Alex loved the New Orleans tradition of a champagne brunch and had ordered a feast to distract the brothers. All of them. Next Sunday she planned to take them to a real jazz brunch at the Court of Two Sisters. The lighting there was much lower than the brunches at the swankier hotels and the Atchafalaya Café was too small and crowded for Alex's taste. She turned on jazz music to complete the atmosphere and sat at her battered table, now covered with a white tablecloth.
Gabe arrived first and Alex poured the tall, fluted glass full of champagne. She handed it to him and prayed that he would drink it quickly. To encourage him, she drank deeply of her own glass. Cale turned up next and Alex served him as well. He sipped at his champagne until Alex nudged him, took a long drink of her champagne, and nudged him again. He took the hint and tilted his glass bottoms up. Gabe watched them both and sipped lightly at his glass.
Jerk. You really are the Perfect Eldest Son.
"Where were you last night?" Gabe demanded of Rile as soon as he entered the room, cutting off Alex before she could serve him champagne.
"Ask Alex."
Alex glared at Rile. She slumped down in a chair at the table, arms crossed on her chest.
"Rile can play the game as well as Gabe," Cale whispered. "Usually better."
"I'm asking you." Gabe stood in front of his youngest brother.
"Patrolling. Making New Orleans safe one block at a time," Rile said.
"Did you patrol with Alex?"
"She fights tolerably well," Rile said.
"Thanks." Alex slumped down further.
"I forbid you to patrol with Alex," Gabe said.
"I'll go by myself. What a bunch of critics," Alex grumbled.
"I said you did tolerably well," Rile said. "Who said I was listening to Gabe? We'll go again tonight."
"What about when she gets hurt or killed, Master Instructor?" Gabe said. "Her blood will be on your hands."
"Rile, wait!" Alex jumped up from the table when Rile stormed off.
"Don't waste your breath," Gabe said.
"Or your time. He does that a lot." Cale said in a practical way.
"So? He's obviously upset. We should go after him." Alex said, looking between them.
"He wants to be alone," Gabe said.
"He likes to be alone," Cale added. "Trust us on this one. Sit down and Rile will be back in his own time."
"Has it ever occurred to you that he wants, no, he needs you, to follow him, even if only to yell at you?" Alex said.
Gabe and Cale exchanged knowing looks.
"Be that way. But I remember something. I think my mom read it to me." For a fleeting moment, Alex looked lost, expression innocent, eyes clouded, grasping an elusive memory. "It was about hide and seek. 'Oh the joy of being hidden, but the terror of not being discovered.'" Alex shook herself free of the memory. "I'm going after him."
"The innocence of youth," Cale said.
"Gullibility is more like it. Let her learn for herself." Gabe sipped the champagne.
*****
Alex found Rile with difficulty, for he stuck to the alleys. He was upset and his ability to disguise was compromised.
"Rile." Alex set down in front of him.
"Leave me alone."
"No. I'm not trained like your brothers. What's wrong?"
"Save your sympathy and understanding and all that crap for when you and Gabe do whatever it is you do."
Alex reddened. "I'm supposed to get angry now, say have it your way, and leave in a huff. Forget it. You want to hurt me? Fine, you have. Like no one else can, since y'all are the only ones I trust. A little. Go ahead. I'm not leaving."
They locked gazes for a long moment.
"I know you want to help, but go. What can you do that my brothers can't?"
"Fly after you and pester you."
"Spare me, Dr. Phil." Rile shoved her aside.
"Okay, Rile, have it your way." Alex followed him and picked up a discarded piece of pipe. "You're full of righteous anger? Then let's party." She swung the pipe at him.
He stopped it mid-swing and wrenched it from her grasp. She ducked as he threw it past her. She danced back a few steps, firing a staccato of blasts that he avoided.
"Playing for keeps?" Rile hurled his dagger.
Alex twisted out of its way, mostly. She clutched at the slice it had left while Rile retrieved it. She was unprepared for a kick to the middle and went down. Rile was on top of her in a second.
"Next time when I say I want to be alone, I mean it."
Alex looked down at the dagger at her throat and back up at Rile. Her mouth twisted in a small smile and she asked, "Now don't you feel better?"
He stared at her, incredulous.
Alex continued, "You should have seen your face when I swung that pipe at you. You looked like all your prayers had been answered now that you had someone to fight. Admit it, you feel better. Ow!" The wound throbbed in protest where he clutched it.
"Don't play with me." Rile's voice was harsh.
