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Luke’s family was a touchy subject the boys avoided with a ten foot pole at all costs. After he officially moved into the studio any mention of his parents was complete taboo, much less his aunt who’d sometimes appear at their gigs. It went on for a few years, since Luke was fifteen. During gig’s she’d settle into the back of the audience, only clapping for them after they completed their entire set then disappearing into the crowd before Luke could track her down and introduce her to the whole band. The few things Reggie, Bobby, and Alex were able to pry out of Luke about his mysterious cousin was her name; Sophie Devereaxu, and that she was an art historian or something of the sort. They hadn’t really gotten a straight answer out of him when they asked.
So color Reggie surprised when he happened to spot Sophie Devereaxu in the audience during one of their performances with Julie after she gave them her life-saving hug. They figured out early on that after their Orpheum performance they could make themselves corporeal at will.
After a quick google search Reggie realized corporeal meant that other people could feel and see them whenever they chose, so they could still keep up the phantom gag with their performances. The crowds always went wild when Julie walked through them. “Luke, she was here tonight,” Reggie said when the band regrouped in the dressing room backstage after making meet and greet rounds. Luke managed to peel his eyes away from Julie. His eyebrows did that cute thing when they furrowed together when he was confused.
“Who was here tonight?” Luke asked, giving Reggie his best pair of puppy dog eyes. Reggie rolled his eyes and pulled his bass off, locking it up in its case. One of the downsides of being corporeal; their instruments were as well.
“That cousin of yours from the nineties. She looked kinda sus -” Reggie said before turning to Julie who was struggling to hide her fit of giggles. “Am I using that word right Jules?” He asked hoping he wasn’t supposed to say lit or mood in place of it. He’d been taking a crash course on twenty-first century language from Flynn. Luckily Julie nodded, smiling at him from across the room.
“You used that word exactly right Reg. What cousin are you talking about?” Julie asked, ignoring Luke’s offended noise when she stopped playing with his hair. Reggie shrugged, slumping into an armchair next to Alex. Luke shrugged, screwing his mouth shut. Sophie Deveraxu was a taboo subject in his family back when he was alive. He didn’t really know her all that well, but every once in a while a rare vintage record or tape of one of his favorite bands would appear on his bed and he knew she still cared about him. The strain between her and his parents was just too great.
“His super secret cousin that he refused to talk about when we were alive. It got to the point where we were convinced he was making her up,” Alex explained. He didn’t bother hiding how petty he actually was about the whole thing. Luke let out a frustrated groan, trying to think about how he could describe Sophie.
“I barely talked to her myself. She went to some boarding school in London, then when she visited us in America she’d end up getting into a fight with my mom over something about the insurance.” He reached up and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. “I was close to her when I was younger but she stopped coming around as much. Never really found out why though,” Luke shrugged and leaned into Julie again, his arm wrapping around her shoulders.
“Hey Julie? There’s people here from a label,” Flynn said. She poked her head into the dressing room to see what she should do. After Julie exchanged a look with the boys she nodded at Flynn.
“We’ll talk to them but we probably won’t sign anything today,” Julie said. Flynn nodded then stepped further into the room for the two agents to step in. Once they were situated Flynn left the room, shutting the door behind her. Luke quickly shot to his feet when the woman turned around to reveal her face.
“Someone filed a claim against your parents for insurance fraud,” she woman said from the doorway. Luke’s cousin standing there in the flesh, along with another man. She looked older, of course she did - it's been nearly thirty years - but Luke could see it in her eyes. The mischievous glint like she knew something no one else in the room did. Like she was trying to peel all of their secrets apart and was going to leave them out in the open. “They didn’t exactly… agree with my choice of employment at the time.” Sophie said, her eyes flickering around the room at Luke’s band members. All three of them were scarily quiet, not even Alex was bouncing his leg up and down at an inhuman pace.
“Okay…” Luke said hesitantly. Something in his gut told him she was telling the truth, but now all he had was more questions. “But why didn’t you visit or call? I could’ve - we could’ve gone to some art museum or something. Or I could’ve brought you over to meet the guys before we -” Julie coughed and cut him off before he let out their secret about the phantoms. Sophie just smiled at him sadly in response, reaching up to pat Nate’s back.
“Nate here worked in insurance at the time so I called in a favor. He managed to get things squared away with IYS but your parents still… well we didn’t exactly see eye to eye about a lot of things. I was hoping - I was hoping we would be able to talk. To catch up on everything we’ve missed.” Sophie said, a hint of hope in her eyes. Luke silently debated the pros and cons of talking to his cousin then figured if she was here, now, then it was probably for a good reason.
“Right well,” Nate said, clapping his hands together. “Soph I’m going to go help the kids out with their uh… their little rendezvous of the city sights.” Luke watched as a silent conversation was exchanged between the two of them. He couldn’t help but feel like he was left out of some sort of inside joke.
“Of course. Don’t keep them out late, you know how Hardison gets if he’s on his twelfth bottle of orange soda,” Sophie said raising her heels to place a kiss on his left cheek. Nate blinked furiously and Luke couldn’t help but wonder if that’s how he looked whenever Julie kissed him. “I’ll be back soon darling. Don’t start the games without me.” Sophie said teasingly. Something about the way she said it told Luke she wasn’t talking about a board game night.
“The kids will be in by their bedtime,” Nate promised. He nodded at Luke, waving goodbye before leaving Sophie alone with them in the dressing room. The silence was awkward to say the least, Luke didn’t really know what to talk about.
“So it’s nice to see you and your friends still playing music,” Sophie said as she slid into a chair. Luke nodded,
“Yeah! Julie’s been great.” He felt heat rise in his cheeks. “I mean, the music’s been great.” Luke glared at Reggie when the bassist’s snorting laughter filled the room.
“We should give you two time to talk. I’ll see you at home in an hour or two okay?” Julie asked, rising from her spot on the couch. Alex and Reggie followed her lead.
“It was nice to meet you Luke’s Mystery Cousin,” Reggie said with a cheeky smile before poofing out of the room. Alex nodded at Sophie before following his lead. Julie just rolled her eyes then hugged Luke.
“Stay safe,” Julie whispered. Luke nodded in response; Caleb was still at large, and even though they hadn’t heard from him recently… well, his next appearance could be right around the corner. Julie left the studio, pulling the door shut behind her as she greeted a flash mob of fans.
“So you’re really dead?” Sophie asked, still staring at the spots Alex and Reggie used to stand. Luke winced, but he nodded.
“Yeah, the day we were supposed to perform at the Orpheum. We uh…” He avoided eye contact in embarrassment. “The guys and I ate some bad hot dogs.” Luke appreciated it when Sophie at least attempted to hide her laugh by raising a cup of coffee over her mouth.
“I’m sorry but hot dogs ?” Sophie asked when she was done laughing. He crossed his arms and pouted at her.
It turns out it was easier for them to reconnect than Luke had originally anticipated. Sophie had the most insane stories about the different cases she worked. Apparently now she and Nate ran some sort of freelance lawyer office. He ended up telling her about Trevor, though it took some prodding on her part. He told her how he stole his songs, but as long as they could play with Julie they didn’t really want revenge on Trevor anymore. Plus, confronting Trevor meant they could hurt Carrie and well, her and Julie were finally starting to reconnect.
One week later; if Trevor Wilson got exposed on every single national news network possible, and Julie was able to claim ownership over all of the stolen Sunset Curve songs then no one had to know anything about what Sophie Devereaxu actually did for a living.