Ellen and Tay Settle Down

### **Downtown Halcyon City. Sunday August 23, 1992, 8:30 PM**

Ellen barely has time for goosebumps to form as the temperature jumps from the cold time stream to the hot summer night so quickly. The tires screech as they hit pavement again and the world comes into focus — just in time to avoid rear-ending the car ahead of them.

“Oh, shit!” Ellen shouts over the communicators, weaving between vehicles as their drivers honk and shout. A few more serpentine turns and the bike is safely in a side alley, nearly tipping over from the abrupt stop.

Holy shit. Her heart is pounding in her chest. I’m alive. We made it! Her hands move down to Tay’s, still wrapped around her waist, and she whips around to check on her girlfriend.

“Are you ok?” Ellen manages through rapid breaths.

Tay just looks back, absolutely exhilarated. Her grey cheeks are flush with a hint of pink, and as Ellen watches her ears flick back upright from where they had been blown back by the wind.

“Am I OK? I’m great! That was AWESOME!” She laughs and hops off the bike, holding a hand out to help Ellen off as well.

“So this is 1992, huh? Looks pretty much the same to me so far.” She kicks a trash can, which dings the exact same way trash cans go ding in 2020.

“Shit, you’re right. I didn’t get a good look, what if we missed?” Ellen’s breathing starts to speed up again as panic creeps in. “C’mon. We’ll just ask someone. Or find a newsstand or something.” She kicks down the bike stand and grabs Tay’s hand, charging out of the alley. Tay’s cold hand is calming and comfortable and starts to set Ellen at ease.

As they make their way out of the alley and into the wider world -- or, in this case, wider street -- it becomes clear that they did not miss. Some things are the same -- the same buildings and sidewalks, mostly, and a street filled with cars -- but the cars are subtly different, as are the clothes, and… oh, of course there would be a cinema on the street they time travel to. That’s just how time travel works.

“Look.” Tay points at the sign, which reads ALIEN 3 - BATMAN RETURNS - 3 NINJAS.

Ellen’s face breaks into a grin reading the marquee and she squeezes Tay’s hand tighter. Looking down from the sign, surveying the sidewalk scene, she takes in further signs of the time: a kid wearing Cross Colours jamming along to something on his discman; a street full of people, not a single one with any kind of cell phone; the city skyline with far fewer skyscrapers and no Zodiac Tree.

“Hey! Watch it!” A girl on roller skates nearly crashes into Ellen as she spins around, awestruck. Ellen finally turns back to Tay, still beaming.

“Welcome to 1992,” and she rushes forward for a hug.

Tay leans into the hug, laughing. “Hell yeah. It looks just like in the films. I was so sure the roller skates were made up!”

She looks around, trying to find a street sign. “So which way’s your place?”

“Oh man, we’re not even close. I mean, a lot closer than 2020, but this is downtown. We’re like a 15 minute drive away? But- you wanna go? I mean, like, yeah that’s home. Which is where we’re going. Duh.” Ellen shakes, almost jogging in place, trying to do something with her newfound energy.

Just as she’s about to suggest a quick tour, Ellen is interrupted by a scream from behind her. People are pouring out of the movie theatre, and not in a “wow that show was great, I’m gonna run to tell everybody I know about it” kind of way.

“Hey! What’s going on in there?” She steps in the way of a fleeing couple.

“It’s crazy! Two guys started fighting about whether or not Sigourney Weaver is hot in the Alien movies and then one of them started throwing fire outta his hands!”

“Like, what a stupid thing to fight over! Of course she is! Have they seen her?”

Ellen nods in agreement before looking at Tay with a crooked smile.

“Wanna break up an idiot fight?”

“The answer to that is *always* yes.” Tay responds, cracking her knuckles. They charge in, following the fleeing crowd to a room labelled NOW SHOWING: ALIEN 3. As the last couple runs out of the door, Tay rushes in to block a jet of flame following them out. Inside, a mess of scorched seats and the smell of burning popcorn surrounds two figures, one of which is angrily throwing fire at the other while behind them, Ripley runs through a corridor.

