THE QUEEN OF SWORDS, THE MUSICAL

Response to the Silly Saturday Challenge by Maril

Yes, this is silly in most parts.

All Beatles songs from my favorite albums. Most of these words belong to the great Lennon/McCartney unless noted otherwise. The characters belong to ... us. <g>

Songs: Norwegian Wood, It's Only Love, Good Day Sunshine, Taxman, Good Morning Good Morning, Doctor Robert, She Said, She Said, Fixing a Hole, Why Don't We Do It In the Road, For No One, Revolution, I'm a Loser, Devil In Her Heart (written by someone named Drapkin but on 'With the Beatles'), I Don't Want to Spoil the Party, You Really Got a Hold on Me (written by Robinson but on 'With the Beatles'), All You Need Is Love, Do You Want to Know a Secret, If I Fell, I Should Have Known Better, Eight Days a Week

~~~~~

"You bedded Loyola Martinez?"

He looked at me with awe, a common expression on the face of my new recruit. Pedro was one that I'd taken under my wing, to show the ropes, to point out his foolish first guesses that could lead to his death. Yes, I, Captain Marcus Grisham, had taken upon myself to show young Pedro the ways of the world. We already spent a month working on his fighting techniques. He hadn't yet had the pleasure of fighting the Queen of Swords, but when it happens, Pedro will be ready if I have anything to do with it.

When I first accosted Pedro to see what kind of skills he had, his reaction was typical. The only thing on the kid's mind was punching, not thinking about what the rest of his body was doing, how he was standing, where I was in comparison, or to put any of those things to his advantage. One cross cut with my fist to his cheek brought Pedro down. Yes, I'm a great fighter, but that was way too easy. I showed him how to stand during a fight, how to hold his hands up to protect his face and be ready to counter any punch from his opponent, to look at everything in the area that might be used to his advantage. I was Montoya's right hand man, but ever since Juan was garroted by the Queen and defected as soon as Helm pronounced him as healed as he ever would be, I've needed another one.

I tried to turn Pedro's head back to fighting as that was the plan for this late morning, but all Pedro wanted to talk about was Loyola. Sure, I could lie. I could tell him that things definitely went the way I planned it, but that was too easy. The kid's never going to learn anything if he doesn't learn the truth and the reason behind it.

"I once had a girl," I whispered to him, my hand on his shoulder so he would pay attention, "or should I say, she once had me."

That brought a look of confusion to the kid's eyes, expected. I brushed it off and motioned for him to sit on the hay bale in the barn for me to continue the story of my seduction of one of the most beautiful Senoras in Santa Elena, barring Vera, of course. I'm mad at Vera right now, but that's another song altogether.

When I knew there was no one else around, I started brushing my stallion and told Pedro, "She showed me her room, 'Isn't it good, Norwegian wood?' she said. Whatever... All I could see was her breasts spilling out of her neckline. She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere. So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair. We were in the drawing room, that from the looks of it was being renovated. I wondered where the bedroom was, because I wasn't there to get into some long conversation, if you know what I mean."

Pedro chuckled and waited eagerly for me to continue. "I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine. To my aggravation, we talked until two and then she said, 'It's time for bed'. Now we were going somewhere."

Pedro wanted the full details, but I'm not a guy who beds and tells. There's a moral to this story-one so blatant even I could see it-and Pedro was going to hear about it, not just what everyone knows. Sure, it was big news. It's not every day a Don's estate goes up in flames. The suckers still don't know who did it though.

Details... no, it wouldn't do any good to tell him about my sexual expertise and that she meowed like a satisfied kitten. Hell, I don't think the kid's even kissed a girl let alone bedded one.

"She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh. Okay. I know a cue to get lost when I hear one. I've heard it enough from... well, you know." As I looked at him, I could tell that he didn't. I can't be letting the cat out of the bag that I've been bagging Vera Hidalgo for the last year... or should I? "It's not like I got all night to do the cuddling thing anyway. So I told her I didn't and crawled off to sleep in the bath."

I tossed down my brush and saw that I had Pedro's undivided attention. "And when I awoke I was alone, this bird had flown. So I lit a fire, isn't it good, Norwegian wood."

Pedro's eyes grew wider. Yes, I was the one who set fire to the Martinez estate. I made sure I still had Pedro's attention as his pea brain was taking it all in. "No one messes with Grisham. Remember that."

