The Vacation

Chapter 10

Island Fever

For the first time in… years… since their parents death… John slept with Sam.

Truthfully, he didn't sleep. Not a wink. He lay in her bed, propped up, with his sister curled against him, tucked protectively under his arm, clinging to him. Somehow, earlier in the evening, he managed to pry the knife from her; not that it was hard and not that she would have, much less could have, hurt him. She trusted him, was counting on him guarding her. He double, triple checked the windows, the doors, the patio doors to make sure they were reinforced, locked, pegged. He didn't tell her about the large handprints on the glass, making it clear that someone had pressed themselves to the pane. The alarm system was thoroughly armed and ready. He even checked it, ensuring it would go off and loudly if anything were breached. And then he had to put up with the annoying, enquiring visit from the local police who were mildly put off that he had 'accidentally' set off the alarm. So wonderful, if it went off, they would be swarmed with inept Barney Fifes in short pants and no guns in a matter of minutes. Once everything was primed, ready, equipped and fortified, he gave Sam a mild sedative, just enough to relax her and crawled into bed next to her. She immediately sought out his side, his comforting heat, wrapped herself as best she could around him, literally attached to him. Her head was on his chest, the sound of his heartbeat, comforting and lulling. Both of her legs were wrapped around the one nearest to her. Had he needed to get up even to take a piss, she would definitely wake up and know about it. And he wouldn't put it past her to insist on following him in, hiding in the tub with the shower curtain closed while he did what he needed to do.

Instead, he lay there, allowing her to almost crawl into his skin, his arms around her tenderly.

Dammit to fucking hell, JinJin better have those weapons for him on the next flight in. Had to. Even if someone made a special trip, Reaper didn't care. Until then, he was going to keep Sam close, safe, guarded. That shopping expedition was going to take all damn fucking day and that was fine. It would keep both women occupied and out of the house. He might have to cancel his Sunday date with Abby. If that were the case, then Abby would just have to understand.

So while Sam slept and whimpered and clung, Reaper stayed primed, ready to attack, to defend, his body taut, anything but relaxed.

