Present received

[gift_girl]

Characters: Justine, (maybe Skysong?), Thomas, possibly open
Time: After the return of the Blackstone.
Location: outside the Blackstone Hotel
Content: Justine has received a present - and goes to thank the sender. Oblivious that anything odd may have happened.
Format: Whatever; various threads possible
Warnings: None, for now

Comments

[godofcologne]

There had been a lot of reasons to send Skysong with the gift rather than delivering it personally. Avoiding the wards around the Blackstone Hotel. Keeping up the fiction that she'd gone to the hotel for her own safety. But while they were all soundly logical, none of them were true. The simple truth was he didn't want to see her. Didn't want to see her but not touch her. Didn't want to see her face light up at the sight of his gift. Didn't want the touch of what was inside the box to burn his skin. Or, worse yet, for the touch to not burn, to confirm the most insidious fear he'd harboured since his return to the family fold.

Thomas Raith was a lot of things: a monster, a good man, someone afflicted with a complete inability to keep his mouth shut. This time, he was a coward.

But it hadn't been enough to task Kitten to deliver the gift and bring back word that Justine was alright. He needed to know, to see for himself, so a half hour after he'd sent the little dragon on, he got into his car and headed to the Blackstone.

Parked in front of the newly reappeared hotel, he stared up at it, undecided.

[gift_girl]

Justine was far too aware that it was difficult on him. Far, far too aware. It was part of the reason she stayed away from him, most days. Letting him work his ways through things, not having to worry about her too much, not having to be all the tame faced with the presence-absence, with the memory of what used to be, with the feelings that shouldn't be there.

This was special, however. He could have had the present delivered many ways - sending Skysong meant something. And since Justine's thanks for it all were completely genuine, she could go tell him.

She did not, however, expect him to be this close, as she spotted the car pretty quickly after walking out, coat and gloves firmly around her, even if without a hat, silver-white hair blowing slightly in the wind.

Justine didn't quite skip over to the passenger side of the car, but her smile was sunny, and she only peripherally noticed the rocks that had appeared around the hotel.

[godofcologne]

He'd been perched on the hood of the car, staring up at the hotel and thinking. Of reasons to go in, of excuses not to. He'd nearly made up his mind to drive away when Justine came out of the hotel, pale fine hair blowing in the wind. Thomas' hands tightened into fists, the cold leather of his gloves squeaking as he did, trying to stay still, to not run and fall to his knees in front of her.

Except his body had other ideas. He wasn't even aware that he'd moved until his arms were around her, gloved hand running through pale hair he could no longer feel between his fingers, his arm tightening around her as if she was some fragile thing that would break if he held her too tightly.

The words came just as unbidden to his lips, quiet and reverent and disbelieving. "You're alright."

[gift_girl]

It took her breath away, both how absolute the gesture was and the infinite tenderness of it.

Her own arms went around him, squeezing back, tightly. She couldn't crush him, so she just hold on with the strength she knew he wanted to hold her with. Other than that, she stilled inside his hold for a little. Just stood, not-stirring and close, very close.

"I am absolutely fine," she murmured eventually. Not consoling, not condescending, not even that surprised by the question. They'd both been through enough for her to know the gesture and tone of voice, and that it meant real, justified concern. Her answer was matter of fact, letting him know just exactly how little she's known about any cause to worry, the steadiness in her voice hopefully an anchor for him, solid and steady, as much of that as she could give him.

"What happened?"

[godofcologne]

She clung to him with human strength, human warmth, and he wanted nothing more than to revel in it, to have her as close to him as he could. Her answer didn't quite break the spell, just reinforced how real she was, that she was here in the flesh, that she was whole.

He wanted to keep holding her, to continue the fiction for a little bit longer, but it was cold, and the hotel lobby was warm. Thomas pulled away, slipping his hand into Justine's without even looking, the motion one borne of long practice. "The hotel was gone all yesterday. Swallowed up by a black fog," he answered, gesturing to the rocks that littered the perimeter. "People threw rocks at it. Guess it made them feel better."

[gift_girl]

Her fingers tightened into his, as strong as her hold had been moments ago. Eyes rose first, very first, to his face. And only then did she actually look around. "Oh. Those are some pretty big rocks." Then again, considering that Harry was one of the people who wasn't likely to have been inside... that wasn't anything resembling shock.

