An Unconventional Convention

"His name is Jonathan Hall or Hill, or something like that, and you'll have no problem recognizing him," Roy said before disappearing into the hall with his companion, "he's wearing one of those black "Chronos II" T-Shirts with the four of us standing in front of the timeship."

"Wonderful," Maggie sighed as she looked up at the ceiling and rolled her eyes.

-=-=-=-

Visualizing the kind of guy who worked for one of those magazines and would walk around in a shirt like that, Maggie decided to take a few minutes to go back up to her room and put the girls back under cover. Otherwise, this might turn out to be the longest interview on record, especially if he wasn't able to stop drooling long enough to get a question in.

Fifteen minutes later, she stepped out of the lobby elevator in her third change of clothes for the day. She'd settled on a simple flower print that still enhanced her figure but not overly so. Navigating her way across the still crowded vestibule, Maggie considered the possibility that since she was so late, the reporter, and she used that term loosely, might have given up and gone home. One could only hope.

"No such luck," the fifty-two-year-old said to herself as she stepped into the coffee shop and saw, sitting in one of the front booths, a round figure in a black T-shirt.

In his late twenties or early thirties, the dark bearded reporter looked like the stereotype that detractors conjured up when they wanted to bash science fiction fans. It was a cruel thing to say she knew, but it some case it was true. Spread out on the table was a meal for at least two, with at least three desserts.

Putting on her best professional smile as he headed for the table, Maggie was having a hard time trying to ignore his resemblance to the "comic book guy" on that popular animated show that seemed to have been on Sunday nights forever.

"Excuse me," Maggie said as she stopped only inches from the edge of his table, "are you by any chance waiting for Roy Carlsen and an int..."

She never got a chance to answer as the young man looked up and, seeing who was standing there, dropped the fork full of pie that he was about to put into his mouth.

"Oh my God, it's you," he said, his voice bordering on shock.

Maggie tried to keep smiling, swearing that Roy was really going to pay for this. This went way beyond friendship.

"I can't believe it's really you," he repeated, "here, standing in front of me."

"Well it is," Maggie said, "and I'm afraid that Mr. Carlsen has been unavoidably detained and he asked if I might take his place. If that's all right?"

Still looking like he was in shock, the man in black just sat there with his mouth half open.

"Would it be all right if I sat down?" Maggie asked, hoping that this time she got a response.

It took a few seconds for him to realize what she had asked. Then he replied by pushing his arm out and sweeping most of the plates on the table out of her way. Sitting down, Maggie hoped she could get the eye of one of the waitresses so she could clear some of the plates and at least wipe the tabletop down.

"As I was saying, Roy wasn't able to make it and I'd like to take his place if it's okay," she repeated. "What was the name of the magazine that you write for again?"' she added, recalling that Roy had left that out as well.

Before an answer could be made, another voice from behind her interrupted.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing," the tall, clean shaven young man said, "did you just mention Roy Carlsen?"

Turning in the direction of the voice, Maggie was stunned to see that the tall, well-built younger man standing behind her was also wearing an identical T-shirt as the man across the table.

"Are you Jonathan Hall?" Maggie asked, her inner voice pleading with him to say yes.

"Hill actually," he said, "I was supposed to be meeting Mr. Carlsen or an interview. Actually I was supposed to meet him over a half- hour ago."

"Roy is terribly sorry," Maggie quickly said, repeating what the story of a few moments before, "but he had a last minute scheduling conflict. He was hoping that I might do the interview in his place. Would that be all right?"

"I think it would be more than all right," Jonathan said. "In fact it would be much more than I could've hoped for."

"Great," Maggie said, this time her smile was genuine.

A slight noise from the other side of the table reminded Maggie that she'd made a mistake. No, she chided herself, two mistakes. There was absolutely no reason why she should've prejudged the first man so harshly solely on his appearance. She owned him apology at the least.

"I'm afraid I made a little error," she smiled at him. "This was the gentlemen I was supposed to be meeting."

"It's okay," he said. "I figured it had to be some kind of mistake."

"Let me at least pay for your lunch," Maggie offered.

