Hi all,
Those were a lot of reviews (especially you Madeline, thanks for the spam).
Thank you Vlaatje for being a fan and that you love the story ^_^
Spaceflora, thank you so much for all those compliments :3
Wolftattoo, I totally get that about Isabel, it seems like she's knocking them all out of balance.
Although the only ones that are really affected by her, are Stoker and Throttle. The other two are more worried about how Charley is affected by it all.
Hope you'll all enjoy this chapter!
Some CharleyxModoxVinnie time
Modo was driving Charley's pick up truck. The female mechanic sat next to him and on the other side of her sat Vinnie. Vinnie was the reason the three of them were out and about, but for some reason that didn't seem to click with the white mouse. He knew very well he'd made a bad move by trashing the fridge, but still he treated this as a fun outing. Leaning back and with one leg dangling out of the open window, it seemed like he didn't have a care in the world.
"I still can't believe you managed to break yet another fridge." Charley said with a sour look. "Do you not care about having perfectly working kitchen appliances?"
"It was an accident, Charley girl. It's not like I wanted to break it. I mean trust me, there are more interesting ways to accomplish that." Vinnie replied trying to be apologetic and act defensive at the same time.
"What Vinnie means to say is, I am sorry Charley and I won't do it again." Modo turned his head towards his brother and squinted his eye. "Right?"
Charley sighed and leaned her head back. "I know, Modo. Thank you." She smiled warmly at him and Modo quickly turned his gaze back to the road.
"I mean it, sweetheart. I won't break the new fridge. I swear it." Vinnie raised two fingers and placed them over his chest. "Freedom fighter's honour."
"Promises, promises." Charley muttered under her breath. "I really hope you're right."
"We could always just get one of those boxes. You know, those mini fridges? A lot of people use those to store drinks and such. We don't need a fridge at all if you think about it." Vinnie suggested with an excited smile.
Charley could not believe what she was hearing. Either Vinnie did not understand how a cooler box worked or he really was more brawn than brains. But then she glanced over at Modo, who usually would reply if he knew Vinnie was having a dumb idea only this time he didn't.
"You know how they cool a cooler box, Vinnie?" She asked him. The young mouse looked at her with a confused look, which proved he probably really didn't know how a cooler box worked.
"Ice cubes?" Modo tried. The grey mouse had heard the underlying tone in Charley's voice. What it basically said was, a cooler box is a dumb idea.
"Well, that's dumb." Vinnie exclaimed and Charley felt a headache was bound to come over her.
"I honestly hope Izzy is having a better time than we are." She said.
Modo and Vinnie looked at each other over Charley's head, both feeling the need to say something. But Charley began to talk again.
"I'm glad how well things went today. Throttle and,-" She suddenly jolted forward. "Wait a minute." She looked over at Modo. "Did I forget to introduce Throttle to Izzy?"
Modo knew the answer to that question. Throttle and Isabel had already met. Charley had probably forgotten all about it because of the whole fridge incident. He was about to remind her, but he noticed Vinnie behind Charley waving his arms from left to right. Charley swiftly turned her head towards the white mouse who quickly lowered and crossed his arms, pretending there was nothing going on.
"That's alright, Charley ma'am. I'm sure Throttle will introduce himself again." Shoot. He wasn't suppose to say that last part. Charley gave him an odd look and Vinnie facepalmed himself.
"You're right. He can take care of that himself. I guess I've just been too busy with everything going on." Charley replied and Modo could hear the tiredness in her voice, even Vinnie looked guilty as she said that.
Modo reached out and placed his hand on her leg. "Everything will be normal in no time." He assured her.
Vinnie nodded in agreement. "We'll help out any way we can."
"Thanks, guys." Charley smiled broadly.
::::::...::::::
"We need to talk." Throttle said.
"Took the words right out of my mouth." Stoker retorted annoyingly.
Throttle ran a hand through his hair as he stepped in front of his former coach. He wasn't looking for a confrontation. He was just taking a precaution.
