WAR: UF: The UnExpurgated "And Then All Heck Broke Loose (5/5)"


While we UFfers were wrapped up in War 9, there were moments of 
PG-Rated induced frustration which we got ourselves through by 
promising ourselves heaps and heaps of slash when the War was over.  
Laurey, of the ever lucid and shining imagination, made the comment, 
"And we all know what *really* happened in the bathroom. <wg>"  
This is in reference to a scene in "And Then All Heck Broke Loose"
where Nick and Lacroix visit the Unnamed Faction headquarters, in
search of UF hides and a certain poem on a certain piece of parchment,
and, after a slight mishap with some honey sticks, need to retire to the
bathroom to clean up.  There they find yours truly, hiding out in said
bathroom, whereupon I manage to psyche them out and run like a bunny to
save my skin.  Then...  well, we all know what *really* happened.
Or at least, we all will once you all read...

...a War post, which never made the FKFIC-List, in the tradition of 
all our hypothesized "off-screen moments" between Our Guys...

(Please note: Laurey and I *do not* consider this a part of the "official"
War 9 time-line. <g>)  ~Les
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WAR: UF: The UnExpurgated "And Then All Heck Broke Loose (5/5)"
By: Laurey (Fenris) and Leslie GS
Time: Saturday evening
Location: Downstairs bathroom, The Hive, Toronto

Nick pinned Les with his best interrogating detective stare.  
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about a piece of parchment?"  
Nick formed a rectangular shape with his forefingers and thumbs.  
"About yea big.  Latin, front and back?"  Both he and Lacroix took 
a step forward.

Surprisingly, Les did not step back. Instead, with a grimace of 
distaste, he pointed at the pinkish stains on their shirts.  The 
odor of cinnamon and his acquaintance with honey in all its 
possible states and permutations led him to know exactly what was 
seeping into their shirts.

"Ooooh, you both look so *sticky*.  Don't you just *loathe* being 
sticky?  When your fingers adhere together and your skin feels all 
tacky?  Like in your armpits and the creases of your elbows?  And 
your clothes feel all clammy and clingy across the front of you? 
And in your chest hair?  Don't you just *need* to jump into a hot 
bath?  Or at least find the closest sink..?"

Holding their hands before them, fingers spread wide, mouths 
twisted in identical expressions of disgust, the two vampires moved 
to the sink, forgetting Les momentarily, allowing him to slip 
around them and out the door.  Learning to motivate one's children 
gives one ample tools to use against vampires with a high degree of 
tactile, sensual awareness.

Both vampires presented an identical picture of irritable 
fastidiousness as they dabbed the sticky pinkish goo off of their 
hands and shirt fronts.  They looked rather like a pair of cats who 
have had something sticky dropped on them and were frantically 
grooming it out of their fur.  Fuming, Nick looked up and met 
Lacroix's gaze in the mirror.  For a moment, he had an impulse to 
laugh, then he remembered why they were here, and his expression 
hardened as he watched the old vampire start wiping at a sticky 
spot on his sleeve.

"Let's get this settled, Lacroix.  I have someplace to be."

Lacroix was frowning down at his shirtfront, which, despite all his 
cleaning efforts, was still sticking to his chest. At Nicholas' 
terse statement, he glanced over at his son, who was now trying to 
scrape off a scrap of shredded kleenex that seemed to be glued to 
his shirt. Lacroix raised an eyebrow at Nick, looking faintly 
amused.

"And I don't? By all means, Nicholas, if you must.  But I, for one, 
am going to finish making myself presentable."  The old vampire let 
out an exasperated huff of breath, looking down at himself and 
noting the tiny shreds of paper adhering to his own shirt.  This 
was ridiculous.  Lacroix growled softly, undid his cufflinks, then 
began unbuttoning his shirt.

At Nick's curious frown, he snapped, "I don't know about you, 
Nicholas, but I would like to actually be clean before I leave 
here." He peeled the front of his shirt away from his chest, and 
shrugged out of it, tossing it into the deep sink.  "I am feeling 
very... sticky.  And I-"

"Loathe being sticky.  Yes.  I know."  The tone of Nick's voice was 
much softer this time.  Lacroix heard it and glanced back at his 
son from where he stood at the sink, preparing to run some more hot 
water.  Nicholas was staring at him, his expression unreadable.  
Then his lips quirked up slightly at the corners.  "I remember."

