It looked like another slow night at the bar, but Blaine didn't really mind those so much. On the one hand, the rare occasion Lee had to patch him up granted him some time alone with her, which was well appreciated, but he also got reminded to be careful, and that just because he couldn't feel, didn't mean he wasn't hurt, and things like that. And while people getting out of hand could be fun for him, he honestly didn't want to put her through that; questioning his physical well being. After all, an injury was an injury.

Blaine made his rounds as per usual; now having been there long enough to find the best vantage points in the room, so he had a much easier time getting the scope of things. But again, it was a rather quiet night, so most of what he was doing was walking around, occasionally talking to some of the regulars. For the most part, the regulars were pretty cool people; it was the newcomers he generally had to watch out for.

Once done making his rounds, he picked another spot on the wall and leaned against it, having full view of the bar itself, and then he looked at his watch. Time was going slow. He didn't hate his job, he just wanted something to happen soon. After all, idle minds and all that...

The last week, Lee had gotten herself into a much better routine with working at both Rachel's boutique and the bar. The reason it was easier was with hiring Gwendolyn, Lee was actually about to head home every single afternoon to have a nap before going to pick Kevin up from school. That was a much better situation than she had previously been in, going five days without sleep a few times since starting at the bar.

But Lee was also happier than she thought she had been since she had left New York five years earlier, and that had to do with Blaine. Instead of staying at the bar or sitting at her dining room table doing paperwork overnight, she had been spending many nights at Blaine's place talking and hanging out. Lee had even taken her guitar over there to play for him.

But unfortunately, there were such things as needing to work, and so there Lee was, standing near the bar in The Trasheteria. It wasn't a busy night, but there were people in the bar, and Lee could see Blaine in what had become one of his normal spots standing with his back against the wall. Flashing him a smile, Lee continued glancing around. Lee had thought that Matt would have already shown up. It was tonight that he had said he'd be back, right?

Lee shrugged to herself. Whatever. She'd been running the bar just fine the past two weeks on her own. Plus, with all the days that she had gone without sleep, it was quite possible that she had messed up which day Matt was coming back.

”Damn it, Lee. Are you honestly going to dress like that every night?”

Turning, Lee saw Matt standing a few feet off to the side, shaking his head with a huge grin on his face.

”What are you talking about, Matt?”

”All this” Matt said, indicating her knee high boots, the skirt short enough to show off half of her thighs above the boots, the black tank top that showed the expanse of skin almost uninterrupted from her shoulders to her wrists. ”How am I supposed to even pretend to work when you're dressed like this?”

”Oh you know you love it,” Lee said with a wink and a teasing grin. ”And what do you mean ‘work’? I thought you hired me so I would work and you could just stare at me slack jawed all night.”

”You know that's not the reason I hired you,” Matt replied as he stepped closer to Lee. ”Sure, it’s a very happy side effect, but it's not why I asked you to work with me.”

”Sure, sure,” Lee rolled her eyes at Matt, shaking her head slightly. Then she actually took a good look at Matt. ”Hey wait, what's this?” Lee asked, reaching out to touch Matt's arm. ”A tan? It looks good on you. I guess I'll have to make sure you get away on vacation regularly so you don't go back to being pasty white,” Lee told him with another wink.

”Only if you come with me next time,” Matt said with a grin. ”There wasn't a single woman there that could hold a candle to you.”

Lee tilted her head as she looked at Matt, only now pulling her hand back from his arm. Then she shrugged and gave Matt a large smile. ”I'm sure I can make things work for a free vacation.” Another wink.

Blaine kept his position, flashing Lee a quick smile when their eyes met, and then his eyes again started scanning the bar for trouble. As he looked around, he noticed a couple of beer bottles scattered on a table by a couple of guys who just left. Being the only employee in the area, he walked over, taking one in each hand.

Then...he looked up to see Lee talking to some guy. He'd never seen the guy before; sure, he knew Lee wasn't the actual owner of the bar, but he wouldn't know that guy if he smacked Blaine in the face. Or was flirting with his girlfriend. And then...she touched his arm. He didn't notice, but his face grimaced as he bit back a shudder and his body tensed. Every muscle in his body tightened and completely locked as his eyes zeroed in on the scene before him, feeding into every insecurity he'd had since they started...experimenting? Dating? Whatever the hell it was they were doing. But no matter what you call it, this didn't set right with Blaine or his MMA fighter, alpha male mentality.

Suddenly, the shattering of glass interrupted him from his focus, followed by the sprinkling of the glass shards on the floor, and more small crashes as the bigger pieces broke into even smaller ones, the rain of glass soon being joined by little droplets of blood. He wasn't cut badly, it was maybe six drops tops. But he still stood there, a pained, hurt, somewhat angry look on his face.

