Tess Harding sat at one of the makeup tables in the City Lights Men's Club. It was eight at night and she was getting set up for the late night shift at the club. It was her least favorite time to work- when the sleaziest guys tended to show up. She shivered, thinking of the heavyset man in his sixties who had wanted her to call him 'Cowboy' last week. Some of the men she had to handle were sketchy, sure, but the job paid for Tess's life- a small Colorado apartment, out of the ways of any FBI agents who could hunt her down, and a babysitter for Zan for when she was working. She was kept safe from prying eyes, and no one would take a second glance at an eighteen-year-old girl with a baby at home that worked at a strip club at night.
It had been five months since Tess had left on the Granolith, pregnant and alone. The ship was supposed to have brought her back to her home planet, where she could safely have Zan, but had instead crash-landed in the middle of nowhere, Colorado. It had taken a month for her to have her son, with alien DNA accelerating the pregnancy, living off of whatever he could find, and another month before she'd found City Lights and gotten a life for her and Zan. The club was in Colorado Springs, and didn't ask questions about her background. Sure, it was dirty work- she spent long nights on a pole, wearing scandalous clothing and seeing men paying to watch her, but it pulled in a lot more money than she had gotten at other cheap jobs and wasn't too bad.
Tess slipped on the clothing she had been tossed when she first walked in- a black bustier, thong, and cheap-looking fishnets. The entire ensemble was uncomfortable and made her feel dirty, like a whore, but the looks she would get from men while wearing the contraption let her know it didn't look too bad. She slipped on the heels that went with it- high, chunky, platform heels that she could easily break her ankles on if she wasn't careful- and stepped to the long mirror in the dressing room.
She had only done this job for need of money and this was what she had been trained to do. Tess had to keep reminding herself of that- she wasn't some floosy girl who had thrown away her life, she was here because of Max and Liz and Nasedo, and had been taught how to seduce and kill as the only things that mattered, and the second was illegal. She readjusted the straps of her bustier, making sure that her cleavage spilled out in the cheap way the men who came seemed to like, and strutted out of the room, taking on the persona of the woman who danced up on stage for men in the club.
"Lacey Anderson, ladies and gentleman!" Boomed the loud voice of Mr. Hollendale, the owner of the club. He was a strange man- Tess knew behind closed doors he was screwing most of the other girls who worked at City Lights, the girls only doing so to get more money out of him, but she refused to stoop that low. Still, she marched out to the persona of Lacey- Tess had made her up, using Lacey as a stage name to keep men from stalking her outside of the club, strutting around wickedly and rocking her hips back and forth, giving all the men in the club an eyeful of her legs and ass, showcased almost entirely in the thong. Not too many of the men, even regulars, had showed up yet. It was early at night. She took to the pole on the far right, her usual spot, and began what was most of the time standard work at the club when it was quiet- lazy spins on the bar, slow moving and sultry, keeping up the look she was supposed to.
This went on for a while- it always did- and Tess had fallen into a motion with it. Most nights, attention in the club went to other girls, the ones who were put front and center in the club, usually because they were sleeping with the boss. It had been a few hours since she had started that night when he had walked in.
Tess was a little curious as to exactly what he was doing in the club. She didn't know the man who had entered, but he wasn't the type to go to strip joints. No, this man looked like the type to have a better moral code than that. His hair was whispy, almost graying, around his shoulders, and the bottom half of his face was covered in scratchy stubble. He wore a clean white button down shirt, black belt, and jeans. Most of the patrons at the club were the type that wore plaid shirts and trousers, clothing that a husband would wear- most of them were married men who weren't getting it from their wives and came to the club instead.
The man sat at one of the empty tables in the club, looking bothered and looking around, like he was looking for something. She kept up her dance, spinning around the pole and curling her legs up, head thrown back to let the dark lights of the club dance off her blonde curls. When she looked back, he was staring at her intently. His look was a look of lust; eyes taking long looks at her legs and all of her bared skin, and a look of real interest, something more intense and powerful than her body.
As she watched, one of the waitresses, Ruby, came to his side and spoke in the man's ear. He nodded, saying something, and Ruby nodded in return. The two spoke for another minute, followed by him pointing in her direction. Ruby looked at Tess, nodding quickly and saying something else before scurrying off. She came around to where Tess was quickly.
