A Red Leaf & Ten Orchids

**So just exactly what is Kayla's problem?

Vote if you want to, and comments are always welcome. O_o

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Kayla was a bit slow getting up, and eventually Jillian wandered into her room to wake her. Kayla stretched as she sat up and hugged her niece.

"Good morning, Jilly. I love you, honey." She looked over at Jillian's constant companion. "And I don't want to forget Daisy," she said, running her hand over Daisy's head and chest. Daisy licked her forearm in reply.

Jillian kissed her, and said, "'Morning Kayla, I love you too." She looked at her aunt a little sideways.

"What?" asked Kayla.

"You don't usually hug me that tight every day. I like it, but you're acting weird." Jillian said.

"I was thinking that I don't show you that I love you often enough. I'm going to do that more from now on," said Kayla. "I'm pretty lucky to have you."

Jillian still looked at her aunt a little suspiciously.

"You kissed him, didn't you?"

Kayla nodded.

Jillian screwed up her face, "That's just icky. You probably got his germs or something."

Kayla chuckled, "Yes I did, honey, and it was pretty nice."

She smiled and then laughed. "I got in so late last night that I just went to sleep, and since kissing Joshua goodnight was the last thing that I did before I went to bed, now you've got them too since you just kissed me."

Kayla smirked with satisfaction. "So there."

"EWWWwww! Jillian cried, and ran out of the room to let Kayla get dressed. Daisy followed after with furrowed skin on her forehead. She didn't know what the noise had been for, but it was probably going to mean fun.

As she wandered to the house for breakfast, Kayla saw no sign of Joshua, and since he was missing from the table on the porch, she asked Rose where he was.

"He's gone, honey. He got up and made some phone calls, and then he went for his run. He likes to do that before it gets warm, although sometimes he times it so that he is running in the heat, I don't know why." Rose answered, "Oh, I just remembered that you won't need curtains. I've got some in the attic. I'll bring them down, and I ought to be able to get them to fit those windows without too much fuss."

Jillian finished her breakfast and wandered away to play with Daisy.

Kayla dug in to her breakfast while her aunt went to the kitchen to pour herself another cup of coffee. She overfilled it and walked back out carefully as she sipped to lower the level.

Rose sat down and looked at her niece, "So you and Joshua enjoyed yourselves?" she asked.

Kayla wondered slightly at the inflection that her aunt had used. It didn't seem like so much of a question as much as a statement of fact.

"Yes Aunt Rose, I had a wonderful time, once I got past my hair trigger. I don't know why I did it, but I hurt Josh with some things that I said."

She worked at cutting a piece of bacon. "I actually made him cry. I felt awful about that. Anyway, he calmed me down, and then I really cried a lot, it seemed like everything just sort of came out then."

Rose waited while her niece chewed and then Kayla continued. "I mean everything, and he just held me and cried with me, when he should have probably just taken the crazy lady back here and been done with me."

Rose nodded. She'd known that her niece had been carrying a bit of a load recently. She sighed, hoping that Kayla would feel better now. It sure looked that way to her as Kayla went on.

"He told me that he loves me, Aunt Rose. I guess I just couldn't accept that from anyone." She smiled, "I'm not sure why he would, but I know that he does, and ... I love him too," she said. "A lot."

"I know, I saw him this morning." said Rose, smiling, "But did he help you with your problems, dear?"

"Yes, and no." Kayla answered, "We made love and I never knew that anyone could do the things that he did to me. That was really wonderful, and the best part was that I actually wanted to."

She sat back as though something had just come to her. "I think for the first time in my life, I really meant it, because I knew that he loves me.

He loves me, Aunt Rose. No bullshit or deviousness. He makes me wonder how I ended up with the idiots that I've known until him. That's a strange thing to come to grips with, it's sure never happened to me before."

"Well that's wonderful," Rose said, "and I'm so happy for the two of you, you don't know how much, but what I meant was, did he help you with your OTHER problem?"

Kayla dipped a corner of her toast into an egg yolk. "He made me feel so much better, but even so, he didn't see anything. We were in his truck like a couple of teenagers, and that was fun, but the windows are dark, and I checked carefully first so that I knew that he couldn't see me." Kayla said.

