The Boys are Back in Town (Zach/Open)

[Edmund Fairfax]

Edmund's smile didn't waver. "Thank you." He took another sip and leaned against the bar elegantly. "Oh, let's see... there are a couple of restaurants down the street. I think there's a zoo, and an observatory... Oh, and a quidditch stadium. And there's a new club that just opened up in Diagon Alley, but I haven't been there yet."

He finished the last of his drink, then nodded toward the dance floor. "What do you say we take a turn around the dance floor? Just for fun?"

[Marietta Gehm]

"They have a zoo now," Marietta asked with interest. Animals were a big thing for her. She absolutely adored them. On her return, she thought about stopping at pet store and adopt a puppy once she was settled in her apartment. She also made another mental note to go to the zoo and spend all day just looking around.

"I might have to go look around tomorrow or something." Marietta finished her drink as well, and then looked to the dance floor then back to Edmund as he asked her to dance. "I don't think just one dance will hurt anything."

[Edmund Fairfax]

Edmund raised an eyebrow at her. He wasn't quite winning her over as easily as he normally would. In fact, he was honestly beginning to worry that he might be losing his touch. It seemed that more and more women were becoming resistant to his charms, and this was a trend he did not like one bit. It was obviously Claire's fault.

Still, he also hadn't turned on his full charm with Marietta. Zach and Derek were nearby, and the original goal of the evening had been for the three of them to hang out, like they had done in the "old" days, before Zach's wanderlust had taken him away for long stretches of time.

Smiling, he took her hand and led her out to the dance floor, noticing that Zachary was already there with a pretty brunette. He nodded to his friend as he began to dance with Marietta.

But then something--a flash of blonde hair--caught his eye. He would have been shocked to realize that his breath caught in his throat. As the blonde turned slightly, he realized it was Claire.

Damn Claire.

She was dancing with a tall, exotic-looking man, who was most definitely not Tristan. She was all over him... and it instantly annoyed Edmund.

"Marietta, I apololgize," he said, looking at the girl in front of him. "I see someone I know and I must go and speak with her." He paused to kiss her hand, then hurried over to where Claire was.

"May I cut in?" he asked, smirking.

[Marietta Gehm]

She took his hand an followed him out to the dance floor. One dance wouldn't have hurt, then she would leave.

Marietta danced with Edmund. He didn't seem like he was trying to advance on her, and that was perfect to her. Tonight was just a night at a club, like she had planned.

When he said that he saw someone he knew, Marietta nodded. "That's fine," she replied. "I've got to go any how. It was nice meeting you though." She gave him a final smile just as he disappeared. Marietta was not offended that he left her, after all he was polite.

[Claire Weiss]

Claire was enjoying herself as she danced with Tom. He was a fairly good dancer, she had to admit. She was in a world all her own while dancing, and didn't notice when Edmund appeared until he spoke.

Edmund's voice was enough to make her stop dancing. She looked from Tom to Edmund. Claire was hoping that she would not run into him for a good while, that was why she stayed in her apartment. She hadn't seen or talked to him since he had come to visit her.

For a moment, she forgot all about Tom as she looked up to Edmund and simply raised an eyebrow. "I guess," she said with a careless shrug.

[Edmund Fairfax]

Edmund smiled and took her hand, not even giving a second thought to the man she had been dancing with. He led her a little ways away from the man and began to dance in his elegant, smooth style. "You look beautiful tonight," he said in a low voice. "What are you doing here?"

[Claire Weiss]

Against her mind telling her not to dance with him and just walk away, she moved with him as they stepped away from Tom. She danced with him with ease. Dancing with him was always smooth and easy, but then again she had danced with him numerous times.

Claire just gave a slight nod as he complimented her. "I'm here just to get out for a night and maybe have fun while I'm out. Is that such a crime?"

[Edmund Fairfax]

"I never said it was a crime," Edmund said lightly. "I'm just making conversation, love."

Merlin, how he'd missed her. She was doing crazy things to his head. "As for me, I'm just here to visit with some old friends. How have you been? Still seeing Tristan?"

[Claire Weiss]

Claire knew of the friends Edmund spoke of, although she had never met them.

Of course, she was not about to tell him that she had stayed in her apartment and didn't bother to go anywhere at all. She wasn't going to tell him that her fridge was full of food. If she did, then he would know that something was wrong. "I've been alright," said Claire. "I haven't seen him for several days." She gave another shrug. "But, what about you? How have you been?"

[Edmund Fairfax]

He'd been going out of his way to surround himself with people and beautiful women as a way to distract himself from thoughts of her, that's what he'd been doing. And if he was honest with himself, he hadn't been happy. Oh, he liked Danny and Marietta well enough. But neither of them were Claire. Seeing Zach and Derek again had helped, but the truth was, he missed her. And the realization scared the hell out of him.

"I've been fine," he said, his smile never wavering. "Just the usual."

He sighed to himself, then continued, "Claire, about the other night..."

