FIC: Den of Thieves part 3 (final)
*whew!* finally made it! And I'm only about 12 hours late posting this in US time! Thanks again to cerulean_sky, the mod, for letting me post late.
Justin placed his empty glass on a table, letting his gaze wander randomly about the room. His eye was caught by a landscape that showed the full moon rising over the English moors, and he grimaced involuntarily.
During his sophomore year of high school, Justin had tried getting a date online, through WizFace. In just one of the string of disasters that made up his teenage love life (although to be fair, Juliet was anything but a disaster. Hellishly complicated, though), Isabella had been a lycanthrope. If she’d been a true werewolf, there wouldn’t have been much of a problem - well, aside from them having nothing in common. But Isabella was actually a hexenwulf; the sub-race had been created by Victor Frankenstein (who ironically, had his name stolen by a mortal writer he’d never met for a character who was very much like him), and were incredibly contagious. Justin had found that out the hard way.
Justin’s father Jerry had explained that Justin’s lycanthropy was easily reversed, since it had only lasted for a few hours. Since Justin’s case was so simple, Jerry hadn’t bothered to mention that the after-effects of lycanthropy could be unpredictable on a wizard, whose very cells were made to absorb and channel supernatural power. When it also happened to be the constantly transforming body of a teenager in the full throes of adolescence, it could take hard. Jerry still had no idea that a few hours had been enough for Justin to be permanently affected, since it had been mild enough that he barely even noticed it himself while still living at home.
However, once he’d won the family competition and moved to the wizarding world permanently - Justin didn’t know if it was becoming a full wizard, or the constant magic that suffused the air in the wizard world, but now every full moon, as well as the day before and after, Justin went into a modified version of moon-heat; the time just before a full moon when the need to seek and claim a mate became overwhelming. Luckily, as a hexenwulf by birth Isabella hadn’t been mature enough to go through it at the time she’d infected Justin. Justin still shuddered at the thought of being stuck with her for life. At least the whole mess had convinced his parents to let him transfer to WizTech permanently.
The supernaturally heightened senses were fine, could even be fun, though he had to be careful with what he ate; Max’s special Taco sauce could send him into tears of agony. But he’d never have discovered the thieves two nights ago or two nights hence.
However, not only did he snap and snarl like a Hell-hound watchdog, he bounced off the walls like a sixth-grader on a sugar rush, and was horny as a frat boy on Viagra. Which is why he usually barricaded himself in the mansion and spent lots of time in the home gym those three days.
At least until Alex broke in the first time.
In spite of the situation, Justin couldn’t hold back a slightly licentious smile. The first few months, she’d deliberately let him catch her breaking in so he would fuck her senseless. But they’d rapidly developed to the point where they made actual arrangements, and not just at the full moon.
From there, it wasn’t all that long before he’d persuaded her to move in with him, and having a genuine relationship with Alex made Justin happier than he’d ever been in his life. She was snarky, sneaky, and occasionally outright bitchy, but she was also fiercely loyal, creative and incredibly giving to the few people she loved. But she was his, and he loved her with an intensity that he couldn’t tell her about because he was worried it would scare her away. Life without Alex was as impossible now as giving up his magic. Justin was just glad that he wouldn’t have to face his father’s choice, because he really didn’t know what he would do.
Justin’s energy and irritability - not to mention his libido - became much easier to deal with once he had a very willing lover who was more than happy to wrap herself around him whenever, wherever, and as many times as he needed it. On the other hand, where Alex was concerned he now had the territorial instincts of a Hell-Hound watchdog as well.
Which was part of the reason he was concentrating on the possible suspects that weren’t Ronald Longcape, Junior. When it came to the blonde man, Justin was well aware that he was under what the French would call an ‘idée fixe’. Until recently, he’d had no idea that Ronald knew Justin had been instrumental in not only removing the plastic ball infestation from WizTech, but in uncovering Ronald as the culprit, and providing the evidence that led to his expulsion from WizTech. Much less that Ronald still held a grudge about it - after all, it had been high school. Surely Justin wasn’t the only person who’d moved on?
But a few months ago, Justin had bought a beautiful statuette of Morgana le Fay, Sorceress of Camelot and Priestess of Avalon, at an auction from Sotheby’s wizarding branch. However, when he’d taken delivery, he’d found nothing but a crate full of plastic balls. It had been sheer luck that he’d been working on something in his home laboratory and had opened the crate in the isolation chamber. He’d been so incensed that Alex had volunteered to find and recover the statuette for him; eventually, she’d even had to go undercover in Abyss to retrieve it. (Replacing it with a Paris Hilton fashion doll had been a lovely touch.) No matter how grateful he was, he’d insisted on paying her going rates, though; he never wanted her to think for a second that he wanted a kept thief, rather than a lover.
Ronald had aroused both Justin’s territorial instincts and his fury, and now he despised Ronald in a way that he never had anyone else before, except for maybe the mummy who’d taken Juliet from him. But Justin knew that he couldn’t afford to let his hatred blind him to other possible suspects for the mysterious backer.
On the other hand, Alex had reported that the thieves she’d captured all wore something like a watch-fob around their necks. Identical to the one he’d shown her, only the silver filigree was in an ever-so-slightly different pattern. Enough to fool a casual observer, but not someone who noticed jewellery as a professional habit.
The fob on his watch was actually the master for the original set of tracking beacons for his great-grandfathers pocket-watch. They were all shaped like watch-fobs, made out of filigree the same pattern as the layered casing of the watch. Each of those six pocket-watches had been made with a slightly different pattern, with beacons to match.
Searching his memory, Justin tried to remember the names of those who had served on that Special Ops team. It had been awhile since he’d leafed through the Family Tree that served as a living genealogical record of much of wizardkind; the one at Villa Russetto had long since grown large enough to be transplanted outside.
******
Halfway across the building, in a tiny bathroom, a choppy-haired brunette rolled over on a tile floor and groaned.
“Where am I?” she moaned.
After a few more seconds she staggered to her feet, and couldn’t help swaying a little as she looked around and absorbed the situation. Carefully walking to the door, she knelt down again and looked through the crack between the door and the frame. Her right hand went to her boot, and she drew out a small, oblong object. A flick of her wrist revealed it to be a butterfly-knife. Carefully sliding the blade through the gap, she cut through the cord bound around the handle and strung across the door-jamb in an improvised lock. Good thing the room outside apparently hadn’t had any hard-backed chairs; one of those wedged under the door-knob and she’d have been screwed.
As she stepped through the door, Stevie Nichols reflected that it only proved what she’d already suspected about the backer for this job. He was the backstabbing type, who sat back and let others take the risks before manipulating matters so he received the credit. That type were never to be trusted. The bastard had obviously decided that leaving them captured for the police would be easier than paying them, trusting in the anonymity and geas of secrecy he’d insisted upon to escape any consequences.
If she’d been double-crossed, then it was every man for themselves. The other members of the crew were more or less strangers, so she saw no reason to warn them. If they were caught, they wouldn’t give out her name - or at least not her real one. While honour among thieves was a mostly fictional concept, their society did have some rules, and giving up a fellow member was high on the list of things that could get you waylaid in a dark alley.
