Gaele 24: Cattle Truck

Someone kicked her in the foot.
"What," she mumbled from under her pillows.
"Hey, hermana mia, time to get your butt out of bed."
"Devon, go back to where you came from."
"Ha! Wouldn't YOU like to know where that was!"
"Gimme a break."
He yanked the covers back so that they fell off the end of the bed, and she couldn't pull them up again.
"HEY!"
"Ooh, nice nightie! Red, too. What, did you buy that for the old man?"
"What old man?"
Devon sat at the foot of the bed. She squinted at him. He was grinning that wicked grin of his, when he was about to tease her about something. But then the grin faded. "Mine," he said.
"Your old man? What, Raph?"
"No duh, Gaele. Geez, what happened to your brain, did you lose it with something ELSE?" He snickered pointedly with the last word.
She sat up, indignant. "What are you talking about, Devon?"
He looked oddly at her. "You saying it's not true?"
"WHAT isn't true?"
He scratched at his crewcut and shrugged. "Well, the way he was talking, you'd think that you guys had been climbing into the haybag together or somethin'. I mean, what was I supposed to think?"
She crawled out of bed, and grabbed her robe. "I can't believe he'd say that," she muttered.
"Well okay, it's not like he came out and SAID it, I just made an assumption, that's all." He smirked a little. "Was just the way he was talking about you. The look on his face, and all that. Can't help but draw conclusions, you know?"
Gaele said nothing, but swallowed down an odd twinge of elation at the news.
Devon was looking closely at her, his eyes narrowed. "Something going on between you?" When she didn't reply, he leaned closer, so that his snout nearly touched hers. "Are you guys... in LOVE?"
The biting tone of his words goaded her. "Don't be retarded, Devon."
He stood back and laughed heartily. When he recovered, he nodded his head knowingly while looking at the ceiling. "Oh ho ho, isn't life so very strange. Very very strange. This is all so bizarre and twisted. I LOVE it."
"Are you on drugs or something?"
"Heh, me? Imagine. My half sister becomes- what, my step mother? What a total frickin' TRIP. Who needs DRUGS when you have INSANITY? YEAH! Keep it in the family, man! They couldn't even come up with a soap opera any worse than this. This is too, too much..." He shook his head as he sauntered out of her room, snickering.
"Devon, we didn't DO anything," Gaele protested after him.
"Whatever," he replied from his bedroom.
She hurriedly got dressed, and knocked on his door.
"What?"
"I want to talk to you, Devon."
"Door's open."
Creed was playing on his stereo. Though the volume was turned down, the effect from the driving beat of the guitars  and vocals was not diminished.
Devon was sitting at his desk, reading a tabloid style paper. "Check this out." He showed her a picture that took up a third of one page. It was a studio shot of the band she'd seen play at Doc's... and in the back, next to the drummer, was Raphael, holding his saxophone. Wearing his coat, and... a hat, the brim pulled down slightly, head lowered just enough to hide the upper half of his face from the camera. But there was no mistaking him.
"Omigod."
"Yeah, no kiddin', " Devon said, looking at her. "I thought this sort of thing was verboten."
Gaele didn't reply.
"Yess, I'm the ONE who... the only ONE, who... would carry awwwn thiiis fahaarr," Devon sang softly along with the lyrics.
"Appropos," Gaele murmered, looking at the picture.
"Yep," Devon said, drumming on the edge of the desktop with his two index fingers.
She set the paper down. "I guess that is why I like him. He's not afraid to do what he wants."
"Not afraid to get into trouble for it, either."
"I guess not."
They stared at the picture in silence, again.
"I have to go talk to him," she finally said.
Devon frowned. "Why are you telling ME?"
"I want you to come along."
"What for?"
"I can't see him alone, Devon."
"Why, can't trust yourselves?" Devon's sly grin was back.
"Dev, I'm serious! Please?"
"Oh, all right. Not like I have anything better to do.Though I'm sure he's gonna get tired of seeing ME."
"Ha! I doubt it."

It took a while for Raphael to answer the door. He stared at Devon in mock annoyance. "Don't you like to sleep? I know I do."
Devon shrugged and jerked his head at Gaele. "It's all HER fault. She dragged me back down here."
Raphael didn't reply, but turned back into the dark interior of his apartment.
