Time passes, and life settles into something that Desmond thinks could almost be normal. Ignoring the animus, and the occasional, involuntary trip into his ancestors' heads, and their all too frequent visits with him. And the occasional, insane rant from Juno. Since nothing she says ever makes sense, Desmond typically tries to ignore her.

Besides, he has other people to worry about, and to his own surprise, his ancestors aren't part of the problem. Altair, now that he has more- not total, but still more- control over the apple, shows up almost every morning. Ezio and Connor (he gives up using his real name when he joins the assassins, and nobody complains because at least it's pronounceable) are less predictable, but still there pretty often. Most days everyone shows up in their own bodies, but it's also not unusual for two or more of them to end up sharing. Still, everything's going smoothly- while Desmond's out of the animus, Altair and Ezio help Connor with his training. And when he's in the animus (meaning that Connor is pulled back to his own time), the other two mostly sit and talk.

So no, even Desmond can't pretend it's totally normal. But nobody's family ever is.

And the real problem isn't any of them. It's his dad. And Shaun, and Rebecca. Things are tense among the four of them, and there's a lot of reasons for that. There's the upcoming end of the world, the recent argument between his dad and Shaun, even the weather. And Desmond knows that his constant secret keeping isn't helping.

He knows they know he's keeping something from them; it's hard to live in a tight space with a group of people without them noticing if something's wrong. And he's spent a lot of time staring at empty spaces and sitting, apparently alone, in weird corners of the temple.

He's actually doing exactly that when Shaun comes looking for him. It's right after an animus session, so Connor is back in the 1700s, leaving only Desmond, Ezio, and Altair. The conversation has ambled around from serious topics to something more like shooting the breeze.

"...but seriously," Desmond says to Altair. "I think you have another fan."

"Great," Altair grumbles, glaring at Ezio. "You're bad enough."

"I'm not-"

"Statue," Altair says. "In your basement." He turns back to Desmond. "What do you mean 'another'?"

"Connor," Desmond says.

"Wait, seriously?" Altair asks.

Desmond glances at Ezio, who's wearing the exact same expression of disbelief as he is. "You didn't notice?" he asks.

And right then- as Desmond's trying not to laugh at the expression on Altair's face- Shaun walks up behind him and asks, "Is this a bad time?"

"What?" Desmond asks.

"You're the one that saved his life when he was a kid," Ezio tells Altair, ignoring Shaun.

"You just looked sort of busy talking to yourself," Shaun says.

"That doesn't mean anything," Altair says.

"I'm not talking to myself," Desmond says, a little more loudly than he probably should, just so he can hear himself over Ezio and Altair arguing.

"You're also the only one he's not worried about when you're in his head," Ezio points out. "When it's me or Desmond, he gets really tense and puts up walls. He trusts you though."

Shaun shrugs. "Whatever you say."

"I hadn't noticed," Altair admits.

"But I mean, if I were hearing voices," Desmond continues, "I think I would definitely not be hearing them now, because I'm trying to have a conversation and that would be really rude."

Ezio and Altair fall silent.

"Right," Shaun says. "Because that doesn't sound like something a crazy person would say. Listen- I've been tracking the batteries that power this place, and I think I've found one in Manhattan. So we're planning a trip out there within the next hour or so. Thought you might want a heads up."

"Thanks," Desmond says, and for a minute or so they both just stand there without saying anything. Then Desmond asks- "Was there something else you wanted to say?"

"Yea, actually," Shaun says. "I just wanted to say that if you're, you know, bleeding, you don't have to hide it. The animus makes people crazy. But you're not helping yourself by cutting everyone out."

"I'm not crazy," Desmond says.

"Yea," Shaun says. "Sure. Then, who exactly were you just talking to?"

"I-" Except there's nothing he can say without proving to Shaun that he is crazy. It's not even that he wants to keep this secret to himself. Altair and Ezio both have people they've trusted with the secret, and Desmond would have loved to be able to drop the act around the other assassins. He just doesn't know how to make anyone believe him. "Never mind," he finishes. "Manhattan, right?"

"Fine," Shaun says. "When your brain's in a puddle on the ground, don't come complaining to me."

-/-

I really wanted Haytham to show up in this chapter (not that anyone cares, but shh, complaining is fun), but Shaun ended up getting dialogue instead. Oh well. Maybe next time.