“Look at her! Look at how powerful she is! What aren’t you seeing?!” A guy crawling between rows of yet-to-be-set-on-fire seats shouts as he ducks his head back down, out of sight.

“Aaaaahhhh! You know she looked better with hair! Admit it, you piece of shit!” Flamey hands spins, trying to locate his opponent, when he spots Tay in the doorway. “Who are you supposed to be? We’re kind of in the middle of a debate here, this theatre is occupied. Get out of here!” Steam rises from his hands as the sprinklers continue to rain down in the room.

“I can draw his fire,” Ellen rolls her eyes at her unintended pun, “and you’ll probably do better with the fire than I will. Sound good?” She glances at Tay before her eyes dart around the rest of the theatre, taking stock of what would be easy to throw.

Tay nods and vanishes into the shadows, a small shape fluttering on the edges of the theatre. As Ellen captures his attention, joining in the debate - and throwing a few punches - she watches for an opening and… there! Like a piano from a fourth story window she drops down into flamehands. He notices the shadow and turns, throwing a torrent of flame at her, but it does no good - she barrels through it and into him, knocking him to the ground.

"There, now your opinions are where they belong, next to the spilled Coke and sticky popcorn residue."

"I'm here! Where's the villain - oh."

Tay looks up to see a young man in the theatre doorway, dressed in a superhero costume, blond hair peeking out of the headpiece.

*Of fucking course he shows up now*, Ellen tenses up, immediately recognizing the voice. She thinks about what to say back to Chris — Tornado, rather — between attempts to calm down the panicked, very opinionated, moviegoer. But, as usual, he gets to that first, too.

“E- Payback? You’re back!” Tornado rushes over and towers over both Ellen and the rescuee. “And you’re out of costume?” He leans down and whispers to her, setting her on edge.

*Too close! Jesus Christ, stay on target, E!* Ellen focuses to keep herself from blushing, reminding herself that she’s seen Chris when he’s old.

“Sure fucking am,” she hisses back at him through clenched teeth, “so you wanna deal with this guy so the cops don’t get on our case about being here?” She nods over at Tay, who Tornado regards with a curious expression before agreeing.

Jogging over to Tay, Ellen crouches with her next to the unconscious firestarter. “Nice one. Hey, not to rush you or anything, but we should probably go before the cops get here. They’re not exactly hot on random teens dealing with super shit, and my parents do not know I do this.”

Tay laughs as she finishes tying a bunch of shoelaces around firehands’ fire...hands. “Business as usual, huh? No prob, babe.” She plants a quick kiss on Ellen’s lips and stands up, throwing firehands over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “I’ll go deposit this dude somewhere they’ll find him.” She walks out the door, back in the direction of the front register.

Ellen smiles at the kiss, but it is short-lived as she stands to face a stunned Tornado. An eternity passes as they stare, shocked, at each other.

*Oh fuck.*

Suddenly, the floor is the most interesting thing Ellen has ever seen. She can’t bring herself to look away from it as she robotically follows Tay out of the theatre, her face on fire.

“I guess that explains why those two were on my side in this, huh?” Sigourney Weaver Defender™️ nudges Tornado in the ribs, smiling knowingly at the hero, who continues to stare vacantly into the middle distance.

In the entrance hall, Tay finishes tying a bow around the unconscious firehands with red ribbon she’d found lying behind the counter just as Ellen walks in - and just as the sound of sirens can be heard a block away. “Time to leave!”

They run out together, weaving through the crowd of concerned onlookers back towards the alley.

### **Drummond House, Halcyon City. Sunday August 23, 1992, 9:15 PM**

Tay stubbornly bats at her hair, trying to smooth over a strand that had been refusing to stay in place all day. She had excused herself and ran into the bathroom pretty much immediately upon arrival, and she couldn’t exactly place why. There was just something about driving through the city, seeing all these places familiar to Ellen, turning into her street, walking into her childhood home… it was overwhelming, and she suddenly felt awkward and insecure.

