Now or Never

By the time Eureka awoke next morning, Renton had come and gone out of the bedroom. For a moment she was sad, but then Eureka remembered the new rule she had imposed on Renton– not to mention that today was the day Riku was going to give her advice on how to move forward with him. She just had to wait till lunch time.

Before she left the house with the kids, Eureka stopped by the garage. Renton hadn't been at breakfast, which was unusual, but with the Beams' job, Eureka knew he would only become busier.

"Renton!" Eureka yelled into the seemingly empty garage. "Where are you, Renton?" Renton was on a dolly under the leg of the LFO, working on who knows what.

"Oww!" Renton had heard Eureka's second call, and lifted his head up too fast, hitting it on the cold, hard metal.

"Oh, Renton!" Eureka dropped her school bag and ran over to where Renton was stumbling onto his feet. Just as Eureka got to him, Renton fell back onto the ground. "Renton, are you alright?"

For a moment, Renton was silently rubbing his head; and when he opened his eyes he saw. Still rubbing, Eureka heard him mumble, "Good view".

"Huh?" Eureka did a quick examination of the scene, and realized Renton's eye-line pointed right up her school skirt. "Eeek!" Eureka stepped back, and pushed her hands down on the front of her uniform so that her panties were covered from Renton's eyes.

"Ah, man." Renton got to his feet, but was immediately knocked back down. Eureka had thrown herself on him in a tackle with a shout of "Idiot!"

For a moment, Renton was about to protest with a "What's the big deal?" or "Come on, I have a lot of work," and "You gotta get the kids to school." But Eureka's aggressive weight had lessened, and the body on top of him began to gently repose, as Renton felt Eureka's arms touch his chest, and her head move along side his so that their cheeks were touching,

"Sorry, Eureka. . ." Renton didn't know exactly what was happening, but he thought he should apologize for teasing her. "Are you mad?"

"I'm not," Eureka's voice was weak, and Renton thought she might be on the verge of tears. Without another word, Eureka locked lips with Renton. As she kissed him again and again, Eureka hoped that she wasn't too heavy, and that Renton was enjoying the taste of her as much as she enjoyed him. Renton's lips had, she thought, a salty taste– like sweat– but it wasn't overpowering, and she rather enjoyed it.

Now, the taste changed, and so did the feel. Eureka hadn't been focusing on Renton's movements; but now she noticed that her lips were apart from one another– far apart. Renton was licking her lips, slowly pushing passed them into her mouth. Instinctively, Eureka's mouth mirrored his actions and their tongues wrapped around one another.

Suddenly, Eureka pulled her mouth, head, and body away from Renton. The change was so sudden that Renton was actually worried, not that he had taken things a step too far, but that Eureka had been physically hurt by something he did. He retraced his actions, wondering if he might have bit her on accident, or something.

All these thoughts rushed passed his mind in a second, but were interrupted by Eureka saying in a panic, "Oh, Renton, I'm sorry!" In another second, Eureka had embraced the sitting Renton in a hug, which he returned with equal vigor.

"Haha, it's ok. What are you sorry for?"

"I didn't mean it– what just happened, I was just surprised." Eureka got off Renton, and pulled him up with her. They stood together for a moment, before–

"Mama, where are you! It's time to go, Mama!"

"Oh! I gotta go." Eureka stood on her toes to kiss Renton on the cheek, and ran off. "I love you, Renton!"

"I love you!"

The roof was silent, save for the whisper of a soft breeze. After Eureka had dropped the kids off, she had met up with Riku and told her about the past week. Riku had figured that Eureka and Renton had been too tired to stay up long enough to do anything like they had that first night, and she had thought of the perfect advice.

What Riku hadn't expected were the events of that morning. Eureka left her in suspense till lunch; but once Riku heard about Renton's forwardness, she decided to re-evaluate her advice.

On one hand, Renton was definitely a guy, and there was no way he could be patient for much longer. Once a long weekend came, or he finished up that big job, Renton would definitely pounce on Eureka– no incentive needed. On the other hand, all signs pointed to Eureka being the one who couldn't wait. She had initiated the events of that morning, and it was Eureka asking Riku for advice on how to advance the relationship, not Renton.

