"This is fan fiction for the Whateley Academy series. It may or may not match the timeline, characters, and continuity, but since it's fan fiction, who cares? To see the canon Whateley Stories, check out Whateley Academy at (http://whateleyacademy.net)"

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Chapter 1

Jake and Mark accompanied Kelly down the sidewalk as they left the small pub. Kelly only lived a few blocks away so he always walked. Both Jake and Mark had begun parking in the same general direction many years ago, not long after they had started their monthly ritual of meeting up at the small pub. Doing so gave them a bit more time to talk about their past and how each other were doing in the present.

Their pace was slow and lazy, mostly for the comfort of Jake, who had over the years let himself go quite a bit. While being the oldest of the group, he looked younger than either Mark or Kelly, had it not been for how obese he had become he would easily be the best looking of the group, with his dark hair and silver sideburns. His desk job had not been kind to him although it had made him and his family quite well off financially.

Mark, two years younger, looked ten years older than Jake. As Mark’s hair diminished he began parting it lower on the side while his barber left that part long enough to go across his bare scalp to provide a thin covering of hair. Kelly had joked that if Mark continued to part his hair lower and lower, he would eventually be parting it at his ass. Mark had not stayed in great shape, but he wasn’t that far out of shape either.

Kelly, the youngest of the group, almost five years younger than Mark, was almost as fit now at 48 years old as he was when the three were in the military. Standing exactly six feet tall, he was no body builder, but his muscles were like steel cables and his body had no fat. One room of Kelly’s three bedroom bungalow was devoted to his exercise equipment. While he did not have allot of different machines, he had three that he could use in various combinations that could provide him with a daily work out that rivaled what he could have done at a gym.

“So you’re gonna come over tomorrow for dinner, right?” Jake looked over at Kelly.

Kelly sighed, “Marie is going to set me up with another one of her friends isn’t she?”

Jake and Mark chuckled, Jake’s wife, Marie had been trying to play matchmaker for Kelly for several years now. She told Kelly constantly that he needed a good Greek wife to cook for him and put some meat on his bones. From the way she talked one would swear Kelly would never eat anything unless she forced him over to their home for dinner. Marie had a heart of gold and treated Kelly like one of the family even introducing him as her adopted younger brother. Kelly thought about the possibility of not showing up. He knew Marie meant well and only wished him happiness in life, but he knew what would happen if he failed to show up tomorrow.

“I know that look on your face,” Jake grinned, “You know if you try to skip out on us tomorrow Marie will send the kids on a snatch and grab mission.”

All three men laughed, Kelly remembered the first time he tried to skip out on one of Marie’s invitations. Their daughter Kelly, who they had named after him, had knocked on Kelly’s door. Little Kelly was only fifteen at the time and her bicycle tire had gone flat and needed a ride home. Later he had found out that Marie had dropped her daughter off around the corner from his house with the bicycle and its pre-flattened tire. For him at least, an invitation from Marie was an order that he knew better than to refuse.

“Yea I’ll be there,” Kelly smiled, “Any idea who she’s trying to set me up with this time?”

Jake gave Kelly an inquisitive look, “Since when has that woman ever leaked that kind of information to me?”

Arriving at the street corner, even though there was not much traffic, Jake pressed the button that would eventually turn the red, ‘Don’t walk,’ sign that faced them from the opposite side of the street to green, ‘Walk.’

Mark was watching the few cars pass and was considering going ahead and walking across, while Kelly stood patiently beside Jake, looking around.

“What’s going on over there?” Kelly saw a group of young men grouped up around the bus stop not one hundred feet away on the same side of the street they were on. By the clothing they wore and their haircuts the group did not appear to be the type you would want to meet on a dark street.

“Please, take what you want,” They could barely hear the cry of a girl come from the group, “Just don’t hurt me!”

Kelly immediately began walking quickly in that direction, followed by Mark with Jake in the rear trying to keep up with his friends.

“HEY!” Kelly yelled after closing half the distance to the group.

One of the young men, dressed in a black leather jacket, jeans and boots, all of which were adorned with several chains of various lengths and sizes turned to face Kelly. The punks head shaved except for his long orange Mohawk, “What do you want grandpa? the punk spat at the approaching men. Why is it the old fucks think they can fuck him me!, He thought to himself as he watched the old man walk toward him and his gang, Fucking old bastards! Anyone else would have looked the other way and walked away, but not this old fuck! We’re gonna have to kill the fucking fucks too! Can’t leave somebody around that knows they grabbed the girl. Fucking old timers, I could be getting his dick wet by now if they hadn’t come along!

“I want to know what is going on here, that’s what I want.” Kelly said forcefully as he continued to close the distance to the group.

“What’s with you old farts, you think because you’re old we won’t kick your ass?” The punk’s yellow teeth showed through his grin. “Walk way now and we won’t have to hurt you gramps!”

Kelly could see the girl being held up against the Plexiglas wall of the bus stop by two of the punks and recognized her as one of the waitresses form the bar they had been in for the past couple hours. She had not waited on their table, but waited on tables nearby so he had seen her walking around often. His eyes met hers and he could see the abject fear in her eyes. “Give the girl back her things and let her go.”

“You didn’t say please.” Mohawk taunted.

“Please.” Kelly smiled at him.

“Fuck you!” Mohawk shouted as the gang of street thugs began laughing.

Kelly stopped five feet away from Mohawk, “I have asked you politely to let her go.”

“Yea?” Mohawk chuckled, “What you gonna do if we don’t? There is only three of you old fucks and seven of us!”

“Ahh hell boy,” Mark chuckled, then motioned at himself and Jake, “We’re just going to watch.” Knowing that a snowball stood a better chance in hell then this gang of punks stood against Kelly.

“No way I’m getting in the way,” Jake chuckled, thinking that this would be very educational to the street thugs, “That would piss Kelly off.”

“Man I am tired of this shit,” Mohawk pulled a butterfly knife from his back pocket then spun it around in a flashy way of opening it, then pointed it at Kelly, “Get outta here or get cut old man!”

“Oh no, He’s got a knife!” Jake said in a terrible impersonation of a frightened girl putting the palms of his hands on each side of his face.

Mark shook his head at Jake’s display, what is Jake thinking! That is only going to egg that stupid kid on more! The idiot with the bad haircut is going to have to attack Kelly or lose face in front of his friends. Peering over at Jake seeing the smirk on his face. You slick jackass, that is exactly what you want. “Kelly go easy on the kid!”

“Yea he can’t help it that he’s that stupid,” Jake continued to taunt Mohawk.

Pointing the knife at Jake, “Shut up old man, I ain’t stupid!”

“Okay but I was afraid if I called you a buffoon you would think I was calling you a monkey,” Jake laughed.

“And I ain’t no fucking monkey!” shaking the knife at Jake.

Ignoring the punk and his knife Jake turned his head to Mark, “See what I mean, today’s education system is terrible!”

“You’ll never cut anyone holding that itty bitty pig sticker that way!” Kelly got the punk’s attention back to himself.

