The Trouble with Drakes ch 6
Title: The Trouble With Drakes chapter 6
Author: stormyd55
Rating: PG...sorry, no smut.
Pairing: Bob/Harry... well, preslash (may they make like horny bunnies for all time)
Book/TV-Verse: TV
Warnings: Just a few seconds of Bob admiring Harry's bare bottom.
Disclaimer: Not mine! But, oh how I wish they were (evil chuckle).
Word Count: approx. 3150
Summary: Bob's new students invade Harry's home on a rainy day.
Author's Note: Not much to say, really. I just wanted to have an excuse to use the term 'March of the Muscle Men'.
Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch 5
Title: The Trouble With Drakes 6
Author: stormyd55
Rating: PG...sorry, no smut.
Pairing: Bob/Harry... well, preslash (may they make like horny bunnies for all time)
Book/TV-Verse: TV
Warnings: Just a few seconds of Bob admiring Harry's bare bottom.
Disclaimer: Not mine! But, oh how I wish they were (evil chuckle).
Word Count: approx. 3150
Summary: Bob's new students invade Harry's home on a rainy day.
Author's Note: Not much to say, really. I just wanted to have an excuse to use the term 'March of the Muscle Men'.
*****
The next day, it was raining; an easy, steady rain that seemed like it would never end. Harry had spent the entire morning and a good part of the afternoon at the museum and at the library, researching the stolen metal working tools. Some of the tools were the type used to make heavier items like swords and other weapons while most were for more delicate work, such as for jewlry. However, he could find nothing special about the type of tools or about those specific ones stolen.
Harry hadn't slept much, the previous night, for worrying about Murphy. He was tired, had a headache and felt like the day was a complete waste. Maybe Murphy was right. Maybe the theft was a practice run for something bigger.
She'd called early that morning to let him know what they'd found so far in the tunnels and sewers. Without the dogs, they'd needed a lot more man power to search the maze below. They'd found a fairly new shoe that could have belonged to a guard, a uniform shirt with the name Riley on it, soaked in fresh blood, and a cache of human bones. According to Butters, at the morgue, the bones were from eight different people, all of whom died within the last few weeks. None of the bones were fresh enough to have been any of the three missing guards, and all showed signs that the owners had suffered from advanced age and/or malnutrition. They'd also showed signs of being chewed on, but Butters couldn't identify the animal that made the teeth marks. Harry figured that they'd found some of the missing homeless people.
All Harry wanted to do was go home, shower and eat something. As he neared his office, he could see that all the parking spaces were full. He pulled around the corner to the back entrance and was surprised to see all the spaces taken there as well. He had to park nearly a block away from the office. Normally, there was always a space near the front of his place, especially on a day like today. By the time he got to his door, he was soaking wet and thoroughly irritated. When he stepped through the door, his irritation turned into stunned shock. His home had been invaded by a pack of wild college girls.
Every surface, whether it was meant to be sat on or not, seemed to be occupied by a young woman. Now, Harry had had fantasies similar to this when he was younger. However, those usually had the young women scantily dressed and in various seductive poses, not in sweat suits or jeans and over sized t-shirts. Most had their hair in curlers and some were painting their finger nails. One girl, wearing flannel pajama bottoms and a tank top, was perched on the kitchen counter painting her toe nails.
Several of the girls waved at him and called, "Hi, Harry!" as he stumbled through the chaos, trying not to step on freshly painted toes. He spotted Bob standing in the far corner of the room. His left arm was wrapped around his stomach, his elbow resting on his hand with his right hand on his cheek. His mouth was slightly opened and he looked completely overwhelmed. When he saw Harry approach him, he reached out with his right hand as if for reassurance and said, "Oh, Harry, thank God you're here."
Harry stood beside him, looked around and whispered, "I've died and gone to sorority house hell." He turned to Bob. "How the hell did they get pass the wards?"
At that moment, goth-girl (Harry remembered her name was Meg, but preferred to think of her as goth-girl.) was walking by. She was again in all black, except for white lettering on her t-shirt. It read 'I've got PMS and a hand gun. Any questions?'. She stopped in front of Harry, gave him a wicked grin and said, "I never met a ward I didn't like." Then she continued on her way towards the bathroom.
"How many of them are there?"
"Fourteen at last count. I'm not sure. They keep... moving about." He gestured wildly to emphasize his point.
Desperately, Harry asked Bob, "What are they doing here?"
Bob replied in annoyance, "I don't know. I was in the lab researching possible creatures that could be your 'burrowers', when I felt a disturbance in the wards. I peeked out to investigate and they started pouring in through the door. I asked what they were doing here. They said something about combining a 'spa day' with movie night. One of them wanted my opinion of the historical accuracy of something called '300'. Harry, I have no idea what she was talking about. 300 what?"
Harry snorted as he tried not to laugh. "Bob, '300' is a movie about the 300 Spartans who defended Greece from the Persian army at the Pass of Thermopylae. I heard it was gross, full of blood and gore, and totally fantastic."
