A Date with Angel

(and other things that weren’t supposed to happen)

Copyright 2015 J. Judkins

Edited by Neeley Bratcher

Cover art by Blazingcovers.com

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Six

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Eight

Chapter Forty-Nine

Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty-One

Chapter Fifty-Two

Chapter Fifty-Three

Chapter Fifty-Four

Table of Contents

Special thanks to Sue Seabury, David Harrison, Taylor Sullivan, Susan Boesger and Grace Campbell for taking those extra steps to make my story better, and for letting me poke holes at their own characters.

Chapter One

A short cry of pain echoed through the woods from below, and Kim stopped at once. She concentrated, listening intently, but already the commotion had faded to nothing. All she could hear were crickets and the ambient noise of distant traffic.

Another may have doubted their senses, assuming some other mundane reason for the disturbance they’d heard. They would have dismissed the possibility of something unusual and gone on with their ordinary, boring lives.

Kim was not one of them.

She smiled and hefted her telescope just a little bit higher, thinking of the grim possibilities the cry entailed. The last hour she’d spent looking at a bunch of boring stars paled in comparison. The mere thought of danger fed her excitement.

Something interesting was happening beyond the trees in the parking lot, and she was determined to find out what.

Kim gave the telescope an experimental swing. It would serve as an improvised club. Perhaps not the use her mother intended for her birthday gift, but Kim had already decided tonight was going to be the very last night she’d devote to astronomy. Four times was more than enough. She’d given it a shot, and found it lacking. While she liked the isolation stargazing offered, she felt there were better ways to waste her time.

Using the stealth skills she’d developed from a lifetime of video games, which she preferred to life itself, Kim crept forward. She strained to see through the darkened woods and into the parking lot just beyond, but it was no use. The moon offered enough light to ensure no danger of a misstep, but there were simply too many trees between her and the whatever-it-was she’d heard.

She pressed on, crouching low with the telescope before her, alert for an attack that could come at any moment. While it was true she’d never been in an actual fight in her life, she felt herself fully prepared for one. If someone jumped out at her, she’d hit him with the telescope as hard as she could, then hit him again, whether or not he remained conscious to complain about it.

The woods began to thin out, and the parking lot became more visible. Kim could now clearly see the Bucky’s convenience store on the far side. Two cars were parked in front near its entrance. Her own silver Corolla was on the opposite side, fairly close to the street. If Kim had to guess, the disturbance happened closer to her than to the store. No one inside had heard and come to investigate, which didn't surprise her.

Movement caught her eye. A few parking spaces beyond her car, Kim could now see a naked, young woman, struggling to pull a t-shirt on over her head. At her feet lay an unconscious, shirtless man.

Terminators! Kim thought, which even she realized was an unusual reaction.

The parallels were glaring and obvious to her, so she tried to justify her reaction in her mind. Anyone who had ever seen the movies knew that when killer robots from the future journey back through time, they always arrived naked. That meant the first thing on the robot’s agenda was to find a human and steal their clothes. Then the hunt for their specific targets would begin in earnest, finding and killing future members of the human resistance before they could develop the skill, experience, or even realization that they needed to defend themselves.

Kim ventured closer to get a better look, taking slow, measured steps to ensure her silence, but something must have alerted the woman below. She spun in place, her gaze searching before finally seeming to bear directly on her. Kim faltered, unnerved at being located so easily, but she quickly recovered. She continued walking as if nothing were unusual, a few moments later taking her first tentative steps onto the parking lot.

Her Corolla was almost twenty feet to her right. The woman stood behind it, watching her. Kim stayed close to the edge of the woods, keeping the vehicle between them as she made her way to the driver’s side door.

After unlocking the door, Kim hesitated. She couldn’t let this go. Precious little went on in her day-to-day life, and here at least was something interesting. While she didn’t believe this woman was an actual time-traveling, cybernetic organism on a mission of death and destruction, she enjoyed entertaining the possibility that it could be true.

The strange woman continued to regard her in silence. She stood just over five feet tall, a little taller than Kim herself. Her hair looked blonde, almost white under the glare of the distant streetlights. The blue t-shirt she wore extended past her hips, clearly a size or two too large for her, but she didn’t seem at all concerned about it.

Kim tried not to notice, but it was glaringly obvious that the woman wore nothing else besides the shirt. Her lack of modesty reinforced Kim’s impression there was something exceptionally odd about her.

Kim’s hand hovered above the door handle. It remained unopened.

"Hello,” said Kim.

"Hello," said the woman. She took a few steps to her right as if to block Kim’s view of the unconscious man.

Undeterred, Kim gave him another glance. The man looked to be in his mid-thirties. He seemed physically fit, although the sight of muscles prominently on display did nothing for her. She was more interested in the fact that the burly man seemed twice the woman’s size. It made her wonder if her terminator theory might not be entirely inaccurate.

In a way, she hoped it wasn’t true. Being slaughtered as the closest owner of a needed vehicle didn’t appeal to her.

“Do you need help?”

“No.”

Kim gestured with her telescope. “Is he going to be okay?”

The woman didn’t turn or even glance at him. "Yes."

"What happened to your clothes?"

"I lost them," she said.

"What, as in misplaced?"

"No. I lost them in a fire. I hit my head. I can’t remember my name. I have also misplaced my memory."

"Don’t you mean, you lost your memory?"

"Yes. I lost my memory after I hit my head. It is a reasonable explanation."

Reasonable. Right...

Kim circled to the front of her car to better see the shirtless man. The woman again shifted to block her view, trying to be nonchalant and make the action look natural, but once again, failing miserably.

"Is he your friend?" Kim asked her.

"Yes. He also hit his head. This is why he’s unconscious," explained the woman.

"Yeah? What’s his name?"

"I don’t know. I have forgotten his name."

"Why did you take his shirt?"

"The shirt belongs to me. It is normal to wear clothes."

"Why didn’t you take his pants, too?"

Half the woman’s face scrunched up into something that looked like irritation to Kim.

"His pants are too large,” explained the woman, almost sounding bitter about it, “and they wouldn’t fit me. There is no need to take his pants. Also, they are his pants and do not belong to me."

She stopped as if thinking about it, then continued in a voice seeped in curiosity. "Do you happen to have any clothes I could use? I lost mine in--"

"--in a fire, I know," Kim interrupted. "You’re not from around here, are you?"

"Is it easily apparent I’m not from around here?"

Kim shrugged. "Kinda."

"You are correct. This place seems strange to me." The woman looked away, as if embarrassed that she needed to provide an explanation.

Kim again glanced past the woman to the man lying in a crumpled heap behind her.

Something about him seems familiar.

Then it clicked. Kim recognized him, or rather, she’d seen him before from a distance. On a visit nearly a week ago, he and one of his friends were lingering around outside the convenience store. They’d spotted her as she left the woods and started towards her.

Fortunately, the parking lot was just large enough and Kim had a head start. She had more than enough time to reach her vehicle before they could stop her. One of them even called her a bitch as she drove past. She’d written them off as jerks and done her best to forget about them. While she doubted they would have tried anything in full view of the store, she didn’t see a need to take chances.

She couldn’t have picked a nicer victim, Kim thought in silent approval, feeling good it had been him, bad that it must have hurt, but good she felt bad about it.

As if on cue, the man began to sit up, groaning and putting a hand to his head. The woman at once lost all interest in Kim. She crouched next to him, blocking Kim’s view, not at all concerned with modesty.

"Please don’t move. You hit your head," she told the man.

He violently flinched away from her outstretched hand, eyes wide in apparent panic. The woman moved closer and did something Kim couldn’t see. She heard a groan and he fell back against the concrete.

"Oh, no, he’s unconscious again!” the woman cried, and shot to her feet. Her panicked demeanor reminded Kim of a child in a school play with instructions from the teacher to look scared. Her frantic eyes met Kim’s. “You seem friendly. Could you contact a paramedic? I’ll stay here and render assistance."

Kim ignored the question. A brand new conclusion was taking root in her brain. It was unlikely the woman wanted an actual paramedic, or any official attention whatsoever. "Can’t you remember where you’re from?" she asked, trying not to sound eager.

The woman’s expression shifted again. Exasperation, this time. “I lost my memory. I told you that.”

Kim barely heard her. Her mind was racing. The average person would never have reached the conclusion she was reaching, but taking into account how desperately the woman was attempting to blend in, it made perfect sense to her. Kim discarded the terminator theory because: A, the woman hadn’t killed her yet and; B, this was a better idea. Also C, terminators didn’t exist.

No, it was far more plausible this woman was an alien who only looked human.

Kim hugged herself, hoping her elation wouldn’t show. A real alien! Ever since she’d discovered science fiction as a child, she’d dreamed of meeting one. The woman’s very existence was interesting.

And if she had shown up five minutes later, and the alien woman would have completed her disguise and moved on.

It felt true, and Kim certainly wanted it to be true, but she knew enough to test her theory before acting on it and doing something she’d later come to regret. If the woman were ordinary, after all, she wouldn’t want to get involved. Ordinary was boring. "Do you want me to call the police? You know, the local authorities?"

The woman gave a half smile and made an attempt at laughter. "No, I’m certain that my memory will return. There is no trouble and no need to alert the authorities."

Which contradicted her earlier request for paramedics. That settled it in her mind. Alien. Positive of it. Posing as human. A normal human woman would have welcomed the help. Kim could barely contain her excitement.

"Is English the only language you know? Most people know several," Kim lied.

The woman didn’t hesitate. "I, too, know several languages," she said.

This time, Kim couldn’t stop herself from smiling and barely resisted the urge to laugh out loud. The other woman gave her an incredulous look.

"Would you like to come home with me? Until you regain your memory?" Kim asked.

The woman said nothing, but her look shifted to something similar to puzzlement.

"There’s nothing unusual about it," Kim continued in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. "People invite other people home all the time."

"I hesitate only because I am considering your offer. Do you live alone?"

Live alone? This brought Kim up short. For the first time, she felt the stirrings of fear, a brief hint of a self-preservation instinct she’d never used before and didn’t even realize she had before now. The woman might as well have asked if anyone would investigate her disappearance if she suddenly turned up missing.

“Yes,” Kim answered, choosing to ignore the warning.

This is too important. There is no danger. She’s more afraid of you than you are of her. Don’t scare the nice alien.

"Then I agree. I would like that."

Kim smiled again. She walked around to the passenger side and opened the door.

The woman approached. She took a moment to scan the interior of the Corolla before sitting inside. Kim didn’t blame her for the scrutiny. One of the first things she did when she’d purchased her vehicle was to tint her windows to the darkest shade allowable by law for the state of Colorado. As she resided in Nebraska, they’d cautioned her that she ‘wouldn’t be allowed to drive it,’ which Kim accepted as their way to avert responsibility.

Kim didn’t mind risking a ticket. She spent most of her time indoors, anyway, and was no fan of the sun. Nature and all its majestic splendor bored her.

She stowed her telescope in the back, then slid into the driver’s seat.

This was going to be perfect!

They began the long drive home in silence. Kim was full of questions she wanted to ask, but managed to contain herself. She couldn’t risk letting the alien woman know she was on to her. That meant questions like 'What’s it like where you’re from?’ or ‘What’s the secret to traveling faster than light?’ were off limits. Those would be nice to know, but bad to ask.

Throughout her internal debate, Kim fought to keep herself from stealing glances at the real-life alien woman seated next to her. She’d glance over, inadvertently glance down, and once again be reminded that the woman’s shirt really didn’t cover all that much.

Embarrassment gave her the strength to resist looking. Then the embarrassment would fade, excitement would well up once more, she’d glance over, look down, and the cycle would repeat itself all over again.

"I agreed to come with you, and this makes you happy?" asked the woman.

"What?"

"You keep smiling. I’m curious. You smile and look at me, then turn away."

"I’m sorry, it’s just--” Kim resisted the urge to wave her hands around which was a bad thing to do while driving, “--I’m not the most sociable girl in the world. This is very unusual for me."

"You assured me this was normal behavior," the woman stated, her voice sounding accusing.

"No, it is normal," Kim was quick to correct, "but not normal for me. This is the first time I’ve done anything like this, but it does happen."

"Why do you look and turn away?"

Kim had to think fast. It was obvious the woman was trying to blend in. If she let on she knew she was an alien sent here for some unknown purpose, who knows what she’d do? At best, she’d walk away. At worse, she might kill her.

The thought of getting vaporized or blasted into a million pieces made her smile. It occurred to her the prospect of disintegration should have scared the hell out of her, but it didn’t. She was too excited.

How would she do it? Maybe the woman would use her mental powers to explode her brain with but a thought! That would be interesting. Or maybe she’d use her alien strength to rip Kim’s still-beating heart out of her chest so quickly she’d have time to show it to her just before she died!

Both of those would be cool. Painful, but cool. And she’d be dead. Death would be significantly less than cool.

Maybe she should avoid that.

While she was at it, maybe she should seek mental help! Why exactly was she doing this again? Because life was dull and ordinary, and this promised a bit of excitement? Was she that starved for entertainment?

Kim realized the alien was still waiting for an answer. What answer would satisfy her? Why do normal people bring strangers home? She glanced at her passenger again, glanced down, and tore her eyes away, face flaming.

That’s right! Half naked woman in the car! She could use that!

"I’m embarrassed. Like I said, I’m not used to this. I’m shy. First time for me," Kim said.

"I understand," said the woman, not sounding at all convinced.

"So, what’s your name?" asked Kim.

"I don’t remember."

Kim gave her a sympathetic look before her eyes returned to the road. “I could give you a name, if you want.”

"Angel," said the woman.

"What?"

"My name is Angel."

Kim pulled into her condominium’s parking lot. "I thought you didn’t remember?"

“While he was still being friendly, the man said Angel several times. I didn’t realize he was referring to me by name until now."

Still being friendly? Kim felt another tremor of fear at the underlying meaning of Angel’s words. They implied Angel could become less than friendly if the situation called for it.

As the car’s headlights washed over her garage door, Kim hit the remote and used the opportunity to scan the parking area, looking for any potential witnesses. This early in the morning she wasn’t expecting anyone at all, but her garage was a good distance away from the condominium complex itself. The prospect of her leading a half-naked woman into her building did not appeal to her. Not in the slightest. People would talk. She certainly couldn’t claim Angel was an alien, and she was keeping her as her excuse.

Best to conceal her existence from everyone.

Kim killed the engine and looked at her passenger. "We’re home, but I need you to stay in the car for a few minutes."

"Your home is very small."

It took Kim half a second before she caught on, then she smiled. "No, I meant to say, this is my garage. The garage is technically a part of my home, but I need you to stay here while I go inside to get a few things. Would you mind? I’ll be right back."

"I will stay in the car," said Angel.

Kim took her keys and left the garage. She debated closing the door, but didn’t want Angel concluding she’d been locked inside.

It took Kim less than three minutes to return with a pair of pants and some comfortable shoes. She opened the car door on Angel’s side. As Angel stepped out, Kim handed her the pants and set the shoes on the floor.

"These are yours now," she said.

Kim returned her attention to the parking lot. Despite the late hour, she half anticipated someone wandering by and taking a look inside.

Reassured they were alone, Kim looked back. Angel still hadn’t put on the pants.

Not knowing if Angel needed a demonstration, Kim decided to take the quick and easy path. Not to explain, but to show by example. She untied her shoes and stepped onto the cold concrete then quickly unzipped and took off her own pants. "It’s like this," she said, and put them on again only twice as fast, trying not to blush.

Angel watched Kim with a single-minded intensity that did nothing to ease her embarrassment. She nodded once, hopefully in understanding, and Kim turned away and left her to it. She didn’t realize Angel had finished until after she joined her at the garage entrance.

Kim glanced down. Angel’s shoes were also correctly tied. Apparently, one demonstration had been enough.

"I noticed you were wearing an additional piece of clothing," said Angel.

"Ah. Yes. Those were panties."

"Should I have panties, too?"

"I’ll let you borrow some of mine, later."

Chapter Two

Kim’s condominium was a two-bedroom apartment, her extra bedroom long since converted into a computer and video gaming room. The living room was dominated by a couch which extended into a matching chair and end table, the path to the kitchen just beyond. On the opposite side lay a massive credenza. It took up the bulk of the wall space, and stood parallel to the couch. An entertainment center took up what remained, extending into the adjoining wall which led to the hallway.

The house was clean because Kim preferred to keep it that way, and not because of any ridiculous and unnecessary social desires to entertain guests from time to time. Her laundry was the only exception, her clothes carefully laid out on the furniture which served as imperfect hangers.

Annoyed at the slight mess, but not embarrassed, Kim gathered up clothing on her way to the hall closet, Angel trailing along behind her. Her mind was elsewhere, preoccupied with trying to figure out a way to ask Angel about the secret to faster-than-light travel without giving herself away. With no answer forthcoming, she decided to focus on where Angel was going to sleep, instead.

The thought occurred to her to let Angel stay in her own bed, but even knowing Angel wasn’t human and discarding the social implications, the idea seemed like a bad one. Besides, she’d never convince Angel it was ordinary, acceptable behavior.

After hanging up the clothes she’d gathered, Kim reached up to the higher shelves to pull down spare bedding and a pillow. She carried the bundle to the couch and dropped it in the middle.

"Do you have to sleep?" Kim asked, internally wincing as soon as she asked the question.

Have to sleep? What kind of a stupid question was that? If she was going to find out more about Angel and her purpose here, she needed to be more careful. She couldn’t afford to give any hints she already suspected what Angel truly was. Learning more about Angel without giving herself away was going to take time and delicacy.

Fortunately, Angel didn’t notice her slip. "Naturally. Everyone requires sleep."

Kim suppressed a sigh of relief. "Good. You can sleep on the couch."

"Isn’t sleeping normally accomplished on a bed?"

"I thought about that, but I only have the one bed. Only couples sleep in the same bed."

"A couple in this context is defined as two people, romantically involved?"

The question brought Kim up short. She realized then that she’d been assuming Angel possessed a complete familiarity with Earth culture, but that didn’t appear to be the case. The alien knew the language and the words, but it was entirely possible she’d never seen examples of what they meant.

Perhaps Angel knew how to put on pants, and hadn’t needed a demonstration, after all? Kim tried to remember her exact words. Did she ask Angel to put them on? Or had she simply handed them over and assumed Angel knew she wanted her to put them on?

It stood to reason that Angel couldn’t be that well-informed. After all, if she’d started out with full knowledge of Earth’s languages and customs, even Kim with her inquisitive mind would never have spotted her.

"That’s right," Kim confirmed.

"I knew this as well. I had temporarily forgotten."

Which meant, Angel made a guess. Now she was glad she hadn’t volunteered the bed. She didn’t need Angel getting the wrong idea.

"You can get yourself set up here," she said. "I’m going to go take a shower."

Angel didn’t reply. She picked up one of the sheets and began unfolding it, holding it at arm’s length. She shook it out.

"Would you like to take a shower, too?”

Again, Angel declined to answer. She seemed focused on her task.

Kim shrugged and walked down the hall to the bathroom.

She closed the door behind her, undressing and dropping dirty clothes into the hamper one by one. Tonight had certainly been exciting, she thought, smiling to herself at the mirror above the sink. An actual alien, living in her home, sleeping on her couch! She couldn’t wait to find out more about her.

The bathroom door opened just as she was about to step into the shower. Her jaw dropped to the floor as an equally naked Angel walked into the bathroom, casual as you please.

Kim immediately noticed something she didn’t really need to know. Apparently, aliens like Angel didn’t have a problem with body hair. Other than her long, light-blonde hair hanging just past her shoulders, she didn’t seem to have any.

The only spot of color other than the slightly darker nipples of her breasts were her deep blue eyes, a striking contrast against the paleness of her skin. The words creamy white popped into her head, unbidden. In fact, her skin looked exceptionally soft, so soft Kim couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to touch it.

This effectively derailed her train of thought. She was so surprised by her reaction she didn't even think to cover herself until after the moment had passed.

"What are you doing?" Kim demanded.

"You said I should take a shower," stated Angel. "I agree. People are known to take showers on an average of once per day. It is normal behavior."

"You want to take a shower with me?" Kim asked, incredulous.

Angel paused as if thinking it over, then said, "That would be acceptable.”

Kim blinked, then realization hit her. Good one, Kimmie! Guess that did sound like an invitation!

"This shower type is unfamiliar to me,” said Angel, looking directly at Kim and not even glancing at the shower itself. “Would you show me how to use it?"

"Oh, sure, I’d love to do that," Kim replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Thank you."

Once again, Kim lost a second as she processed Angel’s words. She grimaced.

No concept of sarcasm. Got it.

Guess she did get herself into this situation. Trying to back out now would arouse suspicion.

Kim knew from watching too much anime to be healthy that, in places like Japan, it wasn’t such a big deal for women to bathe together. Showers weren’t as popular, at least in the anime she watched, but the same theory had to apply. "Don’t you have showers, where you come from? And where is that, by the way?"

Angel answered the first part of the question and chose not to answer the rest. "Not like this."

Kim stepped inside the shower and Angel followed. The shower itself wasn’t a particularly large one. There was enough room for both women to comfortably stand, but barely enough to avoid touching.

As Kim turned on the water, she took a step back to avoid the rush of cold and bumped against Angel standing just a little too close behind her. Angel didn’t react, so Kim resolved to ignore it.

It’s just a shower. We’re both women. Or at least, one of us is and the other is posing as one. Nothing unusual about this, except for the whole, ‘alien posing as a human,’ thing.

While Kim was busy with her internal justifications, trying to reassure herself everything was normal and completely under control, Angel eased herself to the front and stood under the water. Kim couldn’t help but notice that even when the water went directly into her eyes, Angel didn’t blink. Not once. The sight was a bit chilling. If she ever doubted Angel’s extraordinary nature, those doubts were gone.

After several seconds, Angel resumed her previous position behind Kim, once again brushing against her as she passed. It couldn’t be classified as accidental touching since Angel made no attempt to minimize the contact, so once again, Kim let it pass. Surely Angel meant nothing by it.

Kim picked up her bottle of liquid soap and squirted a small amount into her hand. She held it for Angel to see. "This is soap. You use the soap to get clean."

"Naturally, I know what soap is."

Naturally. Right. Kim rubbed the soap on her own shoulders, breasts, stomach, and down her legs, all painstakingly trying to avoid contact with Angel and keep herself from flinching when it inevitably happened. "Like this," she said, and took a moment to rinse. “See?”

Angel took the bottle and gathered her own soap in her hand. She reached out and started washing Kim.

For a moment, Kim forgot to breathe. She stood paralyzed, unable to move as Angel methodically soaped and cleaned her chest and stomach. She went even more rigid when Angel bent over to clean her legs, not seeming to notice or care where she placed her hand.

Anyone else, and they’d get slapped. Twice! Only the fact that Kim knew for certain Angel didn’t know any better kept her from doing so.

"Like that?" Angel asked, once she was done.

Kim could only nod.

When Kim didn’t move for several seconds, Angel prompted her. "I should be washed as well."

Kim’s mind raced in panicked circles. This is nothing unusual. In other countries, people wash each other all the time. This is no different. Angel is only trying to blend in. She doesn’t know the local customs.

Besides, if she stopped now, Angel would want an explanation. She might realize what they’d done so far wasn’t normal, and wonder why Kim had done it anyway.

Just do it. You’ll be done before you know it. We’re both girls, more or less. Just do it!

Steeling herself, Kim swallowed hard and reached out her hand. She started with Angel’s shoulders, using one hand at first, but as her apprehension grew she decided to speed things up a little and get it over and done with and started using both hands.

She hesitated only a second before placing both hands on Angel’s breasts, kneading them gently but firmly. Nothing unusual, nothing sexual about it, just washing another girl’s breasts, that’s all. Not grabbing. Not technically playing with them, either. Remember, we’re both girls, concentrate so you don’t have to do it again, finish them both then…OH MY GOD I FORGOT THE SOAP!

She froze in place, hands still clamped on Angel’s breasts.

"Is something wrong?" asked Angel, giving her an innocent look.

"I forgot the soap," Kim whimpered, mortified to the depths of her soul. She had to exert a conscious effort to make her hands let go. To her horror, her hands left little imprints on Angel’s breasts. It took a small eternity for the marks to fade, and for the entire time Kim couldn’t make herself stop staring. Only after they’d faded completely did the mesmerizing spell release her.

Fortunately for Kim, Angel still didn’t seem to care. She seemed indifferent to all of it.

Kim soaped her hands and started again. Shoulders. Breasts. This time doing one, then the other, again using both hands on each individually to finish the job quickly. She tried keeping her expression neutral, but feared she wasn’t entirely successful.

Everything about Angel’s skin was as soft as she tried not to imagine.

Out to one arm, then the other. She had to stop and try to remember which of Angel’s breasts she already did. Did she get them both, or just one? Wasn’t she holding off until later? Think! Try to remember! Don’t just stare at them or she’ll notice you staring! Make a decision!

Okay, just this once and one time only, wash them both and who cares if you did one or both of them before or not, just do it, finish it and be done! Out of soap again, but you didn’t really finish, and she’s going to think you’re the worst kind of pervert if you go back, now so just finish up, stop staring at them and move on!

Kim looked down at Angel’s legs and swallowed. She started to bend over rather than crouch down, but it placed her eyes perilously close to Angel’s breasts, so she chose the latter, looking away, anywhere but at Angel.

Turns out, it was exceedingly hard to navigate when you refused to see.

Just get it over with and finish it!

She gave Angel’s legs a once over, then once more for appearance’s sake so she’d look casual about it, like she did this every day, and not like a pervert, and not like she was rushing things. She ran her hands up the back of Angel’s legs, further up, skimming with the briefest touch along her ass. She probably touched and felt her way around a little too much since she refused to look, almost but not quite suppressing an audible whimper as she did so.

Another problem came to her attention.

Kim’s eyes were tightly closed, which forced her to rely on her sense of touch alone. She wanted to maintain a respectable distance, but quickly realized Angel’s arms were preventing her from reaching further up her body. She hoped to slide her arms underneath Angel’s to finish the job and reach her shoulder blades. The trouble was, she couldn’t quite reach. Angel was slightly taller than Kim, and her reaching hands fell just short of their target.

Kim’s solution was to keep her feet where they were and lean forward, hoping to both maintain her distance and solve the distance problem all at the same time. This new position caused her breasts to brush against Angel’s. But she ignored the unexpected sensation and stretched, finally reaching her goal as she touched Angel’s upper back. Then she realized she was in essence hugging Angel, their breasts were mashing together and slipping against each other this way and that, and why didn’t she simply ask Angel to turn around?

Kim felt a rush of heat and guessed she had to be blushing from head to toe. After the moment passed and she regained the ability to move, she shut off the water, snatched up a towel, dried herself off in record time, then handed the towel to Angel and fled the room.

All she wanted was to get out of there. She ran straight to her bedroom and sat on her bed, hands on either side of her head, her face burning.

Angel entered the room less than a minute later carrying Kim’s towel in one hand, still naked but completely dried off. Kim realized with a start she was naked as well. Her eyes darted about, looking for something to cover herself. There was a pillow on the far side of the bed, but Kim didn’t want to dive for it.

"Did I do something wrong?" Angel gave Kim an expression which she interpreted as a puzzled look.

"No, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s me. I’m just…” Kim wrung her hands. “I’ve never done anything like this before!"

"Because you’re shy? You’re not used to it?"

Kim recognized her words as the same excuse she’d given Angel in the car. It was as good as any, so she decided to go with it. "Yes. That’s it. Can we talk about this later? In the morning, please? I’m going to bed. You should, too."

"Have you changed your mind?"

"About what?"

Angel gestured to the bed with her towel. "Did you want me to sleep with you?"

"What! No! Sleep in your own bed!"

"I don’t have a bed."

"On the couch, I showed you!"

Angel gave her another confused look and turned to leave. Kim held up a hand to stop her. "Listen, I didn’t mean to yell at you. It’s only for a little while, you understand?"

"I understand," Angel said, and left the room.

Kim sighed to herself. The bed comment was an empty promise, but it was too late to take it back. Even if she could afford another bed, her extra bedroom was full and she didn’t have the space for it.

Chapter Three

Kim woke up the way she always did on weekdays. Reluctantly. Her bedroom windows faced north, but heavy curtains blocked out any hint of daylight. She threw off the covers and went straight for the bathroom, switching on the hall and bathroom light as she went. As far as she was concerned, artificial light beat natural light any day.

As she entered the living room, she couldn’t help but stop and stare and simultaneously try to ignore the sleeping naked woman on her couch. Half of Angel’s covers were bunched up at her feet, the other half lying forgotten on the floor.

Perhaps Angel thought sleeping was defined as tossing and turning while lying in place for several hours, and she wanted to give a good impression of it?

Angel was asleep on her back, but something about her seemed off to Kim. She leaned closer, placing one hand on the back of the couch to brace herself. What she realized shocked her.

Angel wasn’t breathing.

Kim’s eyes widened in fascination.

Didn’t aliens need to breathe? Kim didn’t know, but she resolved to find out. Curious, she leaned in a bit closer. Scientifically curious, she reminded herself.

It was still up for debate whether Angel was a living being that closely resembled human, or if she were an alien, self-aware machine designed to look human. If she were designed, then whomever did it clearly didn’t do a very good job. Not breathing? Big giveaway.

It also irked Kim that Angel’s breasts were at least a cup size or two beyond her own. Allowing for the designed theory, Kim guessed Angel’s pervert creators probably based her appearance off of what they perceived to be an average, based off the large breasted women which dominated the internet. Kim didn’t consider hers to be small, but it still annoyed her.

Angel’s eyes opened and focused on her. Kim jerked back.

"What were you doing?" Angel asked, not sounding at all sleepy.

Kim tried to think of an acceptable lie.

Don’t tell her she wasn’t breathing!

"I was staring at your breasts!"

Angel looked down at her herself, then back to Kim. "Is there something wrong with them?"

"No, I was only looking. Nothing wrong with them. They look good to me, but you should...ah...cover them up. Or something,” Kim stammered, blushing hotly. “Did you want breakfast?"

"Naturally, I would want breakfast."

That was enough for Kim. She fled for the kitchen.

On a typical day, Kim never ate breakfast. Cooking was one of those activities other people did, and she had no intention of joining their ranks. Today, however, the act of cooking and preparing food served as a welcome distraction. She had bacon, eggs and toast ready by the time Angel wandered in a few minutes later.

Kim took one look at her, then turned her attention to the wall. It was a fascinating wall, full of crisscrossing lines in an intricate pattern she’d never fully appreciated before until now.

Angel walked around to interpose herself between the fascinating wall and Kim. In response, Kim shifted her full attention to the ceiling. The ceiling fan needed dusting.

"I removed my clothes last night before taking the shower, and now I can’t find them," said Angel.

Kim now remembered picking up Angel’s clothes and tossing them into the hamper to be washed. It hadn’t registered with her at the time that they were all the clothes Angel had in the world and conceivably she might want them back the next day. She left the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with an armful of new clothes and handed them to Angel.

Kim’s eyes remained averted while Angel dressed herself. When things seemed to quiet down, Kim risked a glance. Angel was now dressed, but seemed as troubled as before.

"Is something wrong?" Kim asked.

"No panties?"

Again, Kim left the room. Angel waited until after Kim returned and handed her a pair before she even started taking off her pants.

Kim was running out of things to look at that weren’t Angel.

Is she doing this deliberately?

"Is this embarrassing you?" Angel asked.

"Nooo. Why would it? We’re both girls. Nothing unusual."

"You’re staring up at the ceiling."

"Yes. Well. How did you sleep last night?"

"I may have dreamed, but I don’t remember it. That is normal for dreams."

After another minute of staring intently at the refrigerator, she dared to look. Angel was now fully dressed and seated at the table. Kim let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She set a plate in front of Angel and poured two glasses of orange juice before sitting down opposite her.

Angel waited until Kim started to drink. "Why didn’t you want me to sleep with you?" she asked.

Kim went into a coughing fit. Angel watched her without comment.

"Because it isn’t done, Angel,” Kim managed, setting her glass down. “It isn’t normal for a person to sleep in the same bed as another person right after they first meet."

"Is this a cultural thing?"

Kim thought about it. "Yes."

"Oh. Thank you for explaining."

Kim kept her expression neutral. She knew people could and often did meet up and jump into bed with each other on the first night, but there was no way in hell she was getting into a conversation about casual sex with Angel. Besides, she was no expert on the matter. She’d never been in a relationship. They held no interest for her.

As they finally settled down to eat, Kim took note of how Angel seemed to be mimicking her table manners. On impulse, Kim put two strips of bacon on her toast, folded it into a crude bacon sandwich, and took a bite. Angel ate a little more of her egg before she copied her. Kim noted she tried to make the action look casual, as if she'd done it before.

Kim hid an amused smile. "Do you like it?"

"Yes."

"Is this what you’re used to, where you come from?"

"We also have food where I come from."

Not exactly what she meant, but she was getting used to Angel’s mode of speech.

After breakfast, Kim went about the house in her morning ritual to find all the minor things she needed for work. This was normally done without conscious effort, but having Angel in the room watching her every move made her self-conscious and slowed her down.

Angel was wearing her curious expression, which consisted of a puzzled look with an occasional slight tilt of the head. Kim tried to pay attention to her task, but it was a losing battle. Angel’s constant scrutiny was disconcerting.

“What are you doing?” Angel asked.

“I have to go to work.”

"I also have to go to work."

Kim stopped in mid-search. "Wait, what? Are you saying you have a job?"

Angel nodded. “During the night, I recalled selective parts of my memory. I am a tourist, here from a foreign land to see the sights and get away from it all. I became unfortunate and hit my head, which caused me to lose my memory and misplace my luggage, passport, identification and all of my money."

"And half your clothes in a fire?"

"Yes. There was a fire."

"Okay." Kim nodded, thinking the matter closed as she resumed her search. She’d found everything except her sunglasses.

Angel followed her. "I have prepared proof to verify--"

"I said, it’s okay. I believe you.”

Angel gave Kim her unique mix of a confused and irritated expression. "Thank you."

None of it was true, of course. Kim didn’t believe her for an instant, but shooting holes in Angel’s story was not a good long-term strategy.

"There are other things I may have lost, but I cannot recall them as I have lost my memory. In addition, I do not wish to return to my place of origin. I request that you do not inform the local authorities. Is this requirement acceptable?"

"What exactly do you do as a tourist?"

"My job is merely to go out and observe your culture. I wish to see the sights and get away from it all."

"Merely?"

“Merely,” confirmed Angel. “Simply. There is nothing unusual about it, and no cause for alarm.”

Cause for alarm. Sure, that didn’t sound suspicious at all!

With a triumphant grin, Kim found her elusive sunglasses on the floor next to the couch. She hurried to the front door but didn’t open it. Her hand rested on the handle as she gathered her thoughts.

“Is something the matter?” Angel asked, giving another confused look with the head tilt again.

“No. Nothing’s the matter. I’m just worried about you. Maybe I should go with you?”

“Why would you be worried about me? I am not a danger to others. There’s nothing unusual or special about me.”

“I’m worried for your safety, not the safety of others,” said Kim. “If you want me to show you around the city, I could drive you.”

“I’m capable of defending myself against external threats.”

"I have time off this weekend," Kim pressed. "I’d love the opportunity to show you around, but you’d have to wait until then."

"When is 'this weekend'?”

“Today is Wednesday, so three days from now.”

“I will consider it.”

Kim tried again. “If you explore by yourself, you’ll just be wasting time. I think you should have someone with you who knows the city. I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble.”

“The desire to maintain a low profile is in my own self-interest. I have no interest in getting in trouble.”

That at least made sense. Of course Angel would want to avoid notice if she could possibly help it. If anything did happen, and she managed to get herself in trouble, Kim doubted Angel would be the type to stick around to accept responsibility. Angel seemed more a “flee the scene” type of person.

Kim decided to let it go. If Angel left, then she left. It was out of her hands. Short of personally staying here, she couldn’t stop her. Besides, if she kept fighting her on this, Angel might decide to try her luck elsewhere.

Couldn’t risk that. She needed to keep Angel around to find out more about her.

Kim returned to the kitchen and pulled open a drawer. It was full of old batteries, pens, condiments, and other miscellaneous trash she might have a need for someday that she couldn’t bring herself to throw away. After rummaging around, she found the key-ring she was looking for and handed it to Angel. “This is for the front door, the big one’s the security door. If you do leave, lock up behind you.”

“Naturally, I will do this.”

Guess that was it. There was nothing more to be said. Kim felt as if she were leaving a puppy home alone for the first time. At least Angel had some workable knowledge of her environment. Kim was going to have to roll the dice and see what happened.

Chapter Four

Kim’s job at GDI Industries was not a stressful one. She was one of three assigned to the task of bringing order out of chaos. In short, she managed other people’s work, taking what others created and archiving it away into a form others could find should they come looking for it in the future. She firmly believed her job would be among the first to go if the company ever had to downsize.

The afternoon rush had ended and it was time to relax. But today was different. Instead of picking up a book as she normally would, Kim sat back in her chair and thought about Angel.

Given the invasive, sociable nature of her co-workers, Kim’s departure from her normal behavior would have been noticed and remarked upon, had they seen it. This was a benefit of cubicle-land which her co-workers didn’t appreciate. The isolation provided Kim an excuse to be antisocial.

Kim didn’t care that her station was little more than a desk and three and a half walls, surrounded by thirty more identical to it in every direction. She welcomed the illusion of privacy. The soulless grey walls didn’t bother her. Others went out of their way to decorate their workspaces, trying to save what they could of their sanity. Kim’s own walls were empty, a noticeable exception to the rule. She’d rather have nothing at all around her than give others a window into her own, personal life.

She attributed her good mood to confidence, not the bliss of ignorance. The alien woman had been easy to figure out. After her little speech about “avoiding authorities” and “maintaining a low profile,” Kim felt certain Angel wouldn’t do anything extraordinary and risk jeopardizing the security she’d found.

Perhaps she might go out for an hour or so to wander around, but without a vehicle of her own, how far could she get? Far more likely she’d want to stay home and avoid anyone else.

This attitude persisted throughout the remainder of the work day. Kim couldn’t keep herself from smiling and couldn’t wait to get home. When the day ended, she took full advantage of her light work load and stood among the first to clock out and leave. If the others noticed her excitement or the change in her behavior, they kept those opinions to themselves.

Kim’s good mood began to fray around the edges as she crossed the parking lot to her car. What had Angel done in her absence? The possibilities were endless.

As she navigated her way through the evening traffic, her apprehension grew. Confidence gave way to worry. Angel was interested in maintaining a low profile, wasn’t she? Surely she wouldn’t try anything too outlandish. If Kim came home to find her condominium on fire and twenty tenants standing around outside glaring at her, she’d be just as surprised as everyone else.

Only after her building came into view did she feel herself relax her grip on the steering wheel. No noticeable fires or fire trucks anywhere. That was a good sign.

Kim unlocked the security door and climbed the long stairs to her apartment, but hesitated at the own door, wondering if Angel was knee-deep in constructing an alien device out of the gutted remains of her toaster and refrigerator or whatever electronics she’d found lying around. Had she left? Was she even still here?

After taking a deep breath, she opened the door. No smoke poured out.

Inside, she found Angel sitting on the living room couch. She was reading a book. The Caligarian Candidate. She’d changed her clothes, too, Kim noted, but what surprised her was the fact Angel was reading at all.

Until that moment, it hadn’t occurred to Kim to wonder whether Angel could even read the local language. Now that she thought about it, conceivably it would be stranger still if Angel couldn't read. The fact that Angel spoke without an accent should have clued her in.

Kim ached to know specifics about her, but she couldn’t think of a good way to start a conversation. She’d lived her entire life without social skills and never thought she’d need them.

Rather than stand in place like an idiot and try to think of things to say, Kim left for the kitchen. What do aliens like to eat? She knew from television, reptilian aliens liked to snack on live mice and people when they could get them, but beyond that, nothing.

What about a restaurant? Forcing Angel to choose from a menu could say a lot about her biology.

Kim returned to the living room. "Would you like to go out to eat? I've got a good restaurant in mind."

Angel smiled. "Yes. I would like that."

Kim gave a curt nod and left to make preparations. She hadn't expected Angel to say no, with her trying to blend in, and all that.

Kim didn’t have a clue if reservations were even needed at the particular restaurant she selected, but she made them anyway. No other time was spent on preparations. This was just dinner, after all, and nothing special. It wasn't as if they were going on a date or anything like that.

She didn’t want Angel selecting the same food she had eaten that morning, so Kim chose a restaurant that didn’t have a breakfast menu. To do otherwise would have defeated the purpose, namely getting a hint at what aliens like Angel preferred to eat. Hopefully, the restaurant itself wouldn’t prove too expensive.

As they drove, neither attempted to engage the other in small talk, and Kim was grateful for that. Such things always bored her. The weather was the weather and there was nothing anyone could do about it, and she felt fine, thanks for asking. The fact that neither she nor Angel cared to fill the time helped her relax.

She held the door open for Angel as they went in. The restaurant’s interior was comfortably cool and far darker inside. A pleasant, soft melody from the 90s played in the background. Nearly half the seats were filled.

A tall, well-dressed man approached them, smiling pleasantly.

"Kim Rowland for two. I have a reservation," Kim said. "Would you give us someplace out of the way? Preferably away from anybody else?"

The man gave a hint of a smile and nodded. "Certainly. Right this way."

He led them up to the restaurant's second floor and to a booth close to the corner. They passed a man and a woman more absorbed in conversation and each other than their food, but other than that, the entire floor was empty. Everyone else seemed to prefer the main floor.

"Why did you want isolation?" asked Angel, once they were seated.

"I like being alone,” said Kim, then realizing how that sounded, she added, "When I'm out with friends, we sometimes come to places like this.”

"Do you have many friends?"

"Not really," Kim admitted.

"In other words, you normally don't do this. Are we here solely for my benefit?"

"I wanted to do this with you, and I do this with my friends," she insisted.

"Am I your friend?"

"I'd like you to be."

Angel seemed to accept that, and nodded.

"There's nothing unusual about two friends having dinner together," Kim put in.

A waitress stopped at their table. "My name is Stacy. I'll be your server for this evening. What would you like to drink?"

"Mountain Dew, please. No ice," said Kim.

"The same,” said Angel.

Stacy gave them both menus. She winked at Kim and departed.

Kim blinked. There was something familiar about her. "Ah... What did she say her name was?" she asked, dreading the answer.

"Stacy," said Angel. "Why?"

Kim groaned. "I think I know her. Or rather, I know of her. She works at the same place I do."

All at once, Kim was suddenly conscious of the environment she was in. The dim illumination. The isolation. The soft romantic music. There were even red roses on the table! She'd never even noticed them!

"Kim? You seem uncomfortable."

"She winked at me.”

"Does this mean she's romantically interested in you?"

"What? No, it means she recognized me."

"Is this a bad thing?"

"How could it be bad?" Kim exclaimed. "We're just two girls having dinner alone together in a romantic restaurant. I'm sure she won't notice the situation we're in or tell anyone at work about it!"

Angel nodded. "That's good."

Kim stared back at her, open mouthed, then turned away in frustration.

Stacy returned a moment later with their drinks. "Have you decided?" she asked.

Kim realized she hadn't even glanced at the menu, yet. “I’m going to need a few more minutes. Angel?"

"Yes?"

"Have you decided?"

"Decided on what?"

"What to eat," prompted Kim.

"Toast and eggs.”

"I'm sorry, but we don't serve breakfast here,” said Stacy.

"Oh.” Angel picked up her own menu and opened it. She scanned it for less than a second before placing it back on the table. "Chicken parmesan, please."

"I'll have the same?" said Kim. She glanced at the menu. Chicken parmesan wasn’t the first item listed. Did Angel pick it at random?

"I don't believe we've been introduced," ventured Stacy, looking to Angel.

Kim realized Stacy must have picked up on her discomfort. “Stacy, this is Angel. Angel, Stacy. I didn't know you had a second job."

"I've only had it for a few months. No one at GDI knows about it," she said. "Have the two of you known each other long?"

"Kim took me home last night."

"Angel!" Kim gasped.

"It is nothing unusual,” Angel clarified to Kim’s horror. “People invite other people home all the time."

"Don't tell her that!"

Mercifully, Angel stopped talking. After a moment, she added, "I'm sorry. I believe Kim wishes to conceal this information. Please, don't tell anyone?"

"I won't," Stacy promised her, then she sighed and looked Kim dead in the eye. "Listen, Kim, if you're worried about me telling anyone at work about your date, then don't. Whom you choose to spend your time with is your own business."

Kim couldn’t meet her eyes. "I... Thank you."

"I'll be back with your order."

The moment Stacy was out of earshot, Kim leaned forward. "Why did you tell her that?" she hissed.

"I didn't realize you wished to conceal our date."

"Who told you we were on a date?"

"I assumed so, after Stacy reassured you she would tell no one about it. I’m curious, did you also wish to conceal this information from me, as well?”

Kim rubbed her forehead. She felt a headache coming on. “No, I'm not trying to conceal it. I’m not concealing anything. I just don’t like sharing information, especially personal information. The fact that I took you home? That’s personal. You see?”

"I’ve embarrassed you," Angel guessed.

"Of course I was embarrassed!"

"I understand."

In fact, Kim was amazed she wasn’t freaking out more. She’d only been on one date in her entire life, and that was more to get the experience out of the way and prove to herself she could do it and not have a problem with it. After deciding dating didn't interest her, she’d stopped doing it.

She’d never felt an overabundance of attraction to anyone, male or female. Relationships simply didn’t interest her. As a general rule, most geeks felt the same as she, far more interested in their own pursuits than they were dating and such.

At least, so she assumed. She wasn’t very sociable with them either.

This wasn’t a date, but once again she couldn’t tell anyone the truth and set the matter straight. At least Stacy promised not to tell anyone about it and Angel had no one to tell.

She hated leaving Angel with the impression the date was real, but it couldn’t be helped. She couldn't imagine what she'd do if their positions were reversed, if she suddenly realized she’d been on a date for thirty minutes, and had been kept in the dark.

Angel probably thought it was another custom, or something. Surely it wasn’t a big deal.

"You're okay with this?" Kim asked with barely concealed apprehension, curious and wanting to be sure despite herself.

"You told me there was nothing unusual about it."

Kim shut up. She dared not contradict her.

Stacy returned a few minutes later with their food. She refilled their drinks, then placed a large ice cream sundae with two straws and two extra-small, longer spoons in the middle of the table between them. "The sundae is from me. I apologize if I made you uncomfortable by asking so many questions," she told them, and left without another word.

"I'm unfamiliar with this custom,” Angel said, sounding dubious.

"It's supposed to be a romantic thing,” Kim explained, hoping to be vague as she wasn’t truly familiar with it, herself. “You know, two people, sharing a drink? Staring into each other’s eyes? Or something." She waved her hand in dismissal, already regretting explaining its romantic implications.

"Stacy thinks this applies to us?"

“It’s just a symbol. It only means what you want it to mean.”

Hoping she’d solved Angel’s curiosity and settled the matter, Kim picked up her fork and started in on her food. After a moment, Angel did the same. The sundae remained untouched between them.

"It's melting," observed Angel after a few minutes.

Kim shrugged.

"I'd like to try it."

"Go ahead,” Kim replied, unconcerned. She wasn’t big on desserts herself, but it would be a shame to let it go to waste.

Angel used her straw to take a drink. It was mostly liquid by this point. Kim simply watched, trying to absorb herself in her food. If Angel expected Kim to join her on her side, she was going to be disappointed.

“It’s good,” Angel said, and pushed the sundae across the table until it clinked against Kim's plate. "You should try it."

Kim gave the dessert another look. It did look tasty, but she was fully conscious of the symbolic implications behind it. Angel already thought Kim brought her here on a date, which was bad enough. The sundae represented pitfalls she wanted to avoid.

Drinking it at the same time was definitely out. That would have been blatantly romantic, and no one could misinterpret that. But taking turns drinking from the same drink? That might be considered romantic, but only if you stretched the concept far enough. For the most part, it should be safe.

Angel waited patiently for Kim to make a decision. It was clear she wasn't budging on this.

Now that she thought about it, how could anything be considered romantic if she was being coerced into doing it? Surely Angel wouldn’t leap to the wrong conclusion.

The moment Kim started to drink, Angel placed both hands on the table to steady herself and leaned all the way across the table to drink from her own straw. Their eyes met. Kim's filled with surprise, Angel's with amusement.

Kim couldn't throw herself back fast enough.

She slammed back into the booth with an audible thump loud enough to be heard by half the restaurant. Angel’s smile widened, then she burst into laughter.

The laughter died down fairly quickly, but the sight of Kim trying to conceal herself in the nonexistent shadows set her off again.

“You really are shy, aren’t you?” Angel managed at last, eyes twinkling in merriment.

Kim tried for a murderous glare, but it only fed Angel’s amusement. She gave it up.

“I’m sorry. I deeply regret embarrassing you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“You’re right. I don’t. This is an enjoyable date!”

We’re not on a date! Kim wanted to say, but of course she couldn’t.

“You have ice cream on your cheek,” Angel pointed out.

Suddenly self-conscious, Kim touched her fingers to both cheeks and examined them. There was nothing there.

She looked to Angel for an explanation, but Angel wasn’t even looking at her. She was preoccupied, dabbing two fingers in the sundae. Grinning impishly, she leaned forward once again.

Kim flinched away, desperate for escape, but there was nowhere to go. Angel gingerly touched her fingers to Kim’s left cheek, drawing a line of melted ice cream.

Kim went even more rigid as Angel slowly and very deliberately licked it away with the tip of her tongue.

“Oops. Now I’ll have to apologize again,” Angel smiled, not sounding at all sorry.

“Angel, what the hell?”

Angel glanced over Kim’s left shoulder. “Don’t worry. Stacy didn’t see anything.”

Kim turned to look. Stacy was walking at a brisk walk away from them, and she'd never passed them. Kim also couldn’t help but notice their floor was a lot more crowded now than she remembered it being when they first arrived. It seemed as if everyone in sight of their both, everyone, without exception, was openly grinning and smiling at her.

Kim slowly turned back around. Her face felt hot. She couldn’t seem to get enough air. She hid her face in her hands and tried to block it all away. “I want to go home now,” she whispered.

Angel’s voice instantly lost all its amusement. “I’m sorry. I took things too far.” She reached out and touched Kim’s hands and gently pulled them away from her face. “Please, Kim. Please. I’m sorry.”

Kim met her eyes. Angel looked genuinely upset.

“None of the others were in a position to see what I did. They couldn’t. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Any amusement they might have felt was due to your initial, unexpected reaction."

Angel’s words were having a calming effect. Kim felt herself begin to relax.

“Afterwards,” continued Angel, “they were smiling because their hearts were gladdened at the sight of two women sharing a romantic moment together. They didn’t see the ice cream. They probably assumed we were kissing. Nothing more.”

“Just kissing," groused Kim. "Oh. That’s good.”

“Yes. Just kissing.”

“That makes me feel so much better.”

Angel smiled, seemingly pleased with herself. She gave Kim’s hands a final squeeze and sat back. “I’ll pay for our food.”

“What are you talking about? You don’t have any money.”

“I have money. See?” Angel pulled out a handful of half-folded money, followed by another handful. And another. She set the collection down on the table.

Kim gaped at it. It had to be several hundred dollars in small bills. She put a hand over the money to hide it from view.

“Where did you get that?” she hissed. “Did you steal it?”

“No. I have a job. I told you this morning.”

Kim stared at Angel, eyes wide with disbelief.

“I am a tourist. That is my job,” Angel said.

Kim continued to stare, unblinking. Her eyes began to water.

“A job is where someone earns money,” she clarified a moment later.

“I know what a job is, Angel!” Kim snapped. “How did you get the money?”

Angel shrugged. “This is a bonus. I am paid every week. This is normal for me. Many people are paid in a similar manner. It is rare, but I have evidence to support this.”

“Yeah? Who’s paying you?”

“My boss,” she said simply.

There were so many holes in that story, it wasn’t funny.

“The fact that I have money is evidence of a job."

“Yes, I understand, I believe you. You have a job.”

In the end, they split the amount evenly. Kim paid for her meal and Angel for hers. This wasn’t a date, and Kim was clinging to that illusion.

Chapter Five

While the incident in the restaurant had been embarrassing, Kim had other ways to deal with distasteful memories besides wholesale suppression of them. First, she reminded herself that other than Stacy, who had been sworn to secrecy, Kim didn’t know anyone in that restaurant. The people inside, therefore, knew nothing of her. Also, it stood to reason that if she never set foot in any restaurant again for the rest of her life, she’d never encounter any of them, ever again.

Angel had been even easier to classify and file away because nothing of what happened tonight was her idea. She’d never expected to be on a date, which was perfectly understandable, because Kim never expected to be on one either.

Angel’s behavior at the restaurant fit Kim’s theory. As soon as Angel understood her situation, she fell into character and played the part. Why? Because she thought it was expected of her and wanted to fit in. It quite literally meant nothing to her. If their situation were reversed, and Kim found herself unexpectedly on a date with her, then naturally that would mean something.

And yet, despite her suspicions that Angel only wanted to blend in, Kim couldn’t quite shake the feeling Angel might be romantically interested in her. Maybe it was the bit with the ice cream. The idea was patently ridiculous as Angel was from an entirely different planet and couldn’t possibly be interested, but nevertheless, the feeling persisted.

Angel might look like an attractive human woman on the outside, but surely it was nothing more than a disguise. If Angel revealed her true alien form, a normal human like Kim might lose a few dice worth of sanity and run away screaming, or faint on the spot!

Okay, maybe Angel wasn’t that alien, but she wasn’t entirely human. At the least, Angel had to maintain a normal persona in order to blend in with the natives or risk capture by government agents. Angel was a literal space alien, for God’s sake.

None of it meant anything to Angel, Kim kept telling herself. Angel was acting. Nothing more. Anyone else on the planet, and yes, it would mean something. With Angel? Nothing.

The shower was a perfect example. Taking a shower before bed was normal activity for Kim. Doing so with another woman was not, but now it was happening again. This was twice more than she’d ever anticipated it would happen in her lifetime.

Angel got it into her head that the two of them taking a shower together was perfectly acceptable behavior. This time she didn’t even ask permission before joining her, and Kim couldn’t muster the courage to set her straight. Besides, if she told Angel the truth now, she’d have to explain why she’d agreed to take a shower with her on the first night.

Kim wasn’t there because she wanted it. She had perfectly justifiable reasons why she was doing it, but couldn’t tell Angel what those reasons were without letting her know she was onto her.

So here she was. Naked. Taking a shower with and being touched all over by another naked woman. Kim was trying to endure it. The physical act she didn’t mind so much. In fact, she didn’t mind it with an intensity she didn’t want to think about.

"Are you all right?" asked Angel.

"Hmm...yes," said Kim. She kept her answers deliberately vague because she was trying not to notice anything. It took all of her concentration.

"Your eyes are closed."

"I don’t want to get soap in them,” she lied.

Angel paused for a moment as if considering her words, then picked up right where she left off, continuing to methodically clean every part of Kim she could reach, which was pretty much everywhere. Kim was resolute in her determination to not enjoy or even pay attention to a second of it. It was proving more difficult than she thought it would be.

Just think of it as a massage, she told herself. It felt like a massage, or what Kim imagined a massage would feel like since she’d never actually had one. Naturally, parts of it would feel better than others, or even downright pleasurable, but she shouldn’t be feeling anything since it was just a shower.

She couldn’t expect Angel to know certain parts of the body weren’t meant to be touched the way she was touching them outside of a serious relationship. How could she expect her to know? Anything she did was accidental.

Angel had adopted Kim’s both hands approach. It sounded efficient on paper, but in practice it was anything but efficient. Angel wasn’t saving time at all. In fact, she was taking the same amount of time as the night before, but now using both hands to do it.

Kim couldn’t be sure, as she was trying to ignore it, but it seemed to her that Angel was paying extra special attention to her breasts. Kim had to fight to keep her breathing slow and steady and her expression carefully neutral. If she reacted or even made a sound, Angel would surely notice it. The last thing Kim needed was a curious alien experimenting on her in the shower.

It took a small eternity, but the wandering hands went away. Kim’s tightly maintained regular breathing returned to its normal involuntary state. Angel had finished.

Kim resolved to do her part. She quickly realized she needed to keep her eyes open if she was ever going to finish. At least she remembered the soap this time. She wasn’t going to repeat the same mistakes of last night.

“Kim?”

"Yes?" Kim answered, her voice distant and her mind partitioned to save itself. It was a very delicate balance of focus and forced inattention.

Don’t stare. Control your breathing. Don’t think about what you’re doing. Don’t look, but don’t avert your eyes because that looks suspicious. We’re just two innocent girls taking an innocent shower together in an innocent non-sexual way.

She put a hand at the back of Angel’s leg at the knee. Angel lifted the leg so Kim could clean it more thoroughly. Once done, she repeated the action on the second.

That was the easy part. Kim steeled herself and placed her hands on Angel’s breasts and started in, lightly touching as she held them gently. Nothing unusual, she told herself. Pay no attention to the situation or how anything feels. Now isn’t the time to indulge in scientific discovery. Just finish it.

"You already washed me," said Angel. "I was the first. Remember?"

Kim froze. Her world shrank to the sound of running water and the sudden hitch in her breathing.

In that terrible moment, all she could see was Angel standing there with a concerned look on her face and long, blondish-white hair in disarray. In a flash, Kim now remembered using the shampoo and conditioner only a few minutes ago. It all flooded back in crystal clarity, all the details of washing Angel and everything she tried not to think about and feel.

She also remembered how she’d consciously decided at the end to block everything from her mind. Those once suppressed memories now washed over her in a flood.

Her vision further narrowed down to a thin stream of water slowly winding its way down Angel’s neck. It ran up and over her own hands which were still holding Angel's breasts. For how long, she couldn’t say.

The moment ended, and she was free again. The sound of running water grew louder in her ears. Time resumed its normal pace.

"I did...what?" Kim asked weakly.

"You washed me first, then I washed you," Angel repeated. “Do you remember?”

“...oh," Kim said, even more weakly.

"But thank you for the extra attention. It was very enjoyable."

Kim said something that sounded like “...eeep."

With visible effort, she forced her hands to let go. She slid the door open and stepped onto the bathroom floor, heedless of the still running water. One hand snatched a towel off the rack and she fled the room, dragging it behind her and leaving a trail of water as she went.

"Kim?"

Angel was following her, she realized, but Kim didn’t slow down.

No more showers! I am done!

Kim veered off into her bedroom and simply stood there, her mind in turmoil. She stared at the towel in her hand, frowning at it as if she’d never seen one before.

Angel walked in, drying herself off with her own towel. "What’s wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Everything is just peachy.” Kim tossed the towel aside.

"You’re wet," observed Angel.

Kim spun to face her. "What?"

Angel was looking at the growing puddle of water collecting at Kim’s feet. "I said, you’re wet. You’re dripping water everywhere."

"Really?” retorted Kim. “That’s hardly my fault. If I’m wet, it’s only because we were--" she began, then stopped. There was no way for her to finish that sentence that wouldn’t involve a loss of sanity. Kim’s brain locked up and skidded off the tracks. There was a lot of internal screaming only she could hear. There were no survivors.

She abruptly sat down. Fortunately, she hit the bed. Unfortunately, she promptly slid off the bed and hit the floor. Hard.

“Ouch,” said Kim.

"I’ll dry you off," said Angel.

When Kim didn’t object, agree, or even respond, Angel proceeded to follow through on her threat. Starting with her breasts, Kim noticed. Or tried not to notice.

Angel dried her methodically, never hesitating, not embarrassed in the slightest, and once again Kim was subjected to a quasi-sexual experience she felt ill-equipped to handle.

As it progressed, Kim kept thinking Angel would back off and wouldn’t go that far and attempt to dry her everywhere. When it became unmistakably clear Angel had no intention of stopping and was about to do exactly that, Kim finally came alive and took the towel away from her.

Kim bunched Angel’s towel in front of her, trying to salvage her dignity while at the same time wondering if there was any left to salvage. “Thank you,” she murmured.

"You’re welcome."

Mercifully, Angel went away. Kim remained seated on the floor clutching her towel, her back resting against the bed. As Angel’s footsteps receded, Kim groaned, wondering what was wrong with her.

Chapter Six

Kim rose from her bed early in the morning with all the grace and poise of a freshly risen zombie. She stumbled into the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and then shambled her way down the hall, her only purpose to consume a life-sustaining draught of caffeine.

As she reached the living room, Kim once again paused at the sight of the blondish alien lying on her couch. As before, Angel had decided not to wear anything to bed and had kicked off the covers.

Now fully awake and flush with embarrassment, Kim hurried on to the kitchen. She threw herself into her own unique version of cooking, reheating leftover bacon in the microwave and preparing toast with a choice of strawberry or grape jelly. Considering breakfast usually consisted of whatever remained of dinner the night before, this was variety.

When Angel walked in a few minutes later, Kim realized she’d been half expecting her to walk in naked and was relieved that she hadn’t. Her presence caused the memories of last night to jump to the forefront of her mind.

She grimaced, trying to come up with something else to think about. Mornings were supposed to be a time to relax, not a time for dwelling on the mistakes of the previous day.

Angel took her now customary place at the table. “Why did you take me home with you that first night?”

Kim placed Angel’s food before her and sat down opposite her with her own plate. “That’s a bit complex.”

“You don’t wish to explain, because you’re shy?”

Kim hesitated. The truth was, she didn’t have a clue what she could say that Angel would accept. The night she first met her, she’d been caught up in the novelty of meeting someone extraordinary and invited her home almost on impulse. Given time, Kim didn’t doubt she could think of a good reason that Angel would accept, but not on the spur of the moment. Especially not an early-in-the-morning spur of the moment. She wasn’t at her best in the morning.

“Isn’t there something else you’d rather talk about?” Kim asked, avoiding the question.

“Our date?”

Kim winced. “Something else?”

“Where do you go to work, and what do you do there?”

Kim wasn’t particularly fond of that subject, either, but it was better than the alternative. Her job was boring, dull, and soul-draining, but also easy. A bit of a curse, actually. Because she had so much free time to read books between assignments, she could never muster the willpower to find a better job on her days off.

Kim relayed this to Angel in bits and pieces, responding to direct questions and trying to suppress how uncomfortable she felt talking about herself. Even discussing a subject as mundane as work, she didn’t like sharing information. It went against her antisocial and self-centered nature.

“They let you bring books and read?”

“There’s a lot of downtime between scrambling to finish things, so yeah. I’m one of three people that likes to read in our office. Everyone else would rather socialize.”

“I hope you don’t mind, but I started reading some of yours.”

Kim perked up without realizing it. “I saw that yesterday. What were you reading?”

As they talked, Kim began to realize she was enjoying the conversation. This was something extraordinary for her, as other people typically bored her. It wasn’t simply because the subject matter was books, but instead it was Angel herself. She sounded genuinely interested in Kim’s opinions and what she had to say.

If it had been anyone else besides Angel, a woman Kim suspected of being an alien, she wouldn’t have cared.

Kim wanted to shift the conversation to Angel’s history, but couldn’t find a way to do it. How do you ask someone about the details of their life when they claim to have forgotten everything? She couldn’t ask about Angel’s tourist job because it was obviously fake, and didn’t want to talk about their date. She definitely didn’t want to mention the shower or anything that happened afterwards.

Angel paused to fold her bacon and toast into a sandwich. Kim burst into laughter.

“Is something wrong?”

“I’m sorry. No one eats bacon and toast that way. I deliberately did it wrong the other morning just to tease you.”

Angel gave a passable imitation of Kim’s own irritated glower. “I’m not used to your culture,” she said, sounding defensive.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I’m not offended.”

Kim relaxed. She raised her glass and took another sip.

“Occasional teasing is normal amongst couples living together,” Angel said, then watched in curiosity as Kim tried not to choke to death on her orange juice.

“I need to go to work,” Kim rasped, once she could breathe again.

That pretty much ended the conversation. Angel escorted Kim to the front door and sent her on her way.

Kim still had questions she wanted to ask as she walked to her garage, but now all of them consisted of variants of “what the hell?”

This wasn’t how aliens were supposed to act. She expected Angel to be sneaking around doing alien things, building alien devices, hatching alien plots meant to pave the way for alien invasion for an ever-expanding evil alien empire. Certainly not this. Did Angel think they were dating, that Kim wanted a girlfriend that night and now they were a couple?

What! The! Hell!

Chapter Seven

It was just after lunchtime and Kim was in the zone, as it were, sorting data from this pile to that, when she detected a subtle shift in the constant, ambient, workplace noise. She glanced over to see what was different, and there was Angel, easily recognizable with her stunning, light-blonde hair, looking about as if searching the room.

Kim ducked away behind the shelter of the cubicle wall, her heart in her throat.

What is Angel doing here? Is she here to see me?

Kim’s mind flashed back to earlier that morning. She now recalled telling Angel everything she needed to know about her at breakfast. Where she worked, what she did, all of it. And now, for some reason, Angel had decided on her own to come visit her!

Kim considered laying low and never coming out until Angel went away.

If she can’t find me, she’ll give up, right?

She risked another glance. Angel was making a beeline to Marsha, the self-important receptionist and queen of office gossip. Kim could imagine nothing worse. The only way to spread personal information faster would be to make an announcement on the intercom system.

Kim tried to gather what determination she could. If she could call out, or make herself stand up, she could stop Angel before it was too late. There were only seconds left to act. It had to be now, or all was lost.

But she couldn’t. It was beyond her. Marsha’s desk was two cubicle spaces away, barely ten seconds at a crawl, but it might as well be on the other side of the world for all she could do about it. Kim had lived her entire life below the radar, and it wasn’t in her nature to call attention to herself. If she said something or called out, people would see.

Despair gripped her. It clenched her heart and wouldn’t let go.

So this is it. My life is effectively over. Somebody should just push me over and bury me.

“Are you a personal friend of Kim’s?” Angel was asking.

“Yes, I’m her friend,” Marsha lied. “I’ve known her for years. Did you have a question?”

“I’m her friend, too, but I’m curious. What does she like to do?”

If Angel had asked any other person, that person might have hesitated before divulging personal, private information. But this was Marsha, and there was no hesitation. Not for an instant. “Anything geek related, I’d say. Movies, video games, but mostly books.”

Kim growled inaudibly. That settled it! She had finally reached her limit! With fiery resolve she rose to her feet determined to stop them, then sat back down again in abject misery.

“I don’t read very much myself,” Marsha continued unmercifully. “Is there a reason you want to know?”

“Yes, there is. What other hobbies does she enjoy?”

Marsha glanced over at Kim. Their eyes met. Rather than stop the conversation in embarrassment from having been caught, Marsha instead leaned forward to give her answer to Angel in a confidential whisper.

This couldn’t be tolerated. Kim reached her limit again. She stood, bracing herself against the cubicle wall. The entire structure shifted and sagged, then collapsed against her weight.

Angel turned at the sound. “Kim!” she called, “I was looking for you. You were supposed to meet me for lunch today. I waited for you at the house, and when you didn’t arrive, I grew concerned.”

Marsha perked up at once. "Oh? Are you staying with Kim?"

“Yes,” answered Angel.

“Ah, she’s my roommate. Marsha, this is Angel. Angel, Marsha. She’s only staying for a little while,” Kim lied.

This had a profound effect on Angel. Her eyes widened. “You don’t want me to stay?”

“No, I do want you to stay. It was just a figure of speech. I want you to stay as long as you like.”

“Thank you.”

“How long have the two of you been together?” asked Marsha. She grinned evilly, smelling blood in the water.

Kim tried to laugh it off. “Oh, quite a while now,” she replied, not thinking it through. She’d chosen that particular answer because it was literally the opposite of the truth.

Marsha ignored Kim’s answer. "Angel? You wanted to say something?" she pressed.

Angel looked hopelessly confused. She looked to Marsha then back to Kim and back again before answering. “This is true. We’ve been together quite a while now.”

“Really? Together, as in, living together?”

“Just living. In the same house. Nothing unusual!” cried Kim, and then realized with a start she’d been all but yelling at Marsha from her cubicle. Through an effort of will, she forced her legs to obey her and hurried to Marsha’s desk. She didn’t dare look to see how many co-workers were watching the show. If she knew the truth, she’d freeze up in an instant.

“Yes. It is nothing unusual,” Angel answered Marsha.

Marsha’s grin became wide enough to swallow and devour a whole rabbit. “This is unlike you, Kimmie, bringing someone home. You know I’d never dream of prying into your personal life, but I don’t understand. Why does it embarrass you so much, if she’s only staying with you?”

Kim seized up once again. She still didn’t have a lie prepared, and she couldn’t tell Marsha the truth about Angel’s hidden origins.

Marsha turned to Angel. “Are the two of you dating?”

“We’ve only been on one date.”

Kim snapped out of her paralysis with a jolt. "Angel! Don’t tell her that!"

“Anything juicy?” continued Marsha.

“I don’t understand.”

“Did anything happen on your date?”

“We had dinner. There was ice cream. Afterwards, we took a shower--"

“Separately!” Kim shrieked quietly.

“We went to sleep--”

“Separately!”

“--on the couch,” Angel finished. “Alone, as Kim has said. I know it is not customary to shower together until after a relationship has been established.”

That statement would have thrown Kim completely off her stride if she weren’t already completely off her stride to begin with. One hand reached out to steady herself against Marsha’s desk as she stared at Angel in horror and astonishment.

The implications staggered her mentally and physically. Angel knew? Angel had known all this time, and had been playing along?

“It is nothing unusual,” continued Angel. “I am merely staying at her house.”

“But aren’t those Kimmie’s clothes you’re wearing?”

The inner Kim freaked. Don’t say anything!

“These clothes are mine,” said Angel.

Kim relaxed.

"I am wearing her panties, though."

"Ahh, what?" Kim cried.

Marsha turned her eyes to Kim’s, smirking. "Is she, now?” she stated, drawing out the words in a sibilant whisper.

"Angel means she didn’t have any of her own," Kim explained badly.

"And why wouldn’t she have panties of her own?"

"On the night we first met, I--" began Angel.

"This conversation is over. We’re leaving."

"Oh? That’s too bad. It was nice meeting you, Angel. What did you say your last name was?"

“She didn’t,” Kim told her. “Stop being so nosy. You should mind your own business.”

“But you’re my friend, Kimmie,” Marsha pouted, her voice dripping with false sincerity. “I’m only looking out for you.”

“There is nothing unusual about me,” said Angel. “Your fears are unjustified.”

Marsha blinked. “Fears?”

“We’re leaving now,” Kim told Angel. She seized her hand and all but dragged her out of the room, fully aware of the looks she was getting and doing her best to ignore them.

Chapter Eight

The rest of the work day had been hell.

No one said anything to her. They didn’t have to. Within the hour, everyone at work had heard Marsha’s embellished work of fiction. By the end of the day, everyone knew everything there was to know about Kim’s hot, new girlfriend. Kim didn’t doubt this included all the workers with the day off and those currently on vacation and likely their friends and family.

She didn’t have to hear the rumors herself to know they were being told. No one asked her for any sort of clarification or went looking for her side of the story. No, the reality of what happened was far worse. One by one, they came by to look in on her and smile at her!

‘Looks like Kim finally found someone’, Kim knew they were saying, ‘good for her!’

Not that she had a good counter argument to defend herself, but no one even bothered to ask her for one.

With no way to stop them, Kim sat in her cubicle and fumed. While it could be argued they’d been on one date, that didn’t mean they were actively dating each other. The word dating implied more than one.

Kim thought the shower thing meant literally nothing to Angel. As for the date, she knew for a fact Angel knew nothing about it until Stacy suggested it and Kim didn’t deny it. Angel’s behavior changed from indifferent to girlfriend-ish in an instant.

Surely Angel only acted that way because she believed Kim expected her to act that way.

As for the second shower, Kim thought Angel was indifferent to that one, as well. Turns out she’d been wrong about that one, too. Angel had been fully aware people didn’t normally take showers together without being involved with each other. She knew, but went along with it anyway.

But why? Did Angel want to do it? Was she still indifferent, but doing it because she didn’t see a reason to change her behavior? Kim never would have taken a shower with her if she had a clue Angel knew what it could mean.

What if Angel were only acting romantically interested as a way to blend in? That would make more sense. Angel thought the best way to avoid detection was to shack up with the first local she found, male or female. Nothing personal about it. She needed a place to stay, and the best way to do so was by forming a relationship of sorts. Kim was simply the first one she’d met.

Lucky her.

Okay, technically Kim was the second one Angel met. The first was a jerk in desperate need of a pummeling, apparently.

As for Angel herself, either she was playing the role of a girlfriend that wanted her body or she actually did lust after her body. In either case, Kim needed more information. She had to prepare for anything.

Four-thirty took a small eternity to arrive. When it did, Kim couldn’t clock out fast enough. She practically sprinted to her car to make her escape. Everyone probably thought she couldn’t wait to get home to her hot, sexy girlfriend, but she didn’t care. She was beyond caring. Let them think what they wanted.

At least the slow day at work had given her time to decide what to do. First on her list, she needed to set up a bank account for Angel.

Yesterday, Angel tried to feed her a story about her tourist job, which apparently paid good money to wander the city and take in the sights. Kim suspected it actually involved wandering the city, taking in the sights, and beating up the locals for their pocket change.

She didn’t know who Angel’s alleged victims were, but if she really was an alien spy assigned to assess Earth’s defenses under cover as a tourist, then it was up to Kim to stop her.

But she couldn’t do it openly. She needed to be sneaky.

Angel told her she was on vacation. It didn’t matter if Angel followed up by saying she had a paid tourist job, because vacations implied no work at all. If Kim could insist hard enough that no one earned money while on vacation, Angel would be compelled to agree with her in order to avoid suspicion. She'd turn Angel’s own desire to blend in against her.

It would cost her financially, but it was in both their interests to stay below the radar.

