The heart may freeze or it can burn

The pain will ease if I can learn…

- "Another Day" from Rent

Syndrome and Kauri did not appear at breakfast the next morning. Mirage was not particularly surprised, but she was somewhat irritated. She'd been looking forward to seeing Kauri and catching up with her - and maybe, she admitted, she was a little jealous that Syndrome had so easily replaced her.

Of course, it was Bex. Bex had always been his favorite. She was the one who did everything right, who made living worthwhile, who made all the business plans fall into place. Bex was the one he really wanted as sidekick extraordinaire, second-in-command, business manager, and lover. Mirage had sort of been a filler, someone who was there to briefly replace Bex while she was no longer present. She should have expected to be shunned as soon as Kauri arrived.

It was not a good feeling, to realize how unimportant you really were in the scheme of things. She'd realized it when Mr. Incredible had threatened her life, and Syndrome hadn't cared. Or, maybe, he'd cared just a little - but not enough to attempt to save her. If it had been Bex's life threatened, he would have released Mr. Incredible within minutes.

It made her angry that she felt this way. It made her angrier that the pair of them were only encouraging her feelings of abandonment by hiding away all morning. It was probably her anger that made her storm up to Syndrome's quarters at around eleven a.m.

"Mirage," she said to the door, tapping her foot impatiently. It performed its typical retinal scan and handprint identification, and then demanded her password. She typed "Synluvsme" into the keyboard that was presented her by the door. The keyboard withdrew and the doors slid open.

Mirage walked rapidly through the rooms, the path to Syndrome's bedroom long ago memorized. She approached the bedroom door and pounded on it. "Syndrome?" she called. "Bex? Are you up yet?"

She heard Kauri giggle. "You mean 'up' as in 'awake' or as in 'out of bed'?" Bex asked.

Mirage tapped her foot angrily and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, it's eleven fifteen," she said icily. "I think you should be getting out of bed now."

They both seemed to notice that Mirage was upset. "You ok, Mir?" Kauri asked worriedly.

"Yeah. I'm great," she said irritably. "I just expected to eat breakfast with my two best friends, and they just happened to ditch me."

"Hey, chill out," Syndrome snapped from inside the room. "We're sorry, ok? We've just been talking and stuff."

"Yeah. Right. 'And stuff,'" Mirage said bitterly. "What have the pair of you been doing all night, anyway?"

"Are you jealous?" Syndrome demanded. She heard Kauri whisper something, and Syndrome laughed.

Mirage frowned angrily and pushed open the door to the room. Kauri was cuddled up on top of Syndrome, and he had his arms wrapped around her waist. His hair was hanging flatly in his face, and Kauri was playing with it. "So, am I included in this joke?" Mirage asked coldly.

"Wow, she really is jealous," Syndrome muttered in amazement. Then, he said, "All Kauri said was that we could always do a three-way…"

Mirage smiled a little. She glanced at Kauri, and then started to giggle, and then she burst out laughing, uncontrollably. "I'm sorry, guys," she said between laughs. "I just… I was just feeling a little left out, I guess…"

"Aw, Mir, you know we love you," Syndrome said. "I'd hug you, but I kind of have a Bex on top of me."

"And you're naked," Mirage pointed out.

He shrugged. "It's nothing you haven't seen before," he said.

Kauri had started to put little braids in Syndrome's hair. He waved her hand away and started to undo them. "No braids," he said reproachfully. "I'll wear it down. I'll even put it in a ponytail. But no braids."

Bex pouted and made an attempt to cuddle closer to him. How this was possible, Mirage wasn't entirely sure, but she still managed to seem successful.

Mirage studied them curiously. It was the oddest thing, how different they were together. When she'd been dating Syndrome, everything was so business-like. It was almost as though there was some sort of unofficial contract between them that read, We will have sex on these set days and we will enjoy it and then we will curl up on opposite ends of the bed and pretend it never happened.

And then, here was Bex, making sure every inch of her body was in contact with every inch of his at every second, and he seemed to like it. Mirage almost wondered if it was simply her preference to be aloof that had made every part of their relationship seem so formal. Bex had always been friendlier with people, more relaxed. Maybe that was why Syndrome preferred her to Mirage.

Kauri looked up, breaking Mirage from her thoughts, and said, "So, what's for breakfast?"

Mirage laughed. "Breakfast was hours ago," she said. "It's almost lunchtime. I trust you'll be ready to get out of bed by noon?"

"Yeah," Syndrome said, studying Kauri's reclining form. "Just give us a second…"

Mirage rolled her eyes and stepped out of the room. "Don't take too long, Syndrome," she called as she shut the door.

"I wasn't planning to," he shouted after her.

She just shook her head and laughed quietly to herself. "I'll be waiting in the entry room," she informed them, and then she stalked off down the hall to wait.

