DISCLAIMER: I don't own Early Edition or any of its characters. I just like to torture them. Please don't sue.
Authoress's Note: Even though each of my fics can be read and enjoyed seperately, I do try to keep a loose continuity between them. Also I'd hate to think someone missed something, or that I'd confused someone, and I really don't want to get introuble with the FFN, so I switched to chaptering. Let's face it. These are just minor little ficcies that run something like comics in the paper. Each one has a mini-plot and they all tie together--but there's no real end. (Although with some of the reviews I've been getting that will make some peeps really happy :-) ) At any rate, I don't intend to stop anytime soon, and (until further notice) anything I post under Early Edition that is not a chapter to this DOES NOT FALL IN CONTINUITY with it.
Please bear with me if the chapters take a lttle longer for a while as I am visiting relatives and having to use their computer temporarily.
Whew, that was long! Now, ON WITH THE FICCY!
Gary smiled and stretched. His day was over and he was happy. He and Sora had gone on a date, and she had just left.
He might have fallen asleep on the couch except for the fact that his phone rang. "Hello?"
"Gary! Gary-my-man, how are ya?"
"Chuck? Hey, how's it going?"
"No, no, I want to hear about you first. A little birdie told me something was going on in your life..."
"Well, actually, yeah. I met Lucius Snow's best friend..."
"No, no, no. I talked to Marissa and she told me all about him, but she also told me that you have got yourself a girl..."
"Oh." Gary paused. "Yeah, I do..."
"Do I know her?"
"Quite well, actually...Sora."
There was a moment of silence. "You? And *Sora*? It's about time! Good going, Gar!"
"Thank you. I'm sure she'll be glad you approve. Anyway, how are you and Jade?"
"I'm okay, and Jade is more wonderful than ever...hey, buddy, what's the going rate at the Hilton?"
"How would I know? Why? You don't...Chuck, are you coming to Chicago?" Gary demanded.
"I'll be bringing Jade and arriving Saturday."
"That's two days from now! Well, all right, Chuck...I'll clean up the apartment and fix up the hide-a-bed for you..."
"Have you forgotten that I'm married now? I think we'll need a *bit*
more privacy than your place can give us..."
"Oh. Um. Yeah." Gary paused. "But the nearest hotel is a ten-minute
drive. You don't want to spend all that on taxis..."
"Have you forgotten, also, about car rentals?"
"No, I remember, but you won't be real close that way...hey, Sora has an extra bedroom and she's just down the street, five-minute walk, she'll put you up..."
"Can she cook?"
"Well...she's no chef, but she can keep you fed..."
"Great. Call her and I'll call you back in ten minutes."
Gary called her and got the green light and then it was only a few
moments before Chuck called back.
"She said that'd be fine, Chuck."
"Great! We'll rent a car and be at McGinty's around two on Saturday."
"How long can you stay?"
"Indefinitely. It won't be more than two weeks...you know how it
goes, I'm in showbiz now."
Gary laughed. "See ya there," he said and hung up on Chuck for old
time's sake.
Sora came to McGinty's on Saturday and ordered her usual Dr. Pepper
and sat with Gary in one of the booths while waiting for Chuck and Jade.
Chuck she knew, but Jade she had not had the chance to meet.
"So, what's she like, Gary?"
"Well, Jade...she's...I know her about as well as you do, Sora. We've only met twice, and once she was disguised as a total ditz. I do know she's smart, though. She's an ex-international jewel thief."
"Whoa. Big biz, eh?"
"She made a small fortune."
Sora shook her head. "And she gave it up for Chuck?"
Gary simply nodded.
"And he *wanted* to marry a known felon?"
"Well, it sure wasn't a forced marriage. They're happy now. When he
calls he talks about nothing but her."
Sora sipped her Dr. Pepper wonderingly. "Wow." Of course this was
making thoughts of settling down run through her head. If a marriage made
after only having known each other a few weeks could work, why not her and Gary? Of course she did not voice this opinion, she didn't want to push
him. "When are they getting here?"
