Chapter 1:
Lucy stared around her in fascination at the great metropolis of New York city. Having lived much of her life in a rural community where nearly everybody was Lenopan, the Big Apple was an eye-opener for her. Bellwood had been kind of a shock for the beautiful young woman, but this... It was so big. There were people as far as the eye could see.
As they drove, Mike pointed out bits and pieces of his old life to her. They passed the store where he'd worked as a young man. They passed the house where his mother grew up. He showed her the high-school he graduated from. She even got to see the spot where he'd had his first kiss. Experiencing all of that, the young alien-girl found herself growing closer to her boyfriend than ever.
Turning down a nondescript side-street, Mike found himself reminiscing as he reflected on all the miles he'd seen. Moving to California after just one year in the NYPD had been a lark. He'd been restless and a little self-absorbed–too hot-blooded for the day-to-day job of a beat-cop in NYC. It was now, quite frankly, the best choice he could have made. He'd experienced so much just in the last year.
He'd helped take down a gun and people smuggling ring run by extra-terrestrials. He'd met aliens–real, live ETs! He'd been in outer space! He'd been working a case that happened to involve Bellwood's alien community, and that had led him on a trip to the lonely, frozen prison the Plumbers kept on Mars.
And he'd met Lucy.
Taking her hand as they rolled up on his mother's house, Mike reflected on that. He'd been a little ambivalent about starting a relationship with her, and not just because she was an alien too. As a fellow cop, she saw more than her share of ugliness the same as he did, and it colored her relationships. Over time, he had come to realize that it actually strengthened their bond. Who understood his problems better than another cop? She had become the great love of his life.
Blushing, Lucy shared a grin with him. She was excited to be here and looked forward to meeting his folks. She was planning to take him to Wyoming to meet her folks. It was one more step along the road. Her friends, Molly and Helen, thought he was edging up on proposing. Lucy was delighted.
Pulling up to a nondescript bungalow, Mike parked the car and turned off the ignition. "Ready," he asked? Lucy was all smiles. She was more than ready. Mike slipped out of the driver's seat and joined her on the sidewalk. Lucy had seen the subtle movement of a curtain that said somebody was watching. Taking her boyfriend's hand, the young woman glided up the walk with a smile on her face.
Silvia List found her heart beating a mile a minute as her son came to the door with his beautiful girlfriend. After his fiance dumped him, she'd been a little afraid he wouldn't get back on the horse. Now, as he rang the doorbell, she checked herself over again. While she was doing that, her two sisters rolled their eyes. Edith, oldest of the three, simply got tired of listening to the doorbell and jerked the door open herself.
A surprised Mike Stack greeted his aunt with, "hi, aunt Edith. Wasn't expecting you..." Edith grabbed her silly younger sister by the arm and pulled her into view. "Hi, sweetie," said Silvia as she hugged her son. Offering her would-be daughter-in-law a smile, Silvia said, "and you would be Lucy..." Lucy smiled back, offering, "pleased to meet you." As Mike hugged his aunt, Lucy hugged his mom. As Edith shut the door, Silvia led the way into her home.
Inside, they found Mike's youngest aunt, Fran, looking just like Mike remembered her–an older woman who was completely incapable of dressing to her age. The forty-something older woman was dressed in a mini-skirt in red leather that Lucy would have been embarrassed to wear. Over that, she wore a skin tight Leopard-print top, and her stiletto heels had her standing as tall as Mike. "C'mere, sweetie," said Fran, as she shimmied over to meet the newcomers. Mike gave her a hug, even as she eyed Lucy with jealousy.
The young couple found seats on the smaller of the two couches, while Edith occupied the recliner, leaving Sylvia and Fran on the larger couch. "Good flight," asked Fran? Mike nodded, "food was decent, though we had to pack a salad for Lucy." The three older women frowned at his companion as if she were an imposition already. Blushing, Lucy smiled back.
Silvia asked the pretty blonde, "are you from Bellwood?" "I'm from Copper Springs, Wyoming," replied Lucy. "It's a little town about a hundred miles southeast of Jackson Hole..." "Small-town girl," announced Edith approvingly. "She's so pretty," opined Fran! Mike grinned. Yes she was. The three older women quizzed Lucy on everything from religion–agnostic–to what her home town was like. Patiently Lucy answered even the most irritating question–how many babies was she going to have and when.
