((Contains material of an adult nature.))

"Oh, come on, I didn't do anything!" The well-known call of the miscreant caught about to be in the act. This particular miscreant was new in town, and had made the mistake of picking pockets in the Marketplace under the beady eyes of one of the more diligent divisions of Rhy'Din's Watch. Two of whom were currently manhandling her through the streets toward a particularly imposing looking squat edifice of a building, clearly designed as much to keep people in as to keep them out. Lifted pretty much off her feet, the thief was bundled inside and taken down through several floors of increasingly high security cells, finally tossed into one all of her very own. As the cell door slammed, she spun about, shouting a fascinating profanity after the guards who were still ignoring her.

As their footsteps died away, she smirked to herself, leaning back against the wall. "So ....burly, ham-fisted, and don't ask questions," she chuckled softly, checking her person for her unique items. They hadn't even searched her. "Useful." A chitter from the heavy fall of her hood against her back made her smile deepen. "All right, Sloti, get out here." A moment later, a ferret was climbing down her arm to drop onto the floor, investigating their new surroundings with off-putting intelligence. Between them, woman and animal inspected every inch of the cell, from the thick stone walls, the lack of handy windows, the sparse bed, and most importantly, the barred cell door. Which was locked in a manner she couldn't even begin to make sense of. She stared at the mechanism in dismay. "What is wrong with this place" You can't lock a thief up in a cell without a lock!"

Muttering to herself, she crouched down to stroke Sloti's little bullet head. "Go see if you can find a key or something, find out how the door opens," she told him, watching as the sleek body slipped easily through the bars and disappeared out of sight.

Four hours later, she was still in the damned cell. Sloti had been caught twice sniffing around and returned to the cell, threatened with being collared if he didn't stay put this time. Leia gritted her teeth, bored and irritated. Well, she had one more thing she could do. It was only in case of emergencies, though; the spell cost a frightful amount of gold she'd have a hard time stealing to replace the little scroll she withdrew from her boot. Not to mention the fact that she didn't really want to go back to Port Blacksand. Not while the Moon Dogs had her scent, anyway. But needs must; anywhere was better than being locked up.

Opening up the scroll, she scanned the words, lifting Sloti up into her hood once again, and in the careful tones of the heavily coached, she intoned the incantation. There was a spark, a crackle, a sense of dislocation ....and she landed heavily on the bed of the same damned cell, swearing vehemently at her rotten luck. "Blasted place is spell proof!"

As it so happened, it was Jensen's day off. Well, every day was his day off really, so long as Clay wasn't snapping orders at him to do this or do that. His latest orders were, "Lay low and wait for further instructions", which, as far as Jensen was concerned, meant he was free to do whatever the hell he wanted, until he was told otherwise. The team had dispersed for now, each of them going their separate ways, until they received orders to come together for whatever Clay had planned next. As it so happened, Jensen wasn't going to be around to receive those orders, but he didn't know that yet. It was Saturday night, and Jensen was sprawled in front of his laptop, a beer close at hand, wearing nothing but shorts, boots, and a t-shirt bearing the outline of two women kissing. It was lewd, or so he'd been told, but he didn't really care. The only light in the room was that cast from his computer screen, his fingers tapping the keys, an amused smile on his face. Now, most single men who wanted to pick up chicks would find themselves in a bar on a late Saturday night, hoping to meet the girl of their dreams - or at least, the girl they were hoping to take home for a night, but instead of a singles' bar, Jensen found himself trolling one of the many online chat rooms he frequented when he was bored, this one entitled "Hot Men Seeking Hot Women" and was currently chatting with someone going by the handle of "Hot4U". She claimed she was legal, blonde, and horny, and that was good enough for him.

He smiled to himself as his fingers flew across the keys and he read her latest entry. Miss Hottie had him hot and bothered, and she was just about to tell him where she could meet him when the computer screen blipped and he got the dreaded Blue Screen of Death. "Oh, no!" he shouted as he straightened his slouch, smacking the side of the monitor, though he knew that wouldn't help. "Son of a bitch, not now!" He hit the reset button on the laptop and that was when everything went crazy. There was blinding flash of light that seemed to come from nowhere, and he instinctively made a grab for the laptop, as if it was his baby, tucking it against his chest. "What the hell..." was all he was able to mutter before in the blink of an eye he found himself somewhere entirely different.

The erstwhile magic user jolted upright from her uncomfortable sprawl on the hard bed in her cell, her eyes seeking out the small shape of her ferret companion. "Did you hear that?" she asked Sloti warily, interpreting the whisker twitch as a yes. "So did I." Rising to her feet, she moved to the barred door, peering out into the hallway with a faint frown. "Go find out what it was." With a quiet chitter of agreement, the ferret leapt down off the bed and scurried out through the bars once again, peering into the cell from which the sound had come. "Hello?" his mistress called, the word corresponding with a tilt of the creature's head as he looked the newcomer up and down curiously.

On the floor of the adjoining cell was sprawled a man in a black t-shirt, plaid boxers and work boots, looking more than a little shell-shocked at his sudden and expected trip through the Nexus, of which he as yet knew nothing. One minute he'd been chatting online and the next, boom! Down the rabbit hole....Or something. Maybe he'd been struck by lightning and died. Was this heaven or hell then" No, that didn't make sense. He hardly had time to look around when he heard a woman's voice and he turned to find a small creature peering curiously at him from beyond an iron-barred wall. Prison' What the hell was he doing in prison' And why was there a....ferret....with a woman's voice....staring at him' "I'm sorry....Did you say something?"

"Yes, I said something. I said hello." Unbeknownst to him, the feminine conversationalist was pressed up to the bars of her own cell, straining to watch as the ferret inched into the adjoining cell. As far as the newcomer was concerned" He was conversing with a ferret. "I didn't hear the guards come down - how did you get in there?"

"Oh, my god, I've lost my mind," he muttered to himself, scooting away from the ferret on his rear as it came closer. "Don't get any closer. I....I've got a gun!" From the looks of things, he didn't. All he had was a computer hugged tightly against his chest and his meager clothing, nothing else that could be seen. No wallet, no phone, no money, no anything. Just him and the laptop, the clothes on his back, and the horn-rimmed glasses resting against the bridge of his nose.

