Control, Enkindle

I recognized it. I knew that I knew it but I did not know how, only that I did. But I had never heard it before. What an odd feeling.

"Ma chandelle est morte, Je n'ai plus de feu."

It was in French, this I knew, yet I could still understand the words. I did not speak French.

"Ouvre-moi ta porte Pour l'amour de Dieu."

The sound of a violin began to filter through, stronger and stronger until I could hear nothing but the tune, the words fading to emptiness. I knew this song. I knew it. But how could I? Au clair de la lune, By the Light of the Moon. I knew it. I could even sing it if I wanted to.

Hell, I was reasonably sure I could even play it, given half a chance.

And then everything descended into a chaotic mess of stuff. It was impossible to even get a glimpse of what I was seeing, nay, experiencing.

-o-o-o-o-o-

I knew I was conscious before my body did. That was a really strange feeling, my mind just snapping awake in an instant yet my body remaining unresponsive and sleeping. That state lasted for all of a second, if that even, and then I felt my limbs respond.

A groan escaped between my dry lips as my eyes fluttered open, only to immediately clamp shut again because of the bright sunlight.

"Mr Jason?!" came a familiar voice and then i was all of a sudden able to breathe a lot easier, feeling like a weight had been lifted from my chest.

I suppose it had, both in a literal and figurative sense. Literal because Allie had been laying mostly on top of me, it seemed, and figurative because, well, I was still alive. That ought to be enough for anyone to let out a sigh of relief, which I did.

I opened my mouth to ask if everything was alright. What came out though felt not only odd but had me pause. "Ca va chérie?"

She moved against me and I felt a sudden urge to stretch, so I did, wrapping my arm around her and pulling her close. I felt like I had ran a marathon and then slept for an entire day.

"Are you alright?" came her worried voice right next to my ear.

"Never better," I mumbled through sleepy fog, rolling onto my side against her. Her soft body felt so nice, all warm and snuggly.

I could feel her physically relax against me, a sigh of relief coming from her as she returned the hug and nuzzled into me.

"And... did it work?"

I let out a hum, the side of my face nestled in her bosom. "Je crois que oui," I said. "I think so."

So strange, that feeling. I felt like I knew the words, like I had said them a million times before, only as soon as I spoke them they felt foreign, almost like I had forgotten how to pronounce them. Could it be the lack of muscle memory? And if so, how much of muscle memory is actually a function of the brain?

She began stroking my hair just like she knew I liked it. "I was so worried."

"Combien de temps..." I began but trailed off, not having meant to say it in French. This was going to be confusing for a while. "How long was I out?"

"Sixty seven minutes," she said, still sounding nothing but relieved.

"Huh," I let out, taking another stab at opening my eyes. It went a little better that time, what with them mostly buried in her chest. "Longer than I thought. Any problems?"

She pulled in a shaky breath, her chest trembling. "No," she said, her voice slightly higher than usual.

Pulling my head back I looked up at her face. Her eyes were quivering and she had silent tears running down her cheek.

"Sweetie what's wrong?" I asked, pulling myself up into a sitting position. My joints cracked, stiff from lying still for so long.

"N-nothing," she said, voice cracking.

"Come here," I said and gathered her up in my arms. She began trembling all over and she felt so small and frail, our positions now pretty much reversed with her head on my chest.

"I was so scared..." she sobbed. "You wouldn't move, you wouldn't react. I couldn't even get a pupillary response! It was like... like... you were dead."

"But I was breathing though?" I asked. It was a rhetoric question of course. Even if the nanobots were capable of keeping the brain alive without oxygen, which they weren't, the other organs in the body would have shut down in minutes.

"Barely!" she exclaimed in a sob.

"It's okay sweetie," I said, stroking her hair. "I'm fine now."

We stayed like that for a couple of minutes, my brain feeling tired, exhausted even, as I just let my thoughts drift. Looking around the room I tried to identify objects that I saw, first in English and then in French. It was slow going but it was definitely working.

