Chapter 3: One, Two, Three, Floor
Disclaimer: nope, don't own it.
A/N: this chapter is going to be a bit lighter than the others, next chapter will start colliding with the events seen in the SAW films. Also keep those contest entries for "Trial and Error" coming, I'm getting some really good ones, and it's going to be hard to choose the winners.
After the shock of the incident and the cuts from it had gone down, Lillian was feeling much better. Work was going well, her friends were supporting her in her decision to no longer get shitfaced every day alone, and so far she hadn't been asked to help with any of dad's 'games'. Though she would hear reports of victims being found in strange contraptions, what Lily found odd was that the dead people had jigsaw puzzle shapes cut out of them.
"I can never look at puzzles the same way again." Lily said to herself as she left her apartment.
When she arrived at the coffee shop, Mark was already there waiting for her.
"Hey Mark," she gave him a hug, "sorry I'm so late, I got distracted."
"Oh it's fine, I already got you a coffee."
"Thanks," Lily sat down, "So how are things going? You're looking a little more stressed than usual." Lily took a sip of her coffee.
"Eh, 'stressed' is a good word for it," Mark said, scratching his head, "between these Jigsaw murders, all the subsequent paperwork, and the fact that the man who murdered my sister has been released, it's honestly a little bit overwhelming."
"Ah geez, I'm sorry. I'm not going to have to come back to the station to re-give a statement, am I?"
Mark laughed, "What, you don't like seeing me?"
"If that was the case, I wouldn't keep having coffee with you. At any rate, I'm sorry you're feeling so stressed, and here's hoping karma bites the guy who killed your sister in the arse."
"Here's hoping."
About an hour later of more chatting about everything under the sun, Mark's phone went off.
"Hoffman. Are you sure? Okay, I'll be right there." He hung up the phone, "They found another Jigsaw victim, I've got to go." He got up and kissed Lily on the cheek.
"Well good luck. And if you're free later, me and a bunch of friends are going to The Irish Pub tonight if you and your friends would like to join us."
"If we're free we'll definitely come on by." And with a smile, Mark walked away. Once he was completely out of sight and out of earshot, Lily quickly got out her cell phone.
"Dad, it's Lily, we need to talk, I'll be at the warehouse in ten."
Lily pulled up to the warehouse and dashed in.
"…I lost him too John," she hear her mom saying. Jill walked down the hall and saw Lily.
"Oh Lily," Jill embraced her daughter, "how have you been doing since…the incident? Do you need me to get you anything? Is there anything I can do?"
"No mom, I'm fine, but thanks." Lily smiled, "I'll let you know if I need anything, okay?"
"Okay angel." And Jill walked away.
When Lily saw her dad, he was standing over a glass coffin.
"Whatcha doing?" she asked.
"Contemplating the next game."
"Well snap back to the present, because I think we may have a problem. Apparently another game was found and unless you've decided to stop telling me when you are setting up new games…" John turned to Lily in surprise.
"How did you find this out?"
"Oh, I was…having coffee with a friend…and we heard it…from another table, look that's not important! We may have a copycat on our hands."
"I see, well before you go out tonight, see what you can find out. Also I'll need you to please make me a timer that I can connect to a door. It needs to count down from two hours, and I need to be able to start it remotely. Here's fifty dollars for supplies, keep the change for you."
"No problem dad."
Upon returning to her apartment, she saw that news of the newest 'Jigsaw victim' had already hit the local stations. "Great, they always interrupt General Hospital for these things."
"…and we can now confirm that the victim was a man named Seth Baxter. Baxter, who had been in prison for the murder of Angelina Hoffman," Lily did a double take and looked back at the television, "had been released just a few days ago." The news report continued, but Lily was already on the phone.
"Dad, I've got that info you wanted on the victim."
Later that evening, Lily and her friends/co-workers were enjoying themselves at the pub.
"Hey Todd!" Lily called to the bartender, "can we get another round of 'Lily's Liquor' over here?"
"Anything for my favorite Jigsaw survivor honey!" He said as he started preparing their drinks.
"Geez Todd, when you gonna stop with the Jigsaw survivor stuff? Seriously dude?"
"When Jigsaw fever dies down girl! That picture of you from the paper that you signed still brings in customers!" Todd set their drinks down and went back behind the bar.
"To the Sexy Six!" Del proclaimed, "The six sexiest programmers and engineers in the whole damn county!" Everyone cheered and toasted to that. "So Lils," Del continued, "thought that cop friend of yours was gonna come out tonight."
"He said he'd try Dummy Del!" Lily said, "As y'all probably know, they found another Jigsaw victim today, so they're probably busier than the devil at a porn convention in Las Vegas with the CSIs."