"Two o'clock. Another ten minutes, give or take."
"It'll be so nice to see Chuck. It's been a while."
"I said we have about ten minutes..."
"Huh? Ohh..." Sora breathed as Gary kissed her. "Chuck isn't even here and he's already rubbing off on you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"He has quite the mischievous nature, does he not?"
Gary laughed a little, and just as they were about to kiss again their guests arrived.
Chuck was already happy to be home. "Gary! Sora! Hey, are we
interrupting something?"
Gary got up. "Well, actually yes, but it's nothing that can't wait at least a few minutes..." he slapped Chuck on the back. "And how are you, Jade?" he asked.
"I'm fine...I don't care for flying, though," she said, patting her stomach. Sora was surprised to catch a slight accent in Jade's voice, Austrailian was her first guess.
"It's kind of weird..." Chuck said, "It never bothered her before." Jade elbowed him lightly. "And Jade, this is Gary's girlfriend, Sora," Chuck
introduced her. "They're high school sweethearts gotten back together."
"Pleased to meet you, Sora."
"You too, Jade. I'd like to say I've heard a lot about you, but I haven't."
"It's just as well...even if Gary *could* say a lot about me, with my past, you don't want to know."
Sora laughed. "It can't be that bad...what say we all sit and chat?"
They agreed to this and returned to the booth that Gary and Sora had
been occupying.
"Can I get you anything, guys?" Gary said.
"Nah, I ate on the plane, and I think Jade here would prefer to let her stomach settle..." Chuck said, a bit concerned.
Jade nodded ruefully, so Gary sat. "Marissa said she's sorry she couldn't be here, but she had a business engagement."
"Oh well...from what I hear, we'll be dining at her house tonight."
"Yeah. She wanted to make up for not being here," Sora told them. "So you're spared eating my food for one night longer."
Gary smiled. "It's not that bad, I assure you. I've eaten it."
"I'm not picky," Jade said. "I'll eat nearly anything to keep from being hungry."
They chatted a few more minutes. Then Chuck and Jade took their bags to Sora's house and settled in.
Time went by in a whirlwind, at least for Gary, who had handed off more to Bernard--Lucius Snow's friend--than he would've liked. Chuck and Jade got to meet Bernard, and Jade got to see the sights in Chicago--which she hadn't had a chance to do when she'd come before.
Before Gary knew it, it was Saturday again.
He went about his usual stuff, changing the paper, preventing catastrophes. At around two o'clock he came to the last thing that needed changing.
"Guy gets hit by semi. 1:42 p.m. Pronounced dead on the scene."
Gary had plenty of time to get there, so he hopped a cab over to the place.
Saving the guy was easy. He got out of the cab a few blocks up and approached the man. "Excuse me, sir...I, I seem to have forgotten my wallet, can you spare a quarter for a phone call?"
"Sure, buddy," the man said and gave him the change as the semi barreled by.
The man walked off and so did Gary.
Gary walked into his apartment and dropped the paper onto the kitchen table as he perched himself on the barstool.
The Cat leapt up onto the table and promptly sat on the paper.
Gary sighed. When the Cat called the paper to his attention it usually meant he'd missed something or something had changed without his knowing. "I can't read *through* you, Cat."
The Cat meowed and jumped back down on off the table, returning to his kitty kibble.
The headline had drastically changed.
"LOS ANGELES TOURIST KILLED IN BOTCHED ROBBERY", and in smaller letters beneath it, "Newly liberated felon charged with murder"
Gary scanned the article. The robber was the same guy he'd just rescued, obviously, or it wouldn't have changed.
*But the victim was Jade!*
Chuck muted his ball game and answered the phone. "Hello. Sora's not here but I can take a message."
"Chuck! It doesn't matter, I wanted to talk to you anyway. Listen, where are Sora and Jade? They're together, aren't they?"
"Yeah. Sora took Jade shopping because she claims she knows where all the best buys are."
"How long ago did they leave? Can you catch them?"
"No, buddy, they've been gone 'bout two hours and they took a cab."
