Ok chapta 5! here we go... hehe please review... this is an important chapter in my timeline of events. in facto, we only have one more after this. im sure you'll be glad to know im posting it as soon as i get some good reviews! hehe im bad. but im serious. its in my documents box and i just have to throw an a/n on it. i even spell checked it already.

Chapter 5: No Sleep in a Quiet Room

"Dad, please, I'll have the numbers to you by Friday."

"Kiki-- if I wanted substandard work--"

"DON'T call me Kiki, I hate it. I never want to hear it again. EVER."

With that, Kirsten left her father's office, and stormed into her own, slamming the door shut like she was still fourteen and forbidden to see and R rated movie. She didn't even notice Sandy sitting on the couch inside, taking out the deli sandwiches he had picked up for a surprise lunch for his wife.

"Well, hello there." Sandy said, commenting on her rather dramatic entrance. Kirsten rolled her eyes, dabbing them, and sitting down next to her husband, and burying her head in his shoulder.

"Wanna tell me what's up?" he asked, stroking her hair adoringly.

"I'll give you one guess. Starts with a 'my' and ends with a 'dad.'" Sandy chuckled at her.

"I never would have guessed." he replied sarcastically.

"I absolutely HATE it when he calls me Kiki, hate it, like can't stand it, it brings me to tears…" she blurted in one hasty breath, and afterward, she dove into the comfort of Sandy's shoulder.

"Well, I can see why it would be annoying, but tears, honey, don't you think that's a bit much?" he tried to rationalize with her, knowing in a moment he would regret that decision.

"No. Absolutely not. Not after what happened with Charlie." this immediately puzzled Sandy more.

Charlie Griffin? My Berkeley Charlie? What could possibly have happened with him, Kirsten and the nickname Kiki?

"Wha-what are you talking about?" he asked, trying to cover up his semi-panicked frame of mind.

"I don't know if we've ever really talked about that night-- did we. I don't think I've ever talked about it to anyone. It wasn't instant, Sandy. It was just easier for me to tell everyone that. I'm the only one that knows different. And I think I owe you the whole story."

Sandy's eyes searched her for the moment where she would tell him that she wasn't serious. Clearly, that moment was never going to exist.

Heat and Berkeley stayed together over the few months, as did Sandy and Kirsten. Both twosomes were completely inseparable.

On a humid August evening, Sandy and Kirsten were out with friends, just relaxing at a party before the stress of school took over their lives again.

With classes starting in just two short weeks, most kids were trying to get as much immature partying out of their system all at once.

Charlie fell into this 'immature partying' category, and was currently able to be found literally super-glued to the toilet, because he had kept falling off and puking on the floor. The group taking care of him had gotten sick of cleaning the floor up after him, and figured it would be easier if he couldn't go anywhere, and therefore they could.

And, so therefore, Sandy and Kirsten found themselves standing over Charlie's contorted form bickering in whispers as to not make him sicker from the noise.

"Sandy! You can't just leave him like that, he's completely wasted, and I don't want him puking everywhere." Kirsten argued.

"Hello, Danny and the guys freaking' SUPER GLUED him to the porcelain. It's not like he's going anywhere." Sandy retorted, trying to suppress a laugh.

Kirsten ignored him. "I'll take him home. You could just come with me." Sandy seemed to have quickly dismissed this thought.

"Well you don't have to leave, stay here, with me. His own girlfriend should be doing this- not mine." Sandy tried, softly taking her hand, which she threw back at him.

"His best friend should be doing this, not me, or any other girlfriend, his or anyone else's. You know if it was you, Charlie would stop whatever he was doing with Claire and take you home. He would take you home." she snared back at him.

"Actually, Kirsten, I would expect you to take me home." he looked at her seriously, folding his arms across his chest.

"Look, your friend's in trouble, your friends are my friends right? I'll just run him home quickly and be back in like 35 minutes. Ok?"

"This is your house; you can't leave your own party."

"Just answer the phone if it rings, 'kay?" she said, turning away to try to pry Charlie loose.

"Yeah, yeah…" Sandy walked off in defeat.

20 minutes, and a cut-up t-shirted Charlie later, Kirsten dragged him off to her car, and heaved his body into the passenger seat of her small Honda.

She climbed into her own seat, and pulled out onto the street after starting the little blue Accord.

Charlie and Sandy's apartment was only a few minutes away, and she was fuming mad at Sandy for not just taking Charlie home himself. He could have taken himself home while he was at it.

Kirsten approached the intersection. She checked her blind spot, and changed lanes into the left hand turn lane. Her left arrow signal shifted from red to green, after the oncoming traffic had already gone.

She turned left, but a huge pickup truck taking their free right-on-red turn struck the right passenger side of the Honda as they crossed two lanes of traffic as they turned.

Kirsten's car spun forty-five degrees counter clockwise, pushing Charlie's side of the car inward, crushing him fatally. Kirsten's neck flung around and hitting her head on the steering wheel and then on the window created a large gash on her head. Everything went dark for what felt like a moment of eternity.

----

"Ssssandy? A-ah-are ya there?" Charlie started to slur, hardly able to breathe. Kirsten stirred, tears in her eyes, she was stuck between the steering wheel and the window on her side. She reached out painfully to Charlie, trying to grab his hand and help him. It looked pretty clear right now that he wasn't doing too well.

