Game Date: 02.14.2002

Valentine's Day with Helena

Chris dressed up for the evening. He usually reserved dressing up for special occasions his Valentine's Day date with Ms. Helena Markerson fit the bill.

He dropped off the little chocolate heart he had picked up for Marina at her bedside in the infirmary. Just because she was in a coma didn't mean she didn't need Valentine candy for when she woke up.

After the Christmas debacle, he hadn't bothered trying to explain Valentine's Day to Eve. He figured Tom would do a better job, anyway. He laughed to himself about how he somehow failed to get through to Eve about Christmas. Silly boy, he thought. How could you think a cat would like snow?

Chris let that line of thought fade and thought about Helena instead. If things went as planned, they would be spending a nice quiet evening at a nice quiet restaurant.

Chris had been visiting Helena at the bookstore on a somewhat regular basis since their New Year's Eve encounter. They had gone out a few times. Things were going quite nicely. Her friends, Joey, Kevin and Bridie, a.k.a. Josephine Marais, Kevin Roberts, and Bridget O'Donnelly seemed to like him, too. At least I still have my touch with women, thought Chris. Well okay, so most athletes have it, but Helena doesn't know that I was an athlete. Which was a good thing because she had stated a dislike of "pretty boy jocks" types. Now that things were started to progress in their relationship, Chris knew that he needed to tell Helena. He planned on getting it out of the way that night at dinner. He was going to let it slip that he'd been a backup quarterback at Miami. He had decided that he'd better let it slip before she got around to doing enough research to figure it out for herself.

He headed out the door a little before seven. He was picking Helena up at eight and needed to stop by the grocery store before heading to her apartment. At the grocery store, he picked up some Granny Smith apples because they were her favorite. She wasn't much of a candy and flowers kind of girl, so he thought the apples would do nicely.

Chris knocked only once before Helena opened the door. She was wearing a slinky long-sleeved red dress that made her small breasts and her hips look absolutely ravishing. The red high-heeled shoes weren't too bad, either. Redhead in a red dress, he thought as he smiled. Most people wait a lifetime for this.

"How are you, Helena? I brought you something." He handed her the apples.

She beamed. "Thank you!" She took the apples in her unadorned hands and took them to the kitchen. "You're looking rather sharp this evening," she said as she re-entered the front room of her apartment.

"Thank you. Want to go to dinner now, or do you want to do something else first?"

"Let's eat. I've been thinking about Thai all day."

"All right then. We're off."

"Okay, but let's walk. I know this great little place a few blocks from here."

As they walked they discussed Joyce Carol Oates. She was Helena's favorite writer and the passion with which Helena spoke of her writings made Chris resolve to read some of Oates' work. She asked him what he did during college and it was then that he told her about being a backup quarterback for the University of Miami Hurricanes. She seemed to be okay with his revelation which pleased Chris to no end.

When they got to the restaurant they were seated and ordered some drinks. They then ordered their meals, Helena had Chicken Padt Siew and Chris ordered Beef Curry Rice.

"Have you heard about a man dressed up as a Greek hoplite going around town beating up criminals?"

"Yes, I have."

"What do you think about that?"

"I think that getting the petty criminals off the streets would be a good thing."

"Yes, of course. But is he a paranormal, or is he just some kook?

"Well, the Wardens have a paranormal fitting that description. He is one of the paranormals, that I consult with."

"Oh, really? What is his name?"

"I think its Brasidas. I'm not really sure. They are all so busy and always on the move. Rush in get my reports, rush out."

Chris hadn't expected Brasidas to be brought up, first the quarterback thing and now this. He continued to play it cool but realized he had to make sure he didn't blow his cover. His cover, heck he had not even thought about establishing a cover. Luckily Chris Hamilton had been hired as a consultant for the Alcatraz Foundation about the time that Brasidas had joined the Wardens. Chris figured the low profile approach of being a consultant to the Wardens would do for now. Then it hit him, if things kept going the way they were going, he would have to let her in on Brasidas because he was letting her into his life. Hmm, he thought. I wonder what dream Brasidas is going to have to say about this...

"Is something wrong?"

"No, Helena. I just was thinking about something from earlier today. It's work related."

"Oh... care to share? Oh, never mind that would be intruding."

They continued talking, but Chris realized that something had happened and he was not sure what.

"The food was wonderful. Thank you for bringing me here," said Helena after they had finished eating.

"You're welcome. Glad we could do this." He'd enjoyed his meal as well. "Want to walk around for a bit?"

"No, I have to get home. But we can still get some quality conversation in on the way home."

Chris paid and the happy pair left.

The conversation on the way to her apartment was about philosophy.

At the door to her apartment, Helena and Chris shared a passionate kiss. Chris stared at the door for a while after it closed before heading back to his loft.