Ch. 8

Dinner

Krystal decided to take a quick nap while Josh started to make supper, the plan was to make roast with mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. He hoped she would like it. During diner he was hoping that he could ask her a few questions about herself.

Josh pulled the roast out of the oven and was hit by its smell. It had a hit of lime to it, just like his mother use to do with the roast when he was a kid. He put on the finishing touches and set the table; afterwards he looked around and had to admit that he impressed himself, this was as fancy as it could get, he had set a red table cloth on the table and had lit a few candles, the last time he could ever consider making a fancy dinner was when he lit one candle while he ate a pack of Roman noodles during a blackout. He made his way to the bedroom and gently knocked at the door.

"Krystal?" He gently called out, "Dinner is ready." There was no answer, Josh opened the door and quietly walked in, the lights were off so he couldn't see. He used his hand and flipped the switch light on and the room lit up. Josh noticed Krystal lying on the bed with the covers up to her neck. She looked so peaceful that part of him didn't want to wake her up. He made his way over to her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder and gently shook her.

"Krystal…Krystal wake up." He said gently shaking her, a soft moan escaped her mouth and she slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes fixated on him and he noticed her ears rising up.

"What is it?" She asked, her voice was filled with sleepiness.

"Dinner is ready." He replied, Krystal slowly sat up and yawned.

"Okay, thanks…I'll be out in just a moment."

"Alright." He said and walked out of the room closing the door. Krystal started to stretch and popped some of her bones in the process. She yawned again and stood from the bed and made her way to the door, she started to scratch behind her left ear and walked out. She made her way to the kitchen table and noticed all the food.

"Looks great." She said and made her way to her seat, Josh pulled the chair out for her and when she sat down he pushed her and the chair up close to the table.

"I was hoping you would say that." He said and sat down across from her. The two started eating when Josh spoke up.

"So, you said you had some questions you would like to ask." He said, Krystal nodded, "Well, let's hear them." He said. Krystal wiped her mouth with a napkin and cleared her throat.

"What is your life like here, before I came around?" She asked.

"Well, before or after Amanda and I broke up?"

"Before."

"Well, life was great, had a job I liked, got to go to sleep with the love of my life every night and wake up next to her every morning. It was just amazing, until she ruined it all." He said and took a sip of his drink.

"Your turn." She said, Josh looked up at her.

"My Turn?"

"I asked a question you answered, now you ask me a question."

"Okay…Where are you from?" He asked.

"Born or raised?" She asked.

"Uh…Both I guess."

"Well I was raised on Sauria, most of its inhabitants were Dinosaurs."

"Dinosaurs?" He asked.

"Yes."
"I'm not even going to try to think hard on that one, so what about the one you were born?" He asked, and took another sip of his drink.

"I was born on a planet called Cerinia…But it's gone now." She said and continued to eat her food.

"Gone?"

"It along with my family…Were destroyed." She said, Josh could see the sadness in her eyes.

"Shit…First question I ask ruins the night, I'm sorry Krystal." He said feeling like shit. She looked up at him and brushed a lone tear from her eye.

"You didn't ruin the night Josh, it happened a long time ago." She placed her hand on the green emerald necklace. "This use to be my mothers, my father gave it to her when they married. She gave him a staff in return, that he later gave to me…But I lost the staff in the lake...On Cerinia, when a man and woman are married they exchange gifts to their spouse" She said, "My turn…Tell me about your family."

"My family…I had a Mom and Dad and a little brother once…But they were hit by a drunk driver on the way home from picking up my little brother from football practice. My Mother died at the crash, my little brother died on the way to the hospital. I was about 15 at the time. Some cops showed up and took me to see my Dad, he told me that he struggled to stay alive so he could see me one last time, to tell me how proud he was of me and that he loved me…But he never did, he had to write it down and died shortly before I got there." He looked up and noticed Krystal's face was filled with sorrow, and her ears were lowered.

"After that I was taken into foster care until I turned 18, I finished school signed up for the marines and that was that…What was it like living on a Dinosaur planet? Doesn't sound all that fun." Krystal lifted her ears up a little.

"It was what it was, some days were good, and some were bad." Krystal chuckled a little, "One time as a joke a few of the younger children ran off with my clothes while I was bathing, I had to chase after them in the nude." She noticed Josh smiling.

