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Colin arrives back home after his fruitless research with Sylvia on the rave sites. He briefly considers going to the Blackstone Building, but that would need more time than he's got. There's much preparing to do, since his mom won't be home much sooner than Sarah. He rents the movie (he decides for a classic), and helps Mama Walters with the actual dinner. When Alex and Chris arrive, everything is ready and the house is even tidier than it usually is.

Now the only thing missing is Sarah.

OOC: Oracle, I'm not as good as Sesame, so if you can please play Alex and Chris for me. :)

OOC: Understood.

Sarah returns from her journey to the high school with time to spare.  When she comes into the house Mart is using a kitchen towel to wipe a few crumbs from his hands.  He smiles when he sees her and waves in welcome to the kitchen, beckoning her towards the refrigerator. 
"Your dessert...is ready. " He cracks open the fridge and reveals a log of chocolate cake rolled around a rasberry filling, thin lines of chocolate slice across the top and covered by a fine dusting of confectioners sugar.

"I'll have my hamper waiting for you when you get back," he adds with a grin.

"Deal," says Sarah happily after looking at his efforts.  He must have been planning this for tonight for the family.  Steam still rose from a plate on the counter holding his substitute dessert, fried apples. 

She went upstairs and looked over her outfit while she kicked off her scrubby clothes.  Sarah dug around on her dresser and cracked out a touch of perfume and some lip gloss.  She dealt with her hair and after a struggle came to an understanding with it.  Finally she pulled the brown dress on and covered her shoulders with the cream sweater.  She grabed the backpack and skipped down the stairs.  Her last stop was to  dig around in the shoe shelf before finding the right shoes. 

By then her mom was stealing a fried apple from the plate and holding her keys in the other hand. 

"You ready to go hon?  You look great."  Sarah's mom smiled at her grown up daughter and led the way to the garage.  Sarah snagged the dessert and followed along.

Before long they were outside the Crow residence.  "Bye Mom, thanks!  No it's okay I can walk home without this dessert tray to worry about.  If the weather changes I'll give you a call and let you know.  Love you."

She closes the car door and walks with the chocolate rasberry roll and her pack up to the front door... *ding dong*

Colin's mother answers the door.  "Hello Sarah, please come in."  she says.

Sarah smiles at Colin's mom.  "Thank you Mrs. Crow.  It's nice to see you to."

She steps farther into the house and looks around a bit.  "You have a lovely home.  I brought over a chocolate rasberry roll for dessert.  I hope that's all right?"

Sarah offers Colin's mom the roll.

OOC:  sorry my posts have been so slow. We are entering the insane time at work.  I will try and catch up on evening posts.

"Oh, thank you."  Alex says, taking the dessert, "I'll put this in the kitchen, why don't you go into the living room and make yourself comfortable."


OOC: No worries.  Life is like that sometimes.

Sarah smiles and thanks her.  She heads in the direction indicated, looking over the Crow family home along the way.

The Crows' mansion is a not too large flat, occupying the first floor of Mrs. Walters little building. There are bookcases almost everywhere, and where there aren't, large photos hang on the walls. Some landscapes, some interesting view of Oak Park, and in the living room a large picture of a laughing Alexandra Crow, a man that could only be Colin's father and a giggling toddler. In a corner there's a computer, with the graphic tablet Colin spoke of.

And Colin comes out from a door on the other side of the room, and his almost surprised to see her there. Then a smile, not unlike the one his father is sporting in the picture, blossoms on his face.

"Hey wondergirl. Sorry, I didn't ear the bell."

Sarah smiles at Colin and walks over to him.  She gives him a kiss on the cheek.  "No problem at all.  I just walked in.  I brought a dessert.  I also brought something for you to check out later."  She gestures towards the backpack.  "Don't know if you'll have any luck but I thought it would be worth a try.  I'll fill you in on all the details after dinner I guess.  How has your day been?  What have you been up to since this morning?"

"Well, I've been checking if I could get some info about the third girl from the buildings where the raves have been held. Sylvia insisted to come too. We had no luck, though."

He gives her an embarrassed half-hug.

"I also went to check on the witches. They're not there, it's like they don't have a soul anymore. My winged friend suggested a way to find out what really happened to them. And you? What have you been up to? By the way, any chance you remember the recipe of those cookies of yours. Mama Walters would like to compare. Are you hungry?"

