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She swayed with the almost lyrical sound of the poem and the detective once again was washed over with relief. It felt so good to know that things were going off without a hitch. Problem was though that as each of these moments were hit, it all meant that he was getting closer and closer to the one that he feared the most. He needed to remember that she still did not even know of the proposal so there was still a little bit of dread there. But…he kept his will strong.

>> "Perfect…Really perfect."

He smiled, gently, as he sat onto a nearby bench, watching and listening to the poem being read.

When Jorge was first doing research about the perfect setting to ask this woman to marry him, he stumbled across a rumor that the Renaissance League wanted to play in the Botanical Gardens. They were heading it up as their “Night of Romance” and all the readers and presenters would be reciting, singing, or painting their love and sharing it with the small audience that always gathered. To Jorge it seemed almost like destiny; the first group he ever took her to on their first date just happened to be displaying a night of romance at the time he wanted to propose; it was kismet.

He obviously couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

Gemma seemed like she was really enjoying herself, out here in nature and surrounded by warm light and the sounds of poets baring their sounds. It really was a perfect setting, exactly what he had wanted. Now, though, it was time for the next phase. Casually he glanced at his watch…they were right on time.

The last poet finished reciting her piece and gave a small bow amidst the applause. Up onto the stage came a small, wiry man, handsome with sandy blonde hair. He smiled and applauded along with the crowd until the woman reclaimed her seat.

“Lovely poem, just lovely,” the man beamed. “Tonight…truly is a night of romance and spirituality. A time of the year when a person can truly open his heart to those that he or she loves dearly.” He then paused as he peered out into the audience. It seemed as if his eyes had settled on Jorge and Gemma. “And…as I understand it, we have another presenter. Someone who truly wishes to express himself tonight. Is there a…Jorge Cervantes out there?”

Jorge lowered his head, and smirked. Of course Jerry, from Human Resources, would ham it up just a tad. He could only shake his head and chuckle. He then raised his hand Jerry, who applauded him from the stage and waved for him to come up. The detective glanced at Gemma, a small smirk on his place.

“If you’ll excuse me for a second,” he beamed at then, then made his way to the stage…where Jerry was handing out Jorge’s guitar.

>> "Depends on what you have in mind…You are not going to tell me are you..."

“All good things come to those who wait,” he responded with a nod. Then he tilted his head, looking at her with a witty look. “I thought you were a counselor?”

He smirked as he shook his head though. The man had a rather enigmatic and diabolical grin on his face, almost like he was up to something but the truth of that could never be validated. Instead the man only smiled, neither confirming nor denying with the expression on his face. No matter how hard she asked him, he was not going to tell her anything. After all, he had his secrets and if he was going to propose tonight, he wanted it to, hopefully, be a surprise. The kiss, though, was enough to crack his resolve…just a little bit.

Damn her feminine wiles…

“Well,” he said slyly as he circled his arms around her hips and kissed her softly. “You’re welcome to keep trying to get it out of me. But it be may be better if you just wait.” he grinned.

He kissed her cheek one last time before he opened the car door for her, moved around to his side of the vehicle and climbed in. Once he started up the engine, they were off again to continue this date.

The whole evening seemed to be moving much faster than the detective thought it would be moving. Maybe it was because of anticipation, maybe from nerves, but they were quickly approaching that time where he would ask the question that would change the both of their lives forever. Either she would say yes and he would be the happiest man on this planet, or she would say no and it would lead to a rather awkward time. The prospects were far too terrifying to remain focused on so he tried to keep his mind on driving to their next destination.

As they drew closer, he finally decided that he would at least give her a hint as to what they were going to see next.

“I hope you like this place,” he said to Gemma. “I’ve never been but you should hopefully recognize something there.”

He smiled again as he pulled up a rather elegant looking building, alit with lamps and stone benches. All of these stretched around the perimeter of a large, reflection pool that housed a small variety of water flora that grew in the very water. The steps leading up to this pool, and the building behind it, were line with a few pillars that only said: “Welcome to the Botanical Gardens!”

