It had been different two months prior with AJ. Then it had been about keeping AJ sober, and making him cope with things, help him see that he wasn't responsible for Michael's kidnapping and that he was doing everything humanly possible to find Michael short of discovering he had a psychic powers that would help him lead the way. In the two days that they had been there neither one had taken notice of their location. Even near the end of the second day when AJ was coming too and realizing that he couldn't blame himself for everything, they had been to engrossed in talking and coping. It had been a relief to her that he needed her constant attention, as it would keep her mind of her surroundings.
But now it was different.
Was it different because he was helping her?
Was it different in the way she was helping him?
That is where it began to confuse her, because in a way it was yes to both questions. And in another way, it was no to both questions.
She shook her head sharply and sighed heavily as she made her way across the living room. But as she crossed the room and walked towards the hall the fireplace mantel began to call to her and she veered toward it.
She smiled sadly at the picture she saw first. It was a 12x8 of "the family" after the first big snow of her first winter with them. There they stood out in the dead of winter having a family picture taken, all eight of them: Poppy, Mummy, Carlos, Eduardo, Fernando, Aurora, Antionetta, and herself, all bundled up, their arms around each others shoulders, smiling their stupidest, happiest, sappiest smiles, holding cups of steamy hot cocoa and looking care-free. As though nothing was wrong. As if she was actually part of this beautiful, wonderful, functional, family... If only..
"MUMMY!! MUMMY!!" Squealed a young Azora as she scampered in from the outside and slid across the floor in her slippery boots. "Itsasnoooowin! Didja see? Didja? DIDJA!!" She asked breathlessly, as she jumped up and down excitedly her micro braids bouncing on her shoulders. She was wearing a black parka and matching gloves, scarf, boots, thermal pants and cowboy hat that barely stayed on top of her ears. "It's snooooowin! An me, an 'Duardo, an Carwos an Toni, an Rowa an Ferdi all made snowmen!! C'mon Mummy, yall gotsta see it!!"
Carlotta Jade was a plump woman with jovial laugh and a heart the size of a small country. She laughed at her adopted daughter's excitement. Azora could be a handful, but when she was happy the whole world smiled. It was a relief to her to see her children laughing, playing, and acting their age, especially Eduardo and Azora.
Make no mistake, Carlotta and Humberto loved all of their children, but ever since they'd "adopted" Azora on Eduardo's birthday Eduardo had become very serious and concerned about Azora.
After all, Eduardo called Azora his "Birthday Present". It had been a joke at first, because it had all happened on the way to the dog pound to get him a dog for his 12th birthday. But Eduardo took it very seriously, especially after she had spent so much time in the hospital.
So to see him acting like a 12 year old was a very rare thing, but she enjoyed it, because she knew it was fleeting.
Before she could answer, Azora was dragging her across the kitchen and into the enclosed back porch.
"See Mummy! See! Snooooooooow."
She had never seen snow before, or at least, that was what they surmised. Sometimes they learned things about her just as she was discovering it herself.
"My, my, my," she drawled. "Look at m'lil chickadees..." She laughed boisterously at her children having a snowball fight, the snowmen were on the other side of the yard were completely forgotten. She looked at Azora closely. "Why ain'chu playin, dawlface?"
Azora looked down at her boots, suddenly very sheepish. "I don' like fights, Mummy." She looked up expectantly. "Dat okay?" She asked apprehensively.
Carlotta felt a pang of guilt wash over her. She needed so much reassurance sometimes. "Yeah, dat's okay, dawlin. Howabouts ju an me make yer hermanos and hermanas some hot cocoa." She said veering the conversation off track, in hopes of recapturing her child-like innocence, as she patted her head, causing the hat to fall off the tips of her ears and fall over her eyes. Azora giggled, as though the last question had never been asked, lifting the brim of the Stetson and smiling widely.
