Hattie and Mr. X - Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1 – P 2/1?
By KenJ <ken.janney@kjanney.com>
This version is rated PG-13
This story is a sequel to Hattie Kaplin and the Main Street Bomber – Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1 - O
*denotes emphasis*
<denotes thoughts>
/” denotes telepathic communications.”/
/* xxx*/ denotes playback of a recording
Previously
A little later that evening at the party, Hattie asked if she and JJ could speak with Lois and Clark, in private.
Once in the office, Hattie addressed Lois, “I’m planning my wedding party.” Lois nodded. “I’d like you to be my Matron of Honor.”
Lois smiled and said, “I thought you would be asking Lara or perhaps Jen. Are you sure you want me? Lara has always been your best girlfriend and you were in Jen’s wedding party.”
Hattie replied without even needing to give her answer any thought, “I’ve known for a long time that you were the one I would want up there with me. Even before I met Jon, you were my hero and role model. In the years since … well … I’ve gotten to know you and, I have to be honest, I really love you. You’ve always been like a mother to me and I can’t think of anyone that I would rather have stand with me when I join this family. It just wouldn’t feel right having anyone else there.”
JJ chimed in, “Please say, yes, Aunt Lois, because otherwise I won’t be able to have the best man that I want.” He turned to Clark and asked, “Uncle Clark, would you be my best man? My dad will be there, but you’re the one I want to stand with me.”
Clark looked at Lois and said, “I think I can speak for the both of us when I say, we accept and we are honored that you have asked us to do this.”
Hattie threw her arms around Lois and started to weep, for joy. Lois pulled her into a hug and said, “Hattie girl, you have made me very happy. I have to be mother of the bride or groom for our kids. This is going to be a special day, for both of us.”
JJ shook Clark’s hand and said, “Thanks, Uncle Clark. I appreciate you doing this for me.”
Going back out into the main room Lois called for everyone’s attention.
“Listen up. Hattie has just asked me to be her Matron of Honor.”
Hattie was surprised. She expected a response of disappointment from Lara or perhaps Jen, but instead both of them smiled and congratulated their mom. No matter how long she would know this family, they continued to surprise her. Their attitude of selfless service and the total lack of animosity continually amazed her. She just hoped that she fit in. Even as she was thinking this she saw how Lois was looking at her and realized that yes, she did belong in this family. She had been with them for sixteen years, more than half of her life, and it felt so natural here, even more than her own. She just felt like she belonged here. She wasn’t super, but that wasn’t important. It was the people, not the powers that made this family what it was and she got a warm, comfortable feeling just being with them. She just couldn’t imagine being with anyone else for the rest of her life.
Lara, Jen, Celeste, Jessica and Lucy all came over and congratulated her and as they did, each was added to the wedding party.
While the girls were gathered, JJ asked each of his cousins to be ushers. Thus the wedding party was balanced out.
The girls took Lois and Hattie into another room so that they could start planning the wedding.
The guys all gathered around the TV and put on the Metropolis Hoopsters / Gotham Growlers game.
And now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 2 – Who or What is the Mysterious ‘X’
Wednesday, February 28, 2029
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
After the party JJ had dropped Hattie off at her apartment, but only after a lingering goodnight kiss which left both of them breathless.
As she was preparing for bed, Hattie was thinking, hard. So much had happened that evening. She lay down, but she had a hard time getting to sleep. She kept thinking about JJ and his reaction to her display of her body to his perusal. She tossed and turned for what seemed like hours before finally dropping off into a troubled sleep. She dreamed about JJ and how, on their wedding night, he would carry her to the bed, rip her clothes off of her and make wild passionate love to her. She woke up moaning in a sweat of passion. Her nether regions were athrob. She had never been so aroused in her entire life. She hastily got out of bed and removed her soaked pajamas. She looked at herself in the mirror, turning side to side and looking over her back trying to get the full picture. Finally fully satisfied that she had nothing to be ashamed of in that respect she decided to handle her arousal by exercise.
