
The
Son Also Rises
By Karen
Rating: MATURE
Disclaimer: Characters from the show belong to Katims and co. Alyssa and Nate
are mine
No
infringement intended...er, no offense to Hemingway on the title, either
Summary: This is the sequel to His
Father’s Son. Nate and Alyssa are moving to Boston to go to
college, but we all know that life is never that simple for a Roswellian ![]()
Author's Note: Banner by the very talented babylisou
*************************************
Part One
Happiness
was fleeting.
Saying
goodbye to Alyssa Guerin was the hardest thing Nate Spencer had ever done.
They’d been inseparable the whole week that he’d been in
In fact,
Nate had mused at one point that he’d rather be back in Agent O’Donnell’s
torture room than to have to endure another farewell at the airport.
To him, it felt like someone had removed one of his testicles with a
rusty razorblade – without anesthesia. The
entire flight back to the east, all he could think about was her tears and the
pain inside of his heart. He’d
folded his arms over his thin body in a defensive gesture and stared
despondently out of the oval window of the aircraft for the entire trip,
refusing both food and drink when they were offered to him.
That
behavior continued once he was back at his parent’s home in western
But she
couldn’t understand that it was in
his best interest, because if he couldn’t be near Alyssa, if he couldn’t
hold her and love her, he was sure he would die.
It wasn’t depression or trauma this time that had turned Nate into a
zombie – he was simply lovesick.
Phone calls
to
The best he
could do was to try to imagine when he went to bed that he was nestled between
her breasts instead of on his feather pillow; sometimes, if he closed his eyes
and tried to convince himself with all of his might that he really was curled up
beside her with his head on her chest, he could get himself to fall asleep.
But usually the disappointment of waking up with nothing but a bag filled
with duck feathers was too much to bear.
Not that
every moment was doom and gloom. Amidst
the angst, there were brief periods of joy, things worth celebrating.
Maria’s CD debuted in June at number five on the charts.
Within the week, it had risen to number one, where it stayed for six
consecutive weeks despite the glut of new summer releases.
Even though her mother irked her endlessly, Nate could tell that Alyssa
was pleased that after such a long absence from the music scene, the public had
apparently been eager for Maria’s return.
One thing
that hadn’t returned was the seal of Antar – something for which Nate was
eternally grateful. The incident at
the hotel had been bizarre, to say the least.
When he’d pressed Alyssa for a decryption to her ominous “You’re
the one” comment, she’d had no explanation.
In fact, she’d seemed to be kind of dazed.
Nate wanted to brush it under the rug and forget that it had happened,
but he knew he couldn’t, for a number of reasons – the recurring dream of
Alyssa kissing the spot on his chest over where the seal liked to appear and the
feeling of being able to walk as a free people, the fact that upon seeing the
seal she had called him her “king”, and the fact that once she’d touched
it she’d collapsed and the seal had disappeared only minutes after having
shown up on Nate’s skin again.
Surely those
things were too many and too strange to be ignored.
Nate spent
many hours trying to decipher them. He
told Alyssa of the dream, hoping to jar some memory of what she’d seen when
touching the seal, but she’d come up empty.
It was frustrating to say the least.
One person
who apparently wasn’t frustrated was young Jeremy Ramirez.
His mother, Isabel, had thought that banishing him to
So Nate
spent the summer helping his father deal with the tourist crowd, making himself
work like a mad man to take his mind off the fact that only half of his heart
was beating without Alyssa there with him. When
he wasn’t working, he was running or lifting weights, furious at himself for
being unable to function like a normal person.
The anger and the distractions were only temporary, however, because each
night he still climbed into bed alone, the coldness wrapping around him once
again.
As summer
waned and the start of classes loomed, Nate began packing his bags and avoiding
his mother’s gaze – she couldn’t bear to see him go, knowing that this was
it, that he was finally branching off on his own.
She accepted it, but it didn’t hurt any less.
Nate could see that hurt in her eyes and simply didn’t have the
strength to comfort her and himself at the same time.
He had never been a selfish man, but at this point in his life, he was
pretty sure his agony was greater than hers.
