Chapter 12: I Kissed A Girl And...

Our parents were waiting at the bar when we entered the restaurant. Having spent the day with Allison, helping her terminate all of her client accounts, she was treating us to dinner at one of her favorite restaurants, far from the typical tourist fare we'd been frequenting. I think she was anxious to show off for us, and luckily, being as it was a Tuesday evening, we weren't likely to encounter any of her influential clients. At least I hoped not.

It had been an emotional afternoon for Allison and she'd asked me for my emotional support as she had to tell all of her clients she wouldn't be 'servicing' them anymore. Needless to say they weren't terribly pleased, although she said they mostly took it pretty well. Between that and the nerve-wracking events of this morning I was feeling pretty well wiped out, but I knew there'd be a lot to discuss over dinner.

"Alex, what the heck have you been up to?" my father asked, giving me a big hug. "All your sister said was, and I quote, 'Alex is at the local hospital. He went there by ambulance, but don't worry, he isn't the one that was hurt'."

I started to answer him as I gave my mother a quick hug, but Cate cut me off.

"You wouldn't believe it, Dad," she excitedly announced. "He brought a guy back from the dead!"

"Shhh!" I hissed, trying to quiet her as I glanced around to see who might have overheard her, embarrassed by the whole event. I'd prevented everyone from talking about it for most of the day, so I guess it was only natural that she'd be eager to discuss it now. Still, the whole topic made me very ill at ease. "The guy was hardly dead," I insisted. "He was merely unconscious."

"Ha! Dad, the guy had been unresponsive for a full half-hour, and the only reason they didn't just give up was that Brooke told her partner to keep going and not stop while she went off to get zapped by Alex," Cate explained excitedly, using hand motions and her own eyes to illustrate the 'zapping' process.

I just rolled my eyes. "Brooke and her partner are two EMTs who were at the scene," I explained. "They'll be meeting us here shortly, along with a nurse by the name of Rebecca."

"Man," my father sighed, "I can't believe how you manage to pick up women. You put Charlie Sheen to shame." My mother slapped his shoulder, but we all knew what he really meant.

"Rebecca's like Natalie, Hi Natalie," I added, acknowledging our little hotel employee who'd came with my parents.

"Anyway," Cate went on, not losing any of her enthusiasm, "she just walks up to him and, after his usual response, he quickly explains what the visions represent and so she grabs his hand and drags him over to the guy," she said, glossing over what the 'usual response' entailed.

By this time we'd already been ushered to our table, one big enough to sit our increasingly large party—twelve people that night.

"She said something to Alex, puts his hands on the guy's head, then a moment later he puts his hand on the guy's chest and he just bolts upright."

"Again, she oversimplifies," I tried to explain it more logically, hoping to tamper down everyone's enthusiasm as the people seated near us were starting to listen in as well. "She told me the biggest problem with someone who'd been down so long was with brain damage, so she wanted me to do something to his head."

"But whatever Alex did worked," Cate said, completely undeterred, "because the guy was instantly OK. No brain damage, not dead, and even alert and coherent," She concluded triumphantly before turning to shoot me a look. "But Alex has been in a mood ever since. He's refused to say anything about it all day!"

"Well, damn it," I responded, looking quickly at Mom to gauge her reaction to my swearing, "It's very scary to have someone's life in your hands and have NO idea what you're doing, have no way of controlling or measuring what you're doing. She had me doing something to his brain and I couldn't feel or tell what I was doing. She just said 'be gentle' and left me to do whatever I was supposed to do. I couldn't tell if I was doing anything or if I was frying the poor guy's brain."

"I'll have you know Alex did very well," Brooke answered, approaching me from behind. I waved my hand to acknowledge her—she'd told me when she walked in the door that they were here. "I realize he was unprepared for what happened, but he did as I instructed perfectly." She leaned over and gave me a quick kiss hello, pausing a moment, perhaps to guess whether I'd allow it, but I doubt she could even see me nod or not.

