Finding the Way
Part 15: Couples
"So," said Danny as Taylor walked in the door. "How are things with the Wards?"
She gave him a hug. "Good," she said. "Really good. I helped Gallant out with something, actually."
Amy Dallon sat on her bed; she looked up as Victoria Dallon walked past the door. "Oh, Vicky," she said. "Can you come in here a moment?"
Vicky smiled and stepped inside the room, closing the door behind her. "Yes, Amy?" she said. Amy stood up, took two steps, and they went into each others' arms.
The first kiss was light, gentle, testing the waters. And then Amy's lips pressed hard on Vicky's. The kiss lasted an eternity; it lasted no time at all.
"Wow," murmured Amy. "It's still just as good as the first time."
"Mmm-hmm," agreed Vicky.
"I don't get it," said Dean. "Since we argued, she's been more and more distant with me. Is she breaking up with me again?"
Taylor checked to see where Vicky was, then suppressed a smirk. "You might want to call her up for a date tonight," she said.
He frowned. "What? It's Wednesday. We don't go out on a Wednesday. It's a school night."
She chuckled; he could not read anything from her emotions except a vast amusement. "You might be pleasantly surprised." She paused. "I'd call her soon, though, if I were you."
He gave her a long, considering look, then pulled out his cell phone.
They both heard Carol Dallon's footsteps coming upstairs; by the time she paused at Amy's door and knocked, the girls were sitting side by side on the bed, with an old scrapbook on their laps, the blonde and frizzy brown heads close together.
"Come in," Amy called out.
"Ah, there you are, Victoria," said Carol. She spared barely a glance for Amy.
"Yes, Mom?" asked Vicky innocently.
"We were going out on patrol for the evening. Will you be joining us?" From the tone of voice, it was obvious that Carol considered the question a mere formality.
At that moment, Vicky's mobile rang.
"'Scuse me," she said. "I'll just get this."
Hitting the answer button, she said, "Uh, hello?"
"Hi, Vicky, it's Dean."
"Oh, hi, Dean," she said. "What's up?"
"I, uh, was just wondering if we could go out for a bite tonight. If that's okay with you."
She smiled. An evening with Dean was probably just what she needed to straighten out her emotions about Amy.
"Thanks, Dean, I'd totally forgotten. I'll be over at seven?"
There was a pause. "Uh, seven it is," said Dean. "See you then."
Vicky hung up the call, and looked at her mother with the best approximation of an apologetic smile that she could muster. "Sorry, Mom. Dean already made a date with me. He was just calling to remind me. Isn't he a sweetie?"
"Yes," grated Carol Dallon. "A real honey." She took a deep breath. "I'll let your father know."
Turning, she swept from the room, without even waiting for an answer from Amy. The door closed behind her.
"Whew," giggled Amy, closing the scrapbook and putting it to one side. "That was close."
Vicky grinned, and pulled Amy to her. "Now, where were we?"
"Right about here, I think," said Amy, and leaned in for another kiss.
Dean hung up from the call and looked quizzically at Taylor. "You were right. How did you know?"
Taylor grinned. "Just a wild guess."
Dean raised an eyebrow. "This isn't some power of yours that you haven't shared, is it?"
Taylor shook her head. "Just making sense of what I see, is all."
Her emotions betrayed no deception, just that vast amusement. He grinned and shook his head. "Okay, fine. Whatever."
She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Don't be late, now."
He watched her moving off, rubbing his cheek absently.
"So how are things going with the rest of them?" he asked.
"Well, they like me well enough …"
Chris looked up from the table and waved. "Hey, Taylor, good to see you!"
Taylor grinned as she hurried over. She liked Chris; he was always polite, and accepted her at face value. And that was something she liked.
If what happened to me hadn't happened, and someone like Chris asked me out … I might have even said yes, she thought wistfully. Had a normal life. Normal worries. He's nice boy. Even if I can't understand what he's talking about half the time.
Chris was sitting around the table with Lisa, Missy and Dennis. Taylor slid in beside Chris and put her helmet on the table. "So, what's going on?" she asked with a wide grin.
Chris pointed at Lisa. "She's telling us stuff about you that I don't know if she's pulling our legs or not."
Lisa gave Taylor her vulpine smirk. She had been going by the name of Insight since she had joined the Wards, and if Taylor was to believe half the stories, she was enjoying herself immensely, usually at someone else's expense. But she was also proving to be an enormously valuable asset to the team.
Taylor gave her a flat look. "You know you shouldn't be telling those stories without authorisation."
Lisa grinned wider. "Hey, these are Wards. They're trustworthy. Says so on the box. And I gotta tell someone. If only to see their faces when you confirm."
"Okay, seriously," said Chris. "Coil? His whole organisation?"
