Chapter Nineteen
Picnic
The lights were off. Maybe I should turn back and try again, and I think if I hadn't taken the last subway for the night, I would have, but I don't. This is important. I have to talk to them. I don't wan't to wake her up by knocking on the front door, so I go around to their bedroom window and tap on it using the code my sister and I invented when we were kids. 'Knock knock pause knock'. 'Are you awake?' I waited. Then I heard, 'knock knock knock knock pause knock knock'. If I remember correctly, that means 'You just woke me up.' I then see my sister open the window. "Lenny, what are you doing here, and why haven't you used the front door?" she asks.
"Is Gabby asleep?" Linda looks almost scared.
"Yes. Lenny, is she okay?" I look around.
"Wake up Jason, and we'll go for a drive. We have to talk, it's important, and we can't be overheard," I say. Linda nods, then looks towards the door, as if to look through it. I know she's checking on my neice to make sure she was, in fact, sleeping. "She'll be fine, just go!" I walk back around the house and ten minutes or so later, my older sister and brother in law exit the house, closing the door so delicately that Gabby couldn't have heard it even in dead silence of her room. The two almost matched; I almost gagged. In this act, this 'everything is peachy keen and the world is nothing but butterflies and rainbows and kittens' act that they've been playing the last five or six years especially, I often wonder if they sometimes believe it when they say 'I love you' to eachother when they'd each hold one of Gabby's hands and walk through the mall or something like a happy normal family. They have been living this lie for her benifet, when I know that this family is far from happy OR normal, and all of this was an act, a TV reality show that Gabby didn't know she was the star of.
"Leonard, tell us what this is about," Jason tells me as soon as he's close enough to be heard at a murmur.
"Not here. Let's go for a drive. If we hurry, we can make it to New Gotham Park before it closes for the night, talk, and be back here before Gabby notices anything's amiss." They nod, and we take all pile into their car. It's not far to the Park, and we get out and sit at one of the picnic tables filled with various grafetti. 'Batman will return' is what one of them says on the table near where I sit. Another says, 'Batman will save us'. The marks are cut deep, and I knew it took this person a lot of time, patience and possibly a lot of strength in the hands. It is dark in the Park, and even I don't like it. "Look," I say to them, wanting to get it all over with quickly so what we could get out of there, "Gabby came over earlier today. She asked me about metahumans, and seemed to show great interest in them. I've never seen her bat an eye when they were talked about on the news, but today when I called them freaks, she looked pained. I'm thinking her powers are coming back." Jason looks at my sister and she nods. He leans into me as if he doesn't want anything else in the silent park to overhear us.
"We've been thinking the same thing," he says, and I frown in confusion. If they've been thinking that she's gotten her powers back, then why didn't they tell the rest of us? Why haven't they done anything? "Linda had been out with her and her new friend Deana-"
"Dinah, Jason," Linda corrects, and I look at her. Helena has a sister named Dinah. She comes to the bar on occasion, but I've only seen her once or twice. Could this be the same girl? They are about the same age.
"Right..." Jason corrects himself. "Dinah. She'd been out to a movie, and while they were gone, the new doctors in the remade Institute called. It scared me. After what happened last time..." He won't look at me at that, and I'm glad. I don't want to think about the last time they were all in that god-awful place. "It scared me," he says again, "and I snapped at Gabby, and she got mad at me, understandably. The next day- I swear to god I heard her voice in my head like when she was younger. She asked me what she had inherited from me, making me wonder if she knew about the metahuman gene passed down in my family. I tried to use my mind to get through to her, but she couldn't hear me."
"What did you say to her, Jason?" I ask.
"Only if she could hear me."
"I think we should tell her the truth. If she's got her powers again, then she's going to hear one of us thinking about it. The Institute- all of it. It'll be harder for her to deal with it, figuring out on her own, than if we'd just told her." I say, though Gabby knows about the Institute. I'm not sure how much she knows, though, but I can assume that whatever she does know, she got it from Jason.
