Teas and Tomes Two Nights Ago...

She had to get out of the house and didn't want to deal with the noisy, boisterous crowd that was sure to be at the Red Dragon this time of night. Someone had mentioned a quaint cafe in the Marketplace as being the perfect place to find a book, enjoy some coffee, and hide from life for a while. For Lelah, that sounded just about perfect. So, there she was, curled up in an overstuffed chair with a cup of cafe americano in one hand and the unauthorized biography of Ingrid Bergman open on her lap. If she could be anyone in Hollywood, it would be Ingrid. Style, class, acting chops, beauty - the woman had it all. Plus she'd been in one of the best films ever made.

Rhys had heard that Teas and Tomes had the best coffee and pastries in RhyDin and he wanted to find out if that was true or not, so there he found himself, pushing his way inside to the little quaint tinkle of the bell over the door.

She glanced up at the sound of the bell above the door and blinked in shock. It was the guy from the other night. The time traveler. What the hell was his name" Ryan' Ralph' Rhys" Yeah, Rhys. That was it.

He didn't notice her there right away, too busy looking over all the goodies behind the glass. So many to choose from. He wanted them all. He smiled at the girl behind the counter, reaching around behind him for his wallet. "I'll take a coffee black and....two slices of apple pie." Because everyone knows real men drink their coffee black.

With her finger stuck in the pages to hold her place, she shut the book and watched him eyeing the glass cases like a man on a deserted island eyes a passing ocean liner. She smirked at his order. Of course he'd be one of those men who could eat anything and everything and not gain an ounce. Bastard.

He slid a couple of bills on the counter and collected his coffee and pie, which the girl behind the counter put on one plate since he only had two hands. It was then he turned to look for a table and noticed he wasn't alone.

Lelah gave him a little smile and a wriggling of fingers as a wave. Then she nodded to the chair next to her, a chair that was equally as overstuffed and comfy as her own.

He remembered her name. It wasn't hard to do since he'd pulled her card out of his wallet half a dozen times, debating whether or not to call her. He smiled when he saw her and catching her invitation headed that way, though he had intended to join her whether she invited him or not.

"Hi," she said, smiling up at him when he was close enough that she wouldn't have to shout. "How are you?"

He shrugged nonchalantly and sank into the seat beside her, setting his plate and cup on the table. "Still alive. How are you?" An odd response maybe, but not for him.

"Homicidal." She smiled to soften the word a bit and then fell silent, looking him over and deciding that she liked what she saw. "Just here for the pie or a book, too' Maybe another one on time travel?"

He arched a brow at her response, but made no comment. "Just the pie. I've read enough about time travel for now, I think."

She nodded and gave him a sad smile. "Too dangerous" Too complicated" If I'm wandering into nunya country, just tell me to mind my own, okay?"

He cut into the pie and scooped some up onto his fork. "Both of those things. Are you asking as a friend or a writer?"

"A friend...who happens to be a screen writer." She took a sip of her coffee and watched him, dark eyes line with kohl as intense as a hawk's.

"To be honest, I haven't decided yet. I mean, I know it's dangerous. I know the risks, but....It's tempting. Maybe I should flip a coin?" He smirked and wrapped his mouth around that forkful of pie.

"Seriously' You'd leave something that important to chance" Wow," she finished, shaking her head and taking another sip of her coffee before she set it down and slid the book onto the table as well.

"Some say there's no such thing as chance. That your fate is already decided from the moment of birth." He took up another forkful of pie, curious what her thoughts on that might be.

"That's crap," she said unequivocally. "There's no such thing as fate or destiny. You make your own future; no one else does."

"If there's such a thing as fate, then you probably can't change the past, but if you make your own destiny, then I don't know. If you could change any one thing about your past, would you?"

"Wow. You really go for the hard hitters, huh?" She shifted uncomfortably in her chair and glanced out the windows of the shop. It was likely he already knew about the time she'd spent in rehab, so it was no use hiding that her biggest regret was the time she'd spent doped out of her mind. She glanced back at him and gave him a tiny, sad smile. "I would have said no to drugs," she said, intending it to be a bit of a joke.

From the look on his face, it was obvious that he didn't pay much attention to gossip rags. "You mean drugs drugs?" he asked, lowering the fork.

"Heroin," she said, not hiding it, but neither was she proud. "Got hooked doing research for a film. Almost died." She frowned. "You don't pay attention to Hollywood gossip, do you?"

There went that brow of his again. He usually took things in stride, but her answer surprised him. He'd done a lot of things he regretted, but thankfully, drugs hadn't been one of them. "No shit. Wow." What did one say to that' He was for once at a loss for words.

"Yep. No shit. What about you?"

He blinked at her question, still reeling from her answer. "What would I change" I think you already know the answer to that."

She nodded, ran her finger around the edge of the coffee cup, staring intently at his face. "Save the child?" A line from a TV show popped unbidden into her mind - 'Save the cheerleader, save the world'.

He frowned sadly, watching her finger as it traced the cup. "Yeah, but that's impossible."

