Chapter 10
Somehow, Ciela didn't FEEL like a 'big gun' as Helga's mallet crashed into her midsection. Dropping to the ground in shock, she felt the helmet flow like liquid around her, forming tougher armor, as she caught her lost breath. It solidified just as the hammer swung down again, her back ached even though the armor absorbed most of the impact.Helga wound up again, hefting the hammer high over her head. Eventually that gold plating had to crack and she knew it. She was slightly disappointed that the intruder hadn't put up much of a fight, she hesitated, and kicked idly at the figure on the ground before her, then grinned as the blonde's eyes opened, and stared up at her. She imagined the shock and fear that had to be running through the girl's mind as she let the hammer arc downward.
Helga was slightly surprised when a flash of light momentarily blinded her, throwing off her aim. The hammer thudded into the straw, missing the trespasser by inches, and raised a small cloud of dust. She glared at the girl who was now sitting upright, wheezing slightly but almost recovered. Helga hefted the hammer again and was about to bring it down, when the girl sprouted a mass of glowing feathers. Unconcerned, she swung at the little bitch, who ducked the blow, unfolding the glowing wings at the same time. They sheared through the wooden handle, scorching it black just inches above where her hands held it. Helga tossed her useless weapon aside, balling her fists and lunging, she hardly needed a weapon to take this scrawny loser down. Another flash of light blinded her and she found herself airborne, then crashing to the ground several feet away from where she had been.
Shaking her head slightly, Helga stood up, glancing around cautiously. Across the tent, near the entrance, Het lay curled up in a fetal position, his faded shirt covered with grime, the rest of him in not much better shape. He looked like he'd tangled with a Mack truck and lost. She pulled her attention back to where the little blonde bitch had been seconds ago, only to find she had been replaced by a redhead dressed like a tattered reject from the 60's. The blonde was up and moving across the tent towards Tramontane.
Helga studied the redhead for a few seconds. Considering her condition, this had to be the person responsible for Het's current unconsciousness. The woman's tye-dye was ripped in several places, and stained in even more. Her jeans were in much the same shape, covered in the same mud that graced Het's shirt. The redhead apparently took as well as she gave, considering the bruises that were beginning to show under the torn shirt. Helga cracked her knuckles and smiled.
********** David stepped cautiously over the small pile of unconscious carnies at his feet. Somehow, their heads didn't fare nearly so well as his midsection did against the tent spike they had so graciously provided him. Several of the other carnies were now attempting to hide behind a small group of the entranced children, and he moved slowly towards them, flinging the spike aside then holding his arms out so they could see that he was unarmed. Somehow he doubted accidentally killing some helpless child would go over well with any of his new 'friends'. This act emboldened the remaining carnies, who stepped out from behind the children and rushed him.
********** Tramontane fumed as spell after spell failed. Not being able to open a doorway off of J Street - home of innumerable dimensional portals, gates, doors, and shifting nexuses - was impossible, literally unthinkable. But here it was, impossible yet still happening to him. An oppressing but fitting tune began to flow through his mind as he focused his energies on opening another portal. After a few seconds the lyrics came unbidden to his lips, and he whispered them menacingly through his gritted teeth. "I see a red door and I want to paint it black."
As he pulled more of his power away from the entranced children, they gradually began to become aware of what was going on around them, a few breaking completely free of his control and filling the tent with sounds of confusion and fear. A couple of the smaller children screamed, some cried, but all of the children he lost control of headed for the tent flap. Tramontane was not happy, and glanced around the tent at his hired help who all seemed oblivious to the fleeing children. Losing merchandise like this was extremely unprofessional.
The Clown turned toward Helga, saw her standing over one of the intruders with a mallet, and smiled. There was still hope, he thought, even as his current spell failed spectacularly. Tramontane hoped fervently who or whatever was blocking his spells was struck by lightning, spontaneously combusted or simply dropped dead. He looked around to the other intruders, trying to figure them out.
