. packin' knives

[henry albright]

The tub would need just a few more minutes before it was filled for a person to sit comfortably in. "Sounds good to me. Whatever you want." His stomach was betraying him, sounding with a growl as he realizes it's been a while since he had anything to eat. Henry adds some of the hotel soap he found when rummaging through the bathroom cabinets and straightens up, ready to take the menu from her and call when she slips her arms around him.  His body is stiff with shock at first before it melts, mirroring her embrace and rubbing her back, gently. It feels very intimate, holding her and knowing the way they ended things. But it felt like the right thing to do, Henry hugs her to his body. Old habits die hard, as he slips back so easily into the role of caring for her. "You're welcome." He glances down to see the bubbles and the tub ready for Kitty to enjoy. Squeezing her once more, he steps away and takes the menu out of her hand. "I'll go order the room service." He exits the bathroom to give her more privacy, but he stops before closing the door entirely. "Still want me to sit with you?"

[kitty smith-sato]

The smell engulfs the room, a view of dappled water through the window. It would be idyllic if her body wasn't aching, her nerves jangled and raw. She realizes how desperately she wants to be in that bath, giving herself over to a different sensation she could hopefully lose herself in. Henry wears the same cologne as always and her heart aches with nostalgia, memories of all the times they would fool around in her bed before she cut them off, hot and panting with need. Her sheets would smell of that cologne and she'd bury herself in them once he'd gone, breathing it in as she was now. Soon he's released, heading out of the room to give her some privacy though in truth she feels a cold panic at being on her own, even for a few seconds. So she's relieved again when he pauses at the door, nodding at his question. Soon she's on her own and she strips off quickly, kicking her clothes aside when usually she'd meticulously fold them up. Easing into the tub, the hot water sends goosebumps over her bruised skin and she can feel it coming on, a huge sob that has her rushing to turn the water on to obscure. She gives herself the luxury of a few seconds of crying before she wipes at her face, the steam from the water and her injuries hopefully obscuring the evidence. Thankfully he returns and she turns the faucet off, sitting forward with her knees to her chest, a defensive pose that's not intended towards him. "Tell me about your week. In detail, I need a distraction."

[henry albright]

She gives a small little nod and Henry reciprocates the action as he begins to close the door. Still leaving it cracked if she needed him before he returned. A sigh slips from his mouth when he's alone, followed by a long lawn. Henry dials in the room service, ordering a pizza and salad just as Kitty requested. Now that she's out of sight, he fires off a quick text to her fathers letting them know she was safe in his care. He sends them a copy of the discharge papers, the photo going through and he puts his phone down to rejoin Kitty in the bathroom. Hoping he's given her enough time to decompress and be alone with whatever she's feeling, Henry enters. She looks so small in the tub with her legs pulled up to her chest. He wonders what she's thinking about, was she replaying the situation in her mind? He's about to ask, when she breaks their silence. Henry leans against the bathroom counter, trying his hardest not to look her exposed, bruised body. "Well, it's been your typical Hamptons summer. Boating, drinking, fancy dinners or parties. How's my tan looking?"

[kitty smith-sato]

The water is soothing. Resting her cheek against her knees, she watches him as he returns to the room. She listens closely as he tells her about his summer, feeling a twinge of irritation as her mind wanders to the kind of women she's sure are chatting him up at the dinners and parties he mentions. Her head tilts at the question, brown eyes narrowing as she considers the question. "Not bad, but I think you'll take it up a couple notches while you're here. The sun has been amazing." Kitty can tell that he doesn't know what to do with himself, where to stand, where to look. "Come here," she says, gesturing to the floor beside the tub, "I promise I won't get you wet." When he crosses the room and sits, she takes her opportunity to lean over the side and slip her finger in the waistband of his pants and boxers, opening it by just a couple centimetres and making a point of looking closely. "Ah, I see the tan line now. Pretty good." When she returns to the tub she stretches out, feeling more comfortable as he rests her head on its edge. "You seem different and the same all at once."

[henry albright]

He had noticed that the summer sun had been gracing Kitty's skin as well. Her skin forever like porcelain, engraved in his mind. As he tried to be respectful and not peek too much at her vulnerable state, a bikini strap tan line touched the edge of her shoulder. Despite coming to her rescue and needing to see with his own two eyes that she was okay, he was intrigued by the Italian city. To get out and see what the fuss was all about. Kitty beckons him over to the side of the tub. "Yeah, right," he says, uncrossing his arms and moving to sit on the floor beside her. One wrong word and he was sure to be splashed by Kitty, but he follows the demand. His mind was floating with memories of their intimate moments as he rids the space between them. Now only the wall of the tub separated the two. Before he's sitting comfortable on the ground, Kitty's fingers were tugging on the corner of his boxers to check out the golden skin. Henry laughs at the brazen behavior. An innocent action that shouldn't have raised his heart rate like it just did. "How so?" His head now resting on the edge of the tub as she seemed to be more relaxed with him near by. His finger plays with a bit of some water that's spilled over. "You won't believe what I'm thinking about right now."

