As they settled into their roles of "castaways," Jake dropped the lifeboat's anchor. It didn't hit the bottom but created enough of a drag to keep the lifeboat from really drifting anywhere in the calm water. It was tempting to just rush to land, but they discussed it and decided they would remain where they were for up to a day, unless they were spotted by a vessel, before they used the lifeboat's motor to move them towards landfall, so they could add some real world time away from a bar of soap, and regain the gait of two people that hadn't been walking on solid land for awhile.
Jake took the cup, and started filling it with fresh water and pouring it into the two buckets. He made more than one trip to the door. He estimated they'd have drunk three to four cups a day. The ship sank the 15th, and it was now the 23rd, so he emptied out enough water for it to be believable that it had been drunk by two people over that stretch of days. It still left plenty of water behind. Then he took the heavier food rations, four meals worth, and let them sink into the Gulf of Honduras. Again, since the Entity had "provisioned" the boat for 20 people, there was still plenty of it left over.
Of course, all this was happenstance, and he was doing it only in the event they were picked up before they made it to land on their own. While it was a brilliant recreation, he would rather it not be seen by anyone closely, If it was put next to other recovered lifeboats from the ship, there might be differences that would make people wonder why it was slightly different than the ones that were collected from the actual ship. So his plan was that if they made it close to land themselves, we was just going to sink the damn thing and be done with it.
They sat and talked. There was really nothing else to do on the damn thing, but it was nice to be able to just sit together and get lost in conversation, and calm any fears Amanda had about being in the water once again. Every time the boat bobbed even a little, Amanda tensed, but the more they talked, the more it began to slowly ease. Eventually, the stench of their sweat became too much to bear. Jake fixed the rope coil to a bracket above the door, and lowered himself into the seawater to soak. He dunked his entire body. After he climbed, dripping, back aboard, Amanda, with only minor coaxing, did the same herself. It helped make it appear that they'd been in the water as the seawater stiffened their hair, and, while not making them as clean as a shower, it helped alleviate some of the stench.
"Yeah," Amanda said, "If we ever have to do this again, we're going to fudge on the whole no showers thing."
Jake laughed. "Well, it makes sense now that I think about it. If we were really out here for as long as we're going to lie and say we were, we'd do things like this. Also, I didn't think about the fact that the story hinges on or having been underwater. Our clothes were dry when we got back to the realm, now we've got that extra layer of believability to add to what we tell them."
Amanda gave him a sarcastic look. "Mmmhmmm...I can't help but notice in the story you worked out that you're the one who does all the heroic stuff and are the prime reason for my survival. I'm just the damsel in distress."
Jake returned her sarcastic look. "Well, Amanda Young, if you decide to swear out of interviews because Strahm told you too, it will be easier to do if the media thinks you were just along for the ride, doesn't it?"
And Amanda was silent, and then she smiled and of course she kissed him because he was right. If he did everything to save them, then it would make it easier for him to speak because she wouldn't be required to interject on any heroics of her own. Plus, he'd saved her life before when she was dying and he'd taken her to the realm. Now he could savor some praise for "saving" her a second time.
They spent a couple of hours uneventfully. The longer she was in the lifeboat, the more Amanda felt relaxed. The sea was not coming to kill her like it was before. It was calm, and serene. And of course, Amanda being Amanda, as she forced herself to get over any immediate PTSD she'd developed from the sinking by spending hours on the water that only a little more than a week ago had terrified her...Yes, she started thinking things.
"It's kinda boring," She said, as she laid snuggling against Jake's side on the line of port-side seats. I mean of course we can talk, but it would be nice to have something we could do physically to pass the time." And of course Amanda already had ideas on what they could do...Physically.
"Yeah," Jake nodded. "It's going to be a little boring not being able to move around like we could at the cabin, or somewhere else. But we'll make do. At the most it's only going to be for a day."
"Oh!" Amanda said. She jerked upright, suddenly pretending that she'd just had the idea. "I've got it. I know something that will help kill the time." Jake looked at her questioningly.
So she stood up, stripped naked, and laid on the bottom of the lifeboat and grinned. "Sorry, I'm still a lil stinky, but I think we can soldier through it." The bottom of the boat was not too terribly comfortable, but once he started fucking her, Amanda knew she'd get over any discomfort she felt.
And the tent that pitched in Jake's jeans was visual confirmation that they could indeed soldier through it. He was quickly naked, and then just as quickly, he was on top of her, and inside of her.
So they fucked, slowly and intensely, for an hour before they climaxed, screaming, together. They laid together, sweating, and Jake wondered if their screaming had scared the fish. His mind flashed to the calendar Amanda had opened that had the little turkey icon and as his erection subsided, his mind worried at it until he realized. "Oh my God. Do you know what today is?"
Amanda looked at him questioningly. "This is Thanksgiving, Remember that turkey icon on the calendar? That's what it meant. Jesus, after so many years not really paying a lot of attention to holidays, being in the real world on an ACTUAL holiday is almost a momentous occasion."
