I wake up to the feeling of someone stroking my hair. I smile as I stretch. I run my hand down his chest, across his belly and down to his hip. As I rest my hand there, I realize there's nothing between my hand and him. I open my eyes and look at him. He's smiling at me.
"Good morning," Abe whispers.
"Good morning," I answer.
He leans over and kisses me. My hand starts to wander as my mind goes blank.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Maggie?" John yells through the door.
Groaning, I break off our kiss. Abe finds my neck and starts to kiss it.
"Yes, John, what is it?" I yell back as my eyes roll back.
"Dr. Manning wants to see you in the conference room ASAP," he answers.
"Very well," I reply. "Tell him I'll be there in about ten minutes."
"Will do," he calls.
As I hear John walk away, Abe bites my neck. Not hard enough to truly hurt, but hard enough to make me gasp.
"Stop that, you beast," I admonish as I playfully spank him.
"Ten minutes isn't long enough," he growls at me.
"It's long enough for you to get wet," I tell him. "You're skin is all dried out. Now go."
I start trying to push him out of bed. He gracefully rolls out of bed and then grabs my hands, pulling me toward him. I willing let him pull me out of bed and into his arms.
"Join me," he says as he leans down and starts kissing me.
"If"
kiss
"I"
kiss
"do,"
kiss
"I'll"
kiss
"be"
kiss
"late"
kiss
"for"
kiss
"my"
kiss
"meeting"
kiss
"with"
kiss
"Manning."
I put my hand over his mouth. He starts kissing the palm of my hand and my heart starts doing double time. I swear he's going to drive me insane.
"Then Manning will come looking for me," I tell him. "And you do remember the first time we were in a shower together, don't you?"
He pulls my hand away from his mouth and gives me a kiss that makes me forget my own name. He holds me closer and I can feel something hard starting to press into my stomach.
"You'd better go get dressed," he says when he finally lets me up for air.
He lets go of me and I half sit half, fall back onto the bed. I watch him walk into the bathroom and realize that his shorts really don't do him justice.
"Thank you," he says over his shoulder as he disappears through the door. A moment later I hear the shower going.
Smiling, I go to my bag and pull out some clothes and my hiking boots. I just finish dressing when someone knocks on the door again. This time I answer it. It's John again.
"Dr. Manning is looking for Abe," he starts. "Have you seen him?"
"All of him," I answer. "I'll let him know."
I close the door on John's slightly confused face and head for the bathroom. I notice that there's no steam fogging up the room.
"Are you taking a cold shower because you want to or because you have to?" I ask, leaning against the door jam, admiring the view.
"Yes," he answers. "I'll be ready to go in a few minutes."
I go back into the room and wait for him. True to his word, he's ready to go a few minutes later. We head for the conference room and find Manning, Hellboy, John and the rest of the agents there.
"Nice of you two to finally join us," Manning says. "For everyone's information, there was another attack last night. If the baginis is true to its word, than that will be the last one. Not that it matters since we're going to be leaving today. The Australian government is not happy about the fact that we let one of their citizens get attacked, but they are at least willing to acknowledge that what led to the attack is his fault. I want everyone packed and ready to go in one hour. Miss Cavendish and Abe, I would like to talk to the two of you in private."
Abe and I remain in our seats as everyone else files out except Hellboy.
"You too, Hellboy," Manning orders. "Out."
"Make me," Hellboy challenges.
"Dr. Manning, he's going to know everything as soon as we leave, so just spare us the argument," I say.
"Very well," Manning grumbles as he turns away from HB. "In case you two were wondering…"
"We weren't," Abe interrupts. "What he did was totally unacceptable and he deserves a lot worse than what he got."
"Mr. Copus is pretty livid about what happened last night," Manning says. "However, it seems that a lawsuit and charges have been pressed against one Dr. Mark Taylor for sexual assault. It seems he attacked several of his students, male and female, and threatened them with flunking, public humiliation, and worse if they told any one. It seems a few of them decided to take their chances and talk. Now victims are coming out of the wood work. Copus is now conceding that Miss Cavendish was justified in her actions."
"How nice of him," I reply sarcastically.
"That was pretty much what I said," Manning responds. "Because one of the agents under my command was unjustifiably attacked, we're leaving. The Australian government has been told to deal with its own monsters until I decide otherwise. Miss Cavendish, you and I may not see eye to eye on a lot of things, but what happened to you is unforgivable and I won't stand for it."
"Thank you, Dr. Manning," I say, truly meaning it.
"You're welcome," he says. "I suggest you three get a move on. We're leaving in less than an hour."
Abe, Hellboy and I leave heading back toward the quarters.
"So, what was it that you two weren't interested in?" Hellboy asks Abe.
"That I broke Taylor's nose so badly that they're going to have to surgically repair it," Abe answers.
"Hey, if that guy had done that to Liz, I would have done the same thing," Hellboy tells him.
"Would you have punched him with your right hand or left hand?" I ask HB as we come to the corridor that my quarters are located on.
"Right," he answers as he walks towards his room.
"Ouch," Abe comments.
"Except that if Taylor had attacked Liz, there wouldn't have been enough left of him to punch," I reply, as I head for my room, depressed. "I can command Earth and Air, but I can't get some jerk off of me."
I head back to my room. When I get there, it feels like I'm drowning in despair. I can barely breathe. Abe gently touches my arm.
"I'll always be there to keep you from drowning," he whispers in my ear.
And the Keeper of Wind and Earth once again collapses in a flood of tears. Abe is true to his word.