Control 26

Chapter 26- Baseball

When he opened his eyes, he saw the beauty of the room he was in. Its view was breath taking, as the room was filled with golden light at dawn. He felt a dull warmth rise from the pit of his soul, rejoicing at the sight of the sun coming up. He watched it all, as it continued to slowly raise its self out of the darkness and into the sky above the trees. He felt warm, but not like his skin was being torched by his molten blood like the previous night. The dying night had taken that away, leaving a thankful and refreshed Brennan.

He rose out of the bed, and steadied him self with a fun grin when he wobbled a bit. There was never an instant cure for things. He moved to the bathroom, breathing in as much as the clean air that hung in the room. He tried to gobble in the smells that seemed to stand out to him as they were wafted through his open window.

He almost felt the bounce in his step as he entered the bathroom. The cool blue walls left him with a reminded feel of peace and coolness. He quickly got a wash and brushed his teeth, before leaving the bathroom to its self.

Fresh clothes had been laid out for him on a near by cupboard. His loose black trousers and his loose black shirt that had the face of a dragon on the front, which was split by the buttons running down the front. There was a white shirt that had no cloth to overlap his shoulder. He had to remind him self why he had bought the top... owe yes, a certain psionic of the team had given him it as a present for which occasion he didn't know.

Sighing, he put it all on, covering the white shirt by his black shirt that hung open at the collar showing some of his neck and the white shirt. Putting the black trainers on with it seemed to it all together perfectly. Shaking his head, he headed out of the room, making sure he hadn't forgotten any thing. His COM ring gave a glint on his left hand, making a small knot in his stomach melt away. He left the room, knowing he had at least what he would need.

He felt a small pang of confusion when he heard some people laughter, some women, and he thought he recognised one or two; from out side, and then a man was shouting, or rather laughing in a plea for some one to run. Brennan quickly got down the stairs and followed the noise. It took him a few minutes to reach around to the backside of the house where the noise was coming from

15 minutes earlier.

When morning had arrived, their seemed to be less tension whenever any one in the house passed by the team. Damien had stirred clear of Shalimar and Elayne as they sat together talking on the couch, sipping some tea. They were both giggling, and ended up sending a storming Damien out the room. Jesse, Emma, Andy, Nick, Peter, Adam and Chris all sat at an old Victorian table, eating the waffles that Emma and Andy had graciously made before every one had awakened. The smell had drawn them all, and eventually, Damien was back, sitting in between Jesse and Nick, where Andy had been sitting before he'd left to go check on Brennan. They had all shoved some waffles in their mouths before Elayne and Shalimar both joined them at the table.

Elayne huffed and gave Emma a small smile that said 'hi'. "Why is it always so boring in the morning..." Nick was finished with his breakfast, and was giving the two his attention. A smile played on his face, "well occupy your selves then... why not have a game of baseball or some thing". Andy had entered during Elayne's comment, and was back to making more waffled. Nicks attention was diverted when Andy brought a fresh and bigger batch to the table, which disappeared as soon as every grabbed for a few bits.

Elayne talked around the waffle she had half crammed in her mouth, "that's not a bad idea Nick. What do you think Shalimar, Emma? Up for a game, girls against boys". Her smile showed all the show tell signals of a feral who was more than ready to back up her words. She had the attention of all of them around the table. Emma and Shalimar both nodded, leaving a smiling Elayne to raise an awaiting eyebrow at Nick.

Andy wagged a finger at them before disappearing off in the hall.

Nick watched the three women as they all stared at him, and gave a small chuckle before nodding his head, "Why not. Stops boredom setting in. you two aren't going to leave me to fend for my self against these three... are you". He directed his words at Jesse and Damien, who eyes shone with a light of a challenge. Nick turned to Adam and Chris, who both quickly shook their heads Adam gave a small laugh that Chris shared in, "no thanks. I wouldn't be able to keep up with you all because of your youth". Him and Chris stood up and put their plates in the sink, "besides I have work to do".

