Part 4 -- a Brief Lesson in Anthropology
"You want to talk about it?" Jess offered as Mel walked into the bar, carrying a bag of chocolate chips in one hand.
"No." Mel shook her head firmly, tearing open the bag of chocolate chips and setting it on the bar. "And it's not what you think, Jess."
"You were naked in his lap, Mel. Crying! Something happened." Jess walked over to Mel and slid a comforting arm around her shoulder, softening her tone. "What happened, Mel? Can you tell me?"
Mel sighed and nodded, helping herself to a handful of chocolate chips. Closing her eyes, she rested her head against her friend's shoulder, grateful that Jess was not going to tease her as she had half-feared. She was far too emotional to have been able to handle that and Jess, bless her, seemed to recognize that.
"I fell in the shower," she said, deciding that Jess had absolutely no need to know what had happened between herself and Cole afterwards. She was still not entirely sure what to make of that yet herself.
"You were in the bedroom," Jess whispered, gently brushing Mel's hair out of her face.
"Yeah, well… Cole brought me there after I fell. I was shaken up and…"
"Shaken up?" Jess repeated, frowning. Mel was more upset than Jess had credited, and not because she had been found in a compromising position with Cole. That fact actually seemed lost on her in spite of the fact that Mel had freaked over much less in the past. "Mel, sweetie, what happened?" she asked gently.
"Kitten happened," Mel growled, reaching across the bar without opening her eyes. She found a glass and selected a bottle at random before opening her eyes. Scotch. Nodding to herself, she half-filled the water-glass.
"Kitten?" Jess repeated blankly.
"Cole's new pet. Last night she climbs into bed with me. Today, she joined me in the shower and scared the shit out of me."
Jess frowned. "Mel, I know you're a bit highly strung at times, but this seems like an overreaction to having a cat join you in the shower…"
"Not a cat, Jess. Kitten. She's a six-foot snake who's waging a campaign of psychological warfare against me," Mel clarified.
"Oh," Jess said softly. "Poor Mel."
Mel sighed and nodded. "Cole loves the damned thing…"
"But you don't?" Jess sighed and grabbed a few of the milk-chocolate morsels herself. "And she decides to join you in the shower? What'd Cole say?"
"He was totally apologetic." Mel shrugged. "It's not like I'm angry or blaming him, Jess, because I'm not, but Kitten… I swear, if I didn't know better, I'd think she was jealous or something."
"You break your neck in the shower and she's got Cole to herself?" Jess asked.
"Basically." Mel sighed deeply. "I don't know, Jess. Maybe I'm overreacting."
"You aren't overreacting, Mel," Cole said gently, joining the ladies at the bar. "Kitten is being a very bad girl."
"Not that I can blame her for being jealous of you, Cole," Jess teased with a grin. "But, really… Poor Mel," she repeated, hugging her friend. "Kitten needs a time-out or something…"
Cole nodded. "She was not properly socialized as an infant." His eyes settled on the bag of chocolate and then on the glass sitting on the bar. "Isn't it a little early, Mel?" he asked gently.
"With the 24 hours I've had, Cole? No." Mel took another sip of her scotch and nearly dropped her glass as the stairwell door swung open. "Cole," she breathed. "I thought I told you to start locking the doors."
"I did…" He frowned uncomprehendingly as Mel raced across the bar, determined to shut the door before Jess saw.
Kitten darted past Mel and made a bee-line towards Cole. Mel saw with horror that there was something in the K'kul cahn's mouth. She just hoped that the poor thing was not alive any more, whatever it was. Her eyes darted to Jess, staring at Kitten with wide eyes.
"Bloody 'ell," Jess breathed.
Kitten dropped the tennis ball in her mouth at Cole's feet and let out a hopeful bark. Cole glared at her.
"I thought I told you to stay in the war-room, young lady," he told her in a low voice, shaking his head in disgust.
"Cole, just get it upstairs," Mel murmured quickly, moving past him to make sure the front door was still locked. "Jess, I can explain," she began, turning to face the wide-eyed barmaid as Cole scooped up the hissing Kitten and started for the stairs.
"Wait!" Jess protested, hurrying out from behind the bar and stepping in front of Cole. "I can't believe… oh, bloody hell! It is! Cole, you found this while you were in Brazil?" she asked, her voice eager and her eyes shining.
Mel stared for a moment before walking to the bar to retrieve her drink and her chocolate. She needed both. Badly.
"Yes, Jess. She followed me back to my hotel." Cole nodded, feeling as uncertain as Mel over Jess' reaction.
"Can I touch it?" Jess asked.
Mel's head shot up, her expression stunned. Typical Jess, completely unfazed by the most bizarre of circumstances. Shrugging, she drained her glass and poured herself another as Cole showed Jess how Kitten liked to be scratched.
"I once dated this guy had an albino python," Jess was rambling as Kitten purred under her attentions, "and she was gorgeous, Cole. But Kitten here… my God, she's bloody brilliant!"
Cole nodded. "Yes, Jess. Kitten is very intelligent."