[kitty smith-sato]

Henry crosses the room and she instantly feels comforted by having his presence so much closer. In retrospect he was the perfect choice for next of kin duties, quick to take action, intuitive, respectful. Her fathers would have freaked out and flown her home straight away, and Dom? Dom probably would never have answered the call in the first place. She puts her cheek against the tub's edge, looking at his handsome profile. "Your hair's different, and you do look more tanned. But you still sound like my Henry. Still act like him, too." After such a long time spent together, their couple of years of estrangement paled by comparison. Still, it had been some time and she knew that his life had somehow been able to go on without her, though she had initially found that shocking. He prompts her to wonder what he's thinking and wonder she does, watching him as he fidgets. "Hmmmm, are you thinking about all the fun things we're going to do in Venice tomorrow? Squid ink risotto and gondola rides?" Despite herself, she feels a stir of excitement at the prospect of playing tourist with him.

[henry albright]

He had changed. A lot. The parts of him that he had on display always for her were hidden now, hardened with the hurt of her innocent facade.  But the parts that loved Kitty were still in there, even if they were deeper than they had been in the past. He was treading carefully though, unsure how to handle any more deceit from the girl he loved long ago.  As she speaks of his hair, a hand runs through it. The last time they'd seen each other, it wasn't this long. Henry feels a little bit speechless when she refers to him as 'her' Henry. "Would you say you're different?" She's been quiet, not herself which he understood. No matter what she said, he could tell that she was a bit shaken up from the robbery. He laughs at her image of them wandering around Venice. None of what she describes sounds half bad, but his mind is still elsewhere. Especially as she tortures him in a similar tub that holds fond memories. "No, I'm thinking of the time you thought your dads were gone, so we got in the bath together. When in fact they weren't. I had to wait naked in your closet until you gave me the okay." His finger stops moving when the water is finally gone from the ledge.

[kitty smith-sato]

Her eyes don't leave him. The night they had ended it all he had seemed like someone else, a man possessed, someone who looked like her husband but had none of his warmth or, if she was being honest, his ability to be manipulated. She can tell that the wariness is still there, bristling under the surface of his concern. She wasn't particularly worried about it. "I lost weight." A cop out answer, avoiding the obvious question: different from the girl he thought she was, or the real deal? The memory that he offers instead is one that makes her laugh, her cheeks burning at the mere mention. "Oh god, and they told me I was using too many towels? I thought for sure that was game over." It hadn't been, of course, her good girl reputation maintained through Henry's patience. She slips under the surface of the water, shaking her hair out and remerging, pushing water from her eyes. It hurts. "Why don't you get in?"

[henry albright]

He studies her face as he awaits the answer on if she's different. Only giving the simple, easy answer of her losing weight. She hadn't needed to, already skinny and gorgeous to begin with. But it was easy to tell there was less on her bones than when he'd last seen her. That conversation burned in his mind, and he tried not to think about it much at all. So Henry doesn't push for any more on the subject of if she's had any changes. Her cheeks burn red and he smiles at that particular sight. It's followed by a laugh and he soon finds one escaping his own mouth. "I was so mad, it felt like I was there in for so much longer than I actually was." His head shaking at how scarring that felt as he awaited naked for his girlfriend to get rid of her fathers. Kitty slips under the water and Henry watches her closely. Eyes never leaving her body as she comes back up prompting him with a question. The laughing, the reminiscing felt..nice. It's probably why he doesn't hesitant to answer. "Why not." He won't add that he was desperate to offer her a bit of comfort too. Pulling his t-shirt over his head and tugging his pants and boxers down his legs, Henry maneuvers behind Kitty in the tub. "I didn't tell that story just for you to invite me in, by the way."

[kitty smith-sato]

As soon as they had broken up Kitty had committed to an external glow up, ignoring the obvious fact that it was not her looks that had led to their demise. She had obsessively dieted and exercised, made facials a weekly rather than monthly commitment, filled her lips and plucked every errant hair she could. She had done no work to improve her personality whatsoever. "I was so mad at you for getting my new Alaïa dress wet." She's not sure how her invite will be taken by him, but to her surprise and relief he takes her up on it straight away, immediately starting to strip off. This was something she had missed without knowing she missed it, Henry's straightforwardness. He was uncomplicated, doing what he wanted or felt was right without trying to think ten paces ahead, no ulterior motive. It meant she didn't have to think up a strategy, which was nice, given that her head was so scrambled. He gets in and envelops her in an embrace that brings even more comfort than the bath itself, a rush hitting her that makes her want to cry though she manages to stifle it down. "Ha, I'd be impressed if you had." She leans back against him, comfortable in their nakedness, though she can feel that he's been working out too. "How are your brothers?"