"The guy at table ten asked for you specifically." She whispered, barely heard over the music playing in the club. Tess looked out to ten; to see that it was the man she had thought was sitting there. She nodded to Ruby, who scurried away, coming back to ten with a drink in hand for him. Tess watched as the man took a drink, before she turned away from the men watching her to step off the pedestal to strut her way to his table, in the far back of the room. Going to him, she was able to make out more details on the man- the aged lines on his face, his calculating eyes, and lean body. He was oddly attractive, and Tess had lost most of her sense of attraction to others. She had been trained to not care about humans at all- there hadn't been anyone in a long time to be interested in.
Tess stepped to the table, hands on her hips to look at him. The man's eyes were intense, staring at her. He seemed to be taking in her physically and mentally- his eyes were blown to dark pupils looking at her, but there was still a scrutinizing and cynical look there, too. It was like he was trying to solve her like a puzzle and figure her out. "Nicholas Rush." He sighed, glancing up and down over her once more before dropping money on the table. Taking a glance, Tess saw that the bills he had dropped were all twenties, giving her eighty dollars for whatever he would be getting tonight, more than Tess had ever been offered for a more private show. She tucked the money into the waistband of her thong, unsure of what he wanted of her but knowing that that money could give her and Zan a good week's worth of food, spent correctly. He nodded to her, and Tess took the hint to start the seduction she called her work.
She began by straddling his lap, pushing the man- Nicholas, her mind supplied the name she had only just heard- down so that his back was flat against the back of his chair and running her hands into his hair, tugging on the thin strands. She couldn't determine his age- possibly mid or late 40s, if his graying hair and lined eyes could say anything about that, but she wasn't sure. Tess kept her eyes locked on his, pursing her lips in a manner that spoke of a man's dirtiest fantasies, grinding her body against his and teasing her hands over his chest. She watched him swallow, smiling gently at the action.
"W-w-w-what's your name?" He stuttered out, shocking Tess out of her mindset. She could feel him, hardening fast against her backside, but Tess knew that Nicholas had spoken to her, asking questions. That wasn't expected- men, unless they were untrustworthy or dangerous, didn't ask questions of the women who came to them, not here. She rocked back against him in response, eyes locked on his and finding Nicholas's eyes a warm chocolate brown that she liked.
She leaned forward, pressing her warm curves against his chest, to whisper in his ear seductively, "You can call me anything you want." She punctuated the last word with a rough move against him, feeling the man underneath her shift uncomfortably, his cock hard from her ministrations. Her fingers fiddled playfully with the buttons of his shirt.
"Your real name." He said hoarsely. Tess hadn't expected that- if he was some creep, he wouldn't have been so obvious, nor so cleanly dressed, and would have smelled like pot and alleyways instead of coffee and cigarettes. She stilled in her movements, breasts pressed against his chest and straddling his hips.
"It's Tess." She said, seriously now. The look in his eyes was intense, though glazed over from lust, and his hands had fallen to her hips, gripping tightly like he didn't want her to pull away. She moved slowly now, her motions more planned and thought out than a simple dance for him.
"I work at the Stargate Program and I think-" His voice cracked on think when she put pressure against his hardness, and Tess smirked. She moved back and forth on his cock, thin black fabric and denim separating him from touching her and hearing him growl feeling her, hands tightening almost painfully at her hips. "We think that you're the woman who has been suspected of-" He choked on that word when she gyrated her hips towards him, head falling back and baring her throat in a way that, with her training in the art of seduction, made her look overcome with pleasure the same way he was. She could feel him moving with her, despite the fact that he was trying to say something, but Tess knew that she was driving him mad. He swallowed, trying to concentrate, and looking back at her. "Alien activity." He finished, panting. His hands were gripping her hips hard to hold her in place from moving, and Tess froze, meeting his eyes with a cold and stony look.
She had flown under the radar perfectly. The granolith had been destroyed in the crash and Zan was completely human, she had even created fake records for him and stored them in databases across the country. She rarely ever used her powers, but somehow someone- this man- had found her out. Tess leapt off him, storming away from his table and throwing the money he had given her back at him. She stormed back into the dressing room, only to be stopped by a drunk Mr. Hollendale, grabbing her ass and pulling her towards him. The man had other women hanging off of him, giggling mad, but he was still breathing alcohol breath into her ear. "Don't walk away from that one, Miss Harding. He asked for a stripper, and I want you to go right back there and give him one." He said, voice cruel and slurring at once.
"Don't touch me!" She cried out, lashing out from her boss with a push of her powers that she hadn't expected, running back into the dressing room. Tess was angry, she hadn't been this angry in a long, long time. She had started to cry quickly and turned to the mirror, she had cheap black mascara and eyeliner running down her cheeks. Still, Tess wiped it away with the back of her hand wrapping a robe around herself as Mr. Hollendale stormed into the dressing room, grabbing her wrist, and slamming it against the mirror.
