La Hija Pródigo

[Tess Abrahams]

Six hours on a bus, two in the back of a beat up Dodge Forerunner, a miserable thirty minutes in Long Beach trying to figure out the metro lines and then another agonizing hour's ride to Los Santos without so much as a single stop for coffee - it was no wonder that the girl that stepped off the sagging city transit Blue Liner looked like she hadn't slept in a week.

Tess Abrahams stood on the sidewalk in her fair-trade cotton tee, worn denim cutoffs and a pair of beat up sneakers, and blinked. It had been almost a year since she'd been in this part of California and despite all the changes those eleven months had brought, she didn't blend in any more than she had on her first trip. Despite a wealth of new experience that weighed heavily on her shoulders and in the cast that wrapped around her right wrist, Tess was still Tess. Some people just belonged in Berkeley.

With a vague memory of the street layout, the mutant - no, not anymore, she corrected herself, fingers of her left hand lightly tracing the length of plaster on her right - hefted a battered nylon suitcase onto her shoulder and began to trudge forward. If Anna was still around, and she was hoofing it in the right direction, Tess figured that she'd be at Redencion House in twenty minutes.

Her gait was stiff and measured as she progressed along Alvarado Blvd. Tess paused only once, to fish out a half-empty bottle of water and sip, before carefully continuing onward. Every step appeared to be a hard-won movement and Tess was dripping perspiration by the time she reached St Maria Avenue.

The street looked unfamiliar. Frowning, Tess turned to look behind her and then twisted forward again with a sigh. A small knot of panic twisted in her gut. This was so not the time or place to get lost.

Pushing her worry aside, the young woman decided to walk up the cross street anyway; she could always turn back after a block or two if nothing looked familiar.

Fifteen minutes later Tess dropped her suitcase on the dirty pavement and kicked it viciously.

"Damn it." She snarled, dropping onto her ass beside the scuffed bag. Her knees creaked in ominous protest. It probably wasn't the cleanest of places to be taking a rest but beggers couldn't be choosers and at the moment, it was all she could do. Tess didn't have an address or even a phone number for Anna.

The cards were all played against her - she was tired, broke, possibly dying and lost. In Los Santos.

[Anna Fernandez]

The beat up old blue Ford twelve passenger van rumbled up St. Maria Avenue towards Banyon Street, the Cranberries wailing loudly from a jury-rigged CD player as Anna hummed along. She was on her way back from the police station, where she'd been asked to talk to a troubled young man. He was beyond the help of Recencion House, unfortunately, but she had made sure he knew he was welcome to look her up after he served his time.

The van had no working air conditioning, of course, but with the windows down and the breeze coming in the heat of the day hardly seemed to matter. And Anna's mutación de hielo de control made it easy to regulate the temperature inside the metal box. She adjusted the rearview mirror and blinked at the sight of a chica waving at the van as it continued down the street.

After a moment, and with her brother's warning echoing in her ears, Anna pulled the van over and hopped out, walking towards the girl who was grabbing a suitcase and hurrying towards her.

[Tess Abrahams]

"Anna!" Tess almost collapsed with relief when the woman stepped out, lumbering towards her as quickly as her stiff legs could manage. The rickety old van was like a noble steed to the girl and Anna Fernandez was about as close to a knight in shining armor as one got nowadays - and ten times more gorgeous, to boot.

With every step the suitcase bounced against her shins. Tess dropped it as soon as she was close enough to seize Anna in a fierce hug.

"Oh my God, it's so good to see you again!" She shifted her cast so as not to bang the back of Anna's head. "You have no idea how good - I was getting desperate enough to try thumb a lift."

[Anna Fernandez]

"Tess!" Anna clutched the teenager in a warm embrace, then held her back at arms length. "What has happened!? El brazo!" She fussed over her for a moment, looking her up and down.

"Come, come, out of this heat. It is unnatural, this time of year." Anna picked up the battered suitcase before Tess could say anything, and quickly stowed it in the back of the van under the final bench seat. Closing the back doors, she looked down the street, her eyes cautious. There didn't seem to be anyone else out and about.

A few cars blew by down the street as Anna popped the passenger side door for Tess.

[Tess Abrahams]

It felt good to be in the company of someone who knew her. Tess had been off the reservation so long that she'd nearly forgotten what it was to have a history with someone, a pattern of familiarity. It bred a certain sense of security and the girl felt the knot of caution in her belly loosen.

She waved off Anna's friendly concern as she slowly hitched herself up into the passenger seat.

"What, this?" Tess held up her cast, eyes sliding to the left and down before they returned to Anna's face. "It's just a broken arm. Had an accident up in Seattle; it's mostly mended now, at any rate."

Tess smiled ruefully and then cleared her throat. "Anyway. What about you? How have you been - and how're things going at the house?"

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna couldn't help but notice Tess struggling to get into the van, her body moving slowly and with little of the natural grace the young woman usually embodied. Knowing what her mutation was, it was very unusual. But she kept her concern from her face, and tried to keep the conversation light.

