Guess the Cat's Out of the Bag

Hide in Plain Sight

Ch. 4—Guess the Cat’s Out of the Bag

Summary: He was her assignment. She was his escape. Together, they were unstoppable.

Note: This takes place in Dark Angel timeline, mostly in season 2. The year is 2021 and the location is Post-Pulse Seattle.

Pairings: Asha/Alec

Disclaimer: I definitely don’t own any of these characters.

Thank you to MaraLiz for your beta assistance. It is much appreciated!

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Asha stared at Alec for a long moment. He asked his question again, a little more harshly, but she just shook her head at him, “Not here.”

She let him keep the sword, since it seemed to make him feel better, and turned to leave the alley, knowing that he would follow her. Once they both reached the end of the alley, she pulled out a small cylinder. To anyone else it would look like pepper spray, but with a single spray into the alley, the mist that came out would magically transport anything demonic directly to the holding tanks in Cleveland for proper disposal. After one or two minor mishaps, Willow had managed to modify it to not have an impact on the small portion of a Slayer that was demonic in nature. She heard Alec gasp beside her as the demons de-materialized in front of them.

“Let’s blaze,” she told him, navigating her way toward his apartment swiftly. She could feel him staring at her for the entire three blocks, but he seemed coherent enough to hide the sword before someone noticed it. When she stopped in front of his apartment building, his intent stare became more of a glare, but he said nothing as she opened the door and walked straight up the stairs, coming to a halt in front of his door.

“Do you want to do the honors or should I just pick the lock like I did the last time I was here?” Asha asked him when he made no move to open the door.

“I knew someone had been here,” he finally spoke, pulling the key out of his pocket. As soon as they were inside, he reached for the gun she knew he had stashed near the door, moving in a blur and bringing the weapon to bear on her.

“Are you from Manticore?” he demanded, flicking the safety off.

Asha knew that he hated that she had him at a disadvantage, but she had to weigh his discomfort and the possibility that he might shoot her against the safety of the Slayers she was responsible for in Seattle, not to mention the hundreds of other active Slayers in the world that could be in danger if he decided to try to use his abilities for a less than worthwhile purpose. He cleared his throat to get her attention and made a motion that told her to ‘get on with it.’ She took another moment to consider the man in front of her and made a quick decision that she hoped wouldn’t result in disaster.

“I’m not from Manticore,” she admitted.

“But, you aren’t human either,” Alec accused.

Asha sighed and unzipped her jacket. He watched her carefully, but she knew that this would take a while, so she might as well get comfortable. She hoped that taking off most of her weapons would make him feel a little less suspicious, but seeing as he knew she had the same kind of strength that he possessed, she had a feeling that it would take more than a little disarmament on her part.

“Can we sit?” she asked. “This may take a while and the heels I had on before were not particularly nice to my feet.”

Without waiting for an answer, she moved into the apartment and only paused for a moment before sitting down on his couch. It was shabby and second or maybe even third hand, but didn’t seem to have any insects crawling on it and the dust would wash off. She made sure that she sat on the side that didn’t have the hidden knife, knowing that he would object if she added a weapon in her proximity before giving him an explanation. He was on edge, and looked like he might bolt at the first sign that she was going to try to take him back to Manticore.

“Okay, we’re sitting. Now, talk,” he ordered her as he sat down across from her. From the way that he was sitting, though, she knew he could have the blade under the cushion out and at her throat in less than three seconds.

Dad, Aunt Willow, Aunt Buffy…hell, everyone would be pissed that I had already given up so much ground, Asha chastised herself, but she had already decided to trust him and if he needed his weapons to feel protected, she could let him think he was safer with them.

“I’m not from Manticore,” Asha repeated, then added new information, “And, I am human. Well, mostly.”

“What does that mean?” he asked her. Alec had lowered the weapon slightly, but his eyes still held a lot of distrust that Asha knew would only be alleviated if he believed her story.

She offered him a sardonic smile, “Do you really think that Manticore was the only badass organization out there churning out super-soldiers?”

“Is that what you are? A super-soldier?” he questioned.

