INTERMEZZO
STAR BLAZERS, SPACE BATTLESHIP
YAMATO, and all related names and elements
are copyright by Voyager Entertainment and Leiji Matsumoto. Star Blazers is
a registered trademark of Jupiter Films, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Huge shout-out to Annie and Eva,
who gave me the courage to let strangers read my writing!
Chapter 2
March 14, 2202
At 1145 on Sunday
Mark knocked on Carina’s door. Sandor
was being shipped out within the next few days, and Nova had invited them over
for a bon voyage meal. Carina was
clipping her thick red hair back as she opened the door and stepped aside to
let him enter. “Hi – come on in,” she
said. “I wasn’t expecting you quite
yet. I just have to finish pulling
myself together and I’ll be ready to go.”
She looked
pretty pulled-together already, he thought as he watched her cream-colored
dress swirl around her hips, but women probably had different standards for
themselves. He looked around her
apartment curiously. It was a mirror-image
of his own, but she had made more of an effort to personalize the space than he
had. Colorful throw pillows and blankets
brightened the drab furniture, and the walls were hung with family photos and scenic
images of Earth from before the Gamilons had attacked. An electric piano against the wall held a
vase filled with fresh flowers. The
place definitely had a feminine touch.
“Your apartment looks nice. I’ve
never done anything with mine.”
“Well, you
haven’t spent a lot of time there. Maybe
now that you’ll be stationed on Earth for a while you’ll spruce it up a bit. You’ve already added those sharp
curtains.” She spoke from the
bedroom. When the video phone chimed
with an incoming call, she emerged and her eyes filled with concern. “That’s my dad. It’s 2130 hours over
there. I wonder what’s up.”
“Do you want me to go in the other room?”
“No.” She touched his arm nervously as she answered
the call. “Stay here for a minute?” He nodded as the image came up, revealing a
pretty but sad-looking young girl with dark hair, bouncing up and down on her toes. “Kate?
Where’s Dad? Is everything OK?”
“Cricket…”
the girl sniffled, and Mark thought, Cricket? “Dad’s fine – he’s asleep. But I wanted to talk to you. I had such a bad day, Cricket. The girls from school are so mean.” As Kate began to cry, Carina turned to Mark
and quietly asked him to go to the kitchen and take the muffins she had made out
of the oven. He was more than happy to comply
– the last thing he wanted was to get involved with the social problems of a
nine-year-old girl.
After a few
minutes, he could hear that Katie had calmed down and cautiously stepped back
into the living area. Carina extended a
hand to him and he joined her. “Kate, listen,”
she was saying, “I have to go to my friend’s house for brunch. But you have a vacation coming up soon,
right? Maybe Dad would let you come out
and visit me that week.” The girl brightened
at the suggestion, wiped the tears from her face and finally noticed Mark
standing with her sister. Her eyes went
wide. “Katie, this is my friend Mark,”
Carina said.
“Nice to meet you, Kate. Carina has told me a lot
about you.” He smiled at the girl, who
was staring at him with her mouth open.
She nodded. “She talks about you all the time, too.” Mark grinned at the look Carina gave her
sister, who stammered, “I mean, it’s nice to meet you,” and then turned to
Carina and mouthed, “Well, you do!”
“We really do
have to go, Kate. But ask Dad if you can
visit me during your vacation, OK? And don’t
worry about those mean girls. There’s nothing
wrong with you.”
Mark nodded. “You tell those girls you have friends on the
Star Force. If they won’t leave you alone,
we’ll take care of them.” He winked at
the girl, and she giggled.
“I will,” she
said, looking at him shyly. “Cricket,
I’ll ask Dad if I can come see you.”
“Well, don’t
wake him up. Ask him in the morning and
call me tomorrow, all right?”
“OK. Goodnight, Cricket.”
“Goodnight,
Kate.”
After she
hung up, Mark raised an eyebrow at her. “Cricket?”
Carina
sighed. “My brother Georgie was only about
two-and-a-half years old when I was born, and he had a hard time saying
‘Carina.’ It came out more like
‘Crinka,’ and eventually it morphed into ‘Cricket.’ No one outside of my family calls me
that. No one,” she repeated with emphasis when she saw the look on his
face.
“I like it,” he teased. “I might not be able to help myself.”
Glaring at
him, she said, “If you call me that in front of anyone else, I will have to kill you.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
He followed
her into the kitchen, where she picked up the basket of muffins, then out the door. “Your sister is sweet. It will be good for her to visit you on her
vacation.”
