Once again thanks so much Wolftattoo and Angela for alerting me about the upload issue with chapter 30... the website had problems for days, longest bug I've ever experienced on this site. But!
Thankfully everything worked again the day after my birthday, so hooray for that!
And as always, thank all of you so much for the reviews and reading this story. You are the best support!
Enjoy!
Seeing them together, being around them, hearing them laugh. It was difficult in more ways than one and for the first couple of days, he was convinced he was never going to feel like his old self again.
But the truth was that not a lot had changed. If he thought about it, it was clear that the only thing that truly changed was him and it took him a while to realize this.
At first he tried to avoid them to the best of his abilities. However, it soon became apparent that it wasn't really an option and he really did try to make that work.
The thing which annoyed him most of all, was that both of them treated him the same way as they had always done. Another reason why it was probably so difficult for him. After all, he thought everything was going to be different from now on.
But just because they were together now, that didn't mean things had to change too much and he was slowly coming to terms with that. The term time heals all wounds was incredibly cliche, though it seemed to be so for a reason. Vinnie noticed it with each passing day and not only with himself.
He saw how Charley was doing better and perhaps it was mainly thanks to Modo. Sam's second death hit her hard, harder than it seemed to affect Izzy, who was always there when things were becoming too much for the female mechanic.
The honey haired woman helped her sister-in-law in any way that she could. She cooked dinner, she picked up groceries and even gave all of their bikes a new coat of paint.
For the first time since she arrived at the Last Chance Garage, Vinnie was actually beginning to appreciate her being there. He never really gave Izzy a chance. Everything had been one big drama from the day she saw him and thus discovered that Charley's friends were actually Aliens from space.
That had bruised his ego big time. Not only had she screamed from the top of her lungs, but she also fainted after taking one look at his gorgeous physique. Thankfully, her fear was long gone now and she acted exactly the same around them just like Charley did.
Speaking of that auburn haired beauty, despite her grieving, Charley didn't stop acting kindly to him. She smiled warmly at him, even in front of Modo. She made jokes with him, which made him uncomfortable for those first few days.
At times he wondered if she treated him that way because she felt guilty for picking Modo over him. Which was a ridiculous trail of thought to begin with, as she was just being herself. But Vinnie couldn't help see it that way.
Modo...
His big grey furred one-eyed bro. If anybody showed genuine guilt, it was him. Compared to Charley, he went over the top in trying to act normal around Vinnie. Perhaps a bit too much.
It were little things at first. Such as offering his last dog or root beer or ask him out for a ride through Chicago to see if there was any action going on. Under normal circumstances, the white mouse wouldn't have seen it as something out of the ordinary.
But because of what had happened, it sure felt like Modo was making too much of an effort to get on his good side, when the truth was he had done nothing wrong. It was safe to say that Vinnie was beginning to feel very uncomfortable with his behaviour and so he decided it was time to have a talk with his bro.
The Last Chance Garage
"Are you sure you're okay with it?"
"Oh for goodness sake, I told you a thousand times already. Just strip it apart."
"But are you su,-"
"Yes!"
One of the side doors of the garage opened and Modo rushed inside at the sound of Izzy and Charley raising their voices. He scanned the room frantically to see what was causing the two of them to shout so much.
He didn't like hearing the two women argue with each other. Honestly, he never really liked any form of argument or fight. But when it came to Charley, he just wanted to make sure she was okay.
But all he saw now, were two women looking at him with a frown and Sam Davidson's motorcycle behind them. Modo cleared his throat and stood up straight as he closed the door he'd just basically burst through.
"Sorry, darling. I heard yelling." He apologized and cleared is throat. "Is everything alright?"
It was Izzy who stepped forward, ready to explain the situation. She raised her arm and pointed at Charley. "Modo, would you kindly, for the hundredth time, tell your girlfriend that she can do whatever she wants with Sam's bike without asking me over and over again?"
Oh, so that was what this was about. It had been almost a week since Charley and Izzy talked about what happened at Dreamland and things had drastically changed since then. In a good way.