"How many times are we going to go through this, Leonard-"
"As many times as it takes for you to tell your daughter- who isn't stupid and would probably figure it all out anyway- the truth. Tell her the truth, Jason! You owe her that much after all that's been done to her," I say, knowing I am out of line. Knowing that I should apologise. I've had enough of this charade now that Gabby is sixteen. She's old enough to understand what had happened and why. It is then my sister speaks up.
"Jason isn't the only one responsible for this, Lenny. We raised our children together." She's soft with her words, and I know she is right. I say nothing more for a long time.
"It's only a matter of time," I stand up after that cryptic sentance, then say, "I've always wondered how you were able to keep Gabby in blissful ignorance about her past. Surely she's tried to think back on something and see all of the blank spots."
"Dr. Hubert took care of that a long time ago." It didn't make sense.
"But I thought-"
"I know." Jason cut me off. "I know. It doesn't. A lot of this doesn't. Something is going on here that I can't figure out, and you're right, we do need to talk to Gabby about it all, but not now. I've told Linda that she's happy."
"She is? What about the moping and the seclusiveness... you call that happy, Jason? Gabby was a freaking ray of sunshine a while ago. She needs to know what is going on."
"And she will. She will..."
"We might tell her soon. We've agreed on that. If she shows anymore signs of the powers she had as a child, we will sit her down and talk to her. We'll tell her everything." Linda says, her voice breaking us up. I stay silent as I think this over. That is a fair compromise. If she shows any signs. Maybe I can hint that to her somehow. Maybe she will find out and her fears will subside, and they can truly be happy family again. Not like-
"Another thing I am worried about... I think she has his powers," I say. "I told her that I didn't know much about- about metahumans and she looked me in the eyes and she knew- KNEW I was lying through my teeth. Either I am getting bad at this, you guys, or she could feel it. She's never looked right at me after I said a lie and tell me with her eyes that I am a liar. He always did that."
"I've noticed that, too. She watches us like a hawk. She might have even gotten the empathy power before the thoughts," Jason murmurs.
"If you're still not going to say anything for a long time, then I suggest you keep your thoughts to yourself. Who knows how developed these powers are. Who knows what she can or can't hear." Both of them nod, and I watch them as they both stand up and face me-
There was a knock on my door. "Gabby!" It was my uncle. I looked at the clock. I was ten in the morning. Had I slept nineteen hours, give or take? Had those thoughts taken that much out of me?
"Yeah, come in," I called out to him. My door opened slowly and my uncle poked his head inside to see if it was safe to enter.
Not knowing for sure, he had to ask instead, "You still angry with me?" I shook my head, thinking to myself that this scene looked like the one a few weeks ago when my father had tried to send me a mental messege that I had ignored.
"I wouldn't have let you in if I was, Uncle Leonard. You were just caught in the middle, playing the double agent," I said, my voice evidence of the grogginess I still felt. I moved my blanket off of my legs and regretted the action as soon as I did. I saw the frosty weather outside the partially closed curtains and wanted nothing more than to lay in my warm bed and hyberate until winter was over. I never wanted to leave, I felt then, not even to see Dinah. In fact, Dinah could join me... with clothes on of course... if she REALLY wanted to keep them on, that is.
Before my mind could fall any deeper into the gutter, my uncle said, I wanted to let you know that your friend Kelly is here. She's waiting by the door for you. You want me to just let 'er into the room?" I nodded, surprising myself with how nervous I felt. I wondered if she started to remember some things about the night New Gotham went a little batty... no pun intended considering it was a nemisis of Batman and Batgirl's that was to blame... Anyway, I wondered what she would say to me, knowing what she knew and being sane enough to process that information.
"Okay," he said, and left, just like that. I think I made him uncomfortable to be near me, and I felt like the biggest bitch in the world. Uncle Leonard was on my side... half the time, and though I had acknowledged this to him, I never did say I was sorry for what I'd said to him the night before, and knew that I should. I heard him say "Come in," to my friend, and a moment later, I saw her frame in my doorway, her body bundled up despite only coming over from next door.
