"What took you so long, Azazel?" Selana asked, forcing a smile and hoping that Kurt and Nick would stay quiet.
"I went to see if Eric stayed away from Kayla," he said slowly, looking at her suspiciously. "What were you doing in the closet?"
"I was just rearranging some things. You startled me. Is Kayla all right?"
"Yes. Eric found someone to replace her."
She knew it was a lie, but she couldn't seem angry. Not yet. "Who?"
Azazel smirked. "Just some girl who looks like her. Probably a prostitute."
She had to find a way to get him to leave, and quickly. "Well, since you spent all morning looking for Eric…do you still have things to do around here?" she asked, hoping he did.
He shook his head. "I have all day to spend with you…"
Selana knew what he was implying, and decided to go with plan B. She'd never refused him before, and he'd get suspicious if she did now. She put her arms around his neck. "That's what I was hoping," she said softly and locked lips with him. He abruptly picked her up and got in bed with her.
In the closet, both Nick and Kurt were pressed against the door, trying to hear what was going on.
"Is she really going to do it with him?" Nick whispered.
"No…she wouldn't. She's just going to get him to leave…" Kurt whispered back, but he didn't sound that confident.
"Or wait until he goes to sleep…that's what she said. They're going to do it!"
"Shut up!" Kurt hissed. "I'm trying to listen."
Selana was doing her best to act as if Kurt and Nick weren't in the closet, and that he hadn't lied to her just to keep her there, but it was harder than she thought. She wished that there was some way to stall him, but she couldn't think of any that weren't suspicious…she could only hope that Kurt didn't get too jealous and blow their cover.
Azazel slowly took her shirt off, not wanting to go anywhere too quickly, and wrapped his arms around her waist. She couldn't help but be a little aroused as his kisses became more passionate.
"This is torture," Kurt whispered to Nick.
"I know what you mean," answered Nick angrily. "I think I know how she felt when I cheated on her. Except she never sat in the closet and listened…"
Kurt didn't answer. Instead, he threw open the door and glared at Azazel. Thankfully, he only had his shirt off, and Selana was still wearing her lingerie. "I'm sick of listening to this. It's not worth avoiding Azazel for this. Come on, Selana, we're leaving."
Kenshin and Kevin burst into the room just then. Kevin flushed furiously, seeing Azazel on top of Sel, but Kenshin leapt into action. Before the shocked Azazel could react, Kenshin's sword was at his neck. "Get up."
"Kenshin—" Kurt started, but with a resounding bamf, Azazel had disappeared.
Kenshin lowered his sword, but didn't sheathe it. His eyes narrowed, he took in everybody. "Sel, get dressed. Where's Kayla?"
"She's not here. Eric said he was keeping her somewhere else," said Nick.
"Eric lied," snapped Kenshin. "Where is he now?"
Kurt and Nick exchanged worried glances. "He was supposed to stall Azazel," said Kurt finally.
Sel, finally realizing that they weren't exactly going to give her any privacy, started pulling on her clothes right in front of the guys. "I can't believe you would even believe him in the first place!" she muttered.
Kenshin glanced at Sel, and as the hard look faded from his eyes, his cheeks flushed. He turned away quickly. "We might still be able to catch Eric. I'll find you guys later." Then he ran off, towards the portal.
It was very difficult for him to focus on his task, after seeing Sel like that. But he forced himself to concentrate and sped off to the shore and the boat. He came screeching to a halt there… The boat was gone. He should've known! When he and Kevin arrived at the island, he'd thought he'd seen something move in the jungle, but he'd thought it was just a bird… Cursing, he ran back to the portal to relay the bad news to the others.
He heard something behind him, and a split second later, he'd been knocked down to the ground. He stood up quickly, hand on the hilt of his sword. Another bamf sounded right behind him, and he ducked low to avoid Azazel's fist. At the same time, he turned and drew his sword, hitting Azazel in the side. He heard a satisfying 'crack' that could only have been Azazel's ribs, and then he was standing over Azazel.
"You should be thankful I have a reversed-blade sword," he stated, placing a foot on Azazel's chest. "Else you'd be in two bloody pieces now."
Azazel groaned, an ugly bruise forming on his side. "Why don't you kill me now?"
Kenshin grinned and sheathed his sword. "This one is an assassin no more. Tell me where Eric took Kayla."
"How should I know?" moaned Azazel. "All I know is that I was spending some quality time with her, and then I went back to Sel, and Kurt and Nick jumped out of my closet."
Kenshin's eyes narrowed to slits. "'Quality time'?"
"You b!" shouted Sel as she and the guys walked onto the scene. "Not only were you lying to me, you were cheating on me, too! Kenshin, kill him!"
Kenshin smiled sadly. "As much as I might want to, I won't."
