Chapter 22 - Caught In the Middle
Tyana lifted her head, her eyes finding that all she could see was darkness. Black, empty, shadowed darkness. She clambered to her feet, her muscles aching and throbbing. Turning slowly she tried to let her eyes adjust while at the same time searching for a stream of light. A little way off she could see the bright glow of something reflecting the moonlight that she now realized was shining faintly through a window 10 ft up what must have been a wall. Curious, she headed towards the glinting object…
Tyana flickered back to consciousness with the sounds of Shadow trying to get into the bathroom echoing around her. Dizzy, confused, and cloudy she shifted her weight enough that Shadow could turn the handle and slip in.
"Ty, are you ok?" she asked worriedly, kneeling beside her fallen friend.
Tyana blinked and tried to focus. "I think I blacked out" she mumbled quietly, attempting to shake it off. Shadow nodded,
"I think you did too. Come on, let's get you up" Shadow lifted her friend to her feet and supported her as she lead her back into the bedroom to her bed. She laid her down, letting her mumble confusedly as she pulled the covers over her. The beautiful woman had fallen asleep even before Shadow reached the communicators.
***
The next morning Tyana awoke slowly, her head pounding with a gentle urgency. As soon as her pretty violet eyes fluttered open the beating between them began to instantly increase and within seconds she found that she very much so needed some aspirin. She slipped out from between the covers and let herself balance on her feet, a little dizzy, before she started off towards the bathroom where she and her friend left such things that could be considered medical. Once inside the confines of the tiled white room she closed the door silently so not to wake her friend who was sleeping sprawled in an uncomfortable fashion over her bed as apposed to in it, still fully clothed because she had fallen asleep in the early hours of that morning while trying to stay awake in case her dizzy friend was to need something in the night.
Tyana found herself some pain killers and swallowed one, following it up with a few gulps of not-so-tasty tap water. She breathed a sigh of tiredness and confusion over her fainting last night and then took a moment to stare at herself in mirror. Her hair, still growing but surprisingly not splitting at the ends, was nearing her shoulders now, a tremendously flatter length against her face. Her eyes with the lilac specks that usually sparkled, now slightly dulled, were heavy and cloudy, misty because she had become somewhat exhausted since last night's black out. And her lips, usually so full and pink seemed paler and sadder than usual. And so to combat that strange emotion she smiled a little and pinched her cheeks, adding some more colour to her face. As she had pointed out to both Bret and Quande last night when she had stirred and found Shadow talking to both Guiders, she was not ill. But she looked slightly rundown nonetheless. And that was why her older-brother carer Bretski had fallen asleep at his station last night while running tests on her mentality and her physical state as well as her emotional state. Quande was the only one who hadn't slumped into the world of exhaustion through worry and panic.
Tyana showered to perk herself up as well as, obviously, cleanse. Then when she was dressed she tip toed quietly into the bedroom, retrieved her communicator which was still switched on showing Bret slumped at his station, snoring, and then headed back to the bathroom. She set the lid of the toilet seat down and then sat on it. A little clock in the corner of the screen showed that it was well into the morning, being that it was 10:21am. She reluctantly awoke Bretski.
He blinked, shook his head and then smiled a sleepy smile when he realized who was waking him. "Morning" he yawned as he stretched. "How are you feeling?"
Tyana nodded, "Bit of a headache is all but otherwise I'm good. And you?"
He stretched his neck. "Fine thank you." He instantly clicked into information mode even though he was still half asleep. "I found no anomalies in the data regarding your health and such. You're perfectly healthy in all aspects. So what made you faint I'm not sure. But I swear I'll figure it out soon." He clicked away with one hand on the keyboard, "but while I was running checks on you I continued to run and research another card maker."
"Cool, whatcha come up with?" she quizzed, her own health second in her head compared to the importance of her mission.
"We have a name and address. But it's only safe to do this mission tonight. So you and Shadow can have the day off, rest, recover, prepare yourselves, whatever you so wish"
Tyana smiled, "thanks" she paused and then raised a hopefully eyebrow, "Does that mean I can see Jeff today if he wants?"
Bret's lips curved into a warm smile, "Have a great time. I'll keep Shadow up to date." He winked and signed off. Tyana smiled, feeling suddenly better than before. She may not have known why she blacked out but she knew one thing; a day off never hurt a soul.
That afternoon Tyana looked over at Jeff as she continued to pound her feet in rhythm on the dance mats. He stole a glance at her at the same time and smiled before turning back to face the screen.
