Overnight Therapy, Chapter Forty-Five
Title: Overnight Therapy
Author: LSM71059
Fandom: Spooks
Characters: Lucas
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Season Seven
Summary: Lucas North has someone to confide in and take care of him when the nightmares and bad flashbacks happen.
Disclaimer: All Spooks Characters are the intellectual property of the BBC.
The Inspiration for this story was taken from the song "South City Midnight Lady" by the Doobie Brothers
(Time Line for chapter: Just Prior to Episode 7.04)
Chapter Forty-Five
Lucas couldn't resist putting his hand on top of Lori's hair and stroking it as her forehead fell lightly against his shoulder. He could feel how tense she was as his other hand ran up and down the length of her back. Far too soon to suit him, Lori straightened up out of his embrace and back slightly away sighing, "Thanks."
"You're welcome, Lucas said. It dawned on him that perhaps the thank you wasn't just for the comfort but her way of consenting to his offer to assist in her endeavour. So for clarification, he asked, "Exactly what are you thanking me for?"
As she patted his cheek, Lori smiled that Cheshire cat smile of hers that he had come to expect and adored. She said, "For being you."
Lucas could only shake his head in bemusement as he leaned in to her touch. He changed tact, leaning against the nearest washer crossing his arms and ankles asking, "What's next?"
"We take care of laying out the air dry clothes and put away the rest of the laundry, of course. What did you think was next?" Lori deadpanned as she finished folding the last of the towels.
Raising an eyebrow Lucas shot back, "Oh, I thought perhaps we might do something about the other matter at hand."
Coming to lean on the washer next to him and mimicking Lucas' stance as she looked down at the floor, Lori answered quietly, "Yea, about that, I've already set something in motion."
"Why am I not surprised?" Lucas chuckled.
Lori looked sideways at him then said, "Uh maybe because you've just had the misfortune of spending a week in my company and by now are becoming attuned to the way I operate."
It was Lucas' turn to roll his eyes and sigh before asking, "Lori, Lori, Lori, whatever am I going to do with you?" Seeing Lori open her mouth to retort, he put up his hand to stop her from speaking. Continuing he said cheekily, "Before you state there is a list, which by the way I have one of my own for you that seems to be growing longer by the moment, I meant what do I need to do to convince you not to put yourself down? But that's a discussion for a later time. Now, care to share what's been put in motion?"
Lori straightened up, moved over to pick the duffel bag full of wet clothes and said, "Let's relocate this conversation."
Lucas took the hint that she wanted to talk in private and nodded his consent. He followed her lead by stacking the two laundry baskets on top of each other and made his way to meet her out at the car. By the time he'd stowed the laundry in the boot, Lori was back with the clothes on hangars. She said, "I think this the last of it."
He held open the back door for her to stow the clothes on the hook, then after closing it, opened the passenger side door. Lucas gestured, "My Lady."
Lori started to slide in to the car but stopped when her mobile rang. She tensed, straightened and took a few steps away from the car before answering in her no nonsense manner, "Yea, Montgomery." Listening for a beat, Lori responded, "Wait One." Looking over at Lucas holding up the phone covering the mouthpiece, she gently suggested, "Why don't you go on back and get started unloading. I'll be along in a bit. I need to take this."
Lucas nodded once as a reply. He closed the passenger door. He knew a subtle order disguised as a suggestion when given one. Figuring it would be easy enough to keep an eye on Lori since she would be just down the block, he made his way around to the driver's side, slid in, started up the car and made the short drive down the street to the front of their building.
Exiting the car, he glanced back down the street and had to rely on his honed night vision to locate Lori. To the untrained eye, she simply looked like a blended dark shadow bouncing off the side of the buildings as she moved slowly in his direction. To him, it was apparent she knew how to move without being noticed. Moving around to the boot, he took one more look in her direction before undertaking the task at hand.
With two trips he moved everything up before going in to his flat to stow away his portion of the laundry. Lucas left the door ajar so he'd be able to hear when Lori made it back to her flat. With the way she had the clothes organized, it only took a couple of minutes to square everything away. Locking his door, he debated whether to go down to wait for Lori on the stoop or in her flat. The decision was made for him, when he heard her muted voice wafting up from the foyer. It sounded like she was speaking Russian. Not sure his ears weren't playing tricks on him he leaned over the banister in order to listen more closely.
He could only make out snatches of what she was saying but it was definitely Russian. He heard, "need ride, remote access, rendezvous spot, still my favourite and yes, soon" before she finished the call with the traditional, "da-svee-da-nee-ye". He thought to himself, "Well, that certainly is an unexpected and interesting development."
