Ashton rolled his eyes.

"Try imagining if someone told you your entire world was wrong and you were wrong, and you woke up in bed alone in a strange place, with no idea who anyone was or where you were. And then some beauty in red hair starts spouting nonsense in your face."

He crossed his arms stubbornly.

"It's not emotional. It's just sensible. You'd have to be crazy to believe any of this."

”I never said you were wrong.” Quin replied. ”I just said that something happened to you.” Maybe his charm was working, ‘cause at the end of his spiel, she felt just a little more benevolent towards him.

”I know you’d be crazy to believe it. You’d be crazy to believe half the stuff that’s happened in the last decade…but apparently you don’t remember any of that, so I’m trying to help. You say your name is Ashton Drake, you can do things that only he can do, so I trust you.”

The crossed arms, the stubborn set of the kid’s jaw. This day was going to get real long, real quick if Quin couldn’t get cooperation.

They were in teenage mode again. Quin let her pessimism run wild for a second and wondered what they would do if they couldn’t fix this. It was incomprehensible, and it made her panic more than she wanted to admit.

”I can prove you’re not the only one with powers.”

Crazy.

Crazy...

Crazy... Yeah. Yeah.

It was like a little song. 'You gotta be insane to think that~ Yeah yeah.'

'Insane in the brain~'

'Insane in the brain~'

He'd just made that up. Look how clever was he.

Making up songs because he was stubborn. And didn't trust her. And didn't believe any of it. Even if he probably should. It wasn't like she could alter the entire reality he was in to make things appear several years in the future from whatever year he'd been in before. Was it?

She was stressed. He was stressed. And he did. Not. Want. To Believe. A Word of it. Even she agreed. He would have to be. Absolutely. Insane. To believe any of it. And adding periods for emphasis wasn't getting old in his head quickly at all. Nope.

So, okay. Okay. She trusted him. And things were crazy. And apparently, they dealt with this crazy stuff all the time. That was some job. It sounded like something out of a comic book.

Sheesh. Even if he was being stubborn, he hated making her sigh and hit him. His stubbornly-set jaw eased up. Yet again, she had some sort of effect on him. He couldn't stay mad at her. Which was totally weird. Maybe he was in love. Which was totally weird. Because. Just because.

Nope. Definitely not love. But she was a lady. And she deserved to be happier than he was making her with this stubborn streak of his. ... Even if everything was total nonsense.

Fine. He'd listen again. Or pretend he'd listened before, because he supposed he'd had, and now he'd have to work to remember it. Just for the sake of humoring her. Because what if he was wrong, and this wasn't crazy. What if it were not worth it to doubt her. Or maybe it was worth it to be cautious, and it cost him nothing to listen, just for the sake of listening.

What if he was rambling in his head about this decision of whether or not to trust her like she trusted him way too much.

Okay. This was stupid. He was just going to give her the benefit of the doubt. Screw rational thinking. That was something his old man would have encouraged. Something told him she wasn't some crazy psycho redheaded pedophile liar kidnapping him under the guise of a police woman and telling him all this crap. Something very much like a gut. Good lord, he was trusting his gut.

He'd listen. Okay. Sure. Fine. And this time, he wouldn't fall back on skepticism and make her slap her pretty lil forehead. That probably hurt more than it looked. And nobody liked bruises.

"Alright. Show me." He said. And amazingly, his tone didn't come off like that of a distrustful jerk.

Quin took a deep breath and readied herself for more sarcasm and ire. That had kind of been the way the evening had gone, and she honestly wasn’t expecting much to change now. Except it did. The words from Ashton’s mouth weren’t sarcastic. Maybe a little wary, still a bit skeptical, but he was trusting her to show him.

It was a step in the right direction and Quin ran with it. They were standing outside the building still, but nobody was surprised by what she could do anymore.

”One sec.” she said, reaching into her pocket and producing a handful of plastic building blocks.

”Watch this.” she added, then smashed her hands together, pushing the plastic into what looked like a multicolored pancake. She held it out for him to see, but sure he was still going to think she was pulling some sort of magic trick the redhead held the disk on her palm, and after a second it started to float.

The disk sat where it was, hovering in the air between the two for a moment before it started to slowly spin.

”Go ahead. Take it. It’s not going to hurt you.” she said with a smile. ”It’s not as cool as what you can do. But it’s something.”

Ashton quirked an eyebrow. And watched. And was relatively amazed. Relatively, because he'd seen better. Probably done better, in the playground, with the trading places or whatever it was he'd done. And the flying skateboard some kid had been messing with earlier probably had had nothing to do with advanced technologies, which made it pretty awesome. And because, compared to those, this was pretty tame. Amazed because a fleck of building block matched the color of her hair. And it was very pretty hair. Also, she seemed proud of the fact.

Her smile was the most gorgeous thing. Note to self: That needs to happen more... He thought.

He took it and turned the multicolored Frisby in his hands. A finger poked the red spot. He looked up at her.

"It's alright." Casual words, but he'd smiled while he'd said them. Playing it cool.

She knew she'd won before he even spoke. Quin knew her partner, and even if this was a mini version of him, she knew his body language and the way he reacted to things. This was different, and Ashton wasn't the same guy he was when he was a grown-up, but all the same instincts and personality traits were there.

He smiled, and she let out a small sigh of relief. It was alright. Her power was alright, but that was alright because at least now they were on the same page. Now they could walk into the station as allies instead of...whatever they'd been before.

"Okay. You ready to do this? You can ask around anywhere in there and they'll back up my side of the story. Can you trust me to help now?"