“Oh… Yeah.”
she replied. “Thank you for being so
nice to her, by the way. She has a hard
time sometimes. But I wasn’t really
thinking when I invited her out here. Her
vacation is in early April, and with the automated fleet I don’t think there’s
any way I can get time off. When she comes
out in the summer, I have someone watch her while I’m at work, but she won’t be
available. I guess she can sleep during
the day, and I can hang around with her at night. That will minimize the upset to her sleep
schedule, at least.”
“Yeah, or…” Mark thought
for a minute. “My mother might be able to
help you, a couple of days at least. I can
ask her if she’d mind picking Katie up when Jordy gets out of school. We wanted them to meet, right? Jordy sometimes has problems with mean kids
at school, too. It might do them both
some good if they become friends.”
“That’s what everyone used to say about us,
remember?” She smiled sweetly at him and
his heart melted. “I wouldn’t want to
impose, but if you don’t think she’d mind, that would be amazing, Mark.”
“I’ll ask her
and let you know,” he said, unable to resist the urge to run his hand over her
back, gratified when she leaned into him briefly before stepping away. He was trying to think of something charming
to say when they arrived at Nova’s apartment.
Nova opened the door right away, Wildstar at her heels.
“Hi, guys. Come on in.
Sandor and Alex are already here,” Nova said, kissing Mark’s cheek and
hugging Carina. Wildstar followed suit,
shaking Mark’s hand. “Carina, it’s nice
to see you again.”
“You too,
Captain Wildstar. Welcome home.” She turned to Nova. “Sorry we’re a little bit late. My sister called in a tizzy just before we
were going to leave.”
“Not a
problem,” Nova replied. “Is your sister
–“
She was
interrupted by the clatter of feet running across the floor and a high-pitched,
excited voice. “Uncle Mark!” It was Sasha, looking older than she had even
the last time Mark had seen her, less than a week ago. He scooped the small girl up and spun her
around. “Hey, how’s my girl?”
“Fine!” She squirmed out of his arms and grabbed his
hand. “Come and see Daddy.”
“OK,
sweetheart,” he said, throwing Carina a helpless look as he followed the blond
head down the hall. Sasha pulled him
into the living room where Sandor and Alex Wildstar were sitting, drinking cups
of coffee.
“Daddy, Uncle
Stephen, Uncle Mark is here,” the girl announced before running back down the
hall to join the women.
The two men
stood to shake Mark’s hand. “Venture,
good to see you,” Sandor said. “I hear
through the grapevine that you have a new command. Congratulations.”
“Thanks, Sandor. I’m only sorry you won’t be here to give me
technical advice.” He turned to
Alex. “Alex, how are you? Sasha is quite the little hostess.”
“She’s much
more social than her father,” Commodore Wildstar agreed. “After all the time I spent alone with
Starsha on Iscandar, I’m finding Earth a little overwhelming.”
“Come on,
brother, isn’t it good to be home?”
Derek had entered, led by Sasha and followed by Nova and Carina.
“Sure it is,
Derek, and it’s wonderful to see Earth green again, but Iscandar was much
quieter. Sasha’s had an easier time this
week than I have.” He noticed Carina for
the first time and straightened, returning her salute.
Nova spoke
up. “Alex, this is Lieutenant
Clark. Carina interned under Sandor when
we were at the academy together.”
“Welcome
home, Commodore. I’m sure your
adjustment will be easier when you’ve settled into a routine at HQ,” Carina
said. She turned to Sandor and gave him
a quick hug, followed by a playful punch in the arm. “Stephen, you couldn’t have called me? I swear, you Star Force men, leaving a girl
hanging.” Mark raised his eyebrows
innocently at the look she gave him.
When she stepped back beside him he whispered in her ear. “So you salute Alex Wildstar now, huh? I’m still waiting for you to show me that
respect.”
“Rise up a
little higher in the ranks and you might get lucky, Space Jockey,” she
whispered back.
He chuckled
and moved to put his arm around her shoulder, planning to tell her that “get
lucky” might not be the phrase she was looking for, but when he saw Nova
watching him he covered the move lamely by stretching and yawning instead. Nova arched an eyebrow at him – Really?
Do you think I couldn’t see through that? – and announced that brunch was ready.
Mark found
himself seated between Nova and Sandor.
Carina was on Sandor’s opposite side and immediately engaged him in
conversation about the technical aspects of the automated fleet. Since Derek and Alex Wildstar were also
head-to-head about something, he turned to Nova. “Where are you going to be stationed next,
Nova? Are you going back to the
hospital?”
