"True Love"
Author Priscila M.
Disclaimer: Early Edition characters belong to Tristar Pictures. No copyright infringement
intended. No profit is being made. I just borrowed the characters for a while.
Summary: This fanfic is set in what would be the 5th season. Gary saves a woman and falls in
love with her. Nothing on EE world is as easy as it sounds. ;)
Author notes: It's my first fanfic written in english (I'm brazilian) and also my first Early
Edition one so please be kind. I'd like to thank Tina for being such a nice friend and beta
reading this fanfic. And also my brother Sergio for the ideas for the plot and his support.
Thanks for reading! :)
*Chapter 1*
"Marcia?!"
Gary woke up and sat on his bed. Looked around his empty loft and said out loud "just a dream?".
Feeling a bit disappointed he laid down in time to hear the paper arriving. He tried screaming
"I just had a lousy night, come back later" but the cat wouldn't stop meowing. Gary stood up
and went to the door and got the paper. He scanned the paper and there was nothing important
that needed his attention. So he took a bath and dressed up. On the way downstairs he said to
the cat "if you want anything go ask the people who send the paper, will ya?" and left.
Marissa was in the office taking care of some papers when she heard Gary coming.
"Good Morning, Gary. What's the problem?" she asked while placing some papers on the desk.
"Morning, Marissa. I just had a lousy dream, that's all. The damn cat doesn't let me sleep
and the paper doesn't let me have a life." he rubbed his face.
"You dreamt about Marcia again? Don't you find it a bit odd?"
"Should I? I mean I deal with a lot of worse things in the paper still-- oh boy!"
"What did you find in the paper?"
"Ah... the headline says 'unidentified Asian woman found dead in downtown Chicago' - early this
morning an Asian woman in her early 30's was found dead. Officials believe it was a robbery as
her purse wasn't found. The paper says she was beaten to death and it might have happened
around midday. So I have plenty of time to find something out how to stop it."
"Just be careful, Gary. Whoever did this in day light isn't going to get shy if you show up."
"I have plenty of time to realize what will happen. And this time I'll try to get some help
from the police. Don't worry, I'll be careful", Gary said while putting the paper on the back
pocket of his jeans.
All he needed to do was to go to the restaurant where the woman would be attacked, stop the guy
and all would be solved. He got off the cab in a nice neighborhood and checked his clock, it was
short after 9 AM for his relief. He found the restaurant Sakana no Sekai. Neat place, Asian
people going in and out pretty often. Japanese writing all over the place made Gary not very
comfortable. He decided to go inside hoping to find the victim or the attacker for that matter.
Going inside the place didn't help. While people were talking to him in Japanese his attention
was caught by the young woman singing on the karaoke. She was gorgeous, dressed in a red kimono
and with long black hair. Her voice sounded so gently in his ears that he just stopped and
stared at her. He was too distracted to notice the dirty looks the guy next to him was
throwing at both of them. Gary was smiling and she looked at him a couple of times. She ended
singing, Gary applauded which made half the customers on the restaurant turn to him.
Embarrassed, he just left the place and looked at the paper. Nothing had changed. "Oh boy!"
he placed the paper in his pocket.
Meanwhile the man in the restaurant was furious. He took the young woman by the arm, all the way
thru the dinning tables and the kitchen screaming at her which got the customer's attention once
more. He threw her on the ground outside. Furiously screaming "aitsu ga dare? koraerou!"
[who is he? answer me now!] while beating her on the face. All she could say was "Shiranai yo!"
[I don't know!"] which made him get even more furious. She tried to apologize in order to make
him calm down. After asking a couple of times more who the guy was he got a baseball bat,
screamed "subeta!" [bitch] and started to beat her with it.
Gary heard a woman screaming so he ran to find out what was going on. He saw the same woman
from the karaoke, only she was bleeding and almost unconscious. Fortunately Gary was able to
grab the bat which didn't make the man any happier about the situation. He punched Gary on the
nose, then punched him some more until Gary got on his knees to the ground. Then he payed
attention again to the woman, kicking her and screaming "anata no kareshi ne!". [your boyfriend, isn't he?]
While the man was too distracted beating the now unconscious victim Gary was able to knock him
down with the bat. He ran to check if the woman was okay, carried her on his arms and tried to
leave the place as soon as possible. After a block and a half he couldn't carry her anymore so
he stopped and sat on the ground gasping for some air. The woman was by his side, also sitting
on the ground staring straight ahead.
"Where's Tarou? And who are you?" she was almost whispering.
"If Tarou is the barbarian who was beating you, I left him unconscious there. And I'm Gary
Hobson". He was holding his hand on his nose.
She recognized him as the same guy from the restaurant. "Thank you, Gary. I'm Shizuka...
Tanemura. Tarou is my fiancé, he was angry because he got me singing on the karaoke and was
furious when you were staring at me--"
Gary couldn't believe she was saying it like it was normal "It's NOT a reason to beat someone
up like that. So calm down, I won't let anybody lay a finger on you anymore. We'll need to get you
into a hospital so we'd better get a cab."
"I don't think it's a good idea. It'd be the first place Tarou would look for me."
They arrived at McGinty's so Gary told Shizuka to wait for him in his loft. As she went
upstairs he checked the paper. "Chicagoan sat down on antique vase - early yesterday morning a
Chicagoan woman sat down on an antique vase that was left on the back seat of a cab. The victim
was taken to the hospital and got 20 stitches but she's fine. The vase was worth US$250,000.
It happened around 1 PM on Chicago's suburb." It was the only thing that needed his
attention. Relieved there was nothing related to her in the paper hew went to his loft
and found her on his bathroom. He sat down on the sofa, staring at the window while trying to
figure out how he'd help her. She came out of the bathroom while he was distracted with thinking.
So she sat down by his side on the sofa.
"I hope you don't mind I used your bathroom to fresh up a bit." Shizuka was still confused
after all what happened.
"No. That's fine, feel free to make yourself comfortable. Was it the first time your fiancé
did something like this?"
She looked to the ground "I'm afraid not. Our wedding was arranged by our families. In order
to keep the tradition I have to stand this kind of thing. I ended up getting used to the idea
now." A brief moment of silence. "Are you married, Gary?"
Gary couldn't help but getting hurt by the question "I... I'm divorced now. My wife threw my
stuff out of the window on our anniversary and told me it was over. After four years."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to--"
"Really, that's fine. I have an important meeting in an hour but if you feel like you can stay
here."
"Thanks. I need to do some thinking so I'll stay here for a while."
Gary nodded and left his loft. Going downstairs in a hurry still thinking about the lucky
bastard who had such a nice person as fiancée and didn't even care about it. And asking himself
why he had run away when she asked him if he was married. Then he saw Marissa at the bar at a
table near the corner. He sat down there in silence and started to scan the paper. Marissa
stopped reading as she realized Gary was next to her.
"Gary, I'm glad you're alright. Did you save the woman in the paper?"
"Yeah. I wasn't able to stop the guy from beating her. I just stopped him from killing her.
She's upstairs now."
"So did you find out who was beating her?"
"Her fiancé was going to beat her to death, Marissa. Then she tells me she has to stand it in
order to keep her family tradition."
"It's serious but you can't make the decision for her. And if she chooses sticking to her
family you'll have to understand." Marissa knew it would be hard for him, too.
"I don't understand it at all." A brief moment of silence "Now I have to save a woman from
sitting on an antique vase so I'll see you later."
Marissa tried to suppress the laughter "Good luck, Gary!"
Gary was on Archer avenue trying to find a woman who could possibly be the one in the paper.
There were at least five people asking for cabs when he saw who he thought that would be the
woman. As she opened the door, Gary appeared in front of her as she was going to sit.
"Pervert, get out of my way!" she started to hit him with her purse.
"Easy, lady! There's an antique vase you were about to sit on!", Gary managed to say while she
was still suspecting him.
She looked inside and there was the vase. She handed it to the cab driver "I knew you were a
freak!" she entered the cab and left.