The threat didn't seem to have any effect on the ferret. The sleek furry body loped closer, sniffing curiously at his boots and bare legs. "What's a gun" Is that supposed to scare me" Because, you know, you're locked up in here, same as me."

He scrambled to his feet, and backed away until he found himself up against a stone wall with nowhere else to go. It wasn't so much that he was afraid of the ferret exactly, as he was in a state of shock at the situation he found himself in. "What the hell are you talking about' You're a talking ferret! Oh, my God, Jake....Do you hear yourself" You're talking to a ferret. I don't know where the hell we are, but we're not in California anymore." He paused a moment, his face turning pale. "I'm answering myself in the third person. I really have lost my marbles." He turned to the ferret again with a titter of nervous laughter. "I've finally lost my mind. Clay always said I was crazy. I guess he was right." He slumped down dejectedly onto the cot, and glanced around at the prison cell. "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen..." he crooned in an unnaturally low tone.

There was a quiet sound of protest from the other cell, but she did shut up as he put it, moving away from the door to thump down on her own hard cot of a bed. "What the hell is he doing?" she wondered aloud. "There's no Firewall here, I would have seen it when I came in. And what would that have to do with getting a door unlocked?" She sighed, leaning back against the wall, and closed her eyes. "Fine," she called out, deliberately interrupting him again just for the hell of it. "I'll just sit here pouting and looking pretty, then."

"You might want to make yourself comfortable. This could take a while," he muttered from the other cell, his face a mask of concentration. It all depended on how quickly he was able to sort out the codes and other crap that kept the prison secure. He didn't think it would take too long - anywhere from half an hour to half a day, depending on his luck. So far, his luck hadn't been too good, as far as he was concerned. "So, where are you from?"

"Define comfortable in a prison," she answered cheerfully, scratching her fingers against the rough blanket beneath her to call Sloti up onto the bed. The ferret jumped up, swarming up onto her lap to curl up and wait with her while whoever it was did whatever it was to get them out of wherever they were. "I was born in Fang," Leia answered the question to fill the silence. "But I spent most of my life in Port Blacksand. That's in Allansia, if you know where that is. What about you, where are you from?"

"Fang?" he repeated, pausing a minute in his typing or more accurately, hacking. "Never heard of it." He'd never heard of any of the places that she'd mentioned. "Me" I'm from Boston originally. Haven't lived there in a long time though." Silence ensued but the for tappity tap of his keyboard.

"Boston?" Her tone was identical to his; she'd never heard of his city, either. "Doesn't sound like anywhere I've ever heard of. You move around a lot, then?" What is he doing" It sounded like some of the more complicated spells she'd seen Nicodemus do, lots of wand tapping and whooshing noises, minus the swearing and, well, the whooshing. "What are you, a mage or something?"

"A mage" You mean like Harry Potter?" he echoed, chuckling to himself. "No, I'm a..." He paused, as if he wasn't quite sure. He'd never been asked to label himself before. "I'm a tech specialist. Computers, communications, you know....Stuff like that." He sighed, slightly annoyed as something didn't quite go the way he wanted it to, swearing under his breath. "It's encrypted. This might take a while."

Leia blinked slowly, the confusion beginning to give her a headache. "I don't think I understood any of that," she admitted with a rueful smirk. "Communications, though ....do you mean you train messenger pigeons and inscribe traveling spells for letters of writ, that sort of thing?" His next comment just made the confusion worse. "You're working in a crypt?"

"Lady, what century are you living in?" he asked as his eyes moved over the code in front of him and he typed something else in, finally starting to make some progress. "You know what cell block this is?" he asked, bringing up a grid of the prison which looked as confusing as a map of New York City to anyone who hadn't ever been there.

"It's the 17th year in the century of the Dragon," she said, sounding as though he should know this. "Are you sure you're not a mage" You talk as though you've drunk one too many wisdom potions and fallen out the other side." She looked down at Sloti, gently scratching the animal's head as he napped in her lap. "Cell block" We're five levels underground, I counted them on my way in."

"I am definitely not in Kansas anymore. Not that I ever was. I was in L.A. Hiding in plain sight." He chuckled to himself. "Just like James Caan. That's me." Tappity tap tap. "Okay, level five." He sighed as he pulled up a diagram of the place. "That's a lotta stairs. You know the way out?"

"You're speaking in tongues again," she laughed, giving up on making sense of the more outlandish things he was saying in favor of just finding it amusing. "I hope you're as sexy as your voice sounds, by the way. I'll be disappointed if you're not." She gave him a moment to digest this before answering his question. "Honey, I'm a thief. I'd have been dead a long time ago if I couldn't recall an escape route on whim."

That gave him pause. "Sexy?" he repeated. He couldn't remember when anyone had ever called him sexy before, but then, she hadn't called him sexy exactly. She'd said she hoped he was sexy. "Of course, I'm sexy! I ooze sexy. I am like the James Bond of computer hackers. Please. And my name's not Honey." He tapped away again, quiet for a moment before he chuckled to himself, as if this was all just some game. "There we go. Come to Papa, baby. We're almost there."

"Again, I understood everything up to you oozing sexy," Leia laughed, laying her head back against the wall behind her. "And I'll say it again, I hope you do. Laying low can be so boring when you can't think of anything to do." She paused, turning her head toward the door hopefully. "Almost where?"

There was another silent pause for a moment as if he was trying to absorb what she was saying. "Wait....what? Laying low" Are you talking about getting laid to pass the time" You're not like..." He shook his head, shaking off the thought. With his luck, she was either ugly or a man in drag. "You are so gonna owe me for this."

"Well, you're not just going to abandon me out there as a fugitive from the law, are you?" she asked, her grin once more very audible as she teased him. He didn't sound old, he didn't sound as though he took himself too seriously. She'd heard bipedal footsteps, and he seemed to be using hands with fingers, so it was a safe bet that he was a compatible race. "Hardly very gentlemanlike, after all. I might need to be looked after."

There was another pause as he thought that over. For all he knew she was a serial killer. "What are you in here for?" He was nearly there, nearly to the end of the game. He was going to have to make a decision and make one soon. He had no plan. He didn't know enough about this place to come up with a plan. Besides, he'd never been good at giving orders, just taking them. He was trying not to create a mental image of her in his head. She had a pretty voice, but he knew from experience that meant nothing. He'd been set up on enough blind dates to know how that went. One way or another he had to get out of here, figure out where this Ride-in was and how to get home.