Stoker's bike was finally fixed. A blessing for all of them because now they didn't have to share their bikes with him anymore. But there was still the matter of Sam's motorcycle as well as the Martian spaceship. The latter actually turned out to not be as broken as the older mouse had initially led them to believe.
The real problem was getting it out of the atmosphere and back into space. Over the course of the last few days Stoker had actually contacted Carbine, who'd given him quite the earful, according to him.
Nonetheless, she did come up with a couple of suggestions he could try, such as connecting the power coupling to a different wiring, which he then could cross with another in order to get a more powerful boost during take-off.
Speaking of Carbine. The news of her ordering Stoker back to Mars, didn't come as a surprise to any of them. Although the moment Throttle told them about the general's order, everyone had looked at Izzy.
They probably all figured she would respond with shock and tears at hearing that there was a probability of Stoker leaving Earth soon. Strangely enough though, she hadn't seem that taken back by the news.
Modo remembered watching his former coach and Charley's sister-in-law with confusion as the hazel mouse placed his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him on the steps of the staircase. That was the end of it.
A part of Modo was convinced that the two of them had already discussed the possibility of him leaving at some point. But what had exactly been said was something he did not know. Stoker hadn't talked about it all to any of them.
The older mouse had begun working on fixing the ship himself almost immediately. Sometimes he'd ask for help from one of them, but never from Izzy. At least not to Modo's knowledge.
Which brought him to another strange occurrence he'd begun to notice. Izzy kept disappearing from time to time, taking her car and driving off for a couple of hours. Nobody seemed to know where it was she went.
Even if Stoker knew, he never revealed anything. Something was up. Modo could definitely sense it, but he didn't dare to bring it up with Charley. Especially now that she was beginning to come to terms with Sam's passing.
"Modo," Izzy called out to him again. "Can you please assure her that I am fine with anything she wants to do with it? No matter what I say, she doesn't listen."
"I do listen, Izzy! I just don't want you to regret anything later." Charley moved towards her sister-in-law and crossed her arms.
"I know you are trying to be considerate, but you don't have to be." She paused and glanced over her shoulder to look at the bike. "It is legally yours. If you want my opinion again, I have no problem with grabbing a hammer and smash it myse,-"
"Alright, alright!" The other woman replied finally raising her arms in defeat. "I give up."
Charley walked back to her brother's bike as Modo leaned forward towards Izzy. "She changed her mind again today, Miss Izzy?"
"Again and again." Izzy sighed. "It's not that I don't understand her, Modo. Having the bike here in this state, it's not doing her any good. But I can't make the decision for her. It's the hurdle she needs to overcome in order to get over Sam's betrayal."
Modo nodded. Sam's motorcycle had been one of the more talked about topics this week. His love was unsure what to do with it. There were moments she cried about not wanting to give it up, despite there was no way to safe the bike the way it was now.
The other option was stripping its parts and reuse those on her bike, or somebody else's. But, understandably, she kept going back and forth between decisions.
It was only logical she kept asking her sister-in-law for guidance and advice. She was closest to Sam next to her. But Izzy had developed a strong feeling and opinion when it came to anything Sam related. Perhaps in some way that stung Charley more than she showed.
"Say, have you seen Vinnie today, by any chance?" He asked the honey haired woman.
"Vinnie?" She arched an eyebrow. "Stoker mentioned meeting him in the scoreboard. He was going to help him out with something regarding the ship."
The Scoreboard. He should have just known instead of asking. There weren't many places they went in Chicago, other than their hideout, the lake, the pier or the Garage. Contacting Vinnie would have been more logical, but he didn't want to give his bro the opportunity to stand him up again.
Modo hadn't stayed at the scoreboard since him and Charley slept together. He couldn't stand to be away from her, at least not throughout the night. But in doing so this cause the already small forming rift between him and Vinnie to become even larger.
A week had gone by now and neither of them had talked about the obvious elephant in the room. It was time he did something about it.