"No, its okay," he declined. "It was worth it just to meet you in person. I wish my friends hadn't left already, they're never going to believe me."

Maggie thought about it for a second, then offered to sign his convention program. Asking his name, which turned out to be Alan, so she could personalize it, she was halfway through when she had a better idea.

"Is that your camera?" she asked, pointing to the small digital on the far end of the table.

When he said that it was, Maggie asked Jonathan if he would be so kind as to take a photo of her and her new friend. As he took a moment to check how the camera operated, Maggie scooted over to the other side of the table and in alongside Alan. Pressing up alongside him, she could feel the smile on his face as the flash went off.

"One more, just for luck," she said. "Give me a three count just to be ready."

When Jonathan got to two, Maggie suddenly turned her head and kissed Alan on his cheek. That was the image frozen on the display when the flash went off a second time.

"Show that one to your friends if no one believes you," Maggie smiled back at him as she stood up out of the booth.

"Oh wow!" Alan said in disbelief as he stared at the second picture on his camera display.

The two of them stepped away into the empty foyer, Jonathan in the lead with Maggie close behind him. She noted that he was at least two inches taller than her own five foot nine, and while he didn't have the muscular build that so many young men back in Los Angeles did, the reporter did have a really cute ass.

"I think I can get us a booth again," he said, realizing that the one he'd just vacated had already been filled. "We could order lunch if you like, or just get some coffee if you've already eaten."

"I know it's still a little early," Maggie replied, "but after dealing with all those eager fans all day, what I could really use is a good drink. This place has a bar, doesn't it?"

"I'm not sure," Jonathan answered, surprised at the request. "If not, I saw one just down the street on my way here."

"That'll be even better," Maggie decided, "less chance of running into any more of my fans. Not that I don't love them for everything that they've done for me, but sometimes too much love is...well, I'm sure you understand."

Jonathan gave a look that said that he did. Looking into his boyish face, another thought suddenly occurred to Maggie.

"You are old enough to drink, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes," he smiled, "I'm over twenty-one."

As they headed out of the hotel and down the street to the bar, Maggie wondered how much over the legal age he was. If she could see the driver's license in his wallet, which he would have to produce before the waitress would take their order, she would've learned that he had indeed passed his all important twenty-first birthday - all of three months before.

The outside sign identified the establishment as McGuire's Bar and Grill, serving the community since nineteen sixty-one. They took a quiet booth in the back, as far away from the few afternoon patrons watching the ball game as they could. Jonathan ordered a beer and Maggie, to his surprise, ordered a scotch.

"So what is this interview about anyway?" she asked as she downed the drink in a single gulp. "Oh I needed that," she went on to say, already signaling the waitress to bring her another, indicating with her fingers to make it a double.

"Well, I'm working on a couple of ideas," Jonathan said, "I haven't narrowed it down yet to exactly which one I want to go with. To be honest, I'm doing this on spec, trying to land a staff position at the magazine. So far I've only done freelance work but my Editor said if I can come up with a top story about "Chronos II", I get the job. There's a lot of interest in the old show, especially since that rumor started going around the Internet about it being remade into a movie."

"Are you really a fan of the show or is this just the assignment that they gave you?" she asked.

Actually both," he replied as he sipped at his beer. "I've been watching the show since I was ten."

"Ten huh," Maggie repeated, trying to imagine the handsome young man at that age.

"Well it might've been older than that," he said, hoping he hadn't committed a faux pas by drawing attention to how long ago the show had been.

"Its okay, I have no problem with how it's been since I played that part, or how old I am now.

The ice broken, they spent the next half hour discussion the history of the show, mixing those stories with as many anecdotes as she could remember. By the time another round was set in front of them, this time beer for both, they were calling each other Jonathan and Maggie at the other's insistence.

In addition to the show, Maggie learned a great deal about the background of the young man sitting across from her. At least now she knew something more than the fact that he was incredibly cute. The main reason, she thought, why Roy had agreed to the interview in the first place. He had a weakness for Jonathan's type and it was only the prospect of a sure thing in place of a maybe that caused him to blow it off.

