Find Me a Find, Catch Me a Catch

Chapter 4 - Pandora's Box

"I..." Alex nodded. "I'm sorry, Lena. Do you want me to get you an ice pack for your face before I put Romeo here to bed?"

A loud snore from Maggie punctuated their discussion.

Alex sighed. "I really hope she didn't upset you. Maggie did want to apologize to you and get to be your friend."

Lena smiled. "I actually thought it was rather sweet her being so sure of her love for you even in this alcoholic haze. Everyone should find a love like that in their life, don't you think?"

Gently Alex smiled back. "I do. So, icepack?"

"I'm fine. Do you need a hand with her?"

"Ah...grab her feet?"

"Right. Can we take her boots off too? She kicked a bit in my car. Happily, it was just the back of the seat, but I'd prefer it not be me."

"Oh, sure." Alex started to undo Maggie's boots, glancing down at Lena and asking, "What happened to your shoes?"

"My shoes?" Studying her own feet, Lena wiggled her toes. "My, that's a good question. They're in my car I think?"

"You...ugh...You think?" Alex tossed one of Maggie's boots off to the side before unlacing the other. "You don't remember?"

"To be fair, there was quite a bit of alcohol. I hadn't meant there to be that much. I certainly didn't order it, but it just kept coming."

Throwing the other boot to the side, Alex said, "Right, I'll take her shoulders, you take her knees. Follow me to the bedroom, okay?"

"Best offer I've had in almost an hour," Lena said with a sultry smirk.

Hands under Maggie's shoulders, Alex looked up wide-eyed and stared at the CEO.

The smile falling off her face, Lena nodded once. "Sorry. I'm drunk. I'll try and keep a lid on that. Not flirting is not my strong point even when I'm sober."

"Really?" Shaking her head, Alex said, "On three...One, two, three."

Together they hefted a sleeping(ish) Maggie and carted the woman to the bedroom. It was a bit of a struggle as Maggie was deadweight and Lena was made for corporate takeovers not carrying unconscious detectives. They finally managed to get Maggie into the bedroom and onto the bed without knocking the woman's head into anything hard on the way.

"Great, thanks for that," Alex said as she started to unbuckle Maggie's belt, keeping an eye on the snoring woman's possibly flying left hook. "So, you didn't order drinks, but they just kept coming, huh? Did my fiancée set out to get you liquored up?"

Turned to the wall as soon as she saw the belt come off, Lena replied, "Nothing like that. Maggie directed us to a little place called Pandora's Box. Do you know the club?"

"Pandora's...!" Looking up and seeing Lena's back, Alex rolled her eyes and shook her head down at Maggie. "Oh, yeah, I know Pandora's Box. Maggie took you there, huh?"

"She did."

"Have you...uh." Alex tossed Maggie's pants to the floor. "Have you ever been there before, to Pandora's Box?"

"Never," Lena admitted. "It did take me back to my last year of college though."

"Your last year of college?" Unbuttoning Maggie's cuffs, Alex asked, "Why your last year?"

"Well, there was this lovely ladies only club that was 18+ on Thursday nights, but I wasn't eighteen until my senior year. Technically I turned eighteen in my junior year, but I was working on two degrees, midterms, and had an internship, so it just wasn't an option."