Title: Never Have I Ever
Author: Meridian
Rating: PG-13 (adult talk and inferences)
Author's Notes: I must confess I was inspired by Morri's Shadow's "Royal Flush" for this one. What's a Nightstalker night off if not an excuse to get silly with some of the characters from Blade: Trinity? Just a little juvenile fun and maybe a little character study. Maybe.
Abby hadn't had more than one or two legal drinks in her life, and only a handful before that. In her tenure with the Nightstalkers, the group had maybe imbibed alcohol together maybe once. Dex kept a flask on him, a gift from his father, but, to the best of her knowledge, it had nothing more offensive than holy water. What should have been alcohol was a weapon instead. Hedges never drank, and Sommerfield had Zoe to mind; it was hardly good parenting to drink a lot around a small child.
King, on the other hand, thought they were all nuts and kept the fridge well-stocked at all times with beer, the occasional malt, and the freezer had not one but two liters of vodka chilling in it. His mission in life, besides killing vampires, was in re-educating them where liquor was concerned. To that end, he declared the next slow work night to be the first lesson, which resulted in their current situation. He'd planned it pretty carefully, distracting Zoe with a new video game all day, tiring her out in a playground session at the nearest park to the base, and even putting her to bed to spare Sommer the trouble. That done, the lesson was about to begin.
"So, are we drinking to anything?" Hedges eyed the setup on the table before them. A golden colored liquor in a clear, unlabeled bottle stood in the center of the table surrounded by five shot glasses, a salt shaker, and some limes.
"Not drinking to, Hedges." King produced beer from beneath the table. "Something light to start, and maybe we'll get to the fun stuff later." He passed a green bottle to her, nodding for her to pass it on. Abby handed it to Sommer, but when she moved to pass it off, King told her not to. "That one's yours, doc."
"What is it?" Sommer felt around the bottle, her deft fingers plucking at the wet label.
"It's a Rolling Rock," Abby told her as she accepted the next offering from King. It was a Guinness. "Who's this for?"
"Dex." She passed it over to him as King retrieved a malt. "Mike's for Hedges."
"I'm not a fan of..."
"...anything that isn't digital or have tits, I know," King patted Hedges' arm sympathetically. "Trust me." Surprisingly, Hedges accepted the bottle, inexpertly twisting off the top with his shirt. "Ah-ah," King wagged his index finger at Hedges when he brought the neck close to his lips. "Not yet."
"There're rules to drinking? Isn't the point just to get shit-faced?"
"All in good time," King promised, bringing out from the cooler the last two bottles. He kept a Molson Ice for himself and handed her a Heineken. "Everyone set?" He glanced around the table. Abby half-heartedly twisted off her cap, setting the bottle down expectantly. Gentleman that he was, Dex opened Sommer's for her before opening his own.
"What're we doing?"
"Getting to know each other," King said, enigmatically. "We're going to play a game."
"Ooh," Sommerfield almost giggled, startling the rest of the table. Her grin was enthusiastic. "Which one?"
"Never Have I Ever, Sommer. You know the rules?" King beamed at the pretty doctor; she might play at proper mom for Zoe's sake, but he'd found out the party girl and kindred spirit when Sommer, flushing slightly, nodded. "Superb. You explain then."
"God, this is juvenile." Sommer did giggle this time.
"Yeah, it's been years for me, too. Go on," King invited her.
"Ah, let's see," Sommer drummed her nails on the table. "You go around the circle, and everyone says something that starts with 'I Never' then something. If the people at the table have done it they drink? Is that right?"
"With this crowd, no one's going to get drunk unless we talk shop, maybe we should reverse it," King rolled his eyes.
"Hey," Abby interjected, offended. "We do have lives, King. Let's play the right way." What the hell? It sounded fun. "What kind of things are we talking about?"
King shrugged. "Anything. Everything. You just have to answer honestly until you're out of booze-not going to a problem with you guys, I'm thinking-or we're all piss drunk."
"I might have to pass," Hedges mumbled. King thumped him hard on the back.