Jess blinked at the statement. Typical Cole. "Well, yeah, of course she is… She's a Quetzalcoatl."
Mel tilted her head and helped herself to more chocolate. A what?
"No, Jess. She is a K'kul cahn," Cole corrected her.
Jess frowned faintly. "Kukulkan, Quetzalcoatl. Same difference." She shrugged and stared raptly at Kitten as she looped herself around Cole's shoulders.
"It is?" Cole asked, frowning.
"Jess?" Mel asked.
"Same word, different language," Jess said, shrugging.
Mel blinked, wondering if it was possible. The girl had certainly spent enough time with Mel's grandmother that it might be. "Jess, do you speak--"
"Mayan? Nah!" Jess grinned and shook her head. "Just know a few words for different culturally and religiously significant things," she explained absently.
Mel's eyes widened even further. It was the same word in Cirronian and Mayan. What the hell? "And that… other word?"
"Quetzalcoatl?" Jess frowned. "Aztec, Mel. What do they teach you Yanks in school?" she laughed, shaking her head. "This is amazing, Cole," she continued. "This has got to be the biggest anthropological find since… well… Lucy!"
Cole frowned uncertainly. "Who is Lucy? An anthropologist?"
Jess laughed softly before explaining, "Lucy. Discovered by Donald Johanson? Hadar. Olduvai Gorge in Ethiopia?" Shaking her head, she tried again. "Australopithecus afarensis, probably the oldest confirmed example of a hominid," she clarified. "Turned the field of anthropology on its ear, her discovery did. And why are you both looking at me like I'm speaking a different language?" she added, frowning.
"Because for a minute there it sounded like you were," Mel suggested, shaking her head.
Jess turned to face her, frowning faintly. "What, Mel? Just because I'm blonde and perky means I can't be interested in the sciences? Honestly…"
Mel shook her head. "I'm sorry, Jess. It's just that… I mean…" She paused. "You know what that thing is?" she asked, pointing to Kitten.
"Yeah, Mel. I told you. It's a Quetzalcoatl."
"Okay, fine. But what is it?" Mel pressed. Recovered from her shock, she suddenly had a lot of questions. Like how Jess could know anything at all about Cole's alien 'baby', and how Kitten had gotten to Earth in the first place.
"Literally, feathered snake or serpent of the heavens." Jess jerked her head at Kitten. "Huge figure in Aztec and Mayan mythology, Mel. And supposed to be a myth."
"Wish it were a myth," Mel muttered.
Kitten hissed, unwrapped herself from Cole's shoulders and, levitating several feet off the ground, vanished up the stairs and into the apartment.
"It flies?" Mel gasped, glaring at Cole. "You did not mention that it flies, Cole!"
Cole stared after Kitten with a shrug. "Sorry, Mel."
"You also forgot to mention that it opens doors!" Mel snapped, fighting the urge to throw something at him. "What else haven't you told me about it?" she demanded.
Cole recoiled, startled by her obvious anger. He said the first thing that came to mind. "She plays chess…"
Wrong answer. Mel let out a frustrated howl.
Jess frowned and abruptly asked, "Hey, if you didn't think it was a Quetzalcoatl, what did you think it was?"
Mel lowered her head to the bar, giving up.
"How long have these creatures appeared in human mythology, Jess?" Cole queried.
Mel's head shot up again. "Cole!" Bad to worse.
"'Human' mythology?" Jess repeated. She shrugged. "Thousands and thousands of years. More if you look at some of the dragon mythology out there. Why?"
"Her ancestors must have come to Earth with the Progenitors, Mel," Cole announced, nodding.
"Cole, Jess is still here," Mel pointed out, shaking her head in disgust. She would have gone upstairs and straight back to bed if Kitten had not been lurking somewhere in the damned apartment, no doubt just waiting to sink her teeth into Mel's jugular.
"Who are the Progenitors, Cole?" Jess asked, raising a curious eyebrow.
"Cole," Mel warned.
"I think Jess should know, Mel," Cole told her, smiling. "We can trust her and she is my friend."
"You know what? Fine?" Mel shook her head in defeat. "So what if we've spent the last ten months trying to hide this from her, Cole? You just have at it!"
Missing her sarcasm, Cole nodded and explained to Jess, "Six alien races have been visiting your planet for millions of years now, Jess. The Progenitors were a group who came here to establish the Guardian bloodlines, to… preserve certain lore and artifacts."
Her curious smile widened into one of unabashed delight. "You aren't human, are you, Cole?" she breathed.
"No, Jess." He shook his head faintly and smiled gently down at her, his expression reassuring.
His smile widened as it became clear that the young woman who was such a good friend to both of them was not in the slightest need of reassurance. Quite the contrary, she seemed remarkably pleased with the intelligence he had just shared with her.
"Explains a fair bit about you, doesn't it?" Jess laughed. "But you look human," she added, frowning.
Cole nodded. "I took a human form after coming to this planet," he explained. "To blend in."
"Ah." Jess nodded. "So Kitten's an alien, too?"
Cole nodded, then shook his head. "She was born on Earth, I think, Jess. But her species originated on Cirron."
