Xaviers!

"You didn't let it happen the first time." He pointed out. His voice cracked as he said it.

In an attempt to settle under her doting, Basil shifted about to nuzzle his face into her throat to better allow her to hold him. His arm slipped in-between two of hers to wrap itself around her waist.

"Good spot." He murmured against her surface.

Colette was left a little speechless when Basil pointed that out. It didn't sound like he was blaming her, but it was still not a nice thought to have; that her declaration of protection was lacking.

Still, she settled into the cuddling, like a big hot water bottle.

"Good? Could be better?" She inquired.

"No." He replied, nestling his face again with a contented sigh. "I like the curve of the ladies neck. Good place to rest."

"I'm glad you like it." Colette said softly, cooing softly at Basil's simple touch. "I hope that you found last night enjoyable. I was very... very satisfied."

Basil dissolved into a case of licentious giggles.

"Did you?" He asked, and snaked down under the covers to start engaging in mischief. But just as he started to, a sound Colette was only vaguely familiar with echoed out from Basil's stomach.

He abruptly stopped, and slowly pulled back the blankets so his pouting face was wreathed by them.

" My body demands sustenance before an encore performance."

Colette began to twitter and giggle, but even she heard the growling of his stomach, which caused her to giggle even more. When he poked his face out, she had to try hard to stifle her laughter - he really was like a tomcat playing in the bedsheets.

"Zen we shall have breakfast. Somezing wiz protein, to give you energy, yes?"

"Okay." He smiled lightly, then smirked, and then in a moment he was smothering Colette in the blankets playfully while he got up to find something to make himself 'presentable' to some degree.

Colette let out a little eek and giggled at Basil's "attack", only to watch him from the bed as she snuggled with the bunched up sheets for a moment. This was nice. She wanted every morning to be like this. Eventually the mattress creaked softly as she slipped out of bed, one of Basil's too-big-for-her shirts enough to ensure her modesty. She called out to him as she was descending down the stairs toward the kitchen.

"How do you feel about radishes?"

"Generally fine." Basil called out to her. He didn't follow behind immediately, because he was digging through his boxes of clothes to find exactly what he'd been looking for.

Eventually he would wander down in his striped turquoise robe and a pair of his black boxer briefs.

"Soooo... did you raid my unwashed laundry for that?" He asked, looking at Colette in his shirt.

Colette looked at Basil over her shoulder, a little smile on her face as she worked in the kitchen.

"Of course. Zis one smells like you." She was currently in the process of assembling what looked like sandwiches, but she was putting them in a baking pan.

"If you would like to put on some coffee and tea, zat would be a big help." Colette was more partial to the bitter bean in the morning.

"Yes, madame." He replied, dutifully moving into the kitchen to do as he was asked to.

As he passed her, paused momentarily to lean in and smell said shirt at the collar. "Smells to me like you need a new one. All I can smell is you." He murmured in her ear before moving on to start the kettle and prep tea for himself and a pour over for Colette.

Colette almost visibly jiggled at Basil's closeness and whispering, the woman putting the pan in the oven before moving on to cracking some eggs into a frying pan that she must have already used earlier.

"Perhaps we will simply have to exchange shirts again and again?" She asked, moving on to retrieving some strange little radishes from the fridge.

After starting the kettle, Basil flipped around to watch her move about the kitchen.

"Perhaps...

You don't have to do this for me you know. Cooking. For me."

"I am not cooking for you, Basil." Colette corrected him as she worked, washing off the radishes before moving on to a cutting board and making thin slices of them with a kitchen knife. "I am cooking for us. Zat is somezing different.

"I know you are capable of making somezing for yourself. But right now, I would like to make zis somezing zat we share togezer.

"I am not being too clingy, am I?" She asked, looking at him over his shoulder. It didn't sound like an accusation.

"No." Basil replied, folding his arms over his chest and wearing an uncomfortable face for a moment.

"I... like it when you take care of me.

I just don't like that I like it. It makes me feel... guilty."

Colette began spreading butter over some toasted baguettes before sprinkling them with salt flakes and some of the radish slices, placing them one by one on a little plate.

"If I were malicious, I would say zat turnabout was fair play, yes?" She said with a little smile, moving to take the eggs out of the pan to rest on a piece of kitchen roll. "You likely cannot recall, but for ze majority of our relationship I had difficulty in accepting zings you did for me, of a monetary nature. I felt guilty, like I was using you for my own gain, and feared zat I would become unappreciative." The pan was taken out of the oven and the sandwiches, which looked to be something of the fried ham and cheese variety, were plated up, with the sunny-side-up eggs placed atop them.

"It took me time to believe ze truz, zat zese zings were not done for me, but for us to share. Even if it seemed a little one-sided at first, zings evened out in ze end." Extra hands had to come into play, what with three plates and some morning bevvy accessories like cream and sugar.

"Now, would you like to set our table, so zat we may have our brunch in our home? Togezer?"

Basil did as he was bade, though he seemed vaguely annoyed by the observation she had made.

