PART ONE

       When his hand came up to pull her hand away from his mouth, she began, "No... no you don't understand how I feel about what almost happened this morning...." The instant she felt his lips lightly move against her hand to say something, she started to speak, hesitated then continued. "You.... oh, gawd, my head really hurts.  Maybe we should just go to sleep, okay?"

       Slowly she moved her hand from his mouth, and it took a few moments but he finally nodded. But as she settled back onto her pillow he told, "Whatever the reason, I just don't understand why you're treating me so coldly." She didn’t reply, and after a moment of silence passed, he, too turned over, settled his head on his pillow and closed his eyes. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

        Hearing his words, Siren laid still and didn’t say a word.  She wasn’t sure exactly why she had treated him that way this afternoon either.  But, she lay in bed for a long time thinking about his kisses… his touch, and how it evoked such desire in her. 

        When she heard his breathing slow and deep and she was sure that he was asleep, she moved the covers and slowly moved over toward him.  As her legs came in contact with him, then their hips, it was then that she realized that he was naked.  Taking a slow deep breath, she slowly slid her hand under his arm and around his chest to hold him. 

Laying her cheek on his shoulder, Siren sighed then lightly kissed it not realizing she had woken him up.  Her fingers lightly caressed his chest in a circular pattern as she softly whispered, “If you only knew what you do to me.  I think that you might understand.  I never meant to treat you coldly not after what happened, but you fall back on what you know when things scare you.  It’s instinct.”  As she moved her cheek lightly against his shoulder, she lightly whispered, “Oh gawd,” but her eyes immediately flew open when his arm lightly came up to grab her arm, moving it to where her body pressed up more against him.  Realizing then that he was awake, she whispered, “I’m so sorry.”  

Quietly, Trevor listened to the explanation she had given… and then yet another apology.  When he decided to speak, he hadn’t moved.  He realized that right now, clearing the air between them was more important than anything else.

“If I was moving too fast for you,” he said softly, “I’m sorry.  And, if it’s any consolation to you, I kinda got the idea that you were having some doubts.  But when you didn’t say anything when I… unzipped your uniform…” he paused to take a breath.  “I thought you were ready for… it to happen.”  He took another breath, and then added softly, “I’m sorry for scaring you, Siren.  Please believe me that I would never force you… or any woman to give me what she’s not ready to give. Maybe another guy would, but that’s not me.  Never has been.  Never will be.”

Siren sighed against his shoulder and blushed at being caught holding onto him.  “You didn’t scare me, Trevor.  I scared myself with my own doubts and insecurities.”  She stretched out her arm over her head and laid her head down on it, only to find that she had found the position that she wanted to go to sleep in. 

Figuring that since things were being laid out on the table, she decided to pull out all the stops.  Even though her head was pounding, she told him, “In the short span that I’ve known you, you have been seen so many sides of me that I don’t show anyone else, other than Xavier.  I’m not used to being around other people in the manner that we were, Trevor… and…” she paused for a brief moment letting that sink in as she traced a circle on his arm with her finger.  “I… I just hope that what happened this morning between us doesn’t cause another rift that I can’t overcome.”

Trevor lay still, listening to Siren talk, discovering, as she’d put it, yet another side of her.  He was listening to her, but the delicate sensation of her finger tracing a light, lazy circle on his arm just below his shoulder was quickly becoming the focus of his thoughts.  Still, a part of his mind caught her last words and after a moment’s thought, he carefully half turned toward her in the dark.  The movement caused her finger to slip across his arm to come to rest on his chest.  Gently, he caught it and held it still.  He couldn’t see her face clearly in the dim light, but by the sound of her breathing, he knew her attention was focused on him.

“There’s no rift, Siren,” he told her quietly.  “It’s just that you went from one extreme to the other at the speed of light.  And, honestly, it was frustrating, but not for the reason you’re thinking.”  Letting go of her hand, he hesitated then reached over and even in the darkness touched her cheek softly.  “It was frustrating because you made me feel like I’d way overstepped the line.  You pulled into yourself to fast it made me feel like I’d read the signals wrong.”

Siren hadn’t moved since he touched her cheek and now he gently cupped her cheek with his hand.  “I’m sorry if anything I did made you uncomfortable or unsure, Siren,” he told her.  “But you… seemed ready and willing.”  When she ducked her head at that, he didn’t press the issue.

