This chapter is extra long! I'm sorry I just got super carried away with a few of the ideas. I hope that you enjoy it! Love y'all!
Rain pelted the windshield as I turned down some dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Everything was screaming that this was a bad idea as the headlights illuminated giant orange water puddles on the path in front of me. I was sure that if was to try and go through one that my car was going to be devoured, drowning us at the bottom of some endless hole. I took a deep breath and held it as I started down the path that would get Jane into position for her trek to Canada. The crunch of the gravel echoed in the tires and the rain started again with renewed ferocity.
"Just stop the car." Jane said flatly, "If you get stuck this will all have been pointless. I can make it across from here." I stopped the car and looked at her for a moment, grabbing my cell phone and shoving it in her hand.
"When you get across make for the town and I'll meet you there as soon as possible. If something goes wrong…"
"Nothing will go wrong." Jane spoke with confidence, "This is the easy part."
"Still, I have a friend who lives about an hour north of here. He knows that we are in the area and can come find you if I don't show. He isn't aware of the entire situation, and I'd like to keep him in the dark as much as possible."
"Friend?" Dylan questioned from the back seat.
"Ryan just moved into the area, I don't need him in the middle of things but I wouldn't feel right without some kind of plan in case things…" I let my voice trail into silence as I glanced at Jane.
"Don't call unless you don't show, that's simple enough to understand." She put her hand on the handle, "Be careful, I don't want have to come back across and look for you."
"I…" Before I could get the sentence out Jane was gone, her armor glinted for a split second as she charged her biotics and vanished into the dark thicket of trees. I stared at the open door where she was just sitting seconds before, waiting for some kind of indication that this wasn't going to work and that we needed to rethink things. I closed my eyes, listening to the rain hit the car until Adam started to talk.
"She'll be fine. You don't have to worry so much about everything. You were the one saying Commander Shepard can handle anything."
"I know, it doesn't mean that I'm not a little worried about it." I gripped the steering wheel with everything I had while I waited for Adam to push the seat forward and crawl out of the back. He repositioned himself and shut the door, causing me to jump from the sudden bang.
"Amber, you are really out of it."
"There are a million things running through my head, I'm just trying to stay focused on what matters."
"Well it's not working. Let's get to the crossing and finish this." Adam smiles as I put the car in reverse, "We are almost there sis, almost."
"I know, I just can't help feeling like something else is bound to go wrong. This has been too easy." I back onto the paved road and start back towards the interstate. I tried to keep the thoughts about Jane being caught from plaguing me while I drove, so I kept trying to start a conversation. Adam would give me one worded answers and Dylan was half asleep in the backseat. I resolved to try to listen to music until I made it back to I-90, flipping through the songs like a mad woman who couldn't be satiated by listening to just anything. After closing in on civilization, Adam raised an eyebrow and faced me.
"Amber, just take it easy. It's been thirty minutes and she's probably across the border already." Adam growled as I changed the music yet again.
"She'll call right? I mean she'll know that I am the kind of person that needs to hear that she is okay?" I could feel the tension in every muscle of my body as I struggled to put on a façade of calm.
"I'm sure." Adam gives me his crooked smile as he motions towards the road in front of us, "Besides, it's more likely that we will screw this up than she will."
"That's reassuring."
"I'm just saying that if something is flawed in this, it's going to be us."
"Adam, that's not making me feel any better about the whole situation."
"It's your brother. Did you really think he would give you words of encouragement or something?" Dylan poked his head in between the two seats and smirked. "It's his job to make you more nuts that you already are."
"Thanks for the reassurance Dyl." I watched him recoil into the back seat and start to stretch. I turned off the high beams as I reached the frontage road, not wanting to blind the other motorists.
"Amber you okay driving across? Did you want one of us to do this?" Adam asked nonchalantly from the seat beside me.
"I got this. I don't need to be babied Adam." I took the road that merged on to I-90 and went silent. There were so many things that were raising red flags in my head about this, a multitude of possibilities of something going wrong. I could see the signs along the interstate that provided warnings that we were reaching the end of the states and that Canada was rapidly approaching. The air in the car was suffocating me as I fought the adrenaline that was slowly working its way into my system.
I watched as the lanes went from free flowing traffic to a standstill at the upcoming check point. The border wasn't packed, partially due to the fact that we had chosen such a late time to arrive at the crossing. Signs were lit up, causing the reflection of yellow and orange to trickle across the wet asphalt. The Canada Border Services personnel were waving people through the check point slowly, indicating which lanes we were supposed to enter into. I looked at Adam and then to Dylan in the rearview mirror.
