Chapter 11: Just the two of us

The next day, even before Cap and Kim reached the Crystal Chamber, Gaia approached them and told the eco-hero he wouldn't be needed that day. "You just enjoy yourselves."

Cap smiled, for once glad the spirit had kept an eye on them. "Thanks, Gaia."

Buddy ran to them and whined. "Sorry, boy, but you'll have to stay here," Kim told the dog.

"Your mistress and I need some alone time," Cap said and gave the dog a scratch. The dog seemed to understand, judging from the way he sat down and wagged his tail.

Hoping Gaia understood this too, the superhero stepped behind Kim and wrapped his arms around her middle. Cap did expect her to protest but she didn't. It seemed she had gotten over at least most of her revulsion of the scars. "Here we go. Ready?"

"Ready," she replied.

Cap jumped into the air. "See ya later!" he called to Gaia. She watched them go and smiled.

They had been flying for some time when Kim gasped. "Don't worry, love," Cap assured her, thinking the woman thought he didn't have a good grip on her. "I won't let you fall."

"It's not that," she told him. "Look." The superhero looked in the direction she pointed and saw a pod of dolphins jumping in the water. "I've always liked dolphins," Kim said. "Could we go and take a closer look?"

"Sure," he said with a smile. Maybe the woman would hit it off well with Gi, who liked all sea creatures, including dolphins. Cap descended until they were just a couple of meters from the surface of the ocean. One of the creatures noticed them and squeaked. "He says hi," he translated.

"Well, hi to you, too," Kim greeted. One dolphin raised its tail and splashed water on the flying pair. "Oh, great," she said and wiped some water from her face.

The superhero flew higher again. "I'm sure he was just fooling around," he explained the animal's behaviour. "Was this your first close encounter?"

Kim nodded. "I've only seen them from a distance before," she told him. "Thank you for the experience." The woman's delight outweighed the fact that she had gotten wet.

Cap smiled, just glad she had enjoyed it. "You're very welcome." He turned up the heat so she wouldn't get a cold. If she did, that would probably be a bad thing where her injured lung was concerned.

They passed the clearing and soon Cap landed near the cabin gently and set Kim down. They went inside, packing some things and he brought the bags downstairs to wait for the return trip.

"Good thing I took a couple of sandwiches with me," Kim said and opened the package she had taken with her and took a bite.

"You do need something to wash it down with," Cap said and got her some water. "Here."

Kim smiled and took the glass. "Thanks, love." She took a plate for the sandwiches. They went to the living room and sat down on the couch. Kim put the glass and the plate on the table.

When she had finished eating she snuggled up to Cap and they just sat there in silence. After a while Kim looked at him and their eyes met. Without a word, Cap caught her lips in his and soon they were lying down on the couch, Kim on top of the superhero. She crossed her arms on his chest and rested her chin on them.

Cap put his hands behind his head, resting it on the armrest. "I could get used to this," he admitted.

Kim didn't know what to make of his comment. Was he thinking about what she thought he was thinking about? She didn't want to get her hopes up. "Me too. But we both know that when my sick leave is over…"

"Let's not talk about that now, alright?" All he wanted now was enjoy what they had and not worry about things to come.

"Even if we don't talk about it, it's still true," Kim told him. She hated to bring him down but she couldn't help being a realist.

Cap sighed. "I know." He smiled a little. "But I don't regret having met you. You changed my life."

She smiled and ran fingertip along his arm. "You changed mine, too." But she was sure her life hadn't changed as much as his. Unlike her, the superhero hadn't had any romantic relationships before meeting her. "This may sound crazy, but I feel like we were meant to meet each other."

"It doesn't sound crazy at all," he told her. "I feel the same way. How else would you explain us falling in love so fast?" That had never happened to him before, even though he had met a few women, none of them able to catch his eye. He supposed he just hadn't met the right woman. Until now.

"Yeah," Kim agreed. "That only happens in movies and such. I mean, I don't believe in destiny or anything, but three days…" It still amazed her. But was she complaining? Not at all.

