CHP 10

Hours later, Zenon laid out in the middle of her room, the room lights dimmed so she would take full advantage of the star dome in her ceiling. As soon as she was home, she tore out of her beautiful dress and into one of her stolen t-shirts from Protozoa and shorts to get back into the comfortable feeling of Nova Linda. She watched as the stars burned bright with the non-existent light pollution around Nova Linda. She watched as she caught a shooting star or two, but then saw the distant flashing light she knew well enough as the top of her old space-stay. It should pass over the moon in ten minutes if she remembered her schedule well enough.

"Knock, knock," Protozoa popped his head in.

"Down here," she called out to him, and raised her hand up to help him find her a little better.

He walked over, also dressed down into his tank top and sleep shorts. He looked down at her and nodded to the space next to her, "Care for some company?"

"Yours? Always."

He laid out next to her and looked up at the unimpeded view of the sky.

"I know we're looking at the sky and stars, but what exactly am I looking at?"

"You mean the constellations?"

"Yeah, I never took the time to actually look at them before," he looked at her and then looked up again, "I would stare at them all the time as a tyke, but lost it until I heard I would do the concert in space years back. It's nice to look and admire, but I really don't have a clue."

Zenon laughed a bit and scooted closer to him so they would have relatively the same view of where she was pointing. She grabbed his arm, ducked underneath it and then lined it up with her arm. With her head on his shoulder and more or less eye to with him, she pointed his finger up almost right above them, "See the bright star at the tip of our finger?"

"I think so."

"If you trace from there, it connects to these two like a beak, then it comes down to almost make a shape like a paper plane," she explained as she traced their hands over the invisible constellation lines.

"It is a plane," he chuckled as he finally saw the shape.

"That is the phoenix constellation."

"The paper plan is supposed to be a phoenix?" he dropped their hands for a moment to look at her.

"Oh just wait," she picked up their hands again to point in the same area, "From the phoenix, to its side and below, these four stars are the constellation Tucana. Like a toucan."

"I guess there would be birds. It is the sky."

"Well, if you go directly up from Tucana, past Phoenix, there's one called Sculptor. Like a sculpture."

"That's ridiculous," he huffed.

She smiled and laughed a little at his reaction. She looked up toward the moon and grabbed his hand again, "And the moving light there? It's the top of the spay stay. It's just about the pass the moon."

He held her hand in his and brought it to his chest as they both watched the station pass in front of the moon in its slow trek. He kissed her knuckles and pulled her hand into his chest, on top of his heart. Her head snuggled on his shoulder until the shadow of the station completely passed to the other side of the moon.

"We can think of something else you know," he said into the quiet of the room, "Find another way to get it from her so-"

"Zoa," she interrupted quietly, and put a finger to his lips. She sat up enough to look down at him with a soft smile, "It's going to be okay. I've made my peace. Let Jaime throw her tantrum and do what she wants. It's true what we said tonight. It isn't about the place, it's the people that make it home. And I didn't really get it until it clicked... you're my new home. And she would not take that from me."

He smiled under her finger and nodded. He brushed some of her hair, now loose behind her ear, "This is the first time someone gave up their dream for me."

"Not to downplay my decision, but my dream was to save my home. I did so by choosing you," he relaxed back again, and she settled over him instead of at his side, her chin balanced on top of her folded hands on his chest, "Even if it still was to save the station, I still would have given her the same answer. You're worth it."

"Still don't bloody believe you," he said sarcastically.

She laughed and reached up to give him a quick kiss, "I'm pretty sure the media are going to get a story. I don't think any amount of money is going to stop the ultimatum from being televised..."

"Or of Margie telling Jaime off," Protozoa mentioned.

"Margie did what?"

"Apparently, after we took you to the lounge, she stormed the stage and let Jaime have it. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to seeing the vid. Plank told me he had to pull the microphone from her after multiple attempts."

"That sounds like Margie," she nodded and popped her head up, "I forgot to message Dasha."

