"I've just thought of something." Asha whispered as they drew up in the car park. The hotel was big gothic building with gargoyles and spires, the dark car park was lit by soft fluorescent uplighters on the grass. It all made for a very romantic but eerie effect.
"What?" Logan asked, reversing into a space.
"How are you gonna explain that you and Max can't touch?" Asha asked. "I mean, you're supposed to be dating."
"Easy - Max became a catholic." Alec breezed, Max hit him on the arm.
"Be sensible Alec." She snapped. Alec stuck his tongue out at her.
"Asha has a point though." Logan turned to face Max, his face full of regret. Max sobered.
"We'll get through Logan, we always do." She assured him. Alec got out of the car, ruining the moment.
"We'll get the bags, you two go register." Alec called as Max joined him. They started to lift the bags out of the back.
"Logan!" A male voice cried when Asha and Logan walked in. Logan managed not to be toppled over by a rather over enthusiastic relative.
"Gene! How are you?" He exclaimed, hugging him roughly.
"Oh fine, Logan, just fine. And you? And Asha." He turned the blonde. crushing her in a big bear hug. "I was wondering when you two would finally get together. But where's Max? I hope you two are still friends?" He asked, a continuous stream of talking he quickly got their keys off of the receptionist.
The reception was extremely lavish. Large red velvet chairs with gold trimmings were surrounding various roaring hearths. There were large maroon drapes cloaking the windows and the house staff wore dark red uniforms. A porter smiled at them.
"Where are your bags sir?" He asked.
"Uh-"
"C'mon wuss." Max's voice called on Alec as she walked through the door.
"Hey you don't have Asha's suitcase." Alec replied, shutting up when he saw their company.
"Hi - I'm Alec. I'd shake you hand but I'd drop something." He greeted Gene. Instantly the porter grabbed all their bags and scurried away. Alec and Max looked a little surprised.
"Max," Gene said warmly. "I'm so glad you could come, you and Logan are good friends I see, I'm glad." Gene hugged Max. Max stared at Logan over Gene's shoulder and made question face. Logan quickly gestured to Alec and made a heart shape with his fingers.
"You love Alec!?" Max mouthed. Logan shook his head vigorously and grabbed Asha's shoulders, hugging her. Alec suddenly clicked his fingers, getting it.
"And Alec." Gene let go of Max and proceeded to hug Alec. Alec looked more than a little alarmed. Max was shaking with suppressed laughter. Alec lifted his hands, pointing to Max and then, in true Manticore sign language, made to slit his neck with his finger. Gene let Alec go and Alec assumed a happy face.
"Yes well, I have to stay here, wait and meet some more late arrivals. The porter will show you to your rooms." Gene said, a big smile on his face.
"Logan, are all your relatives like that?" Alec asked as they headed to the elevator.
"The rest wouldn't touch you with a barge pole." Logan assured him.
"Thank God." Alec said, exaggerating relief. Logan glared at him.
"Speaking of barge poles, Gene and everyone here believe Asha and I are together, and that you two are together."Chaos as soon as the lift doors closed.
"No way!"
"Unbelievable!"
"Exactly!"
"Nobody'd ever fall for that!"
"I have much better taste!"
"Exactly - hey!" Max turned on Alec after the last comment.
"Listen - it's perfectly believable." Asha interrupted. "Just try not to kill each other." The door opened and the porter followed them out after a strange look. He handed one pair of keys to Alec and the second to Logan.
Alec unlocked the door to his and Max's room. Their bags were on the king sized bed. The one king sized bed.
"Oh great." He sighed. Max came in and gasped.
"Woah - this place is amazing."
It was nice, Alec had to admit. The walls were a light peach fabric wall paper. The most expensive sort. There was a small sort of living area with a real hearth. The were as a sofa and a large leather arm chair. It was all nice and antique. Alec ran an appreciative finger over the worn leather. The coffee table was real mahogany, it would fetch a pretty price. There was a mahogany drinks cabinet at the side of the room, it had a CD player sitting on it though the CD's were all old swing. They had spared no expense on the drinks. Alec raised an eyebrow at Max as he held up a tequila.
"How 'bout a competition later?" He asked mischievously.
"You're on." Max told him. She entered the bathroom and gasped again. It was all a cream colour, gold finishes. The bath was a large square with bubble jets everywhere.
"Got some ideas for that." Alec commented over her shoulder. Max rolled her eyes and checked out the fragrances they'd left. Only the very best, Monsoon, Clinique and Arden. Alec grinned slightly and looked down at Max.
"I have dibs on the towels."
"All right." Max sighed exhasperatedly. "But I get the Monsoon."
The bed was a large wrought iron four poster. It had a large maroon duvet and cream pillows. Alec liked the colour scheme, but he was beginning to feel it was getting a bit over the top. He sighed and looked around at the sofa, all this gothic-ness was making him feel very chivalrous.
"If you give me the duvet I'll take the sofa." He said to Max. She looked surprised.
"Uh okay. We'd better start unpacking." She delved into her bag.
"So - what dresses did you bring?" Alec asked. Max gave him a look half way between a glare and a smile.
"A short black one, a longer black one and a short red one." Max told him. Alec nodded and took the dresses off her when she began to just shove them into the wardrobe.
"You are so unlady-like." He told her, putting them on hangers and then he began on the rest of her luggage.
