Eve by Misty Flores

Rating: R
Characters: Shane, Marina, Jenny, Alice
Genres: Angst, Drama, What if...
Warnings: None
Summary: Trust and confidence come from the most unlikely places...

Notes: A little seed of an idea garnered from the thoughts of Annie Lee and others, who speculated maybe Marina and Shane are closer friends than we think. Slight speculation and spoilers.

The lesbian community was eternally widening, and getting smaller every day.

It seemed an oxymoron, but Shane never really gave it much thought. Her life existed purely on the present, with no thought about where she would spend the night tomorrow, and sometimes she even forgot where she had been the night before.

It was an easy way to live, and she knew, sometimes her friends didn't get that. How she could be so supremely unaffected, about girls and sex. Sure, love was out there, and Shane always held out hope that some day she would find it in some girl that could tame the wild-woman out of her, and lead her down the straight and narrow...

Except that it wouldn't be her, it'd be someone else. As sweet as Bette and Tina were, Shane wasn't sold on the idea that it could happen to her, not the way she lived now - not with her way of not giving a damn about the future. Life was all about the moment, going with the flow, hoping you landed on top.

Morals, ethics, that didn't matter. What mattered is what your friends thought of you - how you treated them, cause shit - she knew - they were all you really had.

And friends were the people you didn't fuck. You could fuck their friends, that was cool, but your own friends? Clearly a no fuck zone. Shane sucked at relationships, she sucked so badly that eventually she had given them up altogether, and she called very few people friends.

There was no way in hell she would mess with that just for sex.

It was her code, her mantra, and the only person who had possibly come close to fucking that up was Marina Ferrer.

It was a while, couple years at least - the Planet was still new, still just a little corner café, cute and small, with its own niche of people. Marina was new enough that the whole community was still buzzing about the hot exotic owner. Shane had been in once or twice, locked eyes, smiled, wondered if there was something more - maybe a chance for a meeting in her office, usual shit.

But Marina locked eyes with everyone. She smiled at everyone, and when she spoke in her husky purr, she wasn't asking for a quick fuck back in the office. Nothing about Marina was fast. She was languid and smooth and sexy as all hell.

Alice had gotten to know her first. Shane suspected a half-hearted attempt at seduction, when the nosy journalist had introduced herself in that chipper way of hers, shaking Marina's hand and rattling off her spiel about having dinner for the sake of 'doing an interview'.

The next night you couldn't have shut Alice up about Marina fucking Ferrer. Her grace, her confidence, her accent, and Shane realized that Marina had managed to charm Alice so well that the blonde hadn't really gotten anything out of her at all.

It was interesting, because Alice did write that article, and The Planet wasn't so niche-y anymore, and always fucking crowded, but Marina had remembered Alice and her article, and they always had a table.

So Alice crushed, Dana drooled, Bette and Tina laughed and Shane just watched, settled back in her seat as Marina came by to say her hello's before moving off to the next table, remembering repeat customers by name and talking to her employees in Italian and Spanish, even though Shane was damned sure they spoke English too.

The days of Alice's crush on Marina were fun. It was really the reason Marina became 'one of the gang', though never really, because Marina liked to listen and laugh, but she never volunteered information about herself, and Shane was cool with that.

There were plenty of other women besides Marina anyway, and they all seemed to like Shane, the way they always had.

"She has a girlfriend," Alice had mumbled one day, morbidly into her coffee as she glanced up to Marina, weaving her way around her tables. Shane wondered if she should even bother expressing that that had never stopped anyone before, but wisely she had said nothing, let Dana express dismay and Bette wonder why they had never seen the 'girlfriend', while Tina had wondered more obviously why Marina had never mentioned it before.

"Why should she?" Shane had interrupted, fingers falling from her mouth, attention drawn back into the conversation. "It's not like it's any of our business."

That had set them off again, and Shane hadn't really been in a mood to argue the point - a cute girl across the way had been making eyes for some time...

That had resulted some very nice physical activity, which itself had ended up with Shane walking down Santa Monica Blvd at three in the morning, orgasmed out and feeling pretty good about herself.

It didn't even occur to her she had been walking past Marina's café until she heard her name called.

It was Marina, leaning against the half-opened door, smiling from the shadows of her café. "What are you doing out here this late?"

"What are you doing in there this late?" Shane returned, eyebrow quirking at the secret, amused smile on her face.

"Getting coffee," she answered, opening the door a bit wider. "Care to join me?"

Of course, in Shane's natural mentality, 'care to join me' meant 'let's have a lot of sex', and it surprised her, how she had even hesitated, thinking first of Alice, before grinning and slipping through the half opened door.