"I told you, I'm a thief," she chuckled softly, proud of what she was despite the fact that it had landed her in jail for the time being. "I was picking pockets in the Marketplace and one of the Watch saw me. Which reminds me, I need to stop off in the store room on the main level and get my stuff back. These people have no respect for the laws of finders keepers."

"Finders keepers?" he echoed. "Picking pockets isn't the same thing as finding something someone dropped on the ground." He frowned a moment, though she couldn't see it, realizing not only that he had no pockets, but that he had nothing at all. No clothes but those on his back, no wallet, no money, no phone. No way home, wherever home was. He got very quiet on the other side of that wall as he contemplated this, still not quite understanding how he'd come to be here or why or how he was going home. Maybe he'd wake up and realize it was all just a dream.

"Yes, it is. If someone is stupid enough to wear their money pouch where anyone can see or touch it, and not perceptive enough to notice that someone has their hand in it, then they deserve to be robbed," was her answer. "I find things in people's pockets. Or their homes. Sometimes behind locked doors, too." She paused, a smirk appearing in her voice. "Wait a second. You're in prison, and you're judging me?"

Smirking as she watched the guards out the other stairwell, Leia slowly turned back to face Jensen where he was peeking out from under the bed, one arm through the door, one hand on her hip. She grinned down at him. "They certainly are. Come on, let's get out of here." She raised a hand to her hood, lifting Sloti out and setting him on the ground. "Find my pack, Sloti, we'll be right behind you."

Jensen clambered out from under the cot, scowling unhappily and muttering in complaint, "I'm gonna need a shower. And clean clothes." He didn't even want to think about what he might have just laid in. He brushed himself off, just for good measure, and tucked his computer beneath one arm. "Lead on, MacDuff," he quipped, though she more than likely wouldn't catch the reference.

"Leia," she corrected him with a faint smirk, her eyes on Sloti as the ferret slipped from the cell. "Come on, we'll have to be quick." Her hand caught Jensen's free fingers, small but startlingly strong, and she pulled him along with her, moving with remarkable silence. Pushing open the door to the first stairwell, she looked upward, listening for the sounds of fighting. "No one's fighting on the stairs, good," she murmured. "Go on, Sloti, up." Hand tightening in that of the human male now almost completely at her mercy, she surged after the ferret, cloak swaying with every step.

Who was he to argue" She was gorgeous and he was at a sudden loss for words, though his training kicked in soon enough as he followed at her heels. He could gawk over her later. First, they had to get out of here. He still wasn't quite sure what was going on here, though he understood what little she'd told him. That tables had turned - he was, for the moment, at her mercy. "I wish I had my gun," he muttered to himself. That would have made things a little easier, but maybe he'd find one somewhere along the way.

Three floors up, things suddenly got a lot more interesting. The doors burst open as they were passing, disgorging prisoners and watchmen into the hallway, flailing with weapons and fists, fighting for their freedom or to incarcerate their foe, one or the other. Leia's hand was wrenched from Jensen's as she was knocked against the wall, pressed there hard with a forearm hard against the back of her neck, not big enough or strong enough to fight back from that position.

Without a gun or any other weapon, all Jensen had was his hands and feet to defend himself and Leia with, and one other thing. Instinct took over, and he swung the the computer at the other man's head, hoping to knock him out, but not kill him. It was hard to tell who was friend or foe, especially given the fact that he was a stranger in a strange land and had no idea what to expect here. Half the bodies they were facing didn't even seem to be human.

The laptop made contact, not quite hard enough to break anything organic or man-made, but enough to get the man's attention. He released Leia, turning to Jensen with a snarl, raised a fist ....and abruptly howled in pain as a small, furry body shot up his trouser leg and bit him somewhere personal. Half slumped against the wall, Leia coughed to restore her breath, pushing up as their attacker from the melee staggered away, calling Sloti back to them. Her hand reached toward Jensen. "Keep going," she gasped uncomfortably. "Follow Sloti."

He was about to react to the man's snarl, either with another swing of the only weapon he had or with a duck of his head when the ferret took care of things for him. "You all right?" he asked, swinging a concerned glance toward the girl who'd already made quite an impression on him without hardly trying.

She coughed hard to clear her throat, knowing the bruise on the back of her neck would be brutal for a few days to come, and staggered upright to follow after the ferret, reaching out to pull their companion with them. "I will be better when we are out of here," she told him. "Two more levels, and a stop to get my kit. Then we're out. Go ....go!"

He hesitated for a brief moment, as if he didn't believe her, and then he was turning back around to follow the ferret wherever he was leading them. It sounded crazy, but he'd reflect on crazy later. Right now, there was no time to think, only to act.

The sounds of fighting grew more intense as they reached the level they were aiming for. There were already multiple holes in the doors that led onto that main floor, and given the sounds of gunshots and bodies impacting against walls and floors, there was a pitched battle going on to determine who walked and who didn't. Pausing a moment to catch her breath, Leia released Jensen's hand. "This door opens onto a wide hall," she told him. "There is a passage ten feet or so on the left. The store where they put my kit is behind the third door on the left in that passage. That is where I am going."

He heard the sound of fighting, the unmistakable pop of guns shooting and he made a grab for her arm. "Not alone you're not. They mean business up there. Is this kit of yours important enough to risk your life for?" he asked, giving her a pointed, serious look. Though he might have his silly skittish moments, this was not one of them.

"Weapons, food, and money' Yes, it is." She offered him an exhilarated grin, so close to freedom she could almost taste it. "Losing your nerve, are you?" It was a tease, and a decidedly cheeky one, capped off with something that was either going to fry his brain or spark off a little more motivation. She nestled close, smoothing her hand over his hip, pressing her body into his, painting his lips with her breath. And if those eyes weren't screaming come to bed, he needed to change his prescription. "Keep up, if you can," Leia breathed, and abruptly whirled away, bursting through the doors and diving for the passage she had told him about in a hail of gunfire.

