In the Bushes
Syl sat in the Jeep, pretty much as far away from Krit as she could manage without being too obvious. They had to call by the abandoned petrol station to pick up their new stockpile of guns and things before they hit the road. It was a huge trip to Seattle, and Syl was suddenly wondering why she didn't go with Jondy and Zack instead. There wouldn't be any awkward moments or any of this icky-ness.
"Syl, I'm not that bad," Krit said, his eyes focused firmly on the road. Syl. He called her Syl. Obviously he was furious, hurt or ... something else with her, because he always called her kitten.
"That bit about Candy was really sweet, Krit," Syl replied, shifting closer, facing him. "Really sweet and caring about my feelings and I don't think Zane and Zack wanted to hear about how flexible she was; Ben might've but not Zack and Zane."
"Zack's had two girlfriends his entire life; he is twenty four. That's depressing, Syl. I was just sharing some of my more positive experiences with him," Krit said.
"And probably got him into so much trouble with Jondy!" Syl threw her hands up. "God, you're such. . .a . . . guy!"
"Generally speaking, yes," Krit retorted. "And since when did you become such a girl?"
Syl glared at Krit. "Why are you being such an ass today?"
Krit was silent for a moment. "I thought we agreed not to mention the Seattle incident again."
"Zack told me you told Jace that you were . . .liked me in a non-sister sense!" Syl said, waving her hands about. Krit tried hard not to smile; she always waved her hands about when she was excited about something.
"I haven't seen Jace since I was nine. And why would I profess loving you to Jace, anyway? That involves actually loving you," Krit argued. Syl froze, a hurt look on her face. Krit winced. The English language just plain sucked, some days. "I didn't mean it like that, kitten. You know I love you. But you decided . . . "
"We decided," Syl interrupted, playing with the ends of her hair. "We decided that pursuing any relationship would be a bad idea."
"Whatever," Krit said nastily. "We decided that being together wouldn't work. I'm sorry if I don't enjoy thinking of that night in Seattle, but I generally don't enjoy thinking about the woman I love but can't have."
"Turn here," Syl said. "Krit, there is nothing like that between us. You're mistaking lust for love."
"Damnit, Syl!" Krit yelled, pulling up, and turning to face her. "I love you. I am in love with you. Do you get it?" His eyes were full of love, lust and anger.
Syl looked away, her heart pounding. It was taking all her will not to jump him right then and there, and it looked like Krit was having the same inner struggle.
"We need to get the weapons," Syl said, getting out of the Jeep slowly. Throwing herself at Krit sounded really good at this point. Her heat had been only two weeks ago and she'd managed to stay at home the whole time. It had been pretty ugly.
Krit stayed in the Jeep long enough to get control of himself, before getting out and helping Syl with the guns.
It was tense to say the least. They loaded the guns into the Jeep, managing to avoid eye contact, and left San Francisco.
Syl turned to Krit, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Krit, okay?"
Krit looked at her, "Sorry for not loving me?"
"Krit..."
"Syl,
I'm not going to apologise for loving you," Krit said, pulling
over. "And I'm not apologising for not loving you!"
Syl shot back. "This is ridiculous."
She unbuckled her
seatbeat and climbed out of the car. "Go to Seattle by
yourself."
"Syl! I can't drop you off in the middle of the freaking wilderness!" Krit got out of the Jeep as well.
"You can. It involves driving off without me next to you," Syl retorted, glaring at him.
"I'm not going anywhere without you," Krit declared, grabbing her hand. "Ever."
Syl resolve crumbled and it was totally, completely and utterly Krit fault when he pushed her up against the Jeep and started making out with her...
An Hour Later
Syl stormed out of the bushes, running her fingers through her tangled hair and straightening her tank top, which she'd hastily pulled on, tears in her eyes.
"Syl, I'm sorry!" Krit jogged after her.
"Shut up," Syl said. "Get in. I don't think I will ever speak to you again."
Zack turned and glared at Jondy, who was sitting next to him, and constantly moving. 'Jon! Quit it!'
Jondy stuck her tongue out at him, 'Well you try sitting still, when you've been doing it for like 10 hours already! Why do you think Zane jumped at the opportunity to ride your bike?'
Zack grunted, 'Dunno…….' He sat quietly for a little while, every now and then glancing at Jondy, who now had her feet up on the Dash Board and was painting little cherries onto her toe nails. 'Sooo…..' he sad.
Jondy turned and grinned at him, 'See! You can't sit still either!'
Zack looked at her, and rolled his eyes, 'Jon. Be quiet.'
She sighed. 'Fiiiiiiiiiiiine.'
The silence lasted all of two minutes before Jondy looked at him again, and opened her mouth to say something.
He glared. 'No! I bet you can't even sit there for one hour, with your mouth shut!'
Jondy frowned, 'Can too!'
Zack grinned, 'Can not….''
Jondy glared at him ,'I SO CAN! Just watch me!' she replied, slumping back in her seat, with her arms crossed over her chest.
