Fumo presents a Smoker Style Production… and junk…
You know the drill, stinky
Outlaw Galaxy: Old Habits Die Hard
Chapter 3
A few cab rides later, Jean Starwind and his entourage entered the extreme elegance of Silver Fox's coat room. A place so well furnished that you could enjoy an evening there and forget there was a restaurant in the next room.
Entering the main dining room the were greeted with a similar rush of furnishing excellence, as well as a snooty concierge.
Jean smiled at the man's judgmental gaze upon them, suppressing the urge to punch off his stupid pencil-width mustache for his presumptuousness. The thought left his mind as he sighted the reason for him being there in the first place.
"Hey, you made it." Angelo called as he walked towards them arms wide open. He was wearing a suit very similar to Jean's; the same pants and sports coat with the big collar in charcoal black and a dressy, deep yellow shirt underneath.
"Angelo!" he called as he walked toward his old friend with the pretence of a hug, but then caught him in a headlock, "You're gonna actually pay for this dinner, right."
Angelo chuckled at the earlier incident, "Yeah, I'm paying for real this time." and he was let go, "So, Jean, show me, where's yer peoples?"
Jean lead Angelo to where the others we standing, "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you… the famous… Angelo…"
Angelo smiled at each of them.
Jean continued with his presentation, tapping Jim on the back of the head, "Angelo this is your replacement, heh, heh, my renowned boy genius, Jim Hawking."
Angelo extended a steady arm, "Hiya Jim, put 'er there."
Jim took his and shock it firmly.
"So, Jim, you are the guy that tries to keep Jean out of trouble now, right?"
Jim smirked, "Tries, is the key word there."
Angelo chuckled heartily, "Oh yeah, I know that."
Jean shook his head in disappointment, at who or what it wasn't entirely certain, "Ugh, moving on… the amazingly good looking bio-synthoid they talk of, Melphina."
Melphina strolled up with a smile and extended her hand to be shook, but instead, Angelo put her hand in his, he bent over and gave it a light kiss. Melphina blushed quickly, and Aisha and Sazuka giggled to each other. Jim smiled to himself, secretly hoping to see Jean go crazy or start a fight or something. Jean just frowned.
Angelo brought himself back up, "Very pleased to meet you, Melphina." he said in a friendly tone.
Melphina smiled back, "Same to you, Angelo."
Jean cleared his throat to bring attention back to him, he motioned towards Sazuka, "Now, my personal assassin…"
"Yes, Twilight Sazuka." Angelo interrupted, his eyes taking a more serious edge as he smiled slyly at Sazuka, "Your reputation precedes you, Miss."
Sazuka smiled at him contently.
"But no where have I heard that you were so beautiful."
Sazuka giggled at the compliment, she extended her arm, her wrist limp, presenting it for him to kiss, as if it were a great honor. In Jean's opinion, that was a pretty arrogant thing to do, but Angelo didn't seem to mind as he laid a light kiss on her hand.
"And last, my big cat faced punching bag…"
"Aisha Clan Clan!" she interrupted as she pushed past and up to Angelo, her hand held out for her to kiss. Angelo smiled at her with those serious eyes, and took her hand in his, but before he could do anything, Jean interrupted.
"She has rabies."
"I do not have rabies!" Aisha yelled at him.
Angelo simply smiled at her, "Well, even if you did, I think it would be well worth it."
Aisha giggled like a school girl and stuck her tongue out at Jean as Angelo kissed her hand.
Jean shrugged, "You never listen to me, Angelo, now you're gonna get sick and die…, but anyway, can we eat all ready, I'm starving"
------
Aisha Clan Clan ate merrily at her food as the others conversed. Stuffing plate after plate of very expensive food into her maw, nosily and messily, no regard for the others at the table. It was always the way she ate, and she wasn't going to stop now. It mattered not that each plate she devoured would cost poor Angelo and arm and a leg to pay for, she ate until she was no longer hungry, that's how it had to be with her.
Another hot plate of Grilled Horatian Cloud Bass was served in front of her, she made a delighted squeal, and dug in.
Across from her, Jean and Angelo were going at it in a lengthy conversation about the past, as happy as two united brothers, as the others ate quietly. Jean and Angelo were jolly as could be, laughing loudly, obviously bothering the other diners in the restaurant. Jim and Melphina ate their meals and listened silently to the conversation, while Sazuka ate, and didn't seem to pay attention at all.
Jean recanted his whole life story to Angelo since the time they were separated, but he was very careful about what he said. He told Angelo about everything but the Leyline, wanting to keep it's existence and disappearance a secret. Why Jean didn't want to share it with his childhood best friend, she was unsure, she guessed Jean didn't want to share it with anyone but his close circle.
It turns out, Angelo, after escaping on the ship, his luck turned bad for him, or worse. The crew of that ship got scared that Space Forces would imprison them, so they destroyed all the merchandise, captured Angelo and the others that worked for Loe, and sold them into slavery on the frontier Human world of Farel. Angelo got sold to an outlaw named "Love Warrior" Zoe Cantolopis, a woman known for her veracious appetite for lust, but not for her looks. Angelo killed her within the first day, and stole her ship, the Dildo Star.
Angelo didn't get very far, he was tracked by friends of Zoe looking to avenge their comrade. Angelo crashed into one of the planetoids of a stellar body known as the Serran Microids, a spatial anomaly of thousands of small planetoids, some the size of a city and others the size of front yards, that are so closely organized, only a matter of a hundred or so kilometers each, that they share the same breathable atmosphere and a cohesive gravity between that makes each world feel like much bigger worlds, you could fly a small plane to the other microids. They were sparsely populated, mainly by farmers, with a few small cities.
Here Zoe's allies lost him for a very long time, thinking they killed him. He got a job shooting Space Mites, a weird creature that lives in space and would enter the Microids to prey on livestock, for farmers on the smaller Microids, private investigating, protection work, and one job where he guided the war happy forces of a Sith Attack Fleet through the Microids, but then betrayed them to the Silgrian Security Fleet. He made a small living but never enough to buy passage on a ether-drive ship off the Microids. He actually got pretty good at it, killing Space Mites anyway.
