EXTENDED SUMMARY: What if Vex hadn't seen Mark in his vision when the Oracles were trying to gather his truth? What if he's more of a masochist he ever thought he was? That stormy day, in the cellar, for a split second he thought he was about to die; the wolf's scowl looked scarier than usual and that meant only one thing: bad news for him. And when Dyson grabbed him by the collar he was sure he was going to die; to be honest the cop had played it too good for too long and he wasn't surprised if he had decided in that very moment that he had enough of him. Not that Vex could blame him, but his ego was a little hurt, he'd always thought of his death as a spectacular departure from the stage – go big or go home, to make it short – and dying in a dusty winery of an old bar with sticky floors wasn't exactly what he had in mind.

But then Dyson had crushed his lips on his, and before he could even understand what the hell was going on he was kissing the man that wanted him dead the most. Right there, in that moment, Vex thought he was going to die for all other reasons.

Notes: So this has been on my computer for a while, I've always wondered whether to post it or not since it's an anusual ship, but I hope there are other people that'd love to see these two together!
There's really not much to say beside this:
This story was started before the second half of the last season, hence the plot will be much different than the origianl.
That said, enjoy!

CHAPTER ONE

Disintegration, suffocation

My life is taken

n

Take my love for you

When he'd arrived he already knew he would have found the place closed up. Everyone was still running around for a reason or another, but the absence of the owner didn't really make any difference to him. Picking locks was like stealing candies from a baby, way too easy and extremely harmless. It was also wrong, of course, but he didn't care of that either. So that's what he did. The unfamiliar silence of the Dal Riata felt like a soft blanket on his nerves, and for the first time in days, he let himself sigh in relief.

After a few moments of standing in the middle of the place, actually and oddly enjoying the quiet, Vex plopped on one of the empty stools at the counter.

It was only when he reached behind it to fetch himself a glass and a bottle that he noticed: his hands and shirt were still covered in Mark's blood.

His mouth twitched at the still fresh memory; when he'd received the call he knew something had gone really wrong, otherwise Dyson would have handled the matter himself, not even bothering to pick his offer up. So he'd jumped in the car and rushed to him without giving it a second thought.

He couldn't really tell why he had put that up to the pup in the first place – it wasn't exactly in his character to offer his help, and there was history to prove that -, but the young shifter had something he liked in him, a certain familiar spark, way far from his father stiffness.

When the older fae's scowl crossed his mind he hurried and poured himself a drink from the nearest bottle over the counter; Scotch whiskey. Bloody perfect.

The first one slit down his throat with a pleasant burning sensation and his head immediately felt lighter. But lighter also meant more difficult to control, and the second his brain realized what was happening, it was already too late to stop it, he already was back in that cellar.

The storm was raging outside and his habit of taking refuge at the Dal had turned bad when he'd found himself trapped in there with Trick, Mark and a bunch of other clients. The light had started to flicker and the Blood King had sent him to recover some candles from the storage room in case the power went down. Obviously as, apparently, 'the world was gonna end soon anyway', as he's told before to the bartender, he'd went ahead and helped himself on an old bottle of fine booze.

It'd been then that the door had opened behind him and the wolf had walked in the room, shutting it close after him. Vex had turned and slowly dropped the bottle back into its place, the frown on the man's face being worse than usual.

Those dark eyes and tight lips could have only meant he was in serious trouble, and he strongly hoped that a few stolen sips from an old Scotch Whiskey weren't going to be the cause of his death!

He'd always known that, eventually, sooner or later, Dyson's patience in his regards would have run out, resulting in the wolf slitting his throat, but he'd always thought his departure from the stage would have been something more spectacular and incredibly dramatic – he was a 'go big or go home' kind of guy, and the idea of dying on the sticky floor of an old assed pub made him some kind of upset.

His disappointment grew even more so when, without bothering to tell a single word, Dyson had stepped closer pinning him to the wall by his shirt's collar.

Oh, how sure he was he was going down that night! Of course he was ready to fight back, but he also was wise enough to know that his powers were no match against a fully shifted wolf. The circumstances didn't matter, he was going to lose once and for all.

How wrong he was he would have found out only several minutes of intense staring later, when instead of a punch, Dyson crushed his mouth onto his. The kiss hit Vex as hard as a sudden blow would have, taking his breath away as much. The Wolf's kiss had been harsh and rough but it was too late to pull back, the Mesmer had been mesmerized himself and before he knew it, he was kissing him back. Dyson was strong, his body as solid as rock and his technique was freaking good, and soon he found himself begging for more.

When they pulled away for air, Vex had to grab the cop's vest to keep himself steady.

The look on Dyson's eyes screamed lust and the thought of how bloody good sex with a wolf shifter would have been, instantly bolt through the Dark Fae, making Dyson's body no longer the only hard thing around anymore.

