Chapter 6

Sonya took me to bed that night. We were naked and in bed, but even in my young age this was way to hard a blow for me to be considering sex as a possible outcome. Instead we just lay there, she held me, and we stared into each others eyes for what felt like minutes but must have been hours.

She kissed away my tears, and... I guess I knew then she had already decided somewhere inside that this was her family, that she wouldn't fight the hands of time. From the looks of things, she knew as well.

I woke up at the crack of dawn, and I was still looking at the now peacefully sleeping Sonya. She was beautiful. I had never had the time to actually, casually reflect on it... Sure, I had admired her sexiness at times and so, but to actually look calmly on someone, seeing the beauty outside and inside. I felt as if I could breathe in her beauty, and it did make me a bit calmer. I gently kissed her forehead, and she stirred but didn't wake. With a smile I untangled myself and went in search of the bathroom.

Janine had said she would sleep on the couch but she didn't. She slept sitting next to the door, so that if it opened she would be behind it. She had a gun gently placed next to her. She woke immediately at my presence, and her hand grabbed the gun, but then a flicker of recognition went through her head and she just shut down as if she was a machine... some sort of guard robot. I shook my hand silently. How bad would my future life be in order for me to train my daughter to this extent? A girl that looked to be about my age that seemed to have more training and experience in war than most soldiers. It hurt to think about... I'd have to consider this some more.

The thoughts had been pestering me more and more. The Nemo family as described from the future didn't sound all that nice. It definitely didn't sound like anything I would be a part of, much less create. What would happen between now and then? What would turn the me I knew into the me I wasn't sure I wanted to be? And what had guided his decisions, why did he do the things he did?

I sighed very happily as I relieved the tension of my bladder, and then flushed. I'm well behaved you see. Nobody had told me. The pipes sounded like something from a horror movie; there was this loud groaning sound and a rumble that seemed to cut through the entire building. I swear the floor was shaking. For a second I thought earthquake, but then it stopped just as the water stopped running.

I realized I was still naked, but took a deep breath and stepped out into the living room. The three girls stood there staring angrily at me and I had to laugh. Tina was in her underwear, Sonya was naked, and both had a serious case of bed hair and looked half dead. Janine on the other hand was dressed, and held her gun, which just complimentented the picture beautifully.

Sonya sneered, "Don't laugh to hard Nemo boy; you're not exactly wearing clothes yourself."

I couldn't explain it, I just attacked them each with large hugs, and I was humming happily as I strode into the bedroom to fetch my clothes. I could just feel the surprised stares at my back. I felt good for a moment there.

As the door closed behind me I... It is hard to explain. It's like a saw a memory but it didn't happen. Like a movie in my head all the terrible things Janine had mentioned about my parents played out, as if I was watching, and I saw them die, and die, and die, and die...

I slumped to the floor and took some deep breaths. My father's words rang in my ears.

"Death is a natural part of life, especially so for a fighter. Whatever you do, never let grief control your actions or you will stoop to vengeance... Vengeance is up to the Lord, not to you. Pray for the dead when you are safe, or you will quickly join them."

I didn't quite share his firm belief in God... but he had a point. Dead is dead... I didn't have time right now for this. What if someone attacked right now? I'd be an easy target. I shook the images out of my head and got dressed. Before I refaced the girls I took a deep breath and blanked my face, then smiled softly. After all, there were great things in life as well; I just had to focus on them to see them between the dying.

Sonya had coffee, still naked. Tina dressed loosely and gulped down some cereal, while Janine just ate some strange paste she had brought in a tube. I shared the cereal with Tina myself, and asked Janine about the paste. She shrugged.

"It's everything my body needs and nothing that it wants. It helps my body fight the viral and bacterial threats of a new time. All operatives carry it, for short trips we live exclusively on it, for longer trips we slowly step over to local food after about a week."