"Look, I'm not trying to start an argument, Stoke,-"
Stoker crossed his arms and tilted his head sideways. "Sounds like you are though, Throttle. You practically barged in here while I was having a civilised conversation."
Throttle let out a sigh. He'd heard their conversation and it was true what Stoker was saying, it had been civilised. In fact it was quite a serious conversation regarding what could have caused the crashing of Stoker's air craft. But what Throttle had seen was something else from what he'd heard. When he'd moved the curtain aside to look, he saw Stoker nearly bumping into Isabel as she got out of her seat to stop her from leaving. Then he not only noticed Stoker trying to hold himself back, but he saw the older mouse leaning in. His red antennas nearly touching Isabel's head.
Not that Stoker wasn't good at controlling his thoughts and memories from entering someone's mind, on the contrary, the man was an expert at that. But with everything that he was going through, Throttle wasn't sure if Stoker would be able to contain himself.
"And you're totally right, it was a really good conversation. That's not what I'm saying. I was just looking out for you, in case you would accidentally,- you know?" He pointed to his own antennas to emphasize the point he was making.
Stoker took a step back at hearing Throttle's comment. He hadn't been thinking about that at all. Using your antennas wasn't ordinary, it was basic communication between two minds. Something normal on Mars, although usual done between family, partners and good friends. More often used if you wanted to get your point across if you couldn't find the right words.
But connecting with someone from another species, or when you were in a state of frenzy or high with emotions, sending images could be not only seen but also felt. Throttle had connected with Charley, way back when they first landed on the blue green planet. He'd done so on a whim, being tired, feeling out of sorts and wanting to proof as quickly as possible to her that they were no threat.
Now Stoker had never connected with human mind before. Maybe Throttle was overreacting, maybe he should just let Stoker be and things would figure themselves out.
"Ah, forget it." He then said. "I know you'll be careful."
A bit surprised, but pleased, Stoker nodded a thank you. Even though on some level he knew Throttle had a very, very good point about this. Better safe than sorry, as they say. Although Stoker rarely said that.
"Let's get out." He said to Throttle and the two mice walked out of the spacecraft.
Once they came out from behind the curtain the rest of the scoreboard eyed awfully quiet. Not that they worried, after all, the only one else there with them was Isabel.
"So, she suggested a look at the schematics of this model and the older one." Stoker said as he rearranged the sheet to cover the door better.
"Do you even have those in there?" Throttle asked.
Stoker rubbed his chin as he looked at the outline of the ship. "I'm not sure. If not I can always contact Carbine. She probably has every schematic ever drawn inside that computer of hers."
Since Stoker had crashed on the planet, Throttle hadn't heard that name being spoken by anybody else other than himself. His bros usually steered clear of the subject because they knew it would rub Throttle in some way. However Stoker, being Carbine's uncle, really didn't give a hoot about that. He probably didn't even know that they hadn't really talked in the last few months, most likely because Carbine wouldn't tell others about her relationship and least of all to a blabbermouth as Stoker.
"I'm sure she'll be happy to help."
"Well,-" Stoker replied with a nervous tone. "She might yell cause I didn't exactly ask anybody's permission to actually take the craft out."
Throttle halted and uttered a chuckle. "You don't say?" That was Stoker alright. Good plans followed by immediate action instead of asking for permission.
"Speaking of yelling." He glanced around the room. "Where's Isabel?"
::::::…::::::
Charley should have thought this through. Taking Modo and Vinnie to a pawn shop in order to get a good fridge for a good price, it seemed like a smart idea. But now both of them were nowhere to be seen. She'd figured they'd at least wanted to be there with her to pick out the new fridge, but alas as always she was left on her own whenever something else grabbed their attention.
She had no choice but to pick out one herself and hope it wouldn't be destroyed within the span of the next few weeks. Maybe she should just not get them a fridge. If they didn't have one then they also couldn't break it. But then they would be going back and forth to her place, which also wasn't a good idea. Sure, she loved them all dearly, but she wanted her privacy too.
