Pixie finished sewing up Tig's wound and properly disinfecting it as best she could, making a mental note to insist he get a tetanus shot as soon as he got back to Charming. She helped him up and they cleared away the medical debris together once he'd got his jeans back up. Then Tig gently lifted Pixie onto the worktop so they were almost the same height and he stepped in between her legs, put his hands on her waist and kissed her forehead.
"Thank you for looking after me, baby girl." He crooned softly, putting his forehead against hers.
"Anytime, handsome." Pixie replied, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck before tilting her head and kissing Tig properly. She gently bit his lower lip and Tig growled, deepening the kiss. He slid his left hand under Pixie's kutte and black t-shirt, stroking the skin on her hip with his calloused fingers and Pixie felt electricity course through the skin there and the butterflies that seemed to be taking up a permanent residency in her stomach flicker to life. She wound her fingers through Tig's curls and he reciprocated by using his right hand to tangle in her hair. Pixie darted her tongue out and swiped it along Tig's lip, he pulled her closer and danced his tongue with hers. Pixie took in his calming scent of spice and pine and motor oil and she smiled into the kiss. Tig's mind was on a similar path, Pixie's strawberries and vanilla scent was probably the most delicious thing he'd smelt in ages and he loved how Pixie was meeting him at every step during the kiss and her gentle nibbles on his lip were sending him wild. He thought about how this had to be the best kiss he'd had in a long while, and if he didn't stop then things would definitely be progressing a lot sooner than he planned, but goddamn it was difficult to stop. He eventually plucked up enough willpower to pull back and rested his head against Pixie's, both of them breathing heavily.
"Where did you come from?" Tig murmured breathlessly, grinning.
"Highton." Pixie whispered back, jokingly. Tig chuckled and tickled her for a second before lacing his hands with hers.
"I meant it metaphorically." Tig kissed her nose.
Pixie sighed and looked up into his ice blue eyes, both of their pupils were blown wide. "Where do you see this going, Tiggy? Because you're the first person I've felt this way about, properly. I really, really like you, Alexander Trager." Pixie said seriously, stroking the side of his face.
Tig felt his heart bloom. "Where do I see this going? As far as we both agree to take it. I want to be with you, and I want this to be an equal decision, and that's saying something for me, I usually just dive head first and take full control, but you're different, special and I really, really like you too, Meggie."
Pixie smiled. "You confused by my last names? I think I'm just Telford now. I may as well embrace this new chapter of my life considering a part of me died that day with my charter." Pixie swallowed a lump in her throat and Tig gently stroked her hands, trying to ease the pain.
"You rose from the ashes like a phoenix." He smiled. "Or like an avenging angel."
"I like that image, that's comforting." Pixie kissed his cheek and wrapped her arms around him for a hug, tucking her face into the crook of his neck. Tig's heart melted and he held her tightly to him, glad he could help her. "I want to be with you." It came out as a whisper and Tig almost didn't hear it.
Tig pulled back a little way, so he could see Pixie's face properly. "I want that too."
"Yeah?" Pixie smiled.
"Yeah," Tig kissed her on the forehead, then got a silly idea. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes." He said kissing her all over her face between each 'yes' so Pixie giggled and squealed. Tig hand to stop because he was laughing too much at the noise she made. "What did I do to deserve you? What god did I accidentally pray to or what good deed did I do that meant you came into my life?"
"I dunno, but I'm glad you did whatever you did." Pixie giggled. "I wish we met under better circumstances, but I don't regret meeting you, you were one of the few people that were there for me when I felt most alone in the world, and I'm glad I get to make you feel the same way. You deserve happiness, Tiggy."
Tig actually felt tears spike his eyes and he looked away briefly. "I really don't, doll."
"Yes you do!" Pixie leant forwards and put her hands on his face, pulling him back to look at her. "You think you're evil because you've had to kill people, don't you?"
Tig felt the air leave his lungs for a second. "Among other things, yes." He ground out through gritted teeth.
"If a wolf kills another wolf threatening it's pack, it's family, would you call it evil?"
Tig scrunched his brows. "No, it had to protect it's pack."
"You're the wolf, Tig. You did what you had to do to protect your pack, and to survive. You're not evil, you're a protector."
Tig opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. "I... I've never thought of it like that."
"You avoid thinking about it instead, drown out the memories?"
Tig nodded.
"That's only going to make it worse, the more you run from trauma, the worse it becomes, turn around and face it, let it out. Memories only have power over you if you keep them inside. It's terrifying, opening up, but you can always, always talk to me."
Tig looked at Pixie, her big hazel eyes full of concern, her tousled black hair in plaits, her elven face. He imagined her with angel wings, black ones, to match her hair. "How did you get to be so smart about stuff like this?"
"Years of pushing forward. Highton wasn't a cake walk. There were some pretty messed up things that went down there."
"You can talk to me about them too." Tig smiled reassuringly.
"I did a thing with Juice, when we had our sleepover, we did a confessional where we were completely honest with each other about things in our lives that were bothering us. It was really therapeutic and I think you'd really benefit from doing that with us, or just me. Juice would benefit from knowing you're in his corner, he's screwed up a lot recently due to his anxiety and he needs to know people are in his corner."
Tig nodded. "I'd like that, you have such a big, wonderful heart, darlin'."
"So do you, I see straight through your armour."
"Hey, stop trying to undress me with your eyes." Tig joked, pretending to get offended and took a step back, folding his arms and looking away.
Pixie grinned, slid off the counter and walked up behind him, putting her hands on his shoulders so she could lean into to whisper in his ear. "Why would I do that when it's much more fun to do it with my hands?" She smiled and winked before leaving the kitchen.
"Have mercy." Tig murmured, shaking his head and following her out.
☠️☠️☠️
Tig helped Pixie find as many cleaning supplies as he could before he had to sit down to rest his leg, so Pixie went out and found Juice dozing in the truck with the driver's window rolled down. She climbed up the steps and leant through the window.
"Wakey, wakey Mr Spacey." Pixie called out to him booping his nose. Juice jumped and his dark brown eyes snapped open, seeing Pixie's face he relaxed with a laugh.
"What up, kiddo?"
"Tig now has one less ass hole, you want to help me clean? Or would you prefer to snooze more?"
