Sex, Lies and New Orleans: Part Two

by Red Monster

James went over to Gloria's apartment the next morning just as he'd said. I offered to go with him, but he insisted that he go by himself.

I stayed in our room at first; the others all went out to enjoy the city on their own, but I had to call headquarters again. Thankfully, it was Bobby who answered the phone.

"We need to stay here for at least another day," I told him. "I've just spoken to Zeke, and it turns out there's a part that needs to be replaced. So we need to wait until he can get it. And since it's your money we're using to stay here, I thought it only fair to consult you before changing our plans," I made up an explanation. By then it had become clear that I was in an odd position as a leader, with Bobby being the one with the money. None of the other X-team leaders, to my knowledge, had to go over expenditures with their charges, and there I was, asking Roberto DaCosta, who had just recently come to take me seriously as a leader, to keep the cash flowing to indulge my paranoia. Not that I was worried that he'd say no; he could have put us up in a much classier place than this drive-up motel, but I, not wanting to give him a chance to flash his money around from afar, insisted that we would be perfectly comfortable in a humbler setting.

"I have no problem with paying for you all to stay in New Orleans for several more days. You could stay there for months and it would not break me," he assured me. "I hope you enjoy yourselves while you're there."

"We will. Just tell Domino and Sam we won't be back just yet, but we're okay."

"Would you like to talk to them?"

"No, that's okay. I need to get going."

After hanging up, I paced the motel room to look for some reason to go check on James. Eventually, I found a few things of his that he left behind, and packed them into my backpack. Then, I left for the address that James had wisely copied down on a legal pad on top of the dresser.

She answered the door when I got to her apartment. James was nowhere in sight, but at least I didn't see any sign of Sledge or the Vanisher or any other unwholesome characters, either. "Well, hi," she said when she saw me standing at her door. She looked surprised, but so far was handling it gracefully. "What brings you here?"

"I brought over some of Jimmy's stuff," I said, holding up my very limp backpack. "Where is he?"

"He's in back, changing the baby's diaper." Risque stood aside to let me in. "You can go on back to him."

I found James struggling to hold a squirming and fussy, bare-bottomed Damien on his back on the changing table. The baby was so determined to wriggle out of James' grasp, in fact, that James didn't notice that I'd come in.

"What, you can stop a moving police car dead in its tracks," I began, giggling, "but you can't hold a little baby in place while you change his diaper?"

James looked over at me. "Not without cracking his ribs, Terry. How long have you been in here?"

"Just a few seconds," I said. "Do you want some help there?"

"I know what you could do," he said. "Come here and hold him up like this," he demonstrated holding the baby up vertically off the table, so he couldn't roll around, "while I do the dirty work."

I took James's place in holding the baby, while he went to work with the wet wipes. "So, what are you doing here?" he asked, while reaching for a fresh diaper. "You didn't really want to see me brought to my knees by a 16-pound infant, did you?"

"You left a few things back at the motel," I said, indicating the mostly-empty backpack hanging in the crook of my elbow. He gave me a look, like he'd brought everything he really needed into Gloria's apartment himself, and I knew it. My story was a joke; what I'd brought with me were a few books and Jimmy's razor. While he liked to read, he could certainly survive without his novels, and he hardly ever shaved. His facial hair was so thin and sparse that he only used a razor about twice a month; Sam liked to tease him by calling it "going in to scrape off the peach fuzz."

"Thanks," he said. He opened up a clean diaper, lifted it up into position, and fumbled with the sides until it was closed around the baby's waist. "There we go," he said, taking the little one off my hands.

"With a baby this wiggly," I began as James held Damien up to his chest and made soothing sounds to stop his fussing, and pitched my voice very low, so that Gloria wouldn't hear me, "did his mother even offer to help you with this, or does she believe in trial by fire?"

"She showed me how to change him earlier this morning, but I insisted on doing it myself after that," he explained. "I mean, how much of a father can I be if I can't even put a clean diaper on my kid? The fact that I asked you to help means I need some more practice."

"It's only your first day. Give yourself some time."

"What's going on back here?" Gloria surprised us by appearing in the doorway behind James. "Are you two plotting something behind my back?"

"Nope, Terry just came in to drop off the rest of my stuff, and she helped me get Damien cleaned up."

"That was nice of her," Risque nodded. "Well, lunch is ready now. Theresa, would you like to join us? I mean, I only made enough for two, but James eats enough for two or three people anyway, so I might as well fix some more, right?" she joked.

