A YOOK BY ANY OTHER NAME

Chapter 11: Frustration and Relief

A string of words that could not in any form or fashion EVER appear in
an epi, filled the air above the tower. Himself lifted his head, peering through the fingers he slightly parted over his eyes. "Hando's in the tower?" he asked, his voice breaking a bit. Ando nodded. Sliding his palms slowly down his face, he looked at the man who had been worried about the set. "Send for the crane," he sighed.
*******************
The loud rumbles made by the crane were heard even down by the banks of the Never Never. "What could that be?" Rose asked.

The Captain turned his head, listening carefully. "I think they may be rolling out the cannons," he smiled. "Sometimes my gun carriages sound a bit like that."

"There are cannons in ‘Eucalyptus’?" she asked, shocked.

 

"Only if Marti gets her hands on the script," he chortled. "Then she'd probably drop one on my head."
 

"She...she does things like that?"

 

"Worse, much worse," he grinned. Standing, he held out his hand. "Would you care to observe?"

 

There it was, his hand, right in front of her. Not only right there, but held out in free invitation to put hers within his strong fingers. He had no idea that she had not only read the complete set of books, but had seen ‘Master and Commander’ countless times. She looked at his fingers, trying to let it settle into her mind that this was no daydream, no fairy tale. This was reality.

He began to pull his hand back a bit, fearing he had offended her. "I...," he began, but she smiled and placed her tiny hand in his. Folding his fingers gently over hers, he helped her to her feet, the touch of her hand causing some deep response within him.

 

"Merci, Capitaine," she whispered, standing beside him now on the flat rock, looking up. His ruffles ruffled slightly in the breeze as, one supposes, ruffles are supposed to do. With her eye for cut, for line, she quite liked it and lifted her hand, wanting to touch them. He saw her motion and waited, wishing she would, but, no, for her it would have been unseeming behavior. They had only just met, though she felt she knew nearly everything about him.

When her fingers curled back, he sighed, deep inside, unseen. Smiling gallantly then, he offered her his arm. This she took, and together, with him brushing back branches, they returned up the path to the set.

Quite a few members of the cast had gathered about the tower. "But WHY is this tower here?" Marti was saying. "It makes no sense."

Passing close behind her as she said this, Jack leaned toward her, whispering in her ear, "'Lucky'." (An Aubrey story Marti was writing at the time on Enchantments.)

She whirled on him. "I could make you pay for that," she frowned.

"And doubtless...will," he chuckled, walking on.

"I have REASONS, " she called after him, adding, "All those blondes are not there for nothing!"

"Blondes?" Rose asked.

"Not a thing for you to worry about," he replied, placing his left palm over where hers lay on his right forearm. "It's another reality."

"Another? There are...others?"

"Not here," he continued, "not now. This," he said, waving his arm toward the set, "is our reality."

Steve tapped lightly on the door of Laura's caravan. "Who is it?" she called.

"Me, Steve," he answered, "I wanted to see how your legs...I mean...ankle was doing."

She was sitting at her desk, a fax in the final stages of being sent. She indicated that he should come in and take a seat on the couch. "Have you been down to the set yet?" she asked.

"No," he replied, "though I hear that Hando has fallen down inside the tower."

"What?" she cried, lawsuits ringing in her head.

"Don't worry, " he laughed, understanding her expression. "If anybody sues it would probably be the prop guy."

"I think I'd better get down there, though," she said seriously. "Would you drive me?"

Would he drive her? He tried very, very hard not to smile terribly obviously. She needed a great deal of help getting down the two metal steps of the caravan. Then she leaned on him as they made their way to the car park. He helped her in the car, still trying manfully not to smile, and climbed in beside her. Then he sat there, staring at the wheel. Only now did he remember that he had never learned to drive.

 

"Taxis," he said with a groan. "I've always taken taxis."

It was her turn to stifle an emotion. "I, um, I could drive if you...pressed the pedal for me," she offered.

