Luc

Rip was going to see Aries at least 3 times a week. They were always unscheduled visits and he always had new developments in the case to share. After he was finished seeing him he always took the long trip to see Mimi and check up on her and give her all the new information he had. Only today was different, Rip was not here yet. He had called Mimi very early this morning to let her know He had received some information of several witnesses spotting a woman who matched Lana's description and he was taking a little unscheduled trip to Mexico. He also told her that Detective Angus had called him and asked him to come to the station immediately so after he talked to him he was going to see Aries and than he would be there to see her.

Mimi had been sitting on the couch waiting for hours, her nerves getting worse with each tick of the clock. Her stomach felt like it was filled with tiny break dancing demons wearing spiked shoes and she was not sure if she wanted to pace the floor or puke. What could be taking him so long? Something was going on; he could feel it in her soul. Rip should have been here hours ago! A million and one what ifs were forcing their way through her chaotic thoughts.

What if today was the day they decided to never release him from prison, Rip said Angus had told him to come to the station immediately. What if Aries was hurt? She couldn't bare the thought! She got off the couch and walked to the back porch, letting the sweet floral air fill her lungs. She wanted to strip and start swimming to relieve her anxieties and frustrations. She just wanted to swim and keep swimming until Rip finally showed up and told her that everything was alright, that Aries was fine healthy and hopefully soon to be released. Instead, she stomped her foot and stalked back into the living room only to sit back down on the couch and wait.

Mimi was riddled with anxieties sitting on the massive couch, impatiently waiting for Rip to contact her and she wasn't sure how much more she could take...

*** SAME EXACT MOMENT IN TIME- FAR, FAR AWAY...

"So what did the detective say?" Lana purred the question in Julio's ear, massaging his thin cock so good, he could barley open his eyes.

They were in a tiny cheap motel in Mexico with a thick stinky multi colored comforted and mismatched curtains that housed a family of over active bed bugs. The rug looked like it had been washed in vomit and piss, giving a repugnant and stale aroma to the already festering room. cigarette burns were the only common theme in the rooms various objects and Lana wondered how the hell it hadn't burned to the ground yet. Lana hated poverty more than anything, but she was trying to get used to this life. Only in the scummy little roach infested hotels did the average person go unnoticed and that was exactly what she intended to do.

"He wants me to go to the station and talk." Julio said

"You know what Julio," she went up on her elbow, "Of all the people I have ever known I would honestly have to say I trust you the most." she wanted to smile genuinely, but it was still false.

"You should trust me." he smiled, his eyes completely closed as her masterful hand jerked a mind numbing spell through his swelling dick.

"I do trust you," she kissed his lips, slipping her hand under the pillow under his head pulling him closer to her for a deep kiss. She kissed him silly than she kissed hi until he went stupid, than she pulled back, "I trust you to rat me out once they get their hands on you and your facing life in prison."

"I would never do that, you know I love you." Lana wanted to believe him, she wished she could have just been a normal minded person with normal expectations, but she wasn't. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if Julio really knew her and could see into her heart, that he would hate her as much as she was beginning to hate herself. She wished she could accept his love and lead a normal everyday life, but that was never going to happen now.

"Love is as good as luck when it comes to fighting for your freedom, doll face. It's useless and over rated." she kissed his lips again,

"No, love is not useless, you've just had bad luck with love that's all, it will be different now." he smiled ear to ear, "I'll make sure of it."

"I'm sorry Julio, but I can not take that chance." she said sliding her mini pearl handled gun from under the pillow, she pointed it to his head and pulled the trigger so fast, he didn't even have time to react. "I really am sorry." she said jumping off the bed, than grabbing her little purse. She took out the soda bottle full of gasoline and dumped it on his bleeding body, than she lit a match and dropped it, running out of the motel as fast as she could. It was bad enough she had to see him with a hole in his head, she could not stay and watch him burn.

