The Next Morning

Clive wondered what was going on; usually Jet and Virginia were the first up. Gallows was snoring loudly in his bed as usual. But there wasn't a day where the two young ones got up before him. Virginia had more energy in her pinky than could be stored in one of the Prophet's generators and Jet hated sleep. Clive suspected he had nightmares about his identity or something, but kept it to himself. After all, it wasn't his job to pry into the boy's secrets. His only job was to use his intelligence to give advice to the others.

When nine o'clock rolled around, Clive had enough. He went into the room to see what was going on. It must be big for both of them to sleep in. Perhaps they'd caught a small bug, and were sick. If so, Clive should immediately get them to eat something and drink hot liquids. So the man opened the door to take a peek. Of course, he wasn't at all expecting to find what he did when he looked inside the room.

Jet was lying on his back; his torso exposed like it always was when he slept. Somehow, Virginia ended up in Jet's bed, curled up against him with her right arm flung across his chest. Fortunately for Clive, she still had her nightgown on. The sniper didn't feel like catching them in a private moment, not that this wasn't already a little too private for his eyes. So he left, and decided to pretend like he hadn't gone in.

"Good morning Clive," called Gallows, "I slept well last night." He came into the kitchen and picked up some oatmeal. Since milk went bad, the Drifters only had cold cereal when they were in town. On the road they simply boiled some canteen water for oatmeal, when they had enough to not go thirsty with, or had regular cereal dry. Virginia had even taken a liking to eating those flavor oatmeal packets dry.

"Good morning to you too Gallows. I trust you are ready to continue onwards. After all, we are in a tight pinch and must not stay in one place too long. But please, do not disturb Jet or our leader, they're not feeling well. About seven, the two awoke with temperatures, so I sent them back to bed. It doesn't look like illness; perhaps just a bit touched from the heat of the Wastelands. If they are not feeling better by noon, I will send you to the Secret Garden to get some herbs from Florina that might help them," Clive told Gallows.

Gallows said, "I thought it was urgent that we left right away. In that case, we should resort to the most drastic measures. I'll go wake them up myself." Gallows began heading for the other bedroom in the hope of smacking Jet awake and then shaking Virginia up gently. After all, you should not hurt a lady.

Clive, however, didn't want the privacy of the two being compromised. So he grabbed Gallows by the back of his vest, trying to hold him. "I said they were not feeling well. It would be very rude of you to awaken them in such a fashion. The best thing to do is to simply let them sleep; they'll get over it soon. Once they're up, we can go onwards. As I said before, I do not think it is illness, only fatigue and heat."

. . .

"Jet," whispered Virginia, "Do you hear something? I thought I could hear Clive's voice. He said we were ill or something like that to Gallows." She was just stirring; the commotion in the other room had awoken her. After that, the young girl thought that it would be best to get Jet up too, so they would not appear any more suspicious than they already seemed. As I said before, they were always the first ones up. Jet usually was out of bed at six thirty sharp, with Virginia waking any time between six and seven.

"Do you think he's onto us? Probably trying to sneak a peek. Well, he's not going to see what isn't there, so he should just leave us be. Read that dirty magazine he found in Leyline. I swear, that Duran was a total perv. No wonder Beatrice chose him as a vessel when she made her attacks against Yggdrasil."

Jet turned around so Virginia could dress herself. Since she often wore sports bras, being on the road made pretty lingerie impractical, She couldn't keep them on when wearing a low cut nightgown. And Jet respected her privacy. So he faced the wall and looked at pictures in the team scrapbook. Once Virginia was dressed, she went into the kitchen so he could put his shirt and jeans on. No, he didn't sleep naked; sorry to break that to my fellow fangirls. He wore a pair of shorts or sweats, mattering temperature.

Once dressed, Jet joined Virginia in the kitchen. Gallows asked him, "So punk, how are you feeling today? Clive said you and our leader were both ill with something or other. Hope you slept it off, cuz we can't stay here forever. Man, this blows. I was starting to like the charm of this run down little shack."

Clive looked at Gallows and sighed. "I did not say sick, I said they were most likely inflicted with a small case of fatigue or were just burnt a little when we were out in the sun yesterday. Nobody is sick, and we can press on anytime our leader says it is ok to do so." He gave the two a small wink, saying he knew what was going on and he'd covered for them. This caused Virginia to turn a deep crimson, and Jet to use his scarves to hide his own blush. Well, that would enforce the theory of the two being burned in the heat.

"We can go as soon as we eat," Virginia informed Clive, "I don't want to be tired and hungry when we're outside like this. Tell you what, we'll take Lombardia today, that way we won't have to walk. I want to go to Boot Hill and visit my parents. Florina gave me some Tiny Flowers, so I'll put them on the graves."

After the two had eaten, they all boarded the Dragon. It was a quarter to ten before they made it to Boot Hill. Once inside town, Virginia made a beeline for the cemetery. Neil wondered what had gotten her so worked up, she didn't even stop to say hello to him. Must have been some really big fire she ran from.

"Mother, Father, I have something to tell you both. I'm in love, with Jet. He loves me back too, and you know if he actually admits something like that it must be true. Please, be happy for us. I wish you could be here in person to see our lives begin, but all I can do is say how happy I am," she said. Then the girl placed a Tiny Flower on each grave. A single tear fell down on the soil between them. But throughout the whole time she was there, the young girl never stopped showing the world her bright happy smile.

. . .

Raftina told the others, -Mission complete, Jet and Virginia have finally admitted their feelings. Now then, let's debate how long it takes Gallows to figure it out. And Luceid, no rigging it by using his desires. Either play by our rules or work behind the scenes.- She giggled a little, and smiled at her success.

Celsidue looked to her older sister. -I don't think it'll be that long, even if Luceid doesn't lift a finger to get him curious. That man is always into trying to find his friends' secrets, even when it's none of his business. And since I've traveled with them longer, I saw it happen before Luceid began playing games with him. Probably none of us could guess the exact time, we won't be thinking in that short of a timeframe.-

At that moment, they heard a woman's scream emitting from Luceid's ties through her Medium. Upon spying, they all saw Gallows had walked in on Jet and Virginia making out in Virginia's bedroom. Said Baskar was running away from the angry punk, Airget-lamh's bullets firing at him as he desperately tried to find a hiding place. Just then, Virginia came around the corner and smacked Gallows in the face. Down he went, and they left him there. When he came to, Gallows would forever remember the words "knock first".

-I guess you were right Celsidue,- sighed Raftina, -And we didn't even get to make bets on it. Oh well, guess we'll just have to find something else to buy time. Let's see, I think we can find a nice guy to flirt with Ms. Schroedinger. Of course, he'd have to be the type who wouldn't mind a woman calling the shots. No way someone like her would ever take a back seat to a man. This could be even more fun.-

- - - -

Teefa's Last Words…

Dang, that was a short story. Didn't think I had it in me. Again, I don't write porn, and doesn't allow it. This is the closest I'll ever get to something dirty so get used to it.