Check in on Simon

Simon had the warehouse to himself as the clock crept past the stroke of midnight, continuing his work to EMP-secure the Cadillac, enjoying the quiet of having the warehouse all to himself as even Jenny had gone home for the night.

As it turned out, he was so immersed in his work that he failed to notice someone else entering the garage.

In fact, it wasn’t until he heard her say “Hi” that Simon span round to find that he was in Peregrine’s company, the beautiful young rigger looking a bit awkward as she greeted him, her arms crossed across her stomach so as to inadvertently highlight the impressive swell of her bust.

It wasn’t unusual for the two of them to be alone together in the garage late at night, particularly not since she was the kind of rigger who liked knowing what exactly was being done to the vehicles she drove, but every time that happened Simon would find himself not knowing whether to be absolutely delighted over his luck or to allow himself to be transformed into a nervous wreck.

What had started as a mere reaction to novelty of spending such large amounts of time in the company of a beautiful and “normal” (non-troll) woman had gradually been transformed into something else as Simon became affected by the combination of Peregrine’s great looks and her warm, playful personality, not to mention that the traumas in her past which would occasionally reveal themselves in small bits and pieces served to awaken his protective side. Telling himself over and over again that this was merely a crush, Simon had nonetheless found out that his feelings for the rigger simply wouldn’t go away, and this was pretty bad due to the fact that he was absolutely convinced that a woman as beautiful as her could never feel anything for someone like him. Being transformed into an eight-foot tall hunk of dark green during the latter stages of puberty had done little to strengthen Simon’s self-esteem.

“Hi,” Simon responded, dropping the greasy washcloth he had held in his hands and wishing that he hadn’t pulled up the top of his coveralls and left it dangling around his waist so that his upper body was exposed. The more of his body that Peregrine could see of him was directly linked to how embarrassed he felt in her presence.

“Look, about tonight,” Peregrine began, for once sounding uncomfortable enough for even Simon to pick up on it.

“Yeah?” Simon tried to help Peregrine along as she struggled to say what she had come there to say.

“I’m grateful for what you did and all, but I don’t think that you should do that sort of thing.”

“Why not?” Simon was beginning to wonder what the hell it was that was going on.

“It’s just… I mean, I just don’t want you to go,” Peregrine tried to explain what she meant, but it wasn’t doing Simon much good.

“Oh… okay.” Simon didn’t really sound as though he understood what she was hinting at.

“It’s dangerous, and I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Well, you put yourself at great risk today, so it’s not like your safe and comfortable while I’m risking my life or anything.” Simon protested, letting it be known that he was still naïve enough to think that logic would work well in a conversation about emotions.

“What I do is just part of my job.”

“Fire Fox and Dove aren’t really fit for getting shot at either, have you asked them to stay home as well?” Simon caught himself beginning to sound much too aggressive, but it was too late to do anything about that when the damage was already done, except to censor himself for not thinking before speaking.

“It’s just that I care about you…” Peregrine tried weakly.

“You care about Fire Fox and Dove too, don’t you?” Simon was sounding calmer, but he was still making a terrible mess of what he was actually saying.

“It’s different with you… forget it, coming here was a mistake.” Peregrine decided, and raced towards the exit.