[Rachel] -- Until Next Time (Part 1)
May. 12th, 2008 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elementof_risk[RP with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
my_strappyshoes, played in AIM ages ago and, err, finally cleaned up? I was a bad editor. *hangs head in shame* Their first time, post canon, set the night after this, so March 23. Rachel surprises Sark by dropping by his hotel room. NSFW.]
AIM conversation which started it all:
elementof_risk: Well, I'm comfortable with offering a free assumption.
my-strappyshoes: Well if I was assuming, which I wasn't by the way, but if I was? It would have been assuming that yes we would see each other again and that you would actually sit down to watch a movie called Can't Buy Me Love.
elementof_risk: If you let me see you again, I think it's safe to assume I would watch any movie you chose.
my-strappyshoes: So that means the play is on my side of the fence?
elementof_risk: Once again, yes.
my-strappyshoes: Huh. I can honestly say it's a bit... new? I don't know what to do with this new position of power.
elementof_risk: I'm sure it will reverse itself eventually.
my-strappyshoes: Now I think you're assuming things.
elementof_risk: That's a different sort of risk altogether.
my-strappyshoes: Is it now.
elementof_risk: *is now watching The Fifth Element* I would have killed the DJ the first time he stuck that mic in my face.
my-strappyshoes: I wouldn't have stopped you.
elementof_risk: I'm glad we can agree. His screaming is making my head hurt.
my-strappyshoes: Oh you poor baby.
elementof_risk: You could rub my temples ...
my-strappyshoes: You're assuming once more that I would, of course does that mean you're asking me to stop by?
elementof_risk: I suppose it could. I was foolish enough to let you know which hotel I was in.
my-strappyshoes: You're still in LA?
elementof_risk: Back in LA would be more accurate.
my-strappyshoes: I probably don't want to know.
elementof_risk: What if I'm just here because I like the sun?
my-strappyshoes: I was referring to the 'back' part.
elementof_risk: How was your day today?
my-strappyshoes: Nice deflection and it was fine. Apparently there was an interesting blip on the radar this weekend but there don't seem to be any leads just yet.
elementof_risk: It was really a clumsy one, but thank you for the encouragement. What sort of a blip?
my-strappyshoes: Just something small. If I wasn't so good at my job it never would've shown up. We've got Vaughn looking into it.
elementof_risk: Someone so senior for something small?
my-strappyshoes: He was looking for something a bit low key. I told him it might get more interesting, he opted to take it.
elementof_risk: Good for him. Never would do for him to get rusty.
my-strappyshoes: I'm glad you think so. So how is the sun? Probably not too good for your headache.
elementof_risk: Happily it's down now or my headache would be a migraine, but it was lovely his afternoon.
my-strappyshoes: So you actually checked into the same hotel you used before?
elementof_risk: I like this hotel. And really... until I told you where I was, it was the last place anyone would look for me.
my-strappyshoes: Well you weren't exactly blocking your IP you know.
elementof_risk: You know, if you wanted to know where I was, you could have just asked.....
my-strappyshoes: Well I'm not tracking you now. Hence the surprised you're back in town.
elementof_risk: It's a nice town to be in.
my-strappyshoes: I like it. It's not Connecticut but it's nice.
elementof_risk: I've never been to Connecticut.
my-strappyshoes: I grew up there.
elementof_risk: I know
my-strappyshoes: When we finally dismantled the Covenant they actually got to move back home. I just haven't gotten out there recently. Work has been keeping me busy.
elementof_risk: It does tend to do that rather a lot, if you let it.
my-strappyshoes: I have vacation time coming up next month though. I already have my flight booked.
elementof_risk: I'm sure your family will be thrilled to see you.
my-strappyshoes: My brother wants to take me to an archery range. I told him I'd kick his ass. I don't think he believes me.
elementof_risk: Well, when you've utterly embarrassed him, I'm sure he'll reconsider his opinion.
my-strappyshoes: Thanks for the vote of confidence.
elementof_risk: Have you ever shot a bow and arrow?
my-strappyshoes: Does summer camp count?
elementof_risk: Oh, of course. I'm sure it'll come right back to you
my-strappyshoes: You're humoring me.
elementof_risk: Possibly a little bit.
my-strappyshoes: If I found it cute that's not a bad thing right?
elementof_risk: I'm not going to deter anything positive you might think in my general direction at all.
my-strappyshoes: I see. How's the headache?
elementof_risk: Headache is still here, sadly. I'm contemplating the mini bar
my-strappyshoes: Drowning the headache might not really work. Answering your door so I can stop typing on my BlackBerry would be good though.