"Come on, it'll be interesting, I promise." They shared a look, Hedges' doubtful, King's conspiratorial. "Think about it, Hedges. What's one thing you wish you could ask Abby?" They both looked at her, Hedges wondrous and intimidated, King scandalous and gleeful. "She has to be honest, too," he added.
"If you put it like that," Hedges smiled at her, but his eyes darted to Sommerfield. The whole crew knew Sommerfield was the wilder of the pair of gorgeous women in their cell, back in her glory days. And a lot of those stories didn't come out when Zoe was around. This was a golden opportunity.
Abby cleared her throat, seeing all too well where this was going. "I'll start then." Thinking quickly, she came up with, "I never slept with someone more than ten years older than me."
King sighed dramatically, saying, "Figures. I'm an easy target," and took a sip of his beer. Hedges and Dex both grinned but didn't touch their bottles. Their grins widened into gaping expressions of shock when Sommerfield lifted her brew and sipped. King stared at her, intent and impressed. "Sommerfield."
"Yes?"
"I want details."
"That's not part of the game."
"It's not?" Hedges pouted. "Can we change the rules?"
"Yep," King recovered smoothly. "If people ask for details, you can spill or you can drink."
"Not fair," Sommerfield scrunched up her lips into a moue intended to garner sympathy. All it did was encourage her audience. "Abby, back me up."
"I don't know," she thought aloud. "I might want details on some of them later, Sommer. Plus, you can always drink." Until her tolerance gave out, but that might spare her some embarrassment as Sommer's tolerance would probably last only as long as the bottle in front of her.
"I'm outnumbered then, I take it?" Sommer didn't wait for an answer before sipping. "There, moving on. I'm next, I believe." She paused, pursing her lips. "I've never masturbated thinking about a fictional character. And you have to tell me who drinks because, in case you hadn't noticed, I can't see." She giggled again. Did liquor go to your head that fast?
"I'm drinking," King said at once, doing so. Hedges mumbled something to the affirmative. Dex didn't, Sommer did, and she had to, too. "That's everyone but Dex."
"Details," Sommerfield demanded.
"Who?"
"Everyone," her head turned vaguely in Abby's direction.
"Mr. Darcy," Abby said, unabashed. "God, the pond scene."
"Chick stuff," King groused. "Witchblade."
"Who's that?"
"Comic book babe, Whistler. Bad-ass, ill-tempered, little bit skanky. You'd love her." She flipped him the bird, but he shrugged it off.
"Nice one," Hedges complimented him. "Let's see. There's Lara Croft, that's pretty standard. Carmen Sandiago, back in the day." He shook his head. "There are a lot. Anyway, Dex's turn."
Dex mulled over his question for a moment, then said, "I never enjoyed killing another human being." Everyone except for Sommerfield drank. "I'm not surprised," Dex commented for Sommer's benefit. "Looks like you're the only one who's truly super-human, Sommer."
"I'm the only one who can't do it, that's all." She formed a gun with her thumb and index finger. "I'd have killed my husband if I'd had the chance." Sommerfield's husband had tried to sell her and Zoe out to a vampire as proof of his loyalty. Her feelings were understandable. "Who did you like killing?"
"My boss," Hedges said.
"My sister-in-law," Dex contributed, the one who'd killed his brother as another vampire tribute. He didn't look like he enjoyed it in retrospect, and, as if sensing this, Sommerfield reached out to pat his leg. He squeezed her hand, appreciatively.
"That familiar from Texas-you remember," Abby told the room at large. King looked confused, so she explained. "He pinned me and broke my iPod."
"And that's it?" When she nodded, he whistled, lowly. "Woe to he who breaks Whistler's toys."
"And you?"
"No comment," King took another sip, avoiding her gaze and nodding at Hedges. Weird. She wouldn't have expected him to be the one holding back. "Hedges, your turn."
"I've never fantasized about a person in this room." Not surprisingly, everyone drank, and the room fell into a uncomfortable quiet. Hedges laughed, weakly. "I don't suppose anyone wants to volunteer details?" No, no one did. Everyone obediently took another sip of their drink. They weren't drunk enough for that question.
Yet.