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Ezekiel Jones was screwed.

He was standing inside a burning building, face to face with a man he had been told was called Eliot Spencer. He’d been sent in to rescue him from the aforementioned burning building. And after using his extinguisher and rappelling down the elevator shaft, he’d located the man, this apparent ‘Eliot Spencer’. But the man standing in front of him was a carbon copy of Jacob Stone. Identical in every aspect, there was no way it wasn’t him. And Jones was currently wearing a jacket with the name ‘Han’ stitched onto the back.

“Stone.” It was the only thing he could think of. His old Australian accent and all. The only word that could leave his mouth. He’d told his fellow Librarians that he was definitely coming back. And fucking hell that had been ages ago. Exactly 925 days ago. Not that he was keeping track, of course.

“What did you just call me?” That gave him pause. Why would he ask that? But he decided he’d just play along for now. Even if magic was involved here they should really know the name of the person they’re imitating. Rather than cause problems he’d rather just enter this guy’s reality for the time being. Especially since he didn’t really want to get attacked today.

“Sorry, it’s Spencer, right? Eliot Spencer? Your friends told us you were down here.”

“Us?” Ezekiel watched Eliot’s eyes dart behind him, as if he was expecting more people to show up. Almost as if he was mentally preparing for something, though Zeke couldn’t figure out what. But the only other crew member they had to spare was waiting for him to give the okay to pull them up, so it was just him.

Thank all the gods.

“They told my Captain who told me and James to come get you. He’s waiting for me to give the queue to pull us up.” Before he could get any farther there was a noise that could only be an explosion from one of the upper floors. And a loud rumbling that was definitely getting louder. He tilted his head and listened for a moment before darting forward at Eliot and shoving him away from an unseen danger.

And was immediately knocked to the ground by debris crashing through the ceiling.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Han! Do you copy!?”

His head was pounding in his helmet, but over the loud beeping of his PASS device, he could make out his Captain calling for him through his walkie. He groaned, and tried to move his arm to get to the the walkie but realized he was stuck. Thankfully, he’d been able to trigger his PASS device just enough to get it to shut up. And now he could hear movement around him, even if he was currently unable to see anyone. Resigning himself to his current situation was frustrating but there was nothing he could do but wait. Hopefully someone was trying to free him.

He wasn’t entirely sure how long it had been, but suddenly the darkness was replaced with a face. And it wasn’t James. Or his Captain. Or anyone from the 133, for that matter. It was the person he’d been tasked with rescuing. And he couldn’t help but notice that there was a hint of concern in the look he was getting from him. He wanted so badly for this to be his Stone but he was almost certain it wasn’t.

“You alright?” He tried to answer and all that came out was a cough. After clearing the dust from his throat as best he could, he tried again. This time with a little more success.

“Think so.”

“Firefighter Han, do you copy?” Eliot gestured to his walkie, and Ezekiel nodded. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was offering to help him out. Once Eliot had triggered the Walkie near his neck he started speaking.

“Copy. I’m here, guys.” He nodded and Eliot let go of the device.

“We’re coming for you, don’t worry.” He looked at Eliot and before he could ask, Eliot was pressing the button again.

“Wasn’t worried. How’s it looking?”

“Get comfortable if you can, but we’re doing our best.” He sighed, and nodded to himself. He figured it wouldn’t be quick, but it seemed his unwitting companion was getting back to work freeing him from the pile of rubble. And he wasn’t about to complain, he was clearly planning on finishing the job he started. And he didn’t have to start in the first place, so who was he to try and stop him now?

As he watched in silence, he was wondering if this was truly someone else. Someone named Eliot Spencer. It couldn’t be Stone, he hadn’t completely ruled out magical involvement, but it just seemed like this was a person. A person who definitely reminded him of his (former?) coworker, but was definitely not him.

“How’d you know my name?” This made him stop running through the options of who Eliot was real quick. He furrowed his eyebrows, extremely confused at what he’d just been asked. Because this wasn’t Jacob Stone, it couldn’t be Jacob Stone. Jacob Stone would surely have recognized his face, even behind the oxygen mask. Unless he wouldn’t? The idea of which hurt more than he would care to admit.

“What?”

“You called me Stone. No one’s used that name for me in years. How’d you know it?” He wasn’t expecting that. What were the odds? What were the odds that this man had the same last name as his coworker? What were the odds that they would look identical? This was too weird. Too disturbing. He used to deal with magic on the regular and he was still not prepared for this.

“I didn’t. Know that was your name I mean.”

“So why’d ya call me Stone?” Ezekiel had no idea what to say. It felt wrong to talk about Jacob and Cassandra. He’d basically abandoned them for LA, and he had no idea how to go back after this long. How could he talk about them like they were still friends? Especially after what he and Cassandra had talked about before he left? He’d basically admitted… It was hard to even think about. Because it was quite possibly his current biggest regret.

“You look like someone I… Knew.” That hurt a lot more than he ever thought it would. But it felt awful using the past tense. Like he was trying to move on from that part of his life and he definitely wasn’t. He just… Screwed up. And wasn’t sure if there was anything he could do to fix it at this point. And while he wasn’t one to run away, not like this anyway, he wasn’t sure if he could handle to looks on their faces when they realized he’d been lying to them about something as big as this.

“And his name is Stone?”

“Yeah.” Eliot looked at him, he could tell the man was expecting more. But even if he tried… He could feel the words catching in his throat. He just couldn’t do it, it just felt wrong. Eliot shook his head, clearly realizing he wasn’t getting more of an answer than that, and refocused his energies back to the physical labor he was doing.

“And I thought I didn’t talk much.” He watched Eliot work in silence until he’d lifted enough of the rubble for Ezekiel to get free. Eliot helped him over to the wall and leaned him against it. “Anything broken?” He took stock of himself. Not that he could tell, but he was still in shock. If Howie was here they’d know more, but for now he could just do his best.

“Don’t think so. I just hope I don’t have any more brain damage.” He said it without thinking. That wasn’t exactly a comforting sentence, and he was supposed to be helping Eliot. Not the other way around. But Eliot didn’t look worried. At least not in the sense that he didn’t trust Ezekiel. But there was something there, and Ezekiel just kept seeing Jake and damnit that wasn’t helping matters.

“Any chance your Stone’s first name is Jacob?” He wasn’t expecting that. He really wasn’t expecting that. He just nodded, pure shock leaving him speechless. Because this wasn’t magic, this was a secret almost akin to his own. And that was going to take a minute to process. Eliot nodded and reached under his shirt, pulling out a piece of black crystal. A piece of crystal almost identical, but not quite, to one he’d seen once before. Around Jacob Stone’s neck.

“You have one too…” Eliot looked at Ezekiel, his brows furrowed for a moment. The best he could gather, Eliot must be trying to figure out how to respond. Not that he could figure out what part was more confusing. Him revealing information that could potentially be helpful, or the fact that Jake had a specific necklace.

“He still wears his?” That pretty much sealed the deal. The two had to be related, twins if he was guessing.

