Cat's in the cradle (Melia and Taliesin)

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"Well," Dominic said as he turned the volume down on the radio a bit. "The cats are actually pretty chill. Mostly because I got them together. So they have their own company and are also used to sharing space. The one," he laughed, "Domino, he's almost as hyper as Lucas, the puppy, is sometimes. And then on the completely opposite side of the spectrum we've got Ruby and she's that stereotypical greater than thou type cat. She pretty much thinks she just doesn't have time for Domino's and Lucas' nonsense. Every once in awhile though, I catch her chasing Lucas around. Playing." He turned the car into the back alleyway that lead to the parking lot for the cafe. "It took me awhile to figure out that's what she was doing. At first it seemed like she was attacking Lucas for invading her space. But eventually I realized that it was all play. I think it confused Lucas for awhile too."

He put the car into park, instinctively reaching for the parking break even though it wasn't necessary in the automatic car. Habit, from switching back and forth between a manual transmission and automatic. "Well, here we are, mon cheri," he said, gesturing to the back of the coffee shop. He got out of the car and strode around the car to open Kristie's door for her.
 
Kristie listened quite raptly as he described his animal's always finding their antics quite amusing. Animal's didn't have nearly as many reservations as humans did so they were always up to something interesting. She didn't bother to hold back a few giggles as he spoke. "I don't blame you two. Cat's playing looks pretty vicious. Of course if you're familiar with cats you know that unless they're making that blood curdling yowling or actually drawing blood it's all in..relatively good fun." A little bit of a dominance establishing as well, but that was of no particular concern.

She took the time Dominic took to walk around the car to look over the shop, ignoring the faint tingle of pleasure she felt at what were no doubt well used words. She found it a bit awkward to have him opening her door for her as well but he made it seem so casual and sweet that the impracticality of sitting and waiting for him to walk around did not seem so silly at the moment. She flashed him a warm smile as she stepped out and waited for him to close the door before letting him lead the way inside, pausing for a moment as they stepped in the door to take in the lovely confection of scents. "I don't drink coffee much but I can't deny I love the way it smells." She shook her head with a chuckle and moved out of the doorway. "And then the smell of coffee and tea together..." She made a happy hum.
 
The coffee shop had an old warehouse sort of feeling to it with bare brick walls and high ceilings with exposed ducts. There were paintings done by local artists lining the walls. Despite the warehouse feel though, the place was well lit and cozy, with plush furniture and even a fireplace, though today it wasn't lit, since it was so warm outside. Dominic led Kristie in with his hand on the small of her back and approached the counter. He ordered a plain black coffee for himself and looked at her expectantly, waiting for her order.

Once they had gotten their orders, he chose a spot at a small table next to the windows. There were a few others inside the cafe, but it was relatively quiet. It was an odd time to be at a coffee shop for most people. So that allowed them a more private experience. Light acoustic music flowed through the hidden speakers. Dominic sat back in his chair, his pose entirely at ease. He gave Kristie a crooked, lazy smile. "So," he said simply, holding eye contact with Kristie.
 
Kristie pondered her choice for a moment before ordering some vanilla chai tea, trying not to think about how distracting one hand could be. By the time they sat down she was quite relieved to be across the table from him. It gave her a chance to recover her composure a bit, in theory.

She felt her breath catch for a moment as their eyes met, hating that lazy smile because it was so damnably attractive. For the first time in their interactions she felt decidedly at a disadvantage, and even stranger only sort of minded. She was embarrassed but it was mostly because she would not have minded them being alone at this particular moment. She felt her face start to heat and hastily decided it was time to say something before things got out of hand.

"So." She replied, pulling herself together and offering a bright smile in his direction. "You've gotten a hint about my childhood, it's only fair you tell me about yours as well."
 
Dominic took a sip of his coffee before he answered. "Oh my childhood is not terribly exciting. Not that it's a bad thing don't get me wrong. I had two happily married parents who made our home a safe and happy place. I liked school and I did well in it. I did have to deal with a bit of bullying mostly because I possessed more brains than most of the kids. You know how it goes... But my parents were great. Taught me how to deal with it in a healthy way. My dad unfortunately died of a heart attack when I was twenty one. That was a pretty tragic day. He was always so supportive of my interests and everything. I still miss him." He paused, taking another thoughtful sip of his coffee.

"Oddly, I always get the feeling that Dad would have supported me helping Matt one hundred percent. Which I think is part of why I haven't completely kicked him out despite all other gut feelings about him. I'm not sure. I feel like Dad would have looked at him and sort of taken him under his wing or something. That's just the way he was. And he would have encouraged us to follow our dreams. I can't under good conscience not...help him achieve his dreams... because this part of me where Dad sort of resides would be ashamed of me. Is that weird?"

