Jelly Babies

Tremendous thanks to FlamesEmbrace, Moonstar, Snidne, StoryJunkie, Rabid, Tenshistar for their lovely words of encouragement. You guys are more precious to me than gold. Rabid -- When Aryeh says \"Ask your questions\", he\'s telling Pepper to ask any questions that she has. (Of course, she\'s already been doing that, but as far as Aryeh is concerned, it doesn\'t count until he gives her permission.) I can see how it could be confusing.

Just so y\'all know, I\'ll be gone for the next week. My husband and I are going to Disneyland to celebrate our ten year anniversary. I hope this update is enough to keep you satisfied until I get back!

Love,
Falcon

Jelly Babies

Chapter Two

Bursting through the back door of Sugar Hearts, Marzi dashed across the parking lot with one thought on his mind. Get in his car and get the hell out of there. But as he reached the familiar vehicle, and fumbled for his keys, a horrible realization struck him. The keys were in Pepper’s purse. And Pepper’s purse was still in Sugar Hearts. “Fuck!” Marzi swore, striking the car with his fist. Then, left without any other choice, he ran.

But he only got a short distance before exhaustion forced him to sink back against a building, panting for breath. This wasn’t going to work. Seven months pregnant, and wearing slippers instead of shoes, he couldn’t outrun a one-legged chicken, much less a pissed-off agent of God. Anxiously, he glanced back the way he’d come. No sign of pursuit. Not yet. But he needed to put some distance between himself and Sugar Hearts, or Nicholas’s heroics would be for nothing.

Pepper? Marzi hoped that his sister might have a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, the spell she’d cast had completely drained her. Marzi could barely feel the faint flicker of her presence, like a sputtering candle flame. He was on his own.

The baby inside him gave an impatient kick, forcing Marzi to amend his earlier thought. Okay, not quite on my own. But I have to say, kid, you’re not much help.

Still winded, but unwilling to rest any longer, Marzi pulled away from the wall and prepared to stagger down another block. Then, amidst the passing traffic, he glimpsed a yellow shape accented by black checkers. A taxicab. Fuck, he should have thought of that! Waving his arms, Marzi hurried to the curb. The taxi had already passed him, yet miraculously, it pulled over. But not for him. Marzi’s heart sank when he saw the middle-aged businessman who had attracted the cabdriver’s attention.

Fortunately, the businessman also saw him. And, confronted by what appeared to be a gasping pregnant woman, he stepped aside. “Ma’am? Would you like my taxi?”

Marzi nodded, giving silent thanks for his somewhat feminine features, which, even without makeup, allowed strangers to reach false conclusions about his gender. Gallantly, the businessman held the taxi door for Marzi, and he scrambled inside. Alright, kid, I take it back. Sometimes you can be useful.

“Where to, Lady?”

Marzi started to give his apartment address, but then hesitated. Aryeh had tracked them to Sugar Hearts. It wouldn’t take any great detective work on his part to figure out where they lived. So where could he go? The airport? Use a false name and catch the next flight to anywhere else? But if he did that, how would Nicholas ever find him? And what about when the time came for the baby to be born? He needed Sylvia for that. Even if a hospital believed him, and managed to safely deliver the child, he’d be a medical freak, and the resulting media frenzy would put Aryeh right back on his trail.

Kale. Pepper’s voice was so faint, Marzi couldn’t be sure that he’d heard her right.

Kale? I can’t go back to Kale! Not yet. Not like this.

He’s the only one who has the power to help us. And he’d die to protect you. You know he would.

She was right. And they didn’t have time to come up with a better plan. Reluctantly, Marzi gave the cabdriver Kale’s address. Moments later, the taxi jerked back into traffic, forcing Marzi to clutch the door handle too keep from being thrown sideways.

“Sorry,” the cabdriver apologized, noticing his passenger’s distress. “I’ll try to go smoother. Don’t want to rattle the kid around too much. You know, a lady almost had her baby in my taxi once...”

Marzi nodded, without listening. His mind was focused on trying to prepare for the upcoming meeting with Kale. He hadn’t seen his ex-lover for the last seven months, not since he’d walked out of his mansion back in February. At first, Marzi had remained wary, half-expecting Kale to tire of waiting and once again try to bring him back by more forceful means. But Kale hadn’t made any attempt to get in contact, much less kidnap him. According to Sylvia, her boss seemed unusually tranquil, as if he truly believed in Marzi’s eventual return.

