Micha enjoyed the afternoon sun and breeze as she drove her jeep the last few miles to the small town which was, she still found humorous, called the City of Legend.
All she could think of the places as she drove by them was... this was a part of the world that was untouched by total technology. She liked it. It screamed hometown.
She smiled as she even passed the local school. Walking guards and all.
It only took her a few more minutes and she was driving up to the address left her by the woman that had dropped off the will and papers to her parents house a few days ago.
When she was able to put street/route numbers to houses, all she could do was drive up into the Victorian driveway and blink at the equally Victorian-decorated house.
It was beautiful. Nothing like the old run down home she somehow pictured it would be.
She was slipping out of the jeep and reaching over to get the flannel shirt she had discarded during her drive, leaving her with a sleeveless T-shirt when she looked back and noticed a jogger. Cute too but his gaze was turned toward the house with a curious frown.
So maybe this was a new set up, like she had started to think before parking.
"What color was it before?" she asked back, the jogger blinking in surprise as he put the direction of the voice with the owner.
"Brown." He answered a half moment later. His expression was probably a lot like hers was when she first saw the house and she grinned. She wasn't what the townsfolk (she called them in her mind) expected in moving into the house it seemed.
She peeked at the house again and went to the back of the jeep, hefting out a box of books "I like it better now, then."
Suddenly the jock was there, voice quiet so as not to startle her, and putting his own arms under the box "Here, let me help you with that."
Hell if he knew why he really offered but he knew he was curious about the house and the new owner. He nodded at the front gate a little sheepishly "Unless you get upset with me trespassing."
She grinned and took the last, less heavier box and shook her head "I think I'll let you slide considering I get to use that back of yours with that load. Micha by the way. You are?"
"Tristan." He answered as he followed her to and through a side garage door that was facing the side of the house.
"Live in Legend a while?" she asked back, light curious conversation to pass the time of loading and unloading.
"All my life just about, with a pause in between." He replied, right before stopping as the side door opened to reveal the local real-estate woman, Mrs. Hogan.
Obviously, Mrs. Hogan was surprised to see him there and nodded, her expression curious "Well, hello there Mister Stone."
"Hello, Maggie." He greeted her dryly, following Micha inside to deposit the box on the counter she set the other box on.
He watched her with a curious and assessing eye as, totally taken with the decor, Micha walked from the kitchen to the dining room and beyond.
"Oh... wow." Micha breathed as she looked at all of the wood and upholstered furniture and decor before looking back at them both and sniffing lightly, starting to look curious and confused "This was done just recently... I can still smell some paint....."
Maggie smiled that real estate smile of hers and walked forward to stand beside her "It was stated in your aunt's will to make the house something you would want to live in, both comfortable and a kind of pampering if you will."
Micha looked at her curious, before looking back at Tristan and then asking "How did she know what I liked though? We've never met...."
Maggie smiled sheepishly before admitting to having more than just a hand in it herself "That was actually one of the reasons why I asked to drop off the papers with the lawyer. I remembered little things that you said."
Micha's eyes lit with remembrance and a small grin played on her lips before including an equally curious looking Tristan "Did you see the inside before the revamping?"
Tristan blinked and looked at her strangely, only to blink again and nod "Wasn't anything like this."
"Dark and gloomy huh?" she asked, with Tristan figuring this expression was her use of slang instead of the official 'remodeling' terms and taking it stride "I want to explore."
With that and an obvious open invitation for either one of them to join in, she started up the stairs, asking back "How many rooms does this thing have anyway?"
"..... what's this?" Micha asked half an hour later as they made it near the end of the 'peeking around' tour and the end of the second floor hallway. They were standing in front of an old door that had been varnished but still had an antique doorknob on it, unlike the others which had modern-day facsimile. She put her hand on the door and tried to open it and then frowned at Maggie when it refused to open.
"We haven't been able to find a key yet but that's the attic. I didn't want the workers up there in case there were personal items, so left it for you to decide." The older woman answered easily, extending her hand to the end of the hall "But... I do believe we saved the best for last in our tour."
