Gaia

Mari never imagined her situation would end up with her spending the night at Eli’s house, let alone completely undressed in his bed. And yet, she wasn’t upset about it. In fact, she was happier than she had been in a very long time. Sure, it was probably a one time thing, but he wasn’t making it uncomfortable and awkward. She caught him looking at her a few times, and he would quickly look away and turn slightly red every time. It was kind of cute, actually.

Eli turned out to be a surprisingly good cook, but they were both too hungry to even bother moving to the dining room or using proper plates and utensils. They just stood by the kitchen counter and ate it while it was still hot. Mari went for the last piece with her fork, just as Eli did the same.

“I made it,” he said.

“Yeah, but I’m a guest in your house,” Mari replied.

“You work for me,” he reminded her.

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he matched with with his own poker face. Soon it was a full blow wrestling match, which he won. Mari laughed as he twisted her arm behind her back, firmly holding her there as she tried to squirm away.

“Do you surrender?” he asked.

“Yes, yes, I surrender,” she laughed.

When he let her go, she pulled him down and kissed him. It clearly caught him off guard, but he dropped the fork and pulled her closer to him, lingering for a while after she pulled away from him. She realized she had her hands clenched around the fabric of his shirt and let go, smoothing it out.

“I should probably feel like shit, because this was wrong,” she said. “But I don’t.”

“I know what you mean,” he muttered. “The best thing to do is to not think about it.”

“Act on instinct?”

“That’s one way to think about it,” he chuckled.

He leaned in almost like he was going to kiss her again, but they both jumped at the sharp ring that interrupted the moment. He cleared his throat and took a step back as Mari picked up the old video phone, seeing Andy’s name on the screen. She sighed, backing away towards the bedroom.

“I’ll just be a minute. It’s Andy.”

“Take your time,” he said.

She hurried into the other room and answered, but when she did, Andy’s face wasn’t the one she saw on her screen. Instead, she saw Marcus, who she and Andy shared a tent with back on the ground. The look on his face wasn’t exactly a reassuring one, either. Mari quickly fixed her disheveled hair and buttoned up the top button on Eli’s shirt, frowning.

“Hi, Marcus,” she said. “Is everything okay? Is Andy okay?”

“Andy is the reason I’m calling,” he said grimly.

Marcus briefed Mari on her brother’s situation, and by the time he was done, tears had welled up in her eyes and her hands were shaking. She took a deep breath and nodded in understanding, thanking Marcus before she hung up and went back to the kitchen, quickly wiping at her eyes before Eli saw her. Still, he obviously knew that something was wrong.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Can I borrow some money?” Mari asked. “I’ll pay it all off, I promise.”

“How much?”

“Just… four million dollars,” she squeaked.

“Four million dollars?!” Eli repeated, raising his voice in utter disbelief. “Mari, what do you need that much money for?”

“They got Andy,” she said, voice starting to tremble again. “His bail is set at that much. I need to bail him out.”

“Slow down,” he said, grabbing her shoulders. “Who has Andy?”

“The enforcers got him,” she explained quickly. “He got busted for drug possession and when they looked him up they found all the other stuff he was wanted for. Eli, he’s in Grelhurst. If you think I’m bold, you can’t even begin to imagine what he’s like. And we both know how many people ‘accidentally’ die in Grelhurst. Please? You have the money, I know you do. I did your taxes.”

Eli sighed, shaking his head as he moved to take a seat at his computer. Mari moved behind him as he logged into a program. She saw him type in Andy’s name, sorting through files until he found the correct Andrew Gold.

“What’re you doing?” Mari asked.

“Pulling up his record.”

“Like, his criminal record?”

“Yeah,” Eli said. “I have access to these things. It’s my job.”

He pulled up Andy’s record, and Mari watched Eli’s expression go from tired, to confused, to completely and utterly shocked. His eyes turned wide as he read over the the file, turning to stare at Mari.

“Mari, you said he was caught for drug possession,” he said slowly.

“I said drug possession, among other things,” she shrugged.

“Yeah, among other things,” Eli said, turning back to the file. “Other things like ‘burglary, aggravated assault, credit card fraud, conspiracy, forgery, identity theft, public intoxication, and attempted murder’. Mari, this is insane.”

“The attempted murder is wrong,” she said defensively. “It was all a big misunderstanding. The other guy pulled a knife on him first.”

“You always talk about your brother like some sweet kid,” Eli said. “This guy is a total thug. You never told me this. I’m surprised he hasn’t already been thrown in Grelhurst.”

“He is a sweet person,” Mari argued. “He always puts everyone else first. He’s my brother, Eli. Watch your tongue.”

“Is that a neck tattoo?” Eli asked, zooming in on the mug shot associated with the file.

“In my defense, I told him not to get a neck tattoo,” Mari said. “I told him, that guy had a dirty needle and it was going to get infected. Plus, old fashioned needle tattoos hurt like a bitch. But he did it anyways. Look, that’s besides the point. Eli, I’m begging you to do this for me. If not for Andy, do it because maybe there’s the slightest chance we could be friends.”

Eli sighed, leaning back in his chair. He looked to Mari, noticing the tears that had betrayed her, and stood up to wipe them away for her.