"Hey," she said softly, holding and messing with the object in her hand. I couldn't see it due to her big gloves, but when she walked further into the room, I noticed it was a CD case. When she saw me eying it curiously, she handed it to me, and I noticed that it was my Ace of Base CD, the one with the song The Sign, which Kelly had fallen in love with at the time she'd borrowed it from me. I hadn't seen this in ages. "I came across this when I was cleaning my room. See, got nothing else to do since I am grounded for not getting the boys the other day," She was nervous, and so was I. I tried to make things less awkward for the both of us by making things light between us, and wasn't sure if it worked.
"Though I would've loved to have gotten that CD, oh... three years ago, that isn't why you've come over, was it?" Kelly smiled at my teasing tone.
"No, it wasn't, to tell the truth. I came over to apologise for how I've been to you. I was a snot, and when I was at my worst, you let me cling to you and tuck me into bed!" She shook her head. "You had every right to leave me there sobbing like an idiot. I deserved it."
"I take it you remember everything?" I asked.
"It's coming back slowly but surely. How come you weren't affected by that craziness?" I shrugged. I didn't know exactly. My only guess was that I hadn't watched the TV when she, that Harley Quin lady, was on it with those creepy black eyes, but I couldn't say this to Kelly, as she didn't know the who and the why of that night like I did.
"I don't know Kelly, but that night was scary. I hope something like that never happens again."
"Same here," she agreed. She stared at me and my nerves came back some, or it increased, whatever. I could hear the words she'd shouted at me. She was thinking about that night. "You aren't curious?"
"About why I wasn't affected? Hell yeah, I'm curious," I said, but I knew what she was really talking about.
"No," she said with an eyeroll, "I meant, 'Aren't you curious about why I said what I had'?"
"I would think it was quite obvious why you said what you had said to me. You knew about my abilities somehow- Dinah's too, and didn't like it. Didn't like what it meant for you, and you hated it- Don't look at me like that," I said when she seemed shocked at what I told her, as if she didn't expect for me to know, "It's natural to hate your metahuman abilities, I would guess, like some people I've read about who hate being gay or something. It's weird, but I've come to terms with it."
"What, your powers or your sexuality?" I gave her a playfull glare, if such a thing can be pulled off. If anything, she knew that my look couldn't really kill.
"No, doofus." Kelly had laughing eyes for a minute, but then looked down.
"You're right, thought. It feels like I'm in the closet with it or something, you know? My patents don't know about it, or if they do, they play dumb better than some of the guys at our school."
"Mine don't know either, but they suspect it. Only my uncle knows for sure and he just found out."
"Yours is genetic, isn't it? I know your dad..."
"Yes, my dad is also different, I think." I told her. Kelly's voice went softer, and she never looked back up at me when she spoke.
"I am not like you, Gabby. You powers are genetic. Mine aren't." I frowned. I knew through Ms. Gordon that some metahumans aquired their abilities through other means, but the most common way was through genetics, blood work, and lab explosions (you'd be surprised at how many of those there used to be way back in the day, and later, those who had children simply passed on the gene). "You weren't here yet when this happened, but when I was really young, like 7 or something, I had been diagnosed with Childhood Acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL). At the time, they had treatments, but it wasn't quite curable like it is now. I was given an experimental drug treatment as a last resort before a bone marrow transplant, and... well, it worked for me, a lot better than my doctor had hoped.
"It wasn't long after I got out of the hospital that I started to get this weird feeling down the back of my neck, like a ghost or something was running their fingers along it, and making me almost shiver or run away in fear. You know, or both. When Chris was being nice to me, and almost courting me within school grounds, I resisted him because he made me feel that way, too. When he... when it... happened, I saw his arm stretch around the car to grab at me again. I knew from then on what it all meant. I could feel what those people who made me edgy- Chris, Mr. Fangi, Gina Halliwell just to name a few- could do. I knew even what they would be able to do once their powers evolved. I knew the moment Dinah entered that lab class that she had those powers. She's the only person I'd seen who had more than just one spacific power, and when you started to be friends with her, I saw that you did, too. I saw your telepathy and empathy. I saw it, and I was so scared that you'd read my thoughts and know about me. I would talk to you, but I knew it wasn't quite the same. I could tell you didn't know, exactly, but the change in you was clear." I was quiet for some time after that, at first not sure if her story was finished or not, but then I nodded.
