Another shipment of wine arrived at the club. This one had a special delivery boy. The truck pulled up behind the club and the horn was honked impatiently. It'd been a few weeks since he discovered Colby's liking to his style of lovemaking and Donal was eager to get back to her. He tired of the vanilla flavored boring tarts of Chicago. He was ready to taste a bit of cinnamon here in Rhydin.

"All right, all right, I'm coming," came the familiarly irritated tone of the club's senior manager, and the loading door was pulled open by one Colby Summers, bare foot and slinking around in an old summer dress and cardigan that did absolutely nothing for her figure. But hey, it was her day off - supposedly - she didn't have to look great, did she? She leaned on the doorframe, arms crossed, evidently not having noticed who was doing the delivering. "What, do I have to hold your hand now, too?"

He heard her irritated voice and laid on the horn a bit longer. Watching her walk out of the club, he winced at her clothes. "God, I need to take her shopping." He grimaced with a shake of his head. As she came closer, the door of the truck opened up and he leaned out, elbow on the window frame. "Well, holding my hand would be a nice start, toots."

Her eyes lit up momentarily on seeing a very welcome face leaning out through the window, but she wasn't about to let him completely off the hook for being gone for weeks. "Well, if it isn't the newest kid on the block," she smiled insincerely. "Got lost, did you?"

"Yeah, shoulda taken that left turn in Albuquerque." He joked and hopped out of the truck. Quickly, he moved to her and held out his arms as he did. "And how do you do, Ms. Summers?" His smile was crooked and as cocky as ever.

"I do pretty well, Mr Shriver," she nodded to him, leaning against his truck. She wasn't about to fall into the trap of PDA - neither of them were the type to flaunt an attachment, if indeed there was an attachment on his side. There was on hers, certainly. "Where's your form? I gotta sign before the guys start unloading."

"So good to hear." He turned around and looked back at the cab of the truck. "It's in there. Why don't you climb up and get it?" Turning back to her, he jerked his thumb towards the truck.

Her brow rose in sardonic suspicion at his suggestion, but she knew better by now than to refuse what, coming from him, was a polite request. "All right, Mr Shriver, if you insist," Colby agreed, stepping past him and up into the cab of the truck. "Where exactly have you hidden it, dare I ask?"

Once she was up, and into the cab, he climbed up behind her. He slid into the seat and shut the door. "We're alone now." He whispered hoarsely and grabbed for her. "Come on over here."

Well, how could she refuse an invitation like that? Laughing softly, Colby let herself be grabbed, sliding over the seat and almost into his lap as her arms slipped around his neck, fingers pulling lightly at his hair. "Missed me, Mr Shriver?" she breathed wickedly.

"God did I." His arms were ensnaring her waist as she was pulled into his lap. "You've cast a spell on me." His breath hot on her cheek as he lavished kisses there. "I want you so bad, Colby." He nearly growled ferally, almost unable to contain himself.

Her hands clenched in his hair as she shuddered, instinctively responding to him without thought or even the need for thought. "Not so bad as I want you ..." She wrenched his head back and covered his mouth with hers, biting at his lip before crushing a long, eager, impatient kiss to his lips. Then she drew back with a sly grin. "But you can wait a little longer."

He groaned loudly and hips swivelled upwards to thrust that certain hardness against her thigh during that brutal kiss. Before she could pull away, he bit into her lip and lapped up the tiny drop of blood that escaped. "Wait? You want me to wait?"

Up in her apartment, the first thing Colby did was go looking for one particular bottle she'd bought from the apothecary only a week ago. She'd completely forgotten to take her dose the last few days, and after that little interlude in the truck, it would be just her luck to end up with a whole lot of something she didn't need. Swallowing the foul tasting tonic, she laid out her costume for her friend's party on the bed, and disappeared into the bathroom, running the shower. After all, why should she change her plans just because he was back in town?

Once the crates were unloaded and carefully stowed into the wine cellar, Donal made his way up to her apartment. Letting himself in, he strolled around while she was in the shower. Silver dollar came out of his pocket and he flipped it nervously. He'd never had unprotected sex before and it worried him that she may have a bun in the oven. He settled onto a box and waited for her to emerge. He glanced down at the outfit with a curious arch of his brow.

