What Happens in Paris...

...Changes Everything

Drake and I are awakened the next day by the staccato tapping of Maxwell's wake-up call on the door. Followed by the stomach flipping anxious sound of him rattling the door latch. Thank goodness I had remembered to lock the door. "Wakey, Wakey Little Blossom! Are you up yet?"

Drake groans quietly, scrubbing his hands down his face, whispering, "If we ignore him long enough, will he go away?"

"You hoo, Kate - a - rooni, can you hear me?"

I wince, chuckling quietly, "Nope."

"Kate - a - rooni?" Drake whispers, trying to hide his grin.

I roll over with a sigh and sit up on the side of the bed, and then remember that I'm naked. "I hear you Maxwell, give me a minute to put something on."

Looking around the floor, the closest thing I see is Drake's jeans and underwear. My black dress from last night is further away. I can imagine Maxwell's growing impatience and worry out in the corridor. If I threw on that dress and opened the door, he'd know something was up for sure.

Finally, in desperation, I grab the blanket from the bed and wrap it around myself and start to stand up. Drake sits up and places his hand on my shoulder,
"Let me handle this." he says quietly.

Feeling a cold and sour panic grip my guts, my eyes go wide as Drake scrambles off the bed and shoves his feet into his discarded boxers and bluejeans and yanks them up over his legs.

"No..no, Drake don't!" I hiss, grabbing for his arm, and he turns back to me.

He takes my hand off his arm, bending slightly to kiss my knuckles. "Trust me, Darling. We'll handle Maxwell together."

I nod, tears of gratitude stinging my eyes. "Okay," I whisper.

Maxwell knocks again, "Kate?"

After doing up his jeans, Drake picks up my dress and panties and hands them to me. I put them down next to me on the bed. He gives one more glance at me to make sure I'm covered modestly by the blanket, and then breathes a sigh and steps over to the door to unlock it.

Maxwell is in mid knock when Drake slides the door open, just enough to allow himself to fill the doorway and block me from Maxwell's view.
"Morning Beaumont," he says casually, as if it was totally natural for him to be in my room.

I can hear Maxwell sputter with shock, "D..Drake?! ...wha -..*gasp* ..when..uh.. Little Blossom. ..this..ca- can't be..happ- .." He sounded like he was going to hyperventilate.

From where I'm sitting on the bed I can see Maxwell, with wide eyes, trying to peer over Drake's shoulder at me. It was as if he was worried that Drake had done something untoward to me and was attempting to hide my body or something.

"Oh for Christ's sake, get in here before security hears you." Drake grumbles, grabbing the front of Maxwell's shirt and tugging him into my room.

Maxwell throws a hand over his eyes when he sees me, "Oh my goodness, Kate!..I'm so sorry."

Drake sticks his head out into the corridor and looks both ways before pulling himself back into the room and re-closing the door, flicking the lock again.

"Hi Max," I say sheepishly, giving him a little wave. He peeks around his fingers at me, then drops his hands away from his face. His face crumples into a look of concern and then he whirls on Drake angrily.

"How..how could you take advantage of..of my Little Blossom like this!? If you hurt her.. I..I ..I'll tell Bertrand." He jabs his finger in Drake's chest.

Drake leans into Max's hand, forcing him to step back, "Is that right? And what are you going to tell him, huh? He's sooo my favourite person right now. I'm sure he'd love for me to pay him a visit and continue the up close and personal conversation we began last night."