Chapter 6
Buck stared at what he was seeing on the moving picture box. "Can people…fly? In this time you live in?" he asked.
Cheyenne was relaxed back in one of the chairs in her sitting room, and Buck hadn't missed how she had set herself a bit apart from the rest of them. She finished her bite of pizza—pizza was something Buck decided he definitely liked from this time they had landed in—and shook her head, a slight smile pulling at her lips.
"It's special effects," she said.
"It's what?" Nathan asked.
Cheyenne looked over at Nathan. "They have equipment and camera tricks they can do to make it look like they're flying. And to make it look like buildings are getting destroyed, aliens exist, space ships are flying," she added on when JD opened his mouth.
Everyone else turned their attention back to the show in front of them, but Buck looked at Cheyenne. In spite of her posture, leaning back, feet up on the edge of the low table in front of her, Buck could read the tension that remained since her brother and his friend had come to her door. It was in the way her eyes kept drifting toward the door like she feared them coming back. Or the way her right hand kept fidgeting against the arm of the chair.
Morgan wasn't too far off in her own behavior. She was on the settee—the couch, Cheyenne had called it—and she didn't look like she was too interested in the movie. From the way she winced when the sounds of the explosions got too loud, Buck could tell her head was still paining her some. Ezra was next to her on the couch, and he kept looking over at Morgan, his own face lined with concern.
For whatever reason, Morgan and Ezra had a bond. Buck assumed it had to do with the fact that neither one of them had much respect for rules. But Ezra had kept an eye on Morgan from the day he had met her and she had slapped him for his presumptuous introduction, and Buck appreciated that.
Nathan was on the other side of Morgan, casting his own looks toward her, offering her some more willow bark tea at one point, but Morgan had stubbornly refused, stating she was about to sprout leaves if she drank one more glass.
Buck could see Chris through the window that still had glass. The moving picture hadn't held Chris' attention long and he had gone outside.
Music started and the screen went black, words scrolling across it.
'That was…AMAZING," JD spoke from his place on the floor. The kid had eaten nearly an entire pizza on his own.
Cheyenne smiled at JD's enthusiasm, then glanced at the clock.
"We should figure out sleep," she said, looking at the men and Morgan who crowded her small apartment.
"There's nothin' for you to do, Miss," Vin said. "We'll be fine sleepin' out under the stars."
Cheyenne frowned. "Yeah, well my neighbors won't be fine with eight strangers camped out in my yard. You'll have to sleep in here."
She stood up and started reaching for the flimsy plates they each had. Buck quickly rose and took the dishes from each man and his sister.
"The trash is under the sink," Cheyenne said to him.
"You throwin' your plates away?" Buck asked. She didn't look wealthy. And even if she was, he had never heard of anyone who tossed dishes after using them. Even if these ones looked to made of paper and Buck didn't know how they would come clean.
"They're paper plates, Buck," she said with another hint of a smile.
Her saying his name and seeing her face relax into something close to a smile warmed Buck. It was some sort of comfort in the middle of this confusing mess they found themselves in.
"Ain't that somethin'," he said, going to the cabinet that held the waste bin.
Cheyenne had gathered the bright red cups from all of them and her arm brushed Buck's as she tossed them in after the plates.
She straightened and looked like she was about to head back to the other room.
"Your brother…" Buck said. He immediately wished he could not ask, the way mention of her brother made her stiffen. But he had to know. "He hurt you?"
Cheyenne shook her head, but didn't meet Buck's eyes.
"And that fella that was with him?" Buck asked.
Cheyenne pressed her lips together and glared at him.
Buck took the none too subtle hint and backed off. But he couldn't hold back one last comment. "You know that ain't right, though, don't you?"
Cheyenne shook her head. "Right and wrong stopped mattering a long time ago."
Buck frowned. She went back to the other room without a look back. Buck wasn't sure he wanted to know what that bleak statement meant. But he also knew he was going to keep a closer eye on the woman, especially if her sorry excuse for a brother was around.
In the other room, Cheyenne was taking the cushions off the couch and unfolding it into a bed.
"Ain't that something," Josiah said, watching the process.
"It'll sleep two of you," Cheyenne said. She looked around the cramped living room. "The rest of you will have to do the best you can." For a second, Buck thought she sounded apologetic.
"It's more than enough, Miss," Nathan said.
"This is plenty good," Buck agreed.
"Morgan, I have pajamas if you want," Cheyenne offered.
Buck was relieved his sister would be able to change into something more comfortable. And then realized his sister would be in nightclothes in the midst of all these men. It didn't matter they were his friends, his brothers. They were men who had no business seeing Morgan in any state of undress. He started to argue, but Morgan had already gone into the bedroom with Cheyenne, the door closing behind them.
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Cheyenne was opening a drawer. Morgan watched as she pulled out a shirt and pair of pants in a pattern.
Morgan looked closer at the pink and red hearts covering the fabric and couldn't hold back a laugh at the silliest looking trousers she had ever seen.
Cheyenne looked back over at her and smiled. "They probably look different than any pajamas you've seen before."
Morgan shook her head. "They look different than any pair of pants I've ever seen."
Cheyenne handed them over to Morgan and Morgan felt her heart give a little skip of excitement. "I'm supposed to wear pants?"
Cheyenne's brow furrowed. "I don't have anything else. Besides shorts," she said, reaching in the drawer and holding up a pair of the same kind of short pants she was wearing.
