Kerry returned with her tail between her legs along side an equally beaten up David, Sydney and Ptonomy.
"That asshole beat us again. I don't understand. I thought I would never say this but muscle wasn't enough. Nothing's ever enough against Farouk.
I am angry. Angry, I am used to. But, I am confused. I can't control the outcome. And I don't like it," Kerry said as Cary cleaned her wounds.
"It would be unlike you, unlike us if you did. That's a nasty shiner," he said quietly thinking how anyone could hurt such a beautiful face.
"It's never been easy to be us. But, things are simple when I kick ass then they go bye-bye then I return to you."
"I will always be there. Until the day until I am not."
"Don't talk like that. You are not going to die. I will double tap death first. He can have anyone but you," Kerry said with fiery conviction of politician during his last desperate debate before the election.
He looked touched and he replied, "Not you either. You got to be more careful out there. You are flesh and blood. I think you forget that sometimes."
"Lucky, I got you to remind me, huh?" She said almost smiling.
He put his forehead against hers.
"I mean it. Be more careful," he said softly.
"Careful. What's that?"
Then she did something truly unexpected. The most dangerous thing she had ever done.
She grabbed both sides of his face and planted one right on his lips sucking the bottom one before simply walking into him and disappearing.
He stood there stunned as he absorbed her wounds and bruises.
"Kerry, what the fresh hell was that? Kerry?" He responded, all but ignoring the pain he was now in. Her lips overrode it.
She didn't respond.
Instead of focusing on his gadgets and tech, he spent a good part of the evening trying to force her out or the very least make her respond. No dice.
Over the course of the next three days, Cary was distracted. A very precarious thing to be in the time of Amahl Farouk.
All his projects were suffering. If not for the Vermilion, the lab would have ground to a complete halt.
Melanie who managed to be sober for the first time in a month came into the lab.
"Hi. How are you?" Melanie asked.
"I have been better," he said soldering some contraption and making it a point not to look at her.
"Is Kerry around?" She asked as nonchalantly as possible.
"No. She's been silent for a couple days now. What do you want of her?"
"Company. Today is always hard. Having a younger woman around helps. Plus, she is a good listener. Sydney is depressing. Like I need to be more upset. She reminds me of her. Kerry, I mean."
"She does. Today is hard. She'd be twenty-"
"Four. I know. So, can you get her to come out? Please. I don't ask much of anyone. Especially you."
Before he could respond, Kerry popped out.
She greeted Melanie with a smile.
She liked her enough. She remembers liking Oliver more.
"Want company?" She asked.
Melanie nodded with tears in her eyes.
Kerry offered her arm. Melanie accepted.
She patently ignored Cary. She was not ready to receive his rejection.
Cary mumbled out something he could barely comprehend to them.
The two women almost skipped out of there. Leaving poor Cary alone.
He wept in his grief.
The number three Vermilion had a soft spot for him.
She patted his shoulder.
She said in singsong, "Don't you worry. There's a ninety- three percent chance things will go the way you have always secretly hoped they would with you and the female you."
He rolled his eyes and shook the hand off.
Cary didn't want comfort. He wanted what he had lost, he wanted Kerry.
A day later.
It was around dinner time on a Sunday afternoon.
Instead of eating, Cary was trying out a new weapon that could potentially vaporize or stun an Omega mutant depending if he could get the frequency right- when Kerry decided to show herself.
She bolted.
Cary dropped everything and followed her.
"Kerry! Kerry, slow down. Let's go to our room and talk," he pled.
She shook her head no as her long jet black hair looked like billowing clouds of smoke or ink in water; that how fast she was running.
In great shape for his age but still fifty-six nonetheless, he could scarcely keep up with twenty-one year old her.
Once he did, he took a moment to catch his breath.
She took the opportunity to speak.
"I was going through something the other day. I am better now. So, we can put this behind us. Like I know you want to."
He had made his way up the stairs where she was.
She reiterated, "Like I said we can put this behind us."
He got up on her. This raised no alarm bells. After all, she lived inside him.
He grabbed the back of her head and kissed her deeply.
