Rebecca sat on the floor of the ZBZ living room in front of the fireplace and stared down at the handful of letters that rested in her lab. All in their colored envelopes of happy colors. She stared at them with such disdain and scorn that she was certain that they might combust right there in her lap. Next to her was the iPod that contained the playlist he’d made for her once upon a time full of idiotic bands that she never would have listened to otherwise. In front of her was the teddy bear with its happy little heart between its paws and sewed-on smile on its fuzzy face. All of it was a lie. The letters, the songs, the bear. None of it was real.
As she started to toss the first letter into the lit fireplace, Rebecca heard Casey come into the living room, and she paused. Only it wasn’t the sound of Casey Cartwright’s occasionally annoying voice that caused her to pause. It was the strange and unusual-looking coin that she could see underneath the coffee table. Shh!, she said sternly to Casey and reached forward to pick up the coin. When she did, the entire room felt like it began to spin, the letters flew from her lap, and Rebecca was sure she was going to hurl. Once all of the twirling and moving stopped, Rebecca found herself on an average-looking bed in the middle of a room she’d never seen before in her life.
“What in the hell is going on?!” She demanded. As if on cue, a figure appeared before her, and she jumped back in surprise. Once the hologram… thing stopped blabbering about why she was here, how she was here, and what to do now that she was here, it promptly disappeared and she was alone again.
“Um….” Rebecca surveyed the room and saw her device that she assumed would access the network that was already mentioned. Deciding what the hell, she made a post as an introduction and waited to see what would happen.
Oh, something definitely happened. Cappie was here, and he had been here for god only knew how long. Thinking about how this was possible only made her head swim. They agreed to meet at her “apartment,” and when she stepped out into the common room, Rebecca let out a sigh of relief that she was alone. These roommates that she was supposed to have didn’t seem to be around at the moment. She was busying herself being nosy and looking all over the place for any secrets, hidden cameras, or evidence that she was going to be living with axe murders and not long after, there was rapid knock at the door.
Walking over, Rebecca looked through the peephole to see a very impatient looking Kappa Tau and opened the door, placing her hands on her hips and giving him her most signature look of disapproval.
“I was in the middle of something important, you know, before being dragged here.”
Finally, a name on one of those announcement thingies that Cappie recognised and not just from a wide background knowledge of popular culture. He could count on one hand the number of times he had been this excited to see someone arrive in Atlantis. If he’d had a list of people from home that he’d like to see in Atlantis, although not right at the top, Rebecca would be fairly high up on it. He made a mental note not to ever phrase it that way to her face though...
Cappie practically bounded over to Rebecca’s apartment and knocked excitedly on the door. He couldn’t wait to take her out, show her Dive and introduce her to his friends here. Was that stupid? He was kinda proud of the life he’d built up for himself here and he was excited at the prospect of showing that off to someone from home. He’d loved sharing it all with Casey before she’d left but she’d never really let herself just relax and enjoy it. She’d always acted as though there was something she needed to get back to, even though she’d been assured that it would wait for her. Cappie just hoped that Rebecca’s well-documented wild side would mean she had a proclivity to stay and see what Atlantis had to offer - for a while at least.
A wide grin spread across Cappie’s face when the door opened to reveal Rebecca, all tiny and annoyed. Ignoring her disapproving look, he leaned down and scooped her into a tight hug, lifting her easily off the floor.
“Oh shush,” he chided jovially. “You’re not allowed to be pouty when I’m so pleased to see you!”
“Cappie!” Rebecca exclaimed with a small laugh when he picked her up from the ground. She returned his hug, but smacked him lightly on the arm when he placed her back down on the floor. He really did have the biggest and goofiest smile on his face.
“What in the hell is going on?” She asked him. “One minute I'm in the ZBZ house and the next I'm here. Speaking of, what is here anyway?” She pointed a finger at him.” And don't give me more of that bullshit the creepy hologram tried to give when I first woke up.”
None of this made any sense, and if she didn't know better, Rebecca would have thought it had finally happened. She'd gone insane.
