A/N: Like I've said before, my characters tend to write themselves. Sometimes this leads to problems when they want to do something that will not get them to where I want them to be. But with this chapter, Richard just took over. So this is going to move a little faster than I had originally planned, because I'm not going to argue with Richard when he gets so eloquent on me. :')

Chapter 4

Jean was standing outside of the building when Richard walked up right at ten. He looked at her with his head slightly cocked. When Kathleen had said they were twins, it didn't occur to him that they might be identical. But they were, same eyes, same hair, same smattering of freckles. True, Jean did not have the same scar above her eyebrow, but Richard figured that to someone who didn't know about that, it would be nigh on impossible to tell them apart.

"Good, mm morning, Mrs. Schlensker."

"I told you, call me Jean," she said as she stepped next to him. "We could well be family before long." There was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "Assuming you pass muster, of course." She threaded her arm through his. She saw the look of alarm in his eye and laughed. "Don't worry," she said. "This is something everyone who is interested in one of us Gallagher kids goes through. I promise to go easy on you. Much easier than Kathleen went on my husband Carl, at any rate. Of course, you don't look like the kind of man who'll fall in to tears at the threat of castration."

"She. Threatened to, mm. Castrate him?"

"Oh, yes. Not that she actually would, mind you. Kathleen has too much reverence for life. That's why she became a nurse. She's a very compassionate woman, and she takes what she does very seriously." Jean looked at Richard out of the corner of her eye. "I'm going to ask you a question, and I want an honest answer. Do you love my sister?"

"Mm, more. Than I ever. Thought I could, mm, love anyone." He searched for the words. "I. Came back shattered, mm. I couldn't...go back to my life. From before. I lived in, mm, a veteran's hospital. Because I didn't think. There was a life for me. Outside. Mm. Nothing I learned. In the army was. Any good to me now. Mm, and nothing that I knew. From before was possible." He made a gesture at his mask, then continued. "When I met Jimmy, mm. There was a bond. We went through...a lot of the same things...Leave a normal life. Shoot at people. Get shot at. mm. Get hurt, come home to find. Life had moved on. Without us. Mm. He offered me a job. I. Was looking," Richard paused as the truth of what he was about to say finally kicked in. "Looking for a way to. Get killed without, doing it myself. It was like. I was as empty...as my left eye. Dark. Cold. Inhuman. Mm. When I met. Kathleen, that changed. Mm, I began. Looking for a way to live. She brought, mm. Light back to my world. She made me. Feel again."

"So you would give all of this up if she asked?" Jean asked quietly, deeply moved by what Richard had said.

"She doesn't have, mm, to ask," Richard replied. "Let me. Show you something."

As Richard led her along, Jean knew that this was the man her beloved twin sister was meant to spend the rest of her life with. They walked in silence, until Richard led her into a jewelry shop.

"Ah, Mr. Harrow!" the man behind the counter said as they came through the door. "Perfect timing. I just finished up with your order. Let me get it, for your approval. Oh!" he exclaimed when he registered Jean standing with Richard. "Is, ah, this the young lady...?"

"Mm, no," Richard said. "Her sister."

"Very well, sir. One moment please." The man hurried to the back room, then came out a moment later, two boxes in his hand. One was a long rectangle, the other a small square.

"The watch, sir. It was not as difficult to repair as you feared. I am not entirely sure," the jeweler said as he opened the longer box, "how the crystal was supposed to look, if it was flat, or slightly faceted,..."

"You got it right," Jean said, looking at the watch. "It looked just like this." She held out her left arm and showed the men an identical watch. "They were gifts from our mother," she explained. "Mine was a wedding gift, and Kathleen's was for when she graduated nursing school." She looked at Richard. "Kathleen thinks she's loosing her mind because she couldn't find the watch."

"I wanted to. Surprise her, mm."

"Same with the other box?" Jean asked, one eyebrow arched. Richard nodded, and motioned for the jeweler to open the smaller box. Jean gasped when she saw the delicate silver band set with a square cut diamond. "She'll be surprised," she said finally.

"Will she. Say yes?"

"Our mother raised ugly kids, not dumb ones," she said reassuringly. "She'll say yes."