The Only Child

[Harlequin]

Nadia awoke naked in Pierre's arms for the first time in...how long? Decades?

A momentary panic, and her eyes flew open as her body tensed, ready for flight. What was she doing here? What would Sonya say? Christ, she could never know --

But then her fingertips found the edge of the bandage around the opposite bicep. No. Sonya's rights to Nadia's life were forfeit, promises broken and spilled with her blood on the floor of that tile and porcelain room. Her wound ached still, and so did those parts of her brain that loved her Maker.

The tension drained from Nadia's muscles. She pulled Pierre's arm around her and kissed each of his knuckles as he began to stir.

This was hers. For as long as she wanted.

[Saiketsu]

He awoke with the feeling of being moved, though not all at once. He pulled the woman in his bed closer and nosed around in her hair, smelling her tiredly, kissing her neck. A lukewarm one. When he opened his eyes finally, he had expected it to be Ceci, his very human and very warm girlfriend. Until he remembered that Ceci had woken him up the day before by throwing household object at him. No, this definitely wasn't Ceci. The scent of her hair was too hauntingly familiar, her frame too stiff, too small to be Ceci.

Saudade.

"I thought for sure this would have all been a dream," Pierre said sleepily in Nadia's ear, his voice husky. The suspicions of her came back like a slow leak and made his chest ache. He kissed her the back of her head again and tucked his hand under her waist, securing his hold on her - lest she run from him now that the deed was done.

[Harlequin]

Nadia couldn't help herself from pinching his arm playfully, checking herself at the last second from elbowing him in the gut, which had been her first instinct. She rolled over in his arms so they were facing one another, lips nearly touching. "Not a dream," she assured him, catching his eyes with hers.

She leaned up on one elbow, then, and draped her other arm around his waist. She let her gaze travel hungrily over his frame, swathed in soft linen. Fuck, it had been too long.

"Feels like it, though, doesn't it?"

[Saiketsu]

"Ow," Pierre said drily, tiredly without much emotion behind it, and smiled. He inhaled deeply into a stretch as she turned over to face him, exhaling humanly as if it helped. A habit he had never been able to get rid of.

"Yes, it does," Pierre murmured looking up at her at an angle he adored. He missed her skin and became suddenly very aware of every place her body pressed against his. Like usual, he wanted more of it. These were the moments where he was weakest, most vulnerable to her. Their bodies had always fit together too perfectly for him to stay away from her. Pierre weaved a hand into her hair and played with the beautiful strands as they wrapped around his fingers. His other arm, semi-pinned underneath her now, wrapped around her until he could draw soft patterns on the skin there.

A sense of urgency was rising in his chest. In their frantic moments early this morning, he had forgotten to truly savor the feeling of her, the scent of her, the taste of her mouth on his. He always needed a refresher of her. "How are you feeling now?"

[Harlequin]

"Honestly?" She paused for longer than was appropriate before answering, looking past him toward the blank wall of the bedroom.

She felt a lot of things. And she didn't need to be a closed book to him, not any more. Not with him touching her like they'd never been apart.

"I'm...afraid. Of what will happen to Sonya. But I'm just so angry with her. And this time it can't be my problem." She pressed her lips together, and looked down at him, "But mostly I'm relieved, because of that." She leaned down to kiss him on the mouth, "I'm happy to be here, with you."

[Saiketsu]

His hand slipped behind her neck as she leaned into him and he kissed her deeper than he meant to. He wanted to believe her when she said she was happy to be with him, and for the most part he did. She had always been happy when Sonya wasn't looking, and he loved when she was happy, especially when he was with her in those moments. But there was that lingering history that threatened to swallow up the tenderness of the moment. She had been happy with him in the past and for whatever reason it hadn't been enough to keep her by his side. He wanted nothing more than to drown that feeling with her kiss.

That was how it had always started for him - drowning in her kiss.

Pierre smiled at her, trying his best to keep the sadness out of his chest. He stroked her hair tenderly, enjoying her. "Well I, for one, am very happy with the way things turned out." He diverted to humor as usual, finding it a more comfortable space than telling her what he wanted to.

