Dance With Me
Part Five
Story and Art by Angie Dargo
Chapter One
Homer Glitchman, a communications officer, sat at lunch with Sandor and stared at him. He couldn’t quite figure this guy out. He heard that it was Sandor that almost killed the marine that had harassed Nova a couple of weeks ago. The marine was still in the hospital with a broken jaw and had gone through five or six surgeries to repair internal bleeding and broken bones in the rest of his body.
But that was just the thing. Out of anybody else, you could maybe expect it. Homer would even steer clear of those kinds of men being as he wasn’t the physical type himself and didn’t want to risk pissing any of them off. But Sandor? Stephen Sandor was an engineering, mechanical, and scientific genius. There wasn’t a problem thrown at him yet that he couldn’t figure out. He always carried himself with a straight back, shoulders up, and head high; but he didn’t act or look arrogant. He didn’t look like the muscular jock type either, he was tall and slender and always; ALWAYS looked like he had a headache. Homer once mentioned to Nova after a set at the club that Sandor looked as if he didn’t like anything, he was always scowling, even when he was smiling. She had just laughed and stated, “That’s just Sandor! He’s always thinking. If we only knew what all was going on in that brilliant mind of his, we’d probably always scowl too!”
And what was this about him having two girlfriends? Some of the officers said that they would see him going out with Nova somewhere at night, and other officers swore that he had a lady friend who was a little older in the science and engineering division with her own team. The scuttlebutt going around was even that those two ladies lived together and that Sandor was over at their apartment all the time. If that was the case, then how did he ever get anything done?
What could he, Homer Glitchman, learn from a man like this?
“Homer, do you have something you want to ask me or tell me?” asked Sandor as he took a drink of coffee.
“Uh…no. Why do you ask?” replied Homer looking caught.
“Well, I just keep thinking that sooner or later you’re going to stop looking at me and actually eat your lasagna. So is there something green hanging out of my nose or are you trying to figure out a way to kill me in my sleep?” said Sandor. He put his coffee cup down and leaned back in his chair.
“Sorry…” said Homer meekly and he went back to his lunch. He put his fork back down and said, “Yeah, there is something I want to ask you. It’s about that marine. How did you mess him up that bad? You don’t seem like the type to…ya know?”
“Yeah. I don’t know, I just saw him pawing at Nova and it just flew all over me. I hate it when men think they can overpower a woman. I guess I just lost it,” said Sandor. He looked down at the table. He didn’t tell Homer that while he lost control of his anger; he also lost control of his bionic arms. He knew he shouldn’t have hit that marine; he should have just held him off of her while she got away. But the way he was treating her, and the way that Elaine was screaming for him to “help her”. He did what he thought he had to do.
“I just lost it,” Sandor repeated as he got up and took his tray over to the waste can.
Just remind me not to be around you when you lose it again, thought Homer to himself.
Chapter Two
Nova stretched and yawned as she looked over the plastic baggies filled with medicines. She hadn’t got a good night’s sleep in the past couple of weeks because of weird dreams. She was paying the price today, as she could hardly take a breath without yawning. Nova was working in the main surgical suite on the Yamato when Elaine came in looking for her. She was taking an inventory of antibiotic intravenous medicines when a huge explosion rocked the ship. The Gamilons continued to bomb the surface of the Earth daily, but Nova swore that she would never get used to it. They could hear and feel every blast where Yamato was, here, still underground, but still so close to the Earth’s surface. The klaxons started to whine, but a voice came over the loudspeaker and announced that it was a false alarm. It was a power coupling that had come loose in the bowels of the ship. Nova smiled at her friend as she walked over to her.
“Hey there, have you had lunch yet?” asked Elaine. She looked like she was down in the dumps about something. Nova picked up on it right away.
“No, I haven’t yet, but I was just going to grab a protein shake because I’ve got so much to do. But would you look at that! My plans have officially changed and I have an appointment available…,” Nova looked at an invisible appointment book, “right now, just for you.” Elaine smiled, but it looked forced.
