Sorry this is a little late. I don't have any internet set up at my new place yet, so my posting schedule has had to shift a little bit.
Thanks as always to Nancy and Carol for this.
PART SEVENTEEN
*~Ellie~*
“Pretty Woman?”
“Well… yeah.”
“*You* rented Pretty Woman?”
“Well, the girl at the store said-”
“You rented *Pretty Woman*.”
“I don’t see why that’s so hard for you to believe, Ellie,” Jay finally said in exasperation.
“It’s like the biggest chick flick in existence.”
“It is?”
“Yep. There’s even a makeover,” I grinned.
“I asked the girl at the store for a good movie to watch tonight, and she suggested this one,” Jay explained, flipping the case over to read the back.
“If that girl makes a habit of watching movies like this on date nights, then she’s probably going to be alone tonight,” I mused.
“Ouch!” Jay winced. “Someone’s not feeling very charitable.”
“Well, it’s not like there’s anything inherently wrong with being alone on Valentine’s Day,” I shrugged. “But I’ve been there before, and I know it’s not very much fun.”
“Yeah, I agree. But it’s not like either of us has had to do that today.”
“True,” I agreed with a smile. We had kept it pretty low key tonight. Although Jay had taken me out for supper, we had just planned on spending the rest of the evening at my place watching movies.
“So are you saying that you don’t want to watch this one?” Jay asked me, returning to our current discussion.
“Well, I like the movie, but I won’t make you sit through it,” I told him. “What else did you bring?”
“Well, I also got…” he held the case up for me to see, wearing that stupid grin again.
“No,” I shook my head emphatically. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not? It says here it’s an accurate retelling of the events of the Prometheus launch.”
“Clearly you’ve never been to school in Metropolis,” I said, rolling my eyes. “We’ve watched it every year on the anniversary of the launch. And do you know how annoying it is to go home and be told exactly where the movie deviated from what actually happened?”
“I’ve never seen it,” Jay pouted.
“Watch it by yourself then. You had to have brought something else.”
“There’s Lethal Weapon,” he offered.
“Which one?” I asked in interest.
“Just the first one,” he replied. “That way, you’ll be sure to let me come back here.”
“Oh, very clever.”
“I told you I was a smart guy.”
I let Jay set up the movie while I prepared some popcorn in the kitchen. He was already sitting down when I came back, and I moved to sit on the opposite end of the couch, like I always did. It wasn’t like I wanted to be distant from him, but it was just something we had tacitly agreed on to keep any temptations to a minimum.
But today, he fixed his eyes steadily upon me as I got myself settled. I tried to ignore it as I watched the opening credits of the movie. Maybe he was just staring into space or something. But his eyes didn’t leave me, and it wasn’t long before curiosity overcame me.
“What?” I asked through a mouthful of popcorn.
“Come over here,” he said, beckoning with a flick of his head.
“Jay…”
“Ellie, nothing terrible is going to happen if we sit together as we watch a movie, trust me. We’ve set some strict boundaries, most of them unconsciously, but I’m getting tired of them. I know that we can’t take things much further than that, but at least give me this much? Please?”
I hesitated. I didn’t want things to escalate to the point where I would regret it, but at the same time, Jay did have a point. I trusted our ability to stay in control. And it was Valentine’s Day, after all.
I crawled across the sofa towards him, holding the popcorn bowl in one hand. Once I had reached him, I placed the bowl on top of my coffee table. I was sitting right beside him, yet we weren’t really touching. When was the last time we had been this close? I couldn’t really remember. Sure, we touched occasionally, and shared some brief kisses, but that was nothing compared to this. For the most part, our relationship had been kept alive through words, and although it wasn’t starving from the meager diet, this type of contact was a much heartier meal.
Jay put his arm around me, and pulled me closer, until my head was resting on his chest. I could feel the heat he gave off, and I could also feel his heart gently thumping beneath his chest, a new accompaniment to the rhythm I always heard while around him.
“Much better,” Jay murmured in satisfaction.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “Now shut up. The movie’s starting.”
* * *
I stretched, and settled back into the cozy spot on Jay’s chest.
“Good movie,” I muttered sleepily into his t-shirt.
“You ate all the popcorn,” he complained, setting the bowl down.
“Deal with it,” I shrugged.
We watched the credits roll in silence, until I finally decided to break it.
“Did you tell Kaylie about your dad?”
“No,” he replied quietly. “She’s been so stressed out about this wedding thing, I didn’t want to add anything else to the burden.”
“You don’t think he’ll approach her about it?”
“No, he won’t. He’s a trained spy. A frontal assault is the last thing he’ll try in order to get information. Even asking me was a long shot, I think. Dad’s just going to go back to sifting through records and stuff. And I doubt he’ll find anything because he’s looking in the wrong place.”
“Okay,” I replied uneasily.
“Does it bother you to know that he’s looking?” Jay asked perceptively. “If you want, we can tell your family. That won’t stop him, but it will prepare them.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It’s not like anyone in my family really likes him in the first place, and telling them something like that will only make them hate him.”
“My dad can take it,” Jay shrugged. “Trust me, he’s not out to be liked.”
