Hard Landing Ch. 08

"Eight... nine... ten..." She got to forty before she started to get her own breathing under control, synchronizing it with mine.

I didn't move until her breathing had become slow and steady and she finally lifted her head up. Tears were running down her cheeks.

"I couldn't... I couldn't stop it. It came at me like a train."

"I know baby. It was the horn, right?"

"I just... I felt it coming and I couldn't stop it. I didn't know what to do."

"The first thing you do next time is tell me rather than running away from me."

She hugged me tightly. "Blue..."

"I'm here Jo."

"I want to be past this shit."

"Jo, it's just—"

"—going to take some time," Jo finished in unison with me. "Fuck."

I pulled back and smiled at her. "That's right baby. But it's time that I'm going to be here for. I'm not going anywhere. I just need you to turn to me instead of running from me."

"I know... I know Blue, I just... I've never dealt with shit like this in my life. Still getting used to the idea."

"I think a big part of your problem was that you didn't deal with it when your mom died. You just walled it off."

She stiffened and I wondered if I'd crossed a line. But she sniffed and said, "You've never said a truer thing to me."

"I think you're more open now when things are bothering you though. And I think that's healthier. That's one good thing to come out of your crash."

She looked up at me and the ferociousness of her response startled me. "It's not because of the crash! It's because of you, Blue! You pulled me out of my shell. I'd started down that road months before my bird went down, and it's because of you. Don't ever say otherwise."

I smiled at her then leaned down and wrapped my arms around her again, cocooning us both in my blue hair.

"This is a role reversal from a few weeks ago, isn't it?"

She laughed then found my lips with hers.

"It'll be my turn again someday."

"I'm here for it, Jo."

Just then we heard voices as the rest of the band started coming onto the bus.

"Fuck, I don't want them to see me like this," Jo whispered, rubbing her eyes with the back of her fist.

"I got you baby," I whispered back. I stood up and went to the door of the bedroom and looked out.

"Hey Jill, everything okay?" Suzanne asked me with concern on her face.

"Yup, all good! You're just interrupting a heavy make-out session. Let us know when we get to Ocean City!" I said and shut the door.

"Ick!" Steve yelled through the door at me.

Jo gave a bark of laughter, then dissolved into giggles, falling over on her side.

~~ Ocean City, Maryland ~~

JO

Due to the band's show schedule in Ocean City, they'd decided to do the beach jam their first night in town.

"Just so you guys know, if some surfer hits his head this year, it's someone else's turn to save him." Jo was on one side of the giant cooler they'd filled with beer and ice as she helped Steve carry it out to the firepit, her mandolin case in her other hand.

"I nominate Jill since she's the best swimmer," Larry said, his djembe under one arm and a guitar case in each hand.

"I should stretch then, it looks rough as heck out there today," Blue joked.

Unlike the year before, the ocean was almost totally calm, with rollers barely a foot-tall breaking along the shore, and a light ocean breeze blowing inland. There wasn't a surfer in sight as the sun dipped towards the horizon behind the house.

"Who's starting this year?" Steve asked as everyone settled around the firepit. Jack and Larry had piled wood high, but were holding off lighting it until the sun was fully down.

"Me," Jo said, holding out her hand to Larry as he broke out the guitars and handed her one.

Steve raised his eyebrows. Jo usually just provided guitar licks behind what everyone else decided to play, she rarely took the lead on a song unless it was a classic sing-alone everyone knew the words to.

Jo opened the ice chest and pulled out a Corona, twisted the lid off and stuffed a couple of lime slices from a Ziploc bag down the neck, took a big swig, then sat down with her guitar and beer in the chair next to Blue.

"You ready, Blue Girl? I expect you to jump on this quick."

Blue had lifted her accordion out of its case and slipped on the shoulder straps. "Ready as I can be." She flexed the bellows.

"Alright, let's do this," Jo said. She cracked her knuckles, licked the tips of her fingers then starting picking the strings. The song was instantly recognizable and Suzanne and Larry jumped right on it, with Blue joining in a bar after. It was such an easy melody and the sound of her accordion fit right into the tune and Jo started singing.

All I can say is that my life is pretty plain,

I like watchin' the puddles gather rain.

Everyone joined in, singing along with Jo.

I just want someone to say to me, oh, oh, oh, oh.

