Thanks for your patience!
~~~~~~~~~
Rachel and Tobias argued for the next three days, and by the end of the week Tobias was
practically hiding from her. He knew she meant well, but Rachel was a hothead. A gorgeous hothead, but a hothead nonetheless. All he wanted was some acceptance, maybe a little time to think. Mostly, he just wanted her to be there for him, no matter what.
"Tobias! Tobias I was just looking for you," Rachel exclaimed, running down a grassy knoll and shielding her eyes to look up at the large hawk soaring in the bright blue sky. His wings adjusted to fly down a few feet onto a branch near the top of an evergreen, and lightly preened a few feathers back into place.
* Is everything alright? Did something happen?* he asked, dropping down on a lower branch. His gaze was focused on the blonde just below him. Rachel grinned quickly and shook her head..
"Well, I got bored to death. Does that count?" she said, wearing a pitiful but comical pout.
"I can't believe I actually got talked into hand-washing not only my own, but other people's clothes. I don't know how Eva does it. It's a wonder her fingers haven't fallen off from pruning."
She glanced disdainfully at her own chipped nails. Marco was right. Before the war, that probably would've been the rarest sight in the world. Other than her washing clothes, that is. But it had given her something to focus on other than her complete inability to help Tobias' situation.
*Rachel, you do realize that other people do this everyday without a second thought? Come on now. I thought you were made of tougher stuff than that,* he lightly teased.
She just glared up at him.
"And what have you done all morning that's been so productive?" she said more to herself than him, perching lazily on a rock, looking like she was posing for some modeling shoot.
Vintage Rachel.
He didn't know why, but he loved her for it.
Tobias watched her expression from above, and at that moment he wished he could smile. Rachel was mostly serious and all about getting the job done, no matter how brutal it might have been, and yet she could hardly stand some simple chores. Just a little more than slightly ironic, considering how they had spent the past four years of their lives.
He dropped to the ground and quickly demorphed while Rachel waited until he became human.
"I thought I'd never find you," she said petulantly when he was done. Tobias gave her a small, apologetic grin. Nothing got past her. He followed her fast paced lead through the woods and to the lake, he presumed from the trail she was taking.
"I doubt you really thought that, but I appreciate the concern. Why did you really want to see me?" he called up ahead.
He thought it would have something to do with his decision on becoming a nothlit or not, and prepared himself for another argument he was bound to lose, but Rachel paused suddenly and ran into Tobias chest. To his surprise, she wrapped her arms around him without a second thought.
"Whatever you decide, I love you more than words. I just thought I'd let you know."
Over the past few years Tobias had grown taller than Rachel, and he reached down to push a lock of soft flaxen hair behind her ear, stroking the skin of her face. Her crystal blue eyes reflected perfectly the statement she made, and for a moment, he pondered the very real possibility of death. He closed his eyes, trying to imagine life without his wings, then no life at all.
He realized that there was no choice to be made really, but being backed against a wall with something so unexpected as cancer...it shook him to his very core. And he could only imagine what his hesitance had done to Rachel, but here she was, holding him silently, accepting him. In so many ways, it made all the difference.
Taking a breath, he pulled her closer, and Rachel buried her face in his chest.
"And I love you more than life. Literally."
______________
Erek had just broken contact with the diminishing network of Chee, when Cassie walked slowly into the black meeting tent. She saw the slightly blank look on his face and figured he was doing just that. A few moments later, the android clicked on his human hologram, and smiled at the girl.
"Cassie."
"Hi Erek. Sorry to interrupt," she said.
"It's alright...you are a little early for the meeting, though. Is everything okay?"
She nodded, sitting down in a fold out chair. He sat across from her.
"Yeah."
She faltered a bit, as if she didn't know exactly how to continue.
"Well, um, I need to ask you a favor about something," she finally said. Erek sensed a more than a little nervous energy radiating from her. He leaned back against his seat, his eyebrows raised.
"Don't tell me: you guys want more chocolate, right?" he asked. He didn't mind the occasional trip out to get junk for them, because he knew they obviously couldn't. But their consumption of it was ridiculous, if not amusing.
Cassie grinned, thinking about Rachel and Jordan's late night s'mores parties.
"Believe me Erek, I wish it were that simple."
And that I wasn't such an idiot, she thought, wondering where to begin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The first phase of the open-well, partially open invasion is complete," Erek started. The end of his and Cassie's conversation had been interesting, and they were lucky it was finished before anyone else arrived at the tent for their meeting. He looked briefly at the girl, who was quietly taking notes.
"The next step in the Yeerks' plans are to openly invade and seize all major government offices in the U.S. The only good thing about this, is that other nations are bound to take notice of the sudden changes in the legislature. I have no clue as to how they plan to cover those up abroad, and Ax still thinks they may have more Yeerk settlements out there than we originally thought."
"So what you're saying is, the President, if he isn't already, is going to be infested, along with his entire administration?" Jake asked from beside Rachel, who was listening attentively.
"Basically. And although it's been happening for a few years anyway, the Yeerks purposely waited until they held more control in the lower levels of the system before completely overtaking it," he explained. Rachel stood up and began pacing the short length of the tent.
"That makes sense, Erek, but how are they going to do all of that without making at least a few small mistakes? I mean, they're dealing with the most powerful government in the world. And everyone is already on their toes after September 11. If anyone suspects a thing, it'll be out in the open before they can infest the President's plumber," she finished. Marco snickered.
"That's one way of putting it."
