SARAH JO'S VISIT

By Donna

(Thank you Tilla for your contributions and help!)

Sarah Jo walked up to the condo where Duncan and his vampire friends were staying shortly after sunset. She wasn't really sure what to expect but she was determined to make it right if she could. She knocked on the door and a few moments later Asher opened it.

"Greetings, child," he said gently as he looked her over. He noticed the happy smile she usually wore had been replaced by a look of grim determination.

"Hello Asher," she replied in small, quiet voice. "I came to say I'm sorry to JC like I said I would." Asher nodded his head and then escorted her inside. When he explained to her that Reggie and Duncan were working on something that required the Scot to be elsewhere for the moment, a brief flash of pain crossed her face, but she quickly schooled her features, trying to hide it. She had been hoping that he would have at the very least supported her with his presence when she went in to see Jean-Claude. She didn't understand at all why he was giving her the cold shoulder after being so friendly to her just a few days before. All she knew was that his behavior was causing her heart to hurt in a way it had never done before.

Asher led her into the living room where Jean-Claude sat with young Kolya, the Russian dancer. The mortal looked more than a little uneasy, as though he felt a storm brewing, and the dark-haired vampire looked even more pale than usual. Asher bent and whispered a few words to his brother, then nodded and smiled softly at the girl. "I must go," he said, taking her hand and brushing it gently with his lips. "There is much yet for Reggie and I to do before we may trust she *feels* safe even in our Link." He turned toward Kolya. "Au revoir, mon ami," he said, then leaned closer and whispered in the young man's ear. Sarah-Jo couldn't hear what was said, but the boy flushed and grinned; the clouds seemingly banished for a while at least.

Sarah Jo stood tall and rigid in the middle of the room, her hands clenched tightly at her side and her chin trembling in an effort to control herself. "I just wanted to apologize for misunderstanding what you were doing the other night," she said as sincerely as she could, wanting to make it right between the two of them. The vampire glanced up at her, lips curling over sharp fangs. "Asher has said to see you though I cannot imagine why. Your words mean nothing to me when I see how you tremble even now." He waved one pale hand in dismissal. "You *fear* us and rightly so, for we are not like you. Once, we killed to live, though those days are gone - for some of us." He leaned back against the sofa, his gaze cool and disdainful as though she were nothing more than a tidbit set out to tempt his appetite - and doing a poor job even of that.

A single tear ran slowly down her check and she started to turn to leave. She had done her best but apparently it wasn't good enough. But in desperation she decided to give it one more try. She turned back and said, "I meant what I said, JC. I really did." She walked up in front of him and held out her hand to him. "I didn't understand what you intended on doing and it startled me. JC, you don't look to good right now. If it will help you to feel better, I don't mind if you take some of my blood. Especially if it will prove to you I meant every word," she said, her voice shaking with emotion.

Jean-Claude frowned and opened his mouth, then looked at the mortal sitting beside him watching the proceedings so very closely. If he spoke as he wished, Kolya would inform Asher and he would *never* hear the end of it. He sighed and looked at the girl once more. The picture of her standing there trembling with what he perceived as fear combined with the stubborn set of her chin caused him to pause. She looked so young and vulnerable, but at the same time she was standing firm in her resolve to not back away in fear from him. A test, perhaps?

He took her hand, willing her to flinch and draw back as she had at the clinic. For a moment he merely stood, looking at the girl and stroking her palm with his thumb. Then, he glanced at the boy and sighed. A test, yes. She would cringe and shrink away and he could tell Asher honestly he had tried. He brought his eyes back to her, turning the small strong hand over, his thumb pressed against the pulse in her wrist, then he brought it up to his mouth, applying just enough pressure to pinch her skin and cause some discomfort, but not enough to draw blood. He would not drink from one who was so much a rival for his Scot's affections. Sarah Jo made no effort to pull back her arm at all, just stood there quietly with her eyes closed - waiting. Despite her fear of the unknown she was apparently willing to submit completely. Sighing, he released her hand and pushed her away.

"No," he said firmly. "Your sacrifice is unnecessary. I will feed elsewhere."

"My sacri...." she exclaimed, her apprehension and nervousness exploding in anger as his total rejection of her honest offer cut through her like a knife. "I guess after consorting with a goddess, a plain old country gal person like myself just isn't good enough for a high talking 'gentleman' like yerself! Just like I'll never be good enough for that pig-headed Scot of yours because I'm not one of his pretty boys!" With that she turned and stormed out of the house and into the night, bitter tears of deep hurt and rage falling unheeded down her face.

Kolya growled something unkind in Russian at JC and jumped up to follow her, but by the time he reached the door she had disappeared into the night. He stared out into the darkness trying to find her, but when he was unable to do so, he sadly closed the door and went back inside.

It was several hours later before Sarah Jo came back to her home, and entered quietly, hoping not to be noticed. But that effort was for naught when her Irish Setter puppy came scrambling down the hall, his feet sliding all over on the tile floor in his exuberance to get to her.

"Hey, Paddy, me boy! Good to see you too," she said as she knelt down to play with him. The pup then proceeded to thoroughly wash the remains of the salty tears off her face, making her giggle a little bit. When she looked up she saw Duende and Dani looked at her, concerned looks on both of their handsome faces.

"Kolya called right after you left JC's condo. We've been worried about you," Duende said quietly as he took her hand and pulled her to her feet. "Are you ok, lassie?"