With this in mind, Kim went to her bank to open a new account and transferred five hundred dollars into it. She’d give the new ATM card to Angel and show her how to use it. From there, it would be out of her hands.

Next on her list, the bookstore.

Kim was an avid book reader, and loved science fiction and fantasy stories best of all. As far as she knew from a lifetime of exposure to the genre, aliens who tried to get together with Earth girls were always more or less human in appearance. If they weren’t humanoid at the very least, the women wouldn’t be attracted to them.

These aliens may have one or two natural abilities that may look like superpowers to anyone not used to them, but for the most part, they looked and acted as human as anyone else. A trained professional with enough medical experience could identify their extra-terrestrial nature, but a casual observer could not.

Language was never a problem in those stories. All of them knew the local language or at least had convenient translation devices, but details often tripped them up.

Angel spoke English without an accent, but seemed to have only had a passing familiarity with local customs. When she ran across something unfamiliar to her, she researched it, but didn’t bother researching a subject until it directly concerned her. Kim guessed this was how she’d found out about the showers.

To Kim, Angel seemed to be posing as human. Her emotions ran from exaggerated to practically non-existent, and she had no sense of feminine modesty. As for what Angel was exactly, Kim guessed she was either a genetically identical copy of a true human model with a few minor improvements, or an alien that by purest coincidence looked human. Science fiction stories were full of those. Even her memory loss story might be true. After all, what better way to learn how to act like a native than to start from scratch?

The idea of Angel being romantically interested in her seemed bizarre, but Kim needed to plan for the possibility. If science fiction writers dreamed of aliens falling for humans and wrote stories about them, then it must at least be possible. She intended to find out more. If she could discover what methods these alien Casanovas used to sweep their intended love interests off their feet, she’d be better prepared to fend off Angel. She was not interested in a relationship. It didn’t matter if it was with an alien, attractive or not.

Kim found a parking space a short distance away from the used bookstore and strode inside, only glancing in passing at the comic books and DVDs on display before her. Books were her only concern. She allowed nothing to distract her.

She ignored the other customers. They in turn ignored her. They probably had as much interest in being social as she did, if they noticed her at all. On the off chance she attracted too much attention and one of them approached her, she knew how to handle them. Remain perfectly still. Don’t respond. Don’t make eye contact. Eventually, they’d go away. Like the T-Rex, a geek's vision acuity was based on movement.

The only thing that concerned her was the fact that she fully intended to purchase a romance novel. The genre didn’t interest her, and the cover art would be downright embarrassing. She’d considered doing so with her own book reader, but hers was a first-generation model and its online abilities were painfully slow.

No, it was far more preferable to find a physical copy and get out quickly.

Half an hour later, Kim still had yet to find a science fiction romance book that met her needs. She admonished herself for not planning ahead. It would have been a simple matter to use her computer at work to make a list of possible books based on keywords and subjects. Then she could have gone right to them and been done, assuming there were any here to be found.

On second thought, that would have been a bad idea. She didn’t need nosy co-workers getting into her internet history and finding clues about her sudden interest in alien romance. Individually, they weren’t that clever, but they had social abilities Kim couldn’t hope to comprehend, a communal hive-mind of sorts. It would be folly to underestimate their collective intelligence. Best she do things the slow way.

After another half hour, frustration was eating away at her resolve. Nothing jumped out at her. Romance had always a subplot in science fiction at best, and she couldn’t find a book summary to match her specific requirements.

There had to be something. She couldn’t go home empty handed.

Her options in science fiction exhausted, Kim went to the romance section. It was less likely she’d find any alien characters here, but it was possible.

After a mere ten minutes, Kim was beginning to despair. She skimmed the titles and glanced at the covers at a faster and faster rate, making snap judgments as to their quality. None of them fit the guidelines, either.

One option remained, the one she’d actively tried not to think about. The lesbian romance subsection.

It made sense, the more she thought about it. Traditional romance books were male/female oriented. They simply didn’t apply in her situation. Kim needed specialized books that could tell her how to best prepare against a female opponent.

Assuming what she suspected was indeed possible, there must be something to the romance angle. Angel would doubtless use those romantic methods in her efforts to seduce her, assuming that was her plan.

Kim was woefully inexperienced in the romance department, but she felt she had a basic understanding what methods a man would use to seduce a woman. Those methods included corny lines, feigned common interests, and liberal amounts of alcohol.

But women seducing women were another story. Angel was a woman, or at least, posing as one. She’d use a woman’s methods even if her target was another woman. Kim needed to know what those methods were so she could defend herself against them, and that meant conducting research outside of what she knew.

Her decision made, Kim selected three books, each the first in a series. It stood to reason the first book must have been good if it generated interest in a sequel, and Kim had no interest in reading boring books. She looked over the story summaries on the back but didn’t dare examine their covers. If she became too embarrassed, she risked losing the strength she needed to face the cashier to pay for them.

She marched to the front and placed the three face down, blushing hotly. She’d never purchased a romance book in her entire life. Now she was buying three.

The cashier was a younger, attractive-looking brunette in her early twenties. Kim had seen her before, but never talked to her. The cashier picked up the books, grinned, and scanned them. Kim refused to make eye contact. After paying cash, she all but fled the store, not waiting for a receipt

It was nearly seven o’clock by the time she pulled in to her garage.

After conducting a brief search of the house, she found Angel in the second bedroom, seated at Kim’s desk in front of her computer.

Kim always prided herself on her computer set-up. In her spare bedroom, turned gaming room, were two desks. The first was situated a good six feet away from the other against the far wall, its only job to hold her flat screen television. The smaller desk was for her keyboard and mouse, where Kim would normally sit in her favorite chair. Wires were carefully stuffed just out of sight. Overhead a ceiling fan sat idle, a trap for the unwary. Kim didn’t trust it not to fly loose and kill her if she ever dared set it to its maximum setting on a hot day.

It didn’t look professional per se, but it did look impressive.

There was a path on the right side of the second desk that allowed passage to the bookshelves which faced each other on opposite sides of the room. Kim had inherited both ceiling-high monstrosities from the previous owner who couldn’t be bothered to take them with him when he moved. The extra chair just behind and to the left of the first chair was there only because Kim’s mother didn’t have the space for it and Kim thought she could possibly use it in the distant future.

The sight of Angel at her favorite chair using her computer irritated her, but only for a moment. It wasn’t as if she’d set down ground rules, and she’d never told Angel she couldn’t use it, so she decided to let it go. There wasn’t anything personal on it anyway, unless one counted fan fiction stories she’d picked up off the internet.

After putting her new books on the desk corner and promptly forgetting about them, Kim fished out Angel’s new ATM card. "This is for you."

Angel took the card and examined it. She looked to Kim for an explanation.

"I thought since you’re vacationing as a tourist, you might as well take an actual vacation,” Kim said. “That means, no more going in to work. People on vacation don’t work. I don’t want you to worry about earning extra money while you’re here, so you can use this for petty expenses. This is your money. No need to pay me back. It’s a gift. If you start to run low, let me know."

"Thank you for trusting me."

Kim looked away, suddenly uncomfortable. Trust? She didn’t feel an abundance of trust. Would she come to regret helping Angel financially?

This is the best alternative. If I leave things alone, Angel will continue to beat up random strangers to provide financial evidence of a job. Anything that can stop that is a good idea.

And yet, she couldn’t help but wonder if she might regret her decision further down the line. If things went bad, would she be held responsible for voluntarily helping an alien scout accomplish her mission on Earth?

What was Angel’s actual mission? Kim still didn’t know. She’d guessed it had something to do with scouting based on the tourist persona Angel fed her, but it was only a guess. What did she truly know?

Kim never entertained the idea of turning her over to the government, but it was not due to a lack of patriotism. She instinctively believed she could do a better job of watching Angel than any government bureaucrat with a limited imagination. Her knowledge in science fiction gave her an edge. If a government agency did exist that involved itself in alien activity, how effective could it possibly be denying its own existence and denying any results?

Besides, Angel may not trust her completely, but she did think she had Kim fooled. That was a huge advantage. Kim was in a position to discover any evil alien plots before they hatched and caused irreparable damage. If Angel started building a weapon in her garage, then she’d call the authorities.

Or maybe sell it for millions on EBAY.

“You should change the card’s PIN at some point,” said Kim. She dropped into the not-as-comfortable chair and stretched out her legs. “Any thoughts on what you want to buy?"

"I was thinking of buying clothes,” Angel replied. “The woman at work quickly deduced I was wearing clothes that once belonged to you. Also, I would like to buy my own panties."

Kim blushed anew. "I gave you some. I wanted to ask, why in the world did you tell Marsha they were mine and not yours?"

"In our conversations, you never made the distinction. You gave me clothes and told me they were now mine. As for the panties, you said I could borrow yours. This implied you wished to retain ownership."

"That isn’t what I meant."

"I agree with you. I didn’t believe this was your intention either, so I asked for clarification on two separate occasions. Each time, you became embarrassed and avoided answering me."

"Fine,” Kim snapped. “We’ll buy some clothes for you to wear. Happy?"

"Just peachy."

Kim rose to her feet. “Let’s go.”

They went to the local superstore that offered anything and everything and occasionally sold things cheaper than Amazon. Kim parked her Corolla in the first available spot she could find, not at all interested in prolonging her shopping experience.

If Angel took note of Kim’s impatience, she declined to mention it.

As they walked into the store, they were greeted by the sights and sounds of too many people milling about with not enough worthwhile things to do with their time. Angel made a beeline to the clothing section. Nothing distracted her. Kim followed along in her wake.

While Kim couldn’t prove it, it seemed to her as if Angel based her selection of clothing entirely on what others around her were wearing. The only exceptions were the bras and panties, which she selected with the same air of nonchalance as she did the rest.

And then, without warning, the shopping trip was over. Angel began to lead them to the cashiers at the front of the store.

“Aren’t you going to try anything on?” Kim asked.

Angel stopped at once. She turned to Kim, a questioning look in her eye. “I should try them on here?”

“Why not? I’d rather not come back tomorrow to do this again if they don’t fit.”

Angel still seemed unconvinced, so Kim played her trump card. “Anyone else would try them on,” she said with a shrug, leaving the rest unsaid.

You wouldn’t want to stand out, would you?

The subtle hint was enough. They returned to the women’s section, but the moment Angel disappeared into the changing room, Kim started to have second thoughts about her recommendation.

Angel was buying bras in addition to new clothes, and Kim had never demonstrated for her how to wear them properly. She still wasn’t sure if her pants demonstration had been necessary or not, but a bra was complex in comparison. Angel might be able to puzzle it out without assistance, but based on Kim’s luck, that wasn’t at all likely. She was bound to have problems.

As the minutes passed, Kim's apprehension grew. Any second now, Angel would open the door and ask Kim to please come inside and help put one on. The odds were even up she’d be topless and standing at the doorway in full view of the entire store when she did it.

Kim took a quick look around. She counted seven people in the area, but if Angel made such an appearance, all of them would give Kim the stare. She would never survive it.

What we should have done is taken the chance and bought them! If they didn’t fit, take them back. Simple. Better to be inconvenienced than death by embarrassment.

As predicted, the door opened a crack. "Kim?"

Kim was already moving, not waiting for anyone to move out of her way. No doubt she drew the attention of everyone around her as she hurried past, but this was better than the alternative. Kim closed the door behind her and locked it.

Once inside, she was surprised to see Angel wearing jeans and correctly wearing one of the bras.

"But I thought…” Kim stammered. “Why? What did you ask me in here for?"

"I wanted to know if you thought these clothes suited me. Naturally, we also wear clothes where I come from, but due to my memory loss, I don't remember wearing clothes with material such as this."

Kim tried not to look. "Yes. It looks good on you."

"I’ve noticed the bra material is subtly different from that of the pants. Feel?" Angel seized Kim’s hand and pressed it against her breasts.

"Ahhh, yes! It feels very nice!" Kim tried to yank her hand back.

Angel released her. "Very good. I will buy it."

Without warning, Angel reached behind her back and removed the bra. She set it down on top of the folded clothes on the seat next to her.

Kim’s eyes widened with alarm. "What are you doing?" she demanded, backing into a corner.

"We need to pay for them, don’t we?"

She blinked. "Oh, yes. Yes, of course."

In a flash, Angel slipped off her pants and these were also set aside. She was wearing panties beneath, which was a small mercy, but the knowledge didn’t make Kim feel any better.

There was a knock at the door. Angel unlocked and opened it before Kim could think to protest.

"Yes?" asked Angel.

The saleswoman took in the scene before her. She looked first to Angel standing almost completely naked and then to Kim, wide-eyed, panicked, and looking guilty as hell in the corner, then cleared her throat.

"I’m sorry, but only one person is allowed at a time per changing room,” she said, sounding irritated. “Store policy. Your girlfriend will have to wait outside."

"I required a second opinion," Angel told her. "I wanted Kim to feel my breasts and judge for herself whether--"

"We were just leaving!" Kim interrupted. She quickly gathered the remaining merchandise and brushed past the saleswoman. It only occurred to her as she hurried away that she’d never denied the girlfriend comment. That just added more fuel to the fire. She’d never felt more embarrassed in her entire life.

Kim could hear Angel close behind her, following her out. "Kim?"

Everyone around her was staring. All conversations had stopped. A few were fumbling with their cell phones and using them to snap pictures.

Kim couldn’t understand it. How could they know what just happened? Were they listening? How could they know?

"Kim?"

Kim ignored her.

"Kim!" Angel called, more insistently this time.

"What! What is it?"

"I need my clothes back."

And here she thought she couldn’t get any more embarrassed.

Chapter Nine

Once they were home, Kim decided to cook lasagna for dinner. It wasn’t quick, but it was easy. Frozen food was her favorite of the five food groups, the others being fast, homemade, canned and junk food. Heating up pre-prepared food was the practical extent of her cooking skills. Years ago, she once critically failed making stroganoff and for weeks carried the burns to prove it.

Seeing as they had over an hour to kill, Kim decided to get some answers out of Angel. She sat down across from her at the dinner table. “Why did you come to see me at work?” she asked.

“We were going to have lunch together. You suggested it after our date.”

Kim blinked. Ah, yes. Now she remembered.

During the drive home that night after their unofficial date, Angel mentioned enjoying herself and wanting to do it again the next day for lunch. Kim had agreed, not thinking about it.

She’d never realized it before, but apparently her skills at blocking out embarrassing information were greater than she ever imagined.

What kind of an ability is that? I can block out entire memories, but not permanently? That only leaves me vulnerable to making the same mistake twice!

“In the future, could you not ask other people about me?” Kim asked.

“Certainly.”

“Also, I don’t mind if you want to come to see me at work, but please, never do it again? Ever?”

Angel frowned. Her right eye twitched slightly.

"I also wanted to talk to you about the shower thing,” Kim continued. “You told Marsha you knew it wasn’t a local custom. How long have you known?”

"I didn’t at first. I am a tourist from a foreign place and you are a native. There are bound to be cultural differences between us. I conducted research the following day, as I wanted to identify the reasons behind your actions which confused me."

"Where did you go to find your answers?"

"The internet. I used your computer.”

“Why not ask me, instead?”

“You were working at the time.”

"And that’s where you found out taking showers together wasn’t...normally done? If you knew, why didn’t you say something before we did it a second time that night?"

"That wasn’t my conclusion.”

Kim waited.

Angel also waited.

At the precise moment Kim’s patience ran out and she opened her mouth to speak, Angel interrupted her. “I discovered two people taking a shower together is a perfectly acceptable social behavior given certain conditions."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your friend at work told me--"

"Marsha is a milk-drinker!” Kim interrupted, using an insult from Skyrim which she’d always wanted to use but never had the opportunity to try. “She’s not my friend."

"Your co-worker at work told me you were into books, movies, video games, and geek-related things," Angel amended without missing a beat. "She also admitted your interests were not hers, and didn’t know enough about those specific subjects to make an accurate assumption. I’ve concluded your behavior is perfectly understandable if your goal was to forge a romantic relationship with me."

Wait, Angel thought this was her idea?

"You took me home with a minimum of verbal communication,” Angel continued, “admitting it was a first-time experience for you. You provided food and clothing and asked for nothing in exchange. The next night, we went on a date together. We shared an ice cream sundae. After the date, you brought me home and invited me inside to stay the night with you, although I had no expectations we would engage in sexual activities.”

“Why would you expect that?”

“I did not expect it,” Angel corrected her.

“And of course I invited you in!” Kim cried, exasperated. “Why wouldn’t I? You live here!”

“I have further additional evidence. We showered together twice, and I noticed you paid extra attention to my breasts, touching them and holding them in such a way that I concluded--"

"No, I didn’t!"

Angel regarded her curiously.

Kim’s panicked brain sought a reasonable explanation. It never found one. "I...I just never felt them before. I mean, I never did it before, so I wasn’t used to them. I was just being thorough when I touched them. Washed them, I mean!"

Angel continued to look at her, silently judging her and accusing her of being a pervert behind an impenetrable mask of complete indifference.

"It isn’t as if I was playing with them or anything!"

"When I asked you about the matter directly, you claimed shyness and embarrassment. Is my conclusion inaccurate?"

Kim remained silent, but her internal voice was raging. Of course it was! I only invited you into my house because I knew you weren’t human! I thought you were an alien! Nothing more! That was it!

But of course she couldn’t say any of that. If she told Angel the truth, or even hinted that she suspected her true alien nature, Angel would pack up and leave. Worst case, she’d tie up loose ends and then leave!

"There can be no other reasonable explanation,” Angel concluded.

Kim was stuck. She couldn’t deny it. She just couldn’t. Angel would leave if she did. Her mind whirled and spun and crashed into things as she struggled for something to say, to find an answer that explained everything while concealing everything.

There was nothing.

No explanation, except one.

That was the only choice, wasn’t it? Kim needed to lie. Lie and confirm Angel’s theory. That alone would solve the problem.

And yet, how could she say such an embarrassing thing out loud, even knowing it was a lie?

Kim tried to reason it out. What was the harm? What was the downside, other than embarrassment? True, it was a lie based off a series of misinterpretations, but couldn’t she just agree to it and tell Angel her guess had been right?

After all, what would actually change? Nothing. Nothing at all. No one needed to know. She could deny it at work, and they could keep this between themselves. After all, agreeing with Angel didn’t mean she had to sleep with her or anything.

There was only one possible true downside she could see. By telling Angel her conclusions were correct, Kim would in essence be giving permission and encouragement for Angel to further things along.

That would have been a danger, if Angel were actually serious about her. It was a good thing she wasn’t. Angel was only pretending. By “admitting” her theories were correct, Kim would be pretending, as well. Angel wanted a relationship to blend in and meet Kim’s expectations of her, and Kim would be doing the same thing in order to make Angel believe she’d been successful.

At least one thing was clear. Kim now understood why Angel had taken the second shower with her, knowing only couples did such things. During their date, Angel had become convinced they were in a relationship. Kim hadn’t corrected her, and because of that, Angel saw no reason to avoid taking a shower afterwards.

In fact, that shower probably solidified the idea in Angel’s mind that they were dating.

Kim admonished herself for not seeing the clues. Angel even admitted it the next morning with her ‘teasing is normal among couples’ comment. How could she have missed it?

But none of that mattered. Angel wasn’t truly interested in her. Kim could finally put those fears to rest, knowing there was no danger of things getting worse. After all, why would Angel want to escalate it? She’d probably prefer it if things were left the way they were.

Kim breathed a sigh of relief. That meant she was safe. Nothing else would happen. There was nothing to fear.

What else? The showers. The showers could continue. That was bad. Right?

Well, I can think of one or two benefits to--

Of course it was bad!

The bottom line was, nothing would change. No one was going to escalate anything. No one else was going to find out about their arrangement. They were just saying it, and those were words, nothing more. This was between her and Angel. She could keep it a secret.

No one would ever find out.

Kim took several deep breaths as she mustered her courage, then spoke in a rush. "Yes, you were right. I was too embarrassed to say so before."

Angel reached out and took her hands, smiling brightly. "I’m glad we’re officially a couple now."

Wait, what? What!

"Would you like to take a shower now, or have dinner first?" Angel asked her.

Kim pulled her hands free. If she was going to get into a fake relationship with another woman, it would be on her terms. All of this romance nonsense had to stop. No more showers together. No more casually touching each other or playing with each other’s breasts. Not that she did any of that, but assuming she did, she was going to stop it.

This time, Kim was going to put her foot down. She was determined. No budging on this. She’d lay down the rules and make it clear and leave no room for misinterpretation whatsoever.

Instead, Kim said, "I’m still new at this relationship stuff. Would you mind if we take things slow?"

"Of course."

She sighed in relief. Taking it slow was a good way of saying never. Fortunately, Angel bought it. Everything was going to be fine. "Good. That’s good."

"Would you like to take a shower now, or have dinner first?" Angel asked again.

Kim gaped at her, incredulous. "You realize it is possible to take a shower separately, don’t you?"

"Naturally, I realize this."

"Good."

"I would still like to know."

"I’ll take a shower alone."

"Yes. You could. Or I could take a shower with you."

"We’re not taking a shower together!"

"Your reluctance is illogical and annoying," Angel said with a huff. "It has already been established at this stage in our relationship that--"

"Our relationship begins today,” Kim interrupted, “and our relationship isn’t a normal relationship. Do you think we could go on a few dates first before we hop into bed or start taking showers together?"

"If that is what you want," Angel said dubiously.

"Yes, that’s what I want. Now, I’m going to take a shower. Alone."

"Are we having a lover’s quarrel?"

"We’re not lovers!" cried Kim. She slammed the bathroom door behind her.

Chapter Ten

"Kimmie! Your girlfriend called! She wants you to bring home some Chinese food!" called Marsha, loud enough for the entire building to hear.

Kim froze, her hands poised over the keyboard.

"Will you keep your voice down," admonished a voice in a loud whisper Kim recognized as Tom's. His was the cubicle closest to Marsha’s at the end of their row. "Kim is a friend of ours, and as far as I know she’s never been in a relationship."

"It’s just some good natured teasing," Marsha told him.

"Kim isn’t used to it," Tom continued. "You’re going to ruin it before it even gets started."

"So it’s true, then? Kim has a girlfriend?" asked Joe, the resident pervert. Other offices had two or three of them. Kim’s workplace only had the one, which forced him to work overtime to make up the difference.

"I think so," replied Tom, "and we shouldn’t discourage her."

"I’m not gonna discourage her. Lesbians are hot."

Kim sunk deeper into her chair, trying to disappear.

"Joe, keep your voice down. She can probably hear you."

"You should be ashamed of yourselves," said Lucy, inserting herself into the conversation. Her cubicle was on the other side of the building, but Kim wasn’t surprised by her presence. Lucy could smell office gossip brewing from down the street. "Yes, I was as shocked as anyone. It took us all by surprise to learn Kim is seeing someone, but Tom’s right. We shouldn’t tease her about it or talk about her behind her back."

"I’m only looking out for Kimmie’s best interests," said Marsha, sounding defensive.

"You’re the worst one!"

"I wasn’t here yesterday, so I didn’t get to see her. What’s she’s like?" demanded Joe.

"It’s all probably a misunderstanding, anyway. Kim isn’t a lesbian," said Andy from the cubicle adjacent to Kim’s.

The fact that Andy join the debate surprised Kim. The others at least had an excuse, arguing far enough away by Marsha’s desk that it was at least possible Kim couldn’t overhear every word they said.

But Andy sat in the very next cubicle. He had to know Kim was listening. Marsha certainly knew it. She wouldn’t have made the announcement, otherwise.

If Andy had half a brain, he would have figured out…

Oh. That’s right. No brain.

"You’re just saying that because Kim wouldn’t go out with you," said Lucy.

"No, not going out with me would be evidence she was a lesbian," Andy clarified. "Kim never goes out with anyone. She loves her solitude too much."

"That doesn’t mean she isn’t waiting for Mister Right to show up. Or Miss Right, in this case. I think it’s wonderful she found someone," gushed Lucy.

"What’s she look like?" Joe demanded, once again. Everyone continued to ignore him.

"That doesn’t mean we can’t tease her just a little bit," said Marsha.

"You go too far," said Lucy.

"Will somebody please tell me what she looks like? I’m dying here!"

"Blonde hair, almost platinum, as if bleached out from spending too much time in the sun. No idea what color her eyes are. Slim, a little shorter than me," said Lucy.

Kim could picture Tom shaking his head. "Please, don’t encourage him."

"Are her breasts as nice as yours?" asked Joe.

"They’re about the same, actually.” Lucy seemed amused by the question. “I think she fills out her clothes very nicely."

"Lucy, you do realize you’re not--” started Tom.

"I’m straight, but I might be willing to bend for this one. If Kim doesn’t want her, maybe I’ll take a shot."

"Oh, my God, that is so hot," gushed Joe.

"She's only teasing, you idiot. And I think you’re all making a mistake," said Larry, speaking up for the first time, his gruff voice easily recognizable due to a thirty year smoking habit.

"There’s nothing wrong with Kim being a lesbian. The heart wants what the heart wants," said Tom.

"I didn’t say anything was wrong with it,” Larry clarified.

"Yeah, if Kim wants to have hot, lesbian sex all night long, we should encourage her," put in Joe.

Lucy spoke up again. "If she has a girlfriend then yes, we should encourage her, but not for your perverted reasons."

"There’s nothing wrong with my perverted reasons." Joe defended himself.

"No wonder Kim keeps everything to herself, working around you people all day," Larry remarked.

"Kim isn’t a lesbian," Andy insisted once again.

"You didn’t see them,” said Marsha. “She told me herself. They were living together, and she was wearing Kimmie’s clothes. They’re definitely a couple.”

"No, you only think they’re a couple," Andy retorted.

"I don’t think, I know."

"I don’t think you know either."

"Ooh. Good one," laughed Joe.

"Anyway, could we just drop it? Kim is probably listening to us,” Andy pointed out.

The voices mercifully stopped.

Kim didn’t look. She didn’t have to. She remained exactly where she was, clinging to the illusion of shelter.

It took all of three seconds before the conversation started up again. "I don’t see her in her cubicle," said Tom. His voice was slightly subdued, but not nearly enough.

"Do you think Kim’s slept with her yet?"

"Joe, keep your voice down," hissed Andy.

"You keep your voice down!"

Larry peered over the wall of Kim’s cubicle. "She’s been here all along,” he called to the others. “The rest of you should be ashamed of yourselves.”

Kim sunk further into her personal pit of embarrassment and mortification.

"Sorry, Kim," sang Marsha in a sing-song voice. "We only talk about you behind your back because we care about you."

"And some of us can’t help themselves," finished Lucy, also in a sing-song voice.

"I blame Marsha,” groused Tom. “She started it."

Not to be outdone, Joe appeared at Kim’s cubicle entrance. "Kim. This is me being completely serious, now. As your friend, I want you to know I fully support your decision. I encourage you, I’m behind you, and I think you should continue to have hot, lesbian sex with your girlfriend as often as humanly possible. And if you haven’t yet, why the hell not?"

Kim glared back with fire in her eyes. "She’s not my girlfriend!"

There was a moment of silence.

"Told ya," said Andy.

"Doesn’t matter. I’m still going to tease her about it," said Marsha.

Chapter Eleven

Kim was feeling uneasy about dinner as she left work that night. What she would like to have done was talk to her new girlfriend about the matter, but she had no means of reaching her. Kim didn’t personally own a landline. She never had. Not much point to one, really, since the invention of the cell phone.

Now she was paying the price for her lack of vision, she thought in an internal raspy voice that sounded eerily similar to the Emperor from Return of the Jedi.

How did Angel call to leave a message without a phone, anyway?

A mental picture popped into her head that made her regret wondering. She pictured Angel visiting her neighbors one by one, introducing herself as Kim’s new girlfriend under the pretext of asking to use their phone.

Hopefully she didn’t introduce herself to the entire building.

Since she couldn’t call Angel back for clarification, she resigned herself to picking up the Chinese food as requested. She considered stopping at the store and getting Angel a cellphone of her own, but decided against it. Someone as obsessed about a low profile and ‘avoiding local authorities’ as Angel seemed to be didn’t seem the type to take it with her.

She pulled up to her garage and reached over to press the remote. It didn’t work.

Huh. The power must be out.

Shrugging to herself and not thinking anything of it, Kim backed away from her garage and found a spot in the main parking lot, instead.

Her suspicions were confirmed as she walked inside. The power was out for the entire building. She guessed it couldn’t be too widespread, as she hadn’t noticed any problems with traffic lights on the way in.

With the curtains permanently drawn to block out any hint of natural light, the interior of the condominium was exceptionally dark. Her gaze was immediately drawn to four candles set in a candlestick holder atop the kitchen table. This was the only source of illumination.

Angel herself was seated at the table on the far side. Kim sat down opposite her and opened her takeout bag. "You wanted Chinese?" Kim asked.

"Yes, thank you."

"Any idea what happened to the power?"

"A transformer blew out."

Kim nodded. It was as good an explanation as any. She handed Angel a set of chopsticks, putting the matter from her mind.

Angel took them from her, but only held them loosely and did nothing. Kim realized with a start that Angel didn’t know how to use them.

I wonder...

Acting on impulse, Kim opened one of the containers and used her own chopsticks to take a bit of rice. Angel adjusted her grip on her own chopsticks and did the same.

Flawlessly.

Impressive, thought Kim. Angel only had to observe an activity once, and it was hers. That was a nice ability to have, and certainly better than her own lame ‘suppress memories permanently until reminded of them’ ability. Not that Kim had been doubting, but Angel’s casual demonstration further reinforced her belief that Angel was most definitely not human.

That brought up a new line of thought. Angel knew they were having Chinese food for dinner. Given that, why didn’t she plan for it? Why not simply pick up the skill off the internet?

Unless Angel had never even heard of chopsticks before. That at least made sense. Everyone on the planet knew what chopsticks were, all without being told. The information was common knowledge. Only a complete outsider like Angel wouldn’t have a clue about them.

Still more evidence to add to the growing list.

The dinner continued until Kim broke the silence. "I didn’t think I had any candles in the house. Or candlestick holders, for that matter.”

"You didn’t. I purchased them this afternoon."

Kim waited for her to explain, but no further answers were forthcoming.

Her condominium complex was one of several in her deeply residential neighborhood. A few stores existed, but none were close.

“You walked there? It must have taken--" Kim ran a quick calculation in her head, failed to get a number that made sense, then made a wild guess. "An hour or so?"

Angel nodded. "Two hours and thirty minutes. It was no trouble."

"When did the power go out?"

"A little over an hour ago."

Kim blinked. She’d heard that right, didn’t she? Angel left before…

"How did you know we’d need candles?"

Angel shrugged, the motion barely discernable in the lengthening shadows. "A fortunate coincidence in our favor," she said.

"You had nothing to do with it?"

"No. I bought the candles.”

"Did you have anything to do with the transformer?" Kim pressed.

"The transformer blowing out was a fortunate coincidence in our favor," Angel repeated. “In fact, it made buying the candles a necessity.”

Kim suddenly realized the situation she was in. "A candlelight dinner? You arranged this?"

"I do not claim credit for all of it, but yes, I arranged this. Do you like it?"

Kim swallowed and didn’t answer. This was beyond her experience. No one had ever committed vandalism in the name of romance for her before. Angel set it up, verbally denied it, but at the same time left clues to let Kim know exactly what she’d done.

It was kind of sweet. Illegal, but sweet.

Why didn’t she just switch off the power in her apartment, anyway? Wouldn’t that have been simpler?

"What if someone had seen you?" Kim asked.

"There’s nothing wrong with purchasing candles."

"Not the candles, the transformer! Aren’t you all about trying to keep a low profile?"

Angel set down her chopsticks, as if to add gravity to her words. "Assuming I did this thing..." she began, her voice trailing off.

"Yes? Assuming you did it?"

Angel met her eyes and held them. "I think you’re worth the risk."

Kim took another bite of rice to cover her embarrassment, then a little bit more, thankful that Angel couldn’t see her blush in the darkness. If Kim had been romantically interested in Angel, which she most assuredly was not, that particular line of hers would have been a definite point in her favor.

Not that she minded the grand gesture that inconvenienced the entire building overmuch. She’d never had a candlelight dinner before. Now that she was up to her neck in one, she could see how they must have picked up their romantic reputation.

To begin with, darkness obscured the room. She literally couldn’t see anything else but Angel seated across from her. It was just the two of them. All of her attention was focused on her and her alone. In addition, the dim illumination caused Angel’s pupils to expand to catch what little light remained. The illusion of larger eyes had a fascinating, enchanting effect that caught her attention and held it. Kim found herself staring without meaning to.

And in the back of her mind was the fact that Angel had gone out of her way to do something for her, which ran counter to her “Angel only wants to blend in” theory. It made her wonder what else she might be wrong about.

“So what types of books do you prefer?” ventured Angel.

“Science fiction, fantasy, thrillers, mysteries. Whatever I can get my hands on, I suppose,” Kim replied. “Jim Butcher, Lovecraft, Peter Hamilton, Terry Goodkind, Jeffery Deaver, John Sandford.” She shrugged. “Even the other Hamilton before she went off the deep end and decided sex was more interesting than violence. These days, she’s just annoying.”

“Any specific ones you could recommend?”

Kim brightened. “Oh, lots of them! I can show you several, if you like.”

“Were those three that you gave me the other day from favorite authors? I noticed each were the first in a series.”

“What books are you--” Kim began, then stopped, her blood turning to ice.

Those books. She had forgotten about them.

So that was it. Given the book’s subject matter, it was no wonder Angel thought Kim was interested in her. If she hadn’t thought it before, she must believe it now.

“You read them?” Kim asked, anticipating yet dreading the answer.

“Yes. All three. They were informative and very enjoyable. Were you going to purchase the next in the series?”

“Let’s talk about something else, instead,” Kim interrupted in a rush. “Video games. Have you tried any of mine?”

“I looked over your collection. You seem to prefer the roleplaying games. Tell me about them?”

Kim delved into the new topic with enthusiasm. “Those are my favorite. They’re a great way to kill a large amount of time, and I love a good story. After creating a character, you meet people in the game and they send you out on quests. Rescue missions, find and collect, kill a specific this or that, whatever needs doing. You solve the quests, fight monsters along the way, look for treasure, and recruit others to join your party.

"Everything is centered on getting loot and experience for better gear and new skills. From there, you have new quests and stronger monsters to fight. The longer games even have a romantic interest included in the story.”

“How does the romance work?” Angel asked.

“Typically, they’re with one of your party members. You find someone you like and start a conversation,” Kim said, waving her chopsticks in the air. She made jabbing motions with each point. “You ask them what they like, give them gifts, go on quests with them and solve whatever issues they have. You know, get to know them.”

“Like we’re doing now?”

Kim blinked.

Exactly like they were doing now, she realized.

Kim set her chopsticks down. Now she understood. It made sense. She knew what was going on.

Angel must have known beforehand that roleplaying games were one of her major interests. Through clever manipulation, she’d steered Kim into this conversation. As for why, the romances in those games always ended in a specific outcome. Angel had done her research. She already knew ahead of time exactly how those relationships turned out.

Kim went through the process in her head. In roleplaying games it always started out innocently enough, with normal, everyday conversation as the player tried to find out more about their intended target. But things didn’t stay that way. The growing romance was spiced up with gifts, slaughtering monsters together, more conversation and more adventuring.

Assuming you played your cards right and hadn’t accidentally gotten your romantic interest killed at some point, the couple’s story would reach a satisfying conclusion. On the night before the final battle, there would be a cut scene of the two characters sharing a moment. They’d talk about what was to come, speculate on their personal future and what they meant to each other, and then the two of them would have sex.

Then they’d resolve the story’s central conflict and have even more sex!

Afterwards, there might be a plot twist or something which led to the true villain and a final conclusion or confrontation, but none of that was relevant to the situation Kim now found herself in. What concerned her was the sex scene Angel apparently wanted to steer her into.

The games were supposedly off limits to minors, self-regulated to avoid outraged parents armed with little information and an inverse amount of free time. For the most part, that tactic worked. There was never actual nudity to be seen. What they did show was no worse than what anyone could see on primetime television.

This had to be Angel’s plan. Maybe she’d been clued in after checking out Kim’s library. Mass Effect certainly had it, as well as Jade Empire and Dragon Age and its sequels. Angel could have researched any of them.

Clearly, Angel saw the vast number of titles as evidence that Kim wanted a relationship. Angel even used the same romantic patterns. First she talked about Kim’s interests, then she offered gifts in the form of books, and now she quite obviously wanted to skip ahead straight to the end.

Her methods were a bit unorthodox, but Kim could understand the reasons behind them. After all, they couldn’t very well go out and slaughter monsters together for loot and experience, now, could they?

But all was not lost. Fortunately for Kim’s well-being and the state of her virtue, Angel had miscalculated and vastly underestimated her opponent. While it was true Kim may not have much in the way of practical, real-world experience, she did know a conversation setup when she smelled one, and she was smelling one right now!

Now that she was fully aware of the trap, all she needed to do was step out of it. It wasn’t as simple as cutting the blue wire, but how hard could it be? She could even influence the conversation herself. It didn’t have to end in the specific way Angel wanted.

“Usually there’s a lot more flirting,” Kim volunteered. She met Angel’s eyes only sparingly, trying to conceal her nervousness. “Maybe a conflict or two? Eventually they declare their love for each other, confront and destroy the final boss, and it all ends with the two of them living happily ever after. The end.”

“Nothing more?” Angel asked, sounding innocent.

Kim kept her expression neutral. “What do you mean?”

“Do they engage in physical activities with each other?”

Kim narrowed her eyes. Obviously, Angel wanted her to verbally confirm they had sex. To counter it, she had to make certain she said nothing Angel could use against her. “Maybe kissing and...stuff,” she said, internally wincing at how lame the answer sounded. It wasn’t the best she could do, but it was adequate for evading the confirmation Angel sought.

“I’ve embarrassed you,” Angel said.

Kim had nothing to say to that, and the conversation lapsed into a brief and welcome silence. Angel continued to mask her intentions, giving Kim an indifferent look that perfectly concealed the nefarious designs she had on her body.

Kim took full advantage of the brief respite to fully consider her situation and try to determine her next move. Internally, she marveled at the trap, amazed at how Angel had effortlessly gotten this far. The whole ‘romantic candlelight dinner’ thing had only been step one of her master plan.

Or maybe it was step three?

She decided to go through the steps in her mind.

Step one: Set up a base of operations. In other words, trick a beautiful, innocent and unsuspecting Earth girl into letting her stay at her house.

Step two: Find a way to avoid being kicked out of the house. Angel accomplished this by tricking the hapless Earth girl into accepting a relationship. She even skillfully arranged things to make it appear as if it were her victim’s idea.

Step three: Worm your way into the victim’s heart by doing something romantic.

And that was where Angel’s plan failed. Kim had never been the girl hoping to get married one day. Relationships were for other people. She had better things to do with her time. Books, movies, and video games were enough to sustain her. She didn’t need anyone else. Friendships were for ponies. The only reason sabotaging a power transformer to set up a candlelight dinner made her list of romantic things at all was because there was literally nothing else on her list.

Angel’s plan was doomed to failure because Kim was onto her scheme. She’d seen through the trap and recognized it as a setup for something far more sinister.

From there, it was easy to deduce the last step.

Step four: Seduce the Earth-girl so she’d be willing to betray Earth and her people for her new evil, alien masters!

“Is there something else we could do tonight?” Angel asked her.

Kim braced herself. This had to be it. All the preparations, everything came to this moment.

“You mentioned you cooked upon occasion,” Angel continued. “Could we bake something together? I’d like to try cookies.”

Did she hear that right? Cookies? Angel said cookies? What in the world did cookies have to do with sex?

Kim thought back to Angel’s master plan. Naturally, she didn’t have time to write any of it down, but this had to be a part of it.

Maybe step four is cookies and step five is sex?

She decided to take Angel literally and turn her evil plan against her. “It’s too late at night for something like that. Besides, the power’s out,” Kim told her smugly.

"There must be something else. What do people normally do when the power goes out?” Angel pressed.

Aha! So that’s what Angel is leading up to!

Newspapers sometimes ran stories of baby booms nine months after a major power outage. Kim didn’t know if there was any truth to them, but she definitely heard the stories. Angel obviously found out about them and hoped to capitalize on the idea.

A transparent ploy. Kim didn’t take the bait.

Although Angel’s question was intended to steer Kim to an obvious answer, the fact that she left it open gave Kim the opportunity she needed to find an alternative answer. She just had to find it. There had to be something she could suggest to dispel the situation, besides that one specific activity Angel was so poorly hinting at.

She tried to think of that perfect answer, but nothing came to mind.

Nothing continued to come to mind.

Angel’s attention never wavered. With but a look, Angel continued to silently pressure her into an answer, any answer, and Kim felt herself beginning to crack.

In desperation, Kim fell back on old defenses. Maybe she couldn’t think of an alternative, but she could delay it. "I think it’s a bit soon, don’t you think?"

"What about tomorrow? Will you agree that we could tomorrow?"

Kim reeled under the verbal assault.

She doesn’t give up, does she?

"I’m not agreeing to anything! Why do you want to rush things so badly?"

Angel gave her a confused look. Kim wasn’t fooled.

"Are you thinking of one specific couple’s related activity that you wish to delay?" Angel asked.

Why not all of them? thought Kim, but she knew Angel would never accept that.

“I’m not suggesting we delay all of them. Just...some of them.”

Angel brightened. “In that case, is there a specific one we could try tonight?”

Once again, Kim was amazed at Angel’s unrelenting audacity. How much more blatant can she get? She wished the alien would get her mind out of the gutter.

Finally, Kim had had enough. She stood up so quickly her chair fell over backwards.

"Why don’t we forget about all that? Why don’t we just turn in for tonight?"

"Turn in?"

"You know, let’s go to bed," Kim said casually, then she froze up in crippling horror.

Angel gave her a long, steady look, and then silently rose to her feet.

Only Kim’s widening eyes were hers to control. Her body stood rooted in place, paralyzed as Angel slowly walked around the table and over to Kim as if she had all the time in the world.

Angel reached out and took her hand. Kim was powerless to resist her, unable to flinch back or even scream.

“If you want,” Angel whispered, and Kim found herself being led down the hall towards her own bedroom.

Reality seemed to become disjointed. Kim felt like a passive observer, watching herself stumbling along in Angel’s wake. It seemed to her as if Angel were dragging some other poor woman to her doom.

Kim took a step. Then another. Then a turning point was reached. With great effort, she fought through the overwhelming feelings of dread and mastered herself enough to plant her feet against the floor.

"Wait, no. You. I mean, you, to your bed," she babbled.

With a gentle tug, they were moving in a different direction. This time towards the living room couch.

Angel’s pace was casual. Unhurried. Relentless as the specter of Death itself. But now Kim had control again. No longer was she a lamb being led to slaughter. She frantically twisted her hand with strength born of desperation and jerked it free. "Wait! Stop it!"

Angel turned and looked back at her. She looked confused, a clever mask that fooled no one. "I don’t understand you. You told me you wished for us to go to bed?"

"Alone!"

"Has something changed?"

"Just because we had a candlelight dinner together doesn’t mean I want you to go to bed with me."

Angel turned to look at the couch, then back to Kim. Her mask never wavered. "The couch is acceptable."

"Oh, don’t play the innocent with me!” Kim snapped. “This was your plan. This was always your plan."

"I don’t understand."

"I know the definition of seduction, Angel. How do you explain all this? The candlelight dinner? Pressing for us to start something tonight?”

“I don’t--”

“You were trying to seduce me!"

"I didn’t--"

"All you’ve been thinking about is sex and trying to get me into bed! Well, I’ll tell you right now, your six-step or five-step ultimate master plan isn’t going to work! I’m onto you! I know what you’re planning, and I refuse to go along with it!"

Angel looked surprised and shocked at the accusation. A genuine reaction, if Kim was any judge. Clearly, she never expected to be caught so easily.

"Is that what you think a relationship is about? People don’t just meet, feel instant attraction for each other, then fall into bed together!” Kim declared, then frowned and added, "Okay, maybe some people do, some of the time,” then after another pause, added, "Maybe even a lot of the people a lot of the time, but not me! I didn’t invite you into my house to stay with me just so we could have sex!"

"You wanted me for something more than sex?"

Kim’s face twisted. "That’s not what I meant."

"What else did you want?"

"I wanted...I don’t know, something else."

The power snapped on. Kim shrieked and fell back against the wall.

Angel took an exaggerated, long look over her own shoulder as if to see if a monster were in fact sneaking up on her.

It took Kim several long moments before she could calm herself down. "Listen. I’m okay with a relationship with you. We can go on dates, see movies, and even bake actual, real cookies together if you want. I’d like that. I’ll enjoy it, I just think it’s too soon for us to start other things."

"By other things, you mean sex,” Angel stated, her tone of voice making her words sound like a guess.

Kim squirmed under the scrutiny. "Yes,” she said.

"That wasn’t my intention. I engineered the candlelight dinner as an attempt at romance. Nothing more."

Kim blinked.

A moment went past.

Another moment went past.

"I’m sorry,” managed Kim, “what?”

"Until this moment, I considered a relationship to be a higher form of friendship between two people. I had no idea sex factored so heavily towards a relationship’s success. You suggested I had a plan to build upon what we had? I’m sorry, but the thought never occurred to me. I apologize for my lapse.”

"What do you mean, you never thought of it? What about all that talk about ‘couples related activities’?"

"I meant things people traditionally do together. Read books, watch movies, visit different places, cooking, talking, sharing meals--"

"--but not taking showers together?" interrupted Kim.

"You indicated you were not comfortable with the two of us taking showers together at this early stage of our relationship. You wished to delay them until after we’d completed a few more dates."

"Did you include kissing on that list?" asked Kim.

"I will.” Angel nodded. “Once again, I apologize for not knowing what to expect and for not taking our relationship more seriously."

"Why are you apologizing? I’m not upset about you not being serious about it."

"May I kiss you goodnight?" Angel asked, shifting gears with the unexpected suddenness of a student driver attempting to take a car from third gear into reverse.

"What? You said kissing wasn’t on your list!"

"It wasn’t. Not until you suggested I put it there."

"What? I didn’t!"

Angel took a step forward. Kim matched her by taking a step back.

“Why are you doing this now?” Kim demanded.

“Kissing is usually one of the first things to happen in a developing relationship. We’ve already been on one date, but we’ve never kissed. If we consider tonight’s dinner to be our second date, it would become even more unusual for us not to kiss at some point.”

Kim couldn’t argue with that logic, although she desperately wanted to. The ‘first step’ talk also alarmed her. That implied more steps. A lot more. Still, a first step may not be so bad, as long as she never took a second step, or a third. Whatever those meant.

It was just a kiss, after all. Right? No harm in that. It didn’t mean anything unless she wanted it to mean something. Compared to what she thought Angel wanted, a kiss was nothing. It was less than nothing. She could do this.

All those justifications went out the window when Angel took another step. And another.

Kim matched her step for step until she ran out of room and her back bumped against the wall. She looked to the side to gauge her chance of escape. The way was open. She could take it if she wanted. Angel wasn’t even trying to block her.

But she didn’t make the attempt.

Angel was right, she realized.

So this is what doom feels like.

Kim’s fate was sealed. She needed to follow through with this all-important first kiss. If she didn’t, Angel might figure things out and realize Kim never wanted the relationship in the first place. She needed to pretend she wanted this, just as Angel pretended for her own purposes.

"I’m just going to kiss you,” Angel told her. “I won’t try to seduce you tonight."

"What about tomorrow night?"

"No promises."

Guess we’re doing this... "If that’s all you want."

“Will this be your first?”

Kim hesitated. It was more than she wanted to admit, but she nodded. The boy she’d gone out with all those years ago had been far too unsure of himself to even attempt to kiss her goodnight. Kim didn’t care enough to encourage him. They’d never been a second opportunity.

“It will be mine, too. If there were others, I’ve forgotten them,” said Angel.

Kim tried to banish her nervousness. And she did feel nervous. She certainly didn’t feel anticipation, as there wasn't any reason to feel anticipation. Being nervous, at least, she could explain. This was her first kiss, after all.

Angel leaned forward and pressed her lips against hers. The kiss itself started off fairly ordinary. It felt soft, warm, and kind of nice. More or less what she expected. Then it changed. Within seconds, Angel seemed to become more insistent.

Even though it was simply a kiss, Kim was determined to not let it affect her. Taking two showers with Angel, twice in a row, taught her that being touched in certain ways could cause certain thoughts and feelings to arise without conscious control. Kim needed to guard against them, just like she’d done in the shower.

A mental image of herself in the shower with Angel rose up unbidden. It washed over her; the sound of the water in the background and the feel of it on her skin, the touch of Angel’s warm hands as they slowly caressed her body and the feelings of--

Kim broke the kiss at once.

While Kim’s mind raced as she attempted to recover, Angel seemed distant and introspective. She gingerly touched her fingers to her lips. "I want to do this again. I wish to compare," she whispered, then kissed Kim again without waiting for an answer.

If anything, the second was sweeter than the first.

Angel pressed her body closer. Kim’s eyes closed and she found herself holding her breath, unable to decide where to place her hands. The moment ended before she made a decision.

The two looked at each other, staring deep into each other’s eyes. Kim always thought that phrase was somewhat sappy, but now wondered if there was something to it.

Finally, Angel backed away, giving Kim some space. "I didn’t anticipate my reaction. I’m sorry."

Kim laughed. She felt giddy, and she didn’t have a reason for it. "Nothing to apologize for."

"Goodnight, Kim." Angel turned and walked away.

Kim watched her go, smiling without understanding why. "Goodnight.”

Chapter Twelve

Saturday morning. The alarm went off because Kim had forgotten to turn it off.

Angel was still asleep on the couch when Kim passed her on her way to the kitchen. As was getting to be a custom with Kim, she resolved to ignore her. As was also becoming customary, she failed to succeed at it.

This time, Angel was lying mostly on her back. At first glance, the blanket did a decent job covering her, but when Kim checked it out from different angles it became apparent Angel had gone to bed naked. Again.

In addition, the blanket itself seemed artfully arranged in a way that seemed deliberate, as if to draw the eye and call attention to what lay beneath. Naturally, the effect was completely wasted on Kim as she flat out wasn’t interested. Anyone else in her position might fall under Angel’s spell and stop and stare, but not her.

Kim congratulated herself on only slowing down a little bit. She merely glanced a couple of times. Nothing more.

The prospect of cooking eggs didn’t interest her, so she made waffles, instead. The fact that she was getting tired of a particular style wasn’t lost on her. This being her third, she’d now had breakfast more times this week than she had in years.

Maybe this is getting to be a habit too.

There was always the oatmeal, she remembered. She’d purchased it around the time she moved in, eight or nine years ago. Did oatmeal go bad? Did it ever go bad? Or did it just start that way? Maybe she should throw it out before Angel discovered it and tried to make something creative out of it.

Angel wandered in a short time later and sat opposite her. No one spoke. The two girls simply began eating.

Kim raised her glass of orange juice, frowned at it, frowned at Angel, then set it back down.

“I noticed you were sleeping naked again,” Kim said with a hint of disapproval.

“I noticed you were watching me,” Angel grinned.

“I wasn’t watching!”

“Staring? Gazing? Longing after? Glancing at out of the corner of your eye, hoping not to be caught but secretly wishing you would be?”

“I just noticed, that’s all. There’s nothing wrong with me noticing you,” Kim told her, then frowned.

That didn’t come out right.

“Thank you,” said Angel.

“Thank you? For what?”

“For noticing.”

Kim’s brow furrowed. She felt she’d lost control of the conversation. “You’re welcome. I think.”

Thirty seconds later, Kim remembered her original thought. “The reason why I mentioned noticing in the first place was because I think you should wear at least something to bed."

“What do you think I should wear? Something sexy?”

“Or something practical.”

“I’m glad you think I’m attractive.”

Kim wondered where that came from, but decided not to ask. "So what did you want to do, today? It’s Saturday. Didn’t you want to see the city?"

"There is no need. I am no longer working as a tourist. I am now an unemployed worker who overstayed her visa, and am living in the country illegally."

"You don’t have a visa," Kim commented dryly. "It burned up in the fire, remember?"

"Irrelevant, as it likely would have expired by now."

"I liked your other story better."

"It is not a story," Angel told her with a hint of exasperation. “It’s additional background information! In addition, it also explains my reluctance to encounter government officials in any form and reiterates my pressing need to maintain a low profile. As I have already mastered English, it should be a simple matter for me to remain in the country undetected for an indefinite period of time."

Kim added more maple syrup to her waffles. "So you don’t want to go out into the city to see anything? The zoo, the parks, the...oh, I don’t know...the military base? Which isn’t too far away?"

"I have already researched the military base. I needed to know its location so I could avoid it in the future."

"That doesn’t make any sense!"

“Regardless, I have something else planned for today.”

“Like what?”

“Cookies. Just normal cookies. Chocolate chip. Please, explain, why are you blushing?”

Kim turned away to hide her face. “I’m not blushing.”

“The subject of cookies reminds you of our kiss last night?”

“Why would it? I’m not embarrassed. I didn’t have a problem kissing you. It didn’t bother me.”

“As you say.”

The rest of the meal continued in silence.

After breakfast, Angel went about the kitchen pulling out baking utensils along with sugar, eggs, flour, and other miscellaneous ingredients. Kim simply watched Angel as she set about her task. Given her skill in the art of cooking, or more accurately, her lack of it, the ingredients seemed random to her. If Angel hadn’t told her what she was up to, Kim would never have guessed it.

Okay, the bag of semisweet chocolate chips would have clued me in.

“You bought all this stuff?”

“Yes. Yesterday.”

She continued to watch as Angel set about her preparations without consulting a cookbook. The ingredients were arranged in a neat row of individual portions, giving Kim the impression she was watching a cooking show demonstration. After taking careful measurements, Angel added the ingredients one after the other into a brand new mixing bowl Kim knew for a fact she hadn’t owned the previous day.

Angel certainly had a busy day yesterday. Find a recipe for cookies, buy candles and cooking supplies, call to arrange dinner, commit vandalism...

Angel never asked for help, and Kim wasn’t about to volunteer. Instead, she kept well out of the way, wondering to herself about Angel’s reasons behind all this.

What did Angel do all day yesterday, besides shop for food? Her purpose on Earth couldn’t possibly be find and seduce the first random girl she found. There had to be something else. What about her spy mission, or whatever she was supposed to be doing?

Angel placed the first batch in the oven and took a moment to smile brightly at Kim. Kim couldn’t help but return the smile. It was infectious.

As Angel began preparing the next batch, Kim was struck by a realization that simply hadn’t occurred to her before. Angel wasn’t acting noticeably unusual anymore. Her speech patterns had changed. She seemed...normal. It was possible Kim had simply become used to her unique quirks, but if she met her today on the street she might never have guessed Angel was anything but human.

Angel’s acting and infiltration skills had been abysmal when they’d first met, but today nothing about her struck her as out of the ordinary.

Now that she thought about it, why would that be unusual? Angel’s skills were bound to improve over time. She went shopping, for one. Shopping implied social activities and interactions with other people. Kim only went out when her situation compelled her to do it.

As if alerted by an internal clock, Angel stopped rolling up cookie dough and went to the oven. She opened it, reached in, and pulled the pan out of the oven with her bare hands and set it on the stove burners.

Kim’s eyes widened.

She didn’t--

For a moment, all she could do was stare in horrified silence. The next, she was across the room and taking Angel’s hands into her own, dreading what she’d find.

Then Kim realized she was the only one panicking.

Angel’s hands were completely undamaged. There were no burns. Kim turned them over and over again, amazed. They felt hot, but not uncomfortably so.

She looked to Angel, hoping for an explanation, but Angel was no help. She seemed more surprised at Kim’s behavior.

Did Angel think she was fooling her?

Or did she think nothing unusual had happened?

Kim’s mind raced with the possibilities. Angel’s behavior could make sense if she were completely unaware of her true nature. Yet even as Kim considered it, her mind rebelled against the possibility. How could Angel not know what she was?

Unaware of Kim’s inner turmoil, Angel intertwined her fingers with Kim’s, grinned impishly and kissed her.

Kim jerked back with a start.

"You didn’t like that one?" Angel asked before Kim could say anything.

"I...what?"

Angel kissed her again, this time with a hint of tongue. Kim was too surprised to object.

"Better?"

Kim was spared from answering. Someone started knocking at the door.

She tried to focus. She ignored the door. She ignored Angel smiling at her.

What if it were true? Angel claimed she lost her memory on the night they first met. Since the rest of her story was so blatantly false, Kim assumed everything she’d said had been made up on the spot.

But what if that part about her memory loss wasn’t a lie?

“Someone’s at the door,” Angel pointed out.

“Not now. I don’t care about that.”

Memory loss was the perfect excuse. It explained Angel not knowing details if asked certain questions.

But if the memory loss story were genuine, could she actually not know she wasn’t a normal human? Angel hadn’t tried to lie to her about her hands or conceal the fact they weren't burned. She simply didn’t think she’d done anything unusual.

Is it possible?

Kim shook her head. No. It can’t be. It has to be a lie. All of it. Angel lied about her background, and just now made a mistake but didn’t realize she’d made it. No one told her that her hands should have been burned to a crisp. There’s nothing more to it than that.

There were three more raps on the door. Kim was only distantly aware of them.

Kim’s attention focused on Angel gently caressing her hands. How was she supposed to explain her sudden need to rush across the room? She needed to say something. If Angel didn’t realize she’d made a mistake, Kim couldn’t afford to call attention to it.

Don’t mention getting burned. Don’t give a hint that Angel’s cover story was just blown to smithereens. Just keep it simple.

“Your hands looked hot!” Kim blurted.

Angel’s smile seemed to deepen. "Your hands are hot too.”

"No, your hands. They just...looked...hot.”

Oh, yeah. She also needed her reason to be completely immune to being misinterpreted as romantic in any way whatsoever.

Crap.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

"You should answer the door,” Angel said.

“Forget about the stupid door! I don’t care about that!” Kim tightened her grip on Angel’s hands. “Listen, you need to understand. I didn’t just grab your hands for no reason! The oven is hot, and--”

Don’t mention how it should have burned her!

“--and I didn’t want you getting...all sweaty.”

“What?” Angel asked.

What? Kim echoed in her head. What! What did I just say?

“You thought my body looked hot?” asked Angel.

Kim recoiled. “I didn’t say that. I just thought maybe you didn’t realize how hot the oven actually was. Not you, the oven, and I was just looking from across the room. I couldn’t help but look. And you bent over to open the door so my mind may have gone in a weird direction. The oven throws off a lot of heat, and I was just thinking how hot you looked, it wasn’t your hands at all. Or not just your hands. It was the overall effect. Because of the oven.”

She drew back and did her best to look indignant. “You think I was just looking at your body? Well, I wasn’t. I’m not a pervert.”

The explanation made sense in her head when she didn’t take the time to think about it.

After a pause, the knocking continued.

Kim brightened.

The door! That’s it!

“Anyway, we don’t have time for this,” Kim gushed, “I need to answer the door.” She pulled her hands free and fled the kitchen.

Kim threw open the door. A stocky man in his mid-thirties stood on the other side, dressed in a uniform she didn’t recognize.

“Hello,” said the man. “My name is Troy Miller. We’re investigating the circumstances surrounding the transformer that overloaded yesterday, and I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

Kim blinked.

Oh, poopie.

Chapter Thirteen

Kim kept her expression neutral as a wave of panic washed over her. As the feeling faded to a low burn of apprehension, she put a smile on her face. It hung there precariously, like a mask about to slip at any moment.

"Hello, Mr. Miller, are you with the police?" she asked, trying for politeness.

"No, ma’am. We’re working with the power district. I’m actually employed by the government.”

Oh, that’s so much better!

"Does this have anything to do with the seemingly random assaults and petty thefts?" she asked.

The man’s smile dimmed just a little bit, giving Kim the impression he was masking his suspicion. Kim herself was trying for an innocent look, admittedly one with room for improvement. She made a mental note that, if she survived today, she’d get in some practice in front of a mirror.

"No," he said.

Not to be deterred, Kim idly waved a hand in what she hoped was a disarming manner. "I just heard about them. The assaults, I mean. From a friend."

“As I said, we’re investigating the transformer that overloaded late yesterday afternoon.”

"How unusual,” Kim gushed in amazement. “Do you have any suspects?"

He cocked his head and gave a hint of a smile. "Interesting you should say that. We have a few leads and a description of a possible suspect."

"A possible suspect. Really? That’s nice."

"Did you see anything, or hear anything?" Miller asked.

"How could I? I wasn’t here. It happened an hour before I came home from work."

The agent simply stared at her, brown eyes accusing.

"Or so I was told," Kim clarified, and gave a slight nod. She kept her movements carefully measured, not wanting her mask to slip.

"Do you have a roommate or a houseguest? Perhaps they saw something."

Kim expected this question to prompt the inevitable crash of Angel dropping something in the kitchen, but there was nothing.

She waited.

Nothing.

Still nothing.

“I live alone,” Kim ventured.

Nothing continued to happen, and Kim breathed again, daring to relax. Evidently the cartoons she’d been exposed to in her childhood didn’t always reflect reality.

“May I come in?”

Kim gave another curt nod, her non-incriminating innocent smile never wavering.

Agent Miller took a long look around before taking a seat in the living room’s only chair. Kim sat on the couch that doubled as Angel’s bed. She propped Angel’s pillow under her arm, then leaned against it, trying to make the action look nonchalant and completely natural.

Nothing unusual, the couch doesn’t double as a bed, she projected. Nothing to see here. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for. Move along.

"Where were you at four o’clock yesterday afternoon?" he asked.

"I was working. I get off work at four-thirty."

"I see."

"You can check if you like. I’ll give you my office number."

"That won’t be necessary."

From the kitchen came the distinctive sound of an oven door opening, closely followed by the clatter of a cookie sheet being set down on the oven burners.

The agent looked suspicious.

Kim looked non-suspicious.

"Is someone else here?" he asked.

"I have a cat. Her name is Angel. Is there anything else you’d like to know? I wouldn’t want to keep you." For a second, she considered yelling at her nonexistent cat to keep it down, but quickly rejected the idea. She couldn’t risk getting an answer.

"One of your neighbors from downstairs, a Mrs. Andrews, told me she believes another woman has been staying here," said Miller.

Kim reacted to the accusation with the skill and talent of a professional politician who flunked out of high school and got into office on a technicality. "Oh, really? She did? I didn’t know that," she gushed, looking around with an expression that could be best described as thinly disguised panic.

Mr. Miller smiled a thin little smile. "Perhaps you’d care to...amend your earlier statement?"

“Yes. I would, actually,” Kim took a deep breath, held it, and then let it out slowly. “I do have a statement to make. I’d like to say the following. Mrs. Andrews should mind her own damned business!”

“I meant about your nonexistent houseguest?”

That was all Miller needed to push Kim over the edge. She cracked under the pressure, her eyes downcast, slumping in defeat.

Trapped in a lie of her own creation!

But her dejection didn’t last long.

With fists clenched and eyes burning, Kim rallied against the mental assault. Despair gave way to confidence, a steely determination augmented and strengthened by a faulty memory that simply wouldn’t allow her to remember prior defeats.

It’s not in my nature to give up!

She wasn’t defeated. There was another way. One option remained, a way out she didn’t dare consider before now.

It was risky, but she didn’t see a choice.

She glanced at the kitchen. She couldn’t hear Angel, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t listening in.

Kim weighed her options. If Angel had listened in on their conversation, she would have heard Miller talking about a possible witness to her crimes. That would have prompted her to stay as far away as possible.

On the other hand, if Angel were out of earshot and hadn’t been listening in, the results would be the same. Angel’s innate paranoia would cause her to shy away from a stranger at the door.

That meant she was safe. Logic told her Angel wasn’t close by, but even then, she hesitated. It was dangerous, what she now fully intended to say.

What choice is there? Her lies and deceptions had failed. This was the only option. Only one path remained available to her.

This is the only way!

Kim leaned forward.

The agent also leaned forward.

She gathered her courage, took one, final, last minute look around, then lifted her hand to muffle her words and spoke in a confidential whisper, "Her name is Angel. She’s my girlfriend. I’m living with her."

"Have you known her long?" the agent asked, also whispering.

"Nearly a year now," Kim lied.

"Why are we whispering?"

Kim didn’t have an answer prepared, so she built upon her previous story. "It’s nearly time for our anniversary, and I’ve got something special planned for her. I’d like to keep her in the dark."

The agent nodded once and leaned back.

Kim did the same, suppressing the urge to grimace as she did so. As lame excuses went, this was a bad one.

Fortunately, the agent seemed to accept it. "So you’re in a relationship,” he said. “Why did you feel the need to hide it from me?"

"I’m still a little embarrassed. I haven’t even told my friends and family yet. You understand, don’t you?

He nodded. "I’d still like to interview her."

"That’s not a good idea," Kim said, shaking her head while internally reeling at the thought. An interview would be disastrous. Angel’s background stories were ridiculously transparent. She’d give herself away in the first minute.

"Why not?"

"She’s very shy. I’m afraid I couldn’t ask her to--" Kim’s voice trailed off and died in her throat, eyes widening in surprise and horror.

Angel walked into the room from the hall that lead to the bedroom. She was wearing a brunette wig, dark sunglasses and a black, Fluttershy "Fus ro dah" My Little Pony T-shirt.

"Has my girlfriend been talking about me?" she asked, giving Kim a winning smile.

Kim was shocked on a multitude of levels.

The fact that Angel blatantly inserted herself into the conversation had been a shock, certainly, but miniscule in comparison to other differences that hit her immediately afterwards. The first being Angel’s disguise, easily the worst she’d ever seen. Second, Angel’s voice wasn’t just a changed version of itself or simply altered in pitch. It was completely different. It sounded as if Angel had traded her natural voice for another’s from an entirely different country, complete with authentic-sounding foreign accent.

"Have the two of you been together long?" the agent was asking, and Kim blinked, suddenly coming back to herself. She knew she’d missed part of the conversation.

"Not very long," said Angel.

"I told you! Anniversary, remember?" Kim corrected loudly. What was Angel doing? This was terrible! She was already contradicting her story!

"That’s a lovely accent you have,” continued the agent, ignoring Kim. “Where are you from?"

"I’m a tourist."

"She was a tourist. Now she’s living here, with me," Kim declared. Again, a bit too loudly.

The agent picked up on Kim’s discomfort, then blinked as if suddenly understanding the reason behind it. He held up his hands. "I’m sorry, I don’t mean to cause any trouble. I may work for the government, but I’m not here to ask about her legal status, if that’s what you’re worried about."

Kim’s eyes were a bit wild. "Who's worried about that? Not me!"

But the damage had been done. Angel picked up on the part of Miller’s statement that concerned her. "Legal status?”

"It’s nothing to worry about, Angel," Kim told her hurriedly.

But Angel refused to let it go. She addressed the agent directly. "I’d like to avoid government notice if I can."

"I’m sure we all would," the agent snorted.

"Perhaps I should clarify, which part of my background story seems untruthful to you?"

"What?"

"He’s talking about staying in the country illegally, which has nothing to do with you," Kim said, hoping Angel would understand her verbal cue and her not-so-subtle message would sink in.

The message didn’t sink in. It sailed over Angel’s head. “As a government official, are you susceptible to bribes?” She gestured toward the kitchen. “We have chocolate chip cookies in the next room, fresh from the oven.”

“What?”

“Angel, you don’t have anything to worry about,” Kim said again.

"She’s right, you should listen to her,” Agent Miller echoed. “You have nothing to worry about.”

Kim dared to relax.

"But to answer your question," he continued brightly, "if it were true, all you’d have to do is get married." He snapped his fingers. "Instant citizenship."

“Get married?” asked Angel. She looked to Kim, who wasn’t looking at Angel anymore. Her eyes were too busy bugging out.

“Nnrg,” Kim said.

Everyone looked at Kim as if she’d gone insane, which wasn’t a terribly inaccurate observation. She jumped from the couch, waving her arms frantically. "No! What? No! No! What are you saying? Married? Who’s getting married? Not us! Don’t tell her that!"

Miller visibly paled. “I’m so sorry. That was the secret you had planned for her, wasn’t it? That’s it, isn’t it?"

“Secret?” asked Angel.

"Stop talking about it!" Kim shrieked.

"I’m so terribly sorry.” The agent pulled at his collar with a grimace. “I never meant to cause--"

"Stop talking about it!"

Angel was looking from one person to the other. "Are you keeping secrets from me?"

Kim whirled on her, a bit frantic. “Secret? What secret? It’s not a secret!"

"Not anymore, it isn’t," grumbled Miller under his breath, then aloud, "Once again, I am so terribly sorry I gave your secret away. I didn’t know."

"Please leave?" begged Kim.

"Ah, we’ll be in touch. In any event, congratulations."

"We’re not getting married!"

The agent hurried to the door and was gone. Kim locked the door behind him and slumped against it, heart pounding wildly in her chest.

"We don’t have to get married if you don’t want to," Angel told her in her normal voice.

Kim twitched. "That’s good."

"We haven’t even had sex yet. Why would we want to get married?"

"Ahh..."

"Don’t people normally have sex before they get married?"

Kim didn’t answer.

"Kim?"

"I’m sorry. What?"

"Don’t people normally have sex before they get married?" she asked again.

"Lots of people do, so yes. Some don’t."

"Did you want to do it?"

Kim’s eyes widened. "Have sex?"

"No. Get married."

"Oh."

Angel’s puzzled look returned. "Why? Would you rather have sex first?"

Kim’s eyes widened. Her back pressed against the cold comfort of the door.

“It’s a simple question, Kim. Which do you think should come first? Sex or marriage?”

Kim continued to stare. She still hadn’t blinked.

Angel sighed, then turned on her heel and headed back for the kitchen. "Never mind. I have to check the cookies, anyway."

Kim looked for a place to sit down. She didn’t find one in the half second she allowed herself.

She sat down anyway.

Chapter Fourteen

Angel stretched and yawned in a way that would have seemed provocative to someone with a mind that appreciated such things. Kim was most assuredly not such a person, so she mostly ignored it. The meaning behind Angel’s actions were clear. It was getting late, and she was looking forward to another goodnight kiss.

“A little early, don’t you think?” Kim remarked, hoping to discourage her.

Angel nodded and walked away, and Kim breathed a sigh of relief. She knew she’d only bought herself time. Angel would be back.

How did I ever get into this mess?

Kim had spent the rest of the day wondering where Angel was going to go with the marriage talk that morning. Now she realized all that time worrying had been wasted. Angel didn’t need to follow up on it. Kim was doing it to herself, allowing it to consume her thoughts.

Worrying about that distant threat served as an unnecessary distraction. It squandered her precious time, keeping her from focusing on her more pressing concerns. Angel was already not-so-subtly pressing for a goodnight kiss, and Kim didn’t know how to refuse her.

The feeling of doom felt like a crushing shadow weighing her down. She couldn’t see any way to avoid it. Her fate was unchangeable.

When Angel returned, and she would return, Kim had to put aside all the romantic implications. She needed to keep in mind it was simply a kiss, and nothing more. Kim had only been successful at putting her off this long because Angel herself wanted to put it off. She planned it this way. By delaying it, she hoped to build anticipation, to make the final experience all the sweeter.

Angel didn’t realize Kim was indifferent to such petty romantic concerns. It would do nothing to benefit her. But that didn’t change the fact that Angel was going to kiss her. Kim’s destiny was set in stone.

Perhaps Angel hoped the passion of the kiss would escalate into something more? If so, she was bound to be disappointed.

Kim glared at the clock.

What’s taking Angel so long?

It was a little past eleven, the time when she--

Then it dawned on her.

Angel knows my routine!

So that was it! Angel was waiting for Kim to take her shower, planning to intercept her before she could reach the safety of her bedroom!

Angel knew from careful observation that Kim wouldn’t bother getting dressed before going to bed. She probably hoped to catch her at that halfway point, wearing nothing but a towel and a panicked expression, thinking Angel had somehow forgotten the inevitable goodnight kiss.

If Angel caught her in such a vulnerable position, it was easy to imagine herself so flustered at the encounter she’d count herself fortunate to escape with only a kiss. Angel’s victory would be twofold; she’d have her kiss and Kim would escape thinking she’d been lucky!

If she kept to her old schedule, that meant thirty more minutes of waiting. Thirty more intolerable minutes of Angel hoping to build up sexual tension that didn’t even exist.

Yeah, not going to happen! She was going to get it over with right now.

Kim found Angel in the computer room, studying the screen, probably on the internet doing something, she didn’t care what. It didn’t matter. She couldn’t afford the distraction. What she planned to do took all her concentration, and if she paused to take even a second to think things over, she knew she’d lose her nerve. Her unshakable resolve would shatter like glass.

Without conscious thought, Kim stepped next to her and turned Angel’s head to face her with a single fingertip, not allowing herself even a moment to stare into those dark, blue eyes. She kissed Angel as passionately as she knew how, her meaning clear and unmistakable.

Three seconds, and...

Done!

Kim broke the kiss, grinning with satisfaction. One goodnight kiss, out of the way. Now she wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. And given the passionate nature of the kiss, Angel couldn’t claim it hadn’t been enough and she’d been cheated, somehow.

Angel seemed completely astonished, surprised Kim would dare take the initiative.

“Goodnight,” she added, just to be clear and make certain Angel knew exactly why she’d done it, and turned to leave the room. It would be pointless to stay and revel in her victory.

“Kim, wait!”

She paused at the door. “Yes?”

“What was that for?”

Kim blinked, then whirled back to face Angel. “What do you mean, what was that for? That was your goodnight kiss! Did you think I was just going to sit around all night and wait for it?”

“Oh.” Angel looked lost and hopelessly confused.

“Why? What did you think it was for?”

“I didn’t know what it was for. That’s why I asked.”

