Here is chapter 15, enjoy!
Warnings: None, some fluff, I guess
Unebeta AF
Can You Keep A Secret?
Chapter 15
A Tale As Old As Time
"You okay, Steph?" Lester asked Stephanie as they wondered through the nearly empty shopping center, "Nothing sticking out or making you jumpy?"
"No, I'm good," Stephanie said, turning to her current bodyguard, as they walked into a small clothing store, "I'm more than good, Vanessa got 25 to life, in federal prison, this is a celebration shopping spree! A good excuse for a new wardrobe!"
Lester chuckled and said, folding his arms, "Well, you're right about that, Gina bought out the champagne at work, the whole department was happy!"
"I bet," Stephanie said, as she looked over a dress, "She never did like that woman."
"A pain in her ass, is what she told me," Lester said, looking around the empty store, "Too bad there are people who still support her and her dead monster of a husband."
"Yeah," Stephanie sighed as she thought about the recent death threat someone made to both her and Brittany, via mail to the FBI, "We'll we ever be able to live normally, Lester? Jeanne wants us to look into getting our names changed, getting new identities and going into protection."
"Do you want to do that?" Lester ask Stephanie as she tossed a dress over her arm, "I have a feeling it's a two yes thing, with you and Brittany."
"I don't know about Brittany, maybe, when she wasn't the way she is now, back when she was living in her closet, she might have said yes, but now, she may not care and just say no, she's fine this way," Stephanie said as she grabbed another dress, "For me, no, I want to be with my Grandma Mazur, my father and sometimes my sister. I'm building a new career up, and I'm starting to feel like me again."
"Well, whatever you both choose, we'll be there," Lester winked to Stephanie, as he held out a basket for her to put her finds in, "Even more so my younger cousin, Carlos, he really seems to be invested in you."
"Shut up, Lester," Stephanie mumbled, her cheeks hot as Lester chuckled to himself, following Stephanie around, carrying her basket, "Bad enough, I have to hear it from Grandma Mazur too!"
"So, you do find him attractive?" Lester asked the woman, who busied herself, looking through shirts, "I mean, I'm not going to judge, in fact, I find it adorable!"
"Can't we talk about Alejandro and Brittany, they're the ones who are dancing around one another!" Stephanie hissed, tossing a few spring/summer blouses into the basket, "Do you know, he still sleeps in her room, in the chair?"
"That one is so obvious," Lester said, his hand on his hip, cocking it, his eyes narrowed, "Everyone can see Brittany's crush on Alejandro and everyone can see Alejandro's extreme fondness for the woman. The only oblivious thing here is who is going to make the first move."
"Alejandro, of course," Stephanie said, "I have 50 dollars on it," Stephanie said, making Lester sputter and shake his head, "What?"
"There's a pool?!" Lester asked, and Stephanie nodded her head, "Who's in on it?"
"Carlos, James, Jeanne, me, Grandma Mazur and Brittany's parents, of course," Stephanie said simply, tuning to Lester, "Why? You want in on it?"
"I got 100 on Alejandro being the first to make the moves, in the bed," Lester said and Stephanie nodded her head, took out her phone and opened the notepad that had the bet going on, "Any specific time or date?"
"Yes, one to the closet date with the most accurate method wins the pool," Stephanie said as she typed down Lester's bid.
"Let's make it May 20th," Lester hummed and Stephanie smiled and wrote down the date.
"Done and done, now, let me go pay for these dresses and we can leave, Carlos is waiting for me for our walk," Stephanie said as she took the basket from Lester, "We're walking the shopping center tonight, too wet outside for a spring trot."
"Sure, sure," Lester said,as Stephanie paid for her things and walked with the man out the store, "I'll just lag behind you two, don't worry, my little lovebirds."
"Lester!" Stephanie hissed and Lester cackled as they made their way to Carlos, who stood by the escalators, leaning against a heavy potted plant, watching the two make their over, "Carlos, sorry to keep you waiting, let's go."
Stephanie ignored the wink Lester sent her way and stood beside Carlos on escalator as it went up to the second floor. She looked over to the man, who looked back at her with those lovely dark brown eyes and asked her, "Everything aright?"
"Y-yeah," She said, lamely, stepping off the escalator and letting Carlos wrap an arm around her waist, "Very alright."
"Good," They walked together in silence, the only sound breaking it was the music and some people passing by them.