"You could?"

"Probably. We can find out," she shrugged. He got out of the car as she slid across the seat.

"Thank goodness it's automatic," she sighed, "or you would be in my lap or I in yours." At the moment he could not have been less grateful for the lack of a clutch.

She turned the key, put the car in gear, and said, "Now." He pressed hard and they shot forward. It was only by expert maneuvering that she managed to avoid three cars and a sturdy eucalyptus, not to mention a rail fence.

"Off!" she cried. "Take your foot off the gas!"

Looking sheepish, he asked, "Um, did we find out?"

"Listen, Steve," she said, looking at him steadily, "I know you can do this. Softly. Gently."

Why did Himself's words, "Take it slow?" pop into his head. He repeated them as they were right there behind his forehead. "Take it slow."

"That's right," she agreed. "We can make it, I know we can, if you just take it slow."

He was looking into her eyes, not thinking in automotive terms at all. "We can make it," he repeated.

 

"Where does it hurt?" Joimus asked Maximus as he lay there, his forearm across his eyes.

He had no answer for where it hurt. It hurt in places he had not been aware of WERE places. He was afraid to see her eyes again. Yes, that was the word for it...afraid. He, Sid, was afraid. It was new, this feeling, and he didn't know where to put it inside himself. So he simply lay there, shielding himself with his arm.

She reached out, resting her hand softly on it. He jerked at her touch, though the growing concern in her eyes went unseen. She removed her hand, sitting now cross-legged beside him on the bed, resting both hands in her lap. Sid had done something more to him than clout him with the pipe.

"Look at me, Maximus," she urged quietly. He shook his head.

"Please," she tried. He sighed, letting his arm drop to his side, but keeping his lids closed. "Ah, progress," she thought and so leaned forward, resting her palms on his abdomen. He tightened his muscles there and she felt it under her fingers, so leaned harder. He tightened them more and she laughed softly, leaning still harder. Even this was new to him and his mind centered in on the action and reaction of it, though he was reacting now in a broader area than he had planned.

She curved her fingers, digging them lightly into his abs, leaning forward so that her pale hair draped over his face. He opened his eyes then as the strands cascaded over his cheeks, his brow, his mouth. Extending his tongue a bit, he curled it about a strand, tasting it, letting it slide slowly between his lips. Human cells, he thought. So tactile in a way that was...different.

 

Aware of what he was doing with her hair, she was pleased and let her hands slide up his chest till she was full against him, whispering into his ear, "I love you more than life itself."

He closed his eyes again, dealing with the sound, the meaning of her words...Joimus' words. Her lips tracked their way up his cheek along the boundary of his facial hair until they found his mouth. His mind whirled. What had he thought? That, in believing him to be Maximus, this would not happen? He had carried his plan through in his brain more along the lines of what it would be like for him to look out of Maximus' eyes then had gotten so busy with the preparations for the execution of it that he had never gotten quite so far as...this.

 

She felt his lips smile beneath hers. Being completely amoral, he had no hesitation over proceeding with what she had begun. He returned her kiss, nipping at her lips, pressing his hard against hers, tangling his fingers in her hair, then rolling her onto her back as he sat astride her hips. His eyes glittered with anticipation, with the sudden hardness of the lust rising up his core.

She frowned slightly, seeing his face. Maximus had never looked like this before and it disturbed her so that her passion fled. She straightened one arm, pressing her palm against his chest, "Maximus, stop," she said, tears glistening in her eyes. What had happened to his gentle tenderness, his constant concern for her even when he was most aroused?

He pushed her arm away, reached down and tore open the delicate gossamer of her pale yellow gown. "NO!" she cried, horrified. "You will not take me in this manner! You will NOT!" The fact that the word "take" even came to her thoughts to describe Maximus' love-making appalled her beyond measure.

"Get OFF me!" she ordered, struggling to sit up, gathering her ruined bodice together with her hands.

