Roswell Fanatics

Hey everybody, just had to show some great news! I think it's best to show you all.



I was tied for best portrayl of a minor character!



I may not have achieved the goal of best overall fic or best UC fic but this took the sting out of it. I had the funniest fic!



This one kinda took me by surprise, cause I didn't think it was all that sad and angsty, though for me to write it, it had way more angst than I thought I was able to pull off in any of my stories....but at least I was tied for runnerup, lol.

Hello you all! I have decided to post the fic I wrote for the Avant Garde Winter Challenge at Roswell Heaven, where voting is currently underway, I hope you don't mind.

If you like it, I'm not ashamed to do a little politicking soliciting and ask you to take a look and possibly vote for little ole moi. LOL

For those of you who are waiting for another chapter of Da Man N' His Woman, it'll have to be a little while longer yet. Sorry.

But I hope you all are satisfied with this in it's stead.



Christmas on the DL

Author: Kristin aka Kiara Alexis Klay

Disclaimer: Roswell does not belong to me, I am merely borrowing the characters and settings of Melinda Metz, Jason Katims, and company for my explicit pleasure.

Summary: Lonnie wants Christmas. This is for the Avant Garde Winter Fic Challenge at Roswell Heaven. Featuring the Dupes, and I don’t know if this is going to be angsty or comedy or drama…it has characteristics of all three and more.

Why This Is Outside My Comfort Zone: Well…I’ve never written a short story before and I haven’t written a Zan/Ava fic…that is what this has turned out to be. So I don’t know if this would be considered Canon (an unusual thing for me, I admit) or Unconventional since it is Z/A and Rath/Lonnie.



~~~ Part I ~~~

Elves, Gnomes, and Peacing Out


The day started out like any other: people shouted whether to curse or greet a familiar face, traffic was already blocked and the police were on another mad chase with a hoodlum aiming to misbehave. The fact that it was only seven days before Christmas, a massive snowstorm had blown in and left the numerous feet of snow in its wake, and the temperature in the teens and threatening to drop further only added to the general mayhem and lack of good cheer or tidings.

All in all…it was a fairly routine winter in New York.

Night had fallen, and for once the air was crisp and clear, and those at the top floors of skyscrapers could actually see some stars in the sky…a rare occurrence indeed.

“Iz don’t think dees is meant ta be ate.”

Lonnie managed to pry her mouth away from her lover’s to glance over to where Ava was pointing, a dubious frown marring her forehead slightly, and her little nose crinkled adoringly.

The group of four friends, their breath fogging in the cold, paused and Lonnie couldn’t help the choked laugh that escaped her. They were in front of a chocolate store – Bates Chocolates, Est. 1930 to be exact – and in the window display were little elves in their little elf finery, all the clothing, shoes, stockings, faces, and hats in different colored chocolate. At least…Lonnie thought they were supposed to be elves.

What had Ava commenting was they fact they were so hideous looking it was comical. The expressions on some of the so-called elves faces…

“Dat one looks constipated,” Rath had to interject and Lonnie lost it, full out laughing. The little ‘elf’ Rath pointed to had his eyes crossed and his expression did indeed look pained.

“Fo real, duke,” Zan chuckled, pulling Ava by her belt so her back was pressed against his front and he could wrap his arms around her.

Her head barely came to his shoulder and she snuggled against his warmth, a pleased smile upon her lips. Suddenly she burst out in a peal of laughing, startling everyone, and she pointed. Tears were streaming down her face and she could hardly breathe, she was laughing so hard.

“How,” gasp, laugh, “how…” gasp, “horrible!”

Lit like an unearthly halo, a freckle face young man with a mop of curly, reddish brown hair stood in the window, adjusting the elf-like chocolate creature display, and beaming proudly at the whacked out things. He had on a garish sweater of loud red, green, gold and white…with a tricked out seasonal scene including elves, snowflakes, trees, and candy canes.

“Iz thinking we now knows what inspired da freaky gnomes,” Zan whooped, doubling over and having to lean over on a still gasping Ava for support.

“Elves, man, elves,” Rath laughed, but Zan shook his head, sending the long spikes on his head swaying and his piercings to glitter in the light from the store.

“Naw…dey iz too ugly ta be elves…dem is gnomes, duke.”

“He looks constipated too,” Rath observed and Lonnie howled in laughter, slapping her man across the chest in a gruff but loving gesture, giggling as the grip on her waist pulled her tighter and she could feel how happy he was with her nearness.

The young man, probably having been drawn to their presence by their laughter, noticed the four staring at window. His face turned a startling shade of red, having known instinctively him or his creations were the cause for their amusement, and it turned an almost exact match for one of the several red hues on his sweater.

“Ooohh…Iz thinks we made ‘im mad,” Lonnie smirked, lips twitching with mirth. Her dark brunette hair was cut in a sort of pixie bob with long, jagged cut bangs falling in her face, which she brushed back with a flick of her hand and head.

“‘Jingle bells, Bates chocolate smells, dey used really, rotten eggs!’” Rath began to sing loudly, and slightly off key. Lonnie winced more for the pitch than from the song, and watched curious as the young man – Hello, my name is Greg- stated his nametag, began to march purposefully toward the door where they were.

“Da batter sucks, cause some’a da elves looks like ducks,” Zan joined in, grinning, “And itz make ya sick all days.”

“Hey!” Lonnie and Ava chorused. By now the young Bates employee by the name of Greg with the horrible sweater, threw open the door like a man on a mission.

“Excuse, me,” he grit out in a nasally twang and Rath boo-ed as Zan groaned aloud, “Yo, ya is from Jersey.”

“I beg your pardon!” Greg blinked, sputtering.

“Beggin’s not seemly dis time a year,” Ava informed him with a serious expression, hiding the playful glint of her cerulean eyes.

“Yo, she right. Specially if’n ya iz from Jersey n’ spending da time in New York,” Lonnie nodded sagely.

“You miscreants need to cease your wretched attempts at caroling, and leave this property immediately!” Jersey Greg demanded, glaring at the two girls.

“Or ya’ll do what ‘xactly?” Zan cocked both his head and one eyebrow, still smiling slightly.

“I’ll call the police!”

“Oohh…da poo-lease! Don’t call dem!” Rath slapped the side of his face with his free hand, while the other was still about Lonnie. “Whateva are we gonna do, ‘Rhett’?” he mimicked a high, ‘girly’ voice.

“Don’t worry, ‘Scarlett’, I’ll keep ya’s safe from da evil gnome maker’s dogs,” Zan winked at the other three, his voice deepening in a puffed out Southern accent.

Ava couldn’t help but turn around and bury her face in Zan’s chest to muffle her laughter, and Lonnie coughed, nuzzling ‘Scarlett’s’ neck.

“You and your punk gutter hoes better leave now!”

“What?”

“Did he jest…?”

“Oh, no he didn’t!”

“B’tch,” Rath snarled, all humor suddenly gone.

“What’d ya call my sis n’ my girl?” Zan growled, and Greg apparently began to realize his mistake as both Rath and Zan stepped further into the light and he got a good look at them.

Both Zan and Rath topped six feet easily by a few inches, and each worked out, and it showed. Living on the streets gave them that extra edge and savvy, no room for baby fat or cornball morals here.

“Iz thinking dat Jersey here owes us,” Zan stopped moving forward and rested one hand on his hip.

“Iz think yo’s right, duke,” Rath agreed, casually cracking his knuckles and rolling his shoulders.

For all the cold temperature, Zan wore his customary sleeveless black hoodie, the extra crew neck cut gray tee with cut sleeves underneath his only concession to the cold. Rath had on a v-neck leather vest and his thick, heavy chain necklaces and nothing else. Both wore dark, baggy cargos and Doc Martens, with enough studs and piercings and cuffs and bracelets between them to make any female envious.

“Ya be owing our girls an apology ‘bout now, yo?” Zan went on in a soft voice dripping menace and command. His inked up, rippling biceps and Rath’s tattooed six-pack of abs were clearly defined and Greg gave an audible gulp.

Eyes flickering between Zan’s spiky form to Rath’s mohawked one, he came to the conclusion that the better part of valor was to swallow both his pride and the seemingly gallon of spittle. He managed to choke out a spluttering, “I’m s-sorry.”

“Good,” Zan nodded and Rath looked disappointed he wasn’t going to get to flex on the idiot further. Neither Zan nor Rath looked satisfied, but Zan wasn’t going to draw this out. Da gnome had apologized and that was what they had set out for, and that was all that they were going to get.

“Peace out,” Rath snarled to the petrified boy when Zan turned around and motioned for the girls to blaze. The mohawked enforcer never took his eyes off the arrogant prig in front of him even as he walked backwards to rejoin the group, having his boy’s back.

Greg watched as the four seemed to melt into the shadows like some tricked out ghosts of Christmas New York, and he let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. It was only then he noticed he was shaking and his pants felt suspiciously moist around his leg and upper thigh.

Christmas on the DL

~~~ Part II ~~~



It was a quiet four as they walked away from Bates Chocolate Shop, Est. 1930. Ava shivered under her leather jacket, and it wasn’t from the cold. Out of them all, she was the most sensitive to other’s moods and emotions, and she despised it when she was around so much negativity directed toward them based on their looks alone.