He hadn't meant to bring up Matt again. But ever since he had met Matt he couldn't seem to separate thoughts of his Dad with thoughts of Matt or vice versa.

"I'm totally not even a spiritual person. It's just that... I don't even know..."
 
Kristie almost felt a little jealous at his strong connection with his father mixed in with her sorrow at his loss. She had to admit he sounded like he was handling it pretty well though she supposed it had been quite a few years now. As he continued speaking, she once again was struck with a strong desire to hug him. He was such a sweet man, she couldn't help but feel guilty dirtying him by her mere presence.

Instead of giving in to her urge this time she gave him her warmest smile, trying to project all she felt across the space. "I think I understand. It's called respect for the dead, and as you said he still lives on inside of you so it's only reasonable to want to please the ghost of him that remains with you." Sometimes she wondered about that herself. She and Father had hardly had a deep connection like that but she could no more banish his words from her than cut off a limb and there was no doubting his words swayed her in directions she normally wouldn't go. For a second her warm countenance darkened and after a few seconds of silence she realized she'd wandered off into her own thoughts and shifted her shoulders to shake it off. There was just the faintest tinge of pink on her face as she glanced away in embarrassment. "Sorry, I got a bit lost in my own mind there."

She leaned back with a faint sigh, feeling it hard to quite shake off the darker mood that had come over her at those thoughts.
 
"Those who are our biggest influence do tend to stick with us," Dominic said reflectively taking another sip of his coffee. "Teaching us long after they're passed." He noticed Kristie's silence. "You alright?" he asked, concern knitting his brows together. She didn't seem ill or distraught, but she did seem distracted by something beyond the conversation. "Did I say something insensitive?" He asked, always preferring to double check before he rambled off and made things worse. Not that he was much of a rambler.

He sat back in his seat again keeping his posture relaxed and open. He couldn't help but think how much easier it was to be this way around her than it was to be around Matt, who made him feel tense and on edge more often than not. Dominic smiled at Kristie again. Even if she didn't want to talk about anything, he wanted to portray to her that if she did want to talk, it was okay to do so.
 
"Oh, no." Kristie blinked at him, a bit bemused by the thought that he would have managed to say something that offended her. She was rather blunt tongued and minded for a reason. She did however hesitate before deciding to go ahead and speak of what had pulled her attention away. "I was...thinking about my own father. Not my biological one, I never knew either of my biological parents. But the one who picked me up off the street one day and adopted me." For his own purposes. Things had just been looking up for her on her own when he showed up, interested in her skill at thievery when she had robbed one of his jewelry stores. "He died when I was 18, just before I struck out on my own." She smiled faintly and shook her head. "He was far from the most affectionate person you would meet, but he too seems to be permanently engraved on my psyche." Kristie hadn't really talked about him aside from vague mentions in her past. Dominic officially knew more about him than Matt now, not that that was saying much. They had both come from a world which neither of the two men should ever know about.
 
Dominic nodded. "Lack of affection does not affect the valuable lessons a person can teach you. Good or bad. Though, personally, I think the more positive and personable relationships do tend to carry a lot more weight and those are the ones that help to better the community." He gave her another, more thoughtful smile. "Whatever lessons you've learned, from whomever you've learned them from I think have been good lessons. They've shaped you into a very genuine caring person and I think that's really great. And you are passing that trait on to others, whether or not you may realize it. I'm sure to some of those kids you help out you are the mother figure or the guardian figure they learn the most from. The things you teach them now they will carry with them for the rest of their lives and I think that's really really great. Really great." His voice had taken on a tone of admiration.
 
Kristie found herself somewhere between embarrassed and bemused by his words. She wouldn't say that her 18 year old self was particularly caring or sweet, but once she had found her mission in life there was no denying she had changed. She was fairly sure 'Father' would not have thought much of her current exploits. "You over estimate the effect some after school programs." She murmured, her face leaning decidedly towards red now and she couldn't quite hide her uncomfortable shifting in her seat. "And give me too much credit. I just help fund the places and plan some things on occasion." She couldn't believe how easily Dominic was able to unbalance her and get what used to be the rare blush out of her. "If we want to talk about someone doing great things we could look more in your direction, advancing science in a field that's been grabbing humanities imagination since prehistoric times, so that they are that much closer to achieving those dreams." She realized belatedly that her last sentence had almost led around to Matt, though that had not been her intention. She hadn't been thinking about him at all, but once she said it she thought about Matt so it was likely Dominic would do so as well.
 
Dominic laughed. He had a sort of interesting sort of laugh. He tended to throw his head back, his naturally large mouth opening widely as he let out a deep belly laugh which showcased those perfectly straight white teeth that he was particularly proud of. "Well then. It seems we are in the business of congratulating each other on our fabulous contributions to the human race and generously stroking each other's ego's. A perfect match." He sipped at his coffee again, though it was almost empty at this point, then switched topics. "What is your absolutely favorite dish to eat?"
 