Cap shrugged. "I guess it just happens like that sometimes. But I don't really care if it's destiny or not." And if it was, he liked what destiny had brought him, even if it was temporary.

"Me neither," Kim said.

They were silent for a while again, just lazing around. "Um, are we going to lie here the whole day or what?" he asked.

"I wouldn't mind at all," Kim said and fondled his cheek. "But it is a beautiful day outside. It'd be a shame to waste it."

"So are you gonna get off me?" he asked when the woman didn't move.

"Why don't you just do it the other way?" she suggested, looking at him.

"You mean…?" Kim nodded, on the same page with him. "I've never tried it with someone," the eco-hero said. "You willing to take the risk of it not working right? Coz I'm not."

She put her head back down on his chest. "I'm too tired to get up."

"I'd call it lazy," Cap commented with a grin and stroked her hair.

"Call it whatever you want," Kim mumbled.

"Hey, you're not falling asleep on me, are you?" he asked, getting a brief flashback from three years ago.

"Of course not." She sat up on his legs. Cap bent his legs so Kim could sit on the couch. He sat up too and stood up, offering a hand to help the woman up.

They went to the verandah and he lifted her onto his arms. Kim smiled and nuzzled his neck.

"The lake?" Cap asked.

"Sounds good to me," Kim said.

The eco-hero walked to the lake and set her down under a tree, settling down beside her. Kim snuggled up to the superhero.

Cap sighed. She looked up at him. "Something wrong, love?"

He smiled. "Quite the opposite, actually." The superhero cupped Kim's chin and looked into her eyes. "Things couldn't be better," he added and kissed her.

'If he only knew the effect his eyes have on me,' she thought. The woman was going to mention this fact to the superhero but thought it best not to. She was sure that if she did, he would probably exploit it in some way.

When he was going to pull back, Kim put a hand to the back of his head and pulled him down so they were lying on the grass. Cap moved a little to the side, not wanting to put all his weight on her. When they finally did pull back, both were breathless, Kim a bit more then Cap.

"I love you," she said.

The superhero smiled affectionately. "I love you more," he countered.

Kim quirked an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

Cap grinned, shifting his position and got onto his side, leaning his head on his hand. "It's so strange to not have Buddy here," he said, running a finger along her jaw line.

Kim had to agree on that. "Yeah, I keep expecting him to barge in or something," She got on her side too. "But at least we won't be interrupted."

The superhero smiled and ran his finger from her chin down her arm. Taking her hand in his he kissed the back of it and going along the arm to the shoulder.

Kim giggled. "That tickle?" he asked, giving the tip of her nose a kiss.

"A little," she replied with a smile. "Which reminds me, I have yet to find where you're ticklish from."

Cap grinned. "I'm not even sure I am ticklish," he admitted. "But you're welcome to try."

"We'll see." Kim reached out and brushed her fingertips along his side, her eyes on his.

The sound of a car engine was heard from the direction of the cabin. "Who could that be?" Cap wondered, trying to see.

Kim took one look and sighed. "So much for not getting interrupted. I'll give you one guess."

He looked back at her. There was only one thing that could have made her react like she had. "Your parents?"

"Bingo," she replied. "I didn't bring my cell with me. So my guess is that they tried to call me and when I didn't answer…"

The pair watched as her parents went inside and came out again. Cap could see they were quite concerned. "You better go to them and tell 'em you're alright," he advised her.

Knowing how overprotective they could be sometimes, Kim agreed. "I will." She sat up and looked at him. "Want to come with me?" Thinking that the superhero would say no, she continued before he had a chance to say anything. "They probably want to hear the whole story about me being shot," she said. "And I don't want to leave anything out. You did save my life, after all."

He smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "I wasn't gonna say no." Briefly he wondered what her folks would say when they found out who their daughter was in love with.

Kim smiled. "I guess I jumped to conclusions, sorry about that." She took his hand in hers. "Come on, then."

But before they got even close to the cabin, her parents got back into their car and drove away.

