Chapter 10
Rachel finished her simple breakfast and set her dishes in the sink. She left a note by the microwave oven thanking them for their hospitality over the last two days and that she would be getting in touch real soon. The drive back into town was fairly routine except for her head ached a little bit from the wine and merrymaking the night before.
She stopped at a coffee house for a hot cuppa then called her boss and announced happily,
"We pulled it off! They're at the ranch right now and she is very happy and I think we'll be seeing children before too much longer!"
He whistled and asked,
"How's George holding up? If the legends are true, she'll wear him out! Did they agree to the body scan?"
Rachel chuckled and replied,
"George is managing, if anything, he reaches for her as much as she reaches for him! Yes, we have a full body scan with ultrasound, MRI and CT scans on a sub-millimeter level, short of actual dissection we couldn't get a better idea of her anatomy. With that and the biosamples, we should be able to place her on the taxonomic chart."
After a pause, her boss remarked, "Now, we have to get the rest of her family out of Algeria. They are too precious to leave in such a dangerous place!"
Rachel nodded and replied, "They are in agreement with me about extracting the rest of their family. Roger Tate did give them a weapon and some ammunition, but it's more of a placebo when it comes to self defense against militant fundamentalists. If they find out lamias do exist, they'll turn over every stone until they've found them."
"Agreed," replied her boss, "I'll start making the contacts today. Right now I want you to get her settled in, whatever she needs, you can get it. In fact, take the rest of the week to do nothing but settle her in."
Rachel chuckled and remarked,"I guess I should've called you before leaving them, I'm at our favorite coffee emporium right now getting my caffeine fix filled up!"
Her boss chuckled and said, "That's what you get for being so good, Rachel. Keep me posted!"
Rachel then called home, her husband Keith answered the phone and said cheerfully, "Hey stranger! You finally remembered me, your endlessly patient husband. I take it you're back from whereever it was they sent you this time?"
Rachel grinned and replied, "I love you too sweetheart, yeah, I'm back, but I'm not back home yet. We got the extraction accomplished quite smoothly I'm happy to say."
"So, where are you right now?" Asked her husband, "What'll I tell the kiddies?"
Rachel chuckled and replied, "I'm in Phoenix and I will be helping our refugee settle in for the rest of the week."
Keith replied, "You're not that far away then, can we expect you home tonight?"
Rachel said softly, "You sure can! Though it'll be a bit late."
"Great! I"ll see you then, shall I chill some wine?"
Rachel grinned and replied breathily, "Of course tiger, meeeooowww!" Keith laughed and hung up.
Later that morning, Rachel called Sara Thompson about making arrangements for Mia to visit a couple of clothing stores for a private shopping trip. Not knowing what she might like and wanting to keep it quiet, Rachel had thought of Sara first for suggestions.
"Hello?" Sara answered.
Rachel asked, "Sara, this is Rachel, are you busy?"
"Not really, what's up?" She replied.
Rachel answered, "I need to get clothes and stuff for Mia and I can't have a scene. Do you know any small clothing stores where the owners are pretty cool about keeping things quiet?"
Sara chuckled and replied, "I sure do! I know several stores that make and sell clothes for costuming and Ren Faires, they are pretty cool about customer privacy. Sometimes a big celebrity will get fitted for a movie costume and not want to be gawked at or have photos pop up on the web."
Rachel said assertively, "They have to be trustworthy about this, We're trying to get the rest of Mia's family out of harm's way and any cellphone photos posted on the web, any mention, could jeopardize her family's safety. I have to be adamant about this."
Sara quickly agreed, "Oh God yes! I agree! I want to meet her family too! I'll ask around and get right back to you!"
Rachel smiled and signed off with, "That would be perfect, I'll call Mia and let her know what we're up to."
After hanging up, Rachel sent an email off to Roger Tate detailing her progress. Then she checked her remaining emails until finally, she closed out her account and logged off. She removed the flash drive with her critical files in it and pocketed it.
Rachel then called George.
George barely reached his cell phone in time. First, he had to wriggle partly out of the coils of Mia's powerful tail, and disentangle himself from her arms to reach out and snatch up the phone to answer it in time, "Hello?!"
