Chaos Theory on Dimensionally Stable Objects on Earth College Campuses (20/27-ish)
Title - Chaos Theory on Dimensionally Stable Objects on Earth College Campuses (20/27-ish)
Author - earlgreytea68
Rating - General
Characters - OCs
Spoilers - None
Disclaimer - I don't own them and I don't make money off of them, but I don't like to dwell on that, so let's move on. (Except for the kids. They're all mine.)
Summary - Brem goes to university.
Author's Notes - Thanks tojlrpuck for the beta, and congrats to her on Ruby!
Many, many, many thanks to Kristin, for all the ideas. Thanks also tobouncy_castle79, who once again gave it the first outside-eyes read-through.
The gorgeous icon was created byswankkatfor me, commissioned byjlrpuckfor my birthday.
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19
Chapter Twenty
He had to tell Kate, and he knew it. He thought he’d known it all along, and he suspected that was primarily the reason he’d had this entire odd personality crisis in the first place. And yet she was so excited to see him, kissed him so joyfully, looked at him with such happiness in those bright blue eyes, that he put it off for a day. He would give her one more day, he told himself. Or maybe he would give himself one more day.
He told her the following day, meeting up with her after her first class; Kate wanted to tell him all about class, over tea at Tealuxe, and he steered her back to his dorm room instead. He wanted her to have the ability to flee from him easily, which was why he chose his dorm room and not hers. Plus, he’d asked Matt if he could have the room. Matt had naturally assumed he wanted it for salacious purposes.
Kate seemed to assume that, too. She took his suggestion that they go back to his place with a grin, taking his hand as they walked across the Yard.
“And whatever are you going to do with me at your place?” she asked.
She was flirting with him, and he was not in the mood to flirt. “I’m going to talk to you,” he replied, honestly.
“Oh, you talk entirely too much, Brem,” she informed him, as they reached his dorm and he held open the door for her.
“I think you’ll think I talk not nearly enough, by the time today is over,” Brem remarked, grimly.
She looked at him in surprise as she walked by him, a hitch in the rhythm of her walking. She fell suddenly silent as they walked down the hall to his room, removing her gloves and sticking them in her pockets. He unbuttoned his coat and shrugged out of it as he opened the door to his room for them, dropped it over the back of his desk chair.
“Something’s wrong,” she said, entering the room and turning to face him. She looked stiff, as if she was bracing herself. “What is it?”
And so here he had reached the all-important moment, and he tried to think of what he had planned to say, as he closed the door over. “Why don’t we sit down?” he suggested, as a delay tactic.
“Absolutely not,” said Kate.
“At least take your coat off.”
“No. Brem.”
Brem inhaled deeply. He looked at Kate. And then he said, “I am not…entirely…human.”
“No, seriously, Brem,” she said, sharply. “Get on with it.”
“This is it,” he responded, flatly. “I am completely serious.”
Kate opened and then closed her mouth. She tilted her head. Then she shook it a bit and licked her lips. “I don’t…”
He reached out, took her hands, placed one over each heart in his chest. He knew she could feel the steady double beat, even through the two T-shirts he was wearing. “It isn’t a heart condition, Kate. It’s two hearts. I have two hearts.”
Kate stared at her hands. “You…”
Brem thought this was the sort of situation where more information was better, would be more convincing, would make her understand. “My father is a species called Time Lord. My mother is quite human, my father is not at all. And Time Lords are biologically advanced. Hence, two hearts. I have a respiratory bypass system as well. And triple-helixed DNA.” He paused. “Does that make sense?”
Kate lifted her gaze from her hands on his chest, staring at him in wide-eyed disbelief. “Does it what?” She sounded slightly hysterical.
“I know it’s a lot to take in-”
“A lot to take in?” she exclaimed. “It isn’t, Brem!” She dropped her hands from his chest and took a step back, brushing at the wisps of hair drifting around her forehead. “’A lot to take in’ is telling me you’re cheating on me, or used to be a woman, or found out you’re my brother! This is so beyond the realm of ‘a lot to take in,’ Brem!”
He stuck his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, I suppose-”
“You want me to believe you’re…an alien? Is that what it comes down to?”
“Half-alien,” he corrected, clinging to that last bit of humanity.
“Oh, that makes all the difference.”
“Wellllllll, it makes some difference. Doesn’t it?”
She stared at him. “I think you’re insane.”
“I’m not,” he assured her, evenly. “Or maybe I am, but what I’m telling you is one hundred percent true.”