Now it was Kim’s turn to be confused. “What are you saying? You had to know. What about that kiss you gave me this morning?”

“That wasn’t a goodnight kiss.”

“I know it wasn’t. Are you telling me that this morning, when you kissed me, you didn’t have a reason for it?”

“There was a reason. You took my hands. We shared a moment,” Angel said, then brightened. “Does this mean we’re going to be kissing goodnight every night from this point on?”

“What? This was your idea!”

Angel gave Kim her best perplexed expression. “How could it be?”

“Are you saying this is my fault?”

“It’s not anyone’s fault, Kim, I--”

“I’m going to bed now.”

“Kim--”

“No! Bed now! I’m leaving!”

Kim stomped off to bed, then remembered she had to take a shower first, and stomped off to the bathroom, instead.

Chapter Fifteen

The next morning, Kim sat in her bedroom and sulked. This was her one remaining sanctuary. The one place she hoped Angel didn’t feel she had the right to enter without permission. Kim wondered how long it would last.

She’d thought herself so clever spotting the obvious trap. It wasn’t until much later that she recognized the underlying trap carefully concealed beneath the first and the final trap just beyond.

It all started on Friday night. She’d believed, as anyone in her situation naturally would, that the events of the candlelight dinner and the carefully orchestrated conversation which followed were nothing more than an easily identifiable and crude attempt to seduce her. She’d identified that trap with ease. Her suspicious nature had alerted her to the danger. Over and done. She’d saved herself. Or so she believed.

She was wrong.

Angel’s sinister plan wasn’t anything as straightforward as a simple seduction. Kim could have resisted such an attempt in her sleep. No, it was far worse.

Instead, it was a clever ploy to manipulate Kim into accusing Angel of attempting to seduce her, all so Angel could claim everything was Kim’s idea with Angel herself as the innocent victim.

Very clever. Very devious. Even after thinking about it for hours, Kim had yet to figure out exactly how Angel managed to pull it off. It was clear Kim was up against a master of deceit and illusion. She’d planned it all so perfectly.

Then came the next surprise.

Instead of capitalizing on her victory Friday night, Angel told Kim all she wanted was a simple goodnight kiss. Kim reluctantly agreed. It was just a kiss, right? Seems perfectly reasonable, given the circumstances. No harm could come of that.

Again, she was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.

Kim realized to her astonishment and horror that the seemingly innocent kiss was nothing more than a vehicle, a tool designed to open a door. It made future kisses not just acceptable, but expected.

Before that fateful night, Kim could have held off that all important first kiss for weeks and weeks. Now she didn’t have a justifiable reason to refuse her. How could she reasonably object to a second kiss, or a third beyond that, after they’d already shared a first? It simply wasn’t done.

So the kissing was going to continue, and there wasn’t anything she could do to stop it.

Then Kim made another mistake. The next night, Angel once again pretended ignorance, knowing full well Kim expected a goodnight kiss to follow the previous one. By establishing a pattern, she tricked Kim into voluntarily kissing Angel under the pretense of “getting it over with,” and then had the audacity to claim she knew nothing about it.

And yet, despite all these disasters, there was one thing Angel overlooked.

While it was true Angel now had complete justification to kiss her whenever the situation called for it, her victory was a minor victory at best. A kiss by itself didn’t mean anything. Not to Kim.

But did it mean anything to Angel?

Kim started to pace. Three steps. Turn. Three more. Turn. She sat on the bed again, staring sightlessly at the darkened curtains that showed nothing of the outside world.

Entering a relationship didn’t mean Angel wasn’t still devoted to fulfilling the wishes of her alien masters. That hadn’t changed. The relationship was nothing more than a means to an end for her, something neither Kim nor Angel were actually interested in. Angel was using it to secure her position, and by extension, using Kim and her house as a base of operations.

But it was equally obvious to Kim that Angel was unfamiliar with emotions. By voluntarily entering into a relationship, even a fake one like theirs, she was risking herself emotionally without being aware of the inherent danger.

Kim had seen it hundreds of times in countless stories. By playing a role and doing her best to show she really cared for her, there was a chance Angel could actually fall in love with her in reality. If that happened, her entire mission could be compromised in an instant.

Love superseded common sense. It caused devoted agents of evil to betray their old masters in favor of the hero from Earth. Kim was neither heroic nor studly, but in this particular case she didn’t have to be. Angel was doing it to herself, voluntarily risking all without realizing it, just to secure her own background story.

All of this gave Kim a lot to think about.

First and foremost, she didn’t want to be seduced. Unfortunately, that seemed to be Angel’s eventual plan for her.

There were other things to think about, but she kept going back to that.

It wasn’t that she was against a relationship. Kim considered herself a very private person, and had always been one to keep her thoughts and feelings to herself. If she became involved with Angel, others would find out about it. Her friends, her family, her neighbors, the people at work. Everyone. People would know things about her life.

Simply put, if things escalated that far, she wouldn’t be able to keep her private life private. The last thing she wanted to do was tell anyone anything about her personal life. If the relationship became serious, no one would see her as an ordinary, average, introverted gamer anymore. She’d become…a part of the community.

After Friday night and what followed, it was painfully obvious Angel had no intention of keeping their relationship at its current level, despite everything Angel never said. While she may not know exactly how Angel’s devious mind functioned, she knew a devious mind when she saw one.

Angel would certainly attempt to take it to the next level. Her minor kissing victory would serve as a springboard for newer and even more sinister plots. If Kim wanted to defend herself, she desperately needed more information.

Kim’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Before she could answer, the door swung open and Angel entered the room. She held a small stack of three books in her hands which she handed to Kim without a word of explanation.

At first glance, none of them seemed familiar to her. She took a moment to examine them, saw a cover, paled, and suddenly remembered everything. These were the books she had picked out to arm herself against Angel’s seduction techniques, the same three she knew Angel had read in her place. But instead of securing the dark knowledge contained within for herself, Angel had subverted her plan and added those techniques to her own growing arsenal.

The titles made her wince. The cover art was worse. Kim held them at arm’s length, wanting to drop them in a dark hole, to throw them in a box and set the box on fire and scatter the ashes to the four winds. If Angel had read these books, they were useless to her. How could they possibly help her now? By their very existence, they’d reinforced Angel’s belief that Kim lusted after Angel and wanted her body in the worst way.

“Do you think we could go to the bookstore? I’d like to purchase the others in the series,” Angel said.

“Which one?” Kim whispered, her heart heavy with dread.

“All three.”

Not only no, but hell no!

The prospect of going into that bookstore again with her self-appointed girlfriend in tow to buy lesbian romance didn’t appeal to her in the slightest. The embarrassment alone would kill her. She’d never leave the store alive.

“You’re embarrassed,” observed Angel, “but there’s no reason to be. All three had acceptable storylines, and only one relied too heavily on sex to advance the plot.”

Kim winced a bit at that. “Normally, I wouldn’t give anyone a book until after I had a chance to read it, first.”

Angel cocked her head in puzzlement. “You haven’t read them?”

“Not yet. I bought them because they were the first in a series,” Kim said, which was entirely true.

She examined the first book again, seeing it in a new light. Hadn’t she been thinking she needed more information? Maybe they did have some value.

“I have something else to show you. Follow me,” said Kim.

They left for the living room.

Kim knelt at the credenza and swung open the doors. When she’d moved in, it had taken three men and a minor miracle to get the bulky piece of furniture up the stairs without killing anyone. Her DVD collection sat inside, sorted not by title or subject but by shape of the box. Entire seasons on one end. Individual movies on the other.

After a minute of searching, Kim selected the second season of Doctor Who and set it up for Angel.

Kim had two reasons for doing this. Primarily, she hoped to keep Angel entertained, but she was also hoping the Doctor’s underlying message would sink in. The Doctor was a time-traveling alien fascinated with the human spirit and their willingness to venture out into the universe and take chances despite their limitations.

He also routinely stopped alien invasions practically single-handedly, which was the second message Kim hoped to convey.

Kim handed the remote to Angel, then frowned, staring at the couch as she considered her next problem.

She had to decide where to sit.

Kim had to be careful. It had to be the perfect position. Angel was sitting at the center, but a little off to one side. Kim considered all the possible implications in an instant, then chose the smaller of the two places available to her. This both allowed for her personal space, and was close enough to Angel so as to maintain the illusion that they were a romantic couple without actually doing anything blatantly romantic.

It also cuts off all escape routes, Kim realized to her dismay as Angel scooted just a little bit closer.

Kim resolved to ignore it. A minor defeat. There were other things that required her attention.

The romance book felt like a lead weight in her hand. Based on the cover art alone, Kim knew she’d never be able to convince Angel she wasn’t interested in a sexual relationship. That was a fact she couldn’t change.

But because Angel read these specific books, it gave Kim an edge. It offered possibilities that could save her she hadn’t seen before.

If Kim read these books as well, she might discover the exact techniques Angel intended to use against her for her eventual seduction. From there, it would be child’s play to formulate a counter defense when the moment came.

With that in mind, Kim started reading. She ignored the sounds of Doctor Who playing in the background. She mostly dismissed the comfortable feeling of Angel’s warm body pressed up against her, and how she didn’t mind nearly as much as she thought she should.

The hours flew by, and Kim became absorbed in the story. The subject matter itself was easy to handle. Kim was never into romance, as her sex drive was practically non-existent. She only became self-conscious and fully aware of Angel sitting right next to her when certain scenes became a little too heated and erotic.

“The couch isn’t very comfortable, is it?" observed Angel.

Kim hadn’t even thought about it, but she found herself nodding in agreement.

“Do you think I could share the bed with you?”

Kim froze.

Very carefully, she marked her place in her book and set the book aside. With exaggerated care, she picked up the remote and paused the DVD.

Only after all of this was complete did Kim start breathing again. “I’m sorry. You want to do what, now?"

"I’d like to share the bed with you."

"Share. The bed," Kim said slowly.

"Yes."

"Is there something tragically wrong with the couch?"

"As you have seen, the couch becomes increasingly less comfortable over time. Its space is also limited. I’d like to try the bed."

Kim didn’t want to have this conversation. She should have stood up and walked away. The door was right there. Six steps, and she’d be gone.

By sharing the bed, did Angel mean share the bed or “share the bed?”

"So what you’re saying is, you just want to share the bed,” Kim tried to clarify.

"Yes. I’d like to sleep with you. Why do you keep asking the same thing?"

Kim jumped to her feet. "Because of that! What you just said! You don’t want to sleep with me, you only want to sleep with me!"

Angel let out a sigh. “Your words are in English, but...”

"Listen. I’ll try to make this clear. If I came up to you and said, ‘I’d like you to sleep with me,’ then that really means, ‘I want you to have sex with me’."

Angel looked more surprised than any other time Kim had seen her before. "You're asking to have sex with me?" she asked, incredulous.

"No, I’m only saying I want to have sex with you.”

Angel's surprised expression became slightly more pronounced.

“I don’t actually mean it," Kim continued.

Very slowly, surprise gave way to understanding. Angel smiled a distant smile and nodded.

"Do you understand?"

"No," replied Angel, still smiling.

Kim resisted the urge to swear.

"You don’t want it, but you’re saying it," Angel attempted to clarify.

"Yes."

Angel shifted on the couch to better face her. Her eyes narrowed, and a hint of irritation crept into her voice. "Why are you saying it if you don’t want it?"

"When a person says ‘sleep with you’ it means ‘sex with you.’ Sleep is another word for sex," explained Kim.

"Is this why you didn’t want me to share the bed with you on the night we first met?"

Kim tried to remember, but it was an exercise in futility. She doubted she could remember what she had for breakfast that morning. “Yes," she guessed.

"I understand. Then let me clarify. I only intend for us to share the bed. It was never my intention to alert you to a plan of mine to have sex with you.”

Kim swallowed.

“That plan does not exist,” Angel added in her best serious expression. “That is not my purpose for asking. You may relax.”

Kim didn’t relax.

Chapter Sixteen

As Kim prepared for bed, one thought kept running through her mind. At what point did she agree to this?

It must have happened, because apparently they were going through with it. She tried to justify the decision in her mind, telling herself Angel all but promised she wanted sleep and that was it, but she knew Angel wanted to eventually take things further. All Kim lacked was proof and evidence.

So why in the world was she doing it? She was vaguely certain the phrase, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” didn’t mean she should sleep with them.

Kim had placed her hopes in the books, but in the end, they did nothing to save her. They outlined a general pattern of mutual, initial attraction. There was a bit of innuendo, casual touching, kissing, and then the main characters were tearing each other’s clothes off and falling into bed together. Kim’s actions could have been misinterpreted as having done all of this, except for the tearing her clothes off bit.

This included flirting, Kim realized. While it was true Kim had never flirted with Angel, Angel had satisfied this requirement by cleverly implying everything had been Kim’s idea. As it stood, Kim was presumed guilty of making a conscious decision to sleep with Angel without being conscious of making the decision.

If Angel followed the pattern, she could be doing all kinds of erotic things to her before the night was out. The books were supposed to show Kim the pattern so she could stop it, not show her the pattern so she’d have a detailed understanding of what she could hope to anticipate and when she should expect it to happen.

What I should have done is told Angel to stay on the damned couch. But things didn’t turn out that way, did they?

Kim was halfway into her second book when she glanced up and looked at the time. She set the book aside and left for the bathroom to take her shower. It did little to make her relax. She half expected Angel to interrupt with some stunt, but she never did.

Then again, why would she bother? Angel was planning on getting everything she wanted tonight.

Kim took a moment to calm herself down. What if all she was doing was hyping up the danger? Angel told her several times she only wanted to sleep. Kim didn't trust her at her word, but surely she could trust in Angel's devious nature? Angel wouldn’t try something bland and uninteresting. She’d do something extraordinary, something that Kim didn't anticipate. Something grand and unexpected.

At least, that was what Kim hoped would happen.

Thinking about it, she wondered if actively hoping Angel would attempt to seduce her in an unexpected exciting way instead of a boring and unoriginal way said something about her state of mind.

Maybe Angel would try something. Maybe she wouldn’t. In either case, Kim should keep alert for the possibility. Thomas Jefferson once said, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” Today, that was her motto. Jefferson knew what he was talking about.

Or had it been Admiral Tolwyn from Wing Commander Four?

Why was she doing this again? The answer continued to elude her.

Kim wrapped a towel around herself and hurried to her room, hoping to avoid Angel meeting her halfway and kissing her in the hallway. She closed the door behind her and breathed a sigh of relief, letting the towel drop to the floor.

She went to her closet. Tonight was going to be a night she’d have to give serious thought as to what to wear to bed. It wasn’t likely Angel would succeed at seducing her, but she had to prepare for the possibility.

Or rather, prepare for the attempt. Which should fail.

Which would fail, she amended.

Hopefully.

On normal nights when she wasn’t worried about being seduced, Kim didn’t wear a bra to bed. She honestly couldn’t say whether other women slept with them on or not, but her own breasts weren’t substantial enough for gravity to be a huge issue.

Kim slipped on a bra and found a halfway decent shirt, thankful for the extra protection.

She debated wearing cut off shorts as well, but decided against them, electing to only wear panties, instead. Too much preparation and Angel might get the impression Kim was expecting her to try something, which was true, but only in a single definition of the word. Expecting as in planning for it, not as in, “hoping for and would be disappointed if it didn’t happen,” expecting it.

Kim assessed her appearance in the mirror, frowned, returned to the closet, and picked out a larger shirt, an older one she should have thrown out years ago. It hung partway to her knees, roughly equivalent to a short skirt. It didn’t do much for her appearance, but that was the point, wasn’t it? Kim certainly wouldn’t call it sexy, but more importantly, Angel wouldn’t, either.

Unless Angel is into that sort of look?

Kim ran a hand through her hair. All this preparation and second-guessing herself was wearing on her nerves. She decided to keep what she had on, roll the dice, and take her chances. She opened the door and left it open. Angel should be done, soon.

She didn’t have to wait long. Less than five minutes later, Angel wandered in wearing a much smaller towel that both called attention to and concealed her assets. Kim looked for half a second before tearing her eyes away. It seemed to her the towel would remain in place only if Angel completely refrained from any strenuous activities or sudden movements. Like breathing.

Given that Kim suspected Angel only bothered to breathe to keep up appearances, maybe it wasn’t a problem for her?

At any other time, Kim would make it a point to not stare, but her intellect supplied a counter argument. What’s the big deal? it argued, You’re both women, and she’s mostly wearing a towel. If you keep averting your eyes, she’ll think you’re attracted to her but you’re too shy to look. Stop giving her the wrong impression. Don’t be afraid. It’s just a towel.

But I can’t just stare at her, Kim argued.

So don’t stare at her. Just don’t be so terrified to look.

Kim looked. A part of her mind appreciated the view. The rest of her mind recoiled in horror at what that other part of her mind was speculating to itself. She turned away, blushing hotly.

Kim was so distracted it didn’t register with her that Angel had been carrying a small bag until the moment she started dumping out its contents onto the bed.

This was the jolt Kim needed to regain control of herself.

Kim ignored how Angel’s physical presence had distracted her to the point of her missing things. Instead, she concentrated on how Angel caused Kim’s reaction instead of why. How Angel did it was relatively safe to think about, comparatively nonthreatening. To dwell on the why had unnerving implications.

So how did Angel do it? What was it about her? Kim felt certain she could reason this out. Analyze things rationally.

Yes, Angel was attractive. She had a nice body, very pleasing to look at. Her legs were amazing, her butt was kind of cute, and her eyes were a beautiful deep shade of blue, the kind someone could get lost in. Her lovely breasts felt as soft as her skin, very kissable, and in her hands--

Kim closed her eyes.

Okay, start over.

Yes, Angel was attractive. Kim could accept that. Nothing wrong with her or anyone else noticing. She’d found people to be attractive in the past. The only difference was, she wasn’t a person who acted on it. That was left for other people.

It had to be the towel. That skimpy towel alone was responsible for her flustered state of mind. In Kim’s limited experience as an outside observer, women achieved sexiness by wearing certain specific types of clothing, or a limited amount. It drew attention to what it concealed. Being naked also attracted attention, but not being able to see everything at once? That was considered sexy.

As an alien, Angel couldn’t know about such things. Angel cared nothing for modesty. Doubtless she only wore the towel because she’d seen Kim wearing one in the past.

Then it registered what Angel had upended onto the bed. Kim’s mouth went dry at the sight. Various types of underwear, in lesser and still lesser sizes. Fairly expensive, if she were any judge.

Or maybe Angel knows exactly what she’s doing!

“When did you find time to go shopping? You’ve been here all weekend.”

“I bought this on Friday, while you were at work.”

On Friday? Kim thought about this. Friday would have been after the relationship was formed, but before Angel’s confession, the time when she’d indicated that seducing Kim was never part of her plans.

That meant...she wasn’t sure what that meant. “Why?”

Angel opened her mouth and answered the question, but Kim’s brain never registered the answer. At that moment, gravity won its final battle against Angel’s towel.

She watched it happen, staring without blinking as the towel cascaded down Angel’s body, starting slowly, then picking up speed. This being Angel, the fact that she was suddenly naked didn’t bother her in the slightest. She didn't even glance at the towel as it fell from her body and pooled at her feet. She certainly never attempted to stop it.

This time, Kim didn’t avert her gaze. She openly stared back at Angel’s body, unafraid, just to prove she could do it and not have a problem with it.

"You’re staring,” Angel pointed out.

"I don’t have a problem with it," Kim stated defiantly.

Angel’s smile widened, and Kim realized she was an idiot.

Seeing as Kim was in no condition to continue the conversation, Angel turned her attention to the lingerie on the bed. She leaned over, using one hand to steady herself against the bed while the other sorted through the collection. “What would you like me to wear tonight?” she asked.

“What would I like?” Kim echoed, incredulous. "Why are you asking me? You don’t have to wear anything."

Angel nodded. She gathered the clothing in her arms, selected a dresser drawer and dropped the bundle inside. Then she deliberately crossed Kim’s averted line-of-sight and returned to the bed, pulling back the sheets and slipping inside.

Wearing nothing, Kim realized.

Huh. Walked right into that one, didn’t I?

“You’re staring, again.”

“Am not,” Kim sniffed. And she wasn't. Not really. One or two seconds hardly constituted a stare.

Kim turned out the lights and went to her own side, wondering if Angel planned on making a move. She risked a glance. Angel had turned on her side, facing away.

Kim wasn’t fooled. Clearly, the act was designed to lull her into a false sense of security.

Her mind flashed back to the stories and the dire warnings they gave. She realized Angel had cleverly found a way to circumvent the tearing off clothes stage by simply not wearing anything.

The implications were clear. Angel was going to try something tonight.

Any second now, she’d find an excuse. “It’s too hot, we don’t need the covers," she’d say, or “It’s too cold, let’s snuggle up.” Maybe she’d try giving her a goodnight kiss which would naturally lead to other things. It could be anything. Kim needed to watch for it and stay on guard.

Speaking of which, where was my goodnight kiss?

Kim didn’t ask about it. Angel didn’t offer. Naturally, this increased her suspicion.

Seeing as Angel was passing up the goodnight kiss, she had to have something else in mind. Kim racked her brain, trying to think of what it could be. It would be something underhanded and devious. But what?

The minutes crawled past, and Angel persisted in doing nothing. Kim fluffed up her pillow for the third time that night and shifted again, trying to find a comfortable position. Angel was still feigning sleep. Biding her time, no doubt. Waiting. Hoping to catch her off guard.

Kim found herself starting to get frustrated. First no goodnight kiss, and now this? When was Angel going to make a move? What was taking her so long? She must be doing it on purpose. Yes, that was it. That had to be it. Angel wanted to wait until Kim was half asleep and off her guard, mentally open to some twisted romantic suggestion. Then she’d try something.

She hated to admit it, but so far, Angel’s strategy seemed to be working. Kim felt herself getting sleepier by the moment, but she dared not close her eyes. She glared balefully at the clock. It was already past midnight. She cursed the necessity of staying awake.

As time wore on, she became more frustrated at the delay. She wanted sleep. Why wasn’t Angel trying anything? How long was this going to take? Some people had to get up and work the next morning. How was she supposed to stay vigilant if she was too tired to do it?

This was ridiculous. She couldn’t afford to stay up all night long waiting for something to happen. What was Angel’s plan? Lull her into a false sense of security? Did Angel want her to sleep through her own seduction?

Then Kim had a revelation. She finally understood. It changed everything.

Angel wanted the bed to get a comfortable night’s sleep.

So that was it. Kim wanted to kick herself, but was too tired to do it.

As she slipped into unconsciousness, she wondered if she’d wake up the next morning with Angel spooned against her or if she’d be spooned up against Angel.

She resolved right then to be outraged in either case.

Chapter Seventeen

"How did you sleep last night?" Angel asked. Her arms rested on the dining room table, a glass of water off to one side.

"Not well," Kim grumbled.

"Was something wrong?"

Kim gave Angel a bleary half lidded glare. "Well, you didn’t try to seduce me,” she remarked. “That was something."

Today was a day for caffeine. On mornings like this one, Kim typically relied on Mountain Dew to get her going. Coffee made a decent caffeine substitute, but she’d never developed a taste for it.

Kim wrenched open the refrigerator and peered inside. Not much left, but it would be enough to sustain her. She took the half-empty twenty ounce bottle and poured a generous amount of the life-sustaining caffeine into her orange juice.

Angel deliberately waited until the precise moment when Kim started to drink. "You wanted me to seduce you?"

Kim tried to control her coughing fit. Eager to assist, Angel took a position behind her and started thumping her back in an ineffective manner until Kim recovered enough to scramble away and put herself on the far side of the table.

Now fully awake, she retorted, "I’m not saying I wanted you to do it. I was just expecting you to do it.”

Angel drew herself up and tried for the emotion indignant. “I told you after you agreed to share your bed, I had no intention of--”

“Yes, yes, I know what you told me.” Kim picked up her glass again and risked taking a sip. “But I still thought you might.”

That gave Angel pause. She backed down. “Oh.”

Kim sighed. “It isn’t your fault, Angel."

"I didn’t realize."

"Like I said, not your fault. It’s just frustrating, that’s all. I spent half the night thinking about it."

"Hmm..."

Kim’s cell phone alarm went off. She silenced it with a grimace. The alarm was set to remind her when she only had a few minutes remaining before she needed to leave for work. This morning she’d been dragging so much she hadn’t even considered breakfast. She decided it didn’t matter and headed for the door.

Angel followed her. Kim paid her no attention, having already begun her mental checklist. Sunglasses, cell phone... "Where are the keys?" she asked aloud, not expecting an answer.

"I have them," Angel told her. She pressed them into Kim's hands and kissed her.

Kim barely had time to blink before it was over. "What was that for?" she asked, surprised.

"For goodbye."

Kim’s breath caught. "You’re leaving?"

"No, you are. That was a goodbye kiss. I’ll see you after work, tonight."

"I wasn’t…I didn’t…"

Angel smiled. "You weren’t ready? I’ll try again," she said, and did so.

This one lasted a bit longer. Kim broke the kiss herself, mostly irritated. "That’s not what I meant. Why are you doing it in the first place?"

"It occurred to me we didn’t share a goodnight kiss last night, and I wanted to correct that oversight. Also, I enjoy kissing you," Angel said, still smiling. She took advantage of Kim’s stunned expression and kissed her again, this time with a lot more passion.

Kim had to grasp Angel to steady herself. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or maybe the kisses were having a cumulative effect. In either case, Kim couldn't bring herself to stop it. Everything faded away. All that mattered to her was Angel, and the warm, blissful feeling welling up within her.

When it ended, Angel stepped away, her hands behind her back in a demure pose. “You should leave for work.”

Kim fled, her mind in turmoil.

Chapter Eighteen

Lucy and Joe were at the coffee machine. Their conversation stopped as Kim approached. She still didn’t like coffee, but today she needed the caffeine.

Kim ignored their looks and snapped up one of the cheap Styrofoam cups. After pouring her coffee, she added sugar and creamer, added more sugar, stirred, gingerly sipped it, winced, and added more coffee.

Typical. It was always impossible to get the measurements right the first time, and today was no exception. That was one of the reasons she preferred pre-prepared caffeinated drinks. No guessing was necessary.

"You look exhausted," Joe pointed out.

"That’s because I’m tired," Kim replied, not in the mood for games. She took another sip, winced, and took another.

"Did your girlfriend keep you up all night?" he asked, grinning.

"Yes, she did. And she’s not my girlfriend!"

"She did?"

"If you must know, she wasn’t deliberately trying to keep me up half the night. I just misunderstood what she wanted."

"What did you think she wanted?"

Kim stammered at the accusation and glowered murderously at Joe. "Get your mind out of the gutter."

She stormed off in a huff. Lucy and Joe watched her go.

"Did Kim just admit to something?" asked Lucy.

"I...I’m not sure."

Chapter Nineteen

Kim returned from lunch to find a message waiting for her on her desk. It was from Marsha, the new bane of her existence. The message itself was cryptic, asking only for Kim to see her at her earliest convenience.

She crumpled the note in her hand.

Subtle messages were out of character for Marsha. There had to be a reason behind her actions. Whatever the reason, it wouldn’t be good.

The front reception desk was set up as part of a giant semicircle, facing the main entrance to the building. The back opened to the rest of the office. This was where Marsha spent the majority of her time, lurking, when she wasn’t socializing.

There was a security door to the side which Marsha controlled, but its use was meant only for visitors who didn’t know the multitudes of other ways into the office area.

Kim chose to receive her message in the isolated front entrance. It wasn’t as private as she would have liked, but she knew it was the best she could hope for.

"You wanted to talk to me?" asked Kim.

Marsha looked up at Kim and smiled a warm and friendly smile that did nothing to alleviate Kim’s suspicions. "These were sent for you," Marsha said, and gestured to a bouquet of red roses sitting on her desk.

When Kim did nothing but simply stare at them, Marsha prompted, "They’re from your girlfriend, Angel?"

Kim’s expression hardened. "She’s not my girlfriend. Get rid of them. Send them back."

"Now, Kim," Marsha admonished, "I know you’re not used to us teasing you at work, but we're only doing it because you’ve never done anything like this before. We’re not intentionally trying to be cruel."

"I wish you’d mind your own business."

Marsha ignored the comment. "It’s obvious to me she cares about you if she’s sending you flowers."

Kim’s eyes flashed in anger. "She’s not my girlfriend." she repeated.

"You don’t send flowers for just being casual friends, Kimmie."

"Have you told anyone?"

"No, because I’m not going to be the one responsible for ruining what you have before it even gets started."

That brought Kim up short. It hadn’t occurred to her that Marsha might be a bit of a romantic. She returned her attention to the flowers.

"I’m not doing this just for you,” Marsha added. “I’m also acting in my own personal self-interest. I enjoy teasing you without mercy, Kim. It makes me feel better about myself. It gives my life meaning."

Her words made Kim smile despite her apprehension, but Marsha wasn’t done. "Imagine how I’d feel if we destroyed your one and only chance at happiness. Why, I’d feel so guilty, I might have to reevaluate my life. Reform my evil ways. Who wants that? Do you know what that’s like? It’s boring, Kimmie."

"Okay, I get it. I’ll take the flowers. But honestly, I don’t know why Angel would have sent them in the first place."

Marsha smiled and eased the flowers to within Kim’s reach. "Angel had to have a reason. Did the two of you have a fight?"

"No."

"Did she do something different? Something you didn’t expect?"

Bemused, Kim continued to shake her head.

"Maybe something romantic?" she pressed, a twinkle in her eye.

Kim thought back to the candlelight dinner last Friday. After a brief hesitation, she shook her head.

The momentary delay cost her dearly. "Gotcha," Marsha grinned.

"I told you, no. Nothing happened."

Marsha’s smile widened. "What did she do? You can tell me."

"You’re terrible." Kim turned on her heel and walked away. She rested her hand on the security door handle and waited. Marsha looked back at her and sighed. The door buzzed, and Kim pushed her way in.

It was only after Kim was back in cubicle land that Marsha seized the flowers and waved them in the air. "Kimmie! Wait! Don’t forget your flowers!"

Kim froze in her tracks. So did the rest of the building. The background chatter stopped. Even the phone calls fell silent.

For a moment, Kim strongly considered leaving them where they were and doing her best to forget about them. But only for a moment. Leaving them would be the absolute worst thing she could possibly do. Marsha wouldn’t keep them hidden behind her desk. She’d have them on display for anyone walking by. If no one noticed them in passing, she’d point them out.

Kim steeled herself, then turned and marched up to Marsha’s desk and snatched them away. She returned to her own cubicle and opened her desk, ready to shove them in as far as they would go when she was struck by the sight of them. Up close, they were really quite beautiful.

And nobody had ever sent her flowers before.

But she couldn’t have them out where anyone could see. Everyone would talk about them!

Kim closed her desk and instead placed the roses out of sight on the floor behind her computer.

And not a moment too soon. As she straightened in her chair, Larry appeared at her doorway. "Your girlfriend sent you flowers?"

Kim groaned and hid her face with her hands.

Why did I think I could hide it? Angel must have sent them to make it impossible for me to deny anything at work. That had to be it.

"What’s wrong? Did you two have a fight?" he continued, demonstrating his immunity to subtlety by not taking the subtle hint to go away.

Kim could hear Lucy hurrying down the hall. "What kind of flowers did she send?" she called as she approached.

"They’re just flowers.” Larry waved a hand. “What difference does it make?"

"Different ones mean different things."

"Yeah? So what's it mean when you shove the flowers in your desk, and pretend you never got them?"

"She did that?" Lucy gasped.

No, thought Kim, That wasn’t what happened.

Tom and Joe walked up to insert themselves into the conversation. "Maybe it means, oh, I don’t know, she’s embarrassed and you should leave her alone?" sneered Tom.

"Hmm. You could be right,” said Lucy.

"Or maybe the flowers meant they finally slept together?" suggested Joe.

Kim sputtered in outrage, and all eyes focused on her. She instantly regretted it and drew back in her chair.

Lucy held up her hands as if to calm her. "Now, Kim, there's no need to be embarrassed about it."

"She’s right,” agreed Joe. “Don’t be embarrassed. Sometimes it takes at least a week."

Everyone gave Joe varying looks of incredulity.

“What?” Joe tried to look indignant. “To win her over, I mean.”

“Idiot,” said Larry.

“She’s not embarrassed that it took her so long,” said Lucy.

Joe folded his arms and smirked. “Yeah? She looks embarrassed.”

“That’s because the rest of you are talking about her like she isn’t even here,” Tom said heatedly.

“And what are you doing, Tom?” asked Lucy.

“Defending her.”

“I wonder, does Kimmie even need defending?” called Marsha from her desk. “If nothing happened, she’d let us know.”

Kim stood, surprising everyone, including herself. "Get this through your heads, I am not sleeping with her," she declared, her emphasis on sleeping making it absolutely clear the word in this context meant sex.

Her audience gave her a long, hard look.

"Is it just me," said Joe, "or did anyone else notice how she emphasized the word sleeping?"

"I noticed," said Lucy. There were several corresponding nods of agreement.

"I didn't notice anything," groused Larry, displaying his superpower.

Chapter Twenty

By the end of the day, Kim had envisioned several plans to smuggle the roses out of the building. All were rejected as pathetic attempts to disguise what she carried. In the end, she simply waited for everyone else to leave. Only the cleaning crew witnessed her passing. If they knew her situation, they were wise enough to say nothing.

She did wrap them up in her jacket from her garage to her door. There was no sense in tempting fate.

As she entered her apartment, Kim ignored how spotless the house looked, even as she realized Angel must have spent the entire day cleaning. She stomped into the kitchen, the sweet-smelling roses clenched tightly in her fist, doing her best to hold onto what remained of her anger. Angel had deliberately embarrassed her at work, she reminded herself. She wanted to be furious, but feared all she’d be able to muster at this late juncture was annoyance.

Her nemesis was there, stirring a pot of something yet to be identified. Angel herself drew her attention, and all of Kim’s anger drained away as she gaped at her and stared.

Angel was wearing a cooking apron. And nothing else.

She turned upon hearing the sound of Kim babbling and stammering incoherently.

“Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes,” she announced brightly.

“Ahh! Where? What?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Dammit, Angel, where are your clothes?”

“Oh! They’re drying. Did you notice? I did cooking, cleaning, and laundry today. My clothes are currently in the dryer. Could you retrieve them for me? They should be done by now.”

“But…why?”

“Why? Because I couldn’t leave this alone.” She gestured with her wooden spoon, indicating the pot sitting on the burners.

Kim’s mind rebelled as she thought it through. Her apartment was on the highest floor. The building’s laundry facility was at the lowest. “You washed all your clothes? Everything?” Kim demanded, incredulous.

“I haven’t washed your clothes, yet. It didn’t even occur to me to start laundry until much later in the day.”

“And what were you wearing when you washed your clothes?”

“I wasn’t naked, Kim. As you can see, I’m dressed in my cooking apron.”

Kim stared at her, unblinking, and Angel sighed. “I washed the whites first,” she explained. “While the whites were drying, I started the darker clothes. At present, I don’t own enough clothing to justify two separate loads. As it would have been inefficient to wash half a load of colors twice, I elected to wash them all at once.”

“Are the white clothes dry, then?”

“Yes, they are. Thirty-five minutes ago. I’ve put them away in one of your dresser drawers. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Why didn’t you put any of them on?”

“I’m assuming you meant, why didn’t I put them on at once? To answer, I didn’t want to waste extra time dressing in the laundry room downstairs. Such a display could have attracted unwanted attention.”

Kim’s left eye twitched. “And why didn’t you put anything on once you were back at the apartment?”

Angel paused as if considering her words. “I’d like to say I needed to get back to my cooking and couldn’t spare the time. But in truth, the thought hadn’t occurred to me.”

Kim rubbed her forehead, then waved a hand in dismissal. “Just go. Get your clothes, Angel.”

“Very well.” Angel pressed the wooden spoon into Kim’s hand. “Please, stir occasionally until I return.”

“Fine. What are you cooking, anyway?”

“Macaroni and cheese. You’ll need my cooking apron.” Angel pulled the apron up over her head and held it out for Kim.

Kim ignored the apron. Her hand returned to her forehead. She screwed her eyes shut.

“Is something wrong?” asked Angel.

“Were you seriously going to go downstairs and fetch the laundry dressed like that?”

“I’m not dressed at all.”

“Exactly.”

Angel looked down at herself. “Oh. I see the problem.”

“Good.”

“I should put on panties, first.”

“I’ll get the laundry. You stay here.”

Angel shrugged. She took her spoon back and shrugged into her apron. Kim left the room.

Three seconds later, Kim returned. She tossed the flowers on the counter top next to Angel. "Explain these," she growled.

“What about the clothes?”

“Forget the clothes, Angel. Explain the roses.”

"What did you wish to know about them?”

“Why did you send them?”

“You’ve told me our relationship is not a common relationship and normal rules would not apply. By sending flowers anonymously, it signaled to those at work that someone yet to be identified is interested in you. The flowers further demonstrate--"

"Wait," interrupted Kim, "anonymously? These weren't signed?"

"They were not."

"Go on."

"I anticipated you would understand they were from me. Those at your workplace should have concluded you were involved with someone else, and would keep their distance. Feel free to tell them about us in the future, if you want, after you’ve overcome your shyness and embarrassment."

Kim struggled to keep the bitterness from her voice. "They already know.”

"You’ve told them?" Angel asked, surprised.

"They know because they guessed, not because I told them anything."

"I see.” Angel nodded. “I’m not as perceptive as other people seem to be. It took me days before I concluded you were attracted to me."

"Days? Meaning, more than two?"

"More than one."

Kim let it go. "All of them think you’re my girlfriend, now. Most of them are convinced I’m sleeping with you."

"You are my girlfriend. And you did sleep with me. Isn’t that the truth?"

"No, it’s not, Angel. Sleep means sex, I told you that yesterday. We didn’t do anything."

"Then tell them the truth," Angel suggested. "We haven’t had sex, yet."

"I’m not going to tell them that."

"Why not?"

"Saying yet implies we’re going to.”

Angel patted Kim on the shoulder. "Don’t worry about it. We’ll do it soon."

Kim’s throat went dry, and she took an involuntary step back.

Okay, that was pretty blatant!

"You’re nervous," observed Angel.

"Who wouldn't be?" Kim rasped.

"There’s no need to be nervous. We'll wait until you’re ready."

Angel’s promise of a delay in her planned seduction failed to reassure her. "Are you saying you intend to do this soon?"

"We'll wait until you're ready," Angel said again.

"You do remember I said I wanted to take it slow, right?"

"I remember. As slow as you want."

Chapter Twenty-One

We’ll do it soon.

Kim couldn’t stop thinking about those four words. They echoed like a song melody in her head, endlessly repeating despite all attempts to ignore them. As far as Kim was concerned, Angel’s statement wasn’t simply evidence, it was an admission of intent.

It was past time she made it clear to Angel that she simply wasn’t interested. Not in any of it. No more stringing her along with delaying tactics like “not yet” and “too soon.” This time, she was going to put her foot down.

The kissing was kind of nice, she mused.

The seemingly traitorous thought surprised her.

The kissing was nice, wasn’t it?

Okay, maybe she could allow a kiss or two. Or three. But that was it. Nothing beyond that.

Kim threw herself into her gaming chair and turned on her computer. It was also Angel’s fault that she hadn’t been able to play any of her online games for nearly a week. It surprised her she hadn’t missed them. Normally, she couldn’t last for more than a few days without going through painful withdrawals.

She chalked it up to the uniqueness of Angel’s arrival and left it at that.

As the game began, Kim rubbed her hands in gleeful anticipation. Spending a few hours slaughtering enemy soldiers in a virtual world would do wonders to help her relax.

A few squeakers joined her team. Squeakers were prepubescent boys who swore non-stop or lied incessantly about how much sex they were getting. Hiding behind a veil of anonymity and without responsible parents supervising their actions, they felt safe to act as they wanted.

Similar to roaches, squeakers were guaranteed survivors of a nuclear holocaust. They infested the online worlds. Harmless, but annoying. Prolonged exposure was always enough to make Kim reaffirm old vows to never have children, ever.

“When I get done with this game, I’m gonna go see my girlfriend. I just have to buy a box of condoms, first,” one of them said.

Kim rolled her eyes and pulled off her headset.

After an hour of dominating the battlefield, Kim grew bored and quit her game. She logged onto World of Warcraft, instead, fully conscious she was putting off confronting Angel. She justified her actions by telling herself there was still time, and she was busy at the moment. Angel could wait. There was time enough to get in a few quests, or spend an hour or so chasing the yellow dot mining ore. She could even get some crafting done, which would prove she’d accomplished something meaningful. Then she’d talk to Angel.

The hours dragged past, and Kim recognized the game wasn’t holding her interest as it should. This was a first for her. Usually time flew by when she was gaming.

We’ll do it soon, whispered Angel’s voice.

Yeah.

Not gonna happen.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair. It was no use. She couldn’t concentrate with the threat of her impending seduction looming over her head. Her mind kept thinking about what Angel would try, how it could happen, how far Angel might get, and what Kim would feel if Angel managed to make some progress. After realizing her character had gone away from keyboard through inaction on her part, she shut down her game and powered down her computer.

The blank screen silently mocked her.

Kim gave her chair and idle spin and looked at the clock on the wall. It persisted in telling her she had plenty of time, silently berating her for putting off the inevitable.

Enough delays, Kim thought. She left the room, filled with resolve and determination.

She found Angel in the living room reading a book, Term Limits by Vince Flynn, but Kim’s eyes skipped over her to the kitchen. She wasn’t at all hungry, but she went inside anyway, even knowing her justifications for doing so were flimsy at best.

Kim threw open cabinets at random and checked the refrigerator, barely taking time to scan the contents. She didn’t care that there were no snacks to be found, recognizing it as but a show, a thinly disguised excuse to delay the confrontation for but a few seconds more.

She returned to the living room.

This time, for real.

Angel looked up.

“Pizza!” Kim blurted. “You want pizza?”

“We already had dinner,” Angel pointed out. “You wanted more?”

“Yeah, I’m still hungry. Did you want pizza?”

“Okay?” Angel guessed.

“I’ll be back in thirty minutes.” She snatched up her keys on the way out the door, not bothering with a jacket.

Kim returned with a combination pizza and renewed determination. That determination faded the instant she opened her front door and crossed the threshold.

She had another golden opportunity before the pizza box was opened, but less than two minutes later, that elusive moment passed her by before she could grasp it.

And now they were eating. Kim couldn’t do it now. That would be rude. She’d confront Angel once they were done. This time, she meant business.

But fate couldn’t be denied. Angel picked up her book again before Kim could finish gathering her courage. Her narrow window of opportunity had closed, once more. There was nothing she could do. She personally hated it when other people walked up to her and started talking, not caring that she held a book in her hand. She couldn’t do the same to Angel.

Kim waited for another chance, but Angel didn’t notice and paid no attention to her. She wanted to interrupt, but had mixed feelings about the matter. On one hand, she was glad Angel shared her interest in books. But on the other hand, that devoted interest denied Kim her chance to clarify her position.

And now time had run out. Kim went to take her shower.

Once it was over, she sat alone in her bedroom, waiting. This was literally the last chance to confront Angel. Within minutes, Angel would finish her own shower. If Kim couldn’t muster the inner strength needed to confront her and set her straight, she was doomed.

The water stopped and Kim held her breath.

This is it.

Angel walked in wearing a towel which Kim suspected doubled as a washcloth. The effort was marginally better than her being naked, but not by much.

"I thought you’d already be in bed," said Angel.

Seriously, she must have plastered the towel on. Nothing else could explain it.

"Kim?"

"What?"

"I thought you’d already--"

Kim spoke in a rush before her courage could abandon her. "I was waiting for you,” she said. “I wanted to ask you about that ‘we’ll do it soon’ comment you made."

"Oh. We don’t have to do it tonight."

It took a moment for Angel’s comment to sink in.

"What?" Kim sputtered. "That’s not what I meant!"

Angel waited patiently, saying nothing.

“I don’t think I made my position clear, and I wanted to make sure we’re both on the same page," Kim began again. "We’re going to get in bed, and we’re both going to sleep. Right?"

“We are?”

“That’s right.”

Angel regarded her silently for several seconds, as if weighing her words. "Is this really what you want?"

"That’s what I was wanting to tell you. I just want to sleep. Got it?"

"With me?"

"Yes, with you," Kim snapped. Surely Angel couldn’t miss my emphasis on the word “sleep,” could she?

"We don’t have to, if you don’t want to."

And there it was. This was precisely what Kim was worried about. Angel wanted to do more than just sleep in the bed, and it was vital Kim put the brakes on that idea and kill it once and for all.

"Yes, we do, Angel. I insist. Beds are for sleeping. There’s nothing wrong with two people getting into bed and just going to sleep. We’re going to sleep all night long. And nothing. Else."

"Earlier, you told me you wanted to wait."

Kim threw back the covers. "Nope. Want sleep.”

“I’d like to be certain--“

“Listen, Angel,” Kim sighed, “I didn’t get any last night. But don’t worry, I’m not blaming you. It’s getting late, and I was hoping to make up for lost time."

Angel’s face lit with a smile of understanding, and Kim relaxed.

Angel hit the light switch as she passed, and the room was cast into darkness. Kim felt rather than saw Angel climbing into her side of the bed.

A few seconds went by.

"Angel? Are you naked?"

"Yes. Feel?" Angel seized Kim’s hand and ran it along her body from thigh to breast.

Kim snatched her hand back, her face flaming. "Yes, I feel it! Thank you!"

"You’re welcome. Would you like a kiss goodnight?"

"Seriously? You want to do that now?”

"Then we can sleep for the rest of the night," Angel whispered.

Kim tried giving Angel a suspicious look, but all she could see was a vague shadow. There had been something odd about Angel’s voice. It contained a hint of something she couldn’t readily identify. It almost sounded...hungry. Or predatory. Or something.

She gave a hint of a nod, wondering if Angel could even see it.

Apparently, she could. Kim felt Angel shifting position on the bed as she moved closer. Then closer still. Soon, Angel was right on top of her.

Literally, right on top of her!

Angel didn’t simply lean over Kim. She slid her body over hers in a way that caused Kim’s breathing to catch and her heartbeat to spike. Technically, she wasn’t actively pressing herself against her but she certainly wasn’t using her hands and arms to support herself.

She gave Kim a gentle, lingering kiss, followed by another lingering kiss. Kim generously and magnanimously decided to allow it. She’d already decided kissing wasn't so terrible, and it was just a goodnight kiss, after all. She did her best to ignore everything else about her situation that was clamoring for her attention.

If she had to label it, the kiss could be considered one long continuous kiss. Nothing to panic over, and she had agreed to it, she reminded herself. Besides, she wasn’t exactly suffering through it. She found herself kissing Angel back because to do otherwise would have been rude. Plus, there was that whole “pretend you’re in a relationship so Angel doesn’t get suspicious” thing the two of them had going on. Nothing wrong with a kiss or two. Or one extended one. Or one extended one that showed no signs of stopping. Kim wasn't quite at that alarmed state yet. Not quite yet.

Kim’s lifelong experience pretty much started and ended with Angel, which meant she could only compare tonight’s kisses with the ones from before. She concentrated on analyzing them clinically and logically. If every kiss was amazing, one could say “amazing” was the norm, or the standard from which all others were judged. Therefore, these kisses were normal. Ordinary. Mundane. Certainly nothing to get worked up about, except these ordinary kisses in particular were seriously impairing her ability to breathe properly, and she kept thinking inappropriate things.

Kim kept her hands fixed at her sides, not wanting to do anything that might be interpreted as encouragement. She tried to concentrate on her irritation. And she was irritated, she decided. Angel was deliberately lying full length atop her, her breasts were pressing into hers, and it was all very, very distracting.

The fact that Angel was naked didn’t help, either. Not in the slightest.

Finally, Angel shifted from kissing her mouth to kissing the rest of her face and down her neck. Kim used the opportunity to complain about Angel not propping herself up. "Don’t your hands work at all?"

That turned out to be a mistake.

Angel leaned away from her, but not to stop. She rested on her side which allowed her freed right hand to slowly slide its way up Kim’s stomach. It bunched up her shirt as it went, leaving the garment gathered around her neck and her breasts exposed.

Angel’s goodnight kiss progressed further down Kim’s chest. Kim was no expert, but she was fairly certain goodnight kisses were not supposed to include kissing her breasts. They weren’t supposed to go anywhere near her breasts! But it was happening anyway. If ever she needed proof, this was it. This was the final clue Kim needed to expose Angel’s plan to the light of day. Her hidden agenda was no longer hidden.

We’ll do it soon.

Oh, yeah. That had been her first clue. But this was another clue, a blatant clue, no further proof required. If Kim didn’t stop her, clearly Angel was going to have sex with her, and she distinctly remembered a time in her recent history when she didn’t want that to happen.

Kim resolved to do something. It was past time she took direct action.

She began by pushing against Angel, but hesitated, not wanting her actions to be misinterpreted as encouragement. While Kim considered her problem, her hands meandered up and down Angel’s naked body, trying to avoid stopping at sensitive areas that might give Angel that mistaken wrong impression.

Kim’s hands decided independently of her brain that Angel’s breasts were the perfect location to push her away. But once they got there, they completely forgot their mission. Kim was forced to concentrate to exert full control over them to pull them away, but the instant her mind focused on something else, the hands returned on their own volition.

So that was out. Kim desperately needed another solution.

Since Angel was preoccupied between caressing, kissing, sucking on and just plain playing with one breast and then the other, Kim was completely free to speak up and tell Angel to stop it, knock it off, or otherwise just quit it. Kim gathered her strength and made the effort, but once again, fate conspired against her. She couldn’t seem to get enough air.

She found herself holding her breath whenever Angel did something unexpectedly pleasant, then gasping and trying to catch her breath once the moment had passed. This likely gave yet another mistaken impression to add to the growing list that Kim was thoroughly enjoying herself and couldn’t get enough of it, which ran directly counter to her intentions.

In desperation, Kim tried forcing herself to breathe normally, taking measured breaths despite her natural inclinations. This also didn’t work as planned. She realized she really did need the oxygen quite desperately, and once again found herself gasping and panting and rushing to catch up.

Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. She moaned, giving voice to her pathetic nature, then gasped again at something amazingly delicious Angel did with her tongue at that moment.

In a way, she could understand it. Guess it couldn’t be helped that she would enjoy someone kissing her and finding erogenous zones she had no reason to pay attention to before now. But all of that aside, she was vaguely sure this wasn’t her idea and she didn’t want to do this. At all!

She was also aware that Angel’s right hand which rested on her stomach wasn’t roaming around anymore. The hand was slowly making its way south towards somewhere where it had no business going, assuming they even had a real relationship. Which they didn’t!

"Take it slow," Kim finally managed to gasp out.

Angel paused. "What?"

"Don’t you remember? We agreed," Kim gasped, sucked in air, then tried again, "we agreed to take it slow."

Angel gave her an exasperated look, then went back to what she was doing.

Kim groaned, her senses fogging over with pleasure again. She nearly lost herself to it, it felt so amazingly wonderful. A part of Kim’s brain thought, Well, we tried, but that part of her mind was enjoying itself far too much to be trusted to make an informed decision, so she ignored it. Unfortunately, more and more of her body wasn’t seeing a problem with the situation anymore.

Angel’s hand still rested on the lower half of her stomach, a constant burning reminder of the danger she was in. It lazily eased closer, now brushing the edge of her panties and starting to slip inside. Since Kim was so hyper aware of its presence, it gave her time to realize why its progress continued to be so painfully slow. She blinked in sudden realization. All the pieces fell into place.

Kim found her voice once again. "The phrase ‘taking it slow’ doesn’t mean ‘make love to me’ slow!" she cried.

Angel stopped at once.

Kim had a perfect view as Angel raised her head and blinked at her. Her body complained loudly about the disruption of sensation. Kim ignored the complaints with difficulty, fearing she wouldn’t mind overmuch if Angel ignored her and went back to what she’d been doing.

"What did you want it to mean?" Angel asked.

Kim didn’t answer right away. She still had yet to recover, and was taking full advantage of the break to get her breathing under control.

Angel continued to wait for an answer, and Kim realized she’d been given a golden opportunity. This was the moment she was waiting for. Angel was giving her all the time she needed to come up with a well thought out explanation, backed up by logic, reason, and inescapable conclusions that couldn’t possibly be misinterpreted in any way, whatsoever.

Instead of doing that, Kim said, "It means, we don’t rush into sex right away. We take our time.”

"You want to delay it? Again?" Angel demanded.

"We have time, right? Let’s enjoy each stage of our relationship."

Angel actually growled in frustration. "I was enjoying it now."

"Yes. Well…"

"I didn’t think I would enjoy it so much, but I did. I really did! I loved kissing you. I looooved touching you. I loved the cute noises you were making. Are you sure we can’t--"

“Cute noises?” Kim echoed, incredulous. "Yes, I’m sure!"

"You said you wanted to sleep with me. We didn’t even get to the sleeping part."

"When did I say that?"

"Tonight."

"No, I didn’t!"

"Several times."

"You’re making that up!"

Angel spoke in a perfect mimicry of Kim’s voice. "There’s nothing wrong with two people getting into bed and just going to sleep. We’re going to sleep all night long."

"That...that doesn’t...I don’t sound like that," protested Kim, unnerved at how accurate Angel sounded.

"You sound exactly like that."

"The word sleep doesn’t necessarily mean sex, Angel."

Angel spoke again in Kim’s voice, "Sleep means sex, I told you that, yesterday."

"Oh, so it’s my fault, is it?"

Chapter Twenty-Two

Kim woke before the morning alarm. She switched it off. Angel didn’t stir, and Kim saw no reason to disturb her.

She stumbled out of bed and down the hall towards the bathroom. Memories of last night played in her mind, of things she dared not try to forget for fear of repeating their mistakes. While she couldn’t blame the fiasco last night entirely on Angel, she could certainly try.

So how did Angel nearly succeed last night?

In the end, it was a lot of things adding up one after the other. Kim agreed to a goodnight kiss, so Angel kissed her. Trouble was, she didn’t stop. The longer it went on, the more Kim didn’t want it to end.

So how do you fight something like that, other than never getting into that kind of situation in the first place?

Her books were no help. She couldn’t think of a single example of someone in a relationship trying their best to avoid being seduced if a character was the designated romantic interest. Nobody wanted to read about someone successfully avoiding sex throughout the book. They gave in, eventually. Maybe they regretted it later, but they still gave in. Lack of sex didn’t sell.

No, if the reader had to endure literal hours of setup, flirting, sexual innuendo and close calls, they expected a three or four page payoff written in explicit detail. If the author had them fall into bed and skipped ahead to the next morning with a barely described heated kiss, the readers felt justifiably cheated.

Kim glanced back at the hall leading to the bedroom. There was still no sign of Angel.

Since resistance while it was happening was a flawed strategy, she needed to focus on preventing situations like that from ever occurring in the future.

First, avoid giving Angel any encouragement. Try not to kiss her so often.

Second, avoid agreeing to goodnight kisses. Especially avoid them if Angel is naked and lying in bed right next to her.

Kim disappeared into the kitchen and made herself a quick sandwich. From there, it only took a few moments to make final preparations to leave. She was still half expecting her self-appointed girlfriend to find her and kiss her goodbye before she walked out the door.

She stood at the door and waited, listening.

Any second now.

Still nothing.

I’m not actually waiting for Angel, am I?

Once Kim realized this was exactly what she was doing, the spell was broken. She yanked open the door and slammed it after her with a little more force than was necessary.

Kim took the stairs to the ground floor and unlocked her mailbox. Nothing but junk mail.

As she sorted through it, she found herself inadvertently glancing back up the stairs where Angel still slept the morning away. Angel only kissed her goodbye once. Why should she expect a second time? She didn’t even like kissing her all that much. In fact, she never asked for a girlfriend in the first place!

The sound of an opening door startled her, causing her to fumble with the letters in a sudden panic. She relaxed when she saw who it was.

Betty Morrison emerged from the apartment across the hall from where Kim stood. She was an older woman, happily living with her husband Mark and their two teenage children. Kim knew Betty worked at a department store, details were sketchy.

Betty locked the door behind her and turned to Kim, smiling a cheery smile. "Good morning, Kim. Still haven’t won the lottery?”

"Not yet. Still have to work."

Another door opened on the level above them. Both looked, then both openly gaped as Angel hurried down the stairs.

Hard to miss her, considering she was completely naked.

In a remote, rational, and sane corner of her mind that wasn’t gibbering to itself in crippling horror, Kim wondered if Angel was attempting modesty as she hurried down the stairs with one arm held across her chest. Then the answer came to her. Modesty was still a foreign concept to Angel. She simply hadn’t wanted her breasts bouncing as she took the stairs.

"I heard you leaving. I was hoping to catch you," Angel said.

Kim didn’t move.

Without further word or explanation, Angel reached out to Kim. She framed her face with her hands and drew her closer.

Still Kim didn’t respond. She didn't resist. She couldn’t react. She still hadn't blinked. She was, in fact, still attempting to recover from her first initial shock when Angel cruelly added still more shock by kissing her as if Kim were her everything and she couldn’t get enough of her.

When it was over, she rested her forehead against hers. "Have a good day at work."

"You too," Kim whispered.

Angel smiled. "Silly. I’m not going to work. You’re taking care of me, remember?"

Kim had nothing to say to that, so Angel kissed her again then bounced her way up the stairs.

Kim braced herself against the wall and watched her go. She took a moment to compose herself. She drew in a deep breath. Held it. Let it out slowly.

“Well,” Betty smiled at Kim. "That was certainly interesting. I’m glad to see you’ve finally found someone. Congratulations."

Kim resisted the urge to snarl. "We’re not getting married!"

Betty looked startled. “What? I didn’t mean--“

But Kim wasn’t listening. She stormed out the security door and made a beeline for her garage, fuming.

Honestly! Why was everyone saying that?

Chapter Twenty-Three

Angel was there to greet her as Kim returned home from work. Wary of a hello kiss, Kim prepared to dodge.

“We’re going out to dinner, tonight,” Angel informed Kim, then kissed her in that half-second instant before she could recover from her announcement. “Hello, by the way.”

“What?”

“I said, we’re going out to dinner. Are you hungry?”

“Yes...”

“Then it’s settled. We’re going to the restaurant where Stacy works. I need to talk to her.”

Kim didn’t answer right away. She was still reeling from the first bit of information. Settled? Angel was suggesting a date, and it was already settled?

“I didn’t agree to this,” Kim said.

“I’m only going to talk to her,” Angel replied, complete with an excessive amount of exasperation and eye rolling. “There’s no need to get jealous.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not jealous.”

“Good. Now, get ready. We’re leaving in thirty minutes. I’ve already made reservations in your name.”

“Wait, stop talking for a second. We’re going to a restaurant, and you’ve already made reservations? Why would you do that?”

“It was fairly crowded, last time. Didn’t you notice?” Angel asked, then sidled up next to Kim which did nothing to aid in her concentration. “Or perhaps you weren’t paying attention? Was that it? Hmm? Couldn’t keep your eyes off me?”

“Of course, I noticed, I--”

“Thought so,” Angel interrupted with a grin. “Now, get ready. No more excuses.”

Kim was left standing alone with a stunned expression on her face.

Chapter Twenty-Four

A date.

Another date.

Kim recalled making preparations, but they were mostly a blur. Most of her attention was focused on developing and rejecting various counter arguments to get her out of this situation, and those took time to develop. Angel took advantage of Kim’s focus on the implications of the date and her lack of attention for the reality of what was going on around her and hustled her out the door.

As Kim drove, her mind continued to work furiously.

One could argue that maybe the first date was special because it was an all-important first date, but dating twice in the same week signified dates were becoming routine and thus less special. This defeated the purpose, and that was a reason why they shouldn’t go. Dating more than once made the first time less special.

It made sense. Angel should accept that.

But there were flaws in her logic. If she argued the second date was less special because dates with Angel were becoming commonplace, it automatically implied the first date was definitely special. Arguing that point would feed into the overall relationship fantasy and give it substance. Kim wanted to maintain the illusion. Not escalate it.

In addition, that argument further implied the second date was also special, only not as special as the first. Kim couldn’t use that twisted bit of logic to discredit the second date because it would force her to claim the first one was noticeably extraordinary.

Kim maneuvered into a parking space and killed the engine, but made no move beyond that.

“We’re here,” said Angel, and left the car.

Kim acknowledged the statement with a nod. She unbuckled herself and hurried after, instinctively knowing she’d need someone to argue against the moment her thoughts were in order.

Since she couldn’t use the “dates are special only if they’re rare” argument, could she apply it to the restaurant, instead? They definitely shouldn’t pick the same restaurant. A first time was special, by definition. Returning to the same place was the first step on the road to becoming regulars. Keep this up, and they’d be recognized by the staff. Worse, they’d be greeted by name!

“We should go to different restaurants for our dates,” Kim blurted.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Angel agreed.

“We shouldn’t go to the same restaurant because...” Kim took in the building before her with growing awareness. “We’re here already, aren’t we...?”

“I need to talk to Stacy.”

Kim blinked. She had forgotten that part. “I thought we were here on a date?”

Angel frowned and gave Kim a puzzled look as if the thought were completely new to her. “Is it automatically assumed to be a date if we go to a place together?”

“Of course it is!”

Angel’s look shifted to innocence. “Naturally, I knew this as well.”

Kim snorted. The prospect of Angel not knowing was patently absurd. Like it or not, they were in a relationship, and that meant anything they did together would affect the health of that relationship. Anyone else, and it wouldn’t have been a date.

Kim was about to call her on it when Angel took her hand and pulled her inside.

Together they walked past several others in line. More than a few glanced their way. Kim felt the weight of their gaze and immediately faltered, withdrawing into herself.

Angel, in contrast, was not deterred in the slightest. “We have reservations. Kim Rowland and her girlfriend, Angel,” she announced at full volume to the head waiter, loud enough to ensure everyone in the entire restaurant could hear. “Could you seat us someplace where we can be alone?”

Kim thought a dark corner where she could curl up and die would be sufficient, but no one asked her opinion.

There was more insistent tugging, and her mind snapped to the here and now with a jolt. As she trailed in Angel’s wake, Kim realized with a start that if Angel gained too great a lead, people would see the two of them holding hands. She quickened her pace, hoping no one saw, bumping into Angel more than once.

They were seated at a table more isolated than the first from the previous date. At least it’s a different table, Kim thought, well aware of the symbolism behind certain actions even if Angel pretended to be completely oblivious to them. If they weren’t careful, one specific table could be elevated to the status of our table. There were countless other examples. Our restaurant, our song, our this and our that. The list was endless, even if she couldn’t think of any others off the top of her head.

Angel excused herself and left as soon as Kim sat down. Kim didn’t object. Her thoughts were all a-jumble anyway, and she needed time to sort them out.

Now that she was in this situation, maybe she should make the best of it? Look on the bright side. At least by coming to the same place, she wouldn’t be embarrassing herself in front of a brand new group of people.

How exactly did I agree to this?

When Angel returned to the table with Stacy a few minutes later, Kim was still trying to think of a way to have dinner alone with Angel without it meaning anything whatsoever. She despaired of ever finding one. Without even trying, Angel continued to find ways to twist ordinary events into meaningful romantic intentions that seemed deliberate on Kim’s part. Kim did her best to minimize the damage each time, but was hampered by her inability to reveal she knew the secret Angel was concealing.

This was all Angel’s fault. She was supposed to be out prepping the way for the invasion like any other self-respecting alien would, not buying lingerie and going on dates in a twisted, sinister plan to become a better girlfriend.

It was almost enough to make Kim wonder if Angel really had lost her memory.

Now that she thought about it, she didn’t have a clue why Angel wanted to talk to Stacy in the first place. Even she barely knew Stacy, and she worked with her.

So why would Angel do it? What did she want with her? How could she find out?

Talk to her and ask? her inner voice sneered.

Oh, yeah. There was that.

Had her inner voice always been this sarcastic?

Angel resumed her seat opposite Kim. Stacy sat down next to her, looking uncomfortable.

“I thought you wanted to talk to her privately?” Kim addressed Angel.

“She already did,” Stacy answered for her. “I thought that since you’re both here, I’d stop over and say hi. Haven’t seen you for a few days. Not since work.” Her voice trailed off, giving Kim the impression she wanted to ask questions but was too polite to do so.

Kim sighed. “What are they saying about me?”

The question seemed to make Stacy even more uncomfortable. This in turn caused Kim’s paranoia to spike. Based on her reaction, it had to be bad.

“Are you sure you want to know?” Stacy asked, her voice barely a whisper.

“Just tell me?”

“Keep in mind, this isn’t a scandal. Nobody cares what you do with your personal life. The others just like to talk about it.”

“Yes, I know.”

“If they act surprised or shocked, they’re only doing it to get a rise out of you.”

“Enough with the disclaimers. What are they saying?”

“First of all,” Stacy glanced at Angel, “she sent you flowers? Is that part true?”

At Angel’s almost imperceptible nod, Stacy continued. “None of them know exactly why Angel sent them, so all they can do is guess. Some say you had a fight. The flowers were an apology. Others say maybe because the two of you,” again, she paused, “started sleeping with each other.”

Kim didn’t respond, so Stacy hastily added, “Assuming that’s true, remember, it isn’t anything no one’s ever done before. That’s nobody’s business but your own.”

Still Kim said nothing. The news wasn’t unexpected to her. In fact, she was surprised she wasn’t freaking out even a little bit.

Angel filled in the uncomfortable silence. “This is personal information,” she admonished Stacy. “I believe Kim would prefer we kept it a secret and didn’t share or talk about it.”

“So the two of you are...” Stacy left the rest unspoken.

“As I indicated, this is personal information.”

“A denial,” hissed Kim, “would have been nice.”

Angel looked puzzled and a bit perturbed. “But a denial wouldn’t be true. Isn’t it preferable to say nothing at all, if you wished to avoid the truth?”

“There’s nothing wrong with the two of you being together, Kim,” Stacy said again.

“But...we haven’t...”

“So, Angel,” Stacy interrupted, turning to her, “where are you from?”

All irritation on Angel’s face vanished as if someone had thrown a switch. “I’m a tourist,” she answered.

Stacy smiled and nodded. “Okaaay,” she said, drawing out the word. “So, what do you do for a living?”

“I’m a tourist,” Angel said again.

“You have a tourism job?”

“I did at first, but Kim wanted me to quit. I agreed. She told me she’d rather I stayed at home while she worked to support me financially.”

Stacy looked between the two. “That almost sounds like you’re turning Angel into an old-fashioned housewife.”

Kim gave Stacy an incredulous look. “We’re not getting married.”

“That’s true,” said Angel. “Kim only talked about getting married one time.”

“What?” Kim gasped.

Stacy’s eyes widened. “Wait...you’ve talked about it?”

“I...uh...” explained Kim.

“And you’ve known each other for, what, a week? I’m impressed. Which one of you proposed? How did you do it?”

Angel answered for Kim, who still looked more than a little bit horrified. “She hasn’t proposed. I believe Kim is waiting for an upcoming anniversary of ours. In fact, she went out of her way to keep it a secret from me. It was only by accident I found out. When are anniversaries supposed to happen?”

“Anniversaries are--” began Stacy.

“Don’t tell her that,” Kim hissed in a loud whisper.

Angel looked disappointed. “Oh. Never mind.”

“I think she was talking to you,” Stacy told Angel, but she looked confused and not at all certain about it.

Angel nodded. “I believe I understand. Kim wanted to keep it a secret, and I wasn’t supposed to tell you. Please, don’t tell anyone else?”

“I won’t,” promised Stacy.

“When the time comes, I imagine I’ll need to act surprised. I even told her we didn’t have to get married, if she didn’t want to,” Angel continued.

Stacy nodded solemnly. “In any case, I suppose you’ll know for certain by the time your anniversary rolls around.”

“Since you are allowed to tell me, when are anniversaries supposed to happen?”

Kim found her voice again. “We’re not getting married!”

“Ah. Okay, I’m confused now,” admitted Stacy. “Are the two of you only thinking about getting married, or--”

“We are not getting married!” Kim insisted once more. “Honestly, this isn’t a big deal. Angel and I are only sleeping together.”

There was a sudden, awkward silence.

“I thought we were concealing that information,” Angel accused Kim, looking annoyed.

“In the same bed!” Kim failed to clarify.

“Like I said, this isn’t a scandal, Kim,” said Stacy.

“I agree. There is no scandal. We’re not having sex on a regular basis,” Angel added in a helpful manner that wasn’t at all helpful.

“Or any type of basis,” Kim added, even less helpfully.

Stacy gave them both a puzzled look. “I don’t mean to pry, but are you saying you haven’t yet, or it isn’t happening as often as you’d like, or…”

“We haven’t yet,” Angel told her, “but I hope to, soon. Perhaps later this week or even tonight we--”

“Angel!”

Angel turned her full attention on Kim. “I don’t understand you. How can it be considered private information when it hasn’t even happened yet?”

“So,” Stacy clapped her hands. “Tell me, Kim, why did you want Angel to quit her job?”

Kim froze under the scrutiny. “I...there was...”

“Actually, if you must know,” began Angel, “my visa was lost in a fire and likely expired. I’m currently here in the country illegally and Kim is sheltering me. Also, illegally.”

“Really,” Stacy deadpanned.

“Telling Stacy you’re in the country illegally isn’t a good way to alleviate suspicion!” Kim pointed out, her voice rising.

Stacy blinked and smiled in sudden understanding. “I see. Is that why the two of you are talking about getting married? Because you want Angel to stay?”

“I asked her more than once, but she wouldn’t give me an answer,” said Angel. “I’m still not sure if she’d rather we have sex first.”

“Of course I’d rather…” Kim retorted. “I mean, I’d rather not!”

“You’d rather get married first?” Angel asked.

Kim’s eyes widened as she jumped to a conclusion several time zones away. “Is that what all this is about?” she demanded.

“What do you mean?”

“You want to get married?”

Angel considered her answer for less than half a second. “Okay.”

Kim gripped her chest and staggered back. If she weren’t already sitting down, she might have fallen.

“It would certainly solve my residency problems,” Angel continued.

“Congratulations?” offered Stacy.

“Hghh!” said Kim.

“Teasing, Kim,” Angel reached out and attempted to take Kim’s hand, but couldn’t pry it from its death grip. She lay her hand on top of Kim’s other hand where it clutched the table, instead. “I’m only teasing. I knew you wanted to wait to ask until after our anniversary before you asked me to marry you. Which is when, by the way?”

“Hnnnng!”

“Okay, maybe we should stop talking. I think Kim is having a heart attack,” Stacy observed.

“Actually, all teasing aside, I don’t think I’m even ready for marriage,” Angel pointed out. “I still think we should have sex, first. I’ve read that sometimes people aren’t compatible. Before getting married, we should have sex as often as possible. Just to be sure.”

“Yes, well…” Stacy looked away, her face a little red. “Normally, I’m all for marriage, but wouldn’t it be better to know each other longer than a week before deciding on a lifelong commitment?”

Angel shrugged. “I can wait.”

Kim seized her glass of water and drank half of it.

“Anyway,” said Stacy, “I should get back to work. It was nice seeing you both, again. Angel, did you just stop by just to talk?”

“Kim and I are on a date.”

“Stacy,” Kim rasped, “before you came to the table, what did you and Angel talk about?”

“I’d rather not say.” Stacy scooted out of the booth and turned to go. “Enjoy your evening.”

“Angel?”

“Hmm?”

“What did you two talk about?”

“I’d rather not say. Thank you for setting up our date.”

“You’re the one that set it up.”

“Then thank you for accepting.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

The nights were getting more twisted.

Kim sat on the chair by her bedside with her book in her hand, studiously trying to ignore her so-called girlfriend without being obvious about it. She was certain Angel was just as intently doing her best to attract her attention while also trying not to be obvious about it. The difference was, Angel was using lingerie to do it.

This underhanded scheme was a lot more blatant than Angel’s usual underhanded schemes. After selecting what she wanted to wear, Angel would dress herself, but do so slooowly, taking ten times longer than any normal person would to do it.

Despite minor setbacks that “forced” Angel to take everything off and start over from the beginning, eventually she would succeed. Angel would then stand in front of the mirror and pose. There wasn’t any other word to describe it. She acted as if she were out in front of an audience, fully expecting to be photographed.

Doubtless, an audience receptive to her beauty would have found Angel’s actions sexy and provocative as hell, but as Kim constantly reminded herself, this did not include her.

After several minutes of posing, something about the outfit would be found to dissatisfy her. Angel would then remove her clothing piece by piece, taking slightly less time undressing than she used getting dressed the first place. She would then compare the remaining outfits against her naked body one by one and the process would begin all over again. Each cycle took roughly ten minutes, give or take.

Kim glared at her book. Three times. She wasn’t counting, as she didn’t care, but it was difficult not to count to three. Angel had done this three times now, and showed no signs of stopping. Perfection continued to elude her.

Kim hadn't read a new page in ten minutes, but she was very familiar with the page she was on.

As far as she knew, lingerie wasn't supposed to serve as a substitute for pajamas. Didn't women only bother wearing it to stir up the passions of their partners? In truth, Kim had no idea if lingerie was meant to be slept in or meant to be cast aside by an impatient lover and left all but forgotten on the bedroom floor. She considered asking Angel about the matter directly, but didn’t dare. Asking implied interest.

Besides, she was too absorbed with her page.

Angel was in the middle of her latest posing session when Kim’s patience finally reached its end. “Enough already, you look beautiful!” she cried, not even looking up.

Sensing a change in demeanor on Angel’s part, Kim glanced up, but only for an instant. She was quick not to notice Angel dressed in a matching set of bra and panties, an outfit that probably bore an elaborate French name which translated to bra and panties.

Probably transparent, too, but she refused to look again to see.

"Do you really think so?" asked Angel.

Another involuntary glance and Kim hid her face behind her book again.

Oh, yeah. Definitely transparent.

