by SP Durnin
"If you considered what it would be like to actually care about people, you'd understand why some men actually treat women with respect." Gertie added honey to her tea. She thought it tasted better than sugar. She turned to Kat. "You wouldn't have remained close with Allen if that weren't the case, right dear?"
The blue-haired woman smiled widely. "Absolutely. He's a goofball, but Al's got a good heart. He wouldn't talk about it, but he's super worried about his family. He didn't sleep much while we were together, even after…well, you know." She looked uncomfortably at Gertie.
"I was married for many years," the older woman said, with a stoic grin. "I do know that a man's first instinct after making love is usually to go looking for a sandwich or to fall asleep."
Everyone but Nichole laughed, and Kat went on. "They headed for Alaska just as the outbreak started and he's been on the shortwave every day trying to get any kind of word about what it's like up north. He hasn't had much success though."
"Probably be a while before any news filters down." Maggie muscled the top from the blender and poured the tasty—if disgusting looking—concoction into a large glass. "No phones, no travel, not much of a satellite connection anymore. There's still radio traffic on the military channels, but nothing close. We don't have enough power to punch a signal through, and no relay tower to push it on, so we're limited to receiving, not transmitting."
"Wonderful." Nichole rolled her eyes and sipped her drink. "Who knows how long we'll be cooped up here."
"You could always go for a walk," Kat mumbled, causing Maggie to press her hands together and look skyward hopefully.
The blonde gave her a sour grin, then her face went thoughtful. "Well, that just means I'll have to work on Jake a bit more. Any entertainment is better than none."
That was an image Laurel didn't need. It made her want to vomit in Nichole's smirking face, but she kept her voice neutral. "I thought you said he wasn't worth the effort?"
"He not really, but it's something to do." That earned her a scathing look from Kat, as Maggie scratched the bridge of her nose with her middle finger. Nichole ignored them. "He can amuse me while we're stuck. Should be able to do that at least… It's not like we'll be here forever. Eventually, the government or someone will pull it together and get us out of this shit-hole. Then I'll find one of the higher-ups to blow in exchange for being kept in the way I deserve, and Jake can scurry off. There should be plenty of appreciative, lonely men that will be more than happy to treat me how I want."
Laurel was getting upset. "Why bother?"
Nichole smiled cruelly. "Like I said, it's something to do. Believe me, it's not due to his prowess in the sack; I'll tell you that for free. He's not adventurous. Never wanted to experiment. No games, no additional partners, not even a little interested in S&M. Can you believe he's never owned a single whip or paddle or anything?"
"Shocking," the redhead said, aping the blonde woman's previous words in a voice that dripped sarcasm. Gertrude tilted her head and gave Laurel a thoughtful look.
"I know!" Nichole missed the chilly anger in the other woman's voice. "Makes me wish he ran on batteries. At least then I'd get some satisfaction out of him."
Laurel knew then that Nichole was full of shit.
"That bad?" She took the tea bag out and threw it away.
Nichole sputtered. "Bad doesn't even come close. I'm telling you, I had to fake it every time, just to keep from laughing in his face."
Gertie was still considering Laurel. Kat on the other hand, looked around calmly for something heavy and blunt to hit Nichole with. She could've just punched her, but that meant she'd actually need to touch the bitchy blonde, and she didn't want whatever this woman had to rub off on her. Finding nothing suitable within reach, she settled on taking a swig of her tea.
"Really? Huh." Laurel considered that for a moment, then raised her eyebrows. "I didn't."
Kat sprayed tea across the table and fell into a fit of coughing. Maggie rushed over and repeatedly slapped her on the back. Gertie gazed at Laurel, a smile threatening to break across her weathered face.
Nichole gave her a look filled with disbelief, which quickly turned to open hostility. Laurel stood calmly gazing over her mug.
"You're lying. Jake doesn't like to hop in the sack on a whim. He wants to take time and get to know you. Make a connection, he insists."
"Our first date was the night before the outbreak." Laurel swirled the liquid in the mug. "We've been together in this building for the last month. Jake and I know each other very well."