Exasperated, Bob complained, "Well, how am I supposed to know about its historical accuracy? I'm not that old."
"Do they know that I don't have a DVD player and a portable one doesn't always work around me?"
"Yes, I told them. But Chloe said that she can shield it from your 'energy leakage', as she calls it."
Harry perked up at that. "She can?"
A brunette in gym shorts and a hoodie walked up and handed Harry a towel. "You're dripping on the floor." She looked him over and, with a frown, said, "Oh, baby, you are in serious need of a make-over. How many t-shirts are you wearing?" She turned and called, "Lisa, Amy tell me this guy isn't a raging metro-sexual just dying to happen."
To Harry's surprise, and much to Bob's amusement, he was suddenly surrounded by three girls, looking him over like he was an interesting problem to be solved. He was starting to feel nervous and maybe even a little scared. That fear only grew as the girls began talking about him and to him and over him, sometimes at the same time.
"I think he needs to let that hair grow out."
"Ooo yeah. Kinda like Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing. Only maybe layered."
"First thing he needs to do is get rid of those t-shirts. I'm thinking a nice button-down denim shirt."
"Oh no, girl. Next thing you know, you'd have him wearing a cowboy hat."
"And what's wrong with cowboy hats?"
"The first thing he needs to do is get rid of that scruff. Have you considered having that face fur permanently removed? I know a great electrolysist."
"Oh man, will you look at his hands. Definitely needs a manicure."
At this point, Harry's nerve broke and he practically ran for the stairs leading to his bedroom. The three girls started to follow, but he spun around and held up his hand to halt their progress. "No one is allowed up there. Am I understood?" Wide eyed, they all nodded. He scurried up the stairs two at a time and threw himself into the chair near the foot of the bed. His heart was racing and he felt like he'd just been chased by a pack of monkey demons.
Bob suddenly materialized next to him. He was holding his sides and laughing. When Harry glared at him, he said, "I'm sorry, Harry. I'm just so relieved that I'm not the only one to be so overwhelmed by them. When there's only one or two of them, they're really quite charming. But in large packs, they're almost... dangerous."
"You ain't kiddin'." Still breathing a little hard, he shivered as he got up and went to his closet. He grabbed a long sleeve shirt and tossed it to the bed. "I gotta get outta these wet clothes. Bob go back down there and keep an eye on them. And see if you can find out when they're leaving."
"As I understand it, they were waiting for you to come home before ordering pizza and starting the movie." He paused. "Do I have to go back down there, Harry?"
Harry began stripping off his wet clothes, his back to Bob. "Please, Bob. I don't want them down there unsupervised." Then he muttered, "At least I'm getting pizza outta this."
Bob hesitated. He admired Harry's bare backside as he rummaged in the chest of drawers for some dry boxers. Then he sighed and dematerialized into a ball of orange and black energy and shot back downstairs.
A few minutes later, Harry came back downstairs wearing some dry jeans and a long sleeve, dark grey henley. Bob could see that he was wearing another dark green t-shirt under the henley. "Leave my t-shirts alone." he grumbled as he passed the three make-over queens. They looked unimpressed and continued their discussion of the best possible improvements that could be made to his wardrobe and appearance.
Harry crossed the room and stood by the fireplace. "Excuse me.", he said loudly. No one seemed to notice. "Hey!" he shouted. Several of the girls turned to look at him. "Would someone please tell me what's going on."
Lisa stepped forward and, as usual, began talking a mile a minute. "Well, its like this. Normally, we'd have 'movie night" tonight, and 'spa day' tomorrow, and we were going to try to get Bob to give another lecture in a couple of days. By the way, great lecture the other day, Bob. Really cool. So anyway, we realized that next week most of us have these really big, can't screw 'em up tests at school. So, we were thinking that we could combine 'movie night' and 'spa day' and, if we picked a movie that's supposed to have historical significance, though I don't see how something that happened thousands of years ago could be that significant, then Bob could maybe give kind of a mini-lecture on it. Thus killing three birds with one stone and leaving the next few days for some serious study time. Besides, it was raining and we were bored." She grinned at Harry and Bob and then turned to walk towards the kitchen.
Harry was stunned. His expression could only be described as 'a deer caught in the headlights'. He leaned towards the pretty, young black woman on his right and whispered, "Does she ever stop to breathe?"
She smiled at him and replied, "We don't think she's human. We expect her mother ship to come pick her up any day now."
"Ok, everybody." The girl in pajama bottoms called out to get everyone's attention. "Pizza has been ordered. Drinks are in the kitchen. The movie starts in five minutes, so get settled."
Harry found Chloe pulling him over to the sofa to sit with her and Meg. Bob moved to stand behind Harry. With concern, Chloe gazed up at him from her seat. "Do you want to sit? Uh, can you sit?"
