It's All Relative

by S. C. Stephens

  Her eyes still sweeping over him, she grinned widely and grasped his hand; her pale eyes widened at the skin to skin contact. “Wow, you are beautiful,” she matter-of-factly told him.

  Kai felt heat flood his cheeks as Louis beside him started chuckling. The woman didn’t look embarrassed in the least as she continued shaking his hand. She looked like she’d merely stated an observational fact.

  “Um…well, thank you?” Kai mumbled.

  She grinned wider and shook her head. “No, I’m serious. You are, by far, the most attractive researcher we’ve ever had out here. I look forward to working with you every day.” Kai flushed more, wanting to pull his hand back, but she still had it tight. “Name’s Missy. Missy Jones.”

  Kai flicked a glance at Louis, who shrugged and laughed at Kai’s obvious discomfort. Leaning in, he whispered, “I told you she’d like you.”

  Missy pulled on the hand that she was still shaking and started absconding with Kai down a hallway. Louis waved goodbye, still chuckling at him. Kai frowned at the change of events, and turned back to where this short, wiry woman was walking them down a tiled hallway. He noticed that she was wearing the same teal polo shirt and khaki slacks as Louis, and her belt had just as many gadgets, although, not a tranq gun. She opened a door, giving him a suggestive smile as she twisted the knob and backed into the room.

  Kai started to wonder just what she planned on doing with him, as she prattled on about the comings and goings of life at the research center. Flicking on a light, she pulled him all the way into the room and closed the door behind him. Confused, Kai scrunched his brows, until she pulled him over to a closet, then he breathed out a soft sigh of relief. They seemed to be in what looked like a storage room. Aside from the closet built in the wall, there were wire racks forming aisle ways in the large room. On the shelves were various computer parts, extra lab equipment, and a box labeled “lost and found”. Kai could just see the tip of what looked like a bright pink feather boa in that box.

  Shaking his head, he brought his attention back to Missy. She still hadn’t let go of him, and was now opening the closet. Rambling about the various men that had either worked here before or worked here now, she rummaged through a box. Giving him a once over, she stopped telling him about this guy who used to work there that constantly smelled of Pine Sol, and asked, “You’re a medium, right?”

  Kai started to answer her, when she pulled her hand out of the box and thrust a teal shirt in his face. Kai blinked and grabbed it with his free hand. She eyed his pants and he twisted a bit, not liking exactly where her gaze was fixated. “Thirty two, right?”

  Again he thought to answer her, but again she reached in another box and pulled out some slacks. Kai was a little amazed that she’d sized him up so correctly, and grabbed the pants with his shirt hand, since she still hadn’t let him go.

  “Um, thanks.” He’d never worked at a lab where they made you wear a “uniform” before. The place his parents worked at was pretty relaxed about what you wore. Oh well, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about his wardrobe, although, he’d be adding layers underneath his short-sleeved polo for sure. “Where can I…?” He looked around and successfully pulled his hand away, hoping she’d get the hint.

  Missy frowned at them being separated, then smiled brightly. “Oh, just change right there. We’re all family here.” She twisted to rummage through the closet for a belt and one of those GPS units. Kai raised an eyebrow at her and looked around the room again. He really didn’t want to change in front of this odd woman, he had a feeling she’d enjoy that too much. When she looked back and saw that he hadn’t stripped yet, she frowned, then nodded her head to the side. “There’s a bathroom in the corner.” She shook her head, like she was highly disappointed in him.

  Shaking his head at her, Kai walked over to the bathroom. If their roles were reversed, and he’d just done that to her, he was pretty sure he’d be sued. Double standards. They worked both ways, which, he supposed balanced out the double standard, making everything fair and even again. The marvel of the universe.

  Eyeing his uniformed self in the mirror, he noticed that the teal of the shirt brought out the green in his blue-green eyes. They looked even more surreal as he stared at himself. Looking back to where Missy was most likely imagining him naked, he cringed, hoping that the effect didn’t make her interest in him worse. For just a split-second, he wondered if Jessie would like this color on him. Pushing that aside and shaking his head at his wandering mind, he grabbed his clothes and opened the bathroom door.

  Missy was predictably staring at the door, her pale eyes narrowed intently, like she’d been trying to see through it. Looking up at his face when she spotted him, she didn’t seem even remotely bothered about being caught. She smiled widely when she noticed his eyes. He sighed as she bit her lip and shook her head. She’d definitely noticed the color then, and found it appealing too. Kai was starting to think that Missy might make his days here pretty long.

  She grinned broadly, her frazzled hair making the look seem sort of wild and untamed, much like the wilderness behind them. “Holy crap, you are one attractive man.” Stepping right up to him, her eyes flicking between his, she calmly said, “You want to take me out?” Again, she didn’t look embarrassed in the slightest.

  Kai swallowed, wanting a polite way out of this. Finally, as she moved even closer to him, her hands reaching out for his, he quickly uttered, “I wish I could, but…I don’t date coworkers.” She frowned and dropped her hands. Biting back he smile, he added, “Sorry, personal rule.”