While he was
getting ready to pack up his truck and start on the long drive to
Her simple
comment about looking back and seeing what was good rather than looking forward
and seeing no end in sight to Max’s absence put a whole new spin on things for
Nate. He hoped someday he could be
as appreciative as Liz, that he wouldn’t be so devastated about a short
summer-long separation. But he also
knew that Liz had been doing this for twenty years – at one time, she’d
probably been just like him.
Nate arrived
in
While he
counted down the days, minutes and hours until Alyssa’s flight arrived, he set
about fixing up the loft above Isabel’s garage, rearranging furniture,
unpacking his belongings, hanging a few pictures on the wall.
Jeremy stopped in often, usually eating something, and crashed on the
couch for awhile. Jesse had run an
extra cable from the satellite dish to the loft so that Alyssa and Nate could
have television, but Jeremy seemed to be benefiting from it more than anyone
else. While Nate fixed up his new
home, the teen sprawled on the sofa and watched MTV mindlessly.
Not that
Nate minded. He liked the company.
He liked his cousin. For all
of his randy ways with women, Jeremy was actually a good kid.
He was respectful of others, was rarely in a bad mood and could pull a
prank with the best of them. Nate
knew that he’d stolen Jeremy’s love nest, that his safe place to bring his
conquests was now gone, but the boy didn’t seem to hold a grudge over it.
If asked to help move a heavy piece of furniture, he would.
If asked to turn off the TV and go back to his own room, he’d do that
too.
A few days
before Alyssa was to arrive, Nate finally had the loft to his liking and found
himself bored. With nothing to keep
his mind from counting the seconds until she arrived, he hopped in his truck and
drove across the city to where Liz and Max lived.
Once there, he found a tired Liz at the door, dark circles beneath her
eyes. But she still smiled as she
gave him a hug and invited him in.
“Emily’s
asleep,” she said in a hushed tone.
Nate nodded
in understanding as he made sure the screen door closed without banging into the
frame. It was mid-August in
“How’ve
you been?” Liz asked, trying to be chipper as she sat down in her rocker.
“Good,”
Nate lied. “Alyssa’s coming on
Thursday.” Inside, he kicked
himself – he’d only made it about thirty seconds without bringing her up.
Liz smiled
tiredly. “That’s good, Nate.
Bring her over when she comes? I
haven’t seen her since…” She
drifted off, thinking.
Nate knew
when she’d seen Alyssa last – it was right after he’d been rescued from
the clutches of Agent O’Donnell. “Last
fall,” he filled in for her. It
was obvious that Liz wasn’t firing on all cylinders.
“Right,”
she said, a slow smile coming to her face. “Anyway,
you’ll bring her over? I’ll make
dinner.”
Nate nodded,
but knew that Liz wouldn’t be cooking them anything – she looked like she
could barely hold herself upright, let alone cook for guests.
If they came over, they were bringing carryout.
Liz’s
eyelids dropped and she quickly forced them back open, guilt-stricken.
“Liz,”
Nate said gently. “I can leave if
you want to lie down.”
She shook
her head. “No, please stay.”
“You look
like you need a nap,” he said sympathetically.
“Why don’t I go, let you sleep and then come back?”
Liz sighed.
“Because Emily will be up again in an hour or so and I’ll have to
feed her. It’s easier if I just
stay awake than try to get back up again.”
Nate
shrugged. “So I’ll feed her
while you sleep.”
One corner
of Liz’s mouth lifted slightly. “Yeah?
That’s not going to be possible – unless you’ve developed the
ability to lactate.”
His brow
furrowed, processing the issue, then his cheeks turned red.
“Oh.” His eyes
involuntarily went to Liz’s breasts, which did seem a little larger than
normal, then he automatically kicked himself for being unable to not look.
“Do you have a bottle? Can’t
you just -?” He made squeezing
motions before his chest, turned redder and dropped his hands into his lap.
Maybe he should just end this conversation now…
Liz giggled
lightly. “Use a breast pump?
Is that what you mean?”
Nate nodded,
his ears flaming.
