Exchange

[Skye LeCroix]

So, it was early when Skye had engaged her target. In fact, a lot earlier than she had anticipated getting off of work. She'd checked her weapons at the Guildhouse, except for her personal firearm, and made the drive home in an unprecedented amount of time. There was some stupid bullshit going on downtown so the whole area was packed, which left her 'back road' route free and clear. Their house was small, despite both of their somewhat impressive incomes, and recessed from the city by only enough for her to sleep without inhaling what felt like an oil slick and pizza all night.

She parked her black Nissan Titan in the drivway - this in itself was comical, because Skye was incredibly small next to the truck, and slung her duffle bag over her shoulder. Tonight was laundry night. The house was dark, which meant Nick was gone, because his own vehicle was missing from the spot in the drive. She had heard him on the phone before she'd left that morning, so she naturally assumed he was working.

Once she got inside, she used her senses to navigate the layout of the darkened home, and threw her bag on the floor in the laundry room. She kicked off her boots and took off her long-sleeved, fitted olive green shirt, leaving her standing there in green camoflauge pants and a sheer white tanktop/bra combo. It was sort of comical, actually, because of how utterly lazy she was being. Usually she'd have been changed and making dinner by now, but she felt lethargic. She sighed as she pulled her dirty, smelly training clothes out of the bag, and poured detergent in the wash.

While that was going, still half-clothed, she meandered into the kitchen and stood in front of the fridge, trying to determine if she was eating alone or not. She figured she should call, but then again, she didn't want to wait around for him to return her if he was busy, because she'd be pissed if she sat around and didn't eat. She opted finally for a leftover cut of chicken she'd barely eaten the night before at some restaurant they'd gone to, simply eating it and walking up the stairs to the bedroom like a teenager.

There was a small trail that began at the bedroom door of clothes - socks, pants, shirt, and finally in the bathroom, the rest. She hopped into the shower, chicken still in hand, and laughed at herself as she stupidly shoved the rest of it into her mouth before it got shampoo on it.  Between all of the scents in the house and the humid scent of conditioners and lotions, she managed to hear Nick before she scented him out, and hurried out of the shower before he came in and flushed the toilet on her. He'd done it before.

[Nick LeCroix]

Of course he'd flushed the toilet on her while she was in the shower.  She'd done it to him, and all was fair in love and war.  He loved her to death, but she could handle cold water until she jumped out, especially since she'd gotten him while he was all soapy.  He'd yelled and suffered until it warmed up again, having experienced worse about a million times in the past, but it was uncomfortable.  When he walked in the house this time, he wasn't going to risk it.

He needed his own shower, and he didn't want cold water.

Nick kicked his shoes off on the stoop outside, though he was going to have to drag them and wash them off before someone stopped by.  Anyone human might be a little worried that the shoes weren't just covered in mud, but also blood.  The shoes were nothing in comparison to the man, though.  His clothes and hair were actually DRYING with bloodied mud, and he wasn't really a happy camper.  It couldn't have kept raining so that he could clean up.  Nooooo, it had to stop raining and just stay all muddy where he got his guy, and that guy HAD to have a friend who just so happened to be a shifter.  A shifter from out of town, who just so happened to be the biggest wolf he'd ever seen.  He'd had to kill both of them to get the job done, and killing that wolf had required his lion form when the guy shifted, and rolling through the damn mud.  It was messy, it was all over him and mixed with the wolf's blood, and then he'd had to track the other asshole down again.  At least he'd been smart enough to sneak up and disconnect something in the engine before attacking so that there was no escape.

It didn't help now that he was all nasty.

"Oh, thank God you're done," he commented when she rushed out of the shower, poking his head into the bathroom without any worry that she'd mind him seeing her naked.  What difference did it make?

[Skye LeCroix]

She turned her head 'round over her shoulder as he poked his head in the door, and snapped her towel out like they did in the "Zest!" commercials before wrapping it around her thin frame.

"Of course, I learned my lesson the last time," she said, playfully irritated. She shouldered the door open and moved out into the absolutely, stupidly large bedroom. Biggest room in the house, by far, which was great, because her ginormous husband had insisted on a King-sized bed, which she still had not adapted to sleeping alone in. She'd taken to the couch those nights, where she could bury her face in his pillow and drift off.

"Eh!" she exclaimed, realizing what he was covered in. "Pigpen! I know I threw my stuff all over the house but it was clean!" Oh, Skye was so careful not to track anything on those carpets, even if they were mostly dark brown. It was, she had found, good at concealing stains, but still! She was sick of having them cleaned! She knew they'd had a "GET OFF THE RUG!" yelling match at least once a month, though both of them had been -trying- not to spend anymore than they had to on the shopvac.