~~~~~

Tessa was just leaving the general market when she spotted Helm across the square leaving the cantina and on his way to his office. She stood rooted as he gracefully walked past her with his hands in his pockets, his head down, a serious expression on his classically beautiful face. I get high when I see you go by. My oh my.

Montoya called out to Helm from the doorway of his Rose Courtyard, making Helm stop and sigh deeply, not wanting to be bothered. 'When you sigh, my inside just flies, butterflies.' He still didn't see her as she had backed into the door of the market and the awning provided nice protection from the glare of the sun. She was nervous about going out to talk to both of the men, but after the Queen and Helm's solemn encounter last night, she didn't want to reveal anything from the conversation or her true identity. Tessa couldn't get her feet to move. She just watched him as he turned and waited for Montoya to join him not far from where she stood.

'Why am I so shy when I'm beside you? It's only love and that is all. Why should I feel the way I do? It's only love, and that is all, but it's so hard loving you.'

Helm usually treated the Queen as a verbal sparring partner and an object of titillation, while he treated Maria Teresa Alvarado as if she was some unattainable little girl who can't form two coherent words. Why couldn't there be a happy medium? Couldn't he find something in Maria Teresa in common but also be more lenient with the Queen, who he obviously likes more. Dare she say loves? He was able to get her to reveal things she hadn't wanted to last night, her darkest thoughts, and prods me to tell him more. Then he doesn't even recognize me in the light of day, even if I was right in front of him.

'Then is it right that you and I should fight every night? Don't you know that just the sight of you makes nighttime bright, very bright?'

Montoya and Helm exchanged a few heated barbs before Montoya announced, "There will be an important pronouncement in one hour!" to everyone near. Tessa scooted farther back into the market for fear that the men would be able to see through the bright glare to her hiding place and comment about why she was loitering.

As Helm turned on his heel and strode back to his office, Tessa walked out into the porch and rested her head against a vertical post. She wanted to follow him, to talk to him, but knew that it wouldn't do any good. When he talks to Maria Teresa, he is only polite. He doesn't have any of the passion or lust for life and morals that he does when he's talking to the Queen.

'It's only love, and that is all, but it's so hard loving you.'

~~~~~

Down the square, Gaspar and Vera Hidalgo were walking arm in arm from their carriage to the General Market. Vera softly giggled and whispered, "Gaspar, you are in a sparkling mood today."

"I need to laugh and when the sun is out, I've got something I can laugh about. I feel good in a special way. I'm in love and it's a sunny day, my petal."

Gaspar had planned a day in the country, a picnic, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. 'We take a walk, the sun is shining down. Burns my feet as they touch the ground.' He looked at his luminous wife and thought, 'Then we'll lie beneath the shady tree. I love her and she's loving me. She feels good, she knows she's looking fine. I'm so proud to know that she is mine.'

He spots Tessa leaning against the post in front of the market and tips his hat to her. "Tessa, Good day! What a fine morning."

"Sure," Tessa said mostly to herself. She smiled at Gaspar and Vera, but soon was on her way.

~~~~~

Montoya stood on the balcony outside his office looking down on the gathered citizens of the his realm. "Let me tell you how it will be. There's one for you, nineteen for me. Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman."

He heard rumblings in the crowd as they all looked at each other, but didn't show any agitation about this 'friendly' reminder of just one of Montoya's duties. "Should five percent appear too small, be thankful I don't take it all. Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman."

"Five percent!" one male voice called out below him, but he couldn't figure out which man it came from.

"If you drive a buckboard, I'll tax the street, if you try to sit, I'll tax your seat."

Grisham, and his soldier, Pedro, stood on the balcony with Montoya, and they both smiled wide as Montoya continued, "If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat. If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet."

"Why?" Don Ricardo said loudly. "You have your army, we have paid our taxes! Why the increase?"

"Don't ask me what I want it for (because I wouldn't tell you anyway, you blow hard), if you don't want to pay some more," Montoya stated loudly. "There is a new dawn for our pueblo, and that takes reales! Now my advice for those who die, declare the pennies on your eyes, and you're working for no one but me. Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman."

~~~~~

Gaspar had nothing to do to save his life, call his wife in. He walked through the throng that had gathered for Montoya's outrageous declaration. He had nothing to say but, "What a day. How's your boy been? When Don Ricardo asked for Gaspar's reaction, he replied, "I've got nothing to say but it's okay. Good morning, good morning...," he continued through the throng.

Tessa walked passed him and Vera and focused her attention on two women in conversation. One was holding her arm while the other told her, "Call Doctor Robert. Day or night he'll be there any time at all. He does everything he can, Doctor Robert."

"No, no, it will be all right," the wounded woman said shaking her head.

Her companion didn't let up. "If you're down, he'll pick you up. Take a drink from his special cup. Doctor Robert, he's a man you must believe helping everyone in need. No one can succeed like Doctor Robert."