He went about setting the table, eventually looping back around to Colette's coffee, which was the more time sensitive of his laid out projects.

By the time they were sitting down to brunch, he seemed to have gotten over whatever annoyance he'd been experiencing.

Colette started with some of the radish on toast before she cut into her croque madame, letting the yolk run into the depths of the sandwich as she spoke.

"So, what shall we do after brunch?" She asked before she quietly sipped her cup of coffee.

"Oh, am I off the hook already?" He asked, cutting into his food and taking a bite.

Completely distracted from whatever annoyance it was he was experiencing by the dish he was eating, Basil's eyelids fluttered as he sighed and tried not to drop food out his mouth, his fork clattered lightly against his plate.

"Fuck me. That's delicious..."

"Not at all. But it's nice to have choices."

Colette COULD have swallowed everything whole, but instead she was dainty in her bites. Basil's reaction was a bit of a surprise to her though. He enjoyed food, yes, but it had never been a priority for him before. And he'd complimented her cooking before, but this? It made her cheeks flush.

"Mon dieu, you really zink so?"

"Absolutely." He replied, his eyes cast down at his plate as he cut another bite and put it into his mouth. As he looked up and saw her reaction, his enthusiasm waned a bit, slowly chewing as he looked at her face.

He swallowed down his second bite and asked -

""You're blushing and questioning... Did I not compliment you before?"

Colette seemed a little bashful when she noticed Basil curbing his enthusiasm. "Oh no, you complimented me often, and my cooking. It is just zat..." She tried to think of the best way to word it.

"Before, food for you was... almost a bozersome necessity. You were more concerned wiz getting it over and done wiz zan savouring it. And while I have seen you enjoy food before, zis sort of reaction was usually aroused by somezing truly special, like a particular sweet zat your grandmozer might bake." Colette thought about Basil's grandparents for the first time in a long time... they must miss him dearly.

"Please, do not worry about such zings any more, and simply enjoy it."

"I've a grandmother?" He asked, but then a more pressing concern surfaced -

"And I talked about her like that? That's bloody disturbing. Glad I repressed it."

"No no no, you did not talk about her like zat! Aroused like... like to arouse from slumber, yes?" Colette said as she tried to do damage control.

"We will have to visit zem, your grandparents, in ze near future. I hope zey will understand... but zat will wait until you feel you are ready."

"The first relatives I need to contact are my cousins." He explains. "The flirty one and the dapper one."

Colette seemed surprised by this.

"Ze Spencers?"

Basil thought on the name for a moment. "Seems right. That's my father's name, yes?"

"Ze biological one, yes." Colette was careful to specify.

Basil nodded.

"I need to connect with them again to start things moving."

"Zen I will set up a meeting. When you feel you are ready." Colette took a sip of her coffee, holding the cup with both hands.

"You must know me well enough to know I think that's right now." He joked.

"What's your opinion on the matter? How long is long enough?"

Colette began cutting herself another bite of her brunch. "... despite all of zeir help, what I have been told of ze Spencers is zat zey are still an affluent family, wiz zeir own secrets and motives. Perhaps I zought zat you would attempt to have your memories recovered first, so zat you would have all of your tools at your disposal. But in ze end it is not for me to say. Zis is a Spenser and Benson family matter. I may be able to tell you what to do or when to do it in daily life, but in zis matter I cannot. I can only be zere for you when ze time comes."

"I suppose I don't think it's going to be so easy to recollect that which I've buried so deep I've collectively destroyed it..." He replied, slowing his eating.

"Perhaps you are right. But I will not give up hope." Colette took a bite and chewed it before she spoke again. "I will contact Dafne, set up a meeting at zeir earliest convenience."

"Thank you, madame." He replied, smiling lightly.

Colette took another sip of her coffee, with one hand this time, the other gently patting Basil's hand. "Eat up, before yours get cold." It may not have been verbal, but subtle little gestures expressed how she felt for him.

Later...

Colette had contacted Dafne through her social media, and arranged a meeting. Now that the cat was out of the bag, there didn't seem as much of a need for all of the clandestine behavior of their previous meetings. Plus, she had felt that for now Basil would be most comfortable and feel most safe in his own home. A home that was being redecorated by him when he felt up to it.

There was a 3 tiered sandwich stand on the living room coffee table with a selection of little sandwiches, fresh scones and jams, and homemade desserts - the latter of which were of more French taste than traditional English desserts.

"You may have some before they arrive if you like, matou, but please take zem from zose zat are still in ze kitchen." Presentation and all that, the girl actually following her own rule by resisting the sweets before her and instead taking one of the imperfect madeleines from the plate on the kitchen island on her way to start getting the tea ready. Because of course there would be tea - when in Rome.

"I'll leave it be for now.

Did you summon Watanabe?"

"Yes, and I told her ze time. Oh, zat reminds me..." The information sent Colette searching for some little thing that she remembered from serving Chisaki tea in the past.

"I wouldn't make her too comfortable. She might feel blindsided. This isn't going to be a pleasant conversation for her."