Chapter Thirty-three
Dawson walked slowly toward the barn, Donkey following at his heels. He had no idea what had set Faith off, and he could still hear her yelling at him to go kiss Jack's ass. The girl was just being unreasonable, he told himself. Just because he'd done what Jack asked him to do and now wanted to work to help build the ship, she was pissed! He didn't know much about women, and he knew better than to ask Donkey because he would know nothing about women.
They came to the barn which was empty and decided to head toward the beach, figuring that's where the group had gone. Dawson kicked idly at a rock and was rewarded, hearing it skid further down the path. He heard voices and looked up, seeing Angel working with Cordy and a sword. Angel was standing with his arms around Cordy, guiding her through the steps of fencing. Why couldn't Faith be like Cordy -- quiet, calm, loving? Nah. That wasn't Faith, he thought. Never will be. He shook his head sadly and continued walking.
Soon, he heard another voice. It was two guys talking. He looked up and saw Sean carrying on a two-sided conversation and using two different voices, one in a deep Irish brogue and the other a more European version. He seemed to be having an argument with himself. Dawson wondered what woman had set him off.
He walked for a while in silence except for Donkey making the occasional clicking noise which he tried to ignore. All was quiet, and it didn't seem right to Dawson to be that quiet. Then he heard a yipping and turned to look as Gonk came racing toward him with Elvira hot on his heels. He watched as she caught up to him and then headed back to the house only to be met with an arm thrown around her waist by Wolf. He could hear Wolf's growl even as Wolf bent to kiss her.
Damn women! Why couldn't he have that kind of luck! Why didn't Faith grab him like that and kiss him! He felt that she was the aggressor and that he should be the passive one. After all, it was how he had managed to survive as long as he had. He had not clue one as to how to court a girl. Maybe he should talk to Wolf later about it? He heard Clark's voice and headed toward the sound of it.
Angel released Cordy. "My dear, I believe we need to talk," he said. "Something is definitely on your mind. Let's rest a bit, and you can tell me about it." He led her over to a bench and waited for her to take a seat.
Cordelia sat but would not meet Angel's gaze. How had he known something was bothering her? Did she dare admit her concerns to him, or should she opt instead for a topic that would prove far easier, her concern over being able to learn to be a Piratess who would be worthy of standing at his side always?
Her mind turned back to their conversation last night and how Angel's misunderstanding and his thought that she wanted him to give up all that he knew had caused such a fuss. The memory brought tears to her heart, but she brightened herself with the knowledge that she'd had the foresight to stick her letter into the bucket of her own vomit and deposit the two together. Surely, anybody finding it now would not dare to attempt to read it, and Angel would never know of the intentions she'd had before he'd returned to her.
She sighed. She loved him. She didn't understand how it had happened so fast, but she knew that she loved Angel and wanted nothing more than for their relationship to work. In order for that to happen, she'd have to be honest with him. "Angel, I . . . " That wasn't working, so she tried again. "There are times when I . . . when I don't really know what to think."
"About what, sweetheart?" he asked her, concern showing on his face as he knelt down beside her.
"All of this . . . " she told him. "The fact that your kind . . . that Vampires . . . that Vampires exist . . . that . . . that you have a son who's . . . Well, the boy can't be much younger than I am!"
"It's all true, Cordy. Connor's my son, but the strange thing about that is that two Vampires are not supposed to have children. Before I met you, I did a lot of pillaging. I pillaged his mother, and she pillaged me. We had fun for one night, and then we both moved on. She never bothered to tell me that there was a kid involved."
Cordelia watched his eyes as he spoke, her own shining with confusion. She was not naive and had never once thought that he was a virgin. Whereas she had never thought she was the first woman in his life, she never would have thought that he had a son, let alone one nearly her own age. What did that mean for them now? "Angel, I . . . I never thought I was your only one, but . . . Now that you have Connor . . . What does that mean?" she asked him, not daring to complete her full thought. Would he be seeking the boy's mother out now?
"I'm not sure what you mean, Cordelia, by what does it mean. It means just that: I have a son. I've got the woman of my dreams -- you -- " he smiled at her, "and now suddenly I've got a grown son to get to know. If he had been a small boy, I could've done something in his raising. Like it is, he's a man. James did a fine job on raising the boy. I owe him a debt of gratitude."