[Harlequin]

Nadia melted against him, nearly purring as they kissed. When he spoke, however, she pulled away and frowned gently, looking down at him again. There it was, that undercurrent of sadness he always tried to hide from her. The ever-present melancholy. Her Pierrot.

"I wish it hadn't gone so badly," Se sighed, looking down at her bandage-covered arm, "But maybe it had to."

Would she have ever left, otherwise? How much more would she have endured?

"What are you thinking?"

[Saiketsu]

He hated that question every time it broke away from her lips and tonight was no different. It meant that the moment was going to be ruined because he, Pierre, couldn't just let things be. His gut told him to be honest with her, but he was full of apprehension of breaking the illusion of love as it stood. He wanted to tell her that he didn't want her to leave. He wanted to tell her that things would be different now that Sonya wasn't in the way and there was no need to run.

Pierre bit his lip before exhaling a sigh. "I don't want you to leave again, that's all." He brushed the side of her neck lovingly, thumbing her cheekbone. "I've missed you, Nadie. And I just don't want to miss you again."

[Harlequin]

She huffed a breath out through her nose, but sealed her teeth over her cutting response. Instead, she turned her head to  catch the pad of his thumb with her lips.

She had just turned her back on her mother and come directly into his arms. Didn't that tell him enough, for now?

"You worry too much."

[Saiketsu]

Her comment was true, but her simple disregard of the inevitability of the situation stung him. This was what she did - they would find their way into each others' bed, enjoy the moments of paradise as they lasted, pretending they would be there forever and nothing would divide them. Pierre would believe it with all of himself and thus be left holding the bag for her when she decided to leave - as she always did.

He wanted to believe her. Things were different now, there was no Sonya in the way. They were older. They lived their own lives without their sires for many years. He wanted to believe her, but he refused to. "I have more than enough reason to," he smiled a bit hollowly at her, thumbing her lips.

[Harlequin]

Nadia's teeth clenched behind her lips as he skated his thumb over them. She twitched away from his touch. She remembered the gold ring with its stone in its little box. He didn't want her unless he could keep her.

"I just left the last person I promised forever behind. Can you not give me a moment?"

She let the hurt show in her voice. For as much as he thought she'd lived without Sonya, she'd always been there. How long had it taken for her to come to her Sire's aid? Did he truly believe it had not always been so?

[Saiketsu]

Shit. He tightened his expression and dropped his hand away from her, sensing the imminent approach of her anger. He didn't want that, and realized that his emotions were clouding him again - they always did when she was around. But the recognition didn't make his heart's desire go away.

"I'm sorry, Nadia," he said placing his hand on her ribs instead, something less intimate, guarded. With difficulty he took his heart from his sleeve and put it deeper into his chest for another time. A distant, hard feeling crept under his skin and Pierre did his best to keep his own protective walls from closing in. He scolded himself for being so stupid.

With firm pressure, he attempted to pull her closer into an embrace hoping she would accept him, but unable to fully read and know her frustration at the moment. Her tone, sharp and defensive, bruised him, and somewhere he would understand if she refused his affection.

[Harlequin]

The part of her that wanted to spit venom snapped like twigs under the pressure of his fingertips. Briefly resistant, brittle and unfamiliar, she folded into his arms. That part of her was Sonya.

He had said he was sorry, and dumb telepathically as he was, she had to take that for what it was. "Thank you," she said, and rested her head once again on his chest, "All I need is time."

[Saiketsu]

He nodded, allowing the feeling of her laying on his chest to fill him. This would have to be good enough for now. Him and his selfish heart. Best to just move on.

There were long moments of silence between them that were at the very edge of tense, mitigated only by his occasional stroke of her skin, the shifting of her body against him. He didn't trust himself to say anything meaningful, for fear of driving her off once again.

"I was just trying to have a fun night out. I got dumped this afternoon," a casual, meaningless smile crossed his face as he thought of Ceci who, in this exact moment, was the farthest thing away. "I was drunk, shooting a game of pool when Odessa walked in, with that hat!" He snorted a laugh, truly amused.

