undergrounds | waves that swallow quick and deep

"I do know you, that's what worries me. But I haven't given you my
congratulations." She looked at him cheekily.

"it's done and we're free of both of them. Thank god for that- Childermass didn't trust me and did all he could to discredit me. We've just got to wait out the investigation..." which... "I need an alibi."

"Is that all?" Eames almost laughs into his wine, because it's pretty much the easiest thing in the world for him to do. "I can sort that for you, introduce you to your alibi tomorrow to hammer out the details."

His first thought is Arthur, seeing as they do know eachother, but he'd rather not get him involved if he doesn't have to. Not that he doesn't trust Arthur but he doesn't trust him at all. Be best not to give him any leverage if he can avoid it.

"yea..?" should she have asked for more? she isn't sure. "Do I know them?" she doubted it. He likely didn't trust any of the vampires. "I would have asked Cooper, but I can't drag him into this."

besides, everyone expected boyfriends to be the alibi. If Eames trusted someone, she supposed she could too.

Cooper's name gets a briefly furrowed brow, he clearly doesn't recognise it, but it's here and gone. That doesn't matter.

"Probably not," Eames gives Nancy a thoughtful look, he still has to decide who to call on and it'll probably all go a bit smoother with her input, so. "Any preference? Client? Friend? Maybe another witch?"

She shakes her head. "Any work. So long as it's air-tight if I need it." She doubted she would, but she was known to Sylvia and Norrell both as a member of Midnight, and Shadow Coven. That put her in a position where she could be at least interviewed. And she knew from Fagin it was always best to cover your ass.

"Easy enough. I'll call tomorrow to iron everything out." He makes a mental note to call around when he gets home, figure out who's best for it, and takes a generous sip of wine. "In the meantime though, I believe celebrations are in order."

"You're brilliant," she tells him in earnest.

But. Celebrations.

"What sort did you have in mind?" She raises an eyebrow and takes another drink. "But I'm telling you now- I'm not sleeping with you." Once upon a time, sure. Right now? She had Cooper, and he was ridiculously jealous.

She phrases it as a joke, however.

"I guess I'll have to pencil in something else for this evening," he responds, as if he's ever once considered sleeping with Nancy. (He hasn't. Even being aware she's attracted to him, it's weird when you remember what someone was like as a child.) "But I did get you something."

Eames reaches into his inside pocket, laughing a little when Juliet perks up to see what it is, and presents a small box to Nancy. An emerald jewellery set inside.

"sorry about that- can't imagine Cooper would be too happy." Unless she charged him. "got to keep work work." Okay so she wants to brag about her boyfriend a bit.

Juliet perks up and so does Nancy. "Eames- you shouldn't have-" but all protests die immediately when she opens the box. "oh my god- these are beautiful." she runs a hand over the metal carefully, as she had always witnessed Fagin do.

It's an uncomfortably familiar mannerism to see, but Eames brushes it aside and waves off the protest and such with a dismissive hand. Giving tokens is practically second nature to him, when someone's been particularly helpful or useful.

"Who's Cooper?" He asks instead, not actually entirely interested in the answer, and definitely not as much as this cat who's just rolled over and clearly needs some belly rubs, but it's polite to ask.

Yes, good, he is picking up what she is laying down and Juliet is trapping him. She sets the box aside carefully.

"Cooper," she says with a pause for dramatic effect, "happens to be my new boyfriend." She lights up thinking about him.

That gets a noncommittal noise in response from Eames. It's not that he doesn't care he just... Doesn't actually care. It's probably not the response she's looking for, but he already knows she has terrible taste in friends — present company, for example — so unless the guy's a liability? Whatever.

Sorry Nancy, "oh" is pretty much the sum total of his thoughts on the matter.

Gee, thanks. She sits back in the couch and briefly crosses her arms like the grumpy teenager she is. You're really bad at being a dad, Eames. So bad.

So she'll finish her glass of wine. "More wine?"

"Always."

Oh, he was supposed to ask, wasn't he. Eames looks down at Juliet, but the cat has nothing to offer to this situation and he sighs, "so, this Cooper. Who is he?"

She fills the glass for him.

"He's the Earl of Holloway." So he was a vampire. with some power to his name. "We've known each other for over a year now, and somehow he developed feelings for me." She shrugs it off. "He's wonderful- short, blond, Irish. Real good heart and cares about me." And that made her happy. Obviously.

"He used to be a client." If that answers the question he's bound to ask. "Just blood, though." which changed things, somehow.

"Earl of Holloway." Eames leans forward to put his glass down for fear of breaking it and nods his head slowly. It's like she's gone and made one of the worst decisions humanly possible.

"That's..." Dumb? Foolish? Going to end badly? He frowns, looking for the best thing to say. "I see."

She won't tell him about the man-sized dent in the wall, then.

"what?" Nancy challenges him. It's clear he isn't happy for her. "I'm allowed to date people."

"Dating people isn't the issue." As much as he'd question if it's wise with her work, if they can handle it then great.

This, on the other hand? He shakes his head.

"Then what is?" because clearly there was one if he used the term "the issue."

"I know you don't like vampires, but he's nothing if not kind to me." and once or twice, frightening.

"Oh, of course he's kind." And it takes a lot for him not to wrinkle his nose in distaste at the word. If that's all that mattered then there'd probably be significantly less trouble around. "He's also hardwired to see you as food before he sees a person."

She gave him a look. "I'm far more than that to him, I promise you." so he got a free, willing meal now. "But he does love me. As a person- not like his favorite cut of steak."

There's so, so much more he wants to say, but he can already see there's no point. It's disappointing — he'd thought she was smarter than this — but she's young and she's human. Pretty much the two worst traits a person can have when it comes to decision making.

"Well I'd question if it's smart to persue a relationship with a client, but I guess if he's so kind then it doesn't matter."

Nancy's eyes narrow and she crosses her arms. Oh okay then.

"Well he's not a client now, is he?" They'd become friends, too, in the middle of their working relationship. Which she should probably clarify. "And he was a friend, too." Which had made things complicated. And here they were now.

"As for his kindness, do you know how many people in my life are kind to me on a regular basis?" She could count them on one hand. "he's a good person." He wasn't a person.

Edited (wow I forgot I had other words.) 2016-07-20 22:41 (UTC)

Honestly, he doesn't hear anything after she calls him a friend, barking a laugh almost in disbelief. Of course, of course.

"You know what? Never mind." Eames waves a dismissive hand, not wanting to talk about this anymore, "I can tell nothing I say is going to make you realise what a fucking awful decision this is."

And fundamentally it's her own life to fuck up. They can share a nice bottle of 'I told you so' when it all turns to shit.

That laugh! What the hell does that even mean, she wants to know, and she sets her glass down, fully prepared for a fight. She can go toe to toe with the best of them when it came to verbal smack-downs. And she was prepared to do it over Cooper.

But then he's dismissing the whole thing and you know what? That's even worse. Standing, keeping her arms crossed, Nancy juts her jaw forward slightly. "You know what? It may be a fucking awful decision, but it's still my decision to make." Her decision, and one of the few she was able to make in her life.

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