"Hi George! Are you up? Or did I call at a bad time?" Asked Rachel.
Settling back into Mia's warm embrace, George replied, "Actually, we were just getting up, Mia's still adjusting to the new time zone."
Rachel chuckled and replied, "Okay... We'll go with that for now. Anyway, I called to let you guys know that I'm working on getting Mia some clothing. Sara knows some clothiers who can be trusted to be discreet and she's contacting them right now about her coming in for fitting her out with a wardrobe."
George grinned and replied, "Okay, just how are you going to work this? Mia doesn't exactly blend in real well."
Rachel replied, "We can use the van and bring it around back of the store and slip her in through the back door."
Mia, by this time was fully awake and listening with interest. George smiled at her and asked , "Would you like to talk to Rachel for a minute or two? She's planning a shopping trip for you."
Mia nodded emphatically 'yes!' George said to Rachel, "I'm gonna hand this over to Mia and you two can gab about this."
He handed the phone to Mia, slipped out of her coils and padded off to the bathroom to wash up.
Rachel pulled up and parked the van in front of the ranch house. George came out with Mia and he opened the sliding door for her, she kissed George then slipped into the van and coiled herself up to sit behind Rachel. George leaned in the side door and kissed her again, causing Rachel to chuckle and say, "I'll have her home in a few hours, take it easy!"
George grinned at both of them and said cheerfully as he closed the side door, "You two behave yourselves now, we don't need your faces on the five o'clock news!"
Rachel just laughed and replied, "We'll be good, I promise!" and they drove off.
George watched the van disappearing into the distance.
With a start, he realized that this was the first time they had been separated since that day they consummated their relationship in the shade of a great palm tree. Even though in reality it had only been a few days, he still felt a pang at their separation. He went back into the house to work on opening up the gun safe he'd found hidden in a closet.
As they entered town, Mia put on the sunglasses Roger had given her. They would hide her feline amber eyes from other motorists while a blanket covered her tail.
Rachel pulled into the parking lot near a coffee shop where Sara was waiting for them. She stood near an anonymous white Toyota 4 runner and smiled as they stopped, she picked up a cardboard tray laden with coffee cups and climbed into the back of Rachel's van and sat alongside Mia.
"Hi!" she began, "I didn't know if you guys wanted any coffee, so I took a chance that you would. Hi Mia! I'm so glad to see you again, I hope you like my friends' shop, they make and sell some really neat clothes and costume items for steampunk, cosplay and Renfaire. I've sworn them to secrecy about you and I would trust them with my own life!"
She paused suddenly and blushed brightly,
"I'm sorry! I'm rattling on aren't I? I'm kinda nervous and I do that when I'm nervous... I'll shut up now!"
Rachel chuckled and said soothingly, "It's alright dear, we're a little nervous too. It's not every day that a lamia goes clothes shopping and I'm nervous about something going wrong and Mia being seen by the public."
Sara directed them to the older part of town and down an alley in back of the clothing store called 'The Questing Beast, clothing, costumes and more!' They pulled up and backed into the parking stall nearest the rear entrance.
Sara got out first and entered the building, a few moments later she reappeared with two other young women and they stood by with blankets to block the view as Mia slipped out the back of the van and entered the store.
Moments later, they too went inside pausing briefly to hang a 'Closed due to a family emergency' sign on the firmly locked back door.
George fumbled with the combination lock for a while, then he started looking through the house for a clue to the combination on the stubborn safe door. On a hunch, he looked through the notes for the house, size of the air filter and water shut off procedures and emergency contact numbers.
Hidden amongst the numbers was a combination to a bicycle lock, he noticed that because there was no bicycle out in the garage. He tried the combination and soon heard the sound of the lock clicking and with a grin, he opened the heavy steel door.
Standing inside the safe were a pump action shotgun, a lever action rifle and a couple of pistols hanging from pegs inside the door. After clearing the weapons, George laid the guns out and looked them over, they were fairly typical of a ranchers armament.
The lever action rifle was in .30-30 caliber, the pump shotgun a 12 gauge and the two pistols were .45's. Not the best for a firefight, but vastly better than nothing at all. The remoteness of the ranch and its proximity to the southern border of the U.S. meant that any help could be hours, not minutes away.