Gary had managed to save the vase so to speak. He still had to save a teenage girl from
breaking her neck while trying to get her cat off a tree and a robbery on a 7-11 store.
After that he finally arrived at McGinty's in the night. He entered, grabbed a beer and started
to drink it. Gary once again looked to the empty place. Feeling lonely and tired, he took
another sip on the beer, wondering if he would ever find time to live with the damn paper.
Then he heard a noise coming from his loft. Opening the door he found Shizuka writing on a
piece of paper. He entered, closed the door and stopped there.
Gary rubbed his hand "Are you leaving, Shizuka?"
"Oh Gary... I can't let you get in trouble. I wish you didn't appear there. So Tarou would
have beaten me, so what?"
Gary's mouth got wide open. "He would have killed you, ya know?"
Shizuka was cursing the fact she didn't leave before. "Now you're trying to get too much credit.
If someone knows what would have happened, that's me. So if you excuse me."
Shizuka wrote some more on the piece of paper while Gary was trying to figure out what to say.
She gave the paper to Gary and opened the door. Still not believing what was happening, he held
her hand gently and said "I love you". Surprised with his reaction she avoided looking at him.
Then she said "please, just try to forget me." Then she ran downstairs. Gary threw his paper on
the sofa and tried to stop himself from going after her. He felt like he could have done so
many things, he could have said so many things to her but he just made a fool out of himself.
She left McGinty's in the night. Feeling confused that Gary apparently really liked her and
thinking what would happen next time she meets Tarou, she got the EL to go back home. Arriving at
her home she entered saying "Tadaima!" [I'm home] and her sister replied "Okaeri!" [Welcome back].
Shizuka was afraid that Tarou could be there waiting for her.
"Where have you been, Shizuka? Tarou came here in the afternoon and said you were missing."
She gave a good look on her sister "Did he beat you today again?!"
"You know him, Miyuki. But I didn't run away... a stranger saved me from Tarou today. This
stranger fellow found me on Sakana no Sekai while I was singing on the karaoke" Shizuka was
still thinking about Gary.
Miyuki just couldn't believe it happened again "So, was the guy good looking?"
"Mou! Miyuki tara. [Hey! Stop it, Miyuki.] I'll take a bath now."
*chapter 2*
After three days without hearing for her again, there was nothing about her on tomorrow's
paper either. Gary was trying to avoid thinking about her, still he couldn't forget the fool he
made out of himself. He decided to try to find something to eat in the refrigerator. Someone
knocked on the door, he thought that finally Shizuka came back to talk to him. He quickly grabbed
his pants and opened the door. There was Marissa.
"Hi Marissa." Gary just couldn't hold back the disappointment to see her.
"Morning, Gary. Were you expecting someone else?" Marissa smiled.
"Sort of. So what brings you up here so early? Is there some problem at McGinty's?" he helped
Marissa to sit on the sofa.
"You have been so distant the last days. I'm worried about you, Gary. Did you have problems
with your saves?"
The last thing he wanted at the moment was talk but he knew that Marissa could help. So he ran
his hand thru his hair "When Shizuka left three days ago I told her I loved her but she just
ran away from me. I know, it was really stupid of me but I never felt like that since Marcia,
you know?" he sighed.
"But she didn't explain why she left nor anything?"
"She left something written in a paper but I couldn't bring myself to read yet."
"You're not expecting me to read it, are you?" Marissa smiled to tease Gary.
He gave a dirty look to Marissa, then got the piece of paper. He thought things couldn't get
much worse so he started to read out loud "Gary, I need to go home now. I have to see how
things are going to be with my family. Also I need some time to think about my whole life.
I just hope someday you'll be able to forgive me." He couldn't believe it. She was saying the
same things over and over again. What was she so afraid of? What the heck was wrong with her?
"Go talk to her. You already gave her enough time to think."
"I just hope I won't regret my actions once more."
He watched as Marissa stood up and went to the door. "If you need me, I'll be downstairs." Gary
nodded.
He went to the restaurant but she wasn't there. He tried to ask a few people there but they
couldn't understand English well enough to know what he wanted. Frustrated he went out and
walked for a while on around the neighborhood. Nothing. Then Gary thought it would be better to go
change some headlines as it wasn't helping him to find Shizuka. Looking at the paper there was
an article about a guy who was going to jump off Cortland Street Bridge.
Shizuka was leaving her house to go work when Tarou appeared. He noticed she looked upset
about something. "Can we go inside for a moment?" she was a bit afraid about his reaction as
he always was an impulsive guy who didn't think before doing anything.
"Tarou, there's no easy way to say that but it's over. Our engagement is over. I already called
my parents in Hokkaido and told them."
He just kept looking at her not believing his ears "Is it all about that gaijin [foreigner]
guy you're walking around with?"
"Even though it's none of your business, it's not about him. I don't even know him! Now I have
to go work."
She left feeling afraid it could be the biggest mistake of her life. So now she didn't know
what was going to happen in her future. Shizuka just walked thru the streets of Chicago looking
around, feeling lost and confused. There was Gary, a rather strange guy who did care about her
enough to fight with Tarou. So many questions on her mind and not enough answers.
Gary walked around the Cortland Street Bridge. The paper said it happened in the morning but
didn't have much details. So he stayed there trying to find anyone who would fit the description
in the paper. He saw the guy preparing himself to jump and screamed "Heeeeeeey! Hey, Todd!"
Todd pushed him away. "Stop it, will ya?"
"Is there something wrong, superman?" Todd lit up a cigarette. "What?! I'm going to kill
myself! Do you think I care if I'd have cancer in the future?"
Gary was lost now. "Uh... why don't you tell me what's wrong?" He checked the paper and the
article was still there. "Come on!"
"Besides the fact you're wasting my time... I was fired today and my girlfriend dumped me when
I told her about that."
"You know what I think? I think you can get a better job and you still can get your girlfriend
back. And don't rush your conclusions." Gary was getting worried about the guy already.
Todd thought for a moment "I'll give myself some time to think."
Gary saw the article was gone on the paper and just disappeared from the place. Avoiding too
many questions was always good. So he had some free time and he called McGinty's before going
to the last save of the day. Nothing too dangerous, just a guy who was going to be ran over
while crossing the street while talking in a cell phone. He called McGinty's from the street phone
and Marissa picked up the phone.
"Hello, McGinty's."
"It's me, Gary."
"Gary! Did you find Shizuka already?"
Before he could answer someone appeared behind him and he felt a point metallic thing on his
back. The man just said "Hang up now!" Gary knew it was a gun but didn't know anything else. All
he said was "I gotta go now" and hang up. Then he put his hands up. "Just walk until I tell
you to stop". Still not able to see who the guy was nor knowing what the person wanted, Gary
said "Take my wallet and whatever more you want!" but the gunman didn't reply. They stopped in
an alley. Gary managed to turn around and to his surprise it was Tarou.
"You?! What do you want?"
Tarou laughed about his question. "You have to stop screwing my fiancée behind my back!"
"You see, I'm not screwing anybody's--"
Tarou pointed his gun at Gary's forehead. "If you don't stop talking right now, you'll die!"
For Gary's luck a police car passed by so Tarou ran away. Gary just stopped there not believing
what could have happened. After a few minutes recovering himself he got into a cab to his next
save.
Shizuka left her job and decided to talk to Gary that day too. After all she had already thrown
away her marriage, why not talk to him too. She was on the EL looking at Chicago in the night.
She wasn't prepared to leave that city for going back to Hokkaido, not yet at least. That was
the only thing she was sure of. Finally she arrived at McGinty's and it was closed. A waiter
told her the bar was already closed but when she said she was looking for Gary, he told her to
talk to Marissa.
"You must be Shizuka, is that right?"
Shizuka got surprised "Did Gary talk to you about me?"
Marissa smiled "A lot." After a brief pause "He was looking for you today."
"So I'm glad I came here. Does Gary own his place?"
"Yeah. I'm his partner."
