Aqua Blue

Rating: PG, I think.

Pairing: Judas Iscariot/Jesus Christ (sort of...) Notes/Disclaimers: I don't own Jesus. No wait, I do... *knocks on closet door* Are you feeding the gremlins? And I own Judas for my own perverted reasons ;) I don't, however, own Lazarus. Or his pool. :) The other Apostles are all the property of my 9th grade English teacher... He keeps them in the closet where he has the people who got A's and B's hung up. My math teacher owns Mary Magdalene. She's using her as a paperweight.

The crystal blue water splashed and rippled below me as the hot June sun beat down on my body. Thank God Lazarus has a pool. It was so refreshing to lay back after all the stress we'd been through the last week. But now, it was Sunday, and everyone was lounging around the yard of Lazarus and his two sisters.

I and several others lay on top of the pool's clear waters. I could see, looking over the fence, the family of Joseph Caiaphas out for a Sunday stroll. Caiaphas himself, dark and brooding as well as tall, led the pack, with his sufficently lighter skinned and prettier wife, Scotina-bas-Annas, clinging to his arm. Scotina was one of the most beautiful women in Bethany, my friends had once deduced, but I was not interested. It had been quite a while since I'd seen a woman I'd exalt to the level that my comrades had once given Scotina, and besides, she was the daughter of Annas, the former high priest, and Annas and Caiaphas both despised my leader with a passion. Annas, always over Caiaphas' shoulder, followed behind them, looking carefully around. I hoped they wouldn't look over the fence and see us. They didn't. Annas, a tall, thin, and bald Caucasian man, looked straight ahead. The group was trailed by Caiaphas and Scotina's three children - Elizabeth, who was nine, Abigail, who was seven, and Joshua, who was five. I wondered briefly where I'd picked up this information, but could not remember. They passed by, and even they seemed in a brighter mood.

I was sprawled back on a red float which was absorbing the heat and probably making me several shades darker. On another float, Joshua-bar- Joseph, or Jesus, was also laying back, turned on one side and watching the others on the porch. Mary Magdalene, one of Lazarus' sisters, waded through the pool dressed in a rather skimpy bathing suit. She was somewhat attractive, with chocolate skin and curly brown hair, but again I was not interested. The eyebrows of Simon Zealotes, the pool's last inhabitant, raised slightly at her outfit, but Jesus could have not even noticed for his lack of reaction.

On Lazarus' porch swing, Simon Peter, called Peter to distinguish him from Simon Zealotes, was talking with Lazarus' other sister, Martha. Lazarus himself was attempting to set up his new grill with the help of Philip, Andrew, and Thomas. Thomas, as always, was playing the part of the skeptic.

"I don't think that's going to work, Lazarus. It doesn't say that in the instructions..." he was chastising.

"Thomas, please," replied Andrew, shrugging him off.

"Get Jesus to do it," called Barthelomew, who had just emerged from the house in his swim trunks, followed by John ("the beloved" ... what ego!), Matthew, and Thaddeus.

"Oh, don't bug Jesus. Let him relax for once," snapped back Philip.

Bathelomew shrugged and approached the pool. The other apostles -- the two Jameses --- had opted to stay in, but at the sight of a finally working grill they emerged, ready for hot dogs. I turned over and looked at Jesus. Aqua blue was the color of the pool, aqua blue just like his eyes. I sucked in a breath and watched him flick a piece of hair out of his eye... He was captivating...

I was staring and not paying attention when Barthelomew jumped into the pool. The float I'd been drifting on flipped over and I plummeted into the water. The pool water shot up my nose and when I opened my mouth to yell I began to suck in mouthfuls. I was going to die, I thought frantically. He'll never know how I feel... I blacked out.

Light. Light light light. I've died! Where am I? I felt lips over my mouth. Breath being pushed into me, life being pushed into me... I opened my eyes. It was him. His light hair, clinging to the back of his neck from the water, had flown in the front of his face. The others had crowded around, staring at me.

"Judas," said Jesus with a smile, "You've come to."

"I thought I was gonna die," I mumbled, "I can swim, but I was thinking about something, and..."

"Hush," he replied sweetly as the others lost interesting, seeing I was still alive. "Come on, best friend... Come enjoy the pool with me... I'll make sure you don't drown..." I smiled. He'd called me his best friend! And his breath still lingered on my face as I followed him into the aqua blue, the same aqua blue as his eyes, yet his eyes were deeper than any pool that could ever be made.

NOTE: Can't you see I'm dying for a pool membership? lol!