With a bit of confusion, Sark moves to answer the door, eyebrows going up unsure if she's joking, or if she's really come back. After the night before he hadn't expected to see her again.
Rachel on any given day is far craftier than one might think of her. For one reason or another she had checked up on Sark. Just in case something happened she told herself, but clearly when she got the notification popping up on her BlackBerry that he'd checked in again she made the smallest notation in her mind about it. Now later in the evening she had found herself heading to his hotel, and posing as his secretary in order to figure out what room number he had actually been checked back into. It was a bit clumsy on the fly, but she had worked with far less in the past. Now though she'd been leaning against the wall across from his doorway contemplating whether or not to tell him that she was right there. Of course she'd already done that and now he should be on his way, so facing up to her own choices, she knocks on the door to his hotel room. It's not like she could've gotten very far back down the hallway once she'd told him she was there anyway.
The knock sounds as he reaches the door, and he opens it, glancing over her for a moment as if trying to just ascertain her purpose, before slowly smiling and stepping back. "I have to say this is a surprise," he murmurs.
"I'm full of surprises," she replies with a certain degree of smugness in her smile and tone. The smirk that flashes upon her features lingers there for a moment almost reveling in how proud she is of her accomplishment.
"Well, that I knew...." he says with a smirks back, then catches his lip in his teeth, as he gestures her in. "Since you're here, you really ought to come inside rather than lingering in the hallway."
Trying to keep the moment a bit light she glances around the hallway she's still standing in with a slight shrug, "I don't know I was sort of getting used to the hallway." Of course she knows that it would be even more foolish to not enter his room after all of this. Taking a deep breath she moved into his room and glanced around once more. Keen observer this one. Thankfully he wasn't building a bomb or entertaining a gaggle of ladies, which would have been awkward. "So... " Rachel's word draws out for a moment as she realizes she still has her BlackBerry in her hands, which she doesn't exactly need at the moment. Tucking it into her jacket pocket she continues with the joking around, "I didn't bring Can't Buy Me Love... so you're off the hook there."
Sark shuts the door behind her, leaning against it and watching her look around, sort of amazed that she's actually here, but hiding it behind a faintly amused smile. "Well, there's quite the movie selection via the hotel system, though I doubt it's on there." He finally pushes off the door moving across the room to her side. "So, we'll have to find out something else to amuse yourself with." He can think of several things, none of which have anything to do with any films.
She's hyper aware of where he is in the room, even if she wasn't going to look she still knew that he was actually in the room with her. Of course she also figures she might be a bit nervous, which increases just a bit more when he moves closer to her for some reason. Trying to ease her nerves a bit Rachel takes a seat on the edge of the bed, then promptly gets right back up realizing where she had taken a seat and opts for the small couch that is over near the window instead. "Well we usually seem to do okay for ourselves, no deaths yet at least."
Sark lets himself be amused when she sits, then moves, and contemplates whether he should move to the couch, which would be in her space, or on the bed, which would give her space, but would be, well, on the bed. The indecision lingers in his eyes for a minute, before he opts for the couch, closer to her, but less suggestive. He smiles a bit at her comment, remarking, "Which really, that's amazing all things considered."
Laughing at his remark with a bit of honestly she nods, "We seem to be amazingly well behaved." It was a phrase that sounded really good in her head until it was out in the air and then it sounded completely out of place. Sighing she tried to push past it and shifted to face him a bit better on the couch, not that she wanted to look into his eyes but hey there they were, and God they were blue. "So the thing Vaughn got sent on... I don't have to worry that-" Rachel let her words halt as she paused wondering where the hell her concern just came from because it wasn't any of her business, and she shouldn't concern herself with something that was going to end up forcing her from his room anyway. "You know what? Never mind. I really don't even want to talk work right now."
Sark tilts his head, holding her eyes, with a small smile. "Well-behaved is overrated, of course." His eyebrows go up at the worry comment, eyes sharp and curious, and just a touch wary. "Discussing work really wasn't on my agenda for the evening either, but now you've got me curious about exactly what I'm not supposed to worry about....or why I possibly should be worried."