She sighs and looks in the mirror. Her skin was still an even, middle grey, though it was obviously kind of flushed. Her ears were… well, they were cat ears, there was no disguising that. Her hair looked nice other than the one strand. She’ll just… not smile, and pretend to be… what? A cat alien, maybe? She slaps her cheeks and puts on her best girl-you’d-want-your-daughter-to-come-home-with face, and walks back down to the living room.

In the kitchen, the wall clock next to the fridge sets the tempo for a barrage of questions from both Marie and Rob Drummond.

“Why are you damp?”

“Why did you dye your hair again? And so badly, at that?”

“Did we hear another set of footsteps?”

“Christopher called for you this morning, make sure you go say hi tomorrow. And take this cake tin back, I borrowed it from Alex but I keep forgetting to stop by with it.”

“GUYS! Can I breathe? Please?” Ellen is at her limit; there were always questions when she’d get back from a few days at a friend’s place, but she’d never been worried about her vampire catgirl girlfriend from the future in the bathroom upstairs before. It was only upon arriving back at the house that the two of them realized they hadn’t discussed how to explain… well, anything about Katayoun to Ellen’s parents. They’d been so focused on the present, they forgot to plan for the future, which was the past.

“Ok, look: we’re damp because it was raining when we left Manda’s, I dyed my hair on a dare, and my girlfriend is upstairs, so if you don’t mind, I’m gonna go make sure she’s alright.” Ellen stomps towards the two-way swing door to the stairs.

“Also, if Chris shows up, he’s banned from the house.” She adds just before leaving and immediately running into Tay on the other side of the door.

“Hey!” She shouts in surprise, not having heard Tay come back down the stairs, adjusting to a whisper. “Hey, are you alright? Glad you got something dry to wear.” Ellen looks worriedly at her girlfriend and smiles when she sees one unruly lick of hair sticking up on her head.

“Y-yeah! Um… do I look okay? I want to make a good impression..” Tay says, awkwardly smoothing the wrinkles on her shirt. She seems to have changed into the most respectable clothing she owns: a white collared shirt, buttoned all the way up, tucked into dark blue dress pants.

“So, look… they’re in full interrogation mode and I know we never really talked about this, but \*what do we say\*? I mean, how much are you ok with them knowing?”

“Uh… fuck, right… I don’t really want to keep secrets but I… I don’t want to scare them? I could be, uh…” Her brow furrows as she thinks. “An alien? A science experiment you rescued from a villain? Uhhh…”

“Ellen, is that her? Stop whispering in the hallway and come back in here!”

Ellen cuts a quick glare back at the kitchen door. \*God, could they be cool for like 10 seconds? Seriously.\* Taking Tay’s hands in hers, Ellen looks her girlfriend square in the eyes. “You look great. Kinda nerdy, but great. And you’re right, lying to them is only gonna bring up more questions later. Besides, if they decide to be jerks about it, then we don’t have to stay here. And I’m pretty sure my parents aren’t jerks. Deeply uncool, but not jerks.”

“Does she need a towel, Dodo? Also your mom wants to know if you two want some lemonade.”

Ellen hangs her head and sighs at the nickname drop, but that could wait for later. “Whatever you wanna tell them Tay. Whatever makes you feel like you’re at home.” She kisses her hands and looks back up at her with a half-smile.

Tay breathes in deeply, feeling the air move through her lungs that are no longer used to the sensation. She nods. “The truth, then. I don’t want to start my new life pretending.” She takes Ellen’s hand as they walk through the door.

“Uh… Hello, Mr and Mrs Drummond. I’m Tay - Katayoun. You… have a very nice house.”

Marie Drummond puts down the glass and pitcher and glides across the kitchen to her new guest. “Oh, well, it is just lovely to meet you, Kata- Katayoun? Am I saying that right?” She’s already taken Katayoun’s free hand in both of hers when her eyes drift up and she notices the ears. Cat ears.

Marie’s eyes go wide momentarily but she quickly fixes her face and takes a step back. In full view now, she looks like the mom character in so many of the 80s and 90s movies Ellen had made Tay watch with her. Blonde hair curled and teased to marvelous volume, a light button-up shirt tied at the bottom over a pastel blue t-shirt, and very high rise jean shorts with her sneakers.