Her eyes searched his. She was going to have to ask him. After all, even if she was the woman of his dreams, that did not mean that he would not feel . . . duty-bound to look up Connor's mother and try to make her regret her decision to abandon him. "So . . . " Her voice faltered. She licked her lips, drew a deep breath, and tried again. "So that means that you won't be . . . be looking up his mother or . . . or does it?" Fear shone in her eyes, replacing the uncertainty and confusion now that she'd actually spoken the words aloud.
"I have no intentions of ever seeing that bitch again for if I do, I may kill her. She had no right to throw our son away, but then, on the other hand, she didn't owe anything to me except to tell me about the boy. If our paths cross, we may come into a clash then. Otherwise, I'll leave the bitch be. She's a Piratess on the Saucy Wench. I haven't seen her since that one night and hope never to see her again."
A smile tugged at Cordelia's lips, relief that he no longer wanted anything to do with Darla flooding her. She could think of nothing to say aloud but reached out and hugged him, silently thanking the Gods that he would not be turning from her.
"I'd like for you to be friends with him, Cordelia. Being stuck in Neverland, I imagine the poor boy hasn't had very many of those. I . . . probably won't be very good at the father thing, but I'll do my best." He returned her hug and then pledged his lips to hers. He was still not sure exactly what she was so worried about but knew, when the occasion arose, he'd do what he could to calm her down. "Shall we get back to work?" he asked.
She nodded as their heads parted. Her hazel eyes had been full of confusion and fear, but now they sparkled with happiness. "Angel, I don't know how that's going to work out," she admitted with a grin, "being that we're together and you are his father, but I'll do the best I can to be there for him whenever he needs somebody."
Holding her by the hand, he took her back to the area they had just been working in. "One day at a time, Cordelia, we try to be there for those we love and care about. It's all we can do, and it's all I can ask of you and of myself -- to be there when he needs us." He slipped his arms around her and returned to the exercise of the sword.
This time, they worked fluidly together. Cordelia's hesitation was gone, and she put her all into the training, her determination shining through in their progress.
Though Zora had been clinging tightly to Vang, her tears soaking his fur, questions had began to run rampant in her mind. Finally, she broke the hug off, pulled back, and announced, "I've got questions."
In his hiding place behind Meesy, Sebastian sighed and shook his head. This couldn't be good!
"Of course you do, my dear," Katrina said, "and we'll do our very best to answer them for you."
Zora looked first to Vang. "If my Mother and you loved each other so much, how . . . how did I come to be?"
"I believe you would have regardless," Vang purred to her. Had he had a daughter with Seraphina, he fully believed that she would have turned out to be Zora.
"That doesn't answer the question," Zora informed him. She wondered why he was trying to sidestep it, but the attempt did not make her angry.
Vang sighed deeply and would not look at her. "It happened on the first night of the full moon after we arrived on Earth. Seraphina . . . chained herself, but your father . . . could not bare to hear her painful cries. I couldn't either, but I couldn't do anything about it. I . . . I told him . . . "
Zora looked at Vang with wide, astonished eyes. "You told him what . . . what happens?"
Vang nodded. "I wanted to ease her pain, Zora, but I could not do that myself so . . . I told the only one who could and . . . and sent him to her."
Connor listened in disbelief but did not make a comment. Just what did happen to these catpeople on full moons? He knew that night was going to be a full moon, and now he wondered what new things he would see. He knew there were Werewolves with them and that they would be affected. Not having been around Vampires, he didn't know if they would be affected, but now he'd just found out that the catpeople would. He continued to listen.
Faith watched the others with intrigue in her dark eyes. She'd known that the cats always did a lot of screwing on full moons and tended to be locked up while doing it, but . . . Clearly there was more to it than that. "What happens?" she asked.
Celina diverted her blue eyes. There was no way she would partake of this conversation!
Sebastian scuttled even more underneath Meesy, and Meesy, too, adverted his gaze.
Katrina looked at Faith but then looked at Tom, whose arms encircled her reassuringly. In a very low voice, she told Faith, "Full moons make cats extremely horny. That's why we always get locked up -- 'cause it's dangerous to others if they get in the way."
