Chapter Two. Lustrous Diamonds And Surprises
The next few weeks seemed to move by rapidly. Tex seemed happy for the first time in a long while as so did Church. Tucker couldn't stand them, Caboose hated Tex---something about stealing his best friend and Sarge gave them a talk. Grif fell asleep during Sarge's talk, Simmons finished a new experiment, Donut gave Sister a makeover after she returned, Sister loved Donut, Tex finally finished a book she'd been meaning to finish and Church sat alone in his room with the door wide open.
Tucker started to walked by and stopped upon seeing Church inside his room still. He walked backward to his doorway.
It was silent as he gazed nervously at the ground as if something was on his mind.
Tucker said nothing and Sister ran up behind him. She happily grabbed his wrist tugging on it to get him to follow, but he motioned for her to run ahead. She gave him a puzzled expression before bounding off outside. He walked in and his sandals made a thud with every step. He wasn't sure why Church was so quiet or why he was in his room alone, but he wanted to know why he looked so nervous. Did it involve Tex? Was this personal? He wanted to blog about it either way. So he stepped forward one last time and finally spoke. "What's wrong?" Church shuddered as if he hadn't noticed he was there at all.
"Hey Tucker. I'm just thinking.." His voice trailed as he glanced downward to something in his hands.
"About what?" To explain, he held up his dog tags to show Tucker: a silver, half carat engagement ring with a single diamond in the center. Tucker then got frozen and his body seemed to go numb. Church was just insane right now, right? He wasn't serious about this, right? He wasn't that crazy, no, Tucker knew he wasn't. Or, was he?
He managed to unfreeze enough to speak, but that was all. "Are you insane?!" Church just stared at him for a moment.
"I don't know. I know I love her, I just don't know if I'm ready to commit fully to her." Tucker nodded.
"Your not! Now, forget this whole thing!" Church still stayed sitting down as Tucker started to run off, thinking he was following. When he heard no footsteps behind him, he turned around---stopped in the doorway. "Are you coming?"
"Where's Tex anyway?" Tucker wondered if he'd even heard him.
"Where's who?" Tex asked stopped in the doorway wearing a Black bikini. They had all decided to go swimming today, using the fact that almost everyone in the gang was back together.
"You." Tucker said and she looked in to Church. Lucky him, she was so far away, it was near impossible to see what was on the dog tags.
"Come on dumb ass, the reds are out swimming and we're standing in here chatting." Tucker stepped to the side as Church got up in his blue swim trunks and stopped in front of her. "Good now lets go." She started to walk off, but Church gently grabbed her wrist. Tucker stepped back again as she turned to him with a scowl. Without a warning, he got down on one knee and held up the ring on the dog tags. Perplexed, she looked around. "Am I being pranked?" He shook his head.
"No. Will you marry me, Allison Beth?" She took a moment to see if there was anything else, but there was nothing.
"Are you seriously asking me?" He nodded.
The suspense was tearing him up, ripping him limb from limb. Why wouldn't she answer? Is she just trying to get on his nervous?
In that split second she put her hands over her mouth with a gasp and nodded; Tucker rolled his eyes and Church rose, expecting that to be the end, but she hugged him.
Tucker started walking outside and Tex pulled him closer---if that was possible. He lifted her feet off the wood and she bent them. This felt a little crazy, and he knew she would probably feel dumb about it all later, but he tried to enjoy it now.
After he set her on the ground and they moved away, she started to run off, but he grabbed her wrist and stopped her again. "What is it this time?"
"Don't just walk out there and as soon as your feet hit the grass, tell everyone." She looked at him, puzzled.
"Are you already having second guesses? I mean, I don't even have the ring on yet." He looked at his dog tags.
"Well, that's because its stuck on the chain, and no!" Silence followed for a moment.
"You got that thousand dollar ring stuck on your dog tags?" He hung his head shamefully and she laughed. "It's okay asshole, I won't tell them as soon as my feet hit the grass." He nodded and they started walking as he examined the dog tags.
When they got out of the base, standing on the metal Tex shouted. "I'm getting married!" Church shuddered and she sent him a pleased snarl.
"Smart ass." She smirked and crossed her arms.
"I try." Tex gave him a cocky smile and he sent her one back, lifting his eyebrows.
Sister suddenly bounded from the water and hugged Tex. The excitement was plain on the young girl's face.
"Oh my god!" Tex didn't hug her back, and rolled her eyes to Church.
Caboose ran over, glaring at Church. they both said nothing and Sister stopped hugging and started jumping. "That's so great! Jump with me!" Tex followed her with her eyes, making no attempt to do as she'd asked.
"Not happening." Sister stopped and hung her head, giving lip as she started to walk off.
"C'mon, Tex, would it kill you to jump with her just a couple times?" Tex sneered at Church and then sighed, noticing he was serious. Angry, she grabbed Sister's wrist. The girl looked at Tex hopefully.