"I'm kicking your ass" Tyana called, referring to the competition they were having in the arcade. Jeff missed a move but nailed the next combination.
"No way, I'm winning"
Tyana scoffed as she hit yet another correct combination. Back, left, right, left, back, left, left, front. She was getting it all right. When it came to physical competitions no one did better than Tyana. She was a fast learner and was as fit as anyone could be. And best of all she was feeling great, a direct opposite to how she had been feeling when she woken up that morning. Tyana hit the final combination with only one flaw and then jumped up as the dance mat game declared her winner. Jeff shook his head, rolled his eyes and stepped down from the platform.
"No, it's definitely broken"
Tyana laughed and joined him off the machine, "You're such a sore loser, just admit it, I kicked your ass"
They continued to bicker playfully for several minutes as they looked around for a sign of a game they had not played. When they found none they deduced that maybe they had spent too much time messing around in the arcade and so left, walking abreast with one another as they headed back towards the hotel.
"Ok, whatever, it's just a stupid game" he concluded, grinning. Tyana rolled her eyes, stuck out her tongue and walked a little faster. Jeff increased his pace to keep up with her and then pulled gently on her arm, asking her to slow down a little, feeling that there was no need to be so brisk in returning to their place of accommodation. He slipped a hand into the base of her spine and lowered his lisp to her ear when she slowed so that they were walking leisurely,
"You won"
The words were irrelevant and incomparable to the shivers of pleasure Jeff's voice sent down Tyana's spine. He smiled at her reaction and took one of her hands.
"So have you blacked out recently?" Tyana asked curiously as they plodded down the pavement.
Jeff shook his head, "not for a while. But I'm still being kept out of the tour anyway."
Tyana squeezed his hand gently, knowing being kept from the ring drove him insane, "How long until they let you back to work?"
He shrugged, "I'm not sure but the rest of the roster is moving on to the next venue today. I figured I may as well stay here if I can't go" he admitted, looking down at her with a smile.
Tyana beamed, glad that he would be in town for a while longer. She opened her mouth to reply to the statement when a bullet shot past them, barely missing her head. Instantly Tyana pulled Jeff to a crouch beside her behind a car.
"Frail" she cursed, knowing everything was becoming too good to be true. Typical, she concluded as a line of bullets scattered across the wall in front of them, just when it gets good people decide they still wanna kill me.
"What the fuck is going on?" Jeff screamed in disbelief and fright.
Tyana held his hand tightly and concentrated on getting them both back to the hotel alive. "I dunno" she lied, not wanting to scared him more, "But I'll be frailed if we're getting shot." She noticed the line of bullets descending, blatantly heading towards the car. "But when I say now run like hell" The scream of bullets hitting the top of the car echoed inside her head. "Now" and with her hand gripping his tightly Tyana pulled Jeff to his feet and ran with him at a sprint down the pavement, the bullet's destruction following and missing them by a split second. And all she could think when she ran, almost ripping Jeff's arm out his socket she was pulling him along beside her with such force, was that she was the most hideous person in the world to have gotten him caught in the middle.
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*A/N* Sorry updates are like so minimal! It's just that it's Christmas and I'm not on break from college yet so everything's mega hectic. But this chapter is quite a nice length so hopefully that'll help persuade you to forgive me :o) hehe, have a candy cane *hands out* and thanks for reviewing.
Update Notifications: To be emailed when I update, email me at sillymoo8@hotmail.com with 'Blurred Turquoise' as the subject title. Or mention it in your review.
Thanks for reviewing:
Shadow: Alright sweetie? Well, you did get to know Matt but he's moving on to next town now so that was pretty brief, lol. *sings 1000 miles* hope you're good, thanks for reviewing :o)
Ashley: Yey, you're back! Thanks so much for spending time reading both stories, I really appreciate it. Hope you continue to read and enjoy my lil story, :o) thanks for reviewing.
Jenni: I'm so glad you like this story, you're compliments are very sweet. I tried my best to write something original when I first started H.C and I'm happy it turned out the way it did. Thanks for spending so much time reading the stories, I hope you continue to follow it, thanks for reviewing :o)
Hrdybyz330: it's great that you like both stories, when I started this sequel I was afraid it wouldn't be able to live up to the first one and quite frankly I still suffer that fear. Thank you for telling your friends. Thanks for reviewing :o)
Someone: Well if something is gonna happen between Matt and Shadow then it's going to have to happen over a long distance isn't it 'cause he's back on the road now, lol. Thanks for the encouragement and the review :o)