"We'll . . . We'll take anything," Zora admitted, "and if we can't get it, it . . . Well, it hurts. Like your insides are splitting. And that's actually the day after."
Faith looked at the two in clear shock. "I've had the aching of needing a ride," she admitted, "but . . . Damn!"
Zora nodded even as she turned her gaze to look up at Katrina. "Are there chains?" she asked her hopefully.
"I hope the Captain has some, but I'm not sure. They could have been lost. We'll check after the meeting."
Zora nodded. She hoped there was some but knew better than to get her hopes up. Tonight would probably be another killing fest . . . and another narrow escape. She bit back a shudder. She only hoped she didn't end up with a dinosaur. Clearing her throat and shaking her head, she attempted to change the subject. "What about the Robotic Reptilians? Has there . . . been any sign of them since . . . ?"
"We're not sure what happened to them," Katrina told her, "but they seem not to be in this dimension. We weren't followed, and although I have scanned for them in latter years, I never located any of them."
"Is it possible," Zora then asked, "to build a spaceship here?"
Tom shook his head. "No. No fuel," he explained.
"We don't have what we need to build one with," Katrina told her. "This civilization is not as advanced as ours was. There's no Earth metals that can hold up in outerspace and, as Tom said, no fuel."
"What about . . . teleportation? Spells?"
"You need to know something about where you are teleporting to or you could get into real trouble. We don't know what's out there any more and have no way to find out. Why would you want to go out there any way? Our world no longer exists."
"No," Zora replied, "but they do. They're out there somewhere, killing more, destroying other worlds . . . Besides, they still need their asses handed to them for what they did to our people, our . . . family."
"When we first came, we attempted to try to make a spaceship, but it just didn't work. The only way we can fight them is if they come after us here, and yes, I would love to hand them their butts on a platter," Katrina admitted. "I just don't know how."
Faith watched the two with a joyless grin. She liked their style. "If you ever get the opportunity," she spoke up, "count me in."
Zora, meanwhile, was trying to think of some one that might be able to help them, but she shook her head. Even Ace, the magical puller of monkeys, wouldn't be able to figure this one out.
Katrina reached out and hugged Zora. "Do you have any more questions?"
She'd thought they were over, but then she realized that there was one last one. "How do you fight?" she asked Katrina. "Is it just like regular fencing or . . . what?"
"I can use my mind to form all kinds of weapons and use them to fight against any enemy. I also can form fireballs and use them against my enemy, and I'm very good with a sword. Why?"
"Just wondering," Zora admitted with a grin, "if you could teach me any of it besides the sword? I'm always up for learning new ways to kick butt."
"I'm not sure where your talents lay. We could test you to find out. You should have some powers coming, even though your father was an Earth man. Have you ever noticed anything out of the ordinary?"
"You mean other than being able to take any cat form? Well, any Earth cat form any way."
"Yes. Has your mind ever played tricks on you?"
"I thought it did once, but that turned out to be real."
"Are you sure?" Tom asked her.
"Yeah. Ace admitted to pulling the monkey out."
"What did he pull the monkey out of?" Tom asked, not sure he wanted to know.
"A man's ass," Zora replied to which Faith, Tom, and Morph broke into uproarious laughter.
"How can that be?" Katrina asked. "Didn't it kill the man?"
"And why," Celina questioned, "would he have done such a thing?"
Zora was grinning at Katrina's question but sobered at Celina's. "He did it to pay an asshole back," she replied, "for abusing his pet monkey, but no, it didn't kill him. Kat wanted him dead, but Ace convinced her to let that one go. He became a monk later."
"Does this Ace know magic?" Katrina asked. "Is that how he did it?"
"He never would give me a straight answer," Zora admitted with a grin, "but that's what I'm still betting on."
"I would like to meet him."
"Is he still alive?" Celina asked Zora, her blue eyes full of concern. She knew the girl had lost a lot.
"Yeah," Zora replied. "He and Kat are back in Tortuga. Probably gave up on the rest of us a long time ago."
"Then we'll surprise them with you one day, but in the mean time, we will work with you and see what we can find laying hidden within your mind. The first step is to find out if you have telepathy, but we can't do it on a full moon. There's no telling what kinds of things we could get stirred up," Katrina warned her.
Zora nodded in understanding. "And you have another meeting to go to, don't you?"
