Alicekai'd 1.38: Adult Homework

A/N: It's weird to say that 'I'm back' when there hasn't been a gap in chapter releases, but to me, for this story, I am. I haven't actually written anything for this one since March (and I'd had 25 chapters sitting and waiting), and as it's late July now, it's been a while. Hopefully I can still 'hear' Alice's voice and continue with the story. So far, so good.

---------------

 

     Instead of going on my honeymoon, my life without Carlie begins.

 

    Geoff stands just inside the house as I open the door. His expression tells me that he's read mine. "She's with him for two weeks then?"

     I feel my lower lip quiver. "Yes. He looked so upset when I told him that I couldn't deny him his promised two weeks." I DON'T tell him other stuff Mark said. Luckily for me, Geoff doesn't question for more. Instead, he hugs me.

     "We'll make it through."

     The next day, he's off work, so he recommends we give ourselves a project. After a suggestion from me that we research this 'gateway' theory, we end up in Strangerville.

 

     Just being here makes me giggle. I didn't play too much of Strangerville in Sims 2, but it was always kind of fun when I did, especially with the house those three men lived in, the one with the alien-pregnant man. It was the developer's plan to use him as a way to introduce players to the idea of male-alien pregnancy. And I liked the house.

     I keep looking around with a big, goofy grin on my face while Geoffrey buys almost everything the man at the 'weirdo-stand' has to offer. He's most interested in the books, buying a copy of each one. I guess we have homework later.

     For now, though, we start investigating the 'Strangerville mystery.' I'd already done it, game wise, and the end makes me nervous to do it in my new 'real life,' but if it gives me more answers, I'm willing to give it a try.

     We go to the nearby bar and talk to people, and I keep sensing I'm ticking imaginary, to me anyway, boxes. Maybe I'm not just a townie. Thinking like this makes me a little paranoid, like I really am being watched all the time. Or maybe it's just Strangerville.

 

      We stay for a little while longer but then have to race home in time to make it so we can be there when Bruno gets home from school.

     "You two look funny," he tells us after he's finished with his homework. He comes into the living room and sits down on the sofa to watch TV. "Two adults doing homework."

     "Adults have homework, too," I tell him, also reminding him of how I only recently graduated college.

     "But it still looks funny."

     It's strange, but even though he was 'ten' when I first arrived, he's about to age up to teen. I try not to think too hard about it. Doing so just stresses me out as I continue to worry that Geoff and I are both also going to age up. What if Geoff is an elder when we get married? Yeah, worrying about it does me no good.

 

     Then I find something, and I want to smack myself in the head for forgetting about it. "My book talks about some kind of plant in the basement of the secret lab that can reverse aging."

     "They might be talking about life fruit," Geoff says, confirming that he does, in fact, know about it.

     "How do we get a hold of some of that?" I'm heavily hinting that perhaps he could try and sneak a seed from work.

     "I have no idea."

     Big help there, Geoff. Thanks, I think in a deadpan sort of way. I give him a look, and he just raises his eyebrows, almost daring me to outright ask. I sigh and go back to my book.

     Life continues, and Geoffrey finally agrees to get Bruno a bicycle.

     With all his talk of motorcycles, Bruno kind of... sucks at riding a bike.

     Then one evening, my phone rings. Seeing who it is, I take a breath and answer it.

 

     "Hey, Mark." I can sense Geoff tense from where he sits on the sofa.

     Mark sounds like he's almost in tears, and I can hear Carlie screaming in the background. He says he's at the end of his rope, and he doesn't know what else to do. I ask him what he's tried, and he tells me the typical list of stuff you do to calm an infant.

     I sigh. "I'm on my way."

     "I can go," Geoff offers.

     I pause and just look at him, and I picture him showing up at Mark's instead of me. "I think he wants me to come over, not you."

     "Well, of course he does." He gives me a look.

     I sigh and walk over to sit next to him.

 

     I don't get to say a word yet because he leans over and kisses me. Is he sensing something? 

     "Geoff, what are you doing?"

     "What do you mean, 'what am I doing?' I can't kiss my fiancee?" Yeah, he's totally full of crap.

     "I'm going over to Mark's to help him with Carlie."

     "I could go with you," he offers.

     "You need to stay here with Bruno."

     "We'll bring Bruno with us."

     "To Mark's tiny apartment?"

     "Sure. Why not?"

