A/N: 2nd of 3 updates today...

CHAPTER 10

The day carried on without any further incidents. Pies were made and sold, Chuck remained hidden, and Ned and Emerson went on, separated and stalled by the hand of the incident at the morgue and ensuing secrets.

But then a new day rose, a new day shining with a blinding shade of optimism and determination. All parties having chased away prior mood swings, the four gathered in the temporary setting of Ned's apartment. The Pie Hole would have to remain off limits so long as the issue with Chuck was not resolved.

In the tradition of very few of their previous meetings, it was Emerson Cod who had called for all of them to congregate. He was last to arrive, being the sole participant not to live in or by their location. As he stepped through the door, there was 'business' in his eyes.

"The two of you are heading into Coeur d'Coeurs today," he indicated Ned and Olive. The two shared a brief look while, at their side, Chuck sat quietly. The longer this matter went on, the more invisible she felt – invisible and powerless.

"What about the Pie Hole?" Ned protested.

"Unlike your pie holes, it'll just have to keep shut." At this point, Olive raised her hand in weak protest to further agitating the already volatile Lily. It was promptly rebuked by the investigator. "We need damage control after yesterday's showing."

"You should apologize," Olive did her share of agitation right there, but in this she presented the fortitude and firmness she'd been finding shaken in previous days.

"As interesting as that sounds, I do have business to attend to," Emerson responded promptly.

Once all was settled, the last to arrive was the first to depart. Knowing there was a long drive ahead of them, Olive and the Pie Maker were quick to follow suit. Before this, Ned looked to the girl he called Chuck. He could see the brightness in her eyes had been dulled by her 'imprisonment' within the walls of the apartment. He would take the drive, take it and any other tasks that would be required of him so long as it all worked toward granting her the sparkle back.

Having departed the apartment, Emerson Cod returned to his office. Driving up, he found a car had been given liberty to take the area usually reserved for his own. Gruntingly parking his car behind the compact vehicle, the investigator headed up into the building.

He saw the legs first, crossed one over the other with poise and forming a stand for hands laid upon them. Following the trail up to a face, he found it to belong to none other than Constance Gold.

They had only rarely met face to face. What he knew of her was gathered from other sources. Born to Filipino parents, once married and once divorced from one Timothy Gold. From him she got a name, a hefty amount of money, and a slogan she would also take to the bank. Her reputation preceded her from a mile away at the least.

Constance Gold stood when she saw her rival, taking on a face only slightly differing from the one she gave the public. The 'happy homemaker,' here, was benched in favor of one perhaps looking for greener pastures, if her approach was any indication.

"Emerson Cod…" she greeted the man who towered over her. "Real shame we're on opposing sides here," she craned her neck to look up at him, tilting her glasses to follow her gaze. Emerson, presented with the decisively swooned tiger, stepped back.

"That's your opinion." Constance hummed with an undeterred nod. "What can I do for you?"

"Oh… many things," she smiled. After a moment, once hormones were checked, she gave another nod. "Mr. and Mrs. Julius… Quite a pair, locking up their little girl that way…" she nodded mostly for her own benefit. Still, in his capacity as an investigator, Emerson Cod understood something that gave him both concern and fury, something he grasped as an informed mechanism to push his buttons.

"Caroline Julius was a troubled girl," he pressed.

"That she was. She was also just a child. The facility counseled the parents to seek somewhere more secure for her sake, but they refused. They looked after the girl, protected her." Determined not to be fazed by the sob story techniques, the investigator forged on.

"Is there an actual purpose to this?"

"Professional courtesy," she smiled. "I always believe in that, at the very least," she pressed a dramatic hand to her heart.

"Courtesy extended. Goodbye," he entered his office and shut the door.

Olive Snook was finding herself sitting through a silent drive into Coeur d'Coeurs for the second time in just as many days. This time, the silence was created from the inability for the pair to get past this secret she'd been told, this universe she was allowed into.

Perched on her knees sat a box, hastily filled with a selection of cup pies before the journey had begun. Olive hoped the small delights, foreign to the mermaids, would distract them enough to ease tension she wished not face.

The Pie Maker wished this situation did not exist as much as Olive had. When Olive had requested for them to gather a few of the single-served pies and he'd seen the disappointed customers trailing away from the closed Pie Hole, he'd been made yet more aware of this fact. He'd lied, told them a mixed delivery was to blame, told the old woman who cherished peach and the man he'd wrongly served one day prior that they should be open later in the day. He'd watched the man walk away while Olive had found her offering.

Upon arriving within the familiar neighborhood, the street across which began the long story of Ned and Chuck, it occurred to those inside the vehicle just how much of their lives today was influenced by events which had come to pass along this pavement, these houses… twenty years ago and yet so near.

Olive was seeing the neighboring homes for the first time as having been inhabited by young Ned and young Chuck. This would be where it had all begun. In that instant, she saw a void in her knowledge, one she had not considered before that moment.

Stopping before the gated home, nerves took hold of them both. They shared a look, begging silently not to have to be the one to have to poke the dormant volcano. In a battle of the wills, they came to a draw when a knock at the window startled them. Heads shot around to find the 'knocker' to be Vivian Charles.

Being aware of the conditions which afflicted the sisters, one was never certain what they would get as they came face to face with them. Much like a toy you would slowly wind up to a burst, no matter how many times one would see it burst, they still jumped. However on this day, Vivian Charles came already burst, flowing in apprehension, protection, caution…

This very state she had come to be in would prove itself useful in most surprising and life-altering ways. But this would come to pass later…

TBC