The dark figure that had broken the spell over his crows was occupied with a dozen or more flunkies, and while there was a somewhat mystical aura about him, it wasn't nearly powerful enough to block his spells. The tall redhead just entering the tent wearing the torn 60's regalia didn't seem to be possessed of any magical abilities, either, which meant his problem was coming from outside the tent. It was probably the Indian, the 'hedge mage', he had seen with the blonde girl earlier. His eyes swung around the tent again, verifying that the man was not present. As the clown turned his focus upon this unseen nemesis, he felt something odd. Looking down Tramontane puzzled at the clear water flowing about his feet, numbingly cold water that rushed up his legs, and lifted him inches from the ground. Conjuring to disenchant this water it spun him violently and froze instantly into a block covering him from the waist down.
"Going somewhere? You'll miss all the fun." He could feel the vibrations of speech through the ice. As if it was the ice itself that spoke. The water had soaked him to the skin before freezing into this prison and Tramontane's legs were growing numb from the cold. He struggled in vain to break free, and looked up to see the woman in gold sprout wings of gossamer light, flash like a light bulb gone mad twice, knocking his beloved Helga away, then stand, stretch out her wings and soar into the air towards him.
********** Azangel had tried to hide her wings from Michael, but now was not the time for subtlety. She felt them rush from her shoulder blades and leapt into the air. She looked down to see the clown half encased in ice and she saw, like a reflection, Aqua within the ice beckoning her with a wide gesture pointing at his prisoner. Az struck out with a massive bolt of pure force, Aqua released his prisoner only a moment before impact. Tramontane took the full brunt of the attack, sprawling to the floor of the tent, coughing blood as black as his soul. Az landed within feet of him and hauled him up with her gauntlets. "Get up you pig!"
********** Jayna advanced on the crew-cut blonde. "This outfit was vintage, you bitch!" Helga stepped to defend herself, balling her fists and mentally measuring the distance between herself and her damaged hammer.
"Bring it on, red." Helga spat, stepping in with a roundhouse intended to rattle the flower child's teeth. To Jayna the muscular blonde was moving in slow motion, and she countered with a left-right-right combination that should crack ribs and leave her opponent fighting to breathe. Helga stumbled from her failed swing and turned, panting, to face Jayna. "I'm going to gut you for that."
"Better than you have tried," Jayna made a half-hearted attempt at straightening her clothing, "and as you can see, failed miserably. But I'll happily teach you a lesson in what it takes to be an Amazon, if you think you're up to it."
********** Tramontane lashed out with his sorcery, succeeding in little more than knocking Azangel back a step and forcing her to release him. He was beginning to tire and his patience, never much to begin with, was wearing exceedingly thin. He needed to be done with this tiresome, winged light bulb so that he could eviscerate that damnable hedge-mage and send his cattle on to their respective new owners (not to mention collect his fee). A simple globe of darkness spell should do the trick he thought to himself and prepared to cast the appropriate spell, inhaling deeply.
Tramontane's timing couldn't have been better, or worse depending on one's perspective. Aquarius picked that exact moment to engulf the mage in a near freezing sphere of water. The shock of the frigid cold combined with a lung full of liquid threw him into a spasm of panicked gagging and destroyed any chance he had of completing the spell.
Azangel peered through her reflection in the silvery sphere of water at the now soaking grotesque. She had always believed that drowning was a horrible way to die, and from the way that Tramontane was reacting to the experience she had to conclude that she had been correct. She also realized that it probably would not be a good thing for her to allow Aquarius to kill the clown no matter what he had been up to. "Um, Aqua..." she stammered. "I think you should let him go." The man in the bubble was reduced to twitching and was turning the most curious shade of blue.
"Your wish is my command." Aquarius said in his bubbly voice as he withdrew and let the more or less unconscious villain fall to the ground.