"Oh, you know, its a constant stream of humanity." She pulled back onto the street, pressing on the gas and checking her mirrors. "Maldita sea, mira por donde va!" She shook her fist at a car that cut her off, the van protesting as she put on the brakes. "We're having a little trouble with the neighbors, but I can't complain."

[Tess Abrahams]

The seatbelt took a little coaxing before it finally locked together with a half-hearted click. As Anna pulled back onto the road Tess couldn't help but wonder how she managed to keep the van running; it had been on it's last legs a year ago and yet here it was, still plugging along. It was an impressive feat.

"Neighbor issues?" Tess raised her eyebrows. It didn't take an astute person to know Anna wasn't referring to over-zealous partiers or peeping toms. Los Santos was a social minefield and a hotbed for anti-mutant bigotry. "How serious?"

[Anna Fernandez]

"Los Tres Once," Anna said, checking her rearview mirror. "They confronted me on the street, when I was with Jamie. Oh!" She looked at Tess, "You don't know her. I'm fostering her, she was rescued from the Jericho Center on the East Coast. But she is very young, and it was a serious situation with the Three-Elevens."

Her face hardened as she stopped at a light. "Jake arrived in time to stop anything worse from happening. But the gangs are getting restless, and they want the mutantes out."

She pressed down on the accelerator, the van coughing a little as it lurched forward and down the street.

[Tess Abrahams]

"Jesus, Anna." Tess glanced at the woman sidelong and shook her head. "So, what - I mean, what do you do from here? What if they start targeting the House?"

Apprehension bloomed in her stomach; she didn't want to add to any stress that her friend was under. Even if she was welcome at Redencion, an extra body was an added worry.

[Anna Fernandez]

She shrugged, "Then we will protect it." Anna sighed, then brightened. "But enough about this. How have you been?" She looked over at Tess, then back to the road as she paused at a stop sign.

The young woman didn't reply for a moment, and Anna turned into Redencion House's driveway. The van coughed and shuddered as she turned the key, but the air inside remained nice and cool.

[Aidan Fox]

At the end of the driveway was a one-car garage occupied by a Toyota pick-up truck with a pair of legs growing out of the undercarriage. At the sound of the van's approach, Aidan slid out from under the truck and reached back to pull out a sloshing oil pan. He carefully drained the used oil into a jug and wiped his grease-stained hands on an already-filthy rag, then on his T-shirt for good measure.

As the van's doors opened, he tossed the rag into a garbage can and wiped some sweat off his forehead with a clean patch of forearm. "Hey, Anna," he said, "I finished changing the oil and air filter, but I'm going to need to run out for the brake pads. Anything else you need me to... oh. Hi."

He'd just noticed Anna wasn't alone.

[Tess Abrahams]

That thin, pursed-lip smile returned and Tess squinted out the window at the passing neighborhood. Heat wicked across the pavement outside in direct defiance of the cool interior of the van.

"Oh. You know." She finally said. Anna didn't, couldn't, but Tess wasn't even sure where to begin. "Good, I guess."

Pulling into a driveway had never been such a saving act. Glad for the distraction, she busied herself with unbuckling her safety belt and wrangling the door handle. It took some finessing but the door finally released with a muted click and she pushed it open with a toe.

Tess leaned back to snag her bag before sliding out. Some guy - a real grease monkey - was rattling off to Anna. Tess eyed him and then ducked out of sight, bending down to shoulder her duffle. When she popped back up, he was looking at her. She offered him a small wave.

"Hey. I'm Tess."

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna smiled at Aidan, closing the door with a bang. The doors always closed with a bang. If you didn't swing them hard enough, they wouldn't stick. "Oh, Aidan, I ran into Tess on the way home," she put her arm out towards the younger woman as she slowly rounded the front of the van and joined them.

"She stayed with me for a while about a year ago." Anna beamed, quite clearly pleased that Tess had returned. "This is Aidan; he's doing his best to keep the cars running around here. Oh, I need some more washer fluid for the van. I think there's a hole in the container, todo se está cayendo a pedazos, or something. Anyway, need to keep the windshield clean."

[Aidan Fox]

"Sure, I've got a gallon in the garage," Aidan replied. "Otherwise, I'm done in here."

He returned Tess's wave, enough to show he wasn't quite prepared to shake hands yet, and briefly noted her duffel bag and brightly-colored cast. "Welcome back. Are you staying a while?" He didn't ask what had brought her to Redención. Often that was a sore subject.

[Tess Abrahams]

Tess half-shrugged, muscles twitching and flinching at the sudden movement. Casually she stretched her good hand up and pressed lightly along the bend where neck met shoulder, rolling a tight lump of gristle under her fingers.

"I'm not sure. A couple of days, maybe?" Here the girl paused to look at Anna. "So long as it won't, you know, make waves and if there's room."

She'd been gone awhile and there was never telling how crowded the house would be; strays were very rarely turned away.

[Anna Fernandez]

"Por supuesto, hay espacio... We only have..." Anna paused to think, eyes heavenward and her slim hands pulling her long hair into a ponytail. "Five full time residents. We are practically rattling around inside."

Hair secured, Anna reached for Tess' duffel, ignoring the girl's protests that she didn't need help. "Come, come, you can have your old room."