A Battle Unseen

[Doc]

Cliff House, Kaliburg
Friday Evening, 6:15pm

Fredrick sat alone in the living room. "Jenn, are we ready to head out soon? The Opera starts in 45 minutes."

Jennifer called from her dressing room. "Almost. I can't seem to get this dress closed. Can you help me in here a moment?"

Fredrick stood up and smoothed out his tuxedo. He walked into the dressing room and saw his beautiful wife of 17 years, still fully undressed. She turned and smiled at him, and he smiled back with slight humoring, but also a hint of annoyance. "Jennifer, we need to go. We are expected there before the show starts..."

"Freddie. Why don't we just stay in tonight, skip the opera. Just you and me, we should stay here."

"We can't tonight. We are hosting the Chancellor and My Mother and Sister."

Jennifer adopted a pout to her face, resigned by disappointed. "Alright, give me a couple minutes to get ready then... I thought I still had skills."

Fredrick smiled, "You do my dear. But you gotta give a guy a break every now and again. We'll be home by 10:30 and then you can have your way..."

She smiled, satisfied with the negotiation. "Deal." Fredrick stepped out as Jennifer's lady stepped in. Fredrick returned to the living room to wait once more, as his wife put her clothes on with the help of the lady in waiting. After about 7 minutes, Jennifer's dresser left the room and headed for the coat closet, while Jennifer called him back in. "Now, for the Diamond."

Fredrick stopped in the door. "Jennifer, why do you have to wear it?"

She looked at him, "Because I like it, its beautiful. Don't you think it adds brilliance to my outfit?"

Fredrick smiled and said "You could make a whole dress out of diamonds and they wouldn't shine as brightly as your beautiful face does." He paused and said "But this one... This one... is..." he stopped short.

Jennifer smiled and gently comforted her husband. "Fred, its not cursed. That's ridiculous. We are in the 57th century--we can be fairly certain that things can't be cursed. That's just not even realistic." She picked up the large diamond which is the size of her palm and held it out for him to look at. It was heavy, especially with the setting and the additional diamonds, and the large gold and ruby chain swung low below her hand. He looked at it, then looked at her, and then back at the diamond.

It did have a... sort of... almost... internal luminescence... it shined even in low light, almost like it created more light than it took in... it was cut in such a way as to maximize the refraction of even the lowest lights so it always looked brilliant...

"Don't you want to adorn your pretty wife?" asked Jennifer, offering him the gem.

"I... I don't... um...." he stammered, almost entranced. It was like his mind was fighting with his desire to reach out and just put the diamond into his hand. But all he had ever heard, all he had believed about the Diamond was that if a man ever touched that diamond, his demise would be certain... And yet, here was his wife, offering it to him to place around her neck. And he was in the moment of two minds. "Jenn, we need to go. I think you should leave that home and not worry about it." A bead of sweat formed on his forehead.

"But I would like you to help me put this on," said Jennifer. "I can't have my Lady do it, and I can't see the clasp behind my head. Will you help me?"

He stepped closer, almost drawn closer. He felt the tension increase as he neared the diamond... "We should... do what Mr. Maxwell asked and... return this to Eveari..." he said. He was clearly internally battling. "It's... its too valuable... I... I can't even really stand to look at it Jenn... I..." When just at that moment, the Lady in Waiting returned to the room with Jennifer's coat and said "Your coat madame..."

Innocuously enough, but her sudden appearance surprised Jennifer, who started, accidentally tossing the diamond pendant into the air as she tripped over her dress and stumbled backward toward the bed. Fredrick, who saw the diamond fly into the air, watched his wife land safely on the bed, as he reached out and caught the diamond pendant with cat like reflexes, preventing the priceless gem and its attached necklace from falling all the way to the floor. He closed his hand around it for a second, and it felt cool, just barely warmed by his wife's hand. He noted the weight of the pendant, the edges of the facets of the diamond, its setting in a ring of solid white polished gold, and the solidness of the gold and ruby rope as it swung down. This was the first time he had ever touched the diamond.

He looked at his wife, and then back at his hand with this large white stone in it. In a moment, his wife smiled, relieved she landed safely on their bed, and said "You know, Fred. Maybe you're right, maybe we should just leave it here. I could have had a massive accident there and then the whole night would be ruined."

Fredrick took the necklace to the vanity, and placed it on the bust figure where it had rested before his wife went to put it on. He ensured the clasp was latched, and then closed the glass lid over the top of it. "Yes, that's a good idea, Jenn. I think we should take this thing back to Eveari tomorrow first thing, and put it back in the museum where it belongs."

Jennifer nodded. "I'm sorry about that, Fred. I was just trying to be cute for you."

Fredrick took Jennifer's hand and stood her up. "You don't need a stupid rock to be cute," he said and then embraced her. "You were born that way."

She smiled and hugged him back. "I am so glad we have been together all this time. You really get me."

He laughed, kissed her, and said "You can walk the run way in 6 inch stilettos, but you're also still just a klutzy nerd sometimes."

She laughed, rolled her eyes and said "And you're stuck with me, forever... Now, lets go see this opera." With that Fredrick presented his arm, she placed her gloved hand upon it, and they walked out of Cliff House together to their waiting limousine waiting to take them to the National Theater downtown.