It hadn't really been a bonafide tour but Micha wasn't up for particulars and motioned for Tristan to follow with a mischievous grin and the same curious pace and excitement she had had while peeking in and verbally drooling over each room, she entered the last one..... only to stop dead in her tracks and look around with awe.
Tristan had followed out of curiosity and found himself watching her and her reactions to the house too. Odd how a house that had been on kids' haunted list favorites for so many years just happened to now be making a total stranger ooh and aww over it.
It really had, he admitted with another look around, been transformed. He had been here a couple of times - not technically invited as the new owner had obviously done, but he had seen the inside and outside of this place before the renovations.
The town hadn't seen this kind of activity to one place in quite a while when the workers were here renovating. At least on the day time population-of-Legend level....
He stopped the rest of that thought and concentrated on the here and now, wondering why the room seemed to have 'taken her breath away' as was most women's want to express things when they were really taken with something.
Micha turned to Maggie and blinked once "How...?"
The older woman smiled sheepishly "I hope you don't mind... but I saw your sketch..."
"You are... a very perspective woman." Micha admitted, remembering that she had, indeed, set the sketch pad down and during one of their preliminary talks about her aunt's will, had described her dream work place. She had talked with her because she had admitted her career and had saw a corner of the drawing. "How much is this going to set me back if you don't mind me asking?"
Maggie blinked "It's already been paid for. Your aunt set up a separate account for the house to be remodeled to your tastes. You have plenty left if you'd like to add on..."
"Wow..." Micha breathed with her own look of surprise. She hadn't literally meant set back.. she had seen the amount listed on the will... It was too much. Awesome and something she'd treasure and hopefully be able to use for herself but she wasn't used to this kind of attention put on her... she was more comfortable with the kind her parents gave her. Love and security, although she never had gone in need.. but they had never been... rich.
A thought struck her and she looked at Maggie thoughtfully "Is there anything left in the account?"
"Oh, definitely. If you'd like to add on --"
"No, no, not that." Micha's lips twitched as she motioned lightly with her hand that that wasn't the direction she was taking in her next instruction "About how much would you guestimate is in there after your commission and other people are paid?"
"It's all been taken care of. What's left in the house allowance, which is..." the older woman thought for a moment "a little over fourty eight thousand dollars, give or take a little."
Both Micha and Tristan whistled, but the latter stopped his short, realizing this was something he probably shouldn't be hearing as it was dealing with personal, personal stuff... more than just walking around a big house. Micha gave him a quick grin to assure him it was nothing and turned her attention back to Maggie.
"Does Legend have a.. well an orphanage or help center?"
"Orphanage." Tristan offered quietly, wondering what she was planning.
"Great." She smiled and clapped once "Then I want it to go there. Mister Pool is still open isn't he?"
Mister Pool was the local lawyer and the man that had overseen the legalities of her Aunt's will, and Maggie nodded with a mute kind of surprised expression on her face. Half a million dollars and someone was just going to give it away...?
It was four in the afternoon and Maggie said something about businesses closing at five, although she wasn't certain it had come out correctly as stunned as she was, and being led out of the office/back-up bedroom they had just left and back down the stairs.
"I think you shocked her." Tristan whispered so only Micha could hear as they reached the bottom of the stairs and turned toward the kitchen area, a bit surprised himself at such a gesture but taking it in stride.
She looked like someone that would do something like that, he thought to himself. Then he mentally kicked himself and told himself to stop thinking for the moment and fall into the watch and learn mode he usually kept with strangers.
Micha was guiding the woman out... her mind already abuzz at what she needed to start to do and anxious to get to the lawyer's office before he left for the day.
"You did a great job, Maggie, honest. How about I give you a call in a couple of days, after I've settled in and we can have lunch and go over anything that needs to be finished up?"
Tristan listened to the two and the edge of his mouth quirked as he locked the door behind him and followed them down to the garage. One was shocked and it sounded like Micha was on hyper overload.
Well it was a hell of a lot better than what was here before, the thought sobered him as he reached the side garage door and looked at the two women.
No, he corrected himself, he didn't know for a fact it was better. For all he knew Micha Morgan -- yes he had already looked up a few things about the newcomer -- was the same kind of person as her Aunt and just a hell of a lot better at hiding it.