“Rob, come say hello!” Her words carry the un-said message of *Don’t. Say. A. Word.* underneath them and she waves him forward.

Rob stands from his chair at the table and takes a step forward to offer Katayoun his hand to shake. Rob looks as though he might start grilling at any moment: a slightly-too-large polo with belted shorts. Why they both decided to wear their socks so high was a mystery for the ages.

“Good to meet you! Now, I have to ask what such a polite and well-dressed young lady is doing with our Dodo here.”

“Dad!”

“Well, you have to admit: she looks very put together, whereas you look like you got chewed up and spit out by something that didn’t like the taste of flannel.” Rob chuckles and gestures to his daughter, who looks very much like a recently drowned rat, her hair still stuck to her face in places.

“I, um…” She returns the handshake. “Thank you..? No, I mean, uh. Your daughter is… She is like, the best person I’ve ever met, and I like her a lot, and…” She blushes. “Uh, thank you for letting me into your home, it looks very much like a movie, yes you said my name right enough but Tay could be easier if you want, uh. Yes, thanks.”

Ellen can’t help but blush as well, seeing Tay getting flustered. She’d never actually introduced someone she was dating -- Chris didn’t count, for many reasons -- to her parents before, and the “officialness” of it is nice.

“Well, *Tay*, it is so nice to have you here and please make yourself feel at home. Dodo, why don’t you help Tay get settled, I just need to talk to your dad for a bit.” Marie hands each of the girls a glass of lemonade and smiles.

Ellen is about to complain about the nickname, again, when she fully takes in the unsettling intensity of her mom’s smile and decides it would be better to be literally anywhere else. Reluctantly letting go of Tay’s hand, Ellen picks up her bag and guitar from the floor before leading Tay back upstairs.

Marie watches the girls leave and waits until they’re out of earshot before turning back to her husband, who asks “Does she have cat ears?”

“Yup. She does, Rob! She has cat ears!”

The Drummonds look at each other with concern.

Upstairs, in Ellen’s room, Tay awkwardly sips at the glass of lemonade. It tastes like ash.

“Your parents are… nice. Uh. Sorry if I messed that up.”

“What? Dude, you were perfect. Uh, are perfect. Oh man, I shoulda said something but then mom went full Stepford and I punked out. Shit.” Ellen is all over the place, running back and forth to clear a space for Tay to sit down. It’s odd being there again after so long, remembering how much she’d made her room at Melody’s house just like it, minus the posters plastering every wall. Clothes she vaguely remembers throwing on the floor as she packed to leave. A flower in a cup of water whose petals are just starting to brown at the edges.

“Did they weird you out? They’re really…” Ellen widens her eyes and adopts a wide grin, shoving her hands towards Tay, “y’know?”

“No, no, I liked them! What’s stepford?” Tay looks around for a place to put the glass of lemonade down, and stands up to help Ellen clean.

“Oh, like \*The Stepford Wives\*? It’s this old movie about, like, evil robot moms in the suburbs or whatever. And they always smile like this,” she mimics her mom’s creepy smile, “like they’re trying to shoot lasers out of their eyes.”

Tay breaks into laughter at the perfect imitation. "Wow," she says, wiping tears from her eyes. "I can see it. The lasers, I mean. Wait, do they have lasers yet?"

She leans against a dresser, looking at Ellen as she goes around her room. It felt strangely intimate, being in the room her girlfriend grew up in. Ellen in 2020 had nothing like it - yes, she had a room at Melody's, and it actually liked pretty similar, but it didn't have the history that Tay could feel in this room. It would've felt oppressive if it wasn't so familiar, but instead it was just comforting.

She forces herself to finish the lemonade. "They seemed to accept me pretty quickly? I guess I had expected more questions."

“Well they’re talking about *something*, so I’m sure that’ll be a pain in the ass later, but yeah. Way to be ‘a polite and well-dressed young lady’,” Ellen barely makes it through the sentence before she starts laughing. “Where did you even get these pants? I’ve never seen them before.” She pokes at Tay’s leg.