He stopped, still seated across her legs, his nostrils flared, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, his eyes dark with frustration, even anger.

 

"I don't know what Sid did to you," she said, "but we cannot...will not...do this when you are in your current state."

Ignoring her, he lunged forward, his lips seeking hers. It was then she slapped him. Hard. Really hard. Startled, he sat back, his hand going to his left cheek. His eyes narrowed and for a moment she truly thought he might hit her back and she steeled herself for his blow. Instead, with a vile expletive, he slipped off the end of the bed, grabbed his cape and slammed out of the caravan. She turned on her side, pulled her knees up to her chest, and lay there, shaking with deep sobs.

By now it was early evening and most of the cast was at the set watching the extraction of Hando from the innards of the tower. MaxiSid strode across the Caravan Park, chose a particular trailer, and pounded his fist on the metal door.

Bunny opened, surprised to see the General standing there, even more surprised at the terrible expression on his face. Without even greeting her, he barged up the two steps and whammed the door closed. Pat, who had been returning to her own caravan, looked at Alex. "I wonder what's up with Maximus?" she commented.

"He did seem very upset about something, didn't he," Alex nodded. Pat made a mental note to check with Joimus about it later.

"General?" Bunny said, as MaxiSid placed himself within mere inches of her person and began to walk forward, making her back up the length of the caravan. When the back of her knees came in contact with the end of the bed and she could go no further, she gulped. "Maximus," she said, her voice trembling, "um...where...where's Joimus?" She looked in his face, still so flushed with anger and passion and knew she had never seen him look like this before. "Has...has something happened? Is something...wrong?"

 

He licked his lips, feeling an urgency stronger than anything he'd ever known before, and, letting his cape drop to the floor, put both hands on her shoulders, pushing her down atop the bed. "Don't get your cottontail in a twist," he growled, burying his face in her cleavage.

"My God!" she gasped, pressing her hands against him, needing to look into his eyes. "SID?

He lifted his head just enough so that the tip of his chin instead of his mouth rested between her breasts, his eyes meeting hers. Even though it was Maximus' face, the smile that formed on his lips was entirely Sid.

"My God, Sid! What have you DONE?"

"You like it?" he asked, leering at her. "I've Maxified myself."

She touched his face. "Is...is...this really...his?"

 

Lowering his lids half way, he replied, "It was. It's mine now."

Her eyes widened. "Have...have...you killed him?"

"Oh, don't worry about the General," he laughed. "He's chillin' out."

She was trying to get her brain around this. "Joimus? Does Joimus know?"

"No, " he replied. "I was doin' pretty well with her and then my sensitivity calibrations seem to have slipped a bit."

"What...is it...that she thinks?" Bunny asked, really needing to know.

"She thinks Sid attacked Maximus with a pipe and did something to him." He licked her collar bone. "But enough chit chat, my English Wabbit," he continued. "I have bodily functions that need to...function."

A few minutes later, Pat slipped out of her caravan alone and walked toward Joimus', tapping softly on the door. No one answered, but as the door was ajar, having been slammed so hard that it sproinged rather than latching, she poked her head inside and called quietly, "Joimus?"

When she heard sounds of sobbing from the back, she went inside, a frown of concern on her face. She found Joimus curled on the bed, her fingers still clutching her ripped bodice. Completely shocked, she stopped, catching her breath, then sitting quickly on the side of the bed.

"Joimus!" she cried. "What happened?"

"Oh, Pat," Joimus said, her shoulders still shaking. "It...it's... Maximus. Sid has done something really terrible to him this time."

"What do you mean?"

"He's all...different," Joimus sobbed. "It's almost like I don't know who he is any more."