Jorge sighed as he cautioned a glance to his long time girlfriend. “Stop number two. A beautiful setting for a beautiful woman.”

Jorge quickly slithered back to his clothes, seeped into them and reformed (it was better than reforming in the nude). Just as he did, he looked down to see the harpoon and line it was attached slowly unwinding, following the falling body of Scorpion as he sailed down into the pit below. Against his bettered judgment, the detective was quick as he grabbed the barb and line and, as fast as he could, lashed it around one of the boney spines along the edge of the bridge. Apparently it was just in time because as soon as he was done, the line went taut.

There was a gasp and cry. Jorge leaned over the edge and looked down to see the ninja, flailing as he held onto his own line, hovering over the massive amount of spikes that jutted out from the ground below. Scorpion growled as he swung there, and turned his gaze up to meet Jorge’s.

“Surrender the fight and I’ll let you climb up!” Jorge shouted down to him. “I don’t have time to waste with you!”

A deep, hated laughter erupted from the ninja’s chest as he shook his head. His maddened cackles reached Jorge’s ears and instantly he knew that things were not going to be that easy.

“You show mercy! That is your weakness!” Scorpion yelled up to him. “Don’t you see? There is no room for mercy or ties in Mortal Kombat! Only one of us may win!”

“Bull!” Jorge shouted. “I don’t take lives! I enforce justice!”

Scorpion raised his eyes, meeting Jorge’s gaze so far above him. There was an second in which the two regarded each other, that offered a second of hope that maybe things did not have to end in such a way. But, a glance behind the detective and Scorpion could only lower his head. The pixilated timer had only seconds left…and his health bar was lower than Jorge’s.

“Then your conscience should be clear!” Scorpion yelled and pointed behind him.

Jorge blinked as he turned to look back at that timer that hovered in the air between the two health bars. Scorpion’s seemed to have the lowest bar. And, just as he Jorge watched the timer reach double zeros…the line went loose.

Dinner was fantastic. The food was actually fair better and portioned than Jorge thought they would be. That was always the fear of going to fancy places, that they would be fed grass and kernel of corn as their main course. But this place did just an absolute wonderful job. The food smelled and tasted wonderful, the drinks were tasty, and, obviously, the conversation and company was just wonderful as well. Jorge soon found himself almost forgetting the special, underling reason as to why he asked Gemma out on this specific night. So calm was he, so satisfied were her nerves, that the detective had nearly forgotten all about the ring box that sat in his pocket.

But, as they laughed and shared and caught up for the week, Jorge slowly began to remember exactly what lay in wait inside of his coat. It was nearly time for that moment, but first they needed to get to their second destination. Hopefully they could get there without him fainting or being wracked with nerves again.

The bill came and, after some glaring and discussion, Jorge managed to snag the bill from her and pay for the evening. Once all that was squared away, the detective sighed as he straightened up and offered Gemma his arm to lead her out of the restaurant and back into the night air of New York City.

He smirked whenever she did take his arm and sighed happily. Dinner was a success so phase one was complete.

“Soo, Gemma,” he beamed as he held the door that led back outside open for her, “Do you have enough teenage vigor to continue with our evening?” he said with a playfully. Of course he was just kidding…at least he hoped he was. God, please don’t let her already be tired after their long week!

>> “D…daddy wasn’t bad to other kids. Daddy liked other kids and he played with them and mommy did too. I…I..”

The detective frowned. It was obvious that he was not trained enough to make the boy see differently than what he already thought about the situation. He was a boy who was trained to believe that he was the one who did wrong. Even though that could not be farther from the truth, there was nothing that Jorge could say that would help him. The damage was there and Jorge simply did not have the skills or training to help the boy move past it.