Yeah, that made sense. A lot of disease was wiped out over the times, for different reasons. Going to a new time meant meeting a new environment where sickness that was trivial to the locals could kill you since you had no resistance. I shook my head slowly. Time travel sure opened a lot of questions.

There was a silence hanging over the table for a while, as if nobody wanted to approach the subject of Liz being missing. All the chairs at the table were used, but we all knew this was because Janine was there. Liz had stormed out and not returned.

"So... Liz?"

The silence deepened until Sonya cleared her throat. "Yeah, she... she's probably with her ex. This is a problem since the mystery men apparently know her connection with him... what with the phone call causing the last attack."

I nodded and ate some more cereal. That was indeed a problem. How would we reach her without causing a commotion? And... I guessed I had to get home to receive the message of my parents' death and look surprised.

"Sonya, there was a mention of a guy called Tiny who had a gun-store. Would he be there today?"

She nodded, watching me carefully as I considered my options.

"I will need to meet him this morning. Then I need to get home."

Janine added, "I will go with you. As Shannon."

I nodded and she excused herself to head to the bathroom. It was hard to think over the thundering roar of bad plumbing.

"Sonya, Tina... get used to being armed at all times. I need you two to get us a way to be in a gunfight without getting sent directly to jail without passing go. Concealed carry permits, maybe a private investigator agency or bounty hunting or... something. Whatever paperwork needs done to get the casual cop off our back if we have to defend ourselves in public."

They nodded, both looking at me now. That was when Shannon walked out of the bathroom. Yes, Shannon, it didn't really feel right calling her Janine any more. Not only was the transformation good, it seemed that she was deeply grieving and had been crying all night. She looked tired and sad, but her voice was still happy.

"So, what do you think."

I just nodded. The others had just seen Shannon in passing, but I could see they thought the similarity good. To me it was spooky good. I shook my head as if to clear out the fog and then cleared my throat.

"Yeah, that is... great. So, to move on... Nobody will return to this apartment this weekend. We will try to reach Liz this evening and tomorrow evening, but there is no reason to just sit around and wait for an attack. If they have her, we will take her back... if they are following her we will get rid of them. If they plan to attack a certain place, I don't want to be there. So..."

There was a general agreement, and we all hurried in getting ready. Tina and Sonya each packed a backpack with laptop, notebooks and anything else important. The backpacks looked pretty beaten up, which was good. No need to advertise your pricey goods to anyone looking.

Sonya and Tina showed me the way to the gun store, but we split ways before we got there. Sonya gave me a note to Tiny, but if my hunch was right I wouldn't need it. This just all seemed very convenient. Janine, or Shannon rather, walked by my side in silence, and was a step behind in through the door. I could see our reflection in the glass counter inside the door, and my daughter took up a relaxed ready stance one step behind and one step to the side of me. She acted like a body guard.

I don't know what it is that convinced people that calling huge people tiny would be a good idea, but people called Tiny usually don't live up to their name. Naturally I had assumed he would be big. The man behind the counter looked about average size, but well trained. He wore a sleeveless vest and more than one scar and tattoo marked his upper body. A soldier, I figured, but I was still surprised an average sized well trained guy would be called Tiny. He on the other hand just looked at me with one of those deeply scrutinizing stares... And then broke out into a huge smile.

"Nemo! I have been expecting you."

I was a bit surprised he would recognize me so easily, but still it made sense. An illegal gun store around the corner, it was just too convenient for me not to have a finger in it. Still, I played surprised.

"I'm sorry; you must have the wrong person. I am quite sure I have not met you before today."

Tiny laughed. It was a deep laugh, like a man who knows how to put himself into a laugh. He flipped a switch and I heard the door lock and the blinds turned to shut out any spies. Janine was still suspicious, but I was pretty calm yet ready for the unexpected. Not having met Tiny yet made it difficult for me to know if this was an impostor. I didn't know how far whoever was after me could or would go. He looked at me and smiled.