FlyAway *28*

-28-

    It was late January. Everyone had slipped into the comfortable groove of work, school, and carefully watching Kye. The girl had, lately, seemed more aware of the careful safety precautions that her adult friends took when they were around her, but it didn’t seem to concern her much.
    She’d continued to get gifts from family members, the most recent of which had been a blond-haired doll that, for some reason, seriously unnerved Chris. There was something about it, something that set her on edge. She just couldn’t put her finger on it. Whenever she was watching Kye, she would ask that the girl keep her doll in her room. It was odd enough, she thought, that she carried that damn teddy bear with her wherever she went.
    Since their little video chat with Aaron, they hadn’t heard from him. This concerned Chris a little, because they’d gotten used to getting a phone call from him every two or three weeks. However, no one else seemed worried. They were all too preoccupied with work and college.
    Zach was going to be completing the schooling necessary to receive his master’s degree in the fine arts at the end of the quarter. Kyle had recently graduated medical school with high honors and had been hired at a local hospital as a resident M.D. Chris was halfway through with her master’s degree training now, and she looked forward to starting on her doctorate in the next few years.
    “Hey, Kyle,” Chris greeted her brother, absentmindedly. He whispered something into the phone and hung up before turning to face her.
    “Hey, little sister,” he said, smiling softly.
    “Don’t start singing Billy Idol songs, now,” she warned, reaching for an apple from the dish on the counter.
    “I wasn’t,” he growled. “You know me. I never liked ‘White Wedding’ as much as you did.”
    “Ah, well. It’s a good thing, I guess. Your singing voice was never the best.” She laughed at his annoyed expression. “Zach wants me to go with him to a movie later. Are you and Natalie going to be home?”
    “Yes, we are,” Natalie said upon entering the kitchen. “Kyle and I will spend the day with Kye. You go out and relax.”
    Kye, as if on cue, came dashing into the kitchen. She did not have her teddy bear, and she looked distinctly frustrated by something. “I’m hungry,” she claimed, sitting at the table. “Could I have PB&J for breakfast? Please?”
    “Kye, where’s your teddy?” Chris asked, cocking her head to the side.
    “Up in my room.”
    “What about your new doll?” Nat asked, heading to the fridge to pull out the jelly.
    “I left him outside,” the girl replied, simply.
    “Kye Tamara Dawson!” Crystal scolded. “What were you doing outside in the first place? You know you aren’t supposed to go out there without one of us!”
    “I wasn’t,” Kye told her, annoyed. “I dropped him out my window.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I was mad. The teacher man made me mad yesterday and my dolly looks like he does. And I don’t want to take my teddy out anymore. I don’t need him.”
    “Oh. Well I guess I should just go put this back upstairs, then,” Zach said, sheepishly, from the doorway. He was carrying Kye’s teddy.
---
    Matt was furious with Kye. She was rejecting him. She didn’t want the bear anymore, and he couldn’t see what his wife and daughter were doing. She had left the pretty doll he’d given her out in the cold, just like everyone else had been leaving him out in the cold for the last few years. His own daughter was betraying him.
    He felt hurt, and angry, and depressed, and almost sick to his stomach all at the same time. It was ludicrous of the girl to assume that she could just push him away like that, after all he’d done. He would help her with her homework at the school, and fix her toys when they broke, and give her everything she ever wanted. He always had, since he’d known that she, as well as Chris, belonged to him.
    “Like mother, like daughter,” he muttered to himself. “Ungrateful little bitch.”
---
    After Chris, Natalie, and Kye left for school, Kyle and Zach sat down in the living room. It was Kyle’s day off--though he was still on call--and Zach’s classes didn’t begin for another hour or two.
    “Everything’s been arranged,” Kyle explained, playing with little Kye’s teddy bear. “We’ve got everything set up, and by the time you two get back from the movies tonight, he’ll be here.”
    “That’s… that’s great, Kyle. I can’t wait. She’s going to be so happy to see him.” Zach smiled weakly and tried to suppress the sigh that threatened to spill forth.
    Kyle shook his head. “If that’s what you have to tell yourself for it to be alright with you.”
    Zach Triton looked up sharply at Kyle and snapped, “It’s perfectly alright with me. Why wouldn’t it be? She loves him. He loves her. He’s a great guy, and he deserves her.”
    Kyle chucked. “I’m not accusing you of anything. It’s just that I know what you’re going through. I just want you to know that, if you ever need to talk about it-”
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Zach stood and stared at the little bear on the side table. “That damn thing gives me the creeps.”