Nova told Ivy Montgomery, one of the other nurses that was working with her that she was taking her lunch and she walked out of the suite with Elaine. They turned in the hall towards the galley and Nova squeezed her friend’s arm. “So, are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
Elaine stopped walking and leaned up against the cold metal wall. “There’s a really bad battle going on up on Pluto. You know we heard about it starting up about a week ago? Stephen has been asking Homer about any messages that he may overhear everyday because he’s worried about his friend Alex. Well, today Homer came looking for Stephen. Homer told Stephen he was up on the bridge earlier when he received a general S.O.S. from a ship in Captain Avatar’s fleet. General Singleton ran up to the bridge and Captain Avatar came up on the video panel. The S.O.S. came from the Captain’s laser ship most likely. Avatar said that they must have accidentally sent it out as a general S.O.S., as they were…,” Elaine tried to heave back a sob.
“Oh my gosh, Elaine, what?” asked Nova.
“Captain Avatar said that they probably were in their death throes when they did it. He also said that he has already lost 32 of the 40 in his original fleet. Nova, Avatar’s own son, Abe, is on one of the ships up there! How can the man have that much composure? I’m losing it and I just had a couple of classes with Abe! Homer said that Captain Avatar just shut down the rest of the General’s questions and he told him he would transmit an official report to him at headquarters, because he had to get back to the battle. Then he signed off.”
Another huge blast came from outside the hull. The friends froze for a moment, silently looking around the corridor. Lights in the giant battleship flickered. Other personnel stopped, then went about their business as usual when the lights came back up.
Nova asked Elaine in a hesitant, small voice, “What about Sandor’s friend, Alex, and Michael, his lab assistant? Did Homer hear anything about them?”
“Stephen said he had found out that Alex Wildstar was commanding a missile ship in Avatar’s fleet. Actually, it’s the one that Abe is on, so we don’t think it’s gone down. But we don’t know yet if Wildstar was one of the fallen or injured because Avatar just didn’t say enough about anything. And we don’t even know where Michael was. He may have been still on the Pluto Base and not in one of the ships. Oh Nova, I don’t know what to do for Stephen. He said he just wanted to be alone! What do I do?” cried Elaine.
“Leave him alone. He’s got to find out some information about this battle before he can do anything. Just let him be and say a prayer for him. If he asks for you, just be there,” said Nova. She reached out and took her friend in her arms.
“How did you get to be so smart about these kinds of things?” said Elaine as she let Nova’s arms fold over her. She let her tears fall freely.
“Comes with the territory of being everybody’s friend, and nobody’s girlfriend,” said Nova with the hint of a tear in her own eye.
Chapter Three
The day grew long and the work crew on the Yamato grew more nervous as the hours passed. Nova and Elaine’s conversation had been 8 hours ago. No one was leaving the battleship unless they had families on the base. Each team leader was given a list of necessary work to be done right away. The EDF wanted the battleship ready to launch within 2 or 3 days if possible. Nova had split up her three different teams by delegating to who she thought was responsible enough to handle certain tasks and workloads. She was frantically working on recalibrating one of the radar units on the second bridge when she saw Sandor come in. She stopped what she was doing when she saw the look on his face. He ran over to her.
“I’ve just heard that what’s left of Avatar’s fleet is headed back to Earth. They want you at the hospital now!” he snapped. Then he walked quickly away from her over to two of his team members and began to bark orders at them. She wanted so much to go over to him and ask about Michael, Abe, and especially Alex, but she didn’t. He didn’t look like he was in the mood for questions. She called over to one of her crew members, Ensign Sanemato, and told him she had to go.
When the aircar pulled up to the base hospital Nova gasped out loud. There were people everywhere! News reporters had cameras aimed at the skies as they awaited the remaining ships of Captain Abraham Avatar’s fleet. There were EDF personnel blocking the hospital entrance. Nova quickly got her badge out of her bag and plucked her nurse’s uniform off the seat next to her. She was about to open the door when the ensign driving the aircar cleared his throat and said, “Ma’am, if I may suggest something? It might be better for you to get dressed in here, than for you to go through that crowd in your EDF uniform. The reporters and other people may just think you’re a regular Jane reporting for duty and not bother you.”
