Max sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly as she entered the small diner, it was early morning and the diner was full of people in suits about to start their day and shift works finishing theirs. The diner as she walked in further and sat down at the counter with bar stools had the unmistakable smell of coffee and bacon grease. A smiling woman approached her behind the counter and placed a laminated menu in front of her, Max glanced down and noticed that the diner was 24 hours and offered all types of meals at all time. She quickly ordered a coffee and vegetarian omelette. A large man was working out back, his music playing loudly and he would call out greetings to his regular customers or when speaking with the only waitress who wore old fashions dark navy uniforms with white shoes and their hairs piled up high on their heads.
"STACEY!" The man yelled
"JACK" the woman yelled back
"ORDER UP" he called
"Jack I'm doing everything I can" she sighed as she walked behind the counter and up to the cut out window into the kitchens
"Lace didn't show so it's just you today"
"Great, did you call Lace, she alright?" Stacey asked as she rushed around putting down plates of food, filling up coffee cups and taking orders
"Cant get a hold of her" Jack answered angrily slamming pots and pans in the kitchen
"Sent Melanie over to her place and its been cleaned out, she's left town I reckon"
"Well shit" Stacey sighed
Jack looked at her with a frown at her language and noticed Max nursing her coffee cup
"You're the girl who was at the bar last night showing round that old photo" he stated
Max smiled tightly
"I know who those two men are" Jack added walking out of the kitchen wiping his hands on a tea towel hanging out of his pocket before offering it to Max
"Jack Hottem"
"Max"
"Why you trying to find them"
"Old family friends" she added
"You ever worked as a waitress before?" he asked
"All my life, mama owned a bakery and cafe"
Jack smiled
"You work the morning rush with Stacey, just for tips mind and ill tell you where you can find the men"
Max looked into Jacks red rimmed eyes
"Tips and 3 bucks an hour"
"Fine, spare uniform out back, don't suppose you got other shoes?" he asked looking at her feet where her jeans were tucked into her doc martins.
"Nope" she answered but she started pulling up her long blonde and light brown messy curls into a bun and walked out back.
The morning started to fly by with Max and Stacey working the front of the diner, Max fell back into old habits, having worked in her mothers café since before she could reach the counters properly. She found that Stacey was nice, had an evil cackle of a laugh and Jack enjoyed turning up the music when he liked a song. The early morning customers left and the families with children came in, the soon left and the last breakfast push include the students and brunch customers who clearly did not enjoy early mornings.
Max heard the door bell chime but was asking Stacey a question as she piled several plates on one arm and a tray with coffees and drinks on the other.
"JACK!" A male voice yelled out angrily behind her, the man walked into the kitchen and another man stood at the side of the counter after after the first in. The other man was very tall, with tan skin and dirty blonde hair brushed off his face, he looked like a man who had lived a hard life most of which was self-inflicted, his jeans clinged to his long limbs and an old long sleeve off white t-shirt was pushed up to his elbows and he watched the door to the kitchen with interest but Max knew the man was more than aware of everything going on in the diner. Max finished talking with Stacey as another man entered, he looked to the tall blonde standing guard who jerked his head roughly towards the kitchen door. The other man's dark coloured muscles almost escaping his black t-shirt
"Christmas" he called
She looked to Stacey who just rolled her eyes, Max had moved around the counter and as she stepped out in front of the kitchen door she noticed the blonde in front of her looking at her boots with an amused smile.
The kitchen door slammed open and the man came charging out, the kitchen door hit Max's back sending her flying forwards, plates hit the floor, sauces spilled down her uniform, coffees spilled, she gasped as hot liquids soaked through her clothing onto her skin, glasses broke. She hit a solid chest before she rearing back, slipping on the large mess, she felt herself falling backwards and as her legs flew out from underneath her she closed her eyes knowing it would hurt a lot when she landed on the cold floor and shattered glass.
Firm arms circled her waist and pulled her upright, the hands held her tight and picked her up as if she weighed nothing, putting her down where the floor was not covered in broken plates. She opened her eyes and looking up found hazel eyes looking at her. She stepped back looking down at her feet again and looking back up at the tall man
"Thank you"
"Hang on" he answered her, voice gravely and rough
He turned his upper body away from her, he grabbed the man who had knocked her over by the shoulder and roughly pulled him over
"Apologise" he stated in a dark voice glaring at the shorter man
"Oh, I'm okay" stammered Max hurried
"Apoligise Christmas, you almost knocked this pretty woman clean off her feet"
The smaller man looking at the blonde for a moment before turning to face Max
"I'm sorry I knocked you over and made this mess Miss" he answered tonelessly
"Its okay" she answered turning to look at Jack who came out shaking his head at the one she gathered they called 'Christmas' and handed Max a mop, broom and a bucket with a dust pan and broom in it.
