Logs - [Alison, Anika / Alison, Haroun]

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Saturday, early afternoon. After another meeting with MacInnis, Alison takes a bit of time to try and distract Anika from the after-meeting grrrs. She ends up realizing something that cheers her up as well, in the process.

The meeting had been long and Alison was looking forward to taking a break - heading down to the pool to swim a few laps to get rid of the tension, and then maybe even hitting the sauna while she was at it. For now though, she was quite content with keeping an eye on a muttering Anika, who kept growling darkly now and then to boot. Not that she could blame her - even when not deliberately playing games with peoples' heads, MacInnis just couldn't help rubbing people the
wrong way, it seemed. But she thought the four had seemed a lot less tense today, concentrating on working out more solutions and ways to make things work to bring Mistra down.

"Hey," she nudged Anika lightly, knowing the other woman wouldn't mind the touch in the least. "Mick seems to be doing well, in all of this..." He had been, too, doing well. Nearly a different man than the one she'd seen the last time he'd visited the mansion. "I'd say someone's been doing him a world of good."

Anika blinked, then pulled herself out of her currently rather dark and bloody train of thought (which featured MacInnis in a starring role) and smiled a bit tentatively at Alison. "I try," she said, instinctively leaning towards the other woman. "Knowing Tim's out has helped a lot, too, I think."

"Groundwork was there before we got Tim out," Alison reminded her with a small grin in return. It made her feel better to see Anika smiling, even if just a little bit, instead of obviously plotting a horrible death for MacInnis. Even though it might have been an entertaining conversation to have, Alison kept the topic on Mick instead. "He'd changed a lot already since he'd first left for the pack and since the last time I saw him, after you two got together." The closeness while they walked was entirely natural to Alison - girl talk demanded that, as far as she was concerned.

"The Pack's like being home. Except without all the bad parts of home and just the good," Anika said. "It's been good for him. Like a halfway point he can stop and rest for a while at." She looked a little morose as she reminded herself that they were leaving the nice, happy halfway point for living under MacInnis' roof.

Alison poked her in the ribs lightly, swaying away just a bit as she walked before nudging her with her shoulder. "Hey. You'll both be good for Tim. And all the other ex-Mistra people there. The only thing you lot will have to deal with is MacInnis, and I'm betting he'll be damn careful not to nag at any of you three where the others can see, for one. He is fond of his people, even if he doesn't show it. I'm thinking you'll be making the place yours in no time."

Anika actually giggled, and slipped an arm through Alison's, almost unconsciously. "I'd like that. I remember some of the people Tim tells me he has there. Bourne and Malcolm and Carey..."

"From what Nathan told me, they were already all looking to him already from the moment he got there," Alison chuckled. That was much better - she was relieved to see Anika like this, truth be told. If she'd not been able to tease the woman back to her usually sunny disposition, it would have been more than worrisome - and this way, Anika was far more likely to be able to cheer up Mick as well, later on. Which would be good for both of them.

The meeting had gone well today, all things considered, though it had again been about MacInnis standing on his own. The three would do fine, with the rest of the ex-agents there to keep their attention focused. "You know-" She paused in mid word, head tilting to the side as they walked, going over things in her mind as realization slowly blossomed. MacInnis. In the meeting. Standing on his own, apart.

"Oh." She slowed to a stop, not realizing she'd done so.

Anika paused, tilting her head at Alison in unconscious mimicry of the other woman's gesture. "What?" she asked cheerfully, leaning in again. "You look all perplexed? And you smell like candied cherries all of a sudden. Not that that's bad!"

"What does candied cherries means?" Alison couldn't help but ask, though there was a small smile tugging at her lips and refusing to go away and she shook her head a bit. She leaned back and idly reflected that she was rather silly - now that she looked at all the small clues, it was obvious, really.

"Sheepishness, usually. But happy sheepishness." Anika leaned in startlingly close, sniffing at her and grinning, her body language altering even further and her awareness of Alison's personal space apparently vanishing all at once. "Whaaat?" she teased, reaching up and brushing a stray bit of blonde hair back out of Alison's eyes.

"Yesterday. When I was going on about the social dynamics you guys have, that you kept even afterwards. In the healthy sense." Alison was laughing quietly by now, not minding the closeness in the least - it was a confirmation of her realization, and the warm glow it brought inside nearly had her wiping at her eyes. "I hadn't realized you'd included me in that up until just now," she murmured.

Ani's eyes widened slightly, and she laughed. "Whyever would we do that?" she teased, stepping in and hugging Alison. "Just because you've risked your life to get some of us out? What a silly thing that would be."

