(Sabrina's POV)

I'm writing in my journal on my bed when I hear some loud popping noises, followed by what sounds like Gene swearing. I get up and go to the door of the extra bedroom, although I guess it's Gene's room now.

I knock timidly on the door; it swings open on its own accord. Smoke fills the room. I can just barely make out Gene opening the window to let in fresh air. When the smoke finally clears, my jaw drops.

The spare bedroom has turned into a nightmare; well, my version of a nightmare. Pink stripped wallpaper, a fluffy pink comforter with a canopy, and TONS of glitter. In the center of the room is a cardboard box surrounded by a charred area on the floor. Gene is coughing from the smoke; her face has grey smudges on it. She gasps in horror at what the room has become.

"I shouldn't have opened that," she says regretfully. She pulls a wand out of one of the many pockets in her trench coat and waves it around the room, making all the pinkness disappear, replaced with blue and green. "There, much better." Jake rushes upstairs.

"The smoke alarm went off, is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything's fine," Gene says, glaring at him.

"Dinner is almost ready." Jake turns on his heel and walks back downstairs. Gene remains standing, glaring at the spot where Jake had been.

"I'll, um, go then," I say, awkwardly backing out of the room. Gene reluctantly follows me downstairs to the dinning room. She sits at the opposite end of the table from Jake. I feel sorry for him; he's seeing his daughter for the first time in five years apparently, and she's completely ignoring him.

Granny comes out with a huge saucepan. "I made spaghetti, Gene. I remember that was one of your favorites." Gene tries to look more cheerful as Granny serves out the green meatballs. Daphne immediately takes five meatballs; I try to not take any.

XXxxXX

Since I was reluctant to eat Granny's dinner, as usual, I now find myself in the kitchen at 10:31 PM, looking for something to eat. I'm just about to open a dish of pink mashed potatoes when I hear footsteps. I quietly tiptoe to the doorway to the kitchen; Gene is down the hall, unlocking the front door as quietly as possible. Soon, she's opened the door and walked out into the night. Naturally, I follow.

XXxxXX

(Gene's POV)

You know I love Ferryport Landing, and my family, and Mirror, and the house, and all that stuff. But when you have been traveling around Europe for five years, finding magical items and taking them from magical people, the goody-two-shoes house seems really really really BORING. I'm so eager to get out of the house that I step on the third floorboard from the right in front of Sabrina and Daphne's room; it creaks… loudly.

I almost abandon the attempt right there, but I'm going crazy and it has been less than eight hours in the house. Once outside, I apparate into the center of town. Free at last.

There are a few places in Ferryport that only open after dark, most of which are owned by various Everafters. I start walking towards a building entitled O'Toole's; a help wanted sign is in the window; this should be interesting…

XXxxXX

(Sabrina's POV)

Naturally, when I follow someone, they tend to disappear without me knowing where they went. By the time I get outside onto the porch, Gene is gone without a trace. I go back inside, determined to try to follow Gene the next time she sneaks out.

XXxxXX

(Gene's POV)

"What can I get you?" the bartender asks. He has a cigarette in one hand, a Pepsi bottle in the other.

"I saw a help wanted sign," I say, sitting at the bar. "To whom would I talk to about that?" He sticks the cigarette in his mouth and cocks and eyebrow, giving me a skeptical look. "Who do I talk to about getting the job?" I ask more firmly.

"Owner's in the office," He says, taking a drag on the cigarette and pointing to a door down a hallway. "Don't come cryin' back to me if you don't get it."

"I won't," I reply sarcastically. I walk down the hallway and knock on the door firmly. The door opens, creaking; inside is an office. Behind the desk is a man; he has only one hand, the other is a hook. He looks up from his laptop.

"You're hired, Grimm," he says immediately. "Just don't let any of the customers know that you're a Grimm," he continues. "Most of them are Everafters, and most of them don't like you Grimms. I'm taking a risk here," he says, continuing to type with one hand. "Don't disappoint me."

"Thank you, Captain," I say sarcastically, walking back towards the door. "I won't forget your generosity."

XXxxXX

"What'd the Captain have to say?" the bartender asks. I grin.

"I'm hired," I say. He's obviously surprised.

"You gotta be an Everafter then," he says. "But I won't pry into personal your personal life. What's your name?"

"Gene," I reply, avoiding the last name for safety purposes. "And yours?"

"Chris. Chris Chambers," he says, lighting another cigarette.

I nod. "So what will my job be here?"

"You can start behind the bar with me," he says. "If you can make a better New Orleans Fizz than I can, you can stay at the bar."

"You're on."

XXxxXX

(Sabrina's POV)

I was totally gonna ask Gene what she was doing last night, but you can't really do that when you

a) wake up after everyone else and

b) have a Puck-style wake up call. It takes me forever to get the maple syrup out of my hair. Once I finally make it downstairs, Gene is telling Daphne about her encounters with the Tin Woodsman in Amsterdam.

"Hey 'Brina," she says, as if everything is normal. I study her cautiously as I sit down. Much to my dismay, she looks perfectly normal.

"Hey, do we have any formaldehyde?" Gene asks randomly. Jake spews his coffee all over the table.

"What's formaldehyde?" Daphne asks me.

"It's what they use to embalm people with," Jake tells her, angrily cleaning up the spilt coffee. "Why do you want formaldehyde?"

"It's for an experiment," Gene says without skipping a beat. Puck looks at her suspiciously. "I'm not gonna actually embalm someone," Gene says.

"What does embalm mean?" Daphne asks.

"It's what they do to preserve dead bodies," I reply, loosing my appetite for breakfast. Daphne turns a faint shade of green and also pushes away her bowl of cereal.

"So do we have any?" Gene asks again innocently.

"No, we don't. And you're not gonna go buy any either." Jake heads into the kitchen to get a fresh cup of coffee; I can almost see steam coming out of his ears because of the wasted coffee. Gene looks genuinely disappointed.

"I'll have to settle for an oleander plant then," Gene muses, grinning. She gets up with her coffee mug and heads back upstairs. I follow her again.

Once I enter her room, my jaw drops yet again. Posters of various movies and bands cover the walls; multiple lava lamps are glowing. An electric keyboard sits in one corner; in the other, a table with a coffee maker. On the desk there is a laptop, as well as a typewriter. "What do you think?" she asks.

"Where did you get all of this stuff?"

"Most of it I had shrunk and put in my trench coat," Gene says, sitting in a swivel chair at the desk. "Other stuff I just pulled out of the air." I'm not sure whether she's serious or not.

Suddenly a phone rings. Gene rushes over to the bedside table, where one of those old-timey rotary phones sits. "Hello? Oh hey..." She continues to listen. "Tonight? Um... listen, can I call you back? Thanks."

"Who was that?" I ask.

"A friend," Gene replies. "You want some coffee? Tea?" I shake my head; now I really wanna know where she's going tonight.

A/N: I know it's been a while... I kinda forgot about this fic :P