The thought of what Roy was most likely blowing at the moment caused a wide grin to appear on her face. One that Jonathan couldn't help but ask about.

"I was just thinking that we really should find some time for you to talk to Roy, he has a lot better stories than I do," she lied.

"If I can I will," Jonathan replied, "but I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm quite happy interviewing you instead."

Hoping she wasn't blushing, Maggie found herself wishing she hadn't gone up to her room and changed outfits before heading for the coffee shop. It might be silly to think someone half her age might be interested, but it was fun to think about it.

The stirring between her legs reminded her that it'd been quite some time since she'd taken care of that particular itch. Normally, one of the benefits of coming to one of these conventions was meeting up with Steve Duke again. As she was always quick to point out to anyone who asked, she and Steve had remained good friends over the years. What she never told anyone else was that they were 'friends with benefits'. It was a benefit she was sorely missing this weekend. Trying to put that out of her head, she was glad when the course of the conversation returned to the show.

"Back in high school I once read an interview with George Wagner about how he came up with the idea for "Chronos II," Jonathan said as he checked his notes. "Was he really as creative as they made him out to be?"

"Well," Maggie started to say, then paused, "do you want the Hollywood answer that they give at conventions like this or would you like to know the real story?"

"I get the impression that the real story is a lot more interesting so let's go with that," Jonathan replied.

"Well, first of all," Maggie smiled, feeling some of the effect of the drinks she'd downed, "let's start by saying that even though it might be speaking ill of the dead, George Wagner never met a creative idea that he wasn't willing to take credit for. Most of the good ideas for the show actually came from the people working for him, from Johnny Thomas, who was the actual hands on producer to J.T. Forest, who started out as Wagner's secretary and eventually became a writer in her own right."

"Wow, I read that once in some fan magazine but didn't know if it was true or not."

"It was true, trust me," Maggie said. "The only thing worse that the way he treated the creative staff was the way he treated most of the women on the series."

Jonathan gave a look that said he didn't understand exactly what that meant.

"Well let's just say that the women who appeared on "Chronos II" usually fell into three categories," she explained as she finished off the last of her beer. "Women he had slept with, women he was sleeping with, and women he expected to sleep with him sometime in the near future."

No sooner had the words come out of her mouth that Maggie almost regretting saying them. Not because they weren't true, but because of the actresses they maligned. The look that then appeared on his face told her that he was wondering which category she fell into.

To set the record straight, she told the story of how she wound up with the role of June Kirkland. Decorum prevented her from mentioning that the actress she had replaced, Cynthia Cannon, had earned the role by being in the middle category. In fact, the motor vehicle accident that had bruised her face enough to take her out of the show had occurred while Cynthia had been performing a sexual act on George while he was driving her home from rehearsal. Only the fact that she had finished a moment before they had hit a telephone pole had prevented the executive producer from suffering a catastrophic injury.

Jonathan went on to ask a half dozen other questions, to which Maggie gave answers as honest as the first. Then he shifted his focus from the series to the here and now.

"If those rumors about a movie are true, do you think they'll ask you to have a part in it?" he asked. "Usually when they make a movie out of an old show, the previous stars at least do some kind of cameos."

"Well there was a lot of bad blood between George and the cast after the show went off the air and into syndication," Maggie explained, "Mostly due to the fact that he tried to really screwed us on the residuals package. We won back our residuals in court and he never forgot it. Also, he resented all the attention we still got from the fans. I think he felt he never got the proper acclamation for his work."

"But he died last year," Jonathan pointed out, "wouldn't that have put an end to any grudges."

"Well, you would think so," Maggie smiled, "but the widow Wagner seems determined to keep it going and since she now controls George's rights to the show, she has a lot of say with the studio."

"Why would she do that?" he asked. "I would think having you all at least do a cameo would only help the movie."

"Well I can't speak as to what she has against anyone else," Maggie confessed, "but I have to admit that I might have said a few unkind words about her at one time or another."

