| Chapter 36 "Man I thought we'd never convince him to let us go," Nick said, sitting down in the co-piolets seat. Brian laughed, "I'm still not sure he's convinced you're fine without him." "I know, so take off before he changes his mind," Nick said, strapping in, and looking out the window at Rowland. He smiled and waved as the transport lifted off and headed in the direction of Fremont. Nick watched as Brian maneuvered around the coral reef. "I still can't believe you can fly these things," he said. Brian glanced at him and smiled, "It's really easy once you get the hang of it. Wanna try when we get off the reef and out in the open?" Nick's eye's lit up, "Yeah!" Brian flipped on the intercom, "You guys might wanna stay strapped in for a while." "Why's that?" Ana asked. "Well, Nick's gonna take a few flying lessons," Brian said. Ana and Marie glanced at one another, then both tightened their seatbelts. "OK, just let us know when it's safe," Ana laughed. "Hey! I can't be that bad," Nick protested. "So where was Anthony taking the guys today?" Brian asked, as he flew through a large hole in the coral. "Um, to the theater and then the museums," Nick answered, looking back at the hole they'd just come through. Brian chuckled, "I'm sure A.J.'s gonna love that." Nick looked back at Brian, "You never know. He might find something interesting." Brian looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "In a museum? This is J we're talking about." Nick laughed, "Well if anything he can make it interesting. He's got the weirdest imagination of any human being I've ever seen." "Ain't that the truth," Brian agreed, clearing the reef and heading out into the open sea. "OK Nicky, this is where you take over," Brian said. Suddenly Nick was nervous, "Um what do I do?" "Feet on the petals, hand on the stick, other hand on the lever," Brian said, "Your feet control your pitch, the stick steers and the lever is like your gas petal." "OK," Nick said, glancing around him making sure he had a hold of everything. Brian took his feet off the petals and let go of the stick, "Alright man, it's yours." Nick concentrated on looking ahead and keeping the ship in the upright position. When he started off course Brian would tell him what to do to correct it. After a few minutes Nick glanced over, "This is pretty easy." Brian nodded, laughing, "Yeah, going straight tends to be." Nick stuck his tongue out at him, then put all his concentration back into flying. Brian let Nick fly for the better part of an hour. He had to keep himself from laughing at his younger friend. Nick was so nervous and biting his lip as he flew. Brian looked down at the screen and saw they would be hitting the reef again soon. "OK lessons over," he said, taking the controls back. Nick let go and relaxed, "Man, I'm tired." Brian laughed, "Well next time remember to breathe, it helps a lot." Nick laughed, "All I could see was news headlines reading, king steers transport into underwater mountain." Brian laughed, "Speaking of, take a look." Nick looked out the window seeing the largest mountain he'd ever seen, "Whoa, do we go over that?" Brian grinned, shaking his head, "Through." Nick looked at him like he was crazy. Brian just smiled, flipping the lights on and heading into the enormous cave. Nick held onto his chair arms so tight his knuckles were white as they raced through the cave and out into the reef. Brian seemed to enjoy seeing just how close he could get to the enormous reef without actually hitting it. And every time Nick would grip his seat a little tighter. Finally they could see the city ahead of them. They got clearance to enter the shield, then headed in the direction of Ana and Marie's neighborhood. "Man, there's a lot of traffic," Nick said. "It's not to bad. Reminds me of LA," Brian said, veering down to the neighborhood. He sat the ship down in front of Marie's parents house. "We're here," he called as he flipped the switches and shut down the transport. Ana and Marie waited on the two before stepping out. "Please tell me you weren't flying when we went into the cave," Ana said as Nick followed her down the ramp. He laughed, "Um no, I was hanging on for dear life." Marie laughed, "So was I." Brian took her hand and smiled, "What? You don't like my flying?" She grinned, "I love you're flying. I'm just not fond of going through caves at warp speed." "Marie!" someone called from the house. Marie looked up to see her mom and dad come out to greet them. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming?" her mother asked. "Your highness," her father said, kneeling, dragging his wife down with him, "We are honored to have you here." Nick smiled, motioning for them to get up, "Thank you. Marie is a good friend of mine, and I'm honored to meet her family." Marie grinned as her parents shot her the �you never told us any of this' look. "And Ana, it's been to long," Marie's mother said, hugging her. "It has, you look great," Ana replied. "Mom, dad, this is Brian Littrell," Marie said, introducing him. Brian stepped up and shook her fathers hand, "Nice to meet you." Her father nodded, but Brian could tell he didn't understand him. "Um .. Good to meet you," he said, glancing at Marie to make sure it was right. She nodded as her father smiled, "Good to meet you too Brian. I'm Maurice and this is Cathy." "Well, come in," Cathy said, ushering them into the house, "No since standing outside all day." The group went in and got settled. Cathy had them all something to eat and drink in no time and they were all catching up with each other. Maire told her family all about running into Ana again and then meeting Nick and Brian. Brian listened, not really being able to join the conversation that much since he only knew a few phrases in Angel. Pretty soon Cathy had Ana and Marie in the kitchen, leaving Nick and Brian alone with Maurice. The three glanced at one another and smiled, not sure what to say now that the girls were out of the room. Brian took a deep breath, knowing this would probably be his one and only chance to do this. "Nick, can you translate something for me?" he asked. "Sure," Nick said. Brian looked at Maurice, "Sir, I know you just met me, and you don't know anything about me, but I want to tell you that I love your daughter. I've loved her from the moment I saw her, and I can't imagine my life without her in it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I want to marry her, and I'm asking for your permission to ask her." As Nick translated he slowly moved his gaze to Brian, complete shock registering on his face. Brian bit his lip waiting for Maurice to say something. He had the same look as Nick, and it worried Brian. If he said no, that was it. Their customs demanded the blessing from the parents, without it the