It was 6:15 Thursday evening and as Michael watched the coach pull Joey and put in a replacement he realized his daughter had played her last basketball for the night. While Joey had scored in double figures, it really hadn’t been her best performance from a shooting standpoint. Tonight she’d been more of a field general, although her near-record number of steals and hard defense against the Carlsbad point guard had certainly helped the teams efforts. But it was her assists, and her overall team leadership that had turned a tight game into a rout, enabling the Roswell coach to pull Joey at the start of the fourth quarter.
Joey and most of the starters would cheer her team on from the bench for the rest of the game, giving the other girls the experience that they needed to give the Roswell team more depth. It had, in fact, been trash-time for half the third quarter, with Carlsbad in such a deep hole and trying so desperately to catch up that Roswell had been able to get fast break after fast break, and as much as he liked to watch his daughter play, Michael was actually relieved that the coach had pulled the starters. Carlsbad had some young kids who were really pretty good, just inexperienced. No sense giving them such a drubbing that they’d hold a grudge in future years, after all Joey was only a freshman herself, and there would be three more years she’d have to play Carlsbad.
Michael was enjoying watching Maria watching Andrew, sitting over there with his folks. If they’d noticed them earlier, they would have sat with them.
He knew when he came back from seeing the Parkers last night that things had not gone precisely the way Maria had expected. Even after all these years he wasn’t sure Maria really knew how great it had felt to know you were loved by a human being….after growing up convincing yourself you were some kind of a freak…..no, worse, some whole different species,…some monster who could never be accepted by the ones you most wanted to accept you. He remembered the doubts that he had during their courtship…his doubts that Maria could ever really accept his differentness….could ever really love him as a mostly-human being. It had taken him almost 18 months to come to terms with that, Joey had not only had to explain the situation to Andrew (something that Michael had never had to do with Maria, because Liz had told her) but also make the commitment to a relationship with him over a three day weekend.
Michael wasn’t foolish enough to think that Joey hadn’t dreamwalked Andrew while she’d been grounded. He wasn’t sure how good Joey was at dreamwalking…..better by far he expected than Michael was himself. He figured she might have dreamwalked Andrew six or eight times and wondered if she’d let Andrew know she was watching his dreams or even actually participated in them? Could be, he thought. There had been a real twinkle in Isabel’s eyes when she’d teased Michael about grounding Joey.
Joey must be pretty important to Andrew if he convinced both parents to go watch his girlfriend play high school basketball, then go out for dinner together for the second night this week, thought Michael. He and Maria would be dining with the Parkers to get caught up on the latest from Arizona. He looked again at the boy sitting in the bleachers with both parents. He smiled down at Joey even before she turned and waved. If they were actually connecting from fifty feet away from each other, they’d better get to know the young man, and pretty quickly too. Maybe they ought to invite him over for dinner too……..
Roger Douglas was really wondering what was going on. Somehow he’d allowed his wife and son to convince him to come to this game and then go with them on a picnic-style dinner afterwards. Roger did like a good basketball game and there was no question that this Joey….this…well he might as well get used to the idea, this girlfriend of his son, had played an excellent game. It was just that the way Barbara had pushed for this, and the way Andrew had gone along with it seemed almost…conspiratorial, like they’d set it up together. It was all so strange, he thought. But then he looked at his wife and son. He’d known her for a quarter of a century, Andrew for his entire life. It was silly to feel so…..paranoid about going out to dinner. If he didn’t trust his family, who could he trust? If he couldn’t trust them he might just as well be one of those paranoid weirdo tourists with the aluminum foil beanies who stayed awake nights because they were afraid they were about to be abducted by aliens.
No, it’d just be another routine night out, although maybe he could start to understand just what was going on between Andrew and that girl down there……
Joey (AA/CC teen) [WIP]
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It was almost 7 PM when they pulled up to the supermarket. Andrew had gone in to get their previously ordered picnic-to-go, leaving Joey sitting in the back seat alone. Roger looked at her in the rear view mirror. She was sure an attractive young girl, he thought. That was good and bad he knew. He and Barbara had been worried about Andrew being so shy.....how he had wound up with Joey was a story he'd really like to hear someday. But first crushes....heck, even first loves, rarely lasted more than a few months in the turbulent teen years. Joey would be a tough act to follow though. Andrew would look years before he found anyone quite as nice as that young lady again, Roger suddenly found himself thinking.
"That was a nice basketball game, Joey. Your coach looked real pleased with the whole team."
"Thanks Mrs. Douglas. Speaking of coaches, I talked to Coach Greer yesterday. He's going to give Drew a shot at playing quarterback next year."
'Uh-oh,' thought Roger Douglas. 'There goes the evening, with Andrew and his mother fighting over permission for football next year.'
Barbara Douglas looked at Joey's happy smiling face. "Joey.... I'm not sure Andrew is going to be playing football next year. The accident and everything.....It really frightened me about what might have happened."
"Gee Mrs. Douglas, Drew likes to play so much, and he's really good at it. The team would have done so much better if he'd been quarterback this year, rather than running back...."
Roger knew this was going nowhere, and just hoped it wouldn't blow up worse when Andrew came back with the picnic. He'd had a similar discussion with Barbara before he'd taken Andrew up to Albuquerque, and Barbara had been adamant. No force on earth was going to get her to agree to Andrew playing football again.
"...and Mrs. Douglas," Joey continued,"I'd go to every game and watch him, I'd always be there with him...."
And as Joey said that Barbara Douglas saw those same oh-so-blue eyes looking up at her, the eyes that had told her in a dream that her critically injured son was ...safe....and....well....and....loved. Barbara knew that Joey wasn't omnipotent, but she had done something no one else except perhaps her uncle could have done to heal her son, and she knew Joey would do it again if need-be, whatever the risk to herself. And she knew that Joey loved her son deeply, not a mom's love to be sure, but probably just as much of a different flavor of love.
"Well Joey..... I guess it'll be OK, but you are going to have to sit in the stands with me for every game and hold my hand anytime I get nervous, OK?"
"OK Mrs. Douglas, that's a deal," said Joey, her smile radiating from the back seat.
It was several minutes later when Roger Douglas remembered to close his mouth. For the first time that night he suddenly felt like he'd entered the Twilight Zone. It would NOT be the last time.
"That was a nice basketball game, Joey. Your coach looked real pleased with the whole team."
"Thanks Mrs. Douglas. Speaking of coaches, I talked to Coach Greer yesterday. He's going to give Drew a shot at playing quarterback next year."
'Uh-oh,' thought Roger Douglas. 'There goes the evening, with Andrew and his mother fighting over permission for football next year.'
Barbara Douglas looked at Joey's happy smiling face. "Joey.... I'm not sure Andrew is going to be playing football next year. The accident and everything.....It really frightened me about what might have happened."
"Gee Mrs. Douglas, Drew likes to play so much, and he's really good at it. The team would have done so much better if he'd been quarterback this year, rather than running back...."
Roger knew this was going nowhere, and just hoped it wouldn't blow up worse when Andrew came back with the picnic. He'd had a similar discussion with Barbara before he'd taken Andrew up to Albuquerque, and Barbara had been adamant. No force on earth was going to get her to agree to Andrew playing football again.
"...and Mrs. Douglas," Joey continued,"I'd go to every game and watch him, I'd always be there with him...."
And as Joey said that Barbara Douglas saw those same oh-so-blue eyes looking up at her, the eyes that had told her in a dream that her critically injured son was ...safe....and....well....and....loved. Barbara knew that Joey wasn't omnipotent, but she had done something no one else except perhaps her uncle could have done to heal her son, and she knew Joey would do it again if need-be, whatever the risk to herself. And she knew that Joey loved her son deeply, not a mom's love to be sure, but probably just as much of a different flavor of love.
