His voice, perfectly pleasant to start with, turned hard by the end. He took a step forwards, Asha stepping back. But the backs of her legs met with the kitchen cupboards, and much like Cael had found only moments before, she had nowhere to go.
“You can’t control me any more, Crastor,” Asha said, her voice quiet, but completely calm. Resolute.
Cael wanted to tell her to do whatever he said, anything, just appease him so he stopped pointing the gun at her. But he didn’t dare speak, hardly dared to breathe. And Crastor was far too close to Asha for him to put himself between them.
“You are mine, Asha,” Crastor roared, pointing the gun straight at Asha’s face. “You belong to me, and one way or another your debts will be paid.”
But Asha didn’t flinch. She just stared him out, cold grey eyes unblinking. “Are you sure about that?”
Crastor suddenly stilled. Cael looked round to see the long barrel of a shotgun pressed against his neck.
“You’re going to want to hand me back that gun, real slow,” Mal said, his voice a dangerous growl.
Crastor, paler now, lowered the gun, holding it out to the side. Mal braced the shotgun in one hand, taking the revolver off Crastor with the other, tucking it into the waistband of his jeans before resuming his hold on the shotgun.
“Asha,” Mal said. “Come and get the knife off idiot over here.”
Asha nodded, walking straight up to the third man with her hand out. He handed it over without question.
“What’s going on, kid?” Mal said.
“Long story, Mal, but we’re about to be completely surrounded by the Met, so you might want to put that shotgun away.”
Mal grunted, shoving the gun hard into Crastor’s back. Crastor staggered forwards, turning to face Mal with a scowl on his face.
“Catch,” Mal said, throwing the shotgun towards him.
Crastor reacted instinctively, catching the gun as it sailed through the air towards him. Realising what he’d done, Crastor snarled, then swung the gun round so it was pointing at Mal and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
“Thanks,” Mal said, grabbing it back off him again. “That’s going to make it even more convincing. Now you two, go stand with him. Don’t try to be clever now,” he added, when they didn’t move instantly, “my gun ain’t loaded. But I’m prepared to bet his is.”
They both shuffled over to stand by Crastor after that.
As soon as they were all stood together, Nell dropped the knife in her hand and launched across the room to where Mikey was cowering, wrapping him in her arms and kissing him repeatedly.
“We’re about to be surrounded?” Mal asked.
Asha reached into her pocket, pulling her phone out. She’d managed to dial Marta, the call open the whole twenty minutes she’d been in the room.
“I don’t know what response times are likely to be, given the chaos of last night,” Asha said. “But I should think they’ll be turning up right about now.”
Sure enough, Cael could hear the distant blare of sirens approaching. The sound made the vice like grip of terror on his heart start to release.
“What are you doing here?” Asha said to Mal.
Mal grunted again. “Just had a bad feeling. Tried to ring Nell a few times after you called me and couldn’t get through. Figured something had to be wrong if she weren’t answering.”
Asha nodded, then turned and glowered at Crastor before walking right up to him. Police cars were arriving on the street outside, bathing her in blue light.
“Who reeks of desperation now?” she said.
The police dealt with Crastor and his two heavies, arresting them and taking them away to the nearest custody suite. Mal handed over the guns, claiming he’d wrestled them both off Crastor - a claim no one looked at too closely, though Cael gathered from the way Superintendent Jackson watched Mal with narrowed eyes that she didn’t entirely believe it.
“Did your friend with the radio wrestle that from Crastor, too?” she asked.
Cael said nothing, even as a taxi pulled in to the street and Marta barrelled out of it, heading straight to Asha and enveloping her in a hug.
“Please let this be your last life and death situation for a good long while,” Marta said. “My nerves can’t cope any more.”
“There’s been more than one?” Nell said, looking from Marta to Asha to Cael and back again, still holding Mikey in her arms. Mikey just watched the police cars, eyes wide, his arms wrapped around his mother’s neck.