Stevie placed her hands on her hips, and thought about how best to salvage the situation. She couldn’t trust the exit routes they’d established previously. Also, she hated the thought of leaving without getting something for her trouble. Her eyes lit up as a stray memory surfaced, and she grinned at no one in the dark.
In the catalogue of the exhibit, she’d noticed a listing for a complete set of Orbs of Divine Elements. While the original set created by Merlin were kept under close guard in the Council chambers, some of his pupils had made their own copies, and were owned privately. A certain person who Stevie had dealt with in the past had been trying to get a Water and an Earth orb for years, and had placed her on a retainer to find and retrieve them. A peculiarity of the Orbs meant that they couldn’t be traded, bartered or given. They could only be inherited... or stolen.
She’d heard that not even the infamous Black Cat had been able to pull that one off.
But the Orbs were being displayed in the gallery that ran alongside the main exhibition hall, that was currently stuffed full of society types that had no idea there was a robbery going on. How could she get close enough to lift the Orbs, and leave the museum without anyone noticing something peculiar?
Then her eyes lit on the red and black evening dress carefully laid out on the couch.
******
Alex took a deep breath, and peeked around a doorway. She’d lost a lot of time creping through to the Magic of the Pharaohs display; fortunately, this thief’s assignment had been the trickiest.
Even so, she’d made it just in time; the brunette guy who looked sort of like a skater punk was just opening the glass display case. More than six feet tall, six feet long and four feet wide, it held an exquisitely painted mummy case.
Holding her breath, Alex rapidly considered her options. Even as she watched, the man reached down to the floor of the case, and pressed the control buttons. The whole floor floated up in the air, revealing itself to be a platform several inches thick, kept from moving forward or side to side by the glass walls. The thief pulled out a looped strap from the underside of the platform, and gently tugged as he walked backwards, bringing the platform - and the mummy case on it - along. Alex’s eyes widened - the whole floor of the display case must be infused to levitate, doubling as a trolley, so they could move the mummy case around more easily.
Well, she wasn’t into Egyptian history much - even if the Pharaohs had been the first wizards - but she recognized that it was a beautiful and precious thing. She couldn’t go in there guns blazing, or she’d risk the case getting damaged. Also, everything in the hall was in glass display case, so she couldn’t sneak up, because he’d catch her reflection in at least one of them.
Biting her lip in impatience, Alex waited until the floating platform was a good ten feet away, before she boldly strode forward.
“Hey, jerkwad!”
That got the thief’s attention, and he started toward her, pulling a police baton out of his waistband.
Oh, great. She’d managed to find a thief savvy enough to bring a weapon. She was so ending up with more bruises. She had more reach than he did, but her sticks were too fragile to block the baton, only strike at him in return, so she’d have to be careful.
Alex moved forward to meet him, only to jump back as he lunged at her. Lashing out with her foot, she caught him on the hip, and he swore as he stumbled back.
Alex cast a quick glance at the floating mummy case - and the empty display case. If she could just get him near enough...
She moved backwards as she circled, swiping out with the stick in her left hand. It missed by a mile, and her opponent’s face creased in a really offensive grin as he moved forward. Dropping into a crouch, Alex’s next kick caught him in the side of his knee, and stumbled, almost falling. At least she’d wiped the smile off his face.
He caught her off guard, running towards her while she was still off balance. Alex dove past him in a forward roll, managing to dodge another strike. Rolling onto her feet, she pivoted. He was almost perfectly in position, and Alex realised she had to strike now or she’d have to take this guy down hand to hand - which wasn’t very likely.
He must know by now that she wasn’t a complete amateur - though still out of her depth. So he wouldn’t be expecting a downright stupid move.
Running forward, she planted her shoulder in his midriff, and kept going, forcing him backwards like a football player tackling. Winded by the impact, she was moving too fast for him to realise that she was in reach of his baton. Blessing those pickup football games from the mortal foster homes, her legs kept pumping as she pushed him right into the open end of the empty mummy case. The hollow base of the display case caught him in the back of his knees, and they both went down, his body cushioning her fall, as their momentum landed them on the hard floor inside the display case - where the preservation spells allowed magic.
“Good night, sleep tight,” Alex muttered instantly.
Not her best or most clever improvisation, but it got the job done. Even as she pushed herself onto her hands and knees, the thief was snoring beneath her.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Alex reached into the neckline of the thief’s T-shirt, and found yet another pendant. Smiling grimly, she climbed out of the display case and went over to the mummy case, still floating in mid air. She couldn’t leave it away from the preservation spells in the case for long. Tugging on the strap with the occasional grasp on the corners to turn it, she manoeuvred the platform holding the mummy case back into the display case. She decided to be merciful (she’d won, after all) and let it hover one or two feet above the now-sleeping thief, so if he did come awake by some chance, he wouldn’t think he’d been stuffed into a coffin or anything. But not high enough that he could reach the lock. She wasn’t that merciful.
Brushing herself off, Alex let a smile of immense satisfaction spread across her face.
“Blue skies!”
A quick message to Justin, and she could head back. Hmm... she didn’t get a chance like this very often. Did she have time to fit in a quick visit to her favourite display of cursed jewellery on her way?
******
Despite his earlier resolution not to let his own bias let him jump to conclusions, Justin hadn’t been able to help keeping watch on Longcape out of the corner of his eye, more or less constantly. Which was why when Alex messaged him that she’d taken out the last thief, he noticed that at almost the very same moment Ronald had wondered off into an alcove. He was now emerging, less than a minute later, and looking distinctly shaky.
Justin’s eyes narrowed. That was the second time Longcape had done that. Longcape headed to the bar like a man intending to get seriously drunk, and as he whirled, Justin noticed a bulge in his jacket that he hadn’t seen before. A hidden pocket wasn’t too unusual, even in a tux. But whatever was in that pocket hadn’t been there before... like Longcape was so upset that he’d forgotten to stash whatever the object was into a less revealing place.
Justin strolled over to the bar. Only Professor Crumbs, quietly inconspicuous behind a statue of Parsifal, saw the fierce gleam in his narrowed eyes.
Justin signalled the bartender. “Brigadoon mist.”
Leaning casually on the blue frosted-glass bar-top, he looked sideways to inspect Longcape, now only a few feet away. The lump in his pocket was even more apparent up close. It was palm-sized, and round. Almost like... Justin took a hasty sip of his drink to hide his triumphant grin. His own hand strayed to his waistcoat pocket, as he remembered; Albarn Russo had served with Asura Starstrike - whose daughter had married a Longcape. If the fobs on the thieves matched the pattern of the Starstrike watch... he was really in the mood to vent some hostility, and Longcape most certainly deserved to be it’s target.
******
Stevie stood in front of the plinth, looking down at her new payday for tonight. The Orbs of Divine Elements didn’t look like they’d be worth her own weight in gold. They just looked like a set of four small crystal balls, small enough to nestle in the palm of her hand. Tinged light blue, light green, yellow and orange, each had a swirl of cobalt blue, forest green, white, and red respectively, running through it like an old-fashioned marble.
