Beka was down in the kitchen of the Dancing Dive. She was having the worst time sleeping and had always been waking up obscenely early. Though she knew the cause, she refused to admit that sleeping alone was probably worse than sleeping with a certain Rogue's warm embrace cuddling against her. She sighed and she continued to try and scrape the last bit of jam out of the jar when a loud THUMP interrupted her troubled 'Rosto' thoughts. Speak of the devil, seconds later he shot through the kitchen door, lept over the counter and clapped his hand over her mouth as she was about to scream.

"Please...don't let her know I'm here! Tell her I've left or something! ANYTHING!" he said in a harsh, pleading whisper, his breath tickling her skin and sending unnoticed shivers down her spine.

She was about to ask why when a very shrill call came down the stairs. "ROSTO! WHERE ARE YOU MY SWEET?!" Rosto gave what could only pass as a shriek and swiftly dropped to the floor, leaving a very bewildered Beka standing at the counter.

This could not get any weirder, she thought as she continued to scrape jam from the jar as though Rosto had not just cowered behind the counter. She looked up when a very doxie-looking woman entered the kitchen, her hips swaying so far they looked ready to dislocate themselves. You could barely see her skin because there was so much face paint on it. That is, you could barely see the skin on her face. There was plenty of other skin to see.

"Can I help you, Ma'am?" asked Beka as the woman sauntered in, her beady brown eyes shifting here and there, quite obviously searching fo her 'Sweet'.

"Have you seen my Rosto, wench?" she asked as if Beka were merely a hired bedwarmer. Beka stiffened at the remark and she could feel Rosto move closer to her, brushing against her leg as he leaned against the counter. She forced her anger at the woman up, trying to ignore the tingles as Rosto brushed against her leg.

"The only wench I see is you." she spat, fixing the doxie with an ice cold glare. She stumbled back in fear but seemed determined to face Beka.

"Don't call me a wench you filthy ingrate! I bet your mother would be proud to see you as a bedwarmer, taking after her, you disgusting DOXIE!" she shrieked. Beka could feel Rosto flinch at the jibe about her mother. She had told them all about what had happened, and thank the Gods that Rosto was understanding. He hadn't been as insistent lately, though she could now feel him rubbing his hand comfortingly on her leg. Beka looked daggers at the woman, but unfortunately (for the doxie) she didn't have any real ones. Then she realised that she was in The Rogue's kitchen, which was probably filled with butcher knives. She could feel her own eyes perk up with a surprising blood lust and saw the other woman shrink away.

"I would leave if I were you, which thank the Gods, I'm not. If I ever see you here again, or within the same district as my Rosto, I'll gut you and hang you outside the door for all to see what happens when you cross me." Beka could hear the underlying tone that clearly said 'though I'm a dog I will not hesitate to kill you' in her menacing voice. Then she froze on the inside, though the outside looked just as scary. Did I say 'MY Rosto'? Why would I say that? Oh Gods, he's under the counter, he DEFINATELY heard me!As if to prove that he had, Rosto bravely lent over and gently kissed the side of her knee. She visibly shivered, but the cowering mot seemed to think it was an attempt on her life somehow and screamed at the top of her lungs that no mot would ever go near Rosto again, and then she ran through the kitchen doors and they could here a loud BANG as she quite obviously fell flat on her face at least more than once. That was enough. Rosto, who had been shaking and red-faced with suppressed laughter burst, as did Beka who slid to the floor across from him, both of the clutching their stomachs as they broke down into hysterics.

When they had calmed down enough to breathe, which took more than a few minutes, they both sat there in comfortable silence, wiping tears of mirth from their eyes. Then Beka looked up into Rosto's eyes and, seeing the warmth, desire and passion in them, ducked her head back down again, silently cursing her own shyness. Her hair, that she always kept down in the mornings, swept down to hide her face in soft curtains. After a few moments she heard Rosto move over to sit directly in front of her. A warm hand touched her chin and lifted her face up to look directly in his warm eyes, some of the desire and passion carefully hidden but still there, she knew.

"Why so shy all of the sudden?" he asked her calmly, gently stroking her chin with his thumb, relishing in the small touch. She didn't shy away this time, but sat there allowing him to touch her and secretly enjoying every minute of it. "Could it perhaps be that you like me more than you let on. We all heard you call me yours a minute ago." He had a grin on his face. It wasn't smug or joking, but sweet and it plainly told her that he knew all too well how she felt.

"I didn't mean to say that, I was just trying to get her to leave." she mumbled quietly. His eyes grew softer and she felt like she was melting. "Who was she, by the way. You never told me, just ran in here and hid behind me." She said this with the obvious intention of trying to get his attention off of her. He consented and lowered his hand slowly from her face and put a mock hurt expression on his face. Though he was still only a foot away from her face.

"The King of Thieves does not hide behind pert little gixies! I was merely......." he paused for a moment, think of a word that wouldn't make him sound so frightened. "....evading her." he decided that that sounded more Rogue-ish than 'cowering' did. "That......woman......was a doxie who seemed very intent on being my Queen and was quite.....forceful.....about it." He seemed to be having a hard time trying to make his situation sound more 'manly' without having to divulge just how forceful she had been.

"Uh-huh." was all Beka could say unless she was going to end up laughing at him. He seemed to notice this and the look in his eyes told her that he was about to switch the conversation back to her 'slip-of-the-tongue'.