Within five minutes she managed to find a new fridge, get a discount on it and close the deal. By the time the salesman had gotten the fridge in the back of the truck, there was still no sign of Modo and Vinnie. She rounded the building to the back where used cars and other vehicles were for sale. If both of them weren't there, then she was going to go back to the scoreboard on her own.
She arrived at the back and it didn't take long for her to spot either of them. Both mice were roaming around the area where the motorcycle were parked. Eagerly and with interest the two checked out each ride. Charley stopped a couple of feet away from them to lean against a car and watch them for a while.
Charismatic, spontaneous and flamboyant Vinnie. Caring, strong and magnetic Modo. Both so different and yet in many ways so alike. She laughed as Vinnie clumsily knocked one of the bikes over, which would have caused a domino effect but luckily Modo spotted it and caught the second bike just in time.
At the sound of Charley's laugh they looked up at the mechanic, not embarrassed by what had almost happened.
"Hi sweetheart." Vinnie said straightening himself. "Look at all these babies, aren't they great?"
"You want a new ride, hotshot?" Charley replied with an arched eyebrow. Immediately Vinnie shook his head.
"Just interesting to look, that's all."
"None of these bikes could ever replace ours. Even if they broke down." Modo appeared next to Charley. "Not that they will, because we have the best woman in the world who can fix everything. There's no one like you, Charley ma'am."
She locked eyes with him. "Thank you, Modo. That's so nice to hear." It was quite the compliment. He made one every now and then but somehow this one touched her.
Modo, feeling incredibly proud of himself for making her look at him like that, couldn't help but feel a tiny blush creeping up. He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. "So, do you need help with the fridge?"
"Actually, it's already in the truck. I don't believe you guys realize how long these bikes managed to divert your attention." The brunette replied and Modo's blush vanished immediately.
Had they really been gone for that long or had Charley been that quick with buying their new fridge? He glanced over at Vinnie, who'd finally decided to join them. Modo obviously blamed Vinnie for this. The younger mouse had spotted a vintage Harley being driven back here and couldn't resist to take a look. Of course when he saw all the other motorcycles, he called for Modo instantly.
"We're sorry, Charley." Modo apologized. "We should have helped, as it was our fridge after all."
"Should have helped?" Vinnie repeated throwing his arm casually around Charley's shoulders. "Of course we would have helped, Modo. But knowing us, we'd only get in the way. Probably even break more stuff."
"Speak for yourself." Modo muttered under his breath so Charley wouldn't hear, though he knew very well that Vinnie did as the mouse rolled his eyes.
"There is certainly a truth in your words." Charley said to Vinnie, not getting away from his arm around her. "But let's go back to the scoreboard, get your new fridge installed and save Izzy from Stoker and Throttle."
"I'm sure everything is fine, Charley ma'am." Modo said with confident as the three of them walked back to the car.
"Unless the smell drives them cu-razy." Vinnie wiggled his eyebrows.
Charley opened the passenger's door and threw him a confused look. "Smell? What smell?"
It was then Vinnie knew he had to come up with something fast instead of blurting out what he exactly meant. "Uh,- I,- well, you know. The,- they,- Modo?"
Of course Vinnie would throw the ball his way, not that Modo was any better at making stories up. In fact, he was probably the worst at it out of all of them. Luckily for him, Modo didn't have to come up with an excuse because the mechanic wasn't dumb and she had the memory of an elephant. She closed the door and crossed her arms, giving both mice a glare.
"This wouldn't have anything to do with what Throttle told me the other day, would it?" She said.
Vinnie and Modo looked at each other.
"About why Stoker acted the way he did? You know, following Isabel to her motel?" Charley said explaining herself further.
"Depends." Vinnie replied. "What did he tell you about that?"
Charley uncrossed her arms and opened the car door again, this time she got in and Vinnie and Modo followed suit. As Modo started the engine, Charley continued her story. "Throttle said that it's normal for your species to go a bit crazy when meeting someone or something that is attractive to you. Heightened senses, he called it."