Eventually, Zoe's friends, specifically an outlaw named "Hyper" Hal, another named Orville "the Incinerator" Spencer, and another named Sara Black, once again tried to kill him, but Angelo had been preparing for them. He knifed Hal in the head quickly, killed Orville in a lengthy gunfight, and rigged Sara Black's ship, the Witch Brand, with explosives and cremated her. After that he stole Orville's ship, the Fire Starter, and flew off. He heard the buzz about the upset Privateer victory of Starwind at the Heyfong races, and set out to find his old friend. As he went, he heard more strange and fantastic stories about him, the McDougal Brothers, and the Kae Pirates, and found Jean by accident this morning.
Aisha continued her eating, she wasn't so interested in his story, but Jean sure was. He listened intently to everything he said, and emphasized his happiness every time he heard Angelo speak of his accomplishments, which is exactly the same thing Angelo did for Jean's story.
They truely seemed happy to be united again, they spoke with no edge that separated persons usually had when coming together.
Aisha still didn't care, filling her seemingly bottomless belly was all that was on her mind. Angelo didn't interest her in the least, except…
She noticed every now and then, when he wasn't engrossed in conversation, Angelo would shift his eye quickly to the side to get an eyeful of Aisha, then he would look away again as if nothing had occurred. Humans staring at her when she was eating was nothing new to her, someone was always gawking at her during dinner, but something was different about his looks. Most times people looked at her with reserved disgust, but he looked at her with interest, like he wanted to say something but hesitated and decided to forget about it.
There, he did it again, right as she took a swig strait from the Champagne bottle, raising the bottle above her head as she drained it's contents.
Could it be a look of attraction?
Aisha almost laughed out loud at that thought. A Katarl Katarl would never consider a Human in that way, humans were different, they recognized Katarl Katarl superiority and so they were tempted, but their efforts were in vain, as self-respecting Katarl Katarl would never lower themselves.
Angelo laughed at some joke Jean told, "Ha, well, enough about me. Tell me about your friends, Jean."
Jean leaned back in his chair, "What's there to tell?"
Angelo smirked, "Well, maybe how you combined boy genius, a one of a kind bio-synthoid navigator, a galaxy renowned assassin," Angelo's gaze shifted to Aisha again, "a Katarl Katarl with a very healthy appetite?" he said more like a question then a statement, "and yourself into one crew?"
"Me and Jean have been together for awhile." Jim piped in from across the table.
"Well, whose the little lady you were talking about, Jean?" Angelo asked.
Jean grabbed Melphina in a near headlock hug, "This is my baby! And I luvs 'er"
Jean gave Melphina a big wet kiss on the cheek, and Melphina blushed. Jim laughed out load, and Angelo smiled, his gaze shifting quickly from the two to Aisha, then back again.
That look served to prove Aisha's "love/lust" theory, Aisha was beginning to wonder about this Angelo Western.
--------
Time went by, and the restaurant closed for the night, but Jean and Angelo were still awake and wanting to talk. Sazuka returned to the ship with a very tired Melphina and Jim, while Jean and Angelo decided to continue their talk at a local bar. Aisha, wanting to wet her whistle a little more, went with them.
There Angelo and Jean talked long into the evening, or morning, where as Aisha became very drunk, and quick. Jean and Angelo soon ran out of old times to remember and stories to relate, the issue of the present was now on their minds.
Jean was enthusiastic about the subject, Angelo showed a few reservations.
The bar they chose was a seedy little dive, far from the upper class areas where Sliver Fox was. Simple stools, a dirty counter, and bad lighting was the setting. The bar patrons were equally drab; outlaws and pirates by the looks of them.
"How about it Angelo?" Jean asked, hand on his glass.
"Meehhh…" Angelo mused, slouched in his chair, tracing his finger along his glass.
"Come on…"
"Meehhh…"
"What, you don't wanna work with me again?"
"Nooo, it's not that." Angelo sat up, "Starwind & Hawking Enterprises seems a little out of my reach."
"What does that mean?!"
"Well, you, Jim, Melphina, Aisha, and Suzuki…
"Sazuka." Jean corrected.
"Whatever, it's just you've all come together over this weird adventure of yours, I wasn't there, so I'd be the odd man out."
"What?! No you wouldn't."
"Well, why don't you think about my proposition again, Jean."
"No way, I've told you…"
"But Jean," Angelo pleaded, leaning forward right into, "Don't you see. It's more then just a crazy venture. It would be like old times, you and me going up against the odds, because as a pair we're unstoppable."
Jean frowned and looked away, Angelo continued with a pleading look upon his face.
"It's been only 4 years, have you forgotten what it felt like. Let's take that supped up ship of yours, we'll bring the crew, we'll blow the Iron Cathedral up and jack 'em for everything they got!"
Jean took a sip of his whisky, and sighed, "Sorry, man. I'm not prepared to risk things anymore, ya know…"
"No, I don't know!" a hint of tension in his voice.
"That's just it, Angelo, you don't know! I have some one I want to see at the end of the day, you don't."
There was a moment of silence as the two stared directly into each other's eyes, unwavering. Angelo broke gaze first, he slouched back into his seat, and took a sip of his drink while staring off.
"That's low, man…" Angelo mumbled.
"I'm sorry, Angelo." Jean spoke up, "but back then, I was such a dare devil because I had nothing to live for, no family, no real girl, you were basically the only friend I had, there was no point to my existence in my mind." Jean slammed his fist on the table for emphasis , "And I know you felt the same way."
"What's your point, Jean?" looking back into Jean's eyes
Jean continued, "But now, I've got I girl I'm really in love with, and it scares me. I mean it's not back then when I'd run with a girl for a while, it's love, terrifying love. Terrifying that I could loss this love if I were away to long! I've changed Angelo, it's not all about me anymore."
Angelo shrugged, "Still searching for a point here."
Sat back in his seat, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes, "The point is… I'm not prepared… to enter a situation where the odds are so far out of my favor that they could measure the distance between them in light years."
"Sheesh…" Angelo trailed off, averting his eyes again.
"I'm not gonna risk losing any off my people, especially Melphina, over this fantasy mission. I'm not gonna die and leave Melphina either."
"And one girl made you change everything that we used to be…"
"Damn straight! And I'm thankful everyday that I'm with her. You just don't understand, you need a girl…"
"Ugh, thank you for that…" Angelo trailed off sarcastically, taking a sip of his glass.
Jean gave Angelo a stiff punch in his right arm with a smile on his face. Angelo gave a little surprised yelp, and Jean laughed.
"Cheer up buddy, you'll find yourself nice girlfriend like me." Jean jeered.
"I'll beee juurr gerrrlfriend…" Aisha said from under the table.
