God, his day had sucked. Not only did he still have ongoing problems with Jax and her not-friend, but it had just been a pisser of a day. Scowling, Adam tossed back his vodka, reached blindly for the bottle to pour himself another shot. Also, what the fuck was up with Jaxon anyway? Were they dating? Or just having sex whenever it was convenient? He sure didn't fucking know.

And it bothered him that he cared. Sure, he would admit he liked Jaxon. She wasn't altogether tough to look at and she wasn't your typical girl. Hell, she even liked football. Didn't eat much that he'd seen, but didn't seem to be one of those 'oh, I'll just have a Cobb salad and a stick of gum' types. What was in a Cobb salad anyway? Plus, it bothered him that it bothered him that he cared.

God. Adam scrubbed a hand over his face. How much had he had to drink? Squinting at the bottle, he estimated he'd had enough that if you lit a match and held it against his skin his blood was saturated with enough vodka to turn him into a Human Torch look alike. Pathetic. Here he was sitting at some bar mooning over a girl. "College sure is over," he muttered under his breath, tossing the really terrible vodka back and feeling it scald its way down his throat.

Best way to solve a hangnail? How would he know? He'd avoided relationships because shit like this happened. Tossing a bill, denomination indeterminate, at the bartender, Adam stood. He was surprisingly steady on his feet, given the whole blood alcohol level thing. As he stood, he eyed the dance floor, such as it was, populated mostly with cheap hookers or their look-alikes and truckers with a few bucks to spend.

There was a good way to blow off some steam.

It wasn't that long later that he was stumbling outside with a woman whose features were too sharp, lipstick too red, and pants so tight you wondered how she could walk. She laughed in his ear, then crushed her mouth to his with great enthusiasm. She giggled as he responded, wrapping arms around her and flattening her to the club wall. Adam, drunk and at this point randy, hardly noticed as two guys slipped out of the bar and headed towards them.

"Fuck you want?" He slurred as one grabbed his shoulder, irritatedly batting at the guy's hand. The other one, however, caught his jaw in a mean left hook that sent Adam into the wall. "Shit!" Both men got in on it while he was stunned, pummeling him hard enough to send him face first into the pavement. Then they rifled his pockets. Oldest goddamn trick in the goddamn book, he managed to think, girl gets guy outside and distracts him so her buddies can get his wallet.

Giving him one last kick for good measure, the three started off, counting out the bills in his wallet. One of them, the shorter one, turned back, however, at a soft 'hey' from behind him. Two guys thought they were tough, hadn't they? Well, Adam had been hit by the best. Hadn't been a Biletnikoff Award-winning linebacker for nothing, either. Just as the short one was turning, Adam swung the piece of broken crate he'd picked up, catching the guy right in the face. "Fucker." Pissed, nose dripping blood, and feeling little pain (thank-you vodka), Adam launched himself at the taller guy.

He didn't know what was going on because he hadn't given her a chance to even explain. He didn't know all that was going on even though she wanted to tell him She wanted to tell him everything, about her being a vampire, about who Corrigan was to her. Jax wanted to tell him everything, but he hadn't even given her a chance.

She had called him a few times, but he was always out of his house or was off, and they seemed to work opposite scheduals...

It almost felt like he was avoiding her....

So Jaxon was heading to one of the rather unknown places around town in her usual attempt to try and get drunk on her night off, when she heard a commotion in the alley. There... She smelt Adam! His blood, his sweat... It was without a doubt him.

She saw him launching himself at a taller man as a shorter one was dazed on the ground, clutching at his face. She simply watched as he seemed to have control of the situation, well, until the man on the ground got to his knees and pulled out somefhing that susspsiously looked like a gun.

But then there was a howl of pain as Jax appeared behind him, snaping his arm before one could even blink as she pulled him to his feat, holding him securly. "That wasn't very nice. You're just mad cause he can best you two thugs." She purred into his ear with a grin. The man strugged against her, but Jax was far stronger, and his resistance was futile as her arms didn't even budge. But deciding to keep him quiet and still, Jax drank from him as Adam and the other man were distracted with each other. She needed to feed anyway.

The man was now slumped onto the ground as Jax slipped into the shadows. She'd come out when Adam was finished...