"Like I told you that night, it wasn't as if I've been at it all my life. It was still really new- it IS still really new. I was only picking up one or two words hear and there, and it was all just a constant humming in my head."
"That would drive me nuts!" I laughed at her look of almost horror.
"It did! It was a confusing time for me, as it must have been for you. I didn't know until after I had gotten my abilities that it came from my dad, which, now that I think about it... You never acted weird around him," I said, but Kelly was nodding her head.
"I never stayed over that first year we were friends if he was there, and I always hid behind you, remember?" I nodded. "I mean, that all changed after a while. I got used to his presence, and your dad was nice to me- a lot nicer than mine, and he always included me in stuff as if I was your sister or something." At the word 'sister', my mind reeled, thinking about the memory I had dreamed of the night before. I kept hearing 'his powers' and 'our children', the phrases running amock in my mind. I shoved them all aside and tried to listen to my friend's words.
"So, now that we know this of eachother, are we still friends? I mean truly?" Kelly nodded. "And when school starts again, Kels, will you try to play nice with Dinah?" No responce, at least, not at first.
"She's powerful, Gabby. When her powers evolve to their highest state, there's no stopping her." I was surprised by this, and tried to imagine Dinah destroying the world with one thought, her mind sending the world into tumoil after making the earth's core bubble to the surface and burning everyone alive and remaking the world to her liking, all molton-y and hardened by the icy air she made by moving all the- Okay, so I couldn't see it. None of it. I just couldn't imagine Dinah being dangerous. But then again, there was the matter of that man I saw in Dinah's head and the pure unchained rage that came with them. She wanted that man dead, and part of me thinks she really would have killed him, too. At the same time, she wouldn't have wasted time on chitchat with the man, either, thus hesitating long enough for Helena to talk her, or rather force her out of killing him, so yay! No evil Dinah!
"She may be powerful, but luckily, she's on our side," I said. I couldn't tell her more than that, and I'd felt guilty for giving that much away, if only slighty. It wasn't my place to tell her a secret that wasn't even mine, hinted or not. "She's just a teenaged girl trying to find her place in life with her powers, just like you or me. If we don't turn our backs on her now, then she'll have no reason to want to ... " I lowered my voice in my best Darth Vader (which I found out, wasn't very good at all), "join The Dark Side, Luke," I returned to my normal voice, "because she will be loved and will have no reason to want to." Kelly nodded.
"She hasn't done anything to me, and she didn't deserve the welcome I gave her when she first got here. I'll be good," she vowed. I nodded again. We talked for a while after that, and I told her about what I had done to Jeremy Fox and how spooked he was. Kelly told me about a couple of teachers who were metahuman, and was surprised to hear that our vice prinipal, Mr. Warner, could turn into a black dog like Sirius Black from the Harry Potter books. Then she told me about some of the students, and when she mentioned Gina again, I pretended I didn't already know. 'She doesn't even know what weapons those wings will be later.' At Kelly's thought, I looked up at her. She knew I heard her. "I now she isn't dangerous now, nor is Dinah, but the people they could become may be dangerous. But you're right Gabster, if we're good to them now, they won't be. Dangerous, that is."
"What about you or me?"
"What ABOUT you or me?" Kelly echoed.
"People tend to think about the truth or have a small feeling of guilt when they lie. I could use it to my advantage, and what I do with that knowledge could be dangerous. And you, you could loan your powers to someone who is searching for someone with- say, a fire ability, which they'd use to destroy buildings and such. What I'm saying is, no matter what our abilities are, we could all find a way to turn it into something dangerous."
"I know you're right, Gabby, but I'm still scared. When I was-"
"Please don't say it. It gives me the creeps," I pleaded.
"That's how I feel," Kelly said, and I nodded.
"I know. Whenever you mention it or talk about it, I feel what you felt then, and I see him in my head. His strength was... and the fact that his limbs could stretch... the fact that he used it to hurt you... I understand now why you were so afraid of people like us." Never thought I would say that to Kelly, but it was the truth. I looked down at the floor. My cell phone, sitting quietly on my charger, started to ring, and I ignored it.