Bob smiled down at her. She really was quite sweet. "No, my dear, I assure you, I'm quite alright where I am."
The movie was exactly as Harry had been told it would be like, gross, full of blood and gore, and totally fantastic. Whenever one of the heroes would perform an amazing feat, the girls and, yes, even Harry would cheer. At one point, when the Spartans were marching forward, one of the girls said in a dreamy voice, "Now I know why they call it 'March of the Muscle Men'." This started Harry laughing out loud.
Even Bob was having a good time, enjoying the movie as well as Harry's and the girl's antics. He really couldn't remember having so much fun. Ever. Though, he couldn't let the girls know that. He and Harry enjoyed their privacy. The last thing they needed was to be invaded by fifteen to twenty college girls on a regular basis.
They were about two-thirds of the way through the movie when they were suddenly interrupted by a very loud shout. "Dresden! What the hell is going on here?" Morgan stood near the door, angry as usual. "You'd better have a Damn good explanation."
One of the girls paused the movie and they all turned to stare at Morgan. His anger seemed to dissipate and he appeared to grow nervous at the more than one dozen feminine, hostile glares aimed in his direction.
One of the girls stood up and faced a stunned Morgan. "I don't know who you think you are. But there ain't no call for all that fussin' and cussin'. Its. Just. Plain. Rude!"
Harry sighed. He was having such a good time, of course Morgan would show up to ruin it. He got up, barely managed to avoid stepping into a pizza box and carefully made his way across the room. "Excuse me, ladies." he said and motioned for Morgan to follow him as he headed for the lab. As he closed the door behind him, he heard someone suggest that they take the opportunity for bathroom breaks. He turned to face Morgan.
"Corrupting the youth of the witch community?" Morgan asked snidely.
"No." Harry took a step forward. "They're friends. Bob's been giving lectures on magic, when to use it, when not to. So they won't end up like him."
"You mean, how not to get caught." Morgan also took a step forward.
"No! I mean, how not to make bad decisions and do the wrong thing in the first place!" Harry's voice was getting louder. He'd taken another step and now he and Morgan were nose to nose.
They glared at each other, neither of them blinking, for several seconds. Then, slowly they backed off, never taking their eyes off each other as if afraid to get sucker punched.
"Why are you here, Morgan?" Harry grumbled.
The dark warden sighed. "I've come to inquire if you've had any run ins with the Drakes. Since you helped destroy the one that was trapped in here with us, it would make sense if they tried to target you as well."
"No. None have come here. But I've beefed up my wards to specifically address Drakes, so I don't know what to tell you. What's been happening?"
"I know that Amber has told you there have been Drake attacks over the past few weeks. Yesterday, they captured one of my men."
"Shit."
"Indeed. It took us three hours to rescue him. It was sheer luck that we got him back before he was killed. He's severely injured, but he'll live."
"They've been attacking and killing. Why'd they capture this time?"
"To question him. He told me that they kept asking questions about Mai. Her history. Her where abouts. Her habits."
"That can't be good."Harry said ominously.
"No." Morgan seemed to hesitate a moment. "There is one other thing. I want you to stay away from Amber."
Harry snorted. "What's wrong, Morgan? Jealous?"
Morgan stepped up to Harry again and growled. "She is a fine warden and may one day take my position as head of the Chicago Division. But that will not happen if she develops a reputation for 'hanging out' with the wrong people. Like it or not, Dresden, you're the wrong people."
Stunned, Harry leaned back against the lab table. He could tell that Morgan was serious. He thought about it for a moment and then made his decision. "I don't know where you get 'hanging out' from. The only thing we've ever talked about has been work related. Have you talked to Amber about this?"
"Yes. But she's young, foolish and stubborn. She won't listen. I was hoping that you would see that it's in her best interests if you kept your distance."
"Sorry, Morgan, I don't see it that way. Yeah, she's young, but time will take care of that. Foolish? Unh unh, not her. She's smart and quick and she wouldn't be in line for your job if she were foolish. Stubborn? Oh yeah. But then so are you. But, unlike you, she's willing to at least listen to people. She can accept that more than one action or decision in a person's life can shape and direct that life. She can also see that, given enough time, people change. Sometimes for bad, but sometimes for good, too. Amber's a big girl. She can make her own decisions. If she decides that being on the career fast track is more important than 'hanging out' with me. Fine, I'll respect that decision. But, if she decides she wants my friendship, I'm not turning my back on her." He stood up and walked to the lab door. "Now, unless you have any more concerns, I'd like you to leave my home. I have guests waiting." He opened the door to allow Morgan to leave.
Morgan glared at him. Then he was gone.
Harry left the lab and closed the door. He turned and nearly ran into Meg. She had two cold beers in hand and held one out to Harry. As they opened the bottles, Harry asked, "You are legal, aren't you? I can't tell with all that goop on your face."
Meg grinned and was about to bring the bottle to her lips when another hand reached up and took the bottle from her.
