Disclaimer: See Chapter 2. I also own Amanda's friends Lexi & Lucy, & any other people who decide to show up that aren't on CJ. The title of this chapter is a song from the movie "Highlander," and it belongs to the band Queen (because as I've stated before, last thing I need is a lawsuit).

A/N: Wow. More reviews! Cool beans. Thanks once more to Mrs. Rhett Butler for reviewing, and also to traceyh for putting her honest opinion into her review.

(Side note to traceyh: Well, if you were 18 years old and had a 3 year old, what would you do? I'm not mad about the review; on the contrary, I'm glad I got it. Shows your true opinion, and that's great. Oh, she'll give him bloody hell all right, and she won't be the only one...But believe me, it'll all work out in the end. I'll make sure of it.)

(Side note to Mrs. Rhett Butler: What do you mean 'uh-oh'? She's over 18 (granted it's only by 6 months, but it counts!), and it's not like Peter's 60! {Laughs} But I digress: he is cute! And have no fear, Woody's not gonna go all psycho-dad on him for checking out his kid...yet ...)

Chapter Five: Who Wants To Live Forever

Lexi was crying silently as she and Lucy left the autopsy room. She wasn't crying for herself; she was crying for Amanda. Amanda, who was still in the room behind them, staring at her mother's body with a look of incredible pain on her face, one that neither of her friends had ever seen before. She looked in the window of the room. Amanda was still there, staring at the body like she had been when they made their exit.
"How's she doing?" asked Amanda's father.
Lexi slowly turned to face him, and he could see from the look on her face that his daughter wasn't taking it well at all.
"She's in shock," Lucy said, answering for her sister. "I've only seen her this way once before, when her great-grandmother died. But she's worse this time around. Last time, she was crying constantly; now, she's just...staring. It's got to be worse this time around."
"Because it's her mother."
"Because she was there when it happened. They attacked her first, and her mom jumped in to save her. But somehow, Amanda got thrown against something and was knocked out. The thing is, she heard the first few gunshots before she blacked out. She told us this morning that she knew deep down what had happened, but she didn't want to believe it."
Lucy's words cut into the hearts of all present outside the room, especially Woody. He thought that Amanda had been unconscious the entire time, and it turned out that she probably knew all along that her mother was dead. He turned to the window and looked in at his daughter, trying to decide whether to go in or not.

Amanda stared at the body on the slab. It was definitely her mom. A few moments before, when the cloth was pulled down, she had screamed. Now she stared. And stared. And stared. She couldn't think of anything to do but stare. Her mind was clouded, and she was vaguely aware of the door opening and someone entering the room behind her.
"Are you ok?" she heard her father ask.
Amanda brushed away a few stray tears. "What's it to you?"
"Well, I am your father."
"Biologically, yes. Otherwise, no."
"I know you're mad at me, and you should be. I mean, what kind of father disappears for 15 years?"
"The shitty kind, that's what. Can you leave me the hell alone now? I really don't want to have this conversation right now."
"Fine. But we'll have to have it someday."
Amanda waited until she was sure her father was out of the room before pulling a locket out from inside her jeans pocket. She opened it and looked at the pictures inside of it for a moment before saying, "Yeah, we were happy. Emphasis on were." She then put the locket away, and began to cry silently.

Woody shut the door to the autopsy room, shaking his head.
"She won't talk to me. Well, civilly anyways."
"She make with the swearing?" asked Lexi.
Woody nodded. "Yeah, she does that when she's upset," Lucy said. "We should've warned you."
"Would've been nice. So, who wants to try next?"
Lexi and Lucy shook their heads, as did Bug. The only one who wasn't saying anything was Peter. He was watching Amanda, in case she went crazy and started breaking things. He'd actually seen it happen before, and that equipment was pretty damned expensive, so he had a legitimate reason for watching her. Unfortunately, this worked against him this time, because when he turned around, the small group was staring at him intently.
"What're you guys staring at me for?"

"The one time I decide not to pay attention......" Peter muttered. The others had made their purpose for staring known soon after he asked, and he wasn't at all happy about it. For one thing, if she was angry, she might start the aforementioned destruction. For another thing, she had started crying again, and he couldn't stand to see a pretty girl cry. Finally, he entered the autopsy room.
She was crying again, and as the door closed, she tensed up visibly, then turned around.
"Oh, I thought you were someone else," Amanda said, easing up a bit. "Dr. Winslow, right?"
"Yeah."
"They send you in to check up on me?"
"Sort of."
Amanda nodded, then turned back to her mother so he wouldn't see her cry.
"Sucks, doesn't it?" he said.
"Personal experience?"
"Twice."
"Who?" she asked, then added, "If you don't mind me asking."
"Cousin and wife."
"Sorry. That tops mine," Amanda said ruefully. She thought for a minute, then turned to face Peter and said, "Is my mom's stuff still here?"
"Yeah, it's still here."
"I'd like it back, if it's not too much trouble," she said quietly. "For my sisters, and my aunt. And me, of course," she said, almost as an afterthought.
"No trouble at all." Amanda watched him walk over to a table on the far side of the room. "He looks too young to have been married once already," Amanda thought. "But he is cute. Probably has a girlfriend, though. No girl in their right mind would pass up the chance to date a guy that good-looking." Luckily, she was distracted from her thoughts by Peter, who had brought her mother's things over to her.
Amanda picked up her mother's purse and looked through it, making sure everything was still there. As she went through the pockets, she pulled out a picture. It was of her mom and dad in high school, and she was in it too, sitting on her mom's lap. She teared up at the sight of it, and turned her head away from it, but not fast enough to not be noticed.
"What is it?" Peter asked.
"Just an old picture of my mom and dad," Amanda said with the barest hint of bitterness in her voice. She dropped the picture on the table, so hard it would've been considered slamming, and let a few tears fall.
Peter looked down at the picture. He saw what Amanda had seen: happier days. "You know," he said, "You're not the only one."
Amanda turned back to him. "I'm not the only one what?"
"You're not the only one here who's had their dad walk out."
"You too?"
"When I was about 8. Luckily, I ended up with a pretty nice stepfather, so it all worked out."
"Well, didn't work out for me. I guess some people are luckier than others," Amanda said quietly. "I wish she wasn't dead."
"You wish a lot of things, don't you?"
"I'm a dreamer. When I was younger, I used to wish that I was the female lead in the movie 'Highlander,'" Amanda said with a grin. "My mom always watched that movie, and I used to sneak into her room to listen to the music. Sounds kind of stupid, I guess."
"You were younger. We all do stupid things when we're younger."
"You know what I wish now?" Amanda said.
"What?"
"I wish I were one of the immortals from 'Highlander,' and that my mom was too. That way, she'd be alive, and she could still be here for my little sisters."
"It's a nice dream."
"Yeah," Amanda said, looking again at her mother's body. "But when you really think about it, who would want to live forever anyways?"