“Oh, yeah? Where were you born?”
He wondered if she thought he was going to somehow fail this quiz she seemed to be giving him. “I was born in London, actually,” he said.
“Well, that’s-”
“On a spaceship.”
She looked skeptical. “Really?”
“Yes. My father’s spaceship. It’s called a TARDIS. It stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. She’s the only one left in the universe, actually. Goes anywhere in space and time and only gives you a little bit of trouble, and that’s usually because my father is a rubbish driver. He failed the TARDIS piloting test, if you must know. He had to steal the TARDIS. He thinks we don’t know that, but Mum told us all about it.”
Kate continued to stare at him.
“Kate,” he said, gently. “I know it sounds completely unbelievable. And I also know you know it’s true. I know that everything that you can’t explain about me is clicking into place right now. I mean, I’m named after electro-magnetic radiation, if that’s not suspicious enough. I gave you a device for Christmas that does an astonishing number of things. And I expanded your bookcase to fit a dozen more books than Earth physics should have allowed. Didn’t you wonder how I could do that? Time Lord science, Kate. We can make things multi-dimensional, bigger on the inside.” He reached over suddenly and picked up his journal from the top of his desk. This particular volume of his ongoing journal, which now encompassed such a large number of his journals that he had his own library for them on the TARDIS, had been picked up in Victorian London by his father as a gift for him on his last “birthday.” It was a lovely leather-bound book, embossed with gold that was rubbing off now because Brem was hard on it, and there was no way it should have fit into the pocket of his jeans as easily as Brem slid it in there.
Kate made an exclamation of surprise. He looked up at her. “Bigger on the inside, Kate. It is science, I was never lying about that. It’s just alien science.”
Kate took another step away from him, looking stunned. “You didn’t tell me,” she accused, softly, as if she couldn’t make her voice be louder.
“I know. But I’m telling you now,” he offered, hopefully.
“Now? Now? But I thought I…I thought you…And we’ve…I’ve…With an alien.”
“Kate,” he began.
“I have to go,” she said, eyes downcast, brushing past him toward the door.
“Kate,” he said again, turning after her.
She paused at the door, looked back at him, met his eyes. “You’re right,” she said. “You didn’t talk nearly enough.”
And he kept himself in the room, because he’d promised himself he would. He’d promised he’d give Kate time and space. He had so much of it to give, after all. But it still took an incredible effort to sit himself at his desk. The room was still and quiet, painfully so. He needed to do something, or he’d go mad, so he forced himself up and over to the television, where he chose a video game and played it numbly until Matt came in.
“Hey,” he said, lightly, as he came in. “I was concerned the coast wouldn’t be clear yet.”
“What?” asked Brem, fuzzily, watching his player fire a triangulation gun at an evil heiddd.
“Did you have a good day?” continued Matt, conversationally.
Yes, Brem went to say. It was fine. And then he stopped himself. Wasn’t it demanding that everything was fine that had almost driven him mad? He paused the game and looked up at Matt, who paused in the middle of tossing his coat into the wardrobe, clearly catching something in Brem’s expression that alerted him to less-than-stellar conditions in Brem’s life. “I had a horrible day,” said Brem.
“Oh,” said Matt, slowly. “I…don’t think I’ve ever heard you say that before.” He sat at his desk, looked across at Brem. “What happened?”
“I…” He tossed the videogame controller aside. “I don’t know. I…I quarreled with Kate.”
“Badly?” asked Matt.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Possibly.” Brem stared at the frozen videogame on the television screen. “Hard to say, but yes, it could be badly.”
“I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.”
Brem barked laughter. “Oh, you have a poor grasp of the way my life goes. Things are always far worse than I think.”
Matt was silent for a second. “And we can’t even get you drunk,” he commented, finally.
“No.” Brem reached for the videogame controller again. “Forget I mentioned it. How were your classes?"
Brem could tell Matt was trying to decide whether or not to let it drop, and finally he said, “They were good.” And then he leaned over a grabbed a videogame controller, and Brem automatically re-started the game so he could add the second player.
********
Matt did not call Athena entirely because he liked Athena and he thought it was about time she visited. He really did think a visit from Athena would cheer Brem up, and he really did think Brem needed cheering up. There had been no word from Kate for the remainder of the week. Not that Brem had said this in so many words but Brem didn’t need to: Matt could tell. Mostly because Brem was home almost constantly. Matt had grown used to having the room mostly to himself. This new Kate-less Brem was a bit…omnipresent.