I'll always be there when you wake, yeah,

You know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today,

So, stay with me and I'll have it made,

And then the beach jam was off to the races, Steve doing a rousing version of Matchbox Twenty's Real World. After a half hour they'd gathered a small crowd, which grew and shrank as people passing by on the beach stopped for a bit to listen or sing along with them. When Jo called out Sara's turn, she looked a little nervous, but she and Blue had rehearsed a song ahead of time so she didn't have to spoil surprising Steve.

Blue started off the melody, which Jo recognized right away and joined in, strumming the chords, which let Blue do the solo part on her accordion as Sara started a surprisingly soulful version of What's Up?

25 years of my life and still,

I'm trying to get up that great big hill of hope,

For a destination.

The rest of the band and their new audience joined the chorus.

And I say, hey yeah yeah, hey yeah yeah

I said hey, what's going on?

Later, after the passers-by had all wandered away and the night had started winding down, Blue said, "I have another one I want to do." She'd lead on three songs that night, including a much-improved reprise of If I Had $1,000,000. Jo was surprised she had more in her but nodded and settled her guitar on her knee.

When she started the intro on her accordion, no one recognized the song, but it was clear she'd practiced it. Larry and Suzanne joined in with a basic beat, but the rest of them just watched her as she met Jo's eyes and started singing.

O-o-o-h, my soul, sometimes we don't know what to do.

We work so hard being tough on our own,

But now it's me and you...

Let's give it up, sad bones, 'cause we all fall on hard times

But you don't have to stand up all alone, just put your hand in mine

Both Jo and Steve had started trying to pick out a chord progression as Blue played, until Jo stopped, and Steve trailed off with her. She folded her hands on the top of her guitar and just watched her Blue Girl sing to her.

Climb o-o-o-o-n, a back that's str-o-o-o-n-g, Hey hey.

You can get what you want, climb on a back that's strong.

As Blue went into the second verse, Jo was perched like a statue on the edge of her chair, watching her.

And if you could show me the story of love,

I would write it again and again

And then you could be the woman you need

If you just let me be the woman I am!

Climb o-o-o-o-n, a back that s-t-r-o-o-o-n-g!

Jo smiled, her eyes glistening, as Blue stared back at her, her voice carrying across the beach.

Sometimes we try too hard to see,

But we got one down now, one more to go.

That's when you say... to me...

Climb o-o-o-o-n, a back that s-t-r-o-o-o-n-g!

As the last accordion notes died away there was a moment of silence, then Larry said quietly, "Well, we've been looking for a good ballad to add to our playlist. I think you found it, Jill."

"Yeah..." Suzanne voice was brimming with emotion. "Yeah, Jill you're doing that on stage for sure."

Jo got up from her chair, set her guitar down and pulled Blue to her feet and kissed her, the accordion sandwiched between them.

She pulled back, holding Blue's hands and turned her head to Steve and said, "If you say 'ick', I'm going to pick you up and throw you in the ocean."

Steve grinned. "No 'ick', that was totally well-earned. That was beautiful, Jill."

When they fell into bed that night, it wasn't the rough passion of the nights they'd spent together at the farm. Jo gently undressed them both, then stretched her body atop of Blue's looking down into her eyes in the soft light of the lamp on the bedside table. She ran one finger along Blue's cheek, then kissed her.

"How long have you known you were going to do that song tonight?" she asked.

"Maybe a month. I was going to ask Steve or Jack to figure out a guitar part to accompany me, but when Henry gave me that accordion, I knew I could do it myself."

"You sang that for me."

"Of course."

Jo went silent, staring into Blue's eyes for so long she said, "Uh... Jo? You okay?"

"Yes," she whispered. "I love you so much."

Blue smiled. "I love you too."

Jo kissed her again, then moved her mouth down Blue's neck. She dragged her tongue over Blue's special neck spot, causing her to gasp, but then moved on, so as not to trigger a quick orgasm. She took her time, moving down slowly, spending long minutes and attention on Blue's breasts, as Blue ran her fingers through Jo's short, thick hair.

Jo moved lower, kissing Blue's stomach, her belly button, the rise of her hip. As she moved between her legs, she could see Blue's lips were puffy with arousal. She rubbed her cheek on the skin above her lips.

"Did you shave again this morning? You're so smooth." She planted little kisses on the skin there, causing Blue's breath to quicken. She gave her a lick, not quite reaching the top of her cleft. "I really like this. I want you to do this for me."

