Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High.
Author's note: this is set in 1974, and is about how Sarah met Honey.
Read on, oh faithful ones...
...
Sarah was a citizen in a world teeming with superheroes. Except here she was, a hostage in a bank robbery, and the superheroes were nowhere to be found. The Commander and Jetstream were off fighting King Kanehamayhem in Hawaii, and none of the local heroes had their kind of response time. If one of these robbers got trigger-happy, she'd be dead before anyone came to their rescue. It was a sobering thought, and one that she didn't want to dwell on for very long. Instead, Sarah tried to calm her racing heart and tried not to bring attention to herself.
The bank door opened with a ding, and everyone turned to look at the woman that had just walked inside.
"You didn't lock the door?" one of the robbers yelled at his partners. "You, get inside and get on the ground, now!" he demanded of the newcomer, pointing his gun at her.
"All right, no need to yell," the woman said calmly, stepping among the people lying on the floor to make her way straight over to Sarah. "How you doing, sweetie? All right?" she asked as she moved to kneel beside her.
"Uh, I'm okay at the moment," Sarah replied softly.
"You two know each other?" one of the robbers asked in surprise.
"No," Sarah said, shaking her head.
"We will, after this is all over," the woman said with yet another smile. "I need an assistant."
"And what if I shoot you right now?" he sneered.
"Oh, you won't," the woman replied certainly.
"Get over here!" a robber called to his co-conspirator, the bank vault opening.
The man looked away from the two woman and hurried over to the vault.
"How'd you know he wouldn't shoot us?" Sarah asked quietly, not taking her gaze away from the robbers crowded around the vault.
"Because I'm not wearing the right outfit."
"Uh, what?"
The other woman just smiled widely. "I'll explain it later, if you don't mind, Sarah?"
"How'd you know my name?" she asked, a cold shiver running through her.
"Another thing for later. My name's Honey, it's nice to meet you," she replied, smiling again. "Now, how about you and I get out of here?"
"We're hostages, you do realise that, don't you?" Sarah asked, wondering if this woman was sane.
"Yes, I realise that. But Sonic Boom's on his way now with All-American Boy. We'll be out of here in five minutes," Honey said.
"Did you contact them? Is that how you know?" Sarah asked, her voice a bit louder than she intended with her desperation. She was desperate for an explanation, for something to make sense and be normal in her already wildly bizarre day.
"Sarah, please stop drawing attention to us. Stay quiet. I promise I'll explain everything."
Realising that the two of the robbers were looking in their direction, Sarah clamped her mouth shut. She watched the clock above the door carefully.
Three minutes later, a police officer called for everyone to get on the ground. Sarah was pulled down by Honey not even a second into his instruction, and mere seconds after the rest of the citizens were on the ground, there was a loud booming noise and the window shattered into millions of pieces. Sarah clamped her hands over her ringing ears, looking up with watering eyes to see Sonic Boom stepped into the bank, hands on hips as he posed and stopped to survey the scene. All-American Boy stood near Sonic Boom, posing in a less obvious way and looking for something he could do.
The robbers tried to secure themselves in the vault, intent on shooting their way out of the bank when Sonic Boom got close enough, but his boom had bent the door out of shape, and they had nowhere to hide. Now that a superhero had arrived, the hostages tried to run out of the bank, All-American Boy ushering them out as fast and quietly as he could. Honey held onto Sarah's arm, making her stay on the ground when she might have tried to run too.
The robbers realised that they were trapped and started firing their weapons out into the main part of the bank. There were screams from the citizens outside as a few citizens were killed in the fray of bullets. All-American Boy had jumped high towards the roof to avoid the oncoming bullets, while Sonic Boom was able to protect himself by booming out a blast that stopped the array of bullets in mid-air. The boom continued through the air until it hit the vault door, making it cave in on itself completely to reveal the robbers. A secondary boom had them all collapsing on the floor, clawing at their ears until they went unconscious, twitching slightly.
Exactly five minutes after Honey had predicted, the remaining hostages were allowed to leave the bank, the robbers cuffed and being taken to the various police cars strewn throughout the street. Sarah followed the others out, All-American Boy giving them all his best and most reassuring smile (she still thought he looked a little lost without the Commander, no matter which superhero he took up with after his embarrassing and very public redundancy). It wasn't until she'd finished answering the policeman's questions, and had been given a hot drink and a blanket to help with her shock, that Sarah realised Honey was nowhere to be seen. She finished her drink, folded the blanket, and went to her apartment to try and forget this awful day.
...
A week later, Sarah was still holed up in her apartment. She hadn't left since returning from the bank robbery, a fear clutching and seizing her chest when she tried to step outside of her apartment. She'd been forced to take the week off work in an effort to get over her shock and trauma, and had been told in no uncertain terms that if she didn't return to work after that week, then she would have no job to come back to.
