Loving You Black & Blue | Miguel O'Hara x Felicia Hardy

Ch. 13: Under the Pale Moon

[New York City – Earth 1610]

Miguel was certain he could never get tired of looking at her. A distant, wistful look had settled on Felicia's features as she sipped her espresso, people watching from their cozy little patio table. It felt surreal to be sitting out in public together but, at the same time, Miguel was strangely at ease. They'd spent the entire morning together, on a chilly stroll through the city, talking about everything and nothing. The stop at the café was a given – coffee was an inevitable where Felicia was concerned.

"Felicia Hardy! Who's your mystery date?" A cheery, bespectacled boy snapped a quick picture before Felicia could shield her face with her clutch. What the hell? Miguel sat up a little straighter, angling his body between her and the intruder. He felt her soft touch on his forearm, saw her flash a bright smile when addressing the young man, "I'm sorry, who did you say you were with?"

"New York Report, ma'am. Society pages!"

"Ah," Felicia set the delicate espresso cup down with a hard tap that betrayed her frustration, "you must be new. Well you can tell Emma, when you see her, that she's free to print 'Mystery Man' but I don't want to see you or anyone else skulking around my apartment. And, if she wants to push her luck, I'll involve Anastasia so fast her head will spin. And she can officially forget about press passes for the charity gala. Can you remember all that?"

Miguel hadn't understood a word of that exchange but the icy smile plastered on Felicia's face and the tension between her and the shocked reporter told him plenty. Felicia may as well have confessed that she'd drowned his childhood pet. Finally, the frazzled young man spoke, "Sure... I'll tell her." "Good," Felicia shifted her seat closer to Miguel, elbowing him in the side. Miguel smirked, taking the cue to put his arm around her. "Since you're new, I'll help you for helping me," Felicia was saying to the reporter as she cozied up to him, "Get your camera ready."

He couldn't help feeling shocked when she kissed him. The kiss was tender and soft, but lingered just a little too long to be considered chaste. Felicia deepened the kiss just for a moment, teasing him oh-so-faintly with her tongue. Miguel's head went hot and fuzzy, barely registering the rapid-fire clicking of the shutter lens. He felt her smile against his lips before she pulled away abruptly, turning to the reporter again, "Satisfied, New Guy?"

The reporter was blushing beet red and looked to be equal parts ecstatic and humiliated, "Sorry for bothering you, Miss Hardy."

Miguel watched the young man scamper away, seeing the slight downturn of Felicia's mouth. She was clearly upset. He squeezed her shoulder gently, "Ready to go?" "No," Felicia scooted her seat even closer, resting heavily against his side, "I just am not looking forward to what comes next."

He frowned, "What do you mean?" Before Felicia could answer, the device on Miguel's wrist flashed with an urgent notification from LYLA. He transferred the message to the mock cell phone he carried to blend in, "LYLA? Everything okay?"

"Are you done playing civilian, Miguel?" LYLA jibed.

"I could be," Miguel glanced over at Felicia with a smile, "Why?"

"The good news is that we found the smugglers that had been trafficking interdimensional narcotics from god-knows-where. It's the Lobo Cartel. The bad news – or maybe you'll think this is the good news – they'll be in your neck of the woods tonight to make a pick-up."

"Here?" Miguel was stunned, "In E-1610?"

"Yup."

That's not good. The Lobos Brothers had certainly come a long way from E-616. How?