  She tilted her head, eyed him up and down, and then sighed loudly. “Oh, too bad.” Brightening, she bumped Kai’s hip with hers. “Well, if you ever have an itch that needs…scratching, I’m your girl.” She winked at him as his eyes widened. “No dating involved.”

  As Kai sputtered for something to say, Missy spun and turned away from him. Watching her bony body in shocked silence, he saw her look back at him over her shoulder. Pausing at the exit, she lowly said, “And, just so you know, I do…everything.” Her eyes flicked down to his pants, intently, then she grinned and left the room.

  Kai backed up into the bathroom door. “Jesus,” he muttered to himself. So far, Colorado was being very welcoming to him. Odd. He’d had his share of admirers in Hawaii, but certainly nothing to this extent. Maybe his looks were just unique here. Back home, every third person looked similar to him. Well, maybe in coloring. He’d always been told that his eyes were unique.

  Straightening, he raised his chin and adjusted his shoulders. Well, he was a man. He could deal with these forward women and do his job. Besides, he had no intention of taking Missy up on her outlandish offer. As he exited the room though, he was curious by what exactly “everything” meant.

  Missy was thankfully nowhere in sight when he stepped out of the supply room. Having left his clothes on a shelf in there, he adjusted the belt and the equipment that Missy had left out for him. Feeling like a full-fledged member of the team, he looked around for his new boss. Not seeing anyone in the empty hallway, he made his way to the back, where Louis had indicated that the labs were.

  Right in front of a set of hermetically sealed double doors was a row of hooks with perfectly white lab coats hanging off of them. He slipped on a coat before entering the clean room. The doors hissed open and Kai stepped in, taking a look around the stark, white room. There were cages holding small forest animals, most waiting to have their health checked and recorded by a busy researcher before being released. Sizes, sexes, general health and diet samples, were all things they’d be keeping track of. Keeping an eye on the welfare of the smaller creatures, gave you an idea on the welfare of the larger creatures, right on up to humans.

  Seeing stations set up for running those tests, along with various others, Kai spotted an older man examining a honeycomb of bees encased in glass. It was getting close to their hibernation cycle but Kai figured some swarms would still be active until the first frost. The bees in the
hive had been fumigated with smoke but it didn’t hurt them. It actually drove them into a feeding frenzy. While preoccupied with eating, in preparation to flee from the approaching fire, they were mellower, less protective of their hives, and easier for the researchers to capture and study.

  The older man was bent over an examining table where he had a few bees pinned down. Not wanting to startle the man while he was obviously deep in thought, Kai softly stepped up behind him and cleared his throat.

  The man straightened and twisted to face him and Kai startled, a little surprised. The older man appeared to be in his mid-fifties, his dark hair streaked with gray along the sides. He had the deep tan of someone that spent a lot of time outside, his face lined and lived-in, and was Kai’s height and relative build. But none of those things were what was making Kai blink and take a step back. Kai had never met anyone with eyes anywhere near his shade. Most blue eyes that he’d seen were either a pale, sky blue, or fell in the blue-gray category. Kai’s were more blue-green and looked like an exotic, tropical ocean. The man meeting his gaze now, had eyes that almost exactly matched Kai’s.

  Gathering himself, he glanced down at the man’s name embroidered on his lab coat; he’d just found the man he’d be working under, Mason Thomas. Extending his hand, he politely said, “Hello, sir, I’m Kai Harper, we spoke on the phone.”

  Kai swore the man paled, his jaw dropping open before quickly snapping shut. It took him a solid ten seconds to finally take Kai’s extended hand and Kai couldn’t help but think that he made the man almost…apprehensive. He wasn’t sure why that would be. This man used to work with his parents; maybe he was just seeing a blast from his past, as Kai did look a lot like his mother.

  Kai smiled as they shook hands, and finally coming out of his daze, his new boss gave him a stiff smile. “Right…Kai. We’re, um, glad you could join us here.”

  Kai smiled exuberantly. “I’m grateful for the offer, this is an amazing place you have here, sir.”

  As they separated, the older man straightened, his eyes drifting over Kai’s body, before snapping back to his face. Kai couldn’t be sure, but he thought that the man still seemed a little pale. “Thank you, please, call me Mason. Aside from the outfits, we’re not formal here.”

  Kai nodded and laughed, slightly tugging his polo. “Yeah, this is a little different than I’m used to.”

  Mason smiled, indicating behind him. “We’re so close to the State park, we sometimes get tourists or hikers up here.” He shrugged. “I found it was easier for everyone, if we looked more official.” He leaned into Kai conspiratorially. “Keeps the civilians at bay.”

  Kai laughed again and Mason stared at him oddly again before swallowing and looking back to his bees. Kai shifted uncomfortably, wondering if he was doing something wrong. “What can I assist you with, sir?” The man shifted to look back to him and Kai quickly amended that with, “Mason.”

  The older man looked at him strangely again, slowly shook his head, and with what was clearly a forced smile, pointed to the honeycomb wedge enclosed in glass on the tray beside him. “I’m done with this batch. You could return them and bring me another.” He pointed to another set of sealed double doors at the back of the room. “Those lead outside. The apiary is straight out back, a few hundred feet from the farthest building.”