So intent on his objective, he didn't realize that his eyes were glowing red in the dark.

~~~…~~~

"What's wrong with Sam?"

Reaper was overseeing the shopping spree. It was planned, Sam was moving around better. He had promised her, promised Abby and he fully expected to be their bag carrier and so far, that was turning out to be the case. Who would have known his sister withdrew a substantial sum of mad money from her account before they left? Mad money? His sister? She was spending like crazy. He himself had put a hefty sum on several generic 'Visa gift cards', paying them in cash in general places in small increments, so as not to raise any eyebrows.

He hoped.

Regardless, he deposited Sam and Abby at the first shop – conveniently near JinJin's, high-tailed to the man's abode, scared the shitola out of him yet again, making sure he understood Reaper's extreme need for weapons, ASAP! (Really! For a man who was supposedly old Special Ops, he got his boxers in a wad too easily! The man had a complete melt-down when he found out they had had a Peeping Tom!) and returning to his sister's scene of shopping-attack before she realized he was gone.

"John!" Abby's fingers were snapping in front of his face, bringing him out of his inner thoughts. "John! What is up with your sister?"

"What's wrong with her?" he dead-panned. "She's buying everything in sight. Isn't that a female thing?"

Abby smirked. "Not that. She's nervous. She jumps at everything."

Reaper tried to look unconcerned. "We had an… unexpected visitor last night."

Abby tilted her head. "An unexpected... What?" She put her fists on her hips, as if that was supposed to be impressive. "Who?"

Reaper looked around, as if to peruse the merchandise. He took a step to the nearest display case, waving away the clerk. "We had an unexpected visitor last night."

"So you said. I don't understand."

"We had a Peeping Tom."

"WHAT?"

Sam looked up, terror obvious in her face. Reaper smirked and hissed between clenched teeth. "Keep your voice down. When I took you home last night," he held up a necklace and draped it around Abby's throat, as if he were considering it, "Sam heard a noise on my balcony. She investigated and thought she saw someone."

"You mean something?" Abby took up her role and taking the necklace from him, admired it in the little mirror.

"No. Some one!" He held his hand out for the piece of jewelry and looked at the price tag, before shuddering and setting it back. Women were expensive. Best to just take them out for a drink and rent a decent hotel room. "She went into my room and saw someone."

Abby's jaw was flapping. "But who? The island is a tourist spot. There isn't anyone else here but… you don't think one of the natives would do that?"

Reaper leaned into her and smiled mirthlessly. "I don't knoooow your natives, remember?" He then began to wander down the case, pretending to examine the merchandise in the cabinet.

Abby turned in the opposite direction, her thoughts turned inward. Suddenly, sadness, disappoint crept across her features.. Pity, he thought, she's such an open book.

She made the circle and whispered, "I guess our date tomorrow is off, if she's still scared. You won't want to leave her home alone."

"Scared? Who's scared?" Abby jumped when she realized Sam was at her shoulder. "That's pretty," she pointed at the necklace that had given Reaper the male monetary hives. "How much is it?"

"Too much, unless you're paying," Reaper scowled. "I was telling Abby about our visitor last night and that it's made you skittish. We're trying to figure out if we are going out tomorrow or not, like we planned."

"You go on. I'll be fine." Reaper scowled at his sister for that.

"Why don't you come with us?" Reaper turned to the other woman and scowled harder.

"No, really, I couldn't interfere,"

"It's not a problem-"

The two women chattered back and forth, giving Reaper a headache of massive proportions.

"Can I interrupt?" Sam's brown eyes and Abby's green ones focused on him. "Do you have any weapons?"

"I have a machete I use in the jungle." Abby shivered. "I don't like guns. They're violent."

"That's their job," Reaper retorted. "You want them to be good at it and they are. Would you mind," he interrupted Abby's argument, "if Sam got started doing whatever you needed her to do? We'll be... what? A few hours?" He could tell by Sam's look, they were in for a rousing discussion when they returned to the house. "I'm thinking she'll feel a bit safer elsewhere for a few days."

"Sure," Abby was quick to agree. "I'm sure Sam would like to get acquainted with the material and equipment I've got, read through my notes. I don't mind." The two women nodded in agreement. "Sometimes, I feel like I stare at the same thing over and over and over. It would be nice to have a fresh set of eyes."

With that agreed upon, the threesome continued their jaunt.

They finished up with dinner and after depositing all the bags in the cart – Reaper was floored by the amount his sister could spend at the drop of a hat, was this a woman thing? - dropped Abby off at her home, forgoing the normally planned and expected very hot kiss.

He would just to make it up to her later.

It was dark by the time they returned to the house. Sam stayed in the living room as John went through each room, turning on the lights, checking the windows, doors, closets. Finally, he rejoined her in the living room, carrying Sam's overnight case. "We're good."

"Fine! Now," she spat in Sam-like fashion, "what is your objective in leaving me at Abby's while you enjoy yourself? And why do you have my night case?"

Reaper's face split into his cockiest grin. "Easy." Setting the case on the table, he reached into the bag and pulled out Sam's vibrators. "First off, start vaselineing or lubing the hell out of these when they aren't in use. If someone is looking for something, I want these to be as gross and repulsive as possible!" He smirked at her vocalizations of disgust. Again, he unscrewed the battery compartments and retrieved the flash drives and C24 vial. "Put the information on these flashdrives on your laptop, take it with you in your backpack with the flashdrives and while we're gone, start copying Abby's information as well as seeing what equipment she has that we can borrow. Make a list of her gear, what she has, compared with what you're going to need. Also, in a week or two, we're going to start excavating, so start making that list too. "

"John, that's stealing!"

"No and we've had this discussion!" he shook the flashdrives. "That's gathering information. We're not going into competition with her; we're not going to take over her project. We need to find an excuse to borrow her equipment if she has what we need. We just need to know what she knows and figure out that connection between me and her natives!" He put the items on the table. "I pray there is a cure for what you gave me or we figure out a way for me to live with it. I really don't want to spend my life in some jungle hiding from people."

Or ducking Santoso's walking stick!

~~~…~~~

"All right, you're good?"

Sam brandished the machete, a mock scowl that Duke would have appreciated, on her face. "Grrrr. How's that?"

Reaper didn't crack a smile. "Pathetic. Lock the door. Don't let anyone in but me." Waiting for the latch to click and the sound of the lock to slide, he turned to his date, who waited expectantly.

"Is she safe enough?" Abby asked cockily.

"No." He continued on over Abby's shocked retorts. "But she's safer there than at our place right now." With unusual gentlemanly kindness, he gave her a hand up into the golf cart. As he slid into the driver's side and put it into gear, he grinned. "This thing is growing on me. I might have to get fuzzy dice."

"Or fringe?"

He gave her a mock glare, before throwing the cart into reverse. "Don't be absurd." He did a turn and pulled out. "That would be over-doing it."