Sarah nods.  Sylvia probably wanted to be in the loop.  I don't blame her.


"That's terrible about the girls.  I mean, I didn't.. don't like them.  Complete bwitches but I don't think they deserved that.  But we don't know everything they've done.  Maybe they did.  How long have they been doing this stuff?  How many kids have suffered from their actions?"

Sarah shrugs without an answer. 

"As for me, I went and goofed around with Sammy for a while.  Well first we went and talked with that band kid with the major crush on Megan?  He was really down but Sammy and I kind of convinced him it wasn't his fault.  It helped that Sammy had a similar experience to tell him about.  So we talked to him and then we went cruising around for a while.  Sammy's off with Elrod now.  I wonder if they've landed by now?  It's like a four or five hour flight to California from here right?  Sammy's off enjoying one of the perks of having a totally rich boyfriend.  I already told her I hate her guts but she understands so its cool."

"Anyway, I pulled a Kel and snuck into the school all ninja style... okay so the second floor windows weren't locked.  Anyway, Tim, the band kid, told us where he'd gotten the gas from.  A couple of nerds had a pile of it hidden in a closet at the back of the lab next to the band room.  I scooped up all that was there.  I worried that some other kid might have a bad reaction like Sammy.  I got Dave on the phone to help me with names.  Tim mentioned Preston Wilde and Dave supplied me with Mike Brooks.  According to Tim they thought it would be funny to use it on a classroom.  I've got the stuff in my pack in case you wanted to check it out." 

Sarah grins.  She says, "As for the cookie recipe you'll have to ask Ma... Mom my mom I mean.  I can make toast, and most anything that is toast like and fits in the toaster oven.  I also have some ability to use the microwave.  Oh and I can always eat.  If you usually eat around now that's fine but if you eat later I can wait."

"I don't know. I was warned something like this could happen to them. I just want to know what happened, and what Rob got himself into. I'm not sure what to think about all this."


"Uhmmm" Colin mumbles, as an idea takes shape in his mind. "Sure, I'll check it out later. There's something I'd like to know."


"Well it's almost ready. Just the time to give you a quick tour. Can I show you my room?"

Colin leads her to his little private corner. The room is quite small, but the walls are painted a light, merry yellow that makes it looks bright and a bit larger. There are several photos hanging here too, and Colin painted the ceiling and the upper part of the walls with mythological beings, characters from books or movies, and the skyline of a city of dream. Everything is kept in an order quite uncommon for a male teenager, except the mirror in front of the window. the sides of it are full with post-it notes, smaller photos (one is a nice one of Sarah), and some sketches attached to it with just a bit of tape.

"Sure I'd love to see your room if you are okay with it," says Sarah.  She'd waded through Rob's room, it seemed long ago now.  She sat carefully between piles of memorabilia in Greg's.  Dave's inner sanctum was sacrosanct and therefor 'No girlz alowhed!'  Then again Rob never got to go in either.  She wondered what Colin's room would be like.

When she got there and looked around it made sense. 

"This is definitely your room," she says.  Then realizes she's an idiot she adds, "I mean, that this room really expresses your personality.  It shows who you are.  Better not let any bad guys in here." 

She thinks about it for a little while and says, "Thank you.  It's nice to see your room."   

"No, thank you, it's nice to have you here."

He sits on his bed.

"Let me check what you brought now, so we can get it out of the way, and have the rest of the evening for ourselves." he says with a smile.

Sarah pauses and considers.  "Okay... but I hope there's nothing horrible that ruins dinner.  Shouldn't be.  I mean it may be just what they talked about.  A couple of science geeks screwing around with a class.  Anyway,"  she says before handing the bag over to Colin.  Inside is the clink of cannisters. 

Inside Colin finds can's marked -
C2HBrClF3
Anesthetic Gas

"I'm not even sure why I brought them.  Would you get a vibe if they had some sort of terrible plan?"

"Well I hope so. I got an idea of my own though. You say they're two guys, and at least one of them is good at electronics and stuff like that. I wonder if they're the same ones who put the cameras in the closet, getting to the next phase of their stupid crusade."

He picks up a cylinder.

"Only one way to find out." he says, and closes his eyes concentrating.

OOC: Need Colin to give me a Wisdom Check please.

OOC: Wisdom check (1d20+2=7) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1084428). Duh.

