Disclaimer: I do not own White Collar, Torchwood, The Hunger Pains by The National Lampoon, or The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. You'll see why I added the last two in a minute.
Neal fallowed Violet in Rose through the train station. He thought it was sweet that the older of the sisters, Violet had a tight hold on the younger girl's hand, which the younger girl responded to by holding tight to her older sister's hand. " They seemed to have a pretty good bond," He thought to himself, "But why wouldn't they? Why am I even thinking about this? You're losing it Caffrey." Then again, Neal had felt he had been losing it a lot lately. First he met a motley crew that was apparently tasked with keeping the world safe from all manner of alien attack, then he joins them, helping them solve the mystery of a mysterious ring and a sixty year old murder, then he had to spend the next two weeks in a dilapidated apartment complex in Paris, then got a letter from Jack that only said the words, "You're travel ready."-Love Jack, and a passport, and now he was in, of all places, Cardiff, Wales, fallowing a nineteen-year-old girl in a black dress with skulls, and her ten- year-old sister in long-sleeve white shirt with pink flowers, and pink pants, the pair near-perfect contradictions of each other. He offend wondered if he was merely going insane, and this was all a hallucination.
"Hey, Neal," Violet called out, "You going to walk with us or not?"
"Sorry," Neal said, walking up to Violet's right side.
"What, are trying to lose us?" Violet joked.
"Why would I do that?" Neal joked back, then something occurred to him, "Hey, I suppose to check in with that when I got here."
"Don't worry. I'll take you to it," Violet reassured him. Neal assumed that the "it" she was referring to was Torchwood headquarters, she just couldn't say it in front of Rose, which lead him to his question.
"Yeah, but what are you going to do about her?" He nodded toward Rose.
"Oh, don't worry, she can wait outside," Violet answered as she pushed the door out of the station open. They step out onto the sidewalk in front or an almost empty street. There was a slight coldness to the air, even though it August. "We'll have to walk at least part of the way, "Violet said, "I got a set of wheels but it only fits too people. Good news is, there is a bus that stops a block away from the office, and I think we can make the next one. " After a moment of silence she asked, "So, how was the trip?"
"Excuse me," Neal replied.
"Your trip, you know from-well you know where you were, to here. It go okay?"
"Where was he?" Rose piped up. The two adults turned to look at the little girl.
"Sorry, honey, can't tell you," Violet said quickly, "It's a work thing."
"How is where he was a work thing?" The inquisitive girl asked.
"Because we were working when he was where he was before he here," Violet said back.
" The place where I'm at was really boring anything," Neal cut in," Really dull. You'd be bored to death hearing about it."
Violet looked at him. "Did I go too far?" Neal asked.
"No, you're fine. As long as long as you don't do any major discipline beyond telling her to stop climbing on stuff, we'll be good. " Violet said, "I was just looking at you."
"Why can't you ever tell me anything about work?" Rose complained.
"Because, Jack doesn't want us to talk about work stuff at home you know that," Violet retorted.
"She knows about Jack?" Neal asked, surprised.
"I've met him," Rose said, looking at Neal.
The really took Neal by surprise. "When did this happen?!"
" Before she started working for him. When she got stick," She said matter-of-factly, "And he's been to her house a couple of times. Some of the others have too."
"Oh." Was all Neal said. He knew that when Rose said Violet was stick, Violet had really been detoxing from her drug abuse. He didn't know what else to say.
"We're here," Violet said, mercifully, although unintentionally changing the subject. Neal looked up to see a bench with a clear covering high above it. It looked just like the benches they had in New York that were meant for people waiting on buses. "At least there's something familiar," He thought as he set down on the bench beside Violet and Rose. A yellow envelope fell out of his pocket. Being the first to notice it, Rose leaned over and picked it up, saying, " You dropped this." Then noticing the drawing on the back she commented, "Someone undid this and drew on it. "
"Yeah, that was me," Neal responded, "Like I was where I was boring, and a lot of the trip over here was boring, so I started drawing."
"You're good," Rose said, as he handed it back to him, then noticing who the drawing was of, exclaimed, "It's Violet!"
This perked Violet's attention. "Can I see that for a minute?"
"Sure," Rose and Neal said simultaneously. They both laughed a little and Rose handed the drawing to Violet.
Violet inspected the picture, holding it up to eyes. It looked like she was wearing the long-sleeve shirt she had worn in France, she couldn't be sure because the whole picture was yellow, but the sleeve stopped just beyond her wrist, leaving her hands visible, her hands delicate-looking and her fingers long and tapered. In the drawing she was looking off, but part of her face could still be seen, framed by her long hair.
"You've made me way too beautiful," She said softly.
"What are you talking about?" Neal asked, leaning over to look at his handiwork, "I drew you just the way you are."
"Neal, look at this picture, and then look at me," She held the picture up beside her face where he could see both of them side by side. "Okay, this would be revealing if you had drawn more of my face." She said firmly and handed the drawing back to Neal.
"You keep it," Neal said, pushing the picture back in her direction, "I made a ton of these, and at least three more of them are of you. Including one of your face," He pulled out a pink envelope and held it up to Violet's face, "And I think I got you just about right."
"Violet doesn't know how pretty she is," Rose said, "I wished I looked like her."
Violet turned to Rose and said, smiling, "No, I wish I looked like you, little duck."
Just then the bus pulled up. "This is us." Violet said, standing up. They got on to the bus and crammed into a seat somewhere in the middle. After a half an hour or so, the bus stopped and Violet, Neal and Rose got off in front of a small gray building with a large front window and a blue roof.
"This is the place?" Neal asked, not believing this could be it.
"This is the place." Violet said, matter-of-factly, "Come on." Then, taking Neal by the hand with her free hand, they walked into the building.
The inside of the building was just as unassuming as the outside. The walls were gray, and the floor was the same color, the only furniture in the one-room building was a desk, part of which was gray, but the top was a dark blue. Behind the desk with his back to them was a dark skin man with black hair in a long tan coat.
"Hey Rex," Violet said to the back of the man's head.
Rex turned around in his chair. "Hey, Violet," Rex said, then as he stood up added, "Rose, Neal."
"Rex," Neal replied.
"Hey, Rex," Rose beamed.
As if on cue, Rex looked at Rose and said, "Hey, Rose you wanna see something?"
"Sure," Rose said, then let go of Violet's hand and fallowed Rex over to the desk.
"Rex always has something interesting to show Rose," Violet explained, nudging Neal until he faced the left wall. Out of the corner of his eye, Neal saw Rex, put a finger under the desk, than in front in the direction Neal was actually facing, a circle of wall pulled back, leaving a hole in the wall. Taken aback, Neal turned back to Violet and Rex. Rex looked over at Neal, and nodded for him to go through the hole, then turned back to Rose, who was examining a stapler shaped like a fish. Neal turned his head to Violet.
