Splashdown Ch. 10

"That was fast." She was suddenly out of breath.

"We literally jetted in and jetted out."

"But you left yesterday! Oh, uh gees, I guess you can't tell me what you did."

Peggy seemed to think my sudden trip was an official act.

I was in a good mood and wanted to have some fun, "Yep, left yesterday morning very early, back today very late. It is still today, right? Since then, I've spent about twenty hours on a jet, two hours on trains, and about three in cars. Oh yeah, about five hours in airports, but that includes dinner last night. There isn't much to tell."

"C-Can I ask where you went?" Peggy was twisting her wrist with her opposing hand and fidgeting from one foot to the other.

"Sure, you can ask me anything now. I went to the German Air Show."

Peg was sharp. She asked incredulously doing some math in her head, "How long were you there, an hour?"

"Closer to two, but that included lunch."

She was confused and very worried. "Uh, did you see anyone there?"

"Yeah. There were thousands there and hundreds on the plane flights."

Even agitated her scowl showed her opinion of my smart-aleck reply. "Anyone you knew?" She was casting a net and wasn't sure what the net would catch. She wasn't angry, it was more like she was anxious to check me for bullet holes or knife wounds.

Being stymied Peg asked another question, she was measured, as if asking to buy a vowel, "Why would anyone fly to Europe to go to an airshow, have lunch there, and leave? Was there a plane or something you were interested in? Did you have enough time there to actually look at it? You didn't see anyone?"

"Well, I didn't go alone."

She turned grey but held her tongue. She was thinking that I took a female companion. I didn't want her feeling that way.

"I went with Mike."

Her eyes widened. She knew Mike was from my former workplace. I didn't talk much about folks from work. At least I didn't used to. But Peggy knew Mike was one of the guys who carried me along after I had a knife plunged into my chest. Mike had been a big fan of mine since I pulled that mission out of the fire after I'd been stabbed. And as you can imagine Peggy had been a big fan of Mike's for getting her husband home.

Now her eyes were big as saucers and she was even more grey. She mouthed as if not to be overheard, "Oh my God. Are you injured?"

"Well, my hand stings a little and my back is stiff."

"Oh my Gosh, you stabbed someone again, and they fought back! But you're here," she looked confused seeing no blood, "Did you get away clean?"

"It was a lovely flight, but that's too much flying especially two flights like that back-to-back. My spine is really kinked."

She blinked a few times, shook her head and plunged in again, "So are you back with ... them." Peg whispered it like she had to hide it from the coffee pot. I feared this was going to make her revert to "junior spy master" mode. She would be looking at the top of the broom closet in no time.

"The only person I'm back with is you, baby."

Peggy threw herself at me and clung to me. Suddenly her hands started rubbing all over me.

"What are you doing, Peg?"

"Are you wounded? Do we need to patch you up?" Her eyes were beginning to tear. Peggy remembered the words I spoke to her upon my leaving, explaining the purpose of my trip, "Honey, you went somewhere to ... get your balls back. Um. Did you?" She was worried, worried enough to throw caution to the wind asking that question.

"Absolutely! Now, I wait for the fallout, but I'm satisfied."

She pursed her lips fighting tears attributing something altogether wrong to my mention of satisfaction, "Good. Good. You deserve that and more," she was shaking again. "Still, why did you go all the way to the German Air Show for that?"

Now I was confused. "That's where the person I wanted to meet was. I sort of felt like they were meeting me halfway, so I should take advantage of the situation."

"Ah, and you came back happier."

"Yes, much. I feel I have my man card to punch again."

"Oh. Was the person you went to meet a woman by any chance?"

"The person I went to meet?"

"Of course." Then she stopped looking puzzled again. "Wait, you went with Mike so ... holy cow! Oh my gosh. What you did to me the other night: reducing me to a puddle, you do that for "them" don't you? You're like a secret weapon: a killer Lothario. You incapacitated her, made her talk, tell you all the secrets, then Mike killed her? Gary, you're Mata Hari, or Mata Harry, or Mata Gary, or whatever." Peggy was as shocked as she was impassioned.

"What are you talking about?" I was completely in the weeds.

"You're a secret super stud who beds woman and gets secrets from them, but this time you had to kill her."

Mine was a question worth repeating, "What are you talking about?"