***

Mimi was a nervous wreck and at her wits end! Every noise she heard she jumped up to see if it was Rip. This waiting was killing her! She was fidgeting, pacing back and forth, standing up, sitting back down and still waiting for any word from Rip. It was getting late and Mimi was not sure how much more she could take before she popped and lost her top. She felt like she had been waiting and sitting here for years as the hours passed by torturously slow. She had to know Aries was alright!

So when she finally heard the front door open, her heart fluttered in her chest as she jumped up off the couch.

"Finally Rip! What the hell is going on?" she cried in frustration, walking out of the living room and going to the front door. Mimi instantly froze in her tracks, her heart dove straight to her stomach, refusing to resurface.

Aries stood in front of the main door, his larger than life presence dominating the room. She gasped as his intense pale blue eyes locked on her and he slowly took a step forward. Seeing her had once again knocked his socks off and left him speechless and stunned by that over powering love he felt for her. She took a step back, suddenly over whelmed by his presence and the reality of this surprise situation.

What was wrong with her? This was still Jack even though his real name was Aries, so why did she suddenly feel so nervous and unsure? She had been praying for this moment since the minute she found out he had been incarcerated. Now that the moment was here, she was a little scared and she didn't understand why.

Aries was going to introduce himself to her the right way, the way he should have done it the second he realized he was head over heals for her. He wished with everything inside of him that he had of done it right the first time, he knew he should have just been honest and faced the consequences. He had even stopped over at Rip's place to clean himself up; to shave and to change into the new outfit Rip had brought from one of Aries' main mansion. It wasn't the best outfit to represent him in, he knew Mimi had been used to seeing Jack in casual clothes, and feared this pricey outfit, which had sat never worn in his closet with the price tags still intact, would be strange for her to see.

"My name is Aries Stark," he said as he took her hand and kissed the top of it, "I used to be an actor, but I quit. Right now I own a restaurant, a hell of a lot of property and other various successful businesses that are either 100% mine or have invested in financially. I am also very, very wealthy." He took another step forward, and this time she did not step back.

"I noticed."

"I am also the man that almost crashed his car into you while I was in disguise and on the run, I also got you fired from your lame ass job, I almost burned down our apartment building when I fell asleep with food in the oven, I also yelled at you, took your virginity and lied about who I really am." He slid his hands to her face, "I'm sorry for lying to you, Nomi." She felt her heart speed up and her hands started to shake. "I need you to understand why I did it," he said, bending his head to kiss her. Mimi jumped back like she had been burned. It was not that she didn't want to kiss him, she actually wanted him to kiss her more than anything, but it was just all too perfect all to fast and her superstitious mind rebelled against the truth.

"I'm sorry, it's just, it's too quick, I know your name now and I think I recognize parts of you, but I don't really recognize you, yet." She looked at his handsome face; he was the perfect specimen of a man. He was so undeniably sexy; she could see why he had taken Hollywood by storm.

"Alright," he agreed reluctantly, he wanted to hash it all out and get it out in the open right now. He was ready to put this shit behind him and start his new life with her. He decided he would not push it right now, but he had all intentions of finishing this conversation with her—and he WAS going to kiss her.

"So this is your house?" she asked and walked back into the living room.

"Yes," he simply answered, following behind her than sitting down on the large deep gray sofa.

"You designed this house didn't you; I mean the structure of it," Mimi said for a lack of better words.

"How did you know?" he asked, almost in awe that she could know that. No one knew about his secret hobby, hell he had gone incognito when he had helped the construction crew build it from the ground up. They had no idea that Mr. Oscar Doe, the man whose house they were helping to build was none other then Aries Stark.

"Your sketches," she remembered the time he had shown her his designs, all the buildings, the houses. He was really very talented. "This place reminds me of one of them," she said, impressing him to no end.

"This was the first house I built," he was surprised that she remembered the sketches, they were terrible, messy sketches, but she had remembered them enough to recognize them in this house. "I wanted you to see it, so I was going to build a duplicate for you," he said.

"For me?" she asked.

"Yes."

"You're really talented," she said.

"Thank you." Appreciation for doing something you love brought warm fuzzy feelings, and he felt like a little kid again, smiling ear to ear as he looked across at her.