Even if his first impulses about her did whisper otherwise.
She looked up just then and he blinked, clearing his expression "Please tell me there's a KFC around here."
She obviously hadn't seen his expression so he nodded with a hint of a humorous one. He turned his gaze toward Maggie's white Ford Taurus as it started up and pulled out of a side parking space and left. Tristan saw that she still had the surprised/shocked expression, but at least she was paying attention to her driving.
"We're not that far backwoods." He added as he looked back at Micha, who actually blushed when she realized she might have come across as insulting. He waved it off before she could start to apologize "I'm teasing. But yeah we have a KFC.. and even a McDonald's. It's by the lawyer's office actually."
He didn't know why he was being so helpful. Hell, he usually stayed away from people and did his curiosity seeking from a distance and while the person or persons weren't looking.
She stopped opening her door and grinned hopefully. And he knew what was coming.
"Think I can bribe you into being a tour guide for an hour or so if I buy you dinner?"
He should leave. He thought it, he repeated it in his head.... but found himself giving her a half grin and accepting her offer. His sweat pants and muscle shirt would even work for the kind of outing she planned.
"Perfect." She hopped into the jeep and turned the ignition, hiding the reaction she had had after asking such a forthright question. What if he had had plans already, you goose. What if he had a girlfriend that would be... girlfriend? She snuck a look at his ring hand as he got in and didn't see a ring. Then she cleared her mind and concentrated on the 'mission' she was on now. He would have said something, surely, if she was keeping him from something?
Unless he's one of the very rare ones that still had chilvary... a small voice in her prodded her conscious.
She turned to him before pulling out of the garage "I'm not keeping you from anything, am I?"
"Nope." He answered, fastening his seatbelt and sitting back.
No more information. Just a nope. But Micha believed him so continued out and into the street.
"Point the way, Tonto." She quipped as she took one last look at the house and drove off.
Okay so it had been more than just an hour, Micha thought sheepishly as they finally left the 'downtown' part of Legend.
"I'm really sorry." She started to apologize "Let me know where I can drop you off.. I mean.. if I didn't wear out the newbie welcome and you aren't up to helping me eat that." She nodded at the KFC dinner they had picked up as a last stop.
"Don't be." Tristan gave her a genuine grin "We worked up an appetite is all... and I actually had fun."
And he had, which surprised him -- and let him know just how long it had been since he'd let himself relax that much. Not that he had been able to literally relax as he figured he had followed the most hyperactive person to date around town and to different stores after the trip to the lawyer's office. She had donated the money anonymously, dedicated simply from 'a child's wish to the children that share it' and had decided she needed to stock the house up too: dishes, supplies and food.
Luckily all the shops also delivered, otherwise he would be carting in a lot of boxes and goods. Not that he would have really minded but... the old 'stay your distance' reflex was starting to kick in. He was even debating whether to take back his claim that he didn't have anything else to do at the moment and make up something.
He knew he would have something later that night..... but that was hours from now and something he shared with no one except those directly involved.
And he didn't want Micha Morgan involved.
Damn.
"Were you an orphan?" the question broke him out of his thoughts as she pulled up into the driveway and reached over to open the glove compartment, then grimaced as she realized she had blundered again "Sorry... I ask before I realize it's rude to ask such a personal question. Act like I didn't ask it and I'll act like I'm not wearing an ass sign on my back?"
Despite the topic or the question, Tristan Stone laughed. A short, humorous, half bark of a laugh as he got out of the jeep, carrying the food and followed her as she led the way back to the house.
She didn't know why she had asked... probably because she remembered the expression on his face when he thought no one was looking, when they had gone to the orphanage and been allowed to take a quick look around. Admittedly, she wasn't one..... but was probably as near to one as could have been had it not been for her birth mother's friendship to her parents.
She unlocked the door and opened it enough for him to come in and then closed it after him.
"No.. well not in the sense you mean anyway." He found himself answering the question as he helped lay out the food on the counter "I'm the only one alive though."