"Sorry to bug you, Raph... may we come in?" Gaele said to his retreating back.
"The door's open, do what you want," he said noncommitally.
Devon smirked at her. "Yeah, he likes you, all right."
Raphael didn't respond to Devon's dig, but poured the dregs of a well-used steel percolator into a mug, instead. He took a sip and made a face. "Hey, Dev-hole, why didn't you replenish my supply like you said you would?"
Devon smartly pulled a paper bag out of his jacket pocket and tossed it to Raphael. "Fresh ground, right from Starbuck's."
Raphael inspected the bag and muttered a sibilant curse.
"He HATES Starbuck's coffee," Devon said, sniggering, to Gaele. "That's why I buy it."
"So what do YOU want?" Raphael was looking at her.
Devon unfolded and held out the page from the entertainment paper he'd been reading. "Check this out."
Raphael glared at it. "So?"
"Isn't that YOU?"
"Yeah, SO?"
"Isn't there some kind of rule-"
"WHAT rule? There's no frigging rule. Is that why YOU are here?" He was looking at Gaele again.
"What did you mean by that," Gaele said, stung.
"Why are you here," he repeated.
"I wanted to talk to you."
"Why?"
"Well, because. I-I wanted to straighten some things out." She felt disconcerted by his rapid-fire questions, and the level, belligerent gaze he'd locked on her.
"'Straighten some things out', huh? What, you mean a heart-to-heart? You want to rip my head off and spit down the hole like what you did to Don? Or do you want to push me down a flight of stairs FIRST?"
"Say what? " Devon said.
"It was an accident," Gaele said faintly.
"Maybe it was, maybe NOT," Raphael shot back.
"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"
"What the hell?" Devon said. "I didn't come down here to watch you two fight."
"I didn't come to fight, I came to talk," Gaele said when she recovered her voice.
Raphael had gone into the bathroom to wash out the percolator and refill it.
"I just want...freedom, you know? To go out into the world and find out who I really am," Gaele went on, sitting in one of the chairs. "I didn't mean to hurt Don like that, honest. I wouldn't do anything to hurt him on purpose. It's just that he was trying to control everything I-"
The sharp sound of the coffee pot being set on the table cut her off.
"You kids," Raphael said, dumping some of the coffee grounds into the percolator. "You got everything going for you, and you STILL aren't happy. I guess we thought we were doing you all a favor, protecting you from the crap we put up with, growing up." He slammed the lid of the pot shut, and plugged it into the wall socket, and then looked at them both. "You ain't ever had to face death."
"Wrong," Gaele shot back. "We have too! Mom told me about the invasion, and the earthquake-"
"That was different," Raphael countered evenly. "You weren't directly involved. YOU have never had to look into the eyes of your enemy and see death with YOUR name on it, knowing you had to get them before they got you, and knowing it might never end, and even now,  even NOW, having to watch your back." He came over to stand in front of Gaele. "You have any idea how much work is put into keeping you guys from having to risk facing that? And yet you can just blithely say that you'd rather 'live a short happy life than a long sheltered one'? Say that to somebody who works his butt off to protect you? And then you KICK him in the teeth for it! That's gratitude for you, that is JUST the kind of shit that comes from a frigging, spoiled BRAT like you."
Gaele's throat convulsed.
"You gonna cry?"
"No," she mumbled.
"You BETTER not. If you want to go out in the world all by yourself, you'd better toughen UP, little girl."
"I can handle myself."
"Yeah?"
"YEAH."
They locked eyes for a long moment, then Raphael turned away with a dismissive shrug. "Suit yourself."
He then looked at Devon. "Why don't you go on home and tell your mother that your sister's gone and run off with bad old Raphael."
"Say what?" Devon looked more confused than ever.
"You heard me."
"I'm NOT running off with you," Gaele protested, standing up.
"Isn't that what you want?"
"No."
"You sure?" He gave her a tiny smile.
"Devon-"
"He knows better than to interfere, don't you, boy?"
Devon grinned apologetically at her.
"All right? Now get yourself lost," Raph said to him, and gave him a mild punch in the shoulder.
"But-"
"Hit the road. Go on home and get some sleep."
Devon shrugged, and left without another word.
Raphael shoved the door shut, and stood looking at her as though she were a moth stuck in flypaper. "And now, we're leaving."