********** The last thing Helga needed to hear was more taunting from another skinny bitch. She bared her teeth and roared, launching herself at the cocky redhead like a linebacker. At that moment she wanted nothing more than to grind her opponent's smirking face into the straw and the gravel below. She bent herself nearly double and aimed her shoulder at the would-be hippie's midsection. The stupid cow only placed her hands on her hips and waited for the impact. She was inches away from her goal when Jayna hopped to her left and kicked the lumbering woman's foot out from under her. Helga hurtled forward, unable to control her momentum. She landed face down and shoulder first and it was hardly a soft landing, accompanied by a loud thud and a sharp snap followed by a howl. Jayna wasn't certain if the snap indicated a broken or dislocated bone and, truth be told, she didn't really care. She walked quickly over to the prostrate form and placed her foot upon the other woman's neck. "I could kill you right now if I wanted to," Jayna said so only Helga could hear, "but the dead don't learn anything." She untied and removed her braided belt and used it to tie the other woman's hands behind her back, knowing that with her shoulder in its present condition there was little chance of her escaping. Then she went to look for other prey.
********** Angelina Torres barked orders at the blue-suited wave that followed her through the maze of the carnival, fervently hoping against hope that the JSPD wouldn't have to do more than mop up any 'meta' threats. The bunch of wannabe's she had left 'in charge' didn't have a track record and she had no idea what to expect from them. They could all be dead for all she knew and the situation could be worse than what she left when she went to meet her backup. She silently prayed to every J Street deity she could think of that it would not be the case when they got to ground zero, and even more so that the children were still all alive and reasonably well.
The one called Michael was still in the exact same spot that he had stood in when she left and looked no worse off. He appeared to be deep in concentration and she decided it would be better if she didn't disturb him, just in case. There were children streaming from the flap of the tent. Most were slightly disoriented. Many were nearly hysterical. She sent several officers to go and round them up for their own protection. The rest of her men she told to follow her and she set out at a trot toward the tent.
The cavalry arrived, per usual, only moments too late to be of any real help. Torres and her men strode through the flap, she struck the classic 'Dirty Harry' cop pose and yelled "JSPD, freeze!" The words no more than left her mouth and she felt stupid about saying it. The tent was littered with the bodies of fallen carnies in various states of bruised and bloodied disarray. Azangel was untying children and sending them on their way. Jayna, her clothing in tatters, was offering a bottle of water to Aquarius who was wrapped in an errant scrap of blanket. The sickly-looking Goth-boy was leaning up against a tent pole, smiling.
"What are you grinning about?"
"I thought the cops said 'Don't move!' not 'Freeze!'. You sound like you stepped out of a bad movie."
"Everybody's a critic." Torres muttered under her breath.
Chapter 11
David watched silently for a few moments as Lt. Torres gave the group of blue-clothed officers their orders, and then with the help of a couple other officers, started helping Azangel and the newly arrived Michael untie the children. The rest of the JSPD officers began rounding up, and in a couple of instances, picking up and dragging, the criminal-minded carnies away. David smiled again at no one in particular and ducked out of the tent, cutting past the rapidly filling police cruisers, heading across the almost deserted lot.***** "Oh gods, put some clothes on, would you Aqua?" Ciela muttered as Jayna tried to calm another small child down. "Before you give these kids nightmares."
"As soon someone goes and gets them, blondie, they're still outside. How about you go grab them? Admit it, you wouldn't mind checking out what's in my..." A wad of muddy straw cut off Aquarius's comment, smacking into his face. "...pants." He turned to Jayna, slightly annoyed. "She threw mud at me."
"No," Jayna corrected. "She hit you with it." Aquarius frowned at her, trying to clear the mess from his face, and started to speak. "I'll get your clothes in just a minute." Jayna stood, leaving the children and moving closer to Zan, then leaned in close to his ear, so none of the others in the tent could hear. "I've already SEEN what's in your pants so it won't shock me. Unless of course you were wearing something of MINE."
