This choice: Give them some independence • Go Back...Chapter #71Team Play by: Seuzz   No, you decide. It's better to give these guys some independence. Show that you trust them.
"I suppose that's best," you say. You wipe your frown away with a shake of your head. "You're right, Frank. You should make the decision yourself."
Frank's face falls with surprise. "Are you serious?" he asks guardedly.
"Totally. Besides, I have to figure out how we'd merge you and Jordan. You and whoever, I mean," you add.
"Then I guess that's your project for tonight," Frank says. "Can we get that mask made?"
So that's what you do. It's a simple thing, only a matter of putting it to your--Chelsea's--face and sealing it up afterward. After Frank's got it on, two Chelsea Coopers swap clothes, and he leaves immediately after with Gordon in tow.
That puts you alone with Jonathan; conscious of your nakedness, you put on some of Rosalie's old clothes, though they're too large for Chelsea's frame. "I should eat something," you say as you stare at your comatose body. Jonathan takes off to raid the main kitchen.
You decide you might as well give Chelsea some room to run as well.
* * * * *
Your stomach is growling hard as you sit up in Jonathan's bed. You turn, and flinch away from Chelsea, who is sitting beside you and staring at you hard. "So, are you caught up with everything now?" you ask.
"Mostly, I guess. I suppose this is what it's like being a golem."
"How do you mean?"
"Oh, saying and doing things you don't mean and don't understand. Are you really planning on spending most of your time, uh--" She taps her chest.
"It's gonna be more fun being you than being me," you reply evasively. "You've seen to that, haven't you?"
She clucks her tongue and rolls her eyes. But before she can reply, you hear loud banging noises from Jonathan's kitchenette. You and Chelsea scurry downstairs, where you find Jonathan, looking black in the face, loudly unloading cans into the pantry. "Something happen?" you ask.
"Had to waste our last spare mask is all," he mutters. "Mother cornered me, pestered me with a lot of questions about my 'guests'."
"Your dad's on board with us staying here," you say.
"Yeah, well, he just pays for everything. She runs the household."
"So are we in some kind of trouble?"
"No. Like I said, I put a mask on her, like we did on Daddy Warbucks. She won't be bothering us anymore."
His clipped brutality takes your breath away a little, but you see it was the logical thing to do.
But Chelsea chooses to argue: "Don't you think you should have asked first?"
Jonathan looks at her, and then at you, and says nothing. "It's okay, Chelsea," you say. "Joe knows what he's doing, and he doesn't have to get permission."
But Chelsea continues to frown. "But what if that had been our last mask, and we'd needed it--"
"It's okay," you say. "Come on, guys. Let's just eat. We're all friends, we're all on the same team."
"You eat," Jonathan says. "I'm gonna go shoot some hoops."
Chelsea looks very prim after he's gone. "Every team needs a captain," she says. "Like the cheerleader squad at school, or the basketball team--"
"I don't want it to be like that," you say. "I'm going to give you guys more freedom. I'm gonna--" You swallow, not wanting to give up what you're about to give up. "I'm gonna stop barging my way into you guys." You look at her sharply, and surprise yourself a little with the bravery you feel at staring Chelsea Cooper down. "I know you're used to running things, and I know it's a lot of fun. But you need to not be so bossy with them." The person you're talking to may have Chelsea's body and her instincts, but she's got your sedes inside her, so you add: "Don't be so much like the girl whose body I gave you."
She makes a face and looks past you at the food Jonathan had brought back. "At least I can make us something healthy to eat," she says. "I'll go get us something for a real dinner."
* * * * *
While she's raiding the main kitchen, you go out to find your other partner. It's already dark, and he's got the floodlights turned onto the basketball court. You watch him for a bit; he slaps the ball around hard while waiting for you to speak.
At last: "Look, I'm really sorry about that scene back in there. I meant what I said, though."
"Is it going to be like that? Chelsea--you--second-guessing me and Frank?"
"No. That was Chelsea, you know what she's like."
"Funny, you were acting a lot like her when you were inside her."
