Special thanks to inspirationimagination again for the reviews! Also thank you to everyone else who's reading, I hope you're enjoying reading it as much as I'm enjoying writing it!

"Hey Renaissance man, it's me…Tish. Again. Just wondering if you're ok. We're all getting kind of nervous. Call me. Please." Tish ended the call and frowned at her phone. It had been five days since Priestly had disappeared from Trucker's house, five long days since anyone had seen or heard from him. It was bothering everyone, but it was killing Tish. She knew it was her fault Priestly had ran, and she hated herself because of it. When Priestly had said Tadd had attacked him Tish had been in shock, and denial. Denial because if it was true, that meant Priestly was beaten up because of her. It was her fault Priestly was injured, her fault he had to relive terrible events, everything was her fault. She groaned and dropped her head into her hands.

"Any word yet?" Jen asked from behind the computer. She hated seeing Tish like this, curled up in the corner booth biting nervously at her short nails.

"Nothing. I'm getting scared Jen."

Jen moved away from the computer and leaned across the counter. "Me too. He was pretty upset."

Tish studied the floor, breathing out a sad, "I know".

Jen bit her lip, "You could go to his apartment, see if he's there."

Tish gave her an exasperated look. She had been to Priestly's apartment three times, with no answer each time. She looked at her phone again, no missed calls, no texts. Reaching a decision she slammed her hands down on the tabletop, startling Jen.

"Screw this, I'm going over there. He's going to talk to me whether he wants to or not." She announced in a firm tone. She grabbed her keys from behind the counter and dashed out the front door.

"Call me!" Jen shouted at her retreating friend.

Tish finally arrived at Priestly's apartment, and walked up to the door. She let out a calming breath, knocked, and waited. She knocked again and even shouted but she still heard no movement from inside the apartment. She huffed and tried to peek in the window but the shades were drawn shut. Clenching her fists in annoyance she banged on the door again, "Priestly, I know you're in there. Answer me! I don't care what your problem is, answer this door!"

Still no answer.

She rested her head against the door as frustrated tears formed in her eyes. As a last ditch effort she grabbed the handle and turned it, and to her amazement the door opened. She slowly entered glancing around.

"Priestly? You here?"

She was met with silence. She quietly closed the door behind her and looked around the small apartment. She was standing in the living room, which was furnished with just a couch, tv, and gaming console. A bright surfboard and long board stood erect in the corner. She looked to her right inside the kitchen, which was sparse. Not even a kitchen table. Apparently Priestly didn't usually have a lot of company. She looked to the back wall where two doors stood slightly ajar. She bit her lip, trying to decide if she should look into his bedroom. What the hell, she figured. She was already in his house. She walked to the first door and slowly pushed it open peering inside, trying to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. The bed was unmade and clothes were strewn across the room. A dresser stood in the corner, the top empty and as Tish looked at the floor she could see why. The contents looked like they were thrown off, miscellaneous items scattered everywhere. The only thing that wasn't broken in the entire room was a picture frame. She bent down to pick it up and felt tears prick at the back of her eyes. The picture was of a beautiful blonde woman, smiling in the front yard of a blue house. She was hugging a small child with short brown hair and beautiful green eyes. They looked happy. She gently rubbed her finger over the little boy's smiling face, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips. Remembering why she was even in the house she gently placed the picture on the top of the dresser and exited the room, going to the last door in the house. Placing her hand on the bathroom door she pushed and waited for it to open. When the door softly banged into the wall she felt her heart drop. She had found him.

Walking slowly into the small room she noticed the smashed mirror to her left but ignored it for the time being. She walked to the edge of the tub and looked at the sad sight in front of her. Priestly was lying in the tub, passed out. His hair for once had no color and no product. It was flattened to his head, looking as sad and lifeless as he looked. His shirt was plain black; no witty sayings, no color. His baggy jeans were wrinkled and frayed. He was unrecognizable, just a tragic shadow of the man she knew. The part that really disturbed her though was the half empty bottle of whisky gripped loosely in his right hand.

Was this her fault? Would Priestly have fallen off the wagon if she hadn't said the things she had. She suddenly had a terrifying thought, if Priestly was drinking was he also… no. She couldn't even think it. She leaned down and grasped the bottle trying to pull it out of his grip, but his hand tightened around the neck of the bottle when he felt it move.

She looked to his face, but his eyes were still closed. "Priestly? Can you hear me? Let go."

His eyes blinked blearily, "Tish?"

"Yeah, it's me. Get up, let's get you out of the tub."

"No," came the hard reply.

Tish looked at his face and was stunned to see the anger simmering in the green depths.

Priestly jerked the bottle away from her and glared, "Go away Tish. Shouldn't you be at Tadd's?"