“I don’t really know I haven’t seen him in over a year… Wait… Are you telling me you and Jake are… Brothers?” Eliot just nodded. He supposed it did seem pretty stupid, the two were literally identical but he genuinely had no idea how he had no idea. He’d met their father for fuck’s sake, no one mentioned this guy at all! It just didn’t make any sense, and his head was still not doing super hot since being buried by rubble, so this was just awful. “Do me a favor? Don’t tell him you met me?”

“Why not?”

“He wouldn’t know who you’re talking about. He doesn’t know Albert Han.” Eliot raised an eyebrow and Zeke just sighed. He wasn’t entirely sure he could explain his next decision, best he could gather was that this guy could keep his secret. Not that he had a rational reason to believe it. “He knows…” He slipped into his Australian accent as he admitted his other identity to him. “Ezekiel Jones.” He wasn’t entirely sure what the reaction would be, but it wasn’t what he got.

Eliot looked… Shocked. Well and truly shocked. And almost… Excited? He was reminded of when they first met Santa Claus, the look on Eliot’s face was pretty similar to the one he’d seen on Jake’s. Disbelief with a side of pure excitement.

“You’re… Ezekiel Jones. Dude, Parker is going to lose her shit.” He tipped his head back and laughed for a minute before composing himself. He shook his head for a moment, pushed his hair back, and turned to Zeke. He held out his hand for a handshake and Zeke returned the action. “Eliot Spencer Stone. Though legally I dropped Stone. I’m Jake’s twin brother.”

“Ezekiel Jones. Jacob Stone’s…” He trailed off, truly not sure what to say. And realizing it probably brought more questions than answers. The long awkward silence was saying more than anything else he could say, so he just had to break it before he made it worse. “It’s a long story.”

“Well apparently we’ve got time.” Eliot nodded at the walkie that had been used to inform them of the likelihood of a long wait. Maybe it was the amount of time he’d had to bury Ezekiel Jones; maybe it was because he almost felt like he was talking to Jake even though he knew he wasn’t; he couldn’t be certain. But he felt comfortable enough to tell him at least enough to understand.

“Your brother and I were… Recruited by the Library. It’s hard to explain but basically we did research and retrieved artifacts for… Academic purposes. Your brother is probably still doing it but I took a break to take care of some family stuff and kind of ended up… Stuck. I think the car accident was the beginning of the end. I couldn’t really tell anyone that my memories of people they’d never heard of were choppy and… Well… By the time I realized how long it had been…” He just sort of shrugged as if it was something he’d roughly come to terms with. But at the same time he turned his head away because he did not want to risk Eliot seeing him cry over this. He’d ask questions that Zeke just wasn’t prepared to answer. Especially not to Jake’s estranged brother.

“You’re worried that they’re, what, mad at you? Pretty sure if you inform them of the accident they’ll forgive you.”

“It’s not just that. I never intended to get so involved in my life as Albert Han. Technically speaking this is the ‘real me’. And the more I’ve been here the more I realized I don’t want two separate lives but then I got in that damn car accident… I probably could have gotten away with merging my lives sooner but it’s way too late now.” He sighed, wishing he could just say everything but… He couldn’t.

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“Trust me, I do.” The sound of tools hitting rocks broke the silence that followed his statement, and Zeke was grateful. He looked over at Eliot who appeared to be adjusting himself back to a stiffer version of himself. Every muscle suddenly seemed tenser, as if he was immediately on guard. A stark difference from what he just was. But, as Zeke realized, much closer to what he was before the collapse. He hadn’t noticed before but it was suddenly shockingly obvious. It was almost like he was… A different man.

And somehow, in that moment, Zeke just knew all of his secrets were safe.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He’d been in the hospital all of about 4 hours and he was already going stir crazy.

After his last stay he was not thrilled at the idea of even one night in a hospital. It had been a long, slow recovery last time and he was not prepared for another experience like that one. Except this time he could remember all of the magical artifacts at the library that could help him that he had no access to. Artifacts that could get him back to normal much faster than this. All out of reach because he was too scared to confront what was coming if he saw them again. 

For him all of the things he’d been processing took a pause because he couldn’t really remember them. It had been months before he’d remembered enough to even try to reach out and get more answers. But by then he’d also remembered exactly how long it had been since he spoke to them, and realized it had been a criminally long time. For Jake and Cassandra he’d basically promised he’d come back with an answer to a very important question and then he vanished. His answer probably didn’t even match theirs anymore.

And who in the fuck could he ever tell about that?

He was literally stuck, alone with his thoughts. And it was getting really fucking exhausting having to confront it all like that and now that he’d started he couldn’t stop. And even worse was that he’d been given the all clear to sleep. An all clear that he couldn’t even take advantage of because it had been a hell of a lot to deal with and he’d been bottling it for longer than he could really remember.

And he brought it all back because Stone’s twin brother had the audacity to show up and make his life difficult simply by existing.

He heard a knock at his door and pulled the pillow off of his face. It wasn’t doing much anyway, though the pressure felt really nice. And, of course, he was staring into the face of Jacob Stone.

Except no, this was Eliot. The clothes were the same. And he had that longer hair like before. And he was holding Zeke’s phone, which was buzzing. He squinted, trying to figure out who was calling him. He figured it was someone from the 118, so he was more than surprised to see Cassie’s face on his screen. He couldn’t remember the last time her contact photo had been on his screen, but there it was in full color.

“You want me to-“

“No!” He didn’t mean to yell it that loud, really. But the look on Eliot’s face showed that the volume probably didn’t match the situation unfolding in front of him. At least, not with the amount of knowledge Eliot had. Zeke flopped back down on the bed, his head pounding from the combination of stress and exhaustion.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“I’m not-“

“Don’t lie to me. Look, I haven’t spoken to Jake in years and there’s a reason for that. I’m not jeopardizing that over something like this. Especially when I don’t even know the whole story.”

“So you’re saying there’s a chance you would if you know the whole story.” That wasn’t a question.

“Considering his life is in danger if certain people know we’re related, it’d have to be pretty serious.” He couldn’t imagine there would be anything he could say that would be worth risking Jake’s life. But at the same time was it fair to reveal that kind of information about Jake’s personal life with someone Jake wouldn’t even talk about? It felt about 5,000 kinds of wrong.

“How many times has she called?”

“Cassandra? About twelve. My brother? About the same.”

“Damnit.”

“What?” He realized the phone wasn’t ringing anymore. He grabbed it from Eliot and checked the call logs. There was a pattern. And he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. They hadn’t called him once since he’d left. And now they’re in the double digits? This was bad. This was really bad.

“You need to leave. Now.” He wanted to get up and look, do something but his IV kept him pretty well attached without the rolling attachment. And since he was a fall risk (per the bold letters on his bracelet) they hadn’t given him one.

“What?”

“If they came in through a door far enough away… What did they see?” He knew it had to have been the Clippings Book but what had it shown them? They had to have seen something if they were going to come here looking for him. Why else would they after all this time?

“At the risk of sounding like a damn broken record, what the hell are you going on about?” He turned his head, seeing a rather frustrated looking Eliot glaring at him.