You went there with Mike to see someone, and you were satisfied afterwards, and got your balls and man card back. Sort of like having your double O status returned." She said breathlessly.

"No, no, dammit. I went to ambush Alexi."

She gasped, putting her hands over her mouth. Her eyes suddenly as huge as they were terrified. I had just uttered Voldemort's name.

"No baby. It's okay and I confirmed some things that you will want to know about. I defended your honor. I told you I would."

"I'm so sorry. I-I never ever thought that you were that angry."

Peggy was stunned and horrified, though rooting for me 'till the end'. I was pretty pissed, but I don't think that's what she meant. How could I call time out? Never underestimate the direct approach.

"Time out, Peggy. What do you think happened?"

Peggy shook before she answered, she had to gather herself to do so. "You went all the way to Europe and ambushed Alexi?" She looked sick to her stomach with whatever she was thinking.

"Yes. That was a fantastic guess, Peggy!" I waggled my eyebrows.

She looked around again hoping to keep the awful truth from the nefarious coffee pot, "And you fucked him." It seemed all the fear and energy had drained out of her. "T-To death!"

"WHAT?!"

"You said you were satisfied, and you regained your man card, and ..."

"Stop! Stop. Just stop. You're getting yourself way off track."

"But Mike went. So, you cut off Alexi's man parts and stuffed them down his throat. Oh my God!"

"Oh Peggy, please stop. No, no, that didn't happen."

"What then?" Her eyes were wide though she held her arms outstretched wider.

"Look, I need a glass of water and some aspirin and a stiff drink now too." I was suddenly tired and weary and sore from twenty hours combined in planes to and from Germany and the airports here.

Thank goodness, her phone rang, and Peg went to grab it. From across the room I could tell it was Peggy's dad. Peggy was working on fixing her problems with her folks since her hand holding incident after her spacewalk. Her folks didn't know how bad it had gotten, or that Alexi had actually been with their daughter biblically.

Her father was shouting exuberantly into the phone. He was so excited I could make out every word from the other side of the kitchen. "Is that him? It's gotta be him! Peggy, tell me it's him!"

"What Dad? What's going on?"

"I always told your husband was handsome enough to be on TV," that was Peggy's mom excitedly adding her voice now too.

"What?"

"Oh, come on, what do you think, daughter?" They clearly expected her to be as ecstatic as they were.

"I don't know what's going on. Gary just got home."

"From the German Air Show by any chance?" Her parents asked in unison. Oh, their voices were so happy.

"Yeah," Peggy just didn't know what to think.

"Whahoo! It IS him!" Peggy's parents were both screaming.

"Daughter?"

"Yes, Mom?"

"Go turn on TMZ or go the internet and see what's trending. Then take your man to bed. You're married to the most famous well-thought-of man in the country right now, so give him your best! Got it?!"

"Sure Mom." Shocked, Peggy looked at me sort of sickly again, she handed me the phone and walked into the family room in a daze. She disappeared around the corner out of sight where we kept the family computer. I was receiving all sorts of effusive praise from my in-laws when I heard a single word yelled from the other room.

"SPANK?" Followed shortly by, "Spanking?!"

Then Peggy stumbled back into view from around the corner, actually falling to her knees in her haste.

"You ... you spanked Alexi! You spanked him! It's on a continual crawl on one side of the TV screen on the gossip show. It's the spank heard around the world! This is huge Honey. You're a celebrity!" She started to cry. "But that means ..." Peggy thought her day of reckoning, when everyone knew the terrible thing she had done, was finally here. I quickly said my goodbyes to my in-laws and hung up.

"No Peggy, watch it. Watch it with sound. I will never throw you under the bus publicly. Some things may involve family if need-be, but private is private. Go watch it, but make sure you see and hear it all."

She ran back disappearing around the corner again. I finally fixed my drink. I had just finished making it when Peggy practically tackled me, splashing my drink all over the counter.

Her voice was but an excited whisper, she stared transfixed into my face.

"You -- You made it seem like I didn't screw him! You made it sound like he tried - but I never gave in. That video is all over the place. Y-You saved me. You've changed everything!"

She was shaking her head now too, as though she couldn't believe it. "You got back at Alexi. He'll never fly again, not in their program. You changed the narrative: you've washed me clean. No one will believe a word he says now, even if he tells them the truth."

