International Legends

Chapter 37 - Leo

I woke up, the grogginess leaving my body, as I smiled at the woman who was lying next to me. She's so beautiful, which is no surprise, as she stares back at me, willing to give me that goofy grin that she would be famous for.

"Hi..." she whispered, tracing the line of my jaw and looking into my eyes. "Did we?"

"We did," I say, unable to wield my fingers over her body without being overtaken. Somehow she must have sensed this, for she places my fingers on the curve of her hip.

The silence between us feels deafening. How does anybody know if something good is going to last? I've been down this road before, found myself overtaken by my emotions, only to find myself feeling like an asshole in a no-win situation. Some men say that there are no good women in the world, but I'm not sure that's true. Perhaps it's the opposite, the truth being that there are a ton of good women in the world and the only real excuse is pretending that there's not.

I've heard plenty of excuses from men all over from the ages of 58 to 87.  Men with devoted wives who have only found themselves abandoned at the final hour for a more young and exotic woman half their age. At the late 80's however, you have to be fooling yourself at that point. You're practically a walking corpse telling your girlfriend to go because your other girlfriend is coming. Some people should not be allowed two hands if all they do is leave a string of excuses in their wake.

Not her though. I won't make that mistake.

Which is why I am so lucky to be in the situation that there is a square shaped box within the dresser. I remember having put the Earth Stone there last night. Like the other stones, it seemed overtaken by a magic that was unlike any other, forming itself into two identical rings that can go on each finger.

With shaking hands, I manage to bring out the ring. She stares jaw-dropped at me as I place the ring carefully on her left hand.

"Naomi Campbell," I said, willing myself to look her in the eyes. "I feel as if I have known you my whole life. I knew you through Nora, through the Naomi-Tree, through the dreams that I had of you long before any of this had happened. I saw you there by that pool, that day you were thinking of changing your major, wondering what would happen in your life. I saw you then, and I see you now full of love and care. You are beautiful Naomi."

I kiss her knuckles and she sighs, biting back the smile forming on her face.

"Yes," she says, without question.

"I didn't even ask yet," I protested.
"You don't have to," she responds, climbing on top of me.

When we finally get out of our bedroom, we are met with a skeptical look of everyone around us, all who knew that we were busy in our own little world.

Dr. Jodie, balancing a baby on her hip, said, "I've seen that look before. You two have the look of two newlyweds."

I bite my lip and she just laughs, looking at the ring on my finger saying, "Enjoy this time while it is still going on. After all, you don't know how much we have left."

"Why did you do it to her? Why did you allow her to be a part of this experiment when you knew how detrimental it was going to be?" I ask.

She seems put on the spot but she takes a deep breath and says, "A good chunk of things that have happened in this universe have been due to the quantum algorithm."

That's when she explained to me that the computers were able to quantify what probability that Naomi had in the chance of surviving the simulation.

"She knew what she was getting into," said Dr. Jodie. "Her mind would create a remarkable simulation that would transform the brain, readying it for the transformation for transdimensional consciousness. By accepting that her touch with reality would be leaving and by exposing herself to megahertz, she was able to change her mind to prepare for the transfer.