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[Les - date night]
It isn't her dream job, but it's enough that April can get by without looking like she's pulling money out of nowhere and that's all she really needs. She's assisting a self-employed lawyer around his office, which, as jobs go, really isn't all that bad. He's relatively quiet, the work is easy, and when he looks at her in a way she doesn't like -- which he has twice already -- all April has to do is suggest to him in a soft voice that he doesn't think of her like that.
But it's a job and she needs one. The only problem is that tonight, when she's supposed to be meeting Les at her place for their date, she's been kept late. There's a client still in the lawyer's office when she glances at her phone and realizes there's no way she's going to make it to her apartment before Les, so she texts him and tells him if that's the sort of thing he can do, that he should feel free to magic her door open. She doesn't leave keys lying around under welcome mats like she knows some people do, but she also doesn't have anything in her apartment worth stealing. There's nothing she's attached to in there at all.
So she tells Les to go ahead, wait inside, she'll be there in twenty minutes. By the time she gets her things packed up and is actually outside her apartment, it's more like half an hour and she's angry with herself. She's angry with her boss for keeping her late and she's upset that she's made Les wait, all of which are new feelings.
April loves to keep people waiting. It exerts a certain level of dominance, but now, as she walks toward her building, her heels clicking on the sidewalk as she digs her keys out of her purse, she only feels bad.
But it's a job and she needs one. The only problem is that tonight, when she's supposed to be meeting Les at her place for their date, she's been kept late. There's a client still in the lawyer's office when she glances at her phone and realizes there's no way she's going to make it to her apartment before Les, so she texts him and tells him if that's the sort of thing he can do, that he should feel free to magic her door open. She doesn't leave keys lying around under welcome mats like she knows some people do, but she also doesn't have anything in her apartment worth stealing. There's nothing she's attached to in there at all.
So she tells Les to go ahead, wait inside, she'll be there in twenty minutes. By the time she gets her things packed up and is actually outside her apartment, it's more like half an hour and she's angry with herself. She's angry with her boss for keeping her late and she's upset that she's made Les wait, all of which are new feelings.
April loves to keep people waiting. It exerts a certain level of dominance, but now, as she walks toward her building, her heels clicking on the sidewalk as she digs her keys out of her purse, she only feels bad.
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They make it outside, and Les has this really strong urge to throw his arms around April and just be grateful she made it out of their without a scratch on her. His head hurt like hell and all her stuff is likely ruined, but she is safe. That is all that matters as does keeping her safe now. Because those guys probably wouldn't give up and walk away.
When she asks where they can go, his initial thought is Corry's house. But he wouldn't dare bring danger to her doorstep again. Who knows how long they had been following him and April. Those pictures were from the beach and maybe they knew Les had been in the guesthouse. He is just thankful to know Corry isn't alone. She is with Will tonight so the house will look empty if those idiots think.to check back there.
Finally he has an idea. "Watersong. That place is a fortress. Michael would know the second any of them even come close," he tells her. Between the wards and the security cameras no one came or went without Lara's say so. She is away on business but Michael is well trained. They could go to Les office and hide out there for the night. Plus with the extra people hanging around it would help and Les could call Levi from his office, give the police a heads up about those guys in town.
And they could walk there. He tugs her hand to pull her along with him. "This is fun. You're getting every cent worth," he says, joking obviously but he is still freaked out about how those guys were just waiting there. If Les hadn't come along first what would've happened then...
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Besides, she tries to tell herself, even if she did leave town tonight, they might still hurt Les just to make a point. If he's in danger no matter what, there's no point in leaving, but of course, she has no idea how else to solve this problem.
"Watersong, okay," she agrees, letting him lead her. She's worried about him, about the blow he took to the head and she wants to check on him, but they can't stop moving yet. Once they're in the bar she can look at him and she thinks he probably needs to go to a hospital, but she's too worried to even risk that. Everything is too open. "I have no idea how to get rid of them."