So, when Brem went to take a shower on Saturday, Matt snagged his cell phone and scrolled to the Contacts. There was no "Athena" listed, and Matt was momentarily flummoxed, scrolling through the myriad address contacts until he came across "Theenie," which he decided had to be the right person. He pressed “send.”
“Hey,” she said, when she answered.
“It’s Matt,” he informed her, immediately, so there would be no confusion.
“What’s wrong with Brem?” she demanded.
“Nothing,” he said. “Well, I mean, not really. It’s just…” Matt sighed. “He broke up with Kate.”
There was a moment of silence. “Did he?” Athena asked. “When? Why?”
“At the beginning of the week, and I don’t know why. Brem just says that they had a fight or something. He doesn’t say why. Actually, he doesn’t talk much about it at all. Anyway, I thought it might be a good idea if you could drop by for a visit. He’s always happy to see you, and it may cheer him up a bit.”
“I’ll be right there,” said Athena.
“Well, you don’t need to-” began Matt, but the line was already dead. Matt, sighing, put the cell phone back on Brem’s desk, next to that omnipresent journal Brem was always scribbling in, and lay on the bed and turned on the television. He was flipping through the channels, trying to find something he felt like watching, when there was a knock on the door. “Yeah!” he called, which was his way of inviting the knocker to come in.
Athena Tyler walked in, hair back in a ponytail secured by the pink ribbon she always wore, dressed in jeans and a dark green sweater and carrying a bottle. “Hey,” she greeted him.
He gaped at her. “How’d you get here so fast?”
She gave him a pitying look. “Oh, Matt. You know this by now: science!” She dropped onto Brem’s bed. “Where’s my brother?”
“He’s taking a shower.”
“Ah. I was wondering how you’d nabbed his mobile. So tell me how classes are.”
“They’re fine, I guess-”
The dorm room door opened and closed on Brem, dressed in jeans and his typical T-shirt layers, his hair damp from the shower. He looked at his sister on his bed and said, in surprise, “Theenie.”
“Hey there.” She grinned at him. “Thought it might be about time for a visit.”
“Oh,” he replied.
“And look what I brought.” She held up a bottle.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Alcohol you can drink, Bremsstrahlung.” She clambered off his bed. “Now find me some cups.”
“It’s what?” he said, blankly.
“Alcohol. Safe alcohol.”
“That he’s not allergic to?” guessed Matt.
“Exactly,” answered Athena, as Brem handed her cups.
“But how do you know?” asked Brem.
“Research.” Athena had unscrewed the cap on the bottle and was pouring a small amount in each of the cups. The liquid was a very bright amber color that seemed to independently glow.
“Research?” said Brem, as Athena thrust the cup into his hand.
“Okay,” she admitted. “Maybe you’re not the only one with a couple of secrets.”
Brem lifted an eyebrow at her.
She turned abruptly to Matt. “What about you? Drinking with us?”
“That?”
“No, you can’t have this, I don’t know what’ll do to you.”
Matt looked alarmed, and instead retrieved a beer from the fridge.
“Okay,” said Athena to Brem, who was cautiously sipping his drink. “You’ve got to drink it all in one gulp.”
“What happens if I don’t?”
“Well, nothing, I’m just telling you the proper way to drink it.” She looked back at Matt. “Ready? Fuwf.” She tapped her cup to his can of beer.
“What’s that mean?”
“It’s a toast.”
“’Fuwf’ is a toast?”
“Just drink,” she said, and tipped her cup back with a gulp. Then she looked over at Brem. “Come on, try it, you’ll like it.”
Brem hesitated a second, then tossed his drink back. It froze his throat on the way down, and didn’t exactly taste good, and he grimaced a bit.
“There you go,” said Athena. “Have another one.” She poured him another small drink.
“Another one? That was awful.”
“It’s not how it tastes that’s the point,” she said, tossing another one back.
“What is the point?”
“You’ll see. Drink it, Brem. Now. I brought you another gift.” She reached into her pocket, pulling out what looked like a DVD case, which should never have fit in there. She flourished it at him, grinning.
“Oh, God,” he said.
“What is it?” Matt asked, trying to catch what the cover had on it.
“Brem loves this videogame,” Athena explained, now inserting it into the videogame console. “We used to play it all the time as kids.”
“I don’t love it,” Brem denied.
“But what is it?” Matt persisted.
“Pretty Princess Perils,” responded Athena, turning the television on.
Matt looked at Brem. “Pretty what?”
“She’s gone mad,” said Brem.
