AN: This chapter was a dozy to write. I re-wrote and re-wrote this one over and over again. Since this is the second to last chapter and something very important happens in this chapter (hint, hint) I had to make it as perfect as I can. I must say, I am please as to how this came out. I hope you like it, too!
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Chapter Ten- When Push Comes to ShoveThat night, after the feast, Alyson closed her eyes and pushed her head into the thick pillows that were part of her bed.
As she drifted of into blissful sleep, Alyson expected Sir Rubin's handsome face to come into her mind. And why wouldn't he? Even normal woman would be dreaming of the golden-haired ruler.
But not for Alyson, instead of the charming Sir Rubin in her head, she got the selfish, annoying Jim Hawkins.
Alyson groaned and pushed her head into the pillow. What was wrong with her? Why was she imagining Jim when she had a perfectly handsome man interested in her? Was she so sick that all she could think about was the man she hated?
Alyson cursed herself and damned even more Jim. If only she could get over her hatred for the ship captain and get on with a perfectly suitable relationship with a clearly interested man. What girl would think about the man that hated her and she hated him back when she could be busy daydreaming about a handsome and charming ruler?
"I'm crazy." Alyson muttered to herself against the fabric of her pillow, "That's the only explanation. I must be crazy."
Of course there was another explanation as to why Alyson was picturing Jim instead of Sir Rubin but Alyson refused to think about that. There was no way that was even a possibility!
Sighing with frustration Alyson swore to herself right then and there she would think nothing more of James Pleiades Hawkins. From now on she would do nothing but think of Sir Rubin, like a normal woman.
But her heart seemed to have different ideas.
Two days later, Alyson's eyes fluttered open and she found herself smiling once more. How simply wonderful Earth was. Why had no one ever thought to journey to this planet before?
Alyson yawned and pushed the thick covers of her soft bed away. She sighed contently and was tempted to pull the covers back and go to sleep.
Instead, Alyson swung her feet over the side of the bed and looked around. Her room, which Sir Rubin had kindly offered to give her, was made of dark wood. Her bed was a four-post king-size with dark green and red blankets. There were two big bay windows overlooking the forest of Maryland. She had large, wooden wardrobe off to the side as well as a nightstand next her bed. A bathroom was connected to her room by a door that was besides her wardrobe.
Alyson was aware from visits to BEN, that the rooms Sir Rubin had given to Jim and his crew were much less luxurious and beautiful then hers, but Alyson supposed that was because Sir Rubin felt the need to be gentlemanly to her because she was a woman and his guest.
Alyson had spent almost all of her two days on Dead Earth with Sir Rubin. Alyson was surprised at how much she and Sir Rubin had in common despite the fact that Sir Rubin was of a primitive culture and hadn't grown up with the technical advantages she had.
Alyson smiled to herself and hopped off of her bed. She pulled on her dress that had been washed before dawn by Kallen.
Alyson frowned as she thought about the little girl-child. Though Alyson was extremely interested in the child, Kallen hardly had time to spare for Alyson. Kallen was up at dawn and had started on the morning chores by the time Alyson had awakened. She had all sorts of tasks to do during the day and had no time to sit and talk with Alyson. The only real time she had to spare was at night and by then she was too tired to have a proper conversation.
But despite that fact, Alyson managed to get a few words with Kallen and had started too really like the girl. Even thought she was by all means a slave, Kallen was not in the least bit a pushover. She had this fire behind her eyes that reminded Alyson so much of herself. Alyson just regretted that she didn't have more time to spend with Kallen.
Another regret, Alyson was surprised to find, was that she wasn't spending any time with Jim. In fact, other then during meals, Alyson hadn't seen almost anything of Jim. Jim had talked to her a few times in the hallway of the castle, but the conversations ended up being arguments about how long they were going to stay at Earth. Jim wanted to be gone as soon as possible but Alyson was just barely beginning to get facts about this planet. She refused to leave until she had sufficient enough notes to make a book.
