Clu, meanwhile, had entered through the front door, which Molly had also left unlocked in anticipation of their visit. He headed upstairs slowly, the gears in his brain working overtime every step of the way. He rehearsed his speech: he would say that he was sorry about what happened between them in the car that night because he had only done it because he wanted someone else that he couldn't really have. But he would explain that he was reconsidering what he wanted now.

He and Jack had come to a mutual agreement to be friends for now, until they could deal with what might happen if someone found out about them, and therefore that they would both be open to other possibilities. Of course, Jack probably hadn't meant for Clu to go after his sister right away, but Clu hadn't meant for Jack to go out and get himself two new girlfriends, either.

After disembarking from this particular thought train, Clu found himself suddenly at Fi's door. He could hear the busy clacking of the keyboard from within the room and took a deep breath. He knocked lightly and then opened the door.

Fi normally hated it when people did that, because what's the point of knocking if you don't wait for somebody to answer? But the crankiness quickly faded when she saw him, and she greeted him enthusiastically. "Clu!" She closed the laptop with an abrupt snap.

"Fi!" he said with equal enthusiasm, offering his trademark goofy smile. "You find out what was up with that monster thing yet?"

"No," she said, her expression briefly darkening. "Even my online friends think I'm crazy this time."

He looked concerned and sat down on the bed next to her. "But your mom and Jack--"

"Have convinced themselves that it was a case of mass hysteria brought on by exhaustion from the end of the tour, or something. I don't know. I don't care. To tell you the truth, I'm just glad it's gone. We've never really come up against anything like that before."

Clu nodded along with her last few words, and then laughed awkwardly.

"Speaking of it being gone, you know, I never really got a chance to thank you for what you did."

He made a show of waiting, lifting one ear in her direction.

"So, thank you."

He smiled again. "Well, it was nothing really."

There was a moment of silence that passed between them as he tried to figure out just how to start that whole speech he'd been practicing on the stairs. She beat him to it.

"Um, about what happened that night in the car, you know, we never really got a chance to talk about it."

"Oh, don't--"

"No," she interrupted firmly. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry I went out there with you just because I wanted somebody else that I couldn't really have."

"Oh," said Clu, a little embarrassed. "You don't have to--"

"But I'm reconsidering what I want now, you know? After everything that's happened. And I think I think there could be something here. I know you and my brother are--"

It was Clu's turn to interrupt. "No," he said. "Not anymore."

"Oh. That's too bad. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not with you," he laughed, before it occurred to him that maybe that wasn't exactly the right thing to say.

"Good," she said, more than a little relieved. "So"

"So I think we should take it slow and see if anything happens."

Clu smiled. "Exactly. It's like you read my mind."

"I read about that!" she exclaimed. "After a traumatic incident, sometimes people pick up certain abilities, and one of them is the ability to read people's minds!"

She snapped the laptop open again and began typing. Clu leaned back against the wall beside her and closed his eyes, listening to the rapid clicking of her fingers against the keys. He had a feeling he'd find himself in this position a lot in the days to come