Gemini

"You know," Tessa said to Duncan, "I really wish when your cousin Connor came to visit, you'd give me an advanced warning."

"He didn't give me one," Duncan replied, "He just said he'll be here in about an hour. Where's Richie?"

"Oh I don't know," Tessa said, "I think he went out rollerblading."

"Hope he gets back before Connor gets here," Duncan said, and started to leave the room to get things ready for his cousin's stay.

"I just thought of something," Tessa said, causing Duncan to stop in his tracks, "Why is it we never meet any of Richie's friends?"

Duncan shrugged his shoulders, "Doesn't want us to meet them, I guess."

"Does he even have any?" Tessa asked, "He goes out roller skating, where does he go? I don't know, who does he go with? I never see anybody. Surely he has to have some friends, doesn't he?"

"Well once Connor's on a plane heading back for New York, we'll see if we can find out anything from Richie," Duncan said, "In the meantime, Connor implied that he plans to stay with us for a while so I better see where we can put him."

"Where can we put him?" Tessa asked herself, "Besides the couch, there's no other place around here for him to stay." Then she said, loud enough for Duncan to hear, "I just wonder about Richie. He spends most of the days here with just us, and then when he goes out I don't think he goes to see anybody."

"Unless he sees a girl to chase," Duncan told her.

"And then her father chases him," Tessa said to herself, "It just can't be healthy he spends so much time alone."

"He's not alone," Duncan said, "He's got us."

Tessa raised her eyebrows and looked at him, as if to say 'my point exactly'.

"Think about it this way," Duncan said, "At least when he's here we know he's not getting into trouble."

"When has he gotten into trouble since he came to live with us?" Tessa replied.

Duncan didn't answer, instead he said to her, "At least we know when he's with us, he's not doing anything the police can come after him for."

"I wonder about that too," Tessa said, "I don't think he does have any friends because if he did, wouldn't he have a partner when he was working at a thief?"

They heard the door open and Richie bellowed, "I'm home."

"Felt your ears burning, did you?" Tessa asked him.

"Huh?"

"Never mind," Tessa said, "Connor's coming to visit."

Richie took off his sunglasses, "Sir Lancelot's coming here?"

"Evidently," Tessa told him, "Duncan just got off the phone with him. He'll be here in about an hour, Richie, get your skates off and go change."

"Tess," Richie said, "The dude's almost 500 years old, I don't think my appearance is going to bother him."

"Well it's bothering me," Tessa replied, "Go on."

Richie let out a huff as he took off his roller blades and headed into the next room.


Richie came out of his room wearing a pair of jeans that miraculously didn't have any holes in them, and a blue T-shirt. "Does this," he said, this being the 6th change of clothes he'd put on, "Look better?"

"It'll have to do since the rest of your clothes are sprawled out on the floor of your room," Tessa said.

"I don't get it, what's the big deal about Connor coming to visit?" Richie asked.

"There's no big deal, I just like to have everything look nice when we have company," Tessa told him.

"Uh huh…and you really think he's going to care how the place looks, Tess?" Richie asked.

They heard a knock at the door and Tessa groaned, "He's here."

Duncan came down the stairs and opened the door and in stepped Connor, who was looking none the worse for wear considering he'd made a 3000 mile trip on such short notice.

"It's good to see you, Connor," Duncan said.

"Good to see you too," Connor replied, "And the rest of you."

He went over to Tessa and Richie and greeted them as well. He looked Richie up and down and commented, "Well you seem to have changed a bit since the last time I was here."

Tessa cleared her throat and said, "So what brings you here, Connor?" She tried to think of the word he'd used last time he dropped in on them, "…Hunting again?"

Connor smirked and laughed a couple of times as he said, "No, nothing quite like that. But there is a reason why I came out here."

"You mean it's not just to see me?" Duncan cynically asked.

"Please," Connor replied, "You're not that pleasant to look at."

The look on Duncan's face when Connor made that remark was nothing short of hysterical.

"No," he continued, "A while back, I met somebody, and you might say the two of us have grown on each other like a set of warts, and I thought it was only fair that you all get to meet her."

"Her?" Duncan asked.

"Well," Tessa said, "I suppose if she's a friend of yours, she's welcome here. Where is she?"

"Standing out in the street waiting, I'll get her," Connor said.

He went over to the door and stepped outside for a minute.

"Connor's got a girlfriend?" Richie asked.

"He didn't tell me about it," Duncan said, "And I'd like to think we've known each other long enough that he would."

"Come on in," Connor told his company as he reentered the building, "It's right this way."

Connor blocked the way for them to see who came in behind him, as he said, "As they say in the movies…say hello to my little friend."

He stepped out of the way and the three people saw their new visitor, and they were all shocked beyond words by what they saw. In had walked a girl who was young and looked to be 17 or 18, and she looked a lot like Richie. She was about as tall as he was, she was built about the same way, she had the same curly red hair, the same blue eyes, the same light skin, and they were even dressed the same! Clutched in her right hand was a green and black jacket, very similar to Richie's own. The two looked almost exactly alike. She let her eyes roam around and look at everything and she smiled; it wasn't a friendly smile or a pleasant one but one that said she was a mischievous creature who would probably turn out to be trouble. She went over to Richie and said nothing, merely smiled at him.

"This," Connor said to his cousin and his family, "Is Richelle Ryan."