What had been the tipping point to send her over the edge? College? No, her classes were fine. The breakup with Evan? No, she wasn't going to give him that sort of power over her. Zeta Beta? Eh. She supposed that could have done it.
“I'm freaking out here, Cap. Why aren't you freaking out?”
How could you explain Atlantis to someone who didn’t believe in Atlantis? Okay, so the hologram wasn’t exactly the most in depth introduction to what was going on but he seemed to remember it covering the bases. Still, he thought he’d probably forgotten just how weird all of this was to a newbie, especially someone from their world where the weirdest thing that had happened recently was Dale joining Omega Chi.
Cappie gave a soft chuckle, placing his hands on his hips while he tried to think of a non-crazy sounding answer to her questions.
“I’ve been here a while now,” he explained. “Over a year actually. I finished my freaking out sometime around last March.” Nope. That definitely still sounded crazy. “But, hey, at least I’m here to help you freak out in a safe and responsible manner…”
“You picked up a coin, right? When you were at ZBZ?” he added after a moment, suddenly sounding a little cautious. Casey hadn’t picked up a coin when she’d arrived. She’d just been sucked in by mistake. He knew, deep down, that her decision to leave had been entirely her own but there was a part of him that liked to hold out hope that, just maybe, if she’d come in the proper way, she might have been more inclined to stick around. It was a tenuous hope at best.
“No offense, Cap, but you usually don't belong in the same sentence as ‘safe and responsible manner.’” Something she considered to be a good thing - most of the time.
The whole being here a year thing didn't make this any easier to process given she'd just seen Cappie the night or so earlier. The whole group had been together the entire night at Dobler’s until they'd been kicked out the next morning. She rubbed her temples with her fingers for a moment but then paused when he mentioned the coin.
Oh. That thing.
“Yes,” she said slowly as she remembered the ordeal. “I was sitting in front of the couch, and I saw a coin under the coffee table. And then…” Rebecca’s eyes widened and looked at him. “What is this like Harry Potter? The coin was a magical transport to places that don't exist?” Her words were laced with sarcasm but clearly the look on his face implied that's exactly what it had been.
“So, I'm in a place that doesn't exist.” Yes, obviously it existed because she was here, but whatevs. “The hologram mentioned a war. I'm supposed to help fight this war now? With what? A charming smile and powerful words of persuasion?” She sighed dramatically and plopped down on the couch. “I always knew becoming president would get me somewhere, but I never in a million years thought that place would be here.”
She had a point: Cappie had absolutely no intention of being responsible any time soon and, although he hadn’t died yet, safety wasn’t high on his list of priorities. He shrugged the comment off.
“‘Help’ is a relative term,” he told her, following her into the apartment and sinking down beside her on the couch with one arm draped along the back of the cushions behind her. “I like to think that every little counts. I, for example, specialise in keeping up troop moral.”
“What have they assigned you to do?” he asked, curiously. Rebecca had many, many talents but he couldn’t help wondering which one Atlantis was keen to make use of.
“Troop moral?” Rebecca shifted on the couch so that she was facing him a little and raised an eyebrow. “So, how many End of the World parties have you thrown?” She was mostly teasing, but knowing Cappie, there was a possibility he might have thrown a few in the time he’d been here. Over a year.
“The thing told me I was supposed to be a diplomat?” She wasn’t sure what that meant here since she knew that could be a very broad term. Her eyes widened though. “Wait, does that mean I’ll get my own diplomatic residence and have special privileges? Oooh.”
That idea piqued her interest since her current room that she’d woken up in was a definite downgrade from what she’d been used to at ZBZ. Her exercise equipment was so not going to fit in there between the bed and the doorway.
“None actually,” Cappie replied with a laugh. “Believe it or not, Atlantis is pretty good at parties all on its own. In fact, you just missed an epic Solstice party. Besides, it wouldn’t be right to throw a KT party without the brothers.” As he spoke, he felt the familiar pang of sadness that he got whenever he thought about Beaver, Spitter, Wade and the rest of his friends.
Cappie watched the spark of excitement flicker into Rebecca’s eyes as she started to imagine palatial surroundings.
“Aww,” he cooed, lifting his hands to his mouth. “It’s so cute that you would think that.”
