More than Alike

By the time an hour had passed, absolutely everyone in the station knew the absolutely ridiculous twist in the case. Xavier had been arrested. He'd been sentenced. He'd died in a tragic accident.

And then he'd come back as a freaking mermaid. Sudden species transformations weren't exactly unusual, but mermaids? Rare. Exceptionally rare. People didn't just turn into mermaids. That was weird. Even on a magic island.

Angelo had been tasked with picking up some paperwork from Dani's dorm parent, and his first stop was the hospital. He didn't know what was going to happen to Xavier or how any of that was working, but he did know that there was paperwork to pick up. It wasn't as if he'd been dispatched out anyway, but he'd instead broken a suspects arm during a scuffle and had to deliver him to the hospital. If he was there anyway, why not check, and he'd gone ahead and radioed in to let them know he was going to.

He'd gotten her hospital number, but been warned ahead of time that there was a doctor scheduled to be there for her discharge. Angelo headed right up, and it was only when he reached the door, finding it closed, that he realized he wasn't the only one waiting.

There was a boy sitting just beside the door, around Roa's age, looking particularly bored.

Definitely not Xavier though. There was, if anything, a negative family resemblance going on.

"You waiting for the Joiner kid...?" Angelo said, looking confused.

The guy looked tired. Really tired.

But maybe not tired enough for the answer he got. For a moment, Angelo was stupefied, trying to process whether or not he was kidding. Of course he wasn't though, and he looked so confused that Angelo couldn't help but wince.

"Uh, close," he said quietly. "But not really. I'm Angelo, but I'm not the Angelo you're thinking of. When did you last sleep, exactly?"

Okay, nope, he wasn't getting it. Angelo couldn't help but grin, deeply amused by the whole thing, even if it was a little bit mean.

"Alright, so, I'm sure you know Angelo's got the whole thing about, ah, being from another dimension, right? Well, here I am, the him from this dimension."

He stuck his hand out to shake.

"Angelo Genovese, Sergeant with the MCPD. I suppose you're a friend of the other me's?" If Jude had mentioned him, Angelo had no idea. He didn't know who the kid was, but he was pretty exhausted looking and absolutely not firing at all cylinders. "I'm just here to talk to Miss Joiner's dorm parent. If you were hoping for the other one, he's at home in bed as far as I know."

"I've heard," Angelo said, giving him a proper handshake. "Well, mostly by proxy. None of the cases have been mine, but I was in the hospital anyway, and one of my fellow officers asked me to pick some stuff up."

He considered for a moment, cracking a smile as he did.

"Did he really not mention his significantly more handsome older self? Tragic." He hadn't missed the I like it either. "Angelo's living with me for now, along with his father. They'll be moving out by the end of the month though. He went by Jude because things got a bit too confusing, but now... well, we're pretty much used to it. Not much confusion, really."

Except, you know, right then.

"Sort of," Angelo said. "We're kind of iffy on how related or not related I am. I'd say a cousin's a good relation, in terms of how we act, but I didn't exactly have any relatives to compare to."

That was something he had in common with Jude, although they were one relative off.

"Just pickup," Angelo said. "But I don't want to interrupt the doctors or whoever's in there."

He squinted at the door.

"So I've got a few minutes, and why not check in with you. You're the one who was down at the beach with him and the fish, right? A Halcyonite." Yep, he knew who he was, although only in general terms.