Chapter 17: Unraveling

"What the fuck? Seriously? Again?! Did I not have this conversation with this fucking idiot for the last three years in a row?! What the fuck? How many languages- because I know at least a dozen fluently- does this asshole need this shit translated into?" Blue had awakened thirsty and irritable, only to hear that the company that they ordered flower bulbs and other planting materials from to plant around the cemetery walkways had fucked up the order again.

Mort stood there in their kitchen looking miffed himself, but Blue was apoplectic.

"I'm just going to have Carlos wrap everything back up and-

"Really? No, no you are not. This has already put Carlos and his crew behind schedule, I am going to call that idiotic fucking ignoramus and-

"'Kish, just take it easy. I'll handle it, I didn't mention it for you to handle. I just-

Here, Blue laughs sarcastically to interrupt and Chuck swallows, trying to school his features into a serious expression and keep it that way.

"Oh okay, you'll 'handle it'." Here, she pops up air quotations and rakes a hand through her hair in frustration.

"If either of us were 'handling it' properly this jackass wouldn't be here for the third year in a fuckface row like the puss-filled little hemorrhoid that he is sending us god knows what to put god knows where! What's it going to be next year? Carrots? Lettuce? Radishes? Are we going to start telling visitors that they can just walk by on their way to memorial sites and pluck their own goddamn salad from the ground while their at it?!" She had begun to pace, but Chuck couldn't hold it anymore, he hopped off of his chair and stuck his head in the fridge as though he were looking for something only to silent laugh and try to get it all out.

"Okay, well what do you want to do?" Mort asked, trying to level with her here as calmly as possible.

"I can't tell you that because if I did, then the whole thing would seem premeditated." She hissed, shoving her chair back into the table and snatching her phone off of the counter.

"'Kish, it's okay I got it." Mort tried placating her again only to have her ignore him completely and dial the company that had screwed up their planting again.

"Yes, hi Howard. This is Akishla from the cemetery," She paused while the person on the other end asked her a question.

"What do you mean which cemetery? The one you delivered the wrong shit to again today. Yes THAT cemetery. Listen, my landscapers are already behind schedule because of your incompetence. So, what you are going to do is send your people back here bright and early tomorrow to pick up all the shit that you dropped off today and get it off of our property by noon, at which time I'm going to expect a full refund as well as the correct order dropped off because this is the third year in a row that this is happening. We will also not be renewing our contract with you next year. Did you get all of that down? Need any crayons or paste or colorful diagrams explaining it? No? Good." She hung up and tossed the phone down onto the table, glaring out of her window at Carlos' crew in the distance.

"There, handled. Carlos needs to get all the shit in the hothouses together too, why the hell are they still out there digging?" She asked Mort, confused.

Mort winced, knowing that she wasn't going to like the answer to that question either.

"Don't worry, I've got him working on something right now, but everything will be back on schedule after tomorrow." He assured her.

Blue seemed to deflate suddenly, her puffy eyes a telltale sign that she didn't get nearly enough rest before deciding that she couldn't stand laying in bed any longer.

"Your circus, your monkeys." She sighed, stifling a yawn as though the conversation had already drained her.

"Kish, why don't you just stay here and relax tonight? I'll do the rounds." Mort asked her, knowing what her answer was going to be anyways.

"Ugh. Aren't you starting a bit early this year? Chill out, I have Chuck with me, and I'll be fine. I promise," She assured him, feeling sheepishly guilty for snapping at him moments ago for a situation that wasn't his fault.

Mort sighed, holding his tongue for the moment about making promises that she couldn't really keep before back off, hands in the air.

"Alright. Be careful around J through M, roads are still a little craggy and I think the Petersen's left some raw marble slabs over there in a couple of places. It's not in the road, but in case you need to get out of the car for any reason." He shrugged, thinking about possible intruders.

Blue was itching for someone to break in tonight so she could get her hands dirty, but she didn't say anything aloud.

Instead, she gave Mort a half hug goodbye and silently felt like complete shit for feeling the way she always felt this time of year; like something was itching to crawl out from under her skin and she needed to punch something and bleed to appease it.

