Lie to her (obviously)

There was no way Dagaz could possibly tell Ava the truth. He hadn't even properly come to terms with what he was yet himself, and he wasn't prepared to place the burden of that knowledge on another.

"We met at the party, " he began. "Do you remember?"

She shook her head. "Jesus, how much did I drink? My head's killing me."

This was good, Dagaz though. The less she remembered, the easier the lie would be to spin. "About as much as me," he said laughing. "Which is saying something. You matched me drink for drink, and when they closed the bar, you suggested we carry on somewhere else. So we ended up grabbing a bottle of scotch and coming back here to my apartment."

Ava looked up at him, her eyes a little more focused than they had been moments ago. "I'm guessing you don't live on the roof though. Care to explain why we're up here?"

"Sure," Dagaz said, the lie being easier to embellish now that he had already begun. "We were drinking as I said. You decided that you wanted to come up and see the stars from the roof with me, so that's what we did. But you couldn't handle your booze quite as well as you thought you could." He chuckled to himself. "You threw up most of the bottle off of the edge of the roof, and then promptly decided to pass out over there. The stairs back down are pretty steep, if I'd have tried carrying you we probably would have both fell. So all I could do was throw my jacket over you, and stay up here and keep you safe."

Ave covered her face with her hands, obviously embarrassed at the false story Dagaz had told her, but none the wiser that it was untrue.

"Oh. God, really? What must you have thought of me? I'm not usually like that, I swear. I don't remember anything after a few drinks at the party, I'm sorry. Wait, you didn't spike me did you!?"

Dagaz's hands flew up in protest. "No. Why would you even think that!?"

"Well, you know," Ava said. "Girl at a party, plus a strange guy, plus no memory of the night. You do the math."

"You forgot to subtract the strange guy holding your hair back whilst you threw up," Dagaz replied.

Her face was horrified. "Really. Wow, that was kind of sweet of you then actually. Wait, we didn't, you know...?"

Dagaz smiled. "Fuck?"

"Yeah." Ava said blushing.

"No. I mean that might of been our plan originally, but I prefer my partners less..."

"****?" she said with a smile.

He laughed and smiled back, glad that his lie was working. "Yes. More fun that way. Talking of being conscious, how's your head? You've been out for most of the night."

"Throbbing, but I think I'll survive. Although if you have any painkillers inside I wouldn't say no."

"Think you can make it back down on your own?" he said standing. Dagaz reached out his hand to her. Ava slowly reached out to take it and let him help her to her feet. Dagaz surprised himself at how easy he found it to move her - it was if she weighed nothing to him. He'd have to be careful of using his new strength from now on. Ava was a bit unsteady on her feet, but she managed to eventually stand unaided, and for that he was grateful.

"Umm, Dagaz. Where are my shoes? Did I leave them downstairs?"

"You remember huh." Dagaz brushed the dust from his pants. "Yeah, you left them in the living room I think."

"I'm so classy aren't I," Ava groaned. "No shoes, throwing up in front of strangers. At least I'm still wearing my underwear." Her nose wrinkled. "And I'm pretty sure I have dried puke in my hair. Not what you were expecting when we left the party I'm guessing?"

Dagaz laughed, feeling a little bad at how easily she believed his lie, and how badly she was beating herself up over what he had told her. He decided to try and make her feel less terrible.

"Well, you were the best looking woman there, and dried sick or not, you're still pretty damn fine." Ava smiled, so he continued. "How about this. Let's go back inside. You can use my shower to freshen up, I'll get you some painkillers for your head, and then I can cook us an early breakfast to soak up what we knocked back. After that, if you really want, you can come back up and watch the sunrise from the roof. How does that sound?"

"Really, really good Dagaz. Thank you. And they say chivalry is a dying thing, but it sounds like you've been a complete gentleman tonight. That's a rare thing." Ava straightened her dress, smoothing the fine satin like fabric down over her lithe form. It clung to her like a second skin, and Dagaz couldn't help but notice the shape of her nipples pressing against the thin material as she did. She was easily a DD cup, the dress was struggling to keep them in check, but trying heroically anyway.

"OK then, a shower, breakfast and painkillers. In that order. Coming right up. This way my Lady," he said, offering her his arm for support.