“Jay, are you okay with all this?” Although Jay didn’t seem to be outwardly hurting from what happened, he had to feel something, didn’t he? This was his dad we were talking about.
“I’m fine, I think,” he replied, rubbing his brow with his thumb. “It’s just… an adjustment, I guess. I’ve never refused my dad anything. And then I just flat out defied him. You should’ve seen his expression, Ellie. I don’t think he even knew what to do. He’s not good with putting up with defiance. I’ve been under his thumb for years, and to suddenly be free just feels so much lighter, you know?”
“No, I don’t really know,” I smiled sadly. “But I am happy that you stood up to him, Jay.”
“Me, too.”
“So what’s going to happen between you two now?” I asked. Although I agreed that it was an unhealthy relationship, I didn’t really want to see their relationship severed. There had to be some kind of bond there, right?
“I don’t really know,” Jay replied. “It’s been a week, and I haven’t heard anything from him, although I wasn’t really expecting to. I doubt he’ll want to see me or speak to me again. At least not in the near future.” He sighed. “But I guess Kaylie is still in the family fold, so I may see him through her or something. But if I don’t, it won’t be a big loss.”
“Oh.”
He sighed again. “I know you don’t like that idea, Ellie, but you have to understand that my relationship with my dad has been a lot different than yours. Your dad loves you. My dad only loves me only as long as I do exactly as I’m told.”
“It shouldn’t be that way,” I said futilely.
“Yeah, I know.” Jay kissed the top of my head. “But unfortunately, that’s the way it is.”
* * *
*~Jay~*
Classes at the gym were going well. After a month of teaching them officially, Derek and I added a couple more classes to the roster, and I shuffled my schedule around so it worked better with Ellie’s. It was common practice for her to come and sit in on the last few minutes of whatever class I was teaching, and for us to spend some time together after. I still taught free classes to Chris and her friends every day, and although she still came regularly, I noticed the circles that grew under her eyes, and occasionally I would notice her trying to cover up an injury of some kind.
I tried to keep myself from talking to her about it. Clearly, she just wasn’t ready for that yet. But there were times when I couldn’t hold myself back. One day, after class, I approached her once again.
“Chris, please just let me help you,” I said, nearly begging.
“I’m fine,” she insisted.
“No, you’re not. I can tell.”
“Look, just leave me alone, okay? I’m doing fine by myself!” She brushed past me, and practically ran out of the gym. I didn’t bother to try to catch her.
Instead, I wandered over to where Ellie was sitting and waiting. She had been watching my interaction with Chris.
“Was that…?”
“Yeah,” I replied bitterly. “She still won’t let me help.”
“Can’t you just tell Child Services? Even if you don’t have any of her contact information, just get them to show up at the gym one day or something.”
“Without Chris’ cooperation, they wouldn’t get anywhere,” I shook my head. “Her friends would probably try to protect her by not saying anything, and Chris would completely clam up. And then she would lose all her faith in me. What little trust she’s given me is all I’ve got.”
“I was watching her for a little bit,” Ellie said sadly as I began packing up my things. “She’s hurting. And not just physically.”
“I know,” I replied. “But all I can do about it at the moment is support her as much as possible, and maybe one day she’ll trust me enough to tell me the truth.”
Ellie looked sad still, and I couldn’t really blame her. It was a difficult situation. But she soon brightened, and moved on to happier thoughts.
“So have I mentioned how much I love watching you teach?” she said. “You’re really helping those girls.”
“I don’t see why you don’t want to join in,” I told her.
“You just want to see me embarrass myself in trying,” Ellie shot at me. “I would be awful, and you know it.”
“You said it, not me,” I shrugged.
“Well, if you really want to get someone in on this, you should talk to my mom. She’s got her brown belt in taekwondo.”
“Really?” I asked in interest. “I never would have guessed.”
“Well, she needed something to help protect herself from bad guys,” Ellie told me. “So anyway, where exactly are we going today? You were a little cryptic on the phone.”
“We’re shopping for a car,” I announced, feeling ridiculously proud in saying that.
“Really?!” she squealed. “What kind of car? Do you know yet? Where are we going to look? Well, I don’t really know that much about cars, but what color do you want?”
I flushed at the attention. “Yeesh, you’d think I said I was going to go win the lottery or something. It’s just a car.”
“But it’s more than that for you,” she spoke softly.
“You’re right,” I agreed, equally soft. “It is.”
“So, where are we going to-” Ellie broke off, frowning slightly. It was like she was concentrating on something far away. I recognized that expression.
“Ellie?”
“It’s fine,” she said, shaking her head briskly to clear it. “Where are we going to go first?”
But she still looked troubled.
“What did you hear?” I pushed further.
“It doesn’t matter,” she replied quickly. “I’m with you right now, and we’re going to go shopping for a car for you.”
“Are you on duty right now?” I wasn’t really sure about their schedule; Ellie never talked about it much. Looking back, I realized it had been a long time since we had been interrupted while together.
“Well, yeah,” she said hesitantly.
“Then go!” I commanded. “What’s keeping you here?”
“But I know you don’t like it when I do this,” she told me, dancing on the spot.
