Forbidding herself to think about what she was about to do, Fiona opened the window and pushed her head surrounded by the cloud of untameable, damp, copper curls into the endless drizzle.
"Don't you have a place to sleep?" she whisper-shouted into the black night.
"We don't!" Leodhais, beating Peregrine to the answer, called back impatiently. He was cold, and his clothes were damp, and he was not going to spend yet another night of this quest outside in the open. He had had enough, he wanted to go back home, or rather back to Annwyn...
Fiona sighed so deeply that Peregrine could hear the sound above the whisper of the falling rain, above the whoosh of distantly passing cars. The woman had an incredibly compassionate heart; she wasn't going to let them spend the night in the rain, knowing as she must know by now that they were not leaving without her.
Exasperating men! Fiona despaired, her feeling of responsibility for them growing by the minute. They were not here to harm her, but to help her, at least in their opinions, by removing her from this world and guiding her into some better existence. She wasn't going to allow them to take her to her father, of course, wherever he was, but she couldn't possibly leave them standing under that tree in the rain the whole night... Botheration!
"Hang on!" she called before rushing across the room to where she had felt her keys by the entrance.
"Come up!" she whisper-shouted again, throwing the keys to Peregrine, who caught them without trouble before she shut the window.
She cast her eyes around the sitting room while they climbed the stairs-- she could hear them approaching through the closed door, slowly, silently, inexorably, unevitably like time or destiny creeping upon her. Discarding the eerie thought, she focused on her surroundings. Her small and shabby flat wasn't a five star hotel but as long as they didn't mind to sleep on the sofa bed and the huge beanbag by the window, she could offer them a shower, a dry place to sleep and even breakfast prior to sending them on their way home tomorrow, before going to work.
A silent knock on the door disturbed her planning. She hurried to open it for them before the noise would attract the attention of her neighbours, ushering them in, relishing the wide-eyed look full of... she didn't know what, but it was something perfectly heart-warming from Peregrine, when he noticed her hair as they entered, and he handed her the keys. Unlike her, he seemed to like her curls in their natural colour.
"The place is small and old," she said apologetically, turning away from him. "Here's the bathroom, and that's the kitchen," she pointed to the two doors on her right. "And there's my bedroom." Their eyes followed her pointing finger to the door on the left, close to the window, then moved expectantly to the last one set in the same wall as the one leading to her bedroom. However, she said nothing about that.
Fiona stopped herself from telling them that that door led to Freddie's room at the last moment. She wasn't going to tell them about her son for fear that they might tell her father about him, and he might just get ideas about making the boy his heir should his daughter turn his offer down. She didn't think they would kidnap her son to make her follow them into their world but she wasn't going to risk it, they were raised in a different culture after all, followed another set of rules and their morals might easily differ from hers as well. There was no need for them to know about the boy; they would be gone by the time he returned tomorrow night.
"You can sleep here," she said, lifting the seats of the sofa in such a way that it unfolded into a decent-sized double bed, then nodded towards the beanbag that had already gotten Gilderoy's full attention. He could make himself very comfortable there, he was sure.
"Gollum sleeps in my room. You don't need to worry about him; he seems to like you. And I have enough pillows and blankets to make you feel comfortable..."
She rattled on, beginning to feel nervous and doubting the rash decision she had taken until Peregrine stepped quite close to her, and the world righted itself into perfection. His closeness was beginning to feel addictive.
"It's wonderful of you to let us spend the night here, Fiona. Thank you," he muttered, his silvery eyes full of gratitude pouring into her blue orbs.
She nodded mutely and escaped into her room to catch her breath, returning moments later with several sets of sheets, blankets, pillows and towels and leaving them to deal with making their beds, as she finally walked into the kitchen to prepare a pot of chamomile tea that would suffice for all of them.
Left alone, the three men exchanged silent, wondering looks. Alaric's daughter was not what any of them had expected her to be. She was unpredictable, generous, and caring... With some training, she might make a good queen.
And she was dangerously addictive, Peregrine mused, shaking his head to clear it as he explained how the bathroom worked to the other two after they set up their beds, then followed Fiona into the kitchen while they unpacked and showered.
