Chapter 19

A Heavy Night

A strong sense of Déjà vu

Is like a dream never seen

A moment never experienced

But a reality coming true

Was it fate?

Was it the past,

Hurling towards you,

Making sure you don't forget?

Light feelings

A moment of dizziness

And you're in a different world

One where you're not sure it exists

Yet you are living in it

Questioning your mind, you look around

But the only think staring back at you is the present

Lost.

This was Molly's first encounter with a group of drunken men and she wasn't sure what to do. What in her 20 years has she learned to handle this kind of situation? She started going through the various pieces of advice that she'd been told – try to get the attention of passerby so the instigators will be intimidated by them, but Molly looked around and saw no one. The next thing she could do was distract them with something else going on around them but all of the activity was going on inside the bar – which they were blocking. She could try to bluff and say that if they tried anything funny she had mace on her but she wasn't even carrying her purse. She was sure they'd see right through it. She had just decided on kicking the man holding onto her wrist in the shins when a voice from her right cut clearly through the night air.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Molly turned around, recognizing the sharp tone as Gill's. She'd never been so happy to see him. Sure, Gill wasn't a big man like Owen who could hold his own if a fight broke out but he was a man and in his own way quite intimidating. He had the appearance of a man with authority, the kind that would sue you to kingdom come.

However, the tourists being strangers didn't know this and decided to antagonize him.

"What's this we have here? Kid, don't you think you should be in bed by now, it's almost your bedtime. Your mummy's gonna be missin' you soon, so why don't you do her a favor and don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong," said one of the men blocking the door, smirking and gaining some snickers from the two by his side.

Gill's eye twitched but, saying nothing, stepped forward and put his hand on the wrist of the man holding onto Molly.

"I think you'd better do yourself a favor and let her go," he said rather calmly, staring straight into the man's eyes.

The man took a small step back, apparently not expecting Gill to be so bold but violently shook Gill's hand off and recovered quickly, smirking down at him.

"Guess you didn't get the message earlier. This ain't none of your business. I'll let her go when we get some service over here. I dunno how this place is a tourist destination, you only got one bar and it's closed."

Molly continued to try and break free but the man, deciding that Gill's threat was not so great, roughly pushed him away and nodded to the three in the back to come with him. He started dragging Molly along with him mumbling something about getting food instead but seconds later stumbled forward as he received a blow in the back.

Molly looked up and saw Gill lower his leg, arms still crossed, completely livid. While the man was still doubled over, Molly took the opportunity of his slackened grip to break free and run back to Gill, standing next to him.

Gill glanced at her, asking if she was alright.

"I'm fine, but what should we do now?" Molly asked nervously as the three groupies ran over to their friend to make sure he was fine.

"You can go inside the bar and get Owen and Luke now that the doors are clear," Gill said, "and do it quickly, before he recovers. As much as I'd like to, I can't handle these guys on my own."

Molly was about to argue, but the look on Gill's face made her stop and, making sure the men were still preoccupied, sprinted to the door and wrenched it open. The noise from the door made everyone inside turn around and upon seeing her Owen and Kathy cheered.

"Molly! Where have you been? You're missing a great time over here!" yelled Owen, raising his cup of a beer and consequently spilling about a third of it on the table.

Molly ignored him as he cursed his clumsiness and sought out Luke and Chase, knowing that bringing a drunk Owen into the situation would only make things worse.

Thankfully they were sitting near each other watching Owen, Kathy, Julius, Renee and Bo play charades and upon seeing Molly's frightened face sat up immediately.

"What happened?" asked Chase.

Molly didn't waste any time explaining but rather grabbed both of them and pulled as hard as she could, urging them towards the door.

"There are some drunk college guys outside and Gill is by himself. Don't cause a scene, we don't want Owen out here," Molly said in a hurry, keeping her voice low and chancing a glance back to make sure the others were still occupied.

