AN: I had finals last week and this semester I have the equivalent of three College Level courses, so if I don't upload as regularly as I have been, you know why.


Review:

SuperKassu: I didn't plan for Natasha to actually have a personality, believe me. As for meeting Lea… all in good time.


(I forgot to do the countdown last week. Whoops) 9


[28] Eyes

6 June, 3:05 PM

51. Jack

Jack approaches the bookstore with hesitation. From behind him, Jeff snickers.

"What's wrong, Jacky," the Killer says, "still nursing that crush?"

Jack just sighs. Jeff loves to make fun of him. The truth is it's kind of endearing; Jack doesn't get teased very often, but the fact that he's sort of right doesn't make this any easier.

"Not a crush," Jack says, "a fascination."

"For you, that's a crush."

Jack turns and looks at the man. Jeff is standing with both hands shoved deep in his pockets, scuffing one shoe back and forth on the sidewalk. Despite his words, he doesn't look particularly interested.

"You realize we're going to have to give her back, right?" Jack says, "For her own good."

Jeff scowls, "Sure, but if you can go in there and have a conversation, and when you come back out honestly tell me that you don't want to keep her just as she is, I'll be damned surprised."

Jack can't blame him for being touchy. It's hard to share, and some part of Jeff must realize that Lea pays more attention to Jack. That can't be easy to handle.

Jack turns back around and walking into the bookstore, leaving Jeff to lean against the wall.

The girl at the counter looks up and gives Jack a customer-service sort of smile. She goes back to her textbook. For a moment Jack doesn't recognize her, and he thinks Jeff has made a mistake, but then she tilts her head a little to the right and looks at Jack out of the corner of her eye. The familiarity of that gesture slams into him. It is Lea.

She's grown. She's hit that growth spurt Jack has been expecting her to hit for two years. Her hair is longer, like she hasn't cut it for as long as she's been her, and she's tan, Jack has to look twice to make sure he's seen correctly, but it's actually real. Lea's once porcelain-white skin is tan, not dark, but noticeable.

There are other changes too, changes Jeff wouldn't have noticed, as he regards her almost as a sister. Some of the muscle has gone from her. She's all soft around the edges. The growth spurt has pulled in her waist and flared out her hips. Her chest has grown quite a bit too, but Jack suspects that this change is mostly because of Lea's fondness for sports bras: an understandable and logical choice given her line of work, but whoever is buying her clothes has put a stop to it. He imagines that her legs have followed suit with the rest of her, though he can't see them.

She's not a girl anymore, not in anything except name.

Lea straightens up to look at Jack properly, and the being realizes he must have been staring. Still, he looks at her face and warmth spreads through him. She still has Lea's face: pronounce cheekbones, thin nose, small chin, and those big blue eyes. They have loneliness in them now, not the fire he remembers.

"Can I help you?" Lea asks.

Jack is ready for that one, "Yes actually. Do you have any books on medicine?"

She chews on the inside of her cheek, "Recent or historical?"

Jack smiles ironically at that, "Recent."

She nods, "Over in the back corner." She moves her head to show which direction.

"Thanks," he can feel her watching him as he moves deeper into the shop. It sends uneasy tingles down his spine. She already knows there's something different about him.

Jack hurries into the corner and out of sight. There he finds, to his surprise, three different used medical textbooks. This is nice because his last one is soaked so thoroughly with various fluids it is practically illegible. He takes a moment to check the copyright dates and then digs into the most recent one. He's not so far into it he doesn't hear Lea approach.

Jack looks back over his shoulder, and she's leaning against a bookcase just looking at him, the same way he looked at her. She's frowning, like she can't place a thought, and Jack has a sudden thought. What if the block didn't take right? What has she been seeing all this time?

"Found everything alright?" She asks.

"Yes," Jack says. It might be his imagination, but it looks like a shiver goes through her at the sound of his voice.

"You've been back here for fifteen minutes," She says.

He looks down at the book and sees he's taken a good chunk out of it. "Sorry. I do that sometimes."

"Uh-huh. Well, it's the end of my shift soon. I thought I should check before I go."

Jack blinks behind his glasses, "Right. I'll be there im a moment."

Lea nods and turns away.

