Vicky smirked as she eyed the clearly worried and terrified Eleanor and Chidi. Beside them, Michael, Tahani, and Jason were unusually quiet. "So you thought you could slip this giant lie past me. Forking amatuers. I know the perfect punishment for you two."
Tahani tentatively raised her hand. "Um, excuse me? Vicky, not that I'm asking you to punish us or anything but why is this only applying to Chidi and Eleanor?"
Vicky rolled her eyes. "Shut up. You three will get your own form of punishment and I'm going to enjoy it."
"We're sorry?" Chidi tried, a hopeful look on his face.
"Don't. She's already made up her mind," Eleanor frantically whispered to him.
"She's right." Vicky gleefully clapped her hands together. "This is unusual but I'm sending you two back to Earth and I'm wiping your memories of each other."
Michael paused and his eyes widened. "You can't do that," he told her.
"Shut up, Michael," Vicky ordered. She laughed, turned to face Eleanor and Chidi, and then snapped her fingers.
Six months since the incident with the shopping cart (as she deemed it) that left her comatose for three weeks, Eleanor was still struggling with her life and trying to become a better person. It was hard but she was slowly figuring it out. And she had found some awesome new friends because her old friends (if she could call them that, anyway) didn't like this so-called new and improved version of Eleanor Shellstrop. "You're not fun anymore," complained Tess.
"Yeah, it's really dragging us down," Billie chimed in.
"And why do I care what you think? You were never really my friends then weren't you?" she asked them.
That stunned them both. "What?" asked an outraged Tess.
"Then you weren't really our friend either." Billie hoped she had thrown Eleanor for a loop and called her bluff or whatever but doubted it.
Eleanor rolled her eyes. "Really, that's the best you two could come up with? Amateurs." Yeah, she was trying to be a better person but didn't always succeed. She was learning, though, and definitely allowed to make mistakes! Nobody could judge her for that. Starting all over again was really hard - way harder than she had ever she was determined to do it.
Chidi was still stumped on how he had survived the near miss that almost ended his life but he wasn't taking this second chance for granted. He could actually make decisions now (most of the time, anyway - his anxiety still flared up at inopportune moments but he was used to that) and it was fantastic. He went over and over it in his head all the time and couldn't shut it off, no matter how hard he tried. It was really irritating and stress-inducing in multiple ways. "Chidi, why don't you come out to eat with us?" asked his friend, Alexandre.
He was about to tell Alexandre that he wasn't hungry but something made him stop and reconsider. "Sure, I'll go," he agreed, surprising even himself. Who was he now? It was freaking him out.
Alexandre's eyes widened. "Really?"
"Really," Chidi confirmed. He stood up and followed Alexandre out the door, wondering if this new outlook on life was going to continue. He really hoped so.
"Do you want to go out dancing with us?" Eleanor's friend, Tori, asked her.
"I'm always up to go dancing. Do you even know me?" Eleanor teased.
"Of course I do - that's why I asked," Tori playfully shot back at her.
"Great! Let's go!" Eleanor grinned but it felt forced. Something had been off for weeks and she couldn't figure out why - yeah, there was a bit of an adjustment period after ending up comatose but it felt like more than that. She couldn't put her finger on it and the whole thing was driving her up the wall so she'd rather forget about it and go out and enjoy herself - that seemed like a way better plan.
Dancing it out did seem fun - and she told Tori as much - but it still felt like part of her was missing. And she inever/i felt like this so it was throwing her off. And getting drunk didn't seem like it would be fun so Eleanor stayed away from alcohol. "You can't keep doing this to yourself! You need to enjoy yourself and let go!" urged Gerald, another one of her friends. Tori bopped her head in agreement.
Eleanor twirled around and laughed. "You two do know me lately," she mused wistfully as a fast song began to play. A wave of sadness briefly overtook her but she pushed it away for just a few minutes so she could continue enjoying herself. This moment right here was what mattered.
"I can't believe I'm going to bicycle around the city," Chidi complained.
"You enjoy it," an amused Alexandre replied.
"Yes, I do, but it doesn't mean I can't complain about this." Chidi was bored, however, and needed something to do. Everything felt off and he couldn't figure out why. He wracked his brain all the time but nothing was coming to him. He shook his head and followed Alexandre outside.
"You need to get out and have fun. That's what matters." Alexandre was definitely happy to corrupt Chidi as much as his friend allowed. At least he was willing to take chances now. That was definitely completely different from before.