Sure they was funnin’ the guy and the gnome-elf creations, but it wasn’t the bad kind of fun, like the kind Rath could have done. There had simply been no reason for Jersey Greg of the Garish Sweater to react the way he had.

Zan wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her tight, allowing her to slip under his unzipped hoodie. Lonnie merely walked hip to hip with her man, back straight, and head held high. She was damn proud of herself and who she was and no little prig of a horrible fashion deranged chocolate gnome display person was going to make her feel otherwise. Rath just scowled at everyone, eyes constantly on the move, ever wary for danger to any of those he protected and cared for.

They passed through Central Park and all the pretty lights and couples out for a romantic, moonlit snow filled Christmas-time walk. Not many were out this time of night, mostly due to the cold and the amount of snow on the ground, many of the more sensible staying indoors or around better trafficked areas.

Their wanderings took them to the Rockefeller Center, where they spent some time gazing up at the enormous tree and Lonnie wondered at the sheer number of lights that went on the things. Quietly, at some unspoken signal, they started the trek homeward.

“Itz a winter fuckin’ wonderland,” Rath’s quiet grunt startled the other three. Curious, they realized they had come across one of those ponds scattered about the parks, a decent sized one that had frozen over and now utilized as a natural ice rink. Couples and groups, families and singles, all came together on the ice or off it, laughing, talking, having fun, drinking steaming liquid of either chocolate or coffee. Children shouted as they drove worried parents wild, teens danced to blaring Christmas music, and some had snuck away from the main groups for a little privacy to make out or screw out themselves silly.

Rath shook his head at the latter; screwing around in the snow where his ass and balls could be exposed to the frigid temp was not his idea of a good time. But whatever flicked their Bic.

That nasty snowstorm from almost a week ago had lasted four days and dumped heaps of snow on a weary City, and between the natural and unnatural dips and curves, and the snowplows, there were literally mounds of snow for as far as the eye could see.

“Snow!” a young voice rang in delight as a little bundled blur of sable hair shot past them and launched itself into the nearest snowbank, back first.

She pumped her little arms and legs furiously, then popped back out like a demented, pink furred dandelion just as a harried looking couple in snow parkas came running up.

“Look, I made an angel, and I was the first!” the dark haired moppet graced everyone with a gap toothed smile.

Lonnie found she couldn’t not smile back, and noticed her brother, lover, and sister friend had the same reaction, the tension brought on by the Gnome Maker easing in the presence of their little ‘snow angel’.

“Itz a very good one,” Zan nodded his approval, lips quirking in that odd half smile of his. The young mother did a double take and smiled shyly at him while her husband frowned.

“It is, it is! I’ve had tons of practice!” the dark angel nodded enthusiastically, causing the adults to focus back on her and the frown erased to a tender smile.

“Let’s go get Grandma and show her, eh?” the Mom asked, blushing, and the little girl eagerly followed.

“Merry Christmas!” she waved at the four as her father ushered his family away to find Grandma.

“Aww.” Ava smiled. “Let’s make sure no ones messes wit it, aiight?”

Making sure no one was around to see, Ava waved her hand and a lavender colored glow encased her hands. The snow angel briefly glowed a matching color, and then both lights faded. Ava smiled, pleased at the block she put around the little angel and Zan and Lonnie exchanged amused looks before Lonnie yelped as a thatch of cold collided with her head, slithering under the nape of her jacket.

“Rathard!” she bellowed, indignant. She gave chase to her mischievous grinning lover, which was what he’d been planning on happening, of course.

Zan and Ava found this all hilarious. Funny, that was until Lonnie pegged them both with well-placed snowballs, furious in her efforts to catch her mate being thwarted. That placed in motion a full-blown snowball war with Zan and Ava ganging up to go after Lonnie and Rath individually.

Rath, the calculating general that he had been, called a truce with Lonnie after she beamed him with an alien mojo-ed snowball, and then joined forces against the ‘ruling’ team. Zan wasn’t a bad fighter, and Ava put up quite the defense, but in the end they were no match for either Lonnie –not a bad strategist herself- and Rath, who was more than a match for Zan’s cagey ways. Being in his element, commanding his ‘troop’ who was almost as aggressive and zealous as he was, they soon had the ruling pair routed and hightailing it to more neutral ground.

So by the time the foursome reached the abandoned subway-sewer that they called home, their spirits were high, and Lexington Avenue rang with their laughter.



Much later that night, almost early morning, after an amazing few hours of non-stop, hardcore sex, Lonnie lay in the little cubicle of a bedroom she shared with Rath, staring at the leaky ceiling. One of the good things about the winter was the leaks usually froze until the spring thaw, so tonight she didn’t have to worry about the constant drip drop of the condensation to keep her irritated.

The air was chillier than normal due to them being underground and in the beginning of what looked to be the beginnings of a fairly wicked New England winter. She was grateful for Rath’s steaming warmth at her side, even though her alien hybrid self could handle the cold better than an average human.

Dis whole Christmas dealio was somethin’ else, she mused, absently stroking the inked up designs on the bulging bicep wrapped around her waist. Rath stirred slightly, muscles flexing briefly as he pulled her in tighter against the curve of his body. He sighed, nuzzling her hair and settling his nose in the arch between her neck and clavicle.

Lonnie smiled briefly, for the moment allowing her guard to drop, and her dark eyes were tender and loving as she took in the messy hair of the man beside her.

She wanted to do something for him, something special. Living in an old subway station, down in the sewers, abandoned by their so-called ‘protector’ because they were the ‘defects’ and not the ‘real’ Royal Four, they hadn’t had much in the way of special come by.

Abandoned, neglected, forgotten and despised by those who knew they still existed…Lonnie and her companions eerily paralleled the state of the home they resided under.

Years of watching everything about them, like holidays and birthdays and election days, had stirred something up inside Lonnie. She wanted to do something similar, but Christmas time especially. For despite shitty circumstances, life for the four of them really wasn’t that bad as long as they were together, and Lonnie owned up that the deep bond of respect, love, trust, loyalty, and friendship they had was what kept them alive.

Long as we’z together, we don’t have to have Easy Street, Lonnie smirked to herself.

And what better time to show her appreciation to the family she loved than to have Christmas? Usually, the day was ‘noticed’ like any other, except with the rare ‘celebrating’ if one of them found a fresh fruit they shared.

No…this year they would have a real Christmas, something to celebrate in style. Even messed up humans celebrate Christmas, so why shouldn’t punked out cloned alien royalty? Lonnie would make sure of her family’s enjoyment this special time.

Hmm…she would have to draft Ava for help, but the surprise for the boys would be more than worth it.

And maybe…maybe she could seduce Rath and have an actual session where they made love, real passionate and tender, instead of just the rough and tumble beast wit two backs. Not that she minded the rough and tumble…she wouldn’t let Rath touch her if she didn’t like the kinky as much as he did…but maybe this time she could have a little bit of the good kind of cliché. Show the big haired idiot how much he meant to her without exactly saying it like a cornball.

A good plan, Lonnie grinned, pleased with herself.

Satisfied, she shifted on her side to face her man, and curled into his strong body, wriggling deep into his warmth and getting comfortable.

Seconds later she slept.