"I'm Brooke Knowles by the way, and this is my partner, Clark Straus," she said, introducing herself, "and Alex has probably already told you about Rebecca Boles," she continued, indicating their new nurse friend. "I'm afraid I didn't get any of the rest of your names. Hi, Anh," she finished with a little wave.

As she was introducing herself I looked them over again. I had been in such a hurry that morning that I hadn't had much of a chance to really give them a good once over. Brooke was a little older than the other girls, taller and looked to be in very good shape, as the muscles on her biceps flexed as she moved around. She had longish brunette hair and an intense, highly focused look about her, as if she was very intense about whatever she undertook. What I also noticed was that she didn't like bras, and she had two very distinct 'bumps' in her blouse which featured prominently when you addressed her. As for her face, she had a fairly larger nose, blue-grey eyes and a ruddy complexion from being out in the sun so much.

Clark was also older, heavier set with a short haircut which he styled in a younger man's style—short on the sides and moussed so it stood up on top of his head—and wore plain black frame glasses with a light beard. He had a decent paunch as well, but both he and Brooke were obviously in decent shape, and I was sure that either one could take me if a fight—or in a simple jog around the block. Clark had rugged features softened by his weight with a firm decisive look about his eyes.

Rebecca was clearly younger than either Brooke or her partner. She had dark wavy hair, about shoulder length, and a really cute impish smile that just brightened your whole day when she flashed it at you. She had full cheeks, clear eyes, and of course the dimples when she smiled just right. Unlike the other two, I wondered how she managed the physical demands of her job, as she didn't seem large or sturdy enough to lift heavy patients, but I didn't doubt that she had plenty of experience at it, and didn't think I'd challenge her to any arm-wrestling contests. Finally, all three had larger breasts than my poor sister, Cate, did.

My father stood up to shake Clark's hand and to give Brooke a big hug. "Well, welcome to the family, Brooke. It looks like you're one of us now. I'm sure you have a lot of questions for him. I'm Frank Jennings and this is my wife Linda, and you've no doubt met Cate, Alex's sister."

"Well, we sorta met but nothing was very official," she cautiously replied before smiling at my father. "We were too busy loading people into an ambulance at the time."

"I'm Clark," her partner unnecessarily stated, looking at Alex curiously as he pulled up a chair and sat down. "I still have no clue what went on or what Brooke has gotten into. She refused to say a thing, just telling me we'd discuss it tonight."

"Yeah," chimed in Rebecca, "I'm even more in the dark. All I knew is that Alex stormed into the hospital. I knew he was important and needed immediate attention, but I had no idea who he was or what he represents, but what he did with the man that Brooke and Clark brought in is just amazing."

"Man, you should have seen the cops," Cate went on, not dissuaded by any of the introductions. "Their mouths all hit the curb, they couldn't believe it." She was positively beaming, basking in my reflected glow, despite how much the whole episode continued to embarrass me.

"Care to share some details?" my father asked me once we'd all sat down and the rest of the introductions were made.

"I'll jump in if you don't mind, Alex," Brooke offered, to which I merely motioned her to continue. The less I had to say the better.

"I could feel Alex there from a fairly long distance away, before we ever got there. Personally I thought he was the Angel of Death. I've been around death a lot in my business and I've never met him before—the Angel of Death, that is—so I figured he had to have come for me, but I wasn't scared. I could feel this wasn't personal and I could tell there'd be no arguing with him. It just felt, I don't know, natural I guess. Like if this was the end that it was just natural to go with it."

"Man, that's one we haven't encountered yet," Cate chimed in. "So far we've had an Angel, Jesus and a mighty spirit. I'd never have imagined the Angel of Death," she said, staring at me intently.

"I'm sorry," My mother chimed in, "but speaking as a mother, the image of poor sweet Alex being the Angel of Death is just..." She visibly shivered at the thought, unable to find words to properly describe how that concept made her feel. My father pulled her to him and gave her a protective hug.