She squeezes his hand and bites down hard on her lower lip. This is why she doesn't get attached to people. When she's been in bad situations before, all she's had to do is leave, but now Les is involved and she doesn't know how to fix it.
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Les takes her to the back entrance through the alley between Watersong and the building beside it. Michael's town car is parked in its normal place which is a relief actually. He knows with Michael around they are safe. Just being at Watersong would keep them protected.
But like April, Les is also not certain how to run those guys off either. All he knows is that he wants April safe. If it means paying them off maybe they'd need to do that. Maybe it's just a matter of talking to Lara. Being in town as a siren must come with some protection. From every business meeting he's ever taken with Lara she definitely doesn't want outsiders threatening sirens under her watch. It's all about territory. And those three dumbasses had crossed into hers over money. If Les told her, she probably wouldn't be happy. Only thing is he doesn't know how April even feels about Lara's help...
He buzzes the intercom attached to the back door. Michael picks up immediately with a scratch of static. "It's Les. I need to get into the office." The door buzzes and unlocks. He motions for April to go first then buzzes the intercom again. "Don't let anyone else in through this door and watch the front. Some guys attacked me and April tonight..." Michael inquires in concern whether he needs to get Lara back in town. "No no. No. This wasn't about Lara---" He looks at April for a second. This is about April. Her mom. Her money. Her debt. She needs help, and he wants to help her. But does he just get to make a decision to involve other people? Even if those people can help?
"I don't know what they wanted. We're just gonna chill out for awhile," he lies mostly just to give April a chance to decide what's next. "We probably need a first aid kit too?" Michael sighs eternally vexed because that isn't the first time Les has needed the first aid kit to be honest.
He releases the button. "Okay. We're good. Office is upstairs," he tells April pointing to the staircase just inside the back door.
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And she's worried about Les, too, which is another feeling she's not particularly used to. He's walking and talking without much problem, but he's in bad shape. She can see it. She wants to help, but her hand just twitches in the hold he has on her and she nods.
"Thank you," she says, her voice uncharacteristically soft. She's trying to thank him for a lot of things, trying to say she's sorry, trying to tell him she's worried all at once, but she's sure she's falling short. She walks up the staircase, following Les' direction to the office before she turns to look at him. "We should get you cleaned up."
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They come to the office, and April tells him he needs to get cleaned up. He automatically reaches up to touch the place above his eye that still feels like it's throbbing with pain. The blood has dried now, but it still hurts. Now that the immediate danger is gone, Les can feel every inch of the injuries he took, feel that punch, and the way his bottom lip feels swollen too.
"Do I look that bad?" Les asks with a half-smile. It feels like he probably looks that bad. Right then Michael knocks lightly on the office door and pokes his head through waving the first aid kit. The taller man walks into the room and raises an eyebrow at Les' face and gives April a glance, but Michael is very good at his job. Helpful. Slightly menacing. Discreet. That's why Les isn't worried the incident will ever be mentioned to Lara unless he does it himself.
"Thanks. I'll call if we need anything else," Les says, dismissing Michael. He hands April the kit. There's a part of him that wants to tell her that he thinks they should call Lara now, but the concern is evident on April's face and he isn't sure it is just about his injuries. Instead, he sits down on the leather couch along the wall sighing as he eases down. He is tired and worried. "This isn't how tonight was supposed to go right?" He asks, leaning his head back against the cushion.
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And Les is involved now, too. April can only hope that means she'll be safe here, that Lara might be able to help. If necessary, she has the funds to pay the men off, but she has a very distinct feeling that won't be enough. Especially after tonight.
"How do you feel?" she asks as she hunts through the first aid kit for some gauze and something with which to clean the blood off Les. He looks terrible and she's worried he might have a concussion and she's sure that worry is evident in her features. It's not an expression she wears very often and she's suddenly so tired of pretending she doesn't care for him.