"Alright, I need passports or driver's licenses, hand them to me so we can get this over with." I hold my hand out while keeping focus on the people in front of me. One of the cars is told to pull to the side for a random search causing me to get chills up my spine. Jane had taken her armor with her, meaning that if we were searched there wouldn't be questions about it. Three ID's were placed in my hand as I continued to watch the Canadian border patrol work. It seemed like they were methodical and quick at getting people across, much to my liking.
"Ma'am." A gruff, ragged voice came at me through the closed window as a man in uniform tapped on the class with the butt of his flashlight. I had been so focused on the cars in front of me I had missed the man's approach to the car. I rolled down my window and painted a chipper smile on my face.
"Hola!" I tried to stay positive as I passed him the ID's "It's cold out here, hope you get off soon. I mean so you can get out of the cold. I'm just not use to the cold, I mean I'm from Texas and our cold is your summer. I just don't think I could stand out here and be all serious while freezing my balls off. Not that you don't have balls anymore I'm just…" I started to ramble as the man pointed his flashlight in my face.
"You're from Texas." The man's sense of humor apparently wasn't on the clock as he gave me a stern look. "I'm going to have to ask you to pull over here. You've been selected for a random vehicle search." I just nodded my head as I looked to the direction he was pointing. I could feel my muscles starting to give into the adrenaline, causing my legs start to shake violently. He pointed the flashlight at my lap, taking notice of the oncoming tremors and a smile crept across his unshaved face.
"Not a problem. Just pull in there?" I motioned to the right, where two concrete pillars stood on either side of a very wide parking spot. The man just nodded his head as he muttered something into his radio and brusquely walked away. I put the car into drive and tried to gracefully maneuver in between the lines. A woman waited at the front of the spot, making a motion with her hands to continue to move forward until I hit her mark. Suddenly she gestured for me to stop as the car was in the correct place for them to start their search. I threw the vehicle into park and turned off the engine as she moved over to the driver's side of the car.
"Ma'am, I need you to pop the trunk and the hood. Please ensure that all your doors are unlocked at the glove box is open." Adam opened the door and moved the seat for Dylan to get out of the back. I nodded my head as I pulled the levers by the seat and opened the various compartments of the car. I stood up and started to step away from the car as men with mirrors and gloves descended from different directions to begin their search.
"Do you have my ID's?" I asked the woman who looked at me like I had just committed some taboo offense in asking.
"They'll be returned to you when we have completed our search. Will you please pop the trunk?" I looked over my left shoulder and crinkled my face in confusion. I was sure I had pulled the lever but the trunk was still fully closed. I rounded the vehicle and put the key into the lock, flinging the trunk open with a smile. I took a quick look down and saw something glint in the light, Jane's gun. I just sat there, dumfounded in why she didn't take the weapon with her, why she would leave the stupid thing in the car but take her armor? I darted my eyes over to Adam and Dylan, trying to let them know how screwed we were getting ready to be.
"I… I…" I could feel my stomach lurch, my nerves mixed with the adrenaline had not been kind to me so far, what would make me think that this was going to be any better. I bent over the trunk of my car, letting my head get fully inside, and threw up.
"Ma'am!" The woman shouted as my body continued to try and empty my stomach. I winced as felt her touch my shoulders, trying to pull me back. I wasn't done and my gut was determined to be rid of everything that was contained inside of it. As I continued to spew, I aimed for the corner where I had seen the weapon, figuring that maybe this would deter them from fully searching the trunk of the car.
"Amber really?" Adam started to laugh at me as I continued to let lose of my last meal and coffee.
"Ma'am, please refrain…" The woman tried to talk to me again as I started to dry heave, putting my hands against the trunk of the car to brace myself from the urge to fall over. She took a step back, turning her head to look away from me as I sat there with tears running down my face. My body wasn't going to let this onset of nausea stop more adrenaline from pumping itself into my system, and the shaking went from violent to near uncontrollable. I held a hand out and glanced at it, watching the tremors become worse with each passing second.
"Amber come on! Let them search the trunk already so that we can go!" Adam yelled. I tried to stand up again, bracing myself against the trunk as I glared at him. I wanted to yell at him but couldn't get the words to come out for fear that my dry heaves would start again. My eyes went from Adam to the woman who was standing beside me, her hand over her face as she tried to hide the fact she was flushing bright red. I couldn't tell if she was embarrassed that this had just happened under her watch or if she was trying to hide the fact she was laughing at my expense.
