Tanya arrived at the rehab center. Wayne had finally relented and let her visit Christian.
She showed the receptionist her pass, and was soon shown the way to Christian's room. The orderly knocked first, then opened the door and let Tanya enter.
"Hi Christian," she said, as the door closed behind her.
Christian
Christian looked up in surprise, not moving from the corner of his bed where he usually curled up.
"Hi," he began carefully, glancing toward the door.
Tanya Tanya moved towards a free seat in the room.
"So Wayne finally relented and let me visit you," she said. "Good thing too, because I was this far away from using my telepathy on him to make him."
She held her index finger and thumb one centimetre apart.
"You have no idea how tempted I was."
Christian
Christian couldn't help but smile.
"I was owndering how long it would take you," he admitted.
"I wasn't sure he was going to relent at all."
Tanya
"Neither was I," Tanya admitted. "But he did in the end. So good. But enough of that. How's things here? Making many friends?"
Christian
Christian shrugged.
"There's some kids in a band I've been talking to... There's only a few in the workshop I'm in but they kind of keep to themselves. When I'm around, anyway."
Tanya
Tanya nodded.
"Well, that's a start, I suppose," she said. "How are the workshops? Learning much?"
Christian
Christian shrugged.
"It's an art workshop. I don't see that there's much to learn," he pointed out.
Tanya
"Okay, well," Tanya thought for another question. "What about new techniques, or forms? Painting? Sculpture?"
Christian
Christian shrugged again.
"I've dabbled a bit in paint, but not so much."
Tanya
Tanya nodded.
"And how's the learning to write coming?" she asked.
She hoped she wasn't touching on a sore subject.
Christian
Christian hesitated, then looked away from her.
"I don't know," he admitted.
"I'm kind of starting to write whole sentences and stuff. Tate wrote me a letter so I've kind of been breaking that down..."
He blushed slightly.
Tanya
Tanya smiled.
"That's good," she said. "I asked her if she might like too. Have you read my letter yet?"
Christian
"Sort of," Christian looked uneasy.
"It's not one I'm letting Mallory help with."
Tanya
Tanya nodded.
"I understand," she said. "Some letters are personal, and shouldn't be shared with other people."
Christian
"Yeah, exactly," Christian agreed, hanging his head.
He bit his lip for a moment, hating the short awkward silences they were having.
Tanya
"I feel a little responsible for you getting in here," Tanya said at last. "Wayne tapped my line - I don't know you if knew. And I realised after we hung up that I had inadventantly identified you. He hadn't confirmed anything one way or another, but if I know Wayne, he probably had the call traced, and well..."
Christian
Christian sighed, lifting his eyes to the ceiling.
"I hsould have left earlier," he shook his head.
"I did stay in Tulsa way too long."
Tanya
"Tulsa is where your friends were," Tanya replied. "Even if it was risky, it's still understandable. You're holding up here, okay, aren't you?"
Christian
"I guess," Christian replied, non-commitedly.
"Things could be worse."
Tanya
"That's right," Tanya nodded. "There's always someone else who has it worse off than you."
Christian
"That wasn't what I meant," Christian shook his head.
He glanced toward the door, suddenly wondering if she'd changed the subject for a reason.
Tanya
"Yeah, I know," Tanya replied. "I just thought it was appropriate to point that out as well. I mean, at least you have a roof over your head and full use of your facilities. Well, other than powers I suppose. The dampening technology they have in the walls around in does its job rather well."
She looked up at the walls apprasingly.
Christian
"Yeah I know," Christian moved to hug his knees uncomfortably.
"Is... is that a permanent thing? Will it be on the entire time I'm here?"
Tanya
"I honestly don't know," Tanya replied. "It depends on how they constructed it. Sometimes they make it so it can be turned off, and other times it's a permanent fixture, and they couldn't turn it off even if they wanted to."
Christian
Christian nodded.
"It's... obviously just a little unnerving," he admitted, eyes down.
"But I figure if I could handle it with Blakesley and Spook then I should get through it."
Tanya
Tanya nodded.
"At least your power isn't completely unavailable," she said. "My telepathy is only very faint, and it's limited to this room, but it's better than nothing."
Christian
Christian shrugged.
"I can't really do anything. Except something like pick up a paperclip less than five inches from my hand. But it's too frustrating to actually execute."
He sighed.
"I was actually surprised they hadn't employed a telepath to try and get information."
Tanya
Tanya snorted.
"Don't think that they haven't done that kind of thing," Tanya replied. "But they can't with you, even if they wanted to because I'm the only one who can get into your head, and I'm sure I'm the last person they want to do that."
Christian
Christian couldn't help but smile.
