Distrust (Eva)

[Sam O'Connor]

Sam let out a breath as he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, the top two buttons of his shirt hanging open. He actually couldn't remember the last time he'd worn a suit. He thought he'd worn one for the meeting with the owner of the Friary, the restaurant he'd worked in for the past year, but then he remembered that it had been an informal chat, and had to put his memory banks to work. Finally, he pinned it down to his Great-Uncle Harry's funeral... when he was twelve. No prom night tux, no fancy dates. And there was no way that tux he'd worn was going to fit him now, not unless he wore the trousers as a hat, and the jacket as a glove.

Buttoning himself up, he got the tie right on the second attempt, then slipped his jacket on over his shirt. Turning back to the mirror, his eyebrows shot up. "Well I never." Ha. He really didn't look half bad. His hair was behaving itself as well, despite the waves that the humid weather was making it form into on a daily basis. Maybe he should wear a suit more often. ...now that's pushing it. Truth be told, he wouldn't have been wearing one now if Eva hadn't asked him to come along on her latest mission.

Apparently the UGAP weren't all that averse to irony. With the other Allied planets distrust of their leadership waning, they had decided to host a dinner, bring together all the delegates at one of the large hotels on the sea front in Brisbane, near their Australian headquarters. They thought a bit of hobnobbing, drinking, and chatter would help to reinforce the relationships between the various human and alien delegates alike. What they weren't telling people, however, was that they were sending Eva in to spy on them all, listen to their thoughts, see if any of them were a threat. This was probably one of the reasons the other planet's dignitaries didn't trust them in the first place. Either way, Eva had asked him to keep her company, and he'd obliged. He might even help to keep her out of trouble.

Emerging from the bathroom, he flicked the light switch off, and waited in the hallway for Eva to emerge. She'd disappeared into the bedroom with her small hoarde of make up and hadn't been out in half an hour. He wondered whether she made this much effort when he wasn't her date, if she didn't, then that would certainly be flattering. "Come on, Cinderella," he called, "we're going to miss our pumpkin carriage if you don't hurry up. That knocking sound you can hear is your fairy Godmother tapping her foot impatiently on the pavement outside."

[Evangeline Irvine]

Outfit? Check. Hair and make-up? Check. Weapons...? Eva went rooting through her closet again and unearthed a metal suitcase, hoisting it up and carrying it over to the bed. Popping it open, she eyed her arsenal thoughtfully before going about fastening her thigh-sheath--the only reason she'd worn as short a dress as she had--in place and stocking it up with throwing knives. Even if it was just a simple observation mission, there was no way she was going in there naked. After a moment's contemplation, she tucked a gun into her purse, just in case Sam needed something.

With that out of the way, she turned back to her mirror and examined her reflection uncertainly. Surprisingly enough, she was nervous. Not because of the mission, no, it in and of itself was fairly straightforward. She was nervous because this would be her and Sam's first technical "date". It was downright laughable, really, that even though they loved one another, they'd never actually done the whole date thing. To be fair, though, the opportunity had never really presented itself.

After all, they'd only admitted how they felt right after Theo had almost killed Sam, then they'd avoided each other, and then Sam had left; and since he'd shown up on her doorstep, they'd been too happy simply being with each other again to think about something as bourgeois as "dating".

Sighing, Eva shook her head to clear it and was just heading for the door when she heard Sam calling for her. She couldn't help but chortle as she pushed the door open and stepped out into the hall. "Cinderella, huh? Actually, that sort of f--" The rest of the sentence died in her throat when her eyes fell on Sam. Damn, he cleaned up good. Of course, he always looked good, but this... this was impressive. Realizing that she must look something akin to a deer caught in headlights, Eva blinked a couple of times, a smile etching its way onto her lips.

"Wow," she laughed, giving Sam a more obvious once-over, "You look... wow. I'll admit, it's a little out of character for you, but..." Another laugh. "You're downright devilishly handsome, you are."

[Sam O'Connor]

And Eva thought she had looked stunned, Sam's mouth was dangerously close to falling open, completely agog. There were literally no words to describe how Eva looked right now. He'd seen her at her lowest, and she'd still looked glorious. Now she was... "Ah," he managed, his jaw mustering itself against it's desire to open like black hole, sucking all the light from the room, "Cinderella really was the right word," the smile returned, "my very own Disney Princess, well, aren't I lucky?"

Eva dished out compliments of her own, and Sam drew himself up to his full height of six foot one (boosted a little by the shoes), straightening his tie, and attempting to look majestic, handsome, regal. He probably failed, but he amused himself all the same. "Well, I have to look good enough to walk into a party on your arm, I gave it my best shot." He grinned across at her, before looking down at himself, "yeah, don't expect this to happen very often. It's fairly dangerous for any of my clothes considering how much time I spend in the kitchen." Let alone a suit.