He trails her to the counter and sets the book down. Lea rings him up with an automatic disinterest. The dull pain in her eyes is almost too much to bear.

Jack hands over cash, then just waits there, unsure of what to do. He wants to say something, but he doesn't know what.

Finally he says, "Where'd you get that bruise?"

Lea's hand jumps to her left cheek, pressing lightly on the bruised area. Her eyes flick down and she says, "Boyfriend." An honest answer, which tells Jack that she does know he's not normal.

Despite himself, he feels a touch of anger.

"He's in worse shape than I am," Lea says.

Jack grins, "I'm not surprised."

"You do it too," Lea blurts, "you and Jeff."

"Do what?"

"Talk like you know me."

He sighs, closing his eyes, "Well I guess we do. I spent long enough staring at you."

"I thought you'd seen a ghost," She half-jokes.

"In some ways I did." Jack leans on the counter, getting comfortable. He's forgotten what talking is like. "No memories then?"

"No. Jeff told you?"

"No: Mitch did."

"Who?"

"A friend. Anything weird? Are you having flashbacks?"

Lea blinks, "You are the first person to ask me that. Usually they just say 'do you remember anything?'"

Jack just tilts his head.

"Yes I get flashbacks."

"You see weird stuff?"

"I used to think it was weird, then I made friends with Jeff the Killer."

Jack smiles, "You haven't changed at all, even with all those missing memories."

"My whole life, ya."

"You see, that makes sense to me, but anyone else would be really confused by it."

Lea pauses for a few seconds, "So you know me from before?" Again Jack sees the loneliness in her eyes, that longing.

"I do," He admits, "but I'm not that thing you really want and I should make that clear now."

"I didn't think you were, but you know I want something so that's a start."

Jack looks at Lea for a few seconds, and she looks right back at him. He feels a smile pull at his mouth, threatening to reveal his sharp teeth.

"This would be much easier if I could see your eyes," she says.

Jack steps back reflexively and sees her face soften slightly. "Not a good idea," he says.

"Why not?"

"It tends to shock people."

"Oh," she barely misses a beat, "you're friends with Jeff?"

Jack grins, this time showing the points of his teeth, "That's one way to put it."

"Are you his boyfriend?"

Jack bursts out laughing. It's mostly relief, joy at finding Lea, guilt over her pain, anger, and a hundred other emotions, but thank god she's back. "No," he says finally, "I'm not his boyfriend."

She takes a breath to say something, but her eyes flicker behind him, and instantly that customer service smile is back.

"Thank you, sir," she says, handing over a few coins.

Jack looks behind him. A very grumpy-looking man is standing in the doorway at the back of the shop. He glares at Jack, and all the being wants to do is tear him apart for cutting his talk with Lea short.

He forces a smile, "Thank you. You've been a huge help."

He walks out. Behind him, Jack can hear Lea dodging a hailstorm of questions.

Jeff is still against the wall, smoking a cigarette. Jack plucks it out of his fingers and stamps it out in a nearby ashtray built into the top of a trashcan.

"So?" Jeff says, choosing to ignore the action.

Jack is genuinely pissed off. He walks past the man and keeps walking because if he stops he'll whack Jeff across the jaw and probably break something.

The killed hangs back several feet, well aware of the danger.

Finally, half a block later, Jack stops at a crosswalk, waiting for the light. "You realize she's about a week from killing herself?"

"What?" Jeff says, pulling up short.

Jack bunches his fists at his sides, "She's about as obviously depressed as anyone I've ever seen."

"What?!" The man sounds shocked.

"And I used to wonder why she had mood swings," Jack says to himself."

"Oh hell," Jeff says, as he understands.

Jack just nods, "So, no, I don't want to keep her just as she is."

"She always seemed fine when I was around."

"Being around us might produce the same effect as being near her master, but we can't be here all the time."

"Ya. I know."

Jack turns to face Jeff, "You owe her an apology. You've put her through hell."

"No need to guilt trip me."

Behind him Jack hears the chirping of a walk symbol. He steps off the curb and walks across the street backwards, staring at Jeff the whole time.

"You're made your point," the Killer growls, and Jack turns on hi heel so Jeff won't see the grin on his face.

"I hate you," Jeff says, sounding like a child.

Jack just laughs.