They ended up in Marina's office, Marina looking formal and gorgeous even at fucking three in the morning, Shane looking like she had been drenched by oil.

"I don't sleep much," Marina admitted, carefully placing down her coffee cup and shrugging slightly.

Shane considered, nodding slightly as she locked eyes. "Yeah, I get that problem too."

There was a long glance, smoldering and hot, and Shane wondered if she was going to get fucked twice in a night before Marina broke the stare with a smile. "I've been observing you."

Shane grinned, a 'cat that ate the canary' one. "Oh, yeah?"

"You sleep with women and never call them again." It wasn't judgmental - kinda just like a fact. Right there.

Still, it was enough for the grin to slip off Shane's face. "So? You got a problem with it?"

"Not at all," Marina answered easily, settling back in her chair like it was a fucking throne. "I admire your freedom."

Interesting choice of words. They hung in the air as Shane processed them, staring at her and then at her coffee, at the little café that employed maybe fifteen people.

"I dig it," she finally answered.

Marina smiled, looked into her eyes one more time, and then suddenly pushed off from her chair. "Another one?"

Shane considered. "Sure."

Twenty minutes and two shots of expresso later, Shane figured it was pretty clear she wasn't going to sleep with Marina anytime soon.

Strangely enough, she was cool with it. It seemed that she had been given a choice - sleep with Marina and never really speak with her again, or actually learn that she suffered from insomnia.

It wasn't sex Marina wanted, it was a friendship. In a way, Shane even understood why Marina singled her out for that particular honor - because Marina was private as hell, and Tina, and Alice and the gang - they really liked to talk.

Marina valued her privacy, and Shane understood that. People's business were their own and Marina wouldn't be Marina without that enigmatic mystery that made even her closest friends feel like they didn't know her at all.

It wasn't a coincidence that Shane went a block out of her way the next night, craning her neck to see if she could see if there was a light on in the back of the dark, deserted café.

A couple of taps and Marina was at the doorway, opening it up and letting her in.

"What are you writing?" Shane asked, grimacing as the caffeine shot into her body like a jolt.

"Oh, this?" Marina's smile was almost sheepish, as her Mont blanc was placed deliberately on the desk. "I write a journal."

"What do you write?"

Marina glanced up, a deliberate shake of her head as she answered with a twinkle in her eye, "What I do not say."

Three nights later, Marina left the door unlocked.

"That's fucking stupid," Shane mumbled, settling into her chair, propping her boots up on Marina's meticulously clean desk and reaching for her espresso. "Anyone could come in."

"But they won't," Marina answered matter-of-factly. "If they do, I will deal with it."

Shane didn't tell anyone about the late-night meetings. At first, because Alice was still nursing her crush, and Shane didn't think she'd take it well - innocent as it was. Then, as Alice got over her infatuation and began dating Gabby, the bitch from hell, it was just kinda something Shane knew not to mention.

What she and Marina did didn't involve the group- it wasn't about that. It was nice, coming back from some random girl to find a friend, unwinding over a cup of caffeine talking about anything from the newest hot chick to the latest foreign film - the only movies it seemed, that Marina would actually make time to see.

Still, it wasn't like Marina became a chatterbox over night. But Shane knew her secret. Marina didn't volunteer information, but she sure as hell didn't lie about it either.

It was absurdly interesting to Shane, to be the one to know about Marina's 'girlfriend'. Which, she had to admit, was either the single most healthy relationship she had seen in her entire life, or perhaps the most destructive, depending on how you looked at it.

Still, Marina didn't mind, and because of that Shane didn't either. It was simply Marina, who spoke with her purr that still made girls who didn't know her blush and stammer, until Shane took them home and fucked them so well they couldn't look at Marina again without seeing Shane first.

"You're too picky," Shane drawled, picking up a book and scanning the title, throwing it back when she couldn't even translate it. "Just bring one back here and screw them."

Marina chuckled, amused at her. "No," she corrected. "I just appreciate the sensuality of a chase. There is no excitement if there is no spark."

"Babe, trust me - there's plenty of spark." Unapologetic, Shane winked.

"You don’t believe in love?" Marina asked, reaching up to pluck her empty coffee cup from her side of the desk.

"I believe it's out there," Shane answered. "It's just kinda hard to get to it, what with all the sex!"

"I like sex," Marina agreed, laughing as she disappeared into the darkness of the café, only to reemerge with the cup refilled. "But I find the pleasure sweeter with anticipation."

"You know what your problem is," Shane answered. "Your dick is your brain. You like your games."

