Aldrichs brow furrowed and he carefully brushed some hair out of Nadine's face when she nuzzled her face into his neck. She had told him about these nightmares, and he still wondered why she got them. Was there a source, a reason? He didn't believe in the whole religion that these witches had invented, but Nadine's reoccurring dreams made him wonder if there was more to life than he knew. He was still groggy and not quite awake yet, but he turned his head to kiss her forehead.

"I'll fight the monster for you, don't worry", he said, trying to reassure her but in his mind fully convinced that he would save her from whatever was out to get her. He was just happy to have her in his arms again, and that they could stop pretending to hate each other. Witches gave offering to their goddess, right? He would have to give an offering to booze, to thank it for tearing down the walls he had built around his heart. The walls were gone, and the path to Nadine's door had been clear, and now he was here, exactly where he wanted to be.

He gave her some space when she started to move. He didn't really crave food. His stomach was upset, but he didn't want to disappoint her. "I can cook something for you, if you want", he said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes himself. He moved his head to toss a look out the window. "I think we need to be at the palace in an hour and a half or so, which gives us some time to eat and sober up." Aldrich groaned and stretched before retracting into himself, pulling Nadine into a hug.

Nadine was more than happy to let Aldrich dote on her: she'd have plenty of time for a tough scowl once she was out of the house.

It killed a platoon of Coheedsmen, she almost argued back, but stopped herself. He was trying to comfort her. Nadine knew it was an enemy neither she nor Aldrich could hope to best. But bringing that up now certainly wouldn't help.

Instead, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the kiss on her forehead. "Since when did ya care so much to fight demons for me, Aldie?" the witch asked coyly, one eye opening just a tad.

"Mmm," she hummed at the mention of cooking: anything was better than the gruel slop they got at canteen in the mess hall. "Sounds great."

Nadine's skin tingled at his strong embrace, returning it with equal force. She was rather fond of this side of Aldrich...maybe even this softer side of herself, though she'd never admit it.

Shrugging off what was left of the wool blanket, Nadine stretched her arms far above her head, twisting in a stretch and giving Aldrich a saucy wink. "Maybe we can have some more fun later then."

Her question had him chuckling lightly. "What can I say, I live to serve", he joked, although her question did make him wonder since when he felt so strongly about protecting Nadine. Maybe he was officially getting too old for casual flings. He wouldn't admit it to himself, let alone to her, but something about finding himself in her bed again had changed something. Something he would certainly have to think about some more before putting it into words.

Aldrich made an approving humming sound in response to her agreeing to him cooking. He would get out of bed in a second to throw something together for them. For now he would stay in bed a little longer to enjoy the embrace.

When she shrugged of the blanket, he found himself admiring her body. Nadine truly was a beautiful woman, and her soft skin and curves didn't go unnoticed. It didn't make his little morning problem downstairs any less present. He kept the wool blanket on himself, trying to hide what was going on. He grinned at her. "I like the way you think", he said.

He started to get out from under the blanket, looking around for his underwear. "Do you have any eggs?" he asked, trying to distract himself so he would be able to stand up without giving her a whole show.

Nadine smiled at that: hopefully he would be coming back. There had been a small part of her afraid a sober morning Aldrich would leave in disgust. But he seemed quite content. She hoped he wouldn’t change his mind.

She continued through a few stretches, wincing at a few pops. Maybe she was losing some of her flexibility.

“Should be a few left on the table,” Nadine replied, glancing back as Aldrich slipped out of bed and raising a bemused eyebrow. “I’m excited to see you too, but I don’t think we have time for another round this morning, babe.”

There were eggs. That was a start. Nadine took notice of his 'problem', which caused him to grin sheepishly. He put on his underwear and hoped for the best, which was this logistic issue to solve itself.

"Babe, huh?" he responded instead. He had mistaken her remark about fun for the possibility of another round. He wasn't disappointed that they didn't have the time anymore. Judging by the way they acted towards each other now, there would be plenty of other opportunities. But the 'babe' had caught him off guard. He couldn't remember if she used to call him that before everything went down between him, Nadine and Grayson. It, again, caused him to have to think a bit about how he had ended up here, and if his heart knew more than his brain did. No time to think about it now, it was time for eggs.

The Lieutenant would walk over to the kitchen era. He saw his coat on a chair and got his matches from them. He could always count on himself to have matches with him. How else was he supposed to light a cigarette? Aldrich got a little fire started and would put a pan over it in which he would break the eggs once the pan had gotten hot. "I guess I should apologise for waking you up last night", he said, not really looking up from the pan. It had worked out, but she might just as well have been annoyed by him singing his way into her house in the middle of the night. His voice wasn't bad, per se, but a drunken song was never good either.

“Unless you prefer something else?” She moved to plank position, eyes trailing up his body. Certainly he wasn’t bad to look at…quite the opposite. “A pet name another woman gave you?”

As he moved into the kitchen area, she went about finding her comb. Her eyes paused for a moment on her uniform: getting dressed could wait. There was something empowering about walking around undressed…especially being rewarded with Aldrich’s gaze and reactions. She draped her military coat over her shoulders, then moved to sit at the end of the bed and watch Aldrich. His body bore the maturity of a man, honed and battle-tested. Confident. Enthralling.

“You more than made up for it,” she assured, tilting her head with a coy smile. “Perhaps your place tonight? Your bed is big enough to enjoy…other tangos.”