"Well Joey..... I guess it'll be OK, but you are going to have to sit in the stands with me for every game and hold my hand anytime I get nervous, OK?"
"OK Mrs. Douglas, that's a deal," said Joey, her smile radiating from the back seat.
It was several minutes later when Roger Douglas remembered to close his mouth. For the first time that night he suddenly felt like he'd entered the Twilight Zone. It would NOT be the last time.
When his wife and son had suggested a picnic dinner out in the desert, Roger Douglas had known something was going on. Had it been the middle of summer….well, maybe it might have made sense. But it was winter and the high desert was damn near below freezing and despite the light from the full moon the sun had set almost two hours previously.
He’d walked with them and Joey for almost 20 minutes through the desert until Joey and Andrew had gotten ahead of them and out of sight. He’d asked Barbara then what was going on and she’d just given him something about thinking it’d be nice to take a walk in the moonlight. As they’d rounded the next bend in the trail, there were Joey and Andrew standing beside an opening in the cliff, an opening so perfectly round it looked almost artificial. When he and Barbara had arrived the teenagers had both gone into the cave, and Barbara had followed wordlessly. Feeling more and more like someone in an episode of the Twilight Zone, he’d gone inside too.
He’d been surprised when Andrew had taken the flashlight and found some old LED lanterns and turned them on. Andrew seemed to know just exactly where they were, as if he was very familiar with the cave. When the LED lanterns had been turned on Roger was surprised to see the four pod-like machines and even more surprised to find Joey had somehow gotten behind him in the darkness and was now standing by the door…or even more disconcertingly, where the door should have been.
Because the wall she was standing by, the wall through which all four of them had entered the chamber, was unbroken rock, showing no signs of ever having had an entrance.
“I take it you’ve been here before, Andrew,” said Roger Douglas, looking at his son and scanning to find where the missing door had disappeared to.
“Yes Dad. I spent three days here about 10 weeks ago.” Roger looked at three pairs of eyes staring at him in the dim light of the LED lanterns, their faces not betraying whatever thoughts were going on in their minds. Roger felt unsteady as he sat down on the stone floor. “Are you going to tell me about it?”
“The plain truth of the matter, Dad, is that I was abducted by an alien.”
Had he been at home in his living room Roger would have laughed at that. Somehow in a strange and dimly lit chamber with strange machines and no apparent exit, that statement sounded a whole lot less funny. But it was when he turned to see Barbara’s reaction to Andrew’s statement that the full impact hit him, because Barbara not only wasn’t appearing surprised, she was looking at him to gauge his reaction. You don’t live with someone for a quarter century without being able to read them. Barbara was not only unsurprised by his statement, she had known it was coming.
“You knew about this…?”
“Yes dear, I found out Tuesday night, from Joey.”
Roger’s attention now focused on the young girl. “So Andrew told you about this alleged abduction too..?”
“Not exactly Mr. Douglas. I did the abducting…”
And if the door had really been where it was when he first came in, if three sets of eyes weren’t following his every move, if there had not been such a sense of age and alieness to the machines, Roger Douglas would have still laughed and looked for the hidden camera, but he knew his wife and son too well. Even if this was Joey’s idea of a practical joke, Barbara and Andrew couldn’t have pulled it off like this. While he didn’t really believe the young girl was an alien, he didn’t have a better explanation either.
“Dad, my neck really was broken…the spinal cord really was severely damaged. I was never going to walk again, never going to have the use of my arms again. She kidnapped me so she could heal me. She put the spinal cord back together….healed my fractures…..made me whole again.”
“Andrew, that’s not humanly possible.”
Joey put her hand on the rock wall and closed her eyes, a soft glow came from her hand and a five foot circle of the rock now glowed a soft greenish yellow, lighting up the chamber. He felt the heat from the patch of wall, warming the air of the chamber. As she opened her eyes she said, “You’re right of course, It’s not humanly possible.”
He’d walked with them and Joey for almost 20 minutes through the desert until Joey and Andrew had gotten ahead of them and out of sight. He’d asked Barbara then what was going on and she’d just given him something about thinking it’d be nice to take a walk in the moonlight. As they’d rounded the next bend in the trail, there were Joey and Andrew standing beside an opening in the cliff, an opening so perfectly round it looked almost artificial. When he and Barbara had arrived the teenagers had both gone into the cave, and Barbara had followed wordlessly. Feeling more and more like someone in an episode of the Twilight Zone, he’d gone inside too.
He’d been surprised when Andrew had taken the flashlight and found some old LED lanterns and turned them on. Andrew seemed to know just exactly where they were, as if he was very familiar with the cave. When the LED lanterns had been turned on Roger was surprised to see the four pod-like machines and even more surprised to find Joey had somehow gotten behind him in the darkness and was now standing by the door…or even more disconcertingly, where the door should have been.
Because the wall she was standing by, the wall through which all four of them had entered the chamber, was unbroken rock, showing no signs of ever having had an entrance.
“I take it you’ve been here before, Andrew,” said Roger Douglas, looking at his son and scanning to find where the missing door had disappeared to.
“Yes Dad. I spent three days here about 10 weeks ago.” Roger looked at three pairs of eyes staring at him in the dim light of the LED lanterns, their faces not betraying whatever thoughts were going on in their minds. Roger felt unsteady as he sat down on the stone floor. “Are you going to tell me about it?”
“The plain truth of the matter, Dad, is that I was abducted by an alien.”
Had he been at home in his living room Roger would have laughed at that. Somehow in a strange and dimly lit chamber with strange machines and no apparent exit, that statement sounded a whole lot less funny. But it was when he turned to see Barbara’s reaction to Andrew’s statement that the full impact hit him, because Barbara not only wasn’t appearing surprised, she was looking at him to gauge his reaction. You don’t live with someone for a quarter century without being able to read them. Barbara was not only unsurprised by his statement, she had known it was coming.
“You knew about this…?”
“Yes dear, I found out Tuesday night, from Joey.”
Roger’s attention now focused on the young girl. “So Andrew told you about this alleged abduction too..?”
“Not exactly Mr. Douglas. I did the abducting…”
And if the door had really been where it was when he first came in, if three sets of eyes weren’t following his every move, if there had not been such a sense of age and alieness to the machines, Roger Douglas would have still laughed and looked for the hidden camera, but he knew his wife and son too well. Even if this was Joey’s idea of a practical joke, Barbara and Andrew couldn’t have pulled it off like this. While he didn’t really believe the young girl was an alien, he didn’t have a better explanation either.
“Dad, my neck really was broken…the spinal cord really was severely damaged. I was never going to walk again, never going to have the use of my arms again. She kidnapped me so she could heal me. She put the spinal cord back together….healed my fractures…..made me whole again.”
“Andrew, that’s not humanly possible.”
Joey put her hand on the rock wall and closed her eyes, a soft glow came from her hand and a five foot circle of the rock now glowed a soft greenish yellow, lighting up the chamber. He felt the heat from the patch of wall, warming the air of the chamber. As she opened her eyes she said, “You’re right of course, It’s not humanly possible.”
He listened to his son as Andrew described his three days stay in the pod chamber, what he had learned about the history of the aliens and their human mates and children. He listened to his son explain how Joey had connected with his mind to heal him, how they sometimes shared dreams together, how long he'd known Joey, what kind of a person she was. Then Barbara explained about Joey dreamwalking her when Andrew had been missing and that she had recognized her when she saw her at the pizza parlor. She told about talkng with Joey at the Lakefront park and finding out the secret and finding out that Joey and Andrew had become quite close since the accident and healing.