Twisting her lips into a slight purse for a moment, she begins to contemplate just how to word it. It's not exactly an easy thing and eventually she figures she might as well say it, mostly because she knows it will eat at her if she doesn't. "That the interesting is going to eventually turn out to be you? I mean I just don't want to have to come into work and hear about something you did... a day before I was 'blinded' enough to walk right into your hotel room again is all."
Sark frowns slightly, thinking over everything, and the jobs he's been on lately, then sighs. "Considering I don't know exactly what Vaughn was sent out on, and that you likely oughtn't and won't tell me...I can't really answer that. I'm fairly certain nothing I've done lately involves matters of national security?" Probably. At least not that they would realize without inside intel.
Nodding she stares at her hands for a moment, then back up to him, "Kind of why I stopped myself from asking the first time." Which now left an odd silence in the room that she was more than just aware of, she was almost sinking into. Which of course allowed her to think and shift a bit closer to him because she knew she was fooling herself thinking that she hadn't wanted to be closer to him in the bar, but had stopped herself more than a dozen times. Now seemed a lot different. "You said something about a bar?" Yes, because alcohol will help.
He smiles faintly, "There's a mini bar, yes." He has a moment of wanting to remind her that just because his illegal activities this time probably aren't anything for APO to get in a tizzy over that there probably will be such things at some point, but he doesn't, because he doesn't want to spoil the moment, smiling a bit more instead. "I think there's even rum."
She's already realizing that this time may be the exception to the standard and has opted to live happily in her denial for the moment because happy is way better than over thinking the future. At the mention of rum she smiles and as he stands up she stops him, her hand going to his, "Wait." Standing up Rachel gives into pretty much the stupidest idea she's had since opting to drop into his hotel unannounced and brushes her lips to his softly and a bit briefly before pulling away feeling a bit of heat flush to her cheeks. "Okay... now you can get the alcohol."
Sark is completely stunned for a moment, not that he hadn't thought, perhaps, they might get to that point, but had expected to make the first move, and possibly after a couple of drinks. Of course, she did show up here, unannounced, which was rather first move-like itself. He smiles, then ducks his head to kiss her back, slightly more lingeringly, lifting his head just a bit. "So now I'm allowed to drown the headache since you're here to supervise?"
When his mouth brushes to hers for the second kiss Rachel feels a moment of relief. It's subtle in her mind but it still did a good job of letting her know that she wasn't foolish or too impulsive despite knowing it was. However knowing she did that without drinking on pure instinct alone was important to her for the moment. Biting her lower lip for a moment before she smiles back at him she nods, "I'm here to ensure you didn't drunk dial me all headachey, and if you do drunk dial me?" At the pause of her words she gives the pocket on her jacket a light tap with her palm, "My phone's right here."
Sark gives her a mock-offended look, a slight pout tugging at his lower lip. "I have never drunk dialed anyone in my life."
He arches one eyebrow up, though he breaks the pout a bit with a smile, moving to the mini bar and fishing out two bottles of rum. Getting glasses he puts ice in them both. "Straight, or there is orange juice or soda?"
Apparently all it took to allow Rachel to relax a bit more was to simply make that first ever-brave move. Having it returned put her mind even more at ease as she opted to stop standing in the middle of the room. She moves toward the mini bar where he's at, leaning against the wall simply watching him, "Straight is fine, with the ice."
"Straight it is..." He pours them both a drink, handing her one, and sipping his own, watching how she's relaxing. Drink in hand, he moves back to perch on the edge of the bed, this time, instead of the couch, smiling up at her. "Not quite the tropics, but it can give the illusion."
Rachel takes the glass from him but watches him instead of taking her first sip as he takes a seat on the edge of the bed. Raised eyebrow for a moment she takes that first sip letting the scent hit her a moment before the burn of it does as she stays against the wall, but leans a bit more. Her heel resting a bit on the edge rocking her foot aside, "Not the tropics at all, and the last time I was in St.Croix? I ended up in the ventilation shafts of a storage facility, which wasn't exactly my idea of anything tropic at all." Taking another sip she stayed at her perch against the wall watching him carefully.
Sark takes another long sip savoring it, leaning back a bit on the bed to watch her over the rim of his glass, letting the rum rest on his tongue for a moment before swallowing. "You really do need to work on taking some more time for yourself, to actually see the world, not just on assignments that end up with you in ventilation shafts." He tilts his head a bit more, studying her, then holds out his free hand, not sure if he's pushing, and not really caring. "Come here?"
