Waiting in the Car

Hod, Claire, and David walked out of the caves together. The bright lights of Lion's Gate Bridge and the city, the sound of the cars rushing past, and the cool running water were so clean after that dark place. They wandered back to David's car, where they finally got some decent reception. David stepped out for a moment and made a call to Mr. Lords.

When he got back, Claire and Hod were snuggled together in the back seat. They'd pulled out one of the emergency blankets. Hod seemed at ease, finally, the near permanent crease in his brow smoothed, the tightness around his mouth loosed in sleep. His head was on Claire's, her head on his shoulder. She was quietly fiddling with the lapels on his jacket.

"You're dad's already on his way, with James and Alvarado and the others. They'll be here in a half hour," David said quietly. "You guys doing okay?"

"Yeah," Claire said quietly, "I'm fine. Hod's asleep."

"I am not," Hod said, smiling. "I just like it here." He hugged Claire to him, and she snuggled closer. "What did you tell Mr. Lord?"

"Nothing much. Just that we found his daughter. Apparently he noticed something strange with Sherrie, and when they started going through old security footage they noticed Claire and Sheila in multiple places at the same time. By that time we were already underground, so we didn't get any of their messages." David settled into the driver's seat. "Guys, what are we going to do? We've never told anyone about the weird stuff before. Now suddenly Claire's whole family knows. More than my own mom and dad, definitely more than yours, Hod."

"David, stop being silly. Claire was kidnapped, we all almost died. I think worrying about that right now's a little insensitive," Hod said irritably.

"I'm fine, Hod," Claire said firmly. She paused. "Stuff like this has happened to you guys before, huh?"

David nodded. "Yeah."

Hod grimaced. "A lot." He hesitated. "And we're not the only ones."

"What?" Now it was David's turn to be surprised. "Who?"

"I'm not sure but... I think maybe Autumn. Maybe Brett, that new quarterback. A few others I'm even less sure of," Hod said, thinking out loud. "And... I think Claire has as well." The last was a slight question.

"A few times, I thought I've felt some things. I always called it luck," Claire admitted uncomfortably. "But I think I've always been subconsciously aware of the odd weirdness cropping up. Nothing like this. This was..." She shuddered. "I'm going to want counseling for sure." She got a puzzled look on her face. "But how I'm going to explain this, I have no idea."

"You can't," Hod said quietly. "My mom's a psychiatrist, and she never understood my 'psychotic episodes' as she called them. Tried to put me on Seroquel. The only person who really understood was David, and that's because the same kinds of things were happening with him."

"So you guys are like superheroes?" Claire asked. "David's impossible," she checked out his face and amended, "really hard to hurt."

"And my insufferable charm," David said, grinning. "Not even the hag could resist falling for my good looks," he stated, almost bitterly.

"And Hod, I'm guessing, can do something with ice," Claire continued.

Hod nodded. "And a few other things," he admitted. "It's not just what we can do, though," Hod continued seriously. "It's like their's another world behind this one, and we catch hints of it. Sometimes we notice things looking back from the other side."

Claire clutched his hoodie in her hand, then sat up. "Okay. We'll keep this mostly to ourselves. I'm pretty good at keeping secrets. So's my dad. It's kind of his job." She looked at David in the eyes, holding Hod's hands in her own. Hod sat up, looking in her direction. "I'm pretty sure I can convince him this was a mostly normal kidnapping, and that you guys saved me. The caves will take some explaining, and the doubles in the security footage, but I'm sure we can come up with something."

"Thanks," David sighed. "I guess all we have to do is wait."

Claire leaned close to Hod's ear, speaking so softly that even in the close confines of the car David wouldn't hear. "Thanks for coming to my rescue, Hod."

In the darkness, Hod smiled.