"She's right though," Tobias spoke up. He hadn't yet trapped himself, but it wasn't for lack of trying. He attempted three times to lock himself in human morph, but each time he ended up morphing out at the last minute, even though his hawk was progressively getting weaker.
"They're not just dealing with the administration and everything, but the FBI, the Secret Service, all of that, right? There's got to be something we can do to tip someone off about this."
"But then what'll happen?" Cassie asked, glancing up from her notepad.
"If the person or people we tip off go to the wrong people with the information, they'll just be killed or infested. We've got to figure out a way of neutralizing, or at least stalling the Visser's plans before they get that far, and we can't keep depending on Ax for reconnaissance either. It's not safe for him anymore."
The Andalite had been posing as the governor of North Carolina's accountant since they had been in the valley. He was connected to that man's Yeerk in particular, because his was the one most actively recruiting innocents in Congress, not to mention he was close friends with the head Visser himself. Ax was due back in a week, if he was able to tie up his research in time.
"There is one way," Marco answered, leaning forward on his elbows. Rachel raised an eyebrow.
"What's that?"
"We get there before they do, nip it in the bud. If the higher branches of the government aren't too far gone, they'll have no choice but to put everything out in the open, if they want to mobilize the military that is," he pointed out. Jake was nodding slowly, but he didn't feel good about the simple nature of the solution.
"But if we're caught, it's over. They know what we look like, how we operate. On some level, they've got to be ready for us to try and do what we're talking about now," he said.
"I don't think there's any alternative," Erek said, sighing.
"Believe me, if I could do it myself, I would. But I have virtually no back up in Washington, and I'm the only liaison you guys have."
"And we love you," Rachel smirked.
"I wonder why."
He grinned, for the first time.
"But seriously, if we're going to do this, we've got to decide now so I can start planning a route. So are we in agreement?"
The others looked around at each other. Rachel and Marco discreetly nodded, ready to take action after being cooped up for so long. Tobias seemed eager, but reserved. Cassie figured it was because of the nothlit problem, and how he could possibly work around it. And Jake had already decided he was for it.
"I guess this is going to happen, then," he said.
"WHAT'S going to happen?"
Three heads, one dark and two blonde, poked in from behind the tent entrance.
"Uh, Aunt Naomi. Jordan."
"Mom!" Marco added.
"Here we go," Rachel sighed, slumping in her chair as Cassie patted her on the shoulder, shrugging at the adults and Jordan apologetically.
~~~~~~~
Later on that evening, everyone was lounging around the familiar fire, eating an early dinner. Erek had just finished briefing Eva, Naomi, and to a lesser extent Jordan on what the group had come to a decision on. Naomi was still a bit skeptical at the enormity of it all, and Jordan was quickly understanding her sister's reasons for not telling her about the situation from the beginning, but Eva was the one to actually take in and improve their preliminary plans.
The Chee realized she was proving to be an invaluable asset not only socially, but professionally. She knew things about the Yeerks they had only been able to speculate. He knew he of all people should be thankful she chose to help him, rather than attempt to talk him out of risking her son and his friends' lives. Although in the end, she had forbidden Marco from going to Washington.
Their meal had just started when Rachel frowned. "Where's Sara?"
Naomi looked at her, confused.
"She went to wash her hands with Jordan," she said.
At the sound of her name, the girl glanced up from listening to one of Marco's jokes and looked at her mother.
"Sara? Oh, she said she wasn't hungry and went back to the hut," she explained.
"You could have let me know that. Maybe her stomach is upset."
Jordan grimaced, a little guilty.
"She did seem kind of sick. I figured she'd sleep it off."
The fire crackled softly as Jake stood.
"I'll check on her aunt Naomi, just eat," he said, and left. Everyone continued with the meal, mostly in silence, waiting for Jake's return. When he did fifteen minutes later, the expression on his face told everything.
"She wasn't there. I looked around the brooks and the outskirts of the woods too, but I didn't see her."
Naomi paled slightly, but was calmly nodding. He could practically see the wheels in her head turning.
"Okay, okay, we can't panic. Jake, you go check the cabins again, and I'll go look around the caves. She couldn't have gone far, and if she were anywhere else she would have had to pass us first. She just better hope you find her before I do, she knows better than this," she said, almost talking to herself.
Rachel went with her mom, and Marco and his mother followed Jake back towards their cabins.
Jordan glanced at Cassie, who was calmly picking at her plate.
"Well, what should we do?" she asked. Cassie took a deep breath and handed her a bowl of soup.
"Wait to see if your little sister comes back here before anyone else finds her, I guess."
~~~~~~~~
Sara was really scared. She hadn't meant to get lost, but she was so thirsty, and there was no more water in the bottle near her bed.
She only went to the big stream right outside their for a drink, when she saw the strange deer.
He was bigger than a regular one and blue too. But she mostly wanted to see him closer because it's eyes were glowing, like green jewels.
She hadn't been careful when she fell loudly, scaring the pretty blue deer away deeper into the woods.
Sara tried to tell him to wait, but he didn't listen. So she followed him.
Now, after so long, she felt like she would never find him.
"Ow!" she cried, as she tripped over a large buried root. She was rubbing the grass and dirt off her skinned elbow when she felt the drops of rain patter against her head. Then she got an even worse feeling in her stomach, looking up and around at the endless, endless trees.
Where am I?
~~~~~~~
You know the drill, R/R please!
P.S. After re-reading Ch. 3 (and knowing what is coming up ahead) I think I need to make it clear, anything that happened between Jake and Cassie was totally consensual. I'm sorry if it was suggested otherwise, it was not my intention to imply that. :)