The answer caught her off guard -- hell it caught him off guard considering he actually admitted it, but she was determined not to let her over curious nature ruin dinner and so just simply accepted the information as she pulled out the paper plates and plastic utensils the restaurant had offered. Something Tristan was silently thankful for as he didn't want to get anymore into it than that.
A few hours later....
"Are you sure I can't give you a lift to your house?" Micha asked as she leaned against the door frame and watched him roll his neck around and shake out his legs, warming up to jog back to wherever his house or apartment was.
He gave her a quick grin "Nah.. have to run off the chicken."
He didn't really have to.. But he had to have the time and physical exertion of jogging right then to clear his thoughts and get back on track. The brief interlude into normal reality and not thinking of what was probably coming tonight had lulled him. He couldn't afford to be lulled.. no matter how cute the person doing the lulling.
He let his gaze raise to hers one more time "I think you'd make a fine assistant."
Micha blinked and her lips curved up, as if she were surprised he had remembered her admission about wanting to volunteer as a teacher's assistant at the local school during the day. Then, with a last nod at her and a half smile before turning to the street, Tristan was off.
She closed the door and went to go clean up, realizing that he had gotten most of her life's story when all she had gotten from him was that he didn't care about politics and like KFC thighs and legs.
"Funky." She chuckled as she made quick order of disposing of the plastic/paper ware and put up the food left over in the fridge.
"I wonder..." she started, only to look up at the phone rang.
"Hello?" she asked into the receiver when she went to the counter and picked it up, shutting the refrigerator door before propping her elbows on the off-white countertop to listen. The grocery truck with her purchase was going to be delayed. Would it be a terrible inconvenience and if it would they would gladly pack it into the manager's car and deliver it after hours "Noo, no, that's fine. I'll be here in the morning. Don't worry about it."
Wasn't like she was going to entertain anymore guests tonight anyway, she grinned humorously herself. "No, I understand. You have a good night."
With that they ended the conversation and Micha hung up.
She could peek around the house some more.
And thinking of that attic door that was locked she went to her car to get a hammer and a couple of different sized screw drivers.
"Might as well quench the curiosity."
She said to herself as she then went back in and up the stairs.
Tristan exited his house when darkness fell, his long black duster on and weapons hidden well within its folds and on his body.
He had to dismiss the thought of the newest resident in Legend and focus on the coming dangers. It had been long in coming but he had finally gotten a lead on the one he had been hunting for.
He got into his car and drove
toward the cemetery.....
Mike had just gotten the lock jimmied open when she heard a sound downstairs and ended up dropping the screwdriver.
It wasn't a 'normal' sound. It sounded like......
Something heavy had fallen.
She picked up the flashlight and went down the stairs and to the back door - right before she heard it again and opened it. Stupid maybe but something about it just....
"Whoa!" She barely managed to catch the man that was falling into her house before he fell again, dropping the flashlight to better hold and pull him in.
The world seemed dark, but once in awhile there was a pinprick of light at the end of a tunnel. During those times, he moved or tried to at any rate. It was a stumbling nearly blind movement. He had no idea where he was or where he was going, just that he had to escape.
Now, as he felt the stranger's hands grasping him, the world came into better focus. He'd seen the house...at the end of one of those tunnels, but now he realized the tunnel was gone. Replaced now by fog.
"Wh..where....?"
"It's okay," Mike assured him, grunting as she helped him to the living room and the couch there "You're in my home."
What the hell happened to him? She wondered as she finally managed to lay him onto the couch and got a good look at him. Whatever happened to him, it looked bad.
She bent to bring a quilt from over the back of the couch up over him. There was dried and new blood on his face and hands, his clothes were torn in other places and showed more injuries...
"I need to call the hospital." She whispered worriedly, looking around for the telephone.
"No," he managed to say, "No.....h...hos...pitals..."
But why? He didn't know....just that he couldn't go to one.
The man closed his eyes for a moment, leaving them open too long tended to make him a bit queasy. After a moments pause, he began to move, forcing himself into a sitting position. He was willing to try, but he couldn't handle talking and doing this at the same time.
Mike bent enough to put his arm over her shoulder and stand, trying to carry as much of his weight as she can so that he could move easier.