“Alright, alright,” he said. “I’ll bail your brother out. Please don’t cry, Mari. You can kick and scream and yell at me all you want, but don’t cry.”

“You’ll do it?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you, Eli,” she squealed, hugging him tightly. “I owe you, big time.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” he sighed. “Get dressed. I didn’t think I’d be spending my morning at Grelhurst, so the sooner we go, the sooner we can leave.”

Mari nodded and quickly threw some clothes on, cleaning up her makeup and tying her hair up when she was in too much of a rush to fix and style it. Grelhurst was not attached to any of the towers. In fact, it wasn’t attached to anything. It hovered way above all the towers, and floated around like a cloud. It was disguised by mirrors on the outside so the prison wouldn’t be seen, but on the inside, it was absolute hell. They had to take a special hover bus to get to the prison. The closer they got, the more Mari felt a sense of impending doom. The whole building was guarded by heavily armed androids working alongside even more heavily armed human guards. Mari didn’t even go further than the front offices of the prison, but she still felt on edge. Eli noticed her trembling slightly after he handed over the signed check, reaching out and squeezing Mari’s hand lightly.

“Come on, they told us to wait in the other room,” he said. “Relax. You’re not in trouble. We’ll leave as soon as he comes out.”

“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath as she sat down beside him in the waiting room. “Sorry, I just never thought I’d be here. Thanks, by the way.”

“Yeah, no problem,” he said. “Who needs four million dollars anyways? Pocket change. It’s only four million dollars.”

“Okay, drama queen,” Mari said, swatting his arm. “I wasn’t talking about the money, though I’m incredibly grateful for it. I was talking about not dumping me in a cell here. By now you probably understand that I wouldn’t have lasted very long.”

“You’re welcome for that, too,” he chuckled. “Now calm down a little bit. People are going to stare.”

She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes and trying to block out the terrifying thoughts of the prison she had been avoiding her entire life. It felt like forever before Andy was escorted out with his hands still cuffed behind his back. The two COs that led him out uncuffed him and shoved him towards Mari with bitter looks on their faces. Considering Andy’s smug grin, he hadn’t given them an easy time in there.

Mari almost knocked him over the way she threw herself at him. Not only was she glad to see him out free, but it had been weeks since she’d last seen him. He hugged her back, then noticed Eli over her shoulder and pried Mari off.

“So, that’s how you got the money,” Andy said slowly, staring at Eli with a look that was hard to read.

“Yeah, he did us both a huge favor here,” Mari said. “Eli, this is Andy. Andy, this is Eli.”

Eli reached out to shake Andy’s hand, but Andy stood stiff, looking at Eli like a silly little kid.

“So, you’re the nice kind of kidnapper,” Andy said.

“Pardon?” Eli frowned.

“Andy!” Mari scolded. “Knock it off. He just bailed you out of prison.”

“And I’m happy to take that money back and buy a solid gold piano instead,” Eli snapped.

“Oh, so you’ve got the nerve to sass me back, huh?” Andy laughed. “That’s unbelievable. You keep my sister against her will, and now you think we both owe you something.”

“Andy, stop,” Mari snapped, surprising him. “It’s handled. I handled it. He didn’t kidnap me. I’m here because I want to be. I’ll explain everything later. And you should be thanking him, or you’d be rotting in that cell right now.”

“Thanking him?” Andy said in exasperation.

“Yes, dumbass,” Mari said. “We haven’t even left the prison yet and you’re already starting shit. Come on. And not a word out of either of you.”

“Who’s talking to who?” Eli muttered.

“At least we can agree on one thing,” Andy said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Mari scowled and shoved past both of them on her way out. They were sort of sheepish as they followed her, but she could feel the tension between the two men. Rather than letting Andy go back down to the ground, she forced him to stay with her in the upper levels. He wasn’t a fan of the thought. He didn’t belong there, and he didn’t want to try. Still, he promised not to try and escape Mari’s little studio when she left him there alone to shower and change into some fresh clothes she’d picked up on the way.

She then went back to Eli, finding him with Reuben face down on the floor as Eli adjusted some wires in the android’s back, connecting him to a tablet to adjust his settings. He glanced up when Mari came in, smirking as he looked back at at the android and tightened something with a small wrench.

“You don’t even knock anymore,” he remarked.

“What’re you doing to Reuben?” she asked, ignoring the comment as she sat down next to him.

“Fixing what you broke,” he said.

“Oh,” Mari said, looking at the tablet. “Hey, set his language setting to German.”

“I don’t speak German,” Eli said.

“Yeah, but it’ll still be cool.”

Eli flinched when his finger got pinched by the machine work inside Reuben, wincing slightly.

“Why don’t you call a professional?” Mari asked.

“I just spent four million dollars to bail your brother out of Grelhurst,” he said. “I’m done spending for the day.”

“Sorry about how he was acting,” Mari said. “I really am. I guess I can see why you think he’s a thug. He’s all I have, you know?”

“Yeah, I understand. Don’t worry, I’m not taking it personally.”

“Thanks, Eli. For everything.”

She gave him a kiss on the cheek, making him crack a smile. She liked seeing him smile.