The little Katarl Katarl had gotten very drunk, and chose to sit on the floor, because she had some trouble getting on to a chair. She had been quiet for a while, and Jean and Angelo had just assumed she had fallen asleep or died.
Aisha pulled herself off the floor, with much difficulty, and the help of the table. Angelo had been kind enough to give her his sports jacket so that she could hid her rapidly descending cleavage line. As soon as she was up, she slapped her thin, muscular frame against Angelo, to his and Jean's surprise. She leaned against him, practically seated on his lap. She wrapped her arm around him, her red-eyed face dangerously close to his. Angelo squirmed a bit in her embrace, but kept his cool. Jean stared at her with venom in his eyes, like she was a huge embarrassment he silently wanted to go away or catch on fire.
Aisha cupped his lip with her fingers, "Haayy Gelo, ju er kinda cute, ju know."
Jean glared his teeth, "Aisha what's wrong with you?!"
Aisha growled at him, "Shad up Jean, ju big funny retard."
Angelo just smirked.
Jean leaned forward to yell into her face, "You literally drunk yourself under the table!" he then retreated back, waving a hand in front of his face like he was warding of bad smells, "And you smell like fish, that doesn't even make sence!"
"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh, shad up… I'm talkin' ta my honey buggy, he so preeetty…" Aisha said while stroking his chin, Angelo smiling like it was an amusing joke. However, Aisha trailed off, and seemed to forget what she was saying. She looked around with those dowdy eyes for something to help her remember. She sited Angelo's drink, "Haaayyy, whacha drinkin."
She reached for it, but Angelo pulled it away quickly, "Hey, I think you've had enough, kitty cat."
Aisha frowned, "Naw uhh…," Aisha finished with a resounding belch.
Angelo recoiled a bit, but laughed just the same, "Oh yeah?"
Jean scoffed, "Now it smells like beans, what is with you Aisha?"
Aisha frowned, "Well, if no one 'ill gif mia drink, I'm gonna go get one mysheelf."
Aisha leaped off of Angelo, a little wobbly, and tottered off towards the bar.
"Ah, come on kitty cat, you're going to get cirrhosis!" Angelo pleaded.
Aisha turned around and stuck her tongue out, "A Katarl Katarl won't get cirrhosis from you're pathetic human alcohol, and they won't get drunk either (burp)!"
Angelo laughed, Jean just shook his head in shame.
"I'm really sorry about her, she's so pathetic." Jean said draining his glass.
Angelo's view returned to Jean, with a smile, "Ahhh, don't be so hard on her, I think she's cute."
Jean lowered his glass and looked at him flatly. Angelo mimicked his flat look.
"Cute? More like childish."
"She's childish when she's drunk?" Angelo said sarcastically.
"Well, she's a hell of lot more annoying when she's sober." Jean said as he finished his drink.
Angelo looked down at his whisky, "Hmm… so… what's her story?"
Jean put his empty glass on the table, "Well, she was a… a Katarl Katarl officer in the navy. We, sorta, bumped into each other as we were leaving Blue Heaven some time ago. We embarrassed her before her commanders, and they left her on Blue Heaven…"
"Left her?"
"Pretty much, bro. They gave her some bogus title, like ambassador. Well, we met up again, she bitched about it, we scuffled, she tried to kill me, followed us around for awhile and, during the Heyfong Space Race, she attempted to ambush us, then… I think she has a short attention span or sumthin', because she just seemed to forget her grudge, and, well, she's been with us every since."
"Cool…"
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of something heavy crashing through a table, spilling and breaking glasses, and Aisha's insane laughter proceeding it. Angelo and Jean turned to see, Aisha, as giddy as a school girl, laughing at a vicious-looking guy with several long scars on his face, who had fallen or was pushed back through a table and crashed and hit the floor hard, a very evil, angry look on his face.
"Ha ha ha, jur no match fera' true Katarl Katarl warrior!"
Aisha's laughter was cut short as another vicious looking guy slammed a bar stool into her head. Aisha made a goofy face, and fall over.
Angelo leaped out of his seat, but Jean put up his hand to stop him.
"No, Angelo, don't worry about it. She can take care of them no problem."
Angelo scoffed, "Jean, that's not cool…"
With that Angelo ran toward the fight, where the second vicious guy was about to use a piece of the broken stool to bludgeon the woozy Aisha. Angelo reached up and placed a hand on the man's fist, preventing him from striking, with surprising strength despite his smaller stature.
Angelo smiled slyly at the outraged guy, "Hey man, that's no way to hurt a Katarl Katarl."
"NO, THIS IS!!" Aisha roared as she burst up off the ground. She slammed into her assailant's midsection with such force, that he and her flew several feet back and collided with the wall.
That first bar patron, that Aisha had pushed over, had gotten off the ground and ran to help his friend. Angelo slammed his arm into his chest and neck as he ran by and clotheslined him. The momentum from his lower body continued, while the upper's abruptly stopped. The man slipped and crashed flat on his back.
A third angry man, a rotund dude with a mohawk, who had preoccupied himself with the jukebox in the corner, ran to strike Angelo with his fist. The punch was so long armed and momentous that, Angelo merely shifted his head to the side, and the man sailed past him. Angelo grabbed between the elbow and shoulder as he got close enough, and thrusted his knee into the man's groin.
Jean watched it all with a mix of amusement, disgust, and disinterest. He knew Aisha could beat the brains out of every guy in this bar, even when she's drunk, and with Angelo in the equation, provided his fighting ability hadn't diminished, which Jean was pretty sure hadn't happened, this fight didn't need to concern him.
Jean took a sip of his glass, then finding it empty, slammed it on the table. He stood up slowly, dodging a thrown bottle of whisky. He pulled off his fancy jacket, laid it neatly on his seat, and undid his collar.
"Oh well, got nothing better to do…" he said as he stalked towards the melee.
----------
Jean admired his ship as he walked closer to it. It rested peaceful in one of Blue Heaven's tight dry docks, the magnetic field protecting the vacuum of the enormous port exit behind it. The blanket of stars, asteroids, and blackness beyond offset the ships vibrant red coloring. Two huge docking clamps clipped into the Outlaw Star's side, holding it steady. It was his home and his livelihood.
He walked up to it's side and stroked an ominous gun barrel. He just liked to admire his ship from time to time, remember the good times that had blossomed from the day he first obtained the vessel, actually it was after the first day that the good times came, but you know.
Jean gave a quick sigh, and patted his ship, before moving away towards the entrance. Jean looked back and frowned at his comrade's slowness.
