Amelia, Ch 178- Taylor
"That was a nice thing you did for Riley," I said to Emma. It still bothered me, talking to her. Remembering our first few years of our life together. Then remembering the last few. Still, I had to admit she'd done everything possible to help the team.
To help me. And I did promise her to at least try to be friends again.
"Thanks," she responded. "She deserved it, after everything she's done for the team."
I frowned. Riley was not what I would call my favorite person. For all she tried to make up for everything, she was still Bonesaw. She still vivisected Brian, which at least partially led to... to everything he'd done to his captives. I read the mission summary: parahuman batteries, deliberate Crawler based mutations. Over a dozen confirmed homocides.
Emma realized her mistake quickly enough.
She always did know how to read me, I reminded myself. "Sorry, sometimes it's really easy to forget. Or hard to remember that she's the one who did... everything else she's done."
"I know," I replied. It really, really was.
"It is kinda... I don't know... encouraging?" Emma continued. "If someone like her can find forgiveness, and even friends and happiness. Do something good with her life. That means there's hope for almost everyone, doesn't it?"
"Maybe," I offered. I wasn't sure I believed it, but the idea was comforting.
....
AmusementWorry. "Jeez, Taylor, you weren't half this nervous when we were waiting for the Endbringer," Amelia teased.
"Endbringers are easy," I defended myself. "See it, and either run from it or do everything you can to kill it. Either you succeed or you fail, then end. This, on the other hand... I'm about to meet my future mother and father and sister in laws..."
"You're assuming I'm still going to accept your proposal," Amelia teased.
"MY proposal," I mock-scoffed. "You're the one who keeps checking out my backside. And my rack, now that I have one. Still don't know if I should thank Emma for that, or punch her in the face a third time."
"I could always fix that for you," Amelia pointed out. "Speaking of, I've yet to see you in that bikini."
"Oh, as if it would fit now," I countered.
AmusementDesire. "That is a selling point, actually" she replied in a rather sultry voice. I blushed.
"And then there's everyone else at this get together," I pointed out to her. "I get to meet my future aunt-in-law slash potential future step mother and future cousin-in-law slash teammate slash potential step sister. I still don't know how to process that."
"Crystal said she's pretty sure Sarah's never gonna get remarried," Amelia informed me. I shrugged. I didn't think dad would ever remarry, either.
"So, yeah, no matter how you look at this," I continued. "Definitely harder to handle than Enbringers. With them, the rules are simple- you win or they kill you."
ConcernDismay. "Err... sorry, I keep forgetting that I, uh..." I didn't know what to say. Or at least, not how to say it.
I died, I reminded myself again.
Or she died and I'm the backup. It wasn't a thing either of us wanted to talk about. Easier for us to ignore that it happened.
She hugged me from behind, and I pushed back against her. "It's okay," she insisted, pushing her feelings into the link. "I love you." My heart jumped.
NervousConcern. "Taylor? Are you okay? I shouldn't have said that, should I?"
"No!" I replied, turning to face her. "No. It was just a bit of a shock. I mean, I already knew. The link and all. It's just the first time you've actually said it."
ApprehensionWorry. I blinked. Oh. "It... it's not, is it?" I asked.
"No, it's not," she reluctantly admitted.
I pulled her tight against me. "Well, that's fine," I told her. "In case you had any doubts, I love you, too."
"I know", she agreed. I thought about repeating the sexuality alteration... but, no. It didn't go well last time, and I didn't want to bring it up. My own notes left for me by my other self didn't say much on the subject, simply that it was 'a bad plan, don't do it'. That part of my life was quite literally over, and it was best simply to allow it to stay that way.
I am happy like this.
....
Amelia and I arrived at the restaurant, driven by my dad.
"Thanks, Danny," Amelia said as we arrived.
"Not a problem, girls," my father said cheerfully. He had dressed in an actual suit for this. At some point, someone had decided to make this a particularly fancy get together, complete with getting a private room at a high end restaurant. The kind of place that we'd probably have to sign up on a waiting list for, normally. Luckily, we didn't have that problem. I preferred to imagine it had more to do with the owner being a long term friend of Carol's than anything else.
The greeter was all smiles, and led us to our section.
