Alana

"Good morning Sunshine," Jim Hawking said as Gene stumbled into the laundry room the next morning.

"What's good about it? Damn my back hurts. I'd better not make a habit of this," Gene groaned as he stretched.

"When did you get in last night?"

"I got back at three this morning. Wash these will you?"

Hndednded Jim a wad of clothing. Jim shook the clothes out and blushed when a pair of women's underwear fell on the floor.

"Gene, these are women's clothing."

"Yeah I know."

"I'm not doing laundry for every woman you bring back with you. I don't do clothes for prostitutes."

"It's not like that. I slept on the floor last night."

"Thrown out of your own bed? You are pathetic."

"Would you lay off? This girl's in real trouble."

"Uh-huh. And she came straight to you. Sure Gene."

"Would you just listen? She came here with her brother. They got jumped last night and her brother was killed. She was being pursued by a group of thugs when she ran into me. She doesn't know anyone here and the only family she has is now dead. I did the only thing I could do. I brought her back with me. There. That's the story. Now will you wash those things?"

"Alan?" Alana asked as she stepped into the room. She stopped short when she realized that the events of the night before had actually transpired. It hadn't been a dream as she had hoped. Her brother had died and she was all alone on a strange planet. She fell to her knees aeganegan to cry.

"You were telling the truth," Jim said and Gene looked at him.

"Of course I was you idiot," he said as Jim set Alana's clothes on the top of the washing machine. He walked up to her and crouched before her.

"Don't cry. Would you like something to eat?"

She looked up at Jim's friendly face and wiped her eyes. She slowly nodded her head and Jim smiled.

"You're going to have to get out of the hallway then. Why don't you go out into the living room and wait?"

She took his outstretched hand and stood up. She fumbled for her bear for a few seconds then realized that it was gone forever and sighed heavily.

"Just have a seat there and I'll get to work," Jim said as he pointed to the couch. She sat down and gazed forlornly out the window. She wrapped her arms around her knees and tried not to cry.

"So where did you come from?" Gene asked.

"We lived on Platon. It's a small planet. I don't know where it is in relation to your planet. This is a nice room," Alana commented as she glanced up. She looked at Gene and smiled. He sat beside her and stretched his legs out over the table. She wrapped Gene's pajamas closer around her body and Gene gazed upon her more apparent figure. She glanced at him and bent her head, trying not to cry.

"Are you cold?"

"No. I'm just really lonely. I wish Alan was with me."

"I know I'm not your brother, but could I provide you some comfort?"

"I really owe you a lot. I wish I could repay you," Alana said as she leaned against Gene's shoulder. Gene glanced at her distraught face and sighed. In one night her entire world had been destroyed. He felt sorry for her and wished that there was something he could do to provide her with a new direction in an otherwise meaningless life.

"It's okay. Is there anything special you'd like to eat?" Jim inquired as he walked into the kitchen area. Alana slowly stood up and Gene rose with her. She turned towards him and began crying uncontrollably and Gene comfortingly ran a hand over her back. She was so soft and warm...

"I didn't hear you. Gene don't you ever give up?" Jim asked as he stepped into the living room.

"I'm just trying to calm her down," Gene protested.

"Is that why you're rubbing her ass?"

"All right lay off. Let's eat."

Gene drew away from her and Alana fell on the seat of the couch. She sat up and pushed up the sleeves, forcing the front of the shirt to come open. Jim glanced at her for a second then glared at Gene.

"You just had to give her a shirt that doesn't close, didn't you?" he asked and Gene shrugged his shoulders.

"It was the first thing that I could find," he replied.

"Don't you have anything else she can wear?"

"What, are you embarrassed that you're seeing more flesh than usual?"

Jim flushed as he turned away from Alana. Why should he expect Gene to be any different? Why were older people so concerned with the body anyway? That was something his genius mind could never understand.

"Let's just eat," Jim said as he walked back into the kitchen.

"What happened?" Alana inquired as she stood up.

"Don't worry about it. Jim's just embarrassed," Gene said as she closed the shirt and attempted to keep it buttoned.

Jim offered her a seat at the table. She sat down and glanced at the empty plate. Gene sat across from her and smiled. She glanced at him and returned the smile.

"Alan would like you," she commented as Jim carried a serving dish in from the kitchen. She watched him set the dish on the table and glanced at him.

"How old are you?"

"Eleven," Jim replied.

"You seem much older."

"Thank you. I'm finally getting the recognition I deserve, Gene."

"She's just being nice. How old are you?" Gene asked Alana.

"Seventeen," she replied.

"Wow. You're pretty young."

"Is that bad?"

"I'm used to seeing older women. It's nice to see girls around my age."

"How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"That's not that old," Alana said.

"You're almost twenty," Jim said.

"Yeah I know but it's still a couple of months away," Gene said as he picked up a piece of toast.

"How's the taste?"

"Good. It just brings back too many memories," Alana replied as she set down her fork. She stood up and walked out of the dining room.