She wasn't long washing, coming out wrapped up in her bathrobe and drying her hair with a towel. Brown eyes glanced over at him in amusement. "That was quick," she commented lightly, sitting down on the edge of the bed. She was also in no way innocent of the way her robe opened, revealing the line of her legs as she settled to the task of drying and styling her copper-red hair.

If his mind wasn't whirling with the possibilites of a baby Donal, that leg would have received much more than the wayward glance that it got. He flipped the coin once more and put it in his pocket. "Hmm..." He glanced out of the window, then back down at her. "Listen, I was stupid and I'm sorry. But if anything comes from it then I'll take responsibility."

She glanced over at him with a confused frown, staring for a moment before what he was talking about dawned on her. "Oh ... Donal, it's fine," she assured him, rising to stand next to him. "I, uh ... there's a tonic I take, it keeps unexpected ... arrivals from happening." There was no need to tell him it wasn't infallible, or that she'd only just remembered to take it.

"Really?" He looked over at her and nodded slowly. "It's not that I don't want..." He frowned, pausing, trying to reword what he wanted to say. "I mean, it's just that..." He shook his head, still unable to get out what was in his head.

She watched him fumble for words for a moment, laying a hand on his arm to calm him down. "I know," she said quietly, with a vaguely regretful smile. "It's not the right time to commit to something like that." Or someone like me. She patted his arm gently and turned away, sitting down on the bed again to drag a brush through her mostly-dry hair.

His thoughts mirrored hers, only in reverse. She was a high class dame and he didn't want her tarnished by being committed to a low life mobster. He merely nodded again and watched her brush her hair. "So this to-do, anybody can go or do I need an invite?"

Her lips curved in a smile as she glanced over at him. "Sure, you can come along," she nodded cheerfully. "It's just a do for some of us who work way too hard to enjoy the Christmas season." She laid the brush down and reached over the bed for her stockings. "You definitely wouldn't be out of place."

His posture relaxed visibly as he crossed one foot over the other in his lazy lean against that stack of boxes. His lips pursed as she grabbed the stocking. "Do you want me to turn around or leave while you get dressed?"

Colby laughed, shrugging as she drew one stocking up her leg. "That's up to you, now, isn't it?" she chuckled. "After all, it's not like you haven't seen it all before, is it?" She sent him a look from under lowered lashes that was more than flirting with danger, it was inviting danger to set up shop on the premises.

"True, true." He grinned at her flirty attempts and remained stoic against those boxes. It was all part of the game they played. "I like the hat."

"Thought you might." She smirked over at him, making sure he saw her look him up and down. "I kinda took a little inspiration from you for my costume ... hope you don't mind." Stockings on, she stood up, fumbling beneath the robe to attach them to her suspender belt before grabbing the pinstriped hotpants from the bed and sliding them on. No sense in showing off everything just yet, after all.

The party was already pretty far in, with people spilled out onto the street in various costumes to fill the night air with laughter and slightly inebriated conversation. "Hey, Colby!" an angel declared, waving his halo in their direction with a wide grin. "This fella a date, or a nuisance?"

Colby glanced up at Donal, weighing up her options. "No, Sean, not a nuisance," she smiled warmly to her friend, jerking on her arm surreptitiously as she lowered her voice to a low hiss, for Donal's ears only. "You let go right now, or you're going to have a stiletto in your foot."

Donal stood by her side, upnodding the angel who came over to talk to them. "I can be a nuisance though, if people don't mind their business, friend." He moved his jacket open just enough to reveal the piece he had holstered at his side. A turn of his head and he kept his most charming smile. "What's that, Dearest? You're needing to powder your nose? Well I did think that it was shining a bit much." He pulled her away from Sean. "Nice meeting you, friend."

"Hey, I'm minding my business," Sean objected, elbowing into their combined personal space to hug Colby. "My business is saying hello to my friend and her ... date." He squeezed Colby tight and murmured into her ear, "You want me to get the guys out here?"

Hugging Sean one-handed, she was quick to veto that idea. "No, it's fine," she assured him. "He's making a point, that's all." Releasing her friend with a wide smile, she looked up at Donal. "It's going to be pretty hard to powder my nose with you attached to my arm, sweetheart."

Sean signed his death wish with that comment and belligerant weaseling into his personal space. And it's not like Donal couldn't hear what was said. And in response to her request, he did suddenly let her go. "You're right, now toddle along. And don't take too long, now." He smacked her on her ass and grinned at Sean.