Amanda smiled. "Then I guess we should go ahead and eat something, huh?" She got to her feet first, and stood over him, naked. "Leave your clothes off." Amanda winked. So they had a ration, and drank a cup of water. And after they finished, Amanda stretched herself out on the floor again and spread her legs wide. "Would you like some thanksgiving dessert, lover?"
Yes, indeed Jake did. So they fucked passionately again. They languished naked around the lifeboat for a spell before fucking for a third time, and then a fourth time. By this time, Any PTSD Amanda may have felt like she had seemed like a distant memory and she'd have been happy to spend eternity there, floating in the water and fucking. Jake rose to the occasion for a fifth time. They'd been on both ends of the boat, and in a seat on both sides of the boat. This time, Amanda stretched herself out across the seats of the port side as Jake took her. By this time Amanda was on her seventh orgasm, and Jake his fifth.
They had dinner rations and two cups of water each. After a half hour, she stretched across the seats of the starboard side as Jake fucked her to orgasm eight and six for himself.
They were both sore as Hell between their legs, but both were fully fueled in their lust. Two more times brought Amanda's total to 10 orgasms to Jake's eight. It was well dark. They decided to sleep, but not before they painfully fucked twice more, to beat their cabin record, and called the game with Amanda's orgasms totalling 12, and Jake's final tally at 10. Once again, Amanda had gotten two orgasms more than Jake.
Amanda said in the darkness, "I think I'm recovered now. I think if you wanted to take me on another cruise, I could do it. Thank you Dr. Park, your constant injections have healed me." She kissed him as Jake giggled.
Sleep was difficult due to the soreness, but they eventually passed out and woke up in sunlight. Amanda and Jake looked at each other and smiled. He said, "It's time. Prepare yourself, I bet it's gonna be wild." They put on their clothes.
He raised the anchor, and used the compass to guide the motorized lifeboat to land. It had been warm in the lifeboat and their activities of the day before had made them stink again, but they were far too anxious to get to solid ground again and skipped taking another ocean bath. Amanda ran a hand through her crusty hair as she looked out the open door and watched for land while Jake ran the motor and used the compass.
Eventually, they saw something. As they got closer, Amanda saw it was a sandy beach. He stopped the engine and removed one of the emergency hatchets and started chopping holes in the bottom of the lifeboat so seawater began streaming in. Amanda watched the water splash against her toes dispassionately. She felt no fear of it now. Jake started the motor again and moved them closer as the lifeboat continued to sink. There were two large tropical style structures, hexagonal with tin roofs. To the side were wooden tables under homemade umbrellas made with leaves. She shouted at him, "Leave it to you to manage to bring us to landfall right at a fucking beach resort." Then she laughed.
Jake got them close enough to swim for it. He didn't want to beach the lifeboat, and made sure to leave it in deep enough water to completely sink. He made sure the plastic bag around his cell phone and wallet was sealed, and then wrapped the loose portion of the bag around itself. "Go on," he told Amanda. "I'm right behind you." Amanda nodded and gracefully dived into the water. He enjoyed the way her tanned legs closed and straightened themselves out as she used her feet to propel herself into the dive. He widened the holes he'd chopped, and the seawater poured in faster. Then he dropped the axe and dived in after her.
The water tapered off after a while as he swam towards the beach, and soon he was able to walk with his head above water, out of the sea and to the beach. Amanda was waiting for him, dripping. They kissed. And even though they felt like they were standing still, the people who had watched them come out of the water noticed that the couple were swaying as though they'd been away from land for awhile. A handful of tourists sat at the tables, looking at the new arrivals with confusion. Photographs were taken of them by the tourists. The tourists didn't know why they took them, but instinct told them to do so. After all, the couple had appeared from what was obviously a sinking lifeboat.
Based on the compass, this had to be Puerto Cortes. One woman with a British accent approached and asked, "We're with ShoreTrips Tours. Are you with our group?" Without missing a beat, Amanda fired back, "No, ma'am, we're with Economy Tours of Puerto Cortes. Next time, we're going with ShoteTrips, that's for fucking sure." Amanda feigned a shudder. The woman's eyes widened and she moved away.
Jake shook his head, "Jesus, you're quick. And horrible." Amanda's grin in reply was full of sugar.
Another person approached. This person wore black slacks and a dark red polo shirt. Stitched across the right hand side of the chest, it read, "Hotel Costa Azul." The person, obviously staff, said, "English?"
Jake and Amanda both nodded. The person said, "I'm Miguel. From where do you come?"
Jake said, "We were aboard the Ocean Princess."
Miguel paused. He remembered seeing the news reports. He hadn't paid too much attention, but he remembered bits and pieces. But they said that everyone had escaped the sinking vessel, everyone except...His eyes widened. He said, "Parks?"
Jake nodded. He took out the plastic bag from the pocket of his shorts and displayed the New York driver's license in his wallet bearing his name for good measure. Then he introduced Amanda as Miguel excitedly shook their hands. Jake looked out at the sea and saw the Entity's lifeboat disappear in the water. Miguel got very enthusiastic and led the bedraggled-looking couple up to the hotel proper.