There are no strong emotions associated with the cannisters.  Colin gets a sense of order and logic, with very little emotion.

"Well, I can't say it worked. I got no vision, no clue, only a vague impression. Whoever is setting this stuff has a very clear plan in his mind, and is not driven by emotions, like, say, Fern. This could make things more difficult."

Sarah nods in agreement.  She takes the cannister and places it carefully back in her pack.  "You're right about that.  Well we've at least inconvenienced them for the time being.  We can turn these in to the police or bait a trap... but I think I'd sooner give them to the police.  These cannisters may not even have anesthetic in them.  I probably should have just called the police in the first place but I didn't want to leave them sitting there any longer." 

She looks at Colin a little bit pitifully.  "I'm sorry, I wasn't even thinking.  I brought these to your house and I honestly don't even know whats in them.  Is Chris going to be here for dinner tonight? I could give them to him?  Maybe after dinner I could drop them at the station.  I'm sorry.  I really suck at this hero thing.  I was just thinking that maybe you could.. I don't know.  Just make it better?"

She shrugs, "I guess I'm getting pretty used to relying on you."

Colin smiles, wrinkles forming around his eyes, and puts an arm around her shoulders.

"Well, thanks. It makes me feel good that you feel you can rely on me. That's cute.
And you don't suck, wondergirl. You remembered to investigate on something that we all forgot, and you foiled something dangerous that could happen once we got back at school. You're good at this. And I don't say it just because you're so beautiful."

He flashes a wide grin, looking lovingly at her face.

"You're usually the one that makes things better, but I'll do what I can. Chris is a nice guy, we'll tell him you found this stuff at school, that it looked dangerous, and that you brought it here so that we could give it a look. I'm sure there's gonna be no problem."

He looks at the floor.

"I picked an old movie, one that I loved as a child. I really wanted to return the favor, and pick one that you could really like, but... I'm afraid I couldn't decide. I realized I like you a lot, but there's a lot of stuff about you that I don't know. I guess it must be the same for you, so I thought it could be a good idea to show you something of what I am. That's also why I brought you here in my room. I hoped you'd like it."

He finally looks up at her again.

"I think dinner's ready now. Shall we go?"

Sarah grins back playfully and nudges herself against him.  She says, "No, it's okay if you say it because I'm so beautiful."


"That's a relief," she says and does sigh in relief.  "I'm sorry but I'm still a little nervous around Chris.  Guess I've watched too many police drama's on TV.  Though I've watched hardly any TV this year at all.  Mostly out fighting crime and when we're not I'm trying to catch up on homework."


Sarah hugs Colin and looks around his room once more. 
"A movie from when you were a kid?  Like Toy Story or Lion King?  Sorry I was a Disney Kid.  One of my favorite movies is still Mulan." 
She smiles at Colin's room.  "You have a great room and it is you.  Thank you for showing it to me.  Mine is more cluttered and disorganized but I suppose that's me too."



"I'm always ready to eat."  Aaah!  Oink! Oink! Shut up!  "I mean, I was hanging around with Sammy this morning and I sort of forgot about lunch."

Colin feels so fine in her arms, he'd stay like this forever.

"I'm afraid it's about ten years older than Mulan. It's an old movie mom said I should watch and I loved ever since. I kind of look forward to seeing your room, you know? I mean... it would be nice. It's a bit like telling me you  feel you can trust me. A bit like telling me one of your secrets."


"God and Great Spirit, you must be starving. Fortunately, I'm sure I can fix that."

He takes her hand and drags her to the dining room, where the table is already set, and Chris is chatting with Colin's mom.

"Oh, I was about to call you. Whose turn is to serve?" Alex says looking at Colin.

"Mine." Colin says after helping Sarah courteously with her chair.

He's back in a minute with some hot toasts, butter, and a plate of salmon slices.

She smiles at Chris and Alex when she enters the dining room.  "Good evening Mr. O'Brian.  It's nice to meet you again.  Mrs. Crow you have a lovely home." 
There that was pretty good.  Just call me little Ms. Manners.  Oh crap!  Does she use her maiden name or her married name?  I thought it was Crow but does that weird Chris out?  Too late now... Hey something smells really good.

