Chapter 4 – You Make Me Smile
"There's some kind of light at the end
When touching the edge of her skin
Once so hard to speak
Now so easy to play around
Catching your eye you know
That eye that slapped you in your face
and called you a puppy
Well how do you say
I was hypnotized
Hypnotized
My words, they pour
Like children to the playground
Children to the playground
You make me smile
There's some kind of light at the end
Stoned, forgetful, and then
I'm drinking what used to be sin
And touching the edge of her skin
Could you be the one that's not afraid
To look me in the eyes
I swear I would collapse
If I would tell how I think you fell
From the sky
Yeah my words, they pour
Like children to the playground
Children to the playground
You make me smile
There's some kind of light at the end
Stoned, forgetful, and then
I'm drinking what used to be sin
And touching the edge of her skin
It's the feeling I get
My palms would sweat
Like some kind of daydream
I'll never forget
I'm stuck in this spin
Why does it begin
By touching the edge of her skin
There's some kind of light at the end
Stoned, forgetful, and then
I'm drinking what used to be sin
And touching the edge of her skin."
-Justin Furstenfeld & William Noveskey-
The next Friday evening, Cora sat curled up under a blanket on her large, plush sectional couch next to Monty, who was sprawled on the big chaise at the end with his head on her lap. Scout, her sable ferret, was snoozing away on her lap as well, burrowed into the blanket beside Monty's face. The afternoon had been overcast and humid, threatening a rainstorm that had yet to come. Cora sneezed and blew her now raw nose and tossed the tissue into the near-overflowing trash bin by the coffee table as her phone chimed with an incoming text message. "Hey, I just wanted to see how you're feeling. You ok?" Her traitorous heart fluttered when she saw that it was from Nathaniel.
"I'm ok. Still feel like crap, but it's more like death warmed over now instead of straight up death."
"Did you get some sleep? Are you resting?"
"Yes, mother, I've been utterly useless all day."
"Good. Smartass. Did you eat?"
"Not yet. I'll drag my ass off the couch in a little while."
"All right. Feel better, ok?"
"Thanks." Cora set the phone back down and sighed. She had initially thought she was just tired and headachy at the start of shift at AirMedic the previous night, since it had been an exhausting week in the ER and she hadn't been sleeping well, but as the night wore on, she'd developed body aches and her throat had started to get scratchy. She'd spiked a bit of a fever after returning from a call, and not wanting to put patients at further risk, had decided she should go home. Nathaniel and Uncas had both agreed, offering to call in Jonathan, the nurse from the secondary team on call. She had come home and slept the rest of the night and a little late this morning, and had spent the rest of the day on the couch dozing, blowing her nose, popping cold medicine, and watching ridiculous movies. It was sweet of Nathaniel to check on her. He was always being nice to her, and she never quite knew what to do with it. Part of her wanted to keep her distance and tell him to stop, but another part of her knew that was because she secretly liked it too much, and the implications of that still scared her breathless. She both hated and loved the tingly, twitterpated feeling he gave her every time he smiled his gorgeous smile at her, or said something funny, or simply walked into a room, or, God forbid, touched her in some casual, innocuous way that made her have fleeting thoughts about him touching her not so innocently, which led to mental forehead-smacking and the near-dropping of coffee cups. Trying to sort it out in her head was proving to be a distressing and extremely sleep-depriving operation, which probably hadn't done her immune system any favors when faced with work stress and the cold and flu patients hitting the ER. She felt like a hot mess.
A third of the way through Goonies, Cora had dozed off again, and woke with a start thinking she'd heard an engine rumbling in the carport. Monty's head shot up like a periscope, and he unfolded himself from the couch with a gruff bark. Carefully moving the blanket with the still sleeping Scout inside, she got up just as a knock sounded on the front door. She looked out the peephole and almost whimpered out loud. Why the hell is Nathaniel Poe standing on my porch? She looked down at herself. Socks, ratty sweatpants and Navy Nurse Corps t-shirt, underneath a shapeless grey knit housecoat. God only knew what her hair looked like by now. Fan-fucking-tastic. This sexy bastard shows up unannounced, and I look like I should be cast as Jeff Lebowski. Oh well. Maybe he'll give up after this. She unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door, grabbing Monty's collar to restrain him.
"Hi." His eyes traveled over her once, and he gave her that damnable, heart-stopping crooked grin, his motorcycle helmet in one hand and a paper bag in the other.
"Hi yourself. What on earth are you doing here? Montcalm. Sit." Monty obeyed, his tail thumping gleefully on the wood floor.
"I'm sorry I didn't warn you. I got off work, and you said you hadn't eaten earlier, and I kind of figured you probably hadn't gotten around to it yet if you're still feeling bad, so…" he held up the paper bag.
"You brought me food?" He brought me food. What is your deal, Captain Hawkeye? She eyed him suspiciously.
"Not just any food. My mom came over earlier this week and made a whole stock pot of chicken and dumplings to freeze. It's the best comfort food ever, especially when you're nursing a nasty cold."
Her stomach growled audibly. Damn you. "I'm too hungry to protest, that actually sounds amazing. Please come in. Monty, go lay down." She snapped a stern knife-hand at the dog, who retreated to the couch. She stood aside so Nathaniel could come in, and after removing his jacket, he followed her through the foyer and living room to the kitchen, his boots thudding on the hardwood flooring. "Sorry it's kind of messy in here. I never got to do the dishes, and today was not that kind of day." She gestured listlessly at the farmhouse sink piled half-deep with dirty dishes.
"It's fine, don't worry. This kitchen is great, by the way." He gazed around appreciatively. The floors were all original hardwood like the rest of the house, almost grey in color but variegated from dark to light shades. On one end the original stone and brick hearth dominated the narrow wall. The longer wall was lined with distressed whitewash cabinets, except for around the gas stove and the wide sink where they were a distressed smoky blue, and the curtains on the big window above the sink had a matching shade in the fabric print. The countertops were all deep-toned butcher block, including the sit-down island over which hung an iron pot hanger with a few pieces of copper cookware on it. Between the pots, bundles of basil, parsley, and lavender from her garden hung, drying. At the far end where they were standing was a sturdy wooden farmhouse table with matching chairs. Cora smiled. She loved her kitchen, too, and Nathaniel standing in it was giving her mild palpitations. A dark five o'clock shadow gave him a rakish look and emphasized the stark lines of his face and the contrasting green of his eyes. Today's t-shirt was tan with a graphic of a helicopter that said 'Runways are for Beauty Queens', and he had on another pair of comfortably worn jeans that made her want to sigh a little. Stop it, she admonished herself.
"Thanks," she replied. "I really like how it turned out. I did some remodeling when I bought this place a few years ago. Some I had done, and some my dad and Alice helped with – we built the island base together. I had that section of wall there taken out to open it up some, so we used the ship lap from it to do the island." She went to a cabinet and took down a couple of bowls, and got out a pot to heat the soup in.