***** David stepped onto the outer edge of the collapsed tent cautiously, quietly. Nothing happened, and nothing continued to happen, as he stepped further across the shredded fabric. He stopped in the center of the circle of canvas and bent down, picking up one of the loose feathers left from Tramontane's crows. He turned it over in his hands, examining it, but it was nothing more spectacular than a dirty, somewhat iridescent black feather. He shrugged his shoulders and dropped it, wondering what had possessed him to return to the collapsed tent. He started back across the empty grounds, intending to return to the tent with the others when something caught his attention.
Vehicles surrounded the tent that housed the children, Jayna, Az, and the others. Not just the police cruisers and remaining 'paddy wagons', but various departmental vehicles had pulled up presumably to remove the children until their parents could be located, and then there were the vans. Two white vans with high-tech equipment on their roofs, mini-satellite dishes, and other unidentifiable objects clustered like cybernetic coral. Tramontane and the carnies were roughly shoved into the awaiting vans, their hands bound with plastic strips rather than handcuffs. Officers marched them one by one past two Special Duty Officers who scanned each prisoner for meta-human abilities, and if necessary, issued tuned inhibitor collars.
***** Aquarius adjusted his jacket and walked over to Lt. Torres. "Not a bad nights work, eh?"
The Lieutenant looked over at him and looked away. "Of course if there's a reward...""If there's a reward we know where to contact you, Zan. So you've got yourself some partners now?" She tried not to look at him.
"Jealous?" He asked.
"You think you're such a charmer. I've got you're number, buster."
"You're still mad that I stood you up?"
"You did not stand me up. We did not have a 'date'. Why don't you go tend to your teammates?" Torres replied, ruffling her papers.
Zan raised his hands in defeat. "Don't get testy, baby, sheesh." Zan backed off, "Besides I'm taken now. Sorry. I'll let you know how it works out though." He turned and walked away.
Torres sighed heavily. "That man." She muttered. Zan had been watching his teammates mugging for the cameras and decided that ribbing Torres was better than having his picture on the nightly news. His anonymity was one of his big selling points. He did wonder, though, if she had shown up at that Bistro all those months ago.
***** "We're going to be on the news." Az told Aquarius as he walked up. "You missed it."
"Lucky me. I'm starving, and dying of thirst."
"Well, I'd like to hit a market near here to grab a couple of things. We can get you something there." Jayna said slipping her hand into his back pocket. "Sound good?"
"Sure, then I can get you home and out of those clothes."
"Play your cards right and you'll get what you want."
"Can you two just settle down for a minute? You see what I put up with?" Az squeezed Mike's arm. "Guys, we just had a major victory here. We saved the youth of J Street."
"Yeah, well, do they really deserve to be saved? All they're gonna do is grow up and... and look like those two clowns." Aqua gestured toward two blonde white youths that walked near them. Both sported goatees, the thinner of the two had his head shaved, the heavier had his hair all spiked out. Both wore gaudy gold jewelry, and the super baggy clothes that were in fashion with the youth subculture. The two glanced over and seemed to ignore Aqua's barb until suddenly one stopped and slapped the other on the chest.
"Clowns! That's IT!"
"What are you talking about J?"
"Clowns man! We'll be clowns. Wicked, evil, serial killer clowns from the ghetto!"
"J. Let me get this straight. You want us to paint our faces up like psycho clowns."
"Yea! Yea!"
"Two white-boy psycho clown rappers from the ghetto?"
"Yea, Shaggy, Yea! We'll make millions!"
"Who the hell's gonna buy that crap? Dammit J. You're crazy."
Chapter 12
Michael decided to drive the bike around to the parking area behind the shop since everyone seemed to prefer entering that way. He had barely brought it to a full stop when Ciela flew off the back and ran squealing toward the stairs that led upwards to the mud room just outside of Jayna's kitchen. "What on earth is the matter with you?" he asked, taking off his helmet and looking toward the house. Upon the landing at the top of the stairway was a large, dark, rectangular object flanked by what appeared to be a man-sized silver statue, or at least it appeared to be until the statue moved. "Sil!" she cried. "Michael, hurry, there's somebody here I want you to meet!"Silver Lantern raised what would have been an eyebrow had he had one. "I was hoping you would still be living here." He said, "and it's good to see you again also." Ciela worked her way between the silver man and the object to unlock the door and slip inside.
