Champions of Serenity: Destiny Fulfilled

Chapter 3

Morning dawned bright and it looked to be a glorious day. Grant was humming from the kitchen this morning as he made breakfast. Karen was the first down, dressed in the bright yellow t-shirt and jeans Debra had given her the day before. Her short yellow blonde hair was still damp from her shower and her voice was filled with more energy than a couple hours sleep should have. “Smells good, who’s cooking?” Then she poked her head into the kitchen and smiled at Grant. “Hmmm….looks good.” She kissed him on the cheek and started to help him dish up scrambled eggs, French toast, sausage, bacon, and coffee.

“Well, I have a reputation to uphold. Debra’s cooking the past couple days has made it so I have to top her. What has you in such a good mood today, Karen?” He said as he flipped over the last set of French toast. Then he returned her good morning kiss. He was dressed in one of Phil’s concert t-shirts and jeans and was also freshly showered.

Karen shrugged and took the eggs and coffee to the sidebar in the dining room. She wondered if Grant was also going to do dinner and then smiled as she remembered the meal from last night. Debra was a good cook and Grant would have to knock himself out to top her efforts. “I don’t know. I just feel happy today. So, are you also going to make dinner?”

Grant nodded. “It’s already taken care of, just like Debra did yesterday. It isn’t going to be gourmet but it will be filling.” He pointed to a crock pot that had something simmering in it. “Bar-b-que beef sandwiches, French fries, and more ice cream. I can do early morning shopping as well. Although I had a little more trouble finding what I wanted than I think Debra did. I’m not entirely sure she didn’t go somewhere else to do that shopping.”

“And where do you think I went?” Debra said, coming in and giving both a good morning. “I didn’t leave the area I knew to do it.” She winked and peeked into the pot. “Hmmm…it smells good, Grant. I think that sometime today Tris and I are going to have it out about my dietary needs verses her self-imposed vegetarianism.”

Debra left the kitchen then, brush in hand, to finish getting ready for the day. Grant and Karen looked at each other, neither one wanting to comment on the dark circles under Debra’s eyes that showed her lack of sleep from the night before. Both were glad they weren’t the leader if it entailed sleepless nights and long bouts of soul searching it seemed to bring out in Debra. Then they heard the masses coming down stairs and hurried to finish setting out breakfast.

“Grant’s cooking.” Jared announced, familiar with his friend’s culinary skills. “I can smell the French toast from here. Good morning, Debra, want help with that braid?” Jer had also borrowed a clean t-shirt from Phil and was looking good for someone who hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. “Sorry to pry last night, Deb. And you are right about me and Karen. I just can’t get her to look beyond blue eyes and blond hair. I wish I could.”

“I think you should give her a little more credit, Jer. After all, Phil doesn’t have blond hair.” Debra teased back, sending a mental caress to show she understood. “I’ll work with her today and see if I can’t feel her out for you.”

Jared tried to get Debra to change her mind about it, but his heart just wasn’t in it. He was too curious to see if he even stood a chance with the woman he had been interested in since Emily introduced them all those years ago. Besides, if Debra could get Karen to agree to work with her, it would be yet another step toward building that friendship and that was a good thing.

The eight of them sat down to breakfast. Debra took a bite of the French toast and turned pale. “Excuse me a moment.” She stood and left the room, looking none too happy. When she came back a few minutes later, she was determined and took another bite of her breakfast. Grant started to laugh and when the others realized what had happened, they laughed as well. “I don’t think I’ll be having any more problems with what I want to eat anymore. Tris can just deal with her bloodlusts on her own and stop blaming them on me.” Realizing how she sounded, Debra grinned and joined the others in laughter. “Well, I’m not willing to give up steak and hamburgers and pork chops. I’m not asking Tris to stop eating her meat living, she shouldn’t be asking me to stop eating it cooked.”

They agreed with her and finished eating. Debra enjoyed double helpings of sausage and instead of hot coffee; she used a touch of magic to make herself hot chocolate. She gave them a faint smile and explained that she really didn’t like the taste of coffee, no matter who made it. “At least it’s you and not Tris this time.” Phil said and made a mental note to keep hot chocolate on hand for Debra. For all that he didn’t seem to be noticing, he was keeping a close watch on the woman who had captured his heart. He wondered how long it would take her to turn to him.