Colby let out an indignant squeak, casting a quick glare up at Donal for that spank, and skittered into the pub, rubbing her backside as she was swallowed into the heaving mass of bodies, some of whom were shouting her name. And with Colby freed, Sean suddenly became the affable drunk once again, with a big grin for Donal. "Name's Sean ... come and have a drink, tell us how you met our Colby. She hasn't been seen on a date in years!"

He watched her until he could no longer see her, then turned to the drunken angel. "Doesn't matter what my name is. Not to her anyway." He shrugged and stepped towards the entrance of the building. "I paid her twenty bux for a blow job and now here I am." He grinned as he glanced around. "Some party, friend."

Sean backed up into the doorway, barring Donal's way. "I'm not your friend," he said angrily. "Colby's a damn good friend of mine, you just take that back right now." And it wasn't just Sean who had heard Donal's comment - there were others beginning to crowd in around them, muttering unhappily about the slur on their friend's character.

"Now, now, no cause to be rude and impolite. I'm a guest here. Now if you'd like me to leave, I'm sure Colby would be most distressed." He kept the calm, cool demeanor, smirk on his face. "Doesn't matter one way or the other to me."

Sean scowled at Donal. "I mean it, you, take back what you said about her," he growled angrily. "She doesn't do that, she wouldn't do that, and you're just a sleazy, no good -"

With her temper calmed, Colby returned just in time to prevent Sean from finishing that sentence, ducking under his arm and pinching his nose with reassuring smile for those gathered around. Then she turned to Donal. "Getting acquainted, guys?" The question in her eyes was more along the lines of 'Behaving yourself?'

"Or you'll what?" Donal grinned, hands in his pockets. When Colby showed back up he chuckled. "Just getting to know the boys. What stories they're telling about you. Guess I wasn't far off in my initial assessment, hmm toots?" He pulled out his hands from his pockets to produce the cigarette case and lighter. "Want one?"

Colby snorted, patting Sean's cheek as he subsided. If she wasn't bothered, then he wouldn't be, and neither would her friends. "Are you kidding?" she laughed. "I wanna dance!" And she snagged Sean and a couple of others and dragged them inside, throwing a smoldering look back at Donal. Inside, the crush of people were dancing all styles, but of course, the style she favoured was an up close and personal bump and grind, a wide grin on her face.

With the crowd following Colby inside, Donal remainded by the door, watching intently. And the more he watched, the bigger his scowl became. He watched quietly for quite some time before pushing off of the door frame. With a shake of his head he turned to walk back towards the club.

Of course, Colby was relieved to look up and find him leaving, but she had a feeling she was going to pay for her teasing later. Still, it didn't stop her from enjoying a good hour or so of the party, excusing herself early because of her own work commitments. She even waved off an offer to walk her back, smilingly insisting she'd be fine. Arms wrapped tight around herself, she was fine until she got to the dark alley leading to the back of the club, when she realised she was being followed.

Donal had been waiting in that alley for her. He was slunk back into a doorway. The only evidence of his presence was the glowing red cherry of his cigarette. He saw her come down the alley way and a smirk appeared on his face. But just as soon as it was there, the smirk was gone when the man who was following her made a really piss poor attempt to hide his intentions. Just as Colby moved past him, he slipped out from that doorway, unholstering his gun and firing a warning shot that whizzed past the man's head. "Best be taking another way home, friend."

She smelt the smoke before she noticed the dark shape that was Donal in the shadows, continuing on until she heard the shot. Colby spun around, hands reaching out to grip his coat as her rather stupid stalker made a run for it. "You didn't have to shoot at him," she protested rather weakly, more relieved that he was there than angry about it, although she wasn't likely to admit it without some coaxing.

When the stalker ran off, he holstered his gun and turned on her. "Are you alright?" He gave her a good once over with his eyes and reached for her elbow. "You don't go unescorted any longer. Even if you think you're alone, you're not, Colby. That's why I wish you'd give up dressing like that. It only attracts the wrong attention."

"I, I'm fine." His solicitation was throwing her off-guard again. She'd been expecting brooding anger, not concern. She didn't fight when he took her elbow, either, settling to walk beside him to the door. "I don't dress like this so often," she told him quietly. "It was just a costume, for a party, that's all."

He replaced one hand with the other on her elbow and slid his now free hand into the small of her back. "Let's just get you home." The look on his face suggested they were going to be talking about this. For a very long time.

((Adapted from Live Play with Donal and Colby.))