Alien in the House

Chapter 2



“AMES, GO YOU!”

“I know she can do it,” Christopher said, as he put his arm around Amy and hugged her. “But it’s going to take a lot of focus. And her being married to an alien isn’t helping. At all.” In a move that made me just a tad nervous, Christopher wasn’t glaring—he looked worried.

“Whatever.” Amy hugged him back. “Being married into the A-C clan isn’t as much of a detriment to the Board as you think it is. Us not being evil psychos who want to destroy and rule the world? That’s a bigger issue for the Board.”

“Fabulous. While you guys are tangling with them, don’t forget to eyeball who might be the next Bad Guy du Jour. ’Cause you know that no matter how many times we knock one down, another one’s always ready to take his or her place.”

“We will do,” Amy said. “My money’s on Ansom Parker, Janelle Gardiner, or Quinton Cross. With my father gone, they’ve all been jockeying to become Chairman of the Board. But the corporation and his will were set up so that if he died, LaRue was the instant successor. With both of them missing and presumed dead, the corporation, the Board, and I have had to get my father and LaRue both declared legally dead, and we only have an interim Chairman.”

“Yeah, the problem with our jobs and lives is that we do a lot of things we can’t tell anyone about.”

Amy shrugged. “Better this than what we’d all go through having to explain how all these horrible people ‘disappeared.’”

“As long as it doesn’t get discovered,” Christopher said, looking even more worried.

Amy kissed his cheek. “As far as anyone knows, accidents have happened and we’re all very sad we haven’t been able to recover bodies.” She winked at me as they left, Christopher still looking concerned.

“Think Amy will actually take over Gaultier Enterprises?” Jeff asked.

“I think it’s really likely, yeah.”

“Think anyone’s going to question the official causes of death on our long list of now-dead enemies?”

“No idea. I’m just hoping they don’t question you, Christopher, or just about any other A-C.”

“I know, I know. We can’t lie. It’s a good trait.”

“In a husband, absolutely. In a politician or when being questioned by people who can’t know the truth? Maybe not as helpful.” I sighed. “I, however, have a more urgent problem. I need to finish wrapping Jamie’s presents, but Pierre needs us, and James is on his way.”

Jeff grinned and kissed me. He was the best kisser in, by my estimate, the entire galaxy, and his kiss did to me what it always did—made me forget about anything else other than getting our clothes off.

He ended our kiss and laughed. “No, baby, we don’t have time for me to make you that kind of happy. But give me a second, and I can solve a different problem.”

That Jeff knew I was ready to go was based some on experience but mostly on the fact that he was the strongest empath in the galaxy. Therefore, I knew he was aware of my disappointment.

Which quickly turned to joy, as he used hyperspeed to wrap the remainder of Jamie’s gifts. I had hyperspeed now, but I didn’t trust it for delicate stuff, and wrapping little girl gifts was definitely on the delicate side of the hyperspeed house.

Jeff finished up and we hid the presents in a closet in one of the many rooms of our penthouse that we didn’t actually use. “You don’t mind that I finished the wrapping?” he asked as we headed for the door.

“No. I wrapped half, you wrapped half. I’m glad you got to do some of that, even if it was quick.”

He hugged me. “Me, too.”

Since the Embassy went up seven floors and down several, ignoring the underground Secret Lab Level that led into the recently discovered Tunnels of Doom, most of us chose to save the energy and used the elevators to get up and down. Well, the human members of the Embassy staff did. For the A-Cs, all of whom had hyperspeed, stairs were almost always the faster option.

Because it had been some time since we’d told Walter we’d be right down to the Ballroom, we didn’t use the elevator. Instead, we zipped down the stairs from the 7th floor to the 2nd.

We reached the Ballroom. And stopped dead in our tracks. I couldn’t speak for Jeff, but I was stunned. Frankly, I couldn’t speak at all for a few long seconds.

“Um . . . wow.”

“Yeah.” Jeff cleared his throat. “What’s the proper thing to say at this moment?”

“You’re asking me?”

“You’re human.”

“As if that matters for the current situation?” We were standing at one of the two entrances to the room. I took a quick look around. “Okay, Pierre’s not here. So, we tell each other, really fast, what we actually think, and then we come up with the right way to tell him what we really think.”

“I really think there’s too much pink in here.”

Couldn’t argue with Jeff’s sentiments. The ballroom of the American Centaurion Embassy was adorned in pink. And sparkles. And balloons. And that was just the ceiling. “Maybe Pierre thinks we’re hosting an off-site visit from the folks from Dancing with the Stars.”

“Maybe he’s lost his mind.” Jeff didn’t sound like he was kidding.

