Alien Diplomacy

it’s helpful, as opposed to a tiny bomb that’s going to go off the moment we relax.”
    The com activated. “Chiefs, Commander Reader is suggesting everyone regroup in the morning. Imageering is fully focused on fixing today’s incidents, and all available Field teams are needed elsewhere.”
    Jeff and I looked at each other. “What’s going on?” I asked.
    “We’re having clustered activity, Chief.”
    “We haven’t had that since…” Jeff’s voice trailed off and his eyes narrowed. “Where is the action, Walter?”
    “Paraguay. In the Chaco. Commanders Reader and Crawford are insisting that all Embassy personnel remain here, Chiefs.” Walter sounded as though he didn’t want to share this news. “Your father is secured, Co-Chief Martini,” he added, clearly hoping this news would mean we didn’t rage about being under Embassy Arrest.
    I decided I was too cold and tired to fight. “Okay, good to know. I assume Mom and Chuckie are going to be all night with the creeps?”
    “That appears to be their feeling, yes, Chief.”
    “Fine, Walter. Thank you.”
    “Signing off, then, Chiefs.”
    Jeff shook his head. “I’d be upset about this, but under the circumstances, let’s just let James and Tim handle it.”
    “Works for me. I swear. And I’m proud of you for not racing off to help.”
    Jeff grunted as we started peeling our clothes off. I didn’t despair as I looked at my stained and soggy Aerosmith shirt and Converse—the Elves had salvaged clothes of mine in much worse states than these were.
    The Embassy was really like living in the most luxurious penthouse you could imagine, to the third power. So the bathroom was extremely nice. The Elves handled all the cleaning, which was good, since my housekeeping skills remained cheerfully unimpressive.
    “Bath or shower?” Jeff asked.
    “Both?”
    I must have sounded overly hopeful, or he was merely reading my mind, because he got the expression on his face that always reminded me of a big jungle cat about to eat me. I loved that look. Besides, for us, escaping death was sort of like foreplay.
    Jeff turned on the tub and, as the water filled up and the bathroomstarted to steam, he pulled me into his arms. I snuggled in and buried my face in the hair on his chest. “You’re not as cold as me.”
    “I’m bigger.”
    “Very big.”
    Jeff chuckled, though it sounded more like a purr. “Glad you think so.” He stroked my back, fingers doing a sensuous massage. “You’re still shivering.”
    “I’m cold. Inside and out.”
    “I’ll do my best to warm both.” He lifted me up and put me gently into the tub. He joined me, but didn’t do anything other than lean back, stretch out, and pull me in between his legs, so I could lean my head on his chest.
    “I thought you were going to warm me up inside, too.”
    “You need to warm up your body first.” He sounded worried.
    I looked up at him. He looked worried. “I’ll be fine.”
    “I’ll have Tito take a look at you later.”
    “I’m fine.”
    Jeff kissed the top of my head. “Humor me.”
    I snuggled my face back into the hair on his chest, between his impressive pecs. “Okay, if you insist.”
    “I do.”
    Jeff continued to stroke me, and I let my body relax. I heard water running. “Why are you filling the tub up more?”
    He chuckled. “You’ve been asleep and it’s cooled down. For the third time. I think your body’s finally feeling normal, that’s why you woke up.”
    I thought about this as he shifted me around into a sitting position. “This is an A-C thing for when you get overcold, isn’t it?”
    “Yeah. Water isolation.” He smiled at my expression. “Which is why we’re here, in the tub, together, instead of me sending you over to Dulce to go into a water chamber there.”
    “I knew I loved you for a lot of reasons.”
    “Good.” Jeff stood up and let the tub drain. “Let’s actually clean off now.” I considered whether or not to point out that we hadn’t had sex while in the tub, but I figured he had his reasons. “I do. We’ve both got Potomac still on us, at least in our hair.”
    “That mind reading thing is sometimes freaky.”
    “Read your emotions. Lust mixed with disappointment is very strong, especially coming from you.”
    “Humph.”
    We moved to the shower, and Jeff insisted that we actually cleaned off before we did anything. This was becoming, handsdown, the most disappointing bathroom experience of our entire