As quickly as she could she opened the door and hurled out just in time to see one of the men raise his fist and Gill, distracted as he looked in her direction.

Molly's body moved before her mind could grasp what was happening and she lunged forwards towards them raising her hands as if to catch the man's punch. She successfully deflected it away from Gill's face but in the process lost her balance and fell at their feet, scraping her elbows on the cement. She scrunched her face in pain and rolled onto her back, looking up only to see both the man's and Gill's eyes on her. Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, from out of nowhere the Justin guy came up from behind them and landed a punch while Gill was looking down at her. He lost balance right before so it didn't seem like it was very powerful but it made contact nonetheless and Gill, off guard, stumbled backwards, bringing a hand up to cradle his cheek. In the next second Luke and Chase had taken two of them by the arms, forcing them back.

Gill lowered his hand and reached down helping her up. Molly thanked him and asked if he was alright, concerned with how red the area on his cheek was becoming. Gill just waved her off and they both went to help Chase and Luke who had let go of the men after shoving them back together with the other two.

"You have two options: One, you go back to your Inn and leave the island first thing in the morning and this incident is written as such – an incident. You won't be able to return to this island for the next five years, which shouldn't be a problem for you all since we apparently don't have enough alcohol to satisfy your tastes. Or two, we report you to the mainland police and you get arrested for attempted assault, disrupting the public peace, and being drunk and disorderly. You decide," said Gill in full mayor mode.

The men looked at each other, thinking over their options. Luke's rippling carpenter muscles and Chase's death glare were clearly having an impact as the men fidgeted. Eventually, Justin spoke up on their behalf.

"This island sucks anyways, don't see why anyone would want to come here again. You can be sure that I'll complain about the entertainment here to everyone I know. Dumb place…come on, guys."

And with that the group of four left, walking fast and grumbling among each other until they were out of sight.

"What…was that even about, man?" Luke asked, slouching over as the tension left his body.

"I'd like to know, too. But more importantly, Molly," Chase said, grabbing onto her arm and twisting them so that her elbows were facing upright. "You need to get these treated."

Molly shrugged him off. "It's not that bad, I've had worse." She looked up. Chase was glaring at her.

She looked away, blushing. "Fine, fine. But I'm not the only one that needs to go to the clinic. Gill's cheek is looking pretty swollen."

They all looked at Gill's face and, if the situation weren't so serious, might have laughed. The right side of Gill's face was red and swollen and made his face look round which in turn made him look much younger. Plus, with the pouting look he was giving, it was almost like looking at a schoolboy who was in a fight where he was in totally over his head.

"I don't see why I have to go, it's not anything that can't be fixed with some ice," he said, flinching slightly as he talked.

Luke shook his head. "If it isn't that serious it shouldn't take that long, right? Both of you go to the clinic real fast and Chase and I will go fill in the rest. Assuming Owen and Kathy aren't both passed out already. I wouldn't be surprised if we walked in on Julius, Bo and Renee drawing on their faces."

Molly laughed and even Chase cracked a smile.

"They will be worried though, if we don't get back. Julius, Renee and Bo will have noticed our absence at least. We should get going…" Molly looked over at Gill, expectant.

He shrugged, which was a sign of consent for him and they both walked up the steps to the clinic telling the others that they'd see them in a bit.

Molly glanced over at Gill, still a bit surprised at how assertive he was back there. She knew Gill wasn't one to keep quiet but to actually initiate confrontation like that was a bit out of character- or so she thought.

"What?" asked Gill, noticing her stare.

"Mmm. I'm just a bit surprised."

"At what? Me?"

"Well yeah, I wasn't expecting you to get into a fight like that."

"If you hadn't noticed, Molly, he wasn't letting you go," Gill said, raising his eyebrows like she had said something dumb.

"Yeah, but…but you kicked him, you know!"

Gill was about to retort but they had arrived at the clinic's door and Molly had already reached out to knock.