Christmas on the DL

Rating: Mature to Adult. Mucho on the language and sexual innuendo.



~~~ Part III ~~~



“Yo, where ya’s going’?” Rath looked up from the morning paper he’d filched, a cup of steaming coffee in one hand and a donut in the other.

He was sprawled across the tattered couch, one leg casually thrown over the side of the couch, the paper in the hand with the donut and leaning against his propped up couch leg.

“Out. Me n’ Aves’ll be back sometime later,” Lonnie replied vaguely, strutting into the room in a pair of her favorite leather pants, high lacing combat boots, a long sleeved tight fitting hot pink shirt with a hood, and a leather jacket that matched her pants. Her make up was it’s usually smoky silver and heavy eyeliner, the mascara bringing out her huge eyes, and the dark lipstick enhancing her pout.

She grabbed the Styrofoam cup out of Rath’s hand and took a welcome gulp of the bitter, steaming liquid, sighing in appreciation.

“Hmm…ya stole from ole man Zimski again, dinnit ya?” Ava took a sip of her own coffee, purloined as well from Zan who dropped onto the other end of the couch after kicking off Rath’s leg.

“Anythang fer my girl,” Zan grinned, looking up and winking at the little elfin blonde he loved so much.

“Do we’z hear a ‘thank ya’s’ fer braving’ da cold n’ dangerous streets ta get ya’s meal?” Rath cocked an arrogant brow, tongue fiddling with the silver hoop on the side of his lip.

Both women looked at each other, amused looks that clearly asked ‘should we?’ before Lonnie rolled her eyes, and after placing the cuppa joe on an equally battered coffee table, placed herself on Rah’s lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Oh…thank ya kindly dear sir, for courageously doing what Aves n’ Iz do every mornin’ fer ya’s wit only a grunt fer acknowledgement. It was sweet, nice, n’ so sweetly cornball, we’z wonderin’, since we’z already givin’ ya boys sex, whaddya want?”

Ava snorted, laughing, and Zan rolled his eyes heavenward, eyeing his girlfriend out of the corner of his eye. She grinned, and sat on the arm of the couch, offering Zan his own coffee to which he graciously accepted.

Rath’s eyebrow rose once again as he listened to Lonnie’s little speech…she’d been subtly grinding against him the whole time, neck and breasts so close, yet she held herself just that fraction enough away.

Tease.

His eyes narrowed and he refused to shift to a more comfortable position, which would be none so far as Lonnie straddled himself and wore that damned leather that just showed off all the right curves. She knew exactly what she was doing and he would let her feel just how much she was succeeding.

The darkening of her eyes to almost mica and the heady sweet n’ spicy scent of her arousal told him she noticed and appreciated it.

“Why ya’s think we’z wants somethin’?” Zan asked, letting Ava finish off the rest of his coffee and melting the empty container into oblivion.

“Cause ya grinning likes an idiot, foo,” Ava smacked him across the head, sending the long spikes swaying.

“Hey!” her brother king protested.

Lonnie didn’t dare take her eyes off Rath for even a second, but she could well imagine the affronted glare on her brother’s face that his precious hair was mussed up.

“Aww…quit yer whinin’ it was only a love tap,” Ava giggled, reaching over to help set the spikes to right, secretly loving the pout he sent her way. Zan knew it got her all hot and wet, and he did it on purpose.

“But it hurt,” he gave her wounded eyes to match the pout.

Likes a puppy, she mentally cooed. A gorgeous, unbelievably fuckin’ hot puppy.

And he was all hers.

“Iz bet,” Rath snorted, affecting disgust toward his ‘king’s’ so called inability to handle pain. Why…what kind of a man was he if he couldn’t handle a little loving pain?

Zan turned his pout into a glare, which he sent toward his friend and second.

“Jest fer dat, yo ain’t gettin’ any from Santa Claus dis year.”

“Der iz no Santa Claus, though why would Iz wantta get any from a fat ass white man when Iz got yo sista?”

“Hey!” Lonnie echoed her brother’s earlier protestation the same time Ava admonished, “Rath!”

Zan’s eyes narrowed and Lonnie could practically feel the protective surge rise in her brother, as well as the desire for revenge. She knew if this kept up, she n’ Aves would never get outta here and they wouldn’t get anything done today.

“C’mon, Aves, we’z outta here. Afore we get roped into playin’ nurse ta dese bozos.”

“Oohh…wouldja wear dat skimpy uniform?” Rath leered as Lonnie rose gracefully, the action raising her shirt slightly and flashing a band of skin.

She scoffed, but secretly she was pleased at the reaction.

“Ya’s wouldn’t wear dat would ya?” she challenged, hand on her hip, brow arched.

“Noo…” he drawled the word out.

“Neither would I. Let’s go, Aves.”

It was another ten minutes before Lonnie could pry Ava from Zan giving her a ‘good-bye kiss’, and the two women left after Ava adjusted her make up and clothing to appropriate ‘I-was-not-just-ravished-by-my-boyfriend’ levels. Today the boys could fend for themselves.

What a scary thought.

Christmas on the DL

Author: Kristin aka Kiara Alexis Klay

Rating: Mature to Adult. Mucho on the language and sexual innuendo.



Part VI



“So…how we’s gonna do dis?” Ava was practically dancing on the balls of her feet.

When Lonnie had explained what she wanted to do, the multi-colored blond had caught the fever immediately, and couldn’t wait to get started.

Today, Ava had changed her pink and blue streaks for a more Christmas themed red and gold amidst the startling white blond, enhancing the shocking cerulean eyes that peered out under darkened lashes. She was caught up in the mood of the season and her cheer and delight was infectious.

“Do Aliens celebrate Christmas?” Ava had asked, wide-eyed with wonder at the thought of actually making note of The Holiday.

“Who cares, we will dis year,” she had promised, and both had giggled as they whispered plans back and forth so the boys couldn’t hear.

To go with her Christmas hair, Ava wore slinky green leggings, a red pleather mini so short most tube tops had more fabric, a wide black leather belt almost as large as her skirt, and a body hugging mock turtleneck with three quarter sleeves so sheer you could see the dark bra through the gold film. She had paired a red jerkin edged in gold over it, more to keep Zan from shadowing them all day, than for any real need for modesty. Zan had just about drooled when he saw the finished outfit, with her ‘cutesy’ chunky heeled leather ankle boots and red pleather trench coat ending at the very end of the skirt perfectly to complete it.

Two small gold jingle bells hung from the bottom piercings on her ear, and various gold hoops followed the rest of them up the curve of her ear.

Elf gone punk.

“Ya my sexy elf,” Lonnie recalled her brother nearly whispering his worship of Ava’s body, and she grinned as she couldn’t wait to see Rath’s reaction to what she had spied in Frederick’s of Hollywood’s Christmas Catalog.

“We’s gonna have a Christmas!” Ava’s delighted laughter brought Lonnie back to the present, and she couldn’t help but smile, at the blue eyes shining so bright. Just seeing the look on Ava’s face was enough to convince Lonnie this was a good idea.

Lonnie smirked and the pair walked down the street, ignoring the appreciative glances thrown their way.

“What first?” Ava did bounce on her feet this time, too excited to stay still.

“Well…ain’t ever had to celebrate Christmas. But I guess we start with trees and decorations and such.”

Lonnie frowned as she tried to think of what she’d observed in stolen moments of peeking at other families and their homes.

“Oh! Why don’t we’z make our own decorations like in da ole days! Ifn’ we can’t find any good ones. Itz not like we’z really got electricity fer lights n’ such.”

“Ya gotta point, der Aves,” Lonnie nodded, mentally adjusting the plan in her brain.

“ ‘Course I do,” and Ava gave the taller girl a ‘ya doubted?’ look.

Laughing, Lonnie slung her arm around the smaller girl’s shoulder as they sauntered into the first shop.

“Check out all the mish-maw,” Ava’s eyes had grown wide and for once, Lonnie was speechless as well.

Aisles upon aisles were filled to the brim with Christmas-themed stuff. Wreathes, garlands, lights, trees, ornaments, gift bags, wrapping paper, tissue, tags, shirts, shoes, novelties, candles, and so much more.

“Iz think we’z landed on an alien planet,” Lonnie whispered and Ava nodded, still wide eyed.

“Where do we’z start, der’s so much!”

“We’z stick wit da plan…start browsing.”

With that said, it still took the amazed girls a few moments longer to take it all in, and then move.



Twenty minutes later and Ava asked the question that had been bugging her since they started looking at all the neat do-dads.

“Do we’z wanna get a real tree or one of dees ar-tee- official ones,” she jerked a thumb in the direction of the tree aisle.

“We’ll jest look n’ see if anything catches our eye…if not, we’s can sees about a real one.”