"I like my games," Marina concurred, sliding into her seat and gazing at Shane, studying her as if she were trying to understand something.

"What?" Shane said, swallowing down the liquid and settling back into her chair.

"People like us are a dangerous breed," Marina finally answered, a bittersweet smile tainting her lips. "You with your women and me with my games. We captivate, entrap, and set them free, never once regretting or remembering."

Shane paused, eyes on Marina's suddenly somber, thoughtful expression. "Marina, that's what we do. It's just..."

"What we do," she answered, smile creasing her face again. "Perhaps. We play the motions, set in our roles. Predatory. Hunters."

"Hunter," Shane laughed slightly. "I like that." Marina shrugged, and when she didn't laugh with her, Shane took in a shaky breath. So Marina was serious. It was a conversation Shane had never had - for a reason.

Was it all they were capable of? One night stands, long seductions - it all ended the same - Marina and Shane, in her office, drinking coffee. Loved by others - never in love themselves.

Fuck, it was almost depressing.

"You love Fran, though," she finally scrambled, shifting in her seat, trying to lock on at least a glimmer of hope. "Don't you?"

The corners of Marina's mouth tugged, as if she had been waiting for that. "Perhaps. Francesca does have the power to consume me. But she leaves and I do not think of her. She does not think of me."

"And that's what you want? An all consuming love? That shit where you're fucking crazy over some bitch? Cause that shit's scary."

Marina's eyes flickered to hers, dark in their contemplation. "No," she said finally. "Like you, I appreciate my freedom. I appreciate Francesca for giving me that. But perhaps that is what frightens me."

Shane quirked an eyebrow, arms crossed as she studied her friend's face. "What?"

Marina's glance was warm, worried, and it seared into Shane's soul. "The idea that even if I wanted it - I could not feel it."

So trapped in their freedom they couldn't begin to fall in love. Shane wasn't sure she wanted to believe it. Not from Marina, who gave warm glances and made love to everyone with her smile, and not Shane, who literally did - make love to everyone.

Yet, here was Marina, with sparkling eyes, looking at her in a moment that was eerily frightening.

For a moment, Shane was struck dumb.

It was a spell broken when her fear and awkwardness took hold, making her cough and laugh, shaking her head.

"Well, whatever, man," she finally said. "Because even if we aren't, we'll always have this. Late nights, coffee, you and me - drinking buddies."

It made Marina smile, and even Shane would admit, there wasn't a lot that was more beautiful than Marina when she smiled.

"Cheers," Marina answered, clinking her coffee cup against Shane's, laughter staining her voice.

She had said it to get her to lighten up, but it had been the truth. No matter what, this was Shane's constant.

The door was unlocked for no one but her. It was her Marina allowed into her private world, and Shane felt unusually possessive about it. The knowledge that while Shane belonged to no one and Marina to her café, while they barely spoke during daylight hours - Marina's late nights and early mornings belonged to Shane, the one person who perhaps truly understood her.

This was her haven, her relationship. Her late-nights, complete with her confessor.

There wasn't anything that could change that.

She wasn't scared of it. Life had treated her like royal shit sometimes, and Shane had learned from that - never to live for the future. Planning for shit didn't work for her, because the next thing she knew she'd be out on the street without a job.

Still, there was something about where she was - with friends and a place, and a job, that gave her a little security; a measure of happiness.

So, maybe she was a little wary about something coming in to fuck it all up. It was just Murphy's law, it was going to happen eventually, wasn't really anyone's fault.

Tina and Bette's neighbor was cute in a Keebler elf kind of way. Obviously straight, with her straight boyfriend and her straight hair and too long bangs, she seemed innocent enough, staring at Tina and Bette's world with wide eyes, open mouthed as Shane hooked up with a girl ten feet away.

It had been easy to smile, wink, turn away and forget her, Shane way too lost in her latest girl's lips to even think that Jenny Schecter would mean anything to her but a few polite hello's whenever they ran into Tina and Bette's neighbors.

And truthfully, she was damned amusing – skinnier than she was, wearing too big clothes and a hair net as she went and on about finding yourself a few days later. Shane wondered briefly if Dana was going to kill Tina for inviting her to their table.

In fact, it was all pretty damned funny, until Alice pointed out Marina and Shane was suddenly treated to a showing of 'Straight Girl Seduced by Hot Lesbian'.

It was so damned obvious that it nearly startled her, because even if Alice had mentioned something about 'book porn' at the party, Shane hadn't really been paying attention. And Marina charmed the hell out of everyone, so if one straight girl had a crush it wasn't the biggest deal. That wasn't the problem.

