A.J. found his voice first. "I *know* you're not linked right now and that just makes it freakier. You two are made for each other or something."
"Years of being inside each others' heads." Lina waved it off. "It's impossible not to develop an instinct about what the other person's going to say or do. And having good timing is a matter of life or death sometimes. Add that to a similar world-view and you'd be surprised how often we do that by accident. It takes years to get to a level like this, it'll be a while before either of us kicks the habit."
"It didn't take years," Nick argued. "I fell for you before I even got on the team."
"You idolized me a little. It's not the same."
"Idolized? Modest girl," Kevin commented.
"He looked up to me," Lina said with a shrug. "Everyone does. I walk into a room and they're all like "Oh my God, it's Lina Allen! She can split an atom! Lina, impress us!""
A.J.'s jaw dropped. "You can split an atom?"
She rolled her eyes. "Of course not."
"You've never tried."
"Nick, the amount of energy I can put out and the amount of energy it takes to split an atom are vastly..." The Boys began to get the odd feeling the pair actually had this argument regularly.
"The amount of psychic energy it takes to do anything is lower than.."
"Nick, I don't *want* to split an atom. Shut up already."
"Lina..."Brian put on his best puppy face. "Do a trick for us?"
She laughed. "Something impressive, huh? Nick can do all my tricks. I'm sure you've seen 'em by now."
"I didn't want to freak them out too fast."
"Disappearing to Georgia doesn't count as a trick?"
"Nope," they chorused. Lina thought for a moment.
"Ok, here's one. I actually do this in public sometimes - you'll see parlour magicians do something similar, so everyone just assumes I learned how to do it. Still don't know how it's done without teekay though."
She snapped her fingers, producing a spark that grew to a small tongue fo flame, burning merrily at her fingertips.
"It's more impressive when you do it without the snap," Nick pointed out.
"Well, I don't." Lina dropped her hand and the flame vanished. An odd look passed between the two and A.J. sensed it would soon be time to leave. He still wanted to know.
"So, how'd you do that?"
"Hmmm?" Lina turned her attention back to him. "Oh. Molecular telekinesis. Rub a couple of air molecules together until they're hot enough to ignite. The idea is simple enough, it just takes a lot of power and control."
"That would be such a cool trick if I still smoked," A.J. mused.
"Hey!" Lina snapped her fingers and they all jumped, but no fire was forthcoming. "What if that's how we met?"
"Huh?"
Nick caught on immediately. "The week of the Burger King shoot, we were near the Res. Bone, you loved that area. You remember the little street with all the old architecture and tiny clubs?"
"Uh..."
"The painting on that one building..." Lina prompted, and A.J. suddenly saw the street they meant.
"Right. Yeah, I said I wanted to come back and hang out there."
"What if you did? Lina hangs out at a couple of the clubs on that street."
"If we met outside and he needed a lighter..."
"That trick would get my attention," A.J. nodded thoughtfully.
"This is kind of neat to listen to," Howie commented out of nowhere.
"Brainstorming," Lina grinned. "So, sometime last winter you spent a weekend in Toronto, we met and we've been emailing occasionally since then."
"Why was that so easy?" Nick demanded.
"You don't smoke."
"I should have taken it up when I had the chance," he teased.
"Lots of things you should have done." Lina's voice was easy, and the statement was accompanied by a shrug, but A.J. could tell things were definitely becoming more tense. He tried to get them back on track.
"So sometime in the winter I spent a weekend in Toronto, we met and we've been, what, e-mailing since then?" Lina nodded. "Ok, so how did you get here? I guess we need a backstory for that."
"I left a message on the answering machine at home saying I was going out of town for a concert, and I let work know I wouldn't be in till the afternoon."
"This happens often?" he looked over his shades.
"Sometimes. I have a lot of online friends."
"But how did you get to Chicago after work in time for the show?" Nick worried. "Unless you won the lottery recently you can't afford a flight."
"No one's gonna..." Kevin protested.
"Someone's gonna check." Nick and Lina said firmly.
"Hey, you could fake a family emergency to work, tell your parents you forgot to tell them you were going away for a few days, and hang out until we hit Toronto!" Nick suggested. "We're doing another show here tomorrow, people will get fuzzy on what day you showed up if you're around for a while."
"Nick!" Lina pulled away from him. "I am *not*..."
"Don't be an idiot, Carter." A.J. put in, "I wouldn't invite some e-mail pal to tour with us for half a week." Lina was actually glaring at her partner now, her arms crossed.
"You would spring for a plane ticket for one show," Howie piped up.
"No I..." at Howie's knowing grin, A.J. conceded the point. "Yeah, if I was trying to set Nick up, I probably would have."
"Good," Lina stood, her voice too polite. "Now that that's settled, I'll take my leave of you gentlemen. Good night." She vanished without another word, leaving Nick open-mouthed in astonishment.
"Was it something I said?" A.J. wondered aloud.
"Damn," Nick breathed. "What did I screw up this time?"
"I'm not exactly sure what just happened, but I don't think you helped things by being a smug bastard," Howie offered.
"I wasn't smug!"
"He's right Frack, you were acting smug." Brian confirmed apologetically.
"How?" he challenged.
"Let us count the ways." A.J. began ticking points off on his fingers. "First, you act like you've never had a girlfriend at a show before. No singing ballads at her, no blowing kisses, just a bunch of knowing grins and more winks than Howie. Is she your girlfriend or your dirty little secret?"
"I..."
"And then here," Howie continued. "Every move you made, everything you said was way too easy, like you'd done it a million times. Did you even pick up on the fact that she didn't like your whole "I know you want this" attitude?"
"You were great when she first got here," Kevin explained. "Once you knew she wasn't going to disappear, you got too comfortable."
"She likes me to be sure," Nick protested. "I make her feel safe, it was all I had to go on. If I let her know how scared I am, she'd doubt me and run."
"You sure?" Brian wanted to know. "'Cause it looks to me like she just ran away again."
Nick bit his lip. "I don't know anymore."
"She still not letting you in?" A.J. tapped his head.
"No."
"If she was, she'd know you're scared?"
"Of course."
"You *want* her to let you in?"
"Alex..."
"Seems to me you oughta let her know everything she'd know if she went mind-to-mind with you," Brian drawled.