Date Among the Stars

[Zero]

It was a beautiful evening. The sun was just disappearing behind the mountain as a white moon, perfectly round and plump with light, was coming up behind the mountains on the other side of the valley the camp resided on. Stars started to glitter on the sky's backdrop of black and blue as two people were arriving on the flat space that made the tip of Mt. Zeus.

Cali was more then happy to be here, smiling happily as his robotic eyes began to brighten to light the way through the oncoming darkness that would come with the setting of the sun and rising of the moon. It had been a while since he and Marie had gotten some proper time alone since the Alistair/Jo babysitting incident. Plus, it was known by now that their kids were more trouble then they were worth when it came to babysitting. But with Ilac watching the kids (along with a rather forced Agent Nein) back at the labs in the GPC, Cali was ready for a night with just him and Marie.

In his claw, he carried a basket with the well made Italian dinner (Ilac made it, because Cali can't cook) that they would both be having tonight. He even brought a bottle of one of Marie's favorite wine and some candles. Truly, it would be a beautiful night with only the stars and summer air to watch them.

[Lexxi]

The were as a certain bliss that filled the heart of the young, ebony haired women as she walked throw the peaceful darkness with her head leaned upon the shoulder of the light of her life. She could hear the chorus of crickets mixed with the distant greeting of a lazy owl and inhaled the sweet mountain air to relish in its cool embrace. Her arms were holding tightly to his, never wanting him to leave, never wanting him to let her go. She felt so safe and at peace with Cali nearby as she always had. He may not have been the bravest or the toughest, but he was the one she loved and the one who would be behind her or beside her through life. Under the velvety blanket of stars in the weaving pattern of trees that surrounded the faded path, they were the only two people in the world. No kids to worry and fuss over, no campers to teach and tear off one another, and no nagging adults to keep an image for. She could be herself. She could just be Marie.

When Cali had invited her out, she’d never expected it to be so romantic, so sweet, so perfect. She’d even changed her look a bit to fit the mood; tank top dark and laced, jeans gently hugging her hips, and her perfume soft and sweet to mix with the scent of pines and fresh grass. Marie wanted everything to be perfect. Sighing contently and smiling, she looked up at Cali and brought herself a bit closer as they walked. It was like a dream, a perfectly wonderful dream.
“You’re so romantic these days, Cali,” she said softly; as if afraid speaking too loud might shatter the moment.

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[Zero]

Cali looked down at her. He gave her a warm smile that was concealed in the gentle darkness surrounding them and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Well you know me Marie, I know with the kids, both ours and the campers, that you needed some time off." He curled a bit of her dark hair between his fingers. Her green eyes almost seemed to glow in the darkness as the two then continued the walk, soon reaching the peak of the mountain.

Cali started to set up on top of the mountain, the soft clovers and grass underneath the blanket he set out cushioning it and making it perfect to sit on. He began to set out plates and candles, all the while casting the occasional happy glance back at Marie. He beamed happily as he took out the bottle of wine he had brought and set it on the blanket in front of him.

[Lexxi]

Settling on the edge of the blanket to the right of Cali, she shied away almost like a young girl might to that boy in the front row she liked. She felt so nervous, almost jittery, as she looked up at the sky again and bit down upon her lip. Perhaps it was that she hadn’t been out with Cali in what seemed like months or maybe that he was being so romantic that it made her heart leap, but she found herself lost in thoughts jumbled and uncertain. He’d never been the type to take her by the hand and whisk her off to a fantasy evening and she was almost uncertain what to do. It was always Ilac who did things like this and she knew what to expect from him. A drink, some chitchat, and then it usually ended with them both in bed together, but there was no certain end to what Cali had planned. Depending on his mood, he may be bold, he may be sweet. He might surprise her, he might do something simple. She couldn’t tell just by looking at him.

Looking back at him, their eyes met and she actually found herself giggling with gentle flirtation. Marie felt young and carefree. Just the night air and his companionship made her feel like she had years ago when she was just a teenager and had spent her days flirting and laughing at every cute boy who smiled in her direction. But he was the only one for her. The Lobotos were the only men she would ever bat an eyelash at. As he finished setting up the candles, flickering and dimly lighting the mountain side with flickering fire, Marie kissed him and smiled.
“Well it’s perfect. I feel so much better.”
Marie leaned back on her hands and watched a squirrel as it slipped up a nearby tree. Just perfect.

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[Zero]

Cali gave another small smile at Marie as he glanced up at the stars. Cali remembered vaguely the view he got from the top of the asylum of the stars. It was almost like he would have been able to reach out and grab one. It was the same here in that way, but he felt he didn't need to anymore. Not when he had his own star, Marie, in his capable arms.