"Charlie! It's me, Kirsten, hold on, they're coming, they're coming, just talk to me, keep holding on, we're gonna be ok-" she pleaded and begged him hysterically. He cut her off midsentence with a calm and painful whisper.

"Don't let him screw it up, you- you're… you're so good for him…You may not understand now, but its ok, you guys are right. Promise me…" he asked quietly, Kirsten looking more and more confused and desperate.

"What are you talking about? Charlie, they'll be here soon, we're gonna get out of here." Kirsten could only pray that someone was calling for help. Only God knew that they both would need it.

"Sandy. He needs you. I'm not gonna be ok, but you… you, Kiki, you're gonna get out of here, one of us has to, for him, and it has to be you." Kirsten gasped and reached out for his hand again.

"Charlie, don't talk like that," she replied earnestly.

"Kiks, its ok, just promise me…" he paused again. She urged him on with her wet eyes, "that you guys will stay together. You're gonna be together and get married, and one day-- you're gonna start a family…"

Kirsten sobbed at her friend, as his voice was slowly fading, and the pain of the impact and still being drunk etched in the lines in his face increased.

"And they' they'll be good kids, and they are gonna be funny and beautiful, and smart-- so smart, and they'll sing and argue with you…but they'll be perfect and you guys are gonna live in a big house with a yard and you-- you and Sandy will be perfect, and after you guys are old and grey and have had a full, long, happy life, then it will be ok for you guys to go. Not now though, you…"

He paused, to try and meet her hand, as she cried at poor Charlie. "You've got a lot left. To say to him, to do to him, Kiks…" Kirsten sniffled a short laugh.

"But you're not going now. Sandy's a good guy, and you are a great girl, Kiki. You guys deserve each other- like made for each other. Made to live the life that I'd always hoped for. Just tell him…"

He shut his eyes as a tear escaped his eyelashes "tell him… tell him I'm sorry I won't be there to watch you guys, and be there on your wedding day and still be makin' out when your eighty." he tried to smile at her.

"And tell him that he better not ever do anything bad to you, just to love you. Yah' know…" his voice started to squeak as he sounded like a little boy.

"Tell him that… I- I love him- he'll always be my-- my best man. And you-- you know the rest. Take care of him." Kirsten kept sobbing, and nodding, and Charlie kept bleeding.

"Charlie, don't talk like that, we'll be ok, I promise."

"It's ok, just promise?" his voice finally starting to give. Kirsten nodded tearfully and tried to apply pressure to the gash on his forehead. She squeezed his hand, and felt his go limp. That was the end for him. Sixty seconds of blood.

"Sandy…" Kirsten looked down at the uneaten sandwiches, and then up at her husband with puffy red eyes.

He bowed his head in some sort of defeat, strands of black hair shading his forehead. He took her hand in his, and pulled her close to him, kissing her temple.

"You mean… he-- he suffered? Like it wasn't instant?"

"No. I'm so sorry I never told you. I'm sorry I broke his promises. I- I guess I never could deal with it myself. Charlie just called me Kiki, after we got in that wreck… and I always just thought about that night whenever my dad called me that. I just didn't know what to do. I watched a man die.

Your best man. I remember being so-- humiliated, knowing that he was right, and I was lying about the fact that I would be ok. We both knew he wouldn't make it, yet he was the only one who could bring himself to accept it.

He spent his last moments telling me that we were going to be together, and that we were right together, and that we need to live the life that he had always hoped for.

He told me that he was sorry. All I could think about was you, how sorry I was that I argued with you, how I might never get to see you, or hold you, or kiss you again. And I was so scared that we would never live happily ever after." her voice broke into a soft sob, and she fell into Sandy one again, and he stroked her soft hair.

"It's ok, baby, honestly I think most of us were better off knowing that he didn't feel anything. He was such a good guy; he deserved a pain-free death."

"I know. That's what I thought too… so I figured if I could create that in any way, you and Claire would be better off. She asked me if he told me anything about her in his final moments. I figured it would be easier if I just said he never got the chance then to say no." Sandy chuckled guiltily.

"Easier for us both."

"I'm sorry. I should have told you. But know you know… I guess. It was such a long time ago. I just hate to have to think about it every time my dad addresses me."

"Honey, don't beat yourself up over it. Charlie was a great guy, and I'm glad I finally got to know what he said about me when he knew he would never be able to take it back." Kirsten smiled at him, and he pulled her into a tight hug.

She shut her eyes, inhaling the scent of his cologne. "And he's right. What matters, is that I love you, and don't you ever forget it." Kirsten pulled away, and kissed him lightly.

"I love you too." she smiled at him, and he once again thanked god that it had not been her that was taken that night.

So maybe I should
Snap her up in a butterfly net

Pin her down on a photograph album
I am not worried--

I've done this sort of thing before

But then I start to think about the consequences

Because I don't get no sleep in a quiet room and...

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Hmm… the drama! Lol. so you can def. tell i just took drivers ed, right? I really didn't know why she hates the name kiki so much… there was that once scene with Julie where she's talking about the candy that gets stuck in her teeth, but I cant remember what Kirsten said… hehe so yeah I just spun that around a little… Tell me what you thought! The aftermath of the accident: next chapter! Find out just what Kirsten says to Claire, and what Sandy says to Kirsten… mr. commital-phobic! There has to be a transition for him somewhere, and you already know where that is! Wow! In media res is fun! Please review! Wow this a lot of exclamation marks!