"Chick, chick, chick."

The hair rose on the back of Alex's neck at the voice full of malice. She was very, very glad she had powers. She turned around slowly in the darkened cobblestone alley, careful not to slip on the usual trash of beer cans and food wrappers. She leaned her large brown paper bag with caution against a wall dark with dirt and graffiti.

"Whatchoo' think, bringin' yo' middle class ass here?"

Her potential assailant was wearing the obligatory gangsta baggy pants and hooded sweatshirt, hood pulled over his head. It would have been intimidating except that Alex remembered an article where several grandmothers began wearing gangsta clothes to discredit the gang members on their block. Now Alex couldn't see the outfit without thinking of a sweet grey-hair in it.

"Middle class?" Alex protested, forgetting to look frightened so that the thug would rush her. "I'm wearing jeans and a T-shirt. What's middle class about that?"

The gang member stared, surprise on his slack features.

"It's because there's nothing obscene on my shirt, isn't it?" Alex stretched out her shirt and looked down at it. "Or is it because the shirt isn't see through?"

The thug swung at her. Alex stepped a fraction out of its range. She wanted the jerk frustrated. He swung again, but Alex miscalculated and he connected with her jaw.

"Now you sorry, white ass," he said.

"I'm not the type to get scared and run when I get hurt. I'm more of the 'bring it on until one of us is dead' type." Alex wiped off the blood from her lip.

Only Morgan can turn me into a frightened rabbit and every criminal I meet will pay in spades.

The gang member whipped out a knife and Alex smiled. Confusion further clouded his dull, yellowed, eyes. He swiped a good slash and Alex stumbled backwards. When the gangsta closed in for the kill, she kicked his knee. He screamed as it bent backwards. She followed up with a straight leg kick between his legs, her shin trying to split him in two. His scream went up several octaves.

"That was for calling me middle class." Alex again wiped the blood trickling from her lip. "And my grandma wears your clothes."

She poured white light into his belly until he passed out. Then she kicked his groin again and started stripping off his clothes.

Middle class, indeed. I'm blue collar working class all the way.

*****

Alex entered her carriage house apartment and dropped the huge brown paper bag of crawfish on the table. The brothers looked over from the couch.

"I brought your welcome home meal. Sorry I'm late. I ran into some trouble, or rather, I was trouble that someone else ran into," Alex said as she wiped the blood from her puffy lip. "Figured you couldn't boil crawfish while camping."

Alex had greeted the brothers warmly enough when they returned from camping, although she had dropped hints about coming with them next time.

"Don't keep us in suspense. Tell us what happened," Rile said.

"Are you all right?" Gabe approached her for a closer look.

"Sure, it was an average mugging."

"You stopped a mugging?" Cale looked over from the second hand TV.

"Stop?" Rile sounded unimpressed. "More like, how much did they get from you?"

Alex put her hands on her hips and turned to him. "Did you not see my haul of crawfish? No self respecting mugger would leave without that."

"You shouldn't have done that," Gabe scolded her paternally.

"What?" Alex turned around to face him.

"You've barely begun training. You're still on the basics of the staff," Cale added.

She looked at him in astonishment. "Et tu, Cale? Y'all know how to hurt a girl.  May I remind y'all that I was fighting off muggers long before y'all came around?" Her Southern accent slipped through with strong emotion.

"A whole four months, right?" Rile twirled his dagger.

"More like four and a half," she corrected him.  "I can't believe y'all are saying this to me. Who saved whom from Hermann's men?"

"It's too dangerous for you to take on the world." Cale looked worried and clacked his claws together in a nervous manner.

"Y'all don't appreciate that I am faster than an average human. Y'all just see that I am slower than y'all. The world is a dangerous place and if you don't take it on, it will take you for everything.  I never said I was as good as y'all, but then again, neither are most of the punks on the street. I must be good enough for them or I wouldn't be here. Now do y'all want to argue more or do y'all want dinner?"  Alex didn't wait for an answer as she swept into the kitchenette. 

When Gabe followed her, Rile nudged Cale and whispered, "Trouble in paradise. There was a whole lotta y'all's in her speech. The most I've ever heard. She is maaaaadddd."

"Don't sound so happy about it," Cale replied.

Gabe leaned against the kitchenette wall. "Alex, I forbid you to fight criminals until you are trained well enough." He crossed his arms and gazed at her steadily.

She turned around slowly and met his eyes. "By what authority are you forbidding me?"  When he didn't reply, she continued, "Leader? Sorry, but I'm not a member of the team.  Friend? Well, friend, your advice is considered. Thanks, but no, thanks. By the way, I don't do 'friends with benefits'."

"What does that mean?" Gabe asked.

"It means sex, you uptight prude," Rile yelled from the other room.

"Shut up and stop eavesdropping," Gabe yelled back. He dropped his authoritative tone for one of pleading. "Alex, you could get hurt or maybe even killed."

"Gabe, it's too late to worry about that." She shook her head.   "I like what I'm doing. It's important to me to help, to do whatever I can. I need to do it. Can't you understand that?"

"It's not enough to justify the risks.  You must wait until you're better trained," Gabe continued, his authoritative tone right back in place.

"When will that be? Next year? Two years? More? Forget it. I was doing fine before and I'll keep on as I train."

"You know where to find me if you decide to listen to me."  Gabe stormed out the door and slammed it.

"Does this mean we're not eating?" Rile asked. "Because I'm hungry."

"We should leave," Cale offered, gazing anxiously at the door Gabe had slammed.

"Stay right where you are," Alex ordered, "I have way too many crawfish to eat by myself."

*****

After two hours of practice, Gabe sought out Dr. Dewey in his home. His wife Marie made coffee au lait for them and then left them alone in the bright yellow kitchen with its red brick tile floor. Gabe laid out the whole scene for him.  Dr. Dewey listened without interruption and at the end of the tale, said simply, "You did not answer her question."

"What?" Gabe asked.

"Her question: by what authority were you forbidding her?"

"Doctor?"

"You did not answer her question. That's why she did not listen to you.  By what authority do you presume to forbid her?" Dr. Dewey pressed gently.

Gabe fumbled for his words.  "As a friend?"

"No, Gabe, friends do not forbid one another, they offer suggestions.  You have reached a fork in the road and must choose a path.  I cannot make that choice for you."

"Paths? Choices?" Gabe's confusion was clear.

"If you wish to have 'authority' over Alex, you must also accept the responsibility of a relationship with her.  The path of love is never smooth and I fear in your case it will be particularly difficult."

"Love?" Gabe was shocked. "Who said anything about love? Not me. I never told her that. I mean . . . but . . . I . . . I don't want her getting hurt.  That's all."

"Then you have no right to ask anything of her, or tell her what she may and may not do.  If you choose the role of a friend, you must accept the passivity that goes with it. "

"Maybe I'll talk with her over practice," Gabe said.

"It might be a good idea to have your hands busy. Then again, do you really want her armed?" Dr. Dewey said.

"Alex is always armed," Gabe said. "Having a staff in her hands makes her less dangerous, not more."

*****

A/N

Trouble in paradise! No relationship is ever smooth! What will Gabe say with his little talk?

Dedicated to all my loyal readers, even if Wattpad won't let me list them all!

And I'll try to dedicate to my sister again!