Wagner was at a square table that comfortably seated four guests with a glass window to his left, overlooking the busy Osaka streets. Julian Marquez sat to his right, taking a sip from a glass of ice water, while Cranky sat opposite him, leaning on his elbows with his hands clasped under his chin. Kenny was next to Cranky, his head resting in one hand while the other held a single chopstick, twirling the tip across the surface of a bowl of miso soup sitting in front of him. All around the quartet, fellow customers, mostly business men fresh from a hard day's worked, laughed over rice wine and boiled soy beans, relating humorous work tales and smoking cigarettes. The sounds of those unwinding from a stressful day carried over to their table, where the four of them spoke in a lower, more serious tone.
"So Cammy's finally getting the revenge she deserves," Julian noted after taking a gulp, setting his ice water down. "Don't look so worried, Cranky. She can take care of herself."
Cranky had to try hard not to wince at Julian's words. "With all due respects, Father Marquez, you don't feel for her the way I do."
Julian held up a hand, signaling for him to stop. "Don't call me that anymore, please," he requested politely. "I was a fake priest. Since Shadowlaw's discovered me, it's no use for me to utilize that title anymore. There's no point." It made perfect sense for him to say that, though Cranky had always known him as the kind fatherly priest from the local Catholic Church. Making a switch to calling him plain old Julian was going to be difficult. He continued. "I know how you feel about Cammy. Don't make it sound like I've never been in love before. But you can't go on believing that the people you love are completely reliant on you. They are people too. They have their own issues, their own personal lives that you have no part of."
"Funny," Cranky replied, his words laced with sarcasm, "I always thought relationships worked best when partners are open and honest with each other."
"And Cammy's very honest with you," Wagner added. "But that doesn't mean you go off and solve all her problems for her. This is something she has to do. And don't think I care about Cammy any less than you do. She is my sister. And I don't want to see her get hurt any less than you do, maybe even more. I have just as much of a vendetta against Shadowlaw and I want to be there beside her in battle too. But I chose not to because I'm slowly learning to let go of the past and work on my future, without letting my painful memories of them get in my way. But if they ever lay a finger on me or my family again, I'll be there to fight back. That's how I deal with my past. This is how Cammy deals with hers."
"And you can't stop her from doing that," Julian continued. "If that's what she needs to do in order to move on, so be it. Forcing her to do anything else would be selfish of you."
Their conversation was momentarily interrupted by the shadow of a waitress, leaning over the table. "Dinner Combo A," she announced sweetly, laying a platter of food in front of Kenny. "Here's the sushi plate." She laid that in front of Julian. "I'll be back with the rest in a few minutes."
"Thank you," Wagner said, before she walked away.
Cranky let out a sigh, running a rough hand through his hair. "You guys are making more sense than I can stand," he said. "But I don't want to be sitting by the sidelines twiddling my thumbs while she's putting herself in danger."
"You feel like it's your obligation to be there?" Julian asked, and Cranky nodded in response.
"No," Wagner said, "it's your responsibility to support Cammy in anything that she does."
"Even if it's stupid?" Without even taking a glance at Kenny, Cranky reached over and pulled the wooden chopsticks from between the teen's fingers and snapped them apart for him.
"No, not if it's stupid. But this isn't; it's important," Wagner finished. "If you want to play an effective role in all this, be the man you are to her. You have her heart. Believe in her and pray for her. But above all, keep faith in the fact that Cammy is capable of taking care of herself. Like Julian said before, the people you love are people too. They have their own capabilities of making decisions and acting on them."
Cranky handed the chopsticks back to Kenny, never taking his attention off Wagner.
Wagner nodded his head at the youth. "And that includes him, too."
Cranky shot him a befuddled expression. "I don't understand …"
"If your history with Kenny is correct, based on what I heard from Cammy," Wagner said, "then I think you're making up for lost time. He's spent years on his own without you. You want to make up for the time that you should've been by his side, watching out for him, but Kenny has grown up and I think your guilt is making you blind to it."
Cranky raised a fist and opened his mouth to say something but Kenny quickly capped his open palm over his knuckles and forced it down gently onto the table top. "I think you should listen to what Uncle Wagner's telling you," he said.