Carlotta bit back as gasp as her eyes lit up like two different colored Christmas trees. Her eyes were hypnotizing, to her at least. She had never seen someone with two different colored eyes, one a pale, soft, blue, almost the color of frozen water, the other like the other, pale and soft but electric green. But they fit her personality so well. The blue was soft and endearing, pulling people in, sucking them into the vortex that was Azora, but the moment she was sad or mad or scared it could turn as cold as ice, and becoming even MORE intense. She could be friends with anyone, but there was this cautiousness about her, like a viper ready to strike. She was fine, but the moment she believed someone was about to hurt someone she held close you didn't know what to expect. And the other eye was green, soft, yet vibrant, 75% of the people she interacted with said it was so bright and luminous that it startled them, they recoiled when they saw it. And when she was scared or worried you could swear you could see into the inner workings of her soul.
"YAY!!!" Azora's squeal brought her out of her revelry. She clapped her hands together excitedly, and she marveled at how she was enthralled with doing even the most mundane of tasks. But then she remembered, she was learning these tasks for the first time, so it was bound to intrigue her.
As they made the cocoa you could hear laughter throughout the cabin coming from the kitchen. In the doorway Humberto watched his little chatterboxes go at it. He too reveled in Azora's normalcy, even if it was short lived. Nothing was "normal" anymore. Not since they had picked up the little nameless girl with only a bloodied sheet wrapped around her body with a superficial cut along her throat as she meandered drunkenly along side of the road singing "happy birthday" that fateful day. It had turned their world on it's ear... not that he was complaining. He wouldn't have changed it for the world. And he wouldn't have changed anything about it. Not even the lies. Okay... Maybe the lies, but that was all. He would do anything for her. And he hoped to God she knew that.
He smiled as he leaned against the doorway and watched in awe as Carlotta patiently showed Azora how to do everything. It was a Kodak moment if he had ever known one, but he knew better than to take a picture. She didn't like camera's. The flash, the sudden movement, it scared her, and he wasn't about to ruin this moment for either one of them. It was one of those weird idiosyncrasies of their family that everyone was amazingly tall, even the younger ones: Carlos and Aurora were taller than the rest of their classmates, except Azora. She was tiny, tiny for her age, tiny by all standards. Even the consulting doctors had commented on the fact that due to something that could only be explained by A) Medical history, something she didn't have B) genetics, again, something they couldn't get into without the nonexistent medical records or C) the conditions in which she was raised, something not even Azora could recall, she was tiny, like a perpetual child with an old soul. They had to run test after test after test to try and figure out her age and they all came back inconclusive. The tests had terrified her, the doctors, the white coats, the smell of the hospital. It went as far as it did until Eduardo could take no more. He had jumped in front of the doctor as he approached the bed for more tests and had verbally threatened him "You touch her and DIE!!" He had been so frazzled with the whole situation that he refused to leave the hospital period.
Eventually he had had enough himself and ordered them to cease and desist. And who's going to argue with a preacher? So they guessed, and it had been Eduardo that had said something about her being his age, though they had no evidence to the contrary or to support that, the doctor had shrugged and said "it's up to you". So she was 12, for all intents and purposes at least, that was.
Carlotta, while plump, wasn't horribly short, 5'10, he estimated, himself being 6'5, and Azora was barely 4'4, and they prayed she grew every night. How long would be able to go about as their child if she didn't grow even a little. They didn't want her to think of herself as different, so whenever she DID grow they made a big deal out of it. Because at 4'4 to stand next to Carlotta and listen to her-- the doctors said that among other things that filled pages and pages and pages of things that couldn't be explained without making his stomach churn-- one of her eardrum's had been compromised when it had "blown up" and never been properly repaired, so she had only one ear to hear-- Azora had to get a chair and stand on it next to her as they poured and stirred and carried on whispering and twittering.
Eventually Azora saw him out of the corner of her eye and they all laughed. No reason, they just laughed.
