"All right," Bella said as Felix settled into a chair at one of the computer terminals in the back office of Bellisima's Fabric and Crafts. She handed him copies of her birth certificate, Social Security Card, and college transcript. "The first thing you need is a birth certificate stating that you were born in this country, to parents who were also born here," she continued. "That means you will have to fabricate some documents for them, too, of course."
"How do I explain that they're no longer around?" Felix asked.
Bella shrugged. "We've had enough natural disasters and stuff over the years. You can probably bury them in one of those casualty totals. Make sure you pick one that occurred after you would've turned eighteen, so you don't raise any red flags about orphaned children."
"Okay. Should be fun." His tone was determined but belied his use of the word "fun."
"I've got to go get ready to open," Bella told him. "I'll leave you in peace so you can work." She kissed him passionately, then turned and left the office, closing the door behind her.
Alone, Felix found himself staring at a completely unfamiliar computer screen. He tried moving the strange object Bella had called a "mouse," and entered a few trial keystrokes.
It took him about five minutes to figure out how to navigate within the computer. Then he "double-clicked" on the planet icon Bella had called an "Internet browser" – the terminology was exceedingly strange – and began searching for the government "web" sites he needed.
Earth's network security was porous as hell, Felix discovered. Before long he was chewing through firewalls like a caterpillar devouring a leaf. Covering his tracks was appallingly easy.
Well, good, he thought. I can generate a whole life story for myself, and no one will ever know I was here. Or know it's all made up.
Easy was not the same thing as fast, however. Felix typed, cut and pasted, spliced, and spun stories out of whole cloth until he felt as if his head were going to explode. He had no idea how much time had passed, but when Bella came in to check on him, he was glad for the interruption.
"Hey, how's it going?" Bella asked as she stepped up behind his chair and began caressing his shoulders.
Felix leaned his head back against her belly and looked up into her eyes. "Your government's security protocols suck," he said. "I can take down their firewalls like they're not even there. Now that I'm in, though, actually creating the records is frakking tedious. My eyes are about to cross."
She leaned down and kissed him. "Want to take a break?"
Oh, yes, I would just love a break. But… Felix squeezed his eyes shut, hoping to get rid of the lines of code dancing inside his eyelids. "Uh, well, I can't really go hobbling around your store while I've got your government's entire computer system – figuratively speaking, of course – in pieces on my desk, now can I?"
Bella pulled the chair away from the desk and sat down on Felix's lap, facing him, careful to put the vast majority of her weight on his left leg. She wrapped her arms around him, and he inhaled sharply as her hands slid under the hem of his shirt. His arms slid around her waist, and he covered her lips with his.
When they came up for air, she smiled down at him. "I think you can tell I wasn't suggesting you leave the room," she said in a liquid tone that promised everything.
"Uh…" Felix hesitated, even as his "other head" sprang to excited, quivering attention. "We really can't… not here in the office?"
"I own the store, remember?" Her hand moved, showing him that she was aware of his excited state.
"But what if Kaylee walks in?" he persisted, fighting to keep his brain in control.
"She won't. It's her day off." Bella stood up, walked to the door, and locked it with a resounding ch-thunk.
She returned and sat down on the edge of the desk. She took his hands in hers. Felix found himself getting to his feet – well, one-and-a-half feet. Clearly, his good judgment was going to lose this battle.
"Okay," he acknowledged, and took one last, half-hearted grab for sanity. "But where?"
Bella let go of his hands and grasped his waist, pulling him closer. "Right here, on the desk."
Felix shook his head, then burst out laughing. "So you're a rebel in addition to everything else? Gods, I love you!"
Bella pulled him onto the desk with her.
Good judgment was overrated anyway.
