Lexie poured herself a scotch and drank it quickly before gesturing curiously at the boys.

"I'm in." Duke said.

"Sure." Nathan agreed.

She handed Duke a glass, glaring a little as she pushed one toward Nathan. She was irritated to see that his eye was barely even bruised.

She was tempted to cure his Trouble just so she could hit him again.

"I'm still mad." Lexie stated flatly.

"I'm sorry for hitting you."

"Hitting me?" Lexie hissed. "Hitting me? You tried to sucker-punch Duke! He wasn't defending himself, he didn't even see it! And after all the sanctimonious horseshit you pulled today, you apologize for hitting me. Like that's the worst thing you've done today."

Nathan actually looked scared.

Good.

"I'm sorry I was rude. I was... upset."

"You may have been upset, but you're not a damned savage! The Golden Rule, Detective War-Nose. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That's how you got socked in the eye. Bad karma."

"Look, I'm sorry. But I'm confused. I- who are you, really?"

She looked at him and sighed.

"You know who I am."

"Audrey?"

"Yes, Nathan."

"Parker?" The childish excitement in his voice made her chuckle quietly.

She allowed him to hug her, patting his back as she said, "It's really me. Just... more of me."

"What do you mean?" Nathan held her out to look at her, trying to reconcile his eyes and ears.

"You shot Howard, Nathan. You killed him, killed the Barn. There was nothing left to keep my memory blocked once Duke pulled me back up. Because he did, Nathan. Duke started trying to bring me around immediately. You don't get to be pissy because he wasn't tearing me down to do it!"

"I'm sorry, Duke. I should have trusted you."

"Damn right you should have!" Lexie interrupted before Duke could let him off the hook. "Let's list the things Duke has done for us lately, 'kay? First he listened to me, trying to save you by keeping you out, then he shot Jordan and jumped in himself because you asked him to. He could have died! Would have, if he'd been anyone else!

"Then he puts his own hurt on hold, trying to make me- Lexie- feel comfortable, trying to lead me to the truth in the least painful way possible. You have no idea how bad I flipped out! I hit him! I thought I was losing my mind!

"Then, when I made a move on him, he actually stopped me to say, 'What about Nathan?' The man who spent the last few years making him feel like crap, when you fucking loved him the whole time! Oh, don't look at me like that. I'm not a moron, contrary to everything you said today. I can see love, okay? It's not exactly quantum mechanics- though I'm sure it will just shock you to hear I know something about that, too. I'm not mentally handicapped, Nathan."

She knew she was ranting, but the feeling from the Barn was back, that feeling of being a volcano, with personalities erupting in every direction. She was so, so angry.

"Sit, Nathan." She pushed him toward a chair, sitting at the table to pour another drink.

Duke touched her shoulder, gently requesting her attention. She cocked her head, waiting.

"You know, we haven't eaten in... six months. I doubt that old granola bar helped any. Why don't I order some real food? It's not the Barn, alcohol won't be so kind on an empty stomach."

"That sounds amazing. Gods, I don't think I've ever been this hungry." She leaned to hug him and held him there to kiss him as he made to pull back. "No more stepping back to make room, Duke. I mean it. Both of us or neither of us." Lexie whispered the words, willing him to understand. He nodded as Nathan watched them, the muscle in his jaw clenched.

Duke left the table, going out to the porch to order food.

"Audrey, why didn't you say something?"

"Because people wanted me to shoot you if I was Audrey."

"There were chances to talk privately." He eyed the bite mark on her neck with narrow eyes.

"You wanted me to shoot you if I was Audrey. None of you were going to listen to me. The only ones who would listen were Jordan and Dave!"

"I saw your little show with Jordan."

"I wasn't trying to hide it, Nathan! At least I knew how to get her to listen!"

"By using her affliction against her? Don't you think that was a little unfair?"

"Unfair?" Lexie roared, sounding like the mad havoc of the Void distilled into one voice. "Unfair?"

