Stargazer Gets the Girl
Chapter 23-J The Circle Grows
By Stargazer MD
“How you doing Sheriff?” Maria asked as she put a mug in front of him and filled it with decaf.
Jim, noticing the orange band on top of coffee pot, made his protest know. “Hey, hey. I take high test,,,”
“Not after twelve noon you don't,” Maria teased. “I have my orders. Mom says too much caffeine makes you fidgety.”
Jim wrapped his hands around the mug, taking comfort from its warmth. “In answer to your question, I don't think I've ever felt so old.” But Jim's expression took a turn for the better when he looked up to see Ava entering the restaurant.
“Hey old man,” she said in greeting before kissing him on the cheek. “How ya doing?”
“Ava!” Maria gasped. “He's not an old man,,,”
“I never said he was an old man,” Ava replied defensively, a little bit of her city nature slipping into her voice. But moments later she whispered to Maria, “It just really freaks me out to call him Dad.”
Overhearing Ava's comment, Jim beamed, but his happiness was short-lived as Ava snatched his mug of coffee out of his hand, leaned over the counter, and poured the dark liquid down the sink. I don't see why you bother trying to have coffee in the afternoon. Miss Amy's made it clear that you can't have the real thing, so why bother?”
Jim looked at his empty mug in dismay, but keeping his spirits up he replied to her question. “I'm feeling fine, but more importantly how are you feeling? I haven't seen you since last week, and I've been concerned.”
“Everything turned out okay,” Ava replied cheerfully. “Looks like I'm going to be okay for another year. I can't say the same for Kyle though,” she added with a giggle. “I think he's going to sleep for the next week.”
“See that Maria?” Jim sighed. “There’s that whole old thing again.”
Maria ignored his comment, and instead leaned on the counter, her pad at the ready. She looked at the odd couple and raised her brows expectantly. “You know this is a restaurant, a place where you come to buy food. Then, after you finish your delightful meal, you tip you waitress, a really nice waitress who has a worthless boyfriend that doesn't take care of her. Now, if you don't buy any food, I don't make any money, so tell me you're going to order something, and I not going to have to show up at Michael's apartment tonight hungry, cold, and naked.”
While Ava was shocked at Maria's little speech, Jim was much more used to her. “Well since I can't have you running around town naked, I guess I'll have a Will Smith burger and an order of Saturn rings,,,”
“No fracking way,” Ava protested. “What do you have, a death wish?” Turning her attention to Maria, she thought for a moment and then dictated, “He'll have a grilled chicken sandwich on a multigrain bun. Lettuce, tomato, low-fat mayonnaise, and a tossed salad,,,”
Jim shook his head in disbelief. “Not that I mind all the attention from all of the really fine woman who have found their way into my life recently, but I've been perfectly capable of tying my own shoes for quite some time now,,,”
“Okay then, you can have a milkshake,” Ava relented. “As long as it's low-fat milk.”
“It my day, we had malteds,,,”
“I can do a chocolate malt,” Maria said breezily as she turned and slipped Jim's order onto the cooks wheel before going out onto the main floor to check on her other customers.
Jim turned his attention back to Ava. “You’re sure everything all right?”
“Seriously,” Ava answered. “Listen, I know you've been uneasy with what's been happening this weekend. Let's just go back to doing things the way they were.”
“I'm not naive enough to believe that's really going to happen,” Jim sighed as he ran his hand through his hair.
“Well that's because you’ve spent the last several years believing only what you wanted to believe,” Ava explained quietly. “What I will promise you is that if you can keep telling us to be good kids, to keep our pants buttoned, and to keep our hands off each other,,,”
“And you would obey?” Jim asked in amazement.
“Frack no,” Ava teased. “But I will promise that we won't rub what we do to each other into your face, just the way Kyle was doing before I arrived in Roswell. The way I hear it, before he started dating Liz he had cut quite a swath through the cheerleaders,,,”
“Ava,” Jim sighed, “We're going to have to establish some ground rules about too much information.”
**********
“I don’t believe you’re getting me on another fracking airplane,” Isabel complained as she pushed the Volvo well past the speed limit, trusting her superior eyesight and their Granolith enhanced radar-detector to keep them out of trouble.