Huh? Where did she get that idea?
“Ellie, what are you talking about? No, never mind,” I said as she opened her mouth. “Go take care of whatever it is you have to do, and I’ll meet you back at my place when you’re done, okay? Clearly, we need to have a talk.”
* * *
Throughout the entire trip home, I stewed. Ellie and I had been dating for about six months now, and during that time, I had learned quite a few things about her character. One of those things was her tendency to jump to conclusions.
The last time something like this had happened, it had ended with her collapsing in my apartment. All because of something that she thought I was feeling. That was another thing about Ellie. She tended to do things in extremes. I hoped that talking it out with her now would prevent something similar from happening this time.
Obviously, I had done or said something to make her think that I had a problem with Nebula. But for the life of me, I couldn’t think of what that might be. Sure, I teased her about it a lot, but I didn’t think that was enough to really bother her. And I think I would have noticed if it had made her genuinely upset.
And it’s not like Ellie had a problem with using her powers in front of me. She hated doing mundane tasks like dishes or cleaning or making coffee or anything else at a normal speed, and was constantly rushing through them. I teased her a lot about that too, I realized. Was she bothered by that after all?
Thinking about it even more, I realized that although she had no problem with using her speed, there were other abilities she had that I rarely, if ever, saw. When was the last time I had seen her use her strength? Or fly? We had flown to Smallville for Christmas, but that was almost two months ago now. Whenever we were together, we usually walked to get around. Ellie had no use for a car, and I had yet to get one, so walking was basically our only option besides a cab. I had never really questioned that behavior. I liked to walk, so it wasn’t a problem for me, but did Ellie maybe think that I wouldn’t like to fly with her?
All this speculation wasn’t really helping, I decided. If anything, it would just bring me to a set of false conclusions, which was the last thing I needed going into this talk with Ellie.
I walked a few more blocks, trying to think of something else, but not really succeeding. Thankfully, my phone rang, giving me an easy distraction. I didn’t recognize the number on the caller ID, but I picked up anyway.
“Hello?”
“Is this Jay?” the voice on the other end asked.
“Uncle Jack?” I asked in disbelief. I hadn’t talked to Jack Olsen in months, since before I left the NIA. Although officially retired now, he still kept a significant presence at the NIA, and had even put me through some of my training. He was one of the few positive memories I had of the organization.
“Good to hear from you, kid.”
“Yeah. Likewise. I haven’t heard from you in a while.”
“I know,” he said apologetically. “But it looks like I will see you in person in a few months.”
“You’re coming to the wedding?” I guessed.
“Yep. Wouldn’t miss it for the world. I have family in Metropolis too, so it works out great.”
“Sounds good.”
“How’s the gym going?” he asked.
Of course he knew about that.
“Fine,” I replied.
“You should consider opening your own facility,” he suggested. “You would get the customers, I guarantee it.”
“I’ll think about it,” I told him, getting tired with the small talk. He had obviously called me for a reason, and I wanted to know what it was.
“I guess you want to know why I called, eh?” Jack asked after a beat of silence.
“Yeah.”
“It’s about your dad.”
“Yeah?” I gripped the phone tighter in my hand, and slowed down my walking pace. I didn’t want to miss anything Jack might say.
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but he’s been poking into the Kent family.”
“Yeah, I know,” I replied. “How did you hear about it?”
“He came to see me,” Jack answered. “I met Lois and Clark years ago with that whole Trevanian case. You know about that one. Anyway, he had found their names on some old records, and came to see me about them.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him that Lois and Clark are a very nice couple, with nothing sinister about them. There was some suspicion cast on them during the case, but that was only Trevanian trying to mislead me. They’re both straight arrows, and although I’ve never met their children, I can assume the same thing. I don’t know whether or not the Kents do have some big secret, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s none of mine or his business.”
“Thank you,” I said in relief. Jack would be the only person that my dad would even consider listening to. He had been Dad’s mentor during his earlier years out in the field.
“You know, he didn’t say much, but I got the impression that you two had a falling out.”
“Yeah,” I confirmed grimly. “He came to me asking the same thing as you, and I refused. Unlike you, he doesn’t seem to have any toleration for me unless I’m slavishly obedient, so that’s that.”
Jack was silent for a moment. “Your father’s just worried about you, Jay,” he finally said. “I know he doesn’t always go about it the right way, but he does want the best for you.”
“I’m not sure about that,” I replied shortly. I had arrived at my building, and was gearing up for my much needed conversation with Ellie. “Can you just do me a favor, Jack, and try to convince him to leave the Kents alone? They don’t need this kind of harassment.”
“I’ll try,” Jack replied.
“Thanks. I’ll see you at the wedding, okay?”
“Goodbye, Jay.”
“Bye, Uncle Jack.”
I shut the phone, and let myself into my building. I took the stairs two at a time to get to my third floor apartment. The key turned easily in the lock, and I swung my door open. Ellie was already there, sitting on my sofa with her hands folded in her lap. She must have heard me coming, as she was looking unwaveringly at me as soon as I had opened the door.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey,” she replied quietly.
It was time for our talk.