"Done," Protozoa assured her and pulled her back down to him, "I messaged her with a picture we took yesterday."

"Thank you. I would not hear the end of it if she found out over the news."

"I still would have saved you from all the publicity if I could."

"I understood the day I fell in love with you a day would come to face the photographers and tabloids. Again, you're worth it. And we always have Nova Linda Cove."

"We do," he nodded and wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her in place.

Zenon did not fight his hold and turned her head to the side, her ear against his chest and the beat of his heart kept a steady pace.

"Love?" he asked and kissed the top her head.

"Hm?" she hummed contented.

"If you're falling asleep, might I suggest the bed?" he hugged her again.

"I'm still awake," she mumbled out against his shirt.

"Of course you are, darling," he nodded, but sat up and pulled her up with him. He scooped her up to carry her to the bed. She didn't seem startled and wrapped her arms loosely over his shoulders. He carefully tucked her in, and he reached out for his arm before he walked away. He held her hand in his to place kiss on the back of her hand and whispered a quick, "I'll be right back."

It seemed to placate her enough, and she snuggled into her pillow and covers. He was quick to turn the lights completely off, checked on the security system, and then crawled into the bed on the other side of her. He slid up next to her and wrapped her in his arms before drifting off to sleep as quickly as she had.


The morning came too soon. Zenon felt the sun on her face before she saw it, trying to burn its way through her eyelids. She frowned and tried to turn away from it, only for two arms to wrap tighter around her to keep her in place and in bed. She smirked a bit and wiggled a little to bring Protozoa out of sleep just enough for him to understand her.

"I need to turn over. I'm not going anywhere," she murmured back to him.

His grip slacked just enough for her to turn away from the window, and her face buried itself between the pillow and his neck. Once she was comfortable, his arms hugged her to him and then relaxed as he fell back into sleep. Before he could find sweet release once more, the small droid from his room flew in from the door and hovered over his head.

"Incoming call from Lester," it buzzed above them both.

They both groaned, and Zenon tried to burrow deeper into the pillow and pulled the cover over her head.

"Incoming call from Lester," the machine buzzed again.

"I heard you the first time," Protozoa growled and waved at the floating machine, "What's up, Lester?"

"There's my rock star!" Lester cooed, "Are you ready to hear the headlines you made last night? Or should I say you and Zee made?"

"Already reporting, are they?" he huffed and rolled onto his back to stare up at the ceiling. Zenon followed him to cuddle against his side, and his arm trapped beneath her rubbed at her back.

"It's nearly noon, Zoa. They have been having an all out field day with what was leaked."

"I bet. Lay it on me," he said as if he was ready for the proverbial band-aid to be ripped off.

"You need to see them to believe it," Lester teased.

Protozoa knew then the headlines wouldn't be too detrimental. Otherwise Lester wouldn't make him wait. Making him wait now is a good thing. At least the headlines were not as horrible as he feared.

"Then you are just giving me a wake up call. Aren't you just a ray of helpful sunshine?"

"Always there to help you out, kid."

"A great help would have been to let us sleep," Zenon muttered from beside Protozoa, "It's too early."

There was a slight pause and then a light chuckle from Lester, "Sorry, Zee baby. I'll let you get back to your beauty sleep. Talk with you both soon."

The machine then whirled a short signal for a disconnected call and floated off back to Protozoa's room to charge once more. Protozoa hummed in contentment in the silence brought, but then pulled at Zenon.

"He's right, Love. We have to get up. Try to figure out just how much damage control we need to do."

"The exact reason why I want to stay in bed all day."

"That would be hiding away. And I know hiding away is not the way my Zenon faces life."

"If only," she scoffed.

"I'm taking a shower and then start on breakfast before we dive into all headlines. You, meanwhile, get yourself ready for the day and join me for said breakfast so we have one last piece of quiet normalcy. Deal?"

She leaned her head back to look him in the face, "Deal."