“It’s pretty,” I said lamely. It was, if you were so into the color pink that you wanted all other colors banished from the face of the Earth. No one I knew was that into the color pink. Well, Pierre was, apparently, but this was news to me.

“Wow. Girlfriend . . . what’s going on?” Reader joined us. “I mean, I thought I knew what was going on. Now I’m not so sure.”

“See?” Jeff said to me, as if I’d been the one who coordinated the ballroom’s decorations.

“See what? I see a hell of a lot of pink.”

“Me too,” Reader said. “What’s the occasion? I ask because the occasion can’t be the reason I’m here. I wasn’t invited to Pink Fest.”

“It’s for our little princess’ first birthday party,” Pierre said as he zipped into the room. “I realize you’re all in shock from the sheer overwhelming feeling of being in a cotton candy factory, which is why I wanted you to see it now, but, trust me, it’s necessary.”

“It is? Why?”

“Jamie loves it,” Pierre said. “And she needs to love it. Her party is going to be televised, I’d like us all to recall.”

“I’m still unhappy about that,” Jeff growled.

Reader sighed. “Who isn’t? But, let’s be honest. If the way we keep everyone else in the world calm about the fact that there are a whole lot of aliens from the Alpha Centauri system living on Earth is to show how much like regular folks our Embassy personnel are, then we do it.”

Jeff ran his hand through his hair. “I know, James. We had this argument months ago, and it made sense then, too. It’s just . . .” He looked around. “It’s just so damn pink.”

“I have a bigger concern.” The three male heads all swiveled toward me. “We’re hosting a dinner party. Tonight. And, call me crazy, I thought we were hosting it in this room.”

“You’re crazy,” Pierre said nicely. “We don’t host dignitaries in the ballroom unless we are dancing, Kitty darling. We host them in the formal dining room and attached parlors for appetizers, and then we’re all going to the Zoo for the actual dinner.”

“Oh. Well. Then that’s alright. I guess.” I cleared my throat. “You know, Jamie’s birthday is on Christmas. And since we’re having her party on Christmas Day, I kind of thought, therefore, that the party would have a Christmas-y theme.”

“Did you?” Pierre asked, as he fussed with some fake pink flowers that were marked as stand-ins for the real flowers that were to arrive on the actual day of the party. “I can’t imagine why.”

“Christmas-time. That’s why.”

“None of you celebrate Christmas officially, for a variety of religious reasons.” Pierre looked at all our expressions and heaved a sigh. “You’re allowed to be different, darlings. Your differences make you interesting to the general populace. The areas where you’re just the same as everyone else make you comfortable to them. We want to ensure that everyone continues to think you’re both comfortable and interesting.”

“I feel like a reality star without the desperate desire for fifteen minutes of fame.”

Pierre shrugged. “I’m sure you do. However, this week’s festivities are among the most important of any you’ve had since we were all exposed to the world as being just a trifle more special than the average.”

“I’m cool with being better than the average bear. I’m not sure I’m excited about single-handedly making pink the new black.” I hadn’t wrapped her presents in a lot of pink. Now I wondered if that was going to end up being a Total Mommy Fail on my part.

“I remind you that Jamie loves it and we will now leave it at that.” Pierre shooed us out. “I plan to have the ballroom closed off for tonight’s festivities, so no visiting dignitaries should be offended by the sheer beauty of the room.”

“I feel so much better,” Jeff muttered. He heaved a sigh. “Okay, so what’s our game plan for tonight?”

“Not spilling anything on anybody.”

Reader chuckled. “That’s always a good choice, girlfriend. But we do need to be coordinated. This is a good chance to show how important we are politically while also showing that we don’t shove in our own agenda.”

“We don’t have an agenda beyond ‘don’t make us go back to Alpha Four,’” Jeff pointed out.

“And don’t make us the War Division,” I added.

Reader heaved a sigh. “Yes. And we need to ensure that these things are understood at a level where the majority won’t ask for everyone to be exiled.”

“You mean exiled again,” Jeff said. “But yeah, James, we get it.”

“Good,” Pierre said. “Because based on your comments from only a few moments ago, I, for one, am not convinced you do indeed ‘get it.’”

Before anyone could respond, the doorbell rang. The Embassy was large and the doorbell made an impressive sound that was piped through all the lower three floors.

Pierre made the exasperation sound. “No one should be arriving yet. The party doesn’t start for at least another two hours.”

He zipped off while the three of us exchanged a glance. “You think it’s just a delivery of some kind?” Reader asked. “Or someone dropping by to visit?”

“Most of those who we want to see drop by via a gate. Or they call first.”

Before Jeff could add in his two cents to this discussion, Walter’s voice came over the intercom. “Chiefs, Commander Reader, you’re needed downstairs.”