Now that our two favorite characters are back together the fluff abounds!

Chapter 14

When he pulled away from her, only then did she re-open her eyes. "What did you mean when you said 'girl talk'?"

"Oh," she laughed. "We were talking about Indiana Jones while I undid my rope."

"What did she say?"

"She bitched about you- men in general. She told me about her role in your last assignment- and Julia... she was complaining about how all men are sexist pigs."

"Marjorie has been like that for as long as I've known her. She's got a real chip on her shoulder when it comes to men. I'm sure she would have cut my balls off if given the chance."

At this Alex laughed aloud.

"What did you say? When she told you those things?" he asked delicately.

"I defended you!" she replied, heating up. "She was insulting you; she was analyzing you; trying to rationalize your behavior. She hates you!"

Bobby smiled. "Shh... it's ok. Thank you for defending me."

"I wasn't so sure about it then. She told me all of these things about you and I wasn't sure what to believe. But then... when she said I was your biggest weakness... I knew she was lying about all the other stuff- who you were... even if she didn't know it."

"I knew you were smart," he said, brushing the hair out of her face. "Did she say where the Sapphire was?"

"I saw it! Bobby, it's enormous!" She started to get loud again.

"Shh," he smiled. "So it's already there. Where did you see it?"

"it's in the room she kept me in. There was a vanity. Ohh- and one of those cool rotating book cases."

"I know where that is."

"How?"

"When Neal was in charge- Neal and I would have been great friends if we hadn't been working against each other. It was more of a battle of wits than a crime. Valdez is just a criminal. Neal was an artist... He the one who installed the book-case, left the puzzles behind- ooh, I was quite delighted when I found another puzzle when I was there trying to get you..."

"Bobby."

"Oh, Sorry. That was actually relevant though- I spent a lot of time in there solving puzzles when I was chasing after Neal. That's probably the only way Valdez has been able to use the place. I solved most of the puzzles, enabling them to gain access to some of the rooms Neal had sealed off... long story short- I've been in there before..."

She smiled in amusement. Only Bobby would have enjoyed stuff like that. She could tell by the way his eyes lit up when he talked about it; the way he smiled when he encountered it.

"So you know how to get back in there? To get the... Margot Sapphire?"

"Margo- and yes. It should be pretty easy."

"What do we do now?"

"Well," said Bobby, checking his watch, "We 're going to go back up to the hut at the ferry station, get my bags and gear, and camp out on the beach until morning- or possibly mid-afternoon, depending on how much sleep we need- and then head back over to the island and make a big mess of things."

"Don't' look so happy," she said grinning. "Let's go get your bags."

They got up and headed down the beach. It was totally dark out, but for the stars, the reflection of the half-full moon in the water, and the lights of boats far out at sea. It was as perfect weather as you could ask for. It was dark, but it was warm and humid with a cool breeze. They walked barefoot down the beach, hand in hand, letting their toes get washed over by the waves every few seconds.

Alex felt something hard and ticklish wash over her feet and she jumped and screamed. "What the hell was that?"

Bobby looked down and saw a tiny crab scurrying back towards the water from where the tide had carried it in, presumably over Alex's small feet.

"I think it was just that little crab- oh look." He pointed to the beach ahead of them where hundreds of thousands of little crabs were scuttling back into the ocean.

"Oh God," she screeched and jumped up into Bobby's arms. "Bobby," she whimpered.

"It's ok, they're harmless. And they're so small anyway that they probably wouldn't even break the skin if they decided to hitch a ride."

"You're not helping," she said, looking down at the beach that Bobby was carrying her above.

He laughed. "Are you scared?"

"Bobby," she glared. "Not funny." He laughed again. "How much longer till we reach the hut?"

"Well," he shifted her weight, "about 20 minutes if I have to carry you the whole way there, but only about 10 if you can walk."

She looked at him, then at the water below (a little crab went whizzing by with the tide), then back up at him. "Take me above the tide."

He walked her up to the dry beach, set her down, and then walked back to the water where he had been before.

"You're a true gentleman, Bobby," she said.

He just shrugged. "We live in New York; we rarely get to see the water- except when there's a floater in it; here we are on the beach somewhere in Mexico- I'm not going to let a few tiny crabs ruin my vacation."

She slowly altered her course back towards the sea. "This is hardly a vacation- and I swear, if one of these things bites me, you're a dead man."

He just smiled and held out his hand, which she took.

They rounded a corner and saw a little hut with a lonely light on. When they reached the door, Bobby knocked on it, retrieved his bags from the ferryman, and they headed back down the beach.

"What exactly do you have in that thing?" she asked.

"Crab-proof sleeping bags," he responded simply.

"Riiigghht..."

"No seriously," he said. "You get in them, you zip up, you go to sleep, and in the morning you wake up with absolutely no knowledge of whether a crab has investigated it or not."

"You are full of shit, you know that?"

"Yep. How 'bout here?" he pointed to a flat portion of beach with relatively few crabs on it.

"There are crabs here."

"You see a place with any fewer? If you're really that scared- which I doubt, because you're not even scared of cock-roaches- I'll stay up and protect you from the evil crabs."

She glared at him one more time before kicking a tiny crab out of her way and sitting down on the beach. "I don't need your protection. Gimme that sleeping bag."

He pulled the sack out of the duffle bag and threw it at her.

She unzipped it, laid it flat on the sand, and crawled on top of it. Bobby unzipped his bag as well, crawled up next to Alex, and threw the second bag over them as a blanket. Within 5 minutes they were fast asleep.