Stephanie had a crush on Carlos. She wasn't afraid to admit that, not at all but still, it scared her. What if he didn't find her attractive? What if he wasn't single like he told her she was? What if he was gay for someone else, who was just as hot as he was-okay, now that wasn't so bad, in fact, that was kind of a hot thought.
The crush must have developed when they started working together. Long hours over green tea and chocolate cakes. Arguing over marketing and who the face of Rangeman would be, (They choose Lester, out of all the people,) and just coming together and thinking of ways to expand his business. It was nice, better than her last job and Carlos paid her well, very well. The benefits were way better than anything the federal government was giving her! She had asked Brittany if she wanted a job at Rangeman as well but the woman had shaken her head and said Academia was where she thrived, and that was where she would die. Apparently Brittany had a researcher gig lined up for her at Georgetown regarding political history. Good on her!
But back to Carlos, that handsome, sweet, silent man. Stephanie bit her lip and leaned slightly against the man as he led her around. She couldn't deny it, she was falling for the man, the real question here was: did he have feelings for her too?
"Deep thoughts, Babe?" Stephanie blinked and her cheeks heated up and she let out a yelp at the nickname, "Too much?"
"N-n-no!" Stephanie turned to Carlos, who was staring back at her with concern, "I-I like the name, I was just..thinking about Rangeman."
"Oh, really? Thinking of wok on our walks, I thought I said that wasn't allowed?" Carlos teased Stephanie, making her blush, "What about Rangeman?"
"You know, expanding it, you have an IT junkie on your team, Lester, right?" Carlos nodded his head at Stephanie's question, "Why don't you segway into cyber security?"
"We've tried it, didn't work out too good," Carlos said, stopping Stephanie in front of a fountain and sitting on it, "Besides, too much competition out there."
"I'm sure you can try something different, what about car IT security?" Stephanie suggested and Carlos tilted her head at him, "Most cars, these days, are computers on wheels, why not secure them?"
"…You know, Hector was talking about that a year ago," Carlos said, crossing his arms, as Stephanie sat down beside him, "Said it would be a novel thing, but didn't know what we could do. Maybe scramblers for Airtags or GPS chips that may have been slipped on there, or anti hacking on electric cars, hmm, that's a very good idea, Babe, I can set up a meeting between you and Hector and see what you two brilliant minds can come up with."
Stephanie smiled brightly and said, "Great, Hector and I can research car security and issues! This is going to be so exciting!"
"You look like a kid in the candy store, Babe," Carlos have Stephanie that half smile and she felt her heart melt at the sight of it, "Come on, a few more laps and then we can head back home.
Stephanie and Carlos got up and continued their walk around the shopping center, talking about the expansion plans, Stephanie's stomach flipping every time Carlos called her Babe.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"I haven't watched the clouds like this in ages," Alejandro admitted to Brittany, as they lay together on a blanket, in a public park, looking up at the moving clouds, "Not since I was a kid, Bella."
"It's very relaxing, you know," Brittany thought as she kicked her flats off, watching fluffy clouds go by, "After lectures, on nice days, I'd let my class out ten minutes early and we would lounge in the square at the college and do cloud watching and debate, my spring time classes were always full, even though they were the hardest ones."
Alejandro folded his hands on his chest and watched shapeless clouds lazily drift by in the blue sky. It was a lovely late April day for cloud watching. Brittany had walked over to the man, that afternoon, holding a blanket and a tote bag and demanded they go to a park and do a nice cloud watching session. It was nice to see her not running to hide in her closet, Alejandro thought, leading the woman out of the house and taking her to a small park nearby. Even if he was in a full suit, looking out of place.
Alejandro heard soft noises coming from his left and turned to see Brittany fast asleep, her arms thrown over her head and a content smile on her face. The man lifted himself on his elbows and turned to look down at the woman, watching her sleep. He could hardly believe that this woman was the same one who went comatose on them, a month ago.
Alejandro found Brittany to be a woman with an odd personality. Eccentric, brilliantly good at baking, hopeless at cooking. Socially awkward but charming in her own way. She had a big heart for Stephanie and her family and despite her ordeal, had found the courage to let it grow to let Carlos, Lester, James and him in too. She had been through so much, Alejandro thought, moving a stray curl from the woman's face, she deserved happiness.
Alejandro milked in her looks. Her brown skin, short tightly coiled hair, her full lips and her small rounded nose. She was lovely looking and any person who couldn't see that, was dumb. Inside that small body was a wonderful soul and Alejandro couldn't help but admire it, cherish it and want it for his own.
