That night, Duncan and Tessa were trying again unsuccessfully to get some sleep. Connor had taken the kids out earlier that day and taken them to a store and got them what he had called 'a couple of harmless games to keep them quiet tonight'. Ha! Duncan listened to the mindless rattling of all those dice again and again and again. Why oh why he wondered, did Connor have to agree to buy those damn kids Yahtzee?

Duncan turned on his side and pulled the pillow over his ears but that didn't do much good to drown out the noise.

"We're never going to be able to sleep this way," he finally said.

"Well, Duncan, they have to wear out some time," Tessa told him, "They can't go on like this all night."

"Ha!"

"What time is it, anyway?" she asked.

He looked at the clock and told her, "Quarter to two, we've got a long night ahead of us."

"Well," she said, "You want to go in there and tell them to knock it off?"

"If I thought it would actually work, I would," Duncan said, "But that girl…"

"Richelle," she reminded him.

"She doesn't pay attention to anything I say."

"Well why should she?" Tessa asked, "You're not her father."

"I know I'm not," Duncan told her.

"Then why have you been acting like a policeman with her?"

"Probably because she has the criminal air about her."

"Come on, Duncan, that's not fair," Tessa said, "You took her fingerprints to the police today, what did they say?"

"They don't have her on file, that only means that she hasn't committed any crimes here in Vancouver. Who knows what she's done in New York?" Duncan asked.

"What does it matter?" Tessa asked, "Why were you even trying to find out if her prints were in the system?"

"I was hoping we could find out if she even is who she says she is," Duncan said.

"Not this again," Tessa pulled her own pillow over her head and turned away.

"I don't believe her name is Richelle Ryan," Duncan said.

Tessa was laughing, a mixture of hysteria and exhaustion, "Why not?"

"It's too much of a coincidence," Duncan told her.

Tessa groaned and tossed her pillow aside and sat up in bed, "Alright, you know what, Duncan? You may have been right about Richie's father, but I think you're jumping the gun with Richelle. Is it really so hard to believe she could be his sister?"

"If she is," Duncan said, "Where's she been all these years? How'd she get to New York?"

"I don't know," Tessa responded, "Maybe they were split up in the orphanage."

"We don't know they were in one before Emily Ryan took Richie in," Duncan said, "His foster mother gave Richie her last name, how could Richelle have the same name if they're really related?"

"Maybe their last name really was Ryan, did you ever think of that, Duncan?" Tessa asked.

She looked at him, "You hadn't, had you?"

Suddenly, everything went quiet. Duncan sat up and looked to the door to see if the light had gone out across the hall. It hadn't yet. At least the noise was over, he thought.

"You see?" Tessa said.

They both laid down and closed their eyes, but no sooner had they, they heard a similar noise to the one they'd been hearing, only louder.

"Oh great," Duncan grumbled, "They opened up the second game Connor bought them."

"That one has a three minute timer with it, doesn't it?" Tessa asked.

"Yeah."

"Well," she said, "We should be able to set the clock by this game."

Duncan's bad mood would've been heightened greatly if he knew that in the room down the hall, Richie and Richelle were not really playing Boggle, nor had they been playing Yahtzee for an hour. Instead, what they were really doing was occasionally picking up the dice and shaking them just for the hell of it, while the two talked amongst themselves. Richie put the dice cube down and Richelle turned the sand timer over.

"He really hates me, you know?" Richelle asked.

"Well I don't imagine this…" Richie gestured to the tray with 16 cubes in it, "Is doing you any favors with Mac, you know."

"It doesn't matter, he didn't like me from the moment I stepped into this place," she said, "The question is why?"

Richie shrugged one shoulder and said, "I don't know."

"Of course you realize Richie," she said, "If you think about it, he doesn't like you very much either."

"Yeah, I know," Richie replied, "I just try not to think about it."

"He doesn't like either of us…I guess that makes sense, we're like each other, he can't very well like one of us and not the other," Richelle said, "Can he?"

"I don't know," Richie said.

"Well, it doesn't matter much," she told him, "He doesn't like me, there's no point in me trying to be nice to the guy, it wouldn't do any good. He's already made up his mind about me."

"And I suppose you've done the same about him?" Richie asked.