Gary entered thru the front door gasping like he had ran a marathon. He sat down at the bar to
check the paper, not realizing Shizuka was talking to Marissa a few chairs away. For his
relief there wasn't anything needing his care. He folded the paper and placed it inside his
jacket. Just then he saw both Marissa and Shizuka standing near him.
"Good night, ladies."
"Are you alright, Gary? What happened when you were talking to me on the phone?"
Gary still didn't know how he should tell it to them. "Shizuka, could you please wait for me
upstairs?"
Shizuka didn't mind at all. "Sure, I'll wait for you."
Gary sighed "Marissa... I just hang up because her fiancé was pointing a gun at my back."
Marissa got shocked "Oh my god! Will you wait until he kills you to stop seeing Shizuka?"
"I'll go upstairs putting an end to this before it ends bad to anyone."
Gary left the bar still shaking. Not every day someone pointed a gun at his head. He really
liked Shizuka and he didn't mind going thru all this if he was going to end up with her. But
that crazy Tarou wasn't going to get happy before killing someone. Each step of the stairs was
hard not just because he was tired. Mostly because he was going to end something that hadn't
started with Shizuka. Getting close to the door he heard her singing inside his loft. "Okay,
you're a grown man Gary. It's for her sake too." He entered the loft and she was singing while
looking inside the refrigerator. He smiled. She closed the door just then realized he was there.
"I hope you don't mind..."
They both sat down on the sofa. Gary sighed, then said "Earlier... I... you see, Tarou pointed a
gun at me today when I was talking on the phone."
"Just like him. He likes to scare people around him."
"Are you kidding? He's crazy! He could have gotten me full of holes today if the police hadn't
been around!"
Shizuka stood up and went to the bathroom. Gary then again regretted what he had said about
Tarou. After all the barbarian was her fiancé. He just wished he knew how to turn back the time
and change what happened since he met Shizuka. She came out of the bathroom and sat down
on the bed.
"Tarou flew back to Japan tonight. I was supposed to be with him as we were going to marry next week."
She couldn't hold back the tears now. "I just hope it wasn't the biggest mistake of my life!"
Gary really didn't know what to say. "I'm so sorry! I didn't-- I mean--"
Still fighting her tears, Shizuka smiled and said "I'm tired..." Gary sat down next to her on the
bed and hugged her. In his arms she didn't feel lost anymore. It felt really nice and she was
just hoping she could be there forever. Then she kissed him gently. Gary smiled at her and whispered
in her ear "I love you" then kissed her in the neck. After a while without saying anything,
Shizuka then said "I love you too, Gary." They laid down on the bed until both fell asleep in
each others arms.
*Chapter 3*
Shizuka woke up at 5 in the morning. Gary's arms were around her. She looked at him sleeping. He was so cute there sleeping.
It was too early to call Miyuki so she decided to watch some TV. She grabbed the remote control
and started searching for something to watch. Infomercials, Law & Order, Baywatch which made
her miss watching NHK at night. So she finally started to watch Buffy. It was so interesting
that she fell asleep after a few minutes holding the remote on her hand.
Thump. Meow. Gary grabbed the pillow and placed it on his head. Shizuka was making some coffee
so she opened the door and saw the cat on the paper. She petted the cat and got the paper. She
left it near the window and gave some milk to the cat. Gary woke up and saw her feeding the cat.
He got in panic because of the paper and started to look around for it.
"Morning Gary. This kitty is lovely. Is it yours?"
He was still searching for the paper "Kinda. Uh... have you seen my paper?"
Shizuka was putting some coffee in a mug "You mean the one which was with the cat at the door?
It's there." she pointed.
Gary got it and immediately started reading it. Then he noticed she didn't find anything
unusual about the paper so he felt relieved. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes. Do you mind if I call my sister? She might be worried about me."
He was still reading the paper "Uh... no I don't mind. Go ahead."
Shizuka was finishing her coffee and looked at Gary there reading the paper. He was nice to
stare at and also nice to be around too. She thought "Things could be much worse" as Miyuki
would say. She smiled about her thought. Gary was going to get some coffee, then she kissed him.
Then she decided to call Miyuki before going to work. She got the answering machine.
"Miyuki, watashi desu. Kare no uchi ni nemurita. Mou daijobu, ima shigoto e ikimasu. Ja nee."
[It's me. I slept at his place. Everything is fine, now I'm going to work. Bye.]
Gary's attention was on the article in the paper. "Computer programmer gets sued. Unfortunate
accident happened when John Smith threw a mouse on a door which made his boss slip and
break his arm. John was fired and sued by his boss." He was afraid the paper would keep him
busy but apparently it wasn't going to screw up this time.
"So I'll go to work now. I wrote my phone number and my address in your address book I found
near the telephone. Now I have to go to work." Shizuka got her purse.
"Okay. Uh... feel free to come over anytime, ok?" Gary wasn't sure himself what was going on
between them.
Shizuka waved to him from the door "I have to hurry now. I'll call you later."
Gary still wasn't able to tell what was wrong with Shizuka. She spent the night there but did
it mean they were having a relationship?! The paper was going to get between them but what was
he going to do about it. He was still confused with all the situation. Well it was better go
save the guy's job than wonder too much.
In an office John was trying to compile a file. Over and over but the damn thing wasn't working.
His boss passed thru his desk "I want to see that project on my desk before lunch!" He just
couldn't stand his boss anymore. "Okay, John you can do it. Just one more time" he was already
talking to himself. He made some changes on the file and tried to compile it again. The same message,
"that does it!" he was prepared to throw the mouse at his boss' office door when suddenly some
guy he never saw before ran into the office.
"You don't want to do it, John!" Gary read again the article in the paper.
"Who the hell are ya and how do you know my name?" John wanted to just kick the computer.
"Hey, throwing the mouse at that door won't help. But if you--" now reading from the paper
"check if there's free space on the hard disk, that might help."
John just saw it was the whole problem that he tried for hours to solve, thinking it was a bug
on the program he was doing. "Thanks man! You saved my job!"
Gary checked the paper and the headline had changed. "Next time read the error message, would ya?"
He sneaked out of the office before everyone started to ask how he knew.
Four days later Gary haven't heard from Shizuka. He left a couple of messages on her answering
machine but she didn't reply them. Things weren't going fast between them. Not at all. The
paper kept him busy the last few days, he was free only in the night. Lonely nights. Like that
one. He got the phone and dialed her number.
A female voice answered "Hello?"
"I, I'd like to speak with Shizuka please."
"Hi Gary. It's me."
"I wanted to know if you would like to have dinner with me sometime?" Gary didn't know if he
would be able to handle the paper in time but it was worth a shot.
"What about tomorrow night? There's a sushi bar near here called Nagareboshi. They have great
food there." Shizuka wasn't sure if it was a good idea.
"Sounds nice! What about 8 o'clock?"
"Fine. Pick me up here tomorrow then." Shizuka was happy about going out.
Gary spoke in a serious tone "Are you avoiding me, Shizuka?"
"Of course not! Gary... I've been covering up for a teacher who got sick, that's all." Shizuka
wasn't surprised by his question.
"I'm glad to hear that. Love you."
"Love you too. Bye."
Shizuka hang up and didn't know what to think. She wasn't sure if she wanted a relationship
with Gary. But she did agree to have dinner with him. Things were already complicated and
thinking didn't help. Could she make Gary wait so she could find out? It wouldn't be fair
to him. Miyuki heard the last part of her conversation on the phone so she started to tease
Shizuka.
"You spent a night over at his place and now you're already saying 'love you'. Way to go!"
Miyuki was just trying to make Shizuka laugh for a change.
Shizuka kept thinking silently. She felt like if she thought any harder her head would explode.
"Do you think I made a mistake, Miyuki?"
"Actually I think you would never be happy being a house wife so I think you're about to make
a mistake." Even though she hadn't met Gary yet she knew Shizuka was happy since she met him.
"Now you'll leave me with my thoughts just like Mom would do." Shizuka rolled her eyes.
"Are you seriously thinking of dumping the poor guy before even dating him for a while?" Miyuki
then thought about how she had said that but it was a bit too late.
