Stranger Things have Happened...

"I bet that will make Jimmy's blood pressure soar!" I laughed,

Then Carolyn told him, "You are going to wait and tell my son when I'm in video position!" Then started looking for her phone.

Kat stood still and said, "Ask him why he's not smiling anymore!"

Zatara said, "Actually, I was hoping he was with all of you." Then he spun around to where I stood, "Now calm down, Mikel?" He looked left, then right, "Mikel? " I guess I should have said was standing. Because at present, I was already running halfway down the outside of the building. My son's room was on the corner, 2nd floor.

I stopped trying to think 'what would he do,' and started thinking about it for what it was. "I'm a young male who saved a hot-looking girl and now we have the hots for each other. The parents are home at both our places, with no vehicle, which only left," My eyes traveled to the top of the wall til I saw the leaves and branches bent back. The hunt was on! All during the chase, I was at war with myself.

"Why are you pushing so hard?"

"I need to find Jimmy!" I replied.

I found a path and began to move faster.

"Just gonna jump in there with all your guns blazing away at anything that moves. Is that you're plan?"

"Sounds good to me, he doesn't understand what he might be doing!" I replied.

"He knows more than you do."

Then my foot hooked on something that sent me rolling down a gentle hill, that ended in a sudden drop of what felt like about seven foot. That led to landing on my side on soft ground that had some not-so-soft rounded rocks poking up here and there. Landing on my side, the only part exposed to the rock was the top of my head. Not enough to knock me out, but enough to put me into a daze where the world floated by in a happy harmony.

Then after I couldn't tell you how long, voices began as a murmur and gently grew in volume.

"I agree, Tessa," James' voice said, "She could be Venus herself, but if you don't want to engage my mind as well as my body, then it's a broken promise waiting to happen."

Tessa replied, "James, I'm sure you have a lot of girls waiting. Once you find one, you'll understand," she turned her face away so he wouldn't notice her tears. As James knelt to tie his shoe lace. I saw her love for him play along her face and eyes. She turned to walk away saying over her shoulder, "I guess we'll be seeing each other later on tonight."

"Tell her!" I wanted to to yell at him. "Don't be me! God please, Don't be me!"

"I believe I understand him after all," he whispered to himself.

"Tessa!", He stood up straight, turned, and walked slowly to her. "Let me tell you what I understand. The first day I saw you I was in love with you. When you fell from the tree, I only thought about you, and if there was a better way I could hold you in my arms to protect you on the way down. Now, you tell me of another hurdle that I have to clear before we can even say we love each other, and then you question my ability?" He wrapped her up in his arms and let his hand caress down her face thumbing its way across her cheek.

Their eyes are lost in each other, James's lips barely touch Tessa's. When he whispered, "I can't explain why, but I know in my soul that we were meant to be together, and I won't stop until we are, my Love!"

== Royally Casual ==

Takes place on the private royal beach, with only one royal chef, who manned the modernized kitchen. I never saw an outdoor charcoal grill while I was there.

Many large burn pits though. I had to look really hard, but I swear the security army surrounding the place was allowed to keep one extra button undone. Rock on, you guys!

My son and I were honored as such. My name would be added to the listings of so many Spanish people who were never even there finding the treasure, or as he made it seem they told me where to dive and what to do at every step.

My son got a copy of their family photo of them standing in front of the Palace with it's gates thrown wide. Then in the cut out below it said 'We thank you for your efforts, our friend! Followed by four separate knockouts for a signature.

While he was trying to figure out his award, I caught a flash of color at the corner of my sight. Kat stood there glancing around, then looking at me, pulling her finger across her throat in a short line, Then letting her head roll to the left as she stuck her tongue out. Anybody who would see it would given my state of affairs, would think we were flirting instead of a signal that she thinks we needed to leave, but when she caught her breast and top up together, and rolled her nipple with her other hand for a second, before smiling and turning away. I understood that to be a 'right fucking now!'

Just as I finished turning back around, the King was smiling, "Both want to marry you, you say?

"I do say so," with a larger smile. "It's the only fight I don't mind losing." I gave him a light chuckle, "As you saw, a challenge has been issued, and I gladly accepted. We have enjoyed your and your family's hospitality, But I feel it is time for us to retire for the evening.