After about two rounds of knocking they finally heard movement on the other side of the door. Light spilled out onto the two of them and they saw Irene peek out.

"What're you two doing here at this hour? Did something happen?" She asked and then her eyes fell upon Gill's swollen cheek, widening.

"What in the world…?"

"We'll explain inside, if you would please, Irene," said Gill grimacing. He wasn't exactly pleased with his injury, it was bad enough that he got into a fight but even worse that he came out of it with a swollen cheek. Not to mention a civilian injury occurred in the form of Molly's forearms.

"Well alright, hold on," she said in a rush and opened the door to usher them in. "Sit down over there and I'll go prepare some things and tell Jin. Molly, what's happened to you?"

Molly raised her arms in response and Irene shook her head, clicking her tongue. Molly just shrugged, smiling in a way that said "what can you do about it?"

Irene left, mumbling something about young people and being too rash nowadays.

Molly turned to Gill, expecting to share an exasperated face with him but was taken aback at his seriousness.

"Gill?"

He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning forward, elbows on knees.

"Why'd you go and do that?"

Molly wanted to say 'do what?' but had a feeling she knew what he was referring to. Why had she moved in front of him when the man went to punch him? Even she wasn't sure why.

"I…it was just reflex. My body moved on its own. I couldn't just watch you get punched."

"So you went to get punched instead?"

"I didn't get punched, I just fell. It could've happened any other day."

"It wasn't just that. Why was it you that these guys found? Why weren't others around to help? I don't want these things happening on my island. To you, or anyone for that matter."

"Ohh," Molly said, finally understanding, "you're upset because you couldn't prevent this? Come on, Gill. You can't stop bad people from coming here, there's no way you could've prevented them from doing all of this. It was just a random incident. Nothing more."

"I am upset that I couldn't stop those guys from harassing you, from causing trouble in the first place, but you don't understand," Gill said, getting frustrated and flinching from the pain in his cheek.

Molly scrunched her eyebrows together. Was this about her?

Molly reached out her hand and gently touched his swollen cheek.

"I'm sorry. I can't help it. Would you have just stood there if it were me or someone else? If I hadn't, this would've been much worse, I'm sure of it."

Gill's face flushed slightly and he looked at her in the eyes. Those light brown eyes that were tight with guilt and concern – concern for him.

He didn't know how to explain it but when he looked into them he felt happy, not that she was feeling this way but that she could for him. That she was genuinely concerned for his well-being and that she would risk getting hurt so that he wouldn't. It'd been so long since anyone other than his father made this expression for him. He missed it.

He raised his hand to hers, resting it on top and moved his eyes from hers, first down to her nose, then down to her lips…

A noise from the stairs brought him to and he moved her hand from his face, looking away.

Molly, on the other hand, couldn't look away, her cheeks red from the intensity of his stare just now.

Irene came around the corner with Jin who was carrying an armful of bandages and disinfectant while she was carrying a couple of ice packs.

It didn't take long for them to be treated and soon they could leave, Molly arms bandaged and slightly stinging from the ointment while Gill was keeping one of the ice packs held to his face.

They both thanked Jin and Irene and exited together, hesitating for just a moment before Molly said she should get back to the party.

"Right, they'll be wondering what's taking so long. I need to go report this to my father. I'll…I'll see you around. Take care, Molly," and without another look, he turned around and walked towards his house.

Molly slowly made her way back to the party, not paying much attention when she opened the door to the bar and so the volume of noise made her stumble backwards, almost falling a second time.

"Molllyyy," roared Owen, bringing her into a headlock.

"Ow, ow! Owen, what the heck," squealed Molly trying, and failing, to tug his arm away.

"Stop that you idiot," came Kathy's voice and Molly felt Owen's arm loosen. Kathy had removed it quite easily and had engulfed her in a hug. "Geez, what's wrong with you, always getting into trouble. Luke and Chase told us everything. Are you alright?"