This wasn't expected.
Still, she kissed him back.
Cary was as shocked as she was.
He hadn't planned on reacting this way. He had this whole speech against it that he had practiced in his head.
Upon seeing her deep brown walnut shaped, mischievous peepers his plans went out the window.
She pulled back from him.
"Goddamnit, Cary, you are supposed to be the one who is all sensible and shit," Kerry stomped before she pushed him against the wall and preceded to kiss him back.
True to form, she liked being the aggressor.
They parted after a minute or so.
He asked, "Now what?"
"You're asking me?" Kerry scoffed.
"I thought maybe you had a plan. Since you kissed me first."
"I just needed something real after Farouk's smoke and mirrors. And for me, that's you."
He said nothing. He took off his glasses and blushed.
They then sat down Indian style at the same time then rested their chins on their fists like they did when she was still a kid watching the Banana Splits.
He was in his early thirties then. He was always willing to do anything for her.
It took Kerry ten minutes to break the silence.
"We should go to our room and take off all our clothing and see what happens from there," she was so a matter of fact that it was frightening.
Cary shook his head and said, "No. We owe ourselves more than that. We should go the traditional route."
"What's that mean? Missionary? Oral? I have always wanted to try that. I bet you got a big one."
He turned beet red and said, "Well, it's certainly not little and no, woman-child. I am talking about a date."
"Out in public? Around people? You want me to eat?" She turnt her nose up at the thought.
"Like normal people."
"We are not normal people. I still say we should get butt, booty, naked and see what happens."
"That's a tempting offer. But, I think more of you than that."
"All righty then. Where? When? You plan it. Its your idea. As a matter of fact. Surprise me," she returned to him.
He knew he could not drop everything no matter how much apart of him wanted to.
He also knew he had to be secretive. This endeavor was nobody's business but theirs. For now anyway.
So, over course of the next few days, he found a French- Indian fusion restaurant so she could eat with her hands without embarrassment.
It was a good two miles away.
He found her little black dress and three inch heels. He hid them in their room.
That Wednesday, he made up some excuse to leave with a suitcase.
Melanie, David, Ptomeny and Sydney was much too involved in her own pain to care while Clark suspected something was up.
He saw them running in the hall the other day. And was stealthy enough to eavesdrop on enough of their conversation that he heard her first speech.
In the cafeteria sitting across the way from Sydney, Clark asked nonchalantly, "Do you think they fuck?"
"Who?" Sydney asked.
"The Loudermilks."
"Eww. No. Why would they? Age difference. They are siblings."
"No. They are not. Its deeper than that. They're the same. But different. So, it wouldn't be incest as such. More like an elaborate form of masturbation. They're basically small g gods. You all are. Who else are you all going to fuck but each other?"
Sydney stood up and said, "You are a crass piece of shit."
"You didn't say I was wrong!" He exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Cary instructed Kerry to come out.
"Where are we? This a motel room? Decided to go with the get naked plan? It is solid."
Cary laughed, "No. It is a by the hour place. Just somewhere to get dressed. As you can see I already have," he had on a smart black Hugo Boss suit sans tie with a couple buttons open.
A year or so ago with the help of Oliver, he was living in her when he saw her lustfilly admiring a man in an ad who was similarly dressed. He was surprised how jealous it made him feel.
She wanted to say he looked handsome but refrained. She gave him a quirky little half smile and headed to the bathroom to dress.
She came back out an hour later in a pout.
"I look like Breakfast at Tiffany's. I can't fuck bitches up in this," she said of her black halter dress with a lace overlay with a fitted belt.
"I once saw you kill three bikers in nothing but a towel. And besides that's why I choose black opaque tights. Can't see your lady parts if you want to kick."
She pointed at her temple as if to say good thinking.
Kerry then said, "Come on, old man. Let's go."
Soon they were there.
"Not bad. Loud but not bad," she determined to play it hard.
He knew this about her and decided not to be insulted. He appreciated it and laughed.
They were led to a nice table close to the middle.
