The Tsunami
Page 62
Adam realized this was the probably longest conversation he had with them since he could not remember when. It made him embarrassed to have to come to grips with his own crassness. “You both helped keep me sane on many occasions. You helped so many of new arrivals with children, the children who had suffered the horrors of wondering when their next meal would be, and if they would be the next meal for a Squid. I just never told you this because I was a boneheaded asshole wrapped up in my own self-importance. Please, I beg your forgiveness.”
Jamey suddenly started to cry. Jeanie put an arm around her. “Damn, you just made this even more difficult. But you couldn’t know.”
“Know what? Did I do something wrong?”
Jamey pulled some tissues from a pocket, dabbed her eyes. “We think it’s time we leave, Director. We need to get out on our own. It’s time to proudly admit we are a couple, and no longer hide that fact. If the Squids or Krakens want to eat us because we’re not breeders, so be it.”
Jeanie turned from watching Jamey, back to the Director. “I know there are many groups who believe the sexes only exist to promote the species through reproduction, but I don’t care. What I do care about is loving my life partner. Which is Jamey here.” She kissed her love and smiled.
“You know that can still stay here, if you wish. You have an important job to do. I can set you up in separate quarters…”
“No, Adam,” said Jamey with her newly found firmness. “It’s finally time to go it on our own. We will move off base. We already have a place to move to. The Admiral even offered us jobs if you wanted to replace us.”
“Why the hell would I want to do that?”
“Because, sometimes, when people feel rejected they get nasty. Sorry if we did not have one hundred percent faith in your reaction. But, well, we aren’t perfect. If we misjudged you, we apologize.”
Adam regarded the two women he had known for years with great respect and love. He knew that they had reached a turning point in their lives, just as he had. The feeling of potential loss he had was bad, but he also knew he was paying the price for taking them for granted.
“Please. You can at least stay working on Base as long as you like. I’ll get you an all access pass, twenty-four hours a day. The thought of you two not being around, to help the newcomers, to see my children grow… Shit, it hurts.” The last part he had blurted out. “You’re family. The thought of not seeing you again is tearing a big hole in me.”
Jamey and Jeanie held each other close, tears in their eyes. Suddenly, they were both hugging him as well. “Goddamnit Boss, you are our family too,” Jeanie exclaimed. She kissed Adam on his cheek.
“We’re not dying, not yet. If you really need us that badly to keep working here, we’ll keep doing it.”
“Yes,” added Jamey. “I guess we acted as if we were leaving the state or something. We just need our space, and you and the ladies need space also. Especially with four newborns.”
“You’ll help them at the nursery when they’re old enough?”
“Of course we will! Hell, we can be the two married aunties every family should have.” Adam hugged them both tightly, not wanting to let them go. He felt very vulnerable right now, for the first time in years. He was so used to being in charge of everything. He could try and force them to stay with all the power he had here. But that would make the idea of family a lie. No, it was time.
He kissed them both again. “Okay, let me know if you need help moving. I can always round people up.”
“Thanks, Adam. Jolene has already arranged some help for us. She’s the one who helped us find the house we are moving into. Susan and Sharon both said they would help too.”
“Just make sure the Admiral realizes that you’re not part of some arrangement he’s thinking of creating. He has too many “daughters” as it is.”
“I know all these years we’ve been rather passive, Boss,” stated Jeanie. “But with all this crap going on with the Squids screwing with us women, screwing with what makes us tick, we need to take charge of our future. The relationship we had with you was unique. That’s it. We won’t be sharing another man’s bed.”
“No, we won’t,” Jamey agreed. “We love you. That’s why we stayed. We knew we were safe ages ago, even if we left the Base. But you are our family. What we had will be special…forever.”
They all stood quietly for a few moments. People on the outside would never understand the bond they had. To many, he was the Director, with three mistresses, then two wives and two mistresses that were at his beck and call. But they were all wrong. They all lost their blood relatives, and so they had created a new family. It would last as long as there were members still alive.
“I suppose this is it for now. Later on, please stop by and see Kat and Mary. They are going to feel a bit lost also with you two not kicking around here every night. Even if you don’t see me very often, you have to visit them and the kids.”
“Of course. We’re family!”
Jeanie and Jamey said goodbye to Heidi and left to check in with the school and daycare. Adam stood by Mary’s desk lost in thought, Heidi sitting in the chair. Finally, Heidi rose.
“Come on, Boss. They’re not dead. They love you as family, and always will. Just like when the kids move away. They are still family—you just aren’t in each other’s hair every day.”
Adam’s focus turned to Heidi. “You’re not planning to leave, are you?”
“Hell, no. And have to work for a living? You’re stuck with me, Director Lloyd. For the duration.”
Heidi put her hand on his arm. “Everyone’s family in this office, Boss. You know, I think of Andrew as the weird cousin that stops in, makes us think differently, and shakes things up. But he’s family too.”
“You really think he considers us as adopted cousins or some such?”
“Trust me, Boss. Women usually are a bit more perceptive about things like this. He’ll be a dotting uncle to your four children. Woe to anyone who screws with them. He’ll hit them like a freight train.”
Adam frowned. “Even if the Tschaaa Lords think otherwise?”
Heidi automatically looked around, checking to see if anyone was watching or listening. “Boss, I think he is attached to us, especially to the children. I’ve heard him talk with you. I don’t think there is going to be anymore harvesting of veal around here for the Squids. The human part of him won’t let it happen.”
Adam sighed. “Come on. I need a drink, and I’m ordering you to have one with me. Whether or not you’re on duty.”
“Yes Sir. You twisted my arm.”
New life in the form of newly birthed babies gives humans hope, and love. As a mother, I too have felt the joy of holding the children you just gave birth to in your arms, letting them suckle life giving mother’s milk from your breasts. This is something men will never understand.
The Tschaaa Invasion and Infestation tested all the mothers of the world. Little did the Tschaaa Lords realize that mothers, both human and alien, would rise to the occasion, thus leading to actions no one—not even a certain cyborg named Andrew—fully foresaw.
-Excerpts from the Collected Works of Princess Akiko, Free Japan Royal Family
Blessed are Women
Whose Hearts and Souls
Are Joined Together by Laughter and Tears
Who Fight for Life, Against All Fears
Who Face Evil, With Blades of Steel
Because They Shall Be Known as
SISTERS OF STEEL