“Please help me!” The girl screamed. A taller punk with dreadlocks backhanded her.

“Crap!” Mark muttered.

“Strike one!” Jake grinned evilly and turned to Mark, “Or was that strike two since dumb-ass already pulled a knife on Kelly?”

“I told you to shut up!” Mohawk yelled.

“I told you to let the girl go!” Anger was beginning to show in Kelly’s voice. Kelly turned his head behind him where Jake and Mark stood, “And that’s enough from the peanut gallery!”

What a fucking moron! Mohawk thought as he saw the old man turn away from him. An opportunity like this almost never happens to me! This mother fucker is dead meat! What a night this is turning out to be, we sold all the drugs at a really cool profit, found us a slut that is gonna give us all a good fucking and I’m gonna gut this old fuck! Mohawk thought as he lunged with his knife at Kelly. Cool the other two are stepping back, they are afraid of me!

Mark and Jake watched the punk lunge at Kelly with the knife and took a few steps back to give Kelly some room, neither wanting to be in the way of whatever Kelly had planned. They knew Kelly had planned something or else he would not have giving the punk such an open invitation to attack. Their best bet was to get out of the way and pray Kelly didn’t kill any of them.

Mohawk saw the old man’s hand move and wrap around the wrist he held the knife in, suddenly Mohawk could not feel his hand, “Argggh!” He screamed as searing pain ran up his arm to his shoulder. He never felt his knife fall out of his hand into Kelly’s other hand, as the old man pulled him around in a circle around the old man until he was let go and stumbled back several steps before regaining his balance. Mohawk stood there for a moment shaking his hand trying to get the feeling back into it.

“Like I said,” Kelly spun the knife around in his hand in the same practiced maneuver that Mohawk had opened it with, this time closing the butterfly knife, “You will never cut anyone holding a knife like that.” Spinning the knife in his hand once again causing it to open with the knife blade pointing out from the bottom of his hand. Pulling the knife’s blade close to his forearm Kelly made a few slashing strokes with his arm, “Like this!” He demonstrated. “And you can stab with more power like this,” Kelly allowed the knife blade to move away from his forearm as his arm moved in a downward thrust. Spinning the butterfly knife once against closed Kelly tossed it back to Mohawk.

Several of Mohawk’s gang had come up while Kelly was demonstrating the proper way to hold a knife in a fight, leaving only two of the gang keeping the girl from running away. Another was holding a bowie style knife and yet another had a length of chain in his hand that draped close to the ground. “GET ‘EM!” Mohawk shouted.

Mark watched from what he thought would be a safe distance, leaning up against a car that was parked along the street behind him. Kelly’s stood his ground, not in any fighting stance but almost as if he was bored as he group of street punks began to from a circle around him, gathering up their courage to attack. Leaning over to Jake, “Think we should warn them?”

“Naw,” Jake shook his head, then pointed to the gang surrounding Kelly, “Look how those two are holding their pig stickers.”

Noticing that Mohawk and the other punk that had a knife were still holding their knives the way Kelly had showed them not to, “Guess you’re right. Think we should help?”

Jake smiled then looked over at the group of punks circling their friend. “If you coordinate your attack, you may get lucky!”

“Yea!” Mark yelled at the punks, “Everyone should attack at once!”

“Who’s side are you two on?” Kelly laughed.

“Yours of course,” Jake grinned, “but it looked like you were getting bored standing there, we thought giving them some tips may make it more interesting for you!”

“I told you to shut the fuck up old man!” Mohawk screamed, pointing the knife at Jake.

“Yep really stupid,” Mark leaned over and said quietly to Jake, “threatening a man with a knife that obviously has a gun on him.”

“Oh?” One corner of Jakes mouth curled upward, “How is it obvious?”

“Oh please!” Mark chuckled, “The old fat guy is not afraid of the punk with a knife. Give me a break!” Mark smiled at Jake, “By the way, great job whoever does your tailoring, you almost cannot see that little extra bulge under your left arm.”

“His name is Alexander,” Jake smiled, completely ignoring the impeding fight that was taking place in front of them, “He does do great work doesn’t he? I’ve been getting all my suits from him for a bit over three years now.” Reaching into his inside jacket pocket Jake produced his wallet, “I have his card here somewhere.” He began digging through his wallet looking for the card. “He’s a little light in the loafers, if you catch my drift, but an excellent tailor.”

Mark nodded toward Kelly and the street gang, “Shows starting.”

“Ah crap,” Jake closed his wallet and put it away, “I’ll find it later.”

The punk with the bowie knife stepped in toward Kelly from behind. The one swinging the length of chain saw this as his opportunity and stepped closer while bringing the chain up over his head at Kelly. Kelly spun, grabbing the knife hand of the first attacker pulling the knife wielder into the path of the oncoming chain. The chain connected with knife wielders shoulder with a loud crack as the force of the impact broke his collar bone. Releasing the punk as he dropped the knife, Kelly continued to spin bringing up his foot to catch the chain swinging punk in the knee of the leg he had his weight on. The steel toe of Kelly’s boot made contact with a loud popping noise as the punk’s knee bent at an unusual angle. The chain swinging punk went down screaming in pain. Another loud crunching sound followed by yet another of the attackers falling down screaming in pain as Kelly changed his stance and brought his other foot up to connect with yet another attacker’s jaw.

That’s not like Kelly at all? Jake thought to himself as he saw the high placed kick connect with the attackers jaw. How many times has he told the rest of us that kicks above the waist are not only showy, but take more energy and time than lower placed kicks that are more debilitating not to mention using them telegraphs your intentions. “Show off!” Jake chuckled at the melee that was taking place in front of him.

Mohawk stepped in pointing the knife at Kelly’s gut. Kelly spun out of the way while deflecting the knife arm to his side, at the same time grabbing Mohawk’s wrist and twisting his arm so that the back of his elbow was pointing straight up. Kelly’s free arm came down in Mohawk’s elbow at the same time that Kelly dropped to one knee. Another loud crack was heard as Mohawk’s arm bent back in a way the human body was not meant to bend.

The last one of the punks stepped in and attempted to kick Kelly in the face while he was down on the one knee. Ducking his head out of the way of the incoming foot, Kelly grabbed the kicker by the heel of the boot he was wearing, while Kelly stood up quickly causing the punk to lose his balance. Holding on to the punk’s foot Kelly raised his hand up over his head as he stood, causing the punk to rise up off the ground and swing like a pendulum, head down past Kelly with the punks pivot point being his foot in Kelly’s hand. The energy of movement transferring to the punks swing, Kelly let go and the punk sailed toward Jake and Mark.

“Hey!” Mark yelled as he jumped out of the way, “You asshole! You did that on purpose!” The punk hit head first in the fender of the car Mark had been leaning against, putting a large dent in the fender and knocking the punk out cold. Kelly grinned evilly at Mark, then turned toward the last of the attackers.

One of the two punks still holding the girl let go and took a few steps toward Kelly before taking a martial arts style fighting stance. This punk ran through a few katas while slowly advancing toward Kelly. Raising his hands in a classic boxing pose, Kelly kicked the punk in the crotch.