Taylor sighed and nodded. "He had Lisa under threat. So we removed the threat, removed a problem from Brockton Bay, and gained a valuable new recruit. Win-win-win."
"Okay, fine, I can accept that," said Chris. "Dennis, didn't you have a question?"
Dennis jolted back to reality. "I heard a rumour that the Nine being taken down, and Jack Slash being taken out, was you and Pathfinder."
Taylor grinned at him and nodded. "It's sort of classified, but yeah. We were in the Director's office, and she sort of asked us where they were. As a test, I guess. So I told her. They ordered a tactical strike that evening, and a little while later, Pathfinder and I took some soldiers in and rescued some hostages from Jack Slash."
"Wow," said Missy. "And, uh, the Merchants? Was that you too?"
Taylor sighed. "Someone has been definitely talking when they shouldn't."
"Hey," said Lisa. "No-one told me it was classified."
"No-one said it was okay to talk about it, either," Taylor said firmly. "You're the intuitionist. You're the last one who can claim 'no-one told me'."
Lisa grinned, unrepentant. Dennis said, "Well, is it true?"
Taylor sighed again. "Yes, it's true. I started tracking a lot of lost runaways, mainly teenage girls, to the Merchants. They'd been taking them in, then drugging them up and doing things with them while they were out to it."
"By 'doing things' you mean …" began Chris, looking sick.
"Yes," said Taylor firmly. "Exactly that. So I told the Director, she ordered a strike. The capes were in cells before they even knew what hit them. The Merchants have been dismantled, and they're all facing multiple charges. Kidnap, unlawful imprisonment, and others."
"Others?" asked Missy.
"The type of charges that I'm not going to talk about," said Taylor firmly.
"I'm a big girl," protested Missy. "I can take it." But she looked a little green around the gills.
Taylor shook her head. "I'm a big girl, and I couldn't take it for too long." She'd seen the conditions the girls were kept in, and it was all she could do to keep herself from having Danny take her to where Skidmark was being kept, pulling her little pistol, and …
Chris put an arm around her shoulders. "Bad, huh?" he said quietly.
She leaned into him. "The worst," she replied.
Danny had held her and comforted her, that night, as she cried on his shoulder. But memories like that could not be so easily exorcised. Comfort was something she took where she could find.
"It's the nature of the beast," he said gently, squeezing her shoulders. "We're superheroes. We have to deal with crap like this. People do bad things to each other, we're the ones who have to sort it out. We don't get called in for the good stuff."
"Yeah," said Dennis. "Just for once, I'd like to get called in to judge a talent show, or a wet t-shirt contest or something."
There was silence for a moment, then Dennis said, "Yeah, I said that out loud, didn't I?"
Chris nodded. "In front of three girls. Good going, champ."
There was an awkward silence, broken by Missy trying hard, and failing, not to giggle. Dennis' face just got redder and redder.
Then Taylor snickered. Everyone looked at her questioningly.
"I was just thinking," she said, "if there was a cape wet t-shirt competition, who would enter, who would win, and who the hell would dare try to judge it?"
"You have a distinct point there," grinned Chris. He started chuckling, followed by Lisa and Missy. Even Dennis snickered a few times.
"Wait, wait," said Missy. "If we were having a wet t-shirt competition and Leviathan attacked, would he stop to watch?"
Chris laughed out loud. "They could hire him on to keep the contestants wet down."
More laughter arose at the table. Lisa managed to choke out, "they could ask him to judge!" before cracking up altogether.
Taylor couldn't help laughing along with everyone else. "Hey," she grinned. "Maybe we should have one for the guys. Show off those abs. And no matter who won, no matter what happened to the judge afterward, they could get a great calendar out of it."
Silence fell then, as people considered a wet t-shirt calendar composed of capes.
"Dang," said Chris at last. "I'd buy one."
Missy nodded. "I'd wait for the 'hot guys' edition."
Lisa grinned and ruffled her hair. "Go you halves in it."
Missy grinned at her. "Get your own damn calendar." Everyone chuckled.
Lisa grabbed Missy and hugged her. "Don't ever change," she said with a grin.
"So, Taylor," said Chris, almost totally casually, "does your dad let you date?"
"Yeah," she said. "He pretty well gives me free rein. I just … don't, I guess. I prefer to stay in, most nights."
"Wow," said Missy. "That sounds kinda boring. No offence."
Taylor shrugged. "I didn't have a social life before I got my powers. And afterward … I've been sort of busy. Really busy. As someone has been telling you about, when they shouldn't have been." She directed a mock glare at Lisa, who grinned back at her.
"But if someone happened to ask you for a date, and your dad didn't have a problem, you'd be free to say yes, right?" asked Chris, once again almost managing to sound just mildly curious.
"Uh, sure?" said Taylor. He's gonna ask me for a date. I know he is. She wasn't sure how she really felt about that, but the tiny thrill of delight in her stomach said that some part of her wanted him to.