Offering her his arm, he gently pulled her arm through his, laying her hand on his forearm. "If you'd like to accompany me, Madame, our ride awaits."

The hover vehicle that the UGAP had rented for them for the evening was pretty swanky, all black with tinted windows and an ice bucket with a bottle of pricey champagne laying inside of it. "Aren't you spoilt?" he snickered as he sat himself down, pouring each of them a glass. As he handed the glass to her, he found his heart lodged in his throat again. The woman never ceased to take his breath away. It would be ridiculous if it wasn't so... incredible. Then he noticed something, and smiled. "You're wearing the ring," he said, brushing a finger over her hand gently, "it looks perfect."

[Evangeline Irvine]

"Princesses never seem to get very far without their princes, now do they?" Eva pointed out, a gentle grin forming on her face. Sam may never see himself as a prince, but, as cliche as it sounded, the year spent without him was the closest she'd ever come to feeling like a damsel in distress, and it was his coming to find her that had saved her. In fact, he was almost always the one to save her--be it sparing her from Louise's presence for a day all years ago, or stopping her from working with an organization that had been lying to her all along.

When he straightened up, his ego seeming to have been boosted by her words, her smile broadened. By trying to make himself look more impressive, he only succeeding in making himself look goofy. It was part of the reason she loved him--he didn't have to try in order to impress her. He just had to be himself. His sense of humor benefited toward her affections, as well; as did the occasional bouts awkwardness, which she found rather endearing. The cooking was just a lovely bonus. The list goes on forever, girl...

"Of course not," Eva agreed when Sam told her not to expect him to dress up like that often, "It's not every day you'll catch me in a dress, either, so I suppose it's an even trade." With a choked laugh she added, "Besides, it's better when we're not incoherent babbling idiots around each other, right?" Not that that didn't sometimes happen simply of its own devices, but she disregarded that fact easily. It wasn't like it really mattered.

Once their arms were linked together, Sam led the way out to the awaiting vehicle. Eva had been dragged around in this sort of thing before, but his fascination sparked a new interest in her. Almost anything could appear to be better than it was when you experienced it with someone else. "More than you know," she snorted, "They usually offer to send some random guy as my date. I said no for a while, then finally accepted--broke the guy's nose as soon as I saw him. They stopped asking after that."

She was a little startled by the way he stilled as she took the offered glass of champagne from him, but then a new smile lit up her face when he acknowledged that she was wearing the ring he'd given her. "Of course I'm wearing it," she said, stretching over to give him a quick kiss, "It's from you. Besides, something so beautiful really shouldn't spend its entire existence cooped up in my jewelry box. That would just be a shame."

[Sam O'Connor]

Sam snorted with laughter. "You mean, you haven't noticed that I'm an incoherent babbling idiot all the time? I'm a better actor than I thought," he smirked, pretending to be proud of himself, puffing his chest out like some sort of song bird trying to impress it's mate, tugging at the lapels of his jacket. That only made him laugh harder. "Maybe I should stop trying to act cool and just get on with it?" It certainly worked in most other circumstances.

Reaching up to protect his nose, he looked at her with his wide brown eyes. "I presume you didn't open the door and merely punch him in the face for deigning to turn up on your front porch?" he chuckled, "otherwise the other day might have gone a bit differently." The image of her in his head sucker punching anyone who rang the doorbell made a highly amused look fall across his face. He thought it was a little silly sometimes how Eva was the arse-kicking blonde boss of the house, and Sam joked about cowering behind a fort of sofa cushions, waiting for the bad guys to simply go away.

"Good reason," he said, looking rightfully pleased. He didn't know what he had expected really, but thinking back, he hadn't actually seen it off her finger since the morning he'd placed it there. Raising his glass towards her, he said, "to us, and the evening of shenanigans we will undoubtedly fall into." It always happened. Always. He'd learned that life around Eva could be fast, wild, and dangerous, and while that, twelve months ago, had made him run for the Irish hills, it now only filled him with anticipation and intrigue. He could keep it together, he was strong, he knew that now that Eva was by his side, there was nothing he couldn't do.

The car made it's way at a steady pace towards the waterfront hotel, allowing Sam and Eva time to enjoy the journey, and sip the 'liquid courage' that they'd been given. Upon stepping out of the car, after they pulled up outside the hotel entrance, they were immediately assaulted by the flashes of cameras and journalists talking excitedly, as they probably did every time someone stepped out of a vehicle. It was a little eerie that he could actually hear his name being bandied about, how the hell had they found that out? And why was it so important anyway? Cool, Sam, stay cool.