“I’d like to get to know you better… under vastly different circumstances,” he said with a small, wry smile to himself.  “But next time…” he heard her almost inaudible intake of breath at that.  “And I’m sure there is going to be a next time,” he whispered to her.  “If you discover you’re still uncertain, just tell me.  Don’t drop me in a deep freeze and leave me to wonder.”

It was quiet for a few moments.  Then to show her that he meant what he’d said previously about not rushing or demanding anything she wasn’t ready to give… willingly, he quietly said, “Let’s get some sleep.  Five thirty comes early.”  Turning away from her again, he drew up the covers over his shoulder.  Turning his head slightly to glance back at her, he whispered, “Good night, Siren.  Sweet dreams.”

Siren’s mind was whirling and her actions seemed to be doing the same as she reached out and caught Trevor’s chin before he could turn away from her.  Without thinking about her actions, she quickly rose up on her elbow, licked her lips, leaned over cupping Trevor’s cheek, and kissed him passionately.  That was something that she was willing and ready to give.  “Good night, Trevor,” she murmured against his lips then rising up she blinked down at his face for a moment.  Turning away from him, she laid down closely to him, ran her hand back between his arm and his side and rested her hand on his abdomen.  Sighing softly, she closed her eyes and said softly, “Sweet dreams.”

To say that she took his breath away when she kissed him was an understatement!  Not a long kiss, yet there was definitely promise in it.  After she broke the kiss and moved back, Trevor just laid there, enjoying her little surprise and still decided not to press the issue further.

Turning away from her, he snuggled his face against the pillow just about the time that he felt a hand gliding softly along his ribs and he could also feel the warmth emanating from Siren’s body that was… damn it… tantalizingly close to his back.  Her whispered words along with the way she slid her hand over his abdomen, was stirring something inside of him.  Carefully, slowly, he took a couple of slow, steadying breaths, the light touch of her hand on his stomach causing shivers.

Without moving, he said quietly, “Siren… please don’t tease.”  It was not a nasty warning; more like him at the end of a rapidly unraveling rope.  And if that rope continued to unravel… he wondered rapidly if she was ready for what happened when he fell.

        Siren had began to drift off when she finally heard Trevor’s voice telling her not to tease and frowning, she lightly moved up and her hand slid further down his body, making him tense even more.

“Siren,” he said again, but this time even he could hear the huskiness behind her name.

She slowly brought her hand back up toward his chest, running it lightly over his rippled abdomen.  “Sorry… I… I wasn’t… trying to tease you, Trevor,” she whispered close to his ear, not realizing what that one action would do.

All Trevor had expected to do was get in bed, turn out the lights and go to sleep.  But when Siren moved up a bit and her hand slid down a little, suddenly, sleep was the last thing on his mind.  In spite of himself, he caught his breath then let it out slowly, but then feeling her breath softly into his ear when she whispered but was damn near his undoing.

His body wanted one thing, but instead he settled for turning toward her… again, just a little, and putting his hand behind her head and pulling her down.  He plundered her lips, enjoying the warm sweetness, and then before he did something that both of them would regret, he let her go and turned away again.  This time though, he wrapped the covers tightly around himself.  “Go to sleep, Siren,” he told her, his voice still husky.  “Go to sleep or… we may not get much sleep tonight.”

Blowing out a deep slow breath and swallowing, Siren couldn’t help but smile as she scooted back toward him once more and lay only a few inches away from him.  “Goodnight, Trevor,” she said softly as she closed her eyes and snuggled down into her pillow.  With it being a long day, it didn’t take long for sleep to overtake her.

After a couple of minutes, Trevor could tell from the sound of her breathing that Siren was asleep.  It was after midnight before exhaustion finally drug him down.  But as he drifted off, he was still vitally aware of the soft, feminine form snuggled against his back.  Gently so as not to wake her, he pulled one hand free of the blankets and reached behind him to ever so slightly pat her hip.  “Goodnight, Siren,” he barely breathed the words.

PART TWO

        Five thirty came too damned early, but there was no sleeping in.  Before Siren’s had barely opened her eyes, Trevor slipped out of bed and hit the shower.  ‘Thank God for cold water!’ he thought.  Good for cooling passions; right now it was a shock strong enough to make him forget that he’d only had a few hours sleep.

