Christian
When it had finally gotten late enough for everyone to fall asleep, Christian lay awake on purpose.
As soon as he noticed the other three had fallen asleep, he slowly crept toward Taylor. His cell phone was beside him in case someone were to ring - that way it would wake him up.
Christian slowly leant forward to grab it, took hold of it, and finally crept from the room.
Scratching his head a little as he made it outside, he dialed Tanya's number.
Tanya
Tanya frowned, hearing her phone ring. Who could be ringing at this time of night? She sighed and picked it up.
"Hello?"
Christian
Christian gulped a little, hearing her voice on the other end.
"Ah... hi. Tanya. It's me, Christian..." he began cautiously, "I and a couple of others went with Taylor to find Mouse, his girlfriend. We're in Mexico."
He hesitated.
Tanya
"Christian! Well, well," Tanya thought. "And on a search party no less. I knew it was in him."
"I see," she said aloud. "Did you need some help?"
Christian
"No, I just..." he hesitated again, trying to think of how to say it.
"We're... we've been to the place they were keeping her at. Well, actually, it was the Spook. You must know of her, Craig does. But anyway, we, we got there too late."
He gulped.
"She's... she's sold her to the US goverment. For a few billion."
Tanya
"Ahh, yes, Spook," Tanya said disguestedly. "Stupid woman. She should sell herself to the US govt. She's half alien herself. You know, I only actually met her once. Five months later the warrent on her changed from simply bringing her into custody, to dead or alive. I should have killed her when I had the chance."
She sighed.
"But there's no time to regret the past. Be careful with that particular slimeball. She has a good aim with that shot gun of hers," Tanya smiled wrly. "Best what to deal with us, I suppose. We don't neccesarily notice a ranged attack. Hmm... the US government huh? Typical. Xenophobic scum. Sorry... made one too many raids on their so-called secret bases. Bastards. I'd like so see how they'd... sorry... I'll keep my temper. Have any other leads?"
Christian
"Not really," Christian winced, "but from what I hear the wolf and Taylor have just about every animal in the country out looking. If I hear anything, I'll let you know."
Tanya
"Okay then. I'll see what I can dig up around here. Unfortunately, I'm grounded at the moment, so I can't get out there myself. I'll let you know if I find anything. What's the number?" Tanya asked.
Christian
"I don't know," Christian admitted, "but I'm on Taylor's cell, so... if you have his number anywhere, call us by that."
Tanya
"Okay," Tanya answered. "Well, I'll let you go then. It's getting late and you're going to need your sleep. I speak from experience. So, unless there's something else you want to add, I'll let you go. Oh, and by the way, if you come by Houston, look me up and I'll restore your powers for you."
Christian
Christian's eyes widened and his mouth hung open for a moment, before he realised what he was doing.
"N-no, nothing else," he stammered, "but, but why? What did I do?"
Tanya
"What did you do? Christian, didn't I tell you last time we met that you were a better person than you thought you were? You didn't believe me at the time, but look at what you're doing. Unless you've failed to mention that you're getting paid to do this or something, you are risking your life for someone other than yourself. Or Craig. And that's no mean feat. I'm proud of you," Tanya was grinning.
Christian
Christian was shaking his head.
"No, no, I..."
He cut himself off and looked around. Spotting a bench, he went over to it, sat down and put his head in his other hand.
"I feel so weird. So lost. I... I feel like I'm betraying myself. Who I grew up to be, and everything that's made me who I am," he began slowly, "but on the other hand, everything I grew up to believe in was shattered last month when I got told I wasn't me. And there was proof. And I know you don't know what I'm talking about, but... oh."
He gulped, holding back the tears.
"I'm only doing this because I was asked to. For Taylor's sake. He's a complete nervous wreck without this girl around, and I don't even know what she's going to do with me when she lays eyes on me again."
Tanya
"So, you were asked to. You could have said 'no', but you didn't. It's a start, and I knew you had it in you. Now, you can fuss and deny all you want, but you can't change it, Christian. And believe me, you're not betraying yourself. You're finding yourself. You're experimenting with the extremes and one day you'll find some balance that suits you. And when that day comes, it'll be one of the happiest days of your life. Don't worry about Taylor's girlfriend's reaction. That's not an issue. You're going out of your way to help here, and if she chooses not to acknowledge that, it's her problem," Tanya advised.
Christian
"God, I feel such an idiot," Christian couldn't help but chuckle at himself, "I'm out in the middle of freaking Mexico looking for someone who I don't even care about for someone who basically wrecked my life. And no, it's not Taylor. If anything I owe him."
He shook his head.
"Sorry for wasting your time like this."
Tanya
"You're never a waste of my time, Christian," Tanya told him. "Now, go get some sleep. I'm not kidding when I say you'll need it."
Christian
Christian took a deep breath and sighed.
"Ok. I'll ring you if I hear anything. Bye."
He hung up quickly, then fiddled with the phone in his hands. He pursed his lips as he looked out across the motel carpark.
Tanya
Tanya put down the phone, a huge grin on her face. It finally happened. It had been a long time coming, she knew, but well worth the wait. And she hoped they succeeded in rescuing Taylor's girlfriend.