Shifting Power

by Dacia M Arnold

  “We’ll worry about sleeping arrangements later,” Valerie said. For a moment, she considered staying awake all night to avoid the topic completely.

  “I’ll have some clothes brought from the Facility. Does Caleb need anything specific?”

  “Maybe some pajamas and a change of clothes for tomorrow. Gloves and a hat, too. I’m sure Dad will want to take him to play in the snow.”

  August walked to the door where she stood. “I needed this, too, Val. Thank you.”

  Then he hugged her. How many nights had she imagined his strong arms around her? She relented against herself and rubbed one hand up his back to return the gesture then the other. He squeezed tighter, but not too hard. His heart pounded with hers. A voice cleared behind them.

  “I need to keep your cell phone in the vehicle, sir.” Duke stood with a hand out to receive the device.

  In that moment, Valerie’s suspicions were solidified, if they weren’t already. Duke hated her and would continue to be the wedge between her and August. Maybe, as irritating as he was, a wedge was exactly what she needed to maintain some self-control around her counterpart.

  Duke, always on duty, tested the landline phone after collecting August’s cell. Once he reached the Facility control room and gave instructions for the delivery, he removed the phone from the wall and placed it outside in one of the vehicles, along with all cell phones and earpieces. When he came back through the front door, he was accompanied by Hyka’s Father, Austin Major.

  “We are all officially off duty,” Duke announced and held up a bottle of bourbon from one of the bags Major carried in.

  “Looks like we are a little short on rooms,” Jack announced leaning over the railing of a balcony that framed the living room from above where doors to other bedrooms lined the walls.

  “You two don’t need an old man’s permission to share a goddam room,” Major yelled up to him.

  Valerie would never get used to the mention of age. Besides, Major and Jack were the same age, yet Hyka was closer to their twenty-year-old appearance than any of them.

  “Then I guess we have enough room.” Jack slapped his hands on the rail, pulling Hyka down by her hand. Eyes wide at his grasp, Hyka quickly searched the faces of those around her, mortified at the open physical contact.

  “If I can hug, you two can hold hands,” Valerie said to her once they reached the bottom of the stairs.

  “We’re going on a food run. No expense spared. What’s the baby hungry for, mama?” Jack asked Valerie playfully.

  Valerie rubbed her belly with both hands as if it were a magic ball depicting her future meal. “Hmmm. Let’s do a ham if you can find one, or steaks are fine. Plenty of sides. She’s not picky. Oh! Cake!” Valerie scratched out a list of ingredients and alternatives if some were scarce. Sugar would come from the Facility when their luggage was brought up.

  It was not long before the fire crackled behind a metal partition. Glasses were filled, and rolling laughter flowed to every corner of the structure. Caleb sat in on a mean hand of Go Fish with his grandpa, August, and Major. Valerie tried not to hover and found herself in desperate need of a distraction from August’s warm, inviting proximity. Thankful when the cold burst of winter ushered in the couple carrying groceries, Valerie got to work making dinner in the kitchen. She hadn’t cooked her own meal since the Awakening, preparing only small things within her suite. Nothing like the holiday-worthy feast she started in on. Keeping her hands and mind busy would keep her tender emotions building for August at bay. She caught herself, between tasks, watching him from across the room. Maybe the yearning for him did go further than their magnetic attraction. He had proved himself over the difficult months to be a gentleman, honorable and sweet. He was respectful of her mourning. He was funny but humble. Major, Duke, Jack, Hyka, and her father had all known each other before the Awakening, but, watching them all interact, no one could tell August was new to the group.

  This small piece of normalcy was the life she wanted. In this place, she could play house and forget being a world leader. Forget the complications of her genetics. Forget how much she truly lost. But she was a symbol of hope in the forefront, and all she wanted to do was save her son and what family she had left.