Alex reached over and placed a comforting hand on her thigh. “Sweetheart, you’re going to do fine, he said comfortingly without taking his eyes off the laptop. “I have movies, music, your oak hair brush, and my own charming self to entertain you, and remember, this is a night flight. We’ll need to get some sleep on the plane.”
“Asleep?,, You want me to be sound asleep when the end comes?,,”
Alex knew from the sound of her voice that she was need loosing it, a suspicion that was reinforced when she didn’t slap him for his nervous habit of scratching his chest. He needed to change the subject, fast.
“I can’t believe you got us out of school,,,”
“Are you kidding? For a New York City firefighter’s funeral? There wasn’t one teacher in the entire school that didn’t go out of their way to make arrangements for us to have tomorrow (Friday) off. In fact Miss Leigh got so upset when she heard the news about Alex that Mrs. Shaffer had to drive her home.”
“Alex used to spend a lot of time at the school helping with Career Day, and Miss Leigh used her as a roll model for some of the girls she counseled. I also think she secretly had the hots for her,,,”
“Ewww,” Isabel moaned, but she nevertheless started laughing as Alex secretly said a word of apology to Alex for voicing out loud his not unreasonable speculation. But before his wife could recover and slip back into her funk, he started his next distraction. “Tell me about this house we’re looking at.”
“It's on the western edge of Albuquerque, just off Route Sixty-Six, and it's about five miles from both the airport and the University. It's a split ranch, right around two thousand square feet. (185 sq m) The main living area is on the left side of the house, consisting of the kitchen and living room along with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. On the lower level of the right side of the house is the two car garage which is attached to the kitchen. But the reason that Melinda called me is that above the garage is a large master bedroom suite that has been converted into a home office. It was owned by an architect who ran his entire business right out of the house. The way Melinda describes it, it would be perfect for us.”
“And this is on the market now?” Alex challenged. “I would think that it would be gone before we would be ready to buy it.”
“That's the beauty. The architect passed away and right now the house itself is in probate. It won't hit the market for another month or two. Melinda knows Daddy through the Bar Association, and when she found out what I was looking for she gave me a heads up. The architect's estate needs to have it appraised, and we would need to have it inspected. But if we could come to a meeting of the minds on price, we could get the right of first refusal.”
“So you're telling me that we get to look at it, if we like it we could bring our parents out to look at it, and then we would have time to negotiate a loan. All this time we don't have to worry about somebody buying it out from under us?”
“Yeah kewl, cool isn’t it. Aren't you glad you'll wife spent half of her life working for a lawyer?”
The young couple then settled into a comfortable silence, but after a couple of minutes Alex could sense tension through their connection. He looked over to see his beautiful wife chewing her lip in consternation. “Sweetheart, what's wrong/”
“You're not going to want to discuss it,” she answered softly.
“First of all, that's never stopped you before. But even more importantly I hope you don't still think that there something you can't talk to me about.”
“When we get back I want to tell your mother about me,” she blurted out before she lost her nerve.
“When we get back,” Alex replied tenderly, placing a comforting hand on her thigh and sending a sense of calm and love through their connection, “We'll find a way to tell her together.”
“But your father?” Isabel replied nervously.
“Don't worry about Pops,” Alex teased. “I'm going to tell him it was all the your idea. He won't dare say a word.”
**********
(Authors note: Isabel's presence with Alex at the funeral is necessary to make this story arc work. In real life, as a civilian, it would be expected that she would be taken under the wing by one of the other figherfighter’s wives and would not be part of the official ceremony.)
Alex and the six other firefighters from Roswell were given a position of honor at Alex Taylor's funeral. They stood at near attention, two deep, lining the top of the stairway leading to the entrance of St. Patrick's Cathedral in midtown Manhattan. Isabel, dressed in her own self-styled uniform consisting of her black Donna Karan suit worn with a crisp white vee?necked blouse and black cravat, stood behind her husband and rounded out the New Mexico squad.