It is this crawling itchy feeling that has her grabbing her car keys early and shoving her feet into her boots.

"What's up?" Chuck askes, seeing the fidgety way she is moving.

"Come on, lets hit up Starbucks before we get locked in." She replies, beckoning for him to follow her as she heads out the door.

Chuck shrugs and makes to follow her, but the sight of the envelope from Rob stops him.

"Hey, uh.. Rob left this for you," He said awkwardly, handing her the envelope.

"Thanks," Blue deadpanned, already accustomed to her friend never saying goodbye to her and just heading back on the road.

Chuck locked up and followed her to Bessie, where she seemed to plop into the driver's seat unenthusiastically.

"You sure you're okay babe?" He asked gingerly, knowing that she was steadily becoming more miffed whenever Mort asked.

"Just peachy, Chuck. The world's my fucking oyster," She harrumphed, making him snort derisively.

"I'm sorry I asked," He replied, trying to keep a straight face at her open animosity.

It was times like these that she reminded him of himself the most, which also reminded him of why they got on so well.

Blue instantly looked regretful and she took a deep breath and dug her pack of cigs out of her pocket, groaning and rolling her eyes when she saw that it was empty.

"Can you be ever so kind and pop the glove compartment and dig us a new pack out?" She asked wearily.

"Sure thing. Jesus Christ! I didn't even know three cartons could fit in a fuckin glove compartment!" He exclaimed, making her laugh at his antics as he cracked a new carton open and handed her a pack.

"You can take a pack for yourself too you know." She replied with a soft smile, relaying her underlaying affection for him.

"You getting tired of sharing one with me?" He asked, enjoying the slight blush that crept up her cheeks as she paid particular attention to the empty cemetery road ahead.

"No, I never said that. I was just offering in case you were getting tired," Blue said, hitting the open road as they lit their smokes in near synchronization.

"Nah, I'm good. Gives me more of a reason to annoy you when I dig around for them in your pockets," He joked, making her roll her eyes and blow her smoke in his direction.

"I'll stick a mouse in there one of these days to surprise you. I read somewhere that spontaneity is good for romance," She quipped with a wink.

Chuck coughed mid-drag, laughing and inhaling not so great of a mix.

Thank Damballah that he no longer was required to breathe.

He was looking pensive for a moment as she stopped at a red light and glanced over at him, quirking a brow in silent question.

When he wasn't forthcoming she nudged him with her elbow.

"What? Spit it out," She said, continuing on to the drive-thru, the strong smell of coffee seeming to permeate the brick coffee shop and energize the air around them.

He opened his mouth to answer, but she cut across him when they reached the menu.

"What are you getting?" She asked, telling the barista to hold on for a minute.

"Same as last time is fine." He shrugged; he was a man of simple tastes.

Blue studied the menu a moment longer, bouncing in her seat indecisively for a moment before shrugging and ordering their venti double americano's, a coffee traveler box of dark roast for their overnight shift, and two mozzarella and tomato panini's for the road.

"Hey! It's the girl with the blue hair! I keep meaning to tell you how much I like it every time I see you, but I keep forgetting. Using your app again today?" The barista asked as they pulled up to the window.

"Yeah, uh….. thanks." Blue smiled awkwardly at the girls compliment as she handed her phone over and her app was scanned for their purchases.

"Okeydokey, it'll just be a moment while I get your order together guys." She chirped, closing the window once more.

"Uh….'guys'? As in she saw both of us?" He asked incredulously, making Blue snicker.

"Don't sweat it, okay? She didn't see you the way you really look right now, so chill. I just don't have the strength available to make you invisible the way I usually do, it's actually easier right now for me to throw a glamour over your form instead." She confessed, feeling annoyed with herself for how weak she was and how drained her powers were at this time of year.

Chuck shrugged and winked at her, enjoying the way her eyes lit up as she blushed.

"Relax, I was just curious." He said reassuringly.

The barista reappeared with their order moments later, handing the items out to her one by one. Blue set the traveler box in the back on the floor along with the cream, sugar, and extra cups before handing Chuck his coffee and sandwich and pulling off.