"I could just barely make out his shape. I couldn't see my bracelet or any of his tattoos, so I knew I was safe, and then I guess I just let go on him." She smiled at the thought. "It felt great to be able to do that.

But it does leave me with a problem though. I love him and I trust him now, so I'm going to have to find a way to prepare him for what I look like in the light. And I've made the decision to do that."

Kayla looked off to the horizon on her right a little as she thought. "It's not going to be easy, but if he can get past it, then I guess we've got a real shot. If he can't, I won't blame him, and I guess I'll have a few good memories."

Kayla looked a bit wistful at the thought. "It will be his decision, and we'll both have to live with it, I guess."

Rose looked a little uncomfortable but went ahead with her thought. "Kayla honey, I've told you before, that you're making far too much of it. You're carrying it around like it was a heavy weight. It's not bad, believe me, but it's up to you to decide how to proceed from here, since you're this close. If I can offer you some advice, be a little mindful toward Joshua. He's built strong shields to protect his feelings, and now that he loves you as you say, he's as vulnerable as you, ok? I think you saw that last night from what you're telling me. If he didn't care, there's no way that he would ever cry. I've seen him when he was smarting because some fool woman had misjudged him, and all it did was piss him off."

Kayla nodded thoughtfully before sipping her coffee. "Ah, you mean me, right?"

Rose continued, "No, Kayla. I think that you'd admit that you've fallen in love with him. I'm talking about something else. It has happened that unlike you, there have been a couple that have fallen in love AT him, trying to sweep him off his feet, so to speak. You'd think that might be a little funny to watch, but it's not.

Some women like the bad boy type. A lot of women only think that they like bad boys and go after them." she said, her expression turning to a slight smirk. "And then they wonder why the bad boys that they wanted so badly just keep kicking them around.

Well Joshua isn't like that, as you know, but he looks like the type to some. When one of them figured out that he's not a hard case in the road house out on the highway, well, it got ugly. Josh hadn't dropped his guard like he has now, and he gave that girl both barrels in the same public place where she had tried to ridicule him for trying to politely disengage himself. Her brother, the bouncer, took offense at Joshua's treatment of his sister's honour, which along with her modesty she never seemed to have missed before by the way. Josh tried to get clear and even apologized, but by then, that wasn't really what either of them wanted to hear.

Anyway, the bouncer woke up at the opposite end of the bar. He hit Joshua only once, and Josh took it from there. It took Joshua two seconds to do that, too. Now they just leave him alone. I was very proud of him." she chuckled.

"Um, I'm just thinking, Kayla, was there ever a time last night when Joshua was behind you?"

"No, ... wait!" She thought about it. "Actually there was. Aunt Rose, I don't know if you can understand it, and I'm not sure that I can, but I kind of passed out. Josh said I was out for about three minutes. I remember that I was facing him, ...well sort of anyway, and then when I came to, I was on my front. I don't know how I got that way, but it doesn't matter. He couldn't see anything anyway."

Rose smiled and explained, "Sam could do that to me sometimes. He told me that he tried to tell Joshua how to do that once. I guess it was as close as those two ever came to a father-son talk. But he told me that when he tried to explain it, Joshua told him that he already knew about it. And in that case, you're very lucky. Most men don't put much into what I think you were doing. He obviously does, because it's a lot of work for the man with no physical gratification. He must have put his heart into it."

She smiled, "We must share more than a few genes, just as Joshua said on Friday, because it's a rare thing. The one thing that Sam taught Joshua was to make sure the woman could breathe. So Joshua must have turned you over as Sam told him to" she paused before she went on.

"Did Joshua tell you that he loved you AFTER that point, or before?" asked Rose.

"Both," answered Kayla, "Aunt Rose, what does that have to do with anything? I've told you I don't know how many times now that he couldn't see me!"

Rose looked out at the mountains in the distance. She smiled warmly, and looked back at Kayla with moistened eyes. "Oh, it has everything to do with it. What it means honey, is that Joshua is already farther past your problem than you are. He's seen you."

Kayla's face showed no comprehension, so Rose went on gently. "Believe me, if you just saw his outline, then there was enough light for that boy to read a roadmap. I've never been able to figure it out, but he's got eyes like a cat. Kayla, you don't need to tell him or show him. You can forget all about that problem of yours. Believe me honey; he could see ALL of you."