        By the time Siren got up, Trevor had showered and with the loan of a razor from Xavier, shaved.  He didn’t even glance her way as he exited the bathroom, a damp towel slung around his hips.

        Siren sat up on the bed and blinked her eyes, rubbing at them and ran her hand through her hair.  Even though, she had plenty of sleep, she found that she couldn’t seem to get up.  But when she glanced up to see Trevor coming out of the bathroom, she blinked as him as he walked across the room.

        Pausing by the dresser where he’d tossed his clothes last night, there was no way he could avoid what he saw in the mirror:  Siren stretching, long and languidly, the swell of her bosom doing thins to her thin gown.  He couldn’t seem to look away when one strop slid down her arm, causing the side of her gown to fall a bit lower, but when she laid back down and moaned softly as she stretched again, he took several deep breaths and finally tore his eyes away, but that didn’t stop him from moving to the bed.  She was lying with her head at the foot of the bed and he leaned over to look down at her.

        “Good morning… is it me, or are you upside down?” she questioned him lightheartedly.

        His response to her wasn’t the lighthearted ‘good morning’ she was expecting.  Whether she realized it or not, she just about had Trevor pushed to the limit of his endurance.  Looking intently into her eyes, he told her plainly the way it was.  “Siren… I’m only human,” he began carefully forcing his eyes to not stray from hers.  “And right now, I’m a human male who has just about got his back to the wall in this situation.”  When her eyes widened at his words, he saw the blush come up in her cheeks.  “So, if you don’t mind, please get up and get dressed,” he told her, fighting to keep his tone even.  “Otherwise,” he took a breath and told her like it was. “Otherwise, you may not be a virgin when you walk out of this room.  Is that plain enough?”

        Blushing at Trevor’s words, she looked up into his eyes and blinked at him.  Sitting up, she rose from the bed, glanced back at him as she headed toward the bathroom to shower.  When she came out of the bathroom, as she normally did, the water still falling down her body, but at least covered, she heard the familiar tsk from Xavier and just giggled and shook her head.

        As she entered the bedroom, she saw Trevor finishing getting dressed.  He looked up at her surprised that she had showered so quickly, but with the towel draped around her, and the water still dripping down her, she stood at the door wondering if she needed to go into the room or not as she remembered what he had said earlier.

        Taking a deep breath, she walked into her room, and headed toward her dresser.  Getting out her clothes, she looked at him through the mirror and saw his eyes on her and she him as he got up off the bed and started to come toward her.

        Without turning around, she told him as she watched him approaching through the mirror, “If you value any part of your body over another, I suggest you leave my room while I dress, or you may be a eunuch when you leave my room,” she told him plainly without a hint of laughter what so ever in her voice.  “Is that plain enough?” she asked.

        To her comment, Trevor leaned down slightly and met her gaze in the mirror.  “Eminently plain,” he told her calmly.  Glancing at the small clock on the dresser, he told her, “Better hurry.  Xavier must’ve let us sleep in.  We’ve got about twenty minutes to eat and get to the office.”

        Without waiting for her reply, he turned and left the room. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

        Hobbling to the dining area, Siren looked at her watch and saw that she barely had time to scarf down any of the food that Xavier had been so kind to make.  Taking a piece of toast, she folded it in half, placed the scrambled eggs inside along with two pieces of bacon.  Folding it together, she quickly took a bite and then looked up at the two men who were watching her with very amused expressions on their faces.  Swallowing, she took a sip of coffee and said, “What?  It’s like a breakfast taco.”  Shrugging a shoulder and not looking at them again, she finished the small ‘taco’, drank the rest of her coffee quickly loving how the hot liquid slid down her throat helping to wake her up.  Placing the cup down, she stood back up and hobbled a few steps to Xavier to kiss him on the cheek.  Turning toward the door, she started toward it as she slid on her mask.

        Hearing a chair sliding, she assumed that it was Trevor standing up to go to work, and the words that came out of her mouth popped out before she had a chance to realize what she had even said, “Come on, studly, let’s go to work.”  She heard a cough and an odd sound from behind her and she turned to see Xavier covering his mouth trying not to succumb to the laughter that was plainly evident on his face.  Looking up at Trevor where he stood, she looked from one to the other; one looking like he was about to bust a gut and the other one blushing lightly.  “What?” she asked dividing a glance between them.  That only caused Xavier to begin chuckling in his chair, and Trevor cleared his throat as he came over to her with a sour expression on his face.

