Learning to Stand (58 page)

Panting, he groaned and rolled to the
bed.

“
You do that on purpose,” he
said.

“
I do that because I can,”
she said.

They laughed.

“
May I fill your glass,
beautiful wife?”

“
I’d love some
champagne.”

John poured more champagne. He held his
flute to her lips and she took a sip. They kissed.

“
I have a job,” he
said.

“
What?” Alex
asked.

“
Yes, I’m no longer the
Mooch. I was offered a position at Denver Health with a faculty
assignment at the University,” John said.

“
I thought those departments
were full,” Alex said.

“
They are,” John said. “I’m
working half time on two teams. The head of trauma saw the work I
did on Troy and found funding for me to work for him. The arterial
disease team pitched a fit.”

“
Of course, they didn’t want
to lose you.” Alex began unbuttoning his shirt. “I don’t want to
lose you either.”

“
I’m so glad.” He kissed her
then shifted his shoulders. His shirt dropped to the
ground.

“
When do you start?” Alex
asked.

They pulled his white undershirt off
together. Alex stroked his taut muscular chest. Tugging on the dog
tag that bore her name, she pulled him toward her for a kiss.

“
I have more good news. I
was given a month off,” John said.

Alex squealed and hugged him.

“
I thought you couldn’t get
time off!”

“
I thought so too, but they
gave me the month. They didn’t have money for a signing bonus so
they offered the month off. When I get back, I’ll work and finish
my residency at the same time.”

“
That sounds like a lot,”
Alex said.

“
It might be, but it’s only
a couple months. Then we’re done.” He beamed. “You may call me
Professor Drayson.”

“
What are you going to teach
me?” Alex unbuckled his belt.

“
Oh love.” He kissed her. He
placed his hands around her face. His cobalt blue eyes held her
brown eyes. “Thank you. You’ve made all of this possible for me.
You’ve paid for everything, supported me, encouraged me, dragged me
along, and most of all loved me. What was vapor — a crazy orphan’s
fancy — is now a reality. I’m a vascular surgeon. I never could
have done it without you.”

“
Your dreams are important
to me,” she whispered.

His eyes welled with tears. Her fingertips
caught his tears. He kissed her fingers then clutched her to
him.

“
I love you so much,” he
said.

“
Not more than I love
you.”

“
So a month of
bikinis!”

“
What?”

“
I wanted to take you to
Majorca, but you need to get this cast off. So we compromised on
Kauai.”

“
We?”

“
Max and I. We leave from
Barstow.”

“
What about my
work?”

“
Details, details. Raz took
care of it. You’re on vacation for a month. He and Samantha are
going to join us in a couple weeks.”

“
Wow.”

Alex untied his lacer cowboy boots. He
pushed them off. Her hands stroked his feet as she slipped his
socks off.

“
Oh…”

“
Yes?” Her eyes raked his
face. “What’s wrong?”

“
I won’t teach right away.
I’ll just do research. Do you think that’s all right? I was so
excited to have the position we wanted that I accepted while you
were on TDY. I haven’t signed the contract though. I said I had to
talk to you first.”

“
The job is exactly what we
thought would be ideal. Don’t worry. Plus, you like research,” Alex
said. “By the time we get home, your study should be
done.”

John nodded. “So I’ll sign the
contract?”

“
I think so. Then we’ll take
it one step at a time.”

“
Like we always
do.”

She unbuttoned his pants. They slipped his
pants off together.

“
No underwear,” she
said.

“
Anticipation of a month of
bikinis made under garments a bit… constrictive,” he
said.

She stroked him with her hand. Their lips
caught in a kiss.

“
I want to look at you… to
touch you… taste you...” John said, his voice husky. “We have all
month. Let’s go slow.”

Pressing her back to the bed, he held her
beautiful brown eyes. Alex’s lips turned up into her crooked
smile.

“
Maybe next
time.”

F

EPILOGUE

Five weeks later

Thursday morning

June 19
–
5:00 A.M. MDT

Somewhere between Denver and Fort Carson,
CO

“
Did you post the video?”
Alex asked.

“
Before we left,” Larry
said. “It’s up on the Alex the Fey YouTube channel
station.”

“
You didn’t add anything
after I approved it?”

“
No sir. The video consists
of the rescue and the side pieces. Like the fight video, there’s no
view of your face. Max did the voice over.”

“
Good job,” Alex
said.

The team was riding in the back of a Black
Hawk Helicopter on their way to Fort Carson. Larry was leaving for
Iraq in a half-hour.

“
Let’s go through it again,”
Matthew said.

“
The Fey is a man,” Larry
said. “He works for Military Intelligence. He is my mentor. I will
receive calls from him on a regular basis.”

“
Good job, kid,” Joseph
said.

“
I don’t know what the
problem is,” Trece said. “White Boy and I have been in Iraq,
Afghanistan, all over the Middle East. We’ve never had any
problems.”

“
You weigh three hundred
pounds,” Vince said. “Who’s going to bother you?”

“
Two-fifty but you have a
point.” Trece laughed.

“
I had a great time in the
field,” Alex said. “I think you’ll have fun.”

“
I’m not the Fey,” Larry
replied.

“
Nope, you’re G.I. Joe,”
Troy said.

“
Don’t call me that,” Larry
squealed. “I thought you weren’t calling me that any
more.”

“
We never say it to your
face,” Troy said.

“
You just did,” White Boy
said.

“
Except for that time,” Troy
said.