Ashton nodded coolly. "Kay." He said. "But could you explain to me what I do first? I want to make sure we have our stories strait..."

He meant power, of course, but the other stuff applied. What was he? Her partner? A cop? Her boyfriend? He liked that last one okay. It probably wasn't that. Usually never was. And if he was her partner, was she his boss? Or were they equal? Or...

"Who's on top?" He verbalized that thought out of the ever-growing list of questions.

Damn. Now that he was done being annoying, Ashton was a cute kid. Quin filed that information away for later and held it tight. He had her middle name, she had to have some sort of ammunition.

"I think we just tell them the truth." she said. "You woke up, had no idea what was going on, but you know you're Ashton Drake. You teleport like he does, switching places with things. That's what happened in the park."

As to who was on top... Quin smiled and shook her head, he was lucky he was a kid, because those words coming out of Grown up Ashton's mouth would have earned him a scathing look.

"We're partners, but you've got more seniority." she said, realizing how ridiculous that probably sounded. "I'm working for my shield, you pretty much scowl a lot and act like a hard-ass."

Whoops, had she just said ass in front of a kid? Oh well, he'd just have to forgive her.

He woke up. No idea. He was him. Teleport was a funny word. And he knew what it meant. "Gotcha." He said.

He asked who was higher-ranked. Why'd she smile at that, he wondered, but didn't think anything of it. He certainly hadn't been aiming for any innuendos or realizing they existed.

She confirmed his suspicions. Partners. And he was the boss. Scowling and being a hardass?

Ashtom smirked. "I sound like a real catch. So, are we ready to go inside?" He wanted to get this upcoming awkward scene out of the way.

"Some sure seem to think so." Quin said to little Ashton. After all he was the one who had woken up with a strange woman. Some catch indeed.

"And yup." They were as ready to go inside as they were ever going to be. Quin really hoped they didn't think this was some kind of joke, but was almost positive that would be everyone's initial outcome. The problem was...there was nothing that she and Ashton could do short of DNA testing to prove they were telling the truth, and DNA tests took forever.

So...what else was there to do? Quin started moving, hoping that Ashton would follow, and into the precinct they walked.

Everything inside normal, apparently it was just the rest of the world falling to hell. People were working, receptionists were taking calls, and everything was bustling just like it always was. Quin didn't know what to do, so she walked up to the desk of the woman who really ran everything.

"Cynthia. We have a problem." she said, waving Ashton forward.

Ashton's eyes roamed the room, rolling over ceiling and wall and whatever else he could manage. After a moment or two too long of roaming, they finally settled on the person he assumed was a secretary lady. She was hot.

He opened his mouth. "My name's Ashton." He said. "Ashton Drake. Buttercup here says I work here?" He looked to the redhead for confirmation.

Cynthia sighed and rolled her eyes. "Great. Another one." She rattled off a location that Archer really ought to check out.

Ashton arched an eyebrow at Buttercup. Apparently, he wasn't the only one...?

Cynthia's reaction was actually a relief. Not only would there be no awkward explanation, it appeared that Ashton's problem was anything but unique, and Cynthia had recognized him. It was enough for her to forget that he'd just called her 'Buttercup'.

"Thank God..." the redhead breathed, much to Cynthia's chagrin. The receptionist saw no reason to rejoice. The city was going to hell.

"Come on kiddo, we'll figure this out. Believe it or not, this is all good news."

Cynthia had given her a place, and Quin double-timed it in that direction and came to a sudden stop. Nope...Ashton was definitely not the only one. Suddenly, Quin was all grins.

"More good news...." she said, just as her cell phone started to ring.

Pulling it from her pocket, Quin checked the ID. It was Nate.

"Gotta take this." she said to Ashton, " Why don't you go talk to the others and find out if everything has been the same for them as it was for you." He was still her partner after all.

The phone rang a few times as Stephen waited anxiously, but eventually it gave way to the sound on Quin's side of the line.

"U-um, hi... Miss, are you Quin? I, um, I think you are someone important so I was hoping you could, well, help.

"I am being told I'm 'Nate?' But I guess I'm not s'posed to be a kid. Could you, maybe, come get me at the mansion?"

... And then she was gone and he was alone with a group of kids who were, as the lady had said, also like him. As in 'not kids'. And 'adults.' Who didn't remember any of it, and weren't sure how it had happened to them...

Ashton glanced over his shoulder, hoping Buttercup would come back from her phone call time and keep him company so he wouldn't have to talk to any of these weirdos. No such luck. Oh well. With a sigh, he linked his hands behind his head and strutted into the room, looking around.

Guy, guy, guy, guy... way too many roosters. His eyes passed over one of the few good-looking hens in the rooster house and he did a doubletake. Yup. Definitely green.

Welp. He had better go talk to her. He might as well make some friends, right?

"Howdy," Ashton settled into a chair next to the green girl. He aimed a lopsided grin her way. "Come here often?"

A voice came through the other side of the phone and Quin held the thing away from her ear, gaping at the screen as her brain registered what she was hearing. Apparently all the men she knew were turning into children.

For a moment, Quin panicked, trying to figure out exactly what she was supposed to say to the confused kid on the other end of the line. For some reason she wanted to hang up and head for home. Maybe hide under her blankets for a week until all of this blew over. This was getting to be too much for one day.

Nate said he thought she was someone important...and that there was a heart by her name in his phone. That helped, it gave perspective.

"I'll try to explain everything when I get there Nate. Just sit tight. This is happening to people all over the city." The redhead looked over her shoulder as she ended the call, Ashton was mingling. He was safe, and would be alright...

"Sorry partner, I gotta take this one alone."