Diamonds are Forever 4/? Jorli
Chapters: 4/?
More Info and disclaimer see; General info Jorli series, http://sagas-stories.livejournal.com/25492.html
Author's Note: I have no idea what really took place at the time period, so it is all fiction.
Previous chapters: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Orlando had been so exhausted from both his commitments and lack of sleep that he had forgotten to call Johnny, or anyone else, before he left Toronto. It was not the only thing that he had forgotten that day.
When he was awake and didn't have any tasks to concentrate on, he let his thoughts constantly wander to thinking of Johnny. He understood that he more than liked his friend. He had fallen in love with Johnny. He didn't know when he had actually moved away from always feeling at ease and having fun with the other man, to also feeling content in his presence, and missing him when they weren’t together. It seemed to be so much stronger now. He hoped that he would be able to endure, especially if Johnny hadn't developed any deeper feelings for him.
Orlando knew that if he had been with his other friends, he was certain that he would have talked about Johnny quite a lot, and probably would have looked like a lovesick girl. But wasn't he? Why shouldn't he though, when he loved the man and wanted to spend the rest of his life with him, and since he hadn't gotten a definite NO, he could at least dream.
Right now, Orlando missed being with his friends, or having someone that he could confide in about his feelings, and get some advice from. On the other hand, there was the fact that he didn't want to push his problems onto his friends. The three that he thought were closest to him were his sister, and she was in London, his ex - David, they had separated on the best of terms and moved on. They still would have been close because of Beatrix, but David lived in New Zealand. Third was Chris, his childhood friend, but he was also in England at the moment. He had more friends, but most of them knew nothing of his secret.
In a weak moment, if he wanted to talk, he had people around him. He could maybe trust them, but he thought that they could easily forget themselves and accidentally reveal his secret. He was happy that the people around him weren't ones that he wanted to empty his heart out to, it made it easier to keep it to himself. He did notice that a few of them seemed worried about him. If they had asked what was wrong with him, he would have shrugged his shoulders and hoped that they believed that he was just stressed from the promotion and all the travel. It came at both a bad time and a good time.
Two days after he had left Toronto, on his way to Los Angeles, just to pass through though, and then carry on to Louisville the next day, he had a fit of nausea and had to throw up.
Weakly, he had sank down onto the bathroom floor, heaving and worried over whether he would throw up a second time. He tried to think of what he might have eaten that could have caused it. He knew he hadn't drunk too much this time, so it had to be something else. He usually withstood stress better than this.
He took deep breaths and when it seemed that he would be spared a second round of heaving, he rose and swilled the bile from his mouth, flushing the toilet. Then he sat down, knowing that he had to check to see when it was time for him to have his next period. Maybe it had to do with that.
First, Orlando tried to think of when the last time he had felt anything like this was, and he couldn't remember. It was slightly similar to five years ago, around the time he had gotten pregnant with Beatrix, though he didn't think he could be pregnant again, since he had taken contraceptives to prevent such a situation, but even if that had failed, it was too early to feel like he did.
He counted the days and if he was right, it would be next week that he would have his monthly period, so that couldn't be it. A few times before he was due, he did sometimes feel some nausea, but it never got so bad that he threw up. Being what he was, or rather having both working set of genitalia, his body had to try to create a normal level between female and male hormones. In the beginning, before anyone had understood how straining it was to have both hormone levels trying to be dominant, it was common for him to throw up.
When it happened every month, as it had done since he was twelve, his doctor had prescribed him hormone pills. They were designed especially for him so that he would change as little as possible. It usually worked quite well, so he wasn't too disturbed by his monthly period and together with the contraceptive pills, he usually only had a day of menstruation and that helped him to be able to hide the fact that he wasn't completely male.
He knew he couldn't have missed taking any of the pills he had become so good at taking them. There had been times in the beginning when he had been careless and then he had learned the hard way what it made him go through. Those days had been so hard that he ad made sure never to go through that again. That was why he wondered where his nausea had come from.
Minutes passed and it seemed that he would be spared that second bout of heaving, so he finished his repacking.
When he had done that and could sit down, his thoughts went back to Johnny and what had happened between them. Orlando had finally reached Johnny by phone the previous day. Everything had sounded good, but maybe little forced, as it wasn't the same as sitting beside a person. There were things Orlando didn't say, as he thought they should be said face to face. Johnny was definitely worth that.
Orlando could breathe a little easier though, as Johnny didn't seem to regret what they had done, or try to push him away, so their little rendezvous hadn't been a disaster. Orlando thought that the positive phone call seemed to indicate the possibility of a continued relationship with Johnny.