"Oh, it figures! Listen, Chuck, you gotta help me, or Jade's gonna be in big trouble."
Chuck paused. "Why? What's gonna happen? *Tell me* what's gonna happen to *my wife*!!!"
"Front page says there's gonna be a robbery, and it's going to get messed up and the guy's gonna take hostages, it just so happens that they'll be Sora and Jade. Jade's gonna try to escape and he's gonna shoot her."
"Well if it's the main headline why didn't you stop it earlier?!!?"
"Chuck, *it changed*. I accidentally rescued the guy who's gonna do it. I didn't know..."
"Look. Where is it?"
Gary gave him the location and Chuck said he'd get a cab and have him stop and get him on their way to the site, and then he hung up on Gary before he had a chance to protest.
In the cab Chuck seemed very tense, very agitated.
"Gar. Gar. What are we gonna do? Gar?"
"Calm down, Chuck. We'll save them. We'll just alert security that there's a man with a gun. He *does* have a gun. Paper says so."
"But what if it doesn't work?"
"It *will*, Chuck. Don't worry."
"Don't worry? Don't worry?!? This is my *wife* you're referring to, Gary!" Chuck slumped in his seat. "But she ought to be able to handle it. You know what she did for a living, Gar. This is in her league."
Gary simply nodded.
"Of course..."
"'Of course' what, Chuck?"
"Well, I'm supposed to keep it secret, Jade asked me to, but..."
"But what???"
"Gar, before we left she'd been having some stomach flu or something. Very queasy--nasty--*anyway*, the day before we left we went to a doctor to see if there was anything he could give her, you know, a pill or a prescription-strength antacid or *something*, and he ran a few tests, and..."
Gary nodded. "And...?"
"And...I'm...going...to be...a...*father*. There. I said it. She didn't want me to tell anyone until she could get home and call her relatives, you know..."
"You mean she's pregnant?"
"Three months along already." Chuck closed his eyes and nodded. "I am...*so*...incredibly...I don't know, Gar. I'm not sure I'm ready for it. We hadn't planned to have kids anytime soon, you know, it was a 'maybe-someday' priority, and now, here, we're having one, and...and...whew."
Gary tried to think of something encouraging. "Do you *want* this baby? I don't mean someday or later on, but do you want *this* baby?"
Chuck looked at him. "Yeah. I do. I really do. But I don't know squat about kids, Gar..."
"Well, Chuck, you don't have to know about kids. You have to know about *this* kid, and you'll have from the moment it enters this world to start learning about it. You're its dad, so it's going to be something like you, right?"
"Yeah...hey, if it turns out like me it couldn't be *all* bad...you have something there, Gar. But, you know, Jade...it's as much of a surprise to her as it is to me. She just thought she was having a few...off-months, you know?"
"Yeah. Does *she* want it?"
"She's still in shock over it. She's barely talking. That's not her, Gar. Usually I listen to her for hours."
"Then you need to talk to her, Chuck. Find out how she feels."
Chuck nodded. "But right now, Priority One is to make sure she gets the chance to ever discuss anything."
The cab stopped. "This is the place."
"Thanks, pal," Gary said, handing him the fare.
They told security about the man with the gun and then Gary checked the paper.
"Oh great. Now there's a security team member in critical condition. I guess the best thing to do right now is find Sora and Jade and get them out of his way."
"Yeah. Great plan," Chuck said sarcastically.
"Look, it's all I can come up with, unless you want one of us to find the guy and the other to find the girls."
"Brilliant! We'll both look for both of them, and whoever finds the girls first starts searching for the other. When we've explained to them what's going on, and we get them to a safe place, then we find the guy and try to stop him."
Gary nodded. "Good plan."
The immediately split up and began searching. It was several moments before Chuck found the girls. "Jade! Sora!" he called from behind them.
"Chuck, honey...what are you doing here?" Jade asked.
"Nobody move! I have a gun!"
Sora screamed, although she wasn't the only one. Gary was across the building but he could hear the commotion and tried frantically to find his friends.