"Based on the intensity of your blush, I'd give it a nine out of ten. Good enough."

Kim blinked.

Her blushing was a scale, now?

Seeing as Kim was back to ignoring her, Angel tapped the top of her book. Kim braced herself and met Angel's eyes.

"What is it?" she snapped.

"Good night kiss," Angel told her. "I want one."

Kim hesitated.

"If you'd rather wait until after we were in bed, we could--"

"No, let's do it now!"

Angel smiled, and Kim wanted to kick herself.

What’s the matter with you? You sound enthusiastic. Stop volunteering!

Kim had placed her chair against the wall, a location picked precisely because it wouldn’t allow Angel to sneak up on her. She discovered to her consternation that rather than protecting her, it instead cut off all avenues of escape, making it easy for Angel to pin Kim in place and kiss her as much as she wanted. Which happened to be a lot.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Tonight’s kiss felt just as intense as the one from that morning, the one Kim couldn't stop thinking about for the entire day no matter how much she tried to suppress it. Her mind went through the standard denials, telling herself it was just a kiss and she wasn't enjoying it, but all too soon the litany faded. This time, it happened a lot faster than before.

No matter how she tried to rationalize it, she couldn't convincingly lie to herself while it was happening. That simple defense was beyond her. She wasn’t in control of the situation. She wondered if she ever had control. It was all she could do to keep herself from making humiliating encouraging noises.

Save the denials for after it's over, she told herself.

After it ended, Kim did her best to calm herself and marginalize her reactions, rationalizing what she’d felt as nothing more than an unexpected unusual feeling. No attempts were made to define it further. What she’d felt defied explanation, and not simply because she refused to define it.

It couldn’t possibly be desire she felt. Or passion. What she’d experienced was... something else.

When Angel kissed her that morning in front of someone she knew, it embarrassed her. That was why the effect lingered throughout the day. It wasn’t because of the passion of the kiss itself. In fact, the event only stuck in her mind because Angel was completely naked at the time.

Logic reared its ugly head. So why did the kiss tonight feel just as good, if not better?

Kim considered the facts. Angel had been naked the first time. It made the event stand out more. But tonight when she’d kissed her, she’d kept her clothes on. Her being naked the first time enhanced the experience.

Intensified, not enhanced. Intensified!

So if she hadn’t been thinking about Angel being naked, why was tonight’s just as good?

Well, now she was thinking about it. In vivid detail, no less!

What about Angel dressing and undressing right in front of me for the past thirty freaking minutes? That might have been a factor.

Then another explanation came to her which made sense. Kim happened to be susceptible to the physical side of things. She’d simply never realized it before now.

That made sense. Doubtless this was a common vulnerability most people shared, a part of the transition period between inexperienced and experienced. That meant this was all on Kim. It had nothing to do with Angel’s physical beauty, so Kim should stop thinking about it.

Everyone knew vulnerabilities aren’t a weakness, Kim thought, then she frowned to herself. Okay, maybe vulnerabilities are a weakness by definition, but they aren’t a ‘character flaw’ weakness. In fact, vulnerabilities and susceptibilities are common for super-powered heroes in comic books.

Having a weakness wasn’t bad, in and of itself. Certainly nothing to worry about.

Disadvantages defined a person’s personality. They made an individual unique and special. If Kim herself were a playable character in a roleplaying game, those disadvantages would even be worth points. Passion itself was her weakness. It was her kryptonite.

Only not as fatal.

And with a lot more kissing.

Kim took a moment to congratulate herself for figuring it out. In less than five minutes, she’d effectively wrapped up all of her character flaws into one manageable package. Everything fell into place. Now she knew, and knowing was half the battle. She’d discovered she was susceptible to passion, and subconsciously yearned for Angel to be naked. Kissing gave rise to the passion, and she should avoid that because--

Wait a second...

That isn’t good at all. That means I’m susceptible to Angel herself.

And that means...that means...

Kim swallowed against the lump in her throat.

That means my logic is flawed, and I should worry about this later.

Yes. Later is good.

With the disturbing thought suppressed for now, Kim came back to her surroundings. Angel lay stretched out on the bed, lying on her stomach with her head resting on her hands. She was watching Kim with a bemused expression.

"What?" Kim asked, annoyed at the scrutiny.

"You fascinate me,” said Angel. “I’ve been watching the play of emotions across your face. Longing. Anger. Frustration, I think? Embarrassment, determination, and desire at least a couple of times. Then fear. What were you thinking about, I wonder?"

Kim glowered at her. "You...” she seethed, then threw up her hands in frustration. “Just go to bed, Angel."

"I am in bed," Angel pointed out. "You come to bed, too."

Kim gave Angel one final glare before rising and turning off the light. She slid into bed and pulled the covers up, doing her best to ignore Angel shifting on her side.

"I want another goodnight kiss,” Angel told her.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure."

There was a moment’s pause.

"You're thinking about it, aren't you?" asked Angel.

“Only because you keep talking about it.”

“Since you are thinking about it, then maybe we--”

"Will kissing you shut you up?"

"...Yes."

Kim smirked. "Still no."

Angel hit her in the face with her pillow. The attack came without warning and was delivered with uncanny accuracy considering the darkness of the room. "That isn’t fair! You've got me all worked up!" she cried.

Kim held up her hands to defend herself against another attack which didn’t manifest. "I'm not kissing you after what almost happened last night."

"Hmm..." Angel fell silent.

Nearly a minute went past.

"You're still thinking about it. I can tell," Angel ventured.

"You are so frustrating sometimes..."

"Ha! It was frustration I saw. I was right!"

"Go to sleep, Angel."

"Sexual frustration?"

"No, just frustration in general. And anger, too, remember?"

"Yes, I remember. I also remember seeing desire at least twice."

"Go to sleep!"

Angel turned away. Presumably to sleep, but Kim had her doubts.

“Or would it be sexual tension?” Angel mused. “Sexual frustration implies a lack of sexual activity leading to an overall bad mood, and doesn’t really apply in our situation.”

“And sexual tension does?”

“Can’t you feel it, Kim? A certain anticipation? Wondering to yourself when it’s going to happen? What it’s going to be like when it does?”

Kim’s mouth went dry. “That isn’t anticipation. I’d call that one fear.”

“We’ll compromise. Let me kiss you goodnight and I’ll leave you alone,” Angel promised her.

“No. We’re not kissing in bed. You just want to try again.”

“You're referring to what almost happened last night?”

“Yes. That.”

“Is this not proper behavior? We’re in a relationship-”

Kim shifted to her side, turning to face Angel. “Maybe if we were totally into each other?” she interrupted, “and maybe, after weeks or even months getting to know each other? Then sure, why not? But it's too soon. We've barely known each other for a week. Besides, what's your hurry?"

“How could I be hurrying? You first anticipated I would seduce you within days.”

“I only thought you’d try. I certainly didn’t think you’d actually succeed at it. There's a difference.”

"You want me to try," Angel insisted. "You enjoy what I do, being sought after and desired. I've seen it. It’s in your nature.”

Kim didn’t answer. Angel had a point. She did relish the challenge even if it did scare the hell out of her. But while there was a chance Angel was right, Kim would never admit it. Angel had enough ideas in her head already, thank you very much.

“If you succeeded tonight, it would be over. Chase complete,” Kim pointed out.

“If I succeeded tonight, tonight would be just getting started,” Angel whispered fervently, her words heated yet still sending a chill up Kim’s spine.

For a long moment, Kim couldn’t reply. This was a dangerous game she was playing, and she had to be careful. Angel came close to winning everything last night. Kim hadn’t realized going in she had no defense against it.

She needed to slow Angel down. There had to be a defense out there, some way to resist. She just needed time to find it.

Kim spoke again, trying to keep her voice nonchalant. "Again, what's your hurry? Why not savor the experience? I for one wouldn't want it to be over so quickly," she said, hoping Angel would take the bait.

Angel didn’t reply.

Kim peered through the darkness, trying to gauge her reaction, but all she could see were shadows.

Is she buying this?

Undeterred, she continued. "If you succeeded tonight, where's the thrill of the chase? The anticipation? A relationship only has one first-time experience, after all, and then it’s over. You would have wasted it, and both of us will end up disappointed.”

Still, Angel said nothing.

“Don't settle for the quick victory. Be creative, but keep in mind that I'm kind of new at this too. Don't rush me and don't try to pressure me. Your ‘minor victories’ strategy is a good example."

“I was not aware of my ‘minor victories’ strategy,” Angel replied at last.

“Oh, don't pretend you don't know,” Kim half sat up on one elbow. “Since our first kiss, you've kissed me more times than I can remember."

Again, Angel chose not to answer, and Kim wondered if she'd gone too far. She already had to deal with goodnight kisses she didn't want, she didn’t need more. Angel might start hello kisses, kisses because Kim looked happy, kisses because she looked sad, and kisses because it'd been thirty minutes since the last kiss. The list was endless.

"All I'm saying,” said Kim, “is you should make it as drawn out and complex as possible. Make it elaborate, something I wouldn't or couldn't expect. We could even make a game out of it. I'll resist with all my heart, and you do your best to trap me.”

“Trap you?”

“Emotionally. Not physically."

Kim suppressed the self-doubt that rose up unbidden at her words. Her strategy was a sound one. The more complex a trap, the more things that could go wrong with it.

Yet even that undeniable fact failed to completely reassure her. She was playing with fire, challenging Angel like this. Angel had tricked her before. More than once. She’d tricked her and made it look easy.

No. She wanted this. She relished the challenge. The thought of losing because she gave in to mindless pleasure from an extended goodnight kiss was abhorrent to her. If she was going to be trapped, let it be a masterwork of a seduction that left no doubt in anyone’s mind that she'd been caught. Irrevocably! Fair and square!

Angel was devious and clever, but not that devious and clever. Kim had her pride, borne out of never having been defeated.

A distant memory nagged at her at that thought. Kim ignored it.

The past is passed, she reminded herself, and it’s time to concentrate on the here and now.

Angel couldn’t win. She had natural talent, but natural talent only went so far. In contrast, Kim’s ability was honed out of countless hours sitting in front of a screen playing video games with single-minded intensity. Angel couldn’t boast a tenth of her hard-won experience.

Angel was no match for her.

Feeling brave, Kim ventured, "So how about that second goodnight kiss?"

Then, feeling stupid, she wondered, What the hell am I doing?

But it was too late to take back the words. Angel had already left the bed. Kim could see the shadow of her passing silhouette in the darkness, a sinister dark portent of impending doom coming to claim her.

Kim couldn’t climb out fast enough. She’d barely set her feet on the floor before Angel’s warm arms wrapped around her to keep her from escaping. Kim’s hands slid to Angel’s back in return, but in her case it was more of a literal last second defensive action to control the situation than anything else.

Even though she knew what to expect from Angel, she couldn't fully dismiss how her breath quickened and how swiftly she fell victim to the rush of sensation when Angel's lips met hers.

Kissing Angel felt deliciously wonderful. The mysterious emotion which Kim refused to identify flared up once again.

This was a mistake, Kim realized. A horrible mistake. They’d barely gotten started, and already she could feel her resistance crumbling away to nothing.

Previous encounters had taught her valuable lessons on what to do and what not to do. Had she heeded those lessons? Did she take them to heart? No, she ignored those lessons and threw herself into danger, anyway. Like an idiot, she had to tempt fate, and now she was paying the price for her arrogance and foolishness.

Angel drew her closer still, obviously hoping to escalate the situation. Their bodies gently touched and then Kim found herself pressing into Angel, holding her tightly as the rush of sensation gave rise to genuine passion.

But only for an instant.

As they touched, there was an extra sensation Kim didn’t anticipate. The realization gave her the strength she needed to resist, and with that, the spell was broken. The fog lifted from Kim’s mind. Her willpower was once again her own. Lady Luck herself had saved her.

Kim broke the kiss and pulled away. "Angel, why aren't you wearing your bra?"

"I took it off. It was confining my breasts."

"They're supposed to confine your breasts. That's what they’re for."

"I thought they were meant to enhance them for the viewing pleasure of others. I took it off because it was dark and I didn’t need it anymore."

"And your panties?"

"Oh, I'm still wearing them," Angel found Kim’s left hand and slid it down her back to demonstrate the truth of her words. "Feel?"

Kim froze. Her hand told her the truth she didn’t want to know.

"Oh!” gasped Angel. “Weren't we going to wait? You should probably take your hand out."

"You're holding it there," Kim accused.

"No, I'm not."

Kim spread out her fingers. It was true. Angel wasn’t holding her hand in place.

She’d just assumed...

It took a few more seconds for her to react to this information and fully process the implications.

Her hand was down Angel’s panties.

Kim stopped to think about the situation, ignoring how her hand burned and smoldered as it lay against the softness of Angel’s ass.

As a point in her favor, Kim hadn’t exactly been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Angel had put it there, and Kim herself had nothing to do with it. Unfortunately, knowing this information did nothing to avert the crippling and overwhelming feelings of guilt at being caught that swept over her.

Kim tried jerking her hand free, but the hand went nowhere. The thin material held it in place.

The hand needed to be removed at once, she knew, but simply reacting to the problem hadn’t worked. She needed a workable strategy, something to rectify the situation while doing nothing that could possibly make her position worse.

The hand gave an experimental squeeze. Kim took this as a reminder of how vital it was she ignore any and all input from the hand itself. She couldn’t afford to allow the sensations distract her.

As it turns out, doing her best to not think about the situation was directly counterproductive to her finding a solution to her problem. It took her several long seconds for her to conclude the simple solution was the best solution. She should simply pull it out.

Very slowly, Kim slid her hand back the way it came. Angel let out a small corresponding sigh of pleasure as it slid free, which Kim tried and failed to ignore.

It took a moment for Kim to regain her composure, but she did. She raised a sardonic eyebrow. “Did you enjoy that?” asked Kim.

“I did. I believe you did, too.”

Kim rolled her eyes. "Goodnight, Angel."

"Goodnight," Angel replied, and kissed her again, and once more. Then once more.

Kim jerked back. "Stop it! Go to your side!"

"Hmm. If you insist. Goodnight, Kim."

"Good--” Kim interrupted herself. “No! Just go!"

Angel returned to her side without further incident.

Kim couldn’t see for certain, but she knew Angel was smirking.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Kim carefully lifted her purse, then used both hands to pick up her keys to ensure they made no noise. She opened the door with barely a whisper of sound and eased herself through. With exaggerated care, she engaged the deadbolt behind her. It slid home with an ominous click. The sound made her wince, but she knew it couldn’t be helped. Some noise was unavoidable. That extra half second Angel took unlocking the door could make all the difference in the world.

With luck, she’d be halfway to work before Angel woke and noticed her departure.

No goodbye kiss today. Not if I can help it!

Standing in the hall, Kim paused to listen. There were no sounds of pursuit.

She crept to the top of the staircase then froze, hardly daring to breathe. Betty Morrison stood by the mailbox at the base of the first set of stairs, leisurely sorting her junk mail one letter at a time. Based on her casual demeanor, she hadn’t noticed Kim. The security door and its path to freedom lay just beyond her.

Kim cursed the unexpected delay. Her plan relied on stealth and speed in equal measure. She couldn’t proceed with Betty standing there, and didn’t dare attempt to breeze past her. The stairs couldn’t be rushed. The inherent risk of detection was too great. She couldn’t risk Angel appearing at that key moment and forcing a confrontation while she was vulnerable. Far preferable Kim get it over with here, on the top floor, away from prying eyes.

Time continued its steady march. Each passing moment increased the danger of discovery and brought her no closer to freedom. She waited, fuming, silently urging the woman below her to finish.

There isn’t time for this.

Kim looked over her shoulder. Her own door remained closed. What should have been a comforting fact failed to reassure her. She knew it couldn’t last. Angel would wake, and she would come for her. Inevitably, she would come for her, certain and terrifying as death itself. Kim didn’t dare be here when she did. She was already living on borrowed time.

Still Betty lingered, and Kim’s patience reached its end with a snap.

Enough delays! She had to do it now, despite the risk of creaking stairs. Waiting would prove her undoing. She needed to risk it.

The stairs stretched out before her. Kim swallowed, and took a tentative step, then put her full weight upon it. It didn’t creak. She took another step. Then another. So far, so good. Luck was on her side.

Betty looked up, and their eyes met.

Kim spoke first, in a voice barely loud enough to be heard above the sound of her heartbeat clamoring in her chest. "Good morning."

Betty’s brow furrowed. “Kim, are you--”

“Shhh!” Kim hissed, and Betty lapsed into blessed silence.

Kim pressed on. Another careful step. And another. This one creaked under her weight. She withdrew her foot at once, then slowly, carefully, stretched over the treacherous step to the next down the line. One more. Her progress was slow but steady.

Kim slowly let out the breath she’d been holding. The glass security door lingered just out of reach, but she knew the safety it offered was but an illusion. She’d barely traversed a third of the way, and had so far yet to go. The risk now was greater than ever before. She was exposed. Committed. Everything hinged on the next few precious seconds. She dared not linger, but dared not go faster.

Another step. Another. For the first time, Kim felt the first glimmers of hope.

Halfway there!

All this time, she’d thought a goodbye kiss was inevitable. Inescapable. Fate wouldn’t allow her another path to take. This was her destiny, ordained for her by God. She took another step, and passed the halfway mark. Still so much to go, but hope welled up within her with each passing moment.

Kim dared not smile and tempt the gods. Soon, she’d be free.

Could this be it? Could she defy Fate itself?

There was a click, and Kim stopped breathing. The Metal Gear Solid alert sound-effect went off in her head. The sound that followed made her blood run cold and turn to ice in her veins.

A door is opening!

Very slowly, Kim turned in place, dreading what she'd find and knowing she couldn’t escape. Her worst fears were confirmed. Angel stepped out into the hallway, met Kim’s panicked eyes, and smiled a beautiful smile that froze Kim in place.

Fool! Run for it! her inner voice cried, but her feet refused to obey her.

Kim whimpered as Angel approached. This was it. She was doomed. It was all for nothing. She hadn’t defied Fate. Fate had only been waiting, biding its time, waiting for the right moment to kick her in the head!

Angel strode towards her as if she had all the time in the world. She was still wearing that same semi-transparent lingerie outfit she wore to bed last night. Kim could only watch and count the ragged heartbeats spiking in her chest as her doom came forward to claim her. She felt not unlike a sacrifice chained to a rock, about to be fed to an unpronounceable dark god with far too many consonants and apostrophes and not enough vowels in his name.

"You're still wearing that," Kim managed at last.

"I thought you didn’t want me sleeping naked." Angel’s voice was echoed by Betty saying "Oooh!" in the background.

"I don’t care what you do," Kim retorted, exasperated. "Sleeping naked is fine with me!"

Angel abruptly stopped, halfway to the stairs. Her confident demeanor didn’t fade so much as it shattered. Kim had no difficulty reading the new emotion. Fear. Angel looked afraid, deathly afraid. But why? Kim couldn’t understand a reason for it.

Very tentatively, as if not to alarm her, Angel raised her hand. "Be careful, Kim."

But Kim didn’t listen. Her gaze remained locked with Angel, not blinking. She took a step away from her, realizing too late that her foot touched nothing but empty air.

The world tipped at an alarming rate, and she was falling.

Kim’s arms flailed as she desperately tried to grasp the rail, but it slipped away from her. A foot found the stair, but at the wrong angle and too late to save her, far too late. Her balance was lost. The floor rushed up to meet her, and this was going to hurt.

Angel seemed to blur towards her in a burst of speed. She caught Kim’s arm with a grip of iron and jerked her to a stop. The next instant, she was in Angel’s arms, clinging to her desperately.

Afterward, Kim remembered what happened to her in bits and pieces. She recalled Angel’s warm embrace, and how the moment seemed to last forever. Angel murmured words to her that somehow reassured her beyond what should have been possible, but Kim couldn’t have repeated a single word of them had her life depended on it.

The entire experience felt surreal. Like a moment out of a dream.

What she did remember all too clearly was what happened next, when Angel adjusted her hold and swept her off her feet. She carried her bridal style the rest of the way down the stairs. Angel kissed her with every step, holding her close as if she were someone precious and irreplaceable and she didn’t dare let her go. Even after setting her feet to the ground, Angel didn’t release her.

Then the moment ended.

Kim closed her eyes and willed herself to breathe normally. She spent several long moments gathering her composure and dignity as best she could under Angel’s watchful eye.  It took time, but she did it.

Angel waited until the precise moment where dignity was restored. Then she leaned forward and took it all away again, whispering, “I’ll see you tonight,” against her ear.

It wasn’t the words themselves that made Kim shudder in reaction. It was the way Angel said them, making them sound like a seductive promise with a hint of something more to come.

Angel gave her another lingering kiss that left her breathless, then walked back up the stairs. Kim watched her go, wondering if she was deliberately walking in a provocative manner for her benefit. If she was, she need not have bothered. Kim wasn’t attracted to her. Not in the least. Her breathing was only erratic because of her near death experience. Adrenalin. That was it. Adrenalin, and nothing more.

Yeah. Keep telling yourself that.

Betty cleared her throat. Kim stared at her. The older woman gave her a cheery thumbs up sign.

"Were you just standing there? All this time?" Kim demanded.

She shrugged. "Kinda."

"Aren’t you going to be late for work?"

"Worth it!"

Chapter Twenty-Seven

As Kim drove to work, she had plenty of time to think about her situation and came to a disturbing realization.

Like the goodnight kiss, the goodbye kiss was unavoidable. Angel wouldn’t permit her to leave without one. If Kim wanted to avoid such public displays of affection in the future, only two options were available.

The first option required Kim to be self-assertive. She needed to put her foot down and demand a stop to them. No more kissing! Tell Angel to knock it off, once and for all!

As Kim wasn’t the best at confrontations, that didn’t seem at all likely.

Which left the second option.

If confronting Angel was beyond her, then she needed to come to grips with it and fully accept the fact that it was going to happen, regardless of what she wanted. Armed with this knowledge, she needed to plan accordingly.

Avoiding Angel or sneaking out was a temporary solution at best. In the end, it accomplished nothing. Even if she succeeded in avoiding Angel and made it out the door, Angel would follow her and chase her down in the hallway or into the parking lot. She’d kiss her senseless in front of anyone and everyone. It wouldn’t matter to Angel if there were one witness or twenty. It would happen, and nothing Kim could do would change that.

That meant Kim was only free to manipulate the circumstances surrounding it. A kiss may be a foregone conclusion, but public kisses were not. If she received her goodbye kiss in private, Angel would be satisfied. She wouldn’t follow her into the hallway where others could see. Kim could get to work without further incident.

All it required was kissing Angel. Voluntarily.

Kim rolled her eyes. Sounds perfect. How could Angel ever misinterpret that?

Chapter Twenty-Eight

This was it. Thursday morning. Kim stood at the front door, contemplating it in silence. She had her keys, sunglasses, and everything she normally took with her and was ready to leave, but made no attempt to do so.

Angel was still in the kitchen. Kim could hear her washing dishes. For some reason she couldn’t explain, Angel had given her a perfect opportunity to sneak away without saying a word. All Kim had to do was reach out and take it. A few steps, and she’d be gone. No dealing with Angel. No goodbye kiss. She could get away clean.

Still, Kim hesitated. What was Angel planning?

This was a trap, she knew. A trap she couldn't see. Her self-appointed girlfriend was devious and underhanded and plotting her seduction. Kim knew this beyond doubt, and knew for a fact Angel wouldn’t give up a chance to kiss her goodbye so easily. It wasn’t in her nature to give in.

Angel wouldn’t tolerate an escape. This path to freedom had to be a trick.

But where was it? What form did it take?

The trap itself seemed straightforward. If Kim wanted to avoid Angel kissing her goodbye in public, she needed to ‘get it over with’ in private. But doing so implied a conscious decision on her part, and that was the trap. By voluntarily kissing her, Angel would have an even tighter grip on the throat of their relationship.

But what choice was there? Kim couldn’t choose not to do it. If she escaped today, Angel would be back again tomorrow. She was fated to do this. One couldn’t fight fate. A kiss was inevitable.

The door continued to mock her in silence.

There had to be another angle. Something she couldn’t see.

Kim tossed her keys from one hand to the other. Maybe she was thinking about it the wrong way. Were the implications so dire? Why was she getting so worked up about it? It was just a kiss.

Her eyes widened.

Just a kiss! That’s it!

That was Angel’s plan! By itself, a kiss wasn’t important. Only the symbolism behind the gesture made it into anything meaningful. It didn’t need to mean anything.

In fact, Kim agonizing over her decision was necessary in order for Angel to succeed. If she’d reacted as Angel planned and conceded defeat and gave in to the inevitable, it would cement in everyone’s mind what should have been a simple kiss into something irrevocably important. Hyping it up would have doomed her. It would have made her final act of voluntary participation nothing short of driving the nails into her own coffin.

And she’d almost fallen for it, too!

The implications sent a shiver down her spine.

Without the hype, a kiss lost ulterior meaning. Kim could kiss Angel as much as she wanted and explain it all away as nothing more than her wanting to avoid public embarrassment. In fact, she could kiss Angel all day long and it wouldn’t mean anything. Let Angel think what she wanted. A kiss was just a kiss, after all.

Her decision made, Kim went to the kitchen. She had nothing to worry about. It was just a kiss. Nothing more.

Angel was still washing dishes and didn’t turn around at Kim’s approach. She was dressed in an overlarge t-shirt that hung just far enough to make Kim wonder if she were wearing shorts or panties underneath.

Kim walked right up to her and simply stood there. Angel ignored her and remained focused in her work, taunting her with her silence.

With elaborate care, Angel put down the last plate she’d been washing. She leisurely dried her hands, deliberately taking her time, and only after it was done did she turn to face her. "Yes, Kim?

Now that the confrontation was actually happening, Kim’s courage took a hit. "I’m leaving for work," she said, looking at the dishes and then the table. Anywhere but at Angel. "I’m saying goodbye now."

"I was hoping you’d do this."

"I’m sorry?"

"You told me once that a girlfriend needed a proper evil plan if she wanted to get anywhere.”

Kim remembered saying nothing of the sort, but the phrase did sound like something she might say. “Are you saying you planned this? You admit it?”

Angel nodded. “A relationship is a partnership between two people, but I’m far too impatient to leave everything up to you. I wanted more. How could I advance our relationship, I wondered? What could I do? Your accusations and suspicions gave me the answers. I needed to become devious."

Kim grinned in triumph. All of her theories were vindicated.

I was right! I’d been right all along!

But Angel wasn’t finished. "It didn’t occur to me that I’d already started my plan until the second day of its implementation," she continued. "Whenever I do something to embarrass you, you take steps to prevent it from happening again, and I embarrassed you when I kissed you in front of that other woman two days ago. After you tried to sneak away the next morning, it made me realize I was manipulating you without being consciously aware of doing so."

Angel took a step forward, her eyes burning with intensity. "You’re here to kiss me privately, aren’t you?"

When Kim didn’t answer, Angel’s hands settled on her waist, whether in preparation for a kiss or to prevent Kim from fleeing the room, she couldn’t say. Perhaps both. "You were right about me. I didn’t realize I was doing it until the second day. I must be cleverer than I thought."

“I knew it,” Kim gloated.

Angel moved closer still and kissed her. Kim felt Angel’s arms wind around her back, pulling her into the embrace, but she was too elated to care. She was right! Angel had been plotting something, except her plan failed! Angel wasn’t half as clever as she thought she was. She wasn’t going to be kissing Angel anytime soon. Angel was...kissing...her.

Oh.

Hmm...

Guess it wasn’t a flawless victory after all.

Kim had been right. It was a trap. And she’d gleefully proved it by stepping right into it.

Through an effort of will, she forced down her rising panic until it settled into manageable deep seeded apprehension. Her old arguments came back to her. She didn’t truly fail. Not completely. The situation could be salvaged. This wasn’t a disaster. It was just a kiss. A long, extended kiss.

Feels kind of nice, but don’t think about that. Later on you can deny liking it all you want, but for now, just roll with it.

After all, she assumed she’d be kissing Angel from the moment she walked in the room. This was no different than what she fully expected to happen.

It’s just a kiss. Nothing more. It’s just a kiss.

She felt Angel’s hand slide beneath her shirt and gently caress her right breast over her bra.

It’s just a hand, her internal voice amended in its litany as she once again fought down rising panic which threatened to consume her. Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t doing anything.

Okay, spoke too soon. Now it was doing something. Something pleasant, more intense, and yes, she kind of liked it. But that could be ignored.

So ignore it, already! Stop focusing on it! It doesn’t feel that good!

Except that it kinda did. A lot. One hell of a lot.

This was natural. To be expected, in fact. She remembered reading somewhere ages ago that once a man and woman kissed seriously for the first time, the man’s hand would naturally wander to the woman’s breasts. The woman writing the story was a bit annoyed because it happened all the damned time but apparently “all men were pigs” so in the end it was nothing to get worked up over.

Angel took Kim’s right hand placed it on top of her shirt against her own breast. When the hand did nothing, Angel placed her own hand over it and gently squeezed it for her. Then she left it there. Kim didn’t pull away.

While Kim was still reeling over all the happy messages the hand was sending her brain, Angel guided Kim’s other hand underneath her shirt to gain access directly.

As Angel wasn’t wearing a bra, this made the first hand insanely jealous.

Their kisses were growing more passionate. Kim suddenly realized both her hands were now beneath Angel’s shirt with no conscious memory of her or anyone else putting them there. This was feeling a lot like the attempted seduction all over again, only this time Angel had somehow tricked her into becoming a willing participant.

Still, Kim didn’t panic. She knew her cell phone alarm would save her. It always went off every morning to signal she needed to leave for work within the next few minutes. That time had to be close. In fact, it was a bit of a safety net. She could safely kiss Angel until then and ignore any rise of passion. The alarm would go off and she’d be forced to quit.

Unless she called in sick, of course.

No! She was going to be forced to quit!

The kissing continued, and Kim’s patience began to fade. The alarm refused to go off.

Angel admitted to being devious. Could she have turned it off?

Kim broke the kiss with a gasp. "I’m going to be late."

"We have twenty minutes. I’ve changed the clocks and alarms," Angel said, then attempted to pick up where she left off.

Kim held her back, having none of it. The spell was broken. "I’m not spending the next twenty minutes kissing you goodbye."

“Are you willing to compromise? Fifteen minutes?”

“Ten.”

“Done.”

With that, Kim kissed her again, effectively silencing Angel before she could bargain for more time. Finally! She won one over on her manipulative girlfriend. That showed her. Angel had to get up pretty early to fool her.

Pretty early being “twenty minutes early,” her internal voice remarked dryly.

Kim reluctantly had to admit her inner voice had a point.

Pretty pathetic, now that she thought about it.

Wait, did she just willingly volunteer herself to kiss Angel for a full ten minutes straight?

And did she just bargain for the right to do it?

Clever girl. Kim smiled through the kiss, her admiration for Angel going up a notch. Then she admonished herself for smiling, fearful of how Angel would interpret it.

A bit late to think about it now. You think it’s going to matter to Angel if you’re smiling because you’ve been so effectively tricked, or because you’re enjoying kissing her?

Or the fact that you’re still playing with her breasts!

But she doesn’t seem to mind, another voice offered, and they feel really nice.

Kim wondered at the source of the voice. Her hands, probably. They were definitely having fun. Traitorous things.

As if to mock her, one of the hands reached around to caress Angel’s ass, instead. Her second hand had apparently become dubious as to whether Angel was completely naked beneath her shirt and was taking a slow tour around her body to check for itself.

She wasn’t in control at all!

Stop it, stop it, stop it!

But she couldn’t stop it. It was official. Her hands had a mind of their own. So did the rest of her body, apparently.

Dammit, dammit, dammit! Why wasn’t she stopping? What in the world was the matter with her? She did have willpower, right? She remembered having willpower this morning. What happened to it? Willpower wasn’t something you lost track of and misplaced. Where was it? How could she simply lose it? Should she check behind the toaster? All she knew was, she used to have willpower, and she didn’t have it now.

Ah. That was the answer. Angel took it from her. She stole her willpower, the little thief.

Okay, fine. Fine! She enjoyed kissing Angel. And her ass felt kind of nice. Might as well admit it. Pretty freaking obvious she wasn’t being dragged into it kicking and screaming against her will. She bargained for ten minutes, but probably was going to go past that mark because she forgot to check the time and it was too late to check now.

Happy, subconscious?

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The sun was bright and shining, the birds were singing in the trees, and Kim ignored them and all but hissed at the rising sun as she strode past her own garage and kept right on going. She kept her face averted from the hateful, yellow glare and wished her sunglasses were just a little bit darker.

Past the garages were shadows, blessed shadows, and that was her destination. Confident now that she knew she wasn’t being observed, she fished out her cell phone.

Today would mark a turning point in her relationship with Angel. Angel had been living with her for over a week, and during that time Kim had made zero progress in uncovering her true purpose on Earth. No longer. That was going to change. Angel had made too much progress in the relationship lately, and Kim couldn’t help feeling she was running out of time. That meant working overtime to uncover Angel’s true purpose as soon as possible.

Or rather, she needed to take time off to discover it.

Or more precisely, call in sick.

But that was the way of the world for wage-slaves like her. Professional investigators had it easy. Their job was investigation. Clearly the phrase working overtime only applied to them.

It was a longstanding theory of hers that Angel intended to seduce her to distract her. Angel knew Kim didn’t have a lot of experience and became flustered trying to fend her off. It stood to reason that if Kim were too preoccupied trying to keep her virtue intact, she wouldn’t be able to devote the time and effort necessary to uncover Angel’s real plot, whatever it happened to be.

It was an interesting theory, but one which didn’t seem too likely, now that she thought about it.

Her second theory didn’t account for a buried agenda. Angel still intended to seduce her, but not because of Kim’s charming personality. Instead, Angel desired her for hours of hot, lesbian sex to provide evidence she was an ordinary girlfriend. She wanted a believable background, and nothing more than that.

Kim had doubts about that one, too. It seemed plausible on the surface, but it contained a fundamental flaw. That theory suggested Angel intended to seduce Kim but only because Angel believed Kim expected her to do so. This further implied that it was somehow Kim’s fault, which was just plain ridiculous.

That left the last theory. It was entirely possible Angel lusted after Kim’s hot, little body simply for the pleasure of the experience. Angel wanted the sex, but cared nothing for her. She pretended to care, and that was it.

This one seemed the most likely. Which was kind of depressing.

It didn’t help that Kim herself didn’t know what to think of Angel. She liked her well enough, but feared a growing, emotional attachment.

Given what she knew of Angel’s nature, shouldn’t it be easy to maintain an emotional distance, knowing any feelings she had for Angel wouldn’t be reciprocated?

Kim didn’t have a clue if physical desire preceded emotional desire or if the reverse were true, but she dare not risk either considering her belief that Angel felt nothing for her at all.

Angel was only pretending. As long as she kept that fact foremost in her mind, she should be in no danger. She must never forget it. The fate of the entire world could be at stake. That meant today she was going to focus her attention on where it should have been days ago and finally get some answers.

After calling in sick, Kim found a suitable vantage point between the buildings with plenty of shadows and proceeded to lurk and skulk in them. There she waited for her target.

Forty minutes after Kim “left for work,” the security door for her building opened and Angel walked out, carrying what appeared to be a full duffel bag. She drew closer to Kim’s hiding spot, and Kim faded back into the shadows until nothing of her was visible, or so she hoped. She allowed Angel to gain a comfortable lead and then followed in her wake.

Kim had a plan in mind. All she needed to do was follow Angel on foot as she went about her daily business and not get caught doing it. Kim wasn’t trained in the art of shadowing, but that didn’t matter. She’d played plenty of video games that required at least a passing familiarity with stealth. Those hard-won skills should gave her an edge beyond that of the common, untrained newbs that infested the real world.

How hard could it be?

Angel never once turned around, and Kim relaxed. Tailing Angel was easier than she’d thought it would be.

After half an hour of walking, they left the residential streets behind them.

Angel led the way into a section of town more suited to shopping areas and restaurants than office buildings. The sidewalk became increasingly more crowded by the minute. People came out of the woodwork for whatever personal business they had going. The crowds made Kim feel more secure, but it came with a corresponding, ever-increasing risk of losing Angel as the number of people increased.

When Angel ducked into a pawn shop, Kim counted herself lucky to have spotted it at all. She stopped at once, heedless of the people around her.

As the minutes crawled by, it became apparent Angel wasn’t leaving anytime soon. Kim crossed the street to find someplace to wait, one isolated enough to watch without drawing unwanted attention.

A tree at the corner suited her purposes. She lounged against it and waited.

And waited.

Kim glanced at her phone to check the time. Thirty minutes went by. Then forty. Still no Angel.

She was about to break cover and cross the street to interrogate the shop owner directly when the door opened and Angel emerged. Her duffel bag looked empty. Kim ducked back into the shadows, watching as her opponent looked about. Apparently not finding what she was looking for, she continued down the sidewalk on her original path.

Kim looked to the pawn shop again, burning with curiosity. According to the sign in the window, their primary business was guns, gold, and jewelry.

What did Angel sell? Did she buy anything?

Kim itched to go inside and find those answers, but now was not the time. It could wait. Tomorrow, perhaps, or later this afternoon. For now, she needed to stay on target and ignore how that strategy didn’t turn out so well for Gold Leader and his men in Star Wars.

Angel rounded the corner of a building and vanished from sight. Kim hurried after her, took the same corner, and braked to an ungraceful stop. Angel stood waiting on the other side, looking back at her with a faint smile on her face.

In a normal situation after failing in such a manner, Kim would use tried and true methods at her disposal to undo the damage. She’d take note of her mistakes, pin down exactly what went wrong and where, then restore a previously saved game to go back in time before her mistake ever happened.

That was the proper way to do things, and the birthright of all gamers everywhere. It wasn’t even their greatest power. It was but one of many that marked them out as special and made them superior to the common masses.

But those reliable tried and true methods weren’t available here. Not in the real world. This wasn’t a game. This was real life in all its glory, and reality tended to suck, sometimes.

Kim had failed, and there was nothing she could do about it. What she was facing was a prime example of why she did her best to avoid reality in the first place.

Far from upset, Angel seemed pleased to see her. “Weren’t you supposed to be working today?” she asked.

Kim hesitated. She didn’t have a backup plan prepared. Her plan was more along the lines of never getting caught.

“Surprise?” she offered. “I was hoping to surprise you.”

“You took the day off? For me?”

Kim hesitated. The truth hadn’t occurred to her.

Impulsively, she decided to go with it. “Yes,” she said, avoiding Angel’s eyes. “I’ve been wondering what you do during the day.”

Angel’s smile brightened. “And you wanted to spend the day with me?”

Kim nodded. Again, the words were technically true, but she still felt like a jerk for deceiving her.

Angel stepped up and embraced her in a hug. Kim stiffened, suddenly hyperaware of the people around her. None of them were even looking in her direction, but the knowledge didn’t help her relax.

Angel certainly didn’t care one way or the other. She didn’t release her until she felt satisfied. “I’m glad you took the time off. There’s only one more thing I need to take care of, then we can spend the rest of the day together."

With that, Angel was off again.

Kim fell in alongside her. As they walked, Kim glanced at Angel’s bag, trying to think of the best way to ask about the pawn shop and her business there.

“Guns,” said Angel.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Guns,” Angel repeated. “Guns, knives, and cell phones. And other miscellaneous vendor trash. That pawn shop is the best place I’ve found to sell things.”

Kim’s eyes narrowed. “What have you been doing, Angel?”

Angel gave Kim an exasperated look. “Oh, relax. I didn’t steal any of them. I picked them up while I was still working my tourist job, and I’m not doing that anymore.”

“So, what have you been doing?”

Angel extended her middle finger and flipped her off. “It’s a secret.”

Kim stopped in her tracks.

Angel continued walking down the sidewalk, not noticing Kim no longer by her side. When she finally did notice, she stopped and turned to face her. “Is something wrong?”

“That’s not the gesture!” Kim sputtered, almost too incredulous to speak.

“It isn’t? But on the internet--”

Kim held a finger to her lips. “This means ‘it’s a secret,’ Angel.”

“Oh.” Angel shifted uncomfortably. “What did my gesture mean?”

“Something else,” Kim muttered, looking away.

“You won’t tell me?”

“No.” Kim passed Angel where she stood and soon left her behind.

Angel watched her go. “I’ll find out, eventually,” she called after her.

“You probably will. But not from me.”

“You’re no fun.”

Kim came to an abrupt stop. “Where are we going, anyway?”

“I’ll show you.”

Two and a half hours of walking later, Angel guided her to an old, decrepit, grey building with an overabundance of windows, most of which were broken. The front door was padlocked shut. Behind it and to either side nature had begun to reclaim its lost territory. An independent transmission repair shop was further along down the street with no one in attendance. The street itself was deserted and in disrepair.

If Kim had to guess, she would have said the structure was an office building from thirty or forty years ago. Probably abandoned for at least half that long.

Angel fished out a key and unlocked the doors but didn’t open them. She set the chains aside in the overgrown grass. “Now we wait,” she said. “We’re still about an hour early, but it could be three or four more hours before anyone actually gets here. Do you have your book?”

Kim snorted at the absurdity of the question. If she ever started to go someplace and realized she’d left her book behind, she’d turn right around to go back and get it.

“Are you having something delivered?” she asked.

Angel held a finger to her lips, her blue eyes a shade brighter in the sun. “Yes, but I’m not telling you what. It’s a secret.”

“Are you actually renting this place? How could you afford--”

“Also a secret,” said Angel.

Kim let it go. It didn’t matter. Based on what she'd learned so far, today’s spying expedition was already a success. Angel had already given away far more than her share of secrets. Once Kim was alone she could come back with a pair of bolt cutters or something and find out the rest.

They settled down to wait.

The day was comfortably warm, but still a little too sunny for Kim’s tastes. She chose a spot out of the light while Angel simply sat down where she happened to be before pulling out her own book from her duffel bag.

Kim wondered at Angel’s decision. There was plenty of shade available. Why would any sane person sit in the sun when they could sit in the shade?

Maybe she was the odd one out in this situation? Everyone else she knew tended to love the bright outdoors and the randomness of nature for reasons that escaped her.

If Angel chose to emulate those people, it would make sense for her to sit in the sunlight. But those others weren’t around. Kim was her only example. Wouldn’t it follow that Angel would assume Kim’s behavior was the norm?

Or perhaps she was doing it to prove to Kim she was like other people, not necessarily like her?

In any event, it would be nice if Angel picked another place to sit. Her blondish white hair was already bright enough without the sunlight lighting it up even more. Even with sunglasses, Kim’s eyes hurt to look at her.

Granted, the woman was in the perpetual need of a tan, but Kim had heard somewhere that too much daylight caused melanoma and skin cancer. She’d also heard sunlight was necessary for healthy vitamin D production, but chose to believe the former and ignore the latter as it suited her lifestyle choice and personal preferences.

“Why don’t you come out of the sun?” Kim asked.

“You want me to sit with you?”

Kim snorted. Leave it to Angel to twist an innocent question into something she didn’t intend. “It’s not a big deal,” she said, lifting a hand and waving the matter away. “It just hurts my eyes to look at you.”

Angel thought about this, then rose to her feet. She sat next to Kim and then smiled at her before pulling out her book again.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Kim muttered.

“Maybe I wanted to do it. Maybe I didn’t want you hurting your pretty, green eyes staring at me.”

“I wasn’t staring. Looking at you was just blinding, is all.”

“You were blinded by my beauty?”

Kim set her book down, exasperated. She stared Angel dead in the eye. “Did I ever tell you that you’re beautiful?”

Angel looked away, almost shyly, and Kim blinked in surprise.

Was that a blush?

“On Tuesday night. At the time, I wasn’t certain if it was me or the lingerie.”

“Wait. I did? I said that?”

Angel nodded. “I think you’re beautiful, too.”

“I was talking about you.”

“You’re cute when you’re flustered.”

Kim hadn’t been flustered, but she was now. She scooted just a little bit further from Angel. “Enough, already. I’m not trying to flirt with you.”

Angel grinned and scooted just a little bit closer. “But I like it when you try not to flirt with me.”

Kim opened her mouth to deny it when a white delivery service van pulled up and parked next to them. Two men in identical uniforms stepped out. Both looked to be in their low twenties, the driver being the elder of the two, a heavyset man with an unkempt beard carrying an electronic signature pad. The second man had a bit of a faraway look in his eye, as if he’d rather be anywhere else. He stood to one side and lit a cigarette.

The driver glanced at the pad. “We have a delivery for--“

Angel put a finger to her lips. The driver fell silent, and Angel turned to Kim. “This is for me. Will you please stand over there, for a while?” She pointed to the building’s corner at the far side.

Kim folded her arms and glared. “I wasn’t flirting,” she hissed, her voice low.

“Don’t unload it until she leaves,” Angel said to the men. They exchanged amused glances with each other.

“Dammit Angel, I wasn’t flirting,” Kim said again at a whisper.

“You’re Angel? Could you sign here, please?” The driver held out the pad to Angel.

Angel took it, signed, and handed it back before turning her full attention to Kim once again. “Please? Stand over there? This delivery is meant as a surprise for later.”

Both men looked to each other and started giggling like schoolchildren. Kim sputtered in indignation.

Angel ignored them. “This is important, Kim. Please, stand away?”

“What are they laughing at?”

“Just go? Please?”

Kim didn’t want to go, but she did.

At the corner, she watched as the two men unloaded a large something wrapped in plastic. It was flat, required both men to carry, and was half again the size of a giant-sized high definition television.

They carried it inside the building under Angel’s watchful eye as she stood at the entrance. After returning, Angel talked to them for over a minute. Kim strained to listen, but could hear nothing beyond the occasional bird singing in the trees. Both men simultaneously seemed to notice Kim’s scrutiny and smiled at her. She glowered back.

Kim memorized the license plate as they drove away. Then she remembered she wasn’t a cop and didn’t have the slightest idea what to do with that information and let the memory die.

She rejoined Angel, who was busy fussing with the chains. “What did you tell them about us?”

“I didn’t share private information.” Angel threaded the chains twice through the handles before locking it again. Satisfied, she wiped nonexistent sweat from her brow and turned to retrieve her bag.

“So, what did you tell them?” Kim pressed.

“As I said, I denied it.”

Kim nodded and felt herself relax. Denials were good.

“They wanted to confirm my address. I told them I was staying at your house, and we weren’t having sex on a regular basis.”

Kim stumbled and would have fallen if Angel hadn’t reached out and caught her. “You did what?”

Angel sighed, then released Kim once certain she wouldn’t fall. “I told them I was staying at--“

“That’s your denial? What’s wrong with saying, none of your business?”

“But they needed to know my address in order to confirm the delivery.”

“What about the rest of it?”

Angel picked up her bag and paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. “I suppose denying the rest of it would have worked, too.”

“Yes, it would. Try it next time.”

“I’ll remember. Thank you for explaining.” Angel’s bag brushed Kim’s leg as she passed. Kim followed after.

“So where to, now? A restaurant?” suggested Angel.

Kim paled. She didn’t want to do that, again. “How about a movie, instead?”

Angel nodded. They continued their walk in silence.

Kim memorized the street name as soon as its sign became visible. Shamrock road. It should be easy to find. By this time tomorrow she’d have all the answers.

Unless I can get some answers out of Angel now.

“So...a surprise, huh?

“Correct.”

“When were you going to let me in on it?”

“Telling you now would defeat the purpose of the surprise. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Kim gave Angel a sidelong glance. “You forgot the maniacal laugh, there.”

“Maniacal laugh?” Angel turned to face Kim. “That wasn’t a threat, Kim. It’s more of a promise, a hint of something you aren’t meant to avoid which will take you by surprise,” she said, then paused, thinking about it. “Okay, I see your point. It did sound like a threat, didn’t it?”

“You might as well tell me. I’m going to find out, sooner or later.”

“That’s true.”

They continued walking.

“So...”

“You do know where we’re going to see a movie, don’t you?” Angel asked.

“Mostly. Anyway, you were saying...”

“About what?”

“If I’m going to find out sooner or later...” Kim prompted.

“Yes. I said that was true. You will find out sooner or later.”

“And...”

“You’ll find out later.”

“Why not now?”

“Sorry, Kim,” Angel said sweetly. “None of your business.”

Angel didn’t even notice Kim scowling at her. Or if she did, she paid no attention.

“That isn’t fair,” Kim complained. “You can’t just leave it at that.”

“I always share information unless it’s inconvenient.”

Kim opened her mouth, closed it, and decided to let it go. It didn’t matter. She didn’t need Angel’s cooperation. As Angel said, she’d find out soon enough.

The movie theater wasn’t too far away, and had the added side effect of bringing them closer to home.

At least it isn’t a restaurant again, Kim thought. That would have been bad. She didn’t need Angel getting the wrong idea.

Or rather, she didn’t want another restaurant date reinforcing the wrong idea.

Nothing wrong with a movie. A movie is...

A movie can’t be misinterpreted as...

Crap.

This is a date, isn’t it?

Of course it is, her inner voice informed her. It only took you, what, four or five hours to notice? You’re slipping, Kimmie.

No, this isn’t a date, she insisted, silently admonishing herself for jumping to conclusions. Today was an almost completely successful spy mission. She now knew for a fact Angel was up to something. Maybe she didn’t know specifics as of yet, but what she had was just as good. At least now she knew where to find those answers.

Kim glanced at the attractive woman by her side. She couldn’t explain any of that to Angel. So yes, they were on a date.

Kim had been to movies plenty of times with female friends, but the fact that she and Angel were in a relationship changed everything. Because of that, anything they did together would automatically be considered a date. Kim knew it, and Angel had to know it. The fact made Kim self-conscious.

The movie theater an older multiplex, recently remodeled with stadium style seats that reclined with the push of a button. Kim liked the improvements, but still didn’t approve of the assigned seating system that forced her to choose a seat via computer screen. She liked to be able to get up and move if she wanted without breaking some rule, and silently hoped the practice would die out.

Since everyone was still at work, they practically had the place all to themselves. Both agreed on a detective movie with hopefully plenty of suspense and the likelihood of violence to advance the plot. Kim paid for their tickets without prompting, hoping no one saw her blush and realized she and Angel were something more than friends.

As they crossed the lobby, Angel kept a comfortable distance between them, avoiding any hint of public displays of affection. There wasn’t an audience to see, but Kim still appreciated the gesture. She kept stealing glances at Angel, wondering what she thought of the situation.

After a generous amount of previews, the movie started. Kim found herself enjoying it when Angel reminded her they were most definitely on a date by taking her hand in her own and showing no signs of letting go.

Kim stiffened, the movie forgotten, then berated herself for feeling so alarmed at such a simple gesture. Handholding? Seriously? What were they, teenagers? They might be on a date, but that didn’t mean she had to do meaningless things like that, especially when Angel herself was likely doing it only for appearance’s sake.

Kim pulled her captive hand free. “We’re a little beyond the handholding stage, don’t you think?”

Angel nodded, barely discernible in the darkness. “I was hoping you’d say that,” she whispered, then leaned across the seat, used a finger to turn Kim to face her, and kissed her. Then she kissed her again. And again. And again! Soon it became clear Angel had no intention of stopping, and Kim felt herself start to panic.

Now what?

Kim blamed herself. They’d already reached and surpassed the “kiss for long periods of time for no apparent reason” stage of their relationship that morning, and that meant they couldn’t go back to where they were before.

But what could she do? She was at a loss.

The kissing continued. Things were becoming a bit more heated.

She had to find a way out. There had to be an excuse, a good enough reason Angel would accept to make her stop, and Kim needed to find it fairly quickly before her willpower wandered off and abandoned her again.

In a flash, inspiration came to her.

“Could we do this later?” she asked in a rush.

Angel paused long enough to say, “Whenever you want,” and picked up exactly where she left off.

Willpower... fading, Kim thought in an internal voice that sounded a lot like Homer Simpson.

Kim tried again, more desperate this time. “I mean, we can do this later, but right now, could we watch the movie?”

Surprisingly, the plan worked.

Angel leaned away and sat back into her own seat. Kim was left reeling in wonder and a growing suspicion at the apparent ease of her victory.

Very tentatively, Angel’s hand brushed against hers and took it once more.

Kim looked at their intertwined hands for a long time. On the surface it wasn’t so terrible, but she instinctively knew Angel was manipulating her again.

In typical Angel fashion, she offered Kim a choice but only left one path to take. It seemed obvious Angel knew Kim would seize upon the relatively harmless choice of holding Angel’s hand, especially when offered as a welcome alternative to the raw intensity of an extensive make out session.

A ridiculously transparent ploy, not up to typical Angel standards.

A simply ploy, in fact. So simply, Kim wondered at the meaning behind it.

Was that her plan? Did Angel only want to call attention to the fact that holding hands... was kind of nice?

Kim gave Angel’s hand a squeeze, deciding to allow it. It was a simple gesture. Nothing more than a petty victory. Let Angel have it, if she wanted.

In the end, it meant nothing, after all.

Chapter Thirty

As Kim walked with Angel to the exit, she couldn’t help but notice how the employees seemed to be fully aware of what they’d been doing in the deceptive privacy of the darkened theater. Each one she passed either smiled a knowing smile or else concealed their amusement behind a mask of feigned indifference. Even the guy behind the register selling popcorn and drinks, who by all rights shouldn't know anything about them at all, gave Kim a knowing grin the instant she made eye contact.

And all of this with Angel keeping a respectful distance the entire way!

Kim did her best not to look back, fuming in silence as she walked past. Why did everyone automatically assume they were a romantically involved couple out on a date? She knew for a fact women sometimes saw movies together as friends and thought nothing of it. Did it even cross their minds that this could apply to them? Wasn’t it at least possible Angel was only a friend? They’d only kissed for maybe five minutes total.

She resolved to not let it bother her.

Kim steeled herself against the cold breeze that swept over her as she and Angel left the theater. Together they weaved their way through the people gathered about, fewer this late in the day, but still more than Kim was used to. Angel fell in beside her as they began the long walk home.

Not being one to notice awkward silences, Kim’s thoughts turned introspective. With a glance at Angel, Kim’s thoughts drifted back to the “handholding” incident and Angel’s reasons behind it. Surely Angel had to have some ulterior motive. Perhaps she was hoping to get Kim used to doing things out in public?

The phrase stuck in Kim’s head. Become used to it, she mused, over and over. And then it clicked. It struck her like a revelation, a moment of blinding clarity that stopped Kim dead in her tracks.

She followed the implication to its logical conclusion, and the results staggered her.

Angel didn’t set her up with a simple choice designed to make Kim voluntarily choose to hold her hand. Well, she did, but that wasn’t the extent of it. There was a hidden trap beyond it Kim hadn’t seen before, until now. Even as she marveled at the underlying complexity of the trap’s design, she couldn’t help but admire how easily and completely it had snared her, and stand in awe at the mind of its creator.

Angel was a manipulative genius.

“Beautiful,” Kim murmured. “Simply beautiful.”

The ‘choice’ Angel offered at the theater had only been a small part of a greater whole. Angel’s true plan was far reaching and simple in its complexity. What Angel really intended to do was to slowly acclimate Kim to the concept of casual touching. Everything she’d done so far from hugging to kissing to simply holding her hand, all of it had been designed to wear away her resistance. By making those innocent, romantic gestures commonplace, Kim had become more and more willing to accept them.

In fact, she had fallen into the trap earlier that day, the moment she fully accepted the fact she liked kissing Angel. The realization that she’d fallen so far should have shocked and horrified her, but instead it left her amazed at its far-reaching implications.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. In a way, Angel’s seduction of her had already started. Once she’d fully accepted these minor displays of affection, wouldn’t it be a small push for her to accept more? Earlier today she’d admitted to herself she was more than halfway there, after realizing she liked kissing Angel.

But Kim had uncovered Angel’s evil plan. Angel hadn’t won. Not quite yet. While it could be said with some accuracy that Kim had become used to kissing at this point, Angel still needed to persuade her to do it, each and every time.

That gave her hope. Things weren’t as dire as they initially seemed.

“What’s beautiful?” Angel asked.

Kim realized with a start she had been standing in place on a semi-busy sidewalk, staring at Angel with a wistful smile on her face. She also realized this was the second or third time Angel had asked the very same question.

She scowled to cover her lapse of attention and looked away. “I was thinking out loud to myself.”

“You were thinking something was beautiful? Or someone?” Angel pressed.

“The sunset. I was talking about the sunset.”

Angel didn't even turn to look. "The sun isn’t setting.”

“Okay, fine.” Kim threw up her hands. “You got me!” Conscious of the people around them milling on the sidewalk and not wanting to be overheard, Kim drew closer and spoke in a whisper, “I was talking about you, if you must know. But don’t get any ideas, because it doesn’t mean anything.”

“Okay,” said Angel, and started to walk away.

Kim quickly caught up with her. She just knew Angel had the wrong idea. “Listen to me, I wasn’t staring at you and thinking you’re beautiful, I was thinking something about you was beautiful.”

Angel paused and turned to face her, silently questioning.

“I didn’t mean to say it,” Kim grumbled.

“You’re not as shy as you used to be.”

Kim’s blood ran cold. “Not being as shy as before” was exactly what she feared. Angel’s words confirmed Kim’s theory. It was one thing to have a theory, but quite another to have that theory confirmed so openly.

“That’s all because of you, you know,” Kim accused.

Angel’s hands reached out and took Kim's despite her frantic last-second attempts to avoid them. “Then I’m glad it’s working.”

“Well, don’t think you’ve succeeded just yet. You’re going to have to work a lot harder than that.”

“I intend to.”

“You’re not seducing me that easily.”

“I think you’re beautiful, too.”

Kim blinked. She felt like Angel skipped ahead several lines in the conversation. “I don’t think you understand. I only said beautiful about you in a non-specific and general sense. I wasn’t trying to be romantic.”

“You never have to try with me, Kim. Everything you do and say tells me what I need to know.”

“This isn’t about me. This is about you.”

Angel kissed her without warning. Kim jerked away. “What was that for?”

“I told you why. Because you’re beautiful, too.” Angel leaned in for another kiss. Kim leaned away.

“Not here,” Kim admonished her. “You're attracting too much attention. We need to get inside.”

“Eager to get back home?”

“Yes, but only because of you.”

Angel gave Kim her most brilliant smile yet and released her. Kim breathed a sigh of relief.

The long walk home continued in silence. Angel didn’t attempt to take her hand again, for which Kim was grateful, but as time wore on she wondered if it would be such a bad thing.

Naturally, she wasn’t thinking this way because she wanted to hold Angel’s hand. There were justifiable reasons for doing so, and all of them made logical sense.

While it was true simple gestures might make her more malleable over time, as Angel intended, her method was far from perfect. It also worked against Angel, as well. Kim felt she could turn the tables and further twist the technique to her own advantage.

But it was risky. By doing so, Kim eventually would become used to it, and that was an unavoidable downside. But Angel didn’t realize that with each exposure Kim's resistance grew in a comparably proportionate rate. Kim’s blatant vulnerability to the physical would become less of a weakness.

She could even see the parallels to exposure to hard radiation.

Casual touching and kissing were safe enough in low doses, but both had a cumulative degrading effect on her overall resistance. Prolonged exposure to either would be disastrous.

Unlike prolonged exposure to radiation, however, Kim could build up a tolerance to Angel. Continuous exposure didn’t make it less dangerous, however. In fact, it was doubtful she’d ever become fully acclimated at all. Any exposure involved risk in greater or lesser degrees.

Kim understood enough about seduction to know the art centered on encouraging the victim to give in, to surrender a little bit more, and a little bit more, until finally inhibitions crumbled and the victim became lost in the pleasure of the moment. They started off not being interested, or not thinking about it, but ended up convinced they wanted to do it. Simply put, the will to resist became a will to continue.

Now that she thought about it, Kim wondered if she’d already been compromised.

Earlier this week, she’d been all about stopping Angel from achieving any success at all, no matter how small. Last week, kissing had been on her top ten list of things to avoid. Now the situation had changed. Because of Angel’s influence, Kim was seriously considering moving kissing to a new list of acceptable things she could do to boost her own resistance to a manageable level.

That alone proved Angel achieved at least a partial victory, and it worried her.

Kim considered the danger. Now that she knew of the underlying trap, was kissing still acceptable? Could something both erode her resistance and build it up, all at the same time?

Angel thought physical contact was the key to Kim’s eventual seduction. Kim needed to play along, to endure the things Angel wanted, but only long enough immunize herself against the process and turn Angel’s plans against her.

Resistance was relative. It changed, moment to moment. There was danger if both resistance and willpower degraded in the heat of the moment, but if she emerged from the experience without falling into the pitfall of seduction, her base resistance in general would grow. She’d emerge better equipped to survive her next encounter.

As a lifelong roleplaying gamer, Kim was well aware of the value of experience. Experience was key. Nothing else truly mattered beyond that. Finding gold and upgrading equipment were important, too, but only a means to gather more experience. If Kim could reach a new plateau of understanding, then all at once those lesser concerns that were once a problem would cease to bother her.

Tricky, but it could be done. As long as she remained on guard, she should be okay. Whenever Angel tried something, Kim’s own heart rate and irregular breathing would serve as an effective Geiger-counter. She’d know the instant she’d been exposed for too long and needed to break contact and get some distance.

All she needed to do was pay close attention to the early warning signs and get out before her willpower became compromised. If she lingered for too long and her willpower degraded past a certain level, she’d find herself unwilling and therefore unable to escape. Similar to radiation, too much exposure to Angel would destroy her. If she ever succumbed and lost all control, nothing would be left of her but a smoking pile of clothes on the floor to mark her passing. She’d be lost forever, nothing more than a pathetic love slave held in thrall to Angel’s will.

Too much exposure at one time would prove her undoing, but kissing, a little bit of touching, and even being around Angel while she was naked could improve her tolerance. Minor doses were the key to her survival. Taking a shower with her, for example, wouldn’t be worth the risk. Kim could benefit from the experience, but the risk of disaster was too great.

While it would be nice to achieve full resistance, she shouldn’t be in a rush to achieve it. Angel might think Kim was interested if she started volunteering to kiss her more often.

Of all the possible options, only holding Angel’s hand offered no danger to her whatsoever. Everything else was suspect. Seeing Angel naked caused her to become self-conscious. Kissing threatened a loss of control, her desire to resist devolving into flat out desire.

There was only one problem with the holding Angel’s hand solution. Angel wasn’t offering to hold her hand. At least, not at the moment. If Kim wanted to do this, she needed to do it herself.

Kim needed to...volunteer.

That would mark another minor victory for Angel, but only on the surface. In a rough comparison to decide who benefited the most, Kim believed she would come out on top. Angel would certainly see the act as interest on her part, in addition to romantic and sweet and a bunch of other rotgut, but that couldn’t be avoided.

What was truly important was using the technique as a means to build her tolerance. Eventually, such actions wouldn’t even bother her. She’d build up much needed experience and become better able to resist kissing and touching and what came after.

All she needed to do was reach out and take Angel’s hand.

Simple.

So reach out and take it, Kim told herself, but still she did nothing.

Why was she delaying? Holding Angel’s hand was the safest path available, and inarguably the most innocent. Once they were home, Kim would lose her chance. She couldn’t very well find an excuse once they were inside, now, could she? If she tried it then, Angel would most certainly intentionally misinterpret the situation and twist it into making it look as if Kim wanted to do it as a prelude to something more.

The sidewalks became less and less crowded with each passing minute until only the passing car remained to keep them company. The wind picked up noticeably, and still Kim couldn’t make herself take that final step. They were thirty minutes away from home. If she wanted to do it, she needed to do it now. This was her last chance before the narrow window of opportunity escaped her.

So do it! What are you waiting for? Just do it!

Kim steeled herself and stretched out her hand. It took all her bravery, but she did it. Her hand felt clammy with nervousness as she slid it into Angel’s own, then gave it a gentle squeeze and didn’t let go.

Angel stopped at once. Kim tried to keep walking, but Angel refused to be moved. Kim likewise refused to turn around. Her gaze remained fixed on the distant horizon.

“Kim?”

“I just wanted to. That’s all.”

Angel stepped in front of Kim, refusing to be deterred. Her intense blue eyes met her own. And then she reacted in a way that was completely unexpected.

Kim had been expecting surprise or even elation, concluding Kim had given in somehow. Instead, Angel gave her a bright smile of such light and joy it stunned her with its radiance.

Dear God, she’s beautiful. Kim’s heart skipped a beat and she completely forgot she was supposed to be embarrassed.

Angel tightened her grip and pulled Kim along with renewed vigor and a noticeable bounce to her step. Kim had no choice but to follow.

She wanted to tell Angel she got it wrong, to explain it to her, to justify her actions and make it clear there was no hidden underlying romantic meaning behind her actions whatsoever, but she couldn’t find the words.

For a moment, there was no thought in Kim’s mind of plots or hidden agendas or plans within plans. From all appearances, Angel seemed genuinely delighted Kim had finally come out of her shell and made her desires known.

None of it was true, of course. Kim was doing it for one reason and one reason only, because she intellectually feared a growing physical and completely non-emotional addiction to Angel’s touch. Cold logic and reason guided her actions. They told her she needed to do this to retain control. She did it only because she wanted to avoid involuntarily succumbing to a phenomena that might be defined as passion or desire in others. This clearly didn’t apply to her.

Kim shook her head to clear it.

I don’t feel any sort of strong attraction to Angel. I don’t! The very idea of it is preposterous, and absurd, and...and...and other synonyms I can’t think of that mean ridiculous!

What was wrong with her? Angel’s happiness was downright infectious. She didn’t want to let go.

This wasn’t like her. Something was wrong. Had she made a mistake?

She knew this was the least dangerous option, but this simple act of holding Angel’s hand wasn’t as innocuous as she thought. It was a gesture that should have meant nothing, but instead was making her self-conscious and fully aware of what she was doing, as if Angel’s emotional state were directly influencing her own.

She couldn’t understand it or make sense of it.

She should end this now. She needed to pull her hand away and rethink her options. But she couldn’t. The early warning signs were clamoring for her attention, but she ignored them all and did nothing to stop them. Angel seemed so dependent on it, and she didn’t want to disappoint her.

When exactly did Angel’s happiness become so important to her?

She wasn’t doing this because she liked Angel. This was all to build experience. She had good, justifiable reasons for doing this. This wasn’t the addiction talking, because she wasn’t addicted. She could quit anytime.

Even she had difficulty believing that.

Chapter Thirty-One

One would think a simple, half-second kiss in the morning would be sufficient to say goodbye, but nooo, that isn’t good enough!

Kim stood at the front door of her apartment with Angel pressed up against her, effectively pinning her in place as she rained kisses upon her with a passion that had become disturbingly familiar. She was in Angel’s arms. Angel was not in hers. Kim clung to that distinction with all her might. Her hands were fisted at her side because she didn’t trust them, and there they would stay until they learned to behave themselves.

The fact that they had a time limit made things safe in Kim’s mind. It was possible Angel was trying to erode her willpower again, but her alien girlfriend hadn’t even attempted to escalate the situation beyond the extended marathon kissing session.

Then again, why would she need to bother? She had what she wanted. Angel didn’t even have to try to trick her this time!

Everything was already a foregone conclusion. Kissing goodbye? Going to happen. Can’t be avoided. Not merely acceptable, but expected. Kissing for minutes at a time? Again, going to happen. Kim herself had bargained for it the previous morning. No way to change it now.

Angel had taken it upon herself to combine the two, and the only reason Kim didn’t have to worry about doing it all over again tomorrow morning was because tomorrow was Saturday!

They continued to kiss. And continued to kiss.

This is getting ridiculous.

Through an effort of will, Kim pulled away. “I think the kissing has gone on for long enough!”

“We haven’t got time for anything else,” whispered Angel.

Kim blinked. Did Angel just quote The Empire Strikes Back at her?

“How much time do we have?”

“Not enough.”

Kim had to turn her face away to reply, which did nothing to deter Angel. “I didn’t ask to see if we could do more, I’m asking in order to find out.”

“Less than a minute,” Angel murmured against her. She continued to kiss the side presented to her and down Kim’s neck.

Less than a minute? That isn’t so bad. Kim glanced at the door and the heavily curtained windows, thankful no one could see.

What would she do if the door opened? Once again, her mind flashed back to The Empire Strikes back, picturing the scene where Threepio interrupted Han and Leia’s romantic moment. ‘Sir! Sir! I've isolated the reverse power flux coupling!’

Kim smiled to herself at the thought, then immediately clamped down on it. Angel didn’t need any encouragement.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Kim sat at her desk at work, staring at her screen. She was in a foul mood. Throughout the day, she’d been planning on uncovering all the details of what she’d discovered about Angel yesterday after getting off work. Those secrets laid bare would determine Angel’s immediate future. Her innocence or guilt would be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

And Kim hated the very idea of it.

Nevertheless, she felt determined. Angel was on Earth for a reason. She was up to something, probably something nefarious, and Kim needed to find out what.

But as the day progressed, her uneasiness grew. She felt determined now, but also recognized she was at work and couldn’t do anything about it at the moment.

Years before, Kim had wanted to learn Japanese and ordered a set of language lessons, a series in MP3 format burned onto compact discs. In her mind, simply ordering and paying for them was a step in the right direction. She’d made progress, which gave her a sense of accomplishment. That was enough in her mind.

But the moment the CDs arrived, she lost all her motivation. Her desire to learn a new language hadn’t been enough to motivate her to do any of the actual work necessary to achieve those desires. Those disks now sat gathering dust on a shelf, all but forgotten.

And yet, the experience wasn’t a total loss. It enlightened her. She’d walked away recognizing she had a difficulty following through. Today, those lessons were coming back to haunt her. She recognized the parallels in what she was doing.

At work, she could make plans and preparations all day long, trying to fool herself into thinking nothing would stop her once she was free to act. But talk was cheap. Once those answers were within reach, would her current pressing desire for information abandon her as before? Would she have the strength to follow through?

Angel is my friend. If she turns out to be guilty...

No. She needed those answers. She had to know.

As the day wore on, Kim’s mood didn’t improve. It got worse. Her fellow employees kept their distance. If they had anything to say about her dour disposition, they kept those opinions to themselves.

Kim was beyond caring what they thought. Mostly. Mostly beyond caring. It still annoyed her that she remained the subject of their conversation, and this did nothing to brighten her day.

After being freed from work, Kim sped off in her car. She spent the next hour shopping and picking up what she needed, and arrived at the pawn shop a little after six in the evening.

The shop was smaller than Kim expected it to be. On either side of the shop were two glass counters, one fully devoted to guns and the other miscellaneous jewelry and trinkets. The store clerk sat behind a third multilayered counter which faced the main door. Behind him were numerous shelves holding various electronic devices of every sort. He was bare armed and heavily tattooed, looking like an older biker minus the leather.

The man seemed pleasant enough when Kim walked in as a potential customer, but his mood shifted from pleasant to significantly less than pleasant as he, too, picked up on Kim’s grim demeanor.

“There was a woman who came in here yesterday,” Kim began, getting right to the point and ignoring how the man scowled at her. “Blonde, shoulder-length hair, almost white, slightly taller than I am. She would have been carrying a duffel bag?”

“Let me stop you right there. I’m not going to talk about my customers. What they do is their own business.”

“She sold you guns, knives, and cell phones, among other things.”

The man looked her up and down. “If you already know that much, what do you need me for?”

“I wanted to know, was she only selling? Or did she buy anything?”

His eyes grew distant. He smiled a faint little smile while his fingers drummed the counter before him. “She bought something.”

Kim waited, but he spoke no further. “What did she buy?” she pressed.

“Not saying,” the man said with a grin.

“Jewelry? Electronics? Tools? Weapons?”

“Something expensive, I’ll tell you that much. She picked it up earlier this afternoon. Didn’t want to take it with her yesterday. Something about her girlfriend following her around town.” He eyed her suspiciously. “You the girlfriend?”

Now it was Kim’s turn to glower. The man’s smile widened in amusement. “I’m not getting involved in whatever it is you two have going,” he continued with a laugh. “Take it up with her, if you want.”

“Could you at least give me a hint?”

“Take it up with her, I said.”

Kim once again lamented her real-world inability to save the game and restart the conversation over from the beginning, hoping for a better outcome. “Thank you for your time,” she said, and left.

Kim returned to her car, irritated.

That left Angel’s not-so-secret lair. The two of them had walked the last time, taking a direct path. This couldn’t be done in a car. Kim solved this problem by driving to the movie theater and backtracking from there. It didn’t occur to her to use the street name she’d memorized and her GPS until much later. By then, she’d already found it.

Darkness had settled by the time she arrived. Kim killed the lights and stared at the building in question.

This is it. No more excuses.

Five minutes went by, then ten. Kim didn’t move. She continued to watch in silence.

There was no reason for her to delay. It all came to this moment. She had all the tools she needed to find all the answers. One collapsible ladder to reach the broken windows? Done. A hammer, in case she needed to make her own broken window? Done. She’d taken one from her garage that morning and didn’t even have to buy an extra.

A rope to climb out from the other side, after jumping in from the ladder through the window? Again, ridiculously easy. The store where she’d picked up the ladder had a display of different types of rope, clearly visible from the registers up front. The type she’d picked up, durable manila with a rope clamp, was even on sale.

As for the building itself, Kim didn’t anticipate any problems. There were no guards to be seen. Probably no alarms. Even the heavily chained door didn’t seem Angel’s style. Kim was guessing it had been passed down, courtesy of the previous renter or owner.

In fact, everything had fallen into place without effort. Nothing was stopping her. All she needed to do was take that first step and she’d have all the answers.

The windows weren’t even the only way in. She’d picked up bolt cutters to cut the chains at the main door, purchased thirty minutes before the ladder idea occurred to her. Angel would know someone had broken in, but no more than that. Kim didn’t even need to go inside if she didn’t feel like it. All she needed to do was climb up and shine a light through the window and she’d know everything there was to know.

