Send in the Clones ~ Adoptions Pt 2
Horny, OCD, Father and Special
"Dear God, give me strength," Augustus muttered as he sat between Horny and OCD. They'd taken an early evening flight with two stops that night. The first leg to New York, the second leg to Pennsylvania.
He'd been listening to Horny chat up every girl he saw since they left the condo, first at the airport, then on the plane and he'd almost managed to get a flight attendants into one of the rest rooms to join the mile high club.
Augustus had put the kibosh on that idea pretty quick, but it barely seemed to put a dent in Horny's 'inclinations'. To make the flight even more perfect, OCD had spent the entire trip trying not to touch anything, spraying it with Lysol or wiping it down with the super economy size box of wipes. And he was about out of those.
Finally, the flight landed, and Augustus checked into a nice hotel in the Bronx, leaving OCD there to clean. He'd packed all of his favorite cleaning tools and when Augustus had reminded him not to leave the room, OCD had barely acknowleged him because he was too busy cleaning the tub.
Another, shorter, cab ride saw them finally pulling in front of a comfortable house, nestled in a nice neighborhood. Horny looked at Augustus and said, "Dude, this does not look like chick central to me! You lied to me."
"Trust me, you'll like her." Augustus gave him a shove up the sidewalk, ringing the bell when they got to the porch.
It took a minute because the house was a pretty good size, and when the door opened to reveal a hot, petite woman with dark hair and an ample chest, Horny's eyes lit up. "Hellooooo there, my name's Henry, what's yours?"
"Nicole. Cut the schmooze and get in here." Augustus and Horny entered and Horny looked around.
"Nice." Henry's eyebrow raised, "the bedroom close by?"
Augustus just rolled his eyes, but Nicole just laughed. "If you behave, you might find out. If you keep up that shit, you'll be sleeping in the closet."
Henry snuck up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, "Aw, can't we just get along?"
"Henry!" Augustus' deep voice snapped the clone's head up. "Be thankful she's willing to give you a home."
"It's all right. I can handle him. But you'd better get going, you've got another stop to make." Augustus looked at his pocket watch, a gift from Henry years ago.
"You're right, I've got pick up OCD and get back to the airport." He hugged Nicole, "good luck."
"I'll be fine. He just needs a little special handling." The grin on Nikki's face reassured him. A little. As he pulled the door closed, he heard Henry, who'd sidled up behind Nikki and wrapped his arms around her waist again.
"Which way did you say it was to your room?" Augustus smiled. Horny was in for a little surprise.
Nicole escaped his grasp again and turned, brandishing a riding crop. "You have to earn your way to the bedroom, buster."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Augustus got back to the hotel where he found OCD still cleaning and managed to get him to pack his cleaning things so they could head back to the airport. They did have one stop to make first though. Superstore was having a special on the economy size wipes and OCD was almost out. Augustus bought him three, even though OCD wanted an even half dozen, but after the economics of extras and their costs were explained, OCD agreed. They could get more once they got to Pittsburgh.
Less than three hours later they were landing at Pittsburgh International and grabbing a cab to a nice little suburb. They pulled up in front of a somewhat old fashioned home, and Augustus could hear OCD muttering, "Older home, all kinds of germs in these places. I don't know, this might not be a good idea."
Augustus just smiled to himself, he knew once OCD met Jules his attitude would change. He rang the bell and almost immediately the door was opened by a fair skinned woman wearing a button down white shirt tucked into a pair of khaki pants, with penny loafers on her feet. "Come in! Augustus, it's good to see you again." The two hugged while OCD hung back still muttering under his breath.
"Hello, you must be Henry. It's very nice to meet you, if you'd come with me, I'll show you to your room and where you can put your things. I picked a few items I thought you could use and put them in the closet across the hall from your room. That's strictly yours to use. I hope you like it." They followed her down the hall, and when she opened the door, a huge smile split OCD's face. The area was like a clean room in a lab. It held very little except a bed, a stainless steel nightstand, a big chair and a television.encased in a plastic cube.
"I like it very much, thank you."
Jules looked at him and said, "When you're ready, check out the closet across the hall, it should cover everything. Augustus and i will be in the living room." The pair headed back down the hall and went to the kitchen. "I've got some fresh coffee if you'd like a cup."
"I'd love one, I've got to catch the red eye back to Toronto, then get ready for the flight to Hawaii tomorrow evening." He shook his head, "It's going to be a long week."
She handed him a cup, "You and the others have taken on quite a task. You could've done the easy thing and just laid them out in the sun."
Augustus looked at her with smiling eyes, "It would've been murder. They're good guys, for the most part and they deserve a chance to make a life for themselves. I..." He was interrupted by a shout of,
"Oh. My. God!" and the sound of Henry running down the hall. "There's an Oreck XL21 vacuum in the closet! It's the best thing on the market!" He stuck his hand out to Jules and said, "Thank you! I love it!" Then grabbed a wipe and ran back down the hall, "I have to try it out right now! And you wouldn't believe all the great things in the closet!" They heard footsteps heading back, "Thank you!" The next thing they heard was the sound of the vacuum powering up and moving back and forth across the floor.
Augustus laughed, "He'll kill for you now, you know."
Jules laughed back, "I'd rather he just clean."
She walked him to the door and wished him safe journey and after a final hug, he made his way back to airport.
"Five down, 14 to go."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The plane landed in Hawaii at one o'clock in the morning and the trio checked into the resort hotel suite, the two vampires and their wrangler exhausted. It wasn't an easy journey, but they'd made it, Special was cranky and wanted to take a nap and Father and Augustus were ready to take a nap themselves. Augustus woke the next morning and made a phone call, then spent the day enjoying the weather, the pool and the free cocktails that came with the suite, waiting for the sun to go down.
As it did, he waited patiently in the living area for the two to wake up when Special burst into the room, "Look Uncle Augustus, look what I found when I woked up! It's a necklace made with flowers. Isn't it pretty!?"
"It sure is. The lady you and Father are going to live with sent it to you, to say hello."
"I want to tell her hello back! Can I get one for her?" Augustus and Father just nodded.
"I don't see why not, we'll pick up one on the way. She's holding dinner for us though, so let's hurry, ok?" Father and Special grabbed their bags and they made their way to a home nestled among the hills of the city, parking in the drive way. Before anyone even got out of the car, an adorable little one eyed dog wearing a flowered shirt came tearing out of the house and launched herself at Special. Catching her, he pulled her to him, laughing as she licked all over his face.
"Well, I see you've made a new friend, Suzu," the voice belonged to a woman of Asian descent, with a smile on her face that moved to her eyes and lit it up brighter than any city.
"Silly puppy! Bet you can't catch me!" And with that, Special took off across the yard, Suzu chasing after him, barking like mad. Augustus, Hulijan and Father stood laughing and watching the two chase each other around, until Augustus said, "Well, I imagine Special just made his first friend on the island."
"He'll make more quickly, Augustus, once he gets to school, don't worry," Father said.
"Father's right, A, he'll thrive here. And I've prepared special places for you both as well as a list of the churches close by."
"You're most kind," Father said.
"I'm glad to have to the two of you here, you'll be a great addition to the family and there are lots of things to do here, even at night. Now come on in, I have some coffee on, and it's almost dinner time."
With a shout of 'stay in the yard' to Special and Suzu from Huliljan, the three went inside to talk and Augustus breathed a sigh of relief. He would never have admitted it, but Special was his favorite and he wanted to know the boy would be all right. He knew Hulijan and Father would make sure he was fine, and now he could go home and see to the others.
tbc