Reservoir of Power

First of all: my apologies for the delay in getting this to you. Unfortunately, my computer, an old matron, experienced a peaceful death after suffering a long illness. She was a very ancient computer, and as such, it took me some time to provide her with a proper burial. ...and then there was the required time of mourning for my old friend (not to mention the time and expense to secure a new one... ahem), but finally, I have made a new friend and have begun to share my thoughts with her. Vista and Word 2007 makes her old enough to hear my tales... right?

Again, my apologies, and I hope that a few of you have missed Lena and Lochlainn as much as I have missed sharing them with you. Oh...this is the reveal chapter. Raise your hands if you saw this coming.

As always, thanks for reading.

SisterRobin

~~~

Reservoir of Power

Chapter 5

~~~

As a child, I survived cholera.

A ship was sunk with me still in it;

But I never felt real terror until I met April.

The witch scares the Hell out of me.

An Ode to Me Wife ~ J. Milton O'Leary

~~~

Lena slept astonishingly late the next day, that day after her inebriated confession. Then again, it would be closer to the truth to say that she slept

all

of that next day, because by the time that she'd somewhat reluctantly opened her eyes, both breakfast and lunch had been over for quite some time. She didn't know this yet. It would have been less painful if she had.

Now, it wasn't unusual for Lena to be both confused and mildly grumpy when she woke in the morning, but this would have been understating her condition today. For today, our Goddess' had rewarded Lena for her solid night of entertainment. The Goddess had supplied poor Lena with an earth-shattering headache

and

its accompanying nausea.

Her memory of the previous night was more than a little foggy, so it took her a moment for her to discern into whose bed she might have been put. But then it came back to her, and it arrived in flashes of vibrant pain.

Oh Lord, what have I done?

Her eyes darted around the room, and when she saw that the coast was clear, she lurched to her feet and stumbled into the adjoining bathroom. She had just arrived there when a sonic boom exploded from just behind her eyes. It caused a new torrent of pain, as it seemed to bellow, "Ylva says that I have to feed you now. You are hungry... right?"

Lena shuddered as fountains of agony washed over her being. Forlorn, she placed her forehead gently upon the bathroom's mirror and she began to moan. For some reason, this seemed to help; the glass may have been cold.

"Here... drink this," the irritating voice said reassuringly, and then it said, "We need to get you re-hydrated before we do anything else."

No, maybe his voice wasn't actually thundering down from Valhalla after all. Instead, could there was a problem with the Earth's gravity? No... that would only account for the spin, now wouldn't it? ...and what on earth is that in his hand? Is it something for me? Blerg no! No more alcohol, not ever!

"It's only bottled water," he said softly, "...cold bottled water. Here, drink this; I promise that you will feel much better after you finish a few of these."

She bravely reached out, in a valiant attempt to keep her hands from shaking noticeably. Taking the plastic bottle from Lucky, Lena began to drink. She celebrated the fact that she only spilled some of it as it made its way to her mouth. Lochlainn just smiled at her indulgently as he waited for the worst of her confusion to pass.

When the water was gone, Lena risked a quick glance and witnessed only compassion upon his face.

No, on second thought,

there seemed to be some amusement mixed into his expression as well.

He's doing his best to hide it though, I'll give him that.

"You are dressed in your work clothes. Are you on your way to work?" she finally hazarded, hoping to change whatever subject that they might currently be on.

"Nope, I've already finished everything I had to do; I'm already home again. See these stains," he said, pointing to the mixture of old beer and sawdust on his shirt. "I was gone for several hours. I had to go back and clean up that mess from last night, but don't worry about none of that; let's get you back to bed until you are actually awake."

"What time is it?" she eventually asked after she'd arrived back in bed and finished her second bottle of water.

"Coming up on five I think. No... it might be closer to six by now."

"

Five?!

...as in five P.M.?" she gasped.

"Yeah, I hope you are ready for dinner now; I'm starving!" he responded.

"Oh God, I have to call Ylva!" Lena replied with panic in her voice. "She'll be frantic by now."

"Shh," he said reassuringly, "there's no need to panic; she's already been here. She told me that I need to feed you when you finally wake up... and oh, she brought you some clothes."

