(18+) Smooth Xscape (Complete)

Ch. 13: Unfiltered

"Jooooe..." I whimpered in such pain and agony I'd never felt before.
"Please don't be dead... Please don't leave me... I need you... I love you... So much..."

A sudden, all-consuming flood of fatigue, made my knees weaken to the point where they were threatening to give away under me. But the Mexican picked up on my change in demeanor, and scooped me up just in time to avoid that I fell to the ground. Then he carried me over to a pile of pallets next to an old concrete building. I curled up like a baby, feeling my whole life with Michael and his many personalities, playing like a movie inside my head.

But then, something made my breath hitch in my throat, and I abruptly sat up and listened. The fishermen were still busy searching for Joe around the boat, obviously with no luck. But my attention was drawn to a sound that was quite far away from where they were searching. And even though my ears and head hurt from trying to separate that one familiar sound from the others, there was no doubt. His high pitched screaming felt like arrows that shot right through my heart. But instead of hurting, I felt an overwhelming flood of relief, that made me cry even more. Happy tears, this time.

Joe is alive! He must be under the quay.

I jumped up so fast, that the Mexican that sat next to me, shouted in surprise and grabbed his chest. But I ran blindly towards the area where I thought the sound came from, and started shouting his name.

"JOE?!? JOOOOEEE?!"

"UUHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU....!!!" I heard in response.

"JOOOOE! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

The desperate wailing ceased.

"MISSY...?!"

"I'M HERE! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!!! WHERE ARE YOU???"

"I'M NOT OKAY.....!" he whined loudly, and I felt a sting of anxiety while hundreds of possible scenarios about how badly wounded he was, thundered through my mind.

"IT SMELLS!!! IT SMELLS ROTTEN FIIIIIIISH....!"

Oh, Joe...

"ARE YOU HURT?"

"I'VE GOT A BUMP ON MY FOREHEAD... I THINK. AND UHH... I LOST MY SHOE."

He seriously does not have idea how close he was to dying, does he? What if he ended up in the propel?! What if... You need to slap that stupid head of his, until he learns how to take care of himself, Gail! You can't have him wandering around like an accident magnet. But... You can't hit him! He's way too adorable... Maybe you can just...choke him a little?

I was walking back and forth on the quay to find out exactly where he was, and the Mexican had already managed to get the fishermen's attention, and all four men came running towards where I was.

"HOLD ON, JOE! WE'RE GONNA GET YOU OUTTA THERE!"

"PLEASE, HURRY! IT SMELLS SO BAAAAD... YOU HAVE NO IDEA."

From then on, things went fast. One of the fishermen ran to get a chainsaw, while another one ran to get other types of hardware. And the third one brought blankets and dry clothes. Then, a chosen area of the wooden floor boards on the old quay, were partially sawed off and partially ripped open, until we could spot Joe clinging like a monkey, to one of the pillars that were supporting the quay. And with a little bit of effort, they managed to hoist him up into safety.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again, Joe!" I yelled as I hurried towards him with my arms wide open. And as soon as he was close enough, I hugged him so tightly that he moaned, and I started crying for the second time, both from relief and from how adorably silly the man in front of me was.

"You're truly an unfiltered catastrophe, Joe, but I love you so much!!!"

He was silent for a few, long seconds , before he let out a soft breath that tickled my ear.

"Y-you love me?!"

"Yes, silly. I love you, with all my heart."

I shook my head and kissed his cheek.

"You should seriously consider a career as a crash test dummy. You already have tons of experience. And it's probably much safer than whatever it is that you're doing now."

Joe just blinked his eyes, probably still stuck on the L-word.

"On second thoughts, please don't. I want you in one piece. Can you please try to at least stay alive for me, hubbie?"

"Huh?"

"I forgot to tell you, but we are married now, so you are my husband and I am your wife."

"For real?!"

His face was indescribable. He looked like something in between a kid that celebrated Christmas and Birthday on the same day, and a kitten that just got served an unlimited amount of milk.

"W-when....? H-how did...? We're married?! Are you serious? You're the hottest broad in town, and we're.... Oh, Missy! I love you too!!!"

He wrapped his arms around my waist, lifted me up and spun us around a couple of times. But the intense smell of fish that was on his clothes made me feel nauseous again, and I tried to stop him by discreetly pushing on his upper arms, not to embarrass him in front of our growing amount of audience. But Joe kept rambling on. Until I really couldn't take it anymore...

"HEY! SMELLY!! PUT ME DOWN...!!!!"

My feet had barely touched the ground before I ran as far away as I could, which weren't far at all, and I bent over and vomited... Again. And behind me, I heard the Mexican, the fishermen and a group of bypassers that had witnessed the rescue operation, talking knowingly to Joe, obviously congratulating him on either surviving the accident or my potential pregnancy. Most likely both. And just as earlier, I felt Joe's soft hand caressing my lower back until I was done. Then he grabbed my hand, and walked me over to where the men waited with towels and dry, clean clothes.

I dried my mouth, and thanked each of them in turn, noticing that they were equally wet as Joe, after diving repeatedly into the ocean. But even though I tried to show with my body language, and give them the dry clothes and towel back, they wouldn't have it. And after we had dried off and changed inside one of the cabins in the boat, we said thank you and goodbye. But before we left, I stopped with the Mexican.

"Gracias, Sir. I was just wondering... Uhm... ¿Como te llamas?"

"Raul. ¿Y tu?"

"Gail," I answered, not really giving a damn that he knew my real name. We were probably not going to stay long on Cuba anyway. But before I walked away, I dug into the pocket of my wet jeans that now were rolled up inside a plastic bag. There I took out our last remaining money; the pesos we earned from selling microwaves, and stuck it into his hand.

"This should cover a safe flight back to Mexico. And a deodorant..."

He chuckled a little, making me slightly paranoid that he'd understood the last part of what I said, and tried to give the money back. But I firmly pressed his fingers around them, gave him a quick hug while holding my breath, and then we left.

Joe and me walked hand in hand away from the men, away from the boat and away from the quay. We had a bag of dirty, wet clothes, no money, and our gun was now probably resting at the bottom of the ocean. And also; we had no destination. We had nothing, but each other.

I looked into Joe's loving eyes, while a large smile played upon his lips. And the calmness that spread inside my body, and the urge to laugh at Joe's only shoe, made me feel so damn happy to be alive, right here. Right at this place.

We had each other.