Her smile
faded away and he could tell she was seriously considering it.
He knew that Liz was a wonderful mother, but being on her own and
worrying about Max was obviously taking a toll on her well-being.
The offer of help and the time to sleep might just be too tempting.
“You
really wouldn’t mind?” she asked tentatively, her expression uncertain.
Nate
grinned. “No, I don’t mind. She’s
my baby sister after all, right?”
Liz nodded.
“Right.” Like every bone
in her body ached, she pushed herself up from the rocker, paused and then
started down the hall. “I’ll be
right back.”
For the
first time in ages, Nate felt light, anticipating taking care of his little
sister. He’d only seen pictures of
her off and on over the last three months when Liz emailed them to him.
He hadn’t been able to hold her since he’d done so at the hospital
after she’d been born. The thought
of being able to help Liz out, of taking care of this entirely dependent
creature, brought a smile to his face. It
was a good distraction, better than running or pumping iron.
After
awhile, Nate caught Liz out of the corner of his eye as she walked into the
kitchen. He heard the refrigerator
open and close, then she was at the end of the couch, her eyes bloodshot with
exhaustion.
“I put it
in the fridge,” she said. “Just
make sure it’s warm before you give it to her, but not too warm.
Test it on your wrist.”
He nodded.
Seemed simple enough.
“You’re
sure about this?” she said again, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“Positive.
Go rest,” he encouraged.
Liz smiled
lightly, then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, causing his blush to
return. “Thank you.
You’re a sweetheart, Nate.” Then
she disappeared up the stairs and the house was quiet.
Nate
listened carefully, trying to tell if he could hear Emily stirring yet.
She wasn’t, which was slightly disappointing.
He hoped that Liz didn’t sleep for a half hour or something and come
downstairs before he had the opportunity to play with his sister.
Of course, Nate had never taken care of a baby before.
He should be nervous about it, but it was just a baby.
It couldn’t be that hard.
Could it?
Part Two
When little
Emily Evans had been born early, underweight and underdeveloped, she’d been
unable to utter a peep, denying her parents that spark of comfort and
reassurance that came in the form of a newborn’s first cry.
Now,
however, she was had overcome her rough beginnings and had more than an ample
set of lungs inside of her small body. In
fact, she could raise the dead if she wanted to.
This is what
Nate was thinking as he looked down at her in his arms, her face as red as an
In
retrospect, he thought maybe his running into her room at the first sign of
movement and jerking her out of her warm bed hadn’t been the best of ideas.
But he’d been so eager to see her after so many months, to hold her
again, that he hadn’t even considered waiting until she’d called for someone
to tend to her. One coo and he’d
shot off the couch like someone had poked him in the ass.
“Shh,
baby,” he said, glancing toward the nursery door and hoping that Emily’s
cries weren’t going to awaken Liz, who was trying to get some much-needed
rest. “It’s okay, baby.”
His tone was desperate.
But Emily
continued to kick, crying until she made herself cough.
She kept turning her head toward Nate’s shirt, then she’d cry harder.
Eventually, he caught on that she was looking for a nice warm breast –
something he didn’t have. But at
least that was a clue – she must be hungry.
He knew how to fix that one – there was a bottle in the refrigerator!
Smiling
nervously, he gave her a pat on the bottom, trying to reassure her that food was
on the way, then realized that her diaper made a sick kind of thud when he
smacked it. He froze, his smile
dissolving rapidly. She was wet…or
worse.
Nate glanced
around the nursery, saw a high, flat table with some supplies beside it.
That must be where one changed a baby.
The thought of poop wasn’t appealing to him and a selfish little piece
of him suddenly wished that Emily’s cries would
wake her mother. But, no, he’d
signed on for this task – it was up to him to change that diaper, poopy or
not.
Swallowing
back his hesitance, he gently laid the angry Emily on top of the table and
started to unsnap her little one-piece underwear thingie.
Odd things – baby clothes. He
pulled the snaps at the crotch, then hoisted the garment up to her armpits; his
eyes settled on the diaper...God knew what might be lurking in there.