"Yes, we need to meet with poor Mister Hook and that duty-bound boy of his, but we don't want to leave you until you're sure that you're comfortable with what's happening now."
She nodded again. "I am," she told them, "and I . . . understand now," she added, looking back to Vang and wondering where Sebastian had hidden himself this time, "why you had to lie. You wanted me safe from the Reptilians, and between both of my parents . . . You didn't really have much of a choice until Dad died. Then you were afraid that, since you'd taken so long, I wouldn't believe you."
Vang nodded. "Precisely," he rumbled up to her. Besides, he added silently with a swish of his tail, he couldn't have known how she would have taken to his admission to being in love with her mother.
Sebastian peeked out from around Meesy. "Is it over, mon?"
Faith grinned at the crab and licked her lips. "Actually, I was just getting hungry."
Sebastian screeched and ducked back behind Meesy even as Zora whirled toward Faith. "You make a move on my family . . . " she started, but Faith cut her off with a grin.
"Easy, girl. They're my family too."
"Oh, yeah. How the Hell did that happen?"
"She's my adopted sister," Katrina told her, "and she'll stand by you and help you in any way she can. She's just . . . She's a lot like you. You two should get to know each other."
"Later," Faith told them with an agreeing nod. "When we leave here, I've got a kid to train." She caught a few of their curious glances and quickly informed them, "Dawn, not Dawson." Her smile vanished even as she spoke the boy's name.
Damn it, she should have known better! She had no right to be angry with Dawson. After all, had she not been the one to inform him that he only thought he loved her? They were just fucking buddies, she told herself. That was all he meant to her -- nothing less, nothing more. She shifted in her seat.
Katrina sensed that the meeting was now over and that her family was whole again. "I am glad that we are a family now," she told the others. "We need to get to know each other more, and over time, we shall. Now, unfortunately, we must see to that poor duty-bound boy."
Celina nodded as she got to her feet, reluctantly leaving Morph's comforting arms. "I wonder what Delvira's got in mind?"
The sisters walked out with Faith hot on their heels. Zora looked at those who had been left before asking, "Who wants to help me feed the cubs?"
"I do!" Connor said.
"I enjoyed doing it earlier," Tom spoke, "so I'd like to help again." He looked at Morph.
Morph was already getting to his feet. "Count me in too. Besides," he added with a grin that spread over his entire face, "I didn't get to play with them earlier." At that, a tail sprouted from his rear, and he began to shrink.
"Race you to them," Tom challenged and quickly changed into a tiger cub. Connor held the door open and watched the two new tiger cubs race down the stairs. He waited for Zora to leave the room.
Zora paused within the door to look into Connor's eyes. "Thank you," she told him in a soft voice.
"You're welcome. Any time, Zora, you need me, you have but to ask, and I'll be there for you. Interesting turn of events. I'm glad things worked out." He closed the door behind them and headed down the stairs.
"So am I," Zora replied with a smile as she and Vang headed down beside Connor. Meesy followed behind them, shaking all over in a desperate attempt to rid his royal fur of the crab who refused to let go.
As Faith hit the living room, she looked around for Dawn but didn't see her. She frowned and was about to get Salem to sniff for her when she heard a shout from the top of the staircase. "I'm coming!" Faith looked up to see Dawn eagerly bounding down the stairs behind the rest of the group. Just where had that girl been? She hadn't been snooping on them, had she?
Kitty's group had already been collecting a wide variety of fruits and vegetables when she stopped suddenly. "Okay," she announced, her eyes on something ahead rather than the people around her, "Autolycus, Gabrielle, Elizabeth, Joxer, you four stay here."
"Why?" Joxer asked. "I can help!"
"Not with this one," Kitty said, looking to the man she'd already been picking up all along the path. "You need to stay here with the others for your own safety. You can't handle what we're going into next."
"She's right," Gabrielle agreed, looking at Joxer. "You can't. I'm staying here, and so are you."
"Okay, but I could help," Joxer insisted, stating what he thought was obvious.
Kitty shook her head. She didn't want to give him a chance to worsen the headache he'd already started giving her. Instead, she turned her back to him and started to lead the way on.
Gabrielle, however, continued to look at Joxer. "Joxer, if I can't help her, what makes you think you can?"
"'Cause I'm a man, and you're a woman!"