“You’re right! Could you just keep your eyes up that way for a moment?” asked Nova as she unzipped the back of her gold and black uniform and wriggled out of it. She lay down on the backseat and squirmed into her nurse’s dress; this one black and gold also. No, she wouldn’t be mistaken for an ordinary Jane, but she wouldn’t be known as an EDF officer right now either. Her head popped back up and she slid her boots back on. Her feet and legs were already killing her and this promised to be a very long night.
“Thanks for the idea!” she said as she opened the door to the aircar. Then ensign saluted her as she got out and fought her way through the crowd. She had all kinds of questions being thrown at her. She kept her head down and hoped she wouldn’t hit it on the revolving door when she finally got up to the entrance. Luckily, there were two surgical assistants just in the doorway that she knew. They had been looking for her. One of them, Henry Moklov, said something to the EDF officer guarding the door. The officer cleared the rest of the path for her and she stumbled through the revolving door’s platform.
“Dr. Sane is about to go ballistic! Where have you been?” asked Henry.
“Well, you see I’ve got this other job…” said Nova with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
The other surgical assistant, Tina, pushed Henry aside as they continued to walk quickly to the elevators. “Oh shut up Henry! Here Nova, I figured you hadn’t eaten yet so here’s a sandwich and an orange juice.”
“Oh God bless you!” said Nova as they stepped onto the elevator. Nova handed Henry her bag and took the sandwich from Tina. “Tell me what we have coming in.”
“You don’t want to know,” said Tina. “It’s sad actually. It’s only a few wounded on Avatar’s flagship. About 20 or so are really bad that we’re seeing and another 35 to 40 can be seen in the other areas of the hospital and…”
“Well, why just Avatar’s ship; why not the others?” asked Nova cutting Tina off. The elevator doors opened and Henry stood in the middle of the doors to keep them from closing.
“No others made it back,” said Henry. “Just his.”
“Oh my God,” gasped Nova. She handed Tina the rest of the sandwich. She really wasn’t very hungry anymore.
“Did you know someone in the battle?” asked Tina with a hand on Nova’s shoulder.
“You could say that…”said Nova as her voice trailed off. She walked on down the hallway towards Dr. Sane’s office. “Thanks for the food though,” she called back to Tina. She sipped at the orange juice and thought sullenly about Sandor.
Dr. Sane came out of one of his examination rooms with a small cat in his arms. If one were to walk past this room at a quieter time, one would hear the clucking of a duck, the snort of a pig, and occasionally the chatter of a monkey. No one could deny the doctor’s excellence in the medical field nor disqualify his eccentricities. He had been a veterinarian years before and the hospital allowed him to carry on the practice every once in a while; and for the most part, the powers-that-be looked the other way.
“How’s the zoo tonight, Doctor?” inquired Nova as she threw her bag into his office. She took the cat, Mimi, from his hands and cuddled her to her cheek.
“Where the hell have you been? We’ve got O.R.’s to prepare, tables to supply, bandages to unwind, and …oh, the animals are okay. I just went in and told them to be quiet and go on to sleep. They probably won’t see me again tonight.” He went into the door of his office and Nova followed right behind him. He plucked a bottle of what he liked to call “Spring Water” off a shelf and uncorked it. As he turned the bottle down towards his coffee mug, Nova grabbed it from his hands.
“Not tonight, Doctor. I can’t do this on my own.”
“You’re right, dear. I’m sorry I snapped at you. You need to sit and rest for a minute. It’s going to get real ugly pretty soon in here,” said the little bald doctor. He turned to his computer and Nova decided to take him up on his offer. She leaned back in one padded chair and took off her boots and put her aching bare feet up in the other chair. She drifted off to sleep.