     "Geoff, the last thing he needs is a bunch of people storming into his tiny apartment while a baby is screaming her head off. Now, I need to get going. I shouldn't be gone too long. It's probably something simple."

     He looks like he still wants to argue his point, so I lean forward and kiss him. He'd better know HE'S the one I love and if he's starting to feel threatened, he needs to get over it.

     "It's just for Carlie."

     He sighs, admitting defeat. "Okay."

     I head out, hoping that, like I said, I won't be too long.

     Mark answers the door. His eyes are red-rimmed. I can hear Carlie screaming from somewhere in the apartment. He's not holding her.

     "Where is she?"

     "In her room. I was trying to get her to play with toys. It wasn't working."

     I walk past him.

     Then, to my horror, I find Carlie sitting on the floor instead of in her crib like I'd pictured in my mind.

 

     I try to keep the shock from showing up on my face, and I reach down to pick up my precious girl.

     She's doing those exhausted, hiccuping cries, and I wonder how long it was until Mark finally decided to call me. How long has she been crying? I start to lightly bounce her before cradling her in my arms.

     "Shhhhh. It's okay." Then, to Mark, I ask, "Is she hungry?"

     "No," he answers dejectedly. "I've done all that. She's dry. She's fed."

     "Is she constipated?" Maybe he didn't think of that.

     "Well, she made a dirty yesterday. Can a baby be constipated in a day?"

     "Maybe." I reach up and gently feel her tummy. I don't feel any hard lumps. Then I see her eyes start to droop.

      "I think she just wanted her mama," Mark quietly says behind me, breaking my heart.

     Carlie looks up at me like she somehow knows what her daddy just said, like she agrees with him. I hear Mark sniff behind me. Carlie's eyes start to close.

     "She's exhausted," I say.

     "Well, I know how she feels then." Out of the corner of my eye, I see him run his hand down his face.

     "Why don't you go take a nap?" I turn and look at him. 

     "I'm not tired."

     I purse my lips. Bullshit. I carefully put Carlie in her crib. She immediately starts screaming.

 

    "See?" Mark walks over. "This happens every time. I even tried the whole 'let her cry and see if she goes to sleep' thing."

     I've only been here for a little while, and I'm already ready to pull my hair out. Now, I wish Geoff had come. He can always get her to calm down. "Maybe she's cutting a tooth?"

     Mark walks around the crib.
 

      Even thought I can tell he's about to scream himself, he rubs Carlie's tummy and croons to her in a deep voice. Her legs relax, and her hands no longer form fists. She stops screaming, and she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

     "That only works sometimes," he offers in quick explanation as I give him a look like I'm asking him why he didn't just try that in the first place.

     I sigh and leave the room.

     He follows me. "Don't leave yet. You know, just in case."

     "Fine." I flop myself down on the sofa and get out my phone. Mark goes into the kitchen to wash a bottle.

     When he walks back into the living room, I don't have to look up to know he's wearing a snide expression.

     "Checking in with your old man?"

     I scowl. I don't want to hear more about how Geoff is technically old enough to be my father. "If you mean my fiance, yes. I'm letting him know I'm staying longer."

     Mark bears a heavy, snappy gait as he walks over and has a seat next to me. 

     "Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it," I start in on him before he can do the same to me.

     "Whaaat?" he asks, pretending like he has no idea what I mean. "I was just going to thank you for coming over. I realized I hadn't done that yet. So, yeah, thank you."

     "Even though YOU were the one to finally get her to go to sleep after all."

     "Well, it wasn't working before. I really think having you here helped." He pauses. "Thank you."

     I need to get him to go somewhere else. That tank top looks too good on him. Before I can say anything, though, he starts talking again.

 

     "I got my copy of the Full Moon script the other day from a courier. Damn, you're amazing. You're taking all the guess work out of it for me, like all I have to do is keep doing what I'm doing to understand Jarred. It's like, in the sequel especially, he's... me."

     Crap. In a way, he's spot on. "Oh, well, you know, I, uh, pull from experience."

     "I'm flattered."

     I let out a huff. There are way too many love scenes in Full Moon.

     "So, I have to ask..." He gets my attention again.

 

     "Is the number of sex scenes in the movie indicative of your current frustration?" He pauses, glancing at me, before the idiot decides to keep going. "I mean, I personally know how long it's been for you because it's the same for me, and I know I'M incredibly--"

     "This is none of your business."