Alex struggled to maintain his composure as Firefighter Taylor's flag draped coffin was lowered from the hosebed of Engine Five-Five by her shift mate's. The pallbearers marched in place turning their precious cargo until they were able to line her up with the stairs headfirst, the star-studded canton of the flag over her left shoulder.
Alex's mind wandered back to the dream that they had invited Alex Taylor in to, the night when she had been driving the engine that she had been trained on. He remembered the happy look on her face, her eyes bright and so full of life while she was doing what she loved. His sole consolation was the knowledge that she was in a better place where her father and so many of her brothers and sisters were waiting for her.
His attention snapped back to the present where Monsignor Ritchie was at the Lectern reading the Gospel. He had selected a passage from the Book of John Chapter Eleven where Jesus consoled Martha on the death of her brother.
‘I am the resurrection and the life;’ he read.
‘Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’
“Yes, I believe,” Alex answered softly, as the Monsignor closed the Gospel and the assembly was seated.
Mayor Giuliani placed his hands on the arms of his chair and rose wearily as if he carried the weight of the world on the shoulders. He slowly approached the pulpit and as he settled into place he turned and thanked the Monsignor for his kind words. He then began the eulogy by telling a story dating back to when he was a city councilman. He talked about attending the promotion ceremony of a newly minted Fire Captain, and his young daughter. “He was so proud of his daughter, and as I bent down to shake her hand she told me that she was going to be a fireman just like Daddy.” He then elaborated on how Chief Taylor had always kept him apprised of Alex's progress within the department. He was even secretly proud of her struggle for independence, of how she tried to progress within the fire service on her own merit, instead of skating through the ranks as the Chief's daughter.”
The Mayor then spoke intimately to the assemblage, desperately trying to comfort the brave men and woman who'd lost so much these past months. His voice faded into the background as Alex took Isabel's hand in his own, and he opened their connection, drawing calm and comfort from her.
The young couple went through the rest of the ceremony woodenly progressing through the motions as the Mass concluded. They followed Alex out of the cathedral and took their place in the phalanx behind Engine Five-Five as it carried the city's newest hero to her eternal resting place besides her father.
After the interment, Isabel and Alex found themselves at the reception which was held at the Knights of Columbus hall as the number of attendees would have overwhelmed any other venue. They looked and felt out of place, but they were soon approached by Firefighter Derek Kelley and Paramedic ‘Doc’ Parker, both from the Five-Five House.
“When you leave here, don’t go back to the house,” DK implored.
“Go back to your hotel, put on some regular clothes, and go out and see the city,” Doc added.
“It would be a shame if you went home and told your friends that you came here and all you saw was a pile of rubble where a thousand people were still buried and a coffin on the back of a fire truck.”
“We don’t want to be disrespectful,,,” Alex implored.
We know that,” DK replied just as earnestly. “And don’t think we don’t appreciate it.”
“You guys aren’t union, and you’re not even in the fire service,” Doc added, nodding towards Isabel. “You came here on your time, at your own expense, to pay your respects. Don’t think that doesn’t say a lot about you,,,”
“Do you know what they need?” DK interjected.
“I’m afraid to ask,” sighed Doc.
“Lombardi’s pizza, down on Spring St down in Little Italy. They can’t come to New York City for their first time, and not get a pizza.”
“Yea,” Doc agreed. “You guys have got to go over to the Lexington Avenue station, take the Four Train down to the Spring Avenue stop, and you'll be two blocks away from Lombardi's.”
“After you finish there, you've got to go up to Times Square and catch the Gray Line tour of nighttime Manhattan. The best way for the first time to see the city is under the lights.”
**********
Later that night, once settled in their room, Isabel chewed her lower lip nervously as she waited for her husband to finish his shower. She stood by the bed wearing a new red negligee that she had selected from her hope chest especially for this trip. It consisted of little more than a sheer red cape, with spaghetti straps and a single tie below her breasts, along with a tiny panty that tied over both hips.
Isabel debated whether to keep the negligee on, or to hide it in her bag and put Alex’s shirt on. For the first time in her life she could not gauge his mood, let alone how to react to him. While he seemed to enjoy their ride on the top of the double-decker bus tour of Manhattan, she had watched helplessly as he withdrew into himself. She could sense a darkness on his soul, as if the death of his mentor was one more insult to his system than he could stand.