"You got it banging, dog!"

Our car pulled up to take us back to the house. The first thing I noticed after sitting down was that the divider was already up. Then the sudden 'zig-zagging,'

followed by a sharp turn. Then we were driving along smoothly. After we made sure we were alright, I told Carolyn to call Jimmy and check on him.

My hand was almost to the switch when it started to come down on its own. We all looked at each other.

"There is no need to worry about the young master, and he played his part to perfection! The excuse you will use as to why he has to ride with the Royal Family shall be your well-known and despised public sexual acts while here in Spain. and you stopped at the first place you found." That voice brought a truly heartwarming smile to my face!

"Grandma!" sprang from my mouth.

"Well met, mi Captain, it's a pleasure to meet you again! I hope it will prove better for us all.

"Something wrong, my friend?" I asked.

"We're just a few points port of where we should be. But it also says they can play with our 'compass' and think they can get away with it. Their eyes are large and their ears are larger. Besides, when I need a rock to cling to I turn to my Captian, he can offer insight as well as protection."

"I don't know if I would go that far," I said, "But I am not as restrained as some are to offer help with strength or money, by the grace of the Lord! Sometimes I think it is that I have the freedom to 'just do it' instead of having to 'make a deal' for it that pisses them off worse."

"Would you be surprised to know that the event we are investigating is linked directly to you? Now I find that funny because I know how much you want Spain to adopt you as her long-lost son," We had a good laugh about that one. "I'm taking you to see an old friend whose father was probably alive when these things were written. He'll be able to tell me what I want to know. most of the old books on family lore, and a few books of secrets from the old kings going way back we find and give to him. It's been nice to have him around guarding your back."

We pulled up in front of what looked like a college dorm in its size. Four stories, two elevators, a dumbwaiter system for books in the back, and two restrooms per floor/showers on the even-numbered floors. He lived on the front right side, while guests were on the front left.

There were portraits of people and battles hanging on the walls and just about every flat space had stacks of books and scrolls on it. The table we were sitting around was just a card table with folding chairs. The bookkeeper was named Edmund Cooper, and Grandma had tasked him with finding out about a rumor of a reward for anyone who returned the princess's crown to Spain. It had been said that the King at that time supposedly issued a decree saying that if one could return the crown, they would become a landowner in Spain.

I looked at Grandma, "You want me to become a Spaniard?"

I want you to be who you were born to be, and together we can save my Goddaughter, Captain! She told me.

"My friend, I see where you're going with this, and there is an easy way to see if

he is who you're hoping that he is." Edmund turned to Mikel, "Drop your pants, please."

"Come again?" Mikel replied, confused and a bit startled.

"If you are truly the descendant of Captain Juan Sanchez Villalobos Ramirez you should have a birthmark on the inside of your left leg in the shape of a shooting star. Every male in that line has the same birthmark going back to the founding of Spain." Edmund explained. "If you are embarrassed, you and I can go into the next room."

"There's no need to look. He has the birthmark," Carolyn spoke up, "I saw it when we were intimate."

"Want to know something ironic?" Edmund asked me, "The last commission that was given to your great-grandfather from the King of Spain was to sail the Orion and the princess's dowry to England, but what neither one of them knew was that it was an ambush and Spain would lose the treasure and the English funded pirates that laid in wait for the Orion would hold the Princess for ransom."

"Your Grandfather had spent most of his life at sea, and he had a feeling that something was going to happen. He had brought his wife along to keep the Princess company, as suggested by the King. it seems that two hours before the attack, He had transferred the princess and his wife, along with a crew of 40, onto an American frigate that he purchased out of the treasure and had them hug the shoreline. He was willing to risk himself and his men but not risk his wife or the Princess."

"The American frigate made it back to Spain with the Princess, but no further word about the Orion, her Captain and crew, or the treasure. After a time the Captain and crew were thought to have perished with the ship in the battle. The crown gave his wife land and enough money to live on, so she was able to raise her daughter." My head came up at that statement.

"Hold on," I said, "If she was pregnant with a daughter, how did I come into being?"

