Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or the Characters, just the plot.
Chapter Thirteen
"You!" Drew and I stare at Giselle as she enters and shuts the door behind her, "What are you doing here? Are you here on Robert's orders?"
Giselle, who's still dressed in her short black evening dress, looks at both of us with a blank face. She then turns and takes a small white card from someplace and places is against the door where a door handle should be. There's a click and the door opens. So it runs on a key card.
Giselle opens the door and sticks her head out, I try to peek over her shoulder but before I can she turns back to face us, shutting the door behind her once again.
Drew moves to block me slightly from her view, which I find kind of sweet, "Max asked you a question."
"You can stop calling her Max now." What the?! Her voice changed.
Drew and I glance at each other then stare at Giselle with expressions of utter confusion; Giselle's blank face turns into a chesire-cat smile, appearing somewhat amused by our expressions.
"Don't you recognize me May?" Giselle then proceeds to reach up and tug at her hair, pulling it off. She's wearing a wig?! The wig slips off easily, and long, waist length black hair cascades down her back. No way… My face breaks into a grin.
"Lucy!" I step around Drew and give Lucy a big hug. It's been so long since I'd last seen her. Almost 6 years now.
"Good to see you May." Lucy smiles down at me as she returns the hug, her red tipped bangs resembling fangs, fall atop my shoulders. I'd recognise those fang like red bangs anywhere, they're Lucy's signature style.
"Uh… May, who is this?" Drew asks in a confused tone.
"Oh right, sorry. This is Lucy, she use to be my personal bodyguard." I pull away from Lucy to explain to Drew.
"More like babysitter than bodyguard, you got into all sorts of trouble as a kid. Looks like that hasn't changed," says Lucy, grinning.
"But… what are you doing here?" I turn to ask Lucy.
"I'm here undercover, under your father's orders. I'm part of the team investigating your kidnappers."
"You are?"
Lucy nods her head and continues, "Yes. You see Robert is head of an organisation that calls themselves 'Scourge'. They are one of three groups that your father wanted us to look into." She leans against the door and closes her eyes as she says this.
"So you're not the only one under cover?" Drew asks, coming to stand next to me.
"No. There are two others, stationed undercover within the two other suspected groups. However, it looks as if we call those two out," Lucy says, opening one eye and peeking at the two of us for a brief moment the closes it, "You know, I was half-heartedly surprised to see you at the clinic May. You were supposed to stay at the villa, under direct orders from your father."
Oh… oh! So that's why dad wanted me to stay put, not just because he was being cautious in order to keep me safe, but because he suspected something like this to happen. Lucy must have contacted him once she' learned of what 'Scourge' was going to do.
"So you knew? You knew I was going to be kidnapped?"
Lucy opens both her eyes and gives me a sad look, "Yes. I was aware of what 'Scourge' was up to. That's why I had to leave early. I had to contact backup. Unfortunately, we weren't quick enough to intercept them."
"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Drew asks, with a stern look on his face, once again stepping before me to protect me.
"My loyalty is to the Maple Family, and more importantly to Caroline Maple. I promised May's mother that I would do all I can to ensure her safety," Lucy stares right into Drew's eyes, serious and carrying a tone that said she was offended that Drew would even ask a question like that, "And I plan on upholding that promise to my grave."
Mom? Mom made Lucy promise to protect me? "My mom made you promise?" I ask Lucy, gently nudging Drew aside. This is the first I'd ever heard of this.
Lucy looks at me, with a mother's kindness, "Yes. Remember how I told you that I grew up as an orphan? Placed in an abused home? I became a bit of an extreme rebel child. Got into a lot of trouble," Lucy steps forward and places her hands on my shoulders, "Your mother, Caroline, helped me. I got into some real big trouble and she saved me. Vouched for me in when no one else would, she got me a job and got be back on my feet. Eventually I joined your family's security team and Caroline was the one who assigned me to protect her greatest treasure… you."