The problem was Marina knew exactly what she was doing. The problem was that whatever Alice had said Marina had been thinking about doing – had already happened.

Marina had Jenny Schecter in the palm of her hand, with the inflections of her tone, her smile and laughs, and it was all Shane could do to keep still as Jenny's voice trailed off after stating Marina could have anything she asked for.

"Oh shit, Oh God-" she found herself sputtering, pushing away from the table. "It's late."

Suddenly everyone began making their excuses, and it was even more proof that Shane wasn't imagining it.

That night, at three in the morning, she pushed into Marina's office and closed the door behind her, settling into her chair with a slump and reaching for the cigarettes Marina kept in the little marble box on the corner of the desk, just for her.

"So... " Shane began, eyebrow arching as Marina looked up in amusement, nodding her hello. "You going to tell me what the hell that was?"

It wasn't exactly subtle, and Marina knew exactly what she was talking about, as she gave Shane a startled glance, and then looked away, mouth widening into a seductive, lazy grin.

Uh-huh. Shane studied her for a minute, shaking her head as she took in her first drag, making sure to blow the smoke away from Marina. So that was how it was.

Marina considered, before neatly taking the cigarette between her fingers and puffing once delicately.

"Yes," she agreed, tipping the white stick in the ash tray and handing it back. "They like to talk."

It was fatalist, resigned, as if Marina was used to being a gossip's wet dream, and Shane could understand that. Marina had seduced and fucked some interesting people, and while reserved, she didn't really care if anyone really found out. She just wouldn't talk about it. In that aspect, she wasn't much more different than Shane.

Still – there was something different about Jenny Schecter. Shane couldn’t really put her finger on it, but it nipped at her, something about the way Marina smiled, her subtle but evading eyes, her deliberate charm.

Shane took in a resigned breath, leaning her head back to glance at the ceiling. "You're asking for trouble with this."

"With what?" Marina's purr was amused, exotic – fucking sexy and the sin was, she knew it.

"She's straight," Shane snapped, bringing her head back down to give her a good glare.

Marina was quiet for a moment, letting the words sink in, before she crossed her legs and let her creamy shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. "For some reason that's never been a problem for me."

Suddenly they were both laughing, gasping choking laughter that only they could understand, hunters who knew their power over their own sex.

Still – Marina's brand of seduction was much more cerebral than hers. Shane wasn't one for patience, and when nearly a month had passed and Marina had nothing to say in regards to Jenny Schecter, she simply thought that Marina had decided she wasn’t worth the trouble.

Besides, there were other problems– like a one night stand who had fucking cameras in her face, going on and on about her damned 'four F's and completely disturbing her shit.

It had seriously destroyed Shane's zen for about five minutes, until Marina, tall and furious, had manhandled Lacey and kicked her out, saving Shane from having to actually blow her top.

It was because of Shane's scene that Marina's drama was so wonderfully displayed for everyone to see, a ten second encounter with the little skinny Keebler elf neighbor that had Marina muttering in Italian and stalking off.

"Allright, what's up with Jenny and Marina?" Alice asked, turning to narrow her eyes directly at her, because she'd be the only one to actually know.

Shane shrugged, mouth twitching as she answered honestly, looking after her departed friend, "Nothing, as far as I know."

It figured, that they'd be more interested in Marina's issues than with the crazy girl who had just tried to steal her essence through her photos.

"Dana," Alice remarked, almost patronizingly, "Most girls are straight, until they're not – and then sometimes, they're gay, until they're not."

Still, it had done it's damage. Alice had taken it now as fact that Marina was schtupping Jenny, and even proceeded to try to gossip about it with Bette and Tina, who, thank God, didn't believe a word of it.

She found her in her office – alone for at least five minutes in the middle of hell the next day.

"I wouldn't exactly call it that," Marina answered, glancing up with dark, bottomless eyes.

Shane wasn't in the mood for Marina's justifications. For some reason, this whole mess made her seriously unnerved, and THAT unnerved her. It bothered her – the way Marina could look so callously beautiful, how she could sit there like some damned goddess, fucking up people's worlds, and making Shane want to throttle her.

They were supposed to be the same, but this wasn't the Marina she knew. This was different.

"Tim invited me," Marina answered evenly, polite smile drifting onto her face. "I tried to get out of it-"

It was the closest thing to a snap that Marina had ever received from her, and the tone hung in the air, as Marina studied her, jaw hardening for a millisecond before her expression became cool; fluid.