It was slow going but, after what seemed like a small eternity, they made it to the second floor and the guest room right across from the master bedroom and Mike was able to lay him down in the bed.
"I'll be right back," she assured him, again covering him as best she could before straightening "I have to get the first aid kit."
She wasn't sure if he heard her or not but went to the bathroom and retrieved all the medical supplies she could, putting them all in a new bucket and then grabbing the towels and wash clothes she had before returning.
When she returned she sat on the side of the bed, regarding him for a brief moment. Then, hoping he didn't start thrashing about, she lowered the quilt and started to unbutton his shirt.
"I'm going to start cleaning your wounds." She spoke while she moved, wanting to make sure he knew what it was she was doing so he didn't freak. Of course, she felt like a little part of her was freaking. Undressing a total stranger, in a brand new house and for some reason not feeling threatened by him when it was obvious he had been involved in something pretty damn bad "Just relax."
He wasn't sure if what he heard was real or a hallucination. Everything seemed so far away and he had imagined things before. Though try as he might, he could not remember what those things were.
However, he was laying on something soft now. So, the best course of action seemed to be lying still and waiting for some sign that all of this was indeed real.
That something occurred when he felt a sharp pain in his rib cage. He sucked in his breath sharply as the hands that seemed so distant milliseconds earlier were now too close.
Tears that he was too weak to fight back filled his eyes and the man's hands jerked from his sides catching the smaller ones that were tending to him.
"No!" he hissed and then swallowed very hard.
At least, he mused, I am alive...so to speak.
"I'm sorry." Mike murmured, gaze looking troubled at the unintentional hurt she caused him when removing his shirt "But I have to do this."
"Please," she added, her wrists held in a grip stronger than she thought him capable of "let me do this.... you're hurt..."
It took a moment for her words to sink in and make sense. Slowly, he loosened his grip on her wrists and moved his hands back down by his sides.
His gaze moved to her face. She seemed so familiar, but he couldn't figure out why. It was not that he knew her...though he felt like he might.
"Be careful." he said his voice hoarse but louder this time. His throat ached dreadfully and this effort at normal speech sent him into a fairly violent fit of coughing. He groaned when it subsided, feeling as though every nerve in his body had been set on fire.
"Where...am I?" he asked with some effort, praying the entire time that this would not set off another fit.
She lowered her hands and answered him quietly, more because she was concentrating on checking on him without hurting him - or rather tried her best to - than anything else "My home."
"My new home actually," she continued, trying to keep him awake as she gently ran her fingers through his hair and against his skull, checking for a concussion "I just moved in. Talk about a house welcoming, hmm?"
"Can you open your eyes?" she asked, adding a light level of humor to hopefully distract him from at least some of the pain. She looked at the tears of pain he had shed that had left a trail on his face and gently wiped them before he could start to follow her instruction "And tell me if you see more than one me? I admit it would be a scary concept to those I freelance for seeing as I'm told they can only handle one of me... Here, let me lower the lights."
She reached over and turned the light down, the knob being both by the door and beside the bed.
He opened his eyes again slowly. It was easier to focus them in the dim light, but still a difficult task.
"On-ly one." He told her "What...kind...of freelance work...do you....do?"
"Photography," she answered with another slight grin before admitting "Even if it ends up being reporting too."
"No concussion thank goodness," she added, moving her fingers down to his neck and shoulders to probe as gently as she could without skipping possible breaks "Do you know your name?"
"Of course it's...." the man stopped suddenly a confused look coming over his face "It's......"
Mike stilled her hands, her tone gentle "It's okay. It happens sometimes that you can't remember things when you've been through something you've obviously been through.
"And seeing as I don't plan on calling you 'hey you' or 'John Doe'," she added, again with the same light humorous tone she had used moments ago "How about I call you..... Adam?"
Mike stilled her hands, her tone gentle "It's okay. It happens sometimes that you can't remember things when you've been through something you've obviously been through.
The man shook his head clearly distressed. It was NOT okay, not okay at all.
"And seeing as I don't plan on calling you 'hey you' or 'John Doe'," she added, again with the same light humorous tone she had used moments ago "How about I call you..... Adam?"
He bit his bottom lip and stared at her in the dim light. "All right," he agreed. "What do I call you?"
