"Poor Zane," she answered sadly. "I'm sure I really messed him up. I'll have to call him."
"You should," Brin agreed. "He's alright though. He knows it wasn't exactly voluntary on either of your parts." She yawned.
"Tired?"
"As usual," Brin complained. "But don't worry about Zane."
"Has he ever been in that situation before?" Syl asked. There was a short pause on the end of the line.
"I don't know. Once, a long time ago..." She trailed off.
"It's okay. You two are close. You don't have to say anything."
"No, not me!" Brin laughed. "Zane may be my best friend but we have never done anything like that, voluntary or otherwise."
"Then who?"
"Jondy, I'm guessing. Though it could have been Tinga... I'm not sure, he doesn't like to talk about it. You know Zane, he's very emotional."
"He always thinks it's love," Syl agreed. "It's one of his cutest features."
"Yeah." Brin sounded almost sad. "One of these days that guys going to fall hard."
"Brin," she said. "He always falls hard."
"No, I mean for real. He's going to run into the one and... it'll just be cute."
"What about you?" Syl asked.
"I have the distinguished status of being the first one of us to ever go into heat," she said, yawning again halfway through the sentence. Syl's eyebrows lifted in surprise.
"Really? I guess that makes sense, you're one of the oldest."
"At least," she clarified. "I'm the only one who announced it when it happened."
"How old were you?"
"Fourteen." At that Syl was silent for a moment, knowing then that she herself had in fact been the first one to ever have gone into heat. But she wasn't ready to tell Brin anything about that. Suddenly her sister laughed. "You were there, you know."
"What?" Syl sputtered.
"Slept through the whole thing like a little baby. Good thing you did, too. I might have died of mortification."
"When-"
"Oh, we don't need to get into all this. It's in the past and the past is over and done with and all that. Tell me about you and Krit."
"Brin-"
"Syl." For once she sounded dead serious. "Really, I'm too tired to get into anything heavy. Change the subject."
"Okay..." Syl frowned, wondered what secret her sister was hiding. She would have to ask her gently about it every week until she spilled. Sly launched into a mushy description of her and Krit's relationship, which Brin ate up like candy.
"Oh, you guys are so cute!" she squealed once Syl was finished.
"What about you and Greg?"
"We've set a date!" Brin said excitedly. It was obvious she'd been bursting with that news all evening.
"When?" Syl asked eagerly.
"December 12th."
"Wha- but I thought you wanted to wait until spring!"
"His father is dying. He wanted him to be able to go to the wedding. Besides, what do I care? This is love. We don't want to wait any longer than necessary."
"But that's in less than three weeks!"
"I know. Will you be able to come?"
"Brin! Of course we'll come!"
"I'll have to call Zack and tell him what's up so he doesn't feel the need to grumble." Brin laughed, and it dissolved into another yawn. "Dammit. I'm going to bed as soon as this conversation is over."
"Okay," Syl laughed. Then she frowned. "Oh, about Zack... That might be a bit difficult."
"Why?"
"Well, that's one of the reasons I called. He doesn't want anyone to phone him unless it's a real emergency."
"Oh. Well that's odd. He's kind of gone lax on that rule lately; I liked that."
"You can always just leave a message on the contact number."
"Yeah, but I hate that thing. It's so impersonal." Syl smiled at that; it was so Brin.
"I know, but it's better than nothing."
"Yeah, I guess so. So what is our darling brother up to that he's so busy?"
"Max-business."
"Where?" Brin demanded excitedly.
"Sorry. I can't." Syl was genuinely sorry, but Zack told her his secrets because he knew she wouldn't blab them to anyone, not even their sister. Brin let her breath out in a sigh.
"I guess that makes sense."
"I'm really sorry, Brin."
"It's okay. Really, I understand." There was a genuine smile in her voice.
"Okay. So can the others come?"
"Zane is, of course, coming. Jondy says she will if this mysterious 'stuff' she's up to finishes by then. Whatever that means."
"I've been wondering about that, too. There's something strange going on."
"You don't know what it is?" Brin sounded surprised. "God, if Zack won't tell you then it must be something big. I hope she's okay."
"I'm sure she's fine," Syl assured her. "She's probably just..." She trailed off, frowned. "I actually can't even imagine."
"Me neither," Brin admitted. "Anyway, I hope she's done whatever it is before the wedding, because I really want you all there. Tinga can come if she can make up an excuse for her husband."
"Well, me and Krit are definitely coming," Syl assured her.
"Where are we definitely going?" Krit asked as he entered the room, picking up Syl's hand and kissing it. He sat down next to her and handed her a glass of water.
"Don't you guys work?" Brin asked.