A rueful sound greeted that, Alison simply returning the hug without reserve. "I can somewhat dumb at times, yes," she stated rather cheerfully, since it was really the only thing to say.

"Ah, well. So long as you don't mind having it pointed out," Ani said with a perfectly straight face as she drew back. "I think I'm going to go find Kyle now," she mused as they continued down the hall. "I promised him more squirrel-chasing before we leave tonight."

"Sure thing," Alison grinned, making a face at Anika. "I'm hitting the pool myself and then the sauna to relax, but I'll be there when you guys head out." If nothing else, she had a huge batch of cookies to give them, courtesy of Miles insisting on it - there'd be more than enough to share among the three and the others there as well, once they arrived at their destination.

~*~

A bit later in the afternoon... After that swim, Alison heads for the sauna. It is somewhat occupied by Haroun and not much of a towel. (And a romance novel too, but shhh, you didn't read that.) Fluff and nothing else.

Haroun turned up the heat in the sauna, and then grinned as he felt a fresh layer of sweat break out over his skin. This was just the ticket for a little post-op recovery. The heat felt good, the sweat felt even better, and he had a book to read to pass the time. He walked back over to his Spot, and stretched himself out flat on the bench. Just for form's sake, he made sure to drape a napkin-sized towel (or thereabouts...) over his groin before losing himself in his book.

She'd probably swum just a bit too long, but the workout had felt good and the water divine, just as the sun streaming through the windows above the inside pool area had cheered her up. Just a bit. And while normally Alison stuck to the sauna in the women's lockers, the main one was bigger and far more appealing just now and she could always just keep the towel - though exactly how appealing gave her pause as she turned around after closing the door. The vague thought that being in a sauna with Haroun, who was actually barely concealed under a towel far smaller than her own was not the best thing in terms of keeping the implant from going in overdrive before things settled down died a lonesome miserable death as thinking ground to a halt. Oh my. On automatic, she flicked on the "get your own sauna" switch, the light outside switching from green to red. At least no one else would be walking in...

Haroun, for once, was Captain Oblivious. It mostly had to do with the fact that his book was fascinating, in the why-do-they-BEHAVE-LIKE-THAT sort of a way. He was absorbed in it, and in the heat, and the sweat. He stretched a little bit as something in his back relaxed a little, and Haroun groaned with the sensation of it. It felt so very good to just relax like this, let the heat work its magic. A pity Alison was being so standoffish and cold towards him - she'd be just about the only thing that would make this even better. Ah well. He still had his book and the heat. A pity that it was virtually impossible to keep a good drink cold in the sauna. He was getting somewhat thirsty.

Flight or stay reflexes weren't even of consequence - Alison was quite all right with staying there as quiet as a mouse to at least absorb some of the sight before probably having to make a run for it. Even though technically she wasn't on the 'no touch' order anymore, having just been told to be careful, Madelyn having meticulously explained the slow wind-down of things as the implant's new processing software set to work. And it had already been almost a week.

It was far too hot in that sauna, she decided absently, wiping at her brow with the back of her hand absently. She shifted her weight a bit, ponder the virtues of sneaking out now versus staying just a bit longer.

Haroun hit the end of a chapter, and put his book aside so that he could stretch some more, maybe pop his back a little. As he moved into the stretch, the towel decided that It Had Had Enough and fell to the ground. Haroun said something mildly in Arabic, and was just bending down to pick it up when he noticed that he wasn't alone in this sauna.

And his interloper was blonde and had a very glassy look in her eyes.

So not fair. That was pretty much all Alison's mind could supply, because any motion Haroun was engaging in right now ended up being distracting. And then more distracting. The heat from the sauna wasn't really noticed compared to what her body was telling her now, which has all sorts of "don't even think about it" attached to it from the medlab orders. Being "able to touch" did not include "having wicked way with" she knew very well. Damn it all. At which point she dimly realized she'd gone past just nicely staring a while ago and had probably left even ogling territory some time ago as well - which meant she was right into indecent about the looking him over, really. Also bad.

"You dropped your towel," she heard herself say, and would have mentally whapped herself if she'd had any resources left to deal with that notion.

Haroun grinned at Alison, and then slowly straightened up, leaving his towel down on the ground. "So I did." he said, glancing down at it. "What a horrible thing." he added. "Truly terrible. I'd go grab it for myself, but I'm just too lazy. Feels good in here." he said, laying back down on the sauna bench. "Or I could just borrow yours." he added with a wicked grin. "And do you think you could turn the heat up in here a few notches? I'd hate for it to get chilly."

