"What do you think that was all about?" Gage whispered.
Jessie stepped away, her eyes locked on the retreating woman. "Lady Oran de Nathair." she hissed.
"What?"
"That was all about evil." Jessie growled. She glanced back at her man. Then spun about and hurried back to her club. "Gage, I'm leaving town. Look after the joint."
With a wave of his hand, Gage mumbled "Don't I always?" He didn't know if she heard. Didn't matter. She knew he knew his job and that was there was to it. That was the problem working for a bounty hunter.
**********
A small hand set on his bare chest and gently shook him. Buckaroo's eyes snapped open, his hand reaching up to grab the intruder. His grip softened when he realized who it was. Smiling, he reached up and carressed her cheak. "Peggy." he breathed. Every morning he woke to her shining face was the best morning of his life.
But she wasn't smiling.
Buckaroo sat up. "What's wrong?"
"You better come down stairs." was all she would say.
Most everyone was in the cafateria. They looked up as Peggy and Buckaroo walked in. "What's going on?" Buckaroo wanted to know. He was steadly going from curiose to concern to freaked out. Particulary when he saw so many of the Institute's residences up and about at 6am. It was nearly impossible to get most of them up before noon without a nucular blast. Many were still in their night clothes.
Rawhide glanced around at the others, settling on Mrs Johnson, the young receptionist and contact person for the Institute, to speak for them.
Mrs Johnson glared at Buckaroo. "He's leaving!" she annouced.
"Leaving?" Buckaroo glanced around to see who was missing. "Who?"
"Perfect Tommy!" the irate girl snapped. "Who do you think?"
Reno reached out and put a restraining hand on the girl's shoulder. Everyone knew how Mrs Johnson felt about her family at the Institute. It was her only family. Her life began and ended with the people within these walls. In that, she had found a common thread with Perfect Tommy, though neither would ever speak of it. This was all either of them had. And she did not like the idea of losing him.
Rawhide rubbed his chin. "He's outside, packing his saddlebags into his car."
Buckaroo sighed, dropping his chin to his chest. After a moment, he looked up at them. "We knew this might happen."
"This is going too far!" Johnson protested, her voice taking on a note of desperation. "We could lose him!"
Buckaroo stepped over to stand in front of her. "We won't lose him." he promised, hoping he counded more sure than he felt. The he stepped passed her and headed out the glass french doors leading out to the patio. He closed the door behind him, letting them know that he was not to be followed.
Perfect Tommy's red corvett was parked at the edge of the patio. He was trying to rearange the trunk so as to fit his duffel bag. he barely glanced up when Buckaroo walked over and leaned against the hood of the car.
Banzai offered a smile. "Problem with these things: no trunk space."
"I'm sure with your collective genius you can fix the problem." Tommy mumbled. Giving up on stratagy, he turned to pure violence to slam his bag in, punching it until it looked, more or less, like he might be able to shut the trunk... if he slammed it hard enough.
Buckaroo ran his fingers through his hair. "White flag, Tommy. It's just you and me."
Slamming the trunk closed. Tommy glanced around, then stepped over and leaned against the car beside his friend. "White flag." he agreed.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Tom?"
Perfect Tommy glanced skyward, chuckling. Finally, with a shake of his head, he looked at Buckaroo. "I need to do this." he said softly.
Buckaroo licked his lips. "Alot of folks are worried about you, buddy."
Tommy glanced at the cafateria windows. The occupants quickly turned away, trying to hide the fact that they had been spying. he smiled slightly. "Tell them I'll be fine." he said before climbing into his car.
Buckaroo grabbed the door before it could be closed. "Tom..."
"You know, folks generally don't call me just plain ol' Tom unless they're being dead seriouse." he grinned one of his amazingly charming grins. "Seriouse doesn't suit you, Bucky ol' pal."
Banzai smiled despite himself. "Look after yourself, Tom. And if you need anything... anything at all..."
perfect Tommy waved a hand. "I'll keep in touch."
Buckaroo nodded slightly. "Just remember: it's never too late to change your mind."
His friend flashed him one last grin, then closed the door and drove away.
Dr Buckaroo Banzai watched until he could no longer see the car. "He'll be fine. " he repeated, wishing he sounded more sure than he felt.
**********
Perfect Tommy sat on the hood of his car, tossing pebles into the duck pond. A particularly vicious looking goose with an angery bark made him tankful that there was a fence around the pond. He really wished he knew what he was doing here. Putting aside the fact that he was practicly allergic to nature, being a pure blooded city boy (he was already going through concrete withdraw), he was all alone, cut off from friends, from family. And he did it all himslef!
"Fancy meeting you here."
Tommy glanced left, expecting to see a tall, redhead beauty. What he saw was a small, dark spit fire. "Miss James? What are you doing here?"
Jessie shrugged. "I'm in town to help out a friend. And yourself? It's a long ways from home."
Perfect Tommy threw another pebbles in the water, upsetting the goose all over again. "Well, home is on the road.... for a while, anyway."
jessie took a pebble from his hand and tossed it at the water. "Interoir disputes have a habit of doing that." she remarked. "Do me a favor?"
Tommy looked her over. It came to him in a flash that he might do anything she asked. "Depends."
Her green eyes locked with his. "Just because you're running away, doesn't mean you have to run to something." she said softly. "And if you're gonna jump into bed, make sure it isn't filled with snakes."
Tommy frowned. She knew... but what did she know that he didn't? Before he could ask for details, she turned climbed into a beat-up truck, and drove away.
Puzzled, Tommy turned back to his anti-fan goose. "Just keeps getting better and better." he mumbled.