"You can't possibly be serious about this," Gaele heard herself say. "Can't get very far without being found."
"No? Your father's laid up, your mother don't know diddly about tracking people down, Leo and your other bro are on another continent, and Don is long gone on some business trip, someplace very far away from here. So..." he approached her, slowly.
"This was a setup, wasn't it? Devon was in on this-"
"Actually, no. But things just played right into our hands. Isn't that just ducky?" He snatched the coat that was on the back of her chair, making her jump involuntarily.
Gaele said nothing in response, as she settled back into the chair, watching him put on his coat, and pour himself a fresh cup of coffee. He gave her a questioning look, holding out the mug, and she shook her head.
He drank the coffee, and then came back over with his hand out. "Okay, now gimme your wallet."
"What for?"
"And your phone."
She frowned at him. "No way."
"GIVE 'em to me."
She knew better than to argue with him, then. She took them out of her purse and handed them to him. He tossed her phone onto his bed, and then rifled through her wallet, pulling things out of it. He grinned charmingly at her as he pocketed the wad of cash, and tossed the credit cards, one by one, onto the bed by her phone.
He eyed her purse. "Give that over." Without waiting for her to respond, he snatched it and dumped the contents on the bed.
Gaele cringed inwardly as he poked around her personal items.
He picked up a lipstick case, and held it in mock delicacy. "What do you need THIS for?"
"It's chapstick, okay?"
"Huh. Well, I was just wondering what color lipstick you would wear, anyway..."
"Do you mind explaining what you are DOING?"
"I don't have to explain anything to you, " he said. "You've entered the real world, now. The real world don't owe you jack, and it don't have to explain anything to you. Got it?"
Okay, Mr. Big Shot, go ahead, TRY to intimidate me...
"And let's get something straight here. Whoever is the biggest, gets to make the rules. I'm bigger than you, and so I make the rules."
"That doesn't make you the boss of ME," Gaele shot back. "Bigger doesn't make you better. Certainly not smarter."
Raphael grinned. "That's a very good point. So, show me how smart you are. Let's see who gets the upper hand."
Gaele said nothing.
"Hmm, okay." He turned to get another cup of coffee, then sat at the table opposite her as he sipped it. "Just remember something, sweetheart. Every trick you've got up your sleeve, you learned from Daddy, and what Daddy and I learned came from the same source. So, none of those are going to work with me. And allow me give you some advice.You want to really be free, you have to do things a different way from what they know. And if you want to hang with me, you got to do it MY way, or not at all. So no phone, no bank cards, no credit, no fancy hotels, nothing that can be traced. Got it?"
"Yes. I GOT it."
"So you think you can handle it, huh?"
"Yeah, I can handle it."
"Oh-kay."

They took the back alleys, keeping away from people and traffic, as it was the middle of the day. Gaele didn't think much at all, it was just the Here and Now, focusing on nothing and not being seen-- and trying to keep up with Raphael.
It wasn't long before they reached an open area covered in scrub and tall, dry grass. A high fence with razor sharp wire coiled along the top, barred their way. Red, black and white signs were attached to the chain links every few yards:
NO TRESPASSING: Property of the United States Government, Department of the Army
and: DANGER, KEEP OUT! Gunnery Practice Area.
"I don't think so," she said when he gestured at the fence.
"The base is closed, ain't nobody been around here in years," Raph said.
"What about all those unexploded munitions the papers have been going on about?"
"They've cleaned it up."
"They could have missed some!"
"Big deal. But I guess the odds are scaring you, huh?" He climbed the fence with practiced ease and leaped down to the other side. He then walked on, shaking his head as though he'd just heard a bad joke.
Gritting her teeth, she grasped the chain links, and then climbed. She'd learned this, now if she could just remember how to get past... the barbs caught hold of her coat, and she was trapped. Raph had turned around and was now watching with great amusement, as she struggled to free herself.
"Had enough?" he called up to her.
"Get out of the way, unless you want to catch me!" She yanked impatiently until her coat ripped free, and she fell headlong, but tucked so that she landed mostly on her feet, though the uneven, sandy ground made her roll sideways into a bush. She rose, crackling, and struggled to clearer ground, as Raph turned and continued on his way.
She trotted to keep up, but not to get too close to him. She didn't want to seem like she was too dependent on him for her well-being.