"I think you can leave that in here." She indicated an open corner and Sil obliged by encasing the object in a force field and maneuvering it through the door, into the space. She threw her arms around him giving him a quick hug. "It's good to see you again." She whispered, then stepped back when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Michael entered the room and looked at the silver man quizzically.
"What's this?" he asked, coming towards Ciela, "Intergalactic Express Delivery?"
"Hardly." The silver man answered archly, then turned toward Ciela and without missing a beat asked, "Who is this, your chauffeur?"
"All right," Ciela sighed attempting to remain serious, "if you two can't play nice I'll turn you both out." She gestured for Michael to come closer. "Mike, I want you to meet Silver Lantern, one of my former teammates." She slid her arm around Mike's waist and nestled against him. "Sil, this is Michael O'Shea, my...um...boyfriend."
Michael smiled down at her and gave her a squeeze. "That does sound awfully Junior High, doesn't it?" Ciela nodded, wondering what 'junior high' meant.
"So Sil, are you going to be sticking around J Street for a while this trip?"
"I'm afraid not, Az." He answered. "I have pressing business...elsewhere. Do you expect Jayna any time soon?"
"She and Zan should be here any time now, unless they decided to stop to buy more food." She fixed Sil with another mock-serious gaze. "I'm hurt, though. I thought you came to visit me."
Michael disengaged himself from Ciela and took a step in Sil's direction, offering his hand. "Nice to meet you. I hope you didn't take offense at my little joke."
"Not at all." Silver Lantern shook the man's hand firmly. "In spite of the bad press to the contrary, I do have a sense of humor."
"Sort of." Az deadpanned, facing Michael, who just grinned. She smiled quickly at the Oan Protector, who looked long at her. She had changed. Ciela was not acting like herself, he decided. She was bubbly, confident, and very obviously in love with the man at her side. She was not at all the wreck she had been the last time he saw her. Sil looked at her and for the briefest of moments, wondered what might have been.
"Sil? Are you still with us?"
Shocked back to the here and now Sil responded. "Of course, I was just listening."
"He gets like that." She explained as the door opened behind them
"You're pulling my leg, right?" Zan entered first, opening the door for Jayna.
"Not at all, I've got books on the subject. You can look it up." She said gesturing.
"What are you two arguing about now?" Az inquired.
"It's more of a political discussion. I was attempting to explain the Greek occupation of Laconia, circa 900bc." Jay closed the door.
"Ah." Az looked at Mike. "History lessons."
"Fascinating."
"Not to the locals I assure you." Jayna said dumping a grocery sack of lemons into a basket.
"We have company, professor." Az made the introduction.
"Silver Lantern. Hello again."
"Hello Ms. Alexander."
Az looked around the kitchen. "Did you guys bring David back with you?"
"No, haven't seen him. He got there by himself; I suppose he can get himself back. So what brings you here, Sil?" Jay asked, taking off her glasses.
"You have facilities where dangerous artifacts can be stored. Is this correct?" He asked.
"Yes that's right, tired of the ring?"
"Hardly. I have brought an artifact I found at the old JSS base. I have kept it concealed since the destruction of the Hair & Hippo, but I believe that my business will take me off world for some time, and I am not certain that I can keep it from falling into the wrong hands."
"Is it bigger than a bread box?" She asked.
"What is a 'bread box'?"
"Never mind. Where is it?" She asked, putting her glasses back on.
"The Monolith is here." Sil gestured to the black slab that silently stood in her mud-room. "You walked past it. It defies all scans but can be moved safely. It is a portal that opens into other dimensions and worlds. When I first discovered the monolith, the portal changed at regular intervals, but now the change is more random."
