Adaptive

The Sheriff's station was almost as quiet as a library when Adam walked in through the front door with Cindy and Jade. Neither Adam or Jade had ever been there before but being the daughter of a deputy, Cindy had been there many times. The Sargent at the front desk recognized her immediately and the three were greeted with smiles and friendly attitudes.

Cindy explained that Adam was the owner of the bicycle that her father had dropped off the other night. Of course, even though the report had been written and filed by Cindy's father Deputy Wade Cromwell, Adam had to retell his story. It was an edited story, certainly, he omitted the part about being party to rescuing an alien from drowning and then he himself being resuscitated and brought back to life in an alien life pod.

No, the story he told was the same that he had given Deputy Cromwell and everyone else. How he got swept away in a flash flood, banged around and knocked on the head then wandered around disoriented and lost in the woods until he found/was found at Meteor Lake by the college kids who were looking for him.

"Son, you should buy a lottery ticket! Sounds like Lady Luck is smiling on you." Sargent Petterson said with a wry grin while shaking his head in amusement. "Hey Sam! Why don't you take this young man in the back and collect his bicycle." The Sargent called one of the junior deputies who was diligently typing away at a computer filling out reports or whatever he had been assigned that morning.

Cindy and Jade gave Adam a hug and said they would see him later at home, before saying goodbye to the Sargent and waving as they went out the door on their way. Adam followed the deputy, Sam, to a back room where there were all kinds of things stored from lost and found to impounded property. Adam's bike was there and just a little muddy but none the worse for wear considering it had nearly been washed away by a flash flood. Adam walked the bike out back outside saying thank you and goodbye on the way.

Finally on his own and pedaling towards the Gas-N-Go on the edge of town, Adam heard a now familiar voice coming from his pocket. Before he fished the phone out of his pocket, he asked out loud...

"Data? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, Adam, I can hear you just fine. I have heard you quite well since you left the life pod last night. You have had some interesting... conversations... have you not?" Data replied sounding all too amused and proud of himself even.

"Um... conversations?" Adam asked, wondering what Data was referring to exactly.

"Why yes, your Goddess was quite forthcoming with her confession last night. That was very interesting indeed." Data replied with what Adam swore was a bit of a tease in his animated voice.

"Data! That was a private conversation!" Adam exclaimed with a little shocked disbelief. "And... how did you even hear that? I mean the phone and tablet were in a sealed canister in another room." Adam asked.

"Sound is just vibration. While the things you hear may travel easier in the medium of air, it travels quite well in solid substances like the building materials of your home. Your phone and tablet were modified to pick up many things other than their original parameters. You are welcome." Data responded just a little smugly but with a hint of humor.

Adam was still shaking his head in wonder as he approached an intersection with a stop light that was red for his direction. As he coasted to a stop, he noticed that his back tire was not just a little low on air, but now all but completely flat. It must have been a slow leak that he hadn't noticed when he began riding at the Sheriff's station.

"Well great!" Adam huffed under his breath as he dismounted his bike and took a closer look at the back tire.

"Is there a problem Adam?" Data inquired politely.

"Yeah... I got a flat tire on my bike. I need to fix it. Damn!" Adam said straightening back up with a sigh and looking around.

Adam realized that there was a service station on the corner to his left, across the street from where he had stopped. He figured they might have patch material if that was what was needed to fix his tire. It would not be the first time the back tire or the front tire for that matter, had been patched. Hopefully it would hold another patch. With another sigh, Adam waited for a break in traffic and pushed his bike across to the service station. He set the kick-stand and walked inside to the counter.

"Hi. Would you happen to have stuff to patch an inner tube?" Adam asked the attendant that wasn't much older than himself on the other side of the counter. He looked bored, sitting on a stool and reading a paperback book.

"You gotta car tire with an inner tube?" the attendant, with the name "Scott" embroidered on a patch over his pocket, asked incredulously, setting down the paperback book.

"I wish. It's my bike." Adam said a little sullenly.

"Motorcycle? I didn't hear any bike roll up." Scott asked again still sitting on the stool but craning his head around to look out the big window towards the gas pumps.

"No... Bicycle..." Adam said looking a little sheepish and giving a shrug.

