Chapter 49: First Contact

“I’ve seen some pretty weird shit in my day, but this just takes the cake,” Deaq said as they drove towards the Candy Store to change into their “Matrix” gear, as it was now referred to. Sara had a quick chat with Billie to tell her that Vicky was to stay with her that night in case she didn’t come home, which was becoming a more realistic possibility as the minutes passed.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” Van mumbled from the backseat. “You should see the Witchblade in action. That’ll give you the chills.”

“Could we please not talk about that?” Sara nearly yelled as she glanced out the window, her mind still going a mile a minute as it swirled with the many things she had gone through those last few hours.

“Alright, we won’t talk about that. Right now, we’re gonna talk about what happened tonight,” Deaq declared.

“Hell no! That’s the last thing I wanna talk about!” Sara groaned.

“Oh, and leaving it to stew until later when it can become a potential threat to our existence is any better?” Van shot back from behind her. “I seriously have to remember that you like to run from your problems instead of face them.”

“You think I’m running again?” she yelled, turning around to face him. He gave her a startled look as she continued, “I’m right here, Van! Let’s talk! Why the hell did you follow me tonight? Why were you, Deaq, and Ian spying on me?”

“I don’t know!” Van defensively hollered his reply. “I saw you when you walked out of the apartment tonight and just got insanely jealous. Why don’t you ever dress like that for me?”

“Do you think I like looking this way?” Sara asked as she pointed to her outfit. “Billie made me wear it! It’s not like I wanted to. I was about to walk out in jeans and a tee shirt, but she made me into her pet project tonight. I feel like I’m degrading myself looking like this. I’d rather be wearing that all black outfit I’m about to put on for this case because at least I’m covered in that even though it is skin tight.”  

The shock on Van’s face grew ever so present as he stared at her in disbelief. He had no idea Sara was this self conscious about herself. He always thought of her as being this strong, independent woman who was comfortable in anything. No wonder she was so reluctant to change her style.

Van hesitantly reached over the seat to wipe the two tears that had trailed down her cheeks. When she didn’t try to pull away, he knew it was safe to lean in and place a soft kiss on her trembling lips. “I’m so sorry, baby,” he whispered, still holding her face in his hand.

Sara pressed her forehead up against his and replied, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been such a bitch about it. Just please tell me you still trust me.”

“I trust you,” Van answered. “I never stopped trusting you.”

He leaned in and kissed her again, this time letting it last for long as physically possible, meaning until Deaq cut in and said, “Enough! Come on, you’re making me sick!”

“Oh, shut up! Would I do this to you while you were making out with Vicky?” Van shot back.

Sara’s attention immediately snapped over to her partner as she gave him that “holy shit! I knew it!” look. “You like Vicky?” she asked.

Deaq didn’t dare turn in her direction as he continued to drive the car. He knew this would only get him in even bigger trouble and cursed the day he told Van the he had fallen for Sara’s best friend.

“Go ahead and tell her what you told me,” Van tried to make him speak up. “You know you like her. You know you can’t hide it any longer. That’s why you came out with us tonight. Just get it off your chest, man.”

“Yeah, get it off your chest. Tell me already. Do you like Vicky?” Sara replied. She was dying to hear this. It would make her life so much easier if she could just get the two of them to admit that they liked each other so that this damn game of hard to get would be over.

“Kinda… sorta… maybe… a little,” Deaq muttered. He really didn’t want to discuss this at the moment.

“You know what you should do?” Sara asked.

He turned in her direction and dryly replied, “No.”

“Tell her you like her. Who knows, she might like you too,” she answered in that perky, “I know something you don’t know” tone of voice and that conniving little smile.

“Does she?” Deaq questioned, sensing that there was some hidden meaning behind her words.

“I don’t know,” Sara said. “You gotta ask her yourself.” They pulled into the parking lot of the Candy Store and got out of the car.

“Come on, Sara, tell me!” Deaq was nearly begging as he followed her inside.

