Dark as Daylight Ch. 24

"I'll bring the helicopter to him and strapped him to the wheels."

"William said, "I told you people 'she has to have the last word.' If this goes on, the nurse will be standing here with a needle in her hand, until tomorrow. Now go to the hotel you 2. Lucius go to your room and get some rest. Paul, if he tries anything, you have my permission to tie him to the bed."

"Thank you, sir, but that will not be necessary. He wants his heart to go to your wife more than you could possibly imagine. He would do anything to be in top physical condition for that to happen. He will do exactly as the doctors request, without hesitation."

"Thank you, Paul. Lucius, bed NOW."

"By your command, William. I will see you tomorrow."

"We will see you tomorrow also, dad."

"Thanks Steph, be safe."

"Good night dad."

William nodded, but did not reply, for fear she would have something else to say.

24. Fights

Their youngest child was fussy all night, and Elizabeth was not happy that Newton didn't get up to help her once. He didn't have to work today and was off since 6 PM yesterday. As far as she was concerned, he was taking advantage of her good nature. He was going to pay dearly for it. She knew he had a sanctioned match to fight Gordon this evening, so whatever she did to him had to be painful, but temporary.

Their 18-month-old daughter, Bernadette, gave her the answer with a diaper loaded with shit. It wouldn't hurt him, but it sure as hell would make an impression on him. She had to make this look like an accident, because even she didn't want to be seen as being that evil.

She set up floor of their bedroom so that it would appear she tripped over 1 of their oldest child's toys. With Bernadette on her left side, and the diaper in her right hand, falling onto the bed would be her only option to keep their daughter safe.

'Of course, she never thought about the diaper.'

Smiling, she picked up her youngest child, from the changing table. Bernadette was now dressed in a new diaper, a onesie, and a big smile. Liz set herself into position, and put the plan into action. As she began falling, she screamed, "Newtooonnn"

Her ploy worked perfectly. Newton turned and raised his head towards his screaming wife, and began saying, "What?"

In return he received a loaded diaper directly in his face. The contents entered every one of his orifices: eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. His hair was a mess, also, but he would take a shower to rid himself of that.

Of course, Elizabeth fell on the bed protecting Bernadette with a zeal only a mother can provide. When she saw what happened to Newton, she screamed, "Oh God, I'm so sorry. I tripped on something that was on the floor, while I was holding Bernadette. I was taking the diaper to the trash, and didn't realize where it was going. Let me put her into the playpen, and I'll get some towels to clean you off."

Newton could only nod his head. Speaking was beyond his capabilities. He couldn't see the smirk on Elizabeth's face as she took their youngest child into the living area to get towels for her him. She didn't know if he would get up during the night to help her with their children, any more or less, but, possibly, she had taught him an object lesson that he would remember about sleeping late in the mornings, while she was up taking care of his 2 children, and she was heavy carrying their 3^rd child. Their son was due in less than a month, and from what the other mothers told her about their husbands, Newman should be catering to her during this time, not sleeping through it.

Maybe it was time for her to speak with Jennifer again. Mom always gave her sound advice about parenting, and also about working with Newman. It just seemed to her that Newman was wired differently than other married men. She knew, without a doubt, he loved her, and never cheated on her, but in the apartment, and with the children, he was standoffish, and sometimes even useless. She couldn't understand this, because he had the perfect parents. Gray and Delicious raised him wonderfully. They loved him fiercely, and Newman never wanted for anything. Maybe she should start seeing Doctor Hanna again, she thought. She wondered if she was doing something to push him away from the children, and household duties.

"One thing at a time," she thought. "Let me speak to mom first, and get her input. I'll work everything out from there."

**************************************************

"Get away from me you pervert, I'm as big as a whale," Monty screamed at Jackson.

"Can I help it if I find pregnant women alluring?"

"The only woman you would not find alluring is a 90- year-old dead one, and I'm not too sure about that."

"That definitely goes beyond my limitations, dear. Dead is fine, but I stop at 80."

