He made his way into the church proper, which was considerably better even with most of the lights turned off. He had to admit it was a spectacular sight, with all those parallel pews and enormous statues and paintings on the ceiling. Everything seemed to be very large. It made Zephyr feel like a child. He supposed that was the intention; if this were a place to feel like you were meeting God, you'd have to feel a certain amount of humility. He definitely caught the humility effect. Plus it was just plain pretty, with the gold and purple everywhere.

Connor and Reg were sitting quietly in a pew not far from where he stood. He let the door swing shut behind him and started to walk forward, and found the sound of his footsteps unnerving. They were the only sound in this huge, silent space; when Connor turned and spotted him, he was half-tempted to flee the way he had come.

Then the heavy oak door closed with a resounding bang. Zephyr's heart leaped and he shouted involuntarily. Great; his first time in a church and he nearly had a heart attack after less than a minute.

Reg turned and saw him too. Connor slid out of the pew and rushed over to Zephyr (damn, how did the kid do it? Almost twice his size, dripping with bouncy energy, and still managed to move a lot more quietly in this place!). "Hey, are they ready for us?" Connor asked in an eager stage whisper. "Is it time to go back over to the school?"

Zephyr nodded. "Pretty soon. No hurry," he explained. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around, trying to look comfortable. "They're looking over the blueprints right now. So what're you guys doing over there? You praying or something?"

Connor shrugged. "A little bit. Well, I was. Reg was... uh... I dunno, napping or something, I think."

Zephyr smirked at the kid and pushed past him to where Reg stood waiting. Reg hadn't otherwise moved from his original spot, so Zephyr entered the pew to join him. The space was unexpectedly narrow; he had to back out and try shimmying in sideways before he managed to get that far in.

Reg's face was characteristically expressionless, but he carried himself in a way that gave Zephyr the impression that something had intrigued him. Zephyr reached out and took his hand. Reg squeezed gently.

"Hey, man. Are you r--"

"Zephyr," Reg interrupted. "I remembered, Zephyr. I remembered."

"Great! What did you remember?"

Reg stared over Zephyr's shoulder. His lips moved slightly, mumbling, "Remember remember," as if tasting the word. Then he looked straight at Zephyr and announced with resolve, "I will tell you. We work now. Right? We work now."

Zephyr grinned. "Yeah. Let's go to work."

"Let's go to work," Reg repeated. He held on to Zephyr's hand and let Zephyr lead him out of the pew. Zephyr found his movement even more awkwardly limited by his attachment to Reg, but with effort he got them both out into the aisle. From there it was a piece of cake.

"Ready?" he asked them.

"Ready!" Connor replied.

"Thank you," Reg said, and gave Zephyr's hand another little squeeze.

"You're welcome." Zephyr noticed that none of them seemed to be making an effort to keep quiet anymore. Connor opened the door for them and let it slam again on their way out. Zephyr glanced at Reg curiously, but Reg had his sights set on the school straight ahead. Whatever revelation he had remembered, he seemed to have forgotten it by now.

Outside the second set of doors, Zephyr let go of Reg's hand. Reg tried to catch it back, but he pulled away and grabbed onto the handrail. This church had altogether too many stairs, he grumbled as he took them one by one. No wonder Holy Name was one of their best clients. They must be driving the elderly people away.

Connor passed him on his right, and as he looked up he saw that Reg was now holding Connor's hand. Zephyr clung to the rail to avoid falling over. Dammit, that was wrong! On so many levels. He tried to admonish them, but he couldn't find the words and he was a little too out of breath to shout. So he cursed to himself and tried to quicken his pace. It was just wrong. Connor should have known that. So what if Reg was being clingy? Reg didn't have a fucking clue! Reg didn't care about impressions; he barely knew other people were capable of thought. He certainly didn't care what they thought. Zephyr was not going to allow Fr. Solano to see them like that - it was wrong and it was dangerous and he was not putting Reg into that kind of danger. He was going to set Connor straight... in a minute... if only he could catch his breath. And still his heart. Dammit. He was not going to look weak, puffing and gasping and clutching the railing like this... he was not. Strong Zephyr. In-charge Zephyr. Dammit.

By the time he reached the street, Connor and Reg had already dashed across and waited for him now on the other side. Connor let go of Reg's hand and Reg let him. Zephyr cursed a few more times to himself and took advantage of a minute or so of steady traffic to compose himself. A large part of him wanted to go home and do some good old-fashioned hiding, but he squashed that part; stomped on it; kicked it into the corner of his mind to whimper to itself.

He finally caught up to them. As they headed across the parking lot, Reg turned to him and said, "The hallway is 7'8" in width, right? Stairs are 7" each times 3 is 21" total, and with an incline angle of..." He rambled on and on, and pretty soon Zephyr found himself smiling. He shouldn't underestimate Reg. Or the power of work.