"I'm so sorry, I'm motion sick and just feel awful about this." I use the back of my hand to wipe my face, "I'm really sorry."
"You can go." She holds out my ID's and looks at me, "We've searched the car, there's nothing in the trunk but vomit. I am not sticking my hands in that." She flicked her wrist as she continued to hold the ID's out.
"I mean I can help, I'll go through it and let you see everything. The spare should…" I put my head back into the trunk and start to lift the edges of the mat, telling myself to be convincing.
"Ma'am, really get in the car and go. I advise that you pull to the side up there and do what you can to clean things up a bit." I nod my head and force a smile, trying not to make it obvious that I was in a hurry to get away from this situation and that she was giving me a way out.
"Thank you." I manage to tell her quietly as I grab the ID's and I get back into the car. I shut the door and wait for the boys to get in, avoiding any eye contact with them as I buckle my seat belt.
"You threw up everywhere." Adam said still laughing, "I knew I should have been the one driving."
"Just shut up. We'll get out of here and I'll get it cleaned up." I turned the key to start the car and drove away from the embarrassment. I still felt sick, and the smell from the trunk was leaking into the car. The boys rolled the windows down as I continued to drive to what looked like a car wash at the back of a gas station. The moment I put the car in park I started to laugh hysterically, causing both of the boys to stare at me with confusion written plainly on their faces.
"What is so funny?" Dylan asked as he leaned into the front seat, "You could have been arrested back there."
"I almost was." I managed to calm down my hysterics, "Throwing up all over the trunk of the car saved all three of us."
"What are you talking about? They should have finished searching the car, you stopped that from happening. No matter how you look at that, it's illegal."
I nodded my head, "Highly, but so is the damn gun that Jane left in the trunk."
"What? She left her gun?"
"Yes, she left it there. I was feeling sick and just decided that it was worth a shot and threw up in the trunk. They had to make a choice, dig through it and arrest me or let me go. I can't believe that they let me go." I smiled as I put my hand on the handle of the door, "I have to get water and fill up the car. I guess I should clean out the trunk while I'm at it."
"Give me your phone." I held my hand out as I kept my eyes in front of me, "Adam, now." It had taken me entirely too long to clean up the mess that I had made in the trunk of the car from when we were crossing the border. I didn't want to risk the smell of stomach acid and partially digested burger creeping into the cab of the vehicle while we attempted to make our way to Bioware.
"You think that she called him already?"
"I'm sure, we are running so far behind schedule that I'm sure they're already together. Now give me the phone."
"Do you even know Ryan's number?" He fumbled around in his pants pocket while I continued to hold my hand out beside me.
"No, I know my own though." Life had dictated that I had added a multitude of international services to my phone line recently, my relationship with Ryan being the main reason.
"Here, my phone isn't set up for international anything." Adam shoved the phone into my beckoning hand.
"Good thing I work telecom in the states and know that the damn networks here are the same as over there as long as I'm near the border." I gave him a sly smile as I punched my number into his phone, "Smartass." I sat there listening to the digital ring while I pressed it against my ear.
"Hello?" A man's voice answered the phone, gruff and determined.
"Ryan?"
"Speaking, this Amber?"
"You know this is Amber damn it! Where is Jane?" I could hear a loud buzzing on the phone, putting me on edge, "Driver! Put that damn woman on the phone!"
"Pulling out the nicknames already Bronzey?" I sighed as he started to laugh in the phone, "Calm down woman, she's fine. Jane's sitting right here." I took a deep breath and held it for a moment, trying to release the anger as I let the air escape from my chest.
"Sorry Ryan, I just have been worried sick and she hasn't called." I bit my bottom lip as I realized that I was more worried about Jane than I had initially thought I was. Something about being with her and around her made me feel stronger, more empowered than when I was on my own. When she was gone it was like a big piece of me was missing.
"She's busy at the moment."
"Busy? What the hell are you two doing?"
"Sitting here at the house waiting for you to show up, we decided that keeping her in cosplay out in public wasn't the smartest idea. She had mentioned something about being discrete." I felt my mouth hanging open. I didn't even think about her walking around in the N7 armor in the middle of the night.
"I suppose you're right. Did my number show up on the caller ID?"
"Yeah, it did."
"Good, if anything happens before I get there call me. I have your address and we're on our way."