Gabrielle's hands tightened at that, and her green eyes flashed. Autolycus backed up out of the way, gently dragging Elizabeth with him. Gabrielle glared into Joxer's eyes. "You are so lucky my boe didn't make it!" she ground out at him. Her sais were tempting, but she didn't really want to hurt him.
He backed up and sat down, realizing he'd best keep his opinions to himself before Gabrielle made him eat a sai.
Gabby gave a soft growl of frustration but let the fool go, turning her attention instead to searching the area around them for herbs.
Joxer used her inattention to get up and wander around, looking for something else to collect. He spied some of the most unusual berries and wanted to show them to Kitty when she returned. Hopefully, they would make her not so angry at him. He now edged closer to the orchard, hoping to see what she was collecting and how.
Wolverine stood back and watched Kitty so that he could learn. He didn't really want to kill a tree, but he would if he had to.
"Okay, Kur . . . " She stopped herself. She needed to distance herself from him, and continuing to call him by his first name certainly wouldn't get her anywhere near that. "Okay, Father Wagner!" Kitty called out instead. "On your toes! Lockheed, keep on my back."
Kurt sighed heavily. She's still mad at me! he thought. I've got to find something for her that will make her happier with me before we head back! Maybe I can find her a flower?
Kitty's brown eyes took in the trees and quickly picked out the one whose face looked the grumpiest. She stopped in front of him and pretended to be admiring his apples. "You know," she spoke aloud, "I don't think I've ever seen apples that are so shiny . . . so red and pretty . . . Could I have one?" she asked, slowly reaching a hand up toward one of the lower limbs.
The tree's limbs shifted, and his eyes cut angrily down at her. "My apples are my apples, girl!" he told her. "You don't belong here! Take your . . . " He peered at her companions. "Take your whatever they are with you and leave!"
Wolverine looked at the apples. "Come away from there, Kitty! You don't want any of his apples! They're shiny on the outside, but they're full of worms on the inside!"
"Yeah, you're probably right," Kitty admitted with a sly smile. She started to turn her back on the tree.
"My apples do not have worms in them!"
She turned back. "Yeah, right! Sure they don't! That's why there's one wriggling out right there by your nose!"
Thinking of how best to aggravate the tree, Wolverine did his Joxer technique. Holding his hands against his ears, he wriggled his fingers and stuck his tongue out at the tree while making a very loud raspberry sound.
Those were the final two insults to the tree, and it began chunking apples at them and yelling expletives. At his throwing, the others joined in. Kitty acted swiftly, phasing through the apples but picking them up and throwing them in the bag she carried.
Apples came flying out, and Autolycus began trying to catch them. The ones he managed to catch he dropped to Elizabeth who placed them in her basket.
Joxer turned back from watching the apples flying at Autolycus just in time to get hit in the face with one. It knocked him flat on his back, and he lay there, hoping no more would come his way. "Those things hurt!" he managed to croak out.
"Why do you think we told you to stay here!" Gabrielle retorted yet she was there right before his head, catching apples left and right. Some she caught with her left hand; others with her right sai.
Joxer held the basket and collected the apples that Gabrielle caught.
Kurt bamfed in and out, collecting apples, and Wolverine played dodgeball with them, catching as many as he could and getting hit every now and then. He got hit in the back of the head, and it knocked him forward. Barely managing to catch himself, he turned around to stare at the tree who had actually connected with his head. "That's what you get for making raspberries at me, little man!" the tree croaked at him.
"You throw any more and hit me with them, I'm gonna come in there and get you!" That only rewarded him with a pelting of more apples. Wolverine got the heck out of there. His basket was full any way!
Kitty, however, was not satisfed. With her bag full and in one arm and Lockheed clinging desperately to her shoulders, she darted through the apples to the offending tree. Drawing her sword, she drove it deep into its vines, then yanked it out and ran for it. "That's what you get," she called back to the howling tree, "for messing with my Father!"
"Thank you for that, Kitty," Wolverine told her as she rejoined the group. "Very interesting maneuver!"
She grinned. "I told you there were extra benefits to phasing."
"I found something!" Joxer interrupted. He led Kitty over and showed her the berries. "Are they any good?"