"Cool." Jess grinned. "And then got brought here millions of years ago by these aliens?"
Cole nodded placidly.
Jess smiled widely. "Pretty neat. I know a few anthropologists who would love to get their hands on her."
"No!" Mel said quickly, shaking her head. "Jess, you can't. Who knows what they'd do to her?"
"Oh, good point." Jess frowned. It had not occurred to her before, but Mel was 100% correct. Kitten was an amazing scientific find, one that people would want to study. And not all such people would be inclined to be gentle. "Plus it'd open up a lot of questions about you guys," she added quietly.
"Which would be a very bad thing," Mel sighed. "Please, Jess. You can't tell anyone. You don't know what the government would do to Cole if they…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "Please?" she implored her friend.
Jess blinked, startled. "Sure, Mel, sure." She nodded quickly. No wonder Mel had always been so skittish where Cole was concerned. "I swear, I won't tell a soul." She gave Cole a reassuring smile and squeezed Mel's shoulder, nodding.
Mel gave her a weak smile. "Thanks, Jess."
"No problem, sweetie."
"Mel," Cole said softly. "I'm going to go upstairs and talk to Kitten. There are many things she needs to understand."
Mel looked up at him, her expression weary. "She understands every word we say, doesn't she, Cole?"
Cole nodded. "Yes, Mel. I told you, the K'kul cahn are a very intelligent race."
"Sure they are," Mel muttered as Cole vanished upstairs. "So why does Kitten hate me, Jess?"
"Maybe she is jealous," Jess suggested cheerfully.
"Jealous?" Mel repeated, blinking. "Jess, I was joking about that."
Jess ignored the protest. "You see it with dogs and cats a lot. Their owner starts dating someone, and the animal gets jealous. Does everything in its power to make that person miserable, Mel."
Mel looked up at her and realized she was serious. "Right. I knew there was a reason I've never had a pet. But what's Kitten got to be jealous of? Cole practically ignores me when she's around…"
"Not how it looked to me upstairs," Jess told her.
"Jess, for the last time, Cole and I are not--"
"I believe you, Mel."
"You do?" Mel stared at her in surprise. She actually meant it.
"Yeah. Cole's not human. I doubt anything could happen… I mean, hell, he probably doesn't even find humans that attractive if he's not one."
Mel smiled wryly, shaking her head and admitting, "Not that, Jess. It's his job."
"Ah, so men really are the same all over?" Jess sat down next to Mel and patted her back sympathetically. "But he obviously adores you all the same, Mel. And it's got Kitten jealous."
"Well good for Kitten." Mel sighed deeply. "So what do I do, Jess?"
"No bloody clue." Jess shrugged. "Send her air-freight back to Brazil?"
"Cole loves her, Jess. I can't."
Jess frowned sympathetically. "Then you sit her down and have a long talk with her. Cole says she can understand you."
Mel sighed and nodded. "This is my life, Jess. Alien cops, a grandmother who hung out with her own circle of alien friends--"
"That explains a lot, too," Jess remarked quietly.
"And heart-to-heart talks with poisonous feathered snakes that bark, purr, laugh, and fly even though they don't have wings. Oh, yes, and who have higher IQs than most of the men I've dated in my life…"
Jess laughed. "Yeah, well she is a female after all," she pointed out, winking.
Mel grinned and chuckled, helping herself to another handful of chocolate chips and offering the bag to Jess.
"So he's really not human?" Jess asked, leaning close and lowering her voice. Time for some quality girl-talk.
Mel laughed and nodded. "He's really not. Scared the shit out of me when we first met."
"You knew? From the beginning?"
"Almost." Mel shrugged. "I found out on the second day. He saved my life."
"Oh, wow," Jess breathed. "That's so romantic…"
"Oh, you have no idea." Mel smiled fondly. "He cried, Jess."
"Aww…" Jess bit her lower lip and placed one hand over her heart. "Bloody hell, Mel. I don't care if he is an alien. You need to snatch the boy up."
"Oh, you think that's as good as he gets?" Mel shook her head. "He does this… this thing to my throat…" Mel raised her hand to her throat, stroking it absently and half-closing her eyes.
"Sounds sexy."
"Oh, you have no idea. Does things to me that no kiss ever has. Well…" Mel bowed her head, flushing and smiling.
"You've kissed him?" Jess asked with wide eyes.
"Once or twice," Mel admitted, bemused that they had just revealed to Jess that Cole was not human and all Jess seemed interested in was what kind of boyfriend that made him.
"What's it like?"
"Out of this world," Mel told her, grinning. "It's like… like there's actual electricity passing between our bodies." Her smile widened. "And it does not stop at our lips, Jess," she added in a low voice.
"Wow," Jess murmured, pouring two fresh drinks. "So, where can I find myself one of him?"
Mel giggled and raised her glass to Jess. "Here's to out of this world Cirronians."
"And their barking snakes," Jess added gravely before both women dissolved into giggles.
End Part 4
Last part coming soon. Kitten's master plan is finally revealed…