Azora's brow furrowed as she remembered the scene vividly in her mind. The sights, the scents, the smells, the love, were all so vivid it was as though she had transported herself back in time for that one second. She remembered Poppy wearing a black, long, heavy, turtleneck with raised embroidery, like the kind she had scene on TV on that show "Highlander". They were a Poppy trademark during the winter.
He loved those damned turtleneck. And they had remembered every year to buy him one. One year all he got were those turtle necks. 7 of them. One from each kid and one from Carlotta.
But they never left the cabin, because they were of no use to them in Texas. In fact, all of their winter wears were neatly, neurotically put away in trunks in the master bedrooms walk-in closet. But it was remembering how Carlotta did it so that only "the family" knew who's was who's was the difficult part.
Sighing heavily she kissed her finger tips and placed them on the picture, a memory she'd cherish as long as God would let her, she hoped until her dying breath, and set down the hall way toward the master bedroom.
She remembered exactly where they were kept and only prayed they hadn't fallen victim to mice or moths. But more than anything she felt trepidation about going to where they were. It had been so long that it was bound to stir up memories.
Not that the memories were bad memories they were all happy memories. But the fact that the only family she had ever known and loved dearly, except for Eduardo had been basically slaughtered because of her weighed heavily on her soul. It haunted her.
It haunted both her and Eduardo so much so that while they still loved each other like siblings and still considered each other the only family they had left that was as far as they let it go. No one outside the two of them knew of their connection beyond him being her second in command, right hand man, and constant confidante. They weren't hiding it for the sake of embarrassment or anything like that, but because it would lead to the inevitable questions.
"You two don't look alike?" "Where's the rest of your family?" "Wow, how are you two related again?"
Which would lead to more questions, which would lead to answers and more questions and the inevitable of them running off in the middle of the night... again... and running the business from the road while they found a new place to live where no one knew them so that they could have that anonymity.... AGAIN!!
Between that fear, and the fear that whoever killed their family would find them and finish the job they kept their connection a secret from even their closest of friends. Not that that didn't hurt. It hurt like hell. But until it was safe they would do what was necessary. And if it was necessary for them to be known as Azora Jade and Eduardo Kortez for the rest of their lives, then so be it.
As she opened the door she closed her eyes and repeated her mantra: "I'm gonna be okay, I'm gonna be fine! Just look straight ahead, no DETOURS!!" over and over in her head. She looked inside the room and felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her.
Nothing had changed.
It was like a shrine to a happier time, a simpler time, a time that she would do ANYTHING to get back too.
She had to take a second to collect herself as her knees were weak and she had to hold onto one of the posts on the four-poster bed in the middle of the room to keep from fainting. "I'm gonna be okay... I'm gonna be OKAY!" she told herself through gritted teeth. After a few deep breathes she fixed her eyes on the closet door and started towards it. Don't look around! NO DETOURES! her brain shouted to her heart as she walked towards the closet and ignored the shouting of the sights that screamed 'REMEMBER ME! LOOK OVER HERE!! REMEMBER ME!!!" as she crossed the room and made it to the closet.
Opening the closet door was almost worse than walking through the room. Looking into the walk-in closet was almost like looking at Carlotta. Sweet, lovable, brash, neurotic and slightly paranoid.
Against the interior of the closet walls sat 8 individually unmarked, but color-coded trunks. She turned on the light and was happily surprised that it still worked.
She walked in and closed her eyes and tried to remember the code. Each color represented a trait and each trait belonged to one of them.
Black, Violet, orange, blue, green, red, pink and yellow.
"Now 'member 'Zora, every color haza meanin..."
"Yeah, mummy, I 'member..."
"Okay, what color is Carlos?"
"Ummm... green!"
Carlotta chuckled. "An' what does green mean?"
"Umm..." She scrunched her forehead. "Umm... Pride?"
"Yep, yous doin' good. Now, Toni?"
"Umm... Owange? Cause she's a wisk taker?"
"Yep, now 'Rora?"