The thief, with a bandanna covering the lower half of his face, walked to the closest cash register. "Give me all you got!" he told the salesclerk. The girl was shaking as she opened the cash register and began to empty it. Suddenly, from across the room, an alarm sounded. The girl cried, "That calls the police! Someone must have activated it!"
Gary had, he'd remembered reading about the "unnoticed" alarm in the paper.
The thief turned to the crowd and, waving his gun in the air, shouted, "You'll pay for this!!!"
Chuck saw him lower his gun to shooting level. "Get down!" he yelled, jumping to push Jade to the floor.
Four shots rang out, and Chuck's scream. "He got me!" He had taken a bullet in his upper shoulder. His once-white sweater began to turn red.
"Chuck!!!" Gary cried. He paused to check the headline.
"DARING RESCUE WITH HAPPY ENDING Los Angeles man takes bullet for wife"
Gary kept his mouth shut. He knew if he yelled he could make the thief angry and make things worse. As it was things came out okay. Scanning the article, he discovered that Jade retained no injuries and Chuck would be out of the hospital within the day, and there were no other injuries. In fact, the police would be arriving...
"Hey! The police are here!" someone cried out. They had not used sirens, so as not to tip off the guy. The thief used the last two bullets of his gun to shatter two windows, but none of the cops were hit.
In minutes, the place was swarming with law enforcement and the thief surrendered peacefully.
Gary and Sora sat in the waiting room of the hospital.
"I'm just so glad you're all right, Sora. I...I don't know what I'd do if...if you'd been hurt."
"Was I going to be?"
"The paper didn't say so, but there have been misprints before."
"What's the paper say about Chuck and Jade?"
"They're fine. Chuck'll be in a sling for a while, but he'll be fine. Jade too."
Sora sighed in relief. She'd played the limited seating in the waiting room to her advantage by sitting on Gary's lap--although there *was* a perfectly good spot next to him-- *now*. He didn't mind--it'd been his idea when the room had been packed moments earlier. He embraced her, cradling her and drinking in the pleasure of just *being*, with her in his arms in a place where everyone was too worried about their own problems to notice them, and not saying anything, but simply mulling over the events of the day.
"I am so glad you get the paper, Gary," she whispered.
"Why's that?" he whispered back.
"If you didn't, I could be dead now."
"If I didn't Jade might never have gone good, Chuck would have never met her, and none of this would have happened."
"It doesn't matter. Just...thank you for being there when you were. And for being here now."
"And for eternity." He smiled. They were nose-to-nose as it was, so he tilted his head up a little and kissed her breathless.
It was, of course, at that moment that Chuck came in, his left arm in a navy-blue sling proclaiming "Chicago doctors care about your health!"
"I'm interrupting again, aren't I?" he asked.
Gary broke off the kiss reluctantly and looked up at his best friend. "I'd ask how you're doing, but I already read the article. Twice. You're big news. Front-page hero."
"Really? Let me see!" Chuck sat in the spot next to Gary, and Gary handed him the paper.
Chuck pored over the article, oblivious to his two friends trying to recapture the moment. It seemed that for once Gary didn't care if Chuck got a few sports scores.
Several minutes passed, but Jade finally did enter the waiting room. Chuck flung the paper towards Gary and immediately went up to her and kissed her ardently. "I love you, Jade, and I want this baby, more than anything else that I've ever wanted."
Sora and Gary watched intently as she melted into his arms. "Oh, Chuck! I was so worried that you didn't...with all the shock of it and everything...I...I..." She began to cry. "I love you so much, Chuck..."
He simply held her, and swayed as her tears slowed, and finally stopped. "Is the baby all right?" he whispered into her hair. "Please tell me it's all right."
"I'm sorry, Chuck, I didn't even think to tell you...they did an ultrasound...the baby is fine. Our child is going to be okay. Our child is going to be fine!"
They kissed again. "I can't tell you how happy I am!" Chuck told her.
Sora looked at Gary. "Me either."
"You either what?" he asked.