Reaching out, Stevie plucked the blue globe from its circular cradle, and tossed it up in the air before catching it again.
“Piece of cake,” she muttered to herself, smirking.
Then two metal prongs popped out of the cradle. A split second, and they sprayed a glittering golden mist into the air.
Stevie’s eyes widened. “What the fu-“
But that was all she got out before her vision went black.
******
Alex was feeling rather pleased with herself as she strolled back to the party. All the thieves were safely confined, and with any luck Justin had worked out who the backer was and was about to ruin the jerkwad’s night. She hoped he’d waited until she came back, so she could watch the show.
Alex stopped at the entrance to the Morrible room. Cutting directly through here was the quickest way, but... going by way of the Elphaba gallery wouldn’t add more than a minute to her journey, and she could visit Justin’s Orbs of Divine Elements. Given that one of them was the reason she and Justin had met in the first place, she held a soft spot in her heart for the little cuties.
Walking swiftly but silently, Alex absently cast an expert eye over the exhibits she’d helped Justin set out earlier today, checking that nothing was amiss. But everything seemed to be undisturbed. Grinning, she rounded the plinth - and nearly tripped over a body on the floor, still clutching an Orb of Divines Waters in her right fist.
Alex’s eyes narrowed in fury.
A body wearing her dress!
******
Justin blinked as a furious-looking Alex stormed in as best she could while holding a slim woman dressed only in a bra and panties in a fireman’s carry over her shoulder. Without any explanation whatsoever, she dropped the unconscious woman onto the almost-empty table that had held the appetisers.
Justin hurried to her side, pushing through the rapidly-forming crowd. As the party-goers started babbling questions, he realised that Alex was holding her dress over one arm, and that the woman on the table was the thief that should have been in the bathroom of the director’s office.
Alex’s blonde friend in the blue dress - Beth? - was at the front, and asked, “Alex? What’s going on?”
Alex grinned fiercely, and Justin took a deep breath as a surge of heat rushed through him, and he had to brace himself against the sudden image of him bending her over the table right that second.
“What’s happening is that while all of you have been chatting and drinking, a group of thieves attempted to rob the museum!” Among gasps of shock and the buzz of excited conversation, Alex raised her voice and continued, “All the thieves themselves were stopped before they could steal anything, but I overheard them talking about a boss - someone who was here at the party.”
A tall, well-built man with shoulder-length light brown hair pushed his way through the crowd, standing next to Beth. “Listen up, I’m the head of security. I can assure you that the wardens have already been contacted, and are on their way. If you can just remain calm and co-operate with the wardens when they get here, this whole mess can be sorted out in no time.”
Justin noticed a small ripple in the crowd, and realised that a certain blonde man he’d had an eye on all night was trying to work his way out of the crowd, when everyone else was trying to edge closer to get a better view.
“In a hurry, Ronald?” Justin called loudly.
Ronald Longcape Junior froze in his tracks, and turned around. Sensing a scene, the crowd moved around him, leaving him in a small island of space in the crowd, and a clear path between him and Justin.
A haughty, condescending look came over Longcape’s face, and his voice dripped with disdain. “If you must know, I’m heading for the men’s room. I don’t think we’ll be allowed to visit once the wardens get here and seal the building. If that’s all?”
“Actually, I was wondering why you keep checking your pocket-watch.”
“My... pocket-watch?” Ronald asked flatly. His hand automatically went to the pocket hidden in the left side seam of his jacket, betraying its position.
Justin’s eyes were narrowed, a feral gleam sparking in them. But his voice was utterly calm.
“Yes, the watch. You’ve been checking it almost continuously throughout the night - as if you were using it to keep track of something other than time. You see, you’re not the only person around with that particular model.” Reaching into his waistcoat pocket, Justin displayed a seemingly identical pocket-watch to the crowd. “Six of these were issued during the Third Troll War, to a special operations team of wizards known as the Foxhounds. The watches were both a commemoration of their previous deeds, and meant to help them in their future missions. Some of the watches have had spells added to them over the years, but all of them were issued with one particular spell. It allows the holder to track one or more of a set of beacons keyed to the watch, showing their locations on a display that projects inside the watch-case.”
With so many people watching, Ronald couldn’t stop Justin from reaching forward and taking out the Longcape family watch. Justin flipped it open, making the nearest partygoers gasp in surprise at the small picture already displaying in the lid.
“Increase display to maximum possible size,” Justin spoke, and the display enlarged until everyone within eyeshot could see the faintly-glowing replica of a two-story floor plan. A gasp from his left told Justin that at least one person recognised the image as the museum - the same rooms that surrounded them and the floor above.
“That’s the problem with old wizard families who only marry other old wizard families, Ronald,” Justin grinned wolfishly. “Stagnation. Without members who dare to ‘pollute the blood with mortals’, as you so charmingly used to put it, the advances in the mortal world don’t find their way to the wizard world. For example, the need for passwords, so random passers-by can’t pick up private family enchanted objects and start using them. Let’s see if anyone in your family had the skill - or the initiative - to re-set the original command words. Show locations of all active beacons.”
Four glowing white dots, now the size of a child’s fingernails, popped up on the display.
“Alex? Where are the thieves now?”
A short pause, and Justin could now sense her warm presence at his left shoulder - where she could watch his back.
“Well, this one,” Alex nodded at the unconscious woman on the table, “was originally in the bathroom attached to the Director’s office, but I found her in the next room. Just so there’s no confusion. One is in the mummy case belonging to I’ll-come-in or whatever his name was-”
“Ahkamen.” Justin simply couldn’t help himself.
“Whatever. Anyway, the case is in the Magic of the Pharaohs display, right at the back of the museum. Two others are in the broom closet just south of the entrance to the hall of Magic Mirrors.”
“Well, then, let’s see where the beacons are.” Reaching out, he gently tapped the nearest white dot. “Speak location.”
“Main exhibition hall,” came a rusty, mechanical-sounding voice.
Alex leaned over the unconscious woman, and picked up the chain around her neck in her fingertips, letting the watch-fob dangle in midair and be displayed to the room.
Justin’s grin widened, and he tapped the two dots that were so close together they were nearly merged.
“Closet, second floor. Nearest location, Hall of Magic Mirrors.”
Justin tapped the last, and was rewarded with the voice a final time.
“Magic of the Pharaohs display.”
Longcape’s eyes widened in desperation, and Justin tensed himself to chase his prey. His already-heightened senses had been running in overdrive ever since Alex walked in, and he could actually see Longcape’s body preparing to act.
Longcape whirled, pushed the woman behind him to the ground... and stopped as his feet stuck to the floor, his forward momentum sending him tumbling to the ground.
“I don’t think so, young man,” Professor Crumbs said sternly.
Only a handful of wizards were powerful enough to overcome the anti-magic effects of the building. But Professor Crumbs was one of them.
“I knew you were a bad lot when I had to expel you, but I had no idea you would sink so low as to become a criminal! You’ll behave like a wizard, and pay the consequences for your actions.”