She could tell not knowing his name was upsetting him and offered "I'll let you pick. Mike, Micha or Michaela."
"Michaela." He replied without any hesitation at all. That is what seemed right.
"Michaela it is. Now, don't add curses to it. It's time to check your ribs."
She moved her hands over his chest "Just let me know when it hurts, but I'll try and be careful."
"There!" he hissed suddenly as one of her hands touched an incredibly painful area.
"Sorry." She let off but gently ran the tips of her fingers over that area before moving to another. Had he not been hurt she would have called herself nuts for having undressed someone she didn't know. Even now she had to focus on the task at hand and hoped he wasn't one to get upset at the end of it all "It's obvious I'm going to have to tape you up. I already feel two cracked ribs."
She didn't look forward to doing it to him but knew that it had to be done for him to heal properly.
"Wonderful." He muttered, closing his eyes again.
Whatever she did, he wanted it to be over with as soon as possible. He was so consumed with his pain and confusion that he hadn't even noticed the fact that half of his clothes had been removed. His mind was reeling with far too many questions.
"How....did you find me?"
Michaela located one other cracked rib and then set about starting to tape them off, wincing each time he hissed in pain. It took a few minutes seeing as she had to do most of the work in moving him as the pain was making it near impossible for him to move on his own, but finally, she was finished, and taped off the binding before reaching for the sponge and bowl of cool water to wipe his brow with.
"The worst part is over." She assured him, her voice low "And.. I didn't find you. You found me."
"I did?" he asked surprised by this. He could vaguely remember the haze....but that was about it.
He closed his eyes again "Are you finished now?"
She set the sponge back into the basin soothed his brow, promising "Almost but I doubt you'll feel this compared to the rest."
Mike reached for the Band-Aids. She just had to bandage the cuts on his forehead and face now - where she could - and make sure it was all cleaned.
Keeping her voice low she spoke to him "I'm going to give you some extra strength Tylenol. I'd give you something stronger but... well I'm not sure what you're allergic to."
And, she thought to herself, if she did give him something that caused an allergic reaction, there was no ignoring the hospitals then.
"Neither do I." the man admitted "Where did you learn to do all this?"
Her lips quirked "In my line of work, there are those times you don't want the local authorities involved. Looks like you landed in the right place."
Mike stood up slowly and reached for the Tylenol and glass of water, before sitting back down and helping him to take the pills and drink enough water to help wash them down "Drink slowly."
He tried his best, but it was not an easy task. He hadn't realized just how thirsty he really was and the temptation to gulp the entire glass was very strong.
However, he tried to do as she instructed.
"May have more?" he asked her when it was gone.
Without really thinking about it, she stroked his hair as she laid him back down and suggested "How about we try for some Gatorade?"
He could be dehydrated and drinking the alternate drink would help put back some vitamins he had lost - and certainly couldn't hurt by way of helping him on any other level.
"That sounds good." He replied his accent becoming more noticeable than it had been as his voice was a bit stronger.
Mike stood and looked the door, then back at him "I'm going to go get some and will be right back."
She left and went downstairs, getting the bottle she had from the refrigerator and bringing it back up. She liked the clear liquid version herself so what she had actually looked like water. She reentered the bedroom and poured some in the glass she had had the water in, and sat back on the bed to help him drink it.
"Drink it slow." She cautioned.
He took a sip and found, for the first time in his life, that the stuff actually tasted pretty good. He usually thought it tasted like watered down salt water, no matter what flavor the manufacture claimed it was supposed to be. This glass was a bit easier to drink slowly, however the effort of sitting up to drink exhausted him.
"Thank you." He said softly as he relaxed against the pillows.
"You're welcome." She said, putting the glass on the nightstand and moving to cover him. She'd let him sleep and keep an eye on him.
Which meant chair,
blanket for herself and setting her watch to go over every once in a while
so that she could do periodic checks.
He had been waiting at the new graves for the better part of the night and looked at his watch. The new ones should be waking up any moment now....
And, as if on cue,
the ground before the first tombstone began to rumble.....
End of
Episode One
join us
next week for
Episode
Two