Ah, this chapter ... It started exactly as I planned before taking a huge turn halfway through. Well, it'll make things easier later on, but now ... Well, i'll just let you read the chapter now.

Chapter count if up to 45, but I think this chapter can easily require another chapter right after it.

I do not own the outsiders.


Andromeda smiled in satisfaction as she read the front page of the newspaper which had a story about a underage drinking party which was broken up quite recently. Her Aunt Cristy was still grumbling about after her rant a few minutes ago about how the situation was misinterpreted and people were trying to make them look bad and several other arguments. All the while, Andromeda made a pretense of listening to her aunt while trying to made a parody of it to tell to her friends which use the words 'pulchritudinous' and 'wealthy snotwads' into the same sentence. After writing down a suitable version of the lecture (she was pretending to do her English homework at the time) Andromeda pretended to agree and claimed to sympathize with the poor souls that had been arrested.

Thankfully, her Aunt had been satisfied with the statement and left for a work function which Andromeda hadn't bothered to remember.

Andromeda set down the newspaper and finally finished the aforementioned English assignment when her phone ran, and Andromeda eagerly answered it with a cheerful, "Hello." Instead of Aunt Marge's alto voice, a baritone one responded, "Hello, Andromeda." The smile slid from her faces as she said, "Edward?" Edward chuckled as he said, "Didn't expect me to call, huh?" Andromeda winced at the memory of seeing him in bed with her cousin.

A moment later she frowned as she replied, "Since you broke up with me after I found you cheating with my cousin, no I honestly didn't." There was silence on the other side until she heard, "Ah, yeah ... I'm ... sorry for that." Andromeda raised an eyebrow at his words. He sounded sincere surprisingly, but she wasn't certain if he was actually. While she was still thinking he continued, "I'd been thinking about you recently, and I want us to get back together."

Andromeda blinked rapidly as she stuttered incoherently. For half a second, she wondered if she'd fallen asleep while writing her assignment and this was just a bizarre dream. However, the pinch she she administered to herself proved that she was very much awake.

After Andromeda took in a deep breath she said coldly, "You have to be joking." There was a chuckle from the other sides as Edward said, "I'm not. After we broke up, I realized I made a mistake. Vivian just isn't you. I regret what I did, Andromeda. I want to make it up to you." Andromeda sighed as she said, "After what you did, the best thing that you can do is to let me be. Please don't call again."

Andromeda quickly hung up the phone. She groaned to herself before she flopped onto her bed. That had to be the strangest and most uncomfortable phone call she had ever endured. Edward had sounded sincere, but she no longer trusted her judgement when it came to him. After all, it was him she could blame for the first time but if he had cheated again after she accepted him back, that would be her fault for not being careful. After a minute of thinking, Andromeda wished that he'd spoken to him more harshly than she had.

Andromeda continued to lay on the bed until her phone rang again. She was about to hand up when she remembered that her Aunt Marge had promised to call that day and answered with a cautious, "Hello?" This time it was her Aunt's voice that replied, "Hello dear. I've got some very good news for you. Do you remember that painting that you mentioned you and Seffy found?"

Andromeda nodded until she realized that her aunt could not hear her brains rattling about in her head and replied, "You mean the one we found in the attic? Yeah, I remember it and the scolding we got because of it.

Andromeda smiled wryly at the memory. In her endless curiosity, Seffy had insisted that she and Andromeda should clime the rickety stairs leading to the attic in their grandparents new house to see what treasures were there. While up in the attic, they had found a painting of a ship in a storm which had been carefully wrapped. Out of respect for the beautiful painting, both little girls had been careful to not touch it when they wrapped it up again before they went to tell their parents. Both their mother and father had been incredibly upset that Seffy and Andromeda gone up since the stairs were in such bad condition and their grandparents had no interest in fixing them. After their parents had fussed over Seffy and briefly checked on Andromeda, both girls were sent back to bed with a weeks worth of grounding each. It had been just a single week before the train incident.

After a minute, Andromeda asked, "But why bring it up now?" She waited patiently before her aunt replied, "Well, since your grandfather is going to live in a nursing home and nobody is going to be living in the house anymore, we decided it would be best to sell the house. In the process of clearing out the attic, we found the painting and I decided to have it evaluated."

Her aunt took a breath before she continued, "It turns out that the painting was a Rembrandt stolen in a large art heist. Nobody knows how it got there since it was already in the house when your grandparents bought it. Naturally, we gave the painting back to the museum and they decided to let you have reward money for finding it."

Andromeda blinked as she said, "Reward? How much was it?" Her aunt chuckled slightly as she replied, "Five million." Andromeda's moth dropped, her head spun from the sheer insanity of the whole event. she pinched herself again before she said she said, "But what am I going to do with ..." After a minute, it clicked into her head, she could use the money to open a little bakery. She smiled to herself before something else clicked into her head and she asked, "It is possible that Edward could have heard about this?"

The phone was silent before her aunt said, "Your ex? I suppose he could know why?" Andromeda sighed before she explained, "That would explain why he tried to get back together with me. Five million could compel him to kiss up and try to restart our relationship." Her Aunt scoffed as she said, "That cad. I would like to talk longer, but I have to go now."

Aunt Marge quickly told her that the museum had agreed to let her stay anonymous as her Aunt Marge had correctly guessed, and the whole ordeal would be dealt with quickly. Andromeda sighed as she flopped back onto the bed. She supposed the fame and fortune ought to at least interest her, but it didn't.

After all, it was Seffy who thought they should go exploring. It was her who found the painting. It was her who should have gotten the credit. But it was Andromeda who had received it in the end. And when it came down to it, she wished that the miracle had been that he sister, not a famous painting, had been found.


In case your wondering, the huge wealth gain was more to explain why Edward wanted to be with her again. I considered a couple simpler options, from bonds inherited from her grandfather to an investment made by her aunt, but I liked the painting idea best because it keeps Andy tied to the memory of her sister. (Not sure if I overdid it though.)

Next chapter will probably be a meeting between Andy, Ponyboy and Johnny.

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