Dark as Daylight Ch. 14

"You're not being fair."

"Fatima, I'll be taking the baby up to the nursery."

"That's fine Captain Luck, except for her 7 toes on her left foot and 6 toes on her right foot, she's nearly perfect."

Elizabeth yelled, "Give me my baby, let me see her right now."

"Mrs. Thyme, no one will know she's cross eyed until she turns 11. No one will think it's a birth defect."

"MOOOMMM, get me my baby."

"Here you go Elizabeth, don't drop her on her head; although I guess it couldn't hurt."

Elizabeth pushed back the little hood, and saw bright red hair. As her eyes moved down, she saw perfect green eyes looking back at her. She was about to to say something, when Jennifer said, "Great work Fatima."

"I hate both of you."

Newton asked, "Does that mean we are okay?"

"Don't you ever touch me again."

"I guess were not okay."

"Newton, look at our baby, could she be any more beautiful?"

"She could look more like her mother."

Jennifer said, "That was very good, Newton. You may live to see 20."

Doctor Finch walked in, after cleaning up. "I'm sorry about the medicine mix-up, Newton. I take it you slept well."

"Actually, I slept better from Elizabeth right cross."

"Why did you hit the boy Elizabeth?"

"It was a choice of him or you, and he was closer."

"I can accept that, but it wasn't his fault, it was my fault."

"I was told it was your fault Doctor, but Newton has nothing to do tonight but take care of me. If anyone gets hurt tonight, it's up to you, and Doctor Daniels. If I put you out of commission that leaves us with only one Doctor. It's better for the safety of this ship to have both doctors safe and sound. Don't do this to me the next time, because I swear, I'll brand you like a steer."

"That would definitely catch my attention."

"Did you have a name in mind for her, Newt?"

"Only if it's okay with you, babe. I was thinking about Jennifer. Everyone would call her Jenny."

"No, Jennifer is such an old-fashioned name. No one uses Jennifer anymore. It's an old lady's name. I think of a woman with big warts on their noses, and moles on their chin, when I think of the name Jennifer."

"You 2 should take your vaudeville act on the road, a long way down the road. You are very, very, not funny."

"Here's your great-granddaughter mom."

"I'm too young to have a great-granddaughter. Did you count her 7 toes?"

"No, I was too busy straightening out her crossed eyes."

"Okay you 3 get out of here, Jennifer stays in the incubator for the evening."

"Do you think I'll fit?"

"Jen, go with those 2 on their roadshow. I'll send the pony express out to tell you when you can come back."

"I will remind you Joseph that the clock is now ticking. My namesake will be the one who makes first contact."

"And I will be opening a Greek sorority house next month."

"Hannah will make sure you pass the physical."

"That's mean Jennifer. I said I was opening the sorority house. I did not say I was going to be a member."

"You just wanted a lifetime pass."

"If he says yes, I'll make sure Hannah does a good job."

"You know I have eyes only for you, dear. How else did we wind up with 6 children?"

"Did you all notice how he hesitated on the amount of children we had?"

"Its been a long time since we've seen those 2 geniuses. I wonder how much trouble, they have gotten into, and how my parents have handled it."

"I know one thing, Joe. Both Becca, and Danni have lower handicaps than your father, and he is dying because of it."

"He was the one that ordered them to start play golf, in the Chicago winter. He deserves what he gets. I am so happy I never took up that game."

"What a great idea. We have perfect grass, and ideal weather. We can build a 9- hole golf course for the kids. It will keep them active, and they will have something fun to do."

"I agree, as long as it is only for the children."

Sandy kissed him. "You have a terrible phobia about golf, golf clubs, and golf balls, don't you?"

"You didn't grow up with my father looking over your shoulder, every day and night; waiting to see if you ever had a free moment to join him on a golf course. I always had my nose in a book just in case he walked into my room."

"You poor puppy. I will help you get over it. I will lay naked on every green. If you a birdie, you get laid. If you get a par, you get a hand job. If you get a bogey, no sex for 2 days. A double bogey, you don't want to hear about the punishment, because you won't be sleeping in my bed."

"Sandy, that's not fair. I hate that game."

"I know you do, but you love sex. You have a decision to make."

"What are you doing tomorrow, Newton?"