"I can't tell you how happy I am...to be with you."
Authoress's Note: Even though each of my fics can be read and enjoyed seperately, I do try to keep a loose continuity between them. Also I'd hate to think someone missed something, or that I'd confused someone, and I really don't want to get introuble with the FFN, so I switched to chaptering. Let's face it. These are just minor little ficcies that run something like comics in the paper. Each one has a mini-plot and they all tie together--but there's no real end. (Although with some of the reviews I've been getting that will make some peeps really happy :-) ) At any rate, I don't intend to stop anytime soon, and (until further notice) anything I post under Early Edition that is not a chapter to this DOES NOT FALL IN CONTINUITY with it.
Please bear with me if the chapters take a lttle longer for a while as I am visiting relatives and having to use their computer temporarily.
Whew, that was long! Now, ON WITH THE FICCY!
Gary smiled and stretched. His day was over and he was happy. He and Sora had gone on a date, and she had just left.
He might have fallen asleep on the couch except for the fact that his phone rang. "Hello?"
"Gary! Gary-my-man, how are ya?"
"Chuck? Hey, how's it going?"
"No, no, I want to hear about you first. A little birdie told me something was going on in your life..."
"Well, actually, yeah. I met Lucius Snow's best friend..."
"No, no, no. I talked to Marissa and she told me all about him, but she also told me that you have got yourself a girl..."
"Oh." Gary paused. "Yeah, I do..."
"Do I know her?"
"Quite well, actually...Sora."
There was a moment of silence. "You? And *Sora*? It's about time! Good going, Gar!"
"Thank you. I'm sure she'll be glad you approve. Anyway, how are you and Jade?"
"I'm okay, and Jade is more wonderful than ever...hey, buddy, what's the going rate at the Hilton?"
"How would I know? Why? You don't...Chuck, are you coming to Chicago?" Gary demanded.
"I'll be bringing Jade and arriving Saturday."
"That's two days from now! Well, all right, Chuck...I'll clean up the apartment and fix up the hide-a-bed for you..."
"Have you forgotten that I'm married now? I think we'll need a *bit*
more privacy than your place can give us..."
"Oh. Um. Yeah." Gary paused. "But the nearest hotel is a ten-minute
drive. You don't want to spend all that on taxis..."
"Have you forgotten, also, about car rentals?"
"No, I remember, but you won't be real close that way...hey, Sora has an extra bedroom and she's just down the street, five-minute walk, she'll put you up..."
"Can she cook?"
"Well...she's no chef, but she can keep you fed..."
"Great. Call her and I'll call you back in ten minutes."
Gary called her and got the green light and then it was only a few
moments before Chuck called back.
"She said that'd be fine, Chuck."
"Great! We'll rent a car and be at McGinty's around two on Saturday."
"How long can you stay?"
"Indefinitely. It won't be more than two weeks...you know how it
goes, I'm in showbiz now."
Gary laughed. "See ya there," he said and hung up on Chuck for old
time's sake.
Sora came to McGinty's on Saturday and ordered her usual Dr. Pepper
and sat with Gary in one of the booths while waiting for Chuck and Jade.
Chuck she knew, but Jade she had not had the chance to meet.
"So, what's she like, Gary?"
"Well, Jade...she's...I know her about as well as you do, Sora. We've only met twice, and once she was disguised as a total ditz. I do know she's smart, though. She's an ex-international jewel thief."
"Whoa. Big biz, eh?"
"She made a small fortune."
Sora shook her head. "And she gave it up for Chuck?"
Gary simply nodded.
"And he *wanted* to marry a known felon?"
"Well, it sure wasn't a forced marriage. They're happy now. When he
calls he talks about nothing but her."
Sora sipped her Dr. Pepper wonderingly. "Wow." Of course this was
making thoughts of settling down run through her head. If a marriage made
after only having known each other a few weeks could work, why not her and Gary? Of course she did not voice this opinion, she didn't want to push
him. "When are they getting here?"
"Two o'clock. Another ten minutes, give or take."
