Jacqueline Druga - Protocol One

“No.” Tony took a drink. “She killed herself. She’s probably burning in hell or purgatory or something like that.”

“Oh my God! I would never have expected you to say that.”

“I don’t really feel that way. She’s with him. That’s what she wanted and I couldn’t take it from her. She loved him as much as me and I was jealous to think she got to see him first.”

“So… you didn’t say, but it is obvious you were getting information from the fire hall people.”

Tony raised his eyes from the glass. “Are you wanting to talk about this?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“What?”

“It’s too soon, you’ll bite my head off again, start picking on me, call me a bad father.”

“Tony, I apologized and… and… I underestimated you. I didn’t give you credit and you got the information you needed.”

“Without…” Tony lifted a finger than stood. “Gathering them in a room and having group therapy.” He poured more wine. “Wait… can I have more wine or will that make me a bad dad?”

“Stop it.”

“Oh no.” He shook his head. “You got a long time on that one.”

“As long as we are still friends.”

He grumbled a ‘hmm’, and returned to the table.

“What was that about?”

“Nothing. Anyhow…” He exhaled. “In a nutshell, Lenny was a dick. He controlled all the food from the get go and even though they were only in there a few days, there were a lot of fights. He led the group here to prove it was here.”

“Did any of them indicate they thought he was up to something?”

“Yep. Three.”

“So, Lenny is the bad one. What about the ones at the fire hall?”

“From what I gathered there were fifty there and we can expect about ten of them to come. They were Lenny’s buddies.”

“And the people here are okay?”

“Not all.”

“What do you mean?”

“Risking you taking the high road and high diddle, diddle, everyone is fine and fiddle and I’m overreacting, I think we should look at three or four of them working on the inside for Lenny.”

“Which ones?”

“Don’t know yet. I will.”

“I’m sure you will.”

“Well, I have to get back.” Tony finished that second glass quickly. “I wanna get the papers cleaned up and get some sleep. I want to figure out a way to watch the fence without putting lights outside to be a beacon.” He stood. “Even though that will make me have to hand my daughter over.”

“Oh my God!”

Tony smiled. “I’m giving you a hard time. All kidding aside, I have to get some sleep. Thank you for the wine.”

“No, problem. Any time.”

“I know.” He headed to the door.

“Oh!” I blurted out.

Tony stopped. “What?”

“I almost forgot. I have a gift for you. Sort of my peace offering, but I had it in mind to give it to you before things went nuts today.”

“A gift?” He asked. “You shopped in the bunker?”

I moved to my dresser and opened the top drawer, pulling out my old bingo bag.

“Did you actually play Bingo?”

“Yes, I loved it.” I reached in the bag. “I wanted to give this to you when we got here. But things really went bad, with Jackson and all, and it slipped my mind. I’m sorry. But here.” I reached for his left arm and raised the worn, but gold watch. “I know monetarily it doesn’t hold worth, but it will since a lot of people like you lost theirs to the EMP.” I slipped it over his wrist. “Before you can make a Tony sarcastic comment and ask if it was Gil’s… No.” I fastened it. “It was my father’s. He never took it off. It means a lot to me.” I fixed the watch. “You mean a lot to me. And think of it as my way of saying, I’ll always make time for you.”

Tony started. “Really?” he smirked. “Really?” He laughed a little. “That was really corny.”

I cringed. “It was. I was trying to be nice.”

“Anna, you are nice. You don’t have to try. You had a bad day. Your son… you lost your son not long ago. Your friend, that means the world to you, and don’t say he doesn’t… is gone. I think you’re doing amazing.”

“So are you, Tony. And I know I probably don’t tell you enough…”

“You don’t.”

“I didn’t even say it. But I will. I appreciate you very much. Thank you for all that you do and have done, or will do.” My hand flung out. “I told you on the way here, I needed you and I do. And now that you have this watch, I don’t have to hear you on the radio calling out every ten minutes, ‘What time is it’?”

Tony added to my comment. “And having them tell me to look at the wall.” He smiled. “Thank you for this. I will take good care of it.”

“I know you will. Get some sleep.”

He leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “Thank you again.” He turned and walked to the adjacent door and paused.

“What’s wrong?”

He stood there for a second, shoulders moving up and down and then he faced me. “I’m… I’m gonna go out on a limb here.”

“Okay,” I said, not having a clue what he was talking about.

Tony stepped into the room, grabbed the pen from the table and moved it. He looked around.

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure there are no deadly objects around.”

“So you think I’m gonna kill you?”

“You may. If I am reading it wrong, you will. Just… you know me, I like to be prepared for the worst.”

“What are you talking about?”

“This.”

It was not what I expected. I was waiting for him to say something that I was going to disagree with, that was the wave length we had been on. Instead, Tony stepped to me, placed his hand on the side of my face and kissed me.

I think I responded, in fact I was pretty sure I responded. It was hard to say because I was not only surprised by the moment, but caught up in how it felt. Honestly, I must have lost the ability to fantasize, because I didn’t envision Tony and I ever crossing that line. I liked Tony, I liked him a lot, but I truly believed he saw me as a job.

But the way kissed me, told me I had been more than a client to him for a while.

With a gripping glide, he brought his hand up my arm until he cupped my face and then he pulled back from the kiss.

I stood there.

He closed one eye, probably debating on whether he should feel awkward. “I know… your dating history, and I know it has been six years, but that was a kiss.”

“Yes, it was.”

“Okay, so. No? Yes? What?”

“About?”

“The kiss.”

“Wow.”

“Is that a good wow, like ‘oh my God, not only is Tony hot, but he’s a master kisser’ type of wow?”

I laughed. “I mean wow. As in you really took me by surprise. I did not see that coming.”

“So I should forget I did that?”

“I hope not.”

The corner of his mouth raised in a smirk and then Tony smiled and stepped to me again. “Good.” He brought me closer, as if he were gonna kiss me again, but he didn’t. He wanted me close. And I don’t believe he and I were ever that close. “I figured we’d been dating for a while, might as well get that first kiss out of the way.”

“You make me smile, Tony, when I need it. I don’t think you know how much that means to me.”

“I do.” He kissed me again, only a smaller one, and softly.

“You know, if it took you two months for our first kiss, I’m curious how long it will take to get to second base.”

“Ha. And on that note.” He darted a quick kiss to me. “Goodnight.” He started to pull away, but stopped. “And just for the record, that is not why I kissed you. Just so you know.”

“I know.”

Tony stepped back. “This…” he moved his hand back and forth. “You and me being maybe a ‘you and me’ more than just the people who run this bunker, it means a lot. It does.”