"Dude! You need a better ride." Scot said, shaking his head and finally hopping down from the stool and coming around the counter. "Where's it at, man?" He asked. Adam led Scott outside to his bike parked by the ice cooler.

"Dude... I haven't patched an inner tube in like... forever. I think I still remember how though. Lemme see if we have any patches and adhesive." Scott said shaking his head in amusement and turning to go into the service bay and look in a greasy dirty metal cabinet by a work bench.

"Man, I appreciate it. Pedaling beats the hell out of walking most days." Adam said as he pushed the bike into the service bay and turned it over end to end so that the bike was sitting on the seat and the handlebars and the wheels were in the air.

Scott found the patch kit and set it on the work bench then grabbed a couple of wrenches and loosened the rear wheel axle mount nuts taking tension off the chain. Adam held the chain as Scott pulled the wheel free from the frame. A few pries with a couple of screwdrivers and the tire came away from the rim and Scott pulled the inner tube from the wheel. Yeah, it looked like a quilt it had been patched so many times, but the new hole was in a place that had room for a new patch, so he cleaned it up with a wire brush and some alcohol.

Adhesive was spread on the tube around the hole a little wider than the patch. The patch got some adhesive as well, then Scott used a Bic lighter to set the tube and the patch on fire. The flame heated the adhesive and softened the tube and the patch. Blowing out the flame, Scott then applied the patch to the adhesive on the tube, and pressed it flat with a large hammer. Adam knew that the flame was necessary and all part of the process. He also knew that it would take a few minutes for the adhesive to set up, so he leaned back against the bench and looked over at the car lift where there was an older station wagon with a for sale sign in the window.

Scott noticed his gaze and smirked. "My old man's pet project. He bought the car from a widow who hadn't driven it in 15 years. At least it was kept in a garage and not a barn. Dad, worked it over, all new tires, new hoses and filters. Runs fine now but come on? A Country Squire?" Scott laughed sardonically and rolled his eyes turning back to the work bench to check the patch job.

"I don't know, it would be a step up for me. Wish I could afford it." Adam said wistfully.

"You could probably get it cheap. Nobody's even made an offer on it and dad's been trying to sell it for over six months now." Scott said with a shrug of his shoulders as he picked up the inner tube and fed air into the valve stem inflating the tube.

Adam watched the tube inflate and wondered if this patch would hold or if it would fail... or if any of the other half dozen or so patches my break free and leak. None did leak however. Scott let the air out of the tube and worked it into the tire around the wheel rim. Aligning and pulling the valve stem through the hole. Then prying the bead of the tire back onto the rim. Once more affixing the air hose to the valve stem he inflated the tube until the bead of the tire set in the rim. He bounced the wheel and tire a few times on the pavement of the garage floor and then rolled it back over to Adam.

Adam threaded the chain over the rear sprockets and aligned the wheel axle into the frame mount. Pulling back to put tension on the chain. Scott used his wrenches again to tighten the nuts and secure the wheel. Adam turned the bike back upright and set the kick-stand once more before reaching for his wallet.

"How much do I owe you, man?" Adam asked politely.

Scott just looked him up and down and looked at the bike again and smirked again and shook his head and waved off Adam's question.

"Forget it. I was bored anyway." Scott said with a shrug and looked at Adam and then the old station wagon on the car lift, then shook his head and turned to walk back inside to the counter.

Not one to welcome charity, though thankful for the help, Adam followed Scott back inside and asked him what he'd like to drink as he dropped some change in the soda machine. Scott accepted the soda and they both sipped at their drinks in silence for a few moments.

"You never did ask how much my dad was asking for the old Country Squire out there." Scott commented.

"No, I didn't. I probably couldn't afford it anyway." Adam returned with a shrug.

"How do you know if you don't ask?" Scott asked with a grin. "No offers and it's taking up space that he'd rather have available for his next project." Scott added.

"Okay, not that I have it, I'm sure, but how much?" Adam finally asked even if he really didn't care.

"Well, he originally set the price at $2400.00 dollars, but like I said, nobody even made an offer. I'd be willing to bet that he'd sell it for about $1000.00 now." Scott said in a stage whisper and grinned. "I mean, it is over thirty years old."