"In the old days, if the wife was unable to have a child, she offered up her handmaiden as her surrogate. She was already pregnant, and the only woman left who could be of service to him was the Princess's handmaiden. The maiden was so taken with your Great-grandfather that she hid aboard the Orion and never got on the frigate. it was said they were together twice before the battle. and after reviewing the English history of that period, it was said that after members of his crew betrayed the Captain, she threw herself into the ocean and began swimming for the shore. Your standing before me tells me she made it to shore."

"So what you're telling me is that I'm really from Spain with a brief stop in America? I said.

"You could put it like that. my friend. but I think you should see this as a 'Welcome home after a very long absence,' Edmund said. You should also know that the Princess never did marry. It seems that seeing so many give their lives for her safety without a second thought sobered her up so much that she became one of our greatest leaders, but she never failed to dote on your family. She always said that what she could do for them could never repay the debt she owed them."

I found myself falling to the floor as none of my muscles seemed to cooperate. I fell against a tall pile of papers, and we all fell to the floor. Sketches, drawings, and reports concerning a bygone era that I would never know. But I did see something I knew very well, a sketch of a box with a square plate on top with a crown and a cross etched into the plate. The same box I found in the second smuggler hold on the Orion, laying on top of her wedding dress along with her Mother's letter.

Edmund smiled and said, "You have answered your own riddle in history. Perhaps you should rest a bit before trying to solve another. Besides, that box comes from King Charles the 5th, and it is said that it would give the bearer the ability to become the next King of Spain. Sadly, no one knows anything about its current resting place."

"I know where it is," I whispered. The room went quiet, and there was a definite chill that seemed to come from nowhere. Everyone in that room slowly turned to look at me.

"Could you repeat that? These old ears don't work like they used to." Edmund said in a low voice.

"I have seen that box, and not too long ago, as a matter of fact," I looked at Edmund and then Grandma. "And you can stop treating me like the kid with the cookie jar, by the way."

"But I cannot, my friend," Edmund pressed on, "The quest for that box is what sparked my thirst for knowledge, and you come walking in here telling me that you have the answer like it was yesterday's news! Mikel, don't deny me this one favor on my life, tell me!"

"As I'm sure you've heard of me being the one to find my Great-grandfather's ship, yes?" Edmund's head slowly nodded, his eyes intent on my face. "I came across another treasure hold. it was a gift from her Mother if she ever had to bribe her way back home. Lying on top of her wedding dress was the box, as well as a letter from her Mother explaining how to use her 'escape clause,'

I moved everything to a more secure location since, of course."

"No one ever suspected the Queen or her help to her Daughter! You see, all the time they lived together, Mother and daughter, or Queen and Princess, were at each other's throats! Then after she goes away, she cries for her."

Edmund looked as if he was drifting away in thought when I suddenly remembered, "Give me your email address." I grabbed my phone, and he grabbed his laptop, and soon he was looking at pictures of the box and the letter atop the wedding dress. Tears wet his cheeks! "Give me a minute or two," I found the zip file I made for my Spanish teacher of the entire thing and then sent that to him as well. Grandma, who was watching the pictures over his shoulder, saw the file straightened and turned to the girls. "Come on, I'll show you all a picture of Mikel's Great-grandpa!" Her mouth smiled, but her eyes said NOW!

I turned to follow, and I felt her hand on my arm, "He won't want anybody near him, but he will need you here. That letter will affect both of you because it affects both of your families. He is the last of his line, and you are starting yours. Help him ease his passing."

I sat down close to him and waited til he finished. When he broke down, he sat there and shook like he was frozen cold, his head turned to me, his eyes no longer had the life they had earlier, if they had any at all now. "Pardon me, my goodman, but might I trouble you to move that picture of the horse an inch to the left and then push in gently on the frame? Bring me the clear bottle if you would be so kind."

I did as he asked and found four bottles sealed with wax, the others were honey, red, and deep burgundy colored. I removed the clear one and reset the picture. I brought it back over and sat down. "Are you afraid of a 98 year old waiting his time at the end of the cul de sac?" He yelled from down the hall. My reply was.