They found a low, concrete edifice half hidden among the brush and tall grass. Raph pushed on the badly pitted metal door, so that it swung inward with a groan. He went in. "We're staying here till dark," he said.
Gaele entered more cautiously, swiping at cobwebs. "Place stinks."
"Looks like somebody was sleeping in here." Raph was looking at an ancient mattress and a pile of rags thrown on one of the concrete benches in the far corner.
"I hope they don't come back."
"Yeah well, if he can't find another place to sleep, he just might. But we won't be here all night." He lowered a brow at her. "Unless YOU want to stay all night."
"NO."
Raphael grinned and kicked at the mattress. Something stirred, and ran across the floor toward the door. "Hi there, " he muttered.
Gaele sidestepped the mouse as it dashed past her.
"Have a seat." Raphael pointed to the mattress.
"No thanks, I'll sit here." She swept dirt and leaves from the bench, while Raph took off his coat, flung it on the mattress, and then reclined on it.
They didn't talk for a long time, and Gaele watched the light coming through the partly closed door turn peach, then golden, then fade. The air turned chill, and she shivered in her light coat. She noticed Raphael had been watching her from under half closed eyelids. Her stomach growled loud enough for him to grin at her, but he said nothing.
She eventually returned his stare. "What's your problem?"
He raised his brows in feigned innocence. "There's no problem. Why do you ask?"
"Because you are staring at me, is why."
"My staring at you is a problem?"
"Okay, WHY are you staring at me?"
"Nothing else to look at," he said, putting his arms into the sleeves of his coat. "Let's go."

The way was now more challenging, as the fog overhead obscured whatever moon there was, so shadows were indistinct. Time seemed to stop, and there was nothing other than the gently undulating ground under her feet; stones, sand, and grass. She turned her ankle, and stumbled, but kept going without saying a word, in spite of the pain. She stared hard at Raphael's back, ahead of her a short distance, and thought he must have the toughest feet on earth, or maybe he ignored the pain, too. He seemed to carry in his manner a mix of nonchalance and agitation, a combination that she found a bit disconcerting. She had gotten some interesting unspoken messages from him, lately...
Her momentary loss of focus cost her dearly. She failed to notice a deep, wide trench in the ground and fell hard, badly wrenching her hip as she rolled to the bottom.
She gritted her teeth, and slowly got to her knees. Her hip felt as though it were connected wrong, and throbbed painfully, and if she moved her leg too much it sent nearly unbearable pain stabbing down her leg and into her back, so she rolled on her good leg to get her other one into a better position to right herself. She looked up to see Raph was nowhere in sight.
Jerk... go on, then, see if I care. I'm NOT calling you back.
Great... now what I need is a stick to lean on, or something. She looked around, but saw nothing substantial enough to suit her needs, so she slid sideways on her good leg, down the length of the trench , until she was forced to stop and rest.
What the hell am I doing, sitting out here in the middle of an abandoned military reservation, in the middle of the night, when I should be on my way back to school to make up my exams, and... Don... he was supposed to take me back, but now... She sighed and looked up at the dull glow through the fog that was supposed to be the moon. Daddy must be worried... mom must be going nuts... I must be going nuts. She folded her arms against the chill breeze that came up from the bay. Hunger, pain, fatigue... so... now what? I guess I just need a knight in shining armor to happen along, to rescue this stupid damsel in distress who can't even walk across a field at night without getting into a mess. Sometimes I HATE being a girl...
Someone was standing on the edge of the trench, looking down at her. A broad figure in a long coat.
"Hey, I'm calling it quits," she said to the figure. "You WIN. I hope you're happy."
The figure climbed down, and as she watched, she became more and more puzzled. He wasn't moving the way Raphael usually did, he was taking weak, uncertain steps, as though he were drunk, or... injured.
"Are you okay?" she asked, as he approached.
The smell of stale, cheap liquor and urine assaulted her nostrils. "What did I win," said a gravelly, unfamiliar voice. Wild hair mixed with a stringy beard, as he leaned over her.
Forgetting her pain, she struck him hard in the solar plexus with the heel of her good foot. He went down with a loud grunt, and just lay there, moaning.
She curled her lip in disgust.
"Hey," Raphael said, suddenly appearing on the scene. "What are we doing now, beating up poor, defenseless winos?"