Exchanging a look, the pair went back inside. The woman saw a note attached to the door frame of the kitchen. Taking it, she glanced over it.

"What's it say?" Cap wanted to know.

"Looks like they just dropped by to put some stuff in the fridge," Kim replied. "I think I'll check what they brought, since I'm hungry."

"I would have wanted to meet your folks," Cap said. Only after he had said it, he realized how true it was.

Kim smiled. "Now that I think about it, it wouldn't have been a good idea. Dad would probably get a heart attack."

"Hey, I may look different, but I'm not a monster." The superhero crossed his arms on his chest, looking hurt. He wasn't, but thinking she had joked, pretended to be.

But Kim thought he really was upset. "I didn't mean it that way, love," she said and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. She looked up at him and reached out a hand to his cheek. "I just meant that…"

Cap grinned. "Gotcha."

For a moment Kim just stared at him. "You think a heart problem is funny, do you!" she yelled at him and disengaged her arms from around him, marching to the backdoor.

Cap did a double take. "Heart problem? Kim, I'm…" he began as Kim opened the door and stepped outside. She slammed the door shut. "…sorry."

'Way to go Planet,' the superhero berated himself, punching the mirror in frustration but catching himself in time, so he didn't make too much damage to the wall behind it. He hoped the mirror hadn't been that valuable. Or some family heirloom.

Cap figured she had calmed down enough now so he stepped outside, finding her crouched down and unmistakably sobbing. He went to her and knelt down on one knee.

"Making fun of your father wasn't my intention, love," he said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "How could I have known about his heart problem?"

Sniffing, Kim looked at him. True, he hadn't known. Yet another thing he had found out about the wrong way. But this hadn't been something that had to do with her personally. She had assumed that was what the superhero had meant when he had asked her to tell him, no matter how insignificant she thought it would be. "I know that. My temper just got the better of me. Again."

Cap smiled. "I gathered that." He had had a taste of her temper at the hospital already.

"Dad's heart has just been a touchy subject for me ever since I heard about it," she told him as they both stood up. "I've always been a daddy's girl and don't want to lose him."

The superhero brushed her tears away, hugging her. It was obvious she cared about her father a lot so he understood her outburst. But still, he really should think sometimes before fooling around.

The woman's stomach growled and she gave a laugh. "That reminds me. I was going to get something to eat before we had that, um, disagreement."

"If that's what you want to call it," Cap said and grinned. Kim stuck out her tongue at him. The superhero chuckled. Then he remembered the mirror. "There is something you should know before we go back inside."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Let's just say I got myself 7 years of bad luck," he said, quite sure the woman would understand what he meant.

Kim did. "You broke the mirror?"

"Uh huh," the superhero confirmed with a nod. He couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed about that. "Didn't mean to. Almost demolished the wall too, but caught myself in time."

"You were that upset about all this?" she asked in surprise.

Cap nodded again. "Yeah. Just goes to show that super-strength's not that good to have when upset."

Kim ruffled his hair, shaking her head and smiling affectionately. She was actually amused by his embarrassment. "It was just a mirror," the woman told him. "No big deal."

"I would never…" he began.

"Hush," she interrupted, wanting to put the matter to rest, not really listening. "Sometimes you just talk too much, hon," she said, fondling his cheek.

The eco-hero smiled. "Sorry, I'll try to rectify that." He wrapped his arms around the woman and kissed her gently.

'Wow,' Kim thought. "Mmm…" Taking this to mean she wanted to stop, Cap was about to pull back. 'No, don't stop…' Kim put one hand on his shoulder and the other behind his head, deepening the kiss.

Noticing this, Cap didn't pull back. 'I gotta learn how to read her better.' When he did pull back, they gazed at each other in silence, Kim breathing hard.

They went inside. Kim went to the fridge and checked what her folks had brought. "We'll have to take some of this with us or put it in the freezer," she said.

"Did they bring that much stuff?" Cap asked. They would apparently have their hands full on the way back. He wondered if he was able to carry everything.

