[IC] City Comes to the Country (Tyler Night and Whitelily)

[Tyler Night]

"Get them both."

He says with a chuckle.

"I mean, why not. It's not like we will be drinking it constantly or anything."

He walks over to a refrigerator unit and looks in. He grabs some foie gras and tosses it in a reusable bag.

[DELETED08735]

"Brave man."

Setting the bottles in her basket, Ele smiled at Tyler then went to the cashier to pay for the items.

[Tyler Night]

He grabs several other things of food and checks out as well.

"Hey babe, the toy hauler has a kitchen. We can put the food in the fridge and stop later to eat."

He smiles down at her grabbing his money.

[DELETED08735]

"Okie dokie!"

Ele said happily, linking her arm with Tyler's as they walked back out to the parking lot. Ele took the food items and went into the hauler and put everything in the fridge so it would last. Humming to herself, Ele couldn't remember a time that she had felt so incredibly happy and light, like she had no worries.

[Tyler Night]

As she is coming out of the hauler he grabs her and picks her up into the air, holding onto her waist.

"Damn girl, you are light."

He says with a chuckle.

[DELETED08735]

A surprised squeal escaped Ele as Tyler picked her up, but it changed quickly into a fit of giggles as Ele put her hands on Tyler's shoulders and kicked her legs lightly,

"I'm pretty sure that its because you're a beast, babe!"

She laughed, wrapping her legs around Tyler's middle and pulling herself to him,

"I mean, you're basically a tree-man, tall, strong, and a little rough on the outside."

Leaning in, Ele kissed Tyler deeply,

"But I love you anyway!"

[Tyler Night]

"You don't love me despite it. You love me in spite of it."

He chuckles and kisses back. He carries her back to the car as Vale takes off in the truck. Tyler drops her off and hops in the car with her taking off once again, finally heading back the right direction to find Route 66.

[DELETED08735]

Sitting cross-legged in the front seat, Ele rolled down the window and turned the radio up on a classic rock station, singing along and drumming her fingers on Tyler's thigh where she kept her hand. It felt so natural now, to touch Tyler and to be touched by him, there was no fear in Ele whenever she was around her man, love had pushed all of it away.

[Tyler Night]

After a while they reach Nevada and pull off onto the side of the road. Vale pulls off ahead of him, stopping as well.

"This stretch of desert road runs forever. It is straight, with the curve of the road you can see cars coming from 20 miles away and the cars are fewer and even farther between than the distance you can see. Nevada runs a race starting just ahead at the top of the hill ahead of us and "

Tyler looks at Ele smiling.

"We are gonna let the Miata and the Corvette run, see how long it takes to run this race. 90 miles, 1 way. Hoping we can do it in about 25 minutes."

Vale begins unloading the corvette. After a while Eric pulls up behind them and honks.

"Since you big hunky men are gonna let your engines clear their throats mind if I stick the Impala in the trailer and drive the truck up ahead while you get ready?"

He asks with a smile.

"Go ahead brother, we are gonna be a little while here, you should see us long before we fly by."

Eric drives up into the trailer and parks the car getting switched out and taking off. After about half an hour of prep they finally take off, racing through the desert.

[DELETED08735]

The prospect of the long race made Ele smile and jump up and down with excitement and she helped set everything up to go. When they were off, Ele was back in her seat, but properly buckled in. With her phone out, Ele took a video of them screaming through the desolate wasteland and laughter bubbled up inside of her. Watching Tyler, Ele pointed her phone at him and started taking pictures of his expressions, wanting to draw them later.

[Tyler Night]

After a mile or so into the race Tyler gives it full power and overtakes Vale. As he flies by the sound of the turbocharged rotary screams bloody murder. Full throttle the car climbs up in speed, easily breaking 200. Getting faster and faster it eventually settles in at about 240, bouncing off the limiter. He slightly lets off the gas and holds it at about 230. The mesa's a blur to both of them as they just race through them. Vale eventually pulls up behind Tyler and seems to even out.

"Watch this, he is gonna take advantage of the slip stream. He is gonna pull out from behind us and he is gonna rocket past."

As if on cue Vale pulls out from behind and the speed he was traveling at increases quite dramatically, allowing him to take over. They keep this pattern up for about 20 minutes before the come up towards a town off in the distance. The entire 90 mile trip the only other vehicle seen by them was Eric in the semi truck toy hauler who was passed after 5 minutes into the cruise. Pulling into the town they realize that it has a welcoming feel to it.

[DELETED08735]

As they slowed into the town, Ele looked out the window,

"Where are we?"

She asked, her phone now useless without data to look up where they were.

[Tyler Night]

"Not sure, it was never marked on the map when we looked it up. I recognize the street name cuz it was mentioned in the itinerary but never got a town name. If they are small enough they won't show up in the search. I know though we are only about an hour or so from reaching the true start of route 66. As in the towns you see associated with it and the towns they show on TV."

He smiles at her, pulling up to the gas station.

"We will pass everything...Except for gas stations."

He says with a laugh.

[DELETED08735]

"Well, I'm going to document this trip on Instagram!"

Ele declared, getting out of the car and leaning against the door. Posing, she smiled at her phone as she clicked away,

"Whenever we stop or see something cool I'll post."

[Tyler Night]

"Have fun with that babe, we are gonna have probably a dozen posts by the time we reach Michigan."

He says smiling. Grabbing the gas pump he sticks it in the tank and begins filling it up with premium gas. He lets the tank fill up looking around the area. He gets his money out wondering how much money he will need. After a couple minutes the gas stops pumping, he pulls the nozzle up and fills it up as much as possible ending at $35.

"I am gonna go in and get something to drink and pay for the gas, might as well wait for Eric to show back up."