"You damn bitch!" He cried out. Tess felt the shock of pain ring in her wrist, tightly gripped by him, the pain making her not realize until she looked that it had opened a gash on her hand. Tess cried out in pain, tears streaming once more, but he only repeated the action. "You don't walk away from me like that." He growled. He was rough, screaming at her drunkenly for walking away from him like that, until she felt the man being tugged away from her, falling to the floor after she heard the smack of a fist hitting flesh. When Tess looked to try and find out what had happen, she saw Nicholas, knuckles bloody and panting, looking at her, stretching out his hand.
"Perhaps we'll try this again?" He asked, looking at her panting. Tess wasn't sure it was a good idea to trust him, after seeing the kinds of things that had been done to Max by humans who found out about him being an alien, but he had just kept her from getting seriously hurt. Stepping over the passed out Mr. Hollendale, Tess put her hand in his, standing precariously close to Nicholas. The two of them were only inches apart- managing not to step on her most likely former employer had caused her to be oddly close to him, and with Tess's skyscraper heels on, he only stood two inches taller than her, eyes locked on hers. She tugged her own away, wincing at the way it jostled her injured wrist, wrapping the other hand around it. "You're hurt." He said tensely, glaring down at Mr. Hollendale. She would have liked to heal her wrist, but it wasn't a good idea in public around humans like she was. Tess looked down to see his knuckles, also bloody and in bad shape.
Sighing, Tess said, "I'll be fine. You helped me out… The least I can do is get your hand cleaned up." She said, shaking her head at her desperate need for human sympathy that she was told not to have such things her entire life by Nasedo. Nicholas looked like he wanted to protest, but instead just nodded. "Just give me a second, I'll get changed and we can go." She took a glance at Mr. Hollendale, cringing at him sprawled on the floor, but she decided that helping him would do her no good. She grabbed her own clothes from the dresser, going into one of the tiny stalls in the dressing room and quickly throwing on her tank top and jeans, along with her mangy sweatshirt. "This way." She said, avoiding his eyes to keep from catching their warmth and walking out to the sidewalk. She had planned to walk home, it was only a couple of blocks, but he caught her by her elbow, the touch gentle and more caring than she had had in a long time.
"I have a car." He said, simply. Tess turned to see that he held a car key in his injured hand, as the horn of a slim black car in the parking lot went off. Tess nodded, heading in that direction. He followed after her, getting into the driver's side as she went to the passenger seat.
Tess hadn't been in a car in a long time. It wasn't something she thought about much, but she had stated mostly local in the area, most everywhere she walked to. Being in a car was nice, though- comfortable. She swallowed, realizing he was looking at her. "919 North 19th Street, Wind River Apartments." She rambled off her address to him, and she and Nicholas took off quickly. Colorado Springs was a busy city about hald the size of Denver, and the nightlife was usually loud and bright if you were out of the expensive suburban areas, and she was. It was a change from Roswell, New Mexico for her. The two of them parked at the apartments, and headed into the lobby. Reaching the elevator, she hit for floor two, and it shot up. She turned to him in the empty elevator, blue eyes scanning over him and trying to make sense of the situation. "I could have handled myself, you know." She said curtly. That was partially true- using her powers; Tess could have easily overpowered her boss and been fine. But using them would put her in an even worse situation.
He smirked, turning to her and raising an eyebrow. "Sure you could. Unless of course there is more to you than you're letting on." He said. In that moment, Tess realized that he had an accent. It was a small thing, but there was a thick difference to his voice she couldn't quite place, until Tess realized- Scottish. She had been all over the world with Nasedo, even a short time in Scotland, and his voice was almost soothingly melodic. She shook away the thought, looking down at the ground. Tess swallowed down the knot in her stomach, the fear of getting hurt because a human had found out about her identity. Or at least, suspected. Once the elevator pinged, the doors opened, letting the two of them out to her floor. Tess pulled the door key out of her pocket, opening the door of room 285. The apartment was small, one bedroom apartment. It had a half kitchen, half family room, and one a bedroom that held her own bed and a crib for Zan. Her mind stuttered to a stop.
She was a horrible mother, and she knew that. The given situation wasn't good, she had a child who would never know his father and his mother was a stripper. But forgetting the child? Sure, the night had been hectic, but that was no excuse. The babysitter she had hired for the night, a teenager of fifteen, had left a note on the door to the bedroom.