Miguel spoke excitedly to the other staff members. "Ocean Princess! The Parks!" The other staff soon were as excited as Miguel. "On the news. Said you were dead. But they were wrong!" He beamed and resumed chatting with the other boisterous staff.
She'd tried to tell herself, even after Jake had done his best to prepare her, that he'd be wrong, and their survival would just be a footnote. But seeing the reaction of the staff in front of them, Amanda fully realized that it was going to be a potentially funky ride keeping her real identity hidden. "Oh fuck," Amanda muttered to him. "We're already famous. And...Yup, still a former known-associate of John Kramer, AKA Jigsaw." She now could truly wonder if, somewhere in Boston, once the news officially broke, that Supervisory Special Agent Peter Strahm would be having a fucking heart attack.
"There's nothing we can do but get through it. We have a plan if we need to use it. And we both know that Strahm will do what he needs to do to keep it in check, because if nothing else, it would have a bit of an effect on his career," Jake said and smiled as Miguel returned. They were offered a place to stay, and since he had his wallet, Jake insisted on paying for it as if they were just vacationing for a night. The hotel had a small boutique, Miguel told them. They would send up some clothing selections for them to choose from so they could get out of the crusty clothes they were wearing.
Miguel eagerly led them to a comfortable room with a green and tan bedspread, a T.V., a chair, and a shower. The members of the excited staff took photos with the couple, keepsakes for the fact that they were the first contact made with that tragic couple that had been reported dead in the news. And then, almost immediately, they began making plans to sell copies to any media they could think of.
After they left, Jake said, "That should be more than ample evidence to prove that we were at sea. You wanna shower?" Amanda nodded tiredly and unwrapped a complimentary bar of soap. She muttered, "Shit. That fancy soap from Miami is somewhere at the bottom of the sea. Easy come, easy go." She stripped and got inside.
Jake's heart was beating rapidly as he dialed his father's private cell phone number. After all, he'd intended to call him after the cruise, and after they'd disappeared for Amanda's "treatment," Jack was under the belief that somehow they'd come back, without saying anything, and then died on a cruise. The news article he read about Jack co-funding a deep sea submersible expedition to find their corpses proved it.
It rang, then rang again. Then it was answered. "What in the name of Hell do you think you're doing using my deceased son's cell phone? How did you even get ahold of it? I swear to God I will see that you are prosecuted to the full extent..."
Jake cut him off. "Dad...It's me. I'm not dead. Neither is Linda. Well, that's how she introduced herself. But she's going by Amanda now."
There was a pause. His father's voice was hoarse. "I watched that video over and over. Your mother couldn't bear it but I managed. I watched you both go in and not come out. Jake...Is it really you? I'm not hallucinating all of this? It's really you?"
"It really is," Jake told his father. Ask me something that only I would know."
There was a pause. "What did you give me on my birthday when you were 10 years old? You were very excited about it."
He thought for a few seconds. "A pair of sterling silver cufflinks that said, I love you, dad."
And that was that. Jackson Park was not a very emotional man, but for 30 seconds, he heard his father shedding tears of relief on the other end of the line.
He told him that after Amanda responded successfully to her experimental Tetanus treatment, Jake had a spur-of-the moment idea to take the Ocean Princess cruise. "She'd never been on a cruise before, and we only had a day to book it and make it and so I was planning on calling you from the ship after a few days to let you know we'd be back in New York for a bit after it was done, and then it all just went to shit, dad."
Jack, still somewhat in awe that both his son and daughter-in-law had beaten odds that would have broken any bookmaker, chuckled. "Yes, that accurately describes it. Of course we were both shocked and grief-stricken when we got that notification. I like the name Amanda better than Linda. At first we were confused when they said you and your wife had been lost, as we knew her as Linda. But then they showed us one of the images they'd taken from the video and we knew that yes, that was the Linda we knew. God, son. How did you do it?"
"A shit ton of luck," Jake lied. "I'll tell you all about it as soon as we get to New York from here. Broad strokes, we almost drowned, then were saved by a raft, and then further saved by a lifeboat. We're at the Hotel Costa Azul in Puerto Cortes."
Amanda had finished her shower and was standing in the bathroom doorway in a cloth robe, toweling her hair. Jake mouthed, 'Dad,' and Amanda nervously nodded. That must be quite a phone call.
Jack said, "I've been in contact with a commander at Soto Cano Naval Base since the sinking. They did a search of the sea...For you...Before I decided to contact the cruise line. First, I'll tell you mother the news, then I'll get in touch with him and see where we go from here. Hopefully we can get you back to New York by tonight. I'm very anxious, and I'm sure your mother will be too, to see you in person again."
They said I love yous and Jake hung up. "I told him you go by Amanda now. Naturally they were a bit confused when they were notified my wife Amanda had died with me."
Amanda felt the situation was spiraling out of control. "FUUUUUUCK. I forgot all about that. What am I gonna do Jake? I mean I wasn't the most famous of Jigsaw apprentices, but I'm sure when Strahm fudged that autopsy report, he didn't do it expecting my fucking face was gonna be splashed all over the fuckin' news."