She
nodded. “I’ll be splitting my time
between the hospital and the Commander’s office, actually.”
“Really? That’s
quite an honor.”
“I don’t know
about that – it will be mostly clerical work, I think, but at least it’s a
chance to show the brass what I’m capable of.
Has Sandor told you where they’re sending him?”
“No. I get the impression it’s
top secret.”
“Yes, that’s
what I thought too. Maybe they’re
developing some new sort of weapon?”
“Maybe. Doesn’t look like we’ll get
an answer out of him today, anyway.”
Sandor and Carina were deep in conversation.
Nova laughed.
“No, you’re right. Sandor has his
technical soul mate there.” She put her
hand on Mark’s arm and leaned over to him.
“So how are things going?”
Mark didn’t
need to ask what she was referring to.
“All right, I guess.” He
sighed. “We promised each other before I
left that we wouldn’t rush into anything, but we had dinner together last
night, and after spending one evening with her, Nova, I’m right back where I
was when we took off.”
“Mark, you need to talk to her. Tell her
how you feel. I can almost guarantee you
she feels the same way.”
Sasha had
been making her way around the table and chose that moment to climb on his lap
and kiss his cheek. Mark kissed her head
and gave her a bite of his eggs, noticing that Carina was watching him interact
with the little girl, a guarded look on her face. When she squirmed off his lap and went to sit
with Derek, he leaned closer to Nova so they could talk privately “It’s not
that simple. I wish it were, but there
are other things to consider.”
She looked at
him doubtfully, but nodded. “If you say so. But
don’t put it off too long. You both
deserve to be happy.”
“Thanks,
Nova.” He suddenly felt tremendous
affection for her. Nova had always been
there for him, his advisor and friend, and he couldn’t imagine life without
her. He nudged her playfully now. “You’re a fine one to talk about putting it
off. We were almost all the way to
Iscandar before you and Wildstar finally got together.”
“That wasn’t my fault, believe me,” she
laughed. “I tried, but Derek wasn’t too
quick on the uptake.”
“Well, there
were plenty of us who would have gladly stepped in if you’d given us half a
chance.”
“I know.” She considered him and touched his arm
again. “Mark, you know I love you with
my whole heart, don’t you? There’s no
one I love more, other than Derek. But
you and I wouldn’t have made a good couple.”
“You’re right
about that, Nova,” he said, covering her hand with his own. “We would have been happy enough for a while,
but I think… When I met Trelaina I
realized there should be something more to love than that. A sort of – a spark – that
you and I never had. You have it
with Wildstar, and I felt it with Trelaina, and…” His eyes drifted to Carina,
who was now holding Sasha in her lap. It
looked like Sandor was reprimanding the little girl. Mark redirected his attention to Nova. “I’m glad we never tried it, Nova. If we had, it wouldn’t have worked and I
don’t think we’d be as close as we are now.
I wouldn’t trade our friendship for anything.”
“Thank you,
Mark.” She leaned over and kissed him on
the lips, her hands on his face. When he
got over his initial surprise, he realized that kissing her made him feel… Nothing. It was like kissing a sister. It was anticlimactic, after all the times
he’d fantasized about it, but it was also a relief. He could finally let go of the guilty
feelings he’d carried around, as though he were betraying Wildstar, or
Trelaina. Or... His eyes flickered over to Carina once
more. She wasn’t looking his way, but
the expression on her face made it clear that she had seen what just happened. He would talk to her about it later.
Wildstar had
apparently seen it, too. “Hey,” he said
with mock anger, “what was that about?”
Nova tossed
her head at him. “That’s between me and
Mark. If you were paying more attention
to me, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Grinning and
stretching elaborately, dropping his arm over Nova’s shoulder, Mark added,
“That’s right, buddy. You snooze, you
lose.” The others laughed – watching Carina, Mark thought she might be a little less enthusiastic
than the others. The comment broke the
ice and the friends began talking across the table instead of to their seating
partners. Derek spoke first.
“So Sandor,
are you going to tell us where they’re shipping you off to? There are rumors flying around, but no one
seems to know for sure.”
Sandor shook
his head. “I can tell you I’ll be
working on improving warp functionality, but that’s all I can tell you. The specifics of the location are being kept
secret even from me. I suspect they’re
worried that the assistance we gave Leader Desslok may come back to bite
us. They want to keep our weapon and fleet
development as hush-hush as possible.”
Mark was
startled. “Does the Council expect an
attack? Do they have intelligence that
we don’t?”