Modo listened with interest. Curious as to how Throttle had explained to her how their instincts and urges worked. Vinnie tapped his chin as he listened, wondering if there was more he could add to it because it seemed liked Throttle had given a simplistic explanation about it all.
Though if he were to do that, he might betray himself about how he felt towards Charley. Therefore he decided to simply agree. "He's right about that." He said. "Especially the scent of a person."
"That's what you meant, isn't it?" Charley asked Vinnie. "When you said unless the smell drives them crazy? You meant Isabel."
Vinnie scrunched his nose. Shit, he cornered himself. Oh well, this wasn't about him, so why should he pretend otherwise?
"See, I never need to explain myself to you, sweetheart. You always know what I mean." He winked at her and Charley rolled her eyes.
Quietly the trio drove back to the scoreboard. But there was another question on Charley's mind. Something she'd never thought of before but with Stoker being so infatuated with her sister-in-law, despite the fact he didn't even really know her, she had begun to wonder about certain things herself.
"So, this scent or smell." Charley suddenly said. "Is it something specific?"
They were about a minute away from the scoreboard and both Vinnie and Modo thought that the topic was officially closed. But apparently the mechanic wasn't done yet. Modo purposely sped up a bit, trying to appear to be focused with driving with the hope that Vinnie would reply to Charley. But she was looking at him and not at Vinnie.
"Modo?" She asked again.
"Uh. Specific? How do you mean, Charley ma'am?" A lump was forming in his throat.
"You know, specific? Different per person? Does it affect everyone, can everyone smell it?"
It wasn't really a question about her or Isabel, it sounded more general as if Charley was interested in their biology. Modo cleared his throat, knowing for sure he would be able to answer this without too much trouble.
"Each person has a scent. Martians, humans and other species, but as you noticed it doesn't have the same effect on everyone." Modo told her.
Charley nodded. She should have known that. The only one who acted reckless around Isabel was Stoker. Not even Vinnie acted that way and he was known as the most reckless out of all of them. But he hit on everything that even resembled a woman, so perhaps this wasn't a good example. As if the white mouse could read her thoughts, Vinnie responded as well.
"Sure, her smell is nice. But breathtaking? No. That soft flowery vanilla smell with a hint of,-" He stopped as he caught Charley narrowing her eyes at him. He coughed. "Like I said, sweetheart. We can smell it, but we don't care for it."
"Guess we can't all smell like root beer and hot dogs." She replied.
Modo couldn't go any faster or slower if he wanted to. They reached the scoreboard and he parked the car in front of the staircase. Finally they were here. All this talk about scents was making him very uncomfortable for it made him focus more and more on Charley's smell, which he already fought against on a daily basis and this was not helping.
He quickly got out of the car ready to carry their new fridge up the steps. Unfortunately for him, Charley wasn't done. There was still a question she wanted to ask them. She followed him out of the car and stood behind the grey mouse as he readied himself to lift the fridge.
"What do I smell like?" She asked him and they were all very lucky that he hadn't gotten the kitchen appliance out of the truck yet, because he most certainly would have dropped it.
"Heaven."Vinnie pointed a finger at her and smirked ever so charmingly.
"No, you macho mouse. Be more specific." Charley noticed the blush creeping over Vinnie's cheeks. It was always easy to spot thanks to his white fur. But she pretended not to notice this time.
"Modo?" Charley glanced over at the man in front of her.
The woman deserved an honest answer, but Modo wasn't prepared for this. First of all, he never thought she would wonder about matters such as their Martian biology. Secondly, he never thought she'd ask a question like this. And third, that he'd be the one she wanted an answer from.
"Modo?" The brunette asked with a chuckle. "Why won't you tell me? It can't be that bad, can it?"
"No." Both mice said at the same time. They paused and for a moment the two stared at each other. Vinnie gave him a nod, which Modo returned.
"You smell like sandalwood and jasmine. The early morning when riding through a forest after it has rained."
Not only Charley but even Vinnie dropped their jaw. Aside from the wood and flower smell, he'd even given a scenery as part of the description. She could feel her face heat up.
