A/N: I would like to point out that while I'm 72% sure the address, while in my neighborhood, is not real, if it is, please do not stalk whoever lives there… Anyway, I found my Tamagotchi Connection from 4th grade on Saturday, and I'm enjoying my virtual pet immensely.
*~*~*
2232 Roanoke Court
September 22, 2010 – 08:10 EST
Lake Mary, FL
According to the paper, Lacey McCarthy was born in New York City as Lacey Maria Alexander. She had gone to an inner city high school, and graduated with an average GPA before marrying her high school sweetheart, Jacob McCarthy. During school, she had been in almost no clubs, and was therefore it would be very hard for anyone to "remember" her. Her family was scattered all over the continental United States, and she still kept in contact with her mother and stepbrother on a weekly basis.
Kensi, on the other hand, was Lacey's antithesis, something which she was considering as she leaned against the side of the U-Haul, watching as the movers carried boxes and furniture into their new house, which was one that had been on the market for years after being foreclosed. Their car was from the police impound lot, and all of the furniture had been shipped from California.
The Seminole County Sheriff's office was cooperating fully with the NCIS field office in Mayport, up near Jacksonville, several hundred miles away.
It was sunny outside, a slightly chilly 65°. The pollen count was high, and you could hear the high school across the street as the bell rang and students scattered across the campus.
The neighborhood that they had moved into was across from the library, park, and the middle and high schools, which meant that at 7:20, 9:10, 2:20, and 3:55, traffic in the surrounding mile would slow to a crawl as parents used the neighborhood as a parking lot and teenagers used it as a shortcut to get to the school.
Ah, the joys of Monday.
She had completely zoned out, watching an ant walk across the sidewalk.
"You're our new neighbors?" A woman's voice with a Boston accent snapped her out of her focus on the insect. Her head snapped up.
"Uh, yeah. I'm Lacey McCarthy." She said. "My husband is off somewhere or another, or I'd introduce you to him."
"You don't look Irish." The woman said, then shrugged. "I'm Michelle Norris. I live in the house next to yours."
"Oh. Interesting." Kensi nodded, taking in the woman's appearance. 40-something, bleach blonde with dark brown eyebrows, way too much makeup and a bit too much plastic surgery. It was obvious that 20 years ago, the woman had been one of those clubbing types, but judging from the huge diamond on her left hand, had gotten married just for the money.
Kensi's eyes flickered to her own ring – cubic zirconium that was shiny enough to look real.
"So do you have any children?" Michelle asked. Kensi shook her head.
"No! I mean, maybe one day, but I just got married a few years ago…" she let her voice trail of as she contemplated her story.
Thankfully, G walked up to her at that moment, saving her from continuing the suddenly awkward conversation.
"Hey." He said, wrapping his arms around her waist. She kissed him in response, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Where were you? You teleported before I could talk to you." She asked, jokingly.
"There was an issue with the bookcase." He explained, noticing for the first time the woman who was talking to Kensi. "Who's this?"
"Our new neighbor." She explained, noticing for the first time they were speaking in very hushed tones.
G turned around; keeping one arm wrapped around Kensi's waist, and held out a hand to the woman.
"I'm Jacob." He introduced himself, smiling.
"Michelle Norris." The bleach-blonde responded. "So, where did you and your wife live before this?" she asked.
"Malibu." The two responded almost simultaneously.
"Ah, California. I've been there before. So how long have you been married?"
"3 years next month." G responded, smiling widely. Kensi reflexively smiled. They had only been dating for a month in the real world. He then turned to Kensi, pulling a Tamagotchi V1 out of his pocket. "Look what I found."
It took her longer than it should have to recognize the small toy. "Where did you find this?" she asked, snatching the pink E-Pet out of his hands, quickly reuniting herself with the toy.
"In a box of your stuff."
Kensi was too enthralled by the pixels moving across the tiny screen to comment on the fact that he had gone through her things. "I've been looking for this for years!" she finally said.
"I know. Come on; the movers are making a mess of the house and we have to make sure nothing's broken." He grabbed her wrist, leading her inside.
*~*~*
2232 Roanoke Court
September 22, 2010 – 14:42 EST
Lake Mary, FL
The two of them were sitting on the couch amidst piles of boxes, enjoying a late lunch of Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets and milkshakes – according to their new neighbor, Chick-Fil-A was the best fast-food restaurant that wasn't ridiculously expensive.
The movers had finished; there wasn't all that much furniture for them to move, and Kensi and G were too tired to organize anything. Having not gotten any sleep on Saturday night – technically, Sunday – due to the fact that their flight encountered a lot of turbulence along the way, before getting delayed when they stopped for fuel in Houston – and the fact that on Sunday night, the hotel they had checked into was right next to Lake Mary Boulevard, which any local resident knows should be completely avoided during the weekend, both were too exhausted to do anything.
They had also learned a bit too late that the adults in their neighborhood were either misanthropes, gossipy, or too busy controlling the dozens of children and teenagers that seemed to fill the neighborhood at random hours of the day.
The good thing about a neighborhood filled with Homeowner's Association gossipers is that when you want to find about someone or something, you just have to ask around.
Unfortunately, their neighborhood was filled with idiots. Kensi had asked Michelle if she knew anything about Epsilon, claiming she had heard about it from one of the movers. Michelle had claimed to have absolutely no idea what Epsilon was, and that if she wanted to learn about it, she should wait until the neighborhood's resident computer geek got home from school, which according to Michelle, would be whenever she dragged her ass away from Starbucks or Target.
"It's nice having a resident computer geek," Kensi commented vaguely. "Even if said computer geek isn't home from school."
"If the girl knows about Epsilon, then yeah, it is nice, otherwise we'll just have another hacker on our hands, and with what I heard, the girl could probably crash the entire electronic infrastructure of the world if she wanted."
"She's what, 14? I doubt she can or would even want to destroy all that stuff."
There was a knock on the door and Kensi groaned. She had already had to get up 13 times because one of the neighbors decided to introduce themselves.
G sensed her unwillingness to move and stood up, walking to the door. Kensi finally stood up and shadowed him.
The door opened, revealing a teenage girl holding a giant basket of cookies.
"Hi." She greeted them. "I'm Sadie O'Connell. I saw the SOLD sign and I decided to bring y'all cookies." She handed over the basket. "You'll probably hear about me from the morons in this neighborhood. They call me the resident computer geek." She said rapidly.
So this was their geek.
*~*~*
A/N: (Looking at my Tamagotchi, Laila) So I hope you like this, and I'm out of computer time so I'm gonna listen to my Funeral Mix CD. Review!