        As he picked Siren up in his arms once more, she glanced back at Xavier who was trying to get a handle of himself.  Helping Trevor with the door, they left, but as they walked away from the door, Xavier’s chuckles became all out laughter.

        Trevor was extraordinarily quiet as they walked down the hallway to the elevator; and when the elevator opened, he stepped inside and they were alone once more.  He was so rigid in how he carried her that she finally couldn’t help herself anymore.  “What?”  Feeling the ice from him was definitely going to put a damper on her day.  When Trevor didn’t acknowledge her, she reached out and tugged at his chin with her index finger.  When his eyes finally met hers, she asked, “What?  What did I do now?”

        “For starters,” Trevor stated a bit coolly, “calling me ‘studly’ in front of Xavier puts a really different light on things… in his eyes.” She at least had the grace to flush a bit.  “Unless I miss my guess,” Trevor went on, “He probably thinks I got the dark circles under my eyes because you and I were going at it, hot and heavy.”  To her gasped response, he just quirked an eyebrow, “And the way you were stretching out on the bed and all but purring like a kitten, and the bedroom door was open,” he reminded her, “if he heard or even glimpsed into that room about then and saw you…” he closed his eyes and shook his head.  To her demand to know what he meant, he met her gaze evenly and decided not to ‘bite’ as hard as he wanted to.  “Well, let’s just say that a kitten usually stretches and purrs like that when it’s full of cream and satisfied.  Okay?”
        The elevator doors opened and he stepped out and headed down the hall toward their office.

        Siren had quickly recovered from her shock of what she had said and how it could have been mistaken in her father’s eyes.  Even as Trevor carried her into the office and she bid a good morning to Allen McAllister, her mind was beginning to deal with the fact that there were going to have to be some changes in the way that she did things in the mornings now… at least until their shared correction was over.

        As Trevor set her down beside her desk, she thanked him and watched as he excused himself to go to his own desk to go to work.  She glanced at her desk and saw the stockpiles of reports that had been put there from another section of the complex and rolled her eyes at the work that she was going to have to accomplish for the day.  She was studying one of the reports so thoroughly that she hardly heard the knock that was at her door.  It repeated and without looking up from the report, she said, “Come in.”

        “Ma’am… I mean, Siren… are you busy?” Allen asked quietly as he saw her fingers began to move quickly over the keys of her keyboard as she responded to something she had just read.  As she turned her head toward him, her fingers continued to type quickly, even catching mistakes as she moved her fingers.  As she finished her thought, Allen saw her fingers stop and she turned away from the computer and look up at him expectantly.

        “What can I help you with, Allen?” Siren saw the hesitation in his step as he barely crossed the threshold of the door.  “Come in, Allen.  What do you need?”

        Coming into the room, he replied as he closed the door behind him, “It’s about the report that I did this morning…”

        “Which one?” Siren asked as she turned to the small stack that she had already gone through.  If he had to make some corrections that would change her own report and after already spending several hours on it, she wasn’t really impressed with having to go over it again.

        Once the door was closed, he walked over to her desk and sat down.  In actuality, it didn’t have anything to do with any of the reports he had finished.  He needed to take a little break from the mass of work on his desk and just be with the lovely woman in the next room.  “Well… none of them,” he admitted to her.  When she looked up at him a bit confused, he grinned at her.  “I… well… I wanted to talk to you about Trevor.”

        Leaning back in her chair at the grin, Siren couldn’t help but notice the way that he leaned forward as he said that he wanted to talk about Trevor.  “What about him?” she asked as she folded her arms over her chest.

        “Well… I’m sorta… worried about him,” Allen said as he leaned up to place his own crossed arms on her desk and peer up at her eyes that were surprisingly beautiful behind the mask.  “He seems… distracted lately and I thought that you might know why… I mean… er…”
        At first when she heard Allen’s concern about Trevor, it piqued her curiosity.  But when Allen started to insinuate that she might know something that would be distracting his friend, she took a breath and looked at him straight and plain and finished the sentence that he was stumbling on.  “Since we are in punishment together,” she said with a tilt of her head.  “Listen, Allen, just because we are sharing in punishment doesn’t mean that I know why Trevor is acting oddly to you.”  She unfolded her arms and laid her hands on her desk to look up at him as he came around her desk.

