Ramon Salazar

She follows him in, glancing around the room.

"Of course. Don't suppose you could point me towards a sink, though?"

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the house is nice, airy, Mediterranean. The back garden ends right at the beach, and can be seen out of the kitchen window, which is where he's heading himself. Wouldn't do to get blood on the glasses, after all.

'Yeah, this way.'

The place is understated in the way that the immensely wealthy can afford, but it's still very human. Some of Martin's things lying on worktops, a drawing of his attached to the fridge by Random. But still, tidy. He hasn't been letting the place go to the dogs just yet.

He points at the sink and pulls a towel from a drawer.

'Knock yourself out.'

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She turns the water on hot and gets a soapy lather started on her hands.

"This place is beautiful," she says, attempting to clean under her nails. "The beach right there..."

It's weird trying to make chitchat with his blood on her hands, but she's trying.

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It hasn't escaped his notice that that's his blood draining away in the stainless steel sink. Not that he hasn't seen his own blood before, but normally on the hands of a woman who's just saved his life.

He drops the towel next to her and opens a cupboard, pulling down a fresh bottle of tequila.

'Yeah. Been in my family a long time. I bought it because Random,' he hesitates, just now remembering that he'd told her that Random isn't here. But maybe she'll just think that he's out for the evening or something.

'...liked it.'

Two large glasses are filled. Screw dirtying up the things and screw polite amounts of the stuff too.

'You want a mixer?'

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Random not being here doesn't set off any mental alarms...and truth be told, she's not complaining about his absence. Last she saw him, he was still expressing a desire to pound her face in.

She drys her hands off, then lifts a glass. "Do I ever?"

A healthy amount of the tequila disappears. She keeps her eyes closed, rolling her shoulders against the burn. "Oh, that's good."

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He half-smiles again and takes his turn at the sink, though it's pointless really as there's blood everywhere and he needs to hit the shower pretty desperately. But there's something he needs to do first.

Well, after draining half his glass, which he takes care of as soo as his hands are dry.

'Yeah, that's better.'

A glance at her and he sets his glass down.

'I've got to check on the kid. Take a seat in the lounge, I won't be long.'

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"Sure thing."

A moment's juggling and she heads into the lounge with her glass, his and the bottle of tequila.

She takes a seat on the couch and refrains from propping her feet up on the coffee table.

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She can if she wants, he's not about to object. There's only one thing on his mind right now anyway.

He slips into the darkened nursey and flips on a lamp, walking over to the cot. He's got blood on his face but it doesn't occur to him that the boy might be scared of it - hell, there's blood soaked all over his clothes too. It doesn't matter. He'd thought that he'd never get to see Random's eyes again and if he can't get the real thing, this is the next best option.

He's gentle when he shakes the boy's shoulder to wake him.

'Martin?'

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"Geh."

He informs his pai, eventually managing to open his eyes and gaze out over Ramon's shoulders. It takes several minutes before he focuses. Even as a kid he doesn't wake up early,

"Si, pai? You have blood."

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'Yeah.'

There's an unconscious wiping of his hand on his jeans which actually just makes his hand dirty again. He's too focused on the green eyes to care. Random's eyes.

'You OK?'

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He blinks, nods, and cuddles his stuffed kitty closer,

"Si, pai. Bug help wash up?"

If he skins his knee someone helps him wash up, at any rate. So he sits up in bed so that he can go get a washcloth if wanted.

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Ramon smiles, actually thinking that that's quite endearing. And he does something he's never done before, which is lean down and plant a kiss on the top of his head.

'No, it's OK. I just wanted to see if you were alright.'

He knows time doesn't pass while he's in the bar, which is why he feels he can leave him to go there. But still. If he's just learned anything, it's that the unexpected can blindside you at any moment. If he had died and Mary Anne had had to come find him, then he would have woken up here alone. Random would have been beside himself when he got back and Ramon shudders to think that anger could have been the last emotion he felt towards him.

'I'm taking tomorrow off work. You want to do something?'

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Ramon? Has just made the Bug's life. He smiles (a little shyly) and buries his chin in Kitty's fur,

"Fishing? Slam it down an' hold it by the head?"

Fishing is a good thing to do with Pai. It means that they're there, and quiet, and productive, and generally Pai seems happy if he's killing something. So.

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A hand remains for a moment, brushing through his hair, and Ramon says,

'Yeah. We can go fishing if you like. Could even get one of the big boats out and catch some of the huge fuckers.'

But just them and a pier would be alright too. It won't be as good as having the real thing with him, he knows that. He also knows that nights like tonight won't last. But still. Better than nothing and Random will be pleased to hear about it when he get back.

'You should go back to sleep then. You'll need to be awake for it.'

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"'Kay."

He lays back down, obediently,

"Don't care which fishes. I like fishing."

And as sleep claims him again (like going under for the third time, he's out almost as soon as his eyes are closed),

"Love pai."

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'Yeah, I know you do.'

He says it distractedly, still watching him, looking for the last glimpse of green as the small lids close.

Almost fucked it all up Random, Jesus.

He sighs as he turns away, mutters a quiet, 'Sleep well, filho,' as he turns the light off and leaves the room. He'll work it all out later, there are other priorities now that's done.

A shower is the next order of business and then, drinking a lot - ten minutes later he's back in the living room, clean and in fresh clothes, picking up his glass in order to fill the last slot on the list with as much gusto as he can manage.

'Sorry about that. He wanted to know about the blood.'

Sort of true. He hardly wants to explain that he felt the need to be close to a toddler just then.

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The corner of her mouth quirks in a smile. "S'alright."

The kid's important, to Random and by proxy, to him. Maybe even directly someday. There's time.

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He'd say it was unlikely, but he said that about falling for someone too, once upon a time.

He drains his glass before sitting down, refills it and offers the bottle back to her. His gaze is fixed firmly about three inches to the left of her face.

'Thanks. For...'

A vague hand gesture. She knows what he means.

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She takes the bottle, topping off her own glass then setting the bottle back on the table.

"You're welcome."

She knows. No point reliving the gory details.

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He doesn't know what he's supposed to say now, but that's never stopped him in the past. Easiest thing to do in situations like this is just brazen it out.

So he relaxes back into the armchair, crosses his legs, and asks,

'What have you been up to then?'

as though the last six months of not talking hadn't happened at all.

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She's content to ignore those months.

"Well, kissed a few girls, got a job, met King Kong and I have a horse."

She shrugs.

"Those are the highlights."

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'Girls, eh?'

He smirks, with his customary leer. And doesn't ask about Ruin, or Julian, because why make this difficult? Plenty of time for that if the peace holds.

'I didn't know you were into them.'

The other tings, interesting though they sound, can take a backseat for a moment. He is, after all, a guy.

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She's missed that leer.

"Neither did I. But I guess you never know what you like until you try it."

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