of anything like protecting him. He's safe with her.

"How d'you handle being around him?"

"Hundreds of years of self control," he laughs. "And I focused on the cigarette smoke." He raises his eyebrows at her. "Though now I simply want cigarettes. I have not smoked in centuries."

"I bet cigarettes were better then," she sighs. "I quit for about a month. I can't get cancer and I can outrun a train so I figured I can give myself that weakness."

A worrisome thought occurs to her. "The other vampires won't try to hurt him, will they?"

Godric sighs, but there's steel in his words. "No. That is something unique to my world. But I have already cut my ties with Nadja," he tells her softly. "If I must kill her for this, too, I will."

"I'm sorry," she says, frowning. She knows his relationship with other vampires is already complicated. "I got your back though. In however you want me there."

"I do not want you there," he smiles. "I can take care of Nadja myself." He pulls himself up enough to kiss her. "I know you will be there for me. But she continues to threaten Anita, and I cannot abide that. Anita is human and an inmate. Nadja should know better, but she lets her emotions rule her."

She kisses him back, warm and fond.

"I know you can handle her. This is he having your back now, too. Like this." Offering the comfort back that he so frequently gives her. "I hope she doesn't do anything stupid though. The second you realize you locked yourself in, it's... Bad. And I don't think I'm as, um, emotional as her in the first place."

"No," he assures her. "You aren't. But bloodshed is the last thing on my mind. She's angry with me, but I'm stronger than her. I'm hoping that will keep her at bay for a while."

He shrugs, sitting back again. "But enough of Nadja. Back to your leprechaun." And he deliberately uses that word again. "Did he hurt you? Let me see."

Another laugh, "Does he know he's mine?"

She lifts her shirt to show him bruises that are nearly healed. "He never punched me really. Not in the face especially. Not as hard as her could have, and... I don't know. It felt like play. It wasn't frightening."

Godric sits up and inspects the bruises, running his fingers gently along the bruises, not pushing against them, only tracing them. He tsks softly. "If only we didn't have to be careful about blood," he says lightly. "You would not need to outsource for this sort of play."

He's mostly worried about either one of them losing control one day.

"I've been thinking about that," she murmurs, turning slightly so he can see the ones still dark on her back. "Iris had to do stuff to her blood to be one of us. I know she had to, and it worked, because we're still buddies. I usually can't get near other wolf girls. But I don't know if she can change people with her blood. And... I am never going to change anyone again."

"I think that's wise," he tells her, inspecting the others, placing a hand on hers, silently telling her to put her shirt down. The bruises are acceptable for him, and definitely not the worst he's ever seen in his life.

She'll be fine.

"So what are you saying?"

She arranges her shirt back down, and tugs lightly on his to urge him to lay his head on her lap again.

"I want to ask her if she can take away the thing in my blood that can turn people." There are so many reasons for it, but the largest is what she told him: she never wants to turn anyone again.

"Then do that," he says, lying back in her lap and closing his eyes. "I think it's a wise move. Especially if it's unnecessary."

"Plus, then we can play-fight, right?" stroking his hair again. "You should let me take care of you more, bruh. You're good at carrying that whole world on your shoulders but our cabin's a total safe space."

"As long as you don't draw my blood, yes," he reminds her softly, gently. "But you'd have to catch me, first."

He reaches up to take her hand. "I am not good at letting people take care of me. It is difficult for me to accept."

"I know. But I'm stubborn, I can wait you out till you're ready to let me," she teases. Only she really will, Godric. It's best to just let her.

"You have to practice it. It's like we've all got walls up and we forgot to build a door, so you gotta just carve one in a brick at a time."

She pauses, thinking that over, decides it's close enough.

"I know. I allow it with some. With Archer. With Jedao. And sometimes with you," he assures her. "But I would like to continue practicing. So, how would you take care of me now?"

He's mostly joking, but he's curious about it. "Not that I believe I need it."

"Right now?" She looks upward thoughtfully. "I think I have a different angle than Jedao does, 'cause he gets your old person vibe, or Archer who's you know, your boyfriend." And also grappling with old wounds.

"I think I'd try to remind you that right this second, things are okay. People we love are safe. We're in a good cabin with books and things we can learn, or have fun with. Nothing behind us is happening right now, and nothing ahead of us can be touched. So we get to be right here...and if things are too stressful to be good, you at least know they're better right this second than they were before you came home."

He squeezes her hand. "You don't need to be Jedao or Archer," he tells her. "You're good at this." She and Quentin are the same in this regard. It's natural for Godric to want to take care of them. So when they do that for him, he's touched. It's genuine. And he loves it.

He smiles. "But you forgot about Julia Roberts on the television."

"Do you know why I like this one?" She pulls the blanket around them, tucking him in the way she does in the mornings.

"No," he admits. "Because Julia Roberts is a brilliant actress?"

"So close!" Her grin sobers just a touch. "Actually, because I saw this one when I was a couple years out of leaving school. And the story in this is 'you have to know yourself before you can love or be loved'. And considering the guys I ran with, it just hit home. Changed how I looked for guys."

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