~~~~~

Meanwhile, Helm walked into his office and couldn't help but think about the words spoken the night before with the woman in black. She said, 'I know what it's like to be dead. I know what it is to be sad.' The look in her eye, the hint of a tear in the corner of her eye... She made me feel like I'd never been born.

She said, "You don't understand what I said."

Why did their words go from small talk about what she does to others to her words that were filled with what could only be classified as loneliness. Why? How does she do that to me? When she had first entered his abode without a sound that evening, they had exchanged barbs without a thought. Soon, he was telling her about treating another victim of hers, and (half) teased that she was keeping him busy. Soon, she had turned the tables on him. He had expected his provocation would only behoove her to say again, "It was not my fault. They should not challenge me if they are not ready to defend themselves. Doc, it is them or me. Would you prefer the former?"

No. Last night, she went silent, then said, "I know what it's like to be dead. I know what it is to be sad."

Before he could ask her to expand on that, she was gone.

~~~~~

Marta brought another bunch of towels into the foyer and got down on her hands and kneels by the door. The lightening flashed through the windows. Rain pounded out a steady beat on the roof. Thunder crashed, making Marta wonder how her Tessita was doing out there in the elements and with the enemy.

Montoya had never been so bold in his tyranny before. When they had arrived back at the hacienda after Montoya's proclamation, Tessa was fit to be tied. Marta had the sneaking suspicion that her foul mood wasn't just because of Montoya. Before Marta could stop her, Tessa had dressed as the Queen and went straight to the stables and rode off on Chico without a word of where she was going, what she had planned, or when-or if-she'd be back.

"Fixing a hole where the rain gets in stops my mind from wandering," Marta said stuffing a wet crack with a towel.

There were so many times that Marta had told Tessa that she should stop riding as the Queen of Swords. One day she wouldn't ride back home to her. 'Oh, Marta,' was always Tessa's response. Marta had the feeling that her latest rides had been the most dangerous of the Queen's career. Marta had even stopped asking her what happened while she rode. The stories were never ones that mothers liked to hear about their children's escapades. There was a kind of urgency to her manner when she dressed as the Queen in the past few weeks. Something was wrong, and Marta had confronted Tessa about it. 'You could not be more wrong, Marta,' Tessa had said. 'I just have to focus.'

"It really doesn't matter if I'm wrong, I'm right! Where I belong. I'm right where I belong." Marta said with a sense of urgency. Tessa had to have someone who she could talk to, and Marta had not wanted to listen lately. "People disagree and never win, why does she think she can change it all? Isn't life supposed to be unfair?" Her life as a gypsy had certainly honed the fact into her that life was just what it was and hopefully you can have some joy in the process.

"Silly people run around, they worry me," Marta said as she sat near the door, hearing the storm outside, hoping Tessa would return safely. Soon.

~~~~~

"Why don't we do it in the road?"

Vera looked horrified at Grisham after his suggestion. "Are you insane?"

"No one will be watching us. It's raining. Everyone's inside."

"Where we should stay. Listen," she told him, while fending his advances off. "I came here to talk about our disagreement."

"Our disagreement is why you don't leave that thick husband of yours, take his money, and come to me."

"Yes. That is what you want. But what would I get out of such a deal?"

"Why don't we do it in the road?"

Vera humphed and moved to the door. She opened it a crack, then slammed it shut again. "A soldier is on his way here. Get rid of him," Vera said before sneaking behind the screen in the corner.

Grisham groaned as he was tired of protecting their 'love'. He opened the door and Pedro looked about ready to explode with excitement. "The Queen! She is in the pueblo!"