“I don’t
think so, but I think they’d rather be safe than sorry. That’s why, I feel, they’re rushing the release
of your automated fleet, Venture.”
Carina
nodded. “I wish we had more time to work
out the kinks before handing it over to you.
There will have to be an extended training period while we continue
running tests, as well. But since the
battle at Saturn, we don’t have the manpower to patrol Earth’s immediate
vicinity while the fleet is being debugged.”
For the first
time, Mark felt a twinge of doubt about his new command. “Is the fleet that buggy, Carina? I was under the impression that construction
had gone smoothly.”
“In theory, yes. But we know we’ll find
issues. Earth Defense still hasn’t come
up with a way to get around that funny radar blind spot directly to the rear of
the ships – Stephen, I wish they would put you on that project – and we’ve just finished working up the
interface. With any luck we’ll never
need to put the fleet to use, or at least we’ll have plenty of time to test and
train before it’s needed.”
Mark nodded,
but was left with a bit of an unsettled feeling in his stomach. Carina gave him a piercing look and changed
the subject. “Commodore Wildstar, where
are you staying?”
“Right now
we’re in VIP housing on the base,” Alex replied, and Mark shot Carina a
grateful smile. “But Commander Singleton
tells me there’s a small house nearly completed on an island owned by Earth
Defense. He’s going to let me stay
there, at least until I’ve made the transition back to civilization.” He looked at Derek. “I’m sure it will be nothing compared to the
homes they’re building for all of you.”
Carina looked
around. “What’s this?”
“Didn’t I
tell you about that last night?” Mark asked, but she shook her head. Oops.
Nova rolled
her eyes at him and took up the story.
“Earth Defense has offered the survivors of the Comet Empire War special
housing at no cost to us. The officers
and bridge crew of the Argo will be the first to take advantage of it. The military has purchased a huge plot of
land around a lake in the
Sandor
nodded. “This first group of houses will
be for the Argo’s bridge crew and Dr. Sane.
The others will follow, probably in different locations around the
world. They told us about it at one of
our debriefing meetings last week.”
“So they’re
going to build…” Carina did a quick
calculation in her head. “Nine houses on
this lake?”
“Eight,” Nova
corrected, laying her hand on Wildstar’s.
“Derek’s and my plots will be combined.”
“When are you
getting married?” four voices asked in unison.
Sasha, who had been starting to droop, perked up and giggled. She looked around for a likely lap to rest
on, headed for Mark and climbed up. He
gave the little girl a couple of pieces of fruit and let her snuggle against
him.
“We’re going
to wait to get married until we’re satisfied that the Earth is safe,” Derek
told them. “We want the fighting to be
over before we settle into married life and start a family.” Mark disagreed with this philosophy, but knew
from experience that arguing the point would do no good. “Anyway, there will be our house; Venture’s
and Sandor’s houses, of course; Yamazaki’s and Doctor Sane’s; and then Homer,
Dash and Eager will have smaller plots.”
Carina nodded,
taking this in. Mark could see that she
was watching the baby curled in his lap.
He could guess what she was thinking about, and tried to redirect her
thoughts. “Speaking of Eager, Carina
tells me that he’s got himself a girlfriend.
Isn’t that right?”
She met his
eyes briefly and nodded. “It’s
true. My friend Jenny from the jazz band
seems to really like him.” She sounded a
little reserved, he thought, although no one else seemed to notice. When Nova began questioning her about the
couple she responded with a smile, but Mark still thought she seemed
distracted. In fact, as the afternoon
went on, she became more and more quiet.
He tried to think of what might have upset her. Was it when Nova kissed him, or did it have
something to do with the baby? He would
try to find out when they were alone together again.
After a
couple of hours, Sandor stood, announcing that he had to finish packing and
preparations, since he was shipping out in the morning. Alex Wildstar also had some things to take
care of, and asked Derek to come along and help him. When Carina offered to stay to help Nova
clean up, Mark volunteered as well.
Carina sidled over to him. “Do
you really want to wash dishes, or is this part of your new plot to never let
me walk anywhere by myself again?”
“Little bit
of both,” he said, patting her on the head condescendingly,
relieved that she didn’t seem to be upset with him. “Someone has to protect you from yourself.”
She made an
aggravated sound and carried a stack of plates into the kitchen. It took the three of them only a few minutes
to load the dishwasher and wipe down the table and counters. “Thanks for inviting me, Nova,” Carina said. “Brunch was great, and I’m glad I got to
spend some time with Stephen before he ships out again. I’m sorry he won’t be here when the fleet
goes live.”
