***ALEX***

I'm awakened by a sound filtering up from downstairs. And a smell - bacon and eggs frying in a pan. Someone must be making breakfast. And I'm still in my chosen bed, snugly under the covers. Which means I probably didn't sleepwalk again - if I had, Gabe would probably have tied me down or something to stop me.

I grab my new hoodie, pull it on, and also put my pants on before making my way to the bathroom. After I'm done in there, I return to my room and see Gabe still snoozing on his bed. Not wanting to disturb him, I go downstairs.

Inside the kitchen, Harlan's got his back to me as he takes a spatula to some sunny-side-up eggs. "Ah," he says, hearing me approach him, but not turning around. "Bonjour, mademoiselle."

"Your accent sucks," I say, taking a seat at the island separating the living room from the kitchen. "Mademoiselle."

"Oh, whoops," Harlan says, finally seeing me. "I just thought I'd do that V For Vendetta line, you know? Désolé, monsieur."

I hold up my hands in exasperation. "I'm not awake enough to put up with this."

Harlan chuckles, then goes to a coffee machine on the counter. "Sounds like someone needs their morning buzz," he says. "How do you take it? Cream and sugar?"

"Cream and two sugars," I say with a yawn. "And do you have chocolate?"

"Hah, I wish," Harlan grumbles. "Dad purged this cabin of the stuff a few weeks back. I guess it was one munchie too many for me." He pours me a cup of coffee, prepared to my specifications, then adds, "You've never had coffee made with one of these machines, have you?"

"Only espresso-bar stuff from Smythe and Darknell in Coldfire Creek," I say, cupping my hands around the mug to warm them up. "Or instant at home. My mom doesn't believe in proper coffee, 'cause she's in love with this one instant type they have at her school break room."

"Sucks for you, I guess," Harlan says.

I raise my arms and yawn again. Then I see Fionna coming downstairs. I look down and see my shirt and hoodie riding up, revealing the waistband of my boxers (I'm not wearing my belt) and a bit of my stomach above that. Immediately made self-conscious, I lower my arms a little too quickly.

"Don't fuck with me, Feathers," Fionna laughs, coming closer to me. "I know you were happy to see me just now."

"As if I'm ever anything but." Then I spot Juliet right on her heels. I slide off my barstool, flash Fionna a smile as I pass her by, and then come up to Juliet. I lean down, use my knuckles to tilt her head up, and kiss her on the lips before wrapping her in a tight embrace. She lets out a soft moan, then stands on her tiptoes and kisses me back. For a moment, a fleeting one, but I'll take it.

"So tell me," Fionna says, pulling the hair on top of my head, "what happened to you last night?"

I look back at her sheepishly, hoping against hope she doesn't bring up the first half of the dream in front of Juliet. "Uh..."

"Playing dumb?" She pushes my head down and whispers, "I heard you and Gabe yelling about something after the dream ended. So what happened? You don't need to hide it from me...do you?"

"Can I just say that it's too personal to talk about?" I ask.

Fionna lets go of my hair and slumps onto the barstool next to mine. "I thought you trusted me," she moans, jutting out her lower lip.

"It's not about trust," I say, taking her hand and pressing her knuckles with my thumb. I seem to do that a lot with her, I've noticed. "I mean, I trust you. I really do. But if I make you worry about me, I'd feel like shit."

Fionna doesn't have an answer for that. Instead, she turns away from me, looking at some point on the wall, until Harlan asks her, "Coffee?"

Her lip curls slightly. "You got hot chocolate?"

"Oh, sure," Harlan says, reaching for a brown plastic container stamped with the Hershey's logo.

My jaw drops at the sight. "I thought...I thought you said your dad got rid of all the chocolate!"

Fionna looks between me and Harlan, trying not to laugh. Harlan, meanwhile, shrugs and says, "I dunno. I guess my dad must have missed this one."

"Bullshit," I laugh.