With a heave, he pushed himself up to his feet and held out a hand to Rebecca.
“Come on. I’m taking you out. There’s no point me sitting here explaining. Atlantis is one of those places that you won’t believe until you see it.” There were still things here that caught him off guard, even after all this time.
“Oh and we might actually bump into Harry Potter - I hear he’s pretty cool - so you can ask him your question about Atlantis coin versus port key travel.”
That was true. She wouldn’t have wanted to throw a traditional Zeta Beta mixer without all of her girls there with her. It just wouldn’t be the same. She wondered briefly about these epic parties he mentioned. If Cappie thought that they were epic then that probably meant there was plenty of alcohol and girls to go around.
She pouted briefly and wrinkled her nose up at his teasing. The bells and whistles were supposed to be part of the diplomatic package, right? No? Damn. Maybe that could be her first proposal in her new position…
“Where are we going?” She asked while taking his hand to stand. He was her Atlantis tour guide, and if he’d been here over a year then she knew he would take her to some fun places. She stopped short at the possibility of meeting the real Harry Potter and half expected him to come back with a ‘just kidding,’ but when there was nothing, she shrugged and followed after him out the door. She’d get to know her roommates later. Eventually.
“I’m giving you the Grand Tour,” he told her. “Which means I’m taking you to all the best bars in the city,” he continued, to clarify. He figured a tour of the city’s bars on a Saturday night would probably mean she’d get to meet a large majority of the Displaced in one place or another. Sure there were other things she’d want to see eventually, like the park, the base and, of course, the spa, but those things could wait until it was daytime and Cappie wasn’t so excited to have a friend there to show off to people.
~
“Here you go,” Cappie said, placing the pitcher of beer and two glasses down on the table in front of her and sliding into the seat across from where she was sitting. They’d been lucky to get a seat - The Lightning Brew was heaving with people listening to the Open Mic Night performers - but Cappie had spotted a couple leaving and grabbed the table before anyone could protest.
The Brew was their third port of call on Cappie’s whistle stop tour of the best Atlantis nightlife had to offer. They’d dropped by Cava - not really Cappie’s scene, although he’d guessed that Rebecca might like it - and briefly popped into Dive - Cappie intended on taking her back there later, once they were much, much more drunk - before heading to the Brew for beer, music and something to eat. The kitchen was usually very slow on open mic nights, due to the sheer volume of orders, but they had plenty to discuss so Cappie wasn’t too worried about waiting. He picked up the pitcher and poured them both glasses of the frothy, amber liquid.
“I guess you probably still have a ton of questions,” he commented, pushing Rebecca’s glass towards her. “Shoot.”
Rebecca had been fully prepared to have a list a mile long of complaints about these places Cappie was taking her to, but unfortunately - or fortunately for him - the list was very short. His bar, Dive, left some room for improvement, but she could see why it appealed to him. The brief encounter with his boss had been relatively nice despite the unusual appearance of the man in his yellow suit and numerous earrings, but the man was charming to boot. Cava had been fun if you were in the mood for that sort of thing, but Lightening Brew was more her sort of place. It didn’t have the homey feel of Dobler’s, but what place would? Some of the people up on stage singing left a lot to be desired, but thankfully there was a fresh pitcher and glasses in front of her. With the drinking age being eighteen in Atlantis, she could totally make the most of that even if her birthday barely a month away now that it was June instead of the middle of winter.
The beer was good, and she took a long sip while thinking about what she wanted to ask him first. There were all sorts of questions she could ask, but a lot of it she figured she’d learn over time while being here. The whats, wheres, and hows of living in Atlantis for over a year. Oh god, she was actually thinking about staying long enough to learn this things. It certainly was a far cry from life in Cyprus Rhodes. No, Rebecca wanted to know the juicy details.
“Okay, first question.” she said with a drum of her fingers on the wood table. “You’ve been here for, what, a year now? Aside from your illustrious job… how have you been keeping yourself busy?” Grinning and eyes dancing with burning curiosity, she leaned forward on the table with her chin resting in her palm. “From the little I know so far, this place does seem like the type to keep even you on your toes.”