"It's awesome." He brought the bag over and set it down next to her by the stove, pulling out a big plastic container full of soup. "Why don't you hang out and let me take care of heating this up?" He set the pot on the stove and flipped the burner on, pouring some of the soup into it.
"Okay… thanks." Cora opened a drawer and handed him a wooden spoon to stir with, then leaned against the counter.
"I also brought you my mom's signature herbal tea blend for colds and flu. I told you she's a naturopath. She grows all her own stuff, and keeps us well-stocked with remedies. It'll cure what ails you, believe me. She comes from a long line of Delaware medicine men and women. And there's whisky in there for a hot toddy, too," he told her, stirring the pot. "Nothing kills a cold better, I promise – especially combined with Mom's tea. Drink that and bundle up in blankets for the night and you'll feel amazing in the morning."
"Might be better than popping DayQuil every four hours. I'll take it." She sneezed into the sleeve of her robe and sniffled, and it made his heart flop over in his chest. Lightning flashed outside the kitchen window, followed by a clap of thunder.
"Here comes the rain, finally," Cora said, breaking his gaze and going to the window, where fat raindrops had begun to patter against the glass, quickly escalating to a fast, heavy storm. "Maybe now my shoulder will quit hurting, this weather's been bugging it all day. Gives me a damn headache."
"Yeah, I hear you." The rain always made his leg ache, too, from hip to knee. He turned the stove off and poured the chicken and dumplings into the two bowls she'd set out. "All right, let's get some food in you. You're going to love this. Table?"
"No, we can sit in the living room. I don't feel good enough for formal dining. Just don't put your bowl down anywhere near Monty." He laughed and followed her into the living room, which he'd only glimpsed on the way in. Like the kitchen, it had the same greyish hardwood floors, with a multicolored medallion-print area rug, windows and a set of French doors with striped curtains, and bright, cream-colored walls that helped the room seem bigger. All the molding and baseboards looked original and was stained a deep walnut color. The couch was a decadent, rusty-colored plush sectional with a huge chaise on one end, occupied by her enormous dog, who panted and thumped his long tail happily when Nathaniel plopped down beside him.
"Hey there, Monty." He scratched the dog's ears, and Monty licked his forearm. "Ah, you're right. This couch is a lot better than a wooden chair."
"I love it, but I'll admit I pretty much picked it out solely because it gave Monty his own space to lay. Then he doesn't try to sit on my lap," Cora laughed, eating a spoonful of the hot soup. "Wow, this is amazing. Can I borrow your mother? Seriously, this is the best chicken and dumplings I've ever eaten."
"I told you." He smiled, glancing at the TV, where the Fratellis were in hot pursuit of the Goonie gang to get to One-Eyed Willie's ship. "Hey, is this Goonies? I love this movie!"
"Me too, I always watch it when I don't feel good. My mom always put it on for me and Alice when we were sick growing up, and Alice brought a copy to the hospital when I got hurt too, so it's kind of a go-to now." She tucked her feet under her and settled back to eat her soup. They watched the rest of the movie, each taking seconds on the chicken and dumplings, and by the time it was over, the downpour outside had stopped. Suddenly the blanket on the cushion next to Nathaniel moved, and a small, furry, beady-eyed head poked out.
"Jesus, what the hell is that?!" he yelled with a start, nearly dropping his empty bowl on the floor.
"Oh, no, I forgot about Scout! I'm sorry, I should have warned you. He likes to hide and sleep."
The animal slid its long, slinky body out of the blanket and onto his lap, yawning and blinking at him. A ferret. She has a ferret? Wonders never cease with this girl. It made an odd little clucking sound and scaled the front of his shirt, shoving its face into his hair, snuffing with its little wet nose and licking his ear furiously. "Hey, slow down, little guy, we just met!" he laughed, setting his bowl down and picking up the ferret. He set him in his lap on his back and scratched his soft golden belly, his little dark brown paws wriggling. "It's like… a furry knee sock with eyes," he chuckled as Scout flipped himself upright and slunk down onto the floor, bouncing and making that little clucking noise again. The dog got up to engage him, tossing him gently with his nose and sending the ferret into another frenzy of leaping.
"Oh, this is funny, watch. Monty loves him." She blew her nose again. Full of surprises, he thought, watching Monty lay on the floor while Scout climbed onto his back. He stood up and took Cora's now empty soup bowl.
"You want more?" He asked.
"I think I'm good. That was fantastic. I can get the dishes, you don't - "
"No, it's fine. You're supposed to rest. Do you have a tea kettle somewhere?"
"Yeah, in the lower cabinet to the left of the stove."
He set the bowls in the sink and started the tea kettle to boil on the stove, wandering back through the kitchen doorway and looking at the big display of photos on the living room wall while he waited for the water to boil. There were formal military portraits of Cora and a dark-haired, blue-eyed man he assumed was her father, as well as family photos; younger versions of Cora and her sister, their blonde, brown-eyed mother, and their father, and then just the girls and their now salt-and-pepper-haired father in later ones. He looked at one of her dad, straight and stiff in Marine dress blues, standing proudly beside a smiling Cora in her Navy dress blues.
"That was when I got my Fleet Marine Force badge," she said, coming up to stand beside him.
"You're an officer. I didn't know that."
"Yeah, I got a commissioned officer rank when I completed a four-year nursing degree. Then I went through FMF training."
"See, you are a badass." He smiled, moving on to a collage frame. "Are these from Afghanistan?"
"Mmm-hmm." She nodded, watching him while he took in the photos. "That's all of us there," she pointed to one of her with the medic crew beside their titanic MV-22 Osprey, then to individual ones, naming each crew member as she went. The last several were of a square-jawed, dark-eyed man with reddish hair, some with him and Cora together. They both looked happy, and the way the guy was looking at her in a couple of them made him curious about the nature of their relationship. "That's Duncan," she said softly. "He was our crew chief."
Nathaniel paused, remembering what she had said the week before about losing their crew chief and another medic when they'd tried to rescue the pilots. She'd called all the other crew member by their last names except him. "You guys were close."
She pressed her lips together and nodded. "Thick as thieves since sixth grade, and Alice, too. We all grew up together at Pendleton, our dads were both DI's. His dad – Charlie - was the one who taught us both to ride a motorcycle."
"Ah, shit. I'm sorry, Cora, I didn't know, or I wouldn't have - "
"It's okay. Really." The kettle began to whistle from the kitchen. "That sounds like the hot toddy alarm," she said with a little smile, heading into the kitchen with him behind her. He took a mug from the tree on her counter and set about brewing the tea.