"Fine, it's bullshit," Harlan says, sticking a spoonful of cocoa powder into another mug and adding sugar and water. "But you know how chocolate's supposed to increase your endorphins and hormones or some shit? So, basically, I don't give it to people unless they've got the potential to be attracted to me."

Fionna finally gives up on trying to rein in her laughter. All I can say as I laugh along with her is, "Wh-What?"

"It's part of my test of who could be a good mate for me," Harlan says, giving Fionna her hot chocolate. "So I can never serve the stuff to straight boys or lesbians. It'll ruin the experiment."

"I hate you," I growl at him.

"Oh, are you telling me you're not straight?" Harlan asks, a twinkle growing in his eyes.

As for my eyes, they roll beautifully. "I've always thought you should never be sorry for your sexual orientation," I mutter. "But I've never been denied a mocha for being hetero before."

"There's a first time for everything," Harlan says.

"What about bi girls?" Juliet asks from Fionna's other side.

"What?" Harlan looks bemused.

"You said 'straight boys or lesbians,'" she reminds him. "Where do bi girls fit into the equation?"

"The same place straight girls would." He looks up as Gabe comes downstairs too, then snaps his fingers - the eggs need his attention. "Want a coffee?" he asks over his shoulder as Gabe sits on my other side. "I can make it a mocha if you like."

Gabe looks around at our side of the table, then frowns at Harlan. "If you're gonna be in the way of Alex and his beloved mochas, then I won't have one either."

"You heard all this?" Fionna asks. "Whatever happened to the days when I'd have to scream at you three times to get you to hear what I had to say?"

"I haven't listened to my iPod in a few days," Gabe points out. "My hearing's improved without it, you know."

I stare at the swirling light-brown surface of my coffee. Now that he's mentioned his iPod, my mind wanders, and I think about all the other stuff in his room. Stuff which hasn't been touched since he died, because neither me nor Mom has gone in there in that time. God...has it only been four days? Time's never been slower for me, I don't think.

"Yo, Alex, wake up," Gabe says, poking my shoulder. "What, are you trying to psychically break that mug or something?"

"What?" I break away from the mug and make eye contact with Gabe for a split second. "Uh...no. No, why would...why would I do that? That's just stupid."

"Yeah, but..." Gabe looks up as Harlan serves him a cup of coffee, almost identical to mine - not only is it in a similar mug, but the beverage itself looks like it's prepared exactly the same way. "You sure you're all right, Alex? I mean, after last night-"

"Let's not talk about that," I say. "Not now, anyway."

"But - okay, just hear me out-"

"Gabe." I dial up my firm tone of voice - I learned it from Mom, naturally. "Later. Got it?"

He opens his mouth as if to protest further, but ultimately says nothing. Instead, he takes a plate of eggs from Harlan and starts cutting them. Fionna and I get eggs as well, but we make no move to touch them. Me, I'm mostly just waiting until Juliet gets hers.

I'm actually not a really big fan of these things, Fionna thinks, the voice of her brain turned down low so Harlan won't overhear. I prefer scrambled.

And you don't like coffee either, huh? I pick up a knife and start cutting my own eggs. "Please tell me there's ketchup in this place," I say to Harlan.

"Of course." He opens the fridge and grabs one of those upside-down Heinz bottles.

No, not really, Fionna says. Yeah, breakfast, to me, isn't the most important meal of the day. She yawns, stretches her arms, and lays her head on my shoulder for a moment. Mmm...comfy. Then she straightens herself up and starts eating her breakfast too.

I exchange glances with Juliet, trying to keep my thoughts silent so Fionna can't hear them. I think I get the message across - an apology for Fionna's behavior - but Juliet simply shrugs and flashes a tiny smile.

Wait, why would I be apologizing for Fionna? I should be apologizing for myself, allowing her to get this affectionate with me. Not that I can't say I don't want her affection. It's a wonder I'm able to eat at this point.