“Think we should have warned Bruce Lee that Kelly had a black belt in steel toe boot?” Jake chuckled.

“Ain’t no such thing as black belt in steel toe!” Mark teased.

“Kelly’s got one!” Jake laughed.

“Mmmm,” Mark spoke in a bad oriental accent, “My steel toe is greater than your kung Fu!” and began laughing along with Jake.

Kelly walked over to where the last street punk held the girl, a knife to her throat. “Come any closer man and I’ll Cut her throat!”

Kelly reached behind his back under his jacket producing a very long knife with a blade that had to be over a foot long. Shaped almost like an elongated spear tip, wide at the base it’s straight sides tapering down to a point at the end, the knife glistened as the light reflected off it from the street lights above. “Apparently you have not been paying attention to tonight’s lesson son.”

The punk looked at the knife the old man was holding, then over at his friends lying on the ground, those that were not unconscious were moaning in pain. And the man did all that before pulling the knife! Dropping the knife, he let go of the girl and ran in the opposite direction.

Chapter 2

Bizsnatch, or Biz and the gang called him, for once was glad that they had left him to hold the bitch as he watched the old man rip through the guys like they were nothing. Sufu will take care of the old fuck, Biz thought as he watched his buddy go through his warm up before facing off with the old fuck. Everyone was afraid of Sufu, he had moves that would make Bruce Lee run home. Biz watched as the old man put up his fists like boxers did in those old movies Biz sometimes watched and kicked Sufu so hard in the balls he lifted Sufu off the ground. The old man then turned to Biz and said something, but Biz was so close to pissing himself he did not hear a word the old man said. Dropping the knife Biz turned and ran as fast as he could, not stopping until he had darted into an alley down the street.

From the cover of the alley Biz watched as the three old guys helped the girl to sit down. He continued watching as the cops arrived and then the ambulances that came and carted off his friends, hiding in a dumpster nearby in the alley as the cops searched for him before leaving the old guys and the girl. The old men waited with the girl until the bus arrived that she got on to go home, then they crossed the street and continued walking. Biz made his way across the street without being seen by the old guys and followed them down the street where both the men who had watched the fighting got into two different cars and drove off. The last old guy walked half a block further before going up to a house unlocking the door and going inside. Biz made a note of the address then left to go find Bossman. Biz had no idea what the man’s real name was, as Jason, their leader always called him Bossman. Bossman would want to know about this old fuck and what he did to the crew. Bossman would not be happy since Jason was grabbed with all the money, but it would be better for Biz to be the one to tell Bossman the news, rather than him hearing it from someone else. He’d have to snatch a phone from somewhere but snatching things was what he was best at. A phone at this time of night was another story, not allot of people out in the area, but he wasn’t far from the district, the bars didn’t close there until three in the morning. And it being a Friday night there was sure to be allot of people, half-drunk people that would not realize their phone missing till sometime tomorrow and then probably think they left it at the bar.

Chapter 3

Kelly finished lacing up and tying his boots, checked the front door to make sure it was locked and was heading toward the back door when the doorbell rang. Turning around retracing his steps he opened the front door to find Jake’s daughter Kelly standing there. Kelly Anne Kontos was Jake and Marie’s oldest child at twenty-two years old. Kelly Anne had been named in honor of Kelly. “Hi Kay,” Kelly said when he saw the young woman standing on his front stoop, “Shouldn’t you be at college?”

“It’s the weekend Uncle Kel!” She grinned up at Kelly after looking down and seeing that he was wearing his old combat boots, “And mom asked me to stop by and make sure you didn’t forget and wear combat boots to dinner tonight.”

Looking down at the worn boots on his feet, “These are comfortable.”

“And those pants with that shirt?” The girl looked up at him.

“What?” Kelly held out his arms looking down at how he was dressed.

“I think if it wasn’t for women you men would still be hanging from trees. Let’s go find some decent clothes for you to wear.” The girl stepped under Kelly’s arm entering the house and proceeded down the short hall into Kelly’s room, not bothering to see if Kelly followed her.

“This is the way I always dress!” Kelly protested, then sighed before closing the door and following the girl.

Biz put down the binoculars he has snatched from the store earlier and wrote down the license plate number of the car that the hot girl had drove to the old guy’s house. Wouldn’t mind getting into her pants, Biz thought, then realized the old guy was probably her dad, After the Bossman gets done with him, she won’t have his ass around to protect her.

Biz wondered what Bossman had planned for the old fart. He had been very pissed at his crew until he realized that this old guy was someone he had been looking for. Bossman then got all excited and ordered Biz to watch his house, which is why Biz was sitting on a bench in the park just up the street from the guy’s house watching it. And he would sit watching the old dude as long as Bossman told him to because he knew too well what crossing the Bossman would mean. Even the police outside his crew’s hospital rooms had not stopped the Bosman’s men from making sure they would never talk to the cops. Biz missed the guys, but he knew they had fucked up big time. The Bossman could be your best friend or your worst nightmare, right now he was happy with Biz at finding this old guy and even told Biz that once the old guy was taken care of Biz could have his own crew. About fifteen minutes after the girl went in, the old guy and the girl came out and got in the girl’s car and left. Writing down the time the two left, Biz picked up the book Bossman had given him to read. Looking at the cover, “Sun Tzu: The Art of War.”

Biz was curious why Bossman would give him such a book, but had told him that if he wanted to continue working for him, he would read it. And that the book would also explain how the old man had beaten his crew so easily. Biz wasn’t a big fan of reading, but if this book could tell him how to fight like that old man did he would read it as many times as it took. Biz shuddered at the memory of that fight then opened the book.

Several days later Biz was standing in front of a large desk in an office of a warehouse owned by Bossman. “So, son can you tell me what your old crew did wrong against the old man?” A slightly pudgy man sitting behind the cluttered desk asked.

“We, we underestimated him sir.” Biz was shaking in fear knowing the Bossman was testing him to find out if he had read the book.

“Can you explain how that happened?” The man leaned back in his chair.

“He, he appeared like any other old man,” Biz tried to remember specifics of what he had read. “He acted weak when he was really strong.” Biz sighed in relief knowing he may not have gotten the words from the book exactly right but he was close.

“That’s right!” Bossman’s face showed no emotion, “Appear weak when you are strong, and appear strong when you are weak! He did not appear to be a threat to the group of you. What else did he do?”

“He got Jason really mad, then acted like he wasn’t paying attention.”

“Correct, he deceived you, he lied by acting like he was not paying attention after making everyone mad enough to attack him. To the cops and anyone else watching, he was defending himself against a much larger number of attackers. He had won the fight before it began!” Bossman leaned forward placing his arms on the heavy desk, “Do you understand what that means?” Biz shook his head. “Son that means that win or lose your crew would have gone to jail. Had you been able to take him down, the cops would be hot on your ass for attacking the old man. This guy knows what he’s doing and fights too damn well to be some Joe Blow off the street.” Bossman stated, “I want you to continue watching his place for now.” Reaching for a book on his desk Bossman tossed it across where it landed on the other side of the large desk, “Read this while you do that. I’ve got some people working on just who this fucker is.”