  The moment she felt the sadness creep up, Valerie reminded herself of everything in front of her which she loved. Determined not to let her depression ruin the beautiful ambiance of the evening, she looked at August until his eyes met hers. She didn’t look away but mouthed the words, thank you. He nodded. With Courtney’s help, they gathered everyone to the dining table, and plated and served dinner.

  “I missed you, Dad,” Valerie whispered to Mike during the meal.

  “It’s okay. This more than makes up for it. I’m sorry. It’s a good thing you never listen.” Mike bounced Caleb on his knee softly while the boy took a bite of a dinner roll.

  “Don’t eat just bread, Caleb,” Valerie warned.

  He took another bite and smiled, showing his victory.

  “No idea where he gets it from,” Mike joked.

  Valerie leaned over, hugged Caleb, and playfully touched her finger on the boy’s nose.

  Jack stood up and cleared his throat. For a moment no one noticed, but Valerie’s curiosity grew as he waited for everyone’s attention. No way. Her eyes found the significant diamond on Hyka’s third finger. Valerie slapped her hands to her mouth, and her eyes filled with tears of happiness.

  “I have asked Hyka to marry me,” Jack announced with much pride.

  Hyka allowed a smirk to beam across her face as he reached for her hand. Only the second time Valerie had ever seen Hyka smile. It lit up her face in the way a rare flower blooms. August stood with Jack and applauded.

  “What a step for the future. Congratulations.” August clapped.

  Major smiled. Valerie was curious how the conversation between him and Jack went, seeing as they were longtime friends before both retired from the military. She had many more thoughts about how long Hyka had kept this from her and why. The depression fought hard against the ball in her throat. Was this jealousy, too?

  “This is wonderful news. Congratulations,” Valerie cheered when she could finally speak. “Your ring is gorgeous.”

  Hyka covered the rock instead of flashing it for everyone to see. It was a charm Valerie appreciated about her. The size of the ring was uncharacteristic of her normal appearance, but so was the smile that spread across her face again. Valerie focused hard on the joy of the moment, determined to keep the inner war quiet.

  “Jesus, Jack. Give August something to work for. That thing is bigger than she is,” Major said unapologetically.

  Valerie’s smile faded. She knew August was looking for her reaction, and she tried her hardest not to give one. She hated that the world assumed they would marry. Fear crept up her neck, imagining her budding relationship with August being rocket-propelled to marriage.

  “Well then, I guess we have a wedding to plan,” Valerie said, making the split-second decision to put the focus back on Hyka and breaking the awkward silence.

  “As soon as possible,” Hyka stated. “Before your baby’s born. I know you’ll be super busy after that, and I want to be here for you when she comes.”

  The statement surprised no one. Valerie figured the less time they had to plan the less Hyka would hate everything about wedding planning. This realization made Valerie laugh.

  Fueled by the hot meal and plentiful beers, no one wanted to leave the table even long after their plates were empty. Hyka found an old Polaroid camera, took pictures, fanned the results, and carefully set them aside. Valerie stood to take her and Caleb’s plates to the kitchen. Before she could pick them up, August pulled her close, and they both smiled as Hyka snapped the shot. Aside from their public appearances, Valerie had never posed for a picture with him. The more comfortable she was with him, the more bizarre it was they hardly ever touched. When they did their bodies answered each other, exchanging energy like a fluid movement be
tween them. She noticed it every time in the past, but closed her emotions off to it and jerked away.

  In need of another distraction, Valerie tried to clear the rest of the table.

  “You need to sit down and rest. You’ve been fussing over all of us since I got here,” Major protested as he stood and took his and a few other plates to the kitchen.

  Valerie shot a pleading look at Monica. “What does the doctor say?”

  “The doctor is off duty.” Monica smiled and raised a glass of wine.

  “I can’t win, can I?” Valerie joked.

  Jack came from the kitchen with cake for Caleb, since Valerie had missed his celebration when she was recovering from Jarrett’s attack. The boy blew out the three candles from his grandfather’s lap. She had never seen her dad so relaxed and happy.

  “Grandpa said I can go swimming.”

