The Drifters

Lessa stuttered at the kiss but said nothing, her face was bright red as they stepped into the restaurant. She had no idea what any of this meant but he was still here so she wasn't going to complain.

Once they were seated and had ordered Serith leaned lightly back in his chair and looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before he spoke. "Can you tell me something? Did I do something that offended you or something wrong? I've noticed you don't seem to want to be around me and I'd like to fix whatever mistake I made."

"No, you're fine. You didn't do anything at all, I'm sorry that I've made you feel that way," Lessa said quickly. She had no idea how to tell him the truth so she opted to lie instead.

"I'm just a little worried about you," Serith admitted with a slight frown as he watched her. "Is there a reason why you've been ignoring me then?"

Lessa frowned and played with her hands while she formed her lie, "I'm sorry I guess I'm jus not used to traveling without Sabine."

"I guess I understand that," Serith nodded. "I'm sorry for bothering you then. Is there anything I can do to make this all easier for you?"

"This is nice, it makes me not feel so alone," Lessa admitted softly. She was just glad he had bought it, it was going to be hard to come up with more lies if he kept pushing.

"Well then I'm glad," Serith offered her a soft and honest smile as he spoke. "I like making you happy. Maybe we can try to do this more often."

"That would really be nice," Lessa admitted. "Can I ask you why you chose to stay and work this job?"

"Well, because it was something different," Serith admitted. "It gave me a chance to go somewhere and do something. I was always stuck on traffic duty before."

"I see, I guess I had thought you wouldn't want to help because we had already messed things up for you. By the way how is your shoulder doing?" Lessa asked softly.

"It's doing a lot better," Serith assured her, he was kind of surprised she had asked. "Maybe not at one hundred percent just yet but I'm almost fully back on active duty which is nice. And you didn't mess anything up for me."

"Are you sure, I mean you lost your girlfriend, you broke your shoulder and put your job at risk," Lessa protested.

"My job is always at risk," Serith shrugged lightly. "And to be honest I'm kind of glad to be out of that relationship. She was a little controlling. As for the shoulder it might not be a great thing to happen but I've gotten shot, stabbed, and pretty much had everything else happen at least once, so it's really just one more thing on my list."

"Oh, I see," Lessa said quietly. She remained quiet for the rest of the meal not wanting to bother him.

Serith noticed her silence but found that he wasn't sure what to say. When they were finished eating he paid and took her back to the hotel, but before she could step back into the room he pulled a small box out of the pocket of his jacket and offered it to her. "Hey, I thought you might like these. I really am pretty amazed by how good you are out there on the track."

In the box were a few expensive chocolate truffles from a local shop.

"Thank you Serith, for everything," Lessa said softly as she took the box. She appreciated his help even if she didn't know how she felt about being around him.

"You're welcome," Serith smiled back and then, deciding it seemed better, he pulled her in for a hug as he spoke. "Have a good night Lessa." During the hug he couldn't help but notice that something about the contact almost seemed comforting and calming.

Lessa held him tight for a long moment just enjoying his warm and spicy smell, it made her heart flutter happily. After a long moment she reluctantly pulled away. "Goodnight Serith."

"Goodnight Lessa." Serith offered her one more soft smile before he turned to head down into the lobby. He knew that he still needed to do his nightly patrols to be sure that the hotel would stay safe for her and the boys.

That night Lessa went to bed even more confused than ever and in the morning she found herself heading out to check on her car.

The following couple of days passed by fairly quietly. The day before the semi-finals a package arrived for Lessa from Sabine. In it was a small silver keychain that was an exact replica of FrostBite.

Lessa smiled at the gift, she knew she could do this with his faith. That night she curiously asked Serith if he had ever wanted to race.

Serith hesitated before he reddened a little as he spoke. "Truthfully it was what I wanted when I was a kid," he admitted sheepishly. "I was obsessed with racing and I used to collect all of those little cars. But I didn't think I would cut it in the racing world so I chose to be a cop instead."

"Have you ever tried to race? I mean you don't know if your bad at something until you try it," Lessa pointed out carefully.