What if Naru never loved Mai, Gene did. An exploration of the other side of the question, "Me or Gene?"
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Back in England Naru stares at a cup of tea. Steam slowly curls off into nothingness.
"Did you ever love her?" Lin asks softly, not sure if he'll get an answer but when the boy stared idly at his tea like this he wondered. As the silence stretched he thought Naru hadn't heard, or didn't deign to answer, but the boy surprised him.
"No, I didn't." He took a sip of his tea and a grimace crossed his face before it went back to neutral. "I just thought she was a tool that I could use while you were out. A little payback for the annoyance of a broken camera." He snorted, "Someone needed to teach her not to be so naive." He took another sip of the tea, steam no longer wafted off its top. His fingers tapped the side. "Did you know I could feel it when Gene liked a girl?" Lin shook his head, unsure of where this tangent would lead but not willing to interrupt. "When Gene liked a girl, or person I could feel how he felt. A tugging in my chest and when I knew he liked someone I would... try to be nice to them."
Lin snorted, he knew how Oliver had been kind to girls who liked Gene, or if they approached him instead of Gene. A cold stare and a rude word.
"If Gene liked them. Not if they liked his looks." Naru scowled at Lin. "He liked Luella and Neville the butler when we got here. He liked you."
Lin nodded accepting the nuance that he wasn't sure Naru understood.
"When Gene liked someone I could feel it. When we met Mai I didn't feel it right away. Not that first day, or the second I don't think but when I came back after research. I felt something. I hadn't felt Gene since he died and I felt something." He shook his head, "I didn't realize what it was until she told me she saw him in her dreams, then when she said she loved me," his fingers tightened around the cup, "I felt the other tug, Gene's emotion not mine."
"Me or Gene?"
Naru gave a jerky nod. "I was questioning myself as much as her. I didn't mean to say it out loud but…" he sighed. "It was the first time she sounded like those bimbo's who couldn't tell us apart."
"So your niceties went out the window."
He shook his head, "she wasn't supposed to hear that. I stayed with her until she calmed down."
Lin nodded, he was still gentle with the girl even if he broke her heart. He even gave her a photo of him and his brother together. It was something that one might do to take care of a siblings girlfriend.
"Would you go back?"
"Maybe," Naru considered, "I wouldn't mind her tea." He set his half full cup aside. "I don't know if it would be the same."
"It might be better. No secrets from the team."
Naru nodded, eyes lingering on the empty tea cup. Lin turned back to his laptop.