'Tell me what you want' the wolf had growled in his ear, making him shiver in anticipation from head to toe.

'Give me everything' he'd replied.

With another low growl he was back on his mouth, hands making their way down-

A loud slamming behind him cut through his thoughts; fortunately the intruder, whoever it was, had come at the right moment, just before his memories could give him another boner.

' 'knew I'd found you here…' came Dyson's voice from the entrance.

Vex jolted on his seat.

'Yeah, showed m'self in…' he replied, showing the drink over his head in explanation.

'I guess old habits die hard, uh.'

He shrugged and kept drinking.

The idea of finding himself alone in the same room as the Wolf still made him uncomfortable, after all.

The cop took the seat right next to him, an arm already stretched out to recover a glass.

'Do you mind?' he asked, motioning towards the Mesmer.

'Be my guest…'

Dyson poured himself a drink and drank it in a matter of seconds.

His alcohol endurance was really something to be envious of, he could drink a row of shots and not even feel remotely effected. He remembered Kenzi's drunk blabbering about it every time she tried to out drink the wolf; that bloody silly human was really something, but he probably wouldn't have had the guts to face her if she'd ever come back…he'd lost a friend and that had hurt him more than everything.

Vex felt his face darkening, the thought of his numerous sins catching up to him.

'What with that face?' he heard the Wolf ask.

He frowned. Since when and he cared about anything of him?

' 'ya know, just thinking of all the bad things I've done in my life…nothing much..' replied getting the bottle back from the other man.

''bout that…'

The Mesmer eyed the Wolf with a skeptic look.

Where was this conversation going to go?

' 'ya finally realized I'm the best mate on this planet?' he joked trying to relieve some of the tension that had settled in the room.

The grin on his face was not that convincing, though, as Dyson raised a wary eyebrow. Ok, that had been a poor choice of words, he had to admit blushing lightly.

'Yeah, yeah…never mind.' Replied sliding the third drink down his throat.

The cop seemed to be unaffected by the Mesmer humor and, once it was clear for him to do so, he finally spoke.

'I wanted to thank you for what you did earlier today. If it weren't for your help my son would have died.'

Maybe it seemed odd, but he meant every single word of that; Vex's presence had been crucial and, even though the Dark Fae was probably the last person on earth he would have thanked for anything, he was no ungrateful man when it came to the lives of his family. Even thinking of the chance of losing the son he'd barely just found was unbearable to him.

Vex listened to the Wolf's words but kept his lips sealed. It was pointless to say that he'd done it because everyone of them would have done the same for him, both of them knew that that was as far as possible from the truth, so when he spoke, he did it just to ask about the boy.

'Is he ok now?' he said, still focused on his now empty glass.

Right now he didn't have the strength to look even remotely at the other man…Dyson was everything he never had been, his brute force always balanced by pure hearted reasons and a morale. All he did, even killing, was for a good reason.

'Lauren is taking care of him right now, but he's out of danger, he'll be fine in no time.'

As those words left the man's lips, Vex found himself relaxing on the stool; his shoulders not as tense and his grip on the glass not as strong.

'Good.' He whispered more to himself than anything.

The boy was out of danger and that was everything that mattered. It felt strange, though, saving a life instead of taking one, for once. It was a light feeling that run through his whole body, almost as warm as the whiskey; he probably could get used to that.

'Why?'

Dyson's voice came cutting through his thoughts once again, bringing him back to reality.

'Whaddya mean "why"?' repeated giving him a confused look.

The Wolf expression remained still, that serious look held unchanged.

'Why do you even care about my son.'

It wasn't a question, but a genuine muddled statement.

Vex had a reputation, and since he'd met him, he had witnessed with his own two eyes what he was capable of – hell, he had even tortured him! -, caringwasn't exactly in his chords.

'Probably because he doesn't want to kill me, yet. And that's an hell of accomplishment…' he replied drily.

But apparently his humor went unappreciated as the other man kept his eyes on him, waiting for a serious answer to be given. His gaze was making him uneasy, the memory of what had happened in the cellar still fresh in his mind. But it seemed he couldn't bullshit his way out of that one, so he started it think about it seriously.

'Mark reminds me of someone I used to know once. He's so young and naïve about our bloody world, I just want him not to see what I have through all this years. I failed once as a father, I know how hard it is to be a good one despite what you might think…But you're not me, so…'

His failure with Massimo would always be his worst regret and biggest pain, but now he was gone and he couldn't help him anymore. Maybe he thought that Mark could be the way to redeem himself; he was not his father, but maybe he could help him to follow the right path without straying on the bad one, his one.

'Mark reminds you of Massimo?' asked Dyson in astonishment.

It was hard to believe that someone as disturbed as Evony's son could have once been a normal boy.