"She will be in another month." Chloe said as she took a drink from the bottle. "In the mean time, patience." she chided and guided both Meg and Harry back to the sofa.
They started the movie again. Harry was surprised that Morgan's visit didn't cause him to blow up the delicate equipment, but it seemed to work fine. If Chloe could block his 'energy leakage', or whatever she called it, to that degree, maybe he should marry her.
At first everyone was a little subdued, but it didn't take them long to get back into the party mood. The rest of the evening was full of cheers and jeers, and a good time was had by all.
As they were cleaning up, one young lady, Sara, Bob thought her name was, asked about the film's historical accuracy. Bob looked thoughtful, then said "As to its accuracy, I couldn't tell you. The events in question occurred roughly sixteen hundred years before I was born. As to the film's historical quality as an epic tale, however, I can honestly say that they did an excellent job. You see, before they had movies, before printed materials became common place, and before stage acting became an easily attainable form of entertainment, well anywhere except Greece, the best form of entertainment was the story teller, the traveling bard. These people would travel from village to village, telling great tales in exchange for a night's lodging and a meal or two. The best of these story tellers could weave tales to set the imagination on fire. It was not uncommon for them to dine with kings and emperors." Bob began to get excited, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. "In this movie, you notice how the heroes were all strong, beautiful and charismatic, while the villains, the Persian army, were ugly and grotesque. Except the ultimate villain, the Persian King. He was almost beautiful and notice how he was taller and stronger looking than Leonidas. This was to give the audience a sense of how formidable the true monster was, so that his defeat would thrill them even more. And the way they had the narrator build the story, describing in detail each heroic accomplishment in battle, was very much the way a story teller would build a tale for his audience. Imagine yourself sitting in your King's court, listening to and picturing in your mind the story we just saw. Yes, I'd say they did an excellent job of creating the classic epic tale."
One of the girls stopped as she was carrying some empty pizza boxes to the trash. "You actually did that, didn't you? You listened to story tellers for entertainment."
"They weren't as common as you might think. However, I was privileged to have an excellent bard spend the winter at Bainbridge Manor, one year." He smiled softly. "Now, that was a winter to remember."
Chloe came up beside him and said quietly, "I think you'd have made an excellent bard." She then ducked her head and scurried away to continue cleaning up.
Stunned by the compliment, Bob moved well out of everyone's way and watched the cleanup proceed unimpeded. He smiled when he overheard someone say, "Told you we'd get a mini-lecture out of it."
*****
Later, that night, after the girls had left, Harry stood looking around his apartment. They had done a great job of cleaning up all the pizza, soda and beer. In fact, they'd left it cleaner than it was before they'd arrived. Maybe he should have them come over on a regular basis if he could get a clean apartment out of the deal.
He sighed as he put the last of the pizza in the fridge. There were enough leftovers for a couple of meals and cold pizza always made for a good breakfast.
He thought about reading a little bit, but he was tired and wanted to go to bed. He turned toward the stairs and nearly jumped out of his skin, again. "Damn it, Bob. Do I have to put a spectral bell around your neck?!"
Bob chuckled, "Well, maybe I'll wear one for holidays. I wanted a word with you before you retired for the night."
Harry grabbed Bob's skull and continued upstairs as Bob followed. "What about?"
"I overheard your conversation with Morgan."
"You mean you eavesdropped." He put the skull on the bedside table and began to get undressed for bed.
Bob drew himself up. "I do not eavesdrop. I overhear things. I gather information. I... (sigh) ok, I eavesdropped."
Harry smiled, "Its ok, Bob. I knew you'd probably listen in. And if I really didn't want you to, I'd have told you to stay out there with the girls. So what's on you're mind."
"I suppose I just wanted to tell you how... proud I was of the way you handled Morgan's demand. There was a time you would have agreed with his assessment of your 'unworthyness' to associate with a warden. I'm very glad to see that's no longer the case. I also wanted to say that I know you were talking about me, when you mentioned a person being changed by time. I've had very little contact with her, but do you really think she knows I'm not the same person I was when I was cursed?"
Down to his t-shirt and boxers, Harry crawled into bed. "I'm not sure, Bob. It's just an impression I got when she told me to tell you she said 'hi'. The tone was really friendly. I just have this strong feeling that if she didn't think you were ok, she wouldn't be at all friendly to you."
"Well, that's good to know." He still had hopes that Harry would ask her out. And it would be really nice if Harry had a girlfriend that Bob didn't have to hide from.
Harry put out the lights. Bob was about to return to his skull when he heard Harry say pleasantly, "Hey, Bob. I think Chloe's got a crush on you."
"Oh, please, don't say that anywhere Meg can hear you." And with that, Bob dematerialized and flew into his skull.
(To be continued.)
Author's Question: 'March of the Muscle Men'? Hell yeah, Harry and Bob enjoyed that movie! Ain't no question about it! (Please feel free to express your opinion.)