Standing in front of her bare pantry, Sarah wondered if she would be able to survive a quick trip to the shops. Thankfully, she'd managed to bank her paycheque before the holdup started, and she had rung the bank a few days ago to ensure she'd been paid, despite everything. Still, she couldn't bring herself to leave her apartment, and Sarah was now down to her last packet of two-minute noodles. She'd have to go to the shops eventually, and even return to the bank at one point, she was sure of it. The likelihood of the bank being robbed again were fairly low (especially now that the Commander and Jetstream were back from their trip to Hawaii), but she still couldn't make herself shower, put clothes on, and leave her apartment. Her home was safe, not like the outside world.
Maybe there was something in the freezer, Sarah mused, making her way into the kitchen. Ice cubes, ice stars, ice circles. Dear god, why did she have so many ice trays? And how had she never noticed them before?
"Looks like I'll have to go to the bank then. No one ever told me that being an adult would suck this damn much," Sarah muttered under her breath.
She paced a few times, trying to get her courage up to leave the apartment. She would be fine. Nothing would happen, and the robbers were already behind bars thanks to Sonic Boom (and to a lesser extent, All-American Boy). But Sarah still couldn't bring herself to leave. Her breath came in short gasps, her hands started trembling, and she hadn't even managed to open her front door yet. She flopped onto her couch, feeling utterly useless, pathetic, and deep down, glad that she didn't have to leave her safety zone just yet. Clutching a spare pillow, Sarah drifted off into a restless sleep, her feet hanging off the edge of her lounge.
...
A knock at the door startled Sarah out of her sleep, several hours later. She was almost falling off the lounge, having tossed and turned in her sleep, and Sarah could feel that her hair was a mess. The knocking continued, a bit obnoxiously at that, and she let out a groan of pain as she sat up. Her lounge really wasn't fit for sleeping on.
"Coming!" she called, voice rough with sleep and probably a lack of a proper diet for the past week.
Sarah stood and made her way over to the door. A stupid and irrational fear gripped her a mere metre from the doorway: what if those robbers had escaped prison and come to find her? It was a ridiculous thought since she was one of thirty-odd people who had been in the bank at the time, had left no lasting impression with them, and besides, they didn't know where she lived. But still, the fear was there, and Sarah couldn't bring herself to move the last metre to the door and peephole just yet.
"It's probably just Mr. Martin come to talk about your rent for the month," Sarah muttered to herself; though honestly, that wasn't much of an enticement to move. Mr. Martin could be a mean old fellow, and she might actually burst into tears if he berated her for being late with the rent.
"It's not, actually. Any chance you can open the door sooner rather than later, I'm about to drop dinner," a feminine voice called.
The voice was somewhat familiar, but Sarah couldn't place it, and it didn't make her any less wary of opening the door. Sarah's stomach, however, had other ideas because the word 'dinner' had been mentioned, and she was kind of starving. The decision was made for her, it seemed, because she took the final four steps to the door and opened it without even checking the peephole. The woman from the bank stood there, arms loaded with bags - certainly more than needed for a simple dinner - and smiled at her brightly.
"You're... You were at the bank that day, weren't you?" Sarah asked, eyes wide.
"Yes. I was also there today, waiting for you, but it seemed that you changed your mind at the last minute and decided to sleep instead. Perhaps in the next few hours, you might decide to shower?" Honey suggested, nose wrinkling slightly.
Okay, she might have been lax in her hygiene for the week as well as everything else, but Sarah didn't think she smelled that bad. She was tempted to sniff and check, but Honey was still standing there with the bags. One of the bags began to tilt forward and Sarah hurried to grab it so she wouldn't have to clean up spilled groceries on top of everything else.
"Ah, good, I was hoping you'd catch it. D'you mind carrying these two as well? They're cutting off the circulation to my fingers," Honey added with a grimace, holding out the two bags.
Sarah took them wordlessly, not quite sure what to do with this woman's groceries now.
"They're for you, Sarah. You not going to the bank meant that you wouldn't go shopping today, and you'd try to survive on a single packet of noodles for three days. You need to throw those out, they'll make you sick if you eat them again," Honey added, walking inside without an invitation, still laden with bags. "Now, where's the kitchen?"
"Uh, over there to the left."
"Hmm, not quite the response I was hoping for, but it's better than being thrown out, I suppose," Honey muttered, as if to herself, then turned and headed straight into the kitchen.
Sarah closed her door and quickly sniffed under her arm, blinking a few times at the smell - okay, she definitely needed a shower sooner rather than later, she admitted it. Hearing a few noises of crockery being cleared, Sarah hurried after Honey, trying to kick the mess of clothes and blankets out of the way without jostling the grocery bags too much at the same time.
"Why are you here, Honey?" Sarah asked, setting the bags down on the counter and gathering her dirty dishes that were scattered around to stack them in the sink instead.
"Ah, you did remember my name. It's nice to know I left an impression. I'm here because you didn't leave your apartment again, and I meant what I said about needing an assistant."
"You mean you brought me groceries and dinner because you wanted to offer me a job?" Sarah asked in confusion.
