Taylor sat anxiously in the meeting room, waiting to see the man that may as well be his twin for the first time in 14 months.
He had so much to tell him... but where to start was the hard part.
It took a few excruciating minutes before the opposite door finally opened. He saw a brown haired head nod to the guard beside it, then stood from his seat when he realised who it was.
Christian made his way over, eyes shining.
"Hey," Taylor nodded.
"Hey you," Christian greeted, pulling his chair up so he could sit closer to the glass.
Taylor also took a seat, his mind racing.
"You look... great!"
"Thanks," Christian nodded, "so do you."
"So how have you- what have you been doing with yourself? I only know what Tanya's told me, and we've kinda lost contact since-"
"I took up an art class."
"Yeah I heard about that."
"Which kinda took over the whole centre," Christian chuckled, "there's only a few bare walls left that we haven't mural- ised."
"Awesome," Taylor grinned, "you know, when Ike and Zac and I were younger we had reign over our parents' garage. Drawing on the walls. Zac and I were the main artists."
"Maybe thats where I get it from then," Christian shrugged, "you."
"Yeah, except we branched off into music and didn't quite get as good as you are."
"Thanks."
"So... I don't know if Tanya told you, but I'm married now," Taylor showed off his wedding ring.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. Her name's Natalie. She helped me out a lot after Blakesley and that whole deal. She's an empathic healer."
"Dathrian?"
Taylor nodded.
"It was almost fate the way we met," Taylor shrugged, "but she moved into Ike and my place and Ike moved out-"
"Where's Ike then?"
"Back at home," Taylor shook some hair out of his eyes, "things got a bit difficult when Ezra came along."
"Ezra?" Christian's eyes narrowed, confused.
Taylor's grin broadened.
"Our son," he said, making Christian's eyes widen.
"He's six months old. Was born on Halloween. Jordan Ezra Hanson. I have pictures in my wallet, but they wouldn't let me bring anything in. Not even my belt."
"Yeah I know," Christian agreed, "Wayne's gone all anal and given the most basic visiting rights he could. But hey, it's a step up. And congrats man, starting a family. That must be great."
"It's amazing," Taylor couldn't reiterate enough, "Ezra is just... amazing. He's the light of my life. He makes everything worth it. Or he did, until we found out his power..."
"Why?" Christian mused, "what is it?"
"Power borrowing. The same as Guffery's," Taylor's eyes fell.
"Wow."
"Yeah," Taylor chuckled, "that's pretty much the general conensus."
"But really, wow. I hope you've kept it quiet, because if word got out-"
"What, that the guy with tonuge has a kid with power borrowing? I know, I'm not stupid."
Christian held his hands up in surrender.
"I know I've had problems just having a power as rare as mine, and Ezra's-"
"Any word on Guffery?"
"...No," the qustion caught Taylor off guard, "why?"
"That's odd. I mean really, odd," Christian looked worried, "if he was that dead set on catching me, and he found out what power you had, he should have risen above the radar by now. Even the word on the street has it he's been underground since then. Lucious too."
Taylor sat in silence for a moment, trying to find the right words.
"Chris... I don't know exactly how to put this," he admitted, "but I've kinda been out of the loop too. I mean I haven't seen Steel or Chloe since... pretty much since you came in here. And hey were our only ties to... well, the criminal element out there."
"They're not criminals," Christian frowned.
"No I know,I'm just saying that everything's been quiet. And it's a good quiet. And I'm not looking for anything to 'happen' anytime soon, if you know what I mean."
"You don't seek these things out, they come to you," Christian pointed out with a smirk.
"I know. But I'm an optimist," Taylor smiled a little, "and I plan to live every day that I can to the full. We've got a tour coming up, we've been signing artists to 3CG, we've started a family... things are looking good."
"And I'm glad," Christian insisted, "but that doesn't mean we should ignore that beep in the back of our heads that tells us something's wrong."
"There's no beep," Taylor assured, blinking slowly.
"Just keep an ear out for it," Christian winked.
The guard behind him cleared his throat.
"I guess time's up," Christian shrugged.
Taylor looked over his shoulder towards a clock on the wall.
"Don't be a stranger now, ok?" Christian insisted as he stood from the chair.
"Oh I won't, I promise," Taylor insisted, standing up also, "until we go on tour at least. I'll try and make it fortnightly or something."
"Thanks," Christian nodded, biting his bottom lip, "and... thanks for coming."
"Don't thank me for that," Taylor shook his head, "see you soon, Chris."
"See you Taylor."
And Christian left the room. Taylor waited until Christian was out of sight, then left to fetch his belongings in the next room over.