Disclaimer: I do not own Balem or the Jupiter Ascending universe (though I wouldn't mind owning Balem =D) but I do own Amoya whatever other characters that are in existence for this story.
Chapter 24: Into the Future
Balem never hated Ores as much as he did these past six months.
If he had his way he would never return in his lifetime.
Lifetimes, actually.
It took roughly six months until the court case was settled. It was probably the longest six months of Balem's life. The first week or so, Amoya was in awe of the place which Balem was pleased to note. He would take anything other than the faraway look in her eyes that crept up from time to time. If Ores occupied her with curiosity, he found he could not complain about that.
Balem watched Amoya carefully during those times. Granted in the last six months, she didn't have a full blown hallucination like that day. Perhaps it was because most of the time the couple was together on Ores and was rarely separated for extended amounts of time. He knew that Amoya would never admit that she felt more settled when he was in the general area. The rare times that he had to leave her for a bit, the relief that she felt upon seeing him again was palpable.
But neither never pointed it out.
They just accepted it as a new fact of life.
After about the first week or so, even Ores began to get on Amoya's nerves. It was so crowded once they walked out their apartment they lived in for the time being. Balem didn't do well with crowds and found that neither did Amoya. Not to mention all the waiting. Balem was convinced, their court case could have been settled in half the time, but part of bureaucracy was all the paper pushing, which equated to waiting. Here on Ores, everyone had to wait. From the Entitles to the Splices, everyone was subject to waiting.
But once the trial actually started which was about a couple of weeks later, he found that at times he would have welcomed waiting around for it to start. One thing about the bureaucracy, they could be tedious when they wanted to be. The first week of time was spent on telling them exactly what the trial was going to be about it and who all the witnesses were and what their roles were.
The first primary found regret to be a baseless emotion, a time killer. So he regretted few things in his life and allowing Amoya to go through with becoming a neuro-camera made the list for him, despite the fact that everything went better than even they planned. In addition, Balem never thought it was possible to hate his brother and Ajay Camou even more, but the day that Amoya took the witness stand proved that. The regret and hate that Balem felt was at it's all time high during that week.
They grilled Amoya about every little detail of her life. How her former Earthling life had anything to do with now, Balem would never know. But he drew the line when the Ajay's and Titus' lawyers started questioning their personal life. It didn't help that Amoya was hooked to what was the equivalent of a lie detector test, only this one was far more invasive and truthful than the one on earth. It could even detect things in your subconscious.
Some of the questions asked, Amoya had answered truthfully to the best of her conscious knowledge, only her subconscious said differently. And of course the lawyers preyed and exploited that. Balem could see Amoya reverting back inside herself just as when she had the hallucination. He knew that some of their questions was preying on some of her deepest fears that made her hallucinate in the first place. Although they never really discussed what those feeling where exactly, it didn't take long for Balem to figure it out on his own. She knew that she still harbored regret about that day and it didn't help to be reminded of it in the even the slightest.
Balem knew that their lawyers was trying to prove that Amoya was too incompetent and that her whole testimony should be discarded. It was the only card they had left to play but it didn't make him feel any better about the situation. Especially, when it was making his wife distance herself from him again.
Even now as the trial was over and they were on their way home, back to Jupiter, did it still make him angry to think about it.
"You're face will stay that way if you keep it up. In fact I'm surprised that your face hasn't frozen by now."
Balem blinked, the voice bringing him out of his trip down memory lane. His eyes focused on Amoya sitting across from him.
She cocked her head, "What's wrong now?"
Balem didn't answer as Amoya added, "You're tense, you know that right?"
In response, Balem released the death like grip he had on the arm rest and relaxed his shoulders. He exhaled once softly, trying to calm himself.
Amoya looked slightly amused, "What were you thinking about? You look liked you were about to pop a cork."
Balem gave a small sigh and took a few breaths before answering quietly, "The trial..." He looked up at Amoya, "...specifically your time as a witness."
He saw Amoya faltered a moment before giving a weak smile, "I think we all want to forget that." Amoya didn't like to remember that time either. She wasn't at her best and she hated how they managed to play with her head the way they did. And she hated herself for falling for it so easily.
"Stop."
Amoya blinked at Balem's hard voice that broke and effectively halted her thoughts. She gave a small chuckle and raised a hand to rake through her hair. Standing she walked to the window and absently looked out, watching space go by. Balem eyed her in silence.
"How long until we are home?" she asked breaking the silence after a few moments.
"We'll be there in a few hours."
He could see Amoya lean her head on the cool glass, "Oh I see." she murmured absently.
"What is it?" he asked.
When Amoya didn't say anything he frowned before standing up and walking over to her side. He reached out and touched her shoulder. She jumped once before looking at him. Scrunching her face she asked, "What?"
"Something is clearly on your mind." stated Balem with a stern voice.
Amoya let out a small huff. "I'm fine."
Balem's mouth thinned. "I'm not going through this with you again, Amoya."
Amoya turned and glared at him. Unfazed he held her gaze. She was the first the look away but not before Balem could see the guilt that flashed in her eyes. Wordlessly he grasped her chin and turned her gaze back to him, before lifting an eyebrow.
Amoya gave a small laugh and pushed his hand away. "You just don't give up do you?"
