Chapter Eighteen

Vegas

The phone rang, saving either of us from the silence. My uncle went to go get it. "Hello? Jason?" I looked up at that. 'Daddy?' I felt relief wash over me just knowing that my father was on the other line, which meant that he was okay... I hoped. "This is Leonard. Don't worry, no one broke into your house and answered the phone... Where are you?" There was a silence. "That far? Really? Uh-huh. Yeah, she's here. She's okay, just tired. It's been a rough twenty-four hours. What's that? Yeah, she's still awake. Just woke up, actually. I don't know, you ask her. Alright... okay. OKAY Jason, I get it. Sure, hold on." He came over with the phone and said, "Talk to your father before I strangle him with this phone."

"It's a cordless, and you're not close enough to strangle him with it." He smiled as I grabbed the phone from him. "Hey Dad."

"Gabby, are you alright?"

"It's been... interesting, but I'm not hurt. I was scared, but I feel better now that Uncle Leonard got here." It was the truth. Now that I wasn't alone in the house, and now that things were cleared up between Dinah and me, and now that my father's voice was on the other end of the phone, I felt a whole lot better.

"Good, good. I'm sorry we weren't there. Your mother and I... ended up in a place we never expected to be."

In the background, I heard, "Jason, stop beating around the bush and tell her where we are. She'll get a kick out of it."

"Dad, where are you?"

"Nevada,"

"Like... Like Las Vegas, Nevada?" There was a short pause.

"Exactly... like Las Vegas, Nevada," my father admitted, and I could hear his embaressment. "Your mom and I woke up not long ago in the motel room. We- uh, got married last night." I looked over at my uncle's laughing eyes as I'm sure he knew why my mouth was hanging wide open.

"Well, and here I am without my toaster for the bridal shower," I joked, and I could hear Uncle Leonard's snort.

"Gabby, this isn't funny. We don't remember how we ended up here, though some things are slowly coming back."

"Dad, the whole city went nuts last night. People are blaming the full moon, lunar/solar alignments, the water- anything. I've seen worse. I'm just glad that you weren't one of the ones who went missing last night. You're safe, in holy matramony once again, and I couldn't be happier or more relieved," I told him, not meaing to give him a speech. There was somewhat another pause, as if he wanted to add something, but didn't.

"We'll be on the next flight to New York. Hang tight with Leonard, okay?"

"Will do."

"Your mother wants to talk to you."

"Ok-" There were sounds on the other end of the phone as it sounded like my mother took the phone from my father.

"Gabby?"

"Yeah?"

"You okay, Honey?"

"Yeah, Uncle Leonard's with me." I pretty much told her some of the things that happened. My mother asked me if 'my new friend' was okay. I told her that she seemed to be. A bit spooked like me and thousands of other people, but okay. We talked for a little while longer, our conversation longer than the one with my father, and I teased her about being hurt that I wasn't the flower girl at their wedding, and asked if it was an Elvis impersonator or a drag queen Marilyn Monroe who married them.

"Oh shush!" After my laughter subsided, she said, "I'll- we'll call you when we know our itinerary, and we'll be home soon."

"Don't end the honeymoon on my account. Now that I know you're okay and where you are, you can spend a couple of days alone if you want to. I'll be here."

"Oh no, sweetheart," my mother said. I was suprised that she sounded almost disgusted by the thought, as if she would rather be home. "We really need to get home. We have to talk, the three of us when we get there." I frowned, worried.

"Nothing good ever comes from those words, Mom."

"I know... I know, but it can't be talked about over the phone, otherwise I would just come out and say it." I felt somewhat scared, but somewhat curious. Were they finally going to tell me the truth? After what I knew already and what I've heard about Dinah, did I WANT to know? Well, of course I wanted to know. Someone out there had my memories, and a big piece of the puzzle. If they could take it away, maybe they can put it back. I have thought if this before. If my parents finally decide to tell me after they've worked so hard to keep it from me, I wanted to know why they had decided that now was the time to tell me. What changed? Was it because my dad knew I had my abilities now, and wanted to tell me so he could help me use them? Was it because they were afraid of me hearing it not from the horse's mouth? Were they afraid that my abilities will tell me anyway, so they wanted to tell me before I figured it out on my own, which for the most part I already have (I think)? Did they guess that I already knew most of the truth? Hell, with the way I was acting towards and around them, they had to have thought something. When my dad guessed that my abilites had come... well, BACK from what Uncle Leonard had said, he could have told my mother and they could have come to the decision to tell me. Maybe they hadn't come to this decision until after what happened at Thanksgiving. "Gabby?" I must have been silent for too long.

"Yeah, Mom. We'll talk when you two get home," I said trying so hard not to cringe.

"Okay. I want to talk to your uncle." I gave him the phone after my 'I love you', and sank into the sheets used as pillows.

"Hey Linda. Yeah. We'll be okay. Be safe. Bye." Uncle Leonard hung up the phone and chuckled.

"They didn't sound too happy to be remarried," I said, shifting a little bit.

"I'm sure it's just because of their confusion. That, and I'm sure the whole fiasco cost them a fortune." I nodded.

"They want to talk when they get home. No one wants to hear that," I said.

"I've come to dread those words myself," Uncle Leonard agreed.

"I'm starting to," came my reply.