"Do you?" Lacroix replied lightly, his gaze shifting to his own 
hands, as he watched them turn on the hot water.  He could feel 
Nicholas's eyes upon him, almost as a light touch, on his throat, 
down the line of his spine and back up to the column of his neck.  
He suddenly wondered if some of the... tension he perceived in his 
son was generated by more than the rather revealing ode being 
broadcast to all of Toronto.

"Of course I do," Nick responded, his tone, still soft, now tinged 
with amusement.  "Some things are rather hard to forget."

Lacroix grunted rather noncommittally, and reached out to turn the 
faucet off, first wetting his hand underneath the stream of water.  
Almost absent-mindedly, he wiped his hand over his broad upper 
chest, leaving droplets of water behind on the pale skin, flawless 
as fine white jade.  Nick became riveted on the languid motion of 
his maker's hand until it paused over an area still coated with 
some of the sweet pinkish honey.  He looked up then, into his 
sire's face, which held an expression of equal amusement and 
arousal.

The white hand began to move again, long fingers curling in 
slightly this time.  A hint of sly mischief lurked behind the 
solemn pale gaze as Lacroix slowly drew his fingertips across his 
chest just over the sticky skin, scoring shallow parallel cuts.  
Nick stared intently as the dark furrows left behind the sharp 
nails' passage bled thin scarlet threads that crept slowly down 
over his sire's chest.  His paling eyes flicked up to Lacroix' and 
a slow, ferocious smile began to spread across his handsome face as 
he watched his sire.

Eyes never leaving his son's, Lacroix slowly brought his hand back 
across his chest, then around again, smearing the runnels of blood 
across his skin in slow, deliberate circles.  He closed his eyes in 
pleasure as he massaged the slick fluid over the sticky sweetness 
on his skin.  The scent of his own blood, mingled with honey and 
warm cinnamon filled his nostrils.  As he inhaled sharply, he heard 
Nicholas make an almost identical sound.  Smiling in satisfaction, 
he took another slow, deep breath of the intoxicating perfume.  

An iron grip closed around his wrist and pulled his hand forward, 
and his eyes flew open as his fingertips were flicked by something 
cool, wet, darting...

Nicholas's gaze locked with his as his lips closed over Lacroix's 
first two fingers, sucking them slowly deeper, his tongue writhing 
between them, curling around them.  Lacroix's breath seized in his 
throat.  Then Nicholas's eyes squeezed shut and he shuddered as the 
ancient blood, burning, alive, flared in his mouth.  Lacroix 
watched, transfixed, as Nicholas slid his fingers from between his 
lips, and slowly, oh, so slowly, eyes firmly closed, leaned in, 
tongue tip emerging to glide over the healing wounds on his chest.

Some small part of  him had been hoping that something like this 
might happen, but he'd really only expected to goad Nicholas into 
fleeing the house rather than chance caving in to temptation.  To 
have it actually occur... the ancient vampire looked down in 
amazement at his infuriating, frustrating, endlessly fascinating 
and beautiful son.  Pale gold glimmered in the gaze Nicholas turned 
up to him and Lacroix's breath restarted with a low gasp as, head 
still tilted to look up at him, Nicholas suckled gently at a flat, 
pale nipple. 

Then suddenly Nick was springing back, shoving Lacroix away from 
him.  The elder vampire's thigh hit the sink hard enough to crack 
the fixture from the wall.  The squeal of the stressed pipes 
sounded amazingly like a startled cry.

"I can't..." Nick looked away from the other man, the strain of 
suppressing the vampire roughening his voice into a harsh rasp.

Taking a long breath, unclenching his fist as he reined back his 
flaring temper, Lacroix glared at the rigid lines of Nicholas's 
back, the hunched shoulder turned toward him.  Even through his 
anger, he could hear that the stress in his son's words spoke far 
more of regret than aversion.  He inhaled again, deeply, and he 
could see, even in profile, Nicholas's eyes narrow in preparation 
for what he'd next say.

"We might consider, Nicholas," Lacroix said, his voice striking in 
its utter lack of expression, "a... what is the current vernacular..?
A time out."