"Hey!" Max grabbed the bag off him.
"Max, it's nothing I haven't seen before." He told her. He went over to the drinks cabinet and found various types of coffee could also be made, mocha's, latte's, cappuccinos . . .
"Shall we go see how Logan and Asha are doing?" Max asked. Alec stood up and nearly knocked over a big bowl of perfectly arranged flowers.
"Considering we have the second best room, what do you think their's will be like?" He asked.
Max smiled prettily at all of Logan's relatives. Some of them knew her, some of them [mostly the females] were just trying to talk to Alec.
"Max, Alec, have you met Yvonne?" Isobel asked, a big smile on her face. She fluttered her eyelashes at Alec. "If I weren't married you know, Max would have competition."
"Max'd fight you." Alec said with a smile, wrapping an arm around Max's shoulder. Max smiled warmly and wrapped her arm around his waist.
"Oh Alec, he's such a tease. But he's so honest, do you know I was his first?" She asked with an innocent face. Alec's grip tightened on her shoulders.
"Max likes to talk, don't you, baby?" He asked, gritting his teeth slightly. Max beamed up at him.
"No more than you, sweetheart."
"Very good." Isobell smiled and pulled Yvonne over. This was a little get together before the evening meal. Although it was late, everyone had only just got there and Logan's family was a stickler for tradition.
"Oh, he's nice." Yvonne cooed. Alec turned full charm on the attractive blonde. Max gripped his waist harder.
"He's taken." She said, feeling her smiel become fixed.
"Jealous are we?" Alec leaned closer to whisper in her ear.
"Worried you'll pollute the family gene pool." Max returned acidly. Alec chuckled and disattached himself from Max. He offered Yvonne a smile. She simpered and Alec took her over to meet some more lovely ladies. Max glared.
"Dinner's ready." Gene came through from the dining room to say. Max met up with Alec, Asha and Logan as she filed through the glass doors to the dining room.
"Woah." The four stopped in awe. The room was massive, and in the middle was a huge champagne fountain. There were many round tables, each sitting six people. Alec scanned the left side while Max scanned the right.
"Logan - you and Asha's names are on that right hand table, three from the end." Alec said, indicating. "There are little cards with gold writing, your names are there. You two are sitting beside a door and someone named Dave."
"Alec and I are over here." Max said regretfully, she and Alec seperated and began weaving their way to their table.
"Hi, I'm Katherine." A brunette greeted them, she sat down with two older people. "These are my parents, Bill and Grace."
"My name's Harold." A fat elderly man plonked himself down beside Max. Alec smiled at Bill, a tall, thin old man who looked down his hawk nose at Alec's scruffy hair. Grace smiled, somewhat painedly at Max's three quarted length top and jeans.
"I didn't have time to change." Max defended herself somewhat nervously as she noticed Grace's gaze.
"Neither did I." Katherine said haughtily. Grace nodded serenely. Alec met Max's eye surreptiously. Harold clapped a hand on Max's knee jovially.
"Don't worry, I'm sure my neice Katherine would be more than happy to lend you a nice dress for the gala tomorrow night." He said, shaking Max's knee.
"I'm . . . thank you." Max sounded as if she was trying to swallow an egg. Someone started to play the grand piano in the hall and the waitresses started rolling the food out.
Alec leaned closer to Max and she bent her head so he could whisper in her ear.
"Let's have some fun shall we? Manticore training 101?"
"I'm all for it." Max replied. They straightened and smiled identically at their companions.
"So, I take it you must be from the Cale side?" Alec asked, even though he was perfectly sure they were Isobell's relations.
"Oh no, we're Regol's." Katherine told him. Alec shook his head at himself.
"I'm such a fool, you have looks of course you can't be a Cale." He said, shaking his head sadly. Katherine seemed unsure what to say to this.
"Of course, you must have a partner, is he here? Or is he ill?" Max asked, looking properly concerned. She paused while eating her melon salad.
"Oh, I don't have a p-partner." Katherine glanced to her parents for guidance.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean . . . I just assumed, young, rich, pretty, must have a partner." Max shrugged, looking like a very beautiful ditz. She turned an adoring smile to Alec.
"Guess not everyone's as lucky as I."
"We are very lucky." Alec agreed, looking into her eyes and fighting to keep a very straight face. "We forget so often." He said to Katherine. Suddenly he had a wicked idea and turned to Grace and Bill.
"I'm sure you two must know how we feel."
"Yes, quite." Grace said shortly. Max smiled fully at her.
"You know, Alec and I have been together for over a year now, we've not argued once." She put her fork and knife on her empty plate perfectly and sat very straight.
"But then again, Max and I were both raised with very strict families, we're just perfect for each other." He said, slight emphasis on the 'perfect'.
By the end of dinner Katherine, Harold, Bill and Grace were desperate to leave. Neither Max nor Alec lost their posture once. With strict Manticore training they never slipped up once.
"That was possibly the most fun I've ever had not in bed." Alec said to Max as they reached their room. Max grinned and opened the door.
"Definately. Well, I'm having a bath where the running water actually works. What are you going to do?" She asked. Alec smiled at her innocently.
"I'm just gonna take a little walk."
"No." Max said firmly.
"Aw Max come on!" Alec exclaimed.
"Wait till I've had my bath, I'll scout with ya." She said with a mischievious smile. "I don't want you stealing from people who don't need to be stole from."