"Laundry or...?" she asked, pointing to his clothing. They didn't really look salvagable. She sighed, though she did smile at him. He made her heart flutter a little every time he looked at her, even when he was making a face like that one he gave her for accusing him of being messy. God only knew what life would be like if he were a Pakana, but you know? Skye didn't care. He was her lion.

She slipped into her fuzzy yellow bathrobe and wrapped the towel around her hair, plopping down on the bed.

[Nick LeCroix]

He rolled his eyes, though he wasn't taking any of what she said to heart.  They rarely did.  "You know, you can't have the best of both worlds.  I either strip all over the floor like you did, or I wear the mess as far as the bathroom.  I left my shoes outside, but I doubt you want me to give the neighbors a free show on the front porch," he told her as she slipped past and into the bedroom.  He essentially traded places with her, since he took the final few steps into the bathroom and began to pull his shirt off.  Caked bits of mud flaked off of him, and he glared down at them as though they were offensive, but dropped the shirt and started peeling the still-damp pants off.

Close the door?  Why?

"I swear, wolves have to be the worst brand of shifter out there," he complained.  Most lions would have said 'hyena', but he was a special sort of lion who happened to have married a hyena.  It was....interesting.  He was going to have to throw out this shirt, at least.  The pants might be salvageable.  Might.

[Skye LeCroix]

She listened as he spoke, but directed her attention to her nails. She'd grabbed a metal file and was busy cleaning them and buffing out any chips. She didn't prefer for them to get snagged on anything. She'd had it happen once and ripped one of the little bastards clean off. Or, so that's what she said - there was some truth to the fact that Skye still allowed herself to be girlish and doing her nails was something.

Her eyes flicked up to him as he piled the clothes on the floor. "Hm. I'll have to wash them seperate and see how bad they are when they come out," she said with a frown. No way was she throwing that in with her clothes. She did smile a little though as he hopped around, trying to kick his foot out of the leg. Wet jeans shrank, and Nick wasn't exactly small. She knew better than to make a production out of it, or she'd end up back in the shower as he would inevitably find a way to make her regret pointing and laughing.

"I'm not inclined to agree, but they're up there," she said. "I guess your night didn't go as planned?" This was where their jobs became very different. Skye didn't have big setbacks, she had tiny hiccups that plan B, C, or D would cover. She was over-prepared for everything, and she loved it. Somehow, though, she still hadn't found a good way to get the upper-hand with the couch situation.

She titled her head a little as she watched him. It wasn't lewd, it was just... what it was. Skye payed a fairly large amount of attention to Nick when she could. The only reason she hadn't pounced on him for hugs and other various things was because he was covered with a good inch of grime, and she was nice and clean. But still, her eyes were always on him unless they absolutely needed to be elsewhere. It was almost cute if you considered her quiet nature.

[Nick LeCroix]

"Don't even bother with the shirt," he told her, starting the water up in the shower.  "It was white this morning, and it won't ever be again."

Why had he worn white?  Because this was supposed to be an easy mark, and nobody expected a hitman to wear white.  It seemed almost out of character, and perhaps too pure of a color for them.  He'd have been fine with it all if that damned wolf hadn't been there.  "The mark was there, and as easy to kill as I expected, but he had a friend from out of town with him," he told her, stepping into the shower when he was satisfied with the temperature, though he shot a look at her as he did.  He caught her staring, and though it wasn't really a surprise, it was pleasant.  Pleasant enough that it got a quirk of a smile out of him.  He'd be much happier when the mess was off of him.

"That friend was a wolf," he added, though it wasn't really necessary.  Skye was quick, and she'd have figured it out without his stating it.  That was the extent of what he'd say unless she asked, though.  He didn't share work with her unless she needed to know, or she was interested in hearing, and she did the same.  Really, his activities weren't always legal, and he wasn't going to burden her with thinking about it all if she didn't want to know.

"How'd yours go?" he called out at her, honestly curious.  She'd gotten home before him, so it must have gone well enough.

[Skye LeCroix]

Skye didn't ask. It wasn't that she didn't want to know, but the details weren't very pressing to her because Nick had obviously walked through that front door. Now, had the situation been different, Skye would have made sure to involve herself thoroughly. She respected the privacy that came with his line of work, but there wasn't a power on that Earth that would stop her from wreaking havoc if he'd come back in a bad way. She was both a hyena and a wife, and protective of her mate as much as she could be. It was a tricky thing, that. There were certain formalities between their breeds, but she didn't even feel like thinking about it, and just settled on the idea that she'd beat the hell out of someone for hurting him.