He poured them both a glass of almost blood colored wine and set up both of their plates, all the while humming innocently. No one would have ever suspected that the partially robotic man had once been such a violent lunatic. He would have pulled teeth from anything that moved and have laughed about it, grinning madly. But now that man had a family, he had friends, and he had the love of his life.

He sipped his wine, the liquid sending a warm buzz down his throat, while his claw tapped against the ground in a sort of rhythmic pattern. It had taken much convincing on Ilac's part to get Cali to be able to spend some alone romantic time with Marie (which seemed odd considering Ilac usually liked doing that more), but now that Cali was here with her, in a seemingly perfect romantic situation, he now had no idea what to do. Truly, there was only one thing to do: start small talk. "So.....a lot has happened hasn't it?" He sighed, sipping his wine while glancing up at the stars again.

[Lexxi]

She sat beside him and absently weighed the crystalline glass in her hands; watching the surface of the crimson liquid as it shifted and sparkled in the flickering fire light. Even from the slight distance away from it, Marie could smell the fruit that it had been crushed from mixed with the intoxicating hint of the dreaded alcohol. It was always terribly tempting for her to drink a glass without savoring the taste, but not tonight. She’d been perfectly sober for almost 3 weeks which, in her terms, was a near record and getting drunk here didn’t seem a very good reason. After all, she had everything she could want. Why on earth would she even think of dousing the sweet and simple loveliness of it all with wine’s ever present, destructive affects? Marie took a small sip and caught the flavor upon her tongue before swallowing and returning it to its previous place held between her pale palms and letting her eyes drift closed with its lingering aroma lulling her into the recesses of her own mind.

When Cali spoke, she simply nodded and took in a deep breath as if she hadn’t been breathing for the quiet moments when she’d lost herself in thought. A lot had happened. Marie had never expected to come to Whispering Rock and find all this. She’d never expected to fall in love and have children. For years, she’d thrown herself into bitter solitude over her past failures and when she arrived at the summer camp, it had all changed. Summer had changed her, body, heart, and soul and it was just getting started. With all its ups and downs, it had been perfectly fine and perfectly wonderful.
“I’m just happy it all happened. Everything.”
She smiled to herself and moved a strand of hair behind her ears as she went over memories. The moment they’d met, when the kids were born, everything seemed like it was only a day ago and filled her mind and heart with a lightness that even made her laugh quietly on the outside.

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[Zero]

Cali gave a small laugh as well. He was happy as well for everything that had happened. If he had just been a normal dentist with a good life and had never gone insane, he would have still been with Lydia, where he was regrettably unhappy. Lydia had been a wonderful woman at first, charming, smart, she could stand up for herself. But when she had gotten pregnant from him, he wasn't exactly fond of her standing up for herself. Cali vaguely remembered how much he had broken down the night she had called him to tell him it was over.

Cali blinked away the fog of memories and sighed, long and deep, looking back at the stars. He again thought about what would have happened if he hadn't gone insane. He probably would have still been a dentist, drilling away at teeth everyday, sad and alone in life, until maybe deciding to end it entirely.

He drank some of his wine, looking back at the stars again so Marie wouldn't see the sad look that had started to come over his robotic eyes. He knew that he would never be fully sane again, but at the same time he was okay with it. If he hadn't gone insane, he wouldn't have met Marie, or any of the nice people here at camp. He shook off the thoughts of insanity and the past by gulping down the rest of his wine and setting his glass down gently. He had to be happy tonight, for Marie's sake.

[Lexxi]

It was an innate sense in most women to be able to feel the change in mood when it rose or fell. Like feeling temperature, the air seemed to cool when emotions fell and, as Cali’s mind shifted to more distance pains, Marie felt a light shiver run through her. Despite its almost urgent trail down the length of her spine, she did not act on it. Being psychic gave her no right to pry and the last thing she wanted to do was ruin the evening with her constant questioning. Still, it nagged her from somewhere deep inside as she sipped her wine and then slowly settled herself back against Cali; head once again rested again his chest. She could hear his heartbeat as it sounded in a steady rhythm and feel the rise and fall with each breath he took in. This was what all the romance books meant when they babbled on about true love. The way you wanted to know everything about a person and be apart of them like the blood in their veins. Every day, she learned something new about him and it was an almost exciting experience. There was a lifetime of experiences left to live with him.