Both Andrew and Barbara seemed happy and enthused for him to know this information. Joey seemed more cautious, letting his family do most of the talking. As his family seemed more and more at ease with him knowing what was going on, Roger himself was becoming more and more apprehensive. Their very acceptance of this huge secret itself was amazing to Roger, and the fact that his wife had been won over by the girl in an hour sitting in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere seemed terrifying.
A quarter of a century ago the Army ROTC scholarship had seemed like a great way for a kid from a family with modest means to get through college. Even though he had wound up never serving on active duty, he'd put over eight years in the Reserves. He'd never really told his wife or son much about his training as an intelligence officer and even though he'd long since fulfilled his obligation and left the Army Reserve, the training stuck in his mind. You never judged a potential enemy by their intentions, because you could never be sure of their intentions. You judged them by their abilities. And unless his son and wife's minds had been completely changed by this creature before him, she..if it truly was a she...had considerable abilities, perhaps frightening abilities.
Maybe a Seal Team or a Special Forces unit could have snatched his son like that, successfully gotten him away, but Roger knew of nothing that could have made his wife change strongly held beliefs like that, go from hating and fearing Joey to.....being like a mother to her. To go from swearing that Andrew would never again play football to saying.....well, OK Joey, if it'd make you happy...
This situation went well beyond unnatural, and what scared Roger the most was that neither his wife nor his son seemed to realize this. Joey could though. He could read it in her body language, in the way she looked at him, in the way she didn't join in the enthusiasm as his own family told him how nice she was, didn't even appear to be listening to them, just studying him.
Finally Roger Douglas looked up at his wife and son, his face somewhat grim, and asked, "Whose idea was it that we come here to tell me about ..her... being an alien?"
Andrew's voice almost bristled as he said, "Dad! HER name is Joey."
"OK Andrew, whose idea was it that we come here to tell me about JOEY?"
"Roger dear, ...what's wrong?"
"It was my idea Mr. Douglas," said Joey, her eyes starting to fill with tears. "This isn't going to work, is it?"
"What do you mean, 'it isn't going to work?'" asked Andrew.
Roger saw ...her... eyes look into his, her head nod as if to give him permission to speak, and then heard his own voice say, "She means that I've got to report this to the authorities."
"Roger, you can't."
"Dad, no!"
"I think you were right the first time, dear. Joey's not going to let us out of the door, are you?"
Roger decided he may as well think of the creature as a she. Whatever it was, it had the movements of a human down perfectly as 'she' leaned back against the wall and looked at Andrew with tearful eyes.
"I am so sorry Andrew. My Uncle Kyle is in law enforcement and I got him to do a background check on your father, and found out he was once an Intel officer. I have been afraid of this since he told me."
"Roger, you can't honestly be planning on turning Joey in."
"Dad.....her life would be hell. Even if they didn't lock her and her family up or something, they'd be freaks...they'd never have any kind of a normal life. You can't do that."
"You two still don't get it. Answer me...Joey. You aren't going to let any of us out, are you?"
"Dad, that's crazy."
The tears started rolling down Joey's cheeks then, Roger Douglas noted with the dispassionate observations of a trained interrogator. If this was an act, she was very very good. Of course, it was possible she had actually had her whole life to prepare for this. She looked up at him then, the tears continuing to fall.
"It's not crazy, Andrew. He's sort of right. You and your Mom can go. He'll have to stay for awhile. I'll need to notify my parents, my whole family....everyone will have to give up their lives and go undercover. When they are safe, I'll release him."
"What happens if I decide to leave when my wife and son leave?" asked Roger Douglas. He watched as this Joey creature looked at him with an expression of sad determination.
"Mr. Douglas...., the EMTs in Andrew's ambulance really wouldn't have wanted to give him up, and I'm sure they didn't want to be duct-taped to those fenceposts. It would be better if you didn't try to leave when I let Andrew and Mrs. Douglas go."
Both Andrew and Barbara seemed happy and enthused for him to know this information. Joey seemed more cautious, letting his family do most of the talking. As his family seemed more and more at ease with him knowing what was going on, Roger himself was becoming more and more apprehensive. Their very acceptance of this huge secret itself was amazing to Roger, and the fact that his wife had been won over by the girl in an hour sitting in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere seemed terrifying.
A quarter of a century ago the Army ROTC scholarship had seemed like a great way for a kid from a family with modest means to get through college. Even though he had wound up never serving on active duty, he'd put over eight years in the Reserves. He'd never really told his wife or son much about his training as an intelligence officer and even though he'd long since fulfilled his obligation and left the Army Reserve, the training stuck in his mind. You never judged a potential enemy by their intentions, because you could never be sure of their intentions. You judged them by their abilities. And unless his son and wife's minds had been completely changed by this creature before him, she..if it truly was a she...had considerable abilities, perhaps frightening abilities.
Maybe a Seal Team or a Special Forces unit could have snatched his son like that, successfully gotten him away, but Roger knew of nothing that could have made his wife change strongly held beliefs like that, go from hating and fearing Joey to.....being like a mother to her. To go from swearing that Andrew would never again play football to saying.....well, OK Joey, if it'd make you happy...
This situation went well beyond unnatural, and what scared Roger the most was that neither his wife nor his son seemed to realize this. Joey could though. He could read it in her body language, in the way she looked at him, in the way she didn't join in the enthusiasm as his own family told him how nice she was, didn't even appear to be listening to them, just studying him.
Finally Roger Douglas looked up at his wife and son, his face somewhat grim, and asked, "Whose idea was it that we come here to tell me about ..her... being an alien?"
Andrew's voice almost bristled as he said, "Dad! HER name is Joey."
"OK Andrew, whose idea was it that we come here to tell me about JOEY?"
"Roger dear, ...what's wrong?"
"It was my idea Mr. Douglas," said Joey, her eyes starting to fill with tears. "This isn't going to work, is it?"
"What do you mean, 'it isn't going to work?'" asked Andrew.
Roger saw ...her... eyes look into his, her head nod as if to give him permission to speak, and then heard his own voice say, "She means that I've got to report this to the authorities."
"Roger, you can't."
"Dad, no!"
"I think you were right the first time, dear. Joey's not going to let us out of the door, are you?"
Roger decided he may as well think of the creature as a she. Whatever it was, it had the movements of a human down perfectly as 'she' leaned back against the wall and looked at Andrew with tearful eyes.
"I am so sorry Andrew. My Uncle Kyle is in law enforcement and I got him to do a background check on your father, and found out he was once an Intel officer. I have been afraid of this since he told me."
"Roger, you can't honestly be planning on turning Joey in."
"Dad.....her life would be hell. Even if they didn't lock her and her family up or something, they'd be freaks...they'd never have any kind of a normal life. You can't do that."
"You two still don't get it. Answer me...Joey. You aren't going to let any of us out, are you?"
"Dad, that's crazy."
The tears started rolling down Joey's cheeks then, Roger Douglas noted with the dispassionate observations of a trained interrogator. If this was an act, she was very very good. Of course, it was possible she had actually had her whole life to prepare for this. She looked up at him then, the tears continuing to fall.
"It's not crazy, Andrew. He's sort of right. You and your Mom can go. He'll have to stay for awhile. I'll need to notify my parents, my whole family....everyone will have to give up their lives and go undercover. When they are safe, I'll release him."