“I’m glad you
were able to come,” Nova replied. “It
was funny, wasn’t it, watching Sandor interact with
Sasha? I wouldn’t have expected it, but
he’s great with her. I wonder if he’ll
ever settle down and get married.”
Carina
chuckled. “I think he’s happily wed to
that ship of yours. He could never
devote himself to an actual woman the way he does to the Argo.”
Mark chose to
be more optimistic. “You never
know. There could be an understanding
woman out there who’s willing to accept a flying mistress.”
“I guess,”
Carina conceded. “Good luck to her,
whoever she is. Nova, I’ve got to head
home, but thanks again for arranging brunch, and for including me.”
“Of course. You may not be a member
of the Star Force, but you’re one of us now,” Nova said.
Mark smiled
as the two women he loved the most hugged each other goodbye, then stepped in
and kissed Nova’s cheek, picking up the basket Carina had used to carry her
muffins. “See you later, Nova.”
“Right.” She squeezed his hand as they left. “Don’t forget what we talked about.”
“I
won’t. Thanks.” Carina gave him a questioning look as they
started back toward her apartment, but when he didn’t elaborate she looked away
without comment. She still seemed a
little off. He put his hand on her
shoulder. “Hey, are you OK?”
“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”
“It’s just
that you’re awfully quiet. You look a
little – I don’t know – preoccupied.”
“Oh. No, I’m just tired.” She gave him a weak smile. “I couldn’t get to sleep last night, and I
had to get up to play the early Mass at the hospital this morning. I guess all that good food left me sort of
comatose.” He squeezed her shoulder and
let it go, not quite believing her but also speculating. He hadn’t slept well last night, either – she
had been on his mind after their evening together, and he had tossed and turned
for hours, replaying the night in his mind.
Was it wrong for him to hope she’d had the same problem? She spoke again. “Stephen’s not the only one who’s
surprisingly good at handling Sasha.
You’re wonderful with kids, Mark.”
So that was it.
He wasn’t sure what to say – he hadn’t figured this part out yet. “Carina, that doesn’t mean—“
“Mark,” she
interrupted him, “I’m not fishing for… anything. Really, I’m not. I’m just making a comment.”
He started to
respond, but thought better of it and nodded at her instead. “You’re good with them too, you know. Your sister obviously adores you, and so does
Jordy.” She smiled faintly, and Mark
remembered something. “Hey, what was
Sandor lecturing Sasha about while she was sitting on your lap? Looked like he was making
her cry.”
Carina
paused. “You saw that, huh? Do you promise to keep this between us? I don’t think Wildstar even knows about
this.”
“I
promise. What’s up?”
She hesitated
another moment before telling him.
“Apparently EDF’s solution for keeping Sasha out of the public eye is to
send her off to wherever Stephen is going.
He’s going to raise her this year, and then bring her back to Earth as
an adult. When she climbed on my lap,
she told me she was ‘going to take a trip with Uncle Stephen tomorrow.’ He was lecturing her for letting it slip.”
“Wow.” They reached her apartment while they were
talking, and he followed her inside without thinking. He accepted her offer of a cup of coffee and
sat at the kitchen table. “And Alex is
OK with that?”
“I guess they
all decided on it together – Alex, Stephen and the Commander. They’ll be in constant contact, and Alex trusts
Stephen. That’s all I know, and like I
said, I think it’s pretty hush-hush.”
“I won’t say
a word.” She brought him a cup of coffee
with plenty of cream, apologizing in advance for its quality since she wasn’t
used to making it. He took a sip and
smiled. “It’s
fine, love. And anyway, after a few
months on the Argo, anything is an improvement.
Believe me, you couldn’t possibly make worse
coffee than Nova’s.”
She smiled as
she sat opposite him, but fidgeted nervously with the cup of tea she had made
for herself. “Mark… Can I ask you about something?”
“Of course. What is it?” He thought he already knew: the other thing
that was bothering her.
“You and Nova.” Right. “She told me…
When we first met, she told me that you had romantic feelings for her at
one time. She thought that was all over
with when you met Trelaina, but I know how close the two of you are, and I
guess – I guess I’m just curious.”
She was
blushing brightly. Mark reached across
the table to take her hand. It was an
awkward conversation, but it felt like a tentative step forward, as though she
was trying to feel out their relationship.
“Carina… I love Nova very
much. I do. But it’s…
It’s a different kind of love.”