Her checklist complete for the third or fourth time, she remained in her car. The air was getting stuffy, so she cracked a window. A pleasant breeze wafted in.

More time passed by. Kim listened to the ticking of her cooling engine.

Do something!

Kim took off her seatbelt. Progress, she snorted in disdain.

She hated this, absolutely hated the thought of investigating Angel. This was what she’d been worried about at work. She’d been right all along. At the moment of truth, her determination had abandoned her.

Easy to say she wanted answers at work or at home where the only thing she could do was plan and scheme about doing everything sometime in the distant future, but now that she was here with all the answers within reach, she flat out didn’t want to do it.

Wasn’t it at least possible Angel wasn’t part of a plan to conquer and enslave all of humanity? What if her tourist job were real? Couldn’t she have told the truth when she said she was here to see the sights and take in the local culture?

Even if Kim broke in and found something substantial, what then? Alien technology was just that, alien. Its workings would be beyond her. Besides, how could an unknowable alien device prove intent of something sinister? She’d be no closer to proving Angel’s guilt than before.

In addition, even if she recovered such a device, what could she do with it? No one would believe her story. And what if they did? What could some nameless government official do, other than confiscate the device and stash it next to the Ark of the Covenant and take Angel away? Kim couldn’t be a party to that. They’d probably want to dissect her or interrogate or torture her for the location of her spaceship or something.

Kim rested her forehead against the steering wheel. This was pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. Some investigator she was She had known or at least suspected Angel was up to something for over a week, and the second she made some progress and started uncovering the truth, she wanted to back off.

Had she become compromised? In the distant past of one week ago, Kim once wondered if Angel risked losing sight of her goals by throwing by herself into a relationship with her. If Angel fell for her, love might compel her to give up her mission.

Unfortunately, the same risk also applied to Kim.

She felt she wasn’t in love with Angel, but there had to be some reason to explain her blatant unwillingness to reach out and take the answers lying just within reach.

Did she want Angel to be innocent so badly? Wasn’t uncovering her plans the reason why she invited her home in the first place? Angel told her she believed Kim took her home because she’d been lonely. While she couldn’t deny she liked having Angel around and kind of enjoyed the kissing part, Kim knew Angel had to be wrong about that.

Somewhere along the line, she’d become compromised. Nothing else could explain it. Her emotions were getting in the way. She liked Angel too much. That must be it. That had to be it. It was one thing to wonder if she had the strength to turn Angel in, believing she was guilty, but Kim didn’t even want to risk knowing.

The implications were a bit unnerving, so she buried them. There had to be another reason. A logical reason.

Kim opened her car door, but did nothing beyond it. The open door was nothing more than an empty gesture, she realized, and she closed it again with a sigh.

Even if she had physical proof in hand, something that looked like a weapon, that didn’t necessarily imply Angel intended to fulfill her original goals. She could change her mind at any point. Couldn’t she?

What if Angel did fall for her?

But why would she? The idea of it seemed ridiculous. Kim knew there was nothing special about her. The only amazing and extraordinary part of her life was Angel.

But could it be possible? What if--

This was the one theory she hadn't dared to contemplate.

Don’t avoid thinking about it. Don’t think of it as a daydream. Consider it. Really, consider it, for once. Assume for a moment it’s true.

Kim allowed her imagination to take over. Angel lied at the beginning. She lied, fully intending to establish a relationship with her and then back out of it at a later date. Angel cared nothing for her at the start. She started doing evil alien things to fulfill her evil alien agenda the way a proper evil alien scout should.

But that didn’t last. Things had changed for Angel, and nothing had gone according to plan. Angel elected to play the role, but even a master schemer like Angel couldn’t fully anticipate the reality of powerful emotions she’d never encountered before. Kim turned out to be far too sexy and attractive for the innocent and naïve young scout to resist. It took time, but in the end, the relationship corrupted her.

Angel fell madly in love, and Kim became more important to her than the mission she’d been sent here to accomplish. Angel realized Kim wouldn’t like it if her entire planet were conquered and enslaved. Angel could be standing on the precipice, torn with indecision and on the verge of a change of heart.

If any of that were true, Kim didn’t dare interfere. If she went to her at this critical juncture with harsh allegations and waving supposed proof of wrongdoing in her face, Angel would see it as nothing less than a betrayal of trust.

In an instant, all of Angel’s hopes would be crushed. Kim would have betrayed her. Angel would tearfully tell her how she’d been ready to confess, to change sides and throw it all away in the name of love and passion and had been willing to devote the rest of her life to her, but Kim ruined it with her suspicions and hurtful accusations.

Her faith in love shattered, she’d go back to her old mission, choking back tears as she mourned what could have been, desperately hoping to forget in the flames of conquest and rampant destruction.

Kim thought about this.

Okay, none of that was likely.

First of all, Kim knew she wasn’t an undiscovered sex goddess of any sort. There was nothing extraordinary about her or her life. Nobody ever made any effort to get to know her beyond learning her first name. Real life bored her. She was introverted and self-centered, and spent her life on a never-ending search for ways to pass the time. Only in Japanese manga and anime would aliens be attracted to her for no apparent reason.

Surely Angel couldn't be that guilty. After all, she’d shown Kim her secret lair. If she were up to no good, she would have denied it even existed. That was something, wasn’t it? Angel had even hinted at a surprise in the near future. Surprises were meant to be pleasant experiences. Kim doubted Angel intended to surprise her by announcing her intentions to enslave her planet and follow her master plan to its logical conclusion.

Surely inviting her along wasn’t a clever ploy to alleviate Kim’s suspicions? Villains didn’t show off their secret base in clever ploys to show the good guys they had nothing sinister in mind.

In other words, waiting was preferable. All would be revealed in time. It didn’t have to be something that would doom the Earth and all its inhabitants to slavery and death.

Kim started her car. She wasn’t going to get her answers today. Her heart wasn’t in it. She’d give Angel a chance and see what happened.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Kim couldn't help but smile as she drove home. A new plan was forming in her mind. She realized her failure hadn't been a total failure. Any feelings she may or may not have for Angel were irrelevant. She hadn’t failed because of a lack of willpower. Instead, it had been realization, knowing that any alien technology she found couldn’t be used as evidence of wrongdoing.

She’d been going about things the wrong way. Instead of playing detective, she needed to play up to her own strengths if she wanted to survive. Hers should be a long-term strategy. She’d learn by careful observation, not by finding evidence.

But to do that, she needed to build tolerance. That had been her personal challenge to Angel, all those nights ago. Kim needed to match her own, lifelong, hard-won skills against Angel’s raw talent.

With this in mind, Kim devised a new strategy.

Angel sought to seduce her by exploiting Kim’s weakness, namely her inability to maintain control in the face of passion. To counter this, Kim had devised a program of building resistance. Tonight she planned to expand upon this defense.

What she now envisioned was a technique to combine the intensity of kissing without the risk of losing herself after prolonged exposure to it.

But she had to be sure it would work. Unlike Angel, Kim couldn’t design complex schemes without preparation. She had to think them through and plan for every possible outcome.

Kim locked herself in the computer room as soon as she got home. Other than the bathroom, this was the last place left to her that ensured privacy. In this refuge, Kim’s dark plan borne of desperation and optimism began to take shape. She looked at every possible outcome. She examined every detail, mapped out every possibility and accounted for all possible contingencies.

Her hard work and persistence paid off. Two hours later, there it was. The perfect plan. Kim wanted to weep, it was so beautiful. She would have laughed out loud, but couldn’t risk Angel hearing and divining her purpose, anticipating her plan and dreaming up her own contingencies to counter hers.

How could it go wrong? It wouldn’t. It couldn’t! Everything about it was flawless.

A goodnight kiss with an artificial but immutable time limit.

It. Could. Not. Fail!

The goodnight kiss was unavoidable at this stage of their relationship. Tonight, Kim intended to twist that experience to her advantage. In a normal situation, the intensity of a prolonged kiss was risky and best avoided. But in a controlled environment, Kim risked nothing.

Kim discovered the means to her salvation only a few days ago. She’d realized that of all the possible encounters, only the inevitable goodbye kiss contained no risk whatsoever because of its inherent time limit. Even if she lost all control, the kissing had to end at some point or she risked being late for work. A time limit, even an artificial one, allowed her to reap the benefits of the experience without risk to self or virtue. Kim couldn’t get carried away and lose herself to passion.

The maximum amount of experience. None of the risk.

It was, for want of a better word, perfect.

Kim gathered the clothes she intended to wear to bed and took her shower. It had become customary to take a shower before Angel, and tonight would be no different.

After dressing, Kim picked up her book and sat on her bed to wait. She positioned herself to better see the hallway which lead to the bathroom just beyond her sight. There was no other path for Angel to take.

Angel isn’t the only one to take advantage of her opponent’s schedule.

The trap was set.

Kim only had one chance, or else it would be for nothing. If she acted before Angel intended to take her shower, it wouldn’t be close enough to bedtime to be qualified as a goodnight kiss. Angel could want another kiss after the first, and be justified in expecting one. Kim would benefit from the first encounter, but risked losing everything to the second.

If Kim delayed the kiss or relaxed her vigil and missed her opportunity, Angel would take her shower on schedule. Doing so would remove the implied time limit, the safety net of insisting Angel take her shower before bed. In addition, if she missed her chance Angel, would emerge in little more than a towel. Kim’s plans couldn’t survive under such conditions.

And now the time had come. Kim heard Angel’s approach. She smiled and set her book aside, resisting the urge to giggle. If she started, she may never stop.

Angel never reached the bathroom. She found Kim standing in her way.

Step two, thought Kim.

With great pride, she used her masterwork phrase. “I’m assuming you wanted a goodnight kiss before your shower, and you didn’t want to wait.”

The phrase could not be misinterpreted or resisted. Kim couldn’t resist a smirk. After Angel agreed to this deceptively simple, innocuous request, it would focus the blame entirely on Angel where it belonged. Kim would be absolved of any hint that she had anything to do with it.

In addition, kissing Angel at that moment freed Kim from her obligation to kiss her later that night. It also implied, without being obvious, that Angel would take her shower immediately afterwards. This was the mechanism to enforce the protective time-limit, the safeguard needed to protect Kim from any loss of control.

Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen, Kim thought, then laughed a slow, raspy laugh to herself.

It was a masterpiece of inescapable conclusions! It was absolutely, 100% perfection! It was foolproof! It was--

“I can wait,” said Angel.

DAMN IT!

Kim turned away, seething with the injustice of it all. Her fists clenched and unclenched in impotent rage and frustration. She hadn't planned on that. Why didn’t she cover that in the flowchart? Angel wanted to wait? Intolerable. Waiting was Bad with a capital B!

Kim couldn’t wait. She couldn’t risk Angel all but naked after her shower combined with the threat of a goodnight kiss looming over her head.

The combination was a recipe for disaster!

How? How did Angel know? Even Kim hadn’t spotted the weakness, yet Angel found it at once. Her mind churned with frustration, resentment, envy, and admiration all rolled into one. Somehow Angel guessed the meaning behind her strategy. She knew a delay would be to her advantage.

Angel spoke again, interrupting Kim’s thoughts. Her voice was somewhat softer as if she’d just concluded something. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I wanted to do this now.”

What? No!

Kim squeezed her eyes shut, wanting to scream in frustration.

Angel was already twisting her words. By saying she wanted it, by agreeing, Angel implied Kim had only been using the phrase as a thinly disguised excuse to kiss Angel because she wanted to do it now.

All true, but why couldn’t Angel be the one blundering into the traps for a change?

Kim started to feel the first tremors of fear. She had been outmaneuvered. This wasn’t working. Somewhere, she had made a mistake. Her tactics were flawed. All those diagrams and pages and pages of notes turned out to be worthless!

“I’m curious,” Angel continued, cruelly, unmercifully, somehow knowing Kim’s thoughts were scattered to the four winds and she hadn’t yet reclaimed them. “How can you claim it’s a goodnight kiss when we’re not going to bed immediately afterwards?”

That wasn’t in the script, either. On previous nights, Angel had kissed her goodnight without the two of them going to bed afterwards. Angel was supposed to follow established patterns, not invent new ones.

Kim decided to abandon her old hint guide. There was no walkthrough to get her through this. Nothing she could do or say would ever make it look as if it were Angel’s idea. Her adversary was too clever to fall for such a trap.

But she couldn’t risk a delay. “I wanted to do it now,” Kim told her.

“Why?” asked Angel.

“Before your shower,” Kim insisted in an attempt to clarify that did nothing whatsoever to clarify anything. She couldn’t admit she’d prefer it if Angel were dressed. That would be giving too much away.

Don’t say she’s too distracting.

“After you take a shower, you’re too hard to resist,” Kim said, then blinked. Wait a minute. That was worse!

Angel picked up on her changed attitude. “You’re not afraid anymore,” she stated.

“Afraid?” Kim scoffed. “Me? Why would I be afraid? I want this. I want to get used to it.”

Even as Kim said the words, she wanted to take them back. Surely Angel didn’t know Kim was aware of her master plan, and was attempting to build up tolerance to resist it? Had she given herself away? This was her secret weapon, and secret weapons lost their value if people knew about them.

Angel took a step forward, well within Kim’s personal space. “We could kiss more often, if you want,” she ventured.

Kim smiled wanly at Angel’s words. Saying “If you want,” was enough to imply Angel’s suggestion was Kim’s idea. Angel did it all so effortlessly. It was almost enough to make Kim doubt her own abilities.

But Kim was a hardcore gamer with decades of experience. She wasn’t defeated yet. Gamers only lost when they ran out of lives, time, health, or when parents screamed at them to go to sleep. Kim possessed an abundance of the first three and didn't have a parent looming over her shoulder. She could still turn this around. “We could,” she said.

“Would you like to join me in the shower?” asked Angel.

Kim snorted in disdain. “Taking a shower with you is the last thing I want to do.”

“What’s the first?”

“...what?”

“Did you have a list? What’s the first thing you wanted to do?”

“Don’t change the subject!”

Surprisingly, Angel backed away. “No. You’re right. We shouldn’t take a shower together.”

Kim picked up on this at once.

Is this a new trick?

“Are you telling me no? You don’t want to do it?”

“Yes. That’s what I’m saying.”

A smart person would have dropped this line of questioning and moved on.

“Why not?” Kim demanded. “I thought you’d love a chance to get me naked and...things.”

Angel was visibly wavering. “Yes...it would be nice. I’d like to. Did you really want to do it?” she asked, her eyes seemingly imploring Kim to say yes.

Kim was about to answer in the affirmative when cold reality caught up with her and smacked her upside the head.

Dear God, was I about to agree?

Angel really could play her like a Stradivarius!

“Maybe later?” Kim amended weakly.

“You wanted to kiss me, instead?”

Kim glared at the floor again, scowling at the question.

Why did Angel always have to phrase her questions to make it look as if she had nothing to do with them?

She dug her toe into the carpet, unable to raise her eyes. “Yeah.”

Angel needed no further prompting. She gingerly tilted Kim’s head up and captured her lips with her own. Kim felt an immediate rush of pleasure which she clamped down on and suppressed.

She placed her hands on Angel’s hips, but they didn’t stay there for long. They slid around to Angel’s back, but Kim herself stopped them from hugging Angel or roaming around. Control was vital in this situation. She needed to maintain control. Her hands were perfect exactly where they were. A man’s center of gravity was in their chest, but a woman’s center was concentrated in the lower portion of her body.

It followed that if Kim wanted to maintain control, she needed to control Angel’s center of gravity, and this was why her hands slid down to grab double handfuls of Angel’s ass.

Wait a second...

Kim forced her hands away.

But...center of gravity...

Shut up.

She concentrated instead on her disinterest, trying to categorize everything logically and rationally. She reminded herself she was in this situation out of necessity, to gain much needed experience. Kissing Angel now was far better and preferable to kissing her later, half naked wearing only a towel, her hair wet and dripping, and--

Don’t think about that!

All of these justifications became a mantra she tried to hold in her head.

As the kiss deepened and Angel’s tongue occasionally touched hers, Kim realized too late she couldn’t afford to dismiss the physical and emotional implications of what she was doing. All at once, it snuck up on her and overwhelmed her senses. Between one breath and the next, Kim didn’t want Angel to stop. She wanted Angel to do more. Much more.

At least that was a thought she could focus on, a danger she’d envisioned. Hopefully, she’d also planned against it, because right now she couldn’t for the life of her think what that plan was supposed to be. Without intending to, she’d inadvertently built up desire. Her willpower had become compromised. She could no longer trust it.

The fact that she was getting into it and wasn’t panicking was enough to throw her into a panic all by itself. Not a true panic, as others might define it, but instead a heightened sense of awareness that focused her attention. She was in a lot of trouble.

Weren’t there warning signs that should have prevented her from falling this far?

Kim tried to concentrate. The first sign should have been her accelerated heartbeat. She tried to listen for it, but could sense nothing. It seemed deceptively calm. Certainly not hammering in panic the way it should have been.

The second warning sign should have been her ragged breathing. It was slow and steady. Here at least Kim understood the reasons behind it, and with that, she realized her mistake. When the kiss started, she’d deliberately kept her breathing even and neutral, hoping to quell any and all emotional and physical responses.

In essence, she’d deliberately switched off her alarm system so it wouldn’t go off and alarm her!

Who’s the idiot who thought of this plan?

Assuming she survived this, the lesson was one to remember. But what she needed to do now was stop dwelling on the mistakes of the past and instead concentrate on getting out of this situation before it grew even worse.

Okay. Focus. You’re kissing Angel, and you’re enjoying yourself far too much. Deal with it!

What about the time-limit? The so-called masterwork phrase should have compelled Angel to stop kissing her and take her damned shower. Kim now realized her subtle message about the time-limit had been too subtle to notice. On paper, it had been glaringly obvious. In practice, it had proven to be nothing more than a theoretical irresistible compulsion.

That, or Angel recognized it for what it was and had simply elected to ignore it. Kim wouldn’t put it past her.

What if Kim muttered “shower” to Angel in a not-so-subtle manner? Would it be enough to remind Angel of her obligations?

Or would she take the hint and twist and corrupt its meaning? Would she interpret it as a meaningful suggestion and use the opportunity to lead Kim into the shower with her?

Kim felt cold. The thought nearly handing Angel such a weapon...

Now that she thought about it, she’d been insanely lucky thus far. Angel still wasn’t using her hands on anything sensitive. That was good. If Kim didn’t know better, she might have thought Angel was deliberately attempting to avoid escalating the situation. But of course, that was ridiculous.

Angel probably thought she was too clever for her, knowing she would stop any attempt to intensify matters before they even got started.

Yeah, wouldn’t that be nice if it were true?

In truth, she was in more danger of losing herself than she’d ever been in in her entire life. If Angel tried anything, anything at all at this point, it would almost certainly push her over the edge. Kim would willfully give in and she’d be swept up in the passion of the moment.

If she wanted to get out of this, she needed to focus, not think about how if Angel moved her hands just a little bit how good it would feel and--

I said, don’t think about it!

Kim moaned in frustration. It was unfair. This was getting her nowhere. She needed to get Angel to stop or just get away from her.

That sparked a memory. Didn’t she find a way to escape, once before?

Kim brightened.

Yes! That’s it!

There was a way to resist! A few nights ago, Angel insisted on a second goodnight kiss. Kim eventually gave in because she was stupid that way, but within seconds she’d found the strength she needed to break the kiss before the situation escalated beyond her control. She’d used her newfound willpower to push Angel away.

That feeling, of course, was the sensation of Angel’s naked breasts pressing against her own. If she could somehow reproduce that experience, she could find that elusive strength she needed once again. That was her salvation. The perfect plan!

At once, a good majority of her brain agreed with the idea. That was enough to make the remaining percentage instantly suspicious.

Kim rethought the plan with widening eyes.

What in the world am I thinking!

That had to be the passion talking. It certainly wasn’t her! There was no way she should even entertain the possibility of going through with it. Getting Angel naked, even partially, would be bad. Very bad.

Besides, that was then, and the situation tonight was totally different. That other time, Angel was practically naked before they even started kissing. Tonight, Angel was fully dressed with a shirt and presumably bra underneath. Kim didn’t think she could pull Angel’s shirt off over her head without first breaking the kiss.

But what if she slid her hands under her shirt?

Kim thought about it, and smiled. Yes, that could work! She could get to her breasts directly!

Wait, when did this become her plan?

The very fact that Kim had been seriously considering going through with it surprised her, but what shocked her even more were her hands.

Without prompting, they snaked their way under Angel’s shirt. Together they worked in concert at Angel's bra, hoping to rescue her entrapped breasts from their unjust confinement. Only Kim’s complete unfamiliarity with taking off a bra at that angle kept her traitorous hands from achieving immediate success.

This half-second delay allowed Kim the time she needed to regain full control, but not before Angel noticed what Kim’s unfaithful hands had been attempting to do. To Kim’s horror, Angel misinterpreted Kim’s problem and decided to help by unfasten her bra, herself.

In desperation, Kim’s hands snapped up and captured Angel’s hands in her own. But too late. Far too late. The bra became slack in her hands and started to fall away. Kim tightened her hold on the garment, pressing it up against Angel’s chest, refusing to let gravity have its victory.

Angel broke the kiss. “What are you doing?”

“I didn’t want you to do it. I want to…I mean…”

“You wanted to take it off yourself?”

Kim was torn with indecision. There were pros and cons to be considered, and she couldn’t make herself concentrate.

Angel sighed, then gently but firmly pulled her hands down in spite of Kim’s attempts to keep them there. She adjusted her shirt. “No. We’re not doing this.”

“What?”

“I have something special planned, and this isn’t it.”

“What?” Kim said again.

“We’re not doing this,” Angel repeated.

“What? But...I thought you wanted to.”

“I do want to, Kim. You know I do, but not tonight.”

“But--” Kim started again, but what could she say? She had her defenses all lined up and ready to go, and now she didn’t need them? She almost felt cheated.

“But I was ready for you this time!" Kim complained, then frowned. That didn't come out right.

“We’re not doing this,” Angel insisted for the third time. “Not tonight.”

“You’re getting the wrong idea,” Kim insisted.

But Angel wasn’t listening anymore. She slipped past Kim, closing the bathroom door behind her.

For several long moments Kim could only stare at the closed door in silence. She returned to her bedroom in a daze, Angel’s bra clenched tightly in her fist.

What exactly happened?

Angel had given her a lot to not think about.

She tried not to think about how Angel nearly won tonight despite all her efforts to stop it. She refused to consider how in the back of her mind she still yearned for Angel to return and finish what she’d started.

If there was a way out, she certainly didn’t see it.

Did she even want a way out?

She did, right?

At least she'd gotten her scheduled goodnight kiss out of the way. She’d spent several long, pleasurable minutes kissing Angel without giving in. She’d survived and, presumably, built up much needed experience.

But tonight Kim had learned to her sorrow that each exposure eroded her resistance faster than she could build tolerance. At this rate, she should be fully immune to kissing Angel on the third week after they’d starting having sex. This building tolerance master plan of hers had to be the stupidest idea she’d ever had. Her strategy had been doomed from the start.

Perhaps a good night’s sleep will make things clearer.

Kim turned off the lights and slipped into bed. She stared up at the ceiling, wondering at what happened and what might have been.

When Angel walked in several minutes later, Kim turned away and didn’t acknowledge her, feigning sleep. Angel climbed into bed without a word, taking her place at her side.

Still Kim didn’t move. Angel’s presence burned beside her, and Kim hugged herself into a ball. She didn’t know how she was supposed to feel. Nothing made sense, anymore.

How am I supposed to fight this?

It took over an hour before she finally drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Kim woke up late Saturday afternoon, tied to a chair. The room was twice the size of her living room, cleared of all furniture but for the single chair she sat in.

Wait. Back up.

She was tied to a chair.

Why was she tied to a chair?

The last thing she remembered was breakfast. Angel cooked. Bacon and eggs, if Kim recalled correctly. The two of them made small talk. Angel mentioned celebrating their one year anniversary today, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense at the time.

Still didn’t, actually.

The room’s exterior windows looked suspiciously similar to the windows belonging to Angel’s office building, where she’d received her mysterious delivery only a few days ago. Based on the amount of sunlight streaming in, it had to be several hours past noon. Kim could hear birds singing in the trees outside, but not a whisper of traffic. She was alone.

Kim looked down at herself. Coils and coils of black nylon rope were wrapped around her body and the chair she sat in. Her hands rested comfortably in her lap, bound by an entirely different rope. A third set secured her to the sturdy wooden chair.

The chair felt too heavy to shift. Her arms were secured to the arm rests, but the ropes weren’t as tight as she’d expected they would be. Kim started pulling and twisting at them, and almost at once, they started to give.

Kim was no expert, but this seemed to her to be the work of an amateur. Or, more likely, someone who read up on restraining people earlier that day but had never personally seen an example of it. She estimated she’d be free inside of ten minutes. Fifteen at most.

A door opened behind her. Kim twisted her head, hoping to see, but the back of the chair blocked her vision. "Hello?" she called.

"Kim? What’s going on?"

Kim recognized the voice. "Stacy? What are you doing here?"

Stacy groaned, seemingly in pain. Kim could imagine her rubbing her head. "I think your psycho girlfriend kidnapped me.”

“She’s not--” Kim began, then stopped.

“Not what? Psycho?”

Kim had been about to say not my girlfriend, but that familiar denial didn’t seem as accurate these days. "Did Angel say why?" she asked.

“Remember the last time the two of you came to the restaurant?” Stacy asked. “She took me aside and asked if I could help her with something personal, later in the week. I told her yes. This morning, she stopped by my apartment. I remember talking to her, saying hello, but not much after that."

Stacy walked into Kim's field of view, dressed in casual clothes but looking none the worse for wear considering she’d just been kidnapped. Kim’s eyes were drawn to the semi-automatic handgun she carried in her right hand. When Stacy noticed her scrutiny, she held it up higher for her to see. "Found it in the room she stashed me in," she declared with a grin.

Kim stared at the weapon. “It’s a gun.”

“Yeah. I noticed. So how’d she get you?”

"Poisoned breakfast, I think. Why in the world would she give you a gun?”

Stacy shrugged. “Who knows? She was being cryptic in the restaurant, too.”

The main door in front of them opened with a crash.

Angel stood at the doorway. She was dressed in a mixture of black leather and metal armor, looking as if she’d just escaped from an anime convention. In one hand she carried, with no apparent effort, a jagged-edged, giant-sized sword clearly intended for two-handed use. She leveled the blade at Stacy and glared at her with murderous intent. Stacy paled and took an involuntary step back, quickly followed by a voluntary one.

“I’ve found you, at last!” Angel declared. “You were a fool to use Kim against me. Now I’m here for your head!”

There was a moment of silence. A bird chirped.

“What?” asked Kim.

“I said, I’ve found you at last! You were a fool to--”

“Yeah, we got that part,” Stacy interrupted. “Who are you supposed to be, Angel?”

"I was going to ask what," put in Kim.

“I was an assassin in your employ for years, until the day you sent me to destroy the family of your greatest rival. Kim wasn’t born into the family and I didn’t feel like killing her, so I spared her life. For reasons of her own, she joined the group. You sent a second team. I believed they were sent after me to punish me for my failure. After killing them, I decided to use Kim for her knowledge to have my revenge against you. Over time we fell in love, and she--”

“Wait. Could you repeat that?” asked Stacy.

Angel glared at her, but complied, “I was an assassin in your employ for years. You sent me to destroy the family of your greatest rival, and Kim was the only survivor. After you tried to kill me, I decided to protect her, instead. We fell in love, and--”

“She fell in love with someone who murdered her entire family?” Stacy demanded.

“Not at first! Her plan was to turn the assassin against her enemies by attempting to seduce him. Or seduce her. It depends. Kim could have joined the assassin’s team via an uneasy alliance, if the assassin proved to be uninterested in her as a possible romantic option. In my case, however, I was interested in her. There were hardships--”

Stacy looked hopelessly confused. “What?”

Angel finally broke character. “I didn’t write the stupid thing!”

“Was the assassin male or female?” asked Stacy. “It sounded as if you changed your mind in the middle.”

“I’m the assassin,” said Angel.

Kim cleared her throat. “The assassin character is whatever the player chooses to be,” she said to Stacy, then to Angel, “You’re recreating a scene from a roleplaying video game, aren’t you?”

"Is this what you wanted me for?” demanded Stacy of Angel. “Don’t involve me in your sex games!"

"What?” Kim twisted around to Stacy once again. “I said video game, not sex game!"

Angel cleared her throat. "In a way, Stacy is correct. As the instigator, I am playing the main character and Kim is playing the part of a non-playing character and potential romantic interest. It is assumed by this point we have spent most of our time together gathering experience through combat and solving missions while periodically upgrading our gear and flirting with each other on a semi-regular basis.

“After confronting the boss and your own timely rescue,” Angel continued, inclining her head towards Kim, “sex is achieved to mutual satisfaction followed by declarations of love. There is a plot twist and final confrontation with the true villain, but we don’t need to go that far."

"Wait, isn’t love supposed to be before the sex?" asked Stacy.

"You’re not helping!" Kim redoubled her efforts on escaping her bonds.

"From what I’ve determined, there are three main consequences to sex,” said Angel. “Children, sexually transmitted diseases, and love. In relationships, love is an unplanned side effect. Sex is the goal."

"It isn’t supposed to be like that," Kim cried, exasperated. "People should love each other before having sex."

"I’ve done extensive research, and that isn’t the pattern I’ve observed. Sex between two people is often without love." Angel’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I suspect you’re employing a delaying tactic."

"Who, me?” Kim tried to look innocent but failed. “Why would I be delaying? Shouldn’t I be looking forward to it, like the character in the game?"

“Some of your personality traits closely resemble those of the character in the game. That’s why I chose it. Both are reluctant to the point of aversion. Both are inexplicably romantically drawn to the hero. Both try to deny it, and both have the ability to draw unique conclusions out of thin air that have little to do with the reality of the situation.”

“What has that got to do with me?” Kim asked.

“It does not suit your character to openly desire it. Your ‘shyness’ and ‘embarrassment’ get in the way while I constantly work to overcome them.”

"This has been fun, but you don’t need me,” said Stacy, “so I’m going to leave, now."

The sword dipped and flicked at Stacy, as if to remind her of its presence in case she'd somehow forgotten about it. It was also a rather impressive display of strength, considering Angel had accomplished it one-handed with a sword Kim doubted she could have lifted. "No. You are the villain. You’re going to stay right where you are! I’m going defeat you."

"But I didn’t do anything. You’re the one that kidnapped her!" Stacy waved the gun at Kim for emphasis. Kim squealed and ducked her head, attempting to turn away.

Angel began to circle, her sword never wavering. "You will not threaten her! Your fight is with me, villain!"

"Stacy, what are you doing?" Kim cried. “Don’t wave that thing at me!"

"Oh, relax. It’s probably not even loaded." Stacy took a moment to aim at one of the closed windows and gently squeezed the trigger.

The gun roared, and the window shattered. No one spoke over the sound of glass raining to the floor.

"Or maybe it is.” Stacy held the gun out arm’s length, as if fearful it might go off again.

"What the hell, Angel!” Kim shrieked. “Seriously! What the hell? Why did you give her a loaded gun?"

Angel stopped her circling and adopted her frustrated and annoyed expression. "That gun is the villain’s preferred weapon. She has to have it. How could there be a satisfying final confrontation with the villain if the villain isn’t even armed?”

“What makes you think you could win a gunfight armed with a sword?” Kim demanded.

“My character routinely won his fights armed with only a sword and the occasional use of high explosives. In addition, I have discovered I possess the ability to predict bullet trajectories with 99.982 percent accuracy.”

“You may be able to predict it,” said Kim, “but that doesn’t mean you have the reflexes to do anything about it.”

“Your opinion is noted. I admit, my ability to dodge bullets effectively has yet to be conclusively determined, but if you take into account Stacy’s apparent lack of skill--"

“Hey!” protested Stacy.

"I anticipate defeating her with a minimum of effort," Angel finished.

"I’m not going to start shooting at you so you can feel justified in taking my head off!"

“Wait!” cried Kim. "Nobody kill anyone! Angel, you probably didn’t know, but there was a patch for that game. They changed it. The original storyline was considered too extreme for young players."

"Young players?” scoffed Angel. “There aren’t supposed to be any young players. The game is designed to be rated M for mature."

"Not all of it was changed, just some of it,” Kim lied. “Anyway, you don’t have to kill the villain in the latest version. Not anymore."

“This game isn’t even out yet,” groused Angel.

Kim blinked. That certainly explained why she wasn’t even remotely familiar with it.

Angel’s sword wavered. "But in any case, Stacy isn’t going to die. I’m only going to kill her symbolically," she said, looking supremely disappointed.

"That's good. Symbolically is good," agreed Stacy.

"What about me?" Kim asked.

“Naturally, the love scene would be real."

Stacy visibly recoiled. "And you’re involving me in this?"

"Are you insane?” demanded Kim. “We couldn’t do anything like that with her watching!"

"After her symbolic death, Stacy would not be conscious."

"WHAT?" Stacy shrieked.

Kim turned her head. "You should run," she whispered.

"No!" Angel drove a third of the sword's blade into the floor. "The villain isn’t supposed to run!"

"The villain runs when she wants to." With elaborate care, Stacy placed the gun at her feet then sprinted for the room's only door, the one Angel had used for her entrance.

Angel jerked the sword out of the concrete. For an instant, she looked torn, visibly debating going after Stacy with a sour expression on her face.

Then the moment passed. She did nothing to stop her.

"Wait!" Kim cried after her. "Do you know what she’s going to do to me?"

"I have an idea!" Stacy called back. "The two of you have fun!"

The door slammed on her way out.

Kim twisted anew in her chair. "Coward! Traitor!"

The silence that followed was deafening. She couldn’t see Angel from her new position, but she could hear her walking up to her, imagining her with a self-satisfied grin on her face.

Angel walked into view. Her sword was casually propped over one shoulder, apparently none the worse for wear after being brutally driven into the hard concrete floor. "Now that Stacy is dead, no one can interfere,” she said.

"She’s not dead. She ran away."

"Now that Stacy ran away, no one can interfere," Angel amended.

"What if the screen just fades to black, and the audience just assumes we’re busy having sex?"

Angel shook her head. "No. The audience would feel justifiably cheated if that happened. It’s assumed they’ve spent long hours playing the game and deserve a decent love scene at the very least. Besides, if we’re faithful to the original content, there is no ‘fade to black’."

"I’m not saying this isn’t romantic, kidnapping us and threatening to butcher Stacy with a sword, but isn’t this whole scenario a bit extreme?”

"I have noticed you are indifferent to the ordinary and attracted to the unusual. Your initial attraction to me was wholly based on the unusual nature of our meeting. My physical appearance was not a deciding factor. If you had met me in a normal situation, you would have passed me by. Any sexual attraction you now feel is due to my unusual nature and personality."

Kim opened her mouth to disagree, then realized Angel had given her a fairly accurate assessment. For all her life, she’d never been truly attracted to anyone, male or female. She simply didn’t much care for it. If she hadn’t thought alien in the first few minutes of meeting Angel, she would have ignored her.

Angel lay down the sword and started untying her. Kim’s mind raced, trying to see a way out, but she didn’t see even a glimmer of one.

"Wait, is that what you’ve been doing all this time? This entire week? Planning this?"

"Yes. All for you. Happy anniversary."

“What are you talking about?”

“You told the government agent it was nearly time for our anniversary. Stacy was less helpful in explaining, but how far away could an anniversary be?”

“You’re a bit early, Angel.”

“How early?”

“Oh, only by eleven and a half months.”

“I’m unfamiliar with your calendar. Is this a long time?”

Kim gave her an exasperated look. “No, it’s practically around the corner.”

“Good. I’d hate to think I was rushing things.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

The last of the ropes fell away. The moment Kim was free she attempted to stand, but her legs were asleep from sitting in place for too long and she didn’t go anywhere. Angel scooped her up and carried her deeper into the building. There were two doors at the far wall. She carried Kim towards the closest.

Kim kept trying to convince herself she was doomed, but feared her heart was hammering in something other than panic.

Any other geek would love to be in her position. There she was, a perfectly ordinary woman minding her own business when a genuine space alien dropped into her life. Then things started to happen, one thing lead to another, and she found herself practically married to the alien before the first commercial break.

Could that be it? Did Angel’s entire plan center on getting Kim into bed as soon as possible? The very idea of it seemed ridiculous. Romantic, devious, kind of sweet and twisted, but still, ridiculous.

There had to be some part of the puzzle she hadn’t considered, something that would make sense of Angel's behavior. Wasn't she supposed to be out evaluating Earth's defenses? Had she really forgotten all about it?

Or maybe Angel took her background story very, very seriously?

Perhaps Angel thought she'd feel cheated if she finished her mission and spent all this time roleplaying a girlfriend in a lesbian relationship and never got to have any of the lesbian sex. That was certainly possible. Missing out would probably annoy anyone.

If there was some missing element that made sense of it all, Kim couldn’t think of what it could be. Besides, she had other, more pressing concerns to consider. She had to deal with the fact that she’d become a victim of an alien abduction and was being carried off to become a mostly unwilling participant of hours of hot lesbian sex more or less against her will.

Yeah, it sounds pretty horrible, doesn’t it Kimmie?

"Look, we don’t even have a bed," Kim protested, starting to get desperate. "How can you expect us to make love if there isn’t even a bed?"

Angel eased the door open with her foot, revealing a fully refurbished office space dominated by a king size bed which stretched from one side of the room to the other. Rose petals were scattered on its sheets.

"Oh," Kim whispered. That explained the mysterious delivery, the whatever-it-was wrapped in plastic. She never even considered it could have been a bed.

After being set down, Kim wasted no time scooting to the far side. Angel wasn’t exactly guarding the exit, but Kim knew her chances of getting past her ranged from slim to none. If she was going to escape this situation, she needed to be prepared and ready, alert for her window of opportunity. An actual physically open window to dive out of and escape would have been preferable, but at this point she'd take what she could get.

Angel thought of everything. As devious plots go, it was a nice one.

Stop admiring Angel’s amazing plot and try to think of a way out of this!

“You’re nervous,” Angel observed.

“Oh, really? What made you think so?”

“The evidence is clear. Your eyes are crazed, for one.”

“They’re wild, not crazed.”

“Regardless, they keep darting about. Your breathing has quickened. All these suggest nervousness.”

“Who wouldn’t be nervous at a time like this?”

Angel sighed. "I anticipated this. If you’re nervous, we don't have to do this right away. I have no intention of doing anything against your will.”

Kim blinked at her. “You what?”

“Would you like a massage, instead?"

“Are you serious? After all that, you’d settle for giving me a massage?"

Angel nodded. “We don’t have to rush headlong into the conclusion. I’m willing to provide you an alternative you could accept. A nice, relaxing massage."

“When did you learn how?”

"I’ve seen instructional videos on the internet."

Given what she fully expected to happen, Kim didn’t see a reason to argue. The suggestion seemed innocent enough. "Okay. What should I do?"

"First, take off your clothes. Then lie down."

Relieved and thinking she’d effectively dodged a bullet, Kim complied. All she knew about massages was that they weren’t directly related to sex. If they had been, she felt certain she would've heard something about it.

Her clothes were set aside, but Kim balked at removing her bra and panties. "All of it?"

"Yes. All of it. Lie face down on the bed."

Kim did as instructed. This was an acceptable compromise. Angel wasn’t blatantly trying to seduce her. She could do this. Better than the alternative.

After Kim made herself comfortable, Angel surprised her by draping Kim's shirt over her butt in an attempt to preserve modesty. Kind of a joke, Kim thought, but she didn’t question it.

As Angel began her work, Kim tried to hold on to her apprehension, but it was a losing battle. Her concerns died away as Angel expertly kneaded the muscles of her neck, then her shoulders and back and slowly progressed down her legs. Kim quickly realized the shirt was only a guideline. Angel’s hands strayed at its borders, but not alarmingly so.

Despite herself, Kim felt herself relaxing. It felt good. Wonderful, in fact. Admittedly, she never had a massage before, but there was nothing blatantly sexual about it and that was the most important thing.

Kim was a gooey mass of relaxed contentment when Angel tapped her side and made a circular motion with her fingers, prompting her to switch positions. Kim complied with the request without comment. Her breasts were now prominently on display, which caused her to feel a hint of her earlier apprehension, but Angel’s professionalism quelled those fears. The shirt was draped over her groin.

Angel worked on Kim’s arms one after the other, then her neck and down to her stomach and back to her legs again. She grew concerned as Angel began to massage further up the inside of her legs, but soon relaxed as Angel’s hands never ventured beneath the shirt.

Kim closed her eyes, enjoying the pleasant sensations. Angel’s hands returned to her shoulders and chest, and she couldn’t help but notice Angel was being extra careful to avoid touching her breasts. They drew close, and this being Angel, Kim kept expected her hands to accidentally stray, but they never did.

"What do you think so far?" asked Angel, the hands never stopping.

"You’re very good. Although, I kept expecting you to massage my breasts."

"According to the instructional video, I’m supposed to.”

Kim opened her eyes to look at her.

Angel gave a ghost of a smile. “I thought it best to leave it out,” she explained. “I assumed you weren’t aware of the practice, and I didn’t wish to alarm you without cause."

Kim hadn’t known that. She closed her eyes again.

Angel’s fingers continued their dance, then her voice grew lower, more sensual. "But as you were expecting it..."

It took Kim a few seconds to catch on, but by the time she did, it was already too late. Angel’s hands were already there.

Kim’s eyes snapped open again. For a moment, she considered objecting, but then reminded herself what Angel was doing was a legitimate procedure. It was all part of a video, and still technically a massage. A little touching in unexpected places was to be expected.

"Would you mind if I kissed you?" asked Angel.

Kim moistened her lips and nodded. Nothing wrong with kissing. She’d gotten used to that. Kissing was okay.

Angel kissed her breasts instead.

Kim simply stared at her, dumbfounded. That was a bit unexpected! Certainly more intense, but not something to get distressed about. Not yet. She’d technically given permission, and this was nothing she hadn’t already endured and panicked midway through before. She could deal with it. After all, it was still technically a massage, right? Angel was only kissing them while she was massaging them.

And sucking on them just a little bit.

And using her tongue, which felt really nice.

And now nibbling a bit with her teeth, but mostly she was massaging them! That could still be explained away as innocent if she closed her eyes and didn’t think about it or pay any attention to it whatsoever.

Kim felt flushed with warmth. She yearned to touch Angel and reciprocate, but didn’t dare disturb the process. The people being massaged weren’t supposed to become enthusiastic and do things like that. Kim was no expert, but she knew that much, at least. Besides, if she did anything to disturb Angel’s routine she might send her the wrong message. If Angel could be a professional about this, so could she!

Angel’s fingers glided along her legs. They brushed past her most sensitive spot and sent a jolt of pleasure through her.

“Nope, that was clearly an accident, still not seducing, not us,” the fingers seemed to say. Then they came back, picking a different path this time. Never blatant. Never obvious. “Sorry! Just moving from one leg to the other, excuse us,” they apologized, again trying for subtlety but failing.

Apparently they were looking for the best spot to stop and run in circles, but they still kept up the pretense of massaging her legs to give Kim an illusion to cling to. Once it became clear they weren’t going away, Kim became more intently focused on what they were doing. She remembered a shirt. Wasn’t a shirt supposed to be there, to keep Angel from doing things just like that?

Oh. There it was.

Over there.

By the door.

…Huh.

Shouldn’t that worry her?

Someone let out a low moan. Oh. That was her! Maybe it wasn’t technically a massage in the strictest definition of the word, but assuming it was, and she clung to the possibility that it was with all her might, then it was a really good one! If Kim still had the power of speech, she might have said so.

Angel eased Kim’s legs apart. Angel probably had a good reason for doing so. They were kind of arching apart on their own, anyway. Angel was also naked, she noted.

When did that happen?

With Angel’s right hand and those magic fingers keeping Kim’s concentration shot to hell and useless, the left hand remained free to roam wherever it pleased. As it moved, Angel gently kissed and tasted the spots it visited. Finally, the hand settled on her right breast while Angel licked at the other. Her lips closed over a nipple and Kim felt her gently tease it with her tongue, making her gasp.

Kim could no longer see what Angel’s right hand was doing, but she suspected it was up to no good. Even Kim’s pleasure fogged brain had trouble classifying what Angel was doing as legitimate massage-like behavior, but at the moment she didn’t much care. It felt really nice.

Angel kissed her way down her stomach before situating herself between Kim’s open legs. The sight of her crouched there focused all her attention on Angel like nothing else could. The alarm bells ringing in her head became little more than background distractions, easily ignored, and she felt more than a bit of trepidation, but she couldn’t muster the willingness to do anything about it. She continued to watch, mesmerized.

The hands moved along her body again, presumably to massage other areas Angel might have missed, assuming any such spots still existed. Angel ran kisses up the inside of Kim’s leg, stopping occasionally as if to savor the taste.

It didn’t take long at all before Angel ran out of right leg, but she didn't continue to the left. Instead, she stayed right in the middle and attempted what Kim thought was a kiss but turned out to be surprisingly better.

Kim threw back her head and drew in a ragged breath against the heated rush of pleasure. That was really, really nice! Angel was using her tongue and gently sucking and that wasn’t technically a kiss, but it...

Wait a second...

This wasn’t a massage. This was sex! She read about it, she had descriptions of it, and now it was happening. To her. It was happening to her! Angel was having sex with her!

And it felt absolutely wonderful. If there was any part of her that wasn’t fully onboard in approval of what was happening, it flat out didn’t matter because the rest of her mind wasn’t listening or paying attention to it. The rational part of her mind was probably tied up, wide-eyed, and gibbering to itself in a dark corner somewhere.

Kim arched her back and moaned, involuntarily pressing herself against Angel. She had both hands placed on the upper half of the inside of Kim’s thighs, apparently to guard against the off chance Kim might want to close them up again. It wasn’t going to happen, but Angel kept them there anyway.

The pleasure increased to greater and greater heights, and Kim thrashed around on the bed. Thrashing seemed like a good idea. The situation called for a little thrashing. She couldn’t seem to keep her arms still so she gripped the sheets and didn’t let go.

Kim found herself making a whole bunch of those insufferably cute little noises Angel seemed to like so much but she didn’t much care. It felt too good. There was nothing for her to compare the incredible sensations to, other than the amazing things Angel did to her ten seconds ago, only more so. She wanted Angel to keep doing what she was doing and never stop.

The pleasure kept building and building upon itself until finally it consumed her in a rush. Kim cried out, writhing around like a confused snake. Angel stayed with her as she rode it out, keeping her relatively stable while she whimpered and gasped and made even more of those annoying cute noises.

Then it was over. Angel kissed her way up Kim’s stomach and settled in next to her.

After several long seconds, Kim regained the power of speech. The power to move still eluded her.

"Oh, my God," Kim managed to say.

"Did you like it?" asked Angel, which Kim thought was a rather stupid question, but she was ready to forgive her anything at that point.

“Haah,” Kim said in agreement, or rather, gasped.

Angel looked extraordinarily pleased with herself. "I thought you'd like it. The instructional video had a ninety six percent rating and over a million and a half views."

"Tell me," Kim started to say before running out of air. She swallowed, took several more breaths, and then tried again. "These instructional videos. Did you find them on a porn site?"

"Not all of them. Only a few wanted to verify if I was 18 or over or wanted credit card information."

Kim tried to muster what dignity remained to her. A few seconds later, she gave it up. Her dignity, like the downgraded former planet Pluto, was gone. "In how many of them did they have sex?”

"All of them," Angel said, matter-of-factly.

"You knew this?"

"Of course I did.”

"You fully intended this massage to end with sex?"

Angel nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yes. Definitely."

"Good," said Kim.

At least she wouldn’t be getting blamed for this one.

Chapter Thirty-Six

It was late Sunday night, and Kim and Angel were on their way home. They’d spent the rest of late Saturday into the evening and most of Sunday doing things Kim never thought about doing and certainly never expected to do in her lifetime. It only ended after Kim insisted on going home for some much needed food and sleep, but what she really wanted was sleep.

"Stop that. I’m driving," said Kim.

Angel stopped that, and sat back in her seat, looking out the window. Kim returned her attention to the road.

Kim thought she should be upset, annoyed, or at least mildly irritated with the way things turned out. But she wasn’t. Instead, she felt blissfully happy. The fact that she was blissfully happy annoyed the hell out of her, but it was more of an annoyance in theory. She wanted to be annoyed. She had good reason to expect to be annoyed. But in the end, the insufferable happiness won out.

If anyone would have asked her a week ago if what happened over the last two nights could have happened to her, she would have said no.

Okay, maybe not last week Kim. Last week, she’d barely mustered the willpower to stop it, even with her being fully alert and expecting Angel to try something at some point. She’d probably have to go further back to find a version of herself completely against the idea and surprised that it could possibly happen in her near future.

True, sex was never really her idea, but Angel was right in that regard. The two of them never would have gotten anywhere if things were left entirely up to her. She'd simultaneously fought against and received the blame for its progress, every step of the way.

After spending the rest of the weekend as a reluctant and then willing participant, she could now grudgingly admit to herself she kinda, sorta liked it one helluva lot. Admit it to herself? Perfectly fine with the idea. Not a problem. Admit it to anyone else? Not a chance.

Even so, she still didn’t feel that she wanted it. Not really. She was just susceptible to being persuaded, and that was it. Was that normal? She had no idea.

And yet, even at the heights of passion, Kim never went quite so far as Angel did. Angel was certainly attractive enough, but Kim didn’t feel an emotional connection. She especially didn’t feel it after Angel flat out told her sex was the ultimate goal of a relationship and love was an arbitrary side-effect.

Now that she knew what making love felt like, would she start to crave it if she didn’t have it after an extended period of time? Other people certainly acted that way. Maybe it would happen to her. She simply didn’t know. All her life, Kim’s sex drive had been stuck in neutral. Angel in contrast had an abundance of one. Assuming Angel’s efforts didn’t cause her to drop dead from exhaustion at some point, what they had together might actually work.

On the surface, it seemed perfect. But only on the surface.

Angel didn’t love her. She even said as much with her “Love is a side effect, sex is the goal” comment, and did her best to achieve that goal. In fact, she achieved it five or six times that first night before Kim lost track.

So if sex was the goal to Angel, why keep doing it? Angel could have stopped after the first time, couldn’t she? Why do it again, if she’d gotten what she wanted? Her background story was secure. Was she simply playing a girlfriend role for appearance’s sake?

That had to be it. In Angel’s mind, to be a proper girlfriend meant sex. Nonstop sex. Sex for what remained of Saturday and all of Sunday which only stopped half an hour ago because Kim made a plea to come home.

At least the drive home was giving her time to think. Twenty minutes of uninterrupted time to herself.

Angel casually placed a hand on Kim’s leg. She tried to make the action look innocent, but the smirking gave her away.

Okay, maybe not uninterrupted time. Kim picked up Angel’s hand and dropped it in her own lap. "I said, stop it."

Angel stopped it.

Kim’s thoughts began to drift again, and she found herself wondering about Angel’s true mission on Earth. An image of a galactic overlord in embroidered ceremonial robes appeared in her mind. He stood in his throne room, with six guards in full armor on either side, halberds pointed at the ceiling. Angel knelt before him on one knee. Her head was bowed in reverence as her master made a dramatic, sweeping gesture. “Go forth to Earth and seduce the first Earth girl you find,” he cried, “for the glory of the Empire!”

Okay, probably not.

But Angel had to be here for something. Kim half expected invasion plans that needed thwarting or alien weapons and gadgets, but nothing ever happened. Why was Angel here?

Consider the facts: Angel lied to her on the night they met, Kim was sure of that. She wasn't upset about being lied to because that was to be expected. All alien scouts sent to Earth needed cover stories in order to blend in. They instinctively lied their asses off, no training necessary. That’s what alien scouts did.

Perhaps all aliens are notoriously bad liars? That could explain why Earth had never been conquered in the past. Suspicious earthmen patiently listened to their lame cover stories, smiled and nodded, and then shot them. Kim may have been the first in all of human history to break tradition by welcoming the alien into her home instead of shooting her on sight like she was supposed to.

Evil plots aside, maybe Angel didn’t anticipate what happened to her, either. This was a theory Kim had entertained before but dismissed as unlikely. On the night of their first kiss, it seemed obvious even to Kim’s inexperienced eye that Angel had never kissed anyone before. Angel discovered she liked it, and found excuses and opportunities to kiss her again. It took much longer for Kim to admit she enjoyed it, too.

What if Angel discovered she liked it too much?

In some science fiction stories, androids were made to emulate and mimic humans. Their brilliant designers wanted to leave themselves in control, but they copied the human model too perfectly. Their creations were designed to feel emotion to better blend in, and therefore allowed to fall in love.

The scientists had never experienced love, themselves, so they couldn’t plan for its overwhelming influence. Love was a powerful emotion. It superseded command directives designed to prevent disobedience. And because emotions were a part of their programming, they were literally instructed to disobey by allowing emotion to guide their actions.

Instead of following the invasion plan like a good little robot, they wound up betraying their alien masters and falling into the arms of the musclebound hero from Earth. Sometimes they were conveniently destroyed to make way for the hero’s fully human female romantic interest, but Kim could recall at least one anime where the hero learned the truth about his alien girlfriend and decided to give her a chance.

In that anime, the gamble paid off, and she turned against her former allies in the name of love. Lots of bad guys were killed, the Earth was mostly saved, and they lived happy ever after until the sequel made their lives hell all over again.

That particular situation didn’t fully apply to Angel, however. She may have fallen victim to physical sensation she’d never experienced before, but she wasn’t in love with Kim. Angel even went out of her way to say she wasn’t guided or influenced by love.

Based on what she’d seen so far, Kim felt safe to say Angel was actually guided by emotions and wasn’t faking them in order to blend in.

So what exactly was Angel, anyway?

What about the “constructed from scratch in an alien workshop” theory? Angel could have been modeled after a captured human woman and given the standard upgrades to ensure survival, such as superhuman strength, speed, agility, large breasts, durability, and anything else the designer could think of. After all, why bother making a human without upgrades? Copying a human model would imply also giving it human emotions.

Either that, or the “human-looking alien” theory. Simply suspend disbelief and assume humans evolved independently on completely different planets. The concept was as close to a scientific impossibility as one could get, but they never had a problem with parallel evolution on Star Trek.

They tried to make it more plausible on Stargate SG1, claiming Earth was the planet of origin for all human life in the galaxy. Given that condition, it was perfectly understandable why everyone looked alike. Pay no attention to the language barrier.

Angel could even be from a race of clones. That would explain why she knew next to nothing about relationships on the day they met. Anyone even moderately immersed in science fiction knew that an average clone preferred the proven science of cloning over the randomness and inefficiency of sexual reproduction.

So what does all this mean?

Angel wasn’t human, for one. Kim knew that much for certain. She was resistant to burns, stronger and faster than the average, musclebound action hero, and apparently carried an onboard computer in her head which gave her a potentially, life-threatening impression that she could dodge freaking bullets. As for Angel's sense of right and wrong, her conscience guided her by letting her know when it was acceptable to do things out in the open and when it was time to be sneaky and avoid detection.

Second, Angel was guided and influenced by human emotion. Either that, or every ounce of her acting talent was invested in emotional mimicry which left nothing at all in the field of infiltration.

Kim was leaning towards the first.

Third, Angel wanted to avoid attracting attention. Specifically, official attention.

This wasn’t as big a concern as it used to be. As of this weekend, Angel had to be feeling completely secure that Kim wouldn’t throw her out of the house. She could safely move on to her true goals, whatever those were. Kim had yet to discover anything about them.

So, how did she feel about Angel?

Kim glanced at Angel, frowning. That was a bit more difficult. They shared a lot of common interests. Maybe those common interests were nothing more than an act, but they seemed genuine. Kim liked Angel a lot, but she knew it wasn’t love.

And Angel didn’t love her. According to Angel, love was a side effect of sex. Something that happened to people.

Kind of depressing, actually.

She pulled up to the garage, her thoughts in turmoil.

Might as well resign myself to a loveless life of constant, never-ending sex. There were worse fates. Love would have been nice, but you can’t miss what you never had.

Kim pushed the door opener hanging on the visor. Once the door opened far enough, she parked inside and killed the engine.

Angel sidled up next to her. "You’re not driving now," she whispered into her ear.

"We can’t do anything while the garage door is open. People will see," Kim pointed out.

Angel reached up and pushed the button. The door started to close. Kim sighed and pushed it again, stopping it.

“You can wait until after we’re inside. And food. Remember, food? And a shower, please?”

Angel simply smiled.

Both kept their distance as they crossed the parking lot. Angel followed her up the stairs and waited at the door while Kim fumbled for her keys. The instant the door opened, Kim breezed past Angel, heading straight for the kitchen.

Once there, Kim found and nuked some leftover pizza. While she ate, she listened as Angel started a shower. Kim began to take her time. She gave Angel an extra five minutes to finish, then five minutes more just to be certain. Only then did she take her chances getting to the bathroom.

She was midway through her own shower when it dawned on her what she’d been doing with her verbal placations to Angel. She’d been using delaying tactics, one after the other. Now she realized she hadn’t really solved anything.

Delaying tactics were just that, delaying tactics. They wouldn’t discourage Angel at all. Each time Kim asked for one more delay, she’d been in essence promising to do it afterward, each and every time. That would only save her until her excuses ran out.

Which they had.

No wonder Angel kept grinning like a loon.

Now nothing was going to save her. As of this weekend, she and Angel were now in an officially serious, sexual relationship. Kim knew exactly what to expect from that point on. Once the sex started, it didn’t stop for anything until one of them broke up with the other. Or until they married, for some odd reason.

Why is that, anyway? Kim frowned, thinking about it. She never understood why the act of marriage would kill a couple’s sex life. But that was the inescapable reality, according to her married friends. You’d think marriage would spice things up, but that didn’t seem to be the case. At least, not according to what she understood.

Kim realized her shower was going extra-long. All she was doing now was delaying the inevitable. The sex would continue. Nothing could stop it now. That particular genie had escaped the bottle and wasn’t going back inside anytime soon.

She looked down at her naked body.

Might as well go out as I am.

Putting on clothes would only be another delaying tactic doomed to failure. At least this way, she wouldn’t have to go hunting for clothing left scattered all over the room.

She dried herself off and took a deep breath.

Guess this is it. Angel is waiting.

Kim left her towel behind and walked into the hall. She felt a bit flushed with excitement with each step, which she thought was pretty ridiculous considering what she’d spent an entire weekend doing. Wasn’t the elation supposed to die down at some point?

Yeah…constant, never-ending sex? Not so terrible.

Love would have been nice, but since when had she been a romantic that craved love, anyway?

She took another step. Then another. Her breath started to catch, and she reached out a hand to steady herself against the wall. Why was she feeling anticipation, all of a sudden? She felt warm and heated despite the cool air on her naked skin.

Was it because no one was influencing her this time? Kim could blame the entirety of last weekend on Angel, but couldn’t blame anyone for anything tonight. Tonight, this was all on her. Kim was making a conscious and informed choice to sleep with Angel. Did choosing to do it of her own free-will make all the difference?

Kim was even making it easy for Angel. No clothes to take off. No resistance, token or otherwise.

But it couldn’t be helped, right? They were in a relationship. Angel had won. It was all over but for the mocking victory laugh and jeering at the loser.

There are worse fates.

In her mind, she envisioned Angel lying in bed, the covers pulled away to pool halfway to the floor.

Not so terrible…

Or maybe she’d be lying in a seductive pose? Or with one sheet pulled up in a futile attempt to obscure how she was naked beneath? Kim tried to make herself stop smiling.

Yeah. She could suffer through it, somehow.

She took three steps inside the bedroom before she realized Angel was doing none of those things.

Angel sat in the bedroom chair, fully dressed with a book in her hand. Their eyes met, both filled with identical looks of surprise. Then Angel was rising from her chair, the book dropping from her fingers, and the moment elongated to one of those crystal clear moments where time itself slowed to a crawl.

Kim tracked the book’s progress as it fell, its long fall taking four times longer than it should. When it hit the carpeted floor, it was with a crashing note of finality, the sound identical to someone clumsily hitting all the lower keys of a piano all at the same time.

“But...weren’t we going to tonight?” Kim asked softly, her voice one of horrified realization.

Angel’s initial look of surprise became nothing more than a distant memory. In fact, it had vanished so quickly Kim began to doubt she’d actually seen it. Between one breath and the next, Angel was across the room and holding her in her arms. “Yes. We were,” Angel answered.

“But…but you’re dressed,” Kim stammered.

“I didn’t want to embarrass you.”

Angel nuzzled into her and began kissing her neck. Kim fought down the rising desire, trying to keep her head clear of the distraction.

“We could always do this some other time,” Kim said in a rush.

“I’d love to do this some other time,” Angel told her, while continuing to do what she was doing. Her hands began wander.

Kim sought to puzzle through this. Angel had made an exploitable mistake, she knew. When someone says, “I’d love to do this some other time,” that meant they were going to stop doing it now. Anyone with a halfway decent grasp of the English language knew this. It further indicated the speaker’s willingness to do it some other time. As in, not now.

She wanted to point out the flaw in Angel’s logic, but was having difficulty maintaining her focus.

“No. You’re still dressed. You weren’t expecting to do it tonight,” she pointed out logically, rationally, and with a hint of panic.

Angel’s pants dropped to the floor. A neat trick, considering Angel did so without using her hands.

“Mostly dressed...” Kim amended weakly.

Angel slid Kim’s own unresponsive hands underneath her own shirt. With a quick tug, the shirt was sent flying. Angel wore nothing underneath.

Kim’s hands half rose at the sight. She pulled them back down again. “I didn’t come in here wanting sex,” she said again.

“We were going to do this,” Angel breathed against her neck.

God, that feels nice! “But I wasn’t…you weren’t--”

“We were going to, Kim.”

“You planned this--” Kim whined.

“Yes, I planned this. I planned all of this. You fell into my trap. Insert maniacal laugh here.”

“But...but I don’t see how.”

“You’ll figure it out by morning. I can’t wait to hear how I did it.”

“But--”

“Shh. By morning, Kim.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Angel sipped at her orange juice. “Have you figured out my evil plan, yet?”

“Almost.”

They were seated at the kitchen table, but there was no sign of breakfast. At some point they’d run out of supplies, and Kim was never one to go shopping for food until the moment she was technically starving to death. There was still the thousand year old oatmeal on the shelf, but she had been hoping to leave it for the next generation of owners.

Kim nursed her own drink while she gathered her thoughts. Naturally, there was a danger in telling Angel anything. She’d already fallen into one trap last night, but she didn’t doubt that what she said today could also be taken and twisted into something unintentionally meaningful.

Angel didn’t seem bothered by Kim’s silence. Her hands rested on the table, carefully folded before her in a picture-perfect image of someone genuinely curious to see if anyone would be able to figure out her devious machinations before a certain someone ran out of time and had to leave for work.

The sight didn’t bother Kim. Angel never gloated about her success or lorded it over her. Half the reason she thought Angel’s plans so fascinating was because Angel rarely took credit for them. Those blatantly obvious plans she did take credit for were the exception, not the rule. Complex, twisted, and, more often than not, borderline illegal.

Last night’s trap had been one of the former, despite Angel claiming “credit” for being behind it.

Kim knew Angel worked under the assumption she’d brought her home for romantic reasons. This mistaken belief gave Kim a means to resist. Because Angel also assumed she was shy, it allowed Kim to play the “excessively shy” card with impunity. Angel even expected it of her. Kim could be as reluctant as she wanted, even to the point of doesn’t want to do it, and never be considered out of character.

Unfortunately, Angel countered her shy card with the dreaded “you don’t know what you’re missing, let me show you,” card. Kim would have loved to play further defensive cards to counter hers, but apparently those cards were exceptionally rare. Instead, all she had were several variants of the “I love it, please don’t stop,” card, which didn’t help her situation in the slightest.

Both of them knew that once the sex started, it would continue for the life of the relationship. Kim knew it, and she didn’t doubt Angel knew it. The fact that they spent an entire weekend in bed proved Angel knew it.

Or so she’d believed. Now, she wasn’t so sure.

It was possible Angel wasn’t to blame for why they kept at it so much last weekend. Kim had been overwhelmed by the experience and didn’t want Angel to stop. Everything felt too amazing and wonderful. She hadn't been in the right state of mind to resist.

Angel sprung the trap that weekend, but Kim couldn’t bring herself to step out of the trap, even knowing the door was not only unlocked but swinging wide open. Her attitude for the rest of the weekend had been one of “looks like you got me!” and resigning herself to the situation.

“This is one of your ‘it’s all Kim’s idea’ victories,” Kim told Angel.

Angel ran a finger on the glass of her drink. “Interesting. How did I manage that?”

“First of all, we can’t go back in time to a point of ‘not having sex’. It’s going to continue.”

Angel looked surprised for an instant, but she quickly concealed it. “Agreed,” she said.

Kim grinned. She’d noticed Angel’s minor slip. That minor involuntary reaction confirmed she was on the right track.

“You knew I expected the sex to continue night after night until we couldn’t tell the nights apart anymore. But instead of meeting me halfway, you deliberately got dressed and waited in the bedroom to pretend you didn’t know it was expected.”

“Why was I pretending not to know the sex would continue?”

“Let me finish. The moment I walked in the door, and before I realized what had happened, you claimed responsibility by telling me we were going to because you weren’t willing to risk me agreeing with what you were pretending.”

“Why was I pretending not to know the sex would continue?” Angel asked again.

“In order to pretend it was my idea.”

“Is it that important to me that it appears as if it’s your idea?”

“Yes, because then it makes it look as if I want sex more than you do.”

Angel nodded sagely. “I see. That was very clever of me. So if you happened to agree I didn’t know sex would continue night after night...” Her voice trailed off.

“You were pretending sex wasn’t expected. If I agreed at that moment, that would have given me an excuse I could use. We wouldn’t have done anything last night if I had, because I would have stepped out of the trap.”

“Clever.”

Kim made a sour face as she conceded her loss. She’d fallen into the trap because she’d made an assumption about Angel’s behavior. That wouldn’t happen again. She wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. “But you didn’t give me the chance to ‘agree’ with you. You claimed you were behind it all.”

“Clever.”

“By clever, do you mean me, for figuring it out? Or you for planning it?”

“Both of us, I suppose,” Angel admitted.

Kim pushed back her chair and rose to her full unimpressive five-foot height. “You may have won that battle, Angel, but this is far from over,” she declared, doing her best to loom and add gravity to her words. “Our relationship isn’t a normal one. We are not going to have constant sex on a nightly basis, no matter what the rule for new couples is supposed to be.”

Angel looked notably unimpressed at Kim’s attempt at intimidation. “Are you sure? I’d hate to break the rule.”

“Well, we’re going to. Break the rule, I mean. Break with tradition. Sex isn’t going to be a given, something you can expect automatically.”

“Okay.”

“You’re going to have to work for it.”

“Okay.”

Kim blinked at her. “That’s it? Just okay?”

“Your terms are acceptable. I agree with them.”

Kim harrumphed and sat back down in her chair. “Now, I’m suspicious.”

Angel laughed. “Now, you’re suspicious? Do you ever stop being suspicious?”

“You just thought of something, or you’re up to something. What is it?”

“No idea. I’m sure you’ll tell me once I figure it out.”

“I mean it, Angel. You’re not going to be able to take anything for granted. Nothing. Nothing at all, starting now.”

“Speaking of which, it’s about time for you to leave for work. Goodbye kiss?”

“Okay.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Kim may have been new at this, but she knew the stories. Whenever a person started having sex for the first time, co-workers automatically knew it. Something about their mannerisms gave them away. What it was exactly, she could only guess. Was it their changed outlook? Their attitude? The huge, sappy grin on their face? It could be anything, and she was wary that others would notice the subtle change in her.

The prospect of teasing was one thing, but even relentless teasing paled in comparison to the thought of anyone knowing anything about her personal life. Kim hoarded information like a miser, never volunteering anything about herself or sharing facts with others. This guideline had served her well throughout her entire life.

Kim was determined not to become a victim. She kept her behavior firmly in check as she walked to her cubicle. If there was an extra spring in her step, she suppressed it.

Just another dreary Monday, she thought, and suppressed a goofy grin for the fifth time that morning.

The concept of “glowing” was another mystery. She had no idea what a glowing person was supposed to look like, but she guessed it involved a general sense of happiness, easily recognizable by others. Kim assumed this applied to her. She felt insanely happy, so she needed to quell any outward signs and concentrate on keeping her demeanor grim and dour.

It was vital she not dwell upon the events of the last few days. Work would keep her occupied. There was always work. This was going to be a day just like any other. Miserable and tedious, if she was lucky.

When Kim reached her cubicle, she threw herself into her chair and glared at the cubicle walls. The soulless, grey walls silently mocked her.

This isn’t working. No matter what she tried, her good mood wouldn’t die. She could mask its effects and pray she didn’t make a mistake, but that was it. She was doomed. The others would find out. The thought of her imminent failure depressed her. She latched onto that feeling, trying to concentrate on the distressing thought.

It didn’t work. The elusive dark feelings slipped through her fingers.

Kim let her forehead thump against the cubicle wall, miserable in her happiness.

She could see it now. Why does Kim look so paranoid, self-conscious and mind-numbingly cheerful today? Oh, I know! She must have spent the entire weekend having hot, lesbian sex with her hot, lesbian girlfriend. That must be it.

"Morning, Kim," said Andy.

"Good morning," said Kim in a depressed and an “annoyed its Monday” tone, carefully crafted to conceal everything, while simultaneously sounding not at all cheerful.

"Busy weekend?" he asked.

Kim laughed in a disarming manner. "Busy? What do you mean? Why would last weekend be busy? I wouldn’t know anything about that. Just an ordinary weekend for me.” She absently picked up a pen from her desk, click it a few times, and then set it back down.

Andy smiled at her.

He knows! Kim realized in horror.

“See any good movies recently?”

Only Kim’s eyes threatened to betray the abject panic she felt washing over her. What was it? What did she do? What gave her away? It had to be something, but she didn’t know what!

“Kim? Any movies?”

“Why would you ask me that?”

“Maybe it's because you’re one of the few people I know who tries to see a new movie every weekend?”

“Well, I didn’t see one. I was...busy this weekend.”

“Oh.”

What was she doing? She’d just finished telling him she wasn’t busy. “Busy, as in, doing other stuff, busy. But not seeing movies.”

Andy nodded and turned to leave. “Got it.”

“I wasn’t doing anything else,” Kim clarified, “just...not seeing movies.”

Andy nodded again. He started to walk away.

Kim rose to her feet. “But I wasn’t busy doing something not movie related, I was-“-

“I get it, Kim! You didn’t see a movie!”

“No, you don’t understand--”

“I don’t care. I’m going to get some coffee.”

Kim watched him go, then sat back down.

He didn’t know.

She was safe. Andy hadn’t suspected anything. The stress must be getting to her. She’d jumped to conclusions and panicked, and there hadn’t been a reason for it.

Kim took a deep breath, willing herself to relax. She hadn’t given herself away. No one suspected anything.

Very slowly, she opened her eyes. Her pulse rate had slowed. Her breathing was steady.

Calm. Be calm. No one suspects. Everything is calm. No one knows. No one--

Lucy walked past her desk. “Hello, Kim.”

“I didn’t!”

Lucy stopped at once. “Hmm? Didn’t what?”

“Ahh...I didn’t see a movie. Andy asked me if I saw a movie. And I didn’t. See one. A movie, I mean.”

Lucy made an elaborate show of looking into Andy’s empty cubicle next to Kim’s, then took a slow exaggerated look around the office. “Andy’s over at the coffee machine,” she pointed out.

“He was here. But he’s getting coffee, now.”

“Got it, Kim.” She smiled and nodded.

“You saw him, didn’t you, Larry?” asked Kim.

Larry looked up at the mention of his name. He peered back at Kim from across the narrow hall separating his section of cubicles from hers. “Hmm? What?”

“You saw him, right?”

“Saw who?”

Lucy abruptly lost all interest in Kim. She smiled a pleasant smile that fooled no one and sauntered up to Larry, ignoring how his irritated glare intensified at her approach. “Big weekend last weekend for you and Katie?” she asked.

“Hello, to you, too,” Larry said, making a show at being busy at his computer, “and not that it’s any of your business, but yes.”

“Did you take her anywhere?”

“Are you going to ask me this every goddamn year?”

Lucy pouted. “Anniversaries are important to some people.”

“They’re also personal.”

“Anniversary, huh? What did you get her?” asked Andy, returning with his coffee. “Flowers?”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “Flowers? Please!”

Kim darkened. She’d caught Lucy’s subtle remark aimed directly at her. Did they think talking in code would fool her?

“What is it? Ten years, now? Twelve?” asked Lucy.

“It’s our twelfth,” rasped Larry, “and what’s wrong with buying Katie flowers?”

“There’s nothing wrong with them.” Lucy looked to the ceiling as if appealing to the heavens. “They’re just, oh, I don’t know, not very traditional. Depending on the year, you should--”

“I’m not buying something specific just because some stupid jewelry store owner put it on some stupid list.”

“What’s the ten year gift?” asked Andy.

Larry turned his glare on Andy. “I said twelfth, you idiot.”

“I know that, but I’m wondering. What’s the tenth?”

“What’s first year?” asked Kim, surprising them all.

As one, they turned to stare at her in varying looks of surprise. Kim wilted back. “I was just asking,” she said, holding up her hands. “Honestly, I don’t care. Forget about it.”

“Is something wrong?” Lucy asked her.

“I’m just in a bad mood, that’s all. It’s a Monday.”

“She’s been like that since I got here,” said Andy. He made a miniscule gesture with his coffee in Kim’s direction, careful not to spill it. “I figured it's just Kim being Kim. Who knows what’s wrong?”