"So how do you 'accidentally' call me yours?" he asked her, mischeif in his beautiful eyes. She blushed deeper then before but did not lower her gaze in the slightest, but held his eyes steady with hers.

"Some thanks I get! I just saved you from a very determined breed of doxie, and now you mock me!" she wasn't really offended, and he knew it, but she couldn't help it.

He leaned in closer than ever so that their breaths mixed and all she could see were his eyes, one emotion plain in them. Mischief.

Oh Gods, this isn't going to be good! she thought. She soon found that it was nothing but good as he leaned in so close that she could feel him talking and whispered to her lips,

"Than let me thank you..." and with that he captured her lips with his. Heat coursed through her body and she couldn't help but wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him back. He smiled into her lips as he parted hers with his tongue, while exploring her every curve with his hands. She was doing the same and soon realised that she had unbuttoned his shirt and was running her hands over his well muscled chest. He groaned softly and pulled her closer.

After some moments they broke apart for air. Between breaths Beka managed to finally tell him how she felt.

"I love you, Rosto." She sighed and looked into his eyes. His hand moved up from her back to cup her cheek and he looked at her with a plain layout of his emotions.

"I love you too, Beka." They both smiled softly before the need for each other brought their lips back together. A soft 'ah-hem' interrupted them and they shot apart, startled by a very amused looking Aniki. Beka felt herself blush and saw a red tinge flow over Rosto's face as well.

"We.....we were just.....um......" he seemed at a loss for a harmless and witty excuse like usual. Just like her, he was still in his own little world with just the two of them. Aniki began to giggle at his stuttering and looked over to the kitchen door. Beka got to her knees and grabbed the edge of the counter to lift her weak legs under her. She wished she hadn't. In the doorway stood Ersken, Kora and, to Beka's horror, Tunstall, who said he might drop in to see what food they had so he wouldn't have to buy some during Watch. Beka let out a very squeaky 'eek' at the amused faces and fell back down to the floor to where Rosto sat, looking like he had finally come back out of la-la-land. For the first time, Beka saw that he was shy. He got up and dusted himself off, though the floors were immaculate, on his orders. He rubbed the back of his neck while looking through his lashes at the others. When he held out a hand for Beka she gave him a look that plainly said 'I'm not letting them see me again' and pulled him back down to the floor while he emitted a soft grunt as he tried not to fall on top of her. From behind the counter came the laughter of very amused people who would enjoy the next few weeks of tormenting Rosto and Beka.

"You know we can't just sit on the floor all day." he said matter of factly, as he raised an eyebrow at her. She gave a 'humph' and crossed her arms over her chest, clearly telling him that she was not getting up while they were all standing in the doorway.

"Either make them leave, or we stay on the floor." she told him. He weighed his options.

"Hmm," he whispered,"stay on the floor with the one I love, or stand up and face a group of gawking hypocrits? What to do?" he asked himself and then leaned over to kiss her softly. "I think I'll stay on the floor." he told her and kissed her again. She giggled at his comment as their lips met, but stopped when he began to rub the underside of her calf.

"You two lovebirds are not staying on the floor all day! You are getting up right now and explaining what all the shouting was this morning." Kora had come around the counter to take Aniki's place, but Beka and Rosto didn't hear her. Their thoughts were only of soft lips and hot passion as it coursed through their veins. Kora gave a loud huff and left, dragging the others with her. "They'll not get up if you lot won't leave them be. Might as well get breakfast ready." she shouted the word 'breakfast' back into the kitchen. As if on cue, Beka stomach gave a soft rumble of hunger which made them break the kiss so Rosto could chuckle at her. She raised her brows at him as his stomach responded as well and laughed when he gave a dramatic sigh as he heaved himself up again. This time she let him help her up, dusting off imaginary dirt as he had done before, only to make him chuckle again. He held out his arm as though advertising a cosy spot at his side and she moved right in.

"Ready to face some teasing, my love?" he asked her quietly, only half joking.

"I already get enough from you, how bad can their's be?" she said with a mockingly saucy attitude. He leaned in and kissed her lips again, almost getting lost in the feel of her when a very 'Kora' voice shouted through the closed doors,

"I wasn't kidding! UP! NOW!" Rosto sighed as he broke the kiss. This should be fun.he thought, as they walked out into the tavern of the Dove. All heads turned their way as they walked in, hair mussed, as close together as possible and with Rosto's shirt looking as though it had been unbuttoned in a hurry, with some of the buttons having been torn off. They all grinned as the two walked in and calmly sat down. Rosto seemed to finally realise what he must look like and stood again.

"I suppose I should make myself more presentable, though I do like the open shirt, don't you Beka?" he looked at her in time to see a blush before she lowered her head enough for her hair to cover it. He smiled and began to leave when he heard Beka quickly say,

"I should go fix myself, too." but before she could get more that halfway off the bench Aniki pushed her right back down again.

"You are not going upstairs 'til he comes back down." she said forcefully.

"Well then," Rosto declared,"I suppose my vanity can wait!" and with that he slid back down to sit impossibly close to Beka again. She smiled an 'I love you so much' smile and leaned against him as the others sighed at how 'lovey-dovey' the two would be. Rosto chuckled and began to eat, his Beka sitting next to him. As it always should be. And will be.