"Three years, am I correct?" I said, pushing back a few strands of my hair. I had no idea how Phoenix and her soulfinder, which I was certain he was, decided to sit outside but maybe they lived somewhere where this weather was the norm.

"Yep, nearly to the day." Phoenix replied, her head bent down as she scribbled on a receipt. She got up to give me a hug when she finished and I nearly forgot to hug her back in surprise. She glanced at the man. "This is my soulfinder Yves Benedict. Yves, meet Gold Waters."

Deciding to spare him I stuck out a hand. "Pleasure to meet you. And yes, Phee and I knew each other from our days working for a man I believe you have in prison? Judging by the surname, I would say you were involved and thanks for that by the way." I said without a hint of sarcasm.

He took my hand with a simple raise of the eyebrow. "Our pleasure." He said. I had a feeling he would be wary of anyone from Phee's past. And I knew it was the past. She was clean, happy and I had a feeling a do-gooder family would not need to use their gifts to steal.

"Well, I'm heading in for food. Will I be seeing you and loverboy around?" I said. I shifted the bag on my shoulders. While it was not very heavy, it felt heavier after the walk and I was eager to unload it for a while.

She blushed. "Maybe. We are just here for the weekend as Yves has some environmental policy talks to attend and since I had little college work I thought I would join him and make a trip of it." She said smiling at Yves who could not help but smile back.

"College? Well done Phee." I said and stuck out a hand for a high five. She met me for it.

"What about you? How has life been?" she asked, putting her elbows on the table and cupping her chin in her hands.

I grimaced involuntarily. "Same old, same old." I said looking out at the nearby street where people walked by, most just shopping on their weekend off. Two or three passed with dogs as I glanced up, all the type of small dog city people liked. I still caught Phee's troubled frown and I sensed her speaking telepathically with Yves.

"So, what is in those bags are what I think?" she said as I nodded. She sighed. "Your parents were gone too right?" and once again I nodded.

"You know my dad died three years before the group disbanded and I never knew my mum. And," I said bitterly. "Not like a person can do much without even any formal exams under her belt. Not like I could have applied to a school anyway without some form of a parent."

I remembered the food as my stomach rumbled. "Here Phee, I need to get something to eat. It was nice to meet you guys but I don't exactly work five day weeks." I said with a wink to try and lighten the atmosphere. Without waiting for a response I headed into the café. Once I was seated down with my plate of lasagne and glass of coke, I looked out the window from where I was seated. Yves and Phoenix were gone, their cups and plates not even moved yet. I could no longer see steam rise from their now abandoned cups. It had gone as quickly as they had out of my life. No one, I realised, really stayed around long.

I got back to my apartment around eight that night. It was a decent place in a very much middle class part of the London and the area could be a bit rough at night but four flights up, I could be in my own world. I brought in enough from my escapades to pay the rent on the place and not be broke. It was two bedroom, with the second bedroom holding some of the probably hundreds of things I had gotten. It varied from River Island and Forever 21 to Chanel, all stuff to keep up appearances. I usually scoped out stores in sight beforehand in the fancy stuff to blend in and bought a thing or two on occasion so as not to arouse suspicion. It helped me save time later when I used my gift to steal as I was forever aware my gift could fail.

I had shifted the six pairs of shoes I had acquired today as easily as I knew I would with no difficulty. If it was not for the ridiculously high heels on them, I would probably have kept a pair. I walked straight into my small living area and walked over to the kitchen, putting my bag with the make-up on the kitchen counter. I flicked through my mail, smirking at the name "Gillian Parker" written on each. I had fake documents for her, making me a year older than my restrictive seventeen years.

Nothing of importance was in the mail so I rooted through my pockets to take out any spare change and bits I tended to drop in them over the day. I did it every night but tonight was the first night I pulled out a number. On the back of a receipt read "Phee" and a phone number. Below the number was one word. "Call".

I rolled my eyes and was about to crumple it up when the quiet inside the apartment struck me. It had started to bother me lately. A mom, dad, sister or brother, just one, I sometimes ached for. And that was why I called without thinking.

"Gold Waters here. Phee?" I said as soon as I heard someone pick up.

"Oh great you actually called! I just had to contact you somehow and I was not sure would you give me your number or whatever." Phee said, relief heavy in her voice. I could hear a TV playing in the background quietly as I waited for her to say more.

"Anything you needed?" I asked as I decided to turn on my own tv. I picked up the remote, quickly muted it and began to flick through the channels.

"Actually yeah." Phee said sounding uncomfortable. "Would you like to meet around one for lunch in the same café tomorrow? I would like to propose something to you."

"Really," I said with the raise of my eyebrows. I settled on a show on customs at airports. "And what is that?"

I heard Phee take a deep breath and exhale unsteadily. "Coming to America with me and not just for a visit."

Author person here!

Pretty short for my standards but the next chapter is much longer so hopefully that will make up for it. This just seemed like a good spot to cut things off at :)

I hope you liked it and thanks for the reviews, follows, favourites.

Btw. LittleLily99, I was actually going to update on the day you asked about "Winning Willow". I was like, "I seriously need to update before November ends!" and your review actually made me more determined to :D