The memory transfer had been a success, and while I felt tired I didn't feel strained. Which meant that the modifications I had done had also worked. It still put me out of commission for over an hour though, which was still a problem, but the shock to my system seemed to have been much lower.

There was also the difference where Gabrielle's memories of learning French was an integral part of her personality. She had learned it as she grew up and it had no doubt influenced her person and shaped the way she thought. How much of that would affect the memory transfer? I supposed I would have to find out.

-o-o-o-o-o-

As I should have probably expected, Allie wasn't very keen on leaving my side after that. Still, I had things I needed to take care of, preparations to make, some of which included her, and couldn't dedicate too much time doing nothing. While I would have much rather just fallen asleep right then and there, and indeed, my brain would probably have thanked me for it, I just couldn't afford it.

First and foremost, I needed to get Gabrielle out of the house. This could be problematic since both Anastasia and Cassandra were home. Unfortunately I couldn't use either Allie or Melinda to distract them as I had jobs for both of them.

"Marcus," I called, pushing open his office door without knocking.

He was in the middle of a call, holding up a finger for me to wait. He could have been talking to the Queen of England and I still wouldn't have cared, which I made obvious by stepping right up to his desk and pressing down on the switch hook, ending the call. Who the hell uses a landline in this day and age anyway? Way too traceable.

"Jason," he said, looking annoyed but putting the phone down. "What do you want?"

"I need you to go talk to your wife," I said, my tone leaving no room for discussion. "I'm moving the LeGrand girl and I need you to distract her."

His lips pursed, pressing into a thin line. "I don't think Cassie wants to talk to me right now."

"And why the hell not?" I wasn't in the mood for his shit.

"We've been... fighting," he said, leaning back in his leather chair.

"Oh for-" I began but cut myself off. "So go fight with her then! I don't care how you do it as long as you keep her busy. Fuck, I don't know, tie her up if you have to. It's not like it will matter after tonight anyway."

He didn't say anything, just kept staring at me.

Shaking my head I turned around to leave. "Fucking christ. Get a fucking grip man. Five minutes, or so help me god."

On my way out I mumbled a silent, "Merde. C'est des conneries," to myself.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"You ready Miss LeGrand?" I asked as soon as i pushed open the door to the little storage room.

This time, instead of hiding behind her usual shelf, I was pleasantly met by a red and very short missile, throwing herself at me in a giant hug. I nearly stumbled back out the door but managed to steady myself at the last second. It seemed my little letter had worked wonders.

"I missed you," she spoke in French. Another odd feeling, hearing and understanding what I knew I hadn't understood hours earlier.

"And I you, chérie," I said.

She looked up at me, happiness and infatuation in her eyes. I returned her radiant smile.

There was a sound of someone clearing their throat behind me. Gabrielle looked startled and took a step back but I placed a calming hand on her shoulder.

"Don't pay attention to her," I told her, referring to Melinda. "It is time to go now."

They really were quite effective, the instructions I had given her. Without even a seconds thought she stopped paying attention to Melinda and returned to look like the happiest girl in the world. It wasn't memory alteration nor really an order. She would still know that Melinda was there, only just assume it was normal and take it in stride. She would do that with anything I told her to, and especially if something at first seemed strange to her.

And as she now believed I was her boyfriend and that we were very much in love she would place just that little extra bit of trust in me. Not that I needed it, per se, but it would make a good cover to any potential law enforcement and, or worried parents. We were going to an airport, after all.

We got up to the kitchen and was about to step out into the entrance hall when I whispered a quick, "Wait."

I could hear shouting coming from upstairs and the corners of my mouth twitched. It seemed Marcus had finally found some balls. That was good but unfortunately it seemed to have cause another issue. I could see Anastasia sitting halfway up the stairs, arms hugged around her stomach and staring at her feet. There was no way she would not notice us going out the front door from that position.