"They sure did." Kim took out a container. "This will be fine. I don't feel like cooking anything from scratch now." She opened the lid and put the container in the microwave.

After she had eaten, they cleaned up the mess in the hall, picking up all the mirror shards. It didn't take long for the job to be done. Kim put the bag outside beside the front door. "The wall's not so bad," she observed, coming back in and looking at the said wall. "I don't think it needs to be fixed much."

"Hmm," Cap said thoughtfully. "Let's see if I can do something here." He went to stand in front of the damaged part of the wall and held up his hand, which started to glow faintly.

"What are you doing?" Kim asked, looking from him to the wall.

"Trying to fix it," the superhero said, frowning a little. If he had broken it, he would fix it, too. "Not sure if it'll work, though. This isn't exactly a tree, although it's wood."

It was slow but he managed it. After about 10 minutes, Cap lowered his hand and wiped his forehead. "Whew." He staggered.

"Are you alright?" Kim asked, worry evident on her face. "Here, lean on me."

Cap smiled. "Thanks, love." He put his hand on her shoulder to steady himself. "Guess that took more out of me than I realized it would."

"Nothing a little sun won't fix, right?" she asked and glanced outside. The sun wasn't shining.

The pair exchanged looks. "Guess it's the lake, then," Cap said.

"Can you make it that far?" Kim asked. There had only been the couple situations involving him getting weakened so she wasn't sure how much he really could handle.

"It's not that bad," the eco-hero said, having experienced similar situations daily. "Don't worry."

She smiled a little. Despite his assurances, Kim could help but worry. They went outside and headed for the lake. She didn't let go of Cap until they reached the jetty. He kissed her briefly and jumped in the lake.

Sometime later, when there was no sign of the superhero Kim was getting worried. The surface of the lake was smooth except for a few ripples showing here and there. If she had been more confident in the water, she would have gone looking for him.

More time passed. 'I hope anything hasn't happened down there,' Kim thought. 'Anything bad that is.' She had to remind herself he was an environmental superhero and probably had his way of dealing with stuff like this.

Finally Cap's head poked out of the water beside the jetty. "Don't ever do that again," Kim told him.

"Do what?" he asked, confused as to what the woman meant.

"You were down there for a long time," she said. "I was getting worried."

"Sorry," the superhero said. He realized they hadn't talked about his ability to be in water just like if it had been air manipulating his molecules. "I was just exploring."

"What's there to explore?" Kim asked, frowning. "It's just a lake."

"Well, it's not like I get to swim in a lake every day," Cap pointed out. Especially just for fun. "This is one of the cleanest I've seen so far."

Kim smiled and dangled her leg over the side, toes in the water. She stirred the water with her foot and snickered when she saw the way Cap was looking at her.

"You're teasing me, aren't you?" he asked. Wouldn't be the first time.

Kim grinned. "Maybe." She so enjoyed doing that and he hadn't complained so far.

Cap shook his head in amusement, boosting himself out of the water and sat down beside her.

"Feeling better?" Kim asked and sat up.

The superhero smiled. "Much better, thanks."

"You didn't have to fix that wall, you know," she said. "It wasn't that bad."

"I know," Cap said. "But since I broke it I felt I had to fix it, too." He glanced at the sun, which was visible again. It was still quite high but would be out of sight in a couple of hours. "I think we better get back to Hope Island."

Kim pouted. "Do we have to?" Was he in a hurry to get back for some reason?

"If you hadn't noticed, the sun's setting," the eco-hero pointed out. "And I'd rather not travel in the dark." He wouldn't fly at the same altitude as planes did but wanted to be careful.

"It is?" she asked in surprise, glancing at the barely visible orb. Time sure flew when you had fun. She ran a finger over his chest. "Couldn't we stay the night?"

Cap smiled. He liked that idea. But his sense of duty overrode it. "That would be nice. But what if there's an eco-emergency early tomorrow?"

Kim bit her lower lip. She had completely overlooked that. "You have a point."

The woman looked so disappointed that he chose ignore his sense of duty for once. "I could ask Gaia about that, of course."