     He blinks at my interruption. "I'm just trying to fully understand my character. You know, like, 'what was going on in the mind of the writer that she wants me to portray here?' Stuff like that. Honestly, I can't wait until we get filming."

     "You'll survive two weeks." We were supposed to start after what was going to be my honeymoon. Well, wardrobe and stuff would've been a week and a half, immediately after I'd gotten back, but the actual filming is in two weeks. I'm dreading it, wishing I hadn't have given myself free rein to write whatever I felt at the time. Now, Mark is going to milk it for all it's worth.

     Then the bastard crosses that line.

      "Since you're here, we could rehearse some. That way, on the day of filming, we could happily surprise Chris by showing how connected our characters are. I think he'd like that."

     "Stop it, Mark."

     "Oh, please. Nothing like that. We're studying our characters, really digging in deep. It's like a group study session. It's homework." He grins, but I'm not buying it for a second.

     "Keep that up, and I'm walking out the door."

     His face suddenly falls. "It was just a suggestion."

     "Do I look stupid to you?"

     "No, you look smoking hot."

     I glare at him.

     He sighs.

 

     "I told myself I wouldn't do this, but as you know, the cat's out of the bag now. I meant what I said the last time you were here, and I meant it the first way I said it, in the present tense. I miss you, Alice."

     I move to stand up. "Call me again if you're having trouble with Carlie, but only for that."

     "No, wait!" I turn and see him wide-eyed. "Uh, at least stay for a few more minutes. I need to take a shower. Um, and help yourself to whatever in the kitchen, okay? Can you at least stay for that?"

     "Fine." I gesture for him to get moving, and he does, glancing back at me constantly like he's afraid I'll leave anyway.

Alicekai'd 1.37: PYT

 

     I've finally done it. I completed my degree.

 

     With all the excitement of 'will we/won't we' going on, the end of term just sort of faded into the background. Geoff is thrilled. I think it's lame that he's unable to go to the ceremony, though.

     Carlie is at home with a sitter, and Geoff asks me if I want to head off to the courthouse. Yes!

     We leave hand-in-hand, but by the time we make it to Tartosa, his mood sours significantly.

 

     Before we can make it to the steps, he pulls me back. "Hold on a minute."

     So I AM going to get to hear what his deal is. "Okay, what is your problem?"

     "Are you sure we're doing the right thing here?"

     "What are you talking about? We've been through this. Are you getting cold feet?"

 

 

     He sighs. "Alice, the entire time we've been together, I've been telling you you're worth the wait, and now, I'm saying the opposite." He watches me as that sinks in.

     I look down. "So you're saying you don't want to." Is he looking for a way to back out of this? To find an easier way to gently get The Britechester Hussy out of his life?

     "Before you go and jump to conclusions, just think for a minute. Why are we doing this now versus waiting until the planned date for the ceremony?"

     "You're having second thoughts, and this way, you have more time to-" I stop when he takes my hands.

     "Stop it. That's not what I'm saying AT ALL." He takes a deep breath. "I didn't want to put it this way because I didn't want to mention it, but I keep having something Malcolm said go through my mind."

     "Oh." I pull my hands away. "You HAVE changed your mind." I stare at the pavement cracks.

     "NO." He lets out a huff. "Dammit, Alice, listen to me. My son made the despicable comment that all I wanted was some pretty, young thing to warm my bed at night." I glance at him for just a second. His eyes squint, and his lips pinch together for a moment. "That... infuriates me." He moves his head around and down to get back in my line of vision. "You mean so much more than that. I worry that if we go to the courthouse today, it means that I couldn't wait, that I'm more interested in climbing into bed with you than just being with you." He holds my face. "Do you understand?"

     I look into his sad eyes. "So this means we're not getting married today?"

     He gives me a small smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "Right, because I don't want to send that kind of a message." He kisses me quickly and pulls back. "It's not because I don't want to."

     I let out a huff. "I wish I didn't pick a date that's so damn far away."

     "We'll make it." Then he really kisses me.

     Dammit. I really wanted to get married today. I really wanted to go to Sulani right now and have weeks of uninterrupted Geoffrey time. I want that NOW, but... I can see his point. 

     I guess we just keep on waiting.