Kayla looked like she was about to faint again. "All... of me?"

"Joshua can see very well in the dark." Rose stated.

"He...can?" Kayla's voice sounded very small.

"And that means that he's fine with you. I also know that because I saw his face this morning. He had the stupidest sloppy grin that I've ever seen on him, and I'm close enough to being his mother to be able to tell why, especially after what you've told me that you two got up to."

Rose laughed. "And it looks to me like all that running hasn't worn the grin off yet. What did you do to him, girl?"

Kayla answered, "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Here he comes up the drive now." Rose said as she stepped into the kitchen.

Kayla looked over her shoulder, and saw that her aunt was right, Josh looked like a kid with a new puppy. She turned back as the storm clouds gathered.

Jillian and Daisy wandered back to the porch to greet Joshua. She reached out to hug him, but recoiled just a little.

"You're all sweaty," she said as she stood next to him. "I can't believe I was going to hug you. Yuck!" Josh looked confused as he sat down next to Kayla. "Hi!" he said.

Kayla didn't acknowledge him.

Josh watched Jillian continue to teach Daisy to fetch. She was now successful more than half of the time -- as long as what she was tossing couldn't possibly be construed as food.

"Hey, that's pretty good. I was never able to do tha-" Josh was just turning to Kayla when he found that he was looking at two bright green slits, and a wonderfully even set of bared teeth. She had her left hand at his throat, and her right fist back to clock him.

Jillian's game of fetch was suspended as she watched. "ROSE, Kayla's going to kill Josh again!" she called.

"That's nice, honey. Now come in and help me with the dishes." Rose answered.

"AWWWwwww?" Jillian protested in the way of all children as she went through the screen door.

"Since this is the last minute of my life for some reason," Josh said, "I believe that I'm entitled to a last request."

"You lied to me!" Kayla snapped. "You said that you couldn't see me."

Josh gently shook his head -- as much as he was able to. "I did not lie to you. I told you that I never would. You didn't ask me if I could see you. I actually tried to tell you that I could see you, but you shushed me and told me to shut up before I could get it out. After that, you were having so much fun that I couldn't bring myself to tell you.

Now, about my last request; temporarily, and only for less that ten seconds, trust me."

Josh moved his right hand up and repositioned her grip on his throat. He slowly took her fist, and opened her first two fingers, to reposition the thumb.

"Who taught you this crap?" he asked. "Put your thumb on the outside like this. Now you won't break it when you hit me, and another thing..."

He gently pulled her fist toward his face, and moistly kissed it before pushing it back into position.

"Ok. I'm good. You can hit me now." Josh said.

"Kayla, what was that you were saying about love and trust a few minutes ago?" Rose asked sweetly through the window, "It sounded so nice, I thought maybe you could say it again. And there was something about you two having a real shot at something...Oh, and then there was something about your having a hair trigger too..."

Kayla rolled her eyes, and said what she felt. "DAMMIT!"

She slammed both fists on the table and hung her head. Her voice was much quieter a few seconds later. "What... what did you see?"

Josh spoke at the same low level. "What I saw in the dark truck-"

Kayla exhaled heavily, "Aunt Rose told me that you can see really well in the dark. Is this where you'll mislead me while you try to think of a way not to hurt me? Well I'm feeling pretty shitty and stupid right now. How much worse can it get?" she sobbed.

Josh sighed. He leaned toward her head, and whispered to her as he stroked her back. "What I saw in the dark truck BEFORE you lost consciousness was the loveliest woman that I've ever seen in my whole life. If you want me to, I'll repeat that until this evening while sitting right here. I'll write it a thousand times if you want. And AFTER you were unconscious, I saw what you're trying to run from.

For the record, my opinion did not change. You have a magnificent body, and if you never let me near you again, I want to thank you for last night. It meant the world to me. You felt free of shame. I enjoyed you just enjoying yourself. If you don't believe me, it's ok. I understand and hey, I can relate. But you never have to be ashamed in front of me. I love you Kayla." He kissed her ear.

Kayla sobbed some more. "What would you know? I have to wear this until I die!"

