WARNING! This chapter contains a FLASHBACK which is marked by three asterisks like so: ***. Watch out for it!
Okay, I think the few people who have stuck this far with me are more than aware, but there's no harm in making sure.
As always, thanks to my two fabulous betas Nancy and Carol for being so excellent.
Hope you guys enjoy!
PART THREE
*~Ellie~*
***
I couldn’t hear them talking anymore, but I still wasn’t ready to venture out of my room, where I had been cocooned for almost half an hour. Jon had barely been able to explain what he had stumbled across in Mom and Dad’s closet. And when they finally got home… Well, that was one parental lecture I listened to attentively. I still couldn’t quite believe it. I’m the daughter of a superhero. Whoa. And Dad is Superman. When he first told me, I didn’t even believe it. He had to float in the air to prove it to Jon and me. And even that didn’t do it, so he toke off his glasses and smoothed back his hair to show that he looked like Superman. But he didn’t actually change into Superman, which I was kinda glad about. It was weird enough seeing him without glasses, but at least he was still my dad like that.
Jon was really upset about the whole thing, though. He ran into his room and wouldn’t come out even with Mom and Dad trying to convince him to open the door. It had been quiet for a while now, but I didn’t really know what was going on until Dad knocked and came into my room.
“How’s Jon?” I asked quietly, putting my book aside.
“He’s still upset,” Dad replied. “How are you taking this, Ellie?”
“I’m okay, I guess,” I told him, picking at a stray thread on my jeans. “I’m just still trying to understand everything, you know?”
“I know what you mean. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask, okay?”
The image of Dad floating at the kitchen table came back to me again. “Can you show me that… floaty thing again?” I felt unusually shy in asking that, but Dad just smiled and went ahead and did it. “Wow,” I gaped, as I stared at the spectacle. “So… do you think that because I’m your daughter I might… you know… be able to do stuff like that?”
“Mom and I weren’t sure about that for a long time,” he told me, dropping down to the floor again. “But just a few minutes ago, your brother accidentally tore his door off the hinges.”
“Oh,” I gulped. “So that’s going to happen to me too?” That really scared me. How was I supposed to go through life if I wrecked everything that I touched?
“Well, it might be difficult to control any powers you get at first,” Dad told me. “But you’ll get the hang of it. When I was growing up it was sometimes difficult to learn how to use a new ability, but Grandma and Grandpa helped me out. Just like Mom and I will with you.”
“Okay.” Although it would be really neat to have powers and everything, I wasn’t crazy about learning to control them. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but I guess that it would be kind of hard at first to get used to it.
“Ellie, I know that must scare you,” Dad comforted me. “And right now you’re probably thinking through a lot of things. And it’s okay to be angry at me for not telling you sooner. We shouldn’t have kept this from you for so long, and I’m sorry we did. But we’re going to be here helping you every step of the way. Or at least however much you want us to.”
“I’m not mad at you,” I shook my head. “I actually think it’s pretty cool.”
“You do?”
“Well, yeah. C’mon, Dad! You’re famous! And you do all these cool things. Like catch bullets and fry things with your eyes and… Hey, how fast can you actually fly?”
“Well, I’ve never really timed myself…”
“You haven’t? Dad!”
“Sorry, Sweetie,” he shrugged. “I guess I just never had your curiosity. And I don’t know what kind of instruments can actually measure my speed. Most would just be overwhelmed, I think.”
“Well, I’m going to figure that out,” I decided.
“Okay,” he smiled.
“Hey, Dad…” I began, shy once again.
“Yeah?”
“You know how you sometimes fly people out of danger and stuff if they need it?”
“Sure. Most of the time, it’s the fastest and easiest way to do it.”
“Well, do you ever give rides to people just for fun?” I asked, trying to be casual.
“Maybe,” he teased me in a singsong voice. “But there’s one thing you should know about my pleasure flights.”
“What’s that?” I tried to keep my mounting enthusiasm at bay, but I couldn’t really help myself.
“When I fly with people who are injured I have to go slow so I don’t hurt them any more than they already are. But when I fly just for fun… I like to go pretty fast.”
“How fast?” I asked, my heart pounding excitedly.
“Let’s just say we might break a few stop watches if we tried to time it,” he told me jokingly. “So do you think you can handle it?”
