Twice the Trouble


All recognizable characters, setting etc. are the property of their respective owners. All original characters and plots are the property of the author. No copyright infringement is intended.


For those of you who haven't read about the characters of Percy and Rebecca, I suggest you go to my profile page and read their stories. It will help you see how they have been involved in Adam and Alissa's lives and caused a little trouble along the way.


CHAPTER 1

The sky was a brilliant shade of blue today with an occasional cloud drifting by, and the gentle breeze was starting to become cooler now as autumn was lying in wait just around the corner and very soon would be ushering in the cooler days. But Adam Cartwright barely even noticed the coolness of the breeze as he lay peacefully on a patchwork quilt with a satisfied smile lingering on his handsome face. Every once in a while he would feel a small tickling sensation on his nose and would slowly brush it away, until finally he opened his captivating eyes and looked up into the delightful face of his smiling fiancée. Alissa was leaning over Adam holding a small feather in her hand trying to hold back her laughter as she casually tormented him.

"So you are the one who is keeping me from my dreams. That is such a shame as they were such wicked dreams for sure."

Adam laughed as he reached up and pulled Alissa into his arms and quickly rolled her over so he was looking down at her playful grin.

"Because you are being such a mischievous girl, I guess I will have to think of something I can do to repay you. Let's see, what shall it be… three kisses or maybe four?"

Adam slowly lowered his head until he was only inches away from Alissa's sweet tempting lips and then he grinned smugly and suddenly pulled back.

"Nope, for taunting your lord and master… it should be no kisses at all I think!"

Then he sat up and turned his back on Alissa waiting to see what she would do next.

"My lord and master? I think not, you handsome devil you. So you think you can keep your sweet kisses from me, do you? Well, my fine over confident man…we will see about that!"

Alissa slowly got up on her knees and started tickling Adam on his sides. She was one of the very few people who knew that was where Adam was the most ticklish. Little Joe had given her that little bit of information a while back when she had asked him what was the one thing she could do to get back at Adam whenever he teased her. As Adam started laughing and trying to grab hold of Alissa's hands she could see that Joe was right with the information he had shared.

Adam was laughing so hard that he wasn't doing a very good job of keeping her from tickling him. And every time he tried to grab her hands, she would quickly move around to another area before he could get a good hold of her. Finally, when he had quite enough he let out a frustrated growl. This startled Alissa just long enough for Adam to quickly move and easily get hold of her hands, and then he easily rolled her onto her back.

As he pinned Alissa's hands away from her sides he grinned down at her and said triumphantly, "Do you surrender, my little captive?"

A very sly smile appeared on Ali's face as she looked up into his eyes. Then she slowly brought up her knee and placed it right on Adam's lower area as the expression on his face quickly changed to surprise.

"You know, Adam, if I put a little force into my next move, you may be singing in a rather high voice for a while."

Adam's eyes widened as he asked nervously, "Where did you learn how to do something like that?"

"Oh, I learned this and a few other tricks from my self defense class," Ali said smugly, as Adam let her go and sat back up.

"Your what class?" Adam asked, as he sat there looking puzzled.

Ali grinned as she started to play with a button on Adam's shirt.

"Oh, it is just a class I took on how to defend myself if I am ever being attacked by someone. Kind of came in handy, didn't it?" she scoffed, as she looked at Adam and winked.

Adam shook his head and smiled as he put his hands on Ali's shoulders.

"You certainly never cease to amaze me with what you say or do Alissa. But then that is what makes me love you all the more... I never know what new things are going to happen next."

Adam slowly pulled Alissa towards him until their lips where barely touching as he whispered, "Now if I kiss you, you won't try any of those self defense moves again will you?"

"Not if it means that I can get a kiss from my fine looking man. I think you will be safe for now."

Ali grinned wickedly, "But, you better hurry and kiss me because I don't know how much longer I can wait."

Adam didn't hesitate to pull her into the warmth of his strong embrace and kiss her slowly and passionately until she felt her body tremble from the intensity of his kiss.

"There, was that quick enough, sweetheart?" Adam grinned, as he pulled back from her with his hazel eyes twinkling.

"It will do just fine, Mr. Cartwright," Ali said breathlessly, as she reached over and lovingly tucked a lock of hair back in place that had fallen on his forehead.

"I am glad because it will have to hold you for now. We need to talk about our engagement party coming up next week. You know there will be some new people there that you've never met. Will that bother you?"

Ali shrugged as she responded half-heartedly, "No, not really. The only thing that bothers me now is Percy. I know he has been well behaved for the most part lately, but I am still not sure if he will try and cause some more trouble for us. Since his parents had to lengthen their stay in Frisco, I know he wasn't real happy with having to stay another month. I do realize he has changed a lot since his little escapade when he ran away, but I still think a part of him resents you for giving him that tanning, even though it has been a while."