Nick's head turned slightly, his brows lowering as he studied 
Lacroix from the corner of his eye.  "A... time out..." he repeated 
warily.

"Consider it an outlet, Nicholas."  Lacroix bent his mouth into an 
insouciant smile.  "A safety valve.  We can pick up where we left 
off when we leave this room, but until then, a brief truce, hm?"

Nicholas's intense scrutiny continued another long moment, long 
enough for Lacroix to suspect he had lost this toss of the dice and 
along with it, his pride.

Then Nicholas's face broke into its characteristic slanting grin, a 
mercurial flash, lighting the entire room.

"A... truce," he said slowly, as though savoring the sound.

"A brief one," Lacroix replied, smiling slightly.  "Just long 
enough to... take a breath."  His ribs flared as he inhaled, 
slowly, deeply, the tip of his tongue edging out to touch lightly 
his curving upper lip.

Nicholas's gaze fell to his mouth, then darted back up to his eyes.  
"Truce, then," he agreed, the huskiness of his voice sending the 
ghost of a tremor up Lacroix's spine.

"Truce."  And Lacroix flowed forward, reaching up to rest his 
fingers lightly on his son's shoulders before trailing them over 
his collarbones to the top button of his shirt.  There he stopped, 
watching Nicholas's face, waiting for his sudden tension to 
slacken.  After a moment, Nick let out a long breath, and his 
posture eased as his chin lifted ever so slightly.

Lacroix began unbuttoning Nick's shirt with carefully controlled 
neatness, pausing every few buttons or so to lean in and taste the 
skin of Nick's chest, then his belly, interspersing these 
attentions with light biting, never breaking the flawless skin.

As he made his way down, Nick's breathing became more and more 
labored, and the glow in his eyes deepened to warm ochre.  Finished 
with the buttons, Lacroix pulled the shirt off Nick and tossed it 
into the sink, where it joined his in its warm bath.  Then he 
looked at Nick's reddish eyes and laughed.

"You seem to be rather... anxious, Nicholas.  It must be such a 
*severe* temptation at times, having all of those willing, devoted 
mortals living in your home, doting on you every second..."  He 
moved in and slid his arms around his son, bringing him in close 
against him.  The sensation of Nicholas's naked skin against his 
chest, even honeyed, tightened his nipples into tiny knots of 
tingling heat.

Nick groaned, and leaned into his sire's embrace, unaware of the 
level of sheer frustration expressed in the sound.

"Ohhhh. You don't *know,* Lacroix."  The old vampire couldn't help 
chuckling slightly at the heartfelt tone in his son's voice.  He 
made a sympathetic noise and leaned in to nuzzle the side of 
Nicholas's neck, breathing in the intoxicating scent of his hair 
and skin.

Nick sighed and brought up a hand to fondle the back of his sire's 
neck, continuing, "They are so sweet and so trusting, and they have 
no fear at all... it's wonderful, but I'm so afraid that I'll hurt 
one of them someday.  Do you know what they do sometimes?  They 
*all* jump on me at once and just tackle me to the floor and lie on 
top of me... they call it a "puppy pile."  I'm just smothered in 
all that warmth and life, they're all over me and they smell so 
wonderful... sometimes it's all I can do to keep from sinking my 
teeth into one of them... ah."

He broke off with a slight gasp as Lacroix turned his head and 
licked the side of his neck, just under his right ear.  Nick wound 
his arms around the other vampire's waist and pulled the tall, lean 
body tight against him, moving restlessly.  In response, Lacroix 
began breathing a little harder and trailed the sharp tips of his 
fangs along the tender skin.

"Mon pauvre Nicholas, faced with such... hardship."  He nipped at 
the younger vampire's shoulder, then more delicately at his 
earlobe, eliciting a soft moan each time.  "My followers are 
equally loyal, but they have a *much* greater appreciation of the 
dangers involved in being... overly familiar.  I can count on them 
to be far more sensible.  None of them would dream of placing as 
much as a finger on me uninvit-"  The rest of his observation was 
lost as Nick suddenly grabbed him with both hands on either side of 
his head and pulled him into a ravenous kiss.

