SIW: Adam & Bronwille Ch. 08

"I get the message loud and clear. It's the middle of the night here, but I'll see what I can come up with in the morning and give her some sign that I haven't forgotten her."

"Good. Now I'll let you go back to your beauty sleep."

"Shut up already."

"For you? Never. Anyways just think about your lady and make her feel at ease, then mine will do the same."

"I bet! Well good night, I'm gonna try and salvage a few hours more of sleep and I'll think of something for Bronwille."

"Good night mate, hope you won't be gone too long."

"I'll try not to."

With those words both men hung up. Adam tossed and turned but couldn't find more sleep. He got up, grabbed his laptop and sat back against the headboard. His fingers flew over the keyboard, line after line appeared on his screen. A lot were deleted, others stayed. Come morning he'd constructed another poem, one he hoped would let her understand just how he felt about her.

Now his issue was how would he get the first part to her?

+ + + +

She stretched her limbs as she yawned. She would prefer to crawl back under her warm and cozy duvet but her alarm had decided otherwise. Barely awake she stumbled out of bed and took a shower, hoping that would help wake her up. Two cups of coffee later, she still felt like crawling back to bed. Placing her dirty dishes in the dishwasher, she finished tidying up her little kitchen before installing herself on her couch.

She barely sat down when there was a knock on her door. Rolling her eyes she got up and went to see who it was. Looking down the corridor she didn't see a single soul. Frowning she checked again. Just as she started to close the door again, she noticed the little note with a rose on top. Curiously she picked it up, looking around once more, making sure she hadn't missed anybody.

The sweet fragrance of the rose invaded her senses and fed her curiosity even more. It was just a single page, folded in two. A surprised gasp left her mouth as she read the first lines.

I need you to be happy, safe, and loved

Before I met you, my life was an empty shell

Tinted so those who tried to see what it contained could not

I'm sorry I didn't let you know I was going away for a little while. I'm hoping to be back in a week, two at the most. It would please me a great deal if we could meet up for dinner when I'm back so I can properly apologize for my mistake.

It seems we both are blessed with caring friends, at least now I was able to get this message to your doorstep.

Yours

Adam

Bronwille stared at the page in front of her then looked at the rose. She held it closer and inhaled the sweet aroma of the delicate flower. It was the same as the one he gave in his tavern. The note did make her feel better, she did matter to him.

She got up and checked her hallway, puzzled at how fast the note was left there and the knock on her door, yet nobody had been there. Slightly confused, she closed the door, sat back down on the couch, and reread the note.

The first three lines were special, the words touching her emotions on so many levels and she was convinced it also showed a lot of him. Maybe a large part of his bubbly persona was all an act. Thinking back she had to admit he'd seemed more in a joking mood when everyone else was around, but when it was just the two of them he put her needs first. He listened to her, let her talk.

Even when she woke again, he didn't put up a fight, he listened to her pleading and left. He left but he kept checking in on her. Bronwille sighed. All the signs were there yet she wouldn't allow herself to recognize them. Then when she did, she found him gone and there were all her doubts again. The note this mystery person, who could only be Mia or Chris, left on her doorstep changed it all again and her new found strength returned. She just needed to be a little patient.

Her moral boosted, it helped her start the day in a better mood then the previous one ended. She checked for messages on her laptop, to find her inbox in a rare state of emptiness. Smiling to herself she took it as a sign to spend a day just focusing on herself. Maybe she could even venture out and have a mani and maybe even a pedi done. Or she could stop by her favorite hairdresser and see if they had a spot to battle with her wavy red locks.

All of a sudden she felt freed and unrestricted. She shook her head thinking how an impact just a few words can have, words coming forth from the right person.

+ + + +

It was nearing noon and after having made more arrangements for their back story, the sat together for an early lunch.

"I don't know who cooked this, but I am very tempted to lure this person away from you and change my VIP rooms into a tiny restaurant," Ed said licking his lips, "This is just divine!"

Gabriella laughed, "You can try, but I can assure you, she doesn't want to leave us. She just loves to cook and now that she actually has guests to cook for she's going full out."

