Chapter 4

Episode 8 - Normal Run of Things

By the time Dr. Mattox finally ended her lecture, even the threat to his own cover could barely restrain Brady from interrupting to save Rachelle, and tangentially the nurse, one more moment of pain. Watching her in the middle of a flare had given him so much empathy for what Eden and Mom must have felt watching him—knowing there was nothing they could do, but unable to just walk away and leave him alone in his misery.

Not that Rachelle begged for sympathy—they were too much alike in that regard—but he could have heard the quick-caught breaths, the stifled moans, and the uneasy twisting and popping of her joints even without his enhanced senses, and every one broke his heart a little more.

He was at the bottom of the stairs almost the second he heard the doctor’s foot hit the top one, yanked the door open before she could even reach for it, then waited until she closed Rachelle’s door behind her before retreating to the common and letting his eyes fall closed as Rachelle’s breathing slowly evened and lengthened.

Brady hadn’t meant to fall asleep—hadn’t even been sure that was possible with as keyed up as he’d been and his senses still fully on alert—but apparently it had happened, since he woke to the hard clink of metal against metal and Rachelle standing at the counter when she’d been in her bed under sedation what he’d thought was the second before.

“What time is it? How long was I out?”

“Not that long. A little after five.” Rachelle sighed and fisted her hands in her skirt in a move Brady had begun to recognize as one she used when she was afraid of what might happen if she touched anything else. “Should’ve known it was too soon to trust myself. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“Chelle, come on. If a spoon in a thermos puts me over the edge, I couldn’t have been that far asleep.”

“You don’t know how hard I can clank a spoon.” Rachelle offered a wry smile that quickly softened into a normal one. “You ready for me to call Car, or should I hold off a little?”

“No, go ahead. You know, we’ve never tried to run a mission day together, the two of us. Any ideas on how our powers mesh?”

“It’s a good question, to be honest.” Rachelle cocked her head and rested her chin in her hand. “I’m not dragging you along to a construction project, that’s for sure. Don’t even want to find out how your senses would handle that.”

“It can’t be all that bad.” Brady grimaced, and Rachelle huffed.

“Oh, believe me, it can. Loud noises, strong smells, dirt and dust everywhere—it’s like all of your powered-up nightmares combined. I’m not putting you through that for anything, even if it means I sit with Car and play back-up all day.”

“Seriously? I’m not going to sideline you just because my senses are on a hair trigger. Leave me somewhere safe and let her take you where you’ll be useful. I can find trash to pick up pretty much anywhere.”

“And we’ve firmly established that nobody wanders the neighborhoods alone—except Dash, and I don’t know what chance we’d have of stopping him.” The last words came out on a little chuckle before Rachelle sighed. “Maybe Car could drop me at a house and keep you in the same area, just not too close. Or maybe she’ll have a better idea. I wish I could step in on some of the stuff you pick up on, but there’s no way anyone doesn’t notice that. Maybe someday we’ll figure out a way for me to do the actual hands-on superhero stuff, but I doubt it’ll be today. Not that I’m slighting the rest of it, though.”

“I get it, Chelle. You don’t have to qualify.” Brady shook his head as he got to his feet and crossed to the freezer to grab the backup shake DeAndre always left for him. “Rats. Should’ve set this to thaw earlier. Tell Car not to hurry.”

“Leave it. DeAndre’ll be in by now. I’ll get you a new one.” Rachelle picked up her own cup and started for the door, and Brady sighed.

“Seriously? I can handle that—there’s no reason you have to.”

“And I happen to want to do it for you today. Besides, I have to let DeAndre know about me anyway—no way he can leave that amount of food sitting around here just in case.”

“Fine. Sure you can carry it back without splattering it all over the elevator—or DeAndre?”

Rachelle opened her mouth to protest, then realization dawned in her eyes, and she laughed as Brady grinned.

“Fair question, unfortunately. But I promise I’ll be careful. Or else—I don’t know—Dash will owe Harper a marble.”

Brady shook his head as he joined in the laughter, then raised an eyebrow in mock warning.

“Way to ramp up the stakes. Now you’d better be careful.”

Rachelle’s smile widened as she swished out of the den, and Brady glanced around the room, then took his seat back on the couch again.

He followed the sounds of the door swinging shut behind her, her footsteps retreating through the halls, the groan of the elevator as it started up—but suddenly a closer, softer noise pulled his attention back, and his senses zoned in on the soft plop of two small bare feet hitting the floor. His sight nearly followed his hearing, but he carefully reined it in and waited until the soft patter hastened to the door and a little hand cracked it open.