Carol and Vicky were already here, as well as Sarah and Crystal. Vicky gave me a rather unhappy look. Amelia glanced between us and simply sighed.
AnnoyanceDismay. I put my hand on the small of her back and gave a slight rub. Despite the sheer irrationality of it, on any number of levels, I was still jealous of Victoria. She had looks on her side, and she was Amelia's first crush. It didn't help that she was flat out hostile toward me, not that I could fault her for it. What I did to her was pretty unforgivable.
Danny followed in behind us, and glanced across the room. "Hello, Carol," he said with a practiced neutrality that he'd been forced to use an awful lot of late, having to deal with the Mayor and other political types. He often complained that he spent more time talking to those assholes than his own people, these days.
"Good to see you again, Danny," she offered a winning smile. Amy's family has absurdly good genes, I decided for not the first time. "I'm afraid I probably made a poor impression the last time we spoke."
"It's fine," he answered. "I know what it's like to be in a difficult place."
"Hopefully I'll do better this time around," she offered.
Sarah was visibly relieved, as she walked forward to wrap her arm around Dad's. This wasn't the first time I'd seen them together, but it was the first time during an 'official' date.
ConcernComfort, Amelia transmitted to me. I smiled, just letting myself be happy that Dad was happy.
"So, this is the famous and elusive Taylor," a man spoke cheerfully from behind me.
I knew he was coming, of course, and made the guess that it was Mark. I turned toward him. "Mister Dallon, I presume?"
"Please, don't call me that," he smiled broadly. "Makes me feel old. Besides, you're engaged to my daughter. You can call me Mark, or even Dad, whichever you prefer."
I don't know who was made least comfortable by that suggestion, but it probably wasn't me.
ShockEmbarrassmentConcern. "I'll keep that in mind, Mark," I said after a moment. If Amelia's Dad noticed any of our discomfort, he pretended not to, instead opting to give Amelia a hug and then make his way over to Victoria. The rest of us simply looked at each other awkwardly.
....
The meal went well enough, and fortunately or no it was Mark that made things both more and less awkward. More by encouraging all of us to be more familiar with each other than most of us were willing to be, and less by at least breaking the ice. Eventually, it got the adults sharing stories about how the city 'use to be', back when the other half of us were in grade school. They made it sound a lot nicer than I believed possible.
This allowed Crystal and Victoria to talk with each other about their lives. Meanwhile, Amelia and I got to eat quietly, being the wallflowers that we naturally preferred to be. Sure, we were stronger now, and with the benefits of our bond to give us confidence, we could handle the spotlight. But we didn't like it the way most of the others in this room did. We chose to let the others have their fun.
'Taylor?' Lisa's voice spoke into her armor. 'Sorry to interrupt. Grue was broken out of containment, along with a handful of other captives.'
'Anything that we can do about it now?' I asked.
Dammit, I thought. I knew that even, especially, those who are destined for the Birdcage needed a trial... but it left way too many chances for the criminal to escape.
You're going to have a kill order next time we find you, aren't you Brian? I didn't know if I could handle killing someone I loved, once. Or thought I loved, at least. It was a childish crush with someone who wouldn't have been interested to begin with.
Like Amelia and Victoria, I added. That made me feel a little better.
'Afraid not,' she answered. 'I'll probably go there tomorrow to help investigate some. We don't know that it was even Brian they were after, but he's one of the escapees.'
"Taylor?" Amelia asked. "Is something wrong?" I noted that the others had noticed that I'd gotten tense.
'Do you think he'll come back here?" I asked Lisa.
"Uh, sorta," I replied. "Work related, but nothing we have to worry about right now. Better to just not let it ruin dinner."
'Probably not,' Lisa answered. 'He has a specific vendetta against those he holds responsible for Aisha's death. We didn't cause that. Calvert might still be a target, but I highly doubt he'll try that again any time soon.'
'Understood,' I transmitted.
Dammit, Brian. At least I already ate most of my food, because my appetite was ruined for the night.
======================
A/N- Because
, that's why. I did go out of my way to make it more clear about what Taylor would know from her lost week.
... And, yes, the next chapter is the start of the next Endbringer arc.