Vex laughed softly and shook his head.

'Bloody hell no! Massimo was never like that, no. He reminds me of myself, of how I used to be before-' the words died in his throat leaving the sentence unfinished. But he couldn't go through with it, not without tears, and crying in front of the Wolf was the last thing in the world he ever wanted to do.

The silence filled the space between them, no one seemed sure of what to say next.

'You should go change your clothes' said the cop after a while. 'And take a shower too.'

Vex curled his nose, having the Wolf being so considerate of him was kinda offsetting, it felt like he was little Red Riding Hood on his way to be eaten by the Big Bad Wolf.

A rush of blood run through his whole body when that though came into his mind, why the hell every bloody metaphor sounded like a fucking sexual innuendo?!

'You'd like to come and help?' he asked, his voice low and still hoarse from all the fantasies that crowded his mind.

Dyson straightened his back and raised a questioning eyebrow, but said nothing.

He never fully understood why the other Fae kept saying those kind of things to him; since the first time they met, Vex had been nothing but mere evil filled with sarcasm and sexual innuendos, and when he was around all those traits seemed to be somehow amplified.

Even if the Mesmer hadn't been one hell of a son of a bitch, he'd never thought of a man that way, of any man for that mattered.

The idea of Vex naked under the shower, his slander body relaxed under the water, his pitch black hair held back by the jet, his eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of water trailing down his back and-

The Wolf stopped his mind from going further and coughed to hide his embarrassment.

'Yeah, I thought so' grinned the Mesmer, slowly getting up.

'I'll leave this to you then.'

He concluded, motioning to the bottle and glasses.

He was with one hand already on the door when Dyson spoke again.

'I'll let you know when Mark wakes up.' He said.

'Thanks.'

And with that he was on his way.

He had just snoozed off after a very long and meticulous shower – never before he had to wash his body so thoroughly after he'd get someone's blood on it, but this time it was different, it felt different – when his phone started buzzing on the nightstand right next to him. Rolling in his side he grabbed the hellish device and pressed the button.

"Mmh.." was all he managed to say.

"Vex?"

The Wolf's voice came to his ears as a shock.

"'m here."

"Mark just woke up, he's asked to see you. Can you come down to the clinic?" he asked.

The Fae tried to read in his voice, but he could tell nothing about his current state of mind. Dyson's voice had been as neutral as it could have been.

"Be right there."

He ended the call without waiting for a reply, sure that there would have been none anyway.

With a low sigh of fatigue he raised from the bed and slid on a simple dark red t-shirt and took the door.

Ten minutes later he was walking through the clinic door, heading to the reception desk. As he stepped closer, Lauren appeared from behind the desk and approached him.

'Hey, come, the room's this way.' She greeted, smiling.

Apparently the good Doctor had enough 'bad history' on her sweet backpack to not judge him for his actions, so she was overall nice to him.

'Doc.' He simply replied, already following her.

'He's fine right now, I've managed to patch up the wound. We were lucky you found him; had it been otherwise, he would have died of blood loss.'

Okay, that odd trend that seemed to be going on was really starting to get to his head…since when any of them had felt the need to give him credit for anything good he'd done? Not that he'd been on doing good deeds back in the days…but still.

They passed the reception desk and made a right turn; Mark's room was just at the end of the hallway.

Lauren went ahead while he took his time, he wasn't exactly sure on what was awaiting for him behind that door. Trying to steady his heart beat, he walked up and raised a hand to lightly knock.

Father and son immediately looked at him before he could even touch the painted wood with his fist.

Bloody wolves.

'Hey man!' greeted Mark with a lot more of enthusiasm he had expected.

'Ya' know you're a bloody idiot, dontcha?' was all came out of the Mesmer's mouth, followed soon after by a sigh he didn't realize he had been holding.

He then eyed Dyson quickly who nodded in reply, and went to sit beside the bed.

The light fae stayed still, back on the wall and arms crossed, his eyes fixed on the scene in front of him.

Mark and Vex were talking to each other like old friends, like Hale and he used to do, and a sprang of pain hit him right in the heart: it was a blade with two edges that held the Mesmer's name carved in it. He couldn't get over his best friend death and at the same time he didn't know how to handle the raising intimacy between his son and the man that was the cause of his biggest pain.

A low growl started to raise in the back of his throat, frustration crawling its way up.

Mark glanced rapidly between his father and the man seated next to him; there was something between them, something that went way beyond the simply disliking each other, and no one had yet to reveal what it was. So he asked.

'Sooooo… - began the younger man with a smug look on his face that made the elder frown – What's with you and Dyson?' he asked, smiling like a child that thinks to have found out the secret of the century.

Suddenly Vex was reduced to silence, unable to give an answer.

But it was easy.

There wasn't much to say beside nothing but, yet again, was it really that way?

