The Union RPG

"Sure," Brit said after a moment. She always talked about work, she'd have to try to think of something else to talk about

Loren smiled at Britt and tossed a smile ate Nicolas before bulking her onto the dance floor. The band had jist finished playing a pop culture song and waded onto a smooth Latin beat.

Brit enjoyed dancing with Loren. Dancing was one of the few things, other than science, that she was good at. Her mother loved to dance and had taught both her and her sister how to

Loren was honestly surprised at how good and at ease she was on the dance floor.

The song changed again to a much slower beat, Brit noticed many couples return to the dance floor. She looked up at Loren, unsure if they should keep dancing. They had kissed earlier but she didn't want things to be complicated or awkward between them

Slipping one hand around her waist he took her hand in his other and feel in step with the song without missing a beat

She looked up at him as they danced, trying to figure out what to say, if anything. "This isn't a good idea," she said finally.

He raised an eyebrow, "why not?" He asked tiwrling her out then pulling her back

"Diana made it clear that you were," she tried to think of how to explain, "off limits."

He aborted out a laugh, "daina has no say in whether I am of limits or not."

"I just don't want her to punish you because of me," she said quietly.

"if Diana thinks she's that untouchable she's mistaken." He said confidently, "her power only goes so far. I am a dedicated member of the union and so are you. She can do nothing to us without serious consequences."

Brit wanted to disagree with him but she nodded instead. If Diana had killed her parents, then Brit doubted she'd really care what anyone said, she'd do whatever she wanted

The song finally came to a slow close and Lorenled het off the dance floor and bank to where Nicolas waited

Brit sat and took a sip of her drink."So how should we celebrate?" she asked after a moment "get drunk?" She joked. She had already planned on taking tomorrow morning off.

Nicholas laughed. "You can, of course. As it is your day."

Brit shook her head, "nah. That's probably not the best idea."

Nicholas motioned to the bartender to bring another round. "Whatever you'd like to do."

Loren watched nicolas like a hawk, "it is your day. we will cel`ebrate it any way you like`."

Brit looked between Loren and Nicholas, she could almost feel the tension. "Why don't we have a few more drinks and I can think about what I want to do."

Nicholas ignored Loren's look, he had no interest in fighting for Brit's affection as the man seemed determined to do. "Perfect," he grinned.

Brit smiled back and sipped her drink. "thanks for all your help today," she said to Nicholas

"Not a problem. Just doing my job," he nodded.

"Yeah, maybe. But I wouldn't have gotten so much done with you," she said

He smiled and shrugged. "Again, just doing my job."

She smiled, "maybe I can give you one of the larger projects to work on, since you're doing such a good job."

Nicholas laughed. "Whatever you say, boss." In truth he wanted nothing to do with her big projects. He wanted them to go terribly. It would make his life infinitely easier if somehow all her projects never came to fruition. And if his formula worked, which it wasn't supposed to, then he would be part of the system which he was fighting against.

"Would you like to dance?" Brit asked Nicholas after she finished her drink.

"I can't say I'm much of a dancer, but if that's what the birthday girl wants," he shrugged, glancing at Loren, then back to Brit, offering her his hand.

She took his hand, "I'm sure you'll do fine."

He escorted her out to the dance floor and glanced back at Loren as a fast paced song began. "You know, I think you may be making your friend rather jealous."

She sighed, "I'm sorry for the way he's acting." She glanced at Loren then back to Nicholas, "he's usually much nicer."

Nicholas laughed. "Nothing to worry about. I understand where he's coming from."

"You do?" Brit asked. "Because I don't," she said. "He's never acted like this before."

"You really have no idea?" He asked as they danced. "He likes you. Territorial, even."

"That's crazy," she insisted. "Loren and I are just friends."

"Apparently that's not the way he sees it," he replied.

"You could be wrong," she suggested. "Maybe he's just having a bad day," she said, thinking about this like it was an equation that had to be solved.

"He's been acting like that towards me since the first day I walked in your office."

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I'll talk to him about it."