"In that case, I'd better get going. Thanks, Miss Izzy." Modo turned around and made his way over to Charley.
The woman stood next to Sam's bike. Touching the leather seat carefully. Modo could tell she was still conflicted on what to do with the vehicle. But Izzy was right, it was something she had to decide for herself instead of asking others what was the right thing to do.
Gently, he placed his hand on her shoulder and slowly turned her to him. He threw her a warm smile, which she returned.
"I'm going to the scoreboard." He said softly.
"Vinnie?" She asked.
"Yeah. I know things have changed a little but,-" He paused and let out a deep sigh. "But there's still something there. I mean, we haven't exactly talked extensively about it. I fear our relationship will only get restrained unless we do."
On that Charley agreed with him. She tried to act normal towards Vinnie over the last few days, but it wasn't they same as it was before. Honestly, she didn't want things to change between them. But she also had to be realistic about this.
If none of them addressed the matter, if no sore points would be prodded, there would always be an odd and fake presence hanging around them. As things usually went if you ignored a problem instead of tackling it head on.
"Maybe I should go with you?" Charley suggested, but Modo shook his head.
"I'd prefer to talk with him alone. You know. Mouse to mouse."
Charley didn't protest. She figured Modo would know best how to deal with this. As she kissed him goodbye, Izzy slowly approached the two and waited for them to finish before clearing her throat.
"Would you mind giving me a ride over there, Modo? I've got some things Stoker needs for the ship."
The grey mouse looked at her and nodded. "No problem. Let's hit the road."
He whistled and Lil'Hoss halted in front of the garage opening. Izzy climbed on behind Modo clutching a rectangular shaped box to her chest with one hand. Charley watched as the two of them waved goodbye to her before redirecting her attention to her brother's bike.
A week had gone by since she learned of Sam's betrayal and second death. She still couldn't find it in her heart to do anything with the bike he'd left her in his will. But her friends were right. She had to do something and she knew it.
Wasn't it the same reason Izzy had used when she brought the motorcycle to her? That she was looking for closure, despite not knowing if she'd find it. Well, it was safe to say that she had found it now and instead it was Charley who seemed lost now.
This was the last thing which connected Sam to her. Perhaps it was time to say goodbye.
She picked up a wrench from the table and crouched down next to the vehicle with it. She placed the tool behind the exhaust and began to loosen a few bolts behind it.
After a minute, with a couple of bolts removed, a loud clank sounded. But it wasn't the type of clank you expected to hear. It wasn't metal, it sounded softer. As if she'd hit something plastic.
Only there wasn't suppose to be anything of the sort positioned in this part of a motorcycle. Least of all an object made out of plastic. Charley dropped the wrench and rolled up her sleeve.
Carefully studying the object, she gave it a firm yank and it got dislocated from wherever it had been stuck. What she pulled out was something she had never seen before.
It was a container. Shaped like a oval and made from black plastic. A line in the middle, giving it the assumption she could twist it. Charley tried and it actually worked. The plastic canister opened and inside she found yet another container. As well as a piece of paper.
The first thing she grabbed was the neatly folded note and she set the container next to her on the floor. Her heart started to pound in her throat and her fingers slightly trembled as she unfolded the paper.
It was like discovering a secret, only Charley had no idea how big it was. Until she saw the hand writing and the name at the top of the letter. Her jaw dropped as her eyes started to tear up.
'To my sister, Charley...'
The Scoreboard
"You do realize it's only a matter of time until the others figure out the ship is already fixed?"
"Hey, it's been three days and nobody as said anything yet. If you keep your big mouth shut it could probably buy us even more time."
The white mouse sighed and dropped down in the pilot seat whilst Stoker rummaged underneath one of the control panels. Aside from Izzy, he was the only one who knew Stoker had finished the repairs on the vessel a few days ago.
Honestly he wasn't really bothered with the fact that he knew about it and the others didn't. What did annoy him, was the possibility of the others finding out that he had been in on it from the beginning.