“No,” she simply replied as she grabbed her outfit and headed for the bathroom, slamming the door before he could corner her inside.

“Damn it!” he cursed, then turned to Van. “Do you know?”

Van shook his head. “You want me to find out for you?” he offered.

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” Deaq answered sarcastically as he turned away from Van to change.

Van shrugged off the comment and knocked on the bathroom door. “Hey, Sara, let me in. The coast is clear,” he said. The door opened quickly and a hand reached out from inside to grab him by the collar of his shirt and pull him in for a deep, passionate lip lock. When Van pulled away, he saw the intense desire that filled Sara’s eyes as she looked up at him with that devilish smile on her face. “What was that for?” he asked, catching his breath.

“I missed you… I love you… I need you,” Sara answered between kisses.

“I know,” he replied, kissing her back. “I missed you too.” Van kissed her again. “But I have a question…”

“What?” Sara giggled.

“Does Vicky really like Deaq?” he inquired, gently placing one more kiss on her bear shoulder as she ran her fingers through his hair.

“Maybe, maybe not,” she teased, pulling away from him.

“Come on, Sara, tell me,” he playfully begged.

“Uh-uh,” Sara shook her head, her eyes telling him otherwise.

He gently began to kiss her again as he replied, “I’ll keep kissing you until you tell me.”

“I’ll never tell,” she softly whispered into his ear.

"Oh yes you will!" Van said as he grabbed her and pulled her to the floor with him. He continued to kiss her shoulder as his hands worked under her top to get it off.

"Van! We can't do this, we're at work!" Sara exclaimed, losing her conviction by the end of the sentence.

Van pulled away from the kiss and looked her in the eye. "Do you want me to stop? Because who knows how long it’s gonna be before we get to see each other again. I just hope I won’t blow up until then," Van replied, giving Sara the biggest kicked puppy eyes he could manage.

Sara could never resist those eyes. "Okay, but we have to hurry," she whispered. Sara leaned into Van for a kiss and was surprised to find her self lying on the floor with him on top of her kissing her passionately. She moaned softly as his kiss slowly crept down her chest towards her waist as his hand inched its way up her inner thigh and beneath her skirt.

“Oh, my,” Van whispered when he felt nothing but bare flesh and those wiry curls. Sara smiled down at him as he added, “You’re not wearing any underwear.”

“Not with this skirt,” she retorted, giving him that devilish smile. Van knew exactly what that meant. She had been planning to see him after all that evening; he just didn’t expect it to be like this. But he continued kissing her, reveling in the fact that she was telling him the truth when she said nothing happened between her and Vin Diesel.

Van lifted up Sara’s skirt, exposing the warm naked flesh beneath as he place soft kisses along her thighs. He continued to push it up, blazing a trail of kisses along the way until it was up over her hips. He ran his finger in circles around the soft mound of curls he had exposed.

Van removed his hand and replaced it with his mouth as he crawled between her legs. He kissed the mound of soft curls ever so slightly before moving his lips over to the apex of her left thigh where he left a wet trail of kisses down to her knee and back up again. He did the same on the other side. Sara shuddered against him as her wildest fantasies were coming true. Never in a million years would she have expected to be doing the deed in a bathroom at work, but here they were, on the floor of the restroom doing anything but resting. She moaned softly, letting her hand loose in his glorious hair as he continued his torturous assault on her body.

He alternately teased one thigh then the other as Sara moaned his name. While he went from one thigh to the next, his lips accidentally touched her labia, making her jump. The waves of pleasure went through Sara like a hot jolt of electricity. Van noticed and pulled back. "Did you like that?" he asked teasingly. 

"Mmmhmmm," Sara groaned, her head tilting back on the floor as her eyes closed in ecstasy.

Van saw her head rolled back and decided to get her attention. He took his index finger and probed along the crack between her legs until her found that spot saved for his private enjoyment. He slowly maneuvered a finger inside and found the exact location that made her ache. He slowly began to stroke as she held back that cry that was threatening to escape from her lips. Sara clamped her eyes shut, letting the pleasure radiate through her body as she reached out to grab a hold of something, anything, to keep her from losing the last ounces of her waning control.