At the height of the grilling, Mike asked when his brother and sister were due. "Oh, Valerie's due back in an hour," said Silvia. "She's at school picking up her cap and gown." "Ah," grunted Mike. "Is dad coming?" "If he can get the time," muttered Silvia. Which was a complaint as old as Silvia's relationship with Mike's dad. In her eyes, Bill Stack spent more time on his precinct and his officers than he spent on his sons and daughter. Mike paid her complaints no heed.
As they sat there chatting, the sound of keys in the door announced that one of Mike's siblings had returned. His brother, Bill Jr., was back in the house while the courts settled his messy divorce from Karen, his wife of just eight years. Sure enough, as Mike turned towards the sound of the door opening, his older brother came in. Rising, Mike went to greet Jr., throwing his arms around the older man and hugging him tight. "Mike," shouted the older man! "Just get here?" "Yeah," replied Mike.
The two men came back to the living room to find their mother bringing in a chair from the dining room. Bill Jr. immediately occupied the chair, front and center where he could join the conversation. Catching sight of Mike's girlfriend, Bill greeted her with, "hello, beautiful. You must be Lucy." Blushing, Lucy nodded. Reaching out, she shook his hand. "What're you doing with this loser," asked Bill? Lucy laughed her awful laugh, which sort of gave Bill the idea that Mike's new girl wasn't exactly perfect. Sitting down beside Lucy, Mike took her hand, showing that, laugh or no laugh, he was truly pussy-whipped.
"So, what do you do for a living," asked Bill? "Not investment banking I hope?" Mike blushed to the roots of his hair, and Silvia smacked her eldest child on the head. "That's not nice, Billy," growled the older woman. She knew exactly what he was implying. So did Lucy for that matter. Proudly, she admitted, "I'm a Plumber." "Oh," cried Aunt Fran. "You've got such soft hands for working on pipes. What's your secret?" Blushing, Lucy said, "not that kind of plumber." Bill Jr. stared at her. "You're one o'them," he howled?!
Before Mike could get control of the conversation, his family erupted, with Silvia asking what her son meant by 'one of them', Edith yelling at Bill for being a jerk, and Fran asking what kind of plumbing Lucy worked on. At the height of the confusion, the door opened to admit Valerie Stack, who was carrying a bundle of purple cloth. The sight of her there brought the contentious conversation to a screeching halt, finally allowing Mike to get control. "Hi, Val," said Mike, as he rose to meet his younger sister.
The pretty brunette was across the room in three strides. Tossing the graduation gown on the couch he'd just vacated, she threw herself on her brother and hugged him tight. Of all his family, she'd been most affected by his decision to head west. When she finally let go of him, she was sniffing back tears. Silvia came over and grabbed the robe from the couch–so it didn't get wrinkled–taking it over to the closet to hang. When she returned, she insisted on hearing just what it was that Lucy actually did.
"Lucy's a cop, ma," replied Mike. "She's... She looks after the freaks under Bellwood," growled Bill Jr. "Am I right?" "You mean the aliens," retorted Mike. "Mike," howled Silvia! "You're dating a cop?!" As he sat down, Mike shrugged, "Lucy's dating a cop too." That made Val laugh. It was just like her brother to say that. Shutting her mouth with a click, Silvia blushed to the roots of her hair. Lucy said, "yeah. I'm a Plumber. I work for Magister Tennyson..." Glancing at Mike's brother, she said, "I prefer to think of myself as protecting the weak and needy, Sgt. Stack." "I'm confused," interjected Fran. "Do you work on commodes?" That made Mike and Lucy both laugh.
"Mike told us he had actually been to Mars," announced Edith. "Have you been there?" Smiling, Lucy replied, "I've been to a couple of worlds. I got offered a spot on Revonnah, but I really wanted to be here. Enough about me, though. I'd like to hear more about you all..." Valerie announced, "ma's Jewish. Dad's Irish, so you're dating two downtrodden races in one bundle..." The way she said that made Lucy howl laughter. "I get t'be a Yenta or a Shiksa depending on which side of the bed I wake up on," chuckled Val. Silvia waggled a finger at her youngest, and Val subsided.