"Where?" Grisham was putting on his shirt before Pedro could even get the next words out. "In Colonel Montoya's bed chamber! He is calling for you!"

~~~~~

Your day breaks, your mind aches. You find that all the words of kindness linger on when she no longer needs you. She wakes up, she makes up. She takes her time and doesn't feel she has to hurry. She no longer needs you. And in her eyes you see nothing, no sign of love behind the tears. Cried for no one. A love that should have lasted years!

Gaspar stood in his empty bedroom, the storm raging outside. On the dresser was a glint of gold flashed when lightening struck. His petal's wedding ring.

You want her, you need her, and yet you don't believe her when she said her love is dead. You think she needs you. You stay home, she goes out. She says that long ago she knew someone but now he's gone, she doesn't need him.

He was gone because Gaspar killed that no good trash that was Vera's first husband! Didn't she remember that? The chill of loneliness shivered through him and he felt like throwing things, breaking all the beautiful things that Vera filled their hacienda with. How could she leave? He had done so much for her.

Gaspar woke up dripping with sweat as the lightening crashed, lighting up the entire bedroom as if it were daylight. He laid back and took a cleansing breath as he realized he had only been dreaming. A nightmare. He lifted his head to see that Vera's ring wasn't on the dresser were he had just seen it so vividly. All was right in the world.

But then, Gaspar turned to see his lovely Vera asleep next to him, but her side of their bed was empty.

~~~~~

When Grisham walked into the Colonel's bedroom, Montoya and the Queen were both armed with swords and were circling each other. She flinched as she saw him enter, and stopped in her tracks. "You say you want a revolution, la Reina," Montoya said with menace. "Well you know, we all want to change the world."

"But when you talk about destruction," the Queen spouted, "Don't you know you can count me out."

Grisham motioned to her that he was not armed, just going to lean up against the wall and watch. There were two guards by the other door waiting for the command from Montoya to strike. She wasn't going anywhere.

Montoya replied with compliancy, "You say you got a real solution. Well you know, we'd all love to see the plan."

"You ask for a contribution. Well you know, we're doing what we can. When you want money for people with minds that hate..."

Montoya seemed wounded by those words from the Queen. She yanked the dagger out of her boot and was now armed with blades in both of her hands. She continued with a harsh resolve, "All I can tell you is brother you have to wait." She even got a good swing in there. Montoya has almost been cornered but expertly lunged his sword at her, knocked her left hand with the dagger out of his way, and made her back off or get his blade straight in her gut.

