A/N: I hope everyone had a happy holiday. Or at least survived it. For those of you who hate the Yuki chapters...this is a Yuki chapter. A very important one. If you just can't standing reading about the trainwreck that is Taylor and Yuki, feel free to skip to the end.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Home is Where Your Molecular Furnace Is
On a blessedly sunny, breezy day in May, four and a half months after Taylor Hebert's life ended and Quintessence's began, Taylor took a running leap from the roof of her clinic all the way up to the steepled roof of her newly refurbished home.
The very top of the roof was incredibly narrow. She immediately sat down on the folded asphalt shingles, newly installed and pleasantly warm from the sun. Once she'd regained her bearings, she stood again and carefully walked over the roof to the steeple that rose over the street-side face of the home.
To her north, she could see the mudflats dotted by occasional collapsed structures or copses of trees that used to be the North Admiral neighborhood. To her south, several blocks of abandoned, collapsing homes and businesses, before the rest of West Seattle began. She couldn't quite see the ocean with a gentle haze in the air, but she could smell it.
The majority of the newly reinforced square steeple held the main water tank for the building. At five thousand gallons, it could provide them all the water they needed for a couple of weeks even with heavy usage. The only problem would be filling it.
Which is why Taylor found herself standing forty feet off the ground.
Yuki, her friend Maria, and most of Maria's family stood in the still unfinished front lawn of the building, staring up at Taylor in concern. Every one of them knew Taylor's civilian identity after so many months, and she did not worry about any of them betraying her. She and Yuki had virtually funded Maria's family for months, now, through the work on the home conversion.
"Okay, I'm ready Yuki!"
"Are you sure you want me doing this?"
"Yuki, you handled the car just fine."
"For a second! This is your not-tinker tinker-tech! I don't want to break it."
"I trust you."
That statement was usually enough. Her friend wore simple shorts and a black T-shirt, as comfortable in the beautiful spring weather as Taylor. It was a beautiful Saturday, the clinic was closed, and their home was all but finished.
Taylor watched with pride as her apprentice closed her eyes, drew effortlessly on the Force, and then with an outstretched hand levitated Taylor's newly finished vaporator. The device was the size of a small refrigerator, though not quite as wide. A smaller proof-of-concept version was currently providing water for the clinic annex.
Yuki got it more than half-way up. Their Force presences merged briefly before Taylor took over and levitated it the rest of the way up. She fitted it into the cone of the steeple onto the wood and steel supports Jorge's people built for it. Once it's weight was supported, she pulled the tools from her belt to connect the discharge hoses and vents into passive filters, and from there into the tank itself. The vaporator itself was a rugged piece of equipment designed for the harshest environments. She doubted it would need any type of servicing for years.
Once she connected the solar panel to the vaporator's capacitors, she flipped the switch, and grinned when she heard the first few drops of water almost instantly condense and run down the tube. It would take a few days to fill the whole tank, but this close to the ocean she was confident they'd have endless, free running water by the next morning.
She slipped on all the wood slats with the chicken wire secured under it to keep out the birds but allow in water-rich ocean air and finished her work. Then, grinning, she ran off the edge of the roof.
Maria's mother had seen her do it at least three times, and every time the poor woman screamed as Taylor fell, only to fan herself in relief and say a prayer when the fall turned into a gentle landing.
"Great job!" Taylor said with a happy grin to her girlfriend.
Yuki answered with a hug and a kiss. Taylor didn't know who was more embarrassed, her or Mrs. Lopez. She returned the kiss anyway, and when Yuki let go she hugged Jorge for all his work. Yes, they ended up paying him over a hundred thousand cash over the past few months, but there was no question that he stretched that money into almost a half-million-dollar renovation.
Next came the nearly obligatory hug from Mrs. Lopez, a rather large woman. Maria's oldest son Raul shook her hand, while her two younger brothers Carlos and Luis ran through the front door where the food was waiting.
Taylor and the rest followed.
While she and Jorge spent the morning testing and finishing off the plumbing in anticipation of the vaporator, Yuki brought their belongings into their master bedroom. The furniture delivery truck with the rest was due within the hour.
