Chloe
Chloe stepped off the teleportation device and nodded a silent thanks to the nearby guard.
She began to make her way through the station, keeping her eyes straight ahead and not catching anyone's gaze. No doubt people would recognize her, but she didn't feel like talking to anyone.
She found the door she was looking for and knocked.
Tanya
"Just a minute!" Tanya called.
She closed the drawer, walked to the front door and opened it.
"Chloe?"
Chloe
"Hi Tanya," Chloe began, quietly.
"Umm... can I come in for a moment? I won't be long..."
Tanya
"Yes, of course," Tanya replied.
She held the door open and stepped aside so she could come in.
"What can I do for you?"
Chloe
Chloe stepped in, keeping her head down, then turned back to Tanya.
"I was wondering... if you'd heard from Christian. Since last month."
Tanya
Tanya shook her head.
"No, no I haven't," she replied sadly.
She sat down on the lounge and gestured for Chloe to sit down.
Chloe
Chloe bit her lip, deciding whether or not to sit down. She finally did, fidgetting slightly.
"I haven't seen or heard from him since the first few days of November, and I'm getting worried," she added.
"It wouldn't be like him just to take off. And I know that... apparently Blakesley took him in. But normally Christian would be out by now."
Tanya
Tanya frowned.
"Blakesley," she repeated. "That's... that's not good."
She tapped her fingers, digesting this information. She may have felt a little betrayed by some of his actions, but she still cared for Christian, and in any case she wouldn't wish being in the custody of Blakesley on anyone.
Chloe
"I don't know if you knew this," Chloe looked down at her hands, "but, when he was with Spook... they went after Blakesley's cousin. I forget what her name was... But they killed her, and made sure Blakesley knew, so I don't..."
She bit her lip as she hesitated.
"I'm just... He should have been back by now, really. I don't know how someone like Blakesley could hold someone like him."
Tanya
Tanya slowly let out a breath.
"You make be right..." Tanya said quietly. "It may already be too late for Christian..."
She chewed her lip.
"But we mustn't give up hope. He may just be lying low at the moment."
Chloe
Chloe looked up at Tanya for a moment, then down again.
"He doesn't know if he's in your good books or bad books at the moment, because of what Spook made him do," she twiddled her thumbs absently.
"He shouldn't have been with her. He didn't want to be with her. He gave himself up for me, you know."
Tanya
Tanya was silent for a moment.
"If you... if you speak to him before I do, you can tell him that I will always welcome him. But I can't speak for anyone else. What they did... it was a truly terrible thing."
Chloe
"It's been almost two months," Chloe shrugged, "I'm beginning to wonder if he's ever coming back."
She hesitated again, and took a deep breath.
"I just thought I'd better ask, cos you know... if something had happened, you're probably the first person he'd go to."
Tanya
Tanya nodded. Small comfort that.
"I'll be sure to tell you if I hear anything," she promised. "Chloe? Are you okay?"
Chloe
"I'm ok," she nodded, "well, I'll be ok."
Then she chuckled lightly.
"I just... I think I like him, you know? But, he's not interested. So I'm aloud to worry, right?"
Tanya
Tanya smiled.
"Sure you are," she agreed. "Can I get you a drink or something?"
Chloe
"Umm... yeah. That'd be good, thanks," Chloe nodded.
She fidgetted with the arm of the chair, looking up towards the door.
Tanya
"It's hard to know what to do, especially when you just don't know where to look," Tanya said. "Right now you can only really hope that you can dig up enough somewhere to find something. In the meantime, all you can do is hope."
She stood up.
"What would you like to drink?"
Chloe
"Water is fine," Chloe waved her hand a little.
She sighed.
"I'm not... blaming Steel or anything. But he practically ran into Blakesley a while ago, and had to sorta rescue Taylor. I don't know why he didn't ask for someone to watch him. To follow him to wherever he went. I know the only reason he didn't kill him was because then we'd quite possibly never find Christian again."
Tanya
Tanya nodded thoughtfully.
"There is much we do, which in hindsight, looks like a bad decision. We can't always be second guessing our decisions all the time, we can only hope we make the right decisions at the time."
She poured Chloe some water and put the jug to boil some water for a cup of tea for herself.
Chloe
"In other words, it's too late now anyway," Chloe shrugged.
"Hopefully next time. No doubt there'll be a next time. When Blakesley sets his mind to something it doens't seem that often that he doesn't get it. Or at least spend a long time gunning for it."
Tanya
"No doubt," Tanya agreed, giving Chloe the glass. "And hopefully he go down for good."
Chloe
Chloe frowned, and drank some of the water.
"He should have gone down a long time ago. He's worse than Craig in his own way," she said finally.
She held the glass in her hands for a moment, then set it down on a nearby table.
"At least Craig knows when to back off."
Tanya
"Many of the human alien hunters - or whatever you'd like to call them are worse," Tanya said. "They don't understand us, so they fear us. And fear makes them desperate. Our own criminals don't have that particular... vice, at least not for the same reason."
The jug bolied and she made her cup of tea.
Chloe
"The thing that's annoying about Blakesley is that apparently he doesn't fear us. He'd probably stand up to a telepath like yourself, even. He sure doesn't know what's good for him, either way. I mean, pissing off a telekinetic? You only have to look at what happened with Isaac Hanson for that. No wonder Chris was pissed off with him."
Chloe ran her fingers up and down the glass, before having another drink.
Tanya
"He fears us," Tanya said. "Even if he doesn't appear to, he does. We all fear something. Usually it's something that's never happened to us either."
She smiled wryly.
"And if Blakesley ever stood up to me, well, I'd admire his for his courage - or look down on him for his sheer stupidity, and then make him go insane. Or kill him. Or maybe just convince him he's a five year old girl," she paused consideringly. "Depends what mood I'm in at the time. Although, at this point in time, it's unlikely I'll meet the man. I'm slightly station bound right now."
She patted her swollem abdomen.
Chloe
"Yeah," Chloe kept her gaze down.
"He's so happy for you. Christian that is. He talks about it a lot. Unfortunately, that might mean the general underground population won't take long to find out too."
Tanya
Tanya smiled.
"Sounds like a good thing I'm not planning to go down, huh?" she said.
Chloe
"Won't stop a lot of them from getting up," Chloe shrugged.
"But Christian won't risk it. Yet, anyway. Well... that's what he told me. But anything could be better than being with old Blakesley."
Tanya
"I don't know about that..." Tanya said thoughfully. "The only way up is by teleportation, and only through the use of the amphlifiers. Our Houston base has quite a number of agents on duty. Coming here would only be asking for trouble, even for our telepathic criminals."
Chloe
"Well most of them are asking for trouble, so isn't that the point?" Chloe chuckled.
She put her empty glass down, then stood.
"I'd better get back before Steel gets suspicious," she rolled her eyes, "you'll... let me know if you hear anything, right? Or let someone know?"
Tanya
Tanya chuckled, then nodded.
"Certainly," she assured her.
Chloe
"Thanks, and I'll let you know if I do."
She made her way tot he door.
"See you around."
And she left.
Tanya
Tanya closed the door behind her, went back to her cup of tea and reflected on the conversation.