Hey, it's Ronnie, back from the dead with another new story! But with a twist: it's actually already completed, and will have all the chapters up within a few days.

So, quick story time: today is the two-year anniversary of my online friendship with JustVildaPotter. This story is mostly written as a gift for her (but also for me).

Hope you enjoy, Vilda! Here's to another two years and beyond!

Nothing Can Break Us

Part 1

Summer, 2000

"Can ya believe they opened anotha' diner right across da street from Jacobi's?" Finch asked, looking up from the table he was clearing to glare at the new business owners hanging a sign on the building opposite the deli. "Dirty bastards gonna take all our business."

"Please," said Sniper, leaning back in her chair, "as if a place called 'The Dinner Doozy' is gonna be better than Jacobi's."

"I'm just sayin', what 'appens if dey run us outta business an' I end up sleepin' in a cardboard box on da streets?"

"We'd letcha moan for a few days before shovin' ya into a bed at Duane Street. Yer in no danger, Finchy." Sniper absentmindedly pulled her sweatshirt sleeve farther over her arm.

It was afternoon in mid-July, and hot as hell, but bare arms never worked in Sniper's favor. Not because people couldn't control themselves when they saw her shoulders or anything like that, but she had too many bruises that raised too many questions. Short sleeves weren't practical in her situation.

Finch hid his expression of concern for his best friend by focusing on the plates he was stacking into a plastic tub. He looked at the pile of dirty dishes, groaned, then spotted the line of people at the register and groaned again. "Snipes, wouldja-"

"S'long as I get free food," she agreed with a my-best-friend-is-an-idiot smile, getting up to go help take orders. Whether she got free food or not really played no role in her willingness to help, since Smalls was supposed to show up at Jacobi's within the hour, and Sniper wanted to be there to greet her girlfriend.

She really, truly, wanted to disgust Jack Kelly today. He hated the sight of Smalls and Sniper making out- not because they were two girls, but because Smalls loved to rub her successful romantic life in her older brother's face. Doing so was her passion. Sniper often relished in Jack's annoyance as well, so long as the other people they kissed around were either those she knew like the back of her hand or complete strangers who didn't care. If somebody made a fuss over their kissing, a little part of Sniper shriveled up inside. Even worse was if Sniper's father happened to bear witness. Then, it stuck with her for days, not always scarring only her mind.

A lot had changed in the past year after the strike, but one thing remained the same: Sam Wah was not a good parent.

He still hit his daughter; more so than usual whenever he got reminded she was kissing a girl. Sometimes the blows drew blood, sometimes not, either way it felt awful inside and out. In addition to the physical violence, Mr. Wah would yell at Sniper for things both important and not. He yelled if she talked too much to customers at the laundromat, if she wasn't friendly enough, for making tiny mistakes, for messing up big time, for avoiding work, for not working enough. He got drunk, he got mad, he became enraged with his daughter for existing. He shouted, he threw things, he broke Sniper's possessions. He drank too much and blacked out, then blamed Sniper for the mess in the apartment when he woke up. Money would run thin and he wouldn't get to drink enough; the temporary withdrawal would make him angrier still. In his tirades, Sam asked why Sniper's only friends were "those awful boys", wondered what he'd done wrong for her to make such a "disgusting" life choice, told her if her mother could see her now, she'd be ashamed and wouldn't know her own daughter.

And Sniper took it. Every day, with a shrug and a smile, she went on with her life like nothing was wrong, as if she didn't loathe every second she was stuck in her so-called home. If she ever let on about what she was enduring, she always got the same advice: report your father, call the cops, get the hell out of there. But she couldn't do that, she insisted every time. She didn't say why, just said she'd get out when she turned eighteen. There were already plans half-formed in her head to buy an apartment with Finch and never look back. Sniper still had more than a year to wait for that to happen, but was certain she could power through. Despite the circumstances, everything was under control.

But enough about that. Sniper shook out of her reverie, waved forward the next customer, and nearly had a heart attack when she was met with her father's eyes.

Or- upon further inspection- a pair of eyes that looked like her father's, but weren't set within her father's facial features.

Wait.

"Oh my god!" Sniper escaped from behind the counter as fast as she could to greet the black-haired, bespectacled woman. "Aunt Jules?"

"Hey baby," the woman opened her arms for a hug, and Sniper fell into them as easily as if it were her own mother she was embracing. "How ya been?"

"Oh, fine," Sniper lied, delighted but not enough to tell the truth. She pulled away from her aunt after a minute's hug, asking, "Did Jeff come with you?"

"Sure did. He should be around here somewhere."

"How long will youse be here?"

"Couple weeks, a month or so, maybe. It all depends on how quickly I get tired of Jeff and his partner. He insisted on bringing them along on our mother-son vacation, and I wasn't one to say no. Not that I could've, mind you, I can't seem to get him to pull away from her for more than five minutes, so even if I'd denied their coming along she would have anyway."

Sniper grinned. "I can imagine."

"But I'm glad he's found someone, don't get me wrong. God knows he deserves to be happy after all he's been through."