  “I said if your mama said it was okay.”

  “I might have had bathing suits brought with our luggage for the hot tub on the back deck,” August confessed.

  Valerie let out a sigh. Mike needed this time with Caleb as much as Caleb needed to have fun. “Are there enough towels?”

  “Yes, Mom,” Jack whined.

  “Fine, but the moment I’m too hot or too cold, so is he.”

  “He can stay with me,” Mike said, cradling the sleeping boy in his arms. “He can have one of the bottom bunks.”

  Caleb nestled against Mike’s chest under the blanket he had curled up in.

  “I don’t think you have much of a say in the matter,” Mike said, hugging the boy close and planting a kiss on the top of his head. He winked at Valerie, glanced at August, and disappeared with her son for the night.

  August put a hand on her shoulder. “We don’t have to share a room, Val.”

  His breath was warm on her neck, and the sound of her name melted her inside. She mustered up every ounce of boldness she had and said, “We’ll see how things go.”

  Saying the words aloud made her heart race. She couldn’t remember the last time she flirted with a man she wasn’t married to. Nor did she know if she was even doing it right and laughed at how the words sounded, like a line from a low-budget soap opera.

  The evening was still early by grown-up standards. The fire offered a warm glow to the living room where the party had moved. Valerie’s contentment went deeper, though. She held a mug of hot cocoa close and inhaled. The baby inside her rolled and kicked. Valerie quickly clutched her abdomen to brace for another.

  “Is everything okay?” Major asked, stopping the room dead.

  “I’m fine; she’s just so strong.” She sat back in her seat on the couch and waved everyone back to their activities.

  Major poured glasses for Duke, August, and Jack from a bottle of aged scotch. Seeing her dear friend Hyka being openly comfortable next to Jack made Valerie’s own enjoyment comfortable. Monica and Courtney snuggled together on another couch, sharing a bottle of wine. It was refreshing. For the first time in months, Valerie felt like a person instead of the position she held.

  Music began to play, and August offered his hand to dance. “May I?” he asked sweetly with a hand extended to her and the smell of scotch on his breath.

  “Oh, has the alcohol made you brave?” Valerie smiled at his advance. For the sake of the moment, she hugged the man who had once delivered her from a lifetime of suffering with his embrace. Her heart beat in rhythm with the music, and the lights in the house burned a little brighter. Unable to hide her emotions, she blushed and stepped away from him. Unfazed, and possibly anticipating her rejection, he extended his hand to Courtney. Valerie laughed as they spun around the living room. When the song ended, he returned his partner to her wife and joined Valerie on the couch.

  “Is that a sensory-learned skill? Like when you learn to bowl after drinking and so you only bowl well while you’re drunk?” she teased. Maybe the raw wounds of her past were beginning to heal. Maybe this would be their beginning. While the others filtered to their respective rooms, Valerie found she wanted to remain on the couch in front of the fire with August.

  “You should also know that alcohol makes me brutally honest. So, if you have any tricky questions, now would be a good time to ask.” He kept his eyes on hers, which were so dark brown that they appeared black. She thought back to the day they met. He took her breath away then as much as he did now. Only now, she welcomed it. There was no need to fight her attraction or push for her boundaries on such an occasion. Control was so exhausting. But in the Facility, she had room to recharge by herself. The real struggle would come later in the evening when they had to keep the lights low. One small hint of excitement and the whole cabin would know.

  “Prove it,” she challenged. “Be brutally honest with me. About anything.”

  “Hmmm.” He rubbed the day’s growth of stubble on his chin. “You’re not as pretty when you’re angry.”

  “Oh?” she laughed, unsure if she should feel insulted. “I’m sorry about what I said about Jacqui.”

  “Hey,” he said, tipping her chin up to look into her eyes. “I’m sorry I damaged your trust. I was so angry with myself for putting you in the position to question me, I thought you’d be better off if I were gone. But I couldn’t stay gone.”