He lifted the bottle to his lips and took a deep swallow.

Tish bit her tongue, not rising to the bait. "No Priestly, I shouldn't be at Tadd's, and if you would get out of the tub and talk to me I could explain everything." Never thought I'd hear myself say that.

Priestly just glared and took another swallow. He knew he was being an ass but really didn't care much at the moment.

Tish rolled here eyes before glaring back at him. He wanted to play, she would play. "You think you're so tough? You're acting like a petulant child. You want to drink fine, but get your ass out of the tub and talk to me like an adult."

Priestly glared at her before slowly standing up, and stepping over the edge of the tub into her personal space. His face was inches away from Tish's and she could smell the whisky on his breath. She suddenly noticed how big Priestly was, and wondered if coming here alone was a bad idea. She slowly started to back out of the small room, frightened eyes locked on Priestly.

He seemed to deflate in front of her eyes, his angry stance morphing into a defeated slump. "Tish" he whispered, "Please don't be scared of me. I'd never hurt you. I'm sorry."

She didn't move, debating whether to stay or go. Concern for her friend won in the end and she walked towards him. Without breaking eye contact she gently grasped the bottle and removed it from his hands with no resistance from Priestly. Priestly just stared at her, hooded eyes displaying his raw emotions.

"Why don't you get cleaned up and we can talk?"

Priestly just nodded.

Tish turned to give him privacy but his voice halted her momentum.

"Promise you'll be here when I get out?" he asked, his voice cracking with emotion.

Tish didn't turn but answered, "I promise."

Tish walked to the kitchen and dumped the rest of the alcohol down the drain before throwing the bottle away. When she opened the trashcan lid she was met with the sight of two more empty liquor bottles. Tish sighed heavily and went to sit down on the living room couch, the only piece of furniture he owned other than the bed.

A short time later Priestly entered the room. Tish was happy to see he looked a lot more like Priestly than earlier. His hair was in bright blue liberty spikes, his black shirt read 'Are you into casual sex? Or should I dress up?' he had shaven and changed into a clean pair of cargo shorts. His black eye was turning a green color and the cut on his eyebrow was almost completely closed. The only thing that didn't look ok were his eyes, which were glassy and unfocused indicating he was still quite intoxicated.

He sat down on the couch next to Tish in a slouched position, hands deeply buried in his pockets. They both sat in silence trying to figure out what to say. Priestly spoke first.

"Did you uh…"

"Ya" she answered, knowing he was asking if he got rid of the alcohol.

"Thanks"

Tish opened her mouth to speak, but Priestly cut her off, knowing what she was about to ask.

"Just the whiskey Tish, nothing else."

Tish gave a sigh of relief. No drugs, thank god. They both continued sitting in an uncomfortable silence, neither one really knowing where to start. Tish finally decided she would take control of the situation.

"Why did you run? How did you run?" she wondered in a hurt tone.

"You know why I left Tish. And I climbed down the porch."

Tish stared at him incredulously, "With your ribs and everything?"

"I didn't say it was easy, or my best idea."

Tish nodded her head. "You scared me."

Priestly's eyes dropped in shame. "Which time? When I left, when I stayed gone, or today?"

"All of it. I was scared Priestly. I was afraid I was never going to see you again, and then when you didn't talk to anybody I thought you were dead." Priestly looked at her with wide eyes. Tish felt the moisture collecting in her eyes but continued on, "I thought I was going to come over here and you would be dead from an overdose. Then I get here and find you alive, thank god, and you scare me again. I was scared for you and of you Priestly." When she finished big, wet tears were falling down her face. Priestly cast his eyes downwards again, feeling like the lowest of the low.

"I'm sorry Tish. I never wanted to scare you; I just couldn't deal with any more crap. I stopped at the liquor store on my way home and wallowed in my misery these past few days. As for today." He paused trying to collect himself. He hated that the alcohol was making him emotional. He started again, "As for today, please don't ever be scared of me Tish. I could never hurt you, I'm not that guy."

Tish wiped at the tears on her cheeks. "I want to believe you Priestly, but do you see the damage you did to your apartment? Your room is trashed, the bathroom mirror shattered. You're out of control."

Priestly sighed, "I know. I need help Tish."

"I know. So what do we do now? About the alcohol?

Priestly stared at her dumbly, "We?"

Tish stared at him before grabbing his hand, "We Priestly."

Priestly stared at their entwined hands, "Um..I dry out, which is going to suck by the way. Then I start at square one, just like before."

"Do you have a sponsor? Somebody I should call?"

Priestly snorted, "No, I don't do the whole meetings/sponsor crap. I got myself into this, I'll get myself out."

"Well I'll be there if you need help. I mean, "she paused, blushing, wondering if she was overstepping boundaries, "only if you want me there."