"Unfair is being given to a Cause that murders children, being experimented on, drugged, changed to suit the purposes of politicians. Unfair is getting torn apart and stitched back together over and over for 500 years! Unfair is being taken again even after my term was up! Unfair is being brought back to life just to have someone you're in love with ordering you to shoot him!

"And since I just know you're running a background check on me, I will tell you that unfair is being forced to kill your rapist and run away from home at 14 years of age. Unfair is living in a fucking tent in the woods for three years, trying to think it's an adventure because Cyndi Lauper managed to do it."

She breathed harshly, furious.

"If you show anyone those records, I'll be in serious trouble. You know there's no statute of limitations on murder."

Lexie poured again, throwing the drink back with narrowed eyes as if daring him to stop her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't. You were too busy belittling me to actually talk to me."

"I'll destroy the report, I promise."

"Yeah, well hopefully it didn't set off any alarms. There's no more Barn to erase memories of cops trying to arrest me."

She sighed, moving to sprawl on the sofa. Nathan took the chair. She rested her head, staring up at the ceiling as she gingerly rubbed her chest.

"I died." Lexie said quietly, sounding shocked. She'd just taken each hit and kept moving, trying to get through this impossible day. She hadn't had time to process anything.

"I...I died. I don't think I've ever died before."

"Scared us." Nathan mumbled.

"Scared me, too. I wonder why I died. Huh."

Nathan's phone buzzed just as Duke was walking back in. Lexie sat up, patting the spot next to her- putting herself between the men. As Duke sat, she scooted back into him. She watched as Nathan listened to whoever was on the line, raising an eyebrow when Nathan turned to stare at her.

"Wanna bet that's Dwight or Vince passing on the news about Jordan?" Lexie whispered to Duke.

"Since he's staring a hole through you, that's probably a good bet. I heard you shouting."

"Yeah, I wasn't using my inside voice, sorry. He said I was unfair to Jordan earlier and I went all 'Carrie-at-the-prom'. Maybe he wouldn't be hearing it third-hand if he had just asked instead of accusing."

"Hey, I'm on your side."

"I must be hungry, I can't even think of a way to make that sound dirty."

Duke looked very serious, reaching out to take her temperature. She swatted his hand, laughing.

"Food's coming, woman. We'll get you back to your normal, filthy self in no time."

She cuddled back into Duke, playing with her hair as they waited for Nathan to hang up already. Jeeze, how long could it take to say, "Hey, Jordan said Duke and the girl you called 'an insult to Audrey's station' fixed her Trouble, and dude, she didn't taze me!"

She idly traced patterns on Duke's knee.

Finally, he hung up, tossing his phone onto the coffee table. "So. Jordan..."

"You didn't ask, Nathan. You simply mentioned that she looked happy."

"It's true then? You fixed her Trouble?"

"Uh-huh." Lexie made the affirmation sound vapid and childlike. He really managed to bring out the worst in her, and she understood Duke's predicament. Every insult, every snub made her behave worse, making him more attacking. It was a vicious cycle.

"How?"

"Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust." She stared at the ceiling.

"I repaired Duke's Gift- he's different, ask later. Anyway I fixed it, adjusting the relative proportions of Aether-based negativity to mitochondrial ability within his genetic structure, thereby smoothing the translation between his maternal and paternal-based abilities. It allows him to take the damaged, malprogrammed Aether from a Target without ending life. He is then able to return the purified, activated Aether to me, where I can then choose to make it dormant or I can use it in whatever way might be necessary at the time."

Lexie was filled with vindictive glee when she looked at Nathan's face. She affected a wide-eyed, vapid expression. "Oh, sorry. I mean, y'know, the flow of energy between his mom and dad was all jacked up. I fixed his chi."

She lost her pillow as Duke rolled off the couch, grabbing his stomach as he laughed himself purple, quite literally rolling on the floor laughing. "If I'd ever even thought of it, that would have been on my list!" He managed to get the words out before the laughter had him again.