"Beautifully. Even if it hadn't, Sitara was in position a few miles down from where I was. She's a real gem to work with," she said happily. Skye was fairly professional about her work, but she had a healthy amount of enthusiasm, if you ignored the fact that she shot people for a living. "It took all of fifteen minutes. I didn't even have to bust out the good scope," she sighed. She'd been aiming to use that new enhanced scope for a while, but so far, they'd always had a good enough location she hadn't found it necessary to waste the time.

She took the towel from her hair and hung it up on the back of the bathroom door, pulling it shut enough so that the humidity didn't set off the stupid smoke detector. She took the time to return to her personal dressing area and brush her own hair, but it was already mostly dry. It curled slightly at her shoulders as she dug through her drawer for pajamas, though she settled in her uniform of flannel shorts and one of Nick's NOT destroyed shirts that had inexplicably become too small for him to wear.

She went back to the bed and waited. If she went down to that kitchen without him, she'd eat everything before he got there.

[Nick LeCroix]

Nick hardly even considered how she'd react if he was seriously injured, and that was mostly because it was so unlikely.  The only time he'd been so badly injured that he'd required help had marked the end of his military career, and he didn't see it as being probably that he'd walk into a situation like that again.  He hadn't been in charge that time, so it hadn't been his mistake that got his buddies all killed, and nearly himself.  He didn't usually find kinks in his plans like this one, though.

"Good."  

Washing that bloodied mud out of his hair was positively obnoxious, but it was a nicer line of thought to consider than other events, so that was what he worried about.  By the time he was done, he was nice and clean, and as predicted, happier.  He definitely noticed what she was wearing as he wandered off into the bedroom for a pair of pants, though.

"That dryer shrinks more of my shirts than it has any right to," he commented lightly as he pulled a pair of pajama pants on to lounge around in.  He knew that she 'took care' of certain t-shirts that she liked, but it wasn't like he minded too much.  They were just t-shirts, and he liked seeing her in them.  Even too small for him anymore, they were too big for her.  It was...kind of cute.  "And you look hungry."

[Skye LeCroix]

"Well, I did wait, at least. What are you in the mood for?" she asked, mentally going through her head what was able to be fixed on such short notice. She was pretty sure she hadn't taken anything out, which was dumb on her part because it would need to thaw, but then again, that's what a microwave was for.

Before he could get out of her range of reach, which was a fairly limited space, she reached out and wrapped her arms around him. Now that all the dirt and blood was gone, he was nice and clean and smelled something like soap and a heavy, musky scent she'd grown to respond to in a small manner like catnip. It was random moments like these that really made it obvious how hyenas could behave. She buried her face in his chest, squeezing him as tightly as she could manage.

Skye was always happy to see him. She couldn't think of a time where she'd been so mad she didn't want his presence. Oh sure, they'd fought, but she'd come and go as her temper allowed. On a normal basis, though, and perhaps it was merely how she was genetically put together, every time she saw him it was like something new all over again.  

[Nick LeCroix]

"Whatever you're willing to make," he told her with a smile as she stepped up to cuddle on him.  He didn't have to be a hyena to enjoy the pakana desire for touch that she possessed, though he didn't fully realize that was even what it was with him.  He'd probably never understand the full extent of that cuddle factor, but he'd seen her with Ebere and Stella, so he knew it was there.  He hadn't yet met a male hyena, and so it hadn't occurred to him that the same thing could happen, and how strong it was, with one.  He wouldn't be happy with that information.

His arms went around her immediately upon her touching him, and he didn't see any reason to move just yet.  He'd never been a really touchy person, but he'd come to truly enjoy it when she behaved like this.  To be honest, it was a huge ego boost as well, and what man, or lion, didn't like that?  It made him feel good to have her want to cuddle on him or stare at him like that, even after a few years of marriage.

And everyone said that it was only the first year that was good.

[Skye LeCroix]

Skye shrugged under his arms, not really ready to go downstairs and make dinner just yet. She turned her head and snuck a small kiss on his arm, and then looked up at him and smiled. She got that warm fuzzy feeling in her chest whenever they were this close, not exactly like the one she got with Ebere and Stella, but the of the same variety. The 'complete' sort of feeling.