"But why so much grey?" she asked, walking over to where he sat.

"It suited my mood at the time." He watched her sit down on the far end of the long sofa, facing him.

"You never seemed like a gray person to me," she said absently looking into his eyes.

"No?" he questioned. It was funny, he always considered him self more grey.

"No you have too much life in you for that."

"It was another life," he shrugged.

"Yet here we are in your other life right now," she said sliding a little closer to him, caught up in those blue eyes. "It's strange."

"Is it?" he watched her get closer, afraid to make a move and scare her back off.

"Yea, you look so different, you even dress different." She looked at the impeccably dressed man before her, he looked down at himself, "Definitely not the stripes and camouflage type any more." She dazzled him with her smile as she thought back to the day he came out of his apartment, ready to go to the restaurant in baggy camouflage shorts and a navy shirt with red and orange stripes across the chest.

"I'm sure I can find some camouflage and stripes in my closet," he grinned.

"You look so different with out the beard," she looked at him like a little girl looking at a huge piece of candy she couldn't wait to take a lick of.

"I can grow it back," he said.

"I always wondered what you would look like with out It." She unknowingly scooted towards him a bit.

"So, which look do you like better, Jack or Aries?" he asked. It was such a surreal situation, he had been so in awe of her and the fact that she loved him regardless of his looks, with a bald head and a big grizzly beard, she was unabashedly in love. Now he wanted her to like what he looked like naturally more. He had gotten so fucking sick of women telling him how handsome or sexy he was; he couldn't tolerate it at all. Now all he wanted was to hear her say he was handsome as Aries Stark.

"Both." She shrugged, it never made a difference to her what he looked like, she only cared about how he treated her, and how he could make her feel.

He could barley tolerate just sitting next to her, his better instinct was forcing his natural instinct from ravishing her right here, right now. He had to do something, there was no way in hell he could sit in this house and take it slow. He had to do something to take his mind off slowly stripping her naked and sucking and kissing every inch of her body.

"I'm starving, lets go cook," he said standing up; adjusting himself so she didn't see his massive hard on. She noticed it, how could she not even when she tried to immediately turn her head away, she still felt the effects in that special little spot that was now burning between her legs

"No, I don't feel like cooking," she said. He looked at her like she had grown two extra heads.

"Really?" he questioned in disbelief, when did Nomi Larue not feel like cooking? Then, not wanting to push it just yet and his belly growling, he said, "Then let's go out to eat."

***

Rip took a picture of the still smoking remains of the hotel. The air was sooty and the slight breeze carried particles of ash down the street. He took his mini cassette recorder out of his pocket and began to speak

"This is the hotel that Julio was last seen at. He used his personal credit card to pay for the room. The woman on night shift identified the picture of Julio, specifically remembering his pale hazel eyes." he smiled as he left out the fact that the receptionist went on and on about how cute Julio was and how could a woman forget a face like that. He walked around the side and took another picture. "The woman also said that Julio had checked in alone, but she remembered seeing a tall thin American woman running from the hotel 15 minutes before the fire alarms went off." he said into the recorder.

***

"What are you doing?" She asked in horror as she watched him put on the sunglasses and the Yankees cap. Looking so much like he did the day she met him, the only thing missing was the beard.

"I have to do this or I may be recognized," he said, applying liquid adhesive to the fake beard he used to wear.

"Are you serious?" she questioned as she checked her hair in the mirror. Even though his bathroom had two large mirrors, he found it just adorable that she always shared his. She had no idea that some of the girls he had dated had demanded their own bathrooms, damn the horror in having to share a mirror. He had preferred it that way before, sharing a bathroom was just too much for him, hence all the extra bathrooms in all of his places. Now, he was sure he would object if Mimi did try to get ready in another room.

"Unfortunately," he answered.

"That sucks." she took a good look at him, what kind of life is it to have to constantly have to hide your identity? "Here, let me help you." She smiled taking the beard he had just finished applying the adhesive to and helping to attach it to his face.

