MAY 23
Dave worked with his American team doing what he could, and trying to make sure that if they were ever attacked like that again, the damage done would be minimal. They worked all through the day and night and when they finally stopped through sheer exhaustion, Dave noticed that the day had changed. They had worked solidly for 24 hours. Dave called Jo and she teleported him home where he slept for a long time.
During that time he dreamt of the first time he proposed to her. She was upset with him, as he had not yet told her that he loved her, and with some prompting from Lord Geneva, he had gone after her...
"Hey, Jo, wait up!" cried Dave as he went past the park where she was.
"Hey, Dave," she said and carried on walking. Dave had done a lot of thinking as he tried to find her - which was not easy, as she was a teleporter - and if he thought he loved her, then he most probably did, or else why even think like that. There was only one thing to do.
"Jo, please wait," he said. "Please?" Jo stopped at that last please. She turned around, with tears in her eyes.
"Look, Commander," she said, trying not to betray her feelings. "If you have something to say, say it!" Her voice had a hint of anger in it. Dave thought to himself it's now or never. He took a deep breath and then said out loud:
"Marry me." Jo sat down on a nearby chair.
"Pardon?" was all she said.
"Well, that got your attention," said Dave under his breath. But he'd said it and now he was committed. He went over to her and got down on one knee. "Josephine Geneva, I would be greatly honoured if you would be my wife." He produced a ring with a very large diamond in it, surrounded by two sapphires on each side.
"I don't know what to say," she said.
"Say 'yes'." Dave had one more shot at this. He opened up his heart and said the first thing he could think of. "I love you," and way he said it surprised even him. It was forceful, yet tender. Firm but loving. I DO love her, he thought to himself. Jo looked at Dave again, sensing the truth in his words.
"Well then in that case, yes. I will marry you." And the two of them kissed then stopped. "I remember," said Jo. "The avatarr, my death, my resurrection. All of it."
"So do I," said Dave, the truth about him revealing itself in his mind. He did love her. He always had. "You still want to marry me?" he asked. He looked at her. Something had changed about her and Dave did not have any good feelings about this. She turned away from him.
"Dave," she said. "I can't marry you." Dave was stunned.
"Why?"
"I just can't. I do love you, but because of what we have been through together, I don't think we need to be married. It changes nothing."
"But..."
"No 'buts', Dave. We don't need a piece of paper to say we love each other." Dave was now resigned to the fact that it wasn't going to happen.
"Okay," he said. "How about we move in together?"
"Now that is a good idea," she said. "Come on. Let's go tell my father." Dave nodded and held her hand.
When he awoke he looked at his clock. It was six in the evening. He had slept a very long time.
"Hey, Dave," said Jo as she entered the room. "You hadn't had much sleep in 48 hours so I let you have the day off. Now, you get ready."
"Why?"
"You're taking me out for dinner." She smiled. So did Dave
"Give me half an hour," he laughed.
MAY 24
"We have to do this don't we?" asked Jo.
"Yes," said Dave. "They invited us up to the resort because of the bank holiday. They knew we'd have Monday off."
"But we've got so much work to do. The dresses, the catering, the invites..."
"Yes, I know. And the rehearsal on Tuesday. Then I can see what needs to be done to the programme before the wedding." He picked up the suitcase. "Come on. Let's go visit my family." Jo sighed and teleported them out of C&C to the Golden Star resort in the mountains of Cumbria. In front of them were Dave's parents. "Now then, Dave, Jo," said his father, Jack in his broad Yorkshire accent.
"Dad," said Dave. "Hiya, Mum."
"How are you, David?" asked Emma.
"Oh, not too bad," said Dave.
"How are the wedding preparations going?" she asked to Jo.
"Hectic. I hardly have a minute to breath."
"I know that feeling. Come on, I'll take you to your room and we can talk weddings." She and Jo left Dave and Jack alone.
"Ah, son," said Jack. "Fancy a beer?" he asked as they walked over towards the pool.
"Thought you'd never ask. How's the business?"
"Doing okay. It's not too bad the weather so we do get quite a few visitors. The way the dome holds in the heat makes a welcome change to some of the weather we get up here." he paused for a moment as he went behind the bar at the side of the pool. "Well, it's about time you married t'girl." He passed Dave a drink.
"Tell me about it. I dunno, I often thought this wouldn't happen."
"Things do what they do for a purpose. Whilst I remember, what happened with that Zero Tolerance affair? I heard that they totalled C&C." Dave sighed and took a drink.
"They did. Sit down, this is a story you might be shocked to hear..."
Later that day, after Dave had told his father the story of what had happened, Dave met up with Jo. She was taking a swim.
"Y'know, I was apprehensive about coming here," she said, "but this is very relaxing. I feel great."
"Me too," said Dave. "I told my dad about Bastion."
"All of it?"
"All of it. He seems to be coping with it better than either of us."
"You were dead. What did you expect me to say?"
"Not `What in blazes are you doing here?' I thought even I'd get better than that."
"I've made it up to you. Several times."
"Yes," said Dave with a grin. "I know." Jo splashed him, playfully.
"Come on in, the water's fine."
"Okay," said Dave. "Give me a minute," and he got changed and dived in.
That evening, after dinner, the four of them gathered together for a game of chess, boys versus girls then mixed doubles.
"You here from Ricky?" asked Emma to Dave.
"I've not seen or heard from him in years. It seems my little brother doesn't want to know me."
"What happened with you two?" asked Jo.
