He came every to her every Friday night. Religiously. They had gotten into the habit. She would finish off her self defence classes, and see all her students to the door, sweep and clean the dojo and by the time she had finished, he be there.

The first time was after their little trip to Vegas, after the vampyre attack. She had mentioned that it had shook her up a bit, not the whole truth. She didn't mention that fact that her first love has shrivelled into dust in front of her eyes. He asked her if she wanted him to stay. Usually Scáthach would scoff at a gesture like this. But no matter what anyone else said, he was a gentleman, a southern gent at that, and she didn't have the heart to turn him away.

She nodded, and said she'd like that very much. She squeezed his hand, they were rough and calloused, not that she was surprised.

Billy gave her one of his crooked grins, and held her hand. Cautiously at first, until his body gave in and enveloped her. They stood in the dojo, just holding each other for what felt like eternity. Scáthach pulled away first, almost shocked that it had happened at all.

Now every Friday he would come. Sometimes he would already be in her bedroom, not saying a word, and let her lay her head on his chest and hold her tight. He would hold her close to his body. Both of them would lie there till morning.

The first time it had happened, he had stared at her wide eyed, not sure what she expected him to do. She had collapsed down on the bed, exhausted from the Las Vegas trip, and looked up at him, standing by the window. He approached nervously and sat on the edge of the bed, as far away from the redhead as physically possible.

"I don't bite, contrary to popular belief" was all she said. Billy smoothed out the pale blue sheet and lay down flat, shoulder to shoulder with her. He turned to face her, unsure of the next move.

She had merely stared back at him until she shyly put her arms around his body and lay her head on his chest. Following her lead, he let his arms move around her and gradually he felt her relax and fall asleep.

They never spoke of it in the morning. Billy woke up her lithe body wrapped around his. He gently extracted himself. He knew that she rarely needed sleep, and if she were sleeping now he didn't want to wake her. Before leaving, he spared a moment to note how cute she looked; all pink cheeked and snuggled in the blankets. It was hard to believe that she was one of the world's most fearsome warriors. Then again, Billy himself, probably looked even more stupid, and he considered himself pretty fear-inspiring at times. He took one last look, and vanished down the stairs and out of the dojo.