The reality of their home still left Taylor speechless. The sanctuary was only half its original size, which still left a wide-open, two-story high area of polished wood where they could lay down mats for hers and Yuki's training. On either side of the sanctuary, Jorge and his people had built their home. The east side of the building was a mother-in-law suite, with two separate bedrooms and shared bathroom built where the old loft was, only expanded out for additional square footage. Underneath the bedrooms, Jorge walled in a pair of rooms that Yuki had already decided would be her office in one, and a music room on the other.
Taylor never knew that Yuki played piano—a separate truck was delivering her gift to herself in the form of a baby-grand.
On the west side of the great room, they built their master bedroom suite with an en suite bathroom, and two more guest rooms with a shared bathroom between them. Underneath the bedrooms, Jorge left an open living and kitchen space that ran from the gym all the way to the garage in back, broken up only by various structural support beings that Jorge's people had finished off with decorate wooden paneling.
The exquisite cabinetry in the kitchen was all reclaimed from salvage and then lovingly reconditioned by Jorge and Raul. The counter tops likewise were reclaimed marble from salvage, which meant different patterns and textures. Rather than a detriment, Jorge managed to place the parts he had to form an intricate pattern.
The basement held Taylor's lab and the utilities room. Her latest molecular furnace, the same that helped her get the material to make the two vaporators, had its electrical output running through a bank of capacitors that had enough energy storage capacity to run half the city for a year.
They were truly off grid, both for power and water. And starting Monday, Mrs. Lopez had agreed to be their housekeeper for them.
They ate lunch off a folding table in their dining area, sitting on folding chairs. Taylor laughed and helped Yuki with her Spanish, much to the delight of Carlos, who was just old enough at 13 to start to feel awkward around girls. He stared at Yuki a lot.
Yuki preened under the attention.
There wasn't any talk of capes. They didn't discuss the latest clash between the Familia and Tekiya in the Mt. Baker neighborhood. They didn't talk about the fact that Taylor couldn't go out without a disguise for fear of being arrested despite her success as Quintessence, or the fact that she and Yuki were both high school drop-outs.
For that one, glorious afternoon, they were a family celebrating their new home with food, laughter, and friendship.
The first delivery trucks arrived as they were eating. Jorge took the lead in having the delivery men install the refrigerator/freezer, dishwasher and oven range in the kitchen. The workers left with fajitas in hand and fuzzy memories of who the owners actually were.
The furniture delivery truck arrived shortly after they finished eating. This time, Yuki took the lead, having assumed the role of interior decorator. Taylor didn't mind, and instead helped gather all the paper plates from their meal. Mrs. Lopez and Clair wrapped up the leftovers and put them in the brand-new refrigerator.
"An empty fridge is bad luck, Mama says," Claire said with a wink to her mother.
For a drug-dealing madam of a Familia-owned brothel, who also just happened to be Matador's senior and most trusted lieutenant, Claire was surprisingly good-natured.
And then, in a whirlwind of beds, dressers, dining room tables and stools and all the other items Yuki thought necessary for them to actually have a home, she and Yuki ended up sitting on the edge of a queen-sized bed in a brand-new bedroom with plain white walls and off-white Berber carpeting.
"You know we have to christen the bed, right?" Yuki declared with a saucy grin.
Taylor knew it was coming; she'd felt Yuki's desire all day long. Most days she was able to plead off a headache or meditation. She'd often train Yuki so hard the girl collapsed into sleep with a few kisses and snuggles. But Yuki was just too happy and too determined to let it go.
And Taylor was too determined to make this home thing work not to give it a good try.
One christening later, Taylor sat up in her new bed next to her girlfriend of four months with a laptop open. Yuki had done the same, using her laptop to do the final accounting on expenses for the house.
"You know we're pretty rich, right?" Yuki asked after a few minutes.
"What makes you say that? The 10,000 square foot house?"
Yuki snorted. "We just spent almost forty thousand dollars cash on furniture and appliances. And we're still in the black $20,000 for the month so far."
"Well, you know, it helps that you're training has advanced enough that you can heal too."
"Not as fast as you, and not the big things."
Taylor shrugged. "You can also go ghost for half an hour. I can't. The Force is my power. It's a secondary power for you. You'll get better, though. The material for your own lightsaber should be done by tomorrow."