Shane sucked in her breath, glancing away for a moment, wondering why the hell her heart was pounding now, why she was so fucking angry. Shit – Shane fucked married women all the time. It wasn't a big deal if they wanted it.

Shane's anger melted in a look, and without another word, she sighed heavily, falling into her usual chair.

"Don’t let her hook you, all right?" she said finally. "She'll break you." Marina's eyebrow arched, clearly confused at that. "Just be careful."

Marina smiled, beautiful and loving, before she pushed up from her chair and maneuvered around the desk, settling next to it to caress a soft palm across Shane's cheek.

While Marina went to go to whatever drama at Jenny the Keebler Elf's house, Shane had to again watch Alice fall into fucking Gabby Duveax's clutches. There was seriously nothing fucking worse than watching Alice sticking her tongue down the devil's throat.

The only thing Shane really wanted to do after that was find a good-lucking chick and fuck her senseless, but of course not even THAT happened because LACEY showed up and it was just a really bad fucking night that didn't get better when she stopped outside the café in the middle of the night and found the damned thing locked.

She was alone that night, and Shane hated that. Hated being alone with her thoughts, letting them consume her because sleep wouldn't come.

And she thought about Marina, and Alice and Lacey, and every conversation she and Marina had had, and she suddenly realized how the hell it was different.

The phone rang in her ear, until it connected and a sleepy, exotic 'Hello' greeted her.

There was a moment of silence, before a truly confused, "What?" came back at her.

In the vestiges of sleep, Shane thought she could hear the slightest bit of irritation. "Shane. I have not been 'hooked'."

She had bewildered Marina, that was for sure – and Shane didn't know where it was coming from, the tight aching in her chest, the urge to see Marina, to know what she'd look like, sprawled on her bed, hair falling perfectly around her, corners of her eyes crinkled as she held the phone delicately against her ear.

"I'm fine – I'm at home, I just..." Shane trailed off, suddenly tired, palm rubbing over her face, eyes stinging oddly. "I Just... Marina - This is what you wanted? This kind of all consuming love?"

That had reached her. The next sentence was alert – offguard. "I did not say I was in love."

It was a full minute before Marina came back, firm and clipped and as near to being angry as Shane had ever heard. "Shane, you're obviously very tired. I'm very tired, and I must get up early tomorrow to open the cafe. I will see you tomorrow, all right?"

Maybe she had imagined it. Maybe all this shit with Lacey and Alice had just screwed up her sensors – her emotions.

Shane felt seriously stupid the next day, and later, she decided that it would be just perfect if Marina had forgotten about the whole damned thing.

It was what Shane was prepared to do. Forget the shit with Marina and Jenny – it wasn't any of her fucking business, and no one cared. Besides, Marina wasn't the only one fucking up.

And of course, Jenny was in the café the next morning, looking tired and acting like a complete bitch, and Shane had to wonder, even as Marina gave her a half hearted hug and then pushed Jenny away from them at her request, what it was about bitchy brunettes that had her friends dripping wet.

"Did you see that?" Alice asked – like Jenny's blow off wasn’t completely obvious. To be honest, Shane was just so fucking tired of the situation to care. Her glance back at the departing Marina and Jenny was dismissive, and Alice, eyes narrowed, only pressed harder. "You can't tell me, right?"

Shane blinked, glancing back at Alice, and suddenly wondered when the hell Alice had figured out about her and Marina. With a chuckle of laughter, she rolled her eyes. "Right Al, I can't tell you."

Until of course, she showed her horrible bad taste by bringing up Gabby and eighties pop in the same sentence.

On the upside, Alice and her incredible issues with her horrible relationships had served as another distraction, and Shane had actually made good on her promise not to think of Marina and Jenny and that whole stupid drama.

Marina seemed to be cool, and Shane was pretty distracted by Alice, Gabby and the fact that Lacey was seriously fucking up her zen with her renewed assault on her image.

It got to the point where Shane had to actually deal with it, and on the whole, she couldn't really say she handled it all that well.

Fucking Lacey and her talk about relationships – questioning why Shane didn't do them, and crying and shit.

Shane liked the people she fucked, that was her problem. And when Lacey kissed her, there was nothing she could do but kiss her back. But it was just another fuck, for no fucking reason, and for the first time in a while, sitting in her underwear, glancing out the window at the darkness of the night, Shane actually felt cheap.

It was dark, and her thoughts always came with the dark, and suddenly Shane couldn't be there anymore.

She was up and dressed, out of there before Lacey could start in on her again, and suddenly she was on the streets, eyes dark and moist, heart fucking stuck in her throat, and she had no idea why.