Lacroix grunted softly as his tongue was sucked deep into Nick's 
mouth, the points of his son's fangs pricking across its surface.  
Then Nicholas's tongue was plunging into *his* mouth, flicking 
across his as yet mortally blunt canines and he grunted again, more 
gutturally, at the sudden sweet surge of energy in his groin.  Nick 
pushed his pelvis forward, jamming the stiffening length of his 
erection against Lacroix's hip.  His gasping breath gusted into his 
maker's mouth, as he rolled his hips, the barrier of cloth between 
their swelling shafts maddening.

"Sticky," Lacroix muttered thickly, pulling his mouth away from 
Nick's, to set hungry kisses along his jaw, down his throat.

"Wh-what..?" the younger vampire stammered, his eyes near closing 
as his chin lifted.  "Ah, ah," he panted, his hands gripping 
Lacroix's ass painfully in response to the other's tongue laving 
over his jugular.

"Sticky," Lacroix repeated.  "Behind my knees... my inner thighs... 
honey, it gets everywhere... you remember."

Nick snickered, quickly twisting his head around to grip the 
other's earlobe between his front teeth, to exhale heavily into his 
ear.  But... he had to admit... maybe it was only the power of 
suggestion... the skin on his own legs and buttocks took on a 
cloying tackiness, and the fabric of his pants seemed to cling, to 
drag...

"Shower," the two vampires declared in unison.  They turned to the 
stall, noticing for the first time how large, how expansive, how 
inviting it really was.

Getting into the stall was the first order of business, however.

Moving in concert, each reached out and undid the other's belt, 
unbuckling and sliding the two slim leather straps free and letting 
them drop to the floor unnoticed.  They moved back into an embrace, 
bellies and groins pressed hard against each other.  Nick groaned 
and bit lightly at his sire's shoulder as the large, skillful hands 
moved over his back, one of them traveling down and slipping under 
the loosened waistband of his pants to cup his left buttock in a 
firm grip, fingers sinking into the taut muscle.  Panting, the 
younger vampire rubbed himself hard against the other's long thigh, 
which had insinuated itself between his legs.  He grinned as his 
sire moved his hips slightly, rolling his own still-clothed 
erection against his son's hip and upper thigh and moaning into 
Nick's hair as he nuzzled behind his ear. 

Lacroix tilted his head back, closing his eyes and purring as Nick 
sank into a crouch in front of him, slowly letting his hands run 
down the firm silky skin of taller man's sides, catching briefly 
and tugging playfully at his belt loops, over his hips, to stop and 
rest on the backs of his thighs, squeezing them.

Nick leaned forward and simply pressed the side of his face against 
the hardness in his sire's pants.  Above him he heard a hiss, and 
felt the rigid organ inside the tailored black cloth twitch under 
his cheek.  Inhaling the scent of the other vampire's flesh and 
arousal, he savored it as it sent a wash of sheer arousal through 
him.  Smiling as he felt a slight dampness seeping through the 
cloth under his cheek, Nick lifted his head and carefully, 
teasingly dragged his fangs over the straining bulge, sharp tips 
creasing the black cloth.  Lacroix's hips bucked slightly and he 
snarled, looking down at his son's beatific expression.

"*Nicholas!*  This year, please!"

Nick laughed, unzipped his master's pants, and pulled them down 
over the long legs, his own urgent need making him sympathize with 
Lacroix's impatience.  He'd just been about to lose it and pull the 
old vampire down to the floor, anyway.  With one swift motion, he 
skimmed the black silk boxers over the straining erection and down 
to the floor. 

He straightened up and steadied Lacroix, arms around his waist, as 
the old vampire stepped out of the crumpled clothing.  For a moment 
the tall, lean form moved close and pressed its silky, naked length 
along Nick's body and they indulged in a long, deep-tonguing kiss.  
Then Lacroix stepped back and bent his attention to getting his son 
out of the rest of his own clothes. 

Sinking down gracefully to his haunches, Lacroix undid Nick's pants 
with nimble, slightly shaking fingers.  He removed them with very 
little ceremony and much speed, pausing only to bite gently at the 
younger vampire's upper thighs until Nick cried out in frustration 
and dragged him up, eyes burning. 

