Testing the Waters (Kimberly)

[Alcide Herveaux]

It had been three days since he'd last seen Kimberly's face, after hiring Summer and after the mix-up with Deb, he strangely had a free moment on his hand. There would be one more day til the pack meeting and he badly needed to get his head away from it for awhile. So what did he do?

He called the very woman he wasn't supposed to call. Kimberly.

Alcide was in Shreveport, chilling with his pack friends at Hair of the Dog. It was mostly men from the Barksdale Air Force base nearby. They were young pups, no older than twenty five, with ranks no higher than staff sergeant. They were enjoying their day off from the military with a kind of enthusiasm Alcide didn't see very much. Being around good company, obviously put him in a good mood.

The pack members were chattering away about the pack meeting scheduled for tomorrow night and they gossiped about a new wolf woman possibly coming along that was supposed to be sexy as hell. She sure was sexy, but Alcide didn't say a thing. He nodded, and pretended not to know. They'd find out soon enough that this "sexy as hell" werewolf and himself were connected via Flood. They didn't need to know right now, or else he'd be plagued by questions.

They spent some more time chatting before the airmen excused themselves, said their goodbyes, and left. Alcide moved himself to the bar area, where Amanda the redheaded were was putting away glasses and chatting with a drunken shifter buffalo. The moment he moved into her area though, she slightly smiled at him.

"Ya know, Alcide, I heard you are in love with someone other than that f**kin' b**** of a lynx," Amanda smirked.

She hoped it was with another werewolf, hopefully the one that she had heard he was bringing to the meeting, but she said nothing about it.

"Love? I don't call it love. I met someone," Alcide shrugged, trying to stay as uncomplicated as possible.

"You gotta get outta here, you are so stressed out... give that new girl a call, hang out with her... If she's any good and us Weres like her, you can expect we'll keep Debbie out of her hair," Amanda winked.

Alcide thought that was a good idea and told her so. The two casually chatted for a few more minutes before he swallowed the rest of his Coke and moved to the corner of the bar, away from Amanda's hearing. The rock music was up loud enough anyway, so she wouldn't be able to hear him.

He removed his wallet, took out the napkin with Kimberly's number, got his phone, and dialed it in. Alcide waited for a hello before speaking.

"Hi Kimberly, how are you this evening?" He gingerly asked into the receiver, his voice obviously being more peppy than it had been in many days.

[Kimberly Hollingsworth]

Kimberly had been trying to fix a leaky faucet for most of that day with a fix-it-yourself book on her lap. Her golden blonde hair was tied in a messy bun and her casual white tv shirt was stained. This fixin' thing had turned out to be more complicated than she had originally thought which irritated her.

When she was about to quiet, her phone rang. With a sigh she hopped off the counter she had been sitting on and grabbed her black Nokia that was still in her purse.

"Kimberly Hollingsworth." She said, as she didn't recognize the number that was calling her. When she heard Alcide's voice on the other end, she perked up immediatly.

"Hi Kimberly, how are you this evening?"

"Hiya stranger. I'm fine thank you, just wrasslin' with a leaky faucet. How are you?" Kimberly said, her voice as sweet and sugary as ever.

It had been three days when she had last heard of him and honestly, she hadn't been sure if he would ever call her. She was glad though that he had.

"I'm really glad you called," Kimberly said earnestly. She had missed him which was strange as they barely knew each other.

[Alcide Herveaux]

Alcide caught the majority of what Kimberly said, he made out enough to understand her, at least. He hoped that none of his words would be skewed. Alcide wanted to see Kimberly again, the part that hated Debbie wanted to see her, and the part that cared for the lynx wanted to warn her. He didn't quite know what would come rumbling out of his mouth, he just knew he couldn't talk to her over the phone about it.

"Well, I'm okay... I've got a lot on my plate right now," Alcide blurted out, "hey, but I never told you... the merger between my construction company and Jared Barter's happened, all thanks to you."

He tried to sound happy, but it was strained. No matter how much he tried to dodge the fact that Debbie was in his life, the more awkward it sounded.

"Say, I was just wondering if you wanted to do something..." Alcide was rubbing his thumb and forefinger together nervously and staring at the ground as he spoke, "hm. I have some things... I want to talk to you about pretty soon."

Was it a "want" to talk to her or a "need"? When it came to Deb, it was a need for sure. Debbie had promised him that she wouldn't hurt her, but he knew that a promise from Debbie was as good as a lie. He rarely spoke of Debbie to anyone, there were few people that knew of Debbie's true evil, the Long Tooth Wolf Pack happened to be those people.

As for everyone else, they were pretty much left in the dark. If he did get around to speaking to her about Debbie, it'd be one of the first times he ever had talked to a woman he really liked about Debbie.

[Kimberly Hollingsworth]

"That's great. I'm really happy for you and glad I could help in anyway," Kimberly beamed when Alcide mentioned that the merger had gone through. He had genuinely seemed to want that more than anything that night and she was over the moon that he had gotten what he wanted.

Truthfully, she already knew she cared for this man but had swept it under the rug when he hadn't called earlier. Now, she was letting herself hope again that there was something there between them after all.

"Sure. You can always pop in at mine when you have the time. I'm pretty swamped right now trying to get everything working in my new appartment. I could cook something nice and if you wouldn't mind, my washing machine needs to be set up and I don't have any idea how that is done." Kimberly asked, trying to hide some of her exitment that he actually wanted to do something together.

There was something in the tone he was speaking that unnerved Kimberly. A darker undertone, like he was confused and scared of something. She hoped it was nothing and her mind was overreacting once again.

[Alcide Herveaux]

Kimberly mentioned him coming to her place, well that wouldn't be so bad, he'd just have to make sure he washed his clothes and scrubbed his body the next time he saw Debbie. But would she really want memories of him essentially telling her 'no' at her own abode? Alcide was a southern gentleman after all, but the woman seemed set at her house.

After a brief pause after her question, he spoke, "that sounds good, I would help you with whatever you need, can I get an address?."

Although Alcide was a book keeper and supervisor nowadays, it seemed, he still was a regular fixer-upper. He knew how things got done; a typical man. But he questioned whether he would deliver the news then help her, or help her out and then give her the news. Whatever, he'd do it when he could in the easiest way possible.

No double speaking this time.

He quietly waited for her to give him her address, his heart literally slamming against his chest. Alcide sometimes just wished Debbie was dead, he wished he had never met her, that sort of thing. But in some respects, it made his life better, made his mind sharper, and kept him out of trouble...

But he was certain that the witch he knew so little about could do all of those things and more and that was why he was wild about her.

[Kimberly Hollingsworth]

"that sounds good, I would help you with whatever you need, can I get an address?."

"Great. Thank you so much. Do you have a pen? It's Parish Place, appartment 14, located on the third floor. I really appriate this Alcide," Kimberly said with her tone sweet and happy. Not only was she going to be able to see him again, she would also get her washing machine sorted out. A win-win.

As they were talking, she let her gaze trail her living room and to her horror, the place was a mess. Newspapers were scattered around everywhere, bubblewrap and discarded carboard boxes cluttered the glass coffee table. OMG, she was going to have to clean before the place would be presentable.

Then she realized, she also looked like a train wreck. Certainly not like a sophisticated southern belle he had met at Merlotte's. She would need a shower, wash hair hair and wear something other than this filthy white t-shirt.

"You're more than welcome. Can't wait," she said finally after a minute or two of silence.