And Marzi had planned on coming back. Just not like this. Not in need of help, and most definitely not seven months pregnant.

“...man, you should have heard that lady scream. But I got her to the hospital on time. Hey, is this the place? Fancy!”

“This is it,” Marzi confirmed. “You’ll need to stop at the gatehouse.”

At the gatehouse, Marzi spoke to the security guard, who telephoned Kale. Moments later, the gate slid open. “You must be someone pretty important,” the cabdriver observed, guiding his vehicle up the winding curves of Kale’s driveway. “To live in a fancy place like this.”

“I don’t live here,” Marzi corrected. But as he watched the mansion grow closer, a strange sense of homesickness seeped into him, and he felt the pain of returning to a place he’d never realized that he missed. When the taxi rolled to a stop, Marzi reached for some money to pay its driver. Only to realize – once again – that he’d left Pepper’s purse at Sugar Hearts. “Wait here. I’ll bring you your fare.”

“Sure.”

Sliding out of the taxi, Marzi stepped into the cool September evening. To his right, the wind stirred a grove of trees, snapping loose the first dead leaves of autumn, and sending them tumbling through the air like trapeze artists no longer in need of trapezes. Sadness touched Marzi as he watched them. For some reason, he sensed another sort of wind blowing through his body, tugging at Pepper, calling her away from him. But that was ridiculous. Pepper would never leave her brother, her lover, her child. Would she?

Marzi shook his head. He was just stalling, postponing the inevitable by wallowing in melancholy thoughts. Annoyed with himself, Marzi tore his gaze from the spinning leaves, and marched up to Kale’s door, ramming his thumb against the doorbell. In his heart, he hoped that Sylvia would answer it, as she so often did. But of course the security guard had talked to Kale, and so it was Kale who swung open the door, prepared to greet his wandering lover, finally returned home.

“Marzi. You look...” Kale trailed off, apparently unable to summon an adequate description.

“I look like a fat guy in a dress,” Marzi snapped, refusing to meet Kale’s eyes. He hated this. Hated his vulnerability, hated his desperate need. And, unwilling to beg, he demanded. “There’s an angel-thingy after me, so I’ll be staying here for awhile. Send some of your men to Sugar Hearts. Nicholas is there, and he may be hurt. He may be dead. I don’t know.” A hiccup of emotion rose in Marzi’s throat as he thought about what price Nicholas might have paid for his bravery. But he couldn’t let Kale see his fear. So he shoved past his ex-lover, into the welcoming darkness of the entry hall.

Then Marzi remembered something. Glancing back, he saw Kale hovering in the doorway behind him, as if waiting for words not yet spoken. But if Kale wanted some promise of affection, some reassurance about the love that still existed between them, he was disappointed. Because all Marzi said was “And you’ll have to pay the cabdriver.”


*****


“Boss?” Even over the phone, Sylvia’s deadpan tone was unmistakable. “We’ve found him.”

“Is he--?”

“He’s got a nasty burn on his cheek, but other than that, he’s okay.”

Kale felt a pang of relief. Not that Nicholas’s fate mattered much to him, but news of the boy’s death would have hurt Marzi, and Kale was determined to do everything in his power to keep Marzi from getting hurt. And so it begins, he thought to himself. Because I love one person, I care what happens to another, and maybe because of him, there will be someone else. God! Once it starts, does it ever end?

“Boss?”

Hastily, Kale brought his mind back to the conversation at hand. “Right. Bring him here.” Then, hanging up the phone, he went to find Marzi.

As it happened, he nearly missed him. Marzi had retreated to the sitting room, without bothering to turn on any of its lights, and his silhouette was just barely visible within the gathering darkness. He sat sideways on the sofa, drawn into as tight a ball as his swollen belly allowed. For a moment, Kale hesitated in the doorway, watching him. Trying to figure out why this reunion had gone so differently than he’d hoped it would. But solitude and shadows held no answers to that, so he stepped into the room. “I just spoke to Sylvia. She says that the boy – she says that Nicholas is alright. She’s bringing him here.”

“Thank you.” Marzi’s voice held genuine gratitude, but he still didn’t turn his face towards Kale. Aching to see his lover’s expression, to see the dancing eyes and irreverent smile that he had missed so much, Kale reached for a lamp. But he sensed that Marzi needed the darkness. So his fingers caressed the lamp chain without pulling it.