“Your brother. Is on. His way.” That shut him up. He immediately ran towards the door but as soon as he got to the door and turned his head he groaned, and yanked his head back into the room.

“We’re too late.” Eliot squeezed his eyes shut as he stepped into the room. Zeke could tell he was trying to figure something out but wasn’t sure what was running through his head.

“I’m sorry-“

“This isn’t your fault. It’s mine.” Cassie walked through the door at that moment, followed closely by Jake.

“Hiya, we were hoping to talk to Albert Ha-“ Cassie stopped the moment everything in front of her processed completely. Zeke watched as the cogs turned and clicked as she spoke. He realized missed being able to watch her think things through with her hallucinations, which is, admittedly was not a thought he’d ever had before; and didn’t really sound all that great even with context.

“Eliot.” Jake’s voice broke the silence that followed their entrance, and it sounded tense. He looked as though he wanted to push past Cassandra and just take out every ounce of aggression that he had; but was, impressively, not doing that. Instead he turned to Zeke, not that the look changed much when his gaze changed subjects. He still seemed pissed, but there was something different about it. A hurt that seemed… Fresher. “Zeke.” His name sounded like a curse word coming out of his mouth like that.

“Hey guys… I’ve- ah… Been meaning to call-“

“Shut up.” He did. “You disappeared, went no contact, for over two years and that’s the first thing you have to say to us?” He looked as though he was using quite a bit of restraint to keep himself from exploding at him. There was a part of him that wondered what made him the first choice for him to yell at but Zeke knew, no matter how much he didn’t want to admit it. He knew why Jake was yelling at him first.

He’d had time to let the hate for his brother simmer. The hate he had for Zeke right now? It was recent. The knife was still in the wound and Zeke had just given it a sharp twist. He knew because that same knife was twisting in his stomach. But that didn’t matter right now. It wasn’t allowed to.

It was his fault, after all.

“I didn’t mean to-“

“You sure? You sure you weren’t just lying to get away from us? Because you got your answer in a week and didn’t even have the decency to respond.” Damn, he’d forgotten about that. Her didn’t even have a good reason for that one, being temporarily alienated by his brother wasn’t exactly the best excuse. He didn’t even know what to say because he was correct.

He’d screwed up. And he didn’t know what to do, how to respond. And he just… Shut off. Every ounce of emotion became tightly wound, and he was trying to crush it more. But he knew it wouldn’t last long, couldn’t last long. He couldn’t control it, it just happened. And he wasn’t looking forward to the explosion.

“You showed up here. You found me. Why?” His voice had turned cold. Emotion turned off. It was too much and he couldn’t think anymore; could hardly hear over the pounding in his chest going straight to his ears. It was all he could do to hold it together. But, thankfully, it seemed no one had noticed. Until the pounding in his chest was suddenly coinciding with a loud beeping noise. And he knew the explosion was coming.

And then everything went black.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“So is that an interrogation tactic or-“

“Shut up.” They’d been moved to the waiting area by the hospital staff and Cassie and Eliot were both looking at him with some kind of look. For Cassie, she was mostly mad that he’d gotten them kicked out of the room and caused the panic attack in the first place. For Eliot, he looked more amused than anything else. Like he thought the whole situation was entertaining.

“Don’t think I will.”

“Don’t talk like you’re off the hook.”

“Never said I was. Should give him a chance though.” That made Jake pause. He wasn’t sure why Eliot would be worried about that.

“You have an opinion?”

“I do.”

“Talk.”

“Not my story to tell. You should hear it from him. Plus, you’ll probably get more than I got. Seems like there was something beneath the surface layer, if you catch my drift.” Jake raised an eyebrow before realizing what Eliot was saying. His eyes widened as the truth of that sank in, and Eliot started laughing. But it wasn’t malicious, he still seemed truly entertained by the whole thing.

“What’s so funny?”

“You couldn’t keep a secret from me if you tried until about high school. I’ve known your preferences since we were like 13.” That made Jake pause for a moment. He really wanted to be mad, but it seemed like Eliot was at least willing to behave like his brother in this moment, even if Jake knew this wouldn’t last. He’d abandon him again, just like before. “You should meet my partners some time.”

“Did you just say partners?” Jake and Eliot turned to Cassandra, neither one of them expecting her to join in their conversation. Not that they minded, they were more shocked than anything else. Jake was mostly trying to figure out if he was serious or not. Because that would mean he would be intending to stay in contact and Jake was pretty convinced he wasn’t going to.

“I did. I have two.” Jake and Cassie shared a look for moment, almost as if this was all meant to be. Granted, with their experience with the world, it probably was. Jake wasn’t expecting this at all. This was the most personal conversation he’d had with his brother in years. Even before Eliot changed his number, Jake had been distant with him. Something they’d long since agreed not to do. Though he’d been suspecting that Eliot may have been breaking that agreement too.

At least deciding his brother was probably dead had made the whole Library secret easier to keep.

“So you’re dating two people at once or…” Jake already knew where Cassandra was going with this question. She wanted to know if he was just dating two different people or if it was a group of three like they’d been trying to do back before they had been ghosted by Zeke. He had to admit her inquisitiveness was adorable. And while he was curious too, he wasn’t entirely sure he would have just asked.

“You could say we’re all with each other.”

Well that answered that question.

“And it’s going well?” Eliot raised an eyebrow at her.

“Nope. Total disaster. Which is exactly why I think Jake should meet them.” The sarcasm in his voice was obvious. Cassandra looked a little grumpy at the use of it, but didn’t say anything. She was pretty used to this kind of behavior from Jake, now she was just getting it doubled. “Why do you ask?” He watched Cassandra falter, as if she wasn’t sure if she should say anything or not. But before she could respond they heard a familiar name from someone who had just walked in.

“Hi, I’m here to see Albert Han.”

“No visitors right now for him, unfortunately, but if you want to have a seat you can wait.” She looked confused, and slightly concerned. And she didn’t move from where she was standing.

“Why no visitors?”

“Nothing critical, but the doctors are with him now. We’ll let you know when he’s allowed visitors again.”

“Thank you.” The group watched as this unknown woman, with a young child with her, sat down not too far from them. Jake wasn’t sure if they should say anything, this was someone who knew Albert Han. She probably didn’t know Ezekiel Jones. And how were they supposed to start that conversation?

“It’s… No reason.” Cassie seemed to go with the ‘pretend she wasn’t there’ route for now, and had returned to their previous conversation. And with this woman nearby, Jake wasn’t sure Eliot would press further. It wasn’t really like him to let other people in on these types of things, especially not someone who they might actually need to know later.

Eliot’s silence indicated that he was right. And Jake decided he would break it.

“Why are you here, anyway?”

“Working a job. Got stuck in the basement, he kept me from gettin’ crushed. We were stuck down there for a minute, plus he’d called me ‘Stone’ earlier so imagine my surprise-“ Jake cut him off.

“He called you Stone?”