"Yeah, well, that's the only thing I could think of that would be waiting for me at the scene of an accident radiating that much power," she said apologetically, trying to explain her thinking. "But when I saw him there just watching, I figured he either wasn't there for me or he was just waiting for me to finish. I figured I'd better do my best and save the guy, but there just wasn't any way to save him. So I thought I'd ask the angel for his assistance, thinking I could impress him and maybe gain some brownie points with God or something.

"I told Clark to continue treatment and not to stop, and then I got up and approached him. I guess I don't need to tell you all what happened to me when I did," she stated, glancing around at all the women surrounding me. They each nodded, showing the same sense of amazement at what they'd each experienced, which seemed to unite each of these women, despite their differences.

"You'd better damn well tell me," Clark insisted, glancing at her skeptically. "I've been waiting all day to hear this cockamamie story, and I intend to hear all of it."

"Well," she began, trying unsuccessfully to glance at Alex before beginning, "he glanced up and looked me in the eyes and suddenly there's this flash of light and my knees got weak. When my vision cleared, there's this bright floodlight coming from Alex. Then once I manage to gather my wits, I notice that everyone else has this glow about them as well. That's when Alex told me what it all means."

"Which is?" Clark asked, sounding exasperated. Shani leaned over and quietly whispered to him for a few moments.

"What the FUCK?" he shouted in response.

I could see that Rebecca was just as quizzical, although not quite as rude, but Natalie had roped her into sitting with her, figuring they were compatriots, so she leaned over and explained to her what Clark had just discovered.

Brooke just met his gaze and nodded her head. "Yep, it's all true," she insisted. "You saw the results. When he told me that I could see whether there was any life left in the guy, and considering how much energy he had just leaking out of him all the time, I figured I had to give it a try," she explained, continuing on with the story.

"When I got back to where Clark was halfheartedly doing CPR, I could still see some lingering energy in the guy. Before I'd commit to anything though, I wanted to be sure we could save him. Any time someone's been down for so long there's a significant chance of brain injury, but when I looked there was still a substantial glow of energy there as well. That's when I told Alex to help him."

"I told her it didn't work like that," I explained, adding my own detail to her story.

"Yeah, he said he couldn't see what I could, so I took his hands and guided them to the proper location for him to apply his energy," she explained.

"See, Alex is a catalyst for change in the women around him," Cate patiently explained to Clark and Rebecca. "He picks people who already have a particular affinity for this new type of life force they can detect and gives them these new abilities."

"I could tell he had no idea what he was doing, so I just told him to apply a very controlled, careful and minute amount of steady energy to the points where I put his fingers. He did just what I asked, and I watched as those parts of his brain grew in strength."

"Damn!" was all Clark could think to say in response.

I thought Brooke and Clark would be handy to have around. With the both of them swearing all the time Mom would have a harder time giving me hell about it.

"Once the energy in those regions in his head where most of the damage usually occurs built up, I told him to apply the same energy to his heart, only more of it. I figured he'd just strengthen the heart muscle enough for it to respond to our defibrillator. Anyway, it worked. He jolted upright like he'd just been awakened from a nap by a cat leaping on him claws first."

"Man, it was the funniest thing to watch everyone just jump back when he did that. None of them expected it," Cate finished the recount.

"Yeah," Clark recounted with a laugh of his own. "The various police never got over it. All day they kept asking me if the stories they'd heard were true."

"What'd you tell them?" I asked worriedly.

"Oh, Brooke insisted I not say anything to anyone, we've been partners for a long time now so I tend to follow her lead when she's particular about something," he explained.

"So you didn't say anything?" I asked just to ensure I wouldn't be hearing anything about it.

"Hell, what can I say? When people keep asking you, you've got to say something. But I tried to keep it to a minimum. Don't worry about anyone saying anything though, Brooke never told me your full name."

"And Brooke kept your name off the police records while I kept it out of the hospital's records," Rebecca added, to my great relief.

"So you can apply this energy to help save people?" Mom asked, blinking in surprise. I was already dreading what everyone would be asking me to do now.