By the time Gabe's done, Harlan's finally served Juliet. He's a pretty efficient eggs-and-coffee machine today. Fionna and I finish within seconds of each other, and after that, she joins Gabe in the living room, sitting on the sofa right next to him. I, however, move over to the seat Fionna just vacated so I can be next to Juliet.

"Wonder what's good on TV right now?" Gabe picks up the remote, turns the TV on, and flips through the channels. At this point, just after eight in the morning, it's mostly news and those "paid programs" that are basically hour-long commercials. But unbelievably, we're able to find a good old Orphan Black rerun.

"Don't get too into it, though," Harlan warns us. "Annie's gonna want you guys to meet her next door in half an hour."

Gabe nods once, then leans back on the couch, watching what parts of that old Orphan Black he can with everyone else before we have to leave. During that time, I keep drinking my coffee, already feeling the buzz building up. "You really don't like eggs?" I ask Fionna during a commercial break.

She turns around and shakes her head with an embarrassed smile. "Nope. Never have."

"Learn something new every day," I say.

Juliet finishes eating and pushes aside her plate, then crosses into the living room and takes a seat there. On a single-person chair, I notice, far enough from the couch that I won't be able to reach across the gap and hold her hand, even when I sit on the end closest to her. When I take my seat, my eyes wander over the screen and focus on Juliet, who sits and stares at the Clone Club action, not looking at anyone. Myself included. I really start to suspect that it's either my fault or Fionna's that she's now being so distant with me.

Freddie climbs up the stairs at this point, with Kyle lagging not far behind him. I see Gabe shift in his seat, probably wanting to approach him, but he ultimately stays put his legs spread out as he slouches.

Damn, Fionna thinks. I turn to see her eyes flick in Gabe's direction for a second. I feel so bad for him. She leaves the reclining chair where she's been sitting so she can come to him. Kneeling next to the other end of the couch, she takes his hand. I don't hear what she says to him - it must be strictly telepathic, because their lips don't move - but in the end, Gabe gives her a small, sad smile, and she kisses him on the cheek.

What'd you say to him? I ask when Fionna returns to her chair.

Just a few words of encouragement, she says. It's not easy being a dead teen - but they got ways to help us cope. Group therapy, prayer meetings, that sort of thing. She snickers to herself. Well, maybe not so much the prayer group - even though they're not homophobic or anything. He never was big on religion, was he?

I shake my head. He always hated how the church in Heaven made him look like a bad guy just for being a demon. After a while, he stopped wanting anything to do with God.

She bites her lip. I don't blame him.

I'm right here, you know. Gabe shakes his head at us.

Oh, sorry. She climbs off the couch and goes upstairs. I'm guessing she wants to change - I notice, for the first time, that she's wearing pants patterned with phoenixes and dolphins. An odd combo, but hey, it's Fionna. It fits her pretty well. And I don't mean it shows off her legs - which it actually does - but I'm talking about her style.

I wait a few minutes before going upstairs too. I'm almost fully dressed myself - about the only things I'm missing are my belt and shoes. Before I can go into my room, however, Fionna comes out of hers, having swapped out her PJ pants for jeans.

We look at each other for a moment. It's a bit awkward - I'm turned a little bit away from her, and I've got my hand on the doorknob. But then she walks away without a word. That's so unlike her, and I want to call her back up, but I let her go.

More than ever, I'm feeling that pain that Steve talked about before he died - the pain of my heart being in the hands of two different girls. More than ever, I'm realizing how much my feelings for Fionna didn't change. More than ever, I'm seeing that my relationship with Juliet could be in jeopardy, and that's the last thing I want.

After I'm done putting my shoes on, I join the others as we head into the condo next door. Jensen's waiting for us inside. "Hope you kids have all had your coffee," he says. Fionna exchanges smiles with me and Gabe - but not Juliet, who, I believe, chose not to have any. I'm pretty sure Jensen catches it as well, because his eyes narrow for a second before he continues. "You're gonna have a long and boring day today."

