It was like an orphanage had exploded all over the streets of Rhy'Din. Riley had never seen so many snot-nosed brats running amok. She stopped a few to ask where their parents were, but after the fourth time of being told to piss off and mind her own business - yes, those were the exact words used - she decided maybe she didn't want to know what was happening after all.

Now normally, Riley would be over the moon with all the kids running around, but these little ones left a bad taste in her mouth. Wait a second...wasn't that Mr Reynolds, the guy who owned the stall where she bought all their produce" She paused for a second, gaping open-mouthed as the mini greengrocer raced past. Nah. Couldn't be. Maybe it was Mr Reynolds' grandkid.

She glanced up at the porch of the Inn and was nearly bowled over by a pack of kids wearing what looked like Watch uniforms that were perhaps twelve sizes too big. "What the hell is going on?" she muttered and hopped up the porch steps with alacrity. Wide eyed and shaking her head, Riley slipped over to the window and passed a quick look around the commons room. It seemed the Inn hadn't escaped the sudden onset of the under-ten crowd. "Good lord," she muttered and decided to forgo drinking inside tonight. She spotted Rhys exiting the Inn and gave him a huge grin. "Well, hello, Handsome." Hug" Kiss" Handshake"

Rhys would recognize that voice anywhere and jerked his head toward Riley, obviously surprised to see her there. He said nothing for a moment, but let his gaze take her in, a sight for sore eyes, married or not. Running into her unexpectedly was always like a punch in the gut and it took him a moment to gather his composure. Down, boy. He smiled finally. "You're back."

"And front, too." She grinned a little and moved into hugging range. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him close, squeezing him hard briefly before releasing him and stepping back. There were ex-lover protocols to observe, after all.

He stiffened a little when she hugged him, feeling awkward at best, trying to make the leap from lover to friend. He returned the hug awkwardly and not nearly as enthusiastically as she had. "So, how was....where did you go again?" he asked as he pulled himself away.

She tried to pretend that the awkwardness between them didn't hurt, but she couldn't quite pull it off. To spare his feelings, she turned away and plunked herself down on the swing with her initials carved into the arm. "We went to the Maldives. It was...amazing," she said quietly, again sparing his feelings by not going into gory details. "Did you stay out of trouble while we were gone?"

"Where was it we were going to go again?" He followed her over to the porch swing, taking a seat beside her, but maintaining a polite distance, a bottle of JD balanced against one jean-clad thigh. "Bora Bora, wasn't it?"

A sable brow arched as he avoided her question, which probably meant he had not, in fact, stayed out of trouble while they were gone. "Um....Yeah, or Tahiti, maybe." She reached for the bottle of JD. "You mind?"

He glanced at the bottle, almost forgetting he still had it and shrugged. "It's got my germs on it," he warned with a teasing grin.

"Ew. Rhys cooties," she said and took the bottle from him to tip it back for a long pull. She made a face. "Bleh. Why couldn't you have grabbed something more palatable" Like kerosene?"

"Beggars can't be choosers, Miss....Mrs..." Oh, hell. The frown faded. He was never going to get used to calling her by her married name. "Want me to get you something else?"

She shook her head, giving him a soft, sad smile. "Nah. I just wanted to give you some grief." And here came the awkward silence. Used to be they didn't have awkward silences. Used to be they could sit side by side for hours and not say a thing to each other....That was a long time ago, though. She shifted a bit in the swing, glanced out over street. "So..."

He sighed, almost reading her mind. She wasn't going to give him any peace until he answered her question. "I didn't get myself into any trouble, Ri. I'm still in one piece."

"That's not exactly reassuring, Rhys," she said, looking back at him. "I do know you after all." Possibly better than he knew himself...at one time, anyway. Now" Who knew" She turned on the swing, tucking one sinfully long leg beneath her body and angling towards him, facing him now. "Did you do anything exciting while we were gone" Slay any demons" Bed a couple of strippers?" She said it teasingly, using the joke to cover the bit of nervous trepidation she felt awaiting his answer.