"Well... Yes, I suppose so."
"But I already have a job."
"You hate that job, and they're not doing as badly without you as you might've hoped. Besides, the bank is on the way to that job, and you'd have a panic attack just by walking past it on Monday. Now, I know bribery is probably not the best way to start this, but I just bought my fourth business and I really can't handle it on my own."
"Fourth business? What... What is it that you do, exactly?"
"I predict stock trends, business trends, every kind of trend, really," Honey said, but there was something about her smile that made Sarah think there was something more to it than that.
"Now, would you like to eat or shower first? I'll have to heat up the food, it's been a long walk from The Paper Lantern to here."
"The new Chinese restaurant on the edge of town?"
"That's the one. Nice place, though I did suggest a few more vegetarian options for their menu. They didn't seem to mind; some places can get quite irate when I suggest changes to their menus."
"I think I might have a shower first," Sarah said; she needed some time away from this woman just to think.
To be honest, she hadn't allowed herself to think of too much since the robbery, preferring to keep her mind blank and carefree for as long as possible, but now with Honey there in her kitchen and starting to go through her cupboards like she knew where everything already was, Sarah didn't think she had the luxury of staying carefree for much longer.
"All right. I'll have everything heated by the time you're ready," Honey promised over her shoulder, smiling brightly at her.
Sarah hurried off to the bathroom to have a shower. While cleaning herself, she tried to think of everything logically, which made her head hurt. Then she tried to think of everything chronologically instead, from the bank to right now, and well, her head still hurt, but not quite as much. She had no idea how Honey knew that she had been contemplating going to the bank today to do grocery shopping, nor how she knew where she lived, or why she was currently in her apartment heating up dinner for her, or even why she wanted to offer her a job. Sarah wasn't a superhero, she was really nothing special even by citizen's standards, and whatever Honey thought about her just had to be wrong. She couldn't be an assistant, she'd never been an assistant, and really had no idea how to assist in the first place.
Showered, dried, and dressed, Sarah took a moment to inhale deeply. She did this several times before she felt she could go out and face the whirlwind that was Honey. Stepping out of the bathroom, Sarah heard that the TV was on, and Honey was watching The Price is Right, two bowls of Chinese food sitting on the coffee table in front of her.
"I hope you don't mind that I set everything up in the lounge room?" Honey asked, barely glancing over her shoulder as Sarah came into the room.
"No, I don't mind. What did you buy for dinner?"
"Sweet and sour pork for myself, and chicken special fried rice for you. We can either talk in the advertisements, or after the show. Sorry, but I love this show and rarely miss it."
"That show from the 50's?"
"Well, this one's the 70's version and it's better, I promise. Or, it will get better. I haven't decided yet."
Curious, Sarah sat next to Honey on the lounge and watched the show for a few minutes. Her stomach started its earlier protests and Sarah started eating her meal instead. Beside her, Honey only ate during the advertisements because she was rather excited during the show, calling out answers half a second before the contestants. Sarah realised that she alternated between guessing the contestant's answer and the real one, and she was always right.
"Why aren't you on the show?" Sarah asked during one of the advertisements, awed and in disbelief.
"If I tried, government officials would take me somewhere dark, only to be brought out on their whims and to win wars," Honey replied, her voice sounding far-off and odd. Then she coughed and smiled at Sarah quickly. "Besides, I only do this for fun; I'd much prefer to make money than win prizes on a gameshow."
The show came on again, Honey turning her attention back to Sarah's small screen, and Sarah forced herself to think again. She came to a realisation as the show began to end: Honey was a superhero. Like the Commander and Jetstream and Sonic Boom and All-American Boy, but at the same time, not. She couldn't hit or fly or yell or jump like they could, but she could definitely do something.
Maybe Honey could understand things or guess that certain things would happen? 'Guessing things' didn't sound like something the government would be involved in, though, they would want to be more certain than that, surely? Maybe Honey was like a psychic, and she could predict the future?
"You can predict the future, can't you?" Sarah blurted out as soon as the show ended.
"Huh, you lasted longer than I expected," Honey murmured. "Predicting it means I'm guessing, when you get right down to it, so no, that's not what I can do. I know the future, every single version that's possible, and that's more than a psychic can do. If they're not con artists, they may get glimpses of the future, but it's always cloudy and open to interpretation. What I see is very different from that."
"You mean you know what I'm going to do, even before I do it?"
"In a sense, yes. You may have three different options - for example, getting up and doing the dishes, staying here on the lounge, or throwing me out - and I know what happens with each possible future. Of course, there are more options than that, you might decide to change channels on the TV, you might put groceries away, or tidy up, but it's just an example."
"You're a superhero, you're in my apartment, and my apartment looks like a pigsty," Sarah said, eyes wide as she tried to comprehend the fact that a real life super was sitting on her lounge and had just watched The Price is Right with her.