"I'm just slightly addicted to these stupid panini thingy's." Blue explained, rolling her eyes at herself as she took her first gooey cheesy bite.

"Yeah, uh…. Thanks for dinner again," He said awkwardly, wondering again why she was always so giving.

"No problem. Gotta make sure that I introduce you to the more important things of this decade," She quipped, sipping her latte with relish.

Chuck laughed then, and it was warm and genuine, which was amazingly how he usually felt around this crazily complex girl.

They were able to swing back into the cemetery gates with minutes to spare before Carlos locked up, which was more convenient than having to get out and unlock them, as Blue was feeling especially lackadaisical.

Part of her was yearning for blood and a nap, and it was barely sundown.

She parked under a large oak tree and waited for Carlos and his crew to make their exit and lock up, giving them time to finish their panini's and lattes with relative peace in the sunset.

"So….. I was gonna ask you something, but… I'm kind of shitty at wording stuff and I don't want you to take it the wrong way," Chuck confessed awkwardly, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

Blue chuckled dryly and rolled her eyes as she sipped her coffee, relishing the bitter tang and the heat of it.

"Since I've had your dick in more than one orifice I think it's a little late to be shy, don't you?" She asked, not taking her eyes off of Carlos and his crew as they packed up.

Chuck choked mid sip and she laughed raucously at his reaction, her eyes twinkling mischievously as she watched him struggling to regain composer as though she knew exactly what his reaction was going to be.

"Jesus Christ Blue! Are you trying to kill me?" He rasped, setting his coffee back in the cup holder as though he no longer trusted it.

"Not really, no." She replied with a shrug, a bemused look on her face as she glanced back over at him as though urging him to continue with his line of questioning.

"Fuck, I don't even want to ask now." He huffed, clearing his throat.

"See? Question resolved," Blue replied serenely, drumming her palms on the steering wheel as though she were restless once more.

"It is so not resolved! What the hell? You're an impossible shit today, you know that?" He laughed.

Blue shrugged again in an I-don't-know-what-you-want-me-to-say sort of way and he shook his head.

"Anyways, I was going to ask you…. Why are you so… nice all of the time?" He asked, seeing a confused frown cross her face before she took her eyes off the path ahead of them and met his eyes once more.

"I don't understand what you mean," She replied honestly, and just by the look in her eyes; he knew that she had dropped her smart assery.

"I mean the way you just give all of the time, without even asking. Hell, sometimes I think that you do it without even thinking. It's like a natural impulse for you," Chuck said, smirking when she rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"I don't do that," She muttered, starting the car and pulling out into the main road to begin their rounds in hopes that he would drop it.

"Yeah you do. You did it the night that you picked me up in the middle of the road and you haven't really stopped since," He pressed on, making Blue shake her head.

"It's a uh… cultural thing I guess. It's hard to explain," She answered vaguely, slowing down and skirting around a group of geese that had gathered in the road.

"I was pretty good in Social Studies and Multicultural Arts, I'm sure I could grasp it if I tried." He said in earnest.

"It's a clan thing I guess, but even when we left, it's a tradition we pretty much still kept. When you're part of the clan, everyone shares everything they have with everyone else. Food, money, clothes, medicine, cigarettes, whiskey, whatever. I mean, obviously you have things that are your own, but if we had earned extra money and someone was in need, we shared what we had. If someone was too old to work or too ill, we cared for them and helped them because they were family; maybe not by direct blood, but they were part of the clan so it didn't matter. If one family had extra meat and another vegetables, and another herbs, we pooled our resources and made a giant pot of stew so that everyone could eat. You understand?" Blue asked, meeting his eyes briefly before she turned back to the road and turned down the next section.

"Yeah, I understand that. But I'm not part of your clan, hell I'm not even gypsy of any kind. My folks were Irish and Scottish and were third generation American at least," He said as she gave a derisive snort and took a long sip of coffee.

