But that was weeks ago and his birthday seemed so far away. Now it was in four days time.She was in despair as she looked at the prices of the ones in...the newspaper. They were well beyond her budget. Even more so now that Leroy's alimony cheque was late arriving. She had no worries about it not arriving. Despite all the acrimony between them when they broke up and finally divorced he had always been a good father and the money had usually arrived on the second Monday of each month without fail.. Most pilots never get one and now I have two!With the fighting out of the way we took over from the Tortugans and finished removing the Leopard. We had planned ahead and had several Techs and astechs waiting close by. A check of the hull showed several sprung plates but no major damage. While we were checking for damage on the inside we found that the aerospace fighters were still aboard. Not only did we capture a Medium lance of Mechs with only minimal damage to two of them, we got a LEOPARD. " Fine Honey."When Blue came in, I gave her a kiss, and asked all the rest to get ready. Susan got up and so did Amy and Nema from their work. I wanted Susan to be first, but I felt a small amount of reluctance on her part. She wanted my love, but on her terms and conditions.Taking my clothing off one handed, Cal took the garment, and I was free to choose. This time I wanted to start with Blue. Her eyes were bigger than usual, for this had not happened, this way before. I slowly lowered my hold. That's good. Okay."Bruce hung up the phone and sighed with relief. He hurried down thestreet, found the Denny's and went inside, waiting in the vestibule.Alfred. Alfred had saved him. He felt warm thinking of it.Later, he found himself sitting in his hotel room. Alfred had arrangedeverything, checking him in under a false name, sending up a room servicemeal. Bruce was feeling more himself, the little girl receeding, hisconfidence and masculinity growing stronger. With that came shame at hisnew.