[Harlequin]

Nadia laughed along with him, though hers had a hollow note. she whacked him playfully on the chest with the back of her hand, "Ah, I get it. I'm the rebound, then." Their history alone made the joke; her wry smile sold it. She hoped.


A deep sigh as she settled back against him, "None of our nights went how we planned, I think. I'm supposed to be on a jet to Milan."

[Saiketsu]

He smiled at her response, more to himself than for her. "Well I'm glad you didn't." He stroked the sharp curve of her neck where it met her head, brushing stray hairs to the side patiently, a loving ritual he had developed long ago that he never acknowledged.

"Why were you going to Milan? Getting restless already?"

[Harlequin]

She leaned back into his touch, eyes half-lidded. "Runway show for a small couturier," she said, "I told them I had a family emergency. They sounded understanding."

She'd never admit -- perhaps even to herself -- that she gave up her lucrative fetish modeling career because of Pierre's obvious distaste.

"You need to go see the witch and get that burn healed. I hate seeing you like this." Tact had never been one of her strong suits.

[Saiketsu]

" 'Family emergency' is just about right, I'd say." He took her lean as permission to put more hands on her.

"If I didn't know any better," Pierre smirked, trying to recapture normal, good things with that indelicate sense of humor of his, "I'd say you like me just like this." A sly smile crept over him and he watched her for her reaction. He lay one of his hands on the curve of her waist, enjoying the feeling of her skin and never wanting to let go. The thought of flipping her off of him and pinning her to the bed with his hips flitted across his mind before disappearing as quickly as it came.

"Besides, no witch can do anything about this burn," Pierre said with a quiet conviction. His humor hollowed again with his wistful remembrance of what it was like to move his body without caution. "This is a demon burn. It's probably going to be a scar forever."

[Harlequin]

Nadia nearly purred at the gentle pressure of his hand on her waist. Her grin, for a moment, matched his. She wasn't going to let this go, though. As if to underscore  that, she pinched the raw flesh she spoke of between the pad of her thumb and her first knuckle, just hard enough to get her point across.

"She's a demon witch, fool." It wasn't often she knew more about the city than someone in Damien's crew. Had they really never heard of her? "I've heard she's twelve feet tall and can see the future."

Or something like that. The mortal she'd been feeding off of at venture had said an awful lot of things before she'd put her hand over his mouth, and she hadn't been particularly attentive at the time.

[Saiketsu]

The pinch, though playful and unconcerning to him as a whole, hurt like a bitch and Pierre made no qualms about letting that pain show on his face as she grabbed him. Weakened again by her hand, of course. Pierre groaned loudly as his burn throbbed arduously.

Despite this, Pierre snorted ungracefully in contempt at her words. "A twelve foot tall demon witch who can heal vampire wounds and see the future? You believe this?" With a network of immortals as big as the Aquillia family was, someone would have definitely heard of this magical witch - especially if this creature were that tall. "Anyone like that would break the Masquerade immediately, and wouldn't be allowed to enter the city, let alone live in it."

[Harlequin]

Nadia rolled her eyes. Stubborn Pierre. She was only trying to help.

With a sigh, she let it go. For now. He knew her better than to consider the matter dropped for long.  "Should we check on Damien?" she asked after a pause, changing the subject.

[Saiketsu]

He sighed deeply, torn between responsibility and selfishness. "He'll be okay," he said with a voice that echoed in his chest, low in his vocal register. "I sent Phinneus to go check in on him. He'll be fine." He had meant it to be reassured and certain, though he thought he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself as well.

"Besides, if I didn't know any better," he smiled cheekily and changed his focus off of the depressing reality that was their sires, "I'd say you were trying to get us out of this bed." He shifted her weight off of him and instead established himself over her and leaned down into her, enjoying the press of her skin. "And I for one am not ready to do such a thing." Pierre leaned down and kissed her jawline with soft lips that always wanted more of her.