Peak Season

[mindglitter]

Title: Peak Season
Universe: Personal Magnetism / Black Shadows
Word Count: 2,420
Summary: In this peak season, it is the time for forgiveness.
Notes: Written for this Yahtzee prompt. Also probably way overdue for my brain to stop retreading this particular track where these two are concerned when they have far more interesting stories to tell.

Peak Season

"Do you want to say goodbye to your sister from another mister before we hit the road?"

Starr looked up from where she was brushing snarls out of her hair. "What did you have in mind?"

"It's peak season for color upstate. Being here in Baltimore reminds me I never let you see the glory that is New York in the fall."

It was an apology, or at least as close as Alek got to one.

Starr could have ignored it. She had done so during other such apologies. Sometimes she used them to feed her resentment what he’d done in Philadelphia.

It had long since stopped making sense, and he looked so hopeful, so Starr stopped holding onto the resentment, and let it go.

Alek had more than proved it wasn't a mistake he intended to repeat.

"Okay," she said. "I'll let you play tour guide."

Alek’s answering smile transformed his face into that of the boy she had fallen in love with when he turned up at Northwestern to turn her life upside down. The Shift hadn't happened yet, and life hadn't had the opportunity to bury him under its weight.

Yes, this was the right decision.

She finished getting dressed, and repacked the small bag she brought with her. "Ready?"

"I was ready before I asked. Come on, I don't want you to miss the view."

With that, Alek walked out of the room with nothing but the clothes on his back.

Starr rolled her eyes, and followed. Of course he had this planned out before he mentioned it to her.

She wasn't sure she was grateful he'd thought it out beforehand , or annoyed they hadn't made this plan together.

Then, she supposed it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if they planned it together.

Starr smiled to herself and walked downstairs where she found Erin holding court behind her beloved bar.

"Are you leaving, then?" Erin asked.

"I am. We'll meet up with Storm to discuss the house, but Alek wants to show me the foliage before we do. He swears there's no better place to view it than New York."

"Do you believe him?"

Starr laughed. "I think he's biased as all hell. Everyone thinks their foliage is the best."

Erin laughed with her. “So true. Enjoy it. I'd tell you to take pictures, but you know..."

Starr’s smile slipped slightly. One thing she missed from the world as it had been in their youth was the ability to share images she saw in the larger world with her friends.

"I'll try to explain it really well in my next letter," she said, even knowing it unlikely to capture the true impact.

Erin hopped over the bar so she and Starr stood on the same side. Starr was aware of Alek waiting next to the door for them to finish talking, but she refused to end the hug before she was ready.

She had no idea when she would next be able to stomach returning to Baltimore, with the ghosts haunting her every move here. Erin rarely left the bed and breakfast, probably for similar reasons.

Just before the hug became uncomfortable, Erin pulled away and placed her hands on Starr's shoulders.

"Stay safe out there."

Starr nodded and headed toward the door. By the time she got her bag stowed properly in the back of the bike, he had finished his pre-trip checks and was waiting for her to climb on behind him. She did so and reached for the helmet he kept for her with this bike.

Alek always claimed he bought the bright purple helmet to make it easier to find if it was stolen, even though it was perhaps the most ‘her’ thing Starr had ever owned.

She claimed he didn't listen to anything she said, but that was a lie.

For years, Starr reflexively distanced herself from any indication he genuinely cared about her as a means of protecting herself from the pain she’d experience if he abandoned her again.

If she decided to stop expecting the worst from him, it was time to let this go, too.

Once they were on the open road, Starr leaned her head against him and closed her eyes against the sight of her hometown rushing past them.

After everything Gabriel had done, she wanted nothing more than to be away as soon as possible. Even this short trip to take care of old family business left Starr feeling like Gabriel’s people still watched her.

"Will it be a breath of fresh air?" she asked him at the next traffic light.

Alek turned to look at her. "Has Baltimore been that bad? I thought being around Erin helped."

She waved him away so he would pay attention to traffic again. "I wouldn’t be able to do this at all without you and Erin. The moment we stepped outside of the safe space her B&B provides, everything started pressing in around me again. You once promised New York would blow my little parochial mind. Are you ready to prove it?"

"Starr..."

"I should have forgiven you years ago, but my resentment was something I could control during a time when I could control very little. I'm sorry. I wasn't fair to you."

She cringed, remembering the accusations she threw at him when he first talked to her at Northwestern. She wouldn't say the same things now, but those harsh words couldn’t be taken back.

"Maybe you weren't,” he said seriously, before amusement colored his tone. “I was confused as to how I was supposed to find your email in a way that wouldn't have you hating me worse. Eventually I stopped asking and found other ways of making amends."

Starr hid her face against his shoulder. "You kept popping up in my dreams."

Technically, that was changing the subject, but he flowed with her without missing a beat.

"You did in mine, too. I didn’t understand it, either."

Their connection shouldn’t have been strong enough to reach across an ocean, especially before The Shift. That it had remained a mystery to everyone they shared it with until they stopped sharing.

Now it was a mystery they only spoke about during moments like these.

The light changed, and Starr once more settled into the rhythm of the road.

Unlike the cross-continental trip awaiting them once they finished with this detour, this one was less likely to leave her ass numb from the hours spent on the road.

Starr was all too willing to give her twin the opportunity to stop being angry with how Starr had handled the situation with their old family home. Hopefully they’d be able to find their brother Shane, and make the necessary decisions as a family.

Shane was a wild card, so there was no guarantee, but she could hope.

I wish the train still ran, Alek said once they left Baltimore. The scenery between Baltimore and New York this time of year are worth witnessing.

