A Morning After Amongst Equals Pt. 02

"I call you on the telephone,
my voice too rough with cigarettes.
I sometimes feel I should just go home,
but I'm dealing with a memory that never forgets.
I love to hear you say my name,
especially when you say 'yes.'
I got your body right now on my mind,
but I've drunk myself blind to the sound of old T-Rex."
-The Who, "You Better, You Bet"

"Hey, Girl." Troy Equals said into the phone.

"Hey, Boy." Julie Equals replied. "Everything going ok?"

"Yeah, it's..." Other voices and the sounds of medical equipment came over Troy's end, forcing him out of Contessa Helena de San Finzione's bedroom and into the 4 AM air of her balcony. "Sorry, Mistress. It's crowded in there at the moment. Nothing bad; just, you know she wants drugs, and with her history and tolerance, Dr. Maisson and the anesthesiologist were wary of how much would be enough, but not too much."

Julie smiled on her end and stroked Susan Bailey's hair as she lay next to her on the suite's bed. Troy didn't know a lot about medicine, but that sounded like Math to Julie, and she often called him her Math Boy for a reason. Knowing him, he'd probably helped them work the numbers or something.

"You can't help her with What We Do?" She asked him.

"We both agree that it's too risky. In a delivery room, we'd have a closed environment; we could control the room and make them forget that I'd been commanding her to feel no pain. In her bedroom at the castle, there are too many people going in and out to risk someone leaving with questions in their head. Then we've got our friends who know; like Maria and Colleen, in the crowd with everyone else coming and going, to consider. I don't want to accidentally make Generalissimo Ramirez or Jeanne forget San Finzione's worst-kept state secret."

"That's got to be a special kind of Hell for you." Julie said back to her best friend. Because Helen hadn't been as discrete with the ability as the others had, there were whispers that La Contessa was some kind of supernatural creature with the ability to control minds. The fact that she'd appeared in the film "San Finzione Shakedown" earlier in the year, before her pregnancy started showing; where she'd pretended to have that power, caused most people to laugh the idea off along with her. One vice that Helen did not possess was the inability to laugh at herself.

Troy, on the other hand, feared the world learning about their ability, and Helen knew how he felt about it too much to allow it to happen. Almost a year ago, an enemy of Helen's had learned the truth about her power and dragged the Equals and Susan into their private war. She'd prevented him from revealing her secret to the world, but her relationship with Troy & Julie was exposed to the public.

Helen had been able to control the story so that the world only knew that Julie was her lifelong friend and a talented artist who had La Contessa's patronage. Because Troy was still wary of gaining any fame whatsoever, the father's identity had been kept out of the press. A handful of male celebrities were suspected of being the potential father, and they were happy to let the media continue to speculate.

Not being able to help Helen more than "any ordinary father could" frustrated him. Troy was a helpful and empathetic person by nature, and little more bothered him than a situation where he had the ability to help, but for one reason or another, couldn't. It was a trait he shared with Susan, and it had created a connection between them that Julie loved seeing.

"How's Susan doing, Sunflower?" Troy asked her.

"Good. She's next to me and in trance. I'm sharing the story about the day after our first time."

Troy thought in silence for a moment. He and Julie had been children when they learned the secret, and they taught Helen in their early teens. Susan was a grown woman when they taught her a year and a half ago and, for many reasons, teaching her had been an entirely different experience than teaching Helen.

"Guess she'll learn what we mean by 'problems no one who can't do this can relate to.'" He mused.

"Like having a husband who still sort of lives in fear that the world will find out he's on good enough terms with his first girlfriend to knock her up?"

"You'd punch my arm if I said something like that. You're too far away yet." Troy replied, wistfully. He'd been needed most in San Finzione the past couple months and hadn't gotten to see much of his best friend and the permanent third member of their marriage.

His missing of them was cut short by a scream inside the bedroom. Although it wasn't something that they discussed; he, Julie, and Helen all knew about Susan's paralyzing fear of hospitals that she still wasn't ready to talk about. Because of her past, it wasn't difficult for them to imagine reasons why a formerly-abused woman might fear hospitals; Helen, in her royal capricious whim, decided upon a home birth at the castle.

