Face to Face, Part 10
by Linda
All of the sudden, the scenery surrounding Devon Adair changed once again. "Not again," the woman muttered to herself as she looked around. For once, she was indoors. The room appeared to be the center of a familial dwelling, with a table and chairs for eating, bookshelves and space for relaxation. It wasn't the neatest dwelling Devon had ever seen, but then she figured she was probably the last person who should make first impressions on a neatness quota. The only reason she was neat nowadays was that she moved once a day, and didn't have many possessions to strew around the campsite. As Devon surveyed the new territory, she felt someone slip a hand through hers.
"What is going on? What are we doing here?" The young girl looked around much as Devon had just moments earlier. "By the way, where is here?"
"Funny, but I was just going to ask you the same question." Devon smiled down at True, relieved that she didn't have to hunt for Danziger's stubborn youngster this time around and doubly relieved that True didn't seem lost, alone, angry or upset with her this time.
"Mom, look what True and I found."
The duo watched in amazement as Uly came racing through the door, followed not long thereafter by True.
"Neat, there's two of me," the True holding her hand whispered to Devon, as they both continued watching the scene playing out in front of them. Devon smiled down at her before returning her gaze to the scene at hand.
"Hush, guys. I managed to get the twins down for a nap, so I've been finishing up the plans for the addition to the hospital. Let's try and keep them quiet for a little while longer." Yet another version of Devon talked to the kids as she entered the room. "So what did you find?" she asked after hugging both Uly and True.
"Aren't they cool, Devon?" the teenage True called out, holding some pink and purple flowers in her hands. "I haven't seen any like them before."
Devon took a step backward, until she felt the supporting comfort of the wall behind her. "Did she just say 'twins'?" she muttered.
"Actually, I think you just said 'twins'," True grinned mischievously, as she glanced from the Devon holding her hand to the one helping the older her and Uly examine the strange herbs that they had brought back from their explorations. Suddenly her father entered the room, bringing both observers' attention back to center stage.
"Aha, looks like someone brought dinner." One Devon smiled as she left the kids to give John a hand with the food.
"Of course, I brought dinner. I want to eat. And even the Grendlers know better than to try and eat your cooking, Adair." Danziger smiled as he gave Devon a quick kiss. "I don't know why we even bothered to put a kitchen on this place."
"Don't you complain to me, Mr. Fixit." The observer Devon was glad to see that her other self was still more than capable of giving what she got. "The only way a skillet is useful for you is when someone hits you over your stubborn head with it."
"John, did anyone ever tell you that you were stubborn?"
The search groups had all changed partners for the morning, and Julia had assigned herself to John because she was worried about his health after searching all night through the storm.
"Adair tells me that all the time." John tried to reassure Julia with a smile. "I'm sure when she gets back, she'll do it again. There hasn't been any sign of her, has there?"
"I'm sure we would have heard the second anyone found out anything." Julia frowned. "To be honest, I'm getting worried."
"Me, too," John admitted quietly. "But if you ever tell her I said that I'll feed you your diaglove for lunch."
"It's too late," Julia smiled. "I think she already knows how much you care about her."
"Yeah, and look how she responded. She fled into the night."
"That has nothing to do with you!"
"How do you know?" Danziger sped up once again, and didn't hear Julia's quiet response.
"I just do."
"Do you mind if we switch partners?"
Larry Baines posed the question to Magus, Walman and Cynthia Adair. They had started off the morning paired along gender lines. Truth be told, Baines hadn't been much company for Walman since he was lost in his own thoughts, and when they ran into the other search party, he decided it was time to deal with the women haunting his life.
"I promise Walman's not bad company most of the time." Baines tried to keep the conversation light, not to let anyone know how much he needed to talk to Magus, who was standing less than 10 feet away from him. She hadn't spoken a word since the two groups met. "He does have this tendency to fall asleep on watch, but if you keep him moving you should be fine."
"I don't mind." Cynthia Adair smiled politely. It had obvious to her that the silent young woman she was partnered with had more than just the search on her mind. She wondered if Baines had anything to do with it, but she certainly didn't want to be in the midst of a lover's quarrel, if that was the case. 'Boy, this certainly is an incestuous little group,' she thought to herself before saying aloud, "It'll be a good chance for me to get to know one more person from Eden Advance."