        When he noticed her go on the defensive, he quickly rose and came around the desk to lean against it.  “No, it’s not that, he’s always acted oddly to me… that’s just normal to him,” Allen quirked.  Laying his hand lightly on hers, and rubbing the top of her hand with his thumb, he said, “I think that it might really have a lot to do with certain aspects of a young lady that he is seeing, well… was seeing.”

        Siren looked down at his hand on top of hers and although it couldn’t be seen with the mask on, she quirked an eyebrow up at him, but the inquisitive tilt of her head was enough to catch his attention.  “He has a girlfriend?” Siren asked trying to keep the hesitation out of her voice as well as the disappointment of what had happened between them the last two days.

        Allen winced at the word that she used as if he wasn’t supposed to have told her anything.  “Well, it’s been off and on, if you know what I mean, but…” he let the sentence slip off then turn back to her.  “He hasn’t been acting the same.  He seems distant… and sometimes… distracted like he’s thinking about her.  I just thought that maybe he had talked about her to you.”

        Shaking her head softly, she looked up at him.  “No.  He… he hasn’t.  I don’t pry into his life,” she said softly but she couldn’t help but think to herself, ‘but maybe I should.’

        Standing from her desk, Allen lightly placed his hand on her shoulder and looked down at her.  “Oh… believe me, he’ll tell you if he wants to.  I wouldn’t force anything from him.”  As he started away from her, he turned back to her with a grin.  “On a totally different subject… you are coming to the party tomorrow night, right?”

        Siren smiled back at him.  “Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Allen.”  She saw Allen smile back at her and then leave her office.  He left the door open as she had told them that she would do and with a clear shot of Trevor in front of her, she gazed upon him and wondered exactly what his damn game was.  If he had a girlfriend, then why in the hell was he kissing her?  She saw him hesitantly straighten up from his desk and turn his head to look at her.  Glancing away from him, she turned back to her computer and with hesitancy; she began to type once more.

        After compiling several reports together, working at a computer for over two hours to try to get her mind off of where it wanted to wander, she heard another knock on the door.  She looked at the small clock on the computer monitor and saw that it was noon and she already knew who was at the door.  It had to be Trevor.

        “Just a moment,” she said to him with a sigh.  It was only after she finished her thought, that she finally finished the fourth part of her report.  After saving it, she did turn her head to Trevor then slowly her body followed.

        The moment that Trevor felt her eyes on him, he could feel it.  ‘Dammit, Allen,’ he thought.  ‘What the hell did you say to her?’ he wondered irritably.  ‘It’s like November in here.’

        Siren lightly smiled at him but she doubted that he noticed that her eyes were as bland as ever.  She didn’t appreciate the way that things had happened between them, but she was not about to discuss it with him here in the office or ever.  From now on… it’s a friendship that she had with him and nothing more.  Had she but known that he already had someone that he was seeing, she would have never let him kiss her to begin with.  If that was one thing that she’d learned from the young ladies that she was friends with, is that you don’t chase after someone else’s boyfriend.

        “Are you ready for lunch?” she asked lightly trying to keep her voice light, but it was hard to keep that lightness when she knew what was going on.  As she saw him nod, she also saw Allen getting up from his chair in the outer office.  “Allen?” she called out to him.  When he approached the office, she said to him, “Would you like to join us for lunch in the cafeteria?”

        Hearing Siren’s invitation, Allen elbowed Trevor’s arm with a smile and said, “I would love to, Siren.  Thanks for the invite.”

        Thankful for Allen saying that he would eat with them, Siren didn’t want to be alone with Trevor unless she absolutely had to.  “I… I hope that you don’t mind, Trevor,” she said with a smile at Allen, this time the smile reaching her eyes.  “I’d like to get to know all my co-workers.”

        Her words immediately got Trevor’s guard up.  “Suits me,” he replied and then muscled his way past Allen.  He deliberately gave him an unreadable look as he passed him and Allen even had to hustle to keep up with Trevor’s pace.