"You order. Indian food is spicy and French food is rich, right?" Kerry asked.
"Once you get past the heat. It's flavorful."
"I like it spicy. Remember that time I ate a whole jar of jalapenos?"
"My behind still has the scar tissue."
"Sorry," she said.
He waved his hand as if to say it's no big deal.
"You do more for me than I do for you."
"Don't talk like that. It's not a contest. We take care of each other. You hear me?" He clutched her hand.
She nodded.
They continued talking back and forth about nothing really.
When he was in the midst of pontificating about lasers, she noticed a healthy amount of people staring at them.
One older redhaired lady in particular with blatantly pointing at them as she talked to her friend.
"Excuse me, Cary. I got a bitch to go curse out."
She got up before he could object.
"Hey you. Why are staring at us? Are we entertaining you?" Kerry asked folding her arms.
The woman let out a wry laugh and said, "I think its sad. And cynical for a man his age to be out courting a child. He's, what, sixty? How old are you? Twenty? It's pathetic."
Cary overheard.
"What's pathetic is the fact your life is so devoid of purpose and meaning that you and your vapid friends feel the grade school need to put down, stare and judge two fellow human beings that you know nothing about. I have you know she's actually older than me."
The women gave him a funny face.
"Let me guess, she's an old soul."
"You say that like it is an insult but she is. You however are clearly not. I am a here to tell you she was more woman than you on the day she was born than you are right now at this moment. She only messes with people that deserve it. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Come on, Kerry." He said grabbing her by the hand and leading her away.
"Let's sit at the bar. Looking at that bitch's face makes me lose my appetite," she said.
He agreed.
About an hour passed.
Deep in conversation and a little drunk, Cary took off his glasses and asked Kerry, "What color are my eyes?"
"Duh. Blue. Now do me." She covered her eyes.
"Marvelously dark brown doe eyes that slant upwards."
She blushed and swatted at him.
"My favorite color," he said.
"It's a tie between brown and stripes of any type," she said.
He laughed and said, "Yeah. Yours is blue. Especially royal blue."
"Yeah. My two favorite songs."
"Shit List by L7 and The Choice is Yours by Black Sheep. Me."
"Mr. Bojangles by Sammy Davis, Jr. And Dream A Little Of Me. The Mamas and the Papas version. And Istanbul by They Might Be Giants."
"Favorite tv show," Cary said.
Then they both said in unison, "Anything Hanna Barbera."
Cary said, "So much better than Looney Tunes and-"
Kerry said along with him, "Merry Melodies."
"Yep," she paused and said,
"This is fun."
"It is. I wonder why we have never done this before?" Cary asked.
"Stupid with a capital dumb," she replied.
"Uh-oh. I will be right back," he said feeling the urge to urinate.
"You and your tiny bladder," she mocked pouting.
"Maybe because I am always going for two," he said in a weird flirtatious tone before kissing her, lightly biting her bottom lip before he released her.
She watched him walk away in almost a slow clap. She knew he had an elegance about him that she never really let herself dwell on.
"He is sexy, girl," said one of the two female bartenders.
"I know, right?" Kerry said having all types of dirty thoughts that she hadn't entertained in years.
When he was in his twenties and thirties- she had a hideous crush on him but she let it die because at the time she still looked like a prepubescent girl. She barely even had breasts.
"He is hot as fuck for an older guy. Where did you meet him?" Asked the other bartender.
"Work."
"What type of work?" She asked.
"I work in security in the same building as him. He is a scientist. Real cerebral. He is crazy smart."
"Well, shit, girl. Sign me up. Are all the men there that attractive?"
Kerry thought about it and said, "For the most part."
"Oh. Really?" The first bartender didn't believe her.
"Yes."
The first bartender leaned in and asked, "Tell me the truth."
"I did. What are you implying, Karen?" She read her name tag.
The other bartender said, "Drop it, Kay."
"Butt out, Lindy.
Is your story some type of role play kink? A pretty little Mexican princess like you working security? A guy that debonair, a scientist? Come on. Was it a personal ad? The Internet?"