“Karen, would you be my partner today?” Debra asked as everyone was dividing into teams for the day’s work. Karen looked up from tying her tennis shoes and nodded. “Thanks. Yesterday I saw this sweet little area that I just know we can clean up between us. Phil, you and your group get Jeff and Ben today. And if you can, avoid that Mark Geffries person. I have a feeling that he’s going to be our bane for a while.”

“Do you think he’s going to be a problem?” Emily asked as she pulled her hair into a ponytail for the day.

“I think he’s going to be a problem like a rock in your shoe is a problem; more a pain in the butt than trouble, but still a nuisance. Just stay out of his way if you can. Be careful and do a good job.” Debra said and then grabbed Karen’s hand. “Race you all.” Then the two girls ran out of the house and down the street.

At the end of the street, Debra pulled Karen into a bush to wait until the others had passed them. When Karen started to ask what they were doing, Debra hushed her up as Mike and Darin rushed past, mumbling about cheaters. Emily and Grant made up the next group and Jared and Phil brought up the rear.

“What do you make of Debra, Jer?” Phil asked, as they walked past. Jared stopped, not knowing how close he was to both Karen and Debra.

“I don’t know, Phil. I know that it’s going to take some time before she’s ready to be close to anyone romantically. I know she has a problem believing in herself and her skills. But I also know that when it comes down to it, she’s a lot stronger than any of us are giving her credit for. It’s hard to believe that such a tiny woman could pack enough power to control a Demon Elf, but she has and that’s saying a lot. I don’t know about Airidon, but Jehro has a very healthy respect for Tris and just a little fear as well.” Jared answered, leaning against the bush for a moment. “Why did you want to know?”

Phil took a deep breath. “I asked her to be with me last night and she turned me down. I just wanted to know if it was because of something other than what happened to her or if it was me.”

Jared stood up. “It isn’t you, Phil, it’s what happened. I can feel her attraction to you; it’s kind of hard to hide stuff like that from each other. She nailed me last night about my feelings toward Karen. Just give her time and I’m sure that you’ll both get what you want. I also know that she’s going to win todays clean up race if we don’t hurry. When she sets her mind on something, I have a feeling she gets it.”

The two of them left and Debra sat down to think about what Jared said. “Is it true, Debra?” Karen asked looking over at Debra deep in thought.

“Is what true? That I turned Phil down last night? Yes and no. He did ask me to be with him. And I told him not now but later.” Debra answered and then added. “And yes, Jared does have very strong feelings for you. Only he thinks you wouldn’t be interested in him because he doesn’t have blond hair.”

“Of all the stupid things for Jer to think. If I had known he wanted to ask me out I would have made sure he knew I thought him very attractive. Gods, Debra, he’s better looking than Phil any day of the week, I just thought that after going out with Em he wouldn’t want to go out with me as well.” Karen said and grumbled. “But what can I do to let him know without coming out and saying it bluntly. I’m not really good with this kind of thing.”

“Let me think about it while we work and together we can come up with a plan for both Phil and Jared. I don’t want Phil to think that I’m not interested, but it’s too soon.” Debra said and led Karen in the completely different direction from where they started out. “Let the others work in the city proper. I found this little place last night while I was out, near the beach, that needs help just as much and we won’t have competition. C’mon.”

Karen nodded and the two of them started on the day’s work. By lunch time, the beachfront community was cleaned up and many grateful residents were able to return to their homes. They also had come up with a plan, it happened while they were fixing a water main in front of a florist shop. Buying two red roses and a couple of cards, they returned to Phil’s house to eat and put in motion their plan. Debra filled out the card for Jared, and Karen did the card for Phil. Then they set the roses on each of the respective pillows with the cards and left the house for the afternoon. Instead of going someplace far, the two of them worked in the neighborhoods around Phil’s.

When the others returned, they were surprised to see so much done around Phil’s house. Richard, the friendly policeman at the entrance to their street, told them what hard workers Phil’s girlfriend and that other girl were. Others were finally able to return to their homes in the area that probably wouldn’t have been given priority over some of the business districts in the city proper. Phil didn’t bother to correct Richard’s misconception about Debra and he was sure she wouldn’t mind.

