Never Be the Same Again Ch. 4 – "The Morning After"
The next day, 7:30 A.M., Room 1201, Sheraton Hotel, Downtown Los Angeles, California.
Morning came, and the sun ascended halfway to the clear, sunny blue sky above.
Marco was still in bed, snoring heavily as his face was buried on one pillow with his arm extended on another beside where his head laid, his mouth open wide like an endless cave with drool dripping out of it like a waterfall down to his resting pillow, passed out like a baby in deep sleep. Fio, on the other hand, had just gotten off the shower and was about to keep getting ready for the next phase of she and Marco's espionage operation for the week. She was wrapped in a long towel that served to cover her breasts and other provocative parts and in another around her hair.
Fio walked slowly towards one side the bed where Marco was rolled over, leaned slowly, and extended one hand on Marco's face to wake up Marco while holding the towel which held snug on her skin.
"Marco, honey, time to wakey-wakey," she whispered.
There was no response.
"Babe, it's time to get up," she whispered again.
Again, no response.
"Marc," she called him softly. "Marc!" her whisper grew louder. "MAR-…"
Suddenly, Fio felt something hit her on her left cheek. The sleeping troop leader had accidentally jabbed her straight on the nose while he was still asleep. The force was so strong that Fio started to bleed a little from her nose down to her upper lip. She felt both of her hands cupping her nose and started to whimper whilst tears started to flow out of her eyes.
"Aaaahh," she cried and then screamed, "YOU SON OF A BITCH!" as she menacingly and repeatedly banged the bottom of her fists on Marco whilst in loud, frantic whining.
Marco opened his eyes quickly as he felt Fio beating on his chest and face and yelled out, "YOW, OW, OW, AAAHHH, FIO-STOP, STOP!"
He then panted in terror 3 times and looked at Fio's face, which was still bloodied from her nose, and worriedly asked her, "What happened?!"
"WHAT THE FUCK DOES IT LOOK LIKE?! YOU…JUST PUNCHED...ME!," Fio screamed as she cried in pain, still cupping her nose. "GREAT. NOW, MY COMPLEXION IS RUINED, YOU JERK!" she added in muffled voice as she gasped and almost screamed from the top of her lungs.
Marco quickly rose up from bed still naked and comfortingly wrapped his arms around Fio. He looked into Fio's teary eyes and softly whispered, "Sssshhhh. You'll wake up the neighbors with all that yelling."
"Oh, Marc," Fio sighed, still shaken up and a bit broken from that shocking instant.
"I'm sorry, sweetie," Marco whispered apologetically.
"It's alright. I'm alright," Fio softly replied as she leaned her head below Marco's.
"Just shush, okay? Daddy's here," he whispered while grabbing a portion of the blanket. He then gently wiped out the blood all over Fio's nose and lips. Afterwards, he slowly leaned to kiss her lips.
"I love you," he softly said.
"I love you just as much," she replied, still caught in his kiss. Suddenly, a quick thought rang in Fio's mind.
"Hold it now, big man. You haven't even rinsed yet. Ugh, nasty!" Fio said as she broke away from Marco's hold.
"Aw, shit!" Marco sighed in sudden discontent as he slammed one hand on his face in a face-palm motion.
Fio smiled and halfheartedly responded, "Don't worry, amore. I'll go in again, this time with you."
Marco smiled back and said, "That would be nice."
"Come on, honey. Last one to the tub has to be the spotter for today's sniping headhunt."
"Oh, you're on! I call explosive entry, guns blazing!"
Marco and Fio then dashed into the bathroom to get cleansed, giggling like teenage high school sweethearts along the way.
Half an hour later at 8 A.M., they were dressed and ready, this time in the casuals they bought together during their shopping spree at Beverly Hills a couple of days ago before the first phase of their mission for the week. Their presumed mission phase go-time for the day was at 9:30 A.M., an hour and a half later, and they were assigned a subsequent sniper task after their "target painting" phase the day before.
"After our check out, let's stop for a quick breakfast at Panera before we meet Tarma and Eri at the rendezvous point near the commercial tower. I'm in the mood for a macho breakfast sandwich and sea-salted mocha latte," Marco suggested to Fio as he and Fio were packing out of the hotel, ready to check out.
"Yeah, I'd love that. In fact, I'll just have the usual bagel with berry cream cheese and chai tea," Fio said in agreement.
"Ooh. Chai tea's originally my favorite," Marco exclaimed in joy.
"Wouldn't hurt to try it out," Fio laughingly said followed by a wink.
As soon as the pair finished packing all of their stuff in their backpacks, they headed out the door of their room down to the lobby for check-out.
It was just another day, so it seems, except after the night before, Marco and Fio would never be the same.