As she began to move her hips and call his name, Van saw her clit coming out from under its hood. Now was his chance.

"Oh, baby, you're in for a real treat!" Van said to Sara as he leaned into position. To make sure he didn't over shoot, he stopped moving his fingers in and out of her for a minute and gently clasped on to her clit and began to run his tongue around it lightly first.

"Oh God! Van!! OOOHHH!!" Sara screamed. Van knew that her cry was a good sign so he began using his fingers to make her cum as well as sucking on her clit with his mouth. When he thought the anticipation was gonna kill him, Sara took in a sharp breath, arched her back, grabbed a clump of his hair, and let out a blood curdling shriek. "OOOOOHHHHHH VAN!!! DON'T STOP!" And he didn’t. Sara kept riding the wave of ecstasy she was on for how long she couldn’t even begin to guess. But she knew it was long enough to make her go limp and almost pass out from the sheer pleasure.

As she laid there, her body like that of a rag doll, Van slowly rose over her and asked, “Should I keep going or are you finally going to tell me?”

“Alright…” Sara breathlessly replied. “You win…” He leaned a little closer to her body as she struggled to stay conscious. “She does,” she finally whispered, her eyes beginning to flutter as exhaustion took its toll on her body.

“Sara?” Van asked, seeing that she was getting ready to fall asleep just before their big meeting with Trent Weaver. “Sara, baby, keep your eyes open! Come on, we have work tonight,” he continued, gently stroking her face to coax her back into consciousness. “I promise when this is all over you can go to sleep.”

“Hmm… Sleep,” she mumbled. Van gently pulled her up so she was resting against the wall and stood up to turn on the faucet. Once he had an ample amount of water in his palm, he sprinkled it over Sara’s face, waking her just as he expected to. “Van!” she griped, wiping the excess water off her face.

“At least you’re awake now,” he replied, getting up and heading to the door. “I’ll let you change then I’ll be back to make sure you haven’t passed out. Remember, we’re meeting Trent tonight, so we gotta keep our heads clear.”

“No problem,” Sara said as she gingerly stood up, using the wall to brace herself. When she heard the door close, she put her hands on either side of the sink and took a good look in the mirror, unable to believe that she had just cracked under the pressure like she had.

Once Van was out of the bathroom, he could see the glare on Deaq’s face all the way in the office. Van knew he had heard everything, but if he could get around that little factor, he knew he’d be able to get on Deaq’s good side with the information Sara had just given him.

“Van…” Deaq was ready to dig into him when he held up his hand.

“Before you even start with me, I have some good news,” Van replied.

“What, you gave Sara a triple orgasm?” Deaq sarcastically answered.

Van cocked his head to the side thoughtfully, but soon realized that Deaq was about to kill him and said, “I don’t know, but she did tell me how Vicky felt about you.”  

“Gee, I wonder how you got her to tell you,” Deaq retorted.

“You wanna know or not?” Van shot back.

“Tell me already.”

“She likes you.”

Deaq stared at him, speechless and dumbfounded. That was definitely something he hadn’t expected. He was thinking more along the lines of her just wanting to be friends, but she actually like him? Oh, this was definitely getting good. “As a friend or what?” he finally asked.

“I dunno. That’s something I gotta ask next time,” Van replied, beginning to walk away so he could change.

“But she likes me,” Deaq repeated.

“Yes,” Van called without looking back.

“Thanks,” Deaq hollered to him.

“Hey, it was my pleasure… really.”

Deaq knew there was a big grin on his partner’s face and quickly shook his head wondering exactly what he had done to Sara to make her scream like she did. He shuddered at the thought and quickly pushed it out of his mind. That’s something he REALLY didn’t need to be thinking about at the moment.

