"You sure?" He waggled the bottle enticingly. "Old friends and new friends, all together--deserves a little celebration, dont you think?"

Vex started messing with his bracelet a bit again, the movement of the bottle only reminding him of his mother drinking till she couldn't think when she came home. "I-I'm sure. Th-thank you, th-though."

Cully heaved a pretend sigh. "All righty, let me get you a Coke, then. But we'll have you cuttin' it with that bourbon before the day's over, wont we?" He winked at Electa and headed into the kitchen again.

He wasn't sure how to respond. Mostly because he was trying to get rid of the images of his drunk mother that where flashing over his vision.

Maybe he could focus on Cully's emotions, then. He was glad they were here, but... it's not because he's happy to see them. There's something going on that he doesn't want them to know.

That was a pretty okay idea, although Vex thought over it a moment. He knew it wasn't the nicest thing to do without permission but if he needed to stop he could just block them off from himself like he mostly had with Electa. He let himself reach out calmly to see, or feel, what was going on inside Cully.

A few moments passed. Glancing toward the kitchen, Electa suddenly realized that Cully had been gone for longer than he should have been. Then she hated himself for even having the thought. Not looking at Vexin, she quietly pushed her chair back and went into the kitchen.

"Hey, Cully, do you want any--?"

She broke off. Cully was leaning against the kitchen counter, looking down at his cell phone. "Just textin' my mama," he said cheerfully, tucking the phone into his breast pocket. He gave Electa a grin. "Funny how the service out here improved once the CIA poked their nose in, isnt it?"

Electa's scalp prickled. In all the years she'd known Cully, she'd never known him to keep in touch with his family. Hiding his thoughts, he picked up the cold Coke from the counter as they headed back into the other room. Cully handed the Coke to Vexin.

Cully chuckled as he settled himself stiffly into a chair. "Folks got a little tired of trying to call base and just getting static. Then here comes the CIA, and boom--we got service!" He poured splashes of bourbon into both the glasses; pushed one across the table to Electa. "So what's your news? You gonna tell me what's going on?"

Stalling for time, Electa took a swig of the bourbon, tasting its smoky burn as it went down. She never drank much when she was on the road--you never knew when you were going to get a text sending you halfway across the country--but back before the Invasion, there had been countless poker games with Cully and a bottle of Jim Beam.

She had never thought, then, that she would ever have reason to doubt the man.

She gave a casual shrug, keeping her expression neutral. "Nothing's going on--I just don't get along too well with the CIA, either. So I thought I'd take a break. Vexin and I met in Maine--he felt like taking off for a while, too."

"You're not a runaway, are you?" asked Cully, propping his muscular forearms onto the table with a grin. He swirled the golden liquid around in its glass.

He sorta rolled the coke can in his hands gently, teal eyes hinting that he was listening quite intently to the two. Vex wasn't sure if Cully asked the runaway question to Electa or him.

It was for Vex, and when he didn't answer, he just continued. "Well, I dont blame you about the CIA," said Cully to Electa. He drained half his glass in one gulp. "Cell phone service, yes--running an outfit like this, no. Buncha yahoos, if you ask me. What we need is your old man back, God rest his soul."

The words seemed to hang in the air as a memory came back to Electa: they had just buried her father out there in the blistering desert, a mound of rough, sandy soil the only marker. Cully had dropped his hand heavily on Electa's shoulder as they trudged back to the Jeep.
I know how you feel, he'd said. I had to bury my mama when I was just a few years older than you. Hurts like nothing else.

Now, sitting at her father's old table, she nodded at Cullys comment--but she could feel the adrenaline surging through her. Cully's mother was dead. Who the heck had he been texting, then?

"So whats your plan?" asked Cully. "You wanna stay out here for a while, show the boy the sights?" He winked at Vexin. "Man, we got some good ones. We got lizards and buzzards...coupla coyotes...plenty of sand, if you like to sunbathe..."

He ran a finger over the metal brim of the can, not able to smile anymore at this point of time. He'd only smiled for three people ever. His brother, the diner lady and ... Electa. "Gila monsters are quite beautiful creatures." he said a little softly at the comment of lizards. He liked Gila monsters.