She moved into her living room and, still nude, moved the coffee table from the center of the room and started practicing the kata that she would have to perform for her grading. After going through all three, four times each she was sweating and weary from the exercise. She hastened into the shower. Just as she was about to turn the water on she heard the shower in the apartment above go on. She smiled as she thought to herself, <Looks like JJ is having a hard time sleeping too. I wonder if it’s for the same reason.>
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
After dropping Hattie off at her apartment and kissing her goodnight, JJ had gone to his apartment and after changing for bed tried to sleep, but the image of Hattie, wearing only that see through bra and thong was driving him crazy. The more he thought about her the more he knew he had a problem.
Finally he gave up on any thoughts of going to sleep right away. He decided that he would have to distract himself somehow. He went into his living room and started practicing the kata that he was having a problem mastering. He knew that he had to be able to perform it at least nearly perfectly in order to win his next belt. He started off moving slowly, almost as if her were practicing Tai Chi so slow were his movements. After going through it four times that way he started to speed up his movements. After another four times, at just about full speed, he called it quits and decided that he needed to take an ice cold shower. He removed his sleep shorts and turned on the shower. This what Hattie heard.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 01, 2029
In the morning, she awoke, but it had not been restful slumber. She simply lay there awake in bed for a time, thinking. The emotional upheaval that had prevented Hattie from getting her sleep had resolved itself, at least partially. She thought she had made a decision, but she still wasn’t sure that it was the right one. She decided to let circumstances decide the matter.
When she finally got up, before she even got dressed she placed a call. The final outcome of the call still left her in a quandary and she decided that she would have to think about it some more, before she said anything.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
At 9 AM JJ knocked on her door. As soon as he did, he heard the locks being undone. The door opened and before he even had a chance to say ‘Hi.’ Hattie thrust a travel mug of coffee into his hands and said, “Let’s go, partner, we’re gonna be late.”
In a halfway mocking tone JJ said, “Good morning, JJ. Did you sleep well? You look good today. New shirt? New tie? Hi Hattie! Yes, it is a good morning isn’t it? Yes, I slept well …”
Hattie rolled her eyes and said, “Sorry. Good morning, JJ.”
JJ asked, “Is there a problem, Hattie? Did I say or do something?”
She looked down at her feet and said, in a shy tone, “No, you didn’t do anything. It … it’s me. I’m ... Well, I'm not sure.”
JJ stopped and spun around. He put a hand on her shoulder and said, “Please don’t tell me you’re planning to call it off.”
A shocked expression took over her face and she quickly said, “NO! No, that’s not it! No, that's one thing I’m very sure of. It’s … it's something else.”
“Whew, you had me worried there for a second. Okay, you can tell me. Maybe I can help.”
“We can talk about it later. Let’s get to work.”
“If you say so. Whenever you want to talk about it, I’m here.”
She laid her hand on his cheek and said, “I know you are, and I promise, I’ll talk to you about it, just not right now.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When they arrived at work, Hattie found that she had a voice-mail from Graham Kerr, Bobby Bigmouth’s son and her main stoolie, asking for a noontime meeting. She called JJ over and played the message a second time so that he could listen. She asked, “What should we get him?”
“Hmmmm, lunchtime. How about a Double Bacon, Double Cheese Burger Supreme from Hank’s?”
“Yes, with fries, apple pie and a drink. That ought to satisfy him.” Looking at her watch she said, “I’ll call the order in for pick-up for lunch. Mmmmmmm, just thinking about that burger is making me hungry. Maybe we could go there ourselves.”
JJ said, “Not exactly a quiet place to talk, if you wanted to talk about whatever it was that was bothering you, if you want to talk about it that is.”
"JJ, I do want to talk about it, just ... Now isn't the time. Maybe later."
"I'm a patient guy. I can wait. How much later?"
Hattie giggled because his protests of patience were very impatiently given. She figured that if she didn't give him some timeframe he would continue to pester her about it all day so she said, "Take me out someplace nice for dinner and we'll talk afterwards, okay?"
"Nice dinner, then talk, okay." Now he just needed to figure out where to take her.
Hattie's phone rang as JJ was moving back to his desk. "Daily Planet, Kaplin." It was one of her contacts at the MPD.