Kristie grinned, particularly enjoying his laugh. She was one of those people who kind of judged a person by the way they laughed and Dominic's was particularly appealing. Which was kind of annoying in some ways because he was so ridiculously perfect in entirely too many ways. She was reaching a point where she desperately just wanted to have sex with him already so he would hopefully become a little less distracting. She was a bit thrown off by his sudden subject change and couldn't help but laugh at the question, though this was mostly because of the answer, which wouldn't be funny to him because he wouldn't know but anyone who knew what she was would find this particularly amusing. "Smoked Salmon friend rice." She said, just to be more specific than 'fish' in general. She might never have stopped laughing if she had actually just said that. She'd never have managed it with a straight face and then Dominic would be very confused "I'm a fan of fish in general though." She added because she couldn't help herself and she was still grinning far too widely for there not to be some sort of inside joke related to that.

In an attempt to calm herself down a bit she grabbed her much neglected in favor of Dominic tea and took a big gulp, followed by a smaller one allowing the spicy chai taste to linger in her mouth a bit before swallowing this time. And still that amused smile lingered.
 
The lazy crooked grin spread across Dominic's face again. He tipped his head to the side a bit. "You look like a girl that's got a funny little secret. A joke only she knows the punchline to." He leaned forward again, resting his bare forearms against the edge of the table and took a few moments to just watch her, his warm gray eyes wandering across her face.

"So how about we have some Salmon for dinner?" he suggested. "Though as much as we've been avoiding the topic of Matt, I think we ought to pay him a visit on his birthday. One that's nice and not in any way related to rockets and space and whatever other hoohaa he's got going on in his head. So after that. Dinner. Without Matt. What do you think?"
 
Kristie's grin only widened at his words and she took one more slow sip of her tea before setting it down. She was content to bask in his regard for the moment, her eyes lighting up at the mention of dinner. In this case she couldn't even be bothered by the fact that he had mentioned Matt. They could hardly avoid the topic forever, and it was something they needed to address. "I think that's a lovely idea." She answered warmly. "On both counts, but more of the second." She chuckled softly. "If I had any idea of what he might like I would suggest getting him presents too but..." She shrugged, looking rather exasperated. "Matt."
 
Dominic tucked the corner of his mouth into his cheek. "Yes. Matt. Why don't we just get him a cake? Everyone likes cake. I don't think we could go wrong with cake. Besides, I get this feeling that he doesn't have very many, if any, people celebrating his birthday with him. I'm kind of hoping it'll be the thought that counts..." He finished off the last of his coffee and waited for Kristie to also finish her drink. Once she was done, he lead her out the door, hand on the small of her back the way they had entered, that crooked smile eternally plastered to his face.

Once they were back in the car he tapped the steering wheel in thought. "So first things first. Cake. Where could we get a cake..." he mused out loud as he put the car into drive and eased out of his parking space. He made his way to the nearest bakery and once again went through the ritual of walking around the car to open Kristie's door and lead her inside, his hand always on her back.

Together they approached the counter and he began peering at the selection of cakes. "I'm thinking something space related... probably...? That's the only interest I know that he has. Unless theres a computer one but... somehow I think his computer stuff is more of a side effect of his real interests anyway."
 
"I think cake is a good plan." Kristie chuckled softly, thinking that lots of sugar made pretty much anything better. At least for short periods of time. She finished her tea in fairly short order and firmly ignored all of the glances they got as they left the store. Most of the people there seemed to think they were very cute and while Kristie didn't care much what they thought one way or another they glances just made her all the more ridiculously aware of his closeness. At this rate she was somewhat concerned whether she was going to make it to dinner.

Once they were in the car and she had a little more space she was able to calm down a bit. She mentally ran through her morning to make sure she had actually taken her heat suppressors this morning and came to the conclusion that Dominic just had to be part vampire or incubus or something. As ridiculous as such thoughts were they helped calm her more and were an amusing distraction while they found a bakery.

"I think you are correct there." Kristie murmured, thinking through her time in his house and the stories they had exchanged. She wasn't coming up with any other possible interests. "I'm not sure we should come bearing anything that will allude to earlier today though. A more basic flower cake with a personal message might be the better way to go." She paused before a grin flashed on her face. "Though cat's could be something of a possibility, Scarlett sure was growing on him." Maybe she should get him a proper kitten, with no supernatural powers and such.
 