Protozoa kissed her to seal the deal and rolled out of bed and into his room for a shower. Zenon also hopped into her shower for a quick soap and rinse and dressed down to a comfortable pair of jeans and an enormous shirt from her closet instead of Protozoa's closet. She walked out of her room, her hair still air drying, and still heard the shower on in his room. She rolled her eyes, thinking he was highest maintenance man she ever knew. Thankfully, he took care of himself mostly, and she had nearly unlimited patience.

She approached the front room to pick up her zap pad from the couch when she heard laughter from outside. Quickly recognizing it was someone caught in the containment field outside, she grabbed the remote and headed to the front door. Outside, a poor mail courier was caught laughing in the middle of the lawn. He looked at her with an unvoiced plead in his eyes.

"Sorry," she said as she turned off the field momentarily and helped the man stand, "We don't get guests out this way."

"I can see why," he said, a little out of breath. He handed her a smaller parcel and then a pad to sign, "Sign here."

"I'm not the owner of this-"

"You're Zenon Kar?" he asked quickly, and then nodded at the package.

There her name was printed on the label of the parcel.

"It is," she nodded and signed off on the pad before the poor man made it back to his vehicle. She waved him off in an apology and then went inside, turning the field outside back on. She looked at the package, a little confused, but guessed it was from her mother with some more of her items. While at the gala, she was inquiring about a few of the jewelry pieces Nebula made her years prior. With a quick flick of her wrist, she tossed it into one of the plush chairs by the couch.

"Who was that?" Protozoa asked as he stepped out of the hallway.

"Delivery. Mom was going to send me some of my jewelry."

"Already tired of the piece's I've given you?" he asked with a cheeky grin as he eyed the bracelet on her wrist and the chain back around her neck from last night with the guitar pick hidden under the collar of her shirt.

"I wouldn't be wearing them if I was," she reminded him and then pushed him lightly toward the kitchen, "What are we having? I'm starving."

After a filling breakfast, they dragged themselves to the vid screen and settled on the couch in preparation of the headlines. He clicked it on and turned directly to the music and entertainment news vids.

An older reporter flicked up on the screen as a picture of Protozoa and Jaime flashed up on the screen to her side, "Last night, a gala led by Microbe's lead singer Protozoa was the talk of LA as invited celebrities were not only given a one of kind concert, but one of a kind drama as well. Jamie, lead singer of Cosmic Blush, surprised everyone at the event as she bought the space station the gala was fundraising for on her own. She then used the station to bribe Zenon Kar, a young woman also hosting the event beside Protozoa, to drop all ties with the rock star to gain her station back. It seems Ms Kar has recently become an item with Protozoa and stood her ground to keep the new relationship."

The screen then went to a grainy video from the night before, possibly taken from someone's zap pad. It showed Zenon on stage with Jaime just to her side.

"...I have to apologize because all of you spent your time, your effort and your funds to help buy back my home. I appreciate it all more than you will ever know. But I can't walk away. He's my best friend. And more. He's always been there for me- despite albums and tours, he was always there when I needed him. He was always the first to back up my plans without a doubt. I cannot and will not give up on him because someone tells me I have to. I will never do that to someone I love."

The screen cut back to the reporter, "Ms Kar was able to articulate she would not do as offered and even congratulated the pop star on her recent purchase before exiting the stage. Many in the audience approved of her actions and even supported their original donations to help the community of those from the station for new housing and full labs for their continuing work. Jaime did not have such a graceful remaining time on stage..."

The screen again changed to Margie staring down the pop star, "...I know how manipulation works. I know how to play mind games to get what I want. Skills I learned when I was younger and I recognize wasn't the best things about me. What I did to people back then who are now my friends, made me feel like the largest inky black hole I could think of. But you are so major beyond with what you did tonight...You just put your true colors out for everyone to see you as the cowardly and jealous adolescent minded cretin you really are..."

"Remind me to send darling Margie some more autographed albums and a room full of roses, would you?" Protozoa requested of Zenon now cuddled against his side, his eyes still glued to the screen as Margie continued her triad.