Yuki's eyes drifted up and met Taylor's squarely. "Really?" she whispered.
"You came really close in matching me in our spar yesterday," Taylor said. She left out the fact that she was sparring on a padawan level, but she was confident at least in Yuki not cutting off her own foot. "I think it's time."
"Awesome."
"But…I have a condition."
"What, I do the dishes?"
Taylor snorted. "You do them anyway, at least when I cook. No, I'm…I'm serious, okay? I think we should both contact the Youth Guard about school."
"School? Taylor, we made $12,000 yesterday alone! Mrs. Munchouser paid us a thousand for her knee. We hired Maria's sister Jennifer to be our receptionist, and even paying her $15 an hour and giving Estrella their cut, we're still making a fortune every day. Why do we need to go to school?"
Yuki's sudden vehemence startled her.
"Aren't you bored?"
"Bored?" Yuki blinked, and then frowned. "I don't…what do you mean? You've been training me every morning and evening for four months! We've been building this great house. Since I've been able to help with the healing we've been seeing thirty people a day in our clinic. You know that person with the bad back? They flew in from Texas. Texas! I don't get why you'd be bored."
Taylor shrugged and found herself looking away and regretting bringing it up. It wasn't the first time she'd felt a disconnect between herself and Yuki, and every time one struck it seemed harder to bridge. This, though, was too important to her. "The Force can do so much. We're doing so very little with it. It just feels like we should be doing more."
"Like what? Putting on capes and busting heads? I really like our neutrality, Taylor. It doesn't matter that Maria's oldest sister runs a brothel for El Matador, or my Uncle launders money for Tekiya. We've got it so good here. Why…are you still thinking about Canberra?"
Yuki put her laptop aside and spun about to face Taylor. "You promised," she said simply.
Alexandria's call to personally ask Taylor to assist with the fight against the Simurgh in Canberra sparked the first genuine fight she and Yuki had ever had. Oh, they'd had arguments before, but nothing like Yuki's outrage when Taylor said she wanted to go. They fought for almost forty minutes before Taylor finally agreed not to.
And the next day, when she learned that the Protectorate and the Australian government put a dome over the city, condemning the two hundred thousand people who could not evacuate in time to a short life in hell, they'd had another fight that ended with neither speaking to the other for a week.
Now, looking at this girl who had come to be such a huge part of Taylor's life, she had a sinking feeling that they never would completely see eye-to-eye on important things. For a moment, she let all that slide and just studied her. Yuki's perfect, beautiful face was set in an alarmed frown, even as she tucked a strand of perfectly straight, black hair behind her ears.
"What?" Yuki asked. "Why do you feel sad?"
Taylor forced herself to smile. "It was a good day, I hate ending it with an argument. So, I'm going to just say this. You're beautiful, Yuki. I think…I think in a real way you helped save me, as much as Gabriella did. You saved me from myself by being my friend. By loving me. And I want you to go back to school because I love you. I care about you, and I want you to be everything the Force wants you to be."
Another gaping difference between them was how very quickly Yuki would tear up. She teared up then. "You don't tell me you love me very often," she whispered.
"So, you should know I mean it when I do say it," Taylor countered. She leaned forward, took Yuki's chin in her fingers, and gently kissed her. "I love you. And that's why I want you to go back to school."
"And you?"
"Me too, if I can without getting thrown in the Birdcage."
"I…really didn't like school, Taylor."
That got an eye-roll. "You think I did? Remember how I triggered? I'm not talking about us walking back to a high school. I've been researching, and the Youth Guard has online programs for parahuman youth. We'd have to go in once in a while for tests and things like that, but we could pretty much do everything online. Especially now that we I got that new internet transmitter going."
Taylor would never tell the local telecommunications companies that she was now her own ISP.
"If I say yes, can I make love to you again?"
"If you said no, would I be able to stop you anyway?"
Later that night, as Taylor watched Yuki twitch under the influence of nightmares she would likely never truly be free of, she climbed out of bed and padded over to the still mostly empty dresser across from the bed. Yuki preferred light colored woods, like pine and birch, which made their home look like something from an IKEA ad. Taylor herself preferred darker woods but didn't feel like debating it.