Chidi glared at the bicycle but climbed up on it anyway and started following Alexandre down the road. He found himself enjoying the moment and actually having fun so he forgot about his troubles for the time being. "We should stop to eat!" he shouted.
"Are you sure?" Alexandre shouted back.
"Yes! I'm starving!" So they stopped at a restaurant to eat, and Chidi found himself trying something that wasn't his usual. It was his nice change even though he felt some uncertainty about the decision.
Eleanor had disliked grocery shopping before but ever since the incident, she had hated the task. It was ten times worse but she pretty much had nothing in the apartment so it was time to go. So she pulled herself off the couch, showered, and headed to the grocery store. She jumped back upon seeing the grocery carts - she tried to avoid them all together now but couldn't always - and looked for baskets. Unfortunately, there were none left so she had to use the grocery cart. She quickly grabbed her items and then bumped into someone. "Sorry," she apologized (something she never would have done before).
"It's no problem," the man assured her. He smiled at her and then went on his way.
Eleanor could only shrug and continue down the aisle. She picked up some bread, peanut butter, and other miscellaneous items before heading to the freezer section. She shivered at how cold it made her (as always) before grabbing the last ice cream container. A shiver went up her spine and she blamed it on the cold before she bumped into someone else. Recognition hit and her eyes widened. "Chidi?" she asked, her voice small.
Chidi really didn't want to go to the store but he needed some food. After picking up some steak and potato salad, he decided to throw caution to the wind and get some dessert. Unfortunately, he kept getting sidetracked by other items he nearly forgot about. And then he ran into an old high school friend. "Chidi! You look the same as always! How long has it been?" questioned Amelie, someone he hadn't seen in a long time.
"Years," Chidi answered, wishing he was somewhere else. Why did this always happen to him? He wanted to be in and out but of course that couldn't happen.
"What's going on in your life? Married? Someone you love?" Amelie pressed.
A twinge of something went through Chidi's mind but he ignored it. "No, I'm still single. There's nobody in my life." Why did that feel like a lie, though?
"Aw, that's sad. You want to go out with me?" Amelie looked at him expectantly.
He shook his head. "Sorry, Amelie, but I'm not interested. We could be friends if you want - I'm not opposed to that."
Amelie looked disappointed but she understood. "Of course we can be friends! I miss you, Chidi." She wrote something down quickly on a piece of paper and the two of them exchanged numbers. He then finally made his way towards the freezer section.
He winced upon bumping into someone and went to apologize but before he could the blonde woman - Eleanor? - was saying his name. "Eleanor?" he asked, confused beyond belief after he practically screamed his name.
An alarm began blaring - their ears starting ringing so loudly Eleanor covered hers - and wouldn't stop. "What is going on?" she yelled at him.
"I have no clue!" he answered, trying to figure that out himself. Why would he have any answers?
The alarm finally stopped and several people suddenly appeared in front of them. "Are you forking kidding me? Are you serious right now?" Vicky complained to Michael.
He smirked at her. "I tried to tell you - these two find each other in every possible reboot. Your punishment failed the second you came up with it. I'm starting to wonder if they're actual soul mates."
Eleanor waved her hand at them. "Uh, hi. What the fork is going on?"
Vicky snapped her fingers and memories flooded both their brains - they had only recognized each other, truthfully. The grocery store illusion disappeared right in front of Chidi and Eleanor's eyes. "Wait, weren't we supposed to be sent back to Earth?" Chidi asked them.
Michael stepped up then. "I tried telling you - we don't have the power to send you back to Earth. That's not in our wheelhouse, although it would be a pretty awesome way to torture someone. Vicky only made you think she resurrected you to punish you for your deception. Our punishment was that we were forced to watch you lead boring lives on 'Earth'. It definitely wasn't fun for us," he complained.
Tahani and Jason bolted towards Eleanor and Chidi, and hugged them. "We missed you," Tahani informed them.
"I was really bored. Vicky's mean," Jason complained.
"Sorry. And we really missed you too but I need to talk to Chidi by myself for a minute. Turn around," Eleanor ordered.
The three of them complained about it (and Vicky didn't listen) but did exactly that. Eleanor launched herself at Chidi and the two of them started making out. "I love you," she murmured tearfully.
"I love you too," he told her after sitting her back down on the floor. He grinned at her and was unsurprised to see she was doing the same.
Vicky's punishment had failed - Eleanor and Chidi would always find each other and there was nothing anybody could do about it. Michael was back in charge and there was nothing Vicky could do it. Coming between this group of people was the worst idea of them all - they were family.