Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 123

Chapter 123 - Morning After - Part 1

The movement of another body beside her nudged Xiaoyi back to wakefulness. And she cracked an eye open to see the form of her previous night's partner still deep asleep on the other side of the overly large bed.

Taking a moment to carefully stretch, she was happily surprised to find that the expected soreness from their night of overly vigorous lovemaking was completely absent. As was every other ache and pain she had been expecting after a day running around a wide reaching tourist destination in heels absolutely not made for such things.

She supposed that meant Eventus hadn’t been exaggerating his abilities, though she wasn’t entirely sure she would consider her current pleasantly relaxed feelings enough to hit the ‘feeling ten years younger’ part of his brag.

Delicately maneuvering herself out of bed, she winced at the slightly sticky feeling that persisted between her legs and added a quick bath to her morning mental to do list. 

Glancing back over to Eventus, she was relieved to see her exit hadn't woken him since she knew the man could use the extra rest given everything he had going on.

Quietly making her way towards the door, she stopped to grab her robe from the floor before cautiously sliding open the door and slipping through.

All things considered, yesterday's events had gone better than Xiaoyi had planned on pretty much every level. 

Eventus had all but ignored the courtesan agent's seduction attempts. And unless she was missing her guess, would likely continue to do so unless they dropped the subservient act and at least tried to engage him on his own level. Though she rather doubted the four girls had much of a chance at figuring it out, let alone pulling it off. 

If that wasn't enough, during their walk around the studio park the Ancient had shown an actual interest in learning about Xiaoyi herself. Which had given her the chance to plant a few strategic truths about her history, though time would tell if he would follow those in the direction she hoped.

Passing into her borrowed bedroom she couldn't help the smirk that graced the corner of her lips at the thought of the most successful part of the night.

Reports from Atlantis had been helpful in highlighting just how high a tolerance for alcohol the Ancients had possessed. Which was why she had been sure he wouldn't even notice the variable levels of the bottles they had gone through last night.

In the end she'd only been buzzed enough to take the edge off if he went for her offer and turned out to be disappointing in bed. Something which thankfully hadn't been needed since the man had not just met, but exceeded her expectations to the point she was pretty sure she would be too sore to walk right if he hadn't done this magic.

Turning to grab her toiletry bag from the vanity next to the door, she bit back a curse upon seeing it wasn't where she had left it last night.

Walking a quick circuit of the room, she spotted her makeup neatly laid out on the bathroom counter, a sure enough sign that someone had gone through her things. And a glance through the otherwise empty bag that had been placed on one of the bathroom shelves confirmed her suspicions with the conspicuous absence of the little tin with her morning after pills in it.

An obvious enough message, though hopefully not one that would matter given Xiaoyi had preempted the need by requesting an under the table MPA injection while receiving the ATA gene therapy from the medical unit at Stargate Command.

A sudden noise caused Xiaoyi’s breath to hitch, and she spun around to see Zou Fu standing behind her.

“Apology’s for the affront.” The other woman apologized with a faux bow. “Given you were too engaged to unpack last night this one took it upon herself to handle that matter for you.”

Xiaoyi gave an unconcerned wave before offering the woman an overly polite smile that she hoped conveyed that she was absolutely aware of what the agent was doing. “Your consideration is greatly appreciated.” The representative's smile transitioned into a slight frown as she gave a slightly over-exaggerated look around the themed bathroom. “However I seem unable to locate my grandmother's antique pill tin. Would you perhaps recall where you placed it?”

That was a lie of course, in reality she had picked up the tin for 5.99 at Walmart. But there was every chance Eventus was awake and listening, so this was a not so subtle warning that she was aware of the message being sent and not amused.

“Of course older miss.” Zou Fu said, stepping to the side of the bathroom’s doorway and pointing over to the vanity where a conspicuous pill tin was now sitting. “I did not wish to assume, so I left it on the vanity where your bag was.”

Xiaoyi didn’t even bother to walk over and check its contents, instead offering the younger woman a polite smile of thanks. “Then I suppose any further help is unneeded.”

Like the young woman herself.

“Very well.” Zou Fu bowed her head, though the small smirk made it clear there she had one last card to play before leaving. “Though you should be aware that the honorable Bai Xiuying wishes to speak with you about the day's potential itinerary.” Her smirk turned a tiny bit sour as she straightened up. “After you finish cleaning up.”

“Of course.” Xiaoyi returned smugly, waiting the few seconds it took the other woman to exit her bedroom before rolling her eyes.

That the on site MSS supervisor wanted to talk with would be slightly worrying on most days, but as things currently stood her continued presence at Eventus’s side was all but required if they wanted to continue making a good impression. So she wasn’t overly worried that she was about to suffer a dressing down. More likely someone higher up either wanted to hear themselves talk, or had some ‘genius’ idea Xiaoyi was going to be expected to try and make work.

Taking a moment to start the bath, she turned back to the sink and grabbed a washcloth and began to clean off the remains of yesterday’s makeup.

Starting the all too familiar routine, she paused mid wipe to stare at the reflection of her face in the rounded mirror above the sink. An odd feeling settled over her, because it was without a doubt her face, just her face without any of the barely visible lines she’d come to associate with living in the tail end of her thirties.

That was…

She looked down at the parts of her breasts on display through her gauzy robe before that thought could fully materialize. Their size was the same, but there was a perkiness to them that she knew had passed a good half decade ago.

From there she checked everything, quickly confirming her fear that every sign of creeping age she’d been all too aware of the past few years was distinctly missing from her body.

Her mind flashed across various possibilities as panic began to set in, only for her thoughts to grind to a halt as words spoken by an ancient being in what she thought was jest found their way to the fore of her mind.

“Fuck.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author’s Notes: Fuck indeed, but hey, look on the bright side, millions of people the world over would kill to be 10 years younger. Insert Evil Forshadowing Grin Here