"Wait, please," Molly said, holding the door of the cab that Natalia had seemed to magic out of thin air.

"Just ride with me," Natalia said, scooching over. Molly smiled a bit and slipped in, pulling the door shut. The cab took off. "So, ask me."

"Ask you what?" Molly asked.

"About Richard, I know you're dying to know," Natalia said, sipping her drink. "Gods! I love Cherry, she just knows exactly what you need."

Molly hesitated and took a sip of her drink. "Mmmm," she gasped, unaware of how thoroughly erotic the sounds she made were, or that Richard would probably brain himself if he heard her moaning over hot chocolate and not him. "Wow, this is just…"

"Amazing, I know," Natalia said, sipping her drink. She smirked behind her cup, mentally noting things to tell Richard later.

"How do you know about this place?"

"Richard found it. I don't know how he does it exactly. He'll go on a crawl for a night and come back with about ten different places you just have to try and are always fantastic," Natalia said with a smile. "Or he used to when we were younger. I'm not sure he can drink like he used to and still stay standing… but then who can?" she asked with a shrug.

"You said to ask you…" Molly trailed off, not sure where to start.

"You want to know if Richard's a good guy?"

"I want to know if he's like Jim?" Molly asked, being blunt.

Natalia looked at Molly, considering the woman a little more, trying to size her up. "He can be, but it scars him very badly."

"How so?"

"Well… the only time I've ever felt like… like I had to be afraid of him… it was a long time ago. He's come back from seeing Jim, this was back when Jim required weekly visits, you understand? I'll never know what happened that day, but I just got really annoyed at Jim. Rich was really bad off, and I called Jim a bastard in front of him."

"Is that bad?" Molly asked.

"I'd done it a hundred times before, and it never bothered Rich a lick," Natalia said. "But that day he just… it was different. He looked at her, really looked at me. I thought of the times I'd met Jim and he'd just looked at me like he could read every part of who he was. Jim always found me lacking, and that day Richard found me lacking." Natalia stop and took a deep breath, needing to calm herself for the memory that still had the power to hurt. "He just stood up and walked away."

"That's it?" Molly asked.

"I followed him," Natalia said. "I grabbed his arm and demanded that he not run off. Richard didn't move at all. He didn't even look at me. His voice got very soft, but I heard every word. "Natasha," he said. "You need to let me go right now. I'm afraid if you don't that I will kill you.""

"That doesn't…" Molly trailed off, thinking of all the boys and girls who'd joked about killing her when they were annoyed. It was something people said but didn't mean.

"Richard doesn't make those jokes. He's too afraid of being like Jim, always has been. When he told me that, I knew he meant it and I let him go. An hour later he curled up next to me and apologized… he had been frightened."

"You forgave him," Molly said, considering the story.

"He didn't hurt me," Natalia said. "If I had pushed him past that point, whatever would have happened would have been my fault. He gave me every warning. He didn't want to hurt me, he was just afraid that he would. Besides that… Richard doesn't hold a grudge for any bad thing anyone has ever done to him."

"You care a lot about him," Molly said hesitantly.

"I do love Richard… not still like that, but he's been my friend for a long time. He is one of the kindest people I have ever met, and he's absolutely smitten with you," Natalia said. "Just go to coffee tomorrow."

"I will," Molly said.

"Good girl."

"Can I ask you another question?"

"Shoot."

"What should I wear?" Molly asked. Natalia laughed.

Molly was very glad that she'd taken Natalia's suggestions. The woman had gone home with Molly and sorted through her clothes to find appropriate outfit, but ended up staying a lot longer. For Molly, she picked out a coffee date outfit, a first date outfit, a second date outfit, a walk around outfit, a first sex outfit, and a super nice event outfit. She also took some of Molly's clothes to donate to the church, and sorted through the rest to make Molly dress… well, less like she normally did. Molly wasn't sure she liked it, but Natalia was kind and warm and had stayed for about four hours helping Molly deal with her wardrobe.