Angelo was several feet behind, dragging along and laboring under the weight of the unconscious Aisha Clan Clan, who he was carrying piggy-backed toward the ship. He was straggling far behind Jean, and had a strained look on his face.
Jean put his hands on his hips and smirked at the spectacle, "She would have found her way back in the morning, ya know. You didn't have to carry her here."
Angelo caught up to Jean, and smirked back, "What are you talking about, Jean. Since when do you act so mean to pretty young ladies?"
Jean looked at him like he said the most incorrect thing in the world, "First off! She ain't a lady, she's a little girl, with the common sense of a roll of toilet paper…"
"Nice…" Angelo mumbled sarcastically.
"Second, she's not pretty, and she's an alien, don't date outside the species, brother. Third, why do you think she's pretty?!"
Angelo frowned, "Hey this ain't no…" Angelo took Aisha off his back and placed her on the ground, where she sprawled out across the metal dock, "This ain't no inquisition. I'm just a nice guy helping out a new friend."
"Oh, she's a new friend, not a friend of a friend."
"A friend of a friend is my friend too."
"Hmm, well… is she hurt?"
Angelo looked down at Aisha, who looked peaceful and contented on the floor, "No… I think she's just… sleeping…"
Jean got indignant, "Heh, sleeping… oh well, I can bother you tomorrow." Jean yawned, "Speaking of sleeping, where are you sleeping, Angelo?"
Angelo thrusted a thumb back toward the lift to the city of Blue Heaven, "I've got a little room on the lower east side.
"Are you kidding, that's like 5 miles away. You're gonna stay in my house tonight." Jean said demandingly with a smile on his face.
"Meeeeehhhh…" Angelo said again.
"Oh, not again. Look, you'll stay in one of the spare rooms, maybe see how you like it. We'll sleep in till one in the afternoon and then we'll, I don't know, we'll go to basket ball courts and hustle kids at three card monty like old times."
Angelo smiled brightly, "That last one sounds like fun…"
"Well come on then, bring the stray cat with you."
Picking Aisha up by the legs and carrying her in up side down, "It's a date. Oh, and speaking of same sex dating, is Fred Loe still…"
"Gay as a rainbow."
"Still denying it?"
"You know it."
-------
Melphina was woken up by someone flopping down on the other side of the bed. She slowly opened her eyes, batting away the "sleep" that had formed. She took a deep, sighing breath. She turned over tiredly to see who it was, but she had an idea even in her drowsy state.
She turned to see Jean stripped down to his white under shirt and pants. He was seated on the opposite side of the bed, back to her, pulling off his shoes and socks. The faint smell of cheap liquor about him, he must have used mouth wash, or else it would have been much worse. That was considerate of him to clean himself a bit before coming to bed, too bad it was a habit he learned late in their relationship.
She turned over completely and lifted her upper body off the bed onto her hands. Jean noticed the rustling, and turned to look at Melphina briefly, then went back to what he was doing.
"Sorry, Mel" he said.
"It's all right." she said, laying back on the pillow, her arms behind her head in a relaxed position.
Jean continued undoing his tricky shoes.
"Where's Angelo?" she asked.
"I set him up in one of the spare rooms so he would have to walk back to his place."
"Oh. So, did you have fun."
"Sure did," Jean raised his head, looking up as if he were thinking a happy though, "We got into a bar fight and everything. It's so great to see him again. He's just like I remembered. Great guy… great friend…"
Melphina smiled at Jean's enthusiasm, "Yeah… You know, I can't stop thinking about the way you too split up, I mean the circumstances. To have a person so important to you in your life one minute, and the next… poof, they're gone, no warning, no explanation, just gone."
She was distracted by a heavy handed shoe hitting the ground. Jean was slumped over where he was sitting.
"That was the second time in my life that's happened…"
At first puzzlement, then the realization hit Melphina, "Oh, your father…"
She pulled herself out of the covers, and crawled on knees to her lover. She pressed close to him, wrapping her arms around him. Jean grabbed a hold of her hands lightly, so that she could not let go of him.
He spoke softly, "When my father died, I was gonna collapse, seriously, but I survived, I went on, made some friends, made some money, I was… healing. And then Angelo died, basically, it was worse, because it was like a compounded tragedy."
"I'm sorry…" Melphina coddled.
"I mean, me and him were so close, ya know. He were both coming from the exact same place. If either one of us needed help, we'd help each other. If either of us had a problem, we'd solve it together. The spoils of what we did was always shared between us first. We were brothers…"
"Hmm…" she hummed into his neck.
"But I'm serious about us coming from the same place. You see, when he was 10 or 11, his father had some gambling problems. He made a deal with a bookie and owed them a big sum of wong. When he couldn't pay, they came to collect it from his ass. They killed Angelo's dad and his mom right in front of him,"
"Awful…"
"Yeah, but before that his dad made a little distraction so that Angelo and his mom could get away, like I said his mom didn't. Angelo hid in the streets after that, trying to etch out a life, just like me. So, we hit it off. Oh, and just FYI, a few years later we went back to that wannabe gangster, he doesn't take bets anymore if you know what I mean… It makes me think, a lot…"
"That's a first." Melphina teased.
"Yeah, exactly," Jean chuckled, "But, seriously, I'm always thinking, what if, what if I stayed with my father on the ship, what if I had chosen to put my fears behind me and jump on to that ship with Angelo? Would I have been better of to do those things?"
"You should never wish to change something in the past," Melphina lectured, "Everything that has happened has happened for a reason, and no matter what decisions you make you must face toward the future, not the past. Besides, if anything was different, we'd never meet."
Jean smiled to himself, and pulled off his socks, "When did you get so smart?" he teased.
"I guess it's the company I keep." She said hugging extra tight.
"Oh yeah…?" he said pulling his dress up pants off and tossing them to the floor.
"Yeah, that Jim is so smart…" she joked.
Jean turned around, "I'll so you smarts!"
He came at her with fingers flared, grabbing and tickling mercilessly all her tickly parts. She squealed and giggled as she tried to run away, but Jean grabbed her a pulled her down to the bed, pinning her. He finished with a sweet, long kiss, as she gradually wrapped her arms around him.
When he came up for air, "I really love you, you know."
She smiled up at him, "I know, and the feeling is more then mutual."
(ok something has to be said, although it's listed as romance there really isn't to much now, but there will be, also, this story is primarily angsty, the characters will discover themselves, right or wrong, though action and suspense, it will make sense later, It's really slow in the beginning, but it will pick up.)
