A/N: Sorry for the delay, crazy day!

This is a shift day [see above]. There was another upload this morning: The Hearts of Friends.

"Familiar Strangers"

3. No Tricks

The second day had been a bust. He was nowhere nearer to figuring out where he knew Elsie from… he might actually have been further off than ever before. To some degree it was fine; the chase was interesting. But each day that passed only made him want to know who she was all over again. Lying hadn't worked, but today he had a whole other tactic.

It was something his mother would do with him when he was a kid. She'd get him talking about some thing or another, lulling him into a false sense of security, and then when he'd least expect it, she'd slip in to the question she was really after, and he wouldn't realize, so he'd slip and tell her. He could do that. He could talk to Elsie, never touching on to their whole 'who are you?' situation, and then he'd get her to give herself away. No chance to fail there.

At lunch time he left work and went on his way to Dee's Diner. He walked through the door to find something odd. In his place, which was to say at the spot he'd been occupying for the last two days, there was a hand-made sign declaring this space was 'reserved.' He frowned, approaching, and then he looked up when a hand came to remove the sign. Elsie smirked, indicating for him to sit.

"See what I did there," she told him, with pride for her 'prediction.'

"Hey, I was just figuring you'd wonder what happened if I didn't show," he played it off.

"Yeah, uh-huh," she nodded. "Burger and fries and a coke?" she guessed as he took his seat. "Although if you are going to make this a daily thing, we have some really good salads," she nodded.

"Fine, that works," he shrugged. At this point he'd probably eat anything she put before him. The lunch was quickly becoming an excuse to come and see her. She brought him iced tea, insisting it would go better with the salad. Again, he gave no complaint. He had a plan to carry out.

On his lunch the day before he'd figured out she usually got her break around the time he had to go. So the solution was simple. If he arrived later, he could catch her on her break, and they could talk… and he could play his bating game. He was about halfway through his salad when he watched her come around the counter and sit at his side. He turned to be able and face her. "Hey," he spoke casually.

"Hey," she laughed. "You don't mind, do you?"

"No, it's fine," he promised. "I mean, more than fine. Fine sounds kind of like it doesn't…" he stopped himself. "The salad's good," he complimented.

"I'll let Dee know," she bowed her head with a smirk.

"Oh, so there's actually a Dee?" he asked, surprised, then paused to ponder. She saw his question on his face before he even needed to ask.

"She's been running this place since she opened it, like twenty-five years ago," Elsie explained, sure to press on the pronouns to confirm for him whether Dee was a man or a woman.

"Yeah, I've been coming here for years," he nodded. "I had no idea," he admitted.

"Don't worry about it, she never really comes out here, just works away in that kitchen the way she always has. If you get to know her though she's pretty great," Elsie smiled.

"Sounds like it," he agreed, then thought. "Aren't you hungry by now?" he looked to the clock, and by the time he turned back she'd swiped a cherry tomato off his plate. She froze, caught.

"What, you weren't going to eat it!" she defended herself, pointing back to his plate with her other hand.

"How'd you know?" he was more amused than annoyed.

"You never do," she shrugged. "I pick up on these things, it's part of my job."

"Oh yeah? What else?" She nodded with a grin as though to say 'alright, challenge accepted.'

"You will leave some of your burger behind if it will help you finish your fries when you're not hungry enough for both." He blinked. It was true, now that he thought about it, although he hadn't been conscious of it before.

"Okay…"

"And you eat the long fries first," she added.

"I do," he was aware of this one.

"You want more?" she teased, and he was sure he looked like a deer in headlights… Either way, it got her laughing. "To answer your question, I had my lunch before you got here, so, no, I'm good," she smiled.

"But you will eat my tomatoes?" She perked up.

"Yes, please," she held out her hands. He gladly transferred the tomatoes to her, and she leaned on one elbow as she ate them and he continued with his salad.

"It's not like I don't like tomatoes, I do," he explained.

"Hey, it's cool, I'm not judging here," she promised. "But you don't know what you're missing…" she gave a singsong kind of reply and when he looked back to her, she pulled her hands closer to herself, like he would try to steal her tomatoes away.

"So how long have you been working here?" he asked after a minute or so.

"Uh…" she thought, "Almost three years."

"The night shift this whole time?"

"Oh, yes," she nodded. "I had the whole upside down internal clock thing going. Switching was not easy," she declared. "But then the offer came, and I kind of missed the daytime crowd… and the daytime, period," she went on. "Plus I was this close to developing an infomercial addiction," she cringed, and he laughed. "All better now."

"I'm glad you switched shifts then," he nodded.

"Yeah," she smiled.

Twenty minutes went by before he'd finished his lunch, paid his bill, and said goodbye to Elsie for the third day in a row. It was only as he was walking down the street on his way back to work that he realized he'd forgotten something. In all his intentions to bait her into revealing herself, he'd ended up baiting himself. They'd been talking, and he was interested in hearing what she had to say, and in all this he'd gone and forgotten the actual bait. He'd left without getting to ask her who she was, and now if he went back he was pretty sure he wouldn't get any closer.

It wasn't like the day had been a complete loss. He'd actually gotten to speak to her more now than he had on both previous days combined. He'd gotten to have a sustained conversation with her. Even if he hadn't found out the thing he'd been wanting to know, what he did find out instead had already been more than he could hope for. So with a smile he told himself that tomorrow was another day, another chance.

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)