"Do pass on my compliments and tell her if she ever gets tired here, I'm more than willing to provide her a job," Ed said.

Gabriella just kept smiling; a little wink towards John had him smiling in turn.

The rest of the lunchtime was spent with general chit chat until it was time to play out the rest of their little charade. Merlin and Adam ported to the airport where Merlin checked for the right arrival time. Once Adam was on board of the right plane and could get off, Merlin ported to Adam's hotel room, waiting there for Adam to get back. Then it was more waiting for them for when Adam would go to that club that evening.

Ed was staying behind and Merlin would follow Adam as back up. The plus in his case was that he could give himself any scent he wanted or he could cloak himself completely. With not much else to do, they gathered in one of the many living rooms and shared many anecdotes about their past. It helped them getting to know each other a bit better and that afternoon nice friendships were formed.

Midafternoon, Adam did separate from them and locked himself away in his bed room. He was ticking away on his laptop, immersing himself in his own past. Meeting John again brought back more memories than he cared to have at this moment. Bronwille's alter ego challenge popped back up and he thought that now was just as good as a time to start with her challenge.

He had stared at his screen for minutes, not sure where to start, what to write about and how to tell it. He wanted to stay truthful to his past, yet not give away, at least not right away, who the story was really about. More minutes past and finally he found the words he wanted to type. Completely focused he wrote about his past, the times he'd rather forget, the things he did, the pain and anguish he saw. He wrote it all down, not leaving out the gritty details.

Adam went over what he wrote once more, pruning out some typo's, changing a few words here and there, adding a bit more detail. After a final once over he found he had a solid piece he could present to Bronwille. A quick check of her profile gave him her e-mail address. The feedback he had sent previously was sent as an auto reply and never required an input of her e-mail addy. He typed up a quick polite addendum and hit send. Feeling anxious, he hoped she would understand what he had sent her.

Checking the time he realized he had spent almost the rest of the afternoon on his own, but he didn't mind that. Adam hoped it was time well spent. He grabbed a quick shower and put on a fresh set of clothes. When he joined the others, he noticed they were all in a relaxed mood. For how much longer he didn't know.

"Ah, there you are," John addressed Adam. "Almost wanted to send out a search and rescue party, mate. You all set for tonight?"

"As ready as I can be. I would prefer another method but I'm realistic enough to know this is our best shot at getting close to the core as fast as possible. But what if I get close to Derrick? What do you want done regarding him? Knowing you sired him both I'm sure he's stronger than a mere vampire?" Adam asked.

"He is. From the moment we realized he almost could predict our every move towards him, we started looking for an alternative to bind his powers so we could get close enough to him to take him out."

You could see the regret cross on both John and Gabriella's faces.

"It's not what we like, but it is what is needed. He's a danger to other vampires and he's a danger to society. We've been spending a lot of time in laboratories to come with something that would at least prevent him from using his full potential. It took a while, but we found something. Jassy and Davinia willingly were our guinea-pigs and so we found out that once the serum was injected their powers were dormant for at least two hours. It's not a huge window, but it's better than nothing," John told them.

"It's a short period indeed. We need to make sure he trusts me well enough to be alone with him and we need that trust ASAP. The less time spent around them the better. On top of that, I have to find the one that kidnapped Bronwille that time. He's mine and he's gonna pay dearly for what he's done!"

"John, do you have a place here where we could take them too? Once Derrick is out of the picture I'm quite sure you can dissolve the rest of his gang. But we have to get them out of there pretty fast and it would be handy to know a location. That way once Adam tells me he's done what needed to be done, I can port them all to the location you provided. You can deal with Derrick and we'll take care of the rest," Merlin added.

"We got a few caves, but they're hard to reach. Guessing for someone of your stature, that won't be much of an issue. I'll show you where they are tomorrow. Adam will need a few days to get closer to Derrick and not rouse his suspicion."

"That's another thing settled then," John said.

"We only got a little bit of time left before Adam has to leave, so let's have a drink and concentrate on other things. The next few days will be hard enough on all of us," Gabriella suggested sweetly.