"I'll even pitch in," Zenon agreed and chuckled at her friend, "I'm going to have to thank her major when I see her again."

He turned the channel, and their interviews from outside the venue were being shown. The younger reporter with them at the entryway popped up on screen as the interview and recording had ended.

"I, unfortunately, could not join the event, much like others from the media, but we were there to catch the aftermath as Cosmic Blush exited the venue," she reported and another recording from the night prior came up.

The vid showed the other members of Cosmic Blush just outside the venue, surrounded by the hundreds of cameras and microphones as they stood together without their lead singer.

"We are taking a leave from Cosmic Blush. Just finding out our lead singer would much rather pay out all of our hard earned money to fund her own games, we need to take a step back and think about who we really are and what we will stand for and who we will stand by," the drummer had continued with the impromptu interview outside.

The guitarist continued, "She essentially blackmailed someone because she was jealous. With something she bought with money that wasn't hers. The decision made by a very brave woman was made tonight and I, personally, cannot support Zenon Kar more. And I can't support my ex band mate Jaime at all. What she did was spiteful, hurtful, and unnecessary. She used people to get what she wanted, and it didn't work. And that's what happened. I'm sure her rendition will be much more dramatic, but please do ask her. We're out of here."

There was another cut as the reporter talked over the short video of Jaime trying hard to cover her face with a borrowed jacket and hurried off to a limo still waiting for her and her band. She was the only one to get into it.

"It looks like what had happened in the gala was enough to not only break up a powerful band, but stain the reputation of their lead singer. More vids and updates will come in time."

Another channel had a talk show on which had just finished with their commentary on the events of the gala known up to this point and time. Then they went to the other juicy topic of the new relationship.

"I just don't really know if she knows what she's doing," one man commented and looked at the other three panelists, "She's nineteen years old, never really lived off a space station and now starts a relationship with a man that's- how much older?"

"She's young, I'll give you that, but she's also accomplished and mature way past her years," a woman piped up from the other side of the table, "Manny, she saved her family and everyone on that station when she was thirteen. She was the first to contact extra-terrestrial life two years later. Looking into her education, she finished all general education requirements at age sixteen and has been studying a variety of subjects at an advanced college level since. I give credit where credit is due, Ms Kar has a good head on her shoulders and is an adult young woman who seems to know what she wants. Despite it being a man years her senior. And don't tell me you haven't seen a larger age gap and congratulated the man before."

"She's been studying a variety subjects? It sounds like she doesn't know what she wants for her future career. How can she be sure what she wants in a mature relationship?"

Zenon blew a raspberry at the guy on the screen, "I've been going through the variety of subjects because I have to work through all the undergraduate classes first to get to what I do want to study. Do they always talk viral without all the info?"

"This is the tame stuff," he reminded her.

"Oh, she's definitely mature, but the gap," the other woman pointed out and rolled her eyes, "How long is this one going to last? We heard of him crashing Moon-fest even when he wasn't headlining and let's not forget his past record with his relationships. Let's see this one last past this next week. I think she should have taken the deal. Take the station and run, honey."

"And that's why you're the bitchy one on this show," the last panelist spoke up and pointed at her, "It took guts to do what she did. I commend her. Not to mention, I'm a sucker for a good romance. Fuck age gaps and bull like it. They like each other, give it a chance. Like Nance said, we've seen bigger gaps before and been happy about 'em. You're both harping on it because it's the big thing this morning outside of Jaime's pitfall. If Zenon's watching, good on you, girly. Who knows how many of us have been trying to snag that hot muffin for the past ten or more years."

Zenon let out a bark of a laugh and poked him in the side, "You're a hot muffin."

"Bloody hell."

"Well, half of panel isn't bad," Zenon looked at the screen as the channel changed again to other headlines about Jaime's disgrace, Cosmic Blush's downfall and the new relationship now uncovered. She grabbed the remote from him after the fifth channel flip and turned the vid screen off again, "That's enough from the dog and pony show, huh?"