"He startled me!"
Raph went over to the prone man, and bent a little to have a look at him. "Well, he looks pretty startled, himself. Hey yo, bud, you okay?"
"I didn't DO nothin'," the man protested loudly when he got his breath back. He sat up enough to stare at Gaele, his eyes wide in the dim light. "Got wierdos comin' around, kicking and punching, and I didn't do nothin at all," he went on, as though he were carrying on a lengthy argument.
"I'm really sorry about that. She IS kinda crazy," Raph said to him, making a circle in the air by his head with his forefinger. "She musta thought you were me."
"I did not!" Gaele pointed her finger at the man. "He came up and I didn't know what he was going to do-"
"You're CRAZY," the wino yelled back, now struggling to his feet. "YOU should be locked up!"
"Good idea," Raph said, nodding.
"Call 911," the man insisted. "Get the police out here, and have her LOCKED UP!"
"Call her therapist," Raph suggested.
"Call the THERAPIST," the man yelled in near hysteria.
"Tell you what," Raph said, digging into his pocket and peeling off a couple of bills from the wad he kept in there. "Take this as compensation. Okay? Then I'll take her back to the hospital."
The man went silent when he took the money.
"Can you walk?" Raph asked in a half whisper to Gaele.
"Not really," she said, through her clenched teeth.
He promptly picked her up, and they left the homeless man standing in the trench,  blissfully holding the bills up close to his face to get a better look at them.

Raphael set her down on a bench outside the main office of a motel just off the highway. The neon sign in front wasn't working properly, and the intermittent red and yellow lights flickered in an annoying pattern.
"Be right back," Raphael said to her.
"Yep."
Even with her eyes closed, she couldn't escape the flickering lights. But her mind was fading. She felt as though she'd walked a hundred miles while being chased by polo players with mallets, and she was the ball. Whack, whack, whack. Rolling right along... what am I thinking about polo for anyway, I hate polo. And there's no reason why he had to walk all this way, when we could have ridden. Walked nearly the whole length of the military base, came out through the main gate, and walked several miles north along a gigantic, nearly empty freeway untiul they reached the southern- and most seedy- part of the next town.
"Hey," Raphael said, helping her up. "Wake up so you can go to bed."
"Whatever," she muttered as he picked her up again. "What did you tell that guy? Owch!"
"No, I didn't tell him ouch."
"NO, the one who gave you the key."
"Said we'd just been married and our cattle truck broke down on the highway. Heh, he didn't even look up."
"Very funny."
"Just a laugh a minute, aren't I?"
"Not a bad packhorse, either."
"No kiddin'. You must weigh close to two hundred pounds."
"Oh, ha ha ha."
"Well, you do."
He unlocked the door and set her on the bed, then went outside again.
"Where you going," she called after him.
"Be right back."
She was too tired to even take off her coat. She lay on the bed as still as a beached squid. No energy left... no nothing left... Yet she couldn't sleep. She was in too much pain. She wondered how Daddy was doing.
Raphael came back in with a small bag of ice. He stopped in front of her bed. "You know, I can't do much with you until you get those things off."
"Get WHAT off?"
"Your clothes, what did you think?"
"What for?"
"So I don't have to keep lugging you all over creation, that's why."
"You don't have to lug me all over. As soon as I can, I'm calling for a ride home."
He raised his brows. "Ohh, I see. Giving up already?"
"Obviously I can't walk in this condition, can I?"
He thoughtfully chewed on his lower lip."What if you woke up tomorrow morning, and you didn't hurt any more, would you change your mind?"
"I don't know."
"Well... go ahead and  get your stuff off, and then get under the covers. I'm going to jump into the shower. When I'm done, I'll help you with your leg. Is that a deal?"
"Yeah, okay," she said noncommittally.
"Whatever," he said, flinging off his coat. "Oh, yeah. Got you something to eat,  if you want it.  Vending machine stuff." He pulled out some small cellophane packages from the pockets, and flung one at her.
She picked it up, and looked at it. "Oatmeal cookies?"
"Better than nothing," he said, looking annoyed. "There aren't any sushi bars open at this time of night, okay?"
"What makes you think-"
He closed the bathroom door on her reply.