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Les lifts his head up when she comes to sit next to him. He knows they are safe here, but he can't help himself from picturing April when she walked into the bedroom suddenly surrounded by those men. Considering how they dealt with him, Les didn't know what they'd do with April, and he had been truly afraid for her because he....he just doesn't want her to get hurt. He can no longer just ignore what he's been feeling anymore. Too say he and April are just hanging out wouldn't be the truth.
And now with those guys still in town Les doesn't even want to say that. He doesn't want to just hang out with her or meet up every now and then, or anything like that. He wants to make sure she's safe. He wants to help her figure this out. And after they do he still wants to go on their date. A real one.
Unlike April, Les has been on dates before with other women. Just never one he'd been looking forward to as much as this one. Which is new and different, but he had been determined to get things right tonight. He was really going to try he realizes now that he didn't get the chance. "We can do it again another time," Les offers as she digs through the kit and then looks up at him, her concern evident. He wants to reassure her. His injuries hurt but will heal.
"I'm just happy you're okay," Les says instead with a soft smile. "I didn't know what was going to happen when you got there. I kinda hoped you'd just never come home and like stand me up."
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But that's awfully close to admitting that she's been having feelings for him and April gets up to go to the bar so she can put some water in a bowl. It gives her something to do and it gives her the distance she feels like she needs. This is complicated. It's a mess. There are sirens after her for money her mother apparently owes them and she has a fairly extensive criminal record Les doesn't know about, not to mention the fact that she's never let herself get close to anyone. But he's different. He's proven that time and again.
Returning to the couch, she sinks back down beside him with a wet cloth and a bowl of water, then reaches out with her free hand to gently coax his chin to one side. "I'm... I'm glad you're okay, too. I didn't... I had no idea my mother owed anyone money." She doesn't want him to think she could have prevented this somehow or that she had known they would be there. She doesn't want Les to think she would have let him get hurt.
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When she takes the space back beside him, he lifts his head back up, tilting his neck when she takes his chin. Her fingers are gentle and warm against his skin as she cleans the blood from the side of his mouth and lip. Whatever she's doing, it stings against his cut. But it doesn't matter, he smiles at her, at what she says. More than that, Les likes to be cared for...he doesn't give people permission nearly as often as he could. He's too used to taking care of himself. But April has made him think about many things differently as of late.
"I know. I know you didn't," Les says, watching her, brow wrinkled in minor confusion. He wouldn't be here right now if he thought April set him up. He doesn't even know why she thinks he would assume that. "We'll figure this out. If you want, you know I'll ask Lara right? We don't have to tell her about your mom, but Lara is good. She will help you. And I just..." Les is searching for the best thing to say that's the truth even though it means letting down his guard some. "I want you to be ok. You're important. Uh, to me," he says. "You're important to me..."
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It's easiest to focus on what he's said about Lara and she nods. The idea of it scares her, the idea of asking the matriarch siren for help, but she's coming to realize that maybe living in a town with a whole community of sirens might actually be beneficial. She's never done anything to break the rules, but she's also still not sure what Lara thinks of her, but if Les thinks she'll be willing to help, April is fairly certain it would be stupid for her to say no. "I would appreciate that," she says. "If you'd talk to Lara."
"And I..." But she hesitates, using the excuse of a particularly stubborn bit of blood on his cheek to keep silent for a moment. "I'm okay." She isn't injured, anyway, and if it becomes necessary, she has the money to pay them off. She has the life insurance policy and while she had originally planned on doing nothing with it, now there's a use. But that isn't what's worrying her right now. What he's just said to her is important. It's something bigger than what they've been letting themselves talk about so far and her gaze lifts, catching his. "You're... you're important to me, too."
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She says Les can talk to Lara, and it's a relief. It isn't just that Les trusts Lara, after her assistance with Corry how could he not? It's more that Les is out of his league here with sirens. If it was three witches after April, maybe Les would trust himself more. Lara knows how to protect the sirens in this town. He's seen it. He saw how she cared about Corry, and he knows Lara would do the same for April now. Even if not for April herself, Lara would do it to help him.