"It's okay," Violet said, gesturing to the hole with her hand, "Go ahead. I just gotta make sure that Rose is okay, then I'll be right behind you."
And so Neal, on his own, slowly walked through the door into the hidden room. The whole room was made of gray cement, except for one side made of tan bricks with TORCHWOOD written on the side in black letters, and appeared to be on two levels; the first, which Neal was standing on, was just a ring of cement with nothing on save the railing and what looked like some type of high-tech computer, the other a second level which Neal couldn't see very well. He slowly walked down the stair that lead to second level. There were more high-tech computers, these bigger, and some with large screens. On the east side of the building there were lines of what looked like draws one would find at a morgue. Neal shivered.
"Oh, come on, it's not that cold," Jack voice said from the other direction.
Neal turned around to see Jack walking in his direction, his coattails blowing behind him. "Hey." He said.
"Hey yourself," Neal replied, "You know, the welcoming committee wasn't really necessary."
"I was just going to send you directions," Jack responded, "But Violet wanted to meet you there herself."
"And Rose?" Neal asked.
"That was an accident, " Jack answered, "You just happened to get in at the same time she picks Rose up from the sitter's, and for some reason she has unusual amount of trust in you."
"You mean an unusual amount of trust because I'm a con man," Neal said.
"'No, I mean an unusual amount of trust because you're a homo sapiens and Violet's-well, Violet," Jack replied, "Violet tends to be on the untrusting side, and is very protective of her sister. She doesn't let anyone she doesn't trust near her, at least not since..."
"She told me about Michael and Declan." Neal said.
"Oh," Jack said unsure of what else to say. Then after a moment he added, "That's also unusual. She usually tries to bury her past, we wouldn't even know about it if it weren't for that fact that we were there. You must be something special. I mean, she's only known for a few weeks, and has only actually been around you for two days. So you see why I think it's odd. And I say again you must be something special. "
"And I believe that sensation I'm feeling is my ears burning." Violet said, descending down the stairway, "Whom I chose to have Rose around is my business, as is who I trust." By the time she had finished her sentence she was where they were.
"Shouldn't you be heading out Violet?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, but I thought you might be some help feeding the Weevils." Violet responded.
"Isn't that what he's got me for?" Neal asked, assuming that the new guy would be given the worst job, which whatever a Weevil was, feeding them sounded like it.
"That's what I have Rex for." Jack said, still a bit mad at Rex over the whole arresting-them-and-nearly-getting-him-killed- and-then- being-an-infuriating-little-cuss-afterwards, and therefore tended to give him the worst jobs, like Weevil-feeding. "But it's about that time, and Rex is busy with Rose who would be sorely disappointed if he was pulled away, and I need to show Neal around this place anyway, you two are as good as him. This way." Then Jack walked off, and the two fallowed after him.
"So what are Weevils anyway?" Neal asked, as they walked down gray hallway.
"As you already know things come through the Riff," Jack explained, "And we have to do something with the things that come through. Now since my old Vortex Manipulator is working again, I can take back any aliens or humans that come through to wherever they came from, but there's just one problem with the Weevils."
"And the problem is-?" Neal asked.
"We don't know where they come from." Jack answered flatly, "We've been too busy mopping up the aftermath of Miracle to do any actual digging into the issue, but now I've reached out to some people to see what they can find."
"Is that where Gwen and Martha are?" Neal asked. He hadn't seen either of the women yet, and was beginning to wonder where they were.
"No, Gwen already went home for the day, she has a baby, she's aloud to do that, and I got Martha," He stopped in front of five polls like those used by zookeepers, hung up on nails in the wall, and pulled one down, "Running an errand for me. Grab a pole, both of you."
Violet took a pole down, and then Neal did. By the poles was a gap in the hall, and by that gap, a line of large square cells. His curiosity getting the better of him, he poked his head into the hallway, and saw that is line with those cells, some of which had gangly, tanish creatures with think heads of hair, he could see from the ones who had their mouths-or rather muzzles, open, very sharp-looking fangs.
Neal quickly pulled his head back. "So," He said, "Those are the Weevils, I take it."
"Yeah."Jack said, "You can see why we would want them contained for now. Otherwise they attack people. And these guys go for the neck."
"Oh," Neal said, looking back into the hallway, "So how much do they eat?"
"About your weight in meat." Jack answered, and then laughed at Neal's wide-eyed look and said, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna throw you in there with them, but I do need to go get the meat, so, wait here, I'll be back in a minute. " Then he walked up to the end of the hallway they were in, which ended in a big concrete door. He opened the door, a blast of cold air came out as he walked in.
"So, that's a giant walk-in freezer," Neal said, half-question, half statement.
"Yeah," Violet answered.
"A giant walk-in freezer in an under-ground building, with high-tech computers, a morgue, and aliens."' He said, suddenly dumbstruck.
"Yeah," Violet said, wondering why she was stating the obvious, then she realized, "Oh, this is just stinking in, isn't it?"
''Yeah," Neal breathed, "Yeah it is. I mean, I knew what I was getting myself into, but...wow, what have I've gotten myself into?"
"Welcome to Torchwood," Jack said, coming out of the freezer, lugging a metal wagon full of frozen raw meat behind him, "Violet, would you be an absolute dear and go get some hot water to run over this?"
"I keep telling you, we need to start thawing the meat out before feeding time," Violet said, turning around, "But no one ever listens to me." Then she walked away, her heels of her boots clicking on the concrete floor.
After a moment silence Neal said, "You know, that really is a good idea."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Not you too."
"What does that mean?" Neal asked.
"Nothing," Jack said, then changing the subject, added, "So, starting to regret joining up?"
"No," Neal replied, "It's just a lot to take in. I mean, I know I saw what we do in France but...it's still a lot to take in."
Jack smiled. "Oh Neal, what happened in France was just a taste of what we do."
"So it's more than just, soul-trapping rings and Weevil feeding?" Neal asked.
"Oh, Neal, it's that and so much more." Jack responded.
"He's already on board, you don't need to keep sweet-talking him," Violet said, walking back down the hall carrying two bucket of steaming hot water.
"Excellent," Jack said, clapping his hands together, "Did you get the meat thermometer?"
"I can't," Violet said, "It's in the freezer."
Jack's face looked stricken and somewhat embarrassed. "Be right back."
After Jack returned with the thermometer- and dethawed the thermometer, they began to dethaw the meat. This wound up taking about an hour and several more buckets of hot water. At last, the meat was thawed and a bit bloody and ready to throw to the Weevils. They put on plastic gloves on their hands, and placed big hunks of red meat on the polls, and proceeded down the hallway.
"Okay," Jack said, "Violet, you take the first one, Neal the second, I'll take the third."
Neal looked down the line to see a total of seven Weevils. "How many of these come through?"