Those four hours seemed like perfectly used time when she saw Richard's face. Molly wore sheer stockings, low pumps, a knee length black skirt, white blouse, and brown and light maroon sweater that Natalia had purposefully wash to shrink it a little. It looked professional, and not too far off what Molly would wear for work. In fact, Molly had worn it to work. She'd worn the sweater to work a few times, though she'd always hung it up for fear of shrinking. It hugged her body a bit more this time.

She felt shy, but Richard looked just as unsure as she felt. She imagined that he'd probably changed his outfit about six times, trying to figure out what was appropriate attire for a 'pre-date' (as Natalia had called it). Molly knew that she would probably be doing the same thing. She'd done it a hundred times before: is this one too fancy? Is this one too casual? Is it better to be overdressed? Will he think I'm a snob or that I don't know how to dress? Is it better to be casual? How casual? Will I look really stupid if I dress down?

Richard has decided on a pair of jeans and proper button up shirt. Molly was vaguely reminded of Jim when he was… well pretending to be her boyfriend. Richard reacted to her differently. No matter how Molly dressed for Jim he didn't seem to care. Richard cared very much. He took one look at her and grinned. He appreciated the effort she'd made. His smile dimmed when he realized that he probably looked like a lunatic.

Molly smiled, trying to be reassuring as she sat down. "Hello… Richard," she said, sounding unsure.

"Hello, Dr. Hooper."

"Molly's fine," she said, sounding a bit dismissive.

"Really?" he asked. Molly suddenly wondered if it was really a small thing. She'd dated his brother, his brother who'd just died recently. He'd met her when she was bent over his brother, straightening out Jim's dead body.

"Yeah," she said, forcing herself to sound sure. "Really."

"Your tea," the waiter said, setting a pot of tea down on the table.

"You ordered already?" Molly asked when the waiter had gone.

"Just tea," Richard said. He poured two cups, one for each of them. The scent was wonderful and familiar.

"Ceylon and Jasmine," Molly said. "My favorite, how did you know?" She asked.

"I'm going to sound like such a creep," Richard said with a weak smile. He pulled a file up off the booth and slid it over to her. "This is… all the information Jim had on you. I skimmed over the preferences page."

"Oh," Molly said, picking up the file and starting to flip though. The front page had very basic information, nothing too in depth. The second page had her presences. It was fairly detailed. It wasn't just her favorite tea or color, but also about which outfits she favored and jewelry she always wore, even referring to the simple gold chain that she mostly kept under her clothes as 'her mother's gift'. It wasn't something Molly told anyone about, or that Jim would even have gotten a chance to see.

The second page was even more in depth, giving suggestions for how to tell Molly to dress, and what places should be touched and where he most sensitive and erogenous areas would be. Molly blushed and snapped the folder shut. Richard looked amused.

"You should see mine."

"Is it this bad?"

"It's seven binders, coded so bad that I can't even figure out everything," Richard said. "most of Jim's files are coded. Some weren't. Yours wasn't."

"Really?" she asked and the shrugged. "I wasn't very important."

"See," Richard said. "The thing is that Jim doesn't interact with people that don't hold at least some interest for him. The only idiots he'll touch are generally stepping stones to a greater source of interest."

"So I was a stepping stone," Molly said, feeling her shoulders slump.

"No… Molly, the only people my brother ever dated were… well they felt into two categories: ownership, and playing pretend. The thing is that Jim never uses his real name when he's playing pretend… but you shouldn't have been able to break up with him. He's a really… possessive person, you know?" he asked and then shook his head. "He wouldn't have let you call him Jim if he were playing pretend, but you would have known exactly who he was if he was being possessive. Either way, you should have been dead for breaking up with him."

"Oh," Molly said, feeling like she'd just swallowed something awful.