He looked back at her with a 'come on now' expression on his face, accompanied by a little smirk. "Isn't it a little early to be getting jealous?" he joked after which he laughed and shook his head lightly.

He didn't specify what he had meant by calling it a little early, but he wasn't talking about the time of day. He was referring to her already worrying about what other women called him. It seemed that getting intimate meant that you had to think about a lot of stuff right away, while he preferred to simply not think about things. If you didn't think about them, you didn't need to discuss them, and nobody would get hurt. Last time they hadn't been very clear about how exclusive their relationship was, and he wondered if her remark about the pet-name was her trying to gauge the situation. He was curious to know what she thought, but would push nor ask about it.

Aldrich slid the eggs onto two plates and turned around to face Nadine with a grin on his face. He handed her one of the plates, together with cutlery, and sat down next to her. He was relieved that she didn't hold it against him. He then thought for a moment and nodded before putting a fork-full of egg in his mouth. "I have to work late, but you're more than welcome to come dance at my place", he said, looking to the side, where Nadie was sitting, and winked.

“Just seeing where we stand,” Nadine brushed a hand down her thigh. “I’d like to know if I’m the side chick…and if we need to get our stories straight before your girl comes knocking.”

Nadine hoped it wasn’t the case, but supposed she couldn’t be overly surprised. It was life in the military. You had fun with who you could, making the grueling days more liveable.

She took the plate and utensils from him, shoveling the food into her mouth.

“Mmm, ya know,” she swallowed, leaning her head against Aldrich’s shoulder. “You always were the better cook.”

“Maybe I can keep you company on late shift…gotta show I’m worthy of promotion somehow,” her fingers trailed down his spine. “We do still have over an hour…if you wanted to lead this time.”

Aldrich grinned and shook his head. "You're already trying to be the main chick?" he asked jokingly. "You're going to need to prove you're worthy first. I can't just go givin' up on the rest now you're back."

Although he was in fact joking, he was also trying to maintain some kind of look here. He really wasn't involved with any other women at the moment, but he also couldn't appear too eager to spend time with Nadine. He didn't want to scare her off, or seem week. Perhaps it was a macho man idea, but he was afraid of looking like he was eager to commit so soon. Joking about it seemed like the best way to deal with it for now. A serious conversation could still be held some other time.

He smiled when she complimented his cooking. Eggs weren't too difficult to master, but it was still nice to know that breakfast was appreciated. Especially when she leaned her head against him like this.

Then he laughed again. "So that's why you tollerated me knocking at your door, huh? Sleeping with the boss in hopes of a promotion?" If she proved herself to be a good officer, which would require some effort after the complains there had been made about her recently, he wouldn't mind putting in a good word for her, but he wouldn't be doing it just because they had decided to get frisky again.

Aldrich put the plate down on the table and looked at her. "Changed your mind about not having the time for a second round, then?"

"Worthy?" Nadine raised an eyebrow at that, pulling the jacket back to reveal her whole body once again. "I guess I'll have to meet these ladies and hope to live up to your ideal woman, Aldrich Abbott."

She rolled her eyes a bit, patting his hand. "Aldie, if I wanted to sleep my way to a promotion I'd set my sights on some old bigger fish. I don't need my body to gain rank."

Handing her plate off to him, she waited for Aldrich to set down the plates before moving to embrace him from behind, fingers running down his abdomen...and beyond.

“Depends,” she lowered her voice. “Am I worthy enough? Or does Officer Machenet need a reprimand by the Lieutenant?”

He chuckled at both the things she said while taking the plate from her to put it away on the table. She was definitely worthy, and none of those imaginary ladies would be able to compete with Nadine. She was beautiful, and also quick-witted and clever. It was indeed true that sleeping with someone for a promotion would work better if she slept with someone who had more of a say in who got promoted and who didn't.

He felt Nadine's arms wrap around him from behind, and he smiled. He traced along her arms with his fingers while her fingers ran down his abdomen. He shivered when they went beyond that.

Aldrich turned around in her arms so he faced her, placed his hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow with a smirk on his face. "I'm afraid Lieutenant Abbott is going to have to deal with Officer Machenet, indeed", he said suggestively, slowly moving his hands up until one of them was holding firmly onto the nape of her neck. He would attempt to walk a few steps, so Nadine would find herself at the edge of the bed, on which he would softly lay her down.

Nadine enjoyed his calloused hands on her skin, closing her eyes for a moment to savor the touch. She grinned as Aldrich played along, allowing him to walk her back to to lay her on the bed.

She very much liked this side of him.

"What are you going to do to little old me, Lieutenant?" she sprawled out on the bed, half-heartedly faking fear. "You're just so big and strong..."

A little roleplay was always exciting to a slightly older man. Not that seeing Nadine on the bed like that wasn't exciting by itself.

"You need to be punished for all these complaints that have been made recently, Officer Machenet", he said, still going along with it. He wouldn't really punish her for the complaints in another setting. "Maybe I should tie you up and shoe you how a real officer behaves." He looked around, reaching down from the bed for his pants to remove his belt from them. He then put her hands above her head before wrapping the belt around her wrists, pulling on it so the buckle closed against them. For now he wasn't thinking about how this belt had recently been used for similar purposes. He ran his fingertips down her body, ever so slightly touching her skin, and his hands would find its way to certain parts of her body, looking to please her.