marriage couldn't happen. Maurice took a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking straight into Brian's eyes. "You've only known my daughter for a short time, are you sure about this?" he asked. Brian nodded, "Yes sir." "And if you marry, where will you live? Here or on Earth?" Maurice asked. Brian panicked, he hadn't thought about that at all. He just assumed that at some point he would go back to Earth. "I don't know," he admitted. Maurice glanced at Nick as he translated. "And how will you support her?" he asked. "I sing in a group. We're pretty famous on Earth, we've done very well for ourselves. Supporting her won't be a problem," Brian said. Maurice rubbed his forehead as he thought, after a moment he looked back to Brian. "Marie has called home a few times and told her mother of a young man she was in love with. I'm assuming that young man is you. She told of how he made her feel complete and that she wanted nothing else than to be with him for the rest of her life. Who am I to take her happiness from her?" he said. Brian's heart caught in his throat, "Then I can ask her?" Maurice nodded, "You may ask her." "Thank you!" Brian said, almost coming out of his seat with excitement. Nick laughed at his friend, but felt a pang of jealousy at the same time. Maurice smiled as Brian blushed, "Just continue to make her happy." "I will sir," Brian said, with the happiest smile Nick had ever seen on his friend. After a little while the girls returned. "What's everyone smiling about?" Marie asked. "Nothing," all three said. The girls looked at one another then giggled, obviously having shared their own secrets. Marie sat down beside Brian as the console in the center table beeped. Maurice reached over and hit the button, smiling as a young man appeared, "Devon, how are you?" Devon smiled, "Good dad, I was just wondering how you and Cathy are." "Doing well, you sister is here too. Surprised us with a visit," Maurice said. Devon smiled even wider, "Really? Hey sis, long time huh?" Marie moved to where the camera's would pick her up, "Yeah it is. Funny how we live in the same city and don't see each other for years," she said rather unenthusiastically. "Now sis, you know I'm busy and I'm sure you are too. But I wanna remedy that. Let's get together when you get back, you can catch me up on what's going on. I saw you on the vid .... hanging out with the king now, fancy stuff," Devon said, sounding impressed. Nick laughed, then clamped his hand over his mouth. Marie shot him a glance. "Is someone else there? I'm interrupting something aren't I?" Devon asked. "No son you aren't. Listen, when are you gonna come for a visit? I'd love to see you," Maurice asked. "Soon I hope. I'll let ya know. Anyway, I've gotta get to work, so I'll see you soon," Devon said, "And sis, call me when you get back." Marie nodded as the transmission ended. "You have a brother?" Brian asked. She shrugged, "Half brother. We don't see much of each other." "Oh," Brian said, taking her hand and smiling at her. She looked at him, wondering what he was up to. He had that look in his eyes. The one that said, �I know something that you don't'. "What?" she asked. He shook his head, "Nothing." "Uh huh, is that gonna be your answer for everything today?" she asked, nudging him. He grinned, "I dunno, depends on the question I guess." Marie rolled her eyes, laughing. Cathy had sat down next to her husband and he quietly filled her in on his conversation with Brian. Nick had also told Ana, so when Marie looked back over at everyone they were all grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "What?" she asked. "Nothing," they all replied. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The group had stayed at Marie's the better part of the day. When they left they walked down the street to the house that Ana grew up in. The family that lived there was more than happy to let them in to see the place. More like flabbergasted that the king was standing on their doorstep. After they saw the house they got back in the transport, and Brian followed Ana's instructions until they reached a large park at the edge of the city. Once there they got out and headed down a trail. "What is this place?" Brian asked, looking around. "Cemetery," Marie said quietly, slowing down. Brian watched Ana and Nick disappear up the trail, "Why are we here?" "To see Ana's family," she answered. "Oh, I didn't know," he stammered. Marie nodded, "This is the first time she's been back since it happened." "What happened?" he asked as they found a bench and sat down to wait. "Krystal," she said. Brian was confused, "The drug?" She nodded, "Her father got hooked on it. One night his supplier cut him off because he couldn't pay for it, so in a rage he came home and tore the house apart. Ana's mom tried to stop him, but he pushed her away. She tripped and fell down the stairs, the fall killed her instantly. When her father realized what he'd done, he killed himself." "Oh my God, how awful," Brian said, his heart going out to Ana. She nodded, "I still can't believe she came back. She said nothing would ever make her come back here." Brian smiled, "I guess she didn't count on falling in love huh?" Marie shook her head, "No she didn't." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick blinked back tears as Ana softly told him the story. They were standing in front of two small markers. "Ana, I'm so sorry," he apologized, "If I'd known I would have never asked you to bring me here." She shook her head, "It's alright. In a way I needed to come back. I missed this place." "I never wanted to cause you pain though," he said, stepping closer and taking her hand in his. "You didn't Nick," she said. Nick lifted her head, making her look at him instead of the markers, "Tell me about them, before the drugs." She smiled, "They were the best parents anyone could ask for. Mom always made me an after school snack, and dad would always take us somewhere on the weekends. They always told me how much they loved me, and I never had to ask for anything. It was almost like their whole lives revolved around my wants and needs." "They sounded like great parents," Nick said. Ana nodded, "They were. I miss them a lot." Nick wrapped his arm around her and held her as she fought to keep her tears at bay. After a few moments she wiped her face and cleared her throat, "We should get back. It'll be late before we get back to Dacadia." She turned to leave when Nick gently pulled her back, and quickly kissed her. "Thank you for sharing this with me. I know it was hard for you," he whispered. Ana smiled, nodding her head. If she tried to say something she was sure her voice would break. Nick took her hand and they slowly walked back to the transport, ready for the ride back. Chapter 37 |