  Kai smiled and grabbed the tray, happy for something to do to help his new boss. “Yes, sir…Mason.”

  He walked away from the man bent over his bees, but Kai could feel the heat of his eyes following him. Kai wasn’t sure what about himself was causing the strange reaction in the man, but Kai hoped it had more to do with him being a new addition to an already developed team, and not something about him personally. But Kai was sure he’d eventually blend in here; he was pretty good with people.

  As the second set of double doors hissed open, Kai hoped he could impress his boss with his first task. He’d never wrangled bees before. Containing a small frown, Kai hoped he didn’t get stung…too much.

  *************

  Mason Thomas watched his…son leave the lab. He straightened and ran a hand through his hair and then down his face. He hadn’t believed Kai’s mother at first, when she’d broken the news to him earlier this year. He’d refused to believe it. But staring at the boy, the resemblance was unmistakable. Not in the coloring, that was all his mother – deep brown skin, dark hair – but the eyes, he’d only seen that shade in the mirror before. It was startling to see it on another human being.

  Kai had seemed equally taken aback by seeing him, but Mason knew that he didn’t know the truth yet. He’d had several conversations with Kai’s mother on the matter. Mason hadn’t wanted to be the one to tell him. Surely that was something she could do, since she was already so bonded with the boy. Or maybe Nathan, the man who’d raised him as a son, could tell him. Mason wasn’t sure why this responsibly was falling to him, now, so long after the fact, but Leilani had insisted that it had to be him.

  The man Kai assumed was his father had also called Mason, insisting that he finally stepped up and acted like a man. Those words had deeply stung Mason. He and Nathan had been close once, nearly family, but Mason had been young and foolish, and had let lust and passion overcome his sensibilities. Truly, that whole situation had been so unlike him. He was usually so much more practical about things, but Leilani had taken his breath away. Mason had just had no defense against her exotic beauty, her passionate nature. They’d fallen in love, seduced each other, and carried on a secret affair, all right under the nose of her husband.

  When she’d gotten pregnant, Mason had been sure the child was his. She’d insisted the child was not, and had broken things off with him. Crushed, he’d fled the State, coming up here to Denver, to start again. Leilani had let him believe for over twenty-three years that the child she’d born hadn’t been his. Even when her marriage had dissolved, she still hadn’t broken the news to Mason.

  Sitting back on the edge of the table, Mason watched his hand start to shake. He had no idea what to do now. He’d never married, never had children. His life had been dedicated to his work. He didn’t have time for a fully grown child to land on his doorstep. Running his trembling hand over his mouth several times, Mason thought back to that initial contact, months ago, when Leilani had finally told him Kai’s true paternity.

  Mason had been at home, winding down the evening with a glass of wine on his deck when the phone had rang. Walking back to the house, he’d frowned at seeing the strange, long distance number…

  “Hello?”

  “Mason?” The feminine voice reaching his ear was unmistakable.

  “Leilani? It’s been ages…” His voice trailed off as an old ache started to surface.

  The feminine voice tittered. “Yes, yes it has, hasn’t it?””

  Setting his glass down, he swallowed heavily. “Why are you…not that I don’t like hearing from you, but…?”

  She swallowed nervously. “Well…I need you to do something for me.”

  Mason tensed. Leilani never asked him to do anything. She’d never asked him to stay, never asked him to take her away from her husband, never seemed to think much of him at all. “What?” he asked cautiously.

  “It’s my son…Kai.” She paused as a ball of buried anger resurfaced in Mason’s chest. The son that had torn them apart, that had given her an irrefutable reason to never leave her husband.

  “What?” he asked again.

  She sighed, her voice suddenly sounding twenty years older. “I lied, Mason…he’s yours. He always was yours.”

  Mason furrowed his brow, not understanding. “What do you mean he’s mine?”

  He heard Leilani exhale harshly into the phone. “You know exactly what I mean. He’s your biological child. You helped me conceive him. You are half of who he is. You are his father.”

  Mason sputtered and then laughed. “You expect me to believe that? After you swore up and down that he was Nathan’s? After I left, and you let me?”

>   Her voice was heated when she responded. “Yes, you left! You overreacted to a moment of weakness on my part and you bolted! I did what I could with what I was left with! How was I supposed to know whose he was? I panicked, and you didn’t stick around to find out! Don’t blame me because you ran away!”

  He blinked, surprised at her sudden outburst. Apparently, she had some long buried aches too. “Why are you telling me this? Now?”

  “Because he’s looking for a job…and he wants to go somewhere new. Nathan and I thought he could join your team.”

  Mason blinked and sat down, surprised yet again. “You called me, to tell me I had a son, so that I could give him a job?”

  Leilani sighed again. “No…we want you to tell him who you are to him.”

  Mason stood up, his hand running through his hair. “What? He doesn’t know?”

  Leilani sniffled, like she was holding back tears. “No, I don’t really want to tell him either, but Nathan is threatening to tell if I don’t…or you don’t.”

  “Jesus, Leilani. Why are you springing this on me? I don’t need this right now! I don’t even know this kid. I’ve never even met him!”