Chapter Twenty Two: Potentials Recognized
Hank yawned and stretched. The noise echoed through the station and Hank winced.
"You sound tired." Emma appeared behind him.
He whipped around to face her. "Excuse me." He said sheepishly.
She smiled coyly, as though she knew something he didn't. He could scarcely believe that this was the same woman who looked so formidable just yesterday. "I have a room prepared for you." She said quite plainly. "I'm sure it's quite comfortable."
"I'm sure it is, but I should. . ."
"You're going to bed now." She told him.
"I see." He smiled at her. "Thank you. I am tired."
"But you were afraid I would make you leave the station. And maybe you wouldn't make it back?" She ventured.
"Guilty." He breathed, too tired to quip.
"Come on then." She motioned for him to follow.
"Right in here." She ushered him in to another room, and let her eyes roam over his body, entranced by the sheer mass of his muscle as it flexed beneath his fur. He looked powerful.
The room was nice, a wide bed and comfortable mattress.
"I trust you don't mind if I lock the door?" It was the first time she had asked his permission to enforce a security measure. "Just for my own piece of mind?"
"Of course not." He turned from the bed and saw her standing in the doorway. "I just. . ."
But he had forgotten what he was saying. "Is that your perfume?" He asked suddenly. "It's quite fetching."
"Thank you." She smiled demurely. "I was hoping you might notice."
"Really?" Hank asked, surprised.
She looked away, and seemed to consider something for a moment. "It's nice to know a girl has options." She said at last, turning to face him.
Now it was his turn to smile knowingly. "My dear Miss Frost, " He slowly closed the distance between them. "I want you to feel free to exercise me, as an option, any time you wish." His voice was soft and intimate, a hushed tone.
She leaned in, as though she might kiss him. "Maybe I will." She said sincerely. "Once you're not so worn out."
And she keyed the lock, so the door swooshed closed between them.
"Well, I'm a lot more awake now." Hank said, muffled by the door.
Emma keyed the intercom in the door panel "You've got eight hours." She said before adding "Handsome."
She heard him chuckle.
She keyed the button again. "And I've decided, that if you like, and you continue to behave," She was smiling at the thought now. "You may stay onboard until Logan and Marie return with Lucas." Before quickly adding "Regardless of your. . . Availability to be exercised?"
She waited a long moment for some clever retort or innuendo.
And just when she let go of the button and had given up on any answer, she heard him speak. He was close to his side of the door and obviously somewhat touched to have, somehow, earned her trust to some degree.
"Thank you Emma." He said softly. "Thank you very much."
And she heard him cross the room and collapse on the bed.
"Sleep tight." She said so soft no one could hear her, still uncomfortable and uneasy with executing the actions of a good woman.
And Emma wandered off to sleep alone.
Meanwhile, downstairs, Jubilee was already packed.
She had been packed for three days. It had been a lot of fun to 'round up' the proper clothing. Western wear looked real good on her even though it wasn't her style. Lucas would look good as a Goth. . .
Her mind seemed to wander back to Lucas quite a lot lately. She was thrilled to find out he was alive. Relieved in ways that she hadn't realized she was stressed. But she couldn't ignore her part in losing Lucas in the first place. He had said he would be back. . .
And she wasn't sure at the time. Wasn't sure he was real, or true to his word if he was. So she tried to test him. Only, he was off being a decent man. He didn't have enough time to meet her demands.
But it wasn't really like that. . .
Her mind wandered back to that day.
"Lookslikewolvieyummy. . ." She recalled how she blasted him, sent him sliding. "Fight me!" She had thought. "This is my chance!"
Jubilee saw her face in the mirror and had to look away. Her mind connected it to her reflection in a river.
How many times had she looked in to that river, and wondered about slipping, tempting fate with an 'accident'. Those were the bad moments. And she had always pulled back and refrained.
"Don't go where you're not invited." Someone had once told her about suicide. "It's rude."
And she never did.
But she did tempt fate. And it never ended well.
The glories and wonders of life were all hidden in the real challenges and not in the ones she made for herself.
But she had pushed Lucas, hopeful, that if he fought back. . . She might lose.
She remembered how fast and agile he was as he dove and pinned her down to the ground. She remembered the delicious weight of him, holding her down.
But he was too heavy to believe. Surely he was a delusion; she had been in a rockslide, or was being crushed by something else, something far more plausible than a savior.
And she had blasted him.
I should have kissed him. . .
And she thought about how delicious that would have been. To have simply surrendered to her own impetuous nature. . .
I hadn't been myself in ages at that point. . .
It was true, she had been running on instinct. And instinct is a powerful master.
If I could do it all over. . . She stopped herself and began again. When we find him, I will. . .
But the thoughts refused to come. She was after all, going with his parents! She laughed at herself.
Besides, who says he's interested anyway?
And with that thought in mind she began to search his room.
