SYNCHRONICITY (The Lone Wolf)

BONUS: Hot For Teacher pt1

Sebastian held on to the belay-line for James as he climbed up the stone formation with ease on a cool autumn morning. It was windy and the occasional gust made him wonder if he should have put James in something warmer. He was in what the women at the Post PX thought was "the cutest thing"...cold weather gear just like Daddy's military issue cold weather uniform...

"How are you doing? Are you cold?"

"Nope!"

"Your hands? How are your hands?"

"They're okay..."

Sebastian nodded. "Okay. Yeah. Right," he grumbled. "It's really windy up there," he called up.

"Dad!"

"What!"

"Quit yellin' at me!"

"I'm not yelling at you, I'm yelling to you," he called out again. "There's a difference," he grumbled to himself.

He continued to watch his son ascend the dark side of the formation, moving over to the where the light was as the sun was rising.

A woman and her dog were running by and she stopped to watch the lanky boy expertly climb the red rock. Through a series of clicks and whistles, Sebastian continued to guide his son further up. Her Cairn Terrier pranced about when he saw Sally laying in wait at the foot of the large stone formation.

Finally, her dog barked and James looked down behind him and released his hand hold and waved as he yelled hi.

Sebastian watched in horror as James zipped downward uncontrollably. He held up his hand and muttered a word to the deceleration spell. The woman rushed up, and with gloves on her hands, she grabbed the last little bit of rope and skidded toward Sebastian quickly. She stopped abruptly by slamming into the solid mass that was Sebastian's body with a muffled oomph accompanied by a hard thud. Her arms circled as best as she could and held on to his jacket.

He turned around and tried to smile pleasantly. "Good morning," he said, his baritone voice strained.

"Mmhmm..." she replied stiffly.

Sebastian looked over his shoulder and whistled his instructions to James and watched as the boy grabbed on to a different colored line to hold on to.

She attempted to push her body from his and looked up into his green eyes and smiled at him, finally prying her body away. "Sorry about that," she said as her smile still beamed brightly.

"No, no...please don't apologize. You very well may have just saved my son's life..."

She chuckled. "I doubt that. I watched him climb this formation last Saturday morning. He's quite good," she said. "You're a good teacher."

Sebastian found the blush in her cheeks quite lovely and hoped that it wasn't the chilly air that caused it.

While his father was distracted, James made his way down the last fifteen feet and landed squarely on his two feet. "Hi," he said again, causing Sebastian's head to snap around quickly as he pointed toward his son.

"You're supposed to...how...when...ah shite."

The woman giggled as she turned to find their dogs playfully engaging each other in a game of keep away with a stick.

"BASTIAN!"

"Yes?"

She looked up into his eyes again. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Who were you talking to?"

"My dog. His name's Sebastian."

Sebastian smiled and nodded.