This was the exact moment when Lena realized that she was still completely nude under those new sheets. Lucky was reasonably sure of this, because that was when she flashed a beautiful shade of rose, though, in truth he couldn't see much of her skin from where she was hiding it under the sheet.

"Oh..." said Lena.

"And before you ask," Lochlainn said quickly, "No, we didn't." Then he paused a moment before he asked hesitantly, "Do you remember any of the shower?"

Lena's eyes opened wide for an instant, and she said, "Oh..." again. Then she was deathly silent for another moment before saying, "Yes I remember that. You washed my hair, but I must have died right after that, I really don't remember much more."

"Yeah, that sounds about right I guess; right after that, I got you into bed and covered you up. You mumbled for awhile and then you were out cold."

"...and where did you sleep?"

"Right next to you; it's an awfully big bed."

"Umm..." Lena stalled.

Grinning, Lochlainn continued, "But evidently, you like to cuddle. You didn't stay on your side for very long."

"Oh God!"

"No worries though. I enjoyed it. It sucked when I had to answer the doorbell this morning."

"That was Ylva?"

"Yeah... she claimed that she came to bring you some clean clothes, but I think that her real motive was to snoop and see if you were still alive. It worked out fine for everyone though; I had to go into work anyway."

"I remember that..." she said slowly, "Mike let you leave early so you could take me home. Have I got that right?"

"Yeah I had to go to the tavern and clean up last night's mess. A crazy bus-load of Amazons came in and trashed the place, but I got it cleaned up pretty quickly and then Mike let me bail as soon as he showed up."

"Weren't you supposed to work tonight?"

"Yeah, but Mike kicked me out of there. He told me, 'take your ass home and get that girl fed.' I guess that Ylva had leaned on him; she seems to be convinced that you'll starve if we don't feed you as soon as you wake up! According to Mary, the girls on your team have been on the phone all day trying to figure out how to fatten you up. She said something about giving you recipes."

"Oh God," Lena gasped before she buried her head under the new sheets.

This time, Lochlainn didn't bother to hide his laughter at her actions. He enjoyed the sight of the now fully enveloped Lena for just a moment longer before he asked, "Are you finding whatever it was that you were looking for under there? Oh, and are boys allowed to come into your fort with you?"

Lena found that she was torn. On the one hand, she realized that she probably looked pretty foolish hiding under his covers, but then again, there was this intoxicating scent down here. She didn't know whether she should climb out of her hiding place, or instead... bury herself within his aroma.

"Are you sure that you aren't hungry in there," he laughed. "I was thinking that we could head down to the diner and get something to eat. 'Cuz I don't have a lot of food at the house right now. But, I guess if you aren't hungry yet, I could snuggle in there with you, and you can tell me that secret that you promised to share with me."

This produced a new round of moaning from the girl as Lena realized that all of the options that allowed her to retain any vestiges of dignity were now long gone. For his part, Lochlainn was perfectly happy to wait and watch to see what her next move might be. He made no attempt to keep the grin from his face.

Ultimately, he had heard her drunkenly professing her love for him the night before, so he was pretty confident what her secret was going to be. Although, it was also true that he wasn't sure how much that she actually remembered from the previous night, so he was a bit keen to see what she'd say next. Either way, he knew that she would be entertaining.

Lena was troubled by her own thoughts there underneath those wonderfully aromatic sheets; indeed, she'd been having a silent conversation with herself.

He was in there with me in the shower, and he had to hold my hair when I puked. Ugh... that couldn't have been attractive. And after all of that, I cuddled up to him...nude! And I'm still naked, only now he's out there fully dressed and laughing at me. Dignity, what dignity? My dignity fled the building with Elvis!

This is ridiculous! If he hasn't lost interest in me by now, surely he isn't going to hold any of this against me. Hmm... maybe I should invite him into the fort and tell him my secret. Oh Fuck! I actually told him that I would tell him my secret. I'm never,

never

going to drink again!

And with this last thought, Lena adjusted a corner of the sheet and peered out of the darkness at Lochlainn, still not sure if she was happy about the fact that he was standing there grinning at her actions. And then something snapped inside of Lena's head... "Oh fuck it," she said, violently throwing the sheets off of her body.

