In the Year of the Cat (Queen or Freddie Mercury Fanfic)

8. Here's the Deal

"I'm on to you, darling," he said at last.

I turned to look at him. "How so?"

Freddie dabbed delicately at his lips with his napkin. "I know what you're doing. Don't think I don't see it."

We were sitting across from each other in the kitchen, as the dining room seemed just a bit too pretentious for our purposes. Both of us had just finished a lovely breakfast, if a fast one. Freddie seemed to be in a hurry- perhaps because he was due at the studio and the boys were waiting for him. It also meant we more or less ate in silence, which never became too awkward thanks to the constant hum of the radio. I'd like to think Freddie enjoyed my cooking, considering how much he had to eventually put up with it.

I sipped my tea. "That's as may be, I still don't know what you're hinting at."

"You're a very clever girl, making me breakfast and all."

"Must one be clever, to make breakfast?"

"It's the intent behind it. Making yourself useful and thus indispensable to me."

I pretended to pout. "I was hungry. And anyway, it was the least I could do to thank you for being so kind last night."

"True, I was very nice," Freddie agreed. "One of my best qualities, I think."

I rolled my eyes. "Yup. Right up there with your modesty."

"I might have been nicer to you, though," he said. "I just found your story a little hard to swallow. Still do, in fact. But I could have been a little more understanding. It's not every day I run into a madwoman."

The gleam returned, and the corners of his mouth twitched. I could not let that swipe go unrecognized.

"That's okay. It's not every day I run into a fellow with such high illusions of grandeur."

"I believe it's 'delusions,' actually, is the better word to use there."

Usually, being corrected this much made me bristle, but somehow when he did it, I could handle it better. "I speak my own language, man- and there's nothing you can do about it." I raised my cup of tea and grinned. "Cheers."

"True, I can't help it if you're uninformed," he yawned luxuriously. "But, yes, cheers."

Back chat, back chat, flashed through my head. I made a mental note: Always has to have the last word. And to myself I added, Challenge accepted.

I got up and picked up our plates to put them in the sink. "I'll wash these in a minute."

Freddie slid his chair back noisily. "So, has your head cleared enough so you can find your way back to- um, whatever planet you've descended from?" he asked.

I sighed. "It would take a lot more than that to send me home."

"How do you mean?"

"Excuse me a moment," I said, then rushed up the stairs to the green bedroom. I pulled a few things out of my backpack, and came back down. I was flirting with screwing with the future, but hey, hadn't I already done that?

Freddie's hands were on his hips. I asked, "I don't want to hold you up, do you have someplace you need to be?"

"My driver should be here in about five minutes, so I've got time," he said.

"Okay. See this?" I showed him the Relic. " This is my only means of communication with folks back where I come from."

"What is it?"