"Goddammit," Tex cursed before sighing again. "Will you..." She looked to Church again. "Jump with me?" she asked between cinching teeth. Sister grinned and started jumping happily. Tex started jumping, feeling like the dumbest person alive.
They did that for a few moments.
After she stopped, Tex pushed Sister into the water and snickered as she turned around. "So, totally, worth it." Church shook his head, smiling.
For the next few hours they all swam and argued as expected. Sarge tried to frame Grif for him almost drowning----though everyone knew Sarge had done it. Caboose and Tucker teamed up on Church for asking Tex to marry him as she watched from a distance hypnotically. Donut bothered Tex about how she needed to have her dream wedding and she snapped back, saying she wanted the quickest and easiest wedding in history. She knew that was what she had wanted her whole, entire life. Not that she'd ever planned on any of this. Or expected. Oh, no, she'd expected to be alone until she died. But then Church came into her life and turned it upside down-----twisted her reality.
He'd changed her mind about everything she'd ever thought or was sure of. She could think of a couple things: one would be marriage. Her mind had always been set on doing what needed to be done and never caring about marriage. But he had convinced her otherwise years ago. Another thing, was that all men were losers and perverts. No, they weren't. Just most of them. Like Tucker.
A shiver ran down her back and she stuck her tongue out and pointed to her mouth.
Tucker. He was the lowest of the low, the loser of losers, he put the ass in asshole, the jack in jackass. Treating women like he did, was the wrong of the wrong.
She, for a moment, imagined how many women's lives he'd probably ruined, but then, she smiled; probably none. He was probably still a virgin, that is, if he acted like he did with her. "I will rock your world"? How the hell was he going to get any dates talking that shit?
Tex laughed at herself as she sat on the ground and gingerly jutted her feet in the water----not too cold, just a bit. She felt Church's hands on her arms as they ran from her shoulders, to her wrists. She sighed deeply before she leaning back to see him smiling at her. She laughed.
How the hell had she fall for him? Of all the men in the world, it had to be Leonard Church. Lazy Leonard Church, dead Leonard Church. He wasn't rich, he wasn't a genius, certainly wasn't a team player or leader, not athletic, not successful, loving, charming, friendly, humble----or anything like that. But she now stared up to him with the sun shining behind his head as though it was a halo.
He wasn't looking at her as she laid her head on his lap now, but instead, he was trying to talk to Caboose. She could see his throat and jaw moving as he did, but she wasn't listening to him speaking. Tex closed her eyes and wondered what he was thinking right now.
She smiled and he looked down to her. She looked so dreamlike with her Red hair spread across his lap, eyes closed and a smile across her face.
He brushed some hair from her face so he could get a better view, and thought about how happy she looked.
He'd never seen her that way before----though a part of him was sad she was acting so much nicer. He liked bitchy Tex. She always had him on his toes, on the edge of his seat, always on high alert waiting for her to strike again. Now, she seemed so nice he wanted to know if she really was on drugs.
Then, he thought about how to make her bitchy and tilted his head.
Well, he could always disgust her, or insult her…no, he needed something to keep her mad until midnight, so he could make things all better by getting off the engagement ring. He could possibly embarrass her until she wanted to die, but then he'd just get killed. He could do something completely retarded, but then he'd just look like the dumb ass.
A light bulb seemed to ignite in his head.
What if he tried to get her knocked up right in front of everyone? It would be the perfect idea. She would be just embarrassed enough to run off and be pissed for hours, but not enough to kill him---mostly because he would just say it was sexy when she beat him to death.
So, he decided that was his plan of attack.
Now what was he going to do or say? One line he thought of, was something his dad would always use to piss off his mom in front of company.
He snickered and she opened her eyes, 'causing him to look down to her.
She scowled.
It was obvious what he was going to do-----she knew that laugh. He was going to try and embarrass her.
So, she sat up and turned to him.
"What is it, Darling?" he asked and she stared at him.
"Nothing." She didn't want him knowing she had suspicions, that would just complicate things, and that was something so didn't want or need.
Then without warning he grabbed her ass and she smacked his hand. He looked at her with a smirk and she shook her head, warning him.
Tex knew where this was going.
He went in for a kiss and she tried to push him away. But he pushed her to the ground. She shook her head again and spoke. "Don't you fucking dare." He chuckled and ran his hands up to the sides of her bikini bottoms. Slowly, he started pulling them down. She smacked him across the face, but he continued. Finally, she pushed him off her and pulled it back up before sitting.
He reached into her cleavage an she kicked him away. "You son of a bitch." They now gained the attention of everyone at base. She stood up, but he stood up and kissed her forcefully as he pulled her leg up to his hip. She hit his arm away and kicked him in the groin. He started to fall over, but she pushed him into the water next to make sure he was out of the way.
