| Chapter 6 Nick sat on his bed putting his shoes on, getting ready to go to the venue. When he looked up, it was straight into the dark blue eyes of a stranger. Nick stood up quickly, noticing several more men in his room, "No, leave me alone!" The men said nothing but came at him. Nick fought with all he had but they had the upper hand. The men wrestled him to the floor and bound his hands behind his back. "Don't take me please! I didn't do anything!" Nick screamed as they brought him to his feet and shoved him to the door. Nick dug his feet into the carpet, hoping to at least slow them down. Didn't anyone hear him screaming? Where were the guards he was suppose to have? One of the men glared at him, "Stop fighting us, you cannot win." Nick struggled against them, screaming at the top of his lungs, "Help me! Please!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian sat on the couch reading the morning paper. He had ordered room service, but decided to let Nick sleep as long as possible. He heard a knock on the door, and walked over, expecting it to be room service. He opened the door, surprised to see the guys along with Agents Dawson and Neely. "Hey," Kevin said, walking in, "Nick up yet?" "No, he didn't sleep much last night so I was letting him sleep in," Brian answered. "Good, he needs his rest," Howie said, sitting on the couch, "I don't think I'd be able to sleep at all if I was him." "Me either," A.J. said, "I had a hard time getting to sleep myself last night, I can't imagine what Nicky is going through." Brian sighed, "He feels lost and scared." "Rightly so," Tamara said, "We were hoping we would never have to tell him who he was." Kevin glared at her, "And how many others are here just like Nick, that don't know who they are?" Tom met his gaze, "There are none in the situation that Nick is in." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick pulled against the hands that held him, "No please don't take me!" He saw something out of the corner of his eye, and looked over. One of the men had drawn something that resembled a gun, aiming it at him. Nick frantically glanced around the room, trying to find some way out of this. There wasn't one. He looked straight at the man with tears in his eyes, "Please don't kill me." The mans face was expressionless as he pulled the trigger. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, as Nick watched several golden waves of light come at him. When they hit, his body stiffened under their power, then darkness consumed him. Nick sat straight up in bed, gasping for air. He looked around the room with wide eyes, for his assailants. After a moment, he realized it was a dream. No, not a dream, a nightmare. He lifted a shaking hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He forced himself to take deep breaths to calm down. When he could no longer hear his heart pounding in his head, that's when he noticed the hushed voices coming from the other room. He listened for a moment, but couldn't understand what was being said, so he got up and padded across the room to the door. It had been left ajar just enough for him to see the guys sitting on the couch talking to the agents. He stood there unnoticed and listened. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Why don't I believe you?" Kevin said with an edge in his voice. Tom sighed, "Listen, we didn't come here to debate others plights, we came here to protect Nick." "You really believe they'll kill him if they get him?" Howie asked. Tamara nodded, "Yes we do." "But why?" Brian asked, "Why not just leave him here then? Why search for him all these years just to take him back and kill him? It doesn't make sense." "You're right it doesn't, to us. But you have to understand that their race is defined by their looks. Nick is a variation they've never seen before. So to them, to preserve their race, they have to study him. See why he's the way he is so they can prevent it from happening again," Tom said. "That's just stupid," A.J. said shaking his head, "You can't define something by how it looks. It's what's on the inside that defines a person." "Alex, you have to understand that is a very human belief. Not all the worlds we deal with think that way," Tamara said. Brian looked at her, "How much do you know about his race? I'm sure he's got a lot of questions." "We know enough to deal with them on a diplomatic basis," Tom said. "No, I'm not talking about dealing with them, I'm talking about what they're like," Brian said, "You see Nick does some things that to us seem strange, but to him come natural. Can you tell him if that's something these Angel's do or not?" "We can try and answer his questions, but I'll admit, we don't know everything about them," Tamara said. Nick opened the door and walked out. He would've liked to have stayed hidden to see where the conversation would go next, but he couldn't any longer. His hands were shaking, but not from fear this time. He knew if he didn't eat soon, he'd be ill. Everyone watched as he walked to the small table and sat down, picking up the room service menu. "I already