George didn't like that, there might be times when he had to be away from home on a mission and the thought of Mia alone, left him cold.
He knew that Mia could defend herself if it was only one or maybe two intruders, but if they were armed or more numerous she could be in terrible danger.
He picked up the ammo can on the floor of the safe, it had the ammunition and a couple of spare magazines for the pistols he'd found.
Once inside the store, Sara led the way past the sewing room and into the showroom.
She stepped aside and the two saw a middle aged couple dressed like Victorian era shopkeepers.
He was a tall, thin, balding man and he wore wire rimmed, oval lensed glasses sitting low on his nose while a measuring tape was draped over his shoulders ready for immediate use.
She was nearly the opposite of him, short and a bit on the plump side.
Covering her clothing was an apron with many pockets, out of these pockets stuck various implements of her trade, scissors, shears, thread trimmers, tailors crayons, a note pad and a stubby pencil.
She looked at the world through the octagonal framed glasses perched firmly on her snub nose.
The younger women who had held the blankets were clearly the daughters of the couple, one being tall and slender and the other short and a bit plump, in a pleasing sort of way.
Rachel stepped aside and the couple got their first look at Mia. As one, their mouths gaped and their eyes opened wide, they looked at each other and their smiles became grins and in one voice, they cried, "She's real, our special client is real!"
They embraced and hugged each other fiercely, then the man turned to Mia, dabbed at a tear in his eye and said in a voice thick with emotion,
"All of our lives, we have waited for someone so special as you to come here for clothes. When Sara first came to us about you, we didn't quite know what to expect. All of us in the fantasy costuming community know of lamias, but until today, you were a being out of legend, a myth. Making clothing for you will be our top priority for the next few days."
The older woman stepped forward and took Mia's hand, she gazed at Mia for several moments before saying.
"You are more beautiful than I ever imagined, I will be proud to sew your clothing for you!"
Mia blushed and averted her eyes as she stammered, "I... I, don't know what to say. It's embarrassing to get this much attention."
They both laughed and the woman said cheerfully, "We didn't mean to embarrass you dear. It's just that we feel so privileged, we've made lamia costumes for young women who wanted something dramatic. We never expected to actually meet one in the flesh!"
She smiled at Mia and asked, "I didn't get your name dear, mine's Edith and my husband is named Edward. Our daughters are named Iris and Magnolia." Mia smiled and said. "It's Mia and my husband is named George, he's at home right now."
George took aim at the soup can he'd set out to shoot at, at 50 yards or so, it was a fairly small target and would be a slight challenge to hit. The rifle barked and he felt a jab against his shoulder, the can went flying, a .30 caliber hole in its middle, it landed and rolled a bit, he fired again and sent the can spinning away even further, satisfying himself that the sights were lined up properly.
George fired a few shots through the pump shotgun and then fired a few shots from each .45. Satisfied that the guns were working properly, he cleaned and oiled them before locking them up again.
Keeping out one of the .45's for 'just in case', he loaded its clip and stashed it in their bedroom for easy access. He would teach Mia how to shoot later on.
Glancing at the wall clock, George began preparing a dinner for himself and Mia, he paused a moment then added a bit more just in case Rachel was invited to dinner by Mia. Everything was placed into the slow cooker and he turned it on. Yawning a bit, George went into their bedroom slipped off his shoes and lay down to take a little nap.
Sara and Rachel chatted with Iris and Magnolia while Edward swiftly took measurements of Mia and he called them out to Edith, who jotted them down on a chart.
He measured everything, he even measured her hands for glove and ring sizes.
When he was finished he turned to Mia and asked, "What sort of look are you interested in? We can do any period costume, even (Heaven forbid!) modern street clothes."
Mia looked a bit puzzled and finally she said, "I don't really know what to get, I can't really go out in public yet, but I do want to be able to dress up a bit for my husband. Y'know, keep him interested!" She finished with a smile.
Rachel chuckled and commented drily, "Trust me dear, George ain't gonna even look at another girl, even if she's naked and you're in a cloth sack. He'll only have eyes for you!."