Cora picked up the whisky bottle to read the label and nearly choked. The Balvenie Port Cask, aged 21 years. The seal was already broken, so she pulled the cork out and took a whiff. Sweet, spicy, just a little smoke, with a hint of something almost floral. The man had excellent taste. She replaced the cork and held up the bottle, raising an eyebrow at him. "So do you always make hot toddies with two hundred dollar whisky?"
He shrugged. "Only for people I like." He winked at her and grinned, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Cora's breath caught for just a second, and she set the bottle down, her cheeks burning. Damn it, why did he have to say things like that?
Nathaniel watched Cora's cheeks bloom with color, and held his breath for a moment. He shouldn't try to make her blush on purpose, but he couldn't help it sometimes. He liked the innocent way she reacted to him now that she wasn't so guarded around him like she had been at first. It was refreshing, a little heart-stopping, and damn sexy. Like the rest of her. Even sick she still made his pulse kick up, in her baggy sweats and charmingly ugly housecoat, her hair in a messy, loose braid, and her nose irritated and red. Her voice was husky from her cold, and slightly nasal from congestion, and she likely had absolutely no clue how goddamned adorable she was. She opened an upper cabinet and took down two whisky tumblers, shrugging at his questioning look.
"Hey, my dad's family is from Scotland. It's a cardinal sin to bring a bottle of proper single-malt Scotch into my house just to pour it in tea. I want to try it alone first. You want one?"
Nathaniel laughed out loud. "Sure, why not?"
She poured two fingers into each glass, neat, and handed him one. "Cheers." She clinked her glass against his and took a sip, closing her eyes. "Damn, that's good."
Nathaniel watched her with hooded eyes as she took another sip, wondering in retrospect if this had been the best idea. All he'd been thinking about initially was doing something nice for her because she didn't feel good. Now she was standing there pleasurably sipping whisky, and all he could think about was how it would taste on her lips. He quickly tossed back the rest of his glass, then poured a shot into the mug of tea, handing it to her when she set down her empty tumbler. She took the mug, her fingers brushing his and making his spine tingle, then grabbed a towel from under the sink.
"Come on, we can sit outside now that it's not raining anymore. It'll be nice and cool out." He followed her into the living room, waiting while she picked up Scout and deposited him back in his cage for the night. She opened the French doors and led him out onto the back deck, where she dried off the big wooden porch swing so they could sit down on it. Monty came out with them, wandering off the deck to run around in the dark for a while and then coming back to settle by the swing.
"This is a really nice place," he said, rocking the swing gently with one foot.
"Thank you. It's very old, and it needed some updates, but it's been worth it. It's peaceful, and there's just enough land to have a nice garden and good space for Monty and the horses to run." They sat quietly for a while, rocking back and forth. Cora was starting to feel better already, full of hot soup and his mother's good tea, listening to the sounds of the frogs and crickets and the creak of the swing. By the time she set the empty mug aside on the patio table, the whisky had set in, making her feel sleepy and relaxed - not how she usually felt around Nathaniel. It didn't seem smart for him to still be here, but he'd been nice enough to come over after working for twenty-four hours and feed her, and despite her angst, they were friends and she liked hanging out with him. She found her thoughts drifting to when they had talked the previous weekend at the folk festival.
"What made you want to fly when you were a kid?" she asked quietly.
"Hmmm. Well, my birth father was a small aircraft pilot, so I guess some of it came from knowing that. My mom and dad – the Greatsnakes - were always really transparent about my birth family, they wanted me to know about them, that they loved me." He pointed at the sky, where the storm clouds had thinned and separated to reveal the stars behind them. "They used to tell me a story of their people, about how Sky Woman died giving birth to the sun and moon. The sun gave her body to the earth to bring it life, and the moon took the stars from her breast and threw them into the sky so they would always remind him of her soul. They said that I should think of my parents and my sisters when I looked at the stars, because it was their monument too, and the Milky Way was the pathway to Heaven. So when I was little, I wanted to fly there to see if I could find them." He smiled wistfully. "Obviously, I got older and figured out it didn't quite work like that, but the urge to fly never really went away."
"I like that story about the stars. Monuments to souls. That's a good way to think about the people we've lost."
"I've never been able to think of it any other way since then. It helped to think about it when John died, too. I guess it makes it suck less, anyway, if that's possible."
"You were close, then?"
"Yeah. He and I met when I was in eighth grade and he was a junior in high school – we were in Junior Police Explorers together. He went through the APD academy a few years ahead of me, and we ended up partners when I got off FTO. By then he was married, had a couple of little kids, just babies at the time. I still see them pretty often - they're like family, and the kids love Uncas too."
"That's heartbreaking," Cora murmured. "Especially for the kids. It's good that they have you, you understand what it's like to lose parents so young."
"Did your friend Duncan have a family?"
Cora looked over at him briefly, her eyes sad. She sighed and leaned her head back against the porch swing, looking up at the sky. "He didn't. He... um, he wanted to marry me, actually."
"I see." Nathaniel closed his eyes and took a breath, feeling like puzzle pieces were finally starting to fit together with her. He wasn't sure he had a right to ask her for more, but she was talking and he wanted to know. He needed to know. "So… you guys were in love then?"
She shook her head. "No. He was. We were never involved. We weren't in the same chain of command, so technically we could have been, but it still would have been messy on the same team, and I just… I never… He was my best friend, and I loved him very much, but not like that. Not the way he loved me. Sometimes I wish he'd found someone else, but then that would have almost made it worse when he died. Just like it… it would have been so much worse to lose him if I had loved him the same way. It was so hard already, you know?" Her voice came in a husky, pain-laced whisper, and aching realization dawned on Nathaniel with this last puzzle piece. It explained an awful lot about her. He could imagine there were a lot of mixed, confusing feelings for her, and maybe this was why she sometimes looked at him like she wanted the same things he did, but then other times she looked like she just wanted to run and hide. He reached over cautiously and took her hand in his, wanting to offer her some kind of comfort. He expected her to recoil, but she didn't, and it surprised him when her fingers curled around his. He looked down at her in the dark, her eyes wide and her breath a little quicker. He wanted very badly to lean forward, to touch her face, to kiss her, but it wasn't time yet. Not when she'd had alcohol, and not when they were talking like this. Right now, she just needed a friend. Right now, the gentle press of her palm against his was enough. She started to relax when he didn't do anything else, and they sat together in silent solidarity for a while.
"Thank you so much for the soup, and everything," she said softly. "I really appreciate it, and you didn't have to do that. It was very nice of you."
"You're welcome, and I wanted to. But I should go soon," he whispered, squeezing her hand lightly. "You really need to rest."
"So do you. But it's late, the roads are wet, and you just worked a twenty-four-hour shift and I know you're exhausted. The ER nurse in me has reservations about you riding home on a motorcycle. I've got a guest room, if you… uh, if you want to just crash here and go home in the morning." Cora thought she just might have lost her mind as the words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them.