Fuming, she struggled out of her clothes, and flung them on a nearby chair, then yanked the stiff sheets and blankets down on the bed to pull them up around her. She settled into a semi-comfortable position, and lay still, while her leg throbbed painfully. She could hear the water running in the shower, and she grumbled a curse as she rolled to her feet. She hopped slowly to the bathroom, and rapped on the door.
"Now what," he said.
"I have to use the bathroom."
"What?"
"The bathroom, I have to GO."
"What?"
"I HAVE TO GO!"
"What?"
Growling, she pushed on the door, and it opened. Luckily he hadn't latched it... clutching the sheet around her with one hand, hanging onto the sink counter with the other, she went in. Steam enveloped her, and she could barely see the toilet to sit down, and did so at the cost of moving her injured hip. "Ow... ow owowowow..."
Raphael pulled the curtain aside to look down at her. "What are you doing?"
"Don't LOOK!"
"Why not?"
"Because-- Geez, don't you have any sense of decency? Can't you see what I'm doing, here?"
"How should I know? You told me not to look."
"I swear, if my leg wasn't hurting so stinking much, I'd kick your butt."
"Heh. I'd like to see THAT," Raphael said, and pushed the curtain closed again.

She was back in bed , munching on the cookies, when he came out. He took the bag of ice and put it into his bath towel, and yanked down the sheets on her bed.
"Hey," she said, indignant.
"Don't have a conniption," he muttered as he laid his fingers on her hip. "Just pretend we're playing doctor."
She couldn't help but jump from his touch.
"Will you just relax? You oughta know what I'm about to do."
"It's one thing if Daddy does it, it's another if YOU do it."
"Why is that," he said as he gently probed the ligaments around her hip bone.
"Ouch! I dunno."
"Yes you do. You don't trust me, do you?"
She didn't reply.
"Do you?"
"Not completely," she said.
He halted his massaging to look at her. "Why not? What did I ever do to you?"
"Well, nothing."
"Maybe you've forgotten who's been doing the coming on, here, huh?"
He waited, while she just looked at him.
He grinned a little.  "Thought so."
She let him continue, until he reached under her thigh to lift her leg. "Now what," she said tensely.
"You're out of joint. I'm putting you back in." As he spoke he suddenly pushed and pulled hard on her leg so that she felt the hip slide more smoothly in its socket.
"Yowch!"
He felt her hip again. "I think that did it. Move your leg around a bit."
"Still hurts-"
"As much?"
"Well, no... actually, it's only a bit sore, now."
"Good. Can you uh, roll on your stomach for a sec?"
She did so, and she felt his fingers probing her spine. Then his hands pushed against her lower back, and she felt something in her vertebrae settle with a satisfying pop. He moved his hands up her back, and then pressed his thumbs on various points along her dorsal muscles, till he reached the point where her back joined her pelvis.
"One more," he said, as he pushed down on the base of her tail, and firmly pushed his thumb into the base of her spine.
She yelped a little, but immediately after, felt relief. "Ooh. Wow. That was fantastic," she sighed happily.
"Maybe I should get paid for this," Raphael said, as he laid the towelled ice bag against her hip.
"Like what, Raph's massage parlor?"
He snorted as he covered her up again. "Sure, and what, you'd be my only customer, right? Go to sleep, Gaele."
"Raph?"
"What?"
"Thanks."
"No problem."
When she looked up again, she saw him laying an extra blanket and pillow on the carpeted floor next to the bed. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?"
"You don't have to sleep on the floor, there's plenty of room up here."
"What, and get molested by you? No thanks."
"Oh, come on-"
"Give it a rest, will ya? I'm tired. I had to carry you ten miles."
"Sorry about that. But you still don't have to-"
"I'm perfectly fine down here."
He was silent after that, and she could hear him breathing. An occasional truck passed on the not too distant freeway, and its lights subtly lit up the room for a brief moment. The ice pack was making her shiver. She finally got up, and put the bag into the bathroom sink. On her way back, she stepped over Raphael's legs, and climbed back up on the bed. She glanced down at him, but he looked asleep. She sighed and lay back, her mind too busy to let her drift into sleep.