"I bet that was a sight some of the older males enjoyed." He laughed; Krystal rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Most likely yes." They laughed for a few more moments and then Josh cleared his throat.

"Do you miss it?" He asked, Krystal shrugged her shoulders.

"The creatures there were nice and peaceful; there was one named Tricky… He's a good lad, haven't seen him in years. It was a nice place to live for a while. Until I was trapped within a crystal that slowly sucked the life out of me."

"Well I'm glad it didn't…Suck the life out of you." He said and finished his food. "If you could have one wish, and one wish only…What would you wish for?"

"I'm not sure…I guess I would wish my family to be alive…What about you?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"I have just about everything I need…I would use my wish for you, so that everything in your life goes just the way you want it." He said.

"That's very kind of you." She said and looked into his eyes, she started to feel something deep down within herself, something only Fox was able to make her feel…Comfort, "If I wasn't able to leave Earth…Would you let me stay with you?" She asked. Josh looked into her Cyan eyes and nodded.

"Yes, I would let you stay with me, I would do whatever it took to keep you safe." Krystal smiled and blushed.

"Such a gentleman…But you won't have to worry about that, I'm getting close to fixing the communicator."

"Do you know who to contact?" He asked.

"I'll send it to Corneria, it's kind of the capital of the Lylat system. Someone will hear it and come for me."

"What if it doesn't reach them, do you have a plan B?" Krystal shook her head no

"This is the only way to get off of this planet…Not to sound rude but, I don't belong here, I prefer to be on a planet where I don't have to hide who I am…If Someone did come and get me…would you come with me?" Josh looked up into Krystal's eyes and thought about the question.

"I don't know…With everything that's been going on with Amanda being pregnant…It sounds very tempting, but what would I do?" He asked, Krystal shrugged her shoulders.

"I could teach you how to become a Mercenary, It would be nice to have someone watching my back."

"Even more tempting." He said.

"You would have to be able to defend yourself, and Kill if you have too…Being military…Have you ever killed someone." Krystal noticed how his face slightly scrunched up at the question, as if it was displeasing to him.

"I'm sorry…Wine makes me too relaxed." She said and took another sip.

"Yes." He said, Krystal sat her drink down and looked at Josh.

"Yes?"

"I have killed…There was some conflict going on in the Middle East like always. We were under fire by a shooter. My job was to record everything that happened, this was my first battle, but it wasn't my last…The thing I remember most is the sound of bullets zipping past my head, a bullet makes a certain sound that's unforgettable. I was recording when blood splashed onto the lens, I looked over to the Marine next to me and he was dead. I sat the camera down and took hold of my rifle and started to fire. The shooter was a kid, some punk ass 15 year old kid holding a gun that was bigger than he was. For a brief second our eyes met, he turned to me to fire, but I was quicker…I shot him twice in the chest and once in the head, just like I was trained…People talk about how they regret killing but…I don't, I don't regret killing that kid…I feel bad that he had to die, but I don't regret it…In that moment everything was clear, it was him or me, he was willing to kill me, and if given the chance he would have in a heartbeat…I was hoping we could talk about good things that happened in our lives, I wanted to get to know you, but it seems the only thing we talked about was shitty things." He said and rubbed his eyes.

"Good or shitty, does it really matter?" Krystal asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I've learned so much about you already in just that one story…Sure you wanted me to know you through happy stories but, not everything in life is supposed to be happy, I would much rather hear every bad experience that has happened in your life and learn all there is to know about you, than hearing every good experience and learn nothing." Krystal sat her glass down and slowly stood. "Your Earth wine has much more alcohol than in Lylat…I should go lie down." She said and slowly wobbled out of the kitchen and fell over.

Everything was moving so slow as she fell towards the ground, it almost felt like an hour had passed and she was still falling, suddenly she felt two warm arms wrap around her, and held onto her keeping her from falling further.

"Easy there." Josh said as he helped her to her feet.

"Goodness look at me." She said, her cheeks becoming red and heated, "I can't even stand on my feet."

"Let me help you." He said and before she knew it, he had lifted her into his arms bridal style; she instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck and placed her head against his chest. Josh held onto her tight and made his way to the bedroom.

'Thump…Thump' she could hear his heart beating steadily as her ears leaned on his chest. The calm rhythm of his heart helped her relax. Before she knew it she was lowered onto the bed, for some reason the bed felt even more comfortable than before. She felt Josh remove his arms from her and watched as he grabbed the blanket and pulled it over her shoulders.

