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The safehouse Nile took them to was in Malta. They had nowhere else to go, and although Nile didn't want to bring them to what had once been Nicky and Joe's paradise, they were on a time crunch.
She didn't tell them, however, just why this place was so special.
***
Sue was the first new immortal Nile met. She met Nicky and Joe; she had two hundred and eighty-five years with them before they died. Sue loved Nicky. When Nicky found her at the bottom of a ditch in Korea, she'd thought he was an angel.
Nicky saw himself as a pacifist. He told Nile that himself, but when he saw what those men tried to do to her, throwing her body away like it was nothing, he helped Sue exact her revenge, holding her hand the whole way. Nicky was her savior.
Sue was kind. Sue was a fighter and entered her new life stronger than any of them had. She never married, was an only child whose parents died a couple of years earlier. It was easy for Sue to adjust. Being only 33, Sue felt like she'd barely lived most of her life. She'd partied, she had loved and been loved, and she traveled, but she thought there was far more and far too little time. When Sue died and returned, she saw immortality as a gift. Nile couldn't help but be in awe of her. Nile led Sue with a determination to make sure she remained believing immortality was a gift. The latter was too horrible.
Xolo met Nicky and Joe too. He only knew them for a mere eighty years.
It was Nile and Joe who collected him. Xolo immediately stabbed Joe in the leg when he tried to help him. He was terrified, only nineteen when he died from that fall. When he stabbed him, Joe had immediately started laughing. "He reminds me of a certain someone," is what he told Nile moments after when he had the poor kid in a headlock.
Xolo was a little tricky. Xolo was young. He was scared and wanted nothing more to return to his previous life in Mexico. Nile tried her best with him, but she couldn't break that outer shell he put up himself. It was Joe that got to him. Joe, through charm, wit, or whatever he had going on that made him such a people person was the one who could handle teenagers.
Nile was grateful either way.
Neither of them met Andy or Quynh. They only knew them through stories and drawings. Andy died exactly five hundred and two years after she regained her immortality when Quynh returned to them. Quynh died a year later.
Andy told Nile that they all died at random, that it was a flip of the coin. She wasn't so sure anymore. It's as if the universe gave Andy back the time she had lost with the love of her life.
Nile led them after Andy and Quynh's death. For fifty years, it was just her and her boys. It was a good fifty years of saving lives, traveling and discovering. Nile experienced what it was like to lead and wondered how Andy did for thousands of years? She wondered if she would for another thousand, if she would come across another to help?
Then she dreamed of the Korean woman in a ditch and a boy lying in a desert hundreds of years later. Nile led them.
Nicky lost his immortality when he cut his finger cutting carrots, and it didn't heal. Nile could say it was a blessing of sorts. When Nile saw it happen, a thousand thoughts raced through her head at the time, but the very first thing she did was grab Joe, take a safety pin and prick his finger. Joe pulled his hand back quickly but when he saw Nicky's cut on his finger, he smiled. Joe's finger hadn't healed.
He hugged Nicky tight in those moments, crying and smiling wider than Nile had ever seen him smile.
Nile cried too. She cried for them, for herself, and for their lives.
They'd always been so sure, a hundred percent certain, that they would leave this world together at the same time. Joe and Nicky decided they would stop here. Stop fighting. They'd been fighting their whole lives and finally wanted to grow old together. Nile agreed, and once again, she was leading a group of three.
Nile got to watch Nicky and Joe grow old as she stayed a young woman. When Joe got his first grey hairs, Booker teased him mercilessly, and eventually, Xolo became a better shot than Nicky on the range. "I can still kill you at least 50 different ways with this spatula, Xolo."
Eventually, they started reaching a certain age where they couldn't do what they used to. Nile saw how happy they were and felt guilty. She was selfish about it. She didn't want them to leave her, not yet.
Nicky died when he was 1,788 years old. It was in his sleep. They buried him in Italy, in his birth place. Joe was old. His hands shaky, curly hair long since greyed, eyes sunken slightly. Nile held his hand the whole time while Booker had his hand on his oldest friend's shoulder. Sue cried the most, Xolo right by her side, as he has been for the past hundred years.
For the next three years, Nile and the others took a break. Nile and Booker stayed in Joe and Nicky's final home together. Xolo and Sue traveled.