Even though the older mouse assured him he wasn't going to let that happen, but Vinnie had a terrible poker face. If they were to ask him if he had known, there was a good chance that he wouldn't be able to deny it.
"Has Izzy told Charley yet?" He asked his former coach.
Stoker stopped with whatever he was doing and propped up on his elbow to look at Vinnie. "No. Besides, even if she does, there's no way Charley will allow her to leave."
"Can you blame her?" Vinnie countered calmly. "She's been to Mars. Even if things have changed since then, it's still not a hundred percent safe. Especially for Izzy. She'll be the only human there."
"I know, I know." The hazel mouse crawled away from the panel and stood up.
There was concern in his burgundy eyes. How could there not be? He knew of the possible dangers. Not to mention the opinions some of his brothers and sisters would have back at the base. Not all of them, but there would be some.
An ongoing conflict between his head and his heart. Because logically he knew it made more sense to leave Izzy on Earth instead of taking her to an unknown environment.
But to spent days, weeks, perhaps even months without her, that was something his heart couldn't take. If he hadn't bonded with her, maybe leaving her here for a while would be easier.
What was he saying, of course it wouldn't be. Stoker doubted things would be less complicated even if he hadn't. But there was an established link between them now and he had no intention of breaking it.
The other option would be for him to stay on Earth and let Carbine come and pick up the damn spaceship herself. But that wouldn't work either for obvious reasons and besides, there were still matters for him to take care of on Mars.
It would seem that once again the whole situation was his own fault, as was always the case. At this point in his life, he really did not care about that anymore.
"We've talked about it numerous of times, Vinnie." Stoker told the younger mouse. "I'm not forcing her to something she doesn't want."
"I'm not saying you are, Stoke. But you ain't stopping her either." He retorted.
What Vinnie didn't know, however, was that Stoker had tried to talk her out of it. Even if it was only for a moment. It happened the night Izzy asked him to tell her about Mars. Not the first night, but the night they shared body and mind.
::::::...::::::
Six days ago
"I want you to tell me about Mars."
Mars
There was more to her question and Stoker knew it. Not only based on her expression but also her tone of voice. It was serious, calm and inquisitive. Not just to hear about exciting stories.
She wanted to know everything. The good and the bad. The climate and the environment. The people and its culture.
Stoker had already told her small snippets of a couple of those things before. But this conversation was going to be different. There was a specific reason why she asked him this and he didn't have to be a rocket scientist to understand why.
"What exactly do you want to know, gorgeous?"
She licked her lips. "I have this feeling that you won't be staying here forever?"
The way she said it struck him in his guts. It was a conversation he'd been dreading to have with her and to have it now, right after he'd made love to her, made it even worse. It was a topic he'd purposely avoided because he didn't want to talk, let alone think, about it.
"I honestly wish I didn't have to leave,-" He answered hoarsely as he pulled her closer against him. Izzy nestled her head on his chest.
"But you will, won't you?"
He could only nod and he rested his chin on the top of her head.
"I've noticed that you guys have no trouble being here on Earth." Izzy suddenly continued, changing the topic. "You seem to breathe just as easy as we humans do. Do you think it's the same for us up there? If I am to believe the documentaries they have about Mars, its environment is deadly to us."
The mouse was a bit surprised by her question. Did she not know that Charley had been to their planet? But it was easy enough to explain it to her without bringing up Charley as an example.
"Have you ever wondered why humans haven't discovered anything about us yet?"
Izzy stirred and lifted her head to look at him. He could tell that the answer to his question was no. Stoker moved his hand and placed it against her cheek, gently caressing it with his thumb.
"Don't take this personally, my heart. But we make sure that certain species in the universe are unaware of our existence and that includes humans. And let me tell you, it's not that easy seeing as our planets are so close to each other. Not to mention alike in many ways."
"Alike how?" She asked.