ordered," Brian said, "It should be here any minute." "Thanks, I'm starving," Nick said, propping his head up with his hand and looking at everyone. "Um, we came to let ya know that the teams are in place," Kevin said. Nick nodded, wishing the food would hurry up and get there. It was getting hard for him to hide his hands. "Are you alright?" Tamara asked. "Yeah, I just didn't eat much yesterday," he answered. She glanced at Tom, then walked over and sat down next to him. "Did you eat anything sweet yesterday?" she asked. "Not much, why?" he asked. She smiled at him, "Because the majority of what Angels eat is sweet. It's like protein is to us, you need it to survive." "I'll be damned," A.J. said, "We just thought he was a candy junkie." Just then a knock came at the door and Kevin answered it. It was room service. The man pushed the cart over next to the table and left. Nick looked at what Brian had ordered and smiled. "Thanks Bri," he said, grabbing his plate of scrambled eggs and the jar of honey. "No problem," Brian said, taking his own plate and sitting down, "You know I don't mind if you eat that in front of me." Nick poured the honey over his eggs and mixed them up. He could see the grossed out looks on everyone's faces, but he didn't care. He was craving this. He took a bite, savoring the flavor in his mouth. He sighed as he felt his hands begin to steady and his energy began to come back up. "Starting to feel better?" Tamara asked. He nodded, "What else can you tell me?" "Well, we know you need sugars like we need protein," Tom said. "And that some of our food is poisonous to you," Tamara added. "Like what?" they all asked. "Like asparagus and artichokes," she said. Nick laughed, "No wonder I always get sick when I eat those. Mom used to try and make me eat them when I was younger. I'd take one bite and in like five minutes I was puking." "They can kill you in large amounts," Tom said. "Don't have to worry bout that," Nick said, "Not planning on eating them ever again." "What about his obsession with his food being in the right place before he eats it?" A.J. asked. "That is an Angel trait as well," Tom said, "They are very ritualistic. Things have to be just right before they go on with whatever they're doing." A.J. laughed, "And we just thought you were nuts. Who knew?" Nick smiled at him as he continued to eat. "But if Nick was brought here when he was only a month old, how does he know to do these things?" Kevin asked. "He was born with a basic knowledge of them," Tamara answered. "Born with it?" Howie asked. "Yes, they aren't like our children. Our children are born with a clean slate so to speak. We must teach them everything. Not so with Angel children. They are born with a general knowledge of their most ingrained habits. So even though Nick never grew up there, he will display the same habits as those that did," Tom explained. Nick finished eating and took a sip of his coffee, "Would I um, would I know what things looked like even though I've never actually seen them?" "It's possible, why?" she asked. "I have this reoccurring dream. I've had it since I can remember. I'm in a field of some kind of flower I've never seen before and there are two suns in the sky above me," Nick said. "What does the flower look like?" Tom asked. "It's blueish gray. It kinda reminds me of a rose, but without the thorns and its small with rectangular petals," Nick said. "That's Tsars Might," Tamara said, "It's the flower they always give to visiting dignitaries. I believe it's their favorite flower." Nick smiled, taking another sip of his coffee. A quiet joy filled him as he realized he wasn't insane. There was a reason that he did the things he did. That even though he didn't look like the others, he still displayed their habits. If only he had looked like everyone else, he might have fit in..... actually belonged. A.J. pulled him from his thoughts. "Oh does he have like some kind of super power? Ya know like Superman, he's normal on his planet but here he has some extra abilities that no one else does?" he asked. Nick couldn't help it, he burst out laughing, "J you've been watching to many movies. Don't you think if I did, I woulda figured them out by now?" A.J. shrugged, "You never know." The guys looked at the agents. They didn't seem to think it was all that funny. "What? I don't do I?" Nick asked. "We aren't sure," Tom said, "Some of the Angels we've dealt with do seem to have some extra abilities. But they don't flaunt them, and it's more a feeling I have, than actually seeing it, but it's possible." A.J. grinned, "I've got the perfect costume for you," he went on excitedly, "A black pair of tights with a blue shirt and cape. You can have a big N in the middle of the shirt." Everyone laughed. "Big N?" Nick asked. "Yeah for super Nicky!" A.J. said. Nick threw his napkin at A.J.'s head, but missed. He got up and headed to his room laughing, "Well super Nicky is taking a shower," then he put his hands in front of him as if he were flying and ran into his room, shutting the door behind him to the laughter of everyone. Chapter 7 |