It was a sad occurrence, but, unfortunately, that is just what it was. Eventually the boy would get elp, Jorge knew that. He was already at a place that was most qualified to help him and he would be able to learn to control his mutation. It was only a matter of finding those people that could care enough for him to get him out of his shell.

>> “Daddy held…daddy held the neighbor’s little girl really well…and she didn’t cry or nothing. She was pretty…and…and had cute blonde hair. I…I didn’t mean to make daddy not love me…but I did..a-and…and it wasn’t good.”

Jorge looked in confusion as he tried to think about what Michael was saying. The kid had a round about way of explaining things so sometimes it required a thought or two for Jorge to make the connections. So, the father was nice to a new baby, a neighbor’s baby, and somehow that struck Michael as evidence of something; maybe that his father was not a bad man? After all, this whole conversation thus far had been about how his father was not bad, but Michael himself who caused the problems.

In a way he guessed that it made sense, in a child’s eyes. If he was nice to other kids, showed them affection and such, then obviously it must have been Michael who was at fault. Jorge did not believe that for a second. A truly kind man would never have given the bruises to Michael that the boy now held on his person.

The detective truly felt his heart breaking and wished that he could do more to change Michael’s mind. But so far none of his efforts were effective. But he could not lose faith. Who knows, maybe something would come up during their game that would help Michael at least see a glimmer of truth.

He was beginning to get a sneaking suspicion that Michael’s father not only abused him because he was just an abuser, but also because Michael happened to be a mutant (why else would Michael be here?).

The badge was shakily handed out to him and, gently, Jorge took it from the boy’s hand. He smiled in a friendly and thankful way to Michael as he took his badge back and wracked his brain to phrase the next question. It was obvious that the boy was a mutant...but did that play a factor in what happened to him?

He sighed as he slowed moved into his question.

"Michael," he started. "Did...most of this start...after you found out you were different? Like...after you developed an ability or power that you didn't have before?"

Jorge sighed as he sat back against the bench, carefully holding onto the basket so that it did not tumble away and ruin all the nice cookies on the ground. Andrea had certainly made an excellent batch; it was unfortunate, though, that their meeting had taken such a turn. It was not fair of him to have stirred up those memories for Andrea, but at the same time, how could it have been prevented? He was attached to probably one of the most traumatic experiences in her life! Just looking at him probably brought back those memories.

Still, he hoped that she would manage to work her way through it. It was a tragic thing, assuredly, but he had faith that they indeed would catch the Lion Man. Then, hopefully, he could give Andrea some peace of mind…

Then the events that followed were a blur. Some man had walked up, commented on the sad faces apparently attempted to cheer Andrea up with a free pass to some place that Jorge had never heard of. He made it sound like some magical place where all her worries would be buried under a pile of loud noises, fun, and games. Maybe such a place was good enough for a kid, but Jorge doubted that such a thing would have worked on the young Greek.

Unfortunately, as Andrea began to question the validity of it, the cheerful man looked aghast and attempted to prove her wrong! Another pass found its way into creation and was presented to Jorge himself. The detective arched a brow as, carefully, he took the pass in hand and tilted his head up at the man. Was he on something? Maybe just a little manic?

The detective glanced at the ticket in his hand and looked up to see the man back-flipping away. Maybe he would call this in, just in case.

>> "Americans sure do have a funny way of advertising their products... I do not know of this place... would you like my ticket as well? Maybe you can bring your lady friend with you?"

Jorge blinked as he returned his gaze to Andrea. He smirked a little and shook his head. As funny as the thought was of Gemma inside a place like this Adventure Works, he doubted it was exactly her cup of tea. Probably not really even Chase’s since the boy rather loved his comic books and just hanging out at home.

He offered his ticket to Andrea.

“No, thank you, friend,” he smiled. “Maybe you should hold onto it, and mine too. Maybe you have friends, or a boyfriend who will take you there?” She was a pretty girl. Honestly, it was not out of the realm of possibility that she found a mutant boyfriend who could love her for who she was. Hey, Adventure Works sounded like just the place for a date…