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It hadn't really bothered him to have her slip away. Levi had always been the man standing quietly in the corner, observing or talking to a few people. He knew how to be entertaining on a low-key scale while keeping himself from being wrapped up in the crazier parts of his ventures.

Everyone wanted to talk to Jade, though.

The first time someone had pulled her away from him, he had laughed, but as he watched the social butterfly bounce from person to person through the party he could only smile and shake his head a little. He always knew where she was - or where she had gone last. Even when she wasn't within his sight he could hear her laughter.

By the time she all but faceplanted into him, he had already realized how many drinks she must have had without him. He felt buzzed, but good - Jade, on the other hand?

"Of course," he caught her elbows as she stumbled and braced himself to keep her upright, laughing in turn at the burst of giggles despite himself, "but you don't have to throw yourself at me." His feet slid a little apart so he could tuck her against him, sliding his arms around her shoulders and holding her into his chest so that she wasn't swaying quite so easily. It was late, he knew, and there was no way she could trusted to go home by herself - she couldn't even walk in her own boots.

"Let's call a cab, hm?" He ducked as he spoke, so that he didn't have to raise his voice quite so much, and so he could brush his cheek against her hair. "I'll make sure you get home."

Surprise hit him as she released her weight into him but he laughed despite the way he suddenly had to dig his heels into the ground. His arms tightened a little and held her to him as began to back up slowly, one foot behind the other, until he felt his calves hit the stone bench behind them. One hand dug into his pocket and grabbed his phone and then he sat down, pulling her into his lap - mostly to keep her from wandering off, but also because he enjoyed having her sprawled across him.

"I'm going to make sure you're okay once we get there," he offered, leaning in to press a gentle kiss to her cheek before his attention reverted to the screen of his phone. A few swipes and a couple of one-handed texting and he had the phone pressed to his ear. His other arm had slipped up around her, holding her steady and upright.

It took a few rings for them to answer but the call was quick and in no time, Levi's hand dropped and his eyes looked back at hers.

"How many drinks did you have, silly girl?" She was an adorable drunk - and cuddly, it seemed. It was endearing until he realized how much she was going to hate herself in the morning - and absolutely how inappropriate it would be, now, to pursue anything else. That wasn't his style, he didn't want to start off wrong with someone he hoped to at least have a long business partnership with.

At the sound of her groan, he couldn't help the amused smile on his face, though his eyes looked down at her with something akin to pity. Without his phone in his hand, he was free to slip both arms around her and hold her against him as they waited for the cab to arrive.

There was no way he was letting her get up so someone else could thrust a drink in her hand.

At the edges of the party he could see people looking in her direction, shifting awkwardly as if they wanted to come bother her. Maybe it was the way his eyes narrowed or his jaw set, but none of them seemed inclined to actually try and interrupt her. He'd kept his head about him here - he'd had another drink or two, but slowly, and a lot of water. He couldn't afford hangovers anymore. Unfortunately, he suspected she wasn't going to be that lucky and the sooner he could get her home, the sooner she would begin to recuperate.

"Hm?" he asked, though caught the tail end of her sentence with a smirk. She spoke like someone who was blacked out. He was probably going to have to do a lot more than walk her to the door if he didn't want her to pass out on the floor alone.

The minutes ticked by and headlights flashed across the back yard. In driveway he could just make out the edge of a bright orange fender - the cab had arrived. They must have been in the district already. Not wanting to risk her trying to walk in her boots, Levi heaved and stood with her in his arms. He wasn't a particularly thick man - overall he was fairly tall and thin - but due to a certain pink-flaired General, he'd found his body was a bit more in shape than his civilian lifestyle suggested and probably only getting stronger.

"Stay awake, doll, I need your help."

Ahead of him, he saw the cab driver get out and open the back door once he saw them heading their way. He, too, seemed amused at the girl being crated across the yard. The man had probably seen this one too many times by now. The green-eyed man leaned in and deposited her easily in the seat, then crawled in after her, pulling the door shut in the same fluid motion.

"Hey," Levi reached out to take her chin with his fingertips, tilting her face to him so that he could stare into the oceans of her eyes. Focus on me. "Would you mind telling him where we're going?"

"Third floor, got it," he mumbled against her fingertips.

