Gone

I took a quick shower before anybody contacted me. It felt weird taking a shower, because I could smell the human on me. To be honest, it smelled really bad. I never realized how good we all smelled until now. I wondered how Edward managed to smell so good. I put on some amber body splash to make me smell somewhat like the Alpha. It was hard for me to even remember what I smelled like as a superhuman. This was all so odd.

I couldn't run through my house in two seconds, unless I considered "my house" the kitchen and the living room. I wasn't even sure if I could do that. I began to realize how independent I was to my powers. I would have to depend on my brain and my guns from here until we all got our powers back.

Edward and I were sitting in the living room. He was sitting on the couch, still in Riley's clothes, watching the television. I sat across the room from him in my favorite chair that was so soft. I watched him cautiously, trying to understand him. It was difficult, considering he was staring at the TV blankly without an expression his face. I didn't even know if he knew I was watching him. His arms were laying on the back on the couch and he looked ever so comfortable here with me.

My thoughts erased when the doorbell rang. Edward and I both looked at it. He looked at me. It rang again.

"Are you going to get that?" He asked smoothly.

I raised an eyebrow at his abrupt behavior and stood up. My feet paced me to the door quickly. Edward watched my every move. I could feel his eyes digging into my body.

My hand grabbed at the doorknob and I pulled the door open. I looked at my visitors. Cassidy stood behind Sam with a puzzled look on her face. Sam smiled with his hands on his hips. I looked at Cassidy for an explanation when neither of them said anything.

"I found him in a bar, playing poker against some what I think were destroyers," she said. "Did I mention that I am almost certain he's had a few?"

I creased my forehead. "Lets get him inside."

Cassidy nodded and grabbed him through the loop in his arm. He frowned and stumbled into my house by Cassidy's force. I moved out of the way. Edward looked at the expression on my face and he quickly moved over to Cassidy and Sam and took Sam from Cassidy's grasp and led him to the couch.

"Thanks," Cassidy mumbled to him.

Cassidy looked at me with a more puzzled look. I shrugged. I knew that everyone would be confused on Edward's behavior, but like I said, I kind of liked it.

I went over to my chair and sat in it. Cassidy sat on the foot stool beside me. Edward sat next to Sam. Sam slouched back into the couch and I could tell he was drunk. He was struggling to keep his eyes open and to stay upright. Sam almost fell on top of Edward and Edward pushed him the other way. I gave Edward a mean look. He shrugged. I looked back at Sam.

"Well, lets see what we can get out of him," I said. Sam straightened himself up and lay his arms on the back of the couch. He looked at me.

"Hello, love," he said. I raised my eyebrows. Definitely drunk.

"Sam," I said, "can you tell me what you were doing at a bar?"

He smiled. "Why certainly."

Edward grimaced and looked at me. I looked at him. "Yep, he's drunk all right." Edward tried to cover his nose from Sam's beer breath.

I looked back at Sam. "I was at the bar because I was sad."

I frowned. "Why were you sad, Sam?"

"Because...Bria was taken."

I paused for a moment. Edward and Cassidy both looked at me. I just kept looking at Sam waiting for more.

"Who took her, Sam?" I asked even though I knew the answer.

"That Pete...fellow," he slurred.

"Peter," I heard Cassidy sigh.

I continued looking at Sam. "Why were you playing poker against destroyers?"

"Because..." he said. "They aren't really destroyers, they just are wary about you. They think...that you...are a joke."

I gave a half smile. It seemed reasonable. Not every superhuman had to be a protector or a destroyer. They could be people like the people Sam was explaining. Or trying to explain.

"Sam, what were you betting?" I asked.

He smiled and leaned on his knees. "I was betting that you would beat the man that took Bria."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why would you bet that?"

"Because..." he said. "I know you will."

I leaned back in my seat. "Just keep betting on me. Eventually you'll be rich, you half hearted gambler."

Edward looked at me. "So, what do we do with him?"

I sighed. "Well, we won't be able to have him use his powers in this condition to get Peter and the others location so, all I can suggest is let him get sober. We'll explain to him later."

Cassidy looked at me. "So, what about Bria? She doesn't know about us yet."

I frowned. I hesitated for a second. This was going to be a slight problem. Or was it? "Well, Sam was planning to tell her anyways. I guess she is just going to find out from someone else."