Edith said, "Michael's been raised by one mother and two aunts, so he's well housebroken!" As Mike blushed, Lucy replied, "yeah, I noticed..." Grinning, she said, "he's the perfect gentleman..." Silvia suddenly jumped up and rushed into her bedroom. When she returned, she had a pair of large picture albums. "Ma," growled Jr! His mother ignored him. "Val's been putting these on some computer somewhere," said Silvia, "but I prefer the real thing..." Val said not a word. She only smiled. The pictures were safe up on the cloud, just in case the house ever burned.
Silvia and her sisters converged on Lucy, bumping Mike off the couch. As the three women started off with baby pictures, Bill Jr. motioned for his brother to come out back with him. Chuckling at his family's antics, Mike followed the older man out to the back porch. "So," asked Bill, "you ready to move back from the land of fruits and nuts?" Mike chuckled. It hadn't been an easy adjustment moving to California. Even northern Cali was a lot different than the Big Apple. "I'm happy there, Billy," said Mike. He had a nice life.
Billy told him, "you could probably get bridged if you came back, Mikey. We could sure use you." Mike laughed. The NYPD had used him so well, he'd gone to sleep at his desk once. "World's changin', Mikey," rumbled Billy. "We need young guys." Those words, coming from a cop, were ominous, suggesting trouble the force was having difficulty managing. Mike wasn't here for that, though. Reaching into his pocket, he took out a small box and said, "tell me what you think."
Billy knew immediately what was in that box. Pushing it away, he said, "didn't you learn anything?" Mike frowned at him. Shaking his head, Jr. said, "guys like us don't get married, Mikey. We're not made for it. Women... they just want to get the money out of your pocket." It was the divorce talking, and Mike decided to step back. "Sorry you're feeling down, Bill," replied Mike. "You're gonna' do this anyway, aren't you," asked Bill Jr? Mike nodded. "Weeellll, at least she's pretty," offered Billy.
Mike changed the subject to something less likely to cause friction–football. He and his brother spent a while reminiscing about playing highschool football and chasing hot cheerleaders when they were boys. That topic slowly turned to the subject of college sports, and that quickly brought them around to the Giants and Jets. Mike, who'd been a Jets fan more because his brother liked the Giants than because they were any damned good, had been at perpetual loggerheads with his brother over football, even to the point where they'd had a couple of pretty good wrestling matches over the remote.
The younger man now looked back on those days with fondness, and he was excited to have kids of his own to sit down and watch the games with. It helped a lot that Lucy was also a sports fan. He wasn't going to have to spend time arguing over sitting in front of the tube on a Sunday. As they were debating the finer points of this year's stars, Val came out and announced, "we're done with the pictures. You guys can come back in." Mike and Jr both laughed. Throwing his arms around his sister, the Bellwood cop hugged her tight, and his brother hugged the both of them.
The little family stayed up fairly late, talking about the graduation and future plans, aided and abetted by Lucy's jet-lag induced insomnia. It was midnight before they all finally went to bed. Unfortunately the sounds of the neighbors starting their day and brilliant sunlight streaming in through the windows put paid to any ambition of sleeping in. Lucy was wide awake at eight and sitting bleary-eyed in the kitchen swilling coffee. Silvia, who'd already taken the day off to prepare for the graduation party, had stern advice for their guest, admonishing her, "if you're havin' trouble sleeping, dear, don't lay there in bed. I read that your mind start's to associate bed with being awake, and you'll never sleep again!"
All three Stack siblings rolled their eyes. Their mother was always making such pronouncements. Lucy took the ribbing and the advice with good grace, swearing that she would be alright. Done with breakfast, Bill Jr. and Val headed off to their respective jobs. Mike and Lucy spent much of the day helping his mother decorate the house for the party and just generally enjoying their visit. Late afternoon found the three of them in the kitchen with Silvia and Lucy working up some of the food for the graduation party, while Mike watched and listened to them talk. He'd been afraid of how things were going to go, but now he felt a lot better.
