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The Longest Nights Part II

By Allan North

The young man lay in bed, covered only by a thin white bed sheet and his oversize nightshirt- an extra-large white T-shirt with a big red "R" on the chest. He opened his eyes slowly, praying to see the first bright rays of the sun cutting through his window, but instead realized that it was still night time, and that the full moon was still high in the dark blue sky. The young man glanced over at his clock, and realized that dawn was still an hour away, and that he still had three hours until he had to get up for duty.

As much as the young man had wanted it to be dawn and for the night to be over, he had felt surprisingly glad to see the darkness outside. After all, the darkness of night was an excellent cover, hiding his state from the prying eyes of others. The young man tried to go back to sleep, but he knew that restful sleep was a long way off at best. Sighing, he tossed the sheet aside and stood up, walking across his quarters to the opposite wall, where he flipped on the light switch. The young man flinched from the sudden brightness of the light, but only for a few seconds. His eyes then adjusted from the light, and he looked around the room. As was consistent with the way he saw his life, the room was in a perpetual state of chaos. Here, a pair of boots, there, a white Team Rocket uniform, over there, slung over the back of a chair, a black undershirt, and here…. In a place of honor on his wall, hung her picture… the picture of the one he was truly, madly in love with.

Oh, sure, she didn't acknowledge it, but the young man knew that she realized it… she simply had to realize it.

But one thought still haunted him…. If she did realize it, and if she did realize just how truly serious he was, how could she act as if there was nothing there, as if no emotions swirled in his young heart? Exactly how long the young man stood there, staring at her picture with loving fascination, he could not say. Oh what a perfect beauty! Her long red hair with that adorable curl, her long legs, the way her figure was molded to perfectly fit her halter-top/mini skirt uniform… she had become the young man's definition of beauty. And yet she hardly realized he existed.

Sighing, the young man walked to his bed as the first rays of the early morning sun began to shine through his window. Amazed that he had stood there for that long, the young man sleepily pulled his pillow over his face, knowing that he would need at least some rest for the day that lay ahead.

He was almost asleep when he heard the sound…BEEP-BEEP… BEEP-BEEP…. BEEP-BEEP… The young man sat up and grabbed his pager from the bedside table. He looked at the number and the ID code. He smiled. At least he had these moments with her….

The young man picked up the Team Rocket issued cellular phone from the table where he had set it the night before and punched in the number on his pager.

"Yello." He said, trying to sound merely sleepy and not upset.

Jessie's voice crackled back over the cellular phone to him, partly angry, partly disgusted, and partly desperate; "Those twerps blasted us off again, Mondo!"

The young man let out a deep breath, and ran his fingers through his hair as he went through the standard procedure for retrieving his love and her partner. "All right. Where are you?" he asked calmly, having done this dance so many times before.

Jessie gave Mondo the information as he jotted it down and listened to James and Meowth argue in the background over whose fault it was this time. Fifteen minutes later, he was on his way to his red Jeep to rescue his beautiful love once again. Well, at least I get to be her knight in shining armor this way, he thought as he tiredly pulled away from HQ and drove off towards her yet again.

The End