The landscape was bleak, rock and sand punctuated by the occasional brown foliage decaying slowly without adequate moisture. Xandra had grown up amongst pines and greenery of the north-east, the heat and dryness were foreign and the whole place would be miserable and foreboding if she wasn't so excited to be there. She had at first only been curious as to why Dedric was going so far from his internship, a few google searches and an overheard conversation made her even more curious as to what was happening in the Mojave desert. The most recent announcements were saying a new flu or something flu like though her initial searches had come up with increased military activity. Admittedly the source that had originally pointed this out seemed to be a conspiracy theorist site but her journalist integrity would never allow her to follow up on such an absurd accusation without further proof. She wouldn't tell Dedric, more for his sake than hers, that she really wanted to spend more rime together. Since they graduated and moved away she hadn't seen as much of him. Plus with the family 'scandal' she was beginning to see things in a new light.<br/><br/>Her voice broke the repetitive sound of the rented car's wheels running over the pavement. "So why are you going out here anyway?" She could tell Dedric was tense but that wasn't unusual, what was odd was that it was just the two of them in the car. He hadn't been this awkward with her since they were teens, he was definitely keeping something from her.<br/><br/>"You shouldn't even be out here. There's no story." Dedric said anoyed and apparently trying to change the subject. He wasn't and Xandra knew he'd long ago learned he couldn't derail her from something once she started. She called in 'journalistic integrity', her friends had called it being nebby. Dedric just called her a bloodhound. "I'm here for a friend of a friend." He finally answered.<br/><br/>"Monroe?" Isaac Monroe was Dedric's mentor and head of oncology and the hospital he was interning at in San Francisco. They had a complicated relationship but Monroe had gained enough respect from Dedric to warrant the younger coming out here.<br/><br/>"Something like that." His knuckles were white from griping the steering wheel and his lips were pursed in a straight thin line. His eyes never wavered from the road. Something was bothering him and for the first time Xandra thought maybe he wasn't out here because someone asked, maybe this was his way of escaping too. Hopefully her trailing after him wasn't completely unwelcomed, they were family after all. Then again family started this whole mess. She decided to leave the subject to a later date, hopefully one where more answers were to be gained.<br/><br/>"So didn't Professor Jessup grow up out this way?" Their well loved and respected college teacher had often talked about the strange desert town they had been raised in. Dayville? Nightingale? Something like that. She only brought it up to diffuse the situation and quickly once more Dedric had relaxed and they began discussing things as they would normally until they arrived at the motel.<br/><br/>They were discussing Dedric's failed romantic endeavors as they checked in. One room with two twins. "So I ran into Rachael a few months ago. My first girlfriend. She's engaged to a cardiac surgeon. Good guy and her son likes him." Dedric's first and one of his more successful relationships had been as a sophomore in college with a woman he tutored in math. She had had an eight year old son who's soccer games she never missed, worked full time in retail while going to school full time for a bachelors in nursing. Xandra still jokes that she was his 'perfect woman' though it was never serious enough for him to eve meet her son.<br/><br/>"I still say you should've stayed with Quinn. They were so nice, and you really seemed to like them." Xandra said taking her two bags with her to the room and setting them down on her designated bed.<br/><br/>"They moved five and a half thousand miles away. Even I can't do that." He replied throwing his own large duffel onto his bed before following it. They had been driving for hours and the monotony had driven Dedric to exhaustion. His muscles were aching from in-use and he hadn't eaten since they picked up the car.<br/><br/>"Lunch?" Xandra suggested as if reading his mind. Sometimes he thinks she does but he's heard his aunt call it twin telepathy more than once. Never mind they aren't twins or technically siblings. Sorta.<br/><br/>"Yes." He groaned out pulling himself up. These towns have cute little diners right? They should find one.<br/><br/>"Google maps says there's a place called Elliot's Hometown Diner. Right down the road, a bit." She grabbed the keys from him, "I'll drive."<br/><br/>"Think they serve anything vegan on the menu?"<br/><br/>"Dedric this town probably doesn't even know what 'vegan' means. Best we can hope for is something vegetarian or an iceberg salad with oil and vinegar dressing." She turned the key in the ignition and the engine sputtered ominously a few times before turning over. It was probably the low fuel she hoped putting it into gear and heading down the road. Her smart phone said it was the right way but the landscape gave no indication that there were any other life forms around.<br/><br/>Down the road a bit was only twenty minutes and allowed Dedric to close his eyes but not quite drift off. He was jolted to full alertness but the same sputtering that had happened when the car was turned on. "Did we seriously run out of gas?" He questioned sitting up and looking about. The diner was right next to them where Xandra had pulled over, well that was convenient.<br/><br/>"I don't think that means we've run out of gas." His cousin replied nodding to the slight tendrils of smoke emanating from under the hood. They both got out but neither made a move to look under the hood as that would be pointless, Xandra knew nothing of cars and Dedric had nothing to do repair work with.<br/><br/>"We'll eat while we wait for the tow truck." He said turning and going up the three steps into the diner. It looked straight of of a movie, run down inside and out, pink exterior with 'DINER' in large letters on top. The interior was faded and could have been there since the fifties or sixties. He went up to the counter where the middle aged waitress gave them both a skeptical look. "Where's the nearest towing and repair place?"<br/><br/>She paused considering him then pulled small scrap of paper, a list of contacts, out. "De Santa's."<br/><br/>He took the paper heading outside to make the call with a, "You know what I eat," over his shoulder. The waitress led Xandra to a booth next to the door and left two menus. She was right, nothing was labelled vegan or even vegetarian and even most of their salad options had meat of some sort. By the time her cousin returned the coffee and iced tea she had ordered had already arrived and she was waiting on the spinach salads.<br/><br/>"Half an hour at the least." He said putting some packets of sugar into his tea. "Probably more like two."<br/><br/>"We should get a dog." She said looking out the window.<br/><br/>"We don't even live together." He replied not fazed by the non-sequitur. She shrugged listening to the idle sounds of the diner around them. The dull white noise of the news on tv was talking about the flu advising people to stay at home. She knew how the media worked though, just a bunch of panic inducing talk to get people watching. Last time it was Ebola next time who knows, rabies? Probably less than a hundred people catch it, especially in this far out area. Isolation does help but there isn't even enough people in the region to get worked up over.<br/><br/>"What do you think of this flu? Mass hysteria right?" She laughed. Dedric's body made a non-committal answer, he often spoke with looks and body language and Xandra could read it like a book. His body was relaxed but his eyes gave something away. Contemplation. He didn't think there was anything to worry about but she could see his thoughts nagging asking what if?