With all this on her mind, Riku had declared a time of quiet contemplation on the roof. Eureka quickly agreed, and sat expectingly, staring almost too intently at Riku. Meanwhile, Riku was feeling the pressure. She had promised Eureka good advice, and lunch time was running out.

"Mmrr. . ." Riku's inner frustration was growing– it didn't help that at each murmur or growl made Eureka leaned in with excitement, sincerely hopeful that Riku's words would magically fix her situation with Renton.

"Well, Renton is clueless, so–"

"Renton isn't clueless!" Riku was shocked by Eureka's sudden outburst, and frightened for a moment by Eureka's expression, which gave an aura of, for lack of a better term, 'killing intent'.

Honestly, Eureka didn't understand what "clueless" meant, but she knew it wasn't nice.

"Ok," Riku needed to get the advice out, and so chose to ignore Eureka's irritability. But now, Eureka was less willing to listen to Riku at all. She stopped leaning in, and turned from facing Riku in a huff. "A shower."

Eureka turned back in curiosity, "A shower?"

Riku nodded. "Definitely. It's away from the kids, not to mention Axel. It's intimate, and you both – for some reason – shower before bed."

"But. . ." Eureka brought her finger to her lips, remembering that morning.

"Look, it's the only way!" Now, as she thought more and more about it, Riku's confidence in her advice was growing. "Renton won't be against it, but he won't take your relationship any further without you taking the first step. You think so too, right?"

". . .a shower." Eureka wasn't so sure that she did think that. She wanted to believe that her feelings weren't one-sided. She knew Renton loved her, but she wasn't one-hundred percent sure that he wanted her the same way she wanted him. But that wasn't the real reason she was so hesitant to take Riku's advice.

'Renton would see me.' Her mind didn't move beyond that thought, and even THAT was too hard to communicate to Riku.

Bbbrrrriiiiiinnggg!

"Time to go, Eureka." Riku helped her friend up, but was still troubled at the inner conflict evident on Eureka's face. "Eureka, it really isn't so bad. But maybe. . ." Riku was struggling for the right words, "maybe you should wait till both you and Renton are ready. Or maybe you should talk to Renton about your feelings."

"Thank you, Riku." Eureka's worried expression was gone, and she smiled at her friend. "Renton has always been open with me, and it's time I do the same."

"Papa! Maurice! Eureka says dinner's ready!" Linck yelled into the garage, not particularly caring if the two heard him or not. He was eager to try one more wave before going inside for dinner.

As it happens, the two were running a torch on a large piece of metal, and the noise drowned out Linck's shout. So, ten minutes later, Linck was scolded and Maeter was sent out to call the two again.

Maeter wasn't going to take any chances. She walked up to the work bench, where Renton was explaining something to Maurice over the sound of the torch, and shouted, "PAPA! MAURICE! DIINNEERRR!"

Renton turned off the saw immediately, and led Maeter by the arm away from the work bench. "Maeter! I've told you again and again not to come close when we're working!" Renton wasn't really angry, but he spoke harshly so Maeter understood that she could seriously get hurt.

Maeter's anger choked back her tears as she protested, "But you two never hear us! What am I supposed to do?"

"You wait till we're done, Maeter. Do understand how badly you could get hurt? And what if you really did get hurt!" Now Renton was mad. "How do you think that what make me and Eureka feel? Not to mention your brothers– and Axel! It would kill him!"

"I'M S-S-SORRY!" Maeter wasn't really thinking about how she could have got hurt– or even about what she did, at all. She just knew that Renton was really mad at her now, and she wanted him to show her that he forgave her and loved her again.

As Maeter began to cry, Renton took off his gloves, motioned for Maurice to turn off the tools and follow him inside, and went to pick up his daughter.

By the time the three got inside Maeter had cried it out on Renton's shirt and was ready to eat. The family went through their usual routine of each person recounting their day, and dinner past without much excitement. As always, Renton and Eureka were the last to leave the dining room, having to clean the dishes and kitchen after the meal.

"This job is killing me," Renton was happy to have someone to talk to; after all the kids wouldn't understand, and Axel would tell him to suck it up. "Maurice turned everything off in the garage, so I'm thinking of taking the night off." What Renton was really thinking was: 'Eureka might crawl into my bed again if I'm actually there.'

As for Eureka, she saw her chance. 'It's now or never.'