“It’s been a very strange twenty-four hours,” Asha said.
Another car pulled up, Randar and Tarkken climbing out of it. They made straight for Cael, Tarkken looking frazzled, Randar looking solemn and regretful.
“I owe you an apology,” he said to Cael.
Before Cael could answer, Asha walked over.
“No you don’t,” she said, “I owe you one.”
Randar bobbed his head in something like a bow. “We weren’t formally introduced before - I’m Randar Cresli.”
“Asha,” she replied. “And I’m sorry for rushing off in the park and getting us all separated.”
“I thought we were all agreeing it’s nobody’s fault,” Cael said.
“There will have to be a full security review,” Tarkken said, looking harassed at the very thought. “A thorough investigation into everything that’s taken place in the last day so that learning points may be identified and mistakes not repeated.”
“I can’t even understand what he’s saying, but he sounds annoyed,” Marta said, stepping up beside Asha.
Tarkken frowned at her. “Starting with a review of unsavoury individuals with stolen police radios.”
“He says ‘thanks for everything you did to help’,” Asha said.
Tarkken started to scowl at Asha, but remembered himself.
“Thank you,” he said to Marta in English, but even the fact that it wasn’t his native tongue couldn’t have disguised the heavy amount of sarcasm the words were laced with.
Marta just beamed. “You’re very welcome.”
Asha turned to Cael, flicking the hat from his head. “Will you come and meet my family now? If I don’t go and talk to Nell soon, she’s going to kill me twice over.”
Cael glanced over Asha’s shoulder to where Nell was standing with Mal, looking more confused than angry. Mikey was staring bug-eyed at Randar.
“Do we need to bring Randar for protection?” he said.
Asha grinned. “You’ve faced down a gun wielding lunatic and you’re afraid of my sister?”
“Technically you were facing down the gun wielding lunatic.” He swallowed past the echo of the terror as it threatened to overwhelm him. “Stars, Asha, when he pulled that gun on you…”
Asha wrapped her arms round his neck, pressing a kiss to his lips. “It’s okay,” she said. “We’re okay.”
Cael held her, breathed her in. Silently thanked who or whatever might be listening that nobody had been hurt.
“Mummy, why is Aunty Asha hugging an alien?” Mikey said.
“I have no idea,” Nell said.
Epilogue
“COME ON!” MIKEY SAID, RUNNING AHEAD. “We’re going to be late.”
Asha folded her arms as she continued walking at exactly the same pace. “Oh, I’m not running anywhere. If we’re late, it’s only one person’s fault, and it’s not mine, is it?”
“Whose fault is it?” Mikey asked, trying and failing to hide a grin behind his little hands.
“Well, it’s not mine. Definitely not. And I don’t think it’s Cribishk’s, either.” She glanced up at the bodyguard - her bodyguard. “What do you think?”
Cribishk looked down at Mikey, entirely serious. “I wouldn’t consider it my fault.”
Asha grinned. She’d been surprised, but pleased, when Cribishk had requested to be her personal bodyguard. After the incident at the park, she had thought he might want to steer clear of her, but he’d sought permission from
Cael to put himself forward for the job and Asha had gladly accepted. If she had to get used to having someone shadowing her everywhere she went, she at least wanted it to be someone she liked.
“I think the fault lies with the person who took forever deciding which pudding he wanted and then kept changing his mind,” Asha said.
Mikey laughed, not looking guilty in the slightest.
“There were too many good ones,” he said.
“Oh, so it’s the restaurant’s fault?”
“Yes!”
“Hmm, better not go there again, then.”
“Nooooo,” Mikey said, maxing out the drama by shaking his head and waving his arms.
Asha laughed, joy filling her. She’d never been able to take him out before - had never been able to afford it. She still couldn’t afford an awful lot without going cap in hand to Cael. While he was happy for her to spend what she liked out of his apparently bottomless pockets, that didn’t sit comfortably with Asha. She had insisted that she would only spend his money on essentials. Spending time with Mikey definitely came under ‘essentials’.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Asha took it out, finding a message from Marta.