"Oh sure, I made up my mind about him…he's a totally rotten human being," she answered.

Richie rubbed one tired eye and said, "I don't know about that, Richelle."

"I do," she replied, "I've seen his kind before, I know all about them."

"What kind is that?" Richie asked.

"Arrogant, self-righteous, egotistical, maniacal, anal-retentive, they think the whole damn world revolves around them and that everybody's beneath them."

"Mac's not like that," Richie insisted.

Richelle laughed, "He's spread to you, you don't even see it. He treats you like a dog. You saw how he was acting today, he wasn't about to let you out of this place until he decided so. Look at yourself, Richie, you are 18 years old and that means by law, you make your own decisions, you decide when you leave, not him. What he did this morning was holding a person against their will, that's kidnapping, and if he tries it again I'm going to knock down the door and throw him out, I don't care if he is 400 years old." She looked and saw the sand had run out, "Rack them up again."

Richie put the cover on the dice tray and shook it violently for about 30 seconds before setting them down.

"I don't know what your problem is with Richelle," Connor told Duncan the next morning, "But whatever it is, it's putting her in a bad mood and it's starting to rub off on me."

"There's just something about her that I don't trust," Duncan said.

"Yes, and I can certainly see why," Connor responded, "You don't have her under your thumb, you don't get to dictate what she does every day."

"That's not what I do with Richie," Duncan told him.

"Isn't it?"

"He's living here, Connor, we all have our own work to do."

"Uh huh…and how many times do you forbid yourself from leaving the house until your work is done? Or do you keep Tessa locked in her workshop until she finishes?"

"That's different," Duncan said.

"Do as I say, not as I do…it's always different when the adult does it, it never makes it right," Connor said to his cousin.

What neither Immortal was aware of was that they were being watched. Tessa had gone out early that morning, and so had Richie and Richelle, but the latter two had come back, Richelle carrying a 2 pound box of candy they'd bought, and they were watching the argument from around the corner.

"Isn't that cute, Richie?" Richelle asked him, "Our wardens are having a lover's quarrel. Wonder if they'll get divorced."

They backed away and took their box into the kitchen. Richie tore at the plastic wrapping on it and opened the box. He looked and saw Richelle was peeling one of the bananas.

"Aren't you going to have any?" he asked.

"My potassium deficiency," she replied.

Richelle ate the banana and tossed the peel on the floor, hoping that fate would have it in for Duncan again and he'd slip and break his neck.

"Now that I think of it, I think I will have a piece," she told Richie, "Hey, Tessa's still out, would her workshop be open?"

"Sure," Richie said.

"Let's go see it," she told him.

They left and a few minutes later, Connor, who had ended his conversation with Duncan without hitting him this time, though he regretted that, came through, his foot met with the banana peel and his body launched into the air and he fell and landed flat on his back. It took a few seconds for everything to become clear again but when he was able to see, he looked up and saw his cousin standing over him, eating a banana.

"What happened?" Duncan asked.

What happened? Connor got up, grabbed the peel he'd slipped on and hit Duncan in the face with it. "What happened!?" Connor repeated as he hit Duncan again with the sharp, dry top of the peel.

"So this is where Tessa does her work, huh?" Richelle asked as they entered her workshop.

"Yeah," Richie answered.

"And…what does she do in here?"

"She makes sculptures," Richie answered.

"You know, on the way here, we stopped at the park, and Connor showed me some things she's already made that they put up there, I don't get it," Richelle said.

Richie turned to her, "Don't get what?"

"Richie, those things in the park, they all looked like great big stone donuts. That's art? That's culture? And look at this thing she's working on now, gray and lifeless, as lifeless as this house is. She has no artistic ability and if this is great art, then I thank God I'm culturally ignorant."

"Well most sculptures are like that," Richie said.

"She ought to try making a sculpture of Connor, au natural, then she'd be doing something worth her time that's artistic," Richelle said, "That poor stupid woman, she's wasting her life on an empty, hopeless illusion and she doesn't even realize it."

"What're you talking about?" Richie asked, beginning to feel very defensive towards the things his sister was saying.