"You got it Bronzey." The line went dead and the phone flashed the time of the call as I handed it back to Adam.
"Alright, so you were right. I didn't think things through." I admitted tersely, I just wanted to physically see that she was okay, and keep Ryan from putting anything together that would cause another body to accompany on me on my trip.
"So he didn't say anything about her armor?"
"He called it cosplay. I'm hoping that either she said it, or that he wasn't trying to put two and two together."
"What did you tell Ryan to make him go pick her up?" Dylan asked with a smirk, "He's smarter than you think, I wouldn't be surprised if he knows that she's Shepard by the time we get there."
"I said that I was meeting a friend and I didn't need her walking around the streets looking for me. All Ryan asked me was what she looked like and a name. Plus, I wasn't sure if he would even need to be involved. She called him remember?"
"Right, this is going to be fun." Adam started to chuckle as I gripped the steering wheel. I didn't want to think about Ryan trying to help us with something so complicated. He was a good friend, and asking him to get further involved with something that was sure to get more complicated was just evil of me. Wasn't it?
Adam took over the job of navigation as I focused all my energy into driving through the sludge that the rain was making on the road. I was feeling better than when I had tossed my cookies all over the trunk hours earlier, but the migraine was slowly making itself known again. I rubbed my temple with my left hand, keeping the right on the wheel.
"Turn left at the next intersection. Ryan's place should just be around the corner." Adam looked up from the phone and out the window at the giant houses that loomed over us in the darkness. "You have interesting friends, what does Ryan do again?"
"Pilot, well he was a pilot. He actually was picked up by some company and helped them in making some massive moves in the business sector. Now he pushes paper from one side of the desk to the other."
"When did that happen?" Dylan asked as he folded his arms across his chest, "I thought he was still working up north?"
"Things change, I thought I had mentioned that to you at some point, didn't I?" I smile as I pick out the drive to Ryan's place.
"Amber, it's just another driveway, I don't even see a house." Adam muttered as he looked at the elaborate gate that opened to trees and seemingly nothing else.
"He likes privacy. his house should be at least a mile down that driveway." I could feel myself flush in anticipation of seeing Ryan shortly. He had changed his entire life in the past year, giving me more credit that I deserved for all of his hard work. I rolled up to the gate and pushed the code, it was a good thing I knew the man so well that his security system would do little to hold me back from seeing him.
"I thought you told me you two weren't that close?" Dylan asked from the backseat, "You act like you've done this before." At that moment I realized that Dylan was in the dark about the relationship that I had been cultivating with our mutual friend.
"I talk to this man almost every day and you think I wouldn't know his damn gate code?" I could feel the red in my cheeks. "The code is my birthday Dyl, I was on the phone with him when I was setting it and he needed a number. Don't read into it." Over the past year Ryan and I had become a regular features in one another's lives. When I needed a shoulder to cry on or someone to vent to he had always been there, a phone call away. Dylan was scowling at the back of my head, making me more self-conscious than I was used to.
"Just friends right sis?" Adam looked at me and then to Dylan, clearly enjoying my discomfort.
"Shut up Adam!" The driveway was long and windy, making it a little more difficult to navigate as I followed the lights along both sides of the road to the house. I put the car in park and sat there looking at the huge building. It had to be a mansion, the old style ionic columns adorned the front of the walk, the windows had to be at least ten feet high, and the door was bright blue and modern looking. I sat there staring at it, trying to wrap my head around what kind of lifestyle he was really living. I knew that things had dramatically changed but this… this was just insane. I opened the door to the car and made my way up the stairs to the huge door. I stood there regarding the place in awe, my Ryan had all this?
"Bronzey?" The door opened and there he was, standing just a tad higher than me and nothing but muscle.
"Drivey!" I yelled as I ran up to him, wrapping my arms around his waist, "I haven't seen you in a month!"
"A month?" Dylan asked curtly from behind me, "You haven't seen me in months but you were able to make time to see him?"
"It's not like that Dylan. He came to Austin for a conference and stopped by for dinner a few times. I could have sworn that I had mentioned it." I could feel myself pull away from Ryan as Dylan's attitude was made more apparent.
"I would have remembered." He said flatly as he walked up to Ryan, "Driver, nice place."
"Dylan! I haven't seen you in ages. Tell me, how are classes? How's Amber treating you?"
