First Date (Attn Reign)

"What are you going to wear?"

"I don't-"

"Where are you going?"

"Well first we-"

"Dude, don't wear that gray alien weirdness t-shirt."

"Why not? I like it and she might-"

"No, dude. She won't."

Lewis tried to get a word in edgewise, but Red, JT, and LT kept interrupting, asking questions and forcing advice. They were just returning from their run and all Lewis wanted to do was take a shower and maybe throw up from nerves.

"Listen, I'm going to-"

"We're proud of you, Matty," LT said, putting his arm around Lewis' shoulder and squeezing the hell out of him.

"I still think this nerd thing is a diabolical plot for some sort of sexual revolution of the nerds," Red said shaking his head.

Lewis rolled his eyes.

"Red's just jealous because he's out of the game," JT said, happily joining in if it meant to talk shit about Red.

"Whoa, whoa, who says I'm out of the game?"

"Your girlfriend?" Lewis offered.

"Shoosh, nerd."

"You won't mind if I ask out Cam then?" JT said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Oh, not cool, man. Not cool at all."

Grinning, Lewis waved and ran off back to his apartment to shower. He appreciated what the guys were doing, but it did annoy him a little knowing that they didn't think much of his social skills with women. Well, ok, they were lacking, but he didn't take much stock in how the other Pipers seemed to chase after women. If his mother heard him talking like that, she would have totally smacked him.

His shirt was sticking to his skin, so as he passed through the dining hall, he pulled off his shirt and wiped his face with it. Turning the corner, he ran into Vivienne talking to two other women.

"Oh hey, Viv. Where's Catherine?"

Two female pack members Viv knew casually had stopped her by the dining hall and they were chatting it up about the weather, men, girl stuff. It was a relief that no one was going out of their way to treat her differently, but it wasn't as if she was advertising that she was a Vyusher R'asa. Viv just assumed they didn't know, not that it mattered, at least she hope it didn't.

"How's your baby?"

"Happy and chubby." Viv pulled out her phone and showed them a picture of Catherine with her dad and the obligatory 'oohs and awws' commenced. "She's a good baby. Sleeping through the night already."

"Hi, Viv! Where's Catherine?"

Viv turned and saw Lewis standing in just about nothing. With his sweaty UnderAmour black workout shirt balled up in his hands, he was wearing running shoes and a reasonably and giving thanks worthy pair of black shorts. Dear god, his skin was glistening with sweat, too.

Viv cleared her throat and opened her mouth as she looked at his body. "Good gravy," she mumbled and then struggled to make eye contact. "Hey, hiya, Lewis."

Lewis nodded. "Hi."

Nodding, she pointed to the girls with her who were equally speechless. "I...these...what?"

"Where's the baby?"

"Oh, she's with her dad." One of the girls next to her nudged her and Viv turned her head but didn't look away from Lewis. "What? Oh, these are," jesus, she thought, what are their names, "these are Lisa and Ann. Girls, this is Lewis."

They both smiled but just stared.

Shaking her head, Viv blinked and finally looked away. Shoving the girls into the dining hall, Viv touched Lewis' arm and smiled. "Baby, you should go shower. You can come see Catherine later if you want."

"Ok, Viv. Nice meeting you two."

Lewis waved and then trotted off down the hallway to the Piper's wing. Viv and the three girls watched as he ran off.

"Who was that?" one of them asked.

Viv sighed, "That was just ridiculous."

Lewis thought nothing of Viv's reaction to seeing him. Figured he must've interrupted their conversation and probably wasn't too polite of him to do that. He'd apologize later, he thought to himself. Letting himself into his apartment, he kicked off his shoes and stripped off his shorts. Quickly he showered and put on a pair of jeans and a simple blue polo shirt.

Moving into his kitchen, he opened the fridge and checked the inventory, making a mental list for what he might need to cook for Reign, and then stepped back, letting the fridge door close. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and sent Reign a text message. It was early still, but he figured he'd let her know.





He considered how his closing should be.





"Nonono," he mumbled and deleted the last line.





Rolling his eyes, he sent the message and began straightening up his apartment.

Things had been just fine, right up until last night. Reign had managed to talk Hans into practicing on Friday. He had grumbled about it something terrible, but that was par for the course with Hans. Reign didn't pay him any mind. In between giving her hell about keeping her elbow in and her English being off the gnarled Dane had found out -why- Reign had moved the practice session. Which lead to an odd half discussion half argument. She was used to bickering with Hans and wasn't bothered by it.

While bickering, however, Reign realized exactly how long it had been since she'd been on a date. Let alone a first date. Hans had watched the color drain out of Reign's face and laughed his ass off. Then promptly made her play through her sudden attack of nerves. Bastard.

Waking up on Saturday it was a little better, not much but a little. Reign rambled at Sirius as she showered and dressed, and decided against breakfast.

"I've been out of the loop a bit haven't I?"

Reign concluded as she started brushing her teeth. Of course, it was her own fault... but that was another story.

She had been sliding the hook of an earring through the piercing when her phone chirped, Reign jumped, stabbed herself in the ear and swore. She quickly fastened the earring properly and picked up her phone grinning at the message.

Out the door in five. Be there soon.

Making sure Sirius had fresh water and his dog door was open Reign pulled on a pair of sandals, grabbed her phone and bag and left. As she drove Reign sung along with a jazz CD with a minimal amount of success, but it kept her calm.

Arriving at the Den Reign wondered if maybe she'd gone too casual with a pair of dark jeans and a soft to the touch bright green t-shirt over a lighter brown tank top. About the only thing Reign though she had right was the t-shirt which helped to make the most of her curves and the too deep scoop neck, hence the tank top under it.