It wasn't a tangible decision she made – Shane seemed to be on autopilot, but when she reached the café and found it unlocked, she nearly fucking cried.

It was her constant, her haven, and she knew that Marina would be in there, serene and beautiful and hers, waiting with coffee.

And Shane could finally talk. Let some of this shit out – because Marina knew her. Marina understood.

She walked fast through the darkened café, smile widening as she pushed open the door to Marina's office.

That's all she could call it: Marina settled in it, Jenny's back to Shane as she straddled over her taller lover, eyes closed and forehead resting delicately on Marina's shoulder, moving her hips in time to Marina's hand, buried between her legs, Marina's mouth planting kisses on Jenny's shoulder, neck, jaw – any place she could reach.

Jenny whimpered, raked nails across Marina's shoulder, and Shane wasn't sure, but she thought she saw the profile of a radiant smile on Jenny's face before she buried her lips in Marina's, kissing her hotly.

Eyes locked on Shane, Marina nearly stilled, just for a second. Shane licked her lips, shaking her head slightly, heart stuck in her throat.

It was a terrible moment, when her friend, her confidant, kept the unsuspecting Jenny in her lap, distracted her from discovering Shane with her kiss, smoothed palms carefully over her shoulders, as if she were cradling something infinitely precious. She broke Shane's stare, turned her attention back to Jenny, whispering something in Italian that made Jenny smile, laugh and press her lips against Marina's, hand sweeping tenderly across Marina's cheek.

She wasn't sure how it happened, but suddenly she was sitting on the curb outside of the planet, tears streaming down her cheeks, eyes on the pavement.

It was so stupid. This was who they were. This is what they did. The four F's. Find them, feel them, fuck them and leave them.

Jenny should have been a conquest. That's all. When it was all said and done, it didn't matter who Marina and Shane fucked because they were supposed to still have each other. These late-nights should have been fucking untouchable.

But Marina was in there making love to Jenny, and FUCK – Shane was being such a GIRL about it.

"FUCK," she snapped at herself, wiping hastily at her tears and pushing up from the sidewalk. "You'd think you were fucking in love with her, you pussy."

She was up, she was walking away from the planet, when her footsteps faltered and she found herself in the middle of Santa Monica Blvd., completely at a loss as to what to do.

Going home would have meant facing the dark, with all her thoughts that threatened to consume her, and Shane wasn't ready for that, not now.

She had lists of phone numbers – dozens of girls she could have called who would have opened their door to her in a heartbeat, arms and pussies open.

But that's not what she wanted. The last thing she wanted right now was sex. And that's all they would offer. Just sex. For some reason even just the thought made Shane more empty than she had felt before.

When Alice opened her door, Shane felt sheepish, stupid, laughing bitterly with a husky, strained voice. "I know it's late..."

"I just... I did something really dumb and..." Shane swallowed, when Alice stepped into the light and suddenly she saw her. Really saw her. "What happened?"

Alice smiled through her tears, wiping at them hastily, shrugging haphazardly and taking in a stoic breath. "Oh, it's nothing – it's..."

Stepping forward, Shane's palms cradled her friend's face in her hands, dark eyes searching into Alice's brilliant orbs. "What happened?"

"I just..." Alice glanced away, trying hard to contain her emotion as Shane shut the door behind her, leading her inside. "I broke up with Gabby."

"Yeah... yeah!" Alice nodded, brisk – as if she was trying to reaffirm herself. "I just... she just... she's a real bitch, you know?"

"Alice," Shane interrupted, voice smooth, low. "Gabby is a parasite, okay? She feeds on insecurity and weakness, because that's all she knows how to do."

"But what if she's right?" Alice asked, arms crossed as she stepped away, arm sweeping toward her white board, as if asking the whole world. "What if I am desperate? What if I can never get anybody else?"

"Is that what she fucking told you?" Shane spat, eyes suddenly narrowing. "She said that?"

"It matters to me," Shane answered, coming forward. "Alice, you don't believe that, do you?"

"Hey." Once again, Shane's arms smoothed around the warm, pliant body, bringing her into her body, chin resting against Alice's smooth cheek. "Listen to me." Leaning back, she made sure to look straight into Alice's eyes, smoky voice clipped with sincerity. "You are amazing, Alice. There's no one in the world like you. You have to know that."

Alice stared at her, unsure, before her sarcastic demeanor got the better of her, and she suddenly burst into laughter, looking away as she wiped frantically at her eyes. "God, look at me," she muttered. " I'm falling to pieces over some wannabe screenwriter. And she's not even good!"