“Pour us more drinks,” commanded Athena. “And I’ll teach you how to beat Brem at Pretty Princess Perils, Matt.”
********
“Humans,” proclaimed Athena, “are lightweights.”
“Mmm,” agreed Brem, noncommittally. They’d finished the bottle of whatever she’d brought between them, and his head felt pleasantly fuzzy. They’d also outlasted Matt, which was not surprising, as they never slept anyway. They’d left him passed out on his bed in favor of going outside. It was frigid out, but they could also see the stars, and Brem was suddenly homesick. He wasn’t entirely sure the alien liquor had been a good idea.
“What about you?” she asked. They were sprawled on their backs on the Yard, looking up at the sky, and Brem could feel her turn his head to look at him. “How do you feel?”
“Fine,” he said, and then sighed. “You start to go mad a little bit, you know. Stuck in one time. It’s like you can…feel the weight of all the years you won’t know, all those past years you can’t know, pressing.”
“You’re maudlin.”
“A bit. You aren’t drunk at all.”
“Not really.”
“How much of that stuff do you drink and when?”
“You don’t really want to hear that story, do you?”
“No.” He paused. “How do you even go about getting it?”
Athena snorted. “It’s not difficult to get away with things, Brem.”
“Without Mum knowing? It’s bloody impossible.”
“True. But I don’t think Mum quite understands what it is.”
Brem rolled onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow and looking down at her. “You had this capacity, capability, all the time, to get this stuff, and you never told me?”
“Why would I tell you, Brem? You’re Brem, you’re…”
“What does that mean?” he demanded, irritated.
She looked at him, smiling. “It means exactly that. You’re Brem.”
“Matt told you, didn’t he? About Kate.”
“Matt may have called me, yes. You should have called me, especially after the conversation we just had before you came back about how you wouldn’t shut me out anymore, but, you know, I’m buzzed and in a forgiving mood and an excellent sister.”
Brem sighed and rolled back onto his back. “I think I’m rubbish at sharing my feelings.”
“You’re not. You’re so bloody much like Dad, the two of you are going to drive me spare for centuries to come. You want to be happy. Your ability to wish for happiness is astonishing to me. You will do anything not to admit you’re unhappy. Well, Brem, you’re a bit drunk tonight, and you’re a bit unhappy about the Kate thing, aren’t you?”
“I’m bloody miserable about it.”
“Ah, I love that alcohol stuff.”
“Stop it,” he said. “I’m serious.”
“I know. She’s an idiot, Brem, clearly. You’re the best thing in the universe, everyone knows that.”
“Oh, God, stop saying things like that, about how I’m me and I’m remarkable and spectacular and brilliant in every way. I am very much not.”
“Of course you’re not. Didn’t I just say you drive me spare? But you are you. You can’t be anyone else. And honestly, Brem, you’re pretty bloody brilliant. Certainly my favorite human-Time Lord hybrid male.”
It was a joke, and he knew it, but he didn’t laugh. He stared at the stars. He could barely see any at all. Boston was terrible for light pollution. He suddenly felt claustrophobic and suffocated, and wanted to ring his father and get him to take a trip.
“Rein it in a bit,” said Athena.
“What?”
“Your defenses are down, you’re a bit open right now. You’re going to alarm Dad if you keep broadcasting things the way you’re doing.”
He shuttered his consciousness with an effort, realizing Athena was right and he was spilling over. “I blame being drunk.”
“Well, yes. So are you going to tell me what happened with Kate?”
“I told her.”
“Why?” asked Athena, after a second.
“Because not telling her was making me go mad, as you may or may not recall. I’m me, Athena, right? Can’t be anybody else. Just me. Your favorite human-Time Lord hybrid male. And, of course, the only one.”
Athena sat up. “Twenty-first century Earth,” she noted, matter-of-factly. “It’s a bad place for an alien on the prowl. A bit of a close-minded planet.”
Brem ignored her. “I’ve never been alone in my life,” he said, still staring up at the sky. “And I feel Dad’s loneliness. I feel it stalking me.”
She looked down at him for a second. “It’s cold. And I’m tired.”
“I am, too,” he realized, shocked.
“It’s the alcohol. Does that to you.”
“I may sleep. That would be kind of fun.”
“You should sleep,” she told him. “And you’ll find someone, Brem. You will.”
“Yeah. Lots of someones. We’ve got centuries, don’t we?”
“That makes us lucky, Brem. The humans all around you, they’d kill for your lifetimes.”
