estirose

This one was admittedly influenced by

kerravonsen's Sentinel/NSTP fic "Falling" for the character of Lisa. It was originally meant to be Adam/Lisa; it's Adam and Lisa friendship, instead.

Title: Growing Out Of
Fandom: Tomorrow People
Author: Estirose
Spoilers/pairings/notes: Set between Origin Story and Culex.
Rating: 5+
Summary: Lisa's not into danger.

Growing Out Of
by Estirose
c 2008

Lisa was sensible, or at least she liked to believe so. She prided herself on not getting into stupid situations, not getting in trouble, and as of the last few months, not attracting attention. The not attracting attention helped in the stupid situations and not getting into trouble parts.

Being able to teleport anywhere in the world had its advantages and disadvantages. She could teleport out of trouble if she wished, enjoy authentic cuisine, and experience exotic cultures. But she tried to study the culture so that she couldn’t make mistakes, could blend in or play tourist as needed. Currency conversion places were her friends; she had change in a dozen currencies, enough to enjoy a small snack or a museum or whatever. Currency places at airports didn’t have the greatest rates, but they also didn’t ask questions when she visited them; she discovered that picking up Swedish money and then exchanging it for the next currency she needed – assuming that it was for a destination that some flight out of Arlanda reached – was probably the cheapest way. Plus, if she dressed well, they assumed she was a businesswoman. Sometimes the currency exchange place in the downtown railroad station worked as well if she didn’t feel like dressing up.

And if she felt like being alone, there were a dozen places she could go to. But she found that she preferred the Island. Maybe it felt like home; maybe it was just that anybody she ran into would be another Tomorrow Person and therefore at least relatively safe.

She liked being safe. She liked nobody bothering her or paying attention to her. No more talent shows, no more attention. Even her mother didn't want attention now; she was more likely to be afraid every time Lisa popped out to see her different countries and bring home the different foods.

But sometimes her mother was too much. Okay, often her mother was too much, too overbearing, more fearful than even Lisa was. Lisa had to move on with her life. If Bill Damon upheld his end of the bargain, then all she had to do was start all over.

She still returned to the island, no matter how much she tried to ignore the other Tomorrow People

"Penny for your thoughts," Adam said, settling down beside her as if it was the most natural thing in the world. As if she hadn't shut him or anybody else out.

"Just thinking how things would be so different," Lisa said, looking out at the water. She'd nearly drowned in it, and yet, it wasn't scary at all. Maybe she was growing out of her fears. Maybe traveling through the world, being free, had made them go away.

Or maybe the cough syrup she'd taken at her mother's insistence this morning had just made her sleepy. The sand was warm, Adam's presence comforting, all she had to do was slide down to the Ship's interior and she would probably curl up and go to sleep. That was the danger of coming to the Island, near the Ship, near the *feeling* that she was protected.

Because she wasn't. Not here. Okay, maybe, but then she'd try to apply that to the Real World, and that didn't work too well.

"If a lot more people were like us?" Adam asked. He wasn't reading her mind, because he was terribly off base. Or maybe he wasn't, as she considered his words.

"Yeah," she said. So that Colonel Masters and Lady Mulvaneys of the world would go away and not endanger her family. Where borders were meaningless, currency maybe the same so that she didn't have to keep changing it. Swedish Krona to the Pesos of Chile, from the Australian Dollar to the Japanese Yen. But that was a utopia; not likely to happen within her lifetime.

"There will be, someday," he said, as if he could predict the future. Or maybe he'd been talking to the Ship too long. It tended to be very optimistic.

"I wish it could have been now," she said.

But in some ways, it would have probably been less exciting. Maybe she liked blending in among the natives, or pretending to be more of a tourist than she was. Maybe, despite everything, she *liked* being a Tomorrow Person. A sensible one. One that didn't save the world every other month. A normal one.

Someone had to be normal, after all.

-end