From: Anne Bialecki Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 01:58:58 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Fanfic submission Source: direct Chapter Sixteen Eric: It had been a good twelve hours or so since my rocking sex-fest with Roxanne. Man, where has this woman been all of my life? I know it seemed an unlikely pair, but to have this woman to myself (or maybe another woman at the same time) was only a dream of mine back in college. Roxanne was asleep beside me and I rolled over to see what time it was on her alarm clock. Ten at night. Roxanne stirred herself awake and turned to face me. "Going somewhere?" she asked seductively. The calmness of her voice was enough to make all of the blood in my body go south. She ran her hand from my hip to my collarbone and placed a light kiss on my neck. I closed my eyes to take in the pleasurable sensations I was feeling, but I pulled away. I remembered that I had left my laptop in my truck and my truck was at the MGM. I had a contact that was supposed to be in touch with me soon on a secure chat site that he and I created so we couldn't be found. With all of the moving around of personnel in the FBI and CIA it put John and Monica on the backburner but not completely out of the picture. I figured once they got everyone in position then they would begin their manhunt for them and the other two agents that went AWOL. This rearrangement seemed easy to not notice by Congress or other political body because of the FBI and CIA being accused of not sharing the 'love' on September 11th. Apparently the CIA knew something and didn't share it with the FBI and the accusation that was being thrown is that the World Trade Center attack could have been prevented. No better time than now to move any key players in this battle for world domination to where they needed to be. "What's the matter, handsome?" Roxanne asked quietly. She could tell I was thinking. What was it about a woman's intuition? It was almost like they were empathic or something. "I need to get my laptop from my truck. I need to contact someone and the only way I can do it is with that laptop. Will you come with me?" I kissed her passionately, pushing my tongue past hers. I felt her bodily warmth next to me as I listened to her breathing during our kiss. Regardless of whether or not this was going to be a lasting relationship, I savored every moment I could with her. I have moved around so much in the last five years alone because of the lifestyle I have chosen for myself. I was kidding myself if I thought I could be safe to stay here. Our lips parted and her crystal blue eyes looked into mine. "I'd have to have Devin come with us. Should I wake him?" She reached for the phone. I put my hand on her arm to stop her. "I just need to get my computer and we can come back. Who is going to know you are out by yourself? Besides," I kissed her and continued, "I will be with you. I may be a computer programmer but I'm not a complete wimp." I flexed my bicep for her and she giggled. She nodded and I took some comfort in her trust in me. If she only knew what I did to survive she would probably throw me out on my ass, not to mention my former occupation as an FBI agent. And John and Monica's former occupation as FBI agents. This was too heavy to think about right now. We got out of bed and put some clothes on. I put on my dress shirt and pants on, putting my tie in my pocket. When I got my shoes on, Roxanne pulled me up and rubbed her hands on my chest. "You ready?" she asked. I nodded and I followed her out to the garage where the giant Ford Excursion was. We drove back over to the MGM's parking garage and roamed around until we found the truck parked on the third level. "Shouldn't we go and get the keys from them?" Roxanne asked. I shook my head. "Naw, I got a spare key under the frame." Roxanne put the Excursion in park and we both got out. I bent down under the truck and fetched my spare key and unlocked the passenger door. I retrieved my computer and put it in the back seat of Roxanne's SUV. I could hear the sounds of footsteps but didn't really pay attention to them. I locked the door to my truck and walked Roxanne back to the driver's side of the SUV. "See, wasn't that harmless?" I asked as I kissed her gently on the lips. "Now, let's get back and continue this in your bedroom." She smiled and hopped into the driver's seat. The footsteps continued to get louder and closer and then I heard a clicking sound through the exhaust note of the Ford. "Eric Duarte?" a voice sounded from behind me. It sounded almost middle- eastern in nature. I quickly turned around to see a gun pointing at me. My heart skipped beats as my life flashed before me when gunshots fired from the man's gun. I saw the bullets hit my body in slow motion, yet I couldn't dodge them. One hit me in the thigh, one in the shoulder and one in my abdomen. I felt my blood spatter on the silver paint of Roxanne's truck as the bullets went through me. My body jerked back into the panel of the SUV from the force and I started to sink to the ground. I reached up for the door handle and opened the door and jumped inside the truck despite the agonizing pain that viciously took hold of my body. Roxanne gunned it out of there as quickly as she could. "Oh my God, Eric! Who was that guy?" She was panicked; I am sure the first time she had been witness to something like this. I could barely talk as I used the garment hook to sit me upright. When I did, I felt my blood gush out of the wound in my leg seemingly pints at a time. I reached for the tie in my pocket and wrapped it as tight as I could to make a quick tourniquet to keep me from bleeding to death. Roxanne flipped on the dome light so I could see what I was doing, but I really wish she hadn't done that. I am fine with blood, just not my own. I was sweating from the pain and when I saw my shirt in the light from my torso wounds I began to get diaphoretic from the sight of it and the sudden loss of it all. My hand pressed firmly on my stomach wound but blood kept coming from that one and I couldn't stop it. Roxanne kept calling out my name but I found myself hearing the echo of her voice and my vision was getting cloudy. My mouth started getting dry and the lightheadedness started to overtake me as my body went into shock from its wounds. As I faded away I heard Roxanne's voice crying for me; begging for me not to die. ................... Roxanne I tore out of the parking garage and headed for Las Vegas University Hospital, speeding in and out of the busy traffic. My mind was spinning around like a typhoon from what had just happened in the parking garage causing me to have some blurred vision. There was a man bleeding to death from gunshot wounds in the back of my Excursion and it could have been prevented had I woken up Devin to come with us. What was I thinking: I could actually be safe without my bodyguard? Tonight was a perfect example as to how I could never go anyplace by myself without him. I just didn't want to lose Eric as a result of this. We had only known each other a short time and in that short time he had complimented me very well. If I lost him I would never know if it could have been more than just great, mind-blowing sex. "Eric? Eric, talk to me..." I called to him in the back seat. I looked up into my rearview mirror and I saw that he had passed out, his skin going from pale white to death gray. "Eric, don't you die on me!" For the first time in my life I wasn't calm and tears formed in my eyes from the heightened state of disarray of my feelings. "You're gonna be okay, Eric, do you hear me?" I pulled up to the emergency room entrance and slammed on the brakes. I jumped out of the Excursion and grabbed the closest nurse at the nurses' station. "There's a man in the back of my truck...he's been shot three times." I told her frantically. The nurse got on the phone and a team of medical staff came running down the hall toward me with a rolling gurney. "Where is he?" a man in scrubs asked me. "This way." I ran out to my Excursion and the team of four people followed me. I opened the back door and they carefully pulled Eric's limp body from the truck and onto the gurney. A nurse put her stethoscope on and tore open Eric's shirt, placing the cold instrument on Eric's chest. Another wrapped a blood pressure cuff on his arm and began pumping it as the third nurse started to push him inside with the fourth following. "Pulse is thready, BP is sixty over forty and dropping fast.." I followed the team inside as they took him to a room to do their work. "Respiration is shallow...wait...he stopped breathing." The nurse shouted. Another nurse pushed me out of the room and they closed the door. I could still see inside, even though I probably shouldn't have watched. "Let's bag him," a doctor said and the nurse got the hand respirator and started pumping air into his lungs. I watched Eric's chest rise and fall, as I stood outside helpless as to what was happening to him. "This man's lost a lot of blood. How's his breathing?" "It's better, " the nurse replied, "his blood pressure is still down and his heart beat is slow but stable." "Do we have a blood type on him yet?" the doctor called over to one of the nurses. "Type B. Want me to call the blood bank?" the nurse asked. "Right away. Let's get him in the other room. Contact OR and let them know what we are bringing up. This man went into shock before he got here. We gotta move fast, people." The doctor said. They pushed him to another room and that was the last time I saw him for a very long while. I went out to the lobby where the nurses' station was. "Do you own that Excursion out there?" A nurse asked me. My mind felt like soft clay from my obsessing thoughts of Eric's health. I slowly turned my eyes to her and nodded. "Could you move it, hon?" I went out to my Excursion and parked it over in the parking lot. I grabbed my purse and reached for my cell phone, my hands shaking from the adrenaline pumping in my veins. I punched the steering wheel in frustration from my ignorance of leaving Devin behind. If Eric dies I don't think that I could live with myself knowing that. I looked over my shoulder to the back seat where he was laying to see that there was a massive amount of blood on the seat, the floor, and the door panel. I put my head in my hands and rested my head against the steering wheel, fighting back any tears that wanted to surface. I jumped to the sound of my phone ringing. I picked it up and answered it. "Hello?" I said. "Ms. Derrik? It's Devin. Where are you?" his voice said calmly on the phone. "University Hospital. Eric was shot over at the MGM parking garage." I said calmly even though my brain waves were more active than someone with autism. "Why didn't you wake me up?" He sounded a little irritated. "I'm sorry, Dev, it was supposed to just be a pick up and go type of thing and before I knew it he got shot by some guy. I know I pay you to be around me at all times and I swear I will never do that again." He could hear the regret in my voice for making an untactful decision. "It's your money, but I still care nonetheless. We've been a team for five years and I have never let you down. Just remember that." Devin's voice was understandably stern. "I'll be down there as soon as I can." The phone went dead and I hit the 'end' button on my phone. I grabbed my phone and purse and went back to the ER lobby. My mind was going in a million different directions when it occurred to me that I should probably tell John and Monica that their friend was seriously hurt. I sat down and a nurse came up to me with a clipboard asking for Eric's information. "Are you his wife?" she asked. The thought made me smile; no one had actually made that mistake with me and someone else before. It had a nice ring to it, actually. "Um, no. I'm his girlfriend. Been seeing each other for a couple of days." "Well, we need some information filled out so we can put something other than a John Doe bracelet on him. Could you do that for us?" She handed me a clipboard and his wallet so I could use his ID to copy down on the paperwork. As I jotted down the information, I thought about the conversation we had on our way back from Havasu. He told me that he did hacking into other people's lives, taking identities and money from them. I remember at first I was a little nervous being around someone who was into stuff like that, but he assured me he had other intentions with me that didn't involve hacking or theft. Oddly enough I believed him and the next thing I knew we were having some of the best sex of our lives together. He told me he had considered leaving that life behind him to start over fresh but he hadn't found the right time or person to inspire him to go through with it. I felt that connection with him that I might actually give this relationship a chance. If he dies I guess I would never know then, would I? I finished the paperwork and gave it back to the nurse. Moments later Devin arrived and I ran to his protecting muscular embrace. Over and over he kept whispering to me that things were going to be all right. Right now I wish I could believe him. The helplessness I felt made my extremities numb and weak; Devin held my weight up as he helped me over to a chair in the waiting room. We sat down next to each other and I rested my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes wishing that this were all a bad dream. ........................................... I shook myself awake when I heard John's voice saying my name. "Roxanne? What happened?" I opened my eyes and there was John with Monica standing before Devin and myself. "What time is it?" I asked, still a bit out of it. "It's four-thirty in the morning," Devin said. "You fell asleep." I told John and his woman what had happened, maintaining my calm composure on the exterior. A few moments after I was done telling them the story, a doctor came to the lobby with bloody scrubs on. "Are you the one that brought that gentleman with the gunshot wounds?" he asked. "Yes," I nodded. "It was a close one. We just got done sewing him up but it looks like he will recover from his injuries. If you hadn't got him here when you did he would have most certainly bled to death." I looked down at his hands and he had some X-ray films. "If you'll come with me I'll show you." We followed him to an exam room where he put the films up against a lit screen. He went on to explain to all of us that the bullet in his leg pierced an artery, the one in the shoulder hit his collarbone, and the one in his abdomen bounced around, going from his intestines to his stomach. Luckily there were no spinal injuries, which relieved me in more ways than one. "We'll be running him up to ICU momentarily. We're still transfusing blood because he lost quite a bit on the way here and during surgery. If you want, you can go upstairs and wait up there when he arrives." The doctor left and I sighed in relief, slumping my shoulders and leaning into Devin a little. He put his arm around me and all of us went upstairs to wait for Eric's arrival. It took me until then to realize that Devin must have called John and Monica about Eric. If I had, I certainly didn't remember doing so. The elevator doors opened and a hospital orderly wheeled Eric's bed into his room. A team of nurses went in with them to set up his equipment as I paced the halls up and down until they were finished. When the nurse gave us the clear to go in, I darted past everyone to get inside. I was not prepared for what I saw. Not even close. I didn't think a person could be hooked up to so much wiring and machinery in my life. I stopped dead in my tracks and covered my mouth with my hand, stunned at Eric's ghastly appearance. He had a drainage tube in his nose, a trachea tube in his mouth with a respirator helping him breathe, two IV bags and a blood transfusion going into him, heart monitor wiring to his chest, sutures trailed down both legs, and bandages covered the other two entry wounds. He also had an oxygen monitor attached to his index finger and the catheter bag from hell that I could even feel. I listened to the monitors trace his heartbeat and pulse and then noticed a morphine pump behind them. I hoped to hell that was plugged into him because he was going to need that stuff when he woke up. I sat down and took his hand in mine and kissed it softly. Why was I falling for this guy? What's wrong with me? Why did I feel so vulnerable right now? I stayed cool and sat back in my seat as I looked over at John, Monica, and Devin to see that they were as equally shocked at the sight of Eric's demise. I watched his chest rise and fall with the help of his respirator; it was very rhythmic, almost like counting sheep. I squeezed his hand and I felt him squeeze back; it was weak but it was him. He knew I was there with him. His body shuddered, startling all of us in the room. Eric's eyes were deliriously opened and he was reaching for his trach tube trying to pull it out. He seemed very agitated and I tried to hold his arms down to keep him from pulling out his equipment. The slow beeps from his monitors sped up with his heart rate and a couple of nurses rushed in with restraints to keep his arms down. I could only imagine how much pain he was in, especially if they had to restrain his left arm where his collarbone injury was. They injected him with something to keep him sedated until they were ready to pull his breathing tube and he slowly surrendered back into sleep. It had been a few hours since Eric's restraint and I was on my way back to his room with John, Monica, and Devin from having some coffee. John had phoned the police because of the pool of blood by Eric's truck and Devin's phone call to him. I really did not need the authorities back into my life since my last outing with them over my 'break up.' I didn't need the extra publicity, either. I got back to his room and he was awake; they had pulled his trach tube while we were gone, but the drainage tube to his stomach was still in his nose. He turned his head and his eyes were relieved at my presence. I rushed to his side and held his hand, noticing that they had removed his restraints. Eric looked past me to see John, Monica, and Devin in the room with me. "Have the police been called?" he hoarsely whispered to me. I nodded my head. He shook his. "I really don't want them involved with this. It was probably just a disgruntled customer. Where's my laptop?" "It's in the Excursion." I said to him. "Why?" "If you guys called the cops they are going to want to know why we stopped at my truck. They cannot get my computer...they can't know about that. Chances are they are going to want to search your truck for any other clues to my shooter and I need my computer." He started to squirm in bed like something was irritating him. His right hand started scratching the flesh on his chest until it was almost raw. "Just tell them you were getting your wallet," John added. Eric looked at John then Monica. "Hi, Monnie," he said greeting her with a half smile. "Eric, you look like hell. I'm relieved you're alive." She said but I wasn't so sure that John was relieved. After all, Eric