"Left?" Nick's voice dropped to a disbelieving whisper. "How could she leave? She's... it's her team."
"Your team now," Suzanne corrected him gently.
"I don't... she didn't even say goodbye." He stared at the table. "She's my *partner*."
"We all knew this was going to happen eventually, Nick."
"No, "we" didn't." He ran agitated fingers through his blonde hair, setting it all on end. "I'm sorry. I've gotta..." Suddenly there was empty space where he'd been sitting.
"Damn," Suzanne swore softly.
"Ok, when Nick decided to let us all in on his not-so-little secret, I figured out pretty fast that I was gonna be confused a lot. But what the fuck??"
"He's in Georgia."
"I wasn't really asking about where he went. What, in plain english, did you just tell him, and why do you have the right to get him so upset?" A.J. demanded.
"I didn't realise he would take it so hard. He hasn't mentioned Lina to any of us since before the accident. He obviously hasn't told you anything about her, either" Suzanne defended herself.
"No..." he agreed reluctantly. "But what is "it" exactly?"
"You've met Lina, haven't you?"
A.J.'s mind brought up a picture of a tall, angry woman with red hair and fiery green eyes, yelling at Kevin. "Oh yeah. Unforgettable experience."
Suzanne laughed at his tone. "That's right, you've seen her on the rampage. So you know she was one of our team. Psychics work best in teams, because most of us have a very limited amount of energy, and tend to focus our talents in one area or another. Some teams last for years, others are the result of convenience of the moment. The rescue squad that got the rest of the Backstreet Boys out of the bus wreck was a convenience team, for the most part."
"Our team isn't one of those. Members do come and go a little, but Lina and I go back to her emergence, which was very early. Nick's been with us since *his* emergence. We're all good friends," she sighed. "Some more than others."
"They're "partners?""
"That's what we call it. Psychic partnerships are fairly rare. It's a constant mental connection between two people. I suppose you could say that Brian and Nick were partners for a few hours when you were preparing to wake Nick up."
"That's pretty intense," A.J. commented, remembering how spaced out Brian had become.
Suzanne sighed again. "Yes, it is. Lina decided to end their partnership sometime after Nick woke up."
"She *what*??"
She nodded, "It surprised us a little, too. We knew it would happen eventually - Nick and Lina aren't your typical partnership."
"What happens with a "typical" partnership?" he questioned, curious.
"Marriage."
"You are having a hell of a day cuz," Kevin laughed, watching Brian's slice land in the precise centre of a sandtrap. "I don't think you've missed the sand once."
"Thanks Kev, I hadn't noticed." Brian sighed and hoisted his golf clubs into the cart. "Let's go."
"Cheer up, Frick. It's only the sixth hole," Nick advised, walking up the hill towards them.
Brian and Kevin stared at him.
"If this is one of those "cousins day out" things, I can leave" he volunteered.
"You uh, don't have any golf clubs," Kevin pointed out.
"I can caddy. B-rok obviously needs a little advice."
"I think the shock might have shaken me up just enough," was the retort. "Are you gonna do this often?"
"Nope." Nick's tone was entirely too light for either cousin's liking. They glanced at each other - trouble.
"Well, get in and drive then, caddy!" Kevin ordered.
"Yes sir!"
Nick stayed quiet for the next few holes, making a few jokes here and there, but obviously avoiding whatever subject had brought him to appear on a golf course in Georgia.
"Hey Frack," Brian voiced a thought as the two watched Kevin tee off on the ninth hole. "Can you cheat?"
"Hm?" Nick shook himself out of a reverie. "Can I what?"
"Cheat at golf."
"I *can*, but I don't."
"Well that's obvious, I know your handicap!"he joked.
"Yeah, yeah. Watch it or I'll sabotage your game!" Nick retorted.
"He's doing that all by himself," Kevin pointed out. "But, how do you hold back? No one would notice or care if you did little things, like stop a ball just before it went off the fairway into the trees."
"That's not what it's for," Nick replied softly, looking somewhere past Brian."Stuff like golf, and b-ball and all... if I just played it with teekay, I'd win all the time, but I'd never learn how to play the game. Teekay control's a skill - playing golf is a different skill. What's the use of only having one skill? Where's the challenge in beating someone because you've got something they can never have? It's no fun." He sighed, still staring into space. "She taught me that."
"She?" Brian turned back from what had actually been a pretty good tee-off. He sensed they were beginning to get to the root of whatever it was Nick needed to talk about.
Something in Nick's attitude prompted Kevin to ask gently, "Did someone die, Nicky?"
He laughed, a short, bitter bark. "Nobody died. Dying would be easy. If she died I'd at least know what to feel."
"Lucky we're on hole nine," Brian sighed. "I have a feeling we're going to have to cut the game short."
"I'm sure you're disappointed," Nick managed to joke.
"Oh, very. I think I was getting a second wind."
"Finish the hole, Brian. It'll look suspicious if you don't." he advised.
"Then you'll talk?" Kevin pressed.
"Yeah. I don't think I'm going to make much sense, but I'll talk."