"I need to keep watch over your idiotic self, I'll nap later," She protested, knowing that she did need sleep and she was just trying to fool herself as her cheeks flushed even more. It's not that she didn't want to cuddle with him, she did want to, she just didn't want a repeat of the bar incident.
"How about I watch you, for once?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "You act as though I'm a defenseless baby. You forget I've already shot two assholes who tried to kill me."
Alex scowled and pointed out another fact, "You also almost got killed by someone you trusted." She did scoot a little closer to him though, leaving the edge of the bed and moving towards the center where she was closer to him.
"You are so damn stubborn," he grumbled, slipping the revolver from the waistband of his pants and slipping it underneath the pillow under his head. "There. if anyone even farts loudly out in the hall, I promise to light this fuckin' place up. Deal?"
"Deal," She replied, a very tiny smile moving onto her face at his promise, "But wake me up before you do. And wake me up at midnight as well, I'll take the watch then so you can get some sleep." Alex moved towards the center of the bed again, though she left a few inches of gap between herself and Slate. It was so stinking hard not to just close her eyes and fall asleep immediately as her head settled onto the pillow.
He sucked his teeth at the fact that she still left a little bit of space between them. "Girl, ain't anybody show you how to cuddle before?"
Slate scooted the rest of the way over to her and threw and arm around her shoulder, seeming to have no shame or fear in doing so.
Alex froze at the contact before relaxing and shrugging, "No, not really. My parents weren't the most physically affectionate, and again, working for the department, it's not something I needed to know." Just with his arm over her shoulder, Alex was already amazed at how comfortable Slate seemed at this.
"And you ain't ever had a girlfriend or boyfriend to do this with?" he asked, slipping his free hand underneath his head to let it lay at a more comfortable angle
"Nope, no time for one and if I did have time for one, I'm not exactly a boy magnet." She felt herself pressing her body closer to his slightly but she didn't fully relax still. Sleep was still coming to every thought in her mind but she ignored it as best she could.
"Sounds like a dull ass life," he said, blinking a few times when a stray speck of dust flew into his eye. "Did you -daw shit- have any friends, ore are you too busy for that shit, too?"
Alex nodded, shifting around and rolling onto her side as she spoke, "One good friend and several others in our group that I hung out with. I wasn't a complete loner." As she spent more time with his arm touching her, even if it was only a few minutes, she was becoming more relaxed and it showed in how she talked and her body language.
"So you had time to make friends, but not to get close enough to date someone," he mused, pulling a face. Slate was comfortable with this from the start, so there wasn't much farther for him to go. "Sounds like a boring ass life. And you just escort Muggles around all day, or am I an exception?"
"I actually enjoy my so called 'boring ass' life very much, thank you very much, especially my job," She defended, scowling, "Most of the time I'm protecting high level muggles or witches and wizards like myself, and when I'm not doing that I'm solving whatever cases I get assigned to. You're the firs muggle I've worked with that wasn't terribly famous or rich."
"Oh, so I'm a downgrade," he said, chuckling slightly. "I'm guessing you never cuddled with any of them, either?"
Alex scowled and shook her head, now feeling the full effects of sleep trying to get her to close her eyes, "No I've never cuddled with them, and no you're not a downgrade either." She would give in eventually, but not until she answered all of his questions.
Slate frowned, glancing down at her face. "Am I….is all of this making you uncomfortable? If you don't want to do this, I'm not gonna force you to."
"I feel fine, I like this," She admitted, glancing up at him and pressing herself closer to Slate and the physical contact, "Talking about past work bores me though. I suppose it has it's advantages of making me want to sleep though."
"You should get some rest," he agreed, smiling slightly now that his slight worry was put to rest. "I can turn of the lamp, if you want."
Alex nodded, her eyes already shut and a sleepy smile on her face, "Wake me up at midnight so you can leep while I watch, alright?" There was a noticeable shift in her demeanor as well, she wasn't as stubborn or uptight; she had relaxed and shown her hidden softer side.
He reached his free arm out as far as it would go and flipped the switch in the down position, shrouding the room in darkness.
"I'll be sure to do that," he assured, having no plans whatsoever to do so. "G'night."
Recently, the dark had been something to fear for Slate. He felt as though anyone could've been peering through the night and find him. But now, with Alex in his arms while he laid in a shitty motel room, he felt as comfortable as he could remember being.
(Bump)
She fell asleep fairly quickly once the light had turned off, feeling strangely safe in Slate's arms. Even the scenes of everything that could go wrong while she slept disappeared.
Slate as planned, fell asleep as well. His slumber was dreamless and quick. He closed his eyes and it only felt like a second or two later before he opened them. To the sight of his brother leaning over him with a confused expression.
"fghjk!" he exclaimed loudly, fishing the gun out from underneath his pillow and shoving it into his brother's face.
Travis seemed unconcerned as he glanced down at the barrel, then at Alex. "Who's the chick?"
Alex was still sound asleep by some miracle. She was still sleeping next to Slate too, now rolled onto her stomach next to him with one arm over his chest. It was clear she had been exhausted and that she needed this sleep desperately, her chest rising and falling in a slow rhythm.
"From the Ministry, sent to protect me from whatever the fuck you got goin' on," Slate said, letting his arm fall back on the bed but still holding the gun.
"Yeah….about that," Travis sat down on the edge of the bed, careful to not disturb the sleeping woman in Slate's arms. "They're trying to take New York."
"New York?" Slate repeated, raising an eyebrow at the idea.
"It's…complicated," Travis admitted, the gestured to Alex. "You should wake her up for this"
"Hey," the younger brother said, gently nudging her with the hand without the gun."Wake up."