With that he gave Shalimar and Emma quick smiles before he left, closely followed by Chris. Damien shrugged, "You wanna know what I think. He could easily keep up with us, and Chris. Besides, with all the food Nick just ate should slow him down a bit". He gave Nick a quick smirk as Nicks defensive face shot in his direction.

They all got up, as suddenly; Andy came back, holding up a long metal bat and a baseball. Nick gave him a grin before taking the items, and leading them all outside.

When they came to choosing who went first in batting, Andy once again quickly settled the issue by flipping a coin he had stored in his pocket earlier. The coin spun in the air, and the girls shouted heads as the boys were still bickering over the idea of the coin.

When it landed, it was tails.
The boys gave a small cheer as they saw it, but Shalimar easily picked up the ball up, and flipped it easily in her hands while still watching the boys. Their cheers were silenced.

Rules were, when you hit the ball, you had to run to three trees away, back to your position. If some one tagged them with the ball, they were out. Three strikes, and you were out.

Damien took the first bat as the girls spread out, all ready to show how much competition they were. Shalimar took a perfect position of a bowler, and in a fluent motion, was launching the ball towards Damien. His eyes followed its motion, waiting for the right moment. The ball was launched the opposite direction as Damien made contact.

As the ball soured, it collided with a tree, and dropped down into Emma's hands. She gawked at it for a moment, before her smile beamed and she held the ball up for an already squalling Shalimar and Elayne.

Damien huffed, "that doesn't count, the tree blocked it". Elayne turned back to him, the girls right behind her, "well what did you expect, an open field. Of course the trees are going to block the ball, that's why this will be fun".

Before Damien could protest further, Elayne took the bat off him, and threw it to Nick. Nick eyed it a moment, before handing it to Jesse, "you next, I don't want to yet". Jesse didn't hesitate in taking the bat, but when he level up with Shalimar who gave him a smirk, he felt a sinking in his stomach.

Shalimar continued her fluent motion as she bowled the ball at Jesse. Jesse swung, and hit thin air. Nick caught the ball and threw it back to Shalimar, who swiped it out of the air, and got ready again.

Damien and Nick both encouraged Jesse, as the feral's position once again tensed, just before she threw it again. Jesse swung again, already knowing he had missed.

Nick caught the ball, and sighed before letting it travel the air to Shalimar's awaiting hand. Damien grunted, "Come on Jess, I don't want to lose to the girls".

Elayne laughed, "Hey Damien, your doing that job your self. Besides, at least he's lasting longer than you". He girls all laughed, before they settled, and Shalimar once again did her trick with the ball.

Jesse waited for it, trying to feel the moment just before it came. He swung and felt the impact as the ball was threw in the opposite direction.

Jesse watched as it was sent up over the trees, to land about 20 feet away. Jesse only heard his half victorious laugh as Damien and Nick both screamed for him to run. His legs froze, as he tried to make his adrenaline loosen its hold on him.

Andy was laughing as he watched the scene... he had been waiting for it. Nick and Damien trying to shout Jesse into moving, while the girls scrambled to get the ball. Andy was sitting to the left of them, lying on a beach chair, while smiling away at them.

He saw Jesse not moving and half laughed his words, "JESSE... MOVE IT". Jesse gave a startled yelp before he darted off forwards, touching three trees and yelped when Shalimar came running towards him. A small white ball in her hand.

His feet shot him backwards, towards the laughing and hysterical Nick and Damien. He reached the two panting as he crossed a line Damien had drawn where he had to cross. He half collapsed, sucking breath in. His heart was still hammering in his chest. He never been so shocked and half scared Shalimar might hurt him just to get him out; he had run for his life.

Shalimar huffed in annoyance, "I let you off... just this time Jess". She walked back to her position, determination in her stride. Nick hesitated as he lifted the bat to the right level. Shalimar took up her position again, making him half flinch. The ball came at him suddenly, so fast it looked like it almost had a hungering for him.