He attempted to hide a wince at her question and reached for the bottle. There was no point in lying to her. She was going to find out sooner or later. "Yes and no." He tipped the bottle back and took a deep swallow.

"Wait. What?" She blinked at him, her brow furrowing in sudden confusion. "Yes, you screwed a stripper" No, you didn't slay any demons?"

He lowered the bottle and turned his head to face her, a sober expression on his face. She'd know from that expression that he was deadly serious. "Lilith is dead."

She froze, the breath stolen from her lungs. After an eternity, she inhaled again, kick-started her heart. "When" How?" She leaned forward, intent on his face, nostrils working overtime to test his scent, eyes moving over his face again and again.

He couldn't help but look into those caramel brown eyes of hers, drawn like a magnet, but he kept his distance. Lilith was someone they both had good reason to hate and she deserved an explanation. "While you were gone. It was....safer that way."

Those caramel eyes narrowed, flashing dangerously. Her back was up and she clenched her hands into tight fists. "Safer for who?" she asked in a low, controlled voice. The muscles at the corners of her jaws jumped when she clenched her teeth to hold back the stream of recriminations that threatened. "Did you....Are you sure?" she managed after gaining a bit of control.

Safer for her, of course. Did he ever give any thought to his own safety' Hell, no. It was all about her. He noted her body language and knew she was getting ready to let him have it. "Ri, unless it was some elaborate hoax, I'm sure."

She sat back, her lush mouth thinning into an angry, white line that spoke volumes. "That's utter horse sh*t, Rhys. Waiting around until I was gone to take the b*tch out. How could you?" A touch of hurt, of betrayal entered her eyes, edging out a bit of the anger she'd initially felt.

"How could I" Do you think you could have killed her on your own" She wasn't corporeal, Riley. She wasn't wearing a meat suit. She was pure demon. Ugliest b***h I've ever seen." He shuddered at the memory of it.

"Oh, right. I forgot. You're a big badass now, huh' Did it occur to you that maybe I would have liked a piece of her" After what she did to me" To...to...to Patrick?" Their son's name was spoken in a whisper, almost as if it were blasphemy to name him out loud.

"What do you think I killed her for?" His tone of voice changed, not angry exactly, but defensive, bitter even, not at her, but at those who were to blame for screwing up their lives, for killing those they loved. "I killed her for you, for John, for Patrick." His eyes flashed in the moonlight, the boy's name sticking in his throat.

She sighed angrily and shook her head. "Seriously' You're gonna pull that card on me" 'Don't you worry, little lady,'" she said, affecting a horrible John Wayne-esque voice. "'I'm a man. I'll take care of you, you porcelain doll.' Bullsh*t."

He echoed her sigh. "It wasn't about that." It was and it wasn't, but mostly it was about revenge. "And I'm not a badass. Not hardly."

She held up a slender hand, holding it palm out to him. "Don't. Just...don't." She swung her leg out from underneath her and turned away from him, both feet flat on the worn, wooden boards of the porch, arms crossed over her chest, eyes petulantly forward.

He didn't want to fight with her. He thought she'd be happy to know he'd killed Lilith, not thinking she'd have wanted a part of it. "Opportunity knocked and I answered. I'm sorry. Should I have called and interrupted your honeymoon to ask permission?" He bit his tongue, sorry he'd said that. It wasn't what he'd meant to say. That certainly hadn't come out right and he winced, knowing his words were going to piss her off.

Her eyes went flat, dangerous. Anger boiled off her and she very slowly turned her head to face him. "Screw you," she enunciated carefully. Then she stood and stalked inside, letting the door slam shut behind her with a resounding bang that shook the windows in their frames.

He heaved another sigh. Awesome. He could leave and let her sulk or he could try and explain. Crap. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't, but that was usually the way. He knew he'd made the right decision when he'd killed Lilith. Making a deal with Abaddon, not so much, but what was done was done.

