“The procedure went well? I understand. Thank you Dr. Shaw.”

Sebastian hung up the phone and glared at his calendar. Time was turning too quickly. These deadline things kind of sucked, actually. All his plans... were working, but they were taking far longer than he had thought they would.

All he'd been hearing lately was, “Be patient,” “I have to think about it,” and “We have to special order this piece of equipment”.

He only had a little time left before he had to meet Lori's deadline. She had been keeping up her end of the bargain, so he had to keep up his as well: unite the world against a common enemy. Yet, he wanted his church to be able to stand on its own before that. That meant it needed people capable of leading it without him. That meant he had to convince people quickly.

'Quickly' wasn't working for him.

Everything seemed to be on hold.

Sebastian sighed and closed the calendar, tossing it into the center of his desk, amidst the new advertisement designs he was supposed to sign off on. Maybe if he went on a walk he could clear his mind a little. He stood, strapped his swords onto his back, and headed for the door of his office.

It had been far longer than Drew intended it to be. He'd meant to come back fairly quickly after the incident to deliver thanks that weren't tainted by the presence of a cat man. Other things and people had stolen his time and he'd quickly forgotten about it. Until now anyway. It hadn't been hard to find the place again. Not that he really remembered how to get there but Sebastian's church or whatever this thing was. No it turned out that the place was really popular and seemed to have a good message. Not that he believed the god business but if these folks wanted to be in a cult that seemed make them want to do good why should he stop them?

He was just here to thank the man for saving his life.

Well that and he was curious. Curious about the sort of man that Calley would report to. Curious about the rumors out of the church that said he could make people immortal. Curious how a healing mutant got himself turned into a cult leader. It wasn't like anyone was worshiping DocProf. So maybe it was a bit more than just thanking the guy again for saving him. Curiosity only killed cats if you believed the old saying. As a human being, mutant, and occasional puppy dog Drew would be just fine.

Drew entered the church with a deep breath and listened attentively. There seemed to be little activity at the moment, aside from sound of his trainers hitting the floor. Aside from the things that marked it out as a church to Sebastian the place didn't look all that different from the churches he'd been to as a kid. That alone ensured his silence as he walked about. He'd been raised to be respectful in churches and the familiar setting evoked that response. The sound of a door knob turning caught his ears and Drew turned from his inspection of a pew to the source of the sound.

Outside his door, Sebastian paused. There was someone wandering around at the back of the church's sanctuary. There was something about him that looked familiar. When he turned, at the sound of the door, Sebastian saw his face and remembered who he was.

Malako's puppy, Andrew. The one who could make people keep promises they had made to him. The one that Malako had taken under his wing out of complete spite and kept him out of Sebastian's way for fear that the older immortal might hurt him. The one that Sebastian had given up on ever having a chance to meet with privately.

“Andrew, right?” Sebastian smiled at him, that warm welcoming smile that seemed to help put others at ease. “You're looking well. How have you been doing?”

Then, because there was always a chance that his cat boy immortal apprentice might show up at the church at any time Sebastian added, “I was just about to go out for a walk. Would you like to come along?”

Drew smiled. The fellow remembered him. That was good. At least awkward re-introductions wouldn't be required.

"Yeah, that's me." Drew closed some of the distance between them as he spoke, "Thanks, I'm doing alright. You?"

Standard polite greetings and what not needed to be observed right? At least with some he knew as poorly as he knew Sebastian. Apparently he'd caught the man just as he was about to go out for a walk. Go for a walk with the man? Sure why not. Seemed like a good idea.

"Sounds good."

Orienting himself so that he was half facing the door Drew waited, making it clear that he was letting the other man take the lead. Old habits died hard and as much as he'd changed he doubted he'd ever rid himself entirely of his manners. Sebastian had asked and Drew was the younger so Sebastian took the lead. Only proper.

"Honestly I just wanted to thank you for the help. With that sword wound and all that. I may be used rough treatment but bleeding out isn't fun."

Drew grinned and laughed a little bit. With the way he lived his life he presumed that he'd be in similar situations many more times.

They reached the door, then the steps, then the sidewalk. With each step, they got farther and farther from where anyone would butt into their conversation. Sebastian sighed, enjoying the sun and the relatively fresh air.

“I appreciate the thanks, but it is not really necessary. If anything, I feel a little bit responsible, as Malako's teacher, that I didn't teach him better than to go around stabbing his friends.”

Sebastian tilted his head thoughtfully to one side as he led the way down the sidewalk that led to the park.

“You are friends, right? Or... I was more than a little confused as to what had come about that night to be honest. What exactly happened?”

The walk was nice. Drew had rode the bus at least part of the way to save a bit of walking. It had been unfortunately crowded so to be out in the relatively fresh air was good. Relative being the key word because in a city you took what you could get. Sebastian's dismissal of his thanks was irksome.

At least until he brought up the reason why Drew had been bleeding out.

"Are we friends? Yeah sort of I guess. We're we friends when he attempted to gut me? No."

Drew suppressed a sigh and slouched a little as he walked.

"Truthfully, I started the fight but he over reacted to something and that led to the stabbing."

Deciding whether to tell the man what Calley over reacted to was difficult. On one hand Sebastian already knew about his ability but Drew wasn't sure he'd ever tell the man that he was capable of revoking a promise made to him. If he did and Sebastian knew about it then there was Drew caught in a lie. He didn't know how Sebastian would handle something like that. On the other hand Drew wore his promise tats openly these days so the man could always put two and two together on his own. Surely he'd seen the tattoo around Calley's neck by now.

“That is a strange way to make a friend.” Even as he said it, Sebastian was reminded of his first meeting with Noel. They, too, had fought and became friends after wards. It did happen.

Sebastian saw the slouch and patted the younger man once on the shoulder.

“Don't let a rocky beginning ruin the possibility of a good friendship. Stranger things have happened than two enemies becoming friends.”

He tilted his head to the side, trying to figure out what Malako might have overreacted to. What had been off about that night? Sebastian tried to remember back. Drew had been a puppy. Malako had been fairly well covered in blood. They both had been, actually. And Malako had just gotten a tattoo around his neck, one that didn't heal away immediately. Sebastian rubbed at his own neck, thinking that must have been painful, even to someone whose injuries were healed almost as soon as they were inflicted.

Maybe it had been something the promise keeper had said. It still seemed to bother him, whatever it was that had happened.

“Is it something that is still coming between you? Is there any way to fix it?”