Hearing the water turn off, her anxiety spiked before she took a calming breath and reigned her emotions in. ‘What’s the worse that could happen,’ she asked herself. ‘He could come out and rape me,’ she answered. ‘Well, I’m almost as big as he is, so it’s not as if he could hurt me, well too badly,’ she debated. ‘And it wouldn’t be a rape as I am willing to do whatever he needs of me, so if he needs to vent his rage on me, that’s what I’ll do,,,’ Isabel gasped at the enormity of her thoughts, ‘This is Alex. He’s not going to hurt me, maybe he’ll be extra gentle with me, or maybe I’ll need to take the lead,,,’
But her pondering was cut short as he emerged from the bath wearing just a towel wrapped around his waist. With a blank face that gave nothing away he stepped over to their luggage and without any self-consciousness dropped his towel and pulled on a pair of boxers.
Isabel bit her lip in anticipation as Alex slowly approached her, but her anxiety faded as he took her into his arms, treating her as if she was the most precious and delicate gift he had ever received. She felt his soft touch on her upper arms as he held her in place long enough to place a whisper light kiss on her forehead before guiding her to her side of the already folded down bed. Watching as he picked up the blankets, she rolled onto her back and settled onto the bed, allowing him to tuck her in for the night. She waited anxiously as he walked around the foot of the bed and then climbed in besides her before rolling onto his side face her. Now that she knew what position he chose to sleep in, she could get comfortable. She rolled onto her side and snuggled her back into his front before lifting her top arm so he could wrap his arm around her. She leaned back into him and waited patiently for him to tuck his hand under her breast before she rolled forward, trapping his hand where it belonged, and settled in for the night.
“Izzy?”
“Yea Sweetie?”
“Can we connect?”
“Of course Sweetie. We connect all the time. Why would you ask?”
‘I don't mean like that,” he explained. “I mean like the super connect we did the night we got married,,,”
“Anything you want,” Isabel replied as she twisted her head and kissed his arm. “Just lie back and let me take care of it.”
Within minutes Isabel had opened herself to her husband, joining with him in their collective consciousness. She waited for him to flood in, but when that failed to happen, she went and met him. Seeing that he had no agenda, she decided to create one of their own. She decided that they needed to spend a relaxing day in the park and she called on her family for help.
“Take these out to the car, would you Sweetie?”
‘Damn,’ Alex thought to himself as he picked up picnic basket and cooler. ‘Someone's hungry today,’ but his confusion grew as he walked through the door of the strange house and found a gleaming hybrid SUV-crossover in the driveway.
“Girls,” Isabel called out. “Daddy’s ready to go, let's not keep him waiting.”
Isabel's call was answered by a herd of tiny feet that came clopping into the kitchen. She got down onto her knees as her daughters happily ran into her arms. “Now Girls, Daddy's had a rough week, so I need you to be extra good today, okay?”
Cassiopeia, her oldest daughter with her short dark blond hair and her mother’s brown eyes, nodded solemnly while Andromeda, a year younger with her golden ponytail and glistening blue eyes, smiled mischievously. “If Daddy's having a bad week I should bring my oak brush,” Cassie reasoned. “Daddy always brushes your hair when you have a bad day, and you feel better, so I could brush Daddy’s hair and make him feel better.”
“That's okay Princess,” Isabel answered. “Daddy enjoys brushing our hair for us, not the other way around. You're going to make Daddy feel better just by being there.”
Moments later their dream morphed to the park. Isabel looked over at her husband who had stopped pushing the girls on the swing set and was now on his hands and knees in the soft grass while Cassie and Andy played jungle Alex. She had never seen Alex so happy and the girls were laughing so hard she thought that they would have trouble breathing. Cassie and Andy attacked their farther, each grabbing one of his wrist in their little hands and pulling. Alex, who would do anything for as little girl's, fell onto the ground feinting defeat, but as the girls took advantage of their prisoner another figure appeared and joined the party.