“We’re identical. Yet you seem surprised.” He heard a small snort-like laugh from the woman waiting for Zeke. Albert. But he had to admit, it was a pretty ridiculous statement. Especially since what he wanted to say was ‘what did he look like when he thought you were me?’ “Anyway he caught me up. At least the best he could. Seemed pretty bent outta shape if you ask me. Like I said, you should give him a chance. ‘Specially since something brought you here. Care to share?”

“It’s a work thing.”

“What do library artifacts have to do with this?” He figured out pretty quick that Zeke had told him a bare bones explanation of their job. Pretty much the one they gave anyone who pressed for more than a minute. It typically made them stop talking pretty quick, usually because they assumed its was boring. Lots of dust typically comes to mind.

“That’s what we’re going to find out. After we talk to him.”

“After you give the guy a panic attack you mean?”

“That was an accident!”

“Cuz your feelings got in the way.” He barely whispered it. Loud enough for his brother to hear, and maybe Cassandra if she was paying attention. But for certain not the woman who was listening in on the louder parts of the conversation. Jake could feel his face getting warm. Eliot wasn’t wrong, and he wasn’t an idiot either. He’d figured it out, and probably would have said something a little louder and more obvious if it weren’t for the added person in the room.

He turned to Cassandra, and could tell her cheeks were tinged pink from hearing the comment. But before anyone could say anything else, a medical professional came through the doors.

“For Albert Han?” They all looked up. “He’s awake, let’s try to keep the environment a little more calm this time around?” Jake looked down, grumbling to himself. “I believe you all know the way?” They nodded and started down the hallway in silence for a moment. He figured the doctor probably figured the strange woman would follow them. Luckily, she did. But it also seemed like she wasn’t going to let them off without finding out how they knew Albert Han.

“So… How do you know Albert?”

“Oh we know him from… Before…” Jake trailed off, not entirely sure what Zeke had told the people here. Hell, he was wondering the same thing about her. Albert knew a woman with a baby. Who was she?

“So… South Korea?” Well, shit. That wasn’t exactly as plausible as he’d hoped for. But he nodded. 

“We… Worked together. In a sense.” Cassandra walked a few steps ahead and made it to the room, hoping to save them from trying to explain themselves. They hadn’t walked themselves into an easy one after all. And the whole ‘We’re the Librarians’ never worked as well for them as it did for Flynn. He watched her knock on the door and open it a little bit.

“Hey, doing better?”

“Just peachy, really love getting my arse verbally handed to me, thanks for asking.” Jake’s eyes widened as he realized that was his heavy Australian accent. He had no idea that someone here for Albert Han would be coming down the hall. Cassandra turned her head and watched as the woman paused, brow furrowed. Jake decided he had to try and do something.

“What was your name again?”

“Ah- Maddie.”

“Well, Maddie it’s lovely to make your acquaintance.” His volume was only slightly louder than normal, just enough to make himself heard by Zeke. Though he definitely turned on the charm just a tad, so he could get her through the door. And it worked. Not that she was letting him iff the hook just like that.

“Um, Albert, since when do you use an Australian accent?”

“I don’t-“

“Actually hold that thought. And your niece.” And before anyone could say anything further she plopped the little girl into Ezekiel’s lap before heading into the bathroom attached to his room.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Zeke raised an eyebrow before looking down at Jee. He then looked up at Cassie, Jake, and Eliot. This was a predicament that he really wasn’t expecting. But before he could really stop to think about it Jee Yun started fussing in his arms. And as Uncle Albert he couldn’t let that continue to happen.

“Aw, no, Jee, don’t cry.” He bounced her lightly. “Uncle Albert’s got ya.” He lifted her up and blew a raspberry on her stomach. It didn’t take much for him to get into ‘Uncle Albert’ mode. Jee stopped fussing the moment he started with playing with her, so he just tried to pretend he wasn’t sitting in front of two people who had never seen this side of him before. And one he’d just met. It made it easier to just play with his niece.

“Thank you.” Maddie had come back in, and grabbed Jee back from Zeke. “Now, back to this voice of yours.” Yeah he wasn’t getting out of this one that easy. He sighed, just continuing with his accent. He preferred it anyway. He hated pretending he hadn’t built so much of his life in Australia.

“It’s… Well you see…” He took a breath. He’d meant to do this ages ago, and he was pretty much stuck in this situation right now. If he couldn’t unring the bell he was going to have to open the door. No matter what that really meant. Especially since he could be certain they were only going to have so long before the entire 118 was going to come crashing through those doors and he was definitely going to need more people on his side of the fence for that conversation. “I wasn’t… Entirely honest. When I got here.”

“Okay?” Maddie was clearly not surprised, and had this look that said ‘keep going before I force it out of you’.

“That’s Cassandra Cillian, and the short haired cowboy is Jacob Stone. The long haired one is Eliot Spencer. Met and saved his arse in the basement at the fire. And was today years old when I found out those two were twins. And that he exists.” Maddie nodded for a moment,  before giving a response that was clearly her reacting to his voice. He sounded frustrated at not knowing and she had the perfect response for it.

Unfortunately.

“So they know about Howie?” He shook his head, knowing he’d set himself up for that call out.

“Not so much.”

“Well clearly you two are vastly different people in every aspect.”

“Oh, shut up, Maddie.” He got a glare for that one, but he puffed his chest slightly in response. “You’re not nearly as scary when you’re not pregnant.” That got him an entirely different look. One he’d seen cripple the likes of Evan Buckley. One that shut him up real quick.

“You want to try me?” He shook his head. “I didn’t think so.” He heard a snort come from Cassandra and when he turned his head he realized that both Eliot and Jake had turned beet red. Clearly trying not to laugh at what was going on. Somewhat grateful that the whole thing had happened fast enough to brush past Howie for now. He turned back to Maddie who was taking in the, admittedly quite entertaining, sight with a look of shock and mild bemusement.

“Anyway… We worked for the Metropolitan Library together. The one in New York. Although we mostly worked out of the annex in Oregon-“ Maddie interrupted him, granted he was still figuring out how he was going to explain this. He hadn’t practiced in years.

“So you weren’t in Korea?”

“Well I was. I took a break from the Library. Wanted to get the whole ‘Albert Han’ thing situated. Got into a huge fight with Dad. Figured I should at least meet my brother before bouncing. And things didn’t exactly go according to plan but… Well you know that part.” He was fully planning on glossing over the whole ‘Howie hating him’ thing. It wasn’t exactly fond memories.

“We don’t.” He turned to Jake. He’d been so focused on catching Maddie up that he’d actually forgotten that Jake and Cassandra didn’t really know the whole story either. And that they were going to press until they got an answer. And it seemed Maddie was going to be on their side here.

“Might as well share for their sake, right?” He sighed, knowing he wasn’t getting out of this.

“Well with Howie getting all pissed off, I figured I wasn’t really wanted here either. Was mostly just mentally prepping how I’d get back to Oregon when Howie showed up and apologized. Plus then there was that whole thing with Veronica, then you got pregnant and when Howie moved out for the pandemic it made sense to stick around and help out since I wasn’t working and you were. That and him taking forever to move back in with you.” That caused the two of them to laugh for a moment.