That made Jim extremely angry. He looked angry enough to spit nails. Over the past two days in Sir Rubin's castle Jim and Alyson had had about two conversations and after each Jim looked ready to throw her over his shoulder and carry her off.
That gave her every reason to try to avoid him, but the thought of Jim carrying her excited Alyson. She decided that she must've hit her head to think that anything Jim did could excite her and Jim was being stupid. What give him the right to think he could just demand she do as he say? He may have been captain, but she was still paying him… or at least the Academy was.
Alyson's rage went from zero to a hundred in a manner of seconds. Funny, just thinking about Jim and his stupid arrogant attitude made her all hot and bothered. Heat coiled in her stomach and her brain became fevered. She refused to believe that the heat in her stomach and brain was lust and that the reason why her heart pounded against her ribs was love. She was just unused to being angry at a good-looking person so her body didn't know how to handle it.
Forcing herself to be angry, Alyson marched down the hall to the dinning room where breakfast would be served. She was lucky that over the past two days she had managed to memorize the basic pathways of the castle or she would have been lost for sure, she was so rage-blinded.
As Alyson stomped down the corridors she swore to herself she would stop this nonsense with Jim!
After breakfast, in which she spent most of it glaring at Jim, Alyson agreed to walk with Sir Rubin in the garden. Jim had growled angrily and marched off, BEN trailing behind him.
Alyson forced her mind off of Jim and glanced over at Sir Rubin.
What had annoyed Alyson the most over the past two days was that fact that Alyson was not attracted to Sir Rubin and she should be. He was handsome, charming and utterly gentlemanly. And yet, she hadn't given him a thought unless it was about a question involving Earth.
Which was so stupid. She should be attracted to Sir Rubin. What woman wouldn't? And yet here she was, walking in a terribly romantic garden with him and all she could do was chatter about Earth.
Sir Rubin chuckled at a question Alyson asked, "No, Lady Scholar, there never was a man named Hercules. He was a myth of a race called the Greeks from many, many years ago. The people worshipped him, like they worshipped the gods and goddesses, but he wasn't ever real."
Alyson blushed because Sir Rubin was staring at her. Sure, she may have not been attracted to him but when a handsome man stared at you, you blushed no matter what. The only reason Alyson hadn't blushed around Jim was because by the time he did get around to staring at her, Alyson was too angry to notice.
They stopped at a small bench in the garden and Alyson found herself staring at a beautiful type of Earthian flower. It was blooming on some kind of large bush that had many green leaves. The flower itself had many petals and they were a colour of deep red, like blood.
The garden had such a pretty look to it today. The sun made the pretty flowers glow and petals fell to the ground from a light breeze. It was like a dream and Alyson was surprised to find herself wishing Jim was with her instead of Sir Rubin, but that was absurd! Why would she want the man she hated to stand next to her?
Alyson felt herself smile and she reached out to touch the pretty flower, momentarily forgetting Sir Rubin's heated stare.
"What is this, Sir Rubin?" Alyson asked in almost as whisper. She was in awe and that beauty of the flower.
Sir Rubin smiled, "It is called a rose, Lady Scholar. They are a symbol of beauty and love here." He explained.
Alyson nodded and moved her hand down to the stem of the flower. She squeezed the stem and pulled at it.
Alyson bit back a curse as sharp pain shot through her finger. She jerked her hand away from the rose and looked at her finger.
Blood as red as the rose was coming from the wound of her finger. It piled up at her wound and the slid down her finger and onto the floor. Alyson watched in horror as her own blood splattered onto the floor.
"I'm sorry," Sir Rubin said, gently taking Alyson's hand and then he pulled out a handkerchief. He lightly dabbed the white handkerchief over Alyson's wound and said, "I should've warned you about that. All roses have very sharp thorns. There is a saying on my planet. It goes: every rose has its thorns."
Alyson smiled and pulled her finger away from Sir Rubin, feeling slightly uncomfortable about being so close to him. I shouldn't feel like this, Alyson thought, I should be liking this. But for some reason she didn't.