Cappie gave a soft chuckle at Rebecca’s manner, taking a mouthful of his own beer. She was so nosey. He was surprised by all the little things about her that he’d forgotten over the year and a bit that he’d been here. It was like he was getting to know her all over again, just with less psychological evaluation involved… he hoped.
“Oh, it certainly does that,” he replied, raising his eyebrows and tilting his head briefly to one side. He didn’t know where to start answering her question. How did he explain a year’s worth of Atlantis weirdness to someone brand new to it all? He doubted she’d believe half of what he had to tell her.
“So there was the time we all believed we were born into various factions and someone gave me a job as a neuroscientist. Then there was the time that we were attacked by Leatherface, from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre… that was fun. And the time that I believed I was Tramp from Lady and the Tramp.” That had also been fun at the time. Not so much afterwards, though. Up until that point, his life here had been pretty simple: weird but fairly straightforward. Of course, things hadn’t been quite right since the kids had shown up in December…
“Oh yeah,” he said slowly. “And I have a daughter... Bianca. She’s from an alternate future.” He gave a little shrug, which was supposed to communicate ‘I don’t even know’, before taking a long drink from his beer glass, watching over the rim for Rebecca’s reaction.
“A neuroscientist, Leatherface, and the Tramp. Points for variety, I guess?” Rebecca knew which one of those three was more up his alley than the other two, but that was hardly something he needed telling. She shook her head and took another drink; a lot more alcohol was going to be needed tonight in order to make this day a lot less weird. From the sound of it, she wasn’t sure if it would ever be not weird.
Mid-drink, though, Cappie revealed something that she was definitely not expecting. It was a miracle that Rebecca didn’t spit out her drink all over him at the words, ’I have a daughter’, but she nearly choked on her beer instead. “Um, Cap, you just lost me for a second because it sounded like you said ‘I’ and ‘daughter’ in the same sentence.” She could only stare blankly at him, and considering she knew him well enough to know that this wasn’t something he’d ever casually joke about - Cappie with a kid, really? - she knew he was either serious or had eaten some of the crazy flakes she thought she’d had earlier when she first arrived.
“What do you mean ‘alternate future?’ Oh god, please tell me you don’t have someone here knocked up.” She didn’t dare take another drink just yet but still gaped at him. Cappie was basically the Peter Pan of Cyrus Rhodes, so him having a kid? It wasn’t that she couldn’t see him being a great father - someday - but she highly doubted he was ready for that right now.
Cappie had been expecting a reaction similar to the one he got. He lowered his drink and took a deep breath.
“Yeah, I found it kind of hard to believe when I first found out too.” In fact, he’d tried to ignore the situation altogether which, looking back, probably hadn’t been the most mature response. Still, he supposed that only highlighted the point that he absolutely was not parent material… yet.
“Around Christmas time last year, a whole load of people arrived from Atlantis’ future, except they weren’t all from the same future. I think we worked out there were about three timelines in the end.” Irrelevant, Cappie. Get to the point. “Anyway, turns out I have kids in at least two futures.”
“But no,” he added quickly, in response to her comment. “I have not got someone ‘knocked up’. Bee was supposed to be, well, yeah… in April but I made sure that didn’t happen.” He frowned a little and looked down at his hands on the table.
“Anyway, thanks for the vote of confidence,” he said, shaking his head as if to shake away the frown and trying his best to regain his customary light-hearted attitude. “I’ll have you know I’m going to be an awesome dad someday... in the distant, distant future.”
Two alternate futures with two kids. What a fun December that must have been - or not, by the sound of it. Rebecca watched him carefully, eyeing him as he stared down at his hands while she took another drink. Their glasses were starting to get on the low side, so she poured refills for both of them. “Oh, come on, Cappie, you know that’s not what I meant,” she said with a roll her eyes and shook her head. “Obviously, I think you’ll be a good father…. later. You’re you. What kid wouldn’t love you? But right now you’re not exactly, well, I mean had being a dad popped into your mind even the slightest before they showed up?”