I’ll add it to the list of things we’re missing today, right behind cameras.

Their mental conversation conspired with the near-empty highway to enclose them in a bubble. More than any other trip they’d taken lately, this side trip jettisoned Starr back to when their life together seemed to spread out before them. Reality hadn’t dimmed their light until they arrived in Philadelphia.

No money. No guarantee of welcome when they arrived in New York. No fuel for the bike when the gauge moved ever closer to empty.

She knew Alek had made the only decision he could have. She just wished he’d talked to her when Erin first gave him Shannon’s card. They might have called her cousin together, but that was water under the bridge.

It was possible they wouldn’t be here together if he had kept her with him back then. That future was one Starr didn’t spend much time contemplating.

Starr fell asleep on Alek’s shoulder somewhere between Baltimore and Philadelphia, her inability to get any rest during their stop in Baltimore catching up with her.

She didn’t realize they had arrived at their destination until Alek’s mental nudge roused her.

"Starshine, wakey wakey."

She opened one eye. "You're the only one who gets away with using that bullshit nickname."

"Of course. I'm the one who gave it to you. Nobody else has that right."

She rubbed her face and looked around to orient herself.

While she had never been here before, Starr had seen the landmarks frequently enough in books, and on the streams to know where she was.

"I thought you were taking me Upstate. This is the City!”

“Surprise?”

“Alek, come on,” Starr said, giving him her best side-eye.

"Okay, I wasn’t specific when I told you I was bringing you to New York, but you know how much time I spent in Central Park. I couldn’t think of anywhere else I’d rather bring you. I’m not sure how much I like how quiet the City has become…”

This was more than the foliage, Starr realized.

He was sharing one of his important places with her.

“Shift Problems,” she said to his last remark.

“Yeah.”

Starr reached out her hand once she climbed off the bike. “Show me?”

He caught it and pressed his lips against the back of her hand. She smiled and let him lead her deeper into the park.

Once they were past the first line of trees, the sounds from their surroundings faded. Starr wondered if the trees were absorbing the sound the way they did other toxic influences in their environment, and touched her hand to the trunk of one in thanks.

She understood immediately how this place became Alek's refuge when his family provided none.

"Shame about the history," he said.

Starr looked around, thinking about what she knew of the ugly history he referenced.

“Before we leave the City, let’s find a place we can pay our respects.”

He nodded.

The Shift should have provided an opportunity to re-balance the scales, as many such upheavals in history had done. Yet the work still continued.

The least they could do would be to support some of the businesses in the area furthering the work, or find another way to give back before they went back to their own work to re-balance the scales.

Starr shivered when she remembered how many children in the Compounds they’d uncovered had been stolen from the same community that had been destroyed to create the park they walked through.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and guided her deeper into the park.

As they walked along the path, Starr was surprised by how few people were here.

“Was it always this quiet?” she asked.

Alek remained silent for a long time, but Starr didn’t push further. While he sorted through his memories, she looked up at the canopy of branches arching over her head. The occasional gold and orange leaf drifted through the air toward the path. She knelt to capture one as it landed at her feet.

She could take this home and make a pressing out of it to send Erin. In this way, she could share the beauty of this place with her friend.

“I’ve lost track of days,” Alek said as they came to a stop near where the path split in two. “If it’s mid-week, it’s frequently quiet this time of day. If it’s the weekend, usually there were families here about now. So my best answer is… maybe?”

She tightened her hand around his knowing the experience informing that assessment had been shitty. Until Benjamin found him, he lived rough here, sleeping under benches outfitted with the best anti-homeless devices to discourage people like him from sleeping there.

Not that living with Benjamin had been much better. He and Alek brought out the worst in each other from the moment they were swept up in Gabriel’s trap, and their relationship never improved.

The first time Starr met either boy, Erin had to step between them to prevent their argument from coming to blows.

“Which way should we go?”

Alek tugged her to the right, and she followed behind him. He stopped in front of the lake surrounded by richly colored trees peppered with leaves in red amid the gold and orange that populated the path.

Starr realized she’d seen this before, but only in one of Storm’s photography books she collected when they were young. She sat down on the nearby bench in surprise, staring out across the pond where several small groups were sitting by the pond enjoying lunch.

As she stared, the silence was only broken by chirping birds perched in the trees above them.

"Pinch me,” she whispered. “I’ve only ever seen this in books.”

Before she finished speaking, her arm stung sharply. She yanked her arm away and glared at Alek sitting smugly next to her.

"You weren’t supposed to take me literally," she said.

Alek chuckled and draped an arm over her shoulder, pulling her closer to him.

She relaxed against his side, enjoying the quiet moment while it lasted.

"You're welcome," he said. "How long do you want to stay?"

She wanted to say 'forever', but didn’t, because it wasn't a real answer.

Starr had to apologize to her sister for what she’d done before they could start talking about solutions to the house situation. Since their lives were integrated in the locations they’d settled in out West, they wouldn’t be returning to Baltimore for longer than a visit.

Signing the property over to Sandy for the initiative she mentioned during Starr’s conversation with her would be a better option, but she couldn’t make that decision on her own.

Of course, given Alek’s history with Central Park, staying here too long would be detrimental for his mental health. That was another vote against forever.

"Let's spend an hour or so here, then we can look for those places to pay our respects the way we talked about earlier. Maybe we can spend today here and you can show me your favorite places?"

Alek brightened and Starr knew that was the right call. With that decided, she returned to enjoying his quiet company and the bubble of green space.

She should do that more. She’d gotten out of the habit, and had forgotten how beneficial to her stability this was.

Yes, she would do this more once they got back to Colorado, and if she had to drag Alek with her, all the better.