She activated her phone and pulled up the webpage she'd marked earlier in the week. Despite the late hour, she called the number.
"You have reached the Youth Guard after hours mail box. If you are experiencing a crisis, please dial 771 for the PRT. If you wish to make an appointment, please leave your name and a phone number and we will get back to you as soon as we can. BEEP."
Taylor took a deep breath. "This is Quintessence, a healer in the North Admiral Exclusion Zone. If possible, I would like to set up an appointment tomorrow to discuss continuing education for myself and my partner, Yurei. We're both…high school drop outs. I'd like to fix that, if I could." She gave her number, then added that she would prefer texts.
Despite the late hour, she received a text just half an hour later, as she meditated.
~~Quintessence~~
~~Quintessence~~
Sunday morning, Taylor cooked eggs and chopped up the left-over flank steak and onions with them to make breakfast tacos. The smell alone dragged Yuki out of bed.
The amazing thing about Yuki was that, even exhausted and with her hair standing up at weird angles, somehow she was still pretty. She didn't need make-up, she was just naturally beautiful in a way Taylor envied. Taylor still didn't feel that pull of attraction Yuki felt, but just objectively she couldn't deny that Yuki was just plain hot.
She was also very grumpy.
"Mind if we train later?" she asked.
"Sunday's a good sleep-in day," Taylor agreed. "In fact, we might skip training entirely."
"Oh, right!" Yuki perked up. "My lightsaber!"
"Yes. Right after our appointment with the Youth Guard."
Yuki's shoulders dropped. "But…but…it's Sunday." She whined like she was five. "Aren't they closed on Sundays?"
"They make appointments at all hours. Our appointment is in two hours in North Seattle. And…well, now that we have all this space, I figured you'd want to do some shopping while we're out."
"In costume?"
It pained Taylor to say it—she hated being out in public in her costume. However, Yuki adored the attention. And if that's what it took to get her buy-in for school? "If that's why you'd like. We can make a day of it."
The way to Yuki's heart was bribery. Taylor didn't regret it at all.
As much as she wanted to take her 2008 570CC Ridley Speedster automatic motorcycle, since they were going shopping afterwards they took the sedan instead. It was the same car that Grabriella gave Taylor back in January. The car remained titled under the Estrella corporation, which spared Taylor the confusion of dealing with inspections and tags.
Taylor drove while Yuki sulked. Well, perhaps not sulked. The older girl felt nervous in the Force.
"What's on your mind?" Taylor asked.
Yuki picked at the lapel of her overcoat. Her casual costume was a match for Taylor's original—a short vest and matching slacks over whatever blouse or shirt was handy. Where Taylor's was a dark crimson color, Yuki wore a forest green color. Unlike Taylor's mask which concealed her hair under a hood, Yuki wore a robber's band that covered her eyes and forehead, but let her hair hang free.
"Just don't want to do this," Yuki said.
"That's not all, though."
"It's…just a weird feeling I woke up with."
Taylor forced herself to watch the road. "Remember our exercises on meditations? Was it a Force feeling, or just a Yuki-being-worried-because-schools-sucks feeling?"
"Dunno. Just…just a feeling. Like I was going to lose you. I didn't like it."
"What does the Force tell you now?"
"That you're going to buy me clothes and a nice lunch to make up for how much school sucks?"
Taylor laughed. "Least I can do."
The Youth Guard office, when they finally reached it, was not really all that inspiring. The national advocacy organization was dedicated primarily to the protection of Wards against Protectorate Exploitation and made the news almost weekly somewhere. They were known to bring charges and reprimands against the PRT in every state, and since Congress chartered them as a federally mandated organization, they'd become even more strident in their efforts.
The Seattle office of the Youth Guard was located on the first floor of a two-level strip mall a few blocks north of the University. The office itself sat between a CPA's office on one side and a small day spa on the other. An on-line dating service and a temp agency held the floor above.
It was the only office with a light on as they pulled up.
"I really don't want to do this." Yuki's tone had shifted from petulant to almost afraid.
"Let's hear what they have to say," Taylor said. "Please?"