"At a time?" Jack said, putting his pole through a slot high up in the glass pane, "The numbers very. Sometimes they come through in groups, sometimes on their own. The Riff really isn't that picky. " Jack's Weevil lunged at the meat and pulled it off. "Go ahead," Jack encouraged Neal, nodding at the pole, "Put it in there. I've already opened the slots."
Neal held up the pole and put it in the slot, and edmiditly the Weevil lunged at the meat, startling Neal a bit, so he jumped back. Jack laughed and Violet smiled a little. "It's okay," Jack reassured him, "This thing is made with a mixture of Vinvochi and Aurelian glass, and it's thick. It'd take a sonic blast to break it. You'll be perfectly safe."
Neal put the chunk back in the Weevil's reach, but said, "I get the feeling that 'safe' is a relative term around here."
That made Jack think back again. Back to Tosh, and Owen, and Into, and Vera, and Esther, as if he didn't think about them enough on his own. "That's because it is." Then he walked up to get another chunk of meat.
"Did I say something wrong?" Neal asked, looking at Violet.
"Jack's just lost a lot of people over the years, a lot of friends," Violet said, "Especially over the last couple of years. I shouldn't tell you this, but in 2008 he lost a little less than half the team in one day. Then the year after that, a guy who was also his lover. At that point there was only two members left, Jack and Gwen."
"And that was the point that he ran off for a year." Neal said.
"Bingo." Violet said.
They both looked down as Jack walked in the room. "Why do I get the feeling my ears should be burning now?" He asked, going back to cage.
This went on for another hour and a half, and when they done, Jack said, "I think it's time you two get going. It's already six thirty."
"Regular quitting time," Violet explained, "Unless you got kids, then you get off early, or unless something's going on, then you're here 'till it's dealt with."
"I can live with that." Neal, said, and together he and Violet walked down the hall.
"So," Violet said, as they walked up the stairs, "Where are you staying ?"
"Haven't figured that out yet," Neal admitted, "But I figure there's gotta be some room at a hostel somewhere."
"Seriously?" Violet said, turning around at the top of the stairs to look at him, "No way. I am not letting you sleep on the street. You can stay with us. Me and Rose, I mean."
"I'll be fine," Neal insisted, "I'll find a place to stay for the night."
"And what if you don't ?" Violet challenged, "You're coming home with me tonight, and I am helping you find a permit living arrangement, and there's no arguing with me."
"It's true," Rex called from the other room, "You're better off just going along with whatever she wants."
"Come on," Violet said, taking Neal by the hand, and leading him out through the hole.
The hole closed behind them, and Rose turned around at the sound of it shutting. "What was that?" She asked.
"What was what, Rose?" Rex asked, acting as if he hadn't heard the noise.
"That noise," Rose said.
"I didn't hear anything." Rex insisted.
Just than Violet stepped in. "You ready to go, honey?"
Rose turned around at the sound of her sister's voice. "Yes." Then she walked up to Violet and took her hand.
Violet knelt down so that she was Rose's height, and said, "Rose, sweetie, Neal's gonna spend the night with us, okay?"
"Cool," Rose replied. She liked Violet's new friend. With that Violet stood up, and the three walked out the door.
After another half hour bus ride, they got off and walked. Ten minutes later they came up to a white building that looked to be at least two stories. "This is our place," Violet said, walking up to the front door, removing a key from her bodist, and unlocking the door. She walked in, followed by Rose and Neal, and turned on the light. The apartment was all on one story, the living room on the left, and the kitchen on the right, with a hallway in the middle. The ceiling was high and the walls were covered with wood paneling and the floor matched.
"Your house is lovely," Neal commented, sincerely.
"Thanks," Violet said, locking the door and walking into the kitchen, "It was originally meant to be an flat complex but the architect didn't realize that the way he designed it that for the upper floors to get through their flats they'd have to walk through the lower's level living room until the place was actually built, so the sealed off the upper part of the building and just rented out the bottom part."
"Hey, you need any help in there?" Neal asked walking into the kitchen and watching Violet remove a Tupperware container of beef stock from a microwave by the stove and pouring it into a mental steer.
"I think I got this, but if you really wanna help grab the thing of carrots out of the fridge." Violet answered, gesturing towards the refrigerator a few feet away from her.
Neal walked over to the fridge, opened it, and pulled out a clear, rectangle Tupperware container filled with chopped up carrots. ''You sure planed ahead."
"Thanks," She said, taking the container from him, and tossing the carrot chunks into the pot.
"'Can I help, too?" Rose asked, walking into the kitchen.
"You can get the potatoes," Violet said, shaking a good amount of seasoned salt into the pot.
Rose took out a container of sliced potatoes and soon, the three of them were a well-oiled machine, handing turnips, onions parsnips, and beef to Violet and her tossing them in the boiling pot. "What are we cooking, exactly?" Neal asked as he took a small container of mutton out of the refrigerator.
"'Stew," Violet said, taking the container from him and putting the meat in the pot, "I wanted to make beef stew but I didn't have a lot of beef, so I found some mutton and a bit of rabbit from rabbit season, so it's closer to a burgoo, which is still stew."
"Uh, huh," Neal said, taking a small bowl of venison out of the fridge and quickly glancing at it, but said nothing. He knew it was very gracious of her to let him stay at her house, and share dinner with them, and he had no business complaining about anything. Just then there was a barking and the sound of nails slipping on the wood floor. All three heads turned to see a caramel colored dog the size of a Beagle scamper into the kitchen and hop around Violet's feet, barking madly.
"Should've known she'd get in here the second she smelled food," Violet said to no one in particular, than she took a piece of venison and set on the floor for a puppy. "There you go, girl." She said, and the little puppy gobbled up the meat.
"So who's this?" Neal asked looking down at little dog.
"This is Daisy," Violet said, smiling down at the puppy again, and then turned back to the stew. "Can you hand me the rabbit?"
Rose took the rabbit out of the fridge and handed it to her big sister.
"And that bread?" Violet requested.
Neal took a loaf of dough that was placed on a small metal sheet, and handed it to Violet.
"I think I can handle it from here, guys," Violet said, removing a bottle of black sesame seeds from the rack in a cabinet, "Super should be ready in about ten, maybe fifteen minutes, you two go wait and the living room."
"What about you?" Neal asked, leaning against the refrigerator.
"I got to make sure nothing burns in here." Violet said, putting the sesame seeds back and pulling out a bottle of black poppy seeds.
"Come on, Neal," Rose said, pulling him by the sleeve, "I'll show you my sea glass collection."
"Okay, but bring it in the living room!" Violet called as Rose pulled Neal away, Daisy barking along after them, "I don't want him going into your room! Do your both hear me?!"
"We hear you!" The pair said in near unison.
Rose dragged Neal into the living room and set him down an off-white couch that was patched and darned in several places. "You're stronger than you look." He commented.