“Kind of, except instead of it being a government facility that created me, and the others of my kind, it was a Witch. A very powerful Witch,” Asha began, stopping only when Alec snorted.

“You expect me to believe that? Try again and this time, let’s work a little more in the land of reality.”

The gun was once again raised at the ready. Oh goody.

“It’s the truth,” Asha said simply. She pulled her feet up underneath her and hugged her knees, knowing that she looked incredibly innocent when she did that. She continued, “You saw those demons in the alley. You fought them. They weren’t anywhere near human and they were going to kill you. I stopped them. It’s what I do. It’s what I was made to do.”

“So, let’s say I believe you and that demons exist. If you were made to kill them, as you say, what exactly are you?” he asked.

Curiosity had begun to creep into his eyes and maybe even a little bit of hope. Of course, the hope might have just been that he had finally found someone whose insane life was on par with his own.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound, Asha thought, using one of her Aunt Buffy’s favorite sayings. “I’m a Slayer. Originally, we were called Vampire Slayers, but we’ve shortened it to just Slayer since vampires are really the least of what we deal with since the Pulse. So many of the demons that operated under the radar were forced onto the streets as people took over even their barely habitable homes. A lot of them are benign, but most of them would just as easily make ‘people stew’ as go to the grocery store.”

“So, you kill these demons?”

“Well, not all of them. And, we prefer ‘slay.’ But, why would I kill benign demons? Most of them have been around a lot longer than humans have and they just want a place for themselves in the world. If I run into a demon that is just displaced, I have the resources to find them new lodging or help them get to safety if they have been compromised. Some of them have even joined our cause, although they tend to work remotely because most of them make Slayers itch a little.”

Alec smiled slightly before asking, “Do I make you itch?”

Asha laughed briefly, knowing where he was going with his question, “No, you don’t have any demon in you, but I can tell that you aren’t completely human.”

With a sigh, Alec tossed the gun onto the table and ran his hands through his hair. He took off his jacket, finally, and hissed as he moved the material over his shoulder. Asha moved to help him, immediately examining the slice from one of the demon’s talons across his skin. It didn’t look infected, but she should check it for any signs of poisoning.

“Wait here for a minute,” she instructed him. “I’m just going to get my jacket. I have something in there that will help.”

She knew that he was startled by her speed as she made her way across the apartment and returned to his side in record time, but it felt nice not to have to hide her abilities from him. She rummaged through her pockets until she finally found a testing vial. She opened the cap and broke the seal to release the testing liquid into the bottom of the vial. Using the cotton swab attached to the cap, she gently swabbed the wound and replaced the cap on the vial. Asha set the vial down on the table and told Alec, “It’ll take about five minutes to run through the demonic poison catalogue, but I think you’ll be okay. Do you have a first aid kit? I can clean and stitch it up for you, once the test is negative.”

Alec met her eyes, and after a long moment, she could see the decision as he made it. “In the bathroom,” he told her, stripping off his jacket and shirt with barely a wince as she disappeared down the short hallway.

She returned with not only the first aid kit, but also a basin and clean wash cloth. She placed the basin of hot, soapy water down on the table next to the vial and began to lay out all of the items she would need to clean and stitch his wound.

“I imagine that it would heal completely in a day or two on its own, but at least this way, it won’t hurt as much and you won’t be bleeding everywhere while it heals,” Asha commented. She picked up his shirt and wrinkled her nose, “I don’t think this is salvageable, but I don’t think your jacket was slashed. You must have moved and the demon just caught you inside of the jacket.”

“At least there’s that,” Alec agreed, then looked at the vial, “So, what’s it say doc? Will I live?”

Asha rolled her eyes, “Well, that remains to be seen, but the wound is clean.”

As she began to run the washcloth along the sliced skin, Alec held completely still. He didn’t even move when Asha had to dig a small fragment of his shirt out of the gash. She worked carefully, and gently, making a neat row of even stitches. She was about half-way through when she decided to ask him about an earlier time she had observed him at Crash. “I’ve told you a lot of my secrets tonight. Will you answer one of my questions for me?”

“I guess that’s only fair, plus you have the needle in your hand,” Alec conceded.