Sara laughed and said cheerfully, "You can wear whatever you like Mia, with your looks? You'll knock 'em dead at faire!"
Edward smiled at Mia and said, "You don't have to make any decisions right now, we've got all of your measurements and can whip something up in no time. When you and George are ready you can come back in and make a decision then."
Iris spoke up, "Dad? Let's have her look in the showroom and maybe we can model some of our more popular tops for her or even have her try something on." Edward grinned at his older daughter and replied, "You're right Iris. Mom and I got so caught up in the moment that we forgot about our showroom!"
He gestured to Mia and said, "Right this way dear, our girls will help you out now, this is their bailiwick. Edith and I do the special items."
Iris grinned at her dad and she said to Mia, "Would you like to come with me? Magnolia and I can help you out in here."
Iris led the way and Mia sinuated right behind her, her head turning from side to side as she admired the offerings. The show room was set up like a vintage clothiers shop, hats and gloves in one part and shirts, skirts and blouses in another. A display case held small handbags and purses while another had necklaces and other jewelry on display.
Several mannequins were dressed in elaborate19th century attire with various mechanical elements worked into the design. Mia stopped and looked at one in particular that was topped by a tiny bowler hat cocked at a jaunty angle.
She smiled and said, "I like this one, but how does that tiny hat stay on?"
Magnolia grinned and replied, "It's held on by hairpins. We sell a fair amount of these for ladies steampunk outfits and will match them to the fabric color."
"Steampunk?"
Iris chimed in with, "Steampunk is a fashion style that has elements of 19th century technology incorporated into it. The most common being brass gears or goggles added to a hat for 'aviating'."
"Aviating?" Asked a puzzled looking Mia.
Instead of explaining further, Iris got out a picture book of steampunk artworks. In it were fanciful paintings of fashionable people strolling on the promenades of vast airships floating along above a fantastic landscape of soaring towers and elevated tracks with steam powered locomotives speeding along. She handed the book to Mia and declared, "This should answer any questions you might have."
Mia coiled up her long tail and sat on her own coils as she perused the fanciful book. Magnolia chuckled and remarked, "That's cool, you'll always have a place to sit."
Mia grinned at her and replied cheerfully, "I can also sit just like you guys do, I just need room for my tail."
Finishing her perusal of the book, Mia handed it back to Iris and thanked her. They shooed Edward out of the showroom for this part and spent the next hour or so fitting Mia with a variety of brassieres with varying degrees of support and opacity.
Next came the blouses, some more revealing than others. The ladies were in agreement that Mia had a splendid figure and it needed little help in catching a man's eye, the goal was to catch the eye while remaining fashionable about it.
Mia finally settled on a few blouses and matching shawls, a couple of skirts and a light walking coat for cooler days.
At the cash register, Rachel pulled out her credit card and paid for Mia's things much to Mia's discomfiture, she fretted, "This is so embarrassing, I don't have any...What do you call it?...Money!"
Edith, who rang up the purchases smiled and said cheerfully, "Don't worry dear, once word gets out that you buy your clothes from us, it will more than make up for any momentary financial problems."
Rachel grinned and replied, "It's not a problem, I'll get reimbursed by the museum as part of getting George and Mia settled into their new home. So it all works out."
They all trooped out back to see Mia off and after a brief exchange of hugs and 'thank you's!' Mia slithered into the van and seated herself on her coils while Rachel strapped herself in.
A few minutes later they pulled into a drive through lane for a fast burger joint and Rachel ordered food for both of them. The pink haired girl with the ear studs barely gave Mia a second glance as she handed the bag of food and drink through the window just before they sped off.
While Rachel drove, Mia got her first taste of an American classic, a cheese burger with french fries and a medium soft drink.
Rachel laughed as Mia quickly gobbled it all up, "Whoa there! You act like you've never had food before." she said with a laugh.
Mia grinned at her and replied, "I've never tasted anything like it, I couldn't help myself!"
Rachel grinned and remarked, "Don't worry, we will introduce you to all kinds of foods here, the variety available is almost staggering. I can organize a barbecue or two and you can meet my family and get some good food as well." Mia smiled at the thought.