When Colin helps her to her seat she blushes and stumbles out, "Thanks, um, thank you Colin."  Yep, Super Special is me.
Fortunately she was distracted from her embarrassment by the arrival of toast and salmon.  The fish and butter smelled wonderful.  She kept her fingers crossed that her stomach wouldn't growl in anticipation.  Sarah tries her best to remember her manners, though with a perpetually starving younger brother her ability to wait for a plate to be passed was rather rusty. 

"So, Sarah."  Colin's mother begins, "Someone told me your mom teaches, at the high school?"

Sarah shakes her head, "No, thank god.  I mean I'm glad she hasn't had to deal with all the craziness at school."  And who wants there mom knowing exactly what they are up to every minute of the day? 

"She teaches West of here, out in Elmhurst."  Just saying it out loud finally makes a guilt monitor trip in Sarah's head.  She hadn't heard anything about the drugs so far out but she hadn't actually asked her mother if her school had had any problems with Superman or anything else.  Something to chat about tonight.  Maybe nothing has happened.  I hope.   

Colin's mother nods.  Chris comes from the kitchen with a pitcher of iced tea, "Yeah, who wants their mom teaching at the school they go to.  Ick."  he shivers and pours tea for everyone.

Ah!!  No he's not psychic.  Probably.  Sarah smiles at that, "Well maybe that as well.  Mrs. Crow, where do you work?  I'm not sure if Colin told me.  Then again he probably did but I'm not the best at remembering things.  Just ask my teachers."

"I have a fellowship at a University in the city.  I teach and help other people put together their doctorate papers."

"Doctorates?  Wow.  I can't even imagine that far ahead," says Sarah.  She takes some of the Salmon and toast and gives it a try.  "Mmm, this is great."

"Lately it's been difficult to imagine even a week ahead. I thought high school would have been interesting, but I'm hoping it gets a bit less crazier as we go." Colin says with a slight smile.

"By the way, Chris, we kinda have something else for you to check out later. It looks like our school puts Hogwarts to shame sometimes."

As the salmon gets passed around, Colin gets up to fetch another plate that smells quite interestingly. It kinda looks like a pie, but it's a shell of golden flaky pastry hiding a heart of spinach and cheese, but there is some garlic and bacon too somewhere in there.

"Yes, I know it's a bit weird, but I can assure you it's good. One of Mama Walters little secrets, I'm afraid. I have no idea where she learned to do this."

He sits back at the table, and a thought seems to catch up with him.

"Have you been free running lately?"

Sarah takes a bite of the pie and smiles.  "This is delicious.  How many of my favorites are in it?  Bacon? Cheese? Pie?  Yum!"  She answers Colin's question with a rueful grin, "If I keep eating like this I'd better double my running distance."  More seriously she adds, "Yes I'm still really just getting started though.  It's fun and just a good way to burn off some steam."  And calories Oink. 

Sarah was happy to chat about the food because she was at a loss for other small chat.  What else could she talk about?  Gah!

"Have you got some favorite tracks? I'd love to take some pics of you tumbling around the town."

When the spinach pie is over, Colin delivers the desserts, the one Sarah brought and a small one of his own, some ice cream in a shell of meringue.

"Mhmmm, this one's really special." he says, tasting her chocolate cake. He takes double serving of it.

"So, are you ready for the movie? Mom, Chris, are you staying or going out?"

"I go where ever there is something to climb, jump over or dive through.  You get around on your bike a lot more than I do... you might even be able to find a few good spots." 

Colin's mom is about to answer when Chris puts his hand on her arm, "We were going to go out.  You guys will be okay alone right?"  He almost doesn't wait for an answer as he gets there coats.

"Mama Walters is home if you need anything."  Colin's mom says as they head out the door.

"Goodnight you two."  Chris says as he closes the door.  You can hear Chris and Alex having a chat in the hallway as they go.  the gist of which is Alex asking if it's a good idea to leave the two of them alone, and Chris laughing.

"Goodbye. Have a nice evening out." Colin says smiling to Alex and Chris.

"Well, it looks like they've left us alone. So, the movie?"

Colin goes to the bookshelf, and pulls out a dvd box. On the cover, a blond princess is embracing a masked man, dressed in black. The title, in golden characters, is "The Princess Bride".

"I'm not sure Greg would count it as a movie worth seeing, but I always enjoyed it. Have you ever seen it?"

Sarah smiles and wishes Chris and Alex a goodnight.  "Thank you for a lovely dinner.  Good night!" 

