tabula_rasa

"Recently, I helped my brother save his girlfriend from Hell. She was killed by a jealous goddess who wanted Argo's attention. In any case, we had to confront Mephisto and...I made a deal." Andy says.

"There's a good chance I may not be on Earth much longer, Jenny. I felt you had a right to know." he says.

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She took a few more steps in silence while that sunk in.

"Since that would be going to extremes to dump me when a simple email would have done the trick, I have to conclude that you made a deal with ... Mephisto? WHY did you do that?"

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"Because there wasn't any other way, Jenny. We had Argo's follower Corey with us, and he's just a regular guy. The best we could have hoped for was Argo and I getting out, but then we'd be short another soul." Andy says.

"And I knew that Argo would bargain his soul to save them both. He'd already made a deal with our uncle, Pluto, before we got there, Argo did.

And I've got a plan that might make all of this worth it in the end if it doesn't me killed first." Andy says.

"But I'm going to have to get some help from a lot of people who know magic...like your friend Quinn."

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His brother had a follower? She'd been under the impression that High Priestess and the God was a modern day sex game that she'd thoroughly enjoyed. The follower bit would require more research when she returned to London.

"Quinn facing off against magical creatures is becoming a running joke, but he's good at it and dependable in a tight corner. What is this plan? What can I do to tip the scales in your favor?"

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"Honey, with all due respect...but I shouldn't tell you the plan. I can't be certain someone wouldn't show up and try to get you spill it by threatening to hurt you or your friends. I can only say that people like Quinn will be a big help in it.

Which is why I've got to tell Titan's "friend", Marlow, we I get back to Los Angeles and hope she doesn't vaporize me on sight." Andy says.

"The reason I told you, though, is because I need you to know that I...I want you to know how I feel about you in case the worst happens Andy says, stopping to pull Jenny close to him.

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Jenny felt the familiar flow of energy that tried to bounce between them and couldn't find the force needed to push him away. She found a moment to be amazed again that he'd caught on so quickly how to handle her to keep the damage to a minimum.

She wound her arms around his waist inside his coat to get closer to his warmth. "I don't like being kept in the dark, even for my own good."

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"I know and if I could tell you and still be sure my plan had a chance of working, I would. But if things don't work out, I don't want you ever blaming yourself or feeling like you didn't do enough. This whole thing starts and ends with me.

We couldn't let Mephisto get his hooks into a god of Olympus. Things would go Very Badly if he did." Andy says.

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"I suppose I can see that logic," she said in a voice that clearly indicated she didn't want to see logic. "The books are filled with bad things happening when gods are involved. When is this happening?"

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"Not sure. Right now, I'm pretty much on-call for the end of the world, so to speak." Andy says.

"Can we go home? I really don't want to think about this. I just want to focus on my High Priestess." he says.

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Jenny wanted to discuss this more, but she was out of her depth on the doings of gods. "You really don't know when this will happen? You could just not come back and I'll never know?"

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"Well, Mephisto didn't exactly give me a time frame. As things go, it could be tomorrow or next century." Andy tells her.

"I get the feeling that he's not going to wait that long, though. My luck rarely stays good for long...except where you're concerned." Andy says.

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She stopped walking. She'd think about it after he was gone. There was nothing to be gained from getting angry or depressed or anything else by something that could turn out all right. "Right. Let's get a cab and go home. I don't feel like walking anymore."

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"Okay, honey." Andy says. He wishes that things could have gone differently and still worked out for everyone, but right now that doesn't seem to be an option.

He hails a cab and soon enough, they're both on the way back home.

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The cab ride home was silent. Thanks to the holiday traffic, it took as longer than usual. Jenny leaned her head against Andy's shoulder and held his hand in both of hers. She wanted to reassure him and felt that she was failing miserably at it.

She finally moved to lean in close as if it whisper in his ear and bit his earlobe. Only a little to get back some of the playful mood they'd had earlier.

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Andy sat in silence during the ride, worried that he'd lost Jenny. He wouldn't blame her if she decided to end things with him over this. After all, he'd made a decision about their relationship without consulting her.

So it was that he didn't expect the nibbling at his earlobe. He moans a little when she does, then turns to kiss her.

"I've missed you so much. Did you know that?" he asks.

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"I know. I missed you too." She squeezed his hand. "I'm going to email as I always do, and when your /mission/ is done, we'll have that vacation."

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"I really want to take you to Greece someday, if you haven't been. I think you'd like it. We could walk from town to town and see the sights.

I love walking the paths that my father took, long ago. I'd love to show them to you." he says.

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"I want to see it all." The idea of a walkabout appealed to her. People did that all the time in England, walked from one small village to another for a vacation and the weather was rarely decent.

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"Then we're going to. I'll find a way to make it happen." Andy tells her.