"Kenny, this really isn't your …"
"If you won't listen to me, then at least listen to someone who's a qualified professional; someone who knows. And if anyone knows, it's him." Kenny released Cranky and bowed his head ever so slightly, pleading with Wagner with a silent gaze to speak on his behalf.
"I'm a youth counselor for the Air Force, Cranky," Wagner said. "And trust me, I know what emotions are playing through Kenny's head. It's not wrong to care about someone and to protect them, whether it's your brother, sister, friend or lover. But there is a line that is drawn between protecting and smothering."
The lecture continued well into the night.
XXXXX
"I'll see you at the other side," Cammy said, giving Ken a tight hug before leaving her for the evening. The two of them stood in the long, elaborately decorated corridor of her hotel suite, after a celebration meal of fresh Kobe steak, sashimi, mashed potatoes and caviar. The food was costly enough in itself, but this being the busy port of Osaka, nobody had the money to afford that kind of meal, let alone suggest going to one of the highest class restaurants the city had to offer. But it was Ken who suggested it, and it was Ken who had voluntarily picked up the bill, but to the guilt of his other guests.
Chun Li was joined in on the celebration, walking in as the cold, anti-social Interpol agent everyone had come to know and love anyway. But she left the place in a giggling fit, face red as a direct result of too much red wine and sake. Ryu had quite a bit to drink as well, after his meal, but the only sign he gave was a slight stumble after they rose from their table, which he blamed on the dim, romantic lighting.
Ken teased the both of them, calling it the "Asian-Alcohol-Syndrome," an act that earned him a slap on the shoulder from Cammy. Guile was present as well, and as a result, Cammy found it difficult drinking in front of her adoptive father, and kept her alcohol intake to a bare minimum as a result. She wondered if he still remembered the time he went away on a mission, leaving the house to her and Wagner, then just sixteen years old. The adoptive sibling had thrown one hell of a party, inviting everyone they knew from school. Guile had come home a little earlier than expected to find the house trashed, the furniture torn up, and not an in of carpet clear from a layer of vomit.
"Guile leaves tomorrow morning," Cammy noted audibly to herself, though Ken heard it as well.
"He'll be clearing the path for us," Ken said, nodding.
"It's a good plan," Cammy added, reassuring him. "We'll each take out at least one member of Bison's panel of bodyguards. The path will be cleared for Ryu to get to Bison."
"And we'll all get our share of him."
"When does your flight leave for Vegas?"
"Mine goes in the afternoon," Ken explained, "just a few hours after Guile leaves. He'll fight the opponent in Vegas, I'll take the one in Madrid, you'll go in and finish off the one in Bangkok, and Ryu will make his way up to Bison."
"But what if one of us doesn't succeed?" Cammy asked.
"There's no shortage of tournament finalists," he said. "Out of all the participants, twelve of us have been admitted to the final rounds."
"Really?" Cammy asked. "Which ones?"
"T. Hawk made it, believe or not," Ken said shrugging, "despite forfeiting the match with you. There are a few oddball personalities in the running too, like this one Indian monk, that Sumo I fought, some green freak of nature rumored to be from the jungles of Brazil … the list goes on."
Cammy's eyes went wide. "And we're all going to get a shot at Bison?" Cammy wasn't liking the fact that she had to share Bison with all these other people, people who might want a piece of him as badly as she did. What had he done to so many people? Simply realizing how many lives Shadowlaw must have screwed with was overwhelming. She wondered if she was just an item on Bison's list of victims, or if he would even remember who she was.
"Provided we get through the bodyguard panel first," Ken continued, breaking her train of thought. "I'm not concerned about you cause I know you can handle yourself. But I'm more concerned at how Cranky's taking the news."
"He's learning to deal with it," Cammy replied, shrugging. "Wagner promised he would talk to him for me and help him accept it. I'm not going to pass up this opportunity, not even for Cranky. He doesn't understand what Shadowlaw has done to me. He wasn't there in the beginning. Not like you were. That's why he can't understand."
"I've got faith in Wagner," Ken said, patting her on the back. "Your brother's definitely changed a lot since the last time I saw him. I wouldn't worry about Cranky. Anyway, get some rest, Cammy. I'll see you before I leave in the morning."
XXXXX
Katarina felt the sharp, painful slap of Vega's hands across her face. The force of the strike threw her head back and she fought the urge to retaliate. Vega was a seasoned fighter and would most likely kill her before the battle reached its climax, if it would even get there in the first place. Instead of even uttering a word back to him, she just bit her lip while tolerating his abuse, forcing the tears from seeping out the corners of her eyes.