        Once in the cafeteria, it didn’t get any warmer, at least not in Trevor’s little section of the hemisphere, but he was not going to let Siren or Allen bait him into saying something that would give either of them any ammunition.  “What do you want to eat?” he asked Siren quietly.

        “I’ll have a ham sandwich, chips, and tea to drink, sir,” Allen smirked up at him, but when he saw the glare that passed over him, he quickly rose from his seat and went toward the line not really wanting to get into an argument with them.

        “Whatever you decide is fine,” Siren said simply keeping her face pleasant.  “I’m sure that you already know what I like, don’t you?”

        The temptation was too great to avoid.  “Yes,” he answered in a low, husky tone as he gazed into her eyes.  “I certainly do,” and turned and walked away from her.

        Seeing the intensity in his gaze made Siren glare at him slightly as he walked away.  She said flippantly and softly, “Yea, I bet you do, you bastard.”

        To her shock, Trevor turned even though he was a good ten feet away and looked into her eyes and said softly, “Shall I recite the list of things I know you… like… ma’am?” The question shut her up and he promptly went to the line to get her the food that they came to get.

        Having already gotten his food, Allen headed over to the table and sat down having heard what Trevor said so closely to the line and basically announced it to the whole cafeteria.  “Is everything all right?” he asked softly.

        “Everything’s hunky dory, Allen,” Siren said sarcastically.  Shaking her head and clearing her thoughts, she turned back to him as she saw Trevor coming into her peripheral vision.  “Do you have a girlfriend, Allen?”

        Allen watched as Trevor set the tray down before Siren, her voice barely audible as she said thank you and she then intently looked back at Allen.  “Well, no,” he said plainly.  “I don’t.  I like to date… I’m not serious with anyone yet.”

        Siren nodded at him and shot a glance at Trevor wondering why he was playing this game.  Looking down at the food on her plate, she picked up her fork and began to eat.

        Turning her attention back to Allen, she began to talk to him about several different things, none of which were related to work and mostly began to question him about the party.  When he brought up the subject of her coming to it again, she most definitely said, “Oh, I’m coming to the party… come hell or high water.  Wouldn’t want to miss this for the world.  Honestly… it sounds like a blast!”

        At the moment, Trevor wasn’t in the mood for whatever Allen had brewing in his kettle of jokes, so he focused on eating his lunch as quietly as possible.  A couple of times, he got the feeling Siren had looked his way, but unless either of them actually spoke directly to him, as far as he was concerned, he was dining alone.  He even finished before they did and with a quiet, “Excuse me.  I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he left the cafeteria.

        Watching as Trevor walked out of the cafeteria, Siren shook her head and quickly finished the rest of her food so that she’d be ready by the time that he came back.  “I don’t get him,” she finally said as she picked up the tea to raise it to her lips.  “One minute he’s… I guess I do see how you mean now, Allen.  One minute friendly… the next it’s like he’s off in la la land.  He didn’t even say a word during lunch.”

        Allen had seen Trevor get in these moods before and unless he’s breathing fire in his direction, it was nothing more than just a challenge to him.  And there weren’t any fire alarms going off when he left so….

        Leaning slightly forward toward Siren, Allen whispered conspiratorially, “Don’t worry about Trevor.  He’ll be a changed man when he gets to the party tonight.  Oh… he is coming, right?” Of course, he knew that Trevor was coming, since Siren had already made it plain several times within his hearing that she intended to come.  So, he’d have to wait a little bit while longer to yank Trev’s chain some more.  “He’ll come around, don’t you worry about that,” he dropped a wink at Siren.  “When he gets there tonight and sees… her, old Trev’s gonna light up like a Christmas tree.”  Inwardly, Allen grinned like a cat, ‘Oh boy is he gonna light up!’

        Listening to Allen, Siren had to admit that whoever this woman was that she must be someone rather beautiful, and enticing for Trevor to light up the way that Allen was talking about.  Nodding to his words, she said softly, “Okay, I just hope that after tonight, everything will smooth over.”  Then inwardly thought, ‘For everyone involved.’

        Seeing Trevor coming back into the room, she took a chance that she was not quite sure of but… at the moment… she didn’t care.  She leaned toward Allen, and placed her hand against his cheek.  “I appreciate everything that you’ve told me today, Allen,” she said with a soft smile, and let the sparkle in her eyes meet his.