For a split second, Morgan pictured Buck's reaction if she wore the short pants. Then she pictured his head exploding and reached for the long pants in the pattern.
Cheyenne handed her a shirt without buttons and Morgan held it up.
"It's called a t-shirt," Cheyenne said.
Morgan worked the buttons on her blouse as quickly as she could, trading it for the t-shirt and the pajama pants. The pants showed her ankles, she was slightly taller than Cheyenne and Morgan pursed her lips in debate as she looked down at the length.
"Will they be ok?" Cheyenne asked.
Morgan looked over at Cheyenne's legs showing in her shorts, her bare shoulders in the strange shirt she wore and then down at her own bare arms and ankles.
"Buck's going to hate it," Morgan said, but then couldn't hold back the grin.
Cheyenne's brow furrowed. "He won't be angry?" she asked.
"He'll be angry," Morgan confirmed easily. She saw Cheyenne's look of concern and thought of Cheyenne's brother's anger earlier. Her smile grew serious. "But he won't do anything," Morgan said. "Buck's not like that. He'll just bluster and maybe threaten to send me to a convent."
Cheyenne looked doubtful, but didn't say anything more. She took Morgan's clothes and draped them over a small armchair in the corner of her room.
Morgan wasn't disappointed by Buck's scowl when he saw what she was wearing. Ezra grinned and held out a hand for Morgan. She took it and let him twirl her lightly in a circle, returning his smile.
"That is quite the get-up," Ezra said, humor in his eyes.
Morgan gave him a wink and turned back to Buck.
Chris had come back inside and his face hardened at the sight of Morgan in pants, ankles exposed. Some of Morgan's humor faded at the sight of Chris' consternation.
"It's fine, Chris," she said. "It will help me blend in more. Maybe draw a little less attention." Thinking of Cheyenne's brother who had looked her over so brazenly earlier took the rest of her humor.
"Let's figure out where we're sleeping," Josiah broke in. "We're all tired. It's been a long day."
"A bizarre day," JD muttered.
"Amen, brother," Josiah agreed.
Morgan started moving one of the armchairs out of the way to make more space on the floor.
"What are you doin'?" Vin asked. He took the chair and finished moving it.
"Making room to sleep," Morgan answered as if it was obvious. Because it was obvious.
Vin was shaking his head. "That don't sit right. You sleepin' on the floor while one of us takes the bed."
Morgan frowned. "Well I'm not taking the whole bed to myself."
"Oh, yes, you are," Buck cut in.
Morgan scowled at him. "Don't be ridiculous, Buck."
"This isn't up for debate." Buck folded his arms across his chest.
Morgan waved Ezra over as she got on the fold out bed. "Ezra can take half."
"Nope." Buck grabbed Ezra by the collar of his shirt before he could make a move.
Ezra held up his hands in a sign of surrender.
"Well you're not taking the other side of the bed," Morgan informed Buck.
"Of course not!" Buck sounded nearly as repulsed at the thought as Morgan was.
"And I'm not sleeping on that giant mattress while you all are on the floor," Morgan insisted stubbornly, crossing her own arms in front of her.
Buck closed his eyes and a long-suffering sigh dragged out of him. Opening his eyes, he scanned the men in the room, landing on JD.
JD started to shake his head, a red flush creeping up his neck.
"Get on the bed, kid," Buck said.
"Buck, I'm really not comfortable—"
"Good," Buck declared.
Appeased, Morgan slipped beneath the sheets Cheyenne had put on the bed earlier, grinning when JD got on the other side and clung to the edge like he was about to be tossed overboard.
Chris took one of the blankets Cheyenne was handing out and stretched out on the floor next to Morgan's side of the bed.
Morgan rolled over, trying to get comfortable in the unfamiliar bed. She reached out a foot and brushed it against JD's leg.
He yelped and jolted, making Morgan smile.
"Morgan," Buck said in warning.
"Sorry," Morgan said unapologetically.
The sounds of the men settling in on the floor in the room brought some sort of comfort to the unfamiliar surroundings. Cheyenne flicked off the last few lights that weren't broken. Morgan saw her look uncertainly at the crowd of men in her home before going into her room without saying anything and firmly closing the door behind her.
Morgan's head was feeling better. It still ached somewhat and she rubbed a hand against her forehead. Then the pain moved to her chest. Thoughts of home, of being back where they belonged, of whatever had happened to hurtle them all through time made her chest ache until she felt like she wouldn't be able to draw a breath.
The sofa bed started to shake beneath her and the pictures, rehung on the wall after their earlier fall, started to vibrate.
She saw the shadows of the men start to sit up, looking at the movement. Then the pictures flew across the room, slamming into the opposite walls and everyone ducked.
"Morgan? You ok?" Chris' voice came in the dimness from near her as the pictures flew directly over her.
The bed stopped its movement, the pictures fell to the floor. Everything was silent.
"Be real glad when that stops," Nathan muttered from his place near the kitchen.
Morgan moved to the edge of the bed and sought out Chris' familiar face in the shadows.
"It'll be ok," he said quietly. "We're all going to be ok."
Morgan nodded silently, not sure if he could see with the only light coming through the windows that weren't boarded up.
She slid away from the edge of the bed and pulled the covers more snugly over her shoulders.
It'll be ok, she told herself, repeating Chris' words. We're all going to be ok.
Another light bulb shattered and Morgan winced, pulling the blankets over her head.
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