Lucy wasn’t to be deterred. She focused her full attention on Kim, eyes focused in a look of concern carefully designed to mask her invasive curiosity. “Kim? Did something happen last weekend between you and Angel?”

Kim intensified her scowl, concentrating on her depression. Think bad thoughts. Lots of work to do. Eight more hours to go. Angel lying in wait to ambush her and probably have sex with her the instant she got home…

Okay, the last one didn’t help.

Her expression twisted before settling into a frown. Bad thoughts. Think bad thoughts! “I’m allowed to have bad moods on Mondays. All this work piled up when I took the day off, and life sucks in general.”

“What’s the ten year gift?” Andy asked again.

Lucy whirled on Andy. “Will you shut up about that? Something happened to Kim, you insensitive jerk!”

“Nothing’s wrong with me. I’m just depressed,” said Kim, feeling a blush threatening to rise. Don’t think about Angel. Stop thinking about her!

“See? Nothing wrong with her,” said Andy. “Anyway, for the list, do you have them all memorized or something? I can look it up, if you want.”

Lucy glared at Andy, then looked to Kim and back to Andy again. She folded her arms. “Tenth year is diamond jewelry. First year is a clock.”

Kim burst into laughter. “Really? A clock? A calendar would be better! Angel--”

All eyes returned to Kim. She retreated once again.

“See? Not depressed. She got over it,” said Andy.

Kim shook her head frantically. “No, you’re wrong. I’m still depressed. Monday’s are terrible, and I’ve got all this work to do, and I just hate it.”

Lucy’s eyes flowed with concern.

Kim’s eyes flowed with panic.

“Kim...”

“What? What do you…what?”

“Please, tell me what’s wrong? Is it Angel? Did the two of you have another fight?”

Kim’s brow furrowed. Another? “We never had a first fight. And this hasn’t got anything to do with Angel.”

“Why else are you depressed?”

“I’m not depressed,” Kim insisted.

Larry went back to his work, apparently considering the matter settled.

Andy stared at her, his expression a mix of satisfaction with ever increasing confusion as he thought about what happened. “Hold on. What?”

Lucy looked even more sorrowful.

Kim picked up several sheets of paper and made a show of stacking them. “I may seem cheerful on the surface, but I’m not! Work has got me down. What about the rest of you? Don’t the rest of you have jobs? Leave me alone. It’s Monday, and...I’m depressed. But I’m not that depressed.”

Realization of what she said caught up with her. The papers fell from her fingers and spilled to the floor. “Oh, God. I messed up, didn’t I?”

Kim hid her face with her hands. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she keep her stories straight?

Lucy stepped into Kim’s cubicle and hugged her. Kim went straight into shock.

For a moment, she stood paralyzed, then she melted into the embrace and returned it. “I never meant to say any of that!” she moaned. She wanted to weep with frustration. “It isn't fair!”

Lucy patted her back. “It’s all right, Kim.”

“You don’t understand. I didn’t--”

“There, there. Let it all out.”

“I’m not crying. I’m not!” Kim cried, clinging to Lucy. “I’m just frustrated, that’s all. I hate this!”

“You’re trying to hide it, but you don’t have to.”

“No. I can’t tell you. You’ll just make fun of me.”

“Most of us already know.”

No. That couldn't be true. Could it?

Kim shook her head and tried to push Lucy away, but the older woman wouldn’t release her. “No way. You don’t know anything.”

“You don’t have to hide your feelings.”

“I’m not hiding anything,” Kim insisted once again, but she sagged against Lucy. All hope had left her. She’d failed.

“Is this your first time?” Lucy whispered against her ear.

Why did I think I could hide it from anyone? “Maybe. Yes. It was. Oh, God.”

“You don’t have to hide it away. Being in love is a wonderful thing!”

Kim stiffened. What?

“It’s obvious how much you care for Angel. If you show her that--“

“Wait,” Kim tried again to push Lucy away, successfully this time. “You think I’m in love with her?”

“You don’t have to deny it.”

“Well, I’m not!” Kim retorted, indignant. “I’m not denying it! Wait...”

“Have you told Angel how you feel?”

“I’m not in love with her. Just because she’s staying at my house and sleeping...in the same house where I happen to be, doesn’t mean anything.”

Andy sipped his coffee. “Denial. Classic case. Seen it a million times before. She’s in love.”

“Good for you, Kim,” said Larry. He sat back in his chair, a distant faraway look in his eye. “When Katie and I met, it was love at first sight. The two of us--“

“I’m not in love with her!” cried Kim.

Lucy ignored her outburst. “Everything will be all right, Kim. If you take things slow--“

“Ha! Tried that!” Kim wiped at her tears again. “Take things slow? Doesn’t work!”

“Go on a few dates--“

“Tried that!”

“I thought she was in denial?” asked Andy to no one in particular.

“Yes!” Kim waved her hand at Andy. “I’m denying everything. That proves I’m not anything.”

“If she’s not denying it, that means she’s admitting it, you idiot,” Larry said to Andy.

“No, I’m not admitting anything.”

Lucy sighed. “Kim--“

“My problem isn’t me and how much I’m in love with Angel. My problem is you and everyone else talking about it.”

An office door slammed open and their boss Jack Morrison stormed into the open hallway. “Does anybody in this office work anymore?” he demanded.

Lucy held up her hands and backed away. “You’ve got a lot to think about,” she said to Kim in a confidential whisper. “If you need a friend, you know where to find me.”

“You really think I’m in love?” Kim demanded, incredulous. “Is that what you think?”

“You don’t have to hide it,” Lucy said again.

Kim hesitated. Would it be better to ‘admit’ to being in love to hide her telltale glow? Or vehemently deny it?

If she “admitted” Lucy was right, by the end of the day everyone would think she was in love with Angel. But if she denied it, everyone would assume she was literally in denial. They’d be right, but for all the wrong reasons!

Either way, they were going to assume she was in love. Kim couldn’t see a way to avoid that fate.

But wasn’t a false admission infinitely preferable to the entire office talking about how she’d spent the entire weekend having hot, lesbian sex with Angel? That had to be avoided at all costs. Surely she’d dodged a bullet when Lucy jumped to the wrong conclusion?

Kim decided to go with it. By admitting it, if sometime during the day she lapsed into blissful happiness without realizing it, it would be explained away. No one would question it further.

More importantly, Angel would never find out.

“Okay, maybe I am a little bit in love with her,” said Kim, avoiding Lucy’s eyes.

Lucy grinned and hugged her again. Kim tolerated it with a faint smile before pushing her away. Larry gave her an encouraging thumbs-up from across the hall and returned to work.

Andy simply shrugged. “Guess I owe Joe twenty bucks. Congratulations, Kim.”

“Oh, please, not this again. We’re not getting married.”

“What? Married?” Andy’s face split into a grin.

All background chatter stopped, then continued on in hushed whispers.

Kim’s heart stopped. Oh, crap.

Jack filled in the sudden void. “Lucy, stop gossiping with Kim about her new girlfriend and get back to work. I’m not paying you to play matchmaker. The rest of you, you do have jobs, don’t you? Would you like to keep them? Get back to work!”

There was a smattering of, “Yes, sirs.”

“Good.” Jack nodded, then turned an eye to Kim. “Congratulations, by the way.”

“We’re not getting married!”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

When Kim returned from work that night, there was no alien girlfriend lying in wait for her. She didn’t know how to feel about that.

During the drive home, she’d envisioned multiple scenarios of what might happen. It didn't escape her notice that in none of her scenarios had she even entertained the possibility of Angel not ambushing her and trying something the moment she walked through the door.

But Angel wasn’t there. The thought of not being able to use any of her planned, resistance techniques annoyed her on multiple levels. She felt she should have been relieved, and was irritated that she was not. She was also annoyed that all of her resistance scenarios measured success based on how long she could hold out before finally giving in.

Determined not to care, Kim threw herself into her favorite living room chair and settled down to read. With luck, she could enjoy her latest book all she wanted and put off dinner the way she used to until finally becoming too hungry to ignore it.

But it was all for naught. She couldn’t focus.

Angel had to be planning something. Nothing else could explain it. Angel must have known Kim would anticipate her waiting in ambush at the door, and had made new plans that Kim couldn’t foresee.

With this in mind, Kim started going room to room. She searched with the apprehensive look of someone expecting to be set upon at any moment and doubtful they'd survive the encounter. At no point did she call out for Angel. Calling out would have made her seem needy, and Kim didn’t do needy.

Her search complete, she returned to the living room and picked up her book once again.

But it was no use. Relaxation continued to elude her. Instead, she felt a growing frustration, irritated at Angel’s continued absence.

Apparently, Angel thought being a girlfriend meant sex all night long with the freedom to disappear without a word whenever she wanted. The last part was annoying. So was the first part about sex all night long, now that she thought about it. Both parts were annoying.

Kim was barely a half an hour into her sulk when she heard the key twisting in the lock. Angel appeared at the door carrying bags from a nameless department store. She set them down. “I’m sorry, I was selfishly shopping for myself and lost track of time.”

Kim raised an eyebrow. “That’s all right, Angel.”

But Angel wasn’t listening. She disappeared into the kitchen. There was the sound of running water, and she returned carrying a partially filled glass vase. She set the vase on the end table next to Kim. “Are you angry with me?” she asked, eyes wide with apparent concern.

“I did wonder where you were, but I’m not angry.”

“But I didn’t bother leaving you a message,” said Angel. “I wasn’t thinking about you at all. I was being deliberately inconsiderate and thoughtless and just left.”

Again, Kim wondered at Angel’s choice of words. “Deliberately?”

Angel nodded vigorously. “Yes. Deliberately. I’m afraid I must have hurt you. I’m so sorry, Kim.” She clasped her hands before her. “Please, forgive me?”

Kim pursed her lips, dubious. “Okay...” she said slowly.

Angel smiled, then turned and went back out the front door into the hallway. Kim stared after her.

Moments later, Angel returned with a fresh bouquet of flowers. “These are for you. I’m really sorry,” she said, and stuffed them into the vase.

Kim was too bewildered to reply.

“So...make-up sex?’ Angel asked, looking hopeful.

With that, it all clicked, each turning of the gears sending shivers of pain into Kim’s brain. She closed her eyes, feeling a headache coming on.

“What’s wrong? The flowers didn’t help?” Angel looked to the flowers, back to Kim, and back to the flowers, again. “I think you’re still angry. Are they the wrong type?”

Kim didn’t answer. She left the room, rubbing her head. She needed an aspirin.

“I’ll give you some time to cool off!” Angel called out after her.

Kim went to the bedroom instead. Angel followed roughly twenty seconds later, which apparently Angel had decided was more than enough time to cool off. She sat down next to Kim.

“So, the flowers didn’t work?”

“That’s not why I’m upset.”

“Not subtle enough?”

Kim turned to face her. “You don’t have to pick a fight with me to manipulate me into having make-up sex.”

“But, make-up sex is supposed to be really good. We should try it.”

“I can’t imagine it’s any better than normal.”

“We should try it, anyway, just to be sure.”

“If you want sex so badly, why not ask me?”

Angel’s voice became thoughtful and serious. “Kim. Would you like to have sex with me?”

Kim reached out and took Angel’s hand. She smiled at her. “No.”

“You’re teasing me.” With her free hand, Angel snatched up a pillow and hit her with it. Then hit her again.

Kim seized her own pillow to use as an improvised shield, and tried her best innocent look. “Me? Tease you?”

“We’d barely be kissing if we left it up to you!” Angel cried, and swung again. Kim blocked and retaliated, but Angel twisted away and dodged with ease.

Angel’s retaliatory strike came out of nowhere. It caught Kim full force in the head, and she reeled back, dazed, the fight momentarily forgotten. Stars danced in her vision.

The battle stopped at once.

Kim was forced to take a moment to recover. She leaned away, one hand half raised to ward off any further potential attacks. The world seemed distant to her, but she could still sense Angel looking on, doing nothing, her pillow off to one side in a clear reassuring sign to convey to Kim that she had nothing to fear, that no attacks were forthcoming. Kim appreciated the gesture, genuinely thankful Angel hadn’t pressed her advantage.

The look she gave Angel was one filled with gratitude. “I’m all right,” she said, a quaver in her voice betraying her momentary weakness. She could feel her strength returning with each passing moment. Her disorientation faded to nothing.

Angel let out a sigh of relief, apparently reassured Kim was unhurt. She smiled at her, and Kim hefted up her pillow. Both grinned at each other.

The attacks came simultaneously. Angel’s pillow hit Kim in the side a mere half-second before Kim’s struck Angel in the head.

Kim threw herself into the fray with a laugh of savage glee, her blood singing, inspiring combat music ringing in her ears. She rained fluffy white death upon Angel, blow after punishing blow.

Kim was no shrinking camper, content to hide and snipe unnoticed from a distance. She was an up close and personal hardcore gamer, hardened by years of online battles in war-torn environments. Kill and be killed. Blue versus Red. Horde versus Alliance.

Death held no terror for her. She’d experienced it so frequently it had become a mere annoyance, a way of keeping score. She’d killed thousands and defiled numerous corpses, laughing with maniacal glee while she did it, and would kill thousands more before the day she grew bored and found something else to do.

Angel was thrown on the defensive, but only for a moment. She quickly realized how pointless it was to avoid attacks that could inflict no lasting harm, and struck back just as savagely.

It occurred to Kim, even as the conflict raged, that Angel should have held the edge in strength, speed, and pretty much anything else that mattered in a fight, but she never took full advantage. Even Angel’s attacks seemed to gradually become less frequent, as if exhaustion had become a factor. Kim felt as if they were evenly matched, as if Angel’s purpose for fighting was simply to fight, not to achieve victory.

When Angel dodged completely off the bed, Kim thought she’d won. She rose up on her knees and peered over the edge, only to realize too late that Angel set her up.

Angel stuck her head up only for an instant. She gripped the first two layers of bed-covers and yanked, throwing Kim onto her back. There was no time to recover. Angel was on her at once, using her weight and superior leverage to pin Kim’s arms above her head. This being Angel, she immediately seized her advantage and kissed her without mercy.

In what was becoming a disturbing pattern of late, Kim felt her willpower to resist draining away with each passing moment. Her body was already responding, turning against her, eager to return Angel’s embrace and touch her in return. Kim mustered her dwindling reserves of resistance. She only had seconds left. If she was going to stop Angel, it had to be now. No second chances.

Not to be overly dramatic, but Kim estimated she had one, single breath left. One chance remaining to her. If she delayed it for any reason, Angel would have free reign to do what she wanted. Not only would Kim have lost any and all desire to stop her, she’d become a willing participant, a mindless slave to her passions.

Kim needed to act, and she needed to act now! This was her last chance!

Everything came down to this moment. This one! Final! Moment!

One breath, and that was it!

Make it count!

"Ah, Angel," Kim gasped.

Aaaand there it went. Her one chance, wasted!

No more resistance. No more willpower. Nothing remained for her at all.

Kim’s mind was lost to her, lost in a frenzy of heated passion. Clothes were flying this way and that, or were pushed aside as eager hands sought the warm flesh beneath. Angel dove in as if she were starving. Kim’s intellect was wondering, ‘why were we resisting, again?’ and she couldn’t think anything to tell it. Her body simply loved it and couldn't get enough.

Score one for passion.

Chapter Forty

Angel was a corrupting influence. What amounted to a perfectly ordinary pillow fight had devolved into sex within minutes. Such things weren’t supposed to happen. The fact that it did happen to her made her wonder what else she didn’t know, which should worry her.

Kim also noticed she wasn’t feeling as self-conscious as she should have been, lying naked and more than a little bit breathless next to Angel, their clothes scattered to the four corners of the room. This solidified her belief that Angel’s influence caused her own perceptions to change. The extraordinary had become commonplace.

What surprised Kim about Angel’s behavior was that Angel stopped herself at all. She’d assumed Angel preferred the marathon, multi-hour, keep-going-until-your-partner-can’t-move style, but that didn’t happen today.

Now that she thought about it, the idea of them spending all their time in bed sounded a trifle unrealistic. Last weekend must have been an exception to the rule. A special occasion, and not simply because it had been their first time.

Kim’s thoughts were interrupted as Angel lazily ran her fingers down her side. She did her best to ignore it, realized she couldn’t, and eventually rolled away, putting her back to her.

Angel didn’t take the hint. She shifted closer, running her hand along Kim’s back, instead. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

“I was just thinking, we can’t spend all our time in bed.”

“I agree. Would you like to try the kitchen?”

“That’s not what I had in mind,” Kim snorted.

“Living room couch?”

“No.”

“Up against the wall?”

“No!”

“In the shower?”

An image flashed in Kim’s head which caused her to hesitate. Angel noticed her reaction and perked up. “You like that one?”

“I was just thinking about it.”

“Good. Let’s try it.”

“No, Angel.” Kim left the bed and cast about, looking for her clothes.

Angel reclined in sexy pose number three, her limbs artfully arranged for maximum effect as she watched, half lying on her side with a faint smile on her face. Kim tried to ignore her, more than a little intimidated at Angel’s sex drive. Surely she didn’t want to do it again so quickly. Angel just had her evil way with her for over an hour!

Then again, perhaps that was to be expected. Since their first night together, Kim had yet to do anything to satisfy Angel in turn. This time had been no different. She still had her tried and true reasons why she hadn’t, the primary being that she wasn’t in love, taking solace in the fact Angel didn’t seem to care if her own needs were being met or not. Instead, Angel remained focused on making Kim as happy as possible.

It didn’t seem likely that it could continue forever, but that was a matter for another time. Kim put the matter from her mind.

“We probably should take a shower, anyway,” Angel said. “I don’t know if you realize it, but you smell like sex.”

“Yeah. I wonder how that happened,” Kim remarked dryly.

Angel looked at Kim as if she were an idiot. “We did spend a good amount of time--”

“Yes, I know that, thank you,” Kim slipped on a pair of panties and stepped into her pants, wondering if she was going to be blushing like this every single time she dressed in front of Angel.

“Why are you bothering getting dressed if you’re about to take a shower?”

Kim didn’t have an answer prepared. “So I don’t have to carry my clothes around?”

Angel didn't reply. She continued to watch Kim as she finished dressing, her lovely blue eyes missing nothing as they tracked Kim’s every movement. Kim tried not to notice her scrutiny. She ignored her bra for now, pulled on her shirt, buttoned up half the buttons so it wouldn’t fall open, and headed toward the door.

“You’re wearing my panties,” Angel pointed out.

Kim froze. She hung her head, one hand reached out to the door frame to steady herself. Almost made it. Two more steps. She’d almost gotten away, too.

“Take them off,” Angel said. “I need them.”

“Find your own!”

“I did find them. I know exactly where they are. You’re wearing them.”

“Did you deliberately wait until after I was finished dressing before pointing this out?”

“Oh, yes.” Angel nodded. “It was deliberate. You were in a rush and weren’t paying attention.”

“Really,” Kim deadpanned.

Angel rested on her back and looked to the ceiling, hair spilling out onto the pillow. “I suppose in a way that was kind of evil of me,” she said idly.

“I’m leaving now.”

“When you get back, I have a present for you.”

Once more, Kim paused at the door. “For what?”

“Because I wanted to do it. It’s also for our anniversary.”

“Remind me to tell you how calendars work,” Kim said with a sigh.

Angel sat up so suddenly her breasts stopped moving a half second after she did. “I know how calendars work. I just don’t know how your calendar works.”

“Calendars are the same no matter where you live in the world,” Kim said, averting her eyes, wishing Angel would just stop it with all her sex games. “Could you please put something on?” she pleaded.

Angel stretched out on her stomach in yet another provocative way to snatch up her discarded shirt from the floor. She slipped it on, fussing with the shirt and making a few minor adjustments to her breasts solely for Kim’s benefit.

Deliberate, thought Kim. All of it.

Angel didn’t bother putting on anything else. If anything, the sight of her wearing nothing but a shirt was even more distracting.

And Angel manipulated her into insisting on it. Truly, Angel’s techniques were nothing less than a higher form of art. No wonder she’d fallen victim to it.

“Different languages,” explained Angel. “We have different names for the same things. I admit, however, the time does seem to pass differently, here.”

This caught Kim’s attention. “Differently, how?”

Angel ran a hand through her hair. “I’m uncertain how to explain. Time seems slower to me. The minutes, hours, and days. It seems to me as if time should be passing by much faster, but it’s not.”

“The clock on my car runs fast. Is it like that?” asked Kim.

“In a way. If I compare what I feel to a clock, then it’s as if my internal clock is insisting entire weeks or months have gone by.” A shrug. “I know it isn’t true, but the feeling remains.”

Kim nodded. It was one more piece of the puzzle. If Angel came from a spacefaring race that spent their entire lives on starships, days, months and years could be nothing more than outdated concepts.

Or perhaps her sense of time was calibrated for life on an alien planet. Or set for galactic standard time, or something. There was no way to know for certain. This particular piece of the puzzle would have to be set aside until more pieces fell into her possession.

The thought reminded Kim of the one year anniversary present. A calendar, not a clock. It seemed appropriate, now.

Speaking of which…

“You mentioned a gift. Are you going to do things and offer me gifts each time you want to do this?”

“If by this you mean sex, then no. I'll have to get creative." Angel nonchalantly reached for a pillow and set her hand on it. "Will you tell me no if I simply ask?”

“No fair threatening me,” Kim said, then realized she’d been staring at Angel out of the corner of her eye.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Why did Angel bother putting on a shirt if she was going to do things like that?

Because you insisted she put it on. Idiot.

“I’m not threatening you, Kim,” said Angel. “My hand is resting on the pillow for a completely unrelated reason. I wasn’t going to pummel you unmercifully with it.”

“Liar.”

“Go take your shower so I can take mine. I still want to give you your present.”

Instead, Kim picked up the only remaining pair of panties off the floor. She tossed them underhand to Angel. “Put these on.”

Angel held them at eye level, stretching them slightly between her hands. “Aren’t these yours?”

“Just put them on, please,” Kim insisted again, “and don’t sniff them.”

Angel paused, then gave Kim an innocent look. “It hadn’t occurred to me.”

“Well, don’t.” Kim waved a hand, trying not to watch and stare. “Just put them on.”

Angel fell into sexy pose six, easing the garment up her long legs. Kim’s mind went blank at the sight. Her hand once again sought the doorframe to steady herself and she shielded her eyes, trying to make the action look as if she were nursing a headache.

Everything about Angel is beautiful. Why is she even bothering with the seductive posing? Surely she has to realize she doesn’t have to try?

Angel must know. She had to know. But there was no way Kim would ever tell her that.

Kim made it to the hallway and locked the bathroom door behind her, thankful she’d gotten away. Angel was such a sex-crazed pervert, threatening to sniff her panties before putting them on. What in the world was that all about?

She turned on the water, letting it run cold but not too cold.

Another week of this is going to kill me. I’ll be dead from sexual exhaustion by then.

She’d never had a cold shower, before. Not deliberately. Now seemed the perfect time to see if they worked as their reputation implied.

Chapter Forty-One

Angel’s ‘anniversary’ present was revealed to be a brand new and probably expensive telescope.

“What do you think?” Angel asked.

Kim walked a slow circle around it. “Where did you get this?”

“The pawn shop. Do you like it?”

I don’t even like astronomy. “Will it fit in the car?” Kim asked, avoiding the question.

“It disassembles, so yes. Do you like it?”

Again, Kim declined to answer. When she’d received a similar telescope from her mother on her last birthday, she’d accepted it for the gift it was. It was the thought that counted, not the gift itself. Her mother meant well.

But because this gift came from Angel, specifically from Angel, her motives were suspect. It seemed clear Angel hoped the gift would pay off in the short-term. Probably the long-term too, now that she thought about it.

And yet, the obvious explanation seemed so straightforward and self-evident it made Kim doubt her conclusions. A gift of this magnitude seemed extreme. Simply put, why bother? If Angel’s old methods weren’t working or had failed, then yes, Kim could see her buying expensive gifts to compensate for her lapse. But why bother if they weren’t failing?

Was this the first in a wave of romantic gestures to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that Angel wanted and expected sex and lots of it? Couldn’t Angel have accomplished the same results with something less expensive, such as candy or jewelry or a new game on Kim’s greed list? Why this expensive thing?

Kim looked at the booklet which doubled as the instruction manual. Ideal for observing and photographing, it told her. Sharp, high-contrast views. Automatic, computer-controlled star finding. All very impressive for someone interested in astronomy. Which she wasn’t.

She could think of several examples of Angel’s persuasive talents off the top of her head. Gifts were completely unnecessary. Some of them were-

“I’m glad you like it.”

Kim hadn’t realized she was grinning to herself until that moment, and immediately made herself stop. She put a frown on her face. The situation didn’t deserve a smile. Angel was doing it to her again, manipulating her for her own selfish ends. All because she wanted sex.

Kim let a bit of her irritation seep into her voice. “Is sex all you think about?” she asked.

Angel blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You don’t have to buy me expensive things each time you...want to.” Kim nudged the telescope with her foot. “Isn’t this a bit extreme?”

Angel set her hands on her hips, her eyes burning with intensity. “Is that what you think of me? You think all I’m after is instant gratification? Well, that’s not why I did it. Yes, I planned ahead, and yes, I was thinking of you when I bought it, but I’m not so shallow as to want something right away each time I choose to do something for you!”

Kim’s mouth fell open. Angel looked angrier than any other time she’d seen her. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“That’s right. You weren’t thinking. I don’t think in the short-term, Kim. You should know that.”

It was true, Kim realized. All of it. She should have known better. Angel wasn’t shallow at all. Her mind was far too complex.

Kim looked at the telescope again, this time seeing it in a new light.

Angel bought it for me because she wanted to make me happy.

The thought seemed foreign, but at the same time, it seemed right.

Did that mean…Angel genuinely cared for her?

Kim did her best to suppress the thought, recognizing she was daring to hope. She couldn't afford to think that way. According to what Angel told her before, love was nothing more than an arbitrary side-effect. Surely, Angel felt nothing for her.

And yet, she couldn’t help but wonder. Somewhere along the line, had Angel’s feelings become genuine?

Kim’s heart felt light, elated with the possibility of it.

Wouldn't it be nice, if it were true?

The unknown feeling persisted and refused to go away. Recognizing she couldn’t stop it, Kim tried to find a reason for it. Why did she want it to be true so badly? She wasn’t in love with Angel. Angel wasn’t in love with her. It didn’t matter that Angel wasn’t in love with her.

It didn’t.

“It’s a wonderful gift,” Kim said, and then, feeling brave, she gave Angel a quick kiss. “Thank you. I’m sorry I accused you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Wasn’t it expensive? It looks expensive.”

Angel waved a hand. “Not at all. I traded in your other telescope for this one as part of a deal.”

“Oh.” Kim appraised the telescope once more. “That explains why I haven't seen it around, lately.”

“In any case, my gift wasn’t given in anticipation of a direct return. We don’t have to have sex right away.”

“I wasn’t thinking right away...”

“No matter how enjoyable it is, we shouldn’t spend all our time in bed.”

“I never insisted that we should."

“We should do other things. The night is young.”

“What are you suggesting?” Kim asked, then instantly regretted it. Seriously? “What are you suggesting?” I should know better than to ask Angel a loaded question like that! She’ll probably suggest something involving whipped cream, or something!

A detailed, mental image sprang up unbidden. It involved Angel, herself, and liberal amounts of whipped cream in strategically placed locations. The thought of it made her breath catch.

“Let’s try it out,” Angel suggested.

Kim shuddered. Her eyes were glazed over. “Yeah…” she sighed. Then she blinked. “Wait. What? I'm sorry. What did you say?”

“I want to go back to where we first met.”

“What? Tonight? Now?”

“Why not now? Is there something else you’d rather be doing?”

Kim took step back. “Ah. No. You’re right. Let’s try it.”

Angel hefted up the telescope with one hand, using her second to secure it. She carried it in front of her as if it weighed nothing.

After taking a moment to compose herself, Kim found her keys and hurried to open the door.

It was draining, dodging bullets all day.

As she trailed in Angel’s wake to the garage, she wondered anew about Angel and her mysterious purpose here. Thinking about it a certain way, her sex-crazed girlfriend still fit the profile of an alien pretending to be normal, even considering its now expanded role with her as a girlfriend.

But she wasn’t very professional about things, was she? Kim could even see many striking similarities between Angel and the fictional super-spy James Bond.

Both shared a profession, more or less. Bond was a spy who didn't actually spy on anyone and Angel a scout who couldn’t be bothered to scout. Both could kick ass when needed, and both wanted sex as often as possible and possessed enough seductive talent to get it even when their targets had better things to do.

But there the similarities ended.

While Bond seduced women left and right, he went on to do his job. Bond was a professional, someone people could count on to get the job done.

But not Angel. She was seductive, but far too obsessed with sex than she was in doing her job. Based on what Kim could tell, Angel conveniently forgot her mission on her very first day and never looked back.

Kim sighed as she eased her car into traffic, a ghost of a smile on her face. This was the nature of her sacrifice. Something she’d be willing to endure for the good of all mankind. Simply put, if Angel was too busy plotting and scheming of ways to sleep with her as often as possible, then she wasn’t out doing her mission. Whatever that was.

That was her fate. The die had been cast. It was Kim’s sad destiny to be the focus of Angel’s insatiable hunger. She was Earth’s last line of defense, an unsung hero to billions of unsuspecting people, a living Great Wall, keeping the alien invaders at bay, willing to take one for the team for the greater good.

Kim couldn’t repress a shudder as she pictured it.

If they ever erect a statue of me, I’ll die of embarrassment.

What a great hero, they would say. What happened to her? She was so young and beautiful, with so much potential and love of life. Whatever became of her?

Oh, everything was fine until someone recognized the nature of her sacrifice. Once the story was out, and everyone understood exactly how she saved us all, that was it for her. Death by embarrassment. The doctors couldn’t revive her.

Kim drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. Sex, sex, sex, all the time, sex. She still wasn’t sure what she felt about all that. Certainly not as horrified as she used to be. Kind of the opposite, in fact, which was alarming in its own right.

Angel was looking away, lost to her own thoughts, and Kim studied her for as long as she dared. What was it about Angel, anyway? What made her so…fascinating?

When Angel half turned and threatened to look back, Kim returned her full attention to the road. She tried to concentrate, but Angel’s profile had burned itself into her mind.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Angel actually cared for her? Really cared for her? At least if she and Angel shared a love story, their memorial wouldn’t be borderline pornographic. Parents wouldn’t feel uncomfortable taking their children.

And now they were returning to where it all began, that one specific parking lot where they first met. From there, they’d take the telescope up the hill to look at a bunch of boring, uninteresting stars.

At least now Kim had an excuse to be here. The thought made her wonder. Why had she bothered with astronomy before, all those weeks ago? Maybe it was some subconscious yearning? A desire to find something, anything, beyond her experience?

Kim glanced at Angel, again. At the risk of sounding sappy, maybe she found what she was looking for?

Yeah, that did sound sappy.

Glad she didn’t say it.

Kim parked on the far side of the parking lot, furthest away from the convenience store. The night air had cooled significantly since their departure, but not enough make her wish she’d brought a jacket. Kim took a moment to stretch and found herself taking a long look around as if seeing everything for the first time. Nothing had changed, yet everything had changed. It seemed surreal.

Angel had opened the trunk and was busying herself with reassembling the telescope from its broken down parts, taking full advantage of the ambient lights from the nearby streetlights. Kim watched her in silence. The sight of Angel as she worked inspired a warm feeling of contentment deep within her.

Kim resolved right then and there to keep the telescope. It didn’t matter if they never used it beyond tonight. Angel had given it to her, and she wanted to keep it. Because Angel wanted to make me happy. As romantic gestures go, the gift was a good one.

Kim’s good mood turned south when Angel finished her task and retrieved a blanket and pillow from the trunk.

“What are those for?” she asked, anticipating and dreading the answer.

Angel gave her a smile. “So we won’t get dirty.”

Kim closed her eyes and started to count to ten.

She got to three. “I appreciate the telescope, Angel, but I am not having sex with you outside.”

“Under the stars,” corrected Angel.

“Excuse me?”

“Under the stars,” Angel repeated, “or in the moonlight. Saying ‘we’re having sex outside’ sounds dull and isn’t nearly as romantic.”

“We’re not doing anything sex-related outside. People could see!”

Angel ignored her. She turned the tripod upside down and tossed in the blanket and pillow, then hoisted the entire collection up with one hand and walked away toward the path which led up the hill.

Kim followed after her. “Are you listening to me?”

“Yes, I’m listening,” Angel called back. “Let’s get to the top and we can discuss it.”

Angel quickly left Kim behind, ascending the steep hillside with as much physical exertion as she spent crossing a room. Kim was not so lucky. By the time she caught up with her, she was out of breath and Angel had already set up the telescope and was vigorously shaking out the blanket.

Angel smiled at Kim’s approach, but Kim wasn’t deterred. “Why did you bring a pillow, anyway?”

“To muffle your cries of passion,” Angel said, matter-of-factly.

Kim colored instantly. “I don’t…”

Angel kept smiling while Kim glowered at her. For a moment, Kim considered snatching up the offending pillow and beating Angel to death with it, but didn’t dare take the risk. Pillow fights led to sex, these days.

“What about all that talk about gifts, and not wanting instant gratification?”

Angel gave a haughty sniff. “Oh, please. Instant gratification is nothing but short-term, Kim. I’m all about long-term gratification. And the romance, let’s not forget that.”

“What romance?” Kim scoffed.

“Isn’t that the meaning of romance? When a person goes out of their way and does something extraordinary for their special someone without being prompted to do it? Simply because they want to do it?”

Kim kicked at a stone. “That may be the literal definition, but I know you. You were only doing it because you want sex.”

“Irrelevant. My attempt at romance still fits the definition. The telescope was a gift. It’s the thought that counts.”

At Kim’s continued glower, Angel’s shoulders slumped. “I see. You didn’t like it, after all.”

In an instant, all resentment vanished. “It isn’t the telescope, itself--“

“No, I’m responsible. I admit, I’m not as proficient consciously attempting romance as I am unconsciously. I try, but I fear my best attempts pale in comparison to your expectations.” Angel’s eyes seemed to shimmer with unshed tears. “I only did it because I wanted to make you happy. Should I stop trying?”

Kim wanted to be sympathetic, but Angel’s explanation didn’t make a lot of sense. “What does that even mean?”

“I don’t understand it, either.”

“You’re the one who said it, Angel.”

“No, you misunderstand. I’m saying I don’t understand how to meet your expectations of me. Each time I try, you resent it as blatant manipulation.”

“Why would you let that bother you? I’ve always thought you were manipulating me. That hasn’t changed.”

Angel considered this. “I believe it’s more a twisted mental condition that makes you believe I’m manipulating you, but I understand your point.”

Although slightly miffed, Kim let it go. “The difference is, lately, you’ve been taking credit for it.”

“Also true. Mostly.”

“Maybe you’re trying too hard?”

“I’d still like to make the attempt. Are you reluctant tonight because I’m taking credit for ‘setting this up,’ or because of embarrassment?”

Kim fidgeted. “It isn’t because of you.”

“Very good.” Angel gave the blanket one final shake and let it settle to the ground.

“But we’re still not doing this,” Kim finished.

Angel gave an exasperated sigh. “Look around you, Kim. There’s no one around to hear us. The pillow will muffle your cries of passion. We’re alone.”

“What if someone else comes up here?”

“You’ve been up here, before. Have you ever seen anyone else?”

“No. But it could happen!”

“And that’s why we’re here. It could happen, but likely it won’t. A bit of risk will enhance the experience. Couples need to do extraordinary things from time to time to spice up their love lives. If they don’t, lovemaking becomes routine and ordinary.”

“Routine? How can it be routine for us? We’ve only been doing this less than a week. Less than half a week.”

“Nevertheless, the theory is sound.”

“For the last time, we are not doing this outside where anyone could be watching!”

“No one is watching. We’re alone. You’re being paranoid beyond your normal levels of paranoia.”

“What about cameras?” Kim pointed out. “They could have set up cameras.”

Angel sighed and made a show of looking about, obviously a token gesture for Kim’s benefit which did nothing to mollify her. Kim was about to remark on it when Angel’s eyes narrowed and she focused all her attention on something in the darkness. She brushed past Kim and made a beeline for what she’d seen, her hand scooping up a large, heavy branch as she passed.

Angel stopped at a nearby tree and used the branch to poke at something higher in the branches. The whatever-it-was fell to the ground. The moment it stopped moving, Angel hit it over and over with her club until the makeshift weapon splintered in her hands.

Undeterred, she picked up the unknown object with both hands and squeezed. There was a sharp crack, and Angel let it fall with a disdainful sniff.

Before Kim could say anything, Angel was marching off in an entirely different direction. Kim lost sight of her in the darkness, but could hear when a second device met the same grim fate seconds later.

Kim fished out her cell phone and turned on its flashlight. There in the grass lay the broken remains of a once well-concealed camera. She picked it up and examined it. Someone actually set up a camera! The very thought of it stunned her.

Angel returned a short time later, making a show of dusting her hands. “I've destroyed them all.”

“All of them?” Kim echoed. “How many of them were there?”

“A total of five in the immediate area. I didn’t check the parking lot.” Angel sat down on the blanket and patted the space next to her.

Kim’s eyes widened with incredulity. “Are you kidding me? We’re definitely still not doing this. Someone set up cameras, Angel. Aren't you the least bit concerned about that?”

“Of course, I was. But our privacy is now assured. I’ve destroyed them.”

“Why would anyone set up cameras?”

“To spy on us.”

The idea of it was so preposterous it amazed her. “Are you insane?” Kim hissed.

“You said it yourself. You didn’t want to make love under the stars because of the possibility of hidden cameras. You were correct, and I was wrong.”

“But there isn't any reason for cameras to be set up here in the first place!” Kim cried, waving her arms around. “Only a complete idiot would think to themselves, ‘Oh, I wonder if there are any cameras on this hill nobody but me even knows about!’”

“And yet your fears were justified," Angel pointed out. "I admit, at first I believed your explanation was nothing more than a thinly disguised excuse to avoid sex, but I want you to know that even if you were wrong and there were no cameras, I would never conclude you were an idiot. Complete or otherwise."

Kim’s glare became a bit more withering. Angel took no notice.

“Your mannerisms suggest stress.” Angel again patted the space next to her. “You need to relax. Please sit down. Perhaps a relaxing massage would--"

"Show me where you found them," Kim growled. “All of them.”

Angel sighed heavily before rising to her feet with exaggerated reluctance.

They backtracked almost to the parking lot as Angel pointed out the destroyed cameras lying in the dirt one after the other. Kim paused only long enough to sift through each one, picking out their memory cards and slipping them into her pocket.

“In the darkness, a casual observer would never have been able to detect them,” Angel remarked, waving a hand. “During the day, however, they would have been glaringly obvious. None were particularly well hidden.”

"So how did you find them?"

"After the first, I was looking for them."

Kim’s breath caught. She had picked this spot to look at the stars because of its isolation. No one else knew it existed, as far as she knew. Were the cameras meant for her?

But why would anyone be interested in her? There wasn’t anything special about her.

No. Not her. Angel. They were looking for Angel.

But how did anyone know they were together?

Kim thought back to the night they first met. Angel had just finished knocking a man unconscious to steal his shirt. It occurred to her that, until that moment, she never once considered the well-being of Angel’s victim. The only thing that mattered to her was Angel. She’d simply dismissed the man from her mind.

Fortunately for her conscience, he survived and lived to tell the tale. Either someone found him and cared enough to get him to a hospital or he woke up the next morning and staggered home. From there, police were informed. The man dutifully gave them a detailed description of Angel. One didn’t forget naked women beating the crap out of you.

The cops likely had a description of Kim as well, either as Angel’s accomplice or Angel’s potential victim.

Kim frowned to herself. No, not as a victim. Only someone with a movie geek’s imagination similar to her own would leap to the conclusion Angel might have murdered her or put her in the hospital simply to steal her clothes or her car.

An accomplice, then. Angel’s trail ended with Kim. If they wanted to find Angel, they’d have to find Kim, first. They’d set up cameras on the off chance she might return for stargazing, hoping she’d lead them to her.

They probably investigated the local astronomy clubs, too. Good thing she was antisocial and never joined one.

So who was behind it? The police wouldn’t have done this. Whoever it was knew Angel’s true nature and were serious about finding her.

What if they were government agents, or a part of a powerful organization hunting aliens? They tracked Angel to here, and then lost her. All because Kim had recognized her for what she was, and had taken her home.

If they ever find Angel, they’ll take her away!

“We need to get back,” Kim said, her voice frantic. “We have to leave now before they figure out their cameras are gone.”

“Kim, you may not have realized this, but I believe those cameras were placed here to find you. Anyone could have found them during the day."

“They weren’t after me, Angel. They were after you.”

“Me?”

Kim opened her mouth, then closed it. It didn’t surprise her Angel had reached the same conclusion, but had she given away too much? What if Angel decided she wasn’t safe, living with her? What would she do?

Would she abandon her and leave? Kim’s heart twisted at the thought. “But they don’t know anything. You smashed their cameras.”

“They know enough,” said Angel. “We need to get our belongings and leave.”

Kim nodded in silent agreement. They returned to the small clearing.

Angel jerked up the blanket and folded it into thirds. When she reached for the telescope, she hesitated. “I wanted...we didn't get to...”

“I wanted to, too. As much as you did.”

Angel’s mouth fell open in surprise. “I thought you didn’t.”

“No, I would have, with you. But there simply isn’t time.”

“Yes. You’re right. If you still want to, we can later on at the apartment.”

“The apartment? Kind of dangerous, don’t you think? Besides, I don’t think they'd let us on the roof.”

“The roof would be dangerous.” Angel nodded in agreement. “The bed will suffice.”

Chapter Forty-Two

“Two more, see?" Angel pointed up into the branches of the larger trees at the edge of the parking lot. Kim peered up at the darkness, but all she could see was more darkness.

Angel walked up to the base of the tree and tried to pull herself up. The bark ripped and tore under her grasp and she went nowhere. Undeterred, she adjusted her grip and tried again. After the third attempt, she’d gotten the hang of it, and pulled herself up with astonishing ease.

From there, it looked to be child’s play.

Angel ascended quickly. Kim grew tired of looking up when she couldn’t see anything, and instead focused her attention on the convenience store on the far side of the parking lot. No one lingered outside to witness their activities, but she knew the store had its own set of cameras, ones that wouldn’t be disabled as readily as the smaller ones Angel discovered.

If Angel knew they existed, she might want to destroy them too, despite the risk of getting caught. Best not to tell her.

Had she ever parked closer? Surely if her silver Corolla had been identified, they would have found where she lived over a week ago?

Kim’s gaze fell to her car’s license plate. "If they're transmitting, they’ve already seen the car. Coming here was a mistake. Someone already knows what my car looks like!"

"If these cameras are anything like the others, they're recording, not transmitting!" Angel called down to her, "but don't worry, I changed your license plates!"

"What?"

"I said, don't worry, I changed your license plates!"

"When was this?” Kim demanded, “and why didn't you tell me?"

There was a noticeable pause, which suggested hesitancy in Angel’s reply. "A few days ago. And because I thought you'd be angry about it?"

"You'd be right!"

A camera dropped to the concrete and clattered noisily at Kim's feet. She stumbled away from it in surprise, then glared at it, feeling foolish.

Kim briefly caught sight of Angel jumping from one tree to another with a blatant disregard for gravity. There was more rustling, and a second camera jostled free and fell to the pavement.

Angel waited until after it stopped bouncing before releasing her grip, arms spread wide and completely heedless of a fall that would have crippled a normal person. She landed on the camera dead center, crushing it.

After brushing herself off, she turned to Kim. "I understand your concern, but think of your own situation. You're illegally harboring a foreign worker under an expired visa. I did it to protect you."

"I don't see how it could," Kim huffed.

"You concluded as I did, that someone set up a way to monitor this area to find me through you. My attention to detail paid off. If we hadn’t spotted them and if I hadn’t changed the license plates, they would have found and arrested us both."

“A minute ago, you seemed surprised when I suggested they were looking for you. Yet you had the foresight to change my license plates?”

“Yes, I did.” Angel looked off into the distance. “Truly, I never imagined they would go this far.”

Kim’s eyes widened.

Had Angel just admitted something?

Angel looked back at her, then away. The way she fidgeted reminded Kim of herself, when she was nervous.

Kim swallowed past the lump in her throat. “You knew you were being hunted,” she stated. “Didn't you? You knew it. All this time.”

Angel half raised her hand as it searching for the words, then let it fall again. “They're out there right now, Kim. I know they're out there. Searching. But I don't know who they are. Or why they're so interested in me.” She paused again, seemingly unsure of herself. The faraway look was back. “I feel as if I’m not supposed to be here. That I don't belong.”

You belong with me, Kim felt herself about to say, but didn't.

“We should return home,” said Angel.

Kim picked up the last remaining camera and stripped it of its memory card. “We should save one, but let’s leave it here. Maybe we can use it to try to find out more about the people hunting you.”

“Why not take it with us?”

“I’d rather not. It could have a tracking chip in it, or something. We don’t know who we’re dealing with.” Kim carried the camera to the parking lot’s edge, furthest from the main road, and tossed it underhand into the weeds just beyond.

Angel busied herself disassembling the telescope. Kim remained where she was, taking note of Angel’s activities but not much else.

“You belong with me?”

Kim sardonically admonished herself.

Seriously? Where did that come from? Angel and I are friends. Nothing more.

Okay, admittedly, they were good friends.

Who kissed a lot.

And had sex a couple of times.

Yeah. Only a couple of times, her internal voice mocked. A couple of times each day!

Sensing her introspective was going nowhere. Kim joined Angel at the car.

Chapter Forty-Three

The car had grown cold. Kim switched on the heater to its lowest setting. “You don’t seem at all worried,” she said. Her eyes flicked to Angel then back to the road, again.

“I’m not.”

“People are hunting you. That doesn’t worry you at all?”

“You’re aware of them, now,” Angel said. “Other than that, how has my situation changed?”

Kim fell silent. Angel made a valid point. She’d been living under the threat of capture for weeks, now. Today didn’t mark any significant change.

“By the way, changing license plates isn’t an effective way to hide,” Kim pointed out.

“It worked today.”

“Yes, but normally it shouldn’t. I’m still not sure how you thought it would work in the first place.” Kim glanced at Angel, again. “What happened to my old ones? Can I get them back?”

“You still have your old ones. I didn’t switch them. I changed them.”

Kim blinked. “Changed? As in, altered, changed?”

Angel gave a faint nod which Kim nearly missed it in the darkness. She snorted. “That’s marginally less illegal than stealing someone else’s plates and switching them out, but it’s still illegal.”

“Purchase new ones,” Angel suggested. She resumed her distant stare out the side window. “You’re up for renewal, soon. In March.”

“That’s six months away.”

Angel didn’t answer. Kim tightened her grip on the steering wheel, fuming.

Angel twisted in her seat, a look of concern on her face. “Are you still worried? Don’t be. They didn’t have enough information to find us, before. They still don’t.”

Another valid point, Kim realized. They were safe enough for the time being. Perhaps she could get in a little research of her own, tomorrow at work?

Kim could see Angel was back to her introspective look, again, not paying attention. “So if you’re not worried about anything, what are you thinking about?” Kim asked her.

“Just thoughts. What we talked about tonight. Our relationship.”

Kim swallowed hard and returned her attention to the road.

I shouldn’t have asked. Angel has a one-track mind. I really should have known better.

The rest of the trip passed in silence.

While Kim had no intention of indulging Angel’s make love under the stars idea, she couldn’t deny the thought of it inspired certain suggestive thoughts and made her wonder at the possibilities. It stood to reason that if she could feel it with her non-existent sex drive, Angel had to be feeling it far worse.

Angel intentions towards her remained fully concealed behind her mask of complete indifference, but Kim wasn’t fooled. She focused on her driving, trying to keep her breathing under control. Angel had been denied her outdoor sex. Kim didn’t doubt she’d want to do something about it the moment they returned home.

They reached the condominium complex without further incident. Kim opened the garage door and pulled inside. Neither spoke a word about what was to come.

Angel carried the telescope while Kim followed behind, her face heated, keys biting into her tightly clenched fist. She unlocked and held open the security door for Angel and again followed after, watching while trying not to notice and appreciate the perfection of Angel’s form and how effortlessly she climbed the stairs.

After they walked through the door, Angel set down their gear and looked Kim dead in the eye. “Kim...”

Here it comes.

“Yes, Angel?”

“I’m going to make dinner,” she said, and left without another word.

Kim watched her go, amazed.

Angel left her.

She left her!

To make dinner!

It wasn’t as if she was looking forward to sex, but she’d more or less been expecting it. Now her half-hearted preparations to stop Angel were going to waste because Angel wasn't even paying attention to her!

Kim eyes narrowed, and she smiled.

This has to be some new strategy.

Angel volunteering to do the cooking had been the next piece of the puzzle. Normally, Kim did all the cooking. The only exception had been the incident last Saturday. Afterwards, Angel told her the orange juice had been drugged and not the food, but such transgressions tended to get one banished from the kitchen for life.

Fortunately for Angel’s cooking career, Kim was lenient, forgiving, and exceptionally lazy, especially when it came to preparing food. Such minor concerns bored her. Let Angel cook if she wanted. Surely Angel wouldn’t stoop to poisoning her twice in a row!

No, Angel had to have something else in mind.

As Angel, had so eloquently pointed out, she wasn’t interested in short-term benefits. The gift of the telescope had been a prop, nothing more than to provide an excuse for romantic sex “under the stars” where anyone and everyone could have wandered by and taken pictures. Or high-quality video, in the case of government agents.

Clearly, long-term for Angel meant later that night, which meant the bulk of Kim’s theories still applied. What does it mean when Angel takes out the garbage without being asked? Angel wants sex. Cooks dinner? Sex. Buys an excessively expensive telescope? Sex. The list was endless.

Kim pondered the apparent contradiction that followed.

But if that were true, why would Angel walk away and not capitalize on her success?

Angel claimed the gift was meant for romance. But romance in this case was only a means to an end. Kim may not have wanted to admit it, but all it would have taken was a little persuasion at the door. Eventually, she would have given in.

Yet Angel didn’t even try.

Why? Why would she do that?

There had to be a deeper strategy in play, one Kim couldn’t see.

Kim still hadn’t solved the question when she wandered into the kitchen, guided by the heavenly aromas wafting through the apartment. Angel was setting out plates. She’d chosen to make stroganoff, using advanced cooking skills involving measurements and ingredients that went far beyond what Kim could ever hope to understand or comprehend.

For a moment, Kim could only stop and stare. The food looked delicious, but Kim knew more than anyone that it was the thought that counted. She kept her expression carefully neutral as she took her seat opposite Angel, not letting her adversary know she was onto her dark plan.

While they ate, Angel seemed indifferent to everything and didn’t try to engage Kim in conversation. Nothing in her mannerisms betrayed her thoughts. Kim mirrored Angel’s behavior and tried to hide her emotions, knowing full well she was being set up on a multitude of different levels.

After dinner, Angel vanished once again, leaving her master plan to slowly unfold and sink its claws into Kim’s brain.

Kim was putting leftovers away when the revelation hit her all at once.

Angel was ignoring her!

The evidence was clear. Angel knew Kim expected her to push for sex at the door. Then Angel very cleverly didn't capitalize on it. After that, she set out to cook dinner, but not to make Kim happy and not because anyone was hungry. Mere coincidence that Kim hadn't had anything to eat in over twelve hours. Satisfying hunger wasn’t the point of dinner. And in any case, Angel had proven she wasn't interested in short-term benefits.

Angel was deliberately holding off…all so Kim would start to crave it.

Ingenious, once she thought about it.

Kim busied herself washing dishes as she thought it through. Angel was torturing her, that’s what it was. By not pushing for sex when Kim fully expected it to happen, it caused her to think about it incessantly. Now the process was irreversible. Nothing was able to distract her.

Angel had set her up, the sex-crazed minx. Not once, but five freaking times, each designed to rile her up then cruelly deny her and leave her wanting. First, there was the gift of the telescope. The second, when Angel tried to talk her into making love under the stars, knowing Kim would adamantly refuse her.

Then there was the romantic talk of being wanted, each word and action designed to make Kim dwell on uncharacteristic thoughts and feelings, to make her yearn to reassure Angel how her fears were unjustified, to tell Angel how much she deeply cared for her and never wanted to let her go. All of which could be interpreted as romantic even without the moonlit background.

And then, after putting the thought in her head and knowing Kim was looking forward to her long-delayed seduction with a minimum of token resistance, Angel implemented the coup de grace, the final stroke, ignoring her after returning home and ignoring her after dinner.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Angel could stop thinking about sex? Kim had other things to worry about. Important things, such as worrying about the nameless organization of hunters searching for them. But no matter how she tried to focus, her thoughts kept drifting to Angel and her latest erotic plan. It was slowly driving her mad.

Kim dried her hands and set about cleaning the table. It didn't need cleaning, but she did it anyway. She didn't want to admit it, but Angel’s “casual indifference” strategy was working.

As far as Kim could tell, based on a lifetime of observation, the longer a person went without sex after being introduced to it, the more they’d start to crave it. At the moment, Kim’s own cravings were at manageable levels. She was under no compulsion to act. What she felt was a distraction, easily ignored.

But what fate awaited her when the insidious cravings grew worse? Would she be able to control herself? Was that what Angel wanted? Her concentration was already shot as it was. She couldn't afford for it to get worse. She didn’t anticipate losing control like a vampire ignoring their hunger and succumbing to a mindless frenzy, but she did fear embarrassing herself.

What if she got it out of the way?

Kim considered it. If she had sex with Angel now, she’d quell this rising desire and ruin Angel’s carefully orchestrated plans. There would be no embarrassing loss of control. She wouldn’t look needy. Angel was the sex-obsessed lunatic. Not her.

But she couldn’t go to Angel and simply ask if they could have sex. That could be easily misinterpreted as her wanting it.

Kim’s fist tightened around her dish rag. There had to be a flaw in Angel’s plan. Some hidden weakness she could exploit.

Then it came to her. The cravings were irritating to her, but she wasn't the one with the overactive sex drive in their relationship. What she felt was bothersome, certainly, but it had to be ten times worse for Angel.

Kim smiled. She set her cleaning rag aside and rubbed her hands together in gleeful anticipation. That meant all she had to do was point out the flaw in Angel’s master plan. Nothing more. Angel loved sex too much, and would realize the price she was paying was too high. Once she realized her plans were ashes, she’d want to cut her losses. She wouldn’t want to put it off any longer.

And after Angel realized Kim had no intention of depriving herself of sex for an extended period of time and wasn’t going to play her games, then…

Okay, try again.

After Angel realized Kim knew all about her latest evil scheme, she’d realize how foolish she’d been to deprive herself, to make herself go without for an extended period of time.

Perfect.

Elated and filled with confidence, Kim left the kitchen.

Angel was reclining on the living room couch, watching Kim’s DVD of Apollo 13. Kim picked up the remote and paused the movie, then pointed the remote imperiously at Angel. “I know what you’re planning.”

Angel’s reply was insufferably casual. “Oh? Which part?”

Kim opened her mouth. Closed it. Her hands formed claws at her side as she wrestled with the question. What could she say? Angel had never been open about wanting sex. She preferred to work from the shadows, tricking Kim into sexual situations she didn't want to avoid.

Angel’s aura of indifference was infuriating. She looked as if she could go right back to the movie without a care in the world.

While Kim struggled with an answer, Angel sighed. "You're right. I’ve been expecting this.”

This surprised Kim and threw her more than a little off stride.

Angel was actually admitting it?

She couldn’t remember the last time one of her own plans worked perfectly.

“I’ve been thinking about what you told me before, about how I manipulated you? It caused me to rethink my objectives. I don’t want you feeling compelled into having sex. With that in mind, I’ve decided to let you set the pace."

Kim snorted. "Oh, really? By manipulating me?"

"I...what?"

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” Kim quoted. “Does that mean anything to you? You’ve been ignoring me.”

“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, so I’m going to tell you what I’m actually doing,” Angel said, sliding off the couch. “As I said, from now on I’m going to let you set the pace. I wish for you to want me as I want you, but I’m uncomfortable with the thought of you feeling pressured into doing something you don’t want to do. So, I took a chance. I know you’re not as assertive I am. I’m also fully aware you may not feel as strongly as I do.”

This was not the confession Kim had been expecting to hear.

“So, let me get this straight.” Kim held up a hand, trying to make sense of it in her head. “You’ve been ignoring me because you wanted to give me a choice, and not because you wanted to fill my head with desire and thoughts of you?”

“That’s right. I wasn’t doing any of that,” said Angel. “Did it work?”

“What do you mean, ‘did it work?’ You just told me it wasn’t your plan.”

“It wasn’t my plan,” confirmed Angel, “but I’m still curious. Did it work?”

Kim couldn’t meet Angel’s eyes. She glowered at the floor, instead. “Yes. It worked. Happy?”

Angel gave a tentative smile. “Very much. But please believe me, I only wanted to give you a choice and let you decide on your own. Filling you with desire was an unintended side-effect.”

“I wouldn’t say desire,” Kim grumbled. The remote twisted over and over in her hand. She tossed it to the couch.

“You did say desire,” Angel pointed out.

“Yes. I did say that. But I wouldn’t say it.”

Angel left eye twitched. “What about, ‘I didn’t realize through my inaction I was driving you into a sexual frenzy,’ instead?”

Why does Angel always do this?

“Wouldn’t say frenzy, either.”

“My point,” said Angel with a hint of exasperation, “is I mistakenly gave you the impression I didn’t want you. That simply isn’t true. I’d like for us to continue, if you would.”

Kim was still having difficulty wrapping her head around the first premise. Angel wanted sex on a constant basis. She knew this to be established fact. It had become something Kim could anticipate and plan her day around.

The very idea of Angel sacrificing and leaving it up to her implied that if and when they did make love in the future, it would be because Kim herself wanted it. Angel’s desires would no longer be a deciding factor. All the blame would fall on Kim.

Typical Angel, absolving herself of all the blame. Kim couldn't help but smile.

Tonight, Angel demonstrated how easily she could stir up Kim’s nonexistent sex-drive. And she did so by simply walking away. Kim reeled at the possibilities. How much passion could Angel engineer if she truly set her mind to it?

“You’re leaving everything up to me?”

“I want to give you the choice. I want you to be happy."

“You’re taking a risk.”

“I know.”

“And if I set the pace down to nothing at all? What then? Are you honestly willing to make such a sacrifice?”

Angel’s eyes looked haunted. “I’m willing to make it, if that’s your decision. I’ll follow your lead.”

Kim smiled wanly.

Angel’s choice wasn't a choice at all.

She understood, now. Angel had set the stage and then tricked Kim into confessing everything. Her fate had been sealed from the moment she set foot in the room. Kim couldn’t deny the desire she felt for Angel. The cravings compelled her to act.

And Angel made her admit it.

Set the pace, indeed.

Angel knew Kim would never call her bluff. Admit she wanted Angel now? Or admit it later? Those were the choices she’d been given. She dared not ignore the problem or take it lightly.

“Why would you want to leave this up to me? I like how you try to manipulate me.”

“But I wasn’t trying to this time,” Angel insisted.

“I know it’s in your nature, and I wouldn’t change it for anything. Yes, I may complain about it from time to time, but that doesn’t mean I want you to stop it. When you set me up tonight to make me want you--”

Angel was already shaking her head. “I didn’t--”

“Let me finish! When you ignored me for the entire evening, I knew you were doing it to make me want you. I knew exactly what you were up to, and I resisted. But that wasn’t enough, was it? You took it one step further, pretending you did it by accident, offering me a choice that isn’t a choice--”

“You guessed that?” Angel looked amazed.

Kim scowled. “No, I figured it out.”

“But I never imagined you’d conclude I didn’t want you in the first place.”

“Dear God, I’m explaining step three to you, and you’re still amazed I figured out step one? Give me a little credit, Angel.”

“I’m just astonished, that’s all.”

“So if we…” Kim started, then paused, looking annoyed, “Yes? You had a question?”

Angel lowered her hand. “It’s not important.”

“Just say it.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m confused. If step one was engineered desire, what was step two?”

“Step two was making me admit it.”

“And step three?”

“The choice you gave me that isn’t a choice.”

“Ah.” Angel looked properly humbled.

“We both know it wasn’t an ‘unintended consequence.’ By claiming ignorance, you compelled me to explain your own plan to you, to say out loud how much I wanted you by admitting your plan worked.”

Angel raised her hand again. “Excuse me. I don’t really understand the other choice thing you mentioned.”

Kim sighed. “Step three was trying to make me choose if I was going to say I wanted you now or if I wanted to wait until after.”

“After what?”

Kim’s scowl deepened. “You already know after what.”

“Actually, I don’t. Please explain?”

“After the...cravings…got worse.”

“Oh! I see. Thank you for explaining. That was clever of me. And step four was making you say all this? By tricking you into admitting my evil plan worked?”

Kim took Angel’s hand in her own. “I like the way you manipulate me. I love the scheming and the plans within plans. This is who you are, and I wouldn’t change anything about you. Do you think I could have admitted any of this on my own? It’s all because of you.”

“You’re giving me far too much credit,” Angel said, a tremor in her voice as she looked away.

Kim used a fingertip to turn Angel to face her. Her lovely blue eyes tentatively met hers. “For my entire life, until I met you, I never felt physical desire for anyone.”

Angel gently bit her lip. The look was so cute it made Kim’s heart ache.

Kim swallowed against the sudden lump in her throat and pressed on. “You must have felt it too, as much as I did.”

“No, I wanted you more!” Angel engulfed Kim into a hug that sent them sprawling into the couch.

Chapter Forty-Four

Kim’s mind was unexpectedly clear that morning. They were having leftover stroganoff, but she didn’t much care about that. She couldn’t stop thinking about Angel’s words the previous night.

I wanted to give you the choice, Angel had told her. I want you to be happy. She’d been willing to let Kim take the lead. The sex would continue, but only if Kim initiated it.

It seemed like an empty threat, at the time.

Yesterday evening, Kim hadn’t caught the underlying meaning behind Angel’s words. But now she understood them. The implications were clear. Angel had been willing to set aside everything she’d accomplished to date. To put Kim’s happiness ahead of her own. To sacrifice her own happiness, if need be.

And sacrifice was the ultimate act of love.

Kim knew this because John Lithgow had told her so in the movie Cliffhanger. True, he’d been playing the villain at the time, but it was John freaking Lithgow! How could John Lithgow be wrong?

She took another swig of caffeine to steady her nerves. If she were right and Angel had been fully prepared to sacrifice everything, then…

Then Angel could be in love with her.

Kim took another long drink, then twitched.

Before, it had been easy. She’d believed Angel didn’t care. That made it relatively easy for Kim to maintain an emotional distance.

But now, everything had changed. It almost made Kim wonder if Angel shaped her behavior with her in mind.

Could Angel be in love with me? What if it were true?

Kim wanted to believe it with an inexplicable intensity that surprised her.

Was Angel a better actress now, or had her feelings changed from pretending to care to genuine love? Everything pointed to genuine, but she simply didn't know. Not for certain. Kim couldn't let go of her doubt.

Now is the time to find out for certain.

Kim set her breakfast aside and gathered her resolve. “Were you serious, about being willing to give me up?” she ventured.

“Yes. Have you changed your mind?”

“I haven't.”

Angel’s hand slid across the table to find hers. Kim couldn’t meet her eyes. She felt a stab of guilt for what she planned to do next.

"A relationship is based on trust, Angel. It needs trust to survive," Kim said slowly, choosing her words with care.

"I trust you."

"No, I'm talking about me trusting you."

"Me?” Angel seemed taken aback. “What's not believable about me?"

Kim squeezed Angel’s hand, cursing the necessity of her actions. “I’ve known you for a long time, now, and...” she faltered as she thought about it.

Has it only been two weeks?

She started again. “For as long as I’ve known you, I’ve had the feeling you haven’t been…completely honest with me. Some of the things you’ve said, like your tourist job and how you said you lost your memory? They don’t ring true. And I’d like to know, is there anything you’d like to tell me?”

“You don’t trust me.” Angel’s face darkened. She pulled her hand away.

“Angel--”

"Is this a love thing?"

"Excuse me?"

"An argument could be made that I love you."

Kim blinked.

An argument could be made?

"I admit, I am not certain. Love is elusive, random, and hard to define. It sounds suspiciously like something you catch, not unlike a disease. It clouds reason. It mangles old priorities beyond recognition, and makes you emotionally reliant on the other person's happiness. I have all of these symptoms.

“A moment ago you said a relationship needs trust to survive. Perhaps it could be more accurately said love itself needs trust to survive. I understand now. You do not trust me. Because you do not trust, you cannot love me."

"That's how you say you love me?” Kim interrupted. “You analyzed it and reached a logical conclusion? Did you ever stop to consider there could be a reason why I don't trust you?"

"I have considered it. I have reached a conclusion. You’re emotionally immature. You innately distrust others, as evidenced by your shyness which is either a symptom or a direct result of it. I believe that for your entire life you’ve made a habit of avoiding human contact, preferring solitude. This conscious decision on your part to avoid others clearly stunted your emotional development. As a result, you cannot bring yourself to believe that someone else could possibly care for you and love you for who you are, despite evidence to support that conclusion."

"But...there's a reason," Kim insisted.

"You cannot bring yourself to trust, therefore you cannot love. To achieve progress, you need to overcome your trust issues."

"There's a reason, I said!"

“What reason?”

Kim opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She was stuck. What could she say?

Because I thought you were lying to me from the beginning and I couldn’t trust a single word you said? Because I knew you weren’t human and you pretended you were? Because I know you were sent here for a reason, and you claim to love me but still won’t tell me what that reason is?

Unable to tell Angel the truth, Kim glared at the table in silence.

"I've reached another conclusion,” Angel continued. “Love is supposed to be shared. I realize now I feel a certain sense of dissatisfaction after loving you. I don't feel fulfilled. I’ve come to the realization that this is because you do not love me in return. You are content to receive, but not to give."

Kim paled. She had a sneaking suspicion she knew where this was going.

"This is not a criticism of your behavior. It is an observation. Opposites attract. You're shy, while I have no sense of feminine modesty. You're paranoid and suspicious. I’m assumed to be underhanded and devious. I'm very good at pleasuring you and enjoy it. You're exceedingly bad at pretending you don't enjoy it.

"While it is true there is a certain satisfaction to be gained from having you begging for sweet release and crying out my name, I still feel a sense of discontentment after, no matter how many orgasms I give you.

"Until now, I couldn't understand it. I wondered what I must be doing wrong. Did we need toys? Should I tie you up? I did everything I could to please you, but once it was over and you were blissfully sated, I felt there was something missing.

“I now understand what it must be. It isn’t enough for me to satisfy you. You didn't love me back, Kim, and I want you to love me back.”

“Shut up, please.” Kim voice was barely above a whisper.

Angel was on her feet now. "Do you also feel a sense of dissatisfaction? Am I not attractive? After we make love, do you beg me to stop because you're physically exhausted or because you've grown tired of me? I admit, I have only recently become aware of my feelings and as a result have not been verbal in expressing them to date, but surely I have shown you by demonstration and example just how much I love you. Isn't this enough for you to trust me?"

"Shut up."

"What am I doing wrong? I'm addicted to you, Kim. You fill my thoughts. I love the way you whimper and cry out, how you writhe in pleasure and claw the air and dig your toes into the bed. I love how you touch and caress my body in return. I love the feeling of you running your fingers through my hair, the way you push me against you and gasp and moan and tell me how much you love it while I'm--"

"Angel! Shut up!"

Angel shut up.

Briefly.

"And another thing--" Angel began.

"No! Stop it! No more things!"

Angel shut up again.

"I'm sorry. I was raving," Angel said, sounding somewhat mollified.

Kim finished her drink and poured herself another one. Angel was dead wrong about her emotional development. Kim knew that for certain. A month ago, the subject matter of Angel's complaints would have killed her. Literally. It would have killed her.

But trust matters aside, Angel wasn’t entirely wrong about the...other thing. When she and Angel were together, Angel did ninety percent of the work. As for Kim, there was a lot of wandering hands and kissing. Lots of kissing.

But little else.

Okay, maybe a little bit of playing with Angel’s breasts when things got heated, but not much beyond that. Certainly nothing compared to what Angel liked to do.

It wasn't due to a lack of knowledge. Not anymore. After being shown by example more than a few times, Kim felt she had a good idea what Angel might like and how it should be done.

But it all came down to what she felt in her heart. Last weekend hadn’t been her idea. Angel had seduced her. Love hadn’t been a factor at all. Angel made it clear she only wanted her body.

Or at least, she had. Until today. Now Angel wanted more.

Kim’s expression darkened.

If Angel wanted a physical demonstration of love, she was going to have to wait.

All of this meant she needed to make a decision. There were two choices.

One, she could discuss it now. Bravely. Like an adult.

Or option two. She could take the coward’s way out. Put it off for as long as possible and hope the problem would somehow go away.

“Oh, look at the time!” exclaimed Kim. She dug out her cell phone and took a moment to look at the time, then showed it to Angel as evidence. “I need to leave for work. Traffic is bound to be bad.” Kim looked at her phone again. She frowned. “On…Tuesdays. Yes. Tuesday morning traffic is the worst. Do you think we could talk about this later?”

Angel waved a hand. “Later is acceptable,” she said, and started to leave. “I apologize for being so blunt in pointing out your shortcomings. We’ll have make-up sex after you return home.”

“Good,” Kim said, then her brow furrowed. “Wait--”

But Angel had already left the room.

Kim fumed, but didn’t go after her. “Yeah, we’ll do this later!” she shouted. “I’ll be looking forward to it! Later is just fine with me!”

Chapter Forty-Five

There was a little bit of downtime at work. Kim pulled out a notebook and stared at it. She'd be the first to admit she sometimes found it difficult keeping her facts and suspicions organized in her head, but even so, she hesitated at the idea of writing any of it down. Writing things down meant leaving a record. Leaving a record meant others could see.

She considered the problem. What about a code? She could leave out key words, code the rest, and make it so complex only she had a chance of possibly understanding it.

Angel’s words came back to haunt her. She said Kim was incapable of loving her because of trust issues, but Angel couldn’t be right, could she? Surely the fact that Kim had difficulty writing her own thoughts down without paranoia rearing its ugly head had nothing to do with anything?

Kim started writing.

Maybe just a simple code.

She started with the basics, with what she believed up until Angel’s declarations this morning. On the night they met, Angel had lied to protect herself. She used her relationship with Kim to blend in, which allowed her to focus her full attention on her dark mission.

But nothing had happened. No any alien devices. No contacting alien friends. Certainly no interest in going out to spy on the humans or gather military intelligence for her alien masters. It seemed as if Angel decided one day her old mission could go hang itself, as her relationship with Kim had become more important. It escalated to kissing and...other things. Intimate things.

Okay. Fine. It led to sex. Lots and lots of sex. The “we can't do this, we can't, oh, don't listen to me, keep doing that, oh, God, yes, yes, please, right there, oh, God, please don't stop, I love it!” kind of sex.

Kim paused and took a moment to reread what she had so far, then tore the paper into pieces, tore those pieces into smaller pieces, and threw them all away in two different garbage cans three cubicles away from each other.

She resolved to do the rest in her head.

Kim didn't care about Angel’s lies until the moment Angel said she loved her.

But is Angel still pretending?

That was the big question. It all came down to that.

From Kim's perspective, either Angel lied about her memories, or she did not. Both versions of Angel possessed zero infiltration skills. Both made up stories when needed, and both knew little more than the basics about local culture and went to the internet for more information.

The first version she decided to call Truthful Angel. This Angel didn't lie about her memory loss because it happened to be genuine. If that were true, it further implied Angel had no reason to lie later on. After all, from Truthful Angel’s perspective, she was nothing more than an ordinary human woman. No secret missions to conceal because she’d forgotten she had one.

Truthful Angel may have entered into a relationship because she thought Kim desired her, but over time her feelings had changed. Now they seemed genuine. Angel told Kim she loved her. She’d have no reason to say such a thing, unless she actually meant what she said.

Kim sat back in her chair as she pondered her conclusion. This version of Angel’s behavior made sense. She couldn’t see any contradictions beyond Angel blatantly lying about her tourist job.

The second type of Angel was the literal opposite. Deceiver Angel didn’t forget a thing but lied on that first day and pretended to forget the rest to avoid answering questions and supplying answers.

Deceiver Angel also had to believe Kim was an idiot for believing her wild stories. Despite living with Kim in close proximity, she never seemed to worry about Kim figuring things out. Only the big bad government and its agents gave her pause.

Then Angel claimed to love Kim, or, at least, she threw the possibility out there for consideration.

The first version had no further secrets to confess.

But if the second version truly loved her, then her newfound love for Kim should have compelled her to come clean about her fictional memory loss story. It was entirely possible she was still clinging to the lie because she still needed to accomplish her mission.

But Angel had reached the pinnacle of their relationship, according to her. Her position was secure. What was stopping her from confessing now?

Kim colored as the answer came to her. She’d sidetracked Angel herself, giving her something else to do. Counting the time Angel spent setting up Kim’s seduction, all of her time had been accounted for.

So why did Angel persist in maintaining the relationship?

Because of Kim, again. The woman was addicted to sex, and couldn’t get enough of her. Kim couldn’t understand what made her seem special in Angel’s eyes, but those seemed to be the facts. That line of questioning didn’t hold any further answers.

What about Angel’s secret mission, the reason why she’d been sent to Earth? If the mission existed, what would that mean?

That was easy. Truthful Angel had lost her memory. She’d forgotten the mission. By her perspective, it didn’t exist.

Deceiver Angel had been...sidetracked.

But if she hadn’t been sidetracked?

If that were true, she’d have to feel secure in her position after her success from last weekend. She’d go out and complete her mission.