"Well, it's not so much to save them as to help strengthen them. But I'm not about to do it again," I insisted. "I have no idea how to apply medicine. I have no way of gauging what's safe and what isn't. It scared the crap out of me to be doing that to some guy."

"Yeah, but if you did something wrong he'd have been just as dead as if you hadn't done anything," Shani offered.

"Maybe so, but at least then I wouldn't have been guilty of frying him!"

Brooke smiled and patted my back. "Hell, kid, you did good. You officially brought someone back from Death's door. Enjoy the feeling for a while. It doesn't always last, believe me," she told me with heartfelt emotion.

"Is that why you didn't want us discussing it?" Cate asked, finally catching on to my conflicts with wanting to help people but having no clue how to do it.

"Yeah, plus I figured if I started I'd just keep having to repeat it over and over. There were just too many people to tell, and it was just too painful for me to deal with right then."

"So that's why you pushed us so hard to do all that crap work?" Cate asked, arching her eyebrow at me.

Ah, there it was. The 'Look'. The 'Mom look' we'd always gotten whenever we used the wrong word. For a bit I'd thought she'd given up on it. But it looked like it still applied to my little sister, even if it didn't to me. At least there was some personal benefit to all these abilities—well, aside from the sex and having women hanging on my every word at least.

"It wasn't 'crap work'," Allison responded sharply. "There were a lot of important people I had to contact and delicately let down, and it took a lot of effort. I for one appreciate everything you all did for me today."

"Hey, wait," Clark said, sitting up a little straighter. "Don't I know you? You went out with the mayor a couple of times?" Allison just smiled patiently at him, waiting for him to make the necessary associations.

"Yeah, I think I saw you with the State Senator as well," Brooke stated.

"I've been with a great many people, let's just leave it at that," she replied quietly. "I've decided to leave that life behind. Alex has convinced me to turn my life around and to honestly help people, instead of just playing at it like I'd been doing."

"How had you been playing at helping people?" Brooke asked her, clearly confused by the carefully worded non-explanation. Shani leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Oh wow," she responded quietly to the surprising answer.

"What?" Clark asked loudly from beside her. Being so big, he wasn't very good at modulating his voice.

"She told her that she had been using her ability to feel her clients' emotions to make them feel better and to try to help them," my mother explained, joining in the discussion for a change, perhaps seeing Allison as a lost child in need of redemption. "Alex questioned whether that was really what was occurring or not, and suggested maybe a direct approach would be better. A medically licensed approach that is."

"You know," Allison explained, "many of my clients congratulated me and told me they'd volunteer to be my first clients once I got my degree."

"Would that be with or without benefits," my father pointedly asked before he reconsidered. "Not that I think you'd do that," he hurriedly countered, blushing at his unintended gaffe. "It's just that I'd have to question their motives if I was in your shoes."

"Dad, you could never fit in her five-inch heels, though it would be fun to see you try," Cate smilingly replied.

"Maybe not, but I take his meaning," Allison responded. "Actually they sounded quite sincere. I explained that I was permanently out of the business. I'd gotten quite close to most of my clients. It's what allowed me to do so well when there are so many who charge pocket change to do the very same thing."

"Still," I consoled her, "I think your choice is the better one. You were so worried that I'd come to pass judgment on you, I think you'd been feeling guilty about what you'd been doing for a long time. This way you can still help people, but without all the negatives associated with your actions."

"Yeah, yeah, this is all interesting, but I'm still a little confused here," Rebecca interrupted the conversation. "I assume that all of you share this little ability to see people's energy or something?"

"We think of it as their life force," Cate offered.

"Yeah, OK, but you can all see it?"

"Not just that, they share the ability to communicate telepathically with Alex," Cate elaborated, motioning to indicate she was only talking about the five women and not my family.

"So, how come I didn't receive the same thing?" Rebecca demanded, sounding partially offended and partially crushed. "Was I not deserving enough?" she asked, her voice quivering slightly.