"Yeah." Vinnie replied with a smile suddenly standing a lot closer than she'd noticed earlier. "Oh, except for when she's working really hard. Then there is also a hint of,- of,- I don't know but it reminds me of crackling fire."
Charley felt incredibly confused and at a loss for words. This was different from the compliments they usual made. She felt warm all over now.
"Like that!" Vinnie suddenly exclaimed with low voice.
Charley didn't dare to turn around and look at him. She looked up instead but there was Modo. His eyes closed and his nose twitched, as if he was smelling her. "Yes." He answered with a growl in his voice.
This was too much for Charley too handle. She jumped away from the two men and went to stand on the first step of the staircase. "I'll go and tell Stoker and Throttle we're here."
::::::…::::::
"How did she manage to leave without us noticing?" Stoker hissed. He felt like an idiot. Had he scared her by getting into her space? Maybe she overheard him and Throttle raising their voices at each other and got scared?
They searched everywhere. In the bedroom, the kitchen, behind the spacecraft. Throttle even climbed a ladder to look outside through one of the higher windows. But she was gone.
"Maybe she just went outside for some air. Maybe she,- oh I don't know." Throttle huffed. "She couldn't have gotten far. Our bikes are here and Charley has the car. Although I'm guessing it won't belong before she gets back."
"I don't want to be here when Charley does and notices Isabel is missing." Stoker said. "I say we go look for her. That way we won't be here when the guys and Charley come back."
"I can get behind that plan." Throttle grabbed his helmet and went over to his bike. Stoker followed and grabbed Vinnie's motorcycle. They were about to head out when their ears picked up on a noise coming from behind the other side of the door. One of the voices definitely belonging to Vincent. The two eldest mice looked at each other and removed their helmets.
"Guess it pointless to disappear now." Throttle said as Stoker stepped off Vinnie's bike.
"I'll take the blame." He told the tanned mouse.
Throttle didn't have time to respond as the door opened and Charley appeared on the threshold. She threw them a quick smile and held the door wide open so Modo and Vinnie could get in with the new fridge.
"Is it still in one piece?" Throttle joked as he went over to his bros.
"Not funny, Throttle." Vinnie retorted as he and Modo set the object down in its designated spot.
"I agree. No more jokes about breaking and destroying stuff. You're going to give Izzy the idea that you guys are destructive wrecking balls." Charley said with a serious tone even though there was a grin on her face.
Good thing she isn't here then. Stoker thought, but he was still worried. Why had she gone off just like that? And here he was thinking everything was going so well. He still wanted to go look for her, with or without the others knowing. If only he could sneak out unseen.
Already he was tiptoeing his way towards the door, quietly and carefully. But he paused the moment he heard Charley say. "Where's Isabel?"
Stoker stood in front of the door, his hand already reaching for the doorknob ready to grab it and get out to find the woman Charley was referring to and that's when he noticed it. There, right in front of his nose. A note, bright and yellow, adorned with black swirly letters. He grabbed the small square piece of paper, which turned out to be rather sticky against his fingers, and glanced at it.
I'll be back soon,
Isabel.
That's all it said. Stoker flipped the note to see if there was anything else written on it, but there wasn't. I'll be back soon. That wasn't a lot of information to go on. From where and how soon was soon? Still he felt more at ease compared to a minute ago. Based on the note, she hadn't run out in fear or because of anything else. She was simply somewhere and would be back soon. Stoker straightened himself and turned around to face the others and tell them about the note, but they hadn't been watching him apparently. They were all looking at Throttle.
Throttle nervously rubbed his neck, worried about telling Charley the truth that they hadn't been paying attention to Isabel for a few minutes and that she'd managed to run off. His eyes searched for Stoker, who he spotted a few feet away in front of the exit. The former rebel leader was waving at him with something in his hand. Charley followed Throttle's gaze and her eyes landed on Stoker, still waving the note around. She eyed him questionably.