was putting the moves on her before Havasu. Eric scratched some more, this time he looked like he was in pain. "God, what the hell are they pumping into me?" "Morphine," I told him rubbing his hand. "My flesh feels like it's on fire," he was almost starting to cry he was in so much discomfort. I went into the bathroom and soaked a towel in some cold water, ringing it out into the sink as I went back over to him. I looked over at the other guests and they stepped outside so I could separate Eric's gown and comfort him a little. I had heard some narcotic pain medications could make you itch uncontrollably; even the stuff they use in epidurals for pregnancy do that. Well, I guess watching Discovery Health channel does pay off a little. I patted the towel on his chest and leaned over to kiss him. I stopped at the nose tube and couldn't help but stare at it for a moment. "It's only temporary," he whispered looking at me with his puppy dog green eyes. I set the towel across his chest, leaned down on him as gently as I could and placed my lips on his. Despite his drugged sense and injuries his kiss was still fiery hot. My mouth opened against his lips and I ran my tongue along his lower lip. I didn't care if his nasal tube was in the way. He ran his fingers through my hair as I gently tried to push his tube to the side a little. He opened his mouth to mine and I slid my tongue past his lips. The kiss was getting quite sensuous when Eric pulled back wincing in discomfort. "What's wrong?" I asked softly looking into his eyes. "We really shouldn't do this." He quietly whined. "Why not?" I asked. He pointed down to his waist and I had totally forgotten about him having a catheter. Poor guy. Here I am teasing him and he's still wired up down there. "I am so sorry. I forgot you had that. When will they take that out?" "Now that I am awake, hopefully soon." Eric still had his hands in my hair and pulled me down to his lips again for a light kiss. "We still have unfinished business, you know." He smiled mischievously and let go of my hair. I wanted him despite his wounds, but I wasn't sure how doable it would be with the staples in his legs. I finished cooling him down with the towel and hung it up in the bathroom. I closed his gown and went out to get the rest of our company. They followed me back in to see a little more relieved Eric. "Roxy, why don't you go home with Devin and get washed up?" I looked at him anxiously as I didn't want to leave his side. "It's okay. John and Monica are here. Take my laptop back to your place for me before the cops get here." I nodded and bent down to kiss him. Eric ran a finger down the side of my face as I placed a light kiss on his lips. I stood back up and turned around to head out the door with my bodyguard. "I'll see you guys later," I said as I walked past John and Monica, Devin following close behind me. Dev and I went down to the Excursion and I retrieved Eric's computer without questioning why then locked it back up. Devin fetched his BMW and we rode back to my place so I could freshen up. ................. Chapter Seventeen Doggett: Even though Roxanne had offered us a bedroom at her mansion we took a raincheck. We wanted still to take advantage of the week's stay at the MGM in the lap of luxury. Before this week was over we'd need to discuss where we went from here. Roxanne hadn't mentioned any more about the accommodation package in our contracts so we'd probably need to bring it up when the situation arose. So Devin had driven us back. Again I had to lift Monica off my body. She often liked to lie over me heavily when she slept. We were chest to chest and her warm breath brushed over my shoulder in tantalizing whispers. I'd woken a few times that night content in the fact that we were together now and nothing would come between us again. Her forgiveness over the whole Candy issue was so important to me. I still hadn't told her the whole truth about how far we'd gone sexually but I felt Monica didn't need to know this. Unless she insisted I would keep that piece of grief from her. The phone ringing persistently had woken me yet again that night. Gently lifting her off me, she stirred a little then snuggled into the pillow with contented moans. Who could possibly be calling at this hour? I looked over to the alarm clock, four in the morning. "John Dogg.... diSalvo." I could have kicked myself for making that blunder. I just hoped furiously that the caller hadn't noticed. There was a moment's silence the other end as all my blood rushed to my neck. "Mr. diSalvo?" It took a moment to recognize the familiar voice of Roxanne's bodyguard. "Devin, what's up?" "Ms. Derrik has informed me of some unfortunate news." "Oh? Tell me." Monica must have heard the concern in my voice and stirred awake. "John?" she said groggily. "Who is it?" Not answering straight away I continued to listen to every detail of what he was telling me. "Las Vegas University Hospital you say?" Monica sat straight up. "Who John?" "Eric," I mouthed. "What?" Even in the dark I could see my lover's worry. "How bad is it?" "We'll be right there." Replacing the receiver I immediately got out of bed and retrieved some clothes from my bag. "Come on Mon, Eric has been shot and it looks serious." "No! Tell me more." Monica was also out of bed and dressing. "Shot three times in the parking garage here. Come on I'll tell you more on the way over." Grabbing the truck keys with one hand and Monica's hand with the other we headed out the door towards Eric's unknown future. ......................... Roxanne and Devin had gone, taking Eric's precious laptop with them, which left the three of us to discuss the grave situation. "What the fuck Eric? What's all this?" "John," Monica went to Eric's side and took his hand. "He's in pain, please be a little empathic." "Okay, how the hell did this happen?" If we were in any danger because of this we had to know. The patient looked past us to make sure we were alone. "We must talk and now! If anything happens to me you need to know what I know." I pulled up a chair and leant back, legs outstretched and arms crossed. Monica stayed holding his hand. "Go on then, are we in any danger here?" "Not you, not that I know of. I think you two are safe for the moment but let me explain." He once again looked around for privacy. "As you know I've been dealing with the making of fake IDs and credit cards, what you don't know is that I was involved in the making of IDs for some of the terrorists involved on September 11." "What!" I was so angry that Monica had to restrain me from ripping every limb from his body. "John, let him explain." If she hadn't been there to calm me Eric would have been in far worse shape then he was. "Please." Her hand brushed over my chest and with it took away much of the anger. "Believe me I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Assistant Director Follmer found out about what I'd been involved in and threatened to expose all if I didn't get the hell out of there." "So Eric, what stopped him spilling the beans on you?" Monica's brow furrowed. "I made a deal with the CIA to give up some of the terrorists I'd sold ID's to and the CIA agreed to lighten up on some of my fraudulent charges. It does put us all at risk because your so called super soldiers could find us." "So you said we may be safe for now? What did you mean Eric?" My partner's voice was gentle. "With my investigations and my contact in the CIA I've found out that there has been some reshuffling of personnel within the bureau and the CIA. It may even extend as far as the US government itself." "Reshuffling?" "These super soldiers of yours look as they want world domination and will do anything to get it." "So you're sayin'," If I leant back any further in my chair I would fall off so sat up a little straighter. "The reshuffling you're talking about is these super soldiers being spread around taking up key positions of power in this country." Eric was nodding all the time as I spoke. I looked across to Monica and saw my concern reflected in her face. "So how do we stop them? We can't just sit back here and let the shit hit the proverbial fan." It was not my nature to wait it out. I was a man of action, not contrition. "I know and we're not. Look Monica, John, for now you two are safe. With all this other activity the whereabouts of two agents gone AWOL has been put on the backburner. You're listed as missing but not a high priority yet. I say lay low here for a while and let me and my contact find a way we can defeat these bastards and believe me we will." "No," My head was shaking. "I can accept that. We stay here doing squat while you do all the dirty work? I need to have a hand in this. I need to feel as though we are making headway and I can't do that without having a piece of the action." "John," Monica's voice was soothing and I loved her for her acceptance of me no matter how different her views were to mine. "I agree with Eric, we can't bring attention to ourselves just now. Trust Eric, I know he can get the job done." Eric saw that I still hadn't fully accepted this. "Okay then John, I've heard that two of your superiors are back in DC. Maybe you could contact them somehow." "Superiors? Is Skinner all right?" There was hope in Monica's voice. "Yes, he and deputy Director Kersh have been threatened with their lives if they divulge anything about the secret takeover. If you trust them then talk to them and see if we can come up with a foolproof plan to rid us of this looming tragedy." There was a little commotion in the outside hallway so Eric said his last piece of information quickly. "You know that magnetite you were talking about, the substance that seems to be the super soldier's only weakness? Myself, my contact and a small group of us is coming up with a way we can use this against them." He didn't have time for any more conversation. I followed his eyes over to the door. "Are you Eric Duarte?" Two hefty policemen stood in the ward doorway. "Can we have a word with you?" Eric's eyes darted from Monica's and then to mine. ........................ "Yes, that's me officers." I could see the worry on Eric's face. He was the last one who should be locked up in jail and I could see he was concerned about that very occurrence. For the sake of this case we couldn't let that happen. The enormity of the consequences of failure was overwhelming. Even though I was a by the book person this was different, the safety of the world was at stake. We needed to protect Eric at all costs. "How are you feeling? Good enough to tell us what happened?" The one with the dark hair spoke first. "I'm Officer Dylan and he's Foster." "And you are?" Foster, the blond haired officer addressed Monica and myself. "I'm John diSalvo and this is my girlfriend Monica Rossi. We're friends with Eric here." Foster wrote these names down in his notebook. I just hoped Eric had given us some past histories along with those fake names or we may be bringing unwanted attention to ourselves. I stood and walked over to Monica and placed what I hoped were comforting hands on her shoulders. Officer Dylan continued, "So did you get a look at the person who shot you?" "I got a faint glimpse and heard my name mentioned." "Can you tell us anything about his appearance and whether you recognized him?" Eric shook his head slowly, "All I can say is that he looked middle- eastern in appearance, I'd never seen him before." As Foster kept writing in his notepad I scrutinized Eric's face. He was not telling the whole truth. My time in the marines, as a police officer and now my time as an FBI agent had given me skills to tell when a person was hiding something. Looking across to the officers luckily they hadn't seen Eric's deception. "But he recognized you, he mentioned your name." Eric just shook his head pretending he didn't know the answer. "What were you doing in the parking garage at the time Mr. Duart?" Eric's eyes looked over to mine when he responded. "I was just getting my wallet from John and Monica's truck. I'd stayed the night at my girlfriend's and she'd driven me over when I'd suddenly remembered I'd left it there." "And you girlfriend is?" Foster had his pen poised. I knew Roxanne probably wouldn't want the publicity but also knew Eric had to tell them the truth on this one. "Roxanne Derrik." As Officer Foster wrote the name his eyes widened and he looked up. "Is that the Roxanne Derrik of Derrilyct Productions and Escort Service?" His partner looked on surprised and the officer what he'd just confessed to. "I've just heard about her, that's all." He was shaking his head a little too much to be telling the whole truth. "Is this true Mr. Duart?" "Yes, one and the same." Eric knew he couldn't deceive. "So where do you two fit in?" His questioning turned to us. I just knew that by telling him we worked for Roxanne it would cover our FBI tracks. All the proof was in our contracts. "Monica and myself are employed by Ms. Derrik to do adult movie shoots." Officer Foster smirked. "You mean you make porn movies for her?" Foster looked us up and down and couldn't get his eyes off Monica. She seemed to be flattered by the visual attention but I was beginning to bristle. My hands massaged her shoulders to show she was mine. Officer Dylan was there to get the facts so changed the direction of the conversation quickly, of which I was thankful. "So who called the paramedics?" "No-one, Roxanne drove me here herself." "So where is the vehicle now?" "I assume it's at her place, she drove it back with her bodyguard Devin." Eric's face was starting to shrivel, he was obviously feeling some discomfort. "Look officers," Monica's voice purred. "This man has just been shot three times and is in pain. Can you let him rest now?" "All right madam," Officer Dylan glanced back at Eric. "We'll need to impound that vehicle of Ms. Derrik's and secondly, please don't leave town, any of you." After we'd all nodded consent the policemen were on their way. "Shit, that was close." Eric winced in pain as he spoke. "I'm going to get the nurse, she needs to check your pain relief levels." Monica got up to go and when she was out of the room there was the time to question Eric about his deception. "So who was the man who shot you?" Eric darted me a look as though he was going to say he didn't know but saw my expression and thought better of it. "I recognized him as one of the terrorists I ratted out to the CIA in exchange for super soldier information. He must have recognized my truck." "Look man, I just hope all this past shit you've been doing doesn't endanger our lives more than the trouble we're already in." The phone ringing saved Eric from further tongue lashing from me. "Roxanne sweetie." I could hear the faint babble of her reply. "Really? You'd do that for me?" He looked to me as though wanting me to leave but my feet were planted like cement. "You arranged it all with the hospital?" He frowned at me but I wasn't budging. "Yes, me too." He gave her a kiss over the phone then hung up. "Fuck you, you obstinate bastard!" Eric did laugh and lighten up reverting to his former carefree personality. "She hired me a private nurse and I'm outta here in two hours." "Where will you be staying?" The answer I knew. "At her place, she's smitten you know." I just shook my head and thought; 'At least she's distracting him away from my girl.' ........................ Chapter Eighteen Reyes: I was amazed at Roxanne when she told me she still wanted to do the photo shoot today. Eric had just been brought here from the hospital and she hired one of the nurses that took care of him to see over him for a few days. I understood Eric's concerns of why he didn't want to stay there; he wasn't sure if it was Al Quaeda people that found him for turning in some of their operatives or if he had been compromised by the shadow government that he had been collecting valuable information on. When we had discussed what was going on back in D.C., it made me anxious to go back and find out where the loyalties lie: Whether or not if we really were in danger. I am sure John felt the same way, but he felt that contacting Skinner would be the paramount object to accomplish for right now. Eric had planned on contacting him through his operative in the CIA and now that he had a room here at Roxanne's palace he could do that. At least he had a room to stay in; John and I were off to get a new place to stay after our shoot today. Speaking of the shoot, Roxanne took me to a dressing room and had me put on this contour-revealing dress that I was sure would drive John wild. It was red with some sort of wonder bra to enhance my bust size. It hugged each curve of my body; the edge of the dress only went a little more than half way to my knees. I could not even wear a thong under this it was so revealing. The bottom half of the dress was flared a little so if I made any sudden turns the dress would fly up to reveal all. I put on matching stilettos and strutted over to the make up guy a few rooms down. Roxanne was adamant that John and I not see each other before the shoot; she wanted to get his reaction on film when he saw me. When my make up was finished, Devin came in to get me. "Are you ready?" he asked. "Yep. Is John out there already?" I asked. Devin nodded. "Totally thinking that you will be dressed in something not so risqu. Roxanne just got done shooting him and now she wants you out there." I followed Devin into a room that had a hard wood floor, a small oak table with a bowl of cherries (maraschinos and fresh) and bottle of whipped cream, a chair, and an oval rug in front of it all. Roxanne had lighting set up and she held what looked to be an expensive Nikon camera. Film cameras and crew were there as well. I strutted into the room as John was fiddling with the bowl of cherries and nearly dropped them to the floor when he saw my entrance. Roxanne snapped a few shots of his reaction and my seductive smile. John looked me up and down, wheels turning in his mind of what he would like to do to me. Dance music played in the background as I circled around John, placing a finger on his back and trailing it across from shoulder to shoulder. John whipped his head from side to side trying to follow my movements behind him. "Okay, Monica. I have a filming crew here because you two are so unpredictable I don't want to miss anything. We'll do some shots of you and then some of the two of you together. Ready?" Roxanne was itching to do these photos for a local adult magazine called Fling so she could introduce us to the adult entertainment industry. This was in hopes of boosting membership to her website even more and I figured it couldn't hurt money wise for John and I if we were to stay here a while longer. "Let me see what you got. Look seductive. More than you have ever been before." She raised the camera and aimed it at me. The cameras were rolling and John stepped aside practically salivating on the floor. I went around to the back of the chair and swung my leg over the top, resting my foot on the seat. A few snaps later I turned the chair around and I sat backwards with my legs wide. I grabbed a cherry by its stem and held my tongue to it with a devilish smile. As