The excited girl didn't seemed have heard what he said, and just went on saying, "Wait here. I'll be right back. " Then she ran down the hallway, followed by Daisy.
Neal decided now would be a good time to get a better looked at his surroundings. Adjacent to the couch he was setting on, the was a rocking chair that was the same tan-ish color as the paneling and the floor, with roses and violets engraved on the head, and a white hand sewn cushion in the seat. In front of the couch was a coffee table the same color as rocking chair, that also had the rose and violet design on the edges. Neal chuckled. He was definitely starting to see a theme in the decor. At the right end of the couch was end table, also engraved with rose and violets, with a black lamp surrounded by-oddly enough, books. He picked one up. It had a black cover with a little yellow bird, collapsed in a circle. "The Hunger Pains By The National Lampoon," The title said. He put that one down and picked up another one. This one was The Hunger Games. He was also starting to see a theme in the books, too. Before he could think about it any further Rose came in carrying a thin book with pieces of polished and weathered glass on it. "This is my sea glass collection. " She said, as she laid the book on the coffee table. Neal got off the couch and crouched down in front of the coffee table for a closer look. There was a red chard, a blue chard and a clear chard, several pale pink ovals and circles, but the one that stood out most of all, was a blue heart. He picked it up, and held it between his fingers. "This one is quite beautiful," Neal commented, "And rather unique, the heart shape, I mean. Where did you find this?"
"At a pier when we first moved to Cardiff," Rose said, "Sometimes we go down to piers and beaches and look for sea glass, so that weekend, we found a pier and found it on the beach. It's my favorite."
"I can see why," Neal said, putting the heart down, "And where did you find the rest of these?"
"These pink ones, we found on a beach in New York, that's where we lived before we lived here," Rose explained, gesturing to them, then picking up the clear shard and going on, "We found this one in a river when we went on a trip to Kansas city, which is weird because you don't usually find sea glass in rivers, but it looks like a piece of sea glass, so we think it is one. We got this blue one on another beach, and this one," She held up the red piece, "Is the first one we ever found."
"And you found this one on a beach, too?" Neal asked.
"Yes," Rose said.
Just then Violet walked into the living room. "Dinner's ready. Go wash your hands and put your collection up. Neal, the bathroom's down the hall to the right."
Rose picked up the book and walked down the hall, Neal, feeling a bit odd at being told to wash his hands, trailing behind her.
He walked into a small room on the right. The bathroom was had the same wood paneling on the walls as the rest of the house, but it has a white tile floor. The tub itself was oval shaped, wide, standing on flat sliver feet, and the same bright white as the tile, with a plastic red shower curtain. The sink was smaller, but also the same bright white, with a round, frameless mirror around it. After washing his hands, Neal decided to take a quick look at himself in the mirror. As he had imagined, he looked pretty rough. His stubble was showing, his hair was somewhat messed up, and his closes were really wrinkled. No surprise there, he had been wearing them for weeks. The same close he was wearing in France, except he had loosely sewed up the cut Jean-Luc had made with his machete, using some blight blue thread he had found in the cellar he hid in while in Paris. He pulled back his shirt to look at the wound. It was still had the stitches, but the skin around the stitches were a bright, angry red. "Could it be infected?" He thought to himself, "Hopefully Martha will be back tomorrow, and I can ask her to look at it."
"You're hurt," A little voice said from behind him.
He turned around Rose standing in the doorway. She looked a little scared. "Oh, I'm fine," Neal reassured her, "It's only a little cut, and it's healing. Well, it wasn't exactly a little cut, but it looks at lot worst then it actually is. I mean, you should see the other guy. "
"Maybe you should tell Violet," Rose suggested, "She knows a lot about medical stuff. She could've been a doctor or a nurse or something if..."
"No, really, I'm fine," He said, pulling his shirt back over his shoulder, "It's nothing to worry her about. But I expect she'll be worried if we don't show up soon. After you." He gestured out of the bathroom with his hand.
"I need to wash my hands first." Rose said innocently.
This girl was proving harder to shake than some F.B.I tails Neal had had. "I'll get out of your way then." He said, steeping out of the bathroom and heading down the hall.
When he got into the kitchen, Neal saw three white bowls and matching mugs surrounding a lazy Susan on a round table. On top of the lazy Susan was the steer, full of stew, and a loaf of bread with black seeds on it.
Violet and Rose pulled out black chairs with white woven seats and sat down. Neal pulled out a seat and sat down across from Violet and beside Rose, who sat at the middle of the table. Violet doled out portions of stew with and ladle and handed out slices of bread.
"It looks delicious." Neal said, placing a hand on his spoon.
"Thanks." Violet said, than put a spoonful of it in her mouth.
Neal scooped up some of the stew and put it in his mouth as well. It was just as delicious as it looked. In fact, it might have been the best stew he had ever eaten. "Wow." He said, after shallowing.
"I take it that means you like it then." Violet said casually.
"Yes. I mean, this is amazing," Neal professed, "Where did you learn to cook?"
"Self-taught," Violet answered.
"Did you put some paprika and oregano when we weren't looking?" Neal asked.
"You were looking, you just didn't notice," Violet asked, then after a moment she asked, "Why? You're not allergic, are you?"
"No," Neal answered.
"Good, thought I'd killed you there for a minute." A relieved Violet said.
"No, completely fine," Neal responded, giving her smile.
And with that, the barriers came down and they became very comfortable, talking about school, and problems Violet was having-well, those she felt comfortable talking about in front of Rose-problems Rose was having, Rose's friend Nor, Rose and Nor's love for jumping rope, Violet's knowledge of nature, the possibility of putting it in a book, Neal's drawings, anything and everything. It was a genuinely enjoyable meal.
After they had finished, they stood up from the table, gathering the dirty dishes, and Neal said, "You want some help with these?"
"Sure," Violet answered, walking over to the stink. Neal fallowed her, as did Rose. Violet turned around and said, "Sweetie, if Neal's gonna help me, you don't have to. If we're all in here, it will be too crowed. Just go play."
"Okay," Rose said, then she put her dishes in the sink and ran off.
And then Violet and Neal put there dishes in the sink. "We need to start with the leftovers." Violet said, pulling a small plastic bowl out from one of the cabinets, "If you let them set out for more than an hour you might as well through them away."'
"I think I've heard that before," Neal said, turning around and placing is hands against the counter, watching Violet take the steer over to the sink and scooping out what little was left of the stew into the bowl.
After putting the bowl in the fridge, she walked back over to the stink and started filling it with water. When it was filled, she squeezed blue dishwashing detergent onto the dishes. "So," Neal said, picking up a bowl and starting to scrub it, "You're sister seems like a sweet girl."
"Yeah," Violet said, also scrubbing a bowl. After contemplating what he said a moment, Violet glanced over at Neal and asked, "I made the right choice right? Trusting you with her."
"Yes," Neal said, looking her in the face, "I would never hurt her. I promise.''