He slid a hand around her wrist very gently and pulled it away from his mouth, then tossed a glance at the driver with a nod. In a moment, they were slipping into motion easily - the man seemed to be taking it easy, for which he was grateful. Of course, he probably just didn't want her to puke in his cab.

"You think I'm the best? Oh, tch," the man smirked and shook his head at her, scolding her for her choice of words, "I'm going to hold that against you now." There was humor in his tone and he couldn't help the small, bemused laugh under his breath. Drink him under the table, indeed. As his gaze dropped, he hooked an arm around her back and the second beneath her knees, then pulled her toward him in the seat until her legs were draped across his. It let him pull her shoulders into his chest, cradling her to him and trying to absorb some of the natural jostling that came with the ride.

"Somehow I think you're going to change your mind about tomorrow night." The hand near her shoulders reached up to toy with a lock of her hair, twining it loosely around his finger as he spoke.

A soft chuckle escaped him at her poor, broken attempt at a flirt - normally, he would have risen to the banter but as it was, he simply rolled his eyes with that smug little smirk in place. She was too wasted to notice, especially since she couldn't pick her head up above the window level, and there was no verbal answer that wouldn't insult her already injured pride. He slid the hand twirling through her hair up, so that he could nest it against the back of her skull gently. The warmth would help until he could get her into her apartment.

"I know, just rest against me."

The young man's night had gone from a business meeting, to a bit of self-indulgence and it was going to end with him playing nurse - all with the same unpredictable person. There was enough arrogance in him that he assumed he knew her well enough to understand that this wasn't how she normally behaved, even if he only knew the her behind a camera lens. That also made him assume this was Jade at her worst - something that was important to know, from a business perspective.

As the car slowed and came to a stop, he reached into his back pocket and dug out his wallet. There were a few crisp bills plucked free and a quick thumb-through to double-check his math, then he handed them to the man in the front seat. The tip was generous considering that he'd done a pretty decent job at not jostling the pale-haired woman tucked against him.

He untangled her from his long limbs and pushed the door open slowly. Once he had crawled out, he ducked and looked down into the car at her.

"Is there an elevator?" Or did he have to try and carry her up to the third floor? He was pretty sure only Domeykite could do that.

Levi only took a step back from the open door when she planted her feet down and stood. For a moment, he was proud - until she stumbled and fell into his chest. Luckily, he had already assumed she was too trashed to stay on her feet very easily and he reacted quickly, catching her around the shoulders and holding her to him until he was sure she had found her footing again.

The smile on her lips as he looked down at her made him want to kiss her again, but he settled instead for bringing up his free hand and cupping her chin delicately. His thumb traced the line of her lips, out to the corners, until he spoke.

"It'll be harder to find the elevator if you're not leading the way," his hand fell away from her face and brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "If you fall, I'll catch you. Okay?"

The tall man shifted at her side until they were standing shoulder to shoulder (or shoulder to ribs, in their case) with his arm tightly around her and holding her into him for steadiness. He needed her to trust him - it would be a lot easier to navigate an unknown labyrinth of apartments if she found the path with her feet. There was no doubt in his mind that she was smart, but he also doubted drunk Jade was going to give him very clear directions right now.

"Let's go," his free hand shut the cab door behind them firmly, and his eyes looked ahead at the building uncertainly.

"You're smashed."

The words tumbled out between chuckles as his bright eyes stared down at her face. His arm had tightened around her with every step they took forward, with every pause of uncertainty, until they finally came to stop at the elevator doors. He held her close while he reached out to press the up arrow, though he was surprised to find that it was already at ground level.

"I guess no one else has stumbled in drunk recently."

At first he considered picking her up and carrying her, but he needed her to be able to direct him where to go without vomiting from being subjected to a dizzying angle. The door shut again as it timed out.

"Do you think you would be able to hold on for a piggy back ride, Jade?" The smile on his lips was impossibly amused with himself, as if speaking the very words were the most obscene thing he'd ever said. Carrying his drunk to-be employee, upon whom very many things in his career depended, piggy back up an elevator after a night of blatant disregard for the no office romance rule? He'd had worse nights. In the end he turned and dropped down into a low crouch in front of her slowly, releasing the pressure around her middle and pulling her hand to brace against his shoulder.

"Maybe?"