Riley would have waved back to those who greeted her in the commons room, but she was too busy stalking towards the bar, muttering darkly under her breath in three different languages. Once there, she grabbed the first bottle of whatever she could find, pried off the cap and sucked a goodly portion down. Thank goodness it wasn't rot gut but a passable bottle of whiskey.

Rhys arose from the swing, muttering a few incoherent words of choice, and pulled open the door to follow her inside. He looked around, finding her at the bar and stalked that way. "I did what I did because of Patrick, okay' He was my son, too. I'm sorry I didn't wait for you. I thought you'd be happy she's dead. If it's any consolation, she didn't go peacefully." He didn't bother to keep his voice down, in the heat of the debate, not really caring who eavesdropped. Hell with them.

She set the bottle down on the counter, careful not to smash it to smithereens in the process. "Don't you dare use him like that," she said, her voice whip-lash harsh. "Don't use him as an excuse for acting like a selfish, reckless, uncaring, child."

"I'm not using him as an excuse! Not a day goes by that I don't think of him and miss him. Or you. She f*cked up our lives and I wanted her dead. I didn't do it on a whim, Riley. I didn't go off half-cocked. What do you think I've been doing since I got here" Sitting in strip joints, ogling girls, and stuffing their g-strings full of dollar bills" You're just pissed because you didn't get a piece of her, and I'm sorry about that, but I did what I had to do. She's dead, and that's all there is to it."

"I'm pissed because this is a habit of yours, you know" You go around thinking I'm some doll to set up on a shelf and be kept safe and protected." She lowered her voice to something a bit more suitable for the conversation they were having. "I'm an Alpha Lycanthrope, Rhys. I could kick your ass with both hands tied behind my back while blindfolded. Don't you get that' I can take care of myself."

He chuckled lowly. "You could kick my ass" I'm a f*cking angel, Riley."

She picked up her bottle and took another draught from it. "So what about the other two' Gonna do them all on your lonesome, too' Cut me out of everything?"

"Naamah is next on my list." He looked around briefly, as if just now realizing they weren't alone. He didn't want to talk about Naamah in here where the walls were likely to have ears.

She arched a brow at him. "F*cking awesome. Good luck with that. Hope you don't die." She tossed the bottle towards the bin, listening with a certain amount of satisfaction as it completely missed and shattered against the floor behind the bar. She stalked back towards the door, needing some air suddenly.

Women, good grief. Were they all like that or was it just her" He sighed again. It was like the Taming of the Shrew, but she was David's shrew now. He threw another glance over at the portal. It was probably better if she didn't know what he was planning. It was probably better if no one did. If it worked, no one would be the wiser, and if it didn't, it wouldn't matter anyway. He knew she hated it when he didn't tell her what was going on, when he tried to protect her, but if his plan worked, it wouldn't matter what she thought. He set the bottle of JD on the bar and once again followed her outside.

She settled down on her swing once more, one hand gripping the chain that suspended it from the porch's ceiling, the other gripping the edge of the seat. She was very stubbornly not looking at the door when he came out, though she knew he was there, of course. She could smell him, hear him. "You don't even bother to deny it anymore. Have you noticed that?"

"Deny what?" he asked, taking a lean against the porch rail and watching her in the moonlight, the way the light shone off her hair, the profile of her face, the way she moved with the slender grace of a dancer and a cat.

"That you think I'm incapable of taking care of myself. That I don't need you - or David, or Deacon, or Daniel - to take care of me." She glanced at him, her eyes moving quickly, furtively in the darkness of the porch.

It wasn't quite what he was expecting to hear. He was expecting her to accuse him of being self-destructive and that would be hard for him to deny, but this....this was different, and he sensed a hurt in her he hadn't expected. He pushed off the railing and took a seat beside her, taking a chance and reaching for her hand. "I don't think that at all. Just the opposite."