"You say you'll change the constitution. We all want to change your head," she said, circling him once again. "You tell me it's the institution. You better free your mind instead!"

~~~~~

'I'm a loser, and I'm not what I appear to be,' Helm thought to himself as he sat at the cantina with the storm raging outside. He lifted his glass to his lips and drank down the last of his whiskey. The usual smoothness and heavy coating of his esophagus and stomach that had calmed him in the past didn't help one bit this harsh, stormy evening.

'Of all the love I have won or have lost, there is one love I should never have crossed,' Helm thought bitterly. 'She was a girl in a million, my friend. I should have known she would win in the end.'

She always gets the upper hand in all of our encounters, or would they be categorized as confrontations? Sure, she wears a mask, and even he couldn't figure out the Queen's true identity, but he was also wearing one. Not one to protect his identity, but his true feelings. 'Although I laugh and I act like a clown, beneath this mask I am wearing a frown. My tears are falling like rain from the sky. Is it for her or myself that I cry?'

Helm ordered up another bottle of whiskey and asked himself, 'What have I done to deserve such a fate?' The previous night, the Queen had told Helm of her inner feelings, again, and he hadn't reacted the way she wanted. Or, maybe it was that he was so stunned by that hint of truth that his reaction wasn't quick enough for her.

'I realize I have left it too late. And so it's true, pride comes before a fall,' Helm told himself as he motioned to the waitress that he wouldn't be needed that whiskey now after all. He may need it later, but for now, he knew what he was going to do.

'She's got the devil in her heart but her eyes they tantalize. She's gonna tear your heart apart. Oh her lips are really thrilling. I'll take my chances for romance is so important to me,' Helm thought as he strode for the door. 'She'll never hurt me. She won't desert me. She's an angel sent to me.'

The pueblo drunk, Bea, walked in out of the rain and looked up at him. "Buy a parched gal a drink?"

"No, thank you," he said curtly. "I have to meet someone." 'If I can find her,' Helm added to himself.

It didn't take long for Helm to zero in on the Queen's present whereabouts. Montoya's headquarters were lit up and soldiers were all captivated by something happening in the Colonel's bed chamber. One of the soldiers spotted Helm and charged to him. "Doctor," Pedro said breathlessly. "The Colonel and Capitan Grisham are with the Queen of Swords! I fear someone will need your services, come quickly." Pedro clamped onto Helm's arm and soon they were running up the steps and into Montoya's residence. "They both have swords drawn," Pedro continued. "With what I've heard of her, someone is going to be garroted."

Helm and Pedro arrived at the door of Montoya's bedroom. Helm noticed Grisham standing nonchalantly against the far wall, another guard was standing by the door the doctor was thrust through by Pedro. The Queen and Montoya both looked sweaty and nervous. "Well," Helm said when all motion in the room stopped. "I don't want to spoil the party so I'll go." He thought to himself, 'I would hate my disappointment to show,' as the Queen was still looking for fights, against his better advice. "There's nothing for me here so I will disappear."

"Doctor Helm," Montoya said, his eyes trained on the Queen. "Please stay. This one will probably be mortally wounded, but of course, you can try to work your magic on her anyway."

"I've had a drink or two and I don't care," Helm said, turning back to the door. He was just about out the door when he stopped and thought, 'Though tonight she's made me sad, I still love her.'

Helm was rattled by that revelation. He had never before actually said those words, not even to himself. It would have been to painful to acknowledge what was just so plainly obvious to him. He didn't leave with Camilla when the seas would be calm enough to rekindle their romance. He stayed because another woman was right where she belonged and he needed to stay. He needed to stay now. He slowly turned as it all dawned on him, to see the Queen staring at him.

Her eyes flitted back to Montoya, who was edging to her right. She repositioned her body and aimed her sword at him so not be taken by any surprises. Helm saw that she was being slowly backing toward the bed, just as Montoya had probably planned. Helm took a quick inventory of the enemies in the room and tallied one guard at the door, Grisham against the far wall, and Pedro in the hallway behind him. There were many more outside, but they might be able to sneak past them if they were fast enough.

When he saw her turn around so that she could see him again, he motioned at Grisham, and she smiled. Helm grabbed the soldier who was concentrating only on Montoya and the Queen and threw him back into the hall. He fell on top of Pedro as Helm slammed the door shut. The Queen tossed her dagger in Grisham's direction, who ducked just in time, and the dagger embedded into the wall where he head had just been. Helm jumped over the bed and body slammed Montoya into the wall and he slid down it as the Queen rushed to open the other door. Helm picked up the bedside table to threw it at Grisham.

Soon, Helm followed the Queen out the door and through the opposite hall. Helm had never been this way in Montoya's residence, but how fast and sure the Queen was running, she evidently had. He followed close behind her as she took each corner and kept on running. She stopped when they reached another hallway, then ducked and rolled. If Helm hadn't come to a short stop himself, he would have had his stomach slashed by a guard who had ambushed them. The Queen got to her feet and kicked the sword out of his hand and another swift kick of hers landed at his jaw. He fell to the floor as they both ran to the end of the hall. She opened the window and put one leg out as Helm looked back down the hallway.

Pedro was coming down the hall with his gun, aimed, and fired. Helm got out of the way, and the bullet went out the window, where the Queen wasn't at anymore. He looked out it to see her going down the trellis, and she whistled. He didn't know if the trellis would hold them both, but he was going to find out.

On the ground, the Queen's horse came charging to her and she mounted him. She waited at the base of the trellis, and Helm got on the horse behind her. They were riding off before the soldiers at the front of the residence could figure out something was wrong. Helm heard Montoya's voice in the distance behind them, "Get them you fools!"

"Well, I guess I'm truly Montoya's enemy now," he said, but there wasn't any indication from her that she heard.

Out in the quiet countryside, the Queen finally slowed her horse to a gallop, then a canter, then stopped him by a stream. She turned her head, probably to mention that he could dismount now, but he didn't want to. His arms were still snug around her narrow waist. Even though there was a salty smell of sweat on her, there was also a flowery scent from her hair. Helm drank in her aroma as he thought, 'I don't like you but I love you. See that I'm always thinking of you. Oh, oh, oh, you treat me badly. I love you madly. You've really got a hold on me.'

"Doctor?" she asked.

"Yes?" Helm answered without moving.

'I don't want you, but I need you. Don't want to kiss you, but I need to. I love you and all I want you to do is just hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me.'

"My horse would like something to drink after that run." The Queen waited as she turned to look into his eyes. "Which means we need to get off him if we do not want to go head over heels into the stream ourselves."

"Certainly," Helm answered and took his hands away from her waist. After he slid off the back of the horse, the Queen dismounted and walked the horse to the stream.

'This will be impossible!' he thought to himself. 'She goes looking for danger, and I'm not going to be there to bail her out. I don't want to. Why should I have to?'

"What the hell were you doing back there?" he inquired forcefully.

"The Colonel's tax increases are ludicrous and are only meant to lines his pockets. He has to be stopped."

'This is no good! I don't need this aggravation!' he thought as he watched her pet her horse as he drank from the stream. His shoes were covered with clinging wet sandy mud. 'Oh to be back home and not in this God forsaken backwater town! I want to leave you, don't want to stay here. Don't want to spend another day here.' The thought should have felt so right. He had served his year in Santa Helena, and fulfilled the payment Montoya enticed him with to come in the first place. There was nothing holding him there anymore... 'Oh, oh, oh, I want to split now. I just can quit now. You've really got a hold on me.'