“Mind if I join in?” Alex Taylor asked. She was dressed for a day in the park, wearing a simple white T-shirt over a pair of jean cutoffs. Moments later she too was on her back as the girls gave their father a chance to catch his breath while they subdued their latest victim. Alex T. proved to be less of a pushover then their father. She scooped the girls up into her arms and mounted her own tickle attack.
Isabel was distracted from the play as she found a fussy Orion nestled in her lap. She became panicked, not knowing what to do with the crying infant, but her anxiety turned to shock as her motherly instincts took over and she casually tossed a towel over her shoulder, unbuttoned her blouse, unsnapped her bra, and lifted ‘Rion to nurse. Isabel could not believe the sense of calm that swept over her as she fulfilled the simple function, a function as old as time itself. Her world contracted until it was just the two of them, her brown eyes locked on his blue, while he sucked hungrily at her breast.
Soon the girls had worn out the adults and run off to climb on the monkey bar, Alex and Alex T. following slowly behind them. “This is why we do it Alex. For them. Everything we do, all of the smoke, dirt, and misery we face every day, is just so that we can make a world a better place for them.” Alex T. turned so that she was facing Alex directly and took his hands in her own. “Remember me like this. A beautiful day watching children at play, making sure they know they are loved.” She let go of his hands, and as she turned to walk away she added, “I will always be watching over them, and I will always make sure that they are safe.”
Alex turned back to his wife, who was settling ‘Rion into his stroller. He called over to the girls that it was time to leave, and taking their hands into each one of his, he gathered up his family, ready for the journey into the future, with no regrets.
Alex awoke to find Isabel standing in front of the window looking down at the lights of the city. He stealthily crept up behind her, but was not surprised that she could sense his presence before he was able to wrap his arms around her. He rested his chin on her shoulder as he pulled her tightly back against his hard chest. “Thank you for that dream,” he whispered.
“I don't know where that came from,” she replied softly.
“It came from here,” he answered, brushing his hand over her heart as he kissed her special spot under her ear.
“How could I dream walk her?,,” Isabel nearly choked out, her voice belying her fear.
“That wasn't a dream walk,” he answered reassuringly. “Did you see the scar on Alex's arm?”
“No,,,”
“Maria got that scar when she was ten years old. She fell off Liz's fire escape and landed on the dumpster. The Alex in your dream came from your sub-conscious. She had Alex's face, Maria's body, and Thumpers legs. By the way, I could've done without that visual of Thumpers legs,,,”
“You liked that, hugh?” Isabel teased. “Best legs in West Roswell High.”
“Second best.”
“Second best?” Isabel asked in confusion. “The whole school says she's got the best,,,”
“Every other woman can only hope to be second best when compared to you,” Alex confirmed as he started to caress his way down her body. He ran his hands down the front of her thighs, and when his arms were fully extended, he slowly teased his way back up the insides. As his wife became putty in his hands, he pulled the ties over hips, allowing her brief panty to flutter to the floor, but her rapture turned to panic as he next untied her gown and slipped the shoulder straps down her arms.
“Alex! The window!”
“Relax,” he whispered, his mouth so close she could feel his breath on her ear, “We’re thirty-two floors up. No one can see us.”
Isabel’s protest died on her lips as Alex stoked her fires higher and higher as his hands roamed her body. “I know you better than yourself, he teased. “I know that you can’t imagine being away from home with me for the weekend without making love,” he teased.
Isabel moaned and leaned back, melting into him as he continued his seduction. “No, open your eyes. Look out the window,” he commanded as he ground Fred into her backside and brought her over her first peak with his hands. “This is our world. You’re my alien Goddess, and I want to give you all this,,,”
“I've got everything I need right here,” taking him in her hand as she regained her breath. She started to lead him to the bed, but Alex stopped her.
“No, right here,” he panted, as he pushed her back against the window as Fred rubbed through her curls and he cupped her ass.
“Standing?” Isabel gasped. “I'm not one of your girlfriends, I'm almost twice their size,,,”
“So,,, help,” Alex commanded. “Wrap your arms around my neck and hang on.”
Isabel did just that, and as Fred found his place she wrapped her legs around his hips as well. She imagined what they looked like from the outside, her back and ass plastered against the glass, and with this thought in mind she was well on her way through her second peak.