In her dreams, Nova heard the voice whisper to her as she had been hearing over and over again. “Hey there little songbird,” it said in her ear from behind her. She felt her ear, cheek, and neck being pounded with wet urgent kisses. She struggled to get free and call for help. Any help. Her voice echoed; no one could hear her. She could hardly breathe. It was so cold. Where was she? The presence turned her around to face it. There was no familiar form or shape to it except it had a face, hands, and talon-like feet. It was just a black nothingness with red glowing eyes. It held both her hands with one of its huge clawed hands while the other one went up her thigh. She screamed again. She brought her knee up to where its groin ought to be and felt the bones of her leg shatter. Her eyes bulged from their sockets. She fell to the floor and tried to slide/crawl away but the “thing” kept pulling her towards it, laughing. She was flung onto her back and she bit her lip. Blood ran down her chin as she tried to scratch the thing’s eyes out. She found she couldn’t see the eyes any longer because long hair covered them now. It held her hands up over her head and straddled her. She heard herself whimpering and couldn’t do a thing to stop what was going to happen. The “thing” parted her legs with its own and bore down upon her…her last thought; He will never want me now.
“Nova, Nova…stop it! Girl, get up! What are you doing?” cried Tina. Nova woke up with Tina shaking her. She was lying in the floor of Dr. Sane’s office and she was fighting Tina off of her like mad. When she finally realized what she was doing, she sobbed, “Oh, Tina I am so sorry!” and grabbed the woman to her.
“It’s okay, you’ve just got to snap out of it,” said Tina. She got up and got a tissue out of a box on Dr. Sane’s desk and took it to Nova. “Here, you’ve got a little blood just there,” she said as she pointed to Nova’s lip. Nova stood up and wiped it off. She stumbled into the little half-bathroom and looked in the mirror. That can’t be my face! It looks like I’ve been dead for over 24 hours! Mimi sat on a towel in the corner, and she hissed when Nova came in. Nova looked down at her hands. She was shaking.
“Nova, I don’t know what you were dreaming, but you should know that I thought you were going to kill me!” said Tina. She looked at Nova and shook her head. “You really scared me! When all this is over with, we have to talk about what just happened. But right now, we’ve got 18 seriously wounded, including Captain Avatar himself being brought to our O.R.’s. Are you okay enough to work tonight?”
“Yeah,” said Nova barely hiding the tremble to her voice. “Yeah, I’ve had these dreams before.” Tina looked alarmed. Nova quickly added, “But, I’m getting used to them. I’m alright,” she lied. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Four
Sandor looked at the massive computer terminal and punched a few keys. He turned towards the two men behind him, and grabbed a computerized notepad out of one of their hands and put his initials on a checklist. He walked briskly away, and told the two men, “What are you waiting for an invitation? Get back to work!”
Elaine waited quietly in the shadows of the room until he had passed by. She had heard about Alex’s death, about how he had diverted fire from Avatar’s flagship. His ship had gone down, and he would be forever known as a hero. This didn’t help soften the blow to Stephen Sandor though. She watched him snap commands at his crew. After he walked away from the hateful glares of the men and women on his team, she would quietly approach them and explain what happened. They understood and went back to work. She would shadow after him again until she found him on another bridge or in another room, and do it all over again. One poor soul even came up to him and asked, “Sir, have you heard any information about Ensign Michael Peterson yet? He was one of my classmates and I’m awfully worried about him,” said the young man. Sandor glared at him and said, “No ensign, I have no time to run the rumor mill tonight. You see I’m on this ship to work not to talk! If you want to hear about who got killed and who survived go home and turn on the network news! I am busy!”
The young man looked as though he would cry or say something he shouldn’t to a superior officer, but he just straightened his shoulders and said, “I’m sorry to bother you sir. I know that Ensign Peterson thought a lot of you, and I just thought you might have heard something already with you being an officer and all. I won’t ask you again, sir.”
Sandor felt his shoulders go limp. He felt like over the past 23 hours he had single-handedly held the world on his shoulders. His best friend was killed, he couldn’t talk to anybody without biting their heads off, he couldn’t find Elaine, Nova was gone to the hospital seeing God knew what right now, and all he could think of was the phrase, “Ensign Peterson thought a lot of you…” He hadn’t even said goodbye to the young man who had been with him in the lab almost every day for close to 2 years.