"Thank you, but," I began, searching for an equally polite way out. How could I make my exit without telling that woman that I still didn't trust her, and was truly unnerved at how relaxed she was about having James in her home after what she did to him? "I really should be going. X-Force is expecting me to join them in town," I started to lie through my little rocky teeth, while looking at James. He really did look strangely happy, more at peace than I'd ever seen him, with that baby sitting against his chest. "And I want Jimmy to have some time to get to know the baby, without me getting in the way."

"I hardly think you'd be getting in the way," Risque began. What is she doing?, I thought. Why does she want me to stay in here? There's no lost friendship to mend between us. "But if X-Force is expecting you," she continued. "Then I shouldn't keep you. So, thanks for stopping by."

James walked me to the door while Risque put her son in his high chair in the kitchen. Just before I turned to leave, James bent down to talk to me, very low, much more secretly than I'd been talking in the nursery. "I know why you came over," he whispered. "And I hope you can see now that it's not necessary. Everything's fine."

"Yes, I can see that now."

"But I do appreciate your concern. Stop by again before you all go back to headquarters, okay?" he asked.

So you really intend to stay here? "Of course I'll stop by again. And James? Feel free to call us any time. Even later on today, if you want."

"Thanks, I'll remember that."

Feel free to call us any time. Even later on today, if you want. I think he knew what I meant by that.

That evening, after the rest of the team had gotten back, I found myself going into town again. They'd all come back into the motel room and, in the less-than-harsh lighting of the room, Tabitha discovered that she hadn't reapplied her sunblock quite enough, and had gotten badly sunburned. I told her I knew how she felt--and she knew it, because we were all surprised I didn't have skin cancer after our time spent in Arizona--and told her and Jesse and Dani I'd go to the nearest drugstore to get her some aloe vera gel. Before anyone could tell me that wasn't necessary, or offer to go with me, or instead of me, I practically leapt out of the room and towards the road. It wasn't that the drugstore was calling me, or even that I was dying for a glimpse of New Orleans nightlife; I needed to get out of there before anyone could ask me what I'd done all day. The last thing I needed was Tabitha telling me I was too late to be looking out for Jimmy.

I should have known to walk in a different direction. Maybe it just seemed like a more peaceful, practical part of town, but I should have known better than to choose a store so close to her apartment. Guess who I ran into while searching the shelves for a suitable bottle?

"Hello, Theresa. What are you doing here?" she asked me.

"I'm just running an errand for my friends," I answered. At least this time, I didn't have to lie.

"That's certainly nice of you," said Risque. "James is home with the baby, I'm here to get us some more dish detergent."

"Well, I don't think you'll find it in this aisle," I said, while shuddering at the Ozzie & Harriet tone of her voice after spending all of one day at home with James.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her briefly snarl under her breath at my rudeness, then recover her usual sweet smile. "I noticed you were in quite a hurry to leave after you visited James this morning," she recalled.

Why is she bringing this up? I grabbed a likely-looking bottle of aloe vera gel off the shelf and hurried towards the register with it. She followed me there, empty-handed. "There was no reason for me to stay," I said while the cashier rang up my item.

"Just like there was really no reason for you to have been there in the first place," she replied.

"Gloria, don't you have some dish detergent to be getting?" I glared at her in disbelief.

"And you're getting aloe vera gel, even though you're not sunburned, and if you'd spent any time outdoors today, you would be. You have the complexion for it," she observed.

"So you know what Irish skin is like; your point is? This isn't for me, anyway, it's for Tabitha," I said while handing the cashier a few dollars.

"My point is, you weren't really going to join your friends in town today, you just couldn't wait to get out of my apartment."

"Look, could you ladies either break it up or take it outside?" requested the cashier, a teenaged boy who'd grown to look rather nervous while Risque and I were at the register.

"That's certainly where I'm going," I said as I turned on my heel and rushed out the door. Unfortunately, she decided she wasn't finished talking to me, and followed me outside before the door could shut behind me. "Why do you care if I couldn't wait to get out of your apartment this morning?" I yelled at her. "In case you didn't notice before, I don't like you! Is that really such a surprise? Why did you bother asking me to stay for lunch anyway?! There's no love lost between us!"

"I asked because, unlike you, I have manners," she said.

