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Aurum spoke again and Riley had to work hard not to slap herself in the forehead. Yes, the lawyer had pointed out the fact that he’d lost some memories. He didn’t remember anything though, none of what they’d accomplished together? Riley frowned and looked out the window. Why did it matter?

Riley ignored the cop talking on her phone, she had unlimited night and weekends, and turned back to Aurum…who was suddenly further away. Why was she noticing? Riley shook it off and sighed, looking at the other two in the cab. ”I’ll just fill you in later.” she said flippantly, not sure why it was so important to keep it on the DL while they were in this cab. The cop was talking again…and Riley didn’t care again…until the brunette up front spoke.

”Um. No. In fact, hell no.” she spoke up. ”If you want to go poking around in a bus depot. That’s your damn prerogative. I’m going home.”

Riley leaned across Aurum now so she could look at the cabbie in the rear-view mirror, ”You think the three hobo-looking hitchikers are going to pay your fare…go ahead and take them instead of me. Remember, you picked me up from the job, and my employer is paying you to take me home.”

Needless to say. The cabbie took her seriously.

As they continued to move in the right direction, Riley scowled in Aurum's general direction some more. What the hell had he gotten her into?

Had…something happened between them?

Riley stared the far-too-small distance into Aurum’s face like he’d just sprouted a second head as he explained that they’d lost their memories.

Lost…their memories.

”You have got to be kidding me.” she blurted, astonished by the whole thing…and by the question. Had something happened between them? Riley was nearly incredulously incredulous at the suggestion. No. NO nothing had happened. Than again…maybe that wasn’t what Aurum had meant at all…maybe he’d meant it in the general sense of the word, in which case…

Good God was she annoyed. Riley’s first impulse was to punch Aurum in the gut and stop the cab, get out, and take her chances walking down the middle of the street at night in New York City. Truthfully, it was probably safer than the inside of the cab…and a hundred times more sane. Instead, she took a deep breath and tried to figure out what was going on.

”What do you mean you lost your memory?” she asked, ”And no…nothing happened between us. Unless you mean us working together recently…” Of course that’s what he meant, Riley told herself. Why she hadn’t expanded on that…she didn’t know, but there was something in her gut that was telling her to be careful with her words.

The cop and the chick in the front seat were talking about lockers more, and phones, and people at the precinct. Riley sighed impatiently and rolled her eyes to the ceiling of the cab as they made their way to her apartment.

”I have a phone.” she said tightly, then crossed her arms around her middle, and if she nudged Aurum in the process, that was his problem. It felt like the right thing to do, if they didn’t know she was and adapted, they’d find out as soon as they got to her place. As foreign as the feeling was to Riley, and as hard as it was to admit it, that fact scared her a little.

”These are the good guys, right?” she said, almost to herself.

Uncomfortable? Riley shook her head and laughed, ”I’m not uncomfortable…I figured you would be.” she paused and frowned a bit more, looking around the coffee shop for a moment before returning her eyes to Ashton, ”Most guys either brand me ‘easy’ or brand me ‘cheap’” Man…why was she explaining herself? When had this gotten awkward? Riley sipped at her coffee and sighed.

Sure, there were plenty of other things to talk about. Plenty.

Riley took another sip…the cup was half empty now.

”Sorry.” she said, with a pained smile in her companion’s direction. ”I didn’t mean to make that awkward. Back to detective movies?” she asked with a shrug. It didn’t really matter, she’d probably blown it.

They started moving when Aurum rattled off his address and Riley sighed, it was out of her way but that was fine. Once she’d dumped all these clowns off she could return to her happy night of happiness. Then Aurum uttered the words that made the cab stop. Again.

He turned, and asked her a question…complete with brown puppy lawyer eyes.

”Seriously?”[/i] she said, with more than a little incredulity in her voice. Sure she didn’t want to stab him in the face when she looked at him anymore…but bringing him and strangers back to her place was just too much. She never brought anyone back to her place. It was her place…nobody else’s…and besides that. God. Why was he being so pathetic? He said please…and meant it.

Riley sighed, hand moving to her forehead for a moment while she cursed herself for still having a conscience. She gave the cabbie her address, then turned to Aurum. ”Just…don’t even say anything.” she snapped, then turned to look out the window. This was all his fault, and Riley planned to keep her mouth shut until she could lose the dead weight.

Until the cop started talking.

Did…she…feel that? A sinking feeling settled into the pit of Riley’s stomach and she prayed they were talking about the leather interior of the cab.

“The one car that stops out of all the others and we had to get one with an adapted inside."

Riley stiffened, flinching slightly at the word and barely stifled a small squeak. So far, the only people she’d met who knew that word…had been dangerous. Lori had been nice enough…but there was no doubt in Riley’s mind that she was dangerous.

She looked at Aurum again…this look boldly conveying the message, What have you gotten me into?. Screw him if he hadn’t known…this was still a car she really wanted out of. They were talking about a locker key now. Hope blossomed slowly, maybe they’d just forget. Fat chance…but a girl had to take what she could get.

Ahhh. The MRC. Where had Riley heard that name before? Probably on the news, or in the paper, she decided. There were a lot of mutants in New York, so it made sense that there was a section of the police department set up to deal directly with them. Ashton was one of the members of that department.

She nodded. It made sense.

”Well, I’m glad it’s working out. You’ve probably never got a dull moment in that line of work.” Riley said, ”I’m always seeing things on the news.”

It would have been easy to inject a statement about her own genetic makeup here, but Riley let it slide. There wasn’t any point in ruining a perfectly good cup of coffee with something that tended to be incendiary.

”So did you grow up playing cops & robbers, or was it a calling later on?” she asked, hoping the subject change was subtle enough not to draw attention to itself, but enough of a hook to keep the conversation going.

Good God…there were more of them. Riley had sort of seen some other people when she’d ordered the cabbie to back up…but this was kind of ridiculous. Apparently the golden boy had taken an entourage on his bad trip into the middle of nowhere…but hey, at least he was glad to see her.

…because he needed a ride.

”I’ll just bet you do.” she said, lips pursing together as she checked out the little group. They were definitely worse for wear, that was for sure. The chick, whoever she was, had something snarky to say to Aurum…and called him kitten. Riley was amused, but for some reason it wasn’t as fun when someone else was talking trash on the golden-boy.

Riley’s eyes returned to Aurum and she looked him over again…then she sighed, ”This is so worth more than a coffee and a donut.” she muttered, then made her way to the far side of the back seat. They’d have to work everything else out..and as the cabbie muttered, Riley fished around in her purse for a 20 and threw it at the front seat. That was like…four hot dogs at a good stand and the guy shut his trap as the snarky woman climbed into the front seat...then looked to the back for directions, ”Someone tell him where to go...this is obvoiusly not my cab anymore” Riley commanded, wondering exactly when the cab had gotten so crowded.

Probably when Aurum had slid in next to her, and the other guy next to him. Suddenly, Riley became great friends with the door…and the lawyer as other guy pulled door shut and the cab started moving.”Oh for the love of god…” she muttered, trying to shift into a less constrictive position, ”What the hell is this?” she said with a mild glare in Aurum’s direction, ”I was having a good night.”