"Listen Kaplin, this is Boyce, last night we had the strangest robbery that I ever heard of. This guy, a young lawyer no less, walks into a jewlery store and sticks it up. He is ID'd from the security cam footage. He was picked up this morning, no jewels and he claims not to know anything about it."
Hattie had been taking notes and asked, "Was he arrested?"
"Yeah, we have too much evidence against him not to. Aside from the camera footage his fingerprints are all over the place."
"Did you confront him with the video footage?"
"Yeah, and he still claimed to not know anything about it. Says it must be someone made up to look like him."
“Is that a possibility?”
“Not a chance. We figure it’s a dodge to try and get out of it. The problem is that the guy would not have any possible motive for pulling the job. He works in a big firm and was just made a full partner. He’s rolling in dough. Unmarried, not a gambler, doesn’t do drugs. He just doesn’t fit the profile for someone that would do something like this.”
“Is he going to have a psych eval?”
“Yeah, he has an appointment with the shrink this afternoon.”
“Please keep me posted.”
“No problem. I appreciated that write up you did on me when I made that arrest last week. I wound up with a citation for it. Got a bump in rank and pay, thanks to you. I’ll be in touch.”
Hattie was thoughtful as she hung the phone up. She smiled, this was just what she and JJ needed to take their minds off of the events of the previous evening. She called him over, “Hey, JJ, got a minute?”
He said, “For you I have as many minutes as you require,” as he arose and moved over beside her desk. She pointed to her guest chair and he sat.
“Remember Boyce?”
“We did a story about him last week, didn’t we?”
“That’s him. He was a plain clothes cop that broke that case. He just called to thank us for the story. He got some bennies from our story and he was repaying the favor. The MPD just made an arrest in a weird case. A guy with no motive robbed a jewelry store and he claims to have no memory of doing it.”
“Is he claiming amnesia?”
“No, he claims that he is innocent. They got him on the security tape, but he claims it isn’t him.”
“This sounds like some kind of mystery. I think we need to interview this guy.”
“I agree with you.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s nearly lunchtime. You think we could go and get lunch and then meet Graham?”
“Okay with me.”
Hattie headed for the office. It looked like Lois saw her approach, although she really knew that it was probably Lois’ superhearing that tipped her off as to Hattie’s approach. Lois signed for her to enter.
Hattie stepped in and said, “I just had a call from MPD. Weird robbery that we’re going to look into. Also, I had a call from Graham Kerr, he asked for a lunchtime meeting. We’re headed out.”
Lois smiled and said, “Ask him to give my regards to Bobby, will you?”
Hattie smiled as she replied, “Sure thing. I don’t know how long we will be gone. We may stop by the precinct and interview the guy they arrested to get a feel for the story.”
Lois nodded and said, “Try to stay out of trouble for a change.”
“Awww, come on. You know that none of those were my fault. Someone has it in for me and JJ.”
“I know and that is what has us concerned. Over the last year, watching out for you and JJ has become almost a full time job. It’s a good thing that there’s more than one of us and we can share the load.”
Hattie saw the smile that Lois had as she was speaking and knew that she was teasing so she didn’t take any offense. She replied, “Maybe you should make me and JJ super, then your problems would be solved.”
With a serious expression, Lois replied, “You don’t know what you are asking. I don’t know any way we could do that, but are you sure you would really want that, if we could? There’s a lot of responsibility that goes along with the powers.”
“I know that and I also know that there probably is no way for it to happen, but if it did, I think we would handle it. If I had married Jon instead of Jen and had been made super as a result, well … I think I would have been ready, but there’s no way that will happen now and JJ’s from the wrong side of the family for that to happen, he’s an Olsen not a Kent.”
Lois smiled and said, “In many ways he’s more Kent than Olsen, just not that way. He’s been with us so much over the years, more than his brothers and sisters, that his personality is different from his siblings. I guess we rubbed off on him. Maybe that’s a good thing, time will tell. Anyhow, just be careful out there, at least until you find out who is after you and we get them."