Biz picked up the book looking at the title, “Private Investigation 101,” Before placing it in his messenger bag.

Chapter 4

As Kelly became more and more of an unofficial family member at Jake’s house and their little girl grew older everyone had taken to using shortened names to distinguish between the two, Kay for their daughter and Kel for Kelly. Following Kay into the house Kelly saw Jake and their son Mike sitting on the couch watching a soccer game on TV. From the kitchen they heard the familiar voice of Marie, Jake’s wife, “Kelly is that you? Get in here I have someone I want you to meet.”

Crap, she’s using my whole name. Kelly sighed, That means she does have some woman she is trying to set me up with. Wonder who it is this time? She has got to be running out of relatives by now! Giving Kay a gently shove Kelly said in a low voice, “Your mom wants you.”

Kay giggled, “Not going to work Uncle Kel, we both know she’s talking to you.” Stepping behind Kelly she began pushing him across the living room through the arched doorway into the kitchen.

“Hello Kelly,” Marie cocked her head looking behind him at her eldest daughter, “I’m glad you could make it tonight. This is Helen,” Marie motioned to the only other person in the kitchen. “Helen is my aunt’s husband’s brother’s daughter.”

I swear Marie must be related to the entire state of Florida! Kelly thought. The woman was standing at the counter preparing some food. The first thing Kelly noticed was that Helen had long black hair cascading down her back past her waist. Unlike many of the women that Marie tried to set Kelly up with, Helen was a true beauty, standing there in a flowered green dress that complimented her well maintained hour glass figure. Her facial features were soft but indisputably Mediterranean. “Uh, hello Helen.”

“Geia sas Kelly,” Helen smiled.

“Helen recently moved to Tarpon Springs with her parents, She’s originally from Chicago.” Marie continued spinning her web, “She could use a good honest man to show her around.” Looking over at Helen, “Kelly is like a little brother to me, he owns his own auto repair shop in St. Petersburg. He’s very good with fixing things, without him around I don’t think anything around this house would work.”

“You are good with your hands?” Helen looked timidly over at Kelly.

“He can fix almost anything,” Marie replied before Kelly could say anything, “Although he is a terrible cook. He would never get a decent meal if not for his visits to our home.” Helen’s eyes seemed to light up hearing this statement.

“Marie is a great cook, I have found it impossible to refuse her invitations.” Kelly grinned at Marie.

“Maybe I could cook for you one day?” Helen blushed, her voice not much more than a whisper. I can’t believe I just said that! He is going to think me too bold or pushy. Why am I so worried about what he thinks, I have made my life fine up till now without a man? Mamma and Poppa don’t like the fact that I am over forty without a husband, but that is because they think I need a man to take care of me, I can take care of myself. But this man is very handsome and there is something about him that makes me feel like a little school girl around him.

Did she just offer to cook a private meal for me? Kelly was slightly shaken at what Helen had said, In the American Greek culture a woman offering to cook privately for a man meant allot more than it did in normal circles in America. It meant that she wanted to show him her skills at taking care of the household, preparing dinner. Kelly loved Greek food, but would she be insulted if I did what I thought the right thing to do and ask her out to lunch first? Damn! being around women is worse than trying to walk through a mine field blindfolded! Crap I need to say something before she thinks I’m insulted or something! “I think I would like that.” Kelly smiled over at Helen.” Both Marie and Helen smiled back.

“Maybe you could take Helen on a drive tomorrow,” Marie led the conversation, “Show Helen around Tampa and St. Petersburg.” Looking again at Helen, “And take her to the beach, the beaches they have in Chicago are nothing compared to the ones we have here!”

Excitement was evident in Helen’s eyes at hearing Marie say this, “I could make a lunch to bring with us.” Helen smiled warmly at Kelly, “Do you like gyros?”

“Helen makes a wonderful Tzatziki sauce!” Marie quickly added, “She has made the Tzatziki that we will be using on the Souvlaki tonight.”

“There isn’t much Greek food I don’t like,” Kelly smiled, “And gyros are one of my favorite sandwiches.” Thinking about what they could do tomorrow, Kelly asked Helen, “Do you like to swim?”

“I love the water!” Helen perked up, “It’s one of the reasons I agreed to move down here with my parents.”

“We could hit Clearwater beach,” Kelly suggested, “It’s a great place to swim and there is live bands in the evening.”

Later with everyone in the back yard, while Jake manned the grill cooking the skewered Souvlaki for everyone. The women set out the sides they had prepared on the wooden picnic table that sat in the yard. Helen saw the boat dock at the end of their property and two rather large boats tied to it along with a couple smaller boats and several jet skis. “Those are very nice boats you have Marie.”

“Thank you, we really enjoy getting away on the yacht when we have time.”

“It must be really nice to have a sail boat that you can take off on whenever you wish.”

“Oh the sailboat is Kelly’s, the other one is ours.” Marie informed, “We talked Kelly into docking it here since it seemed he never went out on it without stopping by here first anyway.” Seeing how Helen continued looking at the sailboat, “Do you like to sail?”

“I’ve only done it a couple times and it was on a much smaller boat,” Helen replied.

“I’ve got an idea,” Marie grinned at Helen before turning to where Kelly stood with Jake at the grill, “Kelly, Helen tells me she loves sailing.”

“You best get over there,” Jake said low enough so that only Kelly could hear him, “Cupid has a weapons lock on you,” Jake chuckled knowing how much Kelly loved sailing himself.

As Kelly walked over to the two women Marie continued, “I thought since the both of you love sailing so much, instead of driving around in Sunday traffic you should take Helen sailing. You could see all the great beaches and get some swimming in too.”

As much as Kelly liked sailing, he worried that Marie was pushing the two of them together way too fast. “I’m sure Sarah would love to go too.”

Marie began shaking her head, “No Sarah has homework she had to finish tomorrow.” Sarah, heard her name mentioned and looked over at her mother. Marie gave her teen daughter a look that told Sarah not to say a word. “And you two don’t need to be stuck babysitting.”

Sarah glared at her mother for even thinking she needed a babysitter, but knew better than to say a word. Her mother was trying once again to find Uncle Kel a wife, something her mother had been trying to do for as long as Sarah could remember and something Sarah knew from experience it was best to stay out of.

Realizing he was fighting a losing battle Kelly turned to Helen, “You don’t happen to like fishing do you?”

“Poppa used to take me fishing with him all the time on Lake Michigan.” Helen smiled genuinely.

“Well then, why don’t I pick you up in the morning, we can drive over here and take the boat out.”

“That sounds wonderful!” Helen smiled.

