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"Yeah, maybe..." he murmured, his fingers twining with hers. The hand on her cheek found her hair and stroked through it softly. While he made no effort to stop her, he likewise made no effort to help her follow through on her suggestion.

At what she'd said, he fell silent, surprised, to say the least...

"I....I guess that'd depend." he ventured at last, smoothing her golden curls away from her eyes to look into them, half-expecting to find them a vibrant green. The last time things had started taking a turn in this direction, it hadn't been under entirely favorable circumstances.

He could be faulted for a few things, but making the same mistake twice was not one of them.

His mouth dropped a bit as if to speak, but nothing came out. There was nothing he could think of to say in response that didn't sound trite or unnecessary.

She'd told him little of her past lovers, but enough that he'd easily been able to see why she'd wanted to shy away from intimacy for awhile. He'd even done her one better by doing his best not to even think of her in that way since the night the imp had nearly gotten loose.

Now, though, this close to her and her words still floating about his head, he found it hard to try and maintain that mindset. In spite of everything that had happened in her past, she trusted him enough to let her tightly-held inhibitions go....to him, it was a big deal. Almost as big a deal as what she'd just proposed. And even now he could see the flickers of uncertainty in her eyes, ready to become regret should he say or do the wrong thing.

At length, he said nothing, his eyes focused as reassuringly as he could muster on hers for a long moment before he leaned in to kiss her warmly.

As she had a better idea of what to do, he gladly let her take a lead, moving where she wanted him to be and assisting her in the shedding of his shirt. His heartbeat was a gallop in his chest as nervousness, excitement, and an odd underlying sense of rightness all fought for the driver's seat of his brain.

It was strange...it was similar to the way he'd felt that night at her home months ago, and yet different. Maybe knowing for certain this time, that it was truly her he was with.

He paused as she pulled back, catching his breath. Like her, he felt like every nerve in his body was alive and responsive, and he was dimly aware that he was shaking a bit. It was overwhelming, but he wanted more of it. More of her.

As newly-discovered passion was being explored behind closed doors, however, both Zhane and Nani were oblivious to the sound of a key turning in the front door's lock.

Talon gave a cursory once-over of the living room as he let himself inside, satisfying himself that the kids had managed not to burn the house down since he and Yeande had left that morning.

He still didn't know why she'd insisted so fervently and so -suddenly- on having a weekend away together, but it was hard to complain. They seldomly had time alone anymore that didn't involve waiting until the house was asleep. It WAS, however, the first time they'd left Zhane and Phae alone for longer than a night.

And it was also unfortunate that, in their haste to leave, Talon had forgotten the cel in its charger on the kitchen counter. Yeande had insisted things would be fine and that it was not worth going back for, but it had been eating at his mind since arriving at the hotel.

Yes, he imagined the kids were smart enough to figure out how to call the hotel and ask to be transferred to their room, but he also imagined it would be a lot easier on all involved for them to call a number they were familiar with and have instant contact with him and Yeande.

Furthermore it meant he could put the damn nagging thoughts to rest and actually try to ENJOY himself...

And so, while she was out scouting out the neighboring restaurants for where they would have dinner, and he was supposed to be out picking up a bottle of wine for later, he had done what he thought was the reasonable thing and stopped by the house to get the damned phone.

Snatching it off of its dock and giving it a quick check to make sure its battery was charged, he stuffed it into his pants pocket. There. No big deal, no going hours out of his way, it had just been as simple as grabbing the stupid thing and heading back out again.

Though, before he went...

The ijiuo moved briskly down the downstairs hallway, pausing at the bedroom door on the left, which was open a crack, and peering inside. Phaerna was seated on her floor, indian-style, and looked to be in the middle of reading a storybook to Sellexi who was not listening to a word of it as she swam in her tank.

At least ONE of his kids knew how to sit still and behave themselves, he thought wryly. Looking over his shoulder at the closed door across the way, he wondered if Zhane was even home at this hour.

He was probably off somewhere mooning over an abandoned tunnel or a cave he'd found, now that he'd been given a whole weekend with no curfew to be back home by...

Nonetheless, his hand closed on the knob and turned it, nudging the door open.

"Zhane, I came back to pick up the cel. If you or your sister need anything, you know the number."

That was what he'd intended to say. However, he never quite made it to 'cel' before shock neatly silenced him.

Zhane had reacted to hearing his dad's voice at roughly the same time Nani had, coming inches away from konking heads with her as he stared in perfectly-stupefied shock at Talon for a moment.

There was no possible way to make this look like anything other than it was. He knew it, and the look on his dad's face said he knew it as well.

"Zhane....?" Talon said, finding his voice, in a rather angry tone, at last. "What the ******** do you think you're doing?"

....s**t.

"Yeah....yeah maybe you better." Zhane told her quietly, the warm buildup of excitement that had gripped him a moment ago quickly being replaced with a hot roil of embarrassment and anger.

He clenched his eyes closed as she went, trying to reign in any reaction until she was well out of earshot. She already looked terrified enough as it was and he was well-aware this was going to be ugly...






((TBC, longer post in journal))