- - - - - - - - -

Bex was in a little whirlwind of bliss. It was a great feeling, she thought almost dizzily, to be this happy, to feel this loved. She had long ago forgotten how wonderful it was to be in love, and to be loved in return. She was painfully aware that this state of being was extremely fragile, and she was terrified that stepping out of bed would shatter the dream.

Syndrome seemed to reciprocate the feeling. "Well," he said uncertainly. "I guess we should be getting up…"

Kauri nodded slowly, but made no attempt to force her body to move. "I don't want to go," she whispered after a moment.

"Yeah, I know," he said. He kissed her forehead lightly and said, "But I really don't think it would be a good idea to piss Mirage off anymore."

"I know," she muttered, disheartened.

Syndrome bit his lip, studying her carefully, and then he tilted her chin upwards and kissed her again. "Hey, cheer up, querida," he said. "We've still got tonight. In fact, we've got as long as you choose to stay here." He gave her a significant look. "Which, of course, means that the longer you stay, the more time we have…"

"… So why not stay forever?" Kauri said, finishing the sentence for him. "All right, all right. I get the point. I stay with you and I'll be immensely happy for the rest of my life, plus I will have the most amazing sex life of any woman in the Universe."

Syndrome chuckled and wrapped one of her red curls around his finger. "I'm glad you think so," he said, allowing the curl to spring back into place.

Bex smiled brilliantly at him and then made an effort to disentangle herself from the sheets and Syndrome (Syndrome more reluctantly than the sheets.) "Come on, Syn, let go," she said with a laugh.

"No," Syndrome said sulkily.

"Syn, you have to share me with the world at some point, you know," Bex said, struggling to escape his death grip around her waist.

"No! This Bex is all mine!" he said. He flipped her onto her back and pinned her beneath him, grinning wickedly. "And I have some plans for my Bex…"

Bex shook her head. "We have to get up. Seriously. And if you screw me again, I won't be able to get out of bed."

"Good," Syndrome said. "I don't want you to get out of bed. Weren't we just discussing that?"

Kauri pushed on his chest and shoved him off. He made an effort to catch her before she could escape, but she made it out of bed before he could. "Bex…" he whined unhappily. "Come back!"

"Aren't you even in the slightest bit hungry?" Bex asked.

"No," Syndrome pouted. Of course, at that exact moment, his stomach made a noise. "All right, all right, fine," he said grudgingly. "I'm hungry. I'm starving, in fact. But, Bex…"

"Get up, loser," Bex said, rolling her eyes. She grabbed her shirt from where it had been discarded the night before and started to dress.

Syndrome made a face at her and then reached for his wrist-control. He snapped one on his wrist and zero-pointed clothes from his closet, bringing them over to him.

Bex raised an eyebrow. "I'm amazed at your laziness," she said. "Your closet is maybe five steps from your bed. I think you can manage to walk that far without dying."

"That's what you think, Bexer," Syndrome said, pulling on a t-shirt and jeans.

Bex grabbed a ponytail holder from Syndrome's dresser and pulled her hair back. "You obviously wear your hair back in a ponytail sometimes."

"Only when I'm working." Syndrome got up and pulled his own hair back. After a moment of silence, he said, "So I was thinking that today we could go to the beach and swim or something."

"I have no swimsuit."

"I don't object to skinny dipping."

"Well, I do," Bex said. "I'll borrow one of Mirage's suits. Of course, that girl has no hips… it could be interesting trying to fit in any of her clothes."

"You'll handle the pressure," Syndrome said confidently. "And then after we go swimming I could give you the grand tour if you want… show you all the facilities we've got and stuff. You've got to see the transports I built. They're the coolest things ever! And the velocipods are - "

Suddenly, an alarm sounded loudly throughout Syndrome's rooms. He looked up, startled, and then his eyes narrowed. "Intruders," he hissed.

"On the island?" Bex asked, alarmed.

Syndrome ran to a computer terminal located on the opposite side of the room and started clicking away. "Approaching us from the North-West," he said. He pressed an intercom button and said, "Jason, are you reading this?"

"Roger, Syndrome."

"Any ideas as to who it might be?"

"No idea, Syndrome," Jason said apologetically. "We're trying to confirm - " He stopped suddenly and then announced, "Receiving a transmission from the jet, sir."

"Play it."

A man's voice came over the intercom. "Syndrome, we know you have Static! Release her now or we'll report your base of operations to the authorities and they'll have you locked down before you can say 'bomb.' Request immediate response, over."

Syndrome swore angrily. "Mr. Incredible!" he snarled. "He's here for you!" He drew in a deep breath and then turned to look over his shoulder at Kauri, who was biting her fingernails worriedly. "Well, baby? What do I tell him?" he asked.

Kauri looked uncertain. "Don't respond," she said after a moment.

"Honey, I can't just not respond," Syndrome said in exasperation. "He's got a lock on my location and he'll be calling for government back-up any moment. I'm going to tell him you're here and you're perfectly safe, ok?"

"But don't say anything about Eric."

Syndrome's eyebrows shot up. "What?" he snapped.