"What happens if I decide to leave when my wife and son leave?" asked Roger Douglas. He watched as this Joey creature looked at him with an expression of sad determination.
"Mr. Douglas...., the EMTs in Andrew's ambulance really wouldn't have wanted to give him up, and I'm sure they didn't want to be duct-taped to those fenceposts. It would be better if you didn't try to leave when I let Andrew and Mrs. Douglas go."
It kind of surprised Roger when the creature said it would release Andrew and Barbara. He wondered if it really would, or if once they were out the door, something would just happen to them. And what were its’….no, make that her, plans for Roger himself. Maybe if he could get her to stay in the chamber with him, maybe then Andrew and Barbara actually could get away.
“OK, Joey, …how about you let them go and you and I just stay here and talk a while.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Dad. This is just stupid. All you have to do is connect with her, and you can see what she’s like, that she’d never hurt anyone, that she’s no threat.”
“You don’t know what her powers are, son. What if the person you see in front of you isn’t really her at all. What if she can get in your mind and make you see things that aren’t there, feel things that aren’t real? What if you are only seeing and feeling what she wants you to feel? What if this….connection…is how she manipulates your mind, makes you do her will?”
“Dad, that’s just crazy. Joey can’t force you to see things that aren’t there.”
“That’s not altogether true, Andrew,” said a tearful Joey Guerin. "My Aunt Ava actually is quite good at that. That’s how she and Aunt Izzie were able to get in the hospital and destroy the originals of your x-rays. I can’t do it well, just enough to amuse my nieces and nephews when I baby sit them…” The air shimmered briefly in the center of the group and a 10 inch tall Tinkerbelle flitted briefly in the air, fairy dust trailing from her diaphanous wings before she shimmered out of existence. “….but your father is sort of right, it can be done, at least for short periods.”
Andrew looked at Joey with growing annoyance. “Joey, you’re not being very helpful taking his side.”
“Well Andrew, what did you think it was all about when I said I wouldn’t go out with you in seventh grade,” the tears now flowing freely down her cheeks, “that I didn’t care about you? …that I wasn’t in the mood? Why do you think I don’t have any real friends. This is my life. This is what I was born to, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. Everyone who is part alien and everyone they love lives with this from birth. Aunt Izzie told you that no one would blame you if you just walked away after I healed you, ….that you didn’t need to get involved in the whole secret. This is all my fault. I should have just healed you, left you locked up until the handprints faded, and then let you go without letting us get emotionally involved. It was my fault….I should have known better.”
Roger Douglas watched in amazement as his son lifted the girl’s chin and looked into her eyes, his face a mixture of anger, pain, and determination. “Well I am involved and I’m not leaving you. If you are going into hiding, I’m going with you.”
Joey turned away, facing the wall, tears flowing down her face. “I can’t let you do that, Andrew. You deserve a real life, you have the opportunity to live a normal life and I can’t let you give that up.”
“Well there’s nothing you can do to stop me from staying with you.”
Roger Douglas watched as the girl pushed his son away. “Maybe….maybe sometime after you are done with college..maybe if you haven’t found someone else….maybe I’ll show up on some street corner and if you still want to…..you decide ahead of time because if you say yes, you’ll be gone forever, but not now, Andrew. Now you have your family and your normal life. I won’t take that away from you. I can’t take that away from you.”
Roger Douglas looked at the crying girl, looked at his devastated son, looked at his wife whose eyes were pleading, wanting the pain to stop. He realized then that whatever happened, he was going to lose his family. They truly did believe in this…girl. They would never forgive him, even if what he was doing was really the right thing. And dispassionately, it WAS the right thing. This was far too important of a decision for him to make by himself, he had no right to put the country…the world in peril by making that decision by himself. But he was starting to realize the price he would pay for doing his duty.
“OK, Joey, …how about you let them go and you and I just stay here and talk a while.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Dad. This is just stupid. All you have to do is connect with her, and you can see what she’s like, that she’d never hurt anyone, that she’s no threat.”
“You don’t know what her powers are, son. What if the person you see in front of you isn’t really her at all. What if she can get in your mind and make you see things that aren’t there, feel things that aren’t real? What if you are only seeing and feeling what she wants you to feel? What if this….connection…is how she manipulates your mind, makes you do her will?”
“Dad, that’s just crazy. Joey can’t force you to see things that aren’t there.”
“That’s not altogether true, Andrew,” said a tearful Joey Guerin. "My Aunt Ava actually is quite good at that. That’s how she and Aunt Izzie were able to get in the hospital and destroy the originals of your x-rays. I can’t do it well, just enough to amuse my nieces and nephews when I baby sit them…” The air shimmered briefly in the center of the group and a 10 inch tall Tinkerbelle flitted briefly in the air, fairy dust trailing from her diaphanous wings before she shimmered out of existence. “….but your father is sort of right, it can be done, at least for short periods.”
Andrew looked at Joey with growing annoyance. “Joey, you’re not being very helpful taking his side.”
“Well Andrew, what did you think it was all about when I said I wouldn’t go out with you in seventh grade,” the tears now flowing freely down her cheeks, “that I didn’t care about you? …that I wasn’t in the mood? Why do you think I don’t have any real friends. This is my life. This is what I was born to, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. Everyone who is part alien and everyone they love lives with this from birth. Aunt Izzie told you that no one would blame you if you just walked away after I healed you, ….that you didn’t need to get involved in the whole secret. This is all my fault. I should have just healed you, left you locked up until the handprints faded, and then let you go without letting us get emotionally involved. It was my fault….I should have known better.”
Roger Douglas watched in amazement as his son lifted the girl’s chin and looked into her eyes, his face a mixture of anger, pain, and determination. “Well I am involved and I’m not leaving you. If you are going into hiding, I’m going with you.”
Joey turned away, facing the wall, tears flowing down her face. “I can’t let you do that, Andrew. You deserve a real life, you have the opportunity to live a normal life and I can’t let you give that up.”
“Well there’s nothing you can do to stop me from staying with you.”
Roger Douglas watched as the girl pushed his son away. “Maybe….maybe sometime after you are done with college..maybe if you haven’t found someone else….maybe I’ll show up on some street corner and if you still want to…..you decide ahead of time because if you say yes, you’ll be gone forever, but not now, Andrew. Now you have your family and your normal life. I won’t take that away from you. I can’t take that away from you.”
Roger Douglas looked at the crying girl, looked at his devastated son, looked at his wife whose eyes were pleading, wanting the pain to stop. He realized then that whatever happened, he was going to lose his family. They truly did believe in this…girl. They would never forgive him, even if what he was doing was really the right thing. And dispassionately, it WAS the right thing. This was far too important of a decision for him to make by himself, he had no right to put the country…the world in peril by making that decision by himself. But he was starting to realize the price he would pay for doing his duty.
Last edited by greywolf on Thu Sep 07, 2006 5:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
When Andrew grabbed the girl the rebuke almost came out of Roger Douglas’ mouth before he caught himself, ‘Andrew that’s no way to treat a young lady…….’ but it froze on his tongue? Was she a young lady? Because if she was an alien monster, Andrew was virtually assaulting her, as he wrapped his arms around her. “I won’t leave you, Joey.” The girl struggled in his grasp, then put her palm toward Andrew, a soft yellow glow appearing to stagger Andrew, pushing him back several feet. Undeterred, Andrew started forward again and Joey backed off. “Stop, Andrew!” she screamed, the glow from the palm now a bright flash, a circle of stone two foot in diameter several feet from Andrew crumbling into sand.