She climbed out first and walked around to Yuki's side. Then, sighing, she opened the door and dragged her lover out.
"Come on," she huffed. She took Yuki's hand and dragged her to the door of the office, and then into it.
The interior of the office consisted mainly of an open lobby with a couch on one side and a table set horizontal to the front on the other. The table had four metal-frame, upholstered chairs set by it, and a stack of pamphlets.
Further in, the narrow office space had a receptionist desk that split the office in two, separating the front lobby from a set of narrow offices in back. A wide-bodied woman with blunt features and hair as black as Yuki's looked up at them with a welcoming smile.
"Quintessence? Yurei? I'm so glad you came. My names Julie Chinook, I'm Mr. Banyon's office manager." She turned to the back and shouted. "Craig, they're here!"
Craig Banyon, the man who texted Taylor back later Saturday night, emerged from one of the back offices with a scowl. "I heard the bell, Julie," he whined. He was a tall man, easily five or six inches taller than Taylor, but as thin as a rail. He had large ears, a protruding Adam's apple and no chin to speak of, only a dimple so deep it looked like it tickled his spine. Brown hair had turned gray at the temples, and might have been distinguishing if he'd had a haircut lately.
His neck and chin bristled with a five o'clock shadow, despite not even being ten yet. He wore jeans and a plaid button up. He glanced at the two capes, then smiled broadly as he walked toward them.
"I wasn't sure you'd actually come. Craig Banyon, Youth Guard Advocate." He offered a hand. Taylor took it firmly. Yuki less so.
"I have to say that you two are quite famous," Banyon said. He motioned them toward the table with the chairs. He and Julie took the two seats facing out, forcing Taylor and Yuki to sit with their backs to the windows. "The media have been clamoring for interviews with you almost since you started."
"We're not the Protectorate," Taylor said. "We don't care about looking good, just doing good."
"Oh, I like that," Julie Chinook said.
"So, thank you both for coming," Craig continued. "You'd mentioned continuing school. Naturally, the Youth Guard respects your privacy, but I also wish to assure you that under Federal law and our charter, our conversation here would be considered attorney privilege. While you work with me in any capacity, I assume the role of your attorney. So, while I won't ask for anything you don't wish to share, if you do share, rest assured that I won't. Nor can I be compelled to divulge privileged information. So, that said…can you tell me your most recent, completed grade?"
Even half expecting the question, somehow Taylor felt odd answering. "My last completed grade? Um…my freshman year."
Though both the Youth Guard members felt surprised, Taylor grudgingly admired how well they hid it. "Very good," Craig said as he made a not on a blank pad. "And Yurei?"
All it took to tell Yuki had no intention of speaking was a glance at her pursed lips.
"The same," Taylor said. Yuki was six months older than Taylor, but Taylor's parents started her at latest eligibility, so the two were in the same grade.
Julie studied both girls intently. "Were you friends, before you became capes?"
"No."
"Do either of you have family…?"
"NO!" Yuki's outburst startled everyone at the table, including Taylor. "I can't…I can't." She stood and walked out to the car. The door opened even before she reached it and would have slammed shut hard enough to shatter the glass if Taylor hadn't caught it with her own power.
The Youth Guard reps both looked startled at the outburst. "Quintessence, is everything okay?"
Taylor sighed bitterly. "Her uncle sold her into sexual slavery on her sixteenth birthday. She triggered on a boat watching her best friend get shot by Russians. What the fuck do you think?"
Realizing what she'd just said, Taylor forced herself to take a deep breath. "You don't become a cape by having a good day," she added softly.
Rather than be upset or indignant, Craig simply nodded. "I can't say I understand what you're going through, Quintessence, but I've spoken to many, many young capes as part of my job. What is it that you want for yourself and Yurei?"
"Some type of online path to get our high school degrees."
"In your cape personas?"
"It's the only options available to us."
He reached over and took one of the pamphlets. "Most states partner with the Youth Guard to do just that. We have an Alternative Learning program that can be tailored to your needs. Online, and any contact with instructors would actually be through this office. Any tests you take would be through this office. There would never be a need for either you or Yurei to step foot in a public school."
The pamphlet listed the website they would registered through, as well as other resources. "How much?"
