"It's raining."

"It is, well done. You know the types of weather." Meg claps her hands and then snaps her fingers for her companion. It is indeed raining outside. Meg and Raoul are in her small apartment lounging around.

"You don't live in the dorms with other women." Raoul sits up. He's on the floor, while Meg is sitting crossed legged on her bed.

"I do not."

"How'd that happen?"

Meg leans forward with a big smile on her face, she slaps her face and keeps her palm there.

"Well, it's hard to have sex with someone when you are in a dorm with 20 other women, and single bed, not comfortable or practical for someone of Erik's height. He's got long limbs." Meg uncrosses her legs and shakes them.

Raoul deeply regrets asking her and he tries to find a mental cleanse.

"I didn't need to know that."

"You asked." Meg lies on her back.

"You're intimate with someone who treats you like shit." Raoul stands up and steals a pillow.

"Sometimes he's nice, like he really likes me, when no one is watching." Meg sighs. She closes her eyes and remembers.

"Then the rest of the time?" Raoul punches and fluffs the pillow.

"He doesn't know how to respond to good things. It took him a year to accept that my mother and I wanted to be around because we wanted to be around."

"He's the main ex you talk about," Raoul shakes his head. He is not happy about that.

"Ding, ding,"

"How do I get my wife back?"

Meg sits up.

"She's not an object. She's your human partner you're building a life with. The real question is, do you want her, your partner back?"

Raoul nods.

"I do."

"Why."

"I love her."

"Not enough, you loved her before, and you drank and neglected your marriage."

"It's different now. I'm different."

"What's different is that someone else took advantage of the situation. If you try to get her back now, you will resolve nothing. You still have the same issues. She wants something easy, and you don't know how to respond to difficult situations."

Raoul glares, he really wants to hit something and then drink.

"You can't fix your marriage without fixing yourself."

"What do you suggest then? How do I fix myself?"

Meg throws her hands up in the air.

"I know that addiction is a bitch and I hate her. You need to find something to trade drinking. You need to figure out your triggers. You need to talk to your wife."

"Hard to do that when she's under him."

"See? That!" Meg hops off the bed.

"What? She is the one committing adultery. I think I'm allowed to be bitter and express it."

"You are hurt. It makes sense. She cheated on you. Not going to defend that. You admitted that you kept her at a distance emotionally because you did not want to deal with problems. You both suck at your marriage."

"Thanks." Raoul hits her with the pillow.

"Calls them as I sees them."

"What's it like getting shot?" Raoul looks up. Meg peers over the edge of the bed.

"Shot?"

He forms a gun with his hands and shoots her, he even blows the smoke away.

"Um."

Three Years ago

Meg leaves Erik's office and runs down the steps. A small crowd is gathering and Meg watches from a distance. She shrugs and starts to walk.

"Hey, Meg!"

Meg turns, Fleck waves at her. Meg starts to walk over when her body stops. She hears an odd sound. Meg touches her side, blood on her fingers.

"Huh?"

She collapses.

"I don't remember feeling the bullet enter me, but I remember the aftermath. And that was no dance," Meg touches her side.

"No major damage though?"

"I couldn't perform for awhile and that pissed Erik off. He lost money because of me."

"He got mad at you for that?"

"Not at me. He blamed Simon, my boyfriend, and had him do all these side jobs to earn the money back. Erik had him do all these favors, I guess? Well, he made up the lost revenue. Could be why Simon left. Wanted a break." Meg shrugs.

"Could be," Raoul says.

There is a commissary on the lot. It doesn't have the best selection of goods, but it has basic foods and other needs. Meg is his shopping buddy, he has no one else and doesn't trust himself to be alone.

Raoul gets lost in the selection of canned beans and runs into a young pretty thing with a kind face. Raoul takes several steps back and shouts.

"Did not see you there, I am so sorry." He puts his hands up, she smiles and looks at the selection.

"Got some stellar choices there," he says.

"I know, what is life? Who needs a supermarket?" She picks up a can of corn and checks the label.

"I'm Raoul," He holds out his hand to her, but takes it back and runs it through his hair, he twists his body. Meg is watching him.

"Brin," says she. She smiles and drops the can into her cart.

"I have an act." He says without knowing what is he doing. Meg slaps her mouth and tilts her head, her eyes wide.

"I know, I mean, I've seen it. It's funny."

Meg steps up, she places her arm on his shoulder.

"Rally Lulu, introduce me to your new friend! Sorry, about this guy." Meg runs her fingers through his hair, he bats her away," he's not used to leaving the lair. I say, go amongst them!"

"I don't have a lair. Meg is still being trained to be around people." Raoul pushes her away with his shoulder.

"I'm a hazard to his game. Say, uh, how's your wife, buddy." Meg taps Raoul's temple. Brin gets out of there.

"What was that?" Raoul glares and he grabs her hand, pushes her away.

"What was that?" Meg points with both hands to where Brin had been standing.

"Talking, verbal intercourse. Making a connection."

"That all?"

"I like people. I like talking to people."

Meg considers this, her mouth open, she blinks, she tilts her head to the side, her mouth twists and lifts in the corner. Thought processed indeed.

"Oh."

Meg and Raoul leave the commissary as Christine and Gustave enter.

"Christine!" Raoul shouts. Meg waves, Gustave runs into Raoul's arms and hugs he, he then hugs Meg.