"How…?" she began before remembering. "Oh, yeah. Telepathy." Kim just didn't get how the spirit would possibly know that in advance. "Please do."

He nodded. "Just a sec." The superhero closed his eyes and reached out."Gaia?"

The answer came almost immediately. "Yes, Planet? Enjoying yourself?" The spirit had respected their privacy and hadn't kept an eye on them.

"Very much so," Cap replied. "Listen, Kim asked me to ask you something."

"What's that?" The spirit had a hunch it hadn't been Kim who had suggested he contact her.

"Is there an eco-emergency to be expected tomorrow?" the superhero enquired. "I mean in the morning? Coz we'd like to spend the night here at the cabin."

There was a pause. "Not to my knowledge," she told him, glad that the superhero wanted some R&R for a change. "But head back first thing in the morning, alright?"

"We will." He would have done that regardless.

"Watch it or she'll have you under her thumb, Planet," Gaia said and chuckled.

"What a lovely thumb it would be," Cap quipped. "But I'll hold my own. See you tomorrow then."

With that, he opened his eyes, focusing on Kim again. "She said we have to leave, didn't she?" she asked, expecting bad news. It had seemed to her that the conversation hadn't taken that long.

Cap smiled. "Quite the opposite."

Kim's face lit up. "Really? We can stay?"

"Yeah, we can," he confirmed, stroking her hair. "What d'ya say we drop by the clearing?" Although it wasn't an actual clearing anymore, it had been one when they had met. So it was easier to refer to the place as such.

Kim didn't have be asked twice. The pair stood up and started walking along the path, hand in hand. They got to the clearing and sat down below a tree. The place had changed so much since they had been there last.

Kim looked to the superhero and smiled. "This is where it all began." She snuggled up to him.

"I remember it like it was yesterday," Cap said and kissed her. The two of them sat there in silence, in each other's arms. "Should we be heading back?" he asked when it was getting dark.

As if on cue, Kim yawned. "No objections from me."

They walked back to the cabin and upstairs to the bedroom. "I think I'll change to something more comfortable," Kim said, getting an idea. "You go ahead. I'll be with you in a minute." She brushed his cheek lightly and went in the walk-in closet.

Cap lay down, putting his hands behind his head on the pillow. 'I could really get used to this. But like she said, it's back to reality after her sick leave is over.'

He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice Kim coming out. "Why the frown, love?"

"Oh, I didn't realize I…," Cap trailed off as he saw her. Kim was wearing a purple silky nightgown, reaching halfway to her thigh. She grinned at his expression. The superhero realized he was staring. "Uh… It-it looks nice. I mean, you…" He took a deep breath. "Wow."

Kim climbed in beside him and snickered. She had wanted to see how he would react to something he didn't expect. "Speechless, huh? Never thought I'd see that." She got on her side.

Cap smiled and got on his side, too. He looked into her eyes and touched Kim's cheek, then running the hand down to the shoulder and along her arm. Then he pulled her closer and kissed her.

When they pulled back from the kiss, the superhero stroked Kim's hair, having collected his thoughts enough to form an intelligible sentence. "Let me try that again. You look lovely," he murmured.

The brunette smiled. "Thought you'd like it." She kissed Cap's neck.

"I thought you were tired," he said, closing his eyes in enjoyment.

"Not that tired," she said and nuzzled his cheek.

The eco-hero kissed Kim's neck and then her shoulder, moving the shoulder strap out of the way.

She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling.

And tried to stifle a yawn, not succeeding. "Sorry. I guess I'm more tired than I thought." Kim would have liked to continue, though.

Cap smiled. He understood she needed her sleep. "That's alright." He put the shoulder strap back in place, kissing Kim one more time on the mouth.

They lay down, Kim snuggling up to him, putting her head on his shoulder, her arm resting on his chest.

Cap put his arm around her and kissed her forehead. "Good night, love."

"Good night," she said sleepily and adjusted her position a little. It wasn't long before she was asleep.