They stayed with Joe, him braiding Nile's hair with his nimble fingers even in his old age. That's something that has never changed. She and Booker would bring him tea in the mornings. Sometimes they just talked, Booker telling Nile stories about Joe and Nicky before she was born. Joe even shared new ones about Quynh and Andy. Nile realized after Joe died, there would be no one who would tell her and Booker these stories. She did her best to remember them.
Joe died on a Wednesday. They saw it coming. He wasn't walking anymore, he was having trouble breathing and his body just couldn't keep up. He was happy though.
Nile and Booker sat by his bedside the whole day.
"Don't cry, Nile," Joe had told her. She couldn't help the tears fall down her young face. Joe wiped them away with his thumb. He carefully held one of her braids in his hand as she sat on the bed next to him as he died. "You've always had such beautiful hair."
When he died, Nile retreated into herself. She led the others, but the absence of Joe and Nicky pulled her into a dark place. But at least she still had Booker. He was part of the reason she hadn't crumbled completely.
She cut her hair after Joe died. It wasn't that odd to the others, except for Booker, who saw the significance behind it. Eventually, when it grew out, she let it. She moisturized it, let it remain in its naturally curly form, but never let it get too long. She didn't braid it for years.
Booker worried about her. She was still there with them, leading but more reserved. Xolo and Sue saw the change, but they were still young in Booker's and Nile's eyes. Still naive to immortality. They hadn't lost people such as Andy and Quynh, and sure they knew Nicky and Joe, but not the way Nile had.
Then Nile dreamed of Noa. A 27-year-old Irish soldier, killed-in-action. Her eyes were blue, skin tan, hair long and thick.
Nile decided she was going to be the one to get her. Noa was alone. She was smart, smart enough to escape the Irish army before they discovered she was in fact very much alive. She knew nothing good would come of it.
When Nile found her, she fought back. She punched Nile. Once. It was enough for Nile to realize she liked her.
"How old are you?"
"Too old."
Noa could fight. Noa asked questions. A lot of questions. Nile refrained from telling her about Nicky and Joe, or even Andy and Quynh. When she asked how she knew they could die, all she said was, "because I've seen us die." Nile never gave specifics.
Noa joined them on missions almost immediately. She was a natural, had the same skills Nile had when she first died. The resemblance scared her.
One mission, however, left them exposed. A year later, a man watched as the whole team blew up simultaneously, then healed only moments later. Beecher, a mortal who assisted in keeping them hidden, advised they go into hiding immediately until he located the man and wiped everything.
Malta was the closest place. Nile did not want to bring her team there, but she had practically no choice. It was the closest place, and the island would make it difficult to find their locations. Reluctantly, she brought her whole team there.
***
"This place is nice!" Xolo exclaimed. He dropped his bag next to the couch and plopped himself down. Nile followed behind the whole team hesitantly. Booker gave her a look. She nodded, her silent I'm good. "Why haven't you brought us here before, Boss?"
Nile walked to the kitchen, wiping off the dust that had been collected on the table. "Because it has no weapons or emergency resources for us."
"Why not?" Sue asked. She was admiring the view outside the glass window.
"It's not that type of safehouse," Booker replied. Xolo shrugged.
"Right everyone," Nile said. "There's only two rooms, one has a big bed, the other small. I'll take the couch, you guys fight over the rooms."
Immediately Xolo leaped up from his place on the couch, rushing towards the bedrooms.
"Fucker-" Noa immediately followed him. Sue walked after them smiling and rolling her eyes as she followed the much younger immortals.
Nile could help but grins as she sat on the chair at the table in the kitchen. She sighed, hundreds of years of tiredness showing itself in the noise. She remembered hearing it in the others, especially Andy. Booker sat across from her.
"Not going to fight for a bed?" Nile smirked.
Booker chuckled. "No. I'll take that comfortable chair."
Nile returned a smile. It disappeared however, as she took a look around the place. It wasn't a question of if Beecher would be able to catch the guy, but when, and Nile prayed it was soon.
Booker looked at her concerningly. "They don't know, do they?"
Nile turned to Booker. "No." She said. "Nicky and Joe only told me about this place about fifteen years ago. I knew they had a place, just wasn't sure where." Nile sighed. "I think they wanted me to know about it before…"
Nile trailed off, Booker already understanding what she meant.