"I know. I was trying to fight it."
"I hope you were losing. Because if that was winning--"
"It's hard not acting like the person when you've got them all around you. It's hard for me not to act like you when-- Is that what this is about? You don't like it when I take control of you?"
"No, I don't. Not especially. Been feeling like I've had to hide it."
"Okay, I promise I won't do it to you or Frank except when it's necessary."
"And when is it ever necessary? Was it necessary at school today?"
You wince. "I was bored. And I won't do it anymore. I promise."
He does an easy lay-up. "Okay, I understand. It's not like there's a lot to do here, is there? I was bored even when it was me and Frank trying to find the Libra."
"You want an adventure?"
"Yeah. But I get why we're doing things this way. Figuring out what we can do, and how to do it." He peers down at you. "Chelsea figures out who we replace, and me and Frank pull off the jobs?" You nod. "I can live with that. Long as you leave it to Frank and me to do the jobs without riding around with us."
"I wanna have fun too," you say wryly.
"Okay, maybe you should ride along on some of our jobs, get the same training. And I guess it won't be fun for a long time, going back to school as yourself."
"I'm not looking forward to it."
"So that's what we need to figure out," he says with a slight smile. "Who we have to convert, so you can get back into everyone's good graces."
"Job for Chelsea. Speaking of which, she's making dinner for me." You glance back at the house. "That's a real funny thing, isn't it?"
"Watch yourself, Prescott," he says. "In my experience, when a girl makes dinner for a guy, it's because she's got a plan for him."
* * * * *
What Chelsea's got for you is an egg-white omelet. You refrain from making a face. She watches expectantly as you take a first bite. It isn't bad.
In fact, it's delicious. It's stuffed with peppers and onions and ham and cheese and strong blend of spices. "This is really good," you say, and mean it.
"Thanks. I'm good for other things than bossing people around. You make up with Joe?"
"I think so."
"I'll talk to him later. Just me, okay, without you around?"
"Sure. We all need to talk later, though, about what we'll be doing at Westside."
"I've already got ideas. Like for you." She leans forward, putting her face close to yours. "Do you really want to go back to being yourself?"
"It was my life. Maybe it wasn't much of a life, or one that Chelsea Cooper might respect--"
"Don't be like that. It's so unattractive." She turns a little puckish. "I bet you clean up nice."
"Is that what I should do," you say around a mouthful of omelet. "Clean up? That'll make everything better?"
"Maybe not. But you could still--" You flinch away as she runs a finger down your cheek. "What if you made a really radical change? Merging yourself with someone, the way you're talking about doing with Frank and Joe."
"So merge myself with some other guy? What would happen to 'Will Prescott'?"
"Oh, he continues as a golem. But we gradually clean him up, making him more presentable for when you slip back into your own life."
"So who could I be? It would have to be someone who could hang out with you."
"And the openings there are really limited." She cocks her head. "What if you came back as someone new? Someone I could really take a shine to?"
"What kind of person would that be?"
"How broad-minded are you?" she asks with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"You are me," you remind her. "How broad-minded am I?"
"Come back as a girl?" she giggles. "Rosalie, from Cuthbert? She was cute, and you kind of look like her anyway.
Rosalie? You swallow a huge chunk of food. "But we don't want anyone from Cuthbert showing up in Saratoga Falls."
"So give her a new background and backstory. I know just the kind of girl she could be." Her eyes glitter. "A hippy-bohemian. You know Gillian Kiefer? Like her, but more laid back. Cooler. Smarter. The kind of girl who doesn't give a fuck about girls like me, so she doesn't have a problem hanging out with me, or with not hanging out with me." Again, she tugs at your hair. "She was pretty."
You say you'll think about it.
* * * * *
Jonathan comes back in after you've washed up, and the three of you talk vaguely of this and that, and then you let him and Chelsea go up into his bedroom. You don't disturb them, and just climb into a sleeping bag and put out the lights.
You don't disturb them, even when the bedsprings begin to squeak, and Chelsea's ardent shrieks begin penetrating the walls.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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