You know the drill, stinky
Outlaw Galaxy: Old Habits Die Hard
Chapter 3
A few cab rides later, Jean Starwind and his entourage entered the extreme elegance of Silver Fox's coat room. A place so well furnished that you could enjoy an evening there and forget there was a restaurant in the next room.
Entering the main dining room the were greeted with a similar rush of furnishing excellence, as well as a snooty concierge.
Jean smiled at the man's judgmental gaze upon them, suppressing the urge to punch off his stupid pencil-width mustache for his presumptuousness. The thought left his mind as he sighted the reason for him being there in the first place.
"Hey, you made it." Angelo called as he walked towards them arms wide open. He was wearing a suit very similar to Jean's; the same pants and sports coat with the big collar in charcoal black and a dressy, deep yellow shirt underneath.
"Angelo!" he called as he walked toward his old friend with the pretence of a hug, but then caught him in a headlock, "You're gonna actually pay for this dinner, right."
Angelo chuckled at the earlier incident, "Yeah, I'm paying for real this time." and he was let go, "So, Jean, show me, where's yer peoples?"
Jean lead Angelo to where the others we standing, "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you… the famous… Angelo…"
Angelo smiled at each of them.
Jean continued with his presentation, tapping Jim on the back of the head, "Angelo this is your replacement, heh, heh, my renowned boy genius, Jim Hawking."
Angelo extended a steady arm, "Hiya Jim, put 'er there."
Jim took his and shock it firmly.
"So, Jim, you are the guy that tries to keep Jean out of trouble now, right?"
Jim smirked, "Tries, is the key word there."
Angelo chuckled heartily, "Oh yeah, I know that."
Jean shook his head in disappointment, at who or what it wasn't entirely certain, "Ugh, moving on… the amazingly good looking bio-synthoid they talk of, Melphina."
Melphina strolled up with a smile and extended her hand to be shook, but instead, Angelo put her hand in his, he bent over and gave it a light kiss. Melphina blushed quickly, and Aisha and Sazuka giggled to each other. Jim smiled to himself, secretly hoping to see Jean go crazy or start a fight or something. Jean just frowned.
Angelo brought himself back up, "Very pleased to meet you, Melphina." he said in a friendly tone.
Melphina smiled back, "Same to you, Angelo."
Jean cleared his throat to bring attention back to him, he motioned towards Sazuka, "Now, my personal assassin…"
"Yes, Twilight Sazuka." Angelo interrupted, his eyes taking a more serious edge as he smiled slyly at Sazuka, "Your reputation precedes you, Miss."
Sazuka smiled at him contently.
"But no where have I heard that you were so beautiful."
Sazuka giggled at the compliment, she extended her arm, her wrist limp, presenting it for him to kiss, as if it were a great honor. In Jean's opinion, that was a pretty arrogant thing to do, but Angelo didn't seem to mind as he laid a light kiss on her hand.
"And last, my big cat faced punching bag…"
"Aisha Clan Clan!" she interrupted as she pushed past and up to Angelo, her hand held out for her to kiss. Angelo smiled at her with those serious eyes, and took her hand in his, but before he could do anything, Jean interrupted.
"She has rabies."
"I do not have rabies!" Aisha yelled at him.
Angelo simply smiled at her, "Well, even if you did, I think it would be well worth it."
Aisha giggled like a school girl and stuck her tongue out at Jean as Angelo kissed her hand.
Jean shrugged, "You never listen to me, Angelo, now you're gonna get sick and die…, but anyway, can we eat all ready, I'm starving"
------
Aisha Clan Clan ate merrily at her food as the others conversed. Stuffing plate after plate of very expensive food into her maw, nosily and messily, no regard for the others at the table. It was always the way she ate, and she wasn't going to stop now. It mattered not that each plate she devoured would cost poor Angelo and arm and a leg to pay for, she ate until she was no longer hungry, that's how it had to be with her.
Another hot plate of Grilled Horatian Cloud Bass was served in front of her, she made a delighted squeal, and dug in.
Across from her, Jean and Angelo were going at it in a lengthy conversation about the past, as happy as two united brothers, as the others ate quietly. Jean and Angelo were jolly as could be, laughing loudly, obviously bothering the other diners in the restaurant. Jim and Melphina ate their meals and listened silently to the conversation, while Sazuka ate, and didn't seem to pay attention at all.
Jean recanted his whole life story to Angelo since the time they were separated, but he was very careful about what he said. He told Angelo about everything but the Leyline, wanting to keep it's existence and disappearance a secret. Why Jean didn't want to share it with his childhood best friend, she was unsure, she guessed Jean didn't want to share it with anyone but his close circle.
It turns out, Angelo, after escaping on the ship, his luck turned bad for him, or worse. The crew of that ship got scared that Space Forces would imprison them, so they destroyed all the merchandise, captured Angelo and the others that worked for Loe, and sold them into slavery on the frontier Human world of Farel. Angelo got sold to an outlaw named "Love Warrior" Zoe Cantolopis, a woman known for her veracious appetite for lust, but not for her looks. Angelo killed her within the first day, and stole her ship, the Dildo Star.
Angelo didn't get very far, he was tracked by friends of Zoe looking to avenge their comrade. Angelo crashed into one of the planetoids of a stellar body known as the Serran Microids, a spatial anomaly of thousands of small planetoids, some the size of a city and others the size of front yards, that are so closely organized, only a matter of a hundred or so kilometers each, that they share the same breathable atmosphere and a cohesive gravity between that makes each world feel like much bigger worlds, you could fly a small plane to the other microids. They were sparsely populated, mainly by farmers, with a few small cities.
Here Zoe's allies lost him for a very long time, thinking they killed him. He got a job shooting Space Mites, a weird creature that lives in space and would enter the Microids to prey on livestock, for farmers on the smaller Microids, private investigating, protection work, and one job where he guided the war happy forces of a Sith Attack Fleet through the Microids, but then betrayed them to the Silgrian Security Fleet. He made a small living but never enough to buy passage on a ether-drive ship off the Microids. He actually got pretty good at it, killing Space Mites anyway.
Eventually, Zoe's friends, specifically an outlaw named "Hyper" Hal, another named Orville "the Incinerator" Spencer, and another named Sara Black, once again tried to kill him, but Angelo had been preparing for them. He knifed Hal in the head quickly, killed Orville in a lengthy gunfight, and rigged Sara Black's ship, the Witch Brand, with explosives and cremated her. After that he stole Orville's ship, the Fire Starter, and flew off. He heard the buzz about the upset Privateer victory of Starwind at the Heyfong races, and set out to find his old friend. As he went, he heard more strange and fantastic stories about him, the McDougal Brothers, and the Kae Pirates, and found Jean by accident this morning.
