Disclaimer: I do not own Static Shock. I am not making profit from this story so no one sue me, please. Any characters whom are not from Static Shock are rightfully owned by me.

Summary: Virgil and Richie haven't been friends for nearly 20 years. They have gone their separate ways and lived their successful live through work. However, how have their personal lives suffered since their failed friendship?


"Virgil saw Richie again, Daddy." Even at forty-seven, Sharon was still calling her seventy-five-year-old father 'Daddy.'

There was a long silence in which Sharon assumed Robert was trying to process what his daughter had just told him, and how she had just told him. Her voice was solemn and hushed, as if she were trying not to be heard. Robert didn't need to be standing in front of her to know her expression was pained; she was filled with anxiety and concern. He need not see her face because he could hear it in her voice. Years of working at the Dakota Community Center with the troubled taught him everything he needed to know about reading emotions, both expression and verbal.

"I'm really worried about him," admitted Sharon, speaking to break the silence. Her voice quivered slightly. "He's been lying face down on the couch since seven o'clock last night. I'm honestly not sure he's moved." She shifted the phone to her other ear and faced away from the living room.

"Can you tell me what happened last night?" Robert asked, his voice remaining even. "So I can decide what to do," he added, justifying his question.

Sharon drew in a deep breath and let it out as a long sigh. She thought back to the night before; thought about Richie standing in her dining room with a look so cold the temperature of the room dropped. She remembered hearing the door slam from upstairs and then she remembered her brother; the way he was despondently sitting on the porch smoking. Finally, she explained the events of the previous night in as much detail as she could give; she explained absolutely everything she had seen, everything she could remember. She ended her explanation by saying, "I don't know what to do," as her voice cracked.

"I'll be there tomorrow night, probably around eight. Keep me updated if anything changes, good or bad. I'll talk to him; I'll see what I can get him to tell me." Another long silence fell between them. Sharon shifted the phone back to her original ear and faced the living room once again. She noted with a half-smile Virgil had still not moved. "Oh, and Sharon," said Robert, breaking Sharon's concentration on her brother, "don't let him leave. Chloé is there, too, right?"

"Yes," Sharon said simply. "Her friend Rachael is here, too," she added. "Virgil picked her up from Gotham yesterday so she could stay the night at his apartment. I told Rachael and Chloé they could stay the night here with Chelsea so I could keep an eye on Virgil. I didn't want him going home in that state and…" She trailed off, her voice getting softer as it began to falter. She took a moment to muster up the ability to say, "I'll keep him here."

"Sharon, it will be okay," Robert assured. "What about this Rachael, does she need to be home at a certain time?"

Sharon cleared her throat before responding. "I don't know," she said; "I tried asking Virgil and he mumbled something about his coat pocket."

"Well, look through his coat pocket; see what's in there," Robert urged. He paused for a moment before adding, "He wouldn't have mentioned his coat if it weren't okay for you to look through it."

"Alright, Daddy," Sharon said and let out a relieved breath she hadn't known she was holding. "I'll see you tomorrow night."

"I'll see you tomorrow. I love you, Sharon."

"Love you, too, Daddy," Sharon replied warmly and hung up the phone.

Clearing her throat, Sharon meandered back into the living where she took a seat on the edge of the coffee. She outstretched her arm and began to form soothing circles on Virgil's back. She noted his breathing was slow and steady and deduced he was asleep. At seven in the morning, everyone in the house but Sharon was asleep. Sharon had spent most of the night tossing and turning, intermittently getting up to make sure Virgil was still alright. When daybreak hit, she decided she had had enough and gone to the kitchen to make coffee. It had been a last minute thought to call her father and inform him of the situation.

Retracting her hand, Sharon got up from the coffee table and walked over to Virgil's coat on the coatrack. She began to fish through each of the pockets, but only found a blue, black and yellow Bic lighter and a black leather wallet Virgil had scrawled Static's logo on. (Judging by how frayed the leather was, Sharon figured he had had for a while.) However, there was nothing in any of his pockets that answered her question about Rachael.