"Come on, you pussy." Adam snarled, catching the thug neatly in the face with a hard right jab. It was a beautiful punch, but slowed by liquor and the thug managed to shake it off and return with a good hit of his own. Grunting, Adam decided to do away with the boxing portion of this scrap. His reflexes were too down. Instead, he bulled right into the guy, slamming his shoulder into the man's chest.

There was a loud sound behind him as they went down. Instinctively looking for it, Adam let out an 'oof' as the man slugged him in the gut. Winded only for a moment, he managed to pin the guy to the ground, landing a heavy right/left combo into the thug's face. Something broke and, with a howl, the thug managed to claw free and race away, leaving Adam's wallet on the pavement.

"Fucking cunt. Son of a goddamn whore." His clothes were now filthy thanks to the bout of street wrestling, his nose throbbed like a bitch in heat, and his jaw was ballooning up. Plus, an assortment of bruises and knocks from earlier. If it hurt like this with his helpful vodka cushion, he was going to be stiff as shoe leather in the morning. "Fuck. Fuckers."

Adam braced a hand on the wall, looking rather wild with his bloody face and red-shot eyes. Blearily, he glanced around for the other thug, but didn't see him. "Pussies. Ran away, huh? Yeah. Shoulda broke both your fucking faces."

Jax watched him with amazement as even though drunk, as she could smell it on him, he finished up the other guy with only relatively minor injuries.

She wanted to go out to him... To wrap her arms around him, burrying her face in his chest as he held her. But... But for some reason she was afraid to. She was afraid to go to him. Would he still be angry? Would he want to hurt her too? He couldn't of course, but that was beside the point.

"Actually..." She said hesitantly stepping out of the shadows, nudging the other guy's body forward. "I took care of him... He's unconssious..." She had stepped out into the light so he could see her clearly, but she didn't step any closer, afraid of what would happen.

Biting her lip slightly her eyes flicked to the ground and back up.

"Adam... I... I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I didn't think he would come back... I thought he was gone." She looked back down again, and though she hid the pain in her eyes, how could she hide the pain in her voice?

Minor injuries? Adam would have been tiffed about that one. He felt like his jaw was growing a melon on it. A big, throbbing melon. And he didn't want to think about his ribs where the guy had kicked him. Fucker. Pissant little... Goddamn. Thugs like that just weren't used to their marks fighting back.

Should have arrested them, now that he thought about it. Clap those fuckwads in cuffs and called for a cruiser. Why the hell hadn't he? On a groan, he gingerly massaged his jaw, hissing as the touch sent a brand-new wave of pain through his head. That was why the hell he hadn't. 'Sides, fuckwad the taller was gone along with that fucking cunt.

There was a voice behind him. It took a moment to recognize it, but once he did his reaction was far from positive. He gave the sky the finger. "Fuck. It's you." Blood was dripping from his eye as he turned to look at Jaxon, squinting through a haze of liquor and swelling. "Mr. Redhead? So, he's like, what? Just some guy you bang in your free time?"

Adam was drunk and pissed and bruised. Not really in a good 'let's talk it out' mood.

"Adam..." She stepped forward towards him. But she shook her head and walked past him. "I've been trying to get a hold of you... I want to talk to you, but not when you're drunk alright?" She said as she turned her head back.

But as he asked about Corrigan she stopped.

Shaking her head again Jax gave a little smile, ever so slight. "No Adam... He was the one who taught me about sex. He was the man I thought I loved and could be happy with. He was the man that used me and just left me, saying he could never love me and dissapered for a year and then popped up when I finaly found someone I was happy with."

She would have offered to take him back to her place to help him clean up, but she doubted he would accept.

"I don't know why he came back... And I don't care anymore..." She said as she turned back around. "Call me when you're sober okay? We should really talk..."

Adam didn't really like his position at the moment. A guy usually was at a distinct disadvantage when dealing with a woman-- a guy who was drunk and had just had the shit kicked out of him was even more behind. "Yeah. Drunk. I'm not drunk. I'm fucking pasted. Wasted. Whatever. Where the hell's my phone?" He slapped his pockets uselessly.

"Trying to--hah. Right. Hear nothing from yah since Mr. Redhead showed up. And you're calling me? Hell." He muttered, quickly grabbing at the wall again before he fell over. A little more carefully, he patted his pants with one hand, then forgot and used both. And did fall over. Fortunately, it was only a short way as he hit the wall rather than the ground. "Goddamn!"