Longcape snarled, and his eyes glittered in hate as his mouth opened.
“Oh, please don’t say ‘I would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling wizards’,” came a pleasant tenor voice. The crowds parted to reveal a blond, green-eyed man in his mid twenties. “It’s so clichéd.”
Alex wiggled her fingers in a discreet wave to Oz Vessalius, husband to her friend and combat instructor Alice, and the only Warden who’d ever arrested her - hey, she’d had to get into Abyss somehow! - and received a faint smile in return. “Besides this loser, there’s another thief on the table, and three more upstairs. Want me to show you?”
Oz shook his head. “Directions will suffice.” He hauled a still-sputtering Longcape to his feet, clamping out a set of manacles around his wrists.
“Ronald Longcape Junior, you are under arrest...”
Epilogue
An hour and a half later, the exhibition hall was empty, except for the bartenders packing away the liquor and the museum janitorial staff, already starting to clear up. Statements had been taken, all miscreants had been taken away, and the other guests had all departed, several overheard exclaiming that this had been the most exciting event of the season. Casually stealing a bottle of water from the bar - over an hour of talking to a Warden could really dry out your throat, especially when you had to come up with some on-the-spot rationalisation as to exactly why you’d pulled a Die Hard on a group of thieves - Alex slumped onto the black leather padded bench, and dropped her head onto Justin’s shoulder.
She could already feel a crop of new bruises forming - but she wasn’t getting these healed either. Actually, she could barely wait to show them off to Alice at their next lesson.
“Hell of a first date, huh?” she asked lightly.
Justin snickered. “Wait til you see what I come up with for our first anniversary.”
Alex calculated how many people were within earshot, and ventured, “How energetic are you feeling? Wanna go home and hump like rabbits?”
Justin chuckled. “Oh, I don’t think so.”
Alex lifted her head from his shoulder, staring at him in astonishment. Justin stood and faced her, holding out a hand.
“The night’s not over yet, Alex.”
Intrigued, Alex placed her hand in his.
******
After a quick stop at the Director’s office to pick up their remaining belongings, Justin led Alex to the very back of the second floor. He put their bags on the floor against the wall, just inside the doorway.
Alex peered over Justin’s shoulder, but couldn’t see much; the gallery was dark.
“This gallery doesn’t get used very often; the museum can’t often afford to put on small exhibitions.” Justin explained. “So when I asked if I could use it, it really wasn’t a problem.”
“Use it? For what?”
Justin grinned, and led her inside. Then he flipped the lights on.
Alex took a few more steps forward, and stopped dead, as her eyes locked on a very familiar painting on the wall.
“I didn’t do this all by myself, I have to admit. Zeke helped with a lot of the heavy lifting. I mostly used stuff from the villa, but Alice loaned me the ‘Alice in Chains’ painting... and I abused the key you gave me to your studio apartment.”
Normally Alex would have either cheered for his lawlessness, or started a knock-down drag-out fight because it was her workplace he’d invaded, but she was too busy staring at the art on the walls, rushing from canvas to canvas.
They were all very familiar paintings... because she had painted every single one.
“Oh, Justin...” she murmured, turning slowly in place to better take it in.
“I know you consider the, um, second-story work your profession, and your art and music your passion, but I truly believe your art is worthy of success, Alex. I’m sure it’ll happen for you one day. I respect your wishes to keep your past to yourself - as long as it’s not coming back to bite us - but I know that a lot of it wasn’t very happy. I guess I just wanted to show you a glimpse of a happy and successful future.”
Alex could only look at him, her knees almost giving way at the rush of love she felt for this man.
“There have been happy times,” she told him. “But since you came into my life, I’m happy all the time. God, Justin, this...” she trailed off and gestured. “No one’s ever done something so incredible for me. Something so romantic!”
Justin chuckled, sliding his hands into his trouser pockets. “It’d probably be a lot more romantic if you were wearing that gorgeous dress, instead of leggings and my T-shirt.”
“Which I am keeping, by the way.”
Justin’s eyes widened in dismay. “But Alex! That’s a limited edition-“
Alex simply looked at him reproachfully.
“Okay, fine,” he sighed in resignation. “But only if you wear it around the house with nothing under it at least once, and let me take you wearing it.”
“Done!” Alex giggled. She took another look around, and something else occurred to her. “This was it, wasn’t it?” Alex guessed. “When you overheard the thieves, we were coming here.”
Justin nodded, “Yeah, I thought I’d do something to make it up to you for turning down that job offer here. And then we wound up foiling your replacements! Just shows that one should only hire the best, I suppose.”
Alex sighed. “I do kinda wish I could have at least tried it. You know, Longcape offered me my biggest payday ever to pull this job?”
“So why didn’t you? You never did explain.”
“When I moved in with you, I promised I wouldn’t ever rob you. I figured that since you’re on the board of directors of this place, and so involved in the exhibit, it counted as yours, too, just like the manor.”
“I’m guessing Ronald felt that way, as well,” Justin said thoughtfully. “Since his attempt to rob me personally of the Morgana le Fay sculpture didn’t work, he moved on to trying to rob me professionally.”
Alex moved closer to inspect the painting she’d called 'Black Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' - she’d painted the view she’d seen from the rooftop of Villa Russetto, the night she’d met Justin - and almost didn’t hear him moving in behind her.
“Y’know, when Zeke was helping me set this up? He was convinced it was for more than our first date. He thought this was a perfect setting for a proposal.”
Alex whirled, around, panic flooding her mind. She couldn’t... she wasn’t ready... but if he did, what would he do if she said no?
“I hadn’t actually thought about it, but I could see what he meant. But it made me think about the whole prospect and... Alex, please don’t get upset - “
Alex shook her head slowly; if Justin sounded this uncertain...
“But it made me realise something. Alex, you make me happier than I’ve ever been, and I don’t want to be apart from you... but I’m not ready to get married. And to be honest? I don’t think you are either.”
Alex’s sigh of relief gushed out of her. “No, Justin, I’m not. I love you, but co-habitation is as far as I can go right now. I don’t actually care if we ever get married or not; you by my side is enough for me.”
"I appreciate that, but you know what? I’m giving you fair warning, Alex; one day, when I know I'm ready, and I think you are, I'm going to ask you. You're the one for me. I don't have any doubts about that."
Alex smiled. She really didn’t care if they were married or not, just committed, but Justin was the traditional type, and it wasn’t like she was actually opposed to the idea. "If I'm not ready, I'll say 'not yet'. I'll never say 'no' - and if you time it right, I'll say 'yes'."
Justin smiled back, and pulled her into the deep, passionate kiss that he’d wanted to give her all night. Alex wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss, backing towards another of the museum’s ubiquitous padded black leather benches. Sitting down and laying back, she stretched out and tugged Justin on top of her.
Breaking off the kiss, Justin smiled and remarked, “Merlin was smiling on me the night you broke into my house, Alex.”
“Don’t you mean Morgana?” Alex asked, her nimble fingers opening his waistcoat and shirt as she spoke.
“Good point,” Justin conceded, leaning forward to kiss her again.
