*flick*

*flick*

On the third try, the Zippo flared to life, casting a tiny glow against the night sky. Crystalline green eyes narrowed against the sudden flash of light, Cyanide ducked her head from the wind, lighting the Camel on her lip with practiced ease. A scuff, booted feet shifting on the fire escape railing as she tucked the Zippo back into her pocket, hand coming to rest on the railing corner between her feet...

...she perched on the railing and watched the night lights of the Row flicker to life as the sun sank behind the horizon, only movement the slow inhale and exhale of her cigarette, eyes flickering back and forth along the street beneath the building... Soon. A glance over her shoulder, through the window of the apartment, scanning the kitchen, the table set for two, grumbling quietly to herself. "Who knew that was gonna be such a pain to cook? Easy my ass." A soft laugh, eyes narrowing to study the end of her cigarette, nearly gone now... "..an' no time for another, if I judge ri.." a splash of blue in the crowd on the sidewalk caught her eye "..ght." A flick of her wrist and the butt went sailing onto the roof of the adjacent building as she hopped back off the railing, landing lightly on the metal grating. "Showtime. Here goes nothing.." She slid through the window and closed it, pausing long enough in the middle of the single room to light the candles and pour a tumbler of scotch from the decanter on the table, ears pricked for the bell of the elevator outside...

...the candles burned low on the table, guttering over a half-empty pan of slightly-burnt lasagna and a pair of wineglasses, one tipped over, puddle of red crawling across the tablecloth, forgotten. The light flickered around the single room, highlighting a trail across the floor...two gloves..a tie..a lonely sock, mate lost underneath the sofa...what had once been a crisply starched shirt, now lying rejected and crumpled...a single button rolling slowly across the hardwoods...

...a soft cry, tender flesh of her knuckles scraping open on the brick wall behind the bed, pinned in place by the arms of her lover. A hiss of laughter, sliding farther down the bed, "..that hurt.." A low laugh muffled against her throat, a whispered, "Are you complaining?" A purred laugh, "Never." The candles flickered brighter, reflecting off the paleness of her leg as it curled around his hip...flickered again, highlighting disheveled blonde locks, glinting off the raven tresses spilling off the edge of the bed...flickered again and sputtered out, sinking the room into darkness...

...bare feet padding across the floor, a soft clinking of ice against glass and the creak of the mattress as he crawled back into bed, flicking the table lamp to brightness. "Sshh..." a soft whisper, shifting his weight on the bed, flipping open the massive lawbook in his lap with one hand. "Sleep." He leaned back against the wall, book on his knees, idle fingers trailing over the sleeping body by his side, rubbing her back, tracing the inked pheonix below her waist perfectly from memory...