"I'm sorry," Richard said, pulling back. When he spoke to her he'd leaned in and taken her hand. "I'm sorry… normally I don't talk about him. I'm sorry."

"No," Molly said. "He's the only thing we have in common."

Richard winced. "We can fix that… if you want, of course," he said, sipping his tea. Molly sipped her own.

"Did you read my file?"

"The first two pages only," Richard said. "It's too… personal to read. Jim's very thorough, your whole life story will be in that folder, hopes and dreams and relations. I've read strangers files for research for parts… but I never read the files of anyone I'll ever meet in my life."

"So, you read about the possible sexual preferences of strangers?" she asked.

Richard blushed. "Oh God, is that in there?"

"Page there," Molly said. Richard turned tomato red.

"Oh my god! I'm so, so sorry," he gasped, scrubbing his hands over his face.

"No, it's okay," Molly said. "You didn't know."

"I'm still sorry," he said. "I'm sorry," he said, moving to stand. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

"Why?" Molly asked, reaching out and grabbing his wrist. He stopped completely, looking down at her hand. Then he slowly lowered himself back into his seat.

"I thought… Moran, that's Jim's… friend," he said, shrugging a bit. "He said that Jim played be when he was dating you… I just thought… maybe you'd find me interesting, but this is very weird."

"Is that… weird… is that bothering you?" She asked.

"I don't know what weird is," he said. "My idea of normal has never been… well… it's just not very good."

"This is… weird, but I'm… well, I'm curious… is that okay?" Molly asked.

Richard's face split into a grin. "No, it's wonderful," he said. Molly smiled, caught up in his smile.

"I'm uh… I'm sorry about your brother."

"You don't have to feel that way," Richard said. "Here, they make very good chicken salad," he suggested, pulling out the menu. "And chocolate covered oranges, if you ask."

"I come here all the time, I didn't know that," Molly said.

"Jim told me," Richard said with a shrug.

"I am sorry though," Molly said.

Richard stopped, his face going blank, like he wasn't sure at all what he should express. Finally a sad smile pulled across his features. "It's just… I'm not used to being completely alone."

"Was he your last family member?" Molly asked.

The waiter came over again at that point. "Are you ready?"

"Two chicken salad sandwiches, and tell Ramon that we'd like his desert special," Richard said, setting the menu back down. The waiter left and Richard focused back on Molly. "Our parents have been dead for… well we were 15 when they died, spent a few years in foster care."

"Oh," Molly said. "I'm really sorry… did you have no family who could take you?"

"Well…" Richard shrugged. "There's still my aunt left, and her cousin… and my aunt was alive back then, but she'd been arrested a few times in her youth."

"Oh," Molly said.

"No… she's a wonderful woman, Aunt Sarah," Richard said with a smile. "She was a pretty big hippie, a couple of drug busts. She was in the getaway car with a murderer, but she was stoned out of her mind at the time and had no way of being able to even know where she was, let alone that her then boyfriend had killed someone. Anyway, she got a few years, but they weren't placing two troubles boys in her care."

"Troubled?" Molly asked, her eyebrows knitting together.

Richard sighed heavily. "Whenever Jim did anything I was left holding the bag, but Jim wasn't as good at hiding that he had problems, not after Carl Powers died," he said.

"Oh," Molly said.

"Jim was… I need to tell Aunt Sarah that he's dead. I've been avoiding it… our parents were… well they were the first time Jim ever." Richard made a vague hand motion, but Molly got it: Jim killed their parents. "They weren't… very nice… but they were very good at seeming it. Everyone thought Jim was the… troubled one in the family while they were still alive. The whole town would say how bad it was for such nice people like my parents to have such horrible sons," Richard said with a heavy sigh. "Aunt Sarah saw what my parents were doing, but no one was going to listen to someone with her record."

"So… you spent, one? Two? Years in the foster system with your brother?" Molly asked.