Nathaniel looked like he was thinking hard for a minute, then sighed. "Yeah, you might be right. Add having a drink with you to that, and you're definitely right. You're sure you don't mind, though? I can always call Uncas to pick me up, we're not far."
"Don't wake him up, he's just as tired as you are, and he has an early date with my sister tomorrow. I really don't mind, Nathaniel." She should, but she didn't. There was nothing remotely sane about inviting him to stay, but she didn't care about possible consequences tonight. Maybe it was the whisky. Maybe it was that he was caring and warm and sexy, and made her heart race the way it never had before, or maybe it was just the way he understood and the way his hand felt wrapped around hers. Maybe she really wanted to know that he was safe somewhere and not on the road, because she didn't like the idea of anything else bad happening to him. And maybe, too, she just felt raw and worn out and a little selfish for once, and she just wanted him nearby because he made her feel good. She stood up, letting go of his hand, and started toward the French doors with Monty close behind her. "Come on, I'll show you where the guest room is."
Nathaniel woke uncharacteristically late the next morning, the sun well up and shining through the neat white window curtains, casting rays across the patchwork quilt on the iron-framed bed. He rolled over and sat up, taking a second to lose his confusion and remember that he had slept at Cora's house. He got out of bed and went across the hall to the bathroom, hearing someone moving around in the kitchen and low-volume music playing. There were fresh towels and guest toiletry items on the bathroom counter that had not been there last night, so she was obviously already up, and cooking breakfast judging by the delicious smells. After he had showered and dressed, he made his way down the narrow hallway and through the living room where Scout was snoozing away in his cage, curled up in a little hammock. Now that it was daylight, the view from the windows showed the grassy expanse of the fenced meadow beyond the deck and the garden that butted up to woods, and a picturesque little red barn off to one side. Two horses grazed near the middle, one a glossy bay and one a buckskin. Monty bounded between them, running around the meadow in wide circles. When Nathaniel reached the kitchen doorway, he stopped dead in his tracks, frozen to the spot where he stood and completely gobsmacked.
A muddy pair of black Wellington boots had been carelessly kicked off by the open back door. Cora stood in front of the stove with her back to him, pouring pancake batter onto a hot griddle. Her frumpy sweats were gone, replaced by a snug green tank top and a pair of cutoff denim shorts. They weren't indecent, but they certainly didn't hide much either, and heat spread through him at the sight of her long, lithe legs and the faint ripple of the delicate muscles in her shoulders and back, her thick dark ponytail swinging across them as she danced to the music playing through the speaker dock on the counter. The cruel irony did not escape him that the current song was Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On."
"I've been really tryin', baby
Tryin' to hold back this feeling for so long
And if you feel like I feel, baby
Then, c'mon, oh, c'mon…"
He stood transfixed, fascinated by how unreserved and carefree she was when she was alone and didn't think she needed to hide herself. She was beautiful, funny, and incredibly sexy, and the more he saw of the real her, the more he wanted. He felt a little guilty spying on her like this, but he couldn't bring himself to look away.
"Don't you know how sweet and wonderful life can be
I'm asking you baby to get it on with me
I ain't gonna worry
I ain't gonna push, won't push you baby
So c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, baby
Stop beatin' 'round the bush…"
Her hips swayed provocatively as she hummed along, her voice still a little scratchy. She dropped the spatula she was holding and bent over to retrieve it. Holy God, woman, you're killing me, he groaned inwardly, desire rising in him hot and fierce. All right, dammit, this has to stop. Right now. He stepped into the kitchen and leaned against the island.
"Good morning."
Cora yelped in shock at Nathaniel's amused voice behind her and whirled around, her hands flinging up in mid-flip of a pancake, sending it flying into the air as he stood there leaning casually on her kitchen island, his hair loose and still damp from the shower, and the heated look in his eyes making her knees go a little weak. The pancake landed square on his head.
"Dammit, you scared me! How long were you standing there?" Her cheeks tingled with the force of her embarrassed blush.
"Not long," he chuckled, removing the pancake. "Man, talk about breakfast on the fly." He grinned, and she couldn't help laughing along with him.
"I hope you like blueberry pancakes. They're made from scratch, but I had to use frozen blueberries since it's too early to pick any fresh yet."
"I think I'll survive. They smell great, thank you." He smiled again, sending her heart into another round of backflips. She got out two plates and loaded them with pancakes and bacon, setting them on the table with the jug of maple syrup.
"How did you sleep?" she asked from the counter, pouring two cups of coffee.
"Like a rock. Thanks for leaving me towels, by the way. How about you, are you feeling better? You look better."
"I do feel a lot better." She handed him one of the mugs and sat down across from him. "All that stuff you brought is like magic." It probably didn't hurt that she'd slept like the dead for once after two good shots of whisky, though she was surprised she had slept at all with him two doors down.
"Good, I'm glad. Damn, these really are good pancakes."
She smiled behind her coffee mug, then set it down and ate her own breakfast. When they had finished, he got up with her and took the plates to the sink, turning on the water to rinse them off. She opened the dishwasher, and he helped her rinse and load the rest of the dishes sitting in the sink from the previous day.
"Thanks for your help," she said, closing the dishwasher. Nathaniel was still standing beside her, looking down at her. She gazed back at him, mesmerized for a moment by the way the sunlight from the window was hitting his eyes. Sometimes they looked blue, sometimes darker green or even grey, but in the bright light they were an amazing pale sea green with a burst of gold around the pupils.
"It's no problem at all," Nathaniel murmured. He was acutely aware of how close Cora was standing to him, staring up at him with her big, beautiful eyes, their deep brown slightly more cognac-hued in the morning sun. She smelled good, like pancakes and sunshine and the freshly picked lavender in the vase over the sink. The baser part of his mind was starting to think very inappropriate things about that big, sturdy kitchen table.
"Good morning, sweetheart, I – who the HELL are YOU, and what are you doing in my daughter's house at eight-fucking-thirty on a Saturday morning?"
Nathaniel's head snapped up to see a very angry and very real version of the man in Cora's photos speed-walking toward him, fierce knife-hand extended and a vein throbbing across his forehead, wearing warmup pants and a black t-shirt that said 'Embrace the Suck'. He was a few inches shorter than Nathaniel, but there was something incredibly fear-inducing about the insanity in his intense blue eyes and the furious, ear-splitting bark of his voice, and Nathaniel suddenly had a deeper understanding of why many Marine recruits probably thought they might not make it through boot camp alive. It gave him mild police academy flashbacks, and he almost smiled, but stopped himself to avoid being choke-slammed by a rabid Marine.
"Pop, what on earth are you doing here?" Cora gasped. "I didn't know you were coming over!"