"It was a good thing I got that when I did," he said absently.
"Guffery couldn't do anything when he had me."
Tanya
"Good," Tanya nodded. "The very thought of that little windbag succeeding at anything makes my skin crawl. I'm glad I contributed to foiling his plans."
Christian
"Well so am I," Christian replied sincerely.
"It's rather degrading to think how close Racer came."
Tanya
Tanya shook her head.
"I know, it makes your skin want to crawl," she agreed.
Christian
"Did I ever tell you who helped me out of that?" he looked up curiously.
"It was Varian."
Tanya
Tanya's eyebrows raised.
"No you didn't. Varian? Really? How'd that happen?"
Christian
"I somewhat befriended it when we were both with Blakesley before Lucious came for me," Christian explained.
"Found out it liked to drink blood and offered it some. Because I have mixed blood it acted like a drug, so it's somewhat indebted to me whenever I call on it now."
Tanya
"Huh," Tanya replied. "Well, that's quite interesting. I, wow..."
She shook her head.
"Do you know where it is now?"
Christian
Christian shook his head.
"I don't know where it is or what it's doing. I haven't seen it since then. And for that matter I didn't know what it was doing before."
He hesitated thoughtfully.
"That means I wouldn't have told you about Christina. Blakesley impregnated her using my sperm. She had a miscarriage though thankfully."
Tanya
"Oh!" Tanya exclaimed, then frowned. "I remembered getting a call... hmm, mid last year about her having a baby. I sent a healer around for her, but one of her, ahem, friends, killed the baby."
Tanya frowned.
"You heard it was a miscarriage?"
Christian
"I heard it died, that was good enough for me," Christian shrugged.
He bit his lip.
"What would happen if I told YIRAAS where Racer's warehouse was?" he asked suddenly.
Tanya
Tanya's eyebrows raised.
"Well," she said seriously. "There would be an investigation, and once the location had been confirmed and appraised, they'd probably organise a raid. As far as you personally was concerned..."
She considered the matter carefully.
"Well, I couldn't say for absolute certain, as I don't know everything about the intimate workings of rehab, but I would assume that you'd probably get a few extra privlages for yourself at the very least. Taking down Racer has been one of the top ten things on YIRAAS Security's to do list for years."
Christian
"He wouldn't know who to blame," Christian's eyebrows rose.
"Unless someone saw me brought in. I could rat on a lot of people."
He hesitated, then chuckled.
"His warehouse is in Miami," he revealed, "I don't know the exact address, but if I saw a map I'd be able to point it out. Most of it's underground, and it just looks like a shed from the road. Close to the water."
Tanya
Tanya nodded.
"Okay," she said. "I'll see to it that you get a map. You'll probably end up with a visit from Wayne. He'd probably like to know first hand, and in any case, we're trying to keep your presense here quiet."
Christian
"Understandably," Christian nodded.
"And don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for that."
Tanya
"I know," Tanya replied. "Still, if we hit too many of your... ahem, previous aquaintences, some of the others might connect the dots. Well, I'm sure that Wayne will realise that too, so, um, should you decide to tell us any further information, whatever action we take on it will have to be irregular enough not to draw attention."
Christian
"Yeah I know," Christian agreed, picking at his nails.
"Taylor would know where Guffery's is, but I wouldn't necessarily send in the YIRAAS. He'd see them coming miles away."
Tanya
Tanya nodded.
"Definitely a more specialised team is required," a smile playing on her lips. "Sometimes we've even outsourced to certain groups. YIRAAS Security tends to be more militant these days, which is a shame because it used to be more specialised. But there are other alien security teams who have better luck against certain parties than we do."
Christian
"Do you think any of them would have any luck?" Christian asked.
"I don't want to send people to their deaths, so to speak. I just want him brought down if he can be."
Tanya
"I want to see him brought down too," Tanya nodded. "Believe me, Christian, we never send anyone out unless we think that they can succeed. Especially on something like this. Taking down Guffrey would be something we would plan out to the letter, and still create four, five or even more backup plans just in case."
Christian
"Ok," Christian nodded.
"Though as I said, it's really Taylor you'd need to talk to. Have they... ah, have you heard anything from them?"
Tanya
Tanya chuckled.
"He's been calling rehab every few days. But obviously, he's had no luck being put through to you," she said. "I last saw him just a few days ago for his treatment."
Christian
"And how are they going?" Christian asked.
"Last I heard he was still having problems."
Tanya
"Oh, Taylor's much improved, but I can take all the credit," Tanya replied. "He met an empathic healer - one of about three in the world. It's been making a huge difference, from what I can tell."
Christian
"Really?" Christian smiled a little.
