Hey you guys! Thanks to all of you who are reading an reviewing. This is going to be the last chapter I upload for a couple weeks. I'm leaving for Connecticut in a few days and I wont have time to work on my fics. Well... I will, but I'll have to type them up in my E-mail and I wont be able to post them becuase the computer I use is a stationary one and it's not like I can take it with me. And I'm sure the people I'm visiting wont appriciate it if I'm saving stuff onto thier computer. But, I might work on some one shots while I'm there and plop 'em into my mail untill I get back to save 'em proper. Anywho, enjoy!
It was no surprise that Marcus was the last one out of the shower. Baird used being hurled on as an excuse to use all the hot water so its not like Marcus could have a relaxing shower anyway. Marcus left the shower and went to the living room. Baird and Dom were there moving a large T.V. onto what appeared to be a new entertainment stand.
"What the hell is this? Extreme home makeover?" Marcus growled.
Baird made a tsk! sound. "Naw, man," He answered in his know-it-all voice. "You know Beck?" Well he was in a gambling mood and we got some new furniture." Marcus sighed and placed a hand over his eyes.
"Well look at the bright side. Now we can play that old Atari Anthony left us."
Dom looked at Baird. "The Atari? You mean the one with like... Two cartridges?"
Baird responded with a sheepish grin. "Well... It's not like we have cable." Marcus sat down and listened to the conversation with a smile.
"Well... Why don't we hook up a DVD player? I have a couple movies." Dom stated.
Baird rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Spanish movies. You and Cole are the only ones fluent in Spanish."
Marcus decided to fuel the conversation. "How about Dom borrows Sabre's X-Box?"
Dom stared at Marcus. "Are you high? We all hate Sabre!"
Baird laughed and slapped Dom on the back. "Yeah, go ask Sabre. You know she has a soft spot for you."
Dom glared at Baird. "How about Marcus goes?"
Marcus, who had been chuckling before now fixed Dom with a hard glare.
"No." He said flatly.
Dom and Baird began to tease Marcus until Nicola walked into the living room.
"Yo, Amazon! What do you think about the T.V.?"
Nicola looked at the T.V. and shrugged. "'Sall right I guess. Wouldn't know, I've never watched T.V. before."
Dom nodded but Baird's jaw dropped. "Seriously? Damn. Grow up in a cave or something?"
Nicola glared at Baird. "No, a Stranded camp."
Baird looked down. "Ah... Yeah... Dick choice of words..." He said quietly.
Cole walked out of the kitchen holding a knife. "Hey yo! Dinners ready!"
Marcus walked into the kitchen followed by Baird. Dom was ahead of Nicola bur bowed slightly beside the door and gestured for her to go first.
"Thanks." She said with a smile.
There were two open seats, one on either side of Marcus. Nicola chose the one to the right, next to Cole.
"Glad of you to join us, bon appetit!" Nicola looked at her plate. There was some sort of stringy meat over a small portion of rice. A glass of water sat next to the plate with three ice cubes inside.
"Don't you worry now Missy Tee, I cooked everything myself and I assure you: Everything is in fact, edible."
Nicola sniffed a spoonful of her dinner and crinkled her nose slightly.
"So Cole," Baird asked with a mockingly polite voice. "What's for dinner? Reaver or road kill?"
Cole simply glared at Baird. "Your sister. Shut up and eat."
Nicola was aware everyone at the table was nonchalantly watching her, trying to gauge her reaction to Cole's cooking. Saying a silent prayer, Nicola tried her dinner. Whatever the hell it was, it was way too spicy. Nicola closed her eyes and frowned.
"Well Cole, looks like we finally found someone who doesn't like your cooking."
Nicola swallowed her bite of dinner and tried to clear her throat. However, doing this simply made the spicy kick worse and Nicola began to cough and gag.
"You all right?" Cole asked, standing up.
"Yaaaah... Spicy... Too spicy!" Nicola wheezed in response.
Baird started to laugh and Cole sat back down with a small grin. Marcus pushed Nicola's water closer to her and stood up.
"Drink that, slowly."
Nicola slowly sipped her water while resisting the urge to down it in one gulp. Meanwhile, Marcus went over to the counter and filled a plate with rice that hadn't been mixed in with the meat. He brought the plate over to Nicola and sat it in front of her with out a word.
"Thanks Marcus." Nicola said quietly. Marcus shrugged and sat back down, slowly finishing his dinner.
Dom and Cole split Nicola's plate and passed what they didn't want to Barid. Dinner was eaten in relative silence, the only sounds were the clink of silverware or the tap of a glass being set on the table.
"Is it always this quiet?" Nicola asked after a while.
"Pretty much." Marcus answered in a monotone voice.
"Oh." Nicola thought about dinner at home and felt a slight wave of home sickness. As if he could read her mind, Dom prompted Nicola with a friendly question.
"What was dinner like where you're from?"
Nicola smiled, albeit a bit uncomfortably, and began to explain the dinner system back home.
"Usually we didn't have enough to go around... But, we were happy I guess. We talked about our day, what the little ones did... Who was the biggest idiot. Stuff like that. Food was scarce, and when we found extra the little ones thought it was magic."
Nicola smiled at her now-empty plate. Baird stood up and took everyone's empty plates to the kitchen sink.
"Dom, Cole, hurry up so I can start dishes." He said in annoyance.
Nicola still sat at the table, unsure what to do.
"Rook, you get a chance to look around yet?" Nicola looked at Marcus and shook her head.
"Hmm... Alright then. I guess I'll show you around. Fill you in on how things work around here."
Nicola shrugged her shoulders and followed Marcus out the front door of the apartment. Night was falling and large lights were lighting the area.
"Those are the flood lights we use to keep any Kryll that might be in the area away." Marcus said pointing to several lights. "The main ones turn off at eight P.M. Make sure you're somewhere safe by then, other wise you're pretty SOL."
Nicola nodded in understanding.
"Alright then, let's start the tour."