"Don't worry; we're not too busy to have a few drinks with a good girl and her friends." Mark said from behind her.
"Yay! Mark! You made it!" Lily jumped up and hugged him.
"Looks like someone's having a good time already." He chuckled.
"It's the infamous 'Lily's Liquor'!" a redheaded girl at the table said, "It's our usual; we stop when someone starts thinking they're karaoke royalty. Lily, aren't you going to make introductions, or are you that gone?"
"Shut it, I'm only level 4 ok, ok? Anyway," Lily let go of Mark, "Mark this is Del, Sara, Greg, Melanie, and Kylie."
"Nice to meet you all you, I'm Mark, and these are my colleagues Allison, Eric and Jim." Everyone said their 'hellos' and 'nice to meet yous' and the new people sat down at the table.
Many, MANY rounds later…
"…and that's how Lily and Sara ended up singing 'Lady Marmalade on the roof with piñata heads on!" Greg finished, causing everyone (except Lily and Sara) to laugh hysterically.
"Goddammit Greg!" Sara said, her face as red as her hair, as she punched his arm.
"So how many more rounds do we need to have a re-enactment of this?" Eric asked.
"Maybe I'll give you a private show later." Sara replied.
"Well if you two are too chickenshit to do it, then we will!" Del said, and he grabbed Greg up to the karaoke machine.
"Oh my dear sweet baby fried Jesus." Melanie and Kylie said, with looks of horror on their faces.
"Scamper!" Sara yelled, and the four girls drunkenly stumbled to get out of earshot, leaving four very drunk and confused detectives at the table. But once the singing started, they understood why the girls ran, and they followed suit.
Mark found Lily propped up against the wall next to the bar, making quick work of another glass of beer.
"I must say, I wasn't expecting all of that…stuff…to happen," Mark chuckled.
"Well we were gonna warn y'all, but uhm…we kinda forgot." Lily laughed.
"No kidding." Mark grabbed another beer, "So Lily, what's the real reason you invited us out?"
"I thought you would just wanna, y'know, get out and loosen up a bit. You said it yourself, you were way stressed." Lily smiled at him.
"Don't be coy with me missy," Mark smirked at her, "you like me."
"And so what if I do Detective? You obviously like me. You haven't taken your eyes off me since y'all got here." She put her empty glass down on the bartop, "Now the question is, what are you gonna do about it?"
"This." And Mark put down his drink, pulled Lily off the wall and kissed her.
It took Lily a couple seconds to realize what was happening, but when she did, she happily went along with it. She ran one hand through his hair, and snaked the other around his waist. He backed them up against the wall and deepened the kiss as Lily ran her nails along his back. She let out a small moan as his tongue met hers, which made Mark inwardly smile. He let his hands wander up and down her sides as he placed little kisses and bites along her neck. He groaned as her nails dug into the skin of his back.
"Someone's playing dirty." He whispered in her ear, making Lily shiver.
"Well it's no fun playing fair all the time." Lily replied, pulling his head back to continue the kiss. Lily wanted to memorize his taste, his body, the way he felt pressed tight up against her body.
"Whoa-ho-ho! Lily finally got some action!" Lily and Mark pulled apart to see all their friends staring at them.
"Pay up," Del said to Kerry. She grumbled and started fishing for her wallet. "At any rate, hate to be a cockblock but since we finally pried Sara off of Eric's lap, we need to leave. Remember we have that meeting at noon tomorrow about the new processor we finished last week? And it's already 2, and if we're gonna avoid the hangover curse we need to hydrate and crash within the hour so we need to crash at yours 'cause it's closer."
"So pry yourself away from Officer McSexy and let's go, sorry girl." Melanie said.
Lily looked back at Mark, "I really do need to go apparently, I'm sorry hun."
"That's fine," Mark said, caressing her cheek, "to be continued." And Lily and her friends left. But as they left, Lily turned around to blow Mark a kiss.
A/N: whoo-hoo little action going on here! I used the Hoffman-clone-chained-in-my-room as inspiration for la smoochienss! Anyway, next chapter starts with the "official" SAW-verse, and I really don't know how much I'm going to use Jill. I mean I know she's important as Lily's mom, but meh…I'll figure it out. Also I plan to update "Clash of the Titans" this week as well.
Just a forewarning, I'm going to be really busy at work this week on top of hopefully meeting my birthfather for the first time in 20 years and hopefully getting my car back from the repair shop, so I apologize in advance if updates aren't as often this week.
Also I've already picked one winner for "Trial and Error" because even though one part of her entry didn't work, it gave me an idea for a plot-within-the-plot. Apologies for the note being so long but better to inform in advance than anger in the future.
Remember to R&R, 3