"Things are fine, classes are fine, I'm fine." Dylan walked through the front door, leaving me at a loss for words on what had just happened. I knew that he wasn't the kind of person that handled surprises well and would need a few minutes to adjust to everything. I tried not to react, hoping that after a little time had passed we would be okay and he would go back to my lovable Dylan.
"Long day and we're kind of all tired. Ryan you remember my brother Adam." I tried to stay chipper as I motioned towards my country bumpkin brother.
"Of course." I let the two of the reintroduce themselves as I made my way inside Ryan's place, still trying to let the massive size of the house sink in.
"Jane!" I yelled as I took a step through the door, listening to my voice echo off the walls. I covered my mouth quickly, sure that I had woken up every single person within listening distance. "Sorry!" I whispered as Ryan started to laugh behind me.
"She's in the other room, in front of the computer playing one of my games. No worries, she's been…. entertaining."
"Yeah, well..." I rubbed the back of my neck, "Jane's sure something isn't she?"
"Indeed, she is." As if the Cheshire English accent hadn't been enough to tell me who was there, I turned my head to see another familiar face descending down the stairs that caused me to stop, "I believe this is where you say Amiee and squeal with delight that I am standing here before you." I stared at the woman as she gracefully took her final step off the staircase and onto the landing.
"Amiee!" I ran to her and wrapped my arms around her, squeezing the breath out of her with everything in me. "What the hell are you doing here? I thought you had the book signing thing over in London this weekend?" Amiee wasn't taken off guard by my greeting, she was a friend of mine from grade school that was moved to England when she was just a kid. When she started college the professors quickly made a big deal about her writing style and before we knew it she had become a published author with a giant international following.
"No, I had to take a sudden vacation, Ryan offered me a place to get away for a few days and so… here I am." I let go of the woman and looked her up and down, she was beautiful in her black, form fitting dress and short dark hair.
"I just… Ryan didn't… Damn, I'm at a loss for words." I was flabbergasted at the thought of her really standing there before me. Amiee was the last person I was expecting to see with Ryan on some random whim, causing me to think that there was something more than a friendship between the two of them.
"So you just came to Canada for a vacation? Something about that sound a little off to you?" I put my hands on my hips and gave a wide grin, trying to let the two of them know that I was aware of their 'relationship'.
"That would be me." Ryan waved his hand, "I dropped her name to a client who was a huge fan. Amiee helped me seal the deal with that about a week ago."
"Uh hunh..." I rubbed the back of my neck and looked at the two, "I mean better than just a random vacation. I guess I just figured Ryan would have mentioned it to me at some point."
"Indeed." Amiee said again looking at me with concern, "You okay honey?"
"Yea, just have a migraine… and I'm at a loss for words."
"That's new, I mean the loss for words part… Not the migraine." Jane popped her head in the room, looking at me sternly, "You didn't show." She walked to my side and looked down at me.
"You left something in the trunk, I had to think fast." I tried to explain without showing that I was just as frustrated and worried as she was. "And I didn't know that it was going to take so long."
"Again, you didn't show and I had to call him." She nodded her head at Ryan, "Because you didn't show when you said that you would."
"You didn't call me either!" I looked at the crowded room, feeling the eyes of five other people watching everything that I did made me question what they needed to hear us say, "Um, maybe you can excuse us for a moment. Ryan, you think you can show them around, maybe to a room or something?"
"Right." Ryan looked at Adam and Dylan, aware that Jane and I needed space, "I can show you to a room or two. I figured you'd want to get some sleep before you head out again anyway."
"I'm going to make a new brew. Would you care for a cup of earl grey Amber?"
"Certainly. Thank you Amiee." I look at Jane and sigh, "This is so much more complicated that what I wanted it to be." She looked at me as we waited for the room to become silent and empty.
"No one here is any wiser to who I really am. They just think I'm a friend of yours that was wondering around in cosplay." Jane moved to stand in front of me, putting me on edge slightly.
"You mean they really don't know?" I looked up at her, "That's something to be happy about."
"I didn't think that you wanted anyone else involved."
"You have no idea how right you are on that." I took deep breathe and looked up at her, "What?"
"Are you ready to be honest with me?"
"Honest about what?" I took a step back as Jane started to glow blue, "Jane stop, someone is going to see!" I tried to yell in a whisper.
"No, we're doing this here and now." She grabbed my wrist and everything went bright blue. I could feel my knees buckle as she reached out to grab me, fire burning throughout every inch of my body. The migraine was the furthest thing from my mind as I felt myself start to black out.