"So you think that the whole clan was made up of people that were born into it? I mean, a lot were, but we integrated a fair share of like-minded people as well along the way. People that wanted to roam free from country to country and live the way we did; selling our wares and our music from town to town and never staying in one place for too long. There are a lot of people that don't like taking root in the ground, so to speak. Anyhow, it's engrained enough into me that I don't know of any other way to be. It's even bled into my friendship with Mort, though he would make a good gypsy himself if it came down to it…. If he could ever completely let go of his past. The bones of his dead wife and children keep him rooted here though, and I don't think that that's likely to ever change." She sighed, driving along the lake in the middle of the grounds now, the half moon above throwing a silvery shimmer over the tiny ripples made by the wading ducks and geese.

"Okay…..I still don't see why you helped me at first or why you trusted me enough to bring me back to your house and heal me, or anything that happened after. You know, up until we got to know each other a bit more and things got more…. Involved," He finished awkwardly, and it was her turn to smirk.

"Call it intuition I guess; besides, you didn't look particularly threatening the night that we met. You looked like a drowned ginger rat," Blue laughed fondly, her eyes flickering back over to his briefly once more.

"Doesn't say much about your taste; being attracted to ginger rats and all." Chuck shot back and she laughed again.

"Don't make me report you to HR for insubordination, you forget that I have seniority over you here by a few decades." She quipped, pulling slowly away from the lake, and heading into a small avenue of mausoleums and crypts; several of which looked ancient though well preserved.

Chuck turned to face her, but the retort died on his lips when he saw the look on her face and her stiffened posture as though she were stealing herself against some unwelcome thing that had nothing to do with their usual banter.

They drove on down the winding path in silence for a moment and Chuck reached for his coffee while trying to mentally rehash their conversation in an attempt to ascertain if he had said something wrong.

Blue drained her coffee then in an attempt at distraction because her hands felt like lead on the steering wheel and the scars on her wrists both itched and ached simultaneously. She thought of a cigarette but shrugged the thought away nearly as soon as it had come.

There were things that even nicotine couldn't help with.

Chuck's eyes widened fractionally as they approached a granite crypt with the name Rainieri emblazoned above the doors in elegant script. There were two lanterns framing the doors on either side, and Chuck noted that one of the flickering lights had gone out on the left as she pulled to a stop beside the crypt and hopped out of the car as though her seat were on fire; going around to her trunk and tugging it open. He heard her rifle around for a moment before quickly reappearing with a small box of lightbulbs in her hands.

Blue's fingers were nearly numb as she shakily switched out the dead bulb for a new one and the lantern flickered to life once more in the ornate fixture. She returned to the trunk and tossed the box in, slamming it shut and returning to the drivers seat in record time before peeling off a bit quicker than was strictly allowed in the confines of the cemetery.

"Uh…..I'm not trying to be an overtly nosey asshole, but couldn't Carlos or one of his guys do that for you?" He asked softly as she took another corner, trying to put as much distance between herself and her Father's resting place.

"No. They won't go near it, especially Carlos….. they think it's cursed." She replied, reaching for her cigarettes, and struggling with the lighter until Chuck took it in his steadier hands and lit it for her.

"Thanks," Blue muttered around the filter, taking a long drag, and holding the smoke in her lungs for a moment before letting it out slowly.

"Bunch of fuckin' pansies," Chuck said darkly, lighting his own smoke.

Blue snorted derisively and shook her head, their speed returning to normal as they drove on to the next section.

"I can't say I blame them really, they're only human." She mused softly, a wistful expression on her face.

"Why couldn't Mort have just-

"He offered to. I told him that I would do it. It's fine," She shrugged, turning back to the road, and gasping as she saw the figure of a man step out into the pathway.

Blue slammed on her brakes reflexively and let out a piercing shriek as the mans features were illuminated by her headlights.

Chuck swore softly when he saw the bird collide with the windshield and land with a loud thunk on the hood of the car, but Blue was in hysterics beside him, sobbing and shaking uncontrollably.

"Take it easy, it's a bird! It's okay," He unbuckled his seatbelt and reached for her.

"It wasn't a fucking bird!" She exclaimed in denial, gasping unneeded air as he brushed the tears from her cheeks and shushed her.