Leaving her little SUV Reign started toward the familiar stone and wood structure, doing her best not to bite the inside of her cheek. She got as far as the dinning hall and realized she didn't know where to go next. Reign didn't generally go wandering through the Den. She tended to stick to the Tikerak or visit the Doc.

Sighing to herself reign ruefully fished out her phone and sent another message.

Would you think less of me if I said I got as far as the dinning hall and got lost?

She wasn't a man and could ask for directions. I am woman here me roar or text or something.

Carrying a cup of iced tea, Viv sugared the hell out of it with splenda and then turned to exit the dining hall when she saw who she was fairly certain was the Alpha's friend Reign walk into the room. 'Ahhh', she thought, 'the first date begins'. Viv walked up to the blond and introduced herself.

"Hey, you're Reign, right? I'm Viv. I work with the Pipers." Lifting her chin in the direction of the Pipers wing, she couldn't help but cheese a horribly huge grin. "Looking for Lewis?"

Reign was doing her best to not look lost or like she was waiting for some one. She thought she was doing OK on that point and had actually relaxed enough she realized she'd not had any coffee that morning when she was approached.

Viv, as she introduced herself, suddenly made Reign wish she was about three inches shorter. Not that she was a giant, just some times... well... the feeling passed fast enough and she smiled a little sheepishly at being so obvious.

"Yeah I am. Nice to meet you."

News spread fast in the old west. That or they worked together and there weren't many secrets. Yeah, Reign would go with option two.

"It shows doesn't it?" The big grin gave Reign a bit of a nudge it let her be a little silly. "It's the shoes isn't it? I knew I should have gone for more of a stiletto."

Her own smile gained some confidence as she goofed around and hoped that Viv had a sense of humor.

Viv raised her eyebrows and pointed behind Reign in the direction of the Pipers wing. She wasn't about to add to Reign's nervousness and decided to just be polite, especially when she saw Lewis come high tailing it down the long hallway behind his date.

"Well, he tends to do that to people. That down home nerd charm does get to you, doesn't it?" Viv chuckled and then waved to Reign as she passed her and went to the stairs up to the second floor. "Nice meeting you."

She didn't stick around to watch Lewis like the other Pipers would have, but she did wish him luck, not that he needed it.

Lewis got the phone call from Dom that Reign was on the property and he quickly finished picking up his apartment before running out the door to go meet her. As he ran the long hallway from their wing, he saw Viv talking to Reign, but she left before he could introduce them.

"Hey," he said coming up to Reign, his hands immediately wanting to shove in his pockets and kick the hardwood floor like an 8 year old. "You made it."

Should he kiss her? He should right? On the cheek or the lips? Not the lips, too soon. Right? "Uh," he mumbled and leaned in close to kiss her on the cheek. "You look really pretty."

Mentally he rolled his eyes. He was awful at this.

"You met Viv? She's my god daughter's mother."

"It does have an effect."

Reign agreed as Viv excused herself. Honestly you'd think that they'd already seen each other naked, the rest should be easy. Or at least easier.

Before she could get any more nervous Lewis showed up. Reign grinned up at him.

"Of course I did."

She agreed as he very sweetly kissed her on the cheek.

"Thanks, so do you."

Again Reign was struck by the fact that Lewis was just far too... yeah every thing and thanked God he was a little on the awkward side. It made him real and approachable.

Looking back the way the other woman and disappeared Reign made note of that fact. Lewis had said the baby, Catherine was three months old. Dear God, if she ever had kids she was going to be a werewolf because Viv did not look like she'd just had a baby. Nikhila had done the same thing.

"Does Catherine look like her mom or her dad or is it too soon to tell?"

"I'm pretty, huh? My mother said I was handsome, but you know...she's my mother. I think by law she has to tell me I'm handsome." Lewis chuckled as he teased her and then followed Reign's look up toward where Viv had disappeared.

"Oh yeah, yeah, here." Digging into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and found a recent picture of his god daughter. Really it wasn't that hard, he probably had fifty from just the other day. He found a picture of him with Catherine and showed Reign. It was down in the Situation Room, sitting at his console. Catherine was curled up asleep against his chest, drooling all over his uniform shirt.

"She drools a lot, but we all think it's adorable and even the Beta lets us get away with it. Right now I'd have to say she looks more like Viv, but I dunno, maybe down the middle with the Commander, too. She's got his eyes, but Viv's hair."

Lewis stood close next to Reign and looked down at the picture with her. She smelled exquisitely Reign times a thousand and from his vantage point, he could see down her long neck and swell of her breasts. Clearing his throat, he felt himself blush as he realized just standing next to her was doing despicable things to his nether regions.

“Good to know you come from law abiding stock then.”

Yup, very law abiding and honest she decided watching him pull his phone out. Wait, what was she thinking about? Baby. That was it.

There was absolutely no way you could help but smile at that picture. Reign also decided she was a tiny bit jealous of Catherine all cuddled up on Lewis’ chest like that. To solve that Reign leaned over a bit, ostensibly to get a better look at the screen.

“She is absolutely beautiful, drooly or not and clearly has good taste in men.”

It was very hard not to stand so close to Lewis and not remember being pressed up against him in Terminus, or the cab, or her house. Making herself remember that they weren’t in a bar in the middle of the night but the middle of the Den in the morning Reign focused back on the picture.

“What are you going to do when she stops drooling and starts crawling around and unplugging things though?”

Reign said as she looked away from the picture and back up at her date. Her expression made it pretty clear she was teasing him. Reign did think, however, it was rather cute that the little girl had been adopted by the Pipers. It was hard to resist big guys with little babies, Lewis was proving that right now.