"I'd like to know where you guys are buying the crystal balls!" Shizuka laughed for a moment
then "Is it so obvious?"
Miyuki had already gone through something like this herself in the past. "Blame those parents
of ours in Japan for this kind of mind we have. Don't worry Shizuka, you'll work this out."
Shizuka got her MD player and went out for a walk. It was a nice night in Chicago, a bit cold
but the sky was crystal clear. Walking around without paying much attention to where she was
going she ran into a lot of people, also some couples. There was one kissing passionately in a
corner that got her attention. She could be in Gary's arms right now. She wanted to be in his
arms. So why wasn't she? Because she was trying to find problems where there weren't any.
Gary was going thru yet another lonely night. It had been too long since he last saw her.
He couldn't understand why she was avoiding him. In a desperate try to keep his mind busy he
turned the TV on. Baywatch marathon, cheesy but didn't need any brain cell. After three episodes
he was still wondering about Shizuka. When he turned the TV off, someone knocked at his door.
It was already over midnight "do you want me to call a cab for you, Ma--" he saw Shizuka at
his door. "Shizuka?!"
"I missed you, Gary."
"I couldn't stop thinking about ya! I'm really glad you came over."
Gary sat on the sofa and the next thing he knows was Shizuka on top of him kissing his neck.
"That's really nice but--" she kissed him passionately on his lips. As she unbuttoned his shirt
she started to kiss his bare chest. He liked it but was still a bit worried. "You don't have
to do this, you know?" She stopped and took her sweater and then her bra off. Gary pulled her
over him and whispered "I love you". Gary walked her to the bed and she laid down. As he was
lying on top of her he felt something cold and hard at him. He opened his eyes and there was
the floor. He climbed back on the sofa, looking around, and nothing. "Just a dream?" he turned
the TV off and laid on the bed.
The paper didn't have much problems for Gary that day. He was a bit afraid he'd have to cancel
dinner but apparently he didn't have to. It was 5 PM and as far as he could see there was nobody
else who needed his help. So he got some flowers, went back to McGinty's to get dressed up. Black
turtle neck and jeans. He looked in the paper, and read on the front page: "Boy ran over on
Michigan Avenue - last night a young boy was run over by a car in a hit-and-run. It happened
shortly after 7:30 PM" Gary didn't believe the paper got it on this one. With some luck he
would get just a bit late.
He got down on Michigan Avenue. The paper said it was a green Volkswagen driving in high speed.
Gary looked around and there was a boy with his mother. She got distracted for a moment and
the boy started to walk on his own. Then Gary heard the car so he pulled the boy off the street.
His mother started to scream hysterically "Let my son go!". She took her son and walked away.
Gary said "You're welcome!", looked at his watch and it was a few minutes past 8 PM.
Shizuka was waiting for Gary. She was afraid he wouldn't show up. When she heard the door bell
she thanked heaven he came. Miyuki opened the door where a tall handsome stranger was gasping.
She let him in and said "You must be Gary. Nice to meet you."
"Gary Hobson, how do you do? You must be Miyuki, is that so?", Gary said while looking around.
"That's right. Shizuka will be down in a minute. I heard a lot about you lately, Gary."
Gary was looking around "Good things I hope."
Miyuki smiled "You're Shizuka's mysterious handsome hero."
"How's that again?"
"You know the way you saved her from Tarou. I would need someone as handsome as you to save me from
the boredom of being a house wife." Miyuki noticed he was embarrassed "Say, you don't happen to
have a brother, do you?"
"I'm afraid not. But if it doesn't work out with Shizuka we can try." Gary was just teasing her.
Shizuka was going downstairs just in time to hear "So you already have a list of women you'll
go out with if it doesn't work out between us, Gary?"
She was wearing a pink sweater and jeans. Gary gave her the flowers. He couldn't believe how
pretty she was looking in casual clothes. Not that she didn't look nice in formal clothes like
he saw her before, it's just that she looked so "the girl next door" like that.
"You're really pretty tonight, Shizuka."
"Thank you for the flowers Gary. I love them."
They left and were walking down the streets at night, not many people were around. It was a rather
calm neighborhood. Gary couldn't help noticing Shizuka seemed disturbed by something.
"Is there anything wrong?"
"Isn't life odd? I came to the USA because I got a job as an English teacher for Japanese business men"
Shizuka then smiled. "And I ended up falling in love here."
"I prefer to think if life was predictable it would be boring."
"Do you regret your marriage?" Shizuka was really curious about it.
Gary again got hurt about it "I regret I wasn't able to save it. But nowdays I'd say I'm over
it already."
They arrived at the bar. Gary felt a bit out of place there. Loud Japanese music and there was
lots of food he couldn't even pronounce. He sat down while she was ordering something for them.
He just saw some square cups and chopsticks on the table. "Oh boy!" He got a pair of chopsticks
and started trying to use them. Shizuka just ordered the food and came back to the table. It was
a cute sight to see him struggling with the chopsticks. She took his hand and explained how to use
them.
"It was really cute to see you trying."
Gary got embarrassed "It's just... uh... what are those square cups for?"
"Oh. Those are for sake. I know how you feel, I was a rice fed Japanese girl when I came to the
US." Shizuka then laughed.
"I don't feel out of place here. It's nice, the feeling around here." Gary was really enjoying
the feeling of the place.
The waiter brought the food. Some noodles with meat and vegetables but also the nightmare of
Non-Japanese people, Sushi. Gary wasn't sure where to start and even if it was eatable.
"I ordered some noodles and Sushi. You're aware Sushi is raw fish with rice, right?"
Raw fish. The thought of that made Gary's stomach angry. "I guess I'll stick to the noodles."
After their meal they stayed around the bar for a while. Shizuka sang a bit on the karaoke.
She was having a great night. Even though she didn't believe Gary would enjoy that place she
was seeing things differently. He wasn't trying to fit in, he was just enjoying being with her
there. She was tired herself of trying to fit. It was already two in the morning so the bar was
closing. They were the last customers leaving. He held her hand and so they walked on the empty
streets in the night. There weren't many people around. The moon was full in the sky.
Shizuka was happy "I had a great time there! I wish we could have stayed there longer though."
"So do I. It was a very nice night." Gary looked at her. "So now can I call you my girlfriend?"
She thought for a moment "First your parents have to meet mine. Then my dad will decide either
if you're good enough to be my husband..."
He looked away "It's fine as long as you tell me what's the problem."
They arrived at her home but she hadn't answered him yet. Shizuka just hoped she had made
up her mind already. It was hard to put feelings into words but she had to.
She placed her hand on his cheek "Gary, I love you. I just need a bit more time for my family's
sake."
He hugged her "I love you too. Let's try to keep in touch ok?"
They kissed. The rest of the walk was in automatic pilot, Gary wasn't in the mood for getting a
cab let alone the EL. He was wondering about the night and his life for that matter, mostly
how he was going to end up with her, when he saw the McGinty's sign at the end of the block.
"I'm home finally" he thought.
Some days later, Miyuki got a letter from her parents who asked her to go back to Hokkaido.
But her mother said in all words that they didn't want Shizuka back there. She wasn't welcome
anymore. Miyuki couldn't help getting really mad at her parents. She didn't want to leave the
US so fast and she wasn't going to leave Shizuka behind, not at all. Miyuki called Shizuka at
her job.
"What's wrong, Miyuki? Don't tell me something bad happened!"
Miyuki tried her best to keep calm "I got a letter from our parents asking me to go back."
"Hiroshi doesn't want to leave his job and you two had a fight?" Shizuka knew Miyuki's husband
would get mad at the idea.
"You're not welcome anymore."
Shizuka dropped down on her knees. It felt like the end of the world. The tears just ran down
her cheeks. People were staring at her but she couldn't care less at the moment. She couldn't
even speak.
"I'll pick you up at the school and we'll figure out something, ok?" Miyuki knew how much
it would hurt.
After some silence from Shizuka "Those parents of ours know how to spoil our lives, don't they?"