  She broke his gaze, wrapped her arm around his, and rested her head on his bicep. His arm was bigger than she had imagined. She had only ever seen him without a shirt through the thick fogged glass that separated the gym and the pool area. His warmth comforted her, and she hated to think what would have happened had he not come back from Chicago.

  “This was a good idea, you know,” he said, caressing her hair with his thumb. “I needed this, too. I’m all about the luxury life in the Facility, but it feels nice to unplug from everything. Duke checked in with the control room, and everything is business as usual. They’ve been tracking the power blockages throughout the hotel. Jarrett didn’t follow us.”

  “I hate being so helpless.”

  “You’re much stronger and smarter than you give yourself credit for. You not only care for the masses, but you also have so much fight in you for the people you love. I can’t wait for you to meet my son, Anthony.”

  “Did you find the DiaZem when you were visiting Chicago?”

  “We got close, but without you or anyone else to balance the polar expulsion, we could not get close enough. My son was not much help.” August rubbed his eyes. “Once we contain Lucas’ energy and our footprint falls back, there is no doubt the council will find him. Without the portable technology to mute his ability, I won’t be able to reach him. He’s strong. Stronger than me. Stronger than Lucas ever was.”

  “Did you hate him? You know like you hated Lucas? You know what I mean, like the magnetic displacement, was it as strong?”

  “I know what you mean. Lucas gave me a damn good reason to beat the shit out of him, but every ounce of me wanted to end the DiaZem in Chicago. I’ve never felt like that about anything.”

  “What about Jasmine? Was it love at first sight?”

  He smiled and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into his chest and kissing the top of her head, “To be honest with you, the whole situation caught me off guard. All I could think was ‘Aug, you cannot screw this up.’ The thought of hurting you far out-weighed any attraction she brought into the room.”

  “You call yourself, Aug?” Valerie had to joke. She hated he even admitted to her attraction, but having experienced it herself, she knew her jealousy was a genetic side effect. “Tell me about the thing.”

  “What’s the thing?”

  “The portable technology you need to bring the DiaZem back.”

  “Well, it’s a device that can be worn, like a necklace or bracelet that mutes a DiaZem’s ability as long as they wear it. We have all the blueprints for it, but the team can’t nail down the formula to create the material needed to absorb and trap the effects.”

  “Can I tell you something, and please swear to everything you will not judge m
e or think I am the worst person that has ever walked this planet?”

  Amused, August took another sip of scotch, “You are a saint in everyone’s eyes. I doubt any confession you have is worth such a harsh judgment. Plus, I’m the least judgmental person I know, so you’re in luck.”

  “I hate this baby,” she whispered and turned to face him, waiting for the look of disgust to wash over his face. When it did not, she continued, “The only time I’m able to be okay with even being pregnant is when I am in the TTC. While I feel every single pregnancy symptom known to man, I’m able to love and appreciate carrying Scott’s child. Only then can I rationalize those feelings are just our genetic disposition, but what if when she is born, I hate her? I’d hate her like I couldn’t stand Jasmine. What if I hurt her? My own daughter. What if when the baby comes, we still don’t have the technology?”

  August was silent for a while. He reached for her hands and pulled her in close. Valerie knew he would love the little girl as much as he loved her. He would protect her daughter if she could not. But she was also afraid of the blinding jealousy that would inevitably come. She could never be alone with her daughter.

  “Do you trust me?” he asked her.

  “Yes,” she lied.

  Valerie gently pulled herself from August’s sleeping embrace on the couch. She covered him in a blanket and went to the master bedroom, tiptoeing so as not to wake him. She opened a dresser drawer with a silent prayer and, like winning the lottery, found a set of the softest light pink fleece pajamas. She didn’t have modest sleep clothes at the Facility, but knew at some point she needed to acquire some. Being bare while she slept gave her a vulnerability she didn’t allow for herself during waking hours. Since the Awakening, she teetered on a line of fight or flight. At night, though, her guard came down.