"I plan on teaching her the importance of being earnest and electrical hardware by the time she's two. I hope to have her able to hack her first network by the time she's five. Don't tell her parents that. I think we all have plans for her though. We're all so far from our own families...I dunno, it's been a little while since there was a baby around the Pipers, other than the Alpha's son and that's not quite the same thing. We can't play with Noah as much as we can play with Catherine."

Reign pressed up against Lewis' chest, making him gulp. They were standing just in the entry way of the dining hall and, although he wasn't about to look away and check, he knew someone had to be watching, so he slipped his arm around her shoulders and guided her toward the front doors.

"So what do you feel like having for dinner tonight? Are you a red meat and potatoes kind of woman or maybe a vegetarian?"

Something occurred to him as he led her out of the building. Should he be taking her back to his apartment? What would Red do, he wondered? Whatever Red would do, he'd do the opposite, Lewis decided. Leading her out for their date seemed to be the right idea. Or maybe she wanted to go back to his apartment? Dear god he was over thinking the whole thing.

"We can cook whatever you like."

Reign laughed. It wasn’t the dumbest thing she’d ever heard. After all she’d found her first pool table when she was eight or nine.

“So she is going to be the most formidable toddler ever is what you’re saying.”

That was something Reign understood, being far from your family and missing them.

“Where is your family?”

Pack did tend to be pretty dang international, that much Reign had learned. She’d met people from all over so no matter what his answer she really wouldn’t be surprised, but she was curious.

She liked the feeling of his arm around her shoulders and easily walked with him. Sliding her arm around Lewis’ waist seemed perfectly natural at that point. It was probably good they were heading out, standing in the middle of everything would draw more attention than she really wanted.

“Honestly, it is a hassle to cook just for me so… I improvise a lot. Anything goes. And I’ve learned not to argue with the cook, its dangerous.”

Years of close ties with the large Italian family across the street while growing up had taught Reign that lesson quite well.

“Why don’t we just see what looks good and go from there unless you have a specialty or something you’re dying to try? Nothing wrong with experimentation.”

Reign slipped her arm around his waist and he felt his voice crack nervously as he told her about his family.

"My family is mostly from northern Scotland, but really all over northern Europe. We're from Jameson stock, but I'm the only Piper right now. It was either that or...well I was a little too inquisitive with my computer so ten years ago they recruited me into the Pipers."

He cleared his throat, it was Pipers or jail, but he didn't feel the need to share that with Reign just yet. Lewis was a hacker and a very good one - till he got caught.

"Anyway, my family is big. A lot of boys, but I have one younger sister. My brothers watch out for her. Catherine is our third, fourth, even fifth cousin and she's our Commander's daughter. We'll be in her life forever." Lewis considered that for a moment and grinned. "I bet Viv would push to make Catherine a Piper, not that the Commander would let her do that. There are no female Pipers."

Lewis realized he was chattering on and he squeezed her shoulder with his hand. "I'm for anything. I can try any type of cooking you like. Top Chef says to try and cook outside the box if you're going to learn anything. Tell me what you like. Tell me about you, your family."

Reign did her best not to notice his voice crack and managed to swallow a smile. It wasn’t nice to tease some one about being nervous, especially when you were dealing with some of those feelings yourself.

The way his story was phrased Reign looked up at those gorgeous green eyes, thought of the movie War Games and decided against saying anything.

“In the long run that’s good though. Some one recognized your talent and you’re making the most of it.” She paused for a second, “OK so the only Piper but is ever one else Amaroq? Crap... I don’t even know if that’s a polite question. If it isn’t, forget I said anything.”

She half smiled an apology and nervously tucked some hair behind her ear.

Some day she was going to ask for a family tree. There seemed to be a lot of relatives running around. With a half laugh Reign grinned a little.

“Why don’t you wait till she grows up and find out if Catherine would even be interested before you worry about that?”

Even the little squeeze of her shoulder could be distracting. It reminded her of the big warm hand resting there, and the big warm guy said hand was attached too and she licked her lips and tried to think about food instead of other things.

“How about something sort of Asian? Spicy and light, its been too warm out for heavy meals.

My family huh? Big as well, three boys and three girls. Ummmm… everyone but me still lives in Chicago or they will in the next few weeks my youngest brother is moving back home from the west coast. No nieces or nephews yet but smart money says Helen is expecting by this time next year if not sooner.”

"Oh, no I don't mind. All but my sister, so far, at least. She's in college still and my other brothers did it as soon as possible. There's six of us - five boys and my sister. I'm right in the middle. Our family's been part of the Pipers for generations. We're Jamesons." Lewis shrugged like that's all he needed to say to explain what they were. "Just depends on your particular abilities if you get recruited in or not, though."

Lewis closed and eye and looked up at the sky considering his god daughter's future. "She'll be whatever she wants to be, but if she's anything like her mom, she'll kick ass like a Piper. But yeah, she is only three months old," Lewis laughed.

"Chicago huh? You sure you don't want some bratwursts and sauerkraut? I can do a mean dog. So you're all born and raised east coast? Do you have family abroad?"

Living in America was different for Lewis. The outside world looked at this country with such disdain and awe, it was hard to imagine that anyone here was originally from Europe or the other countries. Americans were so steadfastly...American. The Pipers had assimilated into the culture without any problems, their South African accents were all but gone within months, but every now and then something from the local culture would throw them off entirely.

Reign somewhat fit into that aloof American stereotype - that's pretty much the assumed opinion of the Pipers when they saw her on the property. Most of the women Lewis met, if he noticed them, were superficial, but Reign was different. He liked her outward shyness because she was anything but in private.