"Really?" Gabe asks. "No big, wild, and crazy mission? No serious action?"

"Oh, there'll be action, all right," Jensen says, picking up a tablet and swiping the screen. "Just maybe not the action-movie kind, like in Fast and the Furious or whatever you young Turks are into these days."

"Are Gabe and I the only ones here who haven't seen those?" I ask.

Freddie and Kyle both scoff at us. "Turn in your dude cards, both of you," says the former with a laugh.

"You might wanna update your reference pool, Dad," Harlan chuckles, scratching his head. "These days, all the kids watch Transformers. Or...or The Avengers."

"Or Amazing Spider-Man," Juliet points out.

Harlan nods, pointing his finger at her with a soft click of his tongue. "That too."

Jensen shuffles his feet, blushes, and clears his throat. Then he presses on like nothing happened. "Uh, okay. So, the mission." He looks down at his tablet. Then, as if deciding that it's not going to be a suitable display, he turns on the flat screen behind him, then does a complicated sequence of high-tech acrobatics with the two devices until he finally syncs up their displays.

It's been a long time since Mom last took me and Gabe to Tahoe, but I still remember the map of the area pretty well after having spent so much time studying it. Second 'Verse Tahoe, according to a cursory first glance at the map, is laid out pretty much identically. On this map, at least half a dozen spots are indicated with red markers like on Google Maps.

I count them, my lips moving silently. There are eight markers on the map. Then I count the number of people in the room, not including Jensen - so, basically, the teens and young adults. (Or those who look like young adults, since according to Russell, Annie is way older than she appears.)

"Haha, you're catching on to something, aren't you?" Jensen says.

I really should know better at this point than to think he can't see me. "You're sending one of us to each of these places, aren't you?" I ask. "Wherever or whatever these places are."

"You catch on quick, kid," Jensen says with another grin. "Now, all these places are-"

"Restaurants, a movie theater, a mini-golf course," Annie says. Jensen glares at her, but she ignores him. "Public places, basically."

"Yeah, that's right." Jensen cycles through the tablet's menu until he tells it to print two copies of this map. "According to our source, we have a possible intruder in Tahoe - one of Holly's foot soldiers. These are the most dangerous kind - the kamikaze pilots." He goes down the hall to grab his printouts. When he returns, he clears his throat again before continuing. "Alex, Juliet, I think Annie might have mentioned a plan by Holly's people to stage an attack in Phoenix?"

I look at Juliet, and she nods. "Uh, sort of, yeah," she says.

"We tried to stop them, but unfortunately, Holly's man had a dead man's switch," Jensen says, his face clouding over. "You know what that means, right?"

"Uh..." Juliet scratches her head as she calls on all her movie knowledge. "That's the one where you press it, hold it, and if you let go, it blows up?"

"And usually, the only reason why you'd let go is if you died," Jensen says. "Hence the name."

"So you guys weren't able to stop the attack in Phoenix?" I ask.

"No." Jensen looks positively gray at this point. "I saw the footage. It wasn't pretty - although there were only minimal casualties, all Second 'Verse residents. No mortals." He separates the two printouts, giving one to Annie and the other to Harlan. "They still accomplished their mission, though. Holly's first plan is to sow seeds of fear among the mortals in both universes. He's mostly got this one in his pocket, and the Prime 'Verse is next."

"Why does Holly want to kill the mortals?" Gabe asks. Everyone else - other than Annie - nods along with him, myself included.

"It's a very long story," Jensen says apologetically. "For now, suffice it to say that it's a war over one of the most precious resources available."

"Let me guess," Freddie says with a bark of laughter. "Oil? Water?"

Annie shakes her head. "Well, it's not so problematic for Heaven or Hell, because there are a lot fewer angels or demons than there are humans."