"Aren't you going to answer that?" I shook my head.
"I have company. It would be rude," I replied as it rang for a second time. Kelly stood up and walked towards my charger.
"What if it is your parents?" I hadn't thought of that. "Besides," she added, tossing my phone to me, and I caught it with both hands, "I've got to get going anyway. I'm sort of grounded for not picking up the boys. My parents weren't sure what had happened to me, and I couldn't tell them I simply went crazy, so they said I have to stay in the house for a couple of weeks. Not that I would want to go anywhere with the weather the way it is... I should leave." I nodded, and she left with a wave before the third ring was finished.
"Bye." On the forth ring, I flipped open my phone to see it wasn't my parents, or even the 'Private Number' I got whenever Dinah called me. The area code told me that the caller was in New Gotham, and the first three numbers were the same as the first three numbers of my home phone, telling me that the caller was close. "Hello?" I said slowly, hoping it wasn't a telemarketer.
"Gabby? This is Gina."
"Gina, are you okay? Where are you?"
"Yes, I'm okay. I luckily never left New Gotham. After I spoke to you, I took your advice and went home to change into darker clothes. My mom was there, and tricked me into believing she was one of The Powers That Be, told me that the Book of Shadows- their spell book-"
"Yeah, I knew that-" I said, but she kept going as if to not hear me.
" -was in our basement for safekeeping from whomever was responsable for the madness that night. She locked me in there until I fell asleep. I woke up with my wings out. It wasn't until late last night that I started to remember what happened. I remember now that you were there with me that night trying to get me from the roof. I know you thought I was a jumper, and that my wings weren't real. You were trying to save my life. I wanted to thank you for that. For playing along and not telling me I was crazy. For letting me be stupid and giving me a helpful warning when you knew it was the only thing you could do. If you hadn't told me to go home first, who know what would have happened to me." She stopped talking after a second, and I felt as if I couldn't say anything. What was going on? First Kelly, now Gina? Did everyone know what happened to them that night? Was that why Uncle Leonard had come to me and my parents had called last night? "I also wanted to thank you for not telling anyone about my wings."
"They're beautiful. You have no clue how many times I wished I could just fly away."
"At this point, they can barely carry me a mile, let alone take me to San Fransisco. I'm only good at gliding, and even that I can't do because this city doesn't sleep long enough for me to go unnoticed with them. I truly must have been crazy to think I could save my 'sisters' with them." I laughed.
"Someday they might," I told her, hoping I sounded as encouraging as the statement was meant to be. "Hell, you might be able to bring me to San Diego on your way there."
"I doubt that. I couldn't carry you."
"You calling me fat?" I asked playfully, knowing she implied nothing of the sort. I heard a laugh on the other end.
"Of course not. I'm calling myself a weakling. Anyway, we should get together before the school gets rebuilt," she suggested.
"Sure. We could hang out soon."
"That sounds great." She gave me her number, which was the number displayed on my phone when she had called.
"By the way," I said, "how did you get this number?" There was a pause.
"Don't get mad-"
"Which means, that is exactly what I'm going to do, isn't it?"
"Maybe. I ran into your girlfriend and told her I needed to talk to you- It was the truth, and I asked if she knew how to get ahold of you. You aren't listed in the phone book. Anyway, Dinah gave me this number," she explained.
"Oh, that is nothing to get mad about, and Dinah's not my girlfriend" I added absently, thinking 'No matter how much I wish it were true.' I could almost see Gina's eyebrow raise, something that I was getting used to seeing from her, but I didn't want to go back into the subject of Dinah with her. I wasn't about to tell her that Dinah knew of my feelings for her and that she returned them. She would only ask why we weren't-in her own words- 'screwing eachother's brains out'. "So," I said, changing the subject, "your parents know that you're a me- different?" I didn't want to use the term 'metahuman' because I didn't want her to suspect that I knew what happened that night and that I knew a lot more than I should about people with abilities.
"Oh yeah. She's known since I was born. At birth, I had them out, and she was so proud of them. She might have known before I was born becau-" she stopped talking abruptly.
"Hmm?" I prompted.