"Noa's a lot like you when you were young."
"You calling me old, Book?"
Booker laughed. "Yes. But, Noa is curious, like you were. Eventually you're gonna talk to her about them." He paused. "Maybe it would be good for you."
Nile glared at him. Booker had his issues in the past, but after they all reconnected all those years ago, he had seemed to improve. He had his problems, they all did, but dammit, he'd become helpful. That meant trying to get Nile to open up.
"How do I know Xolo or Sue haven't already told her all about Nicky and Joe?"
"They haven't, trust me." Nile raised an eyebrow. Booker sighed as he ran a hand through his slicked-back hair. "It's hard for them too, and they follow their leader; you keep it all bottled up inside, they do too."
"You a therapist now?"
Booker leaned back against his chair. "For you? Maybe." He grinned.
She didn't want to, but she grinned back. She loved the others, she really did, but Booker was what grounded her here. At least he was now.
Suddenly arguing could be heard. Nile turned, smiling, expecting to see the others yelling at each other over rooms. What she saw instead made her heart stop.
Noa was walking towards Nile with a sketchbook in her hands, her face looking both nervous and serious at once as she rushed over. Sue was grabbing her arm, telling her to stop and put the sketchbook back. She ignored her. Xolo came rushing in a moment later.
"I'm sorry, Boss. I told her to put it away but she didn't listen-"
Before Xolo could finish his sentence, Noa dropped the sketchbook on the table in front of Nile. It was open to a page. It was a drawing of Nicky from when he was young. It was soft, lines not hard, but his nose and eyes were defined from the side profile drawing. It was beautiful like he was.
"Is this him?" Noa said, pointing at the drawing. "Is this the one you won't talk about?"
Nile wasn't looking at Noa. All she could do was stare at the drawing. She hasn't seen his young face in decades. Booker quickly stood up from his chair.
"Noa," he warned, grabbing her arm.
"No." She snatched her arm away from his grip.
"Please, Nile." Her voice was pleading rather than aggressive. "I'm in the dark here. Will whatever happened to him happen to me?"
Nile finally looked up to Noa, and when she did Noa's face immediately fell. Nile never cried in front of her team, but at the moment, she could help the tear that fell down her broken face.
Noa backed up. "Nile, I-"
Nile slammed the sketchbook shut and pushed past Noa before she could finish the sentence. Xolo moved out of her way as she walked past him, stepping into one of the rooms and slamming the door behind her.
Nile dropped the sketchbook on the bed and sat down next to it. She started breathing heavily, hands balled into fists as she squeezed, trying to suppress the tears threatening to spill. Eventually, she just couldn't hold it back anymore. She let out a whale she was sure the other's heard, but she couldn't care at the moment. She brought her hands to her forehead as she rocked herself back and forth, crying for her family that had left her. She had them for centuries, and then they all left her.
She was starting to forget Andy's smile. It was rare. She couldn't picture it as easily anymore. Quynh has an infectious laugh she hadn't heard in nearly four centuries. Nicky hadn't told her she looked beautiful in nearly a decade.
Joe would never braid her hair again. She hadn't seen his face or felt his warm arms comfort her in six years now.
She wouldn't sit in a chair with him behind her, running his fingers along her head, talking and making her laugh during those long hours sitting in place until her back started to ache.
She wrapped her arms around her abdomen, crushing in on herself as if holding herself tighter would somehow replicate the way Joe would when she had breakdowns like this. She needed him right now. He'd hug her, maybe kiss her head, make it feel as if the feeling wasn't forever. She'd lost her best friend.
Nile unwrapped herself and placed her hands on either side of the bed when she tried to calm down. She felt something stiff brush her fingertips. She looked and saw the sketchbook. It was brown and worn, wasn't very large, maybe one foot by six inches.
She hadn't looked inside one of Joe's sketchbooks in maybe a decade. They were never hers to look in, only ever when Joe shared. They were everywhere in their safehouses and secret stashes around the world, Nile has just never looked for them. Leave it to Noa to find one in the Malta safehouse.