"Well obviously they didn't tell you everything. I'm alright, I'm alright. Sorry I had to miss out on the fun. I guess this sort of dampened the occasion, huh?" Molly said, pulling away and frowning.

"Please, like I'd care about that. I'm just glad you're safe. If I was out there, I would've beat those guys up real good!" Kathy said, raising her fist and Owen coming up behind her doing the same thing.

"That's what we were afraid of," Chase said, walking forward. "If you two had been out there who knows what sort of mess we all would've gotten into."

Kathy and Owen protested while Julius, Renee and Bo also came up to Molly to ask if she was alright. Soon after that, they decided to head back both tired from the nights activities and Owen and Kathy's drunken rampage.

Kathy put a hand on her shoulder, asking again if she was really okay.

Molly paused before she answered. It was true that she was still in shock, it wasn't pleasant, that man's hand around her wrist. She rubbed it trying to get the feeling to go away. She'd never felt so powerless before. Molly had never really given much thought to the difference in power between a man and a woman, she'd never had to before. Of course she knew Owen or Luke could overpower pretty much anyone but when faced with a real life situation where she had to escape…well, it was scary. Molly thought she knew the real reason why Gill was so angry earlier.

Thinking about Gill again, Molly's face turned red and she waved off Kathy's concern.

"I'm fine, really. I won't lie, it was scary and I think I'll be more cautious from now on. This village is a tourist destination after all and there are strangers around. But, this could've happened anywhere, I just let my guard down. You all should be careful too, actually."

"How long do you think we've been on this island, Molly? Trust me, there has been more than one creepy dude who has hit on me in this bar," said Kathy, making a disgusted face.

Molly laughed at her expression. "Well that's sad to hear. Owen, where were you when this stuff happened?"

Owen seemed disgruntled at the news that others have hit on Kathy and crossed his arms. "I'm not sure, but I think I'd like to be informed when this all goes down. I can get those guys off of you in a second, Kathy."

Kathy couldn't help but smile and stared at the ground saying, "Okay, I'll keep that in mind for next time then."

They both looked sheepishly away and Luke came up to slap Owen on the back, sharing a smile with Molly at the same time.

"Okay lovebirds, I think it's time to break this party up. It's almost midnight! We've got work to do tomorrow, so let's go home?"

Owen smiled at the comment while Kathy blushed, waving her hands around but not necessarily denying it. Molly raised her eyebrows at the two of them. Could something have happened while they were out? She decided she would ask her best friend tomorrow and, following Luke's advice, decided that she too should go home. Finn was surely wondering where she was.

Molly looked around at Chase who was sitting at the bar, sipping some water.

"Chase?" she tentatively asked after saying goodbye to Luke and Owen.

"Hmm?"

"You, er, alright over here? Shouldn't you be heading back as well?"

Chase put down his water and stood up.

"Yeah, you're right. We all should be getting to bed. Kathy, do you need any help with clean-up?"

Kathy said that they wouldn't open the restaurant until later in the afternoon so she'd have plenty of time to clean up tomorrow.

"Are you sure?" Molly asked.

Kathy waved her away reassuring them that they didn't need to help and should go back to their homes before it got too late.

Molly still hesitated but Kathy came around and actually pushed her towards the door.

"I'm fine, really. Go home already. Chase, make sure she gets home fine, yeah?"

Molly protested saying that she didn't need a guide.

"We're going the same way anyways, so I'd be with you regardless," Chase said, opening the door for her.

Molly frowned. He did have a point.

"There, it's settled. Now, I'll see you guys later. Goodnight," said Kathy and she closed the door.

They both looked at each other and started heading back.

The night air was heavy with moisture, a sign that they'd be getting rain tomorrow at some point. Molly was going over the list of what she needed to do when Chase interrupted her thoughts.

"Your arms are fine, right?"

Molly looked at his outline, the only thing she could see clearly in the dark.