"I know," Violet said looking away, "It's just..."
"I understand," Neal said, gently taking Violet's hand. There had been precious few people in Violet's life that hadn't abused her, bullied her, used her in some way, or all three. And Rose was her whole life, and she had been used as leverage to get Violet to do what people wanted one too many times. It was only natural for Violet to be untrusting.
"Thanks," Violet said. She knew how she could be. Even though a bit of distrustfulness was essential in her line of work, she didn't even let the people at work in.
At point Neal moved his arm in a way that caused him searing pain in his shoulder. He groaned in pain.
"Are you alright?" Violet asked turning towards him.
"Yeah, fine, it's just-the cut Jean-Luc gave me," Neal explained.
This perked Violet's interest. "Let me look at it."
"No, it's fine," Neal insisted, shirking away a bit.
"I'll be the judge of that," Violet said, pulling back his jacket, which he had not taken off since interring the apartment, "I may be a high-school drop-out, but I have a surprising amount of medical knowledge. Now sit down."
Neal obeyed and sat down in the kitchen chair in the center of the table. "So that was the if." Neal mused.
"What does that mean?" Violet asked, pulling down Neal's shirt and looking at his shoulder.
"When I was in your bathroom, I decided to look at the cut, and Rose accidently walked in on me. I told her I was okay, but she said I should show it to you. She said you could've been a doctor of nurse or something if, ...but then she trailed off and I told her I was fine."
"You lied," Violet said flatly, "I don't like the look of the skin around the stitches. " She grabbed her cell phone as she said, "I'm calling Martha."
She dialed Martha's number into the phone and waited.
Meanwhile across town, Martha was waiting for a man in an abandoned shoe factory. Jack had asked her to meet him here to ask him about the location of a young girl. "Skin as white as snow, light brown eyes, platinum blonde hair, name's Linden." He had told her. Said he would do it himself, but the last time they had met things didn't go so well. Jack had also assured her the Linden wouldn't hurt her because he hated colaterdial damaged, which made him wonder what exactly had happened between the two of them, but still she went, and here she was and the guy was over an hour late. She was seriously considering just leaving and telling Jack the guy never showed up, because it looked like that was going to be the truth, when her mobile rang. She looked at the caller id and was surprised to see it was Violet. Violet didn't usually socialize, or generally have anything to do with, the team outside of work ,and Martha didn't remember giving the girl her number, so she knew it must be important. "Violet?" She was the first thing she said after answering the call.
"Yeah," Violet responded, "We got a bit of a situation at my place. Neal's here and I think his shoulder wound might be infected."
"When did Neal get in?" Martha asked.
"A couple of hours ago," Violet answered, "Are you done Jack's errand yet?"
"No," Martha answered. After pondering what to do a moment she asked, "Are you calling me on your landline or your mobile?"
"Mobile," Violet answered, "Why?"
"Does it have a camera?" Martha asked.
Violet knew where Martha was getting now. "Yeah. I'll send you a photo." She held her camera out to the wound and her clicked flashed as she took a picture of it.
Within seconds the picture were on Martha's phone. She let out air through her teeth when she saw it. There was no puss, but the skin around the wound was an angry red, and it tight and somewhat shinny. "You're right," Martha said, "That's infected. Look, I can't leave right now, but there's some Anti-Infection Medicine in the medicine chest at the infirmary, you should be able to administer it yourself. Go to the hub, and call be back when you get there."
"Okay, I will," Violet answered, "Call you then." She hung up the phone and looked at Neal.
"So what's the verdict?" He asked, worried. He had only heard Violet's half of the conversation but it still didn't sound good.
"It's infected," Violet said, "She can't leave...well, wherever the heck she is right now because I'm honestly not sure, but she told me there's Anti-Infection Medicine in the medicine chest at the hub. I'll get it. Mind watching Rose for me while I'm gone?"
"I'm not exactly in any possession to say no." Neal pointed out, "My life is in your hands."
"Oh, don't be so melodramatic," Violet said, as she walked into the living room, "We caught it in time." As she took off a black leather jacket and a black bike helmet off the coat hanger by the front door she called out, "Rose, I gotta go out! Neal's gonna stay with you, okay?!"
"Okay!" Rose called back from her bedroom, "Bye!"
"Bye," Violet said, and she unlocked the door, "Love you!"
"Love you more!" Rose replied.
Violet paused for a minute, a little embarrassed about doing their ritual with someone else around. At last she said, "Love you most." Then she walked out the door and shut it.
Neal snickered. "That's kind of cute." Then there were footsteps coming up the hall and Rose walled into the kitchen, holding a doll in a brown dress. "Where is she going?" Rose asked.
"She had to go back to the office, but she'll be right back." He assured her.
After a moment of silence Rose walked a little closer to him and said, "You showed her your wound?"
"Yeah," Neal said, pulling his shirt back over his shoulder, "You were right, she does know a lot about medical things." He stood up.
"Are you sure you should be standing up?" Rose asked.
"My shoulder's hurt, not my legs," Neal replied, "And there's no point in me just sitting here."
"But where are you going?" Rose asked.
"Not sure really," Neal said, leaning against the table.
Rose walked up to him. It was then Neal noticed several strange things about Rose's doll. It was homemade, in a brown flannel dress, with a slightly faded red mouth drawn in with a sharpie, blue buttons for eyes, but what was really odd about the doll, was her hair. It looked like real blonde hair. It was then Neal remembered something he saw when Violet showed him some of her memories. On the day she met Michael, her hair had been cropped, like she had sliced it off herself with some sort of blade. Could this be what she did with it?
"So," Neal began, "Who's your friend there?"
"Janis," Rose said, "Her name is Janis."
Neal's heart sank a little. He remembered on the walk back to the inn, Violet told him her and Rose's mother's name was Janis. He paused a moment to get a hold of his emotions, then said, "She's rather unique looking. Where did you get her ?"
"Violet gave her to me for my Christmas when I was seven," Rose explained, "It's the hair, isn't it?"
"Excuse me?" Neal responded, tilting his head and playing innocent.
"People always notice her hair." Rose responded, "They notice that it's real."
"I thought it might be," Neal admitted, "Who's hair is it?"
"Violet's, I think," Rose said, "A couple of weeks before Christmas I came home from school one day and she had cut her hair really short. I thought it was weird at the time but I didn't really think about it. Then on Christmas day she gave me Janis, but I didn't make the connection until I got older."
"Did she ever tell you it was her hair?" Neal asked.
"No, but who else could it be?" Rose stated.
"Good point." Neal admitted.