Dominic smiled widely. "I love that idea!" he cried with enthusiasm. "Maybe we should get him an actual cat. Mercy knows he probably needs some company. But," he paused, peering around at the cakes, "Just a cat cake will be fine for now." He pointed at a plain sheet cake that had some decorative frosting around the edges and turned to the man behind the counter. "Can you put, y'know, like pictures and stuff on that? Like a cat? A red one? And write Happy Birthday, Matt? Oh... and can you put a little Tardis or something on it too? Or put the cat in the Tardis..." The baker sighed, exasperated by the growing complexity of the task but Dominic turned to Kristie and shrugged. "He made a Doctor Who reference back in my office so he must be relatively interested in it. Because why wouldn't he be? Space and aliens and shit."

It took some time for the cake to be prepared. The baker ended up doing the entire thing by hand, drawing outlines in colored icing instead of laying pictures onto the cake. Once it had been paid for Dominic took the cake and walked out to the car again. He paused awkwardly, doing a little dance between the drivers door and the rear passenger door before looking at Kristie. "D'you mind? Holding it? That would probably be best..."
 
Kristie laughed softly, amused that his mind went in much the same direction as hers. It must be a good idea then. Even more amusing than his excitement was that he started to sound a bit like Matt when he got excited and started babbling like that. She had to admit it was just about the cutest thing, him pouring ideas at the poor baker. She could only stand back and share a sympathetic expression with the man though she was rather fascinated with his work once he started making the actual cake.

And then by the car she marveled at how he had transformed from ridiculously...distracting, to ridiculously distracting in an entirely different way. She pressed a hand over her mouth as she giggled again and shook her head. "Give it here." She said as she took it, walking around to the other side of the car and rolling her eyes. She had seen the problem coming from a mile away and could only imagine his excess in chivalry is what made the whole thing more awkward than it needed to be. One of the reasons why she generally did not think too much of the behavior. "I'll take care of the cake, you just worry that big brain of yours about driving." She smirked at him teasingly.
 
"I sense you are making fun of me, Madame," Dominic said with slightly maddening crooked smile of his. He passed the cake to Kristie, but before she could try to work the door he hurried and opened it for her, giving her a wink as she sat. "Wouldn't want you to drop the cake trying to open the door now, would we?" He laughed and then made his way to the driver's side.

This time for the drive he let his iPod shuffle through his library, which played an interesting mix of Skrillex, The Killers, Alt-J, and some more obscure bands that didn't have much of a name for themselves yet. Queen slipped in there once again, only because he had a massive library of their music, holding the highest percentage of it by a landslide. Incidentally, if one looked at his play count, Queen also dominated that area as well.

As they began getting into Matt's neighborhood again, he slowed his driving. For some reason he always felt it necessary and became immediately self conscious of his surroundings and his very flashy car. "I still don't understand why he chooses to live in a place like this. He can afford to live in safer places... it's so depressing... like a whole different world..."


He stopped the car in front of Matt's house and got out of the car, giving Kristie a tight smile before approaching the house. He rang the bell, which could be faintly heard inside, it's harmonies so out of tune that it sounded slightly demonic. Dominic chuckled a bit and glanced at Kristie out of the corner of his eye. For some reason the demonic doorbell seemed to perfectly sum up Matt's entire lifestyle. He pressed a hand against his mouth, trying to hold in another laugh. He didn't want to seem like he was making fun of Matt. But..

It took longer than usual, but finally creaking footsteps could be heard across the floor and the window curtain slipped aside as Matt peeked out to see who was there. A huge grin spread across his face as he flipped the 9 locks.

"Hiiiii~~" "Mate, your doorbell sounds demo- holy shit-" Matt and Dominic said simultaneously as the door swung open for them and a very strong smell of pot drifted out onto the porch.

"You are fucking high as a kite aren't you...?" Dominic said, very tempted to slam the door back on Matt's face. He coughed and blinked exaggeratedly.

Matt was already trying to hug Kristie though it wasn't working well with her holding a cake. "You remembered my birthday! No one ever remembers my birthday!" Once he'd found it too difficult to hug Kristie he turned to Dominic and hugged him extra tight. "I love you so much!"
 
Kristie, in opposition to Dominic, was actually getting more comfortable as they entered the less prosperous neighborhood, though she was a bit concerned about Dominic's car. While they drove along she sent a text message out to her kids so a few of them would pop over here and protect it while they were inside the house.

Then of course Matt opened his door and she hastily backed up, nearly passing out on the assault on her sensitive nose. She muttered a soft curse and lifted the cake and more importantly an arm to her face to lessen the impact. She was less than enthused to have Matt trying to hug her but she didn't want to loose the cake so she ended up doing this awkward squirm until he left to bother Dominic. "Right." She said sternly. "We are not going in there. Lock up your house, you're coming to my place." There was no way, absolutely no way, she was going to stick around this. She did not like drugs. Other people could do whatever they wanted but she could not afford the loss of control involved in taking them. Especially around Matt, who had nearly stumbled on her secret so many times before.

"Unless you'd rather take him to your place?" She looked at Dominic with a raised eyebrow.
 
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