Saturday Morning Breakfast Serial

Good morning. I'm tired, I'm grumpy. But I'm ready to roll. Hope you are :) .

WHEN LAST WE LEFT OUR INTREPID HEROINE she was fleeing with Georgie down the long, narrow hall leading to the Snake's lair. Snake was dead. Luke was the father of Laura's child. (Any GH fans here?). And Laura would be taking over the mob and "cleaning house," starting with Georgie and Jo. IF they got caught.

And now I present -- The Saturday Morning Breakfast Serial

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I stopped, listening to hear how far behind us they were. Georgie, on the other hand, stopped for practical reasons. Reaching into his jacket he pulled what looked suspiciously like detcord and a timer from his pocket.

"You just carry that crap around with you?"

He grinned, and for an instant he looked positively boyish. "Yeah. I do."

OOOOOOOkay then. "Snake's been . . . odd . . . for a while." He set up the cord across the hallway and put the timer on it. Never having set up explosives, I had no idea if he was doing it right. It looked right, based on what I've read. But that was in fiction, for my cultural assimilation studies. "It kept getting worse the closer we got to the 10 year mark." He finished what he was doing and took off at a trot. I followed. Quickly. "He'd pick fights with people. Kill 'em slow with a knife. Have 'em dragged out of their sleep to be tortured for no reason at all. Since I've never been the most popular boy in the class I started making sure I was the good boy scout and was always prepared."

"Boy scout? What do you know about the Boy Scouts?" I joked. Before he could answer, the explosion hit. It rocked the building, slamming me against the wall. I tasted blood, smoke and brick dust. "OW."

"Guess we weren't far enough away." He observed, picking himself up off of the floor.

I shook my head in disbelief. "You'd never used it before.""Never needed to. Works like a champ though. Just like the directions said." He started jogging again, setting a good pace, but I was able to keep up.

"It comes with directions?"

"Most things do. And stupid warning labels. What's with that? Are the people on that damned planet really that stupid?"

"Some of them." I admitted. "But why . . ."

He spared me another grin, and this one was bright enough to make my heart go pitty patt -- although maybe that was the jog. I was out of practice.

"You're living there. We've always got along pretty good. I figured as long as I was leaving, maybe I'd check it out. See how I fit in."

I blinked rapidly a few times. He liked me. I didn't know what I thought about that. I mean, I've always liked Georgie. But I never thought of him that way. Maybe I should've.

He laughed, just a low chuckle, but it hinted at naughty things, and I found myself reacting. Now was so not the time, but I was definitely going to be thinking about this.

"Whaddaya think?" He slowed to a stop. The portal was up ahead. But it was unguarded. That wasn't right. No way. Something valuable like that would have a double guard. Because one guy might deside to use it to try to find greener pastures. Both though. Not likely. Unless, of course, they knew Snake was dead. They might not want to work under Laura. I wouldn't.

"There should be guards." We slowed to a stop, and I began examining it carefully. I've never bought a portal. Only used them a few times. The Academy has a few really high-end permanent ones that they use to send us to our assignments. This was smaller, and not nearly as sturdy. No special options, just the base compact model.

"Maybe they bugged out."

"Maybe."

"Or maybe it's a trap."

I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out my 'cell phone.' "You got anything for me."

Earth -- 90210.

Whoever had set up the destination key had a sense of humor.

"Thanks."

I like Georgie, it volunteered. Looking over my shoulder he saw that, and grinned again.

"Like you too. Too bad you're not a dog though. Always wanted a dog."

"My partner's allergic." I grumbled. I moved over, checking out the machine, phone still in my hand. When I finally found the destination controls it had a different set of numbers on it entirely. 84318.

"Well?"

You don't want to go there. You REALLY don't want to go there.

So, that was the trap. Finding it made me feel better. "Fine, how do I change the setting?"

"Partner?" Georgie used an inflection. He also had this really odd expression on his face.

It was my turn to grin. "Not that kind! Even if I was, which I'm not. HER? So no. Besides, she's allergic."

"Oh." Relief. He was relieved. Which was just flattering as hell, even if I did hear sounds of people digging through the rubble in the distance.The phone in my hands shocked me a little. Just enough to get my attention.

We don't have time for that now. They're almost here. Pay attention!

"Yes Ma'am." And the directions on how to set the portal destination flashed onto the screen.