“I know. And that’s the thing that terrifies me most of all.”
“What?”
He looked at her. “Luck."
Next Chapter
Author - earlgreytea68
Rating - General
Characters - OCs
Spoilers - None
Disclaimer - I don't own them and I don't make money off of them, but I don't like to dwell on that, so let's move on. (Except for the kids. They're all mine.)
Summary - Brem goes to university.
Author's Notes - Thanks tojlrpuck for the beta, and congrats to her on Ruby!
Many, many, many thanks to Kristin, for all the ideas. Thanks also tobouncy_castle79, who once again gave it the first outside-eyes read-through.
The gorgeous icon was created byswankkatfor me, commissioned byjlrpuckfor my birthday.
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19
Chapter Twenty
He had to tell Kate, and he knew it. He thought he’d known it all along, and he suspected that was primarily the reason he’d had this entire odd personality crisis in the first place. And yet she was so excited to see him, kissed him so joyfully, looked at him with such happiness in those bright blue eyes, that he put it off for a day. He would give her one more day, he told himself. Or maybe he would give himself one more day.
He told her the following day, meeting up with her after her first class; Kate wanted to tell him all about class, over tea at Tealuxe, and he steered her back to his dorm room instead. He wanted her to have the ability to flee from him easily, which was why he chose his dorm room and not hers. Plus, he’d asked Matt if he could have the room. Matt had naturally assumed he wanted it for salacious purposes.
Kate seemed to assume that, too. She took his suggestion that they go back to his place with a grin, taking his hand as they walked across the Yard.
“And whatever are you going to do with me at your place?” she asked.
She was flirting with him, and he was not in the mood to flirt. “I’m going to talk to you,” he replied, honestly.
“Oh, you talk entirely too much, Brem,” she informed him, as they reached his dorm and he held open the door for her.
“I think you’ll think I talk not nearly enough, by the time today is over,” Brem remarked, grimly.
She looked at him in surprise as she walked by him, a hitch in the rhythm of her walking. She fell suddenly silent as they walked down the hall to his room, removing her gloves and sticking them in her pockets. He unbuttoned his coat and shrugged out of it as he opened the door to his room for them, dropped it over the back of his desk chair.
“Something’s wrong,” she said, entering the room and turning to face him. She looked stiff, as if she was bracing herself. “What is it?”
And so here he had reached the all-important moment, and he tried to think of what he had planned to say, as he closed the door over. “Why don’t we sit down?” he suggested, as a delay tactic.
“Absolutely not,” said Kate.
“At least take your coat off.”
“No. Brem.”
Brem inhaled deeply. He looked at Kate. And then he said, “I am not…entirely…human.”
“No, seriously, Brem,” she said, sharply. “Get on with it.”
“This is it,” he responded, flatly. “I am completely serious.”
Kate opened and then closed her mouth. She tilted her head. Then she shook it a bit and licked her lips. “I don’t…”
He reached out, took her hands, placed one over each heart in his chest. He knew she could feel the steady double beat, even through the two T-shirts he was wearing. “It isn’t a heart condition, Kate. It’s two hearts. I have two hearts.”
Kate stared at her hands. “You…”
Brem thought this was the sort of situation where more information was better, would be more convincing, would make her understand. “My father is a species called Time Lord. My mother is quite human, my father is not at all. And Time Lords are biologically advanced. Hence, two hearts. I have a respiratory bypass system as well. And triple-helixed DNA.” He paused. “Does that make sense?”
Kate lifted her gaze from her hands on his chest, staring at him in wide-eyed disbelief. “Does it what?” She sounded slightly hysterical.
“I know it’s a lot to take in-”
“A lot to take in?” she exclaimed. “It isn’t, Brem!” She dropped her hands from his chest and took a step back, brushing at the wisps of hair drifting around her forehead. “’A lot to take in’ is telling me you’re cheating on me, or used to be a woman, or found out you’re my brother! This is so beyond the realm of ‘a lot to take in,’ Brem!”
He stuck his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, I suppose-”
“You want me to believe you’re…an alien? Is that what it comes down to?”
“Half-alien,” he corrected, clinging to that last bit of humanity.
“Oh, that makes all the difference.”
“Wellllllll, it makes some difference. Doesn’t it?”
She stared at him. “I think you’re insane.”
“I’m not,” he assured her, evenly. “Or maybe I am, but what I’m telling you is one hundred percent true.”
“Oh, yeah? Where were you born?”
He wondered if she thought he was going to somehow fail this quiz she seemed to be giving him. “I was born in London, actually,” he said.