Her heart nearly leaps from her chest to her throat and down to her stomach so quickly she barely has time to react let alone think. It puts a knot in her stomach and a tiny bit of warmth in her as well, one that feels more like tension in her abdomen than actual heat. The fact that it stayed there even as her own feet took up the choice to move her off the wall without her own knowledge and that it made her heart clench a bit didn't even process beyond the soft tone and the lilt of his accent. God she could get used to that. Her glass still in hand she'd moved closer, but still not taken his hand, instead she found herself pulled in a bit closer, arm wrapped against her stomach to hold the butterflies, and to allow her elbow to rest against her forearm holding her glass up to just where her mouth could press to it as she thought it over. "I've been trying that whole make time for myself thing, it just seems to be setting me up for a bit of trouble is all."
Closer is better, though it isn't perfect. It's better than across the room. He leans back a bit more on the bed to watch her, not really putting himself on display, though there's an air of that in it as he tilts his head back to look up at her, taking another sip of the rum that comes near to draining it, if only to cut the tension that's coiling inside of him. "Are you back to worrying about risks in your life, because I thought we'd settled that. Everyone needs time for something just theirs, Rachel, whether it's a vacation, a hobby, or something else."
Every time she breathes in she can feel the tension in her heart trying to push her those final few steps forward. The way her brain almost sings to her with suggestions of the position he's taken, or where to let her eyes wander. Yet she still sips at her drink inching forward toward him until she feels the sudden give of the mattress beneath her knee as she leans there a bit using the edge of the bed for that slight support. "I'm not overly worried about the risks I take in my life at the moment, I'm just a bit too aware that they are risks is all."
He's a little too aware of the shift of the bed, even that small movement, very aware of how close she is, how easy it would be to reach out, tug her closer. He finishes the rum instead, stretching to set the glass on the nightstand, then back, propping himself up with one elbow. He doesn't tug her closer, but he does reach to idly brush his fingers over her knee where it rests against the bed, holding her eyes as he looks up at her. "You know my philosophy on risks."
Her breathing is much slower now, a lot more thought going to every subtle shift in her body and in her posture. The slight touch of his fingers to her knee makes the breaths she pulls inward flood that much deeper into her lungs. It's that same contact that she'd been unable to pull from at the bar, but this time far too welcoming and far too enticing. She nods in agreement at knowing his philosophy and it's not even that this was anywhere that she had wanted to put herself, but she started the conversation and then ended up at his hotel and clearly some part of her had taken over that thought process. Now she was watching him so intently she thought she might actually forget to breathe, "That I do." It was a simple reply and drawn out a bit as she held the glass in hand taking the final swallow of the alcohol into her and letting the ice clink back into the bottom as she held it out for him to take from her.
The words hardly seem to matter right now, really, with more going on in eyes and body language than words can possibly convey without a lot more thought. He takes the glass, setting it next to his with a bit of a stretch that shifts the bed again, before shifting back to where he was. Instead of her knee, though, his fingers find her own, winding through them, then slowly pulling, urging her closer, down to join him. It feels more tense than even that moment in the hall, wondering, laced with far more possibility that she could run at any minute, and that maybe that would be wisest for both of them. His teeth catch his lower lip again in that habitual gesture, fingers brushing over her palm as he attempted to draw her to him. "Being aware of the risks...can help add to the poignancy, I think."
Her knee still pressed against the bed finds more of her weight giving into it, and her fingers now being tugged into his. The taut pressure in her elbow gives away the suggestion that he's trying to pull her closer to his reclined state that begs to offer her something more comfortable than the near flamingo stance she's taken. She could easily lean into him, let her other leg lift off the floor and ease her way onto the bed. The fact that her mind knows how easy she could do it doesn't help her in any way shape or form in the notion to resist the easy temptation that he's become for her.