Clearly in her mind's eye, Pat saw the General knocking urgently on Bunny's door. She decided, wisely, now was not the time to mention that. Getting a wet washrag from the small bathroom, she handed it to Joimus, who sat up and pressed it completely over her face. It was then Pat saw the extent of the bodicial damage. Her mouth dropped open a bit at the sight. She wanted Himself to know about this. Somehow, with his special, intimate knowledge of all the characters, she felt he could help. "You sit right there," she said, "I'm going to run next door and get Berti for you."

Berti opened the door of her caravan, finding Pat standing there in the gathering darkness in a very agitated state. "Pat, what's wrong?" she asked quickly as Bud came and stood just behind her.

"Maximus roughed up Joimus," she said, hardly able to believe it herself. "I need to go talk with Himself. Can you stay with her?"

"Of course!" Berti said, already coming down the steps. Pat scooted off to the car park as Berti and Bud hurried to the caravan beside theirs, its door left open by Pat.

"You should stay...," Berti began, looking at Bud, but she saw plainly on his face that there was no way he was not going into that caravan. They found Joimus sitting on the bed, her face still buried in the wash cloth, her shoulders still shaking. When Bud saw the ripped bodice, his breath inhaled in a rough gasp.

 

"HOW?" he said, his voice a mixture of wrath and confusion.

Joimus lifted her face, her eyes all puffy and swollen. "It's not his fault, Bud. It's not his fault. He's not himself. He's just not himself at...all."

Bud's hands gripped the back of a small chair. Pat held his arm tightly. "Sid," she said to him. "Remember what Joimus said about Sid attacking Maximus."

His facial muscles twitched terribly as his fingers gripped the chair ever harder. "Where is Maximus now?" Berti asked.

 

"I...I don't know," Joimus sniffed. "He stormed out but I have no idea where."

Pat, however, did. She skidded the SUV to a stop at the edge of the set in a swirl of gravel, hopped out and ran toward the tower. Himself was there, watching carefully as the crane lowered its long cable down toward the tower's innards. Not pausing even to wonder what the heck was going on, she grabbed himself, pulling him to one side.

"Maximus!" she said, gasping for breath and only able to utter the one word.

Jack and Rose were standing nearby and the Captain's ears perked up at the sound of the General's name. Himself was taken aback by the expression on Pat's face.

"Is he hurt?" he asked, giving a small grimace when he thought how he should never have let him out of his sight right now.

"Sid whacked him with a pipe," she said, and at his shocked expression,
hastened to add, "but didn't hurt him much except for his cheek."

"And...?" Himself said, quite able to see she had more to tell.

"He...he did...something to him. We don't know what, but he's gone all different."

"In what way?" the Captain asked, concerned.

"He tore Joimus' dress and left her in tears then he...he...," she
stammered.

"He what?" Himself asked quickly.

"He...he...went to...to...Bunny."

"He did WHAT?" the Captain and Himself roared in unison.

 

"I know it's hard to believe," she continued, "but I saw him with my own eyes."

Himself and Jack exchanged very meaningful looks. "Does Joimus know?" Himself asked.

"No," Pat said, a pained expression on her face. "Just Alex and me."

 

"Let's keep it amongst just us for now," Himself directed. "Rose," he then asked, "will you be so kind as to help with Joimus' gown?"

 

"Certainly," she said, eager to help.

"Come with me." And he strode quickly towards his SUV, Jack, Rose, and Pat following.

Himself drove the short distance to the Caravan Park, his eyes narrowed with worry. He remembered Bunny saying that she feared Sid would hurt Maximus. He shook his head. "Damn fool!" he spat, hitting the steering wheel with the flat of his hand. WHY hadn't he been more careful? Why hadn't he watched over them more vigilantly?

Stepping out of the vehicle, he looked around. "Good!" he said, pleased no one but themselves were anywhere in sight. "Pat, you show Rose where Joimus' trailer is. Jack, you come with me."

The two men walked rapidly to Bunny's trailer and Himself pounded on the door. After a long moment, Bunny opened the door slightly, a satin dressing gown loosely tied about her waist, her hair tumbled, her lipstick gone.