Authors: Matt Stephens
"There's me." Vincent offered softly.
Now Connie hardened. She almost turned to stone under his arm. After a moment, she pulled away, sitting upright on the couch. "So. That's that then."
Vincent shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, that was... I didn't mean that."
"Yes you did." She retorted. "You just didn't mean to say it. Yet." She scrubbed her face with her hands. Vincent could see her eyes turning red with unshed tears. "I don't want to be Lostkind. You do. Is it really that simple?"
Vincent said nothing.
"You're supposed to be on
my
team." Connie pressed. "That's what you do when you love someone; you make them your top priority. Especially if you wanted to marry me."
Vincent looked at her tightly. "You said 'no' as I recall."
Connie's face hardened. "Is that it? You making me choose?"
Vincent glared. "You're making
me
choose." He shot back. "I'd be perfectly happy to marry you
and
work with the Underside.
Are
you making me choose?"
Connie stood up. "If I knew we were having this conversation, I would have worn something other than a bathrobe."
"Connie, I don't want to lose you." Vincent said honestly.
"Vincent, you didn't lose me. I lost you. I lost you the second Yasi took you Underground."
"There's nothing between me and Yasi!" Vincent protested, yet again.
"Not you and
her
. You and
there
. Who knows how many laws you might bend or break if you become one of them? Plus whatever risks there could be to your health living Underground, plus the Riverfolk..."
"If you're trying to scare me out of it, you can't." Vincent returned. "I've been living with the danger of this longer than you have Connie. Gill tried to kill himself because of Owen's manipulations."
"And that's not going to stop you?"
"Why? Owen's been exposed, he can't hurt us any more."
"See?
This
is my point. You're not a thrill-seeker, but
this
doesn't bother you? The Underside is worth more to you than your job, your safety... more than me."
Vincent didn't have an answer to that.
"Hope she's worth it." Connie said, with just the tiniest hint of bitterness.
"Connie... I am going to say this again." Vincent repeated, getting tired of saying it. "There's nothing going on with Yasi. I am not a teenager. I've been with you two years, the total combined time I spent with her was... what? Two
days
?"
"That's only half of it though." Connie shot back. "You want to be part of the Underside. I can walk away from it, and go about my life. I don't think you can. I think you only did two years ago because they told you not to come looking. The first thing you knew of that world, the first person you met of the Lostkind, was Yasi. When you think of the place, do you think of her? Because I'm betting you do."
Vincent felt his jaw drop open. "I... I honestly hadn't thought of it that way."
"Of course not, you're a guy." Connie shrugged. "I know how you feel about me. I know you'd
never
cheat on me. But I can't compete with another woman,
and
a whole world at the same time. You love the Underside. And Yasi
is
the Underside to you."
Vincent said nothing.
Connie nodded. "I hope you and the Secret City are very happy together." She said calmly. The sort of calm that came from having made a tough decision and accepted it. She leaned over and kissed him softly; before heading into the bedroom without looking back.
He didn't go after her
She was kissing him goodbye.
~oo00oo~
He had slept on the couch. He didn't want to sleep in the bed when he knew he would be there alone. Even so, he hadn't slept well. It was a warm night, but the weather wasn't the reason he'd left the window open.
Connie had packed a bag and gone to a friends' house. Vincent had implored her to stay until morning at least. Their relationship had been torn down the middle, but not in any way that made them hate each other. They could at least be allies about it. But Connie had insisted, because she knew Yasi would be back during the night, and didn't want to be, ‘in the way', as she put it.
Vincent lay awake wondering about their conversation, wondering what Yasi would have thought if she'd heard it...
Did he love Yasi? The thought came back to him now and then. Connie was right; he loved the Underside. When he thought of their wild tribal power, the energy, their beauty... Yasi was the first promise, the first mystery of the place...
But he'd just broken up with Connie after two very happy years, and Yasi was not the only reason why. For all the things that had happened, he was still the Outsider to the Lostkind; a helpful neighbor that ran errands for them from time to time. He still wasn't one of them. If he tried to approach Yasi so soon after losing Connie, it would not only make him a sleaze, it would…
Such thoughts chased him into sleep. The window stayed open all night, and after a long time, he looked up and saw a familiar shadow on the wall. Yasi had come in his window again. "Hey."
"Hey." She said, and sat on the end of the couch by his feet. "Connie?"
"Not here." He said shortly.
Yasi nodded slowly, having expected that. "So. How badly have I screwed up your life?"
Vincent stayed where he was and started counting on his fingers. "Well, there's the Riverfolk playing bongos on my ribs... There was Gill almost killing himself so Owen could get into his job... My ex-landlord wouldn't give me my security deposit back because I kept letting vagrants sleep in the building without telling him." He pretended to think for a moment. "And... oh yes, Connie walked out. You seem to be the common thread in all these things."
"Vincent, lots of couples break up because of work." Yasi offered. "You were her boyfriend, and you got an opportunity that meant you had to be absent for a while, work outside the city, keep a few things in confidence… and she couldn't handle it. It's not a new story, just a new setting."
Vincent blinked. "Put that way, I don't sound nearly as selfish."
"Selfish? You sacrificed your normal life and broke up with your girlfriend to save a bunch of people that you can't even talk about. Exactly where does the selfish part come in? Jeez, Vincent... You should hate my breathing guts right now."
Silence.
"By the way, just to end the suspense, I'll take the job." Vincent commented without opening his eyes.