Author: stormyd55
Rating: PG...sorry, no smut.
Pairing: Bob/Harry... well, preslash (may they make like horny bunnies for all time)
Book/TV-Verse: TV
Warnings: Just a few seconds of Bob admiring Harry's bare bottom.
Disclaimer: Not mine! But, oh how I wish they were (evil chuckle).
Word Count: approx. 3150
Summary: Bob's new students invade Harry's home on a rainy day.
Author's Note: Not much to say, really. I just wanted to have an excuse to use the term 'March of the Muscle Men'.
Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch 5
Title: The Trouble With Drakes 6
Author: stormyd55
Rating: PG...sorry, no smut.
Pairing: Bob/Harry... well, preslash (may they make like horny bunnies for all time)
Book/TV-Verse: TV
Warnings: Just a few seconds of Bob admiring Harry's bare bottom.
Disclaimer: Not mine! But, oh how I wish they were (evil chuckle).
Word Count: approx. 3150
Summary: Bob's new students invade Harry's home on a rainy day.
Author's Note: Not much to say, really. I just wanted to have an excuse to use the term 'March of the Muscle Men'.
*****
The next day, it was raining; an easy, steady rain that seemed like it would never end. Harry had spent the entire morning and a good part of the afternoon at the museum and at the library, researching the stolen metal working tools. Some of the tools were the type used to make heavier items like swords and other weapons while most were for more delicate work, such as for jewlry. However, he could find nothing special about the type of tools or about those specific ones stolen.
Harry hadn't slept much, the previous night, for worrying about Murphy. He was tired, had a headache and felt like the day was a complete waste. Maybe Murphy was right. Maybe the theft was a practice run for something bigger.
She'd called early that morning to let him know what they'd found so far in the tunnels and sewers. Without the dogs, they'd needed a lot more man power to search the maze below. They'd found a fairly new shoe that could have belonged to a guard, a uniform shirt with the name Riley on it, soaked in fresh blood, and a cache of human bones. According to Butters, at the morgue, the bones were from eight different people, all of whom died within the last few weeks. None of the bones were fresh enough to have been any of the three missing guards, and all showed signs that the owners had suffered from advanced age and/or malnutrition. They'd also showed signs of being chewed on, but Butters couldn't identify the animal that made the teeth marks. Harry figured that they'd found some of the missing homeless people.
All Harry wanted to do was go home, shower and eat something. As he neared his office, he could see that all the parking spaces were full. He pulled around the corner to the back entrance and was surprised to see all the spaces taken there as well. He had to park nearly a block away from the office. Normally, there was always a space near the front of his place, especially on a day like today. By the time he got to his door, he was soaking wet and thoroughly irritated. When he stepped through the door, his irritation turned into stunned shock. His home had been invaded by a pack of wild college girls.
Every surface, whether it was meant to be sat on or not, seemed to be occupied by a young woman. Now, Harry had had fantasies similar to this when he was younger. However, those usually had the young women scantily dressed and in various seductive poses, not in sweat suits or jeans and over sized t-shirts. Most had their hair in curlers and some were painting their finger nails. One girl, wearing flannel pajama bottoms and a tank top, was perched on the kitchen counter painting her toe nails.
Several of the girls waved at him and called, "Hi, Harry!" as he stumbled through the chaos, trying not to step on freshly painted toes. He spotted Bob standing in the far corner of the room. His left arm was wrapped around his stomach, his elbow resting on his hand with his right hand on his cheek. His mouth was slightly opened and he looked completely overwhelmed. When he saw Harry approach him, he reached out with his right hand as if for reassurance and said, "Oh, Harry, thank God you're here."
Harry stood beside him, looked around and whispered, "I've died and gone to sorority house hell." He turned to Bob. "How the hell did they get pass the wards?"
At that moment, goth-girl (Harry remembered her name was Meg, but preferred to think of her as goth-girl.) was walking by. She was again in all black, except for white lettering on her t-shirt. It read 'I've got PMS and a hand gun. Any questions?'. She stopped in front of Harry, gave him a wicked grin and said, "I never met a ward I didn't like." Then she continued on her way towards the bathroom.
"How many of them are there?"
"Fourteen at last count. I'm not sure. They keep... moving about." He gestured wildly to emphasize his point.
Desperately, Harry asked Bob, "What are they doing here?"
Bob replied in annoyance, "I don't know. I was in the lab researching possible creatures that could be your 'burrowers', when I felt a disturbance in the wards. I peeked out to investigate and they started pouring in through the door. I asked what they were doing here. They said something about combining a 'spa day' with movie night. One of them wanted my opinion of the historical accuracy of something called '300'. Harry, I have no idea what she was talking about. 300 what?"
Harry snorted as he tried not to laugh. "Bob, '300' is a movie about the 300 Spartans who defended Greece from the Persian army at the Pass of Thermopylae. I heard it was gross, full of blood and gore, and totally fantastic."