He wrapped a hand around his coffee cup, watching her from his side of the table, a sober look on his face. "I wish I was. Bullshitting you, I mean." It occurred to him that she could be a demon, but his Spidey sense told him she wasn't and asking women to drink a little Holy Water or sneaking it into their drink never went over very well. You didn't get a lot of second dates that way.

She just stared at him for a long time. Then she leaned forward and kissed him, her lips soft against his, his cheek warm against the palm of her hand as it came up to cup his face. The kiss stretched out for an eternity - or really, only five seconds. Then she reluctantly sat back in her chair and gave him a soft smile. "Sorry. Had to check though."

Once again, she surprised him, this time with a kiss. He didn't pull away or make any attempt to stop her. Why would he" A beautiful woman was kissing him. He wasn't going to say to that, even if it did put her in danger. He even reciprocated the kiss, his lips warm and soft and obviously human. He smiled when she drew back. "Sorry, no sparkly vampire here. Disappointed?"

She shook her head. "Nope. Not a little. You" Was it too much?" She paused for a second, then continued. "I wasn't checking to see if you were a vampire or whatever, you know. I have like, a sixth sense when it comes to kissing guys."

He arched a curious brow. "What did your sixth sense tell you? To run for the hills?" He smirked.

She shook her head once more. "Quite the opposite. Thought it did warn me that you're dangerous and could crush my heart if I decide to give it to you."

He lifted his coffee finally and took a sip. He was actually having a halfway intelligent conversation with a woman who wasn't Riley and they weren't arguing. It felt refreshing. He smiled again, this time a little sheepishly. "I didn't know I had that effect on women."

She snorted and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Puh-leeze. Those eyes, that dimple" Those lips" Don't bullshit a bullshitter, Rhys."

He looked sincerely surprised, even shocked. Sure, he'd been hit on by women before, but he really didn't think he was anything special. "Really?"

"Yes, really. C'mon. You've gotta know you've got it goin' on. I'm sure women fall all over themselves to talk to you, right' You go out to the bar and have to fight them off with a stick, right?"

If there was a mirror around, he'd have looked into it to try and figure out what she was going on about. Instead he smirked at her. "Do you think I'm....how do you say....sexy?" He mimicked something he'd heard on Saturday Night Live. He waggled his brows at her stupidly.

That drew another dramatic rolling of her eyes. "Don't. Just, you know, accept the compliment. Be gracious. Even if you think it's crap, which it's not."

"Well, you're not exactly chopped liver. I mean, you're....smart, gorgeous. Hell, you're a movie star."

She waved her hand dismissively. "So's Shelly Duval." Then she gave him a half-cocked smile. "These girls you date, the mom. What is she" A six" Seven?"

He laughed. "Shelly Duval is ugly as sin. Did you miss the part where I said you're gorgeous?" He paused at her question, then said, "Riley?"

"Riley. Why is that name familiar?" She chuckled at his reaction to her comment about Shelly Duval. "Nah, I didn't miss it. I was just saying that Shelly Duval is an actress; actresses aren't always drop-dead."

"There's a difference between an actress and a movie star. You're a movie star. Christ, I'm having coffee with a movie star!"

She laughed. "Want an autograph?"

"Is it worth anything because I'm sort of broke."

She shifted once more in her seat, curling up like a content feline, tucking her legs beneath her body and fluffing her hair a bit. "Not worth a dime, I'm afraid. Maybe after I'm dead, though. The girls" Sixes" Sevens" Fives?"

"What girls" You mean my ex" You want me to rate her on a scale of one to ten" Compare her to you? I can't really compare. I mean, you're both beautiful, but....different."

She shook her head. "Don't compare her to me. My point that I'm completely failing to make is that beautiful women don't date men who are ugly...unless they're loaded." She tipped him a little smile. "And you've already admitted that you're broke, so....You must be hot, right' Following that logic, anyway."

"Oh, well....my ex was loaded. She didn't need the money, so..." He broke off, considering that a moment. Should he tell her he and his ex were soul mates" Yeah, that would probably go over well. I touched her and just knew she was the one, which is why I'm alone. Yeah, good one, Rhys. Tell her that. He turned his gaze to his coffee cup, thinking.

"See" There ya go." She smiled, watching the fleeting expressions on his face, sadness, regret, something else far more complicated. "Listen," she said and sat forward, reaching out to gently stroke the back of the hand holding the coffee cup. "I'm sorry about kissing you. I'm sorry for complicating your life. Hell, I'm even sorry for eavesdropping on your conversation and writing a script about what I overheard."

He hadn't name dropped yet. From one famous woman to another. From the frying pan into the fire. He lifted his gaze from the cup to her again. "Don't be sorry. I'm not sorry." He was acutely aware of the fingers that were stroking his hand and made no move to pull away.

"Not even a little" I mean, you've got what sounds like a pretty full life. Time travel and demon hunting and werewolves and stuff. I don't....You don't need complications. Especially not spoiled Hollywood princesses with addictions lurking in their closets."

"Is that what you are" A spoiled Hollywood princess?" He actually looked a little amused by her self-assessment. He'd already been with at least one spoiled princess.