Sucker Punch (13 page)

Joe did not know why this seemed more terrifying than facing down the evil nanite.

But it did.

V
i had to admit that
, even knowing the-massively-younger-than-her Joe had suggested the shower, it was epically fabulous. She could even sniff her own armpits without fear. It had helped that the nanites promised to turn their bytes around so they couldn't see her starkers.

She knew, on some level, that their future in her was tied to what happened next. She had a lot of questions about what Joe had told her, but one thing she got. Nanites were special. Hosting one was an honor and benefit. Having three…had to be unusual. And reserved for people who needed to travel through time.

We would miss you.

Their happiness, that had tickled her insides pretty much since she woke, lost some of its steam.

I would miss you, too.
All of them. They seemed more, felt more now that they were reunited. She felt their distinctness, but yeah, more.

Which was pretty mind boggling, so she didn't dwell on it. It wasn't like she had a lot of say in it if…she tried to circle the thought, but it refused to be circled.

If Joe didn't ask her—didn't want her—then she'd be going home soon. Alone. Might even be cycled through the goo so she wouldn't remember all this. Could she forget Joe? Her heart said, nope, never going to happen. But this place…only…

Home.

She missed it. Of course she did. She'd missed it before the jump into the time stream. It wasn't just the evil nanite that had hosed her. WTF had done a number on home, too. Her parents—they'd be so worried. Some…when? Joe hadn't been real clear on
when
it was right now. If she was out of time, maybe there wasn't a when.

She knew what it meant to miss NON, to miss family. She'd gone away for college. No question the surfeit of family drove her crazy, but she loved them—and Joe? Here inside her head she could admit she might, though she still couldn't quite think it.

Assuming they didn't try, how would it feel to miss the man who hadn't been born yet? The clench of her heart stopped her breath for almost a minute. At least it felt that long. Could she have spent the last six months falling—she circled the thought, but eventually had to land on it—in love with Joe? She looked at the fluid pink walls. Could she give up NON, in all its gritty glory, for this? For her guy?

This was pretty crazy, over-the-top mad scientist. Did he live somewhere? Did his family pop in for visits while cruising the time stream? How would they feel about their boy and the earth girl?

The pink walls started to close in on her, so she left them for the rainbow hallway. Instead of right, she went left, away from Joe's lab. The rainbow appeared to extend into infinity, but when she stopped, it opened onto a kitchen—one straight out of the 1950's on Earth. Was Joe a secret fan of vintage style? Vi peered in, then stepped in. There was pink, but it had been toned down. The vibrant green…was kind of cool. Loved the touches of flamingo dotted here and there. It was such an unexpected, non-mad scientist side. Where had this come from?

She turned in a circle and when she reached where she'd started, Joe stood there.

“My grandmother loved that period in your country's history. This was how her kitchen looked when I was small, so I replicated it during, well, during our travels.” He half shrugged. “It…helped.”

“My Grand Maw Maw swears we still don't know the whole truth about Roswell.” Vi gave him a tentative grin.

Instead of laughing, he nodded.

Vi's eyes widened. “You're not, it wasn't—”

He looked a bit embarrassed. “We did not start it, but there was an…incident. Or two.”

Vi chuckled. “I'd like to take a gander at your family history. Bet that makes some interesting reading.”

He nodded, but she sensed he was distracted. He looked up.

“Lurch was wondering how…they are. The nanites.”

He is the father, the first.
Wynken had said
.
“They're having a regular party in there.” She glanced away, but managed to watch him through her lashes when she added, “I'm going to miss them.”

He made an involuntary movement, one he checked. Vi leaned a hip against the counter. He'd kissed her a couple of times, and hauled her tush through time. Seemed fair to make him start if, if they were going to have the relationship talk. Only she'd never had it before and was pretty sure he hadn't either. If he even wanted to…if he could have it.

“You—”

“Yes?” Vi tried not to sound too hopeful. She thought she wasn't sure about Joe, but looking at him? Pretty sure she wanted to kiss him and keep kissing him. Might even cook him something in this pretty kitchen. She liked him that much. It was stupid really, but even after all these years and the end of the gender wars, a girl kinda wanted the guy to do the asking.

You could give him a nudge.

Oh great, their great inarticulate moment had an audience.

Will you really miss us?
Nod asked hopefully.

Do not interrupt them. We can talk about it later.
Wynken said this.

Can you pass the nutrients? This is getting very good.
That had to be Blynken.

She must have had an odd look, because Joe asked, “Are you all right?”

“I am. I am fine.”

The silence felt painful and prolonged. Vi turned and looked around, then nodded at the refrigerator. “Mind if I have something to drink?”

“Of course, but…”

Vi pulled open the door. It was empty. Really clean, too. Didn't it work?

He moved to the wall and tapped some buttons, then turned and handed her a glass of water. “It is not programmed for drinks more common to you yet.”

Yet? Vi perked up at this very minute bit of encouragement. “Cool.” She took a sip. “Tastes good.” She gave him an encouraging smile and a hopeful look. He just stood there. Yeah, not very schooled in reading looks. She licked her lips. “So, now that your Quest is done, what's next?”

He looked a bit like a bug stuck on a board with a pin, but still cute. “Um, Vi…”

“Yes?”

“My grandmother…”

Okay, not sure where he was going with this.

“…the one who…this…this kitchen…”

Still not sure.

“…she told me I'd know when it happened.”

Vi blinked. “When what happened?”

He flushed. “I am doing this all wrong. It is very difficult.”

That didn't sound good. Might be the Garradian version of “it's not you, it's me.”