"You know about me already, and you didn't tell anyone, so I trust you. My mother. I got it from my mother. She can turn into a crow, but she doesn't do it often. Only when she knows I am up to no good."
"All of your family different?"
"It's just me and my mother. As soon as my dad saw the wings, he left the hospital. I guess my mother never told him... " She sounded sad about not knowing her father, but she seemed to to brighten a little after that. "Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for not telling anyone and not freaking out on me. In fact, your calmness about this whole thing- even now, sort of worries me. It feels as if we're talking about the weather."
"I've always heard about the people with abilities on the news and I thought it would be neat if I had any, especially flying like you have."
No..." Gina said slowly, "I remember trying to stay hidden. I remember that you acted as if you were looking for me. I saw that much on your face when I first turned around. I felt in my head a sense of urgency as if you knew I was there and knew what I was planning to do and wanted to stop it. I don't know... it felt like you sent those fears to me, which is why I hadn't just run from you and jumped anyway." I stayed silent for a minute.
"It is only fair that I tell you everything..." I said, then hesitated. "I'm a- a telepath, I guess... Man, I don't think I have ever said that out loud before. Feels good," I admitted.
"Like, you read minds and stuff?"
"Yes... and stuff," I repeated playfully.
"I never would have guessed that about you Gabby."
"What about you? I thought it was the craziness that made you think you had wings. I mean, come on, some guy thought I was Madonna that night!"
"Man, and to think we sat next to eachother and all we found to talk about was Charmed and Xena."
"It's not like I would've talked about that where I could be overheard, anyway. 'Sides, when we had started to become friends a bit, I was barely getting anything, thoughts and such, from people," I told her, though I thought about how our friendship might be after this. I heard a female voice in the background, but I couldn't hear what exactly she said. It sounded almost like a warning.
"I've got to go. Mom needs to do some buiness online, and needs the phone. I'll see you at school?" she asked as if we didn't share a class together.
"Yeah,"
"Talk to you later, then."
"Bye."
"Bye Gabby." I put my phone back on its charger even though it was fully charged. I just put it there so I didn't forget where I placed it later. I sat on my bed for a moment and thought things over.
"Hm," I said as I got up again a couple of minutes later, and I went out into the living room where Uncle Leonard was watching a movie. Some old western on the AMC channel. I felt that he was bored, but he didn't seem to know what to do to get rid of that boredom.
"Uncle Leaonard, do you remember what happed two nights ago, the things you did?" I could almost see him cringe, but he nodded.
"Yeah, I was stupid," he said in somewhat of a grunt, "Why?"
"I was talking to Kelly. I ran into her that night, and I just talked to another friend I had been with that night as well... They both remember what they had done that night, but not until only last night."
"Yeah, same here. I started to remember right when I got here. I got the urgent sense that you needed me here, and I right when I got here, I was listening to your messeges in case you got a call from Linda 'n' Jason, and I heard the messege I left. I was such an idiot, and I'm sorry if I scared you, Gabby," he said, shifting his gaze from the TV to me as I stood by the couch. I nodded and thought a little bit more, then looked at him. He'd been watching me.
"Is it okay if I went to Dinah's? I have to talk to her," I said. My uncle's eyes narrowed susptiously, then shifted to somewhat concern.
"Are you okay? You're asking some weird questions again." Uncle Leonard didn't seem concerned about the questions themselves or even the motives, just the fact that it seemed so sudden that I wanted to leave the house after hearing his answers to them. "Did something happen to you that night? Last night?" he asked.
"Something like that."
"I don't care where you go," he said after a minute. I could feel he wanted to press me more about why I wanted to leave and what I wanted to talk to Dinah about, but he felt as well that he didn't desurve to get anything from me when he couldn't tell me what my family was up to with the Institute. He didn't think that in actual words, but I felt it, the curiousity, the concern, the slight fear, and anger at himself. "You're old enough to go where you please and to understand the consequences of your actions. Just call if you're going to be later than eleven."
"I don't think I will be gone that long," I assured him. "I have to take a shower since I haven't done that yet, and I've got to call her to see if it's okay." He nodded, and as I went back in the direction of my room, he turned back to the western.