Rumor Has It (attn: Reign)
Xeph was out on the Tikerak for a little fresh air with Nish. Nikhila was asleep; he'd wanted her to be able to nap in peace. So he and the boy were outside watching the other kids play. They were joined soon by Reign, who Xeph hadn't seen in a week or so but about whom he'd heard some very interesting rumors... very recently.
That morning, recently.
When Reign's playmates had gone and all the fun had been had Xeph waved to his friend, sitting Noah up on his knee and bouncing him while the baby chuckled happily. He waited until she came over, looking happy, which was a good thing as far as Xeph was concerned.
"Hey Reign," he said. "How's it going?"
He was pretty sure he knew exactly how it was going, but he'd be a crappy friend and a terrible Alpha if he didn't ask anyway.
Running his thumb over the skin of her hand, he thought it was nice of Reign to help out with the kids on the property. He liked playing with them when he saw them running around. He understood the carefree pureness of a kid, even at thirty and without children of his own. "I'm anxious to babysit my god daughter, but the Commander's father keeps hogging her. She's chubby like Noah and always so quiet for a baby."
Lewis picked at the seams of his trousers nervously. Yeah, about being late....
"Well, I'm currently in the middle of a 72 hour shift, but that's not a big deal. I have a lot of work to do with the system anyway. Code to work on for my bio-metric program, testing the code for Charlie and...." Lewis went on for a minute more, rattling off the million things he needed to do, only stopping when he realized he was doing the nervous-chatter thing. Clearing his throat again, he smiled and looked up into Reign's pretty blue eyes.
"So, when I'm done with my shift, did you want to have dinner? We can eat here or I can cook or we can go into the city?"
This was probably why the Doc had brought Reign around the Den in the first place. She understood and loved the family feeling the Pack had. It wasn't just a bunch of families living together, it was one big family. Lewis had just demonstrated that perfectly and went up in her opinion. He really was a good guy wasn't he?
"Grandfathers are like that. What's her name? How old is she?"
After watching him with Noah it wasn't hard to picture Lewis babysitting for a little girl. God help her when one of her siblings had kids. Reign was going to have to learn on the fly.
She winced a little. She hadn't meant for him to get in any trouble and felt bad about it.
"Sorry about that."
And then he was off. It was a hell of a list even if she couldn't keep track of it all. Reign was actually impressed he'd gotten away from work (or been dragged away) long enough to have a drink and go home with her. She blinked a few times trying to keep up, she really did try, and smiled when he caught himself rambling. Apparently he wasn't holding the late thing and the 72 hours against her though.
"I'd like that a lot." Maybe not at The Den though. Family was all well and good but... Reign, however, was distracted by part of that invitation. "You cook?"
She asked surprised. Reign only sort of cooked, she didn't like cooking for one so she didn't get a lot of practice. When she was with other people though she managed well enough to help out.
Without looking at his watch, he wondered how much longer he could risk being away from his desk, but it wasn't like the LT hadn't made him come up here. Wasn't his fault the Alpha blew it off without being concerned and left him alone with Reign. Lewis realized that Xeph was a good wing man.
"The Commander and Vivienne's baby? She's almost three months old now. They named her Catherine. She was premature but fattening up nicely." Lewis grinned thinking about his god daughter. He absolutely adored her. "I thought it was kind of neat they made me her god father. Is that with a capital 'G', I wonder? Do I have to grant favors at her wedding? I really need to look that up.
"But I do like to cook. Top Chef and youtube are very informational really." Lewis considered telling her about his cooking blog, but decided against it. If he told her about that, he'd undoubtedly go on about the other blogs he wrote about computer programming, UFOs, and Zombie Apocalypse preparation. The more he thought about it, the more he definitely did not want to tell her.
"Let me cook for you then. It'll be fun. I'm off later this week, so Saturday maybe we can hit the farmer's market and you know...make a day of it?"
The thought that the day would lead into night and then day again did not cross Lewis' mind. He was lucky enough to be thinking beyond his shift.
"I'm going to take your word for that. Don't think that I'm trying to get rid of you, because I'm not, but he's not going to get more pissed you're out here?"
Reign watched Lewis as he talked about his god daughter. He was apparently complete hooked. Which made him a good choice for god father.
"Good, I'm glad she'd doing well. But I think you have a few years before you have to worry about weddings. Plenty of time for research."
She reassured him with a half smile. Although the favors at her wedding thing she though only applied to the mob. But Reign hadn't read The Godfather in years so she could be dead wrong on that point.
Huh, she'd never thought about using youtube for cooking ideas. That actually was a good idea. She'd have to try that the next time she was in the mood to actually make something.
"I'll admit to attempting to steal an idea or two from Top Chef not terribly successfully though. "
Nothing wrong with finding inspiration after all.
It did sound fun, hell it sounded perfect. Hmmmm she was supposed to work with Hans on Saturday well she'd just move that to Friday because given the choice between dealing with her coach and an actual date with Lewis, Lewis won easily.
"That sounds great. Shall I meet you here then, after your run?"
Actually, he didn't, but he wasn't about to tell Reign that he got permission to go see his girl. He may not be suave like the other Pipers, but he wasn't completely stupid.
"We run at 5am, so yeah we could meet at like 8? Is that too early? Just call me when you get on the property and I'll be ready."
Lewis let go of Reign's hands to reach for his pen from his uniform breast pocket and dug a piece of paper out of his pants. He wrote his number down and handed it to her. He paused for a moment before he reached out and hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her in close to kiss her softly. Nothing fancy or overt - he knew for damn sure the LT was watching (and whoever else he had called down to watch from the Sit Room).
"And don't worry about the Beta. Granted his bark is equally as nasty as his bite, but you were worth it. I'll see you later."
Taking a step back, he released her and backed up, watching her for a bit before turning and running back to his computer.
((OOC - he's out pending response - feel free to manhandle him if you like though =D ))
Eight was a little early for Reign who tended to keep tournament hours even when she wasn't on the road. But it wasn't much earlier than usual for her. What she did do was make a note to set the alarm on her phone for four or so on Sunday, just in case. She had hope, things might go well and she sure as shit wasn't about to get anyone's bad side, especially the Beta's, if she could help it.
"Eight works. I hear produce wilts if you leave it in the sun too long."
On general principle she tore a blank spot from the paper, borrowed his pen and wrote her number down and, rather boldly, tucked it in his pocket.
"Call me if I'm late."
If nothing else now the Doc couldn't harass her about failures of dating edict. Reign made sure Lewis' number was safely in her pocket, that would be going in her phone as soon as she got home.
She smiled into his soft kiss. But Reign decided that if she was going to be labeled a trouble maker and now had a reputation for taking advantage of a particular Piper she was going to live up to it. Even if she had known people were watching, she wouldn't have acted any different. To put it bluntly Reign wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the hell out of Lewis, again knocking her glasses askew. This seemed to be a trend.
There was no way she could help but be pleased by that comment and it made her smile and earned Lewis another kiss.
"Don't get bit before Saturday."
Her smile turned a little wicked, a little suggestive but she could behave, mostly, a bit. And she could wait until the weekend.
Absently Reign straightened her glasses as she watched him back away and then run. It wasn't the worst thing she'd ever seen.
Once Lewis was out of eyesight she turned her attention to the big German Shepard who hadn't moved so much as an inch. Either he was -really- tired or he approved of the blond Piper. Reign shook her head at Sirius.
"Come on lazy bones let's get out of here."
She had yet to practice today and now had to call her coach and sweet talk him into moving their working date. That would be fun. Sirius stood and shook himself off and together they headed for her car.
((OOC... out too))