"For example, an Earth day is almost as long as ours, about a 40 minute difference. But our year consists of more days, about 687 days to be exact." He paused and stared at her. "But to answer your question, yes. You can breathe on Mars just like we can breathe here. The gravity is slightly different, but you'll hardly feel it."
Izzy blinked. "What about the temperature? It's suppose to be incredibly cold. Is that why you have fur?"
Stoker didn't mean to laugh, but he couldn't stop himself from emitting a roar of laughter. It was a serious discussion they were having, after all. He found her thought process endearing, more so because it was also proof the Outer Planetary security team did a very good job at keeping the real face of Mars out of sight.
"No. Our fur is not because of the climate on Mars. I guess you can compare it to those sand coloured areas your planet has near the centre of it."
This time Izzy did look surprised. "Mm, remind me to bring a couple of sweaters."
"Bring sweaters?" He repeated. "Izzy,-"
The hazel mouse stopped his stroking and he cocked his head. Had he heard her correctly? He moved more upright in the bed and pushed her back a little bit so he could look more properly at her.
"What are you saying?"
"Nothing. I'm not saying anything. I was just thinking out loud." She threw him a small smile. "Hypothetical thinking."
"No, no, you weren't." Stoker replied. "You can't fool me. Not after tonight. Are you asking me about Mars because you're thinking of,-"
He couldn't say it. He wanted to say it, but the words weren't able to cross his lips. Never would he have expected her to be the one to bring up that subject. He figured something like that would never even cross her mind. Why would it?
"Of course I have thought about." She revealed to him. "Ever since I saw the planet through your memory, I've been wondering what it would be like to,-"
"Izzy,-" He interrupted her. "Mars is not a place of beauty and peace. At least not anymore. One day I hope it will be and my species is working very hard to get there,- But we're not there yet."
"I'm sorry, Stoker. It's just something that has crossed my mind."
She placed her hand against his abdomen and he let out a shuddering breath, relaxing a little. Would it really be so bad if she were to come with him to Mars?
There would be consequences and there was always a chance that a dangerous situation could occur. But if she were to stay at the base or in one of the town caves, it wouldn't be so bad.
Plus, he would be there to take care of her. Show her the places where plants and flowers were regrowing. The spots where tiny springs were forming once again.
And if she would get homesick or feel uncomfortable on Mars, he could simply steal a ship from the hangar and bring her back to Earth. He'd done it before, nobody would be surprised if he did it again.
But there were other things to consider. Bringing a female to Mars, a human one. She would become point of interest and dislike amongst the Martian population. Did he really want that to happen?
It had never happened before. Although people did respond positively to Charley, or so he'd heard. But she'd only been there for a short while. This was incredibly difficult and Stoker really was unsure of what to do.
"I'd be lying if I said it didn't sound like music to my ears. To have you there with me all the time, I'd be the luckiest mouse in the entire galaxy." He paused and pulled her in his lap.
"But I don't think I could do that to you. Everything there will be completely different from what you're used to here. Water at your disposal whenever you want. Shops, restaurants and whatever luxury you can think of. Besides, Charley would kill me."
Izzy watched him quietly as he continued to name a list of reasons why her going to Mars was a bad idea. It was then she realized that the chances of him allowing her to go to Mars, were as slim as him staying on Earth.
She moved her arms and wrapped them around her waist, suddenly feeling very small. The bliss she'd felt earlier now seemed nothing more than a stroke of luck. One last moment of utter happiness since Sam's betrayal and Morden trying to kill her.
"Does that mean that this,- this is it?" Pressing her lips in a tight line she felt the man underneath her move.
Stoker gently stroked her legs for a few seconds before circling his arms around her body. The downside of forming a pair bond was showing itself. Already he could feel the pain of being apart from her. His mate. Even though she was sitting right there on him.
"Never." He told her. "This is not a one time thing, my heart. Only death can take me from you."
The hazel mouse paused and stared into her blue eyes. Dang it all. He was going to make this work, one way or another. He had to.
"We'll find a way..." He whispered before capturing her mouth with his. 'Dear Goddess, show me a way.'