“Still doesn’t really explain why you stayed gone for so long.” He knew Cassie was right, this was taking him a while. But he was having a hard time getting to that point. Because he knew what it entailed. And he didn’t like even trying to remember. The joys of brain damage. It made that whole section of his life difficult to remember and process.

“Well that pretty much… Started the night Jee was born.” That made Maddie pause. Eliot raised an eyebrow. But it was Maddie who asked the question.

“The night of the accident?”

“Accident?” Zeke had actually forgotten that Jake and Cassie didn’t know about the accident. Mostly in the sense that he forgot they might not enjoy hearing him so casually mention the more… Critical details of said accident. He’d forgotten that even after all this time they might still actually give a shit about what happens to him. Or in this case what happened to him he supposed.

“Drunk driver went the wrong way on the highway. I was near the beginning of the pileup. They didn’t find me for a while. I was in a coma for… A few days at least.” He turned to Maddie for clarification. Especially since this was the part of the story he was still kind of fuzzy on. At least when it came to certain details.

“Yeah, I think it was 3 or 4. Chim was worried sick about you.”

“Yeah I imagine him surviving the rebar through his skull was really a concern about a family curse.” He felt a smack on his arm.

“Not funny. It was not a guarantee that you were going to live. Especially since we lost you in the ambulance.” Zeke was looking directly at Cassie and Jake when she said that. Partly by accident, and then because he couldn’t look away. Because the looks on their faces were ones he really never wanted to see again. Looks that it seemed Maddie missed, Eliot he couldn’t be sure. He did seem to be keeping an eye on Jake so perhaps he figured it out.

When Maddie mentioned him potentially not surviving he swore he could almost see the pain in Cassie and Jake’s eyes. And when she mentioned him dying in the ambulance he swore their hearts broke. He’d become quite used to the sounds of hospital equipment and when both their heads tilted slightly to the monitor beeping next to him he knew what was running through their heads. They were imagining that machine flatlining. They were imagining him dead and them never finding out. Or not finding out in time to properly say goodbye.

Something that he, until very recently, was positive wouldn’t have caused them much pain at all. The looks on their faces suggested that perhaps he wasn’t correct in his assumptions. Because that was pure pain in their eyes. He could tell.

“I know that. But I did live. And suffered through that recovery for months. So much pain and torture.” The look on Jake’s face was almost comical but he decided to put him out of his misery. “Physical Therapy. Severe brain damage. Motor function went to shit for a while after the accident. It was hell as you can imagine.” He was trying so unbelievably hard to make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal. But it was hard to gloss over the basic facts of what happened.

“Severe brain damage?”

“… Yes. You sure you don’t have it too, Stone?” He just kept telling himself to lighten the mood, but it seemed Stone had had quite enough of that.

“Shut up. What did it do to you… Cognitively?” Zeke knew what he was trying to get at. He wanted to know how much damage had been done. He wanted to know exactly how this accident prevented him from reaching out. He wanted to know just how serious this was.

“Well Albert Han was pretty fresh, so that was mostly intact. Came back pretty quick too. You guys… Not so much."

“Not so much?” Zeke shook his head. “Can we get something a little more descriptive?”

“It was… Jumbled. All over the place. Like I knew who you were but I didn’t know why. Or I recognized a place and could picture you guys there but… Didn’t know what we’d been there for. Or who you really were. To me.” The looks on their faces were… Sad. Almost… Remorseful.

“And you say it started then?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Well you got in an accident, sure, but if you hadn’t actually planned on saying anything that wouldn’t’ve made much difference. What was so special about that night?”

“Jee.” Jake raised an eyebrow. “I was going to call. I- I wanted to bring you both here. To meet everyone, and meet Jee Yun. Granted at the time she was ‘to be determined’ Buckley-Han.” He paused and looked at Maddie who simply stuck her tongue out at him. “But I wanted you to come. I mentioned to Howie that I wanted to invite some old friends to come by but I wanted to wait until after she was born. He stopped pressing when I didn’t mention you after the accident. I was just waiting for the right moment and when it finally happened…” He trailed off, realizing he was kind of rambling at this point.

“You didn’t know you had anyone to call.” Jake was balling his hands into fists, squeezing them, then loosening them; almost as if that was the only thing keeping him from exploding right now. Zeke shook his head, watching the fists clench and unclench, wishing more than anything that they were anywhere but here. He’d dropped a lot on them in the last, maybe, ten minutes. Clearly Jake was struggling a bit with some of the information.

Zeke figured he was pissed. He had every right to be. And honestly, Zeke figured he was pissed at him. He’d walked away. Hadn’t said a thing since the night he left. And the only reason they were even talking right now was because the clippings book had outed his secret identity to them. And he wasn’t even entirely sure there was an explanation outside of ‘get the thief’. As much as he knew Jake and Cassie were both just relieved he was alive and (relatively) okay, Jake still had every right to be furious with him. And he figured he might as well give him a chance to do that in his own way without getting stared at by his brother and Zeke’s pseudo sister in law.

“Maddie, give us a minute please.” She left, taking Eliot with her. And as soon as they were gone he turned to Jake. He just wanted it over with so he started, “just hit me already,” and braced for impact. Looking away to avoid seeing the hurt in Jake’s face that was surely going to be there when he landed his hit. But after 30 seconds of nothing he turned slowly toward Cassie and Jake, and was immediately met with someone else’s face pressing against his.

Jacob Stone was kissing him.

After a minute or so the two men separated. Ezekiel was too stunned to speak. He knew Cassandra liked him, and yeah he knew Jacob liked him, but if he was going to predict which one of them would kiss him first he would have said Cassie. He never in a million years would have guessed Jake. But there he was, sitting right in front of him, on his hospital bed, having just kissed him.

“I guess that means your answer hasn’t changed.” Jake looked like he wanted to laugh but apparently opted not to. Not that Zeke really minded all that much. Instead, Zeke got one of those smiles that just made your heart want to melt. And that was almost better than a laugh.

“You’d be guessing correctly.”

“You’re not pissed at me?” Jake shook his head.

“No, I’m pissed at ya.”

“But you… Don’t want to hit me?”

“Why in the hell would I wanna hit ya?” Zeke shrugged before he spoke.

“You looked like you wanted to hit something, I figured it was probably me. Who else would it be?” Jake looked a little surprised, and shook his head. Clearly there was more going on here. Zeke could see pain in his face when he spoke.

“You died, Ezekiel. And the worst part is, neither one of us would’ve ever known.”

“Do you have any idea what that would have done to us?” Cassie interjected. “Finding out however many years later that you were dead?”

“I’m sure the clippings book would have given you my funeral date.” Cassandra glared at him, for the response he assumed. He supposed it was a little too close to the ‘jokes about being fine with being dead’ thing. Apparently it was only allowed when one had a brain tumor that had previously been deemed inoperable. And not when one was technically perfectly healthy, and had almost died in a freak accident.

They didn’t even know about the whole ‘can’t handle PTSD thing’ either.