"And that was a contraction." Troy said, checking his watch. "Nine minutes, I'd better get back in there. Love both of you."

"If Susan could answer, she'd also say that she loves you." They ended the call.

Julie turned back to Susan and began tracing spirals on her body.

"Troy says he loves you." Julie whispered to her. Susan sighed. "Speaking of which, let's get back to that."

* * *

While using the bathroom, locked inside with her phone, Julie Andrews pulled up a number that she hadn't called in years. She took a deep breath, then pressed it. It took a couple of seconds before she heard the click indicating that the call was going international to Europe.

The first sound that Julie heard from the other side of the world was the sound of fire touching tobacco and cigarette paper, then being sucked into a soft breath. This was followed by a shout, not into the phone, but to someone in the immediate vicinity of whomever had just answered.

"It's a fucking routine hostage situation! We're a tourist destination; if you do something here, you get the world's attention. So, some asshole tries to pull something like this every couple months! If Santori can't handle a simple negotiation, tell the Ultimados 'Weapons Hard until I get there, that is an order from LA CONTESSA, not the Generalissimo' and have Ernst prep the chopper! Until he's ready to go, fuck all of you!"

A door slammed on the other end of the phone, and Contessa Helena de San Finzione leaned against it and took a drag of her cigarette before putting the phone up to her ear.

"Is everything all right?" Helena asked into the phone.

"Yeah, I think." Julie said after a little pause. "If this is a bad time..."

Helen cut her off.

"Nah, this one SAYS he's got a bomb, but I can see in his eyes that he's bluffing. Everyone's safe as long as my Generalissimo doesn't do something stupid and just lets him read his sick love letter to me or Jodie Foster or whoever without turning things into a bullet festival before I get there. What's going on?"

Julie searched her mind for the right way to tell her "You know the boy you've never stopped carrying a torch for? The one you'd probably abandon a kingdom and run to right now if he only asked? Yeah, that one. Well, I fucked him last night, just blew him before calling, too. What should I do now???"

"Ok," She said, trying to find it. "You know how sometimes, we command a guy to do something, and he turns out to be really good at it, and you can really feel something for this one..."

Helen interrupted.

"But you can never be sure how it would've gone if you hadn't been able to do The Thing to him and let him approach you like a regular girl. So, how much of it was really him and how much was you making him? And do you risk telling him our secret, then making him forget again, to find out? And if he wouldn't have, then you've got to give him a memory of a whole new night where he didn't have sex with you, because you feel bad now? Or you forgot to ask if he had a family who'd miss him before the evening started; so now, there's a bunch of people you have to go give memories of not having sat up worrying all night?"

Despite their personal issues, Troy, Julie, and Helen had made a vow years ago that because the ability to control minds brought with it problems and complications that someone who isn't able to do it wouldn't be able to understand; no matter what else was going on between them, if one of them needed to talk, the others would always answer. And everything else could go fuck itself. The scenarios she'd described had been the most common over the years. Given how they parted, Helen concluded that there had to be another reason that Julie would choose to call her over Troy.

"Not really. I'm pretty sure it was mostly him, and he knew what I could do."

Helen coughed out her exhale before answering, having figured out where Julie was going.

"Julie, there is exactly one 'him' in the world who knows what you can do, and we both know who he is."

Julie raised her voice, then lowered it so Troy wouldn't hear through the closed door from the bedroom if he'd come back yet.

"Yes, and that's who it was! We were drunk, we were playing 'What's Changed..."

Helen cut her off again with a laugh.

"I'd say something REALLY BIG has changed, hasn't it? And I know just how that can happen."

"We didn't plan it, Helena. It just happened."

"Hey, hey, Sunflower." Helena replied. "I'm past that. I've got a fucking castle and servants now, what do I care, right? You and Troy belong together. Everyone has said it. I'm sorry the last time that I said it, I shouted it at you, but that never stopped it from being the fucking truth. Does anyone know yet?"

"Yeah." Julie admitted after a few sheepish seconds. "I don't know if Mom walked in on us doing it or saw the bottles and us sleeping naked, but they already know."

"I figured you were in the Medinas' upstairs bathroom from that extra reverb that Propappou's choice of bathroom tile gave everyone over the phone when they called from in there with the door closed. Maybe you two were just loud enough to hear across the yard." Helena replied with a little smile.

