Amber
Chapter 3 - The Morning After
@copyright Jean G Hontz and Sharon Pickrel
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Cayden fingered his hair back, absently reminding himself he needed a
haircut. But that was unlikely today. The morning briefing was about to start
and he was the day's star. Buffy had been giving him looks ever since he'd come
down to breakfast. He couldn't wait to find out what she'd discovered from the
bodies. He couldn't wait to tell them all that his little Fiona was from
another universe.
Lynne's remodeling had finally been completed a couple of weeks ago and Ash's
library was back to normal. It was like old times, except that Robyna was there
and Lynne sometimes sat in. And of course Chester would be perched on the desk
or on Ash's shoulder. And if the damn cat was anywhere close...it didn't bear
thinking about. The cat had killed Chester so many times it was like the old
Tweety Bird and Sylvester cartoons. Only he wasn't too sure which was which.
Cayden helped himself to a fresh cup of coffee from the tray Henry set on the
side board, one of the amenities Lynne had started, god bless her undead little
heart. Then he took a seat, choosing one on the aisle, near the windows where
he had a view of Central Park across the street. He grinned. Ash and Lynne
were still sneaking out at night to go hunting in the park and it was making
Buffy nuts, but she didn't dare say a word.
Ash was already behind his desk, checking the overnight e-mail traffic. Things
were stirring over in Jersey and he was working the next couple of nights. He
hated Jersey. On the other hand, Buffy had gotten wild and crazy the last time
they'd been to Jersey and he'd missed it. So maybe this was his chance. He
winked at her, leering just a bit. "You always have fun in Jersey, doncha
Buff?"
She glared at him, obviously just dying for the meeting to get started.
Lynne sauntered in sans cat for a change. She took a seat, sat back, and smiled
benignly at Cayden.
"Morning Lynne," Cayden said, echoed by Damon and Dec. Then he grinned at Robyna
as she sat in the last empty seat.
Ash swirled around from his computer, surveying his troops, his eyes lingering
on Lynne as they always did. "So, who wants to start?"
Cayden exchanged a glance with Buffy, winking at her again. She was planning
something, he was sure of it. "I probably should, to put things in context," he
said, taking a sip of coffee. "Seems Ms Gerard is a well traveled woman, being
born, she says, in a parallel universe. And the guests in the basement are
minions of folks who weren't bringing cookies from home." He gave them a second
to let that sink in, while he pushed aside the faint feeling of guilt over what
seemed like a betrayal of a confidence. Then he summarized what she'd told him,
repeating the more salient parts verbatim as he's trained himself to do on
occasions like this one.
"Ain't that just like you, Cay, getting messed up with an alien." Dec smirked
at him.
"Well, when I consider..."
"Don't even start, children," Ash said.
"The creatures Cay sent us are certainly not human. Not even close. I'm
surprised they look that much like us. Oh, and they got up and tried to spirit
away after they were dead, which was interesting," Buffy commented.
"Even the one divorced from his head?" Cayden was stunned. "She wasn't kidding
then that the only way to kill them was to go for the heart. What happened when
they did their ghoul imitation?"
I shot the crap out of them with an automatic. Generally speaking in the region
of the heart," Buffy replied.
"That's our Buffy," Damon commented. "Sweet and loving. A regular Florence
Nightingale."
"We're proud of you Buffy," Dec corroborated.
"So," Lynne interrupted before fists got thrown, "she's told that much truth.
How much do you think we can trust her, Cayden. Given that you're dying to get
her in bed."
He flushed. "I think she's worried, possibly scared. She's wary, not the
trusting type. So I think she'll hedge her bets, but she'll play it as straight
as she can. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like her pals are interested in anyone
but her."
"What does she want from you?" Lynne asked.
Cayden shrugged. "Right now? Probably she's wishing I'd just go away like
she's telling me to, so she doesn't have to worry about me on top of everything
else."
"And you think that's sincere?" Buffy asked. "Not some double secret way of
trying to rope you in? Appealing to your macho needs to protect some petite
little thing?"
He considered it seriously. He didn't want to, didn't like the thought of it at
all, but he did it anyway. "I'd say five to two against," he said finally.
"She's curious about us. Whether she was aware of the existence of folks out of
sci fi novels or not before this, I can't tell. But I don't really see how it
matters all that much at the moment. We'd be interested and maybe involved even
if it weren't on a personal level." He kept his face expressionless, his eyes
off Robyna.