*To be continued*
Author Priscila M.
Disclaimer: Early Edition characters belong to Tristar Pictures. No copyright infringement
intended. No profit is being made. I just borrowed the characters for a while.
Summary: This fanfic is set in what would be the 5th season. Gary saves a woman and falls in
love with her. Nothing on EE world is as easy as it sounds. ;)
Author notes: It's my first fanfic written in english (I'm brazilian) and also my first Early
Edition one so please be kind. I'd like to thank Tina for being such a nice friend and beta
reading this fanfic. And also my brother Sergio for the ideas for the plot and his support.
Thanks for reading! :)
*Chapter 1*
"Marcia?!"
Gary woke up and sat on his bed. Looked around his empty loft and said out loud "just a dream?".
Feeling a bit disappointed he laid down in time to hear the paper arriving. He tried screaming
"I just had a lousy night, come back later" but the cat wouldn't stop meowing. Gary stood up
and went to the door and got the paper. He scanned the paper and there was nothing important
that needed his attention. So he took a bath and dressed up. On the way downstairs he said to
the cat "if you want anything go ask the people who send the paper, will ya?" and left.
Marissa was in the office taking care of some papers when she heard Gary coming.
"Good Morning, Gary. What's the problem?" she asked while placing some papers on the desk.
"Morning, Marissa. I just had a lousy dream, that's all. The damn cat doesn't let me sleep
and the paper doesn't let me have a life." he rubbed his face.
"You dreamt about Marcia again? Don't you find it a bit odd?"
"Should I? I mean I deal with a lot of worse things in the paper still-- oh boy!"
"What did you find in the paper?"
"Ah... the headline says 'unidentified Asian woman found dead in downtown Chicago' - early this
morning an Asian woman in her early 30's was found dead. Officials believe it was a robbery as
her purse wasn't found. The paper says she was beaten to death and it might have happened
around midday. So I have plenty of time to find something out how to stop it."
"Just be careful, Gary. Whoever did this in day light isn't going to get shy if you show up."
"I have plenty of time to realize what will happen. And this time I'll try to get some help
from the police. Don't worry, I'll be careful", Gary said while putting the paper on the back
pocket of his jeans.
All he needed to do was to go to the restaurant where the woman would be attacked, stop the guy
and all would be solved. He got off the cab in a nice neighborhood and checked his clock, it was
short after 9 AM for his relief. He found the restaurant Sakana no Sekai. Neat place, Asian
people going in and out pretty often. Japanese writing all over the place made Gary not very
comfortable. He decided to go inside hoping to find the victim or the attacker for that matter.
Going inside the place didn't help. While people were talking to him in Japanese his attention
was caught by the young woman singing on the karaoke. She was gorgeous, dressed in a red kimono
and with long black hair. Her voice sounded so gently in his ears that he just stopped and
stared at her. He was too distracted to notice the dirty looks the guy next to him was
throwing at both of them. Gary was smiling and she looked at him a couple of times. She ended
singing, Gary applauded which made half the customers on the restaurant turn to him.
Embarrassed, he just left the place and looked at the paper. Nothing had changed. "Oh boy!"
he placed the paper in his pocket.
Meanwhile the man in the restaurant was furious. He took the young woman by the arm, all the way
thru the dinning tables and the kitchen screaming at her which got the customer's attention once
more. He threw her on the ground outside. Furiously screaming "aitsu ga dare? koraerou!"
[who is he? answer me now!] while beating her on the face. All she could say was "Shiranai yo!"
[I don't know!"] which made him get even more furious. She tried to apologize in order to make
him calm down. After asking a couple of times more who the guy was he got a baseball bat,
screamed "subeta!" [bitch] and started to beat her with it.
Gary heard a woman screaming so he ran to find out what was going on. He saw the same woman
from the karaoke, only she was bleeding and almost unconscious. Fortunately Gary was able to
grab the bat which didn't make the man any happier about the situation. He punched Gary on the
nose, then punched him some more until Gary got on his knees to the ground. Then he payed
attention again to the woman, kicking her and screaming "anata no kareshi ne!". [your boyfriend, isn't he?]
While the man was too distracted beating the now unconscious victim Gary was able to knock him
down with the bat. He ran to check if the woman was okay, carried her on his arms and tried to
leave the place as soon as possible. After a block and a half he couldn't carry her anymore so
he stopped and sat on the ground gasping for some air. The woman was by his side, also sitting
on the ground staring straight ahead.
"Where's Tarou? And who are you?" she was almost whispering.
"If Tarou is the barbarian who was beating you, I left him unconscious there. And I'm Gary
Hobson". He was holding his hand on his nose.
She recognized him as the same guy from the restaurant. "Thank you, Gary. I'm Shizuka...
Tanemura. Tarou is my fiancé, he was angry because he got me singing on the karaoke and was
furious when you were staring at me--"
Gary couldn't believe she was saying it like it was normal "It's NOT a reason to beat someone
up like that. So calm down, I won't let anybody lay a finger on you anymore. We'll need to get you
into a hospital so we'd better get a cab."
"I don't think it's a good idea. It'd be the first place Tarou would look for me."
They arrived at McGinty's so Gary told Shizuka to wait for him in his loft. As she went
upstairs he checked the paper. "Chicagoan sat down on antique vase - early yesterday morning a
Chicagoan woman sat down on an antique vase that was left on the back seat of a cab. The victim
was taken to the hospital and got 20 stitches but she's fine. The vase was worth US$250,000.
It happened around 1 PM on Chicago's suburb." It was the only thing that needed his
attention. Relieved there was nothing related to her in the paper hew went to his loft
and found her on his bathroom. He sat down on the sofa, staring at the window while trying to
figure out how he'd help her. She came out of the bathroom while he was distracted with thinking.
So she sat down by his side on the sofa.
"I hope you don't mind I used your bathroom to fresh up a bit." Shizuka was still confused
after all what happened.
"No. That's fine, feel free to make yourself comfortable. Was it the first time your fiancé
did something like this?"
She looked to the ground "I'm afraid not. Our wedding was arranged by our families. In order
to keep the tradition I have to stand this kind of thing. I ended up getting used to the idea
now." A brief moment of silence. "Are you married, Gary?"
Gary couldn't help but getting hurt by the question "I... I'm divorced now. My wife threw my
stuff out of the window on our anniversary and told me it was over. After four years."
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to--"
"Really, that's fine. I have an important meeting in an hour but if you feel like you can stay
here."
"Thanks. I need to do some thinking so I'll stay here for a while."
Gary nodded and left his loft. Going downstairs in a hurry still thinking about the lucky
bastard who had such a nice person as fiancée and didn't even care about it. And asking himself
why he had run away when she asked him if he was married. Then he saw Marissa at the bar at a
table near the corner. He sat down there in silence and started to scan the paper. Marissa
stopped reading as she realized Gary was next to her.
"Gary, I'm glad you're alright. Did you save the woman in the paper?"
"Yeah. I wasn't able to stop the guy from beating her. I just stopped him from killing her.
She's upstairs now."
"So did you find out who was beating her?"
"Her fiancé was going to beat her to death, Marissa. Then she tells me she has to stand it in
order to keep her family tradition."
"It's serious but you can't make the decision for her. And if she chooses sticking to her
family you'll have to understand." Marissa knew it would be hard for him, too.
"I don't understand it at all." A brief moment of silence "Now I have to save a woman from
sitting on an antique vase so I'll see you later."
Marissa tried to suppress the laughter "Good luck, Gary!"
Gary was on Archer avenue trying to find a woman who could possibly be the one in the paper.
There were at least five people asking for cabs when he saw who he thought that would be the
woman. As she opened the door, Gary appeared in front of her as she was going to sit.
"Pervert, get out of my way!" she started to hit him with her purse.
"Easy, lady! There's an antique vase you were about to sit on!", Gary managed to say while she
was still suspecting him.
She looked inside and there was the vase. She handed it to the cab driver "I knew you were a
freak!" she entered the cab and left.