"Maybe we should get going, then." Walman had a better idea than Cynthia what was going on, and four was definitely a crowd. "We'll search this way," he said, pointing northwest from their position.
Baines and Magus watched as their companions headed off into the distance. Every once in a while, they would hear a call for Devon or for True, always without response. Not until they were surrounded by the noisy silence of the forest did either of them speak.
"We have to talk." Baines tried out a smile on Magus, but Laura wasn't buying.
"I think you've already said plenty." The woman picked up her Magpro and got ready to resume the search.
"I haven't said anything."
"My point exactly," Magus said. "Now we have a search to conduct."
"We can search and talk at the same time," Baines said, as they began walking in the opposite direction of Cynthia and Walman. "Actually you can just listen, and I'll talk."
Magus merely glared at him before calling out, "True, can you hear me? Devon, where are you?"
Baines waited until the lack of response became deafening. "OK, this is the deal. Yesterday kind of came out of nowhere for me. I...."
"I don't need to hear this." Magus cut him off. "I got the picture. You're not interested. I was pushing things. I don't need to be humiliated."
"Will you shut up?" Baines was having a hard enough time without Magus' misreading of the situation. "You obviously don't have the picture 'cause I am interested."
"Really?" the blonde head swiveled around so she could look him in the eyes and judge his demeanor.
"Really." Baines nodded his head for emphasis. "But there are some things you have to know about me first."
"Like what?"
"Like once upon a time, I was married."
As Magus looked at Baines in shock, Devon rubbed her eyes and began the movements that signified awakening from a deep sleep. The Terrian that had been periodically watching over her and True's sleeping forms sunk once more into the ground. As Devon got up and stretched, she tried to be careful not to disturb the child with whom she had shared her somewhat rocky night. As Devon began to remember the events that had occurred in the dream world, she blushed. But she authoritatively decided to put the dreams out of her head for the moment, and turned her attention to True. Devon had just placed her hand to the youngster's forehead to judge her temperature when the 10-year-old opened her eyes.
"Devon, you're really here!" True looked up at the woman, startled to see that not everything had been a dream.
"I sure am." Devon smiled with relief to see True awake. "How are you feeling, True?"
"OK." The girl sat up and was overcome with a wave of dizziness. "Or not so OK," she admitted.
"Just lie down for a minute. You've been pretty sick."
"How did you get here?" True asked the question though her eyes were closed to combat the dizziness.
"The Terrians showed me the way. I could ask you the same question?"
"I ran away."
As Devon tried to figure out how to respond, True fell back to sleep. After feeling her forehead again to determine if the fever had truly broke, Devon decided that real sleep was probably the most helpful thing she could give True for the moment. She pulled out a nutrition bar from the girl's stash to appease her own growling stomach and wandered out into the late morning sunlight to check on how the Dunerail had weathered the storm. As she saw the vehicle coated with leaves and branches, she laughed to herself, "Danziger's going to kill me when he sees this vehicle," she said. "Of course, that won't matter unless True knows how to get back to camp."
Back at the camp, Julia walked up to Alonzo.
"Are you hungry?" she offered him one of the two bowls of stew she was holding.
"Do I want to know what's in this?" He grinned.
"Probably not." Julia smiled somewhat shyly. "It's one of Bess' creations."
"Why do I get the feeling there's something more than Bess' ingredients on your mind?" Alonzo asked.
"I was just thinking that this was the first meal we've sat down to have together since you asked me to marry you. Any regrets?"
"Only that it's going to be a short meal. I see John getting antsy to start searching again."
"Why do I get the feeling there's something more on your mind as well?" Julia gave him one of her best doctor's appraisal glances.
"It's just that we...."
"Julia, are you ready to get going again?" Alonzo's quiet statement was cut off by Danziger's cross-camp yell.
As Julia turned her gaze from Alonzo to John, she could hear the panic in the latter's words. "I'm sorry, Alonzo. I guess this is going to have to wait. Is that OK?"
Alonzo nodded his assent, but his gaze held more than a hint of concern as he watched Julia leave the camp and him behind.
Author's Chapter Notes:
I swear that parts 8 & 9 were actually mailed out late Monday night, even if they didn't appear (courtesy of AOL and the list) until sometime mid-Tuesday. My apologies. Here's the next two, and only two more to go.....Enjoy. Linda