"We were between a rock and a hard place now that time isn't resetting. Thank God I had cash on me because all my credit cards are probably cancelled by now. I mean if we stayed dead, when we came here on our trips, what would we do? You left the cash at the apartment, you've got a bit of cash from the cruise, but that wouldn't last forever. We don't spend money like it's made of water, but we need it to get places and do things. Even if we abandoned all that, and just tried to hide in the cabin every time we came here, I'm sure dad would have sold the cabin eventually if he believed I wasn't still alive to use it. And I'm no Elvis, but eventually someone would recognize me from somewhere, and then our story would be even further complicated trying to explain why we'd not only survived the sinking, but then hid from everyone, including my family. The story we can tell them from this is a lot easier to swallow than something else."
Jake went over to where she was nervously standing and almost put his arm around her before remembering he still wasn't clean himself. He lightly gave her shoulder a punch instead. "I mean...If it gets too hot, I guess we just have to permanently remain in the realm. But on the plus side, your image from the sinking has been posted with news stories for over a week, and when we looked at the articles, there weren't any that said that Jake Park died with a former apprentice of Jigsaw. No one has made the connection yet. Get in contact with Strahm when we get to New York, and we'll decide from there what we need to do."
She nodded. What he said was true. Amanda Park had been described as dying with her husband, and no further leaps had been made. Jake said, "I really want to hug you, but you're clean and I'm gross. Let me shower and we'll talk more. If dad calls, go ahead and answer."
Amanda blew him a kiss and flopped on the bed. There was a knock at the door and Amanda cased the windows. They were on the second floor, but it would be easy to jump out with their realm leaping abilities in place. She waited about 10 seconds, but no one announced they were police, so reluctantly, she opened it. It was Miguel with an armload of clothes with tags. Another member of the hotel staff had more. He set them on the bed and told her to pick and choose what she wanted, and let Jake know the same.
They didn't have her usual attire, so she settled on a black attire. A loose-fitting top that exposed her navel, bikini bottoms, and a beach skirt, and cozy flip flops which she left off for now. They were at a beach resort, might as well savor the freeing feeling of being barefoot. They brought a variety of bras up and the third one she grabbed and tried on was close to her size, so she pulled the tags from it and slipped it on before putting on the rest of the clothing.
Jake popped out in his own robe, and being a guy, picked a t-shirt, jeans, boxers, and a pair of slip on deck shoes. Jake tabulated the tags and slipped two $100 bills in the front pocket of his new jeans for easier access. They could keep the change.
Jake's father called after he was dressed and the two spoke briefly. He'd made contact with the commander. A Chinook was being dispatched to take them from Puerto Cortes to the Soto Cano base. It would be at the Ramon Villeda Morales Airport at 5 p.m.
So, with time to kill, they took the rest of the clothes back and passed by the front desk. Jake told them they needed to get to the airport by five, and a taxi was scheduled for them. Jake and Amanda were guided to the boutique and returned the other clothes. He gave the surprised cashier the $200 for the clothes and further surprised her when he said to keep the change.
They ate lunch at the hotel, wandered the beach, and walking hand-in-hand romantically under the warm sun as the waves quietly rumbled next to them was just too much. Amanda had needed nookie so they dashed back to their hotel room and crossed off the Hotel Costa Azul from their list of places to make love at. With eternity now on their side, they'd be able to cross many places off that list, she hoped. Enough time had passed since the lifeboat marathon that both achieved climax with no pain. As her body came down from it's pleasure high, Amanda said sarcastically, "Better get it while we can. If the FBI shows up, all we're gonna get is conjugal visits, if that."
Jake rubbed her naked body. "Nah, back to the realm, I told you. And I meant it. The real world doesn't have much for me without you in it. I'll come alone and visit my parents occasionally, then have all the hot sex I want whenever I want with the sexy fugitive I've married waiting for me at the cabin."
She pressed her body into his. He's a good man. No...He's a great man. Christ he's such a great man. You hit the fucking lottery with this one Amanda, because if it came down to it, he'd be giving up a lot, and doing it completely willingly because of how much he loves you.
At 4 p.m., they bade goodbye to the still-excited hotel staff, and promised to return for a lengthy vacation...By plane. The taxi dropped them off at the airport at 4:40 p.m., and by 4:55, one of the large Chinooks they'd last seen during the evacuation landed.
A man with a stride that instantly declared him as military strode forward. He was bald, but his eyes were magnetic. He introduced himself as Commander Nathan Archer. Could they chat in the terminal for a bit? They would refuel before they took off.
So they followed him and were led to a private office in the airport terminal. "First of all, I want to shake your hands," Archer said, and did so, smiling as they smiled back. "That was damn fine bravery you showed back there. I already got to shake the hands of Mr. Shaw, Mr. Rogo, Dr. Bricker, and Ms. McCoy, and I'm glad to get the opportunity to shake yours too."
He paused. "I'm going to start with the question that you're undoubtedly going to be hearing a lot over the coming days, and maybe even weeks...How? The footage has been all over. How did you make it?"
