Sell you a Bridge chapter 307

June 18th 2016 Destiny Islands, 8:00 PM EDT

The  next morning the girls all left for their spa weekend. Tommy, Jim, and  Taylor decided to stay in and have a poker game. That left John, Wally,  and I to check out the island to try to track down the keyhole. It was  mostly an excuse to screw around and hang out, we weren't looking too  hard, but it seemed like a good idea for SOMEONE to be looking, even if  we weren't in a hurry to leave.

We  started in the small town the others had found, searching the houses  for anything that might give us a clue to a spot on the island people  didn't usually go or that had some significance to the locals. Which  meant looking through journals, local books, scrapbooks, etc. It felt  kind of weird to flip through someone's memories like that, but they  weren't here, and it wasn't like we had any way of asking their  permission.

The  three of us stuck together, working each house in succession, and  talked as we searched. "You, know." John said in an annoyed tone. "This  whole vacation is much less relaxing for me than it is for you. Not all  of us have a lady to shag to blow off steam. Honestly, I think Jim,  Tommy and I are just about the only ones stuck saying hello to righty, I  even saw Sindella coming out of John and Suzie's room."

I  stopped, turning to glare at him. "You better have just forgotten to  count my daughter when you made that list. But yeah, I could see how  this isn't nearly as peaceful for you. Still, this has to be better than  the Nightside right? I mean, it's a fucking beach resort. Tommy seems  perfectly fine. Or are you just missing Cathy? You two did just  reconnect, I could see how getting yanked away like that would suck."

He  snickered at the first part. "Mate, I think you're safe there. I make  it a point never to pursue women with protective fathers who can consign  me to the void for eternity. But...yeah. Honestly I guess I am. Cathy  and I were just in a good place, and then this bollocks happens. I'm not  sure how she's going to take me up and vanishing again. Plus John is  with me. She takes care of him more than the other way around, but he's  her rock, I'm not sure how she'll handle us both vanishing."

Walking  over to clap him on the shoulder, Wally gave him a reassuring smile.  "Hey, it's cool man. I know this is kind of crazy, but trust Morgan. He  got us home last time we got lost." He paused. "Granted, we lost half a  decade and the world essentially left us behind, which I'd probably be  much more annoyed about if I hadn't gotten new powers and had my  girlfriend with me, but still. I don't know if anyone else could have  found a way home from New Genesis for us."

Considering  that we wouldn't have known the Mother Box was an option if not for  Del, that was a decent point. As for the five years...he wasn't wrong. I  still thought it had been the right call given everything that had  happened over the last week or two, but I'd definitely made a choice. I  hadn't really considered Wally's point of view there. I turned to the  redhead. "Do you wish we'd taken the Mother Box home? I never thought to  ask you, which I guess is pretty shitty. Granted, when Del tells you to  do something you shut up and do it, but I could have asked."

He  just shrugged. "It's kind of something you learn as a hero, or even a  sidekick. Second guessing the team lead is how you get people killed. If  I think something is a bad idea, I'll bring it up beforehand if I can,  but I'm not going to go rogue without a plan of my own. As for  hindsight...no use living in the past. You did your best getting home,  you had family you wanted to see again, and from what you told us, the  process of getting back prepared you for the power that saved us there  at the end. I call that a wash."

John  groaned. "Alright, enough of this. We're men damn it! We didn't leave  the birds at home to talk about our feelings. Carrot top, do a lap  around this place and find us some beer. Even if you super schmucks  can't get wasted that's nothing stopping me. I want to get a nice day  drunk on and throw empties at seagulls." He grinned at both of us and I  rolled my eyes before nodding at Wally. No reason out british friend  couldn't toss back a few cold ones.

When  Wally left, John plopped down on the couch and grabbed an album,  flipping through it in boredom. He stopped at a page and gave a low  whistle. "Will you look at the legs on her?" He held up the album to  show me a picture of long haired redhead with a willowy figure in an  unusually short plaid skirt and a button up blouse that looked like some  sort of uniform. She was definitely a cutie. The next few pages showed  the same girl, but much getting progressively younger, and John's  interest waned until he stopped at one picture. "Well, what is this  now?"

I  blinked, stepping over to look at the picture. It was the same redhead,  much younger and with a pixie cut, alongside two boys. One had spiky  brown hair the stuck out in every direction, and the other had shoulder  length hair that was literally silver. That was weird, but it wasn't  what caught my attention, or his. In the background of the picture I  could see a small cave. The cave was covered in chalk drawings that  looked messy and childlike, and in the back, in one corner, I could see  what looked like a door with no knob.

