Rae had fled to the safe confines of her office before she even thought about loosening her jacket, as she looked down at her pale body she noticed the bruises starting to form from where his fingers had pressed into her skin. She tossed her jacket aside and dragged from the bottom drawer of her filing cabinet and extra shirt and quickly buttoned it, running a travel brush through her hair to striaghten it.

She was still panting from everything that had gone on in her apartment she had to quickly kill the silly grin on her face from the sheer fact that he had beat her...not just beat her but pinned her for more than a few seconds. Though that still did not change the fact that she was going to take lessons from Danae regarding the proper way to fight.

She was confused above all.

Somehow she thought life would get easier when she had someone in her personal life, had she become so bitter as to change completely in only a short amount of time? She sat down at her desk and in a surprising show of work ethic began to methodically fill out the paper work she'd been piling up for at least a few months now. Old files were replaced in the cabinet with new ones and interns were called in to move away the old files, except for a few that RAe dearly loved to root through now and again.

Time seemed to drag at some points and fly at other's soon she poked her head out of her office to see only the most dedicated of employees hard at work...meaning she was alone...again. She headed to the break room and made herself a pot of coffee which she poured a cup before heading back to her desk.

More paperwork was filed and stacked and before Rae knew it she was passed out on her desk snoring softly as her pen sat there idly in her hands over the last piece of paperwork she had to fill out.

Her brown hair drapped over the desk and obscured her face and neck, the white shirt was rumbled and a coffee stain dotted the collar while a sleeve was decidedly smudged with ink and dust. Her soft breathing made the finished stack of paperwork near her face flutter with anticipation, it was so peaceful here at night, though if Rae were paying attention to the clock on the wall she would have seen that it was nearing six in the morning...and people were already showing up for another day of work.

Drake made his way to the hallowed halls of MSI early that morning, intent on researching the coven of vampires that still plagued the city, the same that he had warned Raelin about much earlier.

It seemed that they had moved, changed their course, but now, still had the same dark intentions at hand. It was beginning to get under his skin, and if not resolved soon, he would certainly take matters into his own hands. After all, his league of DreamWalkers could easily handle the predators and scavengers of the nightmare of yesterday.

Pushing open the double doors, he walked down the main hallway and turned, finding himself once against in the Investigations division. He had nearly made up his mind to just speak with Danae, the Resourcer, about all of this nonsense, but decided that one more try in a previous direction couldn't do much harm to an already declining world.

Glancing around, he saw some filing in for another day at the desk and shook his head. Incompetent in his eyes, he walked to the door of an office he knew all too well and knocked lightly, met only with silence on the other side. He could feel her presence, knew that she was there....so why hadn't she answered?

Pushing the door open slowly, he stepped inside, only to find her fast asleep at her desk. A soft laugh erupted from his lips as he stepped inside and shut the door. He bit into his lip, another such time coming to mind. It had been during their separation, when she had forbidden him to come to her...But once she fell asleep, and called his name, he had come, slinking in through her window and laying by her side. When dawn came, he was gone again, but for one precious night, he had held her in his arms.

Walking to her, Drake knelt by her side, looking over her for just a moment, unable to still the feelings still inside of him for her. He loved her...And he always would. Perhaps they were wrong for it seemed that love could not conquer all.

Brushing her hair back from her face, his fingertips trailed along her cheek as he whispered to wake her. "Raelin...Love, wake up..."

Raelin could feel his voice whispering across her cheek and she smiled faintly as her eyes slowly opened and she looked at him. "Drake?" it was a question, for some reason she was having the nicest dream that she was at home and asleep with Jake. Oh...Jake...she sat up quickly and buried her face in her hands, yawning and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Drake, it's really..." her eyes shot up at the clock then frantically around her desk. "Late?! Early? oh fuck, I've been here all night!" she put her head in her hands again. "And I did all my paperwork, I don't know which is worse," she groaned as her hand reached for her empty coffee cup.

Frustration fairly radiated from her though she was confused as to why, she hadn't meant to spend all night at the office (surprisingly). As she stood to her feet she winced and put a hand on her side where Jake had grabbed her last night, her shirt gapped a bit and a dark bruise flashed into the corner of her eye and instinctivly she reached up and pulled the neck of her shirt tighter, glancing at Drake to see his reaction, whatever it was.

Raelin was puzzled, she wasn't sure if she should be worried about Jake or just wash her face and get ready for another day at the office. "Thanks for waking me up," she finally said with a small smile in Drake's direction.