Grace’s tumbled head of hair peeked out, scanned the hallway in the direction of the rest of their rooms, then hurried across to Rachelle’s door. Until that moment, Brady hadn’t made up his mind on whether to call her attention, but it wouldn’t be fair to let her find Rachelle’s bed empty without explanation.

“Hey, Gracie-girl.” Brady kept his voice low, but the little girl turned immediately, her face lighting up at sight of him, and she ran to the common and scrambled up on the couch next to him.

“Is your head better today?” She looked up at him with wide, happy eyes, and Brady offered a rueful smile.

“Technically yes, and technically no. It got bad enough to make it better—how’s that?”

“Oooh!” Grace sprang up, unconsciously putting her high-pitched squeal directly in his ear. “You got your powers? For my party day?”

“Yep.” Brady blinked hard, trying to keep from wincing as the ringing cleared. “While you and your friends are having your hero party, there’ll be some other superheroes out helping people in the city.”

“More heroes?” Grace glanced curiously around the common, and Brady sighed a little, remembering Rachelle’s disappointment as he nodded.

“Yep. One more. Ellie’s having a really bad day too. She was—” He hesitated for a second, unsure if it would add to the little girl’s burdens to know the truth, but finally decided to risk it. “She was really sad that it happened on your party day.”

Grace nodded slowly and chewed on the end of her thumb as she shifted on the couch to nestle against his side, but after a few seconds, she looked up with suddenly hopeful eyes.

“But she got powers! So she can come now?”

“She wants to, sweet girl.” Brady had to swallow a lump in his throat before he could continue. “She wants to more than anything. But…it might not be safe for her to have her powers at the party, right?”

“Oh.” Grace’s eyes fell, then widened as she nodded. “Yeah, ’cause the kids don’t know she got powers. And she might break somebody.” The little girl shook her head solemnly, and Brady felt once again the pang of irony that the gentlest person he’d ever known faced the highest risk of causing real physical harm to someone, to the point that even a six-year-old could recognize it.

“So you’ll get to have your super-animal party with Mrs. Jackson today, but maybe we can have a little bit of a party here, with real superheroes. How’s that?”

“Oh!” Grace clapped her hands and all but jumped off the couch. “A tea party?”

Brady had hard work to hold back a snort, and he could only hope that Grace wouldn’t notice how close he was to bursting into laughter.

“Sure. Superhero tea party. Why not?”

“Can we now?” Grace bounced on her toes, and Brady waved toward the corner where her toys were stored.

“Sure. Go ahead.” At least it was most likely to be Rachelle who walked in on the ridiculous scene—not that even Dash’s snide comments would be enough to hold him back from offering Grace such an innocent pleasure.

“I gotta get a cape!” The little girl rushed back to her room, and Brady let a soft chuckle slip through as he slid from the couch and settled himself on the floor. Grace’s ideas of superheroes were an odd mix of cartoon elements, the edited and embellished versions of their own adventures that Rachelle somehow molded into bedtime stories, and bits and pieces of pop culture references gleaned from her friends and their older siblings, and it was hard to tell exactly how much of it she actually believed was real.

Listening to her rustle around in her room, Brady missed Rachelle’s footsteps in the hall until she stood in front of him, eyeing him with obvious confusion.

“You okay?” She offered his shake, and Brady grinned up at her as he took it.

“Yep. Just—” His explanation was cut off as Grace raced back into the room, her crocheted baby blanket wrapped haphazardly around her shoulders and a longer blanket dragging behind her. Brady raised a questioning eyebrow at her as she thrust it toward him, and she giggled. “Since when do I wear a cape, silly girl?”

“’Cause it’s dress-up!”

“Ah. Formal super-wear. Got it.” Brady took the blanket and draped it lightly across his back, trying to ignore the stiff, sticky spots that brushed his neck.

“Okay, what are you two doing?” Rachelle’s curious tone took on an extra measure of softness, and Grace beamed up at her.

“It’s a superhero tea party!”

“Aww, that sounds like so much fun.” Rachelle reached a hand out as though to smooth her hair before apparently remembering and pulling it back. “Is it just for you and Brady, or can I come too?”

“Yeah!” Grace’s face lit even more, and she turned and ran toward the door again. “I gotta get you a cape!” She suddenly skidded to a stop and turned to look back, fixing Rachelle with a serious look. “And it’s okay if you break the cups, ’cause we can glue it back.” She whirled around and raced toward her room, and Brady offered Rachelle a soft smile as she settled on the floor next to him.

“Hope that came through loud and clear. Somebody sure loves you. Welcome to the party, Mighty Midge.”