The girls were mostly silent after that, serious about getting just the perfect tree, for how often do you get to have your very first Christmas? Besides, they had the boys to think about, and they didn’t want just any ole tree for their menfolk.

Another twenty minutes had passed, but none of the trees available had taken their fancy or landed within their price range. That was another thing…Lonnie had insisted to do this properly they needed to be honest and actually pay for all their purchases. Ava had looked dubious on this part but she had agreed nonetheless. Besides…it wasn’t that bad, it was almost kind of fun…and if they stretched the dollar bills and discretely used a little alien magic to turn them into bonafide hundred dollar bills than that wasn’t cheating.

“Yo, why iz it so cold in here?” Ava suddenly asked and gave a delicate shudder, her actions subtly concealing the gesture to bring Lon’s attention to the two middle aged women eyeing and whispering about them, sniffing down their noses as they met Lonnie’s cool brown gaze.

“Could be da quality of da customers,” Lonnie retorted, arching a brow toward the two gaggling stare happy women. She made no allusions on who she was referring to.

“No way...it couldn’t be,” Ava gushed, both girls rolling their eyes. “Hey, look, mistletoe!”

With a wicked grin, Ava snagged the artificial sprig and held it over her head. Lonnie smiled as she caught on, and she bent over, locking lips with the dainty creature before her.

The kiss didn’t last long but Lonnie wasn’t one to do things half-assed. She was very thorough, tongue dueling and massaging with Ava’s, half the fun in trying not to catch on each other’s tongue rings, which they had experience in with kissing their respective men. Still…it would be embarrassing.

By the time Lonnie ended it, the two women who’d been watching them were looking horrified and a little green.

“Hope ya enjoyed da show, next time we’z charging admission,” Lonnie lost her smirk to give the pair a chilling look of her own.

A look from Lonnie could freeze a planet’s core or a star in place when she wanted. The two quickly moved their shopping carts and scurried away. Alien hybrid hearing picked up their frenzied conversation and both girls shook their heads.

“Some peoples are so rude,” Ava commented, absently licking her lips out of habit. She could taste Lonnie still, and she made a note to mojo herself so Zan wouldn’t get any of the aftertaste or flashes on accident. Much as the thought of Ava kissing another girl might turn him on, realizing the other girl was his sister and actually seeing and tasting it, would turn him right off. It would be far more effective than a cold shower, if there was any other kind.

“Please do that again,” a boy of about twelve or so begged them, and both girls glared at him.

“Ya sick perv, scram!” Lonnie shooed him away, and Ava shuddered. She delicately placed the sprig in their still empty cart and followed Lonnie down the aisle. She broke the silence a few moments later.

“Yo, Lonnie?”

“What up?”

“Thanks fer my first gal to gal kiss. It was…interesting.”

“Hey, no prob, ya was my first, too.”

Ava snorted at that and Lonnie smacked her playfully with one hand as she maneuvered the cart through the aisles.

“Gutter mind,” she grinned and Ava laughed.

“Lonnie?”

“Yeah?”

“Please, let’s neva do dat again.”

“Totally wit yo on dat,” Lonnie quickly nodded, having thought the same thing. “Da boys must never learn.”

“Word.”



Not having found a tree, the girls shopped another hour and then paid for their purchases at the counter. The boy ringing them up at the counter kept eyeballing them more than he paid attention to what he was doing, and was all embarrassed when an observing manager had to come and void a couple items he’d double rung while staring at Ava’s ample cleavage.

The girls just shrugged it off, but they both knew had their boys been there, a little flexing and some pointed death glares and the boy wouldn’t have stared so boldly.

“Where to next?” Ava grinned and together they took the subway to the craft shop, expertly handling themselves and their purchases through the crowded cars. There they didn’t have any problems with their fellow shoppers, though they did get some raised eyebrows, strained smiles, and double takes.

“Geeze, ya think dey woulda been used to seein’ punks in New York,” Ava complained as the umpteenth teenaged boy practically orgasmed when she came into view.

She’d taken to having to wear her coat all the time just to avoid the nasty glares from the disapproving moms or jealous girlfriends and frazzled store clerks.

“Eh…tourists,” Lonnie shrugged. “Visitors from anotha world who don’t have beauties like us back home.”

Laughing at their own joke, the pair paid for the supplies and headed out to a indoor café nearby for lunch.

“How we gonna make sure Zan n’ Rath don’t catch on?” Ava licked the Tabasco and pizza sauce off her fingers, eyes lolling backwards appreciatively.

They had snagged a booth, setting their purchases on the inside near the wall. They weren’t any tenderfeet to the City.

“Easy. Tell em dey look n’ dey die,” Lonnie found herself shrugging once again. She kept an eye on the man just barely outside her line of vision that had been staring at her since they walked in.

While she wasn’t as instant eye candy for everyone to gawk at like Ava, she wasn’t anything to dismiss either and she had more than her fair share of admirers as well.

“Like dat’ll work,” Ava sighed once she swallowed and was able to speak again.

Lonnie merely arched a brow, taking a generous bite out of her own slice. Pizza was without doubt a food from the gods, the manna of life…to a New Yorker at least. The Italians should be blessed for making simple dough and sauce into such a masterful creation.

“If’n deys don’t wanna listen, we tell ‘em no sex.”

Simple, to the point, and extremely effective.

“Dat would work,” Ava smirked and nodded, the two finishing their meals in companionable silence.

“Let’s hit da shops fer some presents den scram back to da crib. All dis Christmas preparation is makin’ me horny,” Lonnie suggested.

“You’re always horny,” Ava pointed out.

“Iz am, ain’t I?”

Both girls laughed as they took their leave. It was a tired, but pleased, female duo who returned to their underground crib, almost an hour later.

Christmas on the DL

Author: Kristin aka Kiara Alexis Klay

Rating: Mature to Adult. Mucho on the language and sexual innuendo.

Author’s Note: Yes, I took the idea of the ‘Nic’ before what is supposed to the father’s name from the Laurel K. Hamilton Merry Gentry series. It means ‘child of’ or something similar, like Judah Ben Hur (Judah son of Hur) or von or any of those other upper class prefixes. So if you see it, like Vilandra NicZanrith, it mean Vilandra child of Zanrith…and so forth. That idea isn’t mine, but it isn’t LKH’s completely either, it’s been around for some time, so I don’t think anyone will rag on me too much. J



Part V
Parley



“So what are da girls up ta?” Rath mused after the girls had been gone for about an hour.

“Ya thinks dey is up ta somethin’?” Zan arched an eyebrow in his friend’s direction, grabbing another part of the paper from the pile by Rath, and opening it up to read.

Rath snorted.

“C’mon, man, Lonnie’s got that ‘I-have-a-scheme’ look on ‘er face again.”

“Den Iz thinks ya da only one who’s gots ta worry den, eh?” Zan couldn’t resist teasing his friend and brother. “Did anything ta piss her off, again, in da last hour?”

“Oh, dat was fun-nee! Iz forgots ta laugh,” Rath leveled his brother king with a sour look, Zan smirking.

Rath finally growled in frustration as five minutes passed by and Zan hadn’t spoken to him.

“Zan.”

The spike haired king’s clone merely lifted one corner of his mouth in a brief, quirky smile that had his sister all nuts over, and Rath seriously wondered how mad Ava would be if he put a dent in the side of Zan’s head.

“Zan…” he drawled the name out and said person sighed, looking up.

“What?”

“Seriously, duke, whaddya think is going on in der minds?”

“Dude, dey’s prolly gettin’ some shopping in while da Christmas stuff is on,” he waved Rath’s concerns away.

He wasn’t worried, him and Ava was tight as they’d ever been, and even Rath and Lonnie hadn’t had one of their major spats in a few weeks which saved him from having to hear all the hot and heavy make up sex that came afterward. Not that they weren’t, usually, but after a fight they were especially…heavy on sex for practically days on end. Not something he wanted to experience again and truthfully he’d enjoyed the respite.

Maybe that’s why his general was all out of sorts. Much as he’d bluster and deny it, Rath loved more than anything the continuous butting of heads and wills, the fights, the threats, the serious bodily harm and verbal harassment between his self and Lonnie.

“But Lonnie has that look, duke,” Rath insisted, his soldier’s brain recognizing the calculating look of a plan in action, and his own two lifetimes worth of experience in Lonnie’s machinations to treat that look on his love’s face with wariness and more than a little trepidation.

Especially if he was possibly on the receiving end of that look’s results.