~~~~~

Tessa rubbed Chico's back as he finished lapping up fresh water from the stream that had swelled during the storm. The night was quiet, so quiet she could hear Helm breathing. He was certainly acting strangely this evening. She looked at him out the corner of her eye to see that he was staring at her.

Suddenly, he spoke, "There's nothing you can do that can't be done. Nothing you can sing that can't be sung. Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game. It's easy."

"I need to do what I can, no one else is."

"Nothing you can make that can't be made. No one you can save that can't be saved. Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time. It's easy."

"Learn how to be me? The real me?"

"Nothing you can know that isn't known. Nothing you can see that isn't shown. Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be. It's easy."

"Just do nothing? Sure, that is very easy!"

She kept an eye on him as she grabbed Chico's reins to tether them to a nearby tree. The only thing that stopped her was Helm stalking toward her and taking her into his arms. She dropped the reins as he kissed her. Not a quick 'thanks for saving me' kiss like after the Serpente was killed, but a real kiss that she had only received from Antonio. She wrapped her arms around his neck and his tall frame pulled her up. Soon her feet were off the ground as Helm held her steadily and they hungrily devoured each other. 'You'll never know how much I really love you,' she thought to herself. 'You'll never know how much I really care. I can't tell him... Can I? Sure I can, he has to feel the same way. But he loves her, not me. Or maybe, he can love us both...'

She pulled away from his kiss and her feet were back on the ground. "Thanks for saving my ass."

"I only got the ball rolling. You saved yourself."

"Listen, do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell?"

"Sure."

"Closer, let me whisper in your ear, say the words you long to hear," she said softly. When Helm tilted his head down so she could feel his earlobe by her mouth, she whispered, "I'm in love with you."

"I've known the secret for a week or two," Helm told her with a wide smile. "Nobody knows, just we two."

"If I fell in love with you would you promise to be true and help me understand? Cause I've been in love before and I found that love was more than just holding hands. If I give my heart to you, I must be sure from the very start, that you would love me more than her."

"Who?" Helm asked. "Camilla?"

"No, this woman." Tessa stepped back and indicated her black uniform that was the Queen's. "If I trust in you, oh please, don't run and hide. If I love you too, oh please, don't hurt my pride like her."

"Who?"

"Camilla. Cause I couldn't stand the pain and I would be sad if our new love was in vain."

"Camilla wasn't that upset that I didn't go with her."

"I would have been. I was quite happy you stayed."

Helm laughed. "Then why didn't you tell me?!" He swept her back into his arms and said, "I should have known better with a girl like you, that I would love everything that you do, and I do, hey, hey, hey, and I do."

He kissed her again, caressing her hair, caressing her cheek, his fingers skirting around the edge of her lace mask. "Whoa, oh, I never realized what a kiss could be," she said as they broke contact again. She didn't know if he was kissing her as a whole woman, with another life altogether or just the Queen, only one side of her existence. "This could only happen to me; can't you see, can't you see?"

"What?"

"Me."

He seemed to know what she was thinking, and paused before telling her, "Let me see."

Without missing a beat, she took the mask made of her mother's lace from her face and looked at him as the Queen without obstruction. She felt naked as he stared at her gape-mouthed, then he smiled. His eyes twinkled as he broke into a knowing laugh.

Tessa sang, "Ooh I need your love babe. Guess you know it's true. Hope you need my love babe, just like I need you. Hold me, love me, hold me, love me. Ain't got nothin' but love babe. Eight days a week."

Helm sang in reply, "Love you ev'ry day girl. Always on my mind. One thing I can say girl, love you all the time. Hold me, love me, hold me, love me. Ain't got nothin' but love babe. Eight days a week.

Band swells, Helm and Maria Teresa Alvarado sang in unison, "Eight days a week. I love you. Eight days a week is not enough to show I care."

They mounted Chico and rode off into the sunset.

THE END