Alex just laughed into the kiss and wrapped her legs around his hips.
FINI
Justin placed his empty glass on a table, letting his gaze wander randomly about the room. His eye was caught by a landscape that showed the full moon rising over the English moors, and he grimaced involuntarily.
During his sophomore year of high school, Justin had tried getting a date online, through WizFace. In just one of the string of disasters that made up his teenage love life (although to be fair, Juliet was anything but a disaster. Hellishly complicated, though), Isabella had been a lycanthrope. If she’d been a true werewolf, there wouldn’t have been much of a problem - well, aside from them having nothing in common. But Isabella was actually a hexenwulf; the sub-race had been created by Victor Frankenstein (who ironically, had his name stolen by a mortal writer he’d never met for a character who was very much like him), and were incredibly contagious. Justin had found that out the hard way.
Justin’s father Jerry had explained that Justin’s lycanthropy was easily reversed, since it had only lasted for a few hours. Since Justin’s case was so simple, Jerry hadn’t bothered to mention that the after-effects of lycanthropy could be unpredictable on a wizard, whose very cells were made to absorb and channel supernatural power. When it also happened to be the constantly transforming body of a teenager in the full throes of adolescence, it could take hard. Jerry still had no idea that a few hours had been enough for Justin to be permanently affected, since it had been mild enough that he barely even noticed it himself while still living at home.
However, once he’d won the family competition and moved to the wizarding world permanently - Justin didn’t know if it was becoming a full wizard, or the constant magic that suffused the air in the wizard world, but now every full moon, as well as the day before and after, Justin went into a modified version of moon-heat; the time just before a full moon when the need to seek and claim a mate became overwhelming. Luckily, as a hexenwulf by birth Isabella hadn’t been mature enough to go through it at the time she’d infected Justin. Justin still shuddered at the thought of being stuck with her for life. At least the whole mess had convinced his parents to let him transfer to WizTech permanently.
The supernaturally heightened senses were fine, could even be fun, though he had to be careful with what he ate; Max’s special Taco sauce could send him into tears of agony. But he’d never have discovered the thieves two nights ago or two nights hence.
However, not only did he snap and snarl like a Hell-hound watchdog, he bounced off the walls like a sixth-grader on a sugar rush, and was horny as a frat boy on Viagra. Which is why he usually barricaded himself in the mansion and spent lots of time in the home gym those three days.
At least until Alex broke in the first time.
In spite of the situation, Justin couldn’t hold back a slightly licentious smile. The first few months, she’d deliberately let him catch her breaking in so he would fuck her senseless. But they’d rapidly developed to the point where they made actual arrangements, and not just at the full moon.
From there, it wasn’t all that long before he’d persuaded her to move in with him, and having a genuine relationship with Alex made Justin happier than he’d ever been in his life. She was snarky, sneaky, and occasionally outright bitchy, but she was also fiercely loyal, creative and incredibly giving to the few people she loved. But she was his, and he loved her with an intensity that he couldn’t tell her about because he was worried it would scare her away. Life without Alex was as impossible now as giving up his magic. Justin was just glad that he wouldn’t have to face his father’s choice, because he really didn’t know what he would do.
Justin’s energy and irritability - not to mention his libido - became much easier to deal with once he had a very willing lover who was more than happy to wrap herself around him whenever, wherever, and as many times as he needed it. On the other hand, where Alex was concerned he now had the territorial instincts of a Hell-Hound watchdog as well.
Which was part of the reason he was concentrating on the possible suspects that weren’t Ronald Longcape, Junior. When it came to the blonde man, Justin was well aware that he was under what the French would call an ‘idée fixe’. Until recently, he’d had no idea that Ronald knew Justin had been instrumental in not only removing the plastic ball infestation from WizTech, but in uncovering Ronald as the culprit, and providing the evidence that led to his expulsion from WizTech. Much less that Ronald still held a grudge about it - after all, it had been high school. Surely Justin wasn’t the only person who’d moved on?
But a few months ago, Justin had bought a beautiful statuette of Morgana le Fay, Sorceress of Camelot and Priestess of Avalon, at an auction from Sotheby’s wizarding branch. However, when he’d taken delivery, he’d found nothing but a crate full of plastic balls. It had been sheer luck that he’d been working on something in his home laboratory and had opened the crate in the isolation chamber. He’d been so incensed that Alex had volunteered to find and recover the statuette for him; eventually, she’d even had to go undercover in Abyss to retrieve it. (Replacing it with a Paris Hilton fashion doll had been a lovely touch.) No matter how grateful he was, he’d insisted on paying her going rates, though; he never wanted her to think for a second that he wanted a kept thief, rather than a lover.
Ronald had aroused both Justin’s territorial instincts and his fury, and now he despised Ronald in a way that he never had anyone else before, except for maybe the mummy who’d taken Juliet from him. But Justin knew that he couldn’t afford to let his hatred blind him to other possible suspects for the mysterious backer.
On the other hand, Alex had reported that the thieves she’d captured all wore something like a watch-fob around their necks. Identical to the one he’d shown her, only the silver filigree was in an ever-so-slightly different pattern. Enough to fool a casual observer, but not someone who noticed jewellery as a professional habit.
The fob on his watch was actually the master for the original set of tracking beacons for his great-grandfathers pocket-watch. They were all shaped like watch-fobs, made out of filigree the same pattern as the layered casing of the watch. Each of those six pocket-watches had been made with a slightly different pattern, with beacons to match.
Searching his memory, Justin tried to remember the names of those who had served on that Special Ops team. It had been awhile since he’d leafed through the Family Tree that served as a living genealogical record of much of wizardkind; the one at Villa Russetto had long since grown large enough to be transplanted outside.
******
Halfway across the building, in a tiny bathroom, a choppy-haired brunette rolled over on a tile floor and groaned.
“Where am I?” she moaned.
After a few more seconds she staggered to her feet, and couldn’t help swaying a little as she looked around and absorbed the situation. Carefully walking to the door, she knelt down again and looked through the crack between the door and the frame. Her right hand went to her boot, and she drew out a small, oblong object. A flick of her wrist revealed it to be a butterfly-knife. Carefully sliding the blade through the gap, she cut through the cord bound around the handle and strung across the door-jamb in an improvised lock. Good thing the room outside apparently hadn’t had any hard-backed chairs; one of those wedged under the door-knob and she’d have been screwed.
As she stepped through the door, Stevie Nichols reflected that it only proved what she’d already suspected about the backer for this job. He was the backstabbing type, who sat back and let others take the risks before manipulating matters so he received the credit. That type were never to be trusted. The bastard had obviously decided that leaving them captured for the police would be easier than paying them, trusting in the anonymity and geas of secrecy he’d insisted upon to escape any consequences.
If she’d been double-crossed, then it was every man for themselves. The other members of the crew were more or less strangers, so she saw no reason to warn them. If they were caught, they wouldn’t give out her name - or at least not her real one. While honour among thieves was a mostly fictional concept, their society did have some rules, and giving up a fellow member was high on the list of things that could get you waylaid in a dark alley.