"Ah, I never said superhero. I'm not a villain, I'm not going to go around stealing children's lunch money and kicking puppies, but I'm not exactly going to be the type of person to invited to the next charity gala along with the Commander and Jetstream."
If Honey wasn't a superhero or a supervillain, what else was there?
"You saved me from the robbers," Sarah pointed out, thinking of the way they'd shot into the blank blindly and injuring several of the citizens.
"Mostly to protect my own interests," Honey admitted. "Getting rehabilitated for a bullet wound isn't exactly pleasant for citizens, and I had no desire to see you shot over something so trivial as citizen robbers."
"So you only saved me because you want me to work for you?"
Honey nodded, not bothering to argue.
"Why me? I've never been an assistant before, I wouldn't know where to start or what to do. I have a job, and I like it."
"You're loyal and I respect that. You might not have been an assistant before, but you're going to be a brilliant one, and though you don't know it yet, you're as ruthless and self-serving as I am. Banter is something I miss out on with most people, but I know you'll keep me on my toes, even when I think I'm expecting it.
"In regards to your job: you don't actually like it, and the only reason you go to that bland building and put yourself through the boring job day-in, day-out is because you're attracted to Harvey. He's married, has a wife and a little baby girl back in Arizona, but he thinks you'd be easy to keep here in Maxville because he knows you're on your own."
"If you know all that, then why do you even need an assistant?" Sarah asked, getting her defenses up because she hadn't told anyone about her crush on Harvey, and it was startling to hear that he was married when he'd flirted with her so shamelessly.
"I might know things, but that doesn't mean I organise them very well. I have a tendency to make appointments in my head rather than aloud, so I turn up to places expecting to be seen at a certain time, and usually have to wait for several hours instead. Plus, I'm awful at looking after myself and I tend to let myself stay in visions for days, which really isn't a pretty picture. It gets worse than this," she added, looking at the lounge room which was still in a rather sorry state, pillows and blankets on the ground, along with Sarah's dishes from that morning and the night before (at the very least).
"So, you need a babysitter?" Sarah snarked.
Honey laughed, as if delighted at her rude response, and gave a brief nod. "I guess I do. One that will make sure I eat and drink properly, organise appointments for me and make sure I actually attend them, and whatever else required, I guess. I haven't worked out all of the finer details yet, but I can tell you that the pay is more than double what you're getting now."
"But I already get almost four-hundred dollars a month!"
"I know," Honey replied, grinning. Then her grin faded slightly, and she looked to the clock hanging on the wall. "I'll give you some time to think about it. Go to work on Monday, see if that helps decide things for you, and if you want the job, give me a call," Honey offered, handing a business card to her.
Sarah still wasn't sure what to think about all of this, she still wasn't sure what to think of Honey herself, a woman that admitted she wasn't a superhero nor villain so openly, but she gave a brief nod anyway. She could definitely think about it, at the very least.
"Don't worry, if you decide not to take my offer, I won't bother you anymore," Honey added. "Now, let me wash these up for you. There's enough of a mess that I shouldn't add to it."
"Are you trying to guilt me into cleaning?" Sarah asked Honey as she left with their empty bowls as well as Sarah's earlier dishes.
"Only if it's working," Honey called over her shoulder with a laugh.
Well, at least she was truthful, Sarah thought to herself.
She sighed and started to pick up her pillows, blankets, and other various things that had been left around. Sarah wasn't usually this untidy, but there had been something comforting about not moving from her lounge to have to go to sleep, and she'd spent most of her week camped out in her lounge room instead of going to bed. Now that she was showered and her apartment was getting clean again - she could see the floor! - Sarah had to admit that there was a certain sense of accomplishment that felt just as good as camping out in the lounge room for a week.
"Hey, nice work in here. I'm going to head off now so I don't get mugged on the way home. Oh, and Mr. Martin should be by in about five to ten minutes. If you tell him you're still traumatised from the bank last week and start crying, he'll let you have until Monday night to pay him your rent. Not that I condone crying as a way of getting out of things, but sometimes it can be useful."
"Yeah, it's... Wait, so you don't get mugged?" Sarah asked, blinking in surprise.
Honey nodded. "I have to take a certain bus home, and if I miss it, then there will be a few gentlemen that would be eager to keep my purse. Don't know why, really, it just wouldn't match their shoes," she murmured.
"When does the bus arrive?" Sarah asked, looking to her clock.
"Oh, about ten minutes. Don't worry, the lady in front of me will take a while with her change. Unless, of course, it starts raining in the next five minutes and she takes shelter in the diner instead. Hmm, I had better leave now then, just in case. Hope to hear from you on Monday, sweetie," Honey said, picking up her green purse and heading out of the door before Sarah could reply.
"Uh, bye, Honey!" she called anyway, looking to the clock to see that it was 8:25pm.