Gary had managed to save the vase so to speak. He still had to save a teenage girl from
breaking her neck while trying to get her cat off a tree and a robbery on a 7-11 store.
After that he finally arrived at McGinty's in the night. He entered, grabbed a beer and started
to drink it. Gary once again looked to the empty place. Feeling lonely and tired, he took
another sip on the beer, wondering if he would ever find time to live with the damn paper.
Then he heard a noise coming from his loft. Opening the door he found Shizuka writing on a
piece of paper. He entered, closed the door and stopped there.
Gary rubbed his hand "Are you leaving, Shizuka?"
"Oh Gary... I can't let you get in trouble. I wish you didn't appear there. So Tarou would
have beaten me, so what?"
Gary's mouth got wide open. "He would have killed you, ya know?"
Shizuka was cursing the fact she didn't leave before. "Now you're trying to get too much credit.
If someone knows what would have happened, that's me. So if you excuse me."
Shizuka wrote some more on the piece of paper while Gary was trying to figure out what to say.
She gave the paper to Gary and opened the door. Still not believing what was happening, he held
her hand gently and said "I love you". Surprised with his reaction she avoided looking at him.
Then she said "please, just try to forget me." Then she ran downstairs. Gary threw his paper on
the sofa and tried to stop himself from going after her. He felt like he could have done so
many things, he could have said so many things to her but he just made a fool out of himself.
She left McGinty's in the night. Feeling confused that Gary apparently really liked her and
thinking what would happen next time she meets Tarou, she got the EL to go back home. Arriving at
her home she entered saying "Tadaima!" [I'm home] and her sister replied "Okaeri!" [Welcome back].
Shizuka was afraid that Tarou could be there waiting for her.
"Where have you been, Shizuka? Tarou came here in the afternoon and said you were missing."
She gave a good look on her sister "Did he beat you today again?!"
"You know him, Miyuki. But I didn't run away... a stranger saved me from Tarou today. This
stranger fellow found me on Sakana no Sekai while I was singing on the karaoke" Shizuka was
still thinking about Gary.
Miyuki just couldn't believe it happened again "So, was the guy good looking?"
"Mou! Miyuki tara. [Hey! Stop it, Miyuki.] I'll take a bath now."
*chapter 2*
After three days without hearing for her again, there was nothing about her on tomorrow's
paper either. Gary was trying to avoid thinking about her, still he couldn't forget the fool he
made out of himself. He decided to try to find something to eat in the refrigerator. Someone
knocked on the door, he thought that finally Shizuka came back to talk to him. He quickly grabbed
his pants and opened the door. There was Marissa.
"Hi Marissa." Gary just couldn't hold back the disappointment to see her.
"Morning, Gary. Were you expecting someone else?" Marissa smiled.
"Sort of. So what brings you up here so early? Is there some problem at McGinty's?" he helped
Marissa to sit on the sofa.
"You have been so distant the last days. I'm worried about you, Gary. Did you have problems
with your saves?"
The last thing he wanted at the moment was talk but he knew that Marissa could help. So he ran
his hand thru his hair "When Shizuka left three days ago I told her I loved her but she just
ran away from me. I know, it was really stupid of me but I never felt like that since Marcia,
you know?" he sighed.
"But she didn't explain why she left nor anything?"
"She left something written in a paper but I couldn't bring myself to read yet."
"You're not expecting me to read it, are you?" Marissa smiled to tease Gary.
He gave a dirty look to Marissa, then got the piece of paper. He thought things couldn't get
much worse so he started to read out loud "Gary, I need to go home now. I have to see how
things are going to be with my family. Also I need some time to think about my whole life.
I just hope someday you'll be able to forgive me." He couldn't believe it. She was saying the
same things over and over again. What was she so afraid of? What the heck was wrong with her?
"Go talk to her. You already gave her enough time to think."
"I just hope I won't regret my actions once more."
He watched as Marissa stood up and went to the door. "If you need me, I'll be downstairs." Gary
nodded.
He went to the restaurant but she wasn't there. He tried to ask a few people there but they
couldn't understand English well enough to know what he wanted. Frustrated he went out and
walked for a while on around the neighborhood. Nothing. Then Gary thought it would be better to go
change some headlines as it wasn't helping him to find Shizuka. Looking at the paper there was
an article about a guy who was going to jump off Cortland Street Bridge.
Shizuka was leaving her house to go work when Tarou appeared. He noticed she looked upset
about something. "Can we go inside for a moment?" she was a bit afraid about his reaction as
he always was an impulsive guy who didn't think before doing anything.
"Tarou, there's no easy way to say that but it's over. Our engagement is over. I already called
my parents in Hokkaido and told them."
He just kept looking at her not believing his ears "Is it all about that gaijin [foreigner]
guy you're walking around with?"
"Even though it's none of your business, it's not about him. I don't even know him! Now I have
to go work."
She left feeling afraid it could be the biggest mistake of her life. So now she didn't know
what was going to happen in her future. Shizuka just walked thru the streets of Chicago looking
around, feeling lost and confused. There was Gary, a rather strange guy who did care about her
enough to fight with Tarou. So many questions on her mind and not enough answers.
Gary walked around the Cortland Street Bridge. The paper said it happened in the morning but
didn't have much details. So he stayed there trying to find anyone who would fit the description
in the paper. He saw the guy preparing himself to jump and screamed "Heeeeeeey! Hey, Todd!"
Todd pushed him away. "Stop it, will ya?"
"Is there something wrong, superman?" Todd lit up a cigarette. "What?! I'm going to kill
myself! Do you think I care if I'd have cancer in the future?"
Gary was lost now. "Uh... why don't you tell me what's wrong?" He checked the paper and the
article was still there. "Come on!"
"Besides the fact you're wasting my time... I was fired today and my girlfriend dumped me when
I told her about that."
"You know what I think? I think you can get a better job and you still can get your girlfriend
back. And don't rush your conclusions." Gary was getting worried about the guy already.
Todd thought for a moment "I'll give myself some time to think."
Gary saw the article was gone on the paper and just disappeared from the place. Avoiding too
many questions was always good. So he had some free time and he called McGinty's before going
to the last save of the day. Nothing too dangerous, just a guy who was going to be ran over
while crossing the street while talking in a cell phone. He called McGinty's from the street phone
and Marissa picked up the phone.
"Hello, McGinty's."
"It's me, Gary."
"Gary! Did you find Shizuka already?"
Before he could answer someone appeared behind him and he felt a point metallic thing on his
back. The man just said "Hang up now!" Gary knew it was a gun but didn't know anything else. All
he said was "I gotta go now" and hang up. Then he put his hands up. "Just walk until I tell
you to stop". Still not able to see who the guy was nor knowing what the person wanted, Gary
said "Take my wallet and whatever more you want!" but the gunman didn't reply. They stopped in
an alley. Gary managed to turn around and to his surprise it was Tarou.
"You?! What do you want?"
Tarou laughed about his question. "You have to stop screwing my fiancée behind my back!"
"You see, I'm not screwing anybody's--"
Tarou pointed his gun at Gary's forehead. "If you don't stop talking right now, you'll die!"
For Gary's luck a police car passed by so Tarou ran away. Gary just stopped there not believing
what could have happened. After a few minutes recovering himself he got into a cab to his next
save.
Shizuka left her job and decided to talk to Gary that day too. After all she had already thrown
away her marriage, why not talk to him too. She was on the EL looking at Chicago in the night.
She wasn't prepared to leave that city for going back to Hokkaido, not yet at least. That was
the only thing she was sure of. Finally she arrived at McGinty's and it was closed. A waiter
told her the bar was already closed but when she said she was looking for Gary, he told her to
talk to Marissa.
"You must be Shizuka, is that right?"
Shizuka got surprised "Did Gary talk to you about me?"
Marissa smiled "A lot." After a brief pause "He was looking for you today."
"So I'm glad I came here. Does Gary own his place?"
"Yeah. I'm his partner."
