1stmacleod

((NP! I know you're busy... if you're interested there's a new thread here but if you're busy, we can say she's out or something.))

Connor would rub his face, or the back of his neck, some sign of distress, except that he's got an arm around each woman, now. "Rachel, I... saw that, too, from across the street..." He closes his eyes, because just for a few seconds he can't help reliving that moment. It's warm enough in the room, but he shivers anyway. His voice goes even quieter. "I went to your funeral." And after that, he flew back to Marrakesh just in time for a couple more, but he's trying to limit how much he throws at her at once.

"The place I found you in, the Nexus, is magic. People show up there from everywhere, sometimes even... after they've died. I met Ramirez there." When she was ten years old, and saw him get up again after being shot, he told her it was magic. She accepted that then, and learned the details when she was older. He's hoping she'll accept magic as an explanation for the Nexus, now.

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As his words sink in, her face pales and her eyes widen. Her hands begin to flutter and she looks around as though unsure whether or not this place is real. Rachel looks back to him. "I... I died?" She looks at her hands and then she holds them up to show him. "But I'm not dead. I wasn't in that place... that Nexus when I died. How does it work? Is it me?"

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Kairos gets up and goes to the kitchen - the layout is pretty open - and gets this Rachel a glass of water. "...I really doubt it," she says a little sadly. "You're probably a Rachel."

Crap. She hadn't meant to say that, really.

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Connor winces, because alternates are an explanation he was planning to save for later. "Even if she is, we can hardly send her back like this..."

"I'm not sure how, or why, or... if..." He looks back to Rachel. "But the Rachel I knew died. I've met other people who were dead, here. It doesn't mean you're... a ghost or anything..." With her Jewish origins and then his trying to cater to that from his Catholic background as she grew up, he's not sure about her perspective on the afterlife anymore. At least she's not orthodox anything.

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"Don't talk about me as if I'm not here," she says sharply, but mostly she just sounds hurt and very, very confused. Rachel looks between Kairos and Connor and ends up shaking her head. "No! No I'm not just a Rachel. There's no way! I'm your Rachel."

She clasps his hands in hers. "And you're my Connor."

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She come back into the living room, and offers the glass to the older woman. "We mean no disrespect. But it's still an option, hon. We can't prove you are 'his' Rachel, but we can't prove you aren't, either."

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"I'm not, sweetheart," Which doesn't stop him from looking horribly guilty, anyway. "But there's... I'm not an expert on quantum physics, but there's more than one version of some people in the Nexus. There's another me, in the Nexus, and at least one other you. Rachel... it's been fifteen years since I saw you die." He curls his fingers around her hands, though, and holds on tight.

"Kairos has been around the Nexus longer, she understands it better than I do."

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She hesitates to take the glass and let go of Connor's hand, but she does and mutters quiet thanks to Kairos. Rachel hangs her head, looking into the glass of water, unsure as to how to take this news.

"If we can't prove either then... What do we do?" She looks back to Connor and smiles at him. "You're exactly how I remember you."

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"Well, what do you want? I suppose I can help you find a job, find a place to live..."

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"...Exactly?" Connor smiles weakly, because he's not sure how true that is, or if she's just being kind. He fell far after the deaths of his family, although he's had months now to start pulling his health back together. On the other hand, he was a little ragged around the edges before she died, thanks to trying to live in both New York and Morocco, and the stress of suspecting he was being hunted by someone who wouldn't face him.

"I know you're alive and whole, here, but sending you back could get... complicated, if they think you're not... this is a good place..." Yes, he does feel like a rotten louse for letting another him go on thinking she's dead.

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"Exactly," she confirms with a twinkle in her eye. It still could mean either, of course.

She looks between them, suddenly startled by the thought of choosing a new life. Her fingers flutter around her glass of water for a while before she suggests. "Let's... Let's start with a place to live and..." Her eyes drift up to Connor again. "You never explained. What exactly happened to my home? Our home."

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Kairos debates getting Connor some alcohol. Just in case. She knows this is hard for him. But she gets him a glass of water instead.

She'll look into homes later - but, oh, if she and Connor move out into a home-with-a-yard, she could lease this apartment to Rachel..

Best not to move too fast.

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((So sorry guys, had computer issues...))

Connor will probably want a stiff drink when this is all over, but he knows Rachel's always viewed his drinking habits with mild worry. He's not sure Kairos hasn't started to take the same stance. He really does drink a little too much, and only his immortal healing ability lets him get away with it.

If he knew what Kairos was thinking right now, he'd agree it sounds perfect, but one step at a time... "You... understand you died, where I come from. You said... the last thing you saw was light and noise." He rubs his face, and then the back of his neck, anxious and strained. "It was- it's a long story. It's not fair to you. It was... immortal business. I know I've told you some immortals threaten or hurt friends and family to ruin their target before a fight." Usually not in such extremes, but Jacob Kell was far from the first, or the last immortal to play that underhanded game. "He used... a bomb... in the antique shop..." It's still hard for him to talk about in detail.

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Her face drops and her eyes water as she watches herself put the glass of water down on the nearest solid surface. After a few shallow breaths she allows herself to speak shakily.

"A bomb... So it's gone? It's all gone... And I'd just..." She sighs and shakes her head, a hand touching her temple. Then she smiles sadly at Connor. "I should be thankful I've still got you."

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There's something about the way Rachel says Connor's name that really, really creeps Kairos out. She's trying to ignore it, though she has the oddest urge to grab a Sharpie and mark "Property of Kairos" on Connor's forehead.

"And he's got me," she says, just a little guardedly. "I suppose the both of you do, now."

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Connor gives Rachel a slightly shaky smile. "Let it go... home isn't a place, anyway." He certainly had to move her around enough, as she grew up, even if he did wonder what kind of life it was for a child. Their moves were always timed to her graduation from one level of school to the next, but Connor's lack of aging makes settling down too long impossible.

He squeezes them both close gently, and nuzzles Kai's hair, feeling a little torn. "I've got you both, now." To be fair, Rachel had him first, but it's a different kind of relationship. She's his little girl, even if she is in her fifties.

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