For once, the roles were entirely reversed, Amanda did not do the lying, it was all Jake. Thankfully, he'd discovered enough from watching the video of the sinking to create a story that would sell, and the Entity's fog would help cover any inconsistencies.
"After Amanda fell into the Sunset Bar, and I followed her, it was a goddamned nightmare in there. Things were shaking, we knew we only had minutes, and we were both terrified. Amanda still had the rope around her waist, so once I got to her, I tied her to me. Then the bar started filling with water. We made our way to the starboard windows and I managed to break one and we climbed out. You probably couldn't see us in the fog, but we fought as hard as we could to stay on the surface after the bar went under."
Archer's eyes widened. "Christ, that must have been an absolute nightmare, especially not being able to see more than a little bit around you. How did you avoid the suction?"
Jake said, "We didn't. And we knew we wouldn't. So we took the deepest breaths we could right before it pulled us under. The water was topsy-turvy and we were getting pulled all over but we kept fighting to get to the surface. Then...The first miracle. One of the inflatable rafts dislodged itself, inflated, and rose to the surface, There were ropes hanging from it. It sailed by close enough for me to grab on and I wrapped the rope around my wrist and with Amanda tied to me, it pulled us both close to the surface. It was still rough as Hell up there, but the raft shot above the water I guess, because when it landed back in the water upside-down, it had trapped air in it. There was some sort of rope around the interior, maybe like a belt for the survivors in it to keep themselves in place? Anyway, we pulled ourselves up high enough to put in under our armpits."
He sighed and forced himself to tremble with horror. Amanda had her face in her hands and was expertly shedding the tears she'd learned how to produce thinking of poor, fluffy Jewelsysmooch. "It kept pulling at us, but the lifeboat kept to the surface, and then...It got quiet. Everything seemed to stop. I'm pretty sure I passed out."
Amanda broke in, "I know *I* passed out."
Jake nodded. "It was just pure exhaustion. I mean, when I went after her, I wasn't really believing we were going to get back out." He teared up, and he wasn't faking it. The thought that she was going to die that had filled him in that moment hanging on the harness filled him with the same emotion. "I just...I couldn't leave her to that...Alone. I wouldn't leave her. Not ever. We either made it together or we sank together. After awhile, the bobbing of the water woke me. Amanda was still out, so I woke her. We swam under the life raft, broke the surface and by then, both the helicopters were gone. But thankfully, we found our second miracle. Some of the lifeboats that we'd been unable to lower during the sinking were floating upright. They'd broken free of the davits...So we got into the nearest one, and that's where we were until today."
"Jake had his bearings, thankfully," Amanda contributed. "The lifeboat had a TON of survival gear, but we couldn't get the engine to start, at least not at first. So we took turns paddling towards Honduras, and in between, Jake worked on the motor and finally, we got it to start and were able to cruise the rest of the way in, and it's a good thing too, because it started sinking." Amanda slapped Jake's arm playfully. "Leave it to this guy to take us to a lifeboat that had engine problems."
"Someone up there likes you," Archer grinned. Amanda and Jake both nodded. Then he scowled. "Christ. I watched the sinking footage. I remember those upside down life rafts...I swear to you, if we'd had any idea you were under one of them, we'd have waited."
Jake reassured him. "You couldn't have known. It was two miracles and a fluke that got us out of there alive. And because we passed out before we could wave some sort of signal, there's no way the pilots in either helicopter could have believed for even a second that we'd survived. We made it, the lifeboat had plenty of supplies so even though we were on the water for quite awhile, it wasn't awful. There were only two of us and it was provisioned for 20 people, so we barely made much of a dent."
Amanda nodded and she was so happy that the commander was buying Jake's story completely that she suddenly and excitedly blurted. "And when we got bored, we had sex. And let me tell you. We were BORED. A LOT."
Archer cleared his throat and Jake's face flushed. Archer said, "I can only imagine...You were out there by yourselves...Um...For quite a bit of time...I'll uh...Skip over that in my personal report."
Jake nodded at Archer gratefully and said, "I'd be grateful. But now you understand how I just couldn't leave this incredible woman behind and be without her. She's blunt as Hell and damn if I don't love it."
Archer stood up. "I appreciate you filling in the blanks. If you don't mind, I'll have a release issued to the press that will announce your rescue and the way in which you survived...Minus all the sex." Archer grinned at them both at his joke. Jake's face flushed again while Amanda's lips spread in an evil grin. "That will sate the press, at least for a while, but grease up, They haven't hardly left poor Brian Shaw alone the last couple of weeks."
Amanda said, "We'll grease up. What happens now? How are we going to get back home? After over a week on the sea, I never dreamed that we'd be back home so fast after we were rescued."
Archer told her, "Well thankfully, since the lifeboat was enclosed and you had plenty of rations, you're not visibly suffering from any exposure. One of the hotel employees has a brother that is stationed at Soto Cano, and sent him the photo by text message, so it's already made the rounds. You look in a lot better shape than you did when you were first rescued, that's for sure. I bet that first hot shower was a blessing." They both nodded. "We've got a C-12 Huron that will fly you to JFK in New York from the air base. It'll take about five to six hours. You'll be back in the city by 1 a.m., and of course you already know, Mr. Park, your father is aware and a limo will be waiting."