Gary entered thru the front door gasping like he had ran a marathon. He sat down at the bar to
check the paper, not realizing Shizuka was talking to Marissa a few chairs away. For his
relief there wasn't anything needing his care. He folded the paper and placed it inside his
jacket. Just then he saw both Marissa and Shizuka standing near him.
"Good night, ladies."
"Are you alright, Gary? What happened when you were talking to me on the phone?"
Gary still didn't know how he should tell it to them. "Shizuka, could you please wait for me
upstairs?"
Shizuka didn't mind at all. "Sure, I'll wait for you."
Gary sighed "Marissa... I just hang up because her fiancé was pointing a gun at my back."
Marissa got shocked "Oh my god! Will you wait until he kills you to stop seeing Shizuka?"
"I'll go upstairs putting an end to this before it ends bad to anyone."
Gary left the bar still shaking. Not every day someone pointed a gun at his head. He really
liked Shizuka and he didn't mind going thru all this if he was going to end up with her. But
that crazy Tarou wasn't going to get happy before killing someone. Each step of the stairs was
hard not just because he was tired. Mostly because he was going to end something that hadn't
started with Shizuka. Getting close to the door he heard her singing inside his loft. "Okay,
you're a grown man Gary. It's for her sake too." He entered the loft and she was singing while
looking inside the refrigerator. He smiled. She closed the door just then realized he was there.
"I hope you don't mind..."
They both sat down on the sofa. Gary sighed, then said "Earlier... I... you see, Tarou pointed a
gun at me today when I was talking on the phone."
"Just like him. He likes to scare people around him."
"Are you kidding? He's crazy! He could have gotten me full of holes today if the police hadn't
been around!"
Shizuka stood up and went to the bathroom. Gary then again regretted what he had said about
Tarou. After all the barbarian was her fiancé. He just wished he knew how to turn back the time
and change what happened since he met Shizuka. She came out of the bathroom and sat down
on the bed.
"Tarou flew back to Japan tonight. I was supposed to be with him as we were going to marry next week."
She couldn't hold back the tears now. "I just hope it wasn't the biggest mistake of my life!"
Gary really didn't know what to say. "I'm so sorry! I didn't-- I mean--"
Still fighting her tears, Shizuka smiled and said "I'm tired..." Gary sat down next to her on the
bed and hugged her. In his arms she didn't feel lost anymore. It felt really nice and she was
just hoping she could be there forever. Then she kissed him gently. Gary smiled at her and whispered
in her ear "I love you" then kissed her in the neck. After a while without saying anything,
Shizuka then said "I love you too, Gary." They laid down on the bed until both fell asleep in
each others arms.
*Chapter 3*
Shizuka woke up at 5 in the morning. Gary's arms were around her. She looked at him sleeping. He was so cute there sleeping.
It was too early to call Miyuki so she decided to watch some TV. She grabbed the remote control
and started searching for something to watch. Infomercials, Law & Order, Baywatch which made
her miss watching NHK at night. So she finally started to watch Buffy. It was so interesting
that she fell asleep after a few minutes holding the remote on her hand.
Thump. Meow. Gary grabbed the pillow and placed it on his head. Shizuka was making some coffee
so she opened the door and saw the cat on the paper. She petted the cat and got the paper. She
left it near the window and gave some milk to the cat. Gary woke up and saw her feeding the cat.
He got in panic because of the paper and started to look around for it.
"Morning Gary. This kitty is lovely. Is it yours?"
He was still searching for the paper "Kinda. Uh... have you seen my paper?"
Shizuka was putting some coffee in a mug "You mean the one which was with the cat at the door?
It's there." she pointed.
Gary got it and immediately started reading it. Then he noticed she didn't find anything
unusual about the paper so he felt relieved. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes. Do you mind if I call my sister? She might be worried about me."
He was still reading the paper "Uh... no I don't mind. Go ahead."
Shizuka was finishing her coffee and looked at Gary there reading the paper. He was nice to
stare at and also nice to be around too. She thought "Things could be much worse" as Miyuki
would say. She smiled about her thought. Gary was going to get some coffee, then she kissed him.
Then she decided to call Miyuki before going to work. She got the answering machine.
"Miyuki, watashi desu. Kare no uchi ni nemurita. Mou daijobu, ima shigoto e ikimasu. Ja nee."
[It's me. I slept at his place. Everything is fine, now I'm going to work. Bye.]
Gary's attention was on the article in the paper. "Computer programmer gets sued. Unfortunate
accident happened when John Smith threw a mouse on a door which made his boss slip and
break his arm. John was fired and sued by his boss." He was afraid the paper would keep him
busy but apparently it wasn't going to screw up this time.
"So I'll go to work now. I wrote my phone number and my address in your address book I found
near the telephone. Now I have to go to work." Shizuka got her purse.
"Okay. Uh... feel free to come over anytime, ok?" Gary wasn't sure himself what was going on
between them.
Shizuka waved to him from the door "I have to hurry now. I'll call you later."
Gary still wasn't able to tell what was wrong with Shizuka. She spent the night there but did
it mean they were having a relationship?! The paper was going to get between them but what was
he going to do about it. He was still confused with all the situation. Well it was better go
save the guy's job than wonder too much.
In an office John was trying to compile a file. Over and over but the damn thing wasn't working.
His boss passed thru his desk "I want to see that project on my desk before lunch!" He just
couldn't stand his boss anymore. "Okay, John you can do it. Just one more time" he was already
talking to himself. He made some changes on the file and tried to compile it again. The same message,
"that does it!" he was prepared to throw the mouse at his boss' office door when suddenly some
guy he never saw before ran into the office.
"You don't want to do it, John!" Gary read again the article in the paper.
"Who the hell are ya and how do you know my name?" John wanted to just kick the computer.
"Hey, throwing the mouse at that door won't help. But if you--" now reading from the paper
"check if there's free space on the hard disk, that might help."
John just saw it was the whole problem that he tried for hours to solve, thinking it was a bug
on the program he was doing. "Thanks man! You saved my job!"
Gary checked the paper and the headline had changed. "Next time read the error message, would ya?"
He sneaked out of the office before everyone started to ask how he knew.
Four days later Gary haven't heard from Shizuka. He left a couple of messages on her answering
machine but she didn't reply them. Things weren't going fast between them. Not at all. The
paper kept him busy the last few days, he was free only in the night. Lonely nights. Like that
one. He got the phone and dialed her number.
A female voice answered "Hello?"
"I, I'd like to speak with Shizuka please."
"Hi Gary. It's me."
"I wanted to know if you would like to have dinner with me sometime?" Gary didn't know if he
would be able to handle the paper in time but it was worth a shot.
"What about tomorrow night? There's a sushi bar near here called Nagareboshi. They have great
food there." Shizuka wasn't sure if it was a good idea.
"Sounds nice! What about 8 o'clock?"
"Fine. Pick me up here tomorrow then." Shizuka was happy about going out.
Gary spoke in a serious tone "Are you avoiding me, Shizuka?"
"Of course not! Gary... I've been covering up for a teacher who got sick, that's all." Shizuka
wasn't surprised by his question.
"I'm glad to hear that. Love you."
"Love you too. Bye."
Shizuka hang up and didn't know what to think. She wasn't sure if she wanted a relationship
with Gary. But she did agree to have dinner with him. Things were already complicated and
thinking didn't help. Could she make Gary wait so she could find out? It wouldn't be fair
to him. Miyuki heard the last part of her conversation on the phone so she started to tease
Shizuka.
"You spent a night over at his place and now you're already saying 'love you'. Way to go!"
Miyuki was just trying to make Shizuka laugh for a change.
Shizuka kept thinking silently. She felt like if she thought any harder her head would explode.
"Do you think I made a mistake, Miyuki?"
"Actually I think you would never be happy being a house wife so I think you're about to make
a mistake." Even though she hadn't met Gary yet she knew Shizuka was happy since she met him.
"Now you'll leave me with my thoughts just like Mom would do." Shizuka rolled her eyes.
"Are you seriously thinking of dumping the poor guy before even dating him for a while?" Miyuki
then thought about how she had said that but it was a bit too late.