As Mike was pondering getting his mother alone to try and reveal Lucy's secret, the doorbell rang. Immediately Silvia headed for the living room, announcing, "keep stirring the soup, Lucy. I'll be right back." The older woman scooted to the front door and opened it to find a trio of cops waiting there.
The sight of the three officers standing on her porch startled Silvia List. "Afternoon, ma'am," announced the tall black man. "We're looking for a Mr. Michael Stack. Is he inside by chance?" Silvia felt a tingle of fear. What did these men want with her son? "Uh... What's this about," asked the older woman? "We need to speak to him about an important matter, ma'am," said the officer in his best 'official' voice.
Uncertainly, Silvia stepped back and called out to her son. "Mike," shouted Silvia. "There's a couple of cops here. Say they need to talk to you..." Mike came to the door wearing jeans and a tee-shirt, looking a little puzzled and feeling a little uneasy. He didn't think there was anything that he'd done that would warrant three cops at his mother's house. He was a cop himself after all. Stepping into the doorway, he eyed the three somber-looking men there uncertainly. "Evenin', fellas," said the detective. "What can I do for you?"
The black cop's face split into a grin. "You don't even remember us, do ya," he asked? That voice and the friendly tone of that delivery jogged Mike's memory. "Tim," he babbled? "Yeah, man," said the black man as he grabbed Mike in a bear hug. Stunned by the sight of the three men he'd gone to the academy with, Mike hugged the big man gingerly, unsure just what to say.
"What are you guys doing here," he asked? "Heard the big man was in town," announced Joe Savage. "Thought we'd come by and see if you'd go slumming with us and do dinner." Mike turned around to find Lucy standing near. His girl, who was willing to go through hell for him, had come to the door to see just what was going on. She gave him that beautiful smile of hers and nodded, motioning for him to go. "Sh-sure," agreed Mike. "Lemme' get my coat."
Minutes later, he was riding down the street with Tim and Joe in their squad car, headed for the neighborhood bar where he'd spent so much of his time as a young man in New York. As they rode, they chatted about old times, and Mike got caught up on what was going on in his old precinct. It was the same grind that he'd run away from. Tim and Joe still had the same beat. Nick Luchini had tested for and been turned down for sargent twice now–he just didn't have the years. Reese Goodwin was the only one of them to have any kind of change in her life. She'd gotten married and had a kid.
Arriving at Sally's Pub, the five cops headed inside to find the place half empty. Grabbing a table in a back corner out of sight of the door, the five of them settled in to talk and have dinner. "Heard from your brother that you were back," explained Tim. "Figured we'd grab you and have dinner." "You guys scared the shit out of my mom," laughed Mike. "She thought you were gonna' bust me on something."
Nick asked the burning question on everybody's minds, "so what're they like?" At Mike's frown, Nick said, "well you're the big man who runs around fighting aliens. What're they like?" Mike laughed. Shaking his head, he said, "a lot like you and me, Nick." Warming to the topic, he explained, "they got organized crime too. They got gangsters. They got a lot of people just tryin' t'make a life f'er themselves and their families."
Tim laughed at Mike. Shaking his head, he chuckled, "that's not what he means... He wants to know if they have green blood or something." "Oh," rumbled Mike. Honestly, he didn't know. "There's a lot of different races," admitted Mike. He'd met members of three of them. "Friend of mine's married to one," said he. That floored the other four cops. "Are you fucking kidding," asked Joe?! "Male or female," asked Reese? "Girl," replied Mike. "You talking about that Ben Ten character," asked Tim? Mike nodded. "So you're friends with that guy," asked Nick? Mike laughed, "he saved my ass, Nick. My partner and I had rolled up on a stolen truck, lookin' to arrest the three jokers who'd been driving it. Turned out they were all aliens, and the truck was full of alien firepower. Ben and his partner stepped in and stopped them from blasting the both of us."
Reese, crass and crude as ever, asked, "so he's really fuckin' that girl? Pumped up her belly with three half-alien brats?" Mike shrugged. Attea was a nice girl. When you looked past the odd stuff, she was really pretty. "Wow," muttered Reese. "Talk about getting too close to your work." "He messed up," said Mike. "He was supposed to be protecting her from her crazy uncle. Ended up getting in her pants." That made Nick, the would-be sargent, shout, "oy! Surprised he didn't get his balls cut off by IA!" "He lucked out," agreed Mike.