"Not as bad as I thought it would be," he nodded and leaned back into the couch, "I'm surprised Lester hasn't asked for a comment to give out to the jackasses yet."

"Give him a minute, and he will. Probably when we least want to be interrupted," she grinned and turned to straddle his lap. Her hands on his shoulders, she leaned toward him and kissed him slowly, her tongue tracing his lips. His hands immediately caught her waist and ran up and down her sides and back as his lips responded to hers. Then there was a ring of a zap pad to their side, with Lester's face on the screen. Protozoa groaned in frustration and Zenon chuckled as if she knew, "Told you."

"I both hate and respect that man," Protozoa sighed and reached for the zap pad.

Zenon chuckled again as she got off his lap, "You handle Lester. You already know where I stand."

"Thankfully," he gave her a quick kiss and then took off with the zap pad toward the music room, "Lester, we have got to work on timing, mate."

Zenon shook her head in amusement and then looked over to where she had tossed the package from earlier. It had the usual markings of the packages they had received from others, but there was a special moon sticker on one side she wasn't familiar with. She quickly tore it open to find a smaller and less expensive zap pad in the packaging. She frowned at it and wondered why her mom would send her this when she had her own. Not to mention Protozoa's extras. She turned it on and immediately received a call from an unlisted number.

Being more curious than cautious, she answered the call.

"Don't hang up on me!" the voice called out before the video focused on a clearer picture of Jaime.

"Amazing, you can read my mind," Zenon went to push the disconnect button.

"Look, I know you have every right to chuck me into the bin, but I want to make it up to you," Jaime pleaded from the pad.

"Make it up to me?" Zenon asked louder than she meant to and looked down the hall where she could still hear the muffled voices of Protozoa and Lester. She sat down calmly in one of the plush chairs and looked at the screen, "What you did last night-"

"Was inky and I'm a viral black hole. I get it. I re-watched your friend chewing me out," she nodded, "I wanted to reach out. When I did what I did, I was more than a little drunk and way past jealous in his choice of you over me. You got to understand, that doesn't happen to me."

"So far, you haven't really mentioned the making it up part," Zenon said unimpressed.

"Right, I'm sorry about everything, and the public is definitely not in my favor. I wanted to give a peace offering. An opportunity, maybe?"

"To get the station back?"

"Can't, even if I completely wanted to," she shrugged and looked at a large screen behind her, "According to all the information I've received, the station will be demolished. The only personnel now able to even step foot in there are the people taking the thing apart. And most of them are doing it from the outside."

"So, what exactly are you offering, Jaime?"

"A chance to say goodbye," she sighed tiredly, "I can get you on the last trip out there with me and the crew to say your proper goodbyes. Last time in the portion of the station still available to be in. They are the last ones to get off and I thought it would be in my best interest to at least offer it to you. I can think a lot clearly without tequila in my hand."

Zenon looked at the zap pad in quiet for a moment, "Zoa will not be happy about this."

"That's why I'm asking you. I can only get one other person on board to accommodate the ones we are picking up. Come on, one last trip up."

Zenon bit her lip and looked out the closest window toward the horizon. A deep breath filled her lungs, and she nodded, "I really wished I could say goodbye. I guess this is my chance."

"I will send you the coordinates and the time for pickup. We will see you tomorrow."

The screen went black, except for some coordinates and a launch time.

"New zap pad?" Protozoa asked as he finally hung up with Lester.

"Mom sent it by mistake. I'll take it back to her tomorrow."

Cetus-Lepeedus, she hated lying to him. But she needed this. And knowing him as well as she did, he would stop her just on fact of who was offering it.

"Everything okay?" he asked a bit worried.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because it shouldn't be," he answered her with a grim expression.

He heard everything!

He suddenly wrapped his arms around her and spun her in a tight circle. He dropped her back on her feet and pressed his forehead into hers, "Not until we finish out what Lester so rudely interrupted."

Relief flooded her body. Her hands wrapped around his neck to pull him down for a kiss. They both fell back down onto the couch, and the smaller zap pad was forgotten.