She was steaming up his glasses is what she was doing, not to mention steaming up other parts of his body, as well. He almost whimpered like a baby, or like putty in her hand, but he didn't have time before she was whirling away from him and diving through a hail of bullets. It was hard to tell who was friend and who was foe. They were all foes in his opinion, the only friend the girl with the pointed ears. "Oh, Christ," he sighed, pressing his back up against the wall, before taking a deep breath and following her into the hallway, shielding his head with his laptop for good measure as he ducked across the hallway, scurrying to follow her into the passage. He felt a stinging sensation rip into his right bicep and knew he'd been hit, but it didn't do much to slow him down.

When he reached the passage, she had already encountered a couple of problems, namely a pair of escaping thieves who were trying to pick the lock on the storeroom door. With a yell, Leia threw herself at them, one small woman against two men who were the same size as Jensen. She twisted, dropping to slide along the smooth floor and scissor their feet out from under them, too accustomed to fighting dirty on the streets than most people would like to admit to. As the men feel, she changed position, locking her legs around one chest and squeezing, as Sloti darted in to bite at the other, to keep him occupied while his compatriot passed out from oxygen deprivation.

He turned the corner to find her struggling with a couple of men who looked nearly twice her size to him. Quickly sizing up the situation, he went for the one that Sloti was chewing on, tossing a fist at the man's chin to take him down. "Maybe you should pick on someone your own size," he told him as his fist swung that way, despite the fire in his upper arm. Once the man went down, he spun around to find her squeezing the air out of another. "Quit fooling around, Leia! We have to get out of here!"

"Keep your hair on," she grunted back at him, loosening her legs as her prey passed out, pulling herself onto her feet. Her eyes flickered to the blood staining his arm, but it didn't look life-threatening. "Sloti, find us an exit," she told the ferret, who scuttled off down the passage, away from the harshest sounds of fighting. "And you ..." She turned to flash Jensen a smirk, twisted, and kicked the lock the thieves had been working on. It broke under the blow, the door swaying open easily. "See if you can find some kit of your own. You won't last ten minutes without at least pants and a cloak."

In the gloom of the room they'd slipped into, the outline of a window was clearly visible, letting in the last vestiges of daylight as night began to fall. Leia paused, turning to Jensen as he caught up with concern on her face. "Of course," she told him, opening up the buckle on her satchel. "Just slip it in. We're almost out, and I'm pretty sure there's an inn not too far away. Are you all right?"

He wasn't sure how her satchel worked, and at the moment, he didn't really care. All he wanted was to free that arm up so he could move more freely and with as little pain as possible. "Yeah, just peachy," he replied sarcastically as he slipped the computer into her bag. Seriously, how did she think he was doing" He'd just been shot, for God's sake!

Her eyes narrowed at the sarcasm, one hand skillfully re-buckling her bag as he drew his hand away. "Try not to pass out until there's a bed to pass out on," was all she said, though, moving over to the window. There was a lock on it, but she pulled a delicate little instrument from a darker patch on her corset, and in less than two seconds of picking, had it unlocked and the sash raised. "Short drop," she warned him, gesturing for him to go first. "Sloti!" Putting her hand down, she raised the ferret up and into her hood once again, where he held on tightly.

He wondered if she really needed him at all. She seemed to have gotten this far mostly on her own, with little help from him, except maybe for knocking one of those big goons out before. He was going to pay for that later with swelling and bruises, but those were the least of his worries. He cast a glance behind them to make sure they hadn't been followed before crossing to the window beside her and peering down into the growing darkness. "Me" Why do I have to go first?" he asked, preferring to take up the rear. "You want me to catch you?"

"Scared?" she challenged with a grin flashed in the growing dark. "I have to lock the window again, or they'll know for sure someone got out this way. Unless you can do that on a windowsill four inches wide?" It was an interesting challenge, and certainly one she'd enjoy watching him attempt in other circumstances. "You can catch me if you like," she added, leaning in to breathe against his neck as she spoke, since it seemed to have worked so well the last time. "I won't even mind where you put your hands. But you gotta go first."

He arched a brow down at her as she leaned close, having an obvious effect on him, evidenced by the audible gulp. Was she just teasing him or was she for real, and if she was, how'd he gotten so lucky' He had to be dreaming. It didn't seem like a dream, but then how could he possibly know the difference" "If you want me to jump, then you need to get out of the way," he reminded her, since she was standing between him and the window.

"Darn, I knew there was something I'd forgotten to do," she smirked back to him, thoroughly enjoying the way he seemed to fold at just a little bit of proximity. He was fun, even in the very short time she'd known him, and Leia did like a bit of fun. She wondered if he would stay fun the more used to her he got. Stepping smartly out of the way, she swept a hand toward the window. "After you."

"Thanks," he told her, sarcastically again. "Could have at least given me a kiss for good luck," he remarked, peering at the ground below. It wasn't a long jump and should be a piece of cake, if not for his arm. It was all a matter of knowing how to land. He glanced at the assault rifle on his arm, debating what to do with it.

"I'll give you a kiss when I'm on the ground with you," she turned the sarcasm around on him innocently, glancing toward the doorway into the room. "We don't have time to waste here, you know." Following his gaze to the largest of the weapons he'd taken from the store, she frowned a little. "Want to put that in the bag, too?"

"Really?" he asked, brows lifting hopefully for a moment before following her gaze to the doorway with a frown. She was right. They were running out of time, and he wanted to be away from this place, the sooner the better. "No, I've got it," he replied, worried he might need the monster of a gun when they got to the ground, unsure what they might still encounter before they made their escape. He checked to make sure the safety was on and turned back to the window, leaning forward and dropping the weapon to the ground with a low thud. "Here goes nothing," he said as he climbed onto the windowsill and launched himself to the ground, dropping with a second thud and a low groan.

The alley he'd dropped into was sharp with the tang of estuary salt, offering a view at one end of a busy street, and at the other a river that appeared to cut straight through the city he'd found himself in. From the street end came the sound of reinforcements for the Watch and guards arriving from other Watch houses, signalling that whoever was still fighting for freedom was about to lose. Above Jensen, Leia slid herself out onto the narrow windowsill, bracing herself as she carefully lowered the window back into place. Quite how she did it was beyond any but a master thief to understand, but by the time the window was set in place again, the lock was ready to click over, for all the world as though it had never been opened. Looking down into the alley, Leia paused. "You all right?" she called down to Jensen, lowering herself until she hung from her fingers. "Mind your arm!" And she let go, prepared to land on her feet if he didn't follow through with his offer to catch.