Exasperated, Bob complained, "Well, how am I supposed to know about its historical accuracy? I'm not that old."
"Do they know that I don't have a DVD player and a portable one doesn't always work around me?"
"Yes, I told them. But Chloe said that she can shield it from your 'energy leakage', as she calls it."
Harry perked up at that. "She can?"
A brunette in gym shorts and a hoodie walked up and handed Harry a towel. "You're dripping on the floor." She looked him over and, with a frown, said, "Oh, baby, you are in serious need of a make-over. How many t-shirts are you wearing?" She turned and called, "Lisa, Amy tell me this guy isn't a raging metro-sexual just dying to happen."
To Harry's surprise, and much to Bob's amusement, he was suddenly surrounded by three girls, looking him over like he was an interesting problem to be solved. He was starting to feel nervous and maybe even a little scared. That fear only grew as the girls began talking about him and to him and over him, sometimes at the same time.
"I think he needs to let that hair grow out."
"Ooo yeah. Kinda like Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing. Only maybe layered."
"First thing he needs to do is get rid of those t-shirts. I'm thinking a nice button-down denim shirt."
"Oh no, girl. Next thing you know, you'd have him wearing a cowboy hat."
"And what's wrong with cowboy hats?"
"The first thing he needs to do is get rid of that scruff. Have you considered having that face fur permanently removed? I know a great electrolysist."
"Oh man, will you look at his hands. Definitely needs a manicure."
At this point, Harry's nerve broke and he practically ran for the stairs leading to his bedroom. The three girls started to follow, but he spun around and held up his hand to halt their progress. "No one is allowed up there. Am I understood?" Wide eyed, they all nodded. He scurried up the stairs two at a time and threw himself into the chair near the foot of the bed. His heart was racing and he felt like he'd just been chased by a pack of monkey demons.
Bob suddenly materialized next to him. He was holding his sides and laughing. When Harry glared at him, he said, "I'm sorry, Harry. I'm just so relieved that I'm not the only one to be so overwhelmed by them. When there's only one or two of them, they're really quite charming. But in large packs, they're almost... dangerous."
"You ain't kiddin'." Still breathing a little hard, he shivered as he got up and went to his closet. He grabbed a long sleeve shirt and tossed it to the bed. "I gotta get outta these wet clothes. Bob go back down there and keep an eye on them. And see if you can find out when they're leaving."
"As I understand it, they were waiting for you to come home before ordering pizza and starting the movie." He paused. "Do I have to go back down there, Harry?"
Harry began stripping off his wet clothes, his back to Bob. "Please, Bob. I don't want them down there unsupervised." Then he muttered, "At least I'm getting pizza outta this."
Bob hesitated. He admired Harry's bare backside as he rummaged in the chest of drawers for some dry boxers. Then he sighed and dematerialized into a ball of orange and black energy and shot back downstairs.
A few minutes later, Harry came back downstairs wearing some dry jeans and a long sleeve, dark grey henley. Bob could see that he was wearing another dark green t-shirt under the henley. "Leave my t-shirts alone." he grumbled as he passed the three make-over queens. They looked unimpressed and continued their discussion of the best possible improvements that could be made to his wardrobe and appearance.
Harry crossed the room and stood by the fireplace. "Excuse me.", he said loudly. No one seemed to notice. "Hey!" he shouted. Several of the girls turned to look at him. "Would someone please tell me what's going on."
Lisa stepped forward and, as usual, began talking a mile a minute. "Well, its like this. Normally, we'd have 'movie night" tonight, and 'spa day' tomorrow, and we were going to try to get Bob to give another lecture in a couple of days. By the way, great lecture the other day, Bob. Really cool. So anyway, we realized that next week most of us have these really big, can't screw 'em up tests at school. So, we were thinking that we could combine 'movie night' and 'spa day' and, if we picked a movie that's supposed to have historical significance, though I don't see how something that happened thousands of years ago could be that significant, then Bob could maybe give kind of a mini-lecture on it. Thus killing three birds with one stone and leaving the next few days for some serious study time. Besides, it was raining and we were bored." She grinned at Harry and Bob and then turned to walk towards the kitchen.
Harry was stunned. His expression could only be described as 'a deer caught in the headlights'. He leaned towards the pretty, young black woman on his right and whispered, "Does she ever stop to breathe?"
She smiled at him and replied, "We don't think she's human. We expect her mother ship to come pick her up any day now."
"Ok, everybody." The girl in pajama bottoms called out to get everyone's attention. "Pizza has been ordered. Drinks are in the kitchen. The movie starts in five minutes, so get settled."
Harry found Chloe pulling him over to the sofa to sit with her and Meg. Bob moved to stand behind Harry. With concern, Chloe gazed up at him from her seat. "Do you want to sit? Uh, can you sit?"