Aisha continued her eating, she wasn't so interested in his story, but Jean sure was. He listened intently to everything he said, and emphasized his happiness every time he heard Angelo speak of his accomplishments, which is exactly the same thing Angelo did for Jean's story.
They truely seemed happy to be united again, they spoke with no edge that separated persons usually had when coming together.
Aisha still didn't care, filling her seemingly bottomless belly was all that was on her mind. Angelo didn't interest her in the least, except…
She noticed every now and then, when he wasn't engrossed in conversation, Angelo would shift his eye quickly to the side to get an eyeful of Aisha, then he would look away again as if nothing had occurred. Humans staring at her when she was eating was nothing new to her, someone was always gawking at her during dinner, but something was different about his looks. Most times people looked at her with reserved disgust, but he looked at her with interest, like he wanted to say something but hesitated and decided to forget about it.
There, he did it again, right as she took a swig strait from the Champagne bottle, raising the bottle above her head as she drained it's contents.
Could it be a look of attraction?
Aisha almost laughed out loud at that thought. A Katarl Katarl would never consider a Human in that way, humans were different, they recognized Katarl Katarl superiority and so they were tempted, but their efforts were in vain, as self-respecting Katarl Katarl would never lower themselves.
Angelo laughed at some joke Jean told, "Ha, well, enough about me. Tell me about your friends, Jean."
Jean leaned back in his chair, "What's there to tell?"
Angelo smirked, "Well, maybe how you combined boy genius, a one of a kind bio-synthoid navigator, a galaxy renowned assassin," Angelo's gaze shifted to Aisha again, "a Katarl Katarl with a very healthy appetite?" he said more like a question then a statement, "and yourself into one crew?"
"Me and Jean have been together for awhile." Jim piped in from across the table.
"Well, whose the little lady you were talking about, Jean?" Angelo asked.
Jean grabbed Melphina in a near headlock hug, "This is my baby! And I luvs 'er"
Jean gave Melphina a big wet kiss on the cheek, and Melphina blushed. Jim laughed out load, and Angelo smiled, his gaze shifting quickly from the two to Aisha, then back again.
That look served to prove Aisha's "love/lust" theory, Aisha was beginning to wonder about this Angelo Western.
--------
Time went by, and the restaurant closed for the night, but Jean and Angelo were still awake and wanting to talk. Sazuka returned to the ship with a very tired Melphina and Jim, while Jean and Angelo decided to continue their talk at a local bar. Aisha, wanting to wet her whistle a little more, went with them.
There Angelo and Jean talked long into the evening, or morning, where as Aisha became very drunk, and quick. Jean and Angelo soon ran out of old times to remember and stories to relate, the issue of the present was now on their minds.
Jean was enthusiastic about the subject, Angelo showed a few reservations.
The bar they chose was a seedy little dive, far from the upper class areas where Sliver Fox was. Simple stools, a dirty counter, and bad lighting was the setting. The bar patrons were equally drab; outlaws and pirates by the looks of them.
"How about it Angelo?" Jean asked, hand on his glass.
"Meehhh…" Angelo mused, slouched in his chair, tracing his finger along his glass.
"Come on…"
"Meehhh…"
"What, you don't wanna work with me again?"
"Nooo, it's not that." Angelo sat up, "Starwind & Hawking Enterprises seems a little out of my reach."
"What does that mean?!"
"Well, you, Jim, Melphina, Aisha, and Suzuki…
"Sazuka." Jean corrected.
"Whatever, it's just you've all come together over this weird adventure of yours, I wasn't there, so I'd be the odd man out."
"What?! No you wouldn't."
"Well, why don't you think about my proposition again, Jean."
"No way, I've told you…"
"But Jean," Angelo pleaded, leaning forward right into, "Don't you see. It's more then just a crazy venture. It would be like old times, you and me going up against the odds, because as a pair we're unstoppable."
Jean frowned and looked away, Angelo continued with a pleading look upon his face.
"It's been only 4 years, have you forgotten what it felt like. Let's take that supped up ship of yours, we'll bring the crew, we'll blow the Iron Cathedral up and jack 'em for everything they got!"
Jean took a sip of his whisky, and sighed, "Sorry, man. I'm not prepared to risk things anymore, ya know…"
"No, I don't know!" a hint of tension in his voice.
"That's just it, Angelo, you don't know! I have some one I want to see at the end of the day, you don't."
There was a moment of silence as the two stared directly into each other's eyes, unwavering. Angelo broke gaze first, he slouched back into his seat, and took a sip of his drink while staring off.
"That's low, man…" Angelo mumbled.
"I'm sorry, Angelo." Jean spoke up, "but back then, I was such a dare devil because I had nothing to live for, no family, no real girl, you were basically the only friend I had, there was no point to my existence in my mind." Jean slammed his fist on the table for emphasis , "And I know you felt the same way."
"What's your point, Jean?" looking back into Jean's eyes
Jean continued, "But now, I've got I girl I'm really in love with, and it scares me. I mean it's not back then when I'd run with a girl for a while, it's love, terrifying love. Terrifying that I could loss this love if I were away to long! I've changed Angelo, it's not all about me anymore."
Angelo shrugged, "Still searching for a point here."
Sat back in his seat, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes, "The point is… I'm not prepared… to enter a situation where the odds are so far out of my favor that they could measure the distance between them in light years."
"Sheesh…" Angelo trailed off, averting his eyes again.
"I'm not gonna risk losing any off my people, especially Melphina, over this fantasy mission. I'm not gonna die and leave Melphina either."
"And one girl made you change everything that we used to be…"
"Damn straight! And I'm thankful everyday that I'm with her. You just don't understand, you need a girl…"
"Ugh, thank you for that…" Angelo trailed off sarcastically, taking a sip of his glass.
Jean gave Angelo a stiff punch in his right arm with a smile on his face. Angelo gave a little surprised yelp, and Jean laughed.
"Cheer up buddy, you'll find yourself nice girlfriend like me." Jean jeered.
"I'll beee juurr gerrrlfriend…" Aisha said from under the table.
The little Katarl Katarl had gotten very drunk, and chose to sit on the floor, because she had some trouble getting on to a chair. She had been quiet for a while, and Jean and Angelo had just assumed she had fallen asleep or died.