"She's red, cause that's the color of the sky at mornin' and cause she's passionate!" She said quickly "I 'MEMBERT!"
"Yes ya, did I's awful proud too. Now 'Duardo?"
"He's blue, cause he's smart an' strong an' firm on stuff."
"An Ferdy?"
"He's purple, cause he's got valor!"
"An yer color?"
"Black... Cause I'm m'own mystery."
"An' me?"
"Youz pink, Mummy, coz youz tender to us!!"
She chuckled. "An Poppy? What color is Poppy?"
"Umm... Umm... He's..."
"Think baby, I know you can get it."
"Umm... He's..." A light turned on inside her head. "He's YELLOW!!! Cause he's MELLOW!!"
Carlotta started laughing hysterically at how she said it. "Yes baby, yer Poppy's Mellow yellow!"
She smiled to herself, Preacher Mellow Yellow, was what they tea singly called him at home but he never seemed to mind. She found the canary yellow trunk near the back of the closet and knelt beside it before opening it.
She smiled, tears brimming in her eyes as she looked inside. "Good ol' mummy." She whispered to herself as she eyed her mummy's handiwork. All of the trunks contents were securely wrapped in a layer of bubble wrap, followed by a layer of paper bags that had been cut apart and taped back together, followed by three layers of industrial strength thick trash bags and finally a thin layer of tissue paper. And it was all airtight.
Carlotta was neurotic, but in a "you may not realize it now but in the future think will benefit you." Kind of way.
She gingerly opened all of the layers until she got down to the clothing. More tears came to her eyes at she picked up the first black knit sweater she picked up and examined. "Thank Gawd fer Mummy." She whispered hoarsely. She wondered what it smelt like and lifted it to her nose.
She thanked God and Mummy's paranoia because it still smelt like a mix of fabric softener, rum, and cologne. With a dry laugh she looked at the tag. XXX-Large. "Gawd, AJ's gonna SWIM in this!" She thought with a frown. "HAYL AJ! I'm Gonna swim in dis!!" She chuckled. But out of all the trunks she knew that this would fit the best. And besides that, she missed her Poppy's smell. And her brothers were more into light flannel than actual sweaters. She looked again and found an X large one. "Hrmm... I musta bought dis by accident." She thought to herself. "It's a good accident though."
She carefully pulled them both out, put them on top of Mummy's trunk�before re-securing all of the layers and carefully closing the trunk. She opened Fernando's and Aurora's for pants but there were slim pickin's seeing as @ 5'2 and 5'9 she and AJ were termites comparatively speaking to the Jades. Fernando and Antionetta had been two of the tallest at 6'6 and 6'0 foot respectively. But she was able to find 2 pairs that wouldn't be too bad for them to wear and then left quickly, not even bothering to turn off the light or close the door to the closet. She backed out of the room and closed the door, allowing her hand to linger on the door and closing her eyes as a way for them, her family, to know that she wasn't trying to minimize her feeling for them or what they had done for her or forget them, but she was having difficulty coping with the loss of them 5 yrs later.
After slipping the clothes for AJ under the door she walked over to the large plate glass patio door and looked at the snow capped mountain, trees and the horizon as the sun greeted the new day. She felt restless, but didn't understand why. She felt skittish, but there was no reason for it. Where were these feelings coming from.
Suddenly she felt like she was being undressed with someone's eyes... But she whirled around and looked and no one was near.
She walked to the bed and looked at watch. It read 4:36 am. "Pfft, damned piece of Jap Crap." She grumbled, throwing it across the room. It hit the wall with thump.
She put her head in her hands and tried to collect herself. Betrayed? Why did she feel so lost suddenly? Why did she feel so alone? Where was it coming from?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a watery chirp sound from across the room. It took a minute for it to register in her mind. "Ah SHEEEE-YOT! M'PHONE!" She exclaimed, jumping up and racing to where her and AJ's clothing sat soggily on the floor. She dug through them and found it. "Eeeeewwww." It was soggy alright. It sounded like it was waterlogged. She picked it up by the antenna. "Screw it!" she groused flipping it open and answering it.
