Chapter 49: Planning with Summers

"So what made you decide to come now?" Marie asked Dawn Summers. All three women (Sarah had popped down to the Underground with Jareth) were gathered around the table sipping at tea. It was getting to be late in the evening, but Dawn's sudden appearance had woken them all up. "I mean," Marie continued. "We were emailing back and forth for a while then you just stopped replying."

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, got caught up in some work, but also," she paused for a second as she took a sip of tea. "I think I've caught wind of another Erudite."

"What?!" Marie nearly jumped from her seat.

"Where?" Elise chimed in.

"Back in England," Dawn replied. "I've heard some rumors about someone who works at the British Museum."

"Seriously? That is so cool!" Elise exclaimed. "We've been there, Marie! When we visited London, remember?"

"Of course," Marie rolled her eyes. "But we didn't know how to sense another Erudite then."

"Sense?" Dawn questioned.

"Yeah," Marie proceeded to explain. "Joy taught us when we were down in Jamaica. She's never taught you?"

Dawn shook her head. "We've only ever had email or Skype conversations. Bit hard to teach something like that when you're not face-to-face, I would imagine." She trailed off for a moment before asking, "Can you teach me how to sense?"

"Sure!" Marie smiled. "But it only really works when you're in somewhat close proximity. I can sense another Erudite if they're in about a hundred-foot radius of me. And even then if I'm in a crowd it's a bit confusing."

"We tested out our abilities when we were learning with Joy down in Kingston," Elise explained upon seeing Dawn's confused look.

"That's amazing!" Dawn replied after a moment. "How many other Erudites do you know?"

"That's it, just Joy," Elise answered. "But it sounded like other members of her family would have the ability when they got older."

"That's a good start," Dawn mumbled to herself before letting out an enormous yawn. "Sorry, ladies. It's about five o'clock in the morning for me. Didn't get barely any sleep on the plane."

"We can let you sleep," Elise said. "You can take my room, and we can talk more about this Erudite at the British Museum tomorrow."

"I don't want to put you out of your bed," Dawn started to protest.

"Don't worry about it," Elise waved away the concern. "You'll need a good night's sleep after spending all day on a plane."

Dawn relented and nodded. "Thank you."

With that, Elise and Marie led Dawn to her temporary bedroom and left her to sleep for the night. The two women didn't stay up much later themselves, only watching a couple episodes of The West WIng before turning in for the night.

The next morning saw the three women sitting around the table again with coffee, tea, fresh fruit, and homemade zucchini bread and banana bread for breakfast. "So, this British Museum person," Elise opened the conversation. "What have you heard?"

"Well," Dawn swallowed the bite of zucchini bread she'd been chewing. "Joy has other contacts in the London area. None of them are Erudites, but they know about us. Anyway, Joy's contacts reported to her that there was someone at the British Museum who holds night tours where the museum comes alive."

Elise raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like a tourist gimmick to me."

Dawn nodded. "That's what I thought at first too, but then I went to check it out one weekend. Have you two ever seen the movie Night at the Museum?"

"Of course!" Marie stated. "Wait… you don't mean…"

Dawn grinned and nodded. "Everyone else, including the tabloids, think it's a great feat of animatronics and projectors, but I don't think so. I think it's all real."

Elise and Marie stared at Dawn for a minute before Marie asked, "So when do we leave?"

"What?" Dawn gaped at her.

"When do we leave? Obviously we need to go check this out!"

"You can just up and leave, like that?"

Elise shrugged. "Benefit of our jobs. We're travel journalists, we can go pretty much anywhere anytime… provided we have a good story when we're done."

Dawn grinned. "How would you like an insider's scoop on Oxford? It's only an hour and a half outside of London, we can make my apartment there our homebase."

"Sounds like you've got yourself a deal," Elise grinned. She was just about to start filling out the permission for travel online with J&G Publishing when her phone chimed with an incoming text message. She scooped up her phone off the table and glanced down at it. However upon seeing the sender, her eyes widened and a rosy blush came over her cheeks.

Marie grinned and poked her friend in the shoulder. "Oooooohh! Steve messaging you?"

Elise ignored the jibe and replied, "Yeah, and you'll never guess who's coming here with him in a week and a half."

"Please don't be Natasha, I think I still have bruises from the last time I saw her and she made me train with her," Marie whined.

Elise merely grinned and handed her phone over:

Hi Elise, traveling out west with Bucky.

Wondered if you and Marie would mind meeting up with us in a week and a half or so?

-SR

Marie's eyes bugged out and her jaw dropped. "Bucky?! Bucky Barnes?!"

"How many Bucky's does Captain America know? Of course Bucky Barnes!" Elise snatched her phone back. "What should I tell him?"

"YES! You tell him yes, Elise!"

Dawn grinned as she watched the exchange between friends. "I take it this is someone you admire?"

Elise finished sending out her text to Steve then looked up. "Only a little bit," she returned the grin.

Dawn stayed with Marie and Elise for another four days. The women took the time to sightsee Portland and get to know one another. By the end of their time together, Marie and Elise were sorry to see their new friend go. However they waved her off at the airport knowing that they'd see her again soon. It would only take a couple of weeks for the paperwork to go through at J&G Publishing, and then they would be off to England. However first, they had to plan for a visit from Steve Rogers and his best friend, Bucky Barnes.