 

     There's just one little snag: Mark. As far as he knows, he's getting Carlie for weeks. Now, I have to tell him he has to wait. I decide to go ahead and bring her by as scheduled, but I'm not looking forward to this conversation.

 

     I didn't need to pack any bags for Carlie. Mark told me he's happily bought all kinds of stuff. He bought her a crib so that he no longer has to use the pack-n-play.

     He's not going to like this.

     "Hi." His expression already shows he's not happy. Does he sense something amiss? "You're late." Oh.

     "Sorry." I pause. "Could we talk?"

     He gives me a 'whatever' look. "Yeah, sure. Come on in."

     Once I step inside, I hand him his daughter. That brightens his mood considerably.

     "Daddy's little Carlie," he says with a sweet smile. He kisses her forehead and starts rocking her. She quickly falls asleep.

     Mark is a totally different person around his daughter, so different from the man I've had to work with on set. He reminds me of how he used to be with me... before I hurt him.

     He catches me staring at him.

     "I'm glad she got your hair color," he tells me.

     What do I say to that? "I need to talk to you."

     "So you said. What about?" He rocks our daughter and smiles.

     "Geoff and I didn't get married today."

     He pauses in his rocking. "Trouble in paradise?" As I try to figure out how to answer that without sounding like a bitch, he continues, "Are you okay?"

     "Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"

     Carlie starts fussing. Mark stands up. "I'm going to go put her in her bed. Don't go anywhere."

     "Fine." I dutifully sit and wait, trying not to bring up memories of my first experience on this sofa. After a few minutes, Mark comes back and has a seat next to me.

     "What did he do?" he asks to start the conversation.

     "What?" I pause, trying to figure him out. "He just said we should wait." He doesn't need to know more than that. It's none of his business.

     "So you're still engaged?" Oh. He probably thought we broke up.

     "Yeah. Of course we are. We're just going to keep the original date. He thinks that if we got married today then..." It's none of Mark's business!

     "So it was HIS decision. I didn't take him for an idiot."

     "He's not being an idiot."

     "Hm. I guess you could see it like that. I mean, why change things when you're getting the milk for free, huh?" He smirks in a mean way.

     "You really are an asshole, you know that?" I could slap him right now.

     "Oh I'M the asshole? I'm not the jackass who's been dragging you along, trying to act all noble when really just an old prick snuggling up to someone young enough to be his daughter. Then dangle the carrot of marriage in front of you just to get some more."

     "You haven't got the first clue what you're talking about. Geoffrey isn't like that at all."

     He mimics me, "Geoffrey isn't like that at all!" He huffs. "Do you hear yourself? Maybe you need a camera on you recording this. You really ARE one HELL of an actress, Alice. No wonder you're almost method. You live in delusions you choose to believe."

     "Okay now I haven't got the first clue what you're talking about."

     "He is USING you! Don't you see that? What will it take to get you to see that?"

     "If anyone was using me, it was you."

     "No, Alice, I love you!" He clears his throat. "Loved you." He has the biggest 'oh shit' look on his face. Then he looks away.

     My mind is a complete blank with shock. I'd seriously thought the whole time Mark and I were together that it was pretty much just physical. It was for me. I mean, sure, he could be fun to be around, too, but I never felt we really connected. Maybe he's confused and doesn't know what love really is.

     He speaks, still looking away, "Do you have any idea what torture it is to work with you? I mean there you are, right in front of me. JARRED gets to touch you. JARRED gets to kiss you. Whenever I get to just be myself, all I can think of is that awful evening I walked out." He looks at his nails. "In my mind, we'd have been married by now. I certainly would never want to sit on my hands and wait. I wanted more than just living together. I wanted more than sex."

     Fine. I'll tell him. "Geoffrey and I haven't slept together."

     That brings him up short, and he spins around to look at me.

     I wait for him to say something, but he doesn't. "What?" I finally ask.

     He acts as if he's choosing which thing to utter aloud. "The last thing I ever expected was to pity him."

     I scowl. "It wasn't MY decision." See? He's noble. And... sometimes annoyingly old-fashioned. I watch as a new picture continues to form in Mark's mind. "So your take on things is all wrong."

     "It would seem so."

     A huff slips out of me. "So, what I've been trying to get around to saying is that Geoffrey and I are NOT going on a honeymoon right now, so you don't need to keep Carlie for as long."

     His face falls. "You're taking her from me early?"

 

     "You still want to keep her for that long?"