Sarah continued to clean, looking up to the clock every few seconds and out to the window to see if it had started to rain. A knock at the door startled her, but she remembered what Honey had said about Mr. Martin, so she went to open the door. Behind her, her small novelty clock started to chime that it was 8:30pm, and outside, it began to rain. Sarah felt a cold shiver run through her, realising that Honey might be mugged tonight, and she had willingly walked out to let it happen. Honey had been right that Sarah was on her own in this state, she had no family left, was still too new and shy to have made any friends, and for all of the blunt honestly and weirdness that accompanied Honey, Sarah already thought of her as a friend.
Mr. Martin shifted uncomfortably when Sarah opened the door crying. He hated to see women cry, and she seemed to be blubbering about honey as she wiped at her eyes and tried to apologise at the same time.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Martin. I just..."
Sarah couldn't tell him the truth; how on earth would she explain that she knew her new friend was going to be mugged and possibly hurt over a purse without sounding utterly insane?
"I'm just still a bit traumatised about the bank robbery last week, and I couldn't bring myself to go back there today. I don't have your rent money, I'm so sorry," Sarah said, crying again even harder when there was a flash of lightning outside.
"Oh. Um. Pay me on Monday night. I'll survive the weekend with it, okay? You'll go to the bank on Monday, won't you?" Mr. Martin asked quickly, needing the reassurance as much as he needed to leave the crying woman alone.
"Yes, I'll make sure of it. I'm really... " she hiccupped here, looking as miserable as the weather outside, "Really sorry, Mr. Martin."
"Not a problem. Just don't make it a habit," he warned; if one tenant skipped rent, then all of them would start.
Sarah nodded, her chin wavering as if she was going to start crying again, and Mr. Martin left as fast as his limping leg would allow. Closing the door behind him, Sarah forced herself to keep busy by continuing to clean, and tried not to worry about Honey. Surely if she knew she was going to be mugged, she'd go a different way to avoid it? Was that even possible, to change the future like that?
Despite her worries and concerns, Sarah fell asleep easily that night, her crying and cleaning and overall emotional week exhausting her to the point where she couldn't have stayed awake to worry even if she wanted to.
...
Sarah woke to hear her telephone ringing, and she stumbled out of bed to get to the kitchen to answer it.
"'Lo?" she said, yawning widely.
"Sarah, it's Honey. I just wanted to let you know that I'm perfectly fine. I decided to have a cup of tea with the nice old lady instead of catching the bus. Much pleasanter way to spend my evening than being mugged."
She was still tired and her brain wasn't quite awake, but Sarah was so relieved that she actually flopped against the kitchen counter and let out a huge sigh.
"Thanks for letting me know, Honey. It would've driven me insane with worry."
"Oh, not quite, but close enough. Enjoy your weekend. Sorry for waking you early, but you'll have to be fully awake for the next phone call."
"What phone call?" Sarah asked, but didn't receive a reply. "Honey, who's calling me? You're the only one that knows this number. I'm not even listed with the operator yet!"
"I know. The call's coming in about half an hour. Wake up, have something to eat, and stay calm. Oh, and on Monday, don't deny it, use it."
Sarah would have asked for more clarification, but Honey hung up and all she heard was the dial tone. Hanging up her phone, Sarah turned her kettle on and started to make breakfast. She could worry about it for the next thirty minutes, or she could do as Honey suggested and wake up properly to deal with whatever happened.
Thirty-two minutes later, Sarah's phone started ringing. She answered it, trying to stay calm and not have her heart leap out of her chest, but it definitely felt possible.
"Hey, Sarah, it's Harvey. I thought I'd call to see how you were doing. Are you all right after the robbery last week?"
Of all the people she'd considered that might be calling her - everyone from her boss to say she was fired to her hairdresser to her dead mother to say she was alive (hey, if Honey could know every future possible, why couldn't reanimating the dead be real too?) - Sarah certainly hadn't expected Harvey.
"I'm still a little traumatised by it, but I'm starting to cope. I might even be able to make it to work on Monday," Sarah replied, hoping for a little humour, still wondering how on earth Harvey had her home number.
"I can imagine. Hey, did you want to talk about it some more in person? I know you don't have many friends around here, so I thought it'd be nice if we got to know each other a little better. I can show you around town, we can have dinner, see where the night leads us."
Sarah tried not to make her shudder obvious over the phone. It wasn't the worst pick-up line she'd heard, but for Harvey to have her phone number and to try to use the bank robbery as a way to get her into bed - especially when he was married - just made it downright creepy.
"I'm actually heading out for the weekend. Going to Arizona, in fact. You travel so much with the company, have you been there before?" Sarah asked.
"N-no. Why would you think that?" Harvey asked quickly, and Sarah could hear the nerves in his higher pitched response.
"Oh, you were telling me a few weeks ago how you've been to every state in the US, I thought Arizona might've been one of them, since, y'know, it is the sixth biggest state in the country."
"Uh, no. I've got to go. I'll see you on Monday," Harvey said, hanging up before Sarah could reply.
