Purpose - A New Beginning - 12. Chapter 12

I stretched and felt Ryan's naked body snuggle in closer. Wrapping my arm around my boyfriend, I pulled him closer and kissed the back of his head. A glance at the gap in the curtains told me the sun hadn't climbed high enough to do more than give the sky a pale bluish-gray hue.

The red numbers on the clock told me the time, so I slowly separated myself from the sleeping body next to me. If Ryan got out of bed before 8:00 a.m., he'd whine all day – and it wasn't yet 6:00 a.m. I'd always been an early riser, at least since my early teens. My brother Tom insisted we get up before dawn to train. Once I got old enough to beat him, he seemed less enthusiastic about the pre-dawn training, but I forced him to continue. Being the host to It only enhanced that trait.

No, that wasn't right, being host to It left me with nightmares if I slept too deeply. Since I didn't need the rest, I generally avoided anything longer than a catnap.

Our suite at the Sofitel was high enough that we could see for miles. Ryan hadn't been to a place this nice in his life, so I booked the most expensive room they had. He flinched at the price, but last I checked, we had enough money that we could afford this place for a few centuries.

Being high up in the pre-dawn stirred something inside me. Before I became Gar, I wouldn't say I was an adrenaline junkie, but since then, I'd done things that even X-Gamers could only dream of doing. Still, I enjoyed the view.

"Will?" I heard Ryan slowly get out of bed. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" I turned and saw his naked–and highly aroused–body moving toward me. That lit a fire inside me. "Nothing's wrong. You know I don't sleep late and I like to think while looking out the window like this."

He walked around until he stood in front of me and leaned back. I knew I wasn't going to get much thinking done like this, but I didn't give a damn.

"What were you thinking about?"

I suspected he knew. "I need to have a chat with the Secretary and then we can go back to Seattle."

We'd been here a week. Had Christmas dinner at the five star hotel restaurant, spent New Year's crashing their reservation only party and had plans to spend New Years Day doing nothing–well nothing that required us to get out of bed or leave the room. He seemed to enjoy our stay, and that made it hard for me to suggest we leave.

Unfortunately, our Purposes had needs. Either we went home or we–I–would have to find a new source of energy for our hungry 'friends.' I knew what Ryan thought of that.

"Do we really have to go home?" He didn't make it any easier for me.

"Have to? No, but if we stay we'll have to find a way to feed them." I'd felt the call of a few innocents so we did have options.

"You mean…?"

I pulled my lips tight and shrugged. There were other ways of course, but we hadn't tried to make those arraignments here. "With Griffin off the force, I'm not sure who I'd work with if we stay."

"What about the Chief? She owes you for finding the bugs in her office."

"I'm not sure." In my experience, those in power will say one thing, but quickly change their minds if they found it necessary. "If you'd like to stay a bit longer I can ask her after I finish meeting with the people from Homeland Security."

Ryan stayed unusually silent. I knew how he felt about how the 'old' Will handled things, but I wasn't suggesting that as the solution.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ryan twisted his head so he could look up at me. "I mean agree to work for the government?"

"I'm not working for them, but yes." I didn't really have a choice. "They want us to investigate this at some point. What option do we have?"

"Are you sure They'll make you? I mean, they've got things exactly as they want them. If they lose us, there's no guarantee they'll ever have it this good."

His logic made sense, but it didn't apply to Them. "Don't expect them to think like we do because they don't. Remember, they survived for thousands of years before we met. They could have changed how they did things to get what they wanted, and they didn't. Losing us won't really matter to them in the grand scheme of their existence."

"You make us sound so…." He turned to stare out the window.

"Expendable?"

"I was thinking insignificant.

In a sense we were – to Them. "That's probably true, but they also prefer things the way they are right now. More importantly, they're in no rush to investigate so unless you feel otherwise, I say we stick to the plan and wait until whatever this is reemerges."

He wrapped his arms around mine and hugged me tighter to him. "How long will that be?"

I kissed his unruly hair, feeling my crotch still to life. "Who can say? They only killed the last host a few months ago. From the data the CIA provided, I estimate it takes a couple years for the host to be ready to act. And then the authorities need to take notice."

"So you're saying three or four years."

"Yes." For the authorities to figure it out, not me. "But forget that. Let's go back to bed."

"I thought you said you weren't tired." He faced me, a smirk on his face.

"Who said I wanted to go back to sleep?"

He grabbed my hand and led the way. "Not me."