Chapter 5

Kelly decided on driving the Camaro to pick up Helen. The forecast was for a beautiful sunny day and it was the only convertible he currently owned. It being a fully restored 1968 SS Camaro and being his pride and joy may have also had some bearing on his choice of transportation. Kelly had planned on stopping and picking up some bait fish and shrimp to do a little fishing on the trip, but that morning Marie had called to tell him that she had their son Mike stock the boat with everything they would need for their day trip, with plenty of ice, drinks, bait for fishing, everything Kelly and Helen would need for an enjoyable day. Kelly knew that Marie probably had something up her sleeve but decided whatever it was couldn’t be that bad. Hell he actually liked Helen and she seemed to have allot of similar interests with Kelly. Maybe Marie had actually introduced him to a woman he was compatible with?

Helen was watching out the front window as the Jade green convertible with two wide white stripes on the hood pulled into their driveway. “Helen get away from that window!” Her elderly mother scolded, “You don’t want him to think you are too anxious!”

“Yes mama,” Helen retreated from the window.

“Do you have your things packed for the boat ride dear?” The elderly woman asked.

“Yes mama.”

“Then go up to your room and wait for me to call you.” Helen’s mother motioned with both hands to get Helen out of the room.

“You should leave the poor girl alone mama!” An elderly man said from where he sat reclined in an easy chair watching the television, “I think she likes him.”

“Likes him or not, I’ll not have her throwing herself at a man I have not yet met!” The elderly woman snapped at her husband. “It isn’t proper.”

“Like you threw yourself at me?”

“I did no such thing you old geezer, You chased me!”

“Yea sure you ran,” the old man chuckled, “You ran straight at me!”

“Quite, papa he’s here,” The old woman had a thought, “I do hope he’s Greek Orthodox.”

“Mama if he isn’t I’m sure he will be by the time you are done with him.” The doorbell rang halting their playful bickering.

“Go answer that poppa.”

“But you’re already up!” The old man said right before receiving the evil eye from his wife. “Alright, I’m going.” He said putting the foot rest down on his chair and climbing out of its comfort.

“Hello Mr. Poulos?” Kelly asked once he saw the older man as the door opened.

“Yes, you must be Kelly.” Mr. Poulos reached out his hand in greeting.

Kelly took his hand firmly giving it a shake, “Yes sir, Kelly Lekka. I’m here to pick up Helen.”

Standing aside Mr. Poulos motioned for Kelly to come in the house, “Please come in, and please call me Ed.” Kelly nodded and entered the house. Ed closed the door and followed Kelly in offering him a seat. Kelly sat down on the couch, while Ed walked back over to his easy chair. “So Helen told us you have a sail boat?”

“Yes sir, I mean Ed. I’ve had it for a couple years now, traded in one that I had for almost ten years for the larger one I have now.”

“Oh so it’s large enough to have a cabin and a bathroom onboard?”

“Yes, only one bathroom but three staterooms, although one of them I normally just use for storage. It also has a small galley, fridge, stove, sink, you know.”

Ed realizing this boat was allot larger than he first presumed, “How large is this boat of yours?”

“It has a 38 foot waterline and a 54 foot mast.” Kelly saw from the look on Ed’s face that Ed was impressed.

“You do any fishing?” Ed asked, leaning forward toward Kelly in his chair.

“As much as I can get away with,” Kelly grinned.

“What do you do for a living Kelly?” Mrs. Poulos interrupted as she sat down in another chair.

Looking over at who Kelly presumed was Helen’s mother, “I own an automotive shop in Tampa. Mostly repair work but we do some customization work also.”

“So this garage of yours, you work it alone?” Mrs. Poulos quizzed.

“Unfortunately I don’t get to do much of the hands on work anymore.” Kelly confessed, “Too much paperwork to do. I have several mechanics, a few guys that specialize in body repair and paint, some that detail cars and a handful that do custom work. All total around 30 guys working in the shop although in the summer there is more as I try to give as many summer jobs as I can to the local high school kids taking automotive classes.”

Mrs. Poulos nodded, what Kelly told her apparently meeting her approval, “I should go see what’s keeping Helen.” Standing up from the chair she walked out of the room.

Ed chuckled after she had left, “Son, I think that was the shortest inquisition that woman has ever given a guy before.”

“I take it that is a good thing?” Kelly asked.

“I’d say she was impressed.” Ed grinned, “Hell you got me with fishing, I love to fish. One of the reason I moved down here. You can fish year round and in the winter without having to dress up like an Eskimo and drill a hole in the ice! Just don’t tell the old woman that, she’d skin me alive.”

Kelly carried his duffel bag, along with a large beach bag and picnic basket that Helen had brought, out to the boat. Helping Helen onto the boat he carried their things down into the cabin. “Which cabin would you prefer Helen?” Kelly turned toward her as she came down the steps. “The forward cabin has windows and the skylight, the aft cabin only has a small window.”

“Which one do you usually use?”

“Normally the aft cabin,” Kelly answered, “I see in the dark really well, and Jake and Marie’s girls love the odd shape and windows of the forward cabin.”

“I’ll take the one up front then.” Helen stated, “I don’t want you to have to move anything on my account.” Kelly sat the picnic basket down on the galley table and led Helen to the forward cabin, where he sat her bag down on the bed. “This is really nice.” Helen complimented Kelly on the interior of his boat.

Back in the main area of the cabin, Kelly gave her a short tour, The fridge is there, by the sink, the door beside that is the head, the next door is the cabin I’ll use. The one on the other side of the steps I use for storage, but it’s also a bedroom.”

“What’s a head?” Helen looked confused.

“Sorry,” Kelly apologized, “It’s a naval term for bathroom.”

“Why is it called a head?”

“I think it has to do with the bathrooms were always behind the figurehead, you know on those old sailing ships where they had figures of women or birds and such carved on the bow. Instead of saying some of the rather colorful words to describe where the sailor was going he would just say he was going to the head.”

“Oh, I guess that kind of makes sense.”

Kelly grinned, “Not sure how true that story may be, but it was the one I was told.”

“I should put some of the things I brought into the refrigerator so they stay cold,” Helen turned to the picnic basket on the table, opening it and pulling a handful of wrapped items out before turning to the fridge.

“Okay,” Kelly said, “I’ll go get things ready to cast off while you do that.”

Jake, Marie and their whole family was there to wave them off as Mike helped cast off the last of the boats mooring lines when Helen came up the steps from below deck with a bottle in her hand, “What’s this?” Helen held out the bottle of Metaxa Grand Reserve.

The small engine was just beginning to pull the boat away from the dock. Jake saw the bottle in Helen’s hand and shouted, “A gift! Grand Reserve to ensure you both have a grand time!”

Shrugging her shoulders Helen asked Kelly, “I didn’t know you could buy anything better than twelve star?”

“Jake has it sent over from Greece.” Kelly grinned sheepishly.

“Well this we’ll save for later,” Helen turned to go back below deck to put the bottle back in the fridge beside the bottle of seven star she had stashed inside the picnic basket.

