<div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/b/bb/BayviewVicki.jpg)</div><strong>Character name:</strong>Victoria “Vicky” Tucker<br/><strong>Who:</strong>Carter Sagle<br/><strong>When:</strong>June 13, late night<br/><strong>Where:</strong>Sitting in a comfy chair<br/><strong>Warning: </strong>None<br/><hr/><br/><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>More than a boss to me</em>… Victoria certainly hoped so. For a moment, she thought she could almost hear the gears turning in his mind. Had she really put him on the spot? Was her wording wrong and leading him to think she didn’t want to honor the pairing? Now that she thought about it, she realized that it could well be what made him quiet, and unsure. Or at least that was her perception of how he had been since she had given him the option to walk out on her without leaving a mark on their friendship.<br/><br/>“When it comes to this business, yuu are more a partner than an employee.” She replied to his comment, and after a pause that lasted only seconds, she felt the need to add more. “Carter, you are a friend to me.  You’ve been there for me when I needed a shoulder, and you helped me through some very rough times and I am incredibly grateful. This pairing, I can’t consider it a game. I’ve got too much to lose if this damages our friendship or makes it awkward after.” Vicky finally allowed him to talk again. She had no idea if he would catch what she meant to say, although her tone sounded quite genuine and gentle. She wasn’t giving him the ‘let’s be friend’ speech, but rather the ‘you mean a lot to me, I don’t want to jeopardize it’ speech.<br/><br/>Vicky straightened up and  walked to him. “The way we’re dressed doesn’t add or remove weight to your words, Carter.” And Vicky bit her lower lip, a small frown marred her features for a short moment but not in a disapproving way. It was an expression Carter could recognize as one that she took when considering something seriously. He did want to go through with it. If not, he had had several chances to correct the pairing if he didn’t. Last night, when he discovered it, all day today, and he had shown up in her room wearing a robe and she suspected that he wore little underneath; at first glance, he didn’t wear a shirt. He came here prepared to share her bed. Her question seemed a bit stupid now that she thought about.<br/><br/>Her feature smoothed, the frown gone, but she covered the distance between them and reached for his hand. He could talk to her; that was what she meant to convey with the gesture. The idea that, unlike her, he had not considered her to be off-limits did not bother her. She was well aware that sometimes the heart defied all reason; she had married Roman after 8 months together after all. How many people had told them that she was crazy going so fast with someone she barely knew? Almost all of her friends, in fact, and she was sure that some people had said the same to Roman who stood to lose a lot more than she in marrying the wrong person… Having a thought about Roman now made her wonder how he would see her being with Carter. Vicky believed that he would want her to be happy and to go on with her life, to find someone who would take care of her. She had faith that Carter would take care of her, but how far from their friendship would spending a weekend together as lover would take them?<br/></div>