They had walked a little bit of the perimeter of the Long Run outside the Den's building and he turned them toward the vehicles in the garage carports.

"We can do Asian. We can do something like yakitori? It's like, grilled skewered chicken? With some coconut shrimp? Like finger foods."

Reign nodded and for a second tried to consider how her childhood wold have been different if one by one she and her sibs had been Gifted. It was a wild thought. She grinned a little at his shrug. Some families produced generations of fire fighters or cops or doctors, that little bit of matter of factness said it all, didn't it?

"Middle child hmmm? Were you the the trouble maker looking for attention or the super good one?"

Grinning Reign teased him a little. Her best guess was not trouble maker, but you never knew.

Apparently growing up in a wolf pack came with potentially high expectations. Impulsively Reign kissed Lewis on the cheek when he decided to let his god daughter grow up.

"Brats and beer need more than two people..." She just let that thought hang their for a second with the most innocent look she could muster before rambling a little. "We are disturbingly salt of the earth Midwestern types. I even have a couple of uncles who are farmers if you really want to know. Well... sort of. I'm not sure I'd say family but we do have relations in Denmark and Wales that some of my family stays in touch with. I've never met them though, I'm not even quite sure how we're related."

They just came up in conversation now and then. She knew that some of her more immediate family had gone to meet these people but they were there. Maybe some day she'd look them up.

"Almost cliché isn't it?"

No point in not being amused by how white bread and mayo her family was. Ultimately what Reign knew was that she had a solid family and she drew a certain amount of strength from those roots.

Lewis was extremely easy to talk to and Reign was starting to wonder why she'd been so nervous about this. It was pretty silly in retrospect.

"That sounds perfect. And potentially messy, but fun. Hmmmm... the last time I had good Japanese they did asparagus rafts, I don't know what they basted them in but they had toasted sesame seeds on them. Pretty dang tasty."

They'd made good time on their little walk from the Den and now even seemed to have something of a plan as far as food went.

"I was a good kid compared to my brothers." Lewis considered the trouble his brothers got into and then the level of trouble he seemed to attract. "Comparatively, I was a good kid."

Lewis listened to Reign talk about her family, smiling as she did so. "Well isn't everyone from America from somewhere else? That's kind of what I don't get about pop culture here and the level of intolerance in some cases. Do people forget that their families aren't from here, either?"

He asked in all honesty because he really did not understand the mentality. Unless they were native american, everyone was an immigrant, but the intolerance he had seen, and certainly have felt when they'd meet new people here, boggled his mind.

"I suppose that's more of a rhetorical question, but I could care less where someone is from. It doesn't figure into what I think of them. But you're midwestern then? Is that where they say...uh...y'all? I love that western dialect. It's just ridiculous!" Lewis snorted just thinking of it.

Reign was agreeable to the asian cuisine so he stopped to decide their itinerary for the day.

"So, ok. We can head to the farmer's market and grab what we need, then head back here, drop it off real quick and then head back out again? Or we can go to the market last and enjoy the day. What would you like to do? Somewhere you want to maybe go and see? Or we can head back to my apartment and watch a movie or whatever else. I have a pretty good collection of movies."

Lewis innocently asked Reign back to his apartment, not realizing...well, just not realizing, that was until he stopped and thought about what he had suggested. Go back to his room and watch a movie? Would she think that's code? Is that code? What would Red do? He shouldn't do whatever that might be. He looked down at Reign and felt a blush rise up to his cheeks.

"Uh...so yeah, what did you feel like doing to me, I mean toDAY."

Oh dear god.

That answer made Reign laugh and she had to give him a little bit of hell.

"Sure, I'll believe that when I see it."

It was an unexpected question but it was sincere and Reign really wished she had a better answer.

"Go ask Drew Benally that one..."

The Boy had explained some of the history of his clan and it was less than pretty and then top that off with being part of the Pack, good times. Although she did try to come up with an answer.

"It doesn't make sense to me either really and last I checked every one had an equal chance of being a saint or a sinner..."

Before she could get too serious Lewis had jumped to the far side of the map and Reign was laughing. Just for fun she dropped into her best 'Fargo' imitation. It came naturally if she spent a lot of time around her relatives.

"No you get outside of the city there and it is all about the 'you 'betcha' and 'don't ya know'." Clearing her throat Reign shook the accent. "Although I think we might have adopted ya'll at some point but I draw the line at 'howdy partner' and ten gallon hats."

Conceding that it didn't take all day to do some shopping Reign was pondering options thinking that although it had been between hot and warm it was nice to be outside. Although, when he put it like that a movie was nice. But … whoa... what... do -to- him. Why she didn't blush too Reign didn't know. It was not nice of Lewis to be in her head like that.

Reign reached up and kissed him on the lips this time, softly. She'd wanted to do that since he'd come up to her in the dinning hall.

"We'll play it by ear. Improvise. Its a big city, something will come up."

Lewis was surprised when Reign kissed him, even after his unfortunate Freudian slip. She pulled away too quickly, making him lean toward her hungrily, but he couldn't help but chuckle at what she said next.

"No pun intended, right?"

Smiling, he leaned down and kissed her this time, although a little bit more aggressively than she had. Pressing his forehead against hers, he broke the kiss and closed his eyes.

"So, we can go for a drive maybe? There's the Arch?" Lewis kissed her again, pulling her close and losing his breath. "Later tonight Red and JT are playing at the Howl if you want to go to that after dinner."

Lewis felt his chest tighten as he began to experience something close to a heart attack or at least heart palpitations.

"Or take a walk into the Tikerak. It's really pretty out there this time of year."

