Something Insightful
Ian
stared up at the ceiling. The doctor had spent another night, Ed and JR had
only come in late last night so Ian and the doctor had the house to themselves
for most of the previous day.
He
looked down at her, her head on his chest, and stroked her hair. She smiled in
her sleep and Ian couldn’t help but smile too, he had lucked out somewhat with
her.
“Hey,”
she said softly as she awoke.
“Hey
beautiful,” he said with a smile.
“What
time is it?”
“Twenty
to six,”
“Aah,
I’ve got to get to work, unless I call in sick,” she said running a finger
along his bare chest.
“We
both know you won’t do that,” Ian said. “I’ll go make us some breakfast,”
Ian
kissed her before getting out of bed and heading to his closet to put on some
clothes, he doubted very much that Ed or JR would like to see him preparing
breakfast naked.
Twenty
minutes after Ian had gotten started on the breakfast, the doctor came down the
stairs, dressed in the same clothes she had worn on their first date two nights
ago. Ian smiled as he saw her, and she smiled back, walking over to him where
they embraced each other.
“Will I
see you tonight?”
“No,
I’ve got to pick up a few extra shifts, but we can grab lunch,”
“Sound
like a plan,”
“Good,
see you then, I’ve got to run,” she said, kissing him before leaving.
She
had come with her own car two nights ago and it had been parked outside since
then. Ian walked her out then returned in time to see Ed stumbling down the
stairs.
“Morning,” Ian said and placed a cup of coffee in front of Ed as he sat
down.
“Morning, where’s the doctor?”
“Just
left, work,”
“I see.
It strange, for you”
“What
is?”
“Sleeping with a woman, on the first date I mean,”
“Yeah,
but there’s something about this one,”
“No,
you think she might be the one?”
“Maybe,
but I’m not gonna pop the question just yet, sure we enjoy each other, and each
other’s company, but I’m still the logical man I used to be”
“Coolio,”
“How
was your date?” asked Ian.
“Was
good, didn’t see much of the movie, if you know what I mean,”
“I do.
Oh, before I forget again, your father phoned last night while you were out,
asked me to tell you that your sister has some important announcement, she
wants everyone at the house this afternoon for lunch,”
“Why
didn’t he just phone me?”
“I
think he did, but you were busy with…more important things,” said Ian with a
devilish smile.
“Ah,
yeah, that might be it,”
“And
don’t forget, next week is the anniversary of The Event,”
“How
could I forget,” Ed said coldly as he stared at the ring on his right hand.
“Not
all mementos of times rather forgotten are scars,” said Ian lifting up his
right arm so Ed could see the series of 1’s and 0’s tattooed on his wrist, “and
more often than not, it’s the wounds we cannot see that leave scars deeper than
steel can make,”
“I
know, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. You’ll remind Dev, won’t you?”
“He
won’t forget either. He may say it doesn’t bother him, but he has nightmares
just like us,”
“Morning,” said JR.
“You’re
up early,” noted Ian, breakfast was done and he filled an extra plate for JR.
“Yeah,
I’ve got to go see a client, I swear some of these server admin’s are useless,”
“You’re
telling me?” said Ian. “Hey, neither of you are doing anything tonight, I think
it’s about high time we had a braai,”
“Agreed,” said Ed.
“Can we
bring other people?” asked JR.
“Yeah,
sure, but you have to be here, I’ll let Dev and Marko know, see if they’ll join
us,”
“They
will,” said Ed confidently.
For
the next few minutes they talked and ate their breakfast. JR was the first to
leave, he was already dressed, Ian on the other hand still had to get dressed
before he left for work twenty minutes later, leaving Ed home alone until later
when he left for his parent’s house.
Ian
didn’t go directly to the Scorpion HQ, instead he went to Project 8, killed a
few hours there before heading in to HQ. Before he got there, the Colonel
phoned and gave him GPS coordinates of a crime scene.
“It
seems you were wrong,” said Monroe as Ian crossed the police line.
They
entered the skyscraper and went to the top floor where the CEO’s office was.
The man had been impaled behind his desk with a hole in the roof where the
sky-nail had come through. Ian was surprised that the sky-nail hadn’t padded
right through the floor and into the next floor.
“Thor,”
he said.
“He’s
picking up the pace,” said Monroe.
“Yeah,
which means he might make a mistake sooner,”
“We
need to find him BEFORE he kills someone else,”
“Fat
chance of that happening,”
“I though
you said you were the best?”
“I’m
good, not God, I can’t work miracles, most days. There has to be a link between
the victims,”
“We’ve
checked, nothing,”
“There
has to be something,”
“Ian,”
“JR?”
said Ian surprised. “What are you doing here?”
“This
is…was my client,”
“You
didn’t have an Abraham Fisher as a client, did you?”
“No,
why,”
“No
reason,” said Monroe.
“You
guys investigating this?”
“Jip,”
“Is
there anything you could tell us?” asked Monroe, “Did your client have enemies?”
“He’s a
corporate big cheese, of course he had enemies,”
Later
that night they were all on the roof of their house. Dev and Marko had joined
them, JR had first gone to pick up Melisa, much to Dev’s irritation, but he got
over it quickly enough.
“We’re
your date?” Ian asked Ed.
“Busy,”
he said.
They
started to braai just after nine, at which point Ian and Ed provided a little
entertainment, singing Stand By Me, after which they were kindly asked not to
sing again.
They
spent most of the night catching up with what had been going on in their lives
of late. JR let slip about the blonde doctor and Ian was forced to explain why
she had stayed for two nights in a row.
“Ed,
what did your sister want?” Ian asked while they ate desert.