Joe announced, "I hear the Commissioner's been approached by these Plumber guys, Mike. What do you think of 'em?" With a shrug, Mike replied, "cops, just like us. Good people. They been doin' this a long time." "How long is long," asked Nick? "1800s," replied Mike. "Holy-shit," howled Joe! "There's been aliens here that long?" "According to Ben," replied Mike. "His family's one of the first to be approached. They been runnin' down aliens since then."
It was a lot to think about. His four friends were in a state of shock. Mike took a sip from his Coke. He and Lucy had agreed that, with a history of alcoholism in his family, he probably should stay away from even social drinking. He was jonesing for a beer right now, but a promise was a promise. He didn't want to lose the love of his life to booze the way his father had.
"Our department didn't want to cooperate either," admitted Mike. All four cops looked up at him. "Chief wanted to take over patrolling the alien slums," said the BPD cop. "Figured we'd been policing Bellwood since it was founded... Why change that?" They'd had to learn the hard way. "Why's all this happening now," asked Reese? Waving her hands, she said, "if they've been here this long, why all this shit now?" Mike replied, "according to Ben, we've only seen the first couple waves... Fringers who wanted to get away from wherever they were... People who wanted to move as far as they could to get away from their society. They found this place inhabited, but they didn't want to go back, so they just hid out. They just wanted to be left alone..." "Like those crazies up in Alaska," agreed Nick. Mike nodded.
"Now," said he. "We're getting people following the trailblazers. They're looking to start over where the taxes ain't so high and the laws aren't so tough. It's like having a bunch of people get off the boat from El Salvador. They don't know the laws. They don't fit in, and they're isolated from the society..." "So they get into crime," muttered Joe. That was bad news. "Are they dangerous," asked Reese? Mike nodded. "Attea's pop tried to invade the Earth a couple years ago," he admitted. "The Plumbers put a stop to it, but it was close." "You mean the hoax...," stammered Nick? "...wasn't a hoax," agreed Mike. "Attea's dad got put in the pokey. The Plumbers have him down in their jail under Bellwood."
There was a lot more than that. Most of the world-shaking stuff had died down. The planet was under the protection of the Plumbers and the worst of the aliens didn't come to Earth anymore. That left the small-scale stuff–the gangs and the smugglers–but that was growing. It had already outgrown Bellwood proper. There were already scattered towns that aliens had taken over on the sly.
"Shit," growled Tim. "You could write a book!" "Maybe later," laughed Mike. He had too much work to do now. "So what do you do," asked Reese? Grinning ear-to-ear, Mike admitted, "I am the official Bellwood PD liaison to the Plumbers. Got my own office and a staff of two, consisting of me and my partner, Phil." He'd been personally requested by Magister Tennyson himself. "They like young guys," admitted Mike. "Old farts tend to be too closed-minded." "Sooo," asked Tim, as he leaned forward. "Get to touch any alien tech?" "A little," admitted Mike. "Worked with one of their undercovers on that gun-running case. She loaned me a piece. We were up against these nasty shape-changers. Bullets just passed right through them." Mike shivered involuntarily in memory. He'd have to talk with Lucy about where they were going to keep her service weapon if they were going to have kids.
Mike kept his friends entertained for more than an hour before they settled up the tab. As the evening crowd was coming in, the five cops headed out–Mike to go home, his friends to drop off their cars at the station before doing the same. The five of them promised to meet up before Mike headed home. All his old friends wanted to meet Lucy.
Lucy was immersed in helping the in-laws get ready for the big celebration of Valerie's upcoming graduation when Mike got back to his mom's house. He came right in, walked up to his future wife, and hugged her tight. Lucy gave him a searing hot kiss and asked him how his visit with his former comrades had gone. "It was good," said Mike. "Really good. How were things here?" "Things went just fine, big brother," laughed Val. "Lucy's been really good about putting up with all of us." Blushing, Lucy laughed that awful laugh of hers. Happy as can be, Mike headed into the dining room to pitch in.