Peggy fell backwards onto the floor. She looked up at me incredulously, tears streaming down her face.

"I've been facing personal Armageddon. Everyone, including my parents, was going to hate me. I was going to be a worldwide pariah."

She leaned back on her arms definitely in a haze, and almost a funk. She was beyond incredulous. She was gob smacked.

"I-I wrecked everything: your life, you. I fucked you over almost every way a woman could, and you went out of your way to ... save me."

She looked at me, there was a terrible truth she was mulling, "Gary, you love me so much. I-I don't know if I ..."

"Shut up Peggy!" Perhaps my language was not the most gentile, but my decisive delivery was soft and gentle. I didn't want her to finish the sentence I needed her to finish. I wanted no argument. We owed ourselves this evening. We deserved to add this memory to the great memories of our romance and friendship. I needed her to finish that sentence, but for the love of heaven, not now.

She looked at me not knowing what way life was headed.

"Are you happy with me, Peggy?" I asked, as I began making a replacement libation.

"Incredibly, I-I don't know how to give it words."

"Want to make love to me, or be my bitch?" I asked the last part with mirth.

"Yes! Either ... or both, but yes." Peg smiled as her head was finally wrapping around the fact that the mountain she expected to fall on her had been demonstrably canceled.

"Then shut up, don't say what you were about to. And when you think of something else to say shut up again, and instead just tell me you love me."

She held her hands out for me to pick her up, and started to speak, instead actually biting her bottom lip. As I pulled her up her tears had stopped, she gazed into my eyes. "Gary, I love you."

I headed down the hallway to the steps which also took us towards the front door. Peggy glanced at it and playfully asked, "Gary, after what you've done, do you want me on the front yard?"

I stopped, "Let's start upstairs, I want a shower. Then I tell you what, in the middle of the night I absolutely will fuck you out there."

Her mouth opened though it was seconds before anything came out. "Oh Gary, I was just kidding." She stopped and thought about it, a wicked smile slowly creeping across her face, "But I can't possibly describe how much I'm looking forward to it!"

* * * * *

That weekend I went to Kathy's for a visit. She was my buddy. Perhaps it was a little unusual because she was a woman, although I made no bones about it. I told Peggy I was going to stop off and maybe have dinner and a cup of coffee with Kathy as Peg planned to spend the evening on the computer with her parents. She was still trying to sort out what she was going to tell them, and what she needed to keep secret. I told her no good would come of their knowing anything of her actual affair with Alexi.

Peggy nodded sadly then beamed at me, "Because of you I don't have to tell them. It was only a matter of time before the story broke. But you beat the press with your revised version."

After I suggested Peggy stick with "my" version she kissed me goodbye telling me to say "hi" to Kathy. Peg was still walking on clouds because of what I had done. I'm not sure which she liked better: my changing her life expectations or taking it doggystyle in the dew at four AM in our front yard. That had made her feel very alive and very connected to me. If only she truly would take that to heart.

Kathy came out front of her building excited to greet me. She had on a great sundress. It was simple and like all the best sundresses conspicuously innocent while just dripping with sex appeal. Her lithe taut long body, perky breasts, and athletic hips did that dress proud! She was all smiles taking me arm in arm walking on air, waiting till we were inside before she spoke.

Watching me eye her filled-out happy sundress she cooed, "Don't let this little thing give you ideas. Wait, sure, let it. Your ideas are pretty damn cool." Kath gave me a playful wink.

She squared up about two yards ahead of me, smiled again, and dropped to her knees. She put her arms straight out towards me then began gesticulating up and down at the waist, like something out of the Arabian Knights. "Oh, exhalated one. Thank you for gracing us with your presence."

I was miffed, "What are you doing?"

Her laugh was audible warmth, "You're the hero, big time! Some of the secret boys at the space flight center are all smiles now instead of that grim tight-lipped attitude we normally see. Do you know your antics haven't just gone viral: you're a damned screen saver now!"

"What?"

"Yup. There have to be a half dozen of the military guys that have you spanking Alexi as a screen saver now."

"Holy cow!"

Kathy was shaking with excitement, "You did good, Honey. Real good!" She jumped up wrapping her arms around my neck, I enjoyed her wrapped around me. I had to come to grips with this: it felt like heaven.