"Yeah, Irene put some ointment on them and bandaged them. They should be fine in a couple of days. I'll take it easy until then I guess."

"Good. You have a bad habit of over-working yourself, you know," Chase said, reprovingly.

Molly fidgeted. "I'd say that of everyone living on the island."

She heard him chuckle softly. "I suppose that's true."

The next couple of minutes passed in silence and she started getting uncomfortable thinking, once again, of the fight they had outside the fishery. Did it still bother him? She wanted to ask him but…

But what? She asked herself. She was afraid? Afraid of what? Confrontation? Being hated? For all of the arguments they've had she didn't hate Chase. She couldn't even say she really disliked being around him. After all, right now she was fine. In truth, she just wanted to make up with him.

Molly steeled herself.

"Chase?"

He looked around. "Yes?"

"You know…you know when we fought…the night of the Firefly Festival?"

Chase paused. He didn't really want to talk about that right now, not when everything was so calm and peaceful between them. However, he couldn't ignore her or run away this time.

"Yes…"

Molly swallowed. "What…what was that about? Do you…not like me? Did I do something to offend you?"

Chase sighed. How was he supposed to explain to her when he didn't even know why he lashed out himself? And if he said that he was upset because she was hanging out with Toby that would make it seem like…seem like he liked her. But did he? And even if he did, would he do anything about it? No, he didn't think he would.

"I was just in a bad mood. You caught me on a bad night. It was my fault. I'm sorry," he lied, looking ahead. Her house was coming up soon, this conversation wouldn't last long.

Molly stared in his direction but couldn't see his face clearly. Was he telling the truth? Was that all there was to it? It wasn't her fault?

"Are you sure? Because if I've done something to hurt you, please, tell me. I won't know otherwise."

"No, it's not your fault. Really. It's all me. I don't hate you either."

Molly processed this. It didn't seem like he was lying…so he really didn't hate her? She smiled and felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

"Okay. That's good," she said, laughing a bit awkwardly.

Chase shook his head, "I don't see how anyone could possibly hate you."

Molly laughed. "Those guys earlier probably do now."

"They probably hate Gill more than you. Some "little boy" showed them up. I'm sure their pride was hurt tonight."

"That's probably true. I mean, who could've imagined? Gill, the mayor's son, getting in a fight."

Molly still remembered Gill's voice as he called out at the men, sharp and clear. Somehow, it seemed extremely familiar, as if she'd heard it in a dream before or it was a voice she'd heard a long time ago. She closed her eyes, suddenly recalling a time when she was on campus. The sun was bright and glaring and she was sitting on the edge of a fountain, writing in her journal as students passed her by. She scrunched up her eyes, trying to remember but it was like holding water in your hands, the memories trickling between the cracks.

"Molly?" asked Chase, actually stepping in front of her.

Molly stopped, suddenly aware that they were at the front of her yard.

"This is your house, you know. I mean, if you want to continue walking, be my guest but I'm not going to walk you back again."

"Oh, sorry. I guess I was just zoning out. Thanks for the escort. I guess I'll see you later. And be safe going home."

"Yeah, same. See you around, Molly," said Chase, waving once and heading towards his house in Flute Fields.

Molly watched him until he was completely engulfed by the darkness and went to her house, opening the door and looking around. Finn was already asleep in his corner of her bed. She felt bad, not being able to say goodnight but didn't want to wake him up so she quietly changed into her pajamas and got ready for bed.

Soon she was under her covers, looking at the ceiling and mulling over the night's events. Besides the obvious incident with the drunken college guys, Gill's behavior also disturbed her in a different way. What was that look in his eyes and why was tonight's situation so familiar to her? She felt like she was missing a small part of her memory and it bothered her. She decided that she'd ask her friend about it tomorrow and she said her prayers to the Goddess, quickly falling asleep, exhausted.

Her dreams were full of strange men following her around on her old campus while the sun beat down and Gill's voice echoed from every corner.