When she looked up at him, she seemed to hold a sense of wonder in her glittering eyes and carefully laid her hand over his. She was in love and she couldn’t deny it. Marie still, however, felt the pressure in the back of her mind. It told her to ask him and learn. It told her to pry just a little. Just this once. Giving in Marie, set down her glass and shifted a bit to keep herself in a comfortable position against him.
“What are you thinking about?”
She asked it innocently enough, a simple question that should receive a simple answer.

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[Zero]

Cali gave the woman laying against his chest a soft look with his robotic eyes. It was odd how the glass and metal eyes, completely different from a normal persons, could show so much emotion. His metal eyelids lowered slightly and he took another sip of his refilled wine. "I was just thinking....about things.....about what life would have been like if I had been sane." Cali seemed to inhale and exhale deeply, thinking for a minute. He then spoke quickly. "B-but of course, that's nothing we have to talk about right now!.....and it's not like I minded going insane. I got to meet you didn't I?" Cali kissed Marie on her forehead, smiling softly.

[Lexxi]

Deeply shadowed eyes of curious green flickered slightly with what could have been confusion and what could have been suspicion. She turned her gaze away from him to refill her glass and lightly bit down upon her lower lip; teeth lightly puncturing the surface so she tasted the slightest hints of blood upon the tip of her tongue. Marie took a quick swallow of the wine to rid herself of the bitter copper sting and then lowered the glass as her mind went over an array of thoughts that she couldn’t put together without a little bit of fear. She’d been to high school, she’d seen the drama, she knew what certain signs meant. When a man thought about the past, he was regretting or wondering things that she didn’t particularly care for. Usually, it involved another woman. A wash of nervousness fell into her veins and pulsed through her until she actually shivered slightly and Marie ran the tip of her finger over the rim of the glass so that it produced a somewhat high pitched note that caused a bird sleeping in a nearby tree to ruffle its feathers in discontent. There was a part of her that wanted to know and that told her it wouldn’t hurt anything to ask, but there was always the chance that the truth would hurt. It was all a matter of whether she could handle the truth or if ignorance truly was bliss.

Marie took in a deep breath and downed the glass so that the warm feeling filled her. She had to be at least slightly buzzed to even think about this.
“Cali, was there ever anyone else?”

The question had just slipped out in a manner that made Marie almost forget she had said it. Only when she replayed the last few seconds did it hit her and she felt her stomach constrict into a tight knot that caused her heart to almost skip a beat. Out there, it was just her and Cali. No one would see her cry other than him, no one would hear their conversations, their secrets were safe. It was whether she wanted to know the true nature of his past or not that was really getting to her and making it almost hard to breath properly. Marie was scared. As a light breeze rustled the bushes and swept a few stray leaves across the cool forest floor, she tried her best to keep her face impassive as ever to show she was not trying to find anything out. She just wanted to know as any woman did. She wanted to know him inside and out until she could recite everything from memory and that meant delving into things that would otherwise shock and hurt herself.

Still, she could hear the question in her mind as if it were an echo that would never end.
“Cali, was there ever anyone else?”

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[Zero]

Cali seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, staring up at the stars with a sort of lost look in his eyes. Did he dare tell Marie about her. About what had happened years ago that he was suddenly starting to regret and piece together. He knew his child with Lydia was here at camp. He'd known ever since he heard that the boys last name was Zilch. It was hard to forget things like that when they were right in front of you. Only since Nate and Damitri had been born had he truly started to delve into his mind and memories and begin to remember Lydia again.

After what seemed like an eternity of staring up at the stars until his eyes hurt did he look down at Marie, sighing deeply. "Marie....." He choked on his words for a moment, then recollected himself. "....t-there was someone else at some point. She left me almost ten years ago though, along with.......with our child. The same child happens to be here at camp....."

Cali felt an overwhelming sensation of guilt. Why couldn't he have just smiled it off and lied about it? He could only imagine now how Marie would react. She'd slap him, yell at him. Say that this whole relationship was a joke to him. She'd probably take the boys somewhere else, maybe even put them up to adoption. And he would be alone again, doomed to a life of insanity and solitude. But no, Cali was getting ahead of himself. Marie and him were in love now. Lydia was no part in it anymore. Surely, Marie would understand that it happened years ago when Cali was still young and fully sane, or at least, teetering on sanity. He had needed someone back then to help him through that. Marie would understand. He knew she would.