"I'm taking care of my wife and daughter, doctor."

"Elizabeth will have a full time nurse with her, and Jennifer will stay in the incubator, until I release her to the nursery. You are going to help me arrange a 9-hole golf course."

"Why are doctors so dense, when they have the answer at their finger-tips. Ask Callie to lay out the design of the course, and all we will have to do is mark it off."

"I hate smart asses."

Newton opened his communicator.

"Callie, this is assistant Engineer, Newton Thyme. Would you please lay out a 9-hole golf course, for children, 16 years of age, and under. When you have completed this task, please send the results to the infirmary."

"Assistant engineer, Newton Thyme, I have 163 possibilities. How many do you want me to print out?"

"Callie, if you would print out number one as the hardest, and number 10 as the easiest, and number 2 through 9 in a descending order of hard to easy, that will be plenty."

"Printing."

"Thank you Callie, you can go back and play chess with my grandfather now."

"Your grandfather is a very interesting man."

"I grew up under his tutelage. You are not telling me anything I am not already aware of."

"I believe I should be sorry for you."

"He is a very interesting task master."

"That is not quite the way your cousin Gordon put it."

"Gordon lived with my grandfather, grandmother, and Monty looking over his shoulder every moment he was awake. I was fortunate enough to live across the street with my mom and dad. I only had to interact with my grandfather, when I was at work with him. It is the reason I am calmer than Gordon, and more reasonable than he is."

"That's bullshit Newton, and you know it."

"Hello grandpa, you are a great grandparent. We named our baby girl, Jennifer, after her great-grandmother."

"That was very nice of you, Newton. How much trouble were you in before that?"

"Elizabeth and I decided on the name before I got in trouble."

"You were in trouble, though, how did that happen?"

****************************

"Teddy, call your pony over, I want to try something."

"Daylight, Daylight, come to me."

The pony raised her head when she heard Teddy call her. She stopped grazing and trotted over to her. They did their normal greeting, and Teddy said to her, "You are getting bigger. You are no longer my Little pony, but you are not yet a full grown pony. I am very proud of you."

The pony nuzzled her head at the compliment.

"What do you want to do Gordon?"

"I was wondering if Daylight could go to one of the cows with a young calf, and bring her over to the other side of the ship, so we could milk her. If her milk is good, we can bring over some of the other cows and milk them. We will have plenty of milk for our children to grow up on, and make some ice cream for you and everyone on the ship."

The pony must have understood what Gordon said, but she ran away.

"She's never done that before Gordon. I don't know if she's afraid of the cows, or not, but it doesn't appear to be a good idea."

They began walking back to the ship, when Daylight reappeared with a large Stallion.

Gordon said, "I believe I understand why Daylight ran away. Only the lead horse can make a decision for the herd. This Stallion is in charge of the herd of all the ponies."

The large male horse stopped directly in front of Teddy. He sniffed her, put his muzzle to her head, and licked her hair.

In return, Teddy kissed his muzzle, and put her cheek to the side of his. She stepped back and looked him in the eyes. I have named my Little Pony Daylight. Would it be okay with you if I named you, "Commander?"

The big horse nodded its head, and danced around in a circle.

"I think he likes that named Teddy."

"I think so too. Why don't you ask him what you want to do?"

Standing beside Teddy, Gordon asked, "Commander, we would like you, or a member of your herd, have one of the cows with a small calf come to our ship, so we can milk her. We want to test her milk to see if it will be good for us to drink."

Commander left them without giving them a sign either way. Daylight stayed with them. As he reached the herd, all the horses turned towards him. Whatever he did, or said to them, 6 of the older horses headed towards Teddy and Gordon.

"I hope you have more names ready for these horses, Teddy?"

"I'm going to start naming them after the members of our crew. I hope they like it, because it's the only way I'll remember it."

"Teddy, somehow I doubt that."

The lead mare stopped and sniffed Teddy. She went through the same ritual as all the other horses had, and Teddy returned her welcome. She went to the other 5 horses and greeted them the same way. She was an amazing six-year-old child.

She returned to the lead mare. I have named my pony Daylight, and your stallion, Commander. I would like to name you Queen, if that meets with your approval."