"Two, and the then we turned seventeen and it didn't matter what the state wanted anymore and we lived with Aunt Sarah… don't get me wrong, Jim was always… wrong ever since we were little… but Sarah loved him. She saw exactly who and what he was and she still loved him. She bought him books on science and math and took him out to look at the stars. Her only rule was that he didn't hurt me or Mattie, Mattie being Sarah's only child," Richard explained.

"Is she why Jim loves stars?"

"No, he was always interested," Richard said. "Did he take you out and name the stars?" he asked.

"Yes, it was very impressive," Molly said, smiling at the memory. They'd gone out of town, taken a blanket and just lay on the ground and looked at the stars. There were no words except Jim patiently pointing out constellations and stars, teaching her until she remembered them. "Did he do that with others?"

"He'd drag me out for it," Richard said, "and Sebastian said that Jim drug him out once, just once. It didn't last long, I don't think."

"Oh," Molly said.

"See... everything Jim learns, I take to opposite. He learns the constellations and astronomy. I study the mythology behind the stars and astrology. He studies science, I study religion. He likes math, I like theatre. I uh… I made a guess about the stars because… well it's something I used to do with girls, except that it just seemed like showing off eventually… but I'd point out the constellation and then tell the stories behind them," he explained.

"Did someone tell you it was showing off?" Molly asked, refilling her tea cup. The waiter came back with their sandwiches, which Molly bit into. She let out a happy. "Mmmmm," which sounded every bit as erotic as when she'd sipped the hot chocolate the day before. "What?" she asked, noticing that Richard was staring at her.

"Nothing," Richard said, shaking his head. "But yeah… I was told that."

"I don't know… I think it would be nice," she said.

"Well, you liked it when Jim took you out."

"Yes, but he taught me about the stars themselves, not the stories… They're both interesting."

"I could… take you out some day," Richard suggested, looking unsure.

Molly smiled and nodded. "I think I'd like that," she said. She took another bite of her sandwich and let out another (though quieter) happy "Mmmm".

"So," Richard said a bit forcefully and a bit too loudly. Molly stared at him, wondering what had gotten into him. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I thought we were talking… do you not want to talk about Jim?" she asked, suddenly realizing how insensitive that was.

"Well… I mean… it's nice... talking to someone who doesn't just hate him. But I'd rather talk about you."

Molly blushed. "What do you want to know about me? I'm not interesting."

"I think you're interesting," Richard said. She wondered if he realized just how sexual his smile was. That he probably didn't know just made it worse.

"Yes, but your sense of normal is wrong."

Richard chuckled, sipping his tea and starting to eat his own sandwich. "True… but you are very interesting. I mean, you're a very integral part of the hospital, though most people tend not to even want to think about the dead. Why did you pick it?"

"I just… they needed someone," Molly said. "I like that what I do is a way to help the living. Dealing with death can be very painful, especially if it's a loved one. I do what I can to help get the family what they need. I know I'm just a link in the chain for this… but without even one link, the chain falls apart."

"When I first saw you, besides thinking you were unbelievably adorable," he said, grinning at her blush and pout. "I felt… it was good for me, seeing someone tending to Jim. "It was good to know that someone would still care about how he looked, that someone cared what he wanted. He took what he wanted, but I don't think he had a lot of people who cared about what his wishes were."

"I didn't do much," she said.

"You did more than me," Richard said, "Jim would have hated the service. He thought the idea of God was laughable. He would have appreciated to caring for his appearance a lot more."

"I don't think it was much," Molly said.

"It is, don't discount yourself," he said, and Molly was suddenly very reminded of Jim. "What?" Richard asked, noticing Molly smiling.

"Nothing," Molly said, taking another bite of her food. "Your friend was just right is all."

"Uh-oh, I that bad?" Richard asked with a boyish smile.

"No, I don't think so," Molly said with a smile.

"Oh, well, I guess that's all I can ask for," Richard said, toasting her with his tea cup before draining it.