"Don't say anything about Eric," Kauri repeated emphatically. "I don't want them to know…"

"Oh, so it's ok for me to look like the bad guy here, but your boyfriend who's the real asshole has to stay clean," Syndrome said harshly. "I see how it is. Fine. If that's the way you want it…" He pressed the intercom button and spoke into it. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Mr. Brawn-Not-Brains. Long time no see, my friend."

"Where's Static?" Mr. Incredible demanded. "Give her back to us!"

"Static," Syndrome said bitingly, "Is just fine. She's being given the premium Nomanisan treatment."

"I know what that's like," Mr. Incredible muttered.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Syndrome said mockingly. "No, Mr. Incredible - I mean, Mr. Parr - God, what a lame name - Static didn't even have to sleep in a cell. In fact, she slept with me last night, and you can feel free to share that information with her loving boyfriend if he happens to be on board."

From the angry exclamation they heard in the background, it was relatively clear that Eric was in fact on board the jet, and not particularly happy about that little tidbit of information. Neither was Mr. Incredible. "If you've done anything to hurt her - " he hissed.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Syndrome said nonchalantly. "She certainly seemed to be enjoying herself last night. I had trouble getting her out of bed."

Kauri was getting angrier by the second as she listened to Syndrome's running commentary. "Syndrome…" she hissed at him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Eric, did you have any idea how good your girlfriend is in bed?" Syndrome continued despite her hand pressing hard on his shoulder. "Apparently she doesn't think nearly so highly of your talents. Shame. With you being a super and all, I just assumed you'd be better… but I guess not."

Kauri was furious at this new tirade Syndrome had just let off, and she sent an electrical charge shooting into Syndrome's shoulder. He yelped in pain and then leapt back from the computer console, cutting off communication. He whirled around and caught Kauri in a zero-point beam. "What the fuck was that for?" he demanded.

He dropped Bex onto the bed, and she sat up, glaring at him furiously. "Gee, I wonder," she said sarcastically. "Could it be the lengthy mocking of my boyfriend, or the mention of that fact that we had sex last night when you promised not to tell?"

She started to get up, but Syndrome zero-pointed her once again. "You know what, Bexer?" he said heatedly. "I don't care. You wanted me to play the bad guy, so I did. Deal with it."

He turned back to the computer and hit the transmission button. "Listen," he said to the Supers on the other end. "Kauri is just peachy. You don't have to worry about her. In fact, if you should worry about her when she's with anyone, it's her own boyfriend. Oh, but that's right - I'm not supposed to mention that. Forget I said anything."

The line crackled with static. "What the hell are you talking about?" Mr. Incredible demanded.

"I said to forget it," Syndrome said callously. "Look, I promise Kauri'll be returned to you by the end of the weekend. I just wanted to steal her to have a little fun. If I'm even two minutes late delivering her back to her dumpy little apartment, then you can come bust my ass out of here. Deal?"

Mr. Incredible's voice came over the line. "I want to talk to Static," he said.

Syndrome clicked the intercom off, released Kauri from the beam and let her drop unceremoniously to the floor. "Go ahead," he said, jerking his head towards the machine. "Talk to them. It's your game anyway."

Kauri stood, straightened her shirt, and then walked over to the console, where Syndrome was still standing. He reached over her to press the intercom button, his body brushing against hers. As he pulled back, he stopped, staring directly into her eyes. She stared back, almost losing herself in the churning icy blue depths.

"Stat?" Mr. Incredible sounded almost frantic. "Static, are you there?"

"I'm here," Kauri said dazedly, her eyes still locked with Syndrome's.

"Static!" Bob sounded relieved. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," she said quietly.

"What?"

"I said I'm fine," Kauri repeated.

"Did you hear what Syndrome said?"

Bex nodded slowly. "Every word."

Mr. Incredible seemed to think her response was odd, but continued anyway. "Look, we'll get you out of there right now if you want us to."

"No, Bob, I'm ok," Kauri said. "I'll come back Sunday night at midnight. All right? And if I'm late you can come looking for me."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Bob asked worriedly. "I don't want him to hurt you."

Bex shook her head. "I'll be fine," she said again. "Don't worry."

"Well, if you think so…"

Before Bob could say more, Syndrome broke the gaze passing between them and clicked off the intercom button. He turned away from her and walked towards the other end of the room. "I have some work to do today," he said quietly.

"I suspected as much," Bex said faintly. She couldn't believe that, barely five minutes ago, they had been talking about walking on the beach.

"Mirage can show you around. I bet you two have a lot to catch up on anyway."

"I imagine so."

"Well, I'll see you later then."

Bex hesitated. "You don't want lunch?"

"I'll eat in my lab."

"Bad idea," Bex said. "You'll get food all over your machines."

"Fuck off, Bexer," Syndrome finally snarled. "I can run my own base."

Bex swallowed a lump in her throat. "I'm sure you can," she managed, and then she turned and ran out of the room.