17 – Stranded

They'd been walking ten minutes, and Felicity was beginning to get the shivers. She shrugged deeper into her denim jacket against the twin chills of apprehension and the night air. The faster we get this over with, the happier I'll be. They had no idea where the closest pay phone would be, or whether someplace out here would even be able to give them a tow in the middle of the night.

They went three more blocks and turned a corner onto a sidewalk lit by a lone streetlight. A group of three men and one woman were coming down the street toward them. They bickered loudly amongst themselves with apparent disregard for the fact that it was just after two A.M. A couple of the men stumbled a little too clumsily to blame it solely on the pitted sidewalk.

She felt Ben's hand tense in hers as the group neared them. One of the men wolf-whistled at her as they went past. "Hey, girly-girl, want to hang with us?"

"Ignore them," Ben hissed, marching past beside her.

"Hey, you. With the hair. I'm talking to you!"

Felicity was glad the jacket covered most of her top. If I don't answer, they're going to keep at it. The memory of the fistfight in St. Louis was fresh in her mind. She had no desire to have it repeated. With a wary glance at Ben, she looked behind her. "Some other time, guys."

"Aw, don't be like that."

Felicity released Ben's hand to adjust her bag on her shoulder and risked a glance behind her. The group had slowed down, but they were still shuffling off in the opposite direction. "Sorry. Thanks anyway."

The speaker lagged behind a few steps, looking her over in a way that made her skin crawl. He made a dismissive noise and moseyed off with his fellows, muttering.

She faced forward again and let out a bone-deep sigh of relief. She glanced up at Ben, and his whole body vibrated with tension. He was stuffing something back into his inside coat pocket. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." He gave her a crooked smile and relaxed. "Let's just get out of here."

They turned another corner and saw, three blocks away, a stretch of buildings with much better lighting. Ben took her hand again, and they walked faster.

Halfway there, they were accosted by a disheveled man emerging from a dim alleyway to their left. He smiled, holding out his hand. "Hey, can you spare some change?"

"No, man. Sorry," Ben started to say.

At that moment, the man pulled a knife on them. Felicity squeaked and froze where she stood. She gripped her backpack so hard her fingernails dug painfully into the leather strap. Ben jerked her forcibly behind him, blocking her with his body.

The man leered. "Your wallet. Now."

Felicity began shaking uncontrollably. She stared at the weapon in disbelief and horror. What?!

Ben raised his hands in a placating gesture. "All right. All right. Just hold on." Slowly, he reached into his coat and withdrew his wallet.

Felicity gaped as he handed it across. I can't believe this is happening to us. All the rest of our trip money, Ben's credit cards, his driver's license… Is this real, or am I having a nightmare?

The man snatched it from Ben's fingers and took off running down the street the way they had come.

The minute he was gone, Ben seized her hand once more and bolted in the other direction with her, toward the better-lit street a block and a half away.

"Ben! What's going on?" she begged. The way he held onto her hand, she had no choice but to run with him, stumbling over the potholed concrete of the sidewalk.

He didn't answer, and didn't stop running until they reached the first streetlight. Compared to the section of town they had just left, it felt like sanctuary. Ben skidded to a halt and took her by the shoulders. "Are you all right? Are you okay?"

Panting, she nodded. "What—What was that? Why did you…?"

"He didn't get anything. He—He got my wallet, but there was nothing in it," Ben gasped. "I took it out while we were walking. I didn't—I didn't want him to find out and turn back." He clutched at his ribs. "God, I've never been that scared in my life."

While it was happening, part of her had felt cocooned in shock. Now that it was over, she trembled even harder. Tears filled her eyes. She clutched her bag with both hands so hard it hurt. "Let's just… Let's find a phone and get out of here. I want to get out of here."

Ben put his arms around her. "It's all right. It's okay. We're okay now." He squeezed her close. "It's going to be okay."

Pressed against his solid warmth, Felicity felt her shivers subside. She sniffled and drew a long breath. "That was…really smart. What you did with the wallet."

He flashed a brief smile and brushed her hair back from her face. "After what happened in St. Louis, I figured better safe than sorry."

She barked a nervous laugh.

He smiled again, and kissed her. "Let's get the hell out of here, huh?"

- - - - -

"Mickey is not finding out about this," Ben said as he emerged from the motel office.

Waiting by their room door, Felicity raised her eyebrows. "What?"

Ben let them in and locked the door behind them, slumping back against it with a sigh. "Do you want to be the one to tell him that we had to leave The Baby in Crook Central for two hours?"

"Well, nothing happened to it, thank God," Felicity pointed out. She set her bags down on the floor and dropped onto the bed, boneless with relief to be in a locked, lighted room away from everything they had endured that evening.

"Yeah, well, our lucky streak had to kick in sometime tonight. As soon as they fix it in the morning, we're out of here and we're going to Yellowstone. After that, we're done with Wyoming. This place sucks."

Felicity flopped back onto the pillows. "Yeah. Remind me never, never to come here again. Not even if I beg to see Yellowstone one more time."

Ben came toward the bed, and she shifted over so he could lay down. He withdrew a handful of bills, papers, and credit cards from his pants pocket and piled them on the nightstand. "I told the manager we might have to sleep in. I explained what happened, and he said it was fine."

She let out a long sigh. "I am so glad this day is over."

With a smile, Ben reached out and pulled her toward him for a kiss. "Parts of it were okay."

She settled against his chest and put her arms around him. "Parts of it were very okay," she agreed.

He rubbed her back with one hand. Seconds later, both of them had fallen deep asleep with the light still on.