"That would be a... reasonable price... I guess. If I had it." Adam admitted with a sigh and a shrug.

"Well, hey! If you win the lottery, you can come back and get it." Scott said with a chuckle as he plopped back down on his stool and picked up his paperback book to read.

"Yeah... right." Adam returned with a smirk and finished his soda then tossed the can in a waste can. He waved so long and went out and mounted his bike and pushed off to resume his trip to the Gas-N-Go still two miles away.

"Adam? Is your mode of transportation a form of recreation, or necessity?" Data sounded off from his pocket, once more startling Adam.

"Uh... well... necessity, I guess. It's my only means of transportation if I want to go anywhere unless I walk." Adam responded. "I mean, it's good exercise and all but I really can't afford anything else... so..." Adam added.

*****

"Really? Meteor Lake?" Jade asked with a wry grin as Cindy turned off of Big Hill Road into the entrance to Meteor Lake Picnic grounds.

"Why not? There's nobody up here this time of year... well... usually. Last night's party by the football team and other would-be searchers for Adam were a bit unusual. I used to come here all the time as a teenager because no one was here. Dad used to get so mad when he found out I was here by myself." Cindy said a little wistfully with a soft smile on her lips.

"So... what did you do up here... by yourself?" Jade asked out of curiosity now matching Cindy's wry grin with one of her own.

"Mostly just sit and think..." Cindy said a little less cheerfully, her grin fading to almost a grimace.

"Think? Or cry?" Jade asked but sounding more like a statement of fact, somehow knowing without even needing to ask.

"Yeah, that too, I guess. I didn't have many people I could talk to about... missing my mom. I mean, Dad was great, but I know he was hurting too, and... well... he slept during the day and worked at night... so..." Cindy said solemnly after pulling into a marked parking spot and turning off the engine. She sat looking out the windshield but somehow Jade knew that she was not looking outside of herself, but rather reflecting on the past.

Jade reached over with her left hand and rested it reassuringly on Cindy's right forearm and squeezed gently. Jade knew all about missing someone special. Though she was a toddler when her own mother and father had been... well... she was really too young to understand at that time. She just wondered why her mamma never came home and her dad... Mammon loved her dearly and she never wanted for affection but she was not her mamma. She felt a tightening of her stomach as old emotions threatened to boil up inside of her. She sniffed slightly and used her free hand to wipe away a bit of moisture at the corner of her eye before taking a deep breath.

"That's not why you brought us here today though, right?" Jade asked trying to affect a bit of a tease in her voice and almost pulled it off.

Cindy turned to smile at her best friend. It was a sad smile but true and warm all the same. Something in her eyes told Jade that she understood both of them had dealt with loss in the past and it was still part of them, but that was okay. Cindy tilted her head ever so slightly to her right shoulder then turned in her seat to fully face Jade, taking Jade's hand in both of hers.

"Jade... What we... did... yesterday was... Wow! Amazing. I had no idea that you... and I..." Cindy began haltingly.

Jade took her free hand and set it atop of Cindy's and squeezed both of her hands. She knew that Cindy was struggling to define these new feelings as much as she herself was. Jade also was struggling to come to grips with feelings for Adam as well, but didn't want to make Cindy think or feel it was some sort of contest. Hell, she didn't understand it all herself but she wanted to explore... both. Right now, however, she was with Cindy and she wanted or needed to make Cindy the center of her attention.

"I know. I think I've thought of you as a friend, my best friend, since the day we met. I've admired you for your style, your looks, and your smarts... but mostly for your heart. I had no idea that I felt so strongly... until yesterday." Jade smiled warmly never breaking eye contact.

"Does it freak you out a little bit? I mean... I like guys. I know YOU like guys... or at least one guy anyway." Cindy smiled a little ruefully and chewed on her bottom lip and tilting her head down a little sheepishly and giving Jade a sidelong glance through her eye lashes.

"Yeah, it did... does... kind of freak me out a little bit... but in a good way I think. Does that make me weird?" Jade admitted a little bashfully herself, never yet having let go of Cindy's hands, she could feel Cindy returning a reassuring squeeze.