“I understand that you don’t want to talk right now. But if I’m going to protect you, I need to know what I’m up against. You said you were being chased by an ‘angel-thingy’. Was it an angel?”

“No. He said his name was Aryeh, that he was God’s Agent.” Marzi shook his head. “I told Pepper that everyone is so Hollywood these days. Even God needs an agent.”

Kale repressed a curse. He’d been hoping for an angel. Angels were bound by so many rules, not the least of which was a prohibition against harming humans. This creature sounded more dangerous. But Kale was careful to keep his concern hidden from Marzi. “I see. And do you have any idea why he’s after you?”

“He wants my child.”

“Your what?!”

“I’m pregnant. I’m seven fucking months pregnant.” Marzi covered his face with his hands, but that couldn’t keep the laughter from coming, shrill and fragile. “Fuck! Holy fuck...”

Even after everything he’d done to Marzi, all the times he’d pushed him beyond what most people could endure, Kale had never seen Marzi completely lose it. The sight of it threatened to break his heart. Dropping to his knees beside the sofa, Kale gathered Marzi into his arms. “Shh. It’s going to be alright. I’m going to take care of everything.”

“Damn hormones,” Marzi cursed, as his laughter dissolved into tears. “This isn’t the way I wanted it to be.”

“What do you mean?”

“The first time I came to you, I needed you to own me. The second time I came to you, I needed you to release me. This time...this time, I didn’t want to need anything at all. I wanted it to be just us. Just us and our love for each other.”

Gently, Kale stroked Marzi’s long, soft hair. “Every night since you left, I’ve prayed for your return. I don’t care how. I don’t care why. I don’t care if you have all the legions of Heaven and Hell chasing you. All that matters to me is that you’re back in my arms again.”

Marzi made a sniffling noise, and pressed his face against Kale’s chest. Kale wished that he had wings, so he could wrap his lover in feathery comfort, or that he had a magic blanket, so he could spread it over Marzi like a warm summer wind. But he had neither of those things. So all he could do was draw Marzi deeper into his embrace. “Shh. When all this is over, and we’ve sent Aryeh back where he belongs, you can still leave, if you want. And I’ll wait. As long as it takes. Days, years, lifetimes. I’ll wait. Until you come back to me again.”

“Because I am your lover,” Marzi whispered. “And your slave. Forever.”

“Exactly.” Absently, Kale slid his hand over the vast roundness of Marzi’s belly. And, as if in response, he felt a small kick from within. To his surprise, the tiny sign of life filled him with conflicting emotions. Raised a question he both did and didn’t want to ask. “Marzi? The child? Is it mine?”

Marzi shifted in Kale’s embrace, and his hesitation told Kale the answer before his words did. “No. It’s some mix of me, Pepper, and Nicholas. As impossible as that sounds.”

“I see.” Caught somewhere between relief and regret, Kale started to withdraw his hand. However, Marzi moved faster, and pressed his own hand down against it, trapping Kale.

“Do you wish that it was?”

“I...” Kale hesitated. But he was done with lying to himself, done with running from the emotions that scared him. “In a way...I suppose that I do.”

Before Marzi could respond to that, the sitting room lights switched on, temporarily blinding Kale. As he blinked, Sylvia’s voice announced her return. “What’s gotten into the two of you? Sitting in the dark like a pair of teenagers playing Truth or Dare? I nearly walked right past.”

“Nicholas!” A squeal of joy escaped Marzi, and he squirmed out of Kale’s arms, rushing to embrace the boy. “You’re alright! Thank god, you’re alright. Don’t you ever try a stunt like that again, you brave, crazy, idiot. I—“

Nicholas, rather sensibly, silenced Marzi with a kiss. As Kale watched their lips lock together, a jealousy more blinding than the sudden light overcame him. Until he realized that, of course, Nicholas wasn’t really kissing Marzi. His appearance must have brought Pepper to the surface. For a moment, Kale tried to imagine the strange life which awaited him, with two souls sharing one body, and two lovers waiting for their turn with the soul they loved. And add a child to that mix? It seemed impossible. Unworkable. But Kale knew that they would find a way to make it work. Because for him, and for Nicholas, the alternative was a choice they would never willingly make.

God help me. God help us all.