Its Been A While [Lily]

[Axel Hayden Evans]

He sat outside of the coffee shop, sipping on a hot chocolate as he begun to enjoy this fine afternoon; the only sunny day Los Angeles has had all week. And because of this, he was going to make sure he enjoyed every single bit of it. He did enjoy the sun, it was relaxing and in some ways, soothing. He hadn't recieved the chance to relax much lately, so anything would do really. He knew the only chance he would get to relax wouldn't last very long, so he'd have to enjoy every moment.

[Lily Rae Collins]

Overcast days usually started around September in LA but the weather had been freakish lately. Downdrafts, the occasional thunderstorm, who knew what global warming was doing to the planet now? For today at least there was the sunlight. Lily came out of the Starbucks and saw Axel there enjoying the weather and smiled, "Hey stranger. Long time no see. You guys have all but disappeared off the planet lately." she quipped as she moved to his table and if he didn't object slid into it as gracefully as a cat. Taking a sip of her iced strawberry frappachino she studied him as she did everything around her. Bad habit from being a PI you could not shut your brain off no matter how hard you tried.

"So how have you been, Axel?" she asked as she sipped her drink and crossed her legs. Her dark eyes regarding him with a quiet curiosity. Maybe Axel would give her some indication of what he and his brothers had been up to. She watched as the foot traffic ambled past them in the usual bustle that was LA.

[Axel Hayden Evans]

He looked up, surprised, yet happy to see Lily here. It had been a while, he remembered the first time he met her, searching for answers which he now isn't sure he should have questioned in the first place. Then he learnt of the history with Xzavier and Lily, yet seeing her now he realized that she still didn't know any of it, and being a private invesitgator didn't help. He did wish Xzavier would tell her, it wasn't his place, but surely it couldn't be bad, right? Eli had been thrown in the supernatural, and he now embraces it, although Axel wished overwise. It was obvious Xzavier was still feeling strong emotions for Lily, he was just good at repressing things.

He chuckled at her comment. Dissappeared off of the planet? If only she knew about them really doing that when they were sucked into another dimension... "Hey, yeah it does seem like that doesn't it? Just had so much going on lately; school, social life and...Other stuff. Its good to see you." He hated seeing Lily out of the loop with who they really are and what they are about. "I've been okay. Still adjusting to everything here in Los Angeles. How have things been with you, still at the same place?"

[Lily Rae Collins]

Stretching lightly, she nodded to him. "Yeah, same old same. Cheating exes, kidnapped children, and companies looking to find embezzlers. Its all pretty routine after a while. I mean unless you take a case for a big named actor its pretty quiet. Not a lot of action apart from the fights that happen when the bad guys get busted. And even that's just part of the job." she shrugged and looked at the people milling about. "I do catch the occasional pick pocket but that is rare. My life is pretty tame.

She looked back at Axel, "Your brother seems to be gone a lot for a mechanic. I've seen the shop closed more than open these days. Business must not be going well." she commented dryly to the youngest Evans. "Unless he's taken to doing midnight repairs but then that would be kind of odd given that most people expect their cars fairly quickly."

[Axel Hayden Evans]

He chuckled at her explanation of her routine action. "Sounds more exciting than my life at the moment," lie. His life was far from boring, except it wasn't the exciting where you actually enjoy it, its the over the edge, nearly getting killed type of excitement that occurs frequently. She soon begun talking about Xzavier, as expected he thought. He smiled softly to look friendly. "Yeah, I don't really have a lot to do with Xzavier or his life both business and socially. He is a tough guy to mellow out most of the time, but he seems to be doing okay. Though even if he wasn't, he wouldn't tell me anyway because its Xzavier." He chuckled. "Have you spoken to him since you've been back?"

[Lily Rae Collins]

Laughing softly she raised a delicate eyebrow at him, "Seriously? Have you looked at yourself in a mirror? I'm sure you have no problems finding something exciting with the endless round of frat parties student organizations and art shows that are in town. You don't strike me as the anti social type like your brother." she mused as she looked at Axel a bit intently. She sensed that he wasn't being completely honest with her and it seemed to be an Evans trait. One she was not fond of. "If you don't want to tell me its okay. I'm getting used to being left out of the loop with you guys." it was said softly but with a hint of bitterness to it as she took a deeper drink of her strawberry drink before looking back at him.

She shrugged, "Is there a point? He doesn't return my calls and every time I go to visit I get evasions and excuses for what he's been up to. I mean I know I don't have any right to put demands on him or his time but there is only so many times I can handle the same excuses before I get the hint that he's too busy. I can tell when a guy is blowing me off." she shrugged her shoulders and looked back at him a bit challengingly to see if he would make excuses for his older brother.

[Axel Hayden Evans]

He smirked softly at her comment. She had just described who he was to a 'T', and who he wanted to continue being. But that all changed when his aunt and uncle were murdered and he found out all of these new things about himself and his life that just caused him to change and have to adapt to all these new things. "You'd be surprised. I think anti-socialness just runs in the family now." He chuckled softly. There was so much more at stake now, everything was just more complicated. She could sense that there was more to it, and he didn't blame her. He hated having to lie to her all because Xzavier couldn't tell her himself. She was already indirectly involved, she might as well know the full story. She did deserve it, he thought.