He needed to talk to her, to learn as much as he could about this woman. The scent he couldn't place which he had perceived lingering around her before was stronger here, and it puzzled him. He felt it was important for him to understand it, that it was crucial to their quest and, more importantly, her safety.
He entered the kitchen slowly, not wanting to scare her, giving her time to perceive him approaching, finding her elbows deep in a dough she was kneading. He smiled, this explained the scent of freshly baked bread he noticed around her.
She smiled back, her eyes sparkling with-- Was it happiness to see him?-- above the lenses of the large glasses slipping down her nose.
"I'll just pop it in the oven in the morning, I like making my own bread and it's easier than it might seem," she shrugged, covering the large bowl containing the bread dough with a tea towel even as he reached her and took her glasses off when they reached the tip of her nose.
She laughed softly as she turned to the sink to wash her hands, and he wiped her still rain-sprinkled lenses into a paper towel.
"I really need to have the frame fixed but I never seem to find the time to pass by the optometrist," she explained, taking the glasses from him before she dropped a few tea bags into a large kettle of boiling water.
"Do you live here alone?" Peregrine probed, changing the subject, sitting at the kitchen table, his eyes roaming over her discreetly as she stood, her arms folded across her chest, propped against the cooker, her eyes intent on the kettle.
Was she... wearing anything under that oversized dressing gown? The thought seeped into his mind, surprising and uninvited, he never looked at women like that; he wasn't like the elf, for goodness sake... But once it blossomed in his imagination, he couldn't think of anything else but the colour of her flesh, its nacre hue in a stark contrast against the deep blue of the velvety fabric of her dressing gown.
His intent, musing gaze which to his credit he tried to conceal, took her breath away, she would give anything to know what he was seeing when he looked at her that way, and she had to clear her voice before she said, hating herself for lying to him, "I... yes."
She wished she could tell him the truth, see if it would change his opinion of her, but... Freddie was too important for her. His safety was her priority, and this man would be gone to never return tomorrow, anyway. There was no point.
Peregrine nodded, knowing full well that she wasn't telling him the truth, not blaming her for it. Whatever the lie concealed was too important for her to share with a stranger. He simply needed to work on her ceasing to look at him as a stranger. There was time; he wasn't going anywhere without her, no matter how long it would take her to accept it. The longer the better; it would give him time to get to know her before having to leave her with her father...
"There you are," her voice scattered his thoughts, and he followed her look to find Gilderoy standing in the doorway, washed and changed, observing them. "Would you like some chamomile tea? I made enough for everyone," she said, turning towards the kettle to remove the teabags. She brought it to the table and placed it in front of Peregrine even as Gilderoy sat next to him, and Leodhais, washed and changed too, appeared in the doorway.
They sipped their tea in silence, casting occasional glances at each other, trying to perceive, understand and remember as much as possible of this unexpected night until Peregrine, knowing that she wouldn't tell him anything of what he was curious about with the other two around, and convinced that she had had a long day and they should let her go to bed, stood up.
"I'll take a shower then. Good night, Fiona, and thank you for your hospitality."
"Good night, Peregrine," she said, jumping to her feet as if it was the cue she had been waiting for. "Sleep well, Gilderoy, Leodhais. I'm working in the afternoon tomorrow again and you are welcome to stay here until I'll have to leave. You can sleep in in the morning so you are rested for your journey home, I don't mind. I'll try not to wake you up too early."
With that, she left the kitchen, headed for the bathroom to brush her teeth, waving at Peregrine, who was still gathering his clean clothes in the sitting room, as she passed through again.
She closed herself into her bedroom then, letting herself fall on the bed with a sigh. The thought that they wouldn't be here anymore tomorrow night felt more wrong than the feeling of them being here now. She closed her eyes, she didn't understand herself anymore. Pulling herself up again she removed her dressing gown and glasses, caressed Gollum who slept curled up at the foot her bed and climbed under her blanket, falling asleep in mere minutes to the sound of the mens' whispering voices seeping into her bedroom from the sitting room.