”What do you mean ‘free vacation’?” Matt asked.

[”Well, if you're going to force me to go with you, I'm going to expect you to pay for my trip,” Lee said with a small shrug right before her eyes unconsciously moved to look at Blaine. Only to see that he had moved, and was looking none too happy.

A small frown coming to her face, Lee took another look around the area that Blaine was in to try and see what the problem was. But there was no one around him, and he was looking straight at her.

And there was blood on his hands. Lee's frown deepened.

”Lee?”

”Why don't you go make sure I didn't ruin your bar while you were gone?” Lee interrupted, not even really looking at Matt add she spoke, her eyes were busy trying to see if Blaine had any other injuries. ”I'll come find you later, I need your signature on a couple things.”

Lee didn't even wait to hear of Matt had anything to say, Lee started walking over toward Blaine, her eyebrows drawn together in concern.

”You ok? What happened?” Lee asked as she came to a stop in front of Blaine, her hands automatically reaching for his.

Blaine stood there for a moment, in a brooding silence even as Lee came over to ask if he was alright. Usually, that made him feel better, but at the moment, he just felt sort of...bitter. Even in his silence he looked down at the shards of glass on the floor, then at the blood on his hands before pulling a moderately sized shard out of the base of his palm.

"You know...I'm not okay. In fact, I think I'm pretty hurt," he said, venom practically oozing from his voice as he sidestepped her. "I'm gonna go get cleaned up; should be back in about twenty." His voice was just as icy, but he walked back, to the back, as was usual. This time, he grabbed the first aid kid on his own before sitting in a chair, looking over his own hands.

Normally, he had someone do this for him, but...there was no one here he trusted with this right now. Just the thought of that made him cringe. What the hell was going on with them, anyway? Was it because he can feel? And...right in front of me?

He cleaned his hands as best he could as he tried to wipe the thoughts continued buzzing and tormenting his mind. He grabbed the alcohol pads, and attempted to open one, but it just wasn't working. He couldn't focus enough to get it just right, so he wound up tearing the package in half. Sighing, he pulled out the two halves of pad and started wiping his left hand with both pieces, grumbling as he did so, his back to the door.

Even as she was reaching out for Blaine's hands, he lifted them, away from her, to examine his palms himself. And he even pulled a piece out himself before he started speaking.

And the tone that came out of Blaine's mouth left Lee completely speechless, her eyes widened slightly in shock. Before she was able to say anything, Blaine was stepping around her and making his way to the back leaving Lee standing there in confusion. Just a few minutes earlier, they had been smiling across the bar at each other, so what the hell had happened?

Slowly, Lee started moving, only detouring to get someone to clean up the glass, Lee made her way into the back.

By the time Lee caught up with Blaine, he was running a ripped alcohol swab over his palm. Grabbing a chair and sitting down in front of Blaine, Lee looked at his face for a moment before turning her attention to his hands. ”Here, let me help you with that,” Lee said gently as she reached out. ”And would you mind telling me what the hell happened out there?”

"I'll manage." Very short, very snappy, maybe not as intended, but right now, he wasn't sure what he intended. He knew he intended to clean himself up, but that was about it. His eyes didn't once look up to Lee, not yet. Grabbing another alcohol pad, he had an easier time getting this one open, and he started cleaning his right hand. Finally, he looked up at her, his eyes still as intense and hurt as ever, and he wondered if she got the deeper meaning of when he'd told her he was hurt earlier. Part of him didn't think so.

"That's a fair question," he said, the edge still very apparent in his voice as he spoke; now that he was looking at her, his stern blue-gray eyes never left hers. "In fact, why don't you tell me?" His body began to tense again as he continued speaking, but he really couldn't help it.

"I mean, you seemed pretty happy flirting and touching on your little buddy out there..." It was then that he broke eye contact, going back to his hands; it wasn't a bad injury, mostly just a bunch of little cuts, and the one bigger one he'd pulled the glass out of. "Yeah. I saw that. Then next thing I know the bottles I'm carrying explode because now I can't even focus enough to do one simple ******* task..." He never once raised his voice, but it was still very bitter, every word dripping with anger.

Blaine snapped at her and Lee's hands froze a couple inches away from his hand. What the hell was this, Lee wondered with a deep frown. And on top of it all, Blaine wasn't even looking at her.

But then he did look up at her, and the pain she saw there, while it felt like a knife twisting in her stomach, only confused her even more. Without realizing it, Lee's hands stopped back down to her lap as Blaine asked her what had happened. ”What are you-” Lee started to say, but was cut off when he went ahead and answered without the question.