“Ensign, come back here,” said Sandor in a softer voice.
The young man pivoted and walked back to Sandor looking like he expected to be punched.
“I apologize for my outburst. I am worried about what happened to Michael. I’ll tell you what, why don’t you go to the hospital and take a look at the crew list and see if he is listed as a casualty. Then if you don’t mind, call me here. I would like to know.”
“Thank you sir, I will,” said the young man. He saluted and pivoted again. As he walked away, Sandor put his head down in his hands.
Elaine tiptoed out of the corner of the room. She didn’t know whether to go or to stay. She decided to risk speaking to him.
“I can help you if you want me too. Just tell me what you need and what you want me to do. Use me, I’m here for you,” said Elaine as she walked up behind him and rubbed his shoulders.
Sandor turned and looked at Elaine for a moment. Then the rock-solid genius man of stoic steel fell into her arms and sobbed like a baby.
Chapter Five
Homer Glitchman was called off the Yamato by General Singleton. He was to await an aircar to take him to the inter-space command center to analyze a message capsule that had just been brought in by two EDF soldiers on the Mars Base. When he got into the aircar he saw General Singleton himself sitting in the front seat next to General Stone who was driving.
“Glitchman, we’ll fill you in on the details of the message capsule as we ride. You don’t mind do you?” asked Singleton.
Homer shook his head, but he was as nervous as he had ever been in his life. This must be something very big to have both of the “Big Guns” going to the command center to check it out.
Singleton turned around to face Homer. “At 1700 hours Earth Time, an unidentified alien ship crash landed near outpost B at the Mars Base. Two of our men there were sent to find the ship and investigate. They found the ship, but there were no identifying markings on it, nor was there anyone inside the ship. It was a small, one person carrier.” Homer nodded and grabbed the inside door latch as General Stone took a curve going very fast.
Singleton gave an aggravated glance at Stone, then continued the report. “Both men investigated the scene around the ship and found a woman, human looking at all first appearances, dead, just a few feet from the ship with a message capsule in her hand. The capsule is awaiting you, and some others who are well-qualified to handle such things, and the woman has been sent to the hospital for an autopsy. You now know as much as we do. This is top-secret information and not to leave the inter-space command center, do you understand, son?”
Homer barely whispered, “Yes, sir” as the aircar came to a stop in front of the command center.
Chapter Six
Nova sat next to Captain Abraham Avatar’s bedside waiting for the older man to awaken from the anesthesia. She had been on her feet almost 26 hours now, with the exception of her fitful “naptime”, and she just needed to rest. Just a little sit-down though. She didn’t want “the dream” to come to her again. It was hard to stay awake in this wing of the huge building, because it was a bit separated from the hospital rooms and it was quiet. This wing was in the middle of the inter-space command center and the hospital wing, usually reserved for conferences. The over-flow of injured soldiers had moved the government officials down a couple of wings for the meantime. Beds and equipment had been set up here and there, but privacy was still given to the Captain. He was in a huge office room with a big open window. Nova could still see all the families and reporters standing below watching the hospital and command center for any sign at all of what was going on in space.
Avatar stirred a little. Nova sat upright and grabbed the Captain’s hand. She rubbed it and looked at the wrinkles on it. This man had been through so much. She worried about how he had reacted before the surgery when he was told his son was dead. All he said was, “At least he died a hero, and didn’t have to come cowering back with a battle left unfinished.”
Nova reached over his head and turned on the blood pressure monitor. The machine silently tightened around the Captain’s upper arm and Nova watched the numbers on the computer screen. Blood pressure was stable. Satisfied, she wrote the numbers on a slate with a stylus and checked his pulse with her own fingers. Only a human touch would do with most of her nursing techniques. That thought made her laugh, and think of the robot, IQ-9, that had been trailing Dr. Sane most of the night and early morning. He had come in quite handy in the surgeries. He hadn’t made any mistakes with the instruments they had asked for. He had just seemed quite enamored of anything in a skirt, especially of Nova herself. Great, she thought, the love of my life will turn out to be a robot!