Adam's normally crisp green eyes were bleary and bloodshot, one of them nearly swollen shut, as he stared after Jax's retreating back. "Yeah. Fuck, walk away. I don't need this shit. Women. If he was your one true love and then betrayed you or what the fuckever why'd he come back? Shit, woman, why'd you let him? You'd've cut his balls off." He grappled with the goddamn wall, trying to get it to hold still long enough to let him back up.

Drunk as he was, he meant what he said. Maybe he didn't know Jax that well, emotionally speaking, but he had an idea what she was like. Tough. Independent. Not the type to let some guy breeze in and out of her life whenever he pleased. "I don't wanna talk. Goddamnit!" Furiously, he slammed a fist into the ornery wall, regretted it immediately after. "Shitshitshit! Fuck. I want a drink. I had a bottle." Wincing, cradling his hand, he managed to get halfway to his feet, his back propped against the wall. His knuckles were bleeding.

"Shit."

"I've been trying to get a hold of you Adam!" She said as she turned around. She watched as he stumbled about. Maybe he was worse off than she thought...

Why didn't she do that? Because Corrigan would have killed her. He could have done that easily... And if she were to hurt his body and his pride... She nearly trembled thinking about what he could do.

Jaxon's thoughts were interupted by a string of curses and shouts from Adam and she looked up to see him on the ground. "Adam." She sighed as she made her way back to him. "I promise that I'll tell you when you can actually understand okay?" She brushed her cool hand against his face as gently as she could.

She gave another sigh as she looked at him. "God you look horrible... I should have taken care of the other one too. I'm sorry Adam... C'mon... come home with me tonight. Please?" She asked softly. Jax knew she could help to heal his wounds... give him a good nights sleep.

"I promise I'll explain everything to you tomorrow if your hangover's not too bad."

Adam looked up at her, all in all looking somewhere in-between wild man and completely pathetic. His handsome face was far from as pretty as usual, he stunk of vodka, his clothes were this side of ruined, and blood was still leaking from his nose. "I understand fine. Just fine! Or... shit, I think I do." Heaving a sigh, suddenly exhausted, he let himself slide all the way to the ground, let his head rest against the brick behind him.

"I am so pretty." Adam mumbled, gingerly prodding his jaw. It seemed to have stopped swelling, having reached the size of what felt like a goddamned cantaloupe. "Pretty fucked. God, woman, how'd you get me this worked up?" Her hand, passing over the unbeaten side of his face, felt comfortingly cool. "I don't drink. I mean, I do, but not this much. Congrats. First, no, well... does my mom count? First lady to drive me to drink myself out of my fucking mind."

At her next words, he cracked open an eye, trying to tell if she was making fun of him. "Home. With you? 'Course it's with you. Hell else'd it be with? Sure, why not? Already made a picture of my sweet self." His head rolled back to look straight up. "God. I'm gonna die in the morning. Fucking die. You'll wake up with a corpse."

"No, you don't... There's a lot you don't know Adam... And some that I just... Just don't know how to explain yet. But I'll try." Jaxon said as she gave his forhead a small kiss.

A small smile and a laugh escaped as he said she was the first woman, besides his mother, to make him drink this much. "I'm sorry. But hey... Was it really that hard to try and forget me?" She asked with a little tease.

"But no, I don't want you going home by yourself. Not like this at least. And I'm worried about you. I don't want you to keep doing this to yourself. Least of all because of me." She said pointedly.

"You'll be okay hun... I promise I'll take care of you." She said with a smile as she ran her fingers through his hair. She doubted Corrigan would ever be coming back, and truthfully Jax didn't care. He didn't love her, and that was what she was looking for. Adam might love her, but Corrigan never would.

Why he had come over unexpectedly after nearly two weeks of being gone... Why he had brought flowers... She didn't know. She hadn't a clue and she didn't give a shit.

"Can you stand enough to lean on me? And then hold on to me as we ride? All I brought was my bike."

Adam scowled a little at her teasing tone, though he did manage to hold back a wince as she lightly touched her lips to his forehead. "Want my money back. You kissed it and it ain't better yet." Battered, bruised, and still vaguely pissed, but at least his sense of humor was intact.

