Part 7

GET THE GIRL, STOP THE CYCLE

Present Day

Jax was right.  Their plan was working…  Get the girl, stop the cycle.  For millennia they had been trying to stop Derek, every time more futile than the last as he learned their tactics and his will became stronger.  But this time, they would get them while they’re young, and instead target the girl.  Now, timing was everything, and mistakes, not an option.

Jax calls Cupid…  *ring* *ring* Cupid picks up,

“Jax!  Hey there, how you doing?!”

“It’s now or never.  She should be headed to work shortly.  I think she’s about to pop, one last time should do the trick.”

“I’m on it.”

Meanwhile, Sky and Derek eat breakfast quietly with a little idle chatter.  Sky doesn’t let on that anything is out of the ordinary with her.  How could she?  Besides, other than being confused, she feels pretty okay right now.  She had slept more sound than ever last night, a consolation it seemed from the gods who were willing to help her.

By the time she had recalled her perplexing dreams and finished eating her lukewarm breakfast, her rest was wearing off.  Her mind began with its endless stream of thoughts, working out options, paths, and theories.  Gradually this tore at the restful sleep, leaving her mentally fatigued before she even made it to the car to leave for work.

“Those bastards!” she thinks, as she rides the same beaten path to work.  “Who do they think they are?! …  But what can I do?! …  Maybe they’re right…  Maybe I just need to find happiness for myself…   but Derek…  What about Derek?…  Where is the love I once knew?…  If he is a ‘man-god’ (whatever that is anyway!) as they say, why does he not heal my breaking heart?!  He doesn’t even care.  He barely even seems to notice that something is wrong!”

Well, she wasn’t exactly right – Derek did sense something was wrong, but he surely couldn’t put his finger on it.  He did feel like she was slipping away, but he had no immediate understanding of the situation, much less what, if anything, he could do about it.  He still felt that his short dream must hold some sort of meaning for today.  So when Sky had left for work, he found a black Sharpie permanent marker, and wrote the words on his arms just like in the dream.  Across the inside of his left forearm he wrote, ‘Respect’. Across the inside of the right forearm, ‘Patience’.  He got dressed and left to start his work day.

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