Insulted but keeping her composure, "First of all, already told you. Secondly, I am Sioux. Not Mexican. Why would you even think something like that about me? About us?"
Feeling emboldened for whatever reason and overidentifying because her boyfriend left of ten years dumped her, she replied, "Usually when a man like him and a girl like you-"
"Woman. I am a woman."
"A woman like you come in here, its nearly always illicit. He probably has a frumpy, neglected housewife somewhere and he's out looking for a good time."
"Did you see a ring on his finger?"
"He could have taken it off for all I know. Just don't pretend this is some innocent thing. I am tired of seeing it. Women like you should be ashamed.
What, are you an escort?"
A couple minutes later, Cary was washing his hands when Kerry rushed in with bloody hands and jumped inside with such force she knocked him down.
"She' s in there," he overheard outside.
He asked her, "What did you do, dear heart?"
Internally, she replied, "I will tell you later. I will say this. She earned that broken nose and cracked teeth."
Cary face palmed as the door swung open and he was the very face of composure about what happened next.
"Where's Pocahontas? I know I saw her red skin ass run in here," The guard asked derogatorily.
"Excuse you?" Cary asked feeling angry.
"Your little-"
"Call her out her name again and see what happens," he said menacingly.
Then Cary continued, "Do you see anyone in here other than me? No you do not."
"Sir-"
"Goddamn, right sir. I am leaving. Good day."
Cary pushed pass the security guard and walked straight to the front door noticing the bleeding bartender on his way out.
She yelled, "Hey, someone stop that fucker and find his whore!"
Cary then took off running. He pulled his car key out unlock the door with a click, hopped in and sped off as fast as he could.
He drove for about an hour, clear past where they lived to make sure they escaped their clutches. Kerry was silent but he could feel her seething.
He pulled over and exited. This was Kerry's cue to pop out.
"Kerry, what the actual f-u-c-k happened back there? I have never known you to run from a fight. Why did you mess that lady up?"
"Because she was a right nasty racist bitch. And I wasn't running away. I remembered she was a civilian. I don't murder civilians. I was using restraint."
"Okay. Fair enough. What did she say to you?"
"She commented on your attractiveness. Then the nice one asked how did we meet. I told them we work in the same building. I am in security and you a scientist. Which isn't a lie. I told her the truth.
She didn't believe me. She basically called me a pro and you a john. She simply couldn't wrap her head around the fact that an older attractive white guy would be seriously interested in Indigenous pretty me. She accused me of being an escort.
No way she would have spoke to Syd like that. No fucking way. She would have congratulated her."
"I am so sorry that happened to you. She was jealous. Pure and simple."
"Maybe. Two different people insulted us this evening. Two. We've been out in public together before and people usually don't act so prejudiced. Maybe it's a sign. Maybe we should just stay what we are to each other. I never should have kissed you."
He put his hands on her shoulders, "Don't talk like that. That was one of best things that ever happened to me. If not the best."
"You're just saying that."
"I have a confession. I have. I have been, uh. I have been in love with you since we were eight and I thought you were a figment of my imagination playing with my trains. I was just a lonely, fatherless and friendless, awkward white kid existing on a reservation until you.
I always thought you were too good for me. That you could never feel that way about me. So, I preoccupied myself with other things. Especially when I grew and you didn't.
So when you kissed me. I knew wasn't alone in how I felt. I want to see where this goes," he wrapped his arms around her and asked,
"Don't you?"
She nodded.
He lift her head up by the chin and kissed her.
They spoke for a little while longer until the sun came up in fact.
They were all hugged up in the backseat.
"I love the way you look in the sunlight," he said playing with her hair.
"It's a beautiful sunrise. All yellow and pink. Kinda sounds like you."
"You know what? We ought to play hooky. Have them worry about us for a change," Cary said daydreaming about all the things her wanted to do with her.
"Our friends lean toward being self obsessed. I doubt they even notice we are gone. But, playing hooky sounds nice."
He paused and conceded, "Ready to go back?"
"Yeah."
But before that they kissed again then she retreated inside him and he drove back to Division 3.