Adam reached over and picked a lone wild flower that was gently swaying in the soft breeze and carefully placed it behind Alissa's ear. He smiled as he let his hand linger lovingly on her cheek a moment longer as he gently caressed it.

"I love looking into your eyes, Alissa. They are such a dark color of green that they remind me of an emerald stone the way they sparkle and shine. A person could get lost gazing into those pools of green. Of course they also have a hint of mischievousness behind them too that always makes me smile!"

As a dimpled grin slowly appeared on his devilishly handsome face, Adam leaned forward and tenderly placed his other hand on her cheek so that her face was between his hands as he drew her to his waiting lips. The kiss they shared was deep and intense and Alissa wanted it to go on forever as she continued to kiss his warm and inviting mouth. But Adam eventually pulled away and sat back with a reluctant sigh.

"I think we need to talk some more or I won't be responsible for my actions. All I can think about when I am with you is how much I want to hold you in my arms and make you mine, my love. I will be very glad when we are married."

Adam leaned over and lightly kissed the tip of Alissa's nose before he begrudgingly stood up and walked over to the tree they had been under and casually leaned against it.

A cheeky grin pulled at the corners of Ali's mouth as she pouted, "Very well, Adam, but I sure have some mighty fine kisses still waiting for you."

Then she winked and tossed her hair over her shoulder provocatively.

"It is very tempting, sweetheart, but let's get back to talking about Percy, shall we?"

Giving Adam a saucy grin Alissa carefully reached up and took the flower from behind her ear, then slowly inhaled the fragrance of the tiny flower as she looked at Adam flirtatiously.

"Very well, if we must."

"Yes, we must and stop looking at me like that. Now don't you worry, sweetheart…I can handle Percy. And he knows I won't put up with any of his antics, so everything will be fine."

"Yes, I know you can handle Percy and so does he. But he may take the risk just to get back at you. Once he has caused trouble for us, it can't be undone. I just want this party to be so special, Adam. After what happened to you before we were able to have our last engagement party, I really want this one to be perfect and go off without any problems."

Ali stood up and walked over to where Adam was leaning against the tree. She stood on her tiptoes as she playfully put her arms around his neck and started to gently caress his ear.

"After all, I want all those beautiful women from Virginia City to know that you are spoken for now! And I don't want anyone or anything to spoil our party."

As Adam pulled Alissa into his arms once again he murmured just before he captured her mouth in a delightfully long kiss, "Everything will be fine, my love. Nothing is going to spoil this moment for us. It will be perfect…just like our love."

Suddenly Adam felt something hit him on the back of his shoulder.

"Ouch! What was that?"

A boy of about ten came running over and started to pick up a ball that had landed on the ground by Adam and Alissa's feet. Adam beat him to it and was staring down at the boy as he tossed the ball up and down in his hand. The young boy looked up at Adam nervously as he watched a frown slowly forming on Adam's face.

"Gee, Mr. Cartwright, I am so sorry that my ball hit you. Percy threw the ball so high over my head that I couldn't catch it."

About this time Percy came meandering over with a look of pure innocence.

"Hi, Mr. Cartwright, did our ball come over in this direction?"

Percy watched as Adam kept bouncing the ball in his hand, all the while scowling at Percy.

"Oh, I see you found our ball. May we have it back now? I want to get back to our game."

"Well, well, Percy, I didn't know you could throw a ball this far. You definitely are getting better. But next time you need to be a little more careful where you throw it…you hit me in the shoulder."

As Percy's eyes widened in fake concern he declared, "I am so sorry, Mr. Cartwright. Now, can we have the ball back? I will definitely try to be more careful next time."

Adam eyed him warily as he spoke, "See that you do, Percy!"

Adam handed Percy his ball back and both boys took off running towards the rest of the people from the church picnic. Adam and Alissa had come down to this rather secluded area in hopes of being alone, and they were until Percy and his friend had interrupted the happy couple. Bending over Adam picked up the quilt and started to fold it carefully.

"I guess it is time to get back to the rest of the folks at the picnic. But it sure was fun being alone while it lasted, wasn't it?"

Adam grinned and gave Ali a quick kiss on her lips as he noticed that she looked rather annoyed as she helped him fold the quilt.

"What's wrong, Alissa?"

"Oh Adam, you know perfectly well that Percy did that on purpose. Why didn't you do something?"

"I don't know that he did it on purpose. And besides, what would you have me do…keep his ball? I think you are looking for problems where there aren't any this time."

Adam put his arm around Alissa as they started walking back to the rest of the group.

"Now stop your worrying. Everything is going to be fine for the party."

"I hope you are right, Adam. But I just keep getting this feeling that something is going to happen to spoil our day."

And Ali's feeling wasn't far from wrong as the first of many problems to come was announced at breakfast two days later.

TBC