He was in no shape to catch her and it didn't appear she needed his help in any case. He had collected the M-16 and slung it against his left shoulder, clutching his right arm with his other hand, his face pale in the moonlight. "There's....two moons..." he observed weakly. Either he wasn't on Earth anymore or he was seeing things.

She landed lightly, letting out a soft grunt of effort as she turned to find him staring up at the sky. The paleness of his face couldn't be entirely down to the injury, not with an expression like that. She stepped up to him. "You really don't know where you are, do you?" she asked in surprise. She'd assumed he was a native of this place, but clearly he was not. Now, however, was not the time for considering his dislocation in space. "Hey ....we need to go," she reminded him, glancing up at the window she had just dropped from, reminding herself of the motivation she'd handed out before he'd jumped. Her fingers curled into his collar, pulling him down to her for the promised kiss.

He blinked out of his observance of the unfamiliar sky as she moved off in front of him and tugged him down for a kiss that took him more by surprise than anything else he'd experienced since his arrival in this strange place. He was more than a little surprised by the kiss, brief as it was, brows lifting as he returned that kiss with one of his own, neither passionate nor chaste, but warm and welcoming, if a little shocked.

Drawing back, she offered him a smile that really was amazingly confident for a woman who'd just broken out of jail. "I keep my promises," she told him. "Come on, we just have to cross the river. There's an inn on the far side that's dirt cheap and clean." The tip of her nose nudged his briefly before she stepped back, turning to lead the way toward the riverside path, turning right in the moonlight to head for the nearest bridge.

He turned quiet as he turned to follow her, confused and in pain and a slight state of shock. It was going to take a few days to get his bearings and sort out what the hell had happened. Where was he" How'd he get here" Was he stuck here or could he find his way home? He clenched his jaw, gritting his teeth as he followed her lead once again, having little choice. This clearly wasn't his world, and he had no idea where he was or what he might find here.

As they stepped out into the main thoroughfare, he got his first taste of how cosmopolitan a city could be. The woman with him was tame compared with some of the weird and wonderful races that jostled them on the bridge, everything from minotaurs to blue-skinned aliens. Aware of his injury, Leia slipped herself to Jensen's side, using her own body to protect him from being knocked in that particular arm as she drew him away from the Marketplace and the Watch-house. His weapon wasn't commented on; apparently it was fairly commonplace for people to go armed, as evidenced by the sheer variety of weaponry on display.

He found himself openly staring at the various people he passed, many of them looking like something he'd seen on a television show or a science fiction movie. "I'm really not in Kansas anymore," he remarked out loud, more to himself than to anyone else. No one paid them much heed, seeming to melt into the crowd with relative ease. Hiding in plain sight, as he'd called it. He was starting to feel a little woozy by this time, not only the bullet that was causing it but the aftereffects of his trip through the Nexus, which had been something of a shock to his system.

"Not glass....glasses," he corrected, all the color draining from his face, as she eased his jacket off and lifted the sleeve of his shirt. "Is it bad?" he asked as he turned his head to look at the bullet wound. Though there wasn't much of it, the sight of his own blood made him woozy and before he could warn her, he was falling back against the mattress, out cold.

"Oh, wait - oh!" Leia reached out a little too late to prevent him from falling back, left straddling a bleeding, unconscious chunk of gorgeous. She sighed through a resignedly amused smirk, looking over at Sloti, who was sniggering to himself on the windowsill. "Just my luck, huh?" But since he was out, she might as well get to work ....and a little mischief.

Within an hour, Jensen was healed following a liberal application of the potion she'd mentioned, and just happened to be completely nude, too. Even his glasses were gently removed from his nose and set within his arm's reach on the cabinet beside the bed. And a few minutes later, Leia was curled under the covers herself, just as nude, hugging his arm around herself as she rolled him onto his side, pressed against her back. Laying her head against the pillow, she smirked to herself. His wake up would be highly entertaining, however he reacted. And with that prediction in mind, she settled herself to sleep, confident that no one was going to come looking for them tonight.

The hours ticked away, and Jensen rested peacefully, unaware that the girl he'd helped escape a prison cell had not only healed him, but was snuggling up against him, both of them as naked as the day they were born. It wasn't until well past midnight that he stirred from that deep sleep, groggy, disoriented, thinking he was back home in his own bed, nice and warm and cozy. He sighed contentedly, smiling as if he'd just woken from a very pleasant dream. He'd been dreaming about a girl with violet eyes, the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. He wrapped his arms around what he thought was a pillow, snuggling closer when he realized something was very wrong. He pried an eye open to peer into the dark, unable to see much of anything, furrowing his brows as he smoothed a hand against the "pillow", realizing it wasn't a pillow at all. His eyes popped open and he jerked upright in bed, pulling away from the warm body he was lying beside and rolling onto the floor with a thud and a groan.

Leia had begun to stir when his arms had tightened about her, drawn more easily from a sleep that was in part the reverie of her paternal bloodline and lighter than most achieved. And she came fully awake when she felt his hand smoothing against his "pillow", wickedly pouring a moan into the darkness as she purposely arched her back, pressing into his touch and back against him in the same movement. His abrupt retreat brought her eyes snapping open, fighting not to laugh as she heard the thud of his landing, sitting upright herself, one hand holding the sheet to her chest, displaying a modicum of modesty in the darkness. Her shadow was clear against the light from the window, her head turning toward the shape of him on the floor. Unbeknownst to him, she had innate night vision, a form of natural infrared, and she could see him as clearly as though it were daylight. "What are you doing down there?"

He blinked in the darkness, narrowing his eyes to squint up at the form that wasn't much more than a dark shape against the moonlight streaming in through the window. He recognized her voice and realized it hadn't been a dream, after all. It was either that or he was still dreaming. "Oh, my God....You're real!" he exclaimed, feeling a sudden chill and appalled to find himself awkwardly naked. "What the hell..." he muttered, uncertain if he should turn on the light to find his glasses and his clothes or keep it off so she wouldn't see him naked. "What happened to my clothes"!" Unaware that she could see him in the dark, as well as in the light, he made no attempt as yet to cover himself.

