"...um," says Miles. "Would you like a hug, and also, how do we solve this security problem."

"Yes please, and. I. Don't know. Thus the cursing."

Hug.

"Okay. We'll figure it out somehow. How quickly is suspicion likely to travel from him to your sister...?"

Hug.

".... Not any time soon, he's more likely to drop by and look for me if I don't call him in a week or two than do anything that would bring him into contact with my sister. He dislikes her."

"Okay, so... he drops by and looks for you, and perhaps learns from Zeke that you fucked off to Tibet with your new boyfriend - estimated likelihood of jealousy?"

Wince.

"I think he'd be more pissed that I didn't think to call him, really, but. Some jealousy."

"That honestly doesn't seem like a huge emergency unless you think he can find you and would be motivated to try."

"Um. Highly likely he could find me, he's. Um. Powerful. He's powerful. Maybe not powerful enough to break into this house, but powerful enough to figure out that I was in it, probably. The motivation to try is - more up in the air. Depends on which way he flips with the 'pissed about not calling him.' He could decide to leave me be and see if I remember he exists on my own and ignore me until then, or he could decide that he would like to interrupt whatever I was doing and ask me what the hell I was thinking, and maybe call me a bitch to my face."

"Well. That's inconvenient."

"Yes."

(The phone has ceased its buzzing.)

"I really hate myself when I'm missing a soul. Have I mentioned. I should mention."

More hug?

So much hug.

"... Sorry for not mentioning it, I was. Um. Some combination of too busy to think about it, not inclined to think about soulless me's life choices, and not inclined to think it was going to. Be an issue."

"I'm not inclined to make an issue of it," he says. "And I understand why you might've been reluctant to bring it up."

"Yeah. Still. Sorry." Hug.

Hug.

Snuggle.

"I. Might be able to sell the Tibet story. I don't know how he'll react to my having my soul back, but if it's anything in the general direction of 'not poorly' he might be willing to help us with my sister. He really doesn't like her."

"...Potentially useful," he says.

"Yes. Potentially. I think I'd rather try to talk to him over hiding and seeing if he shows up to knock, or if he thinks the worst of me being in the Slayer's house and decides he's going to try to break in. I'd tell our hosts before I do, though, in case."

"Yeah, that sounds like the best plan going."

He hesitates. "Um..."

She shrinks a little, subtly.

"... Yes?"

"—I just have a somewhat awkward question about tactical options, I don't—whatever you're imagining that makes you that nervous, that's not it," he says. "Um. If. If this were my questionably-ex-quasi-boyfriend, I would have 'seduce him' on the table as a possible approach if it seemed likely to help, and if you are - also inclined to see your options that way, we should probably talk about that."

Blink. She relaxes, a little, at the reassurance, and then considers the proposition.

She swallows. "I'm a bit uncomfortable with that option, really. It. Wouldn't be the worst thing ever, and it's maybe not entirely off the table, but. I'm kind of delicate right now, and I think I want to not make that worse by throwing in confusing things like 'seducing my questionably-ex-quasi-boyfriend.' I would like my life to be simpler, not more complicated."

"Yeah, that's perfectly understandable."

Hug.

Half-joking, "Does he like men? Should I seduce him?"

Hug.

"I think he prefers women but likes some men." Then, in a similar half-joking tone; "Though I don't see how my boyfriend seducing my questionably-ex-quasi-boyfriend would make my life simpler, Miles."

"You make a very valid point."