     His eyes do something strange like I just announced that I was the shooter on the grassy knoll. "I never want her to leave." Are his eyes now saying he thinks the same about me? I can't handle that.

     "Oh." I ponder. "Well, I guess she can still stay the two weeks. I mean, that's what I'd told you would happen, and you'd planned for it and all." I look away. "Let me, um, go kiss her goodnight, and, um, go." I get up, trying to hold back the tears. I'm going to miss my baby so much!

     When I get back into the living room, Mark is standing there, seeing I'm almost in tears. "Alice, if you want-"

     "No. This was the agreement. I'll be okay." I wipe under my eye. "Just, uh, call me for whatever if you need to." I dash out the door.

Alicekai'd 1.36: Use the Force, Luke

 

     "I found a way for you to go back."

     "What?" My heart rate increases dramatically.

     "I found a way for you to go back to your real world," he repeats.

     "Why are you telling me this?" Does he WANT me to leave? Has he had it with wanting to bang The Britechester Hussy and would rather I just leave than him give up on his principles? "Geoffrey, if it's too much, just move out for a while."

     "Huh?" His eyebrows come together.

     Don't cry. "Why do you want me to leave?"

     He sits straighter.

 

     "Alice, I'm not saying I want you to leave. You should know that by now." He pauses, letting that sink in. "I once promised to help, remember? Well, I've found a way. Theoretically."

     "Why are you telling me this now?"

     "Because I don't want to keep it from you. I want you to have your options and not let my selfish wants interfere with them."

     "But you said yourself it's only theoretical. Right?" I'm breathing too quickly.

     "And... possibly dangerous." To my look, he speedily continues, "But it also could explain how you got here in the first place, how Sally was wrong when she said the consciousness would be incompatible. We're all actually mindbogglingly compatible."

     "Sally?"

     "The alien." To my look, he explains, "It's a nickname."

     "So has Sally seen this paperwork, report, study, whatever?"

     "I haven't asked. I only just happened upon the study." His voice gets a little quieter. "It was lying on a stack of other papers, and the subtitle 'possible interdimensional travel' caught my eye. I swiped it, acting like that was what I was supposed to be doing."

     "You have it with you?"

     "No. I put it back where I found it later. We're searched when we leave."

     "Oh." I pause. "I guess that makes sense."

     "Don't you want to know what it said? At least to hear a plausible way you could have arrived here in the first place?"

     "Um... Are you allowed to tell me this?"

     "I call this extenuating circumstances. Besides, it's on the list of things to get declassified. We're probably going to treat it like it's nothing but a load of bull." His eyes plead with me.

     "O...kay."

     He smiles, and his shoulders relax. "First of all, do you remember what you were doing when you went to sleep the night before you arrived here?" He pauses. "Like, was there anything you did to help yourself fall asleep?"

     "You mean drugs? No."

     His lips quirk. "No, I don't mean drugs. Did you listen to music?"

     I blink. "Yeah, actually." I blush a tad. "I, um, actually made a kind of mix tape of songs smashed together so that they made no sense, kind of creating a white noise nonsense."

     "Well, according to this report, you didn't just create nonsense, if my theory is correct. I was thinking maybe it was some kind of something playing through headphones or maybe the vibration noises from a machine or machines, etc."

     "You're telling me SOUND did this to me?"

     "And a very relaxed or meditative state."

     "I was in charge of running the sales pitch the next morning, so I was going over in my head what to say and do. I was dreading it, the whole public speaking thing, so I was doing whatever I could to calm myself down and just focus on the key points of the presentation." I squint my eyes as he keeps nodding. "So sound and focus stuck me in a game?"

     "Well, here's where it gets really weird, in my opinion." He takes a breath. "Game, real world, other dimensions: They're all the same. According to this report, everything is created with energy, and it's our minds and senses that translate the energy into the world around us."

     "So you're saying that when I'd play Sims, I was creating a real universe?" I think my brain just turned into mush and has slowly started oozing out my ears.

     He holds up his hand. "Not... exactly. Or... exactly. The layer thing is where this gets tricky, in my opinion. Unless..." He pauses and thinks. "Unless there are no layers. The energy that makes up things makes up everything. It connects everything to a kind of base plane of existence, what the report called the Absolute."

     "Use the Force, Luke." I smirk.

     "What?"