Meanwhile, Violet parked her scooter out in front of the "store."' That was the front they used for the Hub. She got off and walked to the door. She jimmied the door, and sure enough, it was locked. She pulled a sonic pen out from her jacket and used it to open the door. No one knew she had it, she was afraid they'd take it away from her, and she liked her little gadget. She locked the door back behind her and turned the light on. She walked over to the desk, leaned down under it and flipped the switch that pulled back the door in the wall. Hearing it pull back she stood up and walked in. The light's in the hall weren't completely out but were dimmer than they were during the day. She walked down the stairs and made turned down the right hall that ended in the infirmary. The infirmary was the same concrete grey as the rest of the Hub, with three hospital gurneys dressed in classic hospital white sheets on either side. In the dim light it reminded Violet of a haunted sanitarium from a horror movie. She walked to the end of the walk way created by the two rows and turned to the right to face the medicine cabinet. Actually, it was two cabinets conjoined to one another, a refrigerated one on the right, the other for medicine and medical supplies that didn't need refrigeration on the left. It was filled with not only teresial medical supplies, but medicines and medical supplies that came through the Riff or aquiered on the alien black market. One the doors of each cabinet was a keypad. Violet knew that was a code was needed to get into the cabinet and Martha was the only one who knew that code. As she took out her phone and started dialing Martha's number when a voice behind her said, "Need something?"
Startled, she quickly turned around and saw Jack standing a few feet away from her. "Oh, Jack, it's just you. What are you doing here?"
"I think the better question is," Jack began, taking a couple of steps toward her, "What are you doing here?"
"It's not what you think," Violet said, "Neal's wound is infected, Martha confirmed it, but she's still on that errand you sent her on so she sent me to get some anti-infection medicine."
After a moment of silence Jack asked, "So, what did you think I thought it was?"
"That I was using again,"' Violet emitted, "But I'm not, really," Violet pulled her mobile out of her jacket as she said, "I have to call Martha so she can tell me what to get anyway, she can confirm it."
Jack raised up a hand to silence her. "Relax Violet, I believe you."
Violet had already dialed Martha's number into the phone. She put the phone up to her ear and said, "So, you never told me what you were doing here."
"Ah, I live here." Jack confessed.
"Oh," Violet said, somewhat surprised, "Really?"
"Someone has to stay here and watch the Riff," Jack explained, "And I hate the commute." He smirked.
Violet smiled back. "Where do you sleep?"
"I don't," Jack said.
"Not at all?" Violet asked, "I mean, I know you can't die, but you have to sleep sometime. Otherwise you'd go crazy eventually."
"Like I'm not crazy right now?" Jack asked, smirking.
"Okay, I'll give you that," Violet said, "But what about food?"
After a moment of though, Jack said, "I eat a lot of takeout."
Before the conversation could go any further, Martha answered the call. "Are you at the Hub?" Martha's voice asked from the other end of the line.
"Yeah, I'm in the infirmary right now," Violet answered, "Hey, did you know Jack lives here?"
"Jack lives at the Hub?" Martha asked, surprised.
"Thanks, Violet," Jack said, "Although I wasn't exactly advertising it."
"Sorry," Violet said, "So, what's the code?"
"5," Martha began, "27, 09."
"Is that some kind of important date?" Violet asked, as she pushed the code into the key pad.
"It's the day me and Mickey got married."
"Ah, that's sweet." Violet had the cabinet open and was looking at the medicines. There was self after self of medicine. Some like the bottle of Liver Black Draught Medicine, or Mrs. Lymon's Blood Tonic For Ladies, would be equally at place on the self of someone who lived in 19th century as well as an alien planet, others, like the metal pot of burn ointment, or the plastic jars of translucent light blue cell repairing solution, were obviously alien, then some, like the Detox Solution and Wild Bergamot Slave, seemed more folk medicine than alien tech. "Okay, I got it open, so what now?"
"On the second self on the refrigerated side there are twenty plastic see-threw boxes of clear liquid," Martha instructed her.
Violet picked up one of the boxes. It fit in the grip of her hand. "So, what now?"
"There are some syringes and needle in the non-refrigerated side, you should be able to see them." Martha said.
Violet saw them on the top self. As she got a needle and syringe from the self, she said, "You know, Martha I was thinking, that maybe I also grab some of the anti-infection cream. And maybe that liver medicine, and the blood purifier just to be safe. And maybe I should grab the fever pills, I mean, he didn't have one when I left the house, but just in case he comes down with one. And maybe some of that Vera aloe slave. And some bandages in case the stitches come undone. And speaking of the stitches, maybe I should redo them. And maybe I should grab the industrial grade Neosporin, that Queen Anne's Lace slave, you know, for the scaring. And some speed healing solution, and pain medicine maybe."
"Are you done?" Martha asked.
"Yes," Violet said, with the feeling she was about to get ripped a new one.
Instead, Martha said, "No, on the anti-infection cream, but the blood purifier's a good idea, and so' s the Neosporin, Queen Anne's Lace slave, healing solution and pain medicine. Normally, I wouldn't want someone who's not a medical professional to do stitches, but I've seen your stitchwort and I think you can do it. There's some surgical thread on the self next to the syringes. "
"Thanks, Martha," Violet said, then she grabbed the thread from a box on the self.
"But call me when you get back to your place so I can talk you through everything," Martha commanded, "I don't want him to get hurt before he's even had his first official day."
"Okay, I'll call you," Violet said ,gathering up the medicines, "Bye."
"Bye," Martha said, and then the pair hung up.
Violet turned to Jack and started to walk away. "Night, Jack." She said, as she walked past him.
"Good night, Violet," Jack said, turning his head to watch her leave. "Hey, Violet," He called to her as she was inches out of the door.
She turned her head slightly to him. "Yes, Jack?"
"Let me get you a bad to put all that in. It's the only way you're gonna get that all on your scooter. " Jack said, then walked out to get said bag.
After retrieving a canvas tote, and helping her load the supplies into it, Jack saw her to the door, and helped her load onto the scooter. He watched as she drove away.
Ariving home, Violet parked the scooter on the side of the road, grabbed some medince, and went into the house.
When she entered the house she saw Neal standing at the end table looking at picture in a sliver frame, Rose beside him, with her doll Janis.
"I'm back," Violet said.
Both Rose and Neal looked up, and Neal set the picture down. "That looks like more than anti-infection ," medicine." Neal said.
"It is," Violet said, starting to walk into the kitchen, "I got some ideas, Martha approved some of them, now get in here."
Neal fallowed her into the kitchen where Violet promptly grabbed a hold of him and sat him down in a chair. Violet grabbed his wrist and started to pulled his arms up when Neal said, "What are you doing?"
"Trying to get your shirt off," Violet said, as if it was obvious, "I want to see what I'm doing."
"I can do it myself," Neal insisted. He took the shirt off and pulled it over his head as Violet called Martha.
"Yeah." Martha answered.
"I'm back at my place, I got Neal in front of me, his shirt's off, tell me what to do." Violet said.
