A Taste of Everyday -- Chapter 12a

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Zane, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Rena/X5-120, etc.).

“Well, Janie, you’re finally going to meet my new boyfriend,” Brianne said as she walked out of her bedroom, holding a necklace.

“Yeah, the last week-and-a-half has been a real nail biter for me,” I teased. “I thought you were never going to introduce me to him.”

“Very funny,” Brianne said. She smiled and found the necklace that she was looking for and put it on. “How do I look? Everything in place, makeup okay?”

“You look fine,” I told her. “I like the pants.”

“Thanks,” Brianne said. “They were yours from eighth grade. You’ve been growing like a weed. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re still growing.”

“Oh.” It wouldn’t surprise me, either. “You think I’ll pass six feet?”

“You’re only two inches short of it now so I’d say you’ve got a shot,” Brianne said. She and I walked downstairs. “Nathan will be here at about seven-thirty. He’s from out of town and he’s visiting some friends of his for a few weeks in the area. He’s staying in the Marriott here in town. Tonight we’re going to dinner and dancing there and I don’t know when I’ll be back tonight. I might not be back until tomorrow morning. You’ll be fine by yourself tonight, won’t you?”

“Of course,” I assured her.

“Great,” Brianne said. She gave me a hug. “Thank you for being so great about me dating again, Janie. I know that you liked Vincent and you were close.”

I smiled. “Yeah. He was really great. It’s nice to see you starting to be happy again, Brianne.”

Brianne smiled back at me. “I am starting to be happy. It’s still hard. I still get very sad when I think about Vincent, but I’m getting a little better about it with every day that goes by.”

“Of course it’s hard,” I said. “I’d be the same way if the guy that I’d been married to for six years died. It was hard when my parents died. Hell, I was so freaked that I stayed out of sight from everybody for a little while before I approached a cop and they took me to social services.”

“I remember when they told us that about you,” Brianne recalled. She looked around the room and swore. “Damn. Janie, I left my purse upstairs. I think I’ll go to the bathroom while I’m up there. If Nathan comes by before I’m back downstairs, will you answer the door for me?”

“No problem,” I said. I walked over to the couch and sat down and picked a magazine up off the coffee table and opened it and tried to figure out what to do while Brianne was out on her date. I knew they weren’t going to be racing in Dallas tonight, so that was out. I had plenty of money left from the last few races that I’d won plus from a b&e job on a jewelry store that I’d done. I guess I could go to the mall or something and actually buy something good legit. I sat up when I heard a car pull up in front of the house. A moment later, I heard the engine stop and somebody get out of the car. I got up off of the couch and walked to the front door and opened it. The split second I saw this guy, my world just shattered. My heart jumped into my throat and stopped beating. I thought that I was going to have a panic attack. He was wearing a military uniform and Brianne didn’t tell me that she was going to a costume party with him. Oh my God. In that split second, I knew that I had to leave Texas. I knew that my good life here was over. It didn’t matter that the odds were against his working at or for Manticore. I couldn’t afford to take a chance.

“Hi, there,” he said cheerfully. “I guess you must be Jane. I’m Nathan.”

A part of my brain took over and I put on a big smile. “Hi, Nathan. Come on it. Brianne’ll be right now.” I stepped aside so that Nathan could come in and I walked over to the foot of the stairs and yelled up to Brianne. “Brianne! Nathan’s here!”

“I’ll be right down!” Brianne shouted back. A moment later she came downstairs, this time with her purse. “Hello, Nathan.” They kissed each other on the cheek and then Brianne turned to me. “You know what to do when you’re home alone, Janie. I’ll call you on your cell phone and talk to you or leave a message on your voice mail when I know if I’m going to be back home tonight or not.”