The raven on the hood let forth a reproachful caw as Blue stumbled out of the car sweeping the wide beam of her flashlight back and forth across the ground in front of Bessie as well as looking under the wheels for good measure.

"I saw him! I saw him….." She sobbed desperately as Chuck approached her and pulled her over to the hood of the car.

"Look, that's what we hit. I don't know what the hell he was doing flying at night but here's the proof; it was a bird, Babe." He assured her as she pulled one of the Starbucks napkins from her pocket and wiped her eyes.

Blue pulled off her jacket shakily and gently draped it atop the struggling Raven, his mournful caws muffled as she took the wriggling bundle back to the car.

She sniffed and swallowed before unwrapping the birds head and turning the overhead lights on.

"Oh shit… he's blind. That's why he was flying at night, I don't think he knows that it's night." Blue said, indicating the milky pupils of the ravens eyes.

"Well do we shoot him to put him out of his misery? I think his wing is broken, it's kind of hanging lower than the other one." Chuck asked, pointing out the apparent injury.

"No! Jesus Charles!" She chided, snapping back to herself instantly.

"Venom?" He asked as she settled the bird in her lap before pulling off again.

"No. You shouldn't ever use venom on an animal unless you want some weird ass results," She replied, driving them slowly back towards their house.

"Exhibit A?" He asked, indicating himself with a smirk.

Blue laughed in spite of herself and shook her head before dialing Mort and taking a deep breath as the phone rang.

"What happened?" He answered, almost as though he knew something had gone wrong.

"Hello to you too. Listen, I hit a bird and I'm taking it home right now. I broke it's wing and it's blind," She explained uneasily.

"Oh. One of the geese?" He asked, seeming to deflate in relief.

"No, a raven." She replied as the bird gave a croak from its nest in her lap.

"So I hear. Are you guys okay?" He asked solicitously.

"Yeah…. Yeah we're fine," Blue assured him as the raven cawed loudly once more as though he disagreed.

"Your passenger begs to differ," Mort replied, and Blue gave a watery laugh.

"Alright, lemme just get him settled in at home and I'll head back out." She hung up as their house came into view.

At a loss for what else to do, she took a couple of bath towels and made a makeshift nest for him in their tub before returning to finish off their rounds. The rest of the evening passed uneventfully as they finished half the box of coffee and killed another pack of cigarettes as the dawn approached. By the time Blue was finishing one last rotation of the outer gates, Mort was unlocking the gate uncharacteristically early and chatting with Carlos and crew.

"What has you up so early?" She asked curiously.

"I came to see your victim and I have breakfast for us," He replied, bidding Carlos farewell and following Bessie in his own car towards their house.

Blue was frowning softly as she pulled into the driveway and Mort parked behind them.

"What is it?" Chuck asked, but she shook her head and got out.

"I'm assuming you don't have a cage for him? I dug this out of the attic….. the uh, kids used to keep a parrot, but it's just collecting dust now." Mort said stiffly as he dragged a large domed antique cage out of his backseat.

"Mort, you don't have to…. I could just order one from Amazon," Blue assured him, but he shook his head.

Chuck unlocked the door as Mort followed with the cage and Blue brought up the rear with the paper bags from Burger King containing breakfast.

Mort set the cage down on the coffee table and began to help Chuck unpack the food as Blue disappeared up the steps to retrieve their reluctant feathered guest.

"Did she have an episode last night? Was that what happened with the bird?" Mort whispered and Chuck's eyes widened.

"Yeah, right after she changed the lightbulb at the crypt. In her defense though, the goddamned thing just flew right into us, but she thought she hit a person. She was a little frantic for a few minutes, but I calmed her down." He replied, grabbing a pepsi from the fridge and offering one to Mort, who shook his head.

Blue reappeared with the raven wrapped in a towel for Mort's inspection.

"I was looking at some of the local wildlife rehab websites around here and they all say the same thing; that they'd likely euthanize him at this point. In a lot of flowery words, they seem to think a bird in his condition would be a waste of already strained resources; and that's if he were only blind." Mort said regretfully.

The raven cawed loudly in her arms, cocking its head to the side unseeing in her direction.