Watching him bite on his lower lip doesn't help either, instead it tugs at her even more than the slight tug of his fingers against her palm. Instead of faltering though, instead of allowing herself to slip down to him she shifts her hand to reach for his wrist, winding her fingers around it and tugging him now up toward her in some attempt to force him to at least meet her halfway. "I think that sort of poignancy should involve some form of a compromise in the end, so that no one gets hurt in the end... risk or not." She knew she was full of it, because risk wasn't about compromise or not getting hurt at all, it was about not caring what happened in the end.
my_strappyshoes, played in AIM ages ago and, err, finally cleaned up? I was a bad editor. *hangs head in shame* Their first time, post canon, set the night after this, so March 23. Rachel surprises Sark by dropping by his hotel room. NSFW.]AIM conversation which started it all:
elementof_risk: Well, I'm comfortable with offering a free assumption.
my-strappyshoes: Well if I was assuming, which I wasn't by the way, but if I was? It would have been assuming that yes we would see each other again and that you would actually sit down to watch a movie called Can't Buy Me Love.
elementof_risk: If you let me see you again, I think it's safe to assume I would watch any movie you chose.
my-strappyshoes: So that means the play is on my side of the fence?
elementof_risk: Once again, yes.
my-strappyshoes: Huh. I can honestly say it's a bit... new? I don't know what to do with this new position of power.
elementof_risk: I'm sure it will reverse itself eventually.
my-strappyshoes: Now I think you're assuming things.
elementof_risk: That's a different sort of risk altogether.
my-strappyshoes: Is it now.
elementof_risk: *is now watching The Fifth Element* I would have killed the DJ the first time he stuck that mic in my face.
my-strappyshoes: I wouldn't have stopped you.
elementof_risk: I'm glad we can agree. His screaming is making my head hurt.
my-strappyshoes: Oh you poor baby.
elementof_risk: You could rub my temples ...
my-strappyshoes: You're assuming once more that I would, of course does that mean you're asking me to stop by?
elementof_risk: I suppose it could. I was foolish enough to let you know which hotel I was in.
my-strappyshoes: You're still in LA?
elementof_risk: Back in LA would be more accurate.
my-strappyshoes: I probably don't want to know.
elementof_risk: What if I'm just here because I like the sun?
my-strappyshoes: I was referring to the 'back' part.
elementof_risk: How was your day today?
my-strappyshoes: Nice deflection and it was fine. Apparently there was an interesting blip on the radar this weekend but there don't seem to be any leads just yet.
elementof_risk: It was really a clumsy one, but thank you for the encouragement. What sort of a blip?
my-strappyshoes: Just something small. If I wasn't so good at my job it never would've shown up. We've got Vaughn looking into it.
elementof_risk: Someone so senior for something small?
my-strappyshoes: He was looking for something a bit low key. I told him it might get more interesting, he opted to take it.
elementof_risk: Good for him. Never would do for him to get rusty.
my-strappyshoes: I'm glad you think so. So how is the sun? Probably not too good for your headache.
elementof_risk: Happily it's down now or my headache would be a migraine, but it was lovely his afternoon.
my-strappyshoes: So you actually checked into the same hotel you used before?
elementof_risk: I like this hotel. And really... until I told you where I was, it was the last place anyone would look for me.
my-strappyshoes: Well you weren't exactly blocking your IP you know.
elementof_risk: You know, if you wanted to know where I was, you could have just asked.....
my-strappyshoes: Well I'm not tracking you now. Hence the surprised you're back in town.
elementof_risk: It's a nice town to be in.
my-strappyshoes: I like it. It's not Connecticut but it's nice.
elementof_risk: I've never been to Connecticut.
my-strappyshoes: I grew up there.
elementof_risk: I know
my-strappyshoes: When we finally dismantled the Covenant they actually got to move back home. I just haven't gotten out there recently. Work has been keeping me busy.
elementof_risk: It does tend to do that rather a lot, if you let it.
my-strappyshoes: I have vacation time coming up next month though. I already have my flight booked.
elementof_risk: I'm sure your family will be thrilled to see you.
my-strappyshoes: My brother wants to take me to an archery range. I told him I'd kick his ass. I don't think he believes me.
elementof_risk: Well, when you've utterly embarrassed him, I'm sure he'll reconsider his opinion.
my-strappyshoes: Thanks for the vote of confidence.
elementof_risk: Have you ever shot a bow and arrow?
my-strappyshoes: Does summer camp count?
elementof_risk: Oh, of course. I'm sure it'll come right back to you
my-strappyshoes: You're humoring me.
elementof_risk: Possibly a little bit.
my-strappyshoes: If I found it cute that's not a bad thing right?
elementof_risk: I'm not going to deter anything positive you might think in my general direction at all.
my-strappyshoes: I see. How's the headache?
elementof_risk: Headache is still here, sadly. I'm contemplating the mini bar
my-strappyshoes: Drowning the headache might not really work. Answering your door so I can stop typing on my BlackBerry would be good though.