As for forgetting... "I'm good at drinking. Gotta drink a lot to get drinked. Drunk." Adam sulked, a little resentful that Jaxon seemed to find his current state amusing. Or... maybe she was just poking at the drinked--drunk guy. "Don't do this a lot. I'm an adult. I'm entitled to a bender."

At the mention of a ride, he grinned a little. "Are we riding?" Laboriously, he shoved himself up a little, cursing heatedly when he put weight on the hand he had oh-so-wisely slammed into a brick wall. "Aw, fuck!" Hissing, he let himself slide back down, waited for the pain to go away. Once it did, he very carefully kept it out of the way as he staggered back to his feet. When he got really plastered, as he was now, Adam was generally a very happy drunk.

Now, distracted from his injuries by Jax and having nearly forgotten the thugs, he was sliding back to that state. Remembering what she had said about holding on, he obligingly wrapped his arms around her waist. "Let's ride."

"Mm. If your up to it, I can give you your money back once you're better." She grinned. "And you might be good at drinking, but I'm a good drinker. You can't get me drunk. But no, we are not riding. I'll be riding and trying to keep you on. You will be trying not to fall off, understood?" She asked with a raised eyebrow as she turned away.

A deep seeded hunger ached in her as his arms wrapped around her. It had been a while since she had been satisfied, but she would have to wait... Wait until he wasn't drunk and his injuries were healed.

"C'mon Adam. Not yet. Once we're on the bike alright?" She said as she gently pryed his hands from her waist. Otherwise it would have been difficult for her to walk. However she kept one around her waist, and moved herself so that she was beside him to help him walk. After all, he didn't seem too steady on his feet.

Once he was asleep she'd go and get more types of food for him. Fresh food, not just cold cuts and whatnot... Maybe he'd want to stay longer than a night...

"We'll get you home and to bed, and I'll have breakfast for you in the morning."

She could try to wake herself up durring the day. She wasn't ever in too deep of a sleep, just like a regular human really.

"I never get to do the fun stuff. I'm just going to not fall off." Adam was vaguely insulted that she thought he even might fall off. He owned a bike. It was a ten-speed for mountain biking. He also owned a motorcycle, one of the kind not so affectionately known as a crotch rocket. And, damn, but it was a rocket. He'd had it up to a hundred and twenty and known it could have given him more. But they were just getting to know each other at that point.

He was shaken out of those thoughts as she prised one of his hands from her waist. "You said hang on." Adam pointed out, though he seemed content enough with only one still around her. "On the bike, right. You pedal." Come on, give the guy a break. She called it a bike and he was drunk. It was easy to see why he was thinking bicycle.

"Breakfast. Ugh." Food was really not on the top of his mind at the moment. Not when his stomach and blood contained approximately three-quarters of a liter of vodka. What he wanted was a long, hot bath. And a bottle of aspirin.

"Adam, stop being stupid please." She said with a sigh and a roll of her eyes. "Motorcycle, not bicycle darling." Jax patted his hand affectionatly, although slightly diminuitivly. A part of her wished that she could just treat him like all the other drunks she came across, tossing him in the back of a cruiser.

Well maybe not exactly like the others.

But she did wish she had a car. Sometimes only owning a motorcycle wasn't the best thing. She loved her Honda SuperHawk, but there were times that it wasn't the best... Like when trying to take a drunk friend home at nearly one in the morning...

"No breakfast? Huh. Then what do you want then babe? What do you want me to do fer ya, since I'm apparently the cause of all this comotion." She asked with a smile as her the black SuperHawk came into view.

Hmm... Even her old Shadow would have been better. Didn't look as flashy, but it was more functionable for things like this...

"Motorcycle. Right." Well, yeah. All of a sudden, Adam felt rather stupid. Which wasn't surprising, considering. Fortunately, for him at least, he was drunk enough to forget the feeling as soon as he saw her mo-tor-cy-cle. "Shit, is that one of those Hondas?" His belly jumped with lust at first sight. "Those are fucking sweet."

"Breakfast?" He asked distractedly, listening with half an ear as he focused on the bike, his eyes only slightly glazed. "What you're supposed to eat for breakfast. Real food. Like sausage and pancakes." But who cared about breakfast? He wanted a go on her Honda.