She pulled away, crossing her arms over her chest, like a petulant child pouting. "Liar. You've always acted like that. From the very first time we met. It's irritating as f*ck, too. Makes me feel like you don't respect me."

He actually smiled, finding her pout both amusing and adorable, though he'd never tell her that because she'd probably slug him. "I respect you, Riley. I've always respected you." He reached over and brushed some hair back from her face. Oh, hell with it. "Have I ever told you you're cute when you're angry?"

"Don't, Rhys. Okay' Just...please....Don't make this harder on me than it already is." Her voice was soft, pleading and she couldn't look him in the eye. His touch burned against her cheek, against her hand.

He pulled away, frowning sadly, annoyed with himself for causing her any pain. "I'm sorry. I should probably go." He'd ask her if she wanted a ride home, but he wasn't sure she wanted that. He wasn't sure of anything anymore and the more he thought about it, the more he thought she'd be happier if he were out of the picture permanently.

She sighed unhappily and turned towards him, eyes sweeping him from head to toe and back again. "Come to dinner this week." Her voice and expression verged on pleading. "I have news for you, too."

One brow lifted in surprise at the request, but he could never tell her no and she probably knew that. "Just say when." Part of him dreaded whatever news she had for him and part of him was curious about it.

"Wednesday. Before the show. Which you should go see, by the way."

He rolled his eyes. "Men in drag aren't really my thing."

"I wear fishnets and a corset."

He smiled. "Does my ticket come with a cold shower after?"

She grinned, the ice melting. "Maybe some lotion and Kleenex, too."

He laughed. "Come on, I'm not that pathetic."

She turned a raised brow kind of look on Rhys. "Oh' You got someone squirreled away?"

"If I did, I sure as hell wouldn't tell you. You'd rip her hair out."

"Please, ye of little faith. More like split her gut to gullet."

"Uh huh, remember Esperenza" She was hot, by the way."

"She was Jaguar. Doesn't count."

"The hell it doesn't. She kissed me, you know."

Her brow arched. "Really' You decide that now is a good time to tell me this?"

"On a scale of kisses, she was about an eight."

She sighed and shook her head. "Pathetic."

"I didn't ask her to kiss me! Hey, you're at least an eleven." He smiled and leaned over to bump her shoulder. "You want a ride home" I'm going that way."

"At least' At least"!" She huffed and stood up, every line in her body screaming haughty snob. She descended the porch stairs regally, angling for the POS Monte Carlo at the kerb. "An eleven, he says. Puh-leeze," she muttered. She leaned against the car's side, crossing long legs at the ankles and awaiting her driver's arrival.

He got up and followed her, grinning as he fished the car keys from one of the pockets of his jacket. "The scale only goes to ten! What do you want to be? A twenty?"

She nodded. "As it should be. Infinity."

He snorted. "Infinity. And you tell me I've got an ego." He unlocked her door and pulled it open.

"I have never denied that I don't have a swollen sense of self," she reminded him and slid into the car, carefully arranging the short skirt in a most lady-like fashion.

His gaze lingered on those dancer's legs a moment. "If you're..." Air quotes. ?"infinity, what the hell am I?" He pushed her door closed and circled around to slide into the driver's seat. "Don't laugh at my baby. She's gonna be sweet someday."

She rolled her eyes at him - both for the lingering glance and for the claim about his car. "Infinity plus one?" she ventured.

He arched both brows at her as he shoved the key into the ignition. "Really' Damn, I'm good. Maybe I should rent myself out."

He was rewarded with a single arched brow for his efforts. "Home, Jeeves."

"Yes, ma'am, Ms. Riley." He tossed a wink at her and turned the engine over or tried to. It took a couple of attempts and some sputtering, but he finally got her going.

"Oh, yeah. Sweet.?

"Oh, ye of little faith." He grinned and off they went with another sputter and a loud rumble as they pulled away from the road.

((A big thanks to Riley's player for the above scene, which took place in the Red Dragon Inn the evening of Saturday, March 26th.))