Back when the widow Wagner was still Doris Young, more commonly known as the latest bimbo that George was screwing behind his wife's back, Maggie, who had been a genuine friend of Kathy Wagner, the then current Mrs. Wagner, had embarrassed Doris at a cast party. Said embarrassment consisting of a loud enough to be overheard recitation of her non-film credits. The incident had been widely reported on various gossip pages and led to her losing a prime role in an upcoming blockbuster that George had managed to get for her.

"Hell hath no fury like a bitch scorned," Maggie laughed as she finished the story.

"There another story that I'm curious about but I wasn't sure if I should ask about it," Jonathan said with some hesitation.

"Tell you what," Maggie said, "I guess I'm feeling a little expansive from the drinks so ask away."

"How bout we go off the record then," Jonathan suggested, "after all, this is more my own personal curiosity than anything else."

"Okay, that sounds fair," Maggie agreed, "fire away."

To her surprise, the question was about her and Tommy Butler. Jonathan had been at the star panel earlier and it seemed to him that there had been a reaction on her face when she was asked about the Internet stories about their characters. Not a very noticeable one, but one that made him wonder if there might have been something there.

"I think you have the makings of a great reporter," she said, side stepping the question.

"Well, even if I don't get an answer, I'm glad to know I was at least right," he said.

"Off the record, right?" Maggie asked.

"Absolutely," Jonathan promised, taking his notebook and sliding it into his pant's pocket as to emphasize the point.

After taking a deep breath, Maggie told him the whole story of her and Tommy Butler.

"Wow!" Jonathan said, the truth being nothing like what he had imagined.

"You must be thinking I'm horrible." Maggie said, interpreting the expression on his face.

"Not at all," he replied. "To be honest, I was just thinking how lucky Butler was. I'm actually envious. My first time was hardly as memorable, just two teenagers in the back seat trying to figure out what went where."

"I don't even think I can really remember my first time," Maggie laughed. "It was back in the stone age."

"You act as if you're ancient," Jonathan said.

"There are times I feel that way."

"You shouldn't," he smiled broadly. "I think that if anything, you're more attractive now than when you were on the show."

Maggie have him a look that said she wasn't about to believe that.

"I'm serious," Jonathan insisted.

She looked at him a long moment, then realized that he was.

"Is there anything else you need for the article?" Maggie asked.

"No, I guess we're done," Jonathan said, a touch of reluctance in his admission.

"Well then, as I see it, we have two choices," Maggie said as she lifted her now empty glass. "We can spend the rest of the afternoon here and you can watch an old lady get drunk..."

"Or?"

"Or, maybe we can go back across the street to my room and maybe live out one of those Jim Cooper / June Kirkland fantasies from the Internet."

Once the words were actually out of her mouth, Maggie couldn't believe she's actually said them. Then again, what was it that Roy had said a few hours ago about not taking advantage of life's opportunities?

"I'm afraid scenes like that aren't my thing," Jonathan said after a long moment's pause.

"Oh," Maggie said in surprise, "I'm sorry if I offended you. I just thought, oh never mind what I thought, just put it down to my having had too much to drink."

"I didn't say I was offended," Jonathan said with a broad smile, "I just said that I wasn't into those Internet fantasies. Now if you want to talk about reality, about Maggie McAllister and Jonathan Hill, well I think that could be a lot of fun."

It took another long second for Maggie to realize that had been a yes answer.

-=-=-=-

Leaving the change from the two twenties that Maggie had paid for their drinks with on the table, they quickly exited the bar and made their way back across the street as fast as they could. Slipping past the sliding doors of the closest elevator, they were swallowed by a mass of people, making it impossible for them to do anything but stare at each other. Thankfully, none of the other conventioneers recognized Maggie for who she was. More autographs were the last thing on her mind right now.

The room the organizers had given her on the third floor was hardly the presidential suite, but it was clean and comfortable enough. Watching the way Jonathan looked at her in the crowded elevator, Maggie hardly cared it if was much more than a broom closet.

The door to her room had barely closed behind them when she wrapped her arms around Jonathan's neck and pulled him to her. Their lips came together with explosive force, tongues greedily probing the other's mouths. His arms wrapped around her, pressing their bodies tight enough for him to feel the warmth of her breasts and her the hardness of his masculinity.