Notes: So, the second season is here, and THANK GOD it is as good as season one. All the elements of V1 are here, almost all the V2 additions satisfy, including Tiya Sircar as Real Eleanor/Vicky/Denise. She is just as charming as a wannabe acting diva with a possible heart gold. And she is going to be a major part of this season (and seeing Chapter 16, she's gonna be a baddie. But I want her to be GOOD, soooo...) So much that (and this is unusual for me, based on my history with these things) I'm basing a good deal of this story on elements in V2. So basically, the actual reset did not happen. The V2 soulmates will not make this trip, although I kinda think Tahani and her S2 soul mate will make a connection on TV and I think Angelique is quite cute.
Also, no flash forwards in this episode, but that will probably start up again in the next chapter. This will be pretty much centered on Eleanor and Vicky. The usual disclaimers…. Update: It may be that Vicky could turn out to be the big bad here. Not in MY fics! And that girl can siiiing...!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The Past: The warehouse

Eleanor, Vicky, and the button tower all fell in a heap near the boxes surrounding them. It was a near-repeat of when Chidi accidentally "murdered" the AI Janet. With one big difference…the button was never pushed. Eleanor and Vicky were alright, at least health-wise.

But Vicky was still in tears and Eleanor was not looking at a con-woman who tried to break the heart of her good friend, but a broken person who has also seen her life…or in this case, afterlife…go up in smoke.

Eleanor lead Vicky too a rather large crate just low enough in height for the two to sit on, and it was there that Eleanor allowed Wiki to cry hard on her shoulder. The blonde kissed Vicky's jet black hair and the shorter woman started to compose herself. Then Vicki looked up and saw Eleanor's smiling face and almost lost it.

"Hey, Short Stack...what's wrong?" Eleanor flashing true concern with that smile.

"Me, Eleanor! ME! I! FORKED! UP!"

"No, Vick. It's me, Remember I'm the one who figured it out..."

"Eleanor, it's me. If I was better at my role..."

"Role...?"

Vicky seemed filled with and an enormous amount of guilt as she explained: "I was playing a part...we all were I guess you figured out that I was never Eleanor Shellstrop. I'm just a second-rate wannabe actress playing a part.."

Vicky couldn't tell why Eleanor was smirking at that. "Dude... As one con girl to another... You were absolutely fantastic!"

"Yeah," Vicky responded with a touch of sarcasm. "Yeah, I nailed the role... Until I... Until I forgot that I was acting..."

The smirk was gone from Eleanor's face. "So, you actually fell in love with Chidi..."

Vicky powder head slightly and played with the buttons on her shirt. "I fell in love with Chidi, I also kinda fell for Tahani, too. I guess you guys kind of wound up being sort of being the Three Musketeers...'

"And..." Eleanor asked nervously, " ...me? "

The answer came in the for a pair of pink lips crashing into Eleanor's.

And when Vicky's tear-stained face separated from Eleanor's, the blonde's face was definitely in deer-in-headlights mode.

This was followed by moments of silence, interjected by a few mutual smiles and short replays of Vicky's bold move. Then Eleanor asked the obvious question to her: "Who are you...?"

"Well, my real name is Vicky...Victoria Trisha Sengupta..."

"India...?"

"No. Homegrown demon. You see everything about us, our bodies, speech patterns, ethnicities...everything was chosen for us. It gives us a way to figure out how to deal with humans,"

"Like how to torture them." It wasn't a question from Eleanor. It was a statement of acknowledged fact.

Vicky lowered her head slightly and kept silent for a beat or two. "It started out like that...and it fun at first seeing you go through your paces." Then Vicky started to chuckle."That morning after the party was a masterpiece! Eleanor had to to smirk when she recalled that fever dream with giraffes, mega jumbo flying shrimp...all to an Ariana Grande soundtrack. And she had to ask Vicki how did they do that like a fangirl wanting to know how the did all that cool shirt in the Star Wars movies. And Vicky, in turn, was thrilled to tell her. The Cliff's Notes version was they took down everything Eleanor did at party and visually blew it up. Creating that visual nightmare was a madhouse of activity. Creatures had to be created out of nothing, but demons can do that. They had to get those yellow and black striped jumpsuits on everyone, including the four humans not named Eleanor Shellstrop.

"And Michael ran the whole operation like he was forking Spielberg. You should have been there...you would have been impressed!"

What impressed Eleanor was how this mousey person that pretended to be her had her face light up as she remembered that night. And a lit up Vicky face was also a beautiful one. But the blonde did have one question...

"How did you know about all the things I thinking? Like, some of that shirt I didn't even think I was thinking..."

By this time, Vicky really didn't care about keeping the secrets to castle. "Demons, Eleanor...well, we have abilities that other souls don't have. One of those abilities is to actually go into someone's thinking..."

"Mind reading...?"

"It's a bit more involved than that. I'll show you..."

There was no theatrics, special effects, or ethereal sounds. Eleanor just felt Vicky's was not a rude presence...as a matter of fact it felt very welcoming, enough that Eleanor invited the other woman's mind in.

It was a guided tour through a woman who had been through a lot. Horrid parents, bad friendships and relationships. There was not a lot of happy in the mind of Eleanor Shellstrop.

Ironically, in fact, the beginning of happy for Eleanor was after she came to the good place. And Vicky looked at a lot of that as she travelled within.

There was Chidi. Vicki's original soulmate. He's a nerd alright, but a loveable, sexy one who Eleanor fell for at first sight. And for all the bullshirt Eleanor put him through, he was and remains by her side...

Tahani. Vain, self-centred, name-dropping. And statuesque, caramel skin, lips like pillows, breasts like islands. And a better friend she could not find.

Jason. Dumbest. Human. Ever. But also the most honest human ever. And there is a certain charm to it that Eleanor is attracted to.

Janet. No, she's not human. But she is beyond whip-smart, maybe even smarter than she realises. She's not a robot, not human, but unbelievably amazing. She loved Janet as the sister she wished she had.

Speaking of family, Vicky's mind found how Eleanor felt about both Michael and Mindy St. Cloud. Mindy was Eleanor's mirror image, except for Mindy's lust for snortables. Brutally honest, unashamedly sexual, a master at cutting through anyone's bullshirt. This is the mom Eleanor needed.

Michael. Yeah, maybe the entire thing was a lie. Vicky knew...she played a part. But then, Mikey's always been sort of like a dad to everyone at the human division, and Vicky has seen it in how he's handled these four humans. So Eleanor thinks of Michael as a dad. Vicky understood.

And then Vicky found Eleanor's feelings about her. All of those feelings.

Vicky's response was non verbal, but it said volumes. In fact, the kiss Vicky gave Eleanor practically screamed Vicky's reaction to what she found in Eleanor's mind. The fact that Eleanor returned that kiss in the intense way she did confirmed what she found.

Then their faces separated and both knew that things had become more complicated.

They had no exactly how complicated...but they were about to find out.

TBA

Notes: My muse ran out, but ideas are percolating. If you have any ideas, let me know...