"If this," Richelle pointed to Tessa's current masterpiece, "Is what gives that woman's life purpose and meaning, she's better off swan-diving off the bridge right now. She'd be smarter to do that now, than let Duncan get her killed."

"He's not going to do that," Richie told her.

"Yes he is, Richie," she insisted, "He dragged her into his life, his life in which he has people trying to kill him. Does he really think they won't get to her first as a go-between? Does he think he can protect her at all times from the thousand or so enemies he's made over the years? He's killed this woman already, they just don't know it yet. It's the only reason Immortals do that, bring mortals into their lives…he's put a big bulls eye in the middle of her chest…yours too, Richie."

"What about Connor?" Richie asked, "If that's true, hasn't he done the same with you?"

"As I said," Richelle told her brother, "It's my life…nobody's going to care if I die…but I know what's what, and I know I have a fighting chance. Tessa doesn't, she's a boney Parisian sitting duck and she's too stupid to realize it. She let love blind her. And if she had any brains in her at all she wouldn't have done that. I can tell despite all their work, they haven't completely sold you on this big happy family idea. Grow up, Richie, and see your warden for what he really is, he doesn't want you, he doesn't need you, he's just waiting for the day that you screw up and then he's going to have an excuse to kick you out of here so he can shrug his shoulders to Connor and say 'I did my best'."

"You don't know that!" Richie told her.

"He's no different than any other foster parent, Richie, they all do the same thing, they take you in because they feel sorry for you or because somebody suggested they help you. They feed you, they clothe you, they give you a room, a few things to call your own and they put up with you. But the sand always runs out of the timer, Richie, as soon as you let your guard down, he'll be just like the rest and toss you out…if he doesn't kill you first."

It was obvious from the way Richie was reacting that she wasn't saying anything to him that he hadn't considered before for himself. This was just the first time anybody else had ever given voice to the same ideas.

"What the hell am I going to do?" he asked her.

"Don't worry, now that Connor and I are here, that's not going to happen," she told him, "At least now you have an option."

Richie nodded. "So what do we do now?"

Richelle looked again at the pale sculpture Tessa was working on and she told him, "I have an idea."

Tessa came into the kitchen and saw Duncan standing by the sink with a sour look on his face.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"It's Richelle," he said.

Tessa rolled her eyes, "What's she done now?"

"She's been leaving banana peels all over the floor, Connor slips on them, but he thinks I did it so he starts hitting me with them."

Tessa started laughing, "What?"

"It's not funny," Duncan replied.

"Where is Richelle?"

"Richie took her out for a ride on his bike."

Tessa giggled, "You can be sure now that he's been on her motorcycle, he'll be on our backs for a larger one too." Duncan's icy disposition didn't thaw any. "Come on, Duncan, she's not as bad as you think…we all like her, she's a nice girl."

"After what she said to you?" Duncan asked.

"Well it's like Connor said, she was raised in New York, it does make a difference," Tessa said.

"It makes no difference!" Duncan insisted.

"Well, I said she was nice, I didn't say she was polite," Tessa replied, "Besides, I don't really think she means half the things she says. And besides, having her here is good for Richie."

Duncan started to laugh but there was no humor to it, "And how did you arrive at that decision?"

"Let's face it Duncan, Richie doesn't have many friends, certainly none that come around here anymore, and he never had many to begin with…several of them have died, and he has trouble getting in with anyone new. At least with Richelle there's some guarantee that she'll come back. Besides, most of the girls he meets he falls head over heels for, and then he winds up getting hurt. Either they don't like him, or their parents don't, when was the last time you had that problem?" Tessa asked.

"Well…it hasn't come up recently," Duncan confessed.

"I remember what it's like though," Tessa said, "Sometimes there are advantages to not being Immortal."

"I never said there weren't," Duncan said.

"Oh but to hear you talk sometimes, the only way we could possibly work out would be if I would live for hundreds of years," Tessa told him, "You're never pleased to be with someone who you know will succumb to old age and die someday." She changed the subject by adding, "Now I've got some work to do," and with that, she left the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Duncan heard her from her workshop and it sounded like she was screaming. He ran in to see what was the matter, but found out that Tessa's problem was she couldn't breathe because she was laughing so hard. Duncan looked to see what she was laughing at and saw what she saw, somebody, and he had a good idea who, had stitched a bathing suit onto her sculpture. The first thought that registered in Duncan's mind was that he could just kill Richelle right then and there if he knew where she was.