Though, she didn’t stink, so that had to be a good sign.
Still pissed with him, she kicked her legs, making it hard for him to
maneuver around her to undo the diaper. Exasperated,
he found a toy by the wipes and held it before her.
“Look,
Emily! Look at the teddy bear!
What a cute widdle teddy bear!”
She stopped
crying briefly, watching this goofy man wave the toy before her.
Nate bumped her on the nose with it and she blinked, unsure of him.
He did it again and made a goofy face – which immediately made her cry.
Sighing,
Nate quickly snatched for the tape strips of the diaper and ripped them to
either side, turning his head in case poop should fly out of it.
When nothing happened, he gingerly pulled down the front of the diaper
and breathed a sigh of relief. No
poop.
“You’re
a good girl, Emily,” he said, pulling the diaper from beneath her body.
“You’re such a good girl that I’m going to get you something to eat
once we’re done here.”
He paused,
looked down at the heavy diaper in his hand, glanced around the little pink
room. What was he supposed to do
with it? He spied a pail not far
away and assumed that’s where it went…but he couldn’t reach it.
Now he had a dilemma. Was
Emily big enough to roll off the table if he walked away and left her
unattended? That would be a little
hard to explain to her parents.
He resorted
to dropping the diaper on the floor.
Nate hated
the smell and feel of the diaper wipe – but it appeared that Emily hated it
worse. By now, she was crying so
hard he feared for her health. He
frowned, worried that he was damaging her in some way.
He hurriedly dropped the wipe on top of the diaper and reached for a
clean one. He stared at it, at the
little parade of ducks that marched across one side of it.
The question
was – which side had the ducks – front or back?
Nate looked
at the fallen diaper, tried to remember where the ducks had been.
His brow furrowed – he couldn’t remember.
He looked at Emily.
“Do the
ducks go in the front or back?” he asked her, grinning sheepishly.
She looked
at him like he was a moron.
He held up
the diaper, turned it this way and that. And
decided the ducks went in the back. Another
round of fighting her pumping legs and he managed to get the diaper strapped to
her body, albeit haphazardly. Re-snapping
the underwear proved to be more difficult, however – every time he thought he
had the snaps lined up, she’d kick and he’d lose his grip and have to start
over. Once her tiny foot made
contact with his face, stomping him cleanly in the nose.
The diaper
debacle finally over, Nate picked up his little sister and found that he was
wringing with sweat. Good God –
she was just a baby! Why was this so
difficult? Disappointed over his
ineptitude, he walked to the kitchen, bouncing her lightly while he retrieved
the bottle of milk from the refrigerator. Panic
suddenly gripped him – this was the only
bottle of milk he had. If he did
something asinine like drop it or overheat it or something, he was going to have
to wake Liz and he just didn’t want to do that.
Unsure of himself once again, he popped the bottle into the microwave and
heated it for a few seconds, tried it on his wrist, put it back for a few more
seconds. Emily hung on his shoulder,
complaining softer than she had been before, sucking on her fist.
“I’m
hurrying, baby,” he murmured, poking the numbers on the microwave.
“Just a few more seconds, I promise.”
Satisfied
with the temperature of the bottle, Nate took the baby and her dinner to the
living room and sat down in the rocking chair.
He tried to remember how Mrs. Parker had shown him how to cradle a baby
as he adjusted Emily in his lap. Taking
the bottle in his free hand, he brought it to her mouth, teased her bottom lip
with the nipple. She sucked it in
– then spit it back out and immediately began to cry.
Nate got it – she was used to Mommy feeding her and this was not Mommy.
This was some rubber thing he was trying to put in her mouth and she
didn’t like it. Worse yet, she
didn’t even know who he was.
Nate looked
at her in surprise. Was that it? Had
she forgotten her big brother Nate already, the one she’d clung to as a
lifeline when she’d been unceremoniously dumped into this world?
He curled the arm that was cradling her head and stroked her soft cheek
with his thumb. Closing his eyes, he
prayed for her to remember him.
It’s me. You
remember me, Emily Marie. Your big
brother Nate. I held you at the
hospital. I helped your Mommy know
what you needed.