Vilandra NicZanrith wasn’t just another pretty royal face at court. She was ruthless and aggressive, a brilliant tactictian, which had made her one of the younger King Zan’s best advisors, a great credence to her upbringing. Rath had always thought Lonnie had turned out as unconventional as she had because she was trying to be the son that should have been born first.

Indeed, if little Zan hadn’t been born right afterward and given the coveted male heir, the seal and possibly the throne might have gone to her as was her birthright as the eldest child of the ruling couple, if only King Zanrith NicRuyven and his Council hadn’t been such traditionalists.

Vilandra would have made an excellent Queen, she was fair but unyieldingly firm in meting out justice, and woe be unto one on her bad side. She was the best blend of Valkyrie and Amazon, and more than a little berserker thrown in the mix.

Nope, Rath didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that look at all. He’d been ordered to do some pretty bad things to bad people that made even him cringe when she got that look.

“Rath, bro, relax. It can’t be all that bad,” Zan tried one last time to allay his second’s fears.

“Duke, she’s got that look, and she’s got Ava in on dis, so if’n itz bad, ya is gonna suffer too.”

Zan scowled as he set the newspaper down for the final time, this time, his attention was solely on his general.

“Ava didn’t say nothing,” he looked worried now. He too, had no wish to be on the receiving end of his sister’s look, and he wasn’t happy that his lover was in on whatever it was.

“Like she would?” Rath grunted, rolling his eyes. Honestly, sometimes Zan was too trusting for his own good.

“Aves n’ I aren’t like ya and Lon; we actually talk to one another, ya know, communicate on a deepa level otha than bumpin n’ grindin uglies?”

“What’s dat supposed ta mean?” Rath bristled.

Zan sighed before pursing his lips and looked at his longtime friend. How many could say that their best friends would be their friends during two lifetimes, friends who would die for each other, who did die for one another, and be willing to do it all over again.

“Rath…”Zan paused to gather his thoughts. He hadn’t been blind to his sister, must be a twin thing, but he could tell when something bothered his sis. He might have been thirty seconds younger but he still considered her his ‘little’ sister.

“Rath, what?” The mohawked teen glared at his lover’s brother and only through virtue of their friendship and his sister’s love for this hairy oaf that Zan put up with what he did.

“Ya ever consider actually talking ta Lonnie? Like, ask her how she feels or how her day went if’n she wasn’t around ya, or how she’d like her sexing?”

Zan shifted on the couch. He hated all this cornball girly shit, but he found it came in handy when dealing with Ava, and from listening to his girl and his sister, he realized it didn’t hurt in the long run to do it every once in a while.

The look his best friend was giving him told him this was all going right over his head.

“What ya mean, ask her how she feels? And Iz think I knows betta den her li’l bro exactly how she likes her sex,” Rath guffawed.

But Zan wasn’t laughing and his grim face brought Rath up short as if Nicky and his little Corn Flake Skins had walked through the doorway.

“Yo, man, Iz means it,” Zan held his brother friend’s gaze. “Lonnie, Iz knows she’s a tough ass female; and believe me, I know you know how ta flick her Bic, but duke, she still female. An even the tough ass ones, prolly most especially the tough ass ones, want to be treated as such sometimes. Ya follow?”

“What…ya want me ta go all sensitive on ‘er?” Rath stared at his brother king in horror. If it weren’t his sister he was talking about, then Zan would have laughed.

“Iz wouldn’t go that far,” Zan admitted, wrinkling his nose in distaste. “But a li’l more mindful, and considerate would go a long ways, bro.”

“Iz can’t believe dis shit!” Rath jumped off the other end of the couch, pacing around in the cramped quarters that comprised of their ‘living’ room.

“What exactly don’t ya believe?” Zan asked wearily, knowing the battle was lost for now.

“Iz asks ya fer help on da possible scheme of da girls and ya givin’ me sensitivity lessons!”

“ ‘Ey! Dat’s neither right nor fair! N’ I wasn’t, it was jest advice dat works n’ ya being an izmo if’n ya ignores it!” Zan was mad now and both boys faced off.

“What’s dat ooman saying? ‘All’s fair in love and war?’”

“If’n der was a war with love den ya would be on da losin’ side, yo!”

“Dat right?” Knuckles cracking accentuated the low, coldly spoken words.

“Ya, dat’s right!” Zan wasn’t intimidated in the least. In fact, he was now furious that things had escalated so far.

“Care ta backs dose words up?”

“Oh, ya did not jest try n’ flex wit me,” Zan growled.

Stung into action, he waited for the moment to strike. He knew better than to strike in the heat of the moment, he wasn’t green at fighting, but neither was he going to back down now. Rath had at least a good fifteen pounds more or less on him, and he was broader in the chest and shoulders, and more brawny.

He’d be flattened like Momma Rosa’s Pizza if he made such a stupid ass mistake.

Obviously Rath didn’t share his concerns, and with ill concealed impatience, but a great deal of accuracy he launched his attack.

Instead of ducking or moving away, Zan rolled with the punch, taking a glancing blow to the jaw and defending himself against the follow up uppercut. But he didn’t stay on the defensive for too long and placed his own blows.

Blood went flying, bones crunched, grunts and hisses, snarls and growls lifted in a gruesome symphony as the fight wore on. An unspoken agreement between the two had them use fists and their own strength, they knew better even in the surge of battle not to use powers on each other.

Rath had just delivered a potentially debilitating roundhouse kick that even as Zan blocked, it still shook him enough to drop his guard for the briefest moment; one moment too long and Rath went in for what could have been the deciding blow when an invisible grip grasped him and pinned him in place after a not so gentle stop against the opposite wall next to the two bedrooms.

Rath noted that Zan had received the same treatment and both boys stopped their glaring contest long enough to turn their eyes – since they couldn’t move anything- in the direction of their attacker.

“We leaves ya alone fer three n’ a half hours n’ dis is what we return to?”

If Rath could wince, he would have. Lonnie and Ava, laden with their purchases camouflaged by violet and greenish colored mist according to their respective bearers, had entered and both looked irritated.

Lonnie had spoken and did she look ready to peel the skin off his bones.

“Hey, honeys, we’z home,” Ava frowned, disapproval in her electric eyes.

Uh-oh.

Ava was pissed.

Lonnie was always pissed, but Ava pissed took a lot, and it wasn’t pretty when it happened.

“Ya want ta explain,” Lonnie transferred her cold glare from her lover to her brother, in that moment every bit the Royal she was.

“It Boxing Day?” Zan offered with a weak smile and Rath did groan then.

“Nice try, dumbass, but Boxing Day afta Christmas n’ we’z not Canadian or British,” Ava glared at her lover.

Rath would have laughed at Zan ‘Mr. Sensitivity’s’ predicament if he weren’t worried about the brunette Wendigo sending him sideways glares as if she knew he were the cause of all the trouble.

“Um…parley?” Rath tried to smile and the girls looked at each other long enough for the guys to send one another a look of their own.

We are so screwed.

A/N: First off, want to apologize to everybody for the fic cutting out in the middle of a sentence. :looks sheepish: I don't know what I was thinking, of course there would be a text limit and idiot me had a serious blonde moment there. No offense to all the other blondes out there, but this blonde wasn't thinking, lol.

Here's the last two parts of it, it took me a while to check up on this story, and imagine my surprise and embarrassment when I discovered my fic cut off in the middle!

*goes to find a rock and hide in it.*

Oh, and on a disclaimer note, there are certain phrases I use in this fic that didn't come from my brain originally, at least one is used in the tv series Highlander (which I do not own or have anything to do with) and another phrase came from a fic I read a long time ago that stuck with me even though I can't recall the name of either fic or author.

Anything else that may seem familiar or similar is not mine, and I give full credit to whoever had thought that up in the first place. Oh, and at the end, the little present Rath gives Lonnie is based on an actual toy brand, which I do not own either. They have a website, http://www.vermontteddybears.com or something like that, and you can pop in there and see what they have. My beta pointed out to me that there is a fic on the Polar website called Healingthat has the exact same gift mentioned and the website listed that I didn't know about until she pointed it out to me. I thought that was funny, since I have one of the little bears myself.

Moving right along.....


