taxonomites | 001: [holo] Please stand away from the platform edge

Alexis glanced at her phone as she hurried down the stairs to the subway station. “I'm going to be so late,” she fretted, dodging around an older man with an oversized briefcase as she dialed a number on the phone. She swiped her subway pass and scooted through the turnstile as the phone rang, and rang, until it clicked to voicemail. “Oh hey, Justin! I just wanted to call to let you know that I'm running a little late for our violin lesson toda--”

The rest of her message died in her throat as, between one step and the next, the familiar confines of the New York subway system became something completely different, a seamless expanse of sterile, featureless steel.

Alexis gaped, mouth still slightly open. “Hello?” she finally asked. “My name is Alexis Castle. Can anybody tell me where I am? Or how I got here?”

Her own words echoed back at her, and Alexis chewed her bottom lip as she fumbled with her phone, hitting her dad's number on speed dial without any conscious thought. She didn't wait for him to pick up; if she had, she would have realized the phone wasn't ringing, but finding herself in a strange room when she had two seconds before been in the crowded subway station made Alexis less than rational. “Dad? Are you there? I need you to come get me, I think I'm in trouble,” she said, trying her best to sound calm, though it was hard to hide the edge of hysteria, the rising panic in her voice. “I was on my way home, in the subway station, but now I'm not, I'm in a little round room and there isn't anything here--” A pause, as she notices for the first time a podium with a device resting on it. Her voice quavers as she continues, “Except a podium, and I'm getting scared, Dad. Can you come get me?”

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It would sink in, eventually, that she may never ~~be able to~~ have to take any Advance Placement tests, but that was a realization for another day. For the moment, Alexis simply began planning to raid the library. She'd done independent study before, this would be the same.

That having been settled, at least in her mind, Alexis took a moment to look around the tram, catching glimpses of the city beyond. "Is this what the entire city is like?"

Spencer nodded.

"It's quite heterogeneous. For example, you may have buildings with a gothic style standing directly next to those with a classical Roman style. And then there are some structures that came here with specific people."

That jogged his memory.

"Oh. Yes. You should have come with something.... something that is probably precious to you. If you found nothing in the Sanctuary, then perhaps it is a larger item..."

"Something precious?" Alexis frowned in thought as she shifted her backpack into her lap and opened it. There was nothing important inside, just the miscellaneous binders full of homework and class notes. "Like, something important? I have my cell phone," she mused, digging it out of her pocket and poking at it. "But it won't even dial out, it just has--"

She had hit the button that displayed her photos, and Alexis stopped and stared at the first photo that came up: her dad, trying on his old Halloween costume (http://i54.tinypic.com/inr5v8.jpg). She blinked rapidly, and a quaver entered her voice. "--It just has all the photos I took on it."

And maybe it'd saved all her texts too. To Dad and Ashley and everyone.

Spencer glanced curiously over her shoulder at the picture on her screen.

"Mine won't even turn on...."

Dr. Reid's answer surprised her and Alexis hesitated a moment before she offered him the phone. She didn't really want to let it go, now that she knew what she'd brought with her, but maybe it could tell him something it wasn't telling her.

"I guess this is what you're talking about then?" she asked. "The thing that I brought with me?"

Spencer squinted at the phone as he flipped through a series of pictures, as well as texts from someone named Ashley. He wasn't trying to invade her privacy, just seeing what the aliens had allowed her. He paused on the picture she had had on her screen a moment before.

"That's your father."

It wasn't a question. Spencer had seen him in the photo that the aliens had given Kate for Christmas, the one she was too depressed to look at.

When Dr. Reid paged through the texts from Ashley, a blush rose in Alexis' cheeks and she had to swallow down the impulse to grab the phone back. He didn't seem interested in them, but the impulse to be embarrassed still arose. She did, however, look at him with mild confusion at the statement.

"That's Dad," she confirmed, an unspoken 'did you not know what he looked like' in her voice. A second or two later, an answer occurred to Alexis. "I guess you wouldn't have pictures of people back home here, would you?"

"Actually, we had a visit from Santa during Christmas and he brought Kate a picture of her team from back home."

Yes, Santa had legitimately come to Taxon and into Spencer and Kate's living room. They had almost shot him, actually. Spencer was able to easily pick out Richard Castle in the group photo of Kate's team laughing and singing. The photo had depressed her so much that she kept it in a drawer. She felt like the aliens were taunting her with people she would never see again.

"I had a few pictures in my wallet when I got here - an old one of my mother and I and one of my godson."

There were several things Alexis would have liked to say. Maybe something about how she was glad other people had pictures to remember families by, or maybe a question about Dr. Reid's godson.

But what came out of her mouth was something far simpler, and much less helpful. "The aliens brought you Santa Claus?"

Spencer smiled and nodded.

"It was.. very strange, but he brought us some nice gifts. I had been wanting a book of Chaucer's poems and a chess set for a while. It's as though he knew exactly what we wanted..."

Maybe she shouldn't have been surprised, given all the strange things that'd happened in the past hour or two, but the idea of a Santa Claus who wasn't an overenthusiastic dad bringing the perfect presents was just plain eerie. Alexis tried to not think about the implications, instead changing the subject completely lest she started thinking about Christmases and overenthusiastic dads and lose it completely. Again.

"Can I ask how long you've been here, Dr. Reid?"

"185 days. It feels a bit longer though."

The tram stopped and he and Alexis got out in Shelley. He pointed up the street.

"The apartment building is up there on the right."

Alexis frowned momentarily, brow furrowing, as she worked the math in her head. "Nearly half a year?" she echoed, following Dr. Reid out of the tram. "How--" she stopped abruptly, her mind already going two steps ahead and realizing the implication she wasn't ready to deal with.

She looked up instead, for a distraction, following Dr. Reid's gesture towards the building. "Have you and Detective Beckett been staying here all this time?"

001: [holo] Please stand away from the platform edge

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