“You bet!”
***
* * *
*~Jay~*
Knocking seemed to be a foreign concept to Ellie, whether she came in through the door or the window, but I had quickly gotten used to it. At least someone was coming to visit me.
“Hey there, birthday boy!” she greeted me when she entered. She was loaded down with several boxes and bags.
“What’s with all the packages?”
“You’ll find out later. What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing much,” I replied innocently. “Just catching up on some reading.” I lifted the cover of my book to make sure that she got a good look at it, but I still snuck a peek to see her reaction.
“Is that…?” she trailed off, her eyes narrowing. “You wouldn’t.”
“Well, I figure we’re still in the ‘Getting to Know You’ phase. And what better way is there to get to know someone-”
“*Please* tell me you didn’t…”
“-than to read her official biography?” I finished, holding the book up on display. “I’ve learned some really interesting stuff.”
“Oh, I’m sure you have,” she told me dryly. “Give me the book.”
“But I’ve just gotten to a really interesting part!” I protested. “It says here that Nebula is by far the most reserved member of the family.” I glanced up from the pages to see the twitching, fidgety woman before me. “I think this author needs to check her sources.”
“It’s a secret identity, Jay! You of all people should understand that.”
“And what’s the whole story behind your first press conference?” I continued, flipping to the page in question. “It says you made a sudden and dramatic exit halfway through answering a question.”
She groaned loudly “I had just remembered at that moment that I had forgotten to hand in a paper,” she confessed ashamedly. “It was worth 40% of my grade. Did they actually put that in there? Let me see the book.”
“No way,” I shook my head. “I bought it for myself as a birthday present. If I give it to you, you’ll just fry it with your heat vision.”
“You bet I will! Now give it over.” She leapt towards me, reaching for the book. I rolled out from under her, cradling the book close to my chest to protect it from her frantic hands.
We tumbled together on the floor, and she tried to reach her arms around to get at the book. I’m not really sure how it happened, but somehow in all the activity, we ended up with her on top of me, her lips hovering over mine. The remaining distance was closed by a magnetic force, and I relished the feeling of her lips on mine. Then all too soon, she pulled away.
“We need to stop,” she announced suddenly, tucking her hair into place. I nodded in agreement. The position we were now in felt uncomfortably close. I helped her pick herself up off me, but we both remained sitting on the floor. I absently flipped through the pages of the book, but all enthusiasm I had towards it had disappeared.
“So… Did you talk to Dr. Klein today?” I finally asked.
“Yeah. We didn’t find anything obviously wrong, but I have an idea of where to start now.”
“That’s good.” I kind of wanted to ask her more, but she didn’t seem to be open to talking about it.
“Yeah.” Silence. “So! Um… how did your interview go?”
I grimaced. “The secretary wouldn’t stop ogling me long enough to answer her phone.”
“Well, can you blame her?” she asked flirtatiously, nudging me with her shoulder. I was glad she was able to joke about this so soon after our previous awkwardness.
“No, I couldn’t blame her,” I told Ellie. “Which is why I invited her over this evening. She should be here in a few minutes.”
Ellie’s mouth popped open in shock, and hung there for a fraction of a second before she realized that I had been joking. “You’re so bad,” she told me, grinning happily.
“You don’t believe me?” I asked innocently.
“I’ve learned never to trust anything that comes out of your mouth,” she smiled. “How did the rest of it go?”
How would I even begin? “The guy’s a first rate jerk,” I finally told her. “There’s no way I could work for him.”
“I’m sorry,” she said sympathetically.
“Whatever. It’s no big deal,” I brushed it off. It’s not like I needed the money or anything. The compensation I got from the NIA was more than enough to provide for me. I didn’t need to work. I just wanted to.
“Well, I have something that might cheer you up,” she told me brightly.
“What is it?” I asked, feeling a smile stretch across my face. When I had first met Ellie, I found her cheerful disposition to be an irritant to my own gloomy one. Now, I found I was becoming increasingly addicted to it.
“Sit right there,” she commanded. “Don’t move a muscle.” I watched with interest as she blurred around the room, and came to a stop in the same place that she started from. “Ta-da!” she threw her arms up in the air with a flourish.