"Right now?" Blue gasped.

"No." Jo smiled. "But soon." She lowered her head and licked at Blue's lips. Her clit was already engorged, and Jo found it on the first stroke of her tongue, causing Blue to cry out. Jo slid her hands under Blue's legs, and found her hands, lacing their fingers together. The she slowly and firmly started lapping at Blue. As she approached the edge, Jo slowed, never stopping, but teasing and drawing it out.

"Oh god, Jo, not this again!" Blue whined, squirming under her ministrations.

Jo loved teasing her, but tonight... tonight she only wanted to give Blue what she wanted. Anything she wanted. Everything she wanted. She flattened her tongue and pressed against Blue's clit, holding her head motionless and swirling her tongue in steady, insistent circles.

It took no time at all until Blue was thrusting her hips up at Jo's mouth and moaning, then she tensed and hissed "Yessssssssss!", crushing Jo's fingers with her own.

Jo licked her through her orgasm, then scooted up slightly and rested her cheek on Blue' stomach, and sighed happily.

"God, Jo, that was... that was really good."

"I feel like I'm just taking from you all the time. I want to give to you more. Doing that to you makes me really happy."

"Well..." Blue said, catching her breath, "there is something I want to take from you, if you're okay with it. It's pretty personal."

Jo raised her head and looked at her. "You can have anything I have to give."

JILL

"You sure you want to do this, Blue? 'Cause once we start, there's no turning back. You know that, right?"

I lay on my stomach, my naked back exposed. "I'm sure, Jo." I reached out and grabbed Jo's hand tightly. "Do it."

"Okay, here we go." Jo nodded.

A loud buzzing sound filled the room and I sucked in a breath.

"Wow, that hurts more than I thought it would," I said.

"Need me to stop?" The tattoo artist asked me.

"No, do it." I squeezed Jo's hand tighter. "I'm just glad it's small."

Jo held my hand and watched as the woman wielded her instrument, tracing the design she'd drawn between my shoulder blades. We passed the time mostly in silence, punctuated by my occasional sounds of discomfort.

When the buzzing stopped, the woman wiped my back with a soft cloth and looked at her artwork critically. "I think I nailed your design. What do you think?" she asked Jo.

"Perfect," Jo said.

I now had a small, two-inch long silhouette of a Bell-47 on the left side of my back facing my spine, and on the other side were the characters "N4077Z." It was identical to the one on Jo's back, except mine was in indigo blue.

The tattoo artist covered it in petroleum jelly and a transparent bandage, and gave me a sheet of paper with after-care instructions.

"Your first tattoo. What did you think?" Jo asked as we walked out into the morning sunshine.

"I think I need to take the test to get my pilot's license so I can start catching up to you. You've got seven and I just have the one. I want more."

"I like that you made yours blue instead of black. Makes me wish I could go back and do mine in that color now."

"Do you think your dad will teach me to fly the other models you guys have too?"

"No."

"Really? Why not?"

Jo smirked at me. "Because now that I'm in on your secret, I'm going to teach you instead of dad."

"Can I wear a schoolgirl outfit?"

"Only if you want us to fly us into a mountain when I'm on the stick."

I laughed. "Well, I mean if we gotta go, that's—" I was interrupted by the screech of tires and car horns.

Over Jo's shoulder, I saw a car trying to speed through a yellow light on Coastal Highway, while an SUV coming the other way was turning left. They hit head-on with a loud crunch of metal and glass. Jo spun around in a defensive crouch, then slowly straightened up when she saw what had caused the noise. Both drivers got out, yelling at each other, apparently unharmed.

I looked over at Jo. Her eyes were squeezed shut. "Baby?" I asked.

"Blue... I can feel it coming. I can't..." She reached out and blindly pawed with her hand until she found mine. "Don't leave me."

I looked around and saw a Starbucks two doors down from the tattoo shop. "Jo, come with me." I towed her down the sidewalk and into the Starbucks. I gave a silent prayer of thanks that the big leather couches at the front of the store were unoccupied and sat Jo down on one, sitting on the coffee table in front of her with her legs between my knees. I rested my forehead against hers, holding her hands in mine.

"Okay Jo, just focus on me. Feel my breathing. Count with me. One... two..."

"Three... four..." Jo didn't fight me, she just sat with her eyes closed, feeling my breath on her face as I exhaled and counting with me. I concentrated on taking deep, regular breaths. "Five... six..."