Her thoughts turned to Daddy, and she again thought about his leg. She remembered times when she had disappointed him, the look on his face, especially when she'd been ticketed for driving his car. He'd always had high hopes for her... and she knew she was letting him down, again. This time, she was letting everyone down.  Don would probably never speak to her again. Seemed the only thing she was consistently good at was making everyone mad at her. Her heart weighed heavy in her chest, and she turned her head into her pillow to wipe her tears.

The sky was getting lighter through a break in the curtains. She finally got up, and  found her hip was nearly back to normal, other than some minor stiffness. She got dressed, and went to the door, and as quietly as she could, opened the latch.
"Where you going?" Raphael's voice stopped her.
"I have to make a phone call."
He said nothing in response.
"I can't deal with Daddy worrying about me, Raph."
"You call, and he's going to find out exactly where you are," he said quietly.
"I've behaved irresponsibly... I have to go back to school. I'm nearly finished, and I have a career-"
"Whose?"
"Wh-what?"
"Whose career, yours or your mother's?"
She closed the door, and went back to sit on the bed. He was still lying on the floor. "It's MY career, Raph. My decision."
"You sure?"
She avoided his look.
He sat up, then. "Why won't you allow yourself to want something for YOU, and not what people think you want, Gaele?"
"In spite of what you may think, I don't really get what I want."
"Nobody gets everything they want."
"Nobody even KNOWS what I want."
"How can they, if you don't tell 'em?"
"I don't even know what I want any more..."
"Yes, you do."
She looked up at him, then. She could see his face clearly in the bluish light of early dawn.
His expression was open, almost childlike.
"Hm. I think I know what Riahna saw in you," she said quietly.
"You do know what you want, don't you?"
She thought a moment, and saw that he'd watched her. "Well-"
"Well?"
Something had been growing in her chest, expanding, until it burst out of her in a sob. She clutched at her face, and bent over,  resting her forehead on her raised knees. She felt him settle on the bed next to her, and a hand rested on her shoulder. He then stroked the back of her head, smoothing her hair, in an almost paternal reassurance. She wanted badly to climb into his lap, and cling to his neck, like she used to do with Daddy when she was small. Now, she wanted to put her arms around Raphael for other reasons. Reasons far less innocent. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her cheek, as he drew her into his embrace.
"Don't say no to me, please," she murmured into his neck.
"Say no to what?"
"Just don't say no to what I'm about to ask you."
He pulled back enough to stare at her. "What are you going to ask me?"
She giggled at the suspicious tone in his voice. "Uhm, well... I was wondering if, you know..."
"What?"
"Well, if you wanted to, uhm..."
"WHAT?"
"Geez, give me a little slack, will you? This isn't something I'm used to doing, okay?" She sat back from him, her mood crumbling. "I've never had a boyfriend, so I really don't know how I'm supposed to go about initiating a uh... romantic encounter."
"And?" He looked genuinely confused, now.
"And... I wanted a romantic encounter, and... a physical one."
He scratched at the side of his head. "Oh. You mean you want to have sex."
"Oh, great, now you sound like a shrink. Gee, how sterile."  She got up.
He looked thoughtful.
"I mean, isn't there supposed to be a better way to put it?"
"Depends."
"Can you elaborate, Mr. Eloquent?"
He was looking at her again. "Yeah, I can. For one, you're just a kid." He held up a forefinger to stop her retort. "I KNOW how old you are. Chronologically speaking. We've been over this before. But that is moot, in this case. You have to be ready up here." He pointed to his head. "And a lot is telling me that you are not. And you shouldn't be in such a frigging hurry to lose your innocence."
"Yes, Grandpa," Gaele muttered.
"Hey, I wanted to be friends with you, Gaele," Raph said quietly. "Was just trying to help you out, teach you a little something. But... I think this has been a real big mistake."
She wanted badly to hit him as hard as she could. But that would have only proved his point, so she stayed outwardly calm, as her thoughts scrambled into order.
"I guess you can go on home." He pulled her phone out of his coat pocket and handed it to her.
"Frickin' A. You had my phone the whole TIME?" She held it out at arms length.
"Just in case you panicked or something."
"Or in case YOU did." She lowered the phone. "I'm not panicking, you know."
"Uh huh."
"I'm not. I've just made up my mind, is all. I'm going home, and then I'm going back to school and take my makeup exams, and then I'm going to go to work."
Raphael raised an eyebrow at her. "Hm. Maybe there's hope for you yet, " he said.

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