Rebecca didn’t have much confidence in her own ability to be a parent now or years from now in the future. It’s not like she ever had the best examples growing up or as a young adult. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted kids at all. She screwed her own life up time and time again, why would she want to be responsible for another human being?
She narrowed her eyes at him again, studying his reactions and expressions. She knew him too well and could tell something about this bothered him. More than just the whole having kids from the future thing. “Does this have anything to do with that Emilia girl who said she would like to ‘think’ you guys were friends?”
He did know what she meant and he wasn’t going to hold her lack of faith in his current parenting abilities against her. In fact, it was quite touching that she thought his future kids would love him. At least it sounded like he’d done a fair job with Madison and Eric, although he was willing to bet Casey had made sure of that.
“Don’t worry,” he replied, rolling his eyes. “I’m not getting broody. I have absolutely no desire to have a little human to take care of. I’m still trying to work out how to look after myself.”
Cappie was ready for the question about Em when it came. He’d seen Rebecca talking to Em on the network and knew it was only a matter of time before Rebecca demanded all the gossip. Careful not to give away too much in his expression, he took a drink from his newly refilled glass before placing it down on the table and stretching his arms up above his head.
“She’s Bee’s mom,” he confirmed, tilting his head to one side, his eyes fixed on Becks’.
“Good,” she said cheerfully. “Because if I’m not allowed to be pouty then you’re not allowed to be broody.” Little humans. Ugh, gross. They were so sticky, smelly, and loud, and that was a very large part of the reason she’d volunteered Casey as ZBZ House Mother to watch all of the professors’ littlest brats during homecoming.
The short explanation about the girl on the network only made her sit her glass down, cross her arms, and stare at him. He didn’t really think he’d get away with stopping there, did he? At least she now knew she was getting somewhere with the juicy details.
“Don’t think for a minute you’re getting away with stopping there,” she said. “You said the kid was supposed to be ‘well, yeah’ in April. What did you do? Pull out before you made her a real girl? Break up with her? What happened?”
Of course Rebecca wanted more details. He’d have thought it weird if she didn’t. Despite the touchy nature of their subject matter, Cappie couldn’t help but smile as he watched the physical manifestation of Rebecca’s stubbornness. He’d missed her. He hadn’t realised quite how much.
“We dated for a while but we broke up in February,” he said simply, shrugging. There was so much more to the story and he wanted to tell Rebecca but it was a complicated situation, full of complex emotions that even he was still having trouble processing. Still, if anyone from home was going to understand, he guessed it would probably be Becks.
“You know I told you I went all Tramp for a while? Well, it was to another girl’s Lady.” He paused. He still hated the fact that he’d accidentally cheated on Em. That wasn’t who he was, that wasn’t what he did. He wasn’t that guy but he’d been that guy to Em and it ate him up inside whenever he let himself think about it too deeply.
“She was ridiculously understanding, of course - you’ll learn that about Em, she’s, like, the nicest person in the multiverse - but… well, I guess the whole thing just made me realise that we had a dead shark on our hands,” he explained, effortlessly referencing Annie Hall. He bit his lip awkwardly, unable to completely hide the fed up look that crept onto his face.
“But, hey, it’s probably a good thing it all came to a head in February ‘cause Casey showed up in March and that would have just been awkward if Em and I had still been dating.” He had known it would only be a matter of time before Rebecca worked out, from the network or from anyone who knew the reason behind Cappie’s recent two month bender, that Casey had been in Atlantis so he figured it was probably easier to just tell her himself than wait for the barrage of questions to hit at an inopportune moment.
Oh yeah. Now this was the juiciest part of the pineapple that she'd just stumbled onto. She listened to Cappie explain what happened, doing her best to keep her expression clear until he finished and she had a better grasp of the whole situation. Hearing that he'd cheated - albeit accidentally - on his girlfriend surprised Rebecca the most. That was what she did, what Evan did, and even what Casey did. Cappie wasn't a cheater, and she could tell that, months later, he was still beating himself up about it.