The pilot of the Chinook poked his head in. They were ready for departure. Archer led them to the door, then turned. "Again, you both did some amazing things on that ship. I'm not sure what the death toll would have been if you hadn't been there, and I don't want to know. You thought of others every step of the way. Shaw praised you up one side and down the other. I know he and the other civilian, Rogo, are going to be pleased to know you both made it."
They all smiled. Amanda and Jake finally got to experience the ride in the Chinook they'd missed the first time. It seemed to move through the air like a rocket. In what seemed like no time at all, the helicopter touched down at Soto Cano and they all got out.
"I just want you to know that if you ever want to come here and sit down with the guys and tell them what you told me, you'd be welcome. I know my pilots are going to be just as happy as those two civilians at the news you both are alive. I'm sure the fellas on the Norwegian Star will be pleased as well. That Vandenberg fella was completely shell-shocked when we informed him you hadn't made it off."
"We'd love to, though I'll probably wear something a little fancier than this," Amanda said, laughing. "Not that I'm bashful but they might be more focused on the bikini than anything I'm telling them."
Archer nodded and laughed. "I look forward to it. Safe travels back, now, and stay off of ships!" With a final handshake, Archer led them to the small plane and they took off into the evening sky back to the U.S.
Amanda settled back in the seat and tugged her feet from the brand-new sandals, tucking a leg under herself. "Jake, I can't fucking believe it. You worked it all out in your head, and everyone bought it. I thought the commander would poke holes in the scenario for sure, and even he bought it. I know I praise you up one side and down the other already, but fuck...You thought this thing entirely on the fly and it's totally convinced everyone we talked to."
Jake smiled, but his tone was a bit wary. "Well, so far so good, but you can bet that we're going to be approached by a bunch of networks. Look at how much Shaw has been quoted in the handful of news articles we read, not to mention that Archer said they keep hassling him for interviews. We're doing great, all we need to do now is stick to the same story every time and hope that if anyone really pays attention, they'll just think you look a lot like Amanda Young."
Amanda's smile faded. "I know you keep saying it, and now Archer has too, But they've already heard the story ad nauseum. I mean, it was a terrifying situation, but it was because we lived it. Nobody died. I mean, it's not a story like, say, the Titanic. Shit ships sink all the time. What makes it so special? Do you really think that a bunch of press people are going to be pounding down our door to have us tell them the same thing they've seen on the videos and, or, heard Shaw already describe?"
Jake smiled at her. "You hit the nail on the head. It's not the Titanic. And most maritime disasters nowadays don't involve tragedy like Titanic did. But still, this is different. The captain abandoning the ship, us passengers and crew working in tandem, The fact that the passengers left behind were mainly Americans, the loss of more than half the lifeboats due to the list, the race against time to airlift, and of course that video footage of the sinking, and us...It's a story that COULD have ended like Titanic, but didn't. And you can bet that a lot of people watched that video and believe we died. The networks are going to be racing to be the first to snag us so they can hear us tell, in our own words, why we didn't. The fact that the story didn't end in tragedy makes it an even hotter story. A story of on-the-fly heroics that all worked to an outcome that saved every life."
He sighed. "And the other fact of the matter is, it's me. You know I'm down to Earth. I spend money freely, but I hardly live any sort of jet-set lifestyle. But again, because I'm the son of Jackson Park, it's going to make my participation in this even bigger news, because I'm sure most people perceive the children of rich people to behave like Paris Hilton. The fact that I didn't, because it's just not who I am, is an anomaly... You married someone that, while not a movie star, is still something of a celebrity. People perceive me without really knowing me as some sort or a spoiled brat, the type that would have offered Shaw money to board a lifeboat at the beginning. The fact that I didn't, and the fact that me, and you, being my wife, put ourselves willingly at the back of the line is going to be incredibly intriguing and they'll want answers." Jake looked at her and joked, "Bet you're wishing you'd snagged someone like Dwight. Would have given you a lot more anonymity."
Amanda grabbed his shirt and pulled him to her face. "Fuck that. You're the only man for me. I can live with notoriety, the only thing that keeps making me nervous is that I'm Amanda Young, and I have notoriety myself, just not the right kind. But...I think the best thing for me to do will be to contact Strahm. I'm sure he's going to soon be aware of it, and can give me some pointers and tell me what to do. If he thinks it's better I stay hidden, then I'll do that. You can do the interviews by yourself, we can just say that I'm too affected by it still to talk about it. Archer might wonder since I spoke so freely to him, but we can say it was different speaking to a guy for an official report and not in front of any cameras." And with her point made, she smiled and stole a kiss before leaning back in her seat and letting go of his shirt.
"Or," Jake said, thoughtfully, "He might tell you to just change your appearance. There are subtle changes you can make that will make you look different enough that at best, people who see you will just think that you look a lot like Amanda Young."
