Perhaps it was a bit imprudent of him, but Jay really hadn't been expecting this.

An intruder, sure. Thieves and spies were unsurprisingly common in his line of work, and though he'd been careful, there was always the chance of something slipping past his defenses. Jay was well aware of this. He would have been prepared for an intruder, should one have been inside his apartment.

He was decidedly not prepared to find a certain intrepid treasure hunter sprawled out on his bed.

"Hey, JJ." Norma gave him a little wave. "Long time, no see."

"Norma..." Jay stopped short for several seconds, mind completely blank, before-- "What, exactly, are you doing here?"

Norma yawned and stretched out, grinning from ear to ear--she was obviously enjoying this. "What, I can't drop by to see an old friend? Socold, JJ."

Jay crossed his arms and swallowed. Really, this was the last thing he needed. "What you're doing constitutes breaking and entering, you realize. Tell me why I shouldn't have you arrested."

"Uh..." Norma flashed a (fake) beatific smile. "For old times' sake?"

Jay gave her a pointed look.

"But I guess you don't care about that, anymore...is that what you want me to say, JJ?" Norma said. She pulled herself into a sitting position, keeping her eyes trained on him. "Well, I'm not going to, so you might as well get over it now! Harriet says hi, by the way."

For some reason, Jay had the sudden urge to take a step back--but he planted his feet firmly where he was. "Do I look like I particularly care?"

"Well, uh. Yeah, actually." He must have made a face, because she laughed right after that. "Don't give me that look, JJ. I'm not attacking you. If you don't want to come see us, that's your business."

"Yes. It is."

"But, on the other hand, if you did want to come see us, and just avoided doing it for two years because, oh, I don't know, I still don't get how you think--well. I guess that'd be different, huh?"

Jay didn't respond immediately. "Are you here simply to make baseless speculation?" he asked sharply. "Or do you actually have a purpose in being here?"

"Actually, yeah. Surprised?" Norma reached into her bag and pulled out a neat, carefully folded envelope. "C gave me this for you. She wants to talk to you about Shirl."

Jay turned so that his back was to Norma, his expression tight. "There's nothing to say. Shirley's dead."

"Hey, don't look at me." Norma shrugged. "I'm just the messenger. I've always said...there's no point in dwelling on the past, right? What happens, happens. If we all go our separate ways, well, what can you do about it? But C...she's always been an idealist. She wants things to be right again."

"She's a moron, you mean."

Norma laughed. "Don't act like you weren't like that too, JJ. We all believed in happy endings once. That's what we fought for, wasn't it?"

There was a long silence.

"If you're quite finished," Jay said, "there's the door."

"...yeah. I see it. See you around, JJ." And with that, Norma left, setting down the letter on the bed before her as she did so. She did not look back, though she might have paused--it was only a moment--before closing the door.

Jay resisted the urge to watch her go. Instead, he strode over to the bed, and after a moment's hesitation, picked up the letter.