Bob smiled down at her. She really was quite sweet. "No, my dear, I assure you, I'm quite alright where I am."
The movie was exactly as Harry had been told it would be like, gross, full of blood and gore, and totally fantastic. Whenever one of the heroes would perform an amazing feat, the girls and, yes, even Harry would cheer. At one point, when the Spartans were marching forward, one of the girls said in a dreamy voice, "Now I know why they call it 'March of the Muscle Men'." This started Harry laughing out loud.
Even Bob was having a good time, enjoying the movie as well as Harry's and the girl's antics. He really couldn't remember having so much fun. Ever. Though, he couldn't let the girls know that. He and Harry enjoyed their privacy. The last thing they needed was to be invaded by fifteen to twenty college girls on a regular basis.
They were about two-thirds of the way through the movie when they were suddenly interrupted by a very loud shout. "Dresden! What the hell is going on here?" Morgan stood near the door, angry as usual. "You'd better have a Damn good explanation."
One of the girls paused the movie and they all turned to stare at Morgan. His anger seemed to dissipate and he appeared to grow nervous at the more than one dozen feminine, hostile glares aimed in his direction.
One of the girls stood up and faced a stunned Morgan. "I don't know who you think you are. But there ain't no call for all that fussin' and cussin'. Its. Just. Plain. Rude!"
Harry sighed. He was having such a good time, of course Morgan would show up to ruin it. He got up, barely managed to avoid stepping into a pizza box and carefully made his way across the room. "Excuse me, ladies." he said and motioned for Morgan to follow him as he headed for the lab. As he closed the door behind him, he heard someone suggest that they take the opportunity for bathroom breaks. He turned to face Morgan.
"Corrupting the youth of the witch community?" Morgan asked snidely.
"No." Harry took a step forward. "They're friends. Bob's been giving lectures on magic, when to use it, when not to. So they won't end up like him."
"You mean, how not to get caught." Morgan also took a step forward.
"No! I mean, how not to make bad decisions and do the wrong thing in the first place!" Harry's voice was getting louder. He'd taken another step and now he and Morgan were nose to nose.
They glared at each other, neither of them blinking, for several seconds. Then, slowly they backed off, never taking their eyes off each other as if afraid to get sucker punched.
"Why are you here, Morgan?" Harry grumbled.
The dark warden sighed. "I've come to inquire if you've had any run ins with the Drakes. Since you helped destroy the one that was trapped in here with us, it would make sense if they tried to target you as well."
"No. None have come here. But I've beefed up my wards to specifically address Drakes, so I don't know what to tell you. What's been happening?"
"I know that Amber has told you there have been Drake attacks over the past few weeks. Yesterday, they captured one of my men."
"Shit."
"Indeed. It took us three hours to rescue him. It was sheer luck that we got him back before he was killed. He's severely injured, but he'll live."
"They've been attacking and killing. Why'd they capture this time?"
"To question him. He told me that they kept asking questions about Mai. Her history. Her where abouts. Her habits."
"That can't be good."Harry said ominously.
"No." Morgan seemed to hesitate a moment. "There is one other thing. I want you to stay away from Amber."
Harry snorted. "What's wrong, Morgan? Jealous?"
Morgan stepped up to Harry again and growled. "She is a fine warden and may one day take my position as head of the Chicago Division. But that will not happen if she develops a reputation for 'hanging out' with the wrong people. Like it or not, Dresden, you're the wrong people."
Stunned, Harry leaned back against the lab table. He could tell that Morgan was serious. He thought about it for a moment and then made his decision. "I don't know where you get 'hanging out' from. The only thing we've ever talked about has been work related. Have you talked to Amber about this?"
"Yes. But she's young, foolish and stubborn. She won't listen. I was hoping that you would see that it's in her best interests if you kept your distance."
"Sorry, Morgan, I don't see it that way. Yeah, she's young, but time will take care of that. Foolish? Unh unh, not her. She's smart and quick and she wouldn't be in line for your job if she were foolish. Stubborn? Oh yeah. But then so are you. But, unlike you, she's willing to at least listen to people. She can accept that more than one action or decision in a person's life can shape and direct that life. She can also see that, given enough time, people change. Sometimes for bad, but sometimes for good, too. Amber's a big girl. She can make her own decisions. If she decides that being on the career fast track is more important than 'hanging out' with me. Fine, I'll respect that decision. But, if she decides she wants my friendship, I'm not turning my back on her." He stood up and walked to the lab door. "Now, unless you have any more concerns, I'd like you to leave my home. I have guests waiting." He opened the door to allow Morgan to leave.
Morgan glared at him. Then he was gone.
Harry left the lab and closed the door. He turned and nearly ran into Meg. She had two cold beers in hand and held one out to Harry. As they opened the bottles, Harry asked, "You are legal, aren't you? I can't tell with all that goop on your face."
Meg grinned and was about to bring the bottle to her lips when another hand reached up and took the bottle from her.