Alison stared some more, though her lips were twitching at that. He was, it would seem, doing fine. And there was nothing to hide the flush creeping up her neck - which had nothing to do with shyness - though the towel offering her minimal decency still held in place despite the sharp breath she took. "You are not borrowing my towel," she informed him solemnly, turning to do as he asked, splashing a bit more water on the heating stones. She glanced over her shoulder at him, glad she'd tied her hair up - it was getting hotter fast, at this rate. "You book is waffling." She was smiling at him as she said that though - not running away after all, it seemed.

Haroun quirked an eyebrow at her, and stretched his nude form out on the bench. "Sit down, stay a while." he said with a laugh. His towel he left in a puddle on the floor. "What brings you in here? Didn't strike me as the sauna type." he said. It was painfully obvious that He Was Not As Other Men, as he was able to roll over and lay on his stomach without impaling anything. "Ahhhh. Heat feels good on my back." he sighed. "Could really use a backrub, if you're up for it..."

He was a horrible tease. Absolutely horrible. Alison swallowed heavily and managed to actually place the water ladle back on it's hook, somehow. Back rub. She could do that. Heck, she was taking classes on doing that. "Did the swim like madwoman thing. Seemed like a good idea to relax a bit." And hadn't that particular concept just flown out the coop as concepts went. "Backrub, mmm?" The towel was still secure - act of God she decided - and the faintly yearning expression on his face she glimpsed, now hidden as he rested his head down against his arms, defeated her entirely. "I think we can manage a backrub," was the soft murmur of assent.

Haroun groaned as Alison set to work on the backrub. It felt divine, and she was quickly learning where his tense spots were, and how to massage the tension away with just a few touches. Of course, he was trading one set of tensions for another, but that was a trade he was willing to make. "You're overdressed." he said with a naughty grin that she probably couldn't see. "Your towel. Give it to me. Now." He deadpanned in his very best Terminator voice - which wasn't very good, truth be told.

It was easy to note that while he was most certainly aware of her and what she was doing, he wasn't, however, reaching the levels of tension he'd had previously, both before they'd discovered the issue with the implant and afterwards. As in beyond tense and straight into insane, in more ways than one. Hands pausing briefly in mid-motion, she glanced down at herself - leaning probably far too close to Haroun, towel hanging on still somehow. Overdressed wasn't exactly the case. Leaning into a lingering area of tension in his lower back, she smiled just a bit. "I'll be in all sorts of trouble with the medlab if I do that." She wasn't however, moving away. No sir. No warning signs of trouble in sight and she was going to enjoy this as long a possible.

Haroun didn't say anything, but his one hand clenched into a tight fist before he forced it to relax. "Medlab. Right." he said sourly. He was almost certainly spoiling all of Alison's hard work, but despite himself he tensed up again. Sighing, he tried to force himself to relax, to not get quite so bent out of shape about things. At least his emotions were coming back to normal slowly. Just let the heat soak into him and relax the tense muscles. Try not to think of Alison in her towel, try really hard not to think of Alison not in her towel. She said no, that's the end of it. Thinking of laying Alison down on the bench, thinking of teasing her for hours, wondering how she tasted, what noises she might make, how it was all supposed to feel ... not good. Not good at all.

Sighing softly, Alison leaned forward slightly and considered her options, hands moving automatically to find the new areas of tension, taking her time to ease those as best she could. Part of it was also the pure enjoyment of being able to touch him so freely still, and after a while she started to change the pattern, steadily easing into slow and soothing strokes, hands gliding over his dampened skin easily. A slight smile etched itself on her lips despite the distance
still being kept and despite wanting to do nothing more than to ditch the towel Alison lost herself in the simple measure and rhythm of the hopefully calming massage.

Haroun was somewhat torn inside - on one hand, extremely distracting and upsetting fantasies spun behind his eyes like pinwheels. On the other hand, her touch was soothing and calming, and made the tension melt away like magic. He let the sensations from his body fill him - an odd combination of status reports from the cybernetics and sensations from the meat parts of his body. The bruise on his forearm, the slight crick in his neck, and the background all-is-well reports from his legs all combined with the relaxing massage to very nearly put him to sleep. "That feels good." he mumbled after a moment. "Mmmmm."

"Good," Alison murmured in return, the smile growing slightly. "Very good." She'd hit the right combination it seemed and wasn't about to let that slip away, gradually adding in shoulders and arms to the lighter massage, never faltering in either touch or pace. She was starting to feel positively languid herself because of the heat, though the faint edge thrumming underneath it all kept her alert and keeping a close watch on herself lest she slip up.

And end up with a very awake Haroun indeed.