“Do you think this is funny?”

“No, I’m just saying-“

“I’m just saying that not being there to say goodbye? Would have wrecked us, Ezekiel Jones. Wrecked.” That made him pause. Jake wasn’t disagreeing with her statement either, which meant this was clearly how they both felt. Almost as if they’d worried about the possibility at one point. He hadn’t thought about that.

“To be fair, it’s not like I offed myself. I got in a car accident.” While he realized he probably shouldn’t have said that so offhandedly, he could only hope that Stone would file it into ‘one off’ and not ‘to be discussed’. Otherwise he and Cassandra would probably realize they’d bitten off more than they could chew with him.

“Because that would really make everything all better, wouldn’t it?” Stone’s voice was doing that sarcastic mocking thing he liked to do. And sometimes it was fun; but today, right now, it kind of stung. He tried not to think about it too much and just resigned to glaring at him for a moment before shifting the subject a bit.

“Just to be clear, you don’t want to hit me?” Jake pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

“No, Jones, I don’t want to hit you. I just never, and I mean never, want to be this,” he gestured to the hospital room they were currently in. “Out of the loop from your life ever again. Is that understood?” Zeke nodded, he didn’t really want them that out of loop anymore either so it worked well for him.

“You are not allowed to die without us there to stop it,” Cassandra chimed in. Zeke and Jake both laughed for a moment. Then Jake paused for a moment, seeming to be realizing something.

“Hey, did you only send Maddie out cuz you though I wanted to to hit ya?” Zeke nodded and Jake just cracked a smile. He got up and poked his head out the door and gestured for Maddie and Eliot to come back inside. Meanwhile, Cassie had taken up residence in the bed, laying next to him, and resting her head on Zeke’s chest.

And he didn’t mind one bit.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Maddie knew that when Albert asked her to leave, he meant her and Eliot; there was something in his voice. Something she could see, or rather hear, even if she couldn’t quite pinpoint it. This was something between those three specifically and Albert wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t important. That wasn’t a voice he used often. But she knew it meant business. And, luckily, Eliot didn’t object.

So she was standing there, holding her daughter, and trying to figure out how to talk to a man she barely knew. After finding out that Albert Han was also Ezekiel Jones. Whatever that meant. And that he worked for a library before he came here. And that he spoke with an Australian accent. And that there was something going on with him and his coworkers.

Totally average Tuesday.

She looked at Eliot for a moment, trying to figure out what to say to him. She knew less about him than she knew about most of her callers. And he looked so stiff, but at the same time, the more she looked at him the more she could swear she’d seen him before. She just couldn’t pinpoint why. Or where, for that matter.

“So, I take it you and Jacob don’t talk much?” Eliot just shook his head. It seemed this must be a sore subject, since she didn’t even get a one word answer out of him. Plus, she was pretty familiar with this kind of question. She used to get it when she talked about Buck. And it was always a sore subject back in Hershey. And her responses were usually pretty similar. “How long has it been?”

“Goin’ on at least twelve years at this point. Could be longer though. Lost track after a while, plus I’ve taken a few good hits to the head since I changed my number on him.” Maddie raised an eyebrow at that, but decided not to press further. Not at the moment. She didn’t know him that well.

“So… long time.” Eliot just nodded. “I did something similar, sending my brother away. Wasn’t gone for as long, but I didn’t talk to Evan for a few years.”

“Why’d you do it? Send him away?”

“He was struggling at home. Family drama, lots of secrets unfortunately, but I wanted to give him some freedom. And he’d just crashed his bike, so I gave him my Jeep. He tried to get me to go with him, and I almost did…” Her eyes went to her daughter, so grateful that her life had changed. “But my husband found out.” Eliot’s eyes narrowed, and she had a feeling he was putting the pieces together in his head.

“So you made him leave without you.” It wasn’t a question.

“And it wasn’t necessarily my finest moment. Turns out, I needed my brother all along.” Eliot just shook his head.

“You tryin’ to tell me somethin’?”

“I’m saying that it seems like you’re getting a chance to talk to your brother again. Get to know him again. You planning on taking advantage of that once they’ve gotten their stuff figured out?” Eliot paused. She could see the cogs turning in his head, like he hadn’t really considered the possibility until now. Or he was calculating a very detailed response, one or the other.

“Hadn’t really decided yet.”

“Well you should consider it.” Before they could get any farther, Maddie noticed two people walking very briskly straight towards them. And they definitely weren’t doctors.

“Eliot. Spencer.”

“Shit.”

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Visiting the guy that saved my life. After I got trapped in the basement of a burning building.” There was a bite to his voice, clearly they were connected to why he was in that basement. And clearly that didn’t phase either of them, as they just kept going like he hadn’t just barked at them.

“So why are you standing out here with someone who isn’t him?” She could see him trying to figure out where to start and failing.

“It’s a… Long story.”

“Well you can start talking now.” Maddie decided to interject. Partly to save Eliot from trying to explain that insanity that had been the last thirty minutes or so, and partly because she was tired of being spoken about in the third person like she wasn’t standing right there.

“Or I can start talking now. Hi. I’m Maddie. And I know this is Eliot, who are you?” The guy looked at her, as if the fact that she spoke was unexpected. Though he didn’t seem to be confused for long.

“Alec Hardison. And this is Parker.”

“Just Parker?”

“Just Parker.”

“They’re with me.”

“In more ways than one.” Eliot and Hardison both looked as if they wanted to disappear. Then they had this look on their faces that indicated they had talked about this before. With her. Kind of like when a trained animal does something they aren’t supposed to. But neither said anything in response to that.

Thankfully, Jake stuck his head out of the room and gestured for them to come in. His head ducking back into the room before anyone could actually say anything. Hardison stumbled over his words for a moment before Eliot intervened.

“Just get in there,” followed by a, not as light as one would expect, shove.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“You made friends out there?” Jake asked, watching incredulously as two more people walked in then were expected.

“Actually, these are my partners, The ones I mentioned earlier. Hardison and Parker.” He indicated who was who as he spoke. “And that’s my twin brother Jake, and his coworkers Cassandra and Zeke.” Zeke couldn’t help but notice that Eliot had used his nickname. He’d heard them call Cassandra Cassie, why had he called ‘Ezekiel’, Zeke? But he got his answer pretty quick. “Also known as Ezekiel Jones.”

Parker went white.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“NO!”

“Yes, Parker, inside voice please.”

“He’s” She gestured towards him before turning and looking right at him. “You’re-“ Zeke finished her thought for her.

“Ezekiel Jones.” She turned back to Eliot. It was almost disturbing, it was like she wasn’t sure what to do. It was like his existence here had just… Broken her. And he wasn’t sure why. Although he felt like he should.

“Eliot you were saved by world renowned thief Ezekiel Jones and you didn’t say something sooner?”

“It was like five hours ago, gimme a break.”

“Did she just say world renowned thief?”

“Yes. Please don’t tell Athena.” Maddie raised an eyebrow at him as he pleaded but just nodded in response. “Thank you!” It seemed that Eliot had a question for them as he changed the subject regarding the thief thing. Somewhat.