"I'd say you're ready to take a shower, Nicholas," Lacroix drawled.  
Nick stepped quickly into the stall, growling back over his 
shoulder, "Get in here, old man."  His sire laughed and followed 
him in.

The water was hot, and thankfully had plenty of pressure behind it.  
They moved under the pounding spray, gratefully letting the water 
sluice over their skin, sending a little frisson of pleasure 
through both of the sensual bodies.  The warm water splashed across 
their faces, their lips, tasting faintly of the old copper pipes it 
ran through, poured over their shoulders and bodies, a hot liquid 
counterpoint to the cooler feel of their mutual caresses.

Lacroix reached out and grasped a cake of soap from the tiled 
ledge, bringing it up to his nose for a second.  He noted with 
approval that the creamy white bar was not heavily perfumed, and 
began rubbing it briskly with both hands to work up a lather.  
Nicholas watched him intently, eyes golden, as he did.  Lacroix 
reached out and began smoothing the lather over his son's chest, 
his eyes taking in every nuance of sensation that flickered across 
his marvelous protege's expressive features. 

Nick stepped closer, his eyes drugged with pleasure, and scooped 
some of the suds from his own skin to bring over to his partner.  
His slick hands skimmed across Lacroix's belly, massaging and 
exploring downward.  Without warning, he dropped one hand down and 
took hold of his sire's straining cock, squeezing, then letting it 
slide through his firm grip.

The soap squirted out of Lacroix's spasming fingers and they both 
watched it ricochet off the glass door, then hit the floor to coast 
across the tiles to bounce off the wall and stop.  They looked at 
it a moment, then up into each other's eyes.  There was a long 
silence.

"*You* dropped it," Nick declared.  *He* wasn't going to bend over 
to pick it up.

"So I did," Lacroix conceded.  Not that *he* was going to bend over 
either.  He crouched down carefully, groping for the soap, his 
attention suddenly caught by the sight of the rather graceful arc 
Nicholas's phallus made as it strained upward.  His fingers closed 
blindly on the bar of soap and he absently handed it up to Nick.  
Nick took it just as absently, having become intensely aware of 
Lacroix's face, his lushly curving mouth, inches from his aching 
cock.

"We neglected to bring washcloths into the shower with us, 
Nicholas," Lacroix remarked.  "Ah well, we'll just have to make 
do."  He leaned in the few inches it took, his mouth opening wide 
as his tongue dragged up from the base of Nicholas's testicles, 
over the heavy scrotum, up the underside of the rigid shaft, before 
his lips closed over the swollen head.

Nick's groan reverberated in the enclosed space and there was a 
loud "Bang!" as the soap shot from his clenched fist, smacking into 
the door.  Eyes closing, he continued to moan as he fell back 
against the wall behind him, the wet skin on his back hitting the 
tiles with a slap.  His knees gave out as Lacroix's lips and tongue 
stripped back his foreskin completely, exposing the glans, before 
they worked their way down his shaft, devouring him.  Only the 
strength of his maker's hands on his thighs prevented his swift 
fall, holding him to a slow slide.  As it was, his feet skidded out 
from under him and he plummeted that last foot, his ass smacking 
down with a tooth-rattling jar.  He clutched Lacroix's head, still 
tenaciously bobbing over his lap.

Vision blurred with the intensity of his arousal, Nick stared along 
Lacroix's back as he crouched between his legs, the water streaming 
down the powerful curve of his spine, the lean muscles of his 
buttocks.  His hands moved restlessly over Lacroix's shoulders, his 
hips rising helplessly as he thrust himself into the convulsively 
swallowing throat.  The pleasure knotting at the root of his cock 
grew to a burning, sweet agony, and he suddenly lunged forward and 
to his right.  His palms hit Lacroix's hip, knocking him onto his 
side, and with a slithering twist Nick pushed them both across the 
shower floor. The slick, wet porcelain tiles, warmed by the pounding
water, slid under them as Nick repositioned himself along his sire's
long body.  His hand found Lacroix's cock, his fist curling around
the familiar bulk of it.