Balem only cocked his head and looked at her steadily.
Amoya looked back out the window. "Just...when's the last time you've been on a vacation?"
Balem blinked. Hard.
"Excuse me?" he whispered after a moment.
"A vacation..." Dark eyes swung to him and looked amused, "You do know what a vacation is don't you?"
"Don't get mouthy with me, wife." The first primary snapped before reaching out and touching her cheek, "Why do you ask such a thing?" he asked quietly.
"Must there be an hidden agenda? Just answer the bloody question, " Amoya griped, her eyes sliding back towards the window.
Balem stared down at her a long moment before a slow smirk formed on his face. "If you wanted to go a vacation, all you had to do was say so."
"I didn't..."
"It's obvious the only reason you are bringing it up is because you are fishing. You are an Entitled. If you want to do something, simply say so." Balem dropped his fingers and straightened.
Amoya gave a longsuffering sigh, "I don't even have the wherewithal to explain the problem with that statement. Plus we've been gone long enough and I know we need to start looking for Dr. Ahiga and..."
"Amoya..."
The sternest in Balem's voice stopped Amoya. She pursued her lips and looked out the window again.
Then she gave an ungraceful shrug, "I don't know...I just...thought maybe a week or two with just the two of us would be nice." A small smile played on her face that she was unaware of, "Someplace quiet. Cabin in the woods or near a beach or waterfall. A small piece of time to..." she shrugged again the smile disappearing. "I know we have responsibilities. I'm good." She= straightened and gave a firm nod.
Silence followed for a long moment before Amoya found herself wrapped in an embrace. She blinked.
"Silly girl", came an soft exasperated voice, "Even now, as tired as you are and as much as you've been through you still think of everyone else before yourself. You are right. I did not think of it. A vacation would be good for you. For us."
Amoya pulled her husband back enough to look at his face, "Like I said, we still have things to do..."
Balem rolled his eyes once and placed a hand over her mouth. "Hush, woman. You are getting on my nerves."
Amoya made a small huffing sound but said nothing.
"As I said, you are entitled to a vacation of all things." He continued with a small chuckle at the glare Amoya was giving him. He pulled his hands back and straightened as he glared down at her, "I will hear no more. We will go on your vacation. Do you have anywhere in mind?"
Amoya looked sheepish then, "Not really. Just somewhere quiet with nature and I'm good."
Balem gazed down at her a long moment before turning and walking out the room. Amoya cocked her head.
Balem knew it was worth it the moment he saw Amoya eyes lit up as she walked around the large cabin. He hadn't seen this such excitement enter her eyes in a long time.
It was worth suffering the rustic look of the place. The outside looked like a wooden cabin that you would see on Earth but inside it had all the modern contraptions an Entitled would be used to. Their cabin was on a hill near a river with a beautiful waterfall.
This place wasn't Balem's style and he had never been to this planet. It was located in the 2nd level galaxy. The whole planet was a resort place. When he asked about the style of vacation he wanted , this place came highly recommended.
Seems he won't have to kill anyone for giving him stupid information.
Good for them.
Balem stood in the middle of large spacious living room. He could hear Amoya flitting around the cabin. Occasionally he could hear her exclamations. Standing lazily he looked out the window. He was startled out of his thoughts when he felt two arms thrown around him. Relaxing he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
"Did I tell you how much I love you lately?" Amoya asked.
Balem slowly turned his head and looked at her shining face. He smirked. "Not necessarily. Though I'd prefer actions to words."
A flirty look that Balem had come to miss from Amoya in the last year entered her eyes, after a moment of contemplation. "Actions? Such as..." she mused trailing off.
Balem lifted an elegant eyebrow his hazel eyes boring into hers steadily.
"Ahhhh, that action. Hm." she looked off and Balem was pleased to notice a bit of heat in her cheeks.
There was a moment of silence before: "I'd rather check out the river and waterfall."
Balem blinked a few times, "Excuse you?" he whispered.
Amoya giggled, "Look if I let you get started we won't even set foot outside this place for a week at least."
Balem smirked, "That is very true but..."
Amoya reached up and made him lean over a little so she whispered in his ear, "It'll make it worth your while."
Still leaning over, Balem turned his face to her. Inches apart he breathed, "How so?"
"It would involved the waterfall that we saw."
Balem blinked a few times until it finally clicked and he straightened, "That's acceptable."
Laughing Amoya pulled back, "I'd knew you'd see it my way." Clapping her hands, she turned and headed for the kitchen, "I'm getting hungry. I don't know about you. But I'd thought I'd try to cook something."
Balem sniffed, "We can have our food catered here you know. That is one of the perks."
Amoya stopped and threw a withering look over her shoulder, "Darling, we are on vacation and even if I haven't done it in awhile, I can cook."
Balem looked skeptical.
She turned around and placed her hands on her hips, "Tell you what. If my food taste that bad, we'll cater it, okay?"
"Alright."
Balem was amused that Amoya hopped once and gave a clap, "Yay! Now to figure out what to cook."
Balem watched curiously as she stood and thought for a minute before clapping her hands again and rushing into the kitchen. He slowly followed and took a seat at the counter watching her bustle about.
A small smile graced his face to see her so happy with doing something so mundane.
Yes, two weeks in this place wouldn't be bad at all.
TBC...