The time they had spent together, of course a bond was to form. Though she wasn't as clingy as she had been before the treatment, Brittany still stuck to Alejandro's side and they shared their own little inside jokes and Alejandro spoke about his gifts and his time as an Unmentionable. It was only a matter of time before that bond grew deeper and more intimate. He had slipped up and called her Bella once, and she hadn't even batted an eyelid but said that it was a cute name for her.
His Bella, Alejandro lifted one of his hands as if to cup her cheek but then quickly pulled it back, tucking it back. No, he didn't even know if she was ready for anything, how deep those scars ran, even though she behaved as normal as she could. He didn't want to trigger her, didn't want to scare her off but damned, if he didn't have a crush on this woman. He felt like a bumbling teenager again, but hid it well enough. He wondered if Brittany liked him as well. With her erratic behavior, he had no idea.
The man let out a sigh and sat up, looking around and keeping watch, as Brittany napped on, only waking her when the sun began to set and the air grew chilly around them. The woman had given him a glare and asked him why he didn't wake her up to continue watching the clouds. And cut time in his Brittany watching, he thought not!
He still kept watch over her, in her bed, at night, as she slept, afraid that she might slip back into that state again, scared she might fade, but when morning came and she started to wake up, she was still Brittany, she was still safe. He left her room before she could catch him but it was a habit of his that he couldn't shake off.
They walked back home, talking about everything and anything from the weather to Brittany's research gig to the cake she wanted to bake. When they got back home, they settled in with the rest of the crew for a pasta dinner and enjoyed the rest of their night.
That night, as Brittany slept, Alejandro took his spot in his chair and was about to settled in for his night watch when he heard a soft voice in the back of his mind.
'That chair must be uncomfortable,' Alejandro turned to see Brittany looking at him, in the dim light of her nightlight, only her eyes showing from beneath the covers, 'Would you like to come hither into my cocoon?'
"I'm fine right-" Alejandro started softly but then Brittany lifted the blanket up, from behind her and gave him a sharp look.
'You're older than me by like 6 years, I bet you that back of yours is screaming in pain, come here,' Brittany thought to the man and Alejandro sighed, stood and walked over to the bed, taking his suit jacket off and tossing it on the chair, before climbing in with the woman, 'There we go, good night, Ali.'
As Brittany fell asleep, Alejandro firmly told himself that he would keep some space between the two of them. However, when he woke up, with her in his arms, her head nestled in the crook of his arm. He knew his plans failed, miserably.
The man was falling hard, someone please help him!
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
The Gario brothers grew and thrived in the tribe hidden between the mountains, arriving as thin, hungry child and growing into well taken care of young men. Their years in the hidden tribe had served them well, one could hardly tell that they had been starved.
The oldest, who went by the name of Vercingetorix had proven himself to be a warrior. He grew taller than any man in the village, with those strange eyes of blue and hair that was color of hay. He was strong, stronger than anybody in the village, using his strength to take down wild game in the warm seasons and to protect the village from danger in the colder seasons. The tribe leader knew that should help be called from them, Vercingetorix, would go and come back victorious, with spoils of war.
The youngest Gario brother, Ardan, proved himself to be a sharp, smart young man. He used brains over brawn and came up with plans to take down game or spent his time writing, listening to the stories of times that have long been forgotten. He was a studious man, not strong as his eldest brother but still having strength, his hair was almost white and his eyes were a dark green. While his brother may go out into the battlefield to fight, Ardan would not, he would be the one to make the plans to ensure victory over the enemy.
Vercingetorix loved his younger brother and protected him, his loyalty to him, mostly. Ardan returned that favor and together the two were always together at the hip.
That was until the young woman by the name of Una and her family made their intentions known that Una was in need of a strong husband. Una, the pretty young woman, with hair of brown and eyes of brown, who minded the children, and helped with the herds of goats, as ready to be wedded. It was a known fact that both Gario brothers had interest in the young woman but had no spoken on it. They would not come to blows over the young woman, they were brothers after all!
While many of the young men of the tribe tried to catch the young woman's attention, she had eyes only for the strong Vercingetorix, with his handsome features and strong hands. One Spring night, by the fireside after a tribe meeting, Una had spoken loudly to her father, wondering if the young warrior Vercingetroix was in search of a wife.
The warrior hadn't heard this but his brother did and it made him upset, greatly. Though he and his brother held a strong bond, there was no denying Una's beauty. When he walked over to the woman, asking to escort her home, she had turned him down and instead asked for his brother to do the escorting. There, in the young man's heart, hatred for his brother grew and his desire for Una grew as well, until it all but consumed him.