Even though she didn't totally understand how the Lady and the Tramp thing works, she still wasn't exactly sure how the accidental cheating tied into his relationship being doomed to fail. Okay, that was a lie. Rebecca likely would have done the same thing, using her infidelity as an excuse to run away from something good. The situations weren't identical, but she'd done the same multiple times in both her romantic and platonic relationships. So, yeah. She understood. Then there was Casey. Of course Casey showed up here, and of course she left. He hadn't said so in as many words, but she wasn't here, was she? No doubt that she had done a number on him.
Rebecca’s face softened a little as she leaned against her elbows on the table. "So… now Casey’s gone and you’re still in love with both of them?” For once, her words weren’t judgmental. She knew him well enough from experience that he didn’t let people go that easily just because the relationship ended. “If she was here and left…. Casey’s gone, Cap. Whether or not you get back with this other girl is irrelevant, but you can’t keep pining over Casey Cartwright forever. I don’t even think you want that. If you did, you would have gone home already or left when she did.” The fact that she was still currently possibly, maybe, kind of pining over Evan Chambers was not something she was going to bring up. Hypocritical? A smidge.
“Something like that,” Cappie admitted. Wow… it felt good to actually say that out loud for a change. He’d spoken to a couple of people about Em and where their relationship stood now but he’d been quick to shut down any talk of Casey since he’d returned to Atlantis at the end of May. Somehow, though, talking to Rebecca about it wasn’t as hard as it had been with other people. Maybe it was because she wasn’t trying to give him sympathy.
He knew she was right, he couldn’t keep pining over Casey forever. She had made her choice, to leave, and he had made his, to stay. Despite what she had told him about them driving off into the sunset together after graduating, the fact that she had, yet again, put her ‘future’ above her relationship with him had made him seriously doubt whether they really could ever work out, in any world. Still, there was one thing that just kept playing on his mind; one thing that wouldn’t allow him to let go and move on like he knew he needed to.
“You know I mentioned I have kids in two futures… well, my other kids were with Casey. In at least one future, she’s gonna come back and we’re gonna get married and make beautiful, blonde babies and get a dog and I’m gonna torment my daughter by making friends with all her boyfriends.” He fixed Rebecca with a helpless look. “If I give up on Casey, I give up on that future. I’m not sure I’m ready for that.”
“I guess I’m stuck,” he sighed, sounding resigned. And he hadn’t even mentioned all the weird shit with O… He lifted his beer to his lips and took a long drink, draining half of the glass in one go.
“Anyway, enough about my fucked up love life,” he said, placing his glass down with more of a thump than was strictly necessary. A little of the beer splashed up the side and spilled onto the table. He ignored it.
“How’s Evangelina Jolie? Still being a douche nugget?”
What Rebecca wanted to say was that, by leaving, Casey had given up on any future she might have had with Cappie here, but she kept that part to herself. From what she understood, it didn’t matter if you stayed here a day, a month, or ten years. You still went back to the exact moment you picked up the coin. It was both reassuring and discouraging for Rebecca who wasn’t necessarily in the best frame of mind while she sat in front of a roaring fireplace with the intent to set Evan’s things he’d given her on fire.
“You’re only stuck if you want to be stuck,” she said with a shrug. “So what if Casey shows back up? You two can’t make up your minds half the time when you’re in the same universe. Are you really going to let your,” And she held up air quote fingers for this, “‘Epic Romance’ dictate what you do when you’re literally a world away? Deal with it when or if she does. Don’t be miserable because of one possible future out of what? - three? - that apparently exist here.” She knew she was just as likely talking to a brick wall. When it came to Casey, Cappie often had tunnel vision.
It was now her turn to avoid the question, avert her eyes, and pick her glass back up for a long, long drink. When she did look at him again, she gave him a tight smile and waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, fine. Evan’s Evan.”
Cappie frowned as he listened to Rebecca talk. You could always rely on Becks to cut through the crap to the cold, hard, unpalatable truth. Still, as she spoke, he realised that she was only saying the same thing he’d already heard from Emily, Delilah, O (seriously, when did he get so many girl friends?) and even Em herself, albeit less brutally. He guessed there might be something in it. Still, he was done discussing it for the time being.
Sensing that the tables had turned, Cappie narrowed his eyes in a quizzical, curious look.