“You said you were recruited by the Library? What made you all… Recruitable?” That made Zeke pause. He looked over at Jake and then down at Cassie. There was more to unpack there than would really make sense in whatever limited time they had right now. They were going to have to abridge it as best they could. And he had to wonder exactly what his motives were by asking. It could be he was more interested in why Jake worked for the Library.

“Well I was recruited for my ability to steal things.” He was going to leave it there but clearly Cassandra was not going to. And it looked like Jake would have done it if Cassie hadn’t beat him to the punch. Which was pretty cool to see, considering how often Stone complained that Zeke wasn’t worthy of being a Librarian.

“And your knowledge of tech, and ability to hack things. You’re a complete genius when it comes to computers.”

“Says the girl who doesn’t need computers and just does the math in her head.” He was very careful not to mention the hallucinations she had. Now that they were more magic than tumor it was less easy to explain away. She just glared at him, knowing he was trying to minimize himself. Although he could tell she was also surprised, he usually loved bragging after all.

“Whaddaya do Jake, drive the truck?” Eliot had a smile on his face, but Zeke didn’t find it very amusing. And after seeing the look on Cassandra’s face he could tell she was equally as unamused. Jake looked up, and Zeke couldn’t figure out how he felt from his face, which made it harder to figure out how to respond appropriately. Not that it kept him from responding.

“Are you kidding? He’s a genius, and saved our butts on multiple occasions.” He censored himself this time, since Jee was in the room. And she was trying to repeat more and more sounds.

“Smart and he can fight. Literally couldn’t do the job without him.” Cassie tacked on. And Jake was turning an interesting shade of pink.

“Guys, really-“

“No! You’re the only one who spotted the forgery at the museum. And you built the blowtorch out of the picnic lunch.”

“Except we never would have found the crown if you hadn’t figured out the henge shadows,” Jake retorted. But it seemed Eliot had had enough of the three Librarians talking each other up.

“Okay, this is adorable and all, really, but Jake did they just say genius?” He looked over at Stone, remembering that he’d kept his smarts a secret from his family. Though Zeke was pretty sure he’d published at least one paper under his own name, so he wasn’t sure how secretive he was going to try and be with his brother.

“Yeah.” He waited for Jake to say literally anything else, but got nothing. He was wondering if he was trying to keep his smarts under wraps from his brother. Though it seemed Cassie wasn’t sharing that concern.

“He has an IQ of 190. Jake, why are you being so modest? He’s your brother!” Jake shot Cassie a look that reminded her very quickly why that sentence was rather stupid. “Oh…”

“You what?”

“Yeah.”

“190?”

“Yep.”

“You never said anything.”

“I know.”

“Why did you never say anything?” Suddenly Jacob stood up. Quickly, and angrily. Zeke felt himself pushing back, trying to make himself small.

“Well I couldn’t have even if I wanted to! Or did you forget changing your number and disappearing for twelve years?!” That seemed to make Eliot smaller, which Zeke didn’t think was possible. He remembered how sad Eliot had seemed when he realized Zeke had known Jake. And based on the looks on Hardison’s and Parker’s faces, they weren’t pleased with how Jake was treating his brother but also had nothing to say. Which likely meant they, to a point, agreed with Jake.

“I didn’t exactly have a choice.”

“Then you don’t get to act surprised that you don’t know me anymore.” Zeke was expecting even more of an explosion. But instead, Jake had sat back down. He was clearly still pissed, but had calmed down enough to reign himself in. “You made yourself a ghost. So I figured you were dead.” Jake paused for a moment, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to say his next sentence. “You didn’t even say goodbye.”

Oh.

Well this was all making just a bit more sense to Zeke. Why Jake been so hurt by him leaving, but so willing to let him go at the same time. Why he’d been so willing to forgive him. Zeke had done the thing that Eliot didn’t do. He’d promised to return. And Jake was holding him to that promise. Eliot hadn’t done that. Jake had no reason to think Eliot was coming back because he hadn’t said he would when he left.

He’d just left.

“Jake-“

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t apologize.”

“Why not?”

“Because unless you’re plannin’ on changing, there’s no point in apologizin’.”  His voice returning to its heavy accent. And not in any of the reasons that were good. That was his ‘you don’t want to fuck with me’ angry voice. It wasn’t one he used all that often. But it was one that Zeke never enjoyed hearing.

Before Eliot could respond, Hardison’s phone went off. And Parker’s. And his. They collectively checked their phones and sighed.

“Damnit. Work thing. I gotta go.”

“Of course you do.” Eliot seemed to ignore that and looked over at Zeke.

“No dyin’ on me, ‘kay?”

“I’ll do my best.” As the three left the room, Jake’s phone went off. He raised an eyebrow and then Zeke could see a small smile on his face and then Jake shook his head. “What is it?” Jake held out his phone so they could read the screen. It was a text from a number that wasn’t in Jake’s contact list. And it was just one sentence.

Thought you might need this -E

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“So you three are all essentially geniuses?” They all looked at each other and nodded. Maddie turned to him. “And you figured you’d just bury that information when you showed up as well?” He could feel his face getting warm.

“Genius super-hacker didn’t exactly fit with Albert Han. Easier to just… Not advertise it. Learnt from the best, didn’t I?” He looked at Stone, knowing it was kind of a low blow, but he wasn’t lying. He had learned how to hide from people he knew well from watching Jacob Stone after all. His parents hardly counted, in his opinion.

“And you were recruited by the Metropolitan Library because you’re geniuses?”

“Essentially. Sometimes you need a slightly different set of skills to retrieve the items we do.”

“What kinds of items are you retrieving that require math skills that track shadows, and picnic lunch blowtorches?”

“Well that was a crown, Maddie, weren’t you listening?”

“Sorry, you threw about 8 crazy things at me at once, my apologies for not realizing that was the important one.”

“Says the woman whose entire life is one big drama-fest.”

“Well it doesn’t help that my brother and the father of my daughter run into burning buildings for a living. And of course, you decided to join them.”

“I still can’t get over the fact that you’re a damn firefighter.”

“Well, had to do something to fill the Library shaped void in my heart,” he joked. “And in fairness, I had an in. And you and Baird trained me well. Didn’t take much more effort to pass the exam. ‘Specially after the DARPA facility-“ He stopped himself short. Because he just remembered that Jake and Cassandra were both still under the impression that he didn’t remember the DARPA facility. And the looks on their faces very much reminded him of that.

“You told us you didn’t remember what happened at the DARPA facility…”

“Right… Yeah about that…” Cassie sat up, everyone in the room hearing his heart rate spike as he tried to figure out what to say. Jake was leaning forward, clearly waiting for him to start explaining himself. Maddie just looked confused. “I lied. That night, I lied about forgetting everything.”

“Why in the hell-“

“Because you all looked at me like I was fragile! You looked at me like I would break at any second! And I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I took the opportunity when I got it. I figured you’d all believe me if I told you I forgot after I-“

“Jumped into the void?” Cassandra still sounded pissed about that.

