DISPLAYING EMOTION

SHE WANTED TO BE COMPLETELY HONEST WITH HIM. In the past Gaia had told Ed numerous lies and avoided telling him the truth at all costs. But now that she had called him all the way down to Virginia, Gaia felt like Ed deserved the truth. The whole truth.

"There's something I need to tell you." Gaia watched Ed as her words sunk into him. As she had predicted he looked somewhat taken aback and very confused. "Actually, there's a lot I need to tell you, but most of it can wait."

Gaia pulled in a deep breath whilst her eyes remained fixed on Ed. She silently noted that his jaw was clenched with a nervous worry as she slowly exhaled. Not wanting to make either of them wait longer than necessary, Gaia swallowed heavily than began talking.

"A couple of months ago, one of the other trainees was killed." Gaia winced slightly as her voice cracked on the last word. Normally she hated displaying emotion, but for once she just needed to articulate the memories and feelings that were swimming about her mind. Or otherwise she knew she would drown in the image of his bleeding body.

"No. That doesn't even begin to cover it. He wasn't killed. He was murdered. And it was all my fault. I could have stopped it. If I had just stopped being an idiot..."

Gaia broke off mid-sentence. Her thoughts were coming out in a jumbled messed. What she needed to do was start at the beginning.

"I was put in charge of the Lollipop Murderer case after I discovered one of his victims," Gaia restarted, carefully measuring each word as she said it. "It was a bitch of a case. There just wasn't enough evidence to find the real killer. But Kim, he...Kim came up with a theory on who the killer was. A stupid theory, but after a while I started to believe it was true. Everything fitted with his theory." Gaia paused, sniffing loudly in the brief silence she had created. "Kim thought Will was the Lollipop Murderer. And I thought so too." The tears she had lamely been trying to hold back began to leak from her eyes. "I was too busy confronting him to stop the real murderer from murdering him." Wiping her hand across her face, Gaia choked out the end of her story. "He died right in front of me."

The bed sunk as Ed sat down next to her. Gaia briefly looked into his sad eyes before her face was buried in his embrace.

ED HUGGED GAIA TO HIS CHEST WHILE SHE SHOOK WITH SILENT SOBS. Slowly her body began to still.

"I'm sorry," Gaia sniffed as she pulled away. "I didn't mean to cry all over you."

"It's okay," he replied automatically. Tentatively, he looked into Gaia's eyes. For the few seconds she let him hold her gaze - apart from the tears - he could see the deep-set sadness in them.

"Were you friends with Will?"

She nodded whilst whipping her nose on her sleeve. "He was my boyfriend."

Boyfriend.

The word reverberated around inside his skull before sending shock waves through his memory: her story about Will was a complete deja vu of what happened to Jake.

CONFUSED DIDN'T QUITE CUT IT. Uber-confused was a better description for what she was feeling. In the blink of an eye - literally - Ed's expression had switched from looking sober to looking like he was the verge of tears.

"Ed, what's wrong?" Gaia asked, finding it slightly ironic that only a few seconds ago Ed should have been saying the same thing to her.

"What?" Ed spluttered while his eyes leapt with surprise. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong."

Gaia fixed her eyes on his, and leaned forwards as if she was about to tell him a secret. "Ed, you're a bad lair. So spill."

"It's silly," Ed murmured, and shifted away from her. But Gaia continued to stare at him, drilling her determined curiosity into him with her eyes. "It's... I thought moving away from New York would allow you to have a fresh start. Start a new life and all that. But instead it seems your old life has followed you here." He broke off for a moment, deep in thought. "I just wish that you got the chance to have the new life you deserved."

It felt as though her insides had been doused with cotton candy: Ed was always thinking of others before himself. That was a major reason why she had become his friend in the first place and why she wanted to renew their friendship now.

A smile spread across her lips. "I have started a new life. Besides there are some things from my old life that were pretty great. And if I get the chance, I'll make them a part of this life too."

TBC

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you to everyone who left feedback for parts one and two. Any comments about this part will also be greatly appreciated.