"Don't worry, we'll be careful. Gotta go. We're gonna catch lunch before we meet up with Graham."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hattie and JJ were sitting in JJ's car around the corner from the main entrance to the Metropolis Museum of Art. They had only parked a minute earlier when there was a knock on Hattie’s door. JJ hit the switch that unlocked the doors and Graham climbed into the back. He challenged, “What’s with the locked doors? Don’t you trust me or something?”
Hattie laughed and said, “It’s not that, it’s just that there have been so many attempts on our lives in the last year that we are trying to be extra careful.”
“Yeah, I heard something about that. You’ve really ticked someone off.”
“Don’t we know it. Well, what do you have for us?”
“I don’t know, but that it may be related to your situation.”
Hattie was suddenly very eager to hear what he had to say. “Come on, don’t keep us in suspense. What do you have for us?”
“That depends, what do you have for me?”
“How does a Double Bacon, Double Cheese Burger Supreme with fries, apple pie and a drink from Hank’s sound?”
“Sounds like we’re talking business. Okay, here’s what I have. There are rumors on the street about ‘X’.”
Mystified, Hattie looked at him in disbelief. She snatched away the bag she was about to hand to him. She challenged, “’X’? That’s all you have for us, just a letter? ‘X’ could stand for anything. You’ve gotta do better than that.” With a look of defiance, she deliberately reached into the bag, pulled out a fry and stuck it into her mouth and chewed.
Seeing his payment start to disappear, Graham said, “Look, don’t be hasty. ‘X’ is more than a letter, it’s a name. ‘X’ could be the one behind all of these attacks on you. The word on the street is that he has started buying up parts of the old Luthor Empire. He could have been behind MetroServe and its attack on you. I think he’s behind MiraLabs as well. He’s been slowly buying up controlling interests in those businesses.”
Hattie extracted another fry and turning to JJ, waving the fry in her hand like a teacher waving a ruler at a student, Hattie said, “That could fit. All of this started when I busted MetroStaff and proved their collusion with MiraLabs in that corporate espionage caper. That was shortly before you joined the Planet.” She popped the fry in her mouth and chewed thoughtful for a few seconds swallowed and absent mindedly pulled out another fry and placed it in her mouth before turning back to Graham. Once she swallowed she said, “You said he was also buying influence?”
She was starting to put her hand back into the bag when Graham reached over the seat back and grabbed her hand, stopping her. She looked at her hand, partly in the bag, with his holding it and suddenly realized what she had been doing. She started to blush, closed the bag and handed it to Graham. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. No wonder I'm feeling so full. You say he is also buying influence?”
“Right, political influence.”
Hattie turned to JJ and said, “I wonder if Robbins was on his payroll. It looked like it was businesses downtown, but we were never able to get any actual names and no convictions as accessories. What if that was all a blind and it was really this ‘X’ that was behind Robbins the whole time. I always thought we found those documents that showed the plan to embezzle the money from the bond sale too easily. What if they were planted so that we would find them?”
JJ rebutted, “It may have been, but he’s definitely the one that taped that bomb to your hands, so he was still guilty of all of those deaths.”
“Right, we got him on that, but he could have been innocent of the other.” Turning back to Graham, she challenged, “Okay, just who is ‘X’?”
“’X’, that’s all I know at this point.”
“It has to stand for something! ‘X’ as in ‘X’ marks the spot, ‘X’ as in cross. If it was ‘XX’ that would be double cross. Something!”
JJ offered, “What if it’s an initial? ‘X’ something. Something like Xavier or Xandra or Ximena," snapping his fingers, he added, "how about Xena?” Shaking his head he said, “I’ve run out of names that start with ‘X’.”
Hattie turned back to Graham and said, “We need more information. Tell you what, get us a name and it’s a full dinner at Travaglini’s, pasta, wine, dessert, the works. A sit down dinner, not take out.”
Graham smiled in anticipation and said, “Stick by the phone. As soon as I have something it will be ringing.” He grabbed the door handle and let himself out.
JJ smiled to himself, he had just decided where to take Hattie for dinner.
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