~~~
CotDL Pt. 6

~~~

Lonnie sighed as she caught Rath staring at her when he thought she wasn’t looking.

“What’s wrong, Lons?” Rath questioned after hearing Lonnie sigh for the fifth time. Not that he was counting or anything, just that it was getting on his nerves and he wished she would quit it and whatever scheme she had cooking in that head of hers.

“Iz could asks ya da sames,” Lonnie retorted, grunting in annoyance when Rath merely arched an eyebrow at her. Him and Ava both drove her nuts with that…off topic. Lonnie mentally reigned herself in as she decided to confront this bugger once and for all.

“Ya’s been starin’ at me when ya’s thinks Iz not lookin’ ever since Ave’s n’ Iz got home in time ta breaks da b’tch fight ‘tween ya n’ my bro.”

“It weren’t no b’tch fight,” Rath scowled and Lonnie gave a sound exasperation…of course he would focus on that instead of the topic at hand.

“Whateva. Point bein’ ya been lookin’ at me n’ Aves funkier dan usual. What wrong Rath?”

The unusual plea and gentle genuineness in his girl’s voice made it Rath’s turn to sigh, and he raked fingers through his messy mohawk, nearly yanking on the long strands with the strength of his emotions.

“Ya has dat look again.”

“Dat look?” Lonnie wasn’t sure she was hearing her boy right while Rath squirmed. He wasn’t into this twenty questions and Lifetime movie moment shit, it wasn’t his style.

“Yeah, ya knows, da look where ya’s plannin’ on going all, I dunno, Nazi on someone’s ass wit lots of pain fer all involved.”

It took Lonnie a moment, and when she did, she couldn’t but release some relieved laughter. She thought it was something important…but really her boy was scared of her!
That thought was too much and she was practically doubled over with her amusement.

Rath scowled further but didn’t comment. He let the unflinching disapproving gaze bring his laughing girl to a halt, though little tremors of mirth still shook her.

“Iz didn’t see nothin’ funny ‘bout dat,” he informed her, and her lips quirked but thankfully her natural reserve was catching up.

“Sorry, Rath, but Iz thought it was somethin’ more dire dan me getting a plannin’ look,” she giggled slightly, normally an interesting sound for Rath, but right now he was hurt and irritated Lonnie wasn’t taking him seriously enough.

“Rath…” she began seeing his unamused scowl.

“Don’t, Lons! Iz try n’ be all talkative n’ shit likes Zan says I should start, ‘n ya’z laughin’ n’ not taking me serious!”

“Yo, ya was tryin’ ta be serious wit me?”

Lonnie was surprised, but in a good way, she noted with pleasure the warm feeling spreading through her person. Maybe her dream fore Christmas might become a reality after all.

Rath saw the hope and surprise in Lonnie’s voice and it made him feel shamed on some level that his girl felt he was lacking. Hadn’t he always protected her and made sure she had everything he was able to give her? Even before he knew she was his mate, his Destiny, he had already chosen her without someone telling him, that she would be his and she would want for nothing. But apparently, there were some things that he couldn’t, and Rath found he was flushing with embarrassed rage and stung ego.

“Aww…Rath. Iz didn’t mean it likes dat,” Lonnie tried to make amends, but Rath was too pissed at his perceived failure. He jerked away from her proffered hands, he didn’t want comfort damn it, he failed!

“Don’t!” Rath pushed off the sofa he’d been lounging on next to Lonnie and he left. A stricken Lonnie stared after him.


Zan and Ava jumped out of the way as Rath came stomping by, the roil of his emotions and the looming presence of his rage a preceding windstorm, that gave enough warning to avoid the tempest that was Rath in a mood.

King and Queen stared after the fast receding back of their General before sharing a look. That hurried gaze spoke an entire conversation.

“Yo, bro, where ya’s goin’?” Ava called before he went too far. She knew he could hear her.

“Out!”

Zan scowled at the hurt look crossing his lover’s face. Rath really could be a Neanderthal.

“Iz gonna follow. Be back later, Sweets,” Zan pulled his girl roughly against him and kissed her quickly, but thoroughly. Then he was blending into the shadows after her brother, the sparkle of his silver jewelry the last thing she saw before he was gone.

“What’s up wit Rath?” Ava asked as soon as she entered the room she felt her sister in but whatever else she was going to say died on her lips as she glanced up to really look at her sister in law.

Tight sweatpants hugged long, lean legs that were currently drawn up on the couch as Lonnie curled in on herself as close as possible. Her head rested safely between the crook where her legs met, arms wrapped around, and the normal tough ass was replaced with a fragile looking woman.

“Lonnie?”

This vulnerable lady was practically a stranger: yelling, cursing, tantrum throwing she could handle but this quietly distressed woman was nearly out of her league.

Ava couldn’t deny the silent body language begging her to do something, and she didn’t hesitate to gather the taller girl in her arms. Both were surprised when Lonnie leaned into the tinier woman’s soothing embrace.

The pair stayed that way for a while, the quiet enveloping them completely, yet neither made a move even as the night darkened what little natural light that filtered in, as comfortable in the shadow as in the light.

“Iz got an idea,” Ava spoke softly, voice barely above a whisper, yet she knew Lonnie would hear. Better yet, the weight in the very absence of her voice prompted Ava to think she was listening as well.

She continued the repetitive, circular rubbing on Lonnie’s back, which had been having a surprisingly soothing affect.

“Why’s don’t we’s start decoratin’ now? Da boys are gonna be gone fer a while yet n’ we’z can surprise dem. Christmas ain’t but a couple days away.”

Slowly, like the clouds peeling away to reveal a small ray of sunshine, Lonnie smiled. She really was gorgeous when she smiled and no one could resist smiling back when she did.

“A’ight. Let’s triage dis b’tch.”



Zan caught up with Rath about five blocks later, fairly easily tracking the fuming General through that special ‘sixth’ sense of knowing where any of his family was at any given moment. If he concentrated hard enough on a certain one, then he knew exactly where to find them.

When he did catch up he didn’t say anything, merely walked beside him. Rath didn’t need a lecture he wasn’t a child; he didn’t need arguing, Zan could see he felt bad enough already…in typical Rath stonewall style. He could also see that right now, Rath was in no shape or mood for the king or pissed off brother and brother-in-law act. What he needed was a friend.

For hours the pair wandered around, stopping occasionally to find and kill the few boldly stupid Skins who dared brave the freezing cold for whatever tasks their aliases required. Still they never talked, which had to have had a bonus chilling effect for the Skins they hunted.

While Rath moved in for the kill Zan hung back, for once letting his General take the lead while he watched his back. He let Rath work whatever issues he was having out on the foolish hostile Skins. Panting, Rath finished off the last of the current group they’d met that night, taking an instinctive step away to avoid inhaling a mouthful of the dust created by the Skins’ husks disintegrating.

He looked back at Zan who merely waited patiently, eyes roving and probing the streets, shadows, windows, and rooftops of the alley for any further sign of danger. Rath found himself suddenly thankful and grateful both that his best friend was here with him. That his best friend was here as his friend, not his king, or his sister’s lover, or as his lover’s brother…but as his friend.

“Duke, ya wanna drink?” Rath gave Zan a devilish smile, who nearly groaned at the look on Rath’s face.

Ava…Lonnie, please forgive me, Zan silently pleaded while his mouth smirked and replied, “Tight.”



“Whew, who’da thought dat decorating would take so long?” Ava grumbled good naturedly, grinning all the while.

“Yeah, bud don’t it look good?” Even Lonnie, Mrs. Nazi Queen of Planning herself, looked wonderfully exhausted in that good way only gained by having worked hard. Never had their old, smelly home looked like someone’s actual home.

Both girls grinned at one another, pleased at what their hard work had accomplished.

“Dis gonna be da best end o’ da year celebration ever!” the littler blonde exclaimed while her eyes twinkled their excitement. She was bouncing on her toes and Lonnie smiled indulgently.

They hadn’t had much reason to celebrate in the past on the whole, and she was thrilled that Ava was having such a good time, even before the actual celebration part.

But still…a party wasn’t a party without boys and some great celebratory sex. And she had an outfit that would curl a mistletoe on it’s toe and hopefully, help patch things up with Rath. Speaking of whom…Lonnie cast her eyes to the entrance, hoping to see a familiar mop of unruly hair or even the edge of a scowling frown.

She wanted to apologize, she shouldn’t have laughed, though even Ava couldn’t believe that Rath wanted to be serious about anything that didn’t have to deal with sex or killing something. Though she did agree with him on one particular point – Lonnie with her ‘game’ face on was to be feared and wary of.

“So…when do ya’s thinks dey’s gonna git back?” she tried to ask as casually as she could.

“Don’t worry, Lons…da boys will love dis!” Ava tried to reassure her sister friend.

“What. Da. Hell. Is. DIS!?” the slurred command brought both girls’ attention back to the entrance where Rath and Zan stood…swaying. Both men were staggering and holding onto each other – not a good sign.

“Looks like somethin’ exploded and died,” Rath snorted as he looked with bleary eyes around him. He scowled and batted at some ribbon, the action further unsettling the two who clung, no, supported one another.

“Yo, are you two’s drunk?” Ava’s eyes bugged out as she sniffed delicately, and Lonnie scented the air herself, only to be hit with the foul odor of several mixed liquors.

“No, fuckin’ way,” Lonnie shook her head even as she tried not to gag on the stench. One or both of them had thrown up at some point, the bitter aroma tainting the air in the small confine of the old subway station.

“Iz not drunk,” Zan protested, looking offend until he took a step unsupported by Rath and smack dab into some garland that anyone sober could have and would have known to avoid.

“What da fuck! Rath, yo, da vine monster thingie’s attackin’ me!”

“Iz got ya back, duke,” Rath raised a hand and blasted the ‘vine monster’, to which Zan yelped as it came close enough to singe him.

“Blast the thing tryin’ ta kill me not join it!” he glared unsteadily, holding up the smoking remain of garland.

“Zan, der’s more watch it!”

“Boys, NO!” the girls shouted in chorus but their cries went unheeded as the boys ‘protected’ their home from the ‘evil plant thingies.’ If Lonnie and Ava hadn’t been so horrified, it would have been funny, and it might still have been if the following hadn’t occurred. Zan, going after the ‘mother of all fuckin’ vine monsters’, tripped and stepped on some presents while Rath who’d been right behind him, fell over him and knocked the tree over.

Immediately, the lit candles on the end of the branches lit the homemade paper ornaments and garland chain made of construction paper. The fire caught on to some presents still trapped under the tree, and the room was soon awash in the light of the flame and the thick oppression of the smoke as the tree was too green and fresh to properly burn.

“Nooo!” Lonnie yelled, eyes turning from her normal dark chocolate to black, then deepening to molten amber as the rush of power could be felt even in the boys’ inebriated state.

“Enough!” Vilandra shouted, sending a blast of pure power and energy outward. Zan and Rath both staggered as their bodies were alien mojo’d from intoxicated to sober, while the fire and mini fires were put out. Ava waved her violet glowing hand and the air gradually cleared of smoke though all four still coughed with the residual traces.

Silence fell as the four stared at the destruction, wreaths and garlands and candles and glass and those funky knickknacks were all in some sort of broken, ripped, or blown up state. The tree gave a sizzle and a pop, while a plume of smoke drifted lazily upward from several of the presents.

“You…fools!” Lonnie’s harshly choked cry startled everyone. Her eyes were suspiciously moist as she glared at the two holding their aching heads.

Her fierce glare crumpled as the last part of the destroyed garland that had ‘attacked’ Zan earlier fell off the wall, taking the little thumb tack that had been holding it up with it. That was the last straw and Lonnie burst into tears and fled the room.

“Uh,” Zan opened his mouth but one look at Ava put a halt to that real quick.

“How dare you,” she hissed each word, spearing them each with her glare. The air crackled and hummed with the energy she held, her whole body shaking as she fought not to release the malevolent power. Her blue eyes seemed that much darker and glowier.

“How. DARE. You. Clean this up and SILENCE!” Ava’s command cut through the fog of instantaneous sobriety and startled the two into obedience.

“Don’t even try to speak,” she continued, drawing her height up to it’s fullest. “Lonnie came up with dis Christmas idea so we’s can have an actual Christmas fer ourselves…and you two assholes had to ruins it n’ all our hard work by fightin’ n’ gettin’ drunk n’ then completely destroying it! You wills clean dis mess up n’ not bothers us fer da rest of da night. Fer da first time, Iz ashamed of ya. Both of ya.”

Ava finished her ultimatum and spun about, her back rigid and every inch of her the Queen she used to be. She followed after Lonnie and the door to Lonnie’s room slammed with finality.


CotDL Part 7