Tay blushes. "They're my work pants. I had to buy a pants press… They're the fanciest thing I own that doesn't look like it came from a Halloween store. I have a waistcoat and jacket too, but I thought that would be too much? Like, it would take it from 'hello I am here to take your daughter to the dance' to 'can I take your order' and I'm not ready to serve them spaghetti." She mimes taking orders on a notepad.

"I can't hear them now, but they were talking about my ears. More importantly though, *was that Xyclone at the cinema*?"

Ellen stops laughing. “Yeah, that’s him. Well, he’s ‘Tornado’ now.” She groans. After a brief internal struggle, she adds, “And… we… kinda went on a few dates maybe before I left so there’s that too sort of.” The words are barely intelligible because her face is buried in her hands in an attempt to hide the blushing.

"Oh." Tay blinks. "Um. I… Well,"

Tay's attempts at a response are cut off as there is a *tink* on the window. She leans over and looks out, surprising a young man who was about to throw another pebble.

"Uh, speak of the devil?"

*Motherfucker.* Ellen curses internally.

“Motherfucker.” She also curses externally. “Tay, look, I’m not into him any more. That was, like, forever ago anyway! Also, I mean you met him. You know what he’s like when he’s old. Ugh!” Ellen pauses pacing to shudder for a moment.

“Yeah - um.” Tay looks back from the window at Ellen, ears pressed back. “Don’t worry, please, I’m not upset, just surprised.” She is hit in the cheek with a pebble as she says it. “He *really* wants to talk to you.”

“I *really* want to talk to you!”

She’s not sure if it’s from the blushing or the anger, but Ellen sees red as the pebble bounces off of Tay’s cheek. In an instant she’s out the window, on the ground, and holding Chris up by the front of his shirt.

“Do *not* throw rocks at my girlfriend.”

“Your *what*?! Who is that?”

“You heard me!”

“Doesn’t answer my question! Also, put me down! And can we go inside?”

Tay climbs out of the window after Ellen, careful not to tear or get stains on her best outfit.

“Nice to meet you, Cy - Tornado. I’m Tay. I’ve heard a lot about you.” *Mostly on the news*, she thinks to herself. She raises her hand in greeting.

“You told her my secret identity?”

“Dodo? What’s going on - oh, hi Chris!” Rob Drummond stands in the doorway, having emerged to check out the commotion.

*Oh perfect. Just fucking great, why don’t we just have a big goddamn party right now. Jesus Christ.* She drops Chris and shouts back to her dad that everything is fine.

“Sure looks that way.” he squints at the three teens. “You three should come inside so you don’t wake up the whole street. C’mon, before the mosquitoes get ya.” He waves them all back into the house and makes pointed eye contact with Ellen. She darts her eyes away.

And so there they are, the five of them, in the living room, all waiting for someone else to start talking first.

“I’m from -” “When did -” Tay and Chris both try to talk at once, and stop at once.

Tay looks at Ellen for reassurance, then clears her throat.

“I’m from the future. Ellen and I have been together for six months. I’m, uh, also a vampire.”

There’s another uncomfortable silence.

“Six *months*?”

“The *future*?”

“A *vampire*?”

*Holy shit she wasn’t kidding about no lies. That is so fucking cool.*

“She’s also the coolest person I know and literally saved my life on multiple occasions, so if anyone’s got a problem with her then you’ve got a problem with me.” She takes Tay’s hand in hers and looks sternly at both of her parents and Chris.

“Ellen, what are either of you talking about? What happened to going to Amanda’s? And for *months*? Sweetie you only left a few days ago! None of this makes any sense!”

“Vampires are real? Jesus Christ,” Rob heads for the kitchen, “I’m getting the garlic.”

“Six months…”

Tay holds up her other hand. “I’m not dangerous! Please, you don’t need to get garlic. Though I wouldn’t mind? It actually doesn’t affect me.” She squeezes Ellen’s hand. “Ellen went to my time - 2020, though it was 2019 at the time. It’s only been a few days for you, but it has been over half a year for her.”