“Hello there Lieutenant Forrester,” said a gruff voice. “I must be bad, if they’re making you sit with me and just watch me sleep. Surely you have more important things to be doing.”
Nova was taken aback. He was clear eyed and attempting to sit up in bed! “No sir! You just lie down. You’ve been through quite a lot and you need your rest! I’ll go and get Dr. Sane for you. I can’t believe you’re this alert! How did you remember my name?”
Nova had only met the captain once, aboard the Yamato, before he left for the Pluto Base.
The Captain chuckled then started to cough. As Nova helped him lie back, he looked at her and said, “You’ve got a memorable face, young lady. And it helps that you are well-known for being on of the best go-getters on Yamato right now. Tell me, how many companies are you running?”
Nova smiled and pulled the covers back around him. She blushed slightly and said, “I am currently working with three teams in the survey, analysis, and life divisions, sir. And thank you for the compliment, sir.”
“What compliment? If I say you’re a go-getter, then I mean it. I know my soldiers and I make it a point these days to know the ones who are the best,” said Avatar.
“Well, thank you again, but I meant about me having a ‘memorable face’,” said Nova standing over the Captain.
“Oh that wasn’t a compliment. You’re as ugly as a female General Stone.” Captain Avatar chuckled again as Nova’s eyes went wide and she gasped in horror. She covered her mouth in a fit of giggles and walked over to the door. “I’ll be right back with Dr. Sane,” she said. “I’m going to recommend that he give you a shot…with a rusty needle!”
She grabbed a file off the bedside table and walked out of Captain Avatar’s room and down the corridor. She smiled to herself and ran her fingers through her hair. She hoped she would get to work with the Captain someday…
As Nova turned the corner back into the main hospital wing she saw two men in EDF uniforms standing in the middle of the hallway. When they heard her, they turned and looked at her…no stared at her. It wasn’t the usual, “Hey baby, where you been all my life?” stare that she was so used to, but a stare like they knew her…or thought they knew her. She glanced from one to the other. The one on the left was tall, about 5’11” or so and had a short cut of curly dark brown hair. He had a chiseled Italian face and nose and his mouth was gaping wide open. Likewise, his friend, on the right looked as if he had seen a ghost. The other man, Nova glanced at twice and a hint of a smile graced her lips for a split second; he was cute! This man was a couple of inches taller with dark black hair and sharp, strong facial features and the most amazing darkest brown eyes that seemed to bore into hers.
She walked on past them and resisted the urge to turn around again. She heard one say to the other, “That can’t be her. She’s dead! But she looks just like her!”
The other man said, “This is the medical wing, maybe she’s a nurse?”
Nova turned down another hallway and asked Tina where Dr. Sane was. Tina rolled her eyes and said, “When I saw him last he had Mimi in his arms and he said he was going to go check on his menagerie…so I guess Dr. Doolittle is with off talking with his animals.” Tina went back to her table full of medicine cups and sighed. “I wish I knew when we could go home. I hear they’re not letting anymore personnel in or out of the hospital right now. Something big is going down and I want to know what it is!”
Both women jumped when they heard a loud squeal of a pig coming from the other hallway. Nova put a hand on her chest and said, “That just makes me a nervous wreck when he lets that thing out!” Tina laughed and said, “I know what you mean!”
“Say, do you know who those two EDF soldiers are over in the other hallway?” asked Nova.
“Nope. All I know is that they’re from one of the Mars Base outposts and they’re waiting on something from the inter-space command unit to call them about. And…” Tina gestured Nova closer to her. “They brought some alien female in to be autopsied,” said Tina in a whisper. “But I’m not supposed to know that.”
“When you hear something else you’re not supposed to hear, let me know,” said Nova. “I’m going to find Dr. Sane.”
“Follow the grunts and squeals!” shouted Tina as Nova walked back down the hall.
