Chapter 10

"Jack, it's so good to see you!" Alice cried, hurrying forth to hug him.

"Wh-what, what are you doing here?" Jack gasped, extracting himself and his daughter from Alice's grasp. "Ellie's been going nuts without you!"

"But she had you, honey," Alice beamed, then frowned. "Besides, I couldn't go back there on my own: too many memories."

"Ned?" Jack asked, quietly.

Alice nodded and was silent for a moment.

"But anyway, tell me," she said, suddenly cheerful again. "Are you my brother-in-law now or what?"

"Er... I think that's a 'what', Alice," Jack answered, awkwardly. "E-Ellie and I kinda split up."

"What? What happened?"

Jack sighed and rolled his eyes. There was the question he'd been dreading.

"Luke... happened," he shrugged, despondently. "But that's not really important any more."

Alice didn't seem shocked, or even surprised: it was as if she had almost been expecting Jack's answer. She gave a half smile and put a hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Well, come on," she said, cheerfully. "I'll show you to your new quarters and you can tell me all about it."

****

Ebony opened her eyes slowly, wincing at the bright light that graced her room. A male figure stood amidst the glare.

"Bray?" She whispered, thinking, for a moment, that he had returned to accompany her back to her old life.

"Ebony?" Slade cried, hurrying to kneel by her side as the glare resolved itself into his image.

"Slade?" Ebony asked, trying to sit up. "Is that you?"

"It's me, I'm here," Slade affirmed before turning to shout: "Ruby!"

"What happened?"

"It's okay, you were unconscious, but only for a few hours," Slade told her, hurriedly, as Ruby entered the room. "You cut yourself and you lost a lot of blood, but it's okay, it obviously wasn't enough!"

"Can't keep me down, huh?" Ebony joked, weakly.

"How do you feel?" Ruby asked, sitting down on the bed beside Ebony.

"A little faint," Ebony replied. "Like I've had a knock on the head or something, but not too bad."

"Are you hungry?"

Ebony hadn't even thought about food, but now that Ruby mentioned it she realised she was ravenous. She nodded her head quickly, then groaned and clutched her forehead in one hand. It was then that she noticed the bandages on her wrists. Ruby and Slade glanced at each other, warily.

"What did I do?" Ebony voice shook, querulously.

"It's okay, honey," Ruby said, gently. "You weren't quite yourself at the time."

"Oh, but I was," Ebony replied, melodramatically. "I might have been half mad or drunk or... something, but whatever I was, I was still me. If I did it once, I can do it again."

"That doesn't mean you will," Slade said, reassuringly, rising to his feet as his did so. "Now come on: I'll go get you something to eat and drink and Ruby can help you get dressed and all that."

****

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Leila asked, brushing the blue and brown strands out of her eyes as she closed her hut door behind Jetta.

"I... um... I have a problem," Jetta replied, her eyes searching for a place to rest. "I... um... found a lump..."

****

Conversation between Lex and Paul had been slow moving. Paul's only method of communicating with his old tormentor was by written notes and Lex's difficulty in reading had once again become painfully apparent. The ex-sherrif wrinkled his brow as he mouthed each letter and syllable individually before trying to put them together, into words.

Paul waited patiently, watching Skye serving a customer at the bar. If there was anything his time away from the mall had taught him, it was patience: he knew now that Lex's dislike of him had been founded on his inability to communicate with him and the way in which that inability showed up his own weaknesses. Now that he was older and more mature, he was more willing to try and face those weaknesses. He had changed a lot since Paul had last seen him. He had grown up a lot: they all had.

Eventually, Lex translated all of Paul's note into spoken words. As he began to understand the meaning of the words, his face fell. Paul frowned, but waited for a reply. Lex lifted his head and looked directly at Paul.

"I'm so sorry mate," he said, slowly and clearly, reaching across to place a hand on Paul's shoulder. "She didn't deserve to die like that."