They continue like that, slowly explaining the events of the last half year. It’s tedious and confusing, and every answer seems to bring about ten more questions. They leave a few things out - anything involving Cyclone, some details that would be too concerning - but mostly, they tell the truth.

At the end of it, everyone is exhausted and, for the most part, still confused. Still, it’s midnight by the time the story is done and everyone agrees to call it for now, think over what they’ve heard, and come back with more questions tomorrow, or some other day. Chris leaves, walking groggily down the street, while the Drummonds drag themselves upstairs to their respective rooms.

Ellen shuts the door behind her and  she hugs and lifts Tay off her feet, spinning her around a few times and kissing her.

“You are the coolest person alive!”

“Haha,” Tay responds, in between kisses. “For talking to your parents? Babe, for you I would talk to a thousand parents.” She yawns. “Though not today. I don’t even need to sleep and *I’m* exhausted.”

“Oh. Yeah, right,” the yawn is infectious, “I can go grab the air mattress…” Ellen pauses and her face reddens as she looks around her room. “Or you could…” She can’t even bring herself to finish the sentence, and opts for just pointing at her bed instead. *Why can’t I say it? Not even like this is the first time! Why does being at home make this so much harder to say? Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!*

Tay laughs and drops onto the bed, pulling Ellen along with her.

### **Frederick H. Big High School, Halcyon City. Friday September 4th, 1992, 11:58 AM**

Tay and Ellen walk through the hallways, chatting about classes and villains. Some people stare but for the most part, everyone has accepted the new grey girl in class. Halcyon City is weird enough already.

### **Downtown Halcyon City. Wednesday September 23rd, 1992, 6:03 PM**

Tay throws a masked man through a wall while Ellen (in costume as Payback this time) hits another with a large metal pipe. They mop up the last few and drive off on the bike, laughing as behind them Tornado shows up to find the villains already defeated.

### **Halcyon Central Hospital, Halcyon City. Monday October 12th, 1992, 11:14 PM**

Tay grabs a few blood bags, just enough to hold through the rest of the year, from the refrigerator while Ellen keeps lookout by the door into the rest of the hospital. The relative lack of security cameras made it a breeze for someone used to the breaking in to blood banks in the year 2020, and the two escape unseen.

### **White Oak Cemetery, Halcyon City. Saturday October 31st, 1992, 10:47 PM**

A low, haunting bass line starts as Ellen plucks away on Tay’s guitar, ducked behind a mausoleum. On the other side of it, Tay appears out of the shadows, eyes glowing bright red, right in the path of an oncoming couple. As she bares her fangs, they scream and run in terror, leaving Tay and Ellen to laugh and prepare for their next victims.

### **Halcyon Harbour, Halcyon City. Friday November 20th, 1992, 8:02 PM**

Tay and Ellen walk along the boardwalk, hand in hand, in the crisp evening air. They stop to sit on a bench and look out at the water where, years from now, the Zodiac Tree will stand.

“So, uh, the timing on this is kinda weird, but…” Ellen reaches in her pocket and produces a small box, “happy anniversary?” Inside the box is a pair of earrings inset with dark red garnet.

Tay gasps, tears appearing in the corners of her eyes. She grabs them and holds them up, marveling at the reflections of the light on the stones. “They’re beautiful! I…” She smiles, putting them down and reaching into her bag. “I got you something too.”

She pulls out a silver paper bag, untying the ribbons holding it closed, and pulls out a pair of motorcycle gloves.

Ellen immediately tries the gloves on, flexing her hands to break them in. The expression on her face poses a question she’s asked Tay a hundred times before: “Where do you wanna go?”

Tay smiles and looks out over the bay. In this time, it still looks relatively normal. She imagines the enormous white column of the zodiac tree in the water, light filtering onto the harbour through its blue leaves, and feels a pang of… not homesickness, exactly.

“I miss traveling.”

Ellen’s stomach drops. At some point in the last couple of weeks, the novelty — no, relief — of being back had worn off. Her time in the future had been so defined by defying and then running from what she might become, that without that pressure things had become stable. Boring.