“You don’t scare me, Joey, and you aren’t getting rid of me that easily.” Andrew again grabbed the girl in an embrace, the tears from his eyes dropping into her blonde hair as he held her tightly, the girl sobbing.
Roger was taken aback by the scene in front of him. Andrew had no fear of the girl whatever, despite her demonstrating what was obviously lethal power. This was either the best staged act for his benefit that he could possibly have imagined, or the damnedest lover’s quarrel anyone had ever witnessed.
Roger looked at Barbara who appeared to be sharing her time between looking tearfully at her son and Joey, and glaring daggers at him. Things were moving way too fast for Roger. If Joey were an evil monster, Andrew was about to get himself killed. If she weren’t, Roger was about to lose his family for nothing. This was a head’s you win tails I lose proposition.
Realistically, why would an evil alien intelligence have rescued Andrew, have healed him at all? He was a sophomore in high school, a better than average student and football player, but certainly not all that important if you were going to take over the world. And it sure hadn’t seemed like her parents, if those were her parents, were even encouraging the two of them. And why would Joey be spending all those hours dribbling a basketball if the mission was world conquest. Even if she became the best WNBA player in the league, that would scarcely put the aliens on a path toward world domination. In fact, why would aliens who were a threat be bothering with his family at all.
Roger looked up at the two teenagers, the girl with her head buried in his son’s chest, sobbing like her world was ending, his son alternating between comforting her, and looking daggers at his father……
“Joey. Is there any possibility you could let Andrew and Barbara go and stay here and the two of us just talk.”
“I’m not going anywhere Dad…,” started Andrew, the rest of the sentence stopped as her finger went to his lips.
“Andrew, please. Just let me talk to your Dad. I won’t go anywhere before we talk it over, honest.”
Roger Douglas watched as his son kissed the girl quickly on the lips, then turned to glare again at his father. Joey placed her hand on the wall, the wall glowing silver as her hand approached it, and suddenly the circular door was back.
“You don’t scare me, Joey, and you aren’t getting rid of me that easily.” Andrew again grabbed the girl in an embrace, the tears from his eyes dropping into her blonde hair as he held her tightly, the girl sobbing.
Roger was taken aback by the scene in front of him. Andrew had no fear of the girl whatever, despite her demonstrating what was obviously lethal power. This was either the best staged act for his benefit that he could possibly have imagined, or the damnedest lover’s quarrel anyone had ever witnessed.
Roger looked at Barbara who appeared to be sharing her time between looking tearfully at her son and Joey, and glaring daggers at him. Things were moving way too fast for Roger. If Joey were an evil monster, Andrew was about to get himself killed. If she weren’t, Roger was about to lose his family for nothing. This was a head’s you win tails I lose proposition.
Realistically, why would an evil alien intelligence have rescued Andrew, have healed him at all? He was a sophomore in high school, a better than average student and football player, but certainly not all that important if you were going to take over the world. And it sure hadn’t seemed like her parents, if those were her parents, were even encouraging the two of them. And why would Joey be spending all those hours dribbling a basketball if the mission was world conquest. Even if she became the best WNBA player in the league, that would scarcely put the aliens on a path toward world domination. In fact, why would aliens who were a threat be bothering with his family at all.
Roger looked up at the two teenagers, the girl with her head buried in his son’s chest, sobbing like her world was ending, his son alternating between comforting her, and looking daggers at his father……
“Joey. Is there any possibility you could let Andrew and Barbara go and stay here and the two of us just talk.”
“I’m not going anywhere Dad…,” started Andrew, the rest of the sentence stopped as her finger went to his lips.
“Andrew, please. Just let me talk to your Dad. I won’t go anywhere before we talk it over, honest.”
Roger Douglas watched as his son kissed the girl quickly on the lips, then turned to glare again at his father. Joey placed her hand on the wall, the wall glowing silver as her hand approached it, and suddenly the circular door was back.
With the door now open, Roger could see the girl watching him warily, unconcerned that Andrew and Barbara could leave. He slowly moved away from the door, hoping to reassure her, hoping that his family would go to safety, whatever the outcome of his confronting Joey.
He saw Andrew look at her again and even though her eyes were on Roger Douglas and not Andrew Douglas, she responded to him. "Please Drew, take your mom back to the car where it's warm. We can talk later. I promise." Somehow Roger knew that those words were for him and Barbara, that if Joey had been talking only to Andrew that somehow the words wouldn't have been necessary. He wasn't sure if that should reassure him, or cause him to have even greater fear for his son.
Still glaring at his father, Andrew took his mother's hand and led her from the chamber.
Joey looked at him, her cheeks still tracked by the moisture left from the tears that had fallen, her hair still mussed from where Andrew had buried his face in it as he had held her. Her hand slowly went to the wall, and the door again winked out of existence. She stood there looking to all the world like a tired, frightened, but very determined fifteen year old girl and said in a voice that held more sadness than hope, "You wanted to talk. You've got your chance."
"Joey, I don't know what's real and what's illusion. I don't know if that door is still there and I just can't see it, or if that's really rock."
"Well that's really rock, about three foot of it. That machine over there manages the opening.....I'm not too sure how. My Aunt Liz figured it out, but I'm not sure even she knows exactly how it works. That's ironic, really I guess since she isn't really an alien, even though she can get it to open and shut. You can try if you want, but it won't work for you.....I wonder if it would for Andrew...."
"The point is, Joey, I'd like to believe that my wife and son are right, that you and your race really aren't a threat to mankind, but I don't know I can ever be sure,...and I need to be sure."
"Race? Four orphan kids with at least half human DNA are a 'race'? That's all there are, Mr. Douglas. There were eight, held as embryos in these machines and four others like them. Four are already dead. That leaves my dad, my uncle, and my two aunts ...or at least that's what I've always called them, because I don't really know if any of them really came from the same parents at all. When the power started to run down, the machines matured them and kicked them out into this world as naked orphans. Those that survived were finally able to blackmail the government into not killing them, by threatening to reveal the information they had on the number of human beings the paranoid bastards in an FBI special unit had tortured and killed because of their xenophobia. My 'race' consists of those four, my brother and me, and seven cousins, that is if you count us half-breeds as part of that race of yours. You met my mom, she's as human as you are. Same for my other aunts and uncles. A real 'threat' that bunch is. We all get together for a family picnic out at lakefront park every fourth of July, Mr. Douglas. We reserve two picnic tables so everyone has a seat."
"If the government already knows about you, why do you care what I say?"
"That was almost 20 years ago, Mr. Douglas. Those who voted funds for that group, who ignored their crimes....they are mostly out of office. Those people didn't talk, because they don't want to admit their own responsibility, but the funding was cut on that unit 20 years ago. We don't have anything on most politicians today and even if the government still chose to ignore us, what kind of life do you think we'd have if everyone knew? Mr. Douglas, there are people who would take Andrew apart, just to try to figure out how I healed him and justify it 'for the greater good.' You may not believe that...and I don't know how to make you believe that, short of letting it happen, but it's still true."
It was the discouragement and the hopelessness he saw in those so very blue eyes that did it. He had told himself that he couldn't risk it, but the young girl seemed so very human and so very vulnerable, despite the powers that he had seen, that Roger Douglas decided he had to know.
"Could you connect with me and just let me see what I want to see in your mind? Not what you want me to see, but let me pick the things? And not try to get in my mind?"
Joey thought about that for several seconds. The alternative was that her entire family give up their lives and start over. Did she really have a choice?
"OK, Mr. Douglas. Take my hand and look into my eyes..."