[Lexxi]

There had been another woman. They had had a child. She had left him.
It was all a bit too much for Marie take as she grit her teeth to prevent herself from biting clean through her tongue. She felt a bit of anxiety in her heart and felt a stinging sensation in the back of her head that was trying to spur her actions to the violence she had once been known for. Marie had never been the most forgiving person. For years, she’d refused to let go of her grudge with her father and for even longer she’d held strong to a hatred for others who had done her wrong, what was one more? But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. While her mind was telling her to scream and rant and hurt him for causing her such an instant distress, her heart told her it wasn’t worth it. If she got mad, it would only cause more problems and she was trying her best to learn patience. After all, she was a mother of two. Without patience, she would probably go insane herself. She could only hope it didn’t run in the family.

For a few minutes, she didn’t say anything and simply refilled her glass for the fourth time, wanting to drown her temper in the warm, scarlet liquid. Each sip brought her closer to that universal calm that could make even the worst man lovable. Each sip brought her closer to forgetting the conversation ever happened. However, she couldn’t just leave it at that. There was no ending a conversation like that because it would be the equivalent of going to bed angry. Going to bed without speaking would not help anything. She took what appeared to be an experimental sip and then absently licked her lips of the stray droplets. “Was she prettier than me?”

Her gaze was stoic and empty, as if she were completely uninterested in the answer to her own question, but there was a certain sadness to the dulling sparkle in her eyes. It was a series of questions that all women asked their men about old flames. Was she prettier? Was she nicer? Did you love her? However, Marie skipped the other two in the list of interrogation subjects and added her own out of curiosity.
“Which camper is yours then?” Had she laughed, it might have sounded like a joke, but the blank gaze said she was series. The blank gaze said she was only asking for the sake of keeping the conversation alive.

[Zero]

Cali again felt another shot of regret go through him. He knew fully well who his son was. He also knew of Marie's existing opinions about the camper himself. But first question first. "Well... no. I think you're definately the prettier one." He tried to smile to lighten the dark mood that had seemed to come about the two, but it was like the corners of his mouth were stapled downward and he found himself unable to. Why had he insisted on thinking these kinds of thoughts so it could ruin such a perfect evening?

But then there was the second question to worry about again. How would Marie react to such a thing? He gulped, but found his mouth and throat had been seemingly robbed of saliva. His heart lodged itself in his throat, but he managed to say it. "It's Zilch. Bobby Zilch is my son." He looked away, not wanting to see how she would react to such news.

[Lexxi]

The news did not come easily to Marie was taking a sip of her wine when he spoke. She took in a sharp breath when the name entered the conversation and it ended in a choking fit, her coughing raggedly for breath and control over her now jerking lungs. The color in her cheeks flushed red as she coughed and finally turned to Cali with a shocked expression. It didn’t seem possible. How on earth could Cali have ever had another son that was anything like Bobby? Bobby, from what Marie had seen of him, was cruel and heartless, making everyone’s life miserable just because he could. He was the one camper that, no matter what she did, she could not get to behave and the one camper she could hardly stand. The thought of him being Cali’s other son almost enraged her; putting Marie on edge as she downed the rest of her glass despite previous choking. This was one of those moments when she had the right to drink herself silly.

When she found her voice, she nearly choked again. “Zilch?” she repeated in disbelief. This was not something she had expected to learn. She, Marie Grestofski, was, in all technicality, the step mother of one of the camp’s biggest bullies around. Just the thought of it made her go cold from head to toe, but it wasn’t from the thought of the camper himself. Maybe it was the fact that Cali had loved someone before her and had married them. Though she completely understood that it was in the past, she still felt her heart had been torn out from her chest. Rubbing her throbbing temples to try and concentrate once again, she let the feeling of the wine slowly take affect and numb her to all her pain and confusion. “Bobby Zilch…”

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[Zero]

It felt like being at an important event that had depended all on just one comment, one detail, and apparently Cali had just messed up on that detail. Why couldn't he have just told her it was a nice kid? Like Elton or Vernon, or at least someone other then Bobby. But no, Bobby was his son no matter what Cali wanted to believe. Bobby looked a lot like his father. Mis-matched eyes, blue skin, sharp teeth. Anyone could have guessed if Cali had been without his robotic features. Cali hadn't even realized in his frenzied thoughts that he had drank at least two more glasses of wine, simply because they had been there.

He felt sick to his stomach, both from the guilt of keeping this from Marie and the alcohol sending warm tinges through his body from within his guts. Now he suddenly wished there was someone else besides Marie and himself there, someone to break the cloud that had come over the two of them. They remained alone with each other. Cali tried to speak to Marie, but his words choked in his throat. "I'm sorry..." He mewled. "I'm so sorry Marie...." He felt the warmth of salty tears slip down his cheek and into the glass of almost empty wine he held.