"Mmh. Maybe leftovers. Suddenly thought of better way to occupy my time." And that, of course, was a stupid amount of cute overload. She rose up to her tiptoes to give him a kiss, which was funny because he still had to bend down a little. Skye always felt busy and focused at work, but mostly it was because she was shoveling stuff into her day to try and kill time until she could come home. It was sort of silly that she made a living off of doing quite bad things, and her favourite spot was on the couch, asleep while Nick watched some show he found funny that she didn't.

[Nick LeCroix]

He'd learned early on in their relationship not to expect 'sex' to be that 'better way' of occupying her time.  It happened sometimes, but he knew how much she liked cuddling on the couch.  Fortunately, he wasn't one of those guys that thought he was too manly for some cuddling, so he easily obliged.  That she bothered to drop chaste little kisses on places like his arms made him smile, and he really just couldn't help it.  Considering how they'd met, and how firm she'd been during that period, it had surprised him how affectionate and sweet she was.  

"Leftovers are fine with me," he agreed easily, leaning down to give her that kiss.  He didn't think it was at all odd that she liked to lounge out and cuddle in her free time, but hunted as an occupation.  He was the same way, and he wasn't about to be so hypocritical as that.  Of course, he didn't actively seek attention in quite the way she did.  He still went looking for it, though.  

[Skye LeCroix]

Skye wanted to remain just that way for a long, long time, but her stomach had quite the other idea. As she pulled away from the kiss, it began to make noises, and she laughed good-naturedly, pulling away from Nick before she really just forwent dinner altogether.

"Okay, give me twenty minutes," she said cheerfully. She glanced at the clock and nodded to him. "Isn't that show I hate on?" Oh, she couldn't even remember it, but he watched it as often as he could. Once he'd figured out their TiVo Skye's triumph of never having to watch that stupid television program again went out the window. She still couldn't figure out how to delete things on there, yet, either.

She hopped down the stairs, scooping up her dirty clothes as she did so, and took something out of the pantry. She'd cheat and use the Dinner in a Box method. While she waited for it to finish baking, she moved the wet clothes into the dryer and hung up everything that had the potential to otherwise shrink.

Skye really was a housewife. How disturbing.

[Nick LeCroix]

What was truly disturbing about her ability to be a housewife was that Nick was perfectly capable of doing all of those things himself.  He'd even proven it in the past by helping, especially if he was the only one home and things needed to be done.  He didn't mind if she was willing to do it, though.  He had his nights where he cooked, and he was alright with the laundry, though his folding involved rolling socks and t-shirts instead of really 'folding' them.  It was incredibly easy to tell who'd done laundry last.

"I don't know if it's on, but I have it saved," he said simply, wandering into the living room and scanning for the remote.  He surprisingly didn't turn to the TiVo immediately, and instead turned on the news.

He had the best timing ever.

He positively froze when he saw a familiar scene, with an unfamiliar face, on the TV screen.  That was where he'd killed the wolf and his mark, and he paled for a second when he realized what they were looking at.  He'd disposed of the bodies, TRIED to clean up the blood and had some difficulties with the landscape, and thought he'd disposed of any important evidence.  He was pretty thorough, but that damn mud...and damn drivers on a deserted road.  He hadn't noticed when he was fighting with the wolf, but someone had apparently approached in a vehicle and turned their ass around because they saw a lion.  And he'd missed a footprint in the mud further away from the road.  

"God DAMN it!" he snapped, dropping the remote on the coffee table and just staring at the screen.  They didn't know where the bodies were, and were searching the area.  If they found them, they'd notice that one was mauled, but one was killed by a human, of that he had no doubt.  Shit.

[Skye LeCroix]

Skye jumped from the kitchen when Nick yelled - that man had a voice. She turned the oven off and set the pan down before she burned her fingers, and then rushed into the next room, eyes wide and senses like, blaring. It wasn't until she realized the object of his damnation wasn't something she needed to destroy, but rather, their quite nice plasma screen. She blinked, and let her eyes focus on...

"Oh, shit," she said softly. And Skye didn't swear much. Without missing a beat, and this was why Nick should love her as much as he did, she retrieved the landline from the charger on the bar-style counter between the kitchen and the living room, and held it out.

"Call Jaime, before he just stumbles on this, please" she said. "I think it would be much.. less ill recieved by him if he had some sort of notice."

She had her own cellular phone in her hand, and was going to try and get into contact with someone to minimize the press. She had enough connections through her work with Crimson that she had to but ask - it was the advantage of being likeable, lovable, Skye. People were willing to do you favours; willing to owe you.

She sat down next to him, and placed a hand on his knee. She didn't know what else to do, honestly, but this, she hoped, was substantial enough for now.