        There was no way that Trevor could avoid seeing Siren’s hand on Allen’s cheek or the way she was leaning closer to him.  Allen just darted a look at him and grinned.  But, damn him; Trevor didn’t react like Allen expected him to.  “Oh Trevor,” Allen said, looking up as Siren removed her hand and stood up from the table.  “We were just talking…”

        Seeing Allen and Siren with their heads together, talking, Trevor felt a small know twist in his stomach, but he dismissed that feeling, and to Allen’s leading remark, he simply replied, “I hope you had a nice conversation.” Turning to Siren, he asked, “Ready?”  When she nodded, he picked her up carefully and left the cafeteria.  It didn’t really bother him that he got the impression that she thought he was hefting her like he would a sack of potatoes.  Right now, he could care less, which he had to carry around this complex.  Taking her to her office and putting her in her chair, he returned to his desk and lost himself in work for the rest of his shift.

        The cool way that Trevor treated Siren as they returned to work and the silence between them – but not the icy one that they had the other day, Siren noticed the way that he sat her down and nodded and left the room.  Looking past him, she saw Allen leaning back in his chair to look in at her and she smiled at him and couldn’t help but laugh aloud when the chair he was in tipped back and he fell on his back.  “Allen?” she called out to him.  “Are you okay?”

        Picking himself up off the floor, Allen nodded and waved at her that he was okay… embarrassed but fine.  He turned to look at Trevor and sheepishly grinned at him then sat the chair up and sat back down in it.  “Ooops,” he said softly.

        Usually, Trevor would have chuckled at Allen’s stupid trick of tipping his chair too far back.  But today, with the twelve-ring circus that his life was at the moment, and Siren’s once more picking up with her attitude again, he wasn’t in the mood.  Allen figured that out quickly enough when he didn’t react to his favorite explanation, “Ooops.”

        Finally after another half-hour of his antics, good ol’ Allen settled down and through the rest of the shift was, except for papers rustling and the sound of typing on keyboards, quiet.

        Siren finished up the reports that she had been working on right when she was the clock turn seven o’clock.  Sighing and saving the program, she leaned down to look at her foot.  Taking the bandage off of it, she wanted to see how well it had been healing. 

        Experimentally, she stood up and let her weight ease onto the ball of her foot and only felt a little discomfort when she did so.  “Woohoo!” she said lightly then bandaged it up once more.

        Leaning on the desk, she said to the two men in the next room.  “Pack it up boys… it’s time to leave this Popsicle stand!”

        Hearing Allen’s little whoop of joy, she barely saw him head out the door.  She shook her head at how he acted and she placed her pens in the drawer.  When she looked back up, she saw Trevor standing once more in the doorway, his hands in his pocket, just looking at her.

        Siren looked up at him and said lightly, “Are you alright, Trevor? You seem… out of sorts today,” she genuinely wanted to know and she let her voice as well as her eyes tell him so.

        As soon as he saw Allen slide out of the door, Trevor went to Siren’s door and caught her experimenting with putting weight on her foot.  From her expression, he figured that maybe tomorrow, or the next day that he’d be ‘reprieved’ from his status as ‘transport mule’.  To her question, he nodded.  “Never better,” he replied noncommittally, moving into the office. “You ready to go?” To her nod, he went to her and picked her up and together they left the office, pausing only long enough for her to lock the door.

        About five minutes later, Trevor set Siren on her feet inside Xavier’s quarters.  When she was steady on her feet, Trevor told her, “I’m going to my quarters to shower and change.”  A glance at Xavier let him see his subtle nod of approval.  Turning back to Siren, Trevor looked into her eyes for a long moment.  “I’ll be back in a half hour,” he told her.  “Dress casual.  This crowd likes to relax on Friday evenings.”  Then without another word to her, he left.

        It was only when Trevor was safely behind the locked door of his quarters that he began to let out a little of the internal tension he’d squelched all day.  The hot shower did its part to help him relax; ‘If only I didn’t have to go to Allen’s damned party,’ he thought as the needle-like spray of hot water beats on his back.  Closing his eyes, he forgot about the day at the office, Allen… and Siren.

