What Happens Down In Mexico Stays In Mexico
Nina was sitting at one of the many outside tables in the restaurant in the lower level of the hotel. The sun was shining, because the sun shone every day here, and Nina played with the straw in her frozen drink.
Jill and Amanda were down on the beach, making sandcastles and playing in the waves. Jill still had her moments when she didn't seem to believe any of what had happened to her sister in the past few months, but Amanda wasn't going to miss more than a week of school, and besides, she was in fourth grade. So when Nina had shown up with three tickets to Cabo and a cryptic warning from her boyfriend, Jill hadn't argued too much. Ex-boyfriend, Nina should have said, because who was she kidding?
Sure, at first it had seemed perfect. What better match for a newly made werewolf than a vampire with experience in not killing people? They should have had plenty in common; they should have been equals. But she was another victim to Angel, another of his cases. Not that he ever told her as much, but she saw the way he acted around his friends. He never let her in even that far. He told her about the curse, and she'd known then that it wasn't going to work. What kind of man told you in advance that he knew you couldn't give him perfect happiness? But he was Angel, her rescuer and hero. She had never lied. He was still the most amazing man she'd ever met, but she wasn't an idiot. He was never coming for her.
Nina wondered if he was even still around to come back to her. There'd been some sort of explosion, a bomb of some kind, the news had said, and the blast seemed to be centered around the Wolfram and Hart offices. CNN was blaming terrorists, but Nina knew better. She wondered what she hadn't known, and she wondered who it was, exactly, she'd been dating.
Nina stared out at the waves crashing into shore. She hadn't cried over Angel. She sipped her frozen drink again, and looked up as someone approached the table in her peripheral vision.
A blonde girl stood behind the chair across the table from Nina, pretty, but with a tight look to her face. She wore a light sundress, white and low-cut, and she could have been any one of a thousand blonde girls just out of their teenage years, down in Cabo for a wild week of beaches and sun and parties.
Nina sat up straighter, turning to face the girl, who adjusted her grip on her purse, and didn't bother to smile. "Are you Nina?"
Nina frowned. "Who wants to know?"
"I'm Buffy Summers. I'm a friend of Angel's."
It figured. This was the way life went for her these days. Nina cocked her head. "The girl from Rome?"
Buffy pulled out the chair and sat down. "Have you heard from him?"
Nina laughed softly. Maybe it wasn't just for her that the world sometimes seemed to revolve around Angel. "No. And I don't expect to. Have you?"
Buffy frowned. "He bought the ticket to get you here, didn't he?"
The condensation on the side of Nina's glass was cool on her fingertips, and she ran them through her hair to dry them off. "He did. And that was goodbye, I thought. He's not going to fly across a continent to find me." It wasn't bitter, even, Nina was surprised to discover.
Buffy's mouth twisted as she looked down. "Angel and I are..."
"Complicated," Nina interrupted. "So Angel said." Buffy nodded, but didn't look up. "I take it he hasn't talked to you either, though?"
Buffy looked up, face tight. "Not a word," she said lightly.
Nita studied Buffy's face for a minute, judging the Other Woman. "Men. Vampires," she said finally, seriously. "They're all the same. Bastards, every one."
Buffy's eyes widened in surprise, and then she laughed out loud, and every line in her face disappeared, and she was bright like the sun and the sand, and her eyes glinted like the water with light on it. It didn't look like something she'd done in a while. "I'll drink to that," she said.
Nina smiled and looked around for the waiter.
The lights from the bar caught the liquor in Buffy's glass, and the side of glass was smooth and round against her lips. Nina liked the way it looked in the dim lights, and thought she might like to capture that in a sketch. She turned to Buffy, maybe to tell her so, maybe not, and Buffy sucked on a salted wedge of lime, threw back a shot, and made a face.
"I hate tequila."
Nina smiled. "Me too."
Buffy smiled back, fiercely, and poured two more shots, pushing one to Nina. Her fingertips brushed the back of Nina's hand, and Nina stared into Buffy's eyes, trying to find some sort of explanation there, but Buffy just looked back, eyes strangely empty and glassy. "To exes," she said, raising her glass.
Nina raised hers in return, clinking it softly against Buffy's, and picked up a piece of lime and pressed it to her lips, watching as Buffy swallowed and made another face. Nina sipped, barely keeping her own face from screwing up.
"Blegh," Buffy laughed, face suddenly lightening again. She kept doing that, as if she had been serious for so long that she'd almost forgotten how to smile, how to let go and relax. Almost forgotten. Not quite. She drummed her fingers on the bar in tune with the music from the band. Her foot kicked too, keeping rhythm, and her bare leg brushed against Nina's. Nina looked up again, sharply, and Buffy was watching her, face intent.
Nina met Buffy's eyes, and didn't look away, even as Buffy brushed her leg against Nina's again, and slid a sandaled foot slowly up Nina's calf. Nina looked away for only a moment, and then it was to look pointedly at Buffy's hand, resting easily on the bar, and to lay her own on top of it, twining their fingers together.
She met Buffy's eyes again, and Buffy smiled then, secretly, encouragingly, and Nina suddenly laughed. "I don't think I've ever been out for drinks with my ex's ex before," she confessed.
Buffy threw back her head and made a rueful sound. "At some point, I'm sure I have," she replied. "I think I live in a soap opera sometimes."
Nina smiled. "Not a horror movie?"