Lewis let his lips hover above hers and he tried desperately not to attack her right there in front of the Den. Mentally he was cursing himself, praying the others weren't watching him make out with Reign.

Suddenly aware of what -she'd- said Reign grinned a little like Cheshire Cat.

"Of course not."

Instead of protesting her innocence any further regarding that little comment she found herself being kissed. She liked that much better.

Reign made some vague affirmative sound, either of those were fine. This time it was her turn to ask for a little more from their kiss.

"I might have had other plans for after dinner. But we can do both..."

Apparently she'd decided to channel Kathleen Turner right there. It almost didn't sound like her voice.

This was a little... different. Good, very good, but different. Typically Reign moved slower than this with guys. She tended to be a little shy and let's face it she'd been hurt more than once but not this time. Hell if it hadn't been so early in the morning and she though they could get away with it she would have skipped right to her after dinner plans.

"A walk with or without the kids and the Frisbee?"

Lewis hadn't pulled away and Reign took advantage of that continuing their little make out session. At this rate they were not going to get off the property and she wasn't sure she cared.

Reign close against his body was making him dizzy. He ran his hands down her back and pulled her hips close to his, pressing her warmth against him. What the hell did he just ask her? She was saying something, but he was having a hard time paying attention now. His tongue brushed up against hers and he felt his knees want to buckle.

"Walk...frisbee? Whatever." Lewis mumbled against her lips and sucked her bottom lip, biting it gently. "Uh, it's nice today. What about the marina?"

He was suggesting all these nice things to do, but he found himself backing Reign toward the Den again, away from the vehicles and in the direction of his apartment. Thank god for instinct, he would tell himself later, because for as smooth as what he was doing might appear, he had no idea he was even doing it.

"We can spend the day down by the water?"

Lewis navigated them back toward the Den, lifting Reign up the steps when need be, suddenly finding them back on the front porch. Taking her hand, he pulled away from their kiss and pushed through the front door.

"So, yeah. How does that sound?"

Either the day was getting a whole lot warmer considerably faster than she’d thought it would or possibly she was more or less plastered up against Lewis and shared body heat was having an effect.

Reign wasn’t aware of much beyond Lewis right at that point. She pulled him even closer, if that was possible, buried one hand in his hair and decided breathing was –way- over rated.

They were moving and not in the direction of the farmer’s market and she didn’t care. She just walked backwards trusting Lewis to keep her from falling on her ass, or at least pick her up if she did.

“The marina is nice.” Reign agreed slightly breathless and a little light headed. “I tend to burn, but sunscreen.. yeah.”

Of course she’d need help getting sun screen on her back and a few other places and would be quite –happy- to return the favor. The thought, however, was not completed because what she really wanted to do was wrap her legs around his waist and work on finding the right door.

“Or we could just stay in.” She swallowed hard, “Watch a movie… or something.”

Lewis pulled Reign down through the foyer of the Den to the long hallway that led to the Pipers part of the wing. His mind began racing as his heart threatened to pound out of his chest.

"Yeah I burn, too. I usually use SPF 50." He had no idea if she heard him. He was mumbling, trying to keep himself from dragging her back to his apartment like a caveman, but she was keeping up with him so he must be doing the right thing.

“Or we could just stay in. Watch a movie… or something.”

They were a couple doors down from his when she mentioned a movie again. Turning he looked at her, eyebrows high, interest thoroughly piqued.

"Oh, I have a pretty good collection of movies. I mean, you know, some second run and in some cases first run, but you didn't hear that from me. I personally don't condone that kind of thing and...." It then occurred to him that Reign was not talking about watching a movie. More specifically, she was talking about 'or something'.

"Ooh. Oh you don't mean...oh ok."

Lewis pulled her close again and kissed her hard right there in the hallway, running the risk of one of the Pipers coming out of their adjoining rooms and seeing him makeout with her in broad daylight, but he didn't really care. He backed up to his door and began fumbling with it, fighting to open it when his luck finally ran out...not that he noticed.

"Wonder how it's going?" Dom called over his shoulder from his bathroom, applying the final touches of gel to his too short hair for it to matter.

"That's his business, Dom. It wouldn't be polite to assume anything."

Dom closed his eyes and chuckled. Marko was an oddly polite type of guy, considering he was damn near seven feet tall and looked like he ate steel nails for breakfast. He was gentle by nature and polite to EVERY ONE. Walking out of the bathroom, Dom hooked a thumb to the door.

"You always assume that I'm assuming the worst."

"No, but you do have a very vulgar mind."

Dom opened the door and nodded. "Well, yeah."

Marko narrowed his eyes at Dom with a small smile. It amazed the Russian how easily Dom accepted the non-compliment. "I'm sure where ever they are, they're having a nice time getting to know each other."

As soon as Marko said that, both he and Dom stepped into the hallway and turned toward the front entrance of the Den, looking straight at Lewis pressing Miss Reign up against his apartment door.

"Oh they're having a really nice time. Just wild conjecture there, though," Dom said chuckling softly.

Marko pushed Dom down the hallway. "Just keep going."

As they passed Lewis and Reign, they fell into Lewis apartment, leaving the door wide open as he kissed her in the direction of his bedroom.

"No, I got this. Don't worry about it," Dom said, reaching in and pulling the door closed but stopping a just a hair from closing it completely.

"What are you doing?" Marko asked, blushing now that he could hear Lewis and Reign in his bedroom. "Close the door."

"Wait, wait. How often do you hear a nerd get lucky. It's like seeing a unicorn."

Marko grabbed Dom by his shoulder, his large hand grabbing his shirt and yanked him back into the hallway. Gently, Marko closed the door.

