The steady ticking of the stupid clock on the wall made an eerie soundtrack for our odd little reunion. Mason and Daisy stood gaping, Daisy's usual grace deserting her (not that she'd had any lately) as she stared at Rube. She looked at him like…
Like he'd come back from the dead. Again. Which, you think about it, wasn't far from the truth. Poor guy couldn't catch a break.
"Rube!" I knew Mason would crack first. He walked over and threw his scrawny arms around Rube. The bourbon sloshed dangerously and he held it out of the way, one lip curling up in aggravated disgust.
His face said he wanted to be anywhere else, but I didn't miss the quick hand that came up to pat Mason on the back. Smirking, I tipped my head to look into Rube's unamused eyes. That's our Rube. Hard and crabby on the outside, soft and squishy on the inside. Just like an OREO cookie. Someday somebody was going to come along and scoop out that soft center, leaving just a cracked, brittle crust behind.
Oh wait, Death already did that when it decided to make him a reaper so he could watch his daughter die in his fucking arms.
Yeah, we all knew about that. I'd found out real quick Penny couldn't keep her mouth shut after you plied her with a couple of martinis, so generously provided by my fake ID. I understood why she did it, but…parents shouldn't have to bury their kids. Especially when that parent's already dead. And they got dead by trying to keep that kid off of the streets. It was messed up, and it had ripped Rube apart.
I couldn't help but wonder if it was all part of some messed up conspiracy upper management dreamed up. His daughter, his last tie to the living, just happens to be in the same town he's reaping in, and her reap just happens to go to one of his best friends? Bull. They knew she was going to tell him. I think they were just trying to drive the last of his humanity out of him so they could get away with crap like this.
He'd never been the same after that. I couldn't bring myself to say his daughter's name, or think of her as anything but a random ghost from his past. Otherwise it made the fact that we were all going to watch people we loved get old and die just a little too real and not just an abstract idea from some part of Rube's life that had nothing to do with me. Not much of Rube's life outside of reaping had anything to do with me, come to think of it. With any of us, except maybe Roxy. He poked and prodded and whipped out the damn crowbar to yank open our dirty little secrets, but ask him what he did when he wasn't at Der Waffle Haus and he shut up faster than Daisy did the morning I threatened to flush her $300 organic something-or-other down the toilet.
Watching Rube begrudgingly greet Mason, I realized for the first time that he must have been lonely here before. Just like I had been, before I had Mason and Daisy and Roxy and Betty and the screwed up little relationships that tied us together.
Being kicked out of heaven to get stuck with a group of people who were too wrapped up in their own lives to give a rat's ass what was going on in his was a fate worse than death. Literally. Maybe Rube wasn't just here to make us get our act together after Cameron's death. Maybe upper management was giving us a second chance to treat him the way we should have treated him the first time around.
Eyeballing my empty glass (when did that happen?) I carefully set it back on the table. This psychology stuff was Daisy's thing. She loved picking people apart. Said it added depth to her acting, whatever that meant. But it made her happy, and most of the time she was actually good at it. When I started to sound like Oprah, on the other hand, it was time to put down the alcohol.
"Georgia? Georgia honey, are you alright?" Cool hands pressed against my temple. Daisy was hovering over me, a frown marring her polished face. "You haven't heard a word we've said for the last five minutes."
"Don't be stupid Daisy. Reapers don't get sick. Georgie girl here's just spacing out." Mason pulled Daisy's hand away and started slapping my cheeks. "Georgie! Come back to us Georgie!"
"Ow! Goddamn Mason, what the fuck?" I jerked back my head and glared balefully at him, rubbing a hand on my stinging cheek. That actually hurt. "I was thinking. You should try it sometime."
"Keep thinking that hard and that brain of yours is going to get so big it'll pop out of your skull," Rube said helpfully. The irritation on his face had been replaced by a twinkle of amusement at my expense. Figures.
"What were you thinking, Georgia?" Daisy leaned against the pole at the end of the bar, arms crossed across her chest. I would have looked like a belligerent pain in the ass. Somehow, even in her black suit Daisy managed to look graceful. There were times I really hated her poise (at least, the poise she used to have before she started sleeping with Cameron Kane). Right now, with the world as I knew it getting flipped on its head, I was grateful for the familiarity of her annoying little habits.
"I was thinking you guys were a bunch of jerks," I griped. Daisy rolled her eyes. Mason shoved his hands in his pockets. Rube just arched his eyebrows, a very Rube-esque look on his face. They all thought I was just being a butthead. They didn't need to know it was true, or why. Knowing my luck, Mason would start giving me some shit about being hot for teacher and I'd have to have Roxy shoot him again.
Although she did owe me some favors for helping them straighten this mess out. Maybe…
"You're not staying here, are you?" Mason looked at Rube, his cheeks turning bright pink when he realized what he said. "I mean, not that you can't stay here. Not my house, y'know. It's just there's only two bedrooms and…"
Daisy helpfully dug her elbow into his solar plexus, smiling sweetly when he bent double and gasped for air. "What Mason's trying to say is that you're welcome to stay here if you need to. You can have Georgia's room."
"Oh great, and where am I supposed to sleep?" I snapped. I regretted it the minute the words came out of my mouth and wasn't really sure why. I mean, it's not like Rube had gone out of his way to make sure I had digs after I came back from the dead. And unlike Mason, he could take care of himself. But…
But it sucked being newly dead and homeless to boot, and I really needed to learn to think before I speak. Resignation rolled up from my toes as I realized that no matter how badly I wanted to get back at him for all the shit he put me through after I died, I wasn't really going to kick him out.
"Don't hurt yourself Peanut," he said dryly, before I even had a chance to open my mouth. "Upper management made sure my apartment stayed open while I was gone. Guess they realized there wasn't a chance in hell you guys could manage to not fuck this one up. I just came over for these." Walking over to the table he scooped up the envelope with the reaps in one hand and the bottle of bourbon with the other, glaring at Mason when he started to protest. "I'll see you at The Dish at the usual time. And Peanut…" He looked at me meaningfully. "Don't be late."
Mason and Daisy disappeared, leaving me caught somewhere between pissed off, guilty and relieved while the ghost that had just walked back into our lives closed the door with a soft click behind him. Crap. I needed a drink.
A/N: So very, very sorry for the delay in getting this done and posted. Many of you have asked me if I intend to continue this story. I don't just intend to continue it, I intend to finish it. However, real life's a little crazy at the moment and promises to stay that way for a couple more weeks, so if I'm a little slow getting things posted during that time please remember that I've not given up! And please, as always, read and review. You all know these characters just as well, if not better, than I do. I'd love to hear your thoughts!