She stirred and when she opened her eyes, Alban filled her gaze and his scent filled her mind.  For half a second, the past, the recent pain, all disappeared.  The momentary peace was completely invaded by the sudden shout of Lance's voice.  Roxie shifted upward, her head still a little fuzzy from the mead, she had to reach out to Alban to steady her as she got to her feet.<br/><br/>"Roxie...I didn't think you--"  Lance started, confusion clear on his face.  There was no reason for them to be together like this, so she was sure he couldn't figure out why they would be.<br/><br/>"We should be upstairs, the packs will want to see us both up there,"  Roxie said to Lance.  The expression he wore shifted to one of confusion, to one of slight excitement, as if Roxie had said "We should be together up there." or something to that effect.<br/><br/>He nodded fervently.  "Yes, yes, of course."  Lance turned and began to climb the stairs back up toward the bar.  Roxie turned toward Alban and met his eyes.  "Thanks...The blanket was nice."  She said, lingering a little too close to him for a moment.  She chalked it up to nostalgia, and forced herself to turn and follow Lance up the stairs.  As she got up to the bar, she saw that it was filled with members of both packs and their eyes were heavy on her again, expectant, as if they waited for some wisdom only she held.  They looked markedly less impressed or concerned with Lance, who had already wandered over to his little posse.<br/><br/>"Umm, thanks for coming everyone.  I'm glad you're all here, and I'm sure that Lance is too.  We need to figure out our way forward with all of this. Both packs have been hit hard, and we're both reeling from all that's happened.  We've always been peaceful with each other, and I know suspicions are high, but we need to band together in these troubling times, not tear each other apart."  Roxie said, and as soon as she spoke the room quieted and people listened.<br/><br/>Lance seemed to know he couldn't command that kind of attention by himself, so he immediately moved back toward Roxie, standing at her side.  "I agree with her.  We need strong leadership in times like these, and I think the best way to do that is to really connect our two packs."  He smiled widely and turned to Roxie.  "I think Miss Levante would agree, creating a bond between herself and me would be the kind of thing that could show both packs just how powerful we could be together."  Lance reached out and before Roxie could snatch her hand away, he took it into his own.  Roxie didn't immediately pull her hand away, just to avoid causing more tension in the room, but she did look visibly uncomfortable.<br/><br/>"I think just showing we're allied should be more than enough...."  Roxie protested.<br/><br/>"Come on, Rox.  You know I've always had a thing for you, and we're the rightful leaders of these packs.  It's time to pull together, and this is how we do that..."  Lance said.  His eyes moved over her body as he spoke, and it took just about every ounce of will and control Roxie had not to openly slap him in the face.