Aisha pulled herself off the floor, with much difficulty, and the help of the table. Angelo had been kind enough to give her his sports jacket so that she could hid her rapidly descending cleavage line. As soon as she was up, she slapped her thin, muscular frame against Angelo, to his and Jean's surprise. She leaned against him, practically seated on his lap. She wrapped her arm around him, her red-eyed face dangerously close to his. Angelo squirmed a bit in her embrace, but kept his cool. Jean stared at her with venom in his eyes, like she was a huge embarrassment he silently wanted to go away or catch on fire.
Aisha cupped his lip with her fingers, "Haayy Gelo, ju er kinda cute, ju know."
Jean glared his teeth, "Aisha what's wrong with you?!"
Aisha growled at him, "Shad up Jean, ju big funny retard."
Angelo just smirked.
Jean leaned forward to yell into her face, "You literally drunk yourself under the table!" he then retreated back, waving a hand in front of his face like he was warding of bad smells, "And you smell like fish, that doesn't even make sence!"
"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh, shad up… I'm talkin' ta my honey buggy, he so preeetty…" Aisha said while stroking his chin, Angelo smiling like it was an amusing joke. However, Aisha trailed off, and seemed to forget what she was saying. She looked around with those dowdy eyes for something to help her remember. She sited Angelo's drink, "Haaayyy, whacha drinkin."
She reached for it, but Angelo pulled it away quickly, "Hey, I think you've had enough, kitty cat."
Aisha frowned, "Naw uhh…," Aisha finished with a resounding belch.
Angelo recoiled a bit, but laughed just the same, "Oh yeah?"
Jean scoffed, "Now it smells like beans, what is with you Aisha?"
Aisha frowned, "Well, if no one 'ill gif mia drink, I'm gonna go get one mysheelf."
Aisha leaped off of Angelo, a little wobbly, and tottered off towards the bar.
"Ah, come on kitty cat, you're going to get cirrhosis!" Angelo pleaded.
Aisha turned around and stuck her tongue out, "A Katarl Katarl won't get cirrhosis from you're pathetic human alcohol, and they won't get drunk either (burp)!"
Angelo laughed, Jean just shook his head in shame.
"I'm really sorry about her, she's so pathetic." Jean said draining his glass.
Angelo's view returned to Jean, with a smile, "Ahhh, don't be so hard on her, I think she's cute."
Jean lowered his glass and looked at him flatly. Angelo mimicked his flat look.
"Cute? More like childish."
"She's childish when she's drunk?" Angelo said sarcastically.
"Well, she's a hell of lot more annoying when she's sober." Jean said as he finished his drink.
Angelo looked down at his whisky, "Hmm… so… what's her story?"
Jean put his empty glass on the table, "Well, she was a… a Katarl Katarl officer in the navy. We, sorta, bumped into each other as we were leaving Blue Heaven some time ago. We embarrassed her before her commanders, and they left her on Blue Heaven…"
"Left her?"
"Pretty much, bro. They gave her some bogus title, like ambassador. Well, we met up again, she bitched about it, we scuffled, she tried to kill me, followed us around for awhile and, during the Heyfong Space Race, she attempted to ambush us, then… I think she has a short attention span or sumthin', because she just seemed to forget her grudge, and, well, she's been with us every since."
"Cool…"
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of something heavy crashing through a table, spilling and breaking glasses, and Aisha's insane laughter proceeding it. Angelo and Jean turned to see, Aisha, as giddy as a school girl, laughing at a vicious-looking guy with several long scars on his face, who had fallen or was pushed back through a table and crashed and hit the floor hard, a very evil, angry look on his face.
"Ha ha ha, jur no match fera' true Katarl Katarl warrior!"
Aisha's laughter was cut short as another vicious looking guy slammed a bar stool into her head. Aisha made a goofy face, and fall over.
Angelo leaped out of his seat, but Jean put up his hand to stop him.
"No, Angelo, don't worry about it. She can take care of them no problem."
Angelo scoffed, "Jean, that's not cool…"
With that Angelo ran toward the fight, where the second vicious guy was about to use a piece of the broken stool to bludgeon the woozy Aisha. Angelo reached up and placed a hand on the man's fist, preventing him from striking, with surprising strength despite his smaller stature.
Angelo smiled slyly at the outraged guy, "Hey man, that's no way to hurt a Katarl Katarl."
"NO, THIS IS!!" Aisha roared as she burst up off the ground. She slammed into her assailant's midsection with such force, that he and her flew several feet back and collided with the wall.
That first bar patron, that Aisha had pushed over, had gotten off the ground and ran to help his friend. Angelo slammed his arm into his chest and neck as he ran by and clotheslined him. The momentum from his lower body continued, while the upper's abruptly stopped. The man slipped and crashed flat on his back.
A third angry man, a rotund dude with a mohawk, who had preoccupied himself with the jukebox in the corner, ran to strike Angelo with his fist. The punch was so long armed and momentous that, Angelo merely shifted his head to the side, and the man sailed past him. Angelo grabbed between the elbow and shoulder as he got close enough, and thrusted his knee into the man's groin.
Jean watched it all with a mix of amusement, disgust, and disinterest. He knew Aisha could beat the brains out of every guy in this bar, even when she's drunk, and with Angelo in the equation, provided his fighting ability hadn't diminished, which Jean was pretty sure hadn't happened, this fight didn't need to concern him.
Jean took a sip of his glass, then finding it empty, slammed it on the table. He stood up slowly, dodging a thrown bottle of whisky. He pulled off his fancy jacket, laid it neatly on his seat, and undid his collar.
"Oh well, got nothing better to do…" he said as he stalked towards the melee.
----------
Jean admired his ship as he walked closer to it. It rested peaceful in one of Blue Heaven's tight dry docks, the magnetic field protecting the vacuum of the enormous port exit behind it. The blanket of stars, asteroids, and blackness beyond offset the ships vibrant red coloring. Two huge docking clamps clipped into the Outlaw Star's side, holding it steady. It was his home and his livelihood.
He walked up to it's side and stroked an ominous gun barrel. He just liked to admire his ship from time to time, remember the good times that had blossomed from the day he first obtained the vessel, actually it was after the first day that the good times came, but you know.
Jean gave a quick sigh, and patted his ship, before moving away towards the entrance. Jean looked back and frowned at his comrade's slowness.
