Mika gets involved

After Sister Margaret left the small apartment felt even more empty than before. The Oracle, now wearing Madam Wanda's dress, looked slightly worn out and allowed himself to be guided back to one of the comfortable couches to rest.

As soon as the Oracle drifted off into a deep slumber, Adam excused himself abruptly and fled to the solitude of the boiler room. The sight of the new caramel-skinned Winlay dressed in her provocative costume was more than he could bare; she looked so sensual but he knew better than any man just how innocent she truly was. It wasn't just the flash of her belly or the swell of her full breasts that Adam found so appealing. Winlay really did look like an island maiden from the Barrington archipelago, a young woman who might well have been offered to him or his men for their pleasure, just as she had offered herself just two days ago. The combination was nearly impossible for him to ignore and so before when confronted with this situation he retreated like the coward and knave that he knew he was.

He stared again at a complicated schematic that he barely understood in an attempt to clear his mind, but when the door opened he waited hopefully for Winlay to walk through. Instead of Winlay, it was Mika in her ragged shorts and dirty tunic who stepped through the door and approached him with a determined look on her face.

"What in the name of Old Earth do you think you are doing?" She scolded him. He half lifted the book of electrical diagrams, but she was having none of his evasions. "Don't give me that crap Adam!" She put her hands on her hips and glared at him fiercely. "I've known you longer and better than just about anyone, so don't pretend I can't see what's going on."

"I just can't Mika." He admitted not even pretending to evade her question. "If I relax for even a second I'll pull her into my arms and take everything from her." He wiped the sweat from his face and added softly "I'd ruin her." Mika sat next to him and leaned her cheek against his shoulder.

"What makes you think that you would ruin her?" She asked just as softly.

"Mika!" Adam stared at his longtime friend in disbelief. "We've already destroyed her lifelong dream to be a Sister of Xelta, if I take her virginity what will she have left?"

"She'll have us Adam." Mika met his gaze confidently. "Right now she doesn't think she has anything." Adam could not believe Mika was encouraging him to make love to her best friend. "Adam," Mika continued after a slight pause "I know you are afraid that you won't be able to protect her, but that's not how Winlay sees this. She thinks that you don't want her."

"Of course I want her!" Adam snapped irritably. "But what if Beldan and his thugs find us?"

"Do you really think that will change anything?" Mika challenged him immediately. "If anything don't you think Winlay would prefer to have had a loving experience with a man like you, before being thrown to those dogs?" Adam could see his knuckles whiten and he knew that Mika was right about what Beldan and his fellow Templars were capable of.

"But," he tried again, sensing that he was losing this argument in part because he had to fight his own desires as well as Mika's arguments. "What will happen to her if we do get away, I won't be there for her if, no when," he corrected himself "the council sends me on my next mission." He tapped the wooden table for emphasis. "I might be sent on a suicide mission, then where will she be?"

"You're a self-centered pig Adam!" Mika's bright laughter startled Adam and took the sting out of her words. "Do you think you are the only man on Pandora that sees how wonderful Winlay is?" Adam's mouth opened and closed but no words came out. "And do you really think that any of those other men would really care if she were a virgin or not?"

Mika got up and walked to the door. "I'm going to see if Winlay still has any interest in you after the way you've been acting. If she does then she'll be sashaying in here soon enough, so get ready." She turned back when she reached the doorway and added with a grin as she pointed her finger at him "You'd better treat her right this time."

With that Mika was gone and Adam was left alone wondering if he'd really see Winlay joining him and if she did what he would do.