"Well, we're missing our run since your sister is going hiking and you're sick, so I thought I'd come out and see if you needed help with anything today. Don't change the subject. Who the hell is HE?!" he snapped another knife-hand in Nathaniel's direction.
Nathaniel stepped forward and dared to look Cora's father straight in the eye. "I'm Nathaniel Poe, sir. I work with Cora at AirMedic, I'm a helicopter pilot."
"Right. So you're the pilot. You have two seconds to tell me what you're doing here looking like you spent the night, before I hang you."
"Jesus, Pop! You're being rude, stop it!" Cora barked. "He didn't do anything! He brought me soup and tea after work last night, and it wasn't safe on the road for a motorcycle after it rained, so I told him to stay. In the guest room."
"Oh. Well, then. Out-fucking-standing. I'm Ed Munro." He stuck out a hand. Nathaniel shook it, returning the bone-crushing grip, and Munro grinned toothily, eyeing the sarcastic helicopter graphic on Nathaniel's t-shirt. "Nice shirt."
"I like yours, too, sir." He smiled back at Ed.
Cora sighed and rolled her eyes at Nathaniel. "So this is my crazy drill instructor father. I'm sorry. Pop, you want breakfast? I made pancakes."
"Sure, sweetheart, thanks." Ed kissed her cheek and got out a plate. "How are you feeling?"
"A lot better than yesterday."
"Excellent. Say, where did this fine dram come from?" He picked up the bottle of whisky from the counter.
"Oh, Nathaniel brought it. For my cold."
Ed eyed Nathaniel with an appreciative raised brow. Monty bounded through the back door with a bark and attempted to bowl the older man over, waving his bullwhip-like tail all over the kitchen.
"Montcalm, no! SIT!" Cora ordered.
Ed shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I don't know why you had to give that dog such a bloody stupid name. If you wanted to name him after a general, you could have named him Chesty, or even Mattis, for Christ's sake." He sat down at the table to eat his pancakes, and Nathaniel burst out laughing. Ed pointed his fork at him. "See, he gets it. And he knows good whisky. I like him. He can stay."
"I'm so glad you suggested this place to hike, it's gorgeous! I can't believe I've never come out here!" Alice huffed breathlessly as she and Uncas arrived at the top of Plotter Kill Falls.
"It's kind of an odd pick since it's so close to civilization, but it's one of my favorites for a good day hike, and I haven't been here in ages." Uncas looked over at her and smiled. He had thought she might enjoy the Plotter Kill Preserve trail, and he was glad he'd been right. They sat down by the stream to rest and drink some water, and he watched her in the afternoon sunlight, tiny beads of waterfall spray strung like jewels in her honey-gold ponytail. Everything about her was… golden. Soft and smart and kind-hearted. He still couldn't quite believe she was real, after all this time listening to her voice over the radio and wondering if she was as beautiful as she sounded. He had imagined her millions of times, but it all fell far short of the reality.
"Let's hang out here for a while before we go back down. It's kind of hot today, and it's nice up here." She smiled her sweet smile and unlaced her hiking shoes to kick them off by the rock she was sitting on.
"Nice socks." Uncas grinned at the sight of her bright green toe socks. "They make your feet look like Muppet feet." Damn, she's so cute.
Alice giggled. "They kind of do. But, they're great for moisture-wicking, circulation, and avoiding fatigue. We yoga instructors have all the ins on this stuff, don't you know?" He watched her tug them off and roll up her lightweight grey trail pants. Her toenails were painted a pearly light pink like her tank top, and her legs were graceful and strong, like the rest of her.
"So what kind of yoga do you teach, anyway? Is it like Hatha yoga? Or that hot sweaty kind?" Don't think about hot sweaty anything, man. Just don't.
"Other instructors offer those classes at the same studio, but I teach aerial yoga, both adult and kids' classes. I'm an aerial performer, so I teach what I know. Cora does it too, I taught her after her shoulder was doing well enough. Sometimes she helps with my kids' class."
"I've never seen any of that kind of thing before. It sounds interesting, like flying or something."
"Well, it is, a little, though the yoga stuff is pretty stationary even though you're suspended from a silk trapeze." She stuck her feet in the cold water and sighed. Uncas took off his boots and socks and stuck his feet in beside hers. Trying to imagine whatever she was saying about silk and trapezes was making him glad for the shock of the cold water anyway. Time for a subject change before this got embarrassing.
"So, how long have you been a dispatcher?"
"Six years now. I started a couple of years into college classes, and I liked doing it, so I just stayed. It works well for my yoga teaching schedule too."
"Oh yeah? What did you study in school?"
"I thought about vet or tech school, and I was doing prerequisites for that. I took some communications classes too, when I started with central dispatch. I never finished, though. Cora got hurt, and I dropped out, and I haven't really had much motivation to go back since I'm comfortable and happy where I am for now. I never expected to like dispatch as much as I do. I mean it's not always easy, and it's definitely not what I would call fun, but… it's meaningful. I really do love it most of the time."
"Oh yeah, no, I get that for sure. I rode an ambulance for years before I did MedEvac. You guys are like the central engineering for all first responders. I don't think dispatchers get enough recognition for what they do. It's easy to forget when firefighters and cops and everyone else are the ones people actually see, but I've been to so many calls when it was the dispatcher who saved somebody because they helped people keep their head or gave good CPR instructions or whatever."
"Yeah… there's a lot more to it than just answering calls or sending help. It's good to hear someone other than my family say that." Alice smiled appreciatively, melting a little as he stared at her with those brooding dark eyes. He gets it. He's gorgeous and sweet and he totally gets it. Where have you been all my life, Uncas Greatsnake?
"Well, yeah… I mean my dad's been a deputy all his life, and without dispatch and EMS, my brother might not be here, so, you know."
"Yeah, Cora mentioned something about what happened to him and his partner. I wasn't a dispatcher just yet when that happened, but I remember it on the news. And… uh, the final dispatch when they buried Officer Cameron. Those are definitely no one's favorite thing. I'm really glad I've never had to do it."
"I hope you never do. John was a good guy, and Nathaniel took it pretty hard, they'd been friends a long time before that – all of us had, really. Losing him was hard."
"Hmmm. Yeah, I know what you mean. Cora's best friend Duncan got killed when they were in that helicopter crash in Afghanistan, but we had all been friends most of our lives by then, so he was like a big brother. It was rough for all of us, our dads are friends, and we had already lost our mom, so we all felt it pretty hard. And Cora had a lot of physical recovery with the burns and her shoulder and stuff. I stayed with her a lot, traveled back and forth."
"Oh yeah, Nathaniel needed a lot of help too, his leg was in really bad shape for a while. It still bugs him, but he did better than they thought he would initially. Cora's lucky to have a sister like you, you know. To be there for her like you have been."