"But—"
"Then I'll kill him," said Kurt angrily. He stormed over just as Kenshin let his foot off of Azazel, and with another bamf, Azazel was gone.
"Why'd you do that?" shouted Nick.
Kenshin, ignoring him, turned and headed toward the shore. "Eric and Kayla are gone, as is our means of transportation. Unless you plan on swimming, we should send Kurt over to get us another boat."
"Why don't you just teleport all of us?" asked Kevin of Kurt.
Kurt laughed. "Yeah, right. Maybe one at a time—"
"Then do it," said Kenshin sharply. "We're wasting time."
"Welcome to Costa Rica," said Eric as he led Kayla off the plane. "Your new home."
"For how long?" she asked quietly, not really expecting him to hear her.
"It depends on how soon your friends track us down. Cheer up, it could be worse. I could be Nick or Azazel." He actually looked genuinely concerned; Kayla hadn't smiled for a long time.
She shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. If you were one of them, I wouldn't be so confused about my feelings."
"So you do like me!" Eric said triumphantly, beaming.
"I don't know…I hate you, but then you are relatively nice to me, and…" She shrugged again, struggling for words. "I don't know."
"Well, indecision is better than a solid hatefulness," said Eric, accidentally reminding her of the last conversation she'd had with Kevin. I'll take a 'maybe' over a 'no' any day…
Kurt did as Kenshin demanded, teleporting them one at a time to the nearest island, where the airport was. He saved Selana for last, because she weighed the least and thus was easiest to teleport, and he knew that after teleporting Kenshin and Kevin he'd be tired enough.
"Are you all right?" Selana asked worriedly when he teleported back to get her.
He smiled at her. "I'm fine. Just a little tired."
"You look a lot more than just a little tired," she said, frowning.
"I'm just…out of practice," he replied. "I haven't done anything like this in awhile."
Selana sighed, still concerned. "And I'm sure Kenshin would get mad if I wanted you to rest for a bit. We should go."
"Um…before we leave," Kurt started, suddenly acting nervous. "Since we're alone…I wanted to apologize."
"Apologize? For what?"
"Well…I'm sure you must have something planned…but when you were with Azazel…I couldn't stand it."
"That's it?" said Selana, smiling. "I was going to thank you for that."
"Thank me, liebchen? I assumed you'd be angry."
"Well, as much as I hate to be walked in on, I was wishing that you or Nick would," she admitted, beaming at him. "I really didn't want to be with Azazel after you two told me that he lied just to keep me in his bed. I don't like admitting I was wrong…but you were totally right about him, Kurt. I shouldn't have trusted him like I did. I guess no boyfriend of mine will ever be honest with me."
"Selana, I would be honest with you," Kurt stated sincerely.
She looked at the ground. "We should go. We're wasting time; Kenshin will be angry as it is. He's either really worried about Kayla, or crazy." She saw his half-hearted smile, and took his hand in hers, smiling a little. "But I'd like to talk about this later."
Kurt returned the smile and teleported.
The group of five went in to the airport, and Kenshin instantly started interrogating the first employee he saw. She was a pretty brunette, who was obviously flustered with Kenshin's questioning.
"Did you see a blonde-haired man with a brown-haired woman come in here?"
"Well, sir, I've seen a lot of people today—"
"They came in not more than an hour ago. The woman would have seemed sad, maybe even angry," Kenshin pressed.
"Now that you mention it," the brunette said, "I did see a couple like that. The girl that was with him was gorgeous, but she did seem upset. I thought that maybe they just had an argument—"
"Did they get tickets? Where did they go?" Kenshin demanded, cutting her off.
"Well, I can't tell you that, sir, I'm sorry."
Selana gently pushed Kenshin aside and smiled at the brunette. "Excuse my partner, miss, he can get pretty emotional about some of our cases, but we really need that information. We're all with the F.B.I. Missing persons. We think that the blonde man, Eric, might have kidnapped the woman."
The woman's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Can I see your I.D.?"
All four guys thought that they were caught, and were surprised when Selana actually took out her wallet and showed the brunette her I.D. "I'll get that information right away," the employee said, leading them over to the luggage check and looking at the computer. "All right. An Eric Quinn bought two tickets to Costa Rica."
"Thank you," Selana said with a relieved smile. "We'll need five tickets for the next flight there."
"I'm sorry, but I don't know if I can do that. The flight might be booked—"
Selana smiled in a way Kurt and Kenshin had rarely seen. "Would it help if I gave you my phone number?"
The brunette smiled back—not a courtesy smile, but one that almost matched Selana's. "I'll get you those tickets."
"Um…Selana…I have a question," Nick said uneasily. They were all on the plane now. Selana was sitting in between Kurt and Nick. Nick had insisted that he get a window seat, but Kurt knew that he really just wanted to sit next to Selana. Kevin and Kenshin were in the row right behind them.