"It'll be so nice to see Chuck. It's been a while."
"I said we have about ten minutes..."
"Huh? Ohh..." Sora breathed as Gary kissed her. "Chuck isn't even here and he's already rubbing off on you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"He has quite the mischievous nature, does he not?"
Gary laughed a little, and just as they were about to kiss again their guests arrived.
Chuck was already happy to be home. "Gary! Sora! Hey, are we
interrupting something?"
Gary got up. "Well, actually yes, but it's nothing that can't wait at least a few minutes..." he slapped Chuck on the back. "And how are you, Jade?" he asked.
"I'm fine...I don't care for flying, though," she said, patting her stomach. Sora was surprised to catch a slight accent in Jade's voice, Austrailian was her first guess.
"It's kind of weird..." Chuck said, "It never bothered her before." Jade elbowed him lightly. "And Jade, this is Gary's girlfriend, Sora," Chuck
introduced her. "They're high school sweethearts gotten back together."
"Pleased to meet you, Sora."
"You too, Jade. I'd like to say I've heard a lot about you, but I haven't."
"It's just as well...even if Gary *could* say a lot about me, with my past, you don't want to know."
Sora laughed. "It can't be that bad...what say we all sit and chat?"
They agreed to this and returned to the booth that Gary and Sora had
been occupying.
"Can I get you anything, guys?" Gary said.
"Nah, I ate on the plane, and I think Jade here would prefer to let her stomach settle..." Chuck said, a bit concerned.
Jade nodded ruefully, so Gary sat. "Marissa said she's sorry she couldn't be here, but she had a business engagement."
"Oh well...from what I hear, we'll be dining at her house tonight."
"Yeah. She wanted to make up for not being here," Sora told them. "So you're spared eating my food for one night longer."
Gary smiled. "It's not that bad, I assure you. I've eaten it."
"I'm not picky," Jade said. "I'll eat nearly anything to keep from being hungry."
They chatted a few more minutes. Then Chuck and Jade took their bags to Sora's house and settled in.
Time went by in a whirlwind, at least for Gary, who had handed off more to Bernard--Lucius Snow's friend--than he would've liked. Chuck and Jade got to meet Bernard, and Jade got to see the sights in Chicago--which she hadn't had a chance to do when she'd come before.
Before Gary knew it, it was Saturday again.
He went about his usual stuff, changing the paper, preventing catastrophes. At around two o'clock he came to the last thing that needed changing.
"Guy gets hit by semi. 1:42 p.m. Pronounced dead on the scene."
Gary had plenty of time to get there, so he hopped a cab over to the place.
Saving the guy was easy. He got out of the cab a few blocks up and approached the man. "Excuse me, sir...I, I seem to have forgotten my wallet, can you spare a quarter for a phone call?"
"Sure, buddy," the man said and gave him the change as the semi barreled by.
The man walked off and so did Gary.
Gary walked into his apartment and dropped the paper onto the kitchen table as he perched himself on the barstool.
The Cat leapt up onto the table and promptly sat on the paper.
Gary sighed. When the Cat called the paper to his attention it usually meant he'd missed something or something had changed without his knowing. "I can't read *through* you, Cat."
The Cat meowed and jumped back down on off the table, returning to his kitty kibble.
The headline had drastically changed.
"LOS ANGELES TOURIST KILLED IN BOTCHED ROBBERY", and in smaller letters beneath it, "Newly liberated felon charged with murder"
Gary scanned the article. The robber was the same guy he'd just rescued, obviously, or it wouldn't have changed.
*But the victim was Jade!*
Chuck muted his ball game and answered the phone. "Hello. Sora's not here but I can take a message."
"Chuck! It doesn't matter, I wanted to talk to you anyway. Listen, where are Sora and Jade? They're together, aren't they?"
"Yeah. Sora took Jade shopping because she claims she knows where all the best buys are."
"How long ago did they leave? Can you catch them?"
"No, buddy, they've been gone 'bout two hours and they took a cab."