PART THREE

When Trevor set her down lightly in her quarters, she stood there for a brief moment and smiled at Xavier.  But before she could even get out a hello, Trevor mentioned something about showering and changing as he glanced at Xavier.  When her father nodded, she turned back to Trevor and saw once again the bland expression on his face.  She heard his words about dressing casually and watched him as he left.  Turning back around, she turned to Xavier and finally said, “Good evening.”

Xavier smiled up to his daughter and set the paper aside that he had been reading.  “Going somewhere this evening, I presume from Mr. Conroy’s words?” he asked as he watched her slowly put pressure on the ball of her foot.

“We’ve been invited to a party, yes sir,” she said as she walked toward him as she watched her foot to see how much it was going to bother her.

“That’s fine as long as you are together, Siren,” Xavier said as he picked up the paper once more.  “I’m pleased to see you walking on your foot better.  However, if you are going to be ready in thirty minutes, you better hurry.”  Xavier popped the paper back up in front of him but when it folded down because of her hand on it, Xavier looked up at her usual way of gaining his attention when he was reading and gave her a quizzical glance.

Laying a hand down on her father’s newspaper, she lightly leaned over and kissed his cheek.  “Thanks, Dad.”

Hobbling into the bathroom, she quickly showered off then got her makeup and other essential paraphernalia, and headed to her bedroom then shut the door.  Taking time, she blow-dried her hair and put a little curl on the end of it.  She pulled a small piece of her hair to put behind her to keep it out of her face.  Applying the little makeup that she did wear, she discarded the towel she had been wearing and headed over to her closet.

“Something casual.  Something casual.”  She looked at her wardrobe and spotted something that she had never worn since she made it two years ago.  Pulling out the silk dress, she held it out to look at it.  Smiling, she said, “Yup.  This is casual enough for me.”

Putting on the dress, she looked at how it fit on her.  The straps of it were wide enough to hide her bra straps but small enough to show off her shoulders.  Glancing down at the bodice, she rearranged the small chain that draped over her cleavage and smoothed out the material toward her waist to make sure it fit snugly against her body.  The rest of the dress was tea length and had plenty of material to allow for dancing – enough though she didn’t know how to dance.  She smiled remembering the reason why she had made the dress in the first place. She was going to get Xavier to teach her how to ballroom dance but after getting promoted twice in the past two years – it had been put on hold.

Lightly twirling around, she watched how the material flowed and twisted around her legs and couldn’t help but think, ‘perhaps I should make more of my own clothes,’ but quickly dismissed that thought.  Finding a pair of shoes in the closet, she heard Xavier welcoming Trevor back into their quarters.  Putting them on, she went back to the mirror and picked up the body cologne she never wore except on special occasions. Spraying it lightly over her arms, shoulders and on her neck, she quickly reapplied her lipstick.

It was then when she saw herself in the mirror prepping that she noticed her nervousness.  Her hands were shaking and she felt almost dizzy. Stopping herself, she took a calming breath.  Pulling her hair around to where it lightly fell down onto her chest, she headed toward her bedroom door.  It was then that she heard the knock on the door and see Xavier enter.

Not wanting to keep Mr. Conroy waiting long, Xavier headed to her door and rapped on it before entering.  “Siren…” he began then stopped in his tracks – the expression of his face was one of awe.  The woman standing in the room was not the same one who kissed his cheek just a few moments ago telling him, ‘Thanks, Dad.’  No.  This lovely spectacle before him wasn’t the same freckled face little girl he remembered growing up.  Closing his mouth only to smile at her, he told her, “You are breath taking.”  He watched her smile and even saw the light blush that came with it.

Smiling at the compliment, she walked slowly to him and hugged him.  “Thank you, Daddy.”  Kissing his cheek, she told him, “I don’t know how long we’ll be gone – probably late.”  She almost dared to say ‘don’t wait up’, but knowing Xavier, she knew that he would wait up.

Stepping past him, she headed toward the living room and saw Trevor standing with his back turned away from the door.  Clearing her throat, she saw him turn around.  Under his gaze, she smiled lightly, but seeing the look on his face, her smile quickly vanished.  “Too much, huh?  Just give me a minute and I’ll change,” she turned lightly to go back to her room, a bit disappointed, but his voice stopped her.       

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