"For shame, Phillip Domingo. For shame." Dragging Dom along, he shook his head. "Seeing a unicorn. Really. They don't exist, don't you know that?"

When Lewis switched gears to movies just for a second she blinked at him but he caught up fast enough. Reign didn’t even have time to laugh before he kissed her again, hard. Reign felt her knees go a little weak. She leaned into Lewis and deepened the kiss.

Being pressed up between your date and the door didn’t give a body much of a chance for abstract thought. Once the door was mastered though and they more or less fell though it, Reign couldn’t say she was displeased with her position, surprised but not displeased. Looking up at Lewis Reign laughed.

Mutually they rather helped each other up, if by helped up you meant Reign was doing her damnedest to undress Lewis and find the bedroom. They did find the bedroom. Some where along the line her glasses had come off, Reign had no idea where they were and since she didn’t need them right now and so didn’t care, and her t-shirt leaving only the tank under it. She wasn’t sure if she’d shoved Lewis on to the bed or if he’d fallen pulling her with him. It didn’t matter. What mattered was she was half on top of and half straddling him and...

“I can be a bit of a home body. I hope you don’t mind.”

Leaning down she kissed him again, roughly, passionately, savoring the taste of him.

Red and LT double-timed it up the stairs from the Sit. Room and almost knocked over a group of people coming out of the dining hall as they full out ran toward the Piper wing of the Den.

"RUN! Runrunrunrunrunrun!!"

Rounding a corner, they made it to the long hallway and ran into Marko and Dom heading in the opposite direction. Marko reached out and caught Red mid air. "No, Red. It would not be polite if we interrupted them."

"OH MY GOD COME ON!"

"Marko, I'm giving you an order. Stand aside," LT looked at Marko but could not hold his expression and started to plead. "Come on dude, please?"

"He wouldn't listen to me," Dom said dejected.

Red and LT were caught up in Marko's big arms and he dragged the two of them away. Reaching out, Red gave a final cry. "It's like a unicorn...a unicorn!"

"See, I told you, Marko!"

"All of you. Just ashamed of yourselves."

Red whispered helplessly, "Uniiiicooorrrnnn...."

Reign sighed, a very contented little smile on her lips her eyes closed. She was very -very- aware of Lewis right next to her. She would have been happy enough to just lay there for a bit yet but he started to laugh. She would have swung a pillow at him but God only knows what had happened to the pillows, and their clothes besides she was feeling far too languid to muster up that kind of energy.

Apparently he hadn't minded her being a homebody though. That had quickly become apparent. They had also managed to make very enthusiastic use of every square inch of his bed and prove that it was very well constructed. Their previous drunken tumble had proved to be just an opening act.

Smiling Reign stretched toward Lewis,absently encouraging those soft touches. She watched him silently. Not wanting to break the mood just yet Reign reached up and traced the line of his jaw and over shoulder. For a second Reign wondered how the hell Lewis found shirts that fit him.

Taking his hand as he brushed some hair behind her ear she noticed the scars on his finger tips. Even she could figure out they had to be from handling silver. Reign kissed those same finger tips and then settled herself back in Lewis' arms.

"Just tell me you're not late again."

They would have to, very probably, move at some point. But she wasn't in a hurry for that. Reign grinned and kissed what ever part of him she could reach without moving too much.

Lewis felt dizzy when Reign kissed his fingertips. She probably could guess where the scars were from, but her lips on him again made his chest swell in an odd way. As Reign moved closer to him, he leaned in and kissed her shoulder, trying to identify the sudden brick in his stomach.

Everything was moving fast and that was a serious understatement. Lewis had been with girls, more haphazardly than planned, but he knew he really liked being with Reign and he liked the way she looked at him - it made him feel...well, not like a nerd. It was term used loosely and without any real thought by the other Pipers, but Lewis felt the confines of the label. He knew the guys knew no harm, but he was either the IT guy or a fixture in room full of beautiful things. No one really paid him much attention, not that he noticed, but when Reign looked at him, he knew she wasn't seeing the nerd.

He snorted at what she said. "I have forty eight hours," he paused and looked at his watch. "Strike that, forty four hours, thirty minutes, and..." he looked up at the ceiling and did the math with one eye closed, "twenty four seconds before I'm late. Twenty three. Twenty two...."

Smiling, he ran his hand down her hip and pulled her leg over his hip. He couldn't keep his hands off her skin, which was almost as alluring as her scent and it was all over him and his bed now. Propping his head up on his hand, he squeezed her hip and got comfortable.

"So what do you want to do now? Did you want tooooo grab lunch here?" Lewis leaned in close and kissed her softly on her lips. "Orrrrrr watch a movie?" He couldn't help but laugh, hoping she understood what code for 'watch a movie' would be for them now. "Oh, we'd have to find your glasses first, huh?" Kissing her again, he caught her bottom lip with his teeth and gently tugged on it.

"We could try and find my pillows? You know I saw this very informative video on youtube on where you can position pillows during sex and it helps alleviate back and hip pain?"

Ahhh, unnecessary knowledge - he was king.

She did like an exact answer and was quite pleased that there wasn't any need for him to run off this time. There was, after all, a difference between understanding why he needed to jet and wanting him to.

No encouragement was needed for her to slid her leg over his hip. Unable to keep from touching him she ran her foot down a strong slightly hairy leg. Lewis had this thing about him, she wanted to both curl up with him and just have him be there and at the same time she wanted to tackle him in a less than lady like manner. She liked him, how the hell could you not like him he was just so...

Reign gave up trying to explain it and kissed him instead. His offer to watch a movie made Reign laugh and she teasingly pressed herself against Lewis.

"Depends on the movie. My glasses might just get in the way."