Alex was very pleased with himself, that he could bring his wife so much pleasure, but is his own approached he knew it was time to open their connection. It exploded to life and his breath caught in his throat as he was once again awestruck with the knowledge of how much she loved him. He felt her teeth bite into his shoulder as her nails raked his back, pushing him over the edge, but before that happened he felt her strong arms and legs turn to jelly.
“You dropped me!” Isabel screamed.
Alex need of a moment of recovery before he was able to focus on a very angry wife sitting on the floor with her legs wrapped around his ankles while she rubbed her ass.
“I can't believe you fracking dropped me,” she repeated, her voice rapidly changing from shock to amusement.
“Dropped you?” he exclaimed. “I didn't drop you! You let go, and you're practically tore Fred out by the roots in doing so,,,”
“Poor, poor, Fred,” Isabel teased as she squirmed upright with her back to the glass while she reached for his ass and pulled him closer. “Don’t worry, Mama will kiss you and make everything feel better.”
Alex honestly wanted to admonish Isabel, warning her that she should never say the word Mama when they were nekkid, but before he could form the words, something happened that drove all conscious thoughts from his mind.
**********
After a hearty breakfast of sausage and biscuits, and saying good-by to Paramedic Kim Zambrano and the rest of the watch, Alex and Isabel left the Five-Five house with plans to see New York from the top of the Empire State Building before heading to the airport for their flight home. After a brief stop at a Starbucks, where Isabel stunned a barista by ordering a grande espresso, they walked past the nearest subway stop needing to walk another three blocks before descending into a ‘N line’ station.
“You think that girl never served an espresso before,” Isabel complained.
“You have to admit Izzy, espressos usually come in these little tiny cups. You have enough caffeine in your hand to keep half the city up all night.”
She turned to face her husband, giving him the eyebrow of disapproval, before she realized that he was teasing her. “I can taste it,” she said softly. “Do you know how many unadulterated human foods I can taste? Damned few,” she answered as the train screeched into the station. Being an early Sunday morning, the subway car was almost empty, save the young couple and a several men who were waiting behind them of the platform. Several stops later the three men got up and approached Isabel. “This is your stop,” the leader said under his breath.
“We've got a little way to go yet,” Alex replied as he stood and wedged his way between Isabel and the new arrivals. “But thank you for your concern,,,”
“Nicholas said you were a wise ass,” the largest of the men taunted. “You can either come with us, or we'll do you right now, but the Princess here has an appointment to keep.”
It took over an hour, and three transfers, but eventually the group wound up in an abandoned warehouse in a rundown industrial part of the Bronx. One of the skins used his powers to open the warehouse door, and they rode a rickety freight elevator up to the top floor.
“Isabel,” Nicolas taunted. “You don't call, you don't write, not even an e-mail. If I didn't know better I’d think you were avoiding me.”
“I haven't been avoiding you,” Isabel replied confidently. “In fact ever since meeting you at Copper Summit I've been dying to ask you one question. How did a kid who hasn't been able to graduate from the eighth grade for the last forty years ever get put in charge?”
“Interesting choice of words Vilandra, dying, since I'm going to make your,,, human friend, suffer before I kill him,” Nicholas cackled. “But since he's going to pay the price I'll tell you. I didn't come to this fracking mudball in this fracking husk. I am the Herzog of this ill fated expedition, and as such I was entitled to one of the first husk of the production line. It was a magnificent husk befitting my station in life, but it was also defective. Five years after I arrived our last ship delivered the final group of pioneers, our servants. They were equipped with new and improve husks, a necessary innovation since three of the husk of my original group had already failed. These new husks emulated human teenagers, a perfect disguise for our servants as no one here pays attention to worthless kids unless they need someone to fetch them a cold one from the refrigerator. Now I could not just sit around and wait for my husk to fail. I was much too important to the mission to allow that to happen to me, so one of the new arrivals gave me his husk,,,”
“So this guy just voluntarily gave you his husk?” Isabel said in disbelief. “What happened to him?”
“I never said anything about voluntarily,” Nicolas hissed. “And as far as what happened to him, who cares?”