Silence in
the room made Nate pop open his eyes quickly for fear something had happened to
his tiny charge. Looking down, he
saw that she had taken the bottle into her mouth and was watching him with big
brown eyes. His mouth dropped open
but he continued to stroke her cheek with his thumb as he started the gentle
motion of the rocker. It was almost
as though she’d heard him, that she understood now that he was safe.
She watched him unblinkingly as she pulled on the bottle, her eyes
seeming wiser than her years.
While she
nursed from the bottle, Nate felt a small wave of relief wash through him.
If nothing else, the last half hour had proven to him that he was in no
way, shape or form ready to be a parent. He
would be eternally grateful that Alyssa had gone on the pill, that they
wouldn’t have to worry about surprise parenthood.
Nate stopped
rocking the chair. He was nineteen.
The baby in his arms was three months old.
Max had been nineteen and Nate hadn’t been much older than three months
when Tess had returned to earth with him. For
the first time, Nate understood what a huge undertaking it was to take care of a
baby and could empathize with Max’s decision.
Even if there hadn’t been the whole alien complication to the
situation, maybe Max giving Nate up had been for the best.
No matter how much it had hurt.
Nate looked
down at Emily and found her eyelids drooping again, her little mouth working the
bottle in an unsteady rhythm. His
brow furrowed. Wasn’t he supposed
to burp her or something? Gently, he
tugged the bottle from her mouth and waited for her to protest.
When she didn’t, he turned her around and placed her face over his
shoulder, patted her back lightly. In
a few moments, she let out a belch that made his eyebrows jump sharply.
He laughed lightly – what a little lady this one was!
Then she fell limply against his shoulder, asleep.
They sat in
the chair for a long time, the house silent save for the gentle whoosh of the
rockers and the little baby moans coming from Emily.
Nate rubbed her back in slow circular motions while she slept, drooling
on his T-shirt. He felt a little tug
in his heart for this beautiful little girl, a life that would always be a part
of him.
Eventually,
Liz descended the stairs, her long hair mussed from her slumber.
Nate smiled at her as she plopped down on the couch, still dazed.
“Feel
better?” he asked.
She ran a
hand through her hair and nodded, squinted at the clock.
“What time is it? It’s
three already? Nate, why didn’t
you wake me?” She seemed horrified
that she’d slept for three hours.
He shrugged.
“No need to, really. And
you needed the sleep.”
Liz’s eyes
drifted to her baby, who was riding Nate’s shoulder peacefully.
“Did she give you any trouble?”
Nate shook
his head. “Nope.
She was an angel.”
Liz smiled.
“Want me to take her?”
He craned
his neck but could only see the back of Emily’s head.
“She’s okay. Unless you
want to take her.”
She shook
her head. “Not yet.
Hold on.” With that, she
got up and walked on her tiptoes down the hallway.
Nate heard her rummaging around, then she reappeared with a camera.
“Can I?”
He nodded in
response.
Liz grinned,
then took a couple of pictures, changing her angle in between.
“I’m going to send these to Max.”
Nate
grinned. “Where is he these
days?”
Liz turned
off the camera and sat back down on the couch.
“I don’t know.”
Nate’s
grin disappeared. She didn’t know
– or she didn’t trust him enough to tell him?
Liz seemed
to be able to read his mind. “I
really don’t know, Nate,” she sighed. “He
never tells me. He thinks that the
less I know, the safer I am.”
Nate
frowned. He could see the
frustration on her pretty face. The
Evanses were leading a less than idyllic life.
“How about when he calls you? Can’t
you tell from the area code?”
She shook
her head. “He uses his cell.
And he never calls at the same time of day, so that anyone who might be
listening in can’t tell what time zone he’s calling from.
Max has been doing this for twenty years, Nate.
He’s good at covering his tracks.”
She gave him a weary look and tucked her hair behind her ear.
Her eyes settled on Emily’s backside and her brow furrowed.
“Nate.”
“What?”
Standing,
Liz pulled at the back of Emily’s onesie, trying to see through the thin
fabric, then snorted a laugh.