"It sounds like Nathaniel is lucky to have you, too." She gazed at his profile, admiring the shine of his blue-black hair and the smoothly angled lines of his nose, cheekbone and jaw. He almost looked like a painting sitting in the filtered sunlight. Never in a million years had she expected to meet someone like him. He knew what she'd experienced because he'd been there in a way himself, and as a first responder, he understood and respected her job. Plus, he was funny and polite and compassionate, and he loved his family. If he wasn't too good to be true, she could definitely see this going somewhere.
"What?" she heard him ask softly, realizing he was looking back at her.
"Nothing… this is just a really nice day. I'm glad we could do this."
"Me too." He flashed her a brain-melting smile. They sat for a while longer, then put their shoes back on and started to head back down an alternate trail to the bottom of the fall so they could walk back to the parking area. On the way, they talked about the different ways they had grown up and their families, and she asked questions about his family's tribal background, and the meaning of his name.
"Uncas is a Mohican name, from my dad's people, and it means Fox. Our last name, Greatsnake, has obvious meaning, but that's the Anglicized version of it that changed over time as European settlers moved in. It originally came from a sachem, or elder, whose name was ChingAch-Gòok, which is literally 'Great Serpent'."
"It's really cool that you guys can trace that back. And I love that your family speaks the Lenape language and taught you and your brother, too. I have to admit, I kind of have a crush on your parents. They're so sweet together, and so talented, and I love that your mom is an herbal doctor. Do you and Nathaniel play music, too?"
"Not like they do. We can both play the guitar okay, but neither of us plays in a band or anything. We just like to play with Mom and Dad at home sometimes."
"I'd love to hear you all! Their band was so good last weekend!"
"Well, they'll have some more gigs coming up soon, maybe we can go see them sometime. Hey, watch out!" His arm whipped out and grabbed her around the waist to stop her from falling as her foot slipped on the muddy shale of the narrow path into the gorge below.
"Thanks," she breathed, all too aware of his strong arm wrapped around her, and the fact that she was pressed very tightly against the entire well-built length of him. Your parents certainly named you aptly… Fox indeed. She almost sighed when he let her go so they could keep walking. When they had reached the bottom of the fall and hiked back out to his blue Chevy pickup, he opened the passenger door for her.
"I know we've already been out all day, but there's this great diner in Schenectady just down the way, called The Blue Ribbon – I'd love to take you there for dinner, if you'd like to go. My parents used to take us there all the time growing up, and their fried clams are the best I've ever had."
Spend more time with you? Where do I sign up?! "I'm in! I'm starving, and I love fried clams. Let's go!"
"So I didn't know all that stuff about Cora's friend. She doesn't talk about her service too much, but I think Nathaniel knows some of it. She talks to him sometimes." Uncas dipped a french fry in ketchup and chewed thoughtfully.
"Well, he probably gets it more than most. I'm glad she does – talks to him, I mean. I can tell he likes her, and I think she likes him too." Alice finished the last of her basket of clams and set it aside.
"Uh, yeah he definitely does." Uncas smiled mischievously. "Did you, uh, know that he stayed over there last night?"
"What?! Are you shitting me?" Alice grabbed his arm in excitement. "I'm going to kill her for not telling me!"
"Well she probably will later, he still wasn't home yet when I left to pick you up, so who knows what went on. He swears nothing happened though." He laughed, and Alice shivered. He had the sexiest deep-voiced laugh, and she loved it.
"He's probably not lying," she sighed. "Cora's kind of hard to crack. She didn't date too much before Duncan died, and she hasn't dated anyone at all since, plus she has this stupid personal rule about fraternization, so I hope he's patient. I like him, I think he'd be good for her."
"I think she'd be good for him too. He's pretty determined when it comes to getting what he wants, so if he really likes her, he'll hang. We're both kind of like that." He flashed her another sanity-arresting grin, and her insides quivered. If he smiles at me like that again, I'm going to crawl across this table like Tawny Kitaen in a Whitesnake video.
"So you live in Wynantskill? House or apartment?"
"Oh, house for sure. Nathaniel and I went in together on a really nice little cabin out there about four years ago now, up till then we both had apartments in Albany. It's a great place, it's kind of far out and backs right up to the woods, and a tributary from the kill runs through behind us, so we can just walk out and go fishing or canoeing anytime we want. It even has a platform treehouse out back."
"Seriously? That sounds like heaven to me. I love my loft, but the city gets old sometimes. Do you have any pets?"
"No, actually. We always had dogs growing up, but we've never gotten around to it as adults. You?"
"Yeah. I love animals. I have a cat, a guinea pig, and some fish too. And I have a buckskin quarter horse named Blue Feather, but he lives at Cora's since she has the barn at her place, and she's got Ranger there to keep him company. She has a nice creek too, so we go riding in the woods a lot."
Uncas watched her across the table, listening to her captivating voice, so much better in reality than over the radio. There was something about her eclectic, electric personality that drew him in and pulled hard at his heartstrings, even more than her voice ever had. "So… a dispatcher who teaches aerial yoga and has a cat, a guinea pig, some fish, and a horse. You're kind of awesome, Alice."
"Hey, you're pretty great yourself." She blushed, and he wanted to lean across the table and make her blush some more. She was still smiling, and he liked the way her hazel eyes sparkled, and how her smile lines had dimples in them and her two front teeth were just a hair longer than the rest. It felt dumb and cliché to think that he might be falling for her, but he'd already been halfway there all this time anyway. But now that he'd found her, they had time, and time with her was all he wanted anyway. When they had finished their apple pie and he had paid the check, they walked out to his truck. The diner had speakers that fed outside, and the faint strains of Louis Armstrong's "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" wafted into the parking lot. Alice giggled as he pulled her in for a spontaneous parking space dance, and after a minute they were just swaying slowly to the old-time rhythm of the trumpet solo.
"Give me a kiss before you leave me
And my imagination will feed my hungry heart
Leave me one thing before we part
A kiss to build a dream on
And when I'm alone with my fancies, I'll be with you
Weaving romances, making believe they're true…"
She was looking up at him with those gorgeous golden eyes again, and he'd promised himself he wasn't going to be that guy and try to make out with her on the first date. Dammit, this is hard. She's so kissable. "I better get you home," he murmured, reluctantly letting go of her. Unless he was imagining things, she looked mildly disappointed, but she agreed and got into the truck.
Back at her apartment, he walked her up to the door. She paused with the key in the deadbolt and smiled shyly. "Want to come in for a bit?"
"Sure. I'd love to meet your furry and scaly gang." He followed her inside and gazed around when she flipped on the lights. "Wow, this is a great place!"
"Thanks! When I moved in the landlord had just renovated." It was an open loft, with the living area and kitchen on the lower level, and a metal staircase that went up to the bedroom and bathroom area. The architecture was modern, and the décor was tasteful yet eclectic, with a big, comfortable couch, wood and glass tables, and framed art and photos on the walls. Something that looked like a big hula hoop and long red scarves was hanging from the high-beamed ceiling beside the staircase. Her aquarium was against the wall near the kitchen, a variety of pretty angelfish and goldfish swimming happily to the surface when Alice dropped food in for them.