She wasn't influencing them in any way, but just the sweet low timbre of her low seductive voice had a hypnotic effect on them. All just smiled and followed her willingly, agreeing with her words or relaxing a last few minutes before everything was set in motion.

+ + + +

With a smile on her face, she left the small spa. She felt like a new woman. Her nails were done, her feet pampered, her face peeled. What more could a girl want? Feeling this great, she went over to Adam's tavern, just having a small hope he might have let them know something too, maybe telling her where he disappeared of too.

She sat down in one of the booths in the back and pulled out her laptop, thankful that in the center of town there were many free Wi-Fi spots available. After starting it up, she checked her mail after having ordered dinner. Her personal mailbox was empty but she found a few new ones on her writers account. One of them surprised her seeing Atlas had said in his last message he'd be going away for a while and now he left a new message and it had an attachment to it.

# # #

From Atlas to RedB

Hi RedB,

You're probably wondering why you already find something in your inbox. So was I when I wrote this. I think your little challenge is just what I needed to confront my own past. Things here are hectic and slow at the same time and I needed to shift my focus for a while. That's when I started thinking about this in detail. Before I knew it I had typed up a few pages. I'm apologizing up front should there be any typo's left; I did go over it a few times.

I'm not going to tell what it's about, just read.

Hope to hear from you soon, and don't be shy with your feedback. I can handle criticism.

Greetings

Atlas

# # #

Fighting back the urge to open the extra file, she decided to wait with reading whatever Atlas has sent until she was back home. That way, any reactions to what he had send would be her own and nobody else would or could accidently snoop around her back and catch a glimpse of it.

Katie, the waitress, came over and quickly noted down her order. As she waited she surfed a bit on the net reading a few online newspapers, not finding anything out of the ordinary. When Katie returned with her plate, she must have had a pleading look in her eyes because the young woman quickly took a seat on the opposite side of the booth.

"I just wanted to let you know none of us have heard from Adam yet. You're becoming a bit of a regular so I just wanted to give a little heads up. Most people that come here are regulars and they have all known Adam for ages. They also know how much of a pain in the ass he has been the last few weeks and they all saw how he treated you," Katie smiled and winked at her as she said this, "Don't panic if some of them try to check you out or give you the once over. They want to see Adam happy just us much as I do."

Bronwille just started at Katie. She wasn't sure if she'd heard this correctly. If she was, then it would mean that Adam was indeed interested in her. She fought the smile that wanted to grace her lips. She didn't want to get ahead of herself. As long as the man in question wasn't around, there wasn't much that could be done.

"Thanks for the fair warning. You're sure it's just checking me out then, right?" Bronwille tried to counter with a small joke.

"Don't worry. The first one that would lay a finger on you would regret the day he was born. We never saw Adam like this, that is enough warning for us at the same time. They'll just be curious. Have to admit a little bit though that you two look a bit like day and night. Adam is, well he is huge and you are so tiny."

Bronwille lost her fight and laughed. Katie was right, they did seem an odd pair but she never questioned his looks.

"It's the inside that counts and from what I've seen so far he's a nice person. But huge as he may be, he still got that little something."

"Hmmm, there once was a time..." Katie said with a dreamy look in her eyes.

"I think you're going in a direction I'm not really interested in."

Katie smiled, "No worries. I just had a teenager's crush on him ages ago. Right now he's the big brother I never had. He's a chatterbox at times and does come across nosy for most people but deep down he's a good guy. You could do a lot worse."

Bronwille had to gulp down a few good intakes of air. She knew Katie didn't say those last few words on purpose, but they did remind her of her past. However the words spoken were true. Adam had been a gentleman on all of the moments they'd spent together, even when he stole that kiss from her.

"Anyways," Katie interrupted her thoughts, "I'm gonna let you eat. Don't worry about the bill, Adam left instructions that whenever you came in it was on the house, always. Enjoy your meal."

With that said Katie got up and left a surprised Bronwille behind.