The bucket was taken out of her hand by the tall blonde and handed to Christmas
"Oh come on" he yelled looking at the blonde
"I don't care if you think she is pretty" he added angrily
She looked down and started sweeping the food and broken pieces into a pile while Stacey started buzzing around taking Max tables, Jack had headed back into the kitchen to re cook the meals that had been destroyed.
Max had made a tall pile and picking up the dust pan started to bend down, planning to kneel on the ground and scope it all into the bucket before mopping the liquid and mess up. Firm hands gripped her hips gently and pulled her upright again, she spun around looking at the tall man who seemed have no sense of personal space
He took the dust pan and handed it to 'Christmas, handed the bucket to the other man and he picked up the mop. Water was fetched and while she stood there in shock the men quickly and silently cleaned up the mess.
"Thank you" she blushed smiling kindly at the men as they finished up, she rushed around giving meals out and taking orders.
"Whats taking so long" called out another voice from the door, Max was too busy to pay the new comer any notice, the three men followed him out and Max lent against the table with a sigh as her shift was over.
Jack smiled at her and looking out the door before speaking
"The dark haired mans in your photo name is Barney"
"Barney what?" She pushed disappointed Jack did not name the fairer blonde man
"Ross" Jack answered before he pointed out the window
"That's him with your new friends" he added
Max spun around and watched the group of men except the tall one walk across the diners windows, the new comer looked almost identical though older to the man in her photo. The blonde walked off in the opposite direction, She ran out the diner door and after the men
"HEY" she called out, the group of men all stopped and turned around
She came to a stop in front of them, realising that she still had coffee and sauces spilled down her dress and splashed over her boots and her blonde curls were spilling out of her messy up do bun.
"You must be the pretty woman Christmas knocked over" Barney asked noticing her clothing
"Yeah" she held out her hand to him
"Barney" he answered
"I know, Jack told me. Hmm, wait" she dug into her apron pocket and pulled out an old worn and slightly faded Polaroid photo handing it to him
"That's you right" she asked breathlessly
Barney looked down at the photo in his hand, he knew when this photo had been taken and it had been over thirty years. Tool and himself had gone off during a time of little work on their bikes around the country, they had stopped into this little town in the middle of no where and of little importance. They had a big night the day before were Barney after leaving with a pretty young thing ran back in to get the room key saw Tool in the dark alley with another man. Tool had seen Barney a moment later and pushed the man away before walking up to Barney pulling his jeans up "Got a problem?" "Nope" Barney answered walking away
They entered the diner and Tool had instantly taken to the young woman working inside, Barney was never sure if it was to conceive him about his sexuality, Barney had never asked so was never told since Tool never mentioned it again. They had stayed for several weeks, before the woman left a note telling Tool she was engaged to be married and her family who owned the diner had sent her up to New York to visit an aging relative.
They had waited for a week before they had left this town, the photo showed Barney laughing and Tool with his arm over his shoulder but looking at the pretty woman wrapped in his other arm. The woman had dark brown eyes that matched her olive skin and dark brown hair, Francesca Rutelli he sighed.
"Yes" Barney answered looking at the woman in front of him and noticing how much she resembled Francesca but with fairer colouring, Blonde, and pale skin with a few freckles over her nose. But the same deep milk chocolate eyes like Francesca's. Things had never been the same since, Barney had spent nights watching to make sure Tool didn't drink himself to death, Tool got reckless and Barney spent more times watching Tool's back and trying to stop the bleeding from the many jobs and bar fights he got himself into. Barney couldn't tell if it was because of Francesca or from the night before, Tool started going through women like it was going out of style but they never lasted longer than a week or two. Occasional Tool would go AWOL for days on end and return looking less happy than when he left. Barney followed him one night and saw Tool enter a gay bar in the state over, a few hours later Tool left with a man following him happily, Tool wrapped an arm around the man and kissed him passionately before climbing onto this bike waiting for his companion to climb on and the roared off to a nearby hotel. Barney never followed him again but the next day when Tool returned the look Tool gave him let him know his excursion had been noticed by Tool.
"You know where I can find Graeme Tool?" she asked awkwardly
"Why you wanna find him" Barney asked as his stomach dropped
"Look I gotta go and get my tips, clean myself up and use this money to actually pay for my room before they kick me out. These are both copies so give it to him and tell him that if he wants to meet his daughter my number is on the back, this too" She sighed tiredly and turned to leave after giving him a letter with Tools name written neatly on it
"What's your name kid?"
"Max" she yelled over her shoulder
"Max what?"
She turned around looking at the older man
"Max Rutelli Tool" she answered and walked off entering the diner
Christmas laughed loudly
"Out of all the girls Gunnar tries to pick up he find Tools long-lost daughter"