"I'd like to know where you guys are buying the crystal balls!" Shizuka laughed for a moment
then "Is it so obvious?"
Miyuki had already gone through something like this herself in the past. "Blame those parents
of ours in Japan for this kind of mind we have. Don't worry Shizuka, you'll work this out."
Shizuka got her MD player and went out for a walk. It was a nice night in Chicago, a bit cold
but the sky was crystal clear. Walking around without paying much attention to where she was
going she ran into a lot of people, also some couples. There was one kissing passionately in a
corner that got her attention. She could be in Gary's arms right now. She wanted to be in his
arms. So why wasn't she? Because she was trying to find problems where there weren't any.
Gary was going thru yet another lonely night. It had been too long since he last saw her.
He couldn't understand why she was avoiding him. In a desperate try to keep his mind busy he
turned the TV on. Baywatch marathon, cheesy but didn't need any brain cell. After three episodes
he was still wondering about Shizuka. When he turned the TV off, someone knocked at his door.
It was already over midnight "do you want me to call a cab for you, Ma--" he saw Shizuka at
his door. "Shizuka?!"
"I missed you, Gary."
"I couldn't stop thinking about ya! I'm really glad you came over."
Gary sat on the sofa and the next thing he knows was Shizuka on top of him kissing his neck.
"That's really nice but--" she kissed him passionately on his lips. As she unbuttoned his shirt
she started to kiss his bare chest. He liked it but was still a bit worried. "You don't have
to do this, you know?" She stopped and took her sweater and then her bra off. Gary pulled her
over him and whispered "I love you". Gary walked her to the bed and she laid down. As he was
lying on top of her he felt something cold and hard at him. He opened his eyes and there was
the floor. He climbed back on the sofa, looking around, and nothing. "Just a dream?" he turned
the TV off and laid on the bed.
The paper didn't have much problems for Gary that day. He was a bit afraid he'd have to cancel
dinner but apparently he didn't have to. It was 5 PM and as far as he could see there was nobody
else who needed his help. So he got some flowers, went back to McGinty's to get dressed up. Black
turtle neck and jeans. He looked in the paper, and read on the front page: "Boy ran over on
Michigan Avenue - last night a young boy was run over by a car in a hit-and-run. It happened
shortly after 7:30 PM" Gary didn't believe the paper got it on this one. With some luck he
would get just a bit late.
He got down on Michigan Avenue. The paper said it was a green Volkswagen driving in high speed.
Gary looked around and there was a boy with his mother. She got distracted for a moment and
the boy started to walk on his own. Then Gary heard the car so he pulled the boy off the street.
His mother started to scream hysterically "Let my son go!". She took her son and walked away.
Gary said "You're welcome!", looked at his watch and it was a few minutes past 8 PM.
Shizuka was waiting for Gary. She was afraid he wouldn't show up. When she heard the door bell
she thanked heaven he came. Miyuki opened the door where a tall handsome stranger was gasping.
She let him in and said "You must be Gary. Nice to meet you."
"Gary Hobson, how do you do? You must be Miyuki, is that so?", Gary said while looking around.
"That's right. Shizuka will be down in a minute. I heard a lot about you lately, Gary."
Gary was looking around "Good things I hope."
Miyuki smiled "You're Shizuka's mysterious handsome hero."
"How's that again?"
"You know the way you saved her from Tarou. I would need someone as handsome as you to save me from
the boredom of being a house wife." Miyuki noticed he was embarrassed "Say, you don't happen to
have a brother, do you?"
"I'm afraid not. But if it doesn't work out with Shizuka we can try." Gary was just teasing her.
Shizuka was going downstairs just in time to hear "So you already have a list of women you'll
go out with if it doesn't work out between us, Gary?"
She was wearing a pink sweater and jeans. Gary gave her the flowers. He couldn't believe how
pretty she was looking in casual clothes. Not that she didn't look nice in formal clothes like
he saw her before, it's just that she looked so "the girl next door" like that.
"You're really pretty tonight, Shizuka."
"Thank you for the flowers Gary. I love them."
They left and were walking down the streets at night, not many people were around. It was a rather
calm neighborhood. Gary couldn't help noticing Shizuka seemed disturbed by something.
"Is there anything wrong?"
"Isn't life odd? I came to the USA because I got a job as an English teacher for Japanese business men"
Shizuka then smiled. "And I ended up falling in love here."
"I prefer to think if life was predictable it would be boring."
"Do you regret your marriage?" Shizuka was really curious about it.
Gary again got hurt about it "I regret I wasn't able to save it. But nowdays I'd say I'm over
it already."
They arrived at the bar. Gary felt a bit out of place there. Loud Japanese music and there was
lots of food he couldn't even pronounce. He sat down while she was ordering something for them.
He just saw some square cups and chopsticks on the table. "Oh boy!" He got a pair of chopsticks
and started trying to use them. Shizuka just ordered the food and came back to the table. It was
a cute sight to see him struggling with the chopsticks. She took his hand and explained how to use
them.
"It was really cute to see you trying."
Gary got embarrassed "It's just... uh... what are those square cups for?"
"Oh. Those are for sake. I know how you feel, I was a rice fed Japanese girl when I came to the
US." Shizuka then laughed.
"I don't feel out of place here. It's nice, the feeling around here." Gary was really enjoying
the feeling of the place.
The waiter brought the food. Some noodles with meat and vegetables but also the nightmare of
Non-Japanese people, Sushi. Gary wasn't sure where to start and even if it was eatable.
"I ordered some noodles and Sushi. You're aware Sushi is raw fish with rice, right?"
Raw fish. The thought of that made Gary's stomach angry. "I guess I'll stick to the noodles."
After their meal they stayed around the bar for a while. Shizuka sang a bit on the karaoke.
She was having a great night. Even though she didn't believe Gary would enjoy that place she
was seeing things differently. He wasn't trying to fit in, he was just enjoying being with her
there. She was tired herself of trying to fit. It was already two in the morning so the bar was
closing. They were the last customers leaving. He held her hand and so they walked on the empty
streets in the night. There weren't many people around. The moon was full in the sky.
Shizuka was happy "I had a great time there! I wish we could have stayed there longer though."
"So do I. It was a very nice night." Gary looked at her. "So now can I call you my girlfriend?"
She thought for a moment "First your parents have to meet mine. Then my dad will decide either
if you're good enough to be my husband..."
He looked away "It's fine as long as you tell me what's the problem."
They arrived at her home but she hadn't answered him yet. Shizuka just hoped she had made
up her mind already. It was hard to put feelings into words but she had to.
She placed her hand on his cheek "Gary, I love you. I just need a bit more time for my family's
sake."
He hugged her "I love you too. Let's try to keep in touch ok?"
They kissed. The rest of the walk was in automatic pilot, Gary wasn't in the mood for getting a
cab let alone the EL. He was wondering about the night and his life for that matter, mostly
how he was going to end up with her, when he saw the McGinty's sign at the end of the block.
"I'm home finally" he thought.
Some days later, Miyuki got a letter from her parents who asked her to go back to Hokkaido.
But her mother said in all words that they didn't want Shizuka back there. She wasn't welcome
anymore. Miyuki couldn't help getting really mad at her parents. She didn't want to leave the
US so fast and she wasn't going to leave Shizuka behind, not at all. Miyuki called Shizuka at
her job.
"What's wrong, Miyuki? Don't tell me something bad happened!"
Miyuki tried her best to keep calm "I got a letter from our parents asking me to go back."
"Hiroshi doesn't want to leave his job and you two had a fight?" Shizuka knew Miyuki's husband
would get mad at the idea.
"You're not welcome anymore."
Shizuka dropped down on her knees. It felt like the end of the world. The tears just ran down
her cheeks. People were staring at her but she couldn't care less at the moment. She couldn't
even speak.
"I'll pick you up at the school and we'll figure out something, ok?" Miyuki knew how much
it would hurt.
After some silence from Shizuka "Those parents of ours know how to spoil our lives, don't they?"
*To be continued*