Quickly recovering, he dismissed those thoughts and the pup malicious question in one blow.

'The only things between me and your father are these.' He said, raising his hands as explanation.

That last comment caught Dyson's full attention; he shifted from his position and straightened his back, suddenly very interested in what the other fae was about to come up with.

Mark eyed his friend with a confused look; his knowledge of their world was still very limited, hence he didn't know many of the races other than the one he'd come in touch with, and Vex had never shown his true colors to him.

To explain it quickly, Vex just lifted a hand and at the same time the Doc came to a stop, straightening up. When he started to twirl his fingers, Lauren followed, beginning to pirouette on the spot.

'Vex? – came her voice after a few seconds – I'd appreciate if you could end the demonstration like right now? I'll throw up on someone at this rate' she cringed while her patient chuckled loudly.

The Mesmer softly halted the spinning and the lovely doctor came to a stop too.

'Thanks.' She replied, her head spinning lightly.

He smiled gently and the wolf found himself thinking that that was probably the first genuine smile he'd ever seen on his lips.

'Dude, your hand thing is sick!' exclaimed the pup in excitement.

At his son's praise for the Mesmer's powers, Dyson started to sulk like a five year old.

'Fascinating as they might be, you know your tricks can't stop me from shifting.' He stated coldly stepping forward in a clear attempt to enter the conversation forcefully.

'I could always have you slit your own throat with my tricks, if I wanted you to.' Spit the man in disdain.

What the wolf had just said was nothing but the plain hard truth, but his pride couldn't let him go down without a fight. He had worked very hard to refine his technique all by himself, and he had worked even more hard to get those powers back after the battle with the Garuda.

'Then maybe we should try it out right now and see who's right. I've been itching to get my hands on you for quite a while now.' Growled Dyson getting closer to the other man.

'Bite me.' Was the answer that was given through clenched teeth.

Dyson was ready to show his fangs to establish his superiority over the dark fae, and Vex would have done the same if only he had fangs to show.

'No one is gonna bite anyone in my clinic. – Lauren intervened firmly – 'The nurses will certainly refuse to clean up that much blood.' She finished, glancing over her shoulder at the two men that were now staring at her in disbelief.

'What – Beheadings are a little too messy for my floors.' She shrugged turning back to her business.

'I guess we'll save it for another time, then.' Dyson finally stated.

He backed off of the Mesmer and went back to stand near the wall.

Vex muscles relaxed at once as the tension from the immediate threat left his body.

As the two of them remained silent, Mark was left to wonder.

He'd thought that the nature of the relationship between Dyson and Vex was of a totally different kind, but that show off had just shown him that he was way off track.

'Why do you hate each other so much?' he found himself asking, unable to refrain his tongue from blurting the words.

He couldn't help but wonder why Dyson was always so harsh towards Vex when the latter had been nothing but a good friend to him.

He even saved my life! He thought, waiting for an answer to be given.

'His psychotic son murdered my best friend and ruined the life of another. Or at least that's why right now.' Dyson explained to his son.

At the mention of what Massimo had done, Vex immediately darkened; the bright and witty sparkle that usually lit his eyes gone.

'Yeah…I think you're blaming the wrong person for that one…' he whispered, a shadow falling over his face.

The wolf's words had hit him hard in the face: every time Massimo was brought up he couldn't avoid the sense of helplessness that overwhelmed him. He had tried to save the boy in every way he could, he had given his best…but how can a person that has never known what family love is – or love in the general meaning at that – raise a child? He had loved the kid in his own weird, twisted way, but in the end it turned out to not be enough to save him.

Vex had been powerless in the out take of the boy fate, he had failed, and having someone throwing that very failure in his face made him want to crawl in the darkest corner of the world and never come back.

That was one of those moments when Dyson really regretted his heightened senses…he could literally smell the change of atmosphere in the room, a deep and heavy fragrance of sadness was pouring out of the Mesmer.

With a quick and sharp pain in his chest, his conscience made itself present and actually pointed out how much of a jerk he'd just been.

He had no right to rub salt on his wounds, no matter how many discrepancies there were between the two of them: Massimo was an off-limit topic and he should've known better.

The silence had fell hard on the room, the only noise coming from the ECG attached to Mark's finger. No one seemed to dare breaking it, it was way too dense and impregnated with unspoken words to do it.

'I should leave you rest. – Vex suddenly said standing up – 'See ya' when you get out of here, okay?' he added, giving the pup a small bump on his arm before heading for the door.

'Doc.' He greeted again before stepping out of the room.

Before leaving he threw a sad glance towards the wolf and then he was gone.

He'd been there for less than an hour but now he was even more exhausted than when he had walked in. Getting into the car, he strongly hoped that a good night sleep would take all of his feeling away.

He was better off anyway.