Sam stood by the window, watching the two head off and wondered what her brother said to make her friend laugh so hard.

~~~…~~~

"Why did you go into the Marines?"

It came out of the blue, wholly unexpected. They had had a nice lunch, same bistro. They strolled around town and were now meandering down the beach, John carrying a bucket with seashells in one hand and holding Abby's hand in the other. Abby was carrying a basket with dessert, a bottle of wine and two plastic wine glasses. He was having romantic thoughts; something he hadn't had in a long time and she had just burst the bubble.

"I was looking for adventure," he murmured.

"No. Really." Abby stopped, dropping his hand. "I understand you had a promising college career and you… just walked away from it." He opened his mouth to protest, but Abby put her hand up. "Please. I saw the look in your eye when you told Sam about the ruins, about helping her. Your eyes lit up! You're as excited to start digging and pulling up vines as she is." Abby stepped towards him, her own look pleading.

"My reasons are my own. They have nothing to do with the lure of discovery." It was snapped and Abby recoiled at the emotional slap, making Reaper feel like a low-life. "I'm sorry." With this he reached out to her, retaking her hand. "I watched my parents die. There was nothing I could do."

Horror and understanding combined flew over Abby's face. "Oh John, I didn't know. I'm so sorry."

Reaper shrugged. "Not your fault. I try not to think about it." Still holding her hand, he resumed their leisurely walk down the beach. They were now entering the secluded area and John's hackles went immediately up. His voyeur was back and in a bad way.

At least he's here, watching me and not terrorizing Sam!

"Do you remember, back in the summer of 2036, that crazy group of fascists that took over that church during a Wednesday night service?"

Abby was deep in thought. "Vaguely. Jog my memory."

"The cops were called, but they thought they were dealing with a hostage situation. They were but not like the cops thought." He swallowed hard. "They slaughtered the pastor, crucified on him on the chapel's cross, shot all the adults in the sanctuary and then used the children as shields. By the time the cops got enough nerve to go in… everyone was dead. The kids… the… them."

"I remember now," Abby whispered. "It was awful."

"Yeah." Making it look as if he were staring off somewhere, John perused the cliffs. "I had a friend in the Marines. I went to high school with him. He blasted on his blog that had a real tactical squad gone in immediately, they could have saved almost everyone." He couldn't see anything, but he could sense it. Someone was up there, someone… unfriendly. "So I joined up. I wanted to help someone now, not down the road. Studying skeletons just didn't seem… proactive."

It was quiet as they continued their walk, the sound of the ocean, the waves reverberating from the cliffs.

"So, have you been proactive. How many people have you saved?"

Sam. I saved Sam.

"Countless."

Suddenly, a memory he had forgotten, pushed back in his mind, raged up – a guerilla in the rainforest, holding a native child, not much more than three or four, using him as a human shield. The child was screaming, the guerilla was screaming and John couldn't understand a word.

He hadn't hesitated. Putting a bullet into the man's skull and dropping his weapon to grab the little boy, before his captor fell into the river…

Calling the crocodiles…

And how had the kid repaid him? He vomited all over John's chest and peed on his knee.

Not that he blamed the kid.

Thinking back now, he kind of wondered what became of the little boy. What really bothered him was he couldn't remember exactly what the guerilla was fighting for and why they had taken the village hostage. Something to do with mining rights and a village artifact…

Something stupid. Always something stupid.

"John? John?" Reaper was pulled from his thoughts; his memories back to the present. Abby's eyes were searching, soul searching. "Are you all right?"

He shrugged, trying to shake it off. "I'm fine."

Abby took the bucket from him. "No you're not. You went somewhere. Somewhere not nice."

John stared at her hard. "Why are you so interested?"

"Because you looked… stricken. You looked… I can't explain it, but you weren't happy." Setting the bucket and the basket down, she took both of his hands in hers. "Why do you it? Do you really like your job?"

John thought for a moment, trying to find the words to answer. "As with any… job," he finally whispered, "there are aspects I don't like." He put her hands together and covered them with his.

She is so tiny and I'm so huge…

"But I've been able to help people who needed help right then."

"Including Sam." The smile was faint.

"Including Sam. Especially Sam." He squeezed gently, before bending over to pick up the wine basket and abruptly changed the subject. "What say I get you rip roaring wasted on the wine so I can have my way with you on the beach?"

Abby giggled at that. "I don't think so, but we should be able to enjoy ourselves for a little while."

Which they did, all the way, John acutely aware they were being watched.

Fine. Just leave Sam alone.

tbc

A/n - Thank you every one for reading and for your reviews. I'm sorry about the delay - I had a Big Bang challenge that had to be completed and to the beta by the end of January (for those who read ALL of me, it's a LOTR fic - My Sweet Thing) so hopefully, now I'm back up and running.