Unlike him, Leia was fully aware that humans couldn't see well in the dark, and he'd told her his eyesight wasn't good without his glasses. Thus, she allowed herself to grin in the darkness for a moment before letting a tremble of hurt disappointment creep into her voice. "You ....you mean you don't remember?"

"Remember what?" he asked, sounding like he was on the verge of panic. Of course, he remembered. How could he forget a face like hers, not to mention a killer body to go along with it' He thought she'd been a dream, too good to be true, but there she was, staring down at him from the bed. His brows knit together in the darkness, as a thought hit him like a ton of bricks. "Did we....No, we couldn't have. I would have remembered....I think." He peered up at her, wishing he could see her better, but thankful for the darkness. "You didn't....you know....have your way with me while I was passed out, did you? Because if you want to, I'd really like to be awake for that....If it was to happen....I mean, if you wanted to..."

Oh, this was priceless. She just couldn't resist putting the icing on the cake, though he was probably going to be mortified with what she was about to say. "You don't remember!" she accused him, fighting not to let the smile become audible through the very deliberate wobble in her voice, endeavoring to come across as innocent and hurt. Hell, if he thought she was a dream, she could tweak a detail or two, right' "You don't remember me putting my hands on you, lying under me in this very bed" You were so overwhelmed - I thought it meant something! Or ...." Leia waited just long enough before adding with an obvious snicker. "Or do all human men pass out at the sight of their own blood?"

Now he was really confused. Had they or hadn't they' He thought he'd remember something like that, unless she'd taken advantage of him while he was unconscious, in which case, he'd like a second chance while he was awake. Unless she was into that sort of thing. That was probably it. Just his luck he'd run into a girl who had that kind of kink. Still, he had to know for sure. "Was....was it good" I mean, did you like it' Do you think we could....you know....while I'm awake?" he asked, her teasing going right over his head, frowning and taking her remarks to heart. He scrambled to his feet, feeling slightly insulted, hands on his hips in the darkness, still not realizing she could see him as clear as day. "I didn't pass out. I fell asleep. There's a difference."

"Fell asleep so hard that you didn't even notice I had to cut your arm open to get whatever it was out of the wound," she pointed out with a smile, her eyes alight with appreciation for the view he now presented to her. A purr resounded from the shape of her in the darkness, deliciously feline and feminine, and all kinds of covetous. "Get back here and show me the difference, then. Unless you're getting off on being such a tease."

"Cut my arm open?" he echoed, glancing at his right bicep where a bullet had lodged in the muscle. He ran his fingers over his upper arm, feeling only a small jagged mark where the wound had been. "It's gone," he said in obvious awe. Whatever she had done to him, the pain was gone, along with the wound. He looked back at the feminine shape on the bed, hearing a purring sound come from her that was making his body react in ways he couldn't control. "Me?" he asked. Well, of course, him. There was no one else there that he knew of....except maybe that ferret friend of hers. "You want me?" he repeated, in astonishment.

"Do I have to spell it out?" she asked, that sultry smile still very audible as she looked him up and down. The view in the dark wasn't anywhere near as good as the view in daylight would be, but she had to start somewhere. The purr rose from her throat again, the shape of her shadow shifting as she dropped the sheet from her chest, crawling toward him over the bed. "Is it really that hard to believe?" Her arm reached out, trailing fingertips up along the outside curve of his thigh, smoothing her palm over his hip as she rose onto her knees, choosing to make it absolutely clear for him. "I want you. And I won't take a no, when I'm pretty damn certain you're screaming yes."

"No..." he replied to the first question, watching her dim outline in the dark as she moved toward him, that purr sending a shiver of desire rippling against his spine. Or maybe he was just cold. "I, uh..." As much as he liked to boast, it had been too long since he'd been with a woman, any woman, much less one that had violet eyes and pointed ears and purred like a cat. Was this the reward she'd been promising him' Well, who was he to deny her? He shuddered when she touched him, his body betraying him, as he reached for her hand, a little bit nervous, despite his big words. "I don't want to disappoint you."

"I want to know you, too....and not just in the Biblical sense." He looked up at her with an unmistakable look of longing on his face, sadness even, torn between his friends and family back home and a sense of duty to them and this lovely, incredible creature he'd just met. "I can't say I wouldn't enjoy it, but promises made under duress don't mean much." Her kisses, even the chaste kisses, were doing something to him, making him ache inside with a longing the likes of which he'd never felt before.

She blinked, confused by a word she had no reference for. "Biblical?" she repeated curiously, shifting once again until she lay not beside him, but on him, her forearms laid against the pillow either side of his head, her nose almost touching his. She wanted, and she had never yet come across anything she wanted that she could not steal. It was just her luck that the one person she wanted so much would have a misplaced - in her opinion, anyway - sense of duty to the life behind him. She pouted her disappointment. "You will find your way home, to this place with can zass and eliktronik, and you will not come back."

He wasn't usually given to serious moments. He'd learned a long time ago to hide what he was feeling behind a facade of sarcasm and humor, hiding behind the jokes and the witty remarks, but he wasn't as clueless as he seemed or as unfeeling. "You could come with me," he suggested, already knowing that it was impossible. She'd never fit in. She'd always be looked at strangely, curiously. It would be just his luck that he'd fall for someone who wasn't even human. God, what was he thinking" They'd only just met. Love at first sight' Or was it just lust' "I could fall in love with you," he admitted with a small frown. For some reason he wasn't sharing, the thought of that scared the hell out of him.

"This upsets you?" Leia asked unhappily. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on here. It had started as a game, something to enjoy, to pass the time. She hadn't expected that pillowing with him would strengthen something she hadn't even known had begun. Her father's people called it bonding, a joining of souls to the point where emotions and sometimes even thoughts could be shared, but she had never thought she would be able to do it. She was only half elf, and yet it seemed the elven blood in her veins was far stronger than she could ever have imagined. "I am not afraid to change worlds," she told him bravely. "But your world seems so very different to what I know. I would be a burden to you."