"Living space," I say, thinking of the Total Recall remake which dealt with the same issue. Unsurprisingly, the Earthen version got a really bad rap compared with the Heavenly version (which is also extremely popular in Hell, because the demons love the shit out of Len Wiseman.) I think it's because the former was too on the nose for the humans to handle.

"Exactly," Jensen says. "Now, each of you will be stationed at one of these locations today. They're the most popular places to be in this town, so it stands to reason that Holly's soldier will target one of them. You're to stay there for the next few hours, and report any suspicious behavior you see to me or one of my people."

"How will we know who's your people?" Fionna asks.

"At some point, each of you will be approached by one of my people," Jensen says. "They'll ask you, 'Have you ever been in the lion's den?' And you'll respond, 'No, but I hear it's lovely this time of year.'"

I barely stifle a snicker. "Do we really have to say that?" I ask. "'Cause I dunno about you guys, but I think it sounds really ridiculous."

Gabe covers his mouth as he tries not to laugh as well. "The cheeky bastard's right. That's some of the most obvious spy-speak I've ever heard."

"But it's easy to remember, right?" Jensen points out. "Don't forget, you're all amateurs - no offense."

"None taken," I mutter.

"Keep remembering it, then," Jensen says. He hands one copy of the map to Annie, and the other to Harlan. "Harlan, you'll take Gabe, Fionna, and Freddie with you. Annie, you take Juliet, Alex, and Kyle."

"Got it," the Troy sibs say in unison.

Jensen claps his hands. "Well, if there are no further questions...good luck, kids."

"Thanks," Kyle says. The rest of us just nod along with him.

Seconds later, we're all out the door, heading our separate ways. I spare some time to hug Gabe and Fionna goodbye before following Annie, Juliet, and Kyle southwest, away from the lake.

Before we reach any of our destinations, Kyle turns to me and asks, "Uh...well, sorry if this sounds personal or anything, but...do you think your brother likes me?"

I start choking with laughter at this point - the question was so out of left field. "Uh...yeah, I can't really answer for him there. Sorry."

Kyle sticks his hands deep into his pockets. "It's just...Fionna told me about him before he died, and since he dated my angel...I figured, why not get with him? I'm the next-best thing, I think."

My lips quirk up. "I just hope you'll get with him 'cause you really want a relationship, and not just..." I pause, trying to think of the right words. "And not just 'cause you wanna be a substitute for the lover he lost."

"Yeah..." Kyle drawls.

"It's funny how Fionna told you about him," I say. "Gabe did the same to her for me before we first met."

"Really?" Kyle whistles low. "As my people would say, es increíble."

The first stop on our trip is a restaurant called Heidi's - which, as its German name suggests, is a sort of Der Waffle Haus-type place, specializing in breakfast food. I can smell the pancakes and bacon and eggs - so many eggs, no doubt - from the sidewalk. Kyle goes here, saying goodbye to the rest of us.

Annie says that the next stop on our little Tahoe Tour, a mini-golf course, will be where I'm going. Along the way, she consults her phone after getting a few messages, and says, "Oh, good. Russell just sent in his after-action report from San Francisco."

"Prime 'Verse or Second?" I ask.

"Prime," Annie says. "Heaven, to be more specific. Oh, and he did manage to get a couple of your friends in with him. Paul, Gideon, and Luca." She looks up to see Juliet and me giving her similar looks of concern for our friends. "Everything's fine. But the mission went a little topsy-turvy for a bit there, if Russell's report is to be believed."

"How so?" I ask, unsure if I want to know.

"Well," Annie says, swallowing for a moment, "it, uh, all started when Russell decided to push a bunch of Holly's soldiers - they were posing as security guards - into the bay, and then he pissed on them." Her lip curls. "Ugh, I'd expect that sort of thing from Harlan, but Russell?"

"Maybe he was improvising?" I say with a sheepish laugh.

"Maybe," Annie says. "Either way, as you can imagine, that's when the so-called 'guards' got really pissed off."