"Hmm... maybe." Julie mused. "I remember getting a couple of good shows from you when he left the blinds in his room open."

"It was me who opened those blinds every time, Julie. Because I knew you'd be watching."

"Yeah, Helena, but I was watching you, not Troy!"

Helen laughed even harder at that.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Mistress. No, Julie. Last night was neither a drunken mistake, nor a mind control mistake. Last night was the fucking destiny that's been beating you two over the heads since before either of your parents even fucked. Why do you think that long after I gave up trying to tell you that it was About Fucking Time you two did it; I'd still drop the odd 'Hey, you know that Troy guy? Betcha I could talk him into a threesome.' Yes, I said it to Troy when I could convince him to take the rare 'But it's my Name Day, Troilus; and I want you to be high with me today' hit or nip of something. So, when he gave a "Wait, WHAT?' answer, I could always claim to be 'just high, Master, now come take a hit.'"

"Mmm..." Julie responded dreamily, but with a tone of understanding. "Coulda been any day of the week in Europe, then. I see. You'd usually jump me right after the question."

Helen took a drag of her cigarette before replying.

"It was to preserve the look on your face, Julie. That half-second of 'Hmm,' where you actually thought about it, before giving me yet another fucking 'Eww.' I was cutting you off with my tongue before you got to that look, because I always hated that look, but I loved the one that'd come right before it, where you'd almost consider it."

Julie winced a bit at that. "Eww" HAD been her typical response whenever Helena, or anyone else, brought up the subject of her and Troy getting together. It was also Troy's as well, not because either of them found the other unattractive, but because they'd had that best pals mentality all their lives; despite reminders from Helen, her parents, Propappou, and others that they weren't truly related.

"If you want my blessing, Julie, you've had it since long before I stormed out of the suite shouting it to you. You always have. In fact, if things had worked out the way I wanted..."

Helen trailed off. Mentioning Madrid had been the turning point of the conversation. Another thing that the power of mind control had brought with it was a talent for observation. It aided in knowing the sort of things to say and how to say them. As a result, they knew each other well enough that whenever their disagreements turned violent, a lot of things around them and anyone who tried to get in the way tended to get hurt, but the damage to them tended to be minor cuts from hurled dishes or glasses. The suite they'd been staying in had to be entirely rebuilt, and if Helen hadn't just begun a relationship with the resort's owner, even with Troy's assistance, they'd still be paying it off.

"Well, they worked out pretty well for you, Helena. You've got the castle and the servants, what else could you need?" Julie said, her hand reaching for a phantom cigarette before remembering that she'd quit five years ago. Nowadays, when speaking with Helena, Julie preferred to have a "wall of vice" in front of her; a drink or something. Anything left in the bottles was still in the living room, though.

She heard the sound of the downstairs bathroom shower turn on. Julie wondered why Troy wouldn't have asked her to join him but figured he might find it awkward just yet. She turned herself back to the conversation.

"I have a feeling that I should end the call before I say something else." Julie told her first girlfriend.

"That sounds like a good idea." Helena agreed. "I heard the downstairs shower come on, and I do have a little thing to take care of. I'll be here later, Sunflower. Ciao."

Julie hung up. That "ciao" since she'd become Contessa annoyed her more than anything. Just because she now ruled a nation of Italian-speakers, she didn't need to use it with HER, on the PHONE!

"Fuckin' cunt." Julie muttered after the call ended, knowing that on the other side of the world, Helena was probably muttering "Skanky cow" into hers; but unaware of her tearful smile.

A shower didn't sound like a bad idea, and Julie had spent enough time in this house to know the water heater was big enough, so she set down her phone, turned on the water, stepped in, and began to think about what she was going to say to Troy when she got out.

* * *

Troy Medina stepped out of the shower. Upstairs, he heard the shower in the bathroom above running, and figured that Julie decided to have one, too.

He sighed. They'd need to talk when they both got out. But what was to be said? Even through the alcohol and the trance, he knew he'd had the most amazing night of his life with Julie, and she seemed to feel the same. Would Julie want to get serious? Would she not want to? Would it be "a drunk mistake?" Should he ask her what she thinks before or after telling her what's on his mind? What happens next?