This time it only took her until twenty-five to calm her own breathing, although she continued to sit motionless with her eyes closed, leaning her forehead against mine, shaking almost imperceptibly.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" I turned my head to see a young woman in a Starbucks apron standing behind me, looking concerned.

"We're okay, thanks. Can we have two venti iced teas, please?" I smiled encouragement at her, still holding Jo's hands as she sat there with her eyes shut tight. The woman gave me a look of understanding and walked back to the counter.

"That was... less bad than last time," Jo muttered as she opened her eyes, looking at her feet.

"That's good," I said encouragingly.

She smiled, took a few more deep breaths, then raised her eyes to mine. "Thanks, Blue."

We walked back out into the sun a half hour later sipping our iced teas.

"Well, that wasn't exactly how I'd thought this morning would go," Jo said.

"Nope, but it worked out and we're okay, right?" I said, holding her hand.

"We are. I am. Thanks."

"So, what do you want to do now?" I looked up and down the street. "There's a tourist-trap souvenir place down the block. Want to go look at trashy t-shirts?"

Jo smiled, staring into the distance. "Actually, I think I need to go run an errand. Can I meet you back at the house in a bit?"

"Jo?" I asked worriedly.

She looked at me and her face softened. "Blue, I'm not running away from you, I promise. It's passed now, and I'm okay thanks to you. I just need to go do something and I need to do it myself. Is that okay? Trust me?"

I searched her face. She seemed okay. Like... my confident Jo. "Okay. But don't take too long. Remember tonight's the Secrets show. We're gonna rock the hell out."

She laughed. "I wouldn't miss that for the world. We're doing Feeling You again tonight, right?"

"I'll do that song with you anywhere and anytime you want baby."

JO

Jo walked into the house two hours later, to the sounds of laughter. As she turned the corner to the kitchen she stopped cold.

"Dad!" she exclaimed. Henry was in the kitchen with the rest of the band. "What are you doing here?"

"Jocelyn, is that any way to greet your old man?" Henry was grinning ear to ear. "I was doing line work up near West Chester with Pepco this week. There was a big storm upstate and they had to redeploy some guys so I got pushed off until next week. I thought I'd come out and see my kids play at this 'Secrets' place I've heard so much about, flew in a couple hours ago."

"That's great!" Jo said coming into the room. "We can tune up one of my spare guitars for you and you can do a song with us on stage tonight!"

Henry's grin lessened slightly. "Uh..."

"Ha! See dad? How do you like being on the end of the surprise?" Jo smirked as Steve and Larry chuckled.

"I mean, it does sound like fun, dad," Steve said.

"We'll see, kids. If I do then I get to choose the song."

"Fair enough," said Jo. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm ready to rock, I just need to go change before we head over."

Blue followed Jo into their room. "Everything okay, baby?" she asked.

"Yup, all good," Jo answered as she stripped off her t-shirt and started digging through her bag.

"Do you, uh... do you want to tell me where you went?"

Jo stopped and stood up. "I do, Blue. Just not right now. I promise, it's nothing bad. Okay? Trust me?"

Blue walked over and hugged her. "I trust you."

"Good," Jo said, then resumed digging in her bags. "A-ha, here it is." She pulled out her tight, sleeveless Captain Marvel t-shirt and pulled it over her head, the gold eight-pointed star settling at the center of her chest.

"Oh ho... going to be that kind of night, huh?"

"Bet your pretty little butt it is."

"Well then, I'm glad I got something to go with it for the tour."

Blue dug in her own bag and pulled out a wrapped package, then pulled her dress off. Jo looked up and down her body, taking a step towards her.

"Think we have time for...?"

"No, silly. If we did that, we'd hold up everyone for a couple hours and we have to go set up on stage. Also, I'm not about to do that while your dad is right out there."

Jo sighed. "Okay. What's this thing you got for the tour?"

Blue took off her bra, then opened the package and unwrapped a dress which she pulled over her head. It was similar to her usual sundresses, with thin shoulder straps, but the square neckline was a little higher than usual. The dress was dark, almost midnight blue and came down nearly to her knees, with a wide, flaring hem which swirled around her legs. There were yellow comets and shooting stars printed all over it. A giant image of Saturn the size of a basketball covered her right thigh with a smaller image of earth on her left side under her breasts.