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Sinfonia de la Inamorata
An Interlude for Sweet Lovin'
Movement Four
IV: Duets ... First Movement
"You bastard! You did this to her!"
Drummond was sitting in the first floor cafeteria of the East Medical Center nursing a cup of coffee, (heavy cream, aspartame), and staring at the featureless white wall, thinking that even ketchup spatters would relieve the tedium, when a dark whispery voice interrupted his thoughts. Despite the fact that he recognized the voice, he was glad of the interruption.
The Center's Medical Suite in the Admin. Building was a marvel of modern medical technology and was superbly well-equipped. It acted as a kind of a private clinic for the Center's senior staff. But it was small, and there were times when even so key a person as Gabrielle Dolly had to be moved to the main complex, where she was resting in durance vile under the orders of the Center's Director, Terence Hallow Britten, occupying a VIP suite on the top floor where she could get head from her boss and lover, Mitchell Cary Drummond, and engage in all the screaming orgasms she wanted without disturbing too many other patients.
But what it made up for in space, the main complex lacked in privacy. Rather than being able to duck into his private office, Drummond had to avail himself of the public dining room to get a cup of fresh coffee. When will they ever get it right in vending machines? he wondered. Which made him available as a target when somebody wanted to give him grief about something that was really none of their business. Somebody such as...
"Xe Doll! What rock did you crawl out from under?" There was no love lost between the two of them. Xe saw Drummond as The Enemy -- a man who had stolen her girlfriend. Drummond saw Xe as The Enemy -- a woman who had hurt his girlfriend soul deep. They could neither really understand that Dolly loved both of them and simply chose to spend her life with Drummond because she couldn't deal with what she saw as Xe's self-hatred.
The six-foot raven-haired woman took the chair opposite him, spun it around and straddled, leaning her muscular forearms across the back. She was dressed in well-fitting black jeans and a pale blue vest made from a jeans jacket with the sleeves cut off. Blue bandannas were tied around her biceps and she wore studded black leather bracers on both forearms. The vest was decorated with short lengths of chain sewn into the seams and draped from here to there in tiny swags. One of her heavy motorcycle boots rested on the base of the table, rocking it slightly. Typical Xe Doll: she always found and exploited the instability in anything.
"So what did I do to whom this time and what business is it of yours?"
"You know what I mean, you fucker! And as for what business it is of mine, I make it my business."
"And you're too tough to admit that it's because she matters to you, right?"
Then, for some reason, she sighed. She put both hands up flat, fingers together, a set of keys dangling across one palm. "Look. Truce?"
Drummond nodded.
"I'm worried about her, OK? I know she hates me..."
"You might be surprised."
"Don't bullshit me, OK?"
"I'm not. She does care about you. You just... you cause her too much pain for her to be able to stand it for very long. She kind of librates around that point where it stops hurting to be around you and where it stops hurting to be away from you. Can't ever come to rest in a place where the forces are equal, so it's a constant dance. And it wears her out."
They looked into each other's eyes for a long moment then. The ice blue glaring at the warm brown. Each hoping that there might be some breakthrough. There wasn't. Xe remembered what had brought her down here in the first place.
"They won't let me in to see her. I figured it was on your orders."
"Actually, it's not. I don't know for sure, but I'd guess it was either Terry Britten or Kairn -- the head Doc. Or maybe one of the nurses -- Pru Mills or Lacey. They get pretty protective of her, you know."
Xe sighed. "Yeah, I know. Everybody does. It's the model she comes in."
"Anyway, right now, I'm not exactly in her good graces myself. She threw me out of her room."
"That's gotta be hormones talking. She's absolutely disgustingly besotted with you."
"Yeah, well, you weren't there. Sapph is talking to her right now. I..." Then it occurred to Drummond to wonder why Xe was here now and looking as clean and well-fed as she was. Last he'd heard she was living in some rat-infested, abandoned and condemned building not far from where they'd been yesterday. Sappho had made it her off-hours project to locate the lost dolly and bring her back into the fold.
