“Fynn was just telling me about the Schrödinger’s cat,” she explains.
“Not the cat again,” I roll my eyes. “He’s told me about it like five times already, and I still don’t get it.”
“You’ve never really been an intellectual, Anderson,” Fynn mocks, good-humoredly.
“And, I’m doing just fine, thank you very much,” I grin. “But, maybe Maddie can explain it to a layman better.”
“Oh, I wish,” she smiles, pouring me a fresh cup of heavenly coffee. “It just seems like a case of two parallel realities, you know, the cat is both alive and it’s not alive. I mean, you can’t know. The box is closed. So, both theories are in fact true, because neither can be disproved. At least, until there is an observation and reality kicks in.”
“See!” Fynn nods enthusiastically. “That’s exactly it. She gets it from the start.”
“Well done,” I give her a little clap, and we all laugh.
She brings her cup to her lips, and gazes at us from behind it, her eyes curious and wide.
“So, what’s our plan for the day?” she suddenly wonders.
“Plan?” Fynn repeats.
“I know you guys need to go to the station, fill out a report, explain everything that’s happened with Kayne,” she nods.
“Absolutely,” I nod. “I’ll leave Fynn to handle that.”
“So, what else is new?” Fynn snorts.
“I was thinking, maybe later we could hang out… or something,” she adds, her cheeks blushing furiously.
“About that, Maddie – “ Fynn starts.
“I don’t mean to pressure you guys into anything,” she suddenly shakes her head, as if she’s said something wrong. “I probably shouldn’t have pushed. Sorry.”
“Whoa, whoa,” I chuckle. “Hold your horses, girl. There’s something we’d like to talk to you about.”
“About what?” she asks.
“Fynn?” I look over at him. “You’re better at this official stuff. Why don’t you explain it to her?”
“Guys, you’re really making me nervous here,” she smiles, a little anxiously, as she waits for us to clarify.
“You always leave me with the difficult part of the job,” Fynn grins. “Alright then.”
He clears his throat a little, before continuing.
“The circumstances under which the three of us met were anything but ordinary. And, I think we all felt the same in the beginning. We were pushing you away, because it was too dangerous. I had no idea how this would end. And, I didn’t even want to think about the worst possibility, which by the way, almost happened.”
“Why don’t you cut to the chase?” I poke fun at him, knowing he hates that.
“Then, why don’t you do it, smart ass?” he grins back. “Anyway, Maddie… you know our story. Well, most of it. You know what we are. You know what we do. What you may not know is that everyone in our clan chooses their mate. The person we choose has to be special, in more ways than one. She has to fulfill many conditions, and I don’t think I need to tell you that it’s difficult finding the right partner, or in our case, a mate.”
I watch her as she listens to him patiently. That lingering smile never leaves her face, and I’m sure that hers is the face I want to see for the rest of my life.
“A long time ago, Anderson and I vowed that we’d choose our mate together. That, as you can expect, makes things even more difficult, because not many would consider our offer. You… did. I can’t even begin to tell you how surprised I was at that. I mean, I hoped. Anderson hoped, too. But, you just blew our minds. You are so amazing, Maddie.”
She blushes at his words, and I want to wrap my arms around her, but I refrain from doing so. Fynn needs to tell her what we want, what we need from her, and we can only hope that she will agree.
“Maybe you already know what I want to tell you, what we both want to tell you.”
He pauses, her smile widens a little. I can see it in her eyes that she knows. She senses. And, she likes it.