It didn't take me long to find Piper. She ended up being in the same room I'd left her in only Beck and Chloe were nowhere to be seen. Which was great, let me tell you.
"Jericho," she said, smiling warmly at me when I entered the dim room, "Are you well?"
I'd tried to work up a good way to put the thoughts in my head. Here, check out what it sounded like in my mind.
"Piper, I just want you to know that I'm scared. I've tried to be tough this whole time but now that I'm staring death in the face I must confess I'm hesitent. The world as we know it depends on me facing Klaus and maybe dying in the process. I don't want you to go with me because I'm afraid you'll die, too. I love you, Piper, I do. I want you to make it back to your village and live the rest of your life not having to worry about things that don't even apply to you or your time.
Yeah, that's what it sounded like in my mind.
What I ended up saying was, "So you really like me, huh?"
She nodded.
Crossing over to her, I pulled her up to me and brushed a strand of her blonde hair out of her face, "This is for just in case I die tomorrow," I said, holding the back of her head and planting a one-of-a-kind, bodacious, classic Jericho Johnson kiss on her lips.
Not to brag but seriously, it was a great kiss that lasted around twenty seconds or more.
After it was over she pulled back with her eyes still closed in- I'm not sure, actually, but it probably had something to do with the residual awesomeness I'd just showered her lips with. "And this," she opened her eyes, "Is for if you don't die."
Then she kissed me.
I'm not sure how long that one lasted because, frankly, I didn't have a stopwatch on hand and also don't really feel the need to explain the length of kissing to you anymore.
After another hour with the warrior woman of my dreams, which had more kissing, talking, laughing, kissing, joking, kissing, more laughing, more talking and yes, more kissing in it, I stood.
"I'm going back to the medbay, dearest," I told her, "There's something I have to finish up."
Piper pulled her adorable mouth into a pout. "Are you sure you have to go?" She asked.
Smiling, I brushed my knuckles across her cheek. "Yeah. This is kind of important. But I'll see you tomorrow and if I don't die the day after tomorrow, too."
If you haven't already deduced that I left the hottie Viking chic of my dreams to come sit in a dusty, dark room and record this story for you, then I'll go ahead and say it for you:
I left a hottie Viking chic of my dreams to come sit in a dusty, dark room alone to record this story for you, whoever-you-are.
So if we ever meet up one day, you owe me a coffee, dude.
On my way back to my uncomfortable gurney I ran into Beck on the catwalk. Well, I actually didn't run into her. She was standing in my way with her arms folded so I had to stop when I reached her.
"Evening," I said to her. "Beautiful night, isn't it?"
"It's 10:00 am in the morning." She told me, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, well, I mean, we're underground. Forgive me for not keeping my sundial on hand."
I tried to step past her but she put a hand firmly on my chest. "Look, I know you don't want to die, and all, but the best time to crash Klaus' party is in about nine hours from now. He only comes to his facility twice a week and if we don't act now you'll have to wait till after the weekend and I don't think I can stand to look at your depressed face that long."
"Noted," I said, stepping back and folding my own arms, "So what, we just kick down the back door and start shooting folks?"
"Infiltrating has it's pros and cons. The cons outweigh the pros by a long shot so I think I got a better idea," she said, turning. "Walk with me."
"Geez, but you sure do love telling people what to do," I said, falling in step behind her. The production lines had ceased working below us so the only noise really was the sound of our resounding footsteps on the catwalk. I noticed that my Chucks didn't look near as intimidating as Beck's heeled leather boots, also.
"Where's Chloe, by the way?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. She left after our discussion and I haven't seen her since." We walked the rest of the way to the medbay in silence. Once I was seated in the only chair Beck explained her new plan.
"I can arrange a diversion topside in front of his building when he's on his way out. He won't notice anyone important after having to deal with hundreds of rioters," she said.
Riot.
"Would a passing scientist maybe mistake your riot for a revolt?" I asked.
Beck frowned. "I suppose he might due to what's been going on lately up there."
"And is Klaus' building located in the southern precinct?"
Beck narrowed her eyes at me and answered, "Yes. Why?"
"Just curious," I told her as Atrium Sparks' recollection of my demise rang throughtout my brain.
"Sounds good. I'll kill Klaus while you guys distract his guards and we'll be good to go." Standing, I held out a hand to her. "I appreciate all you're doing. Even if you're only doing it so you won't have to look at my depressing face for a whole weekend."
Beck accepted my hand before pulling me toward her suddenly hard and covering my lips with hers roughly.
Before you start thinking of how I was a backstabbing heart-breaker, let me stop you right there and say that I wasn't expecting crazy girl to kiss me again while holding the front of my shirt like a bully might a kid he was about to cream. It wasn't a long kiss thank God and after she released me she took a step back and put one hand on her hip and looked at me.
"What the heck was that?" I asked in agitaion, touching my lip and seeing a little blood on my fingers.
"Just checking if I still thought you were a bad kisser."
"And?" I replied curtly, spitting blood on the concrete floor.
"Nope," said Beck as she turned to the doorway. "You're still horrible at it."
"So just bite my freakin' bottom lip off, then," I said loudly as she exited the room, "That'll sure help, genius."
So after yet another fun encounter with Beck, I laid down on the gurney and picked my story up where I left off.
So now you're pretty much up to speed, whoever-you-are. Now you know everything I know.
I keep wanting to have this, like, amazing conclusion to all of this and actually wanted to wait until after I'd saved the world to do record it but didn't want to risk, you know, dying and no one getting to hear any of it.
I figure ninety-eight percent of a story is better than none at all when time-travel is involved.
So tomorrow I'm going to face Klaus in the freezing streets of Flagstaff so I guess I'll see what happens in about nine hours.
I'm going to sleep now before I hyperventilate, I guess.
With any luck, I might even get to talk to you after my dance with death.
Peace out, whoever-you-are, and don't forget that, even if I die in a few hours, I'm still awesome.
Epilogue