I bit into it and pulled the stem, Roxanne shot pictures through each movement. I spun the chair around and sat with my legs crossed under me and pushed my cleavage out toward the camera picturing the reader's eyes focusing on my chest. Roxanne had me switch to a couple more positions before she let John come into the shoot with me. His face was flushed and in his gray suit with a blue shirt and matching gray tie I wanted to rip his clothes off and pick cherries from his flesh. I had to be patient because Roxanne planned on doing some nude shots later. John rushed up to me and we stood facing each other in front of the table with the cherries. His breathing was fast and his eyes were a lighter blue than normal. I pulled him into me by the tie and I kissed him on the mouth, pulling away as I licked his lower lip. Roxanne kept shooting and swapped cameras with Raoul so he could reload film. John grabbed my leg and pulled it up over his hip, exposing my bare thigh as my dress fell back. Our lips were a hairs length from one another and I could feel his hot breath against my lips. I felt his hands rub my thigh up to my ass, sending sparks of euphoria throughout my body. I threw my head back with my eyes closed and John trailed his index finger from my chin down my neck to my breasts. My chest began to heave in its pleasure and I felt his lips touch my flesh, causing me to jump a little. I felt his power radiating through me with his touches and I lost all interest in the camera. I just wanted to pleasure him, but I knew I had to put on a show before we could advance to that level. I put my leg down and pushed John into the chair. He fell down into the seat as I straddled him, leg on each side of him. I took a maraschino cherry and placed it between my lips. I leaned down and shared it with my lover, Roxanne in close to us to get the shot. The sweet taste of the cherry and John was driving me crazy. I could fuck him in this hard chair right now if I wanted, but we were to do a pool scene after this, which was also going to be taped as well, so I had to wait...or did I...reality check... John grabbed the bottle of whipped cream and sprayed some into my cleavage. I arched back so that Roxanne could get a good shot. When John was done spraying a mountain of cream into my cleavage he stuck a cherry into the middle of it like an ice cream sundae. He then buried his face into it, devouring me like his favorite food. He growled between my breasts and I could feel the beads of sweat forming on my forehead. John's hands started wandering to my nipples down my stomach to my thighs once more. He stood up, still holding my legs over his hips and I arched back as far as I could. The look of passion that filled our faces Roxanne must have liked because I could hear her breathing get faster and faster. John set me down and he grabbed another cherry from the bowl. He turned me away from him with one hand on my stomach and the other held the cherry to my lips. Roxanne instructed us to look at the camera like we were looking into the readers' souls. I took the cherry and John's finger into my mouth as the camera kept clicking along. I licked his finger and let go of it, turning around to face him once more. He reached his hands around to the back of my dress and unzipped it, the dress falling to the floor in seconds. I felt the bulge in his pants grow larger and larger the longer we stood here for these teasing promo shots. My legs were starting to give from under me from his light touches on my body and the throbbing in my loins was increasing in magnitude. "Okay, Monica. Lay down on the chair. John, I'm gonna let you top her with cherries like you would your favorite dessert. But first I need to take more shots of Monica here by herself. This magazine is similar to Playboy...it's mostly for the men more than the women...unless you are me." Roxanne said as she was swapping film again. John smiled playfully. "Do I get to eat her, too?" Roxanne shot a half grin over to us. "Nope. Sorry. You can have the cherries and tease all you want, but save your energy for the pool. We're almost done here and then we can move to that." I did as Roxanne told me and laid my body on the chair with my legs supporting me at the edge of the chair and my back not touching the chair at all with my neck resting at the top. It was uncomfortable as hell, but I knew it arched my back to heave my chest out which is the shot she wanted. I put my hands behind my head with my fingers entwined in my hair. I parted my lips hungrily and Roxanne snapped the shots from every angle including above me. "Excellent. That was perfect. The lip thing is getting to me...damn..." Roxanne laughed. I sat up in the chair and leaned back like the shot while I was clothed with my legs spread apart. I put my index finger in my mouth and sucked on it like I would do to John's fingers, giving the camera the seductive, hungry look these magazines require. I could feel John's energy from across the room and it heated my skin making my blood come to a boil. Roxanne must have noticed the anxious expression on my face and finally let John come back into the picture to dress me in cherries. He took his jacket off and tossed it to the side of the room and took me by the hand to the oval carpet on the floor. His hand lightly touched my shoulder sending chills down the side of my body to my feet. Lightly kissing my lips with his eyes closed he gently guided me down. He took the bowl of cherries and began to cover me, starting with a stemmed cherry. He lightly set it on the tip of my nose and slowly traced it down to my lips, chin, neck, between my breasts, stomach to my navel. This thing with food was all too erotic and knowing that we couldn't just freak on the floor it was going to be a struggle to see who caved in first. Cherry after cherry my body was becoming a human sundae for John's pleasure. Roxanne took picture after picture until he used up all of the cherries. My body was covered but not completely, but I think that was the point. There were many parts of flesh still showing that John blew on with his breath. This drove me absolutely wild and wet for him; I knew he was enjoying himself and it was growing increasingly difficult not to move and take him for myself despite Roxanne's wishes. My mind was clouding itself in its lust and I wasn't sure how much longer I could contain my composure in this position. John began to snack on the cherries on my body, starting with the one in my navel and so on, licking his fingers every so often as he looked deep into my lusting eyes. He got onto all fours above me, just hovering with the sexy look in his eyes. His breath lightly bounced off of my chest and the tingles from it about sent me into hyperventilation. I couldn't talk because my voice was bottled up into the back of my throat. "And I'm spent," Roxanne said in a sort of Austin Powers parody. Her assistant took her camera and she clapped her hands. "That was great. I bet both of you are about to explode by now." John rolled over and sat on the floor. "You have no idea." He said under his breath. Roxanne shook her head. "No, I do. I have a man in my house that is full of holes that I would like to throw onto my bed and fuck him senseless but I can't without risking another hospital visit. At least you can do something about it. Get dressed for the pool. We're doing that one next and you're free until tonight." "What's tonight?" I asked. "Tonight we are doing a shoot with my 1966 Pontiac GTO convertible at the Rio. I got the top lot for us so I could get the strip into the picture a little. I couldn't get the front of the Bellagio like I wanted to, but this will do because I can get a little more privacy this way for you. See you at the pool." She turned her back to us and started out the door to the pool. John helped me up to my feet taking a last look of my naked body. "You're still overdressed," he said smiling. "What?" His eyes mesmerized me. "The shoes," he replied. "You have no idea how difficult it was not to take you on the floor...God Monica I want you so bad right now..." His forehead touched mine as he stared at my lips-wanting. My hands began to rub his crotch again and he gasped loudly. I ran my tongue across his lips, waiting for them to part to grant me access and- "Get dressed for the pool scene lovebirds," Roxanne said from the doorway. I turned around and she had a devilish grin on her face. John and I parted and went to get dressed for the pool shoot. .............................................................................. I met John at the pool's edge in front of the waterfall. Roxanne had her equipment set up at the side. I wore a red thong swimsuit and John a black speedo..did I just say speedo? Oh my God...I had to shake my head a couple of times to get a grip of the view in front of me. That was NOT going to stay on long if I had it my way. My breathing was already erratic enough from the cherry shoot and my knees were starting to buckle from the amount of stimulation flowing through my brain. Roxanne took shots of both of us in front of the waterfall as we waded in the shallow end of the pool. John and I were determined to get each other's suits off, so he started by untying my top and tossing it to the concrete edge that surrounded the pool. He took his index fingers to the inside of the straps on my thong and slowly ran them down to my ankles, lightly touching my flesh as he went. I could hear Devin speaking to Roxanne as she ankle waded in the water taking her shots of us. "They are gonna do it no matter what, aren't they?" he asked her as he stared at both of us. "Why do you think I have a camera crew out here? You give them a script and they get creative with it..." Roxanne trailed off as she focused on our activity. Eric came out via wheel chair by the nurse that Roxanne hired. "Have I missed much?" he asked as he smiled. "Well, since you slept through the first one, you might want to hang around for this." Roxanne looked back and smiled at him. I turned around to face John and I pushed him back into the water. I tried to run from him to save myself from his retaliation, but he was up so quick he grabbed and pulled me down into water with him. The pool was heated, but as hot as my body was the water felt like ice against my skin. I jumped up through the water and screamed, laughing at the whole idea of acting like a kid in front of a camera. "Monica, I want you to come towards me on the steps and give me that seductive mistress look that you give John," Roxanne said from the edge of the pool. Eric sat there in his delight to watch me again from his wheel chair. I did as she asked; I walked slowly up the steps as she took several shots of my cold, wet, naked body. "Okay, that's good. John, get behind her and put a hand on her thigh and give me that sexy look of yours...okay hold it.." John's hand on the inside of my leg was just one more thing to put me over the edge. I have no idea why I was so pent up with energy I just knew that it needed to be freed. Roxanne swapped cameras with Raoul and kept snapping. I waded back into the water and swam down a little ways toward Eric who seemed to be a bit drugged from his pain medication. "Maybe this will wake you up," I teased as I jumped out of the water resting my stomach at the pools edge squeezing my cleavage together. Roxanne took her pictures and shook her head smiling. "Remember he's mine now," she joked. She put down her camera. "I guess we will call it a day until tonight. I have already arranged to get that part of the parking structure blocked off for us so you won't have to worry about any peepers at the casino entrance. We'll meet back here at about nine tonight." Roxanne handed her camera to Raoul and the camera crew started to clean up. That didn't mean that I didn't have unfinished business with John. Roxanne headed to Eric and put a hand on his shoulder. "How are you feeling, love?" His glazed eyes looked up at her. "Roxy, I am really fucked up right now." Roxanne bent down and gave him a soft kiss on his lips. "Hmmmm that's better..excuse us, will ya Mon?" Eric reached for his lover and I just shook my head. He's been shot three times and he still thinks with his dick. "Just don't pull any stitches out," I teased as I swam over to John who was now at the deep end of the pool. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around my waist, kneading his fingers into my low back. "What took you so long?" he asked in that damned phone sex voice that drives me wild. I didn't bother answering; I just forced my tongue past his as far as it would go and let my carnal desires loose. My mouth frantically moved down his neck biting and tasting him beyond the chlorinated water. He moaned loudly and I growled into his neck. I reached a hand down to his speedo and rubbed the material, eliciting an instantaneous hard on from him. His grip tightened as he moved his hands to my ass and squeezed tight. I went back to his lips, tasting all that I could from him. His breathing was fast and short in between kisses as a hand came around to the front and fingered my nipples, making them rock hard at his very touch. I groaned from the excruciating pleasure his light touches were giving me. Even in the cool water it felt like steam was rising from the surface from our bodily heat. It was his turn to tease me and he pushed me up against the edge of the pool and went under the water. He kissed every inch of my chest with his hands holding me still, down to my shaved pubic area. I was more than ready for him a long time ago, but I wasn't expecting to be semi floating in the deep end of a pool. He swam underneath me and my legs rested on his shoulders. His tongue swam its way to my labia and began pounding itself into my clit. I could barely sit still as my head went back and I held my breath. I felt all of my blood rush to my face and the blood vessels in my temples stick out. Underneath the water I could feel John growling into me, vibrating through my being. He stopped suddenly and came up for air. I let out my breath as well and relaxed momentarily. John kissed my mouth and I flipped spots with him. He put his arms on the concrete edge of the pool to support himself as I plummeted into the water. I came back up to tease his nipples and bite his hardware while gazing into his eyes. My tongue went down the center of him as I went underwater and removed his speedo. I came back up one more time and tossed it to the edge of the pool, and then I went back down one more time. I bit the inside of his thighs and noticed there were my teeth marks from our last venture. I smiled and then went after his hard cock, licking it like a lollypop. I took all of him into my mouth and I felt his body go rigid against the wall of the pool. I pushed into him and deep throated him to the back of my throat. I was amazed at the fact I wasn't hitting my gag reflex doing this, but I guess I wasn't thinking about it. I stayed down as long as I could, licking and sucking his rigidity. When all of my air had run out I floated to the surface and met my lips with his. He was trying to catch his breath as I attacked him with my tongue. His cock teased at my opening and I knew then that we were both ready. I pushed down on him and felt his warmth inside of me. I closed my eyes in ecstasy as I rode him out in the water. John tried to hold onto the edge of the pool but the force I was using was starting to break him. He grabbed me and we both went under the water connected. He pumped into me as we held our breaths, feeling weightless in the water that surrounded us. I knew I wasn't going to last long in this state with no oxygen. I felt my climax approaching as John swelled inside of me. I started to come and my body couldn't hold its breath any longer and I started to take in some water. Not realizing what was happening, John held on until he came and I pushed off of him, rushing back to the surface. I swam to the edge and coughed up some water onto the concrete. John popped up next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. "Are you alright?" he asked with concern. I nodded and caught my breath. "I just took in a little water at the end. I'll be okay." I assured him. I could hear Eric clapping his hands at the other end of the pool. "If she only had an underwater camera..." Eric chuckled. I flipped him off but I doubt that he saw me. Raoul came over to us with robes and towels. "Thank you, Raoul." I said to him. He nodded and set them down on a chair next to the pool. John was the first to hop out and then he grabbed my hands and pulled me out onto the warm concrete. When my feet hit solid ground I suddenly felt dizzy and queasy again. I hadn't felt this since the boat shoot in Arizona. I went down to my knees and John caught me before I fell on my face. It took a few minutes but the blood flow in my body went back to normal again. My legs still felt a little wobbly. "I'm okay, John, really..." I trailed off as I slowly got to my feet. "You sure?" he asked as he looked me up and down. I nodded and I put a robe on. "I'll be fine for tonight. Really." I walked off back to the dressing rooms trying not to think about what could be the problem. We needed to talk to Roxanne about housing arrangements after we both got dressed. .......................... Chapter Nineteen Doggett: A wonderful aroma came from the dining room. We entered the vast room filled with flowers and candles. A large long dining table featured in the center. We saw the spread of food and we hadn't eaten a meal like this for a couple of days. We were suddenly feeling very hungry. "John, this looks wonderful and it smells divine. It was nice of Roxanne to invite us to lunch like this. She's being too good to us." I placed an arm around her waist and we went to look at the selections. "After that photo shoot this morning Mon and the way you were a natural in front of the camera this is her way of repaying you." The smoked salmon and cream cheese looked good. She flashed her wonderfully warm smile at me and took my hand, linking fingers and squeezed. "I may be a natural but you bring it out in me John." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "You don't know how hot I was for you out there and while you were eating all those cherries off my skin." Our bodies were close now and I rubbed my face in her hair and wrapped my arms around her slim body. They seemed to consume her and I wanted to stay like that forever, just having her so close. "I know how hot you were," My voice was low and quiet. "I could feel your energy and I could smell your desire for me." That seemed to spark something inside her because she put her lips to mine and devoured me hungrily. "Hmm John, speaking in that voice of yours, you're making me want you again." Searching her eyes I saw deep passion and knew that if we were to go and make love again it would be slow and passionate and heartfelt. "You can have me again Monica but first we eat. We need to rebuild our energy for this afternoon and our evening photo shoot." I took her chin in my hand. "I was worried about you at the pool today. Are you all right Mon?" "It was probably nothing, maybe it's not eating enough, maybe I need a rest. We have been going full on for the last week." I nodded but was still concerned. A moment later Roxanne wheeled in Eric. "You're here. Hope you weren't waiting for us." Her voice was animated. Eric had a huge grin on his face and I knew the lucky bastard had probably had sex recently. How he did it with those injuries I could only imagine but I was sure Roxanne had found a way. "You're too good to us Roxanne. Do you do this for all your contractees? Monica once again squeezed my fingers in hers. "Only for the finds of the century. Sure you haven't done this before?" We both shook our heads. She gave us a plate each then started piling her own with delicious looking food. "One of these days you're going to have to tell me how you two met." Our silence told her that we really didn't want to talk about it yet. She gave her piled plate to Eric and wheeled him over to the end of the table which was set for four. "Well if you're not going to talk I'm going to have to torture it out of your friend here." She winked at Eric. "Yes please, I can take all the torture you can give me." "So you won't talk either?" She narrowed her eyes. "You're not on the run from a past life of crime are you? Maybe I'll use my sources to do a little digging," she teased. It was at that point I remembered my slip-up on the phone to Devin and wondered whether he'd expressed concerns to his boss. Roxanne was being a little bit too nosy. Monica and myself took our meals and sat next to Eric. "Eric told me why he thinks he was shot but I find it hard to understand." "Oh, you know something we don't man?" He was not fazed by my stare. "Didn't I tell you? I thought I'd seen this shithead before and checked on my laptop database to find out he's been a past customer of mine. Police are aware of it and are investigating. " He looked across to Reyes with a pleased expression. Eric still looked uncomfortable which led me to believe this was not the whole truth. I made a mental note to quiz him on it later. My partner noticed this too and we exchanged concerned glances. It was after our meal while we sipped coffees and cognacs that Roxanne brought up the topic of our new accommodation. The way she spoke she seemed to believe that Las Vegas would be our permanent port of call. This new life of ours was certainly intriguing but deep down I wanted back what we'd lost. With the current climate the world would probably never return to what it was before anyway. "So you two, I've made the preliminaries with an apartment in a complex close by. It'll suit your needs." This was a big step for us. It had been a long time since I'd shared lodgings with another and I knew I was ready to live with Monica. I'd noticed all through lunch that Mon had only been picking despite her saying how hungry she was. This together with her recent bouts of nausea worried me. When we were settled into our new apartment I'd tackle her on this not taking no for an answer. ............... Reyes: I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. Never before in my life had I ever felt this horrible. Maybe it was just nerves from being homesick, not knowing what our fate was with the FBI. Maybe it was some sort of emotional residue from all of the stress of John's little excursion with a blonde stripper. That shouldn't be bugging me, though. None of it should since Eric had a handle on what was happening at home and John was with me now until forever (I think). I just felt uncontrollably confused and bewildered like I was lost, my stomach was in knots, and my body would get hot for no apparent reason at all. I wasn't sensing any type of vibrations in the air other than John's incredible lust that I can never say no to. We were on our way to our new apartment that Roxanne had helped get us. Apparently a lot of her new employees stay there at the start of their careers until they have the money to buy or rent something else. They were almost like town houses with a single stall garage underneath them. John was given a remote control for ours and when we approached he pushed the button and the door opened. John parked the truck inside and we both got out. I unlocked the door at the back of the garage that went into the apartment and stepped inside to what looked like the dining room/kitchen. John tapped the button on the inside wall to close the garage door. The apartment was fully furnished; all we had to do was get necessities like sheets, towels, food, etc. I went out to the living room where there was a couch, table and lamp, television, and a recliner. It was basic, but more than what I was expecting. Upstairs was the bedroom that had a queen size bed and dresser with a bathroom adjoining. Amazingly the place was pretty clean, but Roxanne was very picky about the people who starred in her productions and had knowingly sent this place good cliental. I walked back downstairs to the living room. The only thing this place didn't have was a washer and dryer, but on the way to our apartment I noticed a laundry room, so it wasn't a big deal. I felt a wave of dizziness wash through me and I nearly hit my head on the wall before I stuck my arm out to brace myself. I felt tears forming in my eyes that burned like acid. God, what was wrong with me, was I that dehydrated from all that we have been doing this past week? My stomach painfully churned into a knot and I fell to my knees, holding my hands to my abdomen. I could hear my heart pounding louder and louder in my head and time seemed to slow down. I couldn't breathe-felt like I was suffocating. "Monica!" John yelled as he knelt down beside me with his arm about my shoulders. "What's wrong? What's the matter?" The feeling started to subside and my focus returned. I shook my head to shake this horrible feeling. "I'm alright. It's nothing." I stood up with John's help. John looked at me, concerned written over his face with those deep worry lines. "You don't look alright. You look worse than death. C'mon, let's sit you down on the couch and I'll turn on the air conditioning." I followed him to the couch where I just stretched out from end to end. I was exhausted. I could feel the color bleed out of my face as I lay there. "There. It should start cooling off in here soon." He kneeled down beside the couch and took a piece of my hair and folded it behind my ear. "You might want to see a doctor about this, Mon. I'm worried about you." He kissed my forehead and hugged me with his arm. "You're clammy. You sure you-" "I DON'T want to see a doctor. I'm fine. I think I just need to get some rest. I'm really tired." I tried not to be snappy, but my last visit to a doctor and a hospital for that matter almost got me killed. I think John this and he backed off a little. "I'm sorry, Mon. Tell you what. I will go back to the MGM and get our stuff and I will stop by someplace and get us some food and stuff for the bedroom. You can nap while I am gone." John took his finger and ran it down my cheek. I relaxed at his touch and closed my eyes, listening to John's steps out of our apartment. ................................................................................ I awoke to John's key in the lock of the door and I got up to open it for him. I still felt like hell even though I had been napping for over an hour. John had several bags of groceries and some from Target by the front door. I took a couple of them to the kitchen and started to unload them into the refrigerator. John came in with our bags from the hotel and took them upstairs. He came down and helped put the food away and separated all of the toiletries into a couple of other bags and took them upstairs with the Target bags which I assumed had sheets and towels in them. I grabbed a bottle of Naya from the refrigerator and downed it quickly. I was fine until it hit me again. I braced myself up against the counter and held back the urge to toss up everything I just drank. My stomach muscles clinched and my fingers clutched the muscles from the pain. When John came back into the room I could barely hold myself up. "Monica, are you alright?" John put his hands on my waist and held me up against him. I couldn't respond right away and he was at a near panic. "That's it, I'm getting some EMT's here right now." There was a phone on the wall and John released me to go call. I didn't want this so I tried to stop him. "John, don't!" I tried to yell but it came out all muffled. I was losing all awareness as things around me started to fade and I felt my head hit the floor. When I came to I saw the roof of an ambulance above me. Tears had streaked down the sides of my face and I felt cold and clammy. Someone was holding my hand and I can only assume that it was John. I could hear the two-way radio in the van as one of the EMT's radioed in to the hospital. "Base, we have a Hispanic female, approximately twenty eight to thirty five years of age. Collapsed in her kitchen. Her boyfriend said she was complaining of nausea and dizziness before coming unconscious. Possibly hypoglycemia and/or dehydration. Got her on electrolytes and we are en route." He said into the receiver. I looked over at my arm and I did indeed have an IV. John must have seen me move and he squeezed my hand. "Monica, I'm here. It's going to be okay." He voice was reassuring but I still wanted to yell at him for this. I just didn't have the strength. I closed my eyes hoping this was a nightmare. Minutes later we arrived at Las Vegas University Hospital and the van backed into the ER entrance; deja vu. The paramedics unloaded me and wheeled me into a room where nurses shooed John away and started taking blood samples from the arm opposite my IV. They took a few vials, but the drop in pressure going into them made me dizzy. Everyone was rushing around, the clatter and noise of a hectic emergency room. They changed the bag of fluids on my IV and seconds later I fell into another bout of unconsciousness. ....................................................................... I awoke to hear my name being called. I blinked away my sleepiness and focused on the man in a white coat before me. "Hi, I am Doctor Feinberg." He held his hand out and we shook. I tried to sit up a little. "Where is my boyfriend?" I asked, still groggy. "He's in the lobby. He's really concerned, but before I told him the news I thought you might want to tell him yourself." He had a bit of a smile on his lips. I shook my head. "W-what do you mean? I was just dehydrated." I sounded like I knew what the problem was. Dr. Feinberg shook his head and stroked his beard. "That was part of it, but not the only problem." "What, I have the flu or something?" My stomach was turning itself upside down again. I winced and settled back into my pillow. "Well, how can I congratulate you..." Okay, we are starting a guessing game now. This was starting to piss me off. "You're pregnant." My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. "What?" I whispered to myself. "You're pregnant. That's why you have been having these dizzy spells and nausea. It's morning sickness, dear." Oh, shit. Oh shit. OH SHIT! "Does my boyfriend know this yet?" I looked down. "Um, no, but I can tell him if-" I cut the doctor off. "NO. Um, no. I would rather tell him myself." I became deathly quiet. "I understand. I can go get him if you wish." The doctor pointed toward the lobby. "Don't tell him anything. I mean... I am not sure how he is going to take this." The doctor looked at me with the understanding in his eyes and left to go get John. How was I going to tell him this? He lost one child, would he want another? My breathing grew shallow as I pondered the idea. What would he think? Would he still want me? Would he accept this and love both me and this child inside of me or would I be better off not telling him and terminating the pregnancy? "Hey, beautiful. How are you feeling?" It was John. I jumped at his sudden entrance. He bent down and kissed me softly on the lips. I smiled a little at his gentleness. "So, what did the doctors say?" He sat at the edge of my bed and I looked at him with panic creeping out of the back of my mind. "Umm..it was just dehydration and hypoglycemia. I guess I'm not eating enough." I assured him even though it wasn't the complete truth. I wasn't sure how to act around him now with the information I now knew. A nurse came in with discharge papers and I signed my life away. She gave me my copies and John helped me off of the bed and we walked through the lobby and out to a cab. We got into the cab and went back to our apartment. ............................. Chapter Twenty Doggett: All I could do was wait. It seemed an eternity that they were keeping her in there. I sat with my head in my hands in the hospital's waiting room remembering back to when I first realized that my feelings for her were more than just friendship and partnership. It took the tragedy of a car accident and her lying there at death's door to bring me to my senses and recognize I loved her beyond words, beyond life itself. After she'd recovered and we'd had time to talk, to really talk, we'd mutually decided to put our excess feelings on the back burner for the time being to concentrate on our jobs. To have a romantic and sexual relationship together with our FBI partnership then would have been too complicated. In the ensuing months I could tell this was hard for her to keep up. There were many moments in the office that I'd find her daydreaming staring right at me then when I'd asked her what she was thinking she'd shake her head and say 'nothing'. I could tell she was thinking about us. My life had been one big bundle of repressed and hidden emotions. For her, to keep something like this bottled up was not fair, so I stole moments when no one else seemed to notice to touch her: to stroke her hair, her face, to hold hands. During these moments my gestures were rewarded with clandestine smiles and silent kisses. There were many times I thought I would cave in and kiss her for real but both our jobs were important to us. My eyes began to cloud over with tears when I heard a voice above me. "Are you the boyfriend she's talking about?" The doctor looked officious. "We've run some tests but Ms Rossi wants to tell you herself. Come this way." I was trained to gauge people's feelings and by his body language and the tone of his voice I knew that it wasn't all bad. My mind ran overtime with possibilities. It was a good sign that she had come to and was able to talk to me herself. On the other hand if her condition was an easily managed minor matter the doctor would have been able to tell me. She looked pale lying there on the hospital bed but she looked a little happier than before. Sitting on the bed next to her I took her hand and ran my thumb gently over her knuckles. "Monica, you've had me really worried about you. Tell me you'll be okay." She hesitated and looked to the door before responding, "The doctor said I was dehydrated and hypoglycemic, that's all. They told me to rest and take it easy for a few days." My hand rested on her shoulder and I looked down into her face. "Hypoglycemic? What does that mean?" "It mainly means that I haven't been drinking and eating enough to balance with my energy levels." I couldn't help but see the glint in her eye and inwardly sighed imagining how long we could possible keep up this level of activity. There was something else in her expression that I couldn't quite fathom. Was she telling me the whole truth? I was so tempted to talk to the doctor to find out more detailed information. ............................................................... Reyes: John unlocked the door to our place and we both walked inside. My skin crawled like tiny pins and needles were poking at me. "Roxanne called. She cancelled the shoot for this evening. Apparently the Rio has some big event happening tonight so they need the extra parking space. She invited us to go to her place for dinner, though. I hope you don't mind I accepted for the both of us." I sat on the couch and nodded on my way. My body was spent and I rested my head against the back of the couch. I felt like crying my eyes out until I had no tears left. I wasn't sure if I should be happy or sad about this. I knew I needed to talk to someone but I couldn't talk to John. I didn't want him to be angry that this had happened, but I guess when you make passionate love to someone without contraception something is going to happen sooner or later-I was just hoping that it would be later and not sooner. "Honey, you have had a rough day. Why don't you take a shower and I'll get some of our laundry started. Relax. Dinner at Roxanne's is in a couple of hours." I nodded and John followed me upstairs. He started the shower for me and took our new stuff and our clothes back down with him and out the front door. I stepped into the shower and let the water massage me from head to toe. My thoughts kept going back and forth to what I would tell John and the emergency room visit. Why was it so hard to tell him? I thought I could tell him ANYTHING...anything but this. How would he feel? Really? I showered and washed my hair and got out. John left a towel for me to use and I dried myself off. I blew my hair dry and I put some clothes on and crashed on the barren mattress in our bedroom. My mind spun itself into circles until the room itself started to spin as well. For the first time in my life I was faced with a situation I wasn't sure how to deal with. I squeezed my eyes closed in hopes that this would fade away when I went to sleep. I jumped awake at the sound of John tripping on the stairs to the bedroom. I sat up quickly and stood up. I looked at myself quickly in the mirror to make sure that I was presentable enough for this evening. I think it was nearly time, but the way I had been feeling time has been irrelevant. "Ready to go, Mon?" John asked as he set the bags of laundry down. "I'll fold all of this when we get back." He took me in his arms and kissed me passionately. His warmth and tenderness made me forget about my anxiety temporarily. The trick was going to be fighting the thoughts back at the dinner table with my worried look strewn across my face. ..................... On the way over to Roxanne's I felt like crying for no reason. I stayed silent the whole way fighting back the urge to ball my eyes out as I looked straight ahead at the road. My anxiety was creeping back up, building pressure in the back of my throat and making my stomach tense up. "Are you sure you are alright?" John asked as he looked over at me with concerned eyes. I nodded even though it wasn't true. "I'm fine," I smiled. It wasn't thirty seconds later we arrived at Roxanne's estate. Dave the security guard waved us on through and we parked out back. We went to the front entrance and Devin answered the door. "Good evening, come on in," he said. I could sense something from him. Something negative...perhaps suspicion from him. For what I was not certain, but I shook it off and tried to discard it from my mind. "Roxanne has everything set up in the dining room." We followed the tall muscular body guard into a large room with a long table set up with fine china, true silver utensils, crystal glasses and a full course Italian dinner of lasagna, salad, fresh bread sticks and Chianti wine. "Hope you guys like Italian," Roxanne said as she entered the room. She had pushed Eric in his wheel chair up to the table. Even though he had only been out of the hospital he was already looking better. The color had returned to his face but the collarbone injury still looked painful as he wore a sling on his left arm. "Hey, Monnie. How are you doing, sweetie?" he asked as he was pushed up to the table. I gave him a half smile and thought about how I was really doing. 