[henry albright]

His mouth opens to argue about how he was the one naked, cold in a closet waiting to be let out, but he defers from saying what he actually thinks. She talked about the ruined dress for over a month after the incident. The water was still warm as he slides behind Kitty. It felt right, so he went with it. Thinking nothing about the repercussions of the two them being in a vulnerable, intimate position. His arms engulf her small figure, as he maneuvers his legs along the outside of hers. His head finds a comfortable position resting on the tub, as Kitty leans further into his chest. "They're good, Tristan is in Med school and Xavier is fine, says I set him for success in school." Henry chuckles as he fingertips ghostly touch her arms that were only somewhat submerged in the water. "How are your dads?" Though he was briefly communicating with them regarding the robbery and her hospital stay, Henry knew nothing of how they actually were. Almost as if on instinct, the finger tips that were roaming her forearms find their way to her neck, rubbing small circles along her neck and brushing Kitty's hair away.

[kitty smith-sato]

It's impossible to tell what future could have unfolded before them if Henry had never found Kitty's diary. Would she have been able to keep up the rouse for decades, to live under the same roof, have children, share a life with her own true self buried deep down? Or would domesticity have sanded down her edges, made her finally acquiesce to a life of contentment, free of scheming... well, no, that wouldn't have been possible. But maybe she could have reserved her machiavellian tendencies for country club politics, like everyone else. "They sound like good boys," she says, her tone making it impossible to tell if she's mocking or sincere. It's comforting to feel his body around hers, his fingers tracing down her arm and sending a shiver of pleasure down her spine. "Same as always. Wrapped up in their own world, pretending it revolves around me but barely noticing that I've gone." She sighs, not particularly bothered by their tendencies beyond being tired of them, as she was everyone else in her life. She feels like being honest with him. "I think I hate my friends."

[henry albright]

Henry shifts her hair out to one side. The loose strands were beginning to tickle down a portion of his underarm. It's different, the two of them laying in the tub and talking. He can't put his finger on how, but it is. Of course they've aged, but where Henry was worried for awkwardness is replaced with that same sense of familiarity. He chooses not to comment on his brothers being good boys, maybe by her standards they were. The entire Albright family being of good students, doctors and sons. "Good to know they're still exactly the same." Henry was able to sneak around with Kitty a lot more as a teenager than most, given her fathers tendencies. He felt grateful for it as a horny teenager, but older he could see how it wouldn't be the case in her own eyes. Fingers continue to skate down her arms, offering comfort in ways that didn't need words. "Want me to wash your hair?" He dipped down to ask, scooting his body into a more comfortable position with her still between his legs. Extra careful not to knock any of her bruises or water out of the side. Her next bit of words, shocks him a bit that he's speechless for a few minutes. The water laps around them before Henry opens his mouth to ask more questions. "Really?  Are the Core Four having issues? Or what?"

[kitty smith-sato]

His family was one of pedigree, high performance and even higher polish. Three perfect boys, each of them the golden boy in some way, shining reflections of their parents' groomed looks and good breeding. The prospect of being in that family had been mouthwatering. Kitty had desperately wanted to be an Albright, had wanted their gloss to rub off on her. "Please," she says quietly, still shocked by his kindness and how intuitively it came to him. She reaches over to pick up the shampoo bottle, passing it back over her shoulder to him, less bothered about the water she's splashing on the floor than he seems to be. "Double shampoo," she says, before adding, "please." She snorts at his mention of core four, a nickname he had coined for their group some time ago and one she had actually forgotten about. Probably because they hadn't felt like much of a foursome of late. "They are all assholes. If I'd been killed I think they'd care more about deciding what to wear to my funeral than the fact they'd never see me again."

[henry albright]

It's funny how easily he slips back into something he was so used to. This side of Henry hadn't been shown in some time. The kindness, caring and wanting to do something for another female had fallen from his radar with the dissolving for their engagement. The only bit of intimacy he showed these days was when he was bringing a girl to their absolute pleasure, refusing to even cuddle after they were through.  He reaches for the shampoo at the same as Kitty, letting her retrieve it in the end as she was the closest. His hands grip the sides of the tub as he sits up a little bit more. Never breaking their physical contact though, their naked bodies still flushed in some way. Opening the bottle, the shampoo squirts into his hand and soon he's lathering the contents into her hair. Fingers shift all throughout the gorgeous head of hair she had, he won't admit he loves the content sigh she makes as he rubs. She continues to speak of her beloved core four and he just listens. "Have you thought about letting that part of your life go?" The question comes out without thinking how well tied the group always would be. "You've probably made a ton of friends at school, right?" He is curious about the life she's leading at the school they always spoke of going to. "Okay, rinse your hair, Kitten. First round done."