“You see, my family is, for the most part, uncomfortable with these things, but my grandmother, well, you see, she was from Earth.”

“She was?” That was a bit something. So some of his family liked earth girls.

“The men in my family, well, some of them, my father was, but that is not relevant.” He looked at her with a hint of desperation. “Some of us find, we fall for…my grandmother's story was a love story, you see.”

Okay, this was a little better. Vi took a step toward him. “I like love stories. If they have happy endings. Did she have a happy ending?”

Some of the tension eased from his face. “She did. When you come to my home, I will show images of them and you will know.”

“What will I know, Joe?”

“That she loved him. And he loved her.”

“That's really sweet.” Was he going so slow because they were in the time stream? Because she was getting older by the minute.

“I asked her about love, how you know it, and she told me you know it when it happens.”

He'd used it. The “L” word. Hope surged again.

He looked at her and now Vi saw the longing there. She gave him another step, but he needed to move, too. His feet weren't nailed to the moving, yet somehow 50's patterned floor.

“And do you…recognize it? Somewhere?”

Finally he moved. A step but progress. “I see it in myself. It is harder to believe that someone else…”

“…would love you back?”

His eyes widened. “But surely you can't doubt—”

“I think…uncertainty…rides along…with love.”

Vi was not sure who moved this time. It was enough to be close. He smelled wonderful. Thankfully she did, too. His hands, warm and strong, clasped hers and tugged her until they were chest to chest, but not yet mouth to mouth. It was an oversight, but she'd give him some slack. For now.

“It feels wrong to ask, to want. My grandmother told me that love seeks not its own, so I believed I shouldn't.”

“A girl likes to have a choice.” He really was cut in the heroic mold. A girl, even one who could save herself and a few nanites, might not be opposed to having a hero in her life. And there were other things a girl could do with her own hero….

“That is what Lurch said. It is wiser than I am, I think.”

Yeah. And still no kiss. And only half a declaration.

“Joe.”

“Yes?”

“Ask already. So we can get to the kissing part. And then the ‘when did you,' and ‘when did I' and more kissing…”

He cut to the chase by stopping her words with his mouth, which she did not mind, actually. He'd come a long way since their first kiss in the heart of WTF. A long way…

“
S
o what happens now
?” Vi rested her chin on her hands and regarded Joe from across the table. He did not care for the distance, but it had been necessary for eating to occur. The kissing was more addictive than time travel.

Joe put his fork down. He knew what he wished to happen next, but he knew what convention and tradition decreed. Fortunately, they could travel in time and accelerate the journey to what her people called the honeymoon. He may have already have done the calculations…

“I need to meet your parents, and you will need to meet mine.” He said that without enthusiasm. His father would be disappointed his son had fallen for an earth woman. And that he'd fallen in love. But his grandmother would love her.

Vi grinned. “I'd kind of figured that part out. I meant the-rest-of-our-lives stuff? Do we live here?” She gave a dubious look around. “What do I do?”

“Oh. Lurch had an idea about that. If you don't mind continuing to host the nanites? They will not wish to be separated now.” He felt a stab of worry. If she didn't—

“I like them. It's kind of like having puppies. Puppies you don't have to walk or take out in the snow to do their business—” she stopped, looked about to ask something and then shook her head. “I'd rather not know that. So what's this idea?”

Joe blinked, but was willing to move on, since he did not know what she did not want to know. “I set this laboratory up to monitor time, to track movement within the stream. I did not think past that, but Lurch has pointed out that my family are messing with time, have done for a very long time, so it is only right that I try to correct the more egregious time disruptions. And we are not the only ones who move through time. We could be…”

“Time detectives?”

He smiled. “Time detectives.”

Vi looked thoughtful. “Could I have one of those cool guns the men in drab were carrying?”

“See, that is a problem right there? Where did they get advanced technology?”

“Is that a yes?”

The way she looked at him? He'd have given her her own planet. He nodded.

“Speaking of the dudes in drab, what are you going to do about them?”

Joe gave her a wary look. “Well, we might need additional teams. There is a lot going on out there. For all we know, we already hired them, and they were there at our direction. That might explain why they had the technology.” Where had he seen those particular weapons?

“I think I just got a headache.”

“Time paradoxes can do that to you.”

“And that's another reason to have nanites?”

“It does help.”

She smiled at him, reached a hand to him. He clasped it, feeling the warmth of the contact steal up his arm. And lit some things in his mid-section that were hard to control. Mentally he reworked the calculations that would get him to the honeymoon faster.

“So, that's it. The Baker and—“ she stopped. “I still can't say your name. Unless—”

“No, it is not my real name, though I would prefer to stay Joe to you. It is the moment I felt my heart change.”

“Okay, that earns you a hug and a kiss.” She shifted from her chair to his lap and delivered both. To his extreme disappointment she pulled back to ask, “So what is your real name, in case I like it better than Joe?”

“I was named after one of my more illustrious ancestors.” He hesitated. “A Leader. The Leader during our first contact with Earth.”

“That's kind of cool.”

“Helfron Giddioni.”

She blinked. Then grinned. “So Joe it is.”

He tightened his hold on her. “What if I told you there was a way to travel through time to our honeymoon? Right now. We could have the wedding and the family meetings later…”

She studied him, heat flaring in her amazing eyes. “I would say, talk is cheap.”

He stood, holding her tight against him. “Don't let go,” he said. And pulled her into the time stream….

T
hank
you for reading
Sucker Punch.
I hope you enjoyed it. If you haven't read
Core Punch
,
I hope you'll check it out. And look for more Vi and Joe adventures in
An Uneasy Future
.

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