"Do you know where she is?" She asked him calmly.
"Of course I do." He replied proudly as he leaned his back against the door. He held the yellow note up and waved it about. "It says so right on this sticky thingy." The mechanic hurried over to the older mouse and he handed her the note.
"Back soon?" Charley read out loud. "From where?" Her bright eyes met Stoker's and she could tell from his expression that even he did not know where she was exactly.
"It's fine, doll. You're worried for nothing." Stoker said to her trying to sound as if he wasn't worried at all. "She's been gone for a good twenty minutes now. I'm sure it won't take long."
"You don't know where she went, do you?" Charley sighed still holding the note although she felt like crumbling it.
Without warning the door behind Stoker moved and the mouse got pushed forward. Charley stepped aside as Stoker turned around to face the moving door. He'd been so caught up with the others that he hadn't even heard anybody coming up the staircase. But there in the doorway stood Isabel. Her face red, her blonde hair a bit dishevelled and she was holding something in her hands.
"Sorry." She said. "I should have knocked. Charley, you're back?"
"Where were you?" Charley asked with worry. She raised her hand holding the yellow post-it.
"I see you found the note." Isabel replied.
"Some note, it doesn't say much." Charley crumbled it up.
"I couldn't very well tell, otherwise it would have spoiled my surprise." Isabel held up a brown paper bag and even Charley could smell what was on the inside.
"HOT DOGS!" Vinnie yelled and he ran faster than the speed of light to get to the bag first. Without asking but with a big smile, Vinnie took the bag out of Isabel's hand and rushed back to the kitchen.
Charley stared at her sister-in-law with great disbelief. "You went and got hot dogs?"
"As a thank you and also an apology in a way for,- disrupting matters." Isabel said as she wiped her hands on the side of her pants. "I figured twenty should be enough for the four of them, five each. Couldn't get any root beer though, that was a bit too much to carry all at once."
The auburn haired mechanic shook her head, hardly being able to believe her eyes from what she was seeing. But she was glad to see that even Isabel was beginning to make an effort to make things easier. "I'm sure the hot dogs are enough."
"Ah man, again no mustard!"
Charley closed her eyes at the sound of Vinnie's obvious disappointment for the lack of mustard. "Like I said, it's enough. You still want to go out for lunch with me? Just the two of us?"
"I'd like that." Isabel smiled.
"Great, give me a minute to make sure the fridge is properly installed and then we'll head out." Charley turned around and made her way back to the kitchen where Throttle and Modo had joined Vinnie at the dining table.
"For a moment there I thought you'd run off." Stoker said quietly to Isabel, grasping this opportunity to talk to her again.
Isabel looked up at the hazel mouse. She couldn't blame him for thinking that as she had made that comment earlier to Charley, meaning it as a semi joke though she probably would have run off if she had gotten scared. But talking with this Martian mouse had made her forget those thoughts, if only for a few minutes. That and also the night before had made her realize that maybe, just maybe, she was overreacting. And even though she still felt quite nervous and jittery, she wanted to apologize.
"It wasn't my intention. I wrote that note in case you might have thought that." Isabel told him. "I stuck it on the door on purpose, knowing for sure one of you would find it should you have decided to go out."
Stoker bit his bottom lip, not being able to tell her that he found the note only a minute ago. Not to mention Throttle and him would have probably never found it if they'd left on the bikes, as they never went through the door when on their rides.
"Smart thinking." He said to her instead with a broad smile. From the corner of his eye he saw Charley making her way back to them, knowing very well it was time for the two women to leave.
"Ready?" Isabel asked Charley.
"Yes, I am. Let's go, I know this great place down in China town." Charley smiled and said her goodbye to Stoker.
"Enjoy the hot dogs." Isabel said to him and with a smile she followed Charley out of the room.
Stoker watched the closed door for a few seconds until Vinnie yelled at him that if he didn't hurry up there'd be no dogs left for him. But Stoker didn't mind, in fact, he wasn't feeling very hungry at all.
Hope you enjoyed!
Until next time :)