"Unstable, marvelous. Some friend." Aquarius mumbled, followed by a sock to the arm from Az. "Ow. What did you hit me for?" Ciela gestured to Sil and Jayna. "Fine. I know when I'm not welcome." Aqua turned and left the kitchen, moving deeper into the house.
Jayna adjusted her glasses on her nose and looked the monolith up and down. "My god, it's full of stars." She muttered.
"If I may comment on our last encounter..."
"I'd rather you didn't, that's still a pretty sore subject around here." Jayna cut him off. "If you can bring this down into the basement I can lock it up down there."
Sil reached out with the Power Oan and lifted the slab. "Where do you want it?"
"Follow me." Jayna led the ring bearer through the kitchen, past Az and Mike, into the shop proper. She then opened the door to her archive and descended the stairs into the basement. "We can put it over here in one of these cabinets."
"A most impressive collection."
"You'd fit in nicely."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Just a little joke." Jayna opened a large cabinet and Sil maneuvered the silver sheathed obelisk inside, and carefully set it down. The silver energy dissipated as Jayna closed and locked the doors. "There, all safe and sound."
"You protect your collection well, my scans are almost totally blocked."
"And you're on the inside." Jayna took his arm to keep him from wandering, and led him back to the stairs. "Most of these things don't take well to being prodded. They bite." Even if that statement wasn't entirely true it was good enough for her contributor. Reaching the top of the stairs she sealed the door again, a door his Oan ring was hard pressed to locate at all. Jayna mentally checked her calendar looking forward to time when she could study the thing herself. "Any specific instructions, care and feeding?"
"No. The Monolith takes well to being ignored. I speculate that the erratic shifts are a result of it being relocated so often recently."
"So I don't have to worry about it following you home like a stray."
"That is unlikely." He replied as they stepped into the kitchen. Az and Mike quickly stepped away from each other. Mike turned away, wiping his face, Az looking like a child who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. The Oan became very uncomfortable, and the void beckoned. "I should be going."
"You just got here. Jayna's a great cook, why don't you stay for dinner." Ciela stepped up to him. He was the last friend she had from the JSS. One of the first people she connected with after the shock of falling out of Thanos' Bag o' Evil.
"Oh wait, I forgot. You don't eat. Maybe you could make an exception."
Sil paused a moment before he spoke again. "I hope that the Monolith, in this environment, will stabilize itself." He said looking down at Azangel. He paused. "It has been good seeing you again, Ciela, but I am a man of the spaceways. The stars call to me. You are looking well, and I will think of you."
Ciela hardened herself lest she make a scene. "Well, you better not forget about us and become a stranger."
"I shall not." He said touching her briefly on the cheek. "I shall return."
********** Ciela and Michael had finally ended their good-byes, and she had gone off to bed. David shuffled in an hour or so later without so much as saying a word. Jayna and Zan sat on the sofa in the parlor, a large book between them, while music drifted softly from the stereo. He sighed heavily and closed the book. "Ok Jay. You passed the test." He sat the book on the table in front of the couch. "I've asked you every question I could think of."
"Now do you believe me?" she asked.
"I believe that you've memorized most of this book. You really know your Classical Greek history." He smiled at her and shook his head. He wasn't buying what she was selling, but it was food for thought. He didn't want to think she was quite that... That she had been around that long.
"All right, I give up. You can lead a horse to water..." she began.
"Yea, yea, yea. Bad pun." They both jumped as the doorbell to the front of the shop rang. "Do you usually get deliveries this time of night?" he asked mock-seriously.
"You know better than that." The bell rang again, and kept ringing. Whoever the obnoxious person was outside was not going to go away. Jayna jumped up and sprinted to the hallway and down the stairs, followed closely by Zan. She reached the door and began unbolting the locks. The door burst open and a corpulent, flame-haired woman wearing far too much makeup burst in.