"Taylor, would you go on a date with me?" asked Chris, in a rush.
Taylor smiled at him. "Why yes," she said softly, "I would like to go on a date with you."
He stared at her. "You would?"
She nodded, and kissed him on the cheek. "Of course I will."
"Chris is a nice kid," said Danny approvingly. "I like him."
She smiled. "So, you've heard about me and the Wards. You still haven't told me about you and Hannah."
He groaned. "You're not going to let me get away without telling you, are you?"
She giggled. "Nope."
"Well, fine," he said. "You know she asked me to meet her on the Boardwalk …"
"Hello, Danny," said Miss Militia. "It's good to see you."
He sat down next to her, looking out over the ocean. They were both out of costume, and he supposed he looked a little ridiculous next to her trim figure. Panacea may have given him a total body tune-up, but he was still over six feet, rather taller than the woman next to him.
"It's good to see you too, Hannah," he said. "Is there a problem I need to know about? Something we need to bring Compass Rose in on?"
She shook her head. "No," she said softly. She placed her hand on his hand, where it lay on his leg. He looked at her, startled.
"Hah!" said Taylor. "Called it!"
"Shush," he said, needled. "Who's telling this story?"
"Okay, okay," she said with a teasing grin. "Go on."
"Uh … Hannah," he said. "I … I, uh, find you extremely attractive. I really do. But … you do know I'm not ready for a committed relationship just yet."
She looked at him directly. "I know," she said. "And I know that you love your daughter dearly, and that she loves you just as much. And I would not have dreamed of intruding on that. But …"
She paused. "But … you saved my life, when we took down the Merchants. And I know you have been looking at me in a way more than a teammate should look at another." She squeezed his hand.
"But … but what is there about me that attracts you so much?" he asked helplessly.
She reached up and placed her hand over his heart. "What's in here," she said softly.
He shook his head. "I don't get it," he said.
She smiled sadly. "When I was young, I lost my parents. Men came to the village and killed nearly everyone, all but a few children. I have always missed my father and mother, but mostly my father, because I have always found myself in violent, dangerous situations."
She paused, and looked steadily at him. "You are a father who found himself in an untenable situation, but did what you had to do to get to your daughter and save her. You did the difficult thing, the impossible thing, to keep Taylor safe and alive."
She smiled up at him. "You are that rare thing, a good man and a loving father. I admire that intensely, and find it very attractive indeed."
"Wait …" he said. "You're attracted to me because I love Taylor so much?"
She smiled, her lids lowered. "I do not claim to understand it," she said softly. "All I know is what I know."
He shook his head wonderingly. "Before we reach any sort of agreement here," he said, "I'm gonna have to talk this over with her. You do realise this."
Taylor grinned. "Sure," she said. "I'm good with that."
"Just like that?" asked Danny. "You don't mind?"
Taylor kissed him on the cheek. "I really like her," she said. "She's great, she doesn't talk down to me. Treats me like an adult."
He nodded. "I have to admit, that's one of the reasons I like her, too."
She smiled and hugged him. His arms tightened around her.
Hannah nodded seriously. "I understand," she said. "And please tell her that I will meet any conditions she sets for us. I admire her deeply, and –"
"Ooh, conditions," grinned Taylor. "And she admires me deeply. Seriously, did she say that, or are you just trying to butter me up?"
"Shush," he said severely. She giggled.
"- only want good for her."
Danny nodded. "I'll do that," he said. He smiled at her. "I think she'll accept," he said. "She does like you a lot."
Hannah smiled back at him. "I know. You have a remarkable daughter."
They both stood. She turned to him. "One more thing before you go?"
He looked at her. She stretched up on tiptoe and kissed him firmly on the lips. "Don't forget to talk to Taylor," she said, after she had finished.
He smiled sheepishly. "No way in hell," he grinned. He shook hands with her, and she started away down the Boardwalk. He went the other way, until he could duck into an unobserved nook, and teleport back home.
Now, he asked himself. How the hell do I broach that subject with Taylor? She already knows, I bet, but …
Of course, as it happened, he didn't have to worry about it.
"Wow," said Dean. "That was … wow."
Vicky pulled back from the kiss, then gave him another one. "You're pretty special yourself," she said with a smile.
He shifted his position on the sofa; she snuggled up to him, kissing him on the ear.
"You're in a really good mood tonight," he said, running his hand over her hair. "Anything I should know about for future reference?"
She giggled and kissed him again. "Special circumstances," she said, rubbing her cheek against his. "Wanna put on another movie, or do you need to be in bed early?"
He's not wrong, she thought. I'm definitely a lot less tense since Amy came clean with me.
He grinned and pulled her to him for another kiss.
End of Part 15