Going out, family emergency. Sorry!
-Georgia
Hurrying into the room, Tess found Zan, asleep and safe in his crib. She sighed, relaxing a little at seeing her child. Despite everything that had led up to him, Tess loved the baby very much. She stroked a finger across his cheek, cooing happily when Zan's tiny hand curled around her finger. "And who is this?" She heard from behind her, turning to see that the man she had almost forgotten about was standing just behind her, looking at the baby.
"Zan." She said softly smiling. Even with the danger of Nicholas, she couldn't help but be relaxed by the sight of her baby being happy. She shook her head, pulling away and pushing him out the door of her room, shutting it quietly. "He's sleeping. Now, do you want to explain to me why you think I have anything to do with aliens, Nicholas?" She asked, keeping her voice down but still menacing all the same. He smirked at her, and pulled out a thick file from the bag at his side she hadn't noticed before.
"First off, it's Doctor Nicholas Rush. Either you call me that, Doctor Rush, or if you like, Nick." He said, nodding simply to her. Taking a few papers out of the file, he passed them to her, placing the file down on a table and lacing his hands together in front of him. "And I don't think, I know. There is proof in there of someone with your exact description using powerful mind control over scientists in New Mexico to help release a known alien by the name of Max Evans." He said pointing to images of her and Nasedo walking through the facility in Roswell, of scenes from Max's torturing, and shots all over Roswell. "I'm from the Stargate Program, a mainly military operation dedicated to studying aliens and space exploration through a device known as the Stargate made by a race known as the ancients. And I think that you can help us." He finished, while Tess looked over the other papers he had handed her. There were other pictures- of Michael, Isabel, Alex, Liz, Maria, and Kyle. Images of them all made her tense in fear and self-hatred over all she'd done to them, but Tess finally shook her head in defeat, dropping the files to the floor in the process.
Four months, four months almost to the day, she'd gone without anyone getting hurt or letting anyone know who she was, but suddenly whoever this man was had known for a long time. "Alright. What are you going to do now, the same thing they did with Max? Chain me up, drug me, perform experiments?" She hissed through her teeth, knowing in the back of her mind that she had to stay quiet because Zan was asleep in the other room. She stepped in closer, glaring up at Nick. Wearing flat shoes now, he stood at least five inches taller but she shot daggers at him even from the height difference.
"Nothing like that at all, actually." He said his voice still the smooth and rich like honey despite her anger in front of him. "You see, my project involves coding complicated works with the mind and science. I don't want to hurt you." He said, one hand going carefully to trace over her arm. "I think with the evidence we've found, your alien DNA will be able to help me find out more about my research. If you say yes, you'll work alongside me at the Stargate Program. Anything you want or need, will be taken care of, including your son." He said, sparing a glance to the bedroom door. "If you say no, you can go back to your own life. Files with evidence to you and your life will be destroyed and there will be no record of you as anything other than human." He said, nodding simply and tucking away the papers into his bag. "It's your choice… Tess." He said, simply.
"Harding. Tess Harding." She said on instinct. Her last name was more a formality, a fake last name to go by for her and Nasedo in the human world, but she had adapted to it.
Nick looked at her, and Tess caught that same warmth in him, something that drove her to trust him. "Miss Harding." He corrected himself. Tess bit on her lip, before taking the injured hand in her own and placing her hand over his, healing the injured skin. Taking it away, Nick marveled at his own hand, completely healed with no evidence of any injury. Tess did the same with her own. "Thank you." He said quietly. They looked at each other for another minute before Nick cleared his throat. "If you like, you can tell me your decision another time?" He asked, raising an eyebrow to her. Tess thought for a moment.
He could be lying. Lying was easy, Nick could easily be lying to her and plan to harm her, that she could believe. He seemed… Trustworthy, though. She didn't know how or why, but she had the urge to put her faith in him. And there was also Zan. She needed to care for her son, Zan would have to be her first priority. Swallowing, Tess looked back at him. "Alright. Yes, I'll go." She said simply. Tess hadn't expected it, but she saw that Nick's mouth twitched up a little into a smile. She was oddly happy that having her around was something that would make him happy. She shook that off, though.
"I can help you pack up your things and we'll leave in the morning, then?" He asked still smiling at her. Tess looked around the scarce apartment before nodding. All she owned was here- some clothing, food, and anything Zan needed. She breathed in, turning back to him.
"Tomorrow."