"What in God's name did I ever see in you Jackson? I was so happy when I was single. Then you jumped into my life. Why the hell couldn't you have found someone more docile than I am. If Jack wasn't dead, I think I would kill him for leading you to me."

"You would have left at Doctor Hanna a very lonely woman if she didn't have Jack for all those years."

"Don't try to be logical when I'm pissed off at you. All you're trying to do is get laid this morning, while I'm lying here feeling like a beached sperm whale."

"That's how you got that big dearest. Sperm, my sperm, and your egg. Between the 2 of us we made a baby. We are 2 for 2; isn't that wonderful?"

"Jackson, you better get that vasectomy very soon, because it takes a long time for it to take effect. Our baby is due in less than 6 weeks. Then I am off-limits for 2 months. If your swimmers are not at 0 by the time I am back in action, you're not getting close to me. Do you understand me, Jackson? If you ever hear the words Montgomery and pregnant in the same sentence ever again, and we are in deep space, traveling 5 or 6 times beyond lightspeed you will have to make a choice. You will either have to jump ship or take your chances of me finding and killing you, very, very painfully, and slowly."

"You can check with Doctor Finch, my love. I have an appointment Tuesday morning for my vasectomy. If you want you can come and watch. I will not mind. I want you to be assured that I am keeping my promise to you. This will be our 2^nd and last child together."

"I will hold your hand as he removes your balls, Jax."

"Monty, I will hold your hand while he removes your breasts."

"Jackson, you can't take a joke."

"Not when it comes to my family jewels, my love. You would look very different flat-chested and probably 30 pounds lighter."

"That's it, you're a dead man."

That's where she made her mistake. They were spooning together, her back to his front, and it was a safe position for her.

As soon as she turned to fight with him, she was no longer safe. She knew it as soon as she did it, because her husband was all over her, like bees after pollen. Her problem was she loved his attention, even though she was a beached sperm whale.

Within seconds, she went from fighting him off her to helping him find a position they would both be comfortable in. It wasn't easy considering her size, but because of his size he managed it quite easily. Slowly but surely, he lit the fire inside her, until it was a raging inferno that only he had the fortitude keep under control, and in time put out.

"God, I hate you Jackson. Now I have to take a shower before I go to work."

"Gee whiz, isn't that a coincidence. So do I."

"Keep away from me, you pervert."

"You didn't think I was a pervert a moment ago."

"I have a terrible short-term memory. If you're not careful I'll put you in the brig and forget you are there until the day this child is born."

"I would miss my appointment with Doctor Finch."

"Like hell you will. If necessary, I will have the guards bring you to him in chains."

"Doctor Luck certainly knew what he was doing when he made you Senior Captain."

"Don't you talk to me about that lying, cheating bastard. He ruined my life. I have to stay with the ship until the day I die."

"Who told you that?"

"Teddy told me that, and she never lies."

"I guess I'm staying with the ship, also, because I'm never leaving you. Are you going to be able to stand my ugly face for the next 60 years?"

"You are a lot of things, Jackson, but you are not ugly. You are disgusting, you are pervert, and you can't fight worth a damn, but you are not ugly. I can help you get that way if you want, and it will be my pleasure to help you get there, by fighting with you, but you are not ugly now."

"No, I'll pass. You nearly ruptured my diaphragm, when you found out you were pregnant with this child, and it was very painful. I know how painful it must've been for you when you lost to Gordon and were on crutches for 6 weeks, because of what he did to your knees. I think I'll keep my body, and my face the way they are."

"I knew you were a pussy."

"I love your pussy."

"Look at the size of me. Isn't that obvious?"

***************************************************

Gordon had a frown on his face as he approached Delicious. He knew he was in for an argument and this one had no winning side.

"Sis, we can't build your new engine. We don't have the machinery, or the materials to do it. I've gone over it time and time again in my mind and the only feasible way I can think of getting any of the material is by going out and capturing small asteroids, and testing each of them to see if they have the materials you need for the acceleration component. Then we would have to break each of them apart, in space, which would be a trick, since we don't have dynamite or any other explosive compound available to us, and bring the parts on board the spacecraft and deliver them here to the planet for processing.

