Love Knows No Time

Claimer: I do own Aleera and the idea for this story

Chapter Nine

"This house is mine?" Aleera asked.

"Yeah, it's yours," Brian replied, smiling, then he sighed and closed his eyes.

"Are you alright, Brian?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired," he replied, opening his eyes. "You've worn me out, Aleera."

"You're just getting old, Honey."

"Excuse me? I'm not "old". I'm only five hundred and fourteen years old."

"Old," she said, leaning closer to him and....spotting something on the cream colored upholstery of the couch. "Shit."

"I love you too, Aleera, but isn't the name calling a little much?" he asked, confused about why she'd called him a bad name.

"I'm not talking to you, dill-weed. There's blood on the couch."

"Did you just call me "dill-weed"?"

"Yes, I did," she replied, moving off of him and kneeling on the couch, getting a closer look at the blood stain. "You bled on the couch, Brian."

"I told you to put something down so that wouldn't happen," he said.

"No, you didn't. You said "Oh god, Aleera, I'm not gonna last much longer", I didn't hear anything about putting something down to save my couch," she said, standing up. "I'm going to see if there's anything that can get this out."

"It'll be fine, Aleera," Brian called.

"No it won't!" she called back.

Standing up, Brian stretched his arms and back before following Aleera.

"Brian, what time is it?" she called.

Glancing at the grand-father clock in the foyer as he passed by it, he said,

"It's eleven o'clock. Why?"

"Just wondering," she replied, coming out of the kitchen carrying a bottle of upholstery cleaner and a scrub brush.

"What're you doing?" Brian asked.

"Going to clean the sofa," she replied.

Shaking his head, he reached out and took the cleaning stuff from her. "What're you doing?"

"Angel, the sofa will be fine until tomorrow," he replied.

"You haven't called me "Angel" in forever," she said softly, "the last time you did was before we moved to California."

"I know, and I'm sorry for everything I've done," he said, putting the cleaning stuff aside, and stepping closer to her.

"You don't have to be sorry for anything, Brian," she said, smiling up at him.

"Yes, I do," he said, putting his arms around her and pulling her close to him. "I've neglected you for too long, Aleera."

Aleera didn't say anything, she only tried to ignore the tears that came to her eyes, hugging her husband tighter before she looked up at him, putting her hands on his face and pulling him down for a kiss, but a crash from the kitchen made them both jump.

"Did you hear that?" she asked, looking at him.

"Yeah, I did," he replied, gently pushing her back towards the den. "Go back to the other room."

Without argument, Aleera did as she was told and quickly, but silently, made her way back to the den while Brian headed for the kitchen.

Okay, this is good, he thought, stalking silently down the hall towards the kitchen-door. There's someone in the kitchen, and I'm going to confront him. Naked. Undead or not, this is not one of my smartest moments.

Pausing outside of the kitchen, his hand on the door, Brian listened and heard faint movement in the room beyond before slowly pushing it open and looking inside.

The intruder was crouched on the floor, cleaning up the remains of a broken glass.

Without thinking about why the person was cleaning up the mess, Brian rushed the other person and tackled them.

"Holy shit, dude!!" the other yelled as they where slammed into the cupboard next to them.

"Jimmy?" Brian asked, instantly recognizing his friends voice and backing way from him.

"What in the hell is wrong with you?" Jimmy asked, standing up and rubbing his shoulder, then he looked at Brian and saw the state of undress the other man was in. "Oh, shit, dude. Did I come in at a bad time?"

"How long have you been here?" Brian asked.

"What time is it?"

"It's ten after eleven," Brian replied.

"I've been here for twenty minutes," Jimmy said. "I was hanging out by the pool 'cause I thought my girls where here, since I found a note from Marie at their place saying you brought them here, but I'm not seein'em."

"They're not here, Jimmy."

"Brian? Is everything alright in here?" Aleera asked, peeking into the room.

"Yeah, everything's alright," he replied, looking over his shoulder. "It's just Jimmy."

"Hi Jimmy," she said, walking into the room, the quilt that had been on the back of the sofa wrapped around her. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Marie and Daisee," he said. "Brian brought them here, but I can't find them."

"Oh, well, I haven't seen them," she lied, then she looked at her husband. "Get some clothes on Brian."

"That means no more sex, though," he said, sounding a little forlorn.

"Not with company here, and I'm sure Jimmy doesn't want to look at you naked, as much as I'm enjoying it."

"I'm open for new things if you two are," Jimmy said.

"Jimmy!!" they both exclaimed, looking at him.

"Sorry, sorry," he said, holding up his hands. "But if you change your minds....."

"The girls are at the mansion," Aleera said. "I sent them over there. They're waiting for you."

"Then I will see you tomorrow then," he said, "and you might want to get your pool cleaned."

"Why?" Brian asked.

"I puked in it," Jimmy replied, heading out the back door. "Someone I met in town didn't agree with me."

"Get out, Rev," Brian said, pointing towards the door.

"I'm going, I'm going," the tall, lanky man said, walking out the door and disappearing from sight.

When he was gone, Brian sighed and dropped into a chair at the table.

"I am going to kill him," he said, shaking his head.

"Just ignore him, baby," Aleera said, "like you always do. Do you want me to call Sammy about getting the pool cleaned or do you want to do it?"

"I'll do it," he said, taking her hand in his and kissing it. "You can clean your sofa now."

"I hope I can get that stain out," she said, "you made quiet a mess, Brian."

"I made a mess? I thought you where going to bleed me dry," he said.

"But you enjoyed it, didn't you?"

"Hell yeah I did."

"Then we both know now to put something down to save the furniture or not to do it on the couch."

"I'll try to remember that," he said.

"Good," Aleera said. "Now go and put some clothes on."

"Why? Jimmy's gone."

"No he's not, I can see his hair peeking at us over the windowsill," she said, leaving the kitchen.

Instead of following his wife, Brian went over to the window and opened it.

"Jimmy, get the fuck out of here," he said. "If you don't get out of here, I'm going to show everyone those pictures you took of yourself wearing that frilly maids outfit and the bright yellow cat suit, complete with the ears."

Jimmy popped up, glaring at his friend.

"You wouldn't," he said.

"I would, now go home. There's not going to be anything going on for awhile," Brian said, and before Jimmy could open his mouth he added. "And if anything does happen, no you can't watch."

Grumbling curses, Jimmy turned and walked away, passing by the pool and pool house, then disappearing into the dark woods that surrounded the house with Brian watching to make sure he was gone.

For ten minutes he stood there making sure Jimmy didn't come back.

"Brian, what're you doing?" Aleera asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Making sure Jimmy's gone," he replied, looking at her.

"Is he gone?" she asked.

"I think so, and if's not I really will kill him," he replied. "And I don't care what Matt says or does to me."

"Oh, just throw a bible at him or something," she said, patting him on the arm.

Brian didn't say anything, he just continued to stare out the window.