Tears welled up in the corner of my eyes.
"When Caroline was first diagnosed with cancer, she asked to have lunch with her, it was just the two of us. She suspected that she wouldn't survive that cancer and so she made me promise that no matter what, I would protect you with my life. You're like a little sister to me, May, and even if your mother didn't make me promise I would still protect you with my life."
Lucy… I move forward and engulf Lucy in a mega hug, which she returns. God, I'm so blind. Before all this, I always just considered Dawn to be my only friend, but… I had so many others to call friends… Lucy… Brock… Simon… My friends and… my family. Now I also have Misty, Ash, Paul, I guess Gary, and Drew.
Lucy pulls away from out hug and looks at both Drew and I sternly, "Now I have a plan to get the two of you out of here, so I need you to listen carefully."
Drew and I both nod to signal that we're listening.
"As you saw, this door opens via key card, so does the one upstairs. I brought a spare key card for the two of you to use. When it reaches midnight, use it to open the doors and sneak past the guards. Security gets a little lax at night. There'll be a car waiting, make a call to Felix, you remember Felix don't you May?" Lucy looks directly at me.
"I do," I glance at Drew and he's asking me to explain with the look in his eyes, so I fill in the blanks for him, "Felix is part of my family's security team, he also use to be my chauffer." Drew nods his understanding, and then turns his attention back to Lucy.
"Good. When you've made it past the guards and are outside, give Felix a call and he'll tell you were to meet him." Lucy pulls out another key card, from a small pouch tied to her belt, which I hadn't noticed before. Lucy then hands the key card to me. I tuck it safely into my back pocket.
"How can well call him?" I reach down to my pocket only to find I still had my mobile on me. They didn't take my cell? I pull it out and see that it's only six o'clock in the evening.
"They aren't all that smart since they forget to take our cells, but it works out great for us," Drew says as he pulls out his own mobile, "But there's no signal down here."
"You're underground, you'll get a signal once you've made it out." Lucy explains.
"How will know where the exit is? We didn't exactly get a good look at this place. The bag over our heads made that kinda hard." I say.
"That's why I have this map. It's a blueprint of the buildings layout. I've marked a path you should take." Lucy reached into her pouch once more and pulls out a fold blue piece of paper.
Drew takes it, unfolds it and inspects it. "Looks like we'll have to make quite a few turns, but it shouldn't take us any more than 15 minutes tops to make it out."
"How will we get past the guards? How easy is it to sneak past them?" I ask, peering over Drew's shoulder to look at the blueprints.
"Don't tell me all those years of mixed martial arts and stealth training was for nothing?" Lucy flash me a cheeky smile.
"Oh, right." I blush from embarrassment and look down.
"Forgetful are we?" Drew smirks at me. I nudge him in the shoulder.
Then I remember something, "Wait, what about the security camera? I saw a security camera in the hall just outside the door on our way in."
"That thing? It's not even functional. In fact all the security cameras don't work. They're just for show." Lucy said in a matter-o-fact tone and waved it off.
"Are these guys smart or stupid?" Drew asks.
"These guys rely on intimidation and bluffing," Lucy explains, "Now, don't forget you two. When it reaches midnight, you have to make your move." Lucy looks sternly at the both of us, while slipping on her wig.
"We got it." Drew says.
Lucy nods her head, pulls out her own key card and unlocks the door before stepping out. Drew and I are left alone in the room once more.
Drew looks at me, "So what are we supposed to do for the next six hours?"
I check my mobile, at it reads 11:37pm.
Drew and I have just spent the last couple hours talking, lying on one of the beds with my head on his chest, just talking. And I have to say that Drew's chest is soft but firm, and super comfy, making for a wonderful pillow substitute.
We talked about me mostly. Drew wanted to know everything. My hobbies, my interests, what I like to do in my spare time, how I feel about my career, what my dad's like, what sort of brother Simon's like, and a whole bunch of other personal things. We talked about Drew too, though not much.