She grinned mischievously. "You just want me in a different hairstyle so you can fantasize you're fucking another woman. It's why husbands buy wives wigs. And...My first name is still the same, you know. I guess I should have held onto Linda for just a little bit longer."
Jake said, "I still think it would be enough. And no, that's not the reason at all. It doesn't matter if your hair is purple, I know every detail of your body, and the only body I want to fuck is yours. The only real fantasy I have of you is as a femme fatale, and based on your history, I don't need you to dye your hair to enjoy that fantasy occasionally, I can just fuck you as you are."
Amanda smiled sweetly and kissed him. "A fucking men." She pressed herself against him and they idly chatted for the rest of the flight to New York City.
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The phone next to Brian Shaw's bed woke him. He glanced at it maliciously in the darkness. Probably another bloody reporter. He let it ring. Pamela shifted beside him but made no other movement. After seven rings, it quit. He settled back and tried to slip back into sleep.
It rang again. He looked at the bedside clock. It was 2 bloody 30 in the morning. Whoever it was appeared to be determined to bother him until he picked up. He snagged it on the fourth ring and said gruffly, "Do you have ANY idea what bloody time it..."
Another voice, gruff as well and tinged with a Bronx accent said, "They're alive. I can't goddamn believe it, Brian, but it's true."
Shaw was still sleep fogged. But he recognized the voice on the other end of the line as Rogo's. He said, "What? Who's alive?"
"The kids, the Parks, Brian. I just seen it in the local newscast. There was some sorta blurb press release from Soto Cano," Rogo said excitedly. "They made it. Said they were under a life raft that broke free, and then they managed to get to one a tha lifeboats that broke loose when it sank. They been paddlin' to Puerto Cortes since the sinkin' cause the engine was screwy, and then they got it started today and made it tha rest a tha way in. That damn ship didn't kill 'em, they got out alive."
Shaw felt a few happy tears stream from his cheeks. Rogo said, "I know it's gotta be late there. I'll call ya back later in tha day. But I saw that and I had ta let ya know." Rogo's voice choked in emotion. "They made it. Thank God, they made it."
Shaw thanked him and got out of bed. He went to the living room chair and turned on BBC World News, unable to go back to sleep. He watched it for over 45 minutes before the newscaster touched on the Ocean Princess saga and revealed that Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras had released a statement that the two passengers believed lost with the ship had been discovered after drifting for close to two weeks in the Gulf of Honduras, first being pulled from the suction by an overturned life raft that sheltered them until the ship entirely sank, before later making their way to the coast of Puerto Cortes after commandeering a drifting lifeboat.
Pamela finally came padding out of the bedroom. "Brian? Are you okay?"
He smiled. "Better than okay. They survived. The American couple. Not only am I thrilled and relieved that they're alive, but I'm thrilled and relieved that maybe our bloody phone will stop ringing off the hook so bloody much because now they've got THEM to bother."
Pamela kissed his cheek and laughed.
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The little plane touched down at 1:04 a.m. at JFK airport. Immediately, they regretted their wardrobe choices as they remembered it would be once again cold. And it was. Amanda dashed to the terminal in her beach wear feeling like she was streaking across the Antarctic. Jake's t-shirt and jeans weren't much better.
Thankfully, it was warm in the terminal, and sure enough, after they walked the distance to the terminal's main entrance, there was a limousine parked outside of JFK that was also warm when Amanda and Jake sprinted to it through the cold. He wrapped her in his arms until she stopped shivering, and then they snuggled quietly, feeling tired, until the limo moved to the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
On 63rd street, the limo stopped at a Neo-Georgian mansion, in the lights, Amanda could make out the brick and marble façade of the elder Parks 10 bedroom, 15 bath, 15,875 square-foot mansion. Jake opened the door and got out and Amanda quickly followed. They were both shivering again completely by the time they got inside of the mansion's door.
And there were Jackson and Sylvia Park, waiting for them. There was a long silence. Both of Jake's parents seemed to be disbelieving that the pair of them were really real. Then they swarmed them, crying and hugging them. Amanda and Jake hugged them back tearfully.
After they parted Sylvia said, "We have so many questions but...Tomorrow morning, right? We're old and exhausted, and if we're tired, I can't imagine how tired you are after being on that lifeboat and having two flights. We love you both and thank God you're alive. Jake, we have everything prepared in your old bedroom for you, and we sent Giles to your apartment to get some of your clothes and things. We didn't figure you would mind, and based on your current attire, it's obvious you weren't prepared to go from sunny Central America to freezing New York. Let's all go to bed and we'll chat over a lovely breakfast in the morning."
They both nodded. Amanda WAS tired, she felt like she could throw herself on the pillow and be out like a light. And she'd gotten a daily dose of sex so she'd be able to survive until the morning. Maybe that was their price of immortality. In order to stay perfect and youthful, they were now sex vampires. She felt like she was. She couldn't remember any other time in her life where she felt like she had to be fucked at least once a day or she'd wither away. Hell, she'd fucked Jake until they were sore on that lifeboat, and still was horny enough for him to want him to fuck her again at the hotel this afternoon.