He says as he walks into the store. As he walks in one of the cashiers says.

"Man, that is a beautiful car but so quiet. What kind is it?"

"Oh, it is a 1990 Mazda Miata with an Italia body kit."

"Really, a Miata. What kind of engine is in it?"

"It has a 1.8 rotary with a Jackson supercharger and twin turbo."

"Oh jeez, that thing has to be a monster."

As he says that Vale rolls in and parks at the other side of the pump.

"I am guessing he is with you too?"

"Yeah, we just drove down the silver state course, gotta wait for our buddy to catch up with us, he is like 70 miles behind us with our toy hauler."

The guy laughs.

"How long did it take you to run it?"

"About 20 minutes or so."

He says with a laugh.

"90 miles in 20 minutes, geez. How much power do those cars make?"

"I am detuned right now so I make about 900 horses. The corvette is about 1,500."

The guy shakes his head.

"Like I said to my girlfriend out there, we will pass everything, except gas stations."

The guy laughs and shakes his head.

"Those must be a blast."

Tyler nods.

"They are."

They continue talking for a while before Vale walks in to pay. Tyler grabs some mountain dew's, letting Vale pay first then pays the cashier a moment later. They continue to wait for Eric just talking cars. After a bit Tyler walks back out to the car.

"Hey babe, you thirsty?"

He asks showing her 6 flavors of mountain dew.

[DELETED08735]

Terry and Ele had been laughing and having their own mini photo shoot with the cars, Ele now leaned against the hood of the Miata, her red hair raising slightly in the breeze. When she heard Tyler come out, Ele skipped away from the car and hugged Tyler tightly around the middle,

"Do you have the red kind? That's my favorite!"

Feeling giddy with happiness, Ele smiled up at Tyler,

"You're incredibly handsome! Have I told you that?"

[Tyler Night]

"Of course babe."

He hands her the bottle of code red and takes the game fuel for himself. He smiles at her and asks.

"You seem even more upbeat now."

He kisses her cheek and says.

"You look wonderful babe."

[DELETED08735]

"I feel free, more so than I ever have before."

She said, opening her bottle and taking a drink,

"Even with Mom out there, she won't come for me with Tony in prison. She's a coward when she's alone."

Smiling up at Tyler and snuggling closer, Ele planted a kiss on Tyler's neck,

"And I don't feel alone anymore."

[Tyler Night]

He smiles and wraps his arms around her.

"You won't be alone either."

He says to her with a smile.

"Between all of us in this little family group of ours we will always have somebody to watch out for each other."

He sits down on the back of the car when a truck rolls in the gas station. He notices it pull up to the diesel pump and stick it in then look at the Corvette and Miata. He locks the pump and studies the Miata.

"I know that is a 57 corvette over there but I have no idea what this little thing is."

He stares at it and gets confused.

"What the hell is it?"

Tyler chuckles.

"1990 Mazda Miata, it has an Italia body kit."

"A Miata?! How?"

"Italia body kit completely replaces half the body panels on the car."

"My daughter has a 92 Miata, she loves the car but thinks it is just so plain. What does this thing cost?"

"Not cheap, you will never get a return on investment with it but it is $6,500 for the full kit."

He cocks a brow.

"Damn, that is expensive. But if it looks this good, it is probably worth it."

"Yeah, this is actually gonna be a race car for my girlfriend, we got a twin charged 1.8 liter rotary engine in it. Makes around 1,200hp on high boost."

The guy puffs.

"Damn, this little car will make that much power?"

"Yeah, rotary engines are monsters, make almost as much power as a V8 will."

"That is crazy. You have a shop around here? I wouldn't mind checking it out."

"No I don't, I am just passing through. I came out to pick up my girlfriend, I live in Michigan and she lived in San Francisco. She is moving out with me and we decided to come out and do a road trip back home instead of her flying back."

"Well that is too bad. Think you would ever come back this way?"

"Yup, I plan on doing the Silver State Classic, I will probably be back often."

"Sweet man, I have run it for years. I had the twin turbo big block chevy Viper."

"Oh boy, that thing made me feel a cocktail of emotions when I first saw it man."

He laughs.

"I love chevy, though Viper is one of my favorite cars. It made me sad, mad and happy all at once cuz I am a purist when it comes to vipers but then chevy motors are some of the best you can get as well as being cheap."

The guy laughs.

"You are like the 100th person to say that. But it worked, old motor dead, cheap motor lying around."

"Yeah, eventually I came to love it but that first half dozen times."

The pump on the guys truck clicks off.

"Alright, I will check this thing out. Hopefully I will get to see this thing run soon."

"Yup, you will likely see it later this year. But just look up Italia body kit or Banshee. They are both really cool."

"Alright, sounds good. Thanks for talking with me, now I know what I can do for my daughter."

"No prob, have a good one."

The guy turns and pulls the pump out, heading into the store then takes off a few minutes later. Tyler and the group wait around for a little while longer before Eric shows up. Getting started up again they continue on their way traveling for several hours before loading up the cars and tripping in the toy hauler. They each take turns driving until they finally arrive home once again in Michigan. Stopping regularly for photo ops and refueling. They enter the county late at night the next day. He smiles at her and asks.

"How is it supposed to go down with the shipping company babe? We will be home pretty soon."

[DELETED08735]

They were in the trailer, as Vale was driving now, so Ele had her head in Tyler's lap. She was dozing lightly until he asked the question and she rolled onto her back so she could look up at him,

"It should come in tomorrow, but there isn't much in there. The only large piece of furniture I kept was a vanity so I can give back some space in the bathroom."

Smiling up at Tyler, Ele picked up his hand and played with his fingers,

"Everything else is boxes of the rest of my clothes, art supplies and my canvases which we can move into my part of the shop."