In shock, she backed off him, running herself up against
Tan's front paws, where she blushed in embarressment.
"Um...urm...no. He, uh, was busy with sum doctors er
sumpthin. No one ever tells me nuthin round there," she
gave a nervous laugh as a lump came into her throat. The
jerk! she thot to herself. How could he let me do that?!
How?! How would she get over THIS meeting?
Afterall, she could barely control herself when she'd
been talking to him just yesterday. Ah those had been a
wonderful couple of hours.
"hmmm," he said, rising to a crouch across from her and
Tan... "looks like we've got the same taste in jewelery,
eh?"
Her blush deepened. He was so terribly tempting in that
position. Almost like a tiger himself. Quiet and
unassuming, yet hidden underneath all that, the power he
had!
"heh...Looks like," she muttered, turning away from those
piercing grey eyes of his. She half buried her face in
Tan's soft furry neck, keeping one eye on Kidder as his
grin widened.
a thot occurred to him. he thot... Tan couldn't possibly
like him unless he thot she liked him... or could like
him... of course, Kidd never let his real thots show on
his face or in his body language, he was always quite
careful about that. but he did take note of Q's own body
language, and he thot... perhaps the tiger might be
right. and suddenly he forced himself to think about
Riddly. his friend. and Q... also a friend. he stood,
slowly- he
might have preferred to have stood quickly, but he didn't
want to get at all dizzy. so he stood slowly, and turned
back toward the exit. he would remain friends, and
nothing more, nothing less, with both Q and her
boyfriend. but he wouldn't look at her any more than he
absolutely had to. over his shoulder he said, "are you
coming? it's gettin kinda late."
Q took in a deep, ragged breath as Kidd stood up. She
watched as he turned to the window. That had been intense
and nothing had happened! When he asked if she was
coming, she quickly stood up, getting a lil light headed
and leaning on Tan for support.
"Uh, yeah. I'm coming..." she said, walking on wobbly
legs toward the window.
Tan neatly jumped thru the window. She would have
preferred the storm drains again, but as Tan had already
gone
thru the window, she had no choice but t follow
him.....Both of them.....
as they walked away from the building, he asked, "so,
where you two staying tonight?"
"oh...just at one a the old hidey's. nuthin much. kinda
run down in fact. we dont use it much but as a go between
station fer when we first break out and all, ya know? Er
a place ta store sum stuff. Er ta meet with new *ahem*
'employees.'" She paused, knowing she was rambling, but
she was so nervous! "Still, it's nuthin much."
Never had she felt so nervous in his presence. She kept
petting Tan, as if to remind herself to breathe.
as much as he was trying to ignore it, he could feel a
palpable tension between Query and himself. it was...
well, his first thots were as "thrilling, electifying..."
but he cut that line of thinking off quickly.
"frightening," he told himself. "impossible, dangerous,
wrong..." and he knew no matter what either, or both of
them might feel, nothing would come of it. and he found
himself barely containing tears at that thot. but he did
contain them
and no emotion showed on his face whatever, except
perhaps a front he put up, his own normal joviality,
camaraderie with a friend and fellow inmate. he wouldn't
let her know he could tell...
he had always been good at playing the unaware innocent.
usually, he wasn't just playing.
Tan walked between Q and Kidd for a short while. When he
went and switched over to Q's left, she thot nothing of
it...Until she got that ever so innocent shove from him.
She stumbled forward, letting out a gasp as the ground
rushed forward and she grabbed for a hold of something to
stop her fall.
'what the hell is wrong with that damn tiger?' he thot to
himself, even has he caught Q in mid fall. 'he's not
bloody well making this any easier... in fact, he's
intentionally making it harder. what's he got against
Ridd, anyway?'
he helped Q regain her balance, and they both glared at
Tan. but Kidd looked up, and not far in the distance, he
saw the place he knew she'd been talking about. he'd been
there before.
"well, we're about here, then," he said. "i'm gonna gotta
get headin back to my place. in the middle of a big
experiment, you know. just takin a break tonight, is
all."
"Ah, well. Um, thanks for keepin me from fallin bak
there..." she sed, glaring at Tan again, and softening
her stare when she looked up at Kidd. Feeling braver than
she was, she gave him a quick hug and kiss before backing
up to the door of the hidey. She looked at him again and
sighed inwardly, wishing he'd do something. "Thanks
again."
oh, he wished she hadn't done that... he wished she'd do
it again and again...
no. anyway, it's just a friendly gesture. so...
"goodnight. see ya round. um... if you see Eddie before I
do, say hi fer me, eh?"
and he headed off in the direction of the entrance to his
own secret hideout... a place hardly anyone had ever been
other than himself... he was feeling very tired and very
awake at once...
She sighed and entered the hidey. She was just about to
remove the pouch when she remembered she'd taken the
emeralds from him. Something she'd never be proud of
since he was her friend. Bolting out the door, she ran
down the block the way he'd gone. There he was, right up
ahead.
"Wait!" she called. As she came closer, she noticed Tan
was beside her. The damn tiger! He was nothing but
trouble tonight!
He paused and turned toward her.
"yes?"
She halted a couple feet from him. Bowing her head, she
took the pouch from her side, removing the emeralds.
"Here. These are your's," she said, making a point of
placing them in his warm open hands, taking care to place
each one so that her fingers brushed his.
he blushed. he couldn't help that, and he cursed mentally
about it. but, he told himself, it's chilly out. a
perfectly reasonable explanation, even if he knew they
both knew that wasn't the reason.
"no... i didn't really want them, i was just amusing
myself, the whole thing was a lark. i wouldn't have kept
them anyway, so you might as well. please."
She pressed them into his hands, holding his hands maybe
a lil too long. He was blushing.
"No, you keep them. I really wasn't interested in them
anyway. Just bored. Sides, you had them first," she said,
taking a couple steps closer to him. Her nerves were
mellowing out with the chill of the air. Tan was close to
her, making threatening rubs against her leg. She shook
him away.
he pulled away. at this point, he realized, there was no
point in subtle pretenses of obliviousness. he still
wouldn't admit to anything, but he wasn't going to stand
here and let this happen... as much as he wanted it...
"yes, well, okay. thanks. uh... goodnight." and he turned
and jogged off, still trying to look casual about it...
but he supposed he didn't. he didn't care.
'this will always have happened, from now on,' he thot.
'it has
happened, and that's all there is to it. damn it. ...but
still, this must be the end... surely she can tell i'm
not going to let anything happen... surely she knows
why... God, surely she still loves him...'
Q thot about sending Tan after him. She wanted to know if
what she'd seen in his eyes in the museum, felt in his
arms when e'd caught her, and just now, the blush, was he
really...? She knew she was. She still luv'd Eddie, but
she longed for something... she wasn't sure what anymore.
With a defeated sigh, she watched him round the corner,
then turned and headed back to her hidey, where she once
agani cried herself to sleep.
he went to his lab, tried to look at his notes... but
couldn't think about them at all. he went and sat on the
edge of his cot, put his face in his hands, and finally
ran them up thru his hair. eventually he got up and went
to the bedroom, kicked off his shoes, took off his
jacket, and crawled into bed. he thot there was no chance
he'd be getting to sleep.
he woke up three hours later, knowing what was wrong with
his quantum equasions.
continue