“Well I’m glad you shared that with me,” Isabel said in a deceptively calm voice. “It’s going to make what I have to do a whole lot easier.”
“And what’s that?” Nicholas asked in a voice that showed how little he cared about what she had to say.
“Kill you.”
“Kill me Vilandra? Do you expect me believe that you’re going to get your perfectly manicured hands dirty? Besides we outnumber you four to one.”
“That may be true, but you’re going to go first.”
“Ewww, Vilandra. I’m so scared.”
“You know Nicholas,” interrupted Alex, who up until now had kept a low profile. “I wouldn’t keep calling her that, you’re going to piss her off.”
“If I wanted any lip from a fracking human, I’d rip it from your ugly face,” Nicholas spat contemptuously as he lazily raised his hand to sent a blast Alex’s way, but Isabel fired first.
Isabel’s shot was strong and true, and came completely without warning. Nicholas’ shield barely protected him, and in fact if it wasn’t automatically triggered by his ‘fight or flight’ instinct, he could not have raised it in time. Nevertheless, Isabel’s attack knocked him flat on his back and knocked the wind out of him.
The other skins, dismayed at seeing their leader struck down so easily, started raining blast after blast on Isabel, who absorbed their best efforts, seemingly without effect, while she slowly and methodically traversed her arm dispatching Nicholas’ minions with single shots. By the time Nicholas had recovered enough to return fire, the air was filled with flakes of skin, riding on the mini heat thermals caused by the rapid discharges of energy.
With the rest of the skins dusted, Isabel and Nicholas squared off against each other and started exchanging blast. These were not the panic snapshots that the skins have been able to fire, they were massively powerful blast available only to the masters of their races. Nicholas slowed his rate of fire allowing a larger charge to build before reach shot, hoping that a more powerful blast would have an effect on his opponent. Isabel meanwhile pounded away at his shield, weakening it with every shot.
Nicolas knew he couldn't take much more, so he raised his arms in surrender. “I didn't believe the mullet head when he said you had a new type of shield, but it looks like we have a standoff here,,,”
“Standoff?” Isabel taunted. “For the sake of my family, I can keep going all day,”
“You may be able to, but he can't,” Nicolas hissed as he fired a blast at Alex, striking him square in the torso.
Alex glanced down to the center of his chest before looking Nicholas in the eye. “Ooops! Bet you weren’t expecting that,” he taunted as a anger red charge began to grow on his outstretched hand. “This one’s for Andromeda,” he exclaimed as he released his shot.
Nicholas’ raised his still substantial shield, only to find it ineffective against this new threat. Alex’s hot ball passed through his shield as if it wasn’t there and struck him just to the left of the center of his chest. Nicholas let loose an inhuman scream as his husk started to sear under an overload of thermal energy, but he still heard Alex’s cry, “And this one is for Cassiopeia.” Alex’s cold ball struck next, and like a hot glass filled with freezing cold water, Nicholas’ husk shattered.
Isabel ran to her husband and took him into her arms, but was shocked as he pushed her away. “Are you all right? “Did anything get through the vest?”
“No, I’m fine. Everything went just as we planned,” she replied opening their connection to both reassure him that she was all right and to check him for injuries.
“We've got to get out of here,” Alex declared as he looked around the room for any intimidating evidence. “Not only do we have to get out of here in case somebody heard something and called the police, but we got a plane to catch.”
Isabel used her photographic memory to bring up a New York City subway map, and she found the name of the subway stop that the skins have brought them to. “We’re three transfers away from the hotel and our bags. Then we’re at least two transfers away from the airport. We'll never make it.”
“Let me have access to the guidebook I gave you,” Alex asked as he opened their connection. Moments later he confidently replied, “We can make it, but we won't be able to use the subway at all. We'll have to take a cab to the hotel, and then a cab to the Southside Seaport.”
Isabel closed the warehouse door behind her, using her powers to fuse it in place in order to slow down any investigation, no matter how unlikely. “We don't have the money for a cab fare to midtown Manhattan.”
Alex dug into his pocket and pulled out a couple of singles. “Here, turn these into twenties. That should be enough to carry us until we reach a place where we can use a credit card.”