::::::...::::::
There had been many conversations after that. Because, as he had begged to his Goddesses that night, he wasn't going to leave just like that without having found a solution.
Only as the days went by there really were only two solutions. Leave with her or without her. Even now things still were not set in stone. If for whatever reason it became clear that Izzy couldn't go through with it or should Stoker decided she could not come with him, then that was going to be it.
But for now they settled on making preparations for a scenario in which she would be going back with him to Mars.
As for the reason why Vinnie was in on it all, that was because he had confided in Stoker that he was thinking on leaving Earth. Automatically that meant the older mouse had to tell him about the plan he and Izzy had.
Up until now it was still uncertain if Vinnie really was planning on coming to Mars, but the possibility was still there and therefore he had to be in the loop.
Stoker suddenly turned his head towards the end of the spaceship and he slowly got out of his seat. "I believe we've got company."
"Throttle?" Vinnie automatically asked.
The tanned mouse had been at the scoreboard about fifteen minutes ago, but currently he was out on a 'getting dinner for tonight' mission.
Technically Throttle couldn't be back yet, but they weren't expecting anybody else.
"No. It's Izzy."
With that said, the former freedom fighter rushed out of the vessel, leaving a bewildered Vinnie behind.
That was confusing. How did Stoker know the person arriving was Izzy? Vinnie scratched the back of his head. He had noticed some weird changes when it came to his coach and Charley's sister-in-law.
It was difficult to explain, but it were little things. Sometimes it almost seemed as if they were talking with each other, but without words. Or the fact that Stoker always knew when she was nearby, before Vinnie could even smell her.
He couldn't even do that with Charley. His bros he could sense if they were close enough, but nothing beyond that. Just emotions and thoughts bubbling near the surface.
Quickly he went after Stoker into the main area of the scoreboard. At the moment he arrived, Izzy and Modo walked through the door. The sudden appearance of his older bro made Vinnie come to a full stop. Why was he there?
"Hello, Gorgeous." Stoker greeted the woman in front of him sweetly. He picked her up within his arms and nuzzled her neck.
Modo cleared his throat and shifted his eye towards Vinnie. The white mouse gulped. It was obvious Modo was there for a reason and that reason was him.
"Thanks for driving her over, big guy." The hazel mouse set Izzy back down on the ground and patted Modo on his shoulder. "How's Charley doing?"
"Just fine." He replied. "I'm actually here to talk to Vinnie."
He was feeling rather nervous all of a sudden, something he hadn't really felt over the past few days. Sure, he'd felt awkward and guilty but now he was actually feeling anxious. Perhaps even a little bit afraid of what was going to be said during their talk.
"I see." Stoker glanced over his shoulder. "I guess we could leave for a little while?" He turned his eyes to Izzy.
"No, no,- That's alright. We'll go somewhere. Somewhere outside with some fresh air will do. The lake?" Vinnie suddenly spoke up as he made his way over to the three of them.
Modo nodded in agreement. "The lake sounds good."
There was an obvious tension falling over them, even Izzy could sense something was going on. She picked the box she'd brought with her up from the floor. "I guess, I'll go and set this in the ship."
Suddenly she stopped and her eyes widened. "Darnit, I forgot the other bag at the Garage." She locked eyes with Stoker, who seemed to understand what she was talking about.
"No worries, my heart. I'll get it for you." He winked. "You just stay right here. I'll be back within half an hour, tops."
He ushered the other two mice to follow him out of the scoreboard, so they could have their talk and he could go and retrieve the bag Izzy was referring to. Within a minute, three motorcycle engines roared and swiftly faded out into the distance.
The honey haired woman clutched the box closer to her chest. Its contents weren't heavy at all. But they were delicate. Quietly she made her way towards the spaceship to store it somewhere safe.
Thank you all for reading! Hope you enjoyed.
What is in the box? But most importantly...what about the letter Charley found?
Next chapter, Modo and Vinnie have there talk.
Lack of Throttle in this one...but he'll be back soon.