Earlier that night…
"Oh hey, there you are." Amanda said as she and Liara hugged for a few seconds and Liara noticed the bandage that Amanda had.
"What happened there?" Liara asked.
"Finn bit me." Amanda answered, Liara trying not to laugh.
"Bit in your sleep… I shouldn't laugh really, I've been there." Liara said as she calmed herself a bit.
"It's not like him to do that though, he's normally the type to hug me when I'm asleep… I'll explain it over drinks later, how are you and Ty doing?" Amanda says, asking the last part.
"Quite well. We've decided to go off on a break together in a few weeks, up to the southern area of Canada." Liara said.
"Awesome… just be careful up there, Canada does get cold. Hey, you're still heading with all of us to Ireland in November, right?" Amanda responded after stretching her arms over her head, Liara hissing slightly when she heard a 'crick' from Amanda's right shoulder.
"Wouldn't miss it for anything… and fix up that arm!" Liara said.
"It's just an old injury." Amanda says…
Present time…
Amanda didn't remember when she fell asleep but when she opened her eyes, it was a little past 4 in the morning… and her head was resting on Finn's right shoulder as he opened his eyes and glanced at hers, which were still reddened from crying.
"It just doesn't feel real… I heard something downstairs, thought that… she had opened the door and walked in like she always did when she couldn't sleep. All she was trying to do was unwind… and they took her life. It's not fair..." Amanda whispered, her voice rough as Finn pulled her closer to him.
"It's never fair… but there's nothing we can do… it's not right that she's gone." Finn said.
"They were so happy, her and Ty… he even mentioned that they were talking about getting married. Life can be damn cruel, Finn." Amanda said with a slight sniffle, burying her face into his shoulder as he saw the bruise on the back of her neck from her hitting the turnbuckle earlier.
Downstairs, Aestrid opened her sleepy eyes… and saw a blurred outline, her eyes widening when she recognised the spirit.
"She can sense that I'm here, in this sense at least… I'm trying not to freak her out." Liara whispers, holding out her see through left hand.
"You just… walked right through the door…" Aestrid manages to say, starting to head towards the stairs.
"Don't… Finn's getting her to settle back into sleep." Liara said quietly.
"She needs the sleep…" Aestrid agreed, sitting back down.
"Especially after the way she fell… and she was right earlier, Alexa saw who it was." Liara said.
"Then why won't she go to the cops?" Aestrid asked.
"She's scared to…" Liara said before disappearing.
It was well into the morning when Aestrid woke up again, seeing Sami stood above her.
"You fell asleep down here…" Sami said after pulling the blanket over her. "They still asleep?" He asked.
"Yeah." Aestrid answered as the door opened again and a hungover JJ walked in. "Where the hell did you crash?" She asked, seeing his disheveled clothes.
"I don't remember… I tried getting that little blonde and red haired woman to talk." JJ answered before revealing a bite on his left arm and bruises on both sides of his ribcage, Sami growling in anger and Aestrid shaking her head.
Upstairs, Amanda was sitting up before she was handed a bottle of cold water and drank it slowly… her head still ached, Finn could see that as he sat down and put his right arm around her shoulders.
But when Amanda looked up after she stopped drinking, her eyes locked with a blurred outline that was familiar before Liara disappeared and Finn resting his hand on Amanda's back.
"She was here… they linger at times." Amanda whispered, Finn knowing who she had seen for a split second. "Look, I'm just… I'm gonna head out for a bit…" She said, changing the subject and trying to stand up but Finn stopped her as he knew that she was going to try to get some answers out of Alexa.
"Trust me, Lexa will open up… she'll have to, the rest of the gang are onto her themselves." Finn said, sitting Amanda back down.
"She saw what happened and I don't know why she's keeping quiet… it bugs the hell out of me that she's just… she won't tell anyone! It's not gonna bring Liara back but that son of a bitch that…" Amanda says, her tone changing midway through and Finn knowing that she was in a mix of grief and anger and pulling her back down to his right side after lying down. "All the gang had at first is each other, they became a family…" She said after looking at him, his right hand gently resting on the back of her bruised neck and lightly massaging it.
The door opened quietly and both looked up, JJ stepping back a bit.
"No answers from her?" Amanda asked.
"Barely… all she gave us was a ZIP code address." JJ replied.
"Could be anywhere…" Amanda responded, cringing slightly and wishing that she hadn't hit the back of the turnbuckle yesterday… Finn and JJ knew that Amanda felt guilty as she thought that Liara would've still been alive had the fall that led to the concussion hadn't happened.
Out in the city, Alexa had just walked out of a coffee shop when she felt herself being grabbed and looked, seeing Val.
"No luck?" Alexa asked in a shaky tone.
"Mandy seems to think that you know more… that you saw who did it!" Val said through gritted teeth.
"I saw it happen, yeah… as for who did it, I didn't…" Alexa said, trailing off.
"She's not one to lie about that…" Val said, letting go. "And you know it!"
"I can't think of it right…" Alexa said quietly.
"No one can… but don't hold out too long. Whoever it was, if they saw you…" Val said, Alexa getting the point and leaving.
Val walked off in the other direction, needing to clear her mind.