"You're lying!" Nichole insisted hotly.
"If you say so."
The blonde sat there, drink forgotten. Laurel could almost hear the gears grinding slowly in the woman's head.
"Well, well." She gave the redhead an appraising look, like a female cat sizing up a rival that had walked across the window ledge. "It seems like Jake's learned a few tricks. Maybe I'll give him another evaluation."
"I don't think so," Laurel said firmly, as she set the mug on the counter and turned to face Nichole. "Unlike you, I happen to have a very high opinion of Jake, and I want him to be happy. He's kind and brave, and you aren't good enough to wipe a turd off one of his boots."
Nichole's jaw dropped open as Gertie's smile grew past large, to beatific.
Laurel moved to the counter, opposite the bimbo. "Since the moment you found out he wouldn't take you back, you've been petty, hurtful, and obnoxious, and you will… not… treat… him… that… way... any… more. Because if you do? I'll knock every fucking one of your perfectly capped teeth out."
Maggie's smile matched Gertrude's as she helped Kat clear the last of the tea from her throat.
"So," Laurel said coldly, leaning on the counter in front of Nichole's still-gaping mouth, "I'll make this very clear. I'll use small words, so you can understand. Hands. Off."
Nichole's face cycled through shock, fear, then rage, finally settling into undisguised loathing. She spun off her stool and stalked from the room, leaving her Bloody Mary forgotten on the counter.
Gertrude rose and hugged Laurel, held her at arm's length, nodded in satisfaction, then walked to the cupboard and took down three mugs. She filled them with coffee, mixed one with milk, left the second with just a spoonful of sugar, and started towards George's office with the third.
"Jake only takes sugar in his, dear," she said. Then made her way out of the room, still smiling.
Laurel was surprised at her own reaction to Nichole's words. She hadn't planned on taking it quite that far, but now was glad she'd made it clear she wouldn't put up with any more of the woman's abuse being thrown in Jake's direction.
She was attempting to decide if she should be ashamed of her actions, when Kat spoke up. "Laurel!"
She looked around to find her friend staring at her in unabashed joy.
"Tell me everything! Right now!"
Maggie was grinning beside Kat and pushed out the opposite chair for the redhead with her foot. "That was brilliant. I wish I'd had a camera so I could've caught the expression on the bitch's face. But Kat's right. Spill."
Laurel sighed, positive the next few minutes would be extremely frank, quite naughty, and more than a little embarrassing.
After explaining her reasons, which Kat waved off insisting that she get to the good parts, she told them what happened while glossing over as many of the details as they'd allow. She finally came to the end of it, believing that the FBI wouldn't require as much information as the two across the table demanded.
"He said what?" Maggie asked.
"That he was afraid he'd hurt me," she replied. "As slow as we went, there's no way that could've happened, though."
The two women looked at each other, then back at her.
"No wild positions? No impatient rushing? No a little lower?" Kat got up to refill the teapot, after taking the last cupful for herself.
"Huh-uh."
Kat put the kettle on to boil again, giving her friend an excited look.
"Do you know what the two of you did?"
Laurel looked at her quizzically.
"Roomie," she exclaimed, "you made love!"
"Ye-e-e-es. That was kind of the idea." She didn't understand what Kat was getting at, but Maggie was nodding in agreement.
"No, no, no." Kat insisted. "He made love to you! Anybody can have sex. What you're describing is a completely different animal!"
Laurel thought about that, her eyes focused worlds away. She remembered Jake afterwards as they lay there half-exhausted. How he'd propped himself up to watch her as she floated in the afterglow and brushed the hair out of her eyes. The expression on his face hadn't been the regular I Got Mine that every woman had seen at one time or another. He looked amazed and held her gently when they'd finally collapsed, still wound together.
She smiled. "Yeah."
