xp_logs | Vanessa & Lex | Friday afternoon/evening

Lex helps Vanessa move out of the brownstone and into Adrienne's penthouse. And then he has an amazing amount of awkward.

Vanessa put the last box of books down on top of three other boxes of books. She was horrible at packing, putting all her books together in a box so it was unnecessarily heavy instead of interspersing it with things that didn't weigh so much. Like linens. She blamed the fact that she didn't used to own things for that. Staying in one place meant acquiring things. There were boxes of books, weapons, kitchenware. When had she acquired pots and pans? It was all very bizarre. Possibly even more bizarre was watching Lex help her move boxes and bookshelves and furniture between the brownstone and the penthouse without complaint. Well, there were enough smartass comments because it was Lex, but no real complaints. She wasn't sure why that amazed her, but it did.

"Adrienne said she'd come over with wine to celebrate the move, but I'm thinking that should wait until things aren't in boxes." She tilted her head to the side to stretch her neck out. Vanessa was pretty sure she'd lifted something the wrong way and tweaked her muscle in a way it didn't want to be tweaked.

Lex watched her stretching as he put down the boxes, stacking them neatly with the others he'd hauled up, and decided that the moment was upon him. With a casual slowness he sauntered up behind her--making sure she heard him--and gently put his hand on her shoulder. Once he knew she wasn't going to recoil he moved it up to her neck with an ease most would not understand. A soldier wasn't supposed to know how to give a massage, unless that soldier's best friend happened to be a Japanese kid whose mother was a masseur.

"I think that would be the best idea. Especially since this might take us late into the night." He smiled as he said it, if all went well he'd be able to find a good point to take a break for dinner and then he'd be able to ask her. Or should I do it now, he wondered absently, leaning in closer to wrap her in a tender hug.

A content sound that wasn't quite a moan of appreciation but fairly close met the hand moving over the tensed muscle. Vanessa liked Lex's hands, even when they weren't on her though she preferred them there. They were strong hands, calloused and weathered in a way that didn't look old or worn down but definitely used. She liked that about Lex, as morally upright and gleaming white as he came off to be most of the time she never worried that her mere presence would dirty him. She had with Sam.

"You keep that up I might not let you leave," she muttered quietly and leaned back against him. "I think I'm remembering one of those mental images I needed to go have private time with now."

"When we're done," he breathed gently into her ear, "You can do whatever you wish with me." He paused for a moment, gently breathing to control his erratic heartbeat. "But only if you answer a question for me." He gently turned her towards him.

Staring into her eyes, the color of garnets, he smiled. In that moment he saw more about her, and himself, than he'd thought possible. He knew he could trust himself with her, and that she'd be able to open up to him. She already had in so many ways. "Will you, um," he paused trying to remember what Jay told him but failing, "Will you be with me?"

All too willing to be turned and moved wherever he wanted to move her to at the moment, Vanessa let herself be spun around. She was mentally exhausted from packing and moving, though. Her muscles were tired too, but not nearly as much. It was the mental exhaustion that delayed her response. Silence stretched out for a few moments before a white eyebrow delicately arched upward. "There's like three different meanings to that phrasing and one of them is useless because I'm already in physical contact with you." An arm looped around his shoulders but it was only a confused expression Lex was getting. She was missing something here, wasn't she? There was physically with, there was sexually with and there was...spiritually with? If he wanted to pray with her then they were going to have some words.

Lex coughed gently, and took a moment to think about how to proceed. He clearly wasn't communicating effectively. Gently leaning in, he kissed her on the lips and closed his eyes so he could better concentrate. Will you go out with me was all he had to say, but it just seemed like something he would have used in high school. Hell, he thought, I probably did use that line when I was in high school. The last time I actually dated someone.

"Morgan. I meant, will you be with me... as in... would you like to be in a relationship?" He got the words out, even with the pause he felt he'd delivered it with enough ease to pull it off. Maybe.