"That..."  I trailed off. "That's a little weird. Like why even put something like  that there? Any idea where it is? Do you see any pictures outside the  cave?" I grabbed the album, flipping through it to try to find any other  pictures of that cave. I didn't really find anything. A few pictures of  the group together, some of them in a little cove with a bunch of small  cliffs around the beach topped with grassy hills. There was a huge tree  with steps up it and a small wooden shack in the background. There was  even an actual fucking waterfall.

"Wow."  I said enviously. "I wish I had places like this where I grew up.  Gotham is a shithole, this place is basically paradise. Seriously, I  think Drea was right about moving here eventually, I'd love to have a  place like this for my kids to play." John turned to me with a smirk and  a raised eyebrow.I flipped him off. "Oh, grow up. I already have a  daughter with them, I'm sure SOMEDAY we'll have other kids. I'm not  saying like tomorrow or anything but maybe in a few years..." His smirk  had turned into an open snicker. "Oh fuck off."

He  held up both hands placatingly. "Sorry mate, no shame in looking  forward to life with your girls. It's just funny to see someone your age  planning that kind of thing out. Usually teenaged guys are more afraid  of commitment than looking forward to it."

I  just shrugged. "I did the dating thing, and I got LITERALLY stabbed in  the back. I love Zee and Drea more than anything. I'm not proposing  tomorrow or some shit, just saying I don't object to thinking about the  long term with them around. Once you have a kid that kind of petty shit  kind of stops mattering. Plus it's hard to feel too confined when I can  cross the universe in a blink and change reality. You saying thinking of  a future with Cathy freaks you out?"

That  got a snort from the brit as he stood up. "Nope. Not having that  conversation with you. You're a good guy Morgan, but I don't know you  well enough to spill that kind of shite. Now, let's go get peppermint  and check out that waterfall. Hopefully he found some beer."

Shrugging  I got up to follow him. We found Wally outside, coming back with a six  pack. He passed it to John, who grimaced. "An IPA? Come on mate. I asked  for beer. Might as well just piss in a bottle."

"Go  find your own beer asshole. What are you guys coming out for? That one  done? Or are we stopping for lunch or something? I could definitely go  for some food. Maybe some sandwiches, or another steak? I'm starving." I  rolled my eyes, passing over the album and flipping to the page with  the three kids in the cave. "Oh. Ok, that's weird. You have any idea  where it is?"

I  just shrugged. "Nope. But there's a bunch of pics of them in some  little cove with a bunch of wooden huts and a big ass tree house. We  figure that would be the best place to start. You've been around the  island a few times right? You seen anything like that?"

He  nodded. "Oh yeah, I saw that place. Artemis and I fu-er, went for a  swim under that waterfall for a few hours." I snickered at his  backpedaling, but he just changed the subject. "It's not far from here  actually, I can take you over to check it out if you want." He frowned  in concentration. "Actually...I think I remember seeing a cave just off  that waterfall. Nothing big or obvious, just a little dark hole behind  some bushes. Didn't seem like it was worth checking out when I had...er,  other things to focus on."

I  nodded. "Ok, that seems like it might be it. Should we go check it out  now? Because to be honest...I feel like we should wait and go as a  group. Given how nuts things got around the keyhole last time, and how  opening it kind of pushed us to move on, I don't want to take the chance  of popping the lock by accident. Granted, I think we need one of the  girls to open it lightside, but with our luck I might push us deeper in  the dark multiverse."

To  my surprise, Wally looked relieved. "That's a good idea." At my  surprised look he just shrugged. "What? I've gotten a lot better about  rushing in. Seeing you plow headfirst into danger has been a good  influence on me. Plus Artemis bitches at me constantly about thinking  things through."

"Alright."  I said with a laugh. "We go back and check in with the others then. I  actually am kind of hungry now that you mention it. I wonder if the  steakhouse is serving lunch." I shook my head in wonder as we headed  back to the resort. "How nuts is it that they take my bank? Seriously,  my power can do some weird shit." I had expected to need to convert  money to local currency at least, but they just swiped my card and told  me it was accepted.

As  we headed back, I considered our next move. We needed to head to the  cave at some point, but there was no rush, like we'd been saying. I  might have a clone do a fly over and scan it with aura sight once we  talked to the others, just to make sure it was the right spot, but a few  more days vacation wouldn't go amiss. John would be fine, we could get  him a massage or something. I wanted more time with my girls, plus it  would be nice to bond with Rana like I'd wanted. Once that was done  though, it would be time to move on. Somehow I didn't think the next  dark world would be quite this peaceful. More's the pity.