"How dare you show your face back here, especially after mingling with the street fighters!" he bellowed. "Who are you to go against the rules Shadowlaw has placed for you? You don't find anything out about your past until you have earned it!"
"I have earned it," Katarina said, her voice meek, and soft. "I've climbed up the ranks of Shadowlaw's scientific ranks. I've worked on all three major bio-technological projects. I am the most respected scientist in this entire base. How have I not earned the right to learn about my past?" The better question was who was Shadowlaw to prevent her from being reunited with her family?
"Tell me," Vega said, his voice suddenly eerily lowering, speaking calmly to her, "was it worth it to you? Was turning your back on Shadowlaw worth going in search of your family?"
"I found a brother," she said, avoiding a direct answer.
Katarina was regretting ever having mentioned anything to Vega. Cammy had told her that a successful relationship required honesty and trust. Katarina scolded herself for thinking her relationship with Vega was legitimate. She had told him about her endeavors during the day, when her department had reported her as AWOL. Vega asked her, and she thought he would appreciate her honesty. Katarina was doing it for their relationship. She wanted it to work with him. But now she was beginning to see that it wasn't going to work. She felt more like Vega's possession than his lover; the way he treated her like a rebellious child, not giving her any sense of dignity, freedom, or the most basic of human rights – coming to know and love her own family, finding out the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of her parents. Everything she had a right to know was being kept from her.
Whatever Cammy had said in their scuffle the other day was starting to make sense to Katarina. In a way, she was glad Cammy had killed Vega. Katarina had slaved day after day with little rest all these years to make sure his resuscitation process flowed unobstructed. And this was the kind of thanks she was getting.
Vega slapped her, harder this time, on the opposite cheek. "I will not tolerate my subordinates defying me like this!" he cried, his face burning red with rage. "And the price for your disobedience, my sweet …"
He cornered her to a wall, bathing her small form in his six foot shadow. He looked down menacingly at her from his height advantage and grabbed her throat with one hand, putting just a little pressure on her windpipe to make her squirm. Now the tears flowed more freely from Katarina's eyes, partly from the fear and partly from the semi-suffocation. Vega ran his other hand along her thigh and up the white skirt she wore, hooking his finger underneath her panties.
"No, Vega, please don't …"
"Your price," he whispered heavily on her neck, his breath hot and animalistic on her soft skin, "is your honor."
Despite the physical activity going on in Katarina's laboratory that night, the loud cries and moans were that of anything but pleasure.
XXXXX
Ryu was supporting Chun Li with one arm wrapped around her waist. Chun Li's arm was thrown over his shoulders, and he held her securely by the wrist with the other hand. They walked down the hotel corridors slowly, stopping every few moments for her to make the world stop spinning. It wasn't fun for Chun Li anymore. All the alcohol she had taken in was now creeping in on her, and she knew she was due for a killer hangover the next morning. Ryu, despite being under the influence himself, was holding himself much better than Chun Li was.
"Steady, there," he said to her, when she lurched forward, threatening to spill the contents of her stomach. "I don't think Ken would appreciate you throwing up your food all over the place. It cost him a fortune you know."
Chun Li managed a half-smirk. "I didn't know you were the kind for jokes," she muttered. It wasn't so much that she was displeased with him, and more so the fact that she didn't have the strength to put more energy into her speech.
"You're lucky you leave for Vegas tomorrow evening," Ryu noted. "You have a whole day to recover from the hangover."
"They're really throwing us into Bison's bodyguard panel one after the other," Chun Li mumbled. "I wonder how confident they are in these warriors that they're making fight the lot of us. I swear, I'm gonna kick Bison's ass to kingdom come." She performed a weak kick, her heel scraping against the carpeting. The move made Chun Li lose her balance and she fell to the ground, and into Ryu's arms. "Good catch, Romeo," she said, her eyes half closed.
"This isn't the best time to be horsing around," he said, "we need to rest for tomorrow."
"Rest, schmest," Chun Li said, waving a limp wrist. Ryu was trying in vain to pick her up, but her body was nothing but dead weight in his arms. "I haven't been this happy is soooooo long. I'm gonna make this feeling last as long as I can. You wanna come into my suite?"