"Alexandra, I've had far more than enough of this." The woman raised a good-sized animal crate into the air and shoved it in Jayna's direction. "Not one more day, I tell you! Not one more second!" From the box there emanated a spine-chilling growl, as if some minor demon was penned up inside, dying to gain release. "Any favors I ever owed you are paid. Tenfold!"
"Indeed they are, Viviane." Jayna took the container from the other woman and sat it gingerly on the floor. Its occupant let out a noise somewhere between a howl and a scream. "I don't know how I can thank you enough for keeping him." Aquarius stepped back, and willed his form to liquid, to protect him from whatever 'this' was.
"I'll think of something," the woman said with a sour look on her face.
Ciela appeared at the top of the stairs, wrapped in a robe. "Are we under attack?" she asked, sleepily.
"Not yet, dearie," the older woman answered, "not yet."
"What is it?" Aqua asked no one in particular.
"It's nothing. Just an old friend come for a short visit." Jayna lied. "Go back to bed." Ciela nodded and shuffled back the way she had come. "I was going to come and get him in a few days, Viv. I've just finally gotten the place in shape. I couldn't have him here with the place in a shambles."
"I don't know why not, he made a shambles of mine."
Jayna bent down and slipped the catch on the door to the crate and the growling was replaced by an eerie silence. "It's alright. You're home now." For a few moments everything was still as they waited to see what was going to happen. Then they heard another screech as the door to the cage flew open and a large white blur raced into the depths of the shop.
"What the hell was that?" asked Zan, startled.
"What the hell indeed. That, that thing..."
"Was Lucifer, my cat." Jayna answered causing her guest to snort. "I'm surprised you two didn't meet back when you were hanging around the old shop."
"He's a lucky fellow, or at least he was." Viviane mumbled, "Well, I'm going home to get my first good night's sleep in I don't know how long." Without so much as a goodbye she spun on her heel and let herself out the door. Jayna followed and redid all of the locks.
"So, what was that all about? Who was that woman and why didn't you tell me you had a cat?" Zan asked. "Why did she call you Alexandra?"
"Not tonight. It's far too long a story, and I'm getting a splitting headache..."
Epilogue
Michael offered Ciela a glass of wine as she stood looking out over the lights of the city. The only light in his room was a candle that burned. Mike slipped his arm around her waist and caressed her back. "Penny for your thoughts." He whispered just loud enough to be heard over the stereo's soft music."Hmm?" She turned and looked up at him. "I'm being a bad date aren't I."
"No. Do I need to worry about him?"
"Who, Sil?" She laughed softly and sipped her wine. "For a little while there, I thought maybe, but that was a long time ago. Right now." She said turning to face him. "I wouldn't be anywhere else." She lost herself in the music and the kiss. When the kiss ended she turned away, hoping he couldn't read her as easily as she feared. "You said you wanted to draw me again. Want to do that now?" She said walking away from him. She wanted an excuse to put some distance between them before she did something she wasn't quite ready for. Mike had been far more than a gentleman to her, allowing her to set the pace for their relationship.
"I'll get my stuff." He said sipping his wine and setting it down. He retrieved his big sketchpad and his charcoal crayons. She was swaying to the music as he took a barstool and draped a small blanket over it. He adjusted a light to shine on the spot then he walked over to where she was dancing alone. He joined her dance and moved her over to the stool. She sat and he posed her. "How's that? Comfy?"
"This should work." She said as he walked over to the couch and tossed a cushion on the floor. He pulled the coffee table up to him and opened the pad to a blank page. "Mike?"
"Yea?"
"This is just art, right? Just, life drawing?"
"You set the rules Cie, it's just art if that's all you want it to be." He smiled up at her from the floor. Ciela loved the way he smiled.
"OK. Just art." She said, then looking into his eyes she pulled her blouse off over her head and dropped it on the floor beside her. "It's just art." She smiled as he adjusted his collar when her brassiere landed on her blouse.
"You aren't going to make this easy on me, are you?" Michael said with a slight sigh.
"I think I've fallen in love with you."
"Well at least I'm ahead of you there."