She made him stop in front of an old apartment building. He couldn't help but notice the way she winced at his parallel-parking skills, just the way she had seemed to move her feet unconsciously as he drove, anticipating braking and accelerating--she resisted being a passenger, but she was conscpicuously quiet during the ride, saying nothing more than "Turn here," or "Another block." She stared at the place for awhile before speaking.
"I might be a while--want to come up with me?"
"That depends," Nick answered. "Where is this?"
"This, uh, Gauntlet. I don't really know what you have and haven't found out about them--do you know anything about Akkasur?"
"Only that he was the one who taught some of them--and that he was very old. He was the one who gathered the information to get it all started...and you..." He stared at her. "You killed him, and you'd know more about it."
"This is where he lived. Methos doesn't know that I tried to find out everything I could to make sense out of what happened to me. See, this guy really thought I was her--the old lady? I mean, he seriously did--it wasn't like, just, 'She looks like her,' or 'I'm psycho, so I guess I'll just go nuts over the resmblance'. He was into it. It creeped me out, and when something bothers me...I have to look deeper."
She smiled, grimly, and looked down. "I know that's pretty weird."
"You found out where he lived?"
She laughed, briefly. "I've been here once or twice before, sorting it out. Trying to get into his head. And now, I guess I'm going to try to get into...you know, their heads. Maybe it'll give me an idea of what to do." She opened the car door, then paused. "You might not want to come with. It's kind of sick."
Nick's hand was already on the door. He opened it, and began getting out of the car. Looking over his shoulder, he responded, "No, I think I want to see this."
Sheshrugged, and then got out of the car, closing the door partially, and then having to bang it shut. She rolled her eyes. "And then, ability to perform fine motor skills tapers off," she muttered to herself.
"What?" Nick asked.
"Nothing," she answered. "Just steadily deteriorating mentally. No biggie." She quickly tripped up the stairs, and then rang the bell. The concierge came to the door, and smiled when she saw Genevieve.
"AH, Mam'selle Fowler, you are back for...to see?" she asked, in a bright, but heavily accented voice. Genevieve merely nodded. Nick took note of the sharp look he then received. Genevieve caught it, too.
"Mon cousin," she confided. The woman nodded, and waved them up the stairs.
"She seems to like you," Nick whispered, as Genevieve got out her keys.
"Well, I paid off his rent. And I'm still paying his lease, if you really want to know," she answered, casually. "I was her, I'd like me, too. I was looking at the building as whole, you know? Real estate around here--tres cher, you dig? Might be an investment." And with that, she opened the door to what had been Akkasur's apartment. Nick took a look inside, and gasped.
Posted on Jan 13, 2001, 7:53 PM from IP address 172.139.152.58