Nile picked it up with nimble fingers, afraid she'd somehow break it by opening it up. When she opened the page, she could have cried all over again. It was a drawing of Andy. Not the Andy Nile knew, but a younger Andy. Her hair was up and she was wearing a dress from the nineteenth century. Her smile was small, but it was there. The dress details were nothing compared to her face, youthful yet tired, as she had always been. Nile ran over the picture with her hand. The sketchbook wasn't old, so Joe must have drawn this from memory. Nile slowly turned the next page. It was closer to today, but not by much. It was of Nile herself. She was wearing a large hat, one that covered her whole head. The date on the bottom left corner said June 27th, 2148, Spain.
Nile covered her mouth. She was barely a hundred and fifty in that drawing. So young.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Nile didn't bother turning her head. She knew it was Noa. Noa always knocked quietly.
"Come in," she said. The door creaked open. Noa stood there, fiddling with her hands. Nicky used to do that.
"I'm so sorry, Nile," she said immediately. "I didn't-I was confused and that picture is everywhere in that sketch book, I just…"
Noa trailed off, not knowing what to say. Nile couldn't blame her. She remembered back when Andy took five minutes to answer her question only with an extremely cryptic answer. Noa had more patience than Nile ever did.
"It's fine." Nile wiped her nose with her hand, then patted the bed next to her. "Come here."
Noa raised her eyebrows a bit before walking over nervously. She sat slowly on the bed.
"This book belonged to the last one of us who died," Nile said, tracing the spine of the now-closed sketchbook with her finger. "He was an incredible artist. He died around five years before I found you."
Noa looked at Nile, clearly shocked by the sudden openness to talk about it. Nile surprised herself.
"What was his name?"
Nile smiled. "His name was Joe."
Nile opened the sketchbook to the same page Noa had opened when she found the book. The one of Nicky. "This is Nicky. Him and Joe were together for nearly two thousand years."
Noa scoffed in awe. "Two thousand years. Who was first?"
"They died and were born again together," said someone behind Nile. Both women turned to find Sue. "Like destiny," she recited.
Nile knew Nicky would be happy knowing their story would not die with them. Xolo appeared behind Sue, followed by Booker. Nile gestured for them to come in. Xolo sat on the other side of Nile. Sue stood with her arms crossed next to where Noa sat. Booker simply leaned on the wall; he'd seen Joe's drawing a thousand times, he'd let the newbies have a look.
"In the eight hundred years I knew Nicky and Joe, they never once got sick of each other." Nile turned to another page. It was Nicky again, but it was his bareback, his head looking at something in the distance so you could see his nose and jaw. His hair was as it was when Nile first met them.
"He was kind, and he had more love for humanity than anyone I've ever met." Nile looked up at Booker, who was smiling at the image in front of him.
"Does that say 2034?" asked Noa, exasperated. Nile laughed.
"Do you want to know when I was born?" Nile asked. At this, Xolo also perked up. She had yet to tell them. "1994."
Noa's face fell. "I knew you were old, but that's a whole different millennium."
"I am a millennial," Nile said.
"A what?" asked Xolo.
"Nothing."
Nile turned the page again. This time it was a drawing of Quynh. She was leaning into Andy, and Andy looked like she was sleeping against a wall. Joe must have drawn this when she wasn't looking. The date said October 26th, 2421.
"Who are they?" This time it was Xolo who asked. Nile suddenly remembered; none of them besides Booker and herself had met them.
"Andromache and Quynh."
"That's them?" asked Xolo, perking up. "She's beautiful," he said, staring at Quynh. Booker snorted.
"Andy would strangle you from the grave if she knew you were making googly eyes at her wife."
Xolo blushed a little, embarrassed, and averted his eyes from the image. Nile chuckled and shook her head at Booker as he sent her a wink. Andy's ghost would thank him.
"They were together too, right?" asked Sue. "Nicky told me stories about them." Sue smiled a little sadly at the memory. Nile nodded.
"They're story is a little different from Nicky and Joe's though."
"How so?" this time it was Noa who asked. Nile looked at Booker for some help.
"That, my dear," he started, "is a long story for another day."
Noa rolled her eyes playfully at Booker before turning her attention back to Nile. If Nile saw herself right now, she'd laugh; she felt old, telling stories to people much younger than her as they huddled around.
She turned the page again, and Nile sucked in a sharp breath.