"Okay, what is it?" Selana asked, but she could guess what it was already. Kenshin and Kevin were leaning in close, wanting to hear what was going on.
"Uh…how did you…um, pass off as an F.B.I. agent?"
Selana got out her wallet, smiling. "Fake I.D.," she said, showing it to him. "Eric made it a long time ago…I guess it still works. I saw that you weren't having much luck with that brunette, so I switched it with my normal one and butt in." She saw that the rest of the guys were interested, too, so she showed her fake identification to them, too.
"I have another question," Nick said. "How did you know that girl was…um…"
"A lesbian?" Selana asked, as if it was completely normal. Now all four men were eager to hear her answer. "Well, the biggest hint was that when we walked in, instead of looking at the four handsome men with me, she was checking me out. Another clue was that when she said she saw Eric and Kayla, she called Kayla 'gorgeous'. I don't normally call other girls that. Maybe 'cute' or 'pretty', but never 'gorgeous'."
The men, all satisfied with her answer, settled back into their seats as the flight attendant started to go over safety precautions.
For once, Eric wasn't sure of what to do. He had Kayla, he was rich, and he should've been happy, but he wasn't. He was confused. On the one hand, he'd just found out that Kayla actually liked him a little bit, and he reasoned from that information that keeping her longer would make her forget about her past and like him more. On the other hand, for reasons unknown to him, he was starting to feel sorry for her. She was very sweet, very innocent, and very vulnerable, and for the first time in his life, he was actually feeling guilty about taking advantage of somebody with those qualities. Watching her stare out of the window of their (or, rather, his) new apartment, he couldn't help but notice how sad she looked…like a caged bird. Guilt was eating at his insides, and having never experienced guilt before, he didn't know how to handle it.
Kayla, for her part, had no idea what sort of effect she was having on Eric. All she knew was that hope was fading with the setting sun, and a deep depression was settling in its place. But Costa Rica was beautiful… A little bird of a sort she'd never seen alighted on the window. It pecked around a bit, and then peered through the glass at her. Chirping and ruffling its feathers a bit, it set about hopping around in its search for food. She smiled, watching its antics, and with much relief forgot about her current situation and focused on the bird.
"Get ready," hissed Kenshin, although his words weren't necessary. Everybody was tensely waiting for him to open Eric's apartment door. Sel had already picked the lock, and now Kenshin pushed it open.
Sunlight was already streaming into the room, although the sun had barely risen. There were no suitcases in the room, but a couple of shopping bags leaned against the wall in a corner. There was only one person in the bed. The quintet of rescuers scanned the area quickly and closed the door behind them. All of them were confused—where was Eric?
Since nobody else made a move, Kevin stepped up to the bed to wake up Kayla. She was sleeping peacefully, her auburn hair tousled and shining in the sunlight. He was suddenly reminded of the story of Sleeping Beauty. A tap on his shoulder stirred him from his reverie.
"Are you going to stare at her forever? Move it," said Sel. He stepped aside, a little reluctantly, and Sel shook Kayla on the shoulder. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead!"
Kayla rolled over and yawned. "Not yet," she muttered sleepily. "It's too early…"
Sel rolled her eyes. "Kayla, wake up!"
Kayla's eyes snapped open and she sat up immediately, holding the covers in front of her. She stared wide-eyed at everybody, with most of them staring wide-eyed at her ('most of them' excluding Sel). "Um…hi," she said hesitantly. She let go of the covers with one hand, using it to rub her eyes. "Am I dreaming?"
"I hope not," said Kevin stupidly, staring at Kayla's bare shoulders and back.
Sel turned and slapped him. "Snap out of it! We're not here to gawk; surely you guys have seen naked women before!"
Kayla blushed and pulled the covers more tightly about herself, so only her face showed. "Where're my clothes?"
"Right here," said Kenshin, standing on the opposite side of the bed from Sel and Kevin. He reached down and picked up a bra. "Although I can't say I know what this is…"
"It's a bra," said Sel flatly, grabbing for it.
"Oro?" said Kenshin, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head. He dropped the bra and jumped back from it like it was a cobra. "Um…this one will be leaving now," he said sheepishly, his face a bright red. He dashed out of the room like his pants were on fire.
Sel cleared her throat impatiently, and the other guys followed suit. "Stupid, perverted, idiotic…"
"Don't you know what a bra is?" asked Kurt when the four guys were all in the hallway and the door was closed behind them.
Kenshin shook his head solemnly. "In my time, women would use bandages to wrap about themselves."
"Weird…" said Nick.
"Never mind that. Did you happen to see what size that was?" put in Kevin with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
"Oro?" asked Kenshin, completely clueless.