"Gods!" Lacroix exclaimed, as Nick dragged his palm rather 
ruthlessly up the length of it.  His second cry was wordless as 
Nick's fingers clamped around the very root of his cock, under the 
heavy scrotum, while he engulfed the shaft with a ravenous mouth.  
Lacroix bucked once, ramming himself deep into Nick's throat, 
before he regained his control.  Nicholas's own shout was muffled 
by his mouthful as Lacroix gripped his balls, pulling on them 
firmly but carefully, his tongue twisting maddeningly around the 
end of Nick's cock, the tip darting deep into the slit in the head.  
Hips pumping forward in instinctive response, the younger vampire 
shoved himself hard past the teasing tongue into the tight 
constriction behind it.  He growled fiercely at the exquisite burn 
Lacroix's teeth scored along his rigid shaft.  His maker's fingers 
closed bruisingly hard upon his upper buttock, pulling him in 
closer, and Nick responded with even more forceful thrusts.

The cascading water drummed on the back of Lacroix's head, his 
neck, down his back, across the energy building at the base of his 
spine.  The energy curled, grew and became white-hot as Nick worked 
his cock mercilessly, busy tongue dancing over its straining 
length.  His son's hunger, the urgency of his drive toward release, 
pounded at him through their link, and he found himself surging 
with alarming speed toward explosive climax.  Groaning around 
Nicholas's plunging cock, he held himself stiffly in check until 
that moment just before the pressure in his son's groin, in his 
mind, reached the breaking point.

Nick moaned as he soared into that instant when bliss became 
inevitable, then Lacroix convulsed against him, crying out.  Cool 
liquid flooded his mouth, and Nick took the spasming organ deeper 
into his throat, eliciting a strangled yell from his master and 
another spurt against the back of his palate.  His own orgasm 
seized him then, a eruption that began at the base of his cock and 
seemed to blow up his spine, where it met, with a shattering 
impact, Lacroix's incandescent pleasure flaring through their bond.  

Blood and semen flooded their senses, the mingled essences a flame 
in their bellies.  The sexual energies burning through them ignited 
that deeper hunger, for blood and life.  Their lusts spiked again, 
near to pain in their intensity, demanding release in pure blood.  
They twisted apart, then, roaring, grabbed each other's shoulders 
and struck, each plunging his aching fangs deep into the other's 
straining throat.  Like men reprieved from slow death by thirst and 
starvation, they pulled greedily at first, gulping down draughts of 
each other's fiery blood, stunned by the half-forgotten intensity 
of pleasure in it.  After the first few frenzied minutes, their 
pace slowed and they fed more quietly, the warm cascading water 
still drumming along their bodies, washing a few thin scarlet 
remnants away to thread spiraling down the drain.  Their bond 
reasserted itself, the bond that linked them beyond any undoing, 
that could be ignored for a while, but never dismissed, and never, 
ever, sundered.

They might have remained there, lost in that blissful no-place, if 
the building's plumbing, displaying an erratic behavior never seen 
before, hadn't begun spraying them with wildly fluctuating bursts 
of icy, then scalding water.  This, accompanied by the frantic 
banging and lunatic groaning of the pipes, pulled first the ever 
wary Lacroix from his bloody entanglement with his son.  Nicholas 
snarled a soft protest as he sensed Lacroix slipping from him, but 
then the alarming noises and the abuse to his skin sank into his 
awareness, and both vampires slid apart to escape from the 
seemingly demon-possessed shower.

They stared at it a moment, the hum of their conjoined power still 
running mingled in their veins, before Lacroix reached in and shut 
off the water.  With a final screech, silence descended.  A 
hollowness filled their ears, and they stood there a moment, 
dripping water and a few last tendrils of blood before the wounds 
in their throats healed.  Lacroix savored the last traces of Nick's 
essence on his lips and in his mouth, then turned to face him.  
Nick, swallowing hard, turned his head enough to look at his maker 
over his shoulder.

"Nicholas-" Lacroix began, just as Nick said, "Lacroix-"  Mutually 
interrupted, they both stopped.  Then Nick grinned.

"Never mind," he murmured, and ran languid fingers down his chest 
and over his belly.  Lacroix let his eyes follow the lingering 
hand, then mouth curving up at the corners, he lifted his gaze to 
his son's eyes.

"We'd best wring out our shirts," he said softly.

