Double the Trouble (Lyra)

[Samantha Montgomery]

Sam stopped their walking and impulsively hugged Lyra, "Thank you for understanding. Nicolas means well, but he doesn't know you like I do. And I know you Lyra. I know the real you. Nicolas will learn soon enough." she promised her friend.

Sam agreed to check on Julian as well, feeling a little disconcerted herself about what Nicolas had said.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra hugged her friend, but doubted that Nicolas would ever be satisfied. How long would he need to believe Lyra wasn't chasing high society men for their money? What would happen if things progressed with Mason? Would there be any point in her relationships that Nicolas would not be scrutinizing her every move, telling tales of her supposed ulterior motives to Samantha behind closed doors?

She would feel better when she saw Mason. She had told herself that as she counted the seconds in Samantha's room. Mason would make her calm.

[Nicolas Everhart]

Despite how Nicolas may have appeared (mainly intimidating and threatening), he had no intention of prematurely destroying the girl. He would if he felt it necessary, but on the offhand chance that she was sincere, he did not want to repair the damage he caused. Keeping his "war" private was the best alternative.

He met Mason outside the castle and laughed when he saw his friend indulging in a muggle cigarette. Nicolas pulled out his pipe and joined the man. He didn't mention Lyra or Julian, but caught up with his friend.

***

Samantha peered out the window that showed the courtyard, "Oh good. Mason's here. Oh!" she said with a mild stamp of her foot.

"Come on." She grabbed Lyra's hand and began to rush toward the courtyard.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra didn't have time to look out the window to see what had bothered her friend, she simply allowed herself to be dragged out into the courtyard. The fresh air lightened her mood slightly and she followed Sam to where the men were smoking.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Sam had been rushing to get to the scene, but calmed her steps and took a regal position before speaking with authority, "Mason Marlowe! Nicolas Everhart! How dare you!" she scolded them imperiously.

"Caught. Blast." Nicolas said shaking his head, though a smile played at his lips.

"Oh Sam." Mason groaned.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra smiled at Mason as Sam scolded him, but her smile faded as she looked on Nicolas again. Bastard, she thought as she turned away. Lyra approached Mason, who still held his cigarette though she made no move to hug him. She worried it would look forced in Nicolas' eyes.

[Samantha Montgomery]

"Where's mine?" she asked eagerly walking down the steps a little quicker than usual.

Nicolas pretended to ignore the affect he knew he was having on Lyra and offered his hand so Sam had better balance descending the steps in heels. He blew the smoke from his pipe behind her so not to blow it in her face.

Mason made an exaggerated motion of rolling his eyes before removing a tin with special tobacco inside. He rolled her a cigarette and lit it for her. "That's a terribly unattractive habit you know." he teased.

"Except when I do it." she said confidently then turned toward Nicolas expecting him to light her secret vice.

Mason laughed and looked at his date for the evening, "Would you like to try one before she steals it all?"

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra looked up to Mason and smiled. "No, I'm okay. Thank you." She took a breath and a beat, then smiled again. "You look lovely today."

[Mason Marlowe]

"That's my line." he said pulling her close to him and kissing her forehead. He held her there in his arms and set his cigarette aside not wanting to put her off. He had acquired the habit from his travels, but he considered himself a connoisseur of tobaccos rather than an addict. Samantha grew up smoking her father's pipe, and deplored the muggle cigarettes until Mason gave her one of his. She considered them rare treats indeed, and had a radar for them whenever Mason happened to indulge.

"Are you alright?" he asked sensing something was off.

[Lyra Newbury]

She closed her eyes as he pulled her to him, feeling the warmth of his lips on her forehead. She breathed him in. His normal aroma was masked by the smell of his cigarettes but it was still comforting to her. She opened her eyes and lifted her head. "I am now." He soothed her, as she knew he would, and she smiled more naturally at him.

"You didn't tell me about this," she said with a slight grin, pointing to his cigarette.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Sam allowed herself to be pulled into a similarly intimate pose with Nicolas as she surveyed her friend.