"Yeah, that just screams 'innocent' and 'not married', doesn't it?" Sarah muttered at the dial tone, hanging up.
Feeling quite proud of herself for staying calm during the call, Sarah decided to leave her apartment for the day. Maybe she'd be able to make it further than her floor's corridor this time. Besides, she really had to go to work on Monday, and she had to get used to leaving the apartment again. Sarah was positive that she would get cabin fever if she stayed indoors for the eighth day in a row, especially now that everything was clean and there was nothing else she could use as an excuse to stay inside.
Determined, Sarah grabbed her handbag and headed towards her front door. She ensured she had her keys and purse before leaving, and held her breath as she headed to the building's elevators. Making it all the way outside, Sarah was a bit red in the face and forced herself to breathe again. The fresh air was much nicer, and she took a moment to breathe in deeply before heading in the opposite direction to the bank. It would take her to the park, a nice place that had recently been opened by the Commander and Jetstream at the request of the Mayor.
The day was nice, the sun shining, the sky blue with only a few clouds, and Sarah was surprised to find her Polaroid camera sitting in her bag. She was certain she'd left it in her apartment, not in her bag. Still, the weather was too nice to take it back home, and a fete had been organised to celebrate the new park, so she took photos of the stalls that were being run, people that were milling around, a young child with a bright red balloon tied to her wrist. A few of the stall owners took photos of her, Sarah managed to turn her camera around to take a couple of herself in front of the fairy floss stall (the first two were awkward angles of nothing more than her forehead, but she got the hang of it), and by the end of the day, the bottom of her handbag was filled with a myriad of photos.
Exhausted by her day out, Sarah barely managed to throw together a dinner that wasn't two-minute noodles (she could no longer find the last packet, and had a feeling that Honey had thrown it away). She watched The Price is Right and thought of Honey as she tried her best to guess the answers for herself, and later that night when her eyes were drooping closed, Sarah tucked herself into bed and slept peacefully.
...
On Monday morning, Sarah had a mini panic attack as she passed the bank on the way to work. She forced herself to run down the street instead of standing there, doubled over and feeling nauseous, and Sarah made it to work much earlier than she intended.
Over morning coffee, Ruby, one of the women she worked with, asked Sarah how she was feeling after the bank robbery. She answered truthfully, and Ruby seemed interested enough that Sarah felt brave enough to tell her about the fete and even show her a few of the photos that were still lying in the bottom of her bag. Ruby liked them enough to get a few of the other women in to look at her photographs, and Sarah felt that maybe she could make some friends after all.
Then Harvey came in with the men, all of them chuckling and surrounded by their usual haze of cigarette smoke. He looked over at her and smirked, saying something to one of the other men, and they all laughed uproaringly again.
"What's so funny, Harvey?" Ruby asked curiously.
"Just telling the guys about the day I spent with Sarah. Ain't that right, baby?" Harvey asked, smirking over at her again.
"W-what?"
"You know, you rang me up on the weekend, begged me to take you out, and then I took you to bed."
Sarah's mouth dropped slightly at his implication, and around her, despite the pictures they'd just seen proving otherwise, a lot of the women started to move away from her.
"You've told everyone that we've had sex together?"
"Oh, you're not even going to deny it?" one of the other men asked, chortling.
Sarah's mouth snapped closed, and she wished that she could slap Harvey so hard his teeth fell out of his head. She wondered what she'd ever seen in him anyway.
"You know what, no, I'm not. In fact, we spent almost a full day together, didn't we, Harvey?" she prompted, getting a smug grin and nod in response. "Well, Harvey was so nice over lunch, he bought me a wine, nice food," she said, getting another grin and nod, "Then when we got back to the hotel room, he wanted me to spank him and call him a bad baby, and he asked to call me Momma while I fucked him with a dildo in the ass."
"What?!" Harvey roared, face going from pale to red. "That's... I did not!"
"You mean you didn't have sex with me? Or you did? 'Cause that means one of us is lying, baby. In fact, we could call up your wife and Arizona, and ask her what she calls you during sex, if you'd prefer?"
Harvey glared at her, the other men no longer laughing, and stormed off. When he was gone, Ruby laughed so hard she almost dropped her coffee mug.
"Oh, wow, he's not going to let you get away with that one, Sarah," Ruby said when she finally stopped laughing.
"I know. I didn't have sex with him though, and he's a dickhead for saying otherwise," Sarah muttered.
"He's always been a dickhead; he's tried to sleep with nearly all of the women that work here. You're not the first he's done this to, unfortunately, but all the men believe him over us," Edith added, sighing.
"They might not be so believing of everything anymore," Joan snickered. "I'm going to start calling him baby, see how he likes it for a change."
Not all of the women agreed, some of them even glaring at Sarah, but she no longer cared. Harvey was a dick, and Honey was right: she really did loathe this job. It was a shame, because she thought she might actually have made some friends out of it ten minutes ago.
"Ms. Silverton, a word in my office, please," Mr. Thick called, Harvey standing next to him looking smug.
