7. Plotting

"It just happened," Drake announced. He walked into the mayor's office looking directly at Caine. I doubted if he even realized I was here. Though when you hated someone as much as Drake hated me it was hard to miss them. I listened with half an ear as I skimmed the pages of the latest Seventeen.

"What happened?" Caine asked anxiously. He was chewing his thumb nail; the most annoying bad habit I had yet to encounter.

"The two girls you had me following. They both just took the big jump. They poofed, as the idiot Quinn says."

"Just as I predicted. Just like I said." Caine said, rising from his chair. Gee, maybe you're a psychic now too, I felt like saying. Caine seemed genuinely concerned though, so I held my tongue.

He walked over to me and snatched the magazine out of my hand. "You think maybe you could pay attention?" Now I regretted biting back my retort.

I sighed and stretched luxuriously, knowing that even in this moment of stress he would be watching me. "Don't get pissy with me, Caine." I warned. "I'm the one who said we needed start collecting birth certificates."

"Yeah. That was a good idea. A very good idea." It was hard for me to tell if he was really complementing my enormous tact, or is he was just trying to get laid.

"Diana's boy Sam was there," Drake edged. I didn't bother to give him the satisfaction of a response. "He was holding the one girl's hand when she bugged. Looking right into her eyes. See, the first girl goes and they all know what's coming at that point. The second girl, she was weepy over it. I was too far off to hear what she said, but you could tell she was basically wetting herself."

"Sadism," I sang. "The enjoyment of another person's pain." I'd like to see Drake's face when he took the big jump.

"Words don't scare me," Drake said. He leaned closer to me slightly, trying to look menacing. I wasn't worried though. He wouldn't try a thing while Caine was this close.

"You wouldn't be a psychopath if they did, Drake." I challenged.

"Knock it off, you two," Caine said. He returned to his chair, a dark look on his face. "It's November seventeenth, I have five days to figure out how to beat this."

"Five days," Drake repeated, for no particular reason it seemed. "I don't know what we'd do if you bugged out, Caine."

He looked at me, his eyes filled with hate. I shivered slightly. A world without Caine would be no world at all. For me at least. Drake would use it as an opportunity to take me out, along with anyone else who resisted him.

"What?" Caine said sharply. I looked up to see who he was talking to. Computer Jack had entered the room, panting slightly. He was holding Nurse Temple's laptop. We all looked to him expectantly.

"I hacked it," he said. As if he had just found a cure for cancer rather than just managing to break the code of a middle-aged, probably technology retarded, school nurse. "Nurse Temple's laptop."

"What? Oh. Great. I have bigger problems. Give it to Diana. And get out." He added. Sure, Caine. I'd love to rifle through the private diary entries of our school nurse. I honestly have nothing better to do with my time.

Drake and Caine continued to talk while I read through page after page of boring diary entries.

Wow. I had never been able to fully comprehend the extreme monotony of being a middle-aged woman. Getting old must suck. Mostly she talked about Sam. Today Sam came home from school with a skinned knee. I hope it doesn't get infected. Boring… As the pages wore on she talked more about the Coates kids. My name made a brief appearance, but it was mostly Drake and Caine.

Caine slammed his fist into the desk, startling me from my reading.

"I don't want close enough, you idiot! I'm trying to figure this out. You know it's not just me, Drake. We all get older. You'll be there someday too, waiting to disappear."

"April twelfth, just one minute after midnight, Drake." I chirped in. April could not come soon enough. "Not that I've memorized the exact day, hour, and minute or…" I stopped as the words on the computer screen filled my mind.

"What?" Caine asked, there was an edge in his voice.

I didn't bother to answer. I knew that I would have to prove Sam's birthday before he would even think of believing me. I wasn't even sure I believed it yet. I got up and opened the filing cabinet where we kept all of the birth certificates. I pulled out the little box that had been retrieved from Nurse Temple's house.

"No one's opened it yet?" I asked in annoyance.

"I was more interested in Nurse Temple's laptop. Why?" Caine asked suspiciously.

The box was locked. I could probably pry it open, but I didn't want to risk breaking a nail. "Be useful, Drake. Break the lock."

He grabbed a small metal letter opener and used it to force the lock open. "This looks like a will. And, ah, this is interesting, a newspaper clipping about the school bus thing we've all heard about. And…here it is." I said. I read the laminated birth certificate quickly; when I finished I didn't bother to stifle my laughter.

"That's enough, Diana." Caine snapped, he was obviously eager to read it himself. I handed it to him, still grinning cheekily.

"November twenty-second," I said through my laughter.

"Coincidence," Caine said sharply.

"He's three minutes older than you." I said; coincidence my ass.

"It's a coincidence. We don't look alike." He said through tightly clenched teeth.

"What's the word for twins who aren't identical?" I asked, pretending to think hard. "Oh yeah, fraternal twins. Same womb, same parents, different eggs." I noted how Caine reddened slightly when I said eggs.

"It's impossible," he whispered. He grew very pale, and I almost felt bad for him. I had never experienced anything like what he was going through right now.

"Neither of you knows your real father," I said gently. "And how many times have you told me you don't seem anything like your parents, Caine?" I was reminded of all the time that we had spent in each other's rooms. Caine developing his powers, me watching him. Sometimes talking after he had demonstrated his new abilities.

"It makes no sense," he said quietly. I felt his hand close around mine. I thought about snatching it away, it was awkward with Drake in the room, but I sensed that he needed me.

"What are you two talking about?" Drake demanded, trying to read the birth certificate as Caine held it in his hand. "It's in the diary too. Nurse Temple. She knew you were a mutant. She suspected you had some kind of impossible power, and she was obviously onto some of the others, as well. She suspected you of causing half a dozen injuries where no one could figure out a cause."

Drake, finally catching on, laughed. It amazed me that he was even able to get dressed in the morning. "Are you saying Nurse Temple was Caine's mother?

Caine's face hardened, his grip on my hand tightened to the point that I could feel the blood coursing through it. "Shut up, Drake."

"Two little boys born on November twenty-second. One stays with his mother. One is taken away, adopted by another family." I hoped my sympathetic tone would make him release my hand, which was now starting to lose feeling.

"She was your mother and she gave you up and kept Sam?" Drake asked. Quite frankly I had been thinking the same thing, I just wasn't stupid enough to say it out loud.

Caine finally released my hand and faced Drake. "Mistake," I chided.

Drake was flung through the air with surprising force. He hit the wall, leaving a slight dent in the plaster. I was careful to keep my expression even. I didn't want to let anyone in on how much I had enjoyed that.

"Remember who's boss, Drake." Caine snarled. "Get up. We have work to do."

Author's Note: Hey everyone! I finally got around to updating. Lies got me totally re-inspired (thank god) and now I'm back and better than ever. Not really though, seeing as this chapter is kind of dull. Enjoy it nonetheless, though. You can fully expect an update soon. Keep up the reviews and suggestions. You guys rock!

~E