"Oh, it figures! Listen, Chuck, you gotta help me, or Jade's gonna be in big trouble."
Chuck paused. "Why? What's gonna happen? *Tell me* what's gonna happen to *my wife*!!!"
"Front page says there's gonna be a robbery, and it's going to get messed up and the guy's gonna take hostages, it just so happens that they'll be Sora and Jade. Jade's gonna try to escape and he's gonna shoot her."
"Well if it's the main headline why didn't you stop it earlier?!!?"
"Chuck, *it changed*. I accidentally rescued the guy who's gonna do it. I didn't know..."
"Look. Where is it?"
Gary gave him the location and Chuck said he'd get a cab and have him stop and get him on their way to the site, and then he hung up on Gary before he had a chance to protest.
In the cab Chuck seemed very tense, very agitated.
"Gar. Gar. What are we gonna do? Gar?"
"Calm down, Chuck. We'll save them. We'll just alert security that there's a man with a gun. He *does* have a gun. Paper says so."
"But what if it doesn't work?"
"It *will*, Chuck. Don't worry."
"Don't worry? Don't worry?!? This is my *wife* you're referring to, Gary!" Chuck slumped in his seat. "But she ought to be able to handle it. You know what she did for a living, Gar. This is in her league."
Gary simply nodded.
"Of course..."
"'Of course' what, Chuck?"
"Well, I'm supposed to keep it secret, Jade asked me to, but..."
"But what???"
"Gar, before we left she'd been having some stomach flu or something. Very queasy--nasty--*anyway*, the day before we left we went to a doctor to see if there was anything he could give her, you know, a pill or a prescription-strength antacid or *something*, and he ran a few tests, and..."
Gary nodded. "And...?"
"And...I'm...going...to be...a...*father*. There. I said it. She didn't want me to tell anyone until she could get home and call her relatives, you know..."
"You mean she's pregnant?"
"Three months along already." Chuck closed his eyes and nodded. "I am...*so*...incredibly...I don't know, Gar. I'm not sure I'm ready for it. We hadn't planned to have kids anytime soon, you know, it was a 'maybe-someday' priority, and now, here, we're having one, and...and...whew."
Gary tried to think of something encouraging. "Do you *want* this baby? I don't mean someday or later on, but do you want *this* baby?"
Chuck looked at him. "Yeah. I do. I really do. But I don't know squat about kids, Gar..."
"Well, Chuck, you don't have to know about kids. You have to know about *this* kid, and you'll have from the moment it enters this world to start learning about it. You're its dad, so it's going to be something like you, right?"
"Yeah...hey, if it turns out like me it couldn't be *all* bad...you have something there, Gar. But, you know, Jade...it's as much of a surprise to her as it is to me. She just thought she was having a few...off-months, you know?"
"Yeah. Does *she* want it?"
"She's still in shock over it. She's barely talking. That's not her, Gar. Usually I listen to her for hours."
"Then you need to talk to her, Chuck. Find out how she feels."
Chuck nodded. "But right now, Priority One is to make sure she gets the chance to ever discuss anything."
The cab stopped. "This is the place."
"Thanks, pal," Gary said, handing him the fare.
They told security about the man with the gun and then Gary checked the paper.
"Oh great. Now there's a security team member in critical condition. I guess the best thing to do right now is find Sora and Jade and get them out of his way."
"Yeah. Great plan," Chuck said sarcastically.
"Look, it's all I can come up with, unless you want one of us to find the guy and the other to find the girls."
"Brilliant! We'll both look for both of them, and whoever finds the girls first starts searching for the other. When we've explained to them what's going on, and we get them to a safe place, then we find the guy and try to stop him."
Gary nodded. "Good plan."
The immediately split up and began searching. It was several moments before Chuck found the girls. "Jade! Sora!" he called from behind them.
"Chuck, honey...what are you doing here?" Jade asked.
"Nobody move! I have a gun!"
Sora screamed, although she wasn't the only one. Gary was across the building but he could hear the commotion and tried frantically to find his friends.