Once out in the channel Kelly killed the engine and brought up the mainsail. The boat lurched forward as the sail caught wind, two miles later they cleared the inland waterway and Kelly pointed the boat north before raised the jib. The boat leaned to the side as the forward sail caught wind propelling them even faster forward. Less than ten minutes later Kelly turned the boat due south as they passed the northern end of Anclote Key. Trimming the sails as the boat began to straighten out of its lean then lean in the opposite direction, Kelly motioned for Helen to sit beside him. “Take the wheel, he grinned. Helen grabbed the large wheel in front of them smiling, “Hold her steady to the south,” Kelly pointed at the compass in front of them, “and stay about this far away from the islands. We can get closer but I like to give the morons in powerboats plenty of room. Too many of them like to show off when they see pretty girls on the beaches.

“This is wonderful!” Helen smiled wide. “I’ve never driven a boat this big before!”

“This is the largest one I’ve had, My last one was only 27 ft. and had a single cabin,” Kelly said proudly, “It had a draft of five feet, As big as this one is it only has a draft of six feet and the mast is only fifteen feet higher. So it can go almost anywhere I used to take the old one, plus it’s equipped better for deep water.”

“How far have you taken it?”

“Jake and I have taken his family down to Key West a couple of times that’s about 250 miles.” Kelly confessed.

“250 miles by boat?” Helen gasped.

Kelly grinned, “It’s actually a pretty nice two day trip. We usually anchor for the night around Fort Myers or Naples, then head on south to Key West at first light. For long trips like that I’ll use the spinnaker,” Pointing at the front sail. Seeing the look of confusion in Helen’s face Kelly explained further, “It’s those big colorful sails you see ballooning out in front of a sailboat. A spinnaker gives you more speed, but you give up maneuverability.”

“So you said we could fish while we are out?” Helen asked. “I’ve never been deep sea fishing, do we have to go out too far to do that?”

“Not really,” Kelly looked over at the computer screen on the console, “We’re already in sixty feet of water.” Reaching over he moved the wheel slightly turning them so the islands that were off to their left were now behind to the left. Trimming the sails to the change in the winds direction, “If you want to hold us steady in this direction I’ll go get the rods ready.”

Smiling at Kelly, “Could you take the wheel while I go change? I brought something much more fitting to wear out here.”

Slightly over ten minutes later Helen came up from below deck in a dark blue bikini that left no question to her natural beauty. Stopping a few feet away from Kelly, Helen smiled over at him, “I take it from that expression, you approve?” she held her arms out to her sides and did a slow spin around, giving him a good look.

“You look amazing!” Kelly gasped.

“Why thank you.” Helen said, walking over and sitting close beside him. “You wanted me to take the wheel while you got the fishing poles ready?”

“Um, yea.” Kelly had a difficult time taking his eyes off the gorgeous woman beside him. Walking ahead of the steering console, Kelly opened a hatch in the floor and retrieved a deep sea rod, which he sat and readied then baited before securing it in a special holder on the far corner of the boat’s transom. Going back and repeating the process with a second rod that he placed in a similar rod holder in the opposite rear corner near where they sat.

Over twenty minutes later, with no action on their fishing rods, Kelly spotted the signs of birds feeding on a school of fish. Turning the boat in that direction Kelly could see the school of bait fish jumping like crazy. Maneuvering the boat so that he came at the school of bait fish at an angle that would bring their fishing lines into the feeding frenzy without the boats hull chasing off whatever fish were feeding on the bait fish, Kelly told Helen to watch the lines as he prepared to furl the sails to stop the boat.

Kelly hit the button and held it down as the electric wench rolled up the jib sail. He was reaching for the one that would furl the main sail back into the mast when the reel on the rod furthest from them began screaming as line was peeled off it as something took the bait and ran. “Go ahead, that one is all yours!” Kelly grinned at Helen, who jumped down off the bench and went over to pick up the rod to begin fighting the fish they had caught. Kelly had already hit the button that powered the electric wench that would reel in the main sail.

Helen began trying to reel but the reel was still screaming as whatever she had hooked pulled more line off the reel. “Take up some of the drag,” Kelly instructed, “The star wheel by the crank handle, turn it forward a half turn.” Kelly began reeling in the second pole as fast as he could, so that the fish Helen was fighting would not tangle the two lines together.

Turning the star wheel like Kelly said seemed to slow down how fast the line was being pulled off the reel. Helen quickly realized that whatever was on the other end of her line was the biggest fish she had ever caught as she felt how strongly it pulled against the pole in her hands. “Turn it another quarter turn.” Helen followed his directions and the pull became heavier but less line was being pulled off the reel. “Don’t reel, just hang on until it wears its self down some.” It felt like an eternity to Helen but in less than ten minutes the line stopped being pulled off the reel in her hands. Helen began reeling in as she let the end of the rod dip down toward the water, then pull the rod up again, reeling in the line as she let the rod drop down. Whenever the fish began pulling line off the reel again Helen would stop reeling until the fish tired then begin reeling again.

Twenty minutes in the fight against the fish Kelly asked Helen again if she wanted him to take over and give her a break, but once again she refused. “I want to be able to tell Poppa that I caught this, whatever it turns out to be!” The grin on her face was evidence that she was not kidding. Helen looked as happy right now as a small child on Christmas morning. Kelly started up the boats small diesel engine so that he could maneuver the boat keeping the fish to the rear of the boat so it would not run under the boat and foul the line causing Helen to lose the fish.

Another fifteen minutes went by and the fish broke the surface. Kelly grinned at Helen, “I hope you like Tuna.”

“I caught a tuna?”

“Well it’s not in the boat yet, but that is what it looked like.”

A few minutes later the fish made one last ditch effort to get away, stripping some line off the reel but eventually tired out, Helen brought it up along the side of the boat where Kelly used a gaff to pull it up on the stern of the boat. “It’s a blackfin.” Kelly announced after making sure Helen’s catch wasn’t going anywhere but on ice for the trip home.

“I thought you said it was a tuna?”

“Yes,” Kelly grinned, “A blackfin tuna, and a very nice size one at that!” Kelly hefted the tuna up while carrying it to the center of the cockpit area. “It must go at least twenty five pounds!”

“Can we take a picture?” Helen asked.

“I’ll do better than that,” Kelly smiled opening a hatch and pulling out some small rope and a very large fish scale that he attached to the arch, then tying a length of rope around the tail of the fish with a loop in it, Kelly hoisted it up onto a hook on the bottom of the scale that he had suspended from the arch. The large scale was easy to read and the needle stopped at twenty seven and a half pounds. “Helen this is a very nice one. Does your phone do pictures?”

“Of course.” Helen walked around the hanging fish to go get her phone. Coming back up from below deck while looking at her phone, “I don’t have a signal though.”

“We’re a bit far out for one, but you should get one on our way back in. You can send the picture to your folks then.”

Helen handed over her phone after making sure Kelly knew how to use its built in camera. After taking several with her phone, Kelly pulled his from his own pocket and took a few for himself of Helen posing with the fish she caught. After packing the fish in an ice cooler built in the deck Kelly used some sea water to wash the fish blood off the deck so neither would slip on it and so that it would not begin smelling later. Unfurling both sails they began their trip back toward the coastline.