“What?”
Nate repeated, somehow thinking she was laughing at him.
“The
ducks, Nate, go in the front.”
On his drive
back to his loft, Nate thought about the tough situation Liz was in.
He had a suspicion that being without Max, trying to raise a child in
what amounted to a one-parent home, had been a factor in her decision to remain
childless. Sure, she probably was
worried about his alien connections and the impact that could have on a baby,
but she also had to have been concerned with towing the load on her own.
It wasn’t
fair. Nothing these days was fair.
It wasn’t fair that Max had to be away and it wasn’t fair that Liz
had to struggle because of it. It
wasn’t fair that Emily would never really know her father, that they’d have
to get reacquainted every time he returned to town.
It wasn’t fair that he’d miss her birthdays, her dance recitals, her
first Christmas morning. It wasn’t
fair that Max had been born part alien.
Nate
frowned. Why was it that some people
seemed to receive a much harsher lot in life than others did?
Throughout his upbringing, he’d been blissfully unaware of his origins
and he’d had all of those things Emily never would.
That in itself wasn’t fair. The
world was a cruel, unjust place.
As he pulled
into his parking spot alongside the Ramirez’s garage, he came to a decision
– he’d never been a planner, but he was going to put together a schedule and
they were all going to take turns helping Liz.
That included him, Alyssa, and that horny Jeremy, who desperately needed
an occupation to take his mind off chasing skirts.
Nate would ask Isabel, too, though he knew she was busy with her store
and the twins. Nate would not ask
for the twins’ help, however – simply because they creeped him out a bit.
He wasn’t sure he wanted his sister exposed to that just yet.
Decision
made, Nate felt a little better as he climbed out of his truck.
In the loft, he found Jeremy slouched on the couch, eating a bag of
Cheetos. He knew he’d locked the
door, but with a whole bunch of hybrids running around, there really wasn’t
much point in it.
“Dude,”
Nate said, drawing the boy’s attention. “You’re
first.”
Jeremy
stopped mid-chew. “For what?” he
said around a mouthful of orange.
“Tomorrow,
you’re going over to help your Aunt Liz with the baby.”
Jeremy’s
dark eyes grew round and Nate could see he was about to protest.
“If you
don’t,” he said calmly. “I’m
cutting off the MTV.”
Jeremy’s
eyebrows lifted quickly as he swallowed. “I
don’t know how to take care of a baby.”
Nate
shrugged. “It’s not that hard.
But just remember one thing.”
Jeremy
looked sick. “What?”
“The ducks
go in the front. Everyone knows
that.”
Part Three
“I see
you’re taking care of my girls.” Max’s
voice on the other end of the line was affectionate, albeit tired.
Nate laughed
lightly. “Well, yeah, sort of.”
“No sort
of to it, from what I see in the pictures Liz emailed to me,” Max teased.
“That’s a pretty happy-looking baby there.
What did you do to her?”
“Nothing,”
Nate answered casually. “Just fed
her. And burped her.
Holy cow that kid can burp!”
Max laughed,
but there was something missing from the sound, making it ring hollow.
Nate’s
smile slid away. “Look, Max,
I’ll do whatever I can to help Liz out. Don’t
worry about that.”
Max sighed.
“But I do worry, Nate. Liz
is my wife. Emily is my daughter.
You’re my son. It’s my
responsibility to be there for the ones I love.
And right now I…just can’t be.”
For the
first time since Nate had met Max, he heard defeat in his tone.
Usually, Max was optimistic, willing to look at the bright side and count
his blessings. But not this day.
Today he was almost sullen.
“Max, is
everything okay?” Nate asked cautiously.
“Fine.”
It was an automatic answer, falsely chipper.
Nate’s
brow furrowed. “Are you sure?”
“Yep.
I’m sure. So how’s the
apartment? All moved in?”
Nate
didn’t miss the none-too-subtle switching of topics, but he had the feeling
that Max needed someone to cut him a break and decided not to press him on it.
“Apartment’s looking pretty good.
Isabel has been such a sweetheart, Max.”
