How They Met
It didn't start out smoothly.
It was a simple faculty and staff get aquainted party, held in the school
lunchroom. The place had all the teachers and faculty there, as
well as guest who were affiliated with the Girls Home, like Dr. Nathaniel
Cristian, M.D.
Dr Cristian had a high charisma and a way with the ladies that made him
almost legendary, but for the most part he was a decent famly man since he
got married. He just liked women, a lot. His wife, Loanna was there also,
and he was enjoying himself. He chatted with the people, smoozing about, and
being as disarmingly nice as he could be.
Then he noticed the wall flowers.
One was the medium sized guy in the red and white livery of his Order of Knights,
Faustus Mitternacht. Faustus was friend of Nats', and they got along real
well. The fact that Faustus kept to himself at parties was one of the
reasons the knight rarely went to them. Nat knew his nature and often coxed him out
of the corner where he usually stood, boredly sipping punch and watching
everyone else have fun.
The other wall flower immediatly caught Nats attention in two ways. One was
that she was stunningly good looking and the other was that she was the new
arts teacher here. How could a girl who looked like that be somewhat
unsociable?
Nat fought down the urge to put the moves on the pretty blond, and had a
spectacular idea. He had two wallflowers, one male one female. Lets mix them
up and see what happens!
"Cap! Come here, theres somebody I want you to meet!" he called over to
Faustus.
Faustus looked at him and thought to himself "Oh, god, not again. Who's he
gonna introduce me to this time?"
Nat cooly took Faustus over to the blond. The girl looked up with a neutral
expression on her face at the two men.
"Hi, I'm Nat Cristian, I'm affiliated with the Home here. I'm an M.D. and
have a contract with the school. This is my buddy Faustus Mitternacht."
"Hi" she said, showing a friendly but cautious smile.
"Hello" Cap said back, almost painfully.
"I'll leave you two to get aquainted. Ciao!"
Cap winced visibly. He did it to me again, Cap thought. E friggin gad!
Nat retreated into the swirling mass of people and kept and eye on the two, amused by their actions.
There was a long awkward silence between the two of them.
The girl looked Cap's livery up and down, and her curiosity got the better
of her.
"Whats with the..uh.. costume?"
"I'm a knight of the Hospital and Temple. This is the livery of our order."
"Um." she said, sipping on her punch.
"I.. uh.." Cap begain, looking the blond over. I'm out of my freaking league
here, Cap thought. Shes killer gorgeous and shes about as intrested in
me as a she would be a fly on the wall. Probably got a boyfreind or
boyfreinds who worship the very ground she walks on. This is not good! Nat,
I could kill you!
She looked at him with mild curiosity, "What?"
"I .. uh.."
"You said that."
"Yeah, you the new Art teacher?"
"Yes. I've been told you teach history."
"I do. And I'm in charge of security of the Home."
"Um." she said again.
More awkward silence followed.
"What did you say your name was?"
"I didn't, but its Guinifer Stewart."
Cap looked around the room. Inside his head RETREAT was flashing red on all
display panels.
"Nice to meet you Miss Stewart."
"Um."
Time passed and the school year rolled along. Miss Stewart got into her work
and discovered the kids really wanted to learn the stuff she was teaching.
Her style and methods really hit home, and they treated her with respect.
She even mentored to a couple who needed that extra "big sister" to give
them the confidence they lacked. Of course there were the bitter ones and
the rebellious ones, but fortunately Art, Dance, and Music was not a major
credit requirement. Some of the faculty got to be friends with her, namely
Daphne Collins the girls basketball coach, and Gabrielle Wilson, the math
teacher. In the lounge they called each other by their first names, and soon
they were calling Miss Stewart "Ginny".
Ginny liked her new job, but sometimes she had trouble sleeping. This was a
problem that often hit her at SMU when she was going to college there. Her
past life and life long friendships that were ripped from her through no
fault of her own would eat at her psyche in quiet moments and when she was alone.
At SMU a long walk around the track or in the field house
would work that out of her. Unable to deal with these demons any other way,
she took to long walks around the streets of the girls home. These were
usually deserted at night, so she could walk as long as she wanted without
anyone bothering her. All that could be heard was the occasional coyote and
desert owl.
One night about 11 she bolted from her bungalo in a cold sweat and slipped
on a coat to protect her from the night chill. Moving swiftly westward she
left the faculty neighborhood and was inside one of the numerous gates that
led inside the 10 foot wall that surrounded the girls home and school
compound. Behind the south part of the gym is a low wall that separates the
gym from the rest of the playground. The girls often put see-saws on this
wall, and on windy days outside use it as a wind break. She was moving past
this wall at a rapid walking clip when a male voice startled her.
"Having trouble sleeping?"
The cloaked figure looked menacing as it stood there just outside the
shadows. The figure reached up and pulled back the hood.
"Oh, Mr. Mitternacht! You scared me!"
"I do that to a lot of people. What are you doing out here this time of night?"
"I could ask you the same question" she said defensively. That was when she
noticed he had a very big sword in a scabbard by his side. Was this guy for
real?
"Its my job to be out here at night. Prevents run-aways and the preditors
from getting to the girls here."
"Preditors?"
"The four and two legged kind, Miss Stewart," Cap said casually, then added
with a look right into her eyes that chilled her suddenly "Its not safe to
be out here alone at night. Especially for a woman."
"I can take care of myself" she said.
Cap folded his arms and pursed his lips. Whatever he wanted to say back he
was fighting hard not to say it. He looked up into the star filled sky.
"Big dipper," he said, pointing. "over there is Cassiopea. If you draw a
line from the lip of the big dipper you will find Polaris, the north star."
Ginny looked and saw. Then looked back at him.
"Navagation by the stars..They call you "Captain". Are you a sea captain or
something?"
"Or something," he said, smiling.
There was something disarming about that smile. Something she couldn't put
her finger on. This guy was strange, yeah, but this is a strange place
already. There was more to this guy that just some fellow dressed up in a
costume. Maybe he knew some things. Maybe...
Before she knew it they were conversing about a whole hosts of things,
leaning on the wall. He told a joke, she laughed. She told him a little
about herself. He was very intrested in New York, and the Statue of Liberty.
She happily told him about the city she grew up in. The conversation ran on
and on, and then Ginny looked at her watch. It was 1 a.m.!
"I gotta get back! Its late."
"I'll escort you to your bungalo, Miss Stewart."
"Please, call me Ginny."
For the first time since she came to Guiding Light, Ginny slept without
dreams. The Captain had an unusual effect on her. For a reason she could not
explain, she felt very, very safe around him. And when he told her
something, she just knew, just knew he wasn't giving her a line of bull like
so many other guys did. Maybe for the first time in a long time she found a
guy she could trust. Maybe. Time would tell. But she was relaxed and at
peace at least for this one time.
How late Cap stood on patrols out there on the school grounds Ginny had no
idea, but she was grateful that he was out there. For the next several years they would meet by the wall and chat for an hour or two. That was how it started. And it grew from there.