To The Moon And Back

Chapter Twenty-four

"John, we're heading to the bar," Maria said, flicking the cover of his book to get his attention "Are you coming?"

John didn't look up. "You go on ahead, I'll wait here for Ezra to finish communing with his fanbase. We'll catch up."

Maria shrugged. "Suit yourself, but do try to remember that you're supposed to be on vacation, not sitting in an auditorium reading," she paused to read the cover of his book, "'The Moon: Myth and Image' huh, that's a new one for you."

John kept his finger in the book to mark his place. "What can I say, sometimes I like to branch out. It's really quite fascinating how the Moon's role within the realms of myth and legend has shaped how people-"

"Not you too, we get enough of that was Ez," Maria interrupted. "Just try to hurry him along, okay? We do want to eat sometime tonight. Preferably before we're all so drunk we forget our table manners."

John saluted with the book, waiting until they had left before settling back into his seat. He had no intention of hurrying his friend, the longer Ezra took the longer he had to enjoy his book in peace because, for a bunch of academics, his friends were surprisingly rowdy and he just wasn't used to their level of partying even if he had been feeling in the mood to paint the town red.

"Hey! Hey, John!" Ezra called, dragging his attention back to the room once again. "Come and meet these two lovely ladies."

John sighed, wishing his friend would stop trying to set him up with every random woman he met. It was getting tiresome and he was running out of excuses as to why his dating anyone would be a bad idea, short of inventing something ego-bruising, but even he wasn't that desperate just yet.

Knowing it was futile to even try ignoring his friend, John slid his book back into his pocket and prepared to make nice with yet another dull woman that his friend felt the need to throw his way, he couldn't put it off any longer. What would this one be like? Ezra did have an eye for the pretty ones, but it didn't matter how nice they were, he knew they wouldn't compare to the beautiful, amazing, woman still consuming his every thought.

He glanced over at his friend who was already making the 'hurry up and get over here, you're making me look bad' eyebrow gesture, then to the woman beside him, nice enough in a sweet way, then to the one standing slightly apart from them, her eyes locked on him.

His own eyes grew wider as he stumbled to his feet, kicking aside Ezra's bag in his haste. He had to be dreaming. This couldn't be real.

Scott's words echoed in his head as he sidestepped along the line of chairs to the stairs. Never say never, little brother. If it's meant to be, you'll see her again.

She'll find out who I am , he worried as he jogged down the stairs, praying he wouldn't fall flat on his face. The right thing to do would be to ensure that she had kept our secret. But he found he didn't care about their secret, or International Rescue, or how mad his father would be when he found out. Because in that moment none of that mattered. He didn't care about anything other than the woman he'd been dreaming about for the past six weeks. His dad would just have to deal with it, because this was fate, pure and simple, and he wasn't about to let her go again.

"What took you so long?" Ezra chided in a teasing voice as John finally joined them on the podium. "John Tracy, I'd like you to meet Genevieve."

"Pleased to meet you," John said and, having been brought up to be polite, held out his hand.

She took the offered hand and shook it firmly. "Nice to meet you too."

"And this is-" Ezra paused, shifting slightly, embarrassed that he hadn't asked. "So sorry, I didn't catch your name?"