With a bit of confusion, Sark moves to answer the door, eyebrows going up unsure if she's joking, or if she's really come back. After the night before he hadn't expected to see her again.
Rachel on any given day is far craftier than one might think of her. For one reason or another she had checked up on Sark. Just in case something happened she told herself, but clearly when she got the notification popping up on her BlackBerry that he'd checked in again she made the smallest notation in her mind about it. Now later in the evening she had found herself heading to his hotel, and posing as his secretary in order to figure out what room number he had actually been checked back into. It was a bit clumsy on the fly, but she had worked with far less in the past. Now though she'd been leaning against the wall across from his doorway contemplating whether or not to tell him that she was right there. Of course she'd already done that and now he should be on his way, so facing up to her own choices, she knocks on the door to his hotel room. It's not like she could've gotten very far back down the hallway once she'd told him she was there anyway.
The knock sounds as he reaches the door, and he opens it, glancing over her for a moment as if trying to just ascertain her purpose, before slowly smiling and stepping back. "I have to say this is a surprise," he murmurs.
"I'm full of surprises," she replies with a certain degree of smugness in her smile and tone. The smirk that flashes upon her features lingers there for a moment almost reveling in how proud she is of her accomplishment.
"Well, that I knew...." he says with a smirks back, then catches his lip in his teeth, as he gestures her in. "Since you're here, you really ought to come inside rather than lingering in the hallway."
Trying to keep the moment a bit light she glances around the hallway she's still standing in with a slight shrug, "I don't know I was sort of getting used to the hallway." Of course she knows that it would be even more foolish to not enter his room after all of this. Taking a deep breath she moved into his room and glanced around once more. Keen observer this one. Thankfully he wasn't building a bomb or entertaining a gaggle of ladies, which would have been awkward. "So... " Rachel's word draws out for a moment as she realizes she still has her BlackBerry in her hands, which she doesn't exactly need at the moment. Tucking it into her jacket pocket she continues with the joking around, "I didn't bring Can't Buy Me Love... so you're off the hook there."
Sark shuts the door behind her, leaning against it and watching her look around, sort of amazed that she's actually here, but hiding it behind a faintly amused smile. "Well, there's quite the movie selection via the hotel system, though I doubt it's on there." He finally pushes off the door moving across the room to her side. "So, we'll have to find out something else to amuse yourself with." He can think of several things, none of which have anything to do with any films.
She's hyper aware of where he is in the room, even if she wasn't going to look she still knew that he was actually in the room with her. Of course she also figures she might be a bit nervous, which increases just a bit more when he moves closer to her for some reason. Trying to ease her nerves a bit Rachel takes a seat on the edge of the bed, then promptly gets right back up realizing where she had taken a seat and opts for the small couch that is over near the window instead. "Well we usually seem to do okay for ourselves, no deaths yet at least."
Sark lets himself be amused when she sits, then moves, and contemplates whether he should move to the couch, which would be in her space, or on the bed, which would give her space, but would be, well, on the bed. The indecision lingers in his eyes for a minute, before he opts for the couch, closer to her, but less suggestive. He smiles a bit at her comment, remarking, "Which really, that's amazing all things considered."
Laughing at his remark with a bit of honestly she nods, "We seem to be amazingly well behaved." It was a phrase that sounded really good in her head until it was out in the air and then it sounded completely out of place. Sighing she tried to push past it and shifted to face him a bit better on the couch, not that she wanted to look into his eyes but hey there they were, and God they were blue. "So the thing Vaughn got sent on... I don't have to worry that-" Rachel let her words halt as she paused wondering where the hell her concern just came from because it wasn't any of her business, and she shouldn't concern herself with something that was going to end up forcing her from his room anyway. "You know what? Never mind. I really don't even want to talk work right now."
Sark tilts his head, holding her eyes, with a small smile. "Well-behaved is overrated, of course." His eyebrows go up at the worry comment, eyes sharp and curious, and just a touch wary. "Discussing work really wasn't on my agenda for the evening either, but now you've got me curious about exactly what I'm not supposed to worry about....or why I possibly should be worried."