'I'm a mess, Eric,' was what I really felt like saying. "I'm good. With the exception of an emergency room visit earlier today..." I saw concern change everyone's expression in the room. "ER? What happened? Are you alright?" Eric asked. "Just a little dehydration," John assured everyone. I really wished in that moment that was true. My mind flooded itself with the thought of how the news of my pregnancy would affect everyone. I mentally shook it off. Jesus, what was I going to do about this? "Have a seat. It's ready when you are." Roxanne said in her calm, cool voice. We all sat down, even Devin was having dinner with us. I placed the cloth napkin on my lap and a butler came in and served up our plates. I had water in lieu of the wine and my plate was full of this wonderful smelling lasagna. Only problem was: I wasn't hungry. "C'mon, Mon. Eat up. You need the energy." John said next to me. He dug into his food like a carnivore that has never eaten before. "Don't worry, it's vegetarian." Roxanne said. "I know I have to watch what I eat to keep my body looking like it is, but this sounded like a good idea tonight." I nibbled on some of it, starting with the salad and then I moseyed over to my lasagna. Roxanne talked but I had difficulty paying attention to the conversation. "Don't sweat the shoot for tonight. The Rio had other plans, which was cool I wasn't sure I liked the security of the scene, anyway. I may just have to do that shoot out back of here or something. Which brings me to the next movie shoot." She took a sip of wine. "I'll get you the scripts before you leave. It's about a guy who's the VP of a law firm and his secretary who end up together in an elevator. It's great. Should film out quite nicely with the way the two of you play out your fantasies." Eric grinned. "You're actually going to bother with a script? Remember what happened last time?" My mind went back to the lake...I did venture away from the script...a little. The thought made me smile because that was the most erotic thing I have ever done in my life. Then I thought about the elevator at the Hard Rock Hotel and the looks of the two men who saw us when the door opened. I felt my body rush with heat again. I felt the dizziness and nausea return for another round and I held my hand up to my forehead, rubbing my temples. The color drained from my face in seconds and a cold sweat started its next wave over my body. "Monica, are you okay?" John gently grabbed my arm. I looked over at him and I slowly stood up with both hands resting my weight against the table. Without waiting for permission, I quickly left the room and hurried to the bathroom. I could feel everything I had just consumed wanting to make a repeat visit. I closed the bathroom door and lifted the toilet seat, kneeling before it. I could hear Eric and John arguing in the background and I could hear Eric telling John off. "Lick my nuts, dickhead," I heard Eric say as I could hear his voice getting closer. Then I heard a knock at the door. "Monica, are you alright? Can I come in?" The door opened and I saw that he was standing in the doorway. "Where's your chair?" I asked hoarsely. "Believe me, this hurts when you have staples in your legs, but I am getting better really quick." He leaned up against the sink. "What's wrong? You know you can tell me." I slowly stood up and forced everything to stay down. I felt tears streaking down my face as I went in to embrace him. "Eric, I'm pregnant." I whispered into his ear. Eric wrapped his arm around me and squeezed me as tight as he could. "Does John know?" I shook my head. "I don't know how I am going to tell him, or if I will tell him. I don't know how he's going to react. He's already lost a son; I don't want him to worry about this one with what is transpiring within our government. Maybe I should just abort it and not worry about it." I was sobbing into Eric's shoulder at this point. "Monica, it will be okay. Either way you have to tell him. I will support whatever decision you make, but you have to include him on this. You can't do it alone." Eric whispered into my ear. "That's what happens when you don't use protection, Mon, you know that." "I WAS. That's the thing that is so weird." I mumbled into Eric's shirt. "What's going on?" It was John. I quickly turned around to see an irritated look on John's face. I knew he did not like the sight of Eric holding me in his arms. "You mind telling me what is wrong?" I know John could see the concern on Eric's face. "Do you mind, John?" Eric asked as if irritated by my boyfriend's presence. "As a matter of fact, I do. She's my girl and I would appreciate it if you would keep your hands off of her." John said sternly. "Whatever." Eric rolled his eyes and gently let go of me. He then limped out of the bathroom and back to the dining hall. John took me in his arms and held me tight. It was met with comfort and fear at the same time as I wrapped my arms around his waist. ................. Doggett: Eric was a true shit sometimes! Monica was my girl and yet he insisted following her to the bathroom after she left all of a sudden from the dinner table. Why couldn't he just let her be and give her the privacy she needed? He'd said she wasn't well and if I wasn't going to comfort her then he would. I'd told him to mind his own fucking business and go and fuss around Roxanne instead. The bastard went anyway with a look on his face that could freeze a polar bear. My jaw clenched and my fist clasped the dinner knife a little too firmly. After a few more unsatisfying mouthfuls I went to see what was going on. Roxanne and Devin were deep in conversation so I wouldn't be missed if I left for a moment. The way he had too much body contact with Monica was irking me. The hide of that fuck Eric! He had his arms around my woman in exactly the position I should have been. Why did she let him do that? He soon relented after I told him in no certain terms to get his slimy mitts off my girl. Invalid or not this man was a thorn in my side. Eric limped past me and when he was out of eyeshot all I could think of was Monica. All I wanted to do was nurture her and make it all go away. Remembering the doctor's instructions to have more fluids I filled a nearby glass with water and handed it to her. "Here, have this Mon." As she drained the glass I clasped my right hand with her left and squeezed. When she'd finished I took the glass from her and replaced it before reaching in and holding her close. I felt like letting out all my angst towards that shit of a friend of hers but it was she who needed the attention. "How are you feeling?" I spoke into her hair and closed my eyes immersing myself into her world. On entering the bathroom I'd noticed her face had regained some color. "Much better than I was. Now I know why the doctor said to have small meals but more often. That lasagna was a little too delicious." So that's why she'd come suddenly to the bathroom, too much food too soon. She smiled into my neck and I felt content that I could be there for her at such a vulnerable time. I only hoped that by following the doctor's advice she could recover fully very soon. There was a faint sound from outside the door, maybe someone who wanted to use the bathroom. Taking Monica by the hand we left and found a private alcove close by where she laid her head on my shoulder and we talked. "Mon, I'm curious." "Yes John?" "I don't make it a habit of eavesdropping conversations but what was Eric saying, before I came along, about protection? Protection from what?" Her head fidgeted slightly on my neck and for a moment I felt her discomfort. Was this something she hadn't wanted me to hear? Her silence was long and strained and I wondered why and then something hit me. "Monica, with all our sexual activity and all, I know we haven't discussed contraception and that's my fault I suppose. I just thought that being as open as we are with each other you would have told me if you were unprotected." She looked into my eyes with a sad, almost non-descript expression searching for something I didn't know was there. "Look Mon, tell me you're using something because I'm not sure I want little babies around me at this time of life." Her eyes almost looked hurt. Surely in a climate like this she wasn't thinking about a family. She had mentioned last night in the spa about her last wish being a family but that would be something for the happier future times, not now. "Mon?" It was my turn to search her eyes. "Yes John. I've been using something." I was visibly relieved. With our lives and the world as fucked up as it was we didn't need any more people suffering the possible disastrous future of our planet. Maybe if we could ever defeat these super soldiers and begin planning a defense against them then maybe then we could look more inward. It would be selfish to put our own needs first at this time. "Why were you discussing our sex life with Eric anyway? I don't want you doing that again. Come to me Mon." She laughed nervously and responded, "I wasn't talking about our personal lives. You have the wrong idea. The 'protection' he talked about was from the super soldiers when we get back to DC and hopefully resume our roles as FBI agents. "Oh, thank goodness." I rubbed a thumb over her cheek and felt its softness. "Because there are some topics that should be left private between lovers." "I know John," she half smiled as I ran my fingers through her dark, silky hair. There was a muffled sound from around the corner as though someone was approaching. "Quickly Mon, in here." I opened the nearest door and we stepped inside the pitch-black room and closed the door. My finger went to her lips silently advising her to stay quiet as the footstep passed. "You don't think anyone heard do you John?" Monica whispered when I took my finger away. "Even if they heard something they wouldn't understand it all. It's just an example of how we must be careful with what we say. Even if we want to trust these people we don't really know them well enough to just go saying anything about our past lives in their proximity." After a few moments silence listening for other sounds we knew we were all alone for the first time today, where both of us were feeling all right at the same time. "John, I have a fantasy about dark rooms," she said in a tempting voice. "Oh? What's that?" She took me a little by surprise. "That I'm lying in bed in pitch black and my lover comes in and ravishes me." Going along with her dream I responded, "Are you sure he's your lover. How can you tell in the darkness?" My hands felt down her shoulders to squeeze her butt and pulled her into me. "Not at first but as his hands slowly take off every article of clothing and his hands search every part of my body then I know it's him." Her words began to spark the recently dormant sexual side of me. Our lips searched in the darkness like attracting magnets and I kissed her with all the passion I could rally showing her in the shadows that this was truly me. My roaming hands added to the imprint of me on her mind and she groaned as I trailed fingers down her side to her thigh and then between her legs. "Oh John," she groaned as she moved her hips on my fingers. "How do you know it's John?" I whispered seductively into her neck. My fingers pushed harder between her legs almost feeling the wetness through her jeans. "Because...," she took a few moments to breathe. "I know your touch." "You sure?" I licked her earlobe then began sucking. "There could be many who touch like me." I decided to go slowly with this. How far we would go here was entirely up to my lover. "Oh no, not like you. I know the touch of your lips on mine." We kissed again as I undid her jeans button with one hand, unzipped and slipped my hand inside to feel real flesh. "Hmmm, and I know those fingers anywhere. Ahhhhhhhhhh." It was slippery and hot as I felt over her hardened clit. "You sure you want this Mon?" "Hmmmm, keep doing that." My other hand began to take down her jeans, slipping them over her hips. As we kissed and I masturbated her we found ourselves moving backwards in the gloom until we hit what appeared like a table. Sitting on the edge I opened my legs and let Monica come up close to me. "How else do you know this is John and not some randy stranger you're letting into your pants?" She ran her fingers tantalizingly over my cheeks and jaw line and then through my hair. "I just know." Her hand rested on the back of my head and she pulled me in for another kiss. As she did so I pulled her jeans and pants right off her hips so give me better access. She began fiddling with my jeans and I helped her. It was difficult to see anything in this room. "Do you really want this?" I needed the reassurance that she was well enough to have sex here in what room I didn't know. "Yes John, just fuck me." We stumbled back to the table as we both ridded ourselves of jeans, underwear and shoes. There was no time and inclination to undress further. I lifted her and sat her on the table's edge and opened her legs resting my shaft near her entrance. "Remember we have the shoot tomorrow. You won't be too tired?" I only asked because I knew the response. "Hmmm, there's plenty of time to recuperate before then, make love to me now." Shifting her onto her back and climbing on top I heard a few things clatter to the floor but ignored them as I pinned her with my rock hard penis. The fact that the others were probably all wondering where we were was furthest from my mind as I pushed inside her and savored every centimeter of flesh contact and all her contented gurgles. Her hands began behind my neck then made their way down over my T-shirt to my naked bobbing butt. She was so hot for me that I thought I would pass out. Inside was like an incubator nurturing my rock hard desire for her. As the heat grew so did our hormone levels until they were at critical. If anyone had passed the room they would have stopped to investigate the primal noises. We didn't need to change position for more penetration, we were about to release from being in this atmosphere alone. Monica gave one last gasp before I felt the familiar twitches on my dick that invariably brought on my orgasm sending us both cascading down a waterfall as though a single drop of water floating on air. When we hit the river below we immersed in each other's bodies and I lay gently on top of her feeling her heart beat and then slow. A moment later the light went on in the room and we were both startled. "That's where you two are?" It was Roxanne's voice. We looked around the room for the first time seeing shelves of books; pictures and poster lined the walls. There were couches and small tables with magazines atop, and on the floor were scatterings of plush Persian rugs. What we ended up focusing on was the table on which we'd just had sex. "If you'd only given me forewarning, I would have had a camera crew here. No one's ever done it on my office desk before." She mused. "Well not that I know of." She chuckled. We were speechless, hiding our heads in each other's bodies. "Come on, get your clothes on. I was looking for you to tell you that dessert's been served but I can see you've already had yours." With that she laughed and closed the door behind her. .................... Reyes: I was still feeling about an inch tall after Roxanne had left. I could feel myself blushing as I buried my head into John's chest, my breathing slowly returning to normal from the erotic interaction I had just experienced. John grabbed my clothes and handed them to me and I put them back on. I still felt weary that someone may have heard us talking in the bathroom earlier and it was a vibration of suspicion that was growing stronger. Maybe I was just paranoid about someone finding out about my 'condition' more than anything; the thought of how I was to tell John of this still stood out in the back of my mind. "You okay, Mon?" John asked me as he put his shirt on over his head. He must have seen the worried look on my face. I nodded and blinked my eyes slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." I said softly. "Maybe we should go and check out dessert?" I opened the door and slowly walked back to the dining hall where there was some sort of chocolate mousse layer cake served up on plates. I sat down and John sat down next to me, looking into me as if searching for some more answers. I looked away and took a sample of the cake with my fork, allowing the chocolate to delectably dissolve around my tongue. Eric was on the other side of John inhaling his dessert, and understandably so. It is probably a hell of a lot better than eating something liquefied through a straw. "So, do you guys like Aerosmith? They're coming to my party Saturday night." Roxanne said cheerfully. "I love Steven Tyler...man...he's in his fifties and he still turns me on." Eric looked over at her in shock that she said that. "Don't worry, darling, my heart belongs to you." She told him reassuringly. "Devin and I were having this argument about the entertainment for my party. He wanted to invite Limp Bizkit, but since Wes Borland wasn't with the band anymore I wasn't sure how much I would like that. I have run into Mr. Tyler a few times, last time was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony and he wanted to check my place out the next time I had a major party, so that's how I got him." "Aerosmith, eh? Sounds like a good time. What do you think, Mon?" John asked as he swallowed some cake down. I was sort of zoning through the conversation and I just absently nodded in agreement. "When was the party again?" I asked not remembering that part of the conversation. "It's Saturday, Mon. In a couple of days." John said quietly in my ear. "You alright, Monica?" Eric asked looking past John to me. I nodded and John slowly turned his head visibly annoyed by Eric's question. "She's fine," he said matter-of-factly. I wish I could have said 'he knows something that you don't,' but refrained. "John, it's okay." All through the talking I finished my cake. I was feeling really tired from our activities in Roxanne's office. "I would really like to go home, if that's okay." I knew I sounded tired. I felt it. I just wanted to go and get some rest. "With what you two were doing I'm not surprised. Let me get your scripts as long as you didn't smear the ink on them from your rooting around in there." Roxanne snickered as she left the dining room. A few minutes later she came back with our scripts and handed them to us. They were bound in red covers. We took them and headed for the door with Roxanne following behind us. "The party on Saturday starts at one in the afternoon. Pool activities and so on, but the music starts at about eight, so you can get here as late as that if you want. I also want to discuss with you the possibility of renewing your contracts then if that's possible. The shoot for 'All Rise' will be Monday morning, so try and be here around seven so we can get you done up." "Sounds good, Roxanne. We'll see you on Saturday." John told her as we walked outside to the truck. "Think about renewing before then for me, okay?" She called out to us as we both climbed into the truck and drove off back to our apartment. I let out a long sigh as we drove past the gate of the mansion and back onto city streets. I still felt a little weird, but I wasn't sure where it was all coming from. I couldn't tell if it was evil or if it was just the fact I felt like we were being watched. ............................ Chapter Twenty-One Doggett: 'All Rise" Part One This was our fourth shoot and we'd been given scripts the night before. Monica had been feeling much better since she'd taken the doctor's advice and had some rest, eaten smaller meals but more often and had plenty of fluids. We'd rehearsed in bed the previous evening and would feel very proud of ourselves if we could pull this off. This storyline required a bit of acting ability as well as the lovemaking, something neither of us was trained to do. When we got to rehearse the sex that was all natural and wondered whether we could pull it off as well in front of the camera. Monica was late for work on her first day with the well-known law firm Fairhaven and Wiggins. She was seen anxiously looking at her watch as she held the crowded train's support pole with one hand and her brand new briefcase with the other. She was dressed in a nicely fitted dark green suit, which hinted at the cream camisole underneath, a heart necklace glistened around her neck. Her skirt came just above her knees. Her long, silky stockinged legs ended in a pair of matching strappy high-heeled sandals. Her hair had been given some bounce with a little hair mousse that morning. She looked healthy and happy to begin her new career. She took a deep breath as she entered the large front doors of the law firm with two minutes to spare. "Hello, Monica Rossi," she announced to the receptionist with confidence and a bounce in her step. "Ah Ms. Rossi, you're expected on the fifth floor. Take the elevator and see Sharon when you get there." "Sharon?" "Don't worry, she'll find you." We exchanged smiles as I walked towards the elevator lobby. There was a short flashback to her interviews for the job of legal secretary to the vice president of the company, a very prestigious position to secure and she felt proud that she'd been short-listed and then eventually won the job. She'd heard a little about me but had never seen me. Apparently I was very good looking, had the ladies swooning over me and was a hard taskmaster. The fact that I was single and wealthy and was this year's Cosmopolitan's Bachelor of the Year didn't come into the equation. She'd only heard this news and never actually seen her boss to be. That didn't faze Monica; she would do her job to the best of her ability without distractions. Sharon must have been fore warned because she was there to meet her as the doors opened. "Hi Monica, I'm Sharon. Welcome to our humble law firm," she smiled and shook her hand. "Come this way, I'll show you to your office." As she passed onlookers she noticed them gazing her way and smiling but on passing they would whisper to each other. There was something a little off putting about how they whispered behind her back. "Here you are, your office. I'll let you have a look around and get settled then come and see me with any questions." "Is he in?" she said, anxiously awaiting meeting this man, only of people's dreams so far. "Not yet but I suggest you familiarize yourself here first, you'll have your hands full when he gets here." "Oh? I've heard he's a hard man to work for." "Hard is an understatement but I prefer you to make up your own mind." She continued a little more quietly. "He's heaven to look at but can be a bit abrupt when it comes to breaking his rules. By the way one is to never go into his office when he's not here. Many a secretary has been dismissed for that alone." "Many?" Sharon just laughed and left the rest to Monica's imagination. "He's single, gorgeous but is not dating as far as I know. The gals here have tried believe me but his work comes first I suppose." Sharon took a deep breath, smiled and without further words left the new worker to familiarize herself with her environs. As she read through files, sipped coffee and generally immersed herself in her surrounds the Vice President's door was always there inviting her to look beyond. It was after about two hours she could contain herself no longer, she had to look inside, rules or not. She knocked first out of habit and then walked inside. A silent gasp escaped from her throat. The office was awe-inspiring. Two walls were all glass affording a wonderful view of the Las Vegas strip and surrounds, the other two walls were dark wood, one of which was shelves of books from floor to ceiling. The room was sparsely furnished with an impressive selection of modern and antique perfectly suiting her own tastes. From outside the door she heard a booming, low, husky voice and then the doors flung open revealing surprised faces of three men and the stern expression of the forth who must have been her new boss. "Mr. DiSalvo," Monica reached out her hand. "I am Monica Rossi." Before she even had time to say any more I boomed back at her. "What are you doing in here Miss? My rule is no one is permitted in here unless I invite them in." Monica didn't hear, she was mesmerized by my overall appearance. She saw that I was immaculately dressed in a navy blue finely pin striped suit with a pale blue shirt and matching tie with slightly wider white stripes. According to the script, in her mind's eye she imagined an athletic body looming underneath his clothes. Monica found her heart race a little and her salivary glands working overtime. My shoes were so highly polished that the daylight through the window was reflected in them. My hair was short and neatly combed back. Her eyes then went to my stern blue eyes and what the script said, my perfectly shaped face. I was meant to be a true specimen of manhood. "Did you hear me woman!" I said a little too gruffly that Monica was jolted out of her trance. "I was just...." "Get out!" I pointed her to the door. "If you ever come in here again without permission don't think about coming back." A tear came to her eyes thinking about how the personality was not as godlike as the features. More tears were about to flow when she took stock and the strong woman that she was took over. "Pleased to meet you too Mr. di Salvo. Welcome to the firm Ms. Rossi, I hope you enjoy your time with us," she said with a hint of sarcasm and confidently went to the doors. On the way past me as the vice president she held her head high. Past the other three 'lackeys' she winked much to their astonishment. "By the way, when you decide to calm down and talk rationally I'll be at my desk." She closed the doors almost breaking down as she did so. If she lost her job because of this outburst so be it, no one was going to treat her disrespectfully like that. The three men were asked to leave in no certain terms and I buzzed her into my office to give her a piece of my mind. Before I could say anything she was on my case. "You are the rudest man I have ever met. I don't know what all those women see in you. Oh yes, I see a man who has sexy eyes, a great body and a taut ass but they are nothing without personality." "You're outta line!" "No wonder you go through so many secretaries." My mouth hung open according to the script but I couldn't believe how well Monica was acting all this out. "Ms. Rossi, you're dismissed!" "Oh no I'm not!" She placed her hands on her hips and for the first time the script directed me to see the woman behind the strong exterior. I looked down those long legs then up to her shapely body to her fiery expressive brown eyes. This was the woman I'd been looking for a lifetime. "You're not getting rid of me that easily. When you decide to be civil and apologize I'll be down in the lobby getting some fresh air." She stormed out and closed the doors firmly without slamming them. End Part One "Bravo! Bravo!" We could hear Roxanne's voice from behind the camera. "Power, energy, conflict, carnal desire, you captured it all. I can't believe you guys can be so good in the sack and act anyone's socks off as well. You two never cease to amaze me." We looked very pleased with ourselves. "Okay love birds, the next scene is going to be very energetic, I suggest you go and have a couple of red bulls or something to give you a burst of energy." ........................... "All Rise" Part Two After leaving Vice President di Salvo's office Monica bee lined to the elevators not hearing me catching up behind her. "Just a minute Miss Rossi," I boomed grabbing onto her elbow swinging her around. All eyes were on us. "Don't you leave unless I ask you!" She unhooked her elbow defiantly and entered the elevator. She pushed the 'down' button and I entered also and pushing the 'open' button. Monica, with gritted teeth and resolve, pushed the 'close' button. We had a duel of elevator buttons before we felt a jolt and the whole cabin move up. Before us were open doors and the gray walls of the elevator shaft. We were stuck in a broken down elevator. "This was your fault, you damn stubborn witch!" I growled at her. "My fault?" She put a hand to her chest. "I was the one wanting to use the elevator you shit. No wonder you're not Managing Partner of this company. How many times is it now that you've been looked over?" She knew this would probably lose her the job permanently but she was not working with this man in this environment. According to the script I'd had enough of her insubordination at this stage and resorted to the physical. I grabbed her wrists slammed my body into hers and pinned her against the elevator wall. "So you can't beat me with words, you have to use your male muscle power over me." I pressed in further and looked into her face determined to win. "What! Are you going to rape me now just to show who's boss?" I ground my crotch into her and felt overwhelming carnal desire. The last thing I noticed before moving into her mouth were her alluring, sparkling eyes dripping with longing. As I moved my mouth on hers she was motionless. I sucked and licked her lips until her mouth slowly opened and joined in my craving. My tongue squeezed its way between her teeth and she relented and kissed back with a thirst I had not yet experienced. We kissed heavily moving our mouths around to different positions letting the camera see our exchange of juices and our tongues in coitus. Still grabbing her wrists tightly I moved them up the elevator wall and clasped them above her head with one of my hands. This left the other hand free to roam her body. Feeling for the hem of her skirt I pulled it up to her hips and with one knee moved her legs apart and pushed my hardened crotch even further into her. "What are you going to do about it?" Monica blurted between kisses almost sounding drunk. It was then the time to start undressing. The camera followed my hand up to her suit coat buttons and undid them as I mock fucked her with my crotch. She wriggled out of her jacket and my hand squeezed her breast through the silken material of the undergarment. My crotch was grabbed forcefully and squeezed only making my erection larger and more painfully restricted in my pants. "You bitch!" I growled as I pushed a hand between her legs and started running a finger then two along the wet lining of her nylons and panties pushing in, almost willing the material to give way so I could finger fuck her until she just begged me for my other more preferable appendage to take its place. "Are you going to take these off or do I have to rip them off you?" My voice was breathy in her ear. "Rip it off then you bastard," she growled. "I dare you!" Obeying her demand I grabbed the top of her stockings first and pulled forcefully feeling it give way beneath my fingers. She somehow flicked off her shoes and let me whisk the flimsy material all the way from her legs. When I tore the panties right off her ass she gasped and groaned like I'd never heard before. This was turning me on no end. My searching fingers found her wet entrance and pushed in and around in wide circles. She was more than ready to be entered by me. I was prepared there and then to fuck her brains out against the elevator wall but I was still fully clothed. "You vixen, I bet you let every man do this to you!" Lifting her camisole over her head I then unclasped her bra allowing her to be totally naked before me. My mouth went down to her breasts and sucked and bit hungrily. Feeling the vibration of her purr through her chest only got me into a frenzy and I continued over her whole body covering every part with my lips, teeth and tongue while she pulled and tousled my hair. I could have left her like that, totally bare and vulnerable. If the lift had resumed its way then what would this situation look like; a totally bare woman and a fully clothed man? As I kissed her viciously on the mouth I proceeded to strip myself bare with her helping. I was going to go through with this. The elevator was not going anywhere soon and I was determined to pin her and pump her against the wall giving her the punishment she deserved. Each bit of bare skin was felt and scratched lightly as it became prone, until I too was completely bare and pushing and rubbing against her. "You want to fuck me you SOB? You want to take me to show you're stronger? Go on, force me to have sex with you." Those words got me so excited that the next segment on film was almost a blur. My manliness swung between her legs as she opened up for me. With arms around my neck she jumped up and wrapped her legs around me and rested her upper back for support on the wall. "Come on, give me an orgasm. Have you ever made another woman come before?" My breathing was very erratic at her talk. All this was unscripted and the uncertainty made me feel cauldron hot for her. "I've made many woman come and you won't be an exception." I could take it no longer and thrust my more than ready cock inside her. Her breath was hot on my face as I pushed in and out. With staggered breathing she managed to talk. "You do this to all your secretaries? Give them a sexual orientation?" Her voice huffed. "Yes, every single one. I fuck their cunts off and decide whether they're worthy." I had to hold off, all this sex talk was heightening my desire out of control. It was scripted that when we both came the elevator would jolt again. This time was approaching now. "So I'm just another fuck then?" "Oh yes! YES!" My orgasm hit me full force and I could also feel her heart thumping madly against my chest. "Fuck! FUCK! John!" Monica almost fell from my arms when we felt the jolt and the elevator controls start working again. We almost didn't have time to recover from our mutual release. I was still inside her when we knew that the script said we needed to start redressing. The lift slowly moved down revealing the floor we'd recently left. We only had time to don our clothes but held our shoes in our hands as, with composure, we exited the elevator and headed back to the office. Surprised faces no doubt knew exactly what we'd done. Our tousled hair, the shirttail hanging out, the flushed expression all gave evidence to the fact we'd just had wild sex in the elevator. As we closed the office door behind us the camera panned to an office employee holding up the ripped stockings in one hand and Monica's panties in the other. End "All Rise". ............................ Chapter Twenty-Two Reyes: Saturday night approached and we were back off to Roxanne's for another party. I wore a black bra with a see through webbed top that was also black and tight fitting hipster leather like pants that hugged my ass accompanied with my Doc Martens boots. Roxanne had the full staff on hand for this party because when we pulled up past the security she had several valet boys parking the vehicles. I saw a tour bus and trailer and assumed it was the band and their rig setting up for the show. We pulled up to a young valet boy and we both hopped put of the truck. He handed us a ticket with a number on it and took the truck out back to park it. We headed over to the front door hand in hand where we were met by Devin and Roxanne. "Glad you guys could make it. The band's setting up right now as we speak. Have you given any thought to the contracts yet?" Roxanne asked as we followed her inside with Devin. There were roadies setting up all of the equipment and soundboards, the Hooters girls were back again doing the buffet next to the bar, and the party guests were dressed in as little clothing as legally allowed by the state of Nevada. Of course, when they come here clothing is optional. A man dressed in tight pants and partially unbuttoned shirt approached us, taking Roxanne's hands in his. "Hello, Ms. Derrik." He said seductively kissing the back of her hand. "Oh, Mr. Tyler...Going....down?" Roxanne said in a seductive low voice. It then hit me it was Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Roxanne was right: He does still look good for his age. Mr. Tyler was smiling ear to ear when Roxanne said that. "Later tonight, my dear?" he asked as he licked his lips. This was making me hot. My breathing started getting faster watching them interact and I know John was picking up on that. "No, I'm afraid I have a catch this time. He's a little under the weather so he's not attending tonight. Raincheck?" Roxanne was ogling over this guy. I would be too if I were in the situation. This guy definitely had sex appeal about him that made him glow. "I was wondering if I could make a request for a song in honor of two very special stars of mine." Roxanne gestured over to us and Mr. Tyler took my hand and kissed the back of it like he did Roxanne's. My body instantly turned to jelly in his presence despite the fact that John was standing right next to me holding my other hand. When Mr. Tyler lowered my hand he gave me the sexiest look I have ever seen screaming from a man's eyes. He then put his hand out for John and they shook even though I knew John was very distraught over some rock star touching me and looking at me the way that he did. "This is John and Monica, my newly acquired adult movie stars. You should checkout their work, it's fucking mind blowing." Mr. Tyler took Roxanne's hand in his and smiled. "I just may have to do that later. What song did you want me to play?" "Love in an elevator," Roxanne said as she smiled. "That's doable. I'll do that one first. Anyway, I better get back to the stage so we can get this going. It was nice to meet you both." Tyler quickly ventured off back to the stage area where his band mates were doing a sound