That needed to be dealt with.

Motioning for Melinda and Gabrielle to stay in the kitchen I walked into the hall.

"Angel?" I spoke from the bottom of the stairs, my voice low.

She looked up, seeming startled for a moment before averting her eyes.

"What's up?" I asked, walking up the steps. It was a stupid question, of course, as Marcus and Cassandras weren't exactly being subtle, their loud voices coming echoing down.

"It's nothing," she said before sighing and letting her shoulders slump. "It's just... it seems like a pretty bad one."

I sat down next to her, draping an arm over her shoulders. "They've been fighting before?"

"Once in a while," she said, leaning against me. "Never this bad though. Or loud. I mean, everyone fights though, right? It's natural."

"I suppose," I said, nodding. "Depends on the kind of things you fight about though."

We were both quiet for a moment, listening to the loud voices from above. I couldn't make out any words but from the sound of it Cassandra was really giving it to Marcus.

"Natural or not," I said, giving her a squeeze. "You really shouldn't have to listen to it. Come."

She didn't resist when I rose, taking her with me.

"You know what you need," I said, leading her down the stairs and in the direction away from the kitchen. "A bath. A nice and long one too."

"Mmm," she let out, leaning against me as we walked. "Sounds nice. They probably wont notice if you join me."

"Tempting," I said with a chuckle. "Very very tempting. Unfortunately I have some errands to run."

She tensed a little. "What kind of errands?"

I could lie. It would be easy, ridiculously so. "The kind you don't want to know about," I said, going against my instincts and pushing open the door to the downstairs bathroom, the one and the same I had fucked her mother in a few days earlier.

"Would you tell me if I asked?" she questioned.

I went over to the massive bathtub and opened the tap before answering. "Sure." Probably not. "But you're not going to."

"How do you know?" she asked, coming up behind me.

"Because you don't care, remember?"

She didn't respond and I threw a quick glance over my shoulder. She was frowning.

"Unless that has changed?" I added.

She shook her head. "No. You're right," she said and pulled her white top over her head. Her lovely fun globes jiggled a little even thought they were trapped in a lacy black bra. "As long as you don't disappear again I don't care."

"Which you already know I won't," I said, resisting the temptation to bury my face between those extremely fuckable tits of hers.

"I know," she said and closed the small distance between us. "Doesn't hurt to remind you though." I swallowed, feeling her hand slide over the front of my pants before cupping my semi hardening dick. "And what you'd be missing out on."

"And what would that be?" I asked, my breath a little heavier all of a sudden.

She leaned forward and stood on her toes, whispering into my ear. "Why don't you stick around and find out?" Her breath on my skin sent shivers down my back.

I let my hands move forward and circle around her waist, coming to rest just above her fantastic derriere. "Again, very tempting," I said, giving her a somewhat cocky grin. "But if it was this easy to sidetrack me I wound never have gotten any work done."

She mirrored my grin. "Is that a challenge I hear?" she said, her voice low and seductive.

I let my hands slide lower before giving her ass a squeeze. "No, no challenge. Just a fact," I said. "And here's another one. I'll be walking out of here in ten seconds and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Oh?" she let out, one of her eyebrows rising. Her free hand, the one not currently squeezing my rapidly hardening dick through my pants, came up to grasp my tie. "And how do you reckon you'll be able to pull that one off?"

"Oh that's easy," I said and gave her a mischievous smile. "I'll just do this."

Before she had a chance to react I leaned forward and captured her lips in a kiss. It did the trick and caught her off guard, allowing me to lift her off the floor and pull her against me. She mistook my sudden passion for just that and began returning the kiss, letting go of my tie and groin in the process. That was the cue I was waiting for.

Again, before she realized what I was doing, I spun around and bent forward, tipping her over the edge of the bathtub. Letting go of the hold I had on her ass she had just enough time to let out a surprised yelp before being submerged in the water with a splash, shorts, bra and everything.