"No need, Mr. Thick, I quit," Sarah called back, smiling pleasantly. "I'd prefer not to be sexually harassed by a man who has a dick as small as my lipstick, anyway," she added, just to watch Harvey splutter and choke on his smug smile.
All right, she wasn't the nicest person in the world, so maybe Honey was right about that too.
"You'll regret this! I'll make sure you never work in this town again!" Harvey snarled as she grabbed her things from her desk.
"Actually, I already have another job, and it makes double what you're earning, you cheating bastard," Sarah replied, all too happy to rub that in his face as well.
"Language, Ms. Silverton!" Mr. Thick demanded, his face as red as his tie.
"I'd be happy to translate into whichever language you'd prefer, Mr. Thick. Spanish, perhaps?" she asked sarcastically, putting the last of her personal things in her large handbag and heading towards the exit. "Or would you prefer sign language?" Sarah offered, sticking her middle finger up at Harvey as she passed by.
There was more spluttering behind her, some laughing and even a few cheers, and then the door closed behind her. She doubted she'd be getting a final paycheque from this company if they could help it, but Sarah couldn't bring herself to care. She left the building, headed to the bank where she still had to stop and breathe deeply before entering, but made a withdrawal and left again without anything happening.
Seeing that the local cinema was open, Sarah crossed the street and paid a few dollars to watch Benji, which had only recently been released. She got caught up in the storyline and, blissfully, didn't have to think about her work, life, or anything beyond the story of a little dog trying to rescue two kidnapped children. Sarah couldn't quite figure out how they'd managed to stay kidnapped, considering the children were able to teleport, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
Leaving the cinema to find it was still light out, Sarah had to blink several times to adjust, and her stomach protested for food. She headed home via a diner, spending just as much time watching the people around her as she did eating her food, and by the time she arrived home, it was mid-afternoon.
She paid Mr. Martin, who seemed surprised to see her in the middle of the day, but was glad that she wasn't crying anymore, and headed up to her apartment. Sarah called Honey to let her know that she accepted her job offer.
"Good, I was worried you'd stayed after all."
Sarah shook her head, even though Honey couldn't see, and detailed everything that had happened. Honey was pealing with laughter within minutes, and had to beg off the call so she could go to the bathroom, her laughter still coming through the phone anyway.
"We should go out to celebrate. Invite Ruby, Edith, and Joan. Joan will probably say no because she'll be looking after her baby, but she'd want to be invited anyway."
"All right, where do you want to meet?"
"Oh, give me a minute," Honey said distractedly, thinking of the various places that were around town. "French Noir, on Righten Drive. They're not too bad. Depending on tonight, I might even consider buying them."
"Just how much money do you have?"
"Enough to pay you triple Harvey's wage, buy the club, and still be comfortable."
"Wow."
"I'm just getting started, sweetie," Honey said with a laugh. "Now, you'll be tempted to wear the red dress, but go with black; Edith's clumsy when she's tipsy."
"All right, thanks for the tip," Sarah said, shaking her head and wondering if she'd ever get used to that.
"You're welcome. See you tonight at 6pm, okay?"
"See you then," Sarah said, hanging up before picking up the receiver once more to call her Ruby's number at work.
Ruby and Edith accepted, and Joan had to back out, but promised to come to the next catch-up if she could get more warning. Sarah grinned, excited that she'd finally made friends that were willing to spend time with her, and went to her room to get ready for what she was sure was going to be a great night out.
...
Honey greeted Ruby and Edith as if she'd known them all her life, and Sarah tried not to laugh when she saw their surprised expressions, sipping at her cocktail instead.
"Sarah's very observant, and has told me all about you," Honey explained when Ruby questioned her about knowing about Joan's baby.
"We only found out about Joan's baby today. Seems she didn't want Mr. Thicke knowing, or he'd fire her. How'd you know about it, Sarah?" Edith asked.
"Like Honey said, I'm very observant," she replied with a shrug. "Drink?"
"Oh, yes, a margarita, please. Then you can tell us all about your new job," Edith said, patting her arm.
"Or was that just a lie to rub it in Harvey's face? He was sulking all day," Ruby snickered.
"It's true all right," Sarah said with a grin.
"In that case, I'll have a red wine."
"I haven't been paid yet, you know," Sarah said, even as she headed over to the bar to get their drinks.
She returned in a few minutes, their drinks ordered and paid for, and sat on the stool across from Ruby.
"All right, now spill. What's your job, and how do I get one?" Ruby asked, grinning.
"It's a personal assistant job, I'll be organising appointments, helping businesses be bought, that sort of thing. It's still a new position in the company, but I'm hoping it'll be there well into the future. To be honest, I'm not sure there's another one like it: being offered the position certainly was a surprise to me," Sarah added, as truthfully as she could.
"Hmm, sounds good. Let me know if there's something else out there, okay? I'd rather not be working for Mr. Thick for the rest of my life," Ruby muttered.