"Thank… thank you Sir Rubin." Alyson said, hoping Sir Rubin didn't notice her uncomfortable feeling with their closeness.
Luckily Sir Rubin didn't, "Please, Lady Scholar, call me Rubin." Sir Rubin smiled, "I've been wanting to tell you that since we first met."
Alyson felt herself blush and had to reply, "Then please call me Alyson. We are friends after all."
Alyson suddenly felt the air around them change. Sir Rub- Rubin's eyes became dark with passion. Alyson gave a small squeak as he placed his hands on Alyson's arms and pulled her to him.
"Forgive, Alyson," Rubin said huskily, "I've been wanting to do this for quite some time."
Then he kissed her.
Alyson knew it had been coming, had seen it coming and she had done nothing to stop it. Part of her still hoped that she would be attracted to Sir Rubin after he kissed her and she could still consider herself normal.
But the minute their lips met Alyson knew it had been the wrong move. Her stomach instantly recoiled at his touch and she suddenly felt nauseous. She wanted to push Rubin away but Alyson's arms didn't seem to be working.
Oh this is horrible! Alyson thought in a panic. Alyson wasn't claiming to be the leading expert on romance but she had been kissed a few times in her life and had thoroughly enjoyed them but this was sickening. Rubin's lips tasted quite like all the other lips she had kissed but she just didn't like it.
I have to stop this, Alyson thought, or I shall vomit right into Rubin's mouth and won't that be oh-so embarrassing? After all, Alyson had done almost nothing to dispel Rubin's attraction to her… but then again she couldn't quite remember encouraging his attraction either.
Oh, yes, I paid attention to him, Alyson thought suddenly. I gave him all those happy smiles when he answered a question I didn't understand. I didn't realize I had encouraged his thinking I liked him but I must've.
And what finally made Alyson push Rubin away was the thought of Jim. She thought of how excited she had been at the thought of almost kissing Jim and knew she couldn't be the least bit attracted to Rubin because she was attracted to Jim. She wasn't just attracted to Jim, she lusted after him.
Well, la-de-frikkin-da, Alyson thought.
Alyson jerked her arms free from Rubin's grip but he went right on kissing. Deciding he wasn't going to take a subtle hint, Alyson raised her hands and placed them on his shoulder. She then pushed him away.
The force of her push sent Alyson falling hard onto the bench. She gasped in pain as her back crashed hard against the wood.
"By the gods, Alyson!" Rubin whispered, kneeling besides her, "I'm so sorry! Forgive me; I thought you wanted me to kiss you."
"So did I." Alyson muttered and was pleased when Rubin didn't hear her. She then said, "No, forgive me, Rubin. I guess I gave you the wrong idea. I don't like you like that. I just like you as a friend."
Rubin frowned, "It's because of that ship captain, isn't it? I've seen the way you look at him."
Alyson laughed at that, "You mean the way I glare at him?"
Rubin shook his head, "I can just feel it. There's more to the glares that you two give each other. I can feel it."
Refusing to be moved by those words, Alyson shook her head, "You must be imagining things, Rubin. I hate Jim and he's not the reason I'm not attracted to you. I'm just not."
Rubin sighed and nodded, "I understand. But can we still be friends? I rather like explaining my world's history to you."
Alyson pursed her lips and looked Rubin over. She could see it in his eyes that he was still attracted to her and that made her sigh. She didn't know how comfortable she'd be around a man she knew was attracted to her but she wasn't attracted to him. It did seem rather uncomfortable. But on the other hand there was still so much she wanted to learn about Earth!
Alyson shook her head once more and said, "I don't know. We'll have to see how things go. Play it by ear, if you will."
Rubin nodded his head, "I can accept that."
Alyson smiled, thinking Jim would have never accepted that. Not that they've ever been friends. But, as an example, if she had said that to Jim, he would've glared at her and then demand that she decide right now and hurry up with it.
"I'll see you later, Rubin." Alyson said, "I'm going back to my room to study my notes."
Rubin nodded, "Goodbye for now, Alyson."