Making sure he had a secure hold on Eva, the woman looking as composed and marvelous as ever, they headed inside, away from the prying eyes of the media frenzy. Of course they would be at an event like this, he'd just forgotten how crazy they could be sometimes. "So," he said to Eva, now that colourful dots were no longer dancing in front of his eyes, "I'm assuming you'll be wanting to peruse the room, see who's here?" And take a sneaky peak at their thoughts, like she'd been ordered to do.

[Evangeline Irvine]

With a roll of her eyes, Eva took to snickering at Sam's question. "I didn't whack him one the exact moment the door opened. Sheesh, Sam, what do you take me for?" Her smile was blatantly obvious, proof of the fact that she was only baiting him. "Naw, I waited for the guy to introduce himself first, of course. Once I knew for sure he was the guy I was waiting for, he got a fist to the face and a 'good night'. And an ice-pack, though if we're being honest, I sort of chucked that at him."

The poor bloke hadn't really deserved such a cold reception, but she'd wanted to send the message across to the UGAP that she didn't want any more of their stuck-up, pretty-boy suits sent her way. She understood that it would be less suspicious for her to turn up at a party on some man's arm, rather than to turn up alone, but she'd never found any particular use in having some gun-happy half-wit trailing after her as she skimmed the thoughts of effervescent crowds. It was like partnering up with Theo all over again.

Flushing the thought from her mind, Eva beamed and raised her glass to Sam's toast. Shenanigans, indeed. Hardly a day went by that something didn't go astray from plan, usually leading to improvisation and drama, and ended up in some dumb-luck success on top of an utter catastrophe. Either way, the ride generally made the destination at least somewhat worthwhile--and with Sam there, hell, it would probably even be enjoyable.

That said, Eva hadn't been anticipating the paparazzi. She ought to have been used to it by now, really; she'd gone to enough of these stupid parties. And yet, she was taken by surprise when the door opened and she was blinded and deafened by the shouts and camera flashes. How celebrities could tolerate being trapped in the media's petri dish, she'd never know. On a usual night, she was enough of a nobody to get by relatively unbothered, but, seeing as she usually came alone to these sort of things, Sam ended up drawing in a lot of attention, and entering the main hall turned out to be a welcome respite from the mayhem.

"Naturally," Eva said in answer to Sam's query, nodding, It's time to mingle." Whoa... She hadn't meant to, but she'd dropped her mental barriers too quickly, and as a result she was momentarily overwhelmed by the flood of overlapping thoughts that bombarded her. It wasn't until she collected herself she realized that she had tightened her grip on Sam's arm, likely more than was comfortable. "Sorry," she apologized, her voice little more than a whisper, "I haven't tried to read this many people in a few months, and I forgot to take it slowly. It's... staggering, to hear everything all at once like that."

Now all they had to do was wander around casually while she dipped into peoples' heads to see what they were thinking about. Glancing around at the vast room, filled with people, she grimaced a little. This was going to be a long night.

[Sam O'Connor]

"Someone who is very hostile towards door-to-door salesmen and booty callers, obviously," Sam replied. Pressing his lips together, he attempted not laughing, but failed, badly. "Oh well, at least you tossed the poor fellow a ice pack, I'm sure he was forever grateful that his nose was numb and purple, as opposed to in pain and flaming red. He'll probably think twice about calling on a woman ever again." So, she punched the good looking ones, and yet smothered Sam with kisses. What was to complain about that?

Apparently he'd made a bigger name for himself in London than he'd thought, and yet, he couldn't fathom why the reporters there would be interested in him, at all. Never mind, his thoughts were distracted when Eva squeezed his arm so tightly he thought she was going to collapse, and cut off the circulation to his hand at the same time. "It's okay," he said when she apologised, kissing her on the side of her head, "just take it easy okay? I'd like to leave here with both arms in tact, it makes it hard to make my delicious food otherwise."

For the next hour or so they swanned around the large ballroom, making idle chit-chat with the various dignitaries. Sam tried not to get too distracted by how grand and refined everything looked, while still managing to maintain an appearance of being modern. A large portion of the ceiling was made of glass, so they could see the stars twinkling in the night sky above them. It wasn't just his surroundings that were distracting him, but the company as well. He'd never seen so many different aliens in one place before, and it was difficult not to stare. Especially at the ones they were approaching now; they stood at around seven feet tall and had pale skin and long spindly limbs. He guessed that the one on the right was female, although they were both wearing dresses... ahem, robes, so it was difficult to tell.

Sam engaged them in conversation, his neck craning backwards. They seemed interested in knowing more about the food that would be served at the dinner, well, one of them was anyway, the other seemed distracted, and eventually tugged his partner gracefully away, pulling what Sam could only assume was a communication device from his pocket. He was about to turn to Eva and say 'speaking of food...', when he noticed the expression on her face, her eyes following the Feryians (it was a good thing he didn't have to pronounce their species out loud) out of the room. "What?" he asked, bumping his shoulder against hers.