Buffy smiled widely and leaned in close. "You scared?" and Nina could only smile back, stomach twisting slowly, almost like the change before a moon, but there was no pain involved, just a quick heat unrelated to the spring night or the drinks.
"Not after this much tequila."
Buffy let out a breath of laughter and Nina wasn't sure when exactly the breath turned into a brush of Buffy's lips against her own, but then Buffy was leaning back and looking at Nina experimentally, and Nina licked her lips.
Buffy looked back over at the other end of the bar, and Nina realized with a start that Buffy was waiting for her to make the next move. "My room's upstairs." Buffy didn't move for a split second, and Nina wondered if she'd actually said that aloud.
Then Buffy turned, and the wolf inside Nina recognized something in the look of her eyes. Nina shivered in spite of herself, and stood, and Buffy stood too, her hand still entwined with Nina's.
The door to the room shut with a soft thump behind them, and Nina's hand was still twisted around Buffy's wrist, fingers brushing her palm, when Buffy turned to face her.
Buffy stepped close to Nina, closer, and Nina was mesmerized by the perfect shape of Buffy's mouth, and then Buffy kissed her, and it tasted, like every other kiss in Mexico always tastes, like tequila, harsh and biting. Nina reached up to steady herself with her hands on Buffy's hips, and the thin material was feverhot under her hands. The body under the dress was firm to the touch and all over curves and flatness, and Nina ran her hands over it in exploration.
Buffy's hands did their own reaching, one sliding around the back of Nina's neck, the other starting on her side, and sliding up to cup Nina's breast.
Nina felt heat flash through her, warmer than the night, but just about the temperature of Buffy's hands on her body, or Buffy's mouth against her own.
Confidence grew as the kiss deepened, and Nina tightened her hold on Buffy's waist, pulling the other girl closer, until their bodies were pressed together, and Nina's breath quickened with the contact. Buffy cupped her hand around the back of Nina's neck, biting down on her lower lip, and with her free hand fingered the hem of Nina's shirt, sliding her hand under the skimpy tanktop and up her chest to run her fingers over the curves of Nina's bra.
Nina's muscles clenched, and she kissed Buffy harder, and then broke off the kiss, drawing them both over to the bed. Nina grabbed the waist of her shirt, pulling it quickly off and dropping it to the floor, and paused to kiss Buffy again, hands reaching out eagerly for more skin. Nina's fingers found the zipper on the back on Buffy's dress, and pulled it down, sliding the top off of Buffy's shoulders. She leaned over Buffy, kissing her mouth, the side of her jaw, and nipping at her earlobe before sucking gently on the soft skin of her neck. They fell back onto the bed, Buffy wiggling out of the dress with Nina's help. Buffy's hands traced patterns on her skin, and slipped below the waistline of Nina's skirt, tugging it down so that both girls were left in their bras and underwear.
The room lights were off, but the lights from outside were strong, and it wasn't so dark that Nina missed the scar, faint and old, but still clear, on the side of Buffy's neck: an old bite mark. It wasn't the same shape as Nina's own, but Nina had a suspicion of the origin of that bite. She didn't say anything, and Buffy didn't seem to notice the slight pause before Nina laid more kisses down Buffy's chest, reaching under Buffy's back to unfasten her bra when it interfered. The angle of Buffy's back with the bed made it difficult for a moment, and then the bra had joined the rest of their clothes on the floor.
Buffy giggled suddenly, and spoke, the first words since they had left the elevator. "I always think that part should go faster with a girl."
Nina smiled. "Yeah, but it's not backwards. It slows you down."
Buffy smiled, and reached up to push away the hair that was hanging in Nina's face, and drew her down her another kiss. Nina slid one leg between Buffy's, pressing them together along the lengths of their bodies, and kissed her back as the pressure grew, and her blood pounded.
Sex was scarier since the change. She never remembered much of what happened while she was in wolf-form, but she always knew the feeling of the change coming upon her. On the day of the full moon, she could feel it, just a touch to set her on edge. But when evening fell, her blood pounded and her breathing raced, and when Buffy slid her hand down Nina's stomach and between her legs, the sharp rush of feeling felt almost for a second like the wolf taking over.
Buffy's fingers brushed her sex, and Nina gasped, jerking once. "Keep going," she whispered. Buffy obliged, stroking Nina with small movements and kissing her neck, tongue pressing down in rhythm with her hand. Nina felt her hips rising in response, tried to slow her breathing, to make it last.
She grasped at Buffy's body, pulling the blonde hair to one side of her neck, kissing her shoulder, running her hands as far down Buffy's body as she could reach, and Buffy jerked against her in response. Nina breathed harder as Buffy changed the direction of her stroking, and Buffy's fingers were wet against Nina's flesh, and Nina shuddered.
It was almost like the wolf unfolding inside her, but this was different, red and hot where the wolf was cold and silver, and as it uncurled from her abdomen, Nina jerked against Buffy's hands, moaning into the side of Buffy's neck.
Buffy held her, arm wrapped around Nina's back, and kissed her deeply. Nina breathed out for a long time, and then looked up at Buffy, smiling. Buffy's eyes were darker in the dim light, but her smile was young and fearless and free, and Nina could see, without understanding it, why she was worth flying across continents for.
Nina curled her fingers around Buffy's upper arms and shoulders, and then reached up to trace the side of Buffy's cheek. The night was young, And here, and now, so were they.