Angelo was several feet behind, dragging along and laboring under the weight of the unconscious Aisha Clan Clan, who he was carrying piggy-backed toward the ship. He was straggling far behind Jean, and had a strained look on his face.
Jean put his hands on his hips and smirked at the spectacle, "She would have found her way back in the morning, ya know. You didn't have to carry her here."
Angelo caught up to Jean, and smirked back, "What are you talking about, Jean. Since when do you act so mean to pretty young ladies?"
Jean looked at him like he said the most incorrect thing in the world, "First off! She ain't a lady, she's a little girl, with the common sense of a roll of toilet paper…"
"Nice…" Angelo mumbled sarcastically.
"Second, she's not pretty, and she's an alien, don't date outside the species, brother. Third, why do you think she's pretty?!"
Angelo frowned, "Hey this ain't no…" Angelo took Aisha off his back and placed her on the ground, where she sprawled out across the metal dock, "This ain't no inquisition. I'm just a nice guy helping out a new friend."
"Oh, she's a new friend, not a friend of a friend."
"A friend of a friend is my friend too."
"Hmm, well… is she hurt?"
Angelo looked down at Aisha, who looked peaceful and contented on the floor, "No… I think she's just… sleeping…"
Jean got indignant, "Heh, sleeping… oh well, I can bother you tomorrow." Jean yawned, "Speaking of sleeping, where are you sleeping, Angelo?"
Angelo thrusted a thumb back toward the lift to the city of Blue Heaven, "I've got a little room on the lower east side.
"Are you kidding, that's like 5 miles away. You're gonna stay in my house tonight." Jean said demandingly with a smile on his face.
"Meeeeehhhh…" Angelo said again.
"Oh, not again. Look, you'll stay in one of the spare rooms, maybe see how you like it. We'll sleep in till one in the afternoon and then we'll, I don't know, we'll go to basket ball courts and hustle kids at three card monty like old times."
Angelo smiled brightly, "That last one sounds like fun…"
"Well come on then, bring the stray cat with you."
Picking Aisha up by the legs and carrying her in up side down, "It's a date. Oh, and speaking of same sex dating, is Fred Loe still…"
"Gay as a rainbow."
"Still denying it?"
"You know it."
-------
Melphina was woken up by someone flopping down on the other side of the bed. She slowly opened her eyes, batting away the "sleep" that had formed. She took a deep, sighing breath. She turned over tiredly to see who it was, but she had an idea even in her drowsy state.
She turned to see Jean stripped down to his white under shirt and pants. He was seated on the opposite side of the bed, back to her, pulling off his shoes and socks. The faint smell of cheap liquor about him, he must have used mouth wash, or else it would have been much worse. That was considerate of him to clean himself a bit before coming to bed, too bad it was a habit he learned late in their relationship.
She turned over completely and lifted her upper body off the bed onto her hands. Jean noticed the rustling, and turned to look at Melphina briefly, then went back to what he was doing.
"Sorry, Mel" he said.
"It's all right." she said, laying back on the pillow, her arms behind her head in a relaxed position.
Jean continued undoing his tricky shoes.
"Where's Angelo?" she asked.
"I set him up in one of the spare rooms so he would have to walk back to his place."
"Oh. So, did you have fun."
"Sure did," Jean raised his head, looking up as if he were thinking a happy though, "We got into a bar fight and everything. It's so great to see him again. He's just like I remembered. Great guy… great friend…"
Melphina smiled at Jean's enthusiasm, "Yeah… You know, I can't stop thinking about the way you too split up, I mean the circumstances. To have a person so important to you in your life one minute, and the next… poof, they're gone, no warning, no explanation, just gone."
She was distracted by a heavy handed shoe hitting the ground. Jean was slumped over where he was sitting.
"That was the second time in my life that's happened…"
At first puzzlement, then the realization hit Melphina, "Oh, your father…"
She pulled herself out of the covers, and crawled on knees to her lover. She pressed close to him, wrapping her arms around him. Jean grabbed a hold of her hands lightly, so that she could not let go of him.
He spoke softly, "When my father died, I was gonna collapse, seriously, but I survived, I went on, made some friends, made some money, I was… healing. And then Angelo died, basically, it was worse, because it was like a compounded tragedy."
"I'm sorry…" Melphina coddled.
"I mean, me and him were so close, ya know. He were both coming from the exact same place. If either one of us needed help, we'd help each other. If either of us had a problem, we'd solve it together. The spoils of what we did was always shared between us first. We were brothers…"
"Hmm…" she hummed into his neck.
"But I'm serious about us coming from the same place. You see, when he was 10 or 11, his father had some gambling problems. He made a deal with a bookie and owed them a big sum of wong. When he couldn't pay, they came to collect it from his ass. They killed Angelo's dad and his mom right in front of him,"
"Awful…"
"Yeah, but before that his dad made a little distraction so that Angelo and his mom could get away, like I said his mom didn't. Angelo hid in the streets after that, trying to etch out a life, just like me. So, we hit it off. Oh, and just FYI, a few years later we went back to that wannabe gangster, he doesn't take bets anymore if you know what I mean… It makes me think, a lot…"
"That's a first." Melphina teased.
"Yeah, exactly," Jean chuckled, "But, seriously, I'm always thinking, what if, what if I stayed with my father on the ship, what if I had chosen to put my fears behind me and jump on to that ship with Angelo? Would I have been better of to do those things?"
"You should never wish to change something in the past," Melphina lectured, "Everything that has happened has happened for a reason, and no matter what decisions you make you must face toward the future, not the past. Besides, if anything was different, we'd never meet."
Jean smiled to himself, and pulled off his socks, "When did you get so smart?" he teased.
"I guess it's the company I keep." She said hugging extra tight.
"Oh yeah…?" he said pulling his dress up pants off and tossing them to the floor.
"Yeah, that Jim is so smart…" she joked.
Jean turned around, "I'll so you smarts!"
He came at her with fingers flared, grabbing and tickling mercilessly all her tickly parts. She squealed and giggled as she tried to run away, but Jean grabbed her a pulled her down to the bed, pinning her. He finished with a sweet, long kiss, as she gradually wrapped her arms around him.
When he came up for air, "I really love you, you know."
She smiled up at him, "I know, and the feeling is more then mutual."
(ok something has to be said, although it's listed as romance there really isn't to much now, but there will be, also, this story is primarily angsty, the characters will discover themselves, right or wrong, though action and suspense, it will make sense later, It's really slow in the beginning, but it will pick up.)