Yasi nodded. "There's a shock." She drawled. "Grab your coat."
~oo00oo~
"Why are we here?" Vincent asked with interest as they entered the City Planner's Office.
"Well, I told you you'd be keeping your day job." Yasi said, leading the way toward his cubicle. "And since radios and cell phones aren't worth a damn to us, we'll have to show you a few ways to get in touch with us."
Vincent was quietly thrilled. "You could just get a cell phone. Come up to the surface now and then, check your voicemail."
"Ugh, how boring." Yasi scorned; and pointed to the elevators. "Meet me in the Archives."
Vincent sent a glance toward the elevator, and then looked back at Yasi.
She was gone.
"One day I'm gonna stop falling for that." Vincent sighed, and headed downstairs toward the Archives Room.
~oo00oo~
She was waiting for him the second he stepped off the elevator. "This building used to have a pneumatic correspondence system. You sent a memo through a vacuum tube. Once email was invented, it became less than worthless, but it's still here."
Vincent nodded. "Too expensive to tear it all out; since it's not bothering anyone."
Yasi led him over to the far side of the archives, in the dustiest corner of the room. There was a tube in the wall, covered in cobwebs. "Send me a message this way." She told him. "That tube will take it down to the Underside, through the Whisper Gallery. From there it will come straight to me." She turned to look at him face to face. "I will send you messages the same way, so you'd better check this spot. Make sure nobody else finds them."
Vincent nodded, suddenly aware of how close they were, the narrow aisle between the stacks forcing them into tight proximity. She licked her lips and he knew she was aware of it too.
"She understood, right?" Yasi said suddenly. "Connie? She understood. I mean, it's not like we were asking you both to move Underground forever."
"She knew." Vincent acknowledged. "She just didn't want to come. She thought it would be dangerous."
"Not as dangerous as living in New York." Yasi shot back.
"Connie wanted kids." Vincent said suddenly.
Silence.
"Okay?" Yasi said, not quite getting it.
"I think she was picturing our lives suddenly being underground half the time… She was seeing kidnappers and ghosts and trying to fit the life and family she wanted into that…" Vincent shook his head. "Even if we agreed to keep our personal lives, let alone kids, up on the surface, it's still another big slice out of our lives that we wouldn't be together."
"But she's not especially wrong. The less traffic back and forth the better. We've still got the information Owen collected, so Vandark can't get in; at least not in anything like the numbers he'd need to do some damage. But we were able to clear Dorcan, so..."
"Dorcan's innocent?" Vincent interrupted. "That's good. He's saved our lives."
"Yeah, I'm relieved too." Yasi admitted, though he noticed a blush on her face. "He's barely speaking to me, but there was a perfectly good reason for all the things he was doing, so..."
"What was his perfectly good reason?" Vincent asked with interest.
Yasi's gaze flicked to Vincent as her blush spread down her neck. "That's not important."
Vincent's interest was piqued, but he knew better than to press it. "Okay."
"By the way…" She said lightly. "Welcome to the team."
"Vincent?" A voice commented.
Vincent spun in surprise; to see Davidson in the doorway. He sent a look over his shoulder; to see that Yasi had vanished. "Hey Boss." He said, fighting for calm. "What brings you down here this time of the weekend?"
"I was about to ask you that..." Davidson came closer. "Were you just talking to someon-My God, what the hell happened to
you
?"
Vincent winced. His bruises were still relatively fresh and swelling up nicely. "It's nothing. I fell down the stairs."
"How many times?" Davidson demanded. "You should be at the emergency room."
"I'm fine." Vincent waved it off. "I was just..." His mouth shut suddenly. It just hit him that he didn't have an alibi ready.
Fortunately, Davidson was thinking about something else at the time. "By the way, did you hear about Owen?"
Vincent nearly swallowed his tongue. He had absolutely no idea how to answer that one. His heart stopped for a moment, and then started again at triple speed. "What about him?" He asked carefully.
"He quit." Davidson said, and Vincent relaxed. "Got a job somewhere on the West Coast."
Vincent could feel his heart thundering as the sudden spike of adrenaline started to fade. "Well... W-we knew he wasn't staying on permanently. Remember?"
"Sure, but that was two years ago. I guess I figured he had settled here." Davidson sighed. "Well, people move on. I just wish I had a little more warning. The man resigned by letter. He tell you?"
Vincent bit back the first response that came to mind. "No." He said finally. "I had no warning at all."
Davidson took that at face value. "Okay. Glad you're okay."
ELEVEN: Plans in Motion
The Triumvirate of the New York Underside usually held court in the Throne Room above the Twelfth Level Dome. But to address the Underside, they needed different facilities. Yasi was overseeing the repairs, when Tecca had quietly informed her that an address was coming.
Keeper and Archivist were there when Yasi arrived, and the three of them gathered in the Whisper Chamber, assembled before the central trunk of steam pipes, as though at the brass altar to a forgotten god.
One thing Connie had not noticed when she had visited this room, was the window. It was at the base of the trunk of pipes, and covered over with an oilcloth curtain. Keeper drew it back and the Twelfth Level was visible. Standing before the pipes, Archivist opened a few valves, and Keeper spoke, her voice rang through all of them, taking her words to the entire Secret City like a Public Address System.
The feeling of dread in the Underside was still thick after the Riverfolk attack, and remained until Keeper spoke. She had been the Arbiter for longer than most anyone could remember, and the sight of the ancient woman with a smile on her face was a blessing. She told them half the truth and all of the results.