Cassidy and I looked at each other. Cassidy frowned. "But what if he tells her and she is afraid of us when we try to save her?"

I sighed. "Technically, I don't have powers now."

"But what if you get your powers back and then she is afraid of you?" Cassidy asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "Forget all the "what if"'s. If Tobey agrees to help us, he can just erase her memory. Okay? That's only if she is afraid."

Cassidy nodded. "Okay."

I looked back at Edward and Sam. "Edward, can you possibly bring him upstairs to sleep? we need to discuss our situation and I figure it would be easier if we didn't have a drunken gambler interrupting us. Will you do that for me?"

Edward smiled. "Why certainly, Mrs.Ackers. Anything for you."

I rolled my eyes. He was just being ridiculous now. Edward stood up and bent over Sam trying to figure out a way to pick him up. After all, Edward didn't have super strength. Edward grabbed him and grunted as he lifted Sam up. I smiled as I watched Edward struggle to move around the couch and down the hall. I wanted to follow him up the stairs, but I would seem just as ridiculous.

Cassidy and I shared glances. I was smiling and she was frowning. "What?" I asked.

She shook her head. "You should give him a chance. After all, he is your brother-in-law."

I rolled my eyes. "When did you ever have a soft spot for the bad guys?"

"Alyssa, haven't you realized something?" She asked. My smile faded as I thought. "Dad and Edward are both trying to be good. That's a good sign, right?"

I nodded thoughtfully. "Unless it means that both of them are planning to attack us again."

Cassidy rolled her eyes and stood up from the stool and moved over to me and stood in front of me. "Alyssa, think about it." I sunk back into my seat from her closeness. "Edward survived, but he doesn't have his powers because of you. Dad survived because he fell into a coma by Riley. Either they don't want to die or suffer again or else you are right and they want revenge."

I raised my eyebrows. "Any suggestions further than that? Because I really have no idea what to believe."

That's when I thought of the kiss. That was real. I was almost one hundred percent certain that that meant something important. I didn't want to bring it up to Cassidy, but I knew that meant Edward changed. He would never have kissed me if he was still bad. If he still was bad he would have done something suspicious like run off when I wasn't looking and do something out of the ordinary. But nothing like that happened. Nothing even close to that happened. Well, except for the kiss, but that didn't mean he was bad. That meant he was letting love in his life. After all, he hadn't had love in his life for a long time. So, Edward had changed, but what about my dad?

Obviously he and Edward didn't have something planned like before, but my dad was just a complete mystery. I would have to find out when I found him. Then again, how did Edward know about it?

I turned my attention back to the living room. Cassidy was still standing in front of me, but not as close. Edward entered the room and I could see the fresh droplets of sweat run down the side of his face. He looked at me with a disgusted look. I frowned, but I looked at him.

"Edward?" I asked. He looked at me as he sat back down on the couch. "How did you know my father was in a coma?"

He sighed as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Why are you asking me this?"

Cassidy sat back down on her stool. I watched her and then I looked back at Edward. "I was just curious."

Edward sighed again. "A destroyer told me. I'm not sure how he knew, but he told me because he recognized me from the battle we had against each other. Lets not bring that up. I told him simply and authoritively that I didn't care and I no longer wanted war between protectors and destroyers. Until now, against us and Peter. It feels good to be good."

I smiled. "Well, that's good that you feel good to be good."

Cassidy frowned. "Enough with the good."

I grinned. So did Edward. I was now positive he had changed. I was also positive that I did like it. Even though I knew the old Edward would still be in parts of him. I liked that too. It showed through his expressions on his face. Edward smiled at me. We shared glances and we both looked away from each other.

"So, what now?" Cassidy asked.

I cleared my throat. "Well, I guess we wait."

"For what?" She asked.

"For a miracle maybe." Edward said.

All three of us shared glances. My eyes stopped on Edward. The sweat was already gone from his forehead. His forehead still glistened, though. He looked at me.

"All we have to do is just let life work it's way through us and then we'll catch the breeze and we'll go with the flow," he said. It seemed like he was just saying it to me, but he was answering Cassidy's question.

"You sound like Shakespeare," Cassidy said.

Edward gave a little laugh. "Then obviously you've never read him." I smiled too. This was the new Edward.