Not wanting to get caught blatantly eavesdropping, Lucas picked up the remaining laundry basket and duffel bag and moved over to unlock Lori's door. Leaving it slightly ajar, he took both down to Lori's bedroom. Setting the duffel bag on the floor and the basket on the bed, He moved over to the closet hanging up her flight suit. Sensing a presence behind him, he turned expecting to find Lori but only found empty space with a missing the duffel bag. He heard her voice going down the hall. She had changed languages, it sounded like French. Recalling his school days basics, he made out a few words such as smoke, cool, mist, night and shadow, which he felt like taken out of context was nonsensical. He wondered how many different languages she knew, both he had overheard sounded very fluent.
Deciding to keep himself occupied and be useful at the same time, Lucas set about remaking the bed with the freshly washed linens. He retrieved the new pillows from the dining table and slipped them in to their new cases. As he lined the last the one up against the headboard, Lori's body lightly pressed up against his back and she asked in a soft whisper right in to his ear, "Building up your arsenal for our rematch?"
He straightened and turned around wrapping his arms around her waist to keep in close contact. Lucas answered with a grin cheekily replying, "Of course, never can have too much of a reserve."
"Fair enough, I see you've not been idle while I've been on the phone," Lori said nodding towards the freshly made bed while deftly disengaging herself from his arms and backing up towards the door. She asked, "Care for a cup of tea to reward all that hard work, or would you prefer something stronger?"
"A cup of tea would be lovely, thank you," Lucas answered stuffing his suddenly free hands in to his back pockets bereft at the loss of bodily contact. Then he suggested, "Why don't I put the kettle on while you finish stowing the rest of your laundry."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Lori answered moving over to the opposite side of the bed and picking up a stack of shirts from the basket.
Lucas watched for a moment thinking if circumstances were different and Lori wasn't preoccupied, what a lovely idea it would be to take her back in his arms, finish the kiss that was started earlier this evening, have her melt in to his body and then scoop her up, place her gently on the bed and ravish her from head to toe. His thoughts were causing his jeans to become increasing tight. Shaking his head to clear it out of his reverie, he made his way to the kitchen and set the kettle to boil. He thought about what Lori had said about having a chemical reaction to him. If his random thoughts were any indication, it definitely wasn't one sided. Analyzing it further, there was merit to her line of thought, because he worked with attractive women daily and didn't fancy them or have the physical reaction like he did to her.
Kettle set, he headed down to use the facilities. Lucas noted the full drying rack of clothes in the bathtub with the duffle bag inverted on the lip to dry. It gave him a little tingle down his spine to see his silk boxers hanging next to her intimate apparel. His mind wandered to a bit of a fantasy that had them clad in the garments on the rack while their hands roamed all over each other's bodies. He thought with a smirk on his lips that it was fortunate he was alone to take care of what became increasing hard in his pants due to his current thoughts.
Unable to resist any longer, Lucas unbuttoned his jeans, ran down the zipper and skimmed them along with his boxers down to mid-thigh. Leaning against the wall closest to the toilet, he took the engorged member in hand and stroked it firmly to completion. With a low groan, he found the much needed release. It took only a moment to wash up and tuck himself back in. Looking in the mirror and washing hands, he shook his head at his loss of control but felt better prepared to stay focussed and help Lori face what lay in store the rest of the night.
By the time he'd finish in the bathroom and returned to the kitchen, Lori was in the kitchen pulling down cups and saucers. The tea tray was already laid out on the counter with a plate of biscuits and cakes. He lounged against the door jam, enjoying the domestic view. He mused to himself why it was so delightfully refreshing to see such a sight and the companionable silence that accompanied it. The kettle whistling brought him out of reverie. Moving to make the tea, Lucas smiled at Lori without comment as she added the sugar bowl to the tray returning his smile.
He surveyed out of the corner of his eye the removal of her Blackberry out of back pocket and listened as she answered in yet another foreign language. This time it sounded like Swedish or possibly Finnish. He wasn't sure which. She slipped around the back of him and headed down the hall towards the office. Adding the steeping teapot to the tray, he carried the lot out to the table and took his seat to wait. Lori's timing was spot on. Her arrival at the table coincided with him pouring out the first cup.
Sitting down across from him, Lori deeply sighed as she took the offered cup of tea. She said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome, shall we continue our conversation?" Lucas asked nonchalantly as he finished pouring his own cup of tea. Looking over at her, he could see and feel the tension wafting off of her as she spooned in an obscene amount of sugar in to her tea.
With a lucky (or an unlucky, depending on your point of view) thirteen word question, Lori changed the entire dynamic of the evening and his overall estimation of her. Lifting her gaze from the teacup, she looked him straight in the eye and asked with a steely determination, "Ever heard of an operative that goes by the moniker "The Grey Ghost?"