Twisting her lips into a slight purse for a moment, she begins to contemplate just how to word it. It's not exactly an easy thing and eventually she figures she might as well say it, mostly because she knows it will eat at her if she doesn't. "That the interesting is going to eventually turn out to be you? I mean I just don't want to have to come into work and hear about something you did... a day before I was 'blinded' enough to walk right into your hotel room again is all."
Sark frowns slightly, thinking over everything, and the jobs he's been on lately, then sighs. "Considering I don't know exactly what Vaughn was sent out on, and that you likely oughtn't and won't tell me...I can't really answer that. I'm fairly certain nothing I've done lately involves matters of national security?" Probably. At least not that they would realize without inside intel.
Nodding she stares at her hands for a moment, then back up to him, "Kind of why I stopped myself from asking the first time." Which now left an odd silence in the room that she was more than just aware of, she was almost sinking into. Which of course allowed her to think and shift a bit closer to him because she knew she was fooling herself thinking that she hadn't wanted to be closer to him in the bar, but had stopped herself more than a dozen times. Now seemed a lot different. "You said something about a bar?" Yes, because alcohol will help.
He smiles faintly, "There's a mini bar, yes." He has a moment of wanting to remind her that just because his illegal activities this time probably aren't anything for APO to get in a tizzy over that there probably will be such things at some point, but he doesn't, because he doesn't want to spoil the moment, smiling a bit more instead. "I think there's even rum."
She's already realizing that this time may be the exception to the standard and has opted to live happily in her denial for the moment because happy is way better than over thinking the future. At the mention of rum she smiles and as he stands up she stops him, her hand going to his, "Wait." Standing up Rachel gives into pretty much the stupidest idea she's had since opting to drop into his hotel unannounced and brushes her lips to his softly and a bit briefly before pulling away feeling a bit of heat flush to her cheeks. "Okay... now you can get the alcohol."
Sark is completely stunned for a moment, not that he hadn't thought, perhaps, they might get to that point, but had expected to make the first move, and possibly after a couple of drinks. Of course, she did show up here, unannounced, which was rather first move-like itself. He smiles, then ducks his head to kiss her back, slightly more lingeringly, lifting his head just a bit. "So now I'm allowed to drown the headache since you're here to supervise?"
When his mouth brushes to hers for the second kiss Rachel feels a moment of relief. It's subtle in her mind but it still did a good job of letting her know that she wasn't foolish or too impulsive despite knowing it was. However knowing she did that without drinking on pure instinct alone was important to her for the moment. Biting her lower lip for a moment before she smiles back at him she nods, "I'm here to ensure you didn't drunk dial me all headachey, and if you do drunk dial me?" At the pause of her words she gives the pocket on her jacket a light tap with her palm, "My phone's right here."
Sark gives her a mock-offended look, a slight pout tugging at his lower lip. "I have never drunk dialed anyone in my life."
He arches one eyebrow up, though he breaks the pout a bit with a smile, moving to the mini bar and fishing out two bottles of rum. Getting glasses he puts ice in them both. "Straight, or there is orange juice or soda?"
Apparently all it took to allow Rachel to relax a bit more was to simply make that first ever-brave move. Having it returned put her mind even more at ease as she opted to stop standing in the middle of the room. She moves toward the mini bar where he's at, leaning against the wall simply watching him, "Straight is fine, with the ice."
"Straight it is..." He pours them both a drink, handing her one, and sipping his own, watching how she's relaxing. Drink in hand, he moves back to perch on the edge of the bed, this time, instead of the couch, smiling up at her. "Not quite the tropics, but it can give the illusion."
Rachel takes the glass from him but watches him instead of taking her first sip as he takes a seat on the edge of the bed. Raised eyebrow for a moment she takes that first sip letting the scent hit her a moment before the burn of it does as she stays against the wall, but leans a bit more. Her heel resting a bit on the edge rocking her foot aside, "Not the tropics at all, and the last time I was in St.Croix? I ended up in the ventilation shafts of a storage facility, which wasn't exactly my idea of anything tropic at all." Taking another sip she stayed at her perch against the wall watching him carefully.
Sark takes another long sip savoring it, leaning back a bit on the bed to watch her over the rim of his glass, letting the rum rest on his tongue for a moment before swallowing. "You really do need to work on taking some more time for yourself, to actually see the world, not just on assignments that end up with you in ventilation shafts." He tilts his head a bit more, studying her, then holds out his free hand, not sure if he's pushing, and not really caring. "Come here?"