The two had a late lunch of gyros that Helen had made for them along with a glass of Metaxa while anchored in about twelve feet of water just off the coast of Clearwater beach. The shadows were becoming quite long when Kelly pulled the boat up to the dock behind Jake’s home. Tying the boat off, Kelly and Helen saw a crowd of not only Jake’s family but also Helen’s parents coming across the lawn toward them.

“Did you have a good time dear?” Helen’s mother was first to speak.

“Mama you have got to see the size of the fish I caught!” Helen was grinning from ear to ear. Kelly lowered the swim platform to make it easier for them to get off the boat onto the dock. Mike jumped over with a large garbage bag to help Kelly offload the tuna without dragging it across the deck or the lawn.

“Girl, I think you’ve made a great catch!” Helen’s father grinned, then added, “The fish is nice too.”

He grunted as his wife’s elbow dug forcefully into his ribs. “Poppa!” She scolded. Both he and Jake chuckled. Marie stood straight faced barely able to contain her amusement and joy that Helen and Kelly were hitting it off so well.

The evening ended after a large party where the Tuna was butchered and served in a variety of ways on the grill along with many side dishes Helen’s mother and Marie had prepared earlier. The bottle of Metaxa came out at some point which the adults all shared.

Chapter 6

“Well look what the cat dragged in!” A pretty blond girl sitting on a stool behind the counter said when she saw Kelly walk in. The girl looked to be in her mid-twenties wore a blue tee shirt with a large company logo on it. Although most men would not notice the logo as they would be staring at her D cupped breasts that stretched the fabric of the shirt. Her shoulder length blond hair was pulled back into a pony tail that used the hole in the back of a ball cap that also carried the same logo, to hold it in the pony tail.

Lucky for Kelly he had a dark tan or the girl would have seen him blush. “Went fishing yesterday and made a great catch, twenty seven and a half pound tuna. Everyone decided to have a cookout and grill the tuna we caught when we got back. It was so late when we were done, I spent the night at Jake’s.”

Holding out her hand, “Hand it over.”

Kelly knew what she wanted without asking. Ever since Kelly brought in a picture he had framed of a blue marlin he had caught, Gwen had ran off any pictures of fish he had taken and put them on the wall behind the counter along with the picture of the marlin. “I’m not sure this one should go on the wall.”

“Why is that boss?” Gwen, the blond girl questioned.

“I’m not sure Helen would be okay with it.”

“Who’s Helen?” Gwen asked.

Figuring it was easier to show her than explain, Kelly pulled out his cell phone and brought up a picture of Helen posing with the fish. “That’s Helen, she was the one who brought in the tuna.”

“Wow nice catch boss!” Gwen grinned evilly at him.

“Helen caught it.”

“I wasn’t talking about the fish,” Gwen laughed. “So the two of you, all alone on that big boat of yours, sounds pretty romantic?”

“Um yea, I guess it kinda was,” Kelly stammered.

“I think this one we’ll hang in your office.” Gwen giggled, “Don’t need the guys drooling over the boss’s girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Kelly stated.

“Are you seeing any other women?” Gwen knew the answer to this without asking.

“No.”

“Is she seeing any other men?”

“She said she wasn’t.”

“Okay,” Gwen continued, “Do you both plan on continuing to see each other?”

“Um yes,” Kelly realized where Gwen was leading.

“Then she is your girlfriend.” Gwen grinned.

The rest of the day went very quickly as Kelly dove into the paperwork that seemed to grow larger no matter how much he sifted through. Several times during the day Kelly thought about calling Helen, but stopped himself. Kelly had heard most of his life that he should never call a girl the very day after a date, always wait until at least the second day following the date to call. Every time Kelly noticed the phone on his desk, he found himself reaching for it before he even realized what he was doing.

Helen sat in the kitchen with her mother helping to prepare lunch. Her mind wandered into her memories of yesterday. The look on Kelly’s face, when she came up from the boat’s cabin in her bikini, told her that she still had it where it counts, even at forty three years old she could turn heads. Helen had not been enthusiastic about meeting Kelly at first but between her mother and Marie they had talked her into going and meeting the man. I am so glad now they would not take no for an answer! Helen thought to herself. The moment she saw him she could feel the connection deep within herself to him. Not that he was male model material or anything, but he was very pleasing on the eyes. It was something else about him that made her want to do anything in her power to please that man. It was quite unnerving at first, to feel that way about someone she had only just met, but he was so kind and gentle. He seemed to worry about everyone but himself.

Marie had warned her about Kelly’s scars and how self-conscious he was about them, although she was still a bit shocked at the amount of them on his body when he took off his shirt on the boat. Still she did as Marie had advised and tried not to ask about them. Marie had explained that the scars had come from his military days and were due to Kelly trying to save the lives of his friends. Marie had also shown Helen the medals that Kelly did not know Jake had kept. Kelly had tried to lose each one soon after he received them. Mark and Jake had seen to it that they were put away for safe keeping should Kelly ever want them back or if nothing else give them to his children one day if he ever has any.

Helen’s mother saw her daughter looking over at the phone that hung on the wall in their kitchen for what seemed like the twentieth time in the last half hour, “He’ll not call today child,” Her mother cautioned, “He needs time to think about how he feels toward you, and you need to do the same.”

Looking over at her mother, “Mama how soon after you met poppa did you know that he was the man for you?”

“I think I knew the same day I met him,” Her mother grinned, “But it took him much longer to realize it.”

“What should I do?”

“Pay attention to what you’re doing before you cut yourself.” Helen’s mother motioned at the knife in Helen’s hand, “He will call tomorrow, and Wednesday we’ll prepare a very nice lunch that you can take down to him at work. How’s that sound?”

“How do you know he’ll call tomorrow?” Helen blushed.

“Because men believe they need to wait or they will look desperate.”

“That’s stupid!”

“No matter how you feel about him, he is still a man,” Helen’s mother chuckled. “They all do stupid things.”

“How long have you been staring at that phone?” Gwen asked after poking her head into Kelly’s office. Kelly sat there as if deep in thought staring at the phone on his desk. “Boss?” Gwen attempted to get his attention again. “Kelly your Camaro is on fire!”

“Huh? What?” Kelly looked over at Gwen.

“I wanted to know how long you’ve been sitting there staring at the phone?”

Kelly looked back at the phone then to Gwen, “Um, I was thinking about something.”

“More like someone.” Gwen grinned, “I’m betting that someone was Helen.”

“Am I that obvious?” Kelly asked.

“To a woman, yep I can see that you’ve got it bad.” Gwen’s grin widened, “You should call her.”

“I, I want to but,” Kelly paused, “It, it would make me look like, like…”

“It would show her that you are interested!” Gwen corrected. “And that you enjoy being with her.” Grabbing Kelly by the arm and pulling, “Come on.”

“What?”

“I’m driving you home!” Gwen pulled until he rose from the chair, “The way your heads twisted right now, you’ll end up running a light or something and end up in the hospital or worse.”

Chapter 7

Helen arrived at Kelly’s shop just before noon with a large picnic basket in hand. She had worn a light gray chiffon halter dress, cinched at the waist by a thin white belt and three inch wedge sandals. Gwen looked up from the computer she was working on behind the counter, “Hi Helen, I’m glad to finally meet you!” Gwen beamed a wide smile.

