It was after midnight when Christian stepped out of the motel room, quietly closing the door behind him so as not to wake Avery up. He didn't know if she might panic at finding him not around if she suddenly awoke.
He sighed to himself and headed toward the reception for the motel. They had a payphone just inside, and he started filling it with quarters before dialling Taylor's home number.
~*~
In Tulsa, Taylor started at the phone ringing so late.
"Oh please please please be Avery," he muttered to himself, Isaac watching intently as he grabbed the cordless.
"Hello?"
Christian hesitated a moment, quickly putting his hand around his neck and making an adjustment.
"Taylor?"
Taylor frowned, not registering the voice at first.
"Taylor it's me. Chris..."
"Christian?" Taylor was confused, "why on Earth are you calling at this hour? I did tell you I have four kids, right?"
"Taylor Avery's here."
"What?!" Taylor exclaimed, making Isaac jump.
Cries from Viggo could be heard down the hallway.
"She's here, and she's not exactly fine," Christian went on.
"What do you mean? Where is she? Where are you? What's wrong? Why isn't she the one calling?! What have you done?!" Taylor fired off.
"I haven't done anything, alright?!" Christian knew he'd have to interrupt or the questions would keep coming, "just... calm down and let me talk."
Taylor looked across at Isaac, indicating for him to pick up the other line. Natalie appeared in the doorway wrapped in a satin kimono, squinting in Taylor's direction, as Isaac jumped up and headed for the living room.
"Fine. Talk to me," Taylor demanded.
"We're in New Orleans," he revealed.
"New Orleans?! She was in Europe!"
He heard the click indicating Isaac had picked up the other line.
"I don't know anything about that. I hadn't heard from her since I left. Which I figured you'd be happy about by the way..."
"Left where?" came Isaac's voice.
"They're in New Orleans," Taylor filled him in.
"Why are you with her?" Isaac asked.
Christian rubbed his forehead frustratedly.
"Look, this is a courtesy call, alright? We're going to make a start for Tulsa in the morning, and I'll bring her straight to you-"
"Screw that, we're teleporting there," Taylor shook his head.
"Tay?" Natalie asked tiredly.
'Avie,' Taylor mouthed to her, before she nodded and went to tend to Viggo.
"That's probably not a good idea," Chris insisted.
"Why not?" both brothers asked at once.
"Because I only just managed to get her to sleep, and she needs her rest. She's had... a rough night," subtlety was not Christian's strongest suit.
"What do you mean?" Taylor's frown deepened, "you still haven't told me what happened. Why is she in New Orleans?"
"And what happened to Europe?" Isaac added.
Chris took a deep breath and looked to the ceiling.
"She has amnesia guys. And it's pretty bad."
"Amnesia?" Isaac repeated as Taylor's jaw dropped slightly.
"Yes. She had no idea of who I was. She didn't know who she was. She didn't even know she was a telepath, for crying out loud. I told her how to put up a block so hopefully she doesn't get overrun with voices in her head, but I don't know how long that'll take for. She needs to see Tanya, and... she needs to see you guys."
"Wait. How did you find her?" Isaac frowned slightly.
"I was walking back to my motel and heard her getting attacked-"
"Attacked?!" came Taylor again.
"-By some dude with a hard on for easy prey. Nothing happened, I swear. I scared the guy off but she was pretty shaken up. We came back to my motel a couple of hours ago, and like I said... I just got her to sleep. Oh and I explained who she was and that she was telepathic."
"When do you think you can get her here?" Isaac asked solemnly.
"I have a bike, so I could have her there tomorrow night."
"Be careful," Taylor insisted, "for the love of Pete, be careful."
"I will, I know the dangers," Christian insisted.
"We'll need to get her to Tanya ASAP, see if she can unlock the memories," Isaac suggested.
"If they're the 'locked' kind," Christian's eyebrows rose.
"What?" Taylor frowned again.
"Maybe it's not telepathic, is all I'm saying. Maybe it's from a brain injury. How else would she get back to the States with no explanation?"
"Her luggage was posted back. From Italy," Taylor informed him.
"Posted?"
"Yeah," Isaac interjected, "she's been missing, in effect, for two weeks."
"Damn," Christian breathed, "then this definitely is not all there is to it. I'll let you guys know if I get a lead on anything."
"Thankyou," Isaac nodded to himself.
"Just our luck," Taylor leaned backwards.
"Yeah, here we go again," Christian smirked, "anyway I'd better get back, make sure she's okay."
"Don't do anything stupid," Taylor's voice had a hint of warning just as Isaac asked, "do you have a phone with you?"
"I don't," Christian shook his head, "but if anything comes up I'll stop at a payphone. Otherwise we'll see you tomorrow."
"Thanks Chris," Taylor said softly, "thankyou for finding her."
"Yes, thanks again," Isaac reassured.
"No problem," Chris responded before hanging up.
He stepped out of the phone booth and headed back for his room.
In Tulsa, Taylor stared at the phone a moment after he'd hung up, before going to explain to Natalie what had happened.
He guessed it was about time she met his clone anyway...