Butterfly Crystals

Chapter 9

Jakob Alexander* walked up the flight of stairs slowly. He cursed the landlord silently. The elevator was broken again. He was coming off of the grave-yard shift and he was exhausted. The last thing he needed was this. Jakob was tall, about 6 feet with smoldering dark hair and eyes. His looks were a bit icy and could be chilling if he was angry, but he was handsome nonetheless. He wasn’t overly built, but his job kept him in shape so he rarely worked out on his own. He worked construction and would do odd jobs here and there that required him to be out all night while the rest of the city slept. The lines on his forehead and around his eyes were less noticeable now. Before she came into his life, he looked worn, tired and old, but with her presence and love, she brought a sense of peace and tranquility in his life and heart. He trudged up the last few steps, stopping at the front of the stairs and patted down his jacket and jeans. Construction was a dirty job, but he still tried to “clean” up a bit before entering their apartment. The anger at the landlord faded a bit as he made his way to the apartment door. He knew he’d find her sleeping peacefully. Every night after coming from work, he’d do the same routine. He’d sneak in silently to the apartment, take a quick shower and slip into bed next to her, wanting to sleep holding her for atleast an hour or so before she awoke. She was an early riser and he knew before long, she’d get up and start her day. Despite his efforts to be as quiet as possible, she’d manage to stir awake, asking him about his night before he dozed off. Sometimes she’d drift back to sleep with him and other days she would lie awake in his arms, for as long as possible, enjoying the feel of his steady breath on the back of her neck.

He fumbled with the lock a bit and dropped his key. She heard this and quickly tried to plug in the tree. It wasn't an easy task, but she managed to plug it in time. For a second she mentally thought of how quickly she managed to plug in the chord without triping over the chord itself. She had her clumsy moments. She heard the key turning and ran to the door pushing it shut.

“Wait!”

Jakob stood at the other side of the door confused.

“Madison, what are you doing?”

“Just give me a sec, honey,” she yelled from behind the door, using her feet to push a few boxes out of the way.

“Why?”

“Please?”

“Okay.” He was not about to argue her or push her any further. They were both stubborn and sometimes it was just easier to accept things than aruge about it. He usually lost their fights or small arguments because although it went against his stubborn nature, he could never refuse her anything. He stood outside the door as a neighbor came out with her dog. They greeted each other and he could tell she was just as confused as he was as to why he was standing outside of his apartment. He gave her faint smile as she made her way to the stairs.

“Madison?”

“Okay, okay, close your eyes.”

“What?”

"Just close them. I’ll walk you into the apartment, but you have to keep your eyes close."

"Why?" He was curious by nature and he suddenly realized that there was never a time in his life that anyone asked him to close his eyes.

"It’s a surprise," she said gently stomping her foot, impatient.

"Okay." He closed his eyes and felt his way to the door as Madison opened the door, making sure his eyes were completely shut. She walked him in and stood in back of him, holding him by the waist with one hand and using the other hand to turn off the light by the door, the she used both hands to cover his eyes. She had to stand on the tips of her toes and use her body to nudge him forward. When they were in front of the tree she stopped walking, holding him back with her hands pressed against his face.

She slowly took her hands off his eyes. “Okay.”

“I can open them now?” he said jokingly.

“Yes!” said excitedly.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the tree in front of him, shining brightly with blinking lights, tinsel, and other decorations. She walked in front of him slowly trying to read his face.

"Well?" She eyed him curiously, waiting for his reaction.

"It’s a Christmas tree," he smiled.

"Yes, and?"

"And it’s big," he siad looking at her now.

"And," she asked, her hands moving in circles around each other.

He stared at her blankly “…and it’s green?” he said, his eyes practically asking her if his descriptions were enough. Her face visibly dropped.

“and..” he continued animated, “…it’s looks great.” Her face beamed and he grabbed her by the waist pulling towards him, kissing her.

“I thought for a second, you didn’t like it.”

“No, it’s fine, I just…growing up we never made a big deal about Christmas trees or Christmas in general.” He grew up roughly, having to take more care of his mother than she did of him. He never knew his father and his mom was an alcoholic. At a very early age, he learned to never expect anything for Christmas except maybe a “merry Christmas” from his mother if she managed to stay coherent. He became jaded. Holidays and many other things passed him by without it even registering for him. Looking at the tree now, he had no reaction to it, he’d seen one before and he chalked it up as just something people do because everyone else was doing it. She knew this about him so there was a part of her that tried to take away some of cynicism, to give him a little something of what every child experienced. She could see it in his eyes when they walked down the street and saw decorated houses on their way home. No matter how decorated or undecorated the house, he would have the same reaction while she would perk up at the sight. The only reaction he had was to her. She would think sometimes that she was some light in his eyes because of the decorated houses and trees, but she realized it was a reaction to her that made him smile and she loved him even more for that.

“Well from now on we’re going to have a Christmas tree up every Christmas, okay.” It was more of a demand then question.

“Okay he nodded slowly. HE had become accustomed to the illusion of their life together.

“If only it snowed” she said a million miles away. She thought she never experience it, but for some reason she felt like she missed it.

“Well now that you mention snow, I have something to tell you.”

“What?”

He walked them to the nearby chair, sitting down as she sat in his lap.

“What is it?”

“I got offered a new job today.” She wanted to smile, but the combination of the look on his face and her own confusion stopped her.

“I didn’t know you were looking for a job.”

“I wasn’t but it sort of came up. One of the guys told me about it and I get paid more and I don’t have to work these long weird hours.” She smiled at that. She missed falling asleep with him.

“That’s great!” she exclaimed hugging him. He held her tighter and tried to smile.

She studied his face. “What wrong, aren’t you happy?”

“There’s more. The job is in another city.”

“We have to move?”

“Yes.”

“Oh” she said looking down at his hands and playing with his finger.

He buried his face into her neck taking in her scent. “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to, just say the word.” He silently wished she would tell him no, but he knew she wouldn’t.

“No, it’s not that I don’t want to go, I just, I really like it here. I know that things are always broken and it’s small, but all our friends are here and I’m going to miss them.”

He moved away from her neck, looking at her fingers playing with his. “I know, me too, but we can stay here if you want…we can stay here. [please tell me you don’t want to go, please]. We don’t have to leave our home.

She took her fingers away from his and held his face. “You’re my home.” He touched her face softly, smiling.

She practically hopped off of his lap, grabbing his arms. “Let’s do it! We could use a little adventure and I”ve never lived anywhere but Florida.”

“Are you sure?”

She hugged him and he ran his fingers through her hair. “Positive. As long as I have you, I’d go anywhere. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

She parted from him. “AND, it snows! Can’t wait to see it!”

He laughed. “It’s cold and dirty.”

“and clean and fun” she continued for him. He just knew she’d spend a lot of time in the snow.

“and coming in from the cold, imagine all the fun we’ll have trying to get warm.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“I thought you would,” she smiled coyishly (sp? Meaning?) “You know what, how about we start practicing now,” she said pulling him into a slow sensual kiss.

He broke away despite himself. “okay let me shower”

She hit his butt. “Hurry up!”

As he was almost at the entrance of his bedroom she yelled out to him “Wait, where are we moving too?!”

He cleared his throat, hesitating a bit. “Port-Charles.”

"Never heard of it," she said before walking into the kitchen.

To be continued...

*Character of Jakob Alexander created by J.R.

Chapter 10