“Well, that’s-”
“On a spaceship.”
She looked skeptical. “Really?”
“Yes. My father’s spaceship. It’s called a TARDIS. It stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. She’s the only one left in the universe, actually. Goes anywhere in space and time and only gives you a little bit of trouble, and that’s usually because my father is a rubbish driver. He failed the TARDIS piloting test, if you must know. He had to steal the TARDIS. He thinks we don’t know that, but Mum told us all about it.”
Kate continued to stare at him.
“Kate,” he said, gently. “I know it sounds completely unbelievable. And I also know you know it’s true. I know that everything that you can’t explain about me is clicking into place right now. I mean, I’m named after electro-magnetic radiation, if that’s not suspicious enough. I gave you a device for Christmas that does an astonishing number of things. And I expanded your bookcase to fit a dozen more books than Earth physics should have allowed. Didn’t you wonder how I could do that? Time Lord science, Kate. We can make things multi-dimensional, bigger on the inside.” He reached over suddenly and picked up his journal from the top of his desk. This particular volume of his ongoing journal, which now encompassed such a large number of his journals that he had his own library for them on the TARDIS, had been picked up in Victorian London by his father as a gift for him on his last “birthday.” It was a lovely leather-bound book, embossed with gold that was rubbing off now because Brem was hard on it, and there was no way it should have fit into the pocket of his jeans as easily as Brem slid it in there.
Kate made an exclamation of surprise. He looked up at her. “Bigger on the inside, Kate. It is science, I was never lying about that. It’s just alien science.”
Kate took another step away from him, looking stunned. “You didn’t tell me,” she accused, softly, as if she couldn’t make her voice be louder.
“I know. But I’m telling you now,” he offered, hopefully.
“Now? Now? But I thought I…I thought you…And we’ve…I’ve…With an alien.”
“Kate,” he began.
“I have to go,” she said, eyes downcast, brushing past him toward the door.
“Kate,” he said again, turning after her.
She paused at the door, looked back at him, met his eyes. “You’re right,” she said. “You didn’t talk nearly enough.”
And he kept himself in the room, because he’d promised himself he would. He’d promised he’d give Kate time and space. He had so much of it to give, after all. But it still took an incredible effort to sit himself at his desk. The room was still and quiet, painfully so. He needed to do something, or he’d go mad, so he forced himself up and over to the television, where he chose a video game and played it numbly until Matt came in.
“Hey,” he said, lightly, as he came in. “I was concerned the coast wouldn’t be clear yet.”
“What?” asked Brem, fuzzily, watching his player fire a triangulation gun at an evil heiddd.
“Did you have a good day?” continued Matt, conversationally.
Yes, Brem went to say. It was fine. And then he stopped himself. Wasn’t it demanding that everything was fine that had almost driven him mad? He paused the game and looked up at Matt, who paused in the middle of tossing his coat into the wardrobe, clearly catching something in Brem’s expression that alerted him to less-than-stellar conditions in Brem’s life. “I had a horrible day,” said Brem.
“Oh,” said Matt, slowly. “I…don’t think I’ve ever heard you say that before.” He sat at his desk, looked across at Brem. “What happened?”
“I…” He tossed the videogame controller aside. “I don’t know. I…I quarreled with Kate.”
“Badly?” asked Matt.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Possibly.” Brem stared at the frozen videogame on the television screen. “Hard to say, but yes, it could be badly.”
“I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.”
Brem barked laughter. “Oh, you have a poor grasp of the way my life goes. Things are always far worse than I think.”
Matt was silent for a second. “And we can’t even get you drunk,” he commented, finally.
“No.” Brem reached for the videogame controller again. “Forget I mentioned it. How were your classes?"
Brem could tell Matt was trying to decide whether or not to let it drop, and finally he said, “They were good.” And then he leaned over a grabbed a videogame controller, and Brem automatically re-started the game so he could add the second player.
********
Matt did not call Athena entirely because he liked Athena and he thought it was about time she visited. He really did think a visit from Athena would cheer Brem up, and he really did think Brem needed cheering up. There had been no word from Kate for the remainder of the week. Not that Brem had said this in so many words but Brem didn’t need to: Matt could tell. Mostly because Brem was home almost constantly. Matt had grown used to having the room mostly to himself. This new Kate-less Brem was a bit…omnipresent.