"I've never..." He trailed off, starting to tell her that he'd never been in love before and that no one had ever been in love with him - at least, as far as he knew. He'd had a few flings over the years, but nothing serious, nothing lasting, nothing like what he felt with her, and he'd only known her a few hours. "You wouldn't be a burden, but..." He had that sad frown on his face again, as he looked up at her. "You're not human," he pointed out. It was a statement of fact, not a question. "It wouldn't be safe for you there."

"Not safe?" She blinked, genuinely surprised by this comment. "Is your world so very dangerous, then" I can take care of myself, I have my sword and daggers, I know when to fight and when to run. I can hide as easily as Sloti can bite. Not even an orc can outrun me if I have reason to be swift." She paused, a faint frown of her own appearing on her face as she thought over what else he had said. "You have never seen anyone with elven blood before."

"No, no....You don't understand. My world....It's not like this one. You can't....walk around carrying a sword and daggers, Leia." He sighed, unsure how to explain it to her. "This place....what little I've seen of it....It's like something out of a storybook. There are no elves where I come from. No orcs, no magic." By that definition, his own world sounded very mundane and boring, but it was where he belonged. There was that heavy feeling in his chest again, and he realized it was sadness. Sorrow. Missing her already and he hadn't even left yet, not to mention that fact that he hardly even knew her.

"I'm not wholly an elf," she offered, trying to be helpful in the face of his growing distress. Distress that she realized she was beginning to feel an echo of, something that scared her more than she wanted to admit. "My mother was human." She shook her head, leaning down to kiss him slowly, teasing her lips against his, willing him to let the sadness go. "These aren't words for a warm bed and the cloak of night," she murmured, drawing her fingers through his hair, a single fingertip smoothing over the curve of his ear in quiet fascination. "Are ....are all humans as big as you?"

He would have said something, but she erased the words from his lips with another kiss, slow and languid. Though the kiss was meant to ease his mind, it only made him sadder. When was the time for words then, he thought' When it was too late" When he was already gone" "I..." He trailed off, suppressing the shiver that ran his back at her touch, wanting her again, unable to hide the aching need that was rising up inside him again. "Depends on what you mean by big," he replied, rolling her onto her back and silencing her questions with kisses.

She offered him a gasp to breathe in once again as she found herself once again on her back, covered by him as he kissed her again. The desire rose like a flood, spurred on as much by his rising need as her own, fed into itself and looped back until she had no real will but to answer it and no wish to deny him in any case. Her lips curved beneath his, welcoming him into her embrace as her hands smoothed down over his back. One slipped between them, wrapping the slender fingers of that small hand about a girth she already knew intimately enough. "This big."

He gasped for breath when he felt her fingers touch him in such an intimate way, a small smile forming on his lips, at last. He'd never thought of himself as being unusual or particularly attractive, but she seemed to like what she saw and who was he to argue with that' "We come in all sizes. I'm a little taller than average, I guess," he replied, flushing a little at the realization that she was not asking about his height. "Are all elves this horny?" he countered, brushing his lips against her cheek and leaving a trail of kisses against the side of her neck, lips drifting toward her ear.

She laughed, the sound wrapping around him in the darkness as she released him, returning her caresses to his hip, his side. "That wasn't quite what I was asking," was giggled against his neck, feeling her hair tumble out of his way as his mouth found purchase against her cheek and throat. She might even have answered his query about her sex drive ....if she hadn't realized just where those lips were heading. The purr rose from her throat as she arched beneath him once again, anticipation thrilling through her with restless delight.

Her laugh was musical, melodious, a warm happy sound that filled his heart with a flood of warmth and affection. He felt her breath against his neck, heard the purr that vibrated in her throat, and the heat of desire rushed through his body filling him with hunger for her all over again. He groaned against her neck, his lips finding an ear, brushing a kiss against the tender lobe, daring to take a gentle nibble.

How could he possibly have known exactly where her greatest weakness was" It was another thing handed down from her father, a sensitivity of flesh that made the lobe and point of her ear shockingly receptive to even the slightest touch. Lips and teeth were something she could not defend against, and the reaction was electric. The little half-elf in his arms tensed with a loud moan of unmistakeable pleasure, the grip of her hands turning her nails into his flesh for the briefest moment before she surged up to him, breathless with the heady spike of desire he'd so unknowingly given her.

He couldn't have predicted what the mostly innocent caress would do to her, and he couldn't ignore her reaction, groaning and shuddering as her nails dug into his flesh, if only briefly, spiking his own desire. Encouraged by her reaction to his lips, he trailed his tongue against the tip of her ear, curious to see what would happen, what her reaction might be. He reached for her hands, before she drew blood and linked his fingers to hers as he pulled them up over her head. Though he knew very little about her, he was slowly learning her, at least, in a physical sense, savoring every soft sigh, every moan, every purr - learning her, exploring her, memorizing her.

She didn't have the strength to resist having her hands drawn above her head and keep herself relatively quiet, not wanting to disturb others in the inn. It was a rough enough area that anyone pissed off with the noise would come looking to shut her up. But that didn't mean he was done out of her reaction. She actually whimpered, shuddering violently as his tongue traced the tingling point of her ear, her fingers gripping tight enough between his to threaten bloodflow as the delicate body beneath his own threatened to thrash about. Her toes pointed as she gasped for breath, her purring moans vibrating from her to him as her legs wrapped tight about his hips, her body bucking up while stars flew before her eyes. "Gods ....oh gods ..."

"No, it's not that," he replied, as gently as he could, trying to explain. "It's just the opposite." He reached up with his free hand to brush his fingers against her cheek. "I don't want to leave you. I want to get to know you better, but I have no choice. I have family back home, responsibilities." Christ, when had he cared so much about responsibility' He was as good as dead back home. He wondered what she'd say if she knew that. What would Clay say if he knew he'd gone soft for a girl" Hell, Clay did it all the damned time. "I want you. I just....I'm scared. That's all."

She gazed down at him in silence for a long time, searching that little press of vague feeling that felt like him, skimming from it the fear and confusion, the sadness. Her head tilted as she held his gaze, brows drawing together with not selfish disappointment, but concern, something wholly new for her to feel with any lover. Slowly, she lowered herself back down to him, respecting his wish that she not tease him for now, drawing her fingers through the frosted tips of his hair. "What is it that scares you?"