There was something so utterly refreshing about Alice, and Shane couldn't help her smile, forgetting her trembling heart when she smoothed a thumb against Alice's face. "If it helps I can meet you at Milk tomorrow night and pretend to pick you up in front of her. I've got some stud cred."

Alice glanced at her, as if trying to gauge whether or not she was serious, before she laughed, shaking her head. "Shane, everyone knows you don't fuck your friends."

A minor detail. "So, we'll have a fight before. We can say we couldn't stand the sexual tension."

"What?" Shane retorted. "We can have sexual tension." Alice's eyebrow arched higher. "Seriously! We can fall ravenously into each other's arms!"

Shane shrugged, dropping her hands. "Well, you're the writer – you figure it out."

Alice still wasn't sure if she was kidding or serious, and with a small smile playing on her lips. "Thanks, Shane," she responded, squeezing her elbow. "But I don't want to be just another line on your circle."

Her circle. Shane glanced toward the board, where her name was scribbled with black lines etching from her like a spider. What did it say, she wondered briefly, that she was all over that board and Marina didn't even have a place?

Shrugging away the thought of the café owner, Shane surprised herself by her own seriousness when she offered a bittersweet smile and answered honestly, "You'd never be, doll. Not to me."

It was exactly what Alice needed to hear. Somehow, Shane knew that. For some reason, she knew that this time – she didn't fuck it up.

Alice pressed a gentle kiss on the corner of her mouth and wrapped her arms around her in a beautiful embrace. "You are insane," she said finally. "You know I love you, right?"

Shane blinked, shook away the thought, and just closed her eyes, squeezing back. "Not as much as I love you, Al."

The embrace was broken when Alice suddenly blinked. "Hey! You were blabbering about saying something dumb-"

"Oh..." Heat suddenly seared Shane's cheeks as she coughed slightly, stepping back. "It's nothing."

"Tell me." Alice ordered, absurdly bossy as she glared into her eyes. Back to normal. Beautiful Alice with her concern and biting wit.

She slumped down in Alice's sofa, watching with a smile dancing on her lips as Alice stared at her in open-mouthed horror, for once at a loss as to what to say.

Marina found her in the back of the Planet the next day, alone at the pool table, pulling balls from slots.

"Hey," she said finally, looking back down at the green felt, searching blindly for the triangle.

It was just like Marina. She wasn't asking to play, but allowing Shane to ask the question. Marina never asked for anything. She simply took and offered choices.

Shane glanced up, and wondered if she had any right to be angry. There was nothing logically that said Marina had betrayed her. Technically, Marina had done nothing wrong. Not by their lives. Not by their morals.

But here they were, and Marina held a darkness in her eyes that could have been construed as something close to guilt, and everything inside Shane was tense, like insects had been let loose and were fluttering around her.

"Yeah, sure," she said finally, nodding toward the spare cue and quickly positioning the balls. "8-Ball or Straight Pool."

"8-Ball," Marina answered quietly, taking the cue in her hands and massaging lightly.

Two predators, sizing up the game and their opponents, and Shane began to realize, she liked her games too.

Shane managed a bitter, slow smile, slamming her hand forward and sinking her ball. "Oh, yeah?" she asked dismissively.

"The door was open for you," Marina said huskily. "But she came and I could not turn her away."

"Yeah," Shane said cryptically. "That was pretty obvious." She missed her shot, and as a result was forced to straighten, look at Marina as she came forward, sizing up the table.

"It would be hypocritical of me to apologize," she said, choosing her shot carefully. "I can not say I would have done it any differently." She made her shot – sunk the ball easily. Shane said nothing. Marina straightened, looked into her eyes with a somber expression. "But that does not mean I didn't think of you this morning."

"After all the great sex, right?" Shane snapped, pushing from the table and letting Marina take her spot, eyes on the ball. "Marina – she'll fuck you over. She's going to break you."

She missed her shot, rising graciously. Their eyes flickered to meet, before both turn their focus on the game.

"And yet you're still all about the fucking," Shane responded, looking at the stripes and playing the angles in her head.

Marina didn't speak for a long while, not until Shane missed her next shot, and she was cueing up, slender body draped over the table, eyes narrowed to focus on her shot.

"You were right," she answered finally, keeping her gaze on the game. "I can not stop thinking about her."

With a powerful, fluid move, the ball sank into it's pocket. Marina rose, finally meeting Shane's gaze.

In Marina's glance was everything she would not say, and Shane understood – the way she always had, because no one really truly understood Marina the way she did. Her eyes widened, then narrowed slightly, as her heart stuttered in her chest, quickened with realization.