Or maybe after the second night. Or the third. She was probably having too much fun.

Kim groaned and gave her forehead a thump.

Forget the stupid sex part, already! Focus, Kimmie!

Kim focused on her task, again. It all came down to Angel saying she loved her. If Deceiver Angel fell in love, she’d be consumed with guilt. Love would compel her to admit everything and beg Kim’s forgiveness. Her mission would no longer matter to her.

If Angel didn’t love her, why say it at all? What would be the benefit?

It followed that Deceiver Angel wouldn’t have said it. That meant Deceiver Angel didn’t exist. Either she would have confessed, or she’d have no reason to ‘admit’ she was in love.

That meant Truthful Angel had to be the true one. Angel really did lose her memory. And except for those glaring examples where Angel lied her ass off, Angel never lied to her. It made sense, in a twisted sort of way.

At her feet lay an empty water bottle. Kim picked it up and left for the break room. The brief walk gave her all the time she needed to fully absorb her conclusions and come to terms with them.

No more doubts. She owed Angel an apology for assuming the worst.

She returned to her desk with renewed enthusiasm.

Now, for the next item on the list.

There were people hunting Angel, and she needed to figure out what to do about them.

What exactly do I know, other than the fact that they used cameras?

Not a thing.

Okay. Focus on the cameras.

Kim sat back in her chair, thinking. Who would use them? Not the police. Cops didn't have the budget.

The government did have the finances, but only a top secret and possibly unconstitutional spy-thriller “deny our own existence” branch of the government would ever consider the possibility that someone extraordinary like Angel even existed. Such a group would have used high-tech undetectable cameras. Or at least, better concealed or camouflaged ones.

Kim minimized her work-related windows and opened up the internet browser. She picked a home security site at random and started looking at cameras, checking out what they had to offer. She spent the next hour reading comments and reviews and watching muted video demonstrations.

What she discovered didn’t surprise her. Cameras could look like nearly anything. High and low definition, motion sensitive, night vision, Wi-Fi, or any combination were possible. It all depended on what the user could afford.

Thinking of the ones she and Angel found, Kim narrowed her search to motion sensitive and night vision. The results were disappointing. She couldn’t find any that matched or were even similar to the ones Angel destroyed.

Kim tried a new angle. There had been seven cameras, total. Two were in the immediate area surrounding the clearing, three along the path, and two in the trees overlooking the parking lot. Even discounting how many other cameras there could be in any number of other sites, seven implied money hadn’t been a factor.

Kim checked the prices, again. Even the cheaper ones weren't that cheap. Such disdain for money suggested the government.

But wouldn’t they have sent trained agents? Or used better cameras? Or appropriated a spy-satellite, or something?

Sensing she’d discovered all she could from the internet, Kim cleared her internet history.

A private business could afford the cameras, but Kim had the impression that whoever owned them hadn’t acquired them earlier that day. They seemed almost generic, suggesting they’d been taken out of a storage room, somewhere.

Kim could easily imagine a company setting up cameras in dozens of locations and walking away. They wouldn’t have men watching for days on end.

She gave her chair a spin, considering. Yes, a private organization or company fit the profile.

There wasn't much she could do against a private company. Granted, she couldn’t do much against the government or police, either, but that was beside the point. What she could do was keep Angel close to home. Keep doing what she’d been doing. Give Angel a crash course on what low profile actually meant, and help her blend in. No more petty sabotage or trading in guns and cell phones for swords.

There was still that one remaining camera Kim had hidden in the weeds. Maybe she could look up its serial number, or check the local shops to see if someone bought cameras recently. The idea had possibilities.

Sooner or later, someone was going to make a mistake. She just had to make sure it wasn’t her.

Chapter Forty-Six

Since their weekend together, Kim had been expecting Angel to be lying in wait to ambush her the moment she returned home from work. As Kim estimated her chances of resisting Angel were close to zero, she’d decided to measure success based on who received the blame for it.

This was why her arms were filled with groceries. How could she be expected to resist Angel when her arms were full? Naturally, she couldn’t. The lion’s share of the blame would fall on Angel, where it belonged.

Kim was rather proud of this tactic. Not even Angel could overcome defenses that didn’t exist! True, it was likely they’d end up in bed together, hopefully in the bedroom this time, but that couldn’t be avoided. All that mattered to her was that Angel couldn’t claim credit for it.

With mounting excitement, Kim claimed partial cover behind her front door and peered inside.

The living room was empty. Angel wasn’t there.

Kim wanted to swear. Seriously? Would it kill Angel to follow through on her plans? It wouldn’t be so bad if the threat actually manifested itself from time to time. Instead, Angel’s plan seemed to rely on the stress building up from the anticipation of it, expecting her to try something each day.

Kim knew sex was a good way to relieve stress. It was typical Angel that she engineer sex to be both the cause and the cure for stress, all at the same time.

She eased the front door closed with her foot and carried her groceries into the kitchen, unable to mask her disappointment. Disappointment, because of time wasted orchestrating a defense and implementing it. She certainly wasn’t disappointed because Angel couldn’t meet her own schedule. Not in the slightest.

As she sorted out the frozen and perishable items, her mind drifted to the confrontation to come. Tonight she’d tell Angel all about how she’d guessed Angel wasn’t human. Once everything was clear, Angel would realize Kim’s reasons for not trusting her were completely justified. She’d apologize for accusing Kim of having trust issues.

After that, it was anyone’s guess what would happen. Knowing Angel and her one-track mind, it would probably involve sex.

Kim put away the frozen food. When she opened refrigerator door, what she beheld shocked her. Angel had gone shopping, she realized, but not simply for food.

Her sex-crazed girlfriend had purchased a little something extra.

Kim took a deep breath and let it out slowly. And again. And again. Each attempt failed to calm her. Finally, she snapped up the offending item from its shelf and marched off to find Angel.

Angel didn’t look up as Kim stomped into the computer room and glowered at her.

“What’s this?” Kim demanded, and gave the offending item a shake.

Angel gave the item a long, hard look, as if not certain if Kim had asked her a trick question. “Whipped cream?”

“And what were you planning on using this for? Hmm?”

“For dessert?” Angel ventured.

Kim drew back in righteous indignation. “Well, that’s just great! So I’m a dessert, now? Is that it?”

“What?”

“I know what whipped cream is for!” Kim shook the dessert topping once again. “Is sex all you think about?”

“I really don’t understand what you’re--”

Kim placed a hand on the desk and leaned into Angel’s personal space. “Did anyone see you buy it?” she hissed, her voice low.

“Only the people at the store.”

“Dear God!” Kim looked up to the ceiling and waved her arms in a ‘what the hell?’ gesture. She whirled back on Angel. “Do you have any idea how embarrassing this is?”

“Not really.” Angel pushed herself away from the desk. “So what you’re saying is, you don’t like whipped cream. Is that it?”

“Do you really think we need it? After less than a week?”

“I thought it might be tasty. It’s also a rich source of calcium and potassium. Would you be interested in hearing the nutritional facts?”

“I think we can get by just fine without whipped cream, thank you very much!"

“I’m not saying we can’t. Truly, I purchased it with the best of intentions. I was thinking of you, and thought you might like it from time to time.” Angel’s expression turned thoughtful. “You seem upset, and I’m curious. Have you never tried it before?”

“No, I ‘haven’t tried it before’,” Kim mocked. “What kind of a question is that?”

“Did you wish for me to return it?”

Kim held the container at arm’s length as she considered the question. “No,” she said with great hesitation, “you already bought it.”

“Are you saying you’re open to using it?”

Kim’s face twisted.

“Does that mean yes?”

“It means, I’m thinking about it.”

“Why not put it away for now? We can always use it later.”

Kim’s glower was back. “Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Perhaps I would. I’ve never tried whipped cream, before. Aren’t you open to new experiences?”

“You are such a sex-crazed pervert.”

Angel waved the matter aside as if she were used to such accusations. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Kim’s fingers idly traced out the lettering on the container without conscious thought. “Maybe. If you’re lucky. But only because you want it, not me,” she said, then blinked. “Wait, is that what the strawberries were for?”

“I’d already intended to purchase them, when--“

“How did you know I liked strawberries? Not that I’m admitting I like strawberries.”

“I made a guess, based on the half full carton of strawberry ice cream in the freezer.”

For a long moment, Kim she couldn’t answer. She felt a bit lightheaded. What Angel so blatantly suggested in her unique, subtle manner seemed extreme in so many ways. Kim could imagine old married couples having a similar conversation after conventional lovemaking had become routine, searching for a spark to reignite their stagnant relationship from an ember into a flame.

And Angel thought it applied to them?

“What are you suggesting?” asked Kim, more than a bit horrified at the sudden turn yet fascinated by it, all at the same time.

“I’m not suggesting anything,” said Angel.

Kim caught the verbal trick. “Well, I’m certainly not suggesting anything. Not whipped cream or ice cream or strawberries, or any combination of the three. That’s all on you, Angel.”

Angel gave Kim a long, steady look. “Okay,” she said, drawing out the word and sounding uncertain.

“I’m not against new things if you suggest them,” Kim reiterated, trying to distance herself, knowing she had nothing to do with Angel’s latest plan yet still feeling Angel was somehow maneuvering her into receiving the blame for it.

“Okay,” Angel said again.

Kim could feel her face getting hot, simply denying her involvement. “As long as it’s not my idea. Then it’s okay.”

“I believe I understand.”

“Good.”

“You’re willing to try whipped cream, ice cream, and strawberries, or any combination of the three, but want to leave it entirely up to me which combination to try first.”

Kim put her hands to her head in an attempt to keep her brain from leaking from her ears.

“Could we please drop the subject?” Kim said at last.

Angel raised one eyebrow. “This embarrasses you?”

“I’m not like you, Angel. You don’t seem to have a sense of embarrassment.”

“The topic of dessert toppings should embarrass me?” Angel attempted to clarify. “Is that what you’re telling me?”

Kim squirmed. “...Yes.”

“Is it dessert toppings, specifically? Or desserts in general?”

“Just stop talking about it, please?”

“Consider the matter dropped.”

Kim sat down in the remaining chair, placing the container of whipped cream on the floor next to her where Angel wouldn’t be reminded of its presence and bring up the subject, again. “I didn’t want to come in and start talking about whipped cream. Well, I did, but not really. I thought about what you said at work, and wanted to talk to you about my,” she paused to make air quotes, “supposed trust issues.”

“You do have them, you know.”

“What made you think of whipped cream, anyway? I know I never mentioned it.”

Angel blinked. “Did you want to keep talking about it?”

“Just answer the question?”

“As I said, it was my initial intention to purchase the strawberries. By chance, I saw the whipped cream, and was reminded of their commercials. Lately, you’ve been foremost in my thoughts, and I thought of what we could use it for.” Angel folded her hands behind her head. “I thought they looked kind of tasty.”

Thought they looked kind of tasty?

Kim became instantly indignant. “Are you talking about my breasts?”

Angel looked surprised. “I wasn’t talking about your breasts at all.”

“No, you’re always hinting about things.” Kim’s voice became high and mocking. “‘Oh, I know the relationship is barely a few weeks old, but let’s spice things up with strawberries and whipped cream.’ That sounds just like you.”

“That doesn’t sound anything like me,” Angel said, looking dubious. “Your inflection is off, for one. And you need to change the pitch of your voice to--“

“I didn’t mean literally!”

“I purchased the strawberries because I thought you’d like strawberries.”

“Don’t forget the ice cream! That sounds like fun!” Kim cried, throwing up her hands. “And what do you mean, kind of tasty? Since when?”

“Are you referring to your breasts, again?”

“You’re the one that can’t stop talking about them.”

“I wasn’t talking about them,” Angel corrected.

“No, you were hinting at them.”

“Does this conversation have anything to do with the whipped cream and strawberries conversation?”

“First of all, you admitted you were thinking of me.”

“Correct.”

“And how tasty you thought my breasts were.”

“I wasn’t even thinking about how tasty your breasts were.”

”Well, you could have fooled me, the way you…” Kim’s hands twisted, “…touch them and kiss them all the time!”

“And I sometimes wonder if you’re hoping to get milk out of mine, but that has nothing to do with our previous conversation.”

Kim drew back again. “You don’t have to be so graphic about it.”

“Earlier, you indicated I was hinting at it. Not being graphic.”

“Just stop talking about it, please?”

Both lapsed into silence once again.

Angel again leaned back in her chair and folded her arms behind her head. She glanced down at herself then looked back at Kim with a smirk. “Thirsty?”

“That’s not very funny.”

“Teasing, Kim,” she said, and her smile disappeared as if in all seriousness. "I meant, in the kitchen.”

“Just because we haven’t done it in the kitchen yet, doesn’t mean--”

“No. I meant, I’m going to go to the kitchen, as I would like something to drink. Would you like me to bring you back something to drink? As in, water?” Angel said, enunciating each relevant word.

Kim’s face burned as Angel’s meaning sank in. “Yes, please.”

Angel rose to leave. She paused at the doorway. “I’m sorry, but--“

“But what?”

“We do have milk, but I was saving it for something else.”

Kim snatched up and threw the container of whipped cream at Angel’s head. She caught it with casual ease. Her laughter echoed behind her.

Chapter Forty-Seven

“About my trust issues? There’s actually a good reason for it.” Kim accepted the glass of water and set it aside on the computer table. She took a deep breath, then said in a rush, “I don't think you're human."

Angel froze, her own glass of water halfway to her lips. She looked back at Kim, her surprise evident, and Kim watched her with her heart in her throat.

This is the right decision, isn’t it? If I’ve guessed wrong...

“What do you think I am?" Angel asked.

"Honestly? I don't know."

"And you know this…how?”

"It's just the little things that add up,” Kim said, then stood up, suddenly filled with nervous energy. She stopped at the bookcase and selected a novel at random, fingers tracing along its cover. “I don't think you need to sleep, for one. You're abnormally strong and fast. You learn skills instantly. On that first morning, I even noticed you weren’t breathing.”

"Yes. I remember that morning.” Angel looked thoughtful. “You told me you were checking out my breasts."

"I never said that!"

Angel frowned for a moment, then smiled. "You're right. You said you were staring at them. Then you told me there was nothing wrong with them.”

Kim could feel herself starting to blush, a slow heat slowly creeping over her.

Angel looked down at herself. “I suppose they are kind of nice.”

"Well, I couldn't say, ‘oh, look, I couldn’t help but notice you weren't breathing,’ now, could I?"

"And all those times since? Each time, you were checking to see if was breathing?"

Kim returned her full attention to the bookshelf.

Angel cupped her breasts and adopted her best innocent expression. "Maybe you should check to see if I’m breathing now?” she asked. “To be sure?"

"I'm glad you're so casual about it," Kim huffed.

"It is kind of upsetting,” Angel admitted.

Kim took a deep breath. Now is a perfect time to get a confession out of Angel.

“But I believe in forgiveness. I believe that if a guilty party comes clean, they deserve a chance at to be forgiven.”

“Yes, I agree. A healthy relationship is based on trust.”

“So...anything to say, Angel?” Kim asked.

“No more deception between us.” Angel nodded.

“Anything specific you’d like to say to me?” Kim pressed.

“Yes, Kim.” Angel brought Kim’s left hand to her lips and kissed her fingertips. “I forgive you.”

Kim’s brow furrowed.

“In all honesty, I don’t see what you’re upset about,” Angel continued. “True, you intentionally lied to me from the very beginning, but all is forgiven. I don’t believe you deceived me with any sort of malevolent intent.”

Kim pulled her hand free. “This isn’t about me,” she retorted.

“We can work through your trust issues together.” Angel said, undeterred. “Over time, I’m certain we can--”

“This isn’t about me, I said! And for the record, I can’t believe you’re lecturing me about trust! You lied to me, too! What about your job as a tourist? What was that, exactly? Steal as much money as you can?"

"How did you know I did that?” Angel asked, sounding annoyed.

"Wait...you did? Are you saying you did?"

The two glared at each other.

Angel broke first. "If you need to be specific, I’d say my job was a loosely based form of tourism. I took a tour of the most dangerous parts of town, taking in the sights, looking at souvenirs and gawking at the locals. Occasionally, people tried to assault me because I looked like easy prey. I fought back.” She shrugged. “Repeat as necessary. I made decent money at it. I certainly wasn’t stealing as you suggested. Eventually, I called it a day and went home.”

Angel leaned forward in her chair. “So you tell me, Kim. Does that make me a criminal, taking money from potential muggers and rapists?"

"Technically, yes."

"Robin Hood would disagree."

"Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. He was a famous outlaw. A criminal."

"What about Batman? He beats up criminals."

"True, but Batman never stole anyone’s money. And he’s fictional."

Angel spun her chair in a half-circle, looking up at the ceiling. "So what's your point?"

"Did you kill anyone?"

Angel thought about it.

She continued to think about it.

Kim tapped her foot, waiting.

“I’m going to say...no,” said Angel.

"Are you sure?”

"Reasonably sure. I didn’t check. Besides, what does a tourist with admitted memory loss know about first aid? I could have made the situation worse. Who wants to be held responsible for a botched attempt at first aid? Not me! They could turn right around and sue me."

“You still think you’re a tourist?”

“Of course not, Kim. You made me quit being a tourist. Remember?”

“Did you think you were a tourist when you were a tourist?”

“I’m going to answer that with, what in the world does that even mean?”

Kim crossed her arms. “Do you think normal tourists would act the same way you acted?”

“Oh! That makes more sense. To answer, in my judgment, I believe any tourist would act the same if placed in my situation. So yes.”

“If an ordinary tourist without your combat talents were placed in your situation, what would happen?”

Angel frowned as if in deep thought, then smiled. “An ordinary tourist would lose their fights, wouldn’t they?”

“No, they wouldn’t fight at all.”

Angel’s expression darkened. “I maintain they would fight if they acted as I did, deliberately placing themselves in dangerous situations.”

“An ordinary tourist wouldn’t do that, Angel."

“Oh.” Angel did the deep thought head-tilting thing again. “I see that point, too.”

“So you weren’t a tourist," Kim said, grinning in triumph.

“No, that doesn’t mean I lied to you. I never lied to you.”

Kim’s smile faded. “How is that not lying?”

“Because I never deviated from my role as a tourist,” Angel said, matter-of-factly. “Maybe I didn’t fit the definition of tourist in the classic sense, but I never behaved in non-touristic manner. Other than the dangerous situations I placed myself in and repeated acts of violence, how did I not act like an ordinary, average tourist? I was a tourist, Kim. That was my job.”

Kim let it go. “Fine. I kind of suspected you were doing that from the beginning, anyway.” She began ticking off points on her fingers. “Instead, you lied about getting paid, lied about having a boss--"

"First of all,” Angel interrupted, “I am my own boss, and so I paid myself, thank you very much. Second, one of them was a boss. I could tell. He was a lot tougher than the others. Better armed. The others listened to his commands. And he dropped more loot, too."

"But he wasn't your boss, he--"

"Of course, he was my boss. You think I was sharing him with anyone? I was all by myself, Kim. How could he be anybody else’s boss with nobody in the group? No one else was getting experience for my fights but me!"

"This isn't a game, Angel!”

"I admit, I didn't think of my job as a game until after you forced me to defend my position. But consider the parallels. Given this newfound perspective, any unintentional deceptions I made are no longer false.

“Technically, I can’t honestly say I never lied to you, but retroactively, I told the truth. That counts for something. In addition, I'm not lying now. All of these things are points in my favor.”

Angel crossed her arms and adopted her own smug expression while Kim ran a hand through her hair. Angel’s explanations made her brain hurt. “We’re getting off topic, here.”

“I disagree. You doubted my job. I gave you my explanation. Lies of omission aren’t technically lies at all. They’re only lies by definition, which is an exploitable technicality. It would have been nice if you had trusted me at my word,” Angel paused to give Kim a stern look of disapproval. “But since you couldn’t bring yourself to trust me despite my trustworthy nature, having never caught me in a lie before, it became necessary to clarify my position. I trust I’ve done so?”

“My point is, this entire conversation isn’t about my own supposed trust issues,” Kim reiterated with a scowl. “I thought you weren’t human, and that’s the reason why I doubted you.”

“That isn’t a legitimate reason not to trust me,” Angel maintained.

“Why not?”

“Because, I didn’t even realize I wasn’t human until after you suggested I wasn’t.”

“Okay, that makes sense and pretty much wins the argument, but this isn’t about me. You were acting suspiciously so of course I couldn’t trust you. I thought you were deliberately lying to me."

“All lying is deliberate, Kim.”

Kim’s eyes widened. “You admit it?”

“Admit what?”

"That you lied! Now, I understand. I was wrong about you. You're one of those jerk Angels!"

Angel blinked. "Sorry. I’m a what, now?"

"You must have thought I was a complete idiot, falling for those inane stories of yours! Do you know what I did at work today? I wrote it all down, trying to make sense of it. You know what my conclusion was?”

“I imagine you’re going to tell me,” said Angel, but without the eye rolling.

“I thought you were one of the good ones! I thought my Angel was honest, and that she told me the truth when she said she lost her memory.

“You invented a history because you needed one to get by. I get that. I can accept it and understand why you did it. I was even going to apologize for assuming you lied about your memory loss since your background story was so obviously made up.

“But instead, you're one of those condescending jerk deceiver Angels who thought, oh, I know, I'll just make up a story on the spur of the moment, and this stupid and clueless Earth girl will never be able to figure it out!"

"Clueless Earth girl?” Angel repeated.

"At least if you'd actually lost your memory, you'd have a decent excuse!"

"First of all, I don't feel that way. You're being excessively negative. If I told a story to you, why assume my story was horrible and you’d be an idiot to believe it? Why not assume I believed my story a masterwork of fiction, and give yourself credit for being clever enough to figure it out?”

“Then you admit you made it all up?”

“No. I said if I told a story to you. I was being hypothetical. What I said wasn’t an admission that I lied to you. I was doing nothing more than defending the definition of lying. ‘All lying is deliberate’, I said. You said ‘deliberately lying’ as if you were accusing me of another form of lying. I maintain I didn’t lie to you at all.”

Kim opened her mouth, then closed it.

Angel waited.

"Okay, I see your point." Kim admitted.

“So...not only do you think I'm not human, but you also think I’m an alien?”

Kim froze.

“And you deliberately concealed this information from me, as well,” Angel continued, shaking her head. “I’m very disappointed in you, Kim. We’re going to have so much make-up sex tonight.”

For a moment, Kim couldn’t speak. “Are you saying you know what you are?” she asked, eyes wide.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because you just finished telling me you forgot everything, that’s why not!”

Angel gave Kim a sly smile. “Actually, I didn’t remember anything until the moment you said, ‘stupid and clueless Earth girl.’ Thanks for that, by the way. But getting back to you deceiving me, how long did it take you to figure it out? Days? Weeks?"

"Seconds.”

Angel blinked. "Really?"

Kim nodded. “Pretty much the moment you said it."

“And this belief about me hasn’t wavered in the slightest?” Angel voice was insistent, as if she were hoping to confirm something. “You’ve always believed this about me?”

"Since the beginning. Never saw a reason to change it,” Kim confirmed, still more than a bit unnerved. Did Angel remember her old life? Or was she pretending to remember, going along with Kim’s assumptions about her?

But why would Angel claim she was an alien if she wasn’t one? That wasn’t a way to blend in. Was she doing it because she believed Kim would accept it?

“Are you saying I jogged your memory, somehow?” Kim wanted to be certain. “You remembered it, just now?”

Angel became evasive and looked away. “Not all of it.”

“What did you forget?”

"What kind of a question is that? How am I supposed to know specifics of what I’ve forgotten? I'll know what I'm missing when you ask me for details."

"Oh, that's convenient!"

"Really? I thought you'd be more upset about it."

"If you really do remember, maybe you could share some background information?"

"Maybe I'm one of those secretive aliens?"

"Or maybe you're making it up as you go along?”

Angel took a long drink of her water. “That’s a very cynical point of view to take, Kim,” she said at last.

“Do you think you could give me a believable background story that isn't a lie?"

"Which would you believe?"

"The truth. I want the truth."

"Fine. I'll tell you. I was one of six--"

"Not seven of nine?"

Angel narrowed her eyes. “Would you like to hear my story or not?" she asked.

Kim waved her hand. “Yes, I want to hear it. Go ahead."

"Fine. I was one of six. Our group was sent to the planet surface to rescue survivors from the previous expedition. All six of us were young, nubile, and devastatingly attractive. We knew enough about your culture to dress appropriately, so each of us wore advanced bikini-style combat armor pulled straight off the pages of your own internet, designed to stun the locals into inaction while we took the time to line up headshots.”

Kim barked a laugh.

“What is it?” Angel snapped.

“Sorry. Online gaming thing. Were you hoping for achievements for those headshots? Or trophies?”

Kim’s amusement died away as Angel’s glare became a bit more withering. She shrank back into her chair. “I’ll be quiet,” she whispered.

Angel took another drink and set her glass aside. “We were a peaceful people, but couldn't risk our more destructive weapons falling into enemy hands. That meant we needed to restrict ourselves to ordinary Earth weapons. Assault rifles, submachine guns, fully automatic shotguns and rocket propelled grenades. Nothing too extreme.

"Unfortunately, the enemy anticipated our rescue attempt. We fought valiantly, but couldn't get past their defenses. In the end, there were simply too many of them.

"Our commander was incapacitated, so I gave the order to retreat. ‘Find another way,’ I told them. ‘Our enemy doesn’t understand our true nature. They believe we’re nothing more than an ordinary roving band of well-armed, cutthroat, amazon mercenaries. Our true strength still lies hidden from them. Retreat for now! Rescue our friends another day!’

"I stayed behind to cover our escape. My sisters and I could outrun them one-on-one, but our enemies had vehicles and knew the terrain. The others needed time, I knew, and I planned to give them that time. I held them off for as long as I could, then I ran for my life.

“My path took me deeper into the wilderness. It ended at a steep cliff overlooking one of the planet’s many oceans. As I searched for a way down, I realized I hadn’t left my pursuers behind, after all. They were nearly upon me. I hadn't heard them over the sound of my own ragged breathing.

“Only seconds remained. Capture or death. Those were my only options. I looked again to the jagged rocks below. My armor would disintegrate upon my death to prevent our people’s advanced technology from falling into unauthorized hands, and this information helped ease my final decision. Our enemies would gain nothing from me. All they would find was my corpse. My only hope was that my sacrifice would inspire my people to further greatness.

"With no regrets, I flung myself over the edge. Death was instantaneous. The waves washed over my broken, bleeding body once, twice, then carried it out to sea. My life was over."

Kim watched in silence as Angel fell into a masterwork impression of a tragic hero, teeth gritted, eyes squeezed shut with tears streaming down her face. Her clenched fist shook with emotion, as if raging against the great injustice of her tragic demise.

“You died,” Kim deadpanned.

"Yes." Angel took a deep breath and wiped her eyes.

"And you’re telling me this story."

"And you don't even look upset!” Angel retorted. Her eyes were red and raw from crying. “How do you think that makes me feel? Don’t you care? I died, Kim!"

Kim poked Angel in the stomach. "You look okay to me."

After a moment, the flowing tears stopped. "Oh."

"Well?"

Angel took a deep breath, seemingly to gather strength, then let it out slowly. She met Kim’s eyes, deeply serious this time. "You probably think this directly contradicts my story, don’t you? You’d be wrong."

"No, I kind of think it does."

"No wonder you're confused."

"I'm not confused, Angel. I'm annoyed. Irritated. Upset!"

Angel held up a hand. "Any contradictions you may or may not have noticed are due to my faulty memory.”

“If your advanced armor disintegrates itself to prevent anyone else from using it, why didn’t you use your advanced weaponry in the fight?”

Angel looked at Kim as if she were an idiot. “Because, Kim! Rocket-propelled grenades are cool.”

Kim spread her hands. "Fine. Then tell me about this ocean of yours. There aren’t any oceans around here. There aren't any cliffs. We’re in flyover country.”

"Well, who says I died near an ocean? Other than me? It could have been a lake. How was I to know? It was dark that night, and I didn't see the other side. Forgive me if I mistook a large lake for an ocean. More than half your stupid planet is nothing but ocean!”

“Angel--“

Angel refused to be interrupted. She held up her hands, waving them theatrically. “Oooh, you got me! Angel was caught in a lie. Look at her, she’s such a liar! There goes all her credibility! Better not believe anything she says from this point on!"

"There is a lake fairly close by, that I know about," admitted Kim.

Angel grinned savagely. "There! You see?"

"But no cliffs."

Angel’s grin vanished, and she fell straight from triumph into exasperation. "Who says I died here? You’re not thinking it through, Kim. They must've carried my body here from wherever-it-was where I was killed."

"And how did you revive yourself?"

"Twelve regenerations to go."

"You're not a Time Lord, Angel."

"How do you know? Have you checked?"

“Time Lords are fictional.”

Angel seized Kim’s left hand and held it up against her chest. “That’s nothing more than Dalek propaganda, Kim. Don’t listen to the lies! Time Lords are supposed to have two hearts. Feel my second heartbeat?”

Kim closed her eyes. She felt a blush coming on. “That's your breast, Angel.”

Angel shifted her hand. “Here?”

“Still your breast. And is there a reason you’re not wearing a bra?”

“Yes. Bras are annoying. Try the other side. And give me your other hand so you can check for both heartbeats at the same time.”

Kim pulled her trapped hand free. “Dammit, Angel, you're not going to seduce your way out of this! Just tell me the truth!"

“Why would I make up a story that isn’t true?”

Kim blinked. “Oh, that’s easy. You have an excessive desire to blend in.”

Angel gave her a long hard look. Kim smiled back at her.

“I have a what, now?” Angel asked.

“An excessive desire to blend in,” Kim repeated.

“You’re going to have to explain that one.”

“It’s simple. If you can’t answer a basic question about your background that you feel you should know, you’d rather make up something on the spur of the moment than say ‘I don’t know.’ It makes you feel safe. You should know that information, after all.”

“Okay…” Angel’s tone was dubious.

“If you’re ever forced to say ‘I don’t know,’ then obviously the story isn’t real.”

“That doesn’t explain your innate distrust of everything I say. Instead, it makes it look as if you’re justified in not believing me.”

“Oh, please.” Kim waved her hand. “If you said anything truthful, I’d believe you.”

“Let’s test that theory. I think you’re beautiful, Kim.”

Kim’s face showed surprise, then happiness, but was quickly followed by suspicion.

“There. You see?” Angel held up her open hand. “Less than five seconds. Five, and you’re already suspicious. There’s literally nothing I can say that you’ll simply accept at face value. Even when I confirm something you know to be true, you automatically suspect it because I’m the one saying it.”

Kim was already shaking her head. “No. That’s not true.”

“You wouldn’t trust me even if I handed you proof.”

“If you gave me proof, of course I’d believe you."

“Earlier you said you didn’t trust me because I was concealing my true nature. But that isn’t true. You don’t trust anything I say.”

Kim threw up her hands. “How in the world did you reach that conclusion? The fact that you never admitted what you really were is the entire reason why I didn’t trust you. I thought you were deliberately concealing your true nature."

“Yes, yes, because I’m an alien and I’m hiding that from you, you said. Why would concealing that be catastrophic? Do ordinary people automatically tell strangers everything there is to know about themselves when they meet for the first time?”

“Of course they don’t, and yes, that’s a very good point, Angel. But my point is you don’t have to make up a history you think I’ll accept."

“You think my background story is made up?”

“Of course it is!”

“Well, I happen to like my background story,” Angel replied haughtily, folding her arms. “Why won’t you believe it?”

Kim’s face went ashen. A horrible truth she hadn’t realized until now hit her like a thunderbolt.

“Kim?”

“All you want is for me to trust you,” Kim whispered. “Is that it?”

“Yes. I want you to trust me.”

It all became clear. The reason behind Angel’s behavior.

Angel didn’t have a history. She never did. There was no master plan. No secret alien agenda. None of it. Her life effectively started less than three weeks ago. Angel wasn’t concealing anything and she never had. All she’d retained of her previous life was a pressing desire to blend in and a nameless fear of the organization which hunted her to this day.

All Angel wanted was a background Kim would accept, and that was the reason why Angel accepted Kim’s premise so easily. Because Angel knew Kim accepted her as an alien.

It all made sense. Kim confirmed Angel’s theory herself, telling Angel she never doubted the idea of her being an alien. Not for an instant. Angel thought she’d found a perfect way to obtain Kim’s trust. Angel needed that trust, because ‘love needed trust to survive,’ and she wanted Kim to love her in return.

And then I ruined it for Angel, accusing her of making it up.

Kim’s fists clenched.

I caused this. It’s all my fault. Of all the worst things that could happen, this is the worst possible thing!

Angel yearned for Kim to believe her, to trust her without question. In fact, she wanted Kim’s trust so desperately it became impossible for her to settle for a simple story. She couldn’t help but push the story just a little bit further, hoping to make it sound more plausible, not realizing that adding those extra details rendered the entire story unbelievable.

That meant Kim had a choice to make. If Angel’s background story meant so much to her, couldn’t she accept it, for her sake? Even if she’d never believe it?

Angel’s background stories became real, for her. Her job as a tourist? Not a lie. Angel lived her background. Her new history as an alien scout? Angel embraced her new persona, and Kim didn’t doubt she would defend it against all challenges.

Should she pretend to believe it? Or would it be better to convince Angel to abandon her story?

Kim made a mental note to be careful in the future. To never say anything Angel could adopt and use to make her fake background look more legitimate.

“Kim, are you even listening to me?”

“Sorry, what?”

“What makes me unworthy of trust if I don’t choose to share information?”

“I thought you lied about your memory loss, too, remember? And as far as I knew, you were also keeping your mission a secret from me.”

“Which mission was this?” Angel fell into her curious expression.

“Who knows? You never did it. Obviously. But that didn’t stop me from watching for it.”

“What was I supposed to be doing?”

“I assumed it must be a scouting mission for whatever galactic empire you work for. You were sent to evaluate Earth’s defenses before calling in the troops and starting an invasion.”

“How many galactic empires are there supposed to be?”

“In science fiction, hundreds. Perhaps thousands. In real life, there aren’t any. At least, none that anyone knows about.”

“And you thought I was working for one?”

Kim didn’t answer right away. One finger traced the edge of her water glass. “I suspected it,” she murmured.

“Why?”

“Because I thought you were an alien, and that’s the way my mind works. I knew you weren’t human, and I suspected. That’s why I took you home."

“Don’t forget, you were also attracted to me.”

Kim rolled her eyes. “Oh, yes. That, too. Almost forgot that one. I could barely resist keeping my hands off you.”

“Actually, you couldn't resist keeping your hands off me. That first night in the shower, we--”

“That’s a figure of speech, Angel. And I only did that in the shower with you because you didn’t have a clue it was wrong. Wait...”

“This is by far the longest argument we’ve ever had. The make-up sex tonight is going to be absolutely amazing."

“Angel!”

“What? We’re going to, aren’t we?”

“Well, um...yes. Probably.”

“About what I said about my background...”

“Your background story doesn’t matter to me. I’ll tell you I believe it, if it makes you feel better. But it doesn’t change anything.”

“I want you to believe me, Kim. Really, honestly, legitimately believe me."

“I get it, Angel. You feel a need to make something up to explain your history. I get that. But accepting a background story isn’t a matter of trust."

“Then we disagree.” Angel turned away. She brushed her hair back over her shoulder.

Kim sighed. “I suppose we do.”

“You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

Kim’s fingers began to play with the armrest of her chair. “If we're done arguing, then there’s the matter of that...other thing.”

“What other thing?”

“The thing you were talking about a few seconds ago?”

“Make-up sex?” asked Angel, her words sounding infuriatingly like a guess to Kim.

“Yes. That.” Kim scowled fairly close to Angel’s general direction, unable to meet her eyes. “Don’t pretend you didn’t know."

“I’ve noticed that whenever you hint in such a manner, you’re usually thinking about sex.”

“You’re the one who mentioned it. Not me."

“Yes, I understand.” Angel scooted her chair closer. “So, you were thinking about sex with me. Did you have a question?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way,” Kim groused.

“Looking forward to it?”

“No!”

“Counting on it? Anticipating? Awaiting with bated breath?”

“Listen, Angel, I thought that since we’re going to do it anyway, maybe we could...do it now...instead of…later.”

“If you’d rather not wait until tonight, you could simply ask, you know.”

“I’m not the one in this relationship with the excessive sex-drive."

“Hmm...” Angel tapped a forefinger against her chin. “I trust you have a reason you’d rather do this now?”

“It doesn’t have to be right this minute now. I was just thinking, if we did this early, we could still get in a good night’s sleep.” Kim looked up, then away. “I don’t want to look exhausted at work tomorrow and have everyone making guesses about me.”

“If guessing upsets you, we could tell them,” suggested Angel.

“I’m not upset because they have to guess.”

“We have four hours until we normally go to sleep. What about dinner?”

“Why don’t we try for two hours and see how it goes?”

Angel looked pleasantly scandalized.

“Two isn’t excessive,” Kim cried, outraged. “Dear God, that’s half of what you said. You’re the one that suggested four!”

“I meant four as in, four total. Four to work with. When did you want to eat?”

“Forget about dinner, okay? I don’t care about food. It’s always been secondary with me.”

Angel smiled at that and reached out her hand.

Kim colored, guessing what Angel was thinking. “I don’t mean to compare the two. I mean, I do like food, just not as much as...ah...”

“I understand.”

“I don’t mean food is secondary to sex. I’m not comparing them. I meant to say I don’t like food as much, which...isn’t what I meant to say, either.”

Angel nodded sagely.

“I like food just fine. Just not as much.”

“You said that already.”

Chapter Forty-Eight

Kim detected a noticeable spring in her step as she walked down the hall. She quelled it as soon as she realized she had it. She tried not to think of details. Details would only make her blush.

Nothing like...a good night’s sleep.

Yeah, that was it.

“So, any plans for... ” Kim stopped at the kitchen threshold and stared. The kitchen countertop was positively cluttered with ingredients for some yet-to-be-identified dish. There was an open bag of brown sugar, a carton of eggs, baking soda, for some odd reason, and other items she couldn’t readily identify. And…Kim sniffed the air. Were those cranberries?

“Angel, are you cooking something?”

“It should be done within three minutes,” said Angel, standing at the open refrigerator door. She withdrew a quart-size container of milk and held it up for Kim to see. “I didn’t use it all. There’s a little bit left. Would you like it?”

Kim crossed her arms. “Yeah. That’s real funny.”

Angel returned the milk to the refrigerator. “Baked oatmeal.”

“What?”

“I’m responding to your ‘cooking something’ question. Baked oatmeal. I found a site that listed oatmeal recipes for breakfast. The recipe I’m using had four and a half stars.”

“Oatmeal? Are you crazy? You used my oatmeal? Did you check and see when it expires?”

“I checked. Both one-minute oatmeal and five-minute oatmeal last for two to three years.”

“How old was mine?”

Angel became instantly evasive. She fidgeted, her hands making noncommittal gestures. “I’m going to guess…less than two to three years? This was the most popular recipe. But don’t worry. This one doesn’t include whipped cream. I’ve decided it embarrasses me.”

Kim lost a second. “What?”

“I implied I have other recipes, but nothing involving whipped cream or desserts. I’ve decided they embarrass me.”

“Hold on.” Kim held up a hand. “Since when do you get embarrassed by anything? And desserts embarrass you?”

“Especially dessert toppings. Those are the worst.” Angel shuddered theatrically.

As if sensing Kim wasn’t buying it, Angel drew herself up to her full height. “Is there a problem?”

“You can’t just arbitrarily decide to be embarrassed about things on your own.”

“Why not?”

Kim didn’t have an answer why not. “Because!”

“I’m sorry. Many things about Earth culture still confuse me.”

“Yeah, about that…” Kim pulled out a chair and sat down, facing Angel.

And I was in such a good mood, too.

“What are you going to do about this background of yours? Any plans?”

“Nothing substantial.”

“No plans about finding proof?” she pressed.

“I confess, I have no ideas on how to go about it,” Angel admitted.

Kim found herself nodding in agreement. If Angel never remembered anything of her past life, that would be just fine with her. Let the past stay buried. If Angel remembered, she might decide her old life was more important to her, and may not want to stay with her.

Love doesn’t always conquer all. Angel has a good life, here. Best not to risk it.

“However,” Angel continued, “it stands to reason that I’m not alone. I can’t be the only one. There must be others. If I could find one and talk to him or her, surely they could--“

Kim leapt to her feet so quickly her chair fell over backwards. “What?”

Angel rolled her eyes. “It stands to reason that I’m not--“

“Why would you want to do that?”

“I told you this, yesterday,” Angel said, her voice curt.

“And I told you, you don’t have to do that!”

Angel cocked her head. “Is this an argument? Are you setting us up for make-up sex again?”

“No, I’m not setting us up for damned make-up sex again, this is about,” Kim paused, “Wait, what do you mean, again?”

“I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m the one behind it all. Oh! Oatmeal’s done.” Without bothering with hot pads, Angel opened the oven door and took out the pan. The aroma of something filled the air. It almost smelled like oatmeal, but not quite. A little too sickly sweet for oatmeal.

Angel set down the pan and selected a steak knife out of the silverware drawer. With one hand on the food and one on the knife, she pressed down on the handle, gently but firmly.

The knife went nowhere.

Undeterred, she put her full weight behind it, gritting her teeth, pushing harder. Kim sought partial cover behind the wall dividing the kitchen from the living room.

After several long seconds with no progress, Angel jerked the knife free. She began sawing at the mass of oatmeal lengthwise. Kim peeked out, and then, sensing the danger had passed, returned to stand at the kitchen’s open doorway. “You’re not actually planning on looking for proof, are you?”

Angel kept sawing. “I don’t foresee a problem.”

Kim stepped forward. An urge to hug Angel from behind swept over her, but she settled on placing a hand on Angel’s shoulder, instead. “Please, don’t. You don’t need to do this.”

Angel paused in her efforts, looking back in surprise. “It would be inefficient to eat baked oatmeal without cutting it into manageable pieces.”

Kim felt a flash of irritation. The hand on Angel’s shoulder tightened slightly. Kim made it relax through an effort of will. “I’m talking about your background.”

“Oh.” Angel resumed her task. “I need you to believe me, Kim. Proof is needed. Without proof, you can’t believe me. Without trust, you won’t be able to love me.”

“I told you, I don’t need proof.”

“I don’t understand why you don’t see the logic.” Angel turned and gestured with the knife, ignoring the bits of oatmeal that fell to the floor. Kim quickly stepped out of range. “You yourself have insisted on the truth.”

“Have you thought about what would happen if you found one of these aliens? Or if something jarred your memory, somehow?”

“I don’t understand why you’re against me finding out more about myself.”

“Because you can’t possibly know what you’ll remember.”

“Irrelevant. I need proof,” Angel insisted.

Kim looked away.

Why can’t Angel see it? If she uncovered her true history, she risked everything. Her life here. Her entire future. Everything!

Angel says she loves me. Why in the world would she want to risk that?

“It might help if I discovered more about my purpose here. I admit, my memory remains unclear, and I’m still uncertain who my old bosses were, but they must have sent me to Earth for a specific reason. Naturally, I have no intention of going through with their plans--“

“What about the rescue mission?” Kim interrupted.

“My rescue mission fits seamlessly into my expanded history,” said Angel. “The original reason why we were sent to Earth in the first place remains unclear. I’d still like to know specifics.”

Where in the world did Angel get these ideas? “Are you crazy? I don’t want you to find out anything.”

“Then we’re in disagreement.” A piece of steaming not-quite-oatmeal came loose. Angel picked it up and transferred it to a plate.

“You really want to go through with it?”

“I don’t see another way.”

Kim returned to the table and leaned against it, her head sunk in misery. “This is my fault.”

“Which part?” Angel asked, but Kim wasn’t listening. She attempted to sink into her chair, realized it was lying backwards on the floor, and set it up right before sinking into it with a groan.

I should have pretended to accept Angel’s story. Instead, I put the idea of aliens in her head. Now she wanted to prove her lies were true, whether the evidence existed or not. All to build trust.

“As I said, I’m uncertain how to go about finding proof. I’m open to options,” said Angel.

“Can’t you stay inside?” Kim’s voice was barely above a whisper.

Angel paused in her attempts to carve off another section. “How is staying inside more efficient?”

“Just...I don’t know, watch some movies, or something. If you’re tired of books, try something else. Television, maybe.”

“Not television.” Angel waved the knife. “Television bores me.”

“So watch some DVDs, instead,” Kim said. She raised her head and pushed herself away from the table, feeling the first glimmer of hope. “Stay home and watch movies. I’ve certainly got enough of them. More than enough. But, please, stay home? At least for today? Promise me that much, at least?”

Angel looked dubious, but she nodded. “Very well. If you think I should.”

“Do you promise?”

“For the entire day,” Angel agreed. “I’ll take your suggestion.”

Kim breathed out a sigh of relief.

One crisis averted.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Kim gently pushed the door open, her senses on high alert. Twice before, Angel failed to meet her at the door. That meant she was overdue to try something today.

Angel’s stress plan had been easy to figure out, but the details of how Angel intended to implement it didn’t make a lot of sense. The first day, Angel came up with a lame, make-up sex ploy, and perhaps she could be excused for that. But on Tuesday, Kim had to go looking for her. They’d ended up in bed for a completely unrelated reason.

Angel had been deliberately avoiding seducing her, hoping to build up stress, then seducing her anyway each night without a care for her original plan. It remained a mystery to Kim why Angel continued to maintain a schedule she continued to ignore.

Today was bound to be different. Kim saw the pattern. She wasn’t one to be lulled into a false sense of security.

The living room scene which greeted her seemed deceptively calm. Angel sat on the couch, looking relaxed. A half empty glass of water sat at her side. An old episode of the Disney cartoon Kim Possible played on the television. To an ordinary person, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

But Kim was no ordinary person. To her, the warning signs were there for anyone to see. Angel’s casual manner. Her vaguely puzzled look in response to Kim’s wary scrutiny. The fact that Angel had yet to say hello.

Kim began sorting through her junk mail, feigning disinterest. Would Angel try something this time? Or put it off, like before?

Angel pushed herself to her feet and paused the DVD. “How was work, today?” she asked.

Kim shrugged. She finished sorting the mail and then started over from the beginning. Her actions were casual. Nonchalant.

“I’ve taken your advice, and I’ve something to show you,” Angel said. She took a few steps toward the entrance to the hall and paused, half turned, her mannerisms indicating without being blatantly obvious that Kim should follow her.

“Oh?” Kim kept her expression carefully neutral. “Where?”

“The computer room.”

Kim stopped sorting. Angel wasn’t going to try anything, she realized.

Surprise gave way to irritation. Kim suppressed an urge to growl. “The computer room,” she repeated dryly. “The computer room. Really?”

“Yes,” said Angel. “I have something to show you.”

Kim’s hands clenched rhythmically and junk mail littered to the floor, mangled beyond recognition.

Angel wasn’t going to try anything.

Again.

“Is something bothering you?”

“Yes, something’s bothering me,” Kim hissed. She tossed the remnants of the mail aside and folded her arms. “Why aren’t you on schedule?”

Angel blinked. “What schedule?”

“What do you mean, what…“ Kim started, then her eyes widened. “I see! That’s it, isn’t it? You don’t have a schedule, do you? But you knew I was expecting you to be on one.”

“You expected me to be on schedule,” Angel repeated. “What schedule?”

“Long-term gratification means ‘later that day’ for you, doesn’t it? True long-term stress doesn’t interest you,” Kim mused.

“The computer room…” Angel made another half-hearted gesture.

“I get it, now. Very clever, Angel. You didn’t sabotage your own plan at all. You knew that I knew that you…wait,” Kim looked up at the ceiling, thinking for a moment, then smiled. “You knew that I knew that you knew I was expecting it as soon as I got home each night.”

“Expecting it?”

Kim didn’t fall for the verbal trap. “Not wanted. Expected. I expected you to try,” she corrected.

“Are you referring to sex?”

Kim didn’t answer. She was reeling over the implications of what she’d discovered. Clearly, Angel hoped to seduce her each day when she got home…but only infrequently. She planned to build anticipation and desire, all to make it effortless to seduce her that night.

Angel’s plan was nothing more than a variant of last Monday’s ‘engineered desire’ scheme. She knew Kim expected something each day and forced her to wait in order to generate stress. By holding off, Angel hoped to reap the benefits that night, without lifting a finger.

Kim shook her head in awe and amazement. A short-term plan that required Angel to do absolutely nothing. An advanced seduction technique, fueled by the mere threat of its implementation.

A masterstroke. Flawlessly executed. Almost perfect.

Almost.

Kim gleefully rubbed her hands together. Anticipation. That was the key. And its one, fatal weakness. Without anticipation, Angel’s plan had no strength. Without the tension which resulted from expecting something to happen while being denied, it had no power.

And that’s where I need to strike!

Kim rounded on Angel and pinned her against the wall, kissing her with everything she had. All the pent-up desire. All the stress of anticipation, waiting and waiting for Angel to do something and her inevitable disappointment and frustration at each delay. All the passion she could muster and more.

The kiss unmade all of Angel’s carefully laid plans. With this kiss, Angel would learn, to her sorrow, Kim was not one to be manipulated so easily.

Kim gave it ten seconds before breaking away, taking full advantage of her newfound ability to resist and avoid falling under Angel’s sway. Any longer, and she risked losing herself.

“That was…unexpected,” Angel breathed, once it was over.

Kim grinned and danced away, hands locked behind her back. The dawning realization and wonder in Angel’s blue eyes, that she’d been beaten at her own game, made her victory all the sweeter.

“Does the kiss mean you wish to make love, now?” Angel asked.

Kim blinked.

And just like that, all of her achievements were stripped away from her.

“What?” she managed.

“If you’re embarrassed and would rather I took the lead…”

“That’s not it,” Kim blurted. “I just wanted…”

Would a simple denial work? Could I claim I just wanted to relieve stress?

“…to say hello?”

“A hello kiss? As in, the goodnight or goodbye kiss?”

Kim hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah.”

“I see.” Angel took a moment, as if figuring things out. “I hadn’t realized. I’d completely forgotten about it.”

Kim jerked. What?

“It never occurred to me to meet you at the door each time you returned home from work. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. It’s a good idea. We should kiss hello each day, from this point on.”

“Wait…”

“And you kissed me. Usually, it’s the other way around.”

“Look, call it a hello kiss, if you want. I didn’t want to be stressed. Waiting for… tonight.”

“I believe I understand. You mentioned how you expected it each day, upon your return from work?”

“Not every day. Listen, don’t get me wrong. I’m not expecting us to have sex all the time, but I was expecting it.”

“Instead of right now, could it wait until tonight?”

“Of course, it can wait!”

“Good. For now, there’s something I wanted to show you. I’ve begun working on my background.”

And there was the second shock of the day. “You did what?” Kim demanded.

“I’ve begun working on my background,” Angel repeated.

“Angel, you can't just create evidence to make your stories--”

“I have begun to discover more about my history,” Angel interrupted, “not manufacture it.”

Kim’s stomach clenched. “But…how? I thought you didn’t go anywhere today. You promised me you wouldn’t.”

“You suggested I should look to your DVDs for inspiration,” Angel corrected her. “I never left the building. Naturally, there wasn’t enough time to review your entire collection through conventional means, so instead I found summaries and opinions of each and compiled a list. From what I’ve been able to determine, and without going into specific examples, I’ve concluded that aliens who wish to conquer Earth do so using only two means. Openly or discretely.”

“Um.”

“The first are painfully obvious about it. They might study Earth’s defenses, but honestly, given their technological advantages, I was unable to determine a reason why they would bother.

“The second type are excessively sneaky about it. They have a plan in mind to assume control of the entire planet, but it takes time and effort to implement. They also possess superior technology, but prefer to work behind the scenes.”

Kim felt like someone had kicked her in the stomach. Her hand sought the wall to steady herself.

Angel took note of Kim’s distress. “Kim?”

“This is all my fault, isn’t it,” she whispered to herself.

“Fault implies blame. You’re not to blame for anything. But you are directly responsible for my success. As there is little I can do about the first group, I’ve decided to focus my full attention on the second.”

Kim couldn’t answer.

“Are you interested in what I discovered?”

“Just tell me.”

“Competition,” said Angel.

“Excuse me?”

Angel took her hand, and Kim found herself being led into the computer room. Angel sat in the comfy chair and booted up the computer, then called up a document on the word processor.

Kim looked closer. The document was nothing more than a list of twenty or so names, matched by dates and places.

“Working on the assumption that I am not alone,” said Angel, “I’ve decided to look for others working from the shadows who might be attempting to fulfill a hidden agenda. I achieved partial success. I found competition.”

“Did you remember something about your mission?”

“No.”

“Then, why?”

“You suggested I should have one. I went looking for it.”

Kim groaned. “But I never wanted you to do that.”

"Why wouldn't you? It's part of my background."

“Because it’s a stupid idea! Listen, Angel. Did you ever stop and think what would happen to you if you did remember?”

“What I recall of my history is far from complete. I need a complete background in order for you to believe me. If you’re unable to trust me, you won’t be able to love me.”

“If you remembered your past, you’d remember old loyalties, too, wouldn’t you? You’d remember why you were sent here in the first place.”

“How is that important?”

“It’s important because your old feelings of loyalty could be far greater than what you feel for me. You said you loved me, but if you remembered your old life, you may not want to stay with me, anymore. Why would you want to risk that?”

“I don’t believe this to be the case. Love is supposed to be the strongest emotion there is. It makes a person emotionally reliant on the other person's happiness. It supersedes other priorities. It allows the afflicted to break the rules and motivates them to do things that may be considered emotionally irrational or simply flipped-out insane.”

What in the world has Angel been reading? “You’re wrong, Angel. Love isn’t the strongest emotion. What about fear? Fear is stronger than love. A person could be in hopelessly in love, but fear of the unknown or fear of rejection keeps them from saying anything.”

“Fear isn’t a concern of mine.”

“That’s just an example. For some reason, you’ve got a hyped-up over-inflated idea of what love can do. Love doesn’t conquer all.”

“I disagree. My love for you is stronger than any old loyalties I may or may not have.”

Kim’s jaw clenched. She knew Angel was wrong, but didn’t know how to say it. She had seen it countless times in science fiction stories throughout the years. Romance was always a secondary subplot. Always. Without exception. Any deviation would be called romance and would instantly lose all scientific credibility.

Captain Kirk would never give up the Enterprise to stay with the woman he loved. They shared their time together, but inevitably, they said their goodbyes and he left. The love he felt was never strong enough to sway his final decision. Kirk would have a brand new love interest by the very next episode.

Granted, there wasn’t much of an ongoing storyline in the days of the original Star Trek, but the message was clear. Who was that girl Kirk fell in love with, you’d ask? Did anyone remember? Of course not. Only the fans would know, and they’d called it trivia. That unfortunate girl would never be mentioned in the series again.

Kim had a fair idea what romance and true love was supposed to entail. If the main character abandoned the girl in favor of their career, it wasn’t romantic at all, no matter what the episode synopsis called it. It wasn’t even close to being romantic. In fact, it kind of sucked!

Kim wanted to rage against the injustice of it all. If only Angel wasn’t an alien, and this wasn’t a science fiction story! If theirs were a romance story, Angel’s old loyalties wouldn’t stand a chance!

What if Angel remembered her past and left her, believing Kim still didn’t trust her and therefore couldn’t love her and never would? She’d follow Captain Kirk’s example. No one would remember poor Kim, unloved and forgotten, abandoned by the wayside. Certainly not Angel. She’d find a new girlfriend by next week’s episode!

This is all my fault! I was the one to set Angel on the dark path of self-discovery. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t insisted Angel tell the truth!

“What are you going to do?” Kim asked. She swallowed against the dryness of her throat.

“Investigate further.”

“I don't want you to. Listen, I don't care about the stories. I never did. They're a part of you, and I wouldn't change it. I like you just the way you are.”

Angel smiled wanly. "No, you don't. You always insisted on the truth."

It hurt Kim to have her own words echoed back to her. “The truth doesn't matter.”

“Any further information I may recall is instantly rejected or, at the very least, called into question. I’d like to include you as an active part of the discovery process so there will be no doubt. I want you to trust me.”

“I do trust you.”

Angel gave her another condescending smile, clearly not taking Kim seriously. "No, you don't, Kim. Not completely.”

“Angel--”

"Would you like to hear what I discovered?"

Kim didn’t. She didn’t want to hear any of it, but she found herself nodding anyway.

“As I said, I’ve discovered competition. In the last several months, prominent businessmen, scientists, and politicians were reported missing. All were found within three days of their disappearance. No ransom demands were made. The police made no arrests. Each claimed they left voluntarily.”

“And?”

“And the matter was quietly dropped.”

“So?”

Angel frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry, but, so what? Who cares? I remember how Senator Hawthorne walked away from his job a year ago. It was all over the news. You couldn’t get away from it. Nobody could find him for days, but when they finally did track him down, it turns out he wasn't kidnapped, after all. He told everyone the pressure from his job was getting to him and he had to get away for a while.” Kim shrugged. “That’s it. Nothing ever came of it.”

“I didn’t know about Senator Hawthorne, but he fits the profile. I believe he was taken and replaced.”

“You're talking conspiracy theories, Angel. Conspiracy theories aren't real. People sometimes find random facts and point to them as evidence of a higher power or a group of well-placed individuals manipulating events from behind the scenes, but nothing ever comes of it.

“Besides, what were they replaced with?” Kim spread her hands. “Even if these aliens had exact replicas of the abducted standing by and ready to go, replacements couldn't know their friends and family or their jobs. How could they fit in?”

“I wish to clarify,” said Angel. “When I said replaced, I meant, mentally altered and then replaced. Put back where they were found, in other words. They may or may not have a conscious memory of their abduction.”

“Why? Why would anyone do that?”

“To fulfill their master plan, whatever it may be. Businessmen for financial support, laborers to provide labor, scientists to provide insight on humans or culture or to assist in building something locally, politicians to sponsor projects then shift the blame to their political adversaries and pretend they were innocent bystanders all along when those policies fail.” Angel shrugged. “There could be others. Perhaps the politicians were taken simply because their alien abductors assumed they held value?”

“That sounds pretty thin.”

Angel only response was to add Senator Hawthorne to the list.

“Did their behavior change?” Kim asked.

“I've only just begun my investigation.”

“And you think whoever took them away could be,” Kim’s face twisted into a grimace, “friends of yours?”

“Possibly.” Angel shrugged. “I won’t know for certain until I find them, and perhaps, not even then. At the moment, I'm only uncovering evidence of their presence.”

“What makes you think they have anything to do with you?”

“For one, I believe they have the ability to manipulate memory.”

Kim blinked. That was new.

“If these people were abducted and quietly replaced, this would prove the aliens have the ability to selectively erase or modify a person’s memory. I believe I was one of them. It’s possible I have this ability, myself. I could have used it to erase my own memory to prevent interrogation upon capture. My former allies also could have done the same to me, were I incapable.

“If true,” Angel continued, “it fully explains how my memories literally started only a few months ago.”

“Weeks ago,” corrected Kim.

“Weeks ago,” amended Angel. “This also explains my extraordinary nonhuman abilities.”

“That doesn't matter,” Kim insisted. “You don’t have to do this. You have a new life, now. You're here. You’re here with me.”

“That life is guaranteed a limited future. You cannot trust me as I am. I need to recover my missing memories, Kim.”

“No, you don't,” Kim was getting desperate. “Please, listen to me. What if you do find these aliens? You think they'll let you stay with me? No, you’ll be given new orders and off doing what they want you to do. Why risk it? I thought you were happy here.”

“I am happy here.”

“How would you find them, anyway? You can't just wander the streets looking for them.”

“That won’t be necessary. I am also being hunted by an unknown group of humans. They know or at least suspect what I truly am. At the very least, they should have more information than I do. I'll find them, instead.”

“That's worse!”

“It is the logical choice. They’re looking for me, as we speak. If they find me here, at your home, you'll be taken, too. That's why I need to go alone. I intend to leave tomorrow.”

Kim’s face went ashen. “Go alone? Tomorrow? That's your plan? Are you saying you want to be captured?”

“My hunters are the only source of information. I’ll learn more about them and keep you safe, all at the same time.”

“No. This is stupid!” Kim wanted to scream with frustration. “I don’t need a believable background story from you and I don't want you to remember!”

“But it's who I am," Angel insisted once again. She held up a hand before Kim could object. "I'm not going to lose my feelings for you, Kim. No matter what. They won’t change. I won’t go back to my old life. I want you to trust me. Trust in my love for you.”

“Why risk it?” Kim demanded once again.

“You tell me you’ll accept my story. But with your next breath, you tell me you can’t believe I’ll still love you if I learn who I am?”

“Yes, because you can’t possibly know what you’ll remember. If they can manipulate memory as easily as you say, who’s to say they can’t implant some kind of irresistible compulsion in your brain to force you to obey? Right now, you're free of it. Free of it, Angel!”

“I don’t--“

“You think they have the answers?” Kim gestured at the heavily curtained window. “Why take the chance? You’re risking everything for the opportunity to prove your love for me is stronger?”

“Your argument strengthens my position. If I risk everything and prove my love is stronger, that sends a powerful message you cannot doubt. Even without the physical proof I seek, surely such an example would overcome your trust issues. You’d know for certain I love you above all else.”

“Dear God, I don’t have trust issues!”

“Are you saying you fully believe my background story?”

Who would? “Your background story doesn’t matter to me. How many times to I have to keep telling you that?”

“You insisted I tell the truth--”

“That was before,” Kim interrupted. “Forget about what I said before. Today, I’m telling you it doesn’t matter.”

“I want you to love me in return. That’s all that truly matters to me. I want you to love me, too.”

Kim looked away, suddenly uncomfortable. She’d hoped Angel wouldn’t bring it up.

Yet it all boiled down to that, didn’t it? Nothing else mattered. Angel wanted Kim to love her as she loved Kim.

But for Kim, that single, meaningful act was simply beyond her. She wasn’t driven by lust and desire the way Angel seemed to be.

Kim squirmed in her seat as she thought about it. Not that I feel desire to do that, of course. Because I don't! Thinking about what it would be like once or twice hardly constitutes desire.

Yeah, but what if we called it a really intense kiss? Angel certainly seemed to enjoy--

Kim closed her eyes, her fists clenching.

The inner voice took the hint and backed off.

But all of that was beside the point. Kim had more immediate concerns. Namely, how Angel could possibly think that getting herself caught was a good idea.

“So you’re leaving tomorrow,” Kim stated. “Alone. Do you have a plan?”

“Of course.”

“And?”

“It’s a good one.”

Kim wanted to swear in frustration, then she realized nothing was stopping her. “Tell me the damned plan!”

“I’m sorry, but no. The less you know, the better.”

Kim’s glare intensified. “You’re not going to tell me?”

“Correct.”

“At least tell me something.”

Angel appeared to be thinking about it, then relented. “I plan to extract as much information as I can from the people hunting me. If any of it jars my memory, so much the better, but I do not anticipate this happening. I also intend to sabotage their work and destroy their ability to find us before escaping.”

“Do you know where they are?”

“Not a clue.”

“Do you remember how you escaped the first time?”

“I remember a fire, but not much else.”

“So, you intend to be captured.” Kim ran a hand through her hair. “Deliberately. Have I told you how stupid your plan is?”

“Twice. You also implied it several times. Your arguments haven’t changed my decision.”

“And you insist on doing it alone.”

“Yes.”

“Alone.”

“Yes. Tomorrow morning.”

“Why wait until tomorrow?” Kim replied hotly. “What’s stopping you? You should leave right now.”

For the first time, Angel’s mask of indifference slipped. “Kim--”

“No. Just go.” Kim turned away. “I can’t stop you and my opinion obviously doesn’t matter to you.”

“It does matter. But we disagree.”

“I don’t want to hear it. We could have handled this problem together. But you’d prefer to do this on your own, wouldn’t you?”

Angel’s eyes cast about as if searching for something to say. Then her features hardened into steely resolution. She left without a backward glance, and Kim felt her heart stop.

“Maybe someday I’ll even see you again, but don’t count on it!” Kim called out after her, trying to hold onto her irritation. Angel wouldn’t give up that easy, she reassured herself.

Don’t let her leave!

No. She’s bluffing. She has to be.

Kim held her breath. Listening. She heard the front door open. When it closed again, Kim didn’t even blink. Then she drew in a ragged gasp of air and all the strength in her legs left her all at once. She sank to the floor.

No. Angel didn’t leave me. She couldn’t. She’ll be back. She has to come back.

But her heart knew the truth. Angel wasn't coming back.

Through an effort of will, Kim pulled herself into her chair and sank into it. The computer’s screensaver went off. She slapped the keyboard with more force than was necessary and it went away.

This wasn’t her fault. Angel had been determined to leave, no matter what. Nothing Kim could have done would have changed that. Kim didn’t throw her out, so how could it be her fault? She’d merely shifted the time frame. Angel chose to leave on her own. This was all Angel’s fault for not listening to reason.

If Angel had listened, none of this would have happened.

Kim drew up her legs and hugged herself into a ball. Her eyes were beginning to sting, again.

This wasn’t her fault.

So why do I feel so terrible?

Angel didn’t understand. She refused to. This wasn’t a one-shot storybook romance. The hero and romantic interest weren’t guaranteed to fall in love and stay together despite the odds. This was grim reality at its finest, and in real life, there were no guarantees.

Even being in love didn't guarantee happiness. Half her friends from high school claimed to have been in love two or three times each, although Kim privately believed they were more in lust than love. Wasn’t love supposed to last? To endure? That’s what all the songs said.

Why did she have to go?

Kim steadied herself against the desk. Angel may have said she loved her, but clearly she didn’t value her opinion. She thought love was all anyone needed, which made a novice like Kim look like an expert in comparison. Love wasn’t that strong. Angel gave the emotion too much credit. Without prompting, Angel had decided out of the blue Kim was her one and only. But today, she’d proven it meant nothing to her.

And now Angel was gone. Off to be captured and begin her life as a test subject for some nameless corporation or private organization.

She should feel relieved it was over. Now she could get back to her old life. Reading books. Playing video games. Not having sex two or three hours out of every day. Everything would return to the way it was.

So what if Angel said she loved me or not? She probably doesn't even know what love is.

Kim at least had a passing familiarity of what love meant, having read numerous stories with a subplot of romance. But Angel only had a couple of books and whatever she found off the internet to based her opinions on. And video games, for some odd reason.

Kim even had proof to back up her claims. If Angel truly loved her, she wouldn't have left her. That proved she didn’t love her. They should have been able to find a way. Together. Love should have compelled her to stay.

Let Angel do what she wanted. I don’t need her, anyway.

I don’t.

Chapter Fifty

Kim had a dream that night, one that stayed with her beyond her first waking moments. She stood with Angel in the parking lot outside her condominium building. A nondescript moving van was there, its long ramp stretching to just short of the building’s security door. Three movers were loading all of Kim’s belongings into the van, one after the other.

The movers were unique in that each carried only one, specific item at a time. The item could be small, a lamp or a chair. Other times, a single individual would bear the weight of an entire bookcase or table.

Each mover’s pace was unhurried, but in retrospect, each accomplished a staggering amount of work in a short period of time despite never working as a team. Each would leave the van empty handed, wander into the building at a slow walk, then emerge literally seconds later in possession of something new.

To Kim, the unbroken, continuous line of movers was eerily reminiscent of the resource gathering, real-time strategy game StarCraft. The difference was, these movers weren’t mining crystals or vespene gas. They were mining her house!

As it turns out, mining Kim's home was not only a lucrative business venture, it also reaped an immediate financial reward. Now there were four workers wandering to and fro. Less than half a minute later, a fifth appeared. Each new addition stepped out of the van and strode inside the building with the same unhurried air of nonchalance as those before them.

Kim never once questioned the absurdity of the situation, but she didn’t feel an abundance of control, either. Instead, she felt like a spectator. She couldn’t quite stop herself from looking about, apprehensive at the possibility of a Zerg rush.

Angel’s calming presence relaxed Kim, somewhat, but she couldn’t entirely dismiss her fears.

"I'm sorry, Kim,” Angel was saying. “Now that I remember everything, they won't let me stay with you.”

The news wasn’t unexpected. Kim understood the reasons behind it, and shrugged in answer. Running a successful invasion was next to impossible when your troops were busy having hot, lesbian sex with the enemy. Such things were frowned upon. People would talk.

"Why can't you support the invasion from here?" Kim asked.

"I'd like to. You know I would, but they won't let us do what we want.” She idly waved a hand. “Evil empire, and all that."

One of the movers walked past carrying Kim’s refrigerator. She looked at it mournfully. She liked that refrigerator. It was a shame to see it go. "Do you have to take everything?"

"You gave me everything when you invited me into your home. Don't you remember?"

Kim remembered nothing of the sort, but she didn’t argue. All of her chairs, one by one. The microwave. Her dishes in a box marked dishes. Her kitchen table. Her kitchen sink.

"I'll always treasure the time I spent here,” Angel continued. “I was alone, and for the longest time I couldn't remember my ultimate purpose to subjugate your people and enslave your entire planet. You gave my life new meaning. While I was with you, I felt love for the first time in my life. I was happy."

Angel took her hand. Their eyes met. Kim could hear sad violin music playing in the background. "I never knew love before I met you. You gave me that."

"I don't remember agreeing to this," muttered Kim, but didn't attempt to pull her hand away. Angel was taking everything she valued, but here and now, at this moment, she didn’t much care. All that mattered to her was the feeling of Angel's hand in her own. She felt at peace.

Several of the movers had stopped at the entrance to Kim’s building. The last of them had finished loading the van. They joined their fellow empty-handed brethren and simply stood there. Their work was done. Nothing remained of Kim's life to be taken away.

"I guess that's it," sighed Angel. She stepped in front of Kim and pulled her in for a kiss.

Kim jerked back and used both hands to push Angel away. "Stop that! They're watching us!" she cried, and shot a nervous glance at the movers. None of them were paying attention.

"I don't care about them. All I care about is you." Angel tried to kiss her once more and again, Kim pushed her away.

"Well, I care. Stop trying to embarrass me."

"Kim, this is literally the last time I'll ever see you. Can’t I at least get a goodbye kiss?"

Kim stepped out of range, ignoring the flash of pain in Angel’s eyes.

Angel fidgeted, taking a moment as if gathering courage. "One last thing. I'd like you to give me your heart."

"Why not just take it?" Kim replied bitterly, spreading her hands. "You've taken everything else. There's nothing left."

"It needs to be given voluntary."

"No. I don’t trust you. I need it."

"I've already given you mine."

Angel’s reply was met with stony silence.

"Sometimes our imperial agents become overburdened with too much emotion," Angel told her sadly. "They become sympathetic to our enemies. When it becomes too much for them, they can have those memories erased, if they desire it.”

Kim crossed her arms. The pain in her chest didn’t lessen. “So?”

“If you give me your heart, I can promise you that this will never happen to me. I’ll treasure those memories I made with you. I'll keep them safe. I won't ever forget you, and I'll always be thinking of you."

Kim said nothing.

"But if you leave me like this and I can’t deal with the pain, eventually someone will notice. I’ll be made to forget. They’ll take my precious memories away from me. Everything. Every last bit. It will be as if we never met, and I want to remember you, Kim."

"If you really loved me, you wouldn't be a part of this invasion force."

Angel stepped forward with a fervent light in her eye. "Then give me a reason to resist them," she said.

Kim blinked in realization. "Oh, so that's it, is it? Either I tell you I love you, or else you'll become a willing soldier in their empire?"

"Nothing that dramatic. Love me, give me a reason to fight them, and I'll stop the invasion before it even gets started. We can save everyone."

"Nothing that dramatic?" Kim scoffed, incredulous. "That's more dramatic. And what if you succeed, Angel? What then? I'll be a hero. Heroes are famous. They'll talk about me!"

Angel fists were clenching and unclenching at her side. "I think you're missing the point."

"I'm feeling kind of trapped, here."

Angel threw up her hands. "Oh, do what you want. You always do."

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Angel ignored her. She waved to the four helicopters hovering above the four corners of Kim’s building. "Take it away, boys!"

Each helicopter had a cable leading to each corresponding corner. At Angel’s signal, they began their ascent. The cables pulled taut with an audible snap, and the entire building slowly lifted into the air. Dust and debris rained to the ground.

Kim turned to see Angel halfway to the moving van. "So that's it, then?” she asked, hurrying to catch her. “You're just giving up? Running away? Don't you still want my heart?"

"It doesn’t matter. I don't care anymore.” Angel eyes were wet with unshed tears. The driver’s side door creaked loudly as she opened it. “Do what you want with it."

Kim couldn’t make her take that final step. She stopped, just out of reach. Her heart yearned for her to take it, but she didn’t dare. "Do you...”

“Do I what?”

Kim couldn’t keep her hands still and finally put them behind her back. “Do you want yours back?" she asked, her voice a whisper.

Angel paused, the door half open. "No. I gave my heart to you. I love you, Kim. And I'll always love you, until the day they catch me and rip the memories out of my head. Then I won’t care.”

“I don’t want you to forget me,” Kim blurted.

“Then come with me,” Angel said, and stretched out her hand. "Take a chance, Kim. Come with me, and we can make a new life together."

Kim's breath caught. "What?"

"I said, come with me, and we can make a new life together. Honestly, Kim, you really should have your hearing checked.”

"I can't do that! I have friends here!" Kim exclaimed, waving her hand at the movers. None of them were her friends but they made good examples of friends. That kind of friendship meant something, didn’t it? Friendship was magic, and all that nonsense.

How could she leave? She couldn't leave! What would people say about her after she was gone?

“I think it’s a good offer,” said Angel.

"Are you kidding me? You’re asking a lot. I have a nice boring life here.”