Priestly smiled warmly at her before carefully adopting a neutral expression, "That'd be great Tish but won't Tadd object?"

"If you weren't being a stubborn ass you would have known days ago, but I dumped Tadd. I don't know what I saw in him in the first place, he was a jerk, and I was just too blind to notice. I'm sorry for what happened Priestly, I felt like if what you were saying was true then it was my fault that everything happened, and I didn't want to be responsible for causing you pain."

Priestly reached over and wiped the tears off her soft face. "It's not your fault Tish, none of this. Tadd was a jerk, and the only person responsible for me, is me. No worries."

The two continued to sit on the couch, hands entwined staring at each other. Priestly slowly lifted his hand to Tish's face and hesitantly leaned forward. Feeling no resistance from Tish he continued forward until his lips were upon hers. The kiss was soft, short, and tender.

"Priestly?"

"Hmm?"

"You taste like whisky."

Priestly abruptly dropped his hand and leaned back to look at her properly, and was relieved to see a smile playing on her lips.

"So?"

"So it's bitter, and I'm a sweet girl."

Priestly cocked an eyebrow and laughed when Tish whacked his arm. Priestly sighed dramatically, "Well since you don't want to have any fun what should we do? 'Cause I've got a few more good hours, then it's going to be downhill from there."

"Well I don't know about you but I'm pretty hungry, do you even have food here?"

"Of course I… ya I have no idea" he finished, smiling goofily at her. She sighed and rolled her eyes. She stood from the couch and pulled the slightly swaying Priestly into the kitchen. She leaned him against the counter and when she was sure he wasn't going to fall over she began going through the cabinets and fridge.

When she opened the fridge, Priestly heard an amazed, "Oh my god".

"What?"

"Is this all kool-aid?" She was staring into the fridge where there were pitchers upon pitchers of colored liquid.

Priestly smiled brightly, "Hell ya! Love me some Kool-aid! So did you find any food, cause now that I'm thinking about it I don't think I've eaten since yesterday morning."

Tish closed the fridge; "You have copious amounts of Kool-aid, some Twinkies, and an expired can of soup."

Priestly whipped open the cabinet, grabbed the Twinkies and downed one before grabbing another and ripping open the wrapper. Tish could only stare as Priestly ate three Twinkies before offering her one.

"God no! Is that seriously your lunch?"

Priestly just shrugged and swallowed down the last of the sugary treat. "Well I feel better."

Tish huffed, "Well I don't."

Priestly turned towards her with dark eyes, and stalked towards her until her back was flush with the wall. Lowering his mouth to her ear he whispered huskily, "I can fix that."

Tish's heart was beating frantically, goose bumps blossoming on her skin. She knew it was the alcohol making him so bold, but that knowledge didn't help her current situation. Knowing it was the right thing to say, the words still felt wrong when she spoke.

"I'm going to have to pass right now." She gently pushed him back, "Come on, we're going out to get something to eat."

She moved away from the wall and Priestly, and smiled when she heard his head thunk against it with a loud groan.

"Come on, I'm starving" she shouted from the front door.

"Ya, ya" he grumbled following her out the door into the unforgiving sunlight.

"Oh my god it's bright out here!" Priestly exclaimed as he slid his aviators over his squinting eyes. After carefully maneuvering down the steps he slid into the passenger seat of Tish's car. When she started the car and the radio turned on Priestly slowly turned towards her and peered at her over the top of his glasses.

"Seriously?"

"I love Maroon 5!"

"Are you trying to kill me? Because if so you're doing a very good job."

Tish huffed, "Well what do you want to listen to?"

Smiling Priestly pulled his iPod from his pocket, "Thought you'd never ask." Soon the opening notes of Into the Valley by The Skids rang out and Priestly leaned back and closed his eyed.

"This is music, now pay attention you could learn something here."

Tish just smiled, rolled down the windows and enjoyed the ride. When Priestly felt the car stop he sat up and opened his eyes. "Why are we here?" he asked Tish bewildered. They were parked by the grill.

"Everyone wanted to know how you're doing, plus I'm on the clock today."

Priestly gulped audibly, "Tish I don't want them to see me like this. Can't you bring me back home or something?"

"Tish leaned over and placed a small kiss on Priestly's lips, "Everything will be fine. Keep your glasses on and try not to talk too much. I'm only on for a few more hours then we can go."

Priestly stared at her, "They're going to ask questions Tish. I can't lie to them."

"I'm not asking you to, just keep your head down and your answers short and simple. You can do this, I know you can."

"Are we going to tell them about…" us? he trailed off unsure how to finish his sentence. Was there an 'us'?

Tish smiled, "Do you want to?"

Priestly felt his heart soar that Tish knew what he was trying to say, and that she felt the same.