"Hell-o." she shouted.
"HEEEELLL-OOOOOOOOO" Nothing.
"HEY! If ya kin her' me, call me back later!" She said slamming it shut and pitching it in the same direction as the watch. It too landed with a thump.
She plopped down onto the bed and grumbled. "From now on I'm buying 'Merican."
She put her head in her hands and tried to keep her thoughts straight, but it felt like someone was using a scrambler on all of her frequencies, and nothing was making a helluva lot of sense. "Gawd dis sucks."
She didn't hear the shower turn off or AJ open the door to the bathroom. So she was startled by his voice. "Yes, yes, this does suck. But on a positive note I didn't use all of the hot water." He said dryly.
She looked up sharply, a smile creased her lips at the site of him in Poppy's huge turtleneck and Ferdy's jeans. "Dat look fit's ya." She said failing to keep a straight face.
He shook his head. "The shirt is HUGE, but really warm. I had to roll up the sleeves a little." He could tell that she was trying rather miserably to keep from laughing at him. She was putting her dreads behind her ear and nodding her head a little too enthusiastically and biting her lip. But her eyes showed with mischief.
"HEY! At least the pants fit in the waist! They're just an inch or NINE too long." She burst into laughter falling on her side as he toward her but had to stop half way across the room to roll the pant legs under so he didn't fall flat on his face.
He was relieved that she wasn't the least bit awkward around him. He had been worried that she would act differently, but she wasn't, yet.
She approached him with a Cheshire grin on her face. "We-e-elp, it's not like I didn' warn ya none bout m'kin being giants." She said trying desperately not to laugh as she reached up and readjusted his collar and the shoulders so that it didn�t look like he had just rolled out of bed.
"Yes, yes you did. Thanks for the note, by the way, otherwise I would have been completely lost in there." He acknowledged.
She look into his eyes and frowned, they were red rimmed and watery. "Are ya sure yer okay?" She asked cautiously.
He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "Yeah, I'm fine, really."
She looked at his for a long moment. "Ooookay, I'm taken' yer word fer it." She said backing off a little. "Make yerself comfy. The only rooms that ya kaynt go into are locked. Oh, and there are shoes and socks in the coat closet of varyin' sizes an' such. I don't know if any'll fit. But it's something, and they won't be soggy." She said as she readjusted her cover around her body. Just as she was about to close the door she turned to him one last time. "Just do me a favor and don't break nuthin."
"Got it boss lady." He said flashing her the thumbs up. She rolled her eyes and slammed the door shut.
He turned back around and sighed heavily thankful she let it be. If she knew the kind of tumult that was going on inside his head and heart she might not have been so easily convinced to leave him alone.
But he was trying not to dwell on himself for too long otherwise he'd just be crying all the time and needing a drink, and he didn't need that. He needed to be strong right now.
For Michael.
For Carly.
For everyone that was counting on him.
He had to distract himself from the pain and the ache otherwise it would consume him. 'I can do this. I can do this.' He told himself as he slowly walked around the living room and stopped at the fireplace. He poked at it for a bit before carefully putting more in. The last thing they needed was for either one of them to go hypothermic.... again.
As he stood up and replaced the fireplace gate/guard he look notice of the mantle. It was like an explosion had gone off at a one-hour photo studio with countless framed 4x6 photos and one really big one and other smaller ones, all lovingly framed. But he only recognized two people. Azora and Eduardo.
Which was odd because to the best of recollection they were only business partners. They even had two different last names. They had never mentioned knowing each other before hand. For that fact they had never mentioned BEING children.
His brow furrowed in confusion as he mulled over what he did know about Azora and Eduardo. And it wasn't long before he realized something. Outside of the very basic, generic, bare bones information, he didn't know Azora or Eduardo from a whole in the wall.