     "Movie quote. The Force was what that series called this energy you're talking about."

     "We re-create the same type of environment, you re-connect with the Absolute, and you go home." He looks so serious.

     I can't speak. Something in my gut tells me that's the answer I've been searching for. Geoffrey did it. He found it.

     And now I'm so upset and mad at him that I can't look at him anymore!

     Without a word of explanation, I get up and run to my room, quietly crying. Geoff calls out to me, but the only response he gets is a slammed, then locked, bedroom door.

      He's immediately knocking. "Alice! Alice, wait! You're not even going to say goodbye?"

      Say goodbye? He keeps knocking. Then the knocks turn to bangs of his fist.

 

      "I don't care if I wake the whole damn neighborhood; I'm going to keep being noisy, Alice!" More banging. It's like, in his mind, he's interrupting whatever I'd do to find the right sound combination.

      "Stop it, Geoffrey! I'm not going anywhere!" Unless you want me to. I sob into my pillow.

     The doorknob wiggles. "Unlock the door, Alice."

 

     "No!" I hear cursing in a very un-Geoffrey-like way going on on the other side of the bedroom door. Then, all is quiet for a few minutes. Next, there's a kind of scraping, a thunking on the doorknob itself. "What are you doing?"

     "I'll buy a new door!" Something springs free in the inner workings of the doorknob lock, and the door swings open.

     My fiance sits on the floor of the kitchen/dining room, looking disheveled. His jaw is set as he puts a screwdriver back into the ether and stands up.

     I don't get up from the bed, instead continuing to cry.

     "Talk to me," he requests

     "No."

     "Why not?"

     "I don't want a fight."

     "Why would we fight?"

     "Leave me alone."

     "Not until you at least tell me why."

     "I can't deal with this new information, Geoffrey! Leave me alone!"

     "Promise you won't leave without talking to me first."

     "Ugh! I don't want to leave. It's just... I can now, and I don't know what I should do."

 

     "You could try talking to me about it." He sits down on the bed, watching me.

     "You'll just tell me to stay."

 

     "You're damn right, I will."

     "Why did you have to tell me all that in the first place?"

     "Because keeping it from you would tear me up inside." He swallows. "It'll make me always wonder, 'what if she'd had the chance to leave? would she have done it?'" Tears fall down his face. 

     I hate my own crying, but I can't bear the sight of his. I sit up and wrap my arms around his neck. 

 

    He grabs me, springing his arms around me like a bear trap. He pulls me across his lap and buries his face in my hair.

 

     "I miss my family, even my stupid sister. I miss my friends. People probably think I vanished or worse. Or maybe it's invasion of the body snatchers, someone else is controlling my body." Pause. "What if someone is accused of my murder? What if my body is in a coma? What if I'm dead? What if when I get back, I only wind up buried alive?"

     He mumbles into my hair. "What if your body came with you, as in, your energy, and this universe translated your energy into this form?"

     I shrug. "Well, you're the one who read the report. I assume you read the whole thing?"

     "Yeah. If I hadn't have met you first, I'd swear the man was a nutcase." He inhales. "He even put in the report that he suspected the whole thing would be seen as lunacy." His arms tighten. "I'm sorry you miss your family," he whispers.

     "We were never really what you would call 'close,' but yeah."

     "And your friends." He squeezes me.

     "I feel bad for disappearing on them." My ribs hurt. "Geoff, ow. That's too tight."

 

     He slackens his grip the tiniest amount, and again, he whispers, "Please don't leave me."

     I squirm to get him to loosen up some more. He gives a fraction. "How could I? You, Carlie, Bruno... you're my family now."

     "Then why did you run off like that?" he whines.

     I think while having to remind him again not to tighten his arms. "I was mad."

     "Why?"

     I let out a huff. "I don't know, really." I ponder a bit more. "Maybe I was mad because I'd spent so long searching for the answer only to get it when I no longer wanted it." I wiggle again to combat the ever-ready vise of his arms. Do they have a gym at his work? I inwardly question when they once more get tighter. "Geoff, it's okay. I'm not leaving. Relax." I lift my hand and stroke the side of his face.

     He pulls away from my hair, some strands still sticking to his wet cheeks, and the rest of our conversation gets said in another way.

 -----------------------------------------------------------

Thank you, AJ. This was the missing piece.

(My brain always wants to put a "T" in the logo. /shrug)