Joshua's voice was still soothing, and he spoke without reproach. "At least you can hide what you hate. I never could. You have to twist halfway around to even look at it in a mirror. I have to see what I hate every day, in the mirror when I shave, or in other people's eyes. I can't hide it. So I do know, don't I?"

He sat back, and lit a cigarette as he stared at the wall. "If you really want to know, I'll tell you everything that I saw."

She nodded her head, "I might as well hear it."

He spoke low to keep it private, since he didn't know where Jillian was.

"You are in your early thirties, a bit under five and a half feet tall, I'd say, and about two hundred yards of that is comprised of your wonderful legs. You weigh about one hundred and fifteen to one hundred and twenty pounds, with a fine, lithe build, and well-developed, strong musculature that you maintain by probably bi-weekly workouts, and while you do run on occasion, you're not that big on it.

Your litheness, combined with some of your other features lends you a slightly otherworldly, almost elfin appearance that sets you apart from others. The overall effect is stunning. To most people, you appear as a walking dream or spell.

Your ears are pierced, five times on the left, and seven times on the right, once through each lobe, the rest extending high up on the cartilage rim, far higher than is the conventional fashion. Some of those piercings are quite old. You have a slight scar about one half inch long in your right eyebrow, probably from a childhood injury that was stitched shut. It is not noticeable to the average person.

You have straight perfect teeth set in a gorgeous mouth with lips that never require lipstick. You do not need to pluck your eyebrows. You have a pink birthmark just inside the scalp line over your right ear. Less than one tenth of one percent of the people that you've met in your lifetime have ever noticed it.

You have the brightest green eyes that I have ever seen, one of three sets with which I am acquainted. The owners of those eyes are by far the most important people in my life. Your particular eyes are hauntingly intense, and when you look at me, I feel their light in my soul. You have a band of pale freckles across your nose. One day, I would very much like to count them."

Kayla raised her head to stare at him. He sat facing forward, head lowered. His eyes were closed in concentration.

"Your left breast is almost imperceptibly larger than your right, the same for your nipples. They are the most beautiful breasts that I have personally ever seen, though you suffer under the delusion that they are too small. The truth is that if they were larger with your build, you would resemble a Barbie doll, and then you wouldn't run at all.

There is a scar about one inch long below your right kneecap. I haven't looked at it long enough to judge whether or not it came from a surgical procedure, and the last scar that I am aware of is located on your left palm, just under the knuckle of your little finger. There is a very slight blue discoloration there, indicating that you probably fell off your bicycle as a child, and embedded some gravel that the skin has grown over. Last evening, you were wearing a silver bracelet with a turquoise stone on your left wrist, and a matching ring on the index finger of your right hand."

Kayla stared at her open left hand, and then looked back at Joshua.

"There is a vine or stem, I think it is, that begins as a wrap above your pretty left ankle, and continues on a meandering course up the back of your left leg, working its way around almost to your left knee before doubling back and splitting off. One tendril ends just as it curves around the right side of your left knee about four inches above the point where it would be visible from the front on the other side before the split.

The other main vine or stem continues up the back of your left thigh, over your left buttock, before crossing your lower back, and continuing as it parallels about two and one half inches to the right of your spine. This stem curves to the left after splitting off again. The left curve runs across your back, and downward, ending at the bottom of your left shoulder blade. Where the last split occurred, the vine curves over your right shoulder in a thin and graceful tendril that nestles in the hollow at the base of the right side of your beautiful neck."

He felt her weight leaning against him. Kayla hung her head and quietly sobbed again.

"On the stem, there are ten dark flowers, orchids, I think. Like everyone else, my night vision is monochromatic, so I cannot tell you the color of the flowers, however I feel that they are a deep purple. One on your left calf. One above your left knee on the back side. One just under your left bun, and there is one on the cheek itself. There are two at the small of your back; the right one is slightly higher. There are two more going up the right side of your back on the vine as it rises to the right of your spine.

The second last of the dark flowers is at about the level of your right shoulder blade, but a little to the right of it, centered about four inches from your armpit. The last is over your left shoulder blade itself. I can't comment on the quality of the artwork, as there was not enough light for me to tell.