They were either sex vampires or it was just a side effect of the realm. One or the other. She'd spent three years never feeling horny as a killer in the realm. Then she'd met Jake and he'd been sweet to her and her libido came screaming into overdrive and she could not think of any clear time in the last 23 years of their being a couple when she hadn't needed to be laid by him at least once a day. Sometimes it seemed like even once a day wasn't enough, but she made it work.
With one more hug, the happy younger Parks departed from the happy older Parks. After they got to Jake's elegant and stately former bedroom, Amanda went to the closet and snuck a peek and saw that it had about a week's worth of warm outfits for them all hung neatly on the hangers. It was odd imagining Giles, the Park's live-in butler, raiding her underwear drawer, but it was better than doing without and as long as he only stole the pairs she didn't like to keep as mementos...She supposed she could live with it. Every time she was in this bedroom she felt like she was in a fancy hotel and had to force herself not to look for Andes mints on the pillows.
They stripped to their underwear and got into Jake's mammoth bed. Regrettably, their bodies were exhausted but their minds wouldn't shut down quite yet. After she was under the warm comforter Amanda was surprised that her body was too physically tired to even think about spreading her legs right now.
As they laid in the darkness, Amanda came to a decision. It was a necessity now, because eventually, all the bullshit in the world wouldn't suffice as an explanation. "We need to tell them."
Jake muttered quietly in the dark, "Tell who what?"
"Your parents. About the realm. Not everything, but enough." Amanda curled onto her side, facing him. "We don't have to tell them I'm cured. We only have to tell them that if I'm not back there in two weeks, I'm dead, and that's why we can't stay longer than that. They never have to know it's because we love the idea of being able to be young and fuck forever."
"Shit," Jake said. The idea of sharing the details of a place as unbelievable as the realm with his parents...He was beginning to see a little logic to it, but still, he just wasn't sure. "I don't know, Amanda. What makes you think that's the best idea?"
She quietly reminded him, "Because things aren't going to reset. It's not groundhog day anymore, like we thought. Your parents are going to lose us in two weeks from now, and for the first few times, they'll buy our bullshit. But as it happens more and more, they're going to go on wondering what we're doing and where we keep going. They're not going to forget over and over now. They'll keep going in reality, and while we now know that time will reset to when we leave here and go to the realm, they're still going to have two weeks of memories and of us leaving after we return again. They're still going to remember now that we keep disappearing and reappearing and I just...Fuck...I'm scared to tell them about it too. I mean you basically chose me over them and everything you have here. When you took me back, you had no idea the Entity would be so generous in letting us have free reign to enter and exit the realm for as much, and as often, as we want. You did it after it threatened you that it may not let us ever leave again. That's my only fear, but it's a big one. That they'll resent me for taking you from them."
"That's not going to happen, honey, that's what marriage is. You get married, you move away, and occasionally you see your parents but sometimes you move to an entirely different city, or state and start a family of your own and you don't see them as much. I mean if I'd married Blair, she wanted us to move to California. She wanted out of New York City. She hated experiencing the winter and wanted to be in a place where the lowest the temperature got was maybe in the high 50s."
"It's still not the same," Amanda told him. "Your father is rich. Even if you had lived in California, or if we'd moved to that Ohio cabin, your father, and by default, you, have resources far beyond the normal, and if we were in the real world, we could easily be flying to New York every weekend to see them, unlike a normal married couple that has a fixed income. Yes, you're right, that is what a marriage is sometimes, but the wealth and status of your family makes it quite different...And you being in the realm means that if you dad had designs to make you CEO in his will...That'll never happen unless you stay here, age, and die. And...We're still gonna be 28 and 36 when they're both 90. You know what I mean? We're practically Highlanders now, we just don't have to swordfight."
Jake turned his head in her rirection. "Jesus. Amanda making a pop culture reference from a film more than 10 years old? It's a good thing I'm laying down, otherwise I'd have fallen on the floor."
Amanda tickled his side. "Fuck you. I've watched movies. I just watch movies that are GOOD. And in his prime, Christopher Lambert was attractive. And that voice of his. What is it with guys and accents. Him, Brian Shaw's Welsh accent...Such a perk."
Jake put on his best Sean Connery and said, Well then, we'll tell them that we'll be able to turn back the clock." Amanda was laughing so hard at it that he gave up on Connery and spoke in his normal voice as she snorted. "I mean that's the unique position the realm puts us in, to the positive. They'll go on, but when we come back, we'll pick things up right where we left off. We'll have centuries with them, in two-week intervals. That's better than just seeing them for Thanksgiving and Christmas."
"I suppose so." She said. They fell silent for a while. "You really need to work on that Connery," Amanda said in the darkness. He tickled her back and she surrendered. Last time she'd ever make fun of his Connery impersonation.
He wondered for a while quietly how they would even convince them. He asked her if she had any ideas on what they could do to provide proof to the story so they didn't sound like they'd banged their heads before they got off the ship and waited for her reply. And waited. And waited. And then he heard the light sounds of her snoring and smiled. He wrapped his arm around her and laid his head back on the pillow and soon he joined her in snoring himself.