There was a
more-sincere laugh on the other end of the line.
“She can be when she wants to be, Nate.
Is Alyssa there yet?”
“I pick
her up this afternoon.” Nate
couldn’t keep the smile out of his voice.
“Well,
I’ll be sure not to call for the next couple of days then.”
Nate could practically see that knowing smirk on his father’s face.
“There’s
no need for that, I mean…” His
cheeks immediately burned red.
Max laughed
lightly. “Yeah, I know what you
mean. Kid, I was your age once,
remember?”
Nate looked
at his shoe, kicked at the edge of the rug he’d placed before the couch.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Just one
question.”
“Yes,
we’re using birth control.”
There was a
pause on the other end of the line, like Nate had taken Max off guard.
“That’s good, Nate. But
that’s not what I was going to ask you.”
“Oh.”
“I just
wanted to know if Alyssa’s father is aware of the living arrangements.”
Nate bit his
lip. In truth, he didn’t know the
answer to that one. “Well, he
knows that I’m in
“But you
didn’t tell him you’d be in the exact same place in
“Alyssa
was supposed to tell him.”
Another
brief silence, then Max burst out laughing.
“Oh, my! Best of luck to
you, junior.”
“What does
that mean?”
“It means
that if Alyssa is really on a plane heading for
Nate
frowned. He didn’t like Max
questioning Alyssa’s actions. “I’m
sure she did.”
“Nuh
huh,” Max laughed. “I’ve known
Michael for a very long time, Nate – over thirty years.
If he knew, I’d know. And
he hasn’t said a peep. Just be
careful about how he finds out. You
really don’t want that to be a surprise.”
Nate
shrugged to himself. He wasn’t
worried about Michael Guerin – at least not while they were on opposite sides
of the country.
“I gotta
get running,” Max announced, the momentary mirth gone from his voice.
It made Nate’s stomach twist.
“Max, are
you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m
fine, Nate. Good luck with school,
if I don’t talk to you before then. And
thanks for looking in on my girls. I
really appreciate it.”
“Not a
problem.”
They said
goodbye, then Nate sat staring at the rug before the couch.
There was something amiss in Max’s general demeanor.
Maybe it was just the trauma of being separated from his baby for the
first time. Whatever it was, it made
Nate uncomfortable. He wished he
knew where Max was, but some questions – especially over a phone line – were
taboo.
A glance at
the clock revealed that Alyssa’s plane would be touching down in and hour and
a half. Nate jumped up from the
couch and began to tidy up the apartment – he didn’t want her to walk in on
a pig sty her first time there. Jeremy
had left an empty Doritos bag on the coffee table and there was a dirty pair of
Nate’s socks by the bathroom door. He
disposed of both items, then quickly smoothed out the bed, couldn’t keep the
grin from his lips. It was time he
and Alyssa Christened that bed properly.
In the
kitchen, he rinsed out his cereal bowl from breakfast and made sure the flowers
he’d bought and placed on the table had enough water.
With the house tidy, it was time to groom himself.
In the bathroom, he fixed his hair, straightened his clothes, then gave
himself a nervous grin in the mirror. It
was time.
So excited
was he that he nearly tripped down the stairs.
That would be great – he could imagine Alyssa standing patiently in an
airport waiting for a ride while a doctor in some hospital somewhere set his
broken leg. The rush of adrenaline
moved from fear to relief to flat out excitement.
She was so close now he could practically feel her.
Driving to
That
wasn’t going to be possible. As
Nate finally pulled his body out of his truck and broke into a run, Alyssa’s
plane should have already landed. He
was suddenly thankful that he’d spent their time apart running as much as he
had because sprinting through and airport took some effort.
He dodged people with ridiculous amounts of luggage, sidestepped a flight
crew debating where to have dinner, hurdled a red velvet rope at the ticket
counter. All the while, he checked
the monitors to see what gate she’d be at, if her flight had arrived.
It had.
Nate pounded
up the escalator, running on steps that were already moving.
He raced down the concourse as a throng of people passed him going the
other way – sure sign of a DC-10 spilling its load.