Van, on the other hand, continued walking towards the cage where his suit was hanging from one of the steel hooks. He slipped off his clothes, quickly donning the all leather outfit, which fit like a glove. ‘Speaking of gloves…’ he thought, quickly taking off his ring in order to slip on the leather gloves that would keep his fingerprints from getting on any important evidence during the case. Just as he was finishing his transformation, Van heard Sara call from him from the bathroom.

“Hey, could somebody give me a hand over here! I can’t seem to put on my shirt!” she yelled.

“I’m coming!” Van yelled back as he left the cage, closing the door behind him. When he stepped into the bathroom, he found Sara struggling to get the shirt over her head. He laughed softly and straightened it out so that her head finally popped through the top. Her hair was now full of static and almost standing up on end. With his gloved hands, he managed to smooth it out.

“Thanks,” Sara mumbled, leaning into him as she closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of the leather mixing in with his own unique scent which she knew like the back of her hand.

Van kissed the top of her forehead and took hold of her shoulders, pushing her away from him slightly to make sure she didn’t try to fall asleep against his chest. He looked into her eyes to see they were red and droopy. Feeling sorry for her, he whispered, “I promise when we come back tonight, I’ll give you a nice massage and put you to bed. Okay?”

“Mmm… Okay,” Sara replied, giving him a weak smile as she pulled away. “Got any coffee or caffeine pills?” she added.

“Hold on, I think Billie’s got some caffeine pills stashed around here somewhere,” Van said, opening the cabinet over the sink and looking at the labels on the few bottles he found there. “You’re in luck. She does have some.” He gave two of the strong pills to Sara hoping they would do the trick.

“Thank you,” she replied, taking them without water thinking that they’d work faster. “I hope these work, otherwise, you’re in for some trouble.”

“You can give me hell later. Right now, we gotta go,” Van said as he led Sara out of the bathroom towards the showroom where Deaq was already waiting for them, a smile on his face.

“What’s he so happy about?” Sara softly questioned as they walked towards him.

“I… Uh…” Van stuttered.

Sara raised an eyebrow and finished, “You told him, didn’t you?”

Van looked away and replied, “Yeah.”

Sara leaned into him and whispered, “I knew you would.” He looked at here, a puzzled expression coming over his face. “I just wanted to see how you’d get it out of me. Good job, by the way. We should do that again sometime,” she added, seductively, heading over to one of the confiscated bikes she’d be using for the duration of the case, the R6, probably the only bike she’d ride besides her own. Just as she was about to put the key in the ignition, someone’s cell phone began to ring. She knew it wasn’t hers since she had shut the ringer off and kept it on vibrate.

Van reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, quickly answering, “Yeah?”

“Is this Van Strummer?” a strong and powerful voice asked from the other end.

“Yeah, is this Trent Weaver?” Van replied, trying to make himself sound just as important.

“You’re good,” Trent said. “We’ll see just how good when you get here.”

“And where is here?”

“Here is an abandoned warehouse on the corner of Cherry Ave. and East 7th Street in Long Beach . Be there within the next half hour and we’ll see about that job,” Trent answered just before he hung up.

Van pocketed his cell phone and said, “That was Trent .”

“What’d he say?” Deaq questioned.

“He wants us to meet him on the corner of Cherry and East 7th, Long Beach , in half an hour. Piece of cake,” Van replied as he grabbed the keys to one of the tricked out 2003 Mustangs sitting on the showroom floor they had scored off a car theft ring a few months back.

“Alright, let’s go,” Deaq added as he headed for another one of the tricked out cars, a 2000 Eclipse, keys in hand.

“Hey, what’s the plan?” Sara called to the two of the just before they stormed out of the warehouse.

“Just follow me,” Van instructed. “Keep your cell lines open just in case there’s any trouble. I’ll call Billie as soon as we meet Trent .” Deaq and Sara nodded and soon the three of them were off on the freeway heading towards Long Beach and what was possibly the biggest case of their lives.

Chapter 50: Detour

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