“Wow. It’s…”
“A birthday party! I was thinking the other day that it’s probably been ages since you had a proper party.”
Nineteen years, I filled in silently. The last year my mom was alive.
“So I decided to make you one!” Ellie finished.
She had certainly gone all out. I glanced around my apartment, which now looked like a streamer factory had exploded nearby. She had even blown up balloons and hung them from the ceiling. I looked back at her, and I saw her dancing apprehensively on the spot.
“You don’t think it’s dumb or anything, do you?” she asked.
“I think it’s great,” I told her reassuringly.
“Good! Cause I brought you everything. I even made party punch!” She handed me a glass and took one for herself. “On my eighteenth birthday, a friend of mine spiked the punch,” she told me. “Now that we’re old enough, it’s not nearly as fun, but I did it anyway.”
“Wow. I can tell.” I nearly choked at the unexpected taste of vodka.
“Too strong?”
“No, it’s fine,” I told her valiantly. “It just took me by surprise.” I took another sip and succeeded in keeping my face straight.
“Good,” she said with satisfaction. “Cause next is the cake and we sure don’t want to spoil that.” Sure enough, she had brought a small cake that was smothered in chocolate icing. Although I couldn’t be sure, I guessed that the actual cake was chocolate as well. Ellie began zapping candles with her heat vision as she spoke to me. “Normally, you wouldn’t be called upon to sing at your own birthday, but I’m the only one here and I know an Ellie Kent solo is the last thing you’d want on your birthday, so you’re going to have to join me.”
Although Ellie has many talents, I quickly learned that singing wasn’t one of them. I gave her all the support that I could, and then dutifully blew out the candles.
“Now, I don’t care how much of a health nut you are, Jay,” she warned me. “There’s no excuse for not having at least a small piece of your own birthday cake.” I dutifully agreed, and watched her flit about my kitchen, finding everything she needed to serve the cake she had brought. Old instincts told me to stop her from digging around my belongings, but I reminded myself that I didn’t have anything important anymore anyway. Plus, Ellie knew that I was a former agent, so it didn’t matter even if she did find something. Finally, she returned to the table and served us both a piece of cake. “Do you want more punch?” she asked, reaching for my empty cup. Before I could protest, she filled it up again and plunked it in front of me.
“I see you got chocolate cake,” I commented as I took a small bite on my fork.
“Please,” she rolled her eyes. “Is there any other kind?”
“Well, I’ve always been partial to carrot cake…”
“If it’s got vegetables in it, it doesn’t count as cake,” she told me authoritatively.
“Well, I guess you’re the expert.”
“You bet I am! And don’t you forget it.”
“All right, you’re the cake expert. But out of the two of us, I think I have to proclaim myself the expert on Nebula. It appears you haven’t even read your own biography.”
“I read it!” she protested hotly. “I mean, I skimmed it,” she corrected reluctantly. “At superspeed. I was really busy around the time the publishing company needed an answer, so I just let our publicist at the Superman Foundation deal with it. He said it was okay, so I signed off on it. I still can’t believe that you bought a copy.”
“It said on the cover that the proceeds would go to charity. I’m just a generous guy,” I grinned innocently, choking back more punch.
“Yeah, I’m sure you are. Well, at least some good can come out of the whole thing,” she grumbled. “It’s just kind of ridiculous that the book even exists. I’ve only been Nebula for a few years. That’s hardly enough to write a book about.”
“If you don’t like the idea, why did you agree to do it in the first place?”
“I was hoping it would help make the media lose interest. They can’t seem to get enough of me for some reason.”
“Did it work?”
“Maybe a little,” she shrugged. “The book’s only been out for a couple months so we’ll have to see. Are you done with your cake?”
“Oh! Yeah.”
“Good, cause we’re coming up to the best part of the party.”
“You got me a present?” I guessed.
“Yes. It kind of doubles as a housewarming present and a birthday present.” She handed me a large, flat package. I tore the paper off it to reveal a framed movie poster. I had to laugh when I saw the title of the movie.
“James Bond in ‘A View to Kill’?”
“I loved those movies when I was younger.”
“You realize that they’re about as far from realistic as you can get.”