He needed Una as his wife, he would have to do something drastic to remove his brother from the picture.
And so he did.
Using his sharp mind, Ardan devised a plan. He got his brother drunk on fermented goat's milk and framed him for a crime, destroying the tribe's valuable grains, leaving him there, in the granary to be found.
When Vercingetroix woke, he woke to outrage from the village and was stunned to find himself being accused of destroying their grain! He would never do that but he had been found, in a heap on the floor, with ruined grains around him. Their harvest for the cold seasons gone, because of a drunk warrior! The tribe was furious and in a vote, the young warrior was exiled from all that he knew. When he asked his brother to join, Ardan shook his head and told him, with disgust, he never knew his brother to be so careless, he would stay and help the tribe, he had no brother now.
With that declaration, having lost his home and family, Vercingetroix set out, away from the tribe in the middle of the mountains to find a place for himself in the world before him. With his brother out of the way, Adran was easily able to take Una for his wife and his life was content.
For Vercingetroix, however, his life was one of floating from one tribe to the next, a wandering warrior, selling his skills for a bed and food, never staying to long in one place, never content with his life. As he wandered around the lands, he grew, his body bulked and he became battle hardened, as did his heart and emotions until nothing but a killing machine stood in his place. He helped tribes fight off those highly skilled fighters from the west, taking their weapons, the fighting skills and making them his own. He even travelled far to help with the sacking of the fighters home city, taking from them riches and gold. Soon he grew so powerful that whenever people heard his name, they would shiver in fear, Vercingetroix, the warrior who could be a king!
However, his warrior life shattered when he heard whispers of the tribe, the one that had kicked him out so long ago, might have been attacked and so he rushed back, uncaring that he was not allowed to return, only to find the remains of his old tribe in ruins. Everyone was gone or dead, he found no sign of his brother, but found the remains of Una and the others. His brother must have been taken or fled and so Vercingetroix went high into the mountains to look.
Though he was hardened warrior, the snow and cold could be just was hard as he was and on one trek, while he high at the top of the mountain, he fell, tumbling and falling until he sure he would die at the bottom of these wretched mountains.
However, when he stopped falling, he landed in a field of flowers that were a dark color and the sky was dark, only lit with millions upon millions of stars in the sky. He wasn't dead, was his first thought, as he sat up, looking around and seeing the snowy mountains surrounding this strange place, however, where was he?
Vercingetroix stood, wincing at the wounds on his body and began to limp through the flowers, looking for any signs of life. He limped for hours, it seemed, until he found himself looking upon a strange structure of stone, in the middle of the field, covered in thorny vines and those dark colored flowers glowing with light. The warrior walked slowly over to the structure and found the doors opened to reveal a person, sitting inside, in a chair, brushing their hair and humming as they did.
A woman, with skin the color of the earth and hair as black as the night sky before him, using a bone comb to work through their hair as they sang in a strange language. He felt no threat from them, seeing as the woman had no weapons, her back turned to him was exposed, a dark blue shift, one he had seen women in far away lands wear, to cover themselves with, on her frame. What a strange creature.
Vercingetroix took a step forward and his spear hit the side of the structure, causing the woman to stop coming her hair and slowly turn her head to reveal someone more stunning than even the lovely Una had been. A face that maybe the Old Ones had made themselves, looked at the warrior, with eyes the color of rich honey, full lips and a nose to finish the image of perfection.
The woman set the comb down, turning her body fully to the warrior and then stood, revealing herself to be short, hardly reaching the man's chest, as she walked over to him, tilting her head. Vercingetroix, however, was on edge and pointed his spear at the woman, the tip of the metal blade almost touching her nose. The woman had let out a scoff, held her finger up and flicked it, causing a rush of force to knock the spear out of the man's hand, with such strength, landing far from him, with a loud, useless clatter.
The stunning creature before him flicked her curls to the side, gave him such a stare down and asked in, in his own language, "You dare to point your weapons at me, in my own sanctuary?"
"What are you?" Vercingetroix asked the creature before him and the woman merely raised and eyebrow and turned away from him, walking back into the structure.
"I am what I want to be, human, begone!" The woman snapped and with a flick of her fingers, Vercingetroix found himself back in the cold snowy peaks, with his spear laying beside him and confusion heavy in his head.
What just happened to the man but most of all…
Who was that woman? Vercingetroix had to find out!
TBC…
Una is Gaul for Lamb and Ardan is Gaul for a druid name meaning smart or clever