Stevie placed her hands on her hips, and thought about how best to salvage the situation. She couldn’t trust the exit routes they’d established previously. Also, she hated the thought of leaving without getting something for her trouble. Her eyes lit up as a stray memory surfaced, and she grinned at no one in the dark.
In the catalogue of the exhibit, she’d noticed a listing for a complete set of Orbs of Divine Elements. While the original set created by Merlin were kept under close guard in the Council chambers, some of his pupils had made their own copies, and were owned privately. A certain person who Stevie had dealt with in the past had been trying to get a Water and an Earth orb for years, and had placed her on a retainer to find and retrieve them. A peculiarity of the Orbs meant that they couldn’t be traded, bartered or given. They could only be inherited... or stolen.
She’d heard that not even the infamous Black Cat had been able to pull that one off.
But the Orbs were being displayed in the gallery that ran alongside the main exhibition hall, that was currently stuffed full of society types that had no idea there was a robbery going on. How could she get close enough to lift the Orbs, and leave the museum without anyone noticing something peculiar?
Then her eyes lit on the red and black evening dress carefully laid out on the couch.
******
Alex took a deep breath, and peeked around a doorway. She’d lost a lot of time creping through to the Magic of the Pharaohs display; fortunately, this thief’s assignment had been the trickiest.
Even so, she’d made it just in time; the brunette guy who looked sort of like a skater punk was just opening the glass display case. More than six feet tall, six feet long and four feet wide, it held an exquisitely painted mummy case.
Holding her breath, Alex rapidly considered her options. Even as she watched, the man reached down to the floor of the case, and pressed the control buttons. The whole floor floated up in the air, revealing itself to be a platform several inches thick, kept from moving forward or side to side by the glass walls. The thief pulled out a looped strap from the underside of the platform, and gently tugged as he walked backwards, bringing the platform - and the mummy case on it - along. Alex’s eyes widened - the whole floor of the display case must be infused to levitate, doubling as a trolley, so they could move the mummy case around more easily.
Well, she wasn’t into Egyptian history much - even if the Pharaohs had been the first wizards - but she recognized that it was a beautiful and precious thing. She couldn’t go in there guns blazing, or she’d risk the case getting damaged. Also, everything in the hall was in glass display case, so she couldn’t sneak up, because he’d catch her reflection in at least one of them.
Biting her lip in impatience, Alex waited until the floating platform was a good ten feet away, before she boldly strode forward.
“Hey, jerkwad!”
That got the thief’s attention, and he started toward her, pulling a police baton out of his waistband.
Oh, great. She’d managed to find a thief savvy enough to bring a weapon. She was so ending up with more bruises. She had more reach than he did, but her sticks were too fragile to block the baton, only strike at him in return, so she’d have to be careful.
Alex moved forward to meet him, only to jump back as he lunged at her. Lashing out with her foot, she caught him on the hip, and he swore as he stumbled back.
Alex cast a quick glance at the floating mummy case - and the empty display case. If she could just get him near enough...
She moved backwards as she circled, swiping out with the stick in her left hand. It missed by a mile, and her opponent’s face creased in a really offensive grin as he moved forward. Dropping into a crouch, Alex’s next kick caught him in the side of his knee, and stumbled, almost falling. At least she’d wiped the smile off his face.
He caught her off guard, running towards her while she was still off balance. Alex dove past him in a forward roll, managing to dodge another strike. Rolling onto her feet, she pivoted. He was almost perfectly in position, and Alex realised she had to strike now or she’d have to take this guy down hand to hand - which wasn’t very likely.
He must know by now that she wasn’t a complete amateur - though still out of her depth. So he wouldn’t be expecting a downright stupid move.
Running forward, she planted her shoulder in his midriff, and kept going, forcing him backwards like a football player tackling. Winded by the impact, she was moving too fast for him to realise that she was in reach of his baton. Blessing those pickup football games from the mortal foster homes, her legs kept pumping as she pushed him right into the open end of the empty mummy case. The hollow base of the display case caught him in the back of his knees, and they both went down, his body cushioning her fall, as their momentum landed them on the hard floor inside the display case - where the preservation spells allowed magic.
“Good night, sleep tight,” Alex muttered instantly.
Not her best or most clever improvisation, but it got the job done. Even as she pushed herself onto her hands and knees, the thief was snoring beneath her.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Alex reached into the neckline of the thief’s T-shirt, and found yet another pendant. Smiling grimly, she climbed out of the display case and went over to the mummy case, still floating in mid air. She couldn’t leave it away from the preservation spells in the case for long. Tugging on the strap with the occasional grasp on the corners to turn it, she manoeuvred the platform holding the mummy case back into the display case. She decided to be merciful (she’d won, after all) and let it hover one or two feet above the now-sleeping thief, so if he did come awake by some chance, he wouldn’t think he’d been stuffed into a coffin or anything. But not high enough that he could reach the lock. She wasn’t that merciful.
Brushing herself off, Alex let a smile of immense satisfaction spread across her face.
“Blue skies!”
A quick message to Justin, and she could head back. Hmm... she didn’t get a chance like this very often. Did she have time to fit in a quick visit to her favourite display of cursed jewellery on her way?
******
Despite his earlier resolution not to let his own bias let him jump to conclusions, Justin hadn’t been able to help keeping watch on Longcape out of the corner of his eye, more or less constantly. Which was why when Alex messaged him that she’d taken out the last thief, he noticed that at almost the very same moment Ronald had wondered off into an alcove. He was now emerging, less than a minute later, and looking distinctly shaky.
Justin’s eyes narrowed. That was the second time Longcape had done that. Longcape headed to the bar like a man intending to get seriously drunk, and as he whirled, Justin noticed a bulge in his jacket that he hadn’t seen before. A hidden pocket wasn’t too unusual, even in a tux. But whatever was in that pocket hadn’t been there before... like Longcape was so upset that he’d forgotten to stash whatever the object was into a less revealing place.
Justin strolled over to the bar. Only Professor Crumbs, quietly inconspicuous behind a statue of Parsifal, saw the fierce gleam in his narrowed eyes.
Justin signalled the bartender. “Brigadoon mist.”
Leaning casually on the blue frosted-glass bar-top, he looked sideways to inspect Longcape, now only a few feet away. The lump in his pocket was even more apparent up close. It was palm-sized, and round. Almost like... Justin took a hasty sip of his drink to hide his triumphant grin. His own hand strayed to his waistcoat pocket, as he remembered; Albarn Russo had served with Asura Starstrike - whose daughter had married a Longcape. If the fobs on the thieves matched the pattern of the Starstrike watch... he was really in the mood to vent some hostility, and Longcape most certainly deserved to be it’s target.
******
Stevie stood in front of the plinth, looking down at her new payday for tonight. The Orbs of Divine Elements didn’t look like they’d be worth her own weight in gold. They just looked like a set of four small crystal balls, small enough to nestle in the palm of her hand. Tinged light blue, light green, yellow and orange, each had a swirl of cobalt blue, forest green, white, and red respectively, running through it like an old-fashioned marble.