"It's fine. I'll just keep him here I guess," She replied, taking a pack of steak from the freezer, and placed it in the microwave on defrost.

"On the other hand, your venom….

"No. That would be too complicated," She cut him off.

"Then you'll have an interesting specimen for ten to fifteen years," He said with a sigh and she nodded as she retrieved the cage from the living room and placed it on the sideboard, allowing the bird to hop into it awkwardly.

She washed her hands and chopped up the steak to impatient squawking from the cage once he had a whiff of the raw meat from the low perch he had hopped onto.

"Well at least your sense of smell hasn't been compromised," She muttered as she piled the meat onto a tea saucer and placed it in the cage with a dish of water and watched as he tucked in with gusto. Blue smiled fondly as she watched him gobbling up the strips of meat with loud clicks of his beak before her eyes met Chucks and he smirked as though this proved the point of the conversation they had had yesterday.

"You wouldn't happen to have any bigger cages at home, would you Mort?" She asked pointedly as she retrieved a soda for herself.

"Not since the wife left, no." He replied to Chuck's amusement.

Blue scoffed and slumped into a chair, feeling exhausted though their shift had been mostly uneventful (minus the bird)

"So, he came out of nowhere huh?" Mort asked as Blue took a reluctant bite of her sandwich.

"Basically. Scared the shit out of me for a minute, like that Hitchcock movie." She replied, shaking her head.

"You should call him Alfred," Mort suggested, but Blue wrinkled her nose.

"Nah, that would make me think of Batman." She said almost distastefully.

"What's wrong with Batman?" Asked Mort, looking affronted.

"I'm more of a Joker fan," She said absently, watching as the raven dipped his beak into the glass of water and drank greedily.

"Could call him Hitchcock," Chuck suggested with a shrug, having a very vague memory of the movie from his youth. He seemed to recall a pot hazed evening on Eddie Caputo's couch in high school.

"Yeah, we could do that." She agrees.

"Listen, I wanted to ask you guys if you were up for a game of spades tonight? I was thinking of making some steaks and kabobs on the grill, some cocktails and beer?" Mort asked, looking between the two of them hopefully.

"Uh….. who's our fourth?" Blue asked.

"We have a fourth, no worries. George and Annie wanted to come over for a drink and thank you guys for what you did the other day; don't worry I kind of explained a bit about Chuck." Mort said, seeing Blue wince and lean back in her chair.

"He doesn't have to thank us, it's fine. But um….spades sounds good," She replied, stifling a yawn.

"Kish…. I want you on sick leave until after….. until next month. I have Carlos and a couple of guys on his crew rotating watch like always at this time of year, they're used to it." Mort said, wincing as she stood abruptly and tossed the rest of her food.

"So that's why you came over here? To tell me that I'm out two weeks earlier than usual?" Blue asked, her hands balled into fists at her sides.

"Akishla, it's a little over a week earlier at best. I just don't want you driving into the lake or crashing into a mausoleum on your rounds. You know how much I worry about you around this time, I just don't want you to get hurt." He reasoned softly, but she snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Don't want me to get hurt? What happens if I get hurt Mort? I heal. I heal like nothing ever happened," She slammed her chair back into place at the table, earning a reproachful caw from Hitchcock for her trouble as she stalked passed Chuck and Mort.

"Just because you can heal doesn't mean that it's okay that you get hurt," Mort said, causing her to flinch.

"I'm going to die at the end of this month. Again. No amount of sick leave or bed rest or useless convalescence is going to change that!" She shouted, causing Chuck to flinch at her words.

Mort studied the floor for a moment before meeting her eyes

"Well, if you don't give a shit about yourself at least spare the rest of us some pain. Chuck is in the same car as you are, and a serious crash could hurt him just as much if not worse than it could hurt you. I keep telling you that you aren't here alone; you never have been. Stop trying to push us away because let alone does it not work; it's just taking more out of you than is necessary. I'll see you at seven, get some rest." He kissed her forehead and headed out the door, leaving her at the foot of the stairs hugging her midsection as though she were holding pieces of herself together.