"Okay, first you need to put the anti-infection medicine in the syringe," Martha instructed, " To do this, just-"
"Actually Martha, I got this part, thank you," Violet said, putting the needle in the syringe, and sticking the needle into the plastic box, "I've had a little experience in this area if you'll recall."
Martha grimaced at the dark joke and wondered if giving a recovering drug addict access to all those medicines was a good idea.
"Got it," Violet said, "So now what?"
"Inject it in his shoulder," Martha instructed.
"This is probably gonna hurt a little." Violet told Neal before shoving the needle into his shoulder. She was right. Neal had to bite the inside of his cheek so hard it brought blood just to keep from screaming.
"Okay," Violet said, after she had removed the needle, "Now what?"
"Alright," Martha began, "Now's the time where you might want to give him some of that pain medicine."
Violet pulled out a pale blue plastic bottle. "How much should I give him?"
"Let's see," Martha said, her eyes darting back and forth as she though, "That's pretty ponet stuff so even at his weight one drop should do it."
"Okay," Violet said, pulling out the eyedropper inside the bottle and holding it over Neal's mouth, a mother bird dangling a worm. "Open up."
Neal opened his mouth and Violet squeezed out a drop. It tasted like old lemon.
"And now?" Violet asked.
"Now," Martha said, "You're gonna need a needle, and a pair of tweezers."
"One second," Violet said, then ran down the hall to the bathroom, gabbed a pair of tweezers from the shelf, ran to her room, and grab a needle out of her sewing kit and ran back down the hall into the kitchen.
"Okay, I'm back," She huffed, as if she was out of breath.
Martha then proceeded to instruct Violet on how to remove the stitches and Violet removed the stitches with all the skill of a trained surgeon. To Neal surprise, he felt no pain. "Whatever you gave me, it is strong," He declared while Violet was putting in the new stitches, "I'm not feeling anything."
"I know, I've had it before," Violet responded, deeply concentrating on her work, "I'm not sure what it's called." She put in the last stitch. "Okay, I'm done."
"Well, I'm not gonna patronize you by telling you how to apply the creams and give him the tonics," Martha said, "You're not properly trained, but you're not an imbecile either."
"Thanks, Martha," Violet said, "I hope you can get whatever you're doing for Jack done soon."
"Yeah," Martha said, somewhat vexed that the guy hadn't shown up yet, "Me too." Then she hung up.
"I've been waiting on you to get done," A voice from behind the corner said.
Martha drew the gun she had taken to carrying. "Show yourself!"
A man in his mid-twenties with snow white skin, platinum blonde hair, and light brown eyes turned the corner with his hand out in front of him. "Don't shoot," He said, neutrally, "I'm the guy Jack wanted you to meet with."
"You're Linden?" Martha responded.
"Yeah," He said, as if it was obvious, "That's me."
They both stared at each other for a moment.
"We have now reached the point in the conversation where you put down the gun." Linden said.
Martha holstered her gun. "Jack told me to ask you about the girl with the tarot cards." She explained, " He said you'd know what it means."
"What about the girl with the tarot cards?" Linden asked, leaning on the corner.
"Where is she?" Martha asked, "He said you'd know what that means too."
After pausing a moment, whether for thought or dramatic effect, Martha wasn't sure, Linden said, "There's a pub on Ninth Street called Anna's. They set up a room in the bath and moved her there six months ago, but good luck getting past her body guards."
"Thanks," Martha said. The two turned around and started to walk away, but Martha turned her head back in his direction and said, "Linden?"
"Yes?" Linden replied, "Was there something else?"
"What happened between you and Jack?" Martha asked, "If you don't mind me asking."
"Trust me, you don't want to know." Linden said, then he walked off.
Once Linden had disappeared, Martha walked out of the building and headed home.
Meanwhile, across town, Violet had finished applying the speed healing solution, Queen Anne's Lace slave, and Neosporin, and had just set two glass bottles down on the table. They were both the same size and similar black color, but one had a yellow label framed and blue that said, Liver Black Draught Medicine, the other with a picture of an old lady on the front and blow that picture that words, Mrs. E Frankan Blood Purifier. Violet poured some of the Liver Black Draught Medicine into a spoon, and held it out in front of Neal's mouth. "I can take it myself," He said, taking the spoon for her and putting it him his mouth. This medicine tasted awful.
Seeing Neal was having some trouble swallowing the medicine, Violet quickly poured a glass of water and offered it to him. Finely managing to shallow the medicine Neal took the water and drunk it, washing the taste out of his mouth. Violet poured the blood purifier into the spoon , handed the spoon to Neal, and walked back to get another glass of water. Neal apprehensively put the spoon in his mouth. It wasn't as bad as the liver medicine, but it still wasn't good. Swallowing it, he accepted the glass of water, and gulped it down. "What do those do?" He asked, taking a breath.
"Thought it might help clear out any infection," Violet explained.
"Thanks," Neal said, putting his shirt back on.
"It should be cleared up by the morning," Violet said, walking over to the stink and washing the glass, "They have really good meds in space."
"Yeah, I noticed," Neal said, standing up and rubbing his shoulder, "I still can't feel anything."
"That will also wear off by the morning," Violet said, looking back at him, "Sorry."
"I'll be fine," Neal assured her, standing up, "I've been putting up with them without pain meds for two weeks, and I've survived. Now, I believe before I apparently required major surgery, I was helping you with those dishes."
They washed the kitchen and put them away, and by 8:15 walked into the living room, where Rose was playing with her Barbie dolls. The pair went down and set down on the couch.
"So," Violet said, nervously pressing her skirt, "How you liking Cardiff so far?"
"It's nice," Neal answered, equally awkwardly, "It's big."
"Yeah," Violet said, "I know right?"
"I mean it in a good way," Neal said, "I like big cities. They're easy to hide in."
"Eh, hum," Violet grunted, nodding towards Rose.
"Oh, sorry," Neal apologetically, "I didn't think about-" He nodded at Rose.
"Well, I don't think she heard, anyway," Violet said, "She's too caught up in playing house."
At that point Rose's black-haired Barbie doll pulled a white casserole dish filled with dried light green play dough out of an invisible oven.
"So," Neal began, changing the subject, "What's the weather usually like around here?"
"You want to talk about the weather?" Violet replied, "Seriously?"
"We've already talked about practically everything else," Neal said, "And I'll need to know that eventually anyway. It did seem a bit cold out there today."
"Yeah, it's a bit cold a lot," Violet said, "I mean there are some warm days, but more cold days then warm. You should probably also invest in a raincoat, 'cause it rains. A lot."
"I'll keep that in mind," Neal said.
After a moment of silence Violet said, "So, anything else you want to know about Cardiff?"
After a moment of thought, Neal said, " Know any good apartments around here?"
"There's the complex me and Rose lived in when we first got here, it's close to work, and its cheap. I'll take you by tomorrow after work so you can talk to the land lord, I'll even put in a good word for you."