The thief, with a bandanna covering the lower half of his face, walked to the closest cash register. "Give me all you got!" he told the salesclerk. The girl was shaking as she opened the cash register and began to empty it. Suddenly, from across the room, an alarm sounded. The girl cried, "That calls the police! Someone must have activated it!"
Gary had, he'd remembered reading about the "unnoticed" alarm in the paper.
The thief turned to the crowd and, waving his gun in the air, shouted, "You'll pay for this!!!"
Chuck saw him lower his gun to shooting level. "Get down!" he yelled, jumping to push Jade to the floor.
Four shots rang out, and Chuck's scream. "He got me!" He had taken a bullet in his upper shoulder. His once-white sweater began to turn red.
"Chuck!!!" Gary cried. He paused to check the headline.
"DARING RESCUE WITH HAPPY ENDING Los Angeles man takes bullet for wife"
Gary kept his mouth shut. He knew if he yelled he could make the thief angry and make things worse. As it was things came out okay. Scanning the article, he discovered that Jade retained no injuries and Chuck would be out of the hospital within the day, and there were no other injuries. In fact, the police would be arriving...
"Hey! The police are here!" someone cried out. They had not used sirens, so as not to tip off the guy. The thief used the last two bullets of his gun to shatter two windows, but none of the cops were hit.
In minutes, the place was swarming with law enforcement and the thief surrendered peacefully.
Gary and Sora sat in the waiting room of the hospital.
"I'm just so glad you're all right, Sora. I...I don't know what I'd do if...if you'd been hurt."
"Was I going to be?"
"The paper didn't say so, but there have been misprints before."
"What's the paper say about Chuck and Jade?"
"They're fine. Chuck'll be in a sling for a while, but he'll be fine. Jade too."
Sora sighed in relief. She'd played the limited seating in the waiting room to her advantage by sitting on Gary's lap--although there *was* a perfectly good spot next to him-- *now*. He didn't mind--it'd been his idea when the room had been packed moments earlier. He embraced her, cradling her and drinking in the pleasure of just *being*, with her in his arms in a place where everyone was too worried about their own problems to notice them, and not saying anything, but simply mulling over the events of the day.
"I am so glad you get the paper, Gary," she whispered.
"Why's that?" he whispered back.
"If you didn't, I could be dead now."
"If I didn't Jade might never have gone good, Chuck would have never met her, and none of this would have happened."
"It doesn't matter. Just...thank you for being there when you were. And for being here now."
"And for eternity." He smiled. They were nose-to-nose as it was, so he tilted his head up a little and kissed her breathless.
It was, of course, at that moment that Chuck came in, his left arm in a navy-blue sling proclaiming "Chicago doctors care about your health!"
"I'm interrupting again, aren't I?" he asked.
Gary broke off the kiss reluctantly and looked up at his best friend. "I'd ask how you're doing, but I already read the article. Twice. You're big news. Front-page hero."
"Really? Let me see!" Chuck sat in the spot next to Gary, and Gary handed him the paper.
Chuck pored over the article, oblivious to his two friends trying to recapture the moment. It seemed that for once Gary didn't care if Chuck got a few sports scores.
Several minutes passed, but Jade finally did enter the waiting room. Chuck flung the paper towards Gary and immediately went up to her and kissed her ardently. "I love you, Jade, and I want this baby, more than anything else that I've ever wanted."
Sora and Gary watched intently as she melted into his arms. "Oh, Chuck! I was so worried that you didn't...with all the shock of it and everything...I...I..." She began to cry. "I love you so much, Chuck..."
He simply held her, and swayed as her tears slowed, and finally stopped. "Is the baby all right?" he whispered into her hair. "Please tell me it's all right."
"I'm sorry, Chuck, I didn't even think to tell you...they did an ultrasound...the baby is fine. Our child is going to be okay. Our child is going to be fine!"
They kissed again. "I can't tell you how happy I am!" Chuck told her.
Sora looked at Gary. "Me either."
"You either what?" he asked.
"I can't tell you how happy I am...to be with you."