Then comes our 2^nd problem: what are we going to process them with? Maybe we should send a message off to earth and have them bring the items we need with them to help us build the engine. They should have plenty of room on board, but these items may interfere with your magnetic engines. It is more important that we get resupplied with medical and other supplies we are running short of here, then start a new project like your new engines."

"My 3-year-old has more brains than you have Gordon. He is already drawing pictures of a larger, self-contained, kiln. You can use it to purify out whatever components are in the asteroids, and we can release the detritus back into space when we go after another asteroid."

"What does he have us making the kiln out of?"

"The rocks that contain the green mineral we extract from it. Those rocks never disintegrate. They allow the mineral to reach a fluid level and it leaks out. When we are finished with it, we put the rocks aside. Those are the rocks we will make the kiln out of, and all we have to figure out is a way to bind them together."

"Delicious, that's easy. Have you ever eaten chef's pancakes? On a very good day, they are barely edible. On a normal day, you could pave a road with them, and the road would last for years. On a bad day, you could use them as a killing device, by throwing them at your enemy."

"I've always liked his pancakes."

"I'd rather eat Brussel sprouts, and I hate Brussel sprouts. I guess we could use it in a test to see if it would bind the rocks together while we use heat on the inside to get what we want out of the meteors. It's worth a chance."

"I think you should tell him about it, Gordon. I would say we would need about 20 gallons of the mixture to build the entire kiln.

We will have to keep it warm so it stays runny. I believe we should build the 4 walls at the same time. When they are completed, and the pancake mix has dried completely, we can lift them up, at the same time, and have their edges meet. Using poles, inside and out, we will keep them vertical as we place the pancake mix at the edges to hold the corners together. Then comes the good part, we have to build the top. We are going to have to leave one area weak, so we can break into it for a vent. We will have to hope the whole roof does not collapse at the same time. That will be it. It should take us no more than 6 hours, using 4 teams, to get this job done."

"Sis, you are fantastic. That is a great plan, and I applaud you for it. It can be done exactly as you said, and if the mixture is right, and we test it on the stones beforehand, and they adhere together, it will not take us 6 hours to do it."

"Okay, when are you going to stick the knife into my back, Gordon? You never give me praise, without having something nasty to say afterwards."

"How can you possibly say that to me, Delicious? I named the green mineral we get out of those stones after you, because you deserved it. There was nothing devious about that, was there? I didn't even hit you after doing that for you, and putting it into the computer, and on to the message Teddy sent to Earth. No one can take that away from you, and I couldn't be prouder of you if I tried. You invented the new math. You proved you have a way to go from one end of God's universe to the other in one year. There is no one we know of living, who could claim that degree of scientific knowledge, not even me, or Gray. Thomas is only 3, and according to Teddy, he is supposed to be the smartest of all of us. He is going to have to go and awful long way to prove to me that he is smarter than his mother."

"I'm sorry I doubted you, Gordon. Everything you said was very nice, and I appreciated all of it. Sometimes it's very nice to have a brother like you."

"It's very nice having a very beautiful sister like you, Delicious. You can always count on her to forget to put a door on the front of the kiln."

"You son of a bitch, I knew it. You couldn't leave it alone. You had to say something nasty about me. I forgot to put a door on the fucking kiln. How am I supposed to put the rocks in there without a door? How could I be so stupid?"

"Would you like me to tell you, my darling sister?"

"You are taking your life in your hands, little brother."

"All I'm going to do is quote dad."

"Oh shit, I'm in trouble."

"Mommy, you use the bad word. One hour in the chapel with me."

"It's your uncle's fault. He's going to say something my dad told me, and I know I'm going to hate it."

"That is no excuse for using a bad word. God doesn't like bad words, and neither do I."

"Okay Teddy, one hour in the chapel with you. I'm sorry I lost my temper, but I know I am not going to like hearing what your uncle is going to say to me."