Although it would probably be best if he sobered up before daring that one. Even he knew that. He wasn't stupid, after all. At least, not usually.

"Yep, It's a Superhawk. I got it after I totaled my Shadow." She said, knowing that he probably wouldn't remember come morning.

"We'll go fairly slow... And you hold on tight okay?" She said as the hand around his waist caressed his back slightly. "We'll get you home and in ta bed, unless there's something else you'd rather do before. Any rituals you have to avoid hangovers?" She asked as she risked letting go of him about a foot from the bike so she could slide on.

"C'mon. Let's go." She patted the back sitting area.

Only doing about twenty five shouldn't be too bad, and she didn't live too far away, maybe ten minutes or so, she had just gone for a ride before which was why she even had the bike to begin with.

She loved just running and leaping from building to building, but there was nothing like speeding along a road going one-twenty. Nothing like it.

"A Superhawk. Yeah, that's it." Adam muttered vaguely, obligingly taking a step closer to the bike. He wobbled a bit when she let him go, but surprisingly kept his balance quite well otherwise, throwing a leg over the back after she patted it. Then he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist as she had said to.

Rituals to avoid hangovers. He grinned a little at that. "I don't drink." Yeah, he was going to be real hungover when he woke up. Which was why he didn't often drink to excess. Sure, a few beers or a few shots were all well and good, but a bender wasn't.

"Well, obviously you do drink. Not drinking is a good way to avoid them, but it's a little late for that darling." She said with a soft laugh. At least he wasn't so angry anymore.

Turning over the engine, Jax began to head off towards her appartment slowly, no more than thirty really because she one- didn't want Adam to throw up all over her and 2- didn't want Adam to fall off. Both would be bad, the later worse than the former.

They made it without incedent and she sighed with relief as she turned the bike off.

"Alright baby, we're home. Time to clean out those cuts... The'd be even worse if they got infected." Well at least he was probably drunk enough that he wouldn't feel the pain of cleaning the cuts on his hands and face probably...

Adam closed his eyes. Better that way as he didn't have to watch the night spin past. Was it just him or was it really whirling like that? When his stomach rolled, he decided that, yes, he was that drunk. How fast was Jax going, anyway? Daring to crack his eye open to check, he let it shut again when the world gave another Ferris Wheel tilt.

"Yes, apparently, I do drink. Don't I? Ugh... which is why I don't drink." Drinking rarely came to good ends. Unless of course it came to the sort of end where he had his arms wrapped around a pretty woman. Hey, maybe this drinking business wasn't so bad after all.

The scowl on his face as she mentioned cleaning up his wounds was almost laughable. He looked a bit like a cranky toddler who was told he'd have to drink orange juice instead of apple. Really, though, it was because she'd reminded him that they cuts and bruises were still there which made the nice little vodka haze part for a minute. His jaw still felt like a melon had been implanted in it.

"I need a drink for that."

"You don't need another drink, trust me on that one hun... I'll be gentle, I promise." Jax said as she slipped her arms around his waist, leading him up towards her appartment. Too bad she couldn't simply draw the alcohol from his blood... She could take his blood, but that would only hurt him more probably...

But she was sure that she could take away some of the pain of the wounds while she cleaned them.

"More alcohol is only going to make things worse at this point, you're just too drunk to realize it Adam." She said as they began to head up the stairs. "I don't want things getting any worse than they already are." Beside, they would have to talk when they woke, and that would be hard enough as it was.

"Just be lucky none of them need stitches... Just a few small gashes and quite a few abrasions... Shouldn't take too long to fix up baby." She added soothingly.

"Alcohol is the cure to all problems. 'Cept hangovers. And bad stomachs." Adam replied, just slightly cheerfully. He leaned heavily on Jax, more than a little out of it. As she spoke of his various injuries, he carefully studied those he could--mostly his knuckles, which were abraded and bloody. "Think they'll scar?" He slurred, stumbling on a stair since he was concentrating on his hands and not where he was stepping.

As long as his face didn't. Scars were tough-looking. Made you look like a real shitkicker. And, God, he wasn't too drunk to realize he needed to sleep this one off. At least his famous, cast-iron stomach was holding up. The last thing he wanted was to finish the night with some prayer at the feet of the porcelain god.