Alyson walked away from Rubin with a weak smile. As she walked away she did not see the hard look come into Rubin's eyes.
That night, Jim stormed down the hallways of the castle. Ever since this morning he had been searching Alyson. He had a few things to say to her. Or better yet, a few things to yell at her.
That morning Jim had decided to take a walk in the gardens to get his mind off of Alyson. It had worked until he came to the rose bushes. He got a nasty surprised when he found Rubin and Alyson lip locked with petals dancing around them.
Jim had been moments from storming up to them and placing his fist in Sir Rubin's pretty-boy face before he forced himself to walk away. He had been jealous and it bothered him more then he could remember anything bothering him.
Jim told himself the reason why he was so jealous of Alyson of Rubin was not because he actually liked Alyson. No, it was because just a few days ago Alyson had been quite willing to kiss him and now that this much more charming and handsome man had shown up, Alyson had dropped his like some bad meat. Well, he didn't like being used and thrown away and he planned on saying that to Alyson.
But what had really bother Jim was how perfect Alyson and Rubin had looked together. With their lips locked and the petals dancing around them, they looked like a prince and princess meeting in secret. And it bothered him because Jim would never be a prince. He was too hard for that, he was more like the knight who protected the prince so the prince could go get the princess.
And for some reason, that bothered him a lot. It bothered him that Alyson liked men like Rubin and not men like him.
Jim found Alyson in one of the pillared hallways of the castle, staring at the armor of a knight that lined the wall.
Jim growled and moved towards her. Alyson turned at the sound of his growl and rolled her eyes.
"What a pleasant surprise." Alyson said sarcastically, "What can I do for you, Captain?"
Jim glared at her hardly, "Have a lovely day, Professor?" he said, moving menacingly toward her.
"What bug crawled up your ass and died?" Alyson asked, glaring right back. She wasn't really in the mood for an argument with the 'good' captain right now and she could tell Jim was itching for a fight. Why me? Alyson thought absently.
"Oh, nothing's up my ass." Jim said tightly, "I'm just a little surprised that you're up this late. I'd have thought that you'd be in Rubin's bed by now."
Alyson's glare disappeared and she looked at him in surprise, "What the… hell did you just… say?" She rasped out slowly.
"You heard me!" Jim shot back and moved closer to her and Alyson backed away, "And don't bother denying it. I saw you and that pretty-boy locking lips."
Alyson glared at him again. She had actually thought she had been attracted to him? She couldn't possibly be! She just had needed an excuse for not being attracted to Rubin. There was no way she was attracted to this accusing son of a bitch-
"You know, Professor, I always knew you were annoying but I never thought you were a slut, too." Jim cried angrily. Maybe he was being a little harsh right now, but he couldn't seem to make his anger go away. He kept on thinking: what does Rubin got that I don't? What is it about men like Rubin that made women go all gooey?
Alyson stared at him in outrage and the growled and pushed past him, hissing, "What I do with my personal life is now of your business, Captain. I will kiss who I want, when I want and you cannot tell me other wise."
As Alyson moved passed him, Jim grabbed her arm fiercely and pushed her hard against the pillar. He pressed body weight against hers and pinned her there.
"Let me go!" Alyson cried in outrage.
"Now you listen!" Jim thundered, "Your personal life is my business! I've got to get you back to the Academy. If you decided to stay here because you think you might love some pretty-boy ruler then it's my responsibility and my problem! I can't afford to have you stay behind." Even though his heart cried out a different reason that was the only reason Jim would allow himself to give to Alyson.
Then Jim saw it. The spark of a new emotion in Alyson's eyes. It was so new to Jim that he almost let go of Alyson in surprise, but then he remembered he was angry at her just in the nick of time and kept his grip on her.
Jim stared into Alyson's eyes in shock as they emotion swam into her eyes. He felt himself smirk meanly as Alyson's cheeks heated up.
"You're afraid of me." He laughed his voice harsher then he wanted it to be, "You're afraid."
The fear in Alyson's eyes disappeared and she glared at him, "Don't be stupid! The last thing I'll ever be is afraid of you!"