Sister laughed and Tex dusted off her hands together.
Just as she was about to walk inside, he recovered enough to yell out to her the line his father had used.
"Come back, Babe! I'm sex-starved!" Tex stopped in her tracks and felt heat rise to her cheeks. Tucker began to laughed his ass off, Sister put her hand on her mouth, Caboose stared gawk at Church, Simmons dropped his experiment, Sarge stopped from daydreaming about killing Grif. Donut stared agape at Tex, and the now just arriving Wash, stopped in his tracks out-front.
"Am I sure I want to come here?" he asked and then abruptly turned around. "I'm leaving while I still can." He walked away towards his warthog.
Tex couldn't turn around now----she was too embarrassed. So she only said one sentence.
"I will get you back for this." Then she walked inside.
Tucker's face was red since he was laughing so hard he was gasping for air. But he managed to speak through his laughs.
"That was hilarious!" Church smirked and started laughing also. While that happened, Grif laughed an spoke.
"That was so worth being awake for." Sister and Donut were disgusted though.
Doc just walked out with a plate of hot dogs ready to be cooked, unsuspecting of what had just happened..
"Who wants their weenies roasted?!" Tucker started laughing even harder now, along with Church. "What?"
An hour later, they all went inside after a long, eventful, chat with Caboose about the birds and bees.
Tex had never made a reappearance and Church wasn't surprised. He still had no regrets though, getting her pissed off was totally worth the laughs. Now, he just hoped she wouldn't be so pissed she'd brake off the engagement. It wouldn't stun him though.
He walked inside and into her room to see if she was okay, but she wasn't in there. Confused, he strolled to his room instead. Immediately, he went stiff.
His room was trashed, every element about it. His CD rack was toppled over, magazines had water poured on them and were scattered on the ground, his bed was flipped and on his wall, was spray painted: Fuck you asshole. I hope you die. AGAIN! Love, Tex.
He wasn't surprised.
When Tucker walked by, drying his hair with a towel, he stopped behind Church. They both did nothing until Tucker hit him on the shoulder and pressed his lips together sympathetically. He then turned to see Tex coming down the hallway. Tucker cursed before moving.
Church turned to her and, almost literally, saw fire in her eyes and recoiled. Was that just his imagination?
She inched closer and he took an involuntary step back again. He was scared to death-----she looked so dangerous standing there her, Black skinny jeans, Black teeshirt and White jogging shoes with her arms crossed and her scowl.
She started tapping her foot and he gawked. She scoffed a moment later. "Aren't you gonna try and makeup with me?" He thought about it. Should he? She was kind of being a bitch. But then again, it was his fault. Still, didn't have to be a bitch.
"Nope." Her eyes widened and she stared at him slightly gawk herself now.
"Nope?" He shook his head, and walked into his trashed room. "Nope?" she repeated incredulously as he stepped over magazines and then started picking them up. The water dripped everywhere, so he sat the one he had down on thee ground and started jogging to the closet down the hall. She followed him like a lost puppy.
"Your really not going to makeup?" He nodded and opened the closet, grabbed two towels an started walking back---her still at his side. "Why not?" He turned into his room and she still followed. But he snarled at her for asking that as he stepped in his room.
She looked around. "But this is your fault. I wouldn't have trashed your room if you hadn't been a pervert." He started drying off the magazines one by one on their covers then laying them open on the floor, but still, said nothing.
Somehow, she felt guilty, but she wasn't quite sure why. Was it because he was giving her the silent treatment? Because she knew he was mad? Or that he'd never not wanted to makeup with her? Whatever it was, she felt horrible.
She thought about apologizing and wondered if it would do any good. He was pretty pissed. Though part of her still blamed him, I mean, if he hadn't pissed her off then...no, she shook her head. "I'm sorry." He continued working as if she hadn't said a word. She looked around as Tucker watched from the doorway and then put aside her pride and started helping him fix his room.
That had been what he had wanted from her.
She started picking up his CDs noticing some were crushed and useless. Now she felt bad for that, and wondered why. She had never felt guilty about this stuff before. Never, just today, and she even had had a reason.
But she still felt that way.
Tucker stared agape at them for a moment and then shook his head and walked to his room. They were getting along? Did his eyes mislead him?
He tried to somehow shake it off, denying what was in his face.
After three hours of working, his CDs were moved, magazines drying on tables.
She squatted down by the top of his CD rack and he did also. With their shoulders brushing, they both pulled it back up an she laughed. He scowled. "What?" She laughed again and looked around his room.
"It was just a hell of a lot easier---and funnier---tearing up this room, then put it back together." He laughed then too an walked to the doorway.
"I'm gonna go get some hot water and sponges." She nodded and he took off.
She smelled the fresh air seeping through the open window and closed her eyes. it smelled like it had just been after a rainstorm with a small trace of brine scent.