"No, no," Natalie hurried to console her. "It's nothing like that. It gets complicated and it's all just conjecture at this point, but it seems that there are some people who have some kind of genetic thing that can feel others' energy. That makes them susceptible to what Alex can do to them. You and I, as well as a lot of others, only have a partial dose of it so we can feel it a little, just not enough to get the full treatment."

"According to my theory, which Natalie's quoting, that's also why it only affects women," Cate tried to explain, excited to be talking about her newest theories as much as she hoped to help ease Rebecca's hurt feelings. "It acts like a weird recessive trait, kind of like color blindness but apparently it only works on women. Men just don't seem to be susceptible."

"So it's like an XLink recessive trait, just the reverse of how they normally present?" Rebecca asked, leaving the rest of us scratching our heads, but apparently Cate knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Yeah, you've got it. That would mean that the various people who feel attracted to Alex but aren't triggered by him, are what you'd normally consider carriers, they only have a single affected gene."

"Uh, how about a little English, Cate?" I asked, trying to bring the discussion back down to where everyone else could understand some of it.

"Well, if you remember anything from math, logic or computers, it's similar to an XOR stipulation," she attempted to explain. "Instead of saying 'X and Y genes', or 'X or Y genes', it's saying X and not Y'."

I had to think hard about that explanation, and from the looks on everyone's face, it didn't seem to simplify anything at all.

"So you've got two whole classes of women following you around; those with magical abilities and those who just find you dreamy?" Clark asked, growing impatient with Cate's translation and sounding a little annoyed.

"Pretty much, although I'm doing nothing to attract them, they just started to notice and approach me once we hit the city. I've never had a problem with it before."

"We're not sure if it was simply the isolation of our small town, or whether his particular abilities only become activated at a particular age," Cate summarized.

"Man, this is just plain crazy," Clark concluded, shaking his head. "I mean, this kind of stuff just isn't possible!"

"Yeah, but you've gotta admit, the results are pretty convincing." Brooke said.

"Actually, once you get into it, his abilities fit into a very definite pattern which is relatively easy to understand," Cate tried to convince him. "It obeys the standard laws of physics, except it's like when they first started experimenting with electricity, when you're dealing with a new realm of physics everything seems 'magical' when it's really not."

"Well, what he did was very impressive, but it was a single case," he cautioned, staring down both Brooke and Cate. "And that hardly proves a whole new branch of science."

"But what he's done to each of us he's done, what, five times?" Shani offered.

"Look, let's not fight about this," Allison said, trying to temper Clark's growing defensive temper. "I know it takes time to come to an understanding about all of this, so let's just think about it before we start saying anything we'll regret. We're just trying to lay out what it is that we understand at this point in time. I'm sure we'll have a more complete picture once Cate gets her brother back to her hidden lab to experiment on him, but for now this is our understanding of events."

"She's got a good point," I said, throwing in my own two cents. "We could sit here and discuss all the details, but everyone here has already heard the story multiple times," I added, still hoping I could put the whole discussion to bed.

"Yeah, each time he finds a new girl, and so far he's managed to find one just about every day he's been here," my father groused. "That's a lot of listening to the same theories over and over again," he added while rolling his eyes to emphasize his exasperation with it.

"Well, if we're changing the topic; Brooke, what are your plans for the future?" Shani asked, turning the tables on me by changing the topic from one I was uncomfortable with to one I didn't want to broach at all. "We plan on following Alex home and setting up shop in his little farm community." Brooke looked a little startled.

"Woodland community, actually," my father corrected her, although no one seemed to pay any attention to that little detail.

"I don't know," she answered. "I've got a couple of kids I'd have to pull out of school." She didn't seem put off as much as she was simply considering all the tasks she'd have to get started on.

"Slow down everyone," I said, holding my hands up trying to slow down the discussion. "Maybe her family doesn't want to move. Besides," I continued, thinking of a new stalling maneuver, "it may be better for her to remain here in her job. After all, if everyone with this ability is living in the same place, there's an increased chance everything I've done being undone by a single unfortunate accident."

"Oh, come on, Alex," Cate complained. "You know perfectly well if you imply you want something they'd fall all over themselves doing it for you. Give her a chance to make up her own mind."