"You won't be," Honey said certainly.
Ruby laughed, a little sour, then shook her head. "And what makes you so sure about that?"
"'Cause I'm pretty sure your future husband just walked in the door."
"What are you... ooh," Ruby trailed off, seeing the man that had just walked in.
"I hear Chicago's nice this time of year," Honey prompted, then nudged Ruby off her stool.
Ruby still seemed a little dazed by the man's appearance, but she wasn't the type of woman to back down from a challenge, and she headed straight for him. Sarah watched curiously as Ruby laughed and flirted with the man.
"Think you could do that for me, too?" Edith asked, grinning at Honey.
Honey looked at Edith for a long moment, not even pausing when their drinks were brought over, and eventually Sarah got worried enough that she nudged Honey to get her to stop. She came out of her state with a slight cough and an embarrassed smile.
"Sorry about that, I got caught up... Edith, do you really want me to find you a husband?" Honey asked, her voice soft yet clear, despite the noise in the club.
Edith paled abruptly, her hand trembling so viciously that she spilled her drink, the liquid pouring off the edge of the small table and on to Sarah's lap.
"Oh, God, I'm so sorry! Let me... just... Shit."
"Don't worry about it, I'm wearing black, it'll wash off easy," Sarah said, dabbing at her lap with napkins.
Edith didn't seem to hear her, still looking pale and straight at Honey, who gave Sarah a slight nod towards the bathrooms.
"Right. I'll be back soon," Sarah said, heading to the bathroom.
She looked back to see Ruby laughing with her new friend, and Honey talking with Edith quietly, hand resting over hers gently. Sarah cleaned her dress the best she could, and by the time she made it back out to the club, Ruby and the man had already left. Edith looked ready to leave, but was waiting by the table with Honey.
"I just wanted to say thank you for inviting me out. It's been life-changing," Edith said with a broad grin. "Also, I'm sorry about your dress."
"Nothing to be sorry about. Where are you heading, then?" Sarah asked curiously.
"Ah, a bar down the street. It's ladies night, if y'know what I mean," Edith said, blushing slightly and still looking a bit nervous.
"Oh, all right. Have a fun night. We'll have to catch up again some time, okay?"
Edith nodded firmly, then gave Sarah a quick hug and headed out of the door.
"She's going to be much happier with Ariel than she ever would have been with John," Honey murmured, sitting down on her stool again.
Sitting across from her, Sarah watched Honey for a moment. "Did you do this on purpose?"
"What?"
"Get me to bring my new friends here so you could get rid of them?"
Honey didn't seem offended by her question, and just shook her head. "No. I told you, I'm not a hero, but that doesn't make me the villain either. If Ruby and Edith had stayed in tonight, Ruby would've been stuck working for Mr. Thick until he died, and then she'd be working for Harvey, which would be even worse. Now, she's going to move to Chicago with a man that will love her and be supportive of her working, and she'll end up becoming one of the most successful female attorney's in the state.
"Edith would've started dating and eventually married John, who would've realised that his wife was more interested in his sister than him and beat her for it. She would have been miserable, and unable to have children after he hurt her to the point where the doctors had to give her a hysterectomy just so she'd survive. Now, she's going to meet Ariel instead, they're going to spend the next sixty-eight years together and they're going to be happy. Depending on a few decisions in Edith's life, she'll either keep working for Mr. Thick or she'll end up with his job. I'm thinking it'll be the latter.
"I changed their futures slightly with a few words and maybe a literal nudge out the door, but it was for the better."
"And doing that helps you in someway?" Sarah guessed.
"Huh, you are observant after all," Honey said, grinning. "If I change people's futures from the main thread I've seen, then I get the residual energy that their old life leaves behind. Keeps me charged, I guess you'd say."
"So, you changed Ruby and Edith's futures to... feed off the futures that they no longer have?"
"It sounds creepy when you put it like that, but essentially, yes."
"So... What did you change in my future when you met me in the bank?" Sarah asked curiously.
"I stopped you from being killed in at least three different scenarios," Honey replied.
"Three? But, how?"
"If I hadn't come in, one of the robbers would have stayed guarding you all and seen the arrival of the police and Sonic Boom. He would have become nervous and threatened to shoot hostages instead of giving up, and you would have offered in place of another woman with a child; in another, you would have ducked too slow and the glass from Sonic Boom's blast would have impaled you in several major arteries; and in the final showdown when the robbers started shooting out of the vault randomly, you would have tried to escape and been shot. Overall, you would have had a hard time surviving that day if I hadn't shown up."
"Sounds like I would've died no matter what."
"There were a few scenarios where you would have been saved, but they were few and far between. It's almost as though you were destined to die on that day, and I stopped it from happening. I'm curious to see how this changes your future."
"It's probably going to be boring, just so you know."
"With me around, I seriously doubt that, sweetie," Honey said with a laugh.
Sarah didn't doubt her for a second.
...
The end.
Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it!