Phil opened the door and smelled the bar-b-que beef and smiled. “Well, Grant, it smells like your dinner is just about ready.” He quickly moved out of the way while the tall blond man rushed past him into the kitchen to make sure it hadn’t burned. The sound of a shower going informed him that Debra and Karen must be home as well.

“All I did was stir it, Grant.” Phil heard Debra say from the kitchen. “I did get another loaf of French bread though, just in case there’s someone wants bread and butter or Tris acts up again. Although I think I took care of that problem this morning.” Phil smiled and went up to his room. He stopped when he saw the rose on his pillow and opened the card. “Phil, I wanted to apologize for the way I’ve behaved in the past. I hope we can start over and be friends. I wish you the best of luck with Debra. She does care about you but is shy about something. I don’t know what and I hope you do. PS: The rose was Debra’s idea. Love Karen.” Again Phil smiled and picked up the rose. It smelled rich and velvety.

A knock sounded on his door and Jared walked in with a similar rose and card, this one from Debra. “Ah, it looks like we were both visited by the rose fairies. Whose is yours from?”

“Karen, although I think Debra had a big hand in it.” Phil sat down and waved Jared to take a seat. “They must have over heard us this morning; in that bush by the front entrance of the neighborhood. I know it’s a favorite hiding place for some of the kids around here.”

“So, what do we do about it?” Jared asked, brushing his rose against his cheek. He had a tender smile on his face and was thinking about how to best thank Karen for the rose.

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll each have to figure it out when the time seems right.” Phil responded and set his rose back down on his pillow. He gave it a pat and turned back to Jared. “But I think we should thank the one that gave the rose and not the card, if you know what I mean.” Jared nodded and agreed.

Back down stairs, Karen was combing out her wet hair and complaining with Mike about numbers. “Just because we worked near instead of far doesn’t mean we didn’t get the numbers, Mike. So can it. Darin, will you please hand me the lotion?”

Darin handed Karen the lotion and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes. “Gods, what a day! Mark Geffries made a right nuisance of himself today around Mike and me. We could hardly get anything done without him turning up and trying to get us on camera. No wonder Debra warned us about him. Did anyone else have a problem with him?”

“He kept trying to get me and Grant on camera as well.” Emily said. “But it was easy to avoid him by not lingering around any one place too much. My feet hurt.” She had pulled her feet into her lap was rubbing both of them.

“Here, let me help with that.” Jared said and took one of Em’s feet and began to rub it gently. “Well, according to Phil and Debra, tomorrow we begin to put our own lives back together. Anyone have an idea where to start?”

“Phil asked me to help him get his office back up and running since I worked for him for a couple of summers. And I think Debra was going to look for an apartment and job here. Mike and Darin should get back to their office and see what kind of damage was done to their network.” Emily said, relaxing under Jared’s massage. She shook her hair from the ponytail and borrowed Karen’s comb to get a few knots out of it. Then she put it back up. “Any idea when Grant’s dinner is going to be ready?”

“In about ten minutes.” Debra said and sat down, kicking her own shoes off. She smiled at everyone and lifted an eyebrow at Jared’s wink in her direction. “He kicked me out so he could finish dinner without giving away any secrets. He’s quite the cook. Reminds me of a couple of the chefs at the hotel back home, they hated to give away their specialty seasonings and such, always making up the blends themselves and then having their sou chefs add just the right amount of the blend.” She closed her eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath. The others exchanged glances at how tired she looked but no one said anything.

A few minutes later, Grant came out of the kitchen and announced dinner was ready. In that short time, Debra had fallen asleep and Phil said to let her sleep. The others sat down to dinner and savored the sandwiches and fries, making sure to save some for Debra when she woke up.

Chaos took a moment to watch over the sleeping Debra and smiled. Just as Serenity said she would, Debra had risen to the challenges put before her and was excelling. For a moment he felt sorrow over all that still had to be done, but at least Dreybrenic couldn’t get to her anymore, not surrounded as she was by those overly protective of her. He was still interested to see how things would play out in the romance department.