Kathy stopped hugging me. She still beamed at me shaking her head. "What you did was just great! We were at work; we didn't know anything yet. All of a sudden folks ran in where we were and told us we had to see something. We excitedly gathered around a monitor as they hit play.

"The clip started with Alexi standing on stage. We're familiar with him here at space central. Then you came walking on stage behind him. Peggy, your wife had just been up, so most folks around the Cape were familiar enough to know who you were. Everyone was wondering what was going on.

"The few of us that had some idea about your job were waiting for a James Bond scene, or at least Schwarzenegger. Then holy smokes you tanned Alexi's bottom! Now he really is "red", huh?" There was joy in her voice.

She stood almost ready to cry. "It was magnificent. You dealt him a harder blow than if you'd cut off his legs. And you didn't give into the dark side!"

Kathy, still happy as a June bug, became very serious, "Gary, this whole time, through this whole tar pit of a year, you've managed to stand proud, even if you don't think so. I know you've done some things you weren't proud of, maybe even with me. Even though I still think our little escapade was wonderful.

"But I knew it had to come boiling out some way. I hoped maybe it could be with me instead of your losing it on your wife or in public. I saw what you did to your kitchen table at the start of this mess, that was impressive. But if you hulked out like that in public it would change the way people thought of you. On top of everything else, that would be a tragedy all its own.

Now the concern melted away back into joy, "You did it, Gary! I'm really proud of you! You didn't let it twist you or bring you down. You didn't do something you'd regret the rest of your life. You didn't go dark! And you didn't kill him, not that he didn't deserve it, but you actually dealt him a worse blow. And made it all so damn palatable that it's heroic. And THAT is you, Gary. You are a hero! But you do things differently than a Hollywood hero. You consider, you weigh, and you act, all in a manner that is ... heroic.

"Let me be clear about what I'm talking about. I know this episode at the air show will make your former employer happy and takes the heat off of them. I understand office politics, even on that level. You got rid of a thorn in their side. You got even with both a man who'd wronged you, and his handlers who put him up to it. They got to you through him, and you found a way to get to them through him. It's a rather beautiful construct, Gary. Yet those aren't the big ones. Those feats aren't the best of your heroism.

"It would have been much easier to get some of your respect back by calling things for what there were, which means Peggy was going down the tubes. She was radioactive Gary, we both know it, as well as a handful of others. And every one of us that knew what really happened, including Peggy, knew her story was losing containment. It was leaking out there. The world was going to find out what happened with Peggy in that combloc farm field. You held your hand until you could find a way to restore yourself that also sanitized your wife.

"Everyone was so excited seeing what you did. Truth be known the women were very touched over what you did for your wife. But they didn't know the half of it. They didn't know the real story. And there I was knowing this wasn't just a Prince Charming move. Hell, Mr. Darcy can't hold a candle to you, it was a supreme act of mercy you performed for Peggy.

"You took all the ... shit life dumped on you and didn't become trash yourself. Your knees didn't bend or buckle, and you bested it, Gary. You exonerated Peggy in return for her betrayal. You took it all and came out the true hero."

Kathy was actually was shaking with pride. I couldn't help it, I grabbed her and hugged her hard, very hard. We finally parted.

"Kath, I know we need to talk though I have no idea what to say."

She looked at me worried.

"No, nothing terrible. It's just that your being proud of me makes me feel stupendous! Frankly, it makes me feel a lot better than traveling half a world to spank Alexi did. I don't know ..."

Still beaming Kathy cut in, "That's right Gary, you don't know - yet. Don't forget how you feel now, it's very important. For right now you're taking charge and taking steps towards knowing, and that's wonderful. I don't think it will be too much longer before you are yourself enough again to know what you want and need. As long as I keep seeing steps I can wait."

"But Kathy, I know how terrible waiting is."

"Let's compare circumstances, Gary. You aren't ignoring me, or freezing me out, or cutting yourself off emotionally, and you are not making decisions for me. When things started going poorly for you, you were not happy, but you were flying pretty soundly until Peggy took away your part in the decision-making process. From that moment on you were reduced to either sticking it out or leaving. I'm not in that situation. As it stands if I reached a breaking point, I'd simply ask you over and we'd figure it out. While I am waiting, the situations are very different."