    “If you want to keep denying it to yourself, go ahead,” Kyle growled, “but you don’t have to be an ass to me about it because I accept it. One day, she’s going to realize that you’re in love with her.”
    “I’m not-”
    “Stop denying it!”
    “I was going to say,” Zach muttered, “that I’m not denying anything. I’m not lying to you, Kyle. I’m glad that she’s happy. That’s all I want for her. If him coming back and sweeping her off her feet, and marrying her, makes her happy, then… I’m glad.”
---
    Matt watched the scene unfold, his breath held. They were talking about him. He knew it. She wanted him to come back. She loved him. He’d been wrong all this time! She did want to be with him. They were arranging everything to surprise her!
    “Maybe things will work out, after all, and my bride and my daughter will be with me before tomorrow. Maybe…”
---
    “I’m sure that Aaron has made all of the proper arrangements,” Zach continued, shrugging. “Dawson’s a resourceful guy. He’ll want to propose to her not long after he gets here on leave. I hope he gets a good wedding planner. He’ll need it, if he’s going back in just a few more months.”
---
    “Aaron?” Matt whispered, horrified. “Aaron is coming back? He’s going to marry my wife?!” He slammed his fist on the table before him and roared, “That man is ruining my marriage and trying to steal my wife and child from me!”
    He stood and stormed across the room to the phone, meaning to make the proper phone calls to have that man taken away forever. Before he reached it, however, a plan started to form in his head. He began to laugh hysterically. He’d have what was his, no matter what happened. He’d just have to be patient.
---
    Chris and Zach came in from the movie they’d watched, laughing loudly. He’d slung his arm around her shoulders and she leaned comfortably on him, grinning.
    “Zach, you’re such a card,” she told him, snickering.
    “As long as I’m the Queen of Hearts, darling,” he crowed, squeezing her tightly. “But perhaps that’s you.”
    “Ah, only the Queen of your heart, right, Zachy?” she teased, heading for the front door.
    He grinned broadly and winked. “Always, my dear. Always. Ah, let me get the door for you, sweetheart!”
    “But of course! Ladies first, Zach.”
    “I’m not sure about what I should be more disturbed; the fact that you’re calling me a woman, the fact that you know, or the fact that you’re calling yourself a man.”
    She cracked up laughing and stepped through the threshold. “All three, I guess!”
    “Well, we all already knew I was a woman, I mean… How else would you explain this ravishing body?” He smirked and turned to shut and lock the door as Chris typed in the keypad code.
    The two of them headed into the living room. Zach asked Chris if she’d turn the stereo system on, and trotted into the den to retrieve his bottle of scotch, leftover from New Years. She heard him re-enter the room behind her, and spoke without turning.
    “What did you have in mind? I’ve got some alternative rock, some dance music, a little bit of reggae…”
    “How about something… romantic?” a smooth voice inquired from just behind her.
    Chris slowly turned around, her eyes on the floor. She brought her eyes up, noting the highly-polished black shoes, crisp, dark blue trousers, the matching suit jacket with patches on the sleeves, and the black tie. She sought out the familiar shape of his lips, with the little scar from the lip ring he no longer had. She met his beautiful blue eyes, and her hand flew up to her mouth.
    “Aaron!” she cried, leaping into his arms.
    He picked her up and spun her around, kissing her forehead softly. “Surprised?”
    “Of course! I’m so glad to see you!” She hugged him tightly, not wanting to let him go. “How did you get permission to come back so early?”
    “Well, another contingent was shipped over to replace ours, and they let us come back for a three-month leave.” Aaron smiled down at her and pulled her over to sit on the living room couch. “Listen, Crystal… While I’m here, I…” He struggled for words. “There were a few times over there where I really thought that I was… never going to see you again. I want to be certain that, if something happens to me…” He sighed heavily and closed his eyes. “Before I go back to Iraq, I… I love you, Crystal, and I want to marry you.”
    “Aaron, I… I’d love to marry you, you know that…”
    “Then let’s get married. I promise, I’ll call your parents myself and tell them. If they don’t like it, we’ll elope. Kyle will give you away. He and I have been talking about it since I found out I would be coming back this month.”
    “Kyle…?”
    “I want nothing more than to make sure that if something happens to me, you’re well taken care of. I want to be a family. You, me, and Kye. And… maybe some little Crystals and Aarons of our own.”
    She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissed him softly, and whispered one word into his ear: “Yes.”
---
    Through the eyes of the teddy bear still sitting on the side table, Matt watched his wife agree to marry another man. It was disgusting to see her cheating on him like this. But it was alright. For now, he’d let her have her fun. Later, he’d have his revenge, and his prize.