Sarah Jo just shrugged. "I've felt better," she said sadly as the tears started up again. "Right now I feel like I've been rode hard and put up wet. I don't understand any of this." He engulfed her in his strong arms and just held her as Dani gently rubbed her shoulders and back while whispering soothing sounds in her ear. When she managed to get control of herself again, the two of them led her upstairs to her bedroom and the two of them comforted her the best way they knew how.

Sometime later, Sarah Jo untangled herself from underneath the arms and legs of her two men and slipped off the bed. Duende opened a sleepy eye and said, "Sarah, darling? Is something wrong?"

"No, sweetie," she said as she leaned over and kissed him, running her fingers over his chest and hard belly. "I just wanted to go work on some pots for awhile."

"Hmmm, want company?" he asked as he took her hand and kissed it tenderly while his other hand cupped a bare breast, his thumb lazily rolling her nipple around.

"Nah, you would only try to *help* and then I wouldn't get anything done, now would I?" she said with a chuckle as he continued to play with her nipple for a moment before rolling over and telling her not to make too much noise then. She laughed and swatted his bare butt as she got up from the bed.

After cleaning up briefly in the bathroom, she snagged her favorite outfit for doing pottery in. It was a old, ragged T-shirt of Dani's that she had liberated from him. It came down to her mid thighs and the ripped out sleeves allowed her plenty of freedom of movement for working on the wheel. The large holes and tears in it didn't leave much of anything to the imagination, so she usually only wore it when no one else was around.

The potter's wheel was out on the back patio and she turned on the patio light and went outside. After selecting her clay, she pounded it firmly, getting all the air bubbles out as well as working out some of her pent-up frustrations. Then she sat on the potter's wheel and began the slow rhythmic foot motions that kept it spinning at just the right speed. At first she kept messing up and had to start over four times before she finally managed to get her concentration back to the place where it should be. There was something wonderfully therapeutic in the way the slick clay transformed under and around her hands into something elegant and beautiful in form. Once she had the tall pot the way she wanted it, she began to carefully carve intricate designs on it by using the tip of a sharp tool just barely pressed into the clay.

As she worked on her pot, the hairs of the back of her neck raised as she sensed she was being watched. She knew it wasn't Duende or any other immortal because she would have felt their buzz. And Dani, once he was asleep, could only be awakened by nothing short of a bomb going off next to him. Giving the silence at which her unknown watcher had used while approaching her, she assumed that it had to be one of the vampires. She doubted it was Asher, because she knew he planned on being busy with Reggie and Duncan most of the night. That left only one possible person.

"Hello, JC," she said softly as she continued to work the intricate in and out Celtic knot pattern around her creation. She could feel the air stir slightly behind her as whoever it was moved closer to her. She tried hard not to flinch when his hand softly brushed her shoulder. In an effort to control her nervousness, she turned her concentration back to the design she was working on.

"I was on my way to the Clinic, and I stopped by just in case you were still up. Do you think they still want me there?" he asked.

"Of course they want you back!" Sarah Jo said as she glanced over at him. "Giles told me you had called in. He was disappointed not to have you around, but he understood why you needed some time off." Jean-Claude seemed relieved at her reassurance. When he did not seem to have anything more to say, she turned her attention back to her work again.

He watched her for awhile, fascinated by the way the pattern was being developed. "It is very beautiful," Jean-Claude finally said in a voice so quiet she could barely make it out when she had finally finished the carving.

"Yes, it is," she replied with a slight smile. "I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. You still have a little time before your shift starts. Would you like to help me paint it?" He looked somewhat startled at the suggestion and when he tried to claim he did not have the talent with paint and brushes that Asher did, Sarah Jo smiled and shook her head.

"Nonsense, JC. You have a lot of talent. Just look at the beautiful weaving you are doing. It's a heck of a lot more complicated than slapping a little bit of paint on a pot," she said with a slight chuckle. He looked slightly embarrassed at having an expert in the art like her praise his work that way. The two of them began to paint the pot with the assortment of glazes she had picked out for it.

As she continued with the painstaking process of adding color to the intricate knots in the design, the vampire's attention tended to be more on the vessel's creator than on the painting job. If she was aware of the way his eyes were examining her, she gave no sign. Her long strawberry blonde hair had been pulled back into a pony tail and then clipped up onto the back of her head to get it up and out of the way. The T-shirt she was wearing was so thin from repeated washing it was almost transparent and it was tore in several places, revealing tantalizing glimpses of skin here and there. It was hiked up around her hips and the curves of the side and bottom of her breasts were clearly visible through the large ripped out holes where the sleeves had been. The front of her shirt, her thighs and arms were covered with smears of the drying clay. One streak ran from her nose to her right cheek and the dried clay was starting to flake off. He waited until she had finished with what she was doing before speaking again.

"The maker of the pot is also beautiful," he said in a low voice. Sarah Jo just shrugged, not believing those words at all. Then he leaned over and brushed the clay off her cheek before cupping her chin in his hand and tipping it up so she was looking at him.

"I wish to say I am most grievously sorry for the way I behaved earlier. You came to me out the goodness of your heart and I treated you abominably. Would you please forgive me?" he asked as he stared deep into her eyes.

She looked back, her gaze unwavering. "It's ok, JC. It really is," she said happily. The joyful smile that had returned to her face was bright enough to light up the night around them.

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