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They were in the kitchen.

And talking in low, playful voices. And making out.

Right there in the doorway.

Leila's complexion ramped up from peach to tomato in a quarter of a second as she abruptly jumped off her wife's lap, landing in a frazzled but hopefully respectable standing position while she smoothed out her undone hair. She was giggling nervously, with an apologetic expression, as Eve smoothly rolled her chair to approach Aleksy and offer him a seat on the sofa nearby. There was a noticeable blush and and forced edges to her calm demeanor, but thankfully she talked in a way that convincingly suggested nothing awkward had just happened at all: "Sorry, sweetheart. We should have been paying more attention. Maybe try calling next time. What can we do for you?"

"So does that mean you're not gonna want some juice?" asked Leila from the kitchen.

Eve reached out to hold one of Aleksey's hands as he continued, looking equal parts puzzled and concerned. Vampire? Well, why not, honestly. She was a werefox and her wife was a seer. It was mostly the dying part that made it seem even more unusual than the usual unusual. "Well, I had to go to Other Ashdown to transform safely, and still do, but there's still a lot we don't know," she admitted. "How about we start with the basics? Tell me how you're feeling, Lex."

Meanwhile, Leila sauntered awkwardly into the living room with a carton of apple juice and a couple of cups, which she set on the coffee table as she sat down on the other side of her couch. Friend was present as a familiar tickle on the ridge of her ear, and she wondered if the tiny familiar might know something.

"You're not gonna want to put that orange thing in the dishwasher," she cryptically piped up after making brief eye contact with him. Lex already knew the drill with the psychic bullshit.

"Dang," offered Leila, wrinkle-nosed from Friend's message.

So Lex was undead? Because of vampire s**t. And contagious, maybe? That was something to bring up, but later. It wasn't going to do much good to stress him out more with another piece of bad news about his life. "Well, I dunno," she continued instead, after a couple more moments of thought. "Mercer consented. Most people don't eat from consenting sources who get to stay alive." Now she was blushing more, and rubbing her neck a little for good measure.

"I get it's weird and painted as evil s**t, but if you're right that means you can eat without ever killing anything. Will it bother you if I think that's kind of cool?"

"I think what Buffy here is trying to say," Eve started, with a very pointed look at Leila, "is that the way you have to eat now really isn't any more or less evil than the conventional ways. Right?"

The strawberry blonde nodded apologetically into her cup of juice.

"You're not a monster for trying to survive," Eve went on. "It's clear Jeremiah thinks that too, darling."

"But Mercer is still kicking," Leila reiterated. "From an ecological standpoint, you haven't really eaten anybody."