"You don't have to go through all that trouble," Neal insisted, "I might need directions but other than that, I'll be fine."
"I want to," Violet said, scooting a little closer to Neal on the couch, "Neal, I don't have a lot of friends, and forgive me if I'm out of line, I consider you one of them. I mean, you already know everything about, and..."
"And what?"Neal asked.
Violet shrunk a little, "And for some reason you still don't hate me."
"Well, you know...more about me then most people usually do at this point and you don't hate me. Besides, I've burned through all of my friends I did have," Neal reached out and stroked Violet's hair, "And I wouldn't mind having you as a friend, either."
"Are you two gonna kiss?" Rose said looking up, and noticing them for the first time.
"No," Violet said with a little bit of a laugh in her voice, turning to her sister, "We are not going to kiss."
But still her sister began to sing, "Neal and Violet sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, than comes marraige, than comes a baby in a baby carriage."
"Shouldn't you be getting ready for bead?" Violet responded.
"It's only eight thirty," Rose replied, "My bedtime isn't 'till nine thirty."
"Smart mouth," Violet said, but not in an angry way, or even a scolding way, "Okay, kiddo, you can play a little bit longer."
"Okay," Rose said, than she turned back to her dolls. At that point a little red ball rolled into the living room.
"What the-?"Neal began.
But Violet, who was used to this sort of thing, just said half under her breath, "Three, two, one."
As if on cue, Daisy came running into the living room, seeking out her ball which was a Roses feet. She started playing keep-away with the ball, then rolled it back down the hallway saying, "Go, get it, Daisy! Go get it girl!" And fallowing the puppy down the hall.
Neal and Violet stared at the display as the two ran down the hall. "That happen often?" Neal asked.
"Oh, yeah, " Violet said, "All the time."
"She really loves that dog."Neal observed.
"Yeah, she does," Violet said. She smoothed out the skirt of her dress as she turned back to Neal. "We found her on the street a week after we got here. We were walking home one day, and she just limped out from behind a garbage can, whimpering. Rose just walked to her, and scooped her up, said we couldn't just leave her there, so we took her up to the apartment, gave her something to eat, and before you know she was ours. She's really good for Rose, you know? She's not very good at making friends, and that's probably my fault for always keeping her so close-"
"You had to." Neal reassured her.
"Thanks," Violet said, "Anyway, she didn't have any friends here yet, and a lonely child should have a dog, don't you think?"
"Yeah," Neal said.
Just then Violet noticed something on the end table. She picked up a thin book. "How did this get here?"
"What is it?" Neal asked leaning in close enough to see it was a copy of Beauty and The Beast.
"It's Rose's favorite book." She said, looking at it, "Beauty and The Beast. Not the Disney version, the original version. You know, with the sisters, and the stolen roses, and the Beast almost dying of grief until Beauty tells her she loves him."
"I know the original story." Neal said.
"You never know," Violet said, "The original story's kind of been lost to most people."
"Shame, really," Neal said, "It's really better than the Disney version."
"Yeah," Violet said, "In the end of the original she becomes a Princess."
"Yeah," Neal said.
Violet was quiet after that, thinking.
Neal leaned in close to her and said gently, "Princesses live such perfect lives, don't they?"
"Yeah," Violet said, flipping through the pages of the book, "Yeah, they do. But you know one thing I never got about this one?"
Neal knew she was trying to change the subject, but he indulged her. "No, what?"
"The last line of this retelling of it." Violet said, flipping to the last page, """They lived together for years, and their happiness was complete."
"What's so weird about that?" Neal asked.
"I get the live together for years part," Violet elaborated, "It's a sugar-coated way of saying they grew old together and died together. It's the, their happiness was complete I don't understand. What does that even mean?"
"I don't know," Neal said, "Maybe they just wanted to switch it up from, "And they all lived happily ever after.""
"Yeah," Violet said, setting the book on her lap, "That's probably it."
After a moment of thought, Neal said, "Or maybe it means that they have everything they want. They've found love, a place where they belong, they love each other more than anything else, have people who care about them, and there's no other shoe that's about to drop. They've throughly have nothing to be unhappy about. "
"Yeah," Violet said in a tone that made it known she thought he could be right, " Maybe that's it. They've found complete happiness."
Violet leaned back in the couch. After a minute she said, "You know, if that's complete happiness, I don't know how anyone can find it. Anyone who doesn't live in a fictional world at least. "'
"I'm sure some people find it," Neal replied, "Otherwise nobody would know what it was."
"Well, I know I'll never find it," Violet said, stinking into the couch, "At least, most likely not."
"Hey, at this point, I'll probably never find it either," Neal said, turning to her, "So at least you're not alone."
Violet eyes moved back and forth. "I have an idea," Violet said, getting up, "Wait here."
She walked into the kitchen, opened the cabinet where she kept her glasses, and pulled down two plastic light green cups. She then opened the fridge and pulled out a plastic bottle of black current juice. Pouring juice into each glass, she put the bottle back in the fridge and walked into the living room with a glass in each hand.
She walked over to the couch, sat down, and handed a glass to Neal. Neal looked down at the black liquid with a worried look on his face. "Don't worry," Violet assured him, "It's just black current juice."
"Okay, and what are we gonna do with the black current juice?" Neal asked.
"Make a toast,'' Violet answered.
"To what?" Neal asked.
"To complete happiness," Violet said, raising her glass, "May we one day find it, if we can even figure out what it is."
"To complete happiness," Neal said, clinking his glass against Violet's. They both drunk the glasses of the sweet juice completely dry.
About a half hour latter Rose went to bed, and Violet prepared to go to bed soon after. She walked back into the living room wearing tan sleep pants, a brown shirt, with her hair up, holding a white blanket. "I thought you might need this."
"Thanks," Neal said, taking it from her.
"Hey, would you mind walking over and turning off the light?"She asked.
"Sure," Neal said. He walked across the living room, to the light switch, and turned it off. He found himself in complete darkness. "Oh," Violet said, " Didn't really think about that."
"It's okay," Neal said, already walking, "I can feel my way back." He put his hand on the corner of the coffee table. "I've already made my way back to the coffee table, see?"
"Actually I can't," Violet said.
"Oh, right," Neal said, fallowing the sound of Violet's voice.
Just then, down the hall the light in Rose's room turned on, and Rose, looking like a ghostly apparition in her white night gown in the dim light, walked over to Violet's room, and turned the light on there. She then looked at the adults with an exasperated look on her face.
Then something odd happened: all three of them busted out laughing. "I can't believe I didn't think of that!" Violet managed to get out between bursts of laughter.
"I know!" Rose laughed. The she made her way back into her bedroom.
"Good night Neal," Violet laughed walking to her room.
"Good night, Violet," Neal laugh, sitting down on the couch.
Then the laughter faded, and the lights went off, and Neal laid down on the couch, pulled the blanket over himself, and fell into a dreamless sleep.