So, when Brem went to take a shower on Saturday, Matt snagged his cell phone and scrolled to the Contacts. There was no "Athena" listed, and Matt was momentarily flummoxed, scrolling through the myriad address contacts until he came across "Theenie," which he decided had to be the right person. He pressed “send.”
“Hey,” she said, when she answered.
“It’s Matt,” he informed her, immediately, so there would be no confusion.
“What’s wrong with Brem?” she demanded.
“Nothing,” he said. “Well, I mean, not really. It’s just…” Matt sighed. “He broke up with Kate.”
There was a moment of silence. “Did he?” Athena asked. “When? Why?”
“At the beginning of the week, and I don’t know why. Brem just says that they had a fight or something. He doesn’t say why. Actually, he doesn’t talk much about it at all. Anyway, I thought it might be a good idea if you could drop by for a visit. He’s always happy to see you, and it may cheer him up a bit.”
“I’ll be right there,” said Athena.
“Well, you don’t need to-” began Matt, but the line was already dead. Matt, sighing, put the cell phone back on Brem’s desk, next to that omnipresent journal Brem was always scribbling in, and lay on the bed and turned on the television. He was flipping through the channels, trying to find something he felt like watching, when there was a knock on the door. “Yeah!” he called, which was his way of inviting the knocker to come in.
Athena Tyler walked in, hair back in a ponytail secured by the pink ribbon she always wore, dressed in jeans and a dark green sweater and carrying a bottle. “Hey,” she greeted him.
He gaped at her. “How’d you get here so fast?”
She gave him a pitying look. “Oh, Matt. You know this by now: science!” She dropped onto Brem’s bed. “Where’s my brother?”
“He’s taking a shower.”
“Ah. I was wondering how you’d nabbed his mobile. So tell me how classes are.”
“They’re fine, I guess-”
The dorm room door opened and closed on Brem, dressed in jeans and his typical T-shirt layers, his hair damp from the shower. He looked at his sister on his bed and said, in surprise, “Theenie.”
“Hey there.” She grinned at him. “Thought it might be about time for a visit.”
“Oh,” he replied.
“And look what I brought.” She held up a bottle.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Alcohol you can drink, Bremsstrahlung.” She clambered off his bed. “Now find me some cups.”
“It’s what?” he said, blankly.
“Alcohol. Safe alcohol.”
“That he’s not allergic to?” guessed Matt.
“Exactly,” answered Athena, as Brem handed her cups.
“But how do you know?” asked Brem.
“Research.” Athena had unscrewed the cap on the bottle and was pouring a small amount in each of the cups. The liquid was a very bright amber color that seemed to independently glow.
“Research?” said Brem, as Athena thrust the cup into his hand.
“Okay,” she admitted. “Maybe you’re not the only one with a couple of secrets.”
Brem lifted an eyebrow at her.
She turned abruptly to Matt. “What about you? Drinking with us?”
“That?”
“No, you can’t have this, I don’t know what’ll do to you.”
Matt looked alarmed, and instead retrieved a beer from the fridge.
“Okay,” said Athena to Brem, who was cautiously sipping his drink. “You’ve got to drink it all in one gulp.”
“What happens if I don’t?”
“Well, nothing, I’m just telling you the proper way to drink it.” She looked back at Matt. “Ready? Fuwf.” She tapped her cup to his can of beer.
“What’s that mean?”
“It’s a toast.”
“’Fuwf’ is a toast?”
“Just drink,” she said, and tipped her cup back with a gulp. Then she looked over at Brem. “Come on, try it, you’ll like it.”
Brem hesitated a second, then tossed his drink back. It froze his throat on the way down, and didn’t exactly taste good, and he grimaced a bit.
“There you go,” said Athena. “Have another one.” She poured him another small drink.
“Another one? That was awful.”
“It’s not how it tastes that’s the point,” she said, tossing another one back.
“What is the point?”
“You’ll see. Drink it, Brem. Now. I brought you another gift.” She reached into her pocket, pulling out what looked like a DVD case, which should never have fit in there. She flourished it at him, grinning.
“Oh, God,” he said.
“What is it?” Matt asked, trying to catch what the cover had on it.
“Brem loves this videogame,” Athena explained, now inserting it into the videogame console. “We used to play it all the time as kids.”
“I don’t love it,” Brem denied.
“But what is it?” Matt persisted.
“Pretty Princess Perils,” responded Athena, turning the television on.
Matt looked at Brem. “Pretty what?”
“She’s gone mad,” said Brem.
“Pour us more drinks,” commanded Athena. “And I’ll teach you how to beat Brem at Pretty Princess Perils, Matt.”