Chapter Seven
Elaine and Sandor sat underneath a big machine that he called his “Dynamic Do-All” in the darkness of the Yamato. He had given the clearance for his teams to go home to their families, but remain on stand-by. Elaine had done the same. They went into the galley and got sandwiches and sodas and brought them into this room. This thing was Sandor’s baby and he said that after he ate he wanted to look over it again. But the only thing he was looking at now was Elaine’s beautiful green eyes.
She listened to him as he spoke of his best friend. Alex had befriended him at the Academy when no one else had. It had seemed so strange to others to see them together, the sports jock and the science geek. But there it was. They had just gotten each other. When they had graduated, they were separated. Alex saw some battles while Sandor saw machinery. They were both doing what they could for the EDF, but Sandor had lost his way without his friend. He stayed in the lab every day and most nights. He ate there alone most of the time and sometimes he had even fallen asleep there. When he met his first wife Lera, she was working in a take-out restaurant off the base where Sandor went a lot. She talked to him, and flirted with him, and Sandor was hungry for human companionship. He admitted to Elaine that they had never even kissed each other before they kissed at their little justice-of-the-peace wedding ceremony. They were just lonely. Two people who were all alone in the world needed to be together, right?
Alex was his best man and one of their witnesses at the ceremony. He had begged Sandor not to do it, not to make this mistake. Sandor remembered it all like it was yesterday…
“Do you love her?”
asked Alex.
“Oh come on Alex? What is love anyway? I don’t know!
What I am certain of, is that I can’t die alone, I just can’t. And I can’t leave her out there with no one
waiting with her. She doesn’t have any
family or friends. She’s lost everyone
she’s ever loved! She’s miserable! If I left her now she would…I don’t know…she
would do something…” Sandor said. He was
barely able to look at his friend.
“Look buddy, I’ll do
what I came here to do. I don’t like it,
but I’ll do it. Just remember, if you
can’t go through with it, I’ll jump out the window with you,” Alex said patting
Sandor on the back.
Sandor had gotten married that day. But try as he might, Sandor couldn’t love her, and he couldn’t see that Lera was withering away without anyone to talk to. Sandor still kept himself at his lab most of the time, he hadn’t even noticed most nights the warm body in the bed next to him. Even when she had made advances, he’d pretended to not notice or to be asleep. So Lera had left him.
Alex had never said a word about it. When he was stationed back at the
The only person that Alex ever loved unconditionally was his brother Derek. He was so proud of him. Sandor never got a chance to meet Alex’s little brother but he felt like he could pick him out of a crowd. There were pictures all over Alex’s room of Derek at different ages. Sandor told Elaine that the precocious young man looked just like Alex.
“I wonder if anyone has told Derek about Alex yet?” asked Sandor looking at Elaine.
“Probably. I hope he’s okay,” said Elaine. “Are you okay?”
Sandor sighed and leaned up against the steel back of the machine. “I guess I’ll get over it. Look, Elaine, I’m really sorry I broke down on you before…”
“Why are you sorry? That I saw you had emotions and gasp…feelings? Come on Stephen, I really am here for you. I don’t think you’re a sissy or anything,” said Elaine as she leaned back against the metal next to Sandor. “Although, your mascara’s running.”
“Ha, ha, ha.”
“Besides it did do a little something for me to see your emotions bared on your sleeve like that. It was quite the turn on,” she smiled.
“Oh, so you like girly men?” he asked as he slipped an arm around her.
“I thought I had just established that,” she said. Elaine slid over to into Sandor’s lap and she held his face in her hands. “Let me protect you for awhile now. I’ll take care of you.” She looked him right in the eyes and felt butterflies in her stomach as she took the plunge.
“Stephen, I love you.”
She saw him sigh and close his eyes. Then he said, “Oh Elaine, say that last part again.”
She put her mouth right on top of his and said, “Stephen Sandor…I love you.”
He kissed her and when their mouths parted he said, “Say it again.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said. He held her close and momentarily forgot about everything in his former sad and lonely days. They were behind him; for right now.
To Be Continued…
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