"Oh come on, Richie," Richelle said as they came in the back door, him trying to get as far ahead of her as possible.

"No way," he said.

"You don't think it's possible?" she asked him.

"Uh uh," Richie shook his head.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because I can't see Tessa marrying Connor for any reason, that's why," Richie said.

"You don't think she'd want to be married to him?"

"Nope."

"But she wants to be married to his younger and dumber cousin?" Richelle asked.

Richie got his mouth open but before he could get a word out, Richelle continued, "Think about it, Richie…she'd get the hell out of Vancouver, get to New York where she could get some real inspiration, Connor is a worldwide traveler, she could go anywhere she wanted at any time, he has no responsibilities, no obligations, and think about this, if she married him, we could go with them anywhere they went."

"What's going on in here?" Connor asked as he entered the room.

"Nothing," both teenagers replied.

"Uh huh," Connor said, obvious that he didn't believe them but he wasn't going to press any further, "Oh by the way, you probably guessed already but Duncan wasn't pleased by that little stunt in Tessa's workshop."

"Of course," they said.

"But she thought it was funny," Connor grabbed Richelle by the hair and pulled her head back as he asked her, "Was that the brand new swimming suit we had to go to three different stores to look for before we found one that would fit you?"

"Ouch! Let go!" Richelle pulled out of his grip, "No, we got that at the thrift store down the street, cheapest thing you ever saw."

"Well that's different," Connor said, "So how did you enjoy seeing the city from the view of the back of Richie's bike?"

"It's pathetic," Richelle said, "The bike I mean, we about got thrown off of it four times. That thing is not built for the road, I swear, Richie," she turned to him, "Your warden is just trying to get you killed, otherwise he wouldn't have popped for something so flimsy, and cheap."

"I hate to say it, Richie, but I'm going to agree with her," Connor said, "Duncan could've certainly afforded to get you a full sized motorcycle before unleashing you on the city."

Richelle nodded her head and went 'mm-hmmm, mm-hmm' as if to say 'see? I told you so'.

"What he needs is one like mine," Richelle said.

"Hmmm, might be," Connor agreed.

"By the way, Connor," Richelle said as they headed to the kitchen, "Did you get that thing set up yet?"

"Yes I did, if it'll work that'll be another matter," Connor answered.

The other day when Connor had taken the two of them out, he'd taken them to a second hand store where they'd gotten the games; while they looked around he had spotted a police scanner that for some reason interested him and he'd gotten that too. Now they'd be able to hear any time the police or the paramedics or the fire trucks were sent out anywhere. The minute Richie saw it he said that the first time the scanner went off, Duncan would shoot through the roof, to which Connor had responded that that was the point.

The kitchen was empty and they took that as being a good sign. Richelle went over to the table and picked up another banana and started to peel it. Richie looked at Connor and noticed he was looking a bit odd.

"What's wrong?" Richie asked.

"Duncan's around somewhere," he answered.

Richelle heard that and poked her head around the corner to see if he was in the living room. She didn't see him so she took it as a good sign to go in.

"YOU!"

That was Duncan's voice.

"Uh oh," Connor said, "Come on."

He and Richie went into the next room where Duncan was screaming at Richelle who just stood there wide eyed and clueless about what was going on.

"I have just about had it with you!" Duncan told her, "AND QUIT EATING THE BANANAS! I don't want to see ANYMORE BANANAS! Do you hear me?" He grabbed the one she was currently eating out of her hand and added, "NO MORE BANANAS!"

"Oh for God's sake, Duncan!" Connor said, "Let her eat the bananas, she's already suffering from potassium deficiently induced anemia, you want her to get rickets and scurvy and end up in the hospital too?"

Duncan couldn't believe it, even in his own home he couldn't win an argument, even when he knew he was right. He collapsed in the chair and brought his hands up over his face and quietly groaned, trying to blot out everything and everybody around him. He didn't know how long Connor was planning to stay but he sincerely hoped they would have to make an urgent return to New York very soon.