“I'm not doing that,” Isabel protested. “That's counterfeiting. This country has been very good to me, and I am not going to cheat it.”
“Fine,” Alex moaned. “When we get back to Roswell you can take some real twenties and turn them into singles, but in the meantime we need cab fare.”
By this time they had reached a main thoroughfare. Alex, realizing that most cabbies were men, allowed Isabel to step off the curb and flag one down. Moments later, while a yellow cab cut across three lanes of traffic and screeched to a stop in front of her, Isabel turned to ask her husband one last question. “Why are we going to the Southside Seaport instead of the airport?”
“Actually,” Alex replied guiltily, “We’re not go into the Southside Seaport, we’re going right next door to the Downtown Heliport,,,”
“Heliport?” Isabel gasped. “I'm scared to death of airplanes and you taken me up in a fracking helicopter? A fracking little glass bubble with no wings and a big propeller held on by a single nut?” She climbed into the cab, and as she slid across the seat to make room for him she continued her tirade, “I had to be fracking nuts to marry you. Ever since I said my vow's all you've been trying to do is get me onto fracking airplanes. First big airplanes, and now a fracking helicopter. I swear you’re try to kill me,,,”
The cabbie looked back at Alex with a smile on his face. “Where to chief?”
“The Times Square Hampton Inn,,,”
“And you know why they call it a Jesus nut? Because when the Jesus nut falls off there is nothing else holding the main rotor on and it's just like a Road Runner cartoon. The main rotor keeps turning while the helicopter drops like a stone. All that's left is this little,,, mushroom cloud of dust. I married you so I could be turned into a little mushroom cloud of dust by a fracking fifty cent Jesus nut,,,”
“Eighth Avenue and West Fifty-Ninth Street,” Alex instructed over Isabel's continued complaining.
Taking note of the couple's young age the cabbie couldn't help muttering under his breath, “She may be a looker, but man you have no idea what you've got yourself in for.”
**********
“What’s that label?” Isabel asked with panic in her voice, noticing a bright red tag on the handle of their garment bag. “This parcel was opened and hand inspected by LaGuardia Airport Security,” she read out loud. “I told you they would find out about our vests.”
“Izzy, it’s not a problem,” Alex said calmly as he took the bag from her hand. If it was, they never would have let us get all the way to Albuquerque before saying anything to us.” He walked over to a bench and casually zipped it open, lifting a printed sheet from the top of his uniform jacket. “See? Here’s Jim’s letter. They read it and everything’s okay.” Alex returned the document, a sheet of Roswell Sheriff’s Department letterhead containing a single paragraph explaining that as representatives of the city they were required to wear the protective garments as part of their uniforms. “See? Everything’s fine,” he said reassuringly.
His confidence evoked a shy smile from his wife. “Thank God and the Granolith we had them.”
Several hours later it was Alex's turn to panic as he looked down at his PDA.
“What is it, Sweetie?”
“It’s an e-mail from the Granolith. ‘Welcome home Isabel. Royal Four Square. Sister of Zan. Keeper of the Royal Seal of Antar. First in line of succession to the throne of Antar Prime and the Antarian Planetary Cluster. Wife of Alex. Welcome home Alex. Interface with the Granolith. Husband of Isabel,,,”
“That’s nice.”
“Yea,” Alex agreed. ‘But how the hell did it know?’ he added silently.
**********
Across town a cell phone rang. The bearer took it out and looked at the text message, ‘Welcome home Isabel,,,’
TBC
Photo links:
Firefighter Alex Taylor, Alex’s rescuer when he was shot at the Kettle’s
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/S ... Taylor.jpg
Isabel’s Floating Heart, a gift from Alex after Prom
http://www.kheigl.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi? ... t/kh34.jpg
Courtesy Khegil.com
Isabel’s Earrings, Alex’s present for her Eighteenth birthday.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/S ... arings.jpg
Isabel’s Engagement Ring
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/S ... sring2.jpg
that should be very interesting...wonder if Ava and Kyle will be following :D 
) and finally after 3 years it's coming 
: 
was she in New York?