Good luck today. Can’t wait to watch all about it on the news later x
Asha grinned. Marta’s new hobby was watching news reports about Asha and Cael. An endless source of entertainment, apparently. Asha tapped out a quick thank you to her friend, before pocketing her phone again. When she looked up, Mikey had managed to get a little too far ahead.
“Hey, wait up!” she called. He circled back, running back to her side, his cheeks pink from the cold, his breath pluming in the frosty air. Asha rubbed her hands together, pulling her coat a little tighter around herself, before placing a hand on Mikey’s shoulder, drawing him in to walk beside her.
“Do aliens have Christmas?” Mikey asked as they passed a shop window decorated for the season with garish flashing lights and a few penguins in woolly hats.
“No, that’s a Human holiday,” Asha said. “The Intergalactic Community have a lot of different holidays, but not Christmas.”
“So Santa doesn’t bring them any presents?”
“No.”
Mikey frowned. “Does Santa not like aliens?”
Asha heard Cribishk chuckling behind her.
“Maybe Santa is an alien,” Asha suggested. “He does get round the world to every single child in one night… sounds like he might have a space ship to me.”
Mikey’s eyes went wide. “Do you think so?” Then, somehow, his eyes went even wider. “Do you think Uncle Cael knows Santa?”
“Even if he did, I think he’d be sworn to secrecy, don’t you?”
It equal parts delighted and terrified Asha how quickly Mikey had taken to Cael. His initial fascination had turned into a deep and genuine affection in a matter of days, culminating in Mikey asking Cael if he was his uncle now about a week into their acquaintance. Cael hadn’t hesitated to say ‘yes’, and when Asha had questioned whether it was a bit soon, Cael had just given her one of his patient looks and said, “I’m not going anywhere, Asha.”
She still found that absolute certainty difficult to swallow. Even now, she sometimes woke up convinced that this was going to be the day Cael turned to her and told her there had been a mistake. But it hadn’t happened yet, and every day it didn’t happen, she got a little more confident that it never would.
Asha took Mikey’s hand as they arrived at a road crossing. On the other side, their destination. They’d arrived with a few minutes to spare, but apparently the crowds had gathered early. There was a huge number of people lingering outside, and it took Cribishk making himself known to clear a path through them. A temporary platform had been made in front of the new clinic, and sound technicians rushed about, preparing microphones and taping down wires, ready for the grand opening. Mikey darted through them, and Cael, noticing him approach, paused his conversation with a woman in a sharp suit clutching a tablet to grab him by the arms and swing him up on to the platform. Much to Mikey’s delight.
“Hello,” Cael said, smiling. “How was your lunch?”
Mikey launched into a detailed description of his meal, but Asha’s ears had caught on Cael’s words. She was getting better at hearing both the Allortasian and the English when he spoke, recognising more and more words as she sought to teach herself his language, and she’d heard the word he used to greet Mikey loud and clear.
Aldornaleth. Hello in the familial formation.
A feeling started somewhere around her chest, spreading to fill her whole body - a mix of warmth and happiness that left her unable to stop smiling.
Cribishk stepped up on to the platform then held out a hand to Asha, helping her up. Cael turned to her, giving her a dazzling smile, his hair in constant motion. She’d told him he just looked wrong to her when he trapped it in gel, and she didn’t like it. He’d never done it again since.
“I understand that lunch was magnificent,” he said.
“Well, if you want to find out for yourself, Mikey is insisting we go back at least six times so he can try all the desserts he didn’t have today.”
Cael laughed, throwing an arm round her shoulder and pressing a kiss to the side of her head.
“Are you ready for your big day?” he said.
“I don’t think it’s my big day.”
“As I recall, this was all your idea.”
“Exactly. Having ideas is easy. Executing them is difficult.”
“Every project requires a visionary.”
“A visionary? I think that’s overstating things a little.”