Kat pointed at her emphatically. "You did too, didn't you?!! Holy crap! I'm an awesome matchmaker! Cupid can kiss my Squaw ass! Yay me!" She did her happy-dance, right there on the kitchen linoleum. The pretty Asian plunked down abruptly in her chair again, a conspiratorial expression on her face. "Did he make you… you know?" Kat looked up, twitching her shoulders.
"Kat!!"
"Oh, come on! It's me!"
"It's private!"
"Okay!" Kat played with her teacup and gave her friend a sidelong glance. "Did you though?"
"Oh, yeah…" Laurel said, eyes widening with the memory.
"More than once?" Maggie asked in a low voice.
The redhead's mouth was really dry. She could only nod.
Kat spread her hands over her tea impatiently.
"I… lost count. Three? No, four." She shook her head, then rubbed her arms as if chilled, and covered her mouth with an unsteady hand. "I… Wow. Just wow."
The two women were staring at her, open-mouthed.
"You're my idol," Maggie said finally. "I am so jealous right now."
"You're not just going to leave it there, are you?" Kat demanded.
"We made a date," Laurel admitted. "We were supposed have a picnic the day everything happened, but… I guess it's kind of a silly idea. You know. Having it in the middle of a ruined city, on a rooftop?"
Maggie gaped at her. "Oh. My. God! That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard of!"
Laurel smiled widely.
"This girl's got it bad," Maggie said. Kat gave her an emphatic nod, coupled with what could only be termed as a shit-eating grin.
They heard footsteps in the stairwell and Jake entered the kitchen, hair still a little damp from his shower. He wore his ever-present, combat boots, khakis and a light-grey fitted t-shirt half stuck to his body, due to stray moisture from the shower.
"Morning all," he said. Smiling, he picked up the cup on the counter and checked inside. He gave Laurel a surprised look before pouring in water from the kettle and stirring the sweet, java goodness into drinkable form. He took a seat at the table beside Laurel, before he noticed the other girls were giving him frank, appraising looks, along with big smiles.
"So-o-o-o… what's up, stud?" Kat dropped the pitch of her voice lower, to mimic her favorite cartoon character, Jessica Rabbit.
Jake's eyebrows went up in confusion and he glanced at Laurel. Her cheeks were flaming, and she covered her face with her hands, while hunching halfway to the tabletop. He looked from Maggie to Kat quickly, eyes flicking from face to face, and realization began to dawn in his eyes.
"I take it a certain criminally-sensuous redhead would be the reason why Nichole headed for her room in a huff?" He slowly turned back to the redhead in question.
Dropping her hands, Laurel gave him a guilty look. "Do you hate me?"
His laughter surprised her, and he put his mug on the table. It was a decidedly masculine sound that made her heart race as a thrill went up her spine. He pulled her close, one light hand behind her neck, under her thickly braided hair.
"For what?" He shook his head and gave her a look brimming not with amusement, but affection. "You protected me. My hero."
Laurel had never been the type to make out in front of an audience, but just then she didn't care. He leaned forward, turning her head slightly, and kissed her. His eyes closed as she put one hand on his chest, half to steady herself, half so she could feel his heartbeat. She would've moved over into his lap, if not for the sound of Kat's feet happily bouncing on the floor, coupled with an appreciative "Ye-ah!"
Laurel pulled back to see Jake blushing and gave Kat an arch look, which caused her to jump up from the table before exiting stage left.
"So, you guys are together?"
The three of them turned to see Karen leaning shyly around the corner. She'd been abnormally quiet during their stay in Foster's little fortress, despite attempts by both Kat and Laurel to draw her out of a self-imposed shell.
"Hey, kid. Take a load off." Maggie nodded at the chair Kat had vacated. Karen thought about it for a moment, then edged over and sat. Her eyes darted from person to person as she shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
"Are we?" Laurel asked him.
"I'd like to be. Very much." Jake took her hand resting on the tabletop. "Unless you think we made a mistake?"
She looked at him, face blank. "What would you do if I said we had?"
He considered that. "Cry a lot."
She brought his hand up to her lips and kissed it lightly. "Can't have that."