It was her. Her hair was in cornrows, her face extremely young, and she was wearing an American Marine uniform from her time. The only date was the year 2019, followed by, in small handwriting, Nile Is Born.
"Nile…" It was Sue who pulled her out of her trance. Nile realized she was staring.
"This is...sorry...This must have been from the day I died."
No one said a word. Nile didn't bother looking at them to see what they were silently saying. All she could do was stare. She would have been 26.
"How did you die?" It was Noa who asked. Everyone else already knew.
"I was killed-in-action." She looked at Noa. "Like you were."
Noa stared at Nile, then at the drawing of her. It was drawn a long time ago, that much Nile knew. The lines were soft like the subject was unfamiliar. As Joe knew someone, his line's when drawing them became hardened, growing along with them. That was Joe.
"You're hair," Sue mentioned, pointing at the cornrows. "I haven't seen that style in sixty years."
Nile laughed, touching her hair. It was cut short again, faded near the sides with some curls at the top. She loved the style, but she was starting to miss her braids.
"Joe used to braid my hair." Xolo perked up. Xolo used to watch Joe braid Nile's hair whenever he would. The kid was so mesmerized by it, sometimes staying for the whole thing. At one point, he'd grown his hair out and got Nile and Joe to braid it in ridiculous ways. He was always such a kid.
"He was amazing. He'd sit me down in his room and we'd talk for hours." Nile paused. "I thought one day he'd get bored of it, but he never did."
Noa reached her hand forward towards the sketchbook that remained open on Nile's image. "Can I take a look?"
Nile nodded, handing over the sketchbook to Noa. She took it in her hands carefully, holding it like it was delicate. Nile stood up and went to stand next to Booker from where he leaned on the wall. Xolo took her place and Sue remained standing, looking over Noas shoulder as she flipped through the pages.
Nile's chest felt light all the sudden like a weight had been lifted.
"Hopefully Joe didn't put anything too suggestive in there," Booker whispered, causing Nile to laugh.
"I think he had his own special sketchbook for that," Nile replied. Booker chuckled warmly, eyes remaining on the three younger immortals. Xolo kept pointing and touching the book, Noa smacking his hand whenever he did. "Thank you."
Booker looked down at Nile. "For what?"
Nile looked up at him. "For everything." Booker smiled.
"Um, Nile." Noa had stood up and walked towards Nile. She was holding the sketchbook open to a page as she held it against her chest. She looked so young in the moment. "Do you think you could do this to my hair?"
Noa turned the sketchbook over to a picture of Quynh. It was just her, the image similar to that of Nicky earlier where her back was shown and only a brief side profile of her face. Her hair had a single braid in it, however. Parts of her hair were falling in the front of her face and the beautiful, loose french braid fell down the back of her neck. There was a flower in her hair.
Nile stared fondly at the image. She'd done that very braid. She always added flowers when she could. She used to stick them in Joe's curly hair when he was asleep and she was bored.
"Sit down," Nile said. She moved to sit down on the bed, gesturing to the floor in front of her. Noa smiled and pushed the sketchbook into Booker's arms as she moved to sit. Once she was sitting down, Nile hesitated a moment before taking her long, brown, thick hair in her hands and slowly creating three sections. It was like riding a bicycle.
Xolo has jumped on the bed behind Nile, watching her with great interest. Sue took the sketchbook away from Booker, sitting across from Noa cross-legged. Booker pulled up a chair from the desk in the room next to her, looking at the sketchbook over her shoulder.
As Nile pulled Noa's hair back, running her fingers and grabbing her hair, she noticed her eyes were closed as she looked up. She looked relaxed, more relaxed than Nile has ever seen her. It made Nile happy.
The next thirty minutes were filled with stories Booker told as Sue flipped through the sketchbook. Stories about Nicky and the reason for his great distaste of 2070's cars, or stories about Quynh and her habit of picking up stray dogs, explaining the abundance of dog drawings in the sketchbook. Nile even shared stories about Booker, embarrassing ones that had the whole room laughing, causing Nile to mess up on Noa's hair when she laughed too hard.
Even after Nile was done, the five immortals continued to talk and laugh. Nile hadn't had the chance to in a long time. There were no weapons, or grenades, or reminders of her long, violent life in this place. She just had her family.
No wonder they loved Malta so much.