“Don’t spoil my fun,” she scolded. “Anyway, I figured you needed something to add color to your place, and this seemed perfect.” She was right. I had only moved into this apartment a couple weeks ago, and I was still filling it up with all the usual items. I was starting from scratch, so it was taking a while.
“Thanks. It’s got just the right amount of irony. Now all we need is a poster of Wonder Woman to go with it.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Just watch me.”
“I’ll be sleeping with one eye open from now on. Are you ready for the next part of the party?”
“What’s that?”
“You have a choice between Scrabble, Monopoly, and Trivial Pursuit. When I was a kid we always played the games first and did the other stuff later, but because it’s our own party I figure we can make up our own rules.”
“Well, normally I would say Scrabble, but then you might get upset when I beat you.”
“We’ll have to see about that,” she announced evilly. “Here, we’ll get some more punch and then go play on the coffee table, okay?”
It was a close game, but ultimately I won, just as I had predicted. I decided to reserve my gloating to a few subtle smirks as I stood to start cleaning up some of mess we had created. But I placed a hand quickly back onto the coffee table when I realized I was swaying unsteadily.
“Are you okay?” Ellie asked quickly, looking up from her task of picking up all the tiles.
“Yeah. I’m fine,” I told her with embarrassment, realizing my predicament. “I’m just…”
“I got you drunk,” Ellie realized. “I knew I made that punch too strong. Jay, I’m so sorry.” Her apology seemed sincere, yet her eyes glimmered with amusement.
“I’m not really drunk,” I protested. “Well, not drunk in the sense that I can’t…” I stopped when I realized that I was slurring slightly.
“Here, let’s go sit on the couch.” She steered me towards the sofa and we flopped down on it together.
“Sorry,” I apologized, as I watched the room tilt around us. “I don’t normally make a habit of this.”
“Yeah, well it’s my fault for making our drinks so strong. I was hardly paying attention. And then you went and drank it anyway.” She chuckled with amusement, and I pouted a little.
“I was trying to be polite, Ellie.”
“And look where that got you.”
“Sitting next to you on my sofa,” I replied happily. “Pretty decent position, if you ask me.” Although it was a little embarrassing to get drunk while Ellie was throwing me a birthday party, I hardly regretted the turn of events that had led to the closeness we were now sharing.
“Clever,” she conceded. Then she snuggled in closer to me. I put my arms around her cautiously, not wanting to jinx it. “Jay… how does it feel?” she asked.
“Incredible,” I whispered.
“What?”
“Huh? Sorry, what were you asking?” I blinked several times, trying to retain my waning focus.
“How does it feel to be drunk? Alcohol doesn’t affect me, so I don’t really know how it feels. I went to enough parties as an undergrad to see the negative consequences, but I never felt it first hand.”
“Well… it’s like your sense of touch is duller, yet sharper at the same time.” Did that even make sense? Did it even matter? “And… um… everything’s kind of fuzzy all around you.” I stretched out my hand illustratively. “And you feel like you can do things you wouldn’t be able to do normally. But that doesn’t mean you should try them, because you only feel that way because you’re drunk,” I admonished, bopping her clumsily on the nose in my exuberance. “Whoops. Sorry.”
She giggled. “You know, you’re kinda cute like this.”
“Don’t be getting any ideas,” I warned her.
“I won’t,” she promised. “Actually… I was just thinking that I should probably go. It’s getting late.”
“You don’t have to go, Ellie.” Her name rolled easily off my tongue and hung in the air between us like a Christmas ornament. “Ellie, you can just stay the night. C’mon, Ellie.” I squeezed her tight to my chest.
“No, I should go,” she said reluctantly. I obediently relaxed my hold and she stood up. “You’ll be okay by yourself, right?” She smoothed my hair with a gentle touch.
“I’ll be fine, Ellie,” I told her. “I’ll put myself to bed as soon as you’re gone.”
“Maybe I should clean some of this up before I go,” she glanced around at all her party decorations.
“No, leave them up,” I told her. “It feels less lonely this way.” Damn. I hadn’t meant to say that.
“Okay. I’ll leave them up,” she agreed, stroking my hair once again. “Good night, Jay.”
“Night, Ellie. Thanks for the party.”
“My pleasure.”
“Wait, Ellie?” I called before she could get to the window.
“Yeah?”
“Take the cake with you.”
“Thanks.”
