"You're doing this Owen."
Sean Green closed the door to Owen Blackbourne's bedroom with a click.
He kept his back to the door, leaning against it.
It wasn't that he was afraid that someone would enter.
No; he didn't want someone to leave.
That someone was Owen.
Mr Blackbourne took off his glasses and pinched the top of his nose in-between his eyes.
A sure sign of strain.
Mr Blackbourne turned and looked out the window of his bedroom to the beautiful garden below.
Autumn was in full swing now.
Colours vivid and bright in orange,red and yellow filled the garden.
He could hear the fountain purposefully producing its never ending cycle of water rising and falling.
The noise, however, could not drown out Sean Green's voice which was commanding.
Turning to Dr. Green, Mr Blackbourne loosened his tie and continued until it was in his hand.
He then straightened the tie and placed it over the chair belonging to the bureaux beside the window.
Another sign of strain.
"We need this," Dr. Green continued."You need this. Sang needs this."
Mr Blackbourne looked up to Dr. Green, ascertaining his next manoeuvre.
"Don't bring Sang into this," he returned.
"Why not?" Dr. Green countered.
"She's the reason that we are all here. She's the reason that we are doing this."
———————————————————————————————————————————
Kota paced the floor of the living room.
"Sit, Kota," North demanded, "your pacing is annoying the shit out of me."
Kota turned to North, who was standing looking out of the far window. Disbelief flitted across Kota's face.
"That's the best you can do, North? Stop pacing, Kota."
"Yeah," North volleyed, "I told you to stop it because you've done nothing but pace this floor for the last fifteen minutes, muttering to yourself."
"He's been muttering number sequences again," Victor conceded.
Victor was lounging in a chair in the corner of the room, one leg casually resting over the arm of the chair, an open book lay in his hands.
Kota threw a mutinous look towards Victor.
Victor threw his hands up in mock surrender.
"What? It's true, Kota! Even I'm becoming dizzy looking at you!"
Nathan was soundly snoozing on the couch, blissfully unaware from everything around him.
The door to the living room opened.
Gabriel and Luke walked in towards the couch and then threw themselves onto it and therefore on top of Nathan. It bounced with the suddenness of their movement.
"Shit!" Nathan's eyes shot open,"Fuck!" he hissed.
Suddenly, Gabriel and Luke found themselves a few feet from where they had started, courtesy of Nathan.
"Find your own damn couch!" Nathan bellowed.
Gabriel and Luke sat on the opposite couch.
"Better now?" Gabriel quipped at Nathan.
Nathan showed Gabriel the finger and then fell back down on the couch to resume his sleep.
"I'm bored," Gabriel declared as he blew part of his long fringe off his forehead.
His two toned hair was longer now and in need of some attention.
"That's the least of our worries," North snorted.
Gabriel and Luke turned towards North, but it was Victor who spoke from the corner of the room.
"Kota's counting," Victor stated.
"So?" said Luke, "he's always counting, big deal."
"He's moved onto prime numbers now though."
"Fucking Hell!" Gabriel spluttered.
"That's bad, that's way bad, fucking hell, Kota!"
Nathan shot up from his sleeping position once more. This wasn't good, he thought.
All eyes turned to Kota.
"How high did ya get?" Luke enquired.
"Um, well, 3001, 3011, 3019, 3023, 3037, 3041, then North interrupted me," Kota said.
"Cool," Luke smiled at Kota.
"Fuck sake!" Gabriel yelled.
"Stop fucking asking what he counted to!
I want to know WHY he's counting. It's not good when Kota counts.
When Kota counts, panic!"
The door to the room opened once again.
Mr Blackbourne and Dr. Green entered.
"Sang and Silas not here yet?" Dr. Green asked.
A noise behind Dr. Green alerted him to the door being opened.
Sang and Silas entered.
"Sorry we're late," Sang spoke softly.
Silas offered up no explanation but made his way to stand beside North who was still looking out the window.
Victor rose from his seat and offered it to Sang, who gladly took it.
Dr. Green cleared his throat, "Right, well, we've asked for this family meeting because we need to make a forward plan. We want your opinions and ideas as to how we proceed. We can't stay here forever, as much as some of us would like to." Dr. Green looked pointedly at Mr. Blackbourne as he made his final comment.
Curious, Sang thought, that Mr. Blackbourne feels at home here.
She shook the thought from her mind and focused on Dr. Green.
Mr. Blackbourne spoke however, his voice commanding as always, "We need to finish this. We need to confront Volto. We need to bring him here."
That simple statement brokered an array of responses.
"Are you fucking nuts?" Gabriel yelled. Panic crossed his face.
"We're not ready," North stated, his eyes never leaving the view from the window.
"I agree with North," Silas said.
"How long until we are ready?" Luke countered.
"Fuck, we'll never be ready!" Gabriel was still yelling, panic rising with every word.
"What do you think, Mr Blackbourne?" Nathan asked.
All eyes shot towards Mr Blackbourne.
His voice, held no doubt as he spoke.
"Dr. Green and I wouldn't be suggesting this, if we were unsure of our safety.
We can't keep holding out here forever.
We have work to do. Academy work. The team needs to start earning favours again.
If we continue running as we've done, it'll break us.
As it is, we're going to have to work extra jobs to try to claw back the negative we've acquired by this "extended" holiday."
A collective sound of moans and sighs reverberated around the room.
Mr Blackbourne spoke to Sang, "Your opinion will be most valued, Miss Sorenson."
"Well," she hesitated, "I have the utmost confidence that we can do this, as a team, together.
I want our lives to be what they once were.
I miss it," she whispered, wistfully.
"Votes confirming that we bring Volto here by invitation," Mr Blackbourne initiated.
Mr. Blackbourne, "I agree."
Dr. Green, "I agree."
Kota, "I agree."
North, "I agree."
Silas, "I agree."
Nathan, "I agree."
Luke, "I agree."
Gabriel, "Fuck it! I agree."
Victor, "I agree."
"Miss Sorenson?" Mr Blackbourne enquired.
"I agree," Sang replied.
"Well then," Victor spoke clearly.
"We'll not be needing this, then?"
He closed book in his hand and held it up for everyone to see clearly.
100 things to do in Italy.
"Forget the book Victor," North said still looking out the window, "We've got company."
North gestured to a figure down by the lake, at the edge of the residence.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you so much to Jen for Beta reading!
Thank you also to B and Melissa, who have to put up with my crazy ideas and help make them normal!
I love having you guys to bounce ideas off, yet also support me when my mind goes into hyperdrive! lol! :)