Christian's eyes slid open as he registered someone else in the room. He looked up to see Taylor leaning over him.
"Well that's creepy," he croaked.
Taylor put a finger to his lips in a sign to be quiet.
"Come on. House meeting," he nodded toward the door, before walking out of it.
Christian frowned, then sat up in bed. He took note of Avery's still-sleeping form, before quietly getting out of bed and following Taylor out. He was led down the hallway to their dining room where Natalie sat at the table.
"'Morning," she smiled, hands around a warm cup of coffee.
Christian idly noticed that there were three mugs ready. He paused, but took a seat in the spot Taylor neglected.
"Drill time, huh?" he sighed, grabbing the mug with a nod of thanks.
"If you want to call it that," Taylor shrugged, "can we start with the elephant in the room?"
"What elephant?" Chris looked innocent.
"Your face?" Taylor emphasised.
"Oh, that..."
"When Taylor spoke about you, he told me people had trouble telling the two of you apart," Natalie shook her head, confused.
"You talked about little old me?" Chris grinned.
"Cut the crap, Chris. How did you do it?" Taylor scorned, "light manipulator? Surgery? It's just your face, right?"
"I think someone needs more coffee," Chris tilted his mug in Taylor's direction, "but no. No light manipulation. No surgery. This is all me. I'm trying a... new image. Which happens to include a new power."
"You have a new power?" Nat's eyebrows rose.
"It seems like."
"Shapeshifting?" Taylor asked incredulously.
"Got it in one," Chris winked.
"How on Earth... how can that even be possible? Are you still telekinetic?"
"I guess so," Chris suddenly found his mug very interesting, "I mean it doesn't work right now, but when it wears off-"
"Wears off?" Taylor cut in again, "how are you doing it?!"
Christian sighed, and looked him in the eye.
"Maybe I'm not ready to reveal all my secrets yet," he said, a hint of determination in his voice.
Taylor disregarded it.
"No, I need to know," he insisted, "if you're doing something unsavoury, I can't have you around my kids..."
"Okay," Chris nodded, "think of it as a form of medication. As long as I take it every 24 hours, I stay this shape. And I have the ability to shapeshift. Sometime before midnight, it wears off."
"I've never heard of anything like it," Natalie looked to Taylor.
"Neither have I," he shook his head, "someone has managed to put an ability... into a pill?"
"Not exactly, it's a bit more messy than that," Chris mused.
He bared his arm to show some needle scars.
"Someone has managed to put an ability into liquid form?" Natalie offered.
"Not exactly," Chris repeated.
"So what, you inject yourself with the blood of a shapeshifter or something?" Taylor pulled a face.
"Bingo."
The colour drained a little from Taylor's face.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"And it lasts for 24 hours?" Natalie looked interested, "how does no one know about this?"
"Well Racer had a heap of scientists working on it, and he broke the news to his guys a few weeks ago..."
"Racer?" Taylor squinted at him, his eyes darting to Natalie, "Chris, are you serious? You've been in contact with Racer?"
"He contacted me," Christian shrugged, "he wanted me on his team. I figured I'd infiltrate. He was a lot more accommodating this time than the last, when he was going to use his telepathy to force me to work for him."
"He could do that?" Natalie looked to Taylor, who nodded.
"I take it you didn't tell Tanya. Or your rehab agent."
"You think I'm stupid?" Christian smirked.
"That's open for debate. You went there."
"And found the magic potion, go me."
Taylor put his head in his hands.
"This is ridiculous," he shook it, standing up and leaning over the table, "Chris, what were you thinking? Was it really that bad?"
"Racer found me pretty fast," Chris pointed out, neglecting to offer the reason he'd been found, "it seemed to me like the next logical step was to change my face."
"But how long can you keep this up?" Natalie asked tentatively, "the blood? Surely there's going to be side effects eventually. And I'm sure it just plain isn't healthy to be doing, especially so often."
"I've had hiccups, sure," Chris shrugged, "but so far so good."
"You're an idiot," Taylor said flat out.
"Yeah well, look who I came from," Chris hit back, sipping his coffee.
"You know technically we have the same parents. It's hard to believe we share DNA..."
"Actually, technically, I'm the love child of you and Isaac," Christian couldn't help but smile as Taylor blanched.
"An interesting way of looking at it..." Natalie looked surprised.
"Aside from the fact that it's not..." Taylor trailed off, losing his train of thought as he spoke, "you know. Oh whatever. You need to stop this."
"Why?" Christian shrugged, leaning back.
"Where are you getting the blood?"
"A friend," Chris shrugged again, diverting his eyes.
"That was a lie," Taylor said flatly.
Both Chris and Nat's eyes fell on him.
"What did you do, Chris?" Taylor scowled, "and do not lie this time."
Christian looked between them, Natalie decidedly looking awkward, before lowering his eyes to where his fingers were fidgeting in his lap.
"I might have taken a guy-"
"Chris you just got out of rehab!"
"And?" Christian scorned, "everyone knew it wouldn't work anyway."
Taylor sat down heavily, hardly believing his ears.
"So you had to prove them right?"
Chris looked up at him again, then returned his eyes downward. He didn't even have the 'I didn't have a choice' excuse this time.
"Why?" Taylor asked suddenly, "If you needed help, you had plenty of people to ask. You weren't alone-"
"Maybe what I wanted was independence," Chris interjected.
"Maybe you can't handle independence," Taylor cut in, "maybe that's the problem."
Natalie looked between them, not for the first time wondering how on Earth they were supposed to be so alike when they were so... different.
"I'm going to take my leave..." she began suddenly, standing up, "and start getting the kids up. It's a school day."
She looked pointedly at Taylor.
"Okay," he nodded, "I'll be there soon."
Natalie offered Chris a small smile before disappearing down the hall.
"Why are you making this your problem?" Christian looked confused.
"Because Avery's involved, and Avery's my problem," Taylor said sternly, "if it was just you involved, maybe I wouldn't worry so much. But she seems to need your guidance. Now I need to make sure she's getting the right kind."
Chris spread his hands in disbelief.
"I can't help her!" he insisted.
"But she seems to think you can. For whatever demented reason," Taylor insisted, "and that makes it our problem. Our problem. So until such time as she's comfortable enough here, or you put a foot wrong - and forgive me for what I do if you do - then we're in this together. For the long haul."
"Awesome," Chris snipped as Taylor stood up.
"You brought this on yourself," Taylor scorned, before following Nat down the hall.
Christian considered the comment, then sighed to himself.
Yes, he really had.