"Gene, what are we going to do with her? We've got work to do," Jim said after she was out of earshot.

"I don't know. She's got no place to go. She'll have to stay here I guess."

"Won't she get in the way? You know how you get with women."

"I'll just have to deal with it. I'm going to take a shower and we'll get to work."

"All right. Just don't make any serious moves on her okay?"

"I'm a big boy."

"That's debatable."

"Whatever. Wash this too, will you?"

Gene pulled off his shirt and dropped it at the bottom of the stairs. Jim looked at it for a moment and then up at Gene. Didn't he have any manners?

"I'm not your servant," Jim said and Gene waved a hand in his direction.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll be back down."

Jim growled as Gene walked into his room. He sometimes wished that Gene would act more responsibly. He was the older one, after all.

************************************************

Gene sat on the bed and removed his pants. He threw them on the floor and stood up. He walked towards the bathroom and laid a hand on the doorknob. He stopped when he heard the tap being turned on and glanced into the keyhole. He watched Alana's slender figure bend and remove the pants from her body. His eyes grew wide at the sight of her breasts and blinked his eyes as she stood up and stretched.

"Don't you have any manners?" Jim asked and Gene smacked his head on the bathroom door. The door swung open and Alana gazed at their red faces in confusion. Jim covered his eyes and turned away. Gene awkwardly picked himself off the floor and stared at her. She gazed at him and smiled. Gene glanced down at his almost nude body and flushed.

"Did you want to take a bath too?" she asked and Gene looked at her.

"What?" he asked.

"Alan and I used to take baths together when I was younger. He was afraid that I might drown if I took a bath by myself. For some reason, he started insisting that he take baths alone as I got older. He never explained why though."

"Come on Gene. You can use my shower," Jim said as he fumbled for Gene's arm. He refused to turn around because he knew that she wasn't dressed.

"If he doesn't like baths we can take a shower," Alana said as Jim grabbed Gene's arm.

"Come ON Gene."

"All right, all right. I'm coming. Maybe later," Gene said as Jim dragged him out of the room.

"Can't you grow up? You're older than I am. You're supposed to be the responsible one. I shouldn't have to watch over you like a mother hen," Jim said as Gene washed his face.

"I didn't know she was in there. It was an accident," Gene said.

"Well your drooling all over her didn't help any."

"I wasn't drooling over her."

"Yes you were. You always get that stupid look on your face when you're mesmerized by a girl," Jim said and Gene shrugged his shoulders.

"At least I saw. You turned your back on her. You're not as grown up as you think you are little boy," Gene said and Jim glared at him.

"At least I have some manners!!"

"I have manners too. It's impolite to turn down an open invitation."

"You're not going anywhere Gene!"

"All right I'll stop. Though if I were her brother, I would have continued to take baths with her. She's certainly more interesting than little bath toys."

"Maybe her brother didn't believe in incest."

"You know where that belief got him don't you? He got a one-way ticket to terminal dreamland."

"Can't you be a little more caring of the situation she's in?"

"Hey I brought her here didn't I?" Gene asked and Jim shrugged his shoulders.

"The only reason you brought her back was because she's good looking," he said and Gene folded his arms indignantly

"That's not true."

"Come on Gene, I know how you get with women."

"Let's just get to work."

"All right! I knew if I kept at it long enough, we'd get something accomplished."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. What do we have to do?"

"Well you've got to get dressed and it looks like we have a customer downstairs."

"All right. I'm going back to my room. That is, unless you have some clean clothes down here."

"Here. I didn't bother folding them because you just throw them around."

"Would you quit complaining and see what that guy wants?"

"Right. Good morning sir. Hawking of Starwind and Hawking Enterprises. How may I help you?" Jim asked as he walked into the office.

"I'm looking for a woman," a large surly man said and Gene's ears perked up.

"A woman? All right, could you give me the particulars?"

"She's about seventeen years old with purple eyes and light blue hair with blonde streaks."

"What do you want her for?" Gene asks hes he pulled on his shirt.

"I'm paying you to look for her, not ask questions," the man growled.

"You're not paying us anything. We haven't taken on the job yet. Now, what do you want her for?"

"Someone is looking for her."

"Who?"

"He calls himself Alan."

"What do you want her for you bastard?"

"Gene please. We can do our best to locate some information regarding her residency. May we have a number that we can contact you or Alan at?" Jim asked and then glared at Gene.

"Here's the number. I suggest that you just do your job of tracking her and not get involved," the man growled and stalked off.

"Real friendly guy. What's the number Jim?" Gene asked after the man had left.

"It's an apartment house in the rich part of town. What do you think this is all about Gene?"

"I don't know. He said Alan. She said that her brother was killed. Somebody is lying."

"Maybe the whole thing was faked."

"That's possible, but why? What does she have that's so important? All she was carrying was a stuffed bear. Jim I'm going out. Stay here and watch the shop."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to where I ran into her last night."