He saw Andrew look at her again and even though her eyes were on Roger Douglas and not Andrew Douglas, she responded to him. "Please Drew, take your mom back to the car where it's warm. We can talk later. I promise." Somehow Roger knew that those words were for him and Barbara, that if Joey had been talking only to Andrew that somehow the words wouldn't have been necessary. He wasn't sure if that should reassure him, or cause him to have even greater fear for his son.
Still glaring at his father, Andrew took his mother's hand and led her from the chamber.
Joey looked at him, her cheeks still tracked by the moisture left from the tears that had fallen, her hair still mussed from where Andrew had buried his face in it as he had held her. Her hand slowly went to the wall, and the door again winked out of existence. She stood there looking to all the world like a tired, frightened, but very determined fifteen year old girl and said in a voice that held more sadness than hope, "You wanted to talk. You've got your chance."
"Joey, I don't know what's real and what's illusion. I don't know if that door is still there and I just can't see it, or if that's really rock."
"Well that's really rock, about three foot of it. That machine over there manages the opening.....I'm not too sure how. My Aunt Liz figured it out, but I'm not sure even she knows exactly how it works. That's ironic, really I guess since she isn't really an alien, even though she can get it to open and shut. You can try if you want, but it won't work for you.....I wonder if it would for Andrew...."
"The point is, Joey, I'd like to believe that my wife and son are right, that you and your race really aren't a threat to mankind, but I don't know I can ever be sure,...and I need to be sure."
"Race? Four orphan kids with at least half human DNA are a 'race'? That's all there are, Mr. Douglas. There were eight, held as embryos in these machines and four others like them. Four are already dead. That leaves my dad, my uncle, and my two aunts ...or at least that's what I've always called them, because I don't really know if any of them really came from the same parents at all. When the power started to run down, the machines matured them and kicked them out into this world as naked orphans. Those that survived were finally able to blackmail the government into not killing them, by threatening to reveal the information they had on the number of human beings the paranoid bastards in an FBI special unit had tortured and killed because of their xenophobia. My 'race' consists of those four, my brother and me, and seven cousins, that is if you count us half-breeds as part of that race of yours. You met my mom, she's as human as you are. Same for my other aunts and uncles. A real 'threat' that bunch is. We all get together for a family picnic out at lakefront park every fourth of July, Mr. Douglas. We reserve two picnic tables so everyone has a seat."
"If the government already knows about you, why do you care what I say?"
"That was almost 20 years ago, Mr. Douglas. Those who voted funds for that group, who ignored their crimes....they are mostly out of office. Those people didn't talk, because they don't want to admit their own responsibility, but the funding was cut on that unit 20 years ago. We don't have anything on most politicians today and even if the government still chose to ignore us, what kind of life do you think we'd have if everyone knew? Mr. Douglas, there are people who would take Andrew apart, just to try to figure out how I healed him and justify it 'for the greater good.' You may not believe that...and I don't know how to make you believe that, short of letting it happen, but it's still true."
It was the discouragement and the hopelessness he saw in those so very blue eyes that did it. He had told himself that he couldn't risk it, but the young girl seemed so very human and so very vulnerable, despite the powers that he had seen, that Roger Douglas decided he had to know.
"Could you connect with me and just let me see what I want to see in your mind? Not what you want me to see, but let me pick the things? And not try to get in my mind?"
Joey thought about that for several seconds. The alternative was that her entire family give up their lives and start over. Did she really have a choice?
"OK, Mr. Douglas. Take my hand and look into my eyes..."
It had seemed like a good first step to Roger at the time. It sure didn't now. She hadn't let go of his hand or dropped the connection, but Joey's fair skin permitted the deepest of blushes, and the connection seethed with her embarrassment. Feeling the warmth in his face, he realized that half of it was probably coming from him. Divorced of emotion, it had seemed a normal physiological process, if she was female and pretty much human it would be only natural.....but the memory of Maria Guerin describing to an 11 year old Joey the functional workings of tampons and pads had quickly left Roger looking desperately for some way to .....change the channel or something. She'd been embarrassed, he’d been embarrassed about her embarrassment, she’d been embarrassed about that…..the whole thing was a disaster.
He hadn’t really realized until then that the connection was not just a retrieval of information, but of emotions as well. He felt like a sleazy voyeur and realized as he did that she felt that emotion too. He was forming an apology in his mind but was interrupted by a thought from her..*just get on with it…* No wonder she and Andrew seemed so comfortable with each other. They could practically read one another’s minds….
The second flash surprised him as well. It was the little things, really, that often told the true story. He remembered that game, but hadn’t remembered the 3rd grader that had scored the final goal against Andrew. Andrew had been just another kid to her when he’d congratulated her on the goals she had scored when the two teams had met at the end of the game. It had all started then. Andrew had simply been nice to her, and ten year old boys were seldom nice when showed up by nine year old girls…and somehow it had affected Joey deeply. Not love or passion, just a wish that she could be his friend, a wish she could never bring herself to act upon. She was just too different.
As the third flash started he felt his own fear rise. It was the play….Andrew almost breaking free, only the safety to beat, or so he thought. He felt her emotions….she had seen it coming far quicker than he had when he’d been sitting in the stands. ‘No Andrew, don’t make the cut….take the first down and get it later’…but he hadn’t. As the trailing linebacker tripped him up with the safety already launching himself she had thought for a millisecond about deflecting Andrew from his path, but she knew she didn’t have the accuracy to do it at that distance. She had almost used her powers on the Deputy Sheriff, just to get by his side, in plain view of everybody. And he felt her emotions as she’d stood outside the door and heard the doctor saying the words he’d already heard. Her pain had been as great as his until it stopped suddenly……stopped as she made the determination that she wouldn’t let it happen…that she’d heal him or die trying. And she could have died, Roger realized as he saw the flash of the healing…..she had refused to break the connection, even as she went unconscious, knowing that if she failed neither of them would be waking up again.
The blushing started again……for both of them, as the flash brought the memory of her straddling the dirtbike, running through the desert, savoring the feel of his arms around her waist, accelerating repeatedly, rhythmically, feeling those arms squeeze against her in a sensual, an …erotic manner that aroused her, her body sensing the cotton fabric and leather between them, knowing that it would take only a soft glow of yellow light from her skin to dissolve those fabrics into nothingness…..having to consciously over rule the desire of her body to let that happen.
The shock of that last flash almost caused Roger to break the connection. Good Lord, he hoped Andrew could handle what was apparently coming his way. He certainly didn’t blame the young man for caring for the girl. Her feeling for Andrew went well beyond passion, the kiss at the basketball court was Joey’s feelings when she was doing her best to restrain them…..
But then he saw it. Saw what he’d at first been sure he’d see, then hoped he wouldn’t. Joey was hiding something. She was trying desperately not to think of it, but somehow you could tell, that alone kind of gave it away.
He recognized the old automatic pistol even before the flash expanded to show the hand that held it…….Barbara’s hand. On the street by the library….in the parking lot at riverfront park…..reduced to a disk of metal and projected out into the lake with a conspiratorial smile…'I can’t think of any good reason that the guys need to know about the gun.’
The connection broke then, and he found himself looking at a tearful Joey Guerin. “It wasn’t her fault. She was scared to death. I should have never let her see me when I dreamwalked her and told her Drew was OK. But I hadn’t done any active dreamwalking….where you interact with people back then. And she was just scared, she just wanted Drew to be OK, wanted to be sure he was OK. You can’t blame her for that.”