Sighing, Sharon was about to walk back into the living room when she noticed a folded piece of paper on the floor. Raising an eyebrow, she knelt down to pick it up. "What's this?" she muttered as she unfolded the paper, which read:

Francis Stone, 212-555-3473

She glanced at Virgil as she stuffed the refolded paper in her robe pocket. Turning on her heels, she made her way back to the living room where she took a seat on the edge of the coffee table once again. As before, she traced small circles on Virgil's back in hopes she was doing something to comfort him.


Tear-stained pillows and piled tissues surrounded Richie as he lay sprawled on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. There was a weight on his chest and he was unsure if it was due to the pain or Aria laying on him, not that he cared; he was too preoccupied mentally replaying scenarios to care about the condition of his chest.

Richie yawned and squeezed his eyes closed. He was tired; physically, emotionally, and mentally. He had managed his way home at about nine o'clock the previous night and had been lying in his bed ever since. He hadn't even bothered to take his sleeping pills because part of him didn't want to sleep. He wanted to lie awake and overanalyze the events of the previous night.

And overanalyze he did.

Not even during battles as a teenager had Richie run so fast, and never in his life had he run so fast from something he wanted so desperately to run toward; something he wanted so desperately to have, but at the same time wanted so passionately out of his life, and Richie was beginning to wonder just how badly he actually wanted Virgil out of his life. Here was his chance to have Virgil back, even if he logically knew it would never work. He emotionally knew that too, but it still didn't stop the love he felt; the love that was completely dominating any logical thought Richie could possibly have on the matter.

Of all the days for Richie to run into Virgil, it just had to be on the day he was genuinely happy. It had to be on the day where nothing was bothering Richie and the last thing he was thinking about was the man he had run into. For twenty years, Richie had done his best to forget Virgil; to push the memories aside and move on with his life. For sixteen of those twenty years, he had done a pretty good job, but then recent events shoved him back into a spiral of emotions for his first love, and he was back in the spiral of logically knowing Virgil wasn't good for him, but emotionally not caring because he was always going to love Virgil.

Richie groaned and grabbed his head, almost convinced, if he didn't, his head was going to explode. His thoughts were just so jumbled and any attempt he made to sort them seemed futile. Obviously lying in bed and feeling on the edge of spontaneous combustion wasn't working, which made Richie realize he needed someone to talk to; he needed someone to spill his guts to and get feedback from. Unfortunately, though, Richie didn't have anyone like that in his life. The closest thing he had to a friend was Aria, but there was nothing psychologically satisfying about spilling your guts to a deaf cat.

Ignoring everything his brain was frantically processing, Richie moved Aria to his side, found his shoes and keys, and make his way out to his car. He was still wearing the same outfit from the previous night, but the energy to change just wasn't there.

Once the engine turned over, he turned on the radio to the first music station he found and cranked up the sound, hoping he could drown out his thoughts. It worked just well enough Richie could ignore the occasional thoughts that got past the loud R&B.

He drove, having no idea where he was going, but knowing he needed to go somewhere. He needed to find someone who would listen; he needed to clear his head. Most importantly, he needed to know what to do. Richie was tired of living his life in a constant battle with himself; a battle between logically knowing people cannot and do not change and knowing emotionally he was never going to love someone as much as he loved Virgil.

Seeing Virgil the previous night made Richie realize he had to work this out; he could not live his life in this spiraling mess any longer. He was putting an end to this roller-coaster ride, and he was putting an end to it today.


A/N: I think this chapter turned out alright. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind for this chapter, but it does move the plot along, so I can't complain. I'm finally bringing everything together!

If the part with Richie seems a little bit jumbled and confuse, then I did my job. I was trying to mimic his thought processes as being jumbled and out of control. I know it seems like I stress a lot how much Richie still loves Virgil but that's because he does and he's a super-genius so, like I said, he's in a battle of logic vs. emotion with himself.

I always just sort of figured because Richie was super-intelligent, then he would have emotions to match. So that's what I'm trying to display here. Hope it's working in my favor and not coming off as annoying.

High-fives and brownies to anyone who can figure out why the "3473" in Francis' phone number is clever. XD

Please leave a review! Tell me what you think about this story, good or bad! Show me some love, guys!

As always, if there's a couple grammatical errors/missing words in this chapter, I will go through and fix them as I find them. I did as much proofreading as I could but, alas, there is stuff I miss sometimes. If you find anything especially irking, feel free to tell in a private message.