"Nights," Syl said. "Just a sec." She put her hand over the receiver. "Brin's wedding, December 12th." Krit brightened, grabbed the phone.
"Brin, that's great!"
"Hey!" Syl protested, only half-serious.
"I never get to talk to you, either," Krit said to Brin, giving Syl a pointed look. "Yeah, she blabs too much. You like that? Oh... well, I guess I can let it go then. Yeah. Yeah. You tired? You sure? Okay. So tell me about how this happened. Oh, I see. Wow, so have you told everyone?" Syl watched him talk animatedly with Brin, liked the way he smiled big, the way he played with the telephone cord as he talked. It was very sexy, and as soon as he got off the phone... Syl took a sip of her water, flushed slightly. Krit was amazing if he could do that to her even when she wasn't in heat. She could barely remember back to when she'd been afraid of sex.
"Oh, I see. Yeah, well I'm sure she'll think of something, Tinga's a smart girl. Maybe Case could even come, in a little tux." Krit smiled, then frowned. "Oh, I guess that's true. Yeah. Yeah. You should, he'll wanted to be completely apprised or he might- Yeah, I know. No, I just heard. He's in Seattle." When she heard him say that, Syl choked on her water. He glanced over at her, reached out absently and rubbed her back, which was incredibly cute but annoyed her to no end at the same time. She grabbed the phone from him.
"Brin? I'm going to have to call you back."
"Sorry, Syl." She was laughing. Syl glared into the phone, only half-serious.
"I'll talk to you later." Then she hung up and turned to Krit, who realized he was in trouble but looked uncertain as to why.
"What?"
"How on Earth did you know Zack was in Seattle?"
"I was sitting right there when he phoned."
"I thought you were asleep!"
"No, that was after," he explained patiently, his eyes sparkling mischievously at her. She let her breath out in a huff, then rolled her eyes and smiled at him. She leaned into his arms and stroked her hand down his soft, warm cheek.
"Oh well," she said softly. "It's not as if Brin is stupid enough to go running up there to try to find her." Krit smiled, closed the small distance between them for a soft kiss.
"Nope," he said, pulling back for a moment. "Brin's a smart girl. But man she sounded tired. She kept yawning into my ear."
"Yeah," Syl answered absently, tugging at his clothes. He laughed softly.
"Here's this pattern again," he teased, allowing her to pull his shirt off and run her hands over his warm chest. "You talk to Brin, and we-" She put a finger against his full lips, looked at him in a dark predatory manner through lowered lashes. His breath quickened subtly and he reached for her again, kissed her, pulled at her clothes. Syl grabbed his hand and pulled him up; Brin forgotten, they hurried into his bedroom and stayed there till evening came, when it was time to go to work.
All the girls who came to the club where Krit and Syl worked thought it
was very cute that their bartender and favourite bouncer were an item. The guys
were less enthusiastic about it, mostly because they enjoyed the sport of
chatting Syl up, which she didn't mind too much as long as they kept it clean.
And if they didn't, she could always call Krit over to throw them out. It was a
very nice arrangement.
"Hey," Krit said to her as he sidled up to the bar, giving her a kiss. She smiled at him.
"It's pretty quiet tonight," she remarked.
"Yeah, but it'll get worse," he said. "It always does." She nodded, knowing this was the perfect job for him, one that allowed him to vent the temper he seemed to have inherited from Manticore in a completely legal way. Syl loved her job, too. She'd been tending bars off and on for a couple of years; it was one of the few jobs that paid well that she could get without a high school diploma and that hadn't suffered much during the Pulse. One of the few things the country hadn't lost was beer, and there were always plenty of people willing to pay for it.
"Hey! Get the hell away from me!" a yell rose up from the other side of the room. Krit moved away and Syl turned her attention back to the bar.
"Are you two together?" a young woman asked as Syl handed her a drink, her eyes wide and cheerful. Syl smiled.
"Yeah."
"That's so cute!" the girl exclaimed.
"Thanks," she said genuinely, her smile widening.
The phone rang a few hours after she and Krit had returned from work and tumbled into bed, exhausted. Syl groaned, opened her eyes, glanced over at Krit, who was still obliviously asleep. She smiled fondly at him and reached over him for the phone on their bedside table.
"Hello?" she grumbled, yawning.
"Did you know what Ben was doing?"
"Of course I did."
"Well I didn't."
"Where have you been, Jondy?" Syl asked, rubbing her forehead.
"With Ben, of course."
"Oh, so that was your 'stuff' Zack wouldn't tell me about." Syl laid down against Krit's shoulder and his arm hooked around her waist sleepily.
"Who's that?" he asked, his eyes still closed.
"Jondy," she said, putting a hand over the receiver. "She's called at three am to talk about Ben." Krit smiled.