She went through all 6 horses, naming them, and each accepted the names she gave them. When this was done, they headed towards the mass of cattle, and without any problem the cows with little calves followed them out of the herd.

Gordon opened his communicator and called Monty.

"I hope you have a lot of buckets to put milk in, because we have 6 cows with little calves coming our way."

"6, we only wanted 1."

"Do you want to argue about it with Teddy, or are you going punch a gift horse in the mouth?"

"That child is going to be the death of me."

"That child is a gift from God. I would listen to her if I were you."

"She's got you doesn't she?"

"She's the reason I'm alive, but don't ask me how."

"I don't like you anymore."

"I want to be your best man. I'll even wear a dress."

"Where is a camera when you need one?"

"They are all over the ship."

"You're right, I forgot about the them. I'll put your makeup on, and make sure the cameras are on you."

"That's acceptable."

"Dammit, I was expecting you to argue with me. You just ruined my evening."

"The cows are getting close. You better get people who know how to milk them down here with buckets, or something that can hold the milk."

"They'll be there in 5 minutes."

"Those cows smell bad."

"Why don't you ask your horses make them go into the water. Maybe it will help take the smell away."

"Daylight would you ask Queen to make the cows go in the water, so they can take a bath."

Daylight was off like a shot. She pulled up along Queen, and communicated with her wet Teddy wanted her to do.

Within seconds, all 6 cows were in deep water taking a bath. The 6 juveniles were splashing around the edge of the water playing, and rolling around in it.

Everyone who worked in the kitchen was there to help milk the cows, and every able-bodied man was there to help carry the heavy plastic bags of milk up to the kitchen, where it would be marked and frozen."

For nurses where there to take smaller plastic bags to the infirmary, where it would be tested, for any signs of bacteria, and other organisms that would make it unsuitable for human consumption.

Teddy told Daylight it was okay for the cows to come out now. She delivered the message to Queen, and obediently the cows walked out of the water.

"Look at them Teddy, it seems they've lost 20 lbs. of hair."

"I don't care about the hair; the smell is gone. Maybe we can convince all of them to take a bath."

"I would have to go downstream to see what all that hair with do to the ecosystem. I don't want to mess up this planet like we did Earth."

"I want to go with you. I must see it also."

"You want to see it, or you must see it?"

"God says I must see it."

"I told you I would help you with anything you need. You will come with me, even if we have to drag your mother along."

"I think that would be fun."

"It would be hysterical if we did it before new was born. That was 20 years ago, and your mother was a blast. You have no idea what your mother was like when she was young. I don't want you to know what she was like when she was young. I had more fun with her than you can possibly imagine. What your mother is like today is only a 10^th of what she was like when she was 20. I still love her today as I did back then."

"You 2 argue all the time."

"That's not arguing, we are having fun with one another."

"You confuse me."

"Life is not easy. We have free will. That's why I can say to my sister, 'I'm going to cut your head off' and she knows I don't mean it. You saw me smack her bottom, and you didn't tell her it was my fault, you told her it was her fault for doing something bad. That was free will."

"I still have much to learn."

"I'm happy you said that, you are only 6 years old, and if you didn't have anything to learn, I would be of no use to you."

"Here come the cows."

"We are done here today. Let's thank the horses for what they've done, and go to the chapel to pray?"

"I tell my mommy we are back inside."

"Good girl."

********************************

57. Shocks to her system

They couldn't catch a break. They were up at 5 AM to get a 7 o'clock flight out of Washington National Airport to LaGuardia Airport which was supposed to land at 8:35 AM. The long line of taxis that were normally in front of the hotel were not there. The reason was the dense fog. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face, no less drive-through. They called Jet Blue and verified their tickets, and were told there was at least a 90-minute delay because of the fog. They went back inside the hotel and had a leisurely breakfast.

Jokingly, Joe asked, "Do you think this is just the beginning of the bad day, or is it going to get worse?"

"Joe, do you want me to beat you to shit in the middle of a restaurant, or you going to be nice to me today. I have to go to a dress shop recommended by Mister Zabo, because I do not want to incur his wrath this evening by not going. I will spend 15 or 20 minutes they are looking at the garbage the woman has to sell, and we will go to Macy's and I will buy it down for tomorrow.