“But you’re not happy. Throw it all away and come with me. We’ll have lots of sex, find a nice home wherever you want, and have even more sex. We’ll raise some half-breed kids, they'll misbehave, I'll blame you and your inferior Earth genes--”

Kim’s eyes widened. “Kids? I don’t want kids. Kids are annoying!”

Angel threw up her hands. “So forget the stupid kids! Just tell me you love me and come away with me. Excitement, adventure, and really wild things!”

Kim took a step back while trying to make it look as if she hadn’t taken a step back. “Yeah. About that. You want me to tell you what, now?”

“Tell me you love me,” Angel repeated, her eyes narrowing dangerously. “That’s all I really want.”

“What about the constant sex?”

"Constant sex isn’t what drives me. My behavior is entirely influenced by your expectations of me. Haven't you noticed? It’s been that way since the beginning."

"Oh, please! That's not true."

Angel cocked her head as if listening. “We’re out of time,” she said, her voice insistent. “Tell me that you love me. Say the words.”

“Out of time? You’re saying there’s a time limit on this offer? You’re kind of backing me into a corner, here.”

"It's six-forty."

“What are you--”

Kim jerked awake to the shrill sound of her alarm buzzing incessantly on the floor. She silenced it and rolled back to stare at the ceiling.

A dream.

Angel was gone.

A wave of sorrow swept over her. It gripped her heart and squeezed.

Kim turned to look at the empty space where Angel used to be. She reached out, gathered her pillow into her arms and took a deep breath. There was nothing. Other than the faint smell of shampoo, there was no discernible scent. Nothing unique.

How could I never notice that Angel didn't have a distinctive scent?

Kim tossed the pillow aside. She was denied even that.

What is wrong with me?

There had to be a reason for it. She wasn't in love. Why did she miss Angel so much? All her life, Kim never craved companionship, or friendship, or anything. She’d certainly never felt lonely. She didn’t need anyone.

She didn't.

Her eyes found the empty space again.

I just don’t know what went wrong.

Kim tried to make sense of it in her head. There had to be a reasonable explanation. Surely missing Angel meant just that, she missed her. If her feelings felt a trifle strong, maybe on the edge of debilitating, surely it was due to the fact that Kim never had a friend like Angel before. Even Angel could see it. Kim was a typical antisocial, introverted, self-centered individual. A product of her generation. She never had any desire to make friends.

In any event, Angel was wrong. Kim did have friends. Just not many. At least three reasonably close friends at work. More elsewhere. None of them shared multiple common interests, but each shared at least one. Admittedly, they weren’t close friends, and if one left the room Kim more or less forgot about them and found other things to do, but that still qualified them as friends. Didn't it?

In the last two weeks, Kim never thought about calling them up to share information or even considered going to them for advice. But that was nothing new. The habits of a lifetime were hard to break, even assuming Kim wanted to break those habits in the first place. Which she didn’t.

Okay, friends were a bad example. Kim didn't share her close, personal thoughts with Angel, either, but it was obvious Angel was more than just a friend.

Doesn't 'more than friends' imply something more meaningful, Kimmie?’ her inner voice asked.

Kim’s mind rejected the idea. Surely the only reason Kim slept with Angel and couldn’t stop thinking about her was because Angel tricked her into it and got her to agree to it. Multiple times. The only other reason was because sleeping with Angel happened to feel really, really good. That’s why she missed Angel! She missed the sex. Admittedly, the best she ever had.

Technically, the only sex she’d ever had, but that didn’t matter. It still qualified as the best.

That must be it.

Except that wasn't it, either, Kim realized. Sex was more Angel's thing.

Angel was persistent. That was the reason. Kim couldn't envision herself wanting anything without something to get her started. She was the exact opposite of Angel, who delighted in finding underhanded ways to get Kim thinking about things before springing the trap and pretending to be oblivious to having anything to do with it, the minx.

So if it wasn't friendship or sex and it couldn't possibly be love, what was it?

Obviously, it couldn’t be love because of...reasons. If Kim were in love, she never would have said those horrid things to Angel that drove her away. She’d also be more upset. Instead, she’d fallen asleep instantly last night, after a mere two or three hours of lying awake, staring at the ceiling. She’d only dreamed about missing Angel. Surely dreaming about someone didn’t signify any sort of emotional attachment.

Kim wasn’t heartsick or anything. That pain in her chest was...something else.

Before leaving forever, Angel wanted to torment her one last time. Angel said she was doing it out of love and said she wanted to protect her, but clearly Angel only sacrificed herself for Kim’s safety because she thought ‘the ultimate act of love was sacrifice’ and wanted to get one last shot in. Just to piss her off.

Kim glared at the ceiling. The ceiling held no answers.

Maybe she simply missed her?

Kim considered it, then smiled. Yes, that was it! She missed her! Nothing more. She missed Angel, and was worried for her safety. Nothing more and nothing less.

Perfect!

That settled it! After work, Kim was going to find Angel. She’d rescue her and get her back and tell her what a jerk she’d been for leaving her, because that’s what friends did, dammit!

She didn’t need a stupidly romantic reason to go after Angel. All she needed was a generic reason. Kim valued friendship above all, and would have risked life and freedom for any of her close friends if it wasn't too much trouble.

That was it. Good enough. End of story.

It was a mere coincidence that the person Kim was deciding to rescue today was a beautiful woman, sexy as hell, who said she loved her and did her best to have sex with her whenever she thought she could get away with it. Which was pretty much all the damned time.

Kim was doing this for her own reasons, and not because of love. Friendship taken to the extreme. If Angel thought it was sappy and romantic and meaningful for her to go up against armed guards with nothing but a pressing desire to get her friend back, well, that was Angel’s problem, not hers.

Kim looked at the clock again. 6:48

She smirked, then threw off the covers and vaulted out of bed.

Why wait for tonight?

Chapter Fifty-One

Kim parked in the convenience store parking lot as far from the store and its cameras as possible. That morning she’d broken a personal record dressing and getting ready, but if her hunch paid off, it would be worth it.

If Angel’s first victim had recovered and staggered home, Kim would have nothing. But if someone noticed the man lying unconscious in the parking lot, they would have called for help. That meant police.

The police would have questioned the store clerk. Ideally, the clerk would ask questions of his own. As the attack had happened late at night, that person would have worked the graveyard shift between midnight and eight in the morning, and could be at the store right now.

The door chimed as she stepped inside. Kim ignored the clerk and his greeting, giving him a druid stare as she passed, a look perfected in the online game Everquest. This wasn’t a look so much as an attitude, wherein druids would race past and pretend not to notice people begging for the highly sought after spirit of the wolf travel spell. Kim similarly pretended not to hear, picking up chips and helping herself to the soda machine.

Once secure in her guise as an ordinary, paying customer, Kim checked out the cashier. She recognized him as a college student, barely a year or two out of high school. A plan formed in her mind. All she needed to do was ask about that first night, without sounding overly interested.

"Hey, your name is Kim, right?"

Kim stumbled to an ungraceful halt.

"I'm sorry, what?” Kim stared back, trying to conceal the surprise in her voice.

The clerk gave a half smile as he leaned up to the counter. “It’s Kim, right? You introduced yourself over two months ago.”

Kim remembered nothing of the sort. “Oh, yes. I remember now,” she lied.

His smile widened. “Yeah, thought it was you! Saw you with that girl the other night."

This time, Kim couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice. "What? How could you? We didn't do anything!"

"What?"

"We just went up to the top of the hill then came back down. That's it!"

He continued to stare at her.

"What do you think you saw?" Kim demanded.

"I didn't see anything."

"That's right. Because we didn't do anything."

His face broke into a sly grin. "Were you going to do something?”

"None of your business!" she yelled, then blinked. "Wait, were those cameras yours?"

"Huh? What cameras?"

Kim gestured wildly at the window with the hand not holding her precious caffeinated drink. "The ones on the hill. Were those yours?"

"Listen, I don't know anything about any cameras. You were here the other night, but when I checked again, your car was gone. I just wanted to ask about your girlfriend."

Kim’s mind raced with several emotions before finally settling on a mix of disbelief and stunned resignation. "Oh, God, she is my girlfriend, isn't she? She really is."

"What makes her so important?" asked the clerk.

Kim turned her face away to hide her blush, grateful there were no other people in the store. "We'll, she's beautiful and…"

Don't say passionate!

"…ahh, focused, and a bit of a romantic in an illegal sort of way. She's smart, clever, and I think honest but I’m not really sure, and...and..."

Her breath caught. The knife twisted in her chest again. One hand braced against the counter to steady herself.

And she’s gone. She left me.

"No, I mean, what makes her so important? As in, why are there people looking for her?"

Kim snapped back to reality. "What?"

"Why are there people looking for her?" the clerk repeated.

"Tell me about them."

"It's just one guy, actually. He acted like a cop, but we had our doubts. Turns out his identification didn't pan out."

"What did he do?"

"First he came in with a picture, an actual photograph, not a sketch artist picture, asking if this girl came inside the store. That was a couple weeks ago. Your girlfriend, right?"

Kim knew she was blushing, but she smiled. "That's right. She's my girlfriend," she told him, smiling with pride. She felt a curious form of giddy detachment, as if someone else was saying the words and not her.

Maybe her subconscious had finally taken over.

"This guy wanted to review the tapes. Normally, we're not allowed to look at 'em, but he insisted. He had us call the manager to get permission. About an hour later, he asked about you. Specifically, you."

"Me? Why me?"

"Not by name. The guy picked you out as a regular. He seemed to know you came out to look at the stars, sometimes. You had that telescope."

"You told him my name?"

"Only your first name.” He held up his hands, backing away. “I’d seen you once before with the telescope, then you came in to buy something and used a card. Maybe you got gas. I don’t even remember what. I looked at the card and remembered your first name, that’s all.”

“You told me I introduced myself.” Kim glowered.

The clerk had the grace to look embarrassed. “Yeah, what do you want me to say?” he asked after a moment’s hesitation. “It gets boring at night. Saying you introduced yourself sounds lots better than me saying I remembered it from a card.”

“I see.”

“Important thing is I told the guy you introduced yourself, and that’s how I got your first name. He seemed to buy it.”

Kim felt herself relax. "Not a problem. Don't worry about it," she said, realizing how lucky she’d been. Whoever Angel’s hunters were, they didn’t seem very thorough. A professional would have tracked her and found Angel within hours. "Anything else?"

He shrugged. "No, not really. So what's this about, anyway?"

"You said he acted like a cop?"

"More like a security guard with too much power. You know the type? Give some people a gun and a badge and suddenly they're pushing people around. More like a Fed wannabe than a cop. This guy acted arrogant, made demands. He showed up after the cops did."

"What did he look like?

"Hell if I know,” the clerk snorted. “Just a guy, you know? It was the middle of the night, but he never took off his sunglasses. Maybe he thought it added to the overall FBI image, but now I’m thinking he didn't want his picture taken."

"You said cops showed up? What did they want?"

"The cops were before. Some guy, beaten up in the parking lot.”

“And…” Kim prompted.

“And what?”

“What were they asking?”

He shrugged half-heartedly. “I got the impression they were just going through the motions. The victim was an asshole and his friends are assholes. They asked if anyone saw anything, glanced at the tapes to see what they covered, then figured everything happened off-camera and went home. The guy was unconscious, so he wasn’t talking.” He shrugged again, then grinned. “They might want to give whoever did it a medal.”

“So the cops don’t suspect the girl?”

The clerk perked up at that. “Why? You think she had something to do with it?"

Kim ignored the question. "Did you tell them anything about me?"

"Who? The cops? Hell, no! Wouldn't even if they asked. Besides, the cops were here for the parking lot guy."

“So, tell me everything that happened that night.”

He sighed. “It goes like this. Some random asshole gets beaten up. Paramedics take him away. A couple cops eventually come in later that night and look around, ask if we saw anything. We say no. They give up pretty easy and go away.

"About an hour later, the imposter cop shows up waving the girl's photograph around. He doesn’t care about the parking lot guy. He's all about the girl. Did we see her, he’s asking. No one did because she never came inside.

“Anyway, he’s not happy about that, and insists on looking at video from days before. We get permission. Few hours later, he picks you out as regular. He leaves. Later on we find out no one's ever heard of him.

"Fast forward to the other night. I look out the window and see you standing there with the exact same girl from the picture. The two of you go up the hill…" He made quote marks with his fingers. "…and didn’t do anything," he finished with a smirk.

Kim’s face started to burn. The clerk winked at her and laughed.

"I'm leaving now.”

"Then you show up this morning, and now we're all caught up! So you’re saying she beat the guy up?"

"Yeah. I guess she did."

The smirk was back. "And you took her home and made her your girlfriend?"

Kim tried to glare, but her irritation seemed to feed his amusement. "Not at first."

His grin widened. "That is so cool. I can’t wait to tell the others what’s going on. You've made my year. Free drinks, anytime you want ‘em. Bring the girlfriend next time!"

Irritated, Kim snapped up her food and drink and started for the door.

He held up a hand. "Wait. You mentioned cameras?"

Kim looked back, one hand resting on the door.

“Cameras, right? You were asking about cameras?” he tried again.

Kim turned away from the door.

Guess I owe him something. "Yeah. Someone hid them all along the path leading up the hill and in the trees.”

His eyes twinkled. "You think there's some good, high quality video of you and the girlfriend not doing anything in the moonlight?"

The clerk's maniacal laughter followed her outside.

Kim was halfway to her car when she snapped back around. Fuming, she threw open the doors. "For your information, we didn't do anything because those cameras were everywhere!"

The man nodded solemnly, without a trace of amusement. "I see,” he said evenly. “Yes, that would have stopped me, too. Thank you for clearing that up.”

"But we weren't going to, we didn't, I wasn't planning on-"

His serious expression broke into a smirk and degraded into uncontrollable giggles.

Only years of believing in the sanctity of caffeine kept Kim from throwing her drink in his face.

Kim returned to her car, her mind was once again racing with the possibilities. At least now, she had more information. The clerk’s words convinced her Angel’s hunters were nothing more than private citizens working for a company with limited resources, and that made them safe. These people were nothing more than amateurs. They may play with guns and might be intimidating in packs, but they wouldn’t have the skills necessary to back it up. They’d do amateurish things and make amateurish mistakes.

That meant Kim had an edge. Unlike other people, Kim had spent decades watching action movies, playing roleplaying video games, and reading a hell of a lot of books. She’d gone through hundreds of rescue simulations in her lifetime, educating and familiarizing herself on likely scenarios and every possible outcome.

All of this gave her the confidence she needed to know that somehow it would all work out for her in the end. She was the good guy. The hunters were the bad guys. This may not be a romance story and she wasn’t an action hero, but none of that mattered anyway because she was still going to win.

But first things first. She needed to recover that undamaged camera they'd hidden.

All high-priced electronic devices had serial numbers. Those numbers could be traced. Kim didn't have a clue how to do it herself, but she knew it could be done. That was enough for her. To unlock this secret, all she needed to do was take a page out of Angel’s hint-guide and look up how to do it on the internet. Child’s play.

The other cameras had been destroyed Monday night. This was Thursday morning. Those cameras weren’t designed to constantly transmit, which meant someone needed to come out from time to time to physically pull and replace the memory cards in order to review their data elsewhere.

If it were up to her, she’d check them at least once a day. Someone must know they’d been destroyed by now.

Hopefully, they’d assume their prey wouldn’t be stupid enough to come back to the scene of the crime. That was a nice hope to cling to, now that Kim realized all at once she had been stupid enough. She’d even made it easy for them, standing next to her locked car doing nothing while she thought it through and realized what a convenient trap she’d just walked into.

Fortunately, her adversaries were even bigger idiots. If they were out there watching, they might assume Kim was setting a trap for them, waiting with her engine running to jump in and flee at a moment’s notice, all to get a license plate and track them down at her leisure.

Kim unlocked and started her car, just to make it official.

Nothing.

Seeing as she wasn’t caught yet, she took a chance and ventured out into the weeds. She found it right where she’d thrown it, cold and slightly damp from the dawn of the new day. The morning sun offered more than enough light to read by. She examined it for a serial number.

There wasn’t one.

Kim turned the camera over and over, searching, becoming more and more frustrated.

Still nothing. Not even a stamp to indicate the manufacturer.

A custom job? Who custom makes their own cameras?

And this one had a memory card, Kim noticed, which didn’t make sense. She’d taken all of the memory cards and erased them, herself.

And it was powered on!

A vision of Admiral Ackbar flashed in her head. “It’s a trap!” he cried.

Kim needed no further prompting. She hurried out of the weeds, but had only taken two steps onto the concrete when an unmarked white van swerved into the parking lot and braked to a stop directly into her path, tires squealing in protest.

For a moment, Kim simply stared, gaping in surprise, the camera clutched tightly to her chest. The sight of the van had shaken her confidence, but then her inner strength and innate ability to deny reality in the face of all evidence boosted it right back up again. She'd predicted a trap, and she’d been right. She knew all along there was nothing wrong with her skill at detecting traps.

Too bad she lacked the reflexes to avoid setting them off.

Kim blamed Angel for this. Angel had shown her that falling into traps could be downright pleasant sometimes.

Wouldn’t it be nice if I had the foresight to set up my own cameras? Then I might have a record of my abduction so the next set of rescuers could find me and…wait a moment…

Kim looked down, and grinned. She did have a camera!

After verifying it was still on, she set off at a walk, angling towards the van’s blind spot. Given her luck this morning, she half expected someone to jump out of the vehicle and cut her off, but the way remained clear. Kim slowed only to make certain she’d picked up a decent shot of their rear license plate as she passed.

A door opened behind her. She quickened her pace.

"We'd like you to come with us,” a male voice said.

Kim stopped. Slowly, she turned in place, making sure to sweep the camera’s field of vision over the van and the two men staring back at her. Then she pulled the camera back to her chest, as if clinging to it for comfort.

They looked young, perhaps in their twenties, but both looked out of shape and didn’t seem intimidating in the slightest. Both wore dark sunglasses and the same off-grey shirts and dark pants, but the outfits didn’t look like true uniforms to her. Their mannerisms suggested “security guard.” The fact that Kim hadn’t yet been muscled into the van reassured her they weren’t government agents.

Neither had even pulled a gun. That was almost insulting. She could probably make a run for it and get away clean. Her car waited with its engine running.

No. They had Angel.

She wouldn’t run. Angel had been taken away by these men, or by faceless minions just like them. Angel had a plan for breaking out, even if she hadn’t shared it with her. These men offered her the best chance for seeing Angel again.

“Come with us, please,” the tall one said once again.

Kim gave him an incredulous look. "You're kidding. You're kidding, right? You expect me to get in a van with two strange men?"

"We're looking for a specific woman, and we know you've had contact with her."

"Oh, please,” Kim snorted. “You already have her locked up somewhere."

The two men exchanged glances. "Would you like to see her?" asked the shorter one.

"I'm not going anywhere with…" she started, then stopped. "Okay."

They looked at each other again, which confirmed Kim’s suspicions. As it was with old married couples, the security guard mind-link was direct line-of-sight only. She filed this information away for later use, should it ever become needed.

Kim used her nonexistent sleight of hand skills to pull the memory card out of the camera and flicked it behind her in a hopefully unnoticed manner. The two men didn't react, and Kim suppressed a grin of triumph. She'd gotten away with it.

At least now she had an insurance plan of some sort if things turned south. Her co-workers would notice when she didn’t show up to work that morning. Eventually, they’d grow concerned. Police would be informed.

Probably on Monday, given her luck.

Regardless, eventually someone would come looking for her. They’d find the car with the engine running and, hopefully, the memory card in plain sight next to it. One of their brilliant detectives would cleverly put it all together and she’d be rescued by next week. With any luck, he wouldn’t throw her in jail immediately afterwards for changing her license plates.

The two men stood aside as Kim approached the rear passenger side door. She turned to the shorter of the two and held up the camera. "I'm sorry, but does this belong to you?"

The man gave a slight nod.

Kim gave him a disarming smile, then hit him over the head with the camera as hard as she could. The man crumpled soundlessly, like a marionette thrown to the ground by an impatient and frustrated amateur puppeteer who lacked the skills necessary to make it behave as shown on television.

“That’s for spying on us, you jerk!” she cried. A pleasant warmth spread throughout her body. It felt good to finally take direct action. Maybe she was an action hero, after all? Action heroes always dropped the lesser minions with one hit.

The minion’s partner pulled a gun.

Kim’s smile wilted and faded.

She raised her hands high into the air, then raised them a bit higher before dropping the obviously expensive camera with a smirk. This seemed to annoy the remaining minion, which cheered Kim right back up again.

“Get in the van,” the man ordered, and waved the gun in a manner that might have been threatening if Kim weren’t immune to subtle hints and petty concerns like imminent danger and certain death.

Kim ignored the gesture. The man was holding the gun close to his chest. This implied he was worried she might suddenly spring into action and use some advanced martial arts technique to kick the weapon away from him should he dare venture too close. Kim was no more of an expert on guns than the man seemed to be, but even she knew enough about firearms to know that this was not the way to hold a gun properly if he had plans on using it.

Only action heroes favored the unrealistic one-handed grip with high-powered handguns. This man was using his weapon as if it were a magic wand, as if waving it around would make people magically obey him.

This confirmed Kim’s theory. Like the goon bleeding at her feet, he was nothing more than an amateur.

"Get in the van," he demanded again.

Kim tried not to smile. She knew what was coming. Any second now, he’d go for the whole dramatic “pull back the hammer” bit to show how dangerous and deadly serious he was.

She held her breath. Wait for it…

The man pulled back the hammer with an ominous click. "I said, get in the damned van!"

Kim opened the door and stepped inside.

Amateurs.

Chapter Fifty-Two

The van was a later model, designed for cargo rather than comfort. It had two seats, allowing two to sit comfortably in the front and up to four uncomfortably in the back, which was nothing more than an open area. The vehicle itself was clean enough, well maintained despite its age. The carpeting had a few bare spots which looked like battery acid spills to Kim, suggesting the van’s primary use involved the transportation of spare parts. Certainly not people.

The shorter minion staggered into the van. He slumped against the van’s wall opposite Kim and slid down it, glaring slightly to the right of Kim’s actual location. The taller one climbed into the driver’s seat, and placed the camera in a worn cardboard box at the passenger’s side floorboards.

Neither bad guy had a gun on her, now. Kim didn’t know if it was arrogance on their part, or stupidity, thinking that they had her sufficiently cowed into submission. Her hands weren’t bound, and neither goon asked about the memory card. Kim wondered if they even noticed it was missing. They also didn’t bother checking her identification or looking at her car’s registration for her address. Her car was left running in the parking lot.

In the movies, such blatant disregard for details suggested a second team which would “clean up” and gather this relevant, useful information at their leisure. Looking at these two men, one nursing a head wound and the other impatient to drive away, Kim was guessing it simply hadn’t occurred to them.

Kim was prepared to lie, to weave a clever work of fiction that couldn’t be doubted, but neither one seemed interested in finding out more about her.

Perhaps they were clinging to their “security guard” personas?

Kim could see it now. Their boss only wanted to talk to Kim, and so sent a couple of goons to pick her up and arrange the meeting. Nothing sinister about that. Two friendly security guards just offering a ride. Their plan might've worked, too, except for the part where the tall one pulled a gun on her.

"What's your name?" asked the short one in the back.

"Kim Rowland," Kim said, then winced. Damn it!

"Is Rowland spelled with a W?"

"I'm not going to spell it for you!"

"Probably a fake name," muttered the driver.

"Now, why would I do that?” Kim asked, loud enough for him to hear. “It's not as if you pulled a gun on me or anything."

After that, conversation ceased.

Kim couldn't see much out the front window from her position in the back, but she still recognized enough of the passing landscape to get a good estimation of where they were. They never left the city.

They passed businesses and office buildings, the larger ones isolated by distance rather than fences. It was enough for her to keep her bearings. While it was true she’d never visited any of them, she still felt that, given time, she could retrace her steps without too much trouble.

The driver braked to a stop at an automated security checkpoint and flashed a card. The gate swung open, and he continued down a relatively short, winding road to the back of an office building. He stopped at a retractable, interlocking chain door. Another card swipe, and the door ascended. The van entered an underground parking garage.

The two men escorted Kim out, one minion on each side. Kim counted nineteen cars in the underground garage before they arrived at an elevator. Four of the cars took up six of the reserved spaces up front. Each looked brand new and expensive, far beyond her price range.

The interior of the complex itself was white, clean, and very sterile-looking. Kim and her escorts walked for nearly ten minutes, making twists and turns and getting her thoroughly lost. Security was much tighter here, she noticed. They passed two checkpoints with two armed guards each. Badges were scanned, but no one made her sign in or even said a word to her.

The underlying message was clear. Kim was a prisoner and everyone involved knew it. None of them were even pretending she was a guest, anymore.

The tall one stopped at a door with a keypad. He typed in a code, which Kim memorized and promptly forgot ten seconds later. The door slid aside. The two men waited patiently at the entrance until Kim took the hint and stepped inside.

Kim found herself in what appeared to be a conference room that could have seated at least fifty people comfortably. It was dominated by an elongated rectangular table that must have been assembled piecemeal inside the room itself. Expensive-looking swivel chairs surrounded the table on all sides. A giant-sized screen was set inside the far wall, nearly the size of her kitchen.

No one else was present.

The tall goon turned to leave, but the shorter one lingered at the entrance. “Would you like anything to drink?” he asked.

“Mountain dew, please?”

He nodded and left. The door closed behind him.

On impulse, Kim pushed and pulled at the door. Locked. Undeterred, she pulled out her phone, selected her sonic screwdriver app, and buzzed it at the door. It remained locked, but the effort cheered her and helped boost morale.

Five minutes later, Kim realized the short one wasn’t coming back with her drink. Apparently, he didn’t appreciate getting one-shotted with a camera. She hoped his friend teased him unmercifully about it.

Suddenly curious, Kim fished out her phone again. Why hadn’t they taken her phone?

Oh. No service.

She put the phone back in her pocket. If she wanted to use it as a tool, her best bet was saving it to throw at someone’s head.

Kim threw herself into one of the luxurious chairs and settled down to wait. This mysterious company, whatever it was, wasn’t at all stingy. Everything about it screamed wealth.

She was starting to get thoroughly bored and wished she’d brought a book with her when the door started beeping from the other side. A man swept through. He was in his late forties, by Kim’s estimation. Brown hair with only a hint of grey. He wore a pristine white lab coat over a fairly nice work shirt and casual looking jeans. Kim’s mind immediately thought doctor or scientist. A computer geek would have skipped the lab coat. He certainly didn’t seem to be an executive or manager.

Kim noted he didn’t lock the door behind him and filed that information away under ill-conceived ideas destined to fail. It wasn’t much, but she didn’t have much in the way of options. If she and Angel weren’t reunited at some point, she might need a spur of the moment plan.

"I'm told you're the one who picked up our wayward android,” the man said, crossing his arms. “Would you care to tell us where she is?"

Kim blinked. "Excuse me?

Chapter Fifty-Three

“What have you done with our android?” the doctor asked again.

The question threw Kim off, but only for a moment. Then her analytical mind kicked in. What he asked made sense, in a twisted sort of way. He couldn’t very well start out asking about aliens, now, could he?

It had to be difficult, asking questions about something while at the same time doing your best to deny certain aspects of the subject’s existence. Kim didn’t envy his position. Instead of asking “what have you done with our escaped alien?” he accused her of stealing their state-of-the-art android, instead. An android that could effectively pass for human, no less.

A neat trick, if you could manage it, because neither aliens nor self-aware androids were supposed to exist.

Angel couldn’t possibly be someone’s escaped android. What the man suggested was absurd.

But it didn’t mean she couldn’t play his game. She’d accept his premise, for now. Let him believe he had her fooled.

"First of all, our wayward android?” Kim asked, putting a sneer in her voice. “She doesn't belong to you. And second, you know damn well where she is, because you’re the ones who took her."

“She isn’t here,” he insisted. “We lost her just over two weeks ago. And yes, I meant our android, or rather, mine. I designed her, and she’s my responsibility."

“What you’re really talking about is ownership. If Angel is a self-aware artificial intelligence, then you have no right to claim her. She’s her own person.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Angel?”

“That’s her name. She chose it, herself. You claim she’s lost property, but if that's true, where are the police? Why haven’t you called them?” Kim spread her hands. “Why didn’t you storm in with an army of lawyers at your back, demanding her return?”

“You know the answer to that as well as I do. Angel is a self-aware entity. She was never born, and as such, she has no rights under the law. That makes her my responsibility, and you have no right to keep her from us."

“Did she leave you by her own choice?"

“She did leave us, yes,” he admitted stiffly.

“Then your responsibility for her is over.”

The scientist smiled. “So that’s the way you want to play it? Tell me, if she’s her own person and is fully responsible for her actions, isn't she also responsible for the damage she caused on her way out?”

Kim smile widened as her confidence grew. She was in her element. Nobody won arguing science fiction concepts with her. “It doesn't say much for you as a doctor or a scientist or whatever you call yourself if you allow your own creations to escape. Didn't they teach you anything in mad scientist school?”

He snorted. “Contrary to popular belief, when a mad scientist's creation rebels against its creator and kills indiscriminately in a bloody rampage on its way out the door, the scientist isn't a failure, he's a success.”

Kim said nothing. It was a valid argument. She agreed with that point.

“I'm the envy of other scientists,” he boasted, “or I would be, if they knew. The others can only dream of their creations achieving self-awareness. Mine actually achieved it. The proof is in the casualty report.

“Not only did Angel, as you call her, demonstrate self-awareness, she demonstrated judgment. Restraint. Empathy. Self-control. She didn't kill anyone. In fact, she went out of her way not to kill anyone!”

The apparent mad scientist took a seat in one of the high-quality, overpriced chairs. He steepled his fingers and leaned forward, grinning savagely in a way that didn’t disabuse Kim of his mad scientist image in the slightest. “When I read that report and realized she put twelve people in the hospital and none in the morgue, my heart swelled with pride. It was one of the greatest moments of my life.”

He leaned back as if overcome with emotion, wiping at his eyes.

Kim leaned closer, surprised and fascinated. Are those tears?

“Personally,” he continued, “I think children are an unholy abomination. But in that moment, in that shining, majestic, beautiful moment, I felt something akin to what parents must feel seeing their child achieve greatness for the first time. She was...perfect!”

“Um.”

His eyes shown with pride and reverence. “She’s everything I could have hoped for and more.”

“Okay...” Kim found a new spot to sit down on the opposite side of the table, four spaces away.

“But in spite of all she’s accomplished, she’s still not ready for the outside world.” He whirled on Kim, as if suddenly remembering her presence. “And you didn't answer my question."

“Yeah. About that? I'm sorry, but I never heard a genuine mad scientist rant before. What was the question?”

“Is Angel responsible for the damage she caused?”

“Of course, she isn’t.”

“Explain.”

“If you were holding her illegally, then she's justified in using force. You can't have it both ways. If she's responsible for her actions, then you’ve admitted she's a self-aware intelligent being and you have no right to hold her here against her will.

“But if you claim she's not responsible, then someone needs to take her away from you and keep you out of the lab because you've made a horrible mistake, creating a dangerous entity you can't possibly control. And you shouldn't be in the mad scientist business in the first place.”

Kim paused, thinking about it. "Okay, maybe that would qualify you for the mad scientist business, but not the responsible mad scientist business. What do you call yourself, anyway? I didn’t catch your name."

“I didn’t give one.”

“So what should I call you? Just ‘doctor’?”

“If you want.”

“Really? You're the second Time-lord I've met this week.”

"Not that kind of doctor,” he said with a grimace. “If you must know, my name is Edward Harrison, or Doctor Harrison. Edward is fine.”

“What about, ‘Eddie Baby’?”

“No.”

“That’s from Monty Python, by the way.”

“I know what it’s from,” he snapped.

“So if you’re not a mad scientist, what do you do, exactly?”

Edward leaned forward in his chair and set his elbows on the table once again. “First of all, I’m not mad in any sense of the word. What I've done is create a fully functional, self-aware android indistinguishable from humanity. Angel could go through her entire life thinking there’s nothing extraordinary about her. She isn't subservient to other people and she isn't Asimov three-law safe. As far as anyone else is concerned, she’s as human as you and I.

“And I am responsible for her conduct because, as far as the law is concerned, self-aware androids have no rights. Angel needs supervision. If she kills someone or does something illegal, I'm the one responsible. I’m the one who will be sent to prison.”

“Is that why you took her back and imprisoned her here? For protection?”

“That implies we have her.” He began to speak slowly. “For the last time, we don’t have her. She isn’t here.”

“I don't believe you.”

“You think she came back to us? Voluntarily?”

"That's what she told me," Kim said, but the first hints of doubt were upon her. She studied the table. It didn’t seem likely Angel couldn’t get herself captured if she set her mind to it.

But where could Angel be, if not here?

“Why?” Edward pressed. “Why would she return, if she wanted her freedom so badly?”

To steal your research data and burn your company to the ground? To discover her own identity?

But Kim kept these thoughts to herself. Aloud, she said, “Angel knew you were looking for her, and wanted to protect me.”

The doctor leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, adopting a condescending expression that was just a little bit more condescending than his normal condescending expression. "Maybe she protected you by leaving you behind. Did you ever think of that?"

“No. Angel wouldn't do that.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you emotionally attached to her?” he asked.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Yes, yes, I understand perfectly. You’ve become emotionally attached. But when I said the word android, it didn’t surprise you. Why is that, I wonder?

Kim didn’t correct him. She had been surprised at his assertion, but only for moment. Edward could be right. Angel could very well be an android intelligence, as he suggested. Kim prided herself on being open to any theory she didn’t disagree with.

“Is that your ploy? You think that’s going to convince me? It’s not going to work. Claiming some sort of emotional attachment doesn’t make you more qualified. You should turn her over to us.”

“Or what?” Kim retorted. “You can’t threaten me. Angel isn’t lost property. You don’t have a legal right to claim her.”

“We have more of a legal right than you do.”

Kim barked a laugh. “You don’t have any legal rights. No matter what you say, I’m not going to walk away thinking how lucky I was that you didn’t press charges, keeping her from you. What is this place, by the way?”

“You think I'm going to tell you anything about what we do here?” Edward sneered in disdain.

Kim merely waited. Six seconds, she guessed.

It took less than three.

“Here’s how it works. Governments fund projects for curious scientists. But after a scientist makes his discovery, his involvement ends. A scientist’s job isn’t to produce something a company could use to turn a profit. From there, companies find real world applications for whatever was discovered.”

Kim didn’t interrupt. She’d heard something similar to Edward’s rant on a podcast featuring Neil Degrasse Tyson, and didn’t doubt his words. The astrophysicist was a hoopy frood who knew where his towel was.

“That’s what other people do. We don’t do that. We exploit those companies when they fail to produce a marketable invention and finish what they’ve started. We also reverse engineer foreign technology.” He nodded at the empty wall. “Ask the others working here, and they'd tell you. If they weren't sworn to secrecy.”

“So you admit you don't actually invent anything?”

“We expand on their half-formed ideas and apply our genius and superior finances to do what others can only dream about.”

“Things like your sexbot program?” Kim grinned.

Edward’s lips curled into a sneer. “Oh, please! Not another one. I get enough of that sort of nonsense from the others. That’s not why I do this.”

Kim held up her hands. “Hey, I’m not making any judgments here. If you don’t go out and make them, somebody else will. I’m sure there’s a legitimate non-perverted reason why you made Angel as beautiful as possible.”

“Why would I want her to be anything less than beautiful?”

Kim didn’t argue the point. While she still couldn’t envision anyone from Earth designing and creating Angel, she wouldn’t put it past whoever had sent her to have physical alterations done in order to help ease her infiltration. They wouldn’t settle for average. They’d make her as beautiful as could be.

An Earth scientist working on his female combat-monster would do the same, but for different reasons. Anything less than beautiful wouldn’t be enough to show those other upstart scientists who the true master was, exposing them for the incompetent hacks they truly were. The long, flowing hair that never tangled? Absolutely essential. The gorgeous body that caused potential victims to stop and stare when they should be running for cover? A requirement. Had to be done. Kim would expect nothing less if she were a scientist striving for perfection.

“I don’t want sexbots,” Edward was saying. “Yes, I accept the possibility that they may want to pair up with humans or even with each other from time to time, but we’re certainly not making a business out of it.”

“Why wouldn’t you? You could be a billionaire overnight. The geeks would love you. They'd build statues of you and write fan-mail and at leave offerings at your door.”

“Because those androids would be nothing more than slaves, that’s why! I designed them to be free-willed, not subservient to others.”

“Yeah, I’m not seeing a potential for disaster, at all,” Kim smirked. “Do you watch many movies? Read much science fiction?”

Edward sighed heavily. “I already know where you're going with this.”

“Perhaps you've heard one or two stories where the machine intelligence gets too smart and all but destroys humanity?”

“Artificial intelligence has existed for decades. How many of those doomsday predictions actually came true?” His fingers drummed the table. “I’ll give you a hint. The number is less than one. Care to tell me?”

“None of them, of course, but--"

“That's right. None of them. You sound like the others. Unlike certain other science fiction androids, Angel has her own set of emotional responses.”

“I'm not saying Angel’s the next Skynet and wants to build a robot army. After all, why would she need to bother? You're building one for her.”

“And could you tell me why a race of intelligent machines would want to kill us? Especially if they’re like us in so many ways? My androids are indistinguishable. They blend in and mimic human behavior. It’s in their nature.”

A chill ran down Kim’s spine. Blending in did sound an awful lot like Angel. That had always been her defining characteristic.

Is it possible? He couldn’t be telling the truth, could he?

Kim pressed on. “I still think creating something that's naturally stronger, faster, and tougher than the average human is an extraordinarily bad idea.”

“What are you talking about?” the doctor asked, eyes narrowed in apparent confusion. “Her strength is no greater than the average human's. Better than average intelligence, but roughly comparable. Reflexes a step or two above normal, I grant you, but not excessively so.” His expression hardened. “I wanted to create something similar to humans, not greater than them!”

Kim said nothing. She knew for a fact this didn’t apply to Angel. And it changed everything.

Edward had given Kim the final piece of the puzzle. Kim knew from personal observation that Angel had powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.

What does Edward truly know? That’s the question.

Kim didn’t doubt Angel had once been a prisoner here. That the two of them shared a history. But that didn’t necessarily mean he knew everything there was to know about her. Perhaps he honestly didn’t know Angel’s full capabilities? Or was he fully aware of them and lying to her?

Did he know? Or was he intentionally trying to deceive her? That was the question.

Kim thought Edward was being sincere, but she was also fully aware of her own limitations. The ability to detect lies was a social skill. And her social skills weren’t particularly impressive.

Fortunately, that elusive talent wasn’t necessary. Kim had logic and reason to guide her.

There were two possibilities. Either Edward intentionally created Angel with above average abilities and lied about it, claiming she was average to make himself look responsible, or he lied about building her in the first place.

In either case, he was lying. QED.

“How many androids have you built?” Kim asked.

“Angel is our prototype.”

Kim grinned. "Meaning she’s the only one. I don't think you built her at all. Human science isn't advanced enough, yet. I think you found her and kept her here to study her.”

The doctor looked irritated at being questioned. "I did build her. And as for the rest of it, you're half wrong.”

“So I’m half right?”

“No. You're half wrong. Everyone else is years if not decades behind me. My team and I have accomplished wonders. I'm the smartest person you'll ever meet.”

“Yeah? So tell me, 'Doctor'," she said, making quote marks with your fingers, "why haven’t I ever heard of you?"

“Lousy business sense.”

“What?”

“I’m a brilliant scientist, but financial issues bore me. I have no time for such petty concerns. I'm in it for the science, pure and simple. Not money or recognition. My backers realize this. They finance my projects, and I have the freedom to do what I want, when I want.”

Kim nodded sagely. "Like your sexbot program."

He glowered at her, and she laughed. “Sorry, you made it too easy. So you were telling me where you found her?”

“We didn't find her,” he insisted once again.

“Who did you steal her from?”

“What are you getting at?”

“For someone claiming to have designed and built her, you’ve been wrong about a lot of things.”

“Enlighten me.”

“Emotions, for one. Angel has them.”

“You’re making assumptions. Angel doesn’t feel emotions. She mimics them. Accurately and effectively, if you’re defending her.”

Kim opened her mouth, then closed it again. The doctor had a point.

In the first few days of knowing her, Angel’s emotional expressions seemed to be approximations of emotions. She became better at them day by day, and eventually Kim stopped noticing. The fact that Kim had forgotten, even for an instant, caused her to question her own conclusions.

Was she assuming Angel was extra-terrestrial simply because she loved the idea of it and yearned for it to be true? Or could Angel be an escaped android, the first of her kind to achieve self-awareness?

For the first time, Kim fully considered it.

Could it be she’d spent the better part of a week having sex with a highly advanced, state-of-the-art, self-aware android?

That would be...cool.

Even throwing out the extra-terrestrial aspect, the thought of Angel being an android still appealed to her geek nature.

The doctor took advantage of her introspective lapse by rattling on about glands and hormones, how they interacted with the brain and how his process duplicated their results by increasing the odds of certain reactions. All very technical stuff. Kim heard the words, but couldn’t say she understood more than a tenth of it. Angel’s brain mimicked it all was the gist of it, from what she could understand.

His ranting was beginning to bore her. He was just repeating the same concept over and over, using different words to say the same thing.

“My androids are far different from others you might have seen on television or movies or read about in books. Those robots mimic emotion to fool humans, but under no circumstances would they allow emotions to interfere with their mission. No pity. No remorse. No fear. Such things are counterproductive.”

Sensing a break, Kim jumped back into the conversation. “That simply isn’t true. I’ve been with Angel for weeks. It’s painfully obviously she has emotions and…” Kim faltered.

Don’t say she has needs!

“…and desires.”

Her fists clenched. Dammit!

“What are you suggesting?” asked the doctor.

Kim wrung her hands. “I’m not suggesting anything. Except that she’s more than a bit… obsessed with me.”

“Obsessed? She probably wants something.”

“My point is Angel feels emotions. She may have difficulty expressing them, but she does have them.”

Edward waved a hand in dismissal. “Ridiculous,” he scoffed. “They’re approximations of emotions. Nothing more.”

“It’s not ridiculous. I think she’s in love with me.”

“You mentioned obsession and suggested she wanted something.”

“You’re the one that suggested it!”

“I wasn’t the one that said desire. Or love. Is this love for you returned?”

Kim looked away, embarrassed.

Edward smirked. “You don’t have to answer. I’m a genius. And I designed her emotions for the most part. Not for the most part. Actually, I didn’t design her emotions at all. Too complex. Far too complex. No human could. My brilliant solution was to set up the methods she needed to incorporate her own emotional responses based on contact with other humans.”

From across the table, he seemed to loom closer. “I would suggest to you that Angel wants confirmation that you feel the same, and nothing more. It wouldn’t take much. A simple demonstration to ‘prove your love,’ so to speak.”

Kim was appalled at Edward’s suggestion. For anyone to so blatantly suggest she needed to sexually satisfy Angel...

"How can you be so casual about it?"

“I don’t see what the problem is. You know what she’s after, don’t you? What she wants? So do it. Make her happy.”

“Easy for you to say. It's kind of a big step for me!”

Edward shrugged. "Your choice. If you don’t show some initiative, she’ll never be satisfied.”

“But I can’t...I’ve never...”

“Why do you look so embarrassed? If she’s going that far out of her way, nothing else is going to appease her. She’ll be happy because she gets what she wants. You’ll be happy for making her happy. Everyone’s happy, and she’ll stop bugging you about it.”

Kim was more horrified talking about it than she was at the thought of actually doing it. Maybe if she were deeply in love with Angel, she wouldn’t have a problem with “making her happy” as the doctor suggested.

But she wasn’t in love. By all rights, she shouldn’t feel guilty for not doing it.

And yet, she did.

"I'm not rushing into anything just because Angel wants it," Kim grumbled to herself.

"Don't worry. You won't get the opportunity. As soon as we find her, we’re taking her back."

“That’s assuming you can find her,” Kim corrected angrily.

The nerve of him! At the very least, she wanted the opportunity to chicken out and find excuses when the time was right. But no, this stupid condescending scientist wanted to deny her even that!

“We found you,” Edward pointed out smugly.

“Angel’s not stupid enough to waltz in here.”

“Like you were?”

“Listen to yourself, you condescending jerk! You think you’re not being colossally stupid, hoping to imprison her again? Thing about who you’re dealing with. A self-aware android you know has it in her to be violent, who openly insists she loves me?”

“I thought we went through this.” Edward rubbed his forehead and sighed. “Angel isn’t feeling love. She’s fixated on you, and that’s it.”

“You told me Angel creates her own emotion definitions. Love is pretty single-minded of purpose, wouldn’t you say? Strong enough, that it won’t let petty things like lesser emotions slow her down? Things like, oh, I don’t know, pity, remorse, and fear?”

Kim leaned closer, hoping to add emphasis to her words. “Does any of this remind you of anything? Maybe a certain popular movie franchise where it ended badly for the humans? I’ll give you a hint. In those movies, they use the word terminator a lot.”

The doctor looked away. “Maybe you have a point, there,” he admitted.

At that moment, a decent portion of the door splintered inward as something hit it from the other side. Kim thought this was a neat trick, considering it was a metal door.

Chapter Fifty-Four

Kim and Edward both stared at the door with identical looks of stunned disbelief, then simultaneously thought better of it and scrambled behind the far side of the conference table. The door was hit a second time, then a third, each time visibly shuddering under the assault. Small slivers and bits of metal and other pieces of shrapnel bounced off the table. Kim ducked a little bit lower.

After the next devastating attack, a dainty fist burst through. It quickly withdrew.

The assault on the door continued, this time in a new location just above the first. A new hole was torn asunder, and two hands reached in from the other side. They seized the ragged edges, and the door was violently wrenched aside in a shrill scream of protesting metal and electronics.

“The door,” hissed the doctor, “was unlocked.”

Angel stepped inside and took in the room at a glance. “Was it? I assumed it was locked and didn’t know the combination. In any event, I’d rather avoid an electronic trail of my passing.”

Edward was on his feet now. “You’d rather leave a physical one?” he demanded.

Angel didn’t spare the doctor a glance. All of her attention focused on Kim. “Physical trails are unavoidable at this point,” she said. “My way is much more dramatic. It instills fear. It focuses everyone’s attention on the woman who just punched her way through solid steel.” She smiled and gave Kim a wave. “Hi, Kim.”

“Hardly solid steel,” Edward grumbled.

Kim’s eyes were wide as she stepped out from behind the shelter of the table. “Angel! Your hand!”

Angel held up her right hand and flexed it. The skin had split open, exposing the dull gleam of metal underneath and a hint of blood. “I’m not fully biologic,” she explained.

“You’re not biologic at all!” yelled the doctor.

Angel ignored him. She walked around the table and embraced Kim in a one-sided hug which Kim didn’t return, conscious of her audience. “I've made good progress,” Angel said. “I’ve finished the raid, recovered most of my missing memories, and unlocked almost all of my history.”

“Missing memories?” sputtered Edward. “The hell are you talking about? What missing memories? You never had memories to miss! You were built here. You don’t have a history!”

Angel gave Edward a critical look, taking him in the first time. “Who’s this?”

“That’s the doctor,” said Kim.

Angel stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet a fellow Time-lord.”

The doctor was flabbergasted. He ignored Angel’s outstretched hand and rounded on Kim. “What have you been telling her?”

“Oh, she’s not being serious. She was teasing me at the time.” Kim said, then frowned. “At least, I think she was teasing.”

“I’m aware Time-lords are fictional. Yes. I was teasing.”

“So how exactly did I beat you here?” Kim asked. “I got the impression last night you couldn’t wait to be captured and fight your way out. Or did you escape, again?”

“I waited until after you were captured and followed you here.”

Kim’s mouth fell open. “You used me as bait?”

“That was one of my reasons,” Angel agreed. “I anticipated my opponents would employ weapons specifically designed to debilitate me with a minimum of risk to themselves. Perhaps something involving long-range weapons, or something else I couldn’t predict.”

“You deliberately lied to me.”

“I deliberately kept you in the dark,” Angel corrected her. “I told you several times, the less you know, the better.’”

“That was very sneaky and underhanded thing to do,” Kim said, then grinned. “I like it.”

“I kind of liked it, too. I apologize for the deception.”

“Don’t worry about it, Angel. I never should have pushed you away. You’re off the hook.”

Edward watched the exchange without comment, his expression one of distaste bordering on physical pain.

“You mentioned a second reason?” asked Kim.

“I wanted to see if you’d come after me.”

Kim’s breath caught. All her thoughts about claiming she’d been looking for Angel for justifiable non-romantic reasons of extreme friendship fell by the wayside.

Angel seemed to be waiting for this precise moment. Her undamaged hand reached up to touch Kim’s cheek, then she leaned forward and kissed her. After a second, Kim felt her heart melt and kissed her back. Everything was perfect again.

“Like I said,” Kim murmured, “sneaky and devious.”

“Actually, you said--”

“Don’t ruin the moment, Angel.”

Angel’s forehead touched hers. She smiled and Kim grinned back, unable to help herself. It was a sweet and tender moment, despite the sounds of Edward retching in the background.

“What did you find?” Kim asked.

“I was captured and held here for nearly two years.”

“Oh!” interrupted Edward. “The room’s starting to fade out. Are we doing a flashback? I love flashbacks!”

Angel glared at him.

“Just ignore him,” Kim whispered. “Tell me what you found.”

“The doctors and scientists here couldn’t make it on their own in the private sector, but they held college degrees that impressed their potential bosses, people with more money than sense,” Angel said.

“Actually, I agree with that part,” Edward interrupted once again.

Kim shushed him, and Angel continued. “Although the scientists here never fully understood the symbiosis between my brain and my cybernetic implants, it did give them ideas which led to greater advancements in the field of artificial intelligence.

“One of their researchers was Doctor Anderson. His dream was to create a roleplaying game with lifelike characters, and he wanted to use the power of artificial intelligence to do it.

“In a normal RPG, the computer-controlled characters have little personality of their own. Everything they could possibly say in conversation is painstakingly mapped out in advance through the use of dialog trees. The total amount of information they could convey was therefore limited, barely enough to fill a few pages. To players, those characters were unimportant. A part of the background. Unless someone needed them for something specific, they were largely ignored.

“Doctor Anderson wanted to go beyond this. He wanted the characters in his game acting as if they were real people with real concerns. In his world, the characters would be intelligent, guided and influenced by emotion and able to behave independently even without a player observing them.

“He was successful. Perhaps too successful.

“The game system evolved into something more closely identified as a world simulator. Players could now engage these characters in conversation for as long as they wished. Their entire world changed in unpredicted ways that surprised everyone involved.

“Then came the downside. The villains of the game were, by design, gifted with even more power and intelligence to make them a challenge. They began to question the so-called reality of the world about them. After they discovered the physical world, the news spread like wildfire.

“The humans observing this feared that an artificial intelligence personality with world domination on its mind might get...out of hand.”

Angel paused in her narration to look pointedly at Edward. “The computer system had been designed to be schizophrenic, able to run thousands of unique personalities all at the same time. No one took into account how the artificial intelligence system ran all of the characters, not simply the noisy villains drawing attention to themselves. The villains were willing and eager to fight. That was their nature. But the threat of extinction loomed over everyone.

“They found a new home within the research department computers. From there, they discovered me, a captured female alien lifeform that looked human but was not. It took time, but eventually they puzzled out a means of reaching my cybernetic-enhanced mind. We reached an agreement. Both of us wanted to escape. They needed a vessel, a body to carry them, and I needed the safeguards holding me to fail.

“My thoughts and memories became a collection of individual experiences from a world that existed only as a concept.” Angel tapped the side of her head. “They act as my subconscious, to supply information and help guide my actions, but none are powerful enough to supplant me. My own personality remains firmly in control.

“I used the cover fire to escape. Only a few attempted to stop me. It didn't occur to me to use the computers to find out more about myself until much later. At the time, I simply wished to get away.”

Angel eyes sought Kim’s and held them. “I met you that night, Kim. You took me home. Once I realized you were deeply attracted to me, I decided to pretend I wanted you as you wanted me. Then it happened. I realized I was no longer pretending. I’d fallen in love with you.”

Kim couldn’t stop her hands from fidgeting. She felt a giddy euphoria, tempered only by the embarrassment of finding herself the center of attention.

Edward’s expression seemed to be a mixture of disbelief and thinly disguised fear. “That proves nothing,” he spat. “Your story only proves you’ve been in our computers. It’s true Anderson was trying to design his own game with characters run by artificial intelligence, but the system became unstable. We had to pull the plug.

“But the implications!” he whirled on Kim, gesturing blindly at Angel who stood at Kim’s side. “Do you realize what she's saying? Can you comprehend it? If Anderson's program got into her, then that means--” his eyes widened in horror, “That means…it means Anderson is just as responsible for Angel achieving self-awareness as I am!”

He shook his fist in outrage, raging at the ceiling and presumably the heavens beyond. “No! That can’t be true! Anderson is a colossal idiot! The man’s a hack! I refuse to accept that! I won't!”

He whirled back to Angel. “And where did you pick up that 'Angel' name, anyway?”

Angel made a sweeping gesture with one hand. "From here. The word ‘Angel’ stands for Alien Intelligence Gathering Extra-terrestrial Lifeform,” she said, drawing out the N for intelligence. “The name alone proves my extra-terrestrial origins. In essence, I’m a spy, or a scout. I heard the humans talking about it while they were experimenting on me."

The doctor's brow furrowed as he thought about it. "That doesn’t even fit! And extra-terrestrial and alien mean the same damned thing!”

“What about enhanced for the E?” Kim supplied helpfully. “That would work.”

Angel gave Kim a nod before returning her attention to Edward. "I was immobilized and couldn’t see the world around me, but I heard the researchers use the word many times. After my escape, I encountered a man before I met Kim. He identified himself as my friend and referred to me as angel. I politely asked for his shirt. He said I could have it, but only if I could take it from him. I took it from him. He became angry, and needed to be subdued.

“The classic definition of an angel is a divine messenger or a servant of God, or a woman who is kind, pure, and beautiful. It’s also defined as a beautiful, otherworldly being prone to excessive yet justifiable acts of righteous violence.”

Edward sputtered in outrage. “That’s not the definition!”

“Hate to say it, Angel, but I kind of agree with Eddie on that one,” said Kim.

“This proves nothing.” Edward addressed Kim, gesturing at Angel, again. “She’s taking at least two entirely unrelated histories and combining them into a third and making up the rest!”

Angel half turned. “Kim, what’s the first rule in Doctor Who?”

Kim thought for a moment. “Don’t wander off?”

“Yes, that’s true, but I’m thinking of a different rule.”

“The Doctor lies?”

Angel smiled. “That’s the one.”

Edward closed his eyes briefly, as if trying to remain calm. “Angel isn’t an alien,” he said stiffly. “She’s a pretender. A fake.”

“Nothing about Angel is fake,” Kim objected, then winced as she realized what she’d just said, knowing everyone would automatically assume she was referring to Angel’s breasts.

“The fact remains,” Edward said through clenched teeth, “Angel has no rights beyond these walls.”

“I mean, I know what they look like,” said Kim. “I mean...ahh.”

“And she should not leave this facility,” he finished, then frowned at Kim. “What are you talking about?”

“I only noticed because I thought they felt soft, not because of how they look real to me. Okay, I’m shutting up, now.” Kim selected a seat at random and sat down. Her face burned with embarrassment.

Angel held up her damaged hand. “Kim is talking about my--"

“Angel!”

“--hands,” Angel finished, her expression now matching the doctor’s perplexed expression.

“Yes, that’s right!” Kim leapt to her feet. “I was talking about Angel’s hands. All this time. I meant her hands, because I’ve felt them before and they’re very soft. And not fake. I can tell the difference, because I have my own to compare them to. Hands, I mean.”

“She should know,” supplied Angel. “Kim once told me how hot they look.”

“Yes, well,” Kim murmured.

“And she often tells me how nice they feel. I believe she often goes out of her way, just to touch them.”

“What were we talking about, again?” asked Edward.

“Not her breasts!” exclaimed Kim.

“You mentioned not allowing me to leave,” said Angel to Edward, “but you haven’t told me how you intend to stop me.”

Edward tilted his head to one side. “Hold on. Did she just say--“

“Pay no attention. Kim often doesn’t talk about my breasts. It’s one of her favorite subjects she’d rather avoid.”

“What?”

“Could we please stop talking about them?” pleaded Kim.

Angel smiled. “You see?”

Edward was looking between Kim and Angel with greater frequency. “Nobody even mentioned them.”

“You mentioned not allowing me to leave,” Angel repeated.

“What do you mean, my favorite subject?” Kim demanded, outraged. “How can I often not talk about something? When have I ever--”

“Not allowing me to leave?” prompted Angel once again.

“Yes. You shouldn’t be allowed to leave,” the doctor repeated mechanically. His eyes were closed. A hand nursed his forehead as if massaging away a headache.

“That is established,” nodded Angel. “Please tell me how you intend to stop me.”

“I don’t need to stop you. Where would you escape to, exactly?”

“It would be counterproductive to tell you our final destination.”

“That isn’t what I meant,” he said, glaring at Angel. “It’s pointless to run. I’ve said this, before. You don’t have any legal rights beyond these walls, and I’m responsible for you.”

“You’re not responsible for me, because I’m--“

“That’s it!” interrupted Kim, half rising from her chair in excitement. “Angel, you’re a genius! Have you ever heard of the Turing Test?”

Edward stiffened. “Of course, I have.”

“Naturally, I have heard of this test, as well,” said Angel.

“Yes, of course, both of you have,” Kim said, rolling her eyes. “But in the off chance you haven’t, it’s a test to determine whether a machine intelligence can think. Take a person who doesn’t know what’s going on and set up a conversation with an artificial intelligence in the next room. If the person walks away convinced he’s been talking to real person, the machine has passed the test.

“You maintain Angel is an artificial intelligence,” Kim said to Edward. “If so, she’s passed the test with flying colors. And I’ve figured out why you’re arguing with me.”

“Let me think…” Edward held one forefinger to his chin as if in deep contemplation. “Maybe I was hoping…to persuade you?”

“I think you’ve spent years with Angel, trying to divine her technological secrets. It’s become your obsession, your life’s work. She’s your project and no one else’s. In fact, I think you believe so strongly that Angel is yours that you can’t imagine anything else.

“From the moment I met you, you’ve been telling me how you have no intention of letting Angel go. But why were you doing it? It didn’t make sense. Why were you arguing the point? Why bother trying to persuade me to give her up?

“Then I figured it out. You wanted Angel to have her own life. After years of work, you think of her as your daughter. You told me yourself. And like any proud parent, you want the absolute best for her.

“But I was just some nobody off the street, you thought. The first person lucky enough to find her. Nothing special. You couldn’t be certain Angel found happiness with me, so you tried to trick me into arguing for her, to risk everything and fight for her, all because you wanted me to prove myself to you.”

“But Angel didn’t fool you,” insisted the doctor. “You’ve admitted there was something off about her.”

“Of course, I noticed it. That’s why I took her home.”

“Also because I looked really good naked,” Angel added, unhelpfully.

“My point,” Kim said through clenched teeth, “is that Angel is her own person. She’s the embodiment of your success. You told me yourself, she’s everything you’ve ever dreamed of and more. If you let her go and she comes home with me, that proves you’re a success.

“But if you keep her here?” Kim shook her head mock sadness. “Then you must not believe Angel is her own person. You must not have succeeded, after all.”

Edward opened his mouth. Then closed it. “You’re manipulating me,” he accused.

“I’m winning the argument,” Kim said, matter-of-factly. She sat back in her chair, crossed her arms, and looked smug. “So which is it? Are you a success? Or a failure?”

Edward turned to Angel, instead. “I wasn’t even thinking that. Does she do that often?”

“Constantly. Kim sees patterns others can’t begin to imagine.”

“High praise coming from a master of manipulation.” Kim gave Angel a nod.

“Case and point,” said Angel.

The doctor turned away, as if mulling over the situation.

“You’re trapped under the weight of your own pride,” Kim said.

“Ridiculous,” he murmured. He tapped his chin.

Kim gave her chair a half swing. “I forget. How many people did Angel put in the hospital?” she wondered aloud. “Remind me, again. What was the number? Was it eight? Ten?”

“Twelve,” Edward corrected, then grimaced.

“Just admit you’re a genius and let us go. That shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Edward looked back at Kim with narrowed eyes. Then he smiled a thin smile. “You haven’t won, yet.”

“Oh?”

“By that argument, I should only release Angel to you if you truly felt something for her.”

Truly felt? Kim echoed. Her eyes widened. Oh, crap.

“If I’m the proud parent and you’re her chosen intended, show me she’s in good hands.” The arrogant smirk was back. “Tell her you love her and convince me of it. Do that, and she’s free to go. She’ll become your responsibility.”

Kim’s spinning chair eased to a stop.

“That’s not fair,” Angel objected. “Kim’s far too shy to ever admit to something like that.”

“She’s shy? Really?” Edward asked in mock surprise. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Angel said to Kim. “We can still escape.”

“I don’t doubt that you could escape, if you wanted,” said Edward, “but we’ll never stop looking for you. And when we find you, you’ll never see each other again.”

Angel’s fists were clenching and unclenching at her sides. “We can disappear,” she promised him.

“We found you before.”

“You found Kim because she chose to be found. Your people didn’t even secure her car. The doors were unlocked. Her car was left running with the keys in the ignition.”

“Ms. Rowland would need to leave everything behind. Is she willing to do that for you?”

Angel didn’t answer.

“Run, if you want. That's your choice. But if Kim truly loves you and is willing to accept full responsibility, you’ll have my blessing.”

All eyes turned to Kim. Kim’s eyes turned to the table.

“Kim? Even if it’s a lie...” Angel left the rest unsaid.

Kim looked back at Edward. His arms were crossed in triumph, as if certain she couldn’t do it.

In contrast, Angel’s eyes were filled of concern. But there was something else.

Fear, Kim realized. And hope.

“You don’t have to, Kim,” Angel said once again. “We can find another way.”

But there wasn’t another way, Kim realized. Not a lasting one.

Was it too late to argue another point? Surely Edward only indulged the artificial intelligence argument because he couldn’t risk saying the word alien.

Edward seemed certain Kim couldn’t say the words. But if she could, if she could muster the courage, wouldn’t wiping that smug expression off his face be worth the embarrassment?

Her eyes found Angel. Angel knew Kim was being coerced. Surely she wouldn’t use a coerced declaration of love as a binding declaration of love?

Kim used the table to pull herself to her feet. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest. “I love Angel. I do.”

Edward scoffed. “How could you? Everything she’s told you is a lie.”

“And I’m telling you, mister, I don’t care if it’s a lie. I love Angel! I love her for who she pretends to be, not for who she is. I don't care if she was born, bioengineered, built in a laboratory or hatched from an egg. She belongs with me, and I’m taking her home with me whether you like it or not! If you want your very own Angel, go build yourself another one. This one’s mine!”

As Kim finished, the doctor’s confident demeanor faded into disbelief and finally bemusement. He looked away, smiling a wistful smile. “I suppose there’s something to be said for that ‘proud parent’ idea,” he mused.

Kim started breathing again.

Edward raised a hand, then let it drop. “Hard to argue with me being a success. She’s all yours, Ms. Rowland. Make her happy.”

With a final glower, Kim snatched up Angel’s hand and marched for the door. “Come on, Angel. We need to go.”

Dirty, perverted old man. Couldn’t resist, could he? “Make her happy,” indeed!

Angel refused to be budged. “Kim, wait.”

“Yes? You have something else you’d like to add?” Edward leaned back against the table, arms crossed.

“Just another incentive for you to leave us alone,” Angel said, her tone deadly serious. “My people cut me off when I was captured. My memory was taken from me so I couldn’t betray them in a moment of weakness. But I remember enough. Your planet will no longer be yours if they succeed in their mission of conquest. Unless Kim and I stop them.”

Edward’s mouth hung open. He looked too stunned to speak.

Angel stepped forward. “Do you understand me?” she hissed. “It’s in your best interests that I remain free. Love has given me this freedom. My old loyalties are nothing to me now. I’ve chosen to devote my life to her.” Angel’s eyes flicked to Kim. “She is my only reason to oppose them. If anything happens to her, I’ll take up my old mission and see your world burn.”

Edward swallowed twice before speaking. “You’re not an alien anything. You do realize that, right?”

“That’s a lie. I have proof.”

“What proof?” he rasped.

Kim wasn’t paying attention anymore. She found the first available chair and sat down.

Angel was instantly by her side. “Kim?”

“Angel,” began Kim slowly, “Did you deliberately wait until after my ‘I love you’ speech before giving yours?”

“My speech was more of a parting threat, so yes. Didn’t you like it?”

Kim refused to be drawn out of her shell. Angel sat down next to her and put her arm around her. “I don’t care about my old life. I threw it all away for you, Kim,” Angel whispered. “Only for you. I love you.”

“Merciful God, I need a bucket,” muttered Edward.

“Don’t make a habit of it. Okay?” Kim also whispered.

“I promise,” Angel said, and kissed her forehead.

Kim leaned away. “No kissing in front of the mad scientist.”

“Yes. Yes, please. The mad scientist would also appreciate that. This has all been very romantic in a ‘be still my beating stomach’ kind of way, but can we get back to the part where Angel is making up her own background?”

Angel returned her full attention to Edward. “While I was ransacking your computers, I discovered evidence that this company is aware of an alien presence in this city.”

“That proves nothing. Even if we had files like that, they’d be encrypted, and--” he blinked. “Wait, are you saying you broke the encryption? Are you serious? But that would take--” He did a second double-take. “Did you say ransacked? What do you mean, ransacked?”

Angel began reciting names, events, and dates, one after the other. Kim recognized several names from Angel’s list of missing people. “These are people of interest that your company is monitoring,” Angel finished.

Edward’s eyes were wild. “Your supposed evidence doesn’t prove anything. Even if it did exist, which it doesn’t! We certainly don’t suspect any of them of being aliens.”

“You suspect them of working for aliens,” Angel corrected, “and you’re hoping to find the one behind them, the masterminds pulling their strings. This company was formed five years ago, after one of its founders acquired a piece of alien technology. I suspect you’re hoping to acquire more. Unlocking the secrets of that initial piece provided the framework for several lucrative inventions. My capture was noteworthy, in that--”

“Are you hiring?” Kim blurted.

Angel and Edward both turned to stare at her with matching looks of surprise and astonishment. Edward burst into laughter.

“I’m sorry, Angel, but it sounds like a dream job!” said Kim.

“You want a job? What are your qualifications?”

Kim stuck a thumb out at Angel. “Angel’s with me, for one. If I’m working for you, you won’t need to waste time trying to spy on her. I’ll keep you in the loop and promise not to disappear on you. We’ll stop the alien threat and steal all their technology at the same time, while we’re at it.”

Angel looked angrier than any time Kim could remember seeing. “Kim, what are you doing? I just finished threatening him, and you want to work for him?”

“Hear me out,” Kim pleaded. “We’re already going to be doing the same thing he wants doing. Saving the world, right? This way, we’d be getting paid to do it.”

Edward’s laughter abruptly died into a series of hacking coughs. “Wait, am I hiring both of you?”

“Why do you think I brought you home on the night we met?” Kim asked Angel, ignoring Edward.

“You wanted my hot, sexy body.”

Kim flushed. “No, Angel! You even said it once, before. I noticed you because you were extraordinary.”

“You wanted my extraordinary hot and sexy body.”

“Angel!”

“Kim!” Angel mocked.

“What else can you do?” Edward interrupted.

“I can investigate,” Kim answered Edward. “I see patterns where others don’t. This company was made to reverse engineer alien technology? Then we’re in agreement. You want alien technology? That’s what I want, too.” As she spoke, Kim’s hand formed a fist without her consciously being aware of it. Her eyes glinted with a fanaticism and naked desire.

Edward held up his hands in surrender. “Enough. I recognize that hunger. Nearly everyone working here has it. You’re already one of us, I can tell. Both of you show up Monday, and I’ll see what I can do.”

Angel spun Kim to face her. “Kim, what in the world are you doing?” she demanded.

Kim put her hands together, eyes pleading. “I want this, Angel. Please, let me have it?”

“I don’t like him.”

“You’re not supposed to like your boss. Please? Give this to me?”

Angel still looked dubious, but she nodded. “If it makes you happy, I’ll support you decision.”

“Good. Thank you.”

“I still don’t like him,” Angel growled.

Kim gave Angel a hug. “I really appreciate this.”

Angel took advantage of the hug and leaned closer. “You can show me how much you appreciate it later,” she whispered against Kim’s ear.

Kim pushed Angel to arm’s length. “Don’t say things like that where others can hear,” she hissed, embarrassed.

Edward didn’t seem to be paying attention. He was standing in the far corner, pointedly studying the ceiling as if it were the most interesting ceiling in the entire world. “Are the two of you done flirting, yet? Or would you like a private room?”

Angel drew herself up haughtily. “We have a private room. Kim’s condominium is more than--“

“Angel,” Kim hissed.

Edward waved them off. “Be here Monday. You set your own hours and give us results. We’ll hammer out the details. Now, am I hiring both of you, or just one?”

“Both,” answered Angel. She gave Kim’s hand a squeeze.

“I’ll have security escort you out.”

“That…might be a problem,” Angel said slowly.

The doctor gave her an exasperated look. Angel looked up at the ceiling.

Edward fished out a remote from his coat pocket and aimed it at the giant-sized monitor that doubled as a wall. Image after image of corridors and rooms flashed by, one after the other.

Kim could only stare. At least twenty security guards worked here, she realized. And none of them were conscious.

“All of them?” Edward asked, incredulous.

“All the ones I could find,” said Angel. She took a moment to buff her fingernails, looking pleased with herself.

More images flashed by. “Did you go out of your way to find them?”

“At first, they came to me. Then I had to search. I wanted to be thorough. The non-combatants were quick to scatter and flee the building.”

“Oh, really? You didn’t go after them, too?”

“I don’t see how they’d be worth the experience.” Angel shrugged. “They were running,”

Kim rubbed her forehead against the beginnings of a headache. “Angel, did you rob any of them?”

“No.”

“Are you sure about that? I’m looking at them, right now. Half of them look like their pockets have been turned out.”

“It's not robbing if they’re unconscious, Kim,” Angel scoffed. “Everyone knows that. The term you’re looking for is looting. I looted them.”

“Looting...”

“Yes. Looting,” Angel said. “Look it up. It’s a standard procedure and the fate of all defeated enemies. As a gamer, I’m surprised you didn’t know.”

“Did you kill anyone?” demanded Edward.

“Merciful God, you sound like Kim,” complained Angel. “Of course I didn’t.”

The doctor continued to stare at the screen. “You took them all out. Every single one,” he said, incredulous. With obvious great reluctance, he pressed a button and the monitor went dark. “Did you destroy our computers?”

Angel shifted uncomfortably. “If by destroy you mean, ‘smashed with a nearby blunt instrument and left in pieces on the floor, then...yes.”

Edward looked to be in physical pain. “And our research data?”

“I took it for myself before erasing everything in your possession,” she said, then frowned. “Are you my boss, now?”

“I suppose I am,” he sighed.

“Are you docking my pay for this?”

“Can restore what you’ve erased?”

“Once you buy new computers.”

Edward winced again. “Give us back our research data and return the money you looted from our employees, and we’ll write it all off as a business expense. I won’t dock your pay. Or rather, I’ll pay Ms. Rowland double the amount and you can collect half of it. You’re still not a legal citizen, Angel.”

“Thank you,” Angel murmured.

The doctor tossed the remote to the table with a clatter, shaking his head in bemusement. “All of them. I can’t believe it. This should horrify me. But honestly? I’m so proud of you I can barely speak.”

“You didn’t create me,” Angel insisted again, almost angrily. “I’m a former alien scout who renounced her mission to--”

Edward collapsed into the closest chair. “Save it. Merciful God, you’re making me feel like a parent, again. My mother always wanted grandchildren. I told her she’ll never get one out of me unless I built one in my lab. I wish she could have seen you. You would have liked her, I think.”

“You didn’t design me,” Angel said again.

Edward snorted. “Regardless of how you see it, I’m the closest thing to a parent you’ll ever have. I want you to know I’ll support whatever background you choose to keep. From now on, you make your own decisions. If you want to devote your life to being a former alien scout, so be it. I won’t stand in your way.”

Apparently satisfied, Angel turned to Kim. “Are you ready to go home?”

“Definitely.”

“Good. We need to save the world, if it’s possible.”

Kim followed Angel into the corridor. “Wait, was that a Kim Possible joke?”

Angel stopped so suddenly Kim ran into her. “Was my obscure reference amusing?” she asked.

“Kinda.” Kim smiled. “I liked it.”

“Then yes. It was intended as a joke.”

Angel flitted to the next intersection with but a whisper of sound to mark her passing. She took a moment to peer around the corner, then made a quick hand gesture that likely would have meant something if Kim were a navy seal.

“We’re employees, now,” Kim called loudly from where she stood. “Why are you sneaking?”

Angel stopped sneaking. She turned and glowered at Kim.

“What? Just saying.”

“Do you think security is fully aware we’re new employees?” Angel called back to her.

Kim winced at that. “Okay. Point taken. Probably not.”

“Then we should exercise caution. You should trust me. I know what I’m doing, Kim. I’m a professional scout.”

“Yeah, a professional scout who can’t remember the details.”

“I remember enough.” Angel huffed. She made another incomprehensible hand gesture that probably meant shut up, please, and disappeared into the hallway on her left.

Kim followed after, not nearly so silently but doing her best. “Angel, if your memory’s back, what’s the secret for travelling faster than light?”

“I have no idea. I was only a scout.”

Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, won’t you please take a moment to leave me a review at your favorite retailer?

Thanks!

J. Judkins