"I'll bring you some water right after I clean up the kitchen real quick." He said and started to walk off. As soon as he left the room, she began missing his natural caring presence. She placed her hand over her chest to feel her heart beat, it was beating a little faster than normal, she closed her eyes and remembered the calm rhythm of Josh's heart. She took deep breaths to try to calm herself so her heart would beat in the same rhythm as his did. But it wouldn't calm down for a second.

A few moments later the door opened and Josh walked in with a glass of water, he made his way over to Krystal, she was still awake and was looking at him.

"Here you go, this will help. Even more if you can drink it all." He said and handed her the water, Krystal brought the glass to her lips and started to drink the water, Josh patently sat next to her waiting for her to finish the drink. After she drank it all she handed him the empty glass.

"Get some rest." He said and stood and started to walk out, then he felt something soft and furry wrap around his wrist, he looked over to find she was holding his wrist in her hand. "Is something wrong?" He asked, she shook her head no.

"Do…ugh…Maybe you could…" She trailed off.

"Could I what?" He asked and sat down on the bed.

"Do you think you could…Stay?" She asked and looked at him while blushing. Josh smiled.

"Krystal, I'm not going anywhere. I'll be in the living room like always." He said.

"No, not that…I mean, will you stay in here with me?" She asked.

"You want me to sleep…In here? Sure I guess, I'll bring some blankets and sleep on the floor." He said and stood from the bed, as soon as he did he felt her hand grab onto him again.

"I mean…Will you lie down next to me?" She asked, Josh blushed a little and started to scratch the back of his head.

"Sleep next to you? In…In the same bed?" Krystal shook her head. "I uh…I don't know if that's a good idea Krystal." He said.

"Please Josh…Just for tonight, I'll sleep much better knowing your right here." Josh thought for a moment, He wouldn't mind at all, in fact he kind of wanted to. Being able to sleep next to her would most certainly make his day even better.

"Okay." He said and watched as Krystal scooted over, giving him room to lay down. "Let me turn off the light real quick." He stood up and made his way to the light switch and flipped it off, He placed the empty cup on his dresser and then went back to the bed and lay down next to her pulling the blankets over her and himself. Then she moved her body back and was laying against him, he could feel her soft fluffy tail wrap around his leg. He then made a bold move and placed his right arm over her abdomen and held her tight.

He half expected her to tell him to let go, or for her to move away. However what she did instead was moved closer to him and held onto his hand with her own. They were now officially spooning.

As he laid his head down on the pillow he inhaled the scent of her hair, it smelt like honey, and vanilla. It was from the shampoo Amanda used, he always loved the smell of it, which is way he left it in the shower instead of throwing it away, however he was enjoying the scent even more on Krystal. He held onto her tighter and closed his eyes.

A few moments later Krystal was fast asleep and Josh was nearing the blissful dreams himself, until Krystal started to move around a lot, causing him to open his eyes.

"You okay?" He asked, he didn't get a reply. She seemed to have stopped moving, allowing Josh to close his eyes again.

"Fox." She called out, Josh opened his eyes and looked at her, well he looked at the back side of her that is. "Fox." She called out again. Josh felt a slight pinch in his heart, she was clearly thinking of her ex, this caused him to loosen his grip on her. He then got out of the bed slowly as to not wake her, he frowned and made his way into the living room, he closed the door and laid on the couch and closed his eyes.

Still asleep Krystal placed her hand over her heart and a small smile formed on her face.

"Josh." She softly called out.

This was a hard chapter to write but I think I got it. I don't know how long Krystal was on Suria, I don't think it ever really says although then again it might have. If it did then lets just consider this one of the things that I changed for the purpose of the story.

I'm glad so many of you are loving and reading this story, last I checked it had 341 reviews. and now its at 845 reviews. I know some people might not think that's good or a lot but to me its like Christmas. so I would like to take this moment to say thank you...we still have a long ways to go before this episode is over.

Once again please read and review, if you really like this story then tell your friends about it.

Also on a quick note, someone had PM me about wondering if it would be okay if they did some fan art for my story. needless to say I was very flattered that they liked my story so much they wanted to make some fan art. so let me go ahead and say that if anyone of you wants to do some fan art for my story, don't know if you do or not. but if you do all I have to say is go for it and thank you in advance.

I think that's about it, alright see you some time this coming week.