And in between we spent a few moments kissing. Drew is a really great kisser. Really great. I could spend hours just kissing him. Crazy, I know, but it's true.
The only thing we haven't touched on is exactly what we are. Sure we've kissed a lot and confessed our feelings, but Drew hasn't asked me out yet. So… What am I exactly to Drew? I want to ask him, but I don't think now would be an appropriate time. Maybe after we make it out of here, I'll ask him.
"It's almost time." Drew says, getting up. I get up to. I stand up and stretch.
"Should we move now or wait till midnight exactly?" I ask and turn to face Drew.
"We'll wait a few more minutes." Drew pulls out his own mobile to double-check the time.
- 13 minutes later -
"Ok, let's go." Drew whispers.
I nod and take out the key card Lucy gave us. I hold it against the door where the handle should be. There's a click and the door opens, I poke my head out and find that the coast is clear. I motion with my arm for Drew to follow.
The hallway is short and there are no other doors or rooms. When we reach the stairs we pause for ay signs of movement or noise. I don't hear anything. I signal to Drew that it's safe. Drew takes the lead, takes my hand and leads me up the stairs.
The door at the top also has no handle on this side, so I pull out the key card again and this time hand it to Drew. He holds to the place where the handle should be and we wait for the click. Click. The door opens and Drew sticks his head out. He turns and nods to me, signalling the coast is clear. We step out into an empty hallway. Drew pulls out the blueprint from his back pocket.
"We go this way and take the second left." He puts the blueprint away and leads me down the hallway to the right.
We move slowly but swiftly, our footsteps only echoed slightly on the concrete floor. Drew and I made our way down the hall, past the first left and took the second left.
"We go left and take the first right. Then it's a pretty straightforward path to the exit. Lucy's got us headed for the backdoor exit." Drew pulls out the blueprint again when we reach the end of the hallway. We take our immediate left, but freeze when we hear voices.
"Over here." I whisper in Drew's ear and drag him to a room marked 'Storage'. It's small and cramped but luckily has just enough room for the both of us to hide. Especially since Drew wraps his arms around me and holds me close. I hold my breath, and slow it down to a snail pace, as the voices near.
They're loud and masculine voices. They get louder but the slowly grow softer, distant.
"I think they're gone." I let go of my breath and whisper to Drew.
"Let me check." Drew lets go of and open the door a slight crack and peers out into the hallway.
"Are they gone?" I ask.
"It's clear. Quick, let's go, in case they come back." Drew pulls me out of the storage closet and we make our way down the hall at a quickened pace.
It's a straightforward path to the door, as had Drew said, but we've come across a much bigger problem. There are two burly looking grunts standing by the exit door. They're talking about something; I can't quite make out what.
Drew and I pause and flatten ourselves against the wall, hiding in the shadows of a stack of wooden boxes.
"Now what?" I whisper-slash-hiss at Drew
"Wait till they stop talking." Drew whispers back.
I peek past Drew. The grunts are still talking. I press myself back against the wall.
"And how long do you think that'll take?"
"I have now idea."
Drew and I stay presses up against the wall, waiting for the grunts to shut up. It's so quite, except for the chatter of the grunts. So, I nearly jump out of my skin when a loud, blaring alarm goes off.
"What's that!?" Were those grunts from earlier on their way to check on us? They were headed in that general direction. Had they found out we had escaped? Shit!
"What ever it is, it just means we really have to get out of here, now!" Drew says.
The grunts by the exit door run right past us, headed off in the direction we'd come from. Yeah, they've found out we'd escaped.
"Let's go!" I grab Drew's hand and we book it. We sprint for the door as fast as we can. The door has a handle and no need for a key card. I grab the door handle, turn it and burst out into the night air.