And it was then that Roger Douglas realized that he had been far more of a monster tonight than Joey had ever been in her entire life. The two most important people in his life were his son and his wife. She had rescued his son from a life of near-total paralysis and not only restored him but somehow inspired him to be an even better person. She had rescued Barbara from her despair, from her being driven nearly insane by what had happened to their only child, and yet still felt guilty that she, a fifteen year old girl whose secret had kept her from ever really being close to anyone other than her family, had somehow failed Barbara by not being able to keep secret that Barbara had threatened her.
Joey had broken the rules, the rules of her own people by telling Barbara the secret there, where she really couldn’t control her, where if Barbara had been unreasonable……been like her husband had been, they all would have been at risk. Because Joey couldn’t have stopped Barbara, if she’d pulled that trigger…it would have been all over. And Joey wouldn’t have stopped her, because she would have had to kill her, and she could no more bring herself to kill Barbara then she could have killed Andrew when they were wrestling earlier. And now, despite all the humiliation he’d put her through, all the distrust he’d shown, Joey’s greatest distress was that she’d failed to protect Barbara from the embarrassment her actions might cause.
He put his hand out toward her, the tears coming to his own eyes then, but those eyes pleading with her to take his hand. The connection was slow to form but when it did….*Joey, I am so very sorry. I don’t blame you if you never forgive me*
She broke the connection then and walked away from him, toward the podlike machines. “I guess the pod chamber has always been a place of new beginnings…this one was my dad’s pod. Over here was where I healed Drew…and where I decided that I couldn’t live without him in my life, once I knew how he really felt about me, and he knew how I really felt about him. Maybe we can have a new beginning too, Mr. Douglas. Maybe we can just forget everything that happened here tonight.”
“I don’t think I can ever forget tonight, Joey.”
“Well then let’s just remember that we somehow became friends….and we came here for a picnic, maybe we ought to have a picnic.”
“I’m not sure my family will ever forgive me for what I put you through.”
“I’ll make you a deal. If your wife never finds out you know about the gun incident and you never tell Andrew about it, I’ll never tell them about what happened here…..deal?”
“That seems more than fair, Joey. Thank you.”
The plates were spread out on a blanket on the floor as Roger Douglas brought his family back from the car. The fried chicken, potato salad, beans, and rolls were sitting in their containers. “It’s picnic time,” said Joey Guerin. As everyone sat down she reached up to close the door, and used her power to heat the wall and renew the glow that lit the pod chamber.
“So I take it you convinced my husband, Joey?” asked Barbara Douglas.
Joey smiled, “Yeah, we kind of came to terms with the situation.”
“How did you convince him?” Andrew asked.
Roger looked at Joey who looked first at Andrew, then at his father. “He was right all along. I mindwarped him.” Her eyes sparkled, Andrew and his mother laughed, and Roger Douglas could never remember feeling any happier than he did right now. As he started chewing a mouthful of cold beans, Joey giggled. “What?”
“It must run in the family,” she said, holding her hand over his plate, the beans suddenly starting to steam.
Andrew laughed. “That’s kind of an inside joke….let me tell you about it.”
Roger had never seen his family happier. As he watched Joey listen to Andrew tell the story he had only one real concern. ‘Does that girl have any idea how much Tabasco she’s putting on those beans?’
He hadn’t really realized until then that the connection was not just a retrieval of information, but of emotions as well. He felt like a sleazy voyeur and realized as he did that she felt that emotion too. He was forming an apology in his mind but was interrupted by a thought from her..*just get on with it…* No wonder she and Andrew seemed so comfortable with each other. They could practically read one another’s minds….
The second flash surprised him as well. It was the little things, really, that often told the true story. He remembered that game, but hadn’t remembered the 3rd grader that had scored the final goal against Andrew. Andrew had been just another kid to her when he’d congratulated her on the goals she had scored when the two teams had met at the end of the game. It had all started then. Andrew had simply been nice to her, and ten year old boys were seldom nice when showed up by nine year old girls…and somehow it had affected Joey deeply. Not love or passion, just a wish that she could be his friend, a wish she could never bring herself to act upon. She was just too different.
As the third flash started he felt his own fear rise. It was the play….Andrew almost breaking free, only the safety to beat, or so he thought. He felt her emotions….she had seen it coming far quicker than he had when he’d been sitting in the stands. ‘No Andrew, don’t make the cut….take the first down and get it later’…but he hadn’t. As the trailing linebacker tripped him up with the safety already launching himself she had thought for a millisecond about deflecting Andrew from his path, but she knew she didn’t have the accuracy to do it at that distance. She had almost used her powers on the Deputy Sheriff, just to get by his side, in plain view of everybody. And he felt her emotions as she’d stood outside the door and heard the doctor saying the words he’d already heard. Her pain had been as great as his until it stopped suddenly……stopped as she made the determination that she wouldn’t let it happen…that she’d heal him or die trying. And she could have died, Roger realized as he saw the flash of the healing…..she had refused to break the connection, even as she went unconscious, knowing that if she failed neither of them would be waking up again.
The blushing started again……for both of them, as the flash brought the memory of her straddling the dirtbike, running through the desert, savoring the feel of his arms around her waist, accelerating repeatedly, rhythmically, feeling those arms squeeze against her in a sensual, an …erotic manner that aroused her, her body sensing the cotton fabric and leather between them, knowing that it would take only a soft glow of yellow light from her skin to dissolve those fabrics into nothingness…..having to consciously over rule the desire of her body to let that happen.
The shock of that last flash almost caused Roger to break the connection. Good Lord, he hoped Andrew could handle what was apparently coming his way. He certainly didn’t blame the young man for caring for the girl. Her feeling for Andrew went well beyond passion, the kiss at the basketball court was Joey’s feelings when she was doing her best to restrain them…..
But then he saw it. Saw what he’d at first been sure he’d see, then hoped he wouldn’t. Joey was hiding something. She was trying desperately not to think of it, but somehow you could tell, that alone kind of gave it away.
He recognized the old automatic pistol even before the flash expanded to show the hand that held it…….Barbara’s hand. On the street by the library….in the parking lot at riverfront park…..reduced to a disk of metal and projected out into the lake with a conspiratorial smile…'I can’t think of any good reason that the guys need to know about the gun.’
The connection broke then, and he found himself looking at a tearful Joey Guerin. “It wasn’t her fault. She was scared to death. I should have never let her see me when I dreamwalked her and told her Drew was OK. But I hadn’t done any active dreamwalking….where you interact with people back then. And she was just scared, she just wanted Drew to be OK, wanted to be sure he was OK. You can’t blame her for that.”
And it was then that Roger Douglas realized that he had been far more of a monster tonight than Joey had ever been in her entire life. The two most important people in his life were his son and his wife. She had rescued his son from a life of near-total paralysis and not only restored him but somehow inspired him to be an even better person. She had rescued Barbara from her despair, from her being driven nearly insane by what had happened to their only child, and yet still felt guilty that she, a fifteen year old girl whose secret had kept her from ever really being close to anyone other than her family, had somehow failed Barbara by not being able to keep secret that Barbara had threatened her.
Joey had broken the rules, the rules of her own people by telling Barbara the secret there, where she really couldn’t control her, where if Barbara had been unreasonable……been like her husband had been, they all would have been at risk. Because Joey couldn’t have stopped Barbara, if she’d pulled that trigger…it would have been all over. And Joey wouldn’t have stopped her, because she would have had to kill her, and she could no more bring herself to kill Barbara then she could have killed Andrew when they were wrestling earlier. And now, despite all the humiliation he’d put her through, all the distrust he’d shown, Joey’s greatest distress was that she’d failed to protect Barbara from the embarrassment her actions might cause.