"It's on a white tag inside the bra," explained Kurt.
"Oh…that. Yeah, I saw it."
"What was it?" clamored the guys.
"Why do you want to know?" asked Kenshin, suddenly becoming very suspicious of his friends.
The three guys exchanged glances. None of them had a really good excuse… Kevin saved them. "For Christmas shopping, in case I want to get her something special…"
"Yeah, just in case," added Kurt.
Kenshin eyed them warily, but relented. "36B."
Nick laughed. "I've seen bigger on teenagers."
"Yes, but those teenagers are stooped or have back problems because of the weight they have to carry," defended Kevin.
"That's the perfect size—not too big, not too small. Just right," agreed Kurt.
Kayla and Sel stepped out of the room just then, and the guys fell silent. All eyes were on Kayla—and not her face, either. "What?" she asked, not following their gazes. "What's wrong?"
Sel rolled her eyes. "I'll tell you what's wrong—they're disgusting, perverted, one-minded, dirty men! C'mon, ya'll, move it, before Eric changes his mind!"
"Changes his mind? What do you mean?" asked Kenshin.
"He left a note," explained Kayla. "Something along the lines of he was starting to feel guilty, and he didn't know what to do, so he decided to give me up."
"Eric said that? No way," said Nick, grabbing the note from Kayla. He read it and shook his head. "I don't believe it…"
"And I don't believe my friends would team up with you," said Kayla curtly, snatching the note back from him.
Nick smirked at her. "And why shouldn't they? If Eric can give you up, I can be trusted. Right?"
Sel broke into the fight and pulled Kayla away. "Kayla," she whispered into Kayla's ear. "He's not going to be around for long. We're going to get rid of him as soon as possible."
"Can we lose him before we even get out of this building?" whispered Kayla.
Sel glanced back at Nick. "Maybe. I'll see. Just forget he's here, ok?"
Kayla nodded and moved on ahead to join her bodyguard and her (possible) boyfriend. "When we get back home, I need to have a talk with you two," she told them. They glanced at each other, but nodded. Kayla then headed back to Kurt and Sel. "Oh, and Kurt, could you carry these?" With a sweet smiled, she handed him the shopping bags and hurried back up to Kenshin and Kevin before Kurt could protest.
"Are you coming, Sel?" Kurt asked as he started to follow Kayla, Kenshin, and Kevin.
"No, not yet; I'll catch up. I'm going to talk to Nick about something," Selana said. Kurt hesitated for a moment. He didn't want to leave Sel alone with Nick, but if it was what she wanted…
"I wanted to talk to you, too," Nick said, beaming at her.
She smiled back. "Good! You talk first, then."
Nick waited until he was sure that the others were out of hearing range, and then started, "I knew you'd come around again, Sel, I just knew it. I missed you so much, and I'm sure you missed me."
She backed away from him a little, frowning. "Nick, this really isn't—"
"Isn't this what you want, Sel?" Nick asked, getting closer as she inched away. "I want to get back together with you…"
"No, Nick, I don't want this. I wanted to talk about Kayla." She had backed up as far as she could; she was against the wall now.
"Kayla? Look, what I did to her…I'm sorry about it. Eric had a change of heart…why can't I? I love you, Sel," he said almost desperately, then slid an arm around her waist and kissed her.
As Kurt walked down the hall, he could hear Nick and Selana's voices, but couldn't make out the words. When they suddenly stopped talking, he glanced back, just to make sure everything was okay, and did a double take. They were kissing, and it didn't look forced. Actually, Selana looked like she loved it. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and his were around her waist…Kurt looked away. He had thought that she might finally like him, but maybe he was wrong.
Nick finally pulled away, smirking, but still held on to her. "So? What do you say?"
"Nick…" she started and gently pushed him away. "I'm not interested in someone like you anymore. I didn't want to talk about that, in the first place." She watched his expression darken, and decided to plunge right into it. "Kayla and I want you to leave. You make Kayla uncomfortable, probably because of what you did to her, and I certainly am not comfortable having you around. I thought maybe if I talked to you one-on-one, you'd listen to what I have to say."
"So that's what this is about," Nick said coldly, and backed away from her. "You hate me."
"No, it's not like that. I don't even think you really love me. If you stopped following me around, you might be able to find someone you do love. And if you can't…just look me up and I'll see if I want to give you another chance."
When Selana finally came out of the apartment complex, everyone looked impatient with her.
"What took you so long?" Kevin said. "We should leave before Eric changes his mind and comes back."
"Where's Nick, Selana?" Kurt asked coldly, and everyone was surprised by his tone. But Selana answered, anyways.
"He decided to leave," she said, smiling at Kayla. "I gave him some money, and he went out a different way. I don't think he'll be a problem anymore. So, are we going back to San Diego, or what?"