*Of course she wants to leave. I’m bored half the time, and I’m used to this; this has gotta be like watching paint dry for Tay. Shit, how do I make this fun aga-*

“Yeah? Winter break starts next month? What if we do that road trip again? Y’know, hit different places, but just… get away for a bit.”

“That sounds nice! We can go so many places with the bike now. I was wondering if like, if it could travel through time, maybe we could even go to like, space and stuff! What if we go to a space station or something? That could be fun.”

She takes Ellen’s hand in both of hers. “I would love that. But not yet.”

She smiles. “I don’t mind being bored. We can make things interesting, and sometimes peace is nice. And there’s still so much here for me to get used to! Besides,” She leans in close, “Imagine how exciting travelling will be after having to sit through Mrs. Blackford’s classes for months. That woman is somehow just as tiring young as she was old!”

Ellen laughs along while mildly panicking on the inside. *How did she- Is she in my head? Can she hear my thoughts?* She takes a few calming breaths - breathe in, hold it, breathe out - to steady herself and figure out a response.

“Yeah, duh. Ugh, I’m sorry. I’m not trying to, like, make you feel like we *have* to go somewhere. I just don’t want you to get bored or feel like this was a mistake or wanna leave. Like, I love that you’re here and if you’re fine with just *being here*, then I’m happy too. But if you do wanna go somewhere, just say when and…” The words trail off as she remembers that stupid song from months ago. *Oh my god, that’s way too corny. I can’t. Right? Hahhhhh! Only one way to find out?* She rests her forehead on Tay’s shoulder and starts to sing, just loud enough for her to hear.

*Say when*

*Day or night*

*Any time is cool no slowing down*

*Streetlights*

*Getting later*

*The sun is fading*

*But we don’t have to go home*

*You, me*

*We’re not waiting*

*Got so much to see, so much to show*

Tay hums along. When the last words have been sung they just sit there, listening to the waves.

#### **Alexandria, Virginia. Monday December 27th, 1992, 9:15 PM**

Ellen and her paternal grandfather, Alexander Drummond, are washing the dishes after dinner since he still refuses to buy a dishwasher. He’s never been a man of many words, despite being an English teacher, but the silence is more tense than usual given that this is the first year Ellen has brought anyone, let alone her girlfriend.

“Ellie.”

“Gah! What?” Ellen nearly drops the plate she’s drying.

“Your friend.”

Just as she’s about to complain, again, that Tay is *not* her “friend”, he continues. “She’s bright. You stick with her, might smarten you up yet.”

There’s a pause while Ellen hides the smile trying to creep across her lips before she responds, “Yeah. Duh, Grandpa.”

#### **Halcyon Needle, Halcyon City. Thursday December 31, 1992, 11:55 PM**

Katayoun swings her feet over the edge as Ellen sets down the jetpack she’d “borrowed” from Chris.

They tap their drinks together -- a can of Coke for Ellen and a blood bag for Tay -- and watch as fireworks light up the sky across the city.

#### **South Side, Chicago. Wednesday March 17, 1993, 7:00 PM**

The crowd cheers as Tay wipes the foam from her mouth and adds another empty glass to her side of the table. Her opponent, Kyle or Kevin or whatever he said his name was, wobbles in his chair, hesitantly raising his remaining half-glass to his mouth. The drink doesn’t reach his mouth before he drops the cup back on the table and runs further into the pub, and everyone is pretty sure he doesn’t quite make it to the bathroom to vomit.

Ellen raises Tay’s hand in triumph and the whole place erupts in shouts and applause, and another round of drinks, in celebration of the tiny drinking champion.

Tay leans over and whispers in Ellen’s ear. “D’you think vampirism’s cheating?”

#### **Somewhere outside Detroit, Michigan. Sunday July 18, 1993, 2:14 AM**

Ellen and Tay lie on a blanket in the middle of a field staring up at the night sky. They pass the night as Tay points out constellations, naming the stars she recognizes. Wondering if, maybe someday, they’ll get a closer look. They look at the motorcycle, then at each other, then back out at space.