“Okay,” I said. “Have a great time tonight!” I watched Brianne and Nathan walk out of the house and get into Nathan’s car and take off. As soon as they were gone, I shut the door and blurred upstairs to my room. I opened my closet and took out my duffel bag and opened my dresser drawers and threw some clothes and other essential things into the bag. I took out my little safe and opened it and took out all of my money, my pistol, my automatic, and my knife. I shoved most of the money into a shirt in my bag and stuffed a few bills into one of the pockets of my jeans and I put the guns and the knife on top of the bag for easy access and I zipped my bag closed. I took out my cell phone and turned it off and left it on top of one of my desk. I made sure that I had my Zack phone in another pocket and checked to make sure that it was fully charged, which it was. I looked around the room for a moment before I picked up my duffel bag and ran into Brianne’s room and opened one of her dresser drawers and took out the spare key to her car. I closed the drawer and ran downstairs and to the front door. I paused again.

“Good-bye, Brianne,” I said quietly.

I left the house, locked the front door behind me, and went to Brianne’s car, which was parked in the driveway. I opened the door, threw my duffel bag onto the backseat, got inside and shut the door, and started the car and backed out of the driveway. I drove away west-southwest towards Fort Worth, following the plan that Zack and I had talked about three years ago.

“Come on, come on, still be open…yes,” I muttered as I spotted the parking lot in Fort Worth that I had been looking for. It was a municipal lot that I had scouted out a few months ago the last time that I had been here. It officially closed at six and if you parked in the lot after six, they would tow the car within fifteen minutes but the processing office of the depot where they towed the cars to closed at seven, so the people who had their cars towed to there wouldn’t be notified until the next morning. It was perfect for me because it gave me a pretty good window to let me put some distance between me and the general area.

I parked the car, put the key in the glove compartment, took my duffel bag, got out of the car, and walked quickly away from the lot, heading towards the bus station. The bus station was a little bit of a distance away from the lot, but I made it there in about twenty minutes. I walked over to a ticket counter and smiled at the woman sitting behind it.

“One-way to Abilene, please,” I said cheerfully, using a Texas accent.

“Sure thing, miss,” the woman said. She looked at my duffel bag. “Heading back to school from break?”

Thank goodness that I can pass for eighteen. “Oh yeah. Another semester of fun for me.”

“Here you go,” The woman said, laughing as she slid the ticket over to me. “The next bus to Abilene leaves in ten minutes at Gate 6A. It’s just over there so you should be able to make it easily.”

“Thank you very much, ma’am,” I said. I paid for the ticket and picked up it and my duffel bag and headed over to the platform and made it to the gate that the woman had told me to go. I handed the driver my ticket and boarded the bus. I held my duffel bag in my lap and fortunately, nobody sat down next to me to complain about it taking up the room. A few minutes later, we took off. I sighed and looked out the window. It seemed like forever, but about three hours later we made it into Abilene. I got off of the bus and walked through the city until I got to a small motel just outside of it. I got a room and paid for it for the night in cash and I got my key and went over to my room and went inside. I dropped my bag on the floor and took out my Zack phone and speed dialed his number.

“Pick it up, don’t let the voice mail answer,” I begged silently.

Zack picked it up on the second ring. “Rena, what’s going on?”

“I’m in Abilene,” I told him. “Room 109.”

“ETA six hours,” Zack said. He disconnected.

I made sure that I was disconnected and I put the phone down and I sat back down on the bed and I rubbed my eyes. I was starting to get pretty tired. I wanted to sleep. I wanted to cry. I missed Brianne so much already. She was the only mother that I had ever known. She wanted to adopt me. I'd overheard her talking about the possibility to Sandra over the phone the other day. She wanted to be my mother. I could never see her again, or at least for a very long time. I could never see Vanessa or Nancy or Lee Anne or Gillian or any of my other friends from Texas. I just wanted to cry myself to sleep, but I knew that I couldn’t allow myself to do that yet. I knew that it wasn’t safe for me to do that until I was settled in my new location and right now I was only hiding out and waiting for Zack. I sighed and got up and walked over to the coffee maker and started to make myself some. I needed to be alert for the six hours that it would take Zack to get here. It was going to be the longest six hours of my life.

TBC