"Tell her to go to sleep," he joked, and promptly fell back asleep. Syl listened to her sister describing her encounter with Ben for a moment.
"Wait," she interrupted. "Where was this?"
"Here, in San Francisco. He was in California a while back for something and stuck around with me." Syl remembered her supposedly-imagined encounter with him at the hospital months before and frowned. "Was that Krit I heard?"
"Yeah."
"I really am out of the loop."
"Hey, we invited you to two parties and you didn't show." Syl smiled, then frowned. "How is Ben?"
"As good as anyone can be while killing people." Jondy sighed. "I'm worried about him. We have to help him."
"We?"
"You, me, Tinga, Krit, Zane, and Brin. It will be like an intervention, except instead of drugs or alcohol, we're going to tell him to stop killing people." Jondy seemed very pleased with herself. "And don't worry about Zack," she said, already reading Syl's mind. "He said not to call him while he was in Seattle, right? So we just won't." Syl was surprised.
"That could work."
"So you're up for it?"
"Who else is?"
"Tinga said she'll be there, and Zane of course. He's going to call Brin but he said she's been feeling tired lately so she might not come. But even if she doesn't, that's still five of us."
"Ben is lonely," Syl said. "Zack doesn't let him see anyone."
"I know."
"He needs to know we love him."
"Why is he killing people, Syl?" Jondy asked softly.
"I don't know," she admitted. "I think it has something to do with the Blue Lady." There was a long pause.
"Do you think she's real, Syl? Ben does."
"I believe he does, yes. But I don't know if I ever believed in her."
"You did, I remember." Jondy's voice was soft. "You believed in her the morning you went on that mission with the bird. But when you came back from psy-ops you didn't anymore. You gave up on her." Syl glanced down at her hands.
"Don't talk about that, Jondy," she said. "You weren't there. You don't know."
"You're never going to forgive me for that, are you?" she asked softly. "Tinga, Brin, Zane, Krit, Zack, Max... they were all there. But I wasn't, so I don't get to sympathize. Bram was my brother too, you know."
"Jondy," Syl said, clearing her throat. "Hang on while I wake Krit up." There was a short silence, and then her sister agreed, her voice flat. Syl put her hand over the receiver and shook his shoulder. His eyes opened slowly.
"Jondy wants us to go to-" She paused and spoke back into the phone, "Where is he? Chicago still?"
"No, he's in New York City now."
"Okay." She turned back to Krit. "She wants us to go to New York with her and Tinga and Zane so we can knock some sense into Ben." Krit brightened.
"Sounds good to me," he said.
"We're up for it," Syl told Jondy. "When do we leave?"
"Soon. Tomorrow. As soon as I've heard from Brin I'll call you."
"Then we'd better go, because unlike you we must sleep." Syl smiled. "Do you want to talk to Krit before I hang up?"
"No, that's okay, I'll see him tomorrow."
"Alright. Bye, Jondy."
"Bye, Syl." They hung up, and Syl settled back into Krit's arms. He kissed her forehead and let a hand slip idly through her hair.
"I can't sleep," she said after a long time. He pulled back and looked at her.
"Me neither."
"I'm not in the mood for anything, though," she continued, smiling and laying her head against his chest. He smiled back.
"Me neither." They laid there in silence for a long time, listening to each other's breathing. Syl felt Krit hesitate and then he asked in a soft voice, "Do you ever think about Caleb?" She stiffened and rolled over, turning on her side to look at him. He did the same and she slowly nodded. Oddly, she didn't have to ask who he was talking about.
"All the time."
"I didn't think I would," he admitted. "I didn't even know he existed until after he was dead." She reached out and touched his hair.
"I'm sorry."
"No, that's not what I meant," he said, catching her hand and giving the backs of her fingers a kiss. "I just didn't think I would think about him as much as I do. I never even thought about having kids until you told me about him. Did you?" Syl looked away and said nothing for several seconds. She shrugged off his question, forced a sad smile.
"I didn't realize you'd named him," she whispered. Krit averted his eyes.
"Oh, Syl..." He sighed. "I know you didn't want to. I-"
"Don't apologize," she interrupted gently. "He was your son too, you have a right." She looked into his eyes, leaned forward and kissed him. "Caleb," she said softly after she pulled back. "I like it." Krit's hand took hers.
"Do you ever think about having a family, Syl?" His words were barely more than breath. She gazed at him sadly.
"All the time." Her reply obviously surprised him, but after a moment he smiled. "I want a family," she said. "With you."
"I want a family with you, too." He kissed her.
"Not now. I'm not ready."
"No," he agreed. "Not now." He folded her into his arms, laid his lips
against her cheeks, her eyelids, kissed away her tears. "We have lots of time,"
he whispered.