"Not right now, if that's cool. There's just a lot going on right now." He hoped he hadn't offended her with his answer, you could never tell with women.

"That's fine, now come on you and I need to eat and I have to work." Tish got out of the car and waited for Priestly before walking towards the front door of the grill. "Here we go," she whispered to Priestly while opening the door.

Jen looked up from her computer and smiled before jumping up and running to Priestly, "You found him, I was so worried!" Priestly found himself in a hug and returned it somewhat awkwardly.

"Ya, sorry about that" Priestly mumbled.

"Priestly? Hey what's up?" Piper asked as she entered from the back room, Trucker right behind her. "It's been a while, everything ok?"

Tish felt Priestly take a subtle step towards her, his arm lightly brushing hers. He was feeling overwhelmed and more than a little nervous. Not that she could blame him, he had after all spent the last five days in a drunken stupor alone in his apartment.

Tish clapped her hands together grabbing everyone's attention, "Do we have any meatball subs left? I'm starving. Priestly, you hungry?" Tish walked behind the counter and looked for the subs.

"Uh ya, I could eat," he said, thankful for Tish's distraction. He walked, relieved, to the back of the shop and slid into the booth farthest from the door and everyone else. His relief was short lived though as Trucker walked over and sat across from Priestly. He felt Tish slide in next to him and casually brush his leg with hers offering support.

Trucker sat silently for a few moments, watching Priestly. He knew something was up, he wasn't stupid. Priestly had disappeared for days, and then magically showed up like nothing was wrong. Plus he was wearing his sunglasses inside and barely speaking, definitely weird.

"So Priestly, where have you been? We were all worried."

Short and simple. "Home, just needed some time to myself. Sorry about skipping out."

"We checked there, you never answered."

"I slept a lot."

"So, any particular reason you're wearing sunglasses inside?"

Priestly faltered slightly, "Uh, bright out today."

Trucker leaned forward, "Why don't you take those off for me?"

Priestly's head snapped up from his lunch as he watched Trucker's eyes narrow. Trucker was calling him out, he couldn't believe it. He wasn't sure what to do, if he kept them on Trucker would know he was hiding something, but if he took them off Trucker would see what he was hiding. Swallowing tightly, he leaned back and removed the gold-rimmed aviators.

Trucker instantly knew. His lips pursed together as he debated what he wanted to say. He didn't want to push Priestly, but he also needed to make sure Priestly wasn't going to continue sliding downhill. Priestly just steadily stared him down in a silent standoff, feeling more and more agitated as the seconds ticked by.

Tish could tell Priestly was getting tense, and it made her nervous. Tish was quickly realizing that an intoxicated Priestly was an emotional and unpredictable Priestly. His emotions seemed out of control, swaying from one extreme to another in the blink of an eye. Since finding him this morning he had already exhibited anger, giddiness, fear, and now growing impatience.

"Trucker…" Tish pleaded softly.

Trucker could see Jen and Piper watching the trio curiously from behind the counter. He leaned back and broke the eye contact, revealing to Priestly that he wasn't going to push it. As a peace offering Trucker even offered, "It is pretty bright out today, might want to put your glasses back on."

Priestly regarded him for a moment before he relaxed his tense posture and slid his glasses back on. "Thanks Truck."

"Do we need to talk about this?" Trucker murmured.

"No, but I'm going to need a few more days off."

Trucker nodded, giving his permission. "Do you have help?"

A small smile appeared on his lips, "Ya, ya I have help."

Trucker nodded again before turning his attention to Tish, "I suppose you'll be needing a few days off also?"

Tish just stared slack jawed, "What? I.."

Trucker held up a hand and interrupted, "Relax, I don't think the other two noticed. Tish why don't you finish your shift, then you two can head out."

Tish smiled and rose from the booth, walking behind the counter to help Jen and Piper. Trucker and Priestly watched her say something and begin to laugh with the girls before Trucker turned towards the younger man, "I'm happy for you Priestly, don't screw this up."

"Never Truck, never."

As her shift came to an end she glanced at Priestly who was sitting with his head down, cradled in his arms. Frowning, she walked over and placed a hand on his back, "You dong ok?"

"I'm not feeling so good Tish," came the muffled response.

"Well come on, let's get you home." She stood back to allow him room to get up and could only watch wearily as he moved. His movements were sluggish and his face was set in a grimace. He slowly stood up; one hand firmly attached to the wall trying to help himself balance. He let out a deep breath and followed Tish out to her car, sliding into the passenger seat and leaning his head back. Tish drove quickly, sparing short nervous glances towards her steadily declining passenger. Upon arriving and walking up the walkway to the apartment Priestly suddenly leaned over the rails and retched into the bushes.

Tish sighed, and so it begins.