Disappointment surged through his veins as he looked at their happy
faces. He knew that he’d robbed
Alyssa of the same chance to be so happy – at this point she had to think
he’d stood her up.
But when he
finally spotted her, he saw that she didn’t look disappointed or even worried.
He saw her before she saw him and in those few seconds, he got to study
her without her knowing she was being observed.
She had on that white tank top she’d been wearing the first time
she’d kissed him and a short olive green skirt.
Her long hair hung loose around her shoulders, shining like spun gold as
she slowly looked around for him. Her
hands were clasped before her, clutching a tiny white summer purse.
Nate’s breath caught in his chest – not a good thing to have happen
considering the amount of running he’d been doing – and his heart gave one
hard thump before beating a little faster.
She was
really here.
As he
started to jog toward her, she turned her head in his direction, her eyes met
his without recognition, then a moment later she was running straight for him,
squealing like a school girl. Nate
broke into a wide grin and threw his arms out for her; she jumped into them,
their bodies colliding with an unexpected force.
“Oh my
God!” she screamed as she squeezed him tightly.
“I missed you so much!”
Nate laughed
and nodded, out of breath and sweaty. This
wasn’t how he wanted their meeting to be.
There was nothing romantic about sweating line a linebacker.
Not that
Alyssa seemed to care. She pressed
her lips tightly to his and he wanted to kiss her good and hard – until he
remembered Michael’s warning about respecting her in public.
So he pulled back gently, smiling at her so that she wouldn’t feel
rejected, and wrapped his arm around her waist.
“Let’s
get your bags and get out of here,” he said. So they could go home and he
could welcome her to
She chatted
all of the way to the baggage claim, talking about her journey and the lunatic
newspaper writer who had sat beside her. Of
course, the unspoken irony there was that that reporter had a world changing
story sitting right beside him and had never known it.
That fact didn’t seem to have bothered Alyssa, while Nate wondered if
he’d have been as calm and collected in the same situation.
They got
stuck in traffic again, but neither of them cared.
Nate had his arm around her shoulder and was stroking her skin with his
thumb; he remembered oh so well how soft her beautiful skin was.
Every now and then Alyssa would lay a kiss against his cheek or his ear,
which was only increasing a steady buzz of excitement in his veins.
If she kept it up, he wasn’t sure they’d make it to the loft.
“Aunt
Isabel wants us to have dinner with them tonight,” he told her, trying to
ignore the slight tension he was feeling in his jeans.
“Oh,
great!” Alyssa squealed. “I
haven’t seen the boys in so long!”
Nate thought
of the freaky twins and mused that he had only seen them twice since he’d been
in
At the
Ramirez estate, Nate pulled the truck to a stop beside the garage, then hopped
out and pulled her bags from the back. As
she got out of the vehicle, her mini skirt showed just a hint of white lace
beneath and he found he had only one thing on his mind.
Screw dinner. Screw the bags.
Nothing mattered at this point. Alyssa
looked over her shoulder, innocent and worldly all at once and he dropped the
bags to the gravel.
Rounding the
truck, he took her by the arm, stepped into the loft’s stairwell then grabbed
her around the waist, kissing her mercilessly.
She let out a startled squeak, then fell into him, her tanned arms
wrapping around his neck. Undeniable
need rose quickly within him and he knew they’d never make it up the stairs
and to the bed. Gently, he pushed
her back onto the steps, reached beneath her skirt and pulled down her panties.
Alyssa’s
dark eyes were round as she watched him. Her
hand trembling, she lifted it toward the door and it swung shut, the tumblers in
the lock clicking into place. Then
she reached for his zipper, jerked it down and reached in to release him from
his pants. He groaned, then pulled
both her shirt and bra aside to expose her breast.
She let out a ragged gasp as he took her roughly into his mouth.
A few
seconds later, they were joined, enjoying their first quickie.
Nate noticed that every time he thrust, the top of her head banged into
the facing of one of the steps. He
curved his fingers over her hair, letting the back of his hand take the abuse
instead. They were both breathing
hard, the months of pent-up need bubbling to the surface.