"I'm sorry, but whatever happens between you and Xzavier I try to avoid, I think if you need to know anything, Xzavier's the guy to tell you. Though as you already know, that takes a lot of effort to get out of him." This whole private investigator personality did become a bit annoying from time to time, especially when they were so keen to get answers for everything. "Xzavier has his problems, he just doesn't handle them as well as the rest of us. You just gotta be patient with him, he really does have your best interests in mind. I just don't think he is ready or willing to burden you or anyone else with his problems..."

[Lily Rae Collins]

She exhaled softly and pinched the bridge of her nose. Shaking her head gently she looked at him, "I have a hard time believing that, Axel but I get the hint to change the subject." the problem was that there really were no subjects they could talk about. The whole feeling of being lied to tended to just poison the whole dialogue with them and she'd forgotten briefly how much it cut her out of their lives. It was their decision of course but it still stung.

"Well no one likes a martyr, Axel. Dead is still dead no matter what the cause and if you die without anyone knowing what you lived for you might as well be a ghost because your chances of changing this world are nil. I think its pretty clear Xzavier is going to die alone and forgotten and I for one don't want to get that phone call because he was too cowardly to speak up. Patience has nothing to do with it. He begged me to leave town because something bad was going down. That means the cartel or the remnants of the Russian or Italian mafia. None of which are conducive to living a long happy life for any of you. You wanna be involved in something illegal that's fine but don't lie to me and tell me its not dangerous and won't get you killed because at the rate all of you are going I'll be identifying your bodies in a morgue and offering platitudes of how we're all supposed to fight the good fight." she rose slowly.

"Maybe you think you're protecting each other but really you're just cutting yourselves off from people that could help you and that makes me sad. If you guys ever want to be honest with me give me a call. I mean hell your brother moves things with his brain I hardly think that anything else can surprise me. Everette trusted me but its too much to expect either of you two to do so I guess." She slipped off and dumped her half full frap in the trash. "Have a nice life Axel." Was she angry? Yes. Did he deserve it? Probably not; she admitted to herself but it was hard to not lash out when you got lied to to your face blatantly. "I'm sorry for snapping but there are only so many dodges I can handle from Xzavier I don't need it from you too."

[Axel Hayden Evans]

He could now feel the tension surrounding them. He did like Lily she had helped him out a lot, but it seemed her issues with Xzavier were getting the best of her, and she was now taking it out on him. He stood up as she basically badmouthed her brother in front of him. Some of it may be true, but she had no right to insult him so much. "Hey, Xzavier may not be perfect all of the time, but he always has everyone else's best interests in mind; especially you. I'm sorry you are still hung up over Xzavier and are letting this get the best of you, but whatever unresolved problems you guys have has nothing to do with me. I know Xzavier won't die lonely, because he will go down fighting for what he believes in and alongside those he loves. If your going to keep letting your feelings for him engulf you, you are the one who is going to be alone."

He was about to walk off when she mentioned Everette. He stared at Lily, surprised. "What? You know about that? How?" He was completely bewildered that she knew is. What else did she now know? Could she be trusted? He looked on as she spoke to him again. It wasn't his fault he was dodging anything, he couldn't just blurt out who he was to Lily, no matter what. It just wasn't his place, it was Xzaviers. But it did concern him too so maybe not?

[Lily Rae Collins]

She raised a delicate eyebrow in his direction, "I never said he would get in a fight. YOU did that. You just proved my point that the two of you are lying to me Axel. You're in trouble and you don't want to admit it. It has nothing to do with me being hung up with Xzavier and everything to do with me not liking being lied to by people CLAIMING to be my friends." she said pointedly as she locked eyes with him. "You are hiding more than just the normal college angst, Axel. I know it. Maybe one day you'll man up and actually tell me." she turned to leave, "Everette trusts me more than the two of you and has more balls."

"Of course I know about that! Do you think I'm too stupid to tell? Do you get your rocks off on being all holier than thou? Everette TRUSTS me to not babble his magic powers to the world. He TRUSTS me to not babble about his telekinesis or that he can move magically from place to place and make things grow and change." she put her hands on her hips. "You and Xzavier don't, so stop making this about my relationship and my bruised ego. You are lying through omission not me. I've always been honest with you and I intend to keep being honest in my feelings and how I deal with things. I haven't broken faith with Everette and I don't intend to and if I find out you are different like him I'll keep your secrets as well."

She grabbed her purse and turned away from him as she placed it over her shoulder, "You're the one with Trust issues not me. You don't trust me to keep your secrets. THAT was why I left Xzavier. I saw what it did to him to lie and I know what it did to me to hear it and it poisoned everything. I left to be kind but it did not make it easy for me. It hurts me. I'm sorry if that means I didn't get over him."