"We're all afraid of something. For Anita it's spiders, for Radoje it's heights, for me it's being powerless. In the end, we all have to deal with it eventually. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later," Aleksa said with a shrug. "You'd be surprised how much stronger it makes you, to know who you are and where you're going."

Lucas nodded slowly. "Yeah, but where the hell to start you know? It's not like I can force myself to touch a spider or look over a cliff." he said with a shrug. "I just plain. Don't know."

"An excellent question. The best place to start is usually at the beginning," Aleksa said with a half smile. "I remember giving this talk to Anita. And she did pet a tarantula, yet somehow whenever there's a spider in the shower, I have to come get it. Still."

Lucas laughed. "I'm sorry, I love spiders, but spiders in the shower are still a no, no matter what." He shook his head. "But honestly, the beginning for me sucked. I never want to go back to it."

"But it made you the person you are today. I know I would be very different if my childhood was a nice happy one. Do I want to go back to it? I would rather shoot myself in both feet," Aleksa said with a half smile. "Let me ask you this. Do you pretend all the time? Or are there things you say and do that you honestly mean?"

Lucas looked back at her and shoved his hands in his pockets. He walked a few feet forward. "Well...I think I pretty much knew what would happen in that car that night. I saw heard you...but...I never really planned to kill you. Lucas would have been the professional and finished the job."

"Then I for one am glad you and he are different people," Aleksa said with a smile. "That's as good a start as any."

Lucas smiled. "And...there's something Lucas probably wouldn't do right now, but maybe I would." he said taking another step forward until he was pretty close to her. He smiled. He looked down at her until he felt himself drawn in.

This is not a good idea...but I might die tonight... Aleksa stilled her thoughts, focusing on Lucas's eyes. Some things she didn't want to over think. It was what it was.

Lucas pressed his lips to hers, gently. Honestly...he expected her to pull away. When she didn't, he kissed her again, inhaling deeply through his nose.
Bad idea...bad idea...bad...ah fuck it.

Aleksa returned the kiss. Lucas was, as far as she had seen, a decent man. As decent as they came in this line of work, anyway. And he could make her smile. That was more than she could say for all but a rare few.

Lucas finally got what he needed. That was a lot of tension and frustration released right there. He let his hands drift to her upper arms, and gently hold her before pulled back a little and smiling. "Alright well..." he whispered. "Thank you for one." He kissed her softly again.

"You are welcome?" Aleksa said with a half smile. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to answer. This was...new. It didn't generally happen.

Lucas smiled through the next few kisses before getting a bit serious again. He wrapped his arms gently around her, delving in. She was pretty damn good at this, and Lucas was too. They definetly had the chemistry of that.

Aleksa relaxed as much as she could and let her mind go blank, doing her best to simply react. If it had been anyone but Lucas, they'd be on the floor right now in large amounts of pain. It was nice to forget about work and stress for even a few seconds, whatever this meant in the long run.