~~~

Good gravy…I have been working almost everyday since I accepted this challenge and now it’s down to the wire to finish this up before the deadline…tomorrow! Yikes!

Your usual disclaimer and all applies: not mine, there’s a ton of language to watch out for, and sexual innuendo galore – it’s the New York set after all and gosh, Brendan Fehr and Jason Behr for crying out loud!

:moment of silence for the salty goodness of J.B. and B.F.:

Okay, breathe y’all.

A/n: This should be the last part…enjoy!

~~~

“Yo, ya thinks dat Lonnie had ta speed up da getting sober part without lettin’ us keep da hangover?” Rath winced against the jackhammer trying to drill its way out of his skull.

“Yeah, Iz thinks she did,” Zan admitted, nursing his own splitting, spiked head in his hands. Both males stared at the closed door, normally so pathetic looking, but now seeming as impenetrable as a fortress complete with moat, turrets and boiling oil. Only the princesses in the tower were the dragons you had to be afraid of.

“We’z fucked up so bad dis time,” Zan hung his head, Ava’s words now coming back and he just realized what it all meant.

“No shit, Mr. Sensitive,” Rath growled, but his pained eyes never left that closed door. He reached out tentatively to that special place in his mind and heart where only Lonnie stayed and found himself cut off, literally. She had shielded the bond so he couldn’t sense her thoughts or even her moods. Never had she ever done that, and if Rath hadn’t had the sense that Ava and Lonnie were in the next room, he couldn’t have told her where she was.

Meanwhile, Zan forced his gaze away from the door and looked around, really looked this time. He suddenly wished for another drink, swearing to himself at the scene before him. Even in it’s destroyed state, you could tell someone – Lonnie and Ava – had put a great deal of thought and real effort into the whole thing.

“Damn,” he swore softly. “Dey’s did dis all fer us.”

He bent down to retrieve the box that he had stepped in off his foot. Movement on the bottom of the box let him know whatever was inside was broken, and he caught the corner of the tag barely holding on to the ripped up side, flipping it around so he could read.

To Rathard; Love Vilandra.

“What?”

Zan startled at Rath’s harsh question, then realized he must have read the nametag outloud.

“Uh, dis is yours,” he shoved the torn box into his friend’s hands and then looked away, getting up.

Rath frowned and scowled at Zan’s leather clad back but turned his attention to the gift in his hand. Carefully, he reached inside leery of the glass he heard sliding against the bottom. There was something rectangular and Rath pulled it up. It was a picture frame made out of pewter but treated to look like wrought iron. The frame had vines, leaves, roses and skulls to form the outer latticework but it was the middle that drew his attention.

It was one of the few pictures the group had taken, and in this one, Rath actually looked…happy. Rath and Lonnie were standing, facing each other, but it was the look on their faces that captured the eye. There was a tender look and a softening around the lips and eyes while Rath gazed down at the willowy brunette he held by the waist. Both were smiling and Rath startled as he realized they looked like a couple in love, a normal, completely and madly in love couple. One of the few moments Rath had given in and treated her as if she were some fragile, delicate princess who needed her knight in leather clad armor. Her response to him that night was unbelievable.

“Vilandra, mi amour,” he murmured as he reached to run one hand over the broken edges of the remaining glass. There were frosted words imprinted on the bottom half of the glass, and Rath barked out a laugh in delighted surprise upon reading them: There Can Only Be One.

He was pleased and a little embarrassed at this reminder of the time all the aliens had watched the entire series of Highlander at the local electronics and movie store. Rath had gotten a kick out of the phrase and he still chuckled every now and then when he thought of it. His Lonnie sure knew what to get him.

“We’s gotta do somethin’ fer dem,” Zan spoke quietly from his spot on the other side of the room, and Rath tore his gaze off the picture in his hands to look at his friend. Zan was standing, holding some of the garland in his hands, as far away from his body with a look of distaste as if it were something poisonous.

Rath snorted, as the words ‘evil vine monster thingie’ seemed to pop up and not leave his brain. But he restrained himself…something told him the angry women in the next rooms

“What ya have in mind, duke?” he cocked his head, strangely reluctant to part with the picture in his hand.

“Somethin’ special. Dey did dis fer us,” Zan jerked his head at the ruined room.

“Like what?” Rath rolled his eyes. Somethin’ special didn’t tell him jack.

“I dunno…da girls like skatin’ n’ we’s hasn’t taken dem in a while.”

“Yeah, duke, like Iz gonna ice-skate,” Rath scoffed.

The reason they hadn’t taken the girls ice-skating, aside from the dirty looks they got, was that Rath had a little trouble staying on his feet. It was like as soon as he touched the ice all his natural grace and prowess went AWOL. While embarrassing it had been the resulting fight afterward as a group of young men, one in particular, called out to Lonnie asking if she wanted to skate with a real man and not the ungraceful lump beside her.

They'd been banned from the rink and had just barely escaped getting caught by the police, who had been called the same time as the ambulance, to take the fucker and his friends to the nearest hospital. Not that they were life-threatening or anything...a few broken wrists, snapped kneecaps, busted ribs, and bloody noses, nothing too serious.

“Yeah, ya’s right,” Zan tried not to smile and turned his back but Rath knew.

“We’z could get in costume,” Rath tried out suggestions, as he gently set his present on the couch and joined the cleaning effort.

“As what?”

“Well, some girls really dig Santa, maybe we’z could rustle up a suit fer ya. Ava might be one of dem freaks dat like Ole’ Saint Nick.”

“Iz not putting on a Santa suit fer anyone!” Zan scowled, trying not to shudder noticeably.

A few Christmases back, Zan had got mind warped by one of the little bastard Nicky’s fellow traitorous Skin into believing he was Santa Claus, and he’d come to his senses to find himself surrounded by three prostitutes and no memory. Luckily Ava had interrupted them before anything could happen, and it was one of the few times that the little blond had lost her temper. For the most part, Ava was sweet and easy to please –figuratively- and rarely let someone make her mad. But that night Ava had blown up and only intervention by the other three had rescued the streetwalkers from being barbecued. As interesting as a jealous and territorial Ava was, she was also dangerous, and Zan hadn’t been completely sober from the mind warping haze to enjoy it.

Rath chuckled and the two fell silent while they worked. Every once in a while they’d look toward the door, but nothing stirred, and disappointed they’d get back to work. Far into the morning they worked, fixing broken furniture, salvaging what they could. Tired from a night of killing Skins, getting drunk, being Lonnie mojo’d into sobriety, and cleaning an obliterated living room left them exhausted and the pair dropped to sleep right where they stood last.



“It’s been two days n’ dey still haven’t spoken to us!” Zan growled in frustration.

“Actually, fuck you and bastard were speaking last Iz heard,” Rath shrugged, but there was no glee in his smart aleck remark. Two days and the girls had barely said two words to them, clenched jaws and freezing glares had been their response to anything on the boys’ part, and they had taken to sleeping in Lonnie and Rath’s room.

“Yeah, a Merry Freakin’ Christmas to dem, too,” Zan huffed, crossing his arms and continuing his pacing in the living room floor.

Rath was still thinking of the separate sleeping arrangements. So no sex and that should have been punishment enough, Rath thought irritably.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Suspiciously, his hair was freshly washed and cut, the sideburns and goatee neatly trimmed, and he was in a set of clothes that was actually freshly laundered. The faded black cargo jeans molded to his body like an old friend and his ribbed a-line muscle tee was a deep forest green that brought flecks of natural green and gold out of his eyes.

He wore a sleeveless button up overshirt that he left unbuttoned that was tucked in and made out of metallic gray and black colors, the stiff material woven in a loose weave to imitate chain link. A matching the leather belt and heavy silver belt buckle fit snugly around his waist and his usual black Doc Martens were polished and gleaming extra bright while his favorite leather wrist cuff with the blunt spikes punched in grace his right wrist. Incidentally, Lonnie had given the cuff to him some time ago and he rarely took it off if ever.

Zan was similarly decked out, though his ‘Christmas’ suit was black carpenter pants, leather spike encrusted belt, leather biker boots, and a red sleeveless fishnet shirt tucked in. The leather bondage cuffs buckled on his wrists matched the choker on his neck. He had put a blunted spike in his little used chin piercing, and both ears had every available piercing filled, five in all. Two small silver hoops on the bottom of his left, two in the bottom of his right, and one on the cartilage of his right ear. The ever-present barbell had a new captive bead at the end, a tiger’s eye, and his right nipple had a hoop pierced through.

He had foregone his usual spikes and opted instead after washing and drying it he allowed it to hang loose, some of the fringes falling to cover his eyes somewhat. He’d kept the five o’ clock shadow, adding some for his ‘mustache’ and around his chin, though everything was trimmed short and wouldn’t be so stubbly or rough. He looked like a walking ad for one of those modeling agencies to sell some cologne or cigarette thing by using a ‘rugged’ GQ man look.

They had made sure that Lonnie and Ava were out before springing into action and quickly they transformed the living room. Hopefully, their efforts would be appreciated.