You have confirmed early check-in at the Mandarin Oriental, so nothing can go wrong there. We will eat lunch, fuck until 4 o'clock, get dressed, and get to his home by 6 PM exactly. He will laugh at me, grill you to make sure you are worthy of me, and we will have dinner with his son William, his wife, Gwen, his younger son Patrick, and his other guests. Jokes will be made about us until about 11:00 PM, when we will make our escape. After that the weekend is ours to do with as we please."

"What you doing on Monday?"

"I'm supposed to go back to work and find the person who's keeping us from changing my last name."

"Well one more day make that much of a difference?"

"No, I guess not."

"Could you call in sick, and tired; or just tired. I'm very good at keeping you tired."

"That's bull shit and you know it. I'm the one that keeps you tired."

"I'll bet you all day Monday that I keep you tired."

"There are taxis outside, I'll pay the bill and we can get to the airport."

"Why is it every time I ask you a question, you always dodge the answer?"

"You want the truth?"

"We promised we would always tell each other the truth; don't you remember?"

"Yes I remember. The reason I do it, is because it pisses you off. You are much more aggressive, when we are in bed."

"Laura, if you want me to act like an ape in man in bed just say so. I try not to hurt you, because you are so much smaller than I am. If I pushed Junior to his limit, he would wind up at your lungs. I don't want to do that to you."

"Jefferson Atkins was bigger than you are, and he didn't hurt me."

"We are comparing penis size now? Who was Jefferson Atkins?"

"That is none of your business, and I was 18 years old when we coupled."

"Please tell me you were 5 foot tall when that happened?"

"I believe so, but I can't be sure. I was measured until I joined the FBI."

"I just know you're going to kill me before my time."

"It means we will be together for a very long time, Joseph."

"May God help us both."

**************************

"Good morning folks; the FBI building, Dulles, or National?"

"National please, and do not rush. Our airplane is delayed by 90 minutes, and we'd like all 3 of us to get there alive."

As the driver put their luggage in the trunk, Joe handed him a $100 bill.

"You will not exceed 30 miles an hour. If you do, the bags will come up front, you will be in the trunk with a bullet in the back of your head. Do we understand one another?"

"You guys do work for the FBI, don't you?"

"Yes we do, and we do know how to commit the perfect murder."

"I do understand, sir. I will not exceed 30 miles an hour."

"You are a good man Mohammed. I do want you to go home to your wife and family tonight."

"Thank you very much sir."

A trip that should have taken 20 minutes, took them one hour.

As Mohammed retrieves the bags from the trunk, Joe paid him the mount on the meter, plus $100 more.

"Thank you for getting us here safely. Continue driving this way until the fog lifts, and you will have a good day."

"Thank you very much sir. It has been my pleasure to serve you."

"I hope to see you when we returned from New York, Tuesday afternoon."

"My name is Mohammed Asashi.

If you call my dispatcher, and give him your flight number, and my name, I will be here waiting for you."

He handed Joe a card, with all the information you needed. They shook hands and parted company.

"Did you smell that Laura?"

"Yes I did. He is either a courier, or they are going to use him to blow something up. I'm going to call it in so they can put detail on him."

"I believe I asked you a little while ago 'if this was just the beginning of the bad day, or if it is going to get worse. I believe Mohammed just answer the question for us."

"No Joseph, I think he just helped us stop an attack someplace in DC. If we told him to take us to the FBI building, and down to the garage to let us off, just think of the bedlam he could have caused. If it doesn't happen today, and he waits for us until Tuesday, he does have to take some time off. Our forensic team can go over that cab with a fine tooth comb, to find out what they have planned. Our covert teams can follow him wherever he goes, and see who his friends are. Your nose has just stopped it could have been a major terrorist attack on U.S. soil."

"You smelled it too."

"I need another star in my folder, like I need hemorrhoids."

"I know a way to give you those hemorrhoids."

"I'll think about it, for a very long time."

"Did you ever think that that extra star would help you break the glass ceiling?"

"You are another pain in my ass."

"You just said you would think about it, for a very long time."

"They are calling our flight. If you don't want to go into the luggage compartment, be quiet."

"Yes Madame. I do not wish to get into an argument with you in a tunnel with wings."