He swung, and hit half the ball, sending it reeling into a wild spin back to the girls, who were on it in a flash, and cut him off as he ran. He was tackled, and grunted when Elayne, Emma and Shalimar all gave each other high fives.

Jesse gave Nick a quick hand up, "at least you hit the ball first time". Nick gave him a small smirk, before they took their positions. Shalimar took the bat first, giving Damien a smirk as he rolled the ball around on his hand.

He too used the same type of stance as her, and with the same grace as she had used, sent the ball on its way towards her.

She was confident and wasn't surprised when she felt the contact of the ball through the bat, as the ball was sent souring to their left... towards the house. She froze as she realised her mistake, and waited for the smashing noise of a window. She scrunched her eyes shut, waiting.

Brennan came out the back door, just in time as he caught some thing flying at his head. It was rather big, leaving him with relief that he had caught it, and was not lying on the floor with a split head.

He looked up, slightly confused as he unclenched his hand to reveal a white baseball. Andy jumped up to his left and came quickly towards him, hands out stretched as if Brennan was about to fall over.

The others all took him in, and were in front of him in seconds, asking if he was all right.

Brennan nodded, handing the ball to Andy, trying to take his attention off every thing he did. Brennan smiled as Shalimar looked up at him, eyes still shivering with worry.

"So what are you guys up to?"

Elayne answered. "Playing baseball, wanna join in... The boys are winning, and we just only started". Damien smirked at her as she pulled a tongue at him. "Well, the girls are losing by 1 point and not to mention they just lost Shalimar".

"What!"

Brennan shook his head and went to join Andy on the beach chairs as he suddenly realised how bright it was. The sun was leaning over them, settling warmth in him once again. He blanked out the bickering of the others, or rather Shalimar, Damien and Elayne who were at each other's throats to see Shalimar was still in the game. Words drifted through his barrier of thought, as Shalimar's voice was followed by Damien's and then Elayne's. "Brennan wasn't even part of the game-" "-it doesn't matter. He caught you out-" "-If he wasn't playing, and wasn't on either side, then Shalimar's still in".

Brennan shook his head, before resting it back. A breeze was starting to rise and pulse through the trees. It wavered over him, hitting the perfect temperature for him. He sighed, closing his eyes, and relaxing. He could almost feel Emma and Jesse move to sit in a single chair together. Some thing tugged at his mind, as he opened half an eyelid. They were both sitting comfortably with each other, Jesse arm around her waist and Emma leaning back into him.

' When did that happen...'?

He allowed the thought to slip away from his mind, and crossed his arms behind his head as peace descended on him once again. Sighing, he filled his lungs with the deliciously fresh air that gave more life to him. He felt amazing. His whole body felt like it was buzzing with life, with energy he had never felt before. His mind still had a small doubt on it, but his electricity was still running. He had checked that morning with dread that foiled into relief.

Shalimar came and sat next to Brennan on his chair as he was stretched out into a lying position, giving Elayne a quick nod. She wasn't going to ruin any thing. Elayne had explained it to her, and also said after two nights, they could go back to the way they used to be.

She lay down next to him, allowing him to cuddle her closer to his side. After a few minutes of every thing being so quite, she had to ask him. "Are you ok Brennan"?

He shifted about to let her have more of his chair, "of course I am". Hi voice was too quick, but it held no sign of pain or discomfort, which scared Shalimar more. She was glad she was hiding her face in his side, as she bit her lower lip with worry. Elayne had said this too. He'd be fine for today, but tomorrow nigh would be different. Elayne had only put it down as him having some trouble in two nights from now. Shalimar shifted, holding him tighter, allowing the feral in her to combine with her, to make them one whole. They both felt the same about Brennan... neither was prepared, or willing to allow any thing to happen to Brennan.

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Tunder28