"Chun Li," Ryu said, putting his back into it, "time to get up." He lifted the Interpol agent back to her feet. "You're in no shape to have anymore fun. Bed is the only place you're going. Hey – are you listening to me?" Chun Li had rested her head on his chest and completely passed out, the only thing keeping her upright being Ryu's grip on her waist. Ryu sighed outwardly and scooped Chun Li up and carried her the rest of the way to her suite.
Upon rounding a corner, he nearly crashed into Wagner. The both of them jumped, and Ryu almost dropped Chun Li, now fast asleep in his arms.
"Whoa, that was close," Wagner said, while Ryu struggled to maintain his balance.
"What are you doing up this late at …" Ryu began to say, and then noticed that Wagner was carrying his much Cranky, wearing him like a backpack. Cranky's arms were thrown over each of Wagner's shoulders while he held onto them at the wrists, leaning forward to balance both their weight on his legs. Cranky's head was rested on the top of Wagner's skull, the stubble on his chin scratching painfully at his scalp. Cranky's feet were dragging on the floor as Wagner struggled to move forward with every step.
"What happened to him?" Ryu asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Same thing that probably happened to her," Wagner replied, nodding his head at Chun Li, sleeping peacefully. "Me and Julian had a little talk with him today at dinner and the next thing you know we're at a bar guzzling beer."
"Where's Kenny? Wasn't he with you?"
"I took him home after leaving the diner," Wagner replied. "Julian, me, and sleeping angry over here went for a few drinks after."
"It doesn't sound like Kenny to just accept being left out of something like that," Ryu smirked.
"It was a struggle, but we convinced him that they wouldn't let him in the bar in the end, anyway," Wagner shrugged. "Besides, Cranky wouldn't let him anywhere near alcohol."
"If you want to wait here," Ryu offered, changing the subject, "I'm going to take Chun Li into her suite and then I can come back and help you with Cranky."
"It's alright, Cammy's suite isn't far from here. Now …" Wagner paused to re-shoulder Cranky, "I gotta get going if you don't mind. He's heavy."
They bid each other goodnight and parted ways. Ryu continued heading down the corridor in the direction Wagner had come from, still carrying Chun Li. Her weight was beginning to tire his arms, though only slightly. He remembered at the beginning of the tournament when the participants were disclosing personal statistics to the doctors to be placed in their records. When they had asked Chun Li for her weight, she was adamant about keeping that information to herself. And Ryu didn't think anyone actually knew her weight. Gauging the strength he was using to keep her aloft, he estimated at around 130 lbs, but he couldn't be sure.
A shadow loomed over them both and Ryu instinctively snapped his head up at the intruder. Judging by the low energy levels, he didn't think the intruder was up for a fight, yet the shadow was huge.
"Issei," Ryu said, greeting the soldier. He was wearing a white T-shirt this time, with a green army vest over top and the same army fatigues he had on this morning. Despite the upper garment changes, his face, bearing a strong resemblance to Kenny, and the sheer size of his body were unmistakable. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back at Shadowlaw headquarters?"
Issei's face nodded grimly, his lips pressed into a frown. "I need help," he said, like a helpless child.
"What's wrong?"
"Katarina's missing."
XXXXX
Juli hadn't stopped crying for the past few days. She had barely moved either. Her athletic, curvaceous body was yelling at her to at least get up and do some walking around the hotel suite which T-Hawk had generously let her stay in while he participated in the tournament. She didn't even answer the phone calls for him while he was out training. The caller had left a message announcing his acceptance into the final rounds, but Juli had barely heard it. She didn't even notice the sun rise over the horizon and set on the opposite direction. Day or night made no difference to her. Time had no meaning to her in this state of mind.
The only thing she understood was Cranky – more specifically, the fact that he wasn't there and he was never coming back to her. True, it was Juli who had severed their relationship but it was for the better good that she felt she had to do it. She refused to be in a relationship that served Cranky strictly as a refuge for his difficulties with Cammy. Juli had no desire to be further used. First it was Shadowlaw. They used her as an assassin, and shortly after she was freed, she fought tirelessly to regain her humanity. She thought she'd found it when Cranky came along, teaching her how to love like a person, and leaving her to love, period. That was an emotion that had been dead in her since she was a fourteen year old girl, when Shadowlaw took her. But despite the happiness he gave her, in the end, it turned out that his feelings for her hadn't been real at all. He was simply using her.
