My Little Pixie

Chapter Twenty-Eight - After the Battle

A watery dawn was breaking as we drove up the driveway to the house, I yawned and stretched and then went straight to the security office.

I was only mildly surprised to find that Thomas was back at the primary command desk, running through video of the attack that had been taken from our drones using night-vision cameras. You would never have guessed that he had been up all night and had taken part in a moderately serious firefight.

"How are our operatives?" I asked

"One of the lads managed to pick up a slight crease but we've sorted it out for him. He'll not need hospital."

"Prisoners?"

"We collected their boss man and four others but one of them died on the way back. The rest should survive."

"Excellent. Let the boys know that I'm more than satisfied. But, first, go and get some sleep. I'll need you to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning... or possibly afternoon."

Very good, Sir." He gave a slight smile as he relaxed and, for the first time, I could see the exhaustion in his eyes.

With that, I trudged upstairs. I knocked on my pixie's door and was not in the least surprised to find that she and Elizabeth were curled up together in bed!

With a couple of kisses and some back stroking, I managed to wake them.

"Wha..." my pixie murmured, momentarily confused. But then she was wide awake. "How's Emmie?"

"She's fine - badly shaken up, of course, but physically fine."

"And how are our guys?"

"One of them picked up a slight bullet wound but it did not require hospital treatment."

Then I made the mistake of lying down next to her to give her a hug.

I had a pleasant surprise the next morning when I woke to find a pair of shiny green pixie eyes smiling into my own.

She wrapped me up in an enormous hug but then backed away slightly. "You smell!" she told me.

"Yeah! Adrenaline will do that for you." I gave her a casual whack on the bottom then, for the sake of symmetry, leaned across to give Elizabeth one too. "Let's get you two smelly too then. Run!"

There was a distinct sigh from the far side of the bed but Elizabeth managed to avoid saying anything which would trigger an increase in the number of laps. "Downstairs in five minutes. I'll race you."

As a result of the raid, the night before, our security teams were stretched slightly thin so we had to content ourselves with a couple of laps of the garden. And, on the final lap, my pixie gave me a funny look then took off, flitting past the pond then off along the track that followed the fence.

"You'd better catch her..." Elizabeth gasped... "She'll be completely impossible... if you let her win!"

So I took off after her. It was a significant challenge but, by the time I reached the wooded area in the corner, I was close on her tail. But she must have heard me coming because she glanced back, gave me one of her impossibly cheeky pixie grins and threw in another burst of speed.

I pushed up the pressure a touch and, by the time we reached the lawn, she was suffering. It was tough but I gradually closed the distance and, before the end, I had just managed to ease ahead of her.

I turned around and caught her as she stumbled onto the terrace. For a moment, we just held each other but then I noticed a pair of green pixie eyes shining up at me and my mouth descended on hers.