"That's right. You were very polite in harassing me in that store there, and I'm sure you said Please and Thank You and You're Welcome when you handed James that wine glass full of tranquilizers!"

"Oh, get over yourself. You don't really give a shit about James's feelings, you just don't want him to be with me."

"You're right about one thing," I continued our argument, while leading her around to a dark alley where we wouldn't scare so many passersby.

"Quite frankly my dear, I don't see why you bother," she went on once we were more or less alone. "That little pretense you made of 'bringing Jimmy some things he left behind' today was really pathetic; I saw through it even before he did. You just wanted to check up on him, and make sure he wasn't getting too comfortable with me."

"And can you blame me? After what you did to him, I have every right to be suspicious of you! You really hurt him, Risque," I began, when she cut me off.

"I don't go by 'Risque' anymore; now I'm just Gloria Muñoz, ordinary single mom."

"Fine then, Gloria. You weren't around to see how badly you screwed Jimmy over, but I remember the look on his face when I said your name in front of him, and after that, I can't believe you have the nerve to show your face in front of him again! He really thought you loved him, and what you did to him I wouldn't wish on anyone."

"I really did love him, still do, regardless of what you may think, and 'what I did to him' was unavoidable; I had to do the job for Sledge, whether I liked it or not." Her voice started to rise. "Besides, if I really got under James's skin that much, you have only yourself to blame." She got up to a full, shrill-pitched shout. "He was so vulnerable when I first met him because of all the indifference he'd been getting from you, bitch!" she spat.

No, I thought. You are not going to pass all this off on me. "You," I began with my lip curled fiercely upward. "are not about to fool me. You," I growled. "made Jimmy believe you were interested in him, when you were really just trying to bring him back to that Sledge. And you kept it up until you had him in position, then you drugged him up so he'd be unconscious while you, or whoever it was in charge of transport, took him to another city. That wasn't unavoidable, that's just how you like to do things!"

"Well, what was I supposed to do, say to him, 'The truth is, my boss wants you to do a job for him, and in return he can tell you the whereabouts of someone from your old reservation, so come on up to Detroit with me.'? Is that how you would've had me handle the situation?"

"Yes. You could've said exactly that to him as soon as you met him in that junkyard, rather than pull him along with a lie for months before you finally betrayed him, but instead, you just had to play with him, and for that, I don't trust you one bit, especially where Jimmy's concerned."

"What you're saying I should have done would never have worked," she said, folding her arms across her chest.

"But you'll never know now, will you?"

"Well, I'm sorry I can't go back in time and test your theory," she sneered. "But whether you're right about me or not doesn't make any difference now; I have a child with James, like it or not, and I'm trying to act in the best interests of my kid. Am I now screwing James over by asking him to help raise his son?"

"Why should I believe that's his son?"

"What do you think I did; fuck another Indian while I was with him?"

"It wouldn't surprise me in the least," I answered.

We stood there and stared each other down for the longest time. Her expression almost unnerved me; she really looked at me like I was a threat to be protected from. It was too much to bear, after all the lies she'd told. "Maybe Jimmy deserved better from me than he got," I broke the silence. "But you're not the one to go telling me about that. Now, may I take this green gel back to my sunburned teammate?" I indicated the street outside.

"I don't give a rat's ass what you do," she said. "Just as long as you back away from me while you do it."

I turned to leave, thinking that was the end of it, but it seems she wasn't finished just yet.

"Why is it your business if James wants to stay with me and Damien? Why are you acting like you're responsible for him?" she asked me.

I turned around to face her again. "Because I am the leader of this team. Jimmy's a part of it, so I am responsible for what happens to him."

"But nothing is `happening' to him! God forbid he should make a choice in life that doesn't include you!"

"I'll believe he's making a choice when I know you're telling the truth."

She didn't say anything, just scowled at me from under her grown-out bangs. I turned around again, and she said nothing as I walked away.

As I walked back to the hotel, there was only one question that kept going through my head; just how much did Jimmy tell her about me? He'd always been so good to me. He went to Ireland with me***, sure, but it was after we got back that he really made a difference. It wasn't even 12 hours after we stepped out of the IPAC in Camp Verde that my DT's started, and he took care of me the whole time. I don't think I could have gotten through those 4 days without him. After that, he kept on being such a good friend to me, I thought the memory of the way he'd helped me was precious. Now I had to wonder, how much did Gloria know about all that?

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