"Come on, we aren't clear just yet!" Drew is now the one pulling me and we run towards a fence. Drew helps me climb over it first, then climbs over himself and grabs my hand once more and we run like the wind across the field and into the nearby trees. We pause to catch out breath and I take the time to look back.
The building we were being held in was a refurbished warehouse surrounded by a metal fence and acres of woodland. Where are we? I don't recognize the area or see any land marks.
"Come on, we need to put as much distance as we can between them and us." Drew pulls the both of us further into the woods.
"Wait. I need to call Felix."
"Do it while were moving." Drew says, as he tugs on my arm and we're moving again, but at a slightly slower pace so I can call Felix.
I pull out my mobile and bring up Felix's number in my contacts. "Hey Felix, it's me May. Where are you?"
"May! You two made it out ok? We noticed an alarm had gone off. What happened?"
"They noticed us missing much faster than we'd hoped."
"I see. We'll because of the alarm going off, we had to move the car. Can you tell me where the two of you are now?"
"I'm not sure. We're in the woodland area somewhere."
"Ok. We're going to track you via your cell. Make sure to keep it on and wait for us."
"Got it." Felix hangs up and I end the call.
"Well?" Drew asks, as we keep moving. Distancing ourselves further from 'Scourge' and their hideout.
"The alarm forced them move, Felix is going to track my cell to find out our location."
"Then we should find a place to rest till they find us." Drew leads on.
Drew and I find a small rock formation that provides decent shelter and coverage; we walked for nearly an hour to find it.
Damn it's freezing! Drew and I are huddled together, trying to stay as warm as possible, till Felix finds us. We've been waiting for over half an hour now.
"How long do you think till Felix finds us and rescues us?" I ask Drew, cuddling closer him for warmth. Drew tightens his arm around me.
"I don't know. But it can't be much longer now. Don' worry May." Drew says in a comforting tone. Allowing me to rest my head on his shoulder, drawing me closer still; Drew is so warm… hmmm *contented sigh*
"Hey May." I look up at Drew.
"Yes Drew?"
"This may not be the most opportune time, but… I was just wondering… what exactly… are we?"
My eyes widen as I witness for the first time in my life, a bashful Drew. Pink tinted cheeks, looking away shyly and speaking in a hesitant but hopeful tone. He looks so adorable!
I smile and reach up to turn Drew's face to mine, "Drew…" is all I say before drawing his face close to mine and locking our lips together. Drew gets the message and returns the kiss. And as I've state once before, Drew is a fantastic kisser. I haven't mentioned this before, but Drew's lips kinda taste like mint. I like mint. Our lips dance across each other and I feel the tip of Drew's tongue across my bottom lip. I part my lips happily. Our kiss goes from a simple waltz to a fiery tango.
Alas, when the need for air becomes much needed, we pull away but I keep my hold on Drew's face. Drew's arms are around my waist and somehow managed to shift me onto his lap.
"So does that mean your more than happy to be my girlfriend?" Drew asks with a smirk and flick of his hair. I can't help but giggle.
"Yes Drew. I'd be delighted to be your girlfriend."
"Good." Drew leans forward for another kiss, and we're at it again.
Thought this time we're not interrupted by the need for air, but by someone giving a polite cough. Drew and I abruptly pull away, we look up to find Felix and two other familiar faces staring amused at us.
"You two sure look cosy." Adam, another member of my family's security team, smiles down at us bemused at our position. Next to him is Jake, another member of the security team, who's smiling like a chesire cat.
"You two ready to be rescued yet, or should we give you a moment?" Felix, smiles down at us, equally bemused as Adam.
I blush heavily as I extract myself from Drew's hold and stand up. Drew sighs and stands up as well.
"Come on kids, let's get you guys home." Felix motions for us to follow him, Adam, and Jake. Drew firmly takes a hold of my hand and together we follow them towards the waiting cars.
And there we have it.
Was anyone surprised, or just like 'meh'?
-LadySilentEagle