She knew Jake hadn't smiled, really smiled, since their exile began. It made the one he gave her then all the more wonderful.
"I think you really made Nichole angry," Karen said, working up the courage to meet their eyes. "She's pretty mean most of the time, but she'll be awful now."
Maggie chuckled. "I wouldn't worry about that one. I think Laurel has some ideas of her own in mind for Blondie's next explosion."
"Oh." Karen sat quietly for a few moments. "Five bucks on Laurel."
That earned a round of laughter, and Jake rose to get a refill as Allen came into the kitchen.
"Hey, guys. Nice to see you finally decided to get outta bed." Al said with a grin which Laurel tried to ignore. She could feel her cheeks lighting up again. "Jake, Foster wants to talk with you."
"Gotcha." Jake stirred some sugar into the cup. His friend walked over to lean beside him against the counter as he tossed the spoon in the sink.
"So, uh…" Allen leaned his head slightly towards the table where the others sat and raised his eyebrows.
Jake looked down, smiling. "Yeah."
"Bout time." Allen backhanded him in the shoulder and they started out of the kitchen.
"What? That's it?" Maggie said in disbelief. "That's all you're gonna say?"
The two men looked at each other, then back to her. "It's a guy thing," Allen said.
Jake nodded in agreement.
They headed back for George's office, but Jake stopped to kiss Laurel on the way. It warmed her all the way down to her toes.
* * *
Laurel learned just how much of a letch Mike Barron was later that evening. Her stomach fluttered with anticipation as she climbed the stairs to the second floor, intent on changing to meet Jake. Kat had surprised her with the LBD (little black dress) she'd never had the chance to wear. The blue-haired woman had been quite specific on what she was to do make-up wise too. Though Laurel trusted her, her friend had a habit of going overboard. She had no intention of putting on the array of pastes and substances Kat recommended. She'd brush her hair, maybe put eye-shadow on her upper lids, and call it good.
She was considering the addition of lipstick when she turned the corner and saw Karen pressed up against the wall, clutching a towel around herself firmly. Mike leaned one-armed against the wall over her. He was smiling in a way that brought a frown to Laurel's face and obviously made Karen uncomfortable.
"So really, why don't you think about it?" He ran the back of his hand down the outside of her arm. The young woman shied away, trying to get around him to her room, but he put his other arm on the wall
and she shrank back again. "It's not like there's many options, you know. We're stuck here. Who else do you think…"
Laurel'd had enough at that point.
"Karen! Just the person I wanted to see." She strode down the hall and came to a halt a few feet away. She left enough room for a good spin kick between her and Mike. "Kat's busy and Maggie is hopeless, so I wanted to ask you for help."
Karen's eyes shone with relief while Mike's held annoyance at the interruption. She ducked under his arm and moved towards Laurel.
"Sure," she agreed softly, casting a nervous glance behind her.
"Why don't you go get dressed and meet me in my room?" Laurel gave Mike a sorrowful look. "Sorry. I'm a little pressed for time."
Karen scurried quickly down the hall under his gaze, which he then turned to the redhead. She saw anger there and something else that made her hackles rise. Mike leaned against the wall smiling, then looked her up and down. His blatant eyeballing repulsed her. This was the type of guy she'd spent years avoiding. One that looked at a woman as a conquest or an object, rather than a person. Almost like a male version of Nichole, when you got right down to it. Definitely the sort no sane woman would consider having a relationship with.
"So," Mike said with a greasy smile, "what's the occasion for dressing up? Big plans?"
Laurel smiled. "You might say that. Something that's long overdue."
"Never a good idea to keep a woman waiting. If you'd had plans with me, I'd have made good on them a long time ago." Mike came off the wall and half circled her, like a shark trying to decide whether or not something might taste good before it took a bite. "I make it my motto to never disappoint a lady."
"Then you must not date much." She cocked her hip.
The tanned clubber stopped, confused. His reptilian under-brain was getting signals that this might not be prey but, in typical alpha male fashion, he chose to ignore the danger signs.