Phil nodded as he listened to the reply from the other end. "Okay," he said. "I'm hoping we can make the necessary arrangements in time." He paused. "No, no, that's all right. No need to rush things. You just get them here on time and I'll pay you what you've earned. Thanks."
"Who was that?" Leslie asked as Phil hung up the phone in his temporary room.
"I'm waiting on a delivery from the mainland," Phil replied, "and I was just checking up on the status of that cargo."
"What kind of delivery?" Leslie asked.
Phil smiled. "You'll know when it gets here."
Leslie frowned. "Why not just tell me?"
Phil raised an eyebrow. "Why tell you what not even Griss knows yet? Any particular reason you get first dibs on any information I give you?"
Leslie sighed. "Well, I was hoping that maybe you could trust me enough to let me in on what you're up to."
"You want to know what I'm up to?" Phil asked. "You really want to know?" He paused. "I'll tell you. But - ladies first."
"What?" Leslie was startled.
Phil nodded. "You air out all that dirty laundry you got and I'll think about trusting you with what I know."
Leslie stamped her foot. "You're such a pain in the ass." She turned and stormed out of the room.
Phil sighed. He didn't know why he had so much trouble dealing with Leslie. He tried to be reasonable - he really did. But something inside him simply refused to let go of the past.
"Sir?"
Phil jumped and turned around. "Can I help you?"
It was her - the waitress from the party. "Sanitation, sir."
Phil relaxed a bit. "If you're the lady who cleans this room, thank you for keeping up with the mess."
"I'm not here to clean, Phil," the girl said.
Something about her voice...
Phil nodded. "Okay. Is there something you need?"
"I just wanted to warn you," she said, "not to miss out on a great opportunity - especially not if it's right under your nose."
"What are you talking about?" Phil asked. "You... remind me of someone."
"Who's that?" the girl asked.
Phil shook his head. "Just... someone I knew not too long ago." He frowned. "But she couldn't be here, I don't think." He looked at her. "Could she?"
"Not if she's dead," the girl said.
"Yeah, I guess not... wait. How did you know who I was talking about?"
"Call it intuition."
Phil looked at her curiously. "Are you sure you're not someone else?"
The girl laughed. "Not since I checked last. No, I'm me."
And then she shapeshifted.
Phil jumped back as the slender girl transformed into a shorter, heavier woman who was even more strikingly beautiful. And then he recognized her.
Phil's jaw dropped. "You... you're..."
She smiled.
And the two of them disappeared.
Leslie tiptoed back into the room. "Phil? I'm really sorry..."
She saw a slip of paper flutter to the floor of the now empty room.
"Phil?" Leslie bent down and picked up the slip of paper. It was a receipt with two words written on the back: Gabriela Riviera.
Leslie searched through her memory.
Then it hit her.
Outside city limits
They materialized on a hilltop overlooking the town.
"I... I can't believe it's you!" Phil said. "But... how?"
Gabi smiled. "Long story."
"I'm listening," Phil said, barely able to contain himself.
"It turns out," Gabi explained, "that I had a bit more of my power left in me than I thought."
Phil remembered: the SUV smashing into the Hudson River, having to fight against the seatbelt to escape, Gabi turning to him and telling him she loved him - before teleporting him out of the vehicle. At her own expense, Phil had assumed. But now she was here.
"I got you out of the car," Gabi went on, "and then it went under. I couldn't breathe at all, much less think straight. I fought to keep from panicking and focused, and all of a sudden I found myself back in my dorm room at NYU." Gabi laughed. "Without really thinking about it, I managed to bring two of my suitcases along with me."
Phil blinked. "But... what about the police? How did you get out of New York when the report hit the media that we were both dead?"
"That's the interesting part," Gabriela said. "I'm imagining you noticed my new power."
"You can shapeshift," Phil realized. "But could you do that before?"
Gabi shook her head. "No. And I didn't discover it by accident, really. I just looked in the mirror and poof! I just changed into someone else."
"Somewhere along the line you acquired a new ability," Phil reasoned. "But what could have brought that on?"
Gabi looked at him and smiled.
Phil thought a moment. His eyes widened. "That night... we... you don't think...?"
Gabi shrugged. "It makes sense to me."
"Well," Phil said, "you have no idea how happy I am to see you here!" He thought a moment. "But... how did you know where to find me?"
"When the hurricane happened," Gabi said, "it was all over the news. They said something about a team of metahuman heroes, and I put two and two together." She smiled. "I came here right after the hurricane and started working in the building back there, waiting for a chance to go looking for you."
Phil couldn't believe it. "You mean you've been around for the past few weeks and I never noticed?"
Gabi nodded. "I told you not to miss out on what was right under your nose."
"Why did you wait so long to show me who you really were?"
"Because there's someone else in your life now," Gabi said plainly.
Phil shook his head. "Leslie? She's just... I don't know. It's complicated."
"I didn't want to get in the way," Gabi said. "I realized that you were convinced that I was dead, and you had moved on with your life. I didn't want to interfere." She looked down. "And I'm afraid that I've done just that."
"Don't say that, Gabriela," Phil said. "You're alive! Doesn't that balance out the whole interference factor?"
"Leslie's still there," Gabi said. "And I don't want you to tell me who you want right now. It's too soon." She smiled at him. "But I'll be around."
"I missed you, Gabi," Phil told her.
"I know." Gabi closed her eyes, and Phil found himself back in his room.
Now this was going to be tough to explain to Leslie...