The pain was excruciating. Her body felt fine, but her heart sagged. It felt like it was made of stone, zapping the energy from her body, pulling her towards the ground. All of that energy had gone into her brain, all of it focused on one thought – Cranky's absence. And then it materialized into tears that flowed freely down her face, staining her skin and her pillow, drying into crusted ravines.
Juli couldn't understand how people could love if this was the kind of punishment one went through if their heart was broken. It must've been a lot safer to not give your heart out to anyone. That was her brain talking then. But her heart understood that people don't choose who infatuates them. It was as if people's hearts had a mind of their own, throwing themselves at seemingly random people, while taking their physical bodies along for the ride; like an anchor chained to their ankles.
Then the idea came to her in a flash. Juli wondered why she hadn't thought of it earlier. After all, T. Hawk wasn't around to stop her. He'd been kind to her after she was freed from Shadowlaw, always standing by her side. But he was her brother, not her lover. Juli had little, if any reason to doubt his motivations. He'd left for America just a few hours ago for the last few rounds of the tournament. He told her to stay here and take care of herself. And Juli planned to take care of herself but she'd only just realized how she could do it.
She rose from bed, her entire body groaning with stiff joints, bedsores making her wince. Just how long had she been lying there for, anyway? Juli headed straight for the room door, leading out into the living quarters. It was night, but what time of it, she had no idea. Not that it mattered anyway. A relieved smile crept across her face. The darkness and loneliness didn't bother her anymore. She was going to be alright.
Juli didn't even bother putting on her shoes when she headed for the main door, walking out barefoot into the corridor. She turned around and reached for the suite key, closing the door and locking it behind her. She left the key at the foot of the door and turned a right, towards the elevators.
XXXXX
The nighttime lights of Osaka were beautiful, Kenny thought, as he exhaled a plume of smoke into the air. He brought the cigarette back up to his lips and took another puff, taking note of how the translucent smoke discolored the lights in its path. It was a warm night, but the breeze was cool and it felt good, very therapeutic. And from this height on the roof of the hotel, the winds were slightly stronger than they were at street level. He could see the okonomiyaki joint where he worked, before he was taken by Shadowlaw. Since being rescued, he hadn't bother to contact Mr. Takayama about his recent absences. And come to think of it, he hadn't even been home to his apartment since being rescued. He'd been so caught up in all the drama surrounding his family, rekindling the brotherhood and friendship he shared with Cranky when they were children, and trying to stay out of the Street Fighters' way that he had completely forgotten about his life from a little more than a week ago.
He wondered what would happen to everyone once the tournament ended. Ryu would probably head back into the mountains and live like a hermit until the next tournament began. Uncle Ken would probably go back to the States with Aunt Eliza and continue sending him their money so he could support himself. And Cranky …
What would happen to him? Kenny suddenly found himself panicking. He'd first learned of Cranky when he arrived in Raccoon City for a visit. Cranky had revealed Kenny's past to him, and that was the kick in the ass the youth needed to get his memory running again, which was how he now remembered the street fighters and most importantly, Uncle Ken, who he only knew before as Mr. Masters. With the exception of the three month gap after Raccoon City that Cranky and Kenny had spent apart, Cranky had been there with him the whole time, helping him remember, simultaneously rediscovering and continuing a friendship between the two of them that had started nine years ago. No … farther back than that.
But Cranky was in love with Cammy. She lived in London. There was no doubt in Kenny's mind that Cranky was going to follow her. Not that he minded the fact that they were together. He couldn't think of a better woman for his brother than Cammy White. And the fact that she was a street fighter just added the cool factor. Kenny not only approved of her, he was enthusiastic about accepting her as one of the family. But he never once considered the fact that Cranky could follow her to England. That realization was the source of Kenny's panic.
He didn't want to be alone again. Almost a decade of that shit was enough for him. He was so relieved to hear that there were people back here that cared about him, the street fighters, the closest thing to a family that he had. But the street fighters only gathered when there was a tournament. After the tournament, they would return to their lives, their normal lives that Kenny had no part of. Back when he first met the street fighters at the tender age of six, he had Cranky to fall back on. But now even Cranky was going to leave.