She jumped to her feet and demanded, "Where are those clothes that you promised me? If I'm to bare my soul to you, you are going to have to feed me first." Then she strode boldly away from him and directly back into the bathroom.

Lochlainn, his eyes glittering at her actions, didn't let his shock deter him from enjoying a long searching look upon her body as Lena waltzed away from him and into the bathroom. There was no way that he'd look away from this woman who had declared her love for him. She was something out of his most forbidden dreams.

He could see that her skin was flawless. And even though he had seen most of her body in the shower the previous night, this time the light was brighter and his Lena hadn't been drowned in a river of alcohol. This time, his thoughts ran to passion, rather than the compassion he'd shown her the night before. Maybe he should follow her.

He was still openly staring at her long legs and fantasizing about what he'd do with that delicious looking behind that was bouncing away from him, when she turned to him and with a wink, closed the door behind her. This time though, the moan of pain came from Lochlainn's lips as he realized that this woman was surely going to be the death of him.

Still intent on his own crisis, he never heard Lena's gasp of relief when she found her clothes stacked neatly in a corner of Lucky's bathroom. She understood that she'd never be able to repeat her strut if she was walking

to

him. Flaunting her ass hadn't been nearly as hard as flaunting her... well, she wasn't going to think about that right now. Seeing those clothes waiting for her was the first thing that had gone right for her in hours. ...and there were clean towels for her too! Ylva had even thought to bring Lena's toothbrush. ...and her phone!

Oh God, my phone is right there and already plugged into the wall charger.

Lena grabbed onto that phone as if it was her life preserver, immediately beginning to type a message to her best friend. When she was done, she double-checked what she had written and then hit the send button. By the time she had finished brushing her teeth; her phone had already spoken to her.

Surprised that her phone hadn't emitted the gentle sound that indicated Ylva had sent her a text message, she had the sinking realization that Ylva had done something to the phone's sound and notification settings. Instead of the normally inoffensive 'plink' sound, the phone clearly said, "Listen to your sister," and it said it in Ylva's most demanding voice.

Lena considered rolling her eyes, but her head hurt too badly to make the gesture. There was no one to see her make it anyway; so instead, she just added this latest indignity to her extremely long, 'someday, I will get revenge upon Ylva' list. Lena vowed, yet again, that she would eventually get even with her mischievous friend. So instead of screaming in anger, she hit the 'receive' button.

Then she read Ylva's response to her own heartfelt text, and she frowned as she felt that it left something to be desired. Her friend's message was actually quite brief, not to mention that it had completely ignored Lena's text entirely. All it said was "Read the texts that I sent you last night, there are a few of them, and then send me a text that says... 'Yes Ylva'."

Lena resisted the temptation to stomp her foot, because after all, she was still reasonably nauseous, so instead she just began to tap the 'back' button several time before beginning to read Ylva's texts.

Girlfriend, listen to your sister.

It won't do you any good to fight this!

He's for you.

Let that huge, red-headed Viking take care of you.

...and then jump his bones when you finally sober up.

By the way, your lingerie has finally arrived.

There are two sets.

One set is for Saturday's game

And then there's a dry set for after the match.

I'm sure they won't stay dry long.

Love you...

...and listen to your sister.

Lena read all twelve of these short texts, and instead of groaning in pain, she found herself ready to do the one thing that she'd sworn that she'd never do again. She decided to take her sister's advice on something scary. It was pretty clear that her sister knew best in these matters, so she casually typed those two extremely frightening words that Ylva had insisted she use, she typed, "yes, Ylva," and then she shut off her phone.

She took her sweet time in the bathroom, but for once, it wasn't because she was nervous about what she was planning to do. This time, she'd made up her mind, and she had decided to do this right. She took the time to brush out her hair, and she didn't stop until it shone. Then she applied just a touch of mascara and a faint trace of the lipstick that Ylva had conveniently left for her, right beside her clothes.