“Yeah.”

“Well congrats, you succeeded. And how’d that go for you?”

“Just fine, thank you very much.” Jake raised an eyebrow at him. As if he thought that his life as Albert Han was somehow indicative of something bigger. He couldn’t help but let out a barking laugh at that, knowing full well that while Jacob Stone was 100% correct that he wasn’t fine, he was completely wrong about the indicators.

“What’s so funny?”

“Trust me, if you knew, you’d laugh too.” Before Jake could respond, there was a voice on the other side of the wall.

“Albert, you know someone from Australia?” The first person around the corner was Buck, and he was pretty impressed that he hadn’t figured out who had been speaking. And he almost thought he was in the clear until the next person spoke. As if he wasn’t about to out himself anyway.

“That actually sounded almost exactly like Albert-“ And sure enough, there was his brother. Both men were still wearing LAFD gear, though not the turnouts, which meant they’d just gotten off shift and were now here. To see him. Which meant the rest of the 118 was right behind them. Howie walked up to him, already asking about his injuries, as if the accent thing didn’t surprise him all that much. Which was odd. “Crushed under debris, Albert, seriously? What were you thinking?!”

“I was thinking that it’s my job. It was the guy with the helmet, or the guy without the helmet, not a tough choice.” That made everyone look at him. Because he hadn’t bothered switching back to his American accent. It wasn’t what he said, it was entirely his voice. Howie looked at Maddie who just held up one hand, the other still wrapped around Jee, as if to say ‘I wasn’t in the loop, don’t look at me’.

“I only found out today.”

“Found out what today?”

“That I have an accent. Duh.”

“I meant why, Albert.”

“Well the short version is that I lied. I flew here from Korea, yeah, but before that I was working out of Oregon. With these two knuckleheads.” He gestured to Cassie and Jake. Who both looked pretty upset at being referred to as knuckleheads. Since Cassie was the one laying on him, she was the most capable of slapping him. So of course she did.

“Rude. You love us and you know it, Ezekiel Jones.”

“Did you just call him Ezekiel Jones?” The room had been slowly filling up with firefighters as they spoke. With Buck, Chimney, Bobby, Hen, and Eddie joining them the room was getting a little crowded. And they all heard Cassie call him by his other name. The ‘not legally his but the one he really kind of preferred at this point’ name.

“Ah- Yeah. She did. That’s what these two called me for… three years? Four? Kinda lost track somewhere in the nonsense. But I’m actually pretty famous under that name. Like… Don’t tell Athena famous.” Every face in the room looked severely confused. At least the ones who just walked in. Jake, Cassie, and Maddie already knew what he was talking about after all.

“What exactly did you do?”

“Steal. A lot.”

“Like… From stores?” It was almost funny. The group in front of him had no idea who they were talking to right now.

“Well I started there. But then mostly museums. And then ancient caves and shit after I started working at the Library.” He could almost see Jake suffer an aneurysm when he said that.

“Caves and shit? Really man?”

“Well how else would you describe it?”

“I dunno, but something a little more eloquent than caves and shit!”

“Guys, seriously, two and a half years later and it’s only taken, what, an hour?”

“Are we not counting the panic attack he gave me?”

“That was an accident!”

“Yeah, one that registered on my heart monitor!”

“Yupp, two and half years later, some things never change.” Cassie mumbled. Zeke heard her, but it barely registered. Before he could quite realize what was going on, Cassandra was standing with her back to him, and between him and Jake. “Two. And a half. Years. Jacob. Stone.” He heard a smacking sound, and could only assume she slapped him. She then turned around to face him.

“Please tell me you won’t hit a guy in a hospital bed.”

“I already did that, don’t need to again. But you are well aware of what I’m capable of, Ezekiel Jones. Remember that.” She took a seat next to Jake, who was looking much smaller than he had prior. And Zeke was suddenly very much remembering the many different ways she could make him regret fucking around and finding out using items at the Library.

The group of firefighters in the room looked seriously confused. And while it was mildly entertaining, he was pretty sure it would be smart to try and clue them in. If he wanted to avoid the game of 100 questions that this group was fully capable of pulling off. So he had to start talking.

“Cassandra Cillian, Jacob Stone, meet my brother and his friends. That’s Buck, Evan Buckley. I actually live with him at the moment. That’s Chimney, well Howie. My brother. Jee’s father. Then we have Cap, Captain Bobby Nash. There’s Hen, Henrietta Wilson. Call her Hen, trust me. And then There’s Eddie. Eddie Diaz.” He pointed as he went, making sure to pause at points so Jake and Cassie could pay attention. Not that he was concerned about them not.

“You- Hold on-“

“You really think we’re gonna let you skip over stealing from museums?”

“Well I figured you’d ask again eventually. One in particular you want to know about?”

“Yeah, we don’t need him listing them, we’ll be here all night.”

“Are you really going to let him brag about the stuff he’s stolen?”

“He’ll be doing it the rest of our lives, might as well get used to it.”

“He’s got a point, Cassie.”

“Look at that, he agrees with me!”

“Only on the important stuff, mate.”

“You don’t even keep it!”

“Which means my memories are all I’ve got left.” He put a hand over his heart and looked up, as if he was reminiscing. And then felt a rough hand smack him across the face. “That was just mean, Stone.”

“You’re being an idiot.”

“And that’s different from any other day, how exactly?” Jake balled his hand into a fist and acted like he was going to punch him. He just watched, knowing it wasn’t actually going to happen. Though based on the immediate reactions of his friends behind Jake, they didn’t seem to know that for sure. They all flinched, not getting very far when Jake stopped himself almost as quickly as he’d started. “Yeah don’t worry about him, he’s harmless. To me.” Jake shot him a look that made him laugh. “Anyone that’s not me or Cassie? Might want to be worried." Jake shrugged almost as it to say ‘you’re not wrong’.

“Okay, what in the hell is going on here? Albert? Preferably from the beginning and with fewer interruptions?”

“Well, like we’ve already established I’m Ezekiel Jones, I’m a world class thief and hacker, and I’ve known these guys for a few years now. And I used to work for the Metropolitan Library. Doing thieving and hacking. Among other things.” Jake looked like he wanted to smack him again. And it seemed like the 118 was still confused. But it also seemed like none of them could put together a question. “Having trouble with all that?” The entire group nodded slowly. But before anyone could say anything else, one of the doctors showed up.

“Hate to interrupt the party but I bring good news.”

“Thank the gods.” He saw the group give him a series of confused looks, but no one seemed to feel like interrupting the doctor.

“We want to keep you here overnight for observation, but as long as everything goes well you can be discharged in the morning.”

“Sweet.”

“In that case, maybe we should let him get some rest.” He gave Maddie a look of appreciation for that one. He was exhausted. As much fun as all of this ‘revealing identities’ thing was, he really wanted to get some sleep.

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

“Well we’ll see you tomorrow. Ezekiel Jones.” Maddie smirked at him as she said it. He had a feeling that things were about to get really interesting.