check. Roxanne turned to us and Devin lingered in the background with his eyes on her. I noticed there was quite a bit of security lingering around the place considering the size of the crowd. "Back to the contract question..." Roxanne continued. My face flushed with worry, I tried to keep myself composed to answer. It would be great, but considering that I am in a predicament, I really should take it easy until I know what is happening with my pregnancy. "Well, I'm not sure-" I started. I must have had a look of doubt because John saw it right away. We hadn't really had the chance to discuss it yet and I wasn't sure if I was ready to discuss it now. "What, Monica?" John asked me as his grip gently tightened on my hand. "Well, it's just that we haven't really had the chance to discuss it yet. Can we have a little more time to think about it?" I asked trying not to lead on that there was something wrong. Roxanne nodded her head. "Absolutely. I was just trying to get through the paperwork early for all of us. We can discuss it more when we get into the last shoot. Will that be long enough?" We both nodded at the same time. "Thanks." I said with a half grin. "Oh, once you make yourselves comfortable, Eric said he wanted to see you both. He's back in my room. He's not quite up for a social function yet. He just got his stitches out and he's still sore, but I will make him forget about that later..." Roxanne smiled devilishly. "And by the way, I have another shoot planned for the day after tomorrow. It's going to take place at Club Ra in the Luxor Hotel on the strip. I'll fill you in on the details later..." The sound system turned on and it was Steven Tyler and Aerosmith. "All right everybody!" he called out. His greeting was met with a roar from everyone in the crowded room. "Have a special request for one of our older songs...this is Love In An Elevator." The guitar played its opening riff and Tyler let out one of his famous screams. "Workin' like a dog for the boss man Workin' for the company I'm bettin' on the dice I'm tossin' I'm gonna have a fantasy But where am I gonna look They tell me that love is blind I really need a girl like an open book To read between the lines (Chorus) Love In An Elevator Livin' it up when I'm goin' down Love In An Elevator Lovin' it up till I hit the ground Jackie's in the elevator Lingerie second floor She said 'can I see you later And love you just a little more' I kinda hope we get stuck Nobody gets out alive She said 'I'll show you how to fax In the mailroom, honey And have you home by five' (Chorus) In the air, in the air, honey one more time Now it ain't fair Love in an elevator Lovin' it up when I'm goin' down Love in an elevator Goin' down (Chorus) Gonna be a penthouse pauper Gonna be a millionaire I'm gonna be a real fast talker And have me a love affair Gotta get my timin' right It's a test that I gotta pass I'll chase you all the way to stairway, honey Kiss your sassafras (Chorus) Do you care, do you care (Repeat Chorus) After the song was over the band got one hell of an ovation. I liked that song so much it fit our latest shoot that we had just done. We went out back to the other end of the estate where the bedrooms were. We walked down the hall until we got to Roxanne's room and we found Eric in there sitting up working on his laptop. He must have heard us and looked up. "Hey guys, what's up?" He asked as he smiled that beautiful smile. "You're missing one hell of a show out there," I told him. "What, those old guys? They're okay. I would rather have Limp Bizkit perform 'Nookie' for me instead." He replied as he chuckled. "So, numb nuts, what's so important that you gotta talk to us?" John asked as he sat down at the edge of the bed. Eric spun his laptop around for both of us to see. On the screen in large font was a date: December 22, 2012. "See that?" he asked with seriousness to his voice, "That is how long we have to rid this planet of alien vermin. This is the date of this so- called recolonization. This is what your Agent Mulder was being killed for." "Yeah, so?" John pressed. "So, these super soldiers that you are so worried about are taking up key positions in our government like I told you. Your friends Skinner and Kersh are being made to be key players in your return home. They have been pretty much been threatened with their lives if they help you in any way. With all of the fighting between the CIA and the FBI over September 11th, it's easy for them to get into position without anyone saying a word." "So they're looking for us?" I asked as I leaned against the wall. "Not yet. They will be soon, you can count on that. They plan on burying any evidence that leads to them and their plan. Luckily I have it all here as proof." Eric patted the top of his computer. "So, do you have any useful information you'd like to share with us?" John asked annoyed by Eric's presence. "Well, yes I do. If they catch any of us, don't bet on going back home alive. They would rather have us all killed than risk any more followers of the truth. The only way we can kill those bastards is to use a type of metal found in ore called magnetite. Apparently that is what caused the original spacecraft in Roswell to crash. These super soldiers have a weakness to it I am sure you know." It hit me like a ton of bricks falling on me. That's what must have made Rohrer literally fly into the sidewall in that canyon we were in. "What does it do to them?" I asked with intense curiosity. "Vaporizes them, grounds them out, who cares? All I know is that this stuff is like kryptonite to Superman to these half-breeds. My contact in the CIA is getting me names of all those who are in high positions and those who aren't. He is sending me a special package of the magnetite to a post office box off of Tropicana Boulevard and it should be here tomorrow. Do you think you guys can get me there?" Eric seemed anxious and nervous to tell us this information. "You have been screwing around this long just to give us this little piece of information? We knew half of that already." John blurted out. "Yeah, maybe. But I'm getting a list of these fuckers within 48 hours. Can you do that?" Eric asked being a smart ass. John cocked his head to the side and realized that he was wrong and the information we were just told like the date were prudent. "Look, dickhead, you might not like me, but I am getting some answers. I have put my neck out for you and her because of the people I associate with. So, the least you can do is fucking thank me." "Look, I am just concerned with the validity of your source and whether or not he is really on our side." John said. "I know. I didn't know he was CIA at first. I met him through one of those UFO chat rooms and since then I have been getting tidbits of information from him. In return he's been lightening up on my fraud charges because I have handed over some key terrorists the government is looking for. We'll get back...it's just a matter of time and waiting. I have figured out a way to contact Skinner." Eric took out a small cell phone. "It's a cell phone. I have one of those. What's so special?" John asked. "It's not just a cell phone. I did a little James Bond work to it here. You can talk through it, but it doesn't sound like you. It's almost like having a tone box hooked up to it. Besides...it's a type of free cellular service." Eric winked at me and that almost drove John over the edge. "Kind of like splicing into the cable box?" I asked giggling a little. "Kind of. It's good for a one-time use. I wouldn't use it any more than that because it doesn't take long for the FCC to catch up with you on that. Figure that one out: Catch cell phone crooks yet we didn't see the thing in New York coming." Eric shook his head in disgust. "Now, back to my original question: can you take me tomorrow morning?" "What about Roxanne? Does she know about the shit you do?" John was yanking on his chain a little. "Not all of it. Besides, the police still have her Excursion and after they're done with it, it's getting the bullet holes fixed." I looked down at Eric's legs to see the long scars on each one from his surgery. "I'll take you," I said with kindness in my voice. "Monica-" John started. "John, just do it. Jesus, what does it hurt? We can figure out a plan when we get the stuff here." I was starting to get a little fed up with all of the posturing these two enjoyed to do in front of me. My stomach was turning itself upside down again and the imbalance of my equilibrium started to come back into play. A loud knock on the door made all of us jump. I opened the door to find Devin staring a hole right through me. Thoughts began racing through my mind as to how long he was actually standing there outside the door listening to what we were saying. "Devin," I gasped out, "What can we do for you?" "Ms. Derrik just wanted me to tell you that the food is all ready if you want to come out and get some." He paused and handed me two scripts. "And she wanted me to give you these as well." He slowly turned away and headed back toward the festivities. My heart started pounding endlessly in my chest pondering the possibility. I have been feeling some strange karma flowing through the air and the danger and suspicion I sense from him and our employer seem to be growing stronger with each passing day. "We'll pick you up in the morning." John said through a whisper. "You guys better get back out there. I'll wait and see if I come up with anything else." Eric said and I went up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He blushed for a moment and smiled. "Thank you," I whispered to him. John took me by the hand and led me out of Eric's room into the hall. "Would you please quit touching him?" he whispered to me trying to keep his voice from rising. I grabbed his crotch and pushed him into the hallway wall and kissed him fiercely, forcing my tongue to his and tasting his breath. I broke the sparking hot kiss and looked deep into his gorgeous blue eyes. "Shut up." I ordered him as I pushed my hips into his to fend his mind away from its jealousy and mine off of its fear. ..................................... Roxanne: I was drinking a glass of Sangiovese wine when I felt a tap on the shoulder. I turned to see that it was Devin and he looked a little concerned about something. Aerosmith continued their barrage of great music and my guests were really getting into the mood. The more they played, the more clothing came off in the crowd. "Ms. Derrik, I need to speak to you." Devin said through the noise. I nodded and followed him out back by the pool where it was more peaceful. I sat down on the concrete bench and Dev sat down next to me. "What's the matter? You look a little disturbed about something." I said as I sipped some more wine. "It's that Eric guy you are letting stay here. I don't think he's being honest with you. I overheard part of a conversation he was having with John and Monica. Something about the FBI. I couldn't really hear, but they all seemed to be a bit nervous when I went to go get them." "You think they are cops or something? We have nothing to hide. We're not doing anything illegal" I didn't want to believe what I had just heard or even think that Eric or John and Monica were cops. They're too nice. "I'm not sure if they're cops, but what if the cops are chasing them? Do you want to take the risk of letting a guy like him stay here? He could easily tap into your account and take everything from you." Devin looked deep into me. "When I called John the other night about Eric he almost told me a different name on the phone. I don't think they are who they say they are." "I know, Dev. I had accounting put up some hefty firewalls on my system so that wouldn't happen. Besides, I think if he were to do anything he would have done it and left already." I said calmly. That didn't seem to shake his concern, though. "All right. I'll ask him in the morning. I am sure if I have his dick in my mouth he will succumb to any of my questions. Is there anything else?" Devin shook his head. "Don't worry, Dev. I think you are worrying about nothing." I got up and meandered back into the steamy party. ....................................................................... Chapter Twenty-Three Roxanne: Eric and I made love all night. Despite his remaining injuries he could still get it up repeatedly for me and pleasure me like no other has before. I didn't want to believe what Devin had told me last night. This was too good to be true for it to go wrong. After our fourth orgasm Eric passed out cold on his back in the bed. I was still breathing hard, trying to recuperate from my activity. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to snoop a little through his things. I put my clothes on and unzipped his packed duffle bag. It was mostly clothes and computer disks, but I found some sort of bifold wallet mixed in with them. I opened it and one side said FBI with his picture on it and a badge was on the other side. I sat there in shock for a moment and dug in his bag some more. There was a gun in a holster and it appeared to be loaded. My God-was Devin right about something? What was Eric here for? Was there something going on here in my company that the FBI felt it was necessary to send undercover agents in? Fuck, it. I was not going to jail. I knew my company was running a legit business according to the law. It couldn't be me he was trying to investigate. I stood at the end of the bed and pulled out the gun. I pointed it at Eric and then at the pillow next to his head. I cocked the hammer back and pulled the trigger. The loud pop made Eric jump and he covered his face to protect himself. "Who the fuck are you?" I asked calmly. "I wanna know who you are and what you are doing here. If I don't like your answer I will blow your balls off right here." Eric looked up at me with eyes wide. "Roxanne, put the gun down," he said calmly as he could. "Speak!" I ordered. "Fucking tell me Eric. I'd hate to feel something for someone who is trying to hurt me." "Roxanne, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me." He shook his head trying to convince me. "Try me," I said. " I have heard all the excuses men give me for inflicting pain." Eric nodded his head. "Okay..." He paused for a moment then signaled for me to sit down on the bed next to him. I lowered the gun a little to see the painful remorse on his face. "I never wanted to deceive you, Roxanne. You've gotta believe me I did what I had to for your own good; for all our good." He paused and swallowed. "I used to be an FBI agent in New York City. I mostly dealt with the computer fraud stuff and hacking into computer systems of criminals and organized crime. When I saw how easy it was to do that, I started to make money on the side for fraudulent ID's, passports, visas, etc. When I realized I had sold some to terrorists I was found out about and forced from the Bureau by a tip from a colleague's boyfriend. I disappeared and continue to do what I was doing." I continued to point the gun straight at him as my heart pounded loudly in my chest. I shook my head and sat down next to him, keeping my finger steady on the trigger. "So what brought you here? John and Monica in on you with this?" "John and Monica are good friends of mine. They have nothing to do with what I am doing. Anyway, there is something going on here that affects everyone. You, me, the whole world. There are people that roam this planet that aren't quite human and in ten years they will kill us all unless we get to them first. To get closer to a resolution I agreed to give the CIA information about the terrorists I deal with and in return they give me information and lighten up against my fraudulent charges. That is why I was shot three times. It was retaliation for ratting them out." My mouth hung open. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. "Little green men, Eric? Aren't you a little old to be playing with stuff like that?" I shook my head. "Look. I gotta go call John and Monica. I need to remind them of the Club Ra shoot coming up tomorrow. When I get back tomorrow night you better have a much plausible explanation than what I just heard. If you don't, you better have your shit packed and out of here." I tossed the gun on the bed and walked out of the room, heading for one of the spare bedrooms. I leaned up against the wall and rubbed my temples. I could not believe what I had just heard back there. This was just great: I fucked a guy who is very mentally unstable. Aliens? Not quite human? I tried to forget the conversation as I went into the spare room and picked up the phone to call John and Monica. ......................... Eric: It had been a couple of hours since Roxanne had pointed my own gun at me. My heart still raced from the thought, though I knew I was wrong for keeping information from her I knew she would end up discovering anyway. I was actually having feelings for her, feelings I never knew I could feel for anyone. The closest I have ever come in emotional attachment to someone was Monica, and I knew that in this lifetime that would never come true no matter what I did to manipulate the situation in my favor. I looked out of the window and saw that the sun was coming up, so I carefully put some jeans, shirt, jacket, and shoes on. I put my sling on my left arm to support the muscles from pulling on my healing collarbone. My mind went back to Roxanne. I wanted to go to her in the worst way, but she wanted nothing to do with me until I had some good answers to give her. Even with my secret contact in the CIA I felt blind in this situation. I didn't know what the guy looked like let alone trust him completely. Not to mention that there were some severe gaps in the communications lately. The list of super soldiers had not come through like I had expected. However, I had to take that leap of faith to find out for the one woman who could ask me to do anything for her-even kill, and that was Monica Reyes. She could have had my ass in a sling so long ago; she probably would have if she knew my ties to terrorists. I owed her my life if nothing else. My mind was cluttered with desire and confusion and hopelessness, fearing that this time I may be abandoned for good. I had driven myself into such isolation from my lifestyle the closest thing I have had to a companion was a can of Red Bull and my Dell laptop. I snapped out of my self-pity and put my laptop in its case. I started heading for the front door limping slightly remembering what Roxanne said about packing my things and leaving her forever. It made me wonder how badly she had been hurt in the past and here I was just adding to it with my secrets from her. I stepped out of the front door and quietly closed it behind me. John was waiting in the driveway in my truck with the motor running. I opened the passenger door and hopped in, trying to hide any preoccupation that may have been surfacing through to my expressions. "Where to?" John asked. "Head to Tropicana and go east." I said plainly. John turned the truck around and slowly exited Roxanne's estate. I turned on the truck's CD player and I realized I left my Chroma Key 'You Go Now' CD in the disc changer. 