"Are you still hungry? I know there's still some more soup in the kitchen." I shook my head with a small smile. "Okay." He sat down on the chair next to the couch and stared at me for a second. "So, tell me about this 'someone special' in your life," he said, using his fingers to show quotation marks around the 'someone special' part. He was looking as if he was about to get comfortable in the chair as he prepared to listen to me talk for a long period of time.

"Well, it's all kind of complicated. We've been friends for two months, and I started to like her maybe... a month and a half ago," I explained. I told him that I wasn't sure what will happen to our friendship now that she'd told me that she loved me, and that I told her that I loved her in return. I left out the part about her being a metahuman like me. I also failed to mention that Dinah was scared to be in love with me, to be in a relationship other than friendship because she was scared that she would somehow indirectly get me killed.

"What's she like then?" Then, I felt the impatience from him, and I heard 'Is she purposly avoiding the question or am I not just asking her correctly?' "What's her name?"

"Dinah," I said. I grinned as I thought of Dinah's beautiful face. "Her name is Dinah, and she's sweet, shy most of the time, mysterious..." I got lost in thought a little bit.

"She pretty?"

"Beautiful," I agreed, nodding my head.

"Lesbian?" At this, I frowned in thought.

"I don't know." Uncle Leonard frowned as well. For a split second we looked alike, but only for a nanosecond.

"How could you not know? If she loves you too, then I'm sure she's got to be at least bisexual."

"I just.. don't know. I thought for sure a couple of weeks ago that she was straight, and I was just biding my time, waiting for my feelings to go away. Now, she could be confused about all of this which might be why we can't be together. Either that, or she's one of the many who feel that love shouldn't be defined or labled with race or orientation, that love is love no matter what." My uncle nodded, his brow softening. "She's scared, Uncle Leonard. She doesn't want to get hurt. I know that life has hurt her a lot already." I heard from him, 'And life's hurt you a lot already too. You just don't-' His thoughts were cut off, and suddenly some old song from the sixties overrode whatever it was his thoughts were going to reveal. I stared at him, and after fifteen or so seconds, he looked down. "Uncle Leonard, what bought me to the Institute? What happened?"

"Your parents chose for things to be this way, Gabby. It is not my place to say anything. Trust me, your parents will tell you when they think you're ready- it might even be when they get home, but for right now, drop it. As much as I want to... I just can't tell you." His eyes landed on everything in the room but me. He couldn't look at me, and his mind was trying desperately to think of anything but whatever it was that brought me to the Institute. I watched him for a little while longer, then sighed as I looked at the blankets.

"This is not a subject I can just drop and talk about the weather. I can't just turn away and pretend it never happened. That would require me KNOWING what happened in order to pretend it never did." Again, I sighed and rolled my eyes in anger when Uncle Leonard had no response to that. I threw the blanket off of me and stood up slowly, unsure if it would make me dizzy. When I was completely on my feet, I said, "I'm going to my room-"

"Gabby, don't run from me."

"I can't believe you expect me to stay in here with you knowing what you know- knowing how inportant it is to me and who I am. I trusted you, Uncle Leonard, all of you. I felt you all were good at keeping me safe, but who are you really trying to protect now? Me or yourselves?" I shook my head and closed my eyes in a slow blink. "Come get me if my parents get home in the next few hours. You can do that, can't you?" I could tell he was angry at what I'd said, and I admit it was mean, but I didn't care. It wasn't just him I was angry at, but he was the only one there, poor guy.

"Gabby-" he said in a warning tone, but I cut him off before he could say anything or I lost my nerve.

"Don't. Don't speak to me if you cannot tell me the truth." Thankfully, he said nothing else, and I made my escape to my room. If he had, I don't know if I would have been able to answer him. I left him there in our living room. I felt trapped in my room. If I felt I wanted to escape later by going for a walk or something, I would have to face him, and after what I had just said, I knew I couldn't do that. I lay across my bed, missing the warmth my body heat and the couch linens had worked together to provide me. My bed felt cold in comparison. I felt my anger slowly leave me when I started to fantasize that Dinah was in a long flowing dress. In my mind, her hair was the way I'd seen it when she was trying to impress Matt, her lips had a shimmer to them due to gloss, and her eyelashes had mascera on them, making her eyes look brighter. Despite my deathly fear of water, I knew that I could drown in those pools. In this fantasy, I was taller, and she looked up at me with so much love in her eyes. I was wearing a black tuxedo with a light blue cumberbun and tie. There was a matching colored mask over my eyes and nose, but there was no disguising who I was with her, or my love for her. I told her in my mind that she was so beautiful, and she said to me, 'I am beautiful only because you love me, Gabby.'

I made my mind lose the image after that. My chest had tightened and started to ache, not at all unlike it had when Dinah tried to end our friendship. My heart started to pound, and I put my hand on my chest to feel it thud against my fingers. "Tell me what you want from me and I'll do it," I whispered to no one in particular. "Tell me what to do to find the truth." I knew the best way to get the truth would be to talk to my parents. I was so afraid of telling them everything and getting nothing in return. Maybe telling them everything might get me everything in return. Maybe I will ask them, as I had asked Uncle Leonard, if they would supply the rest if I told them what I knew. I was no longer afraid of going to the Institute, in fact, I was convinced that going to the Institute would have been the one course of action to take then, had it not been destroyed. As I drifted off to sleep, I thought about finding the doctor who could have taken my memories and the hope in finding him again and gaining my memories back made me smile.