"Still, he's got a point," Mom interrupted, looking like she was honestly evaluating my idea. While she wasn't my intended target, I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "We currently have a bunch of new additions to our little house, and it just isn't going to be big enough for all of you. How about if you all want to come, we schedule it in shifts?"

"This is a lot to take in all at once," Brooke complained with a smile, showing she wasn't overly concerned.

"Does that mean... ?" Rebecca asked, leaving the question unfinished.

Natalie reached out and held her arm. "Don't worry, he said we're as welcome as the rest are. He says he doesn't want us to be considered lesser participants in any way. Isn't that right, Alex?" she asked, looking at me as if challenging me to dare refute her claim.

Man, was I feeling put on the spot. I really didn't want all these women giving up their lives for me, but they just weren't giving me any outs.

"Yeah, that's my position," I said with a heavy sigh. "If I invite you in then you're a part of the whole scheme. But that in no way means any of you are obligated—"

"Yeah, yeah," Cate dismissively waved me off, already assuming no one would be interested in turning down the offer. "So do you think you could stand working at a small regional hospital?"

"I think if I join the second wave it'd give me time to rearrange the kid's schedules," Brooke said as the little wheels in her brain were busy spinning.

"You'd quit your job?" Clark asked, surprised to find his long time partner abandoning him.

"Face it," she told him, turning to look in his face. "If it was up to you, would you turn down an opportunity like this?"

He looked unhappy for a few moments before sighing deeply. "No, I guess I wouldn't. Still, with this new ability of yours you might be able to improve our rescue rate even more than we have over the last few years."

"Well, I guess I'll have a chance to test that out if they aren't going to be ready for me for a while."

"So, Brooke, tell us about your kids," I said, still trying to get us off this newest topic, hoping everyone would calm down once they considered just how difficult moving would be. "How old are they?" Brooke's face lit up at the chance to talk about her kids.

"I have two; Susan, or Suzy, who's nine and Peter, who's eleven. They mean the world to me, but they can be two unholy terrors for a single mother to deal with. Suzy is full of questions all the time and Peter just likes to get into trouble. I can imagine all the questions Suzy is going to have for each of you," she concluded with a laugh.

I remembered how cute Anh's granddaughter Victoria was and smiled at the memory as well.

"I look forward to meeting them," I told her, actually anticipating it enough to forget about my feelings of dread over the prospect of another couple of women following me home.

"Rebecca, what's your story? Tell us a little about yourself," my mother continued playing host. Once again, I was just happy to have the attention taken off me for a change.

"Well, I've been working as an ER nurse for the last decade. I got my degree from Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri. Aside from spending my days and evenings covered in bloody scrubs, I enjoy the occasional date but I'm generally too busy to do that much. Right now I think I like Cate's attitude in that I'd love to study what is going on here. Actually I'd love to have this vision thing you are all talking about as it would be a tremendous medical tool, but I guess that puts me in the same camp as Alex and Cate, so I guess I'm not too low on the miracle totem pole," she said with a gentle laugh. It was nice to see her so relaxed with the whole unusual situation. Clark, however, was another case. He continued to eye me warily. Not that I could blame him.

"Given all this talk of Angels, spirits and such, I guess it's my role to inform everyone that Alex isn't particularly religious," Cate generally informed the assembled crowd without any preamble.

"Cate!" Mom chided my sister.

"What?" she protested. "I can't be blamed for Alex's lack of faith."

"Just how religious is 'not very religious'?" Rebecca asked, curious about the religious doubts of a supposed angel.

"Actually I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God at all," I answered honestly. It got less of a reaction than I'd expected. Usually when you mention atheism everyone acts like you just ran over a puppy. They just can't picture life without the support of some mythical being to rely on.

"Alex!" Mom responded, as if this was the first time she was hearing this. Actually, given how infrequently I mentioned it, maybe it was. She knew I hadn't attended church with them except for special occasions for quite some time. I guess we'd be having a discussion sometime in the near future.