"I'm not. You shouldn't tear out every time you feel awful. After Morgan was done with me, I ran from the world. I hated everyone and everything. All I wanted was to be left alone. But it's not what we want, not really. It's not what we need. Please, Rile."
"All right." He sat back, regarded her a moment, then stood up. "But don't say anything for awhile. One, just one, stupid platitude and I'm outta here."
"Check, no stupid platitudes." At his fierce glare, Alex asked meekly, "Want to fly? It makes me feel better."
*****
After about ten minutes of flight, Alex was sure that Rile would admit his mood was easing.
"You want to play counselor? You first," he said.
"What do you mean?" Experience made Alex wary of Rile's proposals.
"Tell me about this Morgan character. Everything you remember about him, what happened, and why you can't use your powers on him."
Alex was quiet for a long time. "You're brutal."
"It sucks being asked all these personal questions, doesn't it? Being ordered to spill your guts because someone wants to 'help' you so they can feel better. Go ahead, tell me everything."
"Rile, I'm sorry."
"That's not the right answer. You started this, now finish it."
"Let's land first. You, of course, are as obligated to spill your guts as I'm about to," Alex warned.
Alex picked the roof of an abandoned building on Tchoupitoulas Street, so they wouldn't be overheard or interrupted. There was also a nice view of the steel spans of the Greater New Orleans bridges over the muddy Mississippi. She sat down and Rile followed.
"So?" he asked.
"Like I told you: I woke up one morning with Morgan."
"And?" he prompted. "That answer is not enough."
"He said that he rescued me twice. First from a pimp, second from the agency that experimented on me. He took what he thought I owed him. It involved pain, blood, and humiliation. He demanded that I remember about my powers, how they were placed in my head, how to access them, what were the technical details. He demanded that I remember him. I couldn't remember any of that. He punished me and it hurt more. This repeated over and over until I escaped. He found me, Gabe trashed him, and here we are. I have no idea why I can't use my powers on him. I'm not interested in the how's, why's, or who's involved with my powers. I'm using them for good. Period. Until I die. Period. Which should be soon. Double period. That's not grammatically correct, but the sentiment is. Your turn. You watched the bodies of your clan burn for days and ended up permanently angry. Why?"
"Why? Isn't that reason enough?" he asked, surprised.
"No. It's a reason to grieve, a reason to be depressed, but I don't understand your anger. Tell me," she urged. When he didn't reply, Alex added, "You think it was fun telling you about Morgan? Deal's a deal. Talk."
"I don't understand why they had to die. We would have answered the Calling."
"Whatever it was that Called you, killed your family to make sure you answered the Call?" Alex asked, incredulous. "What a tough boss."
"What? No! The Portal Guardian is an agent of goodness. She could never be involved in evil."
"You're angry because this Portal Guardian could have prevented your family from being killed?" Alex tried again.
"Yes," Rile answered, but he sounded unsure.
"If this Portal Guardian can prevent evil on its own, why does she Call others to fight evil?" Alex tossed her bombshell.
"She could have Called us. We could have saved our own family."
Alex considered that. "So, the Portal Guardian is omniscient, able to tell whenever evil is committed and Calls someone to stop it. She didn't in your family's case. That sounds evil to me."
"No one ever said she was omniscient," Rile said.
"Maybe by the time she found out, it was too late to Call you there."
"What else are the portals for but transporting Guardians places quickly?" Rile asked.
"So, that leaves you with she could have, but didn't, get you there in time. Again, evil," Alex said.
Alex could see Rile's anger dissolving into confusion and felt compassion for him.
Sometimes righteous anger is comforting, and I just took that away from him.
"How does she know where to send her Guardians?" Rile's question was soft spoken, introspective.
"You're asking me? I just learned of this Portal Guardian. Let me ask you this: are these Guardians usually dumped in the middle of a fight?"
"No. They wouldn't know which side to help. The Guardians say that they arrive and recon to learn what's happening. They act later, after they have the information they need," Rile said.
"Sounds like this Portal Guardian puts her people where she thinks they might be needed. Not omniscient, no instant intervention. Sounds like she didn't know your family was being slaughtered. If she had and did nothing: now that would put her squarely on the side of evil," Alex pronounced.
"I suppose." Rile looked off in the distance. "I never thought through it before."
"Let's go home."
"No, let me think some more." Rile kept gazing out.
"Can I stay?" Alex asked.
"Only if you're quiet."
"Quiet, check." Alex shut her mouth at Rile's look.
*****
A/N: More Alex and Rile bonding! Will it turn into more?
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