Larry grimaced.

“
We’re almost there. Push
ups!” Joseph called.

The men began rounds of push ups.

“
Shades. Remember...” Joseph
said.

“
Super cool!” The team
replied to Joseph’s call.

Alex pulled on a digital fatigue jacket with
‘Fey’ marked on the pocket. The jacket covered her breasts and
torso. She hugged Larry and kissed his cheek.

“
Every week. We’ll talk
every single week. If you have trouble...”

“
I’ll call,” Larry said.
“I’m a Green Beret, Alex. I can do this.”

“
I believe you can,” she
said. “Hell, we’ll dance in Paris at the New Year.”

“
And Helene will move to
Colorado in the fall,” Larry repeated what they had said over and
over again.

“
She’s going to CU Boulder
in two months.”

Alex moved to the front of the helicopter.
The long suffering co-pilot got up from his seat to let Alex sit
down. She sneered at him then realized she should learn his name.
Last year’s nasty co-pilot had joined her rag tag group of friends,
and Heath Wheeler, to create the new Fey Team.

“
How is he?” Zack
asked.

“
Freaked out,” Alex said.
“The team doesn’t like intelligence officers. He’s their third.
They’ve chased the others away.”

“
I feel like we are sending
our son to war,” Zack said.

“
He’s going to be all
right,” Alex said.

Alex watched Fort Carson come into view.
They flew to the runway where Larry’s new team gathered to leave
for Iraq. She turned to look at Larry. She did feel like they were
sending their son to war.

“
Remember you’re a man.”
Troy yelled to Alex as the helicopter landed. “Here we
go.”

Troy slid the helicopter door open.

“
Olivas! No way man. Are you
coming with us?” a soldier asked.

“
Nah man, I’m dropping off a
friend,” Troy said. He shook the soldier’s hand then greeted two
other men.

Matthew jumped out of the helicopter behind
Troy.

“
Hey Mac.” Another soldier
came over to say hello to Matthew. “Whatcha doing, man? I heard you
were working with the Fey.”

“
I’m his second. He’s in
there.” Matthew flicked of his head toward the helicopter. “Your
new intelligence officer is his protégé.”

“
Holy shit! Is the Jakker in
there, too?” the soldier asked.

Larry’s new Captain came over to Matthew to
say hello.

“
Is that really the Jakker?”
the Captain asked.

“
The Jakker is the only one
who flies the Fey,” Matthew said. “You know that.”

The soldiers looked at each other. Vince
hopped out of the helicopter and walked over to Matthew.

“
I thought the Fey was
dead,” another soldier said.

“
Nah man, laying low until
the heat’s off. But I’ll tell you.” Troy gave the soldier a knowing
look. “One thing I’ve learned working for the Fey. You don’t want
to be on his shit list.”

That was Larry’s cue to come out of the
helicopter. Larry hopped out of the Black Hawk helicopter and
walked over to Troy. Trece and White Boy followed Larry out of the
helicopter. They stood with machine guns on either side of the
helicopter door. Alex and Zack sat in the doorway of the
helicopter. Heath sat behind them and Margaret stood next to him.
They held machine guns and wore intimidating looks on their
faces.

“
That’s really them, isn’t
it?” the team medic asked Vince in a low voice.

“
Who?” Vince
asked.

“
The Fey and the Jakker,”
another soldier said.

“
That’s White Boy and Trece
so it’s got to be them,” The medic said.

Vince made a show of looking over to the
helicopter. He turned back and nodded.

The Commanding Officer of Larry’s new team
yelled for them to get going and the men moved toward the plane.
Continuing their cool macho act, Troy and Matthew carried Larry’s
gear to the plane then each gave him a macho hug. Larry raised a
hand to Alex before turning to get on the plane.

The team watched as the door closed and the
plane took off.

“
He’s going to be fine,”
Matthew said getting into the helicopter.

“
We’ll know it if he isn’t,”
Vince added following him.

Alex wiped a tear from her eyes.

“
Will we really get him if
he gets in trouble?” Heath asked.

“
Fuck yeah,” Troy
said.

Trece closed the door to the helicopter.

They flew to base in silence.

F

About the author:

Claudia Hall
Christian is an author and a beekeepers. She lives in Denver,
Colorado.

Connect with Me Online:

Weblog: http://on-a-limb.com

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http://twitter.com/ClaudiaC

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Also by Claudia Hall Christian:

ALEX THE FEY
SERIES
:

____ The Fey : Haunted by the past, and
terrorized in the present, Sergeant Alexandra Hargreaves must reach
past her pain, through memory, and beyond the grave to find her
self and her future. ISBN: 978-0-9822746-3-7 $14.95 + $3 s/h

____ Learning to Stand : Fragile and lost,
Alex struggles to move on and fails. When a small child’s life is
in danger, only she can save him. Alex must muster the strength and
courage to learn to stand again. ISBN: 978-0-9822746-8-2 $15.95 +
$3 s/h

____ Who I am
: Is Alex the Fey? As Alex grapples with doubt, her world fills
with turmoil. In the midst of the chaos, Alex leads her team to
find a missing UN field operative & destroy a child
prostitution ring. ISBN:
978-0-9826417-2-9
$15.95 + $3 s/h

Denver Cereal Series:

____ The Denver Cereal : Invited to her
ex-husband Trevor’s engagement party, Jillian Roper shows up in
thigh high leather boots. ISBN: 978-0-9822746-4-4 $13.95 + $3
s/h