Disguise

Fine Specimen

Reece led me to the same dining hall that I'd evaded that very morning. Did all of this really happen in a single day? I could already hear a loud ruckus inter-spaced with Grey's maniacal laughter and Dani's yelling. They had always been noisy, and supremely entertaining. When the door opened, their attention turned towards us and for a minute they both sat still.

I could see Grey's mouth hanging half open and thanked god that he wasn't chewing any food. Dani was much more expressive. She carelessly tossed her glass towards the table - it landed perfectly - and got up. There was a wide grin on her face as she ran towards me and engulfed me in one of her famous bear hugs. Familiar feelings of warmth and affection surrounded as she proceeded to squeeze me to death.

"Nice to see you too, Dani." I chuckled when she finally stepped back to let me breathe. Dani grinned even wider, acknowledging Reece with a simple nod of her head. Grey had taken this time to gather himself and he walked forward with a stunned expression. Geez, was it that shocking that I might actually join them for dinner? Nevertheless, for this moment, I was happy. It was just like old times, as Reece had put it. I vaguely wondered what Xena would think of them.

Grey came forward and gave me a much more controlled embrace, but it was welcoming regardless. From behind me, I heard Reece give out a stiff cough and Grey immediately let me go. Huh. What was that all about?

Maybe I'd imagined that.

The table was already littered with so much food that I wondered if there were more people joining us, but there were only four plates set. Did they really think they could eat so much food?! My eyes widened at the vast and expensive display of food and the shiny metal crockery in front of me. This was beyond royal. Had Reece earned himself a whole country?!

"Sorry, we already started eating before you came," Grey admitted, "We were hungry." I laughed at his sheepish expression. Their plates were empty, but they were definitely already used. Reece let out a chuckle as well.

"It's okay, Grey. I'm anyway not that hungry." I laughed with a smile, but Reece was frowning at me. "You need to eat more, you know." He told me with a hint of disappointment but I waved him off.

"Everything looks so good! Let's dig in!" I said with a falsetto and Dani let out a giggle. We began to assess the things around us.

All the plates had a small engraved logo right in the center. It was easy to make out the shape of a wolf. My fingers immediately went to the engraving, the cold metal bent in the shape of the company logo. Something inside me stirred and I got a sense of deja vu - but I couldn't recall. Like the back of my mind was itching to tell me something.

"Are you planning to eat something or do you want to continue playing with the plate?" Reece brought me out of my thoughts again. I turned my attention to them, my eyes blinking to clear the haze in my head. They were all looking at me with small smiles, like there was a secret I didn't know. I cleared my throat, feeling my cheeks redden at being caught day- dreaming and nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course! Of course! There is so much to choose from, I was merely contemplating." I joked, earning a hearty laughter from Grey.

"What's there to choose? Just eat from all of it!" Dani cheered as she took yet another generous helping of thai curry and rice. Gosh, was my appetite really that bad or were they the monsters?

Nevertheless, I dug in, reaching for the things closest to me - some Lebanese platter, Mexican bean enchiladas and a plate of assorted sushi. Everything smelled amazing and looked exquisite. They dined like kings!

They steered clear off of dangerous topics - mostly for my benefit - and we spoke of superficial, trivial things such as work and the weather. But it was fun nonetheless. The two were relentless, bickering then teasing, then flirting. It was entertaining to watch. They'd not grown any older and I loved that.