"Oh man," she whispered, hand tightening around her cue, shaking her head as she stared into the eyes of her equal. "You are so fucked."

The laughter was short, inappropriate, but it started the faintest hint of a smirk on Marina's face, which widened into a smile, until both women were laughing, predators caught in their own web.

"I know," she said finally, shoulders shaking and cue falling against the table. In the silence that followed, Marina's gaze was dark, beautiful. "How would you like some coffee?" she asked.

Shane considered, looking from Marina to the pool table, littered with balls and unused strategy.

Her hand slipped around Marina's waist, and there was a short, tight squeeze, as much of an embrace either woman would allow.

Marina's work called her back fifteen minutes later, and Shane sat alone, watching as the lunch crowd filed into the café.

Jenny Schecter walked in, looking lost and haunted, catching Shane's eyes accidentally and waving in her polite, uptight little way.

Shane waved back, coffee cup hovering over her mouth as Jenny turned and found Marina, working feverishly behind the counter. The reluctant smile was hard to miss, when Marina looked up and saw her. Shane shook her head, torn between being amused and genuinely sympathetic, as the faintest of an expression flitted over Marina's face before she murmured something in Italian to her employee and smiled at her little engaged Keebler elf lover.

But Shane had to admit, there was something that glimmered in Jenny's eyes, as she twined her fingers nervously around the rock on her finger, like it was a necessary burden, as she gazed at Marina, like she was lost in her.

It was as close, Shane suspected, as Marina had come to that all-consuming love she feared she would never have, and wouldn't it have been her luck, it had come in the most fucked up way possible.

Jenny's fiancé came in two minutes after her, hands on Jenny's shoulders and waving animatedly at Marina, who looked completely amiable and friendly as she waved back.

She wondered what would happen when the shit finally hit the fan, and Bette acted self-righteous, never remembering her own circumstances that had brought her and Tina together, and Marina's perfect little world would crumble because she had fallen for a Keebler elf.

Would Marina break down? Would she cry? Would she just shrug it off, lock up her heart the way Shane did and bury herself in her work, hiding behind smiles and charm and indifference?

That sounded like the Marina she knew. And she knew she would be there, late at night, with their coffees and their talks, and maybe then, Marina could let it go.

Shaking her head, Shane finished her coffee with a gulp, glancing at her watch as she watched the door for Alice and her friends. Alice and her silly little pigtails, who would have treated this moment like gossip gold.

"Hey!" Alice plopped down beside her, dropping her bag into the chair next to her and smiling quickly as she pulled off her glasses. "What's up, babe?"

"Hey!" Shane answered, surprised that she had managed to sneak in without her knowing. "I was just thinking about you!"

Something about those words – silly throw away sentence that should have meant nothing, caught the end of it in her throat, forcing her to stare at Alice like a gaping fish.

"Oh yeah?" Alice asked, distracted as she picked up her magazine, flipping through it idly. "What about?"

Shane blinked, pondered the sudden shudder of her heart, and Marina's gravely, somber admission. "I can not stop thinking about her."

Shane took in a shuddering breath, and smiled quickly, shrugging lazy. "Just wondering when you were gonna get here, is all."

"Hey guys!" Dana said, pulling out her chair and smiling excitedly. "My date? Was great!"

Shane smiled, arms crossed as she slumped further back in her chair. "Yeah? Well why don't you tell us about it, Dr. Suess?"

"Guy's, Bette's in a serious mood," Tina announced, sinking down next to Dana, face constricted with tension. "So just... don't mention the art show, okay?"

"Eek – will do," Alice said, eyes knitting together as they all glanced at Bette, coming at them with sunglasses on, looking seriously pissed.

"Hola, hola," Marina said, voice warm as she placed another espresso in front of Shane. "I noticed you were out," she said, squeezing her shoulder as she glanced at her friends. "Good morning, ladies!"

"Hey, Marina!" Alice twittered, smiling as Marina handed a somber Bette her usual coffee and muffin.

It was the same as always, nothing but Shane and her friends, who smiled and laughed and bitched around her.

Jenny and Tim came by, saying their hellos, and nobody noticed how Marina and Jenny's palms touched, slightly, before Marina left, ordering her employees like a queen in her domain.

But Alice's smile seemed brighter than normal, and her shoulder, brushing against Shane's, seemed to cause small sparks of static against her.

But... Alice laughed, and Shane closed her eyes and shuddered, pushing every betraying thought out of her.

Shane smiled, hiding her averting eyes from Alice as Bette kissed Tina and said her good-byes.