"Is there any other place in the world you want to see that you never have?" Andy asks.

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"Everything." She smiled and rested against him comfortably as the cab made its slow way up Amsterdam Ave. "If I saw anything before the last few years, I don't remember it. I want to see the whole world."

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"I want to see your face light up at every new thing." Andy says, holding her close. "Sometimes, I have these crazy dreams about us a couple of years down the line, where we're taking trips to all sorts of places and just being happy."

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"I wholeheartedly approve of this idea. There's no reason we can't be happy now, in a few years, and as long as we want."

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"I really thought you'd end things after I told you what I'd done. I wouldn't have blamed you, either. " Andy says.

"But I want us to be happy as long as possible. Starting with the moment we get home." Andy says.

"We have cheesecake and lots of it. We should do something about that."

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Cue The Look. "You're talking crazy now, hon. I won't pretend I like what you've done, but it was reasonable when you explained why you did it." The dark interior hid a mischievous smile. "And then promising me cheesecake shenanigans is just devious on your part. I can forgive almost anything if you promise me cheesecake."

She looked out the window and realized they were a few blocks from her apartment. "Not far from here. We could run it faster than the cab. Care to race me?"

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"You...wanna race? Are you sure? I might have some hidden speed you don't know about." Andy grins.

"But if you're that eager to race, let's do this." Andy says.

"Driver, you can let us out here. My girlfriend wants to run the rest of the way." he says.

Of course, Andy plans to cheat a little, just to give Jenny an orthodox way to start the New Year.

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Considering how she spent the last one, having a drink with friends in a pub and going home alone, everything about this one was different in a good way.

She wished the driver a Happy New Year as she scooted out of the back seat into the cold night air. The traffic was too slow when she wanted to get home, warm and curl into Andy as long as she could.

She waited for him to pay the cabbie and took off running while he was occupied.

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Andy expected such treachery. He pays the cabbie, taking note of her far away Jenny got with each moment. As soon as the cabbie is paid off, Andy regards the distance between them, seems to think a moment, then takes off running.

Five steps into his run, he leaps into the air, covering most of Jenny's currently distance, to come down five feet behind her. There might be a sound of cracking concrete as he lands.

"Okay, you got your head start, Beautiful. Now what will you do?" he asks.

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She grinned over her shoulder, still moving as quickly as she dared on the icy sidewalk.

"Keep moving, natch," she called back. "There's no winner until it's done, and it's not over yet, hon."

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Andy reaches out to grab her.

"Well, it will be over when I catch you, but we won't be close to done." Andy grins.

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She made a show of evading his grasp, dancing from side to side like a prize fighter.

"You know you don't dare bump into me," she teased. "What'cha gonna do?"

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"I'm gonna cheat." Andy says.

Then he leaps ahead of her, heading toward the building.

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A cry of mock outrage followed him. "CHEAT!"

She ran after him, dodging other people and laughing out loud. Big demigod showoff! It was going to be so sweet to hear him beg later.

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Oh, he couldn't grab her now, but he would later.

"It's only cheating if I'm caught!" he yells, dashing toward her apartment.

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"I have the keys!" she yelled, running for the entrance after him. She'd never catch him, but she'd make him wait at the door!

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"You have /keys/. I can always take the door off the hinges!" Andy laughs. Not that he'd ever do that, unless Jenny was in danger on the other side of said door.

In any event, he just wants to see if his girlfriend will run any faster.

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She ran harder. That he would win was a given, but she wouldn't give up so easily. Not with the prize waiting to catch her.

"I don't want to have to explain that," she protested breathlessly, running full tilt into him when he stopped.

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Andy was not fully expecting Jenny to launch herself at him, but he expected some kind of trickery. He catches her and finds out, for the first time, the uses of her power outside the bedroom.

The pair of them hit the door and fall into it, not enough to knock it off the hinges, but Andy is pretty sure he's going to need to look at the frame in the morning.

Right now, they're both on the floor, near the couch. Andy is laughing madly.

"If we just broke the door, that was so worth it." he grins.

"But now you're all sweaty from running. What ever will we do about that?" Andy grins, reaching up to kiss her.

"Hm. I hear this place has a shower. Care to join me?" he asks.

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Jenny was pretty pleased at the results of her unexpected launch. Especially with landing on a demigod grinning back at her. The power burst exhilarated her.

"If we broke it, I'm telling people it was foreplay," she said, leaning down to meet his kiss. "Shower, play, sweat, repeat at will."

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"Yes, it was foreplay. So, if we crack the wall in the shower, can we say that was foreplay, too?" he asks with a grin.

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"If we manage that, I think we could call it mid-play." Still sitting on him, she began to strip off her coat. "I hope you kept your hotel reservation. We might need it if we damage too many things."

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