Kitty had left her bag with the others and knelt before the berries to get a better look at them. "Ku -- Father Wagner," she called, having to remind herself again, "come take a look at these."
Kurt looked at them and laughed. "Those were delicious the last time we had them! I'd never seen anything like them before! I had hoped we would find some." He picked one and showed it to the group. It was pink on one side and dark blue on the other. "Blueberry and strawberry," he told the others.
"They're very hard to come by," Kitty added, unable to hide her smile, one that she hoped Kurt wouldn't realize was more because of his delighted reaction than the actual berries, "even here. We've only had them once before." She started picking the berries off one by one. She was going to just call out for anybody to get a basket but then thought of poor Joxer who was trying so hard. "Joxer," she called to him with a grin, "you found them. You want to get a basket for them?"
"I have a basket!" Joxer said and ran forward to start collecting the berries. He couldn't believe he'd finally done something right!
Clark had been leading the group to the shore when he'd suddenly stopped and Lex had bumped into him. "Listen," Clark told the others in a very low voice.
Will, standing next to Clark and Lex, frowned. "To what?" he asked. "Everything's so quiet . . . " He stopped himself before he could admit that the silence was rather unnerving.
"I thought I heard giggling," Clark told the others. He saw Dawson and Donkey hurrying to catch up with them and waited for them.
Donkey's tongue was lolling halfway out of his mouth, but he still grinned as they finally reached the others. "Finally! Where's the fire?" he asked them. "It's been next to impossible to catch you guys! What? You got wings on your feet now or something?"
"No, but we were trying to get there to find out what's available for building a ship. There's not a lot of tools, but we do have some," Clark was trying to tell Dawson and Donkey but got interrupted when he heard another fit of giggling. "You sure you guys don't hear that?"
Donkey's long ears had perked up at the giggling. "I hear it!" he announced. "Where's that coming from?" He pranced around, trying to locate the sound and grinning.
"Be very quiet, and we'll try to sneak up on them," Clark told the others. "I think they're down in the water." With Clark leading the way, they drew very close but still could see nothing.
Lex thought he was beginning to hear giggling, and he peered anxiously at the water, not wanting Clark to get into anything he couldn't handle on his own. He still didn't see anything, no matter how much he strained!
Will's eyes were also desperately scanning the shore and water when he spotted something. His mouth fell open as he stared at two women laying naked on the shore. Dear Gods, where had those come from! Then he heard the laughing again. Upon seeing that the women's lips were not moving, Will turned his gaze further out, and his jaw slackened even more. There were men playing in the water!
"What are you seeing?" Lex asked as he could tell that Will was gazing at something.
"Oh my Gods!" Dawson breathed. "They're beautiful, and they're naked!" he whispered.
Will cocked his head to one side as he studied one of the more muscular men in the water. "You think they are?" he queried hopefully, the naked women not even occurring to him.
"The only naked woman I've ever seen is Faith," Dawson told him. "Those two are even more beautiful than she is!"
Xena looked at the two women. She also saw the men, but her eyes were drawn back to the women. One of those women looked luscious and ripe and seemed to be beckoning to her! What was she thinking? Gabrielle was her woman! She'd always thought Gabrielle to be the most beautiful woman she'd ever known, and yet the red-headed female was the most beautiful creature she'd ever seen! The brunette was not too bad either.
Lex shook his head and rubbed his eyes. What were they looking at! Why couldn't he see it! It was at that moment the giggling stopped and a song came to meet their ears. Suddenly, Lex found his eyes feasting upon the sexiest man he'd ever seen! His mouth dropped open. His eyes moved from the man to Clark and then back again to the man. As the song continued, he forgot all about Clark and began to head for the man.
Donkey shook his head in disbelief. Had his people gone loco! They were all heading for the strange new creatures! If he could have, he would have rubbed his eyes so that he could see better for his eyes were surely not seeing what they thought they were seeing! The creatures in the water had tails like fish, and as the women slipped along the shore and back into the water, he could see their legs transforming to scaly tails!
He tried calling each of his people by name and reminding them of their loves, but it was as though they had wax in their ears for they did not hear him but continued on toward the water where Donkey knew that they would drown! He tried pulling Will's clothes but only succeeded in being slapped so hard that his face stung. He turned and ran back toward the house, braying at the top of his lungs for help.
To Be Continued . . .