His laugh, the sheer naked joy in it, made Lexie laugh too, her shoulders relaxing. Nathan even laughed. "What's sad is that I understood the second explanation better than the first one."

Then they were all laughing like idiots and Lexie was clutching a pillow to her chest so the endless laughter wouldn't hurt her ribs so bad. "Ow ow ow ow! Goddamn it, that fucking hurts!"

She'd shouted the curse right as there was a knock on the door. She leapt up, pushing Duke back on the floor and taking his wallet. "Stay on the floor, don't move!"

Lexie yanked her shirt down again; the bruises on her chest and face were starting to really darken. She ran the steps to the door, yanking it open.

She'd taken the delivery boy by surprise. She knew what she looked like- messy hair, tiny clothes and bruises everywhere. He was looking her up and down like he was already writing his first 'Penthouse' letter in his head, and she didn't blame him.

He was handing her two large bags when he finally spotted Duke on the floor, Nathan on the edge of his seat. The guy looked at her in alarm, whispering, "Miss, do you need help?"

Lexie looked very serious as she handed him Duke's money. "The first rule of Fight Club is: There is no Fight Club." She backed up, closing and locking the door as she a almost-yelled, "Come on, who's next? You pussies wanna live forever?"

She was snickering quietly as she placed the bags on the coffee table, dropping the wallet on Duke's chest as he started to howl with laughter.

"Well hell, he'll be useless for at least five minutes, but I'm seriously, seriously starving. Do you realize not one of you even offered me a soda?" Lexie was already unpacking the bags, looking in the boxes to see who got what.

She opened one, smiling a little as a stray tear ran down her face. "This is undoubtedly for you." She handed Nathan the box, letting their hands touch for a brief eternity.

Duke had ordered Nathan pancakes. Of course he had. Nathan tries to sucker-punch him, he buys the man pancakes. They had a ridiculous definition of foreplay.

Fettuccini Alfredo for Duke, and she sniffed appreciatively.

Finally for her- Salisbury steak and potatoes. Protein and starch. She wanted to kiss him, but kicked at his legs with her bare toes, warning, "I can't wait, get up here so we can eat, please, Duke."

"Jeeze, demanding minx." Duke's face was still red with laughter as he joined them around the table.

Lexie was starving, her stomach snarling as she dug in, eating quickly. She'd scarfed down half her meal when Nathan had his pancakes properly buttered and opened the sealed bowl of syrup.

The smell wafted over her; cloying, sickeningly sweet. Lexie started to sweat so hard the moisture dripped down her neck. Her gaze darted between the three meals, then Lexie was up and running for the bathroom at top speed, hand clamped over her mouth. She dropped, expelling what felt like everything she'd eaten ever, in any incarnation.

Nathan and Duke exchanged a confused look as they rose to follow her, Duke pulling her hair back. "Nate, get her a pillow for her chest, I can tell she's hurting."

Nathan dashed out as Duke murmured to her. "Lexie, are you okay? What happened?"

She flushed, standing to wash her hands and brush her teeth. "Open a window." she demanded around her toothbrush. He did, returning quickly to her side.

"Now can you tell me what happened?" Duke asked as Nathan handed her the pillow.

"I-. The smell of the syrup-" She gagged again.

"Don't worry. We'll deal with everything tomorrow. Just relax, okay?"

"Figures. Lexie hates pancakes." Nathan looked equal parts irritated and unsurprised.

"Actually, I love them. Maybe dying made me allergic."

Duke stared at Lexie, and he felt it in his gut. It had nothing to do with death, everything to do with life. He'd gotten so wrapped up in Mara-Audrey-Lexie and Void-Time, he hadn't even considered anything else.

But oh man, did he ever not want to be the one to bring it up, especially not in front of Nathan. For the time being, Duke was just going to shut up and keep his eyes open.

He was going to get his ass kicked.