I was halfway to the door when she reemerged, spluttering and splashing water everywhere.

"What the fuck!" she yelled, trying to orient herself.

I couldn't help it, I laughed. "Like I told you, ten seconds. See you later angel!"

I was out the door before she had a chance to come after me, or worse, throw something at me.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"What's her deal anyway?"

Glancing at Melinda in the passenger seat I contemplated if I should respond or not. Frankly, I didn't think she deserved to be let in on anything more, what with her pathetic insistence of having her phone back to message that punk of a boyfriend of hers. I guess the little speech I gave her had gone right over her head.

"Don't see why I should tell you that," I said, throwing a quick glance in the rear view mirror.

Gabrielle was there, her phone that I had returned to her pressed to her ear, strings of rapid French pouring out of her. I found it difficult to keep up but assumed it was because of how recent the memory transfer was.

"Fine," she said and shrugged. "I was just curious."

"Curiosity can be dangerous when not moderated," I said, more to myself than her really.

She let out a huff and shook her head. "What does that even mean?"

I spared her another glance. She looked annoyed. Funny. "It means," I said and paused, listening to Gabrielle. She had just mentioned something about me but that was expected. After all, to her I was her boyfriend now. "It means that if you play with fire you risk getting burned."

I wasn't worried at all about what she would tell her parents. After reading the letter she shouldn't even remember being captured, much less anything about me that I hadn't specifically allowed.

"Can you at least tell my why I'm here?"

"To serve a purpose," I said. "To be useful."

I caught the eye roll in the corner of my vision. "You're an asshole. You know that right?"

"Absolutely," I said, slowing the car down when I spotted what I was looking for. "But you can do about that as much as you can do about being an annoying little cocksucker. It's just in your nature."

"Fuck you," she spat and shook her head.

"Hey, I happen to enjoy getting my dick sucked once in a while. Just because it sounds like a bad thing doesn't mean it has to be," I said and threw a small flat package in her lap. Nodding at the gym I had parked in front I continued, "Go in there and rent a locker. A day should be enough. Make it three though, just in case." I flicked her a hundred bill before making a shooing gesture.

She sighed but began getting out of the car.

"And don't suck any dicks while you're in there, princess." I just chuckled at the finger she gave me over her shoulder.

It took a good few minutes before she returned. Meanwhile I listened in on Gabrielle's conversation. It was all I expected it to be, Gabrielle apologizing for not calling home, blaming it on loosing her phone. Her trip wasn't scheduled to end until that very day so it seemed like a plausible excuse. Her parents hadn't yet become so worried that they had alerted the authorities, which couldn't have turned out better. For me that is. The details of the made up story I left for her to fill in, and she would, because she believed what she said. The brain is funny like that.

"Locker code and number?" I asked as soon as Melinda returned.

"4441 and locker twelve," she said, giving me a quick scowl as she strapped herself back in.

"Good job princess," I said as I added it to the already written message on my phone. Hitting send I watched the bar fill on top, right above Miss Sofie's number. "Now shut up for a while. I want to hear what she's saying."

It took us another ten minutes to get to the hotel that Gabrielle was staying at. This was the part that could get a bit tricky. I didn't expect anything but I hadn't got to where I was without exercising caution. Again I flicked the room card to Melinda.

"Go in there and check the room," I said, nodding to the hotel across the street. "If someone stops you then turn around and leave without saying anything. If you get detained or is otherwise unable to physically leave, then stop breathing. You've got ten minutes."

Her eyes grew huge. "You're honestly going to kill me? Just like that?"

"It's nothing personal," I said with a shrug.

"Then make her do it," she snapped and gestured to Gabrielle.

"Right now you're expendable. She's not," I said. "Like I told you, play your cards right. Make yourself useful and you won't find yourself in these situations."

"I can't fu-" I cut her off.

"Just do it. Now," I said and right away she began getting out of the car. "And don't talk to anyone."