Soon, Zack was sick of the silence, so he switched on the radio. An old, pre-pulse song, 'Dumb Girls' by Lucy Woodward came on, and Jondy's eyes lit up.
Zack grinned, knowing Jondy's love of singing along with the radio, and turned it up, and started tapping his finger's on the steering wheel.
Jondy glared and started frantically signing at him.
Zack frowned, Whoa! When did you learn sign language!'
Jondy signed to him 'Idiot! They taught us at Manticore – where did you think you learnt to read it?'
Zack laughed, and nodded, 'Yeah. Good point.'
Jondy frowned, 'Stuff the whole no talking thing. I feel sick!'
Zack laughed, 'Oh come on, you're an X5, I'm pretty sure they designed us without the car sickness genes….'
Jondy glared at him ,'yeah, maybe in you, but I got a double dose.' she sighed and rested her head on the window, 'Ugh……'
Zack just smiled, rolled his eyes, and threw her the packet of aspirin.
Soon, they were on the outskirts of Seattle, and Jondy was practically trying to throw her self out the window in order to get closer to the Space Needle. 'Please?' she winged.
Zane
pulled off to the side of the road, where there was an old - pre
pulse, by the looks of it - picnic table. He pulled of his helmet,
and turned to look in the direction he had just come from. He
squinted, and saw Brin on the horizon.
He grinned, loving the
fact that riding the bikes, put them both at least an hour ahead of
the others, which left for some very interesting side of the road
excursions.
Brin pulled over, and he waved, 'Brin!'
Brin swerved next to his bike, pulling up. She felt tense and slightly nervous; she and Zane hadn't seen each other since she'd gone back and now, thanks to her baby brother and his extremely big mouth, everyone thought they were . . . Brin felt herself begin to turn red and looked away from Zane. "I wonder how Krit and Syl got on getting the guns."
Zane shrugged, 'I'm sure they picked them up just fine... whether or not they've used them, and every bit of ammo we have on each other, is a different question.' He turned and smiled at her, 'So Brinny, how's it feel to be back in the real world?'
"Different. Weird," Brin admitted. "I can remember all of before I went back, but it seems more like a story I heard or a movie I saw. It doesn't seem apart of me anymore."
Zane frowned, 'They musta put you through some tough training to make you forget 10 years on the outside...'
"I envy anyone who has never seen the inside of Psy-Ops," Brin said softly. "And the clones. The clones are so... unnerving."
Zane nodded, 'I can see how seeing yourself, wandering around, being completely... well you, but different, would be weird.'
"Yeah. And Zack, Maxie - her clone went AWOL eventually - Tinga and my clones... I honestly thought I was going insane. Manticore went seriously wrong somewhere. I never thought I'd say this, but the new woman, Renfro, makes Lydecker look like Santa Claus."
Zane rose an eyebrow at this, 'Lydecker? Santa Claus? I wouldn't want to see him around all those little kids... he'd probably try to recreate their DNA or something.'
Brin laughed. "If it makes you feel better, I heard that dear ol Deck had nothing much to do with the creation of X6s and X7s - he spent all his time looking for us."
Zane smirked, 'Nice to know someone was missing us.'
"Yeah. Other than me, do you know if he caught anyone else?"
Zane shrugged, 'I heard that Jace got out, and that he caught Tinga... and then there was that whole Max and Zack incident...and they got Ben, after he was already dead. But other than that, I think you were the only one.'
Brin nodded, her face going blank. "Good. I'd hate to think of any of the others going through Psy Ops, seeing the same things..." To her disgust, tears we welling up in her eyes
Zane shuffled his feet anxiously, he hated it when girls cried... he never knew what to do. He patted Brin reassuringly on the shoulder and murmured something that sounded vaguely like 'It'll be fine. They're gone now Brinny.'
"Sorry," Brin wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. "I haven't cried since. . . I got all my memories back." She looked at him. "We should probably get going."
Zane nodded, and pulled Brin into a tight hug, before gently letting her go, 'You okay Brin?' he asked.
"Thanks Zane," Brin said. She looked at him, for a moment, mumbled something profane and utterly redundant under her breath and kissed him.
Zane gulped, and started to push her away, but then thought better of it. He kissed her back, and brushed a strand of hair off the side of her face.
Brin pulled back suddenly, turning red. What a stupid thing to do. "We should probably, you know, get going."
Zane nodded, and quickly jammed his helmet on his head. 'Yeah. Um, going. Lets, now. I mean, um, lets go now?'
"Yup. Now. Lets. Do it. Go, I mean," Brin said, turning an even brighter shade of red.
Zane's eyes bulged, and he turned to look at her, before shaking his head, and getting on his bike. 'Yeah. Lets do it. GO! GO! Lets go.' and he started his bike and took off before Brin even had her helmet on.
Brin smothered her laughter, how awkward, All because she kissed him. Damnit. She could, and would, blame all her screw ups and Psy Ops. She pulled on her helmet and took off after Zane.