********
“Humans,” proclaimed Athena, “are lightweights.”
“Mmm,” agreed Brem, noncommittally. They’d finished the bottle of whatever she’d brought between them, and his head felt pleasantly fuzzy. They’d also outlasted Matt, which was not surprising, as they never slept anyway. They’d left him passed out on his bed in favor of going outside. It was frigid out, but they could also see the stars, and Brem was suddenly homesick. He wasn’t entirely sure the alien liquor had been a good idea.
“What about you?” she asked. They were sprawled on their backs on the Yard, looking up at the sky, and Brem could feel her turn his head to look at him. “How do you feel?”
“Fine,” he said, and then sighed. “You start to go mad a little bit, you know. Stuck in one time. It’s like you can…feel the weight of all the years you won’t know, all those past years you can’t know, pressing.”
“You’re maudlin.”
“A bit. You aren’t drunk at all.”
“Not really.”
“How much of that stuff do you drink and when?”
“You don’t really want to hear that story, do you?”
“No.” He paused. “How do you even go about getting it?”
Athena snorted. “It’s not difficult to get away with things, Brem.”
“Without Mum knowing? It’s bloody impossible.”
“True. But I don’t think Mum quite understands what it is.”
Brem rolled onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow and looking down at her. “You had this capacity, capability, all the time, to get this stuff, and you never told me?”
“Why would I tell you, Brem? You’re Brem, you’re…”
“What does that mean?” he demanded, irritated.
She looked at him, smiling. “It means exactly that. You’re Brem.”
“Matt told you, didn’t he? About Kate.”
“Matt may have called me, yes. You should have called me, especially after the conversation we just had before you came back about how you wouldn’t shut me out anymore, but, you know, I’m buzzed and in a forgiving mood and an excellent sister.”
Brem sighed and rolled back onto his back. “I think I’m rubbish at sharing my feelings.”
“You’re not. You’re so bloody much like Dad, the two of you are going to drive me spare for centuries to come. You want to be happy. Your ability to wish for happiness is astonishing to me. You will do anything not to admit you’re unhappy. Well, Brem, you’re a bit drunk tonight, and you’re a bit unhappy about the Kate thing, aren’t you?”
“I’m bloody miserable about it.”
“Ah, I love that alcohol stuff.”
“Stop it,” he said. “I’m serious.”
“I know. She’s an idiot, Brem, clearly. You’re the best thing in the universe, everyone knows that.”
“Oh, God, stop saying things like that, about how I’m me and I’m remarkable and spectacular and brilliant in every way. I am very much not.”
“Of course you’re not. Didn’t I just say you drive me spare? But you are you. You can’t be anyone else. And honestly, Brem, you’re pretty bloody brilliant. Certainly my favorite human-Time Lord hybrid male.”
It was a joke, and he knew it, but he didn’t laugh. He stared at the stars. He could barely see any at all. Boston was terrible for light pollution. He suddenly felt claustrophobic and suffocated, and wanted to ring his father and get him to take a trip.
“Rein it in a bit,” said Athena.
“What?”
“Your defenses are down, you’re a bit open right now. You’re going to alarm Dad if you keep broadcasting things the way you’re doing.”
He shuttered his consciousness with an effort, realizing Athena was right and he was spilling over. “I blame being drunk.”
“Well, yes. So are you going to tell me what happened with Kate?”
“I told her.”
“Why?” asked Athena, after a second.
“Because not telling her was making me go mad, as you may or may not recall. I’m me, Athena, right? Can’t be anybody else. Just me. Your favorite human-Time Lord hybrid male. And, of course, the only one.”
Athena sat up. “Twenty-first century Earth,” she noted, matter-of-factly. “It’s a bad place for an alien on the prowl. A bit of a close-minded planet.”
Brem ignored her. “I’ve never been alone in my life,” he said, still staring up at the sky. “And I feel Dad’s loneliness. I feel it stalking me.”
She looked down at him for a second. “It’s cold. And I’m tired.”
“I am, too,” he realized, shocked.
“It’s the alcohol. Does that to you.”
“I may sleep. That would be kind of fun.”
“You should sleep,” she told him. “And you’ll find someone, Brem. You will.”
“Yeah. Lots of someones. We’ve got centuries, don’t we?”
“That makes us lucky, Brem. The humans all around you, they’d kill for your lifetimes.”
“I know. And that’s the thing that terrifies me most of all.”
“What?”
He looked at her. “Luck."
Next Chapter