Sniper knew full well what her aunt was referring to. Her cousin's dad had been just as shitty a father as her own, so yes, Jeff certainly did deserve to be happy with whoever he was dating. Still, it stung a little, hearing Jules speak about what she and Jeff had overcome, when Sniper struggled with the same issue and deserved to get just as much out of life as her cousin. It was, however, Sniper's own fault the mild jealousy ate her up inside. She'd had so many chances to tell her aunt about what her father was doing, and she hadn't. She knew Jules, more than anyone, would understand...

"So where's my dearest brother hiding these days?"

And there was the reason she lied. Shattering her relatives' positive view of her father was not something Sniper could do. "Oh, y'know..." she answered, locked and loaded with a vague answer that gave away nothing bad or good. "He's... his usual self. Busy with the laundromat, single parenting, all the good stuff."

"I'll have to stop by, as we're here. Maybe dinner? How 'bout tonight?"

"Tonight?" Sniper tried to picture the state she'd last seen the apartment in, and it came vividly, to her dismay. It didn't look good, that was for certain.

"We could always bring over food, it's no trouble. Don't wanna put all the cooking on you."

"Heh, yeah." Because Sniper certainly didn't spend most weeks (when she was actually staying at home) cooking for her father.

"How does pizza sound?"

"Um... sure..."

"Well don't make that face, I'm not planning to take over your house."

"It's not that," Sniper forced a laugh. "I just don't wanna clean."

Jules beamed. "I know the feeling. Men are slobs, am I right?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"Snipes, when I toldja ta run the register I didn't mean tell yer life story ta ev'ry customer!" Finch called, setting his tub of dishes on the counter. "We got hungry people here!"

"Uh-oh," Jules sang, "looks like someone's in trouble."

"Looks like it's me," Sniper muttered. Finch sidled up next to her. "Sorry, Finchy. This is my-"

"Beg pardon, ma'am," Finch had seen Sniper's aunt and just like that, on flicked his charm. "I didn't realize Terry's sister was visiting."

"No. Nope. Uh-uh." Sniper swatted Finch's arm. "Stop. Please."

"Aw, c'mon. Lemme have this. I've neva' gotten ta make that joke," said Finch, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

"I hate you."

"And this must be..." Jules prompted, studying Finch.

He stuck out a hand. "Finch Cortes. Pleasure ta make yer acquaintance."

"Charmed, I'm sure."

Sniper sighed. "He's my best friend. The bane of my existence. I love 'im ta hell."

"You know it," Finch's cheeks turned noticeably pink.

"Finchy, this is my Aunt Jules."

"Aunt? Like da upstate aunt?"

"That's the one."

"Welcome ta Manhattan, Miss Jules." Out of the corner of his mouth, Finch whispered, "Ya didn't tell me she was hot!"

Sniper rolled her eyes. "Don't you have orders to take?"

"Ugh, fine. Make me do your work."

"It's yours! Yer earnin' yer keep! You hafta do it!"

"Same difference!" Finch disappeared, off to actually do his job.

Soon after he'd gone, Albert burst in, with a dramatic shout, as per usual. "Doppelgangers are real! Run for yer lives!" He jogged past Sniper with a quick hello and a "By the way, yer girlfriend's outside!"

"Girlfriend?" Jules raised her eyebrows. "That's new."

Whoops, this was the first time Sniper had mentioned the matter to her aunt. "I figured Jeff would a' told ya."

"The only girlfriend I hear about from Jeff is his own."

"Of course. Well uh, if you wanna meet mine-"

The Jacobi's door flew open as a crowd far too large to be allowed in the tiny deli barreled through it. More than a dozen chatty, laughing teenagers invaded all the space that was left, and any regular people who'd been standing in line gave up and left once the herd was all inside.

"Snipeeeeeeeer!" Race appeared at the head of the crowd, wildly waving his arms. "Ya gotta see this! We found anotha' you!"

"That's not even the freakiest part!" said Henry, appearing next to Race. "There's another Smalls, an' they're like exactly twins!"

"I already toldja, we ain't that similar!" protested Smalls, hot and bothered as she pushed past Race and Henry. Once she reached Sniper, she softened. "Hey, Tree."

"Hey Queenie." Sniper stood there for a moment with what she knew was the dopiest looking expression on her face (per Finch's judgement). Then Smalls got on tiptoe and pulled Sniper's face to hers, and Sniper no longer had to worry about how she looked or what anyone thought. Her hands in Smalls' hair were the only thing she cared about, and nothing could pull her away from this girl, her girl.

"Hey, don't I get a kiss hello too?"

Except that. Sniper- reluctantly- removed herself from Smalls's lips, taking her girlfriend's hand as she faced her cousin. "Hey, Jeff."

"Hello hello, Terry." He gestured to Smalls. "Girlfriend?"

"Yep."

"I've got someone fer you ta meet too." Jeff threw his arm around the person as she walked up beside him. Sniper took in the chin length brown hair, short stature, and their leaderly way of holding herself, then saw the face and did a double take, dropping Smalls' hand.

"Hi, I'm Presley," Jeff's girlfriend introduced themself as Sniper came closer. "You can call me Smalls."

To reiterate... a HUGE thank you to JustVildaPotter for keeping up this friendship for this long. You's amazing, even though you've got some weird opinions.

(And credit to JVP for the names Jeffrey and Presley. For those who don't know, they're her version of Smallsper. You'll see how that fits into this story soon enough.)

Thanks for reading, I'll see you soon in the next chapter, and if you don't mind reviewing, please do!