“You must be Gwen?” Gwen nodded at Helen’s question. Walking across the room Helen sat the basket down on the counter, opened it and pulled a dish covered with aluminum foil out that she held out to Gwen, “This is for you.”

Taking the covered plate raising it to her nose she took a whiff of the hidden contents, “Thank you, It smells wonderful?”

“There is Spanakopita, Fashoulakia, Moussaka and Baklava.” Helen reached in and retrieved a small covered bowl, “and a salad.”

Gwen’s eyes lit up hearing the great lunch treat Helen had given her. “Bribery will get you everywhere!” Gwen laughed, “He’s in his office, if you want to go on back?” Gwen pointed to the door behind the counter.

Helen was looking at all the framed photos of Kelly with various fish that apparently he had caught hanging on the wall behind the counter, “Kelly catch all those?”

“Yes ma’am!” Gwen grinned.

“Hmmm, I would think he would have put up the photo of the tuna we caught last week too?”

“I’m the one that puts them up,” Gwen stated, “I did make a copy of that from his phone, but put that one in his office.”

“Whys that?” Helen quizzed.

“Kelly was afraid of putting up a picture of you in your bathing suit out here in the waiting room.” Gwen explained.

Helen grinned evilly while picking up the basket and walking around the counter to Kelly’s office. Knocking on the door she waited until she heard him say enter before going in. Kelly looked up and grew the widest smile possible when he saw Helen enter his office before jumping up and rounding the desk to take the basket and giving her a warm hug.

“I can get used to greeting like this,” Helen whispered into his ear.

“I’m so glad to see you,” Kelly pulled back to look into her eyes.

“I have missed you too.” Helen smiled back, “Although there is something I need to fix real fast.” Helen looked around until she found the picture of her and the tuna she caught. Releasing Kelly she walked over and took the picture off the wall and walked out where she handed it to Gwen, “You should put this with all Kelly’s other catches.”

Kelly had followed her to the doorway, “But you caught that Tuna.” Kelly stated.

“Who’s talking about the fish?” Helen laughed.

Gwen snorted trying to hold back laughter while taking the picture from Helen, “I’ll make sure it gets put up.”

Helen and Kelly went back into his office to eat, while Gwen sat at the counter and ate the wonderful meal that Helen had given her. After Helen had left Gwen slipped inside Kelly’s office, “Boss can I say something?”

“You know you can Gwen.”

“Helen is a keeper!” Gwen grinned, “If you even think of throwing her back, you’re insane!”

“I wasn’t planning on it.” Kelly smiled.

“Good, so can I ask a favor?”

“What?”

“When you marry her will you two adopt me? That was the best meal I have ever had in my life!”

Kelly began laughing while he crumpled up a piece of paper into a ball and threw it at Gwen, “Get back to work!”

Gwen dodge the paper laughing then closed the door behind her as she left his office.

Chapter 8

Kelly and Helen were married on the third of June in Helen’s church. The wedding was small consisting of family and friends and Jake insisted that the reception was held in his very large backyard. Jake and Marie threw a huge party including roasting a lamb over the fire pit in the back yard. It was a grand affair that everyone would remember for years to come.

The two spent their honeymoon on a two week trip on his boat down into the Florida Keys eventually stopping in Key West before returning home. Both had discussed such a short courtship and engagement but neither could imagine life without the other now that they were together. Helen also wanted to give herself to him, something she could not do before they were married, and something she had never considered giving to any man until she met Kelly. Her love for Kelly was boundless and she wanted to give him a child. Something that a long engagement could reduce the chance of her being able to do if she waited much longer. Even at her current age there would be risks, risks that she was willing to take to bring her and Kelly’s child into the world.

Three weeks after they returned from the honeymoon trip thing had begun to settle down in their life. Helen had also began helping Kelly at the shop, freeing him from much of the paperwork he dug through every day, allowing him to get out in the shop doing what he loved. One thing Kelly’s shop had begun branching out into was custom grills and smokers.

Building grills was something that the shop came into quite by accident when a customer saw one of the mechanics working on one that he was building in his down time and said how he had been looking for someone to custom build one for him. When Helen found out about this side of the business she talked with Kelly about having one for everyone to use around lunch at the shop. The new grill was a big hit, and it seemed someone always found time just before lunch to get it fired up and begin grilling hot dogs, sausages, chicken and burgers that Helen now kept stocked in in a fridge in the shop.

It was late evening, Kelly and Helen sat together on the couch in their living room sharing a glass of wine, enjoying the peace and quiet before heading upstairs to bed. Kelly saw the headlight of a car careening into their yard right before the large picture window shattered in a hail of gunfire. Holding Helen tighter, Kelly kicked off the floor with his feet, tipping the couch over backwards as they sat in it. Just as they landed behind the overturned couch Kelly heard something large hit the floor and a large orange flash blinded him momentarily as the explosion threw the couch with them behind it up against the far wall.

When his vision returned Kelly saw that everything in their living room was shattered and ablaze. Even the walls were burning. A sticky substance covered everything that was in direct line of the blast, the only place not on fire was the small area behind the couch where the two lay, and that substance burned with intensity. Even if Kelly had not realized what the burning substance was, the smell was a dead giveaway for someone that had seen it used in the military, napalm.

He had to get them out of there before the smoke and fumes killed them. Reaching over to the unconscious Helen, Kelly saw blood. OH FUCK! NO! NOT HELEN! His thoughts went wild at the sight. Giving her a fast once over, she was bleeding from her left breast. Oh shit, NO! Kelly’s mind screamed, the wound would be close to her heart, Please God, don’t let her die! His mind screamed again. No time for this Kelly, won’t make any difference if you both die in the fire, you got to get her out of this house NOW! His mind raced, time seemed to slow as he looked at his options. There was an unknown number of men in a car outside shooting at them. Helen was shot in the chest and the house was on fire!

Reaching into the burning couch Kelly dug until he found his old Colt 45 and pulled it from its hiding spot. Raising only his hand above the couch he fired off three quick rounds back through the now shattered window without aiming. Knowing human nature would make the attackers duck, giving him time to raise up and make the next shots count. Two shots in quick succession into the front passenger window, into the man holding what Kelly recognized as an H&K MP5. Kelly prayed that one of those shots would hit the driver too as he took aim at another man holding a large revolver standing behind the open rear door. Two more shots and that man was down. Looking back at the front window the passenger with the MP5 was slumped over. Kelly dropped the now empty handgun and turned his attention back to Helen. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a bottle with a flaming rag on its end flying toward them. Quickly covering Helen’s body with his own, Kelly braced for the inevitable pain.

The bottle hit the wall above them showering them in flaming fluid. Kelly screamed as the sticky fluid covered him in flames. Reaching under Helen he picked her up, Kelly was finding it hard to see through the flames that engulfed him, but he stood and staggered through the flames until he fell out the window with Helen. The last thing he remembered was hearing sirens in the distance.