Jay and Paige dance

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Jay asks Paige to dance at the party. They are hilarious and then cute and then somber and then really somber with a touch of cute. All in all, Jay realizes he might not know his sister as well as he thinks he does and Paige realizes how much she misses her family.


Only on pain of death would Jay actually admit that the party was a good idea. Terry and Dani were both fun dance partners, and there was a distinct lack of drama in the air. Terry and Dani were both taking breathers, and Jay still wanted to dance. Spotting his sister dancing with Angelo, he took a chance and approached them. "Mind if Ah cut in?"

Angelo looked over his shoulder, turning the pair of them slightly, to catch a glimpse of the speaker, his eyebrows rising in surprise before turning himself back to Paige. Ready to ask a question, he found it already answered in the beaming grin on her face and couldn't help but smile. "I'll go get some punch," Angelo said, handing Paige to her brother.

Paige gave a little mock curtsy, laughing. "You clean up very well, I must say. And that's not just sisterly pride talking."

"Ah do what Ah can," Jay said, smiling. "Ya look really nice tonight, sis. Didn't know you were one for this kinda stuff. Thought thatcha'd be in your room takin' advantage of the emptiness ta study."

Blushing, Paige lightly thwapped his shoulder. "I do get out occasionally, you know. Besides, how could I resist the opportunity to see my darling brother all gussied up while at the same time burning useless calories?" she teased, deciding not to mention that her first thought had been to hole up in her room.

"Ya came for me? Ah'm flatterred. How'dja know Ah'd be here, though? Ah'm as much a hermit as you or Sam are. Hmm, must be family trait, or another mutant thing."

"Oh, admit it. You like showing off just how pretty you are," Paige continued in her bantering fashion. She'd missed this, the friendly talk with Jay, and while she'd never quite clicked that he was angry with her, she'd definitely managed to notice a change in him. "Also a family trait, I suppose. Hermitting and being pretty. I would add brilliance to that collection but well. Sam."

Jay laughed, not the first time tonight but definitely the first time Paige had heard in a good long while. It felt good. Jay figured that this high wouldn't last forever, so he had to take advantage of it when he could. "Wouldja tell that ta Terry? She doesn't think Ah am. Or at least, she says that she's prettier."

Paige gasped theatrically, a hand to her chest. "That tramp! I will have her taken care of," she called, obviously not meaning a word of it by the way she tried to stifle her giggles. "The hillbilly Mafia does not take kindly to such statements."

"Hilbilly mafia? Interestin'. What, do they run around wavin' their rifles like loons?" Jay held up his fist. "'From my cold dead hands!'" he said in his best Charlton Heston voice.

"You know it, sugar," Paige replied, slipping something like her old accent and still giggling loud enough that people were turning to grin at them. "I demand to see you more often. As of right now, I demand it, and no you don't get no say in it."

Jay shrugged, his smile fading ever so slightly. Not that he didn't want to spend time with his sister, but he still wasn't beyond the feelings that he led to his semi-estrangement. "Well, iffn ya promise ta speak like a regular ole hick more often, then Ah'll think about it."

Paige was occasionally more observant than people gave her credit for, biting the inside of her lip at his hesitation and looking away to cover the moment of hurt. "I think that can be arranged. Just for you, though, and no recordings for later," she answered with a bright smile.

"What, don't'cha turn on the ole Southern charm for your teachers?" he teased, trying to lighten the mood which he, too, noticed had fallen. "'Oh, Professa, Ah'm so sorry that Ah forgot mah homework. Little ole me musta left mah book here by accident.'"

"Only once and people got punched in the face afterwards," Paige said, deadly serious but with a wicked glint in her eye. If he was willing to try, she was more than. "It was then that I decided my powers must never be used again, lest I cause the demise of the planet."

"Wait, people got punched?" Jay asked, confused. "What kinda classes are ya takin' over at that school anyway?"

Paige gave him a mischievous grin, countering it with an innocent bat of her eyelashes. Secretly, she was sort of enjoying this, even if she should be highly embarrassed. "Oh no. It was here. This school."

"Ah've definitely never heard this story. Care ta explain?" If Paige actually had gotten into an altercation with someone, anyone, that would be the best story ever.

"Well..." Paige drawled out, considering. She was having way, way too much fun. "The short form is I used one of the professors baths, and someone made some rather unseemly assumptions and then I had to hit them." Simple as that.

Jay's eyes widened to the size of saucer plates. "You did what? Why? And who said that? Was it Sam? It was Sam, wasn't it?"

Paige laughed, patting him on the shoulder. "Surprisingly, no. I don't think Sam knew, however, or he probably would have joined in on the fun. Sam only calls my boyfriends whores, not me." That had come out a little more easily than she would have liked; part of her had already forgiven Sam but obviously there was a part that still wanted to tear his arm off and beat him with it. "I was dirty and tired and I needed a bath. At the time, students only had showers. It made perfect sense to me to borrow one of the professors; I just had rather bad timing. We both still tease each other about it. I hit very hard it seems."

"Well, ya can change inta stone and steel, so Ah'd imagine thatchya're not a light-hitter." Another second of hesitation, and Jay's eyes widened again. "Wait, what? Sam called Angelo and Jono whores? So that's why y'all ain't talkin' much."

There was a sudden strike of realization as Paige caught on to the fact that she probably should have broken that to her younger brother a little more carefully, if not at all. Sam was his older brother too. "I... yeah. Pretty much. Which is a difficult thing, even in a mansion this size, let me tell you. He just doesn't, or didn't, I'm not even sure anymore, approve of well. A lot of things."

"When Ah told him 'bout me, he didn't seem ta mind. Of course, that coulda been because he was yellin' at me for . . . stuff." No need to bring in Kev and all the trauma that entailed now. "Ah mean, it ain't mah cuppa tea neither, what you and them're doin', but Ah'm hardly one ta be talkin' about alternative lifestyles."

Paige smiled a little sadly, glad that the music had slowly down enough that she could rest her head on his shoulder and not have to worry about concerned looks. "Yeah. But I'm the good little girl. I guess. I don't know. Maybe he just assumed no one was good enough for me, or because Angelo had been with John or because Jono... I don't know."

Jay hugged Paige, the first real brotherly one he'd given her in months, and sighed. "We're a fucked up bunch, ain't we?"

"Very, very fucked up," Paige agreed, leaning into his embrace.