Kissing did nothing to help Vanessa's concentration. It worked rather flawlessly in quite the opposite manner, actually. She might have been a little delayed on processing his reworked proposal because of that. When she did though her eyes went a little wider. Oh, good, not praying! Where had she even gotten the praying thing from?

"My name's Vanessa," happened to be the reply he got. From her it was a yes but she realized after the words were out that he wouldn't necessarily realize that. "That was a yes."

"Mmm...good answer." He tried to figure out what to do with the name and decided he'd have fun with it. Taking a step back he stuck out his hand with genuine enthusiasm, "Vanessa, it's a pleasure to meet you. Would you mind greatly if I kissed you?"

The raised eyebrow and sarcastic smirk made an expression she knew Lex was all too familiar with being on her face. It was very Morgan, but then Morgan had always been part of her anyway.

Vanessa looked down at the proffered hand and clearly dismissed it. Instead of accepting the hand she reached out, two fingers slipping inside the waistband of his pants, and tugged Lex in closer. "I might get damn offended if you don't."

As their lips met Lex lost control of his powers for a brief moment. He felt the surge building up inside him and quickly discharged it through the hand that wasn't cupping Vanessa's back. A little was left however and moved it's way unerringly through him to her. The light tingle was just enough to make his eye twitch in pleasure.

The small jolt was enough to cause Vanessa to jump back a little. It was like static electricity on steroids sort of. Her lips sort of tingled and sort of buzzed. Were lips supposed to buzz? Probably not. Her lips pressed together, trying to numb the residual feeling. Then Vanessa licked her lips as if that would help. It was probably like those afterimages when you stare at a light and then look away. It wasn't really there but her lips thought it was. "Do you try to electrocute all your girlfriends?" It was clear from her tone she wasn't upset about it. But the tingly feeling was odd.

"I, uh, I don't know. That's, uh, never happened to me before." He said with a sheepish grin, he didn't know why her statement made him feel impotent but for a split second it did. Then he immediately got over it, she had said yes. "But I can if that turns you on. Otherwise, I'd like to use my hands."

Her arms slipped back around him once she got over the weird sensory memory of the shock. She guessed that was what life might be like from time to time with electric boy here. She'd dealt with worse things before, and none of those had been dealt with by choice. "I really hope this is the only time you ever have to tell me that's never happened to you before like that," Vanessa teased. "If I let you use your hands...I'm never getting unpacked tonight, am I? Not even a little bit."

"That depends. I see this happening one of two ways: we finish unpacking, order-in, and spend the rest of the evening relaxing; or we can skip to the end and have to do work later. Personally, I'm a fan of getting all the work done now so we can take as much time as we desire on the relaxing." He wouldn't argue if she told him to skip to it, however, as he yearned to fulfill their needs together.

Decisions, decisions. On the one hand she got immediate satisfaction. On the other hand she got to guiltlessly keep him to herself tomorrow in the most selfish and potentially naked way possible. She really liked the idea of sequestering him in her bed for most of the next day without that niggling guilt gnawing away because she really should have been doing something like unpacking. Vanessa sighed, frowned and even pouted a little. "One day I will learn to be more irresponsible and concerned with immediate satisfaction." Somehow, though, she thought unpacking first would end up in a situation where she got much more prolonged satisfaction.

Sliding up closer, Lex kissed her on the forehead, though he had to stretch to do it, and then moved off to grab the last load of boxes. "You should order-in while I grab the last load or two. That way we can eat and unpack at the same time. It may not lead to immediate satisfaction, but it'll shorten the time until it arrives." He winked and then practically bounced his way out of the apartment.

"What kind of food?" she yelled after him, but he was gone already. Vanessa figured that meant Chinese. She couldn't remember what, exactly, Lex liked so she was going to go with standard fare: noodles, chicken something or other, beef something or other, egg rolls. It was a sorry state of affairs that she had the Chinese place already programed into her cell. She should really do something to work on that. Meh, maybe not.