Kissing him again, softly, almost teasingly Reign opened her eyes wide and worked on her best innocent expression.

"You mean we're not supposed to throw them on the floor?"

Innocence melted into a knowing grin.

"You can also use them to... get a better angle on things. So to speak."

Lewis thought back to the angles they managed and felt himself blush as he chuckled. "That would be handy, yes."

Twisting away from Reign, he peered over the bed and tried looking for the pillows. One was next to the bed within reach and he grabbed it, handing it to Reign. Sitting up totally, he saw the other pillow and he slid off the bed to the ground and grabbed that one as well. Tossing it onto the bed, he crawled back across it to Reign and settled his body close to hers, covering half of her. He repositioned the pillows beneath their heads and he leaned onto his arm as he hovered over her.

Lewis wanted to kiss her again. To hold her close and just lay there all day, naked, skin to skin, with her. Something in Lewis was telling him to back off though. Maybe giving her a little space would be the right thing to do. He didn't want her thinking he was all googly eyed in love with her because he wasn't.

Right? Right, no, he wasn't in love with her. Yeah.

Getting off her, he sat back up and rubbed his hand along the back of his neck. "So, I can make something to eat with what's here real quick, if you're hungry? Or we can go downstairs to the dining hall?"

Reign grinned broadly as Lewis blushed. It was far too cute, more important it was an extremely genuine reaction. It was so endearing, so real and not at all unappealing.

It felt good, Lewis half on her, warmth, weight, it was both comfortable and exciting. If he stayed there too long they were in for a repeat performance. Reign considered that for a second and while she was not against it one did not spend the whole day in bed on a first date, no matter how much she would like to.

Even with her decision made Reign reached up to kiss him, probably lingering more than she should, before making a suggestion.

“How about we try and get out of her unnoticed and go down to the marina?”

That would keep her from tackling him again. At least Reign was pretty sure it would. She wasn’t shy but she wasn’t an exhibitionist so yes that should be safe.

“There are a couple of decent places to eat down there and I’m sure we can find something to keep us out of trouble.”

Naked. She was naked, naked, naked.

Lewis blinked at her suggestion. "Ok. Uh, I think your clothes are somewhere." Getting off the bed again, he picked up her clothes and laid them on the bed next to her. Feeling extremely naked, which he was, he picked up his underwear and jeans and slipped those on.

So they were actually going to go out as a couple...hmm.

"Could you excuse me? For just a minute?"

He felt his phone still in his pocket so he left the bedroom, closing the door behind him. Running barefoot across to his living room, he ran into his kitchen to the further corner and quickly made a phone call.

"So you're coming out tonight?"

"Yes, Red. I said I would."

"You promised."

"No, I didn't promise anything."

"You're not coming?"

Charlie sighed and put his clothes away. Red had wandered into Charlie's apartment and had started playing with all his stuff which meant his old baseballs, various trinkets from places they had been around the world, his books...anything Red could put his scent on. Reaching out, he took a book from Red and set it back on the shelf.

"I said...I was going...to go."

Just then Charlie's phone rang on his nightstand. Turning, Charlie went to retrieve it when Red leaned over and answered it. Charlie rolled his eyes and picked up the book again, throwing it Red.

"What are you doing on the phone, Lewis? Ow," Red said, grabbing the book but holding a finger up. "Why do you want to talk to Charlie?"

"Give me the phone."

"What are you doing? Where is she?" Red paused. "She's what? Where? WHY ARE YOU ON THE PHONE?"

"Give me MY PHONE," Charlie said as he reached out and grabbed his phone from Red. "Matt, what's up? Are you still with Reign?"

"What's he saying?" Red asked loudly.

Lewis began to babble into the phone, it started softly but the next thing he knew, Charlie was holding his phone away from his ear.

"Matt, calm down. I don't understand what the big deal...well yeah, that's what a date is...the marina sounds nice."

"What's he saying?"

"Shut up. No, not you, Matt. Well...," Charlie held the phone to his chest and rolled his eyes. Whispering to Red, "He says he doesn't know what to do with her in public, all they've ever done is have sex."

"I swear to god, I hate him."

Speaking back into the phone, "Just act natural, man."

"Oh don't tell him that."

'Shut up', Charlie mouthed. "Reign is a nice woman. Take her down to the marina and just ask her questions about herself. Share stuff about yourself with her."

"Not about aliens," Red said, covering his mouth.

"Yeah, no aliens, Matty. You sure you're ok? Just...yeah...hang up. Just hang up, Matt. Hang up. Good bye. Good...yes, good bye."

Charlie hung up and looked at his phone with wide eyes.

"I know right?" Red said snorting. "God loves a nerd."

"I swear," Charlie mumbled.

Lewis hung up his phone and pinched his lips together savagely with his fingers.

"Act natural. I can do that." He paused a moment. "What does that even mean?"

Peeking back out into the living room, he saw the door still closed to his bedroom, so he straightened himself and walked back. Rolling his shoulders, he stood outside his bedroom door a second before entering again. She was still there, where he left her.

"So, yeah. The marina. Maybe a boat ride or something?"

That sounded natural. Yeah. Ok, he could do this.

Well that was odd, but Reign gave a mental shrug as Lewis disappeared for a few minutes. It gave her a chance to get dressed, although for some reason she couldn’t find her left shoe. She was pretty sure that she’d had it when they came back to the Den so it had to be here some where.

Ah! There it was. She found it about the same time Lewis came back. Reign grinned and nodded as she slid the sandal back on her foot hoping she looked at least semi respectable again instead of looking like she’d just… well yeah.

“Perfect. I’ll drive if you get the sun screen.”

And this time she was determined they would make it into the vehicle. It could be done.