The corner of her mouth twitched, and he knew she recognized that he was
quoting from the talk she’d had with Jordy about their own
relationship back when Mark was in the hospital. “That’s what we were talking about this
afternoon – how glad we are that we never tried to be anything more than
friends. We weren’t meant to be more
than that. There’s no… There’s no magic between us. That was
confirmed for me once and for all when she kissed me today.”
Carina wasn’t
ready to let it go yet. “So, if Wildstar
was out of the picture…”
“That
wouldn’t change anything. Nova and I are friends, that’s all.
You have friends who are boys and friends who are girls, right? But you don’t feel like you want to marry all
the boys you’re friends with, do you?”
Her smile
finally reached her eyes. “OK, point
taken. I can’t believe you remember that
entire stupid speech I gave your brother.”
It was obvious to him, though, that she was flattered that he did. He thought that was a good thing.
They sat for
a few more minutes while he finished his coffee. “I’m feeling pretty heavy from that
lunch. I think I’m going to go for a
run. Want to come with me?”
She stood and
picked up his mug. “Thanks, but I really
don’t feel that great. I’m going to lie
down for a while.” She was pale, and her eyes looked tired and
strained. He ran his hand gently across
her forehead and cheek as she had done so many times to him. He thought she felt warm; he also noticed the
way her eyes closed when his hand touched her face.
“Do you need
anything? I can stop at the drugstore
for you.”
“No – I think
I just need sleep. Thanks, though. Will I see you this week?”
“I’m not
sure. Things could be hectic with the
new assignment, but I’ll call you when I can.
Oh, and Jordy keeps asking me about you.
Would you like to have dinner with my family next weekend?”
“Sure.” She grinned.
“I miss Jordy.” They looked at
each other awkwardly until she stepped forward and put her arms around him. “I’m sorry I’m being so weird today.”
“Don’t worry
about it, love.” He didn’t care if she
acted strangely, if it gave him the chance to hold her. When he had put his arm around Nova earlier,
he had noticed how tiny she felt.
Trelaina had also been so small, almost fragile, but Carina… It wasn’t that she was fat – far from it –
but there was something softer and rounder, more substantial, about her. The way she fit in his arms was so… sensual, he thought as his body began to
stir, full of promise. He didn’t want to
let her go; the desire to run his hands over the curves of her hips was almost
overwhelming, but he knew that would be a huge mistake. Instead, he traced his fingers up her spine
to caress the back of her neck. At first
she seemed to relax into him and he rested his cheek tentatively against the
soft cloud of her hair, but after several seconds he felt her stiffen and
dropped his hand again with a sigh, resigned.
Too soon. She cupped his cheek and pulled back just
enough to look him in the eye. “Thank
you, Mark,” she whispered. She looked nervous, like she was afraid he’d be angry with her. He struggled to come up with the right thing
to say, something that would express what he was feeling but wouldn’t scare her
off.
“I love you,
Cricket,” he said finally, and she laughed shakily and backed away.
“It’s so
unfair that you don’t have a ridiculous family nickname I can use,” she
babbled, steering him toward the door as though she wanted to get him out as
quickly as possible. “I’ll have to grill
your mother for embarrassing information.”
She touched his cheek again as she opened the door, her voice
unsteady. “I love you, too. See you soon?” He nodded and stepped outside, kissing her
forehead as he left and promising to call.
*
Mark ran
frustrated hands through his hair as he walked home. Magic? Yes, there was magic between them – so much
that he was surprised he didn’t go up in flames every time he touched her. If he didn’t think she’d run away screaming,
he would declare himself to her right now, but it was obvious that he had to be
very cautious with her. He understood
where her hesitation came from. In the
short time he’d been back on Earth, he had opened his eyes to the undercurrent
of hostility – most of it subtle, but some of it quite blatant – that was
displayed toward women who were sterile.
It had to be frightening to be in that position. And he was
good with kids, although that didn’t matter nearly as much to him as she seemed
to think it did. He didn’t have strong
feelings either way about raising a child, and he certainly didn’t have a
driving need to “spread his seed” and pass on his genes. His male ego wasn’t that large.
Still, he
thought, it was a potentially life-altering choice and it did bear
consideration. He knew instinctively
that this wasn’t a girl he could make out with on the couch a few times and then
back away from. If they took the next
step, there would be no turning back.
And if it went wrong, he didn’t think they could be friends again for a
long, long time. He wasn’t willing to
lose her friendship; he needed to be absolutely sure before he approached her,
of her feelings as well as his own. In
the meantime, a run would do him good, and there were always cold showers. Lots of cold showers.