Chapter 2: Braving The Lioness

After putting on a fresh pot of coffee, Tom slipped into the bedroom and gently woke his wife up.

"Honey? Hey, Honey, wake up. We need to talk about something," He whispered softly at first.

Getting a sleepy mumble from under the covers, Tom went for the second choice since it wasn't his head on the chopping block.

"Bets! We're under attack, and the house is on fire! Move it, Marine!" He said rather sharply, and loudly enough to wake the other dog sending it into a non-stop series of barking right by his wife's ear.

His wife sat up quickly flinging the little mixed dog into the air where it's barks turned to yelps as it barely managed to land on the other side of the bed and then bounce onto the carpeted floor, below. Now she was awake, and ready for some news.

Her days in the marines came flooding back in as she grabbed for her BDU's that wasn't there.

"Damnit, Tom! The house had better really be on fire, for you to use that old wakeup call!" she yelled as she grabbed her thick terrycloth robe.

Being smart, Tom moved back out of the way and let her get to the bathroom. She threw a few handfuls of cold water on her face, to clear away the last remnants of sleep. Walking back into the now lit bedroom, she eyed him for a second. Then she noticed the time on the alarm clock by the bed.

"FOUR am? Honey, I hope for your sake, that you have a really really good reason for waking me up at four am, 'cause I know for a fact that I control all your love life accept for your right hand girlfriend. This had better be good," she said softly she walked past me into the kitchen. Three seconds later Tom heard the scream and then a thump of something heavy hitting the floor.

Rushing out he saw Bets leaning over Dregg with the fireplace poker in her hand. Poor old Dregg had never had a chance to explain or use his invisible act before my ex-marine drill sergeant had grabbed the first thing close at hand and walloped him upside his big gray head.

"Hold it, Bets!" Tom managed to yell before the poker came down again. "That's my surprise you're beating to death, girl!"

Bets looked at Dregg rubbing his head and moaning softly, well at least he was smart enough not to move right then.

"Your new friend is an alien, darling. You have a lot of explaining to do, big boy," she said as the adrenaline rush slowed left her body.

Walking over, Tom helped the now lumpy headed Dregg up onto the couch again, "Sorry about that, Dregg. I didn't get to tell her about you, yet. I kind of figured you would start off invisible like you did to me in the shed," Tom said apologetically.

Dregg nodded while rubbing the two-inch knot on his skull. "It's entirely my fault Tom, I have studied most of the female population around here and at the most expected her to faint. It never occurred to me that she might attack an off-worlder."

"Well, Mr. Dregg, I did tell you she was a lioness ... and this is her den, too," Tom reminded the alien. "I guess I should have mentioned that she was also an retired solider like myself. Sorry about that."

Bets came back from the kitchen with ice wrapped wet hand towel, "It was entirely the commander's fault, Mr. Dregg. He seems to have forgotten, over time, that I spent over twenty years as a hand-to-hand combat instructor. Those instincts run just as deep as his. Please accept my apology," she said as she laid the cold compress on Dregg's bumpy head.

The ice compress had an instant effect on Dregg's head, the cold temperature of the ice was quickly absorbed by Dregg, and knot slowly disappeared in a few seconds bringing an audible sigh from the thin gray alien.

"Ahhhh! I had forgotten how good 'cold' feels on my body."

Looking at the two humans he explained. "Our world has a constant temperature of what you would consider 75 degrees. We have no cold mountains, nor ice on either of our poles. The only moderate change is rain, once a week. So the idea of ice is not well known on our world," Dregg informed the two humans.

Bets went to the kitchen and came back with a glass of iced tea.

"Well you might want to try this instead of coffee, then," she said smiling as she offered him some iced tea.

Dregg had never had the drink before and accepted it.

"This is fabulous!" he said after a tentative sip, quickly followed by a large gulp.

After another large gulp he had emptied the glass and stood up.

"Now to business, first let me say that I originally came here, just for your husband," Dregg said looking at Bets.

The look Bets gave the alien was all he needed to know.

'Ok, plan B, ' he thought to himself. Then he continued, "I now understand that you are a team in both marriage and life so I would not think of splitting you up."

"What about Tommy? Is he part of this team?" Bets cut in.

Dregg nodded at her and replied, "According to your husband he would be, especially since he isn't old enough to be on his own here on your planet. I know that he might be capable of taking care of himself, but your authorities would never allow a fifteen-year-old to be self-sustaining. They would seek to put him in your foster care system," Dregg confirmed.

"Well that's not gonna happen anytime soon, Grayling," came a teenage voice from the corner of the living room.

Tommy moved into the living room with the grace of a hunter from the hallway. In his right hand was a fully cocked Glock 22. The 44 cal. Magnum would have made quiet a hole in Dregg's body if the teenager had sensed any real danger to his parents.

"Honey, put that gun down, and why are you awake so early in the morning?" his mother asked pointing to the grandfather clock against the wall.

Tommy grinned as he uncocked the big pistol, and put the safety back on.

"You're kidding, right, Mom? I'd be surprised if the neighbors down the road from here are still asleep after your war cry. Geez, I fell out of bed and almost squashed old Hugo here," he answered pointing his thumb over his shoulder before continuing. "So of course I grabbed my newest toy, wouldn't you if I had made that kind of racket?"

A large shadow moved behind the teenager and slid into the room with him. Hugo was a fully trained war dog, a massive German shepherd that Tom had gotten from a friend of his that had retired two months ago. No one wanted the large mountain of fur and teeth, since he was both deadly and devoted to his trainer.

The other trainers had tried of course to work with the powerful dog, but he would not let any of them even close to his collar much less obey their commands. Frank Smith was distressed since he was moving to Japan to take a job there and didn't want to see his hairy comrade in-arms put down. So he had convinced Tom, who lived on a few acres in the country, to take the big dog.

"Hell, Tom, if nothing else just let him guard that big backyard of yours. Give him some food and water once a day and he'll make sure nothing bothers your chickens and goats," Frank had pleaded.

Tom had finally agreed with his friend and brought the two hundred pound dog home in the special carrying cage that Frank had built for traveling. Hugo had been silent the entire forty minute trip to Tom's house, the big dog just lay in the stainless steel cage, awaiting his fate. Hugo had seen other dogs put in their cages and they had left with someone other than their trainer. When that happened, the dogs never came back to the base, alive.

His instinct told the big dog that they were going to put him down like the rest of the dogs with no trainer. The humans thought they were so smart, but they buried the dogs they put down, in back of the kennels in a small graveyard. Every dog in the kennels knew what had become of their comrades when their trainer never came back for them. It was part of their life to accept death from the ones they loved.

Both Tom and Hugo had been surprised when after Tommy helped his dad take the large cage to the backyard, the teenager proceeded to open the door and climb inside with the huge combat dog.