Troy was conflicted, but luckily, he knew a third person whom, historically, he'd been able to talk to about this sort of thing. He picked up his phone and said "Helen" into it. He thought about doing a video chat, feeling that she deserved to be looked in the eye for the conversation he needed to have with her. He began toweling off as the call connected to Europe, then to San Finzione.

"Troilus," Helen replied with a serious, puzzled tone. The sound of her helicopter's engines could be heard in the background. "What's going on? Do you need anyone killed? I just saved a family of five AND the disturbed man who put them in danger, so I figure I'm a few ahead with Almighty Athiesmo!"

That gave Troy a little smile. He knew that Helen believed in something, but whatever it was, she wasn't about to give it the satisfaction.

"Oxi, Petalouda Mikro." Troy replied in Greek. "I'm still pretty sure I'm never going to ask you to fulfill that promise. Everything OK?"

"Yeah, it was over pretty quick once I got there." Helena replied in the same language. "And you don't open with the Greek right from the start unless it's important, there's someone nearby who can't know what you're saying, or you're up for a 'we never technically agreed to this whole break-up thing' evening. Since we haven't had one of those since I left America, I presume it's the first thing."

Like the two of them, Helen possessed the same natural confidence that came with the ability. Her interest had been the many languages of the world. While she and Julie had traveled, when Helen wasn't partying, she was sitting in on university courses or visiting the local language schools and absorbing everything she could. Nobody but Helen knew how many languages she understood, and if one believed her, the number was "all of them."

"No, it's not like that." Troy tried to search for words. "It's something else."

"If you need to get out of the country, Troy," Helen asked with a delighted smile as she lit her cigarette. "I don't know if you're still in Seattle or up in Anchorage, but I can get you on a plane here within the hour."

"I'm in Anchorage." Troy said. "Julie got into town yesterday morning, she's here."

Helen was enjoying herself too much to stop now.

"Oh, and how's she doing? We never talk anymore, you know. Suppose you two've been tearing up the town, hanging out with all our old friends? Hey, have you run into..."

Troy cut her off. He didn't often do that. Helen knew exactly why he was calling, but it was fun to hear him squirm for a bit. Not for him, though, so she was about to let up on him.

"No, Helen. She's fine. We stayed in last night and... well, something happened."

"You two back together after how long?" She replied. "Something was bound to happen."

"We had sex, Helen." Troy said, switching back to English. "Despite what everyone's always said about us, for the first time."

Helen hit the mute button and laughed for a couple of moments before composing herself and coming back to the call.

"Are you there?" Troy asked after a bit.

"Yeah." She answered. "Yes, I am, Troy. And that's wonderful."

Now it was Troy's turn to be silent without the mute button for a moment before Helen spoke again.

"Did you think I was going to call in an air strike on the Andrews house, Troy? I mean, I totally could, but why would I? I love both of you; yes, even Julie, despite what she thinks. How could I NOT love the idea of you two together?"

"I don't know..." Troy thought. "I was worried, because of; well, you know, everything you've ever said and done ever?"

"You weren't paying attention to all of it, Troilus. Your mind was always on bigger things. It took me a while to get that, as well as a job where people live or die based upon my decisions, but I get it now. There was something special and beautiful right in front of both of your faces, and you were looking right through it."

She took a long drag before continuing.

"Part of why Vincenzo and I hit it off immediately, Troy, was because he also knew what it was like to have everything in the world except the person he loved."

"You've always had me, Helen."

"I know. But not all of you, Troy. You think so, and I know I have shares in your heart, but I've always been aware of who had controlling interest. And it sounds like last night, you figured it out, too. I'd earn Julie's special name for me if I had a problem with it."

There was another silence. Helen talked to Troy more often than she did to Julie. She'd always been bad at hiding things from Troy, and he'd been able to see through her efforts to play off her grief at her husband's loss to Julie as callousness. Julie was known for having an expressive face, and Helen had seen the look of sorrow and pity for her on it too many times throughout their lives to bear it anymore. Because of this, she allowed Julie to continue thinking that she'd deliberately fucked the Count to death to get his throne.