Because April is important to him.
Her fingers wiping away the blood from his face, the cool gauze against his cheek, keeps him from letting panic takeover. Letting himself second-guess telling April the truth just now. But he wanted her to know that he cares about her. He wouldn't be here if this, them, if they were only what they were pretending to be. That's when April looks up at him, hesitating, but she still admits it back. He immediately wants to kiss her, but his lip hurts, his head too. He settles for putting his hand over the one holding his jaw and pulls it down, threading their fingers together.
"I'm not really that good at this," Les admits with a half-smile. He probably doesn't even need to say that. No one would mistake him for a catch, for boyfriend-material, right? He feels her hand in his, swallows, but continues. "Just call me. Sometimes. Anytime. I dunno." He shrugs then laughs because that's a silly request after tonight, after they nearly got much worse than a few bruises. "I always want to see you. Will you do that?" he asks suddenly hoping she agrees.
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"I can do that," she says, her voice uncharacteristically soft. It's still not putting a label on anything, which she's perfectly happy with, given the fact that she thinks she may well panic in the face of that, but it's close. "I'm not exactly very good at it either. The last time I... the last time anyone got close, he took one look at my scales and got out of there as quickly as possible." So Les has certainly already given her more reason to trust him, but it's still scary.
"I just saw you like that, tied to the chair and I... it was... I hated seeing it," she admits. "It made me furious." And she's never worried about protecting anyone but herself, not even her sister. They'd been separated, but April knows she could have tried harder, but she never bothered. It's always been about protecting herself.
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"Really?" Les asks his face brightening despite the night, despite the pain in the wound she's cleaning, despite their ruined date, and everything else. That April agrees to call him makes tonight turn out exactly how he hoped for deep down. It's why he was going to try. The reason for his nice clothes and the reservations. Because he wants this to be something more.
"Well. You did manage to save me," Les says, starting to smile. "And you tased a guy. I can't even explain how impressed I am by that." For one thing April carries a taser and she hadn't backed down an inch. "But I just didn't want anything to happen to you..."
He pauses for a second looking down, not wanting this to sound weird or freak her out. "That's why if you need a place to crash for a few days, you can stay at my place. Completely unrelated to that whole I like you thing that I, uh, just said," he says awkwardly then smirks. "But I wouldn't make you sleep on the couch if you consider it."
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Because that's nice, too. And she hasn't let herself believe anyone truly cares about her in a long time.
He's right, though, her place won't be safe to return to. There's a disaster left behind that she doesn't want to think about cleaning up and she doesn't need anything that's been left behind. She might miss her wardrobe, but there's certainly nothing in that closet she can't replace. Nothing worth getting hurt over.
"You'll let me share your bed?" she asks with a faint smile and an arched eyebrow. She's teasing him again, though there's a faint note of hope threaded in her voice, something she doesn't want to admit to.
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He's less nervous the longer his words settle in the air between them. It had seemed like such a big deal to just admit he likes April, like he would've been giving up something, or opening himself up to misery later on. But this is....better than he expects. Nice maybe. Like, there's a flutter of nerves in his belly. Not nerves. Just flutters because April's face doesn't completely shutdown at the idea of staying with him until she finds her apartment.
He's never done that. Ever. Gone through these lengths with a woman. But if April agrees he's more than happy to do it, give her one less headache to worry about in the middle of figuring out her mom's debt. It's just a place to crash, but it's more than that.
He smiles when she smiles, those flutters coming once more when she teases back at him. "I'm willing to give you some space. Yeah. Maybe a little bit," he says in a playful tone. "Just enough so you must cuddle me all night."
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She's not trying to get anything from Les, though, and although she's never told him the ways she's made her money, her heart suddenly feels heavy, like he might think she wants something from him other than just him. So she reaches up to touch his face, careful not to touch any of his injuries.
"I like you," she says, the words simple and yet so incredibly difficult to say. The last time she'd said it and meant it had been a very long time ago. "Thank you."