"Shirts..?"  Nick's eyes darted to the sink where those garments 
floated, and with an annoyed huff, he stepped over to the sagging 
washbasin, hauled out his shirt and carefully squeezed as much 
water as he could.  Chuckling, Lacroix tossed him a towel, which he
used to press it even drier.  As Nick flapped his shirt to shake as
many wrinkles out as he could, Lacroix repeated the wringing and 
pressing with his own shirt.  He tossed it over the door of the now 
quiescent shower and turned the towel on himself.  A brisk rub and 
his short hair was virtually dry, just a hint of spikiness 
betraying where he'd been.

Nick took the towel, now quite damp, back from him and began 
attempting to bring own his hair to some semblance of dryness.  
Lacroix watched him for a moment, looked around, then moved 
gracefully to open the cabinet under the slightly canted sink.  
Finding what he was looking for, he reached in and brought out a 
dry towel, chuckling as he observed the crowd of various shampoos, 
conditioners, bath oils...  'Hmm,' he thought, picking up a bottle of 
Crabtree and Evelyn sandalwood bath oil.  'Pity we didn't think of 
looking in here earlier...' and other grooming appurtenances.

Nick was stooped over, toweling his wet hair.  Suddenly the damp 
terrycloth was pulled away and replaced with dry.  Guided by a pair 
of very strong hands, the fresh towel enveloped his head and Nick 
found his hair being roughly and efficiently dried, the motions of 
the hands strong enough to pull him a little off balance.  
Staggering, Nick heard the other vampire chuckle as he squirmed to 
get out from under the other's rough ministrations. 

"Lacroix!"  He grabbed at his sire's wrist, laughing.  Nick 
straightened up quickly, his eyes sparkling under a comically 
tousled snarl of dark gold hair as they found his master's gazing 
back at him.  Glimmers of amusement surfaced in the solemn pale 
eyes, rising briefly to the surface like bright fish in a pool, 
then were submerged and gone again.  Then the humor was back, 
lighter and more obvious as the full lips quirked into a smile.  
Lacroix reached out and flicked a light touch across the younger 
vampire's wild hair.

"I do hope you brought a comb with you, Nicholas."

Nick turned away to look in the mirror, running his fingertips 
through the hair over his temples and ears.  "Hmm?  Oh, no.  I lost 
that sometime in the middle of third season.  Haven't gotten around 
to getting a new one yet."  He turned back to Lacroix.  "How's 
this?"

"Marvelous, of course," Lacroix stated soberly, studying his son's 
half-tamed locks.  Nick smiled, reached for the towel in Lacroix's 
hands, which, when given over, he lifted to dab gently over the 
stray drops left on Lacroix's shoulders and chest.

"All dry," he announced.  They exchanged another look, then glanced 
back at their brief haven of privacy.  Without a word, they turned 
to the business of getting dressed.  Their shirts were damp, but no 
longer sticky-  and silk dried quickly.  Neither one spoke as they 
redonned their pants and boots, but it was not an uncomfortable 
silence.

Nick straightened up and looked at himself in the mirror.  He shook 
his head at his own dazed, slightly foolish expression, and 
muttered, half to himself,  "I can't believe we just did that."

Lacroix paused halfway through rebuttoning his damp shirt and gave 
him a droll look.  "Look at it this way, Nicholas. You know at 
least one of them is going to write about something like this, 
anyway.  We might as well have actually had the fun involved."

Smiling, Nick nodded in silent agreement.  He then turned, picked 
up his damp shirt and shrugged into it gracefully, unaware of how 
much easier and more fluid his movements were now compared to when 
he'd first stalked into the bathroom.

Still smiling, Lacroix straightened his cufflinks, watching Nick.  
His son took a deep breath, straightened his shoulders and faced 
his sire, schooling his features into severity.

"This never happened, Lacroix."

"I beg your pardon, Nicholas, *what* never happened?"

The two vampires exchanged bland looks, then adopted the proper 
infuriated expressions.  Wheeling as one, they strode from the 
room, both of them absently reaching up to pluck at their damp 
shirts where they clung to their chests.  The bathroom door slammed 
shut behind them.

The damaged sink sagged even further from the wall, with a groan 
rather like that which would accompany someone's knees giving out 
after a great release of tension.

The End (of the Missing Bathroom Scene)



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