"Hi, 'Tato!" she cooed, picking up the small orange cat that jumped off the couch and wound around her legs. "This is Sweet Potato, or just 'Tato most of the time," she grinned. "She's just like her name, so she won't bite or scratch you."
"Hi there, 'Tato-Cat. Nice to meet you." Uncas stroked the soft fur between her ears, and she butted her head upward into his hand, purring. "Aaaaw, you are a sweet potato, huh? Come here, you." He took the cat from Alice and tucked her into the crook of his arm. She laid there, content and purring while he petted her head and scratched under her chin. Alice watched, smiling an adorable, crooked smile. I've got the cat on my side… I'm definitely winning.
"Mrs. Nesbit lives in there," she pointed to the cage beside the fish tank. "But she's asleep in her igloo right now, so you'll have to meet her officially later." He peeked into the cage to see a cute little white guinea pig with grey and brown patches sleeping inside a plastic igloo on a bed of straw. "I'll warn you now, she's a shoe sleeper, and she likes to chew holes in things." Her giving him warnings for the future made him smile.
"So what's this hula hoop thing over here?" He walked over to the staircase and peered up. The bedroom area had only a stem wall separating it from downstairs view, so via the open staircase he could see part of the bed with a bright sari silk patchwork bedspread and pillows, and an artful sheer curtain arrangement on the wall hanging over the headboard. Great, I'm trying to play it cool and she's got a Kama Sutra den up there. Not helping. Not. Helping.
"It's my lyra and silks. For aerial acrobatics."
"Okay, now I'm really curious as to what you do with this stuff."
"Hang on, I'll show you if you want." She disappeared upstairs for a minute and came back down in a pair of gray leggings, and pulled up a playlist on her phone. Uncas stood back and set the cat down, leaning on the staircase railing to watch her as Seal's "Kiss From a Rose" started and she began ascending the silks by wrapping them around her arms and legs and using the resistance as leverage to pull and push herself upward. Hell, no wonder she looks so strong.
"Is this the song from Batman Forever?" he chuckled.
"Yeah," she laughed, disengaging the silks and switching to the lyra. "It was the only good thing to come out of that movie, right?" She worked through a series of smooth, graceful poses on the lyra, holding herself in place at times with only her ankle and foot, and Uncas thought he had never seen anything so amazing in his life. This girl was absolutely, breathtakingly bewitching, and he wanted her like the fire of a thousand suns. She switched back to the silks again and ended the song with them wrapped around her knees and thighs, hanging upside down and grinning.
"Well, there you have it. That's aerial acrobatics. What do you think?"
Uncas mentally picked his jaw up off the floor. "I think it's… the most incredible thing I've ever seen. It's like… you're… you're Spider-Man or something." Oh my God, she's Spider-Man. Spider-Woman. Whatever. I want to marry her.
"Hey, now, I could just as easily be Batman." She flipped upright and lowered herself to the floor with a smug smile.
"Oooooh. A DC girl, eh? I'm more of a Marvel guy myself."
"I kind of guessed when I saw your Harley. But it's cool. Batman can hang with Spider-Man, right?"
"I have no objection." And I need to leave this place right now before I forget about how I was going to be a gentleman on the first date. "Listen, it's getting late, I really should go and get out of your way." He started for the door and she walked with him to open it for him.
"This was a great day, thanks so much for taking me out there. It was beautiful. Everything was… beautiful." She leaned toward him a little, and his pulse kicked into high gear.
"I had a great time too, Alice. I hope we can do this again sometime soon. Can I call you tomorrow and maybe we can plan something?"
"Sure, that sounds perfect. I'd love that."
"Good night, Alice."
"Good night, Uncas."
He forced himself to turn and walk away, hearing the door click shut behind him. He got in the truck and sat there for a minute, half of him kicking himself for not kissing her, and the other half telling him it was better not to for now. Except that half of him was full of shit. He'd just spent an entire day in the company of the girl he'd been dreaming about for the last two years, and he hadn't kissed her? Fuck it. Fuck propriety, this already defies all odds anyway. He got out of the truck and took the stairs two at a time back to her apartment door.
Alice leaned against the closed door and sighed shakily. He wanted to see her again, and she wanted to see him too. She had wanted him to kiss her so badly, but he hadn't, and she hadn't wanted to be so forward as to kiss him. Maybe he was just being a gentleman, but she couldn't help feeling a little irrationally disappointed. She started to move away from the door and heard the thud of footsteps running up the outside stairwell. Her heart began to pound. She flung open the door just as he came down the breezeway, his dark eyes blazing, making delicious heat spread through her with the naked intent she saw there. Her lips curved in a brief smile, but when he reached her all was forgotten. The breath left her body in a rush as he took her face in his hands and covered her mouth with his. Her arms wound around his neck, meeting the slow, sensual movement of his lips with that of her own. She gasped in surprise when he backed her up to the open door, pressing flush against her, causing arousal to spring to life deep in her belly, spreading like a brush fire in all the right places. He deepened the kiss, his tongue sweeping into her mouth and stroking against hers, and she sighed and relaxed into him, ardently returning each caress. Her fingers wove into his silky hair, and she could feel every hard plane of muscle, every delectable angle of him against her through her thin leggings and tank top, and the warm, strong touch of his hands as they grazed down her arms and spanned her waist, his thumbs stroking the sides of her belly. His lips feathered lightly after a moment and paused, still warm and close.
"I wasn't going to do this," he whispered against her mouth. "I wanted to, but I was trying to be nice." God, he couldn't help it, though. She was everything right now.
"You are nice," she breathed. "This is nice… so much better than nice…" She kissed him briefly again, and he ran his tongue over her full lower lip, like he'd wanted to do all day, every time she'd smiled at him. She made a little purr of pleasure in her throat and it almost sent him over the edge of reason. He savored the faint taste of apple pie on her lips, the feel of her, all her softness and sweetness and the way she didn't smell like any kind of perfume, just clean cotton and her. Finally, he had this woman in his arms, after all this time wondering if he really was as crazy as everyone had thought. Now the only thing that seemed crazy was how right he had been all along, and how right this felt now, like a dream he never wanted to wake up from. He buried his face against the soft curve of her neck, breathing her, aching for her.
"Alice… I don't know what it is about you… I have to tell you…"
"Tell me what?" she whispered, trailing kisses over his jaw.
"I've wanted to find you for ages," he confessed. "I used to hear you dispatch calls, and there was just something about your voice… like I just… I knew you were something special. But I didn't know who you were, not until last week, and I had no idea you were Cora's sister. And you're… God, you're so amazing, and now you probably think I'm such a creep." He watched her face and waited, not wanting to let go of her unless she let go of him first. Her head bowed forward and she dissolved into gentle laughter.