“Did you mean what you said to Max at Crash that time? About non-Transgenics being a good distraction, but that you could never see them as more than a distraction? The way you said it, it just seemed so…cold,” Asha questioned.

Alec took his time in answering, but when he did, Asha could see that he meant his response, “I meant what I said, but not for the reason that you think.”

“Okay, so enlighten me,” Asha instructed, tying off the last of the stitches. She placed a sterile bandage over the gash and taped it down, then sat down on the edge of the coffee table, moving the basin out of the way.

“Well, you know about Transgenics. We’re stronger, faster, more durable and a hell of a lot more dangerous to be around than your typical human being. Just having a job and casual friends puts those civilians in danger. Getting involved with one is just plain irresponsible,” Alec explained.

Asha went a step further, voicing what she knew Alec couldn’t, “Plus, it would be hard to hide your true self from your lover and eventually you would have to see either fear or hate in their eyes.” People were a lot more open minded before the Pulse, Asha lamented.

“Yeah, that,” Alec gruffed. He looked away from her then, as if it hurt to admit any injustice against him, “It’s not like we asked to be lab rat super-soldiers.”

“You didn’t? I was three. I think that’s old enough to make an informed decision, don’t you?” Asha joked, allowing the small piece of her that resented her Calling to come through.

“Three years older than I was,” Alec commented, rotating his shoulder as he checked the stitches.

“But, what’s done is done and I can either ignore my Calling and let people, innocent people, die, or I can listen to the voice in my head and the instincts that run through me and save them,” Asha told him, closing her eyes as she felt the Slayer rise to the surface. She knew that he felt the change in her when she looked at him. His eyes widened and dilated slightly in response to the pheromones she knew she was unintentionally giving off at that moment.

“Sorry,” Asha apologized, offering him a sheepish grin. “I got a little carried away. You aren’t the only one who has to hide in plain sight.”

Alec licked his lips, and leaned forward. He pulled Asha toward him so that she straddled his lap. She saw his eyes nearly roll back into his head as he drew in a deep breath near her neck and she forced herself to keep her eyes open and watch him as he whispered against her lips, “I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.”

His kiss was a challenge and she met that challenge with one of her own. The water basin went flying, drenching the floor with sudsy water, as they crashed onto the coffee table. All thoughts of restraining herself flew out the window when he attempted to pin her to the ground and she flipped him over. As they wrestled on the wet floor, disrobing each other became much more interesting as they had to disarm each other at the same time. He was suitably impressed by the blade strapped to her inner thigh and she was equally impressed with the razor-wire tucked into his boot.

By the time they finally made it to Alec’s bed, they had left most of the living area in shambles, which Alec carried her over with her legs already wrapped tightly around his waist. Asha was thankful that Alec had condoms in his nightstand because she had no idea where her jacket was to get the one she carried with her. That was the last coherent thought she had as Alec pressed her down into the mattress and she reveled in the feeling of having someone above her, inside her, that wouldn’t break if she didn’t hold back. She met his every thrust with one of her own, tugging his lip into her mouth with her teeth and smiling when he growled in response.

They were both close, and when Asha bit down on the side of his neck, he spasmed, squeezing the breast he had cradled in his hand, sending her over the edge with him. For the first time, Asha didn’t have to worry about injuring her lover with her powerful legs, so she rode out her orgasm clutching Alec to her and using her ankles to pull him deeply inside of her.

When he moved to pull away from her, she held him in place on top of her, until he relented, and just moved to rest his head in the crook of her neck. She fell asleep with his breath teasing against her skin in a gentle rhythm that belied their earlier passion. Her last thought before she succumbed to slumber was, I’ll worry about tomorrow when it gets here.

The End

End Note: It is with great sadness that I have decided not to continue this story at this time. The next chapter was going to be called The Morning After, but it doesn’t seem that there are too many people interested in this story, so I’m going to end it here. My sincere thanks to all of the readers who have come along for the ride. Darkcharlotte was the only one that reviewed the last chapter, so this chapter is dedicated to her. She said I was a tease, though, so I ended it with a small payoff.