"That's... that's good news. So is it sort of speeding up the healing process, or does it work a on a completely different level? Being empathic."
Tanya
"It works on a completely different level," Tanya replied. "But I think that we both seem to be complimenting each other in that. Like having, say, a disease related to being overweight. Getting the weight off helps to undermine the diesease and make yourself happier. And being happy, or positive can help motivate you, help get the weight off and keep the disease in check."
Christian
"Ok," Christian nodded.
"Well that definitely sounds good. Make sure he doesn't harrass the people here though, or he'll never get through."
He rolled his eyes.
"Can you do me a favour when you leave?"
Tanya
Tanya nodded.
"Sure," she said. "What can I do for you?"
Christian
"Can you let Anita know where I am, and that I'm ok?" Christian asked softly.
"I kind of asked her to do something for me, but she won't know to unless someone tells her."
Tanya
"Anita?" Tanya repeated, with a frown. "Oh! Craig's sister? Yes, I can do that. You've been in contact with her then?"
Christian
"Somewhat," Christian replied, looking down at his hands.
He hesitated and held up his wrist.
"She gave me this," he indicated the watch, "it was... a late Christmas present."
Tanya
"Oh!"
Tanya looked at the watch with admiration.
"Well, that was very generous of her," she said. "You two must have hit it off then."
Christian
"I didn't think we'd hit it off enough to provoke something like that," Christian admitted, "though I'm not complaining."
He took his arm back.
"But she seems to be trying to be there for me. When she first found out I was Craig's son she kind of seemed to latch on."
Tanya
"Ahh, I see," Tanya nodded.
The old suspicion that Craig may have stayed in contact with his sister bubbled to mind, but she chose not to pursue it.
Christian
"Do you have any photos of Kit?" Christian asked suddenly.
"Or did you have to relinquish everything when you came in?"
Tanya
Tanya smiled.
"There is a certain amount of surrending things," she said. "But..."
She pulled her wallet out of her pocket, opened it up, and then held it out to Christian so he could see the photo.
"It's a little old," she admitted. "But they grow up so fast at this stage that a photo is only 'recent' for a couple of weeks at most."
Christian
Christian smiled a little at the sight of it.
"He's getting big," he sighed.
Tanya
Tanya smiled proudly.
"Yes he is. Kit's 10 months old now, a year on May 13."
Christian
"A year?" Christian's eyebrows rose.
He took a deep breath.
"Time sure has gone fast."
Tanya
"It certainly has," Tanya nodded.
She checked her watch as she said the next words.
"And speaking of time, I should be going before I overstay my visit."
Christian
Christian's face instantly fell.
"Ok," said sullenly.
"I guess you don't have any idea when they're actually going let people come often?"
Tanya
A forlorn look crossed Tanya's face.
"I'm afraid not," she admitted, putting her wallet back into her pocket.
Christian
"It's weird here," Christian admitted quietly, almost like a small child.
"I'm not used to being captive somewhere where someone doesn't want something from me, and would do anything to get it."
Tanya
Tanya, too, was quiet for a moment, eyes flushed with sympathy.
"Must be a nice change," she said softly.
Christian
"I can't tell if it is or not," Christian shrugged.
"I'm too far out of my comfort zone. The people are nice, but I can't leave if I want to. It's like my brain just can't register it."
Tanya
"Ahh. Something like culture shock, I suppose," Tanya said. "You're in a foreign environment. I really wish I could help, but I don't think that there's anything I could really do."
Christian
"I know, it's just something I have to get used to," Christian shook his head.
"Thank you... for coming. You know the only other person I've seen is Leroy."
Tanya
Tanya nodded.
"I'll try and visit you more often, if I can," she promised, then paused briefly before continuing, "How'd it go with Leroy?"
Christian
Christian held back a snort.
"Needless to say he was almost the last person I wanted to see," he almost scorned.
"Add to that him being the one to not only pick me up, but find out I'm illiterate."
He shook his head.
"He didn't gloat or anything, but I still could have done without it."
Tanya
"Mmm... yes I can imagine," Tanya replied.
She shook her head and stood up.
"Anyway, I should be going. It's been good talking to you."
Christian
"You too," Christian returned.
"And for what it's worth, I'm sorry about everything."
Tanya
"Don't be," Tanya replied. "I'm not blaming you. I'll talk to you again sometime."
She moved towards the door, then smiled.
"Looking forward to reading your letter."
Christian
Christian cracked a smile.
"Thanks," he said softly.
Tanya
Tanya soon departed, making a mental note to talk to Wayne straight away about Racer's warehouse and getting a map to Christian so he could identify the exact spot. She sincerely hoped this information would get Christian more than justa few extra privlages.