Today had been almost illegally insane. Church had asked her to marry him, she had agreed, Caboose had argued with her---Tucker also, she had been forced to jump with Sister, Church had embarrassed her and pushed her to the edge, she had destroyed his room, made up, helped him clean his room and been annoyed by Tucker. Long day indeed.
Her back was killing her for some reason that she wasn't sure of why. So she let out a whimper an arched it. That only made it hurt worse and now her shoulders hurt. Church walked back in just in time to see her doing a shrugging movement. Instead of like a shrug, she whimpered and he sat the bucket of water he had---with sponges floating in it---on the ground and walked up behind her. She winced as he touched her back and massaged it slightly. "You okay?" She nodded and whimpered one last time before he walked back over to the bucket. "You ready to get working?" She nodded again and shrugged the pain off. They bent over at the bucket, grabbed a sponge, squeezed it, walked over to the wall and started scrubbing at the spray paint.
They did that for a for a couple hours silently.
The sun was setting by the time the wall was cleaned of her message and she almost literally passed out.
He laid next to her on his bed and sighed.
His body hurt from working all day. Muscles tight, eyes like led, arms burning.
He rubbed his tender face and she kissed his neck.
"You look tired." He nodded and sighed again.
"That's because I am."
"Why am I not surprised?" He chuckled and kissed her head.
"I'm sorry about being an asshole by the way." She gazed at the ceiling.
"You mean: you're sorry about being sneaky?" He nodded.
"Yes."
"There's truly only one way to ever make me forgive you." He swallowed nervously. This couldn't be good.
He was right too.
He stood the next day in the kitchen at blue base, wearing all pink and an enlarged picture of him getting ready to take her to prom.
If the picture wasn't embarrassing enough, he was wearing pink, pink! Pink for Gods sake! Her and just about everyone else---minus Donut---laughed at his attire.
After the laughing for that was done, Tex unveiled the picture she had had enlarged. Everyone except him laughed their asses off. Church had to admit though, he did look pretty stupid. And his suit wasn't exactly a good choice then. A Cobalt bow wasn't exactly fitting and the pink belt helped him to look stupid, too.
What he noticed them laughing at most, was his facial expression. "Are you retarded?" He heard Grif comment. "Are you part of the unisex community?" He heard Sarge ask, referring to the color choice. Tucker laughed too hard to comment and Caboose was busy talking to himself----creepy.
Anyway, Tex just chuckled a couple times, probably remembering that night, he figured. The night may have been something of disaster, but none of the fairytale movies ever applied to either one of them. He was okay with that. That kind of stuff wasn't on his mind.
Though she seemed a bit distant the whole time and refused to drink any wine when he offered. Her only explanation was that she wasn't in the mood. He offered her some beer and she squinted at him and said "I'm really just not in the mood to drink." When he'd asked why, she got all awkward and said she was going to take a nap.
Why would she take off during a party for his embarrassment? Why would she let herself miss out on that? It wasn't like her to act that way.
That night he found her lying in her bed, staring rubberneck at the ceiling. She was motionless besides her breathing and he blinking every so once in awhile.
He walked in with a cup of wine and swirled it in his cup, before setting it on her vanity. Sitting at her feet, she looked lost as if she was expecting the ceiling to open up into a magical land, but knew it wouldn't. Her eyes were glistening as she looked to him.
What was wrong? He wanted to know, but wasn't sure how to ask. She might not want to talk about it, and he wasn't about to make her. "Church I-" He stopped her by putting his index finger on her lips.
"I don't need an explanation." She pushed his hand away.
"I'm pregnant." He shuddered slightly.
"Your what? Is this a joke?" She shook her head and turned to facing the wall.
Was this really happening? Did he hear this wrong? No, it was what he heard.
Church franticly searched for his next sentence, but nothing came and when he went to speak, all that came out was a snarl.
This wasn't going to be good for multiple reasons. One, all they had was Doc, two because of Caboose, three because of everyone else and four, because he figured neither one of them were ready for this.
Why was he so lost for words? He begged himself to think of something. Anything. At this point, he just wanted to say something to make her feel better. She was certainly feeling like shit about this---not that he blamed her at the least bit or that she should blame herself. No, she shouldn't, it takes two people's errors for this to happen. But he could tell she was letting herself take all the blame. "Tex. This isn't your fault," She didn't move as began speaking.
"I know you're thinking that it takes two people to cause this. You're right, it does. But it takes one person to stop it." He felt something inside him tighten. She was right, it did. Though he wished that thought would have come to his mind a few weeks ago.
"There's no reason to say that now. Its done," He paused, seeing if she would respond, when she didn't, he continued, "The only thing we can do is figure out what to do next."
She nodded softly. "First off, I think we need to call command and see what they tell us to do." She nodded and sat up. Gently, she hugged him.