"Not if I can help it... Wouldn't want to ruin your handsome face after all." she said with a smile. Once he was asleep she would be able to use her own blood to heal him without a scratch. No pain in the morning because all the tissue would be healed...

She woudl have to leave a few so he wouldn't wonder but she could take care of everything that could hurt him seriously... Leave a few of the knuckles, the one on his forhead...

"Just be lucky I found you Adam... I was really worried about you... Since I hadn't heard from you in so long." She said softly. Truthfully. "I care about you a lot, and I never wanted to hurt you like I did. Never." She had so much she needed to tell him, so much she needed him to know about her to understand the way she was.

He didn't know about Drake, he didn't know about her being a vampire, or really about Corrigan or anything about her. But she wanted him to know. To know everything like Henri had. Not even Corrigan knew everything.

Adam grinned sloppily, somehow managing to be charming despite the drunkenness. "Yeah. I'm too pretty to, uh... get scars." Nah, not really. 'Course, he'd have to tell people he got them from beating up a couple of thugs. And edit out the part about being drunk. And getting suckered the way he had.

"Uh, Jax? I think I'm going to... uh... pass out now, okay?" Yes, the funny drunk man had just reached his breaking point for the night. With little more warning than that, Adam's knees buckled, his head drooping over against Jaxon's shoulder.


OOC: Oi. I am so baaaad...

Jax couldn't help it when Adam passed out. She grinned pleasently.

Not because she wanted him to pass out, not because she thought he deserved it. But because it made things a hell of a lot easier when he wasn't conssious. No fussing, no fighting... And besides, she could carry him a lot better this way.

And she did, throwing him over her shoulder, well doing so gently as not to hurt him further, she made the last few steps to the appartment and unlocked the door. Once it was shut she took him back to her bedroom and lay him on the bed gently.

After gathering some hot water, some peroxide, a varity of bandages and gause as well as some washcloths.

She began to clean the wounds, taking off the shirt he was wearing to make sure there weren't any more that were hiding.

The worst of them, the ones that would require stitches she healed with her blood. It wouldn't turn him no, just heal his wounds without a scar, without more blood loss. She wanted to do that with all of them, but otherwise he would think something funny was going on. But... But she was going to tell him right? No. She couldn't. She wanted to, but she couldn't.

With a sigh she washed the blood from his face with the warm washcloth, bandaged up his knuckles. "You can be so stupid sometimes boy... But that's why I love ya." She said kissing his forhead and brushing at his hair.

Alcohol-induced sleep was deep and hard, but not typically restful. Still, Adam lay like a log on Jaxon's bed, his breathing shallow and even. Had he been aware, he would have been grateful he was unconscious while she tended to his various bumps and bruises, as they would have stung rather mightily.

((Small powerplay. Hope you don't mind me fast-forwarding a bit.))

"Aw, hell." It was muttered, yet still his own voice managed to burn his ears. It felt a bit like there was a ten-car pileup inside his skull--complete with honking horns and angry kicks. That's what a hangover did to you. Also, his hand ached and the inside of his mouth had grown a pelt.

"Ugh."

It was nearly ten in the morning, the sun was well up, but the sky was grey and dreary with a constant drizzle that was making it one of those lazy days.

Around what would have been sunrise if not for the rain, Jax had slipped off into an uncomfortable doze, debating whether or not tell him. Or if she didn't tell him, what could she tell him...

Her body was still, slightly cooler and her heart and breathing were slow now, barely detectable to people. She had tried to keep her sleep light so she might be able to wake if he did. But Jax heard nothing as he stirred, felt nothing.

As the headache, though it was really too painful for that title, ebbed a little, Adam risked cracking an eye open enough to glance at his alarm clock. Problem number one became clear. His alarm wasn't on his nightstand. That brought him to problem number two. His nightstand wasn't there either.

Closing his eyes again, pressing the heel of his hand against his temple to try to silence one of those blaring horns, he tried to remember where he was. And hoped to God he didn't have a nice new tattoo.

Let's recount. He went to the crappy bar because he'd been pissed off about Jax. He'd proceeded to buy a bottle of Smirnoff's and drink roughly half of it. Which meant he'd gotten thoroughly skunked. Then he'd gone outside with some cheap broad for a quickie. Except he'd ended up getting jumped by a couple of thugs instead of getting his quickie.

"Aw, shit."