When she finally emerged from her temporary sanctuary, she was reasonably sure that she looked better than she'd looked before she'd gone in. Lochlainn had a different opinion, to him; she looked like the Goddess of Walking Sin.

Lucky had taken the time to dress himself in cleaner clothes, and even though he had selected the sharpest ones in his closet, he was reasonably certain that he looked like a railroad tramp compared to the way Lena looked now.

The stunned look on his face was clear, and her fears melted like the morning mist. Suitably reassured, she grinned at Lochlainn and told him that he cleaned up nicely.

"How... how did you do that?" he stammered stupidly in return.

"Do what?" she replied demurely.

"You went from hiding underneath the sheets, completely green and hung over, to... to...

that

. I thought that women needed hours to look that good."

"Oh Sir Thorsson, you silvery-tongued devil, if you keep talking like that, you may earn yourself a few kisses after you feed me. You will also be happy to know that I no longer smell like...umm...whatever it was that I was drinking last night."

"Food?" he said stupidly, "Oh yeah, the diner... You made me forget all about that. But, you look way too good for any diner. Wouldn't you rather hit one of the tourist places?"

Lena swayed directly to Lochlainn before stopping just before him. She curled against him and kissed him gently before growling, "Diner now! Feed me, Seymour!" Then before he could respond, she spun away from the stunned man and escaped out of his front door.

Lochlainn managed to close his mouth before he rushed to catch up with his prey, if only to arrive in time to open the door of his van for her. As she climbed inside, he looked at her and he asked, "Yes, but didn't that damned plant end up eating poor Seymour? He didn't live through it, did he?"

She returned his question with a smirk, "Let's see how dinner goes before we discuss anything like that."

"Yes, Princess Ursula," Lochlainn responded seriously while giving Lena a mocking bow before closing the door to her 'carriage'.

As they made their short trip to the diner, Lena and Lucky discussed their mutual love of extremely tacky musicals and they compared notes on which ones that they had viewed in common. Lena freely blamed Ylva for getting her infected with the awful things, and Lochlainn made sure to indict his college roommate, a Cajun placekicker named Thibodeaux. They were still laughing when they walked into the diner and began to seat themselves.

Lena giggled as she said, "They assigned the smallest and skinniest member of the team to room with

you

? Were they making sure that the two of you would actually fit into the one dorm room?"

Lucky snorted back, "Like that is any different than you and Ylva rooming together? What is she... like maybe four foot tall?"

"Ha!" she laughed back, "My sister over five feet tall... umm, barely,"

"You could have fooled me. That girl is more like one of those annoying water bugs that scoot across the surface of a pond! I would have sworn that she was less than five feet tall!"

"Shh!" hissed almost all of the other patrons as the two prepared to sit down.

Shocked that the normally carefree inhabitants of this noisy diner were shushing him, Lochlainn glanced up at the television sets mounted behind the bar. It seemed as though everyone's attention was focused there. Whatever had aroused everyone's interest was not immediately apparent however, although he could see that one of the sets was turned to CNN, and the other to Fox News, and yet, both were showing the same scene.

Lena reacted in much the same manner as Lochlainn, although since she'd never been in the diner before, she was less surprised by the normally friendly patrons' indifference to Lucky's arrival. She was however, reasonably certain that both television sets were showing a live remote from an airport somewhere, although it was a few more moments before one of the newsmen said that the video was coming from Sacramento California.

The two sat down and began watching the drama that was unfolding on that airstrip and they gradually began to catch up on the story with the rest of the patrons. The newsmen reported that a rogue group of American military men had attacked, and then kidnapped a California businessman and his wife from a railroad siding near Reno Nevada. No one knew why this was happening. They were clueless as to why these military men had made this move against a man guarded by their brothers. The one thing that everyone agreed upon was that the plane carrying these traitors was currently headed for an emergency landing at an old Air Force base in the California Capitol.

There was great speculation about what the traitors were trying to accomplish by kidnapping this businessman. He was but a relatively minor resort owner. His name was John Billington and no one knew much more than that.