The food was good, but it lacked a bit of the flair she had found in the meal Adam had cooked for her the previous time. In silence she finished her meal, once in a while tapping on a key to surf to the next page on her laptop. She read a little bit of everything. She couldn't help rubbing her tummy, she felt stuffed.

Bronwille felt a bit uneasy knowing she wouldn't have to pay for the meal; nonetheless she left a generous tip before packing up her things and getting ready to leave.

She waved at Katie behind the bar and went home.

She was feeling anxious and eager to find out what Atlas had come up with.

Fighting back the urge to open the extra file right away, she picked up her laptop and went to her bedroom. Groomed from head to toe she slid off her clothes and got into her easy fitting PJs. She smiled at the tiny cartoon printed all over it, but it made her smile even more. Something she had found herself doing a lot today, unless she was covered in some kind of mud they claimed would cleanse her skin.

Bronwille wanted to settle down in her bed before she started reading whatever Atlas had sent her. She wanted to give it her undivided attention.

She read the few lines of his message again before she clicked on the attached file and opened the story that he sent her. A few seconds later she started reading.

* * * *

* * * *

Haunted Legacy.

"Get your ass down Private!"

I can still hear the Lieutenant's booming voice in my head. First Lieutenant John Bradley was a hard man to please and quite possibly the loudest human being on the face of the planet. His voice could be heard above everything, explosions included, and he expected his orders to be followed.

His warning was given just in time for us to duck down behind our bunker, avoiding fire from the enemy hidden in the trees. It was Vietnam, the war that created thousands of heroes in a foreign land, the war that killed too many men to count, the war that showed you what you were really made of.

If you managed to survive all that, you came back home, not to be embraced by your fellow citizens, but to be hated and despised.

"Cooper, cover Jackson while he radios our position. O'Neill, Simmons, you're with me. We're gonna flank 'em from the side." The Lieutenant was already moving through the muddy path that we'd created when we dug in. "Hawkes, Literelli, Stevens, Burke, lay down some cover. Shift positions, keep 'em off our asses!"

Nods were given in response to his orders and the sounds of our M16s filled the air in response to Charlie's Russian RPDs.

Lt. Bradley glanced over his shoulder to make sure we were keeping up and he must have noticed the look of uncertainty on Simmons' face. "Double time it, Boots! You wanna live forever!?" His eyes were already facing forward before he said the last words. "Charlie's not gonna wait for your to make up your fucking mind, Son! He's over there and he needs killing!"

Boots. The word brought a smile to my face before a frown soon followed. Boots were new Marines in the United States Marine Corps, who just came out of boot camp. The Lieutenant's use of the word was his not so gentle reminder to act like a Marine. It reminded me of the words of Lieutenant General Krulak on the day we left. "Being ready is not what matters. What matters is winning after you get there."

Most of us weren't ready, but we all wanted to win. Too many Boots were dead and gone. But there was a code of conduct and these were words we lived by. Among them, "I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender my men if they have the means to resist."

Every Marine knew these words and we were all willing to make that sacrifice if the time came. We walked into every mission knowing that it might be our last, and if we were going to die, there'd be a hell of a fight before we gave up the ghost.

In position, we hunkered down just inside the tree line and Lt. Bradley used hand signals to direct us into position. When he closed his fist, we stopped moving and picked out our targets. I could see my mark, firing at the men of my platoon.

Young men, not one more than 21 years old, fighting for their lives, protecting a country. Sons, brothers, nephews, cousins, men too young to have to witness their best friend being blown to pieces when he stepped on a land mine.

Too young to watch the man next to you get his head blown off while his hot blood sprays onto your face. Too young to have to shrug off that feeling and keep firing. Too young to know the weight of a dead body as they dragged the fallen from the battlefield. Too young to have enough blood on you that you couldn't identify who's it was and then seeing that blood run together, never drying in the humidity of hell.

I hated Charlie for that. I hated what he made us do, what we had to go through. I hated him for the dirty tricks and the way he played on our honor. I hated him enough that I didn't wait for the order. I shouldered my weapon and stood, giving away my position.