He put his hand out toward her, the tears coming to his own eyes then, but those eyes pleading with her to take his hand. The connection was slow to form but when it did….*Joey, I am so very sorry. I don’t blame you if you never forgive me*
She broke the connection then and walked away from him, toward the podlike machines. “I guess the pod chamber has always been a place of new beginnings…this one was my dad’s pod. Over here was where I healed Drew…and where I decided that I couldn’t live without him in my life, once I knew how he really felt about me, and he knew how I really felt about him. Maybe we can have a new beginning too, Mr. Douglas. Maybe we can just forget everything that happened here tonight.”
“I don’t think I can ever forget tonight, Joey.”
“Well then let’s just remember that we somehow became friends….and we came here for a picnic, maybe we ought to have a picnic.”
“I’m not sure my family will ever forgive me for what I put you through.”
“I’ll make you a deal. If your wife never finds out you know about the gun incident and you never tell Andrew about it, I’ll never tell them about what happened here…..deal?”
“That seems more than fair, Joey. Thank you.”
The plates were spread out on a blanket on the floor as Roger Douglas brought his family back from the car. The fried chicken, potato salad, beans, and rolls were sitting in their containers. “It’s picnic time,” said Joey Guerin. As everyone sat down she reached up to close the door, and used her power to heat the wall and renew the glow that lit the pod chamber.
“So I take it you convinced my husband, Joey?” asked Barbara Douglas.
Joey smiled, “Yeah, we kind of came to terms with the situation.”
“How did you convince him?” Andrew asked.
Roger looked at Joey who looked first at Andrew, then at his father. “He was right all along. I mindwarped him.” Her eyes sparkled, Andrew and his mother laughed, and Roger Douglas could never remember feeling any happier than he did right now. As he started chewing a mouthful of cold beans, Joey giggled. “What?”
“It must run in the family,” she said, holding her hand over his plate, the beans suddenly starting to steam.
Andrew laughed. “That’s kind of an inside joke….let me tell you about it.”
Roger had never seen his family happier. As he watched Joey listen to Andrew tell the story he had only one real concern. ‘Does that girl have any idea how much Tabasco she’s putting on those beans?’
As Andrew got out of the car to escort Joey to her door and undoubtedly say a private goodbye or two, she turned and looked back into the car at Roger and Barbara Douglas. "Goodnight, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas. It was," and she smiled slightly, "a very interesting evening." "Good night, Joey" said Roger. "Good night dear," said Barbara.
As the two walked up the driveway, there was silence in the dimly lit car.
"Honey," said Roger Douglas, do you know how close those two have grown? Did Joey really explain that to you?"
"I believe, Roger, that their current topic of discussion is how many grandchildren you and I will eventually have."
"Doesn't that frighten you a little?"
"Well, we hoped we'd become grandparents eventually. I know, it's a little scary but I know they are planning to wait until after they graduate to get married."
"I'm not too worried about three years from now, I'm more worried about now. Neither one of them has any experience in boy-girl relationships, and Joey is only fifteen."
"I can't picture Joey ever doing anything that would hurt Andrew, Roger, even if she is young and lacking in social experience. Andrew doesn't have much social experience either."
"I'm rather more concerned about her making Andrew the happiest sixteen year old in New Mexico some night, actually...."
"Oh dear, I hadn't thought about that.....but her parents must know about the two of them....I mean, she must be closer to them than she is to us. She wouldn't have kept their relationship a secret from her own mom and dad, would she? Wouldn't they have talked to her about that?"
"I wonder," said Roger Douglas, realizing suddenly that they had been told about the engagement only because it had been forced from Joey at the point of a gun. "I wonder. Maybe I ought to have a talk with Andrew."
As the two walked up the driveway, there was silence in the dimly lit car.
"Honey," said Roger Douglas, do you know how close those two have grown? Did Joey really explain that to you?"
"I believe, Roger, that their current topic of discussion is how many grandchildren you and I will eventually have."
"Doesn't that frighten you a little?"
"Well, we hoped we'd become grandparents eventually. I know, it's a little scary but I know they are planning to wait until after they graduate to get married."
"I'm not too worried about three years from now, I'm more worried about now. Neither one of them has any experience in boy-girl relationships, and Joey is only fifteen."
"I can't picture Joey ever doing anything that would hurt Andrew, Roger, even if she is young and lacking in social experience. Andrew doesn't have much social experience either."
"I'm rather more concerned about her making Andrew the happiest sixteen year old in New Mexico some night, actually...."
"Oh dear, I hadn't thought about that.....but her parents must know about the two of them....I mean, she must be closer to them than she is to us. She wouldn't have kept their relationship a secret from her own mom and dad, would she? Wouldn't they have talked to her about that?"
"I wonder," said Roger Douglas, realizing suddenly that they had been told about the engagement only because it had been forced from Joey at the point of a gun. "I wonder. Maybe I ought to have a talk with Andrew."
Secret Service Special Agent Kathleen Powers really didn’t understand why she was given this job. She was way too junior to be given the responsibility for advance planning for the security for the Vice President’s upcoming trip to El Paso, Texas and she knew the real team leader would just have to recheck every single thing she did. She could only guess that the director had decided to groom her for something special.
If so, it would be quite a feather in the cap of a very junior 25 year old female agent. That’s why she was really going overboard, even checking the old decrepit homeland security files from right after the turn of the century. Here was an odd entry….recommending that contact be avoided with four people:
Evans, Max
Ramirez, Isabel
Guerin, Michael
Valenti, Ava
And the damn thing didn’t even say why contact should be avoided. Kate checked the organizational entry code and it matched……nothing. Cross check with intel services…..nothing. Cross check with Justice Department archive registry…..bingo.
Some old black world op special unit the FBI was running, that went out of business in 2010 or so…. ‘I wonder what that’s all about? It doesn’t give any information at all. Doesn’t say they are a threat, just that contact be avoided. Maybe it’s some old witness protection group, some family given new identities for ratting out the mob. Shouldn’t be a factor anyway….location’s way up in Roswell New Mexico. Heck, the Vice won’t be in El Paso for more than two hours, addressing some civic organization called the Navy of the Rio Grande…..every member an admiral no less.’
Special Agent Powers had plenty of other stuff to do. She scribbled the names down, but when her final advance plan was made up, the names were dropped off the list. Heck, even if the Vice were going to Roswell, it didn’t seem like it would be all that important.
If so, it would be quite a feather in the cap of a very junior 25 year old female agent. That’s why she was really going overboard, even checking the old decrepit homeland security files from right after the turn of the century. Here was an odd entry….recommending that contact be avoided with four people:
Evans, Max
Ramirez, Isabel
Guerin, Michael
Valenti, Ava
And the damn thing didn’t even say why contact should be avoided. Kate checked the organizational entry code and it matched……nothing. Cross check with intel services…..nothing. Cross check with Justice Department archive registry…..bingo.
Some old black world op special unit the FBI was running, that went out of business in 2010 or so…. ‘I wonder what that’s all about? It doesn’t give any information at all. Doesn’t say they are a threat, just that contact be avoided. Maybe it’s some old witness protection group, some family given new identities for ratting out the mob. Shouldn’t be a factor anyway….location’s way up in Roswell New Mexico. Heck, the Vice won’t be in El Paso for more than two hours, addressing some civic organization called the Navy of the Rio Grande…..every member an admiral no less.’
Special Agent Powers had plenty of other stuff to do. She scribbled the names down, but when her final advance plan was made up, the names were dropped off the list. Heck, even if the Vice were going to Roswell, it didn’t seem like it would be all that important.