[Claire Weiss]

Claire was relieved that he didn't think about the other night. After all, maybe they could just forget about it and continue on while pretending that it never happened. She sighed. Who in the world was she trying to kid? She couldn't forget about it and she wanted to. She really did, it was just damn near impossible to do it.

She knew what 'just the usual' meant and Claire shook her head. She hadn't had a fling since Tristan, and she partially blamed that on Edmund.

Her relief seemed to have been shattered as he brought up the topic she wished that he would have just avoided. Everything would be just fine if he hadn't. "Look, Edmund, just forget about it." At the moment, she couldn't hide the fact that she didn't want to forget it. Her eyes told the truth for her, even if her facial expressions didn't.

[Edmund Fairfax]

He shook his head. "I can't forget," he whispered, feeling suddenly very vulnerable. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since that night. Please, Claire... don't push me away again."

He cupped her cheek with his hand, lightly stroking her soft skin with his thumb. No other woman made him feel this way, and while it scared him, it also excited him. But she always kept herself at arm's length. It was starting to make him crazy. "All week, everywhere I went, I saw your face."

Unable to hold himself back any longer, he leaned in and kissed her.

[Claire Weiss]

She caught that Edmund became vulnerable. Never, as long as she had known him, had he become vulnerable at any point in time. When he would use his charm on different women, Claire never saw any vulnerable points.

The words 'me either' got caught in her throat and wouldn't come out. Claire wasn't sure if they had stopped dancing or not, but that was not her concern at the moment. Edmund was saying all the right things, and she could tell that he wasn't lying to her. She had never seen this side of him before.

When he touched her cheek, her head tilted slightly in his hand. Claire didn't feel like she was in control of herself for a few moments. And when he kissed her, she was sure that she had lost it. Claire let him kiss her, and for a moment she did kiss him back. She did, no, needed, him. That scared her a little.

Claire pulled away and shook her head. As much as she wanted to just wrap her arms around his neck and tell him that they should just disappear for awhile, she couldn't do it. She wasn't going to end up broken hearted because he slept with her, then left. "Edmund," she said quietly.

[Edmund Fairfax]

As always, she pulled away. It was actually starting to hurt. There were only so many times he could take this kind of repeated rejection from her before it drove him over the edge.

"Claire.... please," he said in a low voice. "Don't make me beg. I can't take much more of this before I have to get away from you... and when that happens, I swear, I'm gone for good. You don't want that, do you?"

[Claire Weiss]

A flicker of fear showed in her eyes as he said that he would leave for good if she kept on doing what she was. Claire couldn't help it. She was scared about what would happen if she let him get to far. She didn't want to lose him, but it seemed that either way she went she was going to.

Before she knew what she was doing, she shook her head no at his question. He was making this hard, and Claire was sure that he knew that. She searched his face before landing back on his eyes.

Claire had lost control of herself because she leaned in and kissed him, despite her telling her body no. Her heart had wanted it, she had wanted it. She put her arms around his neck as she kissed him deeply. Pulling away slowly to catch her breath, she met his eyes again. "You'd leave me either way," she whispered.

[Edmund Fairfax]

"What if I said I wouldn't leave?" he whispered. "Would you believe me? Claire, you're in my blood, and it's getting so I can't even take a breath without thinking about you."

Reaching up, he threaded a hand through her hair, and gazed down at her with a dark gleam in his eyes. He was so caught up in her that she was all he could see. The lights, the crowds, his friends, all of it had ceased to be, and he was standing alone with her in his mind.

[Claire Weiss]

Claire wanted to believe him, and the way he was acting, she did believe him. She didn't want to however. Her arms were still around his neck as she thought. She was losing a battle that she had been trying her hardest to fight. "Yes. I would believe you," she said. It just slipped out instead of her thinking about what she was saying.

She was going out on a limb, believing him. Claire gently touched Edmund's jawline with her hand. "But you would have to show me that I'm not making a mistake."

[Edmund Fairfax]

"How?" he said. "Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it."

He should have regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth, but he was so caught up in her that he couldn't even hear the alarm bells ringing in the back of his mind. When they started asking for proof and getting him to make promises, that was when he was supposed to run away. But he wasn't running now.

[Claire Weiss]

She couldn't believe what he had just said, but she didn't think twice about it. She was too much into her own dream world to hear anything that may have been warning her about this.

Edmund was willing to do whatever she wanted him to. "Stay with me," she said. "If you don't go after any other girl or even look at one like you want to go after her, and respect my decision if I don't want to sleep with you yet. If you just care like that, that will be enough proof for me."

[Edmund Fairfax]

So she basically wanted him to be celibate for her? He could understand her telling him not to look at another girl. As it was, they all paled in comparison to her, anyway, so it didn't seem that hard. But to do that, without even the promise that she would sleep with him... well, that was just a little more than he could stand. A man had needs, after all.

"If I do that, you'll still make me wait?" he said. "I've been waiting so long for you already... Do you just enjoy torturing me?"