"Raoul. Hi." Christine cannot look at him properly.

"Shopping?" Raoul does not know what to do with his hands or posture. He tries to appear taller.

"Yeah, I need some things. You're spending the day with Meg?"

"Meg can go play with Guswus, in fact let's do!" Meg grabs Gustave's hand and they run out the door.

"She's. She's, yeah. I don't know how to describe her. Unusual. She's an unusual person." He scratches his head.

"You two are becoming close."

"What? I don't know. I guess. She's just a friend."

"Right."

They both look away and stand there in silence.

"I," they both start and then stop, Christine gestures for Raoul to speak.

"I miss you. I'd like to see you."

"I miss you too. I mean what I said. That didn't change."

"I'd like to spend time with you regardless, can we do that?"

"Maybe. I'd like that too, I think. We have to shop." Christine says awkwardly. Raoul nods. He leaves the store as his son runs by and joins his mother.

"That was hard. Why was that so hard." Raoul grabs his face.

"You're both love stupid." Meg rubs his back.

"I need to see her. I need her around."

"It won't solve your problems, but I have a way you can see her, and it will be a situation, that won't make her too uncomfortable." Meg says while wearing her scheme face.

"What's the plot?"

"Game night!"

"So, Fleck is bringing her cousin, Gangle and Squelch are coming, because hello and duh, Christine is coming and I guess Erik, so that's eight!"

Meg pauses, she counts with her fingers just to be sure of her math.

"Four and four." Meg says happily.

"Four to a team? Who's the team?"

"You, me Fleck and the cousin." Meg counts with her fingers.

"I want my wife on my team." Raoul glares.

"No, this way it's fun. Think of the fun!" She slaps his back.

"So," Meg stands at the head of the table, she holds a piece of paper and a cup.

"You write down famous people, living, dead, fictional, and we put them in a cup, and then you put it on your head, and your team has to guess what is written,"

"I don't get it," says the Cousin. Fleck leans into her and explains the game again.

"Great!"

Meg giggles madly as she writes down names.

Bram Stoker is written on a piece of paper, that's on Fleck's Cousin's forehead.

"Irish writer, wrote a popular gothic novel." Raoul says. The Cousin blinks.

"Jane Austen."

"No, male, Irish."

Meg bites her lips; Fleck is trying to help her cousin play the game.

"He's like, grrr," Meg says, she curls her fingers and jabs the air, like she's going to grab at the Cousin.

"Bats, smoke, blood." Raoul doesn't like the book, but he knows of it.

"Romania." Fleck says, nods, as if this is a great reveal.

"The Pope?"

The room loses it. Fleck doesn't know what to say to that, Meg is on the floor laughing. Raoul wants to his head against the table.

"Can we get the point? Best wrong answer ever!" Meg gets up to her feet.

"That's not how the game works, dear." Erik says, he has great interest in his gloves. Raoul narrows his eyes at the use of, "dear" and wants to throw something at Erik's head.

"Romania. The country. Vlad the Impaler." Fleck says, trying to get back to the game.

"Oh," Erik tsks," sorry, darling. Your time is up. No points."

"Not even half a point for the best wrong guess? Erik, that was golden!" Meg flicks her fingers at him, he shakes his head. Meg crosses her arms and throws something invisible at him.

Christine has Mozart on her head.

"Insane, had sex with his cousin," Gangle says, he's bored.

"A king?" Christine says, everyone laughs at that. Not wrong.

"Composer, had sex with his cousin, totally bonkers." Squelch says. Erik leans over and says something into Christine's ear.

"Mozart?"

"I call shenanigans! No secret whispers! No point!" Meg slaps the table. Erik gives her an intense look.

"That's not against the rules." Erik says sweetly.

"Grr, fine!"

Marley's Ghost on Fleck's forehead.

"Chains, warning, specter," Meg says, she's practically foaming at the mouth.

"That's not allowed," Erik says, he drums his fingers on the table. Meg recoils.

"Warning, old friend, change your ways." Raoul says, that was difficult. It took him a moment to get the words out of his mouth after he found them.

"Book," The cousin says.

"Character," Meg corrects.

"Focus on warning. Prelude to the event." Raoul says. Fleck shakes her head. Meg leans forward.

"Charles! Grumpy! Rich! Selfish person!" Meg shakes and pulls at Fleck's hands.

"Metal links," Fleck's cousin says.

"Oh dear, you lost again." Erik teases, he's enjoying a little too much. Meg gestures rudely to him before she slides backwards to her chair.

"That was a way to spend an evening," Squelech says. Gangle pushes him out of the door, Fleck follows with her cousin.

"How'd we lose badly?" Meg cries out in a angry mania.

"She didn't look at me at all," Raoul slumps down in the chair. He is miserable.

"We lost, I hate life." Meg sucks in air and cries.

"So badly!" She shakes her hands. She cannot even. There is a knocking on the door. Meg is too into her mourning and misery to hear. Raoul walks over, opens the door. Christine is on the other side, she grabs him and kisses him passionately.

Raoul grabs her hips and pulls her into him. after a minute she pulls away. She's shaking. He lets go, she takes a step back. She's in tears, she runs away. Raoul calls out to her.

He steps back inside, closes the door, leans against the door, slides down to the floor.