"Well, that's certainly true," Ash said, leaning back in his chair. "But at the
moment I'm not sure what we can do besides maintain an interest."
"Are you planning to keep seeing her?" Lynne asked.
Cayden grinned. "Jealous?"
Lynne raised an eyebrow.
"Darn, and here I thought I was making headway." He rubbed his chin, thinking
for a moment. "She can defend herself. She's owned the bar for several years
and there's never been so much as a squeak of trouble anywhere around her before
this. So what I'd like to do is give her some room. Explain in a little more
detail what we do for fun and take it from there."
"What about Sal?" Damon asked, stirring from his abstraction.
Cayden glanced over at him. "No sense of power there if that's what you mean.
She said you wouldn't have any idea what kind of magic she has."
"No, I didn't. She hides it well. I would guess that, except for your peculiar
talent there, none of us would have realized," Damon said.
"Well that throw from center field was a tad amazing," Dec said. "It came in
smoking."
"True," Buffy agreed. "But then maybe she isn't all that cognizant of what a
normal human sportsman can do. She doesn't set off all my alarms, I'll say that
about her."
Ash swept them with his eyes, pausing for the briefest possible second on Robyna.
"Alright. As far as I can see there's no reason not to answer her questions to
the extend that good judgment and Buffy's paranoia about security allow. As for
the rest, you know the drill. The first sign of trouble, let us know."
Cayden nodded.
"Now, about Jersey, Buffy?" Ash said. "I gather Diego has moved across the
river? Do we know where?"
"I've got a good lead on it, boss. Thus the trip out there tonight. Wanna come
along?"
"You need to ask?" Ash said, his expression feral.
"We dressing up?" Cayden asked, hopeful.
"Oh yeah," Buffy replied.
"You guys have fun. I think I'm going to go out for a drink tonight," Lynne
said.
"Oh?" Ash said, his voice pleasant.
"Just need to get out a bit. No reason to worry Ash." Lynne's voice equally
pleasant.
Ash sent a look around the room. In seconds he and Lynne were alone, even
Chester taking the hint for a change. "Sweetheart?"
"She's alone and has taken a chance on trusting Cayden. I just think we should
show her a bit of trust back is all."
He moved around to the other side of the desk, drawing her with him to the
couch. "I wasn't aware we weren't," he said. "Cayden's going to answer her
questions, as much as he can. Beyond that I'm not sure what else we can do for
her at this point."
"See, that's what I mean. Cayden is showing her some trust, not us, at least not
that she can see. I just think if it were me, and I thought my family was out to
get me, and I was all alone, I'd like to think someone would be kind to me who
didn't have an obvious interest in more than just friendship."
"It must be because I'm a guy. Cayden would be doing this even if he wasn't
attracted to her, but that doesn't help does it." He pulled her close, kissing
her hair. "So how would you like us to show her some trust?"
"By me going there alone to have a drink and chat with her and Sal. I can zap
myself home if something bad happens. She won't know that."
He didn't like it, and she knew he didn't. His need to protect her hadn't
abated, it would probably never abate because there was nothing and no one in
this world or the next who was more important to him than she was. He also knew
that if something went down she wouldn't just zap herself home. She had too
much compassion in her to do that. When she cared, she cared all the way. He
moved his lips over her hair, savoring the silken softness. "You're going to be
the death of me, you know that don't you?"
"You've got to let me go now and again, Ash. I know it will be hard for you. But
I need to feel like I'm contributing something, yes? Trust that I'm not going
to do something stupid, okay? And I'll trust that you won't take unnecessary
risks either."
"I know, and I do. It isn't any of those things. And you don't need my
permission to come and go. But God, Lynne, if anything happened to you..." He
didn't go on, didn't point out that they still hadn't caught whoever was trying
to kill him and had almost killed her. They still didn't know who was
sabotaging his investments or why. She knew those things.
She met his eyes. "And you think my stomach doesn't clench up every time you go
out with Buffy and the boys? That my pseudo heartbeat doesn't stop when I hear
the phone ring when you're out?"
"I know it does. I'm not minimizing what you go through and I'd give anything
to spare you that." He smiled. "I could work on loving you less, if you think
it might help."
"Don't you dare," she threatened.
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