"Thanks." he grinned. No woman had ever helped him with his disguises', if anything, most of them were angry that he was hiding the fact he was Aries Stark. Most of them would have proffered the paparazzi and a chance to be seen with Aries.

Once she finished she took a good look at him, "Your you again." She smiled then quickly frowned remembering her mix up, "I mean your Jack again."

***

He had hand picked the location for his beach house because of the privacy factor; the closest habitat was a tiny little sleepy town. The entire town had one gas station, and one drive-in that didn't feature any film made after 1960. It had only one little mom and pop restaurant that featured a menu straight from the sea. He had been here once before, a long time ago, and since no one had recognized him then, he felt reasonably safe in bringing Mimi here now.

They sat at a little sea blue table with orange and yellow fish painted across the top, and sea plants painted at the base and wrapping up the stand. The table benches looked like little old fashioned boats with thick comfy seats. There was even a live goldfish swimming inside of a treasure chest shaped fish bowl. He was a little surprised to see so many people dining. It was such a small town; he didn't even think that many people lived here. But lucky him, he would come on a night when some type of town festivities were going on.

"They make good gumbo," Aries said, taking a drink of his soda.

"Do they?" she asked.

"Not as good as yours, but its good," he grinned.

She sat there staring at him; he was Jack Smith again, and she felt her emotions going up to the tip top of the roller coaster before it began to plummet back down. He looked exactly as he did the first day she met him, the beard, the dark eyes, only this time he had hair.

"Your like Jack with hair," she said in amazement, and he felt a tug at his heart as he realized she had missed him; he could see it in her eyes and written boldly all over her face. But he could also see the confusion; he knew it had to be hard to be looking at the man she thought she knew after looking at who the man really was. It was a strange situation indeed.

"I want to take you to my main house, I designed that one too, but I didn't help to build it." He wanted to share everything that had meant something to him with her.

"Your main house? How many houses do you have?" she asked.

"A few," he answered vaguely.

"Why so many?"

"I never really felt comfortable in any of them," he shrugged, thinking back to his lonely, albeit rich, life. "So every where I went, I tried it all over again." Now it didn't matter where he was or where he lived, so long as he had Mimi with him. Just the thought of her walking into his old, cold, spooky main mansion erased all of the unsettling feelings he felt about the place. He could actually move back in now, and not feel discontent or have heavy anxieties.

This girl, just by being here, had managed to help erase all of the ill and gloomy feelings he had of his previous life, he wanted to embrace his life like he was never able to before. He wanted to share his life with Nomi Larue until his dying day, and he didn't care where he was; so long as he was with her.

"Are they all flooded in grey?" she asked jokingly with a grin.

"Probably," he answered with a chuckle.

"Don't get me wrong, I love the color, but it is a very cold color and can seriously dampen the mood."

"Yea, but it doesn't seem so gray anymore—"

"Oh my god!" the woman who had suddenly appeared next to them squealed, "oh my god, your—your—"

"It's Aries Stark!" another woman at the table next to them yelled, after the first woman drew her attention to Aries' face. The still squealing woman next to them was bouncing up and down and Aries could see the trouble brewing

"Sorry, you have the wrong guy." he tried not to look at her directly.

"No, you're him, YOUR ARIES!" she yelled.

"It is him!" said the man who had been sitting to their far right, "I knew he looked familiar!"

"NO, your mistaken—" he started to say right before the woman yanked his hat off. That was right about the time pandemonium struck.

It was a mad dash for the door as the restaurant patrons realized they were dining among the highly controversial, straight back from the grave, the one and only mega-super star ARIES STARK!

Mimi looked stunned at the gathering crowd as Aries grabbed her hand, and pulled her out of the restaurant with him. As they chased them out of the door, Aries, used to this type of thing, picked Mimi up and sprinted to his car.

"Stop him, it's Aries Stark!" the woman yelled to the townspeople standing outside on the street. With in moments at least five over zealous fans had bombarded the car, and Aries watched as others around realized what was going on and who was in their midst. Aries put the car in drive and got the hell out of there as quickly as he possibly could.