"Get a grip," he mumbled to himself. "You've done it before. How hard can it be to do it again? Living on your own …" His mouth said the words, but his heart wasn't behind them.
A woman was sobbing somewhere nearby. Her voice was gentle, innocent, and he could feel the weight of the sobs. It sounded like she was crying for him, though Kenny brushed the thought aside quickly. If the world revolved around him, his life would not have been what it had turned out to be. His curiosity got the better of him and Kenny decided to track down the source of the mysterious crying.
"H…hello?" he called out, his voice shaking. The sobbing paused for a moment, and then continued like the crier hadn't heard him. "Is anybody there?"
Then he heard a sniff. He expected to hear that same sweet voice to talk to him gently, and he hoped he could calm down whoever was crying. But instead, he received a stern order.
"Don't come near me," the voice said. Only this time, it wasn't as gentle and innocent. She sounded like a world-class bitch, and the nerve that someone would talk to him like that when he was just trying to be nice.
"Don't worry," he shot back. "I can smell you good enough from here …" And then he choked back his words, his gaze falling upon the speaker.
She was a beautiful young woman, her beautiful toned body showing through a silk nightgown she wore. Her hair was a dark shade of brown, tied into a bun with the exception of the bangs that framed the sides of her round, gentle face. Her eyes were a rich black that sparkled in the moonlight. The soft breeze tugged at her nightgown and loose wisps of her hair that had fallen free from the bun. As beautiful as she was, that wasn't what caused Kenny to gasp in surprise.
It was the fact that she was standing beyond the guard rail, on a narrow ledge that hung over the streets at over fifty four stories.
"M…ma'am," he said, staying rooted to the spot, extending a hand for her to take even though she was standing too far away, "if you want someone who'll listen to you, I'm standing right here and I'm not going anywhere. Whatever you do, don't take that last step." He saw her throat rise as she looked down, her body leaning over the edge, held in place by her hands that had a firm grip on the guard rails.
Kenny's mind was immediately transported back in time to when he was forced to jump a cliff and gunpoint. If it wasn't for Colonel Wolfman of Delta Red, he would made that jump. And he remembered paralyzing fear of realizing that you were about to die. He remembered his mind and his heart fighting each other, one telling him to kill himself the less painful way, the other telling him not to commit suicide. And he could see the look in this girl's eyes too. The same dilemma was going through her mind, only this time, it was her heart telling her to jump, not some guy with a gun. Kenny kept talking, hoping to distract her.
"You don't want to do that," he said. "Yeah, it'll be over quick, but think about how long that fall would take before you hit the sidewalk. Only a few seconds, I'm sure, but those will be the longest seconds of your life. What if you change your mind in midfall? Then there's nothing can do and you'd be subjecting yourself to death. Can you imagine the fear of dying when you don't want to?"
"What makes you think I'll change my mind?" she asked.
"Because you would've already done it," he replied. "You wouldn't have hesitated to jump just because I showed up. Or maybe you were hoping I'd stop you. Maybe you have something to live for after all."
The girl shook her head, fighting back more tears. "No, I don't, actually. He left me. He used me. The man I gave my heart to … he just …"
"Forget the fucker," Kenny said. "Anyone who treats someone else like an object should be the one standing on that ledge. Not the victim."
"But I loved him so much …" she admitted weakly.
"Is your life worth so little to you that you'd die over someone who doesn't care about what happens to you?" Kenny pressed. "Why waste your life over scum when you could be spending it looking for the man who'll appreciate you for who you are?"
"What if I don't ever find him?"
"Oh he's out there, I'm sure of it. He just doesn't know who you are yet. Come on." Kenny wiggled his fingers, his arm still held outstretched. "Let's get down from there and find this guy for you, er …"
"I can't," she sobbed, shaking her head. "I don't have the strength to search. I don't want to search. I just want him to love me."
"I could probably convince you otherwise," Kenny said, "I took law in high school, and I was mighty good at it, FYI."
"You can't change someone's heart with words, only their minds."
"Will you at least give me a chance?"
She thought about it for a second and decided to entertain his delusions for a few minutes. Besides, it would help to take the pain away. The girl nodded and smiled weakly at him. "Fine," she said, "tell me why I should continue living while I'm only suffering like this."
"Thanks, ma'am. My name's Kenny," he said, "and who's my suicidal patient today?"
"Juli," she replied.