Reaching out, Stevie plucked the blue globe from its circular cradle, and tossed it up in the air before catching it again.
“Piece of cake,” she muttered to herself, smirking.
Then two metal prongs popped out of the cradle. A split second, and they sprayed a glittering golden mist into the air.
Stevie’s eyes widened. “What the fu-“
But that was all she got out before her vision went black.
******
Alex was feeling rather pleased with herself as she strolled back to the party. All the thieves were safely confined, and with any luck Justin had worked out who the backer was and was about to ruin the jerkwad’s night. She hoped he’d waited until she came back, so she could watch the show.
Alex stopped at the entrance to the Morrible room. Cutting directly through here was the quickest way, but... going by way of the Elphaba gallery wouldn’t add more than a minute to her journey, and she could visit Justin’s Orbs of Divine Elements. Given that one of them was the reason she and Justin had met in the first place, she held a soft spot in her heart for the little cuties.
Walking swiftly but silently, Alex absently cast an expert eye over the exhibits she’d helped Justin set out earlier today, checking that nothing was amiss. But everything seemed to be undisturbed. Grinning, she rounded the plinth - and nearly tripped over a body on the floor, still clutching an Orb of Divines Waters in her right fist.
Alex’s eyes narrowed in fury.
A body wearing her dress!
******
Justin blinked as a furious-looking Alex stormed in as best she could while holding a slim woman dressed only in a bra and panties in a fireman’s carry over her shoulder. Without any explanation whatsoever, she dropped the unconscious woman onto the almost-empty table that had held the appetisers.
Justin hurried to her side, pushing through the rapidly-forming crowd. As the party-goers started babbling questions, he realised that Alex was holding her dress over one arm, and that the woman on the table was the thief that should have been in the bathroom of the director’s office.
Alex’s blonde friend in the blue dress - Beth? - was at the front, and asked, “Alex? What’s going on?”
Alex grinned fiercely, and Justin took a deep breath as a surge of heat rushed through him, and he had to brace himself against the sudden image of him bending her over the table right that second.
“What’s happening is that while all of you have been chatting and drinking, a group of thieves attempted to rob the museum!” Among gasps of shock and the buzz of excited conversation, Alex raised her voice and continued, “All the thieves themselves were stopped before they could steal anything, but I overheard them talking about a boss - someone who was here at the party.”
A tall, well-built man with shoulder-length light brown hair pushed his way through the crowd, standing next to Beth. “Listen up, I’m the head of security. I can assure you that the wardens have already been contacted, and are on their way. If you can just remain calm and co-operate with the wardens when they get here, this whole mess can be sorted out in no time.”
Justin noticed a small ripple in the crowd, and realised that a certain blonde man he’d had an eye on all night was trying to work his way out of the crowd, when everyone else was trying to edge closer to get a better view.
“In a hurry, Ronald?” Justin called loudly.
Ronald Longcape Junior froze in his tracks, and turned around. Sensing a scene, the crowd moved around him, leaving him in a small island of space in the crowd, and a clear path between him and Justin.
A haughty, condescending look came over Longcape’s face, and his voice dripped with disdain. “If you must know, I’m heading for the men’s room. I don’t think we’ll be allowed to visit once the wardens get here and seal the building. If that’s all?”
“Actually, I was wondering why you keep checking your pocket-watch.”
“My... pocket-watch?” Ronald asked flatly. His hand automatically went to the pocket hidden in the left side seam of his jacket, betraying its position.
Justin’s eyes were narrowed, a feral gleam sparking in them. But his voice was utterly calm.
“Yes, the watch. You’ve been checking it almost continuously throughout the night - as if you were using it to keep track of something other than time. You see, you’re not the only person around with that particular model.” Reaching into his waistcoat pocket, Justin displayed a seemingly identical pocket-watch to the crowd. “Six of these were issued during the Third Troll War, to a special operations team of wizards known as the Foxhounds. The watches were both a commemoration of their previous deeds, and meant to help them in their future missions. Some of the watches have had spells added to them over the years, but all of them were issued with one particular spell. It allows the holder to track one or more of a set of beacons keyed to the watch, showing their locations on a display that projects inside the watch-case.”
With so many people watching, Ronald couldn’t stop Justin from reaching forward and taking out the Longcape family watch. Justin flipped it open, making the nearest partygoers gasp in surprise at the small picture already displaying in the lid.
“Increase display to maximum possible size,” Justin spoke, and the display enlarged until everyone within eyeshot could see the faintly-glowing replica of a two-story floor plan. A gasp from his left told Justin that at least one person recognised the image as the museum - the same rooms that surrounded them and the floor above.
“That’s the problem with old wizard families who only marry other old wizard families, Ronald,” Justin grinned wolfishly. “Stagnation. Without members who dare to ‘pollute the blood with mortals’, as you so charmingly used to put it, the advances in the mortal world don’t find their way to the wizard world. For example, the need for passwords, so random passers-by can’t pick up private family enchanted objects and start using them. Let’s see if anyone in your family had the skill - or the initiative - to re-set the original command words. Show locations of all active beacons.”
Four glowing white dots, now the size of a child’s fingernails, popped up on the display.
“Alex? Where are the thieves now?”
A short pause, and Justin could now sense her warm presence at his left shoulder - where she could watch his back.
“Well, this one,” Alex nodded at the unconscious woman on the table, “was originally in the bathroom attached to the Director’s office, but I found her in the next room. Just so there’s no confusion. One is in the mummy case belonging to I’ll-come-in or whatever his name was-”
“Ahkamen.” Justin simply couldn’t help himself.
“Whatever. Anyway, the case is in the Magic of the Pharaohs display, right at the back of the museum. Two others are in the broom closet just south of the entrance to the hall of Magic Mirrors.”
“Well, then, let’s see where the beacons are.” Reaching out, he gently tapped the nearest white dot. “Speak location.”
“Main exhibition hall,” came a rusty, mechanical-sounding voice.
Alex leaned over the unconscious woman, and picked up the chain around her neck in her fingertips, letting the watch-fob dangle in midair and be displayed to the room.
Justin’s grin widened, and he tapped the two dots that were so close together they were nearly merged.
“Closet, second floor. Nearest location, Hall of Magic Mirrors.”
Justin tapped the last, and was rewarded with the voice a final time.
“Magic of the Pharaohs display.”
Longcape’s eyes widened in desperation, and Justin tensed himself to chase his prey. His already-heightened senses had been running in overdrive ever since Alex walked in, and he could actually see Longcape’s body preparing to act.
Longcape whirled, pushed the woman behind him to the ground... and stopped as his feet stuck to the floor, his forward momentum sending him tumbling to the ground.
“I don’t think so, young man,” Professor Crumbs said sternly.
Only a handful of wizards were powerful enough to overcome the anti-magic effects of the building. But Professor Crumbs was one of them.
“I knew you were a bad lot when I had to expel you, but I had no idea you would sink so low as to become a criminal! You’ll behave like a wizard, and pay the consequences for your actions.”
Longcape snarled, and his eyes glittered in hate as his mouth opened.