'Another Permanent Address' was playing. John headed out to the mailbox store and we both kept our mouths shut. I was so envious of him: He had the very thing I always wanted, but Monica's heart belongs to him. I had my chance to score with her when she was staying at the MGM, but I didn't want her feeling like a whore full of guilt for sleeping with me. It made me feel good that we were still friends no matter what, and I was glad to help her in time of need. Judging by John's attitude lately I could tell she still had not told him of her pregnancy. I could also read from his shortness of a temper that he probably would not take the news well. It did pleasure me to see him disturbed each time I touched her. If John blew up when she told him about her pregnancy, I will probably ask her if she wants to split with me to Canada and possibly head to Europe somewhere. If he was going to dump her over that I would be damned if I let her carry a child on her own, regardless if it were mine or not. Roxanne was pissed off at me and my chances of her forgiveness were looking pretty dim after what I had told her this morning. In the fight to control my thoughts, I just let out a long sigh as the song played out. "Sometimes I just want to sleep in the street/but it feels a little funny without you/down in the basement, feeling the pavement, holding my stomach/Sometimes I can't believe my own feet so I found another permanent address/sold the old mattress, keeping the changes/talking to strangers/Here I could forget you/That's what I'm gonna do/Staring at a stop sign/Just like the last time/ Hey you're everything you'd dreamed you'd be/What a civilized way to be angry/Locked in the attic started to panic, wait that's me/It's the same situation it's gotta be somebody's fault/ I never know what to do, so let's say we put the blame on you/ Standing in the phone booth/waiting for the punch line/ trying not to call you/ just like the last time" I didn't realize I was whispering the words to the song, as John began to talk. "You're unusually quiet this morning. Did Roxanne keep you awake all night or what?" I looked over at him for a moment and then looked back at the road. "You could say that." I remembered her fucking me until I passed out. Her taste, her touch, her sweet smell and most of all her strength. The thought of losing something that perfect almost brought me to tears. Why was I such a fucking loser all of these years? "She almost killed me." Between the sex and the gun that was pointed at me that phrase's double meaning held a lot of truth. John just chuckled thinking that it was a good thing seeing how I wasn't flirting with his woman at this time. Just being around this guy lately was starting to grind away at my nerves. He cheated on Monica once already. It made me wonder how faithful he was going to be to her in the future especially after he finds out about her pregnancy. I just wanted to get my package and get the hell away from him. We approached a shopping center where the postal place was. "Turn right here," I told John. He pulled into the parking lot and parked the truck right in front of the entrance of the place. We both got out and walked inside and a young woman in her twenties was tending the counter. "Can I help you?" she asked in a squeaky voice. She reminded me of the girls I went to high school with. Dingy with high-pitched voices. "Um, yeah. Package for Eric Duarte." I pulled out my FBI badge and presented it to her. I was told by my contact that in order to get this box I'd have to show her my ID because she wouldn't just give it to anyone. She went to the back and came out with a large box addressed from the DOD. I signed for it and John picked it up and we both walked out to the truck. My injuries were starting to bother me a little and beads of sweat formed on my forehead from the pain. John set the box in the bed of the truck and I tore open the cardboard flaps. There were vials of some sort of clear fluid, boxes of ammunition, hypodermic needles, and ore powder all of which I assumed to be the magnetite. Some of the vials were concentrated, almost as if I could use this stuff in the local water supply like a terrorists releasing anthrax through the same means. There were also a few rocks of the stuff for what purpose I still had to ascertain from my contact when and if I get in touch with him. I was starting to get a little dizzy from the pain taking over my body. In a certain way I wish the damned terrorist that shot me were a better aim. That way I'd be off the hook and free from the emotional and physical pain. "What's eating at you, man? You wanna tell me what this stuff is?" John asked with his arms crossed. I didn't really have any type of emotional or smart-ass remark to give him. I was too fucking depressed to deal with him right now and all I wanted to do was hold Roxanne in my arms and make everything just go away. "This, Agent Doggett, is your ticket to some useful ammunition against your enemy. You might want to keep it with you at your place, but I will hold on to some of it just in case..." I took a few vials, a large rock and a tube of the powder. I was having some weird feelings lately and I didn't want to be left helpless just in case John and Monica couldn't come to the rescue. "Just in case what?" John rebutted. "You never know where evil is lurking. I just wanna cover my ass just in case you aren't there. Is that okay with you, Superman?" John smirked at my remarks as I shoved the vials in my laptop case and the rock into my inside jacket pocket. I then opened the truck door and got in, fastening my seat belt. John got in the other side and we started back for Roxanne's place. "I need to ask you something." John said as he focused on the road in front of us. "Is there something wrong with Monica? I know she confides in you a lot and each time I ask her she is very evasive." I knew what he was getting at, but it wasn't my place to tell him. "No. She hasn't told me anything other than when you were fucking Candy." I said in a very monotone voice. I wasn't ready for this conversation. I had my own domestic troubles right now. "I WASN'T fucking her, okay dickhead? I'm just concerned that she's not feeling well and she's also very hesitant about renewing our contracts together. I just figured-" "Well, you figured wrong, Johnny." I blinked a few times to get beyond my physical pain. I think my emotional state was playing a little part as well. My heart was hurting along with the rest of my body. It wasn't long before we pulled past Dave at the security booth and we were back at Roxanne's. I squeezed my eyes shut praying to myself that I wouldn't get my ass beat by her for coming back. Before I got out I opened my laptop to check any email I had off line. I neglected to check it before I left. I had one new message and it was from my contact. I clicked on the message hoping it was the list of names I had asked for. The only thing the message had said was: Time's up. I let out a gasp and closed my laptop, putting it back into the case. "What was that?" John asked curiously. I stared at him with a worried look on my face. "I'll find out and call you when I know. I haven't heard from this guy for a while and this wasn't the message I was hoping to get." I carefully got out of my truck and John drove off. I took in a deep breath as I opened the front door to Roxanne's place and in mid-stride I ran into Devin. "What's up, bro?" I asked him. He just stared at me like he was going to kill me. "Anything wrong, Devin?" His head shook violently for a few seconds. Momentarily I thought I was having some sort of hallucinogenic reaction from my pain medication, but this guy was having some sort of reaction to me. I kept walking and heard him sigh in relief that I was gone. That gave me a really bad feeling. I hobbled my way to Roxanne's office where she was at her desk working at her computer. She looked up at me without any type of reaction. "Are you alright?" She asked in her calm, sexy voice. She must know that I am in pain and I leaned up against the door jam. "I'll live," I replied. The pain was getting so bad I felt like I was going to pass out, so I limped my way back to her bedroom. I set my laptop on the floor and flopped onto my back on her bed. I think I was in dire need of some very strong narcotics. The ceiling was moving in circles and I felt like my body was floating on air. I closed my eyes and drifted off for a while and it only seemed like it were seconds when I felt a hand moving up my leg. I picked up my head and looked, and it was Roxanne sitting next to me on the bed. Was I dreaming? Was this the same woman who threatened to blow off my family jewels earlier this morning? I let my head fall back down. Cold sweats had consumed my body from how I was feeling. I had been taking strong antibiotics to ward off any infections from my surgeries, but I think this was from all of the pain, emotional and physical, that just caught up with me all at once. "What are you doing?" "Are you in pain?" She asked softly. She bent down over me and kissed me lightly on the lips. God that tasted so good to me. She held up a syringe of something and shook it. "What's that?" I asked. I really wasn't a big fan of needles unless it was a tattoo needle. "A little pain concoction that the nurse left here just in case something like this would happen..." She removed the needle cap and pushed the plunger releasing any air from the cylinder. She set it down for a moment and helped me unclothe out of my sweaty attire. The only thing I had on was my jeans and shoes. I felt like I was a drug junkie getting a fix from my dealer as Roxanne searched my arm for a vein. She stuck me with the needle and I closed my eyes from the pinprick. She pushed the narcotic cocktail into my bloodstream and I felt myself getting very lightheaded to the point of it stimulating the pleasure center of my brain. Like all drugs even this one was so intoxicating I could succumb myself to anything because now I felt no pain. My mind was dripping desire in the worst way yet I still felt week and powerless. I wasn't sure if I was still losing her to my schemes and the drugs polluting my train of thought clouded everything logical in my mind. I rolled my eyes back into my head as I could feel reality slipping away from my fingertips. I felt Roxanne's lips touching my fingertips; she rubbed them across her lips before sucking each one into her mouth. I watched as she did that as best as I could with clouded vision, but it was enough for me to feel all of my blood rush to my pants. My chest began to heave and I could hear my breathing get erratic and heavy. "I thought I lost you," I whispered, almost squeaking. She trailed kisses down the palm of my hand, to my wrist, and forearm. She then set my hand down on my stomach and hovered over me, looking at me with those crystal blue eyes that drove me wild. Her mouth was millimeters from mine and I could feel her breath bouncing off of my chin. She leaned into me with a kiss, gently pushing her tongue past mine and I accepted the invitation. She threw a leg over my waist and straddled my drugged body as her kiss intensified and her breathing harder. Despite what pain was in my left shoulder I took my arm and wrapped it around her tight waist. I took my right hand and cupped her breast, feeling her nipple ring through the fabric. I felt her moaning in the back of my throat as we kissed, which made me rub her even harder. The drugs and the pheromones were making my flesh feel on fire. She was hot above me, grinding into me with her hips. I ran my fingers through her long, soft, black hair. I took both hands and lifted her shirt up to her breasts only to discover she wasn't wearing a bra. She took the shirt off the rest of the way and tossed it to the floor. She looked at me with such seduction I was sucked into her web and trapped. She rubbed her hands along the muscles of my chest and I writhed at the slow, gentle touch of her fingers. I could feel her getting wet under her jeans and my dick was swelling in my pants to the point of agony. I sat up a little and buried my head into her perfect breasts, suckling on one nipple and fingering the other as my other hand massaged her tight ass. Any pain I was feeling before now was gone. I was high as a kite and this could last forever as far as I was concerned. I started to push into her with my hips as I felt her fingers running through my hair. I switched nipples for a while and then went back to her lips with a molten hot tongue kiss. I wanted her. I wanted her right then and there. The throbbing in my pants I couldn't bear with any longer. "I want you, Roxanne...." I whispered as I kissed her shoulder. My hands ventured around to her back to massage her muscular frame. She pushed me back down to the bed and she moved down to my jeans and began undoing the button and zipper. My breathing got faster as I watched her take her time. I kicked off my shoes to the floor and she pulled my jeans and underwear down to my ankles and to the floor. She was careful not to catch my restricted hard on when she pulled everything off of me. She got off of the bed and slowly undressed, maintaining eye contact with me as each piece of clothing went to the floor. She straddled me once more, running hot kisses down my chest to my navel where she licked it in and out. If I had the strength I would turn this bitch over to all fours and ram her as hard as I could. Whatever she gave me has me under her control and I must obey. She took my dick in her mouth and deep throated me. I thought I was going to lose it all right then because I have never seen this done to me in the daylight. My back arched and my body convulsed at her powerful sucking motions. "Oh God....ahhhhh...Roxy...." I felt so intoxicated between the drugs and her touches. She stopped and nibbled on the insides of my thighs. She moved like a panther back up to my lips and kissed me, licking and biting my lips. I felt her desire dripping onto my flesh and it was hot like acid. My hand reached down for her wetness and I began to finger her hard clit. The thought of early this morning was fading fast as I pushed a finger into her wet center, juices pouring onto my hand. She pushed onto my fingers as my thumb rubbed her nub and she looked like she was in a trance. Her eyes were closed and her body swayed-it was picture perfect. She groaned my name and gently moved my hand away, reaching for my cock that was raring to go at any time. She stroked me a few times with her hand and then put me inside of her. The joining sent me to cloud nine as she bounced on my cock. We moaned together in song, my head felt like exploding from the sensual overload. We held each other gently as we progressed in our joint pleasure of one another. She was slippery and hot over me and I began to push a little harder. She had her head buried in my shoulder and I heard her whisper to me. "Tell me who your friends are, Eric...and tell me what is wrong with Monica...." She moaned into my flesh and I felt her vocal vibrations through my body. I was so high from the pain medication and the sex I relented to anything she asked of me. She nibbled on my ear and tightly gripped my biceps. I could feel my dick swelling inside of her and the pressure in my temples was exceeding tolerable amounts. I spilled out everything she wanted to know as I engaged into a lengthy climax. Our bodies were dripping with sweat from the heat in the room and I nuzzled my head into Roxanne's chest, feeling her hardware. I rubbed her clit ring and she started to quiver all around me. I held my breath as my climax peaked and I let go of everything I had. We continued to sway a few more times until we were both done. I gently kissed my lover on the mouth as the sudden drop in blood pressure fazed me out cold. ......................................................................... I woke up several hours later right where I had passed out. I felt a little funny from whatever it was that Roxanne had given me, and my bare skin was cool to the touch. I blinked my eyes a few times and saw that Roxanne was gone, to where I have no idea. The place was completely quiet and then I remembered that she had to pick up her Excursion today. The sex we had was amazing considering how my injuries still handicapped me from what I would really like to do to her. That mixed with painkillers-the bitch fucking outflanked me to get information. Suddenly I felt so stupid-I told her everything while I was high as Mount Rushmore. John and Monica were going to kill me when they find out about it. I shook my head at my own impotence and remember Monica telling me how I always think with my dick. Roxanne waited until I was completely vulnerable to ask and it made me wonder if all of us had been overheard somehow. My thoughts ventured over to Devin and his unusual behavior toward me this morning. Could it have been him? Something smelled strange in the bedroom; something that definitely wasn't there hours ago. I carefully sat up and looked around, a dull ache plaguing my body presumably from the drugs. There was a white box at the edge of the bed someone put there as I slept. I scooted down and sat on the edge of the bed and read the shipping label. It was addressed to me, but at Roxanne's address. I hadn't told anyone I was staying here unless I have been followed without knowing. The smell was definitely coming from that box and it appeared to have no return address on it other than the postage place it was shipped from. It looked like it came from DC and it was shipped next day to this address. Holding my breath I tore open the box flaps and rummaged through the packing peanuts to find the lid of a jar facing up to me. The smell was stronger now. It almost smelled like formaldehyde emanating from it. I pulled the jar from the tight space of the box and brought it up to eye level: There was a man's decapitated head swimming in the solution. My heart stopped and sank as I dropped it and rushed to the bathroom. I quickly lifted the toilet seat and threw up several times. Once I regained posterity, I limped back out into the bedroom. Someone was definitely on to me and possibly John and Monica. I put my clothes back on and took the jar-o-head out to the dumpster in the rear of the estate. I didn't want Roxanne to see this and completely go off the deep end on me. I still had to come up with some sort of proof that there are aliens roaming the planet. I went back inside and picked up the nearest phone to call Monica. I wanted to inform her of this, but the phone just rang constantly. Why can't people buy answering machines anymore? I slammed the phone down and gimped my way back to Roxanne's bedroom. I slammed the door shut and locked it to keep anyone else from 'popping' in on me. I took out my gun and cocked it ready for action. I opened my laptop and plugged in the phone line to access the Internet to find out what the hell was going on. The only thing I can figure is that head used to be my blind contact and someone knew he was talking. This made me think that we might have to start moving a lot sooner than expected. ..................