He stood to his feet as the frantic, waking Raelin took over, Crossing his arms, he watched her with a slight smile. So animate was she, particularly when Frustration and annoyance reigned supreme.

The smile quickly faded as he caught sight of her darkened flesh. His eyes narrowed, knowing those marks were ones of force and not accident. Reaching up, he pulled her hand from her shirt and bared the bruise, slowly turning his eyes to her.

"What happened?" he asked, voice surprisingly firm. He was close to exercising his abilities, reading her mind, her thoughts, delving within those dreams that lingered if she didn't tell him.

Just as always, when she came within the reach of harm, every part of him sought to destroy what threatened her. Though they were no longer together, it was easy to see that it had not changed as he voiced the question again, ignoring completely her gratitude for stirring her from slumber.

"What happened?"

Rae's smile faded.

"It was nothing you know...just a fight," she shrugged as she tried to pull away, no luck of course, but at least she tried. Her eyes darted to the side. "It was a stupid fight okay? Jake and I...uh, had a row," she winced at what on earth posessed her to say that. "I hit him first but I mean...you know..." she shrugged again.

"Look it's no big deal, we both have a few bruises and it's not like I haven't picked fights before..." she wasn't sure WHY she was trying to not only defend her actions but Jake to Drake but she was scared of the alternative.

"Where is she." Jake queried for the zillionth time, arms folded tightly across his bare chest as he raised one elegant eyebrow over a molten chocolate eye. The secretary, small rank, paper pusher, blushed and stammered something equally as intelligible as the last ten times she had tried answering. Sighing, he leaned forwards and pecked her cheek, not watching as she slumped to the ground in a ridiculously sized swoon as he headed for the doorway she had vaguely gestured at.

"You don't call and spend all night here? We are going to have words missy." Muttering angrily to himself, he marched down the hallway, boots loud and out of place coupled with his black satiny pajama pants and bare chest. Rich brown hair sexily tousled and parted over one eye, other women (and men) who passed him - or rather, moved out of his way - in the hallway, could only stare after him.

Stopping when he came to the door with her name out, Jake took a deep calming breath, turned the knob and stepped inside. Only to stop in the doorway. Raelin was sitting at her desk with dark circles around her eyes and a literal mountain of paperwork neatly stacked around her. And there was a man, the same one Jake had run into in the ice cream palour once, with his hands on her collar, staring down at a bruise on her upper chest.

"Am I interrupting something?" His voice was as thunderously cold as the liquid fire of his eyes, arms folding more tightly, fingers balling into fists. Bare chested, he was not unmarked. There was a rather nice dark bruise up against his right shoulder. As well as a ring around his throat and one plastered across the hard muscles of his stomach.

Ignoring the other man, Jake focused his heavy gaze on Rae. "You didn't come home last night."

Raelin made a small noise of outrage in the back of her throat. "Oh well you expect me to come home after what you did?! We had an agreement Jake!" Of course totally ignoring that fact that she'd been enjoying it as much as he was.

Her eyes however, proudly marked where she had bruised him, though the ring around his neck was not something she was particuarily fond of but still...it was there. She of course was speaking over Drake's shoulder, thinking that it was better that way...she wasn't hiding...she was manageing her appearance.

"Look it's no big deal, we both have a few bruises and it's not like I haven't picked fights before..." she said, trying her best to defend him, though she should have known it would be quite useless.

"No man should ever hit a woman..." he told her, voice low, eyes darkening with anger, his protectiveness for the woman who still held his heart obvious.

The door swung open then and Drake turned, Raelin behind him now, as he faced the intruder. "Am I interrupting something?" the figure said, and Drake recognized him from the ice cream shop much earlier.

"As a matter of fact..." Drake began, knowing this was the culprit for the bruise that marred her skin...Although, Raelin had been right; he did hold quite a few bruises himself.

Of course, to Drake, it made no difference. He wanted nothing more than to take the man down, then and there, for his obvious disrespect. A hellion, Raelin was, but in all their years, Drake had never raised a hand to her, had never even dreamed of it.

"You didn't come home last night."

"Oh well you expect me to come home after what you did?! We had an agreement Jake!"

So he had a name, and....Drake's thoughts ceased as he heard once again, that word: agreement. Agreement? It all seemed so plain now. Just who in blue hell did this 'negotiator' think he was?

Side stepping Raelin, but just as ready to stand at as her protector should Jake make a move, Drake cast a stony gaze at him. "I suggest you lower you calm yourself, Jake..." Drake warned, an unspoken promise following in his mind.He saw the gaze the man had fixed Raelin with...and if it were possible, it angered him far more than the bruise on her pale skin had.