The Welcome

Part II

Time past hurriedly by and before anyone knew it, dinner had come and gone and they all were again sitting on the front porch enjoying the warm evening and beautiful night sky.

Charley laying lazily in Vinnie's arms almost asleep and he nodding off too.

Throttle watched them for a second but was more amused by the little game Modo and Claudia insited on playing. It was like kids use to do in school when they didn't want to admit they like each other. He shook his head and decided to call it a night.

"It's been a long day folks, so I'm turning in." He stood and streched mixing his words with a sleepy yawn. Before going inside he leaned down to give Claudia a sweet kiss good-night. She leaned up into it kissing the air near his cheek.

"Goodnight, Throttle I hope you rest well."

"Hey, I've been lookin' forward to fallin in that big bed since the last time we came. It's not often I get to sleep in a room by myself and not have to hear that guys snorin'. Don't wake me, I just want to sleep until my eyes pop open by themselves. This suppose to be a vacation, right?"

"No worries, bro. I'm kinda lookin forward to a little solitary sleep myself, night." The two exchanged a hardy hand shake and Throttle was gone.

Modo and Claudia both watched until he had climbed the stairs and was out of sight. They heard his door close and then smiled at each other.

" He's such a sweet person. It's too bad that he and his young lady don't seem to get along very well."

"Well, they have tried. It's just that they are two people, going full speed in the opposite direction. They actaully did love each other before the war, before all the death and destruction." Suddenly Modo's expression turn deeply sad.

Claudia cauiously reached over and gently touched his arm, "You must have love her very much."

"Does it show that much?" He looked over at her not surprized that she could read his expression so well.

"Only if you've been there. There is a certain look that never seems to leave, no matter how long it's been."

"Mind if I ask...?"

"He died about 10 years ago. Charley didn't come by her love for machines by chance. Her father was just as much a genius with mechanical things as his daiughter.

In fact he taught her everything she knows. He was always looking for the best in people, there to give a nieghbor that extra helping hand. He stopped to help a man one rainy night and was robbed and killed. They just left him on the side of the road like a piece of garbage."

"I'm sorry Claudia. It musta been really hard on you and Charley girl." The compationate vailent hero leaned just a bit closer to Claudia. He knew the feeling very well, when someone you love more than life is snatched mericlessly out of your arms.

"My wife was gunned down a short time after we started the fight for what was left of Mars. One minute she was standing beside me and the next she was laying on the ground bleeding. I never even saw the coward that did it one of the look-out said he saw a rat high-tailin' away but he was too fast for us to catch. They tried to at least save our baby but..." Modo stood and walked over to the edge of the porch. He didn't want Claudia to see him break down.

She got up and walked very close to his back daring to put a caring hand on his shoulder. "Modo, it's alright to still love them you know, in a way part of me will always love my, Chuck."

He dropped his head for a second then turned to look at her. She was so beautiful, the kind of beauty that went far beyond the physical. She had a beauty of the heart that poured from her eyes like a refreshing sparkling cool spring on a hot day. His flesh hand moved up to cress her cheek and it was as soft as the down of a Martian humming lark. She didn't pull away though he would have understood if she did.

Claudia raised her eyes to gaze directly into the one function eye of the ruggedly handsome alien. Her heart lurched seeing the pain she understood too well. His touch was gentle and delicate, so much of a contrast to his huge war-scared form. She could feel her head lean into his touch almost encouraging him to go further.

It was all so wonderfully confussing, almost like a strange fairytale she had slipped into. Romance had not been a part of her life since her husband had died. She never thought any man could come close to what he had been, until now.

"Do all you Davison woman have to power to offer salvation?"

"I...I..." Claudia stammered not sure of how to answer.

Modo, not one to move quickly when dealing with a womans heart, found himself doing what he would have taken a much longer time to try. He didn't wait for Claudia to finish responding, he kissed her.

To Be Continued....