"Hrmmm..." He wondered to himself as he looked at the portraits some more.
Azora and Eduardo looking very serious and somber, wearing black. Him in black jeans and black shirt. Her wearing a black long sleeved button down shirt, black slacks, her hair in mini micro braids. Eduardo had his arm around her waist and was glaring at the photographer, or the person looking at him, or the person looking at the picture, with a glare that could have killed someone. While Azora's face was neither passive, nor aggressive, it was as though her eyes were vacant, neither seeing or to be seen, but her facial expression read "bring it" in bold faced letters, and her arms were folded over her chest.
There were two or three pictures of Eduardo and Azora and 5 or 6 other people he didn't recognize, out in the snow, smiling, happy, and again, Eduardo's hand was on Azora's hip.
There were photos of just one boy and one girl scattered in frames along the mantel. As well as posed ones of two adults.
As he got to the end of mantel he stopped and gasped. There was an entire wall of nothing but black and white pictures of all of them in different poses and groups.
He stood there in awe at first. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. It was like a shrine to them in black and white pictures.
He looked closely at one picture. It was 3 boys and one girl. The oldest looking one of the four had long black hair and dark cool eyes. Next to him stood a chiseled younger boy with defined cheek bones and nose and forehead and short spiky hair, and eyelids that didn't prevent him from seeing out, but almost one from seeing his eyes. Next to him stood Eduardo with mussed hair and face serious, he was no beauty, like the others, and it showed how little any of the three cared. And directly in front of them sat Azora, whose eyes were looking in the exact opposite direction of the others who were facing the camera, but peering just to the left of it. He looked closer and could see that each boy held a dread lock in his hand, not pulling it, but almost protecting her, ready to grab her and run if someone were to threaten her.
Upon closer inspection he realized that each person had a vertical row of pictures devoted to them, one photo by themselves, one photo with of each of them with one of the others, them groups of three, and then four and so on.
None of the people looked sad or mad, but there were very few of them that were smiling.
In the center there were four larger 12x10 lengthwise pictures. One of all 3 girls and an older woman. One of all three boys and an older gentleman wearing a preacher's collar. One of all 6 children, boys standing behind the girls, with Eduardo standing behind Azora; he wore a simple tuxedo bit the tie was undone and laid haphazardly from his shirt which wasn't buttoned all the way up. And Azora was wearing a black spaghetti strapped ankle length dress. The older boy and girl other similarly dressed were to their right and the younger two were to the left. And the last picture was of all 8, looking happy, vibrant all dressed in white hugging each other and laughing on a beach.
Azora stepped out of the bathroom smiling as she dried her hair with a towel. She looked around the room for AJ and when she found him her smile slipped away.
"Oh, ya found em." She stated simply, as she crossed the room and moved to stand next to him.
He had been so lost in thought that he hadn't heard anything until her voice rang in his ears. He turned around and could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't exactly thrilled that he had noticed the wall.
"Um... Yeah.." He answered awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "I... I guess the last time I was here I wasn't exactly in the best state of mind to notice it."
The quiet that ensued was deafening. "I didn't realize that you and Eduardo..."
"No one does." She said a little too snappishly for even her liking. She winced. "Listen, its too dadgum complicated t'even begin t'explain..."
"You don't have too." He said quickly. "I remember, I read the confidentiality agreement before I started working for you guys. 'Don't ask, Don't tell, Don't worry, it's not illegal.' It's pretty self-explanatory."
He was willing to drop it. That impressed her. But she felt like he deserved a better explanation. Just as she was about to say something he beat her to it.
"You amaze me, you know."
Her eyebrow rose curiously. "How so."
"Here we are, talking like nothing happened, like nothing is different, and last night... Last night..." He shook his head sharply. "We had SEX!!!" He paled, his hands covering his face and then slowly pulling them down to cover his mouth. "We had unprotected sex." He said hoarsely, closing his eyes tightly.