"I... I've kind of avoided guys for a while. It's just that most seem to only want one thing. They don't care about me or getting to know me or what I like or what I think. I don't feel that way with you. You ALREADY know how I think and what I like. You KNOW me. You're not trying to bullshit me just to get into my panties." Cindy giggled.

"Well... I don't know about not trying to get into your panties..." Jade said grinning sheepishly and blushing then chewing on her bottom lip, one eyebrow floating a little higher.

It was as if a switch had been thrown and they were both polarized. They drew together slowly at first, almost hesitantly but the closer they got the faster they were drawn together. In the blink of an eye the two girls were face to face and lips to lips. The first buss was tender and soft, exploratory once more. But the fire inside of both of them had been ignited and the flames of passion exploded into a roaring inferno. Hands were reaching and holding necks and heads and shoulders. Tongues were dancing and probing and tasting one another.

Neither was sure who's hands were the first to start removing clothing, breasts being touched, held, squeezed, caressed. Jade was the first to kiss the tender flesh of Cindy's neck, but Cindy was the first to moan and shudder in delight. They traded off almost as if one were teaching the other where and how they liked to be touched. It was all exploration and appreciation. It was exciting and arousing. They both had to stop and start giggling when they realized that the windows of the car had steamed up. Besides, there was only so much they could do sitting in the front seat of the Camry. Panting and smiling shyly at one another they both decided to get out of the car and catch their breath.

Blouses open but not caring since there was no one to be seen or be seen by, they strolled hand in hand over to the picnic area then beyond to the water's edge. Jade told Cindy of the many times she and Adam were brought here by Marna to fish and have a picnic. The mention of Adam's name caused Cindy to go quiet and look a little uncertain again. Jade pulled her close, face to face, even if Jade had to look up slightly into the taller girl's face.

"Hey... Are you okay?" She asked hesitantly.

"I... I think so. I just don't... don't want to get in your way or distract you. You know, with Adam and all." Cindy confessed a little timidly breaking eye contact but returning her gaze to see perhaps if Jade understood what she was saying and... not saying.

"Cindy... You would never be in the way. But as far as being a distraction..." Jade barked a short chirp of laughter more of a stifled snort maybe with a lopsided grin and sheepish almost bashful eyes again. "Too late for that, babe. I find it hard to separate my thoughts of either of you to be honest. Does that make me a bad person? Makes me... selfish maybe?" Jade asked and she too averted her eyes as she chewed her bottom lip once more looking back furtively to see Cindy studying her face intently.

"Maybe... selfish that is. But in a perfectly good way... I hope." Cindy replied blushing and chewing her bottom lip and giving Jade a crooked grin as she let her hands run slowly up and down the shorter girls back before leaning down and reengaging their lips in a tender but sensual kiss that lingered sweetly for what seemed like minutes.

Cindy's hands had moved lower still down Jade's back until they were both firmly grasping the shorter girl's pert little behind. This caused Jade to gasp into their kiss and shudder in Cindy's embrace. A moan followed the gasp and Jade's hands had worked their way up to cup Cindy's larger soft globes of her breasts.

Pulling apart once more to search one another's eyes, both were panting and out of breath. Their hearts were racing and so were their minds.

"We... We need to go somewhere." Cindy said quietly but earnestly.

"Yeah." Jade answered sounding much the same.

Both looked around, their minds racing, weighing the possibilities.

"Do you have... a blanket? In your car?" Jade asked looking at Cindy hopefully turning her head ever so slightly and giving her a bit of a sidelong glance.

"I... I do." Cindy replied not exactly following Jade's train of thought, at first anyway.

"I know of a spot, not far from here, a clearing a little farther along the shore that is surrounded on three sides by trees and bushes but open to the lake. Marna used to spread a blanket for our picnics there. I think it would be... okay." Jade said hopefully.

The look in Cindy's eyes was all the acknowledgement that Jade needed. The smile only served to put an exclamation point on the unspoken agreement. Cindy and Jade walked quickly back to the car, almost skipping with excitement. The trunk lid was popped and a blanket retrieved. Cindy followed Jade, being pulled along by one hand along the shoreline for about a quarter of a mile until they reached the spot Jade had mentioned.