"It's free," Banyon said. "And a shame that more parahuman youths don't take advantage of it. I understand why, but that doesn't make it any less of a shame."
"I don't want to be forward, but there is another service that the Youth Guard providers," Julie said. She removed a business card from within the sheets of her tablet.
Taylor stared at it in surprise. "Counseling?"
"Who needs it more than parahuman teenagers?" she said with a shrug.
Twenty minutes later, Taylor returned to the car where Yuki waited. "You okay?"
The shorter girl shook her head. "I want to go home," she said.
"But shopping? Lunch?"
"I don't feel like it. Please, I just want to go home."
"Okay."
They drove once more in a heavy, sullen silence. Taylor wanted so very much to say something, but she just wasn't sure what words she could say that would make anything better. Yuki didn't appear to want to say anything at all. So, they simply drove. They'd long since removed the FEMA exclusion zone signs over the street that led to their home and clinic. Instead, there was a simply printed sign with an arrow pointing to a caduceus.
The moment they reached Agnes Court's surfacing, the ride became immensely smoother. Taylor pulled around the back, ready to get out of her mask and costume and go hide in her lab for a little while until Yuki cooled off. That simple desire faltered when the car pulled around the corner of the converted church and let her see a sizable group of heroes standing in the middle of their driveway.
Alexandria stood in their midst, hands on her hips.
"No," Yuki whispered. She angrily wiped at an eye. "Why can't she just leave us the fuck alone?"
Taylor parked the car, glad her mask was still on, and climbed out.
"Where?" she asked the heroine.
"Leviathan. Brockton Bay. Within the hour."
Yuki climbed out. "She doesn't want to go, just leave us alone," the shorter cape shouted.
Alexandria ignored Yuki completely, her darkened visor fixated directly on Taylor. The other capes behind the hero looked impatient. One of them, a cape in a blue and black costume with a strange derby cap, cleared his throat. He stood an inch taller than Alexandria, who at six feet was tall for a woman. His was a lanky, gawky height, however, all joints and limbs from a skinny body.
"Would never tell a client what to do, my dear," the man said. "But times' a wasting."
"We would like you there as a healer," Alexandria said to Taylor. "You'd be in a triage point well back from combat."
"There no such thing with Leviathan!" Yuki still shouted, not caring the least bit she was doing so to Alexandria. "They said my school would be safe when he came here, and half the students died when the roof collapse in the flooding. There's nowhere safe with an Enbringer! She doesn't want to go!"
"Well, the boss has spoken, Alexandria, we've got things to do, places to be."
Taylor didn't recognize the new speaker, but from the blue, fur-lined costume suspected she had something to do with ice or cold. Alexandria simply stood and waited, as if she knew what Taylor was going to decide before even she did.
Perhaps she did. Taylor ran past her without a word, but she knew the heroine understood. Yuki followed right on her heels.
"What are you doing?"
Taylor ran inside and up the stairs to their master bedroom. The spacious closet just off the bathroom was almost empty, built to hold far more clothes than either girl possessed yet. Taylor had her casual costume on the floor and was pulling on her combat gear as Yuki arrived.
"You promised!" Yuki screamed. "You promised you'd stay with me! That you'd protect me!"
Again, there were so many things Taylor wanted to say, but nothing came to her mind. In the face of Yuki's anguish, she couldn't think of a single thing to say that would make a difference. Instead, she pushed passed the other girl and pulled on her boots.
"The tank should have plenty of water by now," Taylor said, choosing the mundane over the essential. "I don't know when I'll be back, but you can handle the clinic for a few days."
"Taylor, stop! Please!"
She turned; Yuki had torn her mask off to reveal a grief-stricken face. "Please. Please don't leave me."
"Then come with me."
Yuki shook her head, so violently she flung tears onto the wall. "No. Fuck no! I survived Leviathan twice, I know I won't survive a third. Please, I can't lose you!"
"Then if I don't come back, you'd better come get me," Taylor said. Her lightsabers flew into her hands from the dresser. "Be safe, Yuki. I love you."
She turned to leave, accompanied by the sound of Yuki's knees striking the floor as she collapsed in tears.