“Oh, please don’t say ‘I would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling wizards’,” came a pleasant tenor voice. The crowds parted to reveal a blond, green-eyed man in his mid twenties. “It’s so clichéd.”
Alex wiggled her fingers in a discreet wave to Oz Vessalius, husband to her friend and combat instructor Alice, and the only Warden who’d ever arrested her - hey, she’d had to get into Abyss somehow! - and received a faint smile in return. “Besides this loser, there’s another thief on the table, and three more upstairs. Want me to show you?”
Oz shook his head. “Directions will suffice.” He hauled a still-sputtering Longcape to his feet, clamping out a set of manacles around his wrists.
“Ronald Longcape Junior, you are under arrest...”
Epilogue
An hour and a half later, the exhibition hall was empty, except for the bartenders packing away the liquor and the museum janitorial staff, already starting to clear up. Statements had been taken, all miscreants had been taken away, and the other guests had all departed, several overheard exclaiming that this had been the most exciting event of the season. Casually stealing a bottle of water from the bar - over an hour of talking to a Warden could really dry out your throat, especially when you had to come up with some on-the-spot rationalisation as to exactly why you’d pulled a Die Hard on a group of thieves - Alex slumped onto the black leather padded bench, and dropped her head onto Justin’s shoulder.
She could already feel a crop of new bruises forming - but she wasn’t getting these healed either. Actually, she could barely wait to show them off to Alice at their next lesson.
“Hell of a first date, huh?” she asked lightly.
Justin snickered. “Wait til you see what I come up with for our first anniversary.”
Alex calculated how many people were within earshot, and ventured, “How energetic are you feeling? Wanna go home and hump like rabbits?”
Justin chuckled. “Oh, I don’t think so.”
Alex lifted her head from his shoulder, staring at him in astonishment. Justin stood and faced her, holding out a hand.
“The night’s not over yet, Alex.”
Intrigued, Alex placed her hand in his.
******
After a quick stop at the Director’s office to pick up their remaining belongings, Justin led Alex to the very back of the second floor. He put their bags on the floor against the wall, just inside the doorway.
Alex peered over Justin’s shoulder, but couldn’t see much; the gallery was dark.
“This gallery doesn’t get used very often; the museum can’t often afford to put on small exhibitions.” Justin explained. “So when I asked if I could use it, it really wasn’t a problem.”
“Use it? For what?”
Justin grinned, and led her inside. Then he flipped the lights on.
Alex took a few more steps forward, and stopped dead, as her eyes locked on a very familiar painting on the wall.
“I didn’t do this all by myself, I have to admit. Zeke helped with a lot of the heavy lifting. I mostly used stuff from the villa, but Alice loaned me the ‘Alice in Chains’ painting... and I abused the key you gave me to your studio apartment.”
Normally Alex would have either cheered for his lawlessness, or started a knock-down drag-out fight because it was her workplace he’d invaded, but she was too busy staring at the art on the walls, rushing from canvas to canvas.
They were all very familiar paintings... because she had painted every single one.
“Oh, Justin...” she murmured, turning slowly in place to better take it in.
“I know you consider the, um, second-story work your profession, and your art and music your passion, but I truly believe your art is worthy of success, Alex. I’m sure it’ll happen for you one day. I respect your wishes to keep your past to yourself - as long as it’s not coming back to bite us - but I know that a lot of it wasn’t very happy. I guess I just wanted to show you a glimpse of a happy and successful future.”
Alex could only look at him, her knees almost giving way at the rush of love she felt for this man.
“There have been happy times,” she told him. “But since you came into my life, I’m happy all the time. God, Justin, this...” she trailed off and gestured. “No one’s ever done something so incredible for me. Something so romantic!”
Justin chuckled, sliding his hands into his trouser pockets. “It’d probably be a lot more romantic if you were wearing that gorgeous dress, instead of leggings and my T-shirt.”
“Which I am keeping, by the way.”
Justin’s eyes widened in dismay. “But Alex! That’s a limited edition-“
Alex simply looked at him reproachfully.
“Okay, fine,” he sighed in resignation. “But only if you wear it around the house with nothing under it at least once, and let me take you wearing it.”
“Done!” Alex giggled. She took another look around, and something else occurred to her. “This was it, wasn’t it?” Alex guessed. “When you overheard the thieves, we were coming here.”
Justin nodded, “Yeah, I thought I’d do something to make it up to you for turning down that job offer here. And then we wound up foiling your replacements! Just shows that one should only hire the best, I suppose.”
Alex sighed. “I do kinda wish I could have at least tried it. You know, Longcape offered me my biggest payday ever to pull this job?”
“So why didn’t you? You never did explain.”
“When I moved in with you, I promised I wouldn’t ever rob you. I figured that since you’re on the board of directors of this place, and so involved in the exhibit, it counted as yours, too, just like the manor.”
“I’m guessing Ronald felt that way, as well,” Justin said thoughtfully. “Since his attempt to rob me personally of the Morgana le Fay sculpture didn’t work, he moved on to trying to rob me professionally.”
Alex moved closer to inspect the painting she’d called 'Black Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' - she’d painted the view she’d seen from the rooftop of Villa Russetto, the night she’d met Justin - and almost didn’t hear him moving in behind her.
“Y’know, when Zeke was helping me set this up? He was convinced it was for more than our first date. He thought this was a perfect setting for a proposal.”
Alex whirled, around, panic flooding her mind. She couldn’t... she wasn’t ready... but if he did, what would he do if she said no?
“I hadn’t actually thought about it, but I could see what he meant. But it made me think about the whole prospect and... Alex, please don’t get upset - “
Alex shook her head slowly; if Justin sounded this uncertain...
“But it made me realise something. Alex, you make me happier than I’ve ever been, and I don’t want to be apart from you... but I’m not ready to get married. And to be honest? I don’t think you are either.”
Alex’s sigh of relief gushed out of her. “No, Justin, I’m not. I love you, but co-habitation is as far as I can go right now. I don’t actually care if we ever get married or not; you by my side is enough for me.”
"I appreciate that, but you know what? I’m giving you fair warning, Alex; one day, when I know I'm ready, and I think you are, I'm going to ask you. You're the one for me. I don't have any doubts about that."
Alex smiled. She really didn’t care if they were married or not, just committed, but Justin was the traditional type, and it wasn’t like she was actually opposed to the idea. "If I'm not ready, I'll say 'not yet'. I'll never say 'no' - and if you time it right, I'll say 'yes'."
Justin smiled back, and pulled her into the deep, passionate kiss that he’d wanted to give her all night. Alex wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss, backing towards another of the museum’s ubiquitous padded black leather benches. Sitting down and laying back, she stretched out and tugged Justin on top of her.
Breaking off the kiss, Justin smiled and remarked, “Merlin was smiling on me the night you broke into my house, Alex.”
“Don’t you mean Morgana?” Alex asked, her nimble fingers opening his waistcoat and shirt as she spoke.
“Good point,” Justin conceded, leaning forward to kiss her again.
Alex just laughed into the kiss and wrapped her legs around his hips.
FINI