Now there was a question no one had ever asked him before. It had been hard enough to admit his fear, and now she wanted him to examine it further and explain it. He looked thoughtful a moment as he considered a reply to her question. "I don't know. Afraid of getting hurt, I guess. I've never really, you know..." He shrugged his shoulders, as if she might know what he was thinking without him having to say it. He'd never really had a girlfriend before, never been in a serious relationship. Oh, sure, there had been a few flings with women here and there, but nothing really serious. He'd never let himself get serious, or maybe they just hadn't stuck around long enough.

She frowned in the darkness, uncertain with a male for the first time in her life. She wanted him - she could feel that he wanted her - in a way that went far deeper than merely pillowing and desire. But part of that wanting brought with it a desire not to hold him if he did not want to be held. And she had no idea how to respond. She brushed her lips to his, stroking the pad of her thumb against his temple. "Do not be afraid," she whispered to him tenderly. "If such things as this, as us, are meant to happen, they will find a way. And if not ..." She had to pause, startled to find that the thought of him leaving had sent a pang of real pain through her chest. "If not, then there is no need to mourn," she lied quietly. "I know I will be in this moment with you until the day I die."

His eyes widened in the darkness as he gazed up at her, touched by her words, surprised by them even. No one had ever said such things to him before; no one had ever wanted to be with him the way she seemed to want to before. And then she mentioned death, and he, too, felt a stab of pain in his chest. She hardly knew him, and yet, they'd shared more in the last few hours than he'd ever shared with anyone before, it seemed. "I don't understand," he whispered up at her, as if he was almost afraid to speak. "You hardly know me."

"I don't need to," she whispered to him, her lips finding his once again. She knew such a statement would confuse him, that he was unlikely to believe her in any case, but she didn't know if she could explain a bond to a human who lived in a world without magic. A sensible woman would step back and refuse any further contact, knowing that each new level of intimacy would only make the bond stronger, but Leia didn't want to step back. If she couldn't have him, she didn't want to waste a lifetime in mourning. She knew what she was doing.

Her lips smothered his protest before he had a chance to speak. He wasn't sure what she was talking about, but he didn't want her to die. Not now, not ever, and certainly not because of him. He got lost in her kiss for a moment before taking her by the shoulders to physically pry her away from him, holding her at arms' length, his eyes shining suspiciously in the moonlight. "Leia, please....Don't talk about dying. I've never met anyone like you. I don't understand. Please....I need to understand."

She whimpered softly as he pulled her away from himself, the sound so young, so vulnerable, as to come from a completely different person. For a moment, she lowered her face to his chest, truly not wanting to share her suspicions with him, not wanting to make him feel in any way beholden to the strange half-elf he had known for less than a day. "My father's people," she said very quietly. "They do not marry. There is a thing called the bond, which can form with anyone at any time. It links souls and hearts for life. You do not need to know someone for it to begin, and the more time you spend with them, the more intimacy you share, the stronger it will grow. I ..." She hesitated, biting at her lip. "I can feel you, inside me. I think I am bonding with you."

He blinked up at her, as if he hadn't heard her right, as confused as ever. Bonding" With him' What was she talking about' Why him' He still didn't quite understand and wondered if she was just teasing him again, trying to get his goat. That had to be it. She couldn't really be bonding with him, linking her heart and soul with him, of all people" "Oh, I see..." He smiled, forcing himself to chuckle, though he wasn't really seeing the humor in it. "You're teasing me, right' That's a pretty good one, Leia. You almost had me going for a while there."

For just the briefest of moments, his rejection of the truth stung like a blade sinking deep. But this was a reaction she could cope with, a refusal to admit that she might be right. She forced herself to smirk, to laugh along with him, leaning close to nuzzle a third kiss to his lips. "Why are we talking?" she asked in a low purr of sound. "There are so many better things we could be doing."

It wasn't so much that he was rejecting the truth as it was that it was just so hard for him to believe. A half-elf girl falling for him, bonding with him, linking her heart and soul with his until the day she died. It was ridiculous. It wasn't just that he found it hard to believe that someone like her would want to be with him, but just the idea of it. It was the stuff of fairytales, not real life. She had to be teasing him; it was the only explanation. "I'm going to wake up and find you're just a dream, aren't I?" he asked, just as she nuzzled a kiss against his lips, his arms sliding around her, making no attempt to resist. If she was a dream, then he wanted to enjoy it as long as it lasted and then some. He let her take the lead this time, his fingers sliding against the curve of her rear and the small of her back. God, she felt so good, so real. If this was a dream, he never wanted to wake up.

Leia grinned against his lips, arching tenderly into him as his hand smoothed over her skin. "Would you like me to call Sloti, just to convince you this is really happening?" she offered, taking refuge in her teasing habits to soothe the pain that lingered deep inside. She shifted once again, nipping those purring kisses from his mouth to his jaw, catching his earlobe between her teeth to growl in a reminder and a warning of what he'd discovered about her. Some part of her caught a glimpse of how he felt her, how she made him feel, and she took her cues from that, following the spiking promise of his desires with kissing lips and smoothing hands, wanting to show him that she was the perfect lover for him. That no one else would ever compare. That was the bond, urging her to make him hers, and foolishly, she chose not to resist.

"Just let me dream for a while," he replied softly. He sighed contentedly as she kissed him and touched him, imprinting herself in his mind and heart and soul, though he didn't know it yet. He traced the curve of her hip, moaning in pleasure at the nibble against his earlobe, letting her tease him, do whatever she wanted to him. He didn't seem to be resisting in the least. Even if he was afraid, his heart was willing and his body ready. He'd never realized how alone he was until now, until he thought he might lose her.

As he had teased and tormented her, she did the same to him, taking her time as she trailed lips and hands up and down, over every inch of him she could reach, listening as much to the sounds he made at her touch as to the flicker of emotion, of passion, that was uniquely him in her soul and growing stronger with each passing hour. She had experience at making this last, though she did not yet understand that a human would only stand so much before taking matters into his own hands. But for now, he was treated to elven lovemaking, to the exquisite torture of the slow, burning build up that she was adept at offering, thrilling to each movement, each sound, each surge from deep inside. He was hers, her soul was screaming, and by dawn, she was determined that he would know that better than anything.