"Only if you agree to clean it up if I get sick! I not really sure what lunch actually was," I gave it right back, smiling.

"For stomach issues, keep the dish of what looks like small green leaves by you while we imbibe, you'll have no problem. One every 30 to 40 minutes should do. I know they work, its how I survived the concoctions I've come across in here!" he laughed back.

He showed up a few seconds with a tray that had, two plates of food and two kinds of dipping sauces. Some had a red ring around the edge. "Red means it's hot, so a whimp like you better start with the mild, then we'll see."

He opened the bottle, "Son, you're going to sit there and listen to what I tell you without saying anything, or I'll gag you and finish after. Do you understand?" I nodded. "Good, Now start drinking!"

"I was 5 years old when I saw my favorite Auntie Crying in her garden. I ran up and jumped up next to her. It was like she was a statue. It wasn't until I kissed her cheek, that she jumped, and it seemed like she 'started working' again, I recall telling her I would beat the crap out of whoever hurt her, and her reply, with a sad little smile, was, 'they execute you for beating up the king, dear.' was all she said, before snatching me up, and just held me as we watched the flowers."

We sat together and drank. I'd hear "Eat a leaf" once in a while, but we were doing good. "Hey, novis, look over here," he looked at my eyes. "Yeah, you're ripe enough to go on." I was at that point that if we were sitting like a clock with me as the center point looking ahead, and he at the two, my head didn't stop turning til about quarter-past three, and I had to 'back up' slowly.'

"When I turned 21, I was walking along the river walkway when a policewoman walked up to me and asked me my name. After I confirmed who I was, This 'Patrol Person' pushed me against the wall behind me, and then she licked my ear. "I have four warrants to serve. Hold this," she gave me an 8x12 manila envelope.

As soon as I took it, she dropped to her knees and became my first. When she was done, she stood up and gave me an intense kiss, " That and the card taped to the outside are from me." Then she was gone. I arranged my clothing and took my envelope home. Inside the envelope were a set of old iron keys, a set of new keys, and a two-page letter that came from my Auntie.

"What my Auntie said in her letter to me is none of your business, but it's what she imparted about how their 'affair' with each other played its part in what happened." That made me hold my hand, then proceeded to check the larger pictures close by, but I had to settle for the same-sized bottle behind the first picture. Where did the purple one come from?

"Mr. Potts! The old man always knows when he's needed!" I spun around rather fast, expecting someone else to arrive; Edmund said, "Stop, please don't drop that. just bring it to the table, I going to make a sandwich for the both of us first." Then he took off down the hall.

I got on my phone and called Tammy2, and she answered on the third ring. I told her exactly what I needed. Tammy asked if it was a party or if I was in jail again. I told her to label all the wires to my entertainment system, remove the control box and, set it off to the side, then grab the carved box that was holding the box on top up. Then, on a sudden impulse, I told her to pick up an officer uniform with the most 'Bling,' complete with swords and all. Just do not forget the Captain's sword!

I couldn't resist anymore! "Know someone who understands the customs film-flam that they try to pull, and if they might need help with let's say a 'unique souvenir' from Spain. They'll have to get their own outfit, though. Got anyone in mind?"

"Boss?"

"Yes? My Dear?" I smiled.

"You're an asshole!"

"Only to the ones I love, hun!"

"When do you need us? If I remember right, it's a 12-hour flight!" she asked.

"A private jet is already waiting," I told her, "Don't let anyone know what you're carrying."

"What the fuck are you talking about? I have to find someone to take this to you. Yea, my only freaking time I might get to see Spain and the bastard's Mom and Dad show up. I'll give it to Tammy, and she always has so much luggage, no one could ever find it."

"How many are in the office or left reminders?" I asked

"I'd say the mid to low 70's. Why?" she replied.

"I know! I know, I let you play with the GPS devices, but this time I need you first." I told her. "We've had this talk before. Turn them all off, then afterward, when you're really bored, turn one or two on and watch the fun. Wondering who out there is controlling their tech?" I could almost hear her 'purring' on the line. "Except this time, you'll be welcomed into the palace as a friend and not as a suspect!" I chuckled.