Then again. Her eyebrows rose, and her eyes locked onto his face again. "Gone? I don't... remember anything like a fog. It was clear yesterday. A lovely winter Saturday." She'd been out walking, wondering at the changed skyline, even if it was different from close-by than it would be from going into the city, she imagined. The missing tower. Missing hotel.

Oh.

"I'm fine." The reiteration seemed necessary, somehow. If the hotel he was in had gone missing, she'd be out of her mind. Too.

[godofcologne]

If anyone had asked, Thomas would have denied being out of his mind with worry. And he hadn't, not until the hotel had reappeared. Before then, there had been the hope that Justine had gone, like some of the others, gone back to where she'd been before. But once the hotel had reappeared, and the disoriented masses were returned unharmed, then he'd started to worry.

Her reassurance helped, and he squeezed her hand in silent thanks for it. "It's Monday now," he pointed out, gesturing with his free hand towards the hotel lobby. "And I'm guessing Kitten didn't get lost on the way."

[gift_girl]

That would make sense, mostly. Except for the part where she'd have returned to a place where he wasn't. At least for now. And that... is not something she would have taken lightly.

Justine blinked up at him. "M-- how-- I definitely didn't sleep over twenty-four hours!" She closed her lips, then nodded, starting in the direction of the lobby, not letting go of his hand and not stepping too far, either. "She didn't." The box was still tucked mostly in her coat pocket. Sticking out of it, kind of. But she was certain it was still there.

[godofcologne]

The heated interior of the hotel was a welcome change from the cold, crisp air outside, even if it paled in comparison to the familiar warmth that Justine radiated. But Thomas supposed beggars couldn't be choosers as he held the door open for Justine. If anyone asked, he'd blame the gesture on Harry's bad influence.

He chuckled softly, still watching her out of the corner of his eye. "You've never needed that much beauty sleep, love. Or any at all, for that matter."

[gift_girl]

Justine gave a little nod as he held the door for her - and started to unwrap herself from the coat as soon as she was inside. Not that it wasn't pretty enough - and also a gift from Thomas - but it was, indeed, much warmer.

She smiled exactly the kind of smile she always had, when he complimented her. Then teased back, "well, none at all would get terrible circles under my eyes, and we wouldn't want that."

No, she didn't have any memory that would even suggest there was missing time. Not sleeping, not nightmares... nothing at all. That was what she'd meant to say. But this was more amusing. And yes, somewhere in the back of her mind, she was thinking about times when they hadn't gotten any sleep at all. Good times, those.

"Have you had coffee yet?" she asked and nodded in the direction where they could get some, if he'd like that.

[godofcologne]

"Would it make me terribly unobservant if I said I'd never notice?" Thomas asked lightly. Because he'd be doing the same thing he was now, drinking in the sight of her, the loveliness that was so uniquely Justine, the strength that she gave him like it was life sustaining water.

He glanced towards the Starbucks that opened up in the hotel lobby at her gesture. This was too good to let go, her warmth and their easy banter. So he refrained from telling her that coffee hadn't been his choice of beverage for a long time, ever since he'd left the salon. That he opted for alcohol and women to help him sleep rather than wake up. It was his own little fiction that she didn't know. The little lies that made things easier when they were having a good day.

His gloved hand rested on the small of her back, a familiar, possessive gesture. "Not this morning," he answered, raising an eyebrow at her. "Have you eaten?"

[gift_girl]

"No, but only because I wouldn't believe you." Justine's tone was just as light. "If I was looking that exhausted, you'd be fretting over me to get more rest, if I was okay, what had happened and all such things. And then I would curl up and sleep obediently and you'd watch over me."

Back then, he'd also wake her up with a kiss. Stop that, she chided herself.

Instead, she relaxed into the way they moved. Still. Always. A sync that neither of them even thought of anymore. Neither of them tried to think about them too much anyway. But still... being this close to him was the best part of any day.

She smiled up over her shoulder at him. "Not yet. Maybe we should both do something about those?"

[godofcologne]

"Was I really that obvious?" Despite the boundaries of cloth and leather, the curve of Justine's spine still felt right beneath his hand, and the smell of her shampoo was a familiar balm that left him feeling lighter even though it reminded his Hunger of other times, of days and nights they wouldn't be able to have again. "And all this time I thought I'd been good about hiding the fretting."

Her smile prompted one from him, a genuine gesture of joy and familiarity, without the cynicism the rest of the world saw. Thomas nodded as they entered the coffee shop, and he pulled out a chair at an empty table. "Not fair to ask," he teased. "You know I can never say no to you."