"Power," said Jack. "Dave had it, Richard didn't. Richard resented fact that his brother had the powers and he didn't. It came to a head when Dave saved him from a burning car, using his powers over metal and fire. Richard would rather have died and his jealousy turned in to hatred. We've not seen him in months." He sighed. "You two were close as anything at one point, then you were granted these gifts."
"They're not all that great," said Dave. "Anyway I don't develop my powers as far as I could because of the business with our kid. I know in my heart that I could use my power for more than I do."
"Then you should use the powers you have," said Emma. "Don't let your little brother ruin your own chances."
"I'm happy, though, Mum. In the end that's all that counts." He moved his knight on the board.
"See how happy you are now," said Jo as she winked to Jack, who she was partnering. She moved a bishop across the board. "Checkmate!"
Dave looked about the board. It was indeed checkmate.
"I'm getting tired," he said. "I must be to have missed that."
"Never mind," said Jo. "You'll win against me, one day. You're right though, this fresh air is tiring. I'm off to bed. Dave?" she invited. He nodded. "Night, Emma, Jack," she said as she headed off to her room.
"Remember," called Emma after her, "we're going shopping tomorrow."
"Wouldn't miss it," replied Jo. Dave and Jack looked at each other and sighed.
"Well, tomorrow then we'll go fishing on Windermere."
"A damn fine idea," said Dave. "I'll see you both in the morning." He kissed his mother goodnight and went to bed.
MAY 25
Jo and Emma left early that morning and so the two men decided that it was time to go fishing. They travelled to the Lake and got in a boat and went to the middle of the water where they cast off. They talked about life, marriage, powers, super battles, life and death and all in all had a quiet day. It was peaceful and relaxing. Until about six in the evening. They had caught few fish but had had a lot of fun and were about to
call it a day, when something flew overhead, rocking the boat. Jack just sighed.
"What the hell was that?" shouted Dave, over the sonic boom it left in its wake.
"X-Wing fighters," came the reply. "Some cowboys have formed a flight team and some of them fly all over the place, usually as low as they dare."
"Yes," said Dave. "I know a few idiots in those things. Excuse me a moment." Dave pulled a com pad out of his pocket. "Chief of Operations to C&C."
"C&C" came the reply
"Tuesday, I want all our pilots ready for immediate training. I want them ready to give the X-Wings the ride of their lives. But to do that they're gonna need some extra training."
"Aye, sir."
"Goldfish out." Dave switched off the com pad. He looked at his father who was shaking his head. "What?"
"You don't change," he said. "When you were little you didn't like anyone with big toys ruining your fun, so you used your own talents to try to stop them - friends or not."
"Some of those pilots - and I use the term loosely - need to be taught a lesson."
"I agree, but why should it be you?"
"If not me who else?" Jack sighed.
"You always have to win, don't you?"
"Not always."
"I don't know where we went wrong at times. Come on let's go home."
When they got back to the resort it was nearly eight in the evening.
"Oh my God!" cried Dave as he saw his fiancee and his mother. "Where did you go shopping?" The room was full of boxes and packages.
"Rome, Paris, New York," said Emma
"Don't forget London, Sydney and Madrid," reminded Jo.
"Unbelievable." Dave was stunned. His father hadn't said a word. "Can we afford to take them out to dinner," he asked Jo.
"Yes, no problem," said Jo.
"Then we'll go get changed and head off." He looked at his father.
"Come on, Dad," he said as he took him by the arm. "It might not have been that expensive..." He wondered if that was as sincere as he wanted it to be and not how he felt.
MAY 26
It was time to go home to C&C. They had had a good break and now it was time to go back to the madness of real life. There were a lot of preparations still to do and tomorrow there was the rehearsal. Dave and Jo hated to leave so soon but time was no longer on their side.
"Well," said Jack. "It was good to have you here." He had gotten over the initial shock of the shopping and was now ignoring it - until he got the bill.
"It was good to be here," said Dave. "Mum."
"David," they embraced. "We'll see you tomorrow."
"Just let me know when you're ready and I'll bring you down," said Jo. Emma nodded and embraced her soon to be daughter in law. Jack and Dave shook hands. "Are you ready, D?" asked Jo.
"As I'll ever be." Jo nodded. "Bye!" he said as they teleported out and he could just about here their response as they dematerialised and went back to C&C.
"It's good to be home," said Jo as she sat down on their room. "Dave, we have got to get ready for tomorrow." Dave nodded.
"I'll go to my office and contact everyone who needs to be there." Jo smiled as Dave was leaving.
"Don't take all day," she said. "I've got a present for you."
"Oh yes?" said Dave before he left. "What sort?"
"Well put it this way - you won't wanna miss it..."
"I'll be an hour at the most," said Dave and he set off
"I'll be waiting.." she called after him.
In his office he contacted Andromeda, Crystal and Blaquesmith and a few other people to get ready for tomorrow. Ever since his death and resurrection a few weeks ago, Dave was looking forward to this all the more, and with some of C&Cs new facilities the day would be even better than he could have planned.
MAY 27
The rehearsal went off with out any problems and it was a chance for everyone to meet each other before the event. The programme Dave had created was flawless - C&Cs state room had been transformed from a in to an incredible replica of the Cistine Chapel, with a few extra touches thrown in. There were guards at the doors to prevent
gatecrashers - Blaquesmith had asked how so Dave gave a demonstration with a robot which tried to get in. The computer detected the robot was uninvited and asked it to leave. It refused and the guards trashed the robot. "What about super powered individuals?" asked Barry.
"Interdiction field surrounding the complex. Negates all powers but personal pisonic links." The guests murmured at this and Dave smiled. He wasn't going to let any problems interrupt his wedding day.