A long pause.
"I guess she found you, huh?"
"What? Does the whole world know?"
"I doubt it. It's just that, when she's doing her Emissary number, she usually gets assigned to whatever case I'm working, so we see a lot of each other. We have a lot of downtime between the furious activity. And we talk. She hasn't ever said much about it to me, but I can read between the lines as well as the next idiot. When you dropped out of sight after... Well, when nobody knew where you were for awhile, and she started disappearing for long periods in her off time, well... I put two and two together and came up with seven."
"So. Have you said anything about it to... you know... to Gabrielle?"
"No. But behind that cute exterior -- big hair, big tits -- she does have a brain, and she uses it. Surprises a lot of people, I know, but..."
"I get your point," Xe said. "So do you think she knows?"
"Actually, no. I don't. But only because she doesn't spend as much time with Sapph as I do. They aren't... they aren't the best of friends, you know. For some reason, Sapph has this idea that Dolly's not the best for me. Go figure. She doesn't exactly try to get me to dump her, but she is always encouraging me to look at the other side of things. The other side from Dolly's, I mean. And I think Dolly is a bit jealous that Sapph and I can share things that... well, they just don't fit between lovers. Y'know? No, you wouldn't know." Drummond smiled gently. To his surprise, Xe returned it.
"Actually, I do know. What I'm wondering about is why you're telling me?"
"Just in a way of telling you that I care about Sappho and you'd better not hurt her. I know you can probably kick my tailbone up between my shoulder blades, but I'd be bound to try anyway. Understand?"
"Sure." Xe's eyes went enigmatic for an instant. Then: "I understand. And... thanks. Believe it or not, it helps."
Just then, Drummond heard the sound of boots on the tiles and the quiet jingle of chains and keys. He looked up to see Sappho approaching, a smile spreading on her face when she spotted him. He glanced over at Xe, who picked up on his signals immediately, a feral grin beginning to form on her own features.
"Hey!" said Sappho softly as she rounded the corner and before she saw who was seated opposite him. Then her eyebrows went up and she caught the keys as Xe tossed them.
"Gay's all gassed up and the new fuel filter is in and primed," Xe said.
"Gay?" Drummond asked.
"Gay Deceiver," Sappho answered.
"As in... ?" Sappho nodded. "Cool! Good one, Sapph!" Drummond said, grinning. "Does she know?" he asked, jerking his head sideways at Xe.
"Not yet," said Sappho, grinning herself.
"You got her cleared, right?" Drummond asked. Sappho nodded again.
Drummond turned to Xe. "Ooo, boy! Are you in for the ride of your life."
"What?" Xe looked suddenly spooked, turning from one to the other.
"You'll find out," said the Emissary captain enigmatically.
"So..." Drummond asked, shoving out a chair for Sappho, which she accepted gratefully. "How was her highness?"
"Better now. But you should apologize."
"For what?" he asked, exhibiting typical male stubborn cluelessness.
"Doesn't matter," both women said at the same time. Xe laughed and leaned back, tossing her hair with an atypical gesture. Sappho went on, "It doesn't really matter. It lets her gracefully protest that you didn't do anything wrong and then do a mea culpa. It's a female thing. It's why we make better diplomats. Just go with it, huh?"
And, because he really did love the little doll, Drummond nodded his puzzled acceptance. He'd learned a long time ago that there were just certain things about women he was fated to never understand and he guessed this was one of them.
And, since he saw Dolly as his second chance at having a One True Love in his life, he was willing to do anything to make things work between them. It was why a tantrum like hers of earlier that afternoon could cut him so deeply.
"Well," he said, draining his cup and pushing his chair back as he stood, "I guess I better be going. Remember what I said, Xe," he said lightly. She nodded.
"Take good care of her," she said in reply, with surprisingly little threat in her tones.
He nodded and started off toward the door, depositing his cup in the trash with a jaunty three-point toss as he went by.
Next: V. Duets ... Second Movement | Previous: III: Mondo Crescendo Fortissima DS Al Capo Ad Libida