***

"Well we've been seeing each other for a while now. I figured I could let all my bad habits loose after the third date." he teased. "Does it bother you?" he asked sincerely.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra shook her head. Plenty of the boys in school smoked around her, and she didn't shy away from the behavior on occasion. She didn't mind that Mason smoked, she was just surprised.

Lyra feigned a hurt look. "Third date? I think you've miscounted, unless my date at the park was so bad that it got downgraded."

[Mason Marlowe]

He pressed his forehead to hers and caught her eyes, "You're forgetting love, I was boorish at our wonderful picnic that you organized. My primary bad habit of mercurial moods and brooding that you so skillfully snapped me out of. This is another bad habit." he said with a grin, "Running away yet?" he asked keeping his arms around her so she had no choice but to stay with him.

[Lyra Newbury]

"Only if you promise to come, too," she said innocently. "And you weren't boorish. Only ugly people are boorish. Handsome men get a pass."

Lyra hadn't forgotten that Sam and Nicolas were there, she just forgot to notice. Mason had a way of instantly lifting her spirits and her heart was light when she was in his arms.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Sam was enjoying herself immensely. In just the few moments Mason had arrived they seemed to be in their own private world. Sam leaned into Nicolas and relaxed. She resisted telling him that she told him so, but she did elbow him slightly and nod in the couple's direction.

Nicolas was watching too with a far more critical eye than Sam. He was pleased for Mason's sake that the pair appeared genuine, though it did cause more concern for Julian. He cleared his throat. "If you two are done nuzzling." he teased more in Mason's direction.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra squeezed her eyes shut tight as Nicolas' stupid taunting interrupted them. If she didn't hate him already, he pushing his luck now. She tried to keep her composure as she stepped back from Mason's strong grasp, looking hard at Nicolas.

[Mason Marlowe]

Nicolas grunted as Sam sent her elbow flying into his rib cage.

"We'll be in the carriage. Take your time." Sam said to them both sweetly before dragging Nicolas away.

***

Mason lifted her chin and brought her attention back to him, "Hey...what was that?" he asked perceptively. Nicolas had teased him, which Mason was accustomed to, but Lyra seemed to take it personally and he worried.

[Lyra Newbury]

Lyra attempted to quell the part of her that wanted to cry to him and have him make it all better. He would hold her and tell her that Nicolas was a vile man who looked for drama around him because his life was so incredibly dull. But Mason didn't know about her past, and if Nicolas was the one to broach the subject Mason would never look at Lyra again. 

"What was what?" she played innocent.

[Mason Marlowe]

Mason would have in all likelihood knocked Nicolas' teeth out if Lyra had told him what the man had said. But Mason also knew how Nicolas was. The man only had eyes for Samantha, and saw most people in her life as threats. Nicolas had been cold to him when Sam and he became friends, and to Julian as well. As a matter of fact Nicolas rarely liked anyone who Sam befriended initially. Then again Nicolas witnessed first hand the kind of cruelty Marrion had inflicted upon Sam, he had shielded her from what he could, but often felt like a failure until the woman died.

Mason didn't care much about any of that. He was Lyra's protector, and a gentleman and Nicolas' words were uncalled for.

"Remember on our very memorable date, when you gently pressed for answers and I pretended as though nothing were wrong? Two way street love. I won't force you, but I would like to know why Nicolas upset you."

[Lyra Newbury]

She would have liked to see Mason knock Nicolas around. Not only did the jerk deserve it, the thought of Mason standing up for her honor was incredibly sexy.

Lyra sighed as Mason used her own actions against her. But she couldn't tell him. And it would only make Nicolas suspect her more if she attempted to sob her way out of it. She put her hand on his cheek and kissed him gently. "You have a very kind girlfriend," she said with a grin. "Thank you for not pushing." She meant it to be the end of the conversation, but if Mason had missed her not-so-subtle clues the other day about getting intimate, then he very well could miss her meaning now.