“When are you from?” he asked slowly. “I mean what had just happened at home before you left?” he rephrased, translating from Atlantis speak into normal person, new-to-all-this terms. When Casey had arrived and told him all about their future, he’d watched a few episodes of the tv show that they were part of. He’d figured he’d already gotten the spoilers that mattered, after all. He was wishing now, however, that he’d paid more attention to the bits that weren’t about him and Casey.
Given that he’d asked about Evan at all or at least hadn’t mention anything about that night made Rebecca assume that he didn’t know about it. After all, he’d been here for a year or more. She had no idea what was going on at home when he first showed up here, so when he asked what was going on for her, she shrugged again.
“The day after Calvin’s birthday party.” When he didn’t seem to have a huge spark of recognition, she continued. “The party at Rusty and Dale’s sucked because someone forgot the booze, everyone was snowed in, and the heat had gone out. So, we trudged through the snow to Dobler’s, raided the bar, played Kiss or Tell, and ending up spending the night there.”
She paused and waited to see if remembered anything. “Ring any bells?”
It was very strange, trying to think back to an event which he had seen himself participating in but had yet to actually witness in person but he did remember watching the episode she was describing.
“Didn’t I kiss Evan?” he asked, giving a pronounced shudder. “Yuck.” As much as it felt familiar and comfortable to be mean about Evan, Cappie still felt a little twinge of sadness when he thought about his former friend, especially after having seen that last episode where Evan had stepped out on a pretty tidy law school gig in order to stand up for the KT house and his ‘friends’.
As he thought back on the episodes he’d watched, everything that Rebecca had said started to fall into place and…
“Oh,” he said, suddenly looking a little sheepish as he remembered what had happened during their little game of Kiss or Tell. “Right. Yeah.”
He paused, unsure what to say about the breakup that he remembered watching on screen or the knowledge that they were going to get back together again a few episodes later. He’d tried so hard to avoid future knowledge for almost a year before it caught up with him and just look at what seeing into his possible futures had done to him. It wasn’t fair for him to decide what she should or shouldn’t know so he just gave her a small, apologetic smile.
“I guess neither of us have our shit together right now,” he settled for in the end. “But, hey, at least we can be messed up, single people together. You know what they say, misery loves company.”
“Yes,” she said with a smirk about his kiss with Evan. “It was the highlight of the night.” It might as well have been because the night deteriorated drastically after that moment. Questions began getting much more personal, and she’d gotten the answer for the reason she’d suggested the game in the first place despite using the excuse for someone else’s truth.
When the light bulb went off for him, Rebecca shrugged and lowered her eyes as she traced the top of her glass with her finger. “Yeah, well, let’s just say that I’m not rushing to go back anytime soon.”
A break from her life wasn’t the worst thing in the world. She didn’t have a clue what might happen, but she didn’t feel the pressure of home. Not from her friends, from Evan, or even working towards being the best Zeta Beta president that anyone had ever seen. People here didn’t know her as ‘Rebecca Logan, the senator’s daughter’ or ‘Rebecca Logan, the girl in that internet video.’ She was just Rebecca. If anything, people knew her nothing more than as Cappie’s friend.
There was a small smile, and she looked up at him again. “And I’m the best company ever, obviously.”
He absolutely knew how she felt. He had felt exactly the same when he’d first arrived, after his one night stand with Casey and her assertion, in the morning, that nothing had changed between them. A vacation from real life could be an incredibly attractive prospect when real life had just slapped you around the face.
He hadn’t intended on staying as long as he had – well, he hadn’t really had much of a plan at all – but Atlantis had snuck up on him and somehow become just as much of a home as CRU had been. Now, the thought of leaving here, even if it was to go back to Casey and his brothers, was just as terrifying to him as the prospect of Graduating had seemed last year. He was sure that part of the reason he was so glad to see Rebecca here, apart from the fact that he’d missed her and her snark, was because it gave him another bona fide reason to stick around.
“You’re not the worst company,” he laughed in a kind of agreement, a grin spreading across his face once again.
“Come on, drink up,” he added, motioning to her glass as he picked up his own. “I want to take you to Trocution.”