"She will be in another month." Chloe said as she took a drink from the bottle. "In the mean time, patience." she chided and guided both Meg and Harry back to the sofa.
They started the movie again. Harry was surprised that Morgan's visit didn't cause him to blow up the delicate equipment, but it seemed to work fine. If Chloe could block his 'energy leakage', or whatever she called it, to that degree, maybe he should marry her.
At first everyone was a little subdued, but it didn't take them long to get back into the party mood. The rest of the evening was full of cheers and jeers, and a good time was had by all.
As they were cleaning up, one young lady, Sara, Bob thought her name was, asked about the film's historical accuracy. Bob looked thoughtful, then said "As to its accuracy, I couldn't tell you. The events in question occurred roughly sixteen hundred years before I was born. As to the film's historical quality as an epic tale, however, I can honestly say that they did an excellent job. You see, before they had movies, before printed materials became common place, and before stage acting became an easily attainable form of entertainment, well anywhere except Greece, the best form of entertainment was the story teller, the traveling bard. These people would travel from village to village, telling great tales in exchange for a night's lodging and a meal or two. The best of these story tellers could weave tales to set the imagination on fire. It was not uncommon for them to dine with kings and emperors." Bob began to get excited, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. "In this movie, you notice how the heroes were all strong, beautiful and charismatic, while the villains, the Persian army, were ugly and grotesque. Except the ultimate villain, the Persian King. He was almost beautiful and notice how he was taller and stronger looking than Leonidas. This was to give the audience a sense of how formidable the true monster was, so that his defeat would thrill them even more. And the way they had the narrator build the story, describing in detail each heroic accomplishment in battle, was very much the way a story teller would build a tale for his audience. Imagine yourself sitting in your King's court, listening to and picturing in your mind the story we just saw. Yes, I'd say they did an excellent job of creating the classic epic tale."
One of the girls stopped as she was carrying some empty pizza boxes to the trash. "You actually did that, didn't you? You listened to story tellers for entertainment."
"They weren't as common as you might think. However, I was privileged to have an excellent bard spend the winter at Bainbridge Manor, one year." He smiled softly. "Now, that was a winter to remember."
Chloe came up beside him and said quietly, "I think you'd have made an excellent bard." She then ducked her head and scurried away to continue cleaning up.
Stunned by the compliment, Bob moved well out of everyone's way and watched the cleanup proceed unimpeded. He smiled when he overheard someone say, "Told you we'd get a mini-lecture out of it."
*****
Later, that night, after the girls had left, Harry stood looking around his apartment. They had done a great job of cleaning up all the pizza, soda and beer. In fact, they'd left it cleaner than it was before they'd arrived. Maybe he should have them come over on a regular basis if he could get a clean apartment out of the deal.
He sighed as he put the last of the pizza in the fridge. There were enough leftovers for a couple of meals and cold pizza always made for a good breakfast.
He thought about reading a little bit, but he was tired and wanted to go to bed. He turned toward the stairs and nearly jumped out of his skin, again. "Damn it, Bob. Do I have to put a spectral bell around your neck?!"
Bob chuckled, "Well, maybe I'll wear one for holidays. I wanted a word with you before you retired for the night."
Harry grabbed Bob's skull and continued upstairs as Bob followed. "What about?"
"I overheard your conversation with Morgan."
"You mean you eavesdropped." He put the skull on the bedside table and began to get undressed for bed.
Bob drew himself up. "I do not eavesdrop. I overhear things. I gather information. I... (sigh) ok, I eavesdropped."
Harry smiled, "Its ok, Bob. I knew you'd probably listen in. And if I really didn't want you to, I'd have told you to stay out there with the girls. So what's on you're mind."
"I suppose I just wanted to tell you how... proud I was of the way you handled Morgan's demand. There was a time you would have agreed with his assessment of your 'unworthyness' to associate with a warden. I'm very glad to see that's no longer the case. I also wanted to say that I know you were talking about me, when you mentioned a person being changed by time. I've had very little contact with her, but do you really think she knows I'm not the same person I was when I was cursed?"
Down to his t-shirt and boxers, Harry crawled into bed. "I'm not sure, Bob. It's just an impression I got when she told me to tell you she said 'hi'. The tone was really friendly. I just have this strong feeling that if she didn't think you were ok, she wouldn't be at all friendly to you."
"Well, that's good to know." He still had hopes that Harry would ask her out. And it would be really nice if Harry had a girlfriend that Bob didn't have to hide from.
Harry put out the lights. Bob was about to return to his skull when he heard Harry say pleasantly, "Hey, Bob. I think Chloe's got a crush on you."
"Oh, please, don't say that anywhere Meg can hear you." And with that, Bob dematerialized and flew into his skull.
(To be continued.)
Author's Question: 'March of the Muscle Men'? Hell yeah, Harry and Bob enjoyed that movie! Ain't no question about it! (Please feel free to express your opinion.)