"Ask uncle Gordon to abbreviate it. He will do it for you."

"Teddy, you are a genius."

"Thank you, mommy."

"You heard what Teddy said, will you abbreviate it for me so I don't lose control of my mouth, please."

"Teddy, I love you so. I owe you my life, and I will do anything for you, even this. Abbreviating what I'm going to say is going to take all the fun out of it, but your mother will know everything our dad said."

Here goes, "Callie, she's trying to think... She has all that junk in her head... Her gears won't turn until the fire burns everything out."

"I hate that bastard. He does that to me all the time."

"Mommy that will be quite enough. You and I are going to the chapel now, before you get into any more trouble."

Gordon said, "Sometimes you have to wonder which one of them is the adult."

Gray said, "I never have to wonder, because I know which one it is. I take the other one to bed with me at night, because she's prettier, older, and legal."

"You better thank your lucky stars Zoey is not close at hand. If she heard you say that there is no place in the universe you would be safe in. My sister would find you, and after that, there would not be enough hours in the day, days in the week or weeks in the year for her to pray with Teddy for what she did to you."

"Okay you two, what did I miss," Zoey asked

as she kissed her husband?

"Are you planning on giving birth today, dear?"

"I could never be so lucky. I have to cook this little cake another 2 months I am told. I believe they're wrong, and it will never go that long, but that's what Doctor Lois says. Now, what did I miss, and don't change the subject on me again."

"Dear, if you really want to know what went on here this morning, you should go to the chapel and get it from the horse's mouth. Teddy ordered her mother there for one hour, because her mouth runn'eth over. Delicious got so angry with our dad she was seeing red. You should really speak to her about it, and get the whole story."

"That's easy, I'll call Laura and Sandy take all 3 of them for coffee. We will start talking about other things, like anal sex, which closes Delicious' mind, and then I'll hit her with the questions about what happened here this morning. She won't realize what she's saying, until after she's given me all the information I need."

Newton said, "If you were back on earth, Zoey, you would make the perfect detective. No one would ever know what you were doing to them, until it was too late, and you had a signed confession in your hands."

"Thank you, Newton, that was a very nice thing for you to say about me. Of course, my father would never allow me to do such a thing, because it was too dangerous a profession. He would rather I be like my mother, and fly around the world in a private aircraft. Unfortunately, that's not me. I have to scratch around, and find out what's going on in the world around me. I have to know, so I can let everyone else in the world know what is happening."

Gordon said, "Yes dear, I believe everyone remembers you digging around in everyone's personal life, even to their detriment."

"Gordon, I was ill back then, and you know it. How I missed you, from such short range, I don't know. I am so happy that I did, because I could not live without you in my life. Please don't bring that time in my life up again. I find it too painful to remember, and too hard to forget."

"Every day we stay together is a day I try to get you to forget that day, Zoey. I know how you missed me, and it was not by accident, or a stroke of luck. Neither was it divine intervention. You had a little help, and so did I. I can't forget that day, but through the grace of God, I have forgiven you for it. It is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but I keep saying to myself, over and over again, what I said the moment I first met you.

'My God, you are beautiful.' You are Zoey, both inside and out, and you prove that every day of your life. You prove that with me, and our children. You proved that when I was in stasis, and everyone said that you could not stand it, because I could not talk to you. You knew exactly where I was, and you stood by the unit, and talked to me for hours, knowing I could not respond. There you stood, holding our baby, talking to me, and getting things off your chest. The medical staff thought you had gone insane, and they don't know how close to the truth they were. If they had not taken me out of there early, I believe you stop =-would have gone over the edge, crashed and burned. I never truly believed how fragile you were, and how dependent on me you had become. When we are together you fight like a tiger, but as soon as we are separated something clicks off in your head, and you become a meek and mild newborn. Anyone or anything can take advantage of you, and I don't understand why. You were not that way at home, before we met. You were socially independent, and no one's fool. You even kept your guards on their toes, because they didn't know which way you were going to go, on any particular day.