"You could be pregnant."
She shook her head no, sadly.
"Yes Azora, it only takes once ."
He needed to sit down, before he collapsed entirely. He shakily walked over to the dinning area and sat down on one of the chairs.
He lifted his eyes heavenward. "Am I doomed to perpetuate the same mistake over and OVER and OVER again? To screw up, sleep with one of the FEW people that doesn't hate me, and get her pregnant." He asked. He moaned putting his head in his hands. "First Carly, now you. Who next? SKYE!?" He asked with a cynical harsh barking laughter.
Azora approached him slowly, and sat next to him. "I wouldn't worry about me gettin' knocked up, AJ."
He looked at her with hopeful eyes. "You're on the pill?"
She shook her head. "Nope." His face dropped again. "But afer ya go on tellin' me dat it only takes 'one time, lemme 'splain." She took a deep breath. "It's physically impossible fer me to get pregnant."
Just as he was about to say something they heard screeching tires. They both jumped to their feet.
"Who's that?" He asked curiously.
"I don' know!" She replied panicked. "No one know bout this place. It's a secret." Her heart was pounding and all she could remember her Poppy's words. "No one knows nothin bout this here cabin. If we're gone or asleep an ya hear someone pull up, you run! I don' ker how much ya love us. RUN! Yer safety more important to us than anything else 'Zora. Don' warn us, don' grab nothin' but yer nap sap an my wallet an I'll understand. Ya her' me yungin? Ya run like yer life depends on it! Cause it DOES!"
AJ saw that she was that was backing away from him and grabbed her by the arms. "Azora, just chill."
"No! No one knows nothin' bout this place, AJ. I kayn't stay her'... I'm gonna get us kilt!!" She blurted out and tried to pull away.
Someone was banging on the door.
"Lemme GO AJ!!!" She shouted desperately. "Please AJ! Ya don' unnerstand!!!" "AZORA!!!" Someone shouted from the other side of the door. "OPEN UP!!!" He hollered banging on the door.
"I'm just going to see who it is Azora. No one's going to hurt you." He said patiently.
"NO!" She screamed grabbing him and pulling him into the kitchen. "Ya jus don' get it! Ya kaynt! It'll getcha kilt too!"
"AZORA!!!" Came the shout again. "Just open the door and this all be over."
~*~*~*~
Eduardo looked at Gia stricken. "Why isn't she answering?"
She shrugged. "Maybe it's squatters or something. Why don't we just open the door. You said it your self, she doesn't lock the door." She said grabbing the doorknob with her gloved hand.
"No, don't." He grabbed her hand and jerked it away. "She'll FREAK!"
She looked at him foreign. "You know it would REALLY help if I had some kind of Kortez/Jade-things-not-to-do-to-make-us-FREAK-out list or something." She snapped.
"I just can't risk it."
She rolled her eyes. "How about telling her who we are Einstein?"
He looked at her oddly. "You mean..."
"Nope, you haven't you..."
"Oh... Shi..."
*~*~*~*~
"AJ it's not safe, please, I'm dealin' with a lotta ISH right now, the LEAST of m'worries is gettin' yer ass kilt coz ya wanna answer the dayumed door!"
"Azora!!! It's Eduardo!!! You can open the door!!! We're here to get you dawlin!"
Her rigged body relaxed and she recognized the voice. She ran into the living room and threw open the door. "'Duardo!"
He took one step in and pulled her into a bear hug.
"I'm sorry, Duardo..."
"Don' NEVER do that to me again!"
"I'm so sorry..."
Gia stepped around the two and saw AJ slumped on the couch looking worse for wear.
"Hey, are you okay?" She asked tentatively touching his arm.
He raised his head from his hand and looked at her with tears in his eyes. "I think I just survived the night from HELL." He said hoarsely before putting his head in his hands.
"Yes, I think you have." She agreed sadly and rested her hand on his back.