"Uncas…" she raised her head and looked up at him, her eyes shining in the dim light. "You could have called central dispatch, you know."
Oh, thank God, she doesn't hate me. "Well… that's easier said than done. I mean, come on… 'Hello, dispatch? I need to find the girl with the gorgeous voice, can each of you speak into the phone for me please?' That might be a little more creepy than just hoping I'd get to meet you someday."
Alice laughed again. "Well, ok, that's true. But here we are now, so it would seem fate had its own way of working things out in our favor, right?" She rose onto her toes and kissed him, slow and lingering.
"Definitely," he murmured. "I really should go now, before I get myself into more trouble. Alice… you're wonderful."
"So are you. Good night, Uncas."
He kissed her one more time. "It is now."
Author's Note:
This chapter is obnoxiously long, so I hope you still enjoyed it. I didn't expect it to be so long, but there was a LOT of ground to cover that has no place in the next chapter, so here it is. Plus, there was no way I was going to split it into two chapters and make you guys wait for Uncas and Alice's first date. So let's see. Cora loosened up a whole lot, and Nathaniel is his awesome self with his chicken soup and ridiculously expensive whisky (Balvenie is definitely top notch, y'all). Nathaniel and Cora are inching right along with their angsty apprehension, although neither of them seems at all as apprehensive as previous chapters (Nathaniel is over there like "She let me hold her hand for a minute! Eeeeeek!"). Cora and Nathaniel both revealed quite a bit of telling information here, which can only be helpful, right? Monty is still the crazy behemoth dog. Scout the ferret is super cute, and that little noise he makes when he's playing is called "dooking" (I had ferrets for twelve years, and oh my goodness they are fun pets). I couldn't resist giving Cora a ferret, or Alice a cute little kitty and guinea pig. All the pets, including the horses, will keep making appearances in various parts of this story. Alice's horse Blue Feather is named after one of the Huron characters in the LOTM film, and Cora's horse Ranger is a nod to Captain Robert Rogers and the 'Rogers' Rangers', a special forces-type recon and wilderness unit he commanded during the French and Indian War and the American Revolution (Rogers appeared as a minor character in my story Where We Start Again). I will also mention, for those who are crushing on the Brian Hunter character, you have not seen the last of him either! He is a minor character but I have plans for him throughout the story, so rest easy, he's going nowhere. I rather like Brian, and I'm glad you do too!
Ed Munro went full drill-instructor in this chapter, and I had fun with that (so did my Marine husband, he helped me with all the details of what Ed might do and say). Nathaniel took it in stride, of course, because he's Nathaniel, and managed to charm Ed in his own way. For those of you unfamiliar, the drill instructors of the United States Marine Corps are probably among the most feared men (and women) on earth, especially to new recruits. Nobody can yell or put the fear of God in you like those crazy people. A knife-hand, the gesture I referred to a few times, is when they snap their fingers and hold their hand stiff, flat and straight-fingered and point it palm-up at someone, bent at the elbow, usually while they are screaming at them for some random transgression they committed. If you Google it you'll find a million photos of DI's doing this to recruits, and most Marines will knife-hand someone at least once in a while. Even Cora does it to the dog; after all, she was raised by a crazy DI and she served with a bunch of Marines, so you know her and Alice grew up in fear of the knife-hand from Dad – and they know how to throw some knife-hands of their own, too. XD As for Munro's comment about the dog's name, for those unaware, Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller is a famous core figure in USMC history, namely for his actions in WWII and Korea – he is frequently referenced by any and all Marines. And of course USMC General James Mattis is the current U.S. Secretary of Defense, but has also been a respected figure among Marines for some time.
And finally, the first date for Uncas and Alice. They are so perfect for each other. They've both seen a sibling through something very difficult and life-altering and helped them heal. Uncas is a paramedic, so he absolutely gets the significance of Alice's job as a dispatcher. So many dispatchers save lives, from giving instructions to people over the phone in an emergency, all the way to staying on the phone with someone who is suicidal until help can arrive for them. They hear and deal with harrowing, haunting things every single shift, and they don't forget it any more than the first responders who see it. Alice is awesome in a lot of ways, her job is one of them. The Plotter Kill Preserve, where they went hiking, is located in Rotterdam, NY not far from Schenectady (about half an hour west of Albany). It's a seven-mile nature preserve trail with three waterfalls, and the photos of it are beautiful. The Blue Ribbon Diner and Bakery in Schenectady, NY, is a real place, and I have it on good authority that they really do have the best fried clams. My mother is from New Jersey, and I live in New Mexico now, so there are no such thing as good fried clams here (or any fried clams really), much to my dismay. Alice's cat likes Uncas (not surprising, who doesn't immediately love Uncas and Nathaniel), and I'm sure the guinea pig will also love him once she's awake. And Alice very cleverly showed Uncas her beautiful aerial performing, so he's pretty done falling on his face for her now, clearly (especially since she's Spider-Woman). Alice is pretty happy he came back and kissed her after all, too. So is Uncas. Cora and Nathaniel may be going at a snail's pace, but Uncas and Alice don't have even close to the same kind of emotional issues where relationships are concerned, so they are both in a much better place to get this show on the road.
The theme song for this chapter is "You Make Me Smile" by Blue October. I love this song for both couples, it has an achingly sweet, new relationship butterflies kind of air to it, and is applicable to both the gentle care Nathaniel shows Cora (and what looks like a light at the end of the tunnel for them), and all the new, electrifying feelings between Alice and Uncas. For Nathaniel and Cora, I didn't have a lot of music for their scene except a little bit of "Quiet Mind" by Blue October, because they are starting to become a source of comfort and empathy for each other over the things they've been through, and Cora is starting to realize this even though it still scares her some. And of course the "Let's Get it On" bit, because humor is always fun, and Cora needed to torture poor Nathaniel a little. I couldn't resist having Alice use "Kiss From a Rose" for her demo, purely to bring in the Batman vs. Spider-Man angle with her and Uncas (but Alice and I agree that Batman Forever was SO BAD). I loved "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" by Louis Armstrong for the diner scene, and when Uncas leaves without kissing Alice the first time I was thinking of "You Better Go Now" by Billie Holiday. When they kissed at the end the song there was "Kiss Me Slowly" by Parachute, and "Kissed You (Goodnight)" by Gloriana, which was what inspired the ending scene in the first place.
That's about it. Thank you to everyone who is reading, PMing, reviewing, following, etc. I love hearing from you, even if it's criticism – knowing is good. I will update more as I can, and now that I've started my class and know what's in store, I expect to be able to generally update within two weeks unless school and life are just too crazy.