She nods to Colin's suggestion.  "Sure, sounds great." 

She looks at the box cover with interest and reads the back.  "It sounds like fun.  Oh hey!  That's the guy from Criminal Minds.  Boy he's put on a lot of weight since this huh?  1987?  Wow I guess twenty years can do that to you." 

He he he.

"Yes, that's him. And you're right, but you're gonna love him in this movie. Promise."

He snuggles on the sofa close to her and hits play.

She leans on Colin's shoulder as the movie starts and smiles a secret smile.  The love of Westley and Buttercup grows to fruition and she "awww's" at their kiss, laughing when the boy interrupts the scene.

When the three 'circus performers' arrive on the scene she starts grinning because some of the best lines in the movie are dead ahead. 

She restrains from saying anything during the sword fight.  She holds back on the battle with the giant but in the last moments of the Iocaine challenge she quotes along with Vizzini : "You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha..."  She falls over into Colin's lap playing dead.  She peeks open her eyes and looks up at him.

"Maybe I've seen it once or twice over at Greg's house.  It's one of his favorites.  One of mine as well.  I'm glad you picked it."

Colin acts shocked.

"What? You have already seen it and you didn't tell me? Inconceivable! For this, you must be punished. I think no woman in a century will suffer as greatly as you will!"

His voice gets louder and louder, getting real scary, and then, when she least expect it, he starts tickling her mercilessly.

"Nooooo!!!!"  Sarah shrieks and tries to fend off Colin's tickling but fails as she starts giggling and squirming.  Apparently not the sound of ultimate suffering. 

Colin then stops tickling her and kisses her on her nose.

"If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you like to go? Is there a place you absolutely want to see?" he asks, gently stroking her nape with his thumb.

"Oh wow.  I don't know?"   Sarah is stunned by the endless choices, "Um.. everywhere.  I'd love to see the big cities.  London, Tokyo, Beijing, Paris.  But what about places like Machu Picchu or Victoria Falls?  Not to mention the fact that I haven't even travelled around the United States.  What's California like?  I'll have to ask Sammy when she gets back.  The redwood forests of the Northwest and the deserts of the Southwest.  New England?  Miami?  I don't know!  Everywhere eventually, I hope."  

Colin smiles at her and his eyes get all dreamy.

"That would be wonderful. And Rome, Venice, the African savanna, the Great Canyon, Las Vegas, the Taj Mahal, The Great Wall, the Pyramids, the Pacific Ocean, Yellowstone Park, the Ayers' Rock, the Black Hills..."

"Isn't it wonderful that the world is so big and so full of magic? I'd love to go in so many places, take some wonderful photos, having big adventures... So that when I'll be all old and wrinkly my house and my memory will still be full of colors... you know when you can close your eyes and see those beautiful colors, like the red of your hair or that magic green of your eyes..."

"Do you ever think what we'll be like in ten or twenty years? Will we be happy?"

Sarah turns, looking to the side and blushing a bit.  "I know what you mean," she says, "I'm more drawn in by my sense of smell and touch.  Breakfast cooking downstairs on a rainy Saturday.  The soft brush of cloth of my favorite sweatshirt.  The warmth of just being in your arms now." 


At the mention of the future Sarah's face falls, her expression darkening.  "I don't know Colin.  I don't even know if I'll be alive.  I've stopped planning ahead since this all stared.  Hereoes don't have the longest life expectancies.  I am just making it up as I go along."

She reaches up and runs her fingers through Colin's hair.  She smiles.  "Just saving another memory."
She adds, "If were still in one piece in ten years and we don't all hate each other I'd love to see the world with you."

He says nothing, he just pulls her a little closer.


"Well, we do get into a lot of danger. But I don't think it would be right to give up on our dreams because of this."


He smiles and gets really close to her face.

"Ok. Deal."

And he kisses her again, this time on her lips. His mouth still tastes a bit like chocolate and raspberries.

"Mmm more dessert!" Sarah pulls Colin close, returning his kiss a dozen times over and forgets about the movie, and about everything else for a little while.  Love?  Maybe.  Happy?  Definitely.  Quiet brain.
She closes her eyes and feels like she's off flying again. 

She peeks at the TV when Westley and Buttercup enter the fire swamp. 

"Ooh!  Here come the RUS's."