“Da Christmas Nazi strikes again,” Rath grunted, taking in all that they had done, and found he was pleased with their efforts. A twinge of guilt hit him, reminding him this must have been what the girls had felt, before he squashed it.

Now wasn’t the time for being squeamish. He had a mate to seduce in apology.



“We’s haven’t spoken to dem in two days,” Ava pointed out and Lonnie growled slightly, quiet enough that the humans couldn’t hear, but Ava wasn’t human nor was she intimidated in the least. In fact, if her pursed lips and irritated blue gleam of her eyes were any indication, she wasn’t happy either.

“Yeah, dey was stupid and yes, dey had to pay. But don’t ya think it should be time to get over it?” Ava arched a brow in challenge.

Lonnie frowned and Ava expelled an annoyed breath. Honestly, sometimes Lonnie was so much like Rath at times it was amazing they had stayed together for so long. Then again, didn’t some humans say that the longer a couple was together, the more they’d act like each other?

It didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that Ava missed her mate. Sure, Zan had been an idiot that was a given. But Ava would have to be blind, deaf, stupid and another galaxy away in order not to see that he, and her brother, had been trying to make things up to them.

As much as she would have loved to stay mad, the simple fact was she couldn’t, not for very long anyways. While still pissed that her decorating had been royally messed up and that Zan had actually been stupid enough to get drunk with her buttfruit of a brother, she recognized the humor of the situation and held back a smile. The look on Zan’s face when he got tangled in the garland had been priceless, and unbidden the smile broke forth, along with a chuckle.

Lonnie tilted her head inquiringly and Ava’s grin slunk wider across her face to match the sly look in her eyes.

“[/i]‘Vine monster thingies,’[/i]” she stated and even Lonnie couldn't stop laughing. The two laughed for some time, releasing all the tension and hurt of the past few days, and gradually they calmed down.

“Well?”

Lonnie caught her breath and sighed at Ava’s persistence. The pixie was a booger to deal with when she caught hold of something.

“Well?” she questioned the smaller girl back; inwardly grinning at the irritated look she received.

“Vilandra,” Ava growled and Lonnie stiffened.

“Fine, Ava,” she huffed, scowling at the smirk across the little blondes face.

“Let’s go home to our boys.”

“Yeah, to our boys,” Lonnie murmured but Ava was already eagerly out the door.



“Yo, duke, dey back!”

Both men scrambled into position, carefully arranging themselves into casual nonchalance, but that was betrayed by the tension in their shoulders and the pounding of their hearts.

“Dis betta work, Zan,” Rath growled softly and Zan snorted. Anything further was halted as the girls came in.

“Zan, Rath,” Ava began but her voice trailed off and her eyes widened. Lonnie, coming in behind her, nearly ran into the petite girl. She opened her mouth to say something but her eyes were drawn to a pair of green and gold-flecked eyes and everything else just flew away.

“Rath,” Lonnie whispered his name, almost like a prayer. Her eyes raked his form hungrily – two days with no sex affected her just as much – and she was shocked and pleased at seeing his neatly groomed self.

She had to fight not to step backward as the force of his power hit her, and only the most stubborn part of her pride kept her from keeling over, either back or in his arms as he rose from the couch where he lounged. His moves were liquidly inhuman, and he stalked toward her like the soldier he was, and oh God he was even dressed to kill.

Lonnie held her spot and just watched with wide eyes the predator came toward her. He invaded her personal space, the closest they had been since That Day, and still she let him. He looked like he was going to eat her alive and she wondered at the strange feeling that wanted him to.

Slowly, so she could see it and move away if she wanted, he lifted his cuffed arm and reached so his fingers played against the smooth of her cheekbone, followed the curve of her jaw line, up past her ear and behind her neck. The trail left a burning fire wherever he touched and even in places lower where he hadn’t. Yet.

Rath’s lips curved into a soft smile at her reactions and Lonnie gazed entranced. He hadn’t looked at her like that in a long time and she swallowed painfully, quivering in excitement about what would come next.

“Merry Christmas, Vilandra,” his husky voice set her heart tripping and unconsciously she tilted her head in response and he took the proferred olive branch eagerly. This was the first time she’d allowed him so close, to touch her like this, in days and like a starving man he captured her lips. But while his instincts screamed at him to take, he was gentle but in control, and took his time not to tease, but to please.

It must have worked because when he came to his senses sometime later Lonnie was pressed against the length of him and kissing him back so ardently he wondered how he was going to make it to the night’s end. Sometime in that kiss, Lonnie had torn down the walls between them, both mental and literal and he could feel her inside him once again. And he knew she had forgiven him.

“What was dat fer?”

Rath took pride in the breathlessness that voice asked him with, but he wasn’t going to gloat just yet.

“Ya is under da mistletoe,” he whispered in her ear, pleased at the shiver that visibly ran through her.

“Iz am?”

Dazed. She was dazed. Rath didn’t stop the smile that came then; he really had to work to make her that dazed anymore, not since the very beginning when they were still learning each other’s bodies and hearts and minds did he see that look.

“Yeah. Ya is. C’mon, if ya stand here much longer we won’t makes it,” he promised.

“Okay,” she nodded and let him take her hand and lead her inside. Neither Rath nor Lonnie were surprised to find Ava straddling Zan on the couch, mouths and bodies fused together, even as Ava’s hips ground rhythmically in time to Zan’s thrusts.

“Fuckin’ is more enjoyable witout da clothes on, bro,” Rath smirked and both Rath and Lonnie chuckled at the growls cast their way.

“Rath,” his sister growled and turned electrical blue eyes glowing with her power on them.

“Ava,” he smirked back.

“Five by five, lover,” Zan caressed her back and the side of her ribs from under her shirt, and she shuddered, the press of power abating somewhat as Zan distracted her.

“We’s got a surprise fer ya girls,” Rath added and the girls looked at him curious.

“A surprise?” Lonnie cocked her head and Rath smiled.

“Yeah,” he ran his fingers on his free hand down the side of her face, the other keeping a possessive but gentle grip on her waist. Two days was too long not to have touched her or held her or had her by his side. “But first we’s has ta apologize fer our behavior da other night.”

“Rath…”

“No, he’s right Lonnie, we’s owe you both an apology. Evens if it was da vine monster dat started da whole meltdown process,” Zan smirked and the others laughed at his joke on his ownself.

“I’ll start first since it was my idea ta get drunk,” Rath hung his head. Instead of the shouting or hitting he’d expected, Lonnie curled herself around him and hugged him, much to his surprise. She laid her head against his chest and he closed his eyes, trying to keep the tears at bay even as he crushed her against him.

“Lonnie, Iz sorry. Ya jest had me so worried n’ Iz don’t do chick flick moments but what Iz did…”

“Rath, don’t worry, apology accepted. Iz coulda handled things better, but what hurt was dat you apparently didn’t trust me. Have I ever, in recent times, planned somethin’ ta purposefully hurt ya or anyone in our family?”

“No,” Rath wouldn’t look at her and Lonnie freed one hand to grasp his chin lightly with her own, forcing him to look at her.

“Iz loves ya, ya big oaf,” she smiled at him, “and ya’s forgiven.”

“Everything he said n’ more,” Zan murmured in Ava’s ear and the elfin alien gazed at her lover, serious.

“Iz wasn’t da best friend, or king, or protector, to let Rath get drunk, n’ den get drunk myself,” he shook his head. “N’ Iz certainly didn’t mean to wreck ya girls’ surprise n’ all. So, Ava, please forgive me?”

“Hows can Iz refuse such a plea?” the little blonde grinned and then recaptured her kings lips with her own.

Both couples were engrossed in the giving and receiving of smooches, and it was only when the lights on an automatic timer came on the tree did the girls notice that there was something in the room besides their men.

“Ya redecorated!” Lonnie stared in awe.

“Aliens!” Ava squealed while running over to the new tree and reaching a hand to touch the ornaments. One or both of the boys had created little alien heads and flying saucers and ray guns and stars into ornaments and had hung them on the tree. One of them, probably Rath, had altered the light bulbs so they were alien symbols that glowed, a little touch from their ‘other home’.

Looking around, they could see that the alien Christmas theme was carried on into the other decorations around the living room, and Lonnie giggled.

“This is amazing,” shelaughed, looking and smiling at Rath, squeezing his hand in silent thanks.

“Oh, n’ presents!”

The other three laughed at Ava’s childlike enthusiasm, and they came closer to gather around the tree where the few presents lay. Lonnie laughed again as she recognized some of the presents she and Ava had bought for the boys and each other, a little worse for wear but otherwise all right, delighted that the boys had somehow found the time to buy her and Ava some presents of their own.

“Dis is da best Christmas ever,” she sighed in contentment, curled around Rath on the one couch, a little white teddy bear who’s head slips back to reveal the alien head underneath clutched close like the beloved gift it was.

“Yeah,” Rath agreed softly, wrapping his arms tighter around her and tugging her closer. He buried his nose between her neck and shoulder, inhaling the scent that was uniquely his girls, and he smiled.

“Christmas on da down low ain’t so bad, yo,” he quipped, laughing even as the others groaned and Ava threw a pillow.


In the shadows, just past the entrance, a man smiled softly in the soft glow of the ‘alien’ Christmas.

“That’s my kids,” he grinned proudly and then Kal Langley shifted to blend with shadows, the sound of his charges laughter following after.



THE END!