Flirting and touch…Oooh![/b]

”Oh Blaine…” Lee sighed, then reached her hands out to Blaine's again, but this time actually closing the distance to lightly touch. ”Please let me help you with this?

“And that's just Matt,” Lee continued after a moment. ”He owns the bar. But that's it, it didn't mean anything.”

"I've. Got it," he repeated slowly, making sure he really did get everything. And to him, it did look pretty good, not that he was the best judge of that. Granted, right now, he technically wasn't the best judge of anything.

He actually let her touch him this time, but it didn't really do anything; he was still as tense as ever, and he didn't even notice he was shaking a little. He tried taking several deep breaths, but again, nothing he tried was really helping here. What he really wanted was to punch something, but he couldn't do that right now. Not only was he at work, but he hadn't been on the circuit since he and Lee started dating. Though he was thinking about making a surprise return when this was said and done.

"Looks to me like it was both of you," he said flatly. "And it sure as hell didn't look ;nothin' from where I'm standing. Trust me; as a bouncer and a fighter, I can learn a lot from a split second of observation." He let out a sigh. While most people would feel their eyes starting to burn a little, he just got a little misty-eyed.

Blaine's hands really weren't bad, they could wait. What Lee suddenly discovered was the problem between them was much more urgent.

Even more so, Lee realized as Blaine started talking again. Lee scooted to the edge of her chair so she was closer to Blaine, looking straight into his eyes. ”Ok, yes, there was some flirting. That's what we've done for the ten years we've known each other. We tease, we flirt, I shoot him down. I'm sorry, Blaine, I didn't even think about it because that's just what we've always done. But I promise that there's nothing there beyond friendship.

Taking a deep breath, Lee raised her hands to place one on either side of his face. ”Are we going to be ok?” Lee finished, asking in a whisper.

"I'm no expert, but..." he let his voice trail off, not finishing his sentence. He didn't want to do this. Not to her. He knew full well that his words could pack a punch as hard as his fists could, if he wasn't careful. And even though he was mad, and confused, he didn't want to hurt her.

When she put her hands on his face, he put a hand on her cheek, very gently as he looked into her eyes. "I think so," he finally answered. "I just don't know how to process....all that," he admitted, averting his gaze as he referenced the scene earlier. "This is still fairly new, and I don't wanna lose you already."

He was still hurt Lee knew. She could see it on his face. But at least it was slightly less at this point. Or so it seemed. With how Blaine had been snapping at her, Lee didn't think he would just cut off his sentence like that if he was still as upset.

And he raised his hand up to her cheek as well, causing Lee to smile slightly. Lee just continued to look at Blaine, stare into his eyes, as he sat there silently after her question. When she heard his answer, Lee smiled wider at first before fading as she heard what else he told her.

”I can understand that. But…” Lee, still staring at Blaine. Then she leaned in the rest of the way to give Blaine a kiss. ”But don't worry, your not going to be losing me any time soon.”
‘

He was still mildly on edge; and it wasn't likely he'd be completely calm anytime soon. After all, since his physical feeling was nonexistent, it made sense that his emotions were more sensitive. And while this was the precise reason he kept them close to his chest and didn't let anybody in, he still didn't regret letting her in. He may have questioned once or twice in the past several minutes, but...he didn't regret it.

Then, she told him that he wasn't going to lose her anytime soon, and then kissed him, and he returned it--it still wasn't great, but he was still working on it. He nodded at her reassurance, but he didn't really know what to say at this point, so he just cracked a smile. It was a weak one, but again, he was trying.

He actually kissed her back, and then smiled slightly when she pulled back. Lee returned the smile, keeping her hands on Blaine's face for a few more moments before dropping them and looking down at his hands. Softly gliding her fingers over his palm. ”At least it's not too bad,” Lee whispered. Then Lee saw a sparkle glinting in Blaine's Palm, so she turned to grab the tweezers.

”I honestly didn't think about it,” Lee said softly as she worked on cleaning up Blaine's hands. ”That's just how me and Matt have always interacted. Even when, especially when, my ex was standing right there. But it's just Matt, he's the only one I've ever been like that with, and he's nothing but a friend. And technically business partner.”

Taking a breath, Lee looked up at Blaine now. ”I will try my hardest to stop since it bothers you.”

"Yeah. I've had a lot worse," he said with a nervous smile. A lot worse physically, anyway; emotionally...he was sure he hadn't endured anything to top what he'd been feeling. What was still slowly going away.

He listened as she spoke, watching as she used the tweezers to pick glass out of his palms. He gave a nod, then thought a moment on how to phrase his words. "I didn't know, and it really caught me off guard," he admitted. "And there ain't much that can do that." He gave a nod as she finished speaking, and then he looked up at her again.

"Thanks. And I'll try not to break anything else," he gave another nervous laugh.