Lewis found his blue polo and pulled it back on. "Uh..." he mumbled more to himself as he went into his bathroom, looking for his sunscreen. Looking at himself in the bathroom mirror, he tried to give himself a quick pep talk but just ended up staring. He was so way over his head now. Walking out of the bathroom, he held up the sunscreen with a smile.

"Ok. We probably don't need anything else, right?"

Walking out to the front room, he stood by the door and waited on Reign after retrieving his shoes. He really could not think of anything else to talk about. The first thing that was coming to mind was aliens, something he had been specifically warned against talk about. He partially understood why, but he figured if Reign knew about astronomy, more than finding the big dipper, she had to at least find aliens remotely interesting. One went with the other practically.

"So," he started as they walked down to her car, this time not being distracted by kissing, "what is it that you do, exactly? Not sure I ever asked."

“Nope, that should do it.”

She answered cheerily.

Starting down to her car, again, Reign debated taking his hand, but held of. If they were going to get to the marina best to stay casual. She wondered for a second about her sudden one track mind but didn’t worry.

Ah well that was going to come up sooner or later wasn’t it? Reign was absolutely proud of what she did and her reputation, but had never quite gotten over the awkwardness of telling people. It was an odd thing to make a living doing and for some reason people often didn’t think nice girls should spend so much time in pool halls or other strange preconceived notions.

“I play pool, tournaments in a league. Nine ball for the most part.”

She did her best to watch Lewis with out really watching him, trying to work out how this was going to fly. Not that she thought it should be a major issue but one never knew.

“So… what exactly constitutes IT for you guys. I mean you don’t strike me as a help desk kind of person.”

"Ohhhh, so that would explain the pool table in your house. Ok. You do that professionally?" Lewis made an impressed face and smiled. "That's pretty cool. Don't think I've ever known anyone who's done that professionally before. Are you good? You must be, right? Of course you are, you're pro."

Lewis chewed his lip as Reign asked him about his job within the Pipers. "Oh, well IT means information technology and I am kind of a help desk. I'm not a Field Piper, not technically. To be a Field Piper for some guys is everything. It's Recon, Ambush Patrol, Contact, Security, Search, Planning...all that stuff. I do everything else. I'm the eyes and ears for those guys. Each Piper team has an IT section. I run all...that."

He shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets. It sounded boring, listing off what he did, so he left it at that.

"I'm the help desk basically," he said with a laugh.

"Well it isn't like there are a lot of job openings in the field." Reign nodded and half smiled. "And I will admit to being better than average."

Reign scratched her head as she listened to Lewis. That was a lot going on. She only had a basic idea what the Pipers did and this was more than she's really expected. Part of her wanted to know more, and the rest of her was happy in the dark.

"It sounds a little more like mission control than a help desk. Unless you are telling people to reboot all day long..."

Every time, without fail, she asked some one for help with her computer Reign was told to reboot. It got annoying after a while.

Reign half stepped int to Lewis nudging him with her shoulder grinning at his self effacing attitude.

"And it doesn't explain how you know so much mythology. Did you study it in school, is it a hobby , were you trapped in Greece for a year or something equally romantic?"

"I do a little of everything and I've read the entire internet. Al Gore did invent it." Lewis snorted and then shrugged. "I like to read and I remember everything I read. I've always been like that. So, being able to remember everything, I kept reading just to see. Plus mythology is just fun. It's like the Old Testament - the New is ok, but the Old has way more bloodshed and better battles. I like the idea that even gods are flawed and wow, they have the most fucked up lives with very little happy endings."

They made it down to where Reign parked her car and he nonchalantly kicked one of her tires. Lewis waited for her to unlock the car door so he could open hers for her. He had no illusions about being a man so he had to drive, he was perfectly fine with whatever Reign wanted him to do - drive or not.

"So the Marina first? The Commander dated one of the bosses down there for a short time before Viv. Kai? I don't know if you met her around here, but I haven't seen her in a while so I don't know if she's still there."

Small talk. He shuddered inside. He struggled with it and hoped he was doing ok.

"I heard something on NPR not too long ago some other guy seems to have a patent on the internet..."

Reign fished out her keys and unlocked the little SUV. It wasn't anything fancy, hell she lost it in parking lots on occasion. But it was comfy on long drives.

"Everything? Where were you when I was in school?" That she was jealous of. Somethings, stories and dates stuck in Reign's head pretty good but others just slipped out. "You know you're in for a good time when Zeus and Hera don't get along so well. It says something that so many gods were so human."

It had been a while since Reign had some one to talk to about the classics and she bit her tongue, literally.

"I will ramble on with this subject if you don't stop me."

She warned before shaking her head at his question.

"Ummm... no. I haven't. But I sort of keep to myself a little. Once in a while I still get the feeling I'm still the strange human the Doc brought home."

She viewed the Pack as something of a privilege rather than a right and made an effort not to force herself on any one. And to Reign's mind her relationship with Xeph shouldn't have anything to do with how other people related to her.

"Not that everyone hasn't been perfectly nice or anything like that."

Reign added quickly.

Lewis was relieved he and Reign could have something to talk about on the way down to the marina. He could talk about astronomy and the stars for hours so he at least had that to fall back on. As she unlocked her little suv, he opened the door for her automatically and offering to help her.

"Well, any friend of Xeph's is good in our book." Lewis paused before he closed her door and added, "I'm glad we're doing this, Reign. I'm sure we'll have a fun time outside....well...drinking...and...yeah."

Blushing, he smiled and hoped he wouldn't be inserting his foot into his mouth every five minutes or it was going to be a long day.


((OOC All out pending responses!))