Asha was aware of cameras taking photographs of them. Public opinion had been swayed very much in the favour of the Intergalactic Community after the EHPL claimed responsibility for the destruction of the shuttle at Heathrow, the fireworks in bins around Buckingham Palace and the march inciting violence and looting around the city. The English Human Protection League, an extremist group against the Intergalactic Community, had misjudged their actions enormously, and now, rather than galvanising the British people against the ‘alien invaders’, they found their anti-Intergalactic Community views very much in the minority. The announcement of Asha’s Match with Cael had improved things even further, even causing the uptake of the Match test to increase exponentially. This was all brilliant for the Intergalactic Community’s objectives, but with public interest came reporters. It was something she hadn’t exactly got used to.
“Just do your best to ignore them,” Angela advised when Asha asked her how she coped with it. “And be very glad they can’t follow you home.”
Asha never read any of the newspaper coverage - something Angela agreed was entirely sensible - but Tarkken let her know the general tenor of feelings towards her and Cael. Overwhelmingly favourable, apparently. The fact that she was a nobody helped.
“It’s the Cinderella narrative,” Angela had said. “Everyone loves a fairytale.”
“Does that make me the ugly sister?” Nell said, pouting.
“I haven’t got any glass slippers out of the deal,” Asha had said. “I think you’re safe.”
Nell was stood with Angela now, laughing about something. Asha’s sister had really come to life in the last few weeks, and even in the weak winter sunshine she looked glowing. She’d got a new haircut, and caught up on some sleep, but it was more than just that. There was a lightness about her that hadn’t been there before. Cael had helped to fast track her finishing her nursing degree, then placed her with his medical staff so there could be an exchange of skills. Nell had done much of the coordinating between the NHS and the Intergalactic Community to get the new clinic up and running. It seemed to Asha that she really thrived on the challenge and responsibility. If it was anybody’s day, it was Nell’s.
“Is everybody ready?” the woman with the tablet called, looking a little stressed.
“I think it’s time,” Cael said. “What’s the Human idiom for beginning something? I th
ink it involved cars somewhere.”
“Let’s get this show on the road?” Asha said.
“That’s the one,” Cael said with a grin.
The launch of the new translator clinic was a huge success. Far too many people turned up to receive one, and Asha had ended up roped in by Nell to help schedule appointments at a later date for people who missed out, even though she was supposed to be there in a purely ‘look after Mikey’ capacity. Mikey hadn’t objected to sitting on her knee as she scheduled appointments, and even charmed a few of the patients by showing them his own translator and telling them it didn’t hurt very much, and the lollipop they got afterwards was delicious.
Some of the people she spoke to seemed a little star struck, which Asha found odd and uncomfortable. Others were surprised to find that she was a ‘real person’.
“You thought I was a robot or that they invented me?” Asha questioned one older woman.
“I just meant…” The woman looked a little flustered. “Well, you’re one of us, aren’t you, dear?”
Just one of them. An ordinary girl swept off her feet by a royal suitor. The Cinderella narrative. Perhaps she needed to invest in a good ball gown.
When Asha finally arrived back at the suite she shared with Cael, she felt ready to collapse from exhaustion. Heading straight for the bedroom, she lay back on the bed, still fully dressed, closing her eyes.
She felt the mattress dip as Cael sat beside her, his hand coming to rest on her thigh.
“I understand that you’re tired, but I’m not entirely convinced jeans and boots make for suitable bed wear,” he said.
“Mm, no,” Asha said. “Help me take them off.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cael said, and she could hear the grin in his voice.
She closed her eyes as he undid her laces, loosening her boots before tugging them gently off her feet. Then he ran a hand from her ankle all the way up to her waist, his fingers brushing against her stomach as he located the button and undid it. The touch of his skin against hers sent a pleasant shiver through her, but it was the touch of his lips against the inside of her thigh, kissing a path down her leg as he pulled her trousers off that made her come wide awake.
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