I woke up early on Wednesday morning. It was a foggy morning. It felt like Freddie and I were the only people left on earth. The idea was frightening and, in a way, nice at the same time. I was dreading going home and I was really dreading having to sleep alone in my own bed in my crappy house with my obnoxious mom. I slipped out of bed and put on my boots and coat. It was cold in the cabin. I lit the fire and loaded it up with wood as quietly as I could. Then I just sat and watched Freddie sleep for a while. This time I was careful to keep tabs on his shallow breathing so I knew he was still asleep. His eye wasn't swollen at all anymore and the deep purple had faded some, the edges of his bruise were starting to turn yellowish green. I stared at him hard, somehow trying to read his mind. Did he really care for me like I wanted him to? Did he just want a make-out partner? Was it the foreign bacon thing again? I needed to know these things before we got back to regular life! It really seemed to me it was the hero worship/foreign bacon thing. I mean, he never asked me out or tried to flirt with me or indicate in any way that his feelings for me were growing or that he was attracted to me in any way. At least he didn't do any of that until after I rescued him from the Shadow Hammer. So it had to be that, didn't it? I wanted to cry. Just about then Freddie shifted in his sleep and his breathing changed. I quickly got up and went over to the kitchen area to start making breakfast for our last morning here in what I was now thing of as 'our' cabin. There was enough syrup left for pancakes again so I started to mix up the batter for those.
I had my back to the bed but I could still hear when Freddie got out of bed and started to get dressed. Please go out to the outhouse right away! Please do not come over here! I am not ready to face you yet. I was still thisclose to crying about being nothing but bacon. Never one to do what I want him to do, Freddie came to stand right behind me. "Mmmm pancakes sound good, want some help with that?" he asked.
A quick "No" was all I could manage. So, now that I said no, please go away!
"Sam?" he asked "are you all right?"
"I'm fine, now go away." I spit out.
"You don't sound fine. Please tell me what is wrong." he pleaded, sounding worried. I didn't answer. I closed my eyes tight against the threatening tears and bit my lip, hard, to hold back my emotions. By now I was holding on to the edge of the metal sink so hard I thought I must be denting it. Pleeeeeease, go away! I begged silently.
After what seemed like forever but was probably more like a minute or two, I felt his hand on my shoulder, urging me to turn around. I stood my ground. "Sam, what is wrong!" he asked as he took both my shoulders and turned me to face him.
I couldn't help it. One traitorous tear slipped out of my eye and trickled it's way down my cheek. I felt him brush it away. "Sam, please, tell me what's wrong!"
"I'm bacon!" I wailed.
He had the nerve to chuckle and tried to put his arms around me and pull me in for a hug. "You can have bacon later today." he said.
I shoved hard away from him. "I didn't say I wanted bacon! I said I AM bacon! Foreign stinking bacon!" I yelled as I turned around to face the sink again.
For a moment he didn't say or do anything. My outburst was a bit peculiar, he probably was thinking. Then he must have understood my meaning. I felt his arms around my sides, curving around my stomach to hug me from behind and I heard his voice right in my ear and felt his chin on my shoulder. "Can I tell you about my favorite daydream?" That was an odd question to be asking right now but since I had no options for escape from this situation I just stood there like a statue and he continued. "My favorite daydream is for you and me to be driving in the woods, just the two of us. I can never figure out a good reason for just you and me to be driving out in the woods alone but, hey, it's a daydream. It doesn't have to make sense. Any way, it is the proverbial dark and stormy night and our car breaks down. Because of the flashes of lightening we can see a small cabin not to far away and we make a run for it and break in. It's not much of a cabin but it has food and water and a bed and it keeps the rain off our heads. This, of course, is a huge storm that lasts for days. You and I stuck together, just the two of us, in a little cabin where we have time to break down our walls and admit how we feel about each other. In my daydreams there is always a lot of snuggling under the covers for warmth and lots of kissing and... well, sometimes even more than that."
I finally turned around. "And exactly why are you telling me this ridiculous story? It's not a daydream, it's the reality of the past few days!" I retorted.
"Well, of course sometimes we get stranded on a deserted island. It's got this fresh water spring, we have to have water to drink, and it bubbles down into this beautiful pool for us to swim in before it cascades down to the ocean. We have to build our own shelter and make nets for fishing. Our own little paradise that we don't want to be rescued from."
"What are you babbling about! You've been having these weird daydreams all weekend?" I asked with distain.
He took my hands in his and looked deep into my eyes. "No, Sam. You aren't listening. I'm saying you are not foreign bacon." Ok, I admit it, that got my full attention. "I've been having these daydreams about you and me for a few years now. And while I am extremely grateful for you rescuing me, it hasn't changed my feelings towards you at all."
"You like me?" I asked hesitantly.
"I more than 'like' you!" he blurted out.
"But you never showed any signs of liking me before this weekend! You never asked me out or tried to hold my hand, brush my hair out of my eyes or kiss me or anything!" I was challenging him, if he more than liked me how come he hadn't shown it?
"Be truthful. If say, 3 months ago, I had asked you for a date what would you have said?" he asked.
"Truthful, huh?" I said with a cringe.
"Totally truthful." he replied.
"Ok, if you had asked me for a date I probably would have laughed at you and made fun of you." I admitted.
"And if I had tried to hold your hand or kiss you?" he added.
"Yeah, I probably would have at least smacked you upside the head." I admitted with a groan. I'd been sabotaging myself all this time while trying to hide my feelings for him. What a dope!
"So, you see, daydreams were all I had. When mom would drag me to a poetry reading or boring seminar, I would sit quietly pretending to pay attention and then I'd daydream about the girl I wished was my girlfriend. It's odd how things turn out. I have had daydreams about me rescuing you, the dashing hero rescuing the damsel in distress," he said with a smile "but I never dreamed it would be you rescuing me to set us up in our own little world where we could break down our walls and admit our feelings."
He was being very honest and putting his feelings out there on the line. It was all still new and scary but I was growing hopeful that this could all work out. "So, you do want to be my boyfriend?" I asked.
"Most definitely" he replied and leaned in to kiss me. I got tingles all up and down my spine. I wound my hands up around his neck to play with his soft hair. He put his arms around me and pulled me in close. It was a good thing he was holding me up because when he tilted his head and deepened the kiss and ran his tongue along my bottom lip, seeking entrance, my knees turned rubbery. The fog outside seemed to surround us in the cabin. The whole world was gone. The only part of my world that was left was me and Freddie, kissing. That was fine with me, I could stay here forever! Sadly, however, reality intruded into our little world several minutes later when my stomach decided to growl, loudly. Freddie broke off the kiss, laughing. "Me thinks my lady is hungry."
"Always." I replied and we both laughed. We made our breakfast, burning quite a few pancakes because we'd be busy kissing and forget about them. But we did make some worth eating and threw the burned ones outside for the animals.
My uncle was coming around noon so we got busy trying to erase any traces of having been in the cabin. We burned the towels, sheets and blankets that had Freddie's blood on them. I used bleach to scrub the blood off the floor where he had been laying when I found him. We went around and polished anything we might have touched that could have fingerprints on them – the lantern, the knobs on the oven, cupboards, dresser, the table... everything we could think of.
"Did we get everything?" Freddie asked me.
"What am I? An expert?" I teased him.
"More of one than me!" he replied.
"I think we got everything. It's nearly noon so my uncle should be here soon. I'm starting to get hungry for lunch. Maybe we could make lunch for when they get here?" I suggested.
"Sounds good, how about that last canned ham and some canned veggies? It won't dirty a lot of dishes for us to clean up later." he said. And we set the ham in the oven and the veggies on top to warm. I set the table for four since I didn't know if Snake was coming along to help Freddie down to the truck or not.
Lunch was ready and still no sign of my uncle. We might just have to eat it without him. Freddie and I were both standing in the kitchen area when suddenly the door banged open and a large man with a rifle barreled through the door. Freddie who was in front of me and to the side immediately took a large step to one side to be right in front of me. "Don't hurt her!" he yelled at the man.
I felt tears prick my eyes. This time it was happy tears. Freddie didn't know it was my Uncle Carmine with the gun, he just thought I was in danger and he was willing to take a bullet for me. He loved me that much. I took a half step forward to be right behind him. Uncle Carmine gave a great laugh and laid his gun on the counter, turning to go back out the door to call Snake to come in. Freddie was about to make a move to grab the rifle when I wrapped my arms around him and this time I whispered in his ear. "I love you too. And that's my uncle."
I felt his whole body relax with relief. I'm surprised his knees didn't buckle too. Uncle Carmine and Snake came back in. "Hey, smells good in here." my uncle noted.
"Yup, we made lunch for ya!" I told him, gesturing for them to sit at the table. Since there were only two chairs Freddie and I sat on the bed and put our plates in our laps. Uncle Carmine told us how all of Seattle was on the hunt for the Shadow Hammer and Freddie. They'd even shown my little video on the news asking if anyone knew where the video had been recorded so they could find us. We told them how we managed to get along without electricity or running water for 3 days. I told him that even though we'd made lunch for them I absolutely insisted that we stop at the first store that was open to get some fat cakes and Peppy Cola!
"Deal" said Uncle Carmine. "Anything for you, boy?" he asked Freddie.
"Excuse me?" Freddie said.
"Anything in particular you want to get at the store. I'm buying. Any boy who'd stand in the way of a bullet aimed at my Sammi Girl is a keeper in my book!" he said and winked at me.
"Any boyfriend of hers that wouldn't take a bullet for her would be an idiot!" he replied. "Just some Peppy Cola for me, I'm sick of nothing to drink but water!"
After lunch and cleaning up the dishes, dirty dishes for four in a cabin for one would look odd when the cabin was discovered, Snake and my uncle went to check out the outhouse. I knew they weren't 'checking out the outhouse' but using the outhouse and checking out the Hammer's body to make sure he was still there and he was actually dead.
"Ready to hike down the hill?" I asked Freddie. He'd been recovering steadily but it was still going to be tough going for him.
"Will you still want to be my girlfriend when we get back to Seattle? Be seen with me in public? Go out, maybe Friday night, for dinner and a movie, just the two of us?" he asked.
"Most certainly!" I answered and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
He stopped me from backing away from him by grabbing my shoulders. "Then I can hike anywhere you want me to go, as long as we go there together. And, Sam? I love you too." he said softly as he pulled my lips back to his.