Her heart nearly leaps from her chest to her throat and down to her stomach so quickly she barely has time to react let alone think. It puts a knot in her stomach and a tiny bit of warmth in her as well, one that feels more like tension in her abdomen than actual heat. The fact that it stayed there even as her own feet took up the choice to move her off the wall without her own knowledge and that it made her heart clench a bit didn't even process beyond the soft tone and the lilt of his accent. God she could get used to that. Her glass still in hand she'd moved closer, but still not taken his hand, instead she found herself pulled in a bit closer, arm wrapped against her stomach to hold the butterflies, and to allow her elbow to rest against her forearm holding her glass up to just where her mouth could press to it as she thought it over. "I've been trying that whole make time for myself thing, it just seems to be setting me up for a bit of trouble is all."
Closer is better, though it isn't perfect. It's better than across the room. He leans back a bit more on the bed to watch her, not really putting himself on display, though there's an air of that in it as he tilts his head back to look up at her, taking another sip of the rum that comes near to draining it, if only to cut the tension that's coiling inside of him. "Are you back to worrying about risks in your life, because I thought we'd settled that. Everyone needs time for something just theirs, Rachel, whether it's a vacation, a hobby, or something else."
Every time she breathes in she can feel the tension in her heart trying to push her those final few steps forward. The way her brain almost sings to her with suggestions of the position he's taken, or where to let her eyes wander. Yet she still sips at her drink inching forward toward him until she feels the sudden give of the mattress beneath her knee as she leans there a bit using the edge of the bed for that slight support. "I'm not overly worried about the risks I take in my life at the moment, I'm just a bit too aware that they are risks is all."
He's a little too aware of the shift of the bed, even that small movement, very aware of how close she is, how easy it would be to reach out, tug her closer. He finishes the rum instead, stretching to set the glass on the nightstand, then back, propping himself up with one elbow. He doesn't tug her closer, but he does reach to idly brush his fingers over her knee where it rests against the bed, holding her eyes as he looks up at her. "You know my philosophy on risks."
Her breathing is much slower now, a lot more thought going to every subtle shift in her body and in her posture. The slight touch of his fingers to her knee makes the breaths she pulls inward flood that much deeper into her lungs. It's that same contact that she'd been unable to pull from at the bar, but this time far too welcoming and far too enticing. She nods in agreement at knowing his philosophy and it's not even that this was anywhere that she had wanted to put herself, but she started the conversation and then ended up at his hotel and clearly some part of her had taken over that thought process. Now she was watching him so intently she thought she might actually forget to breathe, "That I do." It was a simple reply and drawn out a bit as she held the glass in hand taking the final swallow of the alcohol into her and letting the ice clink back into the bottom as she held it out for him to take from her.
The words hardly seem to matter right now, really, with more going on in eyes and body language than words can possibly convey without a lot more thought. He takes the glass, setting it next to his with a bit of a stretch that shifts the bed again, before shifting back to where he was. Instead of her knee, though, his fingers find her own, winding through them, then slowly pulling, urging her closer, down to join him. It feels more tense than even that moment in the hall, wondering, laced with far more possibility that she could run at any minute, and that maybe that would be wisest for both of them. His teeth catch his lower lip again in that habitual gesture, fingers brushing over her palm as he attempted to draw her to him. "Being aware of the risks...can help add to the poignancy, I think."
Her knee still pressed against the bed finds more of her weight giving into it, and her fingers now being tugged into his. The taut pressure in her elbow gives away the suggestion that he's trying to pull her closer to his reclined state that begs to offer her something more comfortable than the near flamingo stance she's taken. She could easily lean into him, let her other leg lift off the floor and ease her way onto the bed. The fact that her mind knows how easy she could do it doesn't help her in any way shape or form in the notion to resist the easy temptation that he's become for her.
Watching him bite on his lower lip doesn't help either, instead it tugs at her even more than the slight tug of his fingers against her palm. Instead of faltering though, instead of allowing herself to slip down to him she shifts her hand to reach for his wrist, winding her fingers around it and tugging him now up toward her in some attempt to force him to at least meet her halfway. "I think that sort of poignancy should involve some form of a compromise in the end, so that no one gets hurt in the end... risk or not." She knew she was full of it, because risk wasn't about compromise or not getting hurt at all, it was about not caring what happened in the end.