Alyson watched in both excitement and fear as Jim's eyes shifted and that dark anger changed into something as equally powerful.
"Maybe you should be." Jim said harshly, his voice rough with a new emotion.
Alyson gasped as she felt Jim's hand thrust into her hair. Jim grabbed a handful of Alyson's hair and yanked, hard. Alyson cried out as her head fell back with slight pain. Then Jim's mouth crashed down on hers, hot and wet, and the pain disappeared.
Unlike Rubin's kiss, Alyson found herself responding with an equal amount of passion Jim was kissing her with. Instinctively, Alyson wrapped her arms around Jim's neck and cocked her neck to one side to give him easier access. Jim growled deep within in his throat and pushed her even harder against the pillar but Alyson couldn't even feel the pain anymore.
Even though the kiss was rough and Alyson was loving it. Jim's mouth was devouring hers. It was saying: I'm kissing you so you better damn well kiss back and she was. Oh she was!
Jim's tongue then invaded her mouth and Alyson moaned with pleasure and found herself responding in time. This was so different from all her other kisses. It was wild and passionate. It was as if all their argument had been bottle-up sexual frustration that was suddenly erupting into smoldering passion.
Jim's fingers were dug into Alyson's hips and he dragged her closer to him as if he wanted to absorb her into his very skin.
I love this! I love him! The last thought Alyson had almost had her pulling back but there was no way she would've been able to escape Jim's iron grip. So Alyson just continued with the kiss.
But in his arms, kissing him, tasting him, Alyson knew what her heart had known since the first argument she and Jim had shared. She loved him. Professor Alyson Christopher loved Captain James Hawkins. And oh, wasn't that just great?
Damnit, Alyson thought but didn't pull away from Jim. Instead, it could be said she just kissed him harder.
There was no point in denying it now. She simply loved him. It was ironic really. She loved the man she argued more then she talked with instead of the man that was charming and gentlemanly. But she supposed in the end, Jim was the one you would want fighting for you. Not Rubin. You could always count on Jim.
But now that she knew she loved Jim what the hell was she going to do? Sure Jim was kissing her but that could be just sexual tension or his anger. She didn't know his feelings but she doubted they were anything like her own. She supposed she would just have to tell him and then see how things went from there.
Alyson finally realized she needed air. Despite the fact that she wanted to keep on kissing the man she loved, Alyson' lungs were screaming a different story. Jim's lungs must've agreed because suddenly he was removing his lips and gulping in big breaths of air and Alyson was doing to same.
Jim then lowered his head back to her lips but Alyson turned her head so he couldn't kiss her. She wanted to clear the air.
"Jim," Alyson rasped, her voice low and husky, "I didn't like Rubin that way. I pushed him away when he tried to kiss me."
Jim paused for a moment and seemed to be going over something in his head. Then he said, "Good." And captured her lips once more.
This time the kiss was slow and gentle. Alyson sighed against his mouth, absolutely sure she loved him now and wondered how she was going to tell him. It was one thing to admit the truth to herself, but another entirely to admit it to another person. Especially to the man she loved and who loved to point out her flaws.
But Alyson wouldn't have to worry about explaining her feelings right then because she suddenly heard a muffled sob and she broke away from Jim. Alyson looked behind herself and gasped.
"Kallen?"
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Hmmm *reads over story* WHAT? Alyson in love with Jim? Jim not sure of his feelings? Kallen *growls* getting in the way? What the hell is going on? Well, wait and see! The final chapter is next and everything (well, almost everything) will be explained… or relatively explained. Stay tuned for Chapter Eleven: Pretty Maids all in a Row where Sir Rubin's true colours are reviled (you all knew he was evil!) and we sum up the story, but when is Jim going to realize his true feelings for Alyson? Hmmm, *ponders*. Anyways, REVIEW and look for the final chapter! You'll love it promise!
I'm part of the 'Every Villain is Lemons' group, better known as E.V.I.L.!
-Lizzy Rebel