The house was quiet when Debra woke up sometime after midnight. The others had gone up to bed themselves, all except Phil who was on the couch waiting for her. He was asleep as well and he looked so young and vulnerable to her. She reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from his eyes and saw him flinch a little but not wake up. Sitting back, she watched him sleep, not aware of the tender look she had on her face. Then her stomach growled and she wandered into the kitchen to see if anything was left for her.

Scooping some of the meat onto a bun and taking warm fries from the microwave, she sat down at the kitchen table to eat. Closing her eyes, she savored the tangy sauce Grant had made from scratch. It was better than anything she had ever had in the past and she would make sure she told him that in the morning. Finishing it off with a piece of buttered bread and ice cream, Debra decided she could use some more sleep.

In the living room, Phil woke with a start and noticed Debra gone. He saw the light on in the kitchen and went in as she was rinsing her dishes and putting them away to dry in the rack. “Feel better after a nap and meal? Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” He came and put his arms around her again. She turned in his arms and looked into his face. “Thank you for the rose. I know the card came from Karen, but since Jer also had one I’m going to assume the rose was from you.” He kissed her softly and was happy when she responded.

When the kiss was broken, she looked up into his deep blue eyes and smiled. “You are welcome. I hope you understand, Phil, that I do care, I just need some time.” She lifted her hand and caressed his face, gliding her fingers over the stubble that was growing at his jaw line.

He nodded, his eyes glistening in the soft light of the kitchen and moonlight. Slowly so she could back away if she wanted to, Phil leaned down to kiss Debra. Seconds before their lips touched, Debra screamed and grabbed Phil’s arms holding on tightly.

The ground shifted under them and the dishes in the drain rack fell into the sink, shattering the glass. Phil tightened his hold on Debra and guided her out of the middle of the room to the doorway and waited the few seconds for the aftershock to pass.

When the aftershock passed, Jared raced down the stairs in his shorts, a wild look in his eyes. “Debra, I heard the scream, is everything okay?”

“I’m fine, Jer. Sorry to wake you, I’m just not used to earthquakes and it startled me.” Debra gave both Jer and Phil a half-smile and pushed away to sit in the chair she fell asleep in earlier. Watching her hands a moment as they trembled in reaction, she then rubbed them against her thighs and counted her breaths. “Guess I’m not so steady on my feet as everyone thought.”

“That’s understandable, Deb, the first few are rough on most people. And coming as you did for a really big one, it’s enough to shake up anyone. Let’s get some sleep now. Okay?” Jared said, giving Deb a quick peck on the cheek and then stumbled back up to his bed.

Debra looked over to Phil, still standing in the doorway, watching her. She couldn’t figure out what he was thinking from the look on his face or his posture and she had promised herself she wouldn’t use her powers on the Circle without their permission. So she read the worst into the situation and hung her head a moment before standing. “I’ll see you in the morning, Phil. Sleep well.” Her voice was sad, thinking he thought she was either weak or playing with his emotions.

Phil watched her go upstairs into the girls’ room and close the door. He wondered wistfully if she would ever turn to him like she turned to Jared. With a sigh, he went into the kitchen and cleaned up the mess in the sink and restacked the dishes Debra had washed. As he was throwing the last of the glass shards into the garbage, he heard a sound behind him and turned to find Emily watching him a moment.

“Sorry, Phil didn’t mean to startle you. I heard Debra come up to bed and decided to get a drink of water. Is everything okay?” Emily suited action to words and added her glass to the other dishes in the rack when she was done.

“Yes, Emily, just a little confused is all.” Phil smiled as he followed Emily out of the kitchen, turning off the light, and up the stairs. “I just can’t understand what it is between Debra and Jared.”

Outside her door, Emily turned to Phil and gave a half laugh and smile. “With those two, who knows? And who cares? It’s pretty obvious that all those two will ever be is friends, no matter how close they get